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Strengthening China-Serbia cultural bonds and friendship through animation

09:01, May 07, 2024 By Yuan Meng, Liu Yeting, Peng Yukai, Liu Ning ( People's Daily Online

A recent Serbian animated film exhibition held at the Cultural Center of the Republic of Serbia in Beijing drew attention from enthusiasts and fans of Chinese animation.

The exhibition, curated by the PI School of Animated Film based in Vranje, Serbia, featured 10 animated short films created with puppets, clay, collages, and other everyday children's toys. Full of fantastic ideas and childlike fun, the creative stop-motion animated films drew applause from attendees.

Jasmina Stojanovic, principal and director of the PI School of Animation Film, said the school, founded in the 1980s, is dedicated to providing equal opportunities for children and teenagers to create animation art. Over the years, the school has developed from a social organization to a public institution of the Serbian government, playing an important role in promoting exchanges and development in the field of animated films.

"This is my first time visiting China, and the trip left me with a very good impression," Stojanovic told People's Daily Online. She added that exchanges in the field of culture and art would enhance friendship between both countries and hoped to use this event to tell Serbian stories to Chinese audiences and deepen the understanding between people of both countries.

SneZana Trajkovic, a teacher at the school, said, "I hope to exchange experiences and ideas with Chinese colleagues through this trip to China. Many of my friends are very interested in coming to China for exchanges, and I hope to invite more Chinese friends to visit Vranje in the future."

A student at the School of Animation and Digital Arts at the Communication University of China called the event "a positive collision." Fascinated by Balkan culture, she expressed her hope for such exchanges to extend to her university campus. By doing so, artists from both countries can strengthen cooperation to produce more works that authentically represent the national characteristics of both countries.

In recent years, cultural exchanges between China and Serbia have increased, cultivating a deeper mutual understanding between the two nations. Guo Kun, an audience member who attended the exhibition, expressed her growing interest in exploring Serbian culture.

"We might travel to Serbia at the end of this year. I hope such cultural exchanges will enable more Chinese people to know Serbia," Guo said. "We're just like good friends, and our relationships are getting closer through exchanges like this."

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Wu Chengliang)
Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee from Vidisha parliamentary seat, Shivraj Singh Chouhan cast his vote along with his family at a polling booth in Sehore district on Tuesday. After exercising his franchise, the former CM also appealed to the public to cast their votes in the third phase of polling for Lok Sabha elections which began at 7 am on Tuesday. Nine parliamentary seats in the state - Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal, Rajgarh and Betul- are undergoing polling in the third phase of LS polls on May 7 from 7 am to 6 pm. "I am fortunate to have participated in the festival of democracy. I have cast my vote. Vote is the soul of democracy, a symbol of dedication towards democracy. Everyone should cast their vote. Today, I have also exercised my right to vote," Chouhan said. Shivraj Singh Chouhan's son Kartikey Chouhan also appealed to the public to exercise their voting rights. "Exercise your right to vote. The Constitution of India gives you the right to elect your government for five years. You are doing this for yourself, for your country. You must cast your votes," Kartikey told ANI. Earlier, former CM Chouhan offered prayers at his residence in Jait village in Sehore district and took the blessings of the Lord before casting his vote. Ahead of casting his vote, the BJP leader also told ANI, "I appeal to everyone that elections are the 'mahotsav' of democracy and voting is the symbol of our dedication to democracy. Therefore, first cast the vote and then any other work. I appeal to everyone to cast their votes." He further said that this election was not his election but of the public and he was the sevak of the public. "This is a wonderful election, the public has given me immense love, affection, and blessings during the campaign for this election. It is not my election but the election of the people, the people are contesting and also giving their blessings to me. The people and I are one, one family and I am the sevak of the people. Serving the people is the worship of God for me. So I will continue to serve the people considering it as worship of God," he further added. Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh are being conducted in four phases. The first phase of polling was held on April 19 and the second phase was concluded on April 26. The third phase of polling is underway and the fourth, which is the last phase of LS polls in the state, will be held on May 13. The counting of votes will be held on June 4. With 29 Lok Sabha constituencies, Madhya Pradesh ranks sixth among all states in terms of its representation in the Lower House. Of these, 10 seats are reserved for SC and ST candidates, while the remaining 19 are unreserved. (ANI)
Amid the ongoing investigation into an alleged obscene video case involving National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and Hassan Member of Parliament (MP) Prajwal Revanna, Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief BY Vijayendra accused the Congress party of politicizing the issue. Addressing the media on Tuesday, Vijayendra criticized the Congress for allegedly failing to prevent Revanna from leaving the country despite having the power to do so. He claimed that the Congress was exploiting the situation for political gains "We have already condemned this act. BJP never supports this kind of attitude, this kind of activity. But the manner in which the Congress party is using it, If the Congress party wished, they could have stopped Prajwal Revanna from leaving the country. But Congress didn't do it. They were waiting for the timing. So, Congress has nothing to do with the issue, Congress wants to politicise it. That is very annoying." The BJP leader's comments come amid increasing calls from BJP for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the case, raising concerns about the fairness of the ongoing Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe. BJP leader and advocate Devaraje Gowda on Monday claimed that the Karnataka government, led by Congress, is attempting to suppress evidence and manipulate the investigation, describing the SIT as "remote-controlled" by the state government. "There is DK Shivakumar and others whom Devaraje Gowda wanted to mention in the statements, so there is an attempt to suppress evidence," said Vivek Reddy, another BJP leader and advocate. "So, we are asking for a CBI inquiry. If not, the High Court may direct an independent agency supervised by a retired high court judge," Reddy added. On Devaraje Gowda's claims mentioning Congress leader DK Shivakumar, Vijayendra reiterated his stance that Congress leaders are experts in manipulating investigations. "Senior leaders in Congress party are experts in doing this. On what advocate Devraj had said, everyone believes that the pendrive that has now come out was with the Congress for the past 1-2 months. SIT has been formed, we can't expect a fair investigation. They have to handover this case to the CBI, otherwise, the high-handedness of Congress leaders will definitely impact the SIT probe," Vijayendra said. The call for a CBI investigation comes after the arrest of Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Revanna in a kidnapping case linked to the 'obscene video' case. Following his arrest on May 4, Revanna was sent to State Investigation Team (SIT) police custody on May 5 until May 8. "Law will take its own course, those who have erred will have to suffer the consequences," Vijayendra remarked in response to the arrest of HD Revanna. Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Revanna, who was arrested by the State Investigation Team (SIT) said on Saturday that it is a political conspiracy against him and he has never seen anything like this in his political career. Revanna was brought to the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital for medical examination after he was arrested on May 4 by SIT officials in a kidnapping case. HD Revanna and his son, Prajwal Revanna, who is the sitting MP and candidate from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, are facing a probe by a Special Investigative Team (SIT), constituted by the Karnataka government, over allegations of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation following a complaint by a woman who worked in their household. Earlier, a special court for the People's Representative in Bengaluru rejected the interim bail application of JD(S) leader HD Revanna and JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna in connection with the alleged "obscene videos" case. The Holenarsipura MLA and his associate were booked under Sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 365 (kidnapping with intent to cause harm), and 34 (common intention) of the IPC. The FIR, registered by KR Nagar police, also lists HD Revanna as accused number one and another man, identified as Babanna, as accused number two. (ANI)
There has been a substantial increase in the voter turnout in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election with Bengal leading the charts with 32.82 per cent till 11 am, according to the Election Commission of India's data. Goa is also witnessing a high voter turnout of 30.94 per cent. Maharashtra is still lagging at 18.18 per cent turnout till 11 am. Voting percentages for other states participating in the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls as of 11 am are-- Assam--27.34 per cent, Bihar--24.41 per cent, Chhattisgarh--29.90 per cent, Gujarat--24.35 per cent, Karnataka--24.48 per cent, Madhya Pradesh--30.21 per cent and Uttar Pradesh--26.12 per cent. Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu recorded 24.69 per cent voter turnout till 11 am. Leaders from the ruling BJP and other parties have urged the voters to come out in large numbers and participate in the largest festival of democracy. Meanwhile, in this phase, more than 1300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray. A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations. Earlier, PM Modi cast his vote at Nishan Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad, Gujarat for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The Prime Minister was welcomed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah when he arrived at the polling booth. Prominent leaders to contest in today's poll battle include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, among others. In the 2019 general election, the BJP won 72 of the 93 seats that go to the polls today. Voting will not take place for Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has postponed the polling to the sixth phase to be held on May 25. Originally, voting was scheduled to be held on 94 Lok Sabha seats in the third phase. The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. The counting is scheduled for June 4. (ANI)
A presiding officer on election duty at a polling booth in Supaul passed away, allegedly due to a heart attack, on Tuesday. The deceased has been identified as Shailendra Kumar. "He passed away in the morning...This happened where he was posted. He was rushed to PHC, where he was declared dead. The body has been brought here to Sadar Hospital for a postmortem. His relatives were informed and they too have reached here. A postmortem has been done. It was found that he was diabetic," the doctor told ANI. The Supaul Lok Sabha constituency, which had long been considered a stronghold of socialist leaders, is set for a keen contest this time as the RJD has put up a candidate here for the first time since the 1998 Lok Sabha elections against sitting MP and JDU leader Dileshwar Kamait. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has reposed faith in the sitting MP to win a fresh term, while the RJD has fielded Chandrahas Chaupal, its MLA from the Singheshwar (SC) constituency. Supaul is among the five Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar where voting is underway in Phase 3 of the general elections. The remaining four seats that are polling in the ongoing polls are Araria, Madhepura, Khagaria and Jhanjharpur. Polling started for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the general election today at 7:00 am. The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed. In this phase, more than 1300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray. A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations. Seventy-five delegates from 23 countries will see the poll process, the poll panel said. Voting will not take place for Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has postponed the polling to the sixth phase to be held on May 25. Originally, voting was scheduled to be held on 94 Lok Sabha seats in the third phase. However, elections were rescheduled from the second to the third phase in the Betul Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh due to the death of the BSP candidate. The BJP candidate in Surat has been declared the winner unopposed and due to the revised polling schedule in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, the total seats now going to poll are 93. In the 2019 general election, the BJP won 72 of the 93 seats that go to the polls today. The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. The counting is scheduled for June 4. (ANI)
Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and his son Priyank Kharge cast their votes at a polling station in Gundugurthi village in Kalaburagi for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday. "All the businessmen and the poor people will together make Congress win this time. People are regretting that they made a mistake last time and they will elect Congress party with a huge majority," Kharge said after voting. Congress has filed Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani against BJP's Dr Umesh Jadhav from Kalaburagi. After casting his vote, Priyank Kharge said, "I am very confident that the Congress government is going to be extremely triumphant... The last 10 years of Modi's tenure have been disastrous for India and for Kalaburagi. The people are quite disappointed and this time they will vote for progress." Karnataka has recorded 9.45 per cent turnout during the first two hours since voting began for the third phase of Lok Sabha polls. West Bengal is leading the voter turnout in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections at 14.60 per cent till 9:00 AM on Tuesday, as per the data released by the Election Commission of India. Madhya Pradesh is also witnessing a high voter turnout of 14.22 per cent. Maharashtra has recorded the lowest turnout till 9 am at 6.64 per cent. Voting percentages for other states participating in the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls at 9 am are-- Assam--10.12 per cent, Bihar--10.03 per cent, Chhattisgarh--13.24 per cent, Goa--12.35 per cent, Gujarat--9.87, and Uttar Pradesh--12.13 per cent. In this phase, more than 1300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray. A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations. Seventy-five delegates from 23 countries will see the poll process, the poll panel said. Prominent leaders to contest in today's poll battle include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, among others. In the 2019 general election, the BJP won 72 of the 93 seats that go to the polls today. The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. The counting is scheduled for June 4. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed on Monday that the Congress party has given a clean chit to Pakistan for orchestrating the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and has even supported Ajmal Kasab, a terrorist convicted and later sentenced to death, for his role in the attacks. "The statement of a Maharashtra Congress leader about the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks is very dangerous. These Congress leaders are now taking the side of the terrorist, Kasab. During the Congress rule, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and those close to the Congress family have called Kasab innocent," PM Modi said while campaigning at Maharashtra's Ahmednagar on Tuesday. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly stoked controversy over his statement on the 26/11 attack. He claimed that former ATS chief Hemant Karkare was "not killed by terrorists during the 26/11 attack but by a police official close to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh." PM Modi said that even though it is an established fact that those involved in the Mumbai terror attacks were sponsored by Pakistan, the Congress is claiming them to be innocent. "Wasn't the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks sponsored by Pakistan? Who killed our soldiers, our innocent people? You (the public) and the world know the truth, our court has also given the decision, and even Pakistan has admitted it. There are phone records of the terrorists as well. But the Congress party is issuing a certificate of innocence to terrorists," he said. The Prime Minister said that by giving such statements the Congress is insulting those who died in the Mumbai terror attacks. "This is an insult to those who lost their lives in the Mumbai terror attacks. This is an insult to all the security forces who took on these terrorists. This is an insult to all those who died for the country like Tukaram Amle...The Congress is going downwards every day following its politics of appeasement," PM Modi said. The Prime Minister said that while the Congress is not being accepted by the people of the country, its overseas team has become active recently. "The INDI alliance is not being accepted by the poeple. This disappointment among the alliance is visible even beyond borders. While the A-team of this coalition is losing, the B-team of the Congress that is outside the border has become active. They are tweeting to give boost to the confidence of Congress. In return, the Congress is giving a clean cheat to Pakistan for carrying out acts of terrorism," PM Modi said. Hitting out at the opposition INDIA bloc, PM Modi said that the poorly stitched alliance will be decimated when the results for the Lok Sabha polls are announced. "The third phase of the elections has made it clear that the expiry date of the INDI alliance has been finalised on June 4. After June 4, no one will be available to lift INDI flag. This 'Bhanumati ka kunba', that they have stitched will come down like a sand fortress on June 4," the Prime Minister said. Stating that the Lok Sabha elections is being fought between the ideas of 'satisfaction' and 'appeasement', PM Modi said, "The elections this time is held between 'Santushti-Karan' (satisfaction) and 'Tushti-karan' (appeasement). The BJP-NDA is working hard to satisfy all countrymen. But on the other hand the INDI alliance is conspiring and using its votebank for appeasement. The Congress has turned its entire manifesto into Muslim League." Slamming the Congress for its allegedly poor track record of poverty reduction in the country, PM Modi said, "The NDA wants development, welfare for the poor, national security, national respect. Is the Congress in any position to talk about any of these? If it comes to welfare for poor, the Congress will hide its face in the sand like an ostrich. It does not have anything to say. The Congress has given false promises to remove poverty for 50 years. They have betrayed the poor..." Maharashtra, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the Lower House of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh. Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra is being held in five phases. The counting will be held on June 4. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats. (ANI)
The animated spoof featured versions of PM Modi dancing with suspended Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna.

"Hey @narendramodi We heard you enjoy memes! Here is a meme for you," AAP posted on X platform.

https://x.com/AamAadmiParty/status/1787809466605342981

Earlier AAP had targeted PM Modi for giving Revanna a NDA Lok sabha ticket and campaigning for him. The party has also accused the BJP of "colluding" with Revanna in getting him flee to Germany on a diplomatic passport.

Revanna, is accused of sexual harrasment and rape charges and recording nearly 3,000 obscene videos of women.

Earlier on Monday, a 'meme row' erupted on social media with PM Modi himself getting involved.

Kolkata Police took action against a user who had posted a meme of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the X platform.

The meme featured an animated version of the Chief Minister dancing in front of a crowd, at a concert resembling a stage.

Hours later, Prime Minister Modi, in a veiled jibe at CM Mamata, reposted a meme of him dancing and appreciated the creativity peaking in the poll season.

"Like all of you, I also enjoyed seeing myself dance. Such creativity in peak poll season is truly a delight!" PM Modi posted followed by laughter emojis.

Revanna is the incumbent MP from the Hassan constituency. He is seeking re-election as an NDA candidate from the same seat. Polling on the seat was completed on April 26.

HD Revanna and his son, Prajwal Revanna are facing a probe by a Special Investigative Team (SIT), constituted by the Karnataka government, over allegations of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation following a complaint by a woman who worked in their household.

HD Revanna is under Special Investigation Team (SIT) custody till May 8 in kidnapping case linked to the "obscene video case", while Prajwal Revanna has fled to another country. (ANI)
As per the statement, "This action follows a thorough investigation, identifying property as illegally acquired property by illicit drug trafficking. The accused is currently under judicial custody."

"Today, attached one double -storied, residential house valuing approximately Rs 11.51 lakh belonging to a notorious drug peddler namely Mohd Shafi Mir, a resident of Kalarooch, Kupwara, under the NDPS Act 1985. The seized property is located at Mujgund in Srinagar district," It added.

It added that the attachment was carried out under sections 8/20,29 of the NDPS Act at Pulwama police station.

"This operation has been met with appreciation from the local community, as it marks a significant step in curbing the use of properties derived from illicit drug trafficking in the Police District Pulwama," read the statement.

Earlier in April, the Jammu-Kashmir police seized a property worth lakhs under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, as per police.

The property was used by terrorists for carrying out anti-national activities. The seizure was made in South Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) enacted in 1967 empowers law enforcement to detain individuals involved in unlawful activities posing a threat to the state.

The law's main objective is to prevent unlawful activities that threaten India's sovereignty and integrity. (ANI)
Private airline Akasa Air has announced plans to launch flight operations linking Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur with Delhi and Bengaluru from May 29. Notably, after receiving approval from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for the schedule, online booking for tickets has commenced, an official release said on Tuesday. With Akasa Air's flights, the distance from Gorakhpur to Delhi will be covered in just 1 hour and 15 minutes, while the distance from Gorakhpur to Bengaluru will be covered in 2 hours and 35 minutes, it added. As per the schedule, starting on May 29, the flight from Gorakhpur to Delhi will depart at 2:45 PM and arrive in Delhi at 4:00 PM. Conversely, the flight from Delhi to Gorakhpur will depart at 4:55 PM and arrive at Gorakhpur Airport at 6:45 PM. Similarly, starting from May 29, the flight to Bengaluru will also commence. Akasa's flight from Bengaluru will take off at 11:15 AM and arrive in Gorakhpur at 2:05 PM. Conversely, flights from Gorakhpur to Bengaluru will depart in the late afternoon at 7:20 PM and land in Bengaluru at 9:55 PM. Given the starting of these services between Gorakhpur as well as Delhi and Bengaluru, from May 29, Akasa Air has initiated online booking for tickets. Notably, Alliance Air and IndiGo have already been operating flights on this route. There is hope for the soon-to-be-launched Mumbai flight service by Akasa as well. Additionally, IndiGo is also preparing to initiate flights between Gorakhpur and Bengaluru in the next two months, the release said. As per the release, Airport Director RK Parashar said that the initiation of flight services by more aviation companies will increase competition in fares, ultimately benefiting passengers. They will have the opportunity to travel at lower fares. The increase in air services has brought Gorakhpur much closer to cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. Whether it's for essential purposes or leisure trips, the distance to these cities is covered within a few hours. Previously, travelling to these cities took anywhere from 16 to 36 hours, the release added. (ANI)
Janata Dal (Secular) workers on Tuesday held a protest against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar and Bharatiya Janata Party leader LR Shivarame Gowda. Workers alleged that the Congress government here is "intentionally targeting" the family of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda in the Prajwal Revanna obscene video case. JD(S) leaders CS Puttaraju, Suresh Gowda, and Srikanth Gowda along with party protestors blocked the Mysuru- Bengaluru highway and raised slogans against both leaders. Protestors also burnt the effigy of LR Shivarame Gowda and DK Shivakumar. They alleged that these leaders had conspired together in the obscene video case against Revanna. Protestors also demanded CBI enquiry and expressed their dissatisfaction with the ongoing SIT investigation. Refuting the allegations made by whistleblower Advocate Devaraje Gowda that BJP leader LR Shivarame Gowda and DK Shivakumar conspired together in this case, LR Shivarame Gowda said that such allegations are totally baseless, and Devaraje Gowda had put pressure on him for a meeting with DK Shivakumar. "100 per cent I am not concerned, Devaraje Gowda was pressuring me to set up a meeting with DK Shivakumar then only I make the arrangements. They only spoke for 2 minutes and Shivakumar clearly told him to submit the evidence before SIT. Devaraje Gowda is a blackmailer. JDS wants to divert the case and that's why they are making allegations against CM and Deputy CM. This is the biggest scandal in the world," LR Shivarame Gowda told ANI. Earlier today, former Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said that the state government wanted the character assassination of party leader HD Revanna, who is in judicial custody after he was booked in a kidnapping case. "This government does not want a fair inquiry. They are misusing the office. Nothing is going to happen ultimately. They wanted character assassination of HD Revanna and for that reason, they are using their office," Kumaraswamy told ANI. Asked if he would be meeting Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, he said they would submit a memorandum to the Governor. "With all documentary evidence, we are going to submit a memorandum to the Governor to take action against this government. The way this inquiry is going on, it seems this is not Special Investigation Team but Siddaramaiah Investigation Team and Shivakumar Investigation Team," he alleged. Meanwhile, the Karnataka Congress came out in defence of DK Shivakumar over Kumaraswamy's allegations saying that this is just a "continuation of BJP's bad politics". "The video was shot by Prajwal, Prajwal used women inhumanly, The video was stolen by the driver Karthik, Devarajegowda got the pen drive from Karthik, Devarajegowda said several times that there is a video, let it out, Devarajegowda left the pen drive outside, Devarajegowda wrote a letter to Vijayendra and Amit Shah, It was encouraged by brother Swami! BJP + JDS are present in all these events. In this case DK Shivakumar 's name being dragged is just a continuation of BJP's bad politics. If BJP and JDS parties really have morals, let them leave this dirty politics and comfort the women who suffered," Karnataka Congress posted on X. The father-son duo, HD Revanna and Prajwal Revanna are also facing a probe by a Special Investigative Team (SIT), constituted by the Karnataka government, over allegations of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation following a complaint by a woman who worked in their household. The Karnataka government constituted an SIT team to probe the obscene video case. HD Revanna was arrested on May 4 in a kidnapping case linked to the 'obscene video' case. He was later sent to State Investigation Team (SIT) custody till May 8. JD(S) has fielded Prajwal Revanna, a sitting MP from Hassan to contest from the same seat in the Lok Sabha polls. (ANI)
A Holocaust survivor, Susanne DeWitt, shared her experience of addressing the Berkeley City Council in March about Holocaust commemoration, Times of Israel reported, citing an interview with a local During an interview with a local Israeli channel, she said that her speech was disrupted by anti-Israel and antisemitic protesters when she mentioned the October 7 Hamas attacks. The activists yelled insults, calling her and others "Zionist pigs" and "traitors to this country" Times of Israel reported. The 90-year-old Holocaust survivor said, "I was in a state of rage. They were denying me my freedom of speech, although they were always clamouring for freedom of speech. I was given one minute to speak and I was shouted down," as per the Times of Israel. "They don't make a distinction (between Israel and Jews in general). A Jew, so far as they're concerned, is someone who should be annihilated. And that is the message that seems to come across from these protesters. I would like to say to the president: Please, please stand by the Jewish people," she added. The conflict in Gaza escalated after Hamas carried out a massive terror attack against Israel on October 7, killing over 1200 people, taking around 250 people hostage and even committing sexual assault against civilians. In response, Israel launched a strong counteroffensive targeting the Hamas terror units in the Gaza Strip. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the war will continue until Hamas is "destroyed," the Times of Israel reported. However, the Israeli air assault and ground operations have drawn frowns from rights groups and the Arab world over the mounting civilian death toll. According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, over 34,000 people have been killed in the Israeli attacks, including more than 12,000 children. (ANI)
The White House has said that it is "aware" of the case of a US soldier detained in Russia on suspicion of theft. In a White House press briefing on Monday (local time), National Security Spokesperson John Kirby made the remarks while responding to a media query on whether the US administration is aware of the report. "Certainly, it's a better question put to our DoD (department of defence) colleagues. But we are aware of this case," Kirby told reporters during the White House briefing. The US soldier was detained in Russia last week on suspicion of theft and is currently being held in pre-trial detention, CNN reported, citing two US officials on Monday. According to the officials, the soldier, a staff sergeant, was taken into custody by Russian authorities on May 2. They said he was stationed in South Korea and chose to visit Russia on his own initiative. The US Embassy in Moscow is also seeking consular access to the soldier and has informed his family of his detention, as per the officials. This isn't the first incident, wherein a US national has been kept in detention in Moscow. Many Americans have been jailed in Russia previously as well, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan. The US State Department has time and again called it wrongful detention, according to CNN. Another soldier stationed in South Korea was detained when he voluntarily entered North Korea in July of last year. Travis King, the US Army private who fled to North Korea, was charged by the US Army with a total of eight crimes, including desertion. King was charged with a series of other alleged offences, including possession of child pornography, assaulting fellow soldiers, and disobeying a superior officer, according to CNN. (ANI)
The refugees, were notably detained in the city of Adana. These migrants are citizens of Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, and Pakistan.

According to reports, these individuals have been detained due to a "lack of legal residency" and transferred to the immigration office in Adana, Turkey.

These people entered the nation by "illegal means," according to Turkish authorities, and measures to stop them from entering are still in place.

In addition, the Turkish Interior Minister recently declared that sixteen people had been arrested in Mugla and Adana on suspicion of "human trafficking," Khaama Press reported.

According to Khaama Press, 1,096 "illegal refugees," including citizens of Afghanistan, were reportedly held in the city of Adana during the previous month, according to reports from Turkish media, which cited Turkish authorities.

This coincides with an increase in the recent trend of Afghan refugees being detained and expelled from nations like Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan. (ANI)
In a stern warning to Pakistan People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Monday said that the newly elected governor of the province, Faisal Karim Kundi, would not be allowed to enter the KP house, in a tit for tat move, according to ARY News. KP CM Gandapur's statement comes after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader of Karachi was 'barred' from entering Sindh House. "From now on, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi cannot enter KP House. If I challenge, even Bilawal Bhutto Zardari cannot make it to the KP Governor House," he said, according to ARY News. He said that the PPP chairman should either build a new governor's house for Faisal Karim Kundi or provide a place for him in Sindh House. "When I was arrested, they took me to Karachi. If forced, I can pick their supporters and bring them to KP," he added. CM Gandapur declared he would do whatever it takes to get back the "stolen" mandate. He said, "We will snatch it if we do not get justice from the courts," ARY News reported. On Tuesday, May 1, Chief Minister Gandapur declared that the PTI would overthrow the federal government run by the PML-N at the behest of party founder Imran Khan. Chief Minister Gandapur stated that PTI founder Imran Khan had consistently shown a desire to communicate with everyone for the benefit of Pakistan. He said, "Imran Khan would only hold talks for the betterment of Pakistan; he has no personal agenda." He also mentioned that PTI had never previously mentioned any conditions for talks, and that he had only recently been told that he, along with two others, had been given the responsibility of negotiating on behalf of the party. (ANI)
Hamas has accepted a proposal mediated by Qatar and Egypt, marking a potential breakthrough in the ongoing conflict in Gaza, CNN reported. The proposal, outlined in a document obtained by CNN from a reliable source in the region, lays out a comprehensive plan aimed at de-escalating tensions and paving the way for sustainable peace. According to the document, the agreement will be implemented in three phases, each lasting 42 days. The first phase entails the release of 33 Israeli hostages, including women, children, the elderly, and the sick, over the course of six weeks. In exchange, Israeli forces will gradually withdraw from parts of Gaza, reconnaissance flights will be halted for 10 hours daily, and disarmed Palestinians will be allowed free movement throughout the Gaza Strip. Additionally, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are set to be released, with specific criteria outlined for the exchange process, as reported by CNN. Notably, the agreement stipulates that for every Israeli hostage released by Hamas, 30 Palestinian women and children will be released, along with 30 Palestinian prisoners over the age of 50 for each Israeli hostage in the same age group. Furthermore, female IDF soldiers are included in the 33 hostages, with Israel agreeing to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every IDF woman soldier released, including 30 serving life sentences. The humanitarian aspect of the agreement is underscored by an extensive effort to facilitate the entry of aid into Gaza, including makeshift shelters and homes, as well as the rehabilitation of key infrastructure such as hospitals and the electric plant. The second phase of the agreement is set to focus on achieving a sustainable period of calm in Gaza, along with the release of the remaining hostages, including civilian men and IDF male soldiers. While specific details of this phase were not fully disclosed in the document, it is anticipated to build upon the progress made in the first phase, according to CNN. The third and final phase of the agreement outlines a comprehensive rebuilding plan for Gaza, spanning three to five years. This phase underscores the long-term commitment to rebuilding the region and fostering stability and prosperity for its inhabitants. International efforts to broker a ceasefire and facilitate the implementation of the agreement are underway, with a Qatari delegation scheduled to continue indirect negotiations in Cairo. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on both the Israeli government and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire deal, following Hamas's acceptance of the proposal put forth by Egypt and Qatar. The developments have sparked hope among officials and stakeholders, with Qatar expressing optimism for a swift resolution to the conflict and the sustainable flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi has also echoed these sentiments, emphasising the urgent need for a comprehensive agreement to be reached, CNN reported. (ANI)
"A ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences and because of its destabilising impact in the region," the UN chief warned, adding, that he had made a "very strong appeal" to both the Israeli government and the leadership of Hamas to "go an extra mile" to reach a ceasefire agreement.

"This is an opportunity that cannot be missed," he added.

The tensions escalated with multiple airstrikes on Rafah early Tuesday, resulting in casualties and injuries, as reported by the Palestinian Civil Defence.

"Civil defence teams have managed to pull out a number of martyrs and transport several injured individuals from under the rubble of several homes which were bombed by Israeli warplanes tonight in various places in the Rafah governorate in southern Gaza Strip," the Palestinian Civil Defence statement read, according to CNN.

Images released by the Civil Defence depicted the grim aftermath, with several casualties recovered from beneath the rubble of bombed homes.

Palestinian official news agency WAFA confirmed eight deaths in two separate attacks on Rafah, although the precise timeline remains unclear. Rafah's Kuwait hospital reported receiving 11 deceased individuals, according to a Facebook post in the early hours of Tuesday local time.

Amid mounting airstrikes, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office reaffirmed on Monday the continuation of military operations in Rafah to "exert military pressure on Hamas." The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated their ongoing targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah.

The escalation follows a deadly overnight bombardment from Sunday to Monday, which claimed the lives of at least 26 individuals, according to the Civil Defence, CNN reported. (ANI)
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence on Tuesday said that 10 aircraft and five vessels from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) and People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) were detected operating around Taiwanese waters and airspace until 6 am (UTC+8) today. Notably, 4 of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern and eastern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The Republic of China Armed Forces (ROCArmedForces) closely monitored the situation and responded appropriately, according to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence. "10 PLA aircraft and 5 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 4 of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern and eastern ADIZ. #ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and responded accordingly," said Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence in a post on X. A day ago, Taiwan detected three military aircraft and six naval vessels operating around the island nation's airspace and waters, adding, that two aircraft entered its ADIZ. These incidents underscore the ongoing tensions between Taiwan and China, with Beijing frequently conducting military manoeuvres and exercises near the self-governing island. Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, maintains its autonomy despite China's claims of sovereignty over the island. The Ministry of National Defence did not provide further details regarding the specific type of aircraft or vessels involved in the recent activity, nor did it disclose any specific actions taken by the ROC Armed Forces in response to the situation. The presence of PLA military assets near Taiwan continues to be a sensitive issue, heightening concerns over potential escalations in the region. The Taiwanese government has consistently called for international support and attention to ensure stability and peace in the Taiwan Strait. Since September 2020, China has intensified its use of "grey zone tactics" by operating more military aircraft and naval ships near Taiwan. According to CSIS, grey zone tactics are defined as "an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one's security objectives without resorting to direct and sizable use of force." (ANI)
Following arrests of three Indian nationals over their alleged links to the killing of India-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and assertive remarks made by External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on the issue, Canada's Immigration Minister Marc Miller has expressed his disapproval, saying, the EAM is "entitled to his opinion". Responding to a reporter's query on Jaishankar's remarks on these arrests, Minister Miller said, "We're not lax. And the Indian foreign minister is entitled to his opinion. I'm going to let him speak his mind. It's just not accurate," as broadcast on Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), a Canadian speciality television channel. The External Affairs Minister recently criticised Canada saying they were welcoming people from India with links to organised crime, ignoring warnings by New Delhi. When pressed on whether the accused individuals were on student visas, Miller refrained from providing specifics, citing the ongoing police investigation. He said that such inquiries should be directed to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Criticising the Justin Trudeau-led dispensation for giving space and legitimacy to "extremism, separatism, and advocates of violence" in the name of free speech, Jaishankar on May 5 said that Canada has been issuing visas to people with links to organised crime despite warnings from New Delhi. Jaishankar said some people in Canada, with 'pro-Pakistan leanings', have organised themselves politically and taken the shape of an influential political lobby. Nijjar was shot and killed after he had stepped out of a gurdwara in Surrey in June last year. A video clip of his killing reportedly surfaced in March this year, purportedly showing Nijjar being fatally shot by assailants, in what was claimed to be 'contract killing'. In 2023, the Canadian PM alleged an Indian hand in the killing, a claim that was vehemently denied by India which called it 'absurd and motivated'. The Canadian Police have also not given any evidence linking India to the killing. On May 4, Canadian police released photographs of three persons arrested in the killing of Nijjar. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in a statement named the three men, all Indian nationals, as Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh, 22 and Karan Brar, 22 and released their photographs. The trio were arrested in Edmonton City in Alberta. (ANI)
In a bid to address mounting concerns over the import of insect-infected wheat during the caretaker government's tenure, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Rana Tanveer, has announced the formation of a new inquiry committee. This move comes in the wake of revelations confirming the import of substandard wheat, prompting swift action from authorities, Dawn reported. Minister Tanveer underscored the need for thorough investigations into the irregularities and negligence surrounding the import process. This marks the second inquiry committee established within a week, following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's earlier initiative headed by the Cabinet division secretary. A statement from the minister's office reaffirmed the import of insect-infected wheat under the caretaker government's watch. To ensure transparency and accountability, a high-level inquiry committee, led by Food Commissioner Syed Waseemul Hasan, has been tasked with scrutinising the import of substandard wheat during the fiscal year 2023-24, as reported by Dawn. Minister Tanveer reiterated the government's commitment to upholding transparency and accountability in wheat procurement processes. In response to public grievances, he also initiated an investigation into irregularities in wheat procurement by the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (Passco), appointing a three-member committee headed by Grade 20 officer Saleem Mohsin. Prime Minister Sharif had previously formed a fact-finding committee on May 3 to investigate irregularities in wheat import decisions despite expectations of a bumper crop. The surplus stockpile has posed challenges for provincial governments in purchasing wheat from farmers, leading to distress sales at below-official rates. The caretaker government's authorisation of wheat imports, totalling 2.7 million tonnes until February 2024, has been met with scrutiny. However, former caretaker PM Anwaarul Haq Kakar denied any wrongdoing in the import process, according to Dawn. Mohammad Asif, Federal Secretary for the National Food Security and Research Division, was removed from his post amidst ongoing investigations. The prime minister has directed a committee to address farmers' grievances expeditiously, ensuring timely payments and equitable treatment. Efforts are underway to procure 1.8 million tonnes of wheat through Passco to alleviate farmers' concerns and stabilise market prices. However, challenges persist as surplus stocks hinder the absorption of new crops, prompting farmers' protests and pressure on the government to act decisively. The prevailing situation presents a delicate balancing act for the government, as it navigates farmers' demands and opposition scrutiny, Dawn reported. (ANI)
The event was organised on May 4, where Indian Ambassador Pradeep Kumar Rawat graced the occasion, along with Amit Sharma, Second Secretary (Education), and Nitinjeet Singh, Counsellor (consular and education).

https://twitter.com/EOIBeijing/status/1787787400699068885

The event began with a note of prayer to the goddess of learning. Saraswati Vandana was performed by the Odissi team led by reputed artist Zhang Jinghui which set the tone for seeking knowledge and introspection. The team was felicitated by Ambassador Rawat

Around 80 students from more than 13 universities from different provinces attended this interaction.

During the event, Amit Sharma, Second Secretary (Education), presented an in-depth overview of the services provided by the Embassy, along with guidelines for students regarding appropriate behaviour. This was followed by an interactive session where student representatives shared their perspectives.

The event concluded with a question and answer session, during which Nitinjeet Singh, Counsellor (Consular and Education), addressed students' inquiries regarding a range of concerns. Following this formal interaction, attendees enjoyed an informal continuation of discussions over a lunch arranged for the occasion. (ANI)
The Pakistani Army has alleged that the plan to kill the Chinese engineers was hatched in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, Dawn reported on Tuesday. Five Chinese engineers were killed in a suicide attack on a convoy in Bisham tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Shangla on March 26. "A sad incident took place on March 2 in Bisham where a suicide bomber targeted a car of Chinese engineers working on Dasu dam, as a result of which, five Chinese citizens and a Pakistan got killed," Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif said. "This suicide bombing also connects to across the border [in Afghanistan]; the planning of this terrorism [act] was done in Afghanistan. Terrorists and their facilitators were also being controlled from Afghanistan and the suicide bomber was also an Afghan [national]," he added. Dawn reported that Gen Sharif said the army strongly condemned "this ugly game of terrorism" and is "taking all necessary actions to bring its facilitators to justice." The attack, which took place on March 26 in Bisham City in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Shangla district, claimed the lives of five Chinese engineers along with one Pakistani citizen. The army spokesperson's press conference came just two days before May 9 -- a day that holds significant importance in the country's political landscape as it was on this day last year when military installations came under attack following PTI founder Imran Khan's arrest, which formed the basis of a severe state crackdown against him and his party. In the question and answer sessions, Gen Sharif was asked about May 9, to which he said: "Firstly, May 9 is not just the Pak Army's case but the entire country." If, in any country, an attack is launched on its army, symbols of its martyrs are insulted, its founder's house is set on fire, hatred is created between its army and public, and if the people behind it are not brought to justice, then there is a question mark on that country's justice system. "We believe that if we have to maintain trust in the justice system of Pakistan, then May 9 perpetrators -- both the doers and those commanding them -- must be sentenced according to the Constitution and the law," he said. "Nothing is hidden about May 9. The public and the army and we all have irrefutable evidence. All of us saw this incident unfolding, we all saw how everyone was [brainwashed] against the army, its leadership, agencies, institutions through lies and propaganda," he added. (ANI)
Boeing will send astronauts into space after spate of in-flight problems on planes

Boeing will send astronauts into space after spate of in-flight problems on planes

Despite its ongoing challenges with aeroplanes, Boeing is setting its sights further afield Monday night as it launches astronauts into space for the first time.

The historic launch of the companys Starliner capsule will be manned by two NASA pilots and head for the International Space Station at around 10.34pm Eastern time.

Boeings capsule is on top of the Atlas V rocket, which will lift off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

We are going to have a whole new adventure. This is very much a part of our exploration of space and what I call the golden age of space exploration, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a briefing on Friday.

Its a historical day. Its a wonderful day.

From left, NASA astronauts Barry Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) commander and pilot (NASA/Glenn Benson)

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, commander, and Suni Williams, pilot, are due to reach the ISS on Wednesday and will stay for around a week, the agency said.

If successful, the mission could provide a huge boost for Boeing, which has seen finances plummet in 2024 after a number of high-profile incidents involving its planes, including an emergency door plug falling out of an Alaska Airlines plane, as well as questions from Congress over its manufacturing processes.

Ms Williams, 58, told The Associated Press that she was not worried about that.

Were not putting our heads in the sand, the helicopter pilot from Massachusetts said. Sure, Boeing has had its problems. But we are the QA (quality assurance). Our eyes are on the spacecraft.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams pose for a picture after a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard was rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the NASAs Boeing Crew Flight Test, Saturday, May 4, 2024 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. ((NASA/Joel Kowsky))

The Starliner spacecraft has a diameter of 15 feet and can carry up to four astronauts, or a mix of crew and cargo, for NASA missions to low Earth orbit for the agencys Commercial Crew Program.

It can fly autonomously or be steered manually, NASA said. When the crew returns to Earth, they will make a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwest of the United States.

Weve been through training and we have our fingerprints on every single procedure that exists for this spacecraft, Wilmore, 61, said earlier this month. Were fully trained in all aspects of Starliner.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft arrives at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (NASA/Kim Shiflett)

The pair arrived at the space centre on 25 April and have been quarantined ever since so that they are ready for Monday nights flight.

I couldnt be more proud of this team. Were at peak performance right now and we are really excited to execute this launch. Were ready to go, Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of the Commercial Crew Program at Boeing, said on Friday.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the NASAs Boeing Crew Flight Test, Monday, May 6, 2024 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. ((NASA/Joel Kowsky))

The hope for Boeing is that this test flight is successful, meaning it can then be certified for NASAs future Commercial Crew Program.

The journey to Mondays launch has not been without issues, with software glitches and fuel valve problems causing delays.

A successful, unmanned return trip was made in 2022.
Rick Braziel, a former Sacramento police chief and Sacramento County inspector general, has been appointed by UCLA to lead a new University of California agency that will examine the campus polices response after an attack upon pro-Palestine protesters broke out last week.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block created Sunday the Office of Campus Safety that will oversee UCLAs police department and Office of Emergency Management. Braziel, who will serve as the schools associate vice chancellor, will partner with UC Davis Police Chief and Council of UC Chiefs of Police Joe Farrow and other UC personnel to oversee safety and emergency management operations.

I fully support this appointment and believe that it is an important step towards restoring confidence in our public safety systems and procedures, Block said in a statement.

Former Sacramento police Chief Rick Braziel and inspector general for Sacramento County is seen during an interview with The Sacramento Bee in 2018. Braziel will probe law enforcements response into an attack on pro-Palestine protesters at UCLA. Paul Kitagaki Jr./Sacramento Bee file

The new office will investigate if any campus security lapses occurred when a large group of counterprotesters mounted an attack against pro-Palestinian demonstrators April 30 on the Westwood campus. It took about three hours for law enforcement officers  from the California Highway Patrol, the LAPD and elsewhere  to arrive and quell the violence, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A day after the bloody clashes between protestors, police dismantled the encampment outside Royce Hall and arrested over 200 people.

Braziel served as chief of the Sacramento Police Department from 2008 to 2012 before assuming the post examining the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office use of force incidents as a neutral arbiter.

Serving as the inspector general from December 2015 until November 2018 proved to be a tumultuous time. Braziel was locked out of county facilities by then-Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones after he disagreed with Braziels report over the 2017 shooting of Mikel McIntyre on Highway 50.

Braziel left the Sacramento County post and became the president of his own consulting company, Braziel Consulting Inc., according to his LinkedIn page.

He has since served on panels created by the U.S. Department of Justice to review law enforcements approach to mass casualty incidents. In the latest instance, Braziel was tapped to review authorities response to a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school.
Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, testifies on cross-examination by a state prosecutor during his misdemeanor criminal trial at the Burleigh County Courthouse on May 3, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

House Majority Leader Mike Lefor said it may be time for the Legislature to work with the Ethics Commission to clarify North Dakotas ethics regulations after the Friday conviction of a state lawmaker of a conflict-of-interest misdemeanor.

My thought is that I think its important for us to revisit Century Code, legislative rules and have a thoughtful, positive discussion with the Ethics Commission, Lefor said. Because I dont think voting on a bill should rise to the level of a criminal act.

Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, was found guilty of voting on legislation he had a financial interest in. Lefor said Monday he disagrees with the verdict. House Minority Leader Zac Ista called for Dockters resignation.

The financial interest in question involved a lease of a Bismarck building Dockter helped facilitate with the Attorney Generals Office in 2020. At the time, the building was already leased to the Department of Health. A company Dockter partly owns later bought the property and acquired both leases. Dockter later voted on the Attorney Generals Office and Department of Health budgets.

North Dakotas tangle of ethics regulations, most of which are rarely used, was complicated to explain during a trial before a 12-person jury last week.

Dockter was charged under a statute that says an official is guilty of a misdemeanor if as a public servant he takes official action which is likely to benefit him as a result of an acquisition of a pecuniary interest in any property, transaction, or enterprise, or of a speculation or wager, which he made, or caused or aided another to make, in contemplation of such official action.

The statute is 49 years old, according to Lloyd Suhr, Dockters attorney. To Suhrs knowledge, Dockter is the first to be charged under it.

While some attorney general opinions mention the statute, there hasnt been any formal judicial review of the law by the North Dakota Supreme Court, Suhr said.

What I can tell you is that this is a very untested, and I think poorly written, statute with a lot of review thats yet to happen, he said.

In a Monday interview with Joel Heitkmap, a commentator for KFGO radio, prosecuting attorney Ladd Erickson said he also had some reservations about the statute. Erickson did not return a request for comment by the North Dakota Monitor by publication.

This one could have gone either way with the jury, Erickson, states attorney for McLean County, told Heitkamp. I dont think the jury verdict is an indication of whether a charging decision was ultimately right or wrong.

He said he did not take the decision to charge Dockter lightly. Because he could not find case law on the statute, he was worried about applying the statute incorrectly.

Erickson ultimately looked to the Legislatures in-house ethics regulations for guidance.

I used the legislative rules that they imposed on themselves for how they handle conflicts, and I didnt feel that those were followed, he said.

The House and Senate both have rules that hold that a conflict of interest is only present if a lawmaker is voting on legislation that affects them directly, individually, uniquely, and substantially. This clause dates back to the early 1980s, the North Dakota Monitor reported previously.

John Bjornson, director of Legislative Council, said during the trial that the Legislature generally interprets this provision to mean that lawmakers should only consider recusing if theyre voting on legislation that is specially designed to benefit them and no one else.

But this is practically unheard of; Bjornson said he cant recall a time when a North Dakota lawmaker has ever been recused from voting because of a conflict.

Rep. Emily OBrien, R-Grand Forks, testified that, in her opinion, Dockter hadnt violated the ethics rule. Erickson argued he did.

The Ethics Commission has provided some training to lawmakers on how to apply conflict of interest rules, but has also recommended that the Legislature flesh out its policies. The Ethics Commission in a 2023 advisory opinion said that there were some areas where the Legislatures conflict rules were not up to the commissions standards.

In March, Bjornson and Binstock told the North Dakota Monitor that the Ethics Commission and Legislative Procedure and Arrangements Committee would work together to bring the rules into harmony.

Erickson in his closing argument on Friday told the jury that the House and Senate rules ultimately didnt matter, and that they should make their decision solely on the jury instructions read by South Central Judicial District Judge Bobbi Weiler, which closely mirrored the language of the statute.

Weiler did not sentence Dockter on Friday. Erickson told Heitkamp he wont advocate for jail time and he doesnt think the conviction should go on Dockters permanent record.

Suhr, Dockters attorney, told the North Dakota Monitor on Monday that the representative has not yet made a decision on whether to appeal.

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A San Gabriel Valley man who had been found guilty on multiple charges has been sentenced after authorities say he attempted to have two men killed and also plotted to burn down his North Hollywood apartment complex to remove low-income tenants.

The United States Department of Justice announced that Arthur Raffy Aslanian, 55, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for his role in the murder-for-hire and arson plots.

A jury in July 2023 found Aslanian guilty of one count of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, one count of conspiracy to commit arson, one count of attempted arson, and one count of arson of a building used in interstate commerce.

According to the DOJ, Aslanian conspired with Sesar Rivera, 41, of North Hollywood, to hire a hitman to murder two people identified in court documents as M.Y. and S.E.

M.Y. was Aslanians lawyer in a bankruptcy case, which the 55-year-old won. However, Aslanian refused to pay M.Y. the more than $261,000 owed for legal fees and expenses.

In response, M.Y. sent a demand letter to Aslanian requesting to mediate the dispute and stating he was prepared to sue Aslanian if the mediation failed.

S.E. was a litigant who defeated Aslanian in court after Aslanian tried to take possession of the Brentwood home in which S.E.s parents lived.

The DOJ says Rivera  who was an employee of Aslanian  met with an individual who was a gang member and convicted felon.

Rivera told the individual that a real estate businessman named Arthur wanted to pay him to kill M.Y. and S.E.

In July 2022, Rivera met with the gang member once again and informed the convicted felon that Arthur wanted M.Y. and S.E. killed as soon as possible.

Court documents state the individual who was contacted to be the hitman secretly recorded a part of the conversation where Rivera provided them with M.Y.s information for the murder, which the man shared with law enforcement officials.

Rivera informed the individual that Aslanian would pay him $20,000 for killing M.Y. once he was provided with a photo to prove the plan had been executed.

A month after that meeting, Rivera again met with the individual and told him to focus on murdering S.E. before killing M.Y.

A short time later, Rivera used Facebook Messenger to send the proposed hitman a screenshot of victim S.E.s Facebook profile, including S.E.s picture and business name, to assist the individual in locating and murdering S.E.

Authorities informed both would-be victims about the murder plot, and on Sept. 7, 2022, law enforcement officials detained and questioned Rivera, who later agreed to cooperate with them.

Just over a week later, Rivera met with Aslanian and showed him a staged picture of a murdered S.E. Authorities arrested Aslanian moments later.

This defendant thought he could get away with murder by financing a murder plot against two of his rivals, said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. He will now serve a well-deserved lengthy prison sentence. This case should serve as a cautionary tale to those who would resort to violence to settle their disputes: You will be caught and the consequences will be severe.

Aslanian was also found guilty of a March 2022 plan he hatched with Rivera. The DOJ says Aslanian used Rivera to pay an individual a few hundred dollars to set fire to a North Hollywood apartment complex to force his unwanted low-income tenants to move.

The arson attempt was successful, but during the investigation, authorities uncovered a failed arson attempt at the rental property that had taken place in February of 2022.

Rivera pleaded guilty in March 2023 to one count of conspiracy and one count of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison for each count at his July 8 sentencing hearing.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
Zakia Wardak made no mention of the gold in her resignation statement

Afghanistans only female diplomat has resigned days after she was caught by airport authorities allegedly smuggling nearly 1.6 million of gold into India.

Zakia Wardak announced her resignation on social media after Indian media reported that she and her son had been stopped last month on arrival in Mumbai from Dubai carrying 25kg of gold.

Ms Wardak is understood to have been appointed to India before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021 and was the Afghan Consul-General in Mumbai.

She had been acting as the countrys most senior representative in India since Afghanistans embassy in New Delhi shut down in November.

Ms Wardak was reportedly not arrested when she was stopped because of her diplomatic immunity, but the gold was confiscated by Indias Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

She made no reference to the gold in her resignation statement, but said she had encountered numerous personal attacks and defamation over the past year.

Such incidents have demonstrated the challenges faced by women in Afghan society, she said, adding: It has become increasingly clear that the public narrative is unfairly targeting the only female representative within this system, rather than focusing on constructive assistance and support.

Statement in Dari, Pashto & English. pic.twitter.com/pQwLCMun0O  Zakia Wardak (@ZakiaWardak) May 4, 2024

Many Afghan diplomats remained loyal to the internationally-backed government when Kabul fell despite their administration having been swept away.

They have refused to cede official buildings and positions to the new Taliban emirate and have remained in post issuing visas and paperwork.

The Taliban authorities have full control of only around a dozen Afghan embassies abroad  including in Pakistan, China, Turkey and Iran.

Ashraf Ghanis government was notorious for corruption before it was swept away by the Taliban and public disgust at thieving officials proved a powerful recruiting tool for the insurgents.

No nation has yet formally recognised the Talibans new government, but many acknowledge them as the de facto ruling authority.

Since the Taliban took control in August 2021, they have barred women from most spheres of public life and employment. Girls are stopped from going to classes beyond primary school age.

They have also restricted womens access to work, travel and health care if they are unmarried or do not have a male guardian, while those who do not cover their heads and faces risk arrest.

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King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is the ruler of the Asante people in Ghana - EDDIE MULHOLLAND

An African king is seeking to permanently keep golden treasures loaned to him by the British Museum and the V&A in a landmark deal.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the ruler of the Asante people in Ghana, negotiated a historic deal to have ancestral artefacts temporarily repatriated by the two museums. They were handed over last week as part of a three-year loan.

The king wants to avoid handing back the Asante gold and is hopeful that a future government would change the laws which currently ban museums from repatriating artefacts abroad permanently.

The Tories have already ruled out doing so, making Labour the best chance for the legal change he needs to retain the artefacts.

British Museum and V&A bosses joined the king in the Asante capital of Kumasi on May 1 to celebrate the handover of the treasures, comprising items of royal regalia taken by British forces in the 19th century.

Tristram Hunt, the V&A director, said he supported a change to the laws, and Asante courtiers believe that the currently agreed three-year loan period may be long enough to allow the changes to be enacted.

Oheneba Owusu Afriyie IV, the prince and member of the Asante inner court, spoke to The Telegraph in Kumasi, explaining: We are hoping that after the two three-year terms, things would have evolved, and your laws back home might have changed.

We are very hopeful. Things are evolving to eventually getting them back home.

A golden ceremonial cap worn by courtiers at coronations are among the artefacts on display in Kumasi - EDDIE MULHOLLAND

The Government has refused to amend legal constraints on repatriating museum artefacts, but the Labour party has not set out a policy position ahead of the general election.

The British Museum Act 1963 bars the institution from handing over any items from its collection, which has led to an impasse in the Greek campaign to reclaim the Elgin Marbles, and the National Heritage Act 1983 places the same constraints on the V&A.

Under current laws, the 32 newly loaned items, which include a golden sword used to swear in tribal chieftains and gold pendants worn by attendants who ritually purify the Asante kings soul, remain the official property of the two British museums and will have to return to the UK.

Ivor Agyeman-Duah, the writer, academic and director of the Asante kings museum within the Manhyia Palace complex in Kumasi, aims for their permanent return.

Speaking at the Manhyia Palace Museum, Mr Agyeman-Duah confirmed that the permanent return of Asante artefacts from British collections is the end goal and how it has been envisaged, adding that spiritually significant treasures remaining with the king is as it should be.

Sources close to the palace added that the loan deal was just the beginning of repatriation plans for near-sacred golden artefacts to be returned to the king, and the ruler may push to repatriate more of the Asante material in the V&A and British Museum.

Tristram Hunt from the V&A attended the opening of the exhibition in Kumasi - EDDIE MULHOLLAND

Mr Hunt, a former Labour MP, attended the handover ceremony in Kumasi where he told The Telegraph that a permanent return was possible.

He said: Initially its a three-year loan, maybe renewable in future, but then we could see a situation whereby the 1963 Act or the 1983 Act was reformed in future.

My view is that those acts should be reformed and trustees should have responsibility for what is in their collection.

He added: But thats not where the Government is at the moment, and we have to respect that.

The king or Asantehene is a unifying figure for the Asante, who by tradition was ordained by heaven to sit on the Golden Stool, the equivalent of a throne, and who wields significant political and judicial power in the present day.

In 1874, the Asante were defeated by the British in the Third Anglo-Asante war, having earned a reputation as warriors by defeating colonial troops in previous conflicts, and the kings ceremonially significant golden regalia were taken as a war indemnity.

These were auctioned off to major institutions including the British Museum and what would become the V&A to raise money for widows and injured soldiers.

One of the king's personal bodyguards - EDDIE MULHOLLAND

In May 2023, the current Asante king began negotiating with the British Museum and V&A to reclaim golden regalia ahead of the 150th anniversary of when it was taken from his ancestors when British forces took Kumasi.

The long-term vision to keep the loaned artefacts permanently may be helped by the rolling nature of the V&As deal, which can be extended from its initial three-year term.

British Museum representatives in Kumasi did not comment on legal changes but said there would be future projects with the Asante.

The Tory government has repeatedly stated that it has no intention of reforming the two acts which compel national museums to keep their collections, held on behalf of the British public, intact.

This has led to an impasse in a string of repatriation struggles over the Benin Bronzes, Ethiopian sacred tablets, and the Elgin Marbles.

While Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader has reportedly been open to returning the Elgin Marbles, his party has not set out a policy position regarding the British Museum and National Heritage Acts.

The Labour party has been contacted for comment.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Officers found dozens of animals deceased in a freezer in the kitchen of a cluttered home as part of an ongoing animal abuse and hoarding case.

Boulder City police arrested Carolyn Luke, 72; and Timothy Miller, 79, in March. Last month, a judge sentenced each to a suspended jail sentence on multiple animal abuse charges.

In March, after receiving a tip about the animals, a Boulder City police officer stopped the car for a broken taillight, documents said. The officer observed several chunks of fur on the vehicles center console while speaking with Luke and Miller.

Booking photos for Timothy Miller and Carolyn Luke. (Credit: Henderson Police Dept.)

When the occupants rolled down a window, officers could smell dead animals inside the car, officers said in a news release. In all, police and animal control officers found 51 guinea pigs and rabbits, including the 11 deceased animals.

During the Boulder City stop, Luke told police the couple was heading to California to give some of the guinea pigs to a friend, documents obtained Monday said. Luke and Miller reportedly told police they would find more animals at their Las Vegas home and at a nearby hotel, documents said.

Officers found dozens of animals deceased in a freezer in the kitchen of a cluttered home as part of an ongoing animal abuse and hoarding case. (Clark County/KLAS)

Employees at the west valley hotel evicted Luke and Miller due to repeated animal complaints, including the smell of death coming from the room, according to documents. Inside the room, police found 39 guinea pigs, 21 live dogs and 12 deceased dogs, including several other animals, documents said.

Inside the southwest valley home, police said they found 21 live dogs, 38 guinea pigs and 12 deceased dogs, police said. Inside a freezer in the kitchen, officers located 42 deceased animals, including 30 guinea pigs and four small dogs.

An animal control report shows officers made numerous attempts to enter the home before the discovery. Officers entered the home on March 30 after obtaining a search warrant.

Officers found dozens of animals deceased in a freezer in the kitchen of a cluttered home as part of an ongoing animal abuse and hoarding case. (Clark County/KLAS)

In an interview with police, Miller reportedly said she took multiple animals to the hotel to hide them from neighbors and animal control officers, documents said. She referred to the animals as her babies, police said.

Luke and Miller each face 14 animal abuse-related charges in connection with their Las Vegas case. They were due in court in August and ordered not to have any animals.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
Most world leaders were a no-show at Vladimir Putins swearing-in ceremony Tuesday, but thats okay, because the Russian leader had B-list action movie stars, a leather-loving pop star, and resident lawn gnome/Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov to cheer him on.

A total of six European Union countries sent envoys to attend the inauguration ceremony, including France, whose president recently floated the idea of sending troops to Ukraine. Hungary, Slovakia, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus were also represented at the Kremlin ceremony, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Most other countries opted to boycott the event, with Estonias foreign minister issuing a public reminder on X that Putin may be Russias leader but he is also wanted for war crimes.

War crimes allegations, of course, are no match for Under Sieges ass-kicking Navy SEAL Casey Ryback, otherwise known as washed up action movie star Steven Seagal, an outspoken fan of the Russian president. Footage released by state-run media on Tuesday showed Seagal, in his trademark tunic and tinted glasses, greeting guests at Andreyevsky Hall in the Grand Kremlin Palace.

Hes the greatest world leader, hes the greatest, Seagal told reporters. Asked what he would tell Americans about Putins record fifth term, he replied: Im very looking forward to it.

Vladimir Putins inauguration to a new six-year term is about to start. And of course Steven Seagal is there pic.twitter.com/cjrybAjXKy  max seddon (@maxseddon) May 7, 2024

Among the invited guests, in keeping with tradition, are the heads of regions, Heroes of Russia, religious representatives, figures of science and culture, and Steven Seagal, one Russian news report said in breaking down the guest list.

Uber-patriotic pop star Shaman, real name Yaroslav Dronov, was also spotted at the ceremony, looking freshly bleached in a suit and tie rather than his usual head-to-toe leather attire. Known for cringe hits like Im Russian and My Fight, he marveled at the crowd supposedly glowing with happiness as a long line of blank-faced guests headed for the exits behind him.

Also in attendance was Sergei Roldugin, Putins cellist friend who was named in the Panama Papers as a Kremlin money man responsible for moving billions through a network of offshore bank accounts and companies. Roldugin was spotted rubbing elbows with fellow Putin ally Gennady Timchenko.

Cannibal and Double-Murderer Selfie That Sums Up Ukraine War

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrovwho is said to be battling a terminal illness, according to recent reportswas also shown in a live broadcast struggling up the stairs and then categorically refusing to remove his own coat. The self-proclaimed foot soldier for Putin told a reporter hed barely slept the night before because he was so excited to see Vladimir Vladimirovich sworn in for a fifth term.

Everythings great. We have nothing to worry about as long as we have such a leader, he said, adding that Western sanctions had taught Russia to thrive instead of just surviving.

Everything must be great, truly. But dont just take Kadyrovs word for it, look at the comment section of YouTube, where Russian media has scraped the bottom of the barrel to find Putin praise from random commenters.

GOD SAVE RUSSIA 4EVER!!!!! says Jenny.

How many pushups can Putin do? asks Close_all_Tabs, helpfully answering, Answer: all of them.

See? See? Six more years of Putin. Everythings great.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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P.E.O. Chapter OZ

Haley Nowlin, a senior at Treynor Community High School, was selected to receive a $2,500 STAR Scholarship from the P.E.O. Sisterhood.

She was recommended by P.E.O. Chapter OZ of Treynor.

Nowlin will be attending John Hopkins University to study molecular and cellular biology on a premed track. She is seen in the photo with her sponsors Julie Funkhouser and LaJean Wehring.

The P.E.O. STAR Scholarship was established in 2009 to provide scholarships for exceptional women in their final year of high school to attend an accredited postsecondary educational institution in the U.S. or Canada in the next academic year.

The competitive STAR Scholarship is for women who exhibited excellence in leadership, academics, extracurricular activities, community service and potential for future success.

Philanthropic Educational Organization has been celebrating women helping women reach for the stars for more than 155 years. Since its inception in 1869, the nonprofit organization has helped more than 125,000 women pursue educational goals by providing approximately $432 million in grants, scholarships, awards and loans.
LONDON (AP)  Phones hold so much of our digital lives  emails, social media and bank accounts, photos, chat messages and more  that if they ever get stolen or go missing, it can cause major disruption beyond just the loss of a device.
A recent opinion poll found that China is now more popular in Africa than the United States. Yet, this popularity apparently goes hand in hand with a backlash the Chinese face in a growing number of African countries, with many accusing them of malicious behavior.

According to a recent Gallup polling, 58% of respondents in Africa approve of China versus 56% for the US. While China generally continues to remain popular amongst Africans, for years, however, many have speculated about Chinas real intentions on the African continent. Several cases of perceived Chinese malicious behavior have recently made headlines across Africa.

A video claiming to show a Chinese man whipping African workers has gained massive traction on social media, though this is not the first time that such incidents have been reported. In April last year, a similar report highlighted the ill-treatment of African workers by Chinese project managers. This has prompted a heated debate among viewers on how the Chinese treat the Africans like trans-Atlantic slaves, leading some to express the view that the former are fare more racist than the White man in Africa.

Meanwhile, several gold mines in northern Niger managed by a Chinese company were ordered to temporarily shut down after herders around the town of Tablet complained that dozens of their animals died from drinking wastewater. They had pointed to Chinese-own Sahara SARLs mines as the only explanation for their animals deaths, saying the region was not suffering from drought or any epidemics.

An official report is said to have confirmed that the catastrophe was caused by chemical products used in the Chinese-controlled mines that threaten the water table. Another recent high-profile case involving Chinese business interests concerns the Asian powerhouses distant-water fishing vessels that have drawn scrutiny around the world.

A recent investigation by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), a London-based NGO, has revealed evidence that Chinas distant-water fishing fleet, the worlds biggest in scale, commits environmental and labor abuses in the southwest Indian Ocean off the coast of East Africa.
A new assessment by the Policy Center for The New South put the material damage of Sept 8 earthquake at 3 billion dirhams ($300 million), accounting for nearly 0.2% of Moroccos GDP.

The quake which hit vast swathes in the High Atlas mountains killed 3000 people and damaged 59,674 buildings, of which 32% were destroyed completely, and 68% partially.

Al Haouz province, where the epicenter is located, lost 10.2% of its GDP to the quake, that is 53% of the overall economic damage.

The government has allocated 12 billion dollars to a five-year program to help quake-stricken population, upgrade destroyed infrastructure and spur the local economy.

The earthquake on September 8, 2023, was more of a human tragedy with moderate economic losses, especially at the macroeconomic level, the report said.

This conclusion is generally supported by the analysis of some high-frequency financial indicators, showing the resilient nature of the Moroccan economy following the natural disaster, it said.

Up to March, Morocco offered 1 billion dirhams in reconstruction aid to 51,300 families whose houses were totally or partially destroyed in the quake.

The government has offered 20,000 dirhams in a first stage aid to families to start rebuilding their homes and started disbursing a second batch of 40,000 dirhams, according to governments figure.

Morocco has promised to offer 140,000 for totally demolished homes and 80,000 for partly destroyed ones following the quake that killed nearly 3000 people.

Quake-stricken families are receiving 2500 dirhams monthly for a year.
Morocco increased eightfold the area cultivated with legal cannabis to 2078 hectares as the number of permits for investors grew to 161.

Speaking to Asharq, head of the national agency for the regulation of the activities linked to cannabis, Mohamed Guerrouj, said these figures reflect the success of legalization among farmers and investors alike.

This year we will have an important harvest given the cultivated area, he said, adding that the average hectare output stands at up to 20 quintals.

The agency, known as ANRAC, has greenlighted the cultivation of the local strain Beldia, which has a low THC and requires less water compared to imported seeds.

The cultivated area with Beldia was 732, that is 35% of the total areas dedicated to legal cannabis, he said.

In April, Morocco reported its first legal export of the substance to Switzerland for medical purposes

Last year, Moroccos legal cannabis harvest stood at 294 tons, the first since the country legalized the cultivation of cannabis for medicine and industry use in 2021.
King Mohammed VI received, this Tuesday, a message from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The message was handed to King Mohammed VI by King Salmans envoy, Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Minister of State, member of the Council of Ministers, at an audience at the Royal Palace in Casablanca.

The audience is part of the tradition of consultation between the two countries on bilateral and regional issues.

During the audience, the King reiterated his great pride in the bonds of sincere brotherhood and mutual esteem linking the two Sovereigns and the two Royal Families, as well as the strong relations between the two countries, based on constructive cooperation and active solidarity.
Swedens Trelleborg group has pledged to invest 11 million in its plant to be set up in Moroccos aerospace industrial zone, located in Casablanca suburbs, which are housing facilities of major industry players such as Boeing, Airbus, Sabca, Safran, Eaton, Matis, Nexans, Thales, Pilatus Hexcel

The Swedish group joins the expanding ecosystem with its engineered solutions which will help aerospace manufacturers seal, damp and protect aircraft and terminal equipment to improve durability, safety and performance.

Under the agreement signed Monday with local Moroccan authorities, Trelleborg said the production site will be built over 7,800 m area and help create over 200 direct jobs in its first phase before expanding its skilled workforce.

Moroccan Minister of Industry & Trade Riyad Mezzour said the Swedish investment will contribute to enhancing further the competitiveness of the national aerospace industrial ecosystem.

Head of Midparc, Hamid Benbrahim Andaloussi, said Trelleborg offers aerospace manufacturers advanced polymer technologies designed to protect aircraft equipment, engine and electronic system, ensuring aviation safety.

Pdt of Aerospace Trelleborg business unit Gordon Rober said the new plant will strengthen Trelleborgs position as a major supplier to leading aircraft manufacturers operating in Morocco and contribute to the development of the countrys aeronautical sector which employs 17,000 persons, 40% of whom are women.

The Moroccan government has invested heavily in the development of advanced industrial platforms, specialized training centers, and advanced infrastructure to attract both domestic and foreign investors.
Lincoln County commissioners and firefighters are creating a registry of wells with high volume rapid fill valves owned by local agricultural producers to help battle fires in rural areas.

According to Lincoln County Commissioner Micaela Wuehler, firefighters need to return to hydrants near the city when responding to rural fires.

High volume rapid fill valves are normally used for drawing water out of wells for agricultural purposes, but knowledge of these valve locations could save valuable time when firefighters are responding to a fire in the field, Wuehler said.

For any agriculturalist who wants to to give firefighters permission to access their wells, contact Wuehler at wuehlermm@lincolncountyne.gov or 308-530-7338. She said list members can opt out at any time.

North Platte Fire Chief Dennis Thompson said water access would eliminate the need to return to town to refill truck tanks. Depending on where a fire is, that could save a truck precious minutes or hours away from the fire.

(If) we knew they had water on sight, whether that be from a well or if they had a center pivot system that we could attach to, we would carry these quick-fill adapters on our trucks that would allow us to go up, hook on to their center pivot or their well  and that would also give us permission to access that water.

He said anything can be a water source, from pivots to wells to cattle stock tanks.

I wouldnt even venture guess as to how many water sources we have out there that we dont know about right now.

Following several concerns that arose from the Bettys Way Fire, commissioners Wuehler and Jerry Woodruff elected to attend the Mid-Plains Quarterly District Mutual Aid meeting in early April.

The meetings allow firefighters and first responders to discuss how to better prepare for emergencies in the area. From that meeting, one of the conclusions they made is a registry of rapid fill valves would help firefighters better respond to wildfires.
North Platte Giving Day is Wednesday

Eighty local nonprofit causes are signed up to participate in North Platte Giving Day May 8.

North Platte Giving Day is the best time to help favorite community causes. said Eric Seacrest, executive director of Mid-Nebraska Community Foundation, which is hosting Giving Day for ninth year.

Donors choose which local nonprofits to support and how much to give, the organization said in a press release.

More than $100,000 in matching gifts have been pledged to several nonprofits that will be earned when donors make gifts to those nonprofits.

50 sponsored cash prizes to nonprofits make donations go further. Sponsored cash prizes will be given to nonprofits based on donations made online or by check during various time periods. Cash prizes to nonprofits range from $200 to $1,000.

One-hundred percent of each Giving Day donation goes to donor-selected nonprofits. The Community Foundation along with an anonymous donor are covering all donation processing fees.

Early Giving option is now open. Early Giving donations can win cash prizes for nonprofits as well as help earn pledged matching funds for nonprofits.

Go to northplattegiving.org for information about participating nonprofits, sponsored cash prizes, pledged matching fund and to donate online.

Donors can drop off checks at local Giving Sites including Prairie Arts Centers, Orrs Cleaners & Draperies, Catholic School Endowment, Mid-Nebraska Community Foundation and U-Save Pharmacy which is open until 8pm weekdays. Donors can mail checks to Mid-Nebraska Community Foundation, PO Box 1321, North Platte, NE 69103.

Many nonprofits seek funds for specific projects including: North Platte Catholic Schools Endowment for new school bus; North Platte Community College Foundation for Electrical Technology Building; Great Plains Health Care Foundation for Pediatric Rehabilitation Center; and North Platte Trails Network Fund for trail circling Iron Horse Lake.

 Staff reports

Giving Day donations can be tax deductible as charitable contributions.

All 80 participating nonprofits serve people in Lincoln County and many serve the entire region around North Platte. Many nonprofits depend almost entirely on donations and volunteer workers. There is no charge for nonprofits to participate in North Platte Giving Day.

On Giving Day the online leaderboard will provide updates on donation totals for nonprofits and prizes won by nonprofits will be shown on the website when awarded.

Last year, donors raised more than $500,000 for local nonprofits during the Giving Day campaign from donations, sponsored cash prize and earned matching gifts.

For more information, contact Mid-Nebraska Community Foundation at 308-534-3315.
Tim Scott is clearly willing to do the Bosss bidding if push comes to shove. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Typically, vice-presidential nominees complement the presidential nominee in some crucial respect; that was true for Donald Trump in 2016, when Mike Pence offered reassurance to the movement conservatives and conservative Evangelicals uneasy with the then-mogul and his unorthodox persona and outlook. But Pence, of course, by refusing to help Trump reverse the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021, also taught Trump the value of absolutely loyalty to the Boss. So it goes without saying that his next running-mate will be closely examined for any signs of incipient independence. Thats why the only 2024 Trump primary rival who is on his VP shortlist is Tim Scott. The South Carolina senator was careful not to criticize Trump as an active candidate and then endorsed him over Nikki Haley, the woman who appointed him to the U.S. Senate. Indeed, Scotts situation provides a good measuring stick for the outer bounds of Trumps tolerance for any risk of a recurrence of the Pence problem.

Since 2020 election denialism is a central feature of Trumps 2024 message, criticism of Trumps (or his patriot friends) conduct on January 6 could be a real problem for a prospective veep. Tim Scott provides a real borderline case: While expressing displeasure about the assault on the Capitol, and worse yet, voting to confirm Joe Bidens election, he went out of his way to absolve Trump himself of any misconduct soon thereafter.

The president is simply not guilty, Scott said on Fox News. I was in the chamber when the rioters were coming over. I was taking my jacket off, my tie off, rolling my sleeves up, just in case I had to fight. The chances of me understanding and appreciating the severity of the situation is 100 percent. The one person I dont blame is President Trump.

Thats pretty good from a MAGA perspective, though Scott may need to learn some respect for the J6 hostages if he wants to speak at Trump rallies this fall. January 6 revisionism aside, however, theres a prospective topic where any equivocation could be really damaging to the team: leaving open the possibility of 2024 election denialism. And Scott faced and met an acid test over this last weekend as a guest on Meet the Press, as The Hill reported:

In an interview on NBC Newss Meet the Press, anchor Kristen Welker pressed Scott on Trumps refusal to commit to accepting the 2024 election results and then asked Scott whether he would commit to accepting the results.

Scott repeatedly avoided answering the question  even when pressed at least three times for just yes or no on accepting the results of the election  and said, at the end of the day, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump.

Welker followed up, asking, Wait, wait, senator. Yes or no. Yes or no? Will you accept the election results of 2024, no matter who wins?

That is my statement, Scott replied, later adding, The American people will make the decision, and the decision will be for President Trump.

Scott could have emulated Trump himself and responded to the question with a long, incoherent word salad that would have made it difficult for Welker to repeat the question and try to pin him down. But by clamming up once hed predicted Trumps ultimate triumph, the South Carolinian did what he had to do.

Unfortunately for other veep prospects, Scotts very conspicuous refusal to make a statement of trust in the electoral system that would have been entirely routine for any presidential or vice-presidential candidate prior to 2016 will guarantee they will face the same question sooner or later. And theres really no acceptable answer other than it depends, which of course raises other questions that arent easy to answer. Perhaps the best VP prospect would be someone who never for a moment challenged Trumps 2020 election denialism and is down for another round of it today. There arent a lot of those since nearly all Republican elected officials either admitted in an unguarded moment that Biden had won the election, or at the time found the events of January 6 stressful or grotesque. So those who want to see their names on a bumper sticker with Donald Trump this year had better be extra careful about foreclosing any election-stealing gambit by the former president between Election Day and next January 20.
A monster protest against the Vietnam War grips New York in 1967. Photo: Vittoriano Rastelli/Getty Images

For many a baby-boomer, the sights and sounds of student protests against U.S. complicity in Israels war in Gaza brought back vivid memories of the antiVietnam War movement of their youth and of the conservative backlash that ultimately placed its legacy in question. Some of todays protestors consciously promote an identification with their forebears of the 1960s and 1970s. And some events  notably the huge deployments of NYPD officers at Columbia University 56 years to the day after police crushed an antiVietnam War protest at the school  are eerily evocative of that bygone era.

As someone who was involved in a minor way in the earlier protests (mostly as a member of the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam), Im both fascinated by the comparisons and alert to the very big differences between the vast and nearly decadelong demonstrations against the Vietnam War and the nascent movement were seeing today. Heres how they compare from several key perspectives.

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While early protests against Israeli military operations in Gaza were often centered in Arab American and Muslim American communities, the latest wave is principally college-campus-based, albeit widespread, as the Washington Post reported:

The arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University on April 18 set off the latest wave of student activism across the country.

The outbreak of nearly 400 demonstrations is the most widespread since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. From the Ivy League to small colleges, students have set up encampments and organized rallies and marches, with many demanding that their schools divest from Israeli corporations.

The size of these protests has ranged from the hundreds into the thousands, but they cant really be regarded as a mass phenomenon at this point.

There are, however, similarities to the earliest phase of the antiVietnam War movement: the campus-based teach-ins of 1965 (the year U.S. ground troops were first deployed in Vietnam). These began at the University of Michigan and then went viral, as a history compiled by students of the university recalled:

The March 1965 teach-in at the University of Michigan inspired a wave of more than fifty similar teach-ins at universities around the nation and directly challenged the Johnson administrations ability to shape public opinion about the War in Vietnam. At Columbia University, just two days after the UM event, professors held an all-night teach-in attended by 2,000 students 

At UC-Berkeley, after an overflow crowd attended the initial UM-inspired teach-in, the Vietnam Day Committee organized a second outdoor event that drew 30,000 students.

The antiVietnam War movement soon outgrew its campus origins as the war intensified and U.S. deployments soared. By 1967, monster rallies and marches were held in major cities  notably a New York march that attracted an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 protesters and a San Francisco rally that filled Kezar Stadium. At the New York event, the expansion of the antiwar movement to encompass elements of the civil-rights movement that had in part inspired the early protesters was exemplified by the participation of Martin Luther King Jr., who had just made his first overtly antiwar speech at Riverside Church.

MLK Jr. speaks out against the Vietnam War. Photo: Santi Visalli/Getty Images

By then the antiwar movement was beginning to attract support from a significant number of politicians, mostly Democrats but some Republicans, who soon exceeded the tiny group in Congress who opposed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution of 1964 that committed the U.S. to the war.

The pro-Palestinian protest movement could eventually grow to this scale and breadth of support, but it hasnt happened yet.

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The fight to end American involvement in Vietnam lasted as long as the war itself; protests began in 1964, grew to include a mainstream congressional effort to cut off U.S. military aid, and continued as the South Vietnam regime collapsed in 1975. It had multiple moments of revived participation. Once such moment was Moratorium Day in October 1969, when an estimated 2 million Americans joined antiwar demonstrations once it became clear that Richard Nixon had no intention of ending the war begun by Lyndon Johnson. Another was the massive wave of protests in May 1970 when Nixon expanded the war into Cambodia; student walkouts and strikes occurred on around 900 college campuses and students were killed in Ohio and Mississippi.

Its unclear whether the pro-Palestinian protests have anything like that kind of staying power. Thats a significant issue, since the goal shared by many protesters  a fundamental shift in the power relations between Israelis and Palestinians  could be harder to execute than an end to the Vietnam War.

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Most pro-Palestinians protesters have embraced multiple demands and goals: an immediate permanent cease-fire in Gaza; termination of U.S. military assistance to Israel; and an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Campus-based protesters have also called for termination of university investments in companies operating in Israel and, in some cases, closure of academic partnerships with Israeli institutions.

If this is going to become a sustained movement rather than a scattershot series of loosely connected local protests, some clarification of tangible goals will be necessary. Some of these aims are more achievable than others. If, for example, the Biden administration and the Saudis succeed in negotiating a significant cease-fire that temporarily ends the carnage in Gaza, does that take the wind of out of the sails of protesters seeking a definitive withdrawal of support for Israel? Thats unclear at this point.

For the most part, the antiVietnam War protest movement had one principal goal: the removal of U.S. military forces from Vietnam. Yes, factions of that movement expanded their goals to include such war-adjacent issues as university divestment from firms manufacturing weapons, closure of ROTC programs, draft resistance, and non-war-related issues like Black empowerment and anti-poverty efforts. But there was never much doubt that bringing the troops home was paramount.

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One of the reasons for a perception of unfocused goals in the current wave of protests stems from organizers with more radical positions and rhetoric than some of their followers. As my colleague Jonathan Chait has pointed out, two major groups helping organize pro-Palestinian protests subscribe to ideologies incompatible with mainstream support:

The main national umbrella group for campus pro-Palestinian protests is Students for Justice in Palestine. SJP takes a violent eliminationist stance toward Israel. In the wake of the October 7 terrorist attacks, it issued a celebratory statement instructing its affiliates that all Jewish Israelis are legitimate targets 

A second group that has helped organize the demonstrations at Columbia is called Within Our Lifetime. Like SJP, WOL takes an uncompromising eliminationist stance toward Israel, even calling for the abolition of zionism.

This was intermittently a problem in the antiVietnam War movement, particularly as such campus-based pioneers of protests as Students for a Democratic Society drifted into Marxist sectarianism. I vividly recall an antiwar march I attended in Atlanta in 1969 wherein the organizers (mostly from the Trotskyist Young Socialist Alliance) put Vietcong flags at either end of the march and controlled bullhorns bellowing slogans like Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh / The NLF is gonna win, referring to the communist insurgency in South Vietnam. This effectively turned a peace rally into something very different.

But over time, the extremist wing of the antiVietnam War movement went its own way, falling prey to fragmentation (the collapse of SDS into at least three factions that included the ultraviolent and Maoist Weatherman group epitomized its self-marginalization) and irrelevance. If the pro-Palestinian protest movement is to last, it needs to shed its more extreme elements.

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There was never any doubt that antiVietnam War protesters were talking about something that vitally affected Americans, even if it took them a while to get on board. 2.7 million American citizens served in the Vietnam War with 58,000 losing their lives. 1.9 million young Americans were conscripted into the military during that war. While what Americans did to the people of Indochina wasnt often called genocide, millions of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians perished at the hands of the U.S. and its allies, and the humanitarian disaster did increasingly trouble the consciences of many people not directly affected by the conflict. As many military leaders and reactionary politicians bitterly argued for decades, U.S. public opinion eventually ended the Vietnam War.

While the rise in sympathy for Palestinians and support for some sort of cease-fire has been palpable as deaths soar in Gaza, it remains unclear how invested Americans are in any sort of policy change toward the conflict. Yes, unhappiness with Joe Bidens leadership in this area is a real political problem for him, but much of the unhappiness stems from conservatives (particularly conservative Evangelicals) who want stronger support for Israel. And the effort to make this issue an existential threat to Bidens renomination during the 2024 Democratic primaries failed in contrast to the major role played by antiVietnam War sentiment in sidelining LBJ in 1968.

Making Gaza a crucial issue in American politics grows more challenging to the extent protesters choose more radical goals, like a single secular (i.e., non-Zionist) Palestinian state. And at the same time, more modest goals could undermine the strength and unity of the protest movement if protesters reject half-measures (much as antiVietnam War protesters rejected Vietnamization, phony peace talks, and other steps that prolonged the war).

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Arguably, the many sacrifices and eventual triumph of antiVietnam War protesters were more than offset by a conservative backlash that treated the disorder and alleged lack of patriotism associated with protests as a social malady to be remedied with heavy-handed repression. In the 1968 presidential election, Richard Nixon and George Wallace, the two candidates who engaged in law-and-order rhetoric and often espoused more violent steps to win the war, won 57 percent of the national popular vote. Other successful conservative politicians like Ronald Reagan made crackdowns on coddled student protesters a signature issue.

Today, Donald Trump and other Republicans are eagerly making pro-Palestinian protests part of a law-and-order message aimed at both student protesters and the elite faculty and administrators who are allegedly encouraging them. If protesters deliberately or inadvertently help Trump get back into the White House, they may soon encounter a U.S. administration that makes Genocide Joe Bidens look like an oasis of pacific benevolence.
Cant right-wing Republicans just get along? Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag

Its been obvious for a while now that Marjorie Taylor Greenes threat to take down Speaker Mike Johnson via a motion to vacate the chair  the same device that ejected MTGs close friend Kevin McCarthy last fall  isnt going to succeed. Only two House Republicans, notorious extremists Thomas Massie and Paul Gosar, have signed on to MTGs draft motion to get rid of Johnson in retaliation for his repeated cooperation with Democrats on spending and foreign-aid measures. And a host of other House Freedom Caucus types are on record making it clear they arent interested in another bloodbath so close to the November elections, where the GOPs tiny majority is at stake.

Beyond her lack of Republican support, House Democrats made it clear last week that they will loan some votes to Johnson if he needs them to turn back MTGs challenge, as Axios reported:

We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes Motion to Vacate the Chair, [House Democratic Leader Hakeem] Jeffries and his deputies, Reps. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), said in a statement.

If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed, they said.

On top of everything else, MTGs boss, Donald Trump, has sent multiple signals that hes got Johnsons back and would prefer that House Republicans stop bickering and devote their energies to securing his return to the White House. So shes waving a gun at the Speaker with no live ammunition in the chamber (metaphorically  though she has gotten herself in trouble for brandishing firearms on social media).

Yet Johnson has been meeting with Greene this week, creating the impression that hes worried about her threats and is considering concessions to some of her demands for a more systematically confrontational posture toward the hated opposition. Why is he giving her a degree of credibility she hasnt earned?

Its mostly MAGA theater, Punchbowl News suggests:

The reality is that much of this is cosplay for all of the players involved. Johnson is going to survive a motion to vacate with Democrats voting to table, so the threat from Greene, Massie and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) is mostly theater. But Johnson would certainly like to be spared the indignity of having to rely on House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to rescue his speakership.

It costs Johnson very little to hear Greene and Massie out and try to help them understand the situation hes in. With little left to do this year, its clear Johnson would prefer to not have to deal with a motion to vacate  even if he can beat it.

Acceding to Greenes demands that he sponsor no further aid to Ukraine and stop allowing Democrats to control federal spending levels would also be pretty easy for Johnson since those horses are far out of the barn for the current session of Congress. Yes, there could be another collision on spending at the end of the fiscal year in October, but by then the general election will be so near that it will be in everyones interest to punt the fight beyond Election Day and see who has the most marbles then. More generally, Greene and her allies have already lost the intracaucus battle to Johnson this year, so telling them hell straighten up and fly right in the future is a symbolic concession he can afford.

As for MTG herself, she lives for media attention rather than legislative accomplishments. And if she can secure some sort of deal with Johnson, however empty or symbolic, it will spare her the humiliation of badly losing a floor vote on a motion to vacate while letting her claim a partial victory and satisfy Trump that shes not blowing up the House GOP. But lets not pretend shes got Johnson on the ropes. Hell survive with or without her cooperation, and his ultimate fate will likely be determined by the 2024 voters who will leave the gavel in his hands or give it to Jeffries.
Best in Class The Strategists carefully chosen and rigorously vetted flagship shopping guides. Learn about our methodology here, and find all our Best in Class guides here. Photo: Marcus McDonald

Making toast is a simple pursuit  but a task with so few steps also means that one wrong move, and the whole thing is in the garbage. The bread and toppings vary from day to day, of course, but theres one decision that, more or less, youre stuck with: the actual appliance you use.

And trust me: The toaster you use does make a difference. (Ive been stuck with plenty of dinky toasters in apartments past.) The market is full of options that, beyond aesthetics and the number of slots, are difficult to distinguish between. Some offer a small range of browning, some a very wide one. (Though that doesnt necessarily tell you whats better.) Certain ones are built compactly, while others can accommodate four pieces of bread at a time. Several have additional features that may or may not be useful to you (like buttons that let you toast just a little longer, or ones that are meant specifically to defrost frozen slices). And then theres the issue of: If youre going to buy a toaster, should you just buy a toaster oven? (Ive included a few standouts on this list, just in case the answer is yes, though I get even more detailed in my specific guide to those here.)

To help you figure out which toaster is best for you, 16 toast snobs offered their own favorites, which Ive detailed below. And to make the whole endeavor even more thorough, Ive tested some out myself, as well as consulted fellow Strategist writer Ambar Pardilla who worked on a previous version of this story and is perhaps the only person on staff who has tried out more models than me. And while toaster ovens fall into a slightly different category, Ive included a few of my favorites from that guide below. If you happen to be shopping for other countertop appliances, check out my roundups of the best electric kettles, coffee makers, and blenders, too.

Update on August 16, 2024: Updated prices and checked stock for all products.

What were looking for Number of slots Most toasters on this list come with options for either two or four slots. In every case, Ive featured the lower (and therefore cheaper) number but noted when you can buy a larger-capacity version. (The exception is one particularly slim pick that has only one slot.) For toaster ovens, Ive noted how many standard-size pieces of sandwich bread each one fits. Style of slots What varies more from toaster to toaster is the width and length of the slots (which is why your go-to slice might fit into one toaster but stick out of another). In the cases where the slots are standard size, I say so. Otherwise, two industry-standard terms come up. Though theyre not officially regulated, long slot refers to slots that are generally at least 14 inches across and good for oblong artisan loaves, and extra-wide slots refers to slots that are generally 1.5 inches across and accommodating to thicker bread cuts and bagels. Settings Most toasters indicate brownness level by number. While these vary from model to model (what is a 3 to one toaster might look like a 5 to another), its still a somewhat useful indicator of how many options you have. For this, Ive noted how many levels of doneness a toaster offers, as well as whether there are any specific adjacent functions. Size The most basic requirement of any countertop appliance is that it fits. I know some people put them away when not in use, too  but either way, dimensions matter. Here, Ive listed the width, length, and height of each.

Best toaster overall

KitchenAid 2-Slice Toaster with Manual Lift Lever $60 $60 Number of slots: Two (or a four-slice version) | Style of slots: Extra-wide | Settings: Five (plus bagel and cancel) | Size: 11.25x 10.6 x 6.3 Since Ive added this toaster to my kitchen, Ive been quite impressed. Its not the sleekest-looking one Ive tried out (I used to own a Smeg, and have tested out the Balmuda steam oven, too, both of which happen to be particularly attractive and which I highlight below). But it is the best (and, I should note, its not at all ugly). The extra-wide slots work just as well for presliced bread as they do for thicker pieces I cut myself, and they fit bagels, too, for which theres a dedicated setting. Most imperative to me: It browns bread incredibly evenly  both across the slices and on both sides (a function that, for some reason, many toasters seem to fail at). Its also very fast, never taking more than a couple of minutes to pop. There are five browning levels, and I find a two or three delivers the results I want. Pardilla has owned the KitchenAid for over a year and loves it, too. She makes toast in it multiple times a week, and has put it through the wringer at big family brunches where shes made many rounds in a row. The high-lift lever means Im able to delicately take toast from the top without having to play the saddest game of hot potato, she says. Plus, it lets out an assertive beep when toast is ready  so I never have to chew through cold toast because I couldnt hear a ding. $60 at Wayfair Buy $55 at Amazon Buy

Best less expensive toaster overall

Black + Decker Rapid Toast 2-Slice Toaster $38 $40 now 5% off $38 Number of slots: Two | Style of slots: Extra-wide | Settings: Seven (plus frozen, bagel, and cancel) | Size: 10.25 x 8 x 7 The Black + Decker Rapid Toast is quite cheap, has the slimmest profile of any on this list, and comes with only basic settings  making it a good option for those who dont want to spend too much, need something space-saving, and dont require a bunch of bells and whistles. But its main selling point is that its fast (no small deal for busy weekday mornings and quick-fix snacks). Pardilla says on the first setting, her slices went in and came out before she could blink (but were still a bit pale for her taste). The second setting gave her browner edges. And the third produced a golden center. She notes that while the slots may look small at first glance, they are actually extra wide with self-centering guides to ensure an even toasting on both sides. Alexandra Shytsman of The New Baguette has the older, similarly oblong-shaped version with the same extra lift lever, which helps her grab English muffins without using tongs. The only caveat is that the crumb catcher on the bottom has to be pried off  pulled sideways, then lifted up. This takes a little elbow grease, Pardilla says, but not so much so as to be a problem. You get the hang of it after a couple of tries. $38 at Amazon Buy $35 at The Home Depot Buy

Best long-slot toaster

Best toaster with extra-wide slots

Breville The Toast Select Luxe $200 Number of slots: Two | Style of slots: Extra-wide | Settings: Six (plus white, wheat, bagel, waffles, pastries, English muffin, and cancel) with progress indicator | Size: 17.7 x 14.9 x 7.5 If youre after width more than length, I believe this Breville model is your best bet. It comes recommended by recipe developer and cookbook author Anna Stockwell, who says the slots allow plenty of room for bagels and thick slices of sourdough. (The toaster even boasts settings for other thick specimens, like English muffins and waffles.) Still, Stockwells favorite function is frozen, as she keeps her gluten-free bread fresh in the freezer, and the toaster accounts for defrosting without sacrificing toastiness. And it gets brownie points for aesthetics, which Stockwell describes as retro-chic. $200 at Williams Sonoma Buy $200 at Breville Buy

Best less expensive toaster with extra-wide slots

Best high-design toaster

Smeg 2-Slice Toaster From $200 From $200 Number of slots: Two (or a four-slice version) | Style of slots: Standard | Settings: Six (plus bagel, cancel, defrost, and reheat) | Size: 12.25 x 7.75 x 7.75 Ill be honest: Ive owned this toaster for a couple of years, and though I like it totally fine, I dont necessarily think its worth the very steep cost. (That being said, I have yet to test out the similarly priced Breville options myself, which Ill be doing soon.) Still, the Smeg is popular: Its a staple on wedding registries and new-homeowner wish lists, and you can spot it on the kitchen countertops of celebrities like Saturday Night Lives Chloe Fineman and Food Network star Molly Yeh. For that reason, Im including it here  both with praise from other experts and my own pros and cons, so you can assess for yourself. Ill start with the good: As with all Smeg products, this appliance looks particularly nice and comes in an impressive range of colors (thats the main reason I bought it in the first place, and in case youre curious, I went with the white to give my very brown kitchen some much-needed brightness). It also performed consistently over the more than two years I used it regularly. (Similarly, writer and content creator Carrie Carrollo has had hers for over three years now with no issues.) I like the crumb tray, which removes easily with a slight push inwards so that it pops out and cleans up beautifully. I also find the frozen button works well: It manages to defrost and crisp without taking ages to do so. My main qualm is that theres a slight divot around the top of the toaster that catches all manner of crumbs and seeds. After a few sessions, it ends up looking dirty, and I have to use a toothpick to clean it out. (Pardilla had the same issue in her testing of the four-slice version.) I also find it toasts one side a bit darker than the other, no matter the type of bread I use. From $200 at Williams Sonoma Buy

Best toaster oven

Breville Smart Oven Pro $270 Number of slots: None, but fits up to six slices | Style of slots: No slots | Settings: Seven (plus bagel, bake, roast, broil, pizza, cookies, reheat, warm) | Size: 16 x 13.5 x 8.75 Breville currently offers eight different versions of toaster ovens  but this was the one that came up most among experts I talked to. While any is likely to be a good bet (and a couple of others were specifically recommended, too) the original Smart Oven is a reliable classic. In my own testing, I found it preheats in a matter of minutes and thanks to the removable racks and stainless steel interior, is easy to wipe down clean. (Celia Lee, pastry chef at New York Citys NARO, expressed the same sentiment.) The functions are simple to control: It has a dial to choose temperature, another one for time, and a third to cycle through the different settings (bake, broil, and the like). Perhaps most impressively, it bakes, broils, and toasts evenly, without hot spots. Recipe developer and newsletter author Caroline Chambers even used hers to create and test dishes in place of a full-size oven for two years. It cooks things fast and efficiently, she says. For her part, recipe developer and cookbook author Jocelyn Delk Adams notes the even heat distribution, too, which she says works just as well for making uniformly colored toast (like she makes every morning) as it does for roasting a few salmon filets for dinner. She also likes it for reheating food, especially when she wants something to maintain its original crispiness, like fritters or pizza. It can fit up to six pieces of square sandwich bread (and four of larger cuts). You select the darkness on a scale from one to seven and also tell the machine how many slices are inside to help it regulate where its emitting heat (this is controlled by the time dial). The oven shows a minute and second countdown so you know exactly when your toast will be ready (even more specific than the progress bars on some of the models above). $270 at Williams Sonoma Buy $270 at Crate and Barrel Buy

Photo: Emma Wartzman

Best less expensive toaster oven

Hamilton Beach 31142 Toaster Oven $80 $80 Number of slots: None, but fits up to four slices | Style of slots: No slots | Settings: Three (plus bake, broil, bagel, keep warm) | Size: 16.4 x 12.2 x 9.6 The Hamilton Beach is a very simple model. It only has three toast settings  light, medium, and dark  but recipe developer and cookbook author Jessie Sheehan considers this a plus. Otherwise, there are too many choices and I get overwhelmed, she says. Sometimes less is more. It preheats in minutes and has solid heat distribution, too. Beyond toast, there are only a few other functions: bagel, broil, keep warm, and bake. She uses that last option to reheat leftovers, bake treats, and roast small batches of ingredients like nuts and coconut flakes. Theres absolutely nothing sexy about it, and yet it is a workhorse that has never failed me, she says. $80 at Wayfair Buy $65 at Amazon Buy

Best steam toaster oven

Balmuda The Toaster Oven $299 now 20% off From $239 Number of slots: None, but fits up to two slices | Style of slots: No slots | Settings: 15 (plus 350-, 400-, and 450-degree bake, sandwich bread, artisan bread, pizza, pastry) | Size: 14.1 x 12.6 x 8.2 A steam toaster oven differs from a regular toaster oven in that you add water before you toast. This generates steam as it heats, keeping bread and pastries super moist, pillowy, and soft on the inside, even as they crisp on the outside. In the case of this Balmuda, the water is measured with a tiny cup (which is included with the toaster oven) via a small chamber at the top. It truly works  especially, Ive found, in reviving leftovers like pizza, reheating foods like empanadas, and toasting bread like pita where in other scenarios, the center gets too crunchy. The machine has several settings for different types of breads and pastries, as well as a few exact degrees (350, 400, and 450) for baking other types of food, and then a dial for choosing the amount of time. Food writer and editor Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner says the steam effect re-creates the texture of just-baked bread, and recipe developer and cookbook author Samah Dada calls it a refresher for the way the steam breathes new life into days-old baked goods. Pardilla loves it for foods other than toast, too. You get the flakiest pastries  that fluffiness of a croissant  and grilled cheese with the pulliest cheeses, like those Hubba Bubba commercials. she says. To my mind, there are two notable downsides worth mentioning (though they may not be deal breakers for you, depending on how you plan to use it): Toast takes several minutes longer than a traditional toaster oven to crisp up, and the oven doesnt include a broil setting  one function I particularly like. From $239 at Amazon Buy $299 at Bloomingdale's Buy

Photo: Emma Wartzman

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Best in Class The Strategists carefully chosen and rigorously vetted flagship shopping guides. Learn about our methodology here, and find all our Best in Class guides here. Photo: Marcus McDonald

A couple of years ago, I purchased my first cordless water flosser for the convenience of using it in the shower. It was much easier to add to my daily routine and much harder to skip on those days I was feeling especially lazy. Since taking on this story and becoming more of a water-flosser devotee, Ive wondered if the compact version is still the best, especially with options ranging from countertop flossers to others that double as toothbrushes. So I spoke with dentists about their picks for the best water flossers that fit varying needs and budgets, and I tested models myself.

When shopping for one, the one thing to look for is the American Dental Association (ADA)s seal of acceptance. Using a water flosser with the seal of acceptance has been proven to be as effective, if not more effective, than traditional flossing at removing plaque between teeth, says Dr. Jill Lasky of Lasky Pediatric Dental in Studio City, California. While Waterpik used to be the only brand on our list, other brands like Sonicare and Quip have recently gotten the stamp of approval from the ADA. Still, Waterpik is so ubiquitous that the brand is to water flossers what Kleenex is to tissues, says Brooklyn-based dentist Dr. Elliot Eskenazi.

Before we get to our expert-recommended water flossers, heres a little instruction on how to use one, since theres a bit of a learning curve, dentist Dr. Samantha Rawdin says. You want to close your lips slightly around the tip and lean over the sink so water doesnt go everywhere, she says. Then youll want to direct the tip down toward the gums and go in a scalloped motion along the gumline of each tooth on both the inside and outside. Dr. Elisa Mello of NYC Smile Design also emphasizes water flossing at night, when theres reduced salivary flow, to prevent bacteria from feeding off anything left in your mouth.

Now that youre all set with the proper technique, read on to learn more about the criteria we considered and the best water flossers, from countertop models to travel-friendly options.

Update on September 23, 2024: Updated prices and checked stock for all products.

What were looking for Pressure settings Multiple pressure settings are an important feature, because gum sensitivity and the spaces between peoples teeth can vary so much. The settings are based on different levels of water pressure, which is measured in psi. Each machine has a different pressure range, with most starting at 10 psi and going up as high as 100 psi. You want really strong water power to push as much food and debris off of the tooth structure as possible, says Dr. Pia Lieb, founder of Cosmetic Dentistry Center NYC. The larger the range, and the more settings there are, the more flexibility you have if youre not sure yet what your teeth can handle or if multiple household members are sharing the same machine. Countertop vs. cordless Contrary to most modern pieces of technology, the preference when it comes to water flossers is actually for a non-portable plug-in model that sits on your countertop. Dr. Siama Muhammad of Brooklyn Oak Dental Care prefers the corded version because its more powerful. It obviously has its cons, though. You cant travel with it; it takes up a lot of countertop space; and you cant use it in the shower. Personally, I prefer a compact model, since I have limited space, and I like the convenience of using it in the shower. Theyre also lighter and easier to hold, which makes them great for people with dexterity issues. The downside with cordless models is that they may not have as many pressure settings or power as the corded models. Water-tank size The size of the water tank is also something to consider. Running your water flosser long enough to get in between each tooth requires a lot of water, and its ideal if you dont have to fill it up before you finish. This requires a significantly large water tank. Countertop models shine again here, because they are large and bulky but hold more water than a cordless version you can take anywhere. The largest tank on our list has a 22-ounce capacity, and that holds enough water to run for 90 seconds. Built-in timer Since water flossing is akin to regular flossing, theres no ADA-recommended time like there is with brushing your teeth. Its more about technique and getting in between each tooth, no matter how long that takes. That being said, Waterpik, the industry standard, recommends using it for one minute. Some models have a built-in timer, while others frankly dont have water tanks large enough to run longer than the recommended time, and those you can turn on and off on your own. Rotating tip In addition to multiple attachments, some water flossers also have a 360-degree rotating tip. This allows you to reach every part of your mouth with ease. With a stationary tip, youll have to do your best to angle the flosser in various directions.

Best water flosser overall

Waterpik Aquarius Water Flosser $74 $100 now 26% off $74 Pressure settings: ten settings | Countertop or cordless: Countertop | Water-tank size: 22 ounces | Timer: one-minute timer with 30-second pacer | Rotating tip: 360-degree tip The Waterpik Aquarius was recommended by six dentists I spoke to. When I tested it for myself, I was put off by the amount of counter space it takes up since I have a fairly small sink. But if thats not an issue for you or if youre willing to sacrifice some space, there are plenty of reasons the Aquarius is a clear standout. The large 22-ounce water tank and timer made my experience a lot easier than using more compact Waterpiks. I never had to refill the tank in the middle of flossing, since it allows water to run for up to 90 seconds. And I never doubted if I had flossed long enough with the Waterpik-recommended one-minute timer. I also found it extremely easy to maneuver since its tip is made with 360-degree rotation and the water control is right on the handle. While my gums arent particularly sensitive, the Aquariuss lowest setting is extremely gentle for those who do have sensitivities. And its highest setting has a lot of power, which I knew could blast away any lingering plaque. Dr. Leib notes it has the strongest engine on the market, which you want to push as much food and debris off of teeth as possible, and its ten pressure settings range from ten to 100 psi. I only used the classic tip during my testing, and the set comes with two more replacement classic tips as well as four other specialty tips, including ones specifically for people with braces, periodontal pockets, and other hardware that can be hard to clean around, making it a great option for anyone with dental work. The handle rotation also provides greater accessibility to those hard-to-reach places. $74 at Amazon Buy $74 at Amazon Buy

Flossing with the Waterpik Aquarius. Photo: Arielle Ava

Best compact countertop water flosser

Waterpik Nano Plus Water Flosser $60 $60 Pressure settings: five settings | Countertop or cordless: Countertop | Water-tank size: 15 ounces | Timer: No timer | Rotating tip: No 360-degree tip Think of this model as the mini-Aquarius. Its still a corded countertop model, meaning its powerful, but it doesnt take up as much room as the option above. Its smaller and its quite user-friendly, says Dr. Rozenberg. Its ideal for small bathrooms, especially in the city. The Nano Plus doesnt have all the same specs as the Aquarius, though. Its got half the number of pressure settings but with a similar psi range from 10 to 80, so there is still a lot of room for personalization. It has a smaller water tank, but it still holds enough for a 60-second run time  which will be a good indicator because this model does not have a built-in timer. It also doesnt rotate, but it does come with a replacement tip, one for braces, and one for implants and other restorative work to help you navigate even better. $60 at Amazon Buy $46 at Walmart Buy

Best cordless water flosser

Waterpik Cordless Advanced Water Flosser $80 $100 now 20% off $80 Pressure settings: three settings | Countertop or cordless: Cordless | Water-tank size: 7 ounces | Timer: No timer | Rotating tip: 360-degree tip If youre really tight on counter space, this compact cordless model is a space saver. I use one while showering and store it under the sink, where its small base  measuring just under three inches  takes up little room. The only downside may be that to get more counter space, you sacrifice a large tank. The seven-ounce container holds enough for only 45 seconds of flossing, so you may have to refill before you finish. (I rarely have to, but on the occasions I do, I just fill it back up while showering.) Its also important to note that its three pressure settings range between 45 and 75 psi, so its more limited than the best overall pick and other flossers on this list. Three experts I spoke to recommended it as well. Dr. Rashmi Ambewadikar of Astoria Smiles Pediatric Dentistry likes that its compact and rechargeable and has easy-to-find replacement tips. Dr. Chern adds its a very easy-to-hold model for people with dexterity issues. Its also a great option for travel since it weighs less than a pound, comes with a travel bag and case for its four tips, and has a battery life thats one of the best on the market, says Dr. Greg Grobmyer, a certified dental surgeon. $80 at Amazon Buy $80 at Amazon Buy

Best water flosser for travel

Waterpik Cordless Slide Water Flosser From $74 $90 now 18% off From $74 Pressure settings: three settings | Countertop or cordless: Cordless | Water-tank size: 7 ounces | Timer: No timer | Rotating tip: No 360-degree tip Waterpiks newest addition  the Cordless Slide  is even more travel friendly than the Cordless Advanced. As its name suggests, you can slide part of the base down into the tank, decreasing its height by about half. (Just be sure the tank is completely empty when you do so.) When I tried packing it in my Dopp kit, it took up even less space than the Cordless Advanced flosser, especially after I removed the tip and stored it in a bag. It has the same tank size and battery life as the above model and comes with a USB-CtoUSB-A cable for recharging. The only other main difference is its pressure settings. Theres a bit of a learning curve to change settings since this model has only one button; you just quickly press it twice to switch. And the three pressure settings range between 50 and 80 psi, instead of 45 and 75. From $74 at Amazon Buy $80 at Best Buy Buy

Photo: Arielle Avila

Best water flosser (thats also a toothbrush)

Waterpik Sonic-Fusion 2.0 Toothbrush and Water Flosser Combo-In-One $176 $200 now 12% off $176 Pressure settings: ten settings | Countertop or cordless: Countertop | Water-tank size: 16 ounces | Timer: two-minute timer with 30-second pacer | Rotating tip: No 360-degree tip Another way to clear off some counter space is to combine your brushing and flossing into one device so you dont have to set up both a Waterpik and electric toothbrush. The Waterpik Sonic-Fusion combines a water flosser and sonic toothbrush. The brush head has soft bristles as well as a hole for pressurized water to stream out of. The flosser has ten different pressure settings ranging from 10 to 100 psi just like the Aquarius; the 16-ounce tank holds enough water for 60 seconds of flossing; and while its a countertop model, the brush detaches and can be used on the go. The built-in two-minute timer is for the toothbrush function, which has two different speed settings. If the combination seems like a lot, This product switches from brushing to flossing to both, says Dr. Jacqueline Fulop-Goodling, an orthodontist at New Yorks Dr. Smiles. She adds, It removes the harmful bacteria and debris deep between teeth and below the gumline that traditional brushing and dental floss cant reach. Fulop-Goodling is one of nine experts who recommended it. Dr. Mello uses it herself and tells us its one of the best ways to keep your teeth clean in between dentist appointments. $176 at Amazon Buy $160 at Best Buy Buy

Best less expensive water flosser (thats also a toothbrush)

Waterpik Complete Care 5.0 Flosser + Sonic Toothbrush System $120 $120 Photo: retailer Pressure settings: ten settings | Countertop or cordless: Countertop | Water-tank size: 22 ounces | Timer: two-minute timer with 30-second pacer | Rotating tip: No 360-degree tip If youre looking to save some money, Dr. Mello recommends this two-in-one from Waterpik for a little over $100. While the Sonic-Fusion is a brushwater flosser combo in one head, this model separates the devices while maintaining many of the same controls and features. The flosser has ten different pressure settings, ranging from 10 to 100 psi, and the toothbrush has three sonic modes (one more than the Sonic-Fusion). The 22-ounce tank holds enough water to run for 90 seconds. However, unlike other flossers, this one doesnt have a built-in timer. $120 at Best Buy Buy $120 at Kohl's Buy

Best water flosser for kids and adults with sensitive gums

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Omgosh yikes. Hope the person pulls through.



I'm sure Drake has cameras so in theory they should be able to get some evidence

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it was a security guard

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Im sure that what theyre trying to imply* but as the clip in the Twitter post itself said, the location of his home is well known and they even gave out the full ass address too



Edited at 2024-05-07 03:24 pm (UTC)

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its also really common for there to be violence around drake as a result of his dealings

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For sure. I think most people in Toronto know where he lives. This is the most upscale neighbourhood in all of Toronto lined with mansions.

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Everyone in Toronto knows he lives on the Bridle Path tbh. He lives next door to my sister's high school friend's family and then they wanted to move and he bought their property too.

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Drake shooting his ghostwriters after the reception to The Heart Part 6, sad.

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Hell for you.

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LMAO

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that shit is so bad i'm convinced aubrey penned it himself (for once)

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New reporting from CBC News on the victim, who may have been a security guard at Drakes home: https://t.co/rIFaxeeIRm pic.twitter.com/EOY8CVkFjx  philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 7, 2024

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Oof that sounds really fucking brutal.

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ughhhh terrible

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this escalated quickly

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Twitter and TikTok folks are gonna run wild with this, but I hope that everyone keeps a level head while details unfold. Not wishing death on anyone because shit is crazy as it is. Let the first responders and medical teams treat this for what it is, let the media blitz settle and say their piece, and let us all regroup once shit is somewhat reasonable.



But in general: Jesus fucking christ

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Great song

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This is awful. :(

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I really didnt think it would get to this. Part of me wonders if someone else hes upset is using this public beef as cover, though. If Drake is involved in half of what Kendrick alleges, then he could have many targets on his back.

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Apparently the Weeknd's manager's house was shot up recently too, so could be (or maybe it's all part of the same beef now)

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True, or the security guard could have been the target. It's too early to know much about the events.

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I mean, the other day fans were flying out to shoot other fans. How do you not expect this to happen?

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Probably because I didnt know that? Im not that invested in it.

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I didnt want it to go this way but the way things were getting intense, fans included, I feared someone may get hurt. It may not be related but

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This took a turn...

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So now we have West Coast vs. North Coast rap beef?

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Jesus how scary.

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An international team including researchers from the University of Wurzburg has succeeded in creating a special state of superconductivity. The discovery could advance the development of quantum computers.

The paper discussing the research has been published in Nature Physics titled Magnetically tunable supercurrent in a dilute magnetic topological insulator based Josephson junctions.

Superconductors are materials that can conduct electricity without electrical resistance  making them the ideal base material for electronic components in MRI machines, magnetic levitation trains and even particle accelerators. However, conventional superconductors are easily disturbed by magnetism. An international group of researchers has now succeeded in building a hybrid device consisting of a stable proximitized-superconductor enhanced by magnetism and whose function can be specifically controlled.

Sample holder for measurements at millikelvin (-273 C). Image Credit: Mandal/JMU, seitlich erweitert mit Firefly. University of Wurzburg. Click the press release link for the largest view.

They combined the superconductor with a special semiconductor material known as a topological insulator. Topological insulators are materials that conduct electricity on their surface but not inside. This is due to their unique topological structure, i.e. the special arrangement of the electrons, explained Professor Charles Gould, a physicist at the Institute for Topological Insulators at the University of Wurzburg (JMU). The exciting thing is that we can equip topological insulators with magnetic atoms so that they can be controlled by a magnet.

The superconductors and topological insulators were coupled to form a so-called Josephson junction, a connection between two superconductors separated by a thin layer of non-superconducting material. This allowed us to combine the properties of superconductivity and semiconductors, said Gould. So we combine the advantages of a superconductor with the controllability of the topological insulator. Using an external magnetic field, we can now precisely control the superconducting properties. This is a true breakthrough in quantum physics!

Superconductivity Meets Magnetism

The special combination creates an exotic state in which superconductivity and magnetism are combined  normally these are opposite phenomena that rarely coexist. This is known as the proximity-induced Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (p-FFLO) state. The new superconductor with a control function could be important for practical applications, such as the development of quantum computers. Unlike conventional computers, quantum computers are based not on bits but on quantum bits (qubits), which can assume not just two but several states simultaneously.

The problem is that quantum bits are currently very unstable because they are extremely sensitive to external influences, such as electric or magnetic fields, explained physicist Gould. Our discovery could help stabilize quantum bits so that they can be used in quantum computers in the future.

International Quantum Research Team

The experimental research was carried out by a team from the Chair of Experimental Physics III of Professor Laurens W. Molenkamp in Wurzburg. It was carried out in close collaboration with theoretical experts from the group of Professor F. Sebastian Bergeret of the Centre for Materials Physics (CFM) in San Sebastian, Spain, and Professor Teun M. Klapwijk of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

The international research group was funded by the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat (Complexity and Topology in Quantum Materials), the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Free State of Bavaria, the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI), the European research programme Horizon 2020 and the EU ERC Advanced Grant Programme.

**

This does answer in part one of the questions that interested observers have had for years about the natural magnetic field around an energized superconductor. Its not much of a surprise that an intrusive magnetic field would wreak some havoc on a super conductor. Yet, its also quite a surprise that the prospective technology is already coming into focus.

One day, it looks like the temperature issue will be the only major one left.

By Brian Westenhaus via New Energy and Fuel

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Oil prices remained under pressure on Tuesday morning, but Israel's decision to send troops into Rafah and Saudi Arabia's aggressive pricing of its June cargos should help to stop oil prices from falling.

- International organizations are increasingly sounding the tocsin on shrinking crude inventories, with the IEA indicating Q2 2024 would see demand surpass supply by a whopping 900,000 b/d, the first two consecutive negative quarters since late 2021.

- With OPEC+ curbing supply by means of Saudi Arabias and Russias voluntary production cuts, the end of refinery maintenance in Europe and Asia as well as recovering manufacturing activity in both the US and China would suggest an increase in fuel use.

- According to Kpler, Chinese crude inventories marked a two-year low at the beginning of April and even though they have built since then, at 944 million barrels they are some 50 million barrels lower than a year ago.

- With US refining back to running close to full capacity at 15.8 million b/d, US crude inventories should start their seasonal descent soon, currently trending around 460 million barrels, shot-for-shot replicating last years levels.

Market Movers

- Colombias national oil company Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) is preparing to participate in the Andean countrys first-ever offshore wind auction, looking for a bid partner that would have the technical experience.

- Energy major Shell (LON:SHEL) is negotiating a sale of its gas station business in Malaysia, the second-largest in the country, to Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL:2222) in a deal worth around $1 billion.

- Chinese oil giant Sinopec (SHA:600028) is reportedly in talks with Pembina Pipeline Corp. to buy a stake in Canadas Cedar LNG project and guarantee a 1.5 mtpa offtake agreement from the facility, i.e. half its production capacity.

Tuesday, May 05, 2024

Just when it seemed that the geopolitical risk premium had all but evaporated from oil prices, Israel rejected the Egypt-brokered ceasefire proposal and its army started the long-mooted Rafah operation. The return of Middle Eastern tension and aggressive Saudi Arabian pricing for June cargoes, understood to be a harbinger of an OPEC+ production cut extension come June 1, should provide some resistance to the bearish pressure that has been building in oil markets.

Russias Oil Revenues Double Year-on-Year. Russias oil revenue more than doubled year-on-year to $11.5 billion in April, with higher crude differentials further boosted by a weakening national currency, as global insurance firms are calling the G7 oil price cap policy increasingly unenforceable.

Chevron Eyes Gulf of Mexico Output Boost. This years most prominent addition to crude output in the US Gulf of Mexico, Chevrons (NYSE:CVX) 75,000 b/d Anchor floating production unit located in the Green Canyon offshore area, is set to reach first oil by mid-year.

Indias Refining Buildout Slows Down. As Indias Modi government targets 9 million b/d of refining capacity by 2030, refiners are running into time overruns with Chennai Petroleum delaying the launch of its 180,000 b/d Nagapattinam refinery by the end of 2027.

US Natgas Prices Bounce Back from Slump. US natural gas Henry Hub futures strengthened 3% on Monday to $2.2 per mmBtu amidst a higher domestic pull on feedgas to LNG export plants, as Trains 1 and 2 of Freeport LNG in Texas returned from inspection and repairs.

China Opens Up EV Sector to Foreign Investors. The Chinese government has introduced new supportive measures to boost investment into non-fossil-fuel vehicles, removing all restrictions on foreign investment, amidst rumors that Beijing would remove traffic restrictions on Teslas EVs.

Braskem Shares Collapse on End of ADNOC Talks. According to Reuters, the national oil company of Abu Dhabi ADNOC has terminated talks to buy a controlling stake in Brazils top petrochemical producer Braskem (NYSE:BAK), sending the latters shares down some 15% in just one day.

India Wants to Buy Venezuelan Oil Despite Sanctions. Indias largest oil refiner Reliance Industries has resubmitted a request to the US Treasury for authorization to import crude from Venezuela, right after the White House granted upstream firm Maurel&Prom a 2-year waiver.

European Majors Flock to Namibias Waters. Azule Energy, a joint venture of oil majors BP (NYSE:BP) and ENI (BIT:ENI), farmed into Namibias offshore Orange Basin, signing up for a 42.5% stake in Block 2914A in the immediate vicinity of the recent multi-billion-barrel Mopane find.

Nigeria Hints at Easier Exit for Majors. Nigerias disgruntled oil producers such as ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) or Shell (LON:SHEL) would be allowed to exit the African countrys onshore fields quicker if they take responsibility for oil spills and pay up, said the countrys regulator NUPRC.

Russia Ships Fuel to North Korea. According to the White House, Russia has been silently shipping refined petroleum products to North Korea at a level higher than the US-imposed price cap, even though UN sanctions limit its imports at 500,000 barrels of refined producers a year.

Outlook for 2024 Copper Supply Downgraded. The International Copper Study Group lowered its 2024 copper supply forecast, seeing the forecasted 467,000-ton glut decrease to 162,000 tons on the heels of First Quantum shutting the Cobre Panama mine, 5% of global production.

French Oil Major Accused of Terror Negligence. French prosecutors opened an investigation against oil major TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) after survivors of the 2021 Islamic State attack on the Mozambique LNG project accused it of negligence and indirect manslaughter, saying it failed to ensure the safety of subcontractors.

China Allocates More Product Export Quotas. Chinas Ministry of Commerce has granted product export quotas to 7 state-controlled and private sector companies, allocating 14 million tons and disappointing the market as the first batch is already used at 87% and refiners want to clear their high stocks.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Both Ukraine and Moldova are expected to formally open EU accession talks in the final week of June. Several diplomats that RFE/RL spoke to on condition of anonymity are confident that a ceremonial intergovernmental conference (IGC) will be held in Brussels with the pair just before Hungary takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on July 1.

They also said they expected the negotiation frameworks with both countries to be adopted by EU member states at the same time. You would be forgiven for thinking that talks with Ukraine and Moldova had already started, recalling that EU leaders in December 2023 green-lighted the kickoff of negotiations. That, however, was just a political opening shot in a long and arduous process of accepting new members to the club in which unanimity by the 27 current member states will be required at many stages. And it is a process that both politicians and the media are rather confused about.

Deep Background: Just take the question of what actually constitutes the start of EU accession talks with an EU candidate country. Its complicated, as the answer might differ depending on who you ask. There are, in fact, three correct replies to that query. Some say it is when EU leaders say they give a green light; in other words, what happened for Ukraine and Moldova at the end of last year. Others in Brussels would argue it is when the first IGC takes place, which is what Kyiv and Chisinau are expecting at the end of next month.

But there are also officials in the EU capital who claim that the negotiations only start in earnest once the first of around 33 accession chapters (covering EU rules in everything from agriculture to foreign policy that candidates need to adopt) is officially opened. And this is not expected to happen for either Ukraine or Moldova in June, as the IGC is expected to be a ceremonial one and not what Brussels types refer to as political IGCs, in which chapters are opened or closed.

At best, this could happen sometime in 2025. And, as always, all EU member states must agree to such a move, which isnt always a cakewalk. To illustrate this, take the examples of North Macedonia and Albania. In March 2020, EU leaders decided to open talks with that Western Balkans pair, and in July 2022 they had their respective ceremonial IGCs. But they havent actually opened and/or closed any chapters yet.

The main reason for this is bilateral issues with EU member states. North Macedonia needs to change its constitution to include language on Bulgarians as a founding people. Albanias path remains blocked by Greece over a nearly yearlong spat over the imprisonment of an ethnic Greek mayor in the southern Albanian town of Himare.

So, Ukraine and Moldova would essentially move into the same category as Tirana and Skopje at the end of June: EU leaders have green-lighted the start of talks and ceremonial IGCs will have taken place, but the nitty-gritty matters of actually negotiating stuff in various policy fields are yet to take place.

Drilling Down

Why does the EU conduct these ceremonial IGCs, then? In a sense, to encourage EU hopefuls. Montenegro, for example, had one in January. This despite the fact that it had previously both opened and closed chapters and is the most advanced of all EU candidate countries in this exercise. Brussels essentially wanted to give Podgorica a tap on the shoulder, indicating that the country is slowly heading in the right direction again after a few politically turbulent years.

But the real reason is also to avoid vetoes. Hungary has made clear that it opposes Ukrainian EU membership for the moment. Budapest will reportedly be OK with lifting its veto in June for Ukraine (and by extension Moldova, as it is paired with Kyiv) because it knows full well that it doesnt mean that negotiations chapters will be opened.

It also means that Hungary doesnt have to give Ukraine any carrots during its presidency in the second half of this year. I have also heard from sources in Brussels that Ukraine is being encouraged not to make too much of a fuss over the potential IGC in June -- mainly to avoid needlessly provoking Hungary.

Budapest has on numerous occasions voiced worries about the rights of the Hungarian-speaking minority in Ukraine, and thats still an open question. When the European Commission presented so-called oral updates to EU member states on the progress made by Ukraine and Moldova so far on necessary reforms, the European Commission found that Kyiv still had not completed all necessary legislative changes pertaining to laws related to national minorities.

Several EU member states, however, believe that Ukraine has done its homework and that the European Commissions assessment is colored by Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, a Hungarian with close ties to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

This discrepancy in interpretation has meant that there wont be another European Commission assessment on Ukrainian progress (or lack thereof) in June, as it would provide Hungary with another opportunity to block. But it also means that Budapest can, of course, and probably will, use its veto further down the road if it isnt satisfied with Kyivs reforms.

And in June, Hungary will most likely also use its threat of a veto to leverage progress for some of its friends among candidate countries in the Western Balkans: Montenegro, and possibly Serbia.

The former is set to close a few accession chapters in June, and it could be that Belgrade is likely to open some. Serbia has essentially stood still on its EU path for the last few years, as several EU member states have questioned its refusal to align with EU sanctions against Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It could well be that the Russia hawks such as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have to lift their vetoes for Belgrade in order to secure an IGC for Ukraine. The Brussels horse-trading over enlargement decisions could, in other words, still be in full swing.

Brief #2: What Central And Eastern Europeans Think About NATO And The EU

What You Need To Know: On May 2, perhaps the foremost think tank in Central Europe, GlobSec, published its annual survey of political attitudes among seven Central and Eastern European countries that joined the EU 20 years ago -- the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia -- as well as Bulgaria and Romania, which became members of the club in 2007. In other words, a club of nine former Warsaw Pact members or Soviet republics that now are anchored in Western institutions and organizations and playing an increasingly prominent role in them.

Titled Globsec Trends 2024  A Brave New Region, the survey quizzed respondents in February/March about their attitudes to EU and NATO memberships of their home countries, the war in Ukraine, and relations with big powers, among other things.

Deep Background: Support for EU and NATO membership remains strong across the nine countries polled. On average, 78 percent of the respondents want their country to remain in the EU, a number similar to previous years; for NATO membership, the regional average is 81 percent -- a surge from 73 percent in 2021, likely triggered by the Russian invasion in nearby Ukraine and the appreciation of being part of a bigger military alliance.

Digging deeper into the numbers, some interesting things pop up. Only 71 percent of Czechs want to stay in the EU -- the lowest figure among the nine countries. No explanations are offered, but it might stem from Brussels-bashing ex-presidents like Vaclav Klaus and Milos Zeman or the enduring legacy of the right-wing Civic Democratic Party (ODS), for decades arguably the most influential party in the Czech Republic and a staunch member of the mildly Euroskeptic European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) political grouping in the European Parliament.

Interestingly, the highest level of support for EU membership is in Hungary with 86 percent (tied for first with Lithuania). An enigma perhaps, considering that Hungarians for over a decade have opted electorally for Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party, which are in a seemingly perpetual struggle against Brussels in many areas.

You also have Slovakia, in which 72 percent of people want to stay in the EU. That figure is still quite high, but when you consider that it was 93 percent when the country joined the bloc 20 years ago, thats quite an alarming slide and possibly something that the recently returned left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico has tapped into.

Or take Bulgaria, which is the only country of the nine in which respondents dont believe that their country has a greater influence in global affairs thanks to its EU membership; on the contrary, a whopping 73 percent of Bulgarian respondents thinks Brussels dictates what to do without Sofia having the power to influence it.

Drilling Down

Wading more deeply into the numbers, youll quickly notice that there is substantial evidence that Bulgaria and Slovakia, and to a certain extent Hungary, are proper outliers compared to the other six countries.

Twenty-seven percent of Bulgarians and 24 percent of Slovaks still express a desire for their countries to leave NATO -- much higher than in the other countries -- potentially reflecting decades of anti-Western and even Russia-friendly sentiments.

Forty-one percent of Slovaks see the United States as a threat, as do 33 percent of Bulgarians; some 44 of Slovaks and 32 percent of Bulgarians see Western society and their way of living as a threat.

What about the Russia of today, then? Again, the opinion of the trio sticks out. Twenty-seven percent of Slovaks see Russia as a strategic partner, as do 23 percent of Bulgarians and 22 percent of Hungarians; however, the numbers in all three countries have decreased considerably compared to 2021, when it was close to half. By contrast, only 3 percent of Poles and 2 percent of Lithuanians see Russia in a similarly positive light.

Thirty-four percent of Hungarians see China as a strategic partner, with Slovakia a distant second at 16 percent -- surely reflecting Budapests open courtship of Beijing in recent years. (Chinese President Xi is making Hungary one of his three stops this week on his first European trip in five years.)

In seven out of the nine countries polled, Germany was seen as the most important strategic partner, probably reflecting the economic clout of Berlin in the region. Only in Poland and Romania was the United States considered a bigger partner -- which comes as no surprise considering general pro-American sentiments and considerable U.S. military presences in the two countries.

Relations with Ukraine and opinions on the war there also reflect Bulgarias, Slovakias, and to a lesser extent Hungarys alternative views. In the former two, fewer than half of the respondents viewed Russia as the main perpetrator of war. Thirty-four percent of Bulgarians instead thought that the West provoked Russia into conflict, and 31 percent of Slovaks were of the same opinion.

Interestingly, in the entire region there is no country where the absolute majority of respondents envision Ukraine as a member of both the EU and NATO -- the stated geopolitical goal of Kyiv and something that is backed by most Ukrainians.

Forty-nine percent of Latvians and Lithuanians think Ukraine should be members of both organizations. In Estonia, 48 percent backed this, as did 40 percent of Poles and Romanians.

More worryingly for Ukraine, a full 57 percent of Hungarians think theirs should be a neutral country, as do 49 percent of Slovaks. Surprisingly, 36 percent of Czechs held the same view, with only 35 percent wanting it to be a member of both main Western alliances.

Considering that the decisions to accept members to both the EU and NATO require unanimity, the relatively low support for Ukraine among some of its neighbors can spell problems for the countrys political future.

By RFE/RL

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Almost 75 Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday expressed support for President Joe Bidens decision to pause approvals for new LNG export projects.

With our allies well-supplied by existing exports, we agree that now is the time to step back and examine the long-term impacts that additional U.S. LNG exports will have on American consumers, industries, and the environment, the Democratic Senators and Representatives wrote in a letter to President Biden, carried by Reuters.

This is an overdue opportunity to examine whether the LNG export boom creates value for the American people or, as we suspect, results in harm while primarily benefiting oil and gas companies that want to ship American LNG overseas for higher profits, says the letter led by Senators Jeffrey Merkley and Edward Markey and Representative Jared Huffman.

At the end of January, the Biden Administration said it was pausing all pending decisions on U.S. LNG export projects until the Department of Energy can update the underlying analyses for authorizations.

During the temporary pause  which is expected to affect four planned LNG export projects  DOE will carry out a new updated review on the impact of such projects on health and communities.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) and other major industry groups, including the American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC), Center for LNG (CLNG), Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), and LNG Allies, among others, slammed the Biden Administrations decision to halt export project approvals.

Moving forward with a pause on new U.S. LNG export approvals would only bolster Russian influence and undercut President Bidens own commitment to supply our allies with reliable energy, undermining American credibility and threatening American jobs, the groups have written in a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Separately, in a legal filing submitted to DOE, API has argued the pause is unlawful, violating both the Natural Gas Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, and that it erodes Americas energy advantage by threatening U.S. jobs, national security and environmental progress.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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President Biden will use crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve should the need arise, energy adviser Amos Hochstein has said, noting there was enough oil in the reserve.

"We have been replenishing into the SPR for the last several months. I think we have sufficient supply in the SPR to address any kind of concern in the economy if we need it," Hochstein said, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference, as quoted by Reuters.

The U.S. saw the stockpiles of crude oil in the SPR fall from 638 million barrels at President Joe Bidens inauguration to just 347 million barrels by the summer of 2023 as the administration tried to bring down gasoline prices for consumers by releasing over 180 million barrels from the SPR.

Recently, talk has restarted about the possibility of using the SPR to bring down retail fuel prices in case the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalates, leading to higher oil prices and, consequently, higher gasoline and diesel prices for U.S. drivers.

Since rising fuel prices are the last thing a president running for a second term wants to experience in an election year, SPR releases were seen by many as the most likely course of action. This, in turn, prompted questions about whether there is enough oil in the SPR since the federal governments replenishment efforts have been quite sporadic due to prices. Several offers for the purchase of 3 million barrels have been canceled already because prices got too high for the Department of Energy, which had set itself a ceiling of $79 per barrel.

As of January, the DoE had bought back some 32.3 million barrels out of the more than 180 million barrels that were released in 2022. In addition to those volumes, the Department of Energy is getting back some 4 million barrels that were lent to energy companies. The volume in the SPR as of January was about 364 million barrels.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The OPEC+ group is still studying whether to raise oil production but it would act on supply if necessary, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday.

The possibility to raise supply is still being reviewed, Russias top oilman said, as carried by Russian news agency Interfax.

It always depends on the current situation, the balance of supply and demand, Novak said.

Everything is being analyzed. Right now, you dont need to predict anything, you just need to see how the market feels, he said.

Novak added that OPEC+ participants are constantly monitoring the situation, and this is our plan for the second quarter, we agreed with our colleagues that these voluntary cuts can be adjusted to boost supply if necessary.

This is a constant process, Novak stressed.

The OPEC+ group is meeting on June 1 to decide how to proceed with the current production cuts in the second half of the year. The current supply agreement which removes around 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) off the market now including Saudi Arabias 1 million voluntary cut, expires at the end of June.

As of the end of last week, OPEC+ had yet to start formal talks on the alliances production policy, sources from producers part of the deal told Reuters.

If oil demand fails to accelerate, the group could keep the oil production cuts in place, the sources added.

We think there's a good chance that OPEC+ will extend beyond June - but we aren't yet putting a firm view because we don't think they've actually got into the real period of discussion and decision-making, Richard Bronze of consultancy Energy Aspects told Reuters.

The majority of analysts expect OPEC+ to extend the cut into the second half of 2024, according to a survey by Bloomberg from last week.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Russian oil product cargos are piling up at sea as their South Korean buyers grow reluctant to go through with their deals amid a government crackdown on sanction evasion, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources.

According to Kpler data, there are over 2 million barrels of Russian naphtha sitting off the coast of Oman, which is significantly higher than the weekly average for January and February, which came in at some 790,000 barrels.

The Bloomberg sources said that the buildup was caused by the South Korean governments closer scrutiny of incoming fuel cargos, which has made local refiners and petrochemical producers wary of buying Russian naphtha.

The tightening sanctions on Russia's oil exports are raising freight costs for moving Russian crude. The estimated direct cost to deliver Russian cargoes now is around 6-8% of the price of a barrel of crude leaving the western ports in Russia for Asia, according to data from commodity price reporting agency Argus crunched by Bloomberg.

Argus estimated in March that shipping a barrel of Russian crude from a port in the Baltic Sea to China has cost around $14.50 since December, with more than half of this per-barrel cost attributable to the Western sanctions.

The likely directly related-to-sanction cost to hire tankers to transport Russian oil is estimated at about $773 million since the end of December 2023, based on shipments tracked by Bloomberg.

Before the war in the Ukraine Russia was the top supplier of naphtha for South Korean petrochemicals makers but the war has changed this, per the Bloomberg report. Now South Korean plastics producers are importing more naphtha from places such as the UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, and Tunisia. South Korean processors are also importing more naphtha from Kuwait and Oman.

Russia, for its part, is shipping more naphtha to China, according to Kpler, as well as Taiwan. Last month, Russian imports accounted for more than half of the total naphtha shipments that Taiwan took in.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Uniper has appealed an injunction by a Russian court that says that the German energy giant needs to pay as much as $15 billion (14 billion euros) if it seeks to continue arbitration against Gazprom, which was Unipers main natural gas provider before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Germany had to nationalize Uniper in 2022 to avoid its collapse amid soaring gas prices and a lack of Russian supply in the wake of the Ukraine invasion and the EU sanction barrage. The total bill for the nationalization came in at $53 billion.

To replace lost Russian gas volumes, European buyers switched to U.S. LNG, with exports of the commodity from the U.S. Gulf Coast soaring to record highs last year. Uniper has been especially active on the spot market, uncertain about long-term gas demand in Europe.

In November 2022, Uniper initiated arbitration proceedings against Gazprom, claiming that the replacement of gas deliveries from Gazprom after the halt of Russian gas supply cost Uniper around $12.5 billion (11.6 billion euros) to that date.

As the case dragged on, a Russian court issued on March 13, 2024, an interim injunction against Uniper in favor of Gazprom Export, according to which Uniper is prohibited from continuing the arbitration proceedings initiated against Gazprom Export, otherwise a fine worth billions of euros must be paid to Gazprom Export, Uniper said in its Q1 quarterly results statement.

Uniper considers the court decision to be a violation of international law and the principle of a fair trial and has filed an appeal against the ruling in Russia, the German company added.

However, the title will allow Gazprom Export to enforce Uniper assets within Russia and possibly even outside of Russia. Uniper is examining the impact on the Groups risk and chances situation as well as any further legal steps, it added.

Based on a very early, preliminary assessment, Uniper believes the potential enforcement of the title against Uniper assets is not assessed as a major individual risk, it said.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The United States must provide support to Western companies that are reluctant to mine critical minerals in risky jurisdictions, energy advisor to the White House Amos Hochstein said this week.

"We can all live in the capitals and cities around the world and say 'I don't want to do business there.' But what you are really saying is we're not going to have an energy transition," Hochstein said at the Milken Institute Global Conference, as quoted by Reuters.

"Because the energy transition is not going to happen if it can only be produced where I live, under my standards," he added.

The energy transition will require massive amounts of metals and minerals. Some of these are concentrated in jurisdictions such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Western miners are wary of treading.

Other mineral-rich countries that are politically unstable are also potential sources for transition materials but Western miners are reluctant to go in and start exploiting their resources.

At the Milken Institute event, Hochstein slammed banks for contributing to this reluctance that could, it seems, cost the U.S. the transition.

"If you want to invest in, whether it's Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Congo, Zambia, DRC, etc, Angola - these are different profile countries that have different kinds of risks associated with them. And Western finance has basically said we will not be able to absorb this risk," he said.

To remedy this, Hochstein suggested that capital flows through state-owned entities such as the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"The government has a real role here of incentivizing private capital by taking more risk in this initial work, in a responsible manner, but more risk to allow the private sector to come in, augment it and allow the investment so that we have a diversified, sustainable and equitable energy transition," he explained.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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LINCOLN  A Nebraska Department of Correctional Services staff member was seriously injured after an assault by an inmate last week, according to a department press release.

The assault occurred May 1 when the staff member was taking an inmate to his cell. As the staff member was removing the inmate's leg restraints, the inmate kicked the staff member in the head and chest, department spokesperson Dayne Urbanovsky said.

On May 6, the corrections staff member was diagnosed with a concussion and continues to be monitored by medical providers.

An investigation into the incident is underway. Any findings will be provided to the Lancaster County Attorney's Office to determine whether criminal prosecution is warranted.
Teachers under the aegis of Kwara state Concerned Teachers have accused the leadership of the state Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) of hobnobbing with the state government.

The group said that the NUT leadership in the state has mortgaged the welfare and interest of its members.

Spokesperson of the concerned teachers, Mallam Abdulwahab Abubakar, urged the incoming government in to place high premium on workers welfare to stabilise its administration.

Abubakar said: The motive of gathering is to tell the labour leaders in Kwara state that this is the time for them to come together and form a formidable power.

The essence of having unions is to cater for the welfare of workers in the state. But in Kwara state, it is as if labour leaders are not there for the workers at all.

The labour leaders have been hobnobbing with the government. This time around we need virile and vibrant labour leaders that will fight for workers welfare in the state.

Besides, most of our benefits are being denied us. The benefits

include leave bonus, promotion etc. Whenever these things are not being paid to workers, it behoves labour leaders to come out and demand for them. It is injurious to workers for labour and government to have friendly relationship. In situation where labour leaders and government have good rapport, it means the labour leaders are not there for workers interest.

As we await the incoming government in the state, we want a formidable labour leader that will be there for the workers.

The labour leaders in the state, candidly speaking are not there for us. I am making reference to NUT.

NUT should close rank and form a formidable force so that teachers in the state will have a relief.

Our advice to the incoming government is that it should take workers welfare as a priority.

He added: The state government was owing the teachers in the state three months salary arrears with some percentage. But to our surprise, we were only paid 81 percent of our March salary out of the huge amount of money that came to the coffers of the state government from the federation account.

It is uncalled for. We expect our leaders to come out and confront the government.

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Director General of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, Chike Ihekweazu, has described as false the news that he was quarantined following his return from China.

I am well and have continued my duties from home since my return from China as part of the WHO-China Mission on #COVID19 he said via a tweet

The rumour that I am sick or in quarantine is obviously false.

I look forward to returning to the office after 14 days of self-isolation. He said

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, is however reported to have said Ihekweazu was quarantined for 14 days because he just returned from China.

Ehanire revealed this when he was explaining to the principal officers of the senate before whom he was providing an update on measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
BLOOMINGTON  State and local officials celebrated the opening of Ferrero's new $75 million chocolate processing facility in Bloomington with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday morning.

This is the company's first chocolate processing facility in North America and its third globally that will produce chocolate to be delivered across the continent, where it will be made into various candies and treats.

The 70,000-square-foot expansion to the company's manufacturing campus in Bloomington has generated an additional 50 jobs tailored to producing chocolate for iconic brands including Kinder, Ferrero Rocher and Butterfinger.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker was in attendance Tuesday along with other state officials including Reps. Sharon Chung and Dan Caulkins and state Sen. Dave Koehler.

The governor said Ferrero's expansion was helped along by tax incentives from the state, but he wanted to give "credit where credit is due" and acknowledge the efforts of local leadership and organizations like the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council.

Pritzker, who was in Normal just last week to announce an $827 million state tax incentive package for Rivian Automotive, said the rising economic tide in Bloomington-Normal is evident, and is so because of the robust workforce development initiatives.

"Just two years ago I stood beside all of you, and frankly, I think we were all very optimistic about the future economic vitality of this region, and so far, we're meeting and even exceeding expectations," Pritzker said. "We're taking our foot off the brakes in the state of Illinois and making sure that we're putting our foot on the gas, because it's important that we double down on our effort to bring in new well-paying jobs in a variety of sectors.

"We'll continue to invest in our people so that we can shape the workforce of the future and attract companies that want that workforce. We will continue to make it clear to the world that Illinois is open for business," Pritzker continued.

Ferrero has made nearly $300 million in revenue since arriving in Illinois in 2018, and the company is one of the largest employers in the area, with more than 1,500 full-time staff in Illinois and more than 500 in Bloomington. The company also partners with Heartland Community College on an apprenticeship program to train and certify maintenance workers for the plant.

Kristin Richards, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, said Ferrero could have chosen any other location worldwide to build its chocolate processing facility, but it has seen firsthand what the state's workforce has to offer.

Richards said other facets of Ferrero, like its upcoming Kinder Bueno facility, was made possible with the state's Economic Development for a Growing Economy program, which is a tax credit incentive designed to encourage companies to invest in the state, build out key industries and create and retain jobs.

"Under Gov. Pritzker's leadership, Illinois has established itself as a premier destination for businesses to locate and expand, and this announcement is a true testament to that," Richards said. "None of this would be possible without the hard work of talented individuals, many of whom are joining us this morning, that helped get this project across the finish line."

Alanna Cotton, president and chief business officer of Ferrero North American, shared the same sentiment with the local community, and said Ferrero's commitment to the community does not end here, as the company's Bloomington campus will also house a new $214 million, 169,000-square-foot facility dedicated to producing Kinder Bueno.

This addition is expected to create 200 local jobs when it opens later this year.

"This moment underscores a commitment to this community and the state, but it doesn't end today," Cotton said. "We've gathered a number of times here in this very facility over the past few years, and I look forward to celebrating more milestones in the future."

The chocolate made in Bloomington is shipped to Ferrero's plants in Franklin Park, near O'Hare International Airport; San Jose Iturbide, Guanajuato, in Mexico; and Brantford, Ontario, in Canada. Some of the chocolate will remain in Bloomington to be made into into candies such as Crunch, 100 Grand and Raisinets.

Last year, the company opened its new Innovation Center and Research and Development Labs in Chicago at the historic Marshall Field and Co. Building.

Cotton added this new facility is part of a larger expansion of Ferrero across North America, and Bloomington's capability and central location will help the company to continue delivering its products across the continent.

"The opening of this plant puts Bloomington in rare company as one of only a few hundred communities in the nation who can say that they have a real operating chocolate factory, but today's ribbon cutting goes beyond chocolate, believe it or not," said Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe. "It is about a promise kept."

Mwilambwe, who was in attendance along with council members Donna Boelen, Jenna Kearns and John Danenberger, said Bloomington-Normal has a diverse economy that has allowed both municipalities to weather any turbulent events, with the mix of employment ranging from health care, insurance, higher education, manufacturing and more.

"We pass codes and ordinances that we follow as we do the people's work, but I'd be kidding if I didn't admit to feeling a little bit like a kid again today as we celebrate the the opening of our very own chocolate factory," Mwilambwe said.
Telecel Mobile Financial Services Ltd, operators of Telecel Cash, in partnership with Cellulant, a leading technology company, has announced the availability of Telecel Cash as a convenient payment method for Google Play users in Ghana.



This integration enables Telecel Cash customers to seamlessly purchase apps and services directly from Google Play, enhancing their digital experience.



This initiative is part of a broader effort to expand payment options and improve transaction ease for Google Play users, especially in regions where the use of traditional credit cards is uncommon. By incorporating Telecel Cash, Telecel Ghana and Cellulant are providing a seamless, secure, and convenient payment method tailored to the needs of the Ghanaian market.



Richard Gesimba, Vice President, Cellulant Checkout Business Unit, highlighted the significance of the collaboration. "Our partnership with Telecel Ghana aims to innovate and deliver payment solutions that address the evolving needs of African consumers. This integration makes it easier for them to access a world of apps and content on Google Play without traditional banking facilities." He noted.



Philip Amoateng, Director for Telecel Cash, emphasized the benefits for customers. The inclusion of Telecel Cash as a payment option on Google Play significantly enhances our service offerings. It offers our customers a straightforward and secure way to enjoy all the features and capabilities that Google Play has to offer. We are committed to enhancing our customers' digital experiences and ensuring they can access global digital content with ease.", he added.



Google Play, a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google, is the official app store for the Android operating system. It allows users to browse and download applications developed with the Android software development kit and published through Google.



The availability of Telecel Cash as a payment method on Google Play is expected to boost the platform's usage in Ghana, where mobile money has become a dominant force in financial transactions.



This also demonstrates Telecel Ghanas commitment to enhancing customer experience and expanding digital accessibility.







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In a vibrant resurgence of cultural celebration and community spirit, Adum African Market has officially reopened its doors in the heart of the Bronx, ushering in a new era of connection and commerce for residents and visitors alike.



With a dedication to offering authentic African goods at competitive prices, CEO Owusu Sekyerestands at the forefront, welcoming all to experience the rich tapestry of products and traditions the market has to offer.



The reopening of Adum African Market marks a significant milestone for the Bronx community, which has long embraced the market as a cherished hub of cultural exchange and commerce. After a period of closure, anticipation swirled through the neighborhood as rumors of the markets revival began to circulate.



For CEO Owusu Sekyere, the reopening of Adum African Market represents more than just a business venture; it is a testament to the resilience and strength of the community. With a vision to reignite the markets flame and honor its legacy, Owusu Sekyere spared no effort in preparing for the grand reopening.



I wanted to create a space where people could come together, share stories, and celebrate our shared heritage, says Owusu. Adum African Market is more than just a place to shop  its a gathering place for our community.



As the doors swung open on reopening day, the market came alive with activity. The shelves were stocked with an array of goods, from exotic spices and vibrant fabrics to handcrafted artwork and traditional crafts. Customers perused the aisles, their faces alight with excitement as they rediscovered old favorites and uncovered new treasures.



But amidst the hustle and bustle, it was the spirit of camaraderie and connection that truly defined the day. Customers and vendors alike shared smiles and stories, forging connections that transcended mere transactions.



For Nana, a beloved figure within the community who has been a fixture at Adum African Market for years, the reopening is a cause for celebration.



Its wonderful to see the market come back to life, says CEO Owusu Sekyere . This place holds so many memories for our community, and Im thrilled to be a part of its resurgence.



As word of the markets reopening spreads throughout the Bronx and beyond, the future looks bright for Adum African Market. With CEO Owusu Sekyere at the helm, the market is poised to once again become a beacon of cultural celebration and community connection in the heart of New York City.

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Hollard Ghana, the country's favourite insurer, has honoured Richard Della Strauss-Ashiaby, the valedictorian from the University of Media, Arts and Communication-IJ (UniMAC-IJ), with the Hollard Prize during the 2nd Congregation held in Accra.



To commemorate this remarkable achievement, Roswitha Adjoa Amoako, Head of Group Business at Hollard Life, presented Richard with the Hollard Prize, including a laptop, a citation, and a cash prize during the ceremony.



Speaking after the event, Cynthia Ofori-Dwumfuo, Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, commended Richard on his notable feat.



"We are thrilled to join in celebrating Richard Della Strauss-Ashiaby on his well-deserved award as the overall best-graduating student from the University of Media, Arts and Communications-IJ. At Hollard, we believe in the power of education to transform lives and shape the future. By supporting talented individuals like Richard, we are investing in the next generation of leaders who will drive positive change in our society, thus enabling better futures", she stated.



Commenting on the award, the recipient, Richard, expressed his deep gratitude, saying, "I am truly humbled about this award, not only for the just-ended ceremony but also for the long-term partnership between Hollard and UNIMAC-IJ. I hope this award will inspire students to strive for excellence and positively impact their fields. Thank you, Hollard Ghana, for this incredible opportunity".



Since its inception in 2022, the Hollard X Academia program has significantly improved the lives of numerous students and fostered a culture of excellence and innovation. This comprehensive initiative, which includes the Hollard Prize, Scholar Programme, Streetwise Finance engagement sessions, and Corporate Experience, is a testament to our commitment to investing in the next generation of leaders.



Anatasia Nana Aba Acquah, Gwendy Tetteh, Joshua Seidu Adams, and Sandra Kumah are some of the past beneficiaries of the Hollard Prize since its inception.



About Hollard Ghana



The countrys favourite insurance group is Hollard Ghana, with subsidiaries Hollard Insurance and Hollard Life Assurance. The group combines its deep local knowledge of the market, having previously operated in Ghana for 25 years as Metropolitan Insurance, with the world-class expertise of an international insurance brand in 18 countries worldwide. With feet firmly planted on Ghanaian soil but headquartered in South Africa, Hollard delivers innovative insurance solutions customised to the unique risks Ghanaians face. Hollard offers various life and general insurance products, including funeral, personal accident, motor, business, travel, home, and more, and can be reached via 0307000599. Beyond various nationwide office branches and Hollard 2U franchise shops, Ghanaians can find Hollard at Shell Fuel Station Welcome Shops, Melcom stores and online at www.hollard.com.gh, www.melcom.com/hollard-insurance and www.jumia.com.gh for all their insurance needs.

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Mrs. Celestine-Agordo, the District Director of Education for South Tongu has said, bridging the gender gap in the study of Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is no longer a matter of simply ensuring equality, as it is a crucial necessity for nation building.



Mrs. Kosi-Agordo told an assembly of over 600 students and teachers from public and Private schools across the South Tongu District attending the Girls Tech World Conference, that it is now critical that the gender gap is bridged because the country finds itself in a world in which technology is the driver and backbone of innovation.



So, it is not just a matter of equality but of necessity. The perspectives, creativity, and intelligence of women are indispensable in driving technological advancement, Mrs. Korsi-Agordo reiterated.



Held at Sogakope over the weekend, the Girls Tech World Conference, the first-ever kids technology forum in the District was convened and hosted by Raddy School (Sogakope) in collaboration with Child In Tech company and was sponsored by Kumasi City Mall.



The District Director said it is the unambiguous mission of the Ghana Education Service to dismantle the barriers that prevent girls from accessing and excelling in technology.



We must foster an environment where every girl believes in her ability to code, to innovate, and to lead. We must support their journey with resources, mentorship, and, above all, the unwavering belief in their capabilities, she stressed.



Mrs. Korsi-Agordo said women are naturally talented and are able to provide new insights and problem-solving solutions to male-dominated industries. They (women) bring their expertise on board to promote growth and rapid development in any field of work effectively. Hence, women and girls must be fully involved in the I.T. world to bridge the gap between them and their male counterparts.



The "Girls-Tech World" programme is more than just an event; it is a commitment to nurturing the next generation of female scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Together, we can ensure that our girls not only participate in the world of technology but also pave new paths for those who follow, she said



During the four-hour session, a team of resource persons and specialists in the tech and education sectors took the students through tailored presentations in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cyber Security, Financial Technology, and basic computer knowledge.



Miss Ekua Essah, the 19-year-old CEO of Child In Tech which partnered with Raddy School to hold the conference shared personal experiences and insights with the students, urging girls particularly to be self-confident and aspire for the best in every endeavour.



Mrs. Nayram Kyei-Mensah, Proprietress of Raddy School and the convener and host of the conference told reporters later that she was highly impressed with the level of commitment demonstrated by the local education authorities, the various schools in the district and their teachers, towards the success of the maiden Girl Tech Conference in Sogakope.



We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all stakeholders whose contribution made this inaugural conference such a resounding success. Here is to fostering a future generation of tech leaders in Sogakope and beyond, Mrs. Kyei-Mensah said.

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After 3 years of standing trial for the alleged murder of 10-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdalla, the High Court in Accra is expected to make a decision on the two accused teenagers today May 7.



On March 14, the Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo informed both Prosecution and Defence lawyers that, the court will do a summing up of the proceedings today after which the jury will return their verdict.



The trial of the two teenagers started in 2021 after it emerged that, they allegedly killed Ismael, their 10 year old friend for money rituals. The two boys were arrested on April 4, 2021 and arraigned before the Ofaakor district court on April 7, 2021 and later transferred to the Kaneshie District Court in August 2021 following an advice by the then Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yebaoh for an expeditious trial.



At the Kaneshie District court, the first accused made a shocking confession that they killed a pregnant woman in Kasoa prior to the gruesome killing of the 10-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdallah. However the second accused denied his involvement.



The first accused also detailed events that led to the killing of the young boy.



He stated that the idea of money rituals stemmed from watching a TV advert featuring a woman claiming increased wealth through a 5,000 cedis (GHC 5,000) investment. He said he told his accomplice (2nd Accused) about the advert and when they called, a woman confirmed what he had seen on television and promised to make them rich.



The said fetish priestess, Charity Mensah alias Nsuo Hemaa at the center of the case was arrested but was later released after the Police said that, they found no relation between her and the two teens.



The case was again transferred to the High court in Accra in 2022 after the Kaneshie District Court committed them to stand murder trial.



The Prosecution called 7 witnesses to testify after including father of the deceased. Two of the witnesses, a pathologist at the Police Hospital Assistant Commissioner of Police, Dr. Osei Owusu- Afriyie and the investigator in the case, Chief Inspector Isaac Asiedu Odei testified that, the deceased was buried alive.



At the High court in Accra presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, the first accused admitted they committed the crime insisting the second accused was his accomplice however, the second accused denied his involvement during his testimony. He pleaded with the court to conduct a forensic test on the exhibits presented by the Prosecution to verify his innocence.



The fate of these two teenage boys will be determined today at the Criminal Division of the High in Accra.

Source: Philipa Atanga/Court Reporter/Peacefmonline.com









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The final decision on the two teenagers at Kasoa who have been charged for allegedly killing a 10-year-old Ismael Mensah Abdella has been rescheduled to June 24.



The jury was expected to retire after the Court had summed up the trial today.

However, that did not happen as the Criminal Division of the High court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo said the summing up is not ready.



The two teenagers are before the High Court in Accra for the alleged murder of 10-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdalla in April 2021.



The Presiding Judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo while adjourning the case said both Prosecution and Defence lawyers will give their closing addresses on the next adjourned date followed by a summing up and the a return verdict by the Jury.



Spokesperson for the Family Harrison Mensah said, the case is long overdue.



" As a family we are disappointed that the case has taken another twist but there is nothing we can do. We just hope that on the 24th as the court has said, when we come, the judgement will be delivered. Its a difficult one but we just have to hold ourselves" he told Journalists.

Source: Philipa Atanga/Court Reporter/Peacefmonlone.com









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George Ayisi, Director of Communications at the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), has expressed grave concern over the Speaker of Parliaments stalling on reconvening Parliament after the House recessed on March 20.



According to Mr. Ayisi, the action of the Speaker is slowing down government business by his actions.



The NPP Communications Team Member noted that it is imperative for Parliament to reconvene in order to fast track government business.



He attributed the Speaker's conduct to the perceived tension between the legislature and the executive, resulting in newly appointed ministers for the various ministries not being able to function as they should because parliament is yet to vet them.



If a minister should go on with his or her work without Parliamentary approval, he or she will charged and dragged to court because the constitution does not allow that. This is slowing down government business," Ayisi Boateng added.



He was contributing to a panel discussion on UTVs Adekye Nsroma on Monday May 6, 2024.



While commending the efforts made by the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo Markin, in petitioning the Speaker to reconvene the House,, George Ayisi revealed that, without the reconvening of Parliament, some governmental initiatives such as such as the agreement between the Government of Ghana and the IDA for an amount of USD 150 million to finance the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GRIDA) project and the Tax Exemption for selected beneficiaries under the 1D1F programme cannot be executed.



"At this time, I think the speaker of parliament, Alban Bagbin is the ideal person to be the speaker of Ghanas Parliament in its current state because of his in-depth knowledge of parliamentary proceedings but the way he closed the last parliamentary meeting was not the best. It appeared that he closed the meeting because he was peeved," he said.



"If you want to exercise the separation of powers, you should know that the powers possessed by the three arms of government inter relate to each other. There is no absolute separation of powers," he added.









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Professor Joseph Osafo has urged the ruling New Patriotic Party to put their house in order.



The Senior Psychologist spoke on the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Ejisu by-election which saw Kwabena Boateng, an NPP parliamentary candidate, defeat his closest contender, Kwabena Owusu Aduomi who was a leading member of the party but contested the elections as an independent candidate.



The by-election was seen as a tough competition for the NPP as Mr. Aduomi was described as a "heavyweight" contender who could topple the ruling party.



However, Kwabena Boateng polled 27,782 of the total votes cast representing 58 percent to emerge victorious while Mr. Owusu Aduomi pulled up an impressive performance by garnering 21,536 votes representing 43.24% in last Tuesdays by-election.



Following the by-election, there are talks for the New Patriotic Party to embrace Mr. Aduomi and bring him back to their fold as they march into the December 7 elections.



But Mr. Aduomi has served notice that he won't return to the party.



Commenting on the issue during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show, Prof. Joseph Osafo advised the NPP to stay united and also do everything in their power to bring Mr. Aduomi back, however, if he insists on remaining independent, then they should focus on themselves and work to realize their dream of breaking the eight-year governance cycle without him.



"Whether he will come or not, NPP should move on but they must work hard" towards the December polls, he stressed.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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A series of celebratory events marking the United Nations (UN) Chinese Language Day kicked off at the UN family in Vienna on Monday.

More than 700 people, including representatives of Vienna-based international organizations, diplomats and UN employees, attended the grand opening ceremony at the Vienna International Center.

This year's Chinese Language Day celebration, themed "Diverse Cultures and Romantic Scenery," features a spate of exhibitions on south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a border region often dubbed as China's gateway to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries.

The exhibits include the region's traditional cultural products, ethnic costumes and photos showcasing its renowned landmarks and its achievements in cooperation with ASEAN.

At the ceremony, Li Song, China's permanent representative to the UN and other international organizations in Vienna, said the Chinese language is a long-standing cultural bond, and it will help carry forward the Chinese civilization and the world civilization toward a shared future.

Li said this year's Chinese Language Day events will use Guangxi as an example to tell the story of Chinese civilization and development, showcase colorful and vivid Chinese culture and the achievement of mutual learning and development cooperation between China and ASEAN countries.

"In the new era, China and the Chinese people have the broad mind to understand the values of different civilizations, respect the exploration of their own development paths by the people of other countries, and uphold equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness to promote the common values of mankind," he said.

Miao Qingwang, vice chairman of the Guangxi regional government, said that the Chinese language carries the rich historical and cultural significance of the Chinese nation, and that he hopes this year's Chinese Language Day celebration will promote Guangxi's cultural exchanges and development cooperation with the world.

Representatives of UN Vienna organizations also told the opening ceremony that Chinese, as one of the six official languages of the UN, plays an important role in promoting the cause of the UN and international exchanges and cooperation.

At Monday's opening ceremony, artists from Guangxi staged folk music and dance performances and ethnic costume shows, which drew rounds of applause from the audience.

This year's Chinese Language Day celebration at the UN Vienna, which will run until Thursday, is jointly hosted by China's permanent mission to the UN and other international organizations in Vienna, the Guangxi regional government and the UN Information Service in Vienna.

The UN observes the Chinese Language Day on April 20 annually to promote multilingualism, cultural diversity, and the use of Chinese as one of the organization's six official languages.
In a heartening display of solidarity and musical collaboration, international music sensation Fuse ODG paid a visit to the neighborhood of talented rising star Fred Kobby.



The visit not only highlighted the vibrant talent emerging from communities but also underscored the power of music to unite and inspire.



Fuse ODG, known for his infectious Afrobeat tunes and commitment to uplifting African music, graced the streets of Fred Kobby's neighborhood, immersing himself in the local culture and engaging with residents.



The visit served as a platform for both artists to exchange ideas, share experiences, and celebrate their shared passion for music.



Fred Kobby, an emerging talent whose prowess in music has been gaining recognition, welcomed Fuse ODG with open arms, showcasing the warmth and hospitality of his community.



Together, they explored the streets where Fred Kobby's musical journey began, reminiscing about the inspirations and challenges that have shaped their respective paths in the industry.



Amidst the pulsating beats and rhythmic melodies echoing through the neighborhood, Fuse ODG and Fred Kobby collaborated on a special musical project, blending their unique styles and influences to create a fusion of sounds that resonated with the essence of their shared heritage.



Their collaboration not only showcased the richness of African music but also exemplified the power of collaboration in pushing artistic boundaries and fostering creativity.



Beyond the realm of music, Fuse ODG's visit served as a catalyst for positive change within the community.

Through engaging with local youth initiatives and highlighting the importance of education and empowerment, Fuse ODG and Fred Kobby inspired hope and resilience, demonstrating that music can be a vehicle for social impact and transformation.



As news publishers, it's imperative to recognize and amplify stories that celebrate the convergence of talent, culture, and community.



Fuse ODG's visit to Fred Kobby's hood epitomizes the spirit of collaboration and solidarity that defines the music industry, reminding us of the profound connections that music creates and the endless possibilities it holds for bringing people together.



Enjoy the song here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e8artpdyqdi1u6p/Fred_Kobby_-Pray%2528download%2529_.mp3/file

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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When a family or group of friends sit down to play a familiar game they've played many times before, they generally don't need to refer to the rulesunless someone breaks them. The values of liberal democracy have been transgressed in numerous forms in the last decade, yet many are unfamiliar with what the "rule book" would say those values are.

A University of Kansas scholar who fears Americans have forgotten the rules of democracy has published a study calling for a renewed dedication to democratic values and assigning accountability standards for government workers and scholars.

Christopher Koliba, Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Administration at KU, has written a piece that draws from contemporary political and legal philosophies of "small-l liberalism" and democracy to define a set of seven standards focusing on authority, rights, tolerance, truth claims and professional deference.

The standards are especially timely in an age of growing populism, democratic backsliding and polarization, he wrote. The work, published in the journal Public Administration Review and subject of a recent presentation by Koliba at the Kansas City and County Managers Conference, stemmed from research he conducted on the public health and administration crisis of 2020.

"I was looking for the potential that norms and standards were being violated here and then started to look at the literature on democracy, especially the small-l liberal variety that the U.S. and other systems were founded on," Koliba said.

"That led to revisiting the works of political philosophers about what is liberal democracy in the context of modern society and what it entails. I argue we've taken those values for granted and assume we all know what we're talking about. I feel that is what we're up against."

Koliba examines liberalism not as it is commonly referred to in political discourse as being associated with certain political parties, such as the Democratic Party in the U.S. or Labor Party in the United Kingdom.

Instead, he means the version that has shaped democracies with values such as eschewing abuse of power, preeminence of individual rights, honoring tolerance and restraint, and appealing to reason and truth.

Those values have been challenged the last decade as democracies around the worldincluding the United States, Poland, Hungary and Brazilhave seen rising populism, openness to authoritarianism, retractions of rights and apathy to truth-telling, Koliba said. That has also resulted in increasing threats of violence, incivility at public government meetings, polarization and false accusations.

"Politics has always been a contact sport, but when it comes to poll workers and local government administrators having their lives threatened while carrying out the public's business, we need to have a clear set of democratic principles that we can at least debate and then hold each other accountable to. This should be the beginning of a conversation," Koliba said.

That process should begin with a renewed dedication by public administrators and public administration scholars to a set of seven liberal democratic accountability standards outlined in the study:

Citizen authority standard: Citizens have authorizing and monitoring power over elected officials and democratic institutions. Individual rights standards: Individuals in liberal democracies are endowed with rights to freedom of expression, assembly and pursuit of "the good life." Checked authority standard: Liberal democratic institutions and elected officials and public administrators who run them will have their powers checked and balanced. Tolerance standard: Policy actors will exercise tolerance of differences. Institutional forbearance standard: Policy actors will willfully restrain coercive actions in order to preserve existing accountability standards and democratic institutions. Truthfulness standard: Policy actors are obligated to pursue and draw on truth claims as the basis of their practices and actions on behalf of the public. Professional discretion standard: Professional policy actors will adhere to codes of conduct, ethics and standards of practice associated with the legal, political, bureaucratic and professional institutions of liberal democracies.

The standards can and should be debated, Koliba said, but they are especially timely given growing distrust in the government, deep and persistent polarization, growing expressions of intolerance and apathy toward truthfulness.

Those trends present potential irreparable harm toward democratic institutions, necessitating the need for public officials and scholars to commit to historical standards and principles of liberal democracy.

While there has long been such disagreement, polarization and populism throughout democratic history, especially in the United States, current trends and resulting threats of politically motivated violence make the standards especially salient, Koliba said. For example, populist movements of the past such as the American Revolution, Women's Suffrage and Civil Rights movements were dedicated to expanding rights instead of restricting them.

Given recent exacerbation of those trends as well as democratic backsliding, liberal democratic accountability standards should be factored into public standards of accountability as well as empirical studies and theoretical frameworks, he said.

"It's easy to take democracy for granted. I myself have done it," Koliba said. "I'm thinking deeply about how to embrace these standards in the curriculum I teach.

"Our field is globalized, and there is a debate about universal values in public administration. I think there is a lot of work to be done to elevate democratic governance principles. And in speaking with some of our leaders of city and county government, I believe this sentiment resonates with them as well."

More information: Christopher Koliba, Liberal democratic accountability standards and public administration, Public Administration Review (2024). DOI: 10.1111/puar.13831
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COVID-19 upended almost every aspect of daily life, including consumer and retailer behavior. However, it was not the first pandemic that changed how we shop.

In 2009-10, populations across the globe were rocked by the H1N1 swine flu outbreak. Mass panic buying of personal hygiene products, such as hand sanitizer, was common. Just as with the early days of COVID-19, stores quickly sold out of suddenly in-demand items, with supply chains struggling to meet surging demand.

The swine flu pandemic claimed the lives of up to 300,000 people worldwide. Its two waves each lasted around 16 weeks, providing researchers with an ideal experiment to compare consumer behavior and retailer responses to those from the outbreak of COVID-19.

Xiaodan Pan, an associate professor in the Department of Supply Chain and Business Technology Management at the John Molson School of Business, has published a new paper on the topic in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. In it, she uses the hand sanitizer market to see what was learned from the 2009-10 swine flu event and to develop lessons for consumers and retailers today.

Pan and her co-authors examined hand sanitizer sales from the United States spanning a 10-year period from 2008 to 2017. Weekly statistics were gathered from the NielsenIQ Retail Scanner Data, a database that tracks product prices and sales volumes as well as store characteristics from more than 38,000 stores across more than 90 participating retail chains. The researchers also collected data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track seasonal flu epidemics and the swine flu pandemic across the country.

Pan's study found that there was a surge in demand for hand sanitizer as the swine flu pandemic was declared. This demand surge created initial shortages in hand sanitizer products. However, the industry strategically adapted to the stockpiling behavior, increasing the supply of large pack-size sanitizer products that were in greatest demand. By the second wave of the swine flu pandemic, large pack-size hand sanitizer sales exceeded small pack-size sales, illustrating a shift in consumer behavior and retailer product availability.

The researchers found no evidence of price gouging by the major retailers. They also noted that there were clear winners among retailer types, with warehouse clubs that specialized in large pack-size products and drug stores that provided a great variety of products leading hand sanitizer sales.

A decade of sanitizer sales data

In framing her study, Pan gathered a decade's worth of weekly sanitizer sales data. "We could not just look at the swine flu pandemic," Pan says. "We needed a natural experiment, so we used the 200809 seasonal flu epidemic (that preceded the 2009-10 swine flu pandemic) as the base case, and then we examined sanitizer sales during the 2009-10 swine flu pandemic as well as sales through seven subsequent seasonal flu epidemics."

The study revealed three principal findings:

Consumers and retailers learn from their experience. Comparing data from the two waves of the swine flu pandemic, the researchers found that retailers were better prepared during the second one, with a larger assortment of sanitizer products. While sales declined during subsequent seasonal flu epidemics, it took four seasons for sales to return to pre-pandemic levels indicating that both consumers and retailers held onto their pandemic behaviors after the pandemic concluded.

Despite increased demand, prices did not soar. Significant price increases were not recorded across the sanitizer category. Changing buying patterns that favored large pack-size purchases actually led to lower per-unit prices for consumers during the pandemic.

Store format matters. Warehouse-club stores had higher sales increases of hand sanitizers during the pandemic than did other types of stores even though they had a limited product assortment. This is likely because the warehouse club stores specialized in the sale of large pack-size products. Drug stores also emerged as winners, but with a distinct strategy. By significantly expanding their product assortments, these stores attracted customers by offering a broader range of sanitizer options.

"I think the biggest lesson here is that there is no need for panic buying. The evidence shows that supply and demand will balance out quickly without price gouging," Pan says. "Retail chains value their reputations, so they won't want to tarnish them by raising prices during a public health emergency to sidestep negative perceptions of price fairness."

Martin Dresner of the University of Maryland, Guang Li of Queen's University and Benny Mantin of the University of Luxembourg contributed to this study.

More information: Xiaodan Pan et al, Stocking up on hand sanitizer: Pandemic lessons for retailers and consumers, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103763
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Tim McCanon, center, is rescued by the Community Fire Department during severe flooding on Friday, May 3, 2024, in New Caney, Texas. In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Credit: Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via AP, File

In sweltering Brazil, flooding killed dozens of people and paralyzed a city of about 4 million people. Voters and politicians in India, amid national elections, are fainting in heat that hit as high as 115 degrees (46.3 degrees Celsius).

A brutal Asian heat wave has closed schools in the Philippines, killed people in Thailand and set records there and in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives and Myanmar. Record temperatures  especially at night when it just won't cool down  have hit many parts of Africa. Flooding devastated Houston, and the United States as a whole just had its second highest number of tornadoes for the month of April.

In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Some climate scientists say they are hard pressed to remember when so much of the world has had its weather on overdrive at the same time.

"Given that we've seen an unprecedented jump in global warmth over the last 11 months, it is not surprising to see worsening climate extremes so early in the year," said University of Michigan environment dean Jonathan Overpeck. "If this record pace of warming continues, 2024 will likely be a record year of climate disasters and human suffering."

A man and woman use a cloth over their heads to protect themselves from the sun in Manila, Philippines on April 29, 2024. In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Credit: AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File

When the world is warmer, it is likely to have more extreme weather and climate events, including record heat and rainfall, scientists say. And climate change is also changing weather patterns, leading to rainy and hot systems stalling over areas and the jet stream meandering, said Alvaro Silva, a climate scientist at the World Meteorological Organization.

Adding to the stronger effects of human-caused climate change is a now-weakening El Nino  a natural warming of parts of the central Pacific that changes weather worldwide  that came on the heels of a three-year La Nina, its cool counterpart, Silva said.

Scientists also pointed to 13 straight months of record hot oceans as a potential factor in the weather extremes.

This all comes as the world just finished its 11th record-breaking hot month in a row, the European climate service Copernicus reported Wednesday.

Women drink water from a public tap near the River Ganges on a hot day at Sangam in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh state, India, May 2, 2024. In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File

The average global temperature of 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) in April beat the old record from 2016 by a quarter of a degree (0.14 degrees Celsius). Copernicus' data set goes back to 1950, while other climate monitoring agencies go back to 1850 but have yet to report April calculations.

Last month was 1.58 degrees Celsius (2.84 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the pre-industrial late 19th century. The world in 2015 adopted a goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, but it mostly applies to being that warm for a decade or more, not a month.

While several factors play a role in this recent spate of extremes, "climate change is the most important one," Silva said.

The trouble is that the world has adapted to and constructed cities designed for 20th century temperatures and rainfall, but climate change brings more heat and downpours, said Andrew Dessler, a Texas A&M University climate scientist.

Streets are flooded after heavy rain in Sao Sebastiao do Cai, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, May 2, 2024. In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Credit: AP Photo/Carlos Macedo, File

"We're departing the climate of the 20th century right now and we just can't handle these events," Dessler said. "So they're getting slightly more extreme, but they're passing our ability to handle them."

Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy, said more extremes in more places are overlapping.

"Climate change is loading the weather dice against us in every part of the world," Hayhoe said. "What this means is that it is increasing not only the frequency and severity of many weather extremes, but also that the risk of compound events is increasing."

In just the first five days of May, 70 countries or territories broke heat records, said climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, who tracks temperature records across the world.

Nandyala and Kadapa in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh set an all-time high at 115 degrees (46.3 Celsius), Herrera said.

Joseph Torres stands in the remains of his father's home following a tornado in Hodges, Texas, May 3, 2024. In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Credit: Ronald W. Erdrich/The Abilene Reporter-News via AP, File

Nitin Gadkari, a federal minister, fainted during campaigning in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

"Heatwaves in India are by far the deadliest type of extreme weather events. At the same time, they are the type of extremes most strongly increasing in a warming world," said climate scientist Friederike Otto in a statement earlier this week.

This week in Southeast Asia, "it was the hottest May night ever," Herrera posted on X (formerly Twitter). Parts of Thailand didn't drop below 87.6 degrees (30.9 Celsius).

In late April, parts of northern Thailand hit 111 degrees (44 Celsius), while Chauk township in Myanmar's hottest region hit a record 118.8 degrees (48.2 Celsius).

Many African nations are also facing scorching heat. Herrera said it hit 117.5 degrees (47.5 Celsius) in Kayes, Mali. The capital of Niger had its hottest May night and Burkina Faso's capital had its hottest night for any month. In Chad, in north central Africa, temperatures were expected to linger above 114 degrees (45.6 Celsius) all week.

Men deliver sacks of ice cubes as demand remains high due to hot temperatures in Quezon city, Philippines on April 24, 2024. In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Credit: AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File

The deadly heat wave felt across West Africa last month was linked to human-caused climate change, according to scientists at the World Weather Attribution group.

In Mexico's Ciudad Altamirano, the temperature neared 115 degrees (46 Celsius) with record heat all over Latin America, Herrera said. Bolivia had its hottest May night on record and Brazil its hottest day in May.

The record-setting Brazil heat that stifled huge cites such as Sao Paulo also kept a rainstorm from moving over the country's south, turning it deadly, according to Francisco Aquino, a climatologist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

There also was a massive influx of humidity from the Amazon's so-called flying rivers, or air currents that carry water vapor, Aquino explained. "These caused clouds to generate extreme rainfall," he said.

Kenya Red Cross workers and volunteers carry a man's body after floodwater washed away houses, in Kamuchiri Village Mai Mahiu, Nakuru County, Kenya, April 30, 2024. In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Credit: AP Photo/Patrick Ngugi, File

A woman is rescued from an area flooded by heavy rains in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Monday, May 6, 2024. In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Credit: AP Photo/Carlos Macedo, File

Alvaro Trevino pulls a canoe with Jennifer Tellez and Ailyn, after they checked on their home on May 5, 2024, in Spendora, Texas. In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Credit: Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via AP, File

A man wades through an area flooded by heavy rains, in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, May 3, 2024. In a world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Credit: AP Photo/Carlos Macedo, File

The Southern State of Rio Grande do Sul is reeling from the worst flood on record, with at least 90 people dead, nearly 204,000 displaced and 388 municipalities impacted, according to local authorities

In Porto Alegre, a metropolitan area with over 4.4 million inhabitants, the waters took over downtown, the international airport and several neighborhoods. Authorities said it will take days for the water level to recede.

Houston is still trying to dry out out after days of heavy rainfall that required more than 600 people to be rescued from flooding across Texas, including 233 people in Houston. Just northeast of Houston, about 23 inches (58 centimeters) fell.

Meanwhile, April brought the heaviest rains ever recorded to the United Arab Emirates, flooding portions of major highways in the desert kingdom and Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest hub for international travel.

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I met with a friend for a walk beside Merri Creek, in inner Melbourne. She had lived in the area for a few years, and as we walked beside the creek, past trees, native grasses, a small wetland echoing with frog calls, I talked about how it had looked before we started the site's restoration around 25 years ago. She stopped in her tracks, astonished. "But I thought it had always been like this!" she said.

As we grapple with bad environmental news every day, we need to tell stories of ecological restorationto speak of what's possible, and also what's not.

Merri Creek is not particularly longjust 70km. But because it threads through Australia's largest city, linking the ecosystems of the Great Dividing Range with those of Port Philip Bay, it provides habitat of regional significance.

The creek's headwaters lie in the Great Dividing Range near Wallan. It flows through Melbourne's northern suburbs to join Birrarung/Yarra River just upstream from Dights Falls in the inner city. Its waters flow between rocky escarpment walls, through basalt plains clothed in native grasslands, and across a rocky creek bed.

From fishing grounds to industrial sewer

This is Wurundjeri Country. The region's Traditional Custodians, the Wurundjeri, have cared for this Country for millennia, and their Custodianship continues. At the time of colonization, the waterway was rich with biodiversitywoodlands, grasslands, billabongs and wetlands. The landscape was a cultural artifact, created and maintained by burning, digging, tending and harvesting.

Colonization saw displacement, dispossession and disruption to Wurundjeri methods. As Melbourne grew, the creek's fate worsened. Factories along its path dumped waste directly into its waters, while the sealed surfaces of the city caused flash flooding and washed litter into the water.

By the 1970s, the creek was weed-infested, polluted and threatened with further destruction from proposals to extend freeways and build culverts. Plans to connect the Hume Highway to the Eastern Freeway at Dights Falls would have completely obliterated the creek.

The beginning of restoration

It was these proposals that led people and communities to seek first to protect and then to restore the creek.

At first, these efforts were small. Friends groups and local citizen groups formed along the creek. In 1976, they came together with eight local councils to form the Merri Creek Coordinating Committee.

As interest and activity along the creek grew, the individual friends groups came together in 1989 to form Friends of Merri Creek, while the coordinating committee resolved to establish the Merri Creek Management Committee as an incorporated association of councils, the Friends of Merri Creek, Melbourne Water and the Victorian Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

This coordinated approach gave the committee more resources, allowing it to employ a revegetation team and focus on ecological restoration. This was pioneering work in Australia.

The team worked to remove weeds such as prickly pear, African boxthorn, Chilean needle grass and serrated tussock, replacing them with tubestock grown from locally collected seeds and cuttings of native grasses, wildflowers, shrubs and trees.

Some areas along the creek required more drastic action, such as earthworks to restore the creek bank's profile where rubbish dumping and building waste had destroyed the creek's form.

Volunteers and workers worked to restore wetlands away from the main channel to create habitat for pollution-sensitive frogs and aquatic insects such as damselflies. These creatures cannot survive the still-polluted water of Merri Creek's main channel.

Much restoration work relied on community involvement, with planting days organized up and down the creek so local residents could contribute to its restoration.

Today, the members of the committee are the six local governments covering its catchment, Friends of Merri Creek and the Wallan Environment Group.

Why has this partnership endured?

Efforts to restore Merri Creek have been largely successfuland have gone the distance. Why? There are several important reasons, as I have explored in my research.

For one, the management committee and the friends groups work in partnership, and often take complementary roles in protecting and advocating for the creek.

As volunteers, the Friends of Merri Creek take an active and vocal role in organizing on-ground volunteer activities, monitoring biodiversity to contribute to citizen science efforts and acting politically by advocating and writing submissions to planning and decision-making processes.

As an incorporated association, Merri Creek Management Committee employs skilled professionals such as the revegetation team, works with governments and agencies, and undertakes strategic planning and research.

Both the committee and the Friends have built links with the Wurundjeri's Narrap natural resources team, as part of efforts to center care for Country. They have both worked to build local connections and a sense of stewardship for communities near the creek, through community organizing and collective action such as on-ground activities, planning and advocacy.

The result is palpable. If you go for a walk along Merri Creek these days, it's hard to reconcile the reality now with its former life as an industrial sewer.

Frogs, birds, snakes, eels and insects are returning to the creek and the newly created wetlands. It's even possible to glimpse a swamp wallaby, 5km from the heart of Melbourne. Locals show their love of the creek through painting, poetry and daily visits.

Job done? Not quite. There are always threats, ranging from design and construction of new suburbs in the creek's northern reaches to inner-suburban dense development close to its banks. Floods bring litter and weed seeds directly into the creek's environment. And industrial pollution flowing down drains or illegal clearing of vegetation require us to maintain active stewardship. Pollution in the creek's sediments, including heavy metals, means true restoration is a long-term endeavor.

Merri Creek is a peaceful place, an exciting place, a meditative place, a thriving place, a cultural place connecting to Wurundjeri custodianship and continuing care for Country, a place full of life, wonder and joy.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Discharge from ships with so-called scrubbers cause great damage to the Baltic Sea. Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | Anna Lunde Hermansson

Discharge from ships with so-called scrubbers cause great damage to the Baltic Sea. A new study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that these emissions caused pollution corresponding to socioeconomic costs of more than 680 million (approximately $730 million) between 2014 and 2022.

At the same time, the researchers note that the shipping companies' investments in the much-discussed technology, where exhaust gases are "washed" and discharged into the sea, have already been recouped for most of the ships. This means that the industry is now making billions of euros by running its ships on cheap heavy fuel oil instead of cleaner fuel.

"We see a clear conflict of interest, where private economic interests come at the expense of the marine environment in one of the world's most sensitive seas," says Chalmers doctoral student Anna Lunde Hermansson, who is one of the authors of the new study, published in Nature Sustainability.

The study has been prompted by the ongoing discussion of a potential ban on scrubber water dischargewhere large volumes of polluted water are produced and discharged from the ships' exhaust gas cleaning systems. The issue is on the agenda at multiple levels within the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and is also being discussed at EU level as well as on national levels such as the Swedish Parliament, although a Swedish decision on a ban is yet to be made.

Anna Lunde Hermansson and Chalmers colleagues Erik Ytreberg and Ida-Maja Hassellov have been researching the environmental impact of shipping for many years and are contributing with their expertise in both international and national contexts.

In a previous study, for example, they have shown that more than 200 million cubic meters of environmentally hazardous scrubber water is discharged into the Baltic Sea annually and that scrubber discharge water accounts for up to 9% of the total emissions of certain carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the Baltic Sea.

Excluding oil spill costs

In the new study, published in Nature Sustainability, the Chalmers researchers calculated both the external costs of scrubber water discharge, and the financial balance sheets of over 3,800 vessels that invested in the scrubber technology. As for the costs associated with the degradation of marine ecosystems, the study shows that between the years 2014 and 2022, scrubber water discharges have polluted at a cost of over 680 million in the Baltic Sea area.

The calculations are based on models for willingness to pay to avoid marine environmental degradation, but according to the researchers, the estimates should be regarded as an underestimate. For example, direct costs associated with heavy fuel oil spills from ships using scrubbers are not included. The multi-million euro sum that it costs to clean up oil after ships have grounded and leak oil, for example Marco Polo on the Swedish coast of Blekinge last autumn, are not included in the calculations.

"If the scrubbers had not existed, no ships today would have been allowed to run on this dirty residual fuel. That is why the scrubber issue is highly relevant to push the shipping industry towards less negative environmental impact," says Lunde Hermansson.

Anna Lunde Hermansson, Doctoral student, Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | Amanda Nylund

Restrictions in several countries

In terms of the shipowner perspective, the researchers calculated the costs of installing and maintaining the scrubber systems, as well as the monetary gain from running the scrubber-equipped vessels on the cheaper and dirtier heavy fuel oil instead of the more expensive low-sulfur fuel alternatives.

According to the calculations, the majority of the shipping companies that invested in scrubbers have already reached break even, and the total surplus by the end of 2022 for all of the 3,800 vessels, was 4.7 billion. The researchers also note that more than 95% of the most common scrubber system (so-called open loop) are repaid within five years.

"From the industry's point of view, it is often stressed that shipping companies have acted in good faith by investing in technology that would solve the problem of sulfur content in air emissions and that they should not be penalized. Our calculations show that most investments have already been recouped and that this is no longer a valid argument," says Lunde Hermansson.

Recently, Denmark has decided to ban the discharge of scrubber water into so-called territorial waters, within 12 nautical miles of the coast. A number of countries around the world, such as Germany, France, Portugal, Turkey and China, have also adopted national bans or restrictions.

In Sweden, there is currently no general ban, although some ports, such as the Port of Gothenburg, have banned the discharge of scrubber water in their area.

"We now hope that the issue will also be given priority in the Swedish Parliament. This is a low-hanging fruit where we can reduce our negative impact on the vital marine environment," says Hermansson.

In addition to Hermansson, the study was conducted by Ida-Maja Hassellov, Tiia Gronholm, Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen, Erik Fridell, Rasmus Parsmo, Jesper Hassellov and Erik Ytreberg. The researchers are active at Chalmers University of Technology, the Finnish Meteorological Institute and IVL, the Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

More information: Strong economic incentives of ship scrubbers promoting pollution, Nature Sustainability (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41893-024-01347-1 Journal information: Nature Sustainability
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A quarrel with a co-worker, task overload, a difficult relationship with the boss; each of us reacts slightly differently to problematic events in our professional lives. Such events often result in decreased work motivation and engagement.

How important is our own bank of positive resources, called PsyCap, in all this? Are Polish employees different from Americans in this respect? Researchers from SWPS University in Wroclaw, Poland have analyzed this issue. Their findings are published in the journal Polish Psychological Bulletin.

In psychology, PsyCap (psychological capital) is a concept used to describe an employee's pool of positive mental resources. This individual resource bank enables us to get through tough situations in both personal and professional life. Psychological capital consists of efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience.

To better understand PsyCap and its potential in the context of employee functioning, it is necessary to refer to the definitions of its individual components. Self-efficacy is defined as the belief in one's ability to successfully manage specific tasks. Optimism involves making positive judgments about the current and future situation, which increases work engagement.

Then there is hope, which equips the employee with perseverance in achieving goals, and if necessary, the ability to change the strategy. The last component of PsyCap, mental resilience, allows employees to return to a state of mental balance when they feel overwhelmed, explains Aleksandra Penza from the Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University.

The researchers investigated the importance of PsyCap in the context of work engagement. Will it act as a buffer to help employees cope with negative events? Or will it act as a bank of positive resources, making the employee's engagement at work less dependent on emotions that accompany specific work events?

According to a 2014 study, North Americans show higher levels of PsyCap compared to Poles. Are the effects of PsyCap nationality-specific?

For the new study, the researchers recruited 748 participants from Poland and the U.S., all of them employed in companies and administration units. Each participant filled in five questionnaires measuring work engagement, PsyCap, positive and negative work-related emotions, and recent positive and negative work events.

The study results show that people with high psychological capital have a lower level of negative emotions in response to negative events at work compared to people with low PsyCap. However, this difference does not affect their level of work engagement.

American PsyCap, Polish PsyCap

Analyzing data separately for the sample of Polish and North American employees revealed significant differences in these relationships. PsyCap serves as a buffer between a challenging work environment and work engagement only among North American employees.

In turn, among Polish participants, PsyCap functions as a reservoir of positive resources, reducing the dependency of work engagement on positive emotions resulting from positive work events, says Penza, the first author of the study.

"From an international perspective, we have empirically demonstrated that the role of PsyCap in the relationship between work-related events, associated emotions and work engagement is culture-specific. Our findings have confirmed that North Americans have higher levels of PsyCap compared to Poles. They also perceive fewer negative work events and generally experience weaker work-related emotions and engagement at work than Poles," the researcher explains.

Understanding the processes that shape work engagement, including the role of personal resources such as PsyCap, can provide important information for HR professionals. Incorporating this perspective can offer valuable insights for HR developers to tailor internal organizational policies to the specific needs and characteristics of employees.

"In the context of changes taking place in the labor market, such as intensive digitalization and increased social isolation resulting from remote work, strengthening employees' psychological resources appears to be one of the most accessible methods of protection against the negative consequences of these threats," concludes Penza.

More information: Aleksandra Penza et al, Linking Work Events with Work Engagement: Mediating Role of Emotions and Moderating Role of Psychological Capital, Polish Psychological Bulletin (2024). DOI: 10.24425/ppb.2023.148848

Provided by SWPS University
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The Change-6 mission is the worlds first lunar farside sample-return mission. Credit: Dr. Yuqi Qian

The far side of the moon is a mysterious place that is never visible from the Earth. The most remarkable feature of the moon is its asymmetry between the lunar near side and far side in composition, crust thickness, and mare volcanism. Scientists have not yet reached a consensus on the origin of the lunar asymmetry due to the lack of far side samples, which is one of the most significant remaining questions of lunar science.

The Chang'e-6 mission, launched on May 3, 2024, and currently heading to the moon, is the world's first lunar far side sample-return mission. It aims to return ~2 kg lunar soils to the Earth from the southern mare plain of the Apollo basin within the South Pole-Aitken basin, the largest known impact feature in the solar system. These samples contain enormous scientific potential that can be used to solve the lunar dichotomy conundrum and even reshape our knowledge of our closest neighbor.

As shown in a recent paper published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Dr. Yuqi Qian, Professors Joseph Michalski and Guochun Zhao from the Department of Earth Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and their international collaborators have comprehensively studied the volcanism of the Apollo basin and its surroundings, which revealed the mysterious and diverse volcanism of the Chang'e-6 landing site with significant implications for the Chang'e-6 sample analysis and the origin of the lunar dichotomy.

The study has found that the Apollo basin has extensive volcanic activities lasting from the Nectarian (~4.05 billion years ago) to the Eratosthenian Period (~1.79 billion years ago). Volcanic activity in the region was significantly influenced by crustal thickness. Dikes in intermediate-thickness crust tend to stall beneath the crater floor, spreading laterally to form a sill and floor-fractured crater.

Dikes below the crust thinned by the Apollo basin event reached directly to the surface and erupted to form widespread lava flows, and dikes in thick crust stall before being able to reach the surface and form basaltic dike intrusions. "This fundamental finding indicates that the crustal thickness discrepancy between near side and far side may be the primary cause of lunar asymmetrical volcanism," said Dr. Qian. "This can be tested by the returned Chang'e-6 samples."

For the southern mare plain in the Apollo basin, where Chang'e-6 is going to land, there are at least two episodes of eruptions. The earlier one erupted ~3.34 billion years ago with low-Ti composition and covered the entire topographically low region between the Apollo peak ring and basin rim. The later eruption occurred ~3.07 billion years ago with high-Ti composition close to Chaffee S crater and flowed east with decreasing thickness until encountering proto-wrinkle ridges.

The authors suggested the high-Ti basalts in the west have the most abundant scientific meanings. Sampling it would return high-Ti basalts, underlying low-Ti basalts and exotic nonmare materials that were transported by impact events. Professor Michalski emphasized, "Diverse sample sources would provide important insights into solving a series of lunar scientific questions hidden in the Apollo basin."

"The result of our research is a great contribution to the Chang'e-6 lunar mission. It sets a geological framework for completely understanding the soon-returned Chang'e-6 samples and will be a key reference for the upcoming sample analysis for Chinese scientists," said Professor Guochun Zhao, Chair Professor of HKU Department of Earth Sciences and the co-author of the paper. "It is a large step for HKU where the university seeks excellence in planetary sciences and more participation in the national space program."

HKU is the only university in Hong Kong that possesses lunar samples obtained by the Chang'e-5 mission from near side. Building on the foundation of this work, the geological team from HKU will also pursue the opportunity to acquire Chang'e-6 samples as well. This initiative aims to enable HKU to possess lunar samples representing both near side and far side, thus unlocking a new window of scientific exploration into the study of two lunar hemispheres.

More information: Yuqi Qian et al, Long-lasting farside volcanism in the Apollo basin: Chang'e-6 landing site, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118737 Journal information: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
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Community organizations making child welfare reports to Oranga Tamariki say it's not uncommon to be met with delayed decisions or silence, even on high-risk cases, a new Otago study has found.

The research, published in Child and Youth Services Review, examined why and how reports are made by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to the statutory child protection agency Oranga Tamariki.

Lead author Associate Professor Emily Keddell, from the Social and Community Work program, says a key finding was a disconnect between the expectation of NGOS and Oranga Tamariki over which organization should respond in child welfare cases.

There was a growing sense that NGO reports of even high-risk cases to Oranga Tamariki are not responded to, leaving community organizations with nowhere else to turn.

"This leaves children at risk and creates anxieties and ethical 'trade offs' for community professionals, who must balance their relationship with whanau and its use in risk mitigation, against the likely response."

Associate Professor Keddell says a lack of workforce capacity within Oranga Tamariki as it struggles to fill posts, as well as reducing funding to the NGO sector, has led to a growing gap between the two, challenging their ability to provide a seamless public health response to child abuse and neglect.

"This results in a growing number of families whose needs and risks are considered by NGO workers to be too complex for their service, but who do not meet the threshold for Oranga Tamariki to work with."

Researchers interviewed community support workers from two large NGOsone each from the North and South Islandsthat have more than 70 years combined experience and hold contracts with Oranga Tamariki.

The study found community professionals are working closely with whanau in accordance with New Zealand's child protection reforms in recent years, which has seen NGOs take a bigger role in early support and services offered to whanau, and Oranga Tamariki move away from unnecessary intervention.

Some of the major changes since reforms were introduced include suspected drug use being perceived as less harmful to children than in earlier times, and non-severe isolated incidents of a parent striking a child being viewed as the remit of community professionals to respond to.

NGO workers support this direction, accepting they have a greater role to play in offering early support, addressing possible risks of harm, and help with parenting.

They say they only escalate cases to Oranga Tamariki for statutory intervention after all their efforts to support whanau have been exhausted. The decision to report is made after a careful evaluation of the complex mix of protective and risk factors, and the nature of the relationships that community professionals have with families.

Community workers interviewed in the study say they are frustrated at incidents when they have tried to report "last resort" cases and Oranga Tamariki has not acted, leading to concerns that at-risk children would "slip through the cracks."

They spoke of various response experiences, from "waiting hours" on the phone to speak to a social worker, receiving automatic email responses but nothing else, or waiting weeks to hear if Oranga Tamariki had formally intervened and having to follow up with multiple emails and calls.

Throughout this time, children who had disclosed risky situations to community workers were anxiously waiting to hear if Oranga Tamariki was going to intervene, knowing their parents might be angry at their disclosure.

Workers say they feel like Oranga Tamariki's threshold for reporting cases has increased to "very high" in recent years, but the threshold itself has not been clarified.

The lack of consensus between NGOs and Oranga Tamariki on what kinds of cases merit intervention, not only results in a lack of follow up, but also can influence whether NGOs report similar cases in the future, the research found.

Associate Professor Keddell says where previous reports are not acted on, or there has been no feedback about them, community professionals lose faith in reporting as a mechanism to keep children safe, and opportunities for collaborative practice are lost.

"These findings point to the need for a clearer consensus between all parties of what kinds of cases should be reported to Oranga Tamariki, clearer role definition between agencies, and the need for increased resources and investment in community agencies and schools to be able to undertake their intensifying role.

"Oranga Tamariki also needs greater workforce capacity at their front-door to be able to make well-informed decisions and communicate these clearly to reporters and whanau.

"Where policy aims to reduce the involvement of statutory child protection agencies and reduce care entry, greater provision of intensive whanau services and resources are needed in the community."

More information: Emily Keddell et al, The heuristic divergence between community reporters and child protection agencies: Negotiating risk amidst shifting sands, Children and Youth Services Review (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107532
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Immigration has become a defining issue in the 2024 elections and a major challenge in many U.S. cities. Over the past several years, wars and armed conflict, violent persecution and desperate poverty have displaced millions of people worldwide and propelled the arrival in the U.S. of thousands seeking protection, mainly at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Large cities such as New York, Miami, Denver and Boston are struggling to house new arrivals and meet their basic needs. Cities are looking for ways to support these new arrivalssome for a short time, others for months, years or permanently.

I study forced migration, government responses to it, and how refugees and asylum-seekers integrate into new settings. My focus is on humanitarian arrivalspeople who enter the U.S. legally as asylum-seekers, resettled refugees or under various temporary protection programs, also known as parole.

In total, the Biden administration has admitted or authorized admitting roughly 1.5 million people under these programs since 2021. Cities need help to cope with these waves of new arrivals. The good news is that with support, refugees and people receiving asylum successfully integrate into life in the U.S. and contribute more to the national economy than they cost.

Entering on humanitarian grounds

People immigrate to the United States for many reasons and receive different types of visas and treatment when they arrive. Here are the main types of humanitarian admissions:

Humanitarian parole: The federal government can give certain groups permission to enter or remain in the U.S. if it finds "urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons" for doing so. People who enter through parole programs must have an approved financial supporter in the U.S. They typically can stay for one to two years and may apply for authorization to work.

Currently, the federal government is admitting a maximum of 30,000 people per month under a parole program for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The Biden administration has also admitted people from Afghanistan and Ukraine through other parole programs. In total, the Biden administration has admitted more than 1 million people through these programs.

Refugees and asylees: People who can show that they have experienced persecution, or have a well-founded fear of being persecuted based on their race, religion, nationality, social affiliations or political opinion, can apply for refugee status or asylum. Asylum is granted to people who are already in the U.S. Refugee status is provided to people who are vetted abroad and approved for resettlement.

Resettled refugees and people granted asylum can apply for authorization to work in the U.S. After one year in the U.S., they are eligible to apply for legal permanent residence, also known as a green card.

For fiscal year 2024, Biden has approved a maximum of 125,000 refugee admissions. There is no limit on the number of people who may be granted asylum each year.

Applicants for asylum, however, must go before an immigration judge in the U.S., who will decide whether their fears qualify them to be allowed to remain. U.S. immigration courts are heavily backed up, with more than 2 million asylum applications pending. Asylum applicants can remain in the U.S. while their case is pending, but they cannot receive work permits for six months after they apply for asylum.

Where new immigrants settle

As has been the case since at least 2010, Texas and Florida are top U.S. destinations for migrants, along with cities in New York, Illinois and Colorado. Counties where new migrants make up more than 2% of the population include Queens, New York; Miami-Dade, Florida; and Denver, Colorado.

Credit: The Conversation

In cities, many humanitarian immigrants find work in the hospitality and health care industries. Others move to small towns in rural areas, where they work in long-standing migrant sectors such as meatpacking, health services and agriculture.

People who come with an intent to stay are motivated to put down roots and become part of their new communities. But becoming established can take time, and newcomers' needs can stress city neighborhoods that are already struggling with housing and employment problems. The months immediately following their arrival is the time when refugee newcomers need support of all kinds.

Working with diaspora communities

New arrivals often move to particular towns or city neighborhoods because they know that people from their country are well established there. These residents are familiar with the new arrivals' home language and cultures and understand their needs.

For example, there are over 40,000 Ukrainians in Rochester, New York, and about 134,000 in New York City. The U.S. also has large communities of parolees, including Haitians, Venezuelans and Cubans, and long-standing diasporas of resettled refugees and asylum recipients from many parts of the world.

I see established diasporas as a critical resource for supporting new immigrants and maximizing benefits for host communities. By working with diaspora individuals and families to support new arrivals, federal and state governments could redirect funds that are now going to hotels and shelters.

For example, Boston has struggled in recent months to house large numbers of Haitian immigrants, placing several thousand families at hotel and motel sitesan unusual and expensive practice born of necessity. An alternative might be to offer cash payments or tax breaks to some of the state's 81,050 Haitian residents in return for housing new Haitian arrivals for a few months.

Diaspora households can offer information about navigating city bureaucracies, finding jobs and accessing banking services, in addition to the comfort of familiar food and company. These communities can be an enormous help to new immigrants as they become established and begin to contribute to the city.

Such incentives could also be aimed at non-diaspora communities and people who are willing to help newcomers. A direct community support system, with safeguards built in to protect both the refugees and their hosts, would cost a city or state much less than paying for hotel rooms.

Faster work permits

Speeding up work authorizations for new arrivals can shorten the time they need support from the government. Under federal law, most nonresident foreign nationals must obtain an employment authorization document in order to apply for jobs in the U.S.

Currently, although the Biden administration is trying to move more quickly, these applications are taking more than six months to process. Once immigrants have work permits in hand, diasporas and host neighborhoods could receive tax breaks or other economic benefits in return for helping them find work.

There are other things cities and the federal government can do to support new humanitarian arrivals. Banks could be encouraged to support refugee business, as some are already doing. For example, Re:start Financial is a neobanka tech company that provides online banking servicesbased in Austin, Texas, and founded in 2021 by a group of immigrants. It allows immigrants who do not yet have permanent addresses or Social Security numbers to open free online banking accounts with nontraditional documentation from their home countries.

With adequate support, new arrivals usually find their feet and become self-reliant within a few months. Using federal and state resources to enlist host neighborhoods and diaspora communities in this process would help ensure that everyone benefits.

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The Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi province, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a history that goes back more than 1,500 years, has attracted a team of young researchers to protect and expand its influence.

As one of the three major grotto sites in China, the grottoes extend about 1 kilometer from east to west, and were all carved out of the mountain.

The 254 extant grottoes consist of 45 major caves and more than 51,000 sculptures from the fifth century, representing some of the oldest carved art in the world.

The Yungang Research Institute, which was known as the Yungang Grottoes Research Institute until 2021, is responsible for protecting, researching, monitoring and exhibiting the Yungang Grottoes, as well as coordinating the development of Yungang studies and the protection of regional grottoes.

At the institute, a group of young researchers are busy restoring the grottoes in an attempt to preserve the precious cultural relics and allow more people to access them.

Through the establishment of archives and a digital technology collection, they conduct comprehensive research of the site and explore methods of protection.

Bent over his desk, Dai Yuxiang carefully used a suction ball to remove white ash from pieces of a mural.

"The suction ball is originally a medical tool used in otolaryngology (the field of ear, nose and throat medical treatment)," Dai said. "During the removal process, it can help me blow away the detached white ash and powder."

Dai, 38, is mainly engaged in the protection and restoration of painted clay murals at the institute. He also gives students lessons on restoration. "My work can be divided into two parts," he said. "We first conduct the restoration on-site. Then, if the mural has been severely damaged, it will be removed and restored indoors."

Sometimes, the restoration work creates pressure for Dai.

In June 2019, Dai participated in the restoration of murals at an ancient tomb from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) in Datong.

"While entering the tomb chamber, we found the murals had suffered extensive detachment and peeling," he said. "Looking at the scattered mural pieces on the ground, we decided to use an archaeological extraction method, systematically extracting the mural layer by layer on the ground in a gridded manner, with each grid corresponding to a box of mural fragments."

Then the team spent nearly seven months restoring the murals to 90 percent of their original appearance.

"After a mural cracks, the edges form a chapped surface, so we used the chapped surface as a guide to piece the fragments together, and factors such as color and lines only serve as auxiliary aids," he said. "Only after gathering the small fragmented pieces into larger ones can the entire mural be reassembled, and then the mural was gradually transferred onto a board."

Although the work is tedious and laborious, Dai has devoted himself to it for over 10 years.

"I often imagine myself as an ancient craftsman from 1,000 years ago, immersed in my work," he said. "I hope I can pass down the skills of mural restoration to my students."

Because of the effects of climate change, the grottoes face irreversible damage year after year.

In recent years, the institute has been promoting advanced digital technologies to allow more people to see the Yungang Grottoes and leave a more complete cultural heritage imprint for future generations.

After graduating from Taiyuan University of Technology in 2015, Li Lihong joined the institute and participated in the digitization of several large grottoes.

"We usually take measurements during the day and process the collected data at night to check for errors and omissions," she said. "Then we can make sure that any necessary additional data can be collected the following day."

Due to the difficulties of collecting massive information about the sculptures, the institute has established an advanced Yungang digital computing center based on high-performance graphics processors, on which a large number of grotto photos and data can be processed and modeled to generate 3D models.

So far, the institute has completed high-precision digital acquisition and documentation for more than half the Yungang Grottoes, achieving the permanent preservation and sustainable utilization of precious cultural relics.

"I have visited the grottoes many times, but findings from my digital work often brought surprises," Li said. "Once, when I was collecting data on a platform of the No 17 grotto, I discovered a small, very exquisite Bodhisattva statue that couldn't have been found by people standing on the ground. At that moment, I felt that my work was very valuable."

There are also some young people dedicating themselves to academic research at the institute, such as Wu Jiao.

Nine years ago, Wu graduated with a master's degree in archaeology from Shanxi University and joined the Historical and Ethnic Integration Research Center at the previous Yungang Grottoes Research Institute.

During the first six months of her work there, she mainly served as a tour guide to enrich her work experience, in addition to doing some basic research.

"It was an unforgettable experience. During the process of explaining the historical background of the Yungang Grottoes and the sculptures within them, I found I still needed to study the culture more," she said. "The questions from visitors made me realize that so many people cared about the details of the grottoes," she added. "There are also so many unsolved mysteries waiting for me to find answers."

In recent years, Wu has been involved in several important projects, including the compilation of books called The Complete Works of the Yungang Grottoes and the organizing of archaeological reports about the grottoes' ceilings and fronts.

"Restoring history through academic exploration made me feel very fulfilled," she said. "I hope to make more discoveries in the future through the enhancement of my academic abilities."
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Credit: The Conversation

Signs written in Spanish are becoming less common along North Philadelphia's Golden Block, or El Bloque de Orowhich runs along North Fifth Street from Lehigh Avenue to Allegheny Avenue and is considered the cultural center of the city's long-standing Puerto Rican community.

Meanwhile, Spanish and multilingual signs are rapidly increasing in the Italian Market area of South Philadelphia, which in recent decades has become a stronghold of the Mexican immigrant community.

And in Olney, the heart of Philadelphia's Colombian diaspora, in upper North Philadelphia, Spanish signs are displayed among signs written in English and Koreanbut have decreased and then increased again in recent years.

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Hispanic linguistics at Temple University, and I conducted what's called a linguistic landscapes study in these three neighborhoods from 2021 to 2023. I wandered through each neighborhood on foot several times each year, taking photographs of written signs in public spaces. By the end of my research, I had collected a total of 3,356 signs. These included business signage, posters and handwritten signs. My findings were published in the April 2024 issue of the journal Languages.

I found that across all three neighborhoods, English dominates the linguistic landscape. Of the total 3,356 signs, about 62% were in English, while 24% were in Spanish and 13% were written in both Spanish and English. Only 29 signsless than 1%were multilingual, or written in three or more languages. Among these, Vietnamese was the most common third language.

Spanish signs became more common during my study, increasing from 19% in 2021 to 23% in 2022 and then jumping to 30% in 2023. Meanwhile, the number of signs in English dropped from 70% in 2021 to 61% in 2022 and then to 55% in 2023. Bilingual signs also increased, going from 10% in 2021 to 16% in 2022 and then dropping a bit to 14% in 2023.

The most dramatic shift I observed was in South Philadelphia, where English signs decreased steadily from 72% in 2021 to 51% in 2023, while Spanish signs doubled from 18% to 36%.

Credit: The Conversation

This linguistic shift most likely reflects the presence of immigrant communities that are still growing, particularly those from Cambodia and Mexico.

Why it matters

The Golden Block has been a political and cultural hub of Philadelphia's Hispanic community since the mid 1970s. For decades, many have viewed it as the heart of Philadelphia's Latino community.

However, ethnographic research I conducted in 2020 revealed that despite the presence of many Hispanic families and businesses, Spanish isn't always dominant in that area. Research shows a tendency for non-English speakers to lose their native language proficiency by the third generation.

And while Spanish use may be declining on the Golden Block, my study reveals that Spanish and other languages, like Khmer and Vietnamese, are gradually increasing overall across the three neighborhoods. This reflects the city's growing linguistic diversity and cultural globalization, and that various immigrant communities are making the Italian Market a new hub for linguistic and cultural diversity.

How I do my work

Typically, I begin with a classic ethnographic approach: walking through different areas, talking with locals and familiarizing myself with the environment. Once I am immersed in the area, patterns of language in specific contexts become apparent. It is at this point that one wears their linguist hat and begins formulating hypotheses to develop a study, and starts collecting data, which for me is the most enjoyable process of the research.

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Since the first microbial genome was sequenced in 1995, scientists have reconstructed the genomic makeup of hundreds of thousands of microorganisms and have even devised methods to take a census of bacterial communities on the skin, in the gut, or in soil, water and elsewhere based on bulk samples, leading to the emergence of a relatively new field of study known as metagenomics.

Parsing through metagenomic data can be a daunting task, much like trying to assemble several massive jigsaw puzzles with all of the pieces jumbled together. Taking on this unique computational challenge, Rice University graph-artificial intelligence (AI) expert Santiago Segarra and computational biologist Todd Treangen paired up to explore how AI-powered data analysis could help craft new tools to supercharge metagenomics research.

The scientist duo zeroed in on two types of data that make metagenomic analysis particularly challengingrepeats and structural variantsand developed tools for handling these data types that outperform current methods.

Repeats are identical DNA sequences occurring repeatedly both throughout the genome of single organisms and across multiple genomes in a community of organisms.

"The DNA in a metagenomic sample from multiple organisms can be represented as a graph," said Segarra, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.

"Essentially, one of the tools we developed leverages the structure of this graph in order to determine which pieces of DNA appear repeatedly either across microbes or within the same microorganism."

Dubbed GraSSRep, the method combines self-supervised learning, a machine learning process where an AI model trains itself to distinguish between hidden and available input, and graph neural networks, systems that process data representing objects and their interconnections as graphs.

The paper, also available on the arXiv preprint server, was presented at the 28th session of an annual international conference on research in computational molecular biology, RECOMB 2024. The project was led by Rice graduate student and research assistant Ali Azizpour. Advait Balaji, a Rice doctoral alumnus, is also an author on the study.

Repeats are of interest because they play a significant role in biological processes such as bacterial response to changes in their environment or microbiomes' interaction with host organisms. A specific example of a phenomenon where repeats can play a role is antibiotic resistance.

Generally speaking, tracking repeats' history or dynamics in a bacterial genome can shed light on microorganisms' strategies for adaptation or evolution. What's more, repeats can sometimes actually be viruses in disguise, or bacteriophages. From the Greek word for "devour," phages are sometimes used to kill bacteria.

"These phages actually show up looking like repeats, so you can track bacteria-phage dynamics based off the repeats contained in the genomes," said Treangen, associate professor of computer science.

"This could provide clues on how to get rid of hard-to-kill bacteria, or paint a clearer picture of how these viruses are interacting with a bacterial community."

Previously when a graph-based approach was used to carry out repeat detection, researchers used predefined specifications for what to look for in the graph data. What sets GraSSRep apart from these prior approaches is the lack of any such predefined parameters or references informing how the data is processed.

"Our method learns how to better use the graph structure in order to detect repeats as opposed to relying on initial input," Segarra said. "Self-supervised learning allows this tool to train itself in the absence of any ground truth establishing what is a repeat and what is not a repeat. When you're handling a metagenomic sample, you don't need to know anything about what's in there to analyze it."

The same is true in the case of another metagenomic analysis method co-developed by Segarra and Treangenreference-free structural variant detection in microbiomes via long-read coassembly graphs, or rhea. Their paper on rhea will be presented at the International Society for Computational Biology's annual conference, which will take place July 1216 in Montreal.

The lead author on the paper is Rice computer science doctoral alumna Kristen Curry, who will be joining the lab of Rayan Chikhialso a co-author on the paperat the Institut Pasteur in Paris as a postdoctoral scientist. A version of the paper is available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

While GraSSRep is designed to deal with repeats, rhea handles structural variants, which are genomic alterations of 10 base pairs or more that are relevant to medicine and molecular biology due to their role in various diseases, gene expression regulation, evolutionary dynamics and promoting genetic diversity within populations and among species.

"Identifying structural variants in isolated genomes is relatively straightforward, but it's harder to do so in metagenomes where there's no clear reference genome to help categorize the data," Treangen said.

Currently one of the widely used methods for processing metagenomic data is through metagenome-assembled genomes or MAGs.

"These de novo or reference-guided assemblers are pretty well-established tools that entail a whole operational pipeline with repeat detection or structural variants' identification being just some of their functionalities," Segarra said.

"One thing that we're looking into is replacing existing algorithms with ours and seeing how that can improve the performance of these very widely used metagenomic assemblers."

Rhea does not need reference genomes or MAGs to detect structural variants, and it outperformed methods relying on such prespecified parameters when tested against two mock metagenomes.

"This was particularly noticeable because we got a much more granular read of the data than we did using reference genomes," Segarra said.

"The other thing that we're currently looking into is applying the tool to real-world datasets and seeing how the results relate back to biological processes and what insights this might give us."

Treangen said GraSSRep and rhea combinedbuilding on previous contributions in the areahave the potential "to unlock the underlying rules of life governing microbial evolution."

The projects are the result of a yearslong collaboration between the Segarra and Treangen labs.

"This has been a product of performing multiyear collaborative research across different areas of expertise, which has allowed our students Ali and Kristen to challenge existing paradigms and develop new approaches to existing problems in metagenomics," Treangen said.

More information: Ali Azizpour et al, GraSSRep: Graph-Based Self-Supervised Learning for Repeat Detection in Metagenomic Assembly, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2402.09381 Kristen D. Curry et al, Reference-free Structural Variant Detection in Microbiomes via Long-read Coassembly Graphs, bioRxiv (2024). DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.25.577285 Journal information: bioRxiv , arXiv
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A schematic (left) and photograph (right) of an organic piezoelectric material, demonstrating how these materials can be used to guide the flow of electric current. Credit: University of Delaware

UD engineers are the lead inventors on a new patent for making piezoelectric devices, such as sensors and actuators, using Nodax, a biodegradable, bio-based polymer.

Every year, more than 400 million tons of plastic are manufactured, including single-use items such as shopping bags and drinking cups. Because these materials can reach the environment without degrading for a long time, researchers and companies are looking for materials that offer similar physical properties as conventional plastics but will quickly biodegrade and won't cause harm to plants and animals.

A polymer invented, designed, and chemically synthesized by Isao Noda, an affiliated professor with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in UD's College of Engineering, is one such alternative material that is bio-based and biodegradable. Enabled by an ongoing collaboration with John Rabolt, the Karl W. and Renate Boer Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, this polymer was found to have surprisingly high piezoelectric properties, meaning that it's capable of producing electricity when bent or deformed.

Now, the UD-based research team has been awarded a U.S. patent for the use of this innovative material to produce piezoelectric devices. Along with patents already awarded in several other countries, this achievement paves the way for a wide range of potential applications and commercialization opportunities.

Making naturally occurring polymers at industrial scale

While working as an industrial scientist at Procter & Gamble, Noda was tasked with finding a new type of biodegradable material for disposable diapers and packages. He started looking into a class of polymers called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a type of naturally occurring polyester made by bacteria and other microorganisms and plants.

The problem, Noda explained, was that the PHAs that were known at the time were too hard and brittle to be useful in most practical applications.

"I was doing a lot of spectroscopic characterization, and realized that we should be able to find bacteria that could modify PHAs' molecular structure in a particular way," explained Noda, referring to the chain length of the polymer's alkyl side group.

"These branches can be methyl or ethyl, which cannot easily be melted or processed. But, when you extend this branch to three carbons, i.e., propyl, or even longer, suddenly the material is able to be more easily processed and becomes a ductile, tough, and useful polymer."

This biodegradable polymer, with the trade name Nodax, is manufactured today at industrial scale by Danimer Scientific, a biotechnology company focused on creating sustainable alternative materials to replace conventional plastics. UD also has an ongoing partnership with Danimer, who supported the recent patent application efforts.

In contrast to how standard plastics are fabricated, Nodax is made in large tanks by bacteria using plant-based feedstocks. The formulated Nodax polymers are then purchased by other companies to make a variety of end use products, with biodegradation rates similar to that of cellulose or food waste.

"Danimer Scientific has pioneered the commercial production of naturally occurring PHAs, offering renewable and fully certified biodegradable and compostable materials for many different food service and packaging applications, such as straws, cutlery, paper coatings, coffee pods and flexible films," said Keith A. Edwards, vice president of business development at Danimer.

Nodax polymers are used to make a variety of end use products, with biodegradation rates similar to that of cellulose or food waste. Credit: University of Delaware

Discovering new properties through fundamental research

But the work didn't stop once Nodax biopolymers were being produced at scale. After giving an invited talk at UD in 2012, Noda met with long-time colleague Rabolt and decided to transfer some of the material he'd accumulated over the years to support new avenues of fundamental research. Noda, who also served as the Danimer Scientific senior vice president from 2013 until 2019 and still sits on its Board of Directors, joined UD as an affiliated faculty member in 2012.

With efforts led by Ph.D. alumni Liang Gong (now at 3M), Brian Sobieski (now at FXI), Changhao Liu (now at A123 systems), and materials science and engineering research professor Bruce Chase, in addition to Noda and Rabolt, the UD-based research team discovered even more unique properties of PHAs. This included the discovery that one of the material's forms was highly piezoelectric, meaning that it holds an electrical charge after a mechanical force is applied.

"It was a great collaborationwe had chemists, rheologists, physicists, the right mix of skillsets to be able to understand and do different things with this unique material," said Rabolt.

This finding led UD's Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships (OEIP) to apply for a patent using Nodax as a biodegradable polymer to make piezoelectric devices in 2019; that patent was allowed and issued earlier this year, with named inventors including Chase, Noda and Rabolt.

"It's exciting to see the results of this collaboration between the University of Delaware and Danimer Scientific, which has the potential to spark a chain reaction of benefits," said Julius Korley, associate vice president of OEIP.

"As companies incorporate Nodax into devices useful to the public, patent royalties will come back to the University to reward our inventors and to further the investment in research and innovation, with our students learning to become innovators along the way."

Unlocking the potential of a new piezoelectric polymer

The finding that Nodax has high piezoelectric properties means that it could potentially be used in sensors or actuators. Nodax could also serve as a possible replacement for polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), a common piezoelectric material that is made from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of "forever chemicals" that have been linked to negative health outcomes.

While this material is still in the early developmental stages, the possibilities for further work, in terms of both fundamental research and potential applications, excites Noda. "We want to discover additional properties that haven't yet been explored, understand how to make the material better and adapt the processing for industrial scales, and overall keep doing fundamental research that will help other companies with their future applications," he said.

"The fun part is just being able to try different things over timemaybe develop the material's ferroelectric or pyroelectric capacity, things like that," added Rabolt. "We're really just at the tip of the iceberg with this new material."

Danimer has already worked with partners to produce textile fibers using Nodax to replace conventional materials such as PET and polypropylene. The opportunity to now expand into piezoelectric fiber applications is an exciting development.

"The future of PHAs as a more perfect polymer in many applications is now, and Danimer is again pioneering new biotechnology solutions with great partners like UD," said Edwards.
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Dmitry Fishman (right) and Eric Potma, both professors of chemistry at UC Irvine, made a breakthrough discovery regarding the way light interacts with solid matter in silicon. Their work could lead to improved efficiency in solar electric systems, semiconductor lasers and other advanced optoelectronic technologies. Credit: Lucas Van Wyk Joel / UC Irvine

A research team headed by chemists at the University of California, Irvine has discovered a previously unknown way in which light interacts with matter, a finding that could lead to improved solar power systems, light-emitting diodes, semiconductor lasers and other technological advancements.

In a paper published recently in the journal ACS Nano, the scientists, joined by colleagues at Russia's Kazan Federal University, explain how they learned that photons can obtain substantial momentum, similar to that of electrons in solid materials, when confined to nanometer-scale spaces in silicon.

"Silicon is Earth's second-most abundant element, and it forms the backbone of modern electronics. However, being an indirect semiconductor, its utilization in optoelectronics has been hindered by poor optical properties," said senior author Dmitry Fishman, UC Irvine adjunct professor of chemistry.

He said that while silicon does not naturally emit light in its bulk form, porous and nanostructured silicon can produce detectable light after being exposed to visible radiation. Scientists have been aware of this phenomenon for decades, but the precise origins of the illumination have been the subject of debate.

"In 1923, Arthur Compton discovered that gamma photons possessed sufficient momentum to strongly interact with free or bound electrons. This helped prove that light had both wave and particle properties, a finding that led to Compton receiving the Nobel Prize in physics in 1927," Fishman said.

"In our experiments, we showed that the momentum of visible light confined to nanoscale silicon crystals produces a similar optical interaction in semiconductors."

An understanding of the origin of the interaction requires another trip back to the early 20th century. In 1928, Indian physicist C.V. Raman, who won the 1930 Nobel Prize in physics, attempted to repeat the Compton experiment with visible light. However, he encountered a formidable obstacle in the substantial disparity between the momentum of electrons and that of visible photons.

Graphical abstract. Credit: ACS Nano (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c12666

Despite this setback, Raman's investigations into inelastic scattering in liquids and gases led to the revelation of what is now recognized as the vibrational Raman effect, and spectroscopya crucial method of spectroscopic studies of matterhas come to be known as Raman scattering.

"Our discovery of photon momentum in disordered silicon is due to a form of electronic Raman scattering," said co-author Eric Potma, UC Irvine professor of chemistry. "But unlike conventional vibrational Raman, electronic Raman involves different initial and final states for the electron, a phenomenon previously only observed in metals."

For their experiments, the researchers produced in their laboratory silicon glass samples that ranged in clarity from amorphous to crystal. They subjected a 300-nanometer-thick silicon film to a tightly focused continuous-wave laser beam that was scanned to write an array of straight lines.

In areas where the temperature did not exceed 500 degrees Celsius, the procedure resulted in the formation of a homogenous cross-linked glass. In areas where the temperature exceeded 500 C, a heterogeneous semiconductor glass was formed. This "light-foamed film" allowed the researchers to observe how electronic, optical and thermal properties varied on the nanometer scale.

"This work challenges our understanding of light and matter interaction, underscoring the critical role of photon momenta," Fishman said.

"In disordered systems, electron-photon momentum matching amplifies interactionan aspect previously associated only with high-energygammaphotons in classical Compton scattering. Ultimately, our research paves the way to broaden conventional optical spectroscopies beyond their typical applications in chemical analysis, such as traditional vibrational Raman spectroscopy into the realm of structural studiesthe information that should be intimately linked with photon momentum."

Potma added, "This newly realized property of light no doubt will open a new realm of applications in optoelectronics. The phenomenon will boost the efficiency of solar energy conversion devices and light-emitting materials, including materials that were previously considered not suitable for light emission."

More information: Sergey S. Kharintsev et al, Photon-Momentum-Enabled Electronic Raman Scattering in Silicon Glass, ACS Nano (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c12666 Journal information: ACS Nano
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Phage-bacteria coevolution. Cholera patients with mild dehydration have higher predator (ICP1)toprey (Vc) ratios. (Left) When ratios are higher (effective predation) and Vc lacks an ICE, a higher frequency of NS point mutations (asterisks) are selected in Vc. (Right) When ratios are lower (ineffective predation) and Vc encodes phage resistance on an ICE, ICP1 is under strong selection. Credit: Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adj3166

Several billion years ago, a genetic arms race began between bacteria and their viral killers. This seemingly eternal struggle continues today, with implications for diseases killing tens of thousands of people around the world each year.

A recent study published in Science reveals key insights into how bacteria killers called bacteriophages or phages impact the severity of the waterborne diarrheal disease cholera. Cholera kills between 21,000 and 143,000 people annually worldwide. It is a disease of poverty, striking regions lacking clean drinking water and sanitation.

The team, including McGill University Microbiology and Immunology Professor Jesse Shapiro, conducted what it believes to be one of the largest genetic studies to analyze the dynamic relationship between cholera bacteria, their bacteriophages and antibiotics.

The study underscores the possibility of creating new strategies to use bacteriophages to kill drug-resistant bacteria in cholera and other diseases that have plagued civilization for centuries. It reveals a pathway to new diagnostics and antibiotic resistance mitigation.

"Cholera is a devastating waterborne infection that causes millions of cases and thousands of deaths each year, with risk expected to increase with climate change. Antibiotic resistance is also an increasing concern and alternative anti-infection treatments are needed," said Shapiro.

Effective predation

A key finding involves a concept called "effective predation." The researchers found a higher ratio of phage predators to their bacterial prey was associated with milder cholera cases. The team said it is the first to show the genetic underpinnings of this ratio.

This ratio can be used as a marker of disease severity, informing a physician's decisions on treatment. It might also predict disease progression.

The researchers used advanced genomic techniques to analyze the interaction of bacteria and the bacteriophages in 2,574 stool samples from cholera patients in Bangladesh, a nation with one of the world's highest cholera ratesabout 100,000 cases yearly. Samples were collected in 2018 and 2019.

Shapiro conducted a genetic analysis of samples with the study's lead author, Naima Madi, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at McGill.

Documenting the genetic arms race between the bacterium and its phages complicates the study of cholera and phage ecology. Each evolves to thwart the other's defenses. One adapts, the other responds. If the phages have the upper hand, the genetic diversity of the bacteria increases. Then, the population of phages falls. The virus responds with genetic adaptations, eventually thriving again.

Shapiro said more studies, including a clinical trial, are needed before effective phage therapies are developed.

More information: Naima Madi et al, Phage predation, disease severity, and pathogen genetic diversity in cholera patients, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adj3166 Journal information: Science
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A member of President Joe Biden's administration stopped in the city of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, on May 6 to talk PFAS with local officials, visiting an area that's been at the forefront of contamination just three weeks after the Biden administration released the first-ever drinking water standards for the so-called "forever" chemical.

Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, also met with students and staff at Tartan High School in Oakdale before visiting the fishing pier at Lake Elmo.

"This is so striking," Mallory said, speaking to reporters and local officials while standing on the lakeshore. "This is a beautiful site, and the idea that there's this gigantic toxic lake that people aren't able to actually fully take advantage of is sobering."

The city of Lake Elmo has reported PFAS contamination in several of its drinking water wells, like the nearby communities of Oakdale, Cottage Grove, Woodbury, Stillwater and others. The drinking water standard announced last month by the Environmental Protection Agency sets a legally-enforceable requirement for utilities to reduce PFAS levels to the lowest level they can be reliably measured. The administration says it will protect 100 million people from PFAS exposure.

Mallory said it will take "a longstanding engagement" to clean PFAS from the environment, but that designating it a hazardous substance is a start. The government has also worked to create PFAS alternatives, she said.

"Ultimately, we need to be in a place where we are not using PFAS any place that we don't need to use PFAS."

Mallory said the Defense Department has said there are some uses that touch on issues of national security that for now have no viable alternative, however.

Her tour of Lake Elmo at the Lake Elmo Park Reserve was guided by Minnesota Pollution Control Agency commissioner Katrina Kessler, and attended by local officials from Lake Elmo and Washington County.

"Any attention that can be brought to itso people can understand it and hopefully get behind cleaning it upis great," said Lake Elmo Mayor Charles Cadenhead.

"This is not a political issue it's a logistical and timeliness issue," said Jeff Holtz, a member of the Lake Elmo City Council.

The county has been supporting the cleanups in multiple cities in the area, said Washington County commissioner Fran Miron, but funding remains a huge concern, especially for smaller communities.

"We're dealing with it with the funds that we have, with the knowledge that we have," said Miron. "And continue to advocate for more funding either through the state or the federal government."

Mallory also met with the family of Amara Strande, the Oakdale resident whose advocacy helped lead to last year's passage of Amara's law, which bans the use of PFAS in all products except those deemed by regulators to be essential. Strande, a Tartan High School graduate, died one year ago of a rare cancer her family blames on PFAS contamination near the school, although the connection can't be proven.

"I think Amara would have been wowed by this," said her mother, Dana Strande, speaking of a federal official visiting Lake Elmo to talk about the contamination. "She would have been like, 'Oh, they're listening. They've listened and they understand it's my community.'"

2024 StarTribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
There is an emergency blood shortage in 2024. Blood donations are needed to help alleviate the shortage and ensure lifesaving medical procedures proceed without delay.

The number of blood donors has fallen 40% in the past two decades, and the American Red Cross is seeing the lowest number of people giving blood. This means the Red Cross, which reports supplying about 40% of the nations blood donations, has had to limit distributions of some of the most transfused blood types to hospitals.

Why the shortage? In the past, blood banks have worked with businesses and schools that hosted blood drives on site, where it was possible for a lot of people to donate blood. As the way that we learn and work has changed, its been harder and harder to attract as many donors to an employer- or school-related blood drive.

Meanwhile, hospital demand continues to outpace donations, and blood donors help is vital. But summer is traditionally a time when blood donations decline.

When hospitals dont have a full blood bank, patients who need transfusions may have delays, surgeries may be rescheduled and it may result in more of a struggle for patients with rare blood types to find matching donors.

In the time it takes to read this sentence, two people in the United States will need a blood transfusion. That demand continues every two seconds of every 24-hour day. And since blood cannot be manufactured outside the body and has a limited shelf life, the supply must constantly be replenished by generous blood donors.

Because theres no blood substitute, blood donations are essential to ensuring an adequate national blood supply that covers needs and disasters throughout the nation. Did you know that just 1 pint of blood (one donation) has the potential to save three lives? And donating blood is possible because healthy bone marrow makes a constant supply of red cells, plasma and platelets, thereby replenishing whats given.

Blood donations of all types are needed, always. General eligibility requirements are (with some variation by state):

Tracking 2024 Dirty Dozen and Clean 15: Dr. Nina Radcliff If your sinuses haven't already alerted you, spring allergy season is upon us  earlier and stronger than expected. Lets dive into spring allergies, symptoms and treatments.

Good general health and feeling well

17 years of age (16 with parental consent)

Weigh at least 110 pounds

Unique donor situations:

Designated donor  you agree to donate one or more units of blood in advance for a friend or relative who is having a planned surgery. The blood will still be carefully screened in the same manner as anonymous blood donation.

Autologous blood transfusion  you donate your own blood well in advance of an elective surgery, for yourself.

More information is available through the American Red Cross and Americas Blood Centers, or other health organizations like the American Heart Association.

The American Red Cross recommends that before you donate:

How to protect yourself against seasonal allergies: Dr. Nina Radcliff If your sinuses haven't already alerted you, spring allergy season is upon us  earlier and stronger than expected. Lets dive into spring allergies, symptoms and treatments.

Hydrate with non-alcoholic fluids

Wear something comfortable so you can easily roll up your sleeve above your elbow

Bring a list of any prescribed and over-the-counter medications youre taking

Blood donation is a safe process. It consists of registering, giving a medical history, having a mini-physical and blood drawn with a sterile needle. Youll be in a donor room where youll lie down on a cot/chair. Youll donate about 1 pint of blood. The entire process takes approximately 60-75 minutes, with the actual blood donation taking less than 10-12 minutes. When finished, youll be given snacks and a drink to help your body get back to normal since you lost some fluids. Youll want to sit and relax for at least 10 minutes to restore your strength and energy before you leave.

As soon as youre finished, your blood is processed and prepared for patient transfusions. Based on your blood type, its personal characteristics and, often, where the need is greatest, you can rest assured that the most is made of it to help save multiple lives.

There arent any lasting side effects of blood donation, but you may temporarily need to:

Hydrate. Drink more non-alcoholic beverages for the following 24-48 hours.

Take it easy. No workouts or any hard physical activity for 24 hours.

Feel lightheaded. Lie down for a few minutes until you feel ready to get up.

A little bit of bleeding from the spot where you donated. Raise your arm, applying pressure to that spot for a few minutes.

If you have bruising in that area, use an ice pack on it.

Consider scheduling an appointment to give blood now. We human beings are the only sources of this life-giving gift. Lets roll up our sleeves. Together, we will save millions of lives!
China, France condemn all violations of int'l humanitarian law

Xinhua) 09:01, May 07, 2024

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China and France condemn all violations of international humanitarian law, including all acts of terrorist violence and indiscriminate attacks against civilians, the two countries said Monday in a joint statement.

The statement was released during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to France, where Xi and French President Emmanuel Macron exchanged in-depth views on the situation in the Middle East.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
Near the Forbidden City lies a quaint courtyard with gray brick walls, crimson columns and old trees that extend branches beyond the compound's walls in Beijing's Dongcheng district.

The courtyard embodies a chapter in the history of friendship and exchange between China and France that goes back 100 years and lasts until today. The Sino-French University was located there since the 1920s. Now, it is home to Yishu 8, an art platform that provides residencies for artists from the two countries.

Every year since 2011, Yishu 8 has awarded its France Prize to three young French artists and invites them for a two- to three-month residency in Beijing. And since 2013, the China Prize has been offered annually to two Chinese artists, who are then invited to Paris for residencies.

French artist Lyes Hammadouche won in 2017 and arrived in Beijing for a two-month residency.

"I was provided with a place to stay and a studio to work in on the second floor of a former Sino-French University building, where the lighting was beautiful," Hammadouche recalls.

"It felt amazing to be here because it's one of the places where there really were exchanges between French and Chinese cultures. That's something that made it unique."

He knew some of the basics about Chinese culture before making the journey. And he is interested in Eastern philosophy. So, after his arrival in Beijing, he started learning Chinese and reading the seminal Taoist work, Tao Te Ching.

"I had to come here to dive into the culture and experience it firsthand to understand the book," the 37-year-old says.

"And that was the amazing part of it. When I went back and my friends asked me to tell them about China, there is no word to describe it. You have to live it."

During those two months, he also encountered other artists and art experts, who expressed recognition of his work. Jury member of Yishu 8's China Prize Tony Brown, who is also a guest professor at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, invited him to teach at the academy, which led him to live in Beijing for four years, teaching new media art and design.

Now based in London, he recently came back to Beijing for an exhibition of Yishu 8 prize laureates, titled Histoire d'Yishu 8 Residence d'Artistes Franco-Chinoise (History of Yishu 8 French-Chinese Artist Residency).

As this year marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and France, Yishu 8 hosted the exhibition from April 20 to 28 at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.

Displayed on-site are 56 works from various media, including paintings, sculptures, videos and installations, by 34 French and Chinese artists who have participated in the residency.

The exhibition's opening ceremony on April 20 was attended by Bertrand Lortholary, French ambassador to China, Wu Weishan, director of the National Art Museum of China, Christine Cayol, founder of Yishu 8, and Su Dan, the exhibition's curator.

"The spirit of Yishu 8 lies in the need of an equal and free dialogue between China and France," says Cayol, a French writer and philosopher, who has lived in China for more than 20 years and founded Yishu 8 in 2009.

"When this dialogue is led by artists, it resembles a tree bearing fruit. Sometimes, the fruits immediately come into fruition, but at others, they require the artists to delve deeper into their own cultural roots."

Chinese artist Huang Xiaoliang had two of his photography works displayed at the exhibition. Both are early works kept in Yishu 8's collections around 10 years ago, featuring the grayscale hues of Chinese ink paintings, processing techniques in digital art and an exploration of the concept of shadows.

He first heard about Yishu 8 in 2010, when he'd just graduated from university. Since then, he has continued collaborating with the organization, hosting solo exhibitions and having his works displayed around the world.

"I think Yishu 8 was a pioneering organization at that time in constructing a nonprofit exchange platform to support artists. It's a difficult endeavor. Young artists especially need more of these kinds of opportunities," Huang says.

He participated in residencies in Paris in 2018 and 2023, each lasting around two months. During these periods, he was provided with a studio at the International City of the Arts, an artist-in-residence building complex near the Seine.

"Apart from its great location in central Paris, the complex was very international and diverse, with artists coming from all around the world, each with their own studios and working on all kinds of art forms, such as music, visual art, film and literature," Huang says.

"Getting to know these artists from different cultural backgrounds allows us to broaden our vision, providing us with abundant information and diverse perspectives for looking at and understanding the world, which is very important for artists."

Chinese artist Wang Enlai, whose works are also featured at the exhibition, likewise says the residencies proved an eye-opening experience. He was granted the China Prize in 2015, when he was a master's student of sculpture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

"New experiences are very important. For artists, creation is based on what they see and what they hear. When life suddenly changes into a very different environment, it spurs new experiences and new stimuli," Wang says.

"Information is easily accessible today, but I think especially when we can smoothly access information, firsthand experience is more important  our senses, our encounters and our connections with other people."

After his initial residency in 2016, he went to France again in 2022 to prepare for his works to be showcased at the 2022 Yishu 8 exhibition centered on the artist residency at the Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris.

"The recognition of Yishu 8 prize by these two prestigious museums (Guimet and the National Art Museum of China) is crucial," Cayol says.

"It encourages us to continue building cultural, artistic and humanistic bridges. These are spaces of transition and exploration, where people can construct their own identities by getting closer to others.

"These bridges between China and France come to life through the artists. It is they who, in the silence of the studio, hold the future of our civilizations in their hands."
John Deere plans to lay off 34 people at its cylinder operations in Moline at the end of the month.

A company spokesman said in an email Monday that the staff members were told about the layoffs by factory leadership on Friday. The move is part of each factory's efforts to "optimize the workforce at each facility," the email said. The layoff is effective May 31.

The Cylinder Works employs about 280 people, including 190 in production and maintenance, the spokesman said.

In September the company announced it was laying off more than 200 employees at its Harvester Works in East Moline.

How the US minimum wage compares to other countries How the US minimum wage compares to other countries Across continents, minimum wages are higher than in the US Some states surge ahead How the US minimum wage compares to other countries
Herky the Hawkeye is on display times 100 in Johnson County after the University of Iowa put out a call to artists to put their spin on the iconic mascot. Of the chosen, two Davenport West High School art teacher's made the cut.

Dave Schaeffer and Brian White both have unique versions of Herky on display after months of sculpting and creating. The pair are part of Herky on Parade, a joint venture with the University of Iowa and Johnson County to showcase the iconic mascot.

The event started in 2004 with 75 fiberglass statues in the traditional fighting stance. In 2014, 84 more statues were created with Herky posing in a heroic manner; hands on his waist.

In honor of Herky's 75th birthday, the event returned with the University putting out a call to artists to redesign the mascot with their own spin on things. More than 300 applied, said Schaeffer, and 100 designs were chosen, including Muscatine based artist Jim Hetzler who created Super Hero Herky, modeled after Batman.

White said he got interested in the project in 2014 when his daughter brought it to this attention. They traveled around the county trying to see them all and it created a lasting impression.

"I haven't done really any kind of public art prior," he said. "But I saw this come up and it kind of struck my interest."

He went through past designs for inspiration and thought about what he spends time enjoying in his own life. Right now, Scouts is a big bonding experience for him and his son and he drew up plans for Scout Herky.

"I just used that as my inspiration and went with that," he said.

Schaeffer said the application process involved submitting a two dimensional drawing for sponsors to vote on which they liked best. In mid-December the announcement was made that not only did Schaeffer make the cut, but so did fellow art teacher Brian White.

Schaeffer's named his design 'Herktimus Prime' after Optimus Prime, the leader of the autobots in the popular Transformers franchise.

"I'm a huge Transformers geek," he said, adding its a passion he shares with his three sons. "We were going through the names and I figured that would be cool. I thought that was kind of a punny name for it."

After he was chosen, Schaeffer picked up the 50 pound, fiberglass shell in mid-December and had until mid-March to complete the project.

"Artists basically came from all over to pick them up," he said.

At first, it didn't seem so hard. The design was already on the paper. But as Schaeffer looked closer, he realized he would have to go outside of his comfort zone to turn the muscular Herky into a boxy robot.

"As I looked at it, it looked really cool on paper, but I knew I would have to be building a lot of fiberglass," he said.

While most artists were able to paint the white shell, Shaeffer had to get creative with fiberglass, insulation foam and a hot wire cutter to give Herky the right shape. He added on pieces little by little and bolted and screwed them into the original statue.

Expanding foam was used to fill the gaps, trimmed then covered with multiple layers of fiberglass. A resin epoxy was poured over the entire statue before it was primed and painted. The statue was painted red, grey and blue to reflect the colors of the original Optimus Prime, but Schaeffer made sure to add in an Iowa touch.

Shaeffer kept Herky in his original stance: one arm flexed and the other on his hip, complete with a Tigerhawk tattoo on his bicep.

"It turned out pretty cool and hopefully it lasts a while," he said.

White's Herky has been painted with the traditional scouts uniform with details including laces on the shoes, stripes on the socks and badges on the sash across the statue's chest. For the most part, the statue stayed as it was originally designed, with one hand on the hip. The other, he said, needed improvising.

I changed mine up. Instead of doing the flex with the fist and all that, I lopped off the hand and turned it into doing the Scout sign," he said, referring to the scout salute.

Like Schaeffer, White had never taken on a project quite like this before and ended up rebuilding the hand using foam and clay. The new experience was part of the motivation for pushing himself out of his comfort zone, he said.

"Being a teacher is being another life-long learner," he said. "I have to learn new things so I can pass it onto my students."

Herky on Parade was officially unveiled by the University on May 1 with various sponsors choosing where the statue was to be displayed. The statues will be on public display through August then auctioned off with the proceeds going to various charitable organizations.

Shaeffer's Herktimus Prime is on display at the GreenState Financial Center in North Liberty at 595 Kansas Ave. NE. As the premier sponsor, GreenState got first dibs on which Herky they wanted displayed. Knowing his was chosen and getting to experience that with his family at the unveiling was a great feeling, he said.

"It was really cool to drive up there and it's in a really cool location in front of a big business and a big pond," he said.

White's Scout Herky is on display in Willow Creek Park in Iowa City. Posts on social media of various Scout troops posing with the statue have been sent his way, he said, and have made the whole project worth it.

"It makes you feel accomplished and proud to have something out there in the community, especially that promotes Scouts," he said. "Being a part of something this big and gets this much attention around the state is pretty cool."

A complete list of Herkys and their locations can be found online.

Photos: Hawkeye women's basketball team visits Rhythm City
Chinese college students from campuses all around the country selected their favorite submitted works in various film categories at the 31st Beijing College Student Film Festival (BCSFF), a key part of the Beijing International Film Festival.

Producer Yan Xuefeng (second left) receives best film award for "Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms," at the 31st Beijing College Student Film Festival held in Beijing, May 4, 2024. [Photo courtesy of BCSFF Organizing Committee]

Wuershan's "Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms," adapted from the classic Chinese novel "The Investiture of the Gods," won the award for best film. Producer Yan Xuefeng received the trophy on behalf of the film's cast and crew at the award ceremony held at the China National Opera House in Beijing on May 4, coincidentally China's Youth Day. During his acceptance speech, Yan promised that the next two installments of the epic mythology trilogy would see more creativity and a higher production standard.

Director Liang Ming won best director for his drama "Carefree Days," which depicts a young woman diagnosed with uremia. In her final days, her estranged father, an old classmate and a close friend come together to take care of her. As she confronts familial love, friendship and romance, the protagonist finds life still worth cherishing, despite its challenges.

In the acting categories, Jiang Qinqin clinched the best actress award for her role in "Dwelling by the West Lake," while Zu Feng took home best actor for his performance in "A Long Shot." Additionally, the awards for most popular new actor went to Zhuang Dafei and Li Xueqin for their roles in the comedies "Johnny Keep Walking!" and "Post Truth," respectively.

"Johnny Keep Walking!" also won the award for most popular script, which was written by the screenwriting duo Dong Runnian, who is also the film's director, and Ying Luojia, his wife and the film's producer.

In addition, Xun Weiping's drama "Earth Abides" received the award for the most popular art exploration film.

Jigme Trinley receives best directorial debut award for "One and Four" at the 31st Beijing College Student Film Festival held in Beijing, May 4, 2024. [Photo courtesy of BCSFF Organizing Committee]

"One and Four" by emerging Tibetan director Jigme Trinley, the son of the late Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden, won best directorial debut. His father won the same award at the 13th Beijing College Student Film Festival in 2006, making Jigme Trinley's win seen as a passing of the torch.

The young director stated that making "One and Four," with his father as a producer, taught him about growing up and that many moments during the filmmaking process touched his heart. He expressed his commitment to continue making more high-quality films.

Six original works from students were also awarded at the ceremony in categories such as best student film, excellent script and student movie review. Winning works were selected from a pool of more than 100 recommended submissions which were from domestic and international universities and colleges.

Students receive their honors for their original works at the 31st Beijing College Student Film Festival held in Beijing, May 4, 2024. [Photo courtesy of BCSFF Organizing Committee]

Founded in 1993, the Beijing College Student Film Festival is a national film festival hosted by Beijing Normal University (BNU) and organized by the School of Art and Communication at BNU, with support from more than 50 colleges across China. Integrated into the Beijing International Film Festival in 2022, the Beijing College Student Film Festival includes many events such as an award show, academic forums, workshops and screenings, with celebrated filmmakers and actors gracing the events. The festival is characterized by its motto "organized by students, watched by students, and judged by students," aiming to reflect university students' interests in films and contribution of youthful energy into the Chinese film industry, and to encourage those who wish to pursue a career in filmmaking.

The winning films at this year's award ceremony are planned to embark on a national tour to be screened at various universities and colleges.
Less than two weeks after a tornado destroyed dozens of homes in Minden, Iowa, another twister touched down Monday night just southeast of town.

"That tornado touched down at 9:12 (p.m.) about 1 miles southeast of Minden," Taylor Nicolaisen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley, said Tuesday. "We have investigators there and we can see some debris. There are reports of power lines and trees down."

An EF3 struck Minden on April 26, killing one man and destroying nearly 50 homes in the Pottawattamie County community of 600 people. Officials said a preliminary report found the tornado produced wind speeds of up to 165 mph.

Another tornado touched down in Mills County on Monday night about seven miles west of Glenwood, Iowa, Nicolaisen said. Glenwood is located about 40 miles south of Minden.

Early reports from the Glenwood area, he said, found damage to outbuildings, power lines and trees.

Photos: National Weather Service office in Valley tracks tornadoes for Omaha metro
The city of Spearfish is warning residents to check for a peddler's permit before accepting door-to-door services.

As summer approaches, citizens may see employees of businesses going door-to-door offering services, especially related to repairs and replacements of peoples homes, vehicles and property, like companies offering roofing services, paving services, and magazine or book sales. All these businesses are required to have a peddlers permit, which helps to protect residents against fraud, unfair competition and intrusion into the privacy of their homes.

Citizens are encouraged to ask peddlers, solicitors and transient merchants who knock on their door to display their peddlers permit to ensure they are a legitimate, insured business and to avoid being scammed.

In addition, as repairs and replacements are completed, city inspectors will be stopping by job sites to check proof of contractors' licenses. A City of Spearfish contractor license is required for all roofing contractors, including the sub-contractors performing the work. Contractors may apply for a license at cityofspearfish.com/479/Forms-Applications.

In addition, building permits are required for duplexes, apartments and all commercial buildings.

When removing and replacing similar material on single-family dwellings, townhouses, detached garages, or sheds, such as replacing damaged asphalt shingles with new asphalt shingles, a building permit is not required.

Those performing work on roofs should be aware that the city has adopted the International Residential Code, which requires an ice and water shield from the lowest edges of all roof surfaces to a point not less than 24 inches inside the exterior wall line of the building.

For more information, visit the Spearfish Building Services website at cityofspearfish.com/636/Building-Development.

Businesses advertising their services must follow the citys sign ordinance. Signs advertising services are limited to a maximum of one sign per lot when posted in the public right-of-way, and there is a minimum spacing of 50 feet required between signs. A sign may be displayed for up to seven days within one month, and any person posting a sign must have the landowners permission before posting the sign. For more information about the citys sign ordinance, visit cityofspearfish.com/323/Signs.

Residents seeking services are encouraged to take the following precautions provided by the South Dakota Attorney Generals Consumer Protection Office before hiring a business to perform repair or construction services:

Ask for a price quote, in advance, in writing.

Question the contractor about a permanent address and telephone number, and do not assume that if the information they provide is local, they are a local business. (Transient vendors often have business cards printed with local mailing services or motel addresses and telephone numbers.)

Ask for a list of local references and check them before making a decision.

Ask if the contractor has workers' compensation and general liability insurance. If vendors are not properly insured, homeowners may be liable for accidents that occur on their property.

Be careful about paying for work in advance; before making final payments, make sure transient vendors have paid their local suppliers or you may be held liable for unpaid materials.

Make sure you are completely satisfied with the work before paying the bill, and do not pay more for the job than originally quoted unless you have given written approval for the additional work or cost.

Ask the contractor for an excise tax license. To verify if the license is valid, call the department's toll-free helpline at 800-829-9188.

If citizens have doubts about a business or think they have been the victim of a scam, they should call the Spearfish Police Department at 605-642-1300. They can also contact the Attorney Generals Consumer Protection Office at 800-300-1986 or consumerhelp@state.sd.us. Without tips from the public, law enforcement officials may not be able to catch illegal vendors before they move on to the next community.
Vince Vidal of Rapid City announced his candidacy to represent Area 1 on the Rapid City Area Schools board.

Vidal is a 20-year Navy veteran and has worked in Rapid City since 1995. He currently serves on the Rapid City Planning Commission. He also serves as vice president of the Local 2228 of American Federation of Government Employees representing civilian workers at Ellsworth Air Force Base and described himself as a long-time advocate for labor.

Vidal said he will bring strong leadership, integrity and his decades-long background in finance, management and communications to the role to serve families, students and staff of Rapid City Area Schools.

He highlighted his role as a parent and grandparent and stated he is invested in the city's future and good schools are "an integral part of our community."

Vidal said he is in favor of a "clear, purposeful bond issue to fund new school infrastructure."

"If the school board decides to submit a bond issue to voters, it must be tailored to the facilities that we absolutely need. Taxpayers will not support a measure if they do not see a clear need," he said.

Vidal recently retired from full-time employment and stated he will dedicate his time to serving the families, teachers and staff of the Rapid City school system. Donna Moore is running against Vidal in Area 1. Deb Baker currently represents the area. Her term expires this year.

This year's school board election, set for June 4, will determine the representatives for Area 1, Area 2 and Area 7.

Troy Carr is the sole candidate for Area 2, while Kate Thomas and Katy Urban are competing for the Area 7 seat.

The winners will be sworn in at the annual board meeting in July. School board members serve three-year terms.

Residents are reminded that to vote for the school board representatives, they must reside within the area where the election is taking place.

For those unsure of their area or looking for more information on the candidates, Rapid City Area Schools encourages visiting its website. The platform offers detailed maps of area representation and further details about the election process.
Hardline GOP lawmakers on Monday called for a special session to create a partisan judiciary, in the process drawing a line between themselves and similar efforts underway by their peers in the Republican majority.

Montana, like most states, elects judges in a nonpartisan fashion. A dozen Republicans signed the document officially requesting Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen issue a poll to lawmakers on whether to convene in late June for a special session to consider bills allowing judicial candidates to appear on the ballot with a party affiliation. State law requires 10 legislators sign the request to the Secretary of State in order to trigger a poll, which requires a majority of lawmakers to convene the special session.

The primary election is June 4.

Rep. Jane Gillette, R-Bozeman and Rep. Caleb Hinkle, R-Belgrade, announced the push for a special session in a press release that put some urgency on the matter of legislation to allow judicial candidates to claim a party affiliation on the ballot.

Republicans have suffered a series of legal losses in recent months that they deem to be judicial overreach, and see some opportunity with two new Supreme Court justices to be elected in six months.

"Time is of the essence," Gillette and Hinkle's press release stated. "  Every other candidate on the ballot will have an 'R,' 'D' or 'L' next to their names, thereby enabling voters to make informed choices based upon the information conveyed by party affiliation. Voters deserve the same information when choosing judicial candidates."

The letter to Jacobsen's office calls party affiliation "the most important information about the candidates running for these seats."

The release also took a critical tone toward the newly formed Senate Select Committee on Judicial Oversight and Reform, assembled by Senate President Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, last month in response to several adverse court rulings, including one that allowed penalties against the Legislature following the Supreme Court's interpretation that lawmakers passed laws in "bad faith" regarding constitutional sideboards.

That committee met for the first time last week, most of the time was spent on a Whitefish attorney's presentation on the Montana Constitution. Democrats, who are not participating on the committee, called it a political stunt.

Gillette and Hinkle called the new committee "meaningless virtue signaling."

"Legislators who are not serious about reforming judicial elections are not serious about any other conservative value they claim to hold," the press release states. "Should Gov. (Greg) Gianforte and the Legislature fail to bring transparency to this year's judicial elections, they will own the next several years of liberal judicial tyranny."

It's very rare for lawmakers to call themselves back; of the more than 30 in state history only one was called by the Legislator and one by the governor and Legislature together.

A spokesperson for the Senate Republicans declined to comment on the language directed toward the new judicial reform committee.

A spokesperson for the governor's office said Gianforte looks forward to the recommendations of the Senate's judicial reform committee, but deferred convening the special session to the legislative poll.

In a phone interview on Monday, Hinkle said the call for a special session was not meant to undermine the new committee, but signal that the letter's signors want a more immediate solution put to a vote. A new committee is bureaucratic and slow-moving, he said.

"They're probably going to come up with some good ideas for judicial accountability," Hinkle said. "But next session the liberal Solutions Caucus will likely join with the democrats and kill those efforts like what has happened the last two sessions."

Even with a supermajority, last year's GOP-led Legislature ultimately failed to pass four separate bills to allow for partisan elections to the bench. The GOP's moderate flank largely voted against those measures along with Democrats, but representatives of the courts also worked to mitigate another constitutional crisis that took place in the previous session. That included supporting bills that expanded state ethics laws to include judges and Supreme Court justices, as well as the confirmation of two former Republican legislators to the Judicial Standards Commission, which oversees complaints leveled against judges. The State Bar of Montana opposed all proposals to politicize judicial elections, contending the vast majority of cases don't bring partisan problems to courts.

Gillette, who voted in favor for both proposals introduced in the House, believes lawmakers are in a different place than this time last year.

"When those bills were voted down last session, I don't think any Republicans, including the soft ones that typically vote with Democrats, could have imagined it would be this bad with the judiciary," Gillette said. "I think the majority of voters in Montana are Republican, the data shows that clearly, and we have a chance to make it so the values on the judiciary reflects those Montanans."

Republicans hold nearly every statewide office in Montana. Partisanship was something of an outlier in the 2022 contest between incumbent Justice Ingrid Gustafson and Republican Public Service Commissioner James Brown, who was endorsed early by the state's top GOP officials, stumped alongside GOP candidates and received more financial support from the state Republican Party than all of its legislative candidates combined. Still, 54% of voters sent Gustafson back to the bench.

Asked if creating partisan judicial elections was more of a legislative priority than one held by the electorate, Gillette rejected the premise that voters in 2022 were aware that Brown had the backing of Republicans, suggesting the affiliation was only on the radar of people deeply involved in politics.

"We tend to think that other people look through this lens, too, but I wouldn't say most people know these things," she said.

Among those who signed the request for poll is newly appointed state Republican Sen. Greg Hinkle, who was tapped by local officials to fill the vacancy left by Republican Bob Brown, who in February Gianforte appointed to the state lottery director's office. He is the uncle of Reps. Caleb and Jedediah Hinkle and was a member of the state Senate from 2009 to 2013.

The Secretary of State's Office has five days to send poll packets to legislators.
The state has proposed fining St. Francis Medical Center in Chesterfield County $33,000 for improperly handling pharmaceutical waste.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality issued a consent order, claiming the hospital mixed hazardous pharmaceutical waste with regular trash, failed to destroy leftover addictive medications and neglected to properly dispose of lamps containing mercury.

The hospital has corrected most of the errors and has contacted an external consultant to make sure it is following regulations, said Jenna Green, a spokesperson for the hospitals parent company, Bon Secours.

As a faith-based health ministry, we strive to be good stewards of our resources and to implement sustainable practices, Green said.

The state allows a month for public comment before the order becomes final.

Such offenses are not unprecedented. Henrico Doctors Hospital, Chippenham Hospital, Johnston-Willis Hospital and TriCities Hospital  all operated by HCA Healthcare  and Richmond Veterans Affairs Medical Center each have been fined more than $10,000 by the state in recent years.

In 2022, St. Francis contacted federal authorities about the hospitals status as a generator of hazardous waste. A month later, state officials inspected the 130-bed hospital and observed 30 violations of the Virginia Waste Management Act, according to DEQ.

For two years, the hospital operated as a large-quantity generator of waste, but it did not identify itself as such to officials or follow the necessary regulations. Because of a change in federal law, the hospital now operates as a very-small-quantity generator of hazardous waste, Green said.

During the inspection, officials found pharmaceutical barium sulfate placed in blue non-hazardous waste bins. Used as a contrast agent in X-rays and CT scans, barium sulfate can be dangerous if touched or inhaled. At high concentrations, it is considered a hazardous waste.

Other controlled substances were found mixed with facility trash. In three places, staff observed black bins containing pharmaceutical waste left open.

Hospital staff failed to properly dispose of phenobarbital and injectable valium  the law requires leftover drugs be destroyed. Valium treats anxiety and alcohol withdrawal. Phenobarbital controls seizures and relieves anxiety and is considered highly addictive.

Staff also failed to properly dispose of crushed fluorescent lamps, which can include ceiling lights that contain mercury. Such lamps have to be carefully disposed of, because people who touch, swallow or inhale mercury can suffer nausea, seizures, blindness and memory loss. St. Francis also stored waste for more than 90 days without a permit and did not conduct weekly inspections of the area where waste accumulated.

The hospital has corrected 28 of the 30 violations and is working to fix the other two.

The states order requires St. Francis, within four months, to develop a hazardous waste program and submit information to the department for review.

Bon Secours has acted in good faith to resolve these violations and is now on the right track to maintain compliance, said Irina Calos, a spokesperson for DEQ.

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Tourists visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, capital of China, May 2, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

The implementation of a series of more convenient immigration management policies has led to a dramatic upsurge in foreign tourist entries into China during this year's May Day holiday, injecting robust vitality into the interaction between people of the country and the rest of the world.

National border inspection agencies inspected nearly 8.47 million entries and exits made by Chinese and foreign nationals from May 1 to 5, marking a 35.1 percent year-on-year increase, according to data released on Monday by the National Immigration Administration.

According to online travel company Trip.com Group, the growth rate of inbound and outbound tourism bookings surpassed those of domestic travel during the five-day holiday, with inbound tourism bookings growing 105 percent year-on-year.

The effect of China's visa exemption policies was significant, with about a 2.5-fold year-on-year increase in inbound tourists from 14 countries benefiting from these policies, including Singapore and Thailand.

Among provincial capitals, cities with rapid growth in inbound tourism bookings included Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Xi'an in Shaanxi province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

Popular attractions for inbound tourists were primarily historical museums, theme parks and landmark buildings. New travel projects such as helicopter tours in Sanya, Hainan province, also proved popular among foreign visitors, according to Trip.com.

Tongcheng Travel, a tourism agency based in Jiangsu province, noted that during the holiday, popular destinations for inbound flights included cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province and Chengdu in Sichuan province, all of which have greater international visibility and attraction for inbound tourism.

The Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism revealed that the city received approximately 16.24 million tourist visits during the May Day holiday, a year-on-year increase of 3.77 percent.

As of Sunday, the city's inbound tourism bookings this year had increased 306 percent compared with the same period last year.

Since the beginning of the year, China's inbound tourism market has shown signs of accelerated recovery.

According to the National Immigration Administration, authorities inspected about 13.07 million border crossings made by foreigners in the first quarter, a 305 percent year-on-year increase.
British citizen returns 19 pre-Hispanic pieces to Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico  Heritage assets associated with the regions of the Basin of Mexico and the Central Altiplano, will return via diplomatic means. A total of 19 recovered assets are being returned to Mexico from the U.K.

In a joint statement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia), the 19 pieces are considered movable monuments owned by the Mexican nation, defined and protected in accordance with the Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic and Historical Monuments and Zones.

At the headquarters of the Mexican Embassy in the United Kingdom, Ambassador Josefa Gonzalez-Blanco Ortiz-Mena received 19 archaeological pieces for repatriation as part of a voluntary restitution effort.

The pieces, recovered April 30, correspond to the pre-Hispanic era and have been turned over by British citizen Michael Johnson.

A British citizen has voluntarily handed over the 19 pieces. Photo: SRE May 5, 2024.

Michael Johnson expressed his desire to voluntarily return the pieces and his intention to contribute to the actions of restitution of the cultural heritage of Mexico within the framework of the 200 years of the beginning of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the United Kingdom, which will be fulfilled in 2026.

Mexico has implemented a series of legal actions and strategies that have led to the restitution of Mexican cultural heritage located abroad, thanks to the joint effort of the Secretariats of Foreign Affairs and Culture.

The pieces have been dated to the pre-Hispanic period. Photo: SRE May 3, 2024.

Ambassador Josefa Gonzalez-Blanco thanked Mr. Johnson for this act of generosity and friendship. Likewise, she extended a call for more British people and institutions to join this type of will.

She stressed the urgent need to safeguard Mexican cultural heritage, while consolidating and strengthening the ties of friendship between both nations.

The 19 pieces will be returned to Mexico in coming days. Photo: SRE May 3, 2024.

The head of the Foreign Ministry, Abel Escartin Molina, also participated in the ceremony along with the Minister of Cultural Affairs and Communication, Luis Fernando Gutierrez Champion, the Minister of Political Affairs, Victor Jose Koyoc Cuaich and officials and staff from the Mexican Embassy in the United Kingdom, including Jessica Cuapio Mercado.
Mexico appeals to International Court of Justice to hold Ecuador responsible

Mexico City, Mexico  Mexico has appealed to the International Court of Justice to hold Ecuador accountable for the wrong committed against the country last month.

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs (SRE), Alicia Barcena Ibarra, said she, along with legal council, participated in the appeal on instructions from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Barcena Ibarra said the Foreign Ministry participated before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the hearings on the request for provisional measures in the case of the Embassy of Mexico in Quito (Mexico vs. Ecuador).

The Mexican delegation, headed by legal consultant Alejandro Celorio Alcantara, was made up entirely of public servants. Among them are people from the Mexican Foreign Service with extensive experience in international litigation, including those filed against commercial negligence that facilitates illicit arms trafficking to Mexico.

Alejandro Celorio Alcantara at International Court of Justice. Photo: SRE

The International Court of Justice is expected to conduct its deliberations to decide, in the coming weeks, whether to impose provisional measures forcing Ecuador to take the necessary measures to protect the Mexican Embassy, its properties and its archives.

Mexico appeals to International Court of Justice to hold Ecuador responsible after forcefully invading the embassy in April. Photo: SRE

Mexico expresses its full confidence in international law and justice. For this reason, the ICJ was resorted to in a timely manner so that, with the force of law, Ecuador responds to the grievance committed against our country.
National Customs Agency approves start of Chetumal tax free import zone

Chetumal, Q.R.  The National Customs Agency of Mexico has authorization the start of the Chetumal Strategic Controlled Precinct, the first in its type in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama explained that this special customs regime allows the introduction of foreign goods into the country for various activities tax free (until the final sale of the product).

This opens the doors to foreign trade and strengthens Chetumal before the world, promoting job creation and greater economic growth, she said.

The meeting was held Monday with General Andre Georges Foullon Van Lissum, the National Customs Agency head along with the Secretariat of Economic Development (SEDE), Karla Almanza Lopez and the Legal Counsel of the State Government, Carlos Felipe Fuentes Fuentes.

With the start of operations of the Strategic Bonded Precinct, the government complements the physical infrastructure to attract more national and international investments that help the south of the state, especially our capital Chetumal, to enter a new era of economy and investment that, together With the Free Zone Decree that the President of the Republic recently issued, it will allow us to recover the shine of our capital, Lezama reported.

The Free Zone Decree, recently issued by the President of the Republic, establishes the 100 percent exemption from Customs Processing Rights, General Import Tax, VAT and ISR, and with the start of operations of the facility, a specialized space is provided for the import, transformation and distribution of merchandise.

In addition, it allows the storage of these goods for up to 60 months, as well as the possibility of selling them and paying the taxes as the sale is made, which provides a respite for businessmen who venture into importing in this new stage of trade for the south.
Targeted shooting leaves three dead outside Tulum home

Tulum, Q.R.  Three people were killed Monday night outside a home in Tulum. Local authorities have reported the start of an investigation into the deadly attack that also sent one person to hospital.

The shooting happened around 8:00 p.m. outside a home on Luna Street in Colonia Maya, south of the city center. The three deceased are reported to be all males between the ages of 30 and 35.

According to early information, the four victims were approached by several men who were seen talking with them on the street before the shooting began. Three of the shot men were killed at the scene. A fourth person, reported to be a woman, was rushed to a Playa del Carmen hospital under police guard.

Those responsible for the deadly shooting were successful in escaping before police arrived. More than a dozen shell casings were collected from the scene.

The group were seen talking outside the (green) home before the shooting began. Photo: May 6, 2024.

Authorities have not speculated on a possible motive for the targeted attack, however, local media have reported a gang dispute over drug territory.

In a statement, the State Attorney General said The FGE of Quintana Roo reports that it began an investigation derived from a criminal report in the municipality of Tulum.

Specialized personnel from this autonomous organization are analyzing the evidence collected in order to be able to find the whereabouts of the person or persons responsible.

Three dead men were found laying on the street outside the home after more than a dozen shots were reported fired. Photo: May 6, 2024

From the events, which occurred outside a home in the Maya neighborhood, three people lost their lives and one more was injured by a firearm projectile, for which she was transferred to a hospital in the municipality of Solidaridad for medical attention.

Those responsible escaped before police arrived. Photo: May 6, 2024.

The Prosecutors Office, together with the Coordination Group for the Construction of Peace and Security of Quintana Roo, maintain surveillance in this municipality in order to guarantee the tranquility of the population and its visitors.
Zack Fontenot was a menace. In fact, had we both been alive in 1904, he is the last person I would have wanted anywhere near my merry-go-round because he had a history of setting them on fire. He was arrested, tried, and convicted of arson for burning Alexander Hardestys merry-go-round, but the Louisiana Supreme Court set him free. Why? In 1904 it simply was not a crime in the state to burn someone elses merry-go-round. Had it been a railroad car or a heap of hay or coal in a coal boat, the authorities would have had him dead to rights, and he would have languished for several years in the state penitentiary. Because it was a merry-go-round, however, Zack Fontenot was released upon the good people of St. Landry Parish to burn more merry-go-rounds with impunity.

Zack Fontenot was fortunate that former U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Stephen Breyer, still 34 years from being born, didnt sit on the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1904. According to Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism, Justice Breyers latest book, he would have looked at the state statute defining arson, noted that merry-go-round was not on the discrete list of things the legislature protected from arsonists on pain of criminal conviction, and then completely ignored the statute and judicially created a crime ex post factoand locked up Zack Fontenot for an act that was not illegal when he committed it.

Does common sense tell you that burning a merry-go-round that belongs to someone else should be a crime? Of course, it does. But the rule of law requires that every citizen be able to read the law and determine whether his or her behavior is lawful. What precipitated Zack Fontenots attack on Alexander Hardestys merry-go-round is lost to the ages, but had Fontenot been a calculating and careful citizen, he should have been able to read the statute and determine with reasonable certainty what he could burn and what to avoid burning if he wanted to stay out of jail.

Justice Breyers approach to the law prioritizes the aim of the law. What does the law intend to accomplish? According to Breyer, the lawwhether a statute or the Constitutionshould be interpreted with that aim in mind. Judges should compensate for the oversight, imprecision, and miscalculation of the legislature by rewriting or reinterpreting the words of the textimaginative reconstruction, as Judge Learned Hand described it. His advice for interpreting the Constitution is even worsebecause values predominate [in Constitutional interpretation], ones heart plays a bigger role [than ones head]. In that case, it isnt just Zack Fontenot (who probably belongs in jail anyway) whose freedom is in jeopardy. Constitutional interpretation represents the resolution of questions related to the most basic ways our system of government works and can turn on the subjective whims of a single unelected and unaccountable judge. Our constitutional history has far too many examples of just this phenomenon.

I was a law student when Samuel Alito was elevated to the Supreme Court, and I remember being completely surprised that one of my very progressive but very accomplished professors was genuinely enthusiastic about the appointment. Alito has proved to be a justice who represents everything that that professor would oppose socially, politically, and jurisprudentially. He was enthusiastic, however, because he knew that Alito would be clear thinking and consistent in his judicial opinion writing. It turns out that he was not a fan of certain progressive members of the Court, even though they reached exactly the conclusions he would support, because they reached them in incoherent and imprecise ways. This book, which has few virtues, demonstrates that Breyer falls into this latter category. In fact, it is alarming to get this glimpse of the mind of someone who sat for so long on our nations highest court only to find such a vapid, contradictory, and unserious approach to the judicial craft.

Breyer begins the book by contrasting his pragmatic approach to the law with the textualist and originalist view of the law embodied by jurists like Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and the late Antonin Scalia. In doing so, however, he creates a strawman of the originalist position and misrepresents the historical provenance of his own approach. First, there is no originalist who would not employ the interpretative tools that Breyer names as belonging exclusively to the pragmatisttext, history, values, consequences, legislative purposes, among others. The difference is that Breyer claims that aside from first reading the text itself, there is no specified rank order among these tools. Justice Scalia actually co-wrote more than 500 pages explaining the value of these tools and laying out a systematic, predictable approach to using them in Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts.

Second, Breyer consistently returns to his concern for a workable democracy. Judges have an almost holy obligation in his mind to engage in judicial gap-filling to make sure that our democracy remains vibrant and intact. There are two primary problems with this assertion.

The first problem is that it reveals a profound judicial arrogance. The justices sitting on the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1904 likely had no doubt that any given legislator in Louisiana believed they had passed a law that criminalized setting fire even to merry-go-rounds. But the legislature did not actually write it in the law. Opening the door to judicial gap-filling or imaginative reconstruction in small or even obvious things sets a precedent for doing the same in large and more contested things. The Constitution exclusively vests the legislative authority of the United States in the Congress, and the Supreme Court is not the Congress or a congressional adjunct. What did the Louisiana legislature do? The statute was rewritten, and to the relief of carnival operators throughout the state, the law now protects merry-go-rounds. Congress has acted before to change or clarify laws in response to gaps and inconsistencies uncovered under judicial scrutiny, and this is precisely how to make our democracy workable.

Further, Breyer has no concern for the rule of law. In fact, the few times that the term does appear he is undermining the larger arguments of the book. Breyer rightly observes that too much fluidity in the law creates uncertainty and undermines the rule of law, but he posits this as a reason to reject overturning even egregiously wrong precedent in respect of stare decisis, the legal doctrine that inclines courts to stand by things decided. Overturning bad precedent provides a corrective to the law, but judges acting as self-appointed super legislators with almost mystical access to the mind of the reasonable legislator, a key component of Breyers approach to statutory interpretation, does nothing but destabilize it.

The rule of law requires consistency and predictability. Zack Fontenot deserved the opportunity to assess the legal risks of burning someones merry-go-round, and business owners, taxpayers, and parents must be able to read the law and understand with fair certainty what is required of them, prohibited to them, or due them. At the point that judges can shift these things and undermine that surety, the law will cease to matter, since no one will know what it is until five of nine unelected lawyers have the final say.

It may be inefficient and anticlimactic, even, for litigants to battle in court for years only to have a court decide that the law is void for vagueness or otherwise lacking in enough clarity and coherence for a court to decipher and apply. At that point, the only remedy is legislative action to correct the defect, which can take even more time. But democraticinstitutions are inherently inefficient, and this is a good thing. (Note that bureaucratic inefficiency is a qualitatively different issue.) Democratic institutions, especially in a system with separation of powers, impede the tyranny of a single person or of a majority. They require cooperation, compromise, and patience. Unauthorized imaginative reconstruction subverts that inefficiency by creating judicial remedies when legislative remedies are required. Breyers affable, friendly argument for pragmatism is a dangerous conduit for judicial tyranny.

I do recognize that Breyer makes a distinction between statutory and constitutional interpretation in Reading the Constitution, and to this point I have conflated some of his arguments. But this conflation is of two things that represent a distinction without a difference. But there are some troubling arguments that he makes about each of these judicial undertakings that are uniquely problematic as applied to the interpretation of one type of law versus the other.

Regarding statutory interpretation, Breyer helpfully articulates the three general features of his purpose-based approach. They are: (a) consistency with the common law mode of judging, (b) accounting for how the law impacts other legal rules and principles, and (c) the consideration of a theoretical reasonable legislator. But he never demonstrates how these are helpful. He attempts at several points to appeal to the common law tradition and even refers to his approach as traditional but cherry-picks Aquinas and Blackstone while reducing the concept of common law not to what it would have meant to Blackstone but to the concept of judge-made positive law as understood by recent legal theorists like Oliver Wendell Holmes. He doesnt seem to recognize that policy considerations involved in how a law might impact other legal principles is the job of Congress. And it is impossible to know whether this reasonable legislator voted for or against a piece of legislation. Was he or she former Louisiana state representative and KKK member David Duke, disgraced former New York representative George Santos, or celebrity representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Moreover, legislatures pass laws as a single legislature rather than as individual legislators, in a process that is complex and layered. So even if the mind of the reasonable legislator is identifiable and accessible, it would be as relevant to what the law means as the recipes on a random page of a Betty Crocker cookbook.

As to Justice Breyers approach to the Constitution, it is good to remember the comments of the late Antonin Scalia at the 1997 Acton Dinner: People ask me, When did you become a textualist? What caused you to become a textualist? as if it is some weird thing  you have a text; you should read the text. The natural, default approach to understanding any written textlegal or otherwiseis to read the words on the page and not attempt to peer behind or between the words to undermine the intent. Breyer represents a counterintuitive trend that is dismissive of the constitutional text and creates a plastic document with a fluid meaning. It requires an approach to reading that, as he describes it, consciously leaves behind the head in favor of the heart. This results in an anachronistic understanding of words and phrases that have been subjected to the modern sentimentality of judges.

Whether the text is a statute or the Constitution, the only way to preserve the consistency and predictability required by the rule of law is to interpret it according to established canons of interpretation. These canons should be external even to each institution and be the agreed upon rules that Congress knows will be applied by the courts, and the courts in turn know that Congress gave consideration to and deliberated the legislation before it became law. Without clarity, consistency, and predictability, the law can easily become both onerous and unstableand a tool for tyranny.

Reading the Constitution is not only unconvincing; its not even interesting or particularly erudite. Justice Breyer has only laid bare the utter intellectual bankruptcy of his approach to the law. We can only hope that fewer judges will find this approach attractive and just read the text, as Justice Scalia would implore them to do.
Roanoke citizens and a state lawmaker responded to heightened conflict in Gaza this week, urging people to speak out against Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Israeli troops seized control of a border crossing in Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, according to news reports on Tuesday.

The latest military action follows months of Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, retaliating for a terrorist attack conducted by Hamas last October.

As reports about an incursion into Rafah spread, state Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, on Monday sent an email asking people to call their congressperson and demand President Joe Biden enact a cease-fire.

Palestinians in Gaza have nowhere to go, Rasoul wrote. Rafah was the final place of refuge in the Gaza Strip.

Rasoul, who is the son of Palestinian immigrants, said an Israel invasion of the city would risk the lives of 1.4 million people, including 600,000 children.

President Biden has stated repeatedly that Israels invasion of Rafah would be a red line, Rasoul wrote. Biden must remain true to his word.

Some Roanoke residents urged the city council on Monday to pass a cease-fire resolution regarding the conflict. A handful of people, including Mary Frazier, spoke during the city councils citizen comment session, holding signs and a small Palestinian flag.

Divisions and forms of hate are being sown in the midst of this ongoing violence and are impacting our community here in Roanoke city, Frazier said. Calling for a peaceful resolution protects us all by sending a clear message that antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism will not be tolerated in our community.

The Harrisonburg and Charlottesville city councils have already passed cease-fire resolutions, along with cities and towns in other states, Frazier said.

By passing a resolution calling for an immediate permanent cease-fire, we in Roanoke city will affirm our commitment to the principles of justice, peace and human rights for all, Frazier said. It will send a powerful message to our state and federal representatives, that our city stands united with the international community in its condemnation of hatred, violence, and plausible genocide.

Later during the meeting, Councilman Luke Priddy acknowledged the request.

I think its important that we do have a public forum, that we allow for them to come and speak, Priddy said. I just want to make sure they know that they were heard today.

Vice Mayor Joe Cobb said he was provided by citizens with a cease-fire resolution template.

Famine is spreading in northern Gaza due to lack of humanitarian aid, according to news reports Tuesday.

This week, May 5-11, is resilience week in Roanoke, to spread awareness of the impact caused by adverse childhood experiences, according to another city council proclamation.

At least 12,300 young people died in Gaza during four months of this conflict, which is more child deaths than during all global conflicts between 2019 and 2022, according to a United Nations report in March.

Also Monday, the city council passed proclamations naming May as national preservation month, building safety month, foster care awareness month, and national cities, towns and villages month.

Roanoke City Council meets next on May 20, with sessions at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
ROCKY MOUNT  Town council announced Monday it plans to purchase a historic downtown building for future development.

It is the second piece of property purchased by the town in just over a year.

The council and the Economic Development Authority approved moving forward with the purchase of 369 Franklin Street during a joint meeting held Monday evening. The property is currently the site of Atlantic Union Bank.

With the recent acquisition of American National Bank, Atlantic Union is consolidating its two locations in Rocky Mount and planned to sell the downtown building. Bank operations will move into the American National Bank location at 400 Old Franklin Turnpike in Rocky Mount.

According to a town news release, the banks downtown drive-thru will still continue to operate after the sale of the bank expected to finalize later this month.

Town Manager Robert Wood approached Atlantic Union after learning about the merger to see what the plans are with the bank building. Wood said bank representatives were receptive to giving the town the ability to decide what would next happen with property.

The property is currently assessed for tax purposes at $580,000. The purchase price for the town was announced Monday as $475,000.

They really liked the idea of the town being the buyer, Wood said.

The historic downtown property is known as The Peoples National Bank due to the name written on the buildings facade. The building was constructed in 1928 and is located next to the Franklin County Public Library.

In the news release from the town, the property is classified as a cast-stone building and an excellent example of Art Deco architecture with Egyptian Revival details in its door surround.

Following the sale, Wood said the town plans to speak with development experts to determine the best use for the the building. The goal would be to work with a developer to bring a new business into downtown, he said.

Downtown Rocky Mount is really taking off, said Mayor Holland Perdue in the release. This purchase is an investment in the communitys future that will allow the Town to make sure that this important historical building will serve as another integral piece of the downtown renaissance. The town council and I are excited about the acquisition of this property. I want to thank town staff for their work on this important project and Atlantic Union Bank for giving us this opportunity to strengthen our downtown.

The purchase follows the purchase of a 64-acre tract of land at the intersection of U.S. 220 and Virginia 40 in March of last year. The purchase price for that property was $5 million.
An AG600M firefighting aircraft gathers water during a gathering and dropping water test in Jingmen, central China's Hubei Province, Sept. 27, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's independently-developed AG600 large amphibious aircraft has completed the initial verification of its water-rescue capabilities, according to the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).

An AG600 tech-demonstrator in late April carried out the water-rescue verification at the reservoir of the amphibian Zhanghe Airport in Jingmen in central China's Hubei Province, said the AVIC, China's leading aircraft manufacturer.

This move is key for the AG600 large amphibious aircraft to effectively meet the demands arising from the country's emergency-rescue system construction efforts, said the AVIC.

It also marks a new major breakthrough for the AG600 aircraft family and provides tech-support for the follow-up development of the search-and-rescue variant, the developer added.

China's AG600 large amphibious aircraft family is being developed as vital advanced aeronautical equipment to strengthen the country's emergency-rescue capabilities. The aircraft family is tailored to carry out rescue missions such as firefighting, and maritime search and rescue in all types of terrains across the country.

The AG600 series amphibious aircraft features a unique configuration consisting of an integrated aircraft-shaped upper body and ship-bottom-shaped lower body.

During the verification tests, the AG600 tech-demonstrator cooperated well with rescuers on the surface of the reservoir and verified its water-rescue mode. Tests were carried out on the aircraft's landing and rescue on water surface, as well as its airdrop, said the AVIC.

This round of verification tests verified the aircraft's performance during the whole process from the launching to the recovery of lifeboat from a large cabin door on the aircraft's rear fuselage.

Also, the verification tests were carried out on the application of the airdrop equipment and the effect of survival parachute airdrop.

Via the tests, this large amphibious aircraft's performance of flying in low speeds at low altitudes and maneuvering on water surface were further verified, the developer said.

Moreover, multiple major capabilities for the aircraft to carry out water rescue missions have been verified, such as the collaboration among various participants, standardized operations and actions, and necessary task systems for rescue use, among others.

Following up, more tests will be conducted to verify the AG600's performance in maritime rescue.

The AG600 large amphibious aircraft will become a key member of China's maritime emergency search-and-rescue system by undertaking tasks such as searching for targets, rescuing people, airdrop rescue and onboard medical treatment, according to the AVIC.

AG600 will contribute to the building of the country's three-dimensional maritime search-and-rescue system in joint efforts with the commanding centers and other rescue forces and units, the AVIC added.
A brother and sister duo are being held without bond following two separate but related shooting incidents in the town of Marion on Friday.

Marion police responded to the first incident near the Marion Farmers Market at 3:13 p.m. With the incident unfolding in the vicinity of the Marion Police Department, Police Chief John Clair and Lt. Kevin Testerman were first on the scene, arriving within minutes of the shooting.

Clair described the scene as chaotic, with a dozen or so people involved in the incident and another dozen or so bystanders and witnesses from local businesses present.

We immediately saw the victim on the ground grasping at a wound, the chief said.

While tending to the wounded man and waiting for medical personnel to arrive, Clair and Testerman learned that the suspect had left the immediate area, but that the suspect's car was still in the parking lot. The officers performed felony traffic stop procedures on the vehicle and detained its occupants and bystanders were able to give a description of the suspect.

With units from the Smyth County Sheriffs Office arriving to assist, deputies set up a perimeter and used a K9 officer to track the suspect, who was quickly located a short distance from the scene.

Andre Douglas Hickman, 20, was taken into custody on charges of aggravated malicious wounding, using a firearm in commission of a felony and reckless handling of a firearm.

Clair said the dozen or so people involved appear to have been in the area for the custody exchange of an infant child between Hickman and the child's mother. In a significant incident report, Marion Det. Wes Thomas wrote that witnesses reported several subjects arguing with one another in the parking lot prior to the shooting.

The 18-year-old who was shot was airlifted to a Tennessee hospital where he was being treated for his injuries Friday. As of his last update on the mans condition, Clair said he had undergone multiple surgeries. According to a Go Fund Me fundraiser, he has been removed from a ventilator and is awake, but has a long road to recovery ahead of him.

Police have not yet determined a motive for the shooting, but the fundraiser claims the man had come to the defense of a female being beaten by a man... and as a result of that was shot.

According to the fundraiser, created by the man's mother, the bullet shattered an artery and he lost sensation in one of his feet. He also had a bullet fragment removed from his hip and three screws implanted.

This month he graduates high school and we want to see him there whether hes walking by then or we have to wheel him down the stage, the fundraiser reads.

Marion units returned to the Farmers Market area about four hours after the shooting unfolded, this time to reports of shots fired.

Clair said Andre Hickmans sister, Amya Hickman, and two other women, had returned to the area where the infant's mother lives.

Witnesses at the scene were able to give a description of the vehicle the women were traveling in and police caught up to it on Park Boulevard, where a brief pursuit took place before the vehicle finally stopped beyond Hungry Mother State Park on Highway 16.

Amaya Hickman and Andre Hickman are Tazewell County residents.

Amaya Hickman, 21, was taken into custody on charges of breaking and entering, discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle and reckless handling of a firearm.

Clair said Fridays events follow a pattern of violence thats been seen on the national level.

Its not gang violence, its not drug violence, its not vice related, he said. This is young people choosing to resolve their disputes with firearms and this is a similar pattern to what youre seeing in other areas of Virginia.

He expressed deep gratitude for the Smyth County Sheriffs Office, saying the department could not have handled the two shooting scenes without their assistance. In addition to the shooting events, Marion officers were also tied up with mental health calls, and an earlier investigation into a vehicle crash into Marion Chiropractic Center.

From a department standpoint, this was max capacity, all hands on deck, he said.

He also extended his thanks to Marion Fire-EMS for their quick response and to the bystanders who helped identify suspects and vehicles involved in both incidents.

"Ultimately, it's the community that helps us solve these things," he said.

Not yet scheduled for the first court appearances as of last weekend, Andre Hickman and Amaya Hickman will likely see amended or additional charges once the investigation is complete, Clair said.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin's chief procurement officer is leaving state government, but not before a final push to reach the governor's promised goal of saving $200 million on state purchases of goods and services by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

Reaching that goal is costing the state more money on outside consultants, including four information technology consultants that the governor's office hired in the previous three months. The state is paying the four consultants  hired from Computer Aid Inc. in Allentown, Pennsylvania  from $104 per hour to $204.73 per hour for their work, for a maximum cost of $520,630 through June 30.

The consultants report to Michael O'Malley, whom Youngkin named chief procurement officer 16 months ago, as part of a push that the governor began in 2022 by hiring Boston Consulting Group to look for ways to save on the goods and services that the state buys through the Department of General Services and the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, known as VITA.

The governor's office said the state paid Boston Consulting just under $7.7 million for a 12-person team that worked from mid-2022 to November, 2023 to save on procurement costs.

Youngkin touted the work of O'Malley, who reports directly to Secretary of Administration Lyn McDermid, in a speech to General Assembly money committees last August.

"Through the good work of our Chief Procurement Officer, we've already initiated actions that will save $20 million annually," he said then. "By Christmas, that number will grow to $100 million and, by end of the fiscal year, we will have implemented actions to save taxpayers $200 million annually."

O'Malley is preparing to leave on June 30, returning to his family in New York and a consulting company he plans to create. It is not clear how close the administration will come to meeting the governor's ultimate target of $200 million in annual savings.

"Governor Youngkins goal to reform Virginias procurement process and be better stewards of taxpayer dollars is well on its way to achievement with more than $100 million in cost savings," spokesman Christian Martinez said Monday. "As agencies identify alternative and more cost-effective suppliers, negotiate contract terms, and transition to reduced rates, savings will continue to grow over time."

Some members of the General Assembly are skeptical about how much Youngkin's initiative has actually saved in the state's budget. The spending plan remains under negotiation for a special session next week. Lawmakers will revise the spending plan for this fiscal year and adopt a proposed $188 billion budget for the two years that will begin on July 1.

"I would like for them to point out in their budget where these savings are," said Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax, one of the budget negotiators for the House of Delegates.

Savings on hardware, mobile services

Communications Director Rob Damschen said O'Malley's team has "negotiated hardware cost savings" of $21 million over the life of one contract and saved $18 million by enforcing limits on "not to exceed rates" for contingency work. He cited about $40 million in expected savings on competitive bidding for mobile telecommunication services, reduced rates for two consulting firms on three contracts, and recovery of fees on unused software licenses.

The total for those five projects is $78 million, but Damschen said O'Malley's team had renegotiated contracts with more than 20 vendors of state services.

The team's primary focus has been procurement savings in information technology contracts through VITA, created almost 20 years ago under then-Gov. Mark Warner to consolidate IT services for more than 60 state agencies.

But the administration also moved the purchasing division at the Department of General Services to VITA offices, without changing the division's status in the state budget.

"While new procurement methods are devised, agencies are often encouraged to collaborate," Martinez said for the governor's office.

"Collocating DGS and VITA teams has facilitated in the sharing of best practices such as enhancing vendor management, proactively identifying procurement prospects, and bolstering interagency knowledge, thereby strengthening their capabilities within the commonwealth."

General Services dispute

The Department of General Services  covering a vast range of state operations from laboratory analyses to management of state-owned real estate and construction projects  is part of a budget battle between Youngkin and General Assembly Democrats. The Democrats want the agency to be independent instead of controlled by the executive branch because of what they term political interference by the governor's office.

Youngkin vetoed a bill that the assembly approved this year to make the General Services agency an independent arm of state government. Its status remains in limbo in the budget.

The administration's continued push on procurement alarms Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William. He chairs a Senate Finance subcommittee that has challenged the governor's plan to house state employees in leased space in downtown Richmond after demolishing the Monroe Building, instead of building a new state office building on East Main Street. That issue, too, is part of pending budget negotiations.

"When you have the political arm reaching into procurement, it's never a good thing," said McPike, who is director of general services for the city of Alexandria.

Youngkin initially relied on Boston Consulting Group to achieve savings in state procurement operations. He brought the reform initiative in-house at the beginning of last year and named O'Malley as chief procurement officer, a role he previously had served for American International Group, or AIG, a global insurance company based in New York City.

O'Malley began his own firm, SourceForce Consulting, in January, according to a post on LinkedIn that subsequently was removed.

Damschen, in the governor's office, said O'Malley plans to return to New York, where his family lives, and start a business, but has not yet done so.

"It's not operational yet," the spokesman said.

PHOTOS: 307-foot crane in place for construction of new General Assembly building Downtown crane Monday Downtown crane Monday Downtown crane Monday Downtown crane Monday Downtown crane Monday Downtown crane Sunday Downtown crane Friday Downtown crane Friday
By David Young, PA

Emotional scenes have unfolded at Dublin Airport as an Irish-Palestinian man blocked from leaving Gaza when his wife and sons fled the enclave last year was finally reunited with his family.

Zak Hania arrived in Ireland on a flight from Cairo on Saturday, having made it out of Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

Mr Hanias wife, Batoul, and their four sons, were able to leave Gaza via the Rafah border last November and are now living in Dublin.

Zak Hanias wife Batoul and the couples four sons had campaigned to get him out of Gaza. Photo: PA.

However, he was not accepted on to the list of evacuees and was left in the besieged territory.

Ms Hania and her four Irish-born sons, Mazen, Ismael, Ahmed and Nour, spent months campaigning on Mr Hanias behalf and lobbied Irelands Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for help.

He had previously said he was afraid he would never see his family again.

Mr Hania embraced his wife and children as he emerged from arrivals at the airport on Saturday.

He dropped to his knees and kissed the ground.

I have love and respect for this land, he said. Ireland is in my heart, as is Palestine.

I dont have enough words to thank you and to thank all the people who are going to the streets and being in the streets for a long time, and all the people who are making every effort to support the people in Gaza and to support Palestine and trying to stop this brutal genocide.

I think Israel has taken off their mask and they are showing their real face.

And we are, as human beings, we are showing our true humanity, and our determination to stop this crime and to be united all together, all of humanity, to be united to stop this crime.
Thank you for reading!

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The White House confirmed on Monday that a U.S. soldier was detained in Russia over the weekend.

According to reports by U.S. media, a U.S. soldier currently stationed in South Korea was detained in Russia, where he traveled on his own.

The detention happened over the weekend and the soldier was accused of stealing.

John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said during a daily press briefing at the White House that the U.S. government was "aware of this case."

Kirby referred reporters to the Department of Defense for details, saying he "can't really say much about it right now."
Picture yourself walking barefoot along the shoreline, feeling the warm sun on your skin and the gentle breeze in your hair. The sound of waves crashing against the shore soothes your soul as you take in the panoramic views of turquoise waters stretching out to the horizon. Sounds relaxing already?

The ultimate beach getaway is where the sand is soft, the water is crystal-clear, and the scenery is breathtaking. But how many beaches in the world can achieve that? Often, these wonderful beaches are less accessible, retaining their charms the way nature has bestowed upon them.

If youre embarking on an adventure to discover the worlds most mesmerising beaches, where every grain of sand tells a story, and every wave beckons you to unwind and embrace the beauty of nature's masterpiece, check out some of the best beaches in the world below.

1. Seagrass Bay, Laucala Island, Fiji

Enveloped by lush tropical rainforest and reachable solely through guided walking excursions or horseback safaris, the exclusive island retreat of Laucala exudes incomparable beauty. It is home to some of Fiji's most elusive avian species, abundant marine creatures, and captivating shorelines. Among its serene and picturesque beaches, Seagrass Bay stands out as the most tranquil.

2. Honopu Beach, Kauai, Hawaii

Honopu Beach is a secluded gem along the rugged Na Pali Coast of Kauai, Hawaii. The cinematic allure of the cayenne-coloured cliffs and pristine sands served as iconic backdrops for films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and King Kong. Accessible only by sea, this pristine stretch of golden sand offers a remote and untouched paradise for adventurers and nature enthusiasts alike.

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Kauai Waimea Canyon & Kokee Adventure. (Photo: Klook SG)

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Kauai Movie Sites Adventure Tour in Hawaii. (Photo: Klook SG)

3. Ora Beach, Seram Island, Indonesia

Nestled along the northern coast of Seram Island, Ora Beach is often referred to as Indonesia's Little Maldives, celebrated for its pristine waters and powdery white sands. Positioned amidst multiple tectonic plates, the island's landscape offers a dramatic range of scenery, from lush tropical rainforests teeming with birds to imposing mountain ranges reminiscent of mythical creatures.

Ora Beach, Seram Island, Indonesia. (Photo: Gettyimages)

4. Turquoise Bay, Exmouth, Australia

The crystal-clear waters of Turquoise Bay are just a stone's throw away from the untouched Ningaloo Reef, a World Heritage site renowned for hosting the largest gathering of whale sharks worldwide. Located a 64-kilometre drive from Exmouth along Australia's Western coast, this beach boasts dazzling white sands and exceptional snorkelling opportunities. Descend beneath the surface to discover a vibrant world of rainbow-coloured corals, serene turtles, and an impressive array of fish species.

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Deluxe Whale Shark Swim in Exmouth. (Photo: Klook SG)

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Sunset Whale Watching Cruise from Exmouth. (Photo: Klook SG)

5. Jibei Island Beach, Penghu, Taiwan

Located in Penghu County, amidst the secluded western islands of Taiwan, Jibei remains largely untouched and beyond the reach of typical urban travellers. Accessing this destination entails a boat journey from the North Sea Visitor Centre to the island's main area, where numerous water sports, sun umbrellas, and wooden cabins offer overnight accommodations. However, it is the secluded and often deserted sandspit, a mere 15-minute stroll away, that truly captivates. Devoid of human interference, you will encounter only the gentle lull of the ocean and a mile-long expanse of pristine, untouched sand.

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North Sea and Daiso Island and Tiezhanyu Day Tour in Penghu. (Photo: Klook SG)

Find out what you can do in Taipei, Taitung, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

6. Pink Sand Beach, Barbuda

This picturesque and often empty beach in Barbuda gets its name from its blush-coloured sand, created by tiny coral particles mixed with white sand. As the sand is a work of nature, dont expect the beach to always have the same pink hue. Barbuda, the sister island of Antigua, is notably less populated than many other Caribbean destinations, granting visitors the possibility of having this expansive eight-mile stretch of sand all to themselves. While there are no dedicated public amenities, several beachside cafes dot the coastline, offering refreshing cocktails for a cool respite.

Pink Sand Beach, Barbuda. (Photo: Gettyimages)

7. Anse Source d'Argent, Seychelles

Arguably one of the most visually stunning destinations globally, Anse Source dArgent on La Digue is adorned with pristine white sands and scattered with imposing granite boulders. While not entirely secluded, arriving early in the morning allows you to experience it before the arrival of day-trippers from Mahe and Praslin. For a more secluded experience, venture southward through the shallow waters beyond the initial cluster of boulders, where the bay opens up, offering additional breathing space and your own pocket of paradise.

Anse Source d'Argent, Seychelles. (Photo: Gettyimages)

8. Hidden Beach, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines

While it may not be as concealed as it once was, this beach remains a highlight among the worlds finest. Palawan abounds with impeccably beautiful locations, yet Hidden Beach, nestled amidst towering limestone cliffs and boasting remarkably bone-white sand, stands out as an idyllic spot for immersing oneself in the turquoise waters.

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El Nido Tour A Lagoons & Islands. (Photo: Klook SG)

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Puerto Princesa - El Nido Shared or Private Transfer. (Photo: Klook SG)

9. Praia do Sancho, Brazil

Fernando de Noronha, the remote archipelago of volcanic islands off the coast of Brazil, is home to some of the country's most stunning beaches, including Praia do Sancho. However, accessing Praia do Sancho is no easy feat. After approximately an hour-long flight from mainland Brazil, you must navigate a series of challenges including hiking, manoeuvring through narrow rock tunnels, and descending steep ladder steps to reach the palm-fringed golden sands. Entrance to the area requires payment of an environmental tax, as it is situated within a National Park. Despite the effort, the deserted shoreline, sightings of giant iguanas, and fish-filled shallows make the journey worthwhile.

Praia do Sancho in Fernado de Noronha, Brazil. (Photo: Gettyimages)

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SIOUX CITY -- A man who once lived in Plymouth County and is linked to a Nebraska teenager who's been missing since 2019 faces gun and drug charges in federal court in Sioux City.

He and another Northwest Iowa man also are charged with tampering with evidence and physically intimidating another person, though federal court documents do not indicate if the tampering and intimidation are related to someone who may have knowledge about the girl's disappearance.

Floyd Clifford Coates Jr., also known as Cliff Coates, 46, of St. Francis, Kansas, and formerly of Struble, Iowa, pleaded not guilty last week of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, possession of ammunition by a felon and a drug user and possession of a firearm by a felon and a drug user and an armed career criminal.

He and Dennis Lawson, 58, also are charged with and have pleaded not guilty to two counts of concealing an object with the intent to impair its availability for an official proceeding and single counts of threatening another person with intent to conceal an object with the intent to impair its integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding and threatening another person with the intent to hinder, delay or prevent communication to a law enforcement officer relating to the commission and possible commission of a federal offense.

They're scheduled to stand trial July 1 in U.S. District Court in Sioux City.

Coates was the last person seen with 18-year-old Sunny Sramek of Trenton, Nebraska, on April 20, 2019. She left the southwest Nebraska town that day in a Ford Explorer driven by Coates, who reportedly was traveling to Omaha, and was never heard from again.

According to the indictment, sometime between the date of Sramek's disappearance and the present, Coates and Lawson altered, destroyed, mutilated and concealed objects "to impair their integrity and availability" for use in an official proceeding such as an appearance before a judge or grand jury. During that same time period, the two are accused of threatening physical force against a person, who was referred to only by his or her initials in the indictment, to conceal objects and to hinder or delay communications by that person with law enforcement authorities.

Lawson has been in custody since April 2021, when a Monona County jury found him guilty of second-degree robbery, and he is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence. Lawson was living in Whiting, Iowa, at the time of his 2019 arrest on the charge, according to court documents.

Coates was arrested on a federal warrant April 10 in Kansas and was later transported to Sioux City. Court documents do not say how he and Lawson are affiliated.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on Coates' arrest and Sramek's missing person case.

Federal agents began investigating Coates shortly after Sramek's disappearance.

According to a summary of Sramek's case on The Charley Project, a website that chronicles missing persons cases that have gone cold, Coates has said the two arrived at the Prairie Flower Casino in Carter Lake, Iowa, in the Omaha metro area that night, and he went inside the casino. Because she was underage, Sramek stayed in the vehicle. When Coates returned, Sramek was gone, he said.

Coates has said on other occasions that Sramek disappeared while he went inside an Omaha gas station to pay for gas.

In both cases, Coates said he left without informing police Sramek was missing.

According to a complaint filed in federal court in March, FBI agents and Plymouth County authorities executed three search warrants at Coates' home in Struble, where he lived with his wife and child, in May 2019, less than a month after Sramek disappeared. Another search warrant was issued for Coates' Ford Explorer, the same vehicle he was driving when he left Trenton with Sramek.

The complaint did not say if any evidence linked to Sramek was found. Instead, the complaint detailed ammunition found in Coates' bedroom closet and a handgun with a laser sight and two loaded magazines found inside a safe in one of Coates' vehicles. The complaint also contains statements from others who told FBI investigators of times they had seen Coates in possession of guns and methamphetamine and his efforts to buy guns.

Coates is prohibited from possessing guns and ammunition because of a lengthy criminal history of at least 19 convictions, including drug possession and distribution, theft, burglary, false imprisonment, assault, in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.

According to the complaint, Coates moved to Kansas in April 2023.
SIOUX CITY  A Tennessee-based cleaning company that employed child workers at a Sioux City meatpacking plant has agreed to pay nearly $650,000 in penalties and take steps to ensure it no longer hires underage workers.

The U.S. Department of Labor in February filed a complaint in federal court in Sioux City accusing Fayette Janitorial Service of employing at least nine children on its overnight sanitation shifts at the Seaboard Triumph pork plant. The meatpacker has since terminated its contract with Fayette, which had begun providing sanitation services at the plant in September.

In a court-approved consent order and judgment filed Monday, Fayette agreed to pay $649,304 in civil penalties. It also must hire a third party to review and implement company policies to prevent the employment of children in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and establish a program for reporting concerns about the employment of children. The compliance monitor will review company policies, provide training at facilities in which Fayette operates and audit the company's compliance for at least three years.

Fayette also must maintain accurate records of its employees, including date of birth and work tasks assigned, and discipline any managers responsible for future child labor violations.

"Every employer has a legal and moral obligation to make certain they are not employing children in dangerous jobs. With this agreement, we are ensuring Fayette Janitorial Service takes immediate and significant steps to ensure they never put children in harm's way again," Michael Lazzeri, a regional administrator with the Labor Department Wage and Hour Division's Midwest Region, said in a news release.

After receiving a complaint in September, investigators with the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division executed a search warrant at the Seaboard Triumph plant. Investigators determined Fayette employed nine minor children -- two 14-year-olds, one 15-year-old, one 16-year-old and five 17-year-olds.

In its complaint, the Labor Department said Fayette employed minors under age 16 during overnight shifts to work more than three hours a day and more than 18 hours a week while school was in session. Children under age 18 were tasked with cleaning power-driven machines such as meat and bone-cutting saws, headsplitters, jawpullers and skinners.

Investigators observed Fayette young employees concealing their faces and carrying glittered school backpacks as they entered the Seaboard Triumph plant. Child workers were observed hosing down equipment, then washing it by hand with chemicals and soap before rinsing. Cleaners worked under, around, between and on top of running, wet equipment. Investigators reported heavy mist and steam causing low visibility and making it hard to see equipment and witnessed workers reaching inside machinery to check for animal parts. Floors were slippery from the combination of water, fat and meat.

In late February, Fayette and the Labor Department agreed to a preliminary injunction in which Fayette was required to refrain from hiring children, refusing to provide information and telling its employees not to talk to Labor Department investigators.

Monday's consent order also pertains to findings that Fayette employed 15 child workers at a Perdue Farms plant in Virginia.

The Fair Labor Standards Act bans children under age 18 from working in dangerous occupations, including most jobs in meatpacking and processing plants. During the past fiscal year, the Wage and Hour Division found more than 5,800 children had been employed in violation of federal child labor laws.
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Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi arrived in Iran on Monday to attend the International Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology held in the central Iranian province of Isfahan, the official news agency IRNA reported.

During his visit, Grossi would hold meetings with Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, said the report.

Eslami has expressed confidence that the IAEA's "ambiguities" about Iran's nuclear program would be resolved during Grossi's visit.

Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, accepting restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. However, the United States withdrew from the agreement in May 2018, reinstating sanctions and prompting Iran to scale back some of its nuclear commitments.

Efforts to revive the JCPOA commenced in April 2021 in Vienna, Austria, but despite multiple rounds of negotiations, no substantial progress has been reported since the last talks in August 2022.
Its gotten buried a bit underneath news about the negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza, the related protests on U.S. college campuses, and the ongoing trial of a former president for allegedly covering up payments to a pornography actress, but high-profile Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar was indicted on Friday by the Department of Justice in Houston. He says he is not guilty of the charges and will stand for reelection as planned this fall.

Cuellar, a relatively conservative Democrat who represents a district that stretches along the U.S.Mexico border around Laredo and pokes up to San Antonio, is charged with 14 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, and so forth related to allegations that he was paid under the table to influence U.S. policy on behalf of Azerbaijans national oil company, SOCAR, and the Mexican bank Banco Azteca. (Neither Banco Azteca nor SOCAR, nor any of their employees, have been charged with a crime.)

A longtime incumbent, Cuellar won his general-election race in 2022 by a wide margin. But his district, the 28th, has a significant population of Hispanic and/or Latino voters and has become more Republican in recent years as those groups have trended rightward. The Cook Political Report rates it as having a Democratic lean of 3 pointswhich, roughly speaking, means a generic Democrat would be expected to beat a generic Republican in the district by only a 3-point margin. Thats close enough to mean that Cuellars indictment and potential conviction could threaten Dems efforts to retake the House of Representatives, which Republicans currently hold by a tenuous four votes.

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The case is similar to that of Democratic New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, another longtime incumbent who was indicted last September for allegedly accepting bribes from three men in New Jersey who were seeking to influence U.S. policy toward Egypt, among other things. Menendezs trial is set to begin next week, and he says that if he is not convicted he still might run for reelection in November as an independent. While hed be very unlikely to win such a race, he could potentially siphon enough votes away from the Democrats presumptive nominee, current Rep. Andy Kim, to throw the seat to Republicans.

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So, both of these members of Congress are in high-stakes races that they are refusing to drop out of despite facing corruption indictments. But theres another major similarity between the two stories as well: Wives!

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Menendezs wife Nadine was also charged in his case, and the allegations against the couple include claims that the men accused of seeking favors from the senator bought Nadine Menendez a Mercedes convertible and paid her to hold a fake no-show job at a halal-certification business. Cuellars wife Imelda was also indicted; shes accused of receiving the alleged bribe payments from SOCAR and Banco Azteca through shell companies she owned that were ostensibly providing the firms with consulting services. The government alleges that, actually, Imelda Cuellar did little to no legitimate work in return for the hundreds of thousands of dollars she was paid.

A statement issued by Cuellar says his wife is innocent. Nadine Menendez has pleaded not guilty, although in a disclosure that may have caused some awkwardness around the proverbial Englewood Cliffs dinner table, Robert Mendendezs attorneys told a judge in January that his potential testimony at trial might implicate her. Since then, however, the pairs cases have been separated from each other in a way that will preclude anything he says from being used against his spouse.

Does the Democratic Party have an (alleged) Bribery Wife Guy problem? Are liberals soft on wife crime? This fall, the voters will have their say.
The fact that a Slovak native was among the men raising the US flag on Iwo Jima was not known until 2008.

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You can read this exclusive content thanks to the FALATH & PARTNERS law firm, which assists American people with Slovak roots in obtaining Slovak citizenship and reconnecting them with the land of their ancestors.

After extremely fierce fighting, the American flag flew on Mount Suribachi towering above the small island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean on February 23, 1945. The unique moment was captured by photojournalist Joe Rosenthal. Six tough and seasoned men - marines - raised together a long metal pole on which the stars and stripes flew.

Among these men was Sergeant Michael Strank, a native of Jarabina near Stara Lubovna, north-eastern Slovakia, who led the mission. To this day, this scene probably remains the most significant symbol of Pacific War. What was the journey of the Slovak native wearing the US Armed Forces uniform all the way to Mount Suribachi like and why was the battle for this tiny piece of land so important? We spoke to historian Martin Posch from the Institute of History.

The picture documenting this historic moment eventually served as the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Virginia near Washington. Is it true that Joe Rosenthal somewhat staged the scene?

To some extent, yes, because it was the second raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi. However, the reason was not solely related to the iconic image and the needs of wartime propaganda, there was a very simple reason. The first raising took place on the same day, but the flag was not big enough. The second raising of a larger flag, thus visible from afar, was intended to let all American troops on the island know that this extinct volcano was at least somewhat in their hands. We have to realise that at that moment it was not yet possible to say that fighting was over. On the contrary, the bloodshed continued well into the second half of March 1945.

Did American military planners expect that the fighting for this island would be so fierce?

The original plan counted on Iwo Jima being taken over within a week. Preparations for the battle were preceded by a significant failure on the part of the American intelligence services. The beaches selected for landing were marked as excellent, for example, an area soldiers were supposed to enter easily and move around in quickly. When they actually set foot on the island, their movement was hindered by a several-metre thick layer of volcanic ash and sand, making it difficult to advance and build trenches or other types of protection in case they were fired upon. However, the Japanese shelling did not start immediately. Lieutenant General and commander of the Japanese garrison Tadamichi Kuribayashi significantly changed military tactics and the Japanese did not greet the advancing American troops with fire immediately, but waited until they could engage larger numbers of enemy soldiers.

Why was Iwo Jima so important? After all, it is just a small patch of land with an area of approximately 20 square kilometres. Moreover, it is hundreds of kilometres away from the Japanese mainland itself.

The fact that the American army would attack Iwo Jima was known several months in advance. Since the summer of 1944, Iwo Jima had been bombed and shelled by naval artillery; based on its strategic location, it was clear that the Americans would try to capture it. They fought to acquire a strategic advance area, and Iwo Jima was undoubtedly it.

Therefore, I would answer in two parts. From Japan's point of view, the intention was to gain as much time as possible to prepare the defence of the Japanese mainland by putting up a determined fight on Iwo Jima. At the same time, there were several airports, from which, for example, Japanese planes took off during the Mariana Islands campaign. In case of emergencies, Iwo Jima also served as a refuge for Japanese ships. However, the main point was delaying US troops.

On the other hand, the Americans had their own plans for the island. One was to potentially establish an airfield from which B-17 and B-29 heavy bombers could take off to reach the Japanese mainland. Iwo Jima could also serve as a base for the fighters escorting the bombers. Bear in mind that at this point an operation codenamed Downfall was being seriously considered, the goal of which was landing on the Japanese mainland, and Iwo Jima could have been an important staging point for stockpiling, training troops and building a base for the proposed invasion.

Many historians compare Iwo Jima and especially the Suribachi volcano, intertwined with a large number of bunkers, underground passages and gun emplacements, to Emmental cheese. What can be said about the Japanese military strategy and the way it was implemented after the US troops landed?

The Japanese opened fire about an hour after American troops landed. It should be noted that the Japanese fortification was structured according to Lieutenant General Kuribayashi's decision. He changed the classic defence tactics of the Japanese army - for example, he banned his soldiers from carrying out suicide banzai attacks, which often happened at night and for which the marines were ready to some extent. Although the Japanese were well fortified, each of the soldiers only had about 60 percent of the usual amount of ammunition available. That's why they had to consider every target. Thus, they allowed the American soldiers to land knowing that when they would finally open fire, they could hit as many targets as possible, causing a massacre.

Of course, fighting morale played an important role here, and the Japanese wanted to show that they could defend themselves for a very long time in a small area and inflict heavy losses on their enemy. This is also why Iwo Jima was one of the fiercest battles of the US Marine Corps, and it is also one of the bloodiest ones in the Pacific War. More than 6,000 American soldiers died, an extremely high number for a site that, according to Admiral Chester Nimitz, was supposed to be taken over in less than a week. The Americans went into the battle with excessively high self-confidence, and Lieutenant General Kuribayashi tried to take advantage of that.

According to our traditional Western view, the Japanese soldiers are seen as men who are determined to die. Was it like that on Iwo Jima as well?

Of course, one cannot read minds of each man, but all it takes is to look at the statistics of how many soldiers were deployed and how many died. A little over 20,000 Japanese men took part in the battle, of which 19,000 fell. It can be concluded such a scenario was probably anticipated. I dare say that many Japanese men really went there knowing that they would not return. After all, we are talking about the final phase of the war; just a few months before Iwo Jima, the first kamikaze attack was carried out during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. This type of suicide bombing would intensify in the following weeks and months. Actually, Kuribayashi himself had several such pilots, which he used during the Battle of Iwo Jima; due to them, more than 300 American sailors died.

Moreover, the Japanese made good use of the space available to them. Not only did they hide under the volcanic rock, which was able to withstand rather heavy bombardment and shelling from Allied ships, they also strengthened this defensive position with new materials and equipment. For example, some very powerful Japanese artillery guns were covered by a steel plate that opened and closed automatically during fire to protect the gunners.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1zlU0Ian6KIZxuOPJggfG8ThbRRn1y2Y&ehbc=2E312F&noprof=1

The American military operation began on February 19, the flag flew on Mount Suribachi on February 23. Despite this, the battle dragged on for another month. Why?

The Battle of Iwo Jima did not involve ordinary battles and advancing armies in the way we somewhat naively imagine from classic war movies. After the American troops took over and "cleared" a certain part of Mount Suribachi or the island, using a network of hidden tunnels the Japanese would often return to these parts, starting the battle once again behind the advancing army. This was also the reason why the battle was so fierce and so long.

If we want to look at these events through the eyes of Slovak native Sergeant Michael Strank, we must first imagine him as a soldier. In what position did he serve in the American army and under what circumstances did he die?

Michael Strank Originally, Michael Strank was a Ruthenian from the village of Jarabina near Stara Lubovna in eastern Slovakia. He was the only child born to his parents in Czechoslovakia on November 10, 1919. Michael's father first emigrated to the US for work. He went to Pennsylvania, a typical destination for many Slovaks. Here he worked in the coal mines and after a few years he managed to earn enough money to move his wife and son to America. Michael arrived in the US as a 5- or 6-year-old boy. He subsequently received a relatively good education for his social conditions and in the late 1930s began working as a road construction worker. In 1939 he joined the United States Army.

In February 1945, he was a platoon commander, and the men who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi were actually his subordinates. If we look at the group of six men in the picture, in addition to Michael Strank, another two died shortly after on Iwo Jima. This example too shows the fierceness of the battles. Michael Strank joined the army back in 1939 as a 20-year-old boy for a four-year service which he extended. Before being deployed to Iwo Jima, he took part in military training in Hawaii and in battles on the Russell Islands. His superiors saw considerable potential in him; he grew in rank from an ordinary soldier to sergeant. Before being deployed to Iwo Jima, he managed to come back to Pennsylvania and visit his family for the last time. On that fateful March 1, 1945 he had planned another attack against the Japanese defenders. He and several other men were then accidentally hit by friendly artillery fire. Unfortunately, with such massive shelling as was concentrated on Iwo Jima, this was not an isolated case.

The relatively well-known American-Japanese 2006 movie Letters from Iwo Jima offers an interesting look at the Pacific Theatre. In it, the viewer is witness to several brutal scenes in which Japanese soldiers choose death by their own weapons or carry out suicide attacks rather than surrender. Does this correspond to reality, and did American soldiers face such fanaticism?

Yes, Iwo Jima and later the Battle of Okinawa a few weeks later are a negative example of such suicidal tactics. In these, one could really find a lot of creative ways how an individual could sacrifice themself and hit as many enemy soldiers as possible. Japanese soldiers often strapped anti-tank mines on and threw themselves under American tanks and other heavy equipment. Of course, do not think that 18,000 Japanese soldiers got up and went against the American machine guns with bayonets. Carrying out such a senseless banzai attack was forbidden by Kuribayashi. On the contrary, his intention was to hit the largest part of the enemy with the least force.

Was the military command in Japan even interested in doing anything to save their soldiers on the island, or was it simply no longer in their power?

At the time, the US Navy outnumbered the remaining Japanese fleet, so it was practically impossible. In addition, a significant lack of fuel played a part, making the situation even more difficult for the Japanese. In this regard, there is the well-known story of the battleship Yamato sent on a suicide kamikaze mission with only a limited supply of fuel for the journey in order to damage as many enemy ships as possible. Of course, the battleship ending up on the ocean floor was expected.

When looking at the number of casualties, it seems that almost the same scenario repeated when the US troops attempted to take over Okinawa. Did these two battles represent the greatest American war traumas of the entire Pacific Theatre?

It is interesting in this regard that the 1945 battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa at the very end of the war seem to overshadow the previous battles in the Pacific - the battles of Guadalcanal, the Philippines, the Marshall Islands and the Mariana Islands. The brutality of the war on these two islands seem to fascinate us even decades later and to some extent overshadow the previous battles. It was here that the US Marine Corps was often deployed and suffered the greatest casualties in its entire history since its establishment in the late 18th century.

In the case of Iwo Jima alone, more than 6,000 American soldiers died and 19,000 were wounded. Were these numbers taken in consideration in discussions of the next course of action to support the rejection the planned invasion of the Japanese mainland and the deployment of atomic weapons?

Often, when we talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we see their unquestionable destructive power and brutality primarily in how they relate to the civilian population. However, it was precisely the reality of the Iwo Jima and Okinawa battles that lead to an extremely negative effect for the Japanese. The high-quality preparation and fierceness of the Japanese defences on both islands were used by those who preferred deployment to previously unseen weapons. They wanted to pressure Japanese political representatives and the Japanese emperor to capitulate. When the American generals put together how many soldiers they had lost on such a small area, they were rightly afraid of landing on the Japanese mainland. In addition, there were objectively huge logistical problems. When the Allies landed in Normandy in 1944, Britain was near; therefore, a huge number of Allied soldiers and heavy combat equipment could be concentrated in one place. There was no such base near Japan. Staging a landing in the heart of Japan from islands as small as Iwo Jima or Okinawa would have been much more difficult than crossing the English Channel in Europe.

Returning to Michael Strank, how did his story continue? After his death, did he immediately become the American hero as we know him today?

The photograph of the raising of the American flag won the Pulitzer Prize very quickly, making it iconic almost instantly. Michael Strank himself was first buried on the island of Iwo Jima, in a cemetery intended for members of his 5th Marine Division. From the very beginning, he was remembered at least by his brothers-in-arms and marines, as their ranks have a traditionally strong collective memory. In 1949, his remains were transferred to the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia in which the famous monument dedicated to all members of the Marine Corps who died for their country throughout its history stands. At the same time, this monument is also a great tribute to Michael Strank and five other soldiers from Iwo Jima. It is an exact copy of the photo and thus of the moment when the Slovak native raised the American flag, making it an embodiment of the hero for us as well.

However, I personally do not like the concept of a hero, because we often remember one soldier and forget the tens of thousands of others who fought, suffered and died in the same way. However, one circumstance is interesting in this story - it was not until 2008 that it was discovered that Michael Strank was not a native American. He became an American citizen in 1935 when his father was naturalised, but he never had any documents. Nevertheless, he joined the army and fought under the US flag. When the authorities found out, they issued the necessary papers regarding Michael Strank's citizenship in an expedited process and presented them to his then-still-living sister during a ceremony in front of the Arlington Memorial.

It was from this moment that Slovaks became aware of their native son. Despite the fact that his Ruthenian origins are known, many historians label Michael Strank as Slovak, Ukrainian or even Polish. What is causing this confusion?

This brings us to nationalism and its strength in Central Europe. In cases such as this, I try to rely on documents and how the person in question defined themself. However, in the case of Michael Strank the options are limited, therefore, I would rely on the ethnicity of his parents, who were Ruthenians. I dare say that despite the fact that he was aware of his origins, since he had been in the US from the age of 6 it had a decisive influence on him, he could have viewed himself primarily as an American. The fact that historians of different nationalities are trying to get Michael Strank on their side says more about them. However, for such a famous soldier as he was, this is not surprising.

Mgr. Martin Posch, PhD. Dr. Posch studied history at the Faculty of Arts of the Comenius University in Bratislava and received a PhD degree in 2019 at the Institute of History of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In his research, he focuses on special landings on the occupied territory of Czechoslovakia during the Second World War and the activities of Western intelligence services in the given territory. During his studies, he completed research stays of several months at Charles University in Prague, Kingston University in London and the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. He is currently a researcher at the Department of Recent History of the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Spectacular Slovakia travel guides
7. May 2024 at 18:58 I Modified at 15. May 2024 at 14:05

The police believe that the bomb threat was a cyber attack.

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Children in Slovakia will resume school on Thursday following a public holiday on May 8, however, it will be a different kind of return. Police officers will keep an eye on schools across the country after numerous schools received bomb threats on Tuesday.

The Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday that 2,050 police officers have been assigned to patrol schools.

Each school will have its own police officer, Deputy Interior Minister Lucia Kurilovska said at the Wednesday press conference.

On Tuesday, hundreds of schools, banks and electronics shops in Slovakia received bomb threats by e-mail and by phone.

Bomb threats reported by schools on May 7 Bratislava Region: 110

Trencin Region: 148

Nitra Region: 232

Banska Bystrica Region: 94

Zilina Region: 228

Trnava Region: 119

Presov Region: 176

Kosice Region: 216 Source: Slovak police

As per the police report, a total of 1,323 bomb threats were reported in schools, 110 in banks (VUB) and 40 in electronics shops (Nay) by 15:00 on Tuesday. In total, the police recorded 1,544 bomb threats.

The extent of bomb threats is staggering, the police underscored.

The latest threats were reported on Thursday, May 9, when two secondary schools in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, received these threats.

The anonymous email mentioning the bomb threat, which is written in Slovak, is reputed to commend Islam. Although the email is in Slovak, it is believed to have been translated into Slovak from another language due to the structure of sentences.

Were in your country now, reads the e-mail, as quoted by TV Markiza.

The National Crime Agency (NAKA) has taken over the case and begun to prosecute an unknown perpetrator - for now - for terrorism. A person who is convicted of terrorism can spend 20-25 years in prison or receive a life sentence.

The police have also asked foreign partners to help.

It is depraved to threaten schools with bombs, even for fun, said Education Minister Tomas Drucker.

Russian email addresses

More than 120 schools in the Bratislava Region received a similar email last Friday, May 3. The email from last week mentioned Allah and Sharia law, but also mentioned explosives in lorries. Again, the email was clearly translated into Slovak.

Both emails were sent from Russian email addresses, given that they ended with .ru. The May 3 email was sent from seyfulllah@mail.ru, while the May 7 email was sent from arealll@list.ru, writes the Sme daily. Both domains are offered by the VK company from Russia. Its CEO is Vladimir Kiriyenko, the son of Putinist and Kremlin official Sergey Kiriyenko.

Despite the fact that the number of such crimes has been increasing over the past period, the police do not underestimate any report and pay sufficient attention to it, the Interior Ministry said.

However, PM Robert Fico did not convene the Security Council. He deems the measures in place to be sufficient. Previously, he abused it for his own gain. For example, during the 2024 presidential election, the Council was convened to discuss a detained foreigner, which Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok described as a terrorist. It was discovered that the individual in question was not a threat, and Fico and his government opted to exploit fear to aid their presidential candidate, Peter Pellegrini, in winning the election.

Pavol Gaspar, head of the top Slovak spy agency (SIS), said it is impossible to say that foreign intelligence agencies were behind the threats.

In an interview with the Sme daily several days after the threats arrived, ethical hacker Tomas Zatko said that the most important information that the Slovak police do not know is whether and what technical methods the perpetrator used to hide where and from which country they organised the whole thing.

The essential information is the IP address from which the person accessed the e-mail account from which the threats came to the schools. This key piece of information about what IP address the activity originated from is currently on a Russian server, said Zatko.

The expert noted that the perpetrator could have used the so-called anonymizer to make their activity on the Internat untraceable.

In this case, tracing the real source would be very difficult, one could say practically impossible, Zatko said.

Fake bomb threats abroad

Last year, similar fake bomb threat incidents were also reported in Lithuania and Estonia. In 2019, around 700 Polish schools were targeted by false bomb threats during the exam period. RMF 24, a Polish radio station, reported in 2020 that the perpetrators behind the entire 2019 operation were people logged in to accounts used by the GRU - Russian military intelligence.

The Slovak police also believe that the email threats from Tuesday were not real threats.

Our analysis of the evidence obtained so far indicates that it was most likely a cyber attack rather than a real threat, deputy police chief Rastislav Polakovic said on Wednesday.

Regarding the threats received over the phone, the police have detained two men. One person, 25, made a bomb threat to a court in Bratislava, and another person, 14, called in a bomb threat to a school in Brezno, central Slovakia.
Several opposition MPs protested against Igor Bratchikov's visit.

Smer MP Tibor Gaspar talks to the press, while a group of opposition MPs protest against the Russian ambassador's planned visit to the Slovak parliament on May 7, 2024. (Source: Facebook/Progresivne Slovensko)

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On the day of Vladimir Putins presidential inauguration, May 7, Defence and Security Parliamentary Committee Chair, Tibor Gaspar, was scheduled to meet with Russian Ambassador Igor Bratchikov in the Slovak parliament.

Gaspars meeting with the ambassador was cancelled at the last minute. We had to postpone it because we will now discuss, and possibly vote on, an important bill (a spending limits bill, ed.), the Smer MP told the media. According to the SaS opposition party, Bratchikov feared entering the parliament. Gaspar, who initially walked out of the parliament to welcome the ambassador but returned without him, refuted this claim.

Regardless, Gaspar, who is a former police chief facing corruption charges and suspected of being involved in organized crime when the Smer party ruled the country for the second and third time (2012-20), appears to be determined to meet Bratchikov.

I will certainly receive him, he told the press, as quoted by Dennik N.

Oppositions protest
George Howell wants cold coffee drinkers to embrace acidity. Balanced acidity.

The specialty coffee pioneer, the founder of The Coffee Connection and George Howell Coffee, believes that acidity is essential to honoring the meticulous care given to coffeeusing that old adage, from seed to cup. When brewing a hot cup of coffee, achieving this balance of body, sweetness, and brightness is relatively easy. But when it comes to serving coffee cold?

George Howell has thoughts.

What really got me angry with cold brew was the attack on acidity, Howell tells Sprudge. Were speaking with him via video call, alongside the companys Director of Coffee Sourcing, Jenny Howell. That was purely for ones own benefit, and it was not at all for the benefit of coffee or farmers. Not at all. It was at the expense of them. Acidity is a key component to coffee.

Howell lights up when he talks about the bright and effervescent qualities of a truly special cup of coffee. This has been his business since the Ford Administration, a singular lifelong goal for getting average coffee drinkers to truly think about and understand what it is theyre drinking. Long before The Coffee Connection, Howell was brewing French Press coffees at Howard Johnson hotel lobbies, teaching anyone who would listen about the complexities of fine coffees, all in the service of lifting coffee from a commodity to a delicacy. Howell sourced coffee with coffee legend Erna Knutsen early on and is a firm believer in the power of buying top-quality coffees. Howell invented the roast date. Howell is a longtime supporter of quality-focused programs like Cup of Excellenceand believes these initiatives improve not only the reverence and overall appreciation of specialty coffee but ultimately the livelihoods of those cultivating coffee.

Cold coffee has been a growing obsession for coffee drinkers and coffee professionals alike in the last two decades. With the rise of cold brew becoming a ubiquitous household term and a billion-dollar niche in the coffee sector, Howell was early to speak out against the noticeable lack in the qualities he finds so important to the expressiveness of coffee: those lovely acids.

At a coffee conference in 2012, George Howell spoke of drinking cold brew coffee as if it was like being in a dark room. In our conversation for this story, Howell doubles down, Genuine iced is just way superior. If youre spending any money at all on the coffee, why would you do cold brew?

A lot has changed in the last twelve years, and George Howell Coffee has come around to embracing cold coffees in all forms. One method in particular has inspired and encouraged Howell, and aligned with his lifelong pursuit of elevating the coffee experience for everyone. Its a way to rapidly chill pour-over coffee, in a patented process called Snapchill.

Snapchill was developed by Michael Corrado and Dave Dussault in Massachusetts and has been slowly making a name for itself over the last few years across the country. At their initial meeting, Howell describes watching the founders brew coffee in a Bonavita, and then using their proprietary technologyit looked like an air conditionerto flash-chill the product.

They wanted me to test it out and I went over to their lab, says Howell. They made a perfect drip coffee and poured it through their machine and in a minute and 15 seconds, it was down to 38 degrees from 185, 195, and it was incredible. It blew my mind.

In its early stages, Snapchill worked with Howell, using machines in their cafes to rapidly chill coffee for service. We did sell a lot, but people are usually in a rush. They want their takeout and they dont want to wait even a minute, which was sad, Howell recalls. In later years, Snapchill took their technology and put it in ready-to-drink cans. When the cans came around, wow, that was amazing, Howell says. With the convenience of instant availability, the sales took off. They also credit the marketing of the product itself: The cans are really beautiful. They were central in the cafes, so people really saw that. In later years, Snapchill took their technology and put it in cans. Now, they work directly with roasters to create ready-to-drink canned beverages. George Howell Coffee now sells Snapchill Montecarlos blend in grocery stores around the Northeast, along with two offerings exclusive to their cafes.

When asked about his favorite way of enjoying the Snapchill Montecarlos, Howell suggests adding a cube of ice or two, like a fine whiskey. The can is pretty strong by itself. Like whiskey, where if you add an ice cube or two, it sweetens and opens up, the canned iced coffee will do that with an ice cube. So if youre drinking out of the can, you dont get that. But I have found that my favorite iced coffee, like the Ethiopians, the Kenyan, and so on, really do. They open up. You need to dilute it slightly and make it maybe a little bit colder, and its fantastic.

For Howell, this process lets consumers enjoy the coffee with all its complexities, something that goes back to his mission of elevating the hard work of the farmer. We can sell cold brew and all that, says Howell, but if you can taste the terroir, thats good for the farmer. If somebody can really taste those Brazil naturals in iced coffee, thats phenomenal.

All in a lifes work for George Howell.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/a-shot-across-the-bow-moscow-will-not-allow-nato-attacks-on-russian-civilians-1118300918.html

A Shot Across the Bow: Moscow Will Not Allow NATO Attacks on Russian Civilians

A Shot Across the Bow: Moscow Will Not Allow NATO Attacks on Russian Civilians

Sputnik International

Rumors abound that France and the United Kingdom will escalate involvement in Ukraines proxy war on Russia. The Kremlin has warned of significant... 07.05.2024, Sputnik International

2024-05-07T05:07+0000

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joe biden

russia

united kingdom (uk)

ukraine

nato

kremlin

army tactical missile system (atacms)

nord stream

david cameron

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More than a month out from a horrific terrorist attack outside Moscow, officials have made clear they will not allow civilian life to be threatened on Russian soil.The Kremlin conveyed its stance Monday amid concerns NATO-aligned countries will escalate their involvement in Ukraines war against Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron has discussed sending French troops to assist Kievs embattled armed forces, while rumors have spread that the United Kingdom may provide weapons and even technical advisors to enable a Ukrainian attack on the Crimean Bridge.Russian officials met with diplomats from both countries, threatening severe consequences.I can tell you both of them were taken out behind the woodshed and given a huge whoop-ass beating by the Russians, said American filmmaker Regis Tremblay on Sputniks The Critical Hour program Monday. The documentarian, who now resides in Crimea, joined hosts Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon to discuss this latest development in NATO countries proxy war against Moscow.They were told in no uncertain terms that if their missiles  and I'm talking about those Storm Shadow missiles from the UK and France and the ATACMS from the United States  if they are used to attack deep into Russia, and that means Crimea, they will meet with a devastating retaliation, said Tremblay.Tremblay claimed the conflict in Ukraine is viewed by Russians as an existential threat. Russia has long had an antagonist relationship with NATO, fearing an attack by the Western alliance for decades during the Cold War. The twentieth century saw an invasion from Nazi Germany that killed some 27 million Russians, while French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte launched an incursion a century prior.Russias history has taught the country to take all threats seriously, said Tremblay.It's been stated very clearly that the policy of the United States and, therefore, of these idiotic, crazy European leaders, is the strategic defeat of Russia, he said. The Russians understand exactly what that means.Discussion then turned to the 2022 destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. The attack is widely assumed to have been carried out by the United States in order to sever a key economic link between Moscow and Berlin.A cryptic assurance by President Joe Biden that he would bring an end to the project in the event of an escalation of the Donbass conflict has been seen as implicating the United States in the act of environmental terrorism. US allies in Europe have consistently declined to investigate the source of the attack.This policy and foreign policy of NATO and the United States is so fractured, it's so idiotic, it's so sophomoric that it's hard to believe it's really happening because the stakes are so high It's a crying shame that the rest of the world is openly not condemning the United States and NATO for this obvious war crime that was committed against the Russian Federation.

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After Positioning Military Biolabs Around the Globe, US Officials Urge Biodefense Buildup

After Positioning Military Biolabs Around the Globe, US Officials Urge Biodefense Buildup

Sputnik International

Russias Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops have spent over two years studying and publicizing sensitive documents and analytical materials on the extent of Pentagon, CDC and US biotech firms funding for unethical and potentially illegal military biological research in Ukraine and around the world.

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US biodefense planners are preparing to release a 'bombshell' report calling on all levels of the US government to radically improve national biodefense measures and create a national strategy to address global biological threats.The document, seen by Axios ahead of publication, was put together by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, a panel of former high-ranking US officials and lawmakers, including senior former Clinton, Bush and Obama administration staff. The Commission, created in 2014 to provide for a comprehensive assessment of the state of US biodefense efforts, has called its new report the 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense.Were not putting enough emphasis on getting ahead of these biological threats, Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense executive director Asha George said. George urged Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to spearhead a national biodefense effort and set up a deputy advisor post to deal with the jobs daily duties.Curiously, the panels recommendations also feature a section on emerging astrobiological threats, warning about the intersection of space exploration and infectious disease, and of the possibility of space-based microorganisms being brought to Earth and posing a threat to the planets human, animal, plant, or ecosystem health.Threats Closer to HomeAdditional details on the contents of the report have yet to be publicized. However, based on the information made available by Axios, it will offer little if any data on the US governments own role in creating, manipulating and spreading biological threats globally, starting with the National Institutes of Health gain of function research which may have sparked the global Covid-19 pandemic, to the operation of dozens of military-grade biolabs around the world, including in Ukraine, Africa, Asia and Latin America.Russias Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops warned in January that Washingtons goals in the military-biological domain are multifold, ranging from the creation and manipulation of the causative agents of particularly dangerous infections in regions of the world that are strategically important for the United States, to efforts to achieve global superiority in biomanufacturing, biological monitoring, and the expansion of potentially unethical and illegal military biological research outside US jurisdictions.NATO Goes All In on TranshumanismThe 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense report comes less than a month after the NATO alliance published details on an alarming new international strategy to govern the responsible development and use of biotechnologies and human enhancement technologies.On the pretext of unsubstantiated claims that adversaries, including Russia, are planning to deploy chemical and biological weapons, the NATO strategy offers a Brave New World-style vision of the need to fast track the development of biotech and human enhancement (BHE) technologies, predicting that they will transform our economies, societies, security and defense in unprecedented and unforeseeable ways.This scary new BHE push has been met with opposition from social conservatives worldwide, who have cited work in this direction as a means to establishing unprecedented levels control over humanity.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/brazil-venezuela-condemn-israels-operation-in-gazas-southern-city-of-rafah-1118304668.html

Brazil, Venezuela Condemn Israel's Operation in Gaza's Southern City of Rafah

Brazil, Venezuela Condemn Israel's Operation in Gaza's Southern City of Rafah

Sputnik International

The Brazilian and Venezuelan governments have condemned the start of Israel's military operation in eastern Rafah in the Gaza Strip, calling on the international community, organizations and the UN Security Council to overcome the indifference to abuse of human rights and humanitarian law.

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On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) started a military operation in the eastern parts of Rafah, after urging residents to evacuate. Palestinian movement Hamas said that it had agreed to the provisions of the Gaza ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the truce deal unacceptable. Over a million people are believed to be sheltering in the city. Brazil called on international organizations and the UN Security Council to "overcome the indifference and passiveness that has allowed the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip to worsen." Another Latin American country, Venezuela, also called on the international community to reestablish "legality and international justice in the area." Over 34,700 people have been killed so far by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to local authorities. More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/china-france-call-for-cessation-of-attacks-on-civilian-ships-in-red-sea-1118304890.html

China, France Call for Cessation of Attacks on Civilian Ships in Red Sea

China, France Call for Cessation of Attacks on Civilian Ships in Red Sea

Sputnik International

China and France call for an immediate end to attacks on the civilian vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the countries said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

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The heads of the both countries stressed the importance of preserving freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and called for an immediate cessation of attacks on the civilian ships in order to protect maritime security and global trade, preventing regional tensions, humanitarian and ecological risks, the document, published by the Chinese government, read. Chinese President Xi Jinping is on a visit to France, Serbia and Hungary from May 510 at the invitation of the European leaders. His first trip to Europe in nearly five years comes as the European Union continues piling pressure on Beijing over its support and cooperation with Russia. On Sunday, the Chinese leader arrived in France, where he will stay until Wednesday.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/climbing-the-escalation-ladder-french-british-threats-provoke-russian-warning-1118299465.html

Climbing the 'Escalation Ladder': French, British Threats Provoke Russian Warning

Climbing the 'Escalation Ladder': French, British Threats Provoke Russian Warning

Sputnik International

Moscow responded aggressively to claims that Kiev may use British weapons to strike within Russia, claiming such an attack would force the country to target UK military installations in Ukraine and beyond.

2024-05-07T02:30+0000

2024-05-07T02:30+0000

2024-05-07T02:38+0000

analysis

ray mcgovern

john f. kennedy

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moscow

ukraine

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While defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war, said former US President John F. Kennedy during an address at American University in 1963.The remark, coming a few months after the previous years Cuban Missile Crisis, demonstrated Kennedys newfound sense of restraint in navigating Cold War tensions. The confrontation with the Soviet Union brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with both Washington and Moscow poised to save face by unleashing the deadliest weapons ever conceived by mankind.A repeat of the scenario must be avoided, Kennedy reasoned, with each world power tacitly accepting the others existence.Half a century later the slain leaders realization has been forgotten, claimed former CIA analyst Ray McGovern on Sputniks The Critical hour program Monday. The founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity joined hosts Garland Nixon and Wilmer Leon to discuss the latest developments in NATO countries proxy war against Russia in the Donbass.Things are getting pretty intense and the Russians are pretty much saying, okay, that's enough, said McGovern, responding to the latest statement from Russian government officials. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron was quoted by media saying Ukraine could use UK-supplied weapons to strike within Russian territory during a visit to Kiev last week.The comment provoked a strong response from Moscow suggesting Russia could target British military assets in Ukraine or elsewhere in response to such an attack on its territory.We have those reports that [French President Emmanuel] Macron is crazy enough to want to send French troops into battle there in Ukraine, and the Russians actually have claimed to have killed seven of them this morning, McGovern added.McGovern claimed Russias response could even be nuclear in nature, noting, the Russians are waving the nuclear possibility as never before. I can say never because I've been around a while  would you believe six decades of watching Soviet and then Russian leaders? They don't brandish nuclear weapons. Now they are.The Russian Ministry of Defense announced Monday they were commencing exercises involving tactical nuclear weapons, suggesting the country could use such armaments if Western nations enable strikes within the country.Russia also possesses hypersonic weapons able to evade traditional defensive systems  a technology not yet developed by any of its Western rivals. McGovern noted the armaments could be equipped with nuclear warheads, but only if Russia is significantly provoked.The stance has predictably caused the US and allies to accuse Moscow of nuclear saber rattling. But McGovern claimed the threat is a response to an unprecedented deterioration of relations between Russia and the West, noting recent analysis by Russian historian Dmitri Trenin.But now the US is doing this by proxy, he observed. That's new We need to rethink this whole thing because this is an existential threat.The former intelligence analyst warned of the potential consequences if Russia continues to feel it is provoked.That's the next rung up on the escalation ladder, he claimed. I'm afraid that if the French and the British and US don't come to their senses and if Zelensky appeals for NATO troops on the ground that there'll be enough pressure on the part of NATO countries  some of them at least  to comply.These threats about nuclear, tactical weapons being mounted for exercises  well, that may be part of this tough approach. But it still worries me greatly because the Russians don't usually do that.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221016/cuban-missile-crisis-60-years-on-nuke-risk-higher-today-amid-diplomatic-deficits-1101892889.html

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Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on invitation visits the Orsay Museum with Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on invitation visited the Orsay Museum with Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday afternoon.

Brigitte warmly welcomed Peng at the gate of the museum. The wives of the two heads of state entered the museum to appreciate the "Paris 1874 Inventing Impressionism" exhibition and the museum's masterpiece oil paintings.

The two stopped from time to time to appreciate Impressionist classic works by Claude Monet, Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and other famous painters, and exchanged feelings.

Noting that both the Chinese and French people love painting very much, Peng expressed her hope that the two sides could carry out more exchanges so that the two peoples could feel the charm of each other's cultures and deepen mutual understanding.

Peng hoped that artists of the two countries will strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, and inspire each other to create more exquisite works of art.

In the hall of the museum, the wives of the two heads of state had cordial exchanges with French students who were visiting and studying there.

The students shared their experiences of learning Chinese and expressed their love for Chinese culture. Peng encouraged them to work hard to learn Chinese well, and take opportunities to study in China, walk around and take a look, so that they can get a true and multi-dimensional view of China.

Peng said she hopes that the students will become little envoys of China-France friendship and build a bridge of communication between the two peoples so that China-France friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

Founded in 1986, the Orsay Museum is a French national museum, which has the richest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist artworks in the world.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/did-netanyahu-trash-ceasefire-deal-agreed-by-hamas-to-continue-war-1118316128.html

Did Netanyahu Trash Ceasefire Deal Agreed by Hamas to Continue War?

Did Netanyahu Trash Ceasefire Deal Agreed by Hamas to Continue War?

Sputnik International

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) armoured units forcibly occupied the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt on May 7  despite Hamas agreeing to the latest hostage and ceasefire proposal a day earlier.

2024-05-07T15:40+0000

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2024-05-07T15:39+0000

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah Border Crossing  the crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip  as part of the Rafah offensive.The latest stage of the Israeli invasion of Gaza went ahead despite Hamas agreeing to the latest peace proposal negotiated by Egypt, Qatar, the US and Israel in previous weeks with the party that governs the besieged territory.The deal would have seen a ceasefire in return for the release of 30 Israelis captured by Hamas' armed wing and other militant groups in their breakout from northern Gaza on October 7 2023."And so, for domestic political purposes, particularly in light of the massive demonstrations in Israel in recent days, his political career is in serious jeopardy," Kamrava added. "And therefore, if he ends the war, he will be in difficulty."Hamas announced on May 6 that it accepted a ceasefire proposal outlined by Cairo and Doha during the weekend. According to Axios, Tel Aviv was not satisfied with the deal with Hamas and accused the US of not informing it about the latest Qatari and Egyptian proposals.Israeli officials insisted that the new agreement contained "many new elements" that were not part of the deal that was presented to Hamas by the US, Egypt and Qatar ten days ago with Israel's approval.But a senior US official retorted that "American diplomats have been engaged with Israeli counterparts. There have been no surprises."A source familiar with the talks told the website that on Monday morning, CIA director Bill Burns held talks with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.However, when Hamas signaled its agreement to the proposal, Gallant claimed bewilderment over the deal. Axios sources further alleged that Washington invited Israeli officials to Cairo over the weekend but Tel Aviv refused to send a team."All indications are that there's tremendous pressure on Israel now to accept the peace process. The Americans, the Egyptians, the Qataris, the European Union, everybody's on board and Hamas is on board, except Israel," Kamrava said.Under the pretext that the ceasefire and hostage agreement's terms were still undecided, the IDF issued a statement saying that Israeli ground forces "began a precise counterterrorism operation based on [military and security] intelligence to eliminate Hamas within specific areas of eastern Rafah."Kamrava warned that the Israeli offensive carries the risk of exacerbating the already-dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.According to the academic, Israel has "told the Palestinians that they need to move into an area that is uninhabitable. It's been absolutely, completely destroyed."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/us-delays-sale-of-thousands-of-precision-guided-weapons-to-israel---reports-1118311261.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/israel-declines-ceasefire-proposal-continues-rafah-operation-to-pressure-hamas-1118299395.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240429/rafah-operation-looms-will-netanyahu-defy-bidens-warnings-1118179825.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/fugitive-polish-judge-says-feared-for-his-life-after-receiving-threats-in-poland-1118312510.html

Fugitive Polish Judge Says Feared for His Life After Receiving Threats in Poland

Fugitive Polish Judge Says Feared for His Life After Receiving Threats in Poland

Sputnik International

Tomasz Szmydt, a Polish judge who fled to Belarus after facing political persecution at home, said Tuesday that he had received threats while living in Poland that made him fear for his life.

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"There were threats, phone calls. People I didn't know came up to me and told me to disappear  or else something might happen to me," he told Sputnik. The Warsaw Voivodeship Administrative Court judge said he felt safe in Belarus. He announced in Minsk on Monday that he was seeking political asylum in the country. Szmydt told Sputnik he had been warned about an investigation underway into him in Poland on espionage charges, which added to his resolve to flee abroad. Szmydt said he faced a criminal trial back in Poland because he had access to secret information, although he denied bringing Polish secrets to Belarus. "I did not bring any classified documents here. I did not tell any secrets. No one asked me to," the fugitive judge said. Commenting on Ukraine, Szmydt told Sputnik that Poland was being dragged into a direct armed conflict in Ukraine.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240406/poland-raises-fears-of-evil-russian-empire-as-pretext-for-frantic-militarization-1117782852.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240418/unscrambling-the-polish-puzzle-warsaw-debates-european-sky-shield-membership-1117991578.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/idf-launch-targeted-operation-in-eastern-region-of-rafah-in-gaza-strip-1118302876.html

IDF Launches Targeted Operation in Eastern Region of Rafah in Gaza Strip

IDF Launches Targeted Operation in Eastern Region of Rafah in Gaza Strip

Sputnik International

The Israeli armed forces have launched a targeted counterterrorism operation in the eastern part of the Gazan city of Rafah, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday.

2024-05-07T06:06+0000

2024-05-07T06:06+0000

2024-05-07T07:01+0000

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The Israeli armed forces have launched a targeted counterterrorism operation in the eastern part of the Gazan city of Rafah, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday. IDF troops have taken operational control of the Gazan side of the Rafah Border Crossing, the only crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Both IDF ground troops and IAF fighter jets carried out strikes on Hamas targets in the Rafah area as part of the operation.Prior to starting the operation, the IDF had urged residents in the area of eastern Rafah to temporarily evacuate to the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi. The location in question has been expanded to accommodate more tents, field hospitals, tents, and stocked with additional supplies of water, food, and medical provisions.All humanitarian aid shipments to Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing have been suspended, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.Over a million Palestinian civilians have sought shelter in Rafah, with reports indicating that close to 100,000 people might be in the zone where the Israel Defense Forces urged an evacuation. Tev Aviv has been repeatedly warned that a ground operation would trigger a humanitarian catastrophe in Rafah.Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had stated on Sunday that Israeli troops were gearing up for a ground offensive against the southern Gaza city of Rafah, after accusing Hamas of rejecting Israel's ceasefire proposals."We see signs that Hamas does not intend to carry out any plan. This makes it clear that in the near future, intensive actions will begin in Rafah and other areas in the Gaza Strip," Gallant was quoted as saying to Israeli troops by the Israel Hayom newspaper.On Monday, the governments press office announced that the Israeli war cabinet had unanimously decided to continue the operation in Rafah to pressure Hamas on the issue of release of hostages.The operation in Rafah comes after Palestinian movement Hamas agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal, according to a document obtained by Sputnik. On Saturday, Hamas's delegation had arrived in Cairo to negotiate through Egyptian mediators a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of the captives.The chairman of the political office of Palestinian movement Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, had informed Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Abbas Kamel, the chief of Egypts intelligence, of acceptance of a proposal to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Hamas said on Monday. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office claimed the Hamas proposal was "far from Israel's essential demands", but it would send negotiators for talks "to exhaust the potential for arriving at an agreement".

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240505/rafah-ground-offensive-will-begin-soon---idf-chief-1118274138.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240506/hamas-chief-informs-mediators-of-acceptance-of-gaza-ceasefire-proposal-1118293882.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/israel-declines-ceasefire-proposal-continues-rafah-operation-to-pressure-hamas-1118299395.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/is-biden-pushing-for-another-nakba-with-gaza-aid-pier-ploy-1118298323.html

Is Biden Pushing for 'Another Nakba' with Gaza Aid Pier Ploy?

Is Biden Pushing for 'Another Nakba' with Gaza Aid Pier Ploy?

Sputnik International

Members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus cabinet want to force Palestinians out of their historic lands once and for all. Observers worry the US president, a self-proclaimed Zionist, is accommodating their plans.

2024-05-07T00:14+0000

2024-05-07T00:14+0000

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As negotiations are ongoing to achieve a ceasefire in the besieged Gaza Strip, work continues on the United States purported humanitarian pier off the coast of the enclave.First unveiled during Joe Bidens State of the Union address in March, the concept is reportedly designed to help increase the flow of food into the territory as Israel limits the entry of aid convoys through land crossings. The embattled US president has portrayed the idea as a signal of his concern for the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 34,000 have been killed amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus onslaught in retaliation for Hamas October 7 surprise attack.But various observers have suggested the project is not all that it seems, fearing the pier could serve as a foothold for espionage or even military operations by Western powers. Journalist Elijah Magnier joined Sputniks Fault Lines program Monday to offer analysis as Israel signals an imminent assault on the southern Gazan city of Rafah.Benjamin Netanyahu [is] not only saying that they would go to Rafah regardless, but starting to bomb Rafah and dropping leaflets on the population asking them to evacuate, noted the veteran war correspondent, insisting the Israeli leader will move forward in invading the city regardless of the outcome of current peace talks. It was recently reported that Hamas had accepted a ceasefire proposal negotiated with the help of Egypt as concerns mount over the fate of 1.5 million Palestinians currently sheltering in Rafah.IDF spokespeople have confirmed that a significant proportion of the Hamas-held hostages are Israeli military personnel captured during Hamas attack on security installations tasked with overseeing Israels illegal occupation of the Palestinian territory. Hamas is also calling for the release of hostages held by Israel, which detains thousands of Palestinian civilians without charge.Meanwhile, the Biden administration has proposed establishing refugee camps in northern Gaza for Palestinians in Rafah to flee to before Israel begins its promised invasion of Rafah.What they are saying is we will send 40,000 tents and allow a place in the north, allow them to return to the north, where they can sit in camps or in other tents but don't start the operation in Rafah before you remove the 1.5 million, said Magnier, explaining the Biden administrations position. This is the only difference between the Americans and the Israelis.White House officials have promoted the administrations humanitarian pier concept as a way to ensure the provision of aid to relocated Palestinians. But Magnier claimed the port is being built not to allow food to be brought into Gaza, but to facilitate Palestinians being removed from the enclave.The Nakba, which means catastrophe in Arabic, refers to the forced relocation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians coinciding with Israels founding in 1948. The act was accomplished with the aid of self-avowed Zionist terrorist groups such as Irgun, Lehi, and Haganah which attacked and burned Palestinian cities, killing tens of thousands.Tantura was a rich village and had beautiful houses, said former Israeli soldier Yosef Diamont in a documentary on Israeli television, recalling Zionists assault on the Palestinian town. Its residents lived like Europeans and the women of the village used to wear nice clothes.Israels ruling Likud party has long claimed the territories of Gaza and the West Bank, considered Palestinian land under international law, as part of Greater Israel  insisting Arabs must be expelled from the territories to complete Zionists colonization of historic Palestinian land. Last year, a plan by Israeli intelligence leaked proposing the forced transfer of millions of Palestinians in Gaza into Egypts Sinai Desert.Egypt objected to the proposal as did the Biden administration, fearing the plan would threaten Egypts historical defense of Israel dating back to 1978s signing of the Camp David Accords. But hardline members of Netanyahus coalition including Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir have continued to openly insist on complete Israeli occupation of the territories.So far, the Biden administration has shown little willingness to challenge its Israeli ally. A reporter recently asked the US president whether unprecedented demonstrations on college campuses throughout the country might cause Biden to reconsider his ironclad support for the country. Biden responded to the inquiry with a succinct, no.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240428/world-central-kitchen-to-resume-work-in-gaza-as-hunger-malnutrition-still-stalk-enclave-1118167268.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240419/blinken-protects-israeli-military-units-accused-of-killings-assault--report-1118005806.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220515/nakba-day-74-years-after-israels-independence-gaza-refugee-believes-palestinians-will-return-home-1095520485.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240426/threats-against-campus-pro-palestine-demonstrators-echo-deadly-violence-of-kent-state-1118117114.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/israel-closes-in-on-rafah-after-banning-al-jazeera-1118300009.html

Israel Closes In on Rafah After Banning Al Jazeera

Israel Closes In on Rafah After Banning Al Jazeera

Sputnik International

Gomaa suggested that the Israeli government is attempting to suppress any coverage of what they are doing in Gaza now as Israel likely plans to carry out their attack on the city of Rafah.

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On Monday, journalist Mohamed Gomaa sat down with Sputniks The Final Countdown to discuss Israels decision to ban Al Jazeeras broadcasting in Israel and raid its office. The Israeli Ministry of Communications said on Sunday that it had confiscated the broadcasters equipment just hours after the Israeli cabinet ordered its closure.Gomaa suggested that the Israeli government is attempting to suppress any coverage of what they are doing in Gaza now as Israel likely plans to carry out their attack on the city of Rafah. A live report published on Monday by a US news site claims that Israeli forces plan to invade the Palestinian city which is in the southern Gaza Strip within "hours".Sputniks Angie Wong noted that Israeli officials raided Al Jazeeras offices in addition to shutting down their production, and that such an act may signal that the office contained what Israeli officials view as a matter of national security endangerment.The office they raided was a Jerusalem hotel room being used by Al Jazeera for their production. A video shared online showed officers dressed in plain clothes dismantling camera equipment in a hotel room in East Jerusalem.Cindy McCain, the director of World Food Programme, said that there is a full-blown famine in northern Gaza, and it is making its way into the South. The United Nations has been warning since mid-March that a famine is imminent in Gaza. McCain said a ceasefire in Gaza is necessary so that people can be fed in a much faster fashion.Sputniks Ted Rall suggested that Israeli officials put in place several unnecessary delays, including inspections, to prevent food and other equipment from reaching the Palestinians.The Israeli government uses the famine as an arm against the Palestinians, and it's a punishment for the Palestinians, he added. [But if] Hamas is in the tunnels and their fighters are hiding in the tunnels, [then] why [do the] Israeli blockade the assistance? Why does the US military drop assistance from air?"

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240506/israel-bans-al-jazeera-and-raids-office-1118276646.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/nato-threatens-wwiii-on-russias-border-xi-visits-eu-many-black-voters-to-sit-out-2024-1118299235.html

NATO Threatens WWIII on Russia's Border; Xi Visits EU; Many Black Voters to Sit Out 2024

NATO Threatens WWIII on Russia's Border; Xi Visits EU; Many Black Voters to Sit Out 2024

Sputnik International

President Putin has ordered nuclear drills as NATO threatens World War 3 on Russia's border.

2024-05-07T04:19+0000

2024-05-07T04:19+0000

2024-05-07T08:54+0000

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NATO Threatens World War 3 on Russia's Border; Xi Visits EU; Many Black Voters to Sit Out 2024 Sputnik International President Putin has ordered nuclear drills as NATO threatens World War 3 on Russia's border.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, joins us to discuss President Putin's order of nuclear drills as NATO threatens World War 3 on Russia's border.Regis Tremblay, an American citizen in Crimea, joins us in the discussion. The EU is still avoiding an unbiased investigation into the Nord Stream attack as NATO continues to threaten Crimea.Mark Sleboda, international relations and security analyst, joins us to discuss the US's search for a Zelensky replacement and the UK's dangerous aggression against Russia.Misty Winston, radio host, free speech activist, and press freedom activist, joins us to discuss the 2024 election. Many Black voters plan to sit out the vote, and student protesters disrupted the graduation ceremony at the University of Michigan.Ted Rall, political cartoonist, syndicated columnist, and host of the Final Countdown, joins us to discuss President Xi Jinping's visit to the EU.Investigative Reporter Max Blumenthal joins us to discuss the US crackdown on student protesters.Dan Kovalik, writer, author, and lawyer, joins us to discuss the potential for an Israeli attack on Rafah and Evo Morales, who is planning to run for President of Bolivia after overcoming a US coup.Dr. Jemima Pierre, Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, a member of the Black Alliance for Peace, and an editor of the "Black Agenda Review," joins us to discuss the US attempt to rope Haiti into the Global Fragility Act.The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comCatch us in the US at 105.5FM, 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1390AM, 1140AM

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/play-into-his-base-trump-may-use-student-protests-to-win-2024-presidential-election-1118297879.html

Play Into His Base: Trump May Use Student Protests to Win 2024 Presidential Election

Play Into His Base: Trump May Use Student Protests to Win 2024 Presidential Election

Sputnik International

Arrests that took place at the school's Hamilton Hall have resulted in a lack of confidence in University President Minouche Shafik among students and faculty.

2024-05-07T05:43+0000

2024-05-07T05:43+0000

2024-05-07T05:43+0000

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Columbia University announced its decision on Monday to cancel a university-wide commencement ceremony, and will instead organize school-level events due to lingering security concerns following student protests against Israel's war in Gaza. Arrests that took place at the school's Hamilton Hall have resulted in a lack of confidence in University President Minouche Shafik among students and faculty. On Monday, author and journalist Robert Fantina joined Sputniks The Final Countdown to discuss the recent campus crackdowns on protestors. Fantina, an activist working for peace and social justice, noted how the protests may be used to the advantage of the Republican Party in the US presidential election come November.During the interview, Sputniks Ted Rall asked Fantina how the campus protests might change moving forward as a majority of students will most likely leave campus for summer break. Fantina pointed out that with social media, students may still find ways to protest, even if college campuses will be closed.We won't see university encampments over the summer, of course, probably because, as you mentioned, most university students are home, their home is local or at a distance, so they're not on campus, the journalist continued. So, the campuses themselves will not be hotbeds of support for Palestinians.Ted Rall then asked if it is possible that former US President Donald Trump and other right-wing Republicans may point to the on campus protests as proof that US President Joe Biden has lost control of the American public and is to blame for its general unrest. Rall then pointed out the similarities between the US presidential election in 1968, compared to this years election.However, the US was experiencing a very different environment in 1968; the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, students marching in protest against the Vietnam War, and a leading presidential candidate who was not on criminal trial. But former Vice President Richard Nixon did campaign to restore law and order, and won 32 states in the presidential election by doing so. Trump chose to recycle the sentiment during his presidency when confronted by the Black Lives Matter movement. And while Biden has tried to tread lightly when commenting on the pro-Palestinian student protestors, former President Donald Trump has openly attacked the demonstrators and celebrated police crackdowns as a beautiful thing to watch.Even as the Biden administration has not wavered in their support of Israel, Biden does not want to lose the support of his young, college-aged voters - a key Democratic constituency - who have turned against him in response to his administrations Israel policy."We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent," Biden said. "But neither are we a lawless country. We are a civil society, and order must prevail.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240505/professors-arrest-highlights-brutal-us-police-response-to-pro-palestine-protests-1118260502.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/ukraines-total-military-casualties-in-donetsk-reach-up-to-1165-in-past-day---mod-1118315606.html

Ukraine's Total Military Casualties in Donetsk Reach Up to 1,165 in Past Day - MoD

Ukraine's Total Military Casualties in Donetsk Reach Up to 1,165 in Past Day - MoD

Sputnik International

The Ukrainian armed forces suffered up to 1,165 military casualties in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in the past 24 hours as a result of operations by the Russian armed forces, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said on Tuesday.

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"[As a result of actions by the Battlegroup Yug], enemy losses amounted to up to 600 military personnel, a tank, three armored combat vehicles, ten cars [among other military losses]," the ministry said in a statement. Russia's Battlefroup Tsentr repelled one Ukrainian counterattack in the DPR, while Kiev lost up to 395 soldiers. Battlegroup Vostok also improved its tactical positions in the DPR, while Kiev lost up to 170 soldiers. Additionally, as a result of operations by the Battlegroup Zapad, Kiev lost up to 335 soldiers in the Kharkov region and the Lugansk People's Republic.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240501/imminent-liberation-of-rabotino-will-nullify-only-propaganda-victory-of-zelenskys-counteroffensive-1118215382.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/ukraines-tragicomic-recruitment-strategy-mocked-as-choose-your-own-adventure-scheme-1118320139.html

Ukraines Tragicomic Recruitment Strategy Mocked as Choose Your Own Adventure Scheme

Ukraines Tragicomic Recruitment Strategy Mocked as Choose Your Own Adventure Scheme

Sputnik International

Ukraines authorities approved a new mobilization law in April, with the legislation intended to mobilize hundreds of thousands more troops to fuel NATOs proxy war against Russia. Along with draconian penalties for draft dodgers, the mobilization drive has been accompanied by some eyebrow-raising measures to incentivize would-be recruits.

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Britains leading business newspaper has unintentionally made a laughing stock of the Kiev regimes efforts to get more Ukrainian bodies on the battlefield, dubbing a new strategy involving giving recruits a chance to pick where which forces they serve in a choose your own adventure scheme.Outmanned and outgunned by Russian forces on the battlefield, Ukraines army urgently needs fresh fighters, as more Western military aid is expected to arrive in the coming weeks. But the queues of patriotic volunteers who lined up outside recruitment centers at the start of the conflict have long since disappeared, the Financial Times wrote in a piece published Tuesday.Everyone will Fight  choose your own unit now, a billboard advertisement for the Da Vinci Wolves Battalion cited by FT beckons (the newspaper fails to mention that the battalion was originally created as the paramilitary wing of Ukraines notorious neo-Nazi Right Sector* nationalist group).Are you with us? another poster reads, this one for the 3rd Assault Brigade, featuring a stylized Wolsfsangel runic symbol used during World War II by the Nazis. The 3rd Assault Brigade was formed in late 2022 from the remnants of the Azov* Brigade and Azov* Special Operations Forces  two more units with ultra-right leanings.The pick and choose approach, running alongside Kievs regular mobilization, has also been accompanied by a Defense Ministry push to recruit specialists, including IT experts, drone operators, medics, drivers and press officers, with the limited number of vacancies receiving a flood of applications, presumably as men seek deployments away from the front, or where they can avoid having to kill people.Ukraines mobilization drive comes amid an increasingly desperate situation at the front, with Russias breakthrough of heavily fortified areas in the Donbass earlier this year, and slow, methodical advance into Kharkov region, sparking fears in Kiev, Washington and European NATO capitals that the front may be close to collapse, prompting increasingly alarming threats of escalation by the Western bloc.Former Bundeswehr Chief of Staff and ex-NATO Military Committee chairman Harald Kujat warned last week in an interview with German media that alliance countries supporting the conflicts continuation are fatally mistaken if they think Kiev could benefit in any way from this approach. Kujat added that the recently passed mobilization law took nearly a year to approve, becoming a compromise between the need to reinforce an exhausted and depleted army, and avoid an uprising by an increasingly resistant population.FTs readers couldnt help but notice the signs of desperation emanating from the business newspapers piece.This reminds me of the stories about the Third Reich in early 1945, one person wrote. So are those reports about shortages of ammunition, claims of corruption, incompetent commanders and inadequate training true? another asked.The reason Ukraine has a manpower problem is the fighting age population has lost confidence in Ukraines ability to win this war. They see through the propaganda and the recruiting posters like this as being fake. They do not desire to be cannon fodder, one reader suggested.The best gig is probably fetching coffee for the US advisors manning the ATACMs, and pressing the fire button when directed, someone suggested.Isnt this some kind of a self-inflicted genocide if you want to send all the men of a certain age to fight, even if they dont want to fight? What will be left of Ukraine to save after a couple of years? another person lamented.* Recognized as terrorist organizations and banned in Russia.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/us-assembles-squad-of-allies-to-counter-china-1118318135.html

US Assembles 'Squad' of Allies to Counter China

US Assembles 'Squad' of Allies to Counter China

Sputnik International

Manila warned of losing autonomy, 'Ukrainization' under US manipulation.

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Defense chiefs from the US, Australia, Japan and the Philippines gathered in Hawaii on Thursday (local time) for their second joint meeting, lining up yet another regional group dubbed the "Squad" by Pentagon officials, while vowing a strengthened alliance among the four countries.Chinese analysts warned on Sunday that this new quadrilateral grouping, distinct from the older version of the Quad which was also assembled by the US, poses a more targeted challenge to China. The grouping, part of Washington's "Indo-Pacific Strategy," aims at containing China, leading to concerns about more complex tensions and division among regional countries.Chinese analysts warned that the Philippines, increasingly manipulated by the US, is losing its autonomy and becoming a pawn of the US in the region, which could lead to the "Ukrainization" of the Philippines.Speaking after the talks on Friday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the four-country group would look at undertaking more maritime exercises, as well as providing greater security assistance to the Philippines, US media reported.The defense chiefs of the "Squad" met for the first time in June 2023 on the sidelines of the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore. And in April 2024, the four countries conducted joint maritime patrols within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone against the backdrop of ongoing tensions between the Philippines and China.Citing an anonymous US official, Bloomberg reported on Friday that the "Squad" aims to counter coercion and aggression across Asia, as well as ensure that defense capabilities among their militaries are increasingly inter-operable, allowing them to work more efficiently together in the event of conflict.The US official said the quadrilateral group aims to conduct more joint patrols in the coming months and years and that these patrols will add more capabilities over time.The report also highlights that this new quadrilateral grouping is one of a number of regional partnerships that the US has used to push back against China in Asia. There is also the "Quad" comprised of the US, Australia, India and Japan and "Aukus," a defense pact among Australia, the UK and the US.At the tactical level, the new grouping would form a more targeted mechanism against China which is similar but more effective than the previous Quad grouping as Japan, Australia and Philippines are all allies of the US, where India, although it is in the Quad group, it is not technically a US ally. Therefore, this new "Squad" has a stronger sense of direction, meeting the needs of the US to manage the security situation in the regions of the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straits, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday.At the strategic level, the new "Squad," like the old "Quad," is led by the US, adjusting the Asia-Pacific security architecture and promoting the implementation of overall planning through small-scale multilateral cooperation, Li noted.An official release from the US-Japan-Australia Trilateral Defense Ministers' Meeting (TDMM) 2024 Joint Statement on Saturday, read that the ministers of the three countries emphasized "the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits."They called for peaceful resolution of cross-Straits issues and reaffirmed their enduring commitment to a peaceful, secure and prosperous Southeast Asia, where sovereignty is respected, international law is followed and nations can make decisions free from coercion.In the short term, "Squad" exerts highly targeted strategic pressure on China, making the situation in the Asia-Pacific region even more complex. In addition to aspects such as intelligence network security and naval security, various dimensions including fisheries have a significant impact on Asia-Pacific security, Li predicted.Another Chinese military analyst who requested not to be named told the Global Times on Sunday that the new "Squad" is centered around the US, with the roles of the Philippines and Australia relatively minor.By assembling the "Squad," the US seeks to make use of Australia's homeland, defense budget and military to expand the US' influence overseas, while extending the US' military presence in the "Indo-Pacific" region through the Philippines' military bases. However, the military capabilities of these two countries are limited, and the US regards them as pawns, the military analyst explained.Analysts pointed out the current Philippine government is being manipulated by the US, and is increasingly lacking autonomy, especially under the Ferdinand Marcos Jr administration which follows the US obediently, and it has become an unstable factor in the Asia-Pacific region.Li warned that blindly following the US encouragement would only lead to the "Ukrainization" of the Philippines. "By creating crises, the US profits and establishes a situation where no country in the region can be secure without American leadership. The tragic result of the Philippines' provocation against China ultimately suggests that the Philippines should be more autonomous, harmonious with other regional countries, and avoid being used as a pawn by other countries."Analysts believe that the forming of the new anti-China grouping will lead regional countries to feel there exists a more complex and divisive security situation, with stronger antagonism and conflict, forcing more countries to take sides in geopolitics.Gu Xiaosong, dean of the ASEAN Research Institute of Hainan Tropical Ocean University, told the Global Times on Sunday that the forming of the new anti-China "Squad" poses a significant challenge to the historically cordial relations between China and ASEAN.Over the years, the China-ASEAN relationship has continually developed in the political, economic and cultural spheres, bringing tangible benefits to both sides. Both parties cherish peace and stability in the region and should work to preserve it, Gu said.However, the consequences of the Philippines drifting further away could have detrimental effects on the bilateral relationship between China and the Philippines. It is important for both parties to manage their differences and prioritize their shared interests. It is crucial for the current Philippines' leaders to prioritize the common interests of China and the Philippines, maintaining and nurturing the friendly relationship between the two countries for the benefit of both sides, Gu noted.This article was originally published by Global Times.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240506/us-forces-eu-to-disrupt-relations-with-china-to-europes-detriment-1118292994.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240425/blinkens-visit-to-china-signals-ongoing-hybrid-war-against-growing-world-power-1118115456.html

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, jointly meet the press in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping outlined China's principled position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Ukraine crisis when he jointly met the press with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday.

The prolonged tragedy of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a test for human conscience, and the international community must act, Xi said.

China calls on all parties to work for an immediate, comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, he said, adding China supports the full membership of Palestine in the United Nations, and supports restoring to Palestine its legitimate national rights and restarting the two-State solution, so as to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East.

Xi stressed that China has stated its position on the Ukraine crisis on many occasions.

China did not start the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to or a participant in it, Xi said, noting that instead of being an onlooker, China has been playing an important role for peace.

The special representative of the Chinese government on Eurasian affairs is on his third round of shuttle diplomacy, he added.

At the same time, China opposes attempts to use the Ukraine crisis to scapegoat or smear a third country or to stoke a "new Cold War," he said.

Noting that history has proven time and again that at the end of the day, conflicts can only be resolved through negotiation, Xi said that China calls on all parties to resume engagement and dialogue to build mutual trust.

China supports holding at a proper time an international peace conference that is recognized by both Russia and Ukraine and ensures the equal participation of all parties and fair discussions on all peace plans, Xi said.

China supports a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe, he said.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/us-delays-sale-of-thousands-of-precision-guided-weapons-to-israel---reports-1118311261.html

US Delays Sale of Thousands of Precision-Guided Weapons to Israel - Reports

US Delays Sale of Thousands of Precision-Guided Weapons to Israel - Reports

Sputnik International

The United States has put off selling thousands of precision-guided weapons to Israel amid growing tensions in the Gaza Strip, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

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Washington was expected to sell about 6,500 JDAM systems to Israel, the news outlet added in a report published on Monday. On Monday, Israel started a military operation in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the operation would disrupt the ongoing humanitarian assistance delivery to Gaza. Over 34,700 people have been killed so far by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to local authorities. More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/idf-launch-targeted-operation-in-eastern-region-of-rafah-in-gaza-strip-1118302876.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/yemens-houthis-ramp-up-attacks-on-merchant-ships-after-dismantling-suspected-us-israeli-spy-network-1118322583.html

Yemens Houthis Ramp Up Attacks on Merchant Ships After Dismantling Suspected US-Israeli Spy Network

Yemens Houthis Ramp Up Attacks on Merchant Ships After Dismantling Suspected US-Israeli Spy Network

Sputnik International

The Yemeni militia has been targeting Israeli, US and UK-linked commercial vessels and warships operating in the Red and Arabian Seas since November 2023, vowing to continue their partial self-imposed blockade until Israel halts its campaign in Gaza, and flouting recent attempts by Washington to bribe them into submission.

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Yemens Houthis ramped up their attacks on commercial vessels on Tuesday, with the UK Maritime Trade Organization reporting that an unidentified merchant ship 82 nautical miles south of Aden, Yemen faced two explosions in closest proximity to the vessel. The vessel and its crew were unharmed.The US military reported overnight Tuesday that it had shot down a Houthi drone over the Red Sea, and announced later in the day that the Dwight D. Eisenhower supercarrier had resumed its operations in the area after a brief port call for resupply. The American warship, deployed in the region since October 14 together with a squadron of missile destroyers, is expected to remain in there until at least early summer, according to US officials.The new Houthi attacks come after a brief lull in militia activity, likely stemming from Palestinian militia group Hamass announcement Monday that it was ready to accept a ceasefire with Israel.Israel declined the proposal, sparking a fresh regional escalation which besides Houthi attacks included new skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanese border, and an attack by Iraqi militias targeting Israeli military bases and the Leviathan gas platform off Israels Mediterranean coast with drones.The Houthis warned last week that an aggressive military operation against Rafah in Gaza by Israel would result in a fresh missile and drone assault by the militia.Tuesdays escalation follows an announcement by Houthi-affiliated media Monday that the group had uncovered and dismantled a large Israeli and US spy ring passing information to and carrying out sabotage operations in support of the two countries.The detained individuals reportedly confessed that in addition to intelligence collection, they were tasked with carrying out sabotage and assassination operations to distract the militia from confronting the wicked US-British-Israeli trio, and from supporting the besieged Palestinian people.The Houthis will spare no effort in carrying out their responsibility to secure the home front and protect it from infiltration attempts by the American and Israeli enemy, the Yemeni news agency said.Houthi missile and drone attacks and ship hijackings in the Red and Arabian Seas have resulted a dramatic drop in commercial shipping activity through the strategic bodies of water, with shipbroker company Clarksons recently estimating that commercial tonnage passing through the Gulf of Aden had dropped 69 percent in April compared to what it was in December, with LNG ship transits dropping to zero, and boxship transits down 89 percent.The militia began its campaign in November with the seizure of the Israeli-owned Galaxy Leader ro-ro car carrier, with the self-imposed blockade launched after previous Houthi attempts to pressure Israel into halting its Gaza operations, including missile and drone attacks targeting Israel directly, failed to reach their targets.Houthi drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea have struck and damaged nearly two dozen ships and sunk one UK-owned cargo ship so far, and the militia has also shot down several US MQ-9 Reaper drones. The militia calculated last month that US and British strikes on Yemen which began in January have killed nearly 50 Yemenis. Two Filipino sailors were killed, and six sailors injured in the militia's campaign to date. The Galaxy Leader and its crew remain in Houthi custody.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/did-netanyahu-trash-ceasefire-deal-agreed-by-hamas-to-continue-war-1118316128.html

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Jody Jamieson hosted a driving clinic on Monday, May 6 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning five including the featured $36,000 Preferred Trot with O'Brien Award winner Logan Park.

Jamieson and the Kyle Fellows prodigy sailed to the top from post five and the pair never looked back. With every panel in :28, :58.2 and 1:25.4, Logan Park extended his lead over his field of foes. The millionaire trotter reached the wire in 1:52.4, 5-1/4 lengths the best. Franks Angel (Trevor Henry) took second and Patriarch Hanover (Sylvain Filion) finished third.

Logan Park is owned by Outofthepark Stable, Reg Higgs and Arpad Szabo. The Archangel-Rite Outa The Park gelding won his 2024 debut and his 25th lifetime race. From 65 races, Logan Park has banked $1,087,192. He returned $3.50 as the bettors' choice.

Jamieson followed his Preferred triumph with a win with Gerard Demers student Mach Impact ($16) by three-quarters of a length in 1:52.3 before posting a natural hat trick in races five through seven. Ondrej Gois' student Full Disclosure ($7.50) won by a half length in 1:52.4, Mrmayor Hanover ($27) won by a nose in 1:53.1 for trainer Anthony Montini, and Leonard Lalonde's Sir A ($9.30) completed Jamieson's five-win tally with a 1:52.4 score by a neck.

To view Monday's harness racing results, click the following link: Monday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.

(Standardbred Canada)
Larry Stalbaum, wearing the hats of owner, trainer and driver, won both featured paces at Plainridge Park on Monday, May 6 in convincing gate-to-wire fashion.

In the $31,507 Open Handicap, Stalbaum pushed Rocknroll Runa A off the gate from post eight to the front in a quick :26.1 quarter. With Moonshine Kisses (Drew Campbell) tracking intently from the pocket after also leaving from post seven, Rocknroll Runa A hit the half in a modest :55 before pushing down the pedal in a scorching :26.3 third panel. With the race really down to just the top two horses, Rocknroll Runa A rounded the turn before Moonshine Kisses popped the deuce at the top of the stretch and took his best shot. Although he was able to make up one length heading for home, Moonshine Kisses was not able to catch the fleet-footed Rocknroll Runa A, who closed out the mile in front by one length in 1:50 flat. The time was a new seasonal mark for Rocknroll Runa A, who paid $4.40 to win.

Then in the $23,288 conditioned undercard pace, Stalbaum enjoyed pylon position with American Zest A, who easily grabbed control of the race and led by two lengths through fractions of :27.1, :55.3 and 1:23.1. After making his way to the top of the stretch, American Zest A paced home well within himself to a 1-1/2-length victory in 1:52.1, which was also a new seasonal mark. Overlooked by the punters, American Zest A returned $22 to win.

There was a big payout in the days ninth race when Beyond The Past (Kevin Switzer Jr.) upset at 30-1 and returned $63.60 for the win. That mutuel also triggered a 2-6 exacta payout of $782.80 and 2-6-1 trifecta that returned $3,268.60, both for a $2 wager.

Drivers joining Stalbaum in the Monday Two Win club included Nick Graffam, Shawn Gray, Bruce Ranger and Kevin Switzer Jr. Stalbaum stood alone as the only multi-win trainer on the card.

Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Tuesday, May 7 with post time at 4 p.m. and the card will feature a $1,493 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 in race six.

(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)
As the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) enters its 50th season, its golden anniversary will be celebrated at 11 Standardbred tracks across Ontario.



On select dates, tracks will hold special OSS 50th Anniversary Celebration days, where fans will be able to watch OSS Gold or Grassroots races, view memorabilia from seasons past, enjoy giveaways and more.

Ive been involved since the inception of the Sires Stakes, said longtime owner, trainer and driver John Kopas. Ive got a lot of fond memories of participating in the Sires Stakes.



Kopas, and other luminaries from the OSS, will be providing photos and other pieces of memorabilia over the years for fans to view when they come on down to the track on the anniversary dates.



The full schedule of the celebration dates is listed below:

Sunday, May 19 - Flamboro Downs

Saturday, May 25 - Woodbine Mohawk Park

Friday, May 31 - The Raceway at Western Fair District

Sunday, June 23 - Rideau Carleton Raceway

Monday, July 1 - Dresden Raceway

Sunday July 7 - Clinton Raceway

Friday, July 19 - Kawartha Downs

Sunday, Aug. 11 - Georgian Downs

Saturday, Aug. 24 - Hanover Raceway

Friday, Sept. 6 - Grand River Raceway

Saturday, Sept. 7 - Hiawatha Horse Park

The Ontario Sires Stakes program was established in 1974 with the objective of promoting the breeding of Standardbred horses in Ontario and to provide economic incentives to breeders to improve the quality of the Ontario-sired horse.

(Ontario Sires Stakes)
With the date for the 2024 Pepsi North America Cup eliminations just over four weeks away, many of the three-year-old pacers aiming for Canadian harness racing's biggest prize have made on-track appearances and statements as they stake their claim for divisional dominance.

This year's edition of the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup will be contested on Saturday, June 15 at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Campbellville, Ont., with eliminations the preceding Saturday, June 8.

Here are the horses that are still eligible to the Cup as of the April 15 sustaining payment and have raced or are in-to-go as of May 7.

Always A Thrill - raced on May 4 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished fourth in an SBOA Stakes elimination, individually timed in 1:54.1.

At Ease Hanover - raced on May 4 at The Meadows and finished fourth in the Pennsylvania Stallion Series, individually timed in a 1:52.3.

Better Is Nice - raced on May 4 at Meadowlands Racetrack and finished second in a New Jersey Sire Stakes, individually timed in 1:52.

Bold Spirit - raced on May 4 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning in 1:53.4.

Booming Economy - raced on May 4 at The Meadows, winning a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes in 1:51.4; entered to race on May 11 in the Pennsylvania All Stars at Pocono Downs.

Calicojack Hanover - qualified on May 6 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished third, individually timed in 1:53.3.

Captain Albano - qualified on May 3 at Meadowlands Racetrack and finished sixth, individually timed in 1:55.

Captain Fear Not - raced on May 4 at The Meadows, winning a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes in 1:51.2; entered to race on May 11 in the Pennsylvania All Stars at Pocono Downs.

Captain Luke - qualified on April 20 at Meadowlands Racetrack, winning in 1:52.

Captains Quarters - qualified on May 6 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning in 1:53.

Century Komodo - raced on May 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished fourth, individually timed in 1:53.3.

Chain Gang - raced on May 4 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished sixth in an SBOA Stakes elimination, individually timed in 1:54.4.

Chesterman - raced on May 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning in 1:54.

Clever Cody - raced on May 4 at Miami Valley Raceway, winning an Ohio Sire Stakes in 1:50.1.

Courtship - raced on May 4 at Meadowlands Racetrack and finished eighth, individually timed in 1:51.4.

Crush Kill Destroy - raced on May 2 at Plainridge Park and finished sixth in the Paul Revere Pace, individually timed in 1:52.2.

Cupid Shuffle - raced on May 4 at The Meadows and finished fifth in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes, individually timed in 1:53.1.

Do Better - raced on May 4 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished fifth in an SBOA Stakes elimination, individually timed in 1:52.1.

Enforcer - raced on May 4 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning an SBOA Stakes elimination in 1:54.

Funtime Bayama - raced on May 4 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning an SBOA Stakes elimination in 1:51.2.

Gem Quality - qualified on May 3 at Meadowlands Racetrack, winning in 1:52.4; entered to race on May 11 in the Pennsylvania All Stars at Pocono Downs.

Honolulu Vacation - raced on April 19 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished fifth in the Ontario Sired Spring Series, individually timed in 1:53.4.

Hugh Heston - raced on May 4 at The Meadows and finished third in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes, individually timed in 1:52.1; entered to race on May 11 in the Pennsylvania All Stars at Pocono Downs.

Hundred Dollar Man - raced on May 4 at Miami Valley Raceway and finished third in an Ohio Sire Stakes, individually timed in 1:50.4.

Its Saturday Night - raced on May 4 at The Meadows and broke stride in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes, finishing a distanced sixth.

Ivy Park - qualified on April 27 at Meadowlands Racetrack and finished fifth, individually timed in 1:53.2; entered to race on May 11 in the Pennsylvania All Stars at Pocono Downs.

Janelle Granny - raced on May 4 at Miami Valley Raceway and finished eighth in an Ohio Sire Stakes, individually timed in 1:51.4.

Legendary Hanover - qualified on May 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning in 1:50.4.

Like A Glove - qualified on May 6 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished second, individually timed in 1:53.2.

Lous World - raced on May 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning in 1:52.2.

Lyons Benjamin - raced on May 4 at The Meadows and finished second in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes, individually timed in 1:51.3.

Miki Ray - raced on May 4 at Meadowlands Racetrack and finished second, individually timed in 1:51.2.

Mirage Hanover - qualified on April 27 at Meadowlands Racetrack and finished second, individually timed in 1:52.1.

Natural History - raced on April 26 at The Meadows and finished fourth, individually timed in 1:56.

Nijinsky - qualified on May 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished second, individually timed in 1:51.

Number Cruncher - raced on May 4 at Meadowlands Racetrack and finished fifth, individually timed in 1:51.3.

Remember The Alamo - qualified on May 3 at Meadowlands Racetrack and finished third, individually timed in 1:53.1.

Rose Run Zeke - raced on May 4 at The Meadows and finished fifth in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes, individually timed in 1:52.3; entered to race on May 11 in the Pennsylvania All Stars at Pocono Downs.

Special Menu - qualified on May 1 at Hoosier Park, winning in 1:52.3.

Stat That - raced on May 3 at Hoosier Park and finished fifth, individually timed in 1:51.

Storm Shadow - raced on May 4 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished third in an SBOA Stakes elimination, individually timed in 1:51.4.

Sudden Impact - qualified on May 7 at Harrah's Philadelphia and finished second, individually timed in 1:54.1.

Supplemental Fee - raced on April 27 at Pocono Downs and finished eighth in the Bobby Weiss Series final, individually timed in 1:52.

The Dragon Reborn - raced on May 4 at Meadowlands Racetrack, winning in 1:51.1.

T H Mcmurry - raced on May 4 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished fourth, individually timed in 1:52.3.

Total Stranger - qualified on April 27 at Meadowlands Racetrack and finished second, individually timed in 1:55; entered to race on May 9 at Harrah's Philadelphia.

Twin B Loudacris - raced on April 28 at Harrah's Philadelphia, winning in 1:53.1.

Unrivaled Hanover - raced on May 4 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished second in an SBOA Stakes elimination, individually timed in 1:51.3.

Wallace Hartley - qualified on May 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and finished fourth, individually timed in 1:57.3.

Wishyouwell - raced on May 4 at Meadowlands Racetrack and finished fifth in a New Jersey Sire Stakes, individually timed in 1:52.1.

The following Cup eligibles have not started in a qualifier or race in 2024: A Class Yankee, Maxim Hanover, Newsroom, Nuclear, Vandiemen Bluechip and Zeppole Hanover.

(Photos clockwise from top left: Funtime Bayama, Enforcer and Lous World [New Image Media] and Clever Cody [Conrad Photo])

(Standardbred Canada)
The Nebraska State Board of Education approved a long list of schools to receive funding for security upgrades on Friday, but some districts were still left hanging.

For the first time, the state offered a pot of $10 million in grant funding earlier this spring for schools to fortify their security measures. A total of 217 public and private school districts scrambled to submit their wish lists for upgrades, with the requests totaling more than $55 million. The Nebraska Department of Education selected 174 schools to receive the $10 million available, which was allocated by lawmakers in 2023.

The Education Department used a weighted rubric to determine which schools would receive money, said Jay Martin, Nebraskas director of school safety and security. Schools were evaluated based on factors such as their needs, percentage of low-income students and the requested projects. Preventative efforts, like securing entrances or installing cameras, were prioritized over materials wanted for emergency response.

As a result, much of the money went to schools wanting to update doors or door locks. He said ensuring doors can be locked from the inside was the top recommendation the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission made in a 2015 national report.

If you have someone behind a locked door, they are going to be safe, and thats why it was a priority that was looked at the most, Martin said.

For example, the Omaha Public Schools received the largest allocation of $1.5 million, and district officials said they will use the funds to put alarms on every exterior door in the district.

The Valentine Community Schools, a district of roughly 600 students in north-central Nebraska, were allocated $161,532 to replace school door locks. Superintendent Mike Halley said this was the districts main priority, because teachers still have to go outside their classroom to lock their doors, instead of being able to lock from the inside.

The allocation wont cover the entire cost of replacing all door locks, which was quoted at around $230,000, Halley said.

It will be a good start, he said. Were grateful for anything we can get.

Martin said no district received everything it requested. When board members asked about the unmet $45 million in requested security needs statewide, Martin said state officials will have to go back to the Legislature for more funding.

Halley said Valentine had a $600,000 wish list of security needs, such as updating each buildings camera system so there would be video surveillance of each exit, entrance and classroom.

We (asked) for an electronic access system  our high school here in Valentine kind of serves as a community center as well, so theres lots of different community organizations in here a lot, Halley said. If we had electronic access, it would be easier to just shut down when we needed to shut it down. Its a little better than the old key method. I think there have been a lot of keys not checked back in over a period of years.

Halley said Valentine also needs fencing around its playground to keep some students from running off school property during recess.

The Crofton Community Schools, a district of roughly 350 students in northeast Nebraska, received $702,500, the second-largest amount. The funds are for remodeling the elementary and high school front entrances to be more secure. Roughly 20 other Nebraska districts are also planning to update their school entryways.

We feel very fortunate to be one of the districts thats going to get a significant amount of help through this grant, said Superintendent Chris Look.

The districts allocation will cover a large portion, but not all, of the cost to remodel both entrances, Look said. The remodel will include creating a security vestibule at each school. After entering the school, a visitor would have to be buzzed in by an office secretary through a second set of doors before they could get into the building.

Right now, theres only one set of locked doors to enter the schools, Look said.

In my elementary school, the people in the office cannot see the front door, Look said. It just makes it a lot safer.

Some schools will use their grant money to buy bleeding control kits, panic buttons and walkie talkies. In Omahas Westside Community Schools, officials plan to use their allocation of $77,000 to expand surveillance technology across buildings.

Westside plans to use the money to purchase a new software called ZeroEyes, a program that uses artificial intelligence to scan security camera footage for firearms inside and outside school buildings.

The district decided to move forward with the ZeroEyes purchase after learning about its use in Iowas Glenwood Community School District, said Elizabeth Power, a Westside spokeswoman.

It is a really interesting and very forward-thinking tool that were excited about implementing in our school district, Power said. Its utilizing a great partnership between AI technology and human experience and skills to detect firearms outside and inside a building.

The software connects to existing security cameras and uses artificial intelligence to continuously scan for firearms. If the technology spots a potential firearm, it sends the video to a human technician who verifies the object, according to the ZeroEyes website. If the technician believes there is a firearm present, they will alert school administrators and law enforcement.

The entire process takes less than 10 seconds, the company says.

The reality is that schools have lots of security cameras  which is so important and it has been a game-changer in increasing the safety and security on any campus at a school  but at the same time, every single staff member inside the school building is busy, Power said. Our safety team cant monitor every single camera at every moment.

Westside is also using the funds to expand its use of software called Gaggle to the middle school, instead of just the high school. The technology monitors student online activity and identifies students who might be at risk for mental health concerns, such as self-harm.

Roughly 30 school districts were awarded funds to update or buy new surveillance systems, including security cameras and other equipment.

I think all of us appreciate this is the first time that infrastructure has been addressed, said board member Lisa Fricke. I am really thankful that this is available to schools.
Lied Scottsbluff Public Library and Panhandle Public Health District are coming together to highlight invisible issues during Mental Health Awareness Month.

Since 1949, the month of May has been set aside to help raise awareness for the challenges faced by the millions of Americans living with mental health conditions. PPHD Community Prevention Coordinator Liz MacDonald explained that awareness is potentially more important today than ever before.

I dont think its any secret to anyone that theres a mental health crisis in our country, MacDonald said. Even though it should be every day and every month, having a chance to educate people, remind them that even if they arent living with a mental illness, a large percentage of the population is.

A major goal of increased mental health awareness is destigmatization, which includes efforts to make the world more welcoming for those who do live with mental illness.

One method of doing so locally is Turning Pages  Expanding Minds; a program that uses book discussions to start conversations about mental health and substance use disorder stigma. That program was how the library got involved, which led to additional engagement opportunities.

We were completely on board. This is exactly the type of programming were looking to provide for the community, library assistant Ethan Nelson said. We have two book clubs for adults here at the library, and both of those clubs are going to get on board with the discussion.

The book facilitating the discussion will be Before I Let You Go by Kelly Rimmer, which tackles issues of drug addiction, secrets and how those affect the strained love between two sisters.

That book discussion will take place on Saturday, May 18 at 9:15 a.m. in the library meeting room. Those interested in participating can register and pick up a copy of the book at the library desk. Participation is reserved for those age 16 and older.

That Saturday will be filled with a few other programs as well. Right after the book discussion, at approximately 10:15 a.m., the library and PPHD will host a 30-minute class designed to help participants cultivate peace and serenity in their daily lives through guided meditation, breathing techniques and mindfulness.

Im really excited for this, because its a short introduction to mindfulness exercises, Nelson said. Its about how to examine your breath, and I think it will be really helpful for people experiencing anxiety and other mental health issues.

That class, Cultivating Calmness, is for ages 14 and up. Registration is available at tinyurl.com/4m2aa8nw, with limited space available.

The last program on May 18 will be a Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training led by MacDonald. She described the training as similar to CPR, in that it is a life saving measure to be utilized when you encounter an individual who is acutely suicidal.

This training helps anyone and everyone  because you dont have to be a mental health professional to take this training  learn the signs that someone might be contemplating suicide and how to ask them that question, MacDonald said.

The training also includes methods of persuading others to seek supportive resources that can help save the lives of those who are considering suicide. The training will take place from 10:45 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 18, and registration is available at tinyurl.com/2p8kb837. Participants must be at least 18 years of age.

The library will also give away green light bulbs during the month of May to draw attention to Mental Health Awareness Month, in addition to asking trivia questions on social media geared toward addressing mental health related issues.

Although this is the first year of partnership between the Scottsbluff library and PPHD for Mental Health Awareness Month, both groups expressed their desire to continue working together in the future and even introduce a broader range of programming for various age groups in coming years.
 Flash

UN humanitarians said on Monday nearly 750,000 people were affected by flooding in eastern Africa, with 234,000 displaced and more than 236 killed - more than 229 in Kenya alone.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also said local authorities in Kenya reported more than 285,000 people were affected nationwide.

"The United Nations and our partners are supporting the government-led response and have reached more than 126,000 people with water and sanitation assistance, 31,000 people with food and cash assistance, more than 5,000 people with health services, and nearly 26,000 people with emergency shelter support," OCHA said.

The office said that in Somalia, more than 160,000 people were affected by flooding, with more than 37,000 displaced or relocated. Flooding has killed seven children since April 19, with the states of Hirshabelle, Jubaland and Southwest the worst affected.

Humanitarian agencies said local authorities provided more than 70,000 people with food, cash, water, sanitation, shelter and health assistance. Some 50 boats were deployed to deliver supplies or evacuate people who may have been marooned by flood waters.

"Our partners estimate that the rains and floods could affect at least 770,000 people in Somalia," OCHA said. "The rains are also likely to worsen the ongoing cholera epidemic in the country."

The humanitarians said that in Burundi, torrential rains and the rising water level of Lake Tanganyika have affected nearly 180,000 people since January. The agriculture sector is heavily impacted, with national authorities estimating that 40,000 hectares - or 10 percent of the country's crop area - have been affected.

"A flood response plan seeking 25 million U.S. dollars is being finalized to support more than 300,000 people," OCHA said. "Our partners are providing health care support, drinking water, tarpaulins and psychosocial support."

The humanitarians said that in Tanzania, the government and partners deployed search-and-rescue teams and distributed emergency aid, including food, mattresses, mosquito nets and tents to assist flood-affected people.

The office said that in Rwanda, heavy rains and floods killed and injured dozens of people and damaged roads, bridges and hundreds of homes. Local authorities reported that several hectares of rice and banana plantations were also damaged.

"The governments and humanitarian partners are supporting evacuation efforts and the response," OCHA said.
Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Commerce, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, issued Notification No. 11/2024-25-DGFT on May 6th, 2024, regarding the export of food commodities through the National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL).

Under the powers conferred by Section 3 read with section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992, and in accordance with the Foreign Trade Policy, 2023, the Central Government permits the export of Non-Basmati White Rice (HS code: 1006 30 90) to Mauritius, totaling 14,000 Metric Tons (MT) through NCEL.

This notification allows for the export of the specified quantity of Non-Basmati White Rice to Mauritius via NCEL.

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

Department of Commerce

Directorate General of Foreign Trade

Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi

Notification No. 11/ 2024-25-DGFT | Date d: 6th May, 2024

Subject: Export of food commodities through National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL).

S.O. 1929(E).In exercise of powers conferred by Section 3 read with section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992 (No. 22 of 1992), as amended, read with Para 1.02 and 2.01 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2023 and in accordance with the provision contained in Para 2 (iv) of Notification No. 20/2023 dated 20.07.2023, the Central Government permits export of the following food commodity through National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL): 

S. No. Commodity name HS code Country Name Quantity 1 Non-Basmati White

Rice 1006 30 90 Mauritius 14,000 MT

Effect of the Notification:

The export of 14,000 MT of Non-Basmati White Rice to Mauritius has been permitted through National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL).

(Santosh Kumar Sarangi)

Director General of Foreign Trade

Ex-Officio Additional Secretary, Government of India

E-mail: [email protected]

(Issued from F. No. 01 /9 1 /1 71/35/AM23/EC/E-33537)
The 4th Session of the India-Ghana Joint Trade Committee (JTC) held in Accra was marked by significant agreements and discussions aimed at strengthening bilateral trade and investment ties between the two countries. Led by a seven-member delegation from India, the meeting saw productive engagements between Indian and Ghanaian officials.

Key highlights of the session include:

Operationalization of UPI on Ghanas GHIPSS: Both India and Ghana agreed to collaborate towards operationalizing the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) on Ghanas Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) within six months. This move aims to enhance digital payment systems and facilitate smoother financial transactions between the two countries. Exploration of MoUs on Digital Transformation Solutions and Local Currency Settlement System: Discussions were held regarding the possibility of signing Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on Digital Transformation Solutions and Local Currency Settlement Systems. These agreements would contribute to the modernization of various sectors and facilitate smoother trade and investment processes. Focus Areas Identified: Both sides identified several focus areas for cooperation, including the digital economy, textiles, renewable energy, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, information and communication technology (ICT), agriculture and food processing, power sector, and digital infrastructure. These sectors offer significant opportunities for mutual growth and collaboration. Business Delegation Accompanied the Official Delegation: A business delegation led by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) accompanied the official delegation. Representatives from various sectors, including power, fintech, telecommunications, electrical machinery, and pharmaceuticals, participated in discussions aimed at enhancing business ties and exploring investment opportunities. Bilateral Trade and Investment: Bilateral trade between India and Ghana stood at USD 2.87 billion in 2022-23, highlighting the importance of Ghana as a trading partner for India in the African region. India has emerged as a leading investor in Ghana, with investments spanning across sectors such as pharmaceuticals, construction, manufacturing, trade services, agriculture, and tourism.

Overall, the session underscored the commitment of both countries to furthering their economic partnership and fostering greater cooperation across various sectors. The discussions were characterized by cordiality and a forward-looking approach, reflecting the strong and special relations between India and Ghana.

***

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

4th Session of India-Ghana Joint Trade Committee held in Accra

India, Ghana agree to operationalise UPI on Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems in six months



Both sides explore possibility of MoUs on Digital transformation Solutions and Local Currency Settlement System; opportunities under African Continental Free Trade Agreement also discussed



Digital economy, textiles, renewable energy and healthcare sectors identified as focus areas

Posted On: 06 MAY 2024 1:46PM by PIB Delhi

A seven-member delegation from India led by Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Shri Amardeep Singh Bhatia accompanied by High Commissioner of India to Republic of Ghana, Shri Manish Gupta and Economic Adviser, Department of Commerce, Ms. Priya P. Nair held a Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting with their Ghanaian counterparts in Accra from 2nd to 3rd May, 2024. The JTC was co-chaired by Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Republic of Ghana, Hon. Michael Okyere-Baafi; and Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Shri Amardeep Singh Bhatia.

In a comprehensive dialogue, both sides undertook a detailed review of recent developments in bilateral trade and investment ties and acknowledged the vast untapped potential for further expansion. Both sides agreed to work expeditiously towards the operationalization of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of National Payments Corporation of (NPCI) on Ghanas Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) within a period of 6 months. Both sides delved into discussions regarding the possibilities of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Digital transformation Solutions; Local Currency Settlement System and also deliberated on the opportunities offered by African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

Both sides identified several areas of focus for enhancing both bilateral trade as well as mutually beneficial investments. These include cooperation in pharmaceuticals, healthcare, information and communication technology, agriculture and food processing, renewable energy, power sector, digital economy and digital infrastructure, critical minerals, textiles and garments, etc.

Official delegation from India consisted of officials from Geological Survey of India, EXIM Bank and the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission. The officials of both India and Ghana actively engaged in the proceedings of the JTC.

A business delegation led by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) also accompanied the official delegation with representatives from the varied sectors including power, fintech, Telecommunications, electrical machinery, pharmaceuticals sectors. The delegation including representatives of business also met Secretary General, AfCFTA and his team of officials wherein areas of cooperation including signing of an MoU, setting of standards, investments, participation in trade events in India, and increasing the depth of engagement between India and AfCFTA was discussed. Names of nodal officers to take the discussions forward were also exchanged.

Ghana is an important trading partner of India in Africa region. Bilateral trade between India and Ghana stood at USD 2.87 billion in 2022-23. India stands as a leading investor in Ghana and emerged as the third-largest investor. These investments traverse diverse sectors, encompassing pharmaceuticals, construction, manufacturing, trade services, agriculture, tourism, and more.

The deliberations of the 4th Session of India-Ghana JTC were cordial and forward-looking, indicative of the amicable and special relations between the two countries. There was enthusiastic response towards greater cooperation in addressing pending issues, boosting trade and investment and enhancing people to people contacts.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Cybersecurity programs vary dramatically across the country, a review has found. The authors argue that program leaders should work with professional societies to make sure graduates are well-trained to meet industry needs in a fast-changing field.

In the review, published as part of the Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1, a Washington State University-led research team found a shortage of research in evaluating the instructional approaches being used to teach cybersecurity. The authors also contend that programs could benefit from increasing their use of educational and instructional tools and theories.

"There is a huge variation from school to school on how much cybersecurity content is required for students to take," said co-author Assefaw Gebremedhin, associate professor in the WSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and leader of the VICEROY Northwest Institute for Cybersecurity Education and Research (CySER).

"We found that programs could benefit from using ideas from other fields, such as educational psychology, in which there would be a little more rigorous evaluation."

Cybersecurity is an increasingly important field of study because compromised data or network infrastructure can directly impact people's privacy, livelihoods and safety. The researchers also noted that adversaries change their tactics frequently, and cybersecurity professionals must be able to respond effectively.

As part of the study, the researchers analyzed programs at 100 institutions throughout the U.S. that are designated as a National Security Administration's National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity. To have the designation, the programs have to meet the NSA requirements for educational content and quality.

The researchers assessed factors such as the number and type of programs offered, the number of credits focused on cybersecurity courses, listed learning outcomes and lists of professional jobs available for graduates.

They found that while the NSA designation provides requirements for the amount of cybersecurity content included in curricula, the center of excellence institutions vary widely in the types of programs they offer and how many cybersecurity-specific courses they provide. Half of the programs offered bachelor's degrees, while other programs offered certificates, associate degrees, minors or concentration tracks.

The most common type of program offered was a certificate, and most of the programs were housed within engineering, computer science, or technology schools or departments. The researchers found that industry professionals had different expectations of skill levels from what graduates of the program have.

The researchers hope the work will serve as a benchmark to compare programs across the U.S. and as a roadmap toward better meeting industry needs.

The oldest cybersecurity programs are only about 25 years old, said Gebremedhin, but programs have traditionally been training students to become information technology professionals or system administrators.

"In terms of maturity, in being a discipline as a separate degree program, cybersecurity is relatively new, even for computer science," said Gebremedhin.

The field is also constantly changing.

"In cyber operations, you want to be on offense," he said. "If you are to defend, then you need to stay ahead of your attacker, and if they keep changing, you have to be changing at a faster rate."

More information: James Crabb et al, A Critical Review of Cybersecurity Education in the United States, Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1 (2024). DOI: 10.1145/3626252.3630757
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Public cloud services employ special security technologies. Computer scientists at ETH Zurich have now discovered a gap in the latest security mechanisms used by AMD and Intel chips. This affects major cloud providers.

Over the past few years, hardware manufacturers have developed technologies that ought to make it possible for companies and governmental organizations to process sensitive data securely using shared cloud computing resources.

Known as confidential computing, this approach protects sensitive data while it is being processed by isolating it in an area that is impenetrable to other users and even to the cloud provider. But computer scientists at ETH Zurich have now proved that it is possible for hackers to gain access to these systems and to the data stored in them.

The researchers ran two attack scenarios, both using what's known as the interrupt mechanism, which temporarily disrupts regular processingfor instance to prioritize a different computing task. There are a total of 256 different interrupts, and each one triggers a specific sequence of programming commands.

"Interrupts are a marginal concern, and it appears that ensuring they have systematic safeguards in place has simply been overlooked," says Shweta Shinde, Professor of Computer Science at ETH Zurich. Together with her Secure & Trustworthy Systems Group, Shinde identified the problematic vulnerabilities in the server hardware used by two leading manufacturers of computer chips, AMD and Intel.

The research will be presented at the 45th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (IEEE S&P), May 2023, 2024, and at the 33rd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security), August 1416, 2024. The papers are also both available on the arXiv preprint server.

Eavesdrop-proof smartphone project helps find the gaps

Shinde's team uncovered the security gaps while examining the confidential computing technologies used in AMD and Intel processors. The researchers wanted to gain an in-depth understanding of how these processors function because they are working on an eavesdrop-proof smartphone based on confidential computing.

At the core of confidential computing is the trusted execution environment (TEE). The TEE is a hardware-based component that isolates applications while they are being run. Accessing the application memory is then possible only with an authorized code.

This means the data is also protected from unauthorized access while it is being stored, unencrypted, in the working memory during processing. In the past, the only way to ensure such protection was to encrypt data while stored on the hard drive and during transmission.

Instability factor number one: Hypervisors

In the public cloud, applications are isolated using a TEE, specifically from what's known as a hypervisor. Cloud providers use hypervisor software to manage resources ranging from hardware components to their customers' virtual servers. Hypervisors are an important part of cloud services because they create the required flexibility, efficiency and security.

In addition to managing and optimizing how the underlying hardware is used, they ensure that different users can work securely in separate areas of the same cloud without disturbing each other. But the administrative functions hypervisors perform are also an instability factor as they open up a variety of attacks.

Under certain conditions, these attacks can make it possible to access data stored in the memories of other active cloud users working with the same hardware. Moreover, cloud providers could also use hypervisors to take a peek at their users' data themselves.

Both these risks are unacceptable to companies and governmental organizations that process sensitive data. Indeed, in an expert report compiled by the Swiss Federal Council, which examined the legal framework for implementing Switzerland's cloud strategy, unauthorized access to what's referred to as "data in use" was rated as the most probable risk associated with using a public cloud.

Fully isolating the hypervisor is impossible

There are, however, fundamental limitations as to how well a user system can be isolated and protected from the hypervisor. After all, some communication must take place between the two, and as an administrative tool, the hypervisor still has to be able to perform its core tasks. These include allocating cloud resources and managing the virtual server running the secured system in the cloud.

One of the remaining interfaces between the hypervisor and the TEE concerns the management of interrupts. The ETH team launched what are known as Ahoi attacks to exploit the hypervisor as a means of sending coordinated interrupts to the secured system at any time.

This exposes the gap in security: instead of blocking the request from the untrustworthy hypervisor, the TEE lets certain interrupts through. Unaware that these interrupts are coming from outside, the system runs its usual programming routines.

Interrupt heckles knock security off its game

By sending coordinated interrupt heckles, the ETH scientists managed to confuse a TEE-secured system so effectively that they were able to gain root accessin other words, take full control. "Most affected by this problem was AMD's confidential computing, which proved vulnerable to attack from several different interrupts. In the case of Intel, only one interrupt door had been left open," Shinde says in summarizing the results of her "Heckler attack."

The researchers also rated AMD's previous means of defense as insufficient. The chip manufacturers have since taken steps to address this.

The second attack scenario, known as WeSee, affects AMD hardware only. It exploits a mechanism that the chip manufacturer introduced to make communication between TEE and hypervisor easier despite isolation. In this case, a special interrupt can cause the secured system to divulge sensitive data and even run external programs.

Byproduct on the path to user control of phones

As important as it is to find gaps in the security for sensitive data stored in the public cloud, for Shinde and her research group this was merely a byproduct on the path to ensuring that users of iPhones and Android smartphones retain full control over their data and applications.

A specially designed TEE will do more than make sure user data is protected from eavesdropping by the manufacturer's operating system. "We also want our TEE to support unmonitored operation of those apps not managed by Apple or Google," Shinde says.

More information: Benedict Schluter et al, WeSee: Using Malicious #VC Interrupts to Break AMD SEV-SNP, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2404.03526 Benedict Schluter et al, Heckler: Breaking Confidential VMs with Malicious Interrupts, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2404.03387 Journal information: arXiv
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Israeli tanks are seen near the Shalom Kerem crossing in southern Israel bordering the Gaza Strip, on May 6, 2024. Israeli media reported on Monday that Israel's war cabinet has approved the launch of a ground offensive on Rafah that would take place after the civil population is evacuated. [Photo/Xinhua]

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Monday called on all parties to exert "more efforts" to reach a comprehensive truce in the Gaza Strip and finalize the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Sisi wrote on his official Facebook page that he is "closely following" the positive developments of the ongoing Gaza truce talks, which would lead to "an end to the human tragedy that the Palestinian people are suffering from."

Hamas on Monday informed the Egyptian and Qatari sides of its approval of their proposal regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, while Israel said it is currently "examining every response and answer very seriously, exploring every possibility regarding the issue of negotiations and the return of hostages."

Egypt's Al-Qahera News TV channel, citing a high-ranking security source, reported that the Egyptian side is intensifying communication with both sides to achieve calm before enforcing its three-stage proposal.

A Hamas delegation has headed to Cairo to work on enforcing the Egyptian proposal, an Egyptian security source said on Monday.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that the proposal approved by Hamas is far from meeting Israel's core demands and Israel will send a delegation to Cairo to exhaust every possibility of reaching an agreement acceptable to Israel.

However, earlier in the day, Israel's war cabinet approved the launch of a ground offensive on Rafah that would take place after the evacuation of the civil population, which, according to the Israeli military, began in the morning.

Israel considers Rafah the last major stronghold of Hamas in Gaza. Located on the southernmost edge of the strip, Rafah shelters more than one million Palestinians uprooted by the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Israel has launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.

Qatar, Egypt, and the United States are seeking to reach a deal for a prisoner exchange and a second ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, following the first one that ended last November.
Xi calls for making China, Europe each other's key partners for business cooperation

Xinhua) 09:03, May 07, 2024

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Monday that China and Europe should turn themselves into each other's key partners for business cooperation, priority partners for cooperation in science and technology, and trustworthy partners for cooperation in industrial and supply chains.

China hopes that Europe will work together with China to increase understanding through dialogue, resolve differences through cooperation, and defuse risks with enhanced mutual trust, Xi said during the closing ceremony of the Sixth Meeting of China-France Business Council.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
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People prepare to leave a shelter in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on May 6, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

Israel's military said on Monday night that it was carrying out large-scale airstrikes in Rafah, the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, hours after Hamas announced acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari proposal regarding a ceasefire in the strip.

In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the proposal is far from meeting Israel's "core demands," and that the government will send a delegation to Cairo to exhaust every possibility of reaching an agreement acceptable to Israel.

Also, a Qatari delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday for indirect negotiations on the Gaza truce between Israel and Hamas through mediators, according to a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry.

Hamas nods to Gaza truce proposal

Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh has told the Egyptian and Qatari sides that his movement approved their proposal regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, the Gaza-ruling Palestinian faction said in a statement on Monday.

"We agreed on the proposal that meets our demands of ceasing fire, reconstructing the strip, the return of the displaced to their areas of residence, and a deal on a prisoner swap," the statement said.

Immediately after Hamas's announcement, joy spread in the streets and shelters of the coastal enclave.

According to an Egyptian security source on Monday, a Hamas delegation has headed to Cairo to work on the enforcement of the Egyptian proposal.

The source said Egypt has informed the Israeli side of Hamas's acceptance of the Egyptian proposal, adding that the Israeli delegation will arrive in Cairo on Tuesday to complete discussions on the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire proposal and a hostage-for-prisoner swap deal at the invitation of Egypt.

Three-phase ceasefire proposal

A Hamas source told Xinhua that the Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by Egypt and Qatar includes three phases, each lasting 42 days.

The source said the first phase involved a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the "Netzarim axis," a zone in central Gaza that separates the northern and southern Palestinian enclave, as well as the free movement of displaced persons from south to north Gaza.

Also, this phase would bring out a 10-hour daily cessation of Israeli airstrikes and a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the release of approximately 33 Israeli hostages in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, the source added.

The second phase features an agreement on restoring a "sustainable calm" to Gaza, with a complete withdrawal of most Israeli forces from the coastal area, while, during the third phase, the complete blockade on the strip would be lifted.

The source emphasized that "the ball is now in the Israeli side's court," noting that the United States is committed to ensuring the agreement's implementation.

Israel advances Rafah attack plan

Also on Monday, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel was reviewing "seriously" the proposal earlier approved by Hamas.

"We are examining every response and answer very seriously, exploring every possibility regarding the issues of negotiations and the return of hostages," Hagari said at a press briefing.

However, the Israeli army was in parallel conducting large-scale airstrikes in Rafah, where about 1.2 million people uprooted by the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict have been seeking refuge.

"The IDF is currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in southern Gaza," the Israeli military said in a statement.

The attack came after the military announced in the morning the beginning of the evacuation of civilians from eastern Rafah "as part of the preparation for a ground operation in the region," Hagari said.

The Israeli war cabinet unanimously decided on Monday to continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas to promote the release of Israeli hostages and to achieve other goals of the war, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

The statement confirmed that the proposal approved by Hamas is far from meeting Israel's "core demands" and Israel will send a delegation to Cairo to exhaust every possibility of reaching an agreement acceptable to Israel.

Israel has launched a large-scale offensive against Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the kidnapping of around 250 others, according to Israeli official figures.

Israel estimated that there were still about 134 Israelis held hostage in Gaza, whereas Hamas announced that 70 of them had been killed in Israeli indiscriminate airstrikes.

On Monday night, people in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv took to the streets, rallying to demand the immediate release of the hostages.

Currently, the bloody conflict in Gaza has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians and injured over 78,000 others, according to the Hamas-run health authorities.

Cairo, Doha, and Washington are seeking to reach a deal for a prisoner exchange and a second ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, following the first one that ended in late November 2023.
You are here: World

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Whatever changes in the international landscape, China and Serbia remain true friends and good partners, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his signed article published in Serbian media on Tuesday.

"Our ironclad friendship is ever-growing, setting a model for state-to-state and people-to-people interactions," Xi said in the article.
Last Updated: June 11, 2024

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37977546.4
(TBTCO) - Thi truong bat ong san, nhat la can ho tai cua ngo khu Tay TP. Ho Chi Minh ang tro thanh tam iem thu hut su quan tam cua nhieu nha au tu va nguoi mua o. Suc hut chinh la do ha tang giao thong trong iem ngay cang uoc chu trong nang cap va mo rong. Qua o, thi truong nay khong chi gop phan thuc ay giao thuong va phat trien kinh te trong khu vuc ma con giup gia tang gia tri bat ong san.
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How you want this to go? You want me to kill you and your son, or you want me just kill you alone?

This was the question posed to 40-year-old Anna Ellis yesterday, when she was attacked by a man known to her at her home on Dibe Road, St James.

Ellis, who was stabbed multiple times, was able to speak with reporters yesterday afternoon while police were conducting a search for her 12-year-old son, who was kidnapped following the confrontation.
The Opposition Leader cited figures that showed the official entertainment for the Office of the Prime Minister moved from a revised estimate of $240,000 in 2024 to an estimated expenditure of $30 million in 2025.

This is an increase of 12,400%.
A woman shot and killed a man who assaulted her and others Friday on Tucson's south side, police said.

Responding officers pronounced Nathan Daniel Gabaldon, 47, dead at the scene shortly after noon Friday, in the 500 block of South Park Avenue near Aviation Highway, police said.

The Tucson Police Department gave the following account in a news release Monday:

Detectives learned that Gabaldon had physically fought earlier Friday with Anthony Avalos, 24, in a nearby neighborhood.

Avalos, who had a gun, separated himself from Gabaldon and fired the weapon but did not strike anyone.

Gabaldon moved on to the South Park site and assaulted multiple people, including a woman, as well as a dog.

"At this point, the woman got the firearm from Avalos and pointed it towards Gabaldon, asking him to leave multiple times," police said. Gabaldon came toward her and she fired, striking him.

The woman has not been charged. Avalos was booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of discharging a firearm within city limits.

The case will be sent to the Pima County Attorneys Office for review.
Karin Uhlich has been appointed to take a vacant seat on the Tucson City Council, where she long served before.

In a unanimous vote Monday, the council chose Uhlich from four finalists to replace Steve Kozachik.

She will represent Tucsons Ward 6, the seat her fellow Democrat Kozachik held from 2009 until his resignation at the beginning of April.

In a presentation to the mayor and council Monday, Uhlich committed to not running for the seat in 2025, something that she was on record about throughout the appointment process. She also committed to the council that she will stay in her current Ward 6 home through 2025, which is how long her appointment will last.

Uhlich said she has been living in cohousing in Ward 6s West University neighborhood since 2022, and that creative infill methods like these are ways to combat the ongoing affordable housing and housing instability crises Tucson faces.

There shouldnt be empty buildings in this city, not office buildings or office spaces owned by the city, and not homes. And so shared housing, cohousing, tiny housing communities are all solutions, Uhlich said.

This is the second time Uhlich has filled in for a council member who resigned, after also serving as an elected member of the council.

Uhlich was elected three times total to represent Ward 3, from 2005 until 2017. Paul Durham then won the Ward 3 race after Uhlich did not seek reelection, but once Durham resigned in 2021, she was appointed to complete the remaining 10 months of his term.

Due to the state flat tax going into effect in 2021, the city of Tucson will be facing a budget shortfall of at least $80 million in 2026, possibly more in 2027, Mayor Regina Romero said during the meeting.

In response, Uhlich said her prior experience with budgetary scares made her the right fit.

As many recall, in 2009, 2010, 2011, we were facing deficits of $40 million, $50 million, without much warning and in the midst of an economy that was crashing around us. I feel that (my) experience would guide me well, Uhlich said, when asked what she can offer. We did our very best and I would commit to protecting those core services and our employees.

In terms of immediate action, Uhlich said, a full occupancy study of city office space would be a good start. Another action Uhlich suggested was to streamline the permitting process for the citys Building and Development Services Department.

Outside of her work as an elected official, Uhlich has been the director of housing and health services for Arizona Complete Health since October 2015. She also founded the Southwest Center for Economic Integrity in 2002, according to her resume.

Ward 4 councilwoman Nikki Lee moved to appoint Uhlich, citing her prior experience as a councilmember, her time in that role dealing with city budgets, and wanting the appointee to be someone who could really hit the ground running.

Uhlich was one of two candidates who received votes from every member of the all-Democratic council, according to the Citys Clerks Office. She received first-place votes from Romero and councilmembers Lee, Lane Santa Cruz and Richard Fimbres. She was Paul Cunninghams third choice and Kevin Dahls fourth.

Cunninghams first choice was Ted Prezelski, an aide of his, but he decided to vote for Uhlich because he wanted to be unified as a council, although this process was a difficult one for him, he said during the meeting.

First of all, Ive served with Karen Uhlich for 12 years and nine months, and based on (these rankings), Im going to serve for another 18 (months) and Im totally good with it, Cunningham said Monday.

At the end of the day, this is how were going to do it. Its the safe move, probably the best move when you really go over everything, he said.

The other two finalists were Vince Rabago and Pamela Powers.

Kozachiks departure, which he announced in March through a weekly newsletter, originally resulted in applications from 11 Democrats and one Republican.
Anna Codutti Tulsa World Breaking News Editor Follow Anna Codutti 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

Claremore Public Schools were closed Tuesday as police investigated a threat that could present hazardous conditions in the area.

The district administrators message said the Claremore Police Department was investigating after the threat, which officials said was not school-related.

Safety is our greatest priority, and the CPD needs more time to investigate, the message said.

Police said they were notified of a vague bomb threat at Baker Hughes, an oil field service company, around 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Claremore High School and Will Rogers Junior High are near Baker Hughes, and out of an abundance of caution, school administrators have closed all campuses for today, police said.

Baker Hughes administration evacuated the building, and the building has been checked for suspicious items or packages, police said. Additionally, Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Tulsa Police Department bomb dogs checked the property, and no devices were located.

The threat remains under investigation.

The Tulsa World is where your story lives
Curtis Killman Tulsa World Staff Writer Follow Curtis Killman Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

A woman who admitted to stealing funds from five developmentally disabled people was sentenced to federal prison Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell ordered Leslie Ellen Mansfield, 61, to serve 18 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

Prosecutors had asked Frizzell to sentence Mansfield to serve a prison term ranging from 15 months to 21 months.

Mansfield pleaded guilty in June in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma to one count of bank fraud as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

In her plea, Mansfield admitted to stealing a total of $137,240.95 from five supplemental needs trust accounts to fund her lifestyle, according to prosecutors.

Mansfield was serving as a state-appointed guardian when the embezzlement occurred between 2011 and 2017.

Mansfield told Frizzell that she fully accepts responsibility.

I have no excuse for my actions, she said.

In her plea agreement, Mansfield admitted to embezzling funds from the supplemental needs trust accounts of five Gatesway Foundation clients.

A Gatesway Foundation spokesman said after Mansfield pleaded guilty that she was serving as a state-appointed guardian for the five adults when the bank fraud occurred.

The spokesman said Gatesway staff noticed the fraudulent activity and reported their findings to authorities.

Mansfield was initially charged in state court in 2018 in connection with the alleged theft of funds. State prosecutors dismissed the charges against Mansfield later the same year.

In addition to serving prison time, Mansfield agreed to pay $137,240.95 in restitution to the victims, though two of the five victims have since died, according to court records.

Frizzell scheduled a hearing July 1 to determine where to send restitution for the two deceased victims.

Mansfield told the court through a court filing that she had $62,161 held in a trust that could be used to satisfy the amount owed the three living victims.

She was permitted to self-report to prison at a later date.

The Tulsa World is where your story lives
Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton Tulsa World Staff Writer Follow Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton 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

Without discussion, the Tulsa school board approved a collective bargaining agreement Monday night that will provide pay raises for hundreds of the districts support employees.

Along with a $1 per hour pay increase for hourly employees, the agreement with the American Federation of Teachers Local No. 6049 provides six weeks of paid maternity leave for support employees who are on nine-month contracts who normally would not be able to accrue enough hours to qualify.

The agreement also calls for paraprofessionals to receive a 10% increase to their base pay on top of the $1 per hour raise, as well as a $15 per hour increase for sign language interpreters and translators.

We are absolutely thrilled, AFT 6049 President Nancy Leonard said. We are moving in the right direction. Including this years contract for next year, weve managed to increase salaries by $4.60 per hour for the hourly staff in four years. Thats amazing work.

Meanwhile, the 2024-25 location of a post-secondary special education program remains in limbo, as proposed building renovations needed to relocate the Tulsa Transition Academy were pulled from the final agenda for the second consecutive meeting.

First tabled at the boards April 1 meeting, the district is considering relocating the program to the Ross building, 8934 E. Latimer St. Currently home to Tulsa Public Schools child nutrition office, the facility has not been used as a school since the Reagan administration.

In this, its first year, the academy is temporarily operating at Hale High School in service of 13 students. But another 20 to 25 new enrollees are expected next year, and enrollment in the academy is expected to reach 100 within four years  thus requiring more space.

On Thursday, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond wrote to TPS Superintendent Ebony Johnson and the school board, expressing his concerns about moving the program to Ross due to the number of registered sex offenders living near the property.

As of Monday afternoon, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections sex offender registry shows eight registered sex offenders living within one mile of the northeast Tulsa building.

By comparison, that same registry shows three sex offenders living within one mile of the Remington and Sandburg campuses. The former Park Elementary School has two sex offenders within one mile, Gilcrease has six, Grimes has nine and Jones has 20 within one mile. The seven shuttered sites were each previously considered as potential new homes for the program.

State law requires that sex offenders stay at least 500 feet away from schools, parks and day cares at all times and live at least 2,000 feet away from them. However, state statutes include a grandfather clause that allows registered sex offenders to stay in their residences if a school, park or day care moves into their neighborhood after their conviction.

After the meeting, the district issued a written statement in response to questions about the schools location status for the 2024-25 school year.

Our goal is to move as quickly as possible to solidify a site that we believe will provide an academically enriched and life skill enhancement setting that our students and families will be proud of, the statement says.

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Steve Metzer Tulsa World Capitol Bureau Staff Writer Follow Steve Metzer 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

OKLAHOMA CITY  Gov. Kevin Stitt, legislative leaders and other state government officials met in what was billed as a budget summit at the Capitol on Monday.

Beyond airing some disagreements, not much was accomplished over the course of more than two hours. Near the meetings conclusion, Stitt suggested, and leaders agreed, that they meet again on Thursday.

I just think we dont even know where were at right now, Stitt said at one point.

While some leaders, including the governor and House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, expressed some optimism at the meetings outset that an agreement on a budget for fiscal year 2025 was within reach, Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, assured them that it was not.

Disagreements were apparent early on. While House leaders, including McCall, House Budget Committee Chairman Kevin Wallace, R-Wellston, and others asserted that agreements on specific line items of the emerging budget had already been reached with Senate leaders, including former Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Roger Thompson, R-Okemah, as well as various other Senate committee leaders, Treat insisted that they had not. He said the Senates position was that negotiations with the House had been set back considerably by recent behind closed doors meetings and that it would take a fresh start to get things back on track.

Last week, Treat demoted Thompson and appointed Sen. Chuck Hall, R-Perry, as the upper chambers new budget chair.

We dont anticipate walking out of here with a budget today, Treat said. I appreciate everyones commitment, (but) we have until May 31, and we dont intend to rush into an agreement. One thing I want to be abundantly clear about is that our subcommittees will not be cut out of this process.

It was apparent, too, that there continues to be major disagreement between the Senate and House over the feasibility of cutting the states personal income tax rate.

McCall and Stitt both have prioritized a cut.

The question is whether its a priority in the Senate, the House leader said.

McCall asked Treat directly whether the Senate will take a vote on an income tax cut this year.

This is a budget meeting, Treat responded. Its not a press conference on tax cuts and who can be the most conservative. Its about, Lets see if we can afford this on a recurring basis.

For his part, Stitt said the states economy has fared well in recent years, that recurring and other state revenues have increased, and that cutting the states income tax and putting the state on a path to zero income taxes should be on the table.

Its automatic that we should give Oklahomans a tax cut, he said.

Stitt said his other priorities include keeping state spending in line with revenues and not growing government just because the state has more money to spend. He also said its important to maintain the historic savings that the state has accumulated in recent years.

Lawmakers did seem to agree on the need to allocate $45 million for emergency management as Oklahoma deals with the aftermath of recent devastating tornadoes in communities such as Sulphur and Marietta.

According to a budget transparency portal established this year on the House website, state agency spending requests for fiscal year 2025 totaled $13.23 billion, a 0.35% increase over the current fiscal year.

Although lawmakers will have more money to spend, only about $337 million in new recurring revenue is available, Treat has said. Lawmakers previously passed, and the governor signed, legislation to reduce the states portion of the sales tax people pay on groceries to zero.

Treat has pointed out that the Senates position as outlined by the House portal is inaccurate. A Senate blueprint released in March indicated proposals for appropriations totaling $12.3 billion. The Senates opening position, according to the portal, calls for total spending of $14.19 billion.

The lower chambers opening position, according to the portal, would be for a state budget of $12.71 billion.

Democratic lawmakers have complained that theyve effectively been shut out of the budget-making process, despite the commitment to transparency as expressed by Republican leaders.

We know that the Legislature should be trusted to work together to find solutions, and what were seeing right now is a presentation as if theres only two options that we have: a Senate option, a House option, said Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City.

But what we know is theres other options there, and we need to be looking at those, especially at investments that matter for outcomes for the people of Oklahoma. We know there can be better outcomes.

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Steve Metzer Tulsa World Capitol Bureau Staff Writer Follow Steve Metzer 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

OKLAHOMA CITY  Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed legislation into law clarifying that tax credits provided to families to offset costs of children attending private school cant be used to pay other debts.

Oklahomas Parental Choice Tax Credit Act, passed into law last year, allowed for the state to help cover up to $7,500 in costs of tuition and fees per eligible student in eligible private schools in the state. The credits cannot be higher in value than expenses claimed.

After it was implemented, concerns were raised that some children might not benefit if the value of state vouchers could be withheld to pay off back taxes or other debts owed by parents or guardians.

On its website, the Oklahoma Tax Commission cited state statute in explaining why the money might be withheld.

The (OTC) is required by statute to deduct from any state tax refund payment the amount of any delinquent state tax, penalty, and interest thereon, the agency said. Additionally, if the (commission) has received a claim from a qualified entity for an outstanding debt, (it) is required to deduct from the payment the amount owed to that entity, including any collection expenses and costs.

Lawmakers, including the bills authors, Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, and Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said it was never the intent of the Legislature for taxpayer money extended to people in the form of school tax credits to be used for any other purpose. In previous comments to the media, Treat added that he didnt have any definitive numbers to show how much money may have been withheld by the OTA or how many Oklahomans might have been affected.

The Tax Commission had been authorized to allow for up to $150 million in tax credits this year.

The legislation signed by Stitt on Monday also allows for the Oklahoma Tax Commission to issue 1099 forms referencing school voucher credits and clarifying their value as it might pertain to federal income tax law. Additionally, it applied some changes to definitions, deadlines and program administration.

The Tulsa World is where your story lives
A container truck transporting 15 metric tons of lotus roots left Dong Thap Province on Tuesday morning for Japan, marking the first batch of the product exported to the selective market by the southern Vietnamese province.

The Mekong Delta province held a ceremony to announce the first shipment of lotus roots to Japan the same day.

Nguyen Minh Thien, a representative of Dai Viet Lotus Foods JSC, said that the Japan-bound batch of frozen lotus roots is worth some VND980 million (US$38,755).

The local exporter had spent two years negotiating with Japanese partners before getting their nod to import Vietnamese lotus roots," Thien said.

The company has met all requirements related to origin, lotus growing conditions, and processing steps at its factory.

The firm is set to ship lotus roots worth nearly VND7 billion ($276,460), equivalent to eight container trucks of roots, to the choosy market this year.

The company applied the individual quick freezing technology to process lotus roots before shipping the product to Japan.

The processed roots are able to be stored within two years.

The province is cultivating 1,800 hectares of lotus.

Each kilogram of lotus roots is priced at VND20,000 ($0.8).

Dong Thap Province will host the second Dong Thap lotus festival in Cao Lanh City, its capital, from May 16 to 19 to promote the value of lotus flowers and lure tourists.

The first fest took place in the province in May 2022.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Amazon.com plans to spend S$12 billion ($8.88 billion) over the next four years to expand its cloud computing infrastructure in Singapore, Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on Tuesday.

The investment adds to the S$11.5 billion the company has already invested in the Asia Pacific Region till 2023, bringing its total planned spend to more than S$23 billion by 2028, AWS said in a statement.

Southeast Asia's top leaders are scrambling for a bigger slice of the global tech pie, with Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore hosting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in December, and Apple CEO Tim Cook visiting Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia last month.

Recent investments in the region include Apple's plan to invest over $250 million into its operations in Singapore.

AWS also announced a collaboration with the Singapore government, public sector organisations and enterprises to help accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI in Singapore, the statement said.

"AWS is doubling down on its cloud infrastructure investments in Singapore from 2024 to 2028 to support customer demand, and help reinforce Singapores status as an attractive regional innovation launchpad," AWS Country Manager Priscilla Chong said.

The announcement at the AWS ASEAN Summit in Singapore marks Amazon's latest move in its plan to build AWS infrastructure across Southeast Asia. The company had previously announced a $5 billion investment in Thailand and a $6 bln spend in Malaysia.

Amazon's announcement comes days after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced cloud services investments worth $2.2 billion in Malaysia and $1.7 billion in Indonesia during a visit to the region.

With a young tech-savvy population of 670 million, Southeast Asia has seen increasing interest from technology giants.

Reuters reported in December that Malaysian conglomerate YTL's utilities unit would partner with Nvidia to develop AI infrastructure in a $4.3 billion investment deal.

On Monday, Malaysias trade minister trade minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said Google was also planning to invest in the country with an announcement expected "in the near future", according to a report by the state news agency.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is keen to have Nvidia's Huang visit again, with communications minister Budi Arie Setiadi saying last month that they had invited him.

($1 = 1.3516 Singapore dollars)
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday it has opened an investigation into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner after the planemaker said some employees had committed "misconduct" by claiming some tests had been completed.

The FAA said it is investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes "and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records."

The agency said "at the same time, Boeing is reinspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet."

Boeing shares were down 1.5 percent at $177.03 late on Monday afternoon.

Asked for comment, Boeing provided an April 29 email from Scott Stocker, who leads the company's 787 program, to employees in South Carolina where the 787 is assembled.

In the email, Stocker said that an employee saw what appeared to be an irregularity in a required 787 conformance test.

Stocker said in the email that after receiving the report, "we quickly reviewed the matter and learned that several people had been violating Company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed."

Stocker said Boeing promptly informed the FAA "about what we learned and are taking swift and serious corrective action with multiple" employees.

He added, "our engineering team has assessed that this misconduct did not create an immediate safety of flight issue."

A Boeing 777-9, a variant of the 777X, performs a flying display at the 54th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France, June 20, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Boeing said in April it expects a slower increase in the production rate and deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner widebody jets as the company wrestles with supplier shortages "on a few key parts.

A Boeing quality engineer recently criticized some of the manufacturing practices on the 787 and 777 widebody programs and testified last month before Congress.

The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into a Jan. 5 mid-air emergency of a Boeing 737 MAX 9.

The National Transportation Safety Board has said four key bolts appeared to be missing from the plane that had been delivered by Boeing months earlier. Boeing has said it believes required documents detailing the removal of the bolts were never created.
A 57-year-old man died and 18 others were hospitalized in the northern Vietnamese province of Thai Binh due to suspected food poisoning after they ate goat blood pudding at pre-wedding parties last week, the provincial Department of Healths food safety sub-department reported on Monday.

The sub-department said it had made a report on the incident in Thai Binh City of the namesake province.

In particular, a local household held a party with some 120 guests at noon on May 1.

During the party, many dishes were served, including goat blood pudding.

The goat blood and meat had been transported to Thai Binh from Ninh Binh Province, also in northern Vietnam.

The household held another party on the afternoon of May 1 and another one day later.

At 4:00 pm on Saturday last week, Pham Trong Thuan, a local resident, exhibited symptoms of a slight fever, coughing, shortness of breath, and pain in his right flank, so he was rushed to the Thai Binh General Hospital.

As his condition worsened, he was moved to Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi at 8:00 pm the same day.

However, he died the next day.

On Monday, many people who had attended the pre-wedding parties had their health checked at the Thai Binh General Hospital.

Eight of them said they showed symptoms of fever, digestive disorders, and stomachache after eating the goat blood pudding on May 1 and wanted to be transferred to Bach Mai Hospital.

After visiting Bach Mai Hospital, six were released from the hospital, while the other two are receiving treatment there.

Ten others also declared pain in their heads, necks, and shoulders after eating the goat blood pudding, so they were admitted to the Thai Binh General Hospital.

The Thai Binh food safety sub-department is coordinating with the medical center in Thai Binh City and other relevant agencies to investigate the cause of the incident.

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Fast-food chain McDonalds Vietnam has posted an apology on its official Facebook page amid fierce criticism from netizens after the firm launched an advertisment for a new product whose content was based on the recent tragic suicide of a Chinese gamer.

The fast-food restaurant operator on Monday evening uploaded an apology after its improper food ads appeared earlier with their content related to Fat Cat, the nickname of a 21-year-old Chinese man who committed suicide out of love failure last month.

The firm made the move amid a strong backlash from upset netizens who vehemently criticized McDonald's Vietnam, with some even calling for a boycott of the company over the past two days.

It has also removed all the indignation-causing content from the ads on its online food sales platforms.

Today, on some McDonald's online delivery platforms, there was information about McDonald's new programs and products using inappropriate language related to Fat Cat in a sensitive context," the firm said.

"This caused resentment and upset to netizen communities.

This screenshot shows bouquets of flowers placed by Chinese people on the bridge where Fat Cat committed suicide to express their condolences to the death of the young man in China last month.

The company acknowledged the need for self-criticism regarding the incident and expressed a heartfelt apology to Fat Cat and his family, the online community, and all customers who have consistently trusted and supported McDonald's.

After seriously considering the circumstance, the firm became aware that such an ad not only hurts the people involved but also affects customer trust.

This incident occurred due to a lack of prudence in moderating the content of fan page posts, McDonald's claimed in the apology.

The fast-food chain promised it would strictly review the content moderation process and consider disciplinary actions against related staff to avoid similar cases in the future.

Along with the apology, McDonald's Vietnam said it has learned a big lesson for its communications activities.

The company is also committed to always following the principle of respecting and supporting the community, honoring ethical values from each individual to large groups, and appreciating feedback and suggestions from customers and the community, stated the apology.

In less than two days after the advertisement was published, it garnered 2,100 emoticon reactions from netizens, with 1,800 expressing anger.

Among the angry comments are dirty marketing, get out of Vietnam, insensitive ad, lack of humanity, disrespectful advertising, thoughtless content, Boycott! Content is inhumane, and using the human death to create ad content is evil, among many others.

Earlier in the ad for a new fast-food product, McDonalds Vietnam used this line in Vietnamese: Khong thich an rau thi an ga dinh pho mai BBQ (literally If you don't like vegetables, eat chicken with BBQ cheese).

This content was based on the line "dont want to eat vegetables anymore, want to eat McDonald's" Fat Cat attached to his avatar when he was alive.

This screenshot shows the fast-food ad of McDonalds Vietnam that caused anger among netizens, some of whom called for a boycott of the firm.

According to social media, Fat Cat, a native of China's Hunan Province, had a talent of playing online games since childhood, so he was often hired by others to play games or compete in professional arenas.

After falling in love with a girl six years his senior he met on social media, he dedicated himself to playing video games excessively, striving to earn more money to support her.

In his pursuit of accumulating a substantial sum of money for his love, Fat Cat endured a bleak existence for two years.

During this time, he lived frugally, restricting himself to meager meals, and refrained from seeking medical treatment services out of financial concern.

Over the period, the man transferred a total of 510,000 Chinese yuan (US$70,680) to the girlfriend.

In order to live near the girl, Fat Cat moved to work in Chongqing City, where she lives.

It is known that the two agreed to register their marriage by May this year, but since early April, the girl had shown an indifferent attitude toward Fat Cat and wanted to break up with him.

Despite Fat Cat's insistence, the girl still refused to continue the affair, causing the man to take his own life.

He died after falling off a bridge into the Yangtze River in Chongqing City on April 11.

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The recent Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers Day (May 1) holiday attracted throngs of visitors to the touristy city of Hoi An in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, but opinions were split between foreign and local visitors to the old town.

While tourists from Western countries praised their experience in Hoi An, local visitors did not share the same enthusiasm.

Views from different angles

Currently, Hoi An offers three main tourism products including Hoi An Ancient Town, craft villages, and farm tours.

A guide (C) introduces the process of making black sesame soup to a group of foreign tourists while they are visiting a workshop in Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre

Hoi An Ancient Town boasts over 1,300 ancient houses inhabited by local residents, contributing significantly to its enchanting appeal and transforming it into a captivating UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The rustic town weaves together a vibrant tapestry of ancient houses, countryside scenery, and pristine beaches nestled side by side, drawing tourists from around the world to its charms.

Yet, for many tourists from Vietnam and certain Asian countries, a preference leans towards bustling and vibrant tourism, seeking activities beyond exploring old houses.

Nguyen Van Son, chairman of the Hoi An City People's Committee, noted a disparity in tourist preferences.

While visitors from abroad embrace experiences like farm tours, relishing the opportunity to ride water buffaloes and engage with local farming, domestic tourists appear indifferent, as rice fields are commonplace to them.

A group of foreign tourists participate a farm tour in Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre

Cheap or expensive?

Another factor contributing to the division among tourists in Hoi An is the discrepancy in rates, influenced by distinct average incomes and preferences for tourism services between foreign and Vietnamese visitors.

On the one hand, Hoi An has recently been heralded as "the worlds cheapest long-haul destination for British travelers," as per the latest ranking report by the UKs Post Office released in March.

The 2024 report ranked 40 global travel destinations from least to most expensive, based on the average price of eight popular tourist items in these places.

These items include a cup of filter coffee at a cafe/bar, a bottle of local beer/lager (330ml) at a cafe/bar, a bottle/can of Coca-Cola/Pepsi (330ml) at a cafe/bar, a glass of wine (175ml) at a cafe/bar, a 1.5-liter bottle of mineral water at a supermarket, suncream (200ml spf15) at a supermarket, a three-course evening meal for two (including a bottle of house wine).

According to the report, the average total spending of a Briton on these eight items when traveling to Hoi An is estimated at about U$64.

On the other hand, many Vietnamese tourists complained about the hefty prices in the city after their Reunification Day holiday.

Chairman Nguyen Van Son of the Hoi An City People's Committee underlined the city's efforts to enhance local tourism offerings to appeal to diverse tourist demographics.

Nonetheless, international tourists remain a key advantage for the city. As a result, Hoi An is steadfastly focusing on developing products tailored to meet the needs of this customer segment.

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Former Seven and 10 reporter Liam Cox has been charged with choking and assaulting a woman in an alleged domestic violence incident.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports were called to a Vaucluse semi-detached house just before midnight on Saturday.

A 39-year-old woman was treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics and taken to St Vincents Hospital in a stable condition, NSW Police said.

The following day, police arrested a 39-year-old man at a hotel in Bondi Beach.

Cox was taken to Waverley police station where he was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm (DV) and intentionally choke (DV).

Police also took out an apprehended domestic violence order on behalf of the woman.

Cox was refused bail and will appear in Downing Centre Local Court later this month.

After a 20-year reporting career Cox joined communications firm Wilkinson Butler as a management advisor but has been stood down from the role.

Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia.

Lifeline 13 11 14

Beyond Blue 1300 22 46 36
Observational documentary series Our Law returns this week for a second season, to further explore the relationship between police and First Nations peoples.

Expanding from Western Australia and crossing state lines into New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the Torres Strait for series two, audiences ride along with Aboriginal officers on the frontline in jurisdictions right around Australia as they attempt to change the system from within and break the cycle of Indigenous incarceration.

Season Two, Episode One:

Cadet Leroy takes the next big step: six months of recruit training that will push him past his limits. Its a path that will see him reach his dream of becoming a fully-fledged police officer  if he can pass.

Episode Two:

At the Western Australian Police Academy, Leroy starts weapons training, while in Ballarat, Victoria, Sergeant Melissa Peters heads to a local shopping centre to deal with an alcohol-fuelled disturbance.

Double episode 8:30pm Thursday on NITV

Double episode 8:50pm Thursday on SBS
StockByM / Getty Images/iStockphoto

American investors have figured out that buying property overseas can be both affordable and lucrative. Some countries offer golden visas to foreign investors who make large real estate investments in their country, allowing them permanent residency. However, Spain has followed several other countries in scrapping this visa to lower the cost of housing to its own residents.

In lieu of Spain, which other countries might be good investments instead? Real estate experts offer some suggestions.

Check Out: Rich Dad Robert Kiyosaki: Use This Two-Step Formula for Real Estate Investing



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Sponsored: Protect Your Wealth With A Gold IRA. Take advantage of the timeless appeal of gold in a Gold IRA recommended by Sean Hannity.

Portugal

Perhaps one of the most popular countries drawing American expats and investors is Portugal, according to Colten Claus, an associate broker at 8z Real Estate.

Portugal still offers a golden visa program, which has been popular among investors seeking not only real estate opportunities but also residency perks, he explained.

The program requires a real estate investment of at least 500,000 (roughly $538,675) in urban areas, he said, which can be reduced to 350,000 (about $377,072) for properties in low-density areas or those in need of renovation.

Investors can benefit from a stable real estate market with potential for capital appreciation like Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve region, he said.

The process involves selecting a property, completing legal checks and making the investment to qualify for the visa.

See More: Im a Real Estate Agent: 5 Places Id Buy a Vacation Home If I Had $500,000

Greece

Greece also offers a golden visa program for a minimum real estate investment of 250,000 (about $269,337), which Claus said is [T]he lowest threshold in Europe, making it highly attractive for investors.

He added, The countrys real estate market has shown resilience and offers good rental yields, particularly in tourist-favored locations.

Investing in Greece involves choosing a property that meets the golden visa criteria, with options ranging from urban apartments to holiday homes on the islands.

Turkey

Another country to consider is Turkey, Claus said. Turkeys real estate market is dynamic and offers a relatively low entry point for foreign investors. The country provides a citizenship-by-investment program where a minimum property investment of $400,000 grants the investor Turkish citizenship.

Claus said that Turkey is appealing because of its diverse property types and strong rental demand.

Story continues

Investors need to purchase property and hold it for at least three years to qualify for citizenship. The process is streamlined for foreigners, and the real estate sector is well-equipped to assist international buyers, he said.

Malta

Malta also offers a residency-by-investment program, Claus said, which requires a mix of property purchase and government contributions.

The program is attractive due to Maltas European Union (EU) membership and robust legal and financial frameworks.

The investment in real estate needs to meet a minimum value of 300,000 (about $323,205) in the south of Malta or on the sister island of Gozo, or 350,000 (about $377,072) in other areas, Claus shared.

This, coupled with a nonrefundable government contribution and a five-year residence requirement, paves the way for long-term residency.

Mauritius

Known for its pristine beaches and vibrant culture, Mauritius also offers attractive investment opportunities for foreigners, according to Bubba Peek, a real estate expert and the founder of Bubba Land, a company specializing in land acquisition.

The countrys Real Estate Scheme (RES) allows noncitizens to invest in luxury properties and obtain residency permits, Peek said.

Additionally, he said that Mauritius offers favorable tax incentives for investors, making it an enticing destination for those looking to diversify their real estate portfolios in a tropical paradise.

Vanuatu

This South Pacific island nation offers a unique citizenship-by-investment program known as the Vanuatu Development Support Programme (DSP), Peek said.

By making a qualifying investment, such as purchasing real estate, investors can obtain citizenship in Vanuatu, which provides visa-free travel to over 130 countries.

With its pristine natural environment and stable political climate, Peek said Vanuatu presents an attractive option for investors seeking a second citizenship in a serene tropical setting.

Panama

As a key financial hub in Central America, Panama offers various residency and citizenship programs for investors as well, Peek said.

The Friendly Nations Visa program, in particular, allows citizens of select countries to obtain residency by investing in real estate or other qualified assets. Panamas strategic location, booming economy and favorable tax laws make it an appealing destination for investors looking to capitalize on the countrys growth prospects.

Be Aware of Regulatory Changes and Uncertainty

No matter which country you consider, be aware of regulatory changes, Claus said. Recent and potential future tax reforms in the U.S. may affect property ownership costs and investment returns, he warned.

Changes to capital gains tax, property tax deductions and possible modifications to 1031 exchange rules could decrease the attractiveness for both domestic and international investors.

Consider Immigration Policies

While these countries investment opportunities and residency programs may sound good, Claus warned, Tightened immigration policies can limit the pool of international buyers who typically invest in real estate as a pathway to residency, similar to the influence of golden visa programs in other countries.

Any such investment overseas requires careful diligence, research and a backup plan in case things dont go how you hope.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Why This Country Isnt a Great Place for Real Estate Investing and Where To Go Instead
Serbian capital lined with flags, banners in warm welcome for Chinese president

People's Daily Online) 09:08, May 07, 2024

Ahead of President Xi Jinping's state visit to Serbia, the national flags of China and welcome slogans in Chinese were hung on many roads and buildings in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The slogans read, "We warmly welcome our distinguished Chinese friends." Meanwhile, local residents said they hoped to extend a warm and sincere welcome to their friends from China who have traveled from afar.

Photo shows a national flag of China and welcome slogans in Chinese on a building in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. (Peoples Daily Online/Sheng Chuyi)

Photo shows a national flag of China and welcome slogan in Chinese on a building in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. (Peoples Daily/Ren Yan)

National flags of China and Serbia fly at roadside in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. (Peoples Daily/Ren Yan)

National flags of China and Serbia fly at roadside in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. (Peoples Daily/Ren Yan)

National flags of China and Serbia fly at roadside in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. (Photo/Wang Yanliang)

(Intern Wang Lin contributed to this story.)

(Web editor: Hongyu, Wu Chengliang)
Students compete during the horticulture and landscape team of 2 contest of the 2024 Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 6, 2024. The 2024 Skills Ontario Competition kicked off here on Monday, attracting more than 2,800 competitors. A broad range of skills and careers are represented during the three-day competition from the manufacturing, construction, service, and technology sectors. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

A student competes during the precision machining contest of the 2024 Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 6, 2024. The 2024 Skills Ontario Competition kicked off here on Monday, attracting more than 2,800 competitors. A broad range of skills and careers are represented during the three-day competition from the manufacturing, construction, service, and technology sectors. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

A student competes during the auto painting contest of the 2024 Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 6, 2024. The 2024 Skills Ontario Competition kicked off here on Monday, attracting more than 2,800 competitors. A broad range of skills and careers are represented during the three-day competition from the manufacturing, construction, service, and technology sectors. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

Students compete during the baking contest of the 2024 Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 6, 2024. The 2024 Skills Ontario Competition kicked off here on Monday, attracting more than 2,800 competitors. A broad range of skills and careers are represented during the three-day competition from the manufacturing, construction, service, and technology sectors. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

A student competes during the refrigeration contest of the 2024 Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 6, 2024. The 2024 Skills Ontario Competition kicked off here on Monday, attracting more than 2,800 competitors. A broad range of skills and careers are represented during the three-day competition from the manufacturing, construction, service, and technology sectors. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

Students compete during the aesthetics contest of the 2024 Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 6, 2024. The 2024 Skills Ontario Competition kicked off here on Monday, attracting more than 2,800 competitors. A broad range of skills and careers are represented during the three-day competition from the manufacturing, construction, service, and technology sectors. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

A student competes during the plastering and drywall systems contest of the 2024 Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 6, 2024. The 2024 Skills Ontario Competition kicked off here on Monday, attracting more than 2,800 competitors. A broad range of skills and careers are represented during the three-day competition from the manufacturing, construction, service, and technology sectors. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

A student practices plasma cutting during the 2024 Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 6, 2024. The 2024 Skills Ontario Competition kicked off here on Monday, attracting more than 2,800 competitors. A broad range of skills and careers are represented during the three-day competition from the manufacturing, construction, service, and technology sectors. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

Students compete during the technology 7-8 team of 4 contest of the 2024 Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 6, 2024. The 2024 Skills Ontario Competition kicked off here on Monday, attracting more than 2,800 competitors. A broad range of skills and careers are represented during the three-day competition from the manufacturing, construction, service, and technology sectors. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)
ROME (Reuters) -Italy said on Tuesday that planes used by charities to track migrant boats in difficulty would no longer be able to fly from airports on the islands of Sicily, Pantelleria and Lampedusa that are close to the shipping routes.

The decision, announced by the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC), will make it much harder for non-governmental groups like Sea Watch to use its small planes to scour the central Mediterranean for boats in need of rescue.

"(This is) an act of cowardice and cynicism by those who criminalize the NGOs for political propaganda," Sea Watch said in a statement on X, adding that it still planned to take to the skies to help migrants in distress.

In a written ordinance, ENAC said the planes were "unwarranted," represented a burden for the official rescue teams and risked compromising the safety of undocumented migrants.

Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the Italian decision "may hinder life-saving efforts", and added that his agency was "waiting to understand its actual implementation."

The NGO spotter planes regularly find boats in distress and direct rescuers to their location. They have also documented aggressive pushbacks by Libyan coast guards, who receive European funding to prevent migrants from crossing the sea.

Sea Watch said the ordinance was aimed at preventing the world from seeing what was happening.

"This attack, which tramples international law, will not deter us from continuing to disrupt those who would prefer to keep secret what is happening each day in the Mediterranean," it said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni won office in 2022 promising to clamp down on migrant arrivals from Africa.

Since then, her government has made it increasingly difficult for charity ships to operate in the Mediterranean, limiting the number of rescues they can carry out and often forcing them to make huge detours to bring migrants ashore.

She has also worked with the European Union to persuade both Libya and Tunisia to slow the flows, and has signed an unprecedented deal with Albania to build migrant holding centres there.

The government says its measures are working and therefore reducing drownings during the dangerous crossing. So far this year, 17,666 boat migrants have reached Italy against 44,739 in the same period of 2023, official data shows.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, editing by Alvise Armellini, Alexandra Hudson)
By Aleksandar Vasovic

SKOPJE (Reuters) -North Macedonia's right-wing opposition won big in parliamentary and presidential elections on Wednesday, on a night that saw the Balkan country also elect its first female head of state.

Hundreds of jubilant supporters of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party braved the rain outside their party headquarters in downtown Skopje waving national and party flags and dancing to folk music.

"Dear people of (North) Macedonia ... we have made it. Macedonia won. This is a historic victory of the people," VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski told the crowd.

Results from the election commission showed VMRO-DPMNE held 42% of votes with 72% of votes counted in the parliamentary poll, versus 14% for SDSM, prompting SDSM leader Dimitar Kovacevski to concede defeat.

"The result is disappointing and this is a big blow to SDSM," Kovacevski told a news conference in which he also called for a thorough overhaul of his party.

Voters in the Balkan country of 2 million people have become frustrated with the sluggish advance of its bid to join the European Union, which was greeted with optimism in 2005 but has since become an emblem of North Macedonia's lost promise.

Enduring corruption and slow development have also soured voters against the ruling party.

In the run-off vote for the more ceremonial role of president, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, a university professor who was backed by the VMRO-DPMNE, beat the SDSM-backed incumbent Stevo Pendarovski in a landslide. Siljanovska-Davkova had 65% of votes versus 29% for Pendarovski, with more than 87% of votes counted.

"I was asking myself why did I deserve such a honour?" Siljanovska-Davkova told reporters shortly after being voted in as the country's first female president. "The reward is priceless for me, this is a huge responsibility."

The opposition will likely need to form coalitions with smaller partners to win a majority in parliament. Discussions are expected to take place in the coming days.

Some voters expressed worry that the opposition's nationalist leanings could harm relations with neighbouring countries and its EU bid. Analysts do not expect great advances on EU integration under the opposition, which held power until 2017 and also came under fire for alleged graft.

"EU accession will not progress significantly under a potential VMRO-DPMNE government," said Mario Bikarski, Eastern and Central European analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.

FRICTIONS

In 2001, NATO pulled North Macedonia back from the brink of civil war during an ethnic Albanian insurgency and promised faster integration into the EU and NATO. Albanians account for about a quarter of the population.

North Macedonia's lack of EU progress has partly been due to frictions with neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria, both EU member states, but also to a failure to press economic and judiciary reforms. The country joined NATO in 2020.

The centre of the capital Skopje is dotted with unfinished or empty concrete and marble buildings erected during VMRO-DPMNE's last tenure, which ended when SDSM took power in 2017. A concert hall that burned down months ago awaits renovation.

Some towns and cities are among the most polluted in Europe, due in part to coal consumption and old cars. Much of the country's youth has emigrated abroad in search of better prospects.

While many were unsure of what the opposition could do to change things, some were hopeful.

"This is great, North Macedonia is being returned to Macedonians, VMRO-DPMNE did it," said Pance Petkovski, 23, a student who watched election coverage on a TV in a Skopje cafe.

(Additional reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Tetovo; Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
(Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that the island state of Cape Verde had become the first African country to agree to attend a world "peace summit" aimed at finding a solution to Ukraine's more than two-year-old war against Russia.

The summit, to which Russia has not been invited, is to take place in Switzerland on June 15-16, and Ukraine hopes to marshal broad support to persuade Moscow to agree to terms that Kyiv deems acceptable.

Ukraine has been deploying great efforts to bring countries from the Global South onside, though Russia benefits from longstanding ties with Moscow from Soviet times.

In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Zelenskiy said he thanked Cape Verde Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva during a telephone conversation.

"I thanked him for his support for the peace formula and his personal principled position on the Russia invasion," Zelenskiy wrote. "Cape Verde is the first African country to confirm its participation in the peace summit."

The president, who made a brief stopover in Cape Verde last year on his way to Argentina, also mentioned the conversation in his nightly address as a step in organising the June gathering.

"Every continent will be represented at our summit in Switzerland, different nations, small or large, those who have clearly shown their support for international law and those who will do so," he said.

Zelenskiy stands by a peace plan calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops, the restoration of Ukraine's post-Soviet borders and a process to bring Russia to account for its actions. He hopes more than 80 countries will attend.

Russia says the plan takes no account of "new realities" in Ukraine and dismisses the summit as meaningless if Moscow is not a party.

The Swiss government said last week that a peace process without Russia "is not possible." The aim of the meeting, it said, was "to inspire a future peace process."

(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Every once in a while, a movie comes out that redefines cool. It seems to have a ripple effect on every piece of pop culture in its wakefrom other movies paying tribute to it, to music, to TV, and everything else under the sun. Think of the waves of parodies to follow movies like The Matrix or Pulp Fiction. They had their own unique look down pat. In 2011, that movie was Drive. The silent antihero. The 80s synth-wave. The slow-mo. Drive was iconic and were still feeling its effects to this day - Stranger Things, The Guest and every type of vaporwave nostalgia owe Drive a huge debt of gratitude.

Drive is totally self-aware and knows how clever it is, but never devolves into a parody of movies that it lovingly homages. If anything, its self-awareness is part of its overall earnestness. Drive is a movie with heart. The reason the movie is thrilling isnt because of car chases, action or mayhem. Its thrilling because we care about what happens to its characters. When the nameless Driver (played by Ryan Gosling) stomps a mans head in, its not a Whoa, cool! moment. Its layered with tragedy, knowing that his quickness to employ gruesome violence is part of his nature and represents a point of no return for him.

Driver is a stunt driver for the movies by the day, and at night hes a getaway driver for robberies. His rules are simple: You give me a time and a place, I give you a five-minute window. Anything happens in those five minutes and I'm yours. No matter what. Anything happens a minute on either side of that and you're on your own. In the opening chase sequence (in a movie called Drive, I think its awesome that there are only two car chases), Driver, instead of punching the car like Bullitt and swerving through crowded streets, plays a game of cat and mouse with the police. He accelerates to punch out his car to an advantage, waits in the shadows, listens to the police scanner, and keeps ahead of his pursuers by a couple of steps psychologically. And in a moment of too-coolness, he pulls the car into a crowded area, puts on a hat, takes off his jacket, and blends in with the crowd. Job done. Cue the main title sequence.

Irene is his neighbor in an apartment complex you dont normally see in the movies. In the movies, if a character doesnt have a lot of money, they still always live somewhere with a nice view and modern appliances. The apartment complex in Drive is something realistically and quintessentially LA. It looks lived in. It looks real. Drive is to LA as Star Wars is to its own fantastical sci-fi universe.

When Driver meets Irene, they have an instant attraction. He falls for her, but she has one problem: A husband named Standard (Oscar Isaac, who continues to be one of the best living actors today) is due to be released from prison. Driver agrees to help Standard with some problems hes having, with gangsters who say he owes them money. Driver arranges a means of pulling off a heist, a one last heist, to get the gangsters the money that they say is owed to them, and then after that, the agreement is that they leave Standard, and his family, alone for good. Theres internal strife between organized crime between Bernie (Ron Perlman) and Nino (Albert Brooks) and the family back home. Driver unwittingly gets in the middle of it and becomes a complication that would be better off erased.

Drive remains Winding Refns most accessible movie, while still rife with the directorial trademarks and flourishes hes known for. There are long, hallucinatory stretches of silence. Apparently, huge swaths of dialogue were done away with when he signed on as director, taking a red pen to the script. Refn loves to tell a story visually, to the point of obsession. Theres an expression sometimes in writing that he seems to have taken to heart: Why tell it when you can show it?

As focused on visuals as it may be, Drive actually seems to be having fun with the actors and performances, watching someone like Bryan Cranston as Drivers good friend and mentor, Shannon, limp around, chain smoke and espouse life lessons in a gravelly voice. The ensemble cast is amazing. Christina Hendricks shows up in a bit role to help with the heist to get Standard out of trouble. Albert Brooks plays against type as a sympathetic villain. Ron Perlman plays Ron Perlman, beautifully so.

Drive is one of those love it or hate it movies. If youre expecting it to be a movie in the tradition of the Fast and the Furious series, only more serious, and with Ryan Gosling as the lead, youre probably going to be incredibly disappointed. If you go in to the movie knowing that its going to be an offbeat, show-offy work from a European director and is less concerned with cars and more of a contemplation on violence, youll have a better idea of what to expect.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Second Sight presents Drive on a single 4K UHD Blu-ray housed in a case with new artworkthe scorpion from Ryan Goslings jacket in the film. Drive is presented in 4K from a new master approved by director Nicolas Winding Refn and in Dolby Vision, graded by the films original colorist. Viewers have their choice between a new Dolby Atmos mix, or the previous DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix from its former Blu-ray release.
HA NOI - Allowing trading in energy produced by a self-producing and self-consuming system could lead to market shocks, potentially causing an imbalance with the power sources, said Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, during a workshop on promoting self-generated rooftop solar power which aims to meet self-consumption needs, reduce reliance on the national grid, and ease pressure on the power system.

The power can still be connected to the national grid but transmission can only priced at VN0, a requirement that has sparked controversy with opponents saying the policy is counterproductive as a way of encouraging the public and businesses to participate.

On the other hand, the ministry has advised the Government that self-generated rooftop solar systems can be connected to the grid without requiring a permit. In addition, owners of structures equipped with such systems do not need to amend their land uses, as under current regulations.

"Self-generated rooftop solar power is exempt from some legal provisions while enjoying various incentives. Allowing commercial activities means businesses and investors must comply fully with current regulations," said the minister.

He added: "The question we should be asking is what would happen if rooftop solar power were allowed to be traded?"

The minister said there could be rapid and volatile developments and difficulties in managing power sources and ensuring safety. Traditional sources of power such as coal, gas and hydroelectric projects and their investors may also lose some of their current benefits.

However, the VN0 policy is only temporary and a different approach to rooftop solar power's financial utilisation could be taken in the future.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, vice-president of the Vietnam Energy Association said the VN0 policy is a precautionary and necessary step to prevent policy exploitations in a new industry. He, however, suggested that there should be a predetermined date to review the policy. Meanwhile, exceptions should be considered for cases in which there are urgent power needs due to rooftop solar power's ability to be deployed quickly.

"Clear definitions are needed to minimise possible misinterpretations," he said.

He proposed the ministry consider remote areas, islands, mountainous regions and areas with difficult electricity transmission to become exceptions and to be granted special status.

"Perhaps, households with storage systems could sell electricity to the grid during peak hours from 4pm to 7pm at a higher price to encourage storage installation and support the system," he said.

Nguyen uc Hanh, deputy director of the Institute of Energy Science said there should be a way to trade the power generated without making actual payments and that incentives for investors in power projects in remote, distant, and island areas would be paramount to the success of the development.

Continued support

Viet Nam has set a target of having 50 per cent of its office and residential buildings equipped with solar panels by 2030, that is in the National Power Plan VIII.

In order to hit that target, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has started writing a proposal to the Government for the policy framework required to support the development of rooftop solar power sources, requesting assistance from the Ministry of Justice on connected legal matters.

In addition, the proposal aims to produce a clear picture of the key players in the rooftop solar power industry, as well as the types of structures that can be equipped with solar panels.

Under the National Power Plan VIII 2021-30, approved by the Prime Minister in May last year, Viet Nam prioritises the development of solar and wind power in residential, industrial structures and offices. The plan also explicitly prohibits the sales of the generated power on the national transmission grid. VNS
HA NOI  The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has received dossiers requesting anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations on solar battery products imported from four countries, including Viet Nam.

The plaintiff is the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, accusing export enterprises of the three countries of dumping and receiving subsidies. In which, the plaintiff named about 60 Vietnamese companies.

It requested to investigate a number of solar battery products under HS codes 8501.61.0000, 8507.20.80, 8541.42.0010 and 8541.43.0010.

The plaintiff proposed an investigation period of 2023 and a damage investigation period of three years (2021-2023).

To prepare to respond to the incident, the Trade Remedies Authority of Viet Nam (TRAV) recommended that businesses producing and exporting related products closely monitor further developments of the incident; proactively research and master the regulations, order and procedures for anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation of the US and plan a suitable appeal strategy for the business.

The authority also recommended businesses diversify markets and export products and cooperate fully with the US investigation agency throughout the process of the case.

Any action demonstrating non-cooperation or insufficient cooperation may result in the US investigation agency using available disadvantageous evidence or applying the highest alleged anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs to the enterprise.

Businesses also need to proactively register for an IA ACCESS account at the DOC's electronic portal (https://access.trade.gov/login.aspx) to update information and submit related documents and materials to the US investigation agency.

Enterprises must also regularly coordinate and update information with the TRAV to receive timely support.

Based on US customs data, imports of solar cells from Viet Nam surged to US$4.2 billion in 2023, accounting for 26 per cent of all US solar battery imports, highest among the accusing countries.

With an alleged dumping margin, the US Solar Energy Industries Association accuses goods imported from Viet Nam at 271.45 per cent, the highest among the four accused countries.  VNS
COLOMBO, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Maldives have hosted more than 800,000 tourists so far this year, local media reported, quoting the latest statistics from the Maldives' Ministry of Tourism on Tuesday.

This is a 12-percent increase from last year during the same period, according to local media.

Official figures show that the biggest tourist source for the country is China, as 87,566 Chinese tourists have visited the Maldives till May 5 this year.

The Maldives is currently working on reaching a target tourist arrival of 2 million by the end of this year, local media said. 
HA NOI  Expediting the enforcement of the 2024 Land Law would stimulate the supply of social housing and encourage enterprises to be more assertive in participating in the development of this segment, experts predict.

The law is due to take effect on January 1, 2025. However, the Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has instructed ministries and agencies to complete assigned tasks to propose the National Assembly for permission to enforce it from July 1 this year.

According to experts, the law coming into effect will have a significant impact, with the two groups benefiting the most being overseas Vietnamese and resettled individuals who are compensated. The supply of social housing is also expected to shoot up due to preferential policies and new support packages.

Attracting remittances

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Lu Phuong, from Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment, foreigners or overseas Vietnamese were previously not eligible to purchase houses attached to land use rights in Viet Nam. However, the 2024 Land Law stipulates that Vietnamese expatriates are allowed to enter Viet Nam, purchase or lease-purchase houses attached to land use rights and receive land use rights in housing development projects.

With this provision, Troy Griffiths, Deputy Managing Director of Savills Vietnam, expressed his belief that the new land law will bring about more investment opportunities for the real estate buyer group of overseas Vietnamese. This change also creates significant potential for the market thanks to direct investment capital from the group.

In addition, the new law stipulates that resettlement areas must complete conditions regarding technical and social infrastructure, while ensuring the livelihoods of residents.

Improving social housing supply

Experts believe that from the time of adoption until July 1, there is enough time to bring the law's provisions to people, businesses and state agencies. If the new enforcement date is passed, it will help the supply of social housing "boom" in the coming time, particularly in major cities like Ha Noi and HCM City.

According to Le Bao Long, the strategy director of the site Batdongsan.com.vn, the supply of social housing is expected to improve with preferential policies, new support packages, and regulations stipulating that provincial people's committees must allocate sufficient land funds for social housing.

The 2024 Land Law and the 2023 Housing Law add more forms of social housing development, including foreign capital, foreign organisations and union financial resources for workers renting social housing.

Long forecasts that the quality of real estate projects will also improve due to stricter regulations on handover standards and progress.

With these adjustments, in Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated January 5, 2024 regarding key solutions for implementing the socioeconomic development plan and state budget estimate this year, the Prime Minister set a target of completing about 130,000 units of social housing.

Currently, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Ministry of Finance are focusing on studying draft decrees guiding the 2023 Housing Law and the 2023 Real Estate Business Law, the 2024 Land Law, and the 2024 Law on Credit Institutions. They will then submit to the Government for consideration and issuance in May. The work serves as a basis for the Government to seek the National Assemblys permission for the 2024 Land Law to take effect earlier.  VNS
ONG THAP  ong Thap Province has exported to Japan its first ever batch of frozen lotus roots, a key crop of the province.

ai Viet Lotus Foods JSC and the ong Thap Lotus Industry Association held a ceremony to mark the shipment in Thap Muoi District on May 7.

Around 15 tonnes sourced from ong Thap and other provinces in the Mekong Delta worth VN980 million were shipped.

Nguyen Xuan Thang, deputy chairman of the association and general director of the company, said lotuses grow all year round in the delta.

Japan consumes around 100,000 tonnes of the root a year, while China requires two million tonnes.

Thang said that Japan is a demanding market with strict requirements, and his company had negotiated with the importer numerous times before being able to export lotus roots frozen using individual quick freezing technology.

This year it plans to export another eight containers worth nearly VN7 billion, he said.

The company is also working with Korean businesses to export its lotus products there as well.

oan Thanh Binh, chairman of Thap Muoi District People's Committee, said the exports are due to the efforts of authorities and businesses in ong Thap, which have helped the provinces lotus enter demanding markets around the world.

Farmers need to maintain the quality of lotus and connect with exporters so that their lotus and other products could continue to be exported to Japan, he said.

The event is part of the upcoming ong Thap Lotus Festival on May 16, which aims to highlight the provinces lotus products.

It was successfully organised two years ago, attracting around 20,000 visitors.

ong Thap has around 1,800ha of lotus farms, and produces a variety of products such as tea, dried seeds and cosmetic items from the flower.

The lotus industry is identified as a key one, with the flower being incorporated into its cultural and tourism branding. VNS
HA NOI  A new book launched by Kim ong Publishing House offers bookworms a chance to know more about late writer Nguyen Huy Tuong.

Nguyen Huy Tuong (1912-1960) was a popular writer and playwright responsible for masterpieces including Vu Nhu To, em Hoi Long Tri (Long Tri Festive Night), La Co Theu Sau Chu Vang (The Flag Embroidered with Six Golden Words) and Song Mai Voi Thu o (Live Forever With the Capital).

The writer was one of the first people to be awarded Ho Chi Minh Prize and State Award for Literature and Arts.

The book entitled Con uong Van Si (The Writer's Path) is Tuong's diary from 1938 to the first half of 1945 and is compiled by his son Nguyen Huy Thang to commemorate the writer's 112th birthday anniversary.

"My father died when I was five years old so I almost don't have memories about him," said Thang. "The diary helps me to understand him."

Tuong came to writing quite late and in his youth participated in patriotic movements in Hai Phong to spread the national language.

In 1943, he joined the secret National Salvation Culture group. In August 1945, he was sent to attend the National Congress in Tan Trao, then when the August Revolution succeeded, he became a key leader of the National Salvation Cultural Association and a delegate to the 1st National Assembly in 1946.

After 1954, he was a founding member of the Viet Nam Writers Association and became a member of the association's executive committee.

During those young years, he channeled his enthusiasm and desire to contribute, while suffering from anxiety about how best to express those emotions, into a diary.

The diary pages written during the years 1938 through to the August Revolution illuminate the path of a civil servant at the Tax Department working towards becoming a writer.

In the book there are also sketches about a generation of pre-war writers and historical details from the August Revolution of the urban intellectuals.

The writer did not expect that one day his diary would be published, so the writings are innocent and unfliltered, according to Ph.D in Literature scholar o Thanh Nga.

"The diary is therefore attractive because it is concise but vivid," Nga said. "With realistic and emotional details, the diary pages are valuable documents about social life, civil servant life and partly outline the picture of Vietnamese literature before the August Revolution."

Tuong died of cancer in 1960 in Ha Noi. In his 20-year career, he left a huge literary legacy including six plays, five novels and nearly ten literary works for children and others.  VNS
HA NOI  Vietnamese Ethnic Culture and Tourism Village will host numerous activities in May to celebrate the 134th birthday anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh.

With the theme 'Follow His Footsteps', the May programme of Vietnamese Ethnic Culture and Tourism Village also celebrates the 70th anniversary of ien Bien Phu Victory and anniversaries of the Ho Chi Minh Trail Opening Day and Truong Son Soldiers' Tradition Day.

The event recreates the Victory Celebration of the Gia Rai ethnic group, Gia Lai Province.

It features folk songs and dances themed 'Central Highlands with Uncle Ho, Uncle Ho with the Central Highlands' and displays a photo exhibition about Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap.

The programme also marks Buddha's Birthday and the activities of living ethnic groups in the village.

It features 25 Gia Rai ethnic artisans in Gia Lai Province attending the events on May 18 and 19.

Viet Nam is home to 54 ethnic groups, each of which has its own unique cultural identity. At the Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism, ethnic minority people join State agencies and experts in preserving and introducing their communities cultural values to visitors.

The village, located in the ong Mo tourism area in Ha Nois Son Tay suburb, is described as a 'common home' of the 54 ethnic groups across the nation. It has a total area of 1,544ha with seven functional zones. Among them, the zone for ethnic minority villages is considered the heart of the culture-tourism village.

The village's residents also introduce to tourists their own cultural practices, including folk games, crafts, cuisine and other activities. They also include cultural practices like picking tea, weaving, crafting, manufacturing musical instruments, brewing wine and preparing traditional remedies.  VNS
HA NOI  An interactive exhibition of the impressive panoramic painting depicting the ien Bien Phu Campaign, which captivated visitors at the ien Bien Phu Victory Museum in the northern province of ien Bien, has been launched at the Nhan Dan (The People's) headquarters in Ha Noi.

The exhibition brings together cutting-edge technology, including augmented virtual reality with a 360-degree panorama painting. This unique application allows viewers to vividly relive the 56 days and nights that led to the glorious victory of Viet Nams military and people.

At the exhibition inauguration, Editor-in-chief of Nhan Dan newspaper, Le Quoc Minh said that the exhibition is among the special activities held by the newspaper to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the glorious victory (May 7, 2024).

We spent six months preparing for this, starting with the launch on March 13 of a special website that provides information about the historical military campaign ien Bien Phu, he said.

Today a special printed issue of Nhan Dan newspaper has been published with four pages presenting the entire progress of the ien Bien Phu Campaign. The 56-day-and-night progress, from March 13, 1954 to May 7, 1954 will be issued in both Vietnamese and English in the form of 56 diary entries.

This special issue also includes four pages featuring all the four sections of the panoramic painting ien Bien Phu Campaign, Minh said.

The chief editor hopes that the exhibition and other activities held on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the ien Bien Phu Victory, will inspire the younger generation to better understand the country's history.

The ien Bien Phu Campaign original oil-on-canvas version on display at the ien Bien Phu Victory Museum was created by 200 painters and is 132m-long and 20.5m-high, covering a total area of over 3,200sq.m. It features 4,500 characters with artwork over four major stages  Toan Dan Ra Tran (All People Go to Battle), Khuc Dao au Hung Trang (Epic Prelude), Cuoc oi au Lich Su (Historical Confrontation), and Khuc Khai Hoan Mung Chien Thang (Song of Triumph).

The interactive exhibition of the panoramic painting is open to the public until May 12 at 71 Hang Trong Street.

A similar interactive exhibition also takes place at the ien Bien Phu Victory Museum in ien Bien Phu City. VNS
HA NOI The first newspaper copies reporting the defeat of French colonialists in the ien Bien Phu Campaign in the northwestern province of ien Bien 70 years ago are now exhibited at the Vietnam Press Museum in Ha Noi.

The copies were presented to the museum by French collector Jean-Marie Jacquemin, who also donated a book titled 1968 - 1973 Verrieres-le-Buisson: Havre De Paix (Verrieres-le-Buisson: Safe Haven) and some valuable publications related to Viet Nam to the museum.

Jacquemin, who used to work at the Le Monde newspapers printing house for over 30 years, has a hobby of collecting books, newspapers, documents, and stamps according to topics, including the just struggle of the Vietnamese people.

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency in France, Jacquemin enthusiastically recounted the origin of the copies that his father kept and passed down to him.

He explained that due to his father's influence, he has kept a plethora of newspaper articles about global events, including the Indochina War and the defeat of French colonialists in Viet Nam seven decades ago.

Jacquemin expressed admiration for a small country that has conducted resistance movements and achieved victories against major colonial powers like France and the US. He also praised the reconciliation between France and Viet Nam, highlighting their mutual efforts to move forward and maintain a good relationship over the past five decades.

In the future, it is essential to further promote the relationship between France and Viet Nam through enhancing culture exchange and tourism, thus further strengthening mutual understanding, he said.

The book 1968 - 1973 Verrieres-le-Buisson: Havre De Paix is a collection of hundreds of articles posted on French and other countries newspapers. It was first published in 2013 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Paris Peace Accords and then reprinted in 2023 to mark the 50 years since the signing.

Director of the Vietnam Press Museum Tran Thi Kim Hoa appreciated the collector for his donations, saying that the presence of these newspapers at the museum helps Vietnamese people understand the interest of the French people and press in the ien Bien Phu Campaign. VNS
MOSCOW  The ien Bien Phu Victory on May 7, 1954 was a great triumph of the Viet Nam Peoples Army (VPA) known by the whole world, according to Tsvetov Petr, Associate Professor of the Department of International Relations of the Diplomatic Academy under the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Talking to the Viet Nam News Agencys reporters in Moscow on the occasion of the victorys 70th anniversary, Tsvetov Petr, who is First Vice Chairman of the Russia-Vietnam Friendship Association, said that this event was a very important lesson in the military history and showed the strength of the VPA.

It also demonstrated that the French forces did not properly evaluate the strength of the Vietnamese people, as they really could not understand that once the Vietnamese people stood up to defend their goals and interests, they could fight selflessly and heroically, with both will and strength to defeat even the strongest enemies.

Regarding the military art, this was a very great campaign, worthy of being taught at military academies, the scholar stressed.

He attributed the victory to the skillful and wise leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, President Ho Chi Minh, General Vo Nguyen Giap and Party General Secretary Truong Chinh.

During the battle at ien Bien Phu, justice was on Viet Nam's side because the Vietnamese people stood up to defend their independence.

In addition, the support and assistance of countries in solidarity with Vietnam around the world, first of all the Soviet Union and China, played a big role in the ien Bien Phu Victory, added Tsvetov.  VNS
Minsk  The Viet Nam Embassy in Belarus and the Association of International Friendship and Cultural Exchange of Belarus on May 6 held a ceremony to mark the 79th anniversary of Victory Day over Fascism in the Great Patriotic War (May 9, 1945  2024), the 70th anniversary of ien Bien Phu Victory (May 7, 1954-2024), and the 49th anniversary of the liberation of the South and the national reunification (April 30, 1975-2024).

Ambassador Nguyen Van Ngu highlighted similarities between the victories of the two countries and affirmed that in world history, the victories do not only belong to the peoples of Viet Nam and Belarus but also to all peoples who love peace, freedom, and justice.

He emphasised that the Vietnamese people always remember the pure solidarity and valuable support and assistance of the Soviet people, including the people of Belarusia as well as peace lovers worldwide, adding that Viet Nam values traditional friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with Belarus.

He said Viet Nam hopes to work with Belarusian friends and partners to continue nurturing the bilateral friendly relations.

Representatives of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and Belarusian guests showed their love and admiration for the Vietnamese as well as their glorious victories and great achievements in the cause of national defence, construction, and development.

The event wrapped up the series of the events in the "Viet Nam Day in Minsk" organised from April 15 by the embassy and the association.

Earlier, the embassy and the Viet Nam Trade Office in Belarus held talks with Belarusian economic agencies and representatives of nearly 30 enterprises that have business relations with Viet Nam in such fields as economics, trade, and tourism. VNS
IEN BIEN  A grand ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the ien Bien Phu victory (May 7, 1954 - 2024) took place in ien Bien Phu City on Tuesday, with hundreds of people joining the celebration.

The event was attended by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Acting State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan, Permanent member of the Party Central Committees Secretariat and chairwoman of its Organisation Commission Truong Thi Mai, National Assembly Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man and President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee o Van Chien, along with former government officials.

International guests included Lao Deputy PM and Minister of National Defence Chansamone Chanyalath, Cambodian Deputy PM Neth Savoeun, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress of China Zhang Qingwei, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu, delegates of foreign representative bodies in Viet Nam, defence attaches of other countries and representatives of overseas Vietnamese.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong sent his regards and flowers to the event.

PM Chinh, on behalf of the Party and State, expressed endless gratitude to late President Ho Chi Minh and late General Vo Nguyen Giap - the commander-in-chief of the ien Bien Phu Campaign, as well as soldiers, Heroic Vietnamese Mothers, the heroes of the peoples armed forces, pioneering youths, frontline workers, war invalids, martyrs families, along with the entire armed forces and people nationwide for their utmost dedications, bravery and sacrifice for the historic ien Bien Phu Victory that resounded across the five continents and shook the globe.

He also appreciated the precious and wholehearted assistance from China, the countries of the former Soviet Union, Socialist nations, international friends, progressive and peace advocacy forces worldwide, especially Laos and Cambodia, in the combatant alliance of the three Indochinese countries, for the ien Bien Phu Campaign and the Vietnamese peoples fight for national liberation.

Looking back on the resistance war full of hardships but also bravery and unyieldingness against the French colonialists, he said the ien Bien Phu Campaign secured a resounding triumph, beating colonial Frances final effort in its invasion of Viet Nam.

The PM described this triumph as the peak victory of the resistance war and the essence of Viet Nams strength under the leadership of late President Ho Chi Minh, noting that it forced the French colonialists to sign the Geneva Accords on the cessation of hostilities in Viet Nam on July 21, 1954.

This accomplishment also paved the way for the liberation and construction of Viet Nam's northern region to enter a transitional period towards socialism and form a solid foundation for the fight to liberate the southern region and reunify the country two decades later.

The historic victory was not only significant to the Vietnamese revolution but also became a source of support for national liberation movements and marked the start of the collapse of colonialism around the world, he remarked.

Upholding the spirit of the ien Bien Phu victory, Viet Nam has obtained numerous enormous successes and glorious feats of arms such as the ien Bien Phu in the air victory in 1972 and the great victory in the spring of 1975.

After its reunification, the country concurrently made socio-economic reconstruction, fought to defend its borders and fulfilled the noble international mission of helping the Cambodian people topple and get rid of the genocidal regime.

PM Chinh added that after nearly 40 years of oi Moi (reforms) and integration into the world under the Partys leadership, Viet Nam has made considerable and historic achievements and has never witnessed such a fortune, strength, stature and reputation in the world as it has today, in the words of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

From a poor, war-torn country coming out of World War II, Viet Nam has become a middle-income developing country with a GDP per capita of US$4,300 in 2023, or 58-fold the figure at the beginning of oi Moi.

From a country that suffered from embargoes, Viet Nam is now also among the 40 largest economies in the world and the top 20 economies with the largest trade scale globally.

In addition to being a model of reconciliation after the war, Viet Nam now has diplomatic relations with 193 countries and is expanding trade and economic partnerships with 230 countries and territories.

The country is also recognised by the United Nations as one of the pioneers in carrying out the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as its efforts for the Sustainable Development Goals.

The government leader voiced his belief that the country will continue strongly promoting the spirit of 'being determined to fight and to win' of the ien Bien Phu Campaign, surmount difficulties and challenges, and exert all efforts to make new 'ien Bien Phu miracles' in the building and safeguarding of the socialist fatherland.

Veteran Pham uc Cu, who represented ien Bien soldiers and the forces that contributed to the ien Bien Phu Campaign at the ceremony, said he was proud to contribute to the victory, the development of ien Bien as well as the country as a whole.

He hoped that future generations share this pride, always remember and continue the nations glorious history to create new achievements in building and protecting their socialist homeland.

On behalf of Party and State leaders, PM Chinh presented the first-class Independence Order to the Party organisation, administration and people of ien Bien Province in recognition of their remarkable attainments and contributions to the Party and the nations revolutionary cause.

Following the ceremony, a military parade and a procession of civil forces gathering over 12,000 people took place to celebrate the anniversary.

Earlier the same day, a delegation of the Party Central Committee, the National Assembly, the State President, the Government, and the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee led by PM Chinh offered incense and flowers at the temple dedicated to the fallen soldiers on the ien Bien Phu battlefield.

Party General Secretary Trong also sent a wreath in commemoration of the martyrs.  VNS
VIENTIANE  The ien Bien Phu Victory was a brilliant epic in the struggle against French colonialism and a decisive factor helping open a new stage for the revolution of the three Indochinese countries of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia, according to Lao Minister of Technology and Communications Boviengkham Vongdara.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the victorys 70th anniversary (May 7, 1954-2024), Boviengkham Vongdara, who is also Chairman of the Laos-Viet Nam Friendship Association, said that it was also a decisive victory making the French colonialists completely defeated in Indochina, and had a huge impact on the anti-colonialism movement in the world.

The triumph also demonstrated the coordination of the combat alliance between the armies of Viet Nam and Laos in particular, as well as the three Indochinese countries in general, in the struggle against the French colonialists.

The Indochinese Communist Party was founded in 1930 under the great leadership of President Ho Chi Minh. After its establishment, the party led the people of the three Indochinese countries in carrying out revolutions and achieving victories. In Viet Nam, after the successful August Revolution, on September 2, 1945, Viet Nam declared independence, which was an important factor in aiding the revolutionary process in Laos to also achieve victory and declare independence on October 12, 1945, the Lao minister recounted.

However, after our two countries declared independence, the French colonialists did not accept it and initiated attacks to invade Indochina for the second time.

After eight years of fierce resistance, faced with the continuous victories of the armies and people of both Laos and Viet Nam, the French colonialists deployed troops to ien Bien Phu to establish a stronghold described as "invincible" in order to suppress the revolutionary movements in both countries.

Given this situation, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam decided to launch the Ien Bien Phu Liberation Campaign  appointing the legendary general Vo Nguyen Giap as the Commander-in-Chief of the campaign, which eventually prevailed over the French forces, he said.

The Lao minister also quoted late President Kaysone Phomvihane as saying that this was the victory with the most important significance for the Lao revolution at that time, helping its struggle for national liberation enter a new phase and leading to the establishment of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party on March 22, 1955.

According to the minister, the great victory of the ien Bien Phu Campaign had great and important significance in the coordination between the armies of Laos and Viet Nam in the following campaigns and battles, including the struggle against US imperialists.

One of the outstanding highlights of the Laos-Viet Nam combat alliance's cooperation is that their joint building of the Ho Chi Minh trail through Viet Nam and Laos to supply and transport military forces and goods to serve the revolution of the two countries.

The trail contributed greatly to Viet Nams liberation of the South and national reunification on April 30, 1975, and helped Laos overthrow the monarchy and establish the Lao People's Democratic Republic on December 2, 1975.

It can be said that the US imperialists suffered a painful defeat partly due to the extremely close cooperation of the combat alliance between the Lao and Vietnamese armies, Boviengkham Vongdara affirmed.

He again said that Kaysone has been more than accurate in saying that "In the history of the world revolution, there have been many shining examples of international proletarian spirit, but nowhere and never before has there been such a special, long-lasting, comprehensive alliance of struggle [like the one between Viet Nam and Laos].

Amidst complicated and unpredictable developments of the regional and world situations, Laos and Viet Nam should maintain their traditional relations, and continue educating the young generations on their close and special solidarity, the Lao official noted.  VNS
This photo taken on May 7, 2024 shows a large bronze statue of the famous reclining Vishnu in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia on Tuesday held a blessing ceremony to mark the departure for France of a large bronze statue of the famous reclining Vishnu along with 39 fragments. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Tuesday held a blessing ceremony to mark the departure for France of a large bronze statue of the famous reclining Vishnu along with 39 fragments.

Held at the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, the ceremony took place in the presence of Cambodia's Minister of Culture and Fine Arts Phoeurng Sackona.

Discovered at the West Mebon temple in the famed Angkor Archaeological Park in northwest Cambodia's Siem Reap province in 1936 by French curator Maurice Glaize, this 11th-century sculpture is the largest bronze statue ever found on the Angkor site, said a news release after the ceremony.

The statue was originally over 5 meters long and 4.5 meters high, the news release said, adding that it is one of the treasures of the National Museum of Cambodia.

As an unequaled masterpiece of Cambodian art, this reclining Vishnu captivates researchers and curators from all over the world, not least because of its symbolism and particular shape, unprecedented for a Cambodian bronze of this size, the news release said.

Sackona said the departure for France of the reclining Vishnu statue was part of an active cooperation project between Cambodia and France.

"This project is aimed at restoring, preserving and studying the reclining Vishnu statue," she said.

During its stay in France, the statue will first undergo a complete scientific study at the National Center for Research and Restoration in French Museums (C2RMF) in Paris, before undergoing a major restoration program at the Arc'Antique laboratory in Nantes.

The minister said the reclining Vishnu will then return to the Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris, where it will be the centerpiece of an exceptional exhibition dedicated to Cambodian bronze art from April 30 to Sept. 8, 2025.

She added that at the exceptional exhibition next year, an additional 126 bronze works loaned from the National Museum of Cambodia will also be displayed. 
ALGIERS  Viet Nam's ien Bien Phu Victory (May 7, 1954) over the French colonialists had a decisive influence on other nations, of which Algeria was an example, Mourad Lamoudi, member of the Central Committee of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) party has told Vietnam News Agency (VNA) correspondents in Algeria.

Lamoudi, who is in charge of the FLNs external relations affairs, said that the ien Bien Phu Victory is a symbol of Viet Nam which carries international historical stature. What the Vietnamese people did and the victories they achieved were truly extraordinary.

He affirmed that the ien Bien Phu Victory contributed to awakening other peoples who were submerged by colonialism by proving that the power of colonialism could be completely defeated, that if a nation is determined to achieve the goal of self-liberation, it can achieve that goal. The colonised peoples at that time admired the ien Bien Phu Victory and loved the Vietnamese people very much, he stated.

Lamoudi underlined that the ien Bien Phu Victory inspired colonial countries by opening up hope to other peoples, especially countries colonised by France such as Algeria and those in Southern Africa, West Africa and Central Africa. Immediately after the victory, the Algerian revolution started on November 1, 1954 with inspiration and experience learnt from Viet Nam's revolution, he noted. The Vietnamese and Algerian revolutions sparked national liberation movements in Africa and other countries around the world.

According to the FLN official, the revolutions of Viet Nam and Algeria share the same goal to fight against colonialism to liberate the nation.

At that time, when people mentioned Indochina, they immediately thought of the three words "ien Bien Phu" as an action slogan. People used the slogan "ien Bien Phu" to remind themselves that they could win, said Lamoudi. I think ien Bien Phu is a turning point in colonial history on the world map. That history was divided into two periods of before ien Bien Phu and after ien Bien Phu, stated Lamoudi.

The ien Bien Phu Victory shattered the dogma of the invincibility of colonial powers, proving that oppressed countries can still make miracles against the power of colonial empires, he said, stressing that Algeria received that message.

In Africa, especially French-speaking countries, they talk about the ien Bien Phu Victory with pride. This international victory helped unite colonial peoples, becoming the common victory of those oppressed, said Lamoudi.  VNS
GENEVA  A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs o Hung Viet attended a dialogue on Viet Nam's national report under the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)s fourth cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism in Geneva on Tuesday.

In his opening speech and presentation of Viet Nam's national report, Viet expressed the pride in engaging in the dialogue with other countries on the day of the 70th anniversary of the ien Bien Phu Victory, at the UN headquarters which witnessed the negotiation and signing of the 1954 Geneva Accords, and significant historical events in the national liberation struggle and anti-imperialist fight of the Vietnamese people and many other nations around the world.

Affirming Viet Nam's consistent policy of protecting and promoting human rights, placing people at the centre, goal and driving force of its renewal and development process, he highlighted Viet Nam's journey from a poor country to one of the fastest-growing economies deeply integrated into the global community.

Since the third UPR in 2019, Viet Nam has continued fine-tuning its legal system and policies regarding human rights, leading to tangible progress. The rights to healthcare, education, social security, freedom of religion and belief, press freedom, and Internet access and gender equality have all made significant progress. Viet Nam's rankings in the UN's Human Development Index (HDI) and Gender Equality Index (GEI) have also improved, he said.

He further added that the Vietnamese Government has enforced many policies and measures to protect people's health, boost post-pandemic socio-economic development, actively promote the transition to a green and digital economy, and fulfil Viet Nam's commitments in line with international human rights conventions.

The event garnered high interest from over 130 participating countries. They congratulated Viet Nam on its 70th anniversary of ien Bien Phu Victory and acknowledged its achievements in human rights, economic development, social justice and human rights education.

The Vietnamese delegation answered many questions, providing additional information about issues of shared concern, including sustainable development goals, inclusive and green economy, Internet and social network development, freedom of speech and information access, labour rights, the role of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuracy, freedom of religion and belief, basic conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), human trafficking prevention and support for ethnic minorities.

At the dialogue, Viet Nam received about 300 recommendations encompassing a wide range of human rights issues.

On May 10, the UNHRC's UPR Working Group will consider a report on Viet Nam's review, and then to submit it to the UNHRC for the official adoption at the council's 57th session in September-October.  VNS
Van Tam

IEN BIEN PHU  Seventy years ago, the incredible feat of transporting heavy two-tonne cannons across winding mountain ranges and steep ravines to reach the battlefield in the ien Bien Phu Campaign was a journey fraught with hardship, toil, and sacrifice for Vietnamese soldiers.

The movement of cannons into the ien Bien Phu battlefield was a miracle that surpassed the enemy's understanding.

The poignant song 'Ho keo phao' (Heave Away The Cannon), composed by Hoang Van, vividly depicts the hardships and unwavering determination of Vietnamese soldiers during the ien Bien Phu Campaign 70 years ago and the historic cannon-pulling route has since become legendary.

One of the lines from the song is: 'The mountain is formidable, but our strength is more formidable. The ravine is deep, but our anger and resentment are deeper.'

Over seven decades ago, Pha in Pass, in the northern province of ien Bien, served as a critical supply route for transporting weapons, ammunition and provisions for the Vietnamese infantry and artillery during the campaign.

Previously spanning 32 kilometres as part of National Highway No. 6, this pass acted as the gateway to ien Bien Province. At 1,648 metres above sea level at its highest point, with sheer cliffs on one side, a deep abyss on the other, the pass climbs a gradient of up to 10 per cent, reaching a daunting 19 per cent at certain points.

The road along the pass, is treacherous, twisting over sharp corners and countless hairpin bends.

Despite these challenges, Vietnamese soldiers persevered in transporting weapons and provisions to the ien Bien Phu battlefield via the pass under fire from relentless air raids by the French air force aimed at impeding their progress. Yet, these adversities failed to dampen the resolve and fortitude of the Vietnamese soldiers in their mission to move cannons into the campaign.

Le Huu Thao, a 93-year-old ien Bien soldier from Thieu Giao Commune, Thieu Hoa District, Thanh Hoa Province, vividly recalls the intense bombing endured by Pha Din Pass, a crucial point heavily targeted by the French army in their attempts to sever supply lines of food and weapons.

Every day, French planes relentlessly bombed the pass area, dropping hundreds of munitions in their efforts to obliterate this vital supply route. Nowadays, Pha Din Pass has been lowered and widened, however, it remains a legendary route where ien Bien soldiers once pulled cannons with sheer human strength.

Among the routes used for pulling cannons, one stands out as particularly special: A 15-kilometre stretch from the Na Nham forest gate over Pha Song mountain peak down to the Tau and Ngheu communes, now part of Na Nhan Commune in ien Bien Phu City. Remarkably, this stretch of road was constructed in just 20 hours by a combined force of 5,000 officers and soldiers.

On this challenging route, heavy cannons, each weighing over two tonnes, were carried to the summit of Pha Song at 1,500 metres.

After nearly ten days and nights of super-human effort, the army's cannons were successfully brought into the battlefield, closing in on the enemy's positions. However, upon assessing the enemy's situation, the ien Bien Phu Front Command made the strategic decision to shift from the approach of 'strike quickly, win quickly' to 'strike firmly, advance steadily'.

So the troops had to undertake the arduous task of pulling the cannons out once again. While pulling the cannons in was challenging, extracting them from the position proved to be even more daunting. The process demanded utmost caution, with any mishap, such as a snapped rope, resulting in the cannon plummeting into the abyss below.

During one such incident a young soldier named To Vinh Dien courageously leapt into action, using his own body to block the sliding cannon and prevent disaster and his selfless act has been immortalised in history as a legend, symbolising the indomitable spirit of the ien Bien soldiers. Inspired by soldier To Vinh Dien's heroic sacrifice, the entire front rallied together to ensure the safe extraction of the cannons.

ien Bien soldier Pham uc Cu, hailing from Nam Thanh Ward in ien Bien Phu City, vividly recounted the gruelling final stretch of the cannon-pulling journey.

He said: "Our march was incredibly tough. When we reached ien Bien, approximately 15km from the ien Bien Phu base group, we had to manually pull the cannons. That was the most challenging part of our military service. We will never forget the sections of the road at the Bay Toi, Ong Mau, Suoi Ngua, and Voi Phuc slopes, as well as the heroic sacrifice of Hero To Vinh Dien."

Despite facing countless obstacles and enduring hardships, the 75mm cannons, 120mm howitzers, and 105mm cannons all simultaneously unleashed rounds into the Him Lam resistance centre, signalling the commencement of the ien Bien Phu Campaign at 5 pm on March 13, 1954. The French army had never anticipated that the Viet Minh forces could maneuver the cannons so close to the battlefield and this unexpected development significantly contributed to the victory of ien Bien Phu.

The entire nation is now ready to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the ien Bien Phu Victory.

During a trip to ien Bien Phu City, Nguyen Van Toan, a tourist from a Nang City, said: Having the opportunity to visit the land of ien Bien, to explore its historical relics, I am deeply moved, proud, and grateful to the previous generations who fought for the independence and freedom of the nation.

"Especially, visiting the cannon-pulling monument, I am deeply impressed by our ancestors, who, with their humble strength, pulled tonnes of cannons across countless high passes and deep ravines to reach the battlefield safely."

The echoes of war have faded into history and the route once traversed by brave soldiers to haul cannons to ien Bien starts from the majestic Pha Din Pass and culminates at the memorial site of Hero To Vinh Dien, who sacrificed himself to secure the cannons. Situated approximately 20km north of ien Bien Phu City, a complex of statues now graces the Bo Hom Hill, paying tribute to the heroic artillery unit led by Hero To Vinh Dien. This monument serves as a testament to the legendary cannon-hauling route of the past, inspiring future generations.

To enrich the experience of visitors eager to delve into history, a museum showcasing some artefacts used by Vietnamese soldiers during the cannon-hauling efforts 70 years ago is adjacent to that cannon-hauling monument.  VNS
HCM CITY  The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has acknowledged the recent hike in domestic airfares, but has assured the public the surge is within the limits set by authorities.

In a report sent to the Ministry of Transport, the agency stated average economy class ticket prices on several domestic routes have surged by up to 25 per cent year-on-year in the first four months.

On the popular Ha Noi  HCM City route (1,278 km), Vietnam Airlines average ticket price is around VN2.64 million (up 14 per cent from last year), Vietjet VN1.74 million (up 25 per cent), Bamboo Airways VN2 million (up 11 per cent), and Vietravel Airlines VN1.5 million (up 15 per cent).

These prices are still below the regulated ceiling prices, it noted.

Similarly, on routes between Ha Noi and HCM City to/from a Nang (around 600km), the average ticket prices of different airlines have also increased but remain below the regulated ceiling price.

The transport ministry recently announced an increase in the maximum prices for domestic flight routes starting from March 1.

The price hikes vary depending on the distance of the route, with prices being raised by VN50,000-250,000 per one-way ticket for flights longer than 500km.

For example, flights between 1,000km to less than 1,280km now have a maximum price of VN3.4 million for one-way tickets, while flights longer than 1,280km have a maximum price of VN4 million for one-way tickets.

These maximum prices cover all expenses related to airline services, but do not include value-added tax and airport fees such as passenger service fees, security assurance fees, baggage charges, and fees for additional services.

Global trend

The CAAV has attributed the hike in domestic airfares to global trends such as rising fuel prices, exchange rate differences, aircraft lease costs, and increased demand.

Significant changes in the aviation industry this year, including airlines restructuring operations and reducing their fleets, have also contributed to the price hikes.

Bamboo Airways, for instance, has reduced its fleet from 28 aircraft to only a few after returning all Embraer E190 aircraft to the leasing company.

Pacific Airlines has also ceased operations and returned all aircraft to address debts.

A recall of Pratt & Whitney (PW) PW1100G engines earlier this year has also led to inspections and repairs of manufacturing defects, potentially impacting airline operations.

Local airlines such as Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air, among others, are expected to adjust their fleets or incur huge costs to lease aircraft to maintain operations.

The agency has also predicted high air travel demand will continue during the upcoming peak summer season, which will potentially lead to further increases in domestic airfares.

It has established a task force to investigate the airfare surge as ordered by the transport ministry.

The inspection team will thoroughly review the pricing, transparency, and disclosure of information related to airfares since the beginning of the year, and report its findings to the finance ministry by the end of this week.

The public has recently expressed worries over the price hikes, citing taxes and fees as a contributing factor.

The Tax Management and Policy Supervision Department under the finance ministry has, however, clarified the surge in airfares is not due to taxes or fees.

Reports have shown domestic flight prices during recent five-day holiday have been 1.5 times higher than usual since March.

For instance, a round-trip ticket from Ha Noi to Quy Nhon (which takes one and a half hours) between April 27 and April 30 cost over VN5 million ($200).

The price is VN600,000 higher than that at the peak period a month prior, and VN2 million higher than the following week.  VNS
HA NOI  Doctors at Viet uc Friendship Hospital in Ha Noi have been telling reporters of their success in completing a first-time liver transplant for a patient with acute liver failure (ALF).

Duong uc Hung, director of the Viet uc Hospital, told the media that the success of the surgery on April 22 was a great landmark for Viet Nam's healthcare system.

The female patient, T.T.H., went to the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology (NHOC) in Ha Noi for her fourth IVF embryo transfer, having failed in her last three attempts.

However, after the transfer H. felt tired, with a loss of appetite and nausea, as well as beginning to exhibit slurred speech and agitation. H. sought medical attention at the NHOC where she showed elevated liver enzymes and the absence of pregnancy in the uterus, prompting her transfer to Bach Mai Hospital for emergency treatment.

The patient's condition deteriorated rapidly.

Within just six hours, she fell into a deep coma, became delirious, developed jaundice, severe bilateral lung damage and required mechanical ventilation. She was diagnosed with acute liver failure, grade II hepatic encephalopathy, with a background of unclear hepatitis B history.

She was transferred from Bach Mai Hospital to Viet uc Hospital with a diagnosis of acute liver failure  hepatic coma with a background of hepatitis B and was recommended for a whole liver transplant.

"On the brink of a life-and-death battle with end-stage liver failure, when all hope seemed to have faded away, a miracle happened for her, a suitable liver became available from a brain-dead donor," said Nguyen Quang Nghia, director of the Organ Transplantation Centre, Viet uc Hospital.

The liver donor was a 48-year-old male patient who suffered from traumatic brain injury due to a traffic accident. After testing, the Expert Council of Viet uc Hospital convened and determined that this was a case of brain death.

According to Nghia, despite knowing that the possible success rate of liver transplantation for H. was not high, the doctors at Viet uc Hospital fought every minute in the operating room to save the patient's life.

"On the liver transplant waiting list, there are quite a few people. The doctors hesitated because if they performed the transplant for this patient, other patients would have to wait longer.

"However, if effective intervention is not carried out, the patient will die within about 48 hours, so the hospital leadership decided to proceed with the liver transplant for patient H," said Hung.

A miraculous recovery

Luu Quang Thuy, director of the Anesthesia and Resuscitation Center, Viet uc Hospital, said that after nine tense hours, the surgery ended successfully and the function of the transplanted liver had recovered.

"Normally, with other liver transplant cases, doctors do not use strong antibiotics but this patient who was previously in the intensive care unit, infected before surgery and in a coma, the risk of infection was high. We prescribed antibiotics early, which was very effective," said Thuy.

"The patient was completely conscious after five days and can communicate well. As of today, we confirm that the liver transplant has been successful," said Thuy.

This success further reaffirms the high healthcare reputation of Viet uc Hospital and demonstrates the expertise of Vietnamese doctors in organ transplantation, which is now approaching the global standard.

Viet uc Hospital has now successfully performed 120 liver transplants, 98 of which were from brain-dead donors, mostly for patients on the waiting list.

"The successful liver transplant for patient H from a brain-dead donor opens up a new lease on life for many patients and also promotes the development of organ transplants in the Vietnamese healthcare sector as a whole and specifically at Viet uc Hospital," said Hung.  VNS
KHANH HOA  A 51-year-old Filipino fisherman was saved by a Vietnamese fishing vessel on May 4 afternoon adrift in waters off the Truong Sa island district in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa.

The distressed fisherman, Allan Maglangit, was rescued by a Vietnamese fishing vessel in the area about 15 nautical miles off Thi Tu (Thitu) island.

On the evening of the same day, a ship of the Naval Region 4 High Command which was patrolling the waters received information, found the fishing vehicle and received the Filipino fisherman.

In the afternoon of May 6, the naval ship handed over the Filipino fisherman to a Filipino patrol ship at a point 80 nautical miles off a Thi island.  VNS
HA NOI  The General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) and the Australian Border Force (ABF) took a significant step toward enhanced cooperation by signing a new plan to collaborate on customs investigations and monitoring during talks in Ha Noi on May 7.

The plan, signed by GDVC Director General Nguyen Van Can and ABF Commissioner Michael Outram, signified a commitment to sharing expertise and tackling customs violations.

This collaboration comes amid a thriving economic relationship between Vietnam and Australia. Two-way trade has reached nearly 15 billion USD in recent years, solidifying Australia's position as Vietnam's 10th largest trade partner.

Recognising this growth, both sides highlighted the importance of optimising trade facilitation with effective customs control to ensure national security and safety.

The newly signed plan outlines a collaborative approach to combating illegal commercial activities like smuggling, trade fraud, and the movement of prohibited goods, with a particular focus on drugs, tobacco, and controlled substances.

The GDVC expressed its appreciation for the ABF's ongoing support within the framework of the Container Control Programme (CCP) and its active participation in the Mekong Dragon Campaign, a regional initiative co-initiated by Viet Nam.

It additionally requested the ABF's support in enhancing the capacity of its dog teachers and trainers.

The ABF side said it had appointed representatives at the Australian Embassy in Vietnam to contribute to further developing the friendly and cooperative relationship between the two sides.

Concluding the talks, both sides agreed to hold talks every two years to review progress and draft future cooperation directions.  VNS
HA GIANG  The police force of the northern province of Ha Giang and the border post at the localitys Thanh Thuy International Border Gate handed over four illegal Chinese migrants back to their home country on May 7.

On April 25, the local police discovered that Tho Mi Sinh and Vu No Po, residents in Dong Van district, arranged for the four Chinese nationals to enter Vietnam illegally through the district.

Sinh and Po were then prosecuted and put into temporary detention, while the Chinese nationals got administrative fine and were sent back home in accordance with regulations. VNS
According to the decision approved by DPM Ha on May 4, the MPI will be responsible for building the draft decree to submit to the government in September.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has been assigned to build a draft to amend Decree No.28/2021/ND-CP, providing regulations for the financial management of PPP projects. The MoF is also to complete a draft amending Decree No.69/2019/ND-CP on using public assets for payment to build-transfer projects in northern cities and provinces. The deadline to submit these two draft decrees is also September.

The MPI and the MoF will solicit opinions from the ministries of Transport, Industry and Trade, Construction, Natural Resources and Environment, among others to form the new draft decrees.

The DPM assigned the MPI to coordinate with relevant ministries in assessing the implementation of the Law on Public-Private Partnership Investment enacted in 2020 and reviewing and collecting all obstacles in the deployment process of Decree 35 in March last year.

Implementation strategy for new power development plan approved Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has approved the implementation updates for the country's Power Development Plan VIII (PDP8).

New PDP8 implementation plan brings investment opportunities On April 1, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha approved the implementation updates for Vietnam's Power Development Plan VIII (PDP8), which aims to help build strategic objectives, ensure national energy security, and foster investment across all economic sectors. Senior associate Nguyen Thi Cuc Vi and trainee associate Trinh Linh Chi of Dentons LuatViet explain further.

Implementation of new land laws must benefit investors Foreign investors have expressed their concern about the upcoming implementation of new laws on housing, land, and real estate business, which aim to help expand the right to do business and attain ownership in Vietnam.

Rapid law implementation may propel market fortunes With quicker implementation of Vietnams new land law, the real estate market can resume normal operations and enter a more robust development cycle from the second half of this year.
After receiving a proposal from the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), a report was sent to the government in mid-April by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) regarding its recommendations focusing on reducing working hours.

The MoLISA reported that the policy could impact socioeconomic growth. Accordingly, the ministry has promised to conduct thorough studies to ensure the feasibility of such a policy change, during the process of amending and supplementing the Labour Code.

In early April, the VGCL sent its proposal to adjust normal working hours to 40 hours per week, issued in the context of celebrating Workers Month in May. During May, trade unions will organise dialogues and forums between workers and businesses, and activities to honour workers, strengthen trade union organisations, and encourage trade union members to join the Communist Party of Vietnam.

According to the VGCL, Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest official working hours in the world, and the difference in working hours between white-collar and blue-collar workers is unfair. Therefore, the confederation proposed reducing working hours so that workers have easier conditions to rest and recuperate.

Le Dinh Quang, deputy head of the VGCLs Policy and Law Department, said, Vietnams society has made certain achievements, but workers need to benefit, and we need a roadmap for that. Of course, working hours will be reduced, but working conditions must not be reduced.

Some workers would prefer increased hours while it is optimal for others to have salary raised instead, Photo: Shutterstock

Although a 40-hour working week came into effect in 1999, the regulation is still only implemented in the public sector. Currently, employees working at state agencies have a full day off on Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, most businesses still work on Saturdays.

The proposal to reduce working hours is supported by the majority of hourly-paid workers, but those who are paid per product want to increase their salaries rather than reduce their working hours.

I want to increase my hours to have more income. My job is based on piece work, and if I work five days per week, its not enough to ensure a living, said Ly Hoang, a worker at a garment business in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

Currently, workers here are working 48 hours per week and six days per week according to the provisions of the Labour Code. If working hours are reduced to 40 hours per week, workers incomes will be greatly affected, making it more difficult to ensure a living.

Nguyen Xuan Duong, vice chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association, said, A 40-hour work week is not enough for us to pay our workers.

According to International Labour Organization data from January, the average working time of Vietnamese workers is 41.6 hours/week, including both state agencies and businesses. However, the proportion of workers working 49 hours per week or more is 25 per cent.

To put the proposals into practice, conditions must be gradually prepared such as improving labour productivity, and raising the level of wages and labour income.

Vietnam cannot yet apply the form of working less than 48 hours per week. Workers also want more overtime, but if we reduce official working hours, it will not be suitable in the current conditions and not meet the wishes of the majority of workers as well as employers in the current context, said Hoang Quang Phong, vice president of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Dinh Sy Phuc, head of the union of TKG TaeKwang Vina Co., Ltd in the southern province of Dong Nai, said, It is not the first time that this proposal has been discussed. If it is approved, the company will comply with the regulations. However, in my opinion, there is no plan to optimise for all parties. The key importance is the businesses health and the labour productivity of workers.

If labour productivity is high, the reduction in working time will not impact incomes, and at the same time workers will have more time for themselves to take care of their families, Phuc added. In addition, if the orders of businesses are always full, in collaboration with high productivity, payment for workers will be high.

A further 125,000 workers to go abroad in 2024 The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) predicts that there will be more job opportunities for Vietnamese workers in markets such as Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea this year, with as many as 125,000 contracted workers expected to make the move.

Vietnam sends over 35,900 workers abroad in Q1 Vietnam sent more than 35,900 labourers to work abroad under contracts in the first quarter of 2024, according to the Department of Overseas Labour under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).
Fulani herdsmen on Sunday (May 5) raided a village in southern Kaduna state, Nigeria, killing six Christians, area residents said.

A large number of herdsmen raided predominantly Christian Ambe village, Sanga County, at about midnight as residents were sleeping, said Zachariah Sanga.

They were armed with deadly weapons like guns, machetes, and cudgels, Sanga told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. The herdsmen on arrival shot into houses and at anyone they sighted.

Along with the six Christians slain, eight others were also wounded, he said.

Daniel Amos, a member of Nigerias National Assembly, confirmed in a press statement on Monday (May 6) that six innocent people were killed, and that eight others were wounded and receiving medical treatment.

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I strongly condemn this heinous act, which is another attempt to destabilize the peace and security in my constituency and our dear state, Amos said. It is unacceptable that our people cannot live in peace without fear of being attacked by these criminal elements.

The legislator called on Nigerias security agencies to make end the violence that threatens the existence of Christians in Kaduna state.

I also call on the security agencies to act swiftly to apprehend the perpetrators of this evil act and bring them to justice, he said. The safety of our people must remain a top priority. We cannot allow the criminals to continue to operate with impunity.

Mansir Hassan, spokesman for the Kaduna State Police Command, said in a press statement that villagers had apprehended one of the assailants, and that police were investigating.

Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023, according to Open Doors 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in any other country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300.

Nigeria was also the third highest country in number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.

In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year.

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 growth of cities will often throw up challenges in terms of efficiency, productivity, liveability, and environment, and a central part of this is what is commonly referred to as brownfield development, areas once-utilised now planned for alternative purposes.

Alex Crane, managing director for Knight Frank

Decisions regarding brownfield development and urban regeneration will never appease all stakeholders. By definition, there is an impact on those who live in or near these areas, businesses, local government departments, and wider communities.

It poses a very challenging item of discussion around incentives to businesses on the target site, when the broader decision or urbanisation impacts much more widely.

Taking the decision relating to the conversion of Vietnams oldest industrial park (IP), Bien Hoa 1, into a new urban and commercial area as a typical example, we can see directly and clearly the difficulties workers, investors, and the government will face in making bold decisions.

This decision to move the IP acknowledges specifically that there will be compensation associated, so we will look not to focus on compensation but rather if any incentive may, on balance, be required in addition.

From the perspective of business, the largest challenge alongside capital and funding, more often than not, is that of timing. The proposed conversion of Bien Hoa 1 IP can be documented back to 2009 and business would be aware that the eventual implementation of the project, would not happen overnight.

Accordingly, businesses need to keep operational until there is such time a clear decision is made on any rezoning. It is unlikely any will go to the upheaval of relocating entire manufacturing facilities until there is certainty.

Cost impacts

The difficulty then becomes the timing around the final government decision and allowing business, investors and workers enough time to implement viable alternatives.

On the assumption that there are no ready-made alternatives for the factories in the immediate area, time allowances should be considered to ensure a smoother transition to other sites. Relocation of manufacturing facilities is a huge undertaking in itself and, subject to the complexity of the products, can take years to implement to ensure there is continuity of labour, materials, supply chains, ports, and customers.

There will be a cost impact for companies relocating factories in alternative areas and obviously new construction costs, but also it is likely there will be higher costs of logistics and export given the occupiers of Bien Hoa 1 are currently so well located for road and port infrastructure.

This is all on top of potentially having to re-hire workforces and mobilise severance payments for those workers who may not go to the new facilities. The latter is perhaps an area the government may assist with offsetting the costs.

While the direct impact of rezoning the IP has been foreshadowed, some encouragement for businesses to actively reinvest in their operations is an opportunity for the government to explore incentives or subsidies. Labour challenges could, for example, be met with assistance for the employers with tax breaks or subsidies, to either assist existing workers to relocate with their current employer or recruit new workers in new locations.

The obvious counterargument and area of sensitivity will come from neighbours or competitors of these businesses potentially having an advantage in attracting workers from a small, competitive labour pool. The pro/con argument here may also be seen with tax incentives or subsidies for higher logistics/export costs.

One of the key drivers of the decision to relocate Bien Hoa 1 IP is environmental impact. An opportunity may arise for assistance for these businesses to perhaps receive preferential green or similar loans for the construction of new, more efficient facilities or to improve the environmental impact of their supply chains or treatment of waste.

It would not be fair to assume all businesses will qualify for green-linked loans and so some support for those wishing to improve their environmental impact, while still not being the most environmentally friendly production facilities, would need additional support, but help could be applied to various elements of design, procurement, and construction financing.

Even before new construction of facilities for the impacted companies, the task of sourcing alternative land, designing new facilities and then procuring presumably new plant and machinery is a costly process.

These mobilisation costs may also be something that can be offset, or in the case of planning and development of new facilities, could be fast-tracked. For companies that may need to import new and improved plant and machinery again, a streamlined process could be offered to ensure faster commencement of production in new facilities or procurement of better plant and machinery or construction materials.

Industrial park plans make an impact on those who live in or near them, Photo: Le Toan

Area regeneration

As for the other side of the relocation consideration of the factories, there could be a forward-looking incentive.

In the event factories relocate to another, older IP for example, the IP could receive some incentive to allocate their land to the new factories by way of preferential loan or subsidiaries allowing for any park infrastructure upgrades that benefit the environment, such as waste treatment.

This might be a small way of ensuring the environmental problem is not simply being moved from one IP to another but could be a little step in some improvement or progressive change in the wider area, park, or manufacturing sector.

The challenge for authorities in Vietnam relocating IPs is not unique. Businesses require relocation support and will view it in the same way that foreign companies look to Vietnam as a bright destination for their manufacturing and supply chains.

For manufacturers, the imperatives are logistic infrastructure, access to labour, export and power. Companies looking to relocate from Bien Hoa 1 are no different, and the challenge for all stakeholders is that all of these requirements take years of planning and investment.

As for the regeneration of the area itself, it is certain there are opportunities for some of these potential incentives to be reclaimed from additional taxes in the area or funds raised by auctioning land. It will naturally take some time to recoup, but in the meantime, it is important to progress at a pace that encourages future investment in regeneration but also assists those businesses that are displaced.

There is likely never a perfect balance for all stakeholders, but businesses will hope for the continuity of operations and cost impact while the government will hope for the continuity of the use of the land itself to fulfil the plan of creating a new urban area, bringing jobs, affordable housing, and lessening the environmental impact on the river and surrounding areas.

It is an unenviable task, but one that must be undertaken to allow cities to grow and hopefully at the same time improve the urban landscape and hopefully some of the environmental impact too.

Going ahead, the clearance of the site, any remedial works to contaminated areas, and infrastructure works will be significant, and there is a lot of risk left on the table for future developers to join and undertake.

One hopes that what replaces this once pioneering IP, one clearly at the forefront of Vietnams industrial power, can do the old park itself justice and reflect the country and its industrious spirit; to look forward, to embrace community, and to create opportunity.

Industrial parks within Vietnam keen on Taiwanese investment Industrial parks in Vietnam are moving to pick up a surge of Taiwanese investment.

Amata City Ha Long marks six years of development Amata City Ha Long (also known as Song Khoai Industrial Park), in collaboration with Quang Ninh Economic Zones Authority, organised the first meeting of investors on April 19.

Viglaceras industrial parks continue to attract green projects Viglacera, one of Vietnam's leading industrial park (IP) developers, is spearheading the development of smart IPs to attract green industrial projects.

Financial barriers still remain for true industrial symbiosis Despite having great potential for implementing industrial innovation, Vietnam lacks financial incentives for businesses in executing industrial symbiosis model and preventing them from taping into a circular community.

Vietnam is ready to make a statement with eco-IPs Vietnam is heading towards sustainability in its economic performance. Bruno Jaspaert, CEO of DEEP C Industrial Zones, talked to VIRs Linh Le about the transformative journey towards sustainability in Vietnams business ecosystem, and DEEP Cs pivotal role in this evolution.
Developing green tourism has become an urgent practical need to help increase the numbers of wealthier tourists. According to Tripadvisor, 34 per cent of tourists are willing to pay more to stay in environmentally friendly hotels and half of international tourists are willing to pay more for travel companies that benefit the community and conservation.

Travel for the future

At the Sustainable Green Tourism Development forum held at the end of last month, Nguyen Trung Khanh, director of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, said that climate change and environmental degradation were negatively impacting tourism, but motivating the tourism industry to transform.

Tourism has become an important economic sector, expected to contribute more than 6.4 per cent to Vietnams GDP this year. Therefore, green transformation and tourism are stories of national revival, linked to ecosystems, Khanh said. In the past, tourists considered tourism to be about experiencing, exploring, and enjoying services. Now, 90 per cent of tourists want to contribute to the community and culture when travelling. This is a huge change.

Annual environmental monitoring results of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment show that on average, each tourist generates 1.2 kilogrammes of rubbish per day. Each non-stay tourist has an average amount of waste of 0.5kg a day. Of which, plastic bags, plastic cups, and foam boxes account for about 60 per cent.

In Vietnam, the south-central province of Quang Nam is considered a pioneer in green tourism, striving to become a green tourism centre to protect the ecological environment, prioritise recycled products, and limit emissions.

Since 2020, Quang Nams tourist town of Hoi An has called on the business community and tourists to limit and minimise single-use plastic items, striving to ban single-use and non-degradable plastic bags by 2025.

Co To island district in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh has also become a bright spot for green tourism. According to the Peoples Committee of Co To, there was a period during the peak tourist season, where every day Co To had to collect 20-30 tonnes of waste, of which, plastic waste alone accounted for one to two tonnes a day.

Since 2020, Co To has approved the project to ban plastic waste by 2025 and piloted a regulation that tourists must not bring plastic bottles, nylon bags, or materials that are at risk of causing environmental pollution to the island. All travel companies in Co To have registered to organise green tours, all restaurants, hotels, and small businesses have committed not to use single-use plastic products.

Along with Hoi An and Co To, many green destinations, green accommodation facilities, and green tourism products are also being formed in other localities such as Ninh Binh, Ninh Thuan, and Con Dao. However, the number of green conversion units is still minimal.

In Vietnam, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has so far not yet issued any specific legal guidelines for recognising green tourism enterprises.

According to Le Thi Le Thanh, director of the Department of Tourism of the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, Vietnam should learn from advanced practices and models. For example, the Maldives has issued a methodical and scientific investment and tourism development policy towards sustainable development. Resorts on the islands must have no more than 30 per cent construction area, no building can be higher than the top of a coconut tree, and at least 45 per cent of employees working at the resort must be Maldivian nationals.

Transforming green tourism is not only a matter of greening the tourist space and protecting the ecological environment, but also requires a change in the thinking of tourism workers and proper behaviour with nature, Thanh said.

Vo Tri Thanh, director of the Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy, said that Vietnam was facing two big challenges in green tourism. First is the difficulty in changing, transforming from awareness into action of businesses, tourists, and people at the destination in the tourism ecosystem; second is the story of competition, as going green is now not only a political commitment but also a national action strategy and a demand of the market itself.

If we do not keep up the pace, the competitiveness of Vietnamese tourism will fall, especially with so many other countries with attractive tourism in the region, he said.

According to Patrick Haverman, deputy representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Vietnam, green transformation in Vietnamese tourism needs to focus on green planning and effective destination management, plastic-free and low-carbon tourism, and sustainable tourism based on nature.

Vietnam still has much to do to enhance the effectiveness of tourism destination management. There needs to be involvement and leadership from local authorities, alongside close coordination with the private sector and local communities, he said.

Hanoi promotes experiential tourism linked to heritage, trade villages Hanoi, home to a large number of cultural and historical sites and craft villages, is taking measures to develop experiential tourism to attract more visitors to the over-1,000-year-old capital.

Hau Giang to turn tourism into top spearhead sector The Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang is sparing no effort to best avail of bountiful local resources to drive its development.
When someone lashes out at you because they are seeking revenge, it can be very scary. Resentment and anger can turn some people into evildoers who think they are completely in the right. They do not think about the damage they are doing to people on the sidelines, sometimes including their own children. When vengeful people want to get back at an ex or someone they believe has mistreated them, all reason goes out the window, and they may become blind with rage.

If this is something you are dealing with, please be careful. This type of anger can be very dangerous for both you and your loved ones. You may get abused, threatened, stalked or terrorized, and you may think there is nothing you can do about it. You need to know that help is out there.

Talk with a lawyer and the police, and dont be afraid to make a report. Also dont be afraid to say that you are afraid. If you dont take this seriously, the authorities wont, either. The actions I mentioned above are all crimes, and you deserve and can receive protection. Unfortunately, sometimes people do their best to make another persons life miserable  they even try to destroy it  and never stop to think that they are committing a crime.

One of the worst parts of going through something like this is the anxiety and depression it can cause. It can be very difficult to shake off, and you may find yourself ruminating on how your life has taken such a bad turn or on what else could go wrong. This is when you need to get support, and you need to remember to eat well and drink plenty of fluids.

Finding ways to relax and center yourself, if only for a few moments, can be very helpful. If you are dwelling on whats going on, its important to take breaks throughout the day from thinking about it. It helps to remember the positives in your life. Deep breathing is another helpful tool. To make it more effective, when you inhale, hold your breath for three seconds before exhaling. Pausing for deep breathing throughout the day will give you some relief.

Talking out your feelings is also very important. If you sit on a bunch of emotional distress, hoping to lessen the impact on your loved ones, it wont work. Your loved ones will be affected by your situation. To minimize the fallout, I advise talking with someone other than your mate, because your mate is also dealing with the same issues but just at a different level. Instead, I strongly urge seeking a licensed professional who has some experience helping people cope with the kind of difficulties you are going through.

The old saying This too shall pass is an important one to remember as you fight this battle. Trust that you have done nothing wrong, and focus on the good that is going on around you. In time, your life will be normal again.
United Methodist Churchs (UMC) General Conference held in Charlotte, N.C. USA, from April 23 - May 3, 2024, has left behind ripples and discordant voices from Africa about the Churchs position on same sex marriage and the ordination of gay persons into the churchs pastoral ministry.

The UMC General Conference had amended some provisions in its Book of Discipline, approving the ordination of gay clergy and gay marriages in the church as well as removing a rolue that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. With this development, the UMC has joined several other mainline Protestant denominations in fully affirming LGBT lifestyles, with the ordination of LGBT clergy and performance of same-sex marriages in UMC churches.

However, United Methodist Church delegates from five African countries of Liberia, Congo, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe, on Thursday, 2 May, 2024, issued a statement outside of the conference venue expressing sadness that in spite of the opposition by UMC members from the African continent, the churchs General Conference has resolved to grant approval to gay marriages and ordination of gay clergy into pastoral ministry of the church.

A copy of the statement issued by UMC delegates from Africa, obtained by Christian Daily International (CDI), contains issues the bishops believe contradict Gods position on marriage, the teachings of Jesus on marriage, and the overwhelming evidence that the Bible stands against same-sex marriage.

The Delegates from Africa, Rev. Dr. Jerry P. Kulah (Liberia), Prosperous Tunda (Congo), Rev. Dr. Danjuma Judi (Nigeria), Dr. Yeabu Kamara (Sierra Leone), and Ginford Dzimati (Zimbabwe), in their statement said: We speak as Africans, representing the majority of African delegates and, we believe, the vast majority of United Methodists in the thirty-five annual conferences in Africa.

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We have loved The United Methodist Church. We have been grateful for The United Methodist Church. We have joyfully served The United Methodist Church. But now our hearts are troubled.

The postponed 2020 General Conference of The United Methodist Church has changed the United Methodist definition of marriage  not because the Bible has changed. But because western culture has changed. At this Conference The United Methodist Church has chosen to follow what pleases man instead of what pleases God.



They went on to lament the absence of many African delegates due to lack of timely support from the UMC, which they interpreted as one more sign that Africans are not welcome after a series of disparaging remarks by some voices in the UMC.

Many African delegates are not here. They desired to be present and had planned to attend. But they were not invited by the Commission on General Conference in time to receive their visas. Over 70 of us from Africa are not present. That is roughly 25% of our delegates.

Ten months ago we began sending letters and emails and making phone calls, alerting the Commission on General Conference and some of our bishops that there was a problem. Many of these communications never received a single response. It felt as if we were not valued or wanted.

At a past General Conference, we Africans were told that we spoke too loudly and that we should close our mouths. After another General Conference a bishop said we Africans need to grow up and think for ourselves. At this conference many of us were not even provided with the documents we needed to be present.

One mainstream UMC leader wrote that The United Methodist Church should be willing to lose Africa to fulfill its progressive agenda. It is hard for us to believe we are valued as true brothers and sisters within The United Methodist Church. It is difficult to trust that we are seen as equal partners.

The United Methodist Church has changed the definition of marriage. It now defines marriage differently from what God created it to be in the beginning (Genesis 2:18, 23-25). It has changed the definition of marriage from how Jesus described it in Matthew 19 as one man and one woman.

In Africa we do not believe we know better than Jesus. We do not believe we know better than God. We do not believe we know better than the Bible.

We must now return to Africa and tell our people that The General Conference did not listen to us, does not value us as partners, and is willing to lose us to pursue its liberal western agenda.

In his sermon to this General Conference, a UM bishop stated that if we cannot get on the UMC train and embrace its destination, we should leave. But what do we do when the train has run over us and left our hearts bleeding with sorrow and pain?

We want the UMC to hear. We want our people in Africa to hear. We want the world to hear. We do not accept a change in the definition of marriage, and we will never accept marriage as anything other than one man and one woman, no matter what the Book of Discipline says.

We are devastated now to be part of a denomination that officially contradicts the Bibles teaching on marriage and sexual morality. We return to Africa with important decisions to make regarding the future.

Still, we go home full of hope, confident in Jesus, standing on the word of God, and determined to contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. We return to Africa where the church is growing, nonbelievers are coming to faith and disciples are being made for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the UMC Africa delegates said.

In response, a lone dissenting voice from Africa, Rev. Emmanuel Ande, another delegate to the conference from Nigeria, said in spite of the resolution by the UMC leadership to embrace same sex doctrine, UMC members in Africa still have confidence in the global fellowship of United Methodist Church.

In a statement, Ande said, We are voices of unity for the United Methodist Church from conferences across Africa, both lay and clergy.

We join millions of United Methodists in rejoicing for the success recorded at this General Conference. Our Church is holding the most peaceful, respectful, and spirit-filled General Conference in more than 40 years.

Since we have been here, we have witnessed increased energies in hospitality, and a willingness to listen among delegates, bishops, and presiding officers alike.

This statement is necessary because of the respect and confidence we have of all the proceedings of the General Conference so far; the deep love which we have for our beloved United Methodist Church (UMC); and the promising future that lies ahead of us.

We write in response to "A Position of the Majority Delegates of the Central Conferences of Africa to the UMC General Conference, Charlotte, USA April 23 - May 3, 2024" written by five WCA/GMC proxies among African delegates.

We wish to unequivocally clarify to all the GC delegates, United Methodists, and well-wishers that this statement is presented falsely and does not represent the majority of African delegates as claimed.

Judging from the votes taken on consent calendar items yesterday and today, including some with over 90% consensus: it is clear that the majority of Africans are in support of every positive action taken so far by the General Conference.

We are aware of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused several postponements of the General Conference and we appreciate the work of the organizers of the General Conference to make the event finally happen. Despite all challenges, African representation and participation are visible.

The General Conference has heard the voices of African delegates and passed a resolution that will ensure effective participation of Central Conferences and specifically from Africa moving into the future. We have experienced a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect.

He pointed to the decision on worldwide regionalization within the UMC to allow regional bodies to address various concerns, including those specific to Africa.

With worldwide regionalization, Africa will make decisions and policies that are more responsive to African contexts and challenges. It offers Africa the autonomy to continue to adapt our Book of Discipline based on our context. It allows African churches to address our unique theological, social, and cultural issues without strict oversight from other bodies of the Church, including the United States.

Regionalization will allow more equitable resource allocation, ensuring that African churches receive the support they need for their ministries and missions. Regionalization can enhance mission and outreach efforts by allowing African churches to develop strategies that are tailored to their communities, languages, and cultural norms.

Social Principles and Definition of Marriage: Within the context of worldwide regionalization as adopted by the General Conference, Africa will hold its definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Therefore, it is a great distortion of fact to give the impression that the United Methodist Church is enforcing every region of the Church to accept same-sex marriages. In fact, it was an African delegate who suggested the language on marriage that we adopted.

We wish to make it clear that the statement issued on May 2, 2024 by a few individuals does not represent the voices of all Africans. We are excited to be in The United Methodist Church today and in the years to come, Rev. Ande said.

However, Ande's position in support of UMCs resolution on same-sex marriages has not been accepted by some of his pastors in Nigeria. Two Pastors from United Methodist Church Nigeria have expressed their anger against the support of their delegate, Rev. Emmanuel Ande on the gay marriage.

Pastor Nuhu Absalom, a Nigerian UMC Pastor, in response to Rev. Andes statement, said to CDI that: I have watched the proceedings at the just concluded General Conference of our Church, UMC. Finally, delegates at the General Conference have voted overwhelmingly in favor of gay marriage on claims that there are certain provisions that are incompatible that need to be removed the churchs Book of Discipline.

These so-called incompatible provisions are that its ungodly to approve gay marriages and that marriage be only between a man and a woman. These provisions have now been deleted and replaced with new provisions approving gay marriages and ordination of gay clergy in the UMC Book of Discipline.

The removal of these provisions has nothing to do with the question of Regionalization of UMC Churches. Its unfortunate that the initial stance of Rev. Emmanuel Ande, is that UMC Africa churches are against gay marriage and ordination of gay Pastors. So, why the sudden shift in this position to supporting gay marriages?

The Mainstream UMC is responsible for pushing this satanic agenda in the United Methodist Church. Rev. Andes shift in position shows he cannot be trusted to remain faithful to the ethics and doctrines of the Christian faith. We should not be deceived, gay marriages will not be restricted in America alone, but will affect the global UMC congregations, Absalom said.

Samuel Sunday, another Pastor of the UMC in Nigeria expressed sadness about the stance of Rev. Emmanuel Ande. He believes that the position of other Africa delegates at the UMC conference speaks the minds of all UMC members in Africa.

Sunday, in response to CDIs inquiries about the reaction of UMC members to new changes to the churchs Book of Discipline said, We await the return of African delegates to the conference and see what will be done. But, whatever it is, we members of the United Methodist Church in Africa are not in support of gay marriages and gay clergy in the church.
Fianna Fail Senator Lisa Chambers, a European candidate for the Midlands Northwest constituency has written to Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill, regarding the alarming numbers of immigrants entering the Republic of Ireland from Britain through Northern Ireland. In her correspondence, Senator Chambers has directly queried First Minister O'Neill on how she plans to address this issue, as it is a shared challenge.

Expressing profound concern over the implications of this situation, Senator Chambers emphasised the necessity for collaborative action to tackle this shared challenge. There were comments in the House of Commons this week which said that Northern Ireland should not become a dumping ground for the UKs problems. Senator Chambers says that by extension, Ireland should not become such a dumping ground also.

Senator Chambers said, "It is not acceptable that Britain's migration policy seems to be to Rwanda or to Ireland - this is not how neighbours should interact with each other."

Drawing attention to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's comments on RTE Radio earlier this week referencing legislation that grants powers to monitor entry points into Northern Ireland, at ports or airports, Senator Chambers sought clarity on whether these powers are being considered or looked at by First Minister O'Neill. Given the gravity of the issue for the entire island, Senator Chambers underscored the urgency of addressing this matter comprehensively.

Senator Chambers stated, "The influx of immigrants from the UK through Northern Ireland and into Ireland is a pressing concern that demands immediate attention and collaborative action. It is imperative that we work together to find equitable solutions that uphold the integrity of our borders and ensure fair treatment for both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland."

Senator Chambers urged First Minister O'Neill to engage in transparent dialogue and proactive measures to address the shared immigration challenges facing both jurisdictions.
Hundreds of Portuguese people responded to a gospel call to true life in Jesus Christ made by evangelist Will Graham, the grandson of the late Billy Graham. The Celebration of Hope with Will Graham (Celebracao da Esperanca com Will Graham) ran at the Super Bock Arena, Porto, Portugal on April 26. More than 140 local churches got involved in the event.

Some 480 responded to an invitation to get to know Jesus personally, or to ask for prayer and ask further questions. An overflow audience of 6,170 people attended the celebration, which coincided with Portugals Freedom Day, marking 50 years since the country embraced democracy.

The Rev. Pedro Costa, pastor president of the Brethren Church of North Portugal, said the event had a great professional quality in terms of music and technique.

We have never had that before, Costa said, with TAYA and The Afters performing a variety of well-known and original songs, from the famous How Great Thou Art anthem to youthful songs that cheered the great presence of young people to jumping in a great celebration of praise to God.

But the main thing was Will's message about King Manasseh and the call to repentance and salvation in Jesus Christ.

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We now have the task of accompanying them through the churches.

Christian Daily International spoke to Will Graham just days before the occasion, to ask about his expectations for the country of Portugal. Graham said churches in Porto had invited the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and he was thankful for the invitation.

We are coming here to share the good news of Jesus, its been a number of years since my father Franklin visited and we are excited. It feels that the time is right and we are very grateful for the invitation from the pastors in this area to preach in Porto.

Graham said his team, excited about the opportunity, wanted to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and make him known to a new generation and city that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association hasnt been to before.

The style of the evangelistic celebration echoed his grandaddys preaching events but with a different preacher.

People from all walks of life have been invited. There has been predominantly work with the local churches, working in local neighborhoods to come and help gather people.

Graham preached in English with the help of a Portuguese interpreter.

We are going to invite people to come forward and make a decision about Jesus Christ and if they want to ask Jesus to come into their lives. We are also going to have some wonderful music but whats really going to matter is people putting their faith and hope in Jesus Christ and that is what I have been hoping for.

Graham emphasized that he had met and prayed with local pastors, generating a lot of excitement about the gospel.

A lot of them have been working together in this last year and its great to be with them and to see their hard work, he said. I am grateful for their involvement because this is their event and they just asked me to be the preacher.

We will be proclaiming the greatest news there is  that Jesus loves people, and if we repent of our sins, he forgives us freely. That is the greatest message to tell and these pastors standing next to me are very excited about it.

Graham preached using the example of King Manassah from 2 Kings 21. He was one of the most wicked people but he asked for forgiveness and God forgave him, Graham explained.

He was a wicked king who came out of exile and ruled as a good king because God changed his heart.

It doesnt matter what you have done in life, God is always willing to give us a second chance. Manassah was one of the most wicked people who ever lived but he changed.

Grahams assessment of faith in Portugal is that the Portuguese are a very religious people, with 80 percent of them Catholic.

Sometimes people put their hope in religion instead of a personal relationship with God and think if they just go to church, whether thats Catholic or Protestant, or Presbyterian, whatever it is, that that will get them to heaven.

A man in the Bible exemplifying that truth is Nicodemus in John 3, according to Graham. He pointed out that this very religious, devout, sincere and faithful man needed to be born again  as Jesus told him.

Nicodemus had a hard time understanding that and the Bible never says whether he did or didnt get born again. But we see him later at the empty tomb and I believe that he did come to know Jesus personally.

I see the same thing in Portugal. It is very religious but putting hope and trust in religion is not the same as putting hope and trust personally in the person of Jesus Christ.

Graham shared about his own journey to faith in Christ saying that as a boy he religiously attended Sunday School and did all the things you are supposed to do.

My grandaddy was Billy Graham and I believed in God. But my dad Franklin explained to me when I was six years old that that was not enough. I had to ask Jesus Christ to come into my life.

Despite being a youngster, Graham realized the answer lay in Jesus, not religion. Life did not change drastically but he then found a new direction in God.

I realized that I was a sinner and had done things that disappointed God and I had never asked God to forgive me. I believed in him but I had never asked Jesus to personally come into my life, and thats the difference between religion and a personal relationship with God.

A lot of religious people are sincere but you can be sincere but still go to hell, said Graham, adding: what is required is for us to put our faith in Jesus Christ and surrender our lives to him.

After the celebration, Graham said local churches would disciple the new believers. He pointed out that the BGEA came by invitation only, so the follow-up is planned by local churches welcoming those people.

We believe in the local church. Jesus Christ came to start his Church and that is where discipleship takes place. We proclaim the good news and get those people plugged into a local church. That is why we work with local churches. The most important thing is that we dont come and do it all by ourselves.

Graham also challenged any cynicism about large events, telling Christian Daily International that 80 percent of people attending a crusade had been brought by another person. Friendship evangelism is the foremost method to complement such an evangelistic event.

Big crusade events are a great way for evangelism but whether they are the best way depends on the people involved. Everyone has got to use their gift.

When we go to a large crusade, even in my grandaddys [Billy Graham] time, it was always about one person. But 80 percent of people coming forward at a crusade had been brought by another person. In other words, someone reaching out to another person and bringing them with them.

It is one-to-one evangelism but we do it on a massive scale, with people bringing loved ones, neighbors, and friends, and saying to them why not come to this event and hear about Jesus Christ.

Any time we do something, we want to do it to the best of our ability. Christians really have the most to sing about.
Scams are epidemic these days as criminals use every conceivable avenue to separate consumers from their cash. It makes sense that they frequently pretend to be big companies or institutions affiliated with millions of people (potential victims, in their minds): the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, big banks such as Wells Fargo and Chase  or massive retailers such as Amazon.



Amazon, which raked in nearly $575 billion in net sales last year, is the low hanging fruit for scammers, because its one of those entities that binds us all, says Mark Fetterhoff, a senior adviser at AARP Fraud Watch Network.

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The massive company was the second-most frequently impersonated business in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The agency received about 44,000 reports about scammers using Amazon's name, with $19 million reported lost. The most frequently impersonated was Best Buy and its Geek Squad service (about 52,000 reports, citing $15 million in losses).

Impersonation scams in general  in which criminals pretend to represent a business or official agency, usually to steal money  cost Americans at least $1.1 billion last year, according to reports to the FTC. These figures reflect just a small fraction of the public harm  because the vast majority of frauds are not reported to the government, the FTC says.

In response, an FTC rule went into effect April 1 that includes stronger prohibitions and greater penalties against business and government impersonation.

Older adults are more likely to lose more money to scams than younger ones: a median loss of $803 per person for people in their 70s, compared with $460 for victims in their 30s.

Amazon-impersonation scams grow more complex

The FTC said in an April report that its seeing an increase in cases of criminals impersonating more than one organization in a single scam  for example, a fake Amazon employee might transfer you to a fake bank or even a fake FBI or FTC employee for fake help.

Charlotte Cowles, the financial advice columnist for The Cut magazine, described in a story how she became a victim of a multilayered Amazon-impersonation scam  a reminder that nobody is immune to fraud. Cowles explained that she received a call from someone claiming to be from Amazon customer service, asking if shed recently spent $8,000 on MacBooks and iPads. No, she hadnt. Must have been identity theft, she and the caller concluded. In panic mode, Cowles interacted with people impersonating investigators from the FTC and the CIA, and by the end of the day, she had withdrawn $50,000 and given it to an Uber driver so it could be taken to a secure location. When she stopped to take a breath, she realized what had happened. Someone waged psychological warfare on me, she concluded, and I lost.

Some victims have been devastated by similar schemes. A retired Montana woman lost her life savings in a scam that began with a call from Amazon informing her of fraudulent activity on her account. That led to a supposed investigation by a man posing as a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, who took $240,000 from her through an elaborate scheme. (Hear her story on this episode of AARPs The Perfect Scam podcast.)

It is not a new problem, but its a growing problem, says Abigail Bishop, Amazons head of external relations for scam prevention. And its an ever evolving problem, which makes it incredibly difficult for those who are fighting it to keep up and to continue to find ways to sufficiently protect consumers because scammers are incredibly sophisticated. Criminals replicate the ways that Amazon and other businesses communicate with their customers in ways that are incredibly convincing, she says.

Common Amazon-impersonation scams

Sometimes the criminals will use a mix of the scams described below.

The fake order or delivery. Youll receive a message that theres a problem with your shipment and you need to pay a fee to straighten it out. The message may include a link that  like so many delivery scams involving UPS or the U.S. Postal Service  if clicked, might download malware on to your computer or lead you to a request for personal information. Or you may be contacted by phone, and the criminal will request your password, your payment information or other sensitive data. They may suggest that theres a technical problem and ask to take control of your computer to fix it (see Tech support scam below).

Suspicious purchase. This common scam accounted for two-thirds of the fraud reports Amazon received globally last year. The criminals call to confirm your purchase of whats usually a big-ticket item  for instance, the $8,000 worth of tech devices that scammers said had been charged to Cowles account. And youre like, Im sorry. What?  Bishop says. Youre caught off guard, which they use to their advantage, creating that false urgency. We really need to resolve this issue. 
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Washington, D.C, May 7, 2024 AEST (ABN Newswire) - In this segment of The Ellis Martin Report, we visit with Alex Hanly, CEO of Lithium Universe Ltd ( ASX:LU7 ) ( ESMAF:OTCMKTS ) at the Energy Transition Metals Summit in Washington, DC. Mr. Hanly discusses the reasoning behind the stationing one of North America's only lithium refinery's in Becancour, Quebec, Canada. This plant will serve as a receiver of lithium feedstock from several places globally in addition to scores of Canadian companies operating in Eastern Canada.



*To view Listen to the Interview, please visit:

https://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/N9D66QY0







About Lithium Universe Ltd





Lithium Universe Ltd (ASX:LU7) (FRA:KU00) (OTCMKTS:LUVSF), headed by industry trail blazer, Iggy Tan, and the Lithium Universe team has a proven track record of fast-tracking lithium projects, demonstrated by the successful development of the Mt Cattlin spodumene project for Galaxy Resources Limited.

Instead of exploring for the sake of exploration, Lithium Universe's mission is to quickly obtain a resource and construct a spodumene-producing mine in Quebec, Canada. Unlike many other Lithium exploration companies, Lithium Universe possesses the essential expertise and skills to develop and construct profitable projects.

About The Ellis Martin Report

The Ellis Martin Report (TEMR) is an internet based radio program showcasing potentially undervalued companies to an audience of potential retail investors and fund managers that comprise our listening audience. TEMR is broadcasted on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel and The Opportunity Radio Network. CEO and company interviews are paid for by those represented on the program.

Related Companies
Frank Stella, an artist widely regarded as the trailblazer and well-respected innovator of the abstract expressionism movement famous for his 1950s "Black Paintings," passed away Saturday, May 4.

According to The New York Times, Stella had been battling lymphoma right until his death at his home in the West Village of Manhattan last weekend, citing his wife Dr. Harriet E. McGurk for the news.

The abstract expressionist is among many of those who rose to prominence after the postwar years. However, he is one of the few who stuck out, especially following his bare paintings that were made as a riposte to the movement.

Famously, he is quoted for his admonition to the critics against his work, where he said: "What you see is what you see."

The Expansive Influence of Frank Stella's Career

In the 1950s and '60s, Stella would redefine what it means to paint and how paintings are perceived time and time again, but his most subversive move was when he took up a zero-degree approach to abstraction.

By then, his paintings became maximal and were a lot more eye-catching due to the vibrant combinations of hues he would often express through shimmering patterns. He would also produce shaped canvases that broke through the medium's four-sided confines at this time.

Essentially, he transitioned to the realm of sculpture, and through the decades, his art has adapted to this form-heavy approach and slowly became larger as consecutive works were produced.

Often made from unconventional and "brutalist" materials like steel and fiberglass, Stella leaned in on trying to bombard the senses of his would-be viewers by using dichotomous design themes that are both garish and beautiful.

From the 1960s until recent times, the critics' views of Stella's art have turned positive for the most part. That said, his work has always been considered important in the grand scheme of American art history. He was even recognized through a 2015 retrospective at New York's Whitney Museum.

Show curator Adam Weinberg wrote in its catalog that Stella's best qualities were "his impulsiveness, willingness to take risks, desire to be separated from the group, and to do things his own way."

"A giant of post-war abstract art, Stella's extraordinary, perpetually evolving oeuvre investigated the formal and narrative possibilities of geometry and color and the boundaries between painting and objecthood," wrote Marianne Boesky Gallery, the artist's long-time NY representative.
Experience Commerce (EC), a leading digital agency within the Cheil Network, is pleased to announce that it has won the digital mandate for SAVSOL, the flagship engine oil brand of Savita Oil Technologies. This strategic collaboration designates EC as the exclusive digital agency for SAVSOL, entrusted with the pivotal mission of fortifying brand awareness and driving business growth through an integrated suite of digital, creative, and performance marketing services.

Savita Oil Technologies Ltd is Indias leading petroleum specialties company and Asias first carbon-positive petroleum specialties company. It specializes in Transformer Oils, White Mineral Oils, Lubricating and Automotive Oils, and Specialty Polymer products like petroleum jelly, waxes, and emulsions. Savitas Research and Development Department was setup to be the first of its kind in the private sector oil industry in India to be recognized by the Government of Indias Department of Science and Technology. Not only does it launch products of unprecedented quality, but as a forward-thinking company, it constantly innovates to meet the changing requirements of Indian roads. SOTL is also renowned for its automotive and industrial lubricants, with its domestic brand Savsol being a household name in the lubricant market. Recently it introduced its latest innovation, Savsol Ester 5 range, featuring an advanced Ester Fluid Technology, marking a significant leap in lubrication technology.

As the appointed digital and creative agency for SAVSOL, Experience Commerce is poised to strategize and curate tailored digital content aimed at engaging the brands target audience and amplifying consumer interaction across digital platforms. Leveraging its multifaceted expertise, EC will curate content designed to provide valuable insights, resources, and support related to engine oil technology advancements, maintenance guidelines, user guides, and more, thereby nurturing lasting relationships with consumers.

Furthermore, Experience Commerce will harness the power of influencer marketing to augment reach and credibility, while also collaborating with mechanics, biker communities, and independent shops to bolster brand advocacy.

The mandate also encompasses the expansion of SAVSOL's e-commerce presence and driving conversion. This initiative involves establishing a robust online presence and directly selling SAVSOL products through prominent e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, with plans for further expansion onto other platforms in the future.

Sibasish Guha, Head of Digital Marketing at SAVSOL, stated, We're thrilled to join forces with Experience Commerce to elevate our brand presence and engage our audience effectively. With a legacy spanning over five decades, preserving and advancing our heritage is paramount. Recognizing the rapid growth of the digital landscape, we're committed to fortifying our online footprint across social media and e-commerce platforms. EC's alignment with our values positions them as the ideal partner to help us achieve this goal and foster business growth."

Experience Commerce's mandate encompasses a comprehensive approach, ranging from strategic content creation to influencer marketing initiatives aimed at enhancing brand credibility and reach. By offering valuable insights, resources, and support related to engine oils and automotive maintenance, EC seeks to elevate customer engagement and establish SAVSOL as a trusted authority in its domain.

Meera Ghare, Vice President and Business Head at Experience Commerce, remarked, "We are pleased to welcome SAVSOL to our brand portfolio. As our agency expands, we seek partnerships with brands that share our values and methodologies. Our extensive industry experience enables us to curate content and creative strategies tailored to resonate with the clients target audience, ultimately aiding Savsol in building a robust digital community. We are grateful for Savsol's trust in entrusting Experience Commerce with their digital responsibilities. With our team's expertise, we are confident in surpassing client expectations."

Experience Commerce, boasting over 16 years of industry experience, is a dynamic full-service digital agency committed to delivering end-to-end strategic marketing solutions. Through its creative expertise, EC endeavours to create immersive brand experiences that drive revenue and engage consumers.








Mumbai-based ROI-focused agency Yellophant Digital, started by Preksha Sheth, Angad Singh Manchanda, & Lavinn Rajpal in 2020 to cater to startups and SMEs, has officially been acquired by the independent global advertising agency Chimp&z Inc. As a way forward, Preksha Sheth has exited the agencys management, giving Chimp&z Inc a hold of the company. This acquisition marks a milestone in Yellophant's young journey, and Chimp&z Inc aims to expand its service offerings to MSME brands, startups, & emerging brands in the Indian ecosystem with this venture. Yellophant Digital is eager to introduce its new team and rebrand as Yellophant, bringing fresh AI-driven affordable solutions for young brands in the Indian subcontinent. Together, Chimp&z Inc and Yellophant aim to lead AI-integrated marketing solutions to cater to budgeted clients efficiently. These solutions encompass artificial intelligence, data tracking on social media, content creation using generative AI, films, corporate AVs, and animated short videos, which will help marketers find a niche and top-quality design language. These solutions help improve efficiency and error reduction, provide easier customization, and increase campaign ROI for better results.

With its operations continuing from its Mumbai headquarters, Yellophants team of 20+ professionals will now work with the employees of Chimp&z Inc thus strengthening their global deliveries. Yellophant's proven success in collaborations with brands such as Tata Starbucks, Siyarams, Complan Nutrigro, Cadini, Klenvor, Kiddoze, Oxemberg, Edmingle, 1Rivet, CarBoli, mySmilist, Beleaf Organics, Mezaya, ExpertMFD, and others showcases a compelling fusion of experience and innovation in their collective journey.

Commenting on the recent acquisition, Co-founders Angad Singh Manchanda and Lavinn Rajpal commented, With this acquisition, we aim to remodel Yellophant into a future-proof agency with new-age digital solutions. Our commitment to innovation propels Chimp&z Incs global network to new heights. This growth will help us accommodate the new developments in the industry. Marketing is soon going to be about how smart your channels are rather than how many channels you use for marketing, this change is going to be led by artificial intelligence, & with this venture, we aim to do that by delivering cutting-edge digital solutions to our clients.
Buffalo Soldiers, celebrated as the 'Rising Maverick Agency of 2023', announces its latest client acquisition - Columbia Pacific Communities, Indias largest and most preferred senior living community operator. This partnership symbolizes a new chapter in digital engagement for senior living, with Buffalo Soldiers managing Columbia Pacific Communities' social media, online reputation, and crafting innovative campaigns throughout the year. This collaboration aligns with Columbia Pacific Communities' commitment to providing exceptional care and experiences for seniors, enabling them to enjoy their golden years to the fullest.

This partnership with Buffalo Soldiers is a step towards enhancing our digital engagement, reaching out to more seniors and their families, and creating awareness about the enriching lifestyle we offer, says Sanjay Vishwanathan, Senior Vice President  Sales and Marketing, Columbia Pacific Communities. "Partnering with Buffalo Soldiers allows us to create this engagement in new and meaningful ways. We're excited to see how this partnership will enrich our communication and storytelling," Sanjay Vishwanathan added.

Columbia Pacific Communities stands at the forefront of senior living in India, offering a blend of comfort, community, and care. Their decision to partner with Buffalo Soldiers reflects a commitment to innovation and excellence in their digital presence. Sumon K Chakrabarti, Co-Founder & CEO of Buffalo Soldiers, expresses his enthusiasm, Were honored to partner with Columbia Pacific Communities. Our goal is to create digital narratives that resonate with the vibrant lives of seniors. This is a unique opportunity to redefine how senior living communities engage online. CPC offers us a chance to delve into a sector that's close to our hearts. Seniors have rich stories and experiences, and our aim is to bring these stories to life digitally, connecting them with a broader audience, Chakrabarti added.

Buffalo Soldiers expertise in digital creativity is set to bring a fresh perspective to the senior living sector, highlighting the vibrant and fulfilling lifestyle that Columbia Pacific Communities provides.

This partnership is not just about marketing; it's about creating a community and a sense of belonging online. Buffalo Soldiers plans to use its expertise to develop content that celebrates the spirit of senior living, fostering a sense of connection and engagement among the residents and their families.

Through innovative digital campaigns, Buffalo Soldiers aims to highlight the unique aspects of Columbia Pacific Communities, showcasing the vibrant lifestyle and comprehensive care they offer. This synergy is expected to not only elevate the brands presence but also contribute significantly to the conversation around senior living in India.




Mayur Hola, who previously served as the chief marketing officer for Culinary Brands, has transitioned to Swiggy as their vice president of brand. In this new role, Hola will oversee various aspects of Swiggy's operations, including its food delivery segment, Instamart, Minis, and Genie. Despite his location in Delhi NCR, Hola will work remotely for the Bengaluru-based company.

During his tenure at Culinary Brands, Hola spearheaded marketing efforts for Subway, Lavazza, and Fresh & Honest Coffee. His extensive experience also includes stints at Oyo, McCann, Havas Worldwide, Contract India, Ogilvy, and TBWA.

He officially assumed his new position on May 1st.
Business process digital transformation company Cygnet Digital has rebranded itself as CYGNET.ONE to help consolidate its products, services, and solutions offerings.

With this consolidated portfolio of offerings, CYGNET.ONE will help organizations tackle industry challenges through business process transformation centered on cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Niraj Hutheesing, founder and managing director of CYGNET.ONE said, Every step, every innovation at CYGNET.ONE strives towards a future where technology converges with human creativity, emotions, and intuitive intelligence. We aim to unlock the power of the human mind through out-of-the-box ideation until last-mile execution for solving organizational challenges.

With this rebranding, CYGNET.ONE brings all its specialized offerings, such as compliance transformations, digital and quality engineering, enterprise modernization, data, AI & analytics hyper-automation, test automation, e-signing, and more, under one roof. Cygnet envisions to be one of the top 3 leaders in the tax technology space within India.

Since the inception of GST in 2017, Cygnet has been a key enabler for India's compliance journey, providing essential support and solutions for businesses navigating the complexities of tax regulations. This foundation serves as the cornerstone for Cygnet's aspiration to emerge as a global compliance leader, particularly in the realm of e-invoicing on a global scale.

To expand its services business and enhance in-house expertise, Cygnet is actively seeking partnerships in the tech sector, particularly with ERP and CRM providers. In a strategic move to accelerate growth, Cygnet aims to establish dynamic partnerships with industry-leading hyperscalers such as AWS, Azure, and Oracle, solidifying its position at the forefront of innovation and scalability. These collaborations will not only broaden Cygnet's service offerings but also deepen its knowledge base, allowing for more comprehensive and effective solutions for clients. With deep roots in product engineering and unparalleled expertise in SAP testing, bots, and more, we stand as the foremost consultants, renowned for our ability to architect ideal solutions.

Founded in 2000, the Ahmedabad-based IT firm has grown exponentially in the last 24 years. From a small office in Ahmedabad, Cygnet has emerged as a leading partner for business process transformation with a presence in more than ten countries and is strategically expanding its presence to African countries, the APAC region, and Europe, broadening its global footprint and enhancing its reach to diverse markets. Cygnets revenue has exceeded USD 25 million, growing almost three times in the past five years. With a plan for 30% year-on-year growth, the company is poised for significant expansion.

With the world of technology rapidly evolving, Cygnet embraced AI to meet the industry's changing demands. It has expanded its horizons to build solutions such as HR Automation tools, Tech Due Diligence, AI-based ETL tools, and more.

AI will significantly impact businesses, and we are prepared to help our customers make that leap. Our offerings will enable a seamless transition, all while adopting the latest technologies, Abhijit Sen added, VP Head of Architecture and Innovation at Cygnet.One.

Cygnets solutions, services, and other products will help organizations deploy AI across their value chains to reap the benefits of the technology. In HR, AI-driven tools streamline recruitment, improve employee engagement, and optimize talent management processes. Tech Due Diligence (DD) powered by AI enhances decision-making processes, accelerates M&A activities, and mitigates risks. With AI data converters, businesses can unlock valuable insights from their data, driving innovation and informed decision-making.

Hutheesing said, From North America to Europe, UK & Africa, from Asia Pacific to the Middle East, our local expertise, combined with a global perspective, enables organizations around the world to navigate cultural nuances and regulatory landscapes easily.
L&T Finance Ltd. (LTF), one of the leading retail financiers, introduces its latest TV commercials, set to revolutionise the way people perceive home loans. Titled The Complete Home Loan, the TV commercials combine witty humour with relatable scenarios to create situations that are entertaining as well as informative, with the tagline, Kum Nahi, Complete.

The Company has launched a series of three TV commercials, with first commercial introducing the customers to Home Decor Finance and the second and third introducing the customers to benefits such as Digitized Process and Dedicated Relationship Manager.

The Company has also launched its sonic brand identity by unveiling a musical logo that reinforces the Companys purpose: Retail, Digital, and Sustainable. The musical logo is created with a harmonious blend of melodies, rhythms, and tones that reflect the Companys attributes, core values, emotions, and brand personality.

Kavita Jagtiani, Chief Marketing Officer at LTF said, We are building futuristic digital solutions by integrating technology across all our customer touchpoints. With the launch of our first-ever campaign, we are excited to present The Complete Home Loan proposition that is set to meet customers expectations while addressing their needs. Our well-designed offerings like Home Decor Finance, Digitized Process, and Dedicated Relationship Manager inspired us to introduce the Kum Nahi, Complete tagline which promptly communicates to customers that they should not settle for less. Furthermore, we have also incorporated an essence of our newly launched Sonic brand identity into this campaign. It is a musical expression of our brands purpose and will continue to foster consistent engagement and a heartfelt connection with our diverse 2.3 Crore customer base.

The TV commercials have been created by Dentsu India. Speaking at the launch, Amit Wadhwa, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Creative India said, Our TV commercials are meticulously crafted to connect with the audience by showcasing everyday life situations in an amusing way. By delving deep into introducing the protagonist as a relatable person in the scenarios and making clever use of mnemonics, we aim to not only entertain but also communicate key product offerings and make our campaign memorable. The journey we've embarked upon with LTF has been incredibly fulfilling, and we look forward to co-creating such impactful campaigns in the future.

The Company has launched an Integrated Marketing Campaign (IMC) across cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune, Chandigarh, and Surat. The Sonic brand identity will be a part of this IMC. As part of the campaign, the Company is one of the co-presenting sponsors for IPL, and the TV commercials are being streamed on Jio Cinema (Connected TV) during IPL matches. The Company will advertise on prominent news channels during the pre-election results and on poll counting days. In addition, the Company is also conducting several initiatives like Influencer Marketing, Outdoor Hoardings, On-Ground events, and leveraging its social media channels.

Speaking at the launch of the Companys musical logo, Rajeev Raja, Founder, BrandMusiq said, Developing the Sonic identity for a leading financial services brand like LTF was a wonderful experience. We feel proud to note that the LTF MOGOSCAPE will now be used across all digital and physical touchpoints as well as the core communications of the brand. Additionally, our exploration of folk variations within the Sonic palette ensures genuine resonance with the communities that LTF serve through their extensive feet-on-street workforce. We are confident that it will elevate LTFs customer experience with consistent engagement across platforms.
Zindagis Mrs. and Mr. Shameem is an underrated gem of a show that captivates viewers with its unexpected storyline and intriguing yet fantastic cast, i.e, Nauman Ijaz as Shameem and Saba Qamar as Umaina. There is no doubt that this show is one of a kind and will leave you in tears, laughter and shock among multiple other emotions as it unfolds and throws various twists and situations as you watch it. Here are five reasons why you should add this love story to your must-watch list.

One-of-a-kind love story - In Mrs. and Mr. Shameem, the love story between Umaina and Shameem unfolds uniquely. While Umaina realizes her feelings for Shameem later on, it becomes clear that Shameem has always loved her deeply. Through their relationship, Umaina discovers that true masculinity is defined by qualities of the heart, not physical strength alone. Shameem's unwavering devotion and readiness to stand up for Umaina against all odds exemplifies genuine masculinity. Their bond epitomizes a relationship between a man and a woman in every sense, rooted in mutual respect, love, and the courage to confront societal norms together, offering a refreshing narrative of genuine love and companionship.

Grim Realities and Unspoken Issues - Mrs and Mr Shameem fearlessly showcases and tackles societal issues and taboos which are much rather left unexplored. From unwed pregnancy to the effeminate behaviour of Shameems character, this show touches on a lot of unspoken issues. The show's willingness to confront these topics with sensitivity and depth adds layers of realism and authenticity to the characters and their experiences. It encourages viewers to reflect on preconceived notions and embrace a more empathetic understanding of human diversity.

Noman Ijaz in a Different Role - Renowned actor Noman Ijaz takes on a completely different character in Mrs. and Mr. Shameem, showcasing his versatility as an actor. Shameem,Naumans character, is someone who is feminine. For the first time, a show has brought such a character into the mainstream to show what kind of people they are and how strong they can be. .He proves that the heart is what makes him a man and not the way he behaves or acts. Breaking away from his usual roles embodying strong, macho characters such as Malik Wajahat in "Mera Saeen," the obedient Farmaan in "Bari Apa," and the spiteful Waseem in "Rehai," Noman Ijaz will be taking on the role of an effeminate man in this new show, marking a notable departure in his career trajectory.

Unexpected Twists and Turns - Mrs and Mr Shameem is nothing short of a rollercoaster ride of unpredicted and unforeseen situations. As the story unfolds, revelations of Umaina,i.e, Sabas characters past are made and also Shameem ,i.e, Nauman's character's true feelings are exposed. Abrupt betrayals, Shocking decisions and unique love story are just a few of the captivating high points of the show !

Multifaceted Storytelling: Mrs. and Mr. Shameem masterfully weaves together multiple layers of storytelling that engage viewers on various levels. Beyond the central love story, the series delves into nuanced character development, societal commentary, and emotional depth. It seamlessly blends romance with societal issues, showcasing the complexities of relationships amidst challenging circumstances. The narrative unfolds with gripping realism, keeping audiences on the edge with unexpected plot twists and profound revelations. Each episode offers a rich tapestry of emotions, from laughter to tears, as viewers are drawn into the lives of Umaina and Shameem, experiencing their triumphs and tribulations.



In conclusion, "Mrs. and Mr. Shameem" stands out as an underrated gem in the realm of television dramas, offering a refreshing and thought-provoking narrative that transcends typical romantic tropes. With its unique love story, fearless exploration of societal issues, Nauman Ijaz's remarkable transformation, unexpected plot twists, and powerful performances, this show promises to leave viewers enthralled and emotionally invested. If you're looking for a series that challenges norms, evokes genuine emotions, and celebrates the complexities of human relationships, Mrs. and Mr. Shameem is a must-add to your watch list. Prepare to be moved, entertained, and inspired by this exceptional television experience.
Federal Laboratory for Materials Testing and Research

Dubendorf, St. Gallen und Thun, 07.05.2024 - "On the pulse of the planet - daily facts and figures on the climate" is how the Swiss Radio and Television SRF website advertises its "Climate Monitor". Some of the data published online, namely the CO2 concentrations measured on the Jungfraujoch, are supplied by researchers from Empa's "Air Pollutants/Environmental Technology" laboratory.

Measuring the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the exchange of these gases between the atmosphere, biosphere and oceans is essential in order to better understand global climate change and predict possible consequences. As part of the National Air Pollution Monitoring Network (NABEL) and the European research infrastructure "Integrated Carbon Observation System" (ICOS), Empa continuously measures the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere at the research station on the Jungfraujoch; these measurements contribute to a better understanding of the global carbon cycle and how it is influenced by human activities. SRF uses this data for the climate monitor thanks to researchers from Empa's "Air Pollutants/Environmental Technology" laboratory.

Monthly averages are shown for the long-term time series (see red line in the graph) and the daily average (red dot) for the previous day. As Empa researcher Martin Steinbacher emphasizes, the data chain from the measuring device to the website is longer than one might expect. The high-resolution raw data from the measuring device on the Jungfraujoch is sent every night to the "Atmosphere Thematic Centre" of the ICOS research infrastructure in France, where the ambient air data is separated from the regular calibration and quality control measurements, calibrated and converted to hourly aggregate values. This is the only way to achieve the demanding data quality targets in near real time. From France, the data is sent to the "ICOS Carbon Portal" in Sweden, from where SRF retrieves it once a day. "All in all, the whole thing is more complex than it seems at first glance, as everything has to be robust and automated," says Steinbacher. An effort that pays off, as the SRF website is one of the "top ten" most visited websites in Switzerland!

Address for enquiries

Dr. Martin Steinbacher

Air Pollutants / Environmental Technology

Phone +41 58 765 40 48

martin.steinbacher@empa.ch

Publisher

Federal Laboratory for Materials Testing and Research

http://www.empa.ch




Federal Department of Finance

Bern, 07.05.2024 - On 7 May 2024, Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter, Head of the Federal Department of Finance (FDF), received her Luxembourg counterpart Gilles Roth for a working visit. The ministers discussed global and European financial developments and the most important international financial and tax issues. As export-oriented economies with major financial centres, Switzerland and Luxembourg often pursue common interests and represent converging views in international bodies.

At their first official meeting, Minister of Finance Gilles Roth and Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter exchanged views on the macroeconomic situation and financial regulation in the EU. The Federal Council report on banking stability was another topic of discussion, as was the importance of international cooperation in this area. The finance ministers also discussed the repercussions of Russia's war on Ukraine. Other topics were bilateral collaboration in the area of sustainable finance, taxing the digital economy and cross-border remote working.

Commenting on the meeting, Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter said: "Switzerland and Luxembourg have many things in common, especially a prudent budget policy and low debt. This is important to ensure the state's ability to act."

Address for enquiries

FDF Communications

Tel. +41 58 462 60 33

kommunikation@gs-efd.admin.ch

Publisher

Federal Department of Finance

https://www.efd.admin.ch/en



State Secretariat for International Financial Matters

http://www.sif.admin.ch




EC directs Karnataka BJP to take down animated clip on Muslim quota row 2

Election Commission on Tuesday directed social media platform X to immediately take down an animated video shared by the Karnataka unit of the BJP related to the row over reservation for the Muslim community.

In a letter to the nodal officer of X, the EC took exception to the non-compliance of the directive of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer to the social media platform for taking down the video.

The panel said the animated video shared by the Karnataka unit of the BJP on its social media handle was violative of the extant legal framework.

The EC said the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka registered an FIR in this connection and wrote to X on May 5 to take down the objectionable post as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act and the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.

However, the post has not been taken down yet. Therefore, X is directed to take down the post immediately, the EC said.

But Sir; BJP karnataka is discriminating Muslims! pic.twitter.com/swKqqwpg1k  Ibrahim Khaleel (@Ibrahimk7070) May 7, 2024

The fresh directive to X came on the day votes were being cast in the remaining 14 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. Polling in the other 14 parliamentary constituencies of Karnataka was held on April 26.

The Karnataka Congress had filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer of the state, accusing the BJP of promoting enmity and hatred between the Muslim and the SC/ST communities. The complaint pertains to an animated video shared by the Karnataka BJP, which has caricatures of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The cartoon shows the leaders putting an egg marked Muslim on a birds nest and after it hatches, Gandhi feeds funds to the Muslim hatchling while others strive for it. The Muslim hatchling grows as a result and kicks the three others  SC, ST and OBC  out as Gandhi and Siddaramaiah laugh.
A chef from Florence has won the annual Alabama Seafood Cook-Off and the privilege of representing the state at the 2024 Great American Seafood Cook-Off.

Alabama Gulf Seafood announced that Chef Kyle Ogden of the restaurant Odette in Florence won the state competition with a dish titled Spring Tide, featuring a pompano filet with a crab and shrimp mousse. The win came with a $2,500 prize.

Ogden was one of four finalists selected to participate in the state competition, which was held Monday, May 6, at The Wharf in Orange Beach. The win makes him the successor to Chef Brody Olive of Voyagers at Perdido Beach Resort. Olive won last years state competition, then went on to win at the national level, being crowned King of American Seafood at the 2023 Great American Seafood Cook-Off. Olive is the second Alabama chef to hold that honor, after Jim Smith of The Hummingbird Way in Mobile, who won in 2011.

Chef Kyle Ogden of the Florence restaurant Odette won the 2024 Alabama Seafood Cook-Off with a dish titled "Spring Tide," featuring a pompano filet with a crab and shrimp mousse. (Billy Pope/ADCNR)Billy Pope/ADCNR

Ogden seems to have exceeded his own expectations: According to Alabama Gulf Seafood, he said going in that his goal is to honestly just have fun and to hopefully bring a third trophy back to Odette. I am looking forward to seeing some new techniques from my competitors and to really pushing what I am capable of producing in the time frame we have.

The Great American Seafood Cook-Off will be held this summer in New Orleans. As he did in Orange Beach, sous chef Taylor Bradley will accompany Odgen in that competition.

RELATED: How a bad day fishing inspired an Alabama chefs national cook-off win

The other finalists and their dishes were: Emilo Urban of CoastAL Orange Beach, whose Fruits of the Gulf featured spiced Gulf shrimp; Robbie Nicolaisen of The Hound in Auburn, whose dish combined Triggerfish, Wahoo, crab and more; and Laurence Agnew of Villaggio Grille at The Wharf with a dish titled King Billy Whelkomes You featuring Charcoal Alabama Croaker and a Gulf Whelk and Admiral Oyster stew.

From left: ADCNR Commissioner Chris Blankenship; Chef Kyle Ogden of the restaurant Odette in Florence; sous chef Taylor Bradley; and Chef Jim Smith, representing the Alabama Seafood Marketing Commission. (Billy Pope/ADCNR)Billy Pope/ADCNR

Finalists were chosen based on anonymous recipe submissions, according to Alabama Gulf Seafood. Dishes prepared in a timed, head-to-head competition are judged in five categories: Presentation, general impression and serving methods; creativity and practicality; composition and harmony of ingredients; correct preparation and craftsmanship; flavor, taste and texture.

For more details, visit eatalabamaseafood.com.
A shooting near Drakes Toronto home resulted in a man being transported to the hospital with serious injuries on Tuesday.

Toronto Police confirmed the incident in a X post Tuesday. A man was transported to the hospital with serious injuries, and a suspect fled the scene in a vehicle, according to the social media post by police.

Police confirmed to City News that Drake was not the person injured. The shooting happened just after 2 a.m.

Officers taped off an area on the street and are expected to provide additional details later on Tuesday.

Drake is currently at the center of an ongoing public feud with fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar. The two have been exchanging songs on a near-daily basis, and both rappers have released a series of diss tracks aimed at one another.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on The Opening Kickoff on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.
Businessman Frank Thomas Tom Shumate, Jr. filed bankruptcy papers Monday for two cement plant operators he heads -- Superior Ready Mix of Texas LLC and WFO LLC. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News

Embattled businessman Frank Thomas Tom Shumate Jr.  a defendant in a lawsuit alleging business records were burned at a bankrupt San Antonio-area oil field services company he heads  has put two more businesses into bankruptcy.

Shumate signed Chapter 11 petitions Monday for concrete plant operators Superior Ready Mix of Texas LLC and WFO LLC, which share the same address at 146 Motts Parkway off Interstate 10 in Marion in Guadalupe County.

It also has been the address for Cinch Wireline Services LLC, which sought bankruptcy liquidation in December.

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Shumate is president of all three companies.

The Chapter 7 trustee administering Cinchs liquidation alleged in an April 8 lawsuit that company insiders carried out a campaign of burning and hiding records that would have exposed fraud at the business.

Last week, a bankruptcy judge said the evidence strongly suggests Shumate and/or Executive Vice President Timothy Gaines Pollard were complicit in the burning of those documents. A photograph included in the lawsuit shows the pit in Corpus Christi where documents were allegedly burned and buried.

Stopping foreclosures?

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The debtors received more than a combined $4.7 million in loans. Each company listed assets of less than $50,000 and debts ranging from $1 million to $10 million in their skeleton bankruptcy petitions.

Both companies, Shumate and his Cinch Energy Services LLC filed lawsuits for fraud and negligent misrepresentation against Simmons Bank in late March in state District Court in San Antonio after the bank declared they were in breach of the loan documents, including for allegedly failing to disclose 23 pending lawsuits against Shumate or his businesses.

Shumate and his Cinch Energy Services LLC guaranteed the loans to Superior and WFO.

Simmons also has accused Superior Ready Mix and WFO of wrongfully conveying the properties  the banks loan collateral  to a Wyoming limited liability company known as Capital Property Investing LLC without the banks consent earlier this year. If both debtors no longer own the properties in Marion and Kaufman County, its not clear how the bankruptcy filings would stop the foreclosures.

The bank had the lawsuits removed to federal court, where last week Superior and WFO filed motions for a preliminary injunction to stop the foreclosures.

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Ongoing breaches

After a hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia on Monday denied WFOs motion. He disagreed with the plaintiffs argument that they have a substantial likelihood of prevailing in their case.

The borrower and guarantors did not cure their failures, despite the Banks requests, the judge said in a written ruling. Instead their failures continued to accumulate at a somewhat alarming rate over a relatively brief period of time.

He added that as a result of what he called the plaintiffs ongoing breaches under the loan, it became more likely that the Bank would be deprived of the benefit it reasonably expected under the agreements.

Superior Ready Mix had a similar hearing Monday before U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez.

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At the start of the hearing, though, Superior attorney Paul OFinan told Rodriguez he got word on his way to the courthouse about Superiors Chapter 11 petition. Therefore, OFinan said, Superior was dropping its request for a temporary restraining order.

Automatic stay

The bankruptcy filings triggered whats known as an automatic stay, which provides for a period of time in which all foreclosures, property repossessions, collection activities and judgments are suspended and may not be pursued by lenders or other creditors.

Brian Morris, a Dallas lawyer for Simmons, told Rodriguez the bank is unlikely to proceed with its foreclosure on the Marion property so as not to risk violating the automatic stay.

But Morris added that Superior is no longer the owner of the property subject to foreclosure, alluding to its transfer to Capital Property Investing.

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So theres a question as to whether the bankruptcy would even impact the foreclosure because the owner of the property is not a party to this litigation, Morris said. The Marion property totals almost 6 acres and has a combined assessed value of about $1.7 million.

He added that Simmons has counterclaims against Shumate and Cinch Energy as loan guarantors and he said that those should not be stayed. OFinan countered he believed that everything was stayed by the filing.

Morris didnt respond to a request for comment so it could not be confirmed whether the Marion foreclosure sale occurred. OFinan had no comment. James Wilkins, the bankruptcy lawyer for Superior, WFO and Cinch Wireline, didnt respond to a request for comment.
A reward is being offered for information in the shooting death of a beloved Auburn High School senior killed just weeks before graduate.

Delvin Tarver, 18, was in a SUV when he was struck by gunfire in the parking lot of the CVS on Baskin Street in Union Springs around 12:43 a.m. Saturday.

Central Alabama Crime Stoppers on Tuesday announced a $1,000 reward for information leading to the identity and arrest of a suspect or suspects in the case.

Union Springs police Lt. Gary Lewis said the shooting happened where Bullock County High School prom attendees were congregating just a mile away from the schools prom.

Lewis said Tarver did not attend the Bullock County High School prom.

Tarver was taken to Baptist South Hospital, where he died of his injuries.

Tarver, described by school officials as a cherished member of the school, was set to graduate May 23.

It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the untimely passing of a cherished member of our Auburn High School community, a statement from the school district read. Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the family and friends during this difficult time.

Anyone with information is asked to call Union Springs police at 334-738-3131 or Central Alabama Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP.
An Alabama parole officer was arrested Monday on allegations he fondled a woman under his authority and used his position for personal gain, court records showed.

Jonathan Reid, 40, of Hamilton, was charged with custodial sexual conduct and using his position for personal gain, according to Marion County court records.

Reid, described as a parole or probation officer in court records, allegedly fondled the womans genitals in February.

The charges against Reid did not say whether the victim was on probation or if he was the victims supervisor.

Reid is being held in the Marion County jail without bond, records showed.
The deadline to sign up for your share of a $35 million class action settlement against Apple is near.

The settlement includes people who owned an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus between Sept. 16, 2016 and Jan. 3, 2023 and either complained to Apple about audio issues or paid for a repair or replacement of the device, according to the settlement website.

According to the suit filed in the Northern District of California, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus devices had audio issues related to the audio IC chip, something plaintiffs said violated consumer protection laws and breach of warranty. Apple denies the allegations.

READ MORE: Walmart could owe you up to $500 as part of a settlement: How to file a claim

Postcards or emails were sent to people eligible for the settlement but if you believe you are covered but did not receive one, you can call 1-833-633-0343 for more information.

The amount of payment will depend on whether you paid out of pocket for a repair or replacement. People who did and have the payment information available are eligible to receive between $50 and $349. Settlement members who complained about the issue to Apple but did not pay out of pocket for repairs or replacement are eligible for up to $125.

The deadline to file a claim is June 3. A final court hearing on the settlement is planned for July 18.

You can see more information here.

READ MORE: $5.6 million in refunds issued to Ring doorbell users: Who qualifies?
The number of people arrested in a Birmingham police operation targeting exhibition driving and street racing continues to rise.

Four men were arrested over the weekend as part of Operation Knight Rider. In addition to the arrests, police impounded three vehicles  two of them stolen- and seized two handguns.

Those charged are:

- Carlos Alfaro, (23), of Birmingham, is charged with exhibition driving), unlawful possession of a controlled substance, unlawful possession of marijuana and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. He was booked into the Jefferson County Jail.

- Reuben Chaney, 41, of Birmingham, was taken into charges of attempted murder, and discharging a firearm into an occupied building stemming from a 2021 indictment. Those He was booked into the Jefferson County Jail.

- Lafayette Hodges III, 25, of Birmingham is charged with felony attempt to elude and first-degree receiving stolen property, and had two guns seized.He was booked into the Jefferson County Jail.

- Larry Johnson Jr., 23, of Hueytown, is charged with second-degree possession of marijuana and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. He was booked into the Birmingham City Jail.

Sgt. LaQuitta Wade said officers impounded a stolen 2021 Dodge Challenger, a stolen 2019 Dodge Charger and a 1998 GMC Sierra.

The first enforcement effort took place the weekend of April 12. Five people were arrested, and seven cars seized in that operation.

The second took place across the city Friday through Sunday, April 26 through April 28, leading to six arrests and six vehicles impounded.

Last year, Mayor Randall Woodfin approached the leadership at the police department, asking for a plan to combat street racing and exhibition driving.

Video has surfaced on social media in recent weeks, as have complaints from those who live in areas where the events are taking place.

Woodfin joined members of the Jefferson County legislative delegation in November 2022 to announce plans to file a bill to prohibit and impose penalties for certain forms of exhibition driving, which includes street and drag racing, burnouts, donuts, and similar activities defined within the bill.

That legislation was passed and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey last year.

Previously, drivers could only get a ticket. Now, they face a minimum of misdemeanor charges, and up to a Class B felony if someone is injured or killed, or if there is property damage.

The operations will continue.
The City of Birmingham is suing the owners and operators of the Shell station on Third Avenue West and an adjacent business after a weekend shooting in the parking lot left one man dead and six others injured.

More than 150 bullets were unleashed in the predawn incident on Sunday.

City Attorney Nicole King filed the complaint against the owners of 3rd Avenue Ventures, LLC, and Express Mart of AL, LLC for Shell and Boston Fish Supreme which is next to the Shell.

A city press release calls the properties a launching pad for criminal activity, including drug activity and violence.

Efforts to obtain comment from those businesses were not immediately successful late Monday night.

In the past year alone, city officials say, Birmingham police have responded to the area for theft, kidnapping, assault, drugs, dangerous exhibition driving and more.

In addition to the deadly shooting there Sunday morning, which police described as chaotic, another young man  Davion Hickley - was killed April 25, 2022, in a similar shooting happened in the same location, also with more than 100 shots fired.

And in one of the most horrific cases, 43-year-old Genise Carter was beaten and kidnapped from the Shell on Jan. 25 in front of store employees and multiple witnesses in the gas station parking lot yet no one, police have previously testified in court, stopped the attack.

Only one person called 911, and police arrived but did not find anything.

Carters body was later found on a dead-end street, nude except for a pair of socks. She had been shot in the head.

Two men have been charged with capital murder.

The city contends more than 50 calls were received by Birmingham police concerning the properties in the past month.

The press release mentions Carters kidnapping and eventual murder, as well as the Sunday predawn shooting which left 24-year-old David Isaiah Westbrook dead, and six others between the ages of 19 and 26 wounded.

The complaint states neighboring residents are in serious risk of suffering immediate and irreparable harm.

I have instructed the city attorney to take steps to deal with the public safety concerns at this location, said Mayor Randall Woodfin.

Our small businesses are the backbone of our city, but when they do not provide a basic commitment to protecting their premises, they jeopardize the well-being of their businesses and the public.

Local businessowners must be accountable for the activity on their property, specifically properties that have been constant sites of illegal disruption, the mayor said.

In the court filing, an affidavit from Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr states the properties have been at the center of numerous shootings, altercations and other felony assaults.

Carrs affidavit also states the owners of the properties appear unwilling to take the necessary steps to stop criminal activity from occurring on the premises.

Police Chief Scott Thurmond held a press conference earlier Monday to talk about the weekend shooting.

The Shell station is a popular hang out on the weekends, and has long been a trouble spot, Thurmond said. One YouTube video from a different weekend shows numerous people packed in the parking lot, listening to music, and waiving around guns.

Thurmond on Monday said detectives reviewed video surveillance footage from there during the Sunday shooting and it showed multiple people with guns shooting.

A review of the video surveillance showed numerous individuals shooting randomly as if they were just firing their guns. Most did not know who or what they were shooting at, which caused the victims to be shot, Thurmond said.

Weve seen this there before unfortunately, he said. We have people just firing indiscriminately.

They dont know who theyre shooting at, what theyre shooting at, theyre just firing rounds from their guns, the chief said. That causes a lot of danger to the people who are there which resulted in these people being shot. Theyre just shooting rounds all over the place.

This was, I just heard shots and Ive got my gun so Im going to shoot so I can get some shots in for bragging rights,' Thurmond said.

The citys filing requests the court declare the properties a public nuisance and require the properties to take the necessary steps to eliminate criminal activity. The complaint asks the court to allow the city to demolish the properties if the defendants do not comply.

In the spring of 2020, King created the Office of the City Attorneys Drug and Nuisance Abatement Team, also known as DNAT, which works through the courts to hold landowners accountable for keeping their properties clean and getting rid of crime and blight associated with nuisance issues.

More than 120 properties have received demand for corrective action. DNAT continues to investigate other properties.

DNAT works closely with the Birmingham Police Department to identify areas where landlords are not taking care of properties or providing inadequate security, according to the news release.

Problems with drug and nuisance properties can be reported via email to problemproperty@birminghamal.gov or residents can call the internal Drug and Nuisance Abatement Team at 205-254-2369 during normal business hours.
A former Mississippi sheriff lied to FBI investigators when he denied trading favorable treatment of an inmate for nude photos and videos, the U.S. Attorneys Office said Tuesday.

Terry Grassaree, 61, the former sheriff of Noxubee County, Miss., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Tuesday to making false statements to the FBI.

Beginning in 2019, Grassaree used his position as sheriff to solicit and accept nude photos and videos from a female inmate in the Noxubee County Jail, which Grassaree oversaw in his position as sheriff.

In exchange for the nude photos/videos, the inmate received special benefits other inmates did not, including use of a contraband cell phone, tobacco and other items. She was also given trustee status and a job as a cook in the jail.

In early March 2019, Grassaree used a social media account to ask for a video from the inmate, according to investigators. Later that same day, Grassaree received multiple nude images from the inmate and responded in a flirtatious and complimentary manner.

When interviewed by the FBI in July 2020, Grassaree denied receiving the photos. He was indicted in October 2022 and, having pleaded guilty, is now scheduled to be sentenced in August. Grassaree faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

One of Grassarees former deputies, Vance Phillips, has also pleaded guilty to bribery as part of the investigation. He also faces up to five years in prison.
Hoover City Council President John Lyda survived a challenge to his leadership on Monday when two of his colleagues proposed a motion to remove him from the council president post after referring to the developer of Stadium Trace Village as a convicted felon.

City Councilor Steve McClinton made the motion and nominated Councilor Casey Middlebrooks to replace Lyda.

McClinton did not explicitly state why he was calling for Lydas ouster.

The move came nearly a month after Lyda stirred controversy by calling William Kadish a convicted felon who he couldnt trust.

Well, actions have consequences and I believe Mr. Lyda has shown that already, and so I take no joy in doing this. But it needs to be done, McClinton said during Mondays council meeting.

Lyda, who was not present at the meeting, had called for Kadish, president of Broad Metro LLC, to be removed from the second phase of the development over his criminal past.

We are dealing with a convicted felon, Lyda said at the councils April 1 meeting. I will not waver when it comes to doing business with a known felon.

Kadish, who was not allowed to respond to Lydas allegations, released a video statement explaining the conviction stemmed from a mistake I made 24 years ago.

He said he was prescribed opioids in 2001, which led to gambling problems.

Kadish pleaded guilty to grand larceny in New York in 2002 and was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay more than $655,000 in restitution, WRBC reported, citing court records.

Kadish said he had his criminal record in New York sealed in 2021 under a new state law to ensure people of good moral character would not be prejudiced from doing business.

Lyda could not be reached for comment by AL.com.

The motion to remove Lyda failed by a vote of 3-1 with two abstentions.

City Councilor Khrysti Driver criticized McClinton for going forward with the motion while Lyda was not at the meeting.

Where I come from, having leadership courage includes doing things like this when the person is present in the room, and Im very much opposed to moving forward with this tonight, she said before the vote.
The estranged husband of a Fort Lauderdale woman who vanished in Spain earlier this year was detained at Miami International Airport, authorities announced Monday.

David Knezevich, 35, was arrested Saturday in connection to the February disappearance of his wife Ana Maria Knezevich Henao, according to Spanish news agency EFE. Knezevich arrived in Miami from Belgrade, Serbia, where he had been for several months.

In a post on X, Spanish authorities said they had been investigating 40-year-old Knezevich Henaos disappearance in collaboration with Serbian police and the FBI.

Knezevich, reports say, has a U.S. Marshals hold for kidnapping.

Knezevich Henao had moved to Spain in December to clear her mind as she had been going through a difficult divorce with Knezevich, according to EFE. By early February, she vanished in Madrid.

Family and friends said she kept in regular contact with them until Feb. 3, when loved ones noted they received odd messages from her. The messages, which friends suspect werent authored by her, claim that Knezevich Henao had met a man and intended to visit his summer home two hours from Madrid, according to NewsNation.

Shortly after, Knezevich Henao was reported missing; she hasnt been found since.

Knezevichs whereabouts are currently unknown. As of Monday afternoon, neither Miami-Dade nor Broward jail records list him as an inmate. He isnt being held at a federal detention center, records show.

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2024 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson portrayed himself as in control Tuesday, insisting hes not negotiating with far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as they met again at the Capitol and she weighed whether to proceed with a vote on his ouster.

It was the second day Johnson met privately with Greene, a top ally of Donald Trump, and she outlined four demands  including no more funding for Ukraine as it fights Russia and an end to the Justice Department special counsels legal cases against the indicted former president.

Greene is threatening to call a vote on her motion to vacate the speaker from office, despite objections from Trump himself and fellow Republicans who want to end the chaos on Capitol Hill. Another hardline congressman, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, backs her effort and has joined in the meetings.

Greene said she had high expectations the speaker will deliver.

This is what people all over the country are screaming for, Greene said Tuesday on Steve Bannons War Room podcast. They want to see this vote.

The political risks are high for both the speaker, who is under criticism for relying on promised Democratic support to save his job, and the congresswoman, who could become sidelined if few other Republicans join her efforts against Johnson.

Together Johnson, R-La., and Greene, R-Ga., appear to be working on a settlement that would provide a political off-ramp to the standoff and benefit them both by preventing another messy spectacle over the speakers gavel.

Look, theyve been very productive discussions. thats what Ill say, Johnson said after they 90 minute meeting.

Earlier Johnson downplayed the idea that there was any deal to be made as met with the lawmakers.

Its not a negotiation, he said.

Noting he has passed six months on the job, which Johnson won after Republicans ousted then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the speaker said his policy has been to have an open door and hear out the ideas from Greene, Massie or any other lawmakers in his slim GOP majority.

But in a nod of whats to come, Johnson lashed out at the Justice Departments two cases from special prosecutor Jack Smith against Trump  over mishandling classified documents as well as the effort to overturn the 2020 election in the runup to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

Johnson, echoing Greenes claims of sham trials, called the Justice Department cases against Trump election interference that has to stop as the former president is the partys presumptive nominee in the 2024 race for the White House.

President Trump has done nothing wrong here, said Johnson, who led one of the defeated presidents legal efforts trying to overturn Bidens 2020 election victory before the bloody Capitol siege.

Johnson said the House will consider the flow of federal funds to the Justice Department and oversight of the special prosecutors office. Stay tuned, he said.

Greene is also demanding that Johnson abide by the Hastert rule, named for another former Republican speaker, that requires leaders to proceed with voting on bills only when they have support from the majority of their members.

Relying on the Hastert rule could have tanked congressional support for Ukraine since the recently approved $61 million foreign aid package did not have backing from most Republicans. It passed with Democratic support.

Greene also wants to insist on federal spending reductions championed by Massie which would require a 1% across the board cut if Congress fails to pass the regular appropriation bills by the Sept. 30 deadline for the end of the fiscal year.

These are not unreasonable requests, said as she entered the midday meeting.

Afterward, she said the ball is in Johnsons court. It cant drag out, she warned.

Johnson may not be able, or willing, to resist Greenes demands, which are likely to have support from many Republicans in Congress.

The speaker needs to show he is in control of the House and not being led by Democrats, who are in the minority but have outsized influence because they have provided the votes for much of the consequential issues this Congress.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, has emerged as an empowered speaker-in-waiting, if Democrats win party control in November. He and his leadership team have promised to vote to table Greenes motion, essentially saving Johnsons job.
Call it the little brewery that could.

Competing alongside hundreds of other breweries from around the globe, a Gulf Shores-based brewery has for the second time earned a medal at the World Beer Cup -- the largest and most prestigious beer competition in the world, according to Forbes. Its often referred to as The Olympics of Beer Competition.

Big Beach Brewery, founded in Gulf Shores in 2016, took home Bronze medal honors in the 2024 competition, held two weeks ago in Las Vegas, Nev. Big Beach won for its Surrender Cobra in the German-Style Schwarzbier category.

As the name implies, the Schwarzbier originated in Germany. It is a dark larger with an opaque, black color with hints of chocolate or coffee and is typically about 5% alcohol by volume (ABV). Its similar to stout beer in that its made from roasted malt.

The third-place finish marked the second time Surrender Cobra has been honored at the World Beer Cup. In 2022, the beer was the Gold medal winner. Big Beachs entry was the only Alabama-brewed beer to earn medal status at this years competition.

Big Beach Brewerys entry competed against 95 others in its category. Overall, the 290 judges from 37 different countries were tasked with assessing 9,300 beers from 2,060 breweries from 50 countries, awarding medals in more than 100 categories.

The World Beer Cup was launched as a global competition in 1996 to celebrate the art and science of brewing. Its hosted each year by the Brewers Association, a non-profit trade association.

Dr. Jim Shamburger and his wife, Julie, opened Big Beach Brewing in the Waterway Village District, taking the name from Gulf Shores official motto: Small Town, Big Beach. Shamburger started out brewing beer at home and his love for brewing grew from there.

You know, beer is fun, Shamburger told AL.com when the brewery opened.

The brewery started out with a menu of about six beers which has since grown to a dozen, including the Surrender Cobra. Big Beach Brewing is the southernmost brewery in Alabama and has developed a devoted following and offers live music and wine in addition to its award-winning beer.

The brewery has a 10-barrel brewing system exclusively dedicated to brewing ales from IPAs and Stouts to Cream Ales and Belgian-style beers. There are six fermenters which produce enough beer to offer up to 12 different beers on tap at any one time.

Big Beach Brewery prides itself on being a tank to tap operation, meaning eight 300 gallon vessels behind the bar which tenderly hold our beer to ensure it is the freshest beer around.
The South Texas Nuclear Project electric generating station is seen in a 2009 file photo. Staff file photo In this 2015 file photo, an NRG Energy Inc. vice president uses video monitors in the control room to keep tabs on a scheduled refueling outage at the South Texas Project nuclear generating facility. CPS Energy has increased its ownership stake in the plant to get more of its capacity ahead of summer. Staff file photo

CPS Energy has increased its ownership in a Texas nuclear power plant and added about 250 megawatts of generating capacity after agreeing to drop litigation over the deal.

Under the agreement that settled the dispute, CPS increased its stake in the plant by 2% to 42%, giving it another 52 megawatts of the nuclear plants capacity. It also agreed to purchase 200 more megawatts of power from Constellation Energy.

CPS declined to disclose what its paying for the additional capacity. The Express-News is filing a request for the information under the states open records law.

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The moves cap a case filed last year by CPS and Austin Energy, both municipal utilities, with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission over power company NRG Energys plans to sell its stake in the South Texas Project nuclear plant to Constellation Energy.

The city-owned utilities argued that as part owners they should have been given a shot at acquiring NRGs stake. Constellation and NRG filed a counter with the commission asking it to dismiss the claims.

Under the deal announced Monday, Austin Energy still owns 16% of the plant and Constellation now holds 42%, down from the 44% it originally sought.

CPS President and CEO Rudy Garza said the additions are important to the utilitys future.

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The addition of these megawatts to our system supports reliability for our customers as we enter another summer season, Garza said. CPS Energy continues to stay focused on our Vision 2027 plan and will continue our focus on reliability for our growing community.

RELATED: ERCOTs solution to Texas grids electricity transmission problem: Hey S.A., cut down your use! '

CPS says the added power from the plant will help as it works to retire 2,249 megawatts of generation from old, high-polluting gas- and coal-fired plants before 2030. About 1 megawatt of electricity is required to power 200 Texas homes on a hot summer day.

Disputed deal

NRG and Constellation  both based in Houston  said June 1 they had reached a $1.75 billion deal for Constellation to take NRGs 44% stake in the 2,660-megawatt nuclear plant. CPS and Austin Energy challenged the sale, saying the plants contracted operator had not approved the application. At that time, CPS owned 40% of the plant, which is about 180 miles outside San Antonio in Matagorda County.

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Constellation told the federal commission that whether the utilities could refuse the contract was a hotly disputed question. NRG and Constellation argued the consent of a co-owner wasnt required to approve an indirect transfer.

But the owners came to an agreement Thursday. CPS and Austin Energy now will drop their remaining related cases and Constellation will withdraw its objections.

Territory served by CPS represents about 7% of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas' entire load. The utilitys demand  like the rest of the states  is being driven up by a mix of severe weather, booming population and industry growth.

Without new dispatchable generation incentives, were concerned that end-of-life generation resources will not be able to retire and the cost to keep these plants online will be imposed on all consumers in the market, David Kee, CPS director of energy market policy, told ERCOT last week during a meeting about grid standards.

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To date, CPS Energy has added 1,710 megawatts of natural gas generation, 730 megawatts of solar generation and 50 megawatts of energy storage as part of its generation plan. An additional 500 megawatts of storage  such as battery systems  is still in the works.

Significant investments

Its latest acquisition was a $785 million natural gas plant deal with Talen Energy. The utility already filed plans with the state grid operator to shutter aging parts of its Braunig Power Station, which provide 859 megawatts of power, by early next year.

Were making significant investments in generation to meet that demand, Key said. And as a nonprofit participant, our reason for existence is to serve our customers, and their biggest concerns are improving reliability and affordability.

ERCOT has expressed concerns that the loss of the Braunig gas-fired generating units could have a material impact on the grids reliability and is currently determining how it may be able to make up those megawatts or if it needs to delay CPS plans to shutter the plants.

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CPS has said the Braunig plants are expensive to operate and will get more expensive as improvements to lower emissions are added.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said Tuesday morning that the weekend shootout on Third Avenue West was unacceptable, but said the citys hands are tied on controlling guns.

The shooting early Sunday morning in a gas station parking lot left one man dead and six others injured.

The gun culture, as well as gun violence, in our community continues to rear its head in ways that are stupid, reckless, Woodfin said.

At a local level, our hands are tied as far as being able or legally allowed to regulate guns. The state of Alabama has chosen to go in the direction of no one even needs a permit. People can ride around with any type of guns.

He also blamed Congress for allowing a ban on military style weapons to expire.

You have inaction at the federal level, where the assault weapon ban expired and has not been renewed, and so its not just guns, but its the type of guns, military style guns that are on Birminghams streets, Woodfin said.

When you get no action or inaction at the federal level, when you get the state that says you dont even need a permit, people still look to the 10 of us (mayor and city council), where we cant even regulate guns.

Woodfin said that the 2024 homicide rate is not worse.

As this issue continues to be a problem in our city, I do want to publicly state that this is nothing to brag about, but on par, homicides year to date are pretty much where they were in 2023, he said. Then there are other forms of gun violence which I think its important to talk about - when people are shot and survived, which is actually down.

Woodfin said hes most concerned about shooting at homes that injures innocent children and elderly.

The one that gives me most pain is actually shooting into occupied dwellings where people have guns in their vehicles, they would pull up, shoot and drive off, he said.

This is the one where it requires continued ideas and creativity around how do you keep neighborhoods safe. How do we keep homes safe for our seniors, elders who sit on porches, and children safe? Weve seen the recklessness of behavior get innocent people shot and or killed.

Woodfin, speaking in his report to the Birmingham City Council, said he would continue to work with the council on solutions.

Because were not in a position to regulate guns, the conversation Ive had with you all and the conversation Ive been having with two of the 99 neighborhoods residents is, is there an opportunity for a pilot program to regulate spaces. What we found in our conversations going door to door with residents is that residents are open to that, that if we cant regulate guns, is there a way to regulate space where people live.

He did not have specifics on what that proposal would be.

As we continue to gather information from residents, as we continue to get details of how this idea will look, we commit to coming back to the council, coming back to residents and coming back to the public to share how do we better regulate space if we cant regulate guns to keep people safe, particularly where they live, Woodfin said.

Businesses where shootings occur bear responsibility as well, he said.

The City of Birmingham is suing the owners and operators of the Shell station on Third Avenue West and an adjacent business after the weekend shooting.

More than 150 bullets were unleashed in the predawn incident on Sunday.

Since the incident this weekend, the legal department has filed civil injunction against several of the establishments in the 800 block of Third Avenue West, Woodfin said.

I want to put all businesses on notice. We had this conversation publicly with you all two weeks ago. We believe in supporting our small businesses. Small businesses are the backbone of our community, as well as how we produce taxes in this community. At the same time, I think its worth noting publicly that there is an expectation that those who are small business owners, that they are responsible for the activities that happen on their private property, and or that spill out onto our public spaces that create or cause a public nuisance. Ultimately, you have to be held accountable.
Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday finished one of their main tasks for the annual legislative session.

The Senate gave final approval to the General Fund budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, sending it to Gov. Kay Ivey.

The spending plan, SB67 by Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, allocates $3.4 billion from the General Fund for prisons, mental health, and other non-education agencies. Thats an increase of about $360 million over the current fiscal year.

Here in Alabama, we continue budgeting wisely, Ivey said in a press release. Despite the tough national economic climate, our financial footing is strong, and we are able to make investments where they count  investments that will pay dividends for generations to come.

I look forward to putting pen to paper and officially signing this budget into law, the governor said.

The Alabama Medicaid Agency will receive $955 million from the General Fund next year, $92 million more than this year. Rep. Rex Reynolds, chairman of the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee, said more state funds are needed for Medicaid because a period of enhanced federal matching funds during the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.

The budget allocates $736 million from the General Fund to the Alabama Department of Corrections, a $75 million increase over this year.

The Department of Mental Health will receive $235 million from the General Fund next year, a $23 million increase. Reynolds said much of that is to support Alabamas new crisis system of care.

The state has opened crisis care centers in Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa and a sixth in Dothan will open soon. Reynolds said the annual operating cost for each center will be about $7 million.

Also on Tuesday, lawmakers gave final approval to SB66, a supplemental spending bill that allocates $254 million from the General Fund this fiscal year. That includes $150 million for prison construction. Lawmakers are working on a way to pay for a new 4,000-bed mens prison in Escambia County.

That prison will follow a 4,000-bed prison now under construction in Elmore County at a cost of about $1.1 billion. Funding is already allocated for the Elmore County prison, which includes special facilities for medical and mental health care.

The Legislature is still working on the education budget for next year. It was sent to a conference committee to reconcile differences between the House and Senate. The plan approved by the House allocates $9.3 billion for public education, a 6.25% increase over this year.
Hoover City Council President John Lyda on Tuesday called Monday nights unsuccessful effort to remove him from his post a political sideshow.

A motion to oust Lyda as council president was made by City Councilor Steve McClinton, who proposed that City Councilor Casey Middlebrooks replace Lyda.

The motion failed by a vote of 3-1 with two abstentions.

Lyda, who is vacationing in the Bahamas, was not present at Monday nights meeting, but sent the following statement to AL.com on Tuesday:

Hoover has been fortunate to be a city where only a handful of times in our history have we seen a political sideshow like this. We have a mayor and majority council with executive business level experience who are laser focused on meeting the needs and expectations of our residents in maintaining a top tier education system, delivering world class public safety, and creating a quality of life experience that is second to none in the United States. That focus remains the same and well continue to strive to exceed those goals and not be distracted by political games that attempt to derail our mission.

McClinton did not explicitly state why he was calling for Lydas ouster.

The move came nearly a month after Lyda stirred controversy by calling Stadium Trace Village developer William Kadish a convicted felon who he couldnt trust.

Well, actions have consequences and I believe Mr. Lyda has shown that already, and so I take no joy in doing this. But it needs to be done, McClinton said during Mondays council meeting.

Lyda, who was not present at the meeting, had called for Kadish, president of Broad Metro LLC, to be removed from the second phase of the development over his criminal past.

We are dealing with a convicted felon, Lyda said at the councils April 1 meeting. I will not waver when it comes to doing business with a known felon.

Kadish, who was not allowed to respond to Lydas allegations, released a video statement explaining the conviction stemmed from a mistake I made 24 years ago.

He said he was prescribed opioids in 2001, which led to gambling problems.

Kadish pleaded guilty to grand larceny in New York in 2002 and was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay more than $655,000 in restitution, WRBC reported, citing court records.

Kadish said he had his criminal record in New York sealed in 2021 under a new state law to ensure people of good moral character would not be prejudiced from doing business.

City Councilor Khrysti Driver criticized McClinton for going forward with the motion while Lyda was not at the meeting.

Where I come from, having leadership courage includes doing things like this when the person is present in the room, and Im very much opposed to moving forward with this tonight, she said before the vote.
A roundup of conversations we're having daily on the site. Subscribe to the Reckon Daily for stories centering marginalized communities and speaking to the under-covered issues of the moment.

When dermatologist Adewole Ade Adamson sees people spritzing sunscreen as if its cologne at the pool where he lives in Austin, Texas, he wants to intervene. My wife says I shouldnt, he said, even though most people rarely use enough sunscreen.

At issue is not just whether people are using enough sunscreen but what ingredients are in it.

The Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) ability to approve the chemical filters in sunscreens that are sold in countries such as Japan, South Korea and France is hamstrung by a 1938 U.S. law that requires sunscreens to be tested on animals and classified as drugs, rather than as cosmetics as they are in much of the world. So Americans are not likely to get those better sunscreens  which block the ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer and lead to wrinkles  in time for this summer or even the next.

Sunscreen makers say that requirement is unfair because companies including BASF Corp. and LOreal, which make the newer sunscreen chemicals, submitted safety data on sunscreen chemicals to the European Union authorities some 20 years ago.

Steven Goldberg, a retired vice president of BASF, said companies are wary of the FDA process because of the cost and their fear that additional animal testing could ignite a consumer backlash in the European Union, which bans animal testing of cosmetics, including sunscreen. The companies are asking Congress to change the testing requirements before they take steps to enter the U.S. marketplace.

In a rare example of bipartisanship last summer, Republican Sen. Mike Lee thanked Rep. Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for urging the FDA to speed up approvals of new, more effective sunscreen ingredients. Now a bipartisan bill is pending in the House that would require the FDA to allow non-animal testing.

It goes back to sunscreens being classified as over-the-counter drugs, said Carl DRuiz, a senior manager at DSM-Firmenich, a Switzerland-based maker of sunscreen chemicals. Its really about giving the U.S. consumer something that the rest of the world has. People arent dying from using sunscreen. Theyre dying from melanoma.

Every hour, at least two people die of skin cancer in the United States. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in America and 6.1 million adults are treated each year for basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The nations second-most-common cancer, breast cancer, is diagnosed about 300,000 times annually, though it is far more deadly.

Though skin cancer treatment success rates are excellent, 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer by age 70. The disease costs the health care system $8.9 billion a year, according to CDC researchers. One study found that the annual cost of treating skin cancer in the United States more than doubled from 2002 to 2011, while the average annual cost for all other cancers increased by just 25 percent. And unlike many other cancers, most forms of skin cancer can largely be prevented  by using sunscreens and taking other precautions.

But a heavy dose of misinformation has permeated the sunscreen debate and some people question the safety of sunscreens sold in the United States, which they deride as chemical sunscreens. These sunscreen opponents prefer physical or mineral sunscreens, such as zinc oxide, even though all sunscreen ingredients are chemicals.

Its an artificial categorization, said E. Dennis Bashaw, a retired FDA official who ran the agencys clinical pharmacology division that studies sunscreens.

Still, such concerns were partly fed by the FDA itself after it published a study that said some sunscreen ingredients had been found in trace amounts in human bloodstreams. When the FDA said in 2019  and then again two years later  that older sunscreen ingredients needed to be studied more to see if they were safe, sunscreen opponents saw an opening, said Nadim Shaath, president of Alpha Research & Development, which imports chemicals used in cosmetics.

Thats why we have extreme groups and people who arent well informed thinking that something penetrating the skin is the end of the world, Shaath said. Anything you put on your skin or eat is absorbed.

Adamson, the Austin dermatologist, said some sunscreen ingredients have been used for 30 years without any population-level evidence that they have harmed anyone. The issue for me isnt the safety of the sunscreens we have, he said. Its that some of the chemical sunscreens arent as broad spectrum as they could be, meaning they do not block UVA as well. This could be alleviated by the FDA allowing new ingredients.

The sun protection factor, or SPF, rating on American sunscreen bottles denotes only a sunscreens ability to block UVB rays. Although American sunscreens labeled broad spectrum should, in theory, block UVA light, some studies have shown they fail to meet the European Unions higher UVA-blocking standards.

It looks like a number of these newer chemicals have a better safety profile in addition to better UVA protection, said David Andrews, deputy director of Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that researches the ingredients in consumer products. We have asked the FDA to consider allowing market access.

The FDA defends its review process and its call for tests of the sunscreens sold in American stores as a way to ensure the safety of products that many people use daily, rather than just a few times a year at the beach.

Many Americans today rely on sunscreens as a key part of their skin cancer prevention strategy, which makes satisfactory evidence of both safety and effectiveness of these products critical for public health, Cherie Duvall-Jones, an FDA spokesperson, wrote in an email.

DRuizs company, DSM-Firmenich, is the only one currently seeking to have a new over-the-counter sunscreen ingredient approved in the United States. The company has spent the past 20 years trying to gain approval for bemotrizinol, a process DRuiz said has cost $18 million and has advanced fitfully, despite attempts by Congress in 2014 and 2020 to speed along applications for new UV filters.

Bemotrizinol is the bedrock ingredient in nearly all European and Asian sunscreens, including those by the South Korean brand Beauty of Joseon and Biore, a Japanese brand.

DRuiz said bemotrizinol could secure FDA approval by the end of 2025. If it does, he said, bemotrizinol would be the most vetted and safest sunscreen ingredient on the market, outperforming even the safety profiles of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.

As Congress and the FDA debate, many Americans have taken to importing their own sunscreens from Asia or Europe, despite the risk of fake products.

The sunscreen issue has gotten people to see that you can be unsafe if youre too slow, said Alex Tabarrok, a professor of economics at George Mason University. The FDA is just incredibly slow. Theyve been looking at this now literally for 40 years. Congress has ordered them to do it and they still havent done it.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF  the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. This story also ran on NBC News. It can be republished for free.










English News China, Serbia deepen pragmatic cooperation in infrastructure

Alwihda Info | Par People's Daily - 6 Mai 2024



With the deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Serbia, the practical cooperation in infrastructure construction between the two countries is accelerating. In addition, in the field of digital infrastructure, Serbia has already reached cooperation agreements with Chinese technology companies such as Huawei in areas such as broadband networks, smart city construction, and railway wireless communication systems, which are fueling Serbia's digital transformation.

By Yan Huan, Xie Yahong, People's Daily In 2015, China and Serbia signed a memorandum of understanding, pledging to jointly push ahead the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which marked a new stage of high-quality development in their cooperation.



Chinese enterprises have taken an active part in important infrastructure projects in Serbia, promoting connectivity between Serbia and its neighboring regions, and contributing to the local economic and social development.



Starting from 7 am, the Belgrade bypass gradually became busy. A continuous stream of large trucks and private cars swiftly moved along the spacious asphalt road. The logo of Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina) was clearly shown on the side of the interchange.



For a long time, Belgrade lacked a bypass, and the core route connecting Europe's north and south, the Pan-European Corridor X, had to pass through downtown Belgrade. This not only caused severe traffic congestion but also brought about problems such as air and noise pollution.



In 2016, during the 5th Summit of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), PowerChina signed a contract with the Serbian side for the Belgrade bypass project. The project, with a total length of 20.34 kilometers, includes four tunnels, 22 bridges, and two sets of large overpasses, making it an important branch of the Pan-European Corridor X.



Through the unremitting efforts of both China and Serbia, the project was completed and opened to traffic ahead of schedule by the end of June 2023. Since its opening, the traffic pressure in downtown Belgrade has been greatly relieved. The congestion in the city has reduced by approximately 30 percent. At the same time, the capacity and efficiency of the Pan-European Corridor X have significantly improved, making it easier for Serbia to better integrate into regional connectivity.



Jelena works at a law firm in Stari Grad, also known as the Old Town of Belgrade. Before the Belgrade bypass was built, she had brace herself for possible traffic jams every time she left home for work.



"Previously, it took me about an hour to go to the office or go home by car, but now it has been reduced to 15 to 20 minutes, which is much more convenient! Even my friends who came back from abroad told me that Belgrade has become more spacious, facilitated, and modern," Jelena said.



The Golubac Fortress and the Djerdap National Park by the Danube River in east Serbia's Golubac attract numerous domestic and foreign tourists. However, the outdated road infrastructure there severely limits the carrying capacity for tourists and local economic development. Currently, Chinese enterprises are constructing a "Danube Corridor," which will help Golubac break through these bottlenecks.



The "Danube Corridor", undertaken by China's Shandong Hi-Speed Company Limited, officially commenced in November 2021. The project connects Pozarevac and Golubac, both in east Serbia, spanning approximately 68 kilometers. The two-way four-lane road has a designed speed of 100 kilometers per hour, and includes over 50 bridges and more than 20 roundabouts.



As part of the eastern Serbian transportation network, the "Danube Corridor," upon completion, will strengthen connectivity between the cities in east Serbia and other major cities in the country, attracting more investments and tourists to the east.



The project team of the "Danube Corridor" includes nearly 200 employees, and over 3/4 of them are Serbian. Dara, an experienced engineer from Serbia who works at the project, told People's Daily that the "Danube Corridor" reaches many EU member states and is a crucial branch of the European E-75 highway.



"I have supervised road construction projects for many foreign companies, and I believe that the work done by the Chinese builders not only meets EU standards but is also more efficient. I am confident that we will fulfill our schedule on time, and create new opportunities for industrial development," Dara said.



The ground leveling project for the Belgrade metro officially started in 2021, undertaken by PowerChina's SinoHydro Bureau 7 Co., Ltd. At the construction site in the western part of Belgrade, bulldozers and dump trucks are always seen shuttling back and forth under the command of both Chinese and Serbian engineers.



As one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe, the Belgrade metro will not only effectively improve transportation in the Serbian capital, expand urban development space, and accelerate the city's entry into the era of multi-dimensional transportation, but also drive economic development along its route, promote the development of green and low-carbon transportation, create significant economic and social benefits, and further build a bridge to deepen the friendship between China and Serbia.



With the deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Serbia, the practical cooperation in infrastructure construction between the two countries is accelerating. In addition, in the field of digital infrastructure, Serbia has already reached cooperation agreements with Chinese technology companies such as Huawei in areas such as broadband networks, smart city construction, and railway wireless communication systems, which are fueling Serbia's digital transformation.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > Progress made in desertification control along Yellow River Basalt rocks made into national flag carried by Chang'e-6 probe Prospering telemedicine a reflection of China's rapid internet development Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)










English News Hungary-Serbia Railway brings more convenience to local people

Alwihda Info | Par People's Daily - 7 Mai 2024



"Now we have a stable daily ridership of 8,000 to 10,000 passengers, with even more on weekends. Taking a high-speed rail to Belgrade for work in the morning and returning to Novi Sad in the evening has become a choice for many people," said Simovic.

By Li Qiang, Yan Huan, People's Daily As a flagship project of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, the Hungary-Serbia Railway is an important part of the European transport corridor and the China-Europe Land and Sea Express Line. It is of great significance to the synergetic development between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and European development strategies. Since its commencement, the project has garnered widespread attention.



On March 19, 2022, the Belgrade-Novi Sad section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway in Serbia went into operation. This new route has not only facilitated local passengers, but also placed Serbia among the nations with high-speed rail. According to statistics, the Belgrade-Novi Sad section has carried 6.83 million passengers during its two years of operation.



On a morning at the Belgrade Center railway station, passengers were waiting in line on the platforms for the arrival of the train Coko, which is named after the Serbian word for falcon, a bird known for its speed. The Belgrade-Novi Sad section is as fast as a coko  the trip from Belgrade to Novi Sad can be completed in just half an hour.



"Substantially decreasing the distance between Serbia's two most vital cities, the high-speed rail has brought changes to our lives," said a passenger.



Passenger Milika often travels between the two cities. She said that a one-way high-speed rail ticket from Belgrade to Novi Sad costs less than 5 euros ($5.33), and a monthly pass provides even greater affordability. Driving between the two cities would cost over 10 euros in tolls, fuel, and parking fees, with a travel time of over an hour, Milika added.



Nenad Stanisavljevic, head of public relations department of Serbian Railways, noted that an increasing number of Serbians are now accustomed to taking the high-speed rail, as it is comfortable and provides a safer and more convenient travel experience.



The waiting hall of the Novi Sad station, built in 1964, is currently undergoing expansion in response to the rising passenger numbers since the opening of the high-speed rail line.



Veselin Simovic, a person in charge of railway infrastructure in the Novi Sad region, said that the original Hungary-Serbia railway line was constructed in 1883 and had severely aged. Some sections were no longer operational, while the maximum speed on the operational sections was less than 40 kilometers per hour. Delays of trains often happened, Simovic added.



However, the situation has dramatically changed with the opening of the Belgrade-Novi Sad high-speed rail section, according to Simovic.



"Now we have a stable daily ridership of 8,000 to 10,000 passengers, with even more on weekends. Taking a high-speed rail to Belgrade for work in the morning and returning to Novi Sad in the evening has become a choice for many people," said Simovic.



Milan Banovic, chief engineer of the Hungary-Serbia Railway, has joined the project since its inception. Speaking of his experience working with Chinese colleagues, he said, "I learned a lot from them, and together with my Serbian engineer colleagues, we helped our Chinese counterparts resolve many localization issues. Our cooperation was very pleasant. Last year, I visited China twice and even rode on Chinese high-speed trains, which left a profound impression on me."



So far, China has offered training for over 40 Serbian technical personnel, fostering a group of young technical professionals proficient in the world's most advanced railway technologies in Serbia.



Near the Novi Sad station, track-laying work has commenced for the Novi Sad-Subotica section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway. The section is expected be completed by the end of 2024, which will mark the completion of the Serbian section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway.



During his visit to the construction site, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he was satisfied with the progress of the construction of the Novi Sad-Subotica railway section. He thanked the Chinese companies for their efforts to complete the project ahead of schedule.



"This is a significant change for the Serbian people and the entire country, as travel time between Belgrade and Subotica will be reduced to just 75 minutes," Vucic said, expecting the enhancement to attract more tourists.



Ivona Ladjevac, deputy director at the Institute of International Politics and Economics in Belgrade, has long been following the development of BRI.



In her view, Serbia needs a modernized railway to support the country's overall development. The Hungary-Serbia Railway not only facilitates transportation within Serbia but also connects the European continent, increasing freight capacity and transit capability.



"This railway is very important for the development of Europe. It has also provided many job opportunities for local communities. The areas along the high-speed rail line are gaining more development opportunities," said Ladjevac.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > Progress made in desertification control along Yellow River Basalt rocks made into national flag carried by Chang'e-6 probe Prospering telemedicine a reflection of China's rapid internet development Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)
According to the Times of Israel, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, during a visit to the Palmachim Airbase, stated, "In Gaza, we are obligated to eliminate Hamas and also to return the hostages. We are working on these two tasks, and I am determined to accomplish both things. It will take as long as it takes." ".as long as it takes" is neither a strategy nor a policy. It conveys uncertainty rather than a focused operational approach. Moreover, the longer it takes, the higher the toll on military personnel's lives. General Gallant understands that he lost the war and is just trying to stay in uniform for as long as possible.

In 1967, it required six days for the fathers of today's Israeli military leaders to defeat a coalition of Arab nations, notably Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. The current Israeli military geniuses have already spent six months fighting a modest terrorist force that lacks the advanced weaponry of a modern army, failing to achieve the stated objectives.

Israel should not have any problem, moral, legal, or otherwise, to bring the terror back to those who have committed mass murder. But it does. Jews, in general, lack the moral fortitude to impose a collective punishment even for a collective crime.

The ongoing conflict exposed this inherent vulnerability. As we are ready to acknowledge that not all Palestinians belong to Hamas, it is equally significant for the world community to concede that all members of Hamas are Palestinians. Therefore, all residents of Gaza share the moral responsibility for the terror attacks as long as they remain silent. The Romans wisdom, Qui tacet consentire videtur, Silence is consent, is as relevant today as it was two millennia ago.

It is time to remind Israelis that conflicts are not targeted at organizations but entire nations. In World War II, the Allies did not wage war against the Wehrmacht, SS, or the Imperial Japanese Army but fought against the Japanese and German nations. It is because civilians play a crucial role in the war effort, offering moral support, producing weapons, making uniforms, constructing fortifications, and providing essential resources like food. In the case of Palestinians, they are also accomplices, holding and subjecting Israeli hostages to torture within their own homes and willingly putting themselves in harm's way, acting as human shields for the terrorists. Hence, the term Hamas essentially refers to all Palestinians and vice versa.

Israel, however, has been hesitant to act against the entire Palestinian nation ruthlessly and expeditiously. This weakness has prolonged the hostilities and given its adversaries time to launch a global campaign in support of Hamas. The campaign eroded international backing for Israel, including unwavering American support in the aftermath of the attack. Israel had the advantage of holding every ace, king, and queen in the deck, yet failed to execute the operation swiftly and lost so much political capital in a short time.

Considering the current state of affairs, the sooner Israel ends this conflict, the better. The political and military situations are not conducive for Israel. The prolongation of the conflict will strengthen backing for Hamas and further isolate Israel diplomatically. Of utmost significance, it puts Israel on a collision course with the Biden Administration, which is committed to the two-state solution and will make every effort to safeguard Hamas.

Adding to the complexity of the situation, Israel remains politically divided, with ongoing attempts to overthrow Netanyahu's government. The country grapples with political uncertainty and a lack of resolve. The debates surrounding the potential invasion of Rafah, highlight the governments indecisiveness. The city serves as Hamas' final stronghold. It houses the terrorist group's leadership, remaining fighters, hostages, and smuggling tunnels from Egypt, all protected by a human shield.

The caveat is that even if Israelis opt for military intervention in Rafah, they have no stomach to do it in a way that would stun the world, and, unfortunately, that is what it takes to win. Additionally, considering the ineptitude of the senior officers, the potential number of casualties could become insurmountable.

Most importantly, Israel needs to realize that the hostages held by Hamas serve as a form of insurance. Therefore, eliminating Hamas and returning the hostages alive are mutually exclusive objectives. If Hamas were to begin executing, let's say, ten hostages each day and continue to display their images on YouTube until Israel ceases its invasion, the scenario could rapidly escalate into a major disaster.

Regretfully, given its weak negotiation position, Israel, as a temporary retreat, must be prepared to make significant concessions to Hamas in exchange for hostages. It is undeniable that Hamas will breach any agreement it reaches with Israel anyway, and hopefully, Israel will be better prepared militarily and psychologically to embrace the historical fact that regardless of methods and motives, winners are not judged.

Alternatively, if Trump were to become President, he would eradicate Hamas without firing a single shot. For Trump and his Arab allies in the Abraham Accord, the Palestinian issue is an impediment to their mutual aspiration of achieving peace and prosperity in the Middle East. Gaza is surrounded by Israel, with a short border with Egypt. It will be easy to blockade, and no help will be coming unless Israel provides it...which it wont. Trump will be in a position to force Arab countries to take Palestinians. Palestinians will have to accept the offer and relocate to other Arab countries. As far as Hamas fighters are concerned, the Arabs will know who they are and will take care of them.

Thus, one way or the other, Hamas will inevitably reach its expiration date. But today is not that day.

Image: Israeli troops in Gaza. IDF press release.

Alexander G. Markovsky is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, a think tank that examines national security, energy, risk analysis, and other public policy issues. He is the author of Anatomy of a Bolshevik and Liberal Bolshevism: America Did Not Defeat Communism, She Adopted It. Mr. Markovsky is the owner and CEO of Litwin Management Services, LLC. He can be reached at alexander.g.markovsky@gmail.com.

This article has been edited since publication.
Current campus disturbances outwardly resemble past protests. It would be as if they all shared a common scriptrighteous indignation, yelling and screaming slogans, lists of non-negotiable demands, going limp when police try to remove them, piles of trash, and all the rest. Dont be fooled. Todays protestors are profoundly different despite the superficial resemblances, and these differences make them particularly dangerous.

Current disturbances lack this rational: self-interested elements and many participants are clueless when asked to explain their action. In a nutshell, while anti-war protestors wanted to end the draft and avoid Vietnam, and blacks demanded more educational resources, todays protestors want to eradicate a country of nine million people possessing the most powerful, nuclear-equipped army in the Middle East. Moreover, this mission is to be accomplished by shouting Death to America and disrupting classes. Brilliant, and one can only ask, Are these the smartest of the smart? Ironically, perhaps the only rational participants in these disturbances are the non-student professional agitators bedecked in their balaclavas whose mission is just to create violent chaos. They at least have a chance of succeeding.

Stupidity abounds. Why, for example, are so many of these pro-Hamas, anti-Israel demonstrators women who drape themselves in Muslim style headscarves, embracing a religion so antithetical to feminism? They surely know how women are treated in Muslim-dominated nations. Are these female demonstrators demanding an intifada so they can now obey their husbands unconditionally?

Similarly, what if protesting students holding a Queers for Palestine sign or wearing a sweatshirt proclaiming Fags for Palestine were magically transported to Iran, a theocracy that executes homosexuals? Are those American blacks rallying for Islam aware that African Muslims are slaughtering blacks in West Darfur? Or that Arabs once dominated the slave trade? Where on the planet do Muslims help blacks?

Israel has done far more for these oppressed angry protestors than any Muslim nation. Israeli women and gays live in a paradise compared to their compatriots in Muslim countries. The state of Israel and Jewish private organizations have long donated billions in assistance to some 43 African nations. Israel rescued thousands of black Jews from Ethiopia and treats them as absolute equals. American Jews have been in the forefront of the civil rights movement. No good deed goes unpunished, apparently.

Protestors live in an upside-down world where the good guys are the bad guys and ones friends are really the enemy. How is it possible for 100 professors at Columbia University to call the October 7th slaughter of civilians, beheaded babies, raped women, and kidnapped hostages a military operation? One leftist magazine spoke of Hamass historic anti-colonial struggle.

Why? These protestors are afflicted with a condition what might be called Post-Modern Brain Disorder (PMBD). Here the stricken live in a universe where words lose their meaning and are thus unable to separate good from evil.

They are also vulnerable to suggestions that contradict plain-to-see realitycurrently taught mathematics is just white mathematics and 2+2=4 just reflects white privilege. PMBD sufferers love esoteric jargon such as cisgendered whose terms only make sense to those likewise infected. The root of this disorder is extended exposure to the postmodern philosophy taught in prestigious universities, notably lectures on racism and modern gender theory.

These students are not being educated; they are groomed, gradually convinced of falsehoods no matter how obviously true. They now become blank slates upon which their teachers can write crackpot messages. They now learn, for example, that all people are equally talented in every field so any differences in accomplishment merely reflects power, and since in America white males are the most successful, they are simply the most powerful. The entire idea of merit is rejected with everything determined by power, race, sexual identity, and class. Under such conditions, equality can only be achieved by overthrowing the white patriarchy, violently if necessary. In this cosmology, Jews, being white, are oppressors to be eliminated.

Among PMBD sufferers, it is obvious that Hamas, being people of color, is perpetually the innocent victim, and that the white Israeli army is practicing genocide even if Hamas commits war crimes by hiding behind human shields. Moreover, history and archaeology aside, the Jews, being white, lack any right to occupy land stolen from Palestinians and thus deserve extermination. Genocide and terrorism now become justice, and condemning those demanding justice becomes Islamophobic.

This political grooming resembles how Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell transformed innocent gullible 14-year-old girls into willing bed partners for celebrities. They began with innocuously paying for non-sexual massages, gradually upping sexual content and, bit by bit, created a willing sex worker. In the case of university students, under the tutelage of Ivy League professors, theyre slowly converted from sensible undergraduates into anti-Semitic Hamas supporters. Like prisoners in Communist Chinese re-education camps, after a year or two in isolation, the transformation is complete.

If asked immediately post-9/11 about the odds that thousands of American students enrolled in elite universities might one day openly defend Muslim terrorists, a reasonable persons guess would be less than zero. That this has now occurred is a tribute to the power of professors. In fact, protestors in Philadelphia displayed the flags of every known terrorist group in their encampment.

Our universities were once viewed as Americas great strength. Today, they also produce countless useful idiots available to harebrained faculty to achieve the once unthinkable, killing millions of Jews. If only Hitler could see this theater.

There will be consequences. A recent Wall Street Journal article told of outraged parents demanding tuition refunds from riot-afflicted schools, many claiming that video streamed classes are inadequate, and their children are not safe. Other irate parents vowed to withhold future donations.

A parallel exists with what parents discovered during the COVID lockdown, when they first encountered explicit sexual content and Critical Race Theory in their childrens lessons. Remember all the Drag Queen story hours? The pushback was enormous and continues to resonate. Columbia may be the next Bud Light.

Elite schools will suffer as elected officials ask why college presidents allowed this decades-long ideological rot to fester. After all, they personally had to approve the hate-spewing departments, every faculty appointment, and the departments annual budgets. When added to the ongoing damage caused by DEIhiring plagiarist functionaries, imposing illegal racial preferences, and other PC nonsensecampus heads will roll. Elite schools may lose their luster. Admission applications at Yeshiva University, a traditional Jewish school, have recently skyrocketed.

PMBD has been metastasizing for over a decade, but it has only surfaced thanks to todays turmoil and by now, thousands of the infected have graduated. Due to tenure and administrative inertia, moreover, the rot will continue. Nor is this indoctrination likely to be a youthful stage to be outgrown. Todays keffiyeh wearing anti-Semites replacing American flags with Hamas banners will soon enter the workforce and continue spreading their message. If one doubts this, just consider how all those college grads indoctrinated into the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion agendas infiltrated corporate America, public schools, and even the military. How else can one explain why so much of America has gone so woke? Locking up a few thousand violent protestors will not end the problem.

Image: Alisdare Hickson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr, unaltered.
Responding to a recent Yale study, which found that drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk is selling the popular type two diabetes drug Ozempic, which costs less than $5 to produce, for nearly $1,000, Sen. Bernie Sanders recently called on major drug companies to knock it off and stop price-gouging.

Unfortunately, however, behind the scenes, hes quietly working to allow them to raise costs even higher.

In a recent press release, Sen. Sanders said, The American people are sick and tired of paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs while the pharmaceutical industry enjoys huge profits, and he made it clear that hes using all the authority vested in him as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to demand the companies in question stop this racket.

Sen. Sanders provided a great statement, and I bet it riled his populist base of supporters. But his words are no different than those of the Wall Street-aligned government regulators who promised to hold the actors who exploited the American people during the 2008 recession accountable. They ring hollow and then some.

Despite talking a great game against Big Pharma, Sen. Sanders is sponsoring legislation to help the drugmakers raise costs.

Big Pharma has spent millions lobbying his colleagues to support and pass his bill, the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform Act , which will add regulations that make it more difficult for the private sector to negotiate better drug pricing deals with manufacturers.

Almost every employer in the country uses the powerful PBM (Pharmacy Benefit Manager) groups Sanders is targeting to hold Big Pharma accountable. Because PBMs manage the health plans of thousands of employers at one time, they have a lot of juice, and its hard for the drugmakers to ignore their demands, leading to really good bulk pricing discounts, cheaper generic drugs, and more fairly priced brand-name products for customers. So, it shouldnt surprise anyone that everyone from President Trumps former HHS Director to President Obamas Office of Management and Budget director speak very highly of these groups, which a 2019 Government Accountability Office study found reduced Medicare pricing by an incredible 20% -- $145 billion -- in a single year.

On the other side of the coin, it shouldnt surprise anyone why Big Pharma is working so hard to shut them down. Every dollar PBMs save consumers comes out of the drugmakers pockets!

One would think that Sanders, who likes to position himself as one of Big Pharmas fiercest critics, would love everything about PBMs, but it seems that he cares more about what Big Pharma does financially for his progressive allies. This legislative crusade is partisan politicking at its worst, plain and simple.

This episode is not the first one the American people have seen in the never-ending movie of Bernie Sanders hypocrisy, a so-called socialist who owns three homes and flies on private jets despite professing the need to spread the wealth and ban gasoline. But its undoubtedly one of the most egregious of the bunch as, to paint himself as independent from the sector, the senator has gone so far as to pledge not to take any money from the pharmaceutical industry.

It just goes to show you: you cant trust anyone in Washington -- not even the gentlemen many casual political onlookers believe is one the countrys most foremost defenders of the middle class.

Dr. Ben Tapper (@DrBenTapper1) is the Director of Epigenetics for The Wellness Company (@twc_health) and formerly served as its CEO.

Image: Gage Skidmore
Xi says China always views France as priority, trustworthy partner of cooperation

Xinhua) 09:09, May 07, 2024

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China always views France as a priority and trustworthy partner of cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said here on Monday.

China is committed to expanding its business relations in both width and depth by opening up new areas, creating new models and fostering new growth areas, Xi said during the closing ceremony of the Sixth Meeting of China-France Business Council.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
Brad Morrison, newly appointed member of the Texas Space Commission, poses in the Surviving Space exhibit at the Witte Museum on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Brad Morrison, newly appointed member of the Texas Space Commission, answers questions posed to him at the Witte Museum on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Texas Space Commissioner Brad Morrison greets members of a Texas Museums 360 curriculum working session at the Witte Museum on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Brad Morrison, newly appointed member of the Texas Space Commission, poses in the Surviving Space exhibit at the Witte Museum on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News From left: Witte Museum President Emeritus Marise McDermott, Space Center Houston President and CEO William T. Harris and Texas Space Commissioner Brad Morrison share a laugh together at the Witte Museum on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News From left: Witte Museum President Emeritus Marise McDermott, Space Center Houston President and CEO William T. Harris and Texas Space Commissioner Brad Morrison talk at the Witte Museum on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Space Center Houston President and CEO William T. Harris, center, and Texas Space Commissioner Brad Morrison, right, talk at the Witte Museum on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News

The schoolchildren exploring the Witte Museums Surviving Space exhibit Tuesday afternoon paid no mind to the man in the gray suit standing for photos against a backdrop of the heavens.

They were more interested in checking out the rocket launch simulator, mock-ups of the International Space Station, spacesuits and meteorites than Brad Morrison. Of course, they didn't realize he's one of nine members of the new Texas Space Commission introduced in late March by Gov. Greg Abbott at NASAs Johnson Space Center.

Morrison, 50, of Boerne graduated from the Air Force Academy, did a stint as an Air Force communications officer, and then became an entrepreneur and businessman. Hes CEO of Atlantis Industries Inc., a Delaware company focused on safeguarding spacecraft from space weather and radiation. Hes also a partner at Donald Capital, a New York-based investment bank focused on aerospace, defense and tech companies.

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Texas Space Commissioner Brad Morrison of Boerne, at far left, when the commission was announced by Gov. Greg Abbott in March at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Office of the Texas Governor

Since being named to the commission charged with overseeing $350 million in state funding for investments in space-focused projects, Morrison has been visiting Texas space hubs such as Midland International Air and Space Port and SpaceXs Starbase outside Brownsville.

The married father of five said he sees the space industry as both critical to national security and an opportunity for economic development that will help protect Americas future.

He spoke with the Express-News about the new commission, its mission, competition with China  even a vision for giant cloud-computing servers in orbit. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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Q: Whats the role of the Texas Space Commission?



A: Our job is to coalesce all the resources of Texas, bring one voice together as a collective whole to the benefit of our citizens and really drive that one voice to help our state realize this economic opportunity right now. I think its a statewide initiative. This isnt just about human spaceflight in Houston. This is the broader, collective whole to include San Antonio.

Texas Space Commissioner Brad Morrison walks into a Texas Museums 360 curriculum working session with team members of the Witte and the Houston Space Center at the Witte Museum on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News

Q: Howd you land on the commission?

A: I guess the journey was, as with anything, its who you know and what you aspire to give back to the community. I think when you combine those two things, with good intentions, you see an opportunity and you take that opportunity to kind of move us forward as a state collective whole, to the betterment of the state. And I think in time youre going to see space driving us to a new age economy, if you will, a new space economy.

Q: Howd the Space Commission develop?

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A: There was the formation of a Texas Aerospace Commission back in the 80s. The original Texas Aerospace Commission was sunset in 2003, 20 years after it was established. It had gone through changes, it evolved from space to aerospace. I think that lack of focus probably created the demise of the commission itself. And then, kind of fast forward, Elon (Musk, CEO of SpaceX) commits to come here to Texas.

Q: How does the commission fit into the state government?



A: Its coming out of the governors office, but you know, this is a little different than the semiconductor consortium. We live outside of the economic development kind of bucket and its not part of Texas military preparedness; its just a stand-alone kind of function that will be built to really make sure that Texas can lead. We have to lead. We cannot concede the high ground.

Mission Control at NASA's Johnson Space Center moments before Governor Greg Abbotts visit in which he was greeted by Rep. Greg Bonnen and NASA's Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche and spoke to NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, a Houston native currently on the International Space Station, on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in Houston . Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer

Q: Why now?



A: This kind of goes back to the idea that if you command and control the seas, you win the world. Thats why the British Empire was the British Empire. You win space, you control the world. So, thats the big challenge were in right now. Can the U.S. and our allies maintain status  not domination  but, frankly, trying to protect democracy and things that really matter? This goes well beyond the politics of Washington. I think what makes us really kind of neat is you could potentially get 35 congressional representatives across state of Texas to collaborate on something that really matters and its a good thing.

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Its about natural resource. Its about protecting the high ground so we can have freedom to maneuver and do things to the benefit of our economy, not just military. I dont think people sometimes understand the implication of space assets. I came here to the Witte using Google Maps. Well, if that didnt work or they rendered that useless for us, that would be a bad day.

Q: What do you say to those who wonder why Texas is investing so heavily in space when there are unsolved problems on the ground in the state?

A: Its a big challenge, I think. Because you look around we have a lot of problems that are immediate and here right now. Whereas, you think about space, and its so far out there. But its so close. I guess thats the important part. It dwarfs anything Ive ever thought about, whether it be the Information Age economy that weve lived in, youre talking a multitrillion-dollar economic opportunity. Its hard to even get your head wrapped around, and thats probably just the tip of the iceberg. And if no ones thinking about it, no ones doing anything about it, guess what? Youre going to get lapped and then some, and thats whats happening right now. We dont realize were getting lapped right, so we have to wake up.

Brad Morrison, newly appointed member of the Texas Space Commission, answers questions posed to him at the Witte Museum on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News

Q: Talk about competition in space?



A: So, you think about why was a commission formed in the first place, and why does it matter now? It really is, can we keep pace? And thats not going to be a question. We will keep pace. I think thats the neat part about America period. Its not just Texas. I dont care whether youre in New York, California, Florida, we all want to win. We want to root for the underdog. Were the underdog right now. This should transcend any earthly problems we have amongst one another. It should band together humanity for the greater good. It has to. You talk about economic opportunity for everyone. Well, this is it. Lets get after it. This is this is everyone.

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Q: How does San Antonio fit into Texas future space economy?



A: I draw a straight line from what we do in cyber to space. There could be more Space Force missions that we bring here. If we intend, if were intentional about it and we want to bed down more of the military forces, but with it comes industry and economic development. So I think theres great opportunity for us to do some great things.

Q: How does Texas growing space economy reach beyond Houston?



A: Obviously into Austin, the telecom corridor up in Dallas. Youve got whats happening in Van Horn, UT-El Paso, and what former Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson has done out there. Theyre one of the 13 universities picked by the Space Force to lean in on research and development. So, it really is from Boca Chica up to the Panhandle. From Houston all the way out to El Paso. It does crisscross the state, so for the state to have this body, this voice, at the time, I think is very forward looking.

Q: Port San Antonio CEO Jim Perschbach has said the future of the space business in San Antonio centers on controlling and securing communications between Earth and space. Do you agree?



A: Im aligned with Jim in that regard. That said, I think theres a lot of tremendous commercial space opportunity for us. So, beyond the command and controlling part. I was just meeting with Noah Chemicals this morning. They do some pretty amazing things. They make advanced specialty chemicals that apply to the space business from a nuclear radiation shielding protection standpoint. So you got examples like that. People havent heard about it, but I think our local economy can basically stand to gain as the space business gets further developed.

Again, youre talking about putting more electronics in orbit, theres radiation and so you got to protect that stuff. I think theres opportunities there. Think about Kinetic Concepts. Obviously, theyre known for their hospital beds in town and the Leininger family, but what if skin grafts were actually created in orbit in a zero-gravity environment? Its pretty amazing what could happen there.

I think about it from an economic development standpoint. Youve got the doubt on military forces and capabilities, and obviously youre going to need military protection as you operate from low Earth orbit out to the moon. But you think about the economic opportunity to move stuff in space, bring stuff back down from space, do mining, manufacturing in that space domain. All thats very possible. And I think theres economic opportunity for our local economy to get involved with that.



Q: Could San Antonio also be a space logistics hub with companies such as Astroport Space Technologies and Knight Aerospace at Port San Antonio?



A: I 100% agree. I think what youre going to find is a pull towards where theres launch, there might be return facilities. I think closely coupling those things will matter. I think we have to play as a region quite honestly.

Ill give you one example on how this all interconnects. What if we were to bed down military Space Forces doing command and controlling or cyber operations in support of satellites or infrastructure? We got people making procurement decisions, and we put them on air taxi services like eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) where they can go out to Boca Chica, Midland or Houston really quick. So, to me, its less about how San Antonio is going to win. Its about how Texas wins and how we graft Texas into a much bigger opportunity.

Q: What have you been doing since the commission was launched?



A: Its largely just been getting out there and listening. Ive been to Midland, Ive been down to Boca Chica with Kathy Leuders, SpaceXs general manager at Starbase. Shes also on the commission.

McGregor, Texas, by Waco has got lots going on. Im going up to Waco. So, Im making trips. These are not commission trips. These are just personal trips so I can understand whats going on.

Q: Has the commission done anything yet?



A: We have not done anything formal, and so, you know, I think we have to move probably fairly quick once we meet to plan, get an executive director and figuring out how were going to allocate and capitalize infrastructure investment.

Q: Whats the timeline?



A: The next legislative session is coming up, and we can kind of work backwards from that. So I think were going to be moving fairly quickly, but nothing is set yet.

Q: Whats motivating about this project so far?



A: I think just setting the foundation in place. Weve got to restart this thing. Its been 20 years in the making, so I think really supporting SpaceX, Blue Origin and whoever else wants to play in this. This isnt about haves and have nots right now. This is about anything we can take from anywhere right now. I think weve got to be a good steward. At the same time weve got to lean forward. Its okay to risk and experiment. Fail sometimes. We cant lose. We have to win. Texas has to win. Period.

Q: Will there be more Texas spaceports?



A: Think of it this way. Youve got the different ports along our southern border. To me its part export-import. So, what if we lead the way as far as export-import to and from space? And were the first overland launch facility out there. Thats a question. And I think its going to be neat to have nine other members expressing their views around the table and how we chop things up and figure out how to allocate, but if you if you think about the need for this now and that it does matter, then, what becomes our job? Well, maybe its limiting liability associated with doing more space operations and launches in Texas. Maybe thats a big part of it.

Q: Whats next for the commission?

A: We need to pick an executive director that can compete with or exceed what Florida has done, because I would say from a commercial commercialization of space theyre kind of out in front. But, again, Im not too scared that we would lose out on opportunities to launch. Were going to need more launch capacity so Texas is in a great position because we have access to the Gulf. You got high-speed corridors already being divvied up over West Texas, and so what if we were to create more of an overland launch to the benefit of our military as well as commercial space? Now, that can be just a public policy driven initiative where we allow private commercial investment into that, but what weve done is basically busted up and bottlenecks as it relates to making that a real thing. And oh, by the way, well now if you control export-import, guess what? You can tax that. You can take those monies you can give back to kids in the classroom.

We got to demonstrate returns for the people of Texas. So I dont know quite yet where that is but I think theres probably some immediate things we can do that are low risk, low-hanging fruit, if you will, that dont require big investment. A lot of partnering and collaboration across maybe, like TxDOT to, you know, fix our road to Boca Chica with Texas Parks and Wildlife. Look, theres an environmental concern down there, I get it. We cant lose out on this. We cant afford it. So we have to figure out accommodations to make sure everyone gets a say and a piece of this but we cant miss out on the opportunity. We have to lead -- period. Theres no other state I can think of in the country that has the resources we have and, frankly, just the people and their willingness to lean forward.
Are the Islamic terror attacks that plague the world random outbursts of Muslim madness, or are they the result of calculated directives? Consider the following, seemingly disparate accounts.

On Apr. 22, 2024, Muslim terrorists rammed their vehicle into four Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem, causing three of them to go flying in the air.

On Apr. 15, a Muslim man lunged at and repeatedly stabbed a Christian clergyman, Bishop Mar Mari, as he was delivering a sermon from the pulpit of his church in Sydney, Australia. (The incident was captured on video  much to Australias chagrin.)

Most spectacularly, on Mar. 22, Muslim terrorists with automatic weapons launched an attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow, massacring at least 139 people and wounding more. The Islamic State (ISIS) quickly claimed and presented the attack as an effort to kill thousands of Christians.

But the connection to ISIS may be deeper. On Jan. 4, 2024, the caliphate called on Muslims to terrorize and slaughter Christians and Jews, wherever and whenever. Moreover, the three aforementioned attacks perfectly conform to ISISs directives. Consider the italicized sections of the following excerpt from the statement:

Lions of Islam: Chase your preys whether Jewish, Christian or their allies, on the streets and roads of America, Europe, and the world. Break into their homes, kill them and steal their peace of mind by any means you can lay hands on. ... [S]hoot them with bullets [Moscow], cut their throats with sharp knives [Sydney], and run them over with vehicles [Jerusalem]. A sincere person will not lack the means to draw blood from the hearts of the Jews, the Christians, and their allies, and thus ease the suffering in the hearts of the believers. Come at them from every door, kill them by the worst of means, turn their gatherings and celebrations into bloody massacres.

Due to their sensationalist nature and, in Moscows case, large death toll, the three aforementioned terror attacks received some media attention. In reality, however, they are the tip of the iceberg: terror attacks conforming to ISISs directives are common, though minor or foiled ones receive little media attention.

In France, for example, on Mar. 5, police foiled a terror plot to bomb the Notre Dame Cathedral (much of which inexplicably went up in flames in 2019). A Muslim man of Egyptian origin, 62, was arrested. The Mar. 30 report notes that this was just the latest terror attack to be foiled in the previous three weeks. It quotes Frances interior minister Gerald Darmanin saying,

We have never foiled so many attacks in France. The Islamic State is the author of the last eight foiled attacks in France. We foil a lot of [such terror] attacks, one every two months.

Leila, 21, begins a separate Mar. 15 report, was planning to attack the faithful of a church in Beziers on Easter Day with a sword when she was arrested. The report adds that police discovered in her home photos of decapitated bodies and videos of beheadings and how to make acid bombs. In her spiral notebook, she writes of

[my] increasingly intense desire to go out into the street to slit the throat of the first passer-by, drag his corpse into the forest and smash his skull with an iron bar or a hammer then return to look for someone else. ... I have learned to cut throats so there will probably be no problem.

On March 12, another unidentified woman, aged 39, barged into a church during morning Mass, where she made threats while waving a knife around. (The church had already suffered an arson attack, and stands near an area where three teenagers once violently attacked two other teens with tear gas while calling them dirty Christians  standard nomenclature regularly employed by Muslims.)

This is to say nothing of the dozens of churches, cemeteries, and public crucifixes in France that were vandalized and desecrated in just the month of March, including with triumphant Islamic slogans.

In short, when Muslims ram their vehicles into infidels, or barge into their churches and other venues, slitting their throats and opening fire on them with automatic weapons, not only is that because Islam is inherently hostile to non-Muslims, but it may be a growing reflection of how the caliphate  which was supposedly beaten in 2019  continues to influence Muslim hearts and minds.

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Image: Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
They're studying Facebook posts. They're using frame-by-frame video screenshots of faces to match with gargantuan databases of named faces. They're seeking and taking tips from "friends" and relatives and ex-boyfriends.

For the UCLA Jewish students who got into a scrap with pro-Hamas illegal campout protestors, no doubt after hearing a slew of antisemitic statements and being blocked from attending class, they're doing exactly what they did to identify and hunt down January 6 protestors.

According to the Los Angeles Times, which reports this like it was a good thing:

It is shaping up to be perhaps the biggest case in the history of the UCLA Police Department: how to identify dozens of people who attacked a pro-Palestinian camp at the center of campus last week. The mob violence was captured on live television, but it took three hours for police to bring it to an end. Those involved left, and no arrests were made. But the trail is not cold. UCLA detectives are now scanning hundreds of images in an attempt to identify the attackers. They intend to use technology that captures facial images and compares them to other photos on the internet and social media to put names to faces, according to law enforcement sources. The same technology has allowed police to identify suspects in smash-and-grab retail burglaries. It also was the heart of the Jan. 6 investigation, in which videos of those storming the U.S. Capitol helped the FBI identify many of the assailants and led federal prosecutors to charge more than 1,300 people . In those cases, investigators often were able to find social media images of the assailant wearing the same clothing as during the attack.

So now they're spending big bucks to target UCLA Jewish students again, with the same use of intensive investigative techniques as they used on January 6 protestors.

They're taking years to do it, calling it their biggest operation, even as Los Angeles is awash with real crime, but this is more important to them, getting their man, or woman, as the case may be, championing a protest the establishment didn't like, same as they did with the January 6 protestors. Jews tussling with pro-Hamas protestors whose cause probably killed some of their relatives back on October 7 are their top priority, and this is their January 6.

How they will hunt. In the case of the January 6 protestors, they managed to bag people like these, a protestor known as "pink beret," Jennifer Inzunza Vargas Geller. The politicized law enforcers worked like beavers to swoop down on her several years after the fracas, though it's pretty obvious she wasn't doing anything more than just being there, spending millions in order to get her thrown into prison.

Now they'll do it to the Jewish students who fought back against the haters. Never mind catching the dirtbags who left the campus a steaming mess, graffiting its walls, junking its furniture, leaving a lot of smell and mess as well as landfill-sized amounts of litter. Those guys get off scot-free. As do the graffitiers of menacing messages on synagogues these days around the West Side of Los Angeles, the antisemitic assailants against visably Jewish people walking on the streets of Beverly Hills, and the freaks throwing smoke bombs and screaming against Jewish people in their homes in Brentwood. All of those things happened. But we hear not a word about catching the monsters who committed those crimes, or for that matter, the pro-Hamas lowlife who blocked Jewish students from their own classrooms at UCLA and injured some Jewish students, too.

Double standards anyone? The antisemitic bad guys walk. The Jewish students get the book thrown at them for fighting back after provocations.

It sure looks like a double-standard of justice to me.

Image: Screen shot from NBC LA video, via YouTube
What do backward Yemen and the developed United States have in common? An apparently insatiable urge to get stoned on a green bush. In Yemen the green bush, khat, generally is chewed. In our country the green bush, marijuana, is smoked, chewed, vaped, and applied as a cream. The effect is more or less the same: incapacity and degradation.

Imagine being a fly on the wall at the recent Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) senior staff meeting where Biden politicals hanging on at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) uncorked their plan to downgrade marijuana on the controlled substances list. You remember HHS: the same public health agency that provided gold-plated COVID-19 advice to the nation while receiving Big Pharma royalties. Does Big Marijuana pay royalties? Bet on it.

One wonders: in the meeting room, is there a portrait of late DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena? Did anyone mention that the Guadalajara Cartel murdered Camarena in 1982 for engineering the destruction of its marijuana plantations? Or that transfers of millions of American dollars each year collected from American drug buyers finance the cartels? Has anyone at DEA or HHS disputed the notion that increasing marijuana use in the United States will contribute to reducing our shocking national drug addiction? Or that the cartels will vanish?

In Yemen khat is widely available and khat chewing is built into everyday life. Visit Yemens ancient capital, Sanaa, and you will see khat-chewing parlors on every block. Couches line the walls in these establishments. By mid-afternoon they are occupied by out-of-it chewers and the country shuts down. Visit Sanaas central market and you will see heaps of the green khat bush on tables, ready for local use and for export to the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Gulf states, and even to the United States, where khat is illegal. For now, anyway.

Like marijuana, khat is on the U.S. list of dangerous controlled substances. In Yemen, however, khat users are in no danger of criminal prosecution. In fact, khat is so tightly woven into Yemeni culture that the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa has a khat-chewing room for embassy political officers meeting with their Yemeni contacts.

What has khat meant for Yemen? According to the CIA Factbook, three leading khat-using countries are in the top 25 nations for infant mortality: Yemen, and its near neighbors across the Red Sea, Djibouti and Somalia. The Factbook explains that the infant mortality rate compares the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.

On infant mortality, Yemen and Djibouti are neck-in-neck with a death rate in the mid-40s, compared with Somalia and its staggering rate of 83 infant deaths per 1,000. For the United States, CIAs 2024 estimate for infant mortality is 5 deaths per 1,000. Yemen and Somalia also compete for the highest illiteracy rates in the world, although Yemen is the Arab worlds winner by far.

Yemen is a basket case on many demographic fronts, and there are many reasons: war, terrorism (Yemen is Osama bin Ladens homeland), Iranian intervention, and other ills. Reviewing the literature on Yemen infant mortality and literacy, however, it is hard to find even a passing mention of the elephant in the room: Yemens khat culture.

Could wider marijuana use affect our national culture? It already has, and the clinical effects of cannabis abuse are well laid out in the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR). As the final wraps come off marijuana, this drugs place in the public policy firmament will shift from criminal possession or distribution to damage done by impaired users to our nations highways, workplaces, schools, and homes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for instance, in 2023 there were 41,000 traffic deaths across America. With easier access to marijuana, expect this to increase.

The impact of marijuana as a gateway to more dangerous drugs has always been difficult to calculate, but it will increase, too. Next, expect the khat diaspora in America from Yemen and Somalia to follow suit and demand downgrade of khat on the controlled substances schedule.

As the late Charles Krauthammer observed in his 2009 Wriston Lecture to the Manhattan Institute, decline is a choice. On marijuana, apparently the Biden administration has chosen. Without immediate pushback, our nation will catch up soon to Yemens cultural plunge.

From 2006 to 2009 the author was U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics in the Pentagon.

Image: Public domain.
It shouldnt surprise anyone that our phones monitor our online activities and share data with third parties. However, many dont know that our phones connect to remote servers even when we arent using them. A researcher recently experimented to determine the worst offender between iOS and Android when it comes to contacting foreign servers when idle. Neither platform is an outright winner.

Researcher unravels how Android and iOS devices snoop on you even when idle

The experiment conducted by Cybernews journalist Ernestas Naprys aims to find out which platform has better app security. He installed the top 100 apps from the official app stores on a factory-reset iPhone SE and a factory-reset Samsung Galaxy A52s, opened every app at least once, gave them the permissions they asked for, and left the devices idle. He also created or connected Google, Apple, and social media accounts with some apps.

During this time, Naprys traced every outgoing connection the devices made to external servers. He found that the iPhone was 42% more active in browsing the web by itself compared to the Android phone. The former sent out an average of 3308 queries per day, while the latter sent 2323 queries. However, this is just a part of the story. Android isnt as secure as it seems. It made more connections to unfriendly countries than the iPhone.

According to Naprys, almost 60% of queries from the iPhone were made to Apple servers located in various parts of the world. It also contacted Google (12% of queries) and Meta (4%) a lot more than other firms. The Galaxy phone, on the other hand, contacted Android maker Google only 24% of the time. Facebook (12%) and Microsoft (11%) were other top destinations. Queries to Apple servers were practically non-existent on the Android phone.

Another interesting takeaway was how the iPhone turned down the activities of social media apps. It only made 20 queries per day to Facebook, while the figure for the Android phone was 200 queries. TikTok generated only 36 queries across five days on the iPhone. On Android, the social media platform generated almost 800 queries per day. Snapchat was an exception though, remaining more active on the iPhone during the experiment.

The devices contacted servers in Russia, China, and other countries

Another area where Android fared worse is the location of servers it contacted. The device contacted servers in Russia and China more than the iPhone. Naprys says the Samsung phone reached out to Russia around 13 times a day and China around 5 times. In comparison, the iPhones queries never landed in China, while it reached out to a server in Russia six times in five days. All of those queries were made during the day.

Part of the explanation could be the difference in the top 100 app lists, Maprys explains. He says that none of the iPhone apps were blatant adware. They represented big platforms behind them and were generally useful. On the other hand, many Android apps were adware that offered no value. That said, Maprys speculates that this may also be due to stricter Apple policies for developers in its closed ecosystem regarding privacy in general.

Long story short, neither Apple/iOS nor Google/Android stops snooping on you when your phone is at rest. iPhones may connect to servers in unfriendly countries less often than Android phones, but it may also depend on the apps you use. You have to remain vigilant to safeguard your online privacy. Never install apps from unknown sources and grant permissions that arent necessary for their normal functioning.
A patent filed by Samsung has revealed that the upcoming Galaxy Watch 7 may use AI to monitor atrial fibrillation. The Galaxy Watch series is one of the strongest competitors to the Apple Watch, so it is exciting to see Samsung working hard to improve its Galaxy Watch lineup.

Accurate monitoring of atrial fibrillation could potentially save lives

Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) is a condition that causes irregular and rapid heartbeats. One may have AFib if they experience chest pain, dizziness, and palpitations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that atrial fibrillation contributes to over 158,000 deaths in the US yearly, with the condition hospitalizing over 400,000 people.

One of the biggest selling points of smartwatches is the potential to save lives because they pack a lot of health-related features. If Samsung can bring accurate atrial fibrillation monitoring to the Galaxy Watch 7, there is a huge potential for lives to be saved.

Samsung believes the Galaxy Watch 7 can beat what the market currently offers.

According to Sammobile, Samsung intends to detect atrial fibrillation through the use of a generative AI algorithm that translates photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals into electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. Wareable says that companies like Apple and Fitbit, already allow you to monitor atrial fibrillation.

However, Samsung argues that current methods of monitoring for atrial fibrillation in existing consumer wearables are not necessarily accurate. It claims that its algorithm for detecting atrial fibrillation is more accurate than the competitions.

Bringing AI to the Galaxy Watch 7 is a great strategy for Samsung

AI has become a hot topic among big tech companies and Samsung is no exception. The South Korean giant has joined companies like Google to introduce AI into its software and hardware ecosystem. The Galaxy S24 series launched with Galaxy AI allows users to translate calls live, generate wallpapers with AI, and more.
Samsung Display has reportedly formed a dedicated team to develop OLED panels for Apple. Called the A Team, it will oversee the research and development (R&D) of OLED displays for various Apple products. The team is part of the companys Giheung Research Institute in Yongin, South Korea.

Samsung forms special team to develop OLED displays for Apple

Apple is one of Samsungs biggest display customers. The company uses Samsung-made OLED displays on most of its iPhones, with LG and a few other firms supplying the displays for some units. Last year, all four iPhone 15 models featured Samsung OLEDs. The iPhone SE 4 is also expected to feature displays manufactured by the Korean firm.

However, Samsung knows that it cannot take Apple for granted, particularly when other vendors are upping their game. Chinese OLED suppliers are increasing their production capacities and product qualities, luring Apple towards them. The Korean behemoth may be looking to counter that with a dedicated R&D team to speed up the development of its OLED solutions for Apple products.

The iPhone maker is also expected to expand the use of OLED displays to other products such as tablets. The first OLED iPad may debut anytime now. Apples laptops and monitors may also soon switch from LCD to OLED screens. Considering the scale of the business opportunity here, it is no surprise that Samsung is forming a special team to cater to Apples OLED demands.

Samsung may not be looking to only improve its OLED tech for Apple products. While the A Team may be dedicated to Apple, the company is probably at work to accelerate its OLED R&D in general. The OLED industry continues to grow rapidly and the Korean conglomerate would want to grab the opportunity with both hands. After all, it already has a solid foundation that it can build upon.

The first OLED iPad is almost here

Apple has scheduled a Let Loose event for later today. The event is expected to bring the companys first OLED iPads. It will offer two iPad Pro variants with an OLED display, one with an 11.1-inch panel and the other with a 13.1-inch panel. OLED screens may eventually come to bigger iPads in a few years. Todays event kicks off at 7 AM PT/10 AM ET/2 PM GMT. You can live stream it on Apple.com and YouTube. We will bring all the announcements from Apple to you here at Android Headlines.
Market research firm Counterpoint Research has shared the list of top 10 best-selling smartphones worldwide for Q1 2024. The Galaxy S24 series previously broke pre-order records in many countries. Now the list from Counterpoint Research reveals that the $1,300 Galaxy S24 Ultra was the best-selling Android phone for the period.

Galaxy S24 Ultra becomes the best-selling phone of Q1 2024 from the world of Android

The Galaxy S24 Ultra ranks in the fifth position below three iPhone 15 models and the iPhone 14. The iPhone 15 Pro Max ranked first (4.4%), the iPhone 15 ranked second (4.3%), the iPhone 15 Pro ranked third (3.7%), and the iPhone 14 ranked fourth (1.9%). The Galaxy S24 Ultra ranked fifth, with a 1.9% share of sales.

Looking at the top four positions of the top 10 best-selling smartphones, it may seem that Apple has significantly outperformed Samsung in earning peoples trust. However, Samsung alone has launched way more models across different price ranges, and there are a number of great alternatives from multiple Android OEMs in every price bracket.

As a result, unit sales of individual models in the Android space are generally diluted. On the other hand, iPhones achieve higher sales per model and occupy the top positions. Nevertheless, its still noteworthy to see the $1,300 Galaxy S24 Ultra in the fifth position among the best-selling phones worldwide.

In Q1 2023, the Galaxy S23 Ultra ranked sixth on the list of the global top 10 best-selling smartphones. This isnt an entirely new development, nor is it solely due to the popularity of Galaxy AI. Instead, it highlights peoples preference for a Galaxy flagship over its competitors. Notably, Samsung is the only brand representing Android in this list.

The competition between Apple and Samsung is similar to Q1 2023

Alongside the flagships, there are some affordable Galaxy devices  the Galaxy A15 5G (6th), Galaxy A54 (7th), Galaxy A34 (10th). The Galaxy S24 also appears on the list occupying the 9th position. The iPhone 15 Plus sits in the 8th position between the Galaxy A54 and Galaxy S24.

Speaking of iPhones, the story is very similar to last year. Last years base iPhone model ranked in the fourth position and the current generation Plus model occupied a position towards the bottom of the list. You can see the full list below.
On Tuesday, Apple just announced the new iPad Air and iPad Pro, heating up the battle between iPad and Galaxy Tab. However, thats not the only battle going down. There is going to be a legal battle, as TikTok is suing the U.S. government over the looming ban. This comes after the news of a potential TikTok ban in Europe.

To catch you up, the U.S. government has been scrutinizing the video-sharing app TikTok over the fact that it stores American users information in China. Recently, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill that basically forces TikTok out of the U.S. unless its parent company, ByteDance, divests in it and sells it to another company. The bill was passed, and ByteDance has until January next year to comply. This is an ultimatum that the CEO of TikTok has been vocally against.

Now, TikTok is suing the U.S. government over the potential ban

This is probably one of the biggest cases over the past couple of years. Its right up there with the massive antitrust lawsuit that Google is going through (which is currently wrapping up) and the lawsuit proposed by the New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft.

According to the report, the lawsuit states that for the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, Nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide,. Also, TikTok states that the ban is unconstitutional.

So, TikTok is not going down without a fight. Its obvious that the U.S. market makes up a large part of TikToks user base, and the company does not want to lose it.

The company also states that being sold to a different company would be more trouble than its worth. It states that it will have to move millions of lines of code from ByteDance to a new owner. Also, TikTok states that the Chinese government would not allow the sale of TikTok. This basically means that ByteDance will have no other option than to remove TikTok from the US.

This lawsuit was just recently filed, so we have absolutely no idea where its going to sway. More information about this case will come forth as time goes on.
The Bexar County Medical Examiners Office released the names of two men shot and killed Sunday near North Star Mall. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Two men shot and killed in a parking lot near North Star Mall have been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office.

Jonyai Napoleon, 22, and Aaron Montgomery, 28, were killed early Sunday in the 600 block of Northwest Loop 410. San Antonio police found their bodies in the parking lot of Alamo Drafthouse.

The medical examiner said both died from gunshot wounds and that the manner of death was homicide.

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A preliminary police report provided little information on the shooting, and police said they dont know what led up to the incident.

Police have not provided information on a possible suspect.

The shooting is being investigated as a capital murder, police said.
Yahoo UK's poll of the week lets you vote and indicate your strength of feeling on one of the week's hot topics. After 72 hours the poll closes and, each Friday, we'll publish and analyse the results, giving readers the chance to see how polarising a topic has become and if their view chimes with other Yahoo UK readers.

Slovenia's Raiven rehearsing Veronika during the rehearsals for the first semi-final of the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden. (Getty) (JESSICA GOW via Getty Images)

It's time to gather round the telly for a night of high drama, power ballads, and continental craziness as Eurovision 2024 has finally arrived. Croatia enters the competition as hot favourites to win, while Dizzy  the UK's entry from Olly Alexander  has been tipped to deliver another low-scoring night for the Brits.

However, where the UK places during Eurovision now seems to be of little concern to its fans across the country (it's been 27 years since we last won), with watchalong parties planned at homes, pubs, and clubs the length and breadth of Britain. The resurgent popularity of Eurovision is unmistakable, with many pointing to Lordi's win in 2006 as the moment Brits learned to stop worrying about winning Eurovision, and just enjoying it for what it is: a riotously entertaining night in front of the telly.

Read more: Five Eurovision acts to watch out for

Sam Ryder's epic performance in 2022  placing second only to Ukraine  with Space Man cemented the competition as a national past time for many, with last year's contest in Liverpool proving that the UK loves Eurovision no matter what.

But have things really been getting better at Eurovision, or are we just paying more attention to it these days? Have your say in our polls below.

This poll has now closed.

Come back on Friday to read the results and analysis via the link below

Read more of Yahoo UK's Poll of the Week articles

This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/eurovision-song-contest-getting-more-fun-poll-140346259.html
The organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest have said they regret the opening act making a political statement over the war in the Gaza Strip.

Former Swedish Eurovision contestant Eric Saade was not competing and had the keffiyeh symbol, commonly used by people who want to show they are pro-Palestinian, on his arm on Tuesday as he performed his 2011 entry Popular.

A spokeswoman for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said: The Eurovision Song Contest is a live TV show.

Eurovision fans gather at the Malmo Arena (Martin Meissner/AP)

All performers are made aware of the rules of the contest, and we regret that Eric Saade chose to compromise the non-political nature of the event.

Ahead of the event at Malmo Arena, fans were warned not to bring Palestinian flags, symbols or bags and were told that there will be vigorous security checks.

Saade had earlier seemed to hit out at the restrictions.

He wrote on Instagram questioning if freedom is controversial and why people keep asking if it is political.

The terrorist threat level is on four points out of five, but the Swedish Police Authority has said that this is not related to the contest.

There have been several calls and protests urging a boycott of Eurovision this year as Eden Golan competes for Israel.
Rail services on some of the busiest commuter routes in the country will be at a standstill on Tuesday because of a fresh strike by drivers in a near two-year long pay dispute.

Members of Aslef at English operators including those running services into London such as Southern, Southeastern and South Western Railway will walk out for the day.

Strikes will be held on Wednesday and Thursday at different operators, while drivers are also banning overtime until Saturday which is also causing disruption.

(PA Graphics)

Passengers are being urged to check before attempting to travel by train this week.

The dispute is now the longest ever in the rail industry.

There is a glimmer of hope that negotiations will start in a bid to resolve the row after the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) invited Aslef to talks about exploring any common ground which could break the deadlock.

No formal talks between the operators and the union have been held for a year and for longer involving a transport minister.

Business groups have warned of the impact on the economy of the strikes, especially for hospitality firms.

Muniya Barua, deputy chief executive at BusinessLDN, said: Yet another round of industrial action across the rail network will cause disruption for businesses and commuters up and down the country.

 May Industrial action Today, 6: Bank Holiday Monday timetable Tomorrow, 7: NO TRAINS, on the vast majority of the network 8 (late start up)  10: Amended timetable, fewer services 11: Usual Saturday timetable (except for some engineering works)  https://t.co/SSuFkYJWCt pic.twitter.com/3AgmYfWNVm  Southern (@SouthernRailUK) May 6, 2024

Amid weak economic growth, and as we head into a summer trading period which is crucial for retail, leisure and hospitality firms, we urge all parties to work together to resolve these long-running talks and keep the city moving. The impact of these walkouts will be felt even more acutely by many owing to a shorter working week.

Train drivers will strike on the following days:

 Tuesday May 7: c2c, Greater Anglia, GTRs Great Northern, Thameslink and Southern (including Gatwick Express), Southeastern, and South Western Railway.

 Wednesday May 8: Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway, Chiltern, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, GWR, and West Midlands Trains.

 Thursday May 9: LNER, Northern, and TransPennine Express.

 Industrial action by the ASLEF union will mean a reduced service between Monday 6 and Saturday 11 May  On Tuesday 7 May full strike action will mean a significantly reduced service on a limited number of lines  Read on to find out more pic.twitter.com/JOHvakmhkn  SWR Help (@SW_Help) April 30, 2024

Aslef said its members have not had a pay rise for five years and has accused the Government of giving up trying to resolve the dispute.

A spokesman for the RDG said: The rail industry is working hard to keep trains running but it is likely that services on some lines will be affected on the evening before and morning after each strike between May 7 and May 9 because many trains will not be in the right depots to start services the following day.

We can only apologise to our customers for this wholly unnecessary strike action called by the Aslef leadership which will sadly disrupt journeys once again.

It will also inflict further damage on an industry that is receiving up to an additional 54 million a week in taxpayer cash to keep services running, following the Covid downturn.

Strike action by the ASLEF union: Tuesday 7 May  there will a very limited Southeastern service and most routes & stations will be closed. Please only travel if absolutely necessary. Ticketing and Refund information: https://t.co/Imud6ZTxSn #railstrike pic.twitter.com/im6ieK8g3q  Southeastern (@Se_Railway) May 6, 2024

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: The Transport Secretary and rail minister have already facilitated a pay offer that would take train drivers average salaries up to 65,000  almost twice the UK average salary.

Aslef are the only union left striking after the Government oversaw deals with all the other unions.

Instead of causing passengers disruption, they should put this offer to their members and work with industry to end this dispute.

Meanwhile, engineers on the Croydon Tramlink went on strike on Sunday until 6am on Thursday in a separate pay dispute.
Irelands Eurovision Song Contest entry Bambie Thug has improved their odds to win the competition in Sweden.

The Cork-born singer, who uses they/them pronouns, is competing in the semi-final on Tuesday at Malmo Arena with Doomsday Blue and is looking ever more likely to be the first Irish contestant since 2018 to make the final.

Ladbrokes says they are being given 1/25 odds to qualify, with 8/1 placed on them to win their semi.

Bambie Thug rehearsing Doomsday Blue in Malmo (EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett)

Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: All eyes are on Bambie Thug right now and our traders are clearly convinced Ireland have a great chance of going all the way in Sweden.

The bookmakers have also slashed odds from 16/1 to just 9/1 on Bambie clinching victory.

Croatias Baby Lasagne with the infectious Rim Tim Tagi Dim is on 11/8, while Switzerlands Nemo with operatic infused dance track The Code is priced at 7/2.

The UKs Olly Alexander with Dizzy has attracted bookmakers odds of 66/1.
John Swinney pledges to give everything I have to new job as First Minister

John Swinney said it was an extraordinary privilege to become Scotlands new first minister as he pledged to give everything I have to the role.

He spoke out after winning a vote at Holyrood that will see him become the seventh person to be first minister since the Scottish Parliament was established.

He is now expected to be formally sworn into the position on Wednesday.

Mr Swinney became the new leader of the SNP unopposed on Monday  with this happening a week after his predecessor Humza Yousaf announced he was stepping down after his decision to rip up the powersharing deal the party had with the Scottish Greens at Holyrood, leaving him facing a motion of no confidence in his leadership.

Faced with a vote he was unlikely to win, Mr Yousaf announced he would instead quit, formally tendering his resignation to the King on Tuesday.

In a vote at Holyrood, Mr Swinney won the backing of 64 MSPs, with his nearest rival Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross picking up 31.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar secured 22 votes, with the head of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Alex Cole-Hamilton, winning four.

The seven Scottish Green MSPs abstained.

With Mr Swinney leading a minority government at Holyrood, he will have to work with other parties to pass legislation and the Scottish Budget  and after the vote, he shook hands with opposition leaders in the chamber at the Scottish Parliament.

He did so after conceding he would need to reach out to others to make things happen, to pass legislation, to agree a budget.

Mr Swinney told the other parties at Holyrood: If we want to fund our schools and hospitals, if we want to give our businesses a competitive edge, if we want to take climate action, if we want to eradicate child poverty, if we want to change peoples lives for the better, we have got to work together to do so.

But he said he would give all of my energy and my willingness to achieve this, committing to be the first minister for everyone in Scotland.

John Swinney must put aside his independence obsession and rule out any deals with the extreme Greens. Anything less would represent the continuation of a divisive agenda the SNP have foisted on Scotland for the last decade. pic.twitter.com/YZESIftOzC  Douglas Ross MP MSP (@Douglas4Moray) May 7, 2024

Mr Swinney told Scots: I am here to serve you. I will give everything I have to build the best future for our country.

With his family watching from the gallery at Holyrood, he thanked his wife Elizabeth, who has multiple sclerosis, making clear his profound eternal gratitude to her for the sacrifices she is prepared to make so he could take on the job.

He told how it was something of a surprise to be the next first minister, as he had believed his time in government was over when he stepped down as deputy to Nicola Sturgeon last year.

Continuity wont cut it. Its time for change. pic.twitter.com/fwz3sWK38I  Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) May 7, 2024

Mr Swinney added: It is however an extraordinary privilege and it is my honour to accept the office of first minister, committing myself to do the best I can for Scotland.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack congratulated Mr Swinney on his election, as he urged the new first minister to prioritise the issues that really matter to people in Scotland, like improving failing public services and growing our economy.

Mr Jack added: I want him to work constructively with the UK Government on our joint projects to boost Scotlands prosperity  including freeports, city deals and investment zones.

Most of all, I hope that Mr Swinney will govern for the whole of Scotland. He needs to put aside his obsession with independence, and concentrate on contributing to a thriving Scotland within a strong United Kingdom.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said the SNP had previously looked to the extreme Greens for policies, while at the same time continuing the push for the same old tired campaign for independence and a referendum.

Mr Ross said Mr Swinney must swiftly change course from that and deliver a bold new policy agenda.

Tonight I met with the team @theSNP HQ to start delivering my commitments to open and respectful debate within the Party and to form a winning campaign for the Westminster election. pic.twitter.com/bsAc4fYlB0  John Swinney (@JohnSwinney) May 6, 2024

He urged the new SNP leader to rule out any agreement, by the backdoor or otherwise with the Scottish Greens, with the Tory telling Mr Swinney: If he wants to lead a government that represents the values of the clear majority of our country, he cannot be reliant on the Greens for his agenda.

Urging him also to put independence on the backburner, Mr Ross continued: The First Minister and his party must treat today as a reset moment  they must bring an end to a decade of division that has plagued our country since the 2014 referendum.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said Scotland needed a change of direction rather than just a change of leader.

Mr Sarwar said: I hope we see a new approach from John Swinney, one that genuinely puts the national interest before party interest.

Stressing the need to get on with fixing the mess of the last 17 years of SNP government, the Labour MSP added that that change can only come with an election.
Kevin Spacey could face a High Court trial over a sexual abuse claim after a default judgment against him was set aside.

In 2022, the Oscar-winning actor was sued at the High Court in London by a man who claimed he had been sexually assaulted by Mr Spacey and suffered psychiatric damage.

The civil claim was paused after Mr Spacey was charged  and later acquitted  in criminal proceedings of a number of sexual offences alleged by four men between 2001 and 2013.

At a hearing on Tuesday, the court heard that lawyers for the actor  who is represented by the firm Carter-Ruck  were due to file a written defence after the end of the criminal proceedings, but had failed to do so.

A default judgment was subsequently entered against Mr Spacey in the civil case on his liability earlier this year.

However, after a judge set aside the default judgment at the hearing, the US star is now set to face a civil trial over the allegations.

In his bid to set aside the previous ruling, Adam Speker KC, for Mr Spacey, described the failure to file the paperwork as a genuine error by his solicitor.

The barrister told the hearing in London it would be unfair to proceed to a damages hearing and the contested allegations should instead be taken to trial.

Lifting the default civil judgment, Judge David Cook said that the lawyers had quite frankly mucked up.

He said: There can be no excuse in my view for the date being overlooked.

The simple fact of the matter is this is a claim where the defendants solicitors have made an error.

In my view, that error should not be visited upon the defendant.

Judge Cook added: The interests of justice require that those allegations go forward to trial and the judgment in default should, therefore, be lifted.

Actor Kevin Spacey speaks to the media outside Southwark Crown Court, London, after he was found not guilty of sexually assaulting four men following the criminal trial (Lucy North/PA)

Claire Glasgow of Fieldfisher, who is representing the claimant, said after the hearing: We are pleased that the judge recognised the seriousness of the claim and directed the court to proceed to trial.

Our client is seeking justice in the civil courts for serious allegations against Mr Spacey, regardless of the findings of the criminal trial.

The hearing comes after Mr Spacey denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour ahead of the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary.

The programme, titled Spacey Unmasked, began airing on Monday and is said to feature testimony from men regarding events they say took place between 1976 and 2013.

Ahead of the broadcast, the 64-year-old actor, in an interview with former GB News presenter Dan Wootton, said: I take full responsibility for my past behaviour and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologise to anyone whos made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me.

Ive never told someone that if they give me sexual favours, then I will help them out with their career, never.

Mr Spacey added: Ive clearly hooked up with some men who thought they might get ahead in their careers by having a relationship with me.

But there was no conversation with me, it was all part of their plan, a plan that was always destined to fail, because I wasnt in on the deal.

A Carter Ruck spokesman said: The allegations made in this civil claim are the same allegations made by one of the complainants in the 2023 UK criminal trial, in which Mr Spacey was acquitted.

Each time he has been given the time and a proper forum to defend himself, the allegations have failed under scrutiny and he has been exonerated.

Mr Spacey has the opportunity now to defend these allegations, as he did in the criminal proceedings, and he looks forward to justice being done once again.
A job fair in 2021 for Judson ISD. The school district's board on Monday rejected a grievance from a Kirty city council member who objected to being banned from campuses because of his status as a sex offender in Colorado. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer

A Kirby city council member ousted in Saturdays election told the Judson Independent School District board Monday that it is unfair to ban him from campuses because of his previous status as an out-of-state sex offender.

Christopher Garza said he should have access to Judson ISD property because he pays taxes and is a district alumnus. The board rejected the request. Garza had filed a formal grievance and Mondays hearing on it was held in public at his request.

Its unfortunate that now you guys are trying basically to be judge and jury to me all over again, he told trustees. Its unfair and I dont think its right.

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Garza pleaded guilty in 2018 to a reduced misdemeanor charge of sexual contact without consent, agreeing to a deal with prosecutors over an incident that occurred at a Colorado hotel five years earlier.

The Kirby council member and former mayoral candidate has no children in Judson ISD but said he often visits schools due to his position in the small city just east of San Antonio.

In January, a community member informed the district that Garza was required to register as a sex offender in Colorado, according to the districts lawyer, Paige Kyle.

Kyle said the district verbally told Garza that he could not come on district property and, after he failed to follow the directive, obtained a criminal trespass order to protect students and staff. Paying taxes, she added, does not give you unfettered access to any school district.

Garza said he was never given a verbal warning and didnt know he was banned from campuses until a pink slip was delivered to his house on Feb. 6. He accused the board of tailoring its new visitor policy to target him specifically.

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The policy, approved by the board in June, prohibits any adult who must register as a sex offender from being on district property, whether the offense was a misdemeanor or felony. Before that, how a campus responded was up to the superintendent and school administrators.

I want to know how many people, after changing this, did it affect? Because I only know of one, and it was me, Garza said.

The district had rejected Garzas level two grievance after a hearing in March and he appealed. Kyle said he had several requests before the board, including that Judson ISD stay out of politics, sanction trustee Stephanie Faulkner for social media posts, make public records more affordable and rewrite the visitor policy to be less restrictive.

The board voted 5-0 to deny the grievance and the requested remedies. Faulkner, whose District 2 includes Kirby, recused herself due to Garzas claim that she could not be impartial. Trustee Laura Stanford abstained.

Garza, who has been on Kirbys council since 2022, lost his bid for reelection Saturday by only eight votes. He said his opponents used Judson ISDs banning him from campuses to give people the impression that I did some horrible thing to a child, which never happened.

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In 2013, a woman staying at the same Fort Collins, Colo., hotel as Garza accused him of breaking into her room and raping her, according to a police report. Police questioned him and let him leave Colorado, but got an arrest warrant in April 2014 when test results showed the womans DNA had been found on him and his fingerprints were on the windowsill of her hotel room. Four years later, Garza was extradited to Colorado and pleaded not guilty to four felony charges.

As part of the plea deal, he was sentenced to one year in prison and required to register as a sex offender in Colorado but was released for time served and didnt need to register in Texas because there is no similar offense here.
Immigration officers carry out a detention visit in one of several operations across the country last week. Photograph: Home Office/PA

The Home Office is dealing with growing fallout from the high-profile roundups of asylum seekers it wants to send to Rwanda, as some have gone into hiding while others have fled across the border to Ireland.

Officials began rounding up asylum seekers to detain them for the Rwanda scheme a week ago, with at least one now on hunger strike and another threatening suicide.

While the government has disseminated its message widely about detaining people for Rwanda, it is not clear whether officials had anticipated that some asylum seekers would go into hiding and others would go to Ireland.

Lou Calvey, the director of the charity Asylum Matters, said: Frontline asylum charities report people leaving their asylum accommodation in order to avoid arrest. They are raising the alarm about the increasing risks of destitution and exploitation.

Asylum seekers who have attended regular reporting sessions at centres around the UK have said that they had never seen things so quiet.

I walked right in and didnt have to queue at all. In all the years Ive been reporting Ive never seen it so deserted, said one man from Belarus who has been in the UK for more than a decade but is fearful the Home Office could arrest him even though he is not in scope for the first cohort of returns  those who arrived between January 2022 and June 2023.

Another asylum seeker who has received a notice of intent for Rwanda but has not so far been detained said he had received several calls from friends in his community urging him to go into hiding.

A Syrian refugee said he was urging asylum seeker friends at risk of being sent to Rwanda to hide.

I was an asylum seeker in 2020 when the Home Office was trying to deport as many asylum seekers as possible to European countries they had passed through before Brexit started. Some asylum seekers went into hiding then and I can see that it is happening again because of Rwanda.

The first week of roundups of asylum seekers for Rwanda has not acted as the deterrent the government hoped for small boat crossings, with 1,420 people crossing in the last seven days up to Sunday. The figure includes the highest daily total so far this year with 711 crossing last Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in Ireland, just days after the authorities removed a tent city of asylum seekers in the heart of Dublin outside the International Protection Accommodation Services centre, the tents have returned close to where they were before.

Both sides of the citys Grand Canal are lined by about 70 blue tarpaulin tents provided by charities for asylum seekers from countries including Nigeria and Afghanistan.

Last week the new Irish prime minister, Simon Harris, told the Dail that We do not want to live in a country where makeshift shantytowns are allowed to just develop.

The authorities in Dublin are expected to provide more accommodation later this week to deal with the unprecedented numbers seeking international protection, some arriving from the UK.

Irelands justice minister, Helen McEntee, recently said 80% of those arrivals had crossed the border from Northern Ireland. Later in the week Dublin estimated the figure to be about 90%.

The Northern Ireland justice minister, Naomi Long, later said: Those are figures we in Northern Ireland dont recognise.

At a quiet Home Office reporting centre a few days ago, one Ethiopian asylum seeker who is in scope for removal to Rwanda because of his date of arrival in the UK said he was very worried about being detained when he went inside the centre to report.

He said: My feelings are not good. Everythings not good.

An Iranian Kurdish man who came to the UK 14 years ago said he did not understand how refugees could be sent to a country they did not come from.

Originally Im not coming from Rwanda. How can you send me to Rwanda? I dont want to go to Rwanda, he said. Tell me how, whats the reason?

The Home Office has been approached for comment.
The launch from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida was called off two hours before lift-off - Terry Renna

Boeing has delayed its first manned test flight to the International Space Station after a buzzing noise was heard on the spacecraft.

The Atlas V rocket was set to travel from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida when it was called off two hours before lift-off.

Tory Bruno, chief executive of United Launch Alliance that built the rocket, said a problem had been found with the oxygen valve.

He said the valve, which controls fuel pressure in the rocket stage responsible for pushing Starliner toward orbit, had been buzzing audibly in a way the company had noticed before other non-crewed missions.

Launch officials decided to delay the countdown under more sensitive rules for an astronaut mission, with the launch now expected to take place no earlier than Friday, Nasa said.

The flight would have been Boeing's first to send a crew to the International Space Station - Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America

Boeings mission to the space station has been delayed for several years because of trouble with its spacecrafts development.

A commentator on the livestream for Nasa said that discovering the problem now was a win because the last thing you want to do is deal with that in space.

If their next planned launch is successful, Boeing will potentially become the second private firm to provide crew transportation to and from the International Space Station, along with Elon Musks SpaceX.

However, it would come amid a torrid few years at the firm that have seen its work culture questioned following a string of disasters.

On Tuesday the Federal Aviation Administration announced an investigation into the company after the revelation that they falsified inspection records for some of its 787 Dreamliner aircrafts that were at the centre of two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.

Earlier this year, the door panel of one Boeing 737 jet blew out mid-flight leading to the inspection of other 737 aircrafts and the discovery of more faulty door plugs and loose bolts.

Other recent mishaps have included stuck rudder pedals, a tyre falling off shortly after take-off, a sudden drop mid-air from a technical error, a fuel leak, and a missing external panel.

More serious incidents include two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 which killed 346 people.

On March 25, Dave Calhoun, Boeings chief executive, announced that he would step down by the end of the year over its safety and financial woes.

Just last week it was announced that a second whistleblower in the case against Boeing died suddenly in Oklahoma.

Joshua Deam, who warned of manufacturing defects in the 737 Max planes, died following an infection caused after developing pneumonia.

Two months ago his colleague John Barnett was found dead in a vehicle in a hotel car park, having suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Mr Barnett was due to testify in a lawsuit against the aircraft company not long after his death.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian says the way the situation was handled was consistent with our law and regulations. Photograph: Andres Martinez Casares/EPA

Chinas foreign ministry has accused an Australian navy helicopter of deliberately flying within close range of Chinese airspace in a provocative move in the latest military altercation between the two nations.

The Australian government said China released flares in front of the helicopter in the Yellow Sea as HMAS Hobart participated in an operation to enforce United Nations sanctions against North Korea.

The Australian government has maintained the helicopter was in international waters in the Yellow Sea, between the Chinese and Korean coastlines, and strongly condemned the alleged actions of the Chinese jet pilot. But in Chinas first reaction to the claims, foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian reportedly claimed the Australian Seahawk aircraft deliberately flew within close range of Chinas airspace in a provocative move.

Related: Canberra accuses Chinese fighter jet of dropping flares dangerously close to Australian helicopter

According to an ABC translation of a press conference in China, Lin claimed the Chinese jet pilot took necessary measures at the scene to warn and alert the Australian side.

The way the situation was handled was consistent with our law and regulations, he said.

He described the interaction as professional and safe.

On Monday, the Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, described the incident as unprofessional, unsafe and completely unacceptable, saying serious concerns had been raised with Chinas government.

Lin said China had raised its own protests with the Australian government, and stated that Australia should stop provocations to prevent misunderstanding and miscalculation. His statement did not mention, or deny, claims of the use of flares.

Donald Rothwell, a leading professor of international law at the Australian National University, said the Australian governments reference to international waters in the Yellow Sea was ambiguous. He said China, South Korea and North Korea had all asserted maritime claims in the Yellow Sea and there were no agreed maritime boundaries.

The encounter occurred about 7.30pm on Saturday. Defence sources said Australian destroyer HMAS Hobart was in international waters in the Yellow Sea, participating in Operation Argos to enforce international sanctions against North Korea.

A navy Seahawk helicopter, attached to HMAS Hobart, was conducting what was described as a routine flight when it was said to have been intercepted by a Chinese J-10 fighter jet.

Marles accused the Chinese jet of dropping flares near the helicopter, 300 metres in front and 60 metres above it. He said the Australian pilot had to take evasive action to avoid the flares. No injuries were reported but Marles said the consequence of being hit by the flares would have been significant.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the Australian defence force personnel had been going about their job in international waters and airspace and should not have been put at risk.

Albanese brushed off opposition criticism about the strength of Labors response and insisted that his government had made very strong representations at every level to China about this incident, which we regard as unprofessional and unacceptable.

Related: As Solomon Islands election looms, Chinas influence on the Pacific country draws scrutiny

But Albanese reiterated that it was important for Australia to maintain dialogue with China, and confirmed that the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, would visit in June.

The shadow defence minister, Andrew Hastie, accused Albanese of being weak in his response to the pattern of aggressive behaviour that weve seen from the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army towards the ADF over the last two years.

I think it is high time the prime minister raised this with president Xi [Jinping], Hastie told Sky News. He needs to have a man-to-man conversation, set a boundary and draw a line in the sand.

The assistant US secretary of state, Daniel Kritenbrink, said on Tuesday that the US was deeply concerned about the incident and expressed solidarity with Australia.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Canberra, Kritenbrink said the incident was part of a broader trend in which Chinas military was becoming more aggressive and assertive at operating in waters and airspace on the periphery of China.

Kritenbrink expressed concerns that such dangerous behaviour could lead to an accident and worse.

He praised Australia for helping to enforce UN sanctions related to North Koreas nuclear weapons programs, and urged China to do more to implement those sanctions rather than engaging in conduct that is viewed as unsafe.
The print by Jacob Christoph Le Blon is returned to show at Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk - Mike Hodgson/PA

A portrait of Charles Is children, believed to be a painted copy, is in fact a rare surviving work by an 18th century pioneer of colour printmaking.

It had always been assumed that the copy of the Sir Anthony van Dyck portrait, the Three Eldest Children of King Charles I, displayed at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk was oil on paper.

But the artwork  seen each year by thousands of visitors to the National Trust property  was found to be a rare print by 18th century printmaker Jacob Christoph Le Blon during conservation treatment at the trusts Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio in Knole, Kent.

The German-born painter and engraver, who died in 1741 aged 74, was the first to create a three-colour printing process, the forerunner of the CMYK colour printing used today.

His method used mezzotint, a monochrome printmaking process, with separate plates inked in blue, yellow and red and superimposed on one another to create an endlessly variable depth of hue.

Until then artists had inked colours one beside the other on a single printing plate.

Analysis helped identify the colours Le Blon used - Mike Hodgson/PA

National Trust curator Jane Eade said van Dycks portrait, in the Royal Collection (1635-6), was much copied but only three Le Blon prints of it were known to survive.

She said: To have a discovered a fourth is really exciting, especially as it is the only version that remains hanging in its historic setting.

Analysis helped identify the colours Le Blon used, such as indigo and carmine or red lake.

All of the versions were hand-coloured after printing.

Ms Eade said a thick layer of 19th century varnish applied while the artwork was framed and hanging on the wall was particularly challenging, but that the conservator was able to gently clean the surface layer, thinning the varnish in places and smoothing cracks to improve the pictures appearance.

The canvas backing was peeling in some places but since it was likely to be the original backing used by Le Blons company Picture Office, it was repaired and conserved rather than replaced.

Le Blon moved to London in 1718 where, calling himself James Christopher, he was granted a royal privilege by George I to practise his trichromatic printing.

It is not known for certain how the print arrived at Oxburgh Hall - Mike Selby/PA

Royal patronage gave him access to Kensington Palace to copy paintings including the Van Dyck of Charles Is children.

It is not known for certain how and when the print came to Oxburgh Hall, the home of the Bedingfeld family, who were royalists and devout Catholics.

It is possible that the print arrived at Oxburgh soon after it was created in 1721-22, in the time of the 3rd Baronet, Sir Henry Arundell-Bedingfeld (1689-1760).

Ilana van Dort, Oxburgh collections and house manager, said: There is now evidence that Henry Arundell-Bedingfeld was a secret Jacobite and van Dycks portrayal of the children of Charles I, including the future James II, the last Catholic monarch of Britain, would have great resonance and symbolism.

James exiled son, James Francis Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender), had attempted to take the throne in the Jacobite rising of 1715, only six years before Le Blon copied van Dycks original portrait.

Copies of this painting are known to been popular with those sympathetic to the Jacobite cause and it would have been quite feasible that the print has spent its whole life at Oxburgh, although we lack enough evidence to prove it, she added.

The print will be on show at Oxburgh alongside some 16th century textile fragments, foundf beneath the floorboards of the hall during recent building work.
A 27-year-old woman has been arrested following the incident at Legoland - INS News Agency

A five-month-old baby boy at the centre of an alleged child neglect incident in Legoland Windsor Resort last week, has died in hospital, police said.

Detectives, who previously arrested a 27-year-old woman on suspicion of neglecting the baby at a ride in the popular leisure park, confirmed that they were not seeking anyone else despite the death of the little boy.

Paramedics managed to revive the child after hearing shouts for help.

The baby was rushed to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, and died on Sunday.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police appealed for the public not to speculate on the child neglect investigation.

A five-month-old baby who was seriously injured in a neglect incident at Legoland Windsor Resort, sadly died in hospital on Sunday, said the spokesman.

A 27-year-old woman from Witham, Essex, was arrested on suspicion of neglecting a child to cause unnecessary injury on Thursday. She has been released on police bail until July 26.

Distressing incident

Det Con Zoe Eele, of the Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: We are investigating a distressing incident involving a very young child at Legoland Windsor.

Firstly, our thoughts are with the family of the boy who sadly died in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest. We are supporting them as best we can at this extremely difficult time.

We are working closely with the team at Legoland Windsor Resort but would like to speak to anyone who may have information about this incident, specifically anyone who was queueing for the Coastguard HQ boat ride between around 11.30am and 12:45pm on Thursday.

Get in touch either by calling 101 or via our website. Alternatively, you can provide information anonymously to independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or via its website.

We have made an arrest in relation to this incident and are not looking for anyone else as a suspect. I would ask for the public to please avoid speculation about the incident and to respect the boys family at this deeply upsetting time.
People inspect destroyed houses on 7 May after Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

Aid agencies in Gaza have less than a days fuel for trucks and tankers that deliver vital food, medicine, water and diesel to millions across the territory, threatening an almost complete shutdown of operations including bakeries and hospitals, officials have warned.

All main entry points to the south of Gaza are closed and there has been widespread looting of existing stocks in Rafah after aid agencies were forced to leave warehouses unguarded following warnings to evacuate the area from Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) ahead of the military offensive launched on the city on Tuesday morning.

We are down to less fuel than in a single service station. Its enough to last a day, basically, said Georgios Petropoulos, head of the Gaza sub-office of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs. After that, nothing will be moving, and the hospitals wont be able to keep going for more than two or three days.

Israeli tanks and special forces took control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt in Rafah at dawn on Tuesday after a second night of intense air strikes targeting eastern neighbourhoods of the city.

An Israeli government spokesperson said the long-threatened effort to destroy four battalions of Hamas fighters said to be based in Rafah had begun, as exhausted residents described widespread confusion and terror.

We had a very terrifying night, with intense shelling and heavy airstrikes. My kids were so scared and unable to sleep  As a believer I am never afraid of death  but I am more worried about the suffering and fear of my children, said Said Akram Abed Al Nasser Shaikh, 58, a resident of El Geneina neighbourhood in eastern Rafah.

About 1 million people from elsewhere in Gaza are sheltering in Rafah after being forced to flee their homes earlier in the war. Many now living in sprawling tented encampments or overcrowded shelters in schools fear they will be forced to move again, sometimes for the fifth or sixth time, in search of safety if fighting spreads.

We are very tired as we have moved to eight places since leaving our house at the beginning of this war. Now we will go north to find safety, said Ghada Lubad, 46, originally from Jabaliya camp.

There is no sign that the Rafah crossing will reopen soon. A second major nearby crossing at Kerem Shalom was shut on Sunday after four Israeli soldiers were killed by rockets fired by Hamas and targeted again with a further barrage on Monday.

Aid officials said they were expecting prices to rise sharply. Though increased numbers of trucks have reached Gaza in recent weeks, this has not allowed any food to be stockpiled after months of acute shortage.

Like many others, Lubad feared the halt in aid reaching Gaza would prompt a spike in prices and shortages of basics such as flour, salt, clean water and medicine.

This in itself will cause a disaster, as this will lead to high prices and lead to famine, she said.

Witnesses described frightened families leaving Rafah on foot, riding donkeys, pushing trolleys or packed with their belongings into overloaded trucks hours after reading leaflets dropped by the IDF that told residents and displaced people in eastern neighbourhoods to leave.

The IDF said they had broadcast instructions through announcements, text messages, phone calls and media broadcasts in Arabic telling residents to head to an expanded humanitarian zone on the coast and around the city of Khan Younis.

Aid agencies said they believe around 200 families every hour had left eastern Rafah on Monday, with similar numbers moving on Tuesday.

We are monitoring displacement going northwards but a major concern is that we dont have tents. So we are tracking them but  we are running out of ways to help, Petropoulos said.

Others said they had decided to stay, whatever the risks.

Jihad Ahmed, 62, a retired police officer in Rafah, said nowhere in Gaza was safe for his family of nine.

I am very worried as there is no safe place to escape to. I evacuated my family to the centre of Rafah but despite the warnings my son and I stayed at our home for fear that it would be looted.

While some non-fuel supplies have entered Gaza via the northern Erez crossing in recent days, the UN agencies said this was insufficient and difficult to deliver to Rafah since it meant crossing active combat zones.

Intense clashes around the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and near Gaza City have prevented movement of aid convoys in recent days.

Erez will simply not be enough, said James Elder, a spokesperson for the UN childrens agency. If Rafah gate closes for an extended period, its hard to see how famine in Gaza can be averted, he said.

The UN has repeatedly accused Israel of restricting aid access despite famine warnings. Faced with international pressure, Israel had pledged to improve access but says UN agencies are to blame for not distributing aid more efficiently within the enclave.

Where there is hunger in Gaza [it] is orchestrated by Hamas  but were getting as much food aid in as possible. If only Hamas would stop throwing mortars and rockets at the crossing points, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Mahmoud al-Louh, who had fled with is family of six from northern Gaza to western Rafah, was clinging to the hope of a ceasefire.

I am very worried about having to start from scratch again as we have already been displaced five times but then I am also afraid of losing any of my family members if we stay. In the end I am a father and I have to protect my children and wife, he said.

I just pray for a ceasefire soon so we can go home.
Friedrich Merz said such policies were 'clearly going to deter' asylum seekers - Lisi Niesner/REUTERS

Germany should copy the UKs Rwanda policy because it will deter asylum seekers from Europe, the countrys opposition leader has said.

Friedrich Merz also admitted that Berlin and Brussels were partly to blame for Brexit after failing to offer then prime minister David Cameron meaningful EU reforms before the 2016 referendum.

Mr Merz said he was firmly convinced the Rwanda approach would work. It was something we could emulate and would be a signal that were just not going to accept everybody here, he said.

His centre-Right CDU is Germanys most popular party and polling far ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholzs SPD. The countrys next general election must be held by October 2025.

The mere prospect that you wont end up in the promised land of Germany, and that youll have to apply for asylum in a third country - say Albania, if youre trying to get into Italy, or Rwanda if youre aiming for the UK - will reduce the number of asylum-seekers, Mr Merz said.

It is clearly going to deter people, especially young men making their way to Europe who have no real prospect of being granted asylum, he told the Financial Times (FT).

The CDU draft party programme calls for migrants to be sent to a safe third country, where they will stay even if their claim is successful, in a similar fashion to the controversial Rwanda plan.

Other European countries have mulled Rwanda-style arrangements which allow for offshore processing of migrants but for successful asylum seekers to enter the country.

In November last year, a reluctant Mr Scholz bowed to pressure from the leaders of German states and agreed to examine offshore asylum processing.

He warned there were many legal questions to be answered amid claims the Rwanda plan breaks the European Convention on Human Rights.

Conservative again

The CDU manifesto is being seen as a swing to the Right and a jettisoning of Angela Merkels legacy, which Mr Merz denied.

The former Chancellor threw open Germanys borders to 1.1m Syrian refugees during the 2015 migrant crisis, a grand gesture her supporters argue saved the EU and freedom of movement.

We are a conservative party again, Mr Merz told the FT.

The CDU was always Christian-social, liberal and conservative at the same time. But we recently hid away the conservative party, rather shamefacedly. Now were saying [it] out loud.

He said that the refugee crisis was definitely a factor in the vote for Brexit in 2016. Mr Merz, who lost out to Mrs Merkel in a power struggle in the early 2000s, also implied she could have done more to help swing the vote in favour of Remain.

The continental Europeans were not entirely blameless when it came to Brexit, he said.

Plethora of opportunities

Lord Cameron asked Brussels for a string of reforms and opt-outs for the UK in the run-up to the 2016 referendum but the final package of changes failed to impress.

Mr Merz said: David Cameron asked for changes to EU social policy and came back to London empty-handed.

We didnt do enough to help them come to a different referendum result.

He added: We Germans have a huge strategic interest in keeping the UK closely engaged in Europe.

We have a plethora of opportunities, at least in foreign and defence policy, that we should explore together.

Mr Merz has a good chance of becoming Chancellor but faces competition from other more personally popular CDU politicians to stand for the role.

He has triumphed in several regional elections but failed in his ambition to halve support for the Alternative for Germany party.

The far-Right anti-migrant party is polling at 16 per cent, the same as Scholzs SPD, but far behind the CDU, which is predicted to take 30 per cent of the vote.
The sculptor Tony Cragg at his exhibition at Castle Howard in North Yorkshire. Photograph: Charlotte Graham/REX/Shutterstock

Three cheers for Sir Tony Cragg (They look sad: Tony Cragg scraps audio guides for Castle Howard exhibition, 2 May). For years I have waited patiently at exhibitions behind someone with headphones listening to three minutes of talk about a picture, usually followed by three seconds looking at that picture. Paintings are visual art, to be looked at. Background information and gossip are for earlier or later if needed.

Michael McLoughlin

London

 John Cleese defends Till Death Us Do Part on the grounds that we laughed at Alf Garnett, not with him (John Cleese cut N-word from Fawlty Towers revival because people dont understand irony, 2 May). Cleese is wrong. Schoolboys like (Im sorry to say) myself laughed with him. He said the unsayable on prime-time TV and thereby gave us permission to say the same things in the school playground. Alf was cool because he was naughty and got away with it. I shudder at his memory.

John ODwyer

Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire

 In Italy, Melissa Wright says she pays only 1.20 for a coffee, but thats not the whole story (Letters, 3 May). Having lived in Rome for a decade, drinks are served al banco (standing at the bar) or, for twice the price, al tavolo (sitting down). A cappuccino at Caffe Florian in Venice costs 6 (12 al tavolo) plus a 6 orchestra charge. And dont forget to add a tip to the 18 bill.

Dr John Doherty

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire

 Genuine gender equality in toilet provision would address the vastly longer queues for women in theatres and similar venues (Single-sex toilets to be required in non-residential buildings in England, 6 May)).

Eithne Dodwell

Bradford

 Do you have a photograph youd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
Mr Shapps told the Commons he had asked for a review of SSCL's work across government

Grant Shapps has ordered a review into the company at the heart of the Ministry of Defence hack blamed on China, as The Telegraph can reveal it had previously put prison staff data at risk.

Hackers, understood to be backed by Beijing, gained access to payroll information held by Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL), which included the names, bank details and some addresses of serving personnel, reservists and veterans.

Up to 272,000 service personnel may have been hit by the data breach.

The Defence Secretary told MPs on Tuesday that a specialist security review of the contractor and its operations is under way.

Mr Shapps said: Weve launched a full investigation, drawing on Cabinet Office support and specialist external expertise to examine the potential failings of the contractor and to minimise the risk of similar incidents in the future.

He added that the full review of SSCL would be across Government, not just within the MoD.

As well as the MoD, SSCL provides services to 22 government departments and agencies and is responsible for processing the wages of 550,000 public servants.

The Telegraph can reveal that the contractor was previously the subject of a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) investigation after a potential data leak that exposed personal details of thousands of prison officers, including email addresses, work locations and national insurance numbers.

In December 2019, the Prison Officers Association (POA) wrote to members revealing that an incorrectly configured web server linked to an SSCL training website meant that personal information for the majority of staff was accessible online.

The data breach, which also exposed names, email addresses, dates of birth, training information and names of line managers, occurred days before the MoD announced a 300 million contract with SSCL, which was part-owned by the Cabinet Office until last year, to modernise its IT systems.

The MoD's data breach comes after the UK and the US in March accused China of a global campaign of "malicious" cyber attacks - JAMES VEYSEY/SHUTTERSTOCK

The MoJ alerted the Information Commissioners Office and launched an investigation over the data breach, while SSCL updated security systems to address the flaw. It is unclear if the error led to data being stolen, or what the MoJ investigation concluded.

SSCL, a subsidiary of the Paris-based tech company Sopra Steria, continues to work with the Ministry of Justice, helping to recruit prison officers.

It works with 22 UK Government departments including the Home Office and Department of Work and Pensions as well as bodies such as the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) also uses SSCL as payroll network provider.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr Shapps said he had asked for a review of the companys work across government.

He told MPs: It is obviously completely unacceptable for a contractor to leave our brave servicemen and women in this position, so we take it incredibly seriously.

Mr Shapps said that initial investigations had not found evidence that any data had been removed, although he cautioned that affected personnel had been alerted as a precautionary measure.

He stressed that the payment network is an external system completely separate to the MoDs core network.

The defence secretary did not name China as responsible for the attack, but insisted to MPs that he was not reluctant to name the malign actor.

He said: For reasons of national security, we cant release further details of the suspected cyber activity behind this incident.

However, I can confirm to the House that we do have indications that this was the suspected work of a malign actor and we cannot rule out state involvement.

Rishi Sunak also declined to say who was behind the cyber attack on Tuesday, but said the UK is taking the powers necessary to protect ourselves against the risk that China and other countries pose to us.

Defence sources have told the Telegraph they believe China was behind the hack.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said claims Beijing was behind the attack were completely fabricated and malicious slanders.

The MoDs data breach comes after the UK and the US in March accused China of a global campaign of malicious cyber attacks in an unprecedented joint operation to reveal Beijings espionage.

Britain blamed Beijing for targeting the Electoral Commission watchdog in 2021 and for being behind a campaign of online reconnaissance aimed at the email accounts of MPs and peers.

The Met said: There is currently no evidence to suggest that there has been any compromise of the MPS payroll service.

SSCL and Sopra Steria did not respond to requests for comment.
Protesters block the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv to call for a ceasefire and the immediate release of hostages. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA

Thousands of Israelis around the country have joined rallies calling for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to the terms of a ceasefire deal that Hamas accepted on Monday.

Protesters gathered near the defence headquarters in Tel Aviv, while in Jerusalem at least 100 protesters marched towards Netanyahus residence with a banner saying: The blood is on your hands.

Demonstrations took place elsewhere, amid concerns that the Israeli militarys new offensive targeting the southern Gaza city of Rafah and the so-called Philadelphi corridor, which runs along the border with Egypt, could jeopardise the lives of surviving hostages.

There were smaller protests in the cities of Haifa, Beersheba and Raanana.

The protests came as splits in Netanyahus war cabinet appeared to be widening and the prime minister sought to hold his fractious governing coalition together.

The largest demonstrations took place on the Ayalon highway in central Tel Aviv, a frequent focus of protest, where police twice cleared people who were banging drums, carrying signs and shouting slogans. Bibi is abandoning the hostages, some of the demonstrators shouted.

Among those who gathered outside Netanyahus house in Jerusalem was Mai Albini Peri, the grandson of Haim Peri, a hostage in Gaza. Peri held a sign saying: Rafah, not at the expense of my grandfather.

The Hamas statement that it was prepared to accept a ceasefire, delivered by its senior politburo official Ismail Haniyeh hours after the Israel Defense Forces had ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians to leave eastern Rafah, appeared to catch Israeli officials  not least Netanyahu  by surprise.

Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its core demands and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on Rafah.

The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive  if only barely  for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the seven-month war that has devastated the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli incursion overnight appeared to be short of the fully-fledged offensive into Rafah that Israel has planned, and it was not immediately known if it would be expanded. Joe Biden on Monday urgently warned Netanyahu against launching a ground offensive, raising pressure for a ceasefire.

Israel said it would continue negotiations, even as its military carried out strikes on Rafah.

The news that Hamas had accepted a deal was greeted with enthusiasm by groups in Israel representing hostages held in Gaza.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an umbrella group that represents a number of relatives of captives, said in a statement that the announcement from Hamas must lead to the return of the 132 hostages held captive by Hamas for the past seven months.

It said: Now is the time for all that are involved to fulfil their commitment and turn this opportunity into a deal for the return of all the hostages.

Israel estimates that 128 of the 250 hostages abducted by militants on 7 October remain in Gaza, including 35 who the military says are dead.

In Tel Aviv, Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan Zangauker is still held in Gaza, told a crowd on Monday night that it was time to accept the deal.

With a megaphone, Zangauker stood on the roof of a car and spoke in front of a large crowd of protesters. Were not going to let you continue to abandon the children, she said.

In a post on X, the Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said the government was not serious about freeing the hostages. A government that wants to return the abductees should be convening an urgent discussion and sending [negotiating] teams to Cairo, not hysterically issuing three different briefings from different parties and crushing the hearts of the families. A national disgrace. There is no limit, he wrote.
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, speaks during a hearing of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month. Now indicted on bribery and money laundering charges, Cuellar would best serve his constituents by resigning. Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press Federal agents search the home of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar in Laredo on Jan. 19, 2022. Now facing bribery and money laundering charges, Cuellar has the right to the presumption of innocence, but that doesn't mean he hasn't violated the public's trust. Valerie Gonzalez/Associated Press

A federal court will eventually determine whether Henry Cuellar violated the law.

But its not too soon to conclude that the Laredo-based Democratic member of Congress, whose district includes parts of San Antonios East Side and downtown, has violated the public trust. It had been an open question since 2022 when the FBI raided Cuellars home and office.

That question has been magnified following the May 3 federal indictment of Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, on charges of bribery, money laundering, wire fraud and illegally acting as a foreign agent.

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Everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence. That is a legal standard. But politicians are also held to a moral standard, and an indictment such as this betrays voters and erodes confidence in our institutions.

According to the 54-page indictment, the Cuellars allegedly accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from the national oil and gas company of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank, and they funneled these payments through shell companies. Cuellar has proclaimed his innocence and vowed to continue his bid for an 11th term in office.

When we talk about the public trust, consider that Cuellars attorney, Joshua Berman, speaking on his behalf, misled the public in April 2022 when he told Fox News that Cuellar was not the target of an FBI raid of the Congress members home and campaign office.

Bermans statement was an obvious bid to rescue Cuellars campaign prospects in a tough primary runoff battle with progressive immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros. Cuellar won that race by 281 votes. Its clear he also won under false pretenses.

Bermans effort at damage control, and the subsequent two years of silence on the FBI investigation, dissuaded any serious competitors in either major party from challenging Cuellar this year. Even with federal indictments hanging over his head, its possible that voters, given their limited options, could send him back to Congress in November.

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Cuellar, the indicted, will face either Jay Furman or Lazaro Garza, who are locked in the May 28 Republican runoff.

What kind of public servant could Cuellar be under those circumstances? He will be distracted by his legal problems, he will be weakened in the U.S. House, and he will carry the stench of corruption wherever he goes. He already must take leave as ranking member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.

Staying in office might be good for Cuellar, but theres no way it serves the best interests of his constituents.

Theres no room for partisanship here. We called on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, to step down in 2020 after seven whistleblowers who held high-ranking positions in his office accused him of abusing his position to benefit a campaign donor. By that point, Paxton had been fighting securities fraud charges for five years.

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Our argument for Paxtons resignation was that the seriousness of the charges and the force of his checkered history had fatally compromised his ability to fulfill the duties of his office.

When it comes to Cuellar, there is no denying the seriousness of the charges.

The indictment alleges that the congressman, in exchange for bribery payments, promised to use the power and prestige of his office to advance the interests of Azerbaijan and the Mexican bank. That includes inserting language into congressional bills, delivering a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the House floor and influencing federal financial regulations.

These accusations cut to the essence of Cuellars compact with voters, as well as his congressional oath to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States.

Its important to consider the level of detail in this indictment. Federal investigators spent two years building a case against Cuellar. They collected bank records, text exchanges and emails.

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For example, the indictment alleges that on May 5, 2014, Cuellar emailed an Azerbaijani diplomat and two other individuals to let them know he had placed language they wanted in that years National Defense Authorization Act.

The diplomat thanked Cuellar and called for a meeting with the U.S. Department of Defense, and Cuellar promised to set up the meeting, according to the indictment.

On March 31, 2017, after Cuellar allegedly texted the diplomat to say he had submitted language sought by Azerbaijan, according to the indictment, the diplomat responded, You are the best El Jefe!

Two political strategists connected to Cuellar, Colin Strother, of Buda, and Florencio Lencho Rendon, of San Antonio, have struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to launder more than $200,000 in bribes. The two will work with prosecutors.

The allegations against Cuellar echo the current federal indictment U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., faces. Federal prosecutors allege that Menendez and his wife, Nadine, took bribes from three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for the senators efforts to benefit the government of Egypt and enrich the businessmen.

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Shortly after that indictment was filed last September, Cory Booker, Menendezs fellow New Jersey senator, called on his friend to resign.

Stepping down is not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgement that holding public office often demands tremendous sacrifices at great personal cost, Booker said. I believe stepping down is best for those Sen. Menendez has spent his life serving.
Palestinians in Rafah celebrate news that Hamas had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire deal - Reuters TV/REUTERS

The UNs secretary-general has warned that Israels impending ground invasion of Rafah would be intolerable.

Israels war cabinet on Monday night voted unanimously to go ahead with the planned invasion of the Gazan city, despite opposition from the US due to the likelihood of significant civilian casualties.

It comes after Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, on Monday night rejected a ceasefire offer from Hamas and vowed to push on into the southern Gazan city where 100,000 people were earlier in the day ordered to evacuated.

The purpose of the operation is to apply military pressure on Hamas, with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims, Benjamin Netanyahus office has said in a statement.

Hamass latest truce offer is far from Israels obligatory demands, the statement said.

However, the Israeli prime ministers office said Israel would also send negotiators for talks to try to find a deal that meets Israels demands.

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general called on Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement to stop the suffering.

This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and a ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences, and because of its destabilising impact in the region, he said on Monday night.

11:59 PM BST

What happened today

Here are todays top stories:

Israel rejected a ceasefire offer from Hamas on Monday night, vowing to press ahead with plans to invade Rafah

Israel said the terms of the deal were far from its obligatory demands and officials warned that the Hamas plan would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal

On Monday night Israeli jets launched a bombardment of Rafah, striking 50 targets according to the IDF

Earlier on Monday Israel told 100,000 people in eastern Rafah to evacuate the city

Joe Biden, the US president, urged Mr Netanyahu not to go ahead with the invasion

Rishi Sunak said he was deeply concerned by the prospect of a Rafah offensive

11:46 PM BST

Five reported dead in Rafah strikes

Israeli strikes left at least five people dead in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a local hospital said on Tuesday morning, as Israel vowed to launch a vast ground operation there.

The citys Kuwaiti hospital said it had received five martyrs and several injured after Israeli strikes overnight.

The area is currently the site of intense Israeli military strike activity, according to witnesses and Palestinian security sources.

11:33 PM BST

Peace talks will resume on Tuesday  Qatar

Hamas on Monday sent its response to the truce proposal to mediators and it can be described as positive, according to a spokesperson for Qatars foreign ministry.

Qatars delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas through the mediators, Majed Al-Ansari said.

11:06 PM BST

US: Strikes on Rafah not a major military operation

The United States is concerned about Israels latest strikes against the southern Gaza city of Rafah but does not believe they represent a major military operation, a US official has said.

The official told Reuters that the White House is focused on heading off a major military operation into densely populated areas of Rafah and that it does not appear the Israelis are doing that.

10:47 PM BST

Biden warns Netanyahu against Rafah assault

Joe Biden has tonight warned Benjamin Netanyahu against invading Rafah as Israel defiantly issued evacuation orders and carried out intense air strikes on the crowded Gaza city.

The United States said it was reviewing a response from Hamas, which said it has accepted a deal to halt seven months of war and free hostages, with CIA Director Bill Burns in the region to negotiate through Arab allies.

The US president told Netanyahu in April that invading Rafah would be a mistake, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken told him last week in Jerusalem that there should be no offensive due to the safety of more than one million civilians sheltering there.

The president reiterated his clear position on Rafah, the White House said in a brief readout of the call.

10:04 PM BST

Netanyahu jeopardising peace deal  Jordan

Jordans foreign minister has said that Benjamin Netanyahu is jeopardising a ceasefire agreement by bombing Rafah.

Tremendous effort has been made to produce an exchange deal thatll release hostages & realize a ceasefire, Ayman Safadi said on X.

Hamas has put out an offer. If Netanyahu genuinely wants a deal, he will negotiate the offer in earnest. Instead, he is jeopardizing the deal by bombing Rafah.

09:45 PM BST

Rafah celebrations will be cut short

Palestinians in the city of Rafah erupted in cheers as news of a potential ceasefire deal broke on Monday, hoping it would prevent an Israeli invasion of the sanctuary where more than one million people have taken shelter.

In one square in the southern city near the border with Egypt, young men clapped, danced and rode on each others shoulders shouting Allahu Akbar.

Children joined in the celebrations with some climbing to the top of a white van as onlookers filmed on their phones.

But the jubilation appeared premature as Israeli officials briefed that Hamas had in fact carried out a ruse by accepting a ceasefire deal that was not on the table, in an effort to paint Israel as the party obstructing peace.

Read more: Rafah erupts in celebration after Hamas accepts ceasefire offer even as Israeli offensive continues

09:43 PM BST

Families of hostages join protest in Tel Aviv

Hamass announcement that it will accept a ceasefire deal must accelerate the return of Israeli hostages, the The Hostages Families Forum said.

In statement, the group said: Hamas announcement must pave the way for the return of the 132 hostages held captive by Hamas for the past 7 months.

Now is the time for all that are involved, to fulfil their commitment and turn this opportunity into a deal for the return of all the hostages.

On Monday night the families of hostages taken by Hamas joined a protest in Tel Aviv urging the government to do more to release their loved ones.

A woman holds a sign identifying Matan Zangauker (24) , one of the hostages taken captive by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip during the October 7 attacks, as she stands on the roof of a car during a demonstration by hostages' relatives and supporters in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on May 6, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas group.

Relatives and supporters of hostages taken captive by Palestinian militants in Gaza during the October 7 attacks, hold placards and wave national flags during a demonstration calling for their release, in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on May 6, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas group.

Protesters block a highway demanding the immediate release of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 6, 2024

09:23 PM BST

Israel not sure which proposal Hamas accepted  report

The Israeli government is unsure which ceasefire proposal Hamas has accepted because the terms are different to those seen by Israel, according to a report.

An anonymous Israeli official, cited by the Guardian, said it was not clear which peace proposal Hamas had agreed to because some of the terms appeared to be fundamentally different from those shown to mediators by Israel and signed off by the Israeli government last week.

09:18 PM BST

FCK HMS  Israeli minister

Israels minister for diaspora and combating anti-Semitism has posted on X: FCK HMS

09:01 PM BST

Pictured: Palestinians get out of Rafah

Palestinians flee following Israeli army orders to evacuate the eastern side of the city, ahead of military operations in Rafah, Gaza, on Monday, May 6, 2024. Israel rejected a statement from Hamas that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal to end the fighting in Gaza, saying its forces would continue their operation in Rafah to eradicate the Palestinian militant group. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

Palestinians flee following Israeli army orders to evacuate the eastern side of the city, ahead of military operations in Rafah, Gaza, on Monday, May 6, 2024. Israel rejected a statement from Hamas that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal to end the fighting in Gaza, saying its forces would continue their operation in Rafah to eradicate the Palestinian militant group. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

Palestinians flee following Israeli army orders to evacuate the eastern side of the city, ahead of military operations in Rafah, Gaza, on Monday, May 6, 2024. Israel rejected a statement from Hamas that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal to end the fighting in Gaza, saying its forces would continue their operation in Rafah to eradicate the Palestinian militant group. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

08:55 PM BST

Jordan denounces attack on Rafah

Jordans King Abdullah has denounced Israels attack on the city of Rafah.

In a meeting with Joe Biden, the King said the Israeli armys operation  which the IDF confirmed has begun this evening  would lead to a new massacre in Gaza.

His Majesty King Abdullah II, during a meeting with #US President Joe Biden at the White House, says the international community must take urgent action to prevent a new catastrophe in #Gaza as a result of the Israeli attack on #Rafah #Jordan pic.twitter.com/PqsvP1rti1  RHC (@RHCJO) May 6, 2024

08:49 PM BST

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Auschwitz remembrance march

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a remembrance march to honour the victims of Nazi atrocities at the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp, write Daniel Hardaker and Natalie Lisbona.

The demonstrators chanted slogans at the marchers, unfurling Palestinian flags and banners reading stop genocide.

Survivors of the Holocaust and the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel took part in the march on Monday, alongside thousands of others who came to reaffirm the vow: Never again.

Read more here.

Protesters chanted slogans at those attending the solemn march from Auschwitz - WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP

08:43 PM BST

UN chief urges Israel and Hamas to go the extra mile to get deal done

Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, has urged the Israeli government and Hamas to go the extra mile needed to make an agreement come true and stop the present suffering, his spokesperson said.

The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the indications that a large-scale military operation in Rafah may be imminent, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

The Secretary-General reminds the parties that the protection of civilians is paramount in international humanitarian law.

08:35 PM BST

Israeli military strikes Hamas in east Rafah

The Israeli military said on Monday it was currently conducting targeted strikes against targets belonging to Hamas in the eastern part of Rafah.

The military, in a brief statement, said that more details would follow.

08:18 PM BST

Israel still plans to go ahead with Rafah operation, says US official

Israel still plans to proceed with a 90-day plan to invade Rafah, which Washington is committed to stopping, a US official familiar with truce negotiations between Hamas and Israel said on Monday.

Netanyahu and the war cabinet have not appeared to approach the latest phase of negotiations [with Hamas] in good faith, the official told the Reuters news agency, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

08:10 PM BST

Biden urged Netanyahu not to go ahead with Rafah assault

Joe Biden urged Benjamin Netanyahu not to invade Rafah in a phone call this morning, the White House said.

Mr Kirby told reporters: Ill reiterate again that we cannot and we will not speak for IDF operations, but weve made clear our views about operations in Rafah that could potentially put more than a million innocent people at greater risk.

During this call with Prime Minister Netanyahu, the president again made this clear. He also made clear that we continue to believe that the hostage deal is the best way to avoid that sort of an outcome while securing the release of those hostages, and as I said, those conversations continue.

07:59 PM BST

White House refuses to comment on ceasefire deal

The White House said it would not comment further on the ceasefire deal until the details had been established, writes Tony Diver.

John Kirby, the White Houses national security spokesman, said US officials were discussing it with countries in the region.

I know everybodys curious about whats in this response and what the Israeli reaction to it is, he said. Im just not getting ahead of the process. We want to get these hostages out. We want to get a ceasefire in place for six weeks, we want to increase humanitarian assistance.

And the last thing that I want to do is say anything at this podium thats going to put that process at risk.

07:54 PM BST

Hamas says Gaza three-phase proposal aims for permanent ceasefire

Khalil al-Hayya, a Senior Hamas member, said the ceasefire proposal agreed by the group for a Gaza ceasefire includes a three-stage truce with the goal of a lasting ceasefire.

Mr Hayya told Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel that each phase would last 42 days, and the deal includes plans for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the return of Palestinians displaced by the ongoing war, an exchange of hostages and prisoners and the aim of a permanent ceasefire.

07:50 PM BST

Pictured: Palestinians celebrate after Hamas agrees to truce proposal

Palestinians celebrate in a street in Rafah after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal - AFP

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah - Anadolu

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh informed mediators Qatar and Egypt that his Palestinian terror group had accepted their proposal - AFP

07:40 PM BST

Egypt urges all parties to exert more effort to reach deal in Gaza

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian president, has called on all sides to exert more effort to reach a deal in Gaza, saying he was closely following positive developments of the current negotiations to reach a comprehensive truce.

07:35 PM BST

Hamas agreed to latest Israeli proposal

Hamas agreed to the latest proposal that Israel had made on April 27 and there were no major changes since then, an official briefed on the ceasefire talks said, adding the Qatari mediators had spoken to Hamas about this on Sunday and Monday.

What happens next depends on Israel to accept or reject Hamas response. The ball is in Israels court, the source told the Reuters news agency, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

07:31 PM BST

We want to get a ceasefire in place

Admiral John Kirby, US National Security Council Spokesman, says the US is examining the deal that Hamas said it had accepted.

We want to get these hostages out, we want to get a ceasefire in place, he told a press briefing.

Reaching the agreement is the absolute best outcome, not only for the hostages but for the Palestinian people, he added.

07:28 PM BST

Erdogan discusses Hamas ceasefire acceptance with Haniyeh

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he held a phone call with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to discuss efforts to end the fighting in Gaza, as well as the militant groups decision to accept a ceasefire in the enclave.

During the call, in which I stated that I found it positive for Hamas to take such a decision with Turkeys suggestion, we emphasised that Israel must take a step for a lasting ceasefire too, Mr Erdogan said on X

07:19 PM BST

Israeli army says it examines all hostage deal proposals

All proposals regarding negotiations to free hostages in Gaza are examined seriously, Israels military spokesperson has said.

Asked during a media briefing whether Hamas saying it accepted a ceasefire proposal would impact a planned offensive in the Gaza city of Rafah, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: We examine every answer and response in the most seriously manner and are exhausting every possibility regarding negotiations and returning the hostages.

In parallel, we are still operating in the Gaza Strip and will continue to do so, he said.

07:06 PM BST

US to discuss Hamas truce response with allies

The United States will discuss Hamas response to a ceasefire proposal with allies in the Middle East in the coming hours, Matthew Miller said.

07:02 PM BST

US still opposes Rafah operation

The US has said it continues to oppose an Israeli military operation in Rafah, following reports that Palestinians had been told to evacuate further north.

We made quite clear our position on Rafah for some time, which is that we cannot support an operation in Rafah as it is currently envisioned, Mr Miller said.

We have made clear, the Secretary made this clear in his conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli government last week, that we have not seen a humanitarian plan that is credible, and that is implementable.

We believe a military operation in Rafah right now would dramatically increase the suffering of the Palestinian people would lead to an increase in loss of civilian life, which would dramatically disrupt the delivery of humanitarian assistance, he said.

07:01 PM BST

US concerned as Israel shuts down Al Jazeera

The United States is quite concerned about Israel shutting down Al Jazeeras operations in the country, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Mr Millers comments came a day after the Israeli authorities raided a Jerusalem hotel room used as the TV stations local office.

Washington thinks Qatari-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera ought to be able to operate in Israel, Mr Miller added.

06:55 PM BST

Top priority to try to reach a ceaesfire agreement, says US

Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the State Department, declined to comment on reports that Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal that was not on the table from Israel.

He said US officials would discuss the Hamas statement in the coming hours with Egypt, Qatar and Israel.

Reaching a ceasefire deal of some sort is a top priority, he said.

The US has not seen a credible Israeli plan for the evacuation of Rafah and would not support an invasion of the southern Gazan city, he added.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller

06:49 PM BST

Turkeys Erdogan welcomes Hamas accepting ceasefire

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish President, said he welcomes the decision by Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal in Gaza, adding he hopes Israel would do the same.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Mr Erdogan called on Western countries to increase pressure on Israels leadership to accept the ceasefire.

We welcome the statement by Hamas that they accepted the ceasefire with our suggestion. Now, Israel must take the same step, he said.

06:39 PM BST

Hamas agreed to proposal including prisoner swap deal

The ceasefire proposal Hamas agreed to entails a ceasefire, reconstruction of Gaza, return of the displaced and a prisoner swap deal, Taher Al-Nono, a Hamas official said.

06:26 PM BST

Israel cannot accept softened truce deal

A truce Hamas said it agreed to was a softened version of an Egyptian proposal that included far-reaching conclusions that Israel could not accept, an Israeli official has said.

This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal, said the Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

06:21 PM BST

Crowds celebrate in Rafah after Hamas leader approves truce plan

Crowds cheered and fired in the air in the streets of the southern Gaza city of Rafah Monday after Hamas said it approved a ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar.

People were crying tears of happiness, chanting Allahu Akbar and shooting guns in the air in celebration of the news, footage from the city showed.

06:15 PM BST

Ball in Israels court, says Hamas

A senior Hamas official has said Israel must decide whether it accepts or obstructs a truce in Gaza after the terror group announced it had accepted mediators latest proposal.

After Hamas agreed to the mediators proposal for a ceasefire, the ball is now in the court of Israeli occupation, whether it will agree to the ceasefire agreement or obstruct it, the official told the AFP news agency.

Hamas had approved a softened Egyptian proposal that is not acceptable to Israel, an Israeli official said.

05:45 PM BST

Watch: Hamas release video of rocket attack on Israeli forces

Hamas claims responsibility for three rocket and mortar attacks on the Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip today, where the Israeli military has several forward operating bases.



The IDF says no injuries or damage were caused in the attacks. pic.twitter.com/1KB8m2njLL  Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 6, 2024

05:41 PM BST

Rafah evacuation order is inhumane, says UN

Israels order for Palestinian civilians to evacuate from eastern Rafah is inhumane, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights has said.

In a statement, Volker Turk said: Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine.

They have been told that they must relocate yet again as Israeli military operations into Rafah scale up.

This is inhumane. It runs contrary to the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights laws, which have the effective protection of civilians as their overriding concern.

05:27 PM BST

Netanyahu agrees to keep crossing open for humanitarian assistance after call with Biden

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has agreed to ensure that the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza is kept open for humanitarian assistance, the White House said in a statement.

The move came after Joe Biden, the US president, held urgent talks with Mr Netanyahu on Monday as Israel ordered 100,000 Palestinian civilians to evacuate from eastern Rafah ahead of an expected ground offensive.

During the call, the White House said the US president reiterated his position on a Rafah offensive.

Washington has previously said it would not support an offensive in the Rafah area without a credible plan to aid some 1.2 million civilians sheltering there.

04:28 PM BST

Sunak: UK concerned deeply about possible Rafah offensive

Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said that Britain was concerned deeply about a possible offensive in Rafah after Israel told around 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate part of the southern Gaza city.

We are concerned deeply about the prospect of a military incursion into Rafah given the number of civilians that are sheltering there and the importance of that crossing for aid, Mr Sunak told Sky News in an interview.

03:58 PM BST

600,000 children face catastrophe in Rafah, Unicef warns

Unicef has warned that 600,000 Palestinian children in the southern Gaza city of Rafah face further catastrophe as it urged against Israels evacuation of the city ahead of an expected ground offensive.

Given the high concentration of children in Rafah... Unicef is warning of a further catastrophe for children, with military operations resulting in very high civilian casualties and the few remaining basic services and infrastructure they need to survive being totally destroyed, the United Nations childrens agency said in a statement.

Catherine Russell, Unicefs executive director, said that More than 200 days of war have taken an unimaginable toll on the lives of children.

The agency said there are some 78,000 infants under the age of two sheltering in the city, along with 175,000 children under five who are affected by infectious disease.

03:42 PM BST

Hamas is suspending peace talks, reports suggest

Hamas has said it is suspending ongoing peace and hostage release negotiations, according to a London-based Qatari media organisation citing a Hamas source.

According to the source, the Islamist group is suspending its involvement in the Egyptian-mediated peace talks and will not return to Cairo, where the negotiations are being held.

03:23 PM BST

Biden to hold urgent talks with Netanyahu as Rafah assault fears grow

Joe Biden, the US president, will hold urgent talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, on Monday after Israel defied US warnings and told Palestinians to evacuate part of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Mr Biden told Mr Netanyahu in April that invading Rafah would be a mistake, and Washington has said it would not support an offensive without a credible plan to aid some 1.2 million civilians sheltering there.

The move comes as the US launches a diplomatic offensive to get ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas back on track after they reportedly reached an impasse when Hamas demanded an immediate end to fighting before any release of hostages.

Israels military on Monday called for the evacuation of roughly 100,000 Palestinians from eastern Rafah in a move the US believes is in response to a rocket strike by Hamas militants that killed four Israeli soldiers on Sunday.

03:02 PM BST

Pictured: Palestinians flee Rafah after Israeli warning to evacuate

Palestinians flee eastern Rafah - Anadolu/Anadolu

Children flee from Rafah after Israel warning to evacuate - Anadolu/Anadolu

02:34 PM BST

Pro-Palestine protestors chant at Holocaust survivors outside Auschwitz

Pro-Palestine protestors have reportedly chanted at Holocaust and October 7 survivors taking part in an annual remembrance march outside Auschwitz death camp in Poland.

Images of protestors waving Palestine flags and chanting slogans at participants of the March of the Living have emerged on social media.

March participants reportedly sang back Am Israel chai, a Jewish solidarity anthem, which means the people of Israel live.

The March of the Living is an annual three kilometre silent march between the former Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps.

Police sirens sound outside Auschwitz - Holocaust survivors and Oct 7 victims are walking for March of Living and Gaza protesters are chanting at them. #Auschwitz #marchoftheliving pic.twitter.com/kdnkqhkFwa  Natalie Lisbona (@NatalieLisbona) May 6, 2024

02:14 PM BST

Pictured: Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings - AFP

Displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip pack their belongings in a truck following an evacuation order by the Israeli army - AFP

01:41 PM BST

EU: Israels Rafah evacuation order is unacceptable

Israels order for around 100,000 civilians to flee from the southern Gaza city of Rafah ahead of an expected ground assault is unacceptable, the EU has said.

Israels evacuation orders to civilians in Rafah portend the worst: more war and famine. It is unacceptable. Israel must renounce to a ground offensive, Josep Borrell, the EUs foreign affairs chief, wrote on social media.

The EU, with the International Community, can and must act to prevent such scenario, he added.

01:18 PM BST

Hamas: Rafah operation will not be a picnic for Israeli forces

An Israeli offensive in Rafah will not be a picnic for Israeli soldiers, Hamas has said in a statement.

The Islamist group added that they are fully prepared to defend Palestinians in Rafah, and that Israels evacuation order underscores an insistence on pursuing genocide against Palestinians.

The Israeli military said on Monday that it is evacuating about 100,000 people from eastern Rafah, ahead of an expected ground assault.

Despite growing international opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has vowed to attack Hamas in Rafah in order to achieve total victory.

12:59 PM BST

Rafah offensive must not go ahead, says David Lammy

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, has urged Israel not to go ahead with its expected offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

In a post on X, Mr Lammy wrote: An Israeli offensive in Rafah would be catastrophic. It must not go ahead. We need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of hostages, and immediate unimpeded aid to Gaza.

12:38 PM BST

France: Civilian displacement in Rafah could constitute a war crime

France has reiterated its strong opposition to Israeli military action in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and warned that the displacement of civilians could be considered a war crime.

France also recalls that the forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes a war crime under international law, the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Israeli military said on Monday that it is evacuating about 100,000 people from eastern Rafah, ahead of an expected ground assault.

12:21 PM BST

Former Israeli hostage joins IDF

A former hostage held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip joined the Israeli military on Monday, according to an Israel Defence Forces publication.

Noga Weiss, 18, was kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attacks on southern Israel along with her mother Shiri. Her father, Ilan, was killed during the assault.

Noga and her mother were subsequently released in a hostage deal in November.

I always wanted to enlist and provide myself for the country, Ms Weiss said. I feel that I can contribute a lot, be significant and help others, she added.

Ms Weiss will serve as a mashakit tash, which is the Israeli equivalent of a welfare officer.

12:01 PM BST

Palestinians flee Rafah by car after Israeli warning

11:54 AM BST

Germany condemns Israels closure of Al Jazeera

The German foreign ministry has criticised Israels decision to shut down Al Jazeeras operations in the country.

A free and diverse press landscape is an important cornerstone of any liberal democracy, the ministry wrote in a post on social media.

The Qatari government-funded station was taken off-air in Israel on Sunday as police raided the stations Jerusalem office and seized its broadcasting equipment.

Israeli officials said the move was justified because Al Jazeera posed a threat to national security. The station said the accusation was a dangerous and ridiculous lie.

11:29 AM BST

Rafah evacuation zone not suitable for meeting basic needs, UNRWA says

The area demarcated for evacuation from Rafah is not suitable for meeting basic needs, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has said.

Its really not somewhere thats quite suitable for people to put up tents and to be able to sit and try to live and meet their basic necessities every day, Scott Anderson, the director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, told CNN on Monday.

I know they expanded the area recently, but a lot of thats in Khan Younis which were still trying to recover from an operation that happened there, he added.

Israel has urged Palestinian civilians in Rafah to evacuate to a designated a humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, a coastal town west of Khan Younis, where it says field hospitals, tents, increased quantities of food, water, medicines, and additional supplies have been made available.

11:11 AM BST

Teenage Israeli soldier killed in Hamas border crossing strike

The Israel Defence Forces announced Sergeant Michael Ruzal, 18, as the fourth soldier killed in a Hamas strike on the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Sunday.

The IDF announces the death of a fourth soldier killed in the Hamas-claimed rocket attack against a staging ground near Kerem Shalom in southern Israel yesterday.



He is named as Sgt. Michael Ruzal, 18, of the Nahal Brigade's 931st Battalion, from Rishon Lezion.



Last night, the pic.twitter.com/JPbQcvsgBv  Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 6, 2024

11:04 AM BST

Why a ceasefire is a problem for Netanyahu

Over the weekend, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, made several statements to the effect that he will not agree to ending the war and that an operation in Rafah will happen with or without a hostage deal.

Some Israeli officials see Netanyahus statements as an attempt to provoke Hamas and sabotage the talks, an analysis by US news website Axios has suggested.

According to Axios, a deal could create a political crisis for Mr Netanyahu as two of his coalition partners, the ultranationalist ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, have threatened to leave government if a truce is approved.

Without the pair, Netanyahus coalition would collapse and early elections would likely be called. According to recent polls, Netanyahu would not win if a vote was held today.

Hamas has demanded an end to fighting before the group signs any peace deal with Israel. The original proposal stipulates that a ceasefire would only occur after an exchange of prisoners and hostages.

10:27 AM BST

Hamas attack on Israeli troops caused ceasefire talks to stall

A Hamas rocket attack that killed four Israeli soldiers on Sunday caused Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks to impasse, Egyptian state-affiliated TV news quoted an unnamed source as saying.

Israel said the barrage was fired from Rafah and hit an Israeli military staging post near the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

The crossing was then closed before the Israeli military launched strikes on Rafah, which reportedly killed at least 12 people.

Egyptian negotiators are intensifying talks to contain the current escalation between Israel and Hamas, the source said according to the channel.

10:04 AM BST

Pictured: Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day

An Israeli soldier marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, at an installation at the site of the Nova festival massacre

An Israeli soldier stands during a two-minute siren marking the annual Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day, at an installation at the site of the Nova festival where party goers were killed and kidnapped during the October 7 attack

09:46 AM BST

Hamas: Israels evacuation order is a dangerous escalation

A senior Hamas spokesman has said that Israels order for civilians to evacuate parts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah is a dangerous escalation.

Sami Abu Zuhuri said that the escalation would have consequences, but did not elaborate further. He however added that the US administration, alongside the occupation, bears responsibility for this terrorism.

Zuhuris statement is the first reaction from Hamas since the Israeli military urged 100,000 civilians to evacuate Rafah earlier this morning.

09:31 AM BST

Israel blames Hamas for collapse of peace deal

Hamas insistence on an immediate end to fighting caused the current round of peace talks to collapse, an unnamed Israeli official told the Times of Israel.

Hamas wants to declare victory, thats its entire aim in the talks, the official said.

Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, told his US counterpart earlier that a Hamas refusal to discuss the frameworks at hand meant Tel Aviv now needed to take military action.

On Friday, reports indicated that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader, had demanded an unconditional end to fighting before the group signed any peace deal with Israel.

The Egyptian-mediated proposal had originally stipulated that a phased de-escalation in fighting would only occur after an initial exchange of prisoners and hostages between Hamas and Israel.

09:03 AM BST

Pictured: Israel warns people to evacuate with leaflet drop

Israel is warning people to evacuate Rafah with leaflets dropped from the sky - Anadolu/Anadolu

In Rafah, people received flyers Monday morning in Arabic detailing which neighborhood blocks needed to leave and where humanitarian zones had expanded to. The flyers said that aid services would spread from Deir al Balah in the north to the center of Khan Younis city in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians in Rafah said people gathered to discuss their options after receiving the flyers. Most said they did not want to move alone and preferred to travel in groups.

So many people here are displaced and now they have to move again, but no one will stay here its not safe, Nidal Alzaanin told The Associated Press.

People were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi.

Israels army said Monday on X it would act with extreme force against militants and urged the population to evacuate immediately for their safety.

08:51 AM BST

Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets at Israeli base

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it fired dozens of Katyusha rockets at an Israeli base in the occupied Golan Heights on Monday in retaliation for a strike in Lebanons east.

Earlier, Lebanese official media said three people had been wounded in an Israeli strike early Monday in the countrys east, with the Israeli army saying it had struck a Hezbollah military compound.

Hezbollah fighters launched dozens of Katyusha rockets targeting the headquarters of the Golan Division... at Nafah base, the group said in a statement, saying it was in response to the enemys attack targeting the Bekaa region.

Israel and Lebanons Hezbollah have exchanged regular cross-border fire since Palestinian militant group Hamass unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip.

In recent weeks Hamas-ally Hezbollah has stepped up its attacks on northern Israel, and the Israeli military has struck deeper into Lebanese territory.

08:22 AM BST

Pictured: People flee Rafah

Photographers on the ground in Rafah have captured photos of people evacuating, as Israel prepares a limited scope operation in the city.

Some 100,000 people have been told to evacuate, Israel says - Hatem Khaled/Reuters

People flee the eastern parts of Rafah - Hatem Khaled/Reuters

07:54 AM BST

Evacuation comes after violent reminder of Hamass presence

Israel had a violent reminder of Hamass presence and operational abilities on Sunday, a military spokesman said.

On Sunday, three Israeli soldiers were killed and a dozen wounded when a barrage of rockets was fired towards the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza.

The army said the rockets were fired from an area adjacent to Rafah.

The soldiers were hit while guarding heavy machinery, tanks and bulldozers stationed in the area.

Hamass armed wing claimed the rocket attack, which led Israeli authorities to close the crossing, used to deliver aid into Gaza.

07:47 AM BST

Israel evacuating people from eastern Rafah

The Israeli army says it is evacuating about 100,000 people from eastern Rafah, ahead of an expected ground assault.

The estimate is around 100,000 people, a military spokesman told journalists when asked how many people were being evacuated.

About 1.2 million people are currently sheltering in Rafah, according to the World Health Organization, most having fled there from elsewhere in Gaza during the seven-month war between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants.

This is an evacuation plan to get people out of harms way.
Israeli tanks on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

Israeli military forces have taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, Israeli officials have said, in the first stage of what appears to be a wider offensive targeting Hamas in the southernmost parts of Gaza.

This is the beginning of our mission to take out the last four Hamas brigades in Rafah. You should be in no doubt about that whatsoever, an Israeli government spokesperson said.

Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Gaza border authority confirmed the presence of Israeli tanks at the Rafah crossing and images released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) showed tanks flying large Israeli flags driving through the post.

Aid officials in the territory said the flow of aid through the crossing, one of the main supply routes for the effort to avert a famine, had been halted.

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, called for crossings into Gaza to be reopened immediately, and urged Israel to stop any escalation.

Things are moving in the wrong direction. I am disturbed and distressed by the renewed military activity in Rafah by the Israel Defense Forces, he said.

The closure of both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be reopened immediately.

The Israeli operation was launched hours after after an announcement by Hamas leaders on Monday night that they would accept a recent proposal for a ceasefire deal that would lead to the release of hostages held by the Islamist militant organisation in Gaza.

Israeli officials said they would send a delegation for further talks but accused Hamas of grandstanding.

Related: Israeli assault on Gaza city of Rafah: what we know so far

The spokesperson said: Hamas proposal is far from Israels core demands. Nevertheless, Israel will dispatch a ranking delegation to Egypt to maximise any chance of an agreement on terms acceptable to Israel. Israel is committed to pursuing every avenue, diplomatically and militarily to get our people home.

Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that Israels seizure of the Rafah crossing aimed to undermine ceasefire efforts.

The prospect of continued talks left a glimmer of hope for an agreement that could bring at least a pause to the seven-month war that has devastated Gaza.

Rafahs Kuwaiti hospital said on Tuesday that 11 people had been killed by airstrikes overnight and dozens of others injured. The Israeli military said it had targeted Hamas in the city.

After vowing for weeks to push into the southern border city, Israel on Monday called for Palestinians in several neighbourhoods in eastern Rafah to leave for an expanded humanitarian area to the west and north of the city before a ground incursion.

An Israeli military official said the target of the operation in Rafah was terrorist infrastructure, after rockets were launched from the crossing at Israeli troops at the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing earlier this week. There were further rocket barrages against the same target on Tuesday, he said.

The Rafah crossing is particularly sensitive for Egypt, which is anxious to avoid a mass migration of Palestinians into its Sinai desert in the event of a major offensive into the city, which lies just to its west.

A permanent presence at the crossing would give Israel the ability to control all traffic, including aid shipments, and could act as a launchpad for further operations against the cross-border tunnels which, Israeli officials have said, allow Hamas to obtain vital supplies.

The more than 1 million Palestinians taking refuge in Rafah have been thrown into confusion with Israels evacuation order triggering an exodus of thousands of people.

In a phone call on Monday, the US president, Joe Biden, pressed Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, not to go ahead with a large-scale offensive. Biden has been vocal in his demand that Israel not undertake a ground offensive in Rafah without a credible plan to protect Palestinian civilians.

Matthew Miller, a US state department spokesperson, said the US had not seen such a plan, adding that Washington could not support an operation in Rafah as it was envisioned.

It was not immediately clear if the proposal Hamas agreed to was substantially different from one that Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, pressed the group to accept last week and which he said included significant Israeli concessions.

Talks in Cairo had appeared to stall at the weekend over Hamass insistence that Israel should commit to making the ceasefire permanent at the outset of the agreement, rather than to negotiate its duration after the truce had taken hold.

Reports suggest that the deal Hamas agreed to does not include an immediate permanent end to hostilities, but involves three consecutive phases, with different ratios for exchanges of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails for hostages and a series of staged withdrawals of Israeli forces from zones of Gaza. Further negotiations could take many days or even weeks, analysts said.

Netanyahus grip on power might slip if he loses support of far-right coalition allies who oppose any concessions to Hamas, but there is also pressure to free the remaining hostages.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an umbrella group, said it had appealed to a number of countries to exert influence on the Israeli government and push for an agreement.

At this crucial moment, while a tangible opportunity for the release of the hostages is on the table, it is of the utmost importance that your government manifest its strong support for such an agreement, the group said in a message sent to the ambassadors of all countries with citizens among the hostages seized by Hamas during its surprise attack into Israel on 7 October.

This is the time to exert your influence on the Israeli government and all other parties concerned to ensure that the agreement comes through which will finally bring all our loved ones home.

Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for Hamass armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement on Tuesday that a 70-year-old Israeli hostage died after she succumbed to wounds from Israeli shelling. There was no independent confirmation of the claim.
Kevin Spacey denies sexually assaulting the claimant and causing him psychiatric damage - Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph

Kevin Spaceys lawyers have been forced to apologise after failing to file crucial defence documents in the case against him for sexual assault.

Carter Ruck, the high-profile media and celebrity law firm, was found to have quite frankly mucked up by a High Court judge, who said the solicitors then compounded their mistake by trying to go on the attack.

The debacle arose from the civil claim made against the Hollywood actor by a man who alleges he sexually assaulted him, causing him psychiatric damage. Spacey denies the claim.

The litigation was paused after Spacey, formerly artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London for 11 years, was charged and later acquitted at a criminal trial for a number of sexual offences alleged by four men between 2001 and 2013.

At a hearing on Tuesday, the High Court heard that the actors lawyers had been obliged to file a written defence within a set period of time after the end of the criminal proceedings, but had failed to do so.

A default judgment was subsequently entered against Spacey, meaning he could have been found formally liable for sexual misconduct because of the incompetence of his solicitors.

Error should not be visited upon defendant

However, Adam Speker KC, his barrister, apologised to the court and successfully applied to set aside the default ruling, describing the failure to file the paperwork as a genuine error by his solicitor.

Judge David Cook agreed to set aside the ruling, saying: In my view, that error should not be visited upon the defendant.

The interests of justice require that those allegations go forward to trial and the judgment in default should, therefore, be lifted.

Judge Cook directed particular criticism for an aggressive witness statement submitted by Nigel Tait, managing partner at Carter Ruck.

When a solicitor, in the vernacular, mucks up, I would expect a full acceptance of that fact, he said.

To go on the attack, in the way he has here, looking for holes, really is to be deprecated.

The judge described one of the arguments made by Mr Spaceys team as one of the most thoroughly bad points that has ever been put before me.

Carter Ruck has built a reputation as one of the go-to firms for celebrities and wealthy individuals, particularly in the sphere of defamation and media law.

It was named in evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in 2022 as an obstacle to free speech because of alleged attempts to put pressure on investigative journalists through aggressive legal action, a claim strongly denied by the firm.

Claimant seeking justice for serious allegations

Claire Glasgow, of Fieldfisher who is representing the claimant, said after the hearing: We are pleased that the judge recognised the seriousness of the claim and directed the court to proceed to trial.

Our client is seeking justice in the civil courts for serious allegations against Mr Spacey, regardless of the findings of the criminal trial.

The hearing comes after Mr Spacey denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour ahead of the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary.

The programme, titled Spacey Unmasked, began airing on Monday and is said to feature testimony from men regarding events they say took place between 1976 and 2013.

Ahead of the broadcast the 64-year-old actor, in an interview with Dan Wootton, a former GB News presenter, said: I take full responsibility for my past behaviour and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologise to anyone whos made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me.

Ive never told someone that if they give me sexual favours, then I will help them out with their career, never.

Mr Spacey added: Ive clearly hooked up with some men who thought they might get ahead in their careers by having a relationship with me.

But there was no conversation with me, it was all part of their plan, a plan that was always destined to fail because I wasnt in on the deal.

On Thursday, the actor claimed he had repeatedly requested that Channel 4 give him more than seven days to respond to the allegations made about him in the documentary and said the broadcaster refused.

The High Court trial is now expected to take place in the summer of 2025.

Tuesdays hearing also focused on the proposed costs of the litigation.

Judge Cook downgraded a number of Mr Spaceys legal teams projected costs, describing them as unreasonable.
Jeremy Hunt speaks with satisfaction and pride in the Commons - Kirsty O'Connor/HM Treasury

With satisfaction and pride, Jeremy Hunt told the Commons that there are 200,000 more people in work compared to a year ago. What he didnt mention is that half that number are Labour councillors.

The Tories have been sacked en masse: Andy Street is back on the tills at John Lewis, and Susan Hall was last spotted driving slowly around Sadiq Khans house shouting Im still watching you Sadiq!

And we still won Tees Valley, minister Gareth Davies reminded the House. Rachel Reeves laughed in her curious wooden way - like a Thunderbird puppet, her arms jiggling to express what her face cannot.

Labour is within reach of power and the only thing it has to fear is ... George Galloway.

Though popular with the rest of the country, they are losing the one demographic that even supported them under Corbyn  Muslims  to an anti-war socialist who believes gay relationships arent normal (which, nine out of ten housewives say, is exactly the appeal).

To compensate, week after week, Labour has asked a question about Gaza, allowing the shadow leadership to wring its hands and backbench MPs Ive never heard of from constituencies I cant believe exist (Leeds East Southwest) to decry a humanitarian crisis over which Britain has zero control.

One might as well pass a resolution to ask Madonna to tone it down.

What is the Government doing to stop this bloodshed and massacre in Gaza?! shouted Imran Hussein, to which Andrew Mitchell replied with diplomatic finesse: He sets out in eloquent terms the nature of the problem we are facing.

Defusing a bomb

Every Mitchell answer is the rhetorical equivalent of defusing a bomb. Is the invasion of Rafah a breach of humanitarian law, asked Chris Law: Yes or no? Alas, he replied, such questions are not susceptible to yes or no answers.

With Netanyahu possibly hours away from turning Rafa into rubble, the emotions in this debate ran authentically high: both sides quoting war crime stories that are highly disputed.

Suella Braverman said Israel has the right to finish the job, earning a chorus of boos. Dawn Butler asked how many people must die before said job is completed? Some Tories agreed with her, including Mark Logan whose region, Bolton, is about 20 per cent Asian.

Lets not be too cynical.

The real division in Parliament is not between Labour and Conservatives but between backbenchers who demand clarity in British policy and frontbenchers who sit on the fence, pretending to be statesmen when really they are just bystanders, sending off emails to Bibi that bounce right back.

David Lammys position is largely indistinguishable from Mr Mitchells. A ceasefire, now  if both sides can agree to kiss and make up.

Galloway rose to his feet. There is no proof of life in Gaza, he bellowed, only proof of death and mutilation.

Yes, something can be done: the Government could stop sending weapons and the Labour Party could actually ask you to, but didnt.

Labour MPs looked on in embarrassment, wondering how theyve managed to cede the moral high ground to a man who, on national television, pretended to be a cat lapping milk from Rula Lenskas hands.

All perfectly normal.
The impulse is to cut costs (including for labour) rather than long-term investment in people and planet. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

It is disheartening to read that not only is Labour planning to further dilute its employee rights package but that it is doing so to appease businesses (Labours new deal for workers will not fully ban zero-hours contracts, 1 May). Your article appeared online on May Day. You dont have to wrap yourself in the red flag and sing The Internationale to recognise that having a motivated, educated and supported workforce is good for business, the economy and society.

Both the party and those in business lobbying for the changes are ignoring the lessons of recent history and are taking a depressingly narrow view of labour market flexibility and efficiency. The introduction of the minimum wage 25 years ago has been hailed as one of the great postwar economic policy successes. But at the time, business groups warned, wrongly, of mass job losses.

Todays supposed business opposition to the plans reflects a zero-sum game and binary approach to business management, in which employment rights must hit the bottom line. Such thinking is a powerful factor in the UKs seemingly endless productivity crisis. The impulse is to cut costs (including for labour) rather than long-term investment in people and planet. Such investment creates lasting value delivered by well-trained, motivated employees.

We have to stop fetishising numerical labour market flexibility (head count and costs) above a functional flexibility approach (requiring investment in people, with careful management).

Chris Rowley

Professor emeritus, Bayes Business School, City, University of London

 While I appreciate that employers need to be prevented from exploiting workers, I am strongly opposed to an outright ban on zero-hours contracts. Im in my 50s and have a military pension that I top up with a part-time zero-hours job. If I was forced into a permanent fixed contract I would leave my job and not get another one. While I would be worse off financially, the flexibility afforded by my current arrangements are really important to me.

I may well be in a minority, but those shaping our future should remember that one size rarely fits all, and if they want to keep people like me economically active, then we should be free to choose how we are employed.

Perhaps a middle way would be for zero-hours contracts to be available to those of us over a certain age. This would prevent the young being exploited by unscrupulous employers, but maybe that would be seen as discriminatory.

Jason Lumley

Wokingham, Berkshire

 In my experience of working in HR for over 30 years, zero-hours contracts can be useful if drawn up correctly. They should offer employee not only the opportunity to refuse working the shift being offered by the employer, but also the ability to work elsewhere. Casual employment can offer flexibility to both parties. But I accept that some unscrupulous employers may have chosen to exploit their employees by only issuing such contracts.

Tony Leather

South Shields, Tyne and Wear

 Zero-hours contracts suit some people. Perhaps Labour should enforce a higher hourly rate for such flexible working  a zero-hours premium  that would encourage employers to assess their staffing requirements a bit more rigorously.

Michael Heaton

Warminster, Wiltshire

 Have an opinion on anything youve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Unpowered magnetic robots would levitate over a 3-layer film track to propel carts over moon's surface - ETHAN SCHALER/NASA

Nasa has increased funding for a magnet-powered lunar railway that could move materials around the moons surface as part of a scheme exploring various sci-fi-style innovations.

Float (Flexible Levitation on a Track) is a project run by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and has been advanced to phase two of Nasas Innovative Advanced Concepts programme (NIAC) studies.

Other concepts earmarked for development include a pulsed plasma rocket to reduce travel times between Earth and any destination in the solar system and a large optical observatory in space.

The lunar railway system, which could be operational within the next decade, would provide reliable, autonomous and efficient payload transport on the Moon. It could play a role in moving tons of regolith around the surface, which could be mined for various resources to be used by astronauts or at a lunar base.

Luna railway could redistribute 100 tons of material per day - ETHAN SCHALER/NASA

The Float plan would see unpowered magnetic robots levitating over a 3-layer flexible film track to propel carts at around 1mph.

Ethan Schaler, a Nasa robotics engineer, is leading the project and estimates it could move 100 tons a day.

Float will operate autonomously in the dusty, inhospitable lunar environment with minimal site preparation and its network of tracks can be rolled up/reconfigured over time to match evolving lunar base mission requirements, said Mr Schaler.

Float robots will have no moving parts and levitate over the track to minimise lunar dust abrasion, unlike lunar robots with wheels, legs, or tracks.

This rail system could support daily operations of a sustainable lunar base as soon as the 2030s, according to Nasas Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

John Nelson, NIAC programme executive at Nasa headquarters in Washington, said: These diverse, science fiction-like concepts represent a fantastic class of phase two of studies.

Our NIAC fellows never cease to amaze and inspire and this class definitely gives Nasa a lot to think about in terms of whats possible in the future.
Yarra Valley grammar principal, Mark Merry, said the students were expelled after staff discovered a screenshot of the spreadsheet in which classmates were ranked. Photograph: Google maps

Two boys at a Melbourne private school have been expelled over a spreadsheet in which female classmates were ranked, its principal has told parents.

Four students from Yarra Valley grammar in Ringwood, in Melbournes east, were suspended last week after it came to light they had made the list. It included photos of female students ranking them as wifeys, cuties, mid, object, get out and unrapable.

The principal, Mark Merry, wrote to parents on Tuesday morning and said that while the investigation was still ongoing, he formed the opinion that the enrolment of two boys in the school had become untenable.

Others, who have played a lesser role in this matter have been subject to further disciplinary action, he said.

The investigation of this issue has been complex and time-consuming and cant be rushed and I thank our students and families for your patience and confidence as we ensured that all the circumstances were known.

The past week has obviously been a difficult one for our community  I am saddened that the actions of a few individuals can cause so much harm as social media has the power to amplify the damage that can be done and the anguish inflicted.

Merry said the school was characterised by respectful relationships most of the time, but that more work needs to be done.

Related: Students suspended at Yarra Valley grammar school over disgraceful spreadsheet rating female classmates

Whilst we conduct regular sessions on respectful relationships and model care and respect in all that we do; this has not been enough, he said.

We will be reviewing all of our programmes to ensure that the dignity of all is respected. This needs to be a learning moment for all of us.

Merry previously said he had reported the list to the police, and on Tuesday a Victorian police spokesperson said investigators would assess the information to determine if it was a matter for police.

Last week, a screenshot of the list was shared online, with the school becoming aware of the post on Wednesday. The prestigious school costs about $30,000 a year per student to attend.

It created widespread condemnation, with the premier, Jacinta Allan, saying she was utterly devastated by the disgraceful list.

To think that youre sitting in a classroom with classmates who not just hold these views, but write them down and share them, Allan told reporters.

This is no joke. Respect for women has to be at the forefront of every classroom, of every household, of every part of our community, because  too many women [are] subjected to violence, too many women [are] losing their lives.

Speaking on Nines Today show, the federal education minister, Jason Clare, called the incident disgusting and appalling.

On Monday an assembly was expected to be held with the entire year level, including parents of the female students named in the document.
K Annamalai, one of the BJPs most talked-about candidates, is campaigning in Tamil Nadu, where Modi hopes to make major gains Photograph: Jagadeesh Nv/EPA

Under Tamil Nadus scorching midday sun, K Annamalai waved at the crowd gathered around his campaign bus. Some people stretched their babies upwards to be touched by him, others threw flower petals and passed gifts through the window. A sea of mobile phones vied for space as people tried to squeeze the candidate into their selfies.

Here in Coimbatore, an industrial city in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has been working overtime. Over months, thousands of volunteers and party workers have taken to the streets  backed hundreds of locally-targeted WhatsApp groups and a highly-organised social media campaign across YouTube, Facebook and Instagram  whipping up a frenzy around Annamalai, one of the BJPs most talked-about candidates.

In the build up to Indias mammoth six-week election, which began in April and will continue till 4 June, the BJP has been focusing its efficient campaign machinery, backed by vast financial resources, on winning south Indian constituencies like Coimbatore.

Making a breakthrough into Indias southern states, among the richest and most well-educated in the country, is crucial to Modis ambitions to gain an even larger parliamentary majority in this election and extend the reach of the BJP to every corner of the country. However, it will be no easy feat for his party.

Unlike across north India, where the BJPs dominance is now largely assured, southern states such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala have continued to push back against Modi and the Hindu nationalist narrative of his party. The BJP has never won a seat in Kerala, and it won no seats in Tamil Nadu in the last election, in 2019.

Related: Messianic spell: how Narendra Modi created a cult of personality

The states chief ministers have also emerged as some of Modis fiercest critics and accused the BJP of depriving them of tax income and investment to punish and undermine their governments.

Many fear that the gulf between Indias north and south could worsen after 2026, when Indias electoral map is due to be redrawn according to population growth. Indias poorer, more populous north  the stronghold of the BJP  is likely to gain parliamentary seats while southern states, which successfully brought down their populations years ago though progressive welfare and education policies, are likely to lose significant parliamentary representation.

Tamil Nadus chief minister M K Stalin recently described it as a sword of Damocles hanging over the state and has vowed to fight any seat losses.

The south has always been a tough nut for the BJP to crack because they are primarily viewed as a north Indian, Hindi-speaking party that does not represent regional southern interests, particularly around language and culture, said Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

But this time round, predicted Vaishnav, the BJP could make significant inroads in these states, perhaps even winning a fair number of seats in Tamil Nadu. He added: That would be a huge breakthrough for the BJP and could re-shape Indias electoral map in ways nobody thought possible five years ago.

Annamalai has created so much excitement

Resistance to the right-wing, Hindu-first politics of the BJP has historically run deep in the southern tip of India. In Tamil Nadu, Indias third richest state, the dominant political ideology for over half a century has been Dravidian nationalism, a left-wing, social equality movement. It began in opposition to upper caste hierarchy and the imposition of north Indian languages such as Hindi and is rooted in protecting the Tamil linguistic and cultural identity. Only Dravidian parties have governed the state since the 1960s.

In Kerala, the first place in the world to democratically elect a communist government in the 1957, leftist politics has also continued to dominate for decades. The state prides itself for having the highest literacy rate in south Asia, and social cohesion between Hindus and the sizeable Muslim and Christian minorities who have lived there for centuries.

In both states, secularism is widely lauded and many voters spoke of their discomfort with the BJPs heavy-handed use of religion in politics, its Hindu-first agenda and alleged persecution of minorities.

Out on the campaign trail in Tamil Nadu, Annamalai  a former senior police officer who became BJP state president three years ago  steered clear of the overt religious themes and communal, anti-Muslim rhetoric that has become increasingly prevalent at north Indian BJP rallies, even by Modi himself.

He declared the BJP as the natural party for protecting Tamil and national interests, rather than corrupt, dynastic Dravidian parties such as Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which now rule the Tamil Nadu state government.

Related: Six weeks, 969 million voters, 2,600 parties: Indias mammoth election explained

It is not Dravidian politics that dominates in Tamil Nadu, it is personality politics, said Annamalai, whose campaign team has worked to build an almost cult-like status around him. It is the larger than life characters who grab peoples attention here.

Accusations that the BJP intended to impose a north Indian identity on to the state were ridiculous he said, pointing out he didnt even speak Hindi himself. When I converse with our honourable prime minister, I speak in English and he speaks English back to me, said Annamalai, who makes his close relationship with Modi well known. Under what logic can they say were imposing Hindi?

The buzz around Annamalai has certainly made the BJP more visible in Coimbatore than in the past decade. At a party rally, regional organiser S L Muthukumar said he had recently switched over from DMK. The BJP never had much presence here before but look at how the crowds have turned out, Annamalai has created so much excitement, he said.

First-time voters such as Bhubarashan 23, said he had been drawn in by the messages of change on the Annamalai campaigns YouTube channel. Annamalai is young, he is energetic, he has good ideas, said Bhubarashan. Modi brought development to north Indian states like Gujarat and now they are world leaders. We need that in Tamil Nadu.

Others were more sceptical that the crowds who flocked to see Annamalai would translate into the 25% vote share and seven parliamentary seats he has optimistically projected. Loyalty to Dravidian parties like DMK, and their long-running welfare and education schemes which are credited with lifting millions out of poverty, is deeply entrenched. Meanwhile, many accused Modi of neglecting the state and ruining their businesses with the imposition of a nationwide goods and services tax that is highly unpopular across Tamil Nadu.

N Rajan, 62, said he was a lifelong supporter of DMK and was highly critical of Modi, who he blamed for the rising costs of food and essentials. Modi thinks he can suddenly start visiting Tamil Nadu for our votes, when all his government has done in ten years is neglect us and then take our hard-earned money, he said.

We dont mix god with politics

Over the border in Kerala, where Muslims make up 26% of the population and Christians 18%, the BJP looks likely to have an even tougher fight. The BJP campaign has been hampered by Modis record in the state of Manipur, where the Christian minority are facing ongoing ethnic violence while the prime minister is accused of turning a blind eye. While the BJPs vote share is expected to increase in the state, few believed it will translate into any parliamentary seats.

One constituency where the party has high hopes is Thrissur, an affluent, culture-rich city on Keralas coast. Their candidate Suresh Gopi, a former star of south Indian cinema, steered clear of any Hindu nationalist narratives and spoke of spreading love and ending hatred, stressing that he does not see religion when it comes to voters. One of his main messages on the campaign trail has been to vote for the man, not the party.

One of those he won over was 19-year-old nursing student Dathan. We want a change, we want development and Modi is the strongest leader in India he said. Look, we all know in the end there is no other option other than Modi.

Yet Dathan, a Hindu, also spoke uncomfortably of the BJPs record on minorities, placing his arm around fellow Muslim and Christian students as he spoke. These are my brothers, no politics can divide us, he said.

Frustration was rife against the Congress and Communist party-led coalitions that have alternately governed Kerala for decades but most appeared willing to put it aside in the face of perceived threats to secularism and democratic norms under the BJP. In Kerala, we worship god but we dont mix it with politics and we reject those that do, said K. Muraleedharan, the local candidate for the Congress-led coalition.

Sheela George, 54, a teacher, accused the BJP of only focusing on temple building, not education or development. She added: They know if people get the high levels of education we have in Kerala, the BJP would not win any more elections.

KA Shaji contributed reporting
Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin cut an almost forlorn figure, standing alone at the foot of the Kremlin steps in the pouring rain to watch a march past marking his inauguration as Russian president for a fifth term. His seeming isolation, however, belied his grip over Russia, now stronger than ever despite the disaster of the Ukraine invasion.

His control has been likened to that of a tsar, but he increasingly resembles Stalin in the way he has removed all opposition and rivals. It is more than 24 years since he first assumed the presidency, aged just 47, with promises to promote democracy. He foresaw Russia as free, prosperous, strong and civilised, a country that its citizens are proud of and is respected internationally.

Today, it is none of those. Any pretence to freedom has long since gone, the economy has tanked, the Russian armys murderous assaults on civilians in Ukraine removes all claims to civilised behaviour, and it is isolated from its closest European neighbours.

There was a time when we hoped to see an end to Russias distrust of countries to its west, a paranoia not entirely unjustified given the history of invasion over the centuries. Putin even joined the comity of industrialised nations, turning the G7 into the G8.

The illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 put paid to that experiment and served to reinforce the national delusion that everyone was out to get Russia, a myth cultivated by Putin to underpin his power. He subsequently altered the Russian constitution to run for the presidency for two further six-year terms and he can potentially remain in office until 2036, by which time he will be 83. His election victory in March with almost 90 per cent of the vote was widely considered fraudulent.

President Putin used his inaugural address, largely boycotted by Western countries, to insist that Russias forces will be victorious in Ukraine, whatever the cost. Two years ago, when his armies were pushed back from their assault on Kyiv, there was talk of a coup against him, but he appears to have consolidated his power even as the war has turned into a bloodbath.

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of his principal opponent Alexei Navalny, who died mysteriously in prison before the election, said Russia was doomed to remain in a state of conflict so long as Putin stayed in power. Sadly, that looks likely to be a lot longer than many once imagined.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, is under federal indictment for allegedly accepting bribes from a Mexican bank and the government of Azerbaijan. Colin Strother, the congressman's one-time campaign manager, chief of staff and longtime adviser, is depicted in the indictment as a middleman in the bribery scheme. Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press

A longtime aide and adviser to U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar is eager to help federal prosecutors make their case that Cuellar and his wife accepted bribes from foreign interests, the aides lawyer said.

A federal indictment unsealed on Friday accuses Cuellar, 68, and his wife, Imelda, 67, of collecting nearly $600,000 in payoffs from a Mexico City bank and an oil company controlled by the government of Azerbaijan from 2014 to 2021. In return, Cuellar allegedly used his position in Congress to advance their interests.

Colin Strother, seen in background above in a photo from 2004, has been an aide and campaign strategist for U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar for 20 years. Cuellar is charged in a federal indictment with accepting bribes from a Mexican bank and the government of Azerbaijan. Strother served as a middleman in the bribery scheme, according to prosecutors. BOB OWEN/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, center, with Mexican federal, state and city leaders at Texas A&M International University. A newly unsealed federal indictment charges Cuellar and his wife with accepting $600,000 in bribes from a Mexican bank and the government of Azerbaijan. David Gomez Jr./Laredo Morning Times FBI agents conduct a search at the Laredo home of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar on Jan. 19, 2022. A newly unsealed federal indictment charges Cuellar and his wife with accepting $600,000 in bribes from a Mexican bank and the government of Azerbaijan. Danny Zaragoza

The indictment depicts Colin Strother, who has served as Cuellars campaign manager and chief of staff, as a middleman in the bribery scheme. Strother allegedly helped launder $242,000 in illegal payments.

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His lawyer said Tuesday that Strother, who was not charged in the indictment, is ready to cooperate with the Justice Department.

Colin is a good and decent man and has always cooperated with the government, criminal defense attorney Michael McCrum told the San Antonio Express-News. He wants nothing more than for truth and justice to see the light of day.

If I were Henry or Imelda Cuellar, Id be concerned, McCrum added.

Strother declined to comment, referring questions to his lawyer.

The 50-year-old consultant has been a fixture in South Texas politics for years. In San Antonio, hes managed numerous city council campaigns, advised the firefighters' union in its push for better contract terms and served as a spokesman for area business interests.

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A constant in Strothers career has been his close association with Cuellar. For more than 20 years, he was the Laredo Democrats chief strategist and political eyes and ears. Cuellar was first elected to represent the 28th Congressional District in 2004.

A partial review of campaign finance records shows that Cuellars political action committee, Texans for Henry Cuellar, paid Strother $111,798 for consulting services between 2015 and 2021.

In the 54-page federal indictment, Strother is identified only as Individual-4  Cuellers campaign manager and former chief of staff residing in Buda, Texas.

The alleged scheme

Cuellar allegedly tapped a longtime associate, identified in the indictment as Individual-3, to help disguise bribes from a Mexico City bank that wanted the congressmans help in pressuring the U.S. government to revise money-laundering rules and fend off federal regulation of payday lenders.

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The associate, a San Antonio businessman, met with Cuellar over breakfast in Laredo on Nov. 15, 2015, to discuss the details of a sham contract under which thousands of dollars would flow every month to a shell company headed by Imelda Cuellar, the indictment says.

Individual-3 told Henry Cuellar that it was not a good idea to pay Imelda Cuellar directly, the indictment states. Henry Cuellar suggested that Individual-3 pay Henry Cuellars campaign manager, Individual-4, and Individual-4 would, in turn, pay Imelda Cuellar.

For their trouble, Individuals-3 and 4 each would receive $1,000 a month, according to the indictment.

The San Antonio businessman traveled to Mexico City to sign a contract with the unnamed bank on Dec. 17, 2015, the Justice Department contends. The agreed-upon contract would pay $15,000 per month for two years for the strategic consulting and advising services of Imelda Cuellar, effective Jan. 1, 2016.

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Cuellar asked Individual-4 (Strother) to get together with the San Antonio businessman, the indictment says. The meeting took place on Feb. 25, 2016, in an unnamed San Antonio restaurant.

To conceal the true nature of the scheme, Individual-3 told Individual-4 that he was working on a project to test, certify, and sell a fuel lubricant produced by a Mexican company, the indictment says. Individual-4 would receive payments of $11,000 per month, passing on $10,000 of it to Imelda Cuellar and keeping $1,000.

Cuellars wife, a retired tax enforcement officer at the Texas comptrollers office, performed little or no legitimate work in exchange for the payments, the indictment says.

Individual-4 received the $11,000 monthly payments starting March 24, 2016, and ending Dec. 27, 2017, prosecutors say.

Azerbaijani connection

The alleged flow of bribes from the Mexican bank was one of two such arrangements described in the indictment. The other involved the national oil and gas company of Azerbaijan, a country in the Caucasus region.

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The oil company paid bribes to the Cuellars through intermediaries, shell companies and sham contracts that called for Imelda to be paid for professional services, despite doing little to no legitimate work, prosecutors allege.

As part of the scheme, the oil company agreed in 2017 to hire Imelda as a consultant to an Azerbaijan-affiliated firm based in Katy. She would be paid to help the affiliate find suitable partners in the Houston area that are willing and able to supply oil and gas equipment, according to the indictment.

The congressman arranged for his wife to meet with Azerbaijani oil officials over lunch at a San Antonio steakhouse on Oct. 6, 2017, to discuss the consulting deal, the indictment states.

Soon afterward, the Cuellars allegedly formed a new shell company  to receive the bribe payments. The consulting contract paid $20,000 a month for 12 months and was a sham used to disguise and legitimate Henry Cuellars corrupt agreement to take official acts in violation of his official duties to benefit the government of Azerbaijan and to act as an agent of the government of Azerbaijan, according to the indictment.
Queen Camilla reads a story to pupils in the new library of Moreland Primary School - Justin Tallis/PA

The Queen surprised pupils as she visited their school to officially open a new Coronation Library.

Queen Camilla told excited children at Moreland Primary School in Islington, north London: Youre really lucky to have such a beautiful library and I hope youre going to enjoy reading all the books because the more books you read, the more youre going to learn.

The more youre going to learn, the more youre going to get on in life.

She added: Its so important to keep reading, and I think having a library like this makes a huge difference to all of you here. Good luck and keep reading.

The librarys opening is part of the Coronation Libraries Project, which honours the Queens contributions to literacy initiatives and her encouragement for children to embrace reading.

The project has revitalised library spaces in 50 primary schools across the UK in communities facing low literacy rates, significant economic challenges and a lack of access to books both at home and in school, especially for children.

An expectant pupil waits for the Queen who is just around the corner at Moreland Primary School - Reuters/Justin Tallis

Schoolchildren cannot hide their excitement as they wait for the Queen - Reuters/Justin Tallis

The library at Moreland is stocked with 300 brand new books, including the Chase Coronation Collection, featuring the top 23 childrens books as selected by UK primary school children in honour of the 2023 Coronation where Camilla was crowned alongside her husband, the King.

During Tuesdays visit, the Queen joined children in the schools assembly hall as they listened to stories told by British-Sierra Leonean rapper and storyteller Alim Kamara, the founder of the storytelling company Storie Storie.

Mr Kamara said the Queen praised him as an excellent storyteller and commended his ability to keep all the children gripped in their seats.

He said: I had the lovely opportunity of talking to Her Majesty about how she reads to her grandchildren and about the importance of poems and books. It was really lovely to share that passion with her.

Queen Camilla and pupils listen to Waterstones Children's Laureate and poet Joseph Coelho reading a poem in the new library - JUSTIN TALLIS/Pool via REUTERS

The Queen also joined a roundtable discussion chaired by Tom Mackenzie, a Bloomberg News anchor. Bloomberg supported 25 of the 50 libraries as part of the Coronation Libraries Project.

The entire school gathered in the playground as the Queen enjoyed a performance by the school choir, while pupils waved flags decorated with drawings of their favourite book characters.

The children told Camilla she was beautiful, capable, and awesome, while one said she was excited and vowed never to wash her hands again after shaking hands with the Queen.

The Queen complimented a pupil, remarking that someone has been practising their curtsies and said that it was a pleasure to visit the school.

The Queen greets pupils in the courtyard - Getty Images/Justin Tallis

Moreland Primary Schools library marks the significant milestone of being the 1,000th transformed through the Libraries for Primaries campaign.

Launched in 2021 by the National Literacy Trust and Penguin Books, the campaign unites charities, publishers and businesses to tackle the lack of investment in primary school libraries,

Catherine Lawrence, head teacher at Moreland Primary School, said: We were honoured to receive Her Majesty Queen Camilla today to open our fantastic new library space and hear first-hand from pupils about their passion for reading.

This new chapter for our library is a momentous occasion for our school and community.

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and the library will cement our aim to not only empower every child with the tools they need to succeed, but also foster a love of reading that lasts a lifetime.

Access to books at home is limited for many of our children. This new library gives families the opportunity to share the joy of books together, regardless of their background or circumstance.
People are living longer on average, so how does this affect their retirement plans? (Johner Images via Getty Images)

We are living longer lives, but not necessarily healthier ones and this creates hidden horrors for our retirement planning. According to recent government data, healthy life expectancy is less than 63 years old for both men and women  a full three years less than the current state pension age of 66. This raises the very real prospect of people being too ill to work but too young to get their state pension.

The state pension forms the very foundation of peoples retirement income. It currently stands at 11,502 per year for someone in receipt of the full amount. This would give a gap of almost 35,000 for someone needing to fill the three-year gap today  more if you add in the annual increases from the triple lock. This is an enormous chunk of money that many will struggle to find.

Read more: What is the true cost of the UK state pension?

It demonstrates the huge importance of saving what you can into your pension, so you are able to deal with any challenges you face in later life. You can draw an income from your self-invested personal pension (SIPP), personal or workplace pension from the age of 55 (going up to 57 in 2028) so this could really help bridge the gap during those years. However, with state pension age on the rise it needs careful planning to make sure you dont run out of money.

This is no doubt a frightening prospect but its well worth saying that auto-enrolment means more people will be saving into their workplace pensions for longer. These larger pensions over time will lead to better retirement incomes that should make up some of the gap.

Auto-enrolment rules mean more people will be saving into their workplace pensions for longer. (Catherine Falls Commercial via Getty Images)

Lets also not forget the role employer contributions as well as government tax relief can play in taking the sting out of these figures. There are employers who contribute more than auto-enrolment minimums and may also boost their contributions if you increase yours  the so-called employer match. Its well worth checking to see if your employer does this as it can lead to significant uplift to your contributions without necessarily much extra coming from you.

Taking the opportunity to increase your pension contributions whenever you can  for instance when you get a pay rise or new job, can be a great way of boosting your pension relatively painlessly.

Read more: How to avoid tax creep in retirement

You can also save into other vehicles to bridge the gap and make sure early ill health does not derail your retirement plans. You might not get employer contributions to an ISA as you would a pension, but you can still build up a decent amount over the long-term and any income can be taken tax free.

A lifetime ISA will also attract a government bonus of 25% on contributions up to 4,000 per year which can significantly boost your savings. However, you also need to be aware that if you have to access your lifetime ISA for reasons other than purchasing a first home or before age 60 then you will be subject to a 25% penalty.

Watch: Rishi Sunak insists no cuts to state pension to fund national insurance ambition
Education minister Jason Clare has told Guardian Australia the next national agreement on school reform will aim to improve outcomes for children with a disability. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The education minister, Jason Clare, has said the next national agreement on school reform will be tied to improved outcomes for students with disabilities, amid a split with the states over increased funding levels.

I want students with disability to have the same educational opportunities as students without disability, he told Guardian Australia.

As the commonwealth and most states remain locked in negotiations over who will pay to fully fund schools to 100% of the schooling resourcing standard (SRS), Clare is doubling down on the need for states to do more to improve outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including those with a disability.

Related: How the rise of autism and ADHD fractured Australias schools

A Guardian Australia investigation, The Classroom Divide, has exposed deep inequities in the way students with a disability are funded in Australian schools, with families, teachers and advocates concerned at the way students with disabilities are being included in mainstream schools.

Clare said the current negotiations would prioritise the issue.

Im working with my state and territory colleagues to get all public schools to their full and fair funding level and to tie that funding to the reforms that will help children catch up, keep up and finish school, including those with a disability, he said.



The minister has repeatedly said the states should not expect a blank cheque after a damning report from the Productivity Commission released in December found that academic outcomes had fallen despite increased funding levels.

The federal government wants funding tied to new reporting obligations on the states, including around funding for students with a disability, but is facing pushback.

Negotiations are also touching on how the $3.6bn student with disability loading payment is being managed by the states, with the federal government refusing to release a review into the payment, saying it would impact negotiations for the next National School Reform Agreement.

Funding deals have been struck this year with the Northern Territory and Western Australia but the government is still in negotiations with other states over who will pay for the 5% increase needed to lift school funding levels.



The commonwealth is proposing lifting the federal share of public funding from 20% to 22.5% in a deal worth an extra $6bn over five years, while the states want the federal government to lift its share to 25%.



The Greens education spokesperson, Penny Allman-Payne, said that she wanted to see more urgency from the federal government on reaching 100% of the school resourcing standard more quickly and for other system-wide reforms.

The idea that we are still shuffling towards full funding after a decade is abysmal, Allman-Payne said.

Related: Here are six ways to make education more inclusive | Catherine Smith

From a political perspective, for the current government, this is absolutely about choices. We can choose to give people like me a massive tax cut, or we can actually invest in the things that really matter.



My message to them is they need to stop giving money to elite private schools that are overfunded and they need to immediately increase the funding to public schools to 100% of the SRS at the start of the next agreement.

She said that while the complexity of students had increased, the resourcing to meet that need had not adjusted adequately.



Theres not one thing that you can talk about that we need to do that doesnt require a significant investment, she said.



You cant give teachers more time to collaboratively plan or work with parents and families and carers if you dont put more money into the system, and you cant have the additional resources that are desperately needed if you dont put more money into the system.
Suella Braverman, left, and Penny Mordaunt, right, are jockeying to succeed Rishi Sunak amid a battle for the soul of the Conservative Party

More than a decade ago, it was pressure from the Right of the Conservative Party that prompted David Cameron to commit to holding a referendum on Britains membership of the European Union.

Four prime ministers later, Rishi Sunak finds himself with a different headache, albeit in a post-Brexit world.

While the burden on his predecessor was intensified by the electoral insurgency of Nigel Farages Ukip, the current Prime Minister is attempting to stave off a threat from another Right-wing newcomer, Reform UK, of which Mr Farage is honorary president.

Reform, led by Richard Tice, is vying to snatch the Tory vote in traditional Labour heartlands with a high proportion of Leave supporters who lent their backing to Boris Johnson in 2019 to Get Brexit Done. The result could be a devastating collapse for the Conservatives in the Red Wall.

Polling analysis published by The Telegraph in January caused jitters among Conservative MPs owing to a suggestion that voters support for Reform would be the decisive factor in 96 Tory losses.

Election poll

In the short-term, Mr Sunak might be expected to steer his party to the Right in an attempt to allay the fears of MPs on the Tory Right and maintain his grip on voters concerned about issues such as immigration and the culture wars.

But come election time, a wipeout of Tory MPs in Brexit-backing areas could arguably trigger an equal and opposite reaction. Are we about to see a renaissance for the centre ground?

For now, the pressure from the Right remains. Buoyed by a strong showing in the polls, Mr Tice has already succeeded in recruiting Lee Anderson, the Red Wall Rottweiler who was being lined up by No 10 as a secret weapon for the election.

Hopes of Mr Anderson convincing 2019 Conservative voters to stick with Mr Sunak were shattered when he dramatically quit as deputy Tory chairman in January before quitting the Conservatives altogether in March and pledging his support for Reform. It means that instead of persuading Red Wall voters to back the Tories, he will be encouraging them to take their business elsewhere: the polar opposite of what Mr Sunak had planned.



The saga was eerily reminiscent of 2014, when Douglas Carswell, a leading Eurosceptic Tory MP, defected to Ukip. He was followed by Mark Reckless, another prominent EU critic, on the eve of the Conservatives annual conference.

Ten years on, and the parallels are clear. Just as a Tory spokesman warned, when Mr Reckless switched sides, that a vote for Ukip is a vote for Ed Miliband, the embattled Prime Minister is telling anyone who will listen that backing Reform is a gift to Sir Keir Starmer.

Indeed, Mr Farage said Mr Andersons move was bigger news than Mr Carswell and Mr Reckless bombshell defections. This is seismic, its enormous, he said.

The threat to the Conservatives fate is all too obvious to Tory MPs, especially the 2019-ers who sailed to victory on Mr Johnsons coattails.

As such, the Prime Minister is being urged by the Tory Right to make some drastic changes. In a stark warning to their leader following Mr Andersons defection, the New Conservatives, a group of Tory MPs elected in the wake of the Brexit vote, said his plan was failing and told him to change course urgently.

They called for a bold new offer consistent with the spirit of 2019, citing lower immigration as a priority for their constituents.

The demands offer a glimpse into a looming battle for the soul of the Conservative Party.

On the other side of the argument, centrist Tories argue vehemently that Mr Sunak is already catering generously to the Right, despite misgivings among many Right-wingers over his decision to sack Suella Braverman from the Cabinet and bring Lord Cameron back into the fold last year.

In September, the Prime Minister watered down Britains net zero pledges, delaying the ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035 and weakening the planned phase-out of gas boilers.

And in December, he unveiled a major package of measures to slash record levels of net migration, including a big increase in the salary threshold for foreign workers.

Philip Davies, the Tory MP for Shipley who is married to Esther McVey, the Minister for Common Sense, argued that Mr Sunak is pursuing a much more Red Wall policy than Boris ever did. The issue, he believes, is not with what the Prime Minister is doing for the Right, but how he is communicating it.

Despite the rhetoric, Boris has always been very liberal on immigration, he said.

Rishi is anything but liberal on immigration. Thats why hes changed the rules so students cant bring dependants with them, hes increased the amount youve got to work before you come into the country or sponsor someone to come into the country hes pursuing a much more robust policy on immigration than Boris did.

He added: The issue for Rishi is not what hes doing - I think hes doing all the right things The perception is the problem.

But others think he can do far more. One Right-wing MP said they believe theres a problem with inertia in No 10 and questioned why Mr Sunak took so long to take his Rwanda Bill through Parliament.

They added: If he wants to win support on the Right of the party, he needs to get one of those flights to take off.

Asked if they thought Mr Sunak would benefit from being more decisive, the MP quipped: Good luck with that.

A shift to the Right to placate restless MPs with one eye on Reform would suggest that Mrs Braverman, or, in the eyes of some, Kemi Badenoch, would be well positioned to take the reins if Mr Sunak falls on his sword after, or even before, the next election.

But if there is a collapse in the Red Wall  as expected  many of those in Brexit-backing, former Labour strongholds who are currently seen as a flight risk, or are piling the pressure on Mr Sunak to go further, will lose their seats.

So in the event of a Tory defeat, with their influence heavily diluted, could we in fact see a move towards the centre - a reset, of sorts?

In this scenario, Penny Mordaunt, a grassroots favourite, would be an obvious choice for leader. She even appears to be popular among Right-wing MPs, who were said to be plotting to install her as Mr Sunaks replacement. Tom Tugendhat, the security minister who has run for the top job in the past, might also fancy his chances again.

From Lord Cameron, to Theresa May, to Mr Johnson, to Liz Truss, to Mr Sunak, with seven different chancellors, 14 party chairmen and two snap elections, the Tories have turned over enough new pages since 2010 to fill a book.

It may be that a heavy loss in the Red Wall emboldens the likes of Mrs Braverman and Mrs Badenoch to swing the pendulum further to the Right, with tougher rules on immigration, further concessions on Net Zero and an all-out crackdown on political correctness.

But once the dust has settled after the election it may transpire that they simply do not have the numbers needed for a Right-wing candidate to win the vote by MPs on the next leader.

For many Conservative MPs on both sides of the ideological divide, the stakes could not be higher.
7 May 2024 at 10:51 am

Saudi Aramco is set to deliver $31bn in dividends. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Saudi Aramco (2222.SR)

Oil major Saudi Aramco said first-quarter profits fell as the Gulf kingdom kept production cuts in place but it will pay $31bn (24.7bn) in dividends.

The Saudi state-owned company reported a 14.5% drop in first-quarter net income to 102.27bn riyals (27.7bn), down from 119.54 billion riyals for the same period in 2023.

Aramco said the decrease was primarily a result of lower crude oil volume sold.

The worlds biggest crude exporter is currently producing roughly 9 million barrels per day (bpd), well below its capacity of 12 million bpd. Saudi Arabia and other Opec+ members have agreed to slash production voluntarily on top of a 2 million bpd output reduction agreed by the organisation in order to boost prices.

Read more: BP profits slump to $2.7bn amid falling oil prices

The company declared base dividend payouts for the first quarter totalling $20.3bn and a performance-linked dividend distribution of $10.8bn to be paid in the second quarter.

The Saudi government, which directly holds about 82.2% of Aramco, relies heavily on the companys payouts, which also include royalties and taxes.

Nvidia (NVDA)

Nvidia was trending in pre-market trading as fellow mega-cap tech firms have been mentioning on earnings calls that they are boosting investment in AI infrastructure.

Nvidia's H100 GPU, which costs upwards of $40,000, enables the AI technologies that make ChatGPT, Anthropic, and other generative AI platforms possible.

Elon Musk said during Teslas (TSLA) earnings call that the electric vehicle manufacturer will more than double its H100 GPU chips by the end of the year.

Collaboration with Mercedes-Benz (MBG.SG) is expected to consolidate Nvidia's presence in the autonomous vehicles and other automotive electronics space.

The company  which is yet to report  is set to release of its next-generation AI chip later this year.

Palantir (PLTR)

Palantir shares fell as much as 9% in extended trading after the defence-technology firm reported weaker-than-expected guidance.

The company, which builds big-data and artificial intelligence software for governments and corporations, reported first quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.08, which was in line with expectations. Revenue of $634m was slightly better than the estimate of $615.8m.

Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: European stocks tick up as earnings season rolls on

Adjusted operating income was $226m, well ahead of Palantirs forecast of $196m to $200m.

Looking ahead, Palantir expects current quarter revenue to fall between $649m to $653m, versus the $653m expected by LSEG. The company guided to full-year revenue between $2.68bn and $2.69bn, weaker than an LSEG consensus estimate of $2.71bn.

The stock is up 47% so far this year.

Disney (DIS)

Disney is set to report its fiscal second-quarter earnings before the US bell this Tuesday, its first earnings report since the media giant successfully fended off a high-profile proxy fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz.

Wall Street experts predict it will report a profit of around 3.6bn for the six months to March, thanks in part to a cost-cutting programme. This would be the best performance in six years.

Earnings per share are expected to come in at $1.10 and revenue should come in at $22.10bn versus $21.82bn in Q2 2023, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The subscriber growth at its flagship streaming service Disney+ will once again be a top focus.

Disney+ subscribers are expected to come in at 4.71 million versus a loss of 4 million subscribers in Q2 2023.

Disney's stock has been on a tear since the start of the year, up about 30% compared to the S&P 500's (^GSPC) 10% rise over that same time period.

Watch: What investors can learn from Warren Buffett's latest remarks

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The UN Secretary-General called on Israel to immediately reopen crossings into Gaza after it seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing just hours before.

Antonio Guterres urged Israel to stop any escalation and called the renewed military activity in Rafah disturbing and distressing.

The UN and aid organisations said that all land crossings into Gaza have been closed since Israel seized the crossing. The UN says just one days worth of fuel remains inside Gaza to power humanitarian assistance.

The closure of both the Rafah and Karem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be re-opened immediately, Mr Guterres said.

I urge the Government of Israel to stop any escalation, and engage constructively in the ongoing diplomatic talks.

Shortly before Mr Guterres comments, a senior Israeli official briefed foreign media that todays operation was just the beginning of the IDFs mission to eliminate Hamas remaining battalions in Rafah.

03:08 PM BST

Todays live blog is now closed

Thats all from our live blog today. Thanks for following along. As we close Israel is sending a mid-level delegation to assess whether Hamas can be persuaded to shift on its latest ceasefire offer. The current proposal accepted by Hamas, Israel has said, is unacceptable. Here is a summary of the day and where everything currently stands:

Israeli tanks seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border this morning and closed the crossing to aid deliveries into the besieged territory. Israel launched the operation to seize the Rafah crossing with ceasefire negotiations on a knife-edge after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari deal last night.

This delegation is made up of mid-level envoys. Were there a credible deal in the offing, the principals would be heading the delegation, a senior Israeli official says of the negotiating team dispatched to Cairo today, dampening hopes of an imminent hostage deal.

Hamass armed wing said it fired rockets at Israeli troops this morning at the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, which was already closed after previous rocket fire over the weekend.

Israeli authorities have denied the UN access to the Rafah crossing, a spokesperson for the UNs humanitarian agency OCHA, has confirmed. Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson, said there was only a one-day buffer of fuel to run humanitarian operations inside Gaza.

The Israeli military capturing the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing this morning was a serious escalation, Hamas has said in a statement. This crime, which comes immediately after Hamas announcement of its agreement to the mediators proposal, confirms [Israels] intention to disrupt mediation efforts to cease fire and release prisoners, for the personal interests of Netanyahu and his extremist government, the statement read.

EU ministers expressed mounting alarm on Tuesday over an Israeli military assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip, with the blocs top diplomat warning it would cause a lot of casualties.

The Prime Minister has said that he is still deeply concerned about Israels plan for a full military offensive in Rafah, just hours after Israeli troops ignored the warnings from allies and moved into part of the southernmost city.

The US must intervene immediately to stop Israel from invading Gazas southernmost city of Rafah, The Palestinian Authority said.

Israels far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said it was a mistake to have sent a negotiating team to Cairo today. Sending the delegation to Cairo is a mistake and falls into the manipulative trap set by Hamas together with Qatar and Egypt. This is the time to press more and more on the neck of Yahya Sinwar and Hamas until they are destroyed, he said in a statement.

Israel has seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in order to cut of a lifeline for Hamas, a senior official said on Tuesday. In a briefing with foreign press, Avi Hyman, a spokesperson for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate, said that Israel will no longer allow the crossing with Egypt to provide Hamas with supplies.

03:04 PM BST

Israel seizes Rafah crossing to cut Hamas lifeline

Israel has seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in order to cut of a lifeline for Hamas, a senior official said on Tuesday.

In a briefing with foreign press, Avi Hyman, a spokesperson for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate, said that Israel will no longer allow the crossing with Egypt to provide Hamas with supplies.

This is the beginning of our mission to take out the last four Hamas brigades in Rafah, Mr Hyman said, dampening hopes of a hostage deal in the near future.

In a separate briefing government spokesman David Mencer claimed that Hamas has cross-border underground smuggling tunnels underneath the Rafah crossing infrastructure.

These Hamas tunnels must be dealt with to shut off arms to the terrorists, Mr Mencer said.

The UN and aid organisations said that all aid has been blocked into the besieged territory since Israel took over the Rafah crossing in the early hours of this morning. The crossing is also the only way out for medical evacuations.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today said that the UK is still deeply concerned over Israels plans for a full military incursion into Rafah.

02:41 PM BST

Israeli government briefing suggests no long-term ceasefire imminent

Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer has reiterated Israels unfaltering line that it will not withdraw from Gaza without destroying Hamas.

We will not allow Hamas to remain standing at the end of this conflict. We simply will not allow Hamas to remain standing. That is one of the three war aims. The others are to get our hostages released and of course to ensure that Gaza never again can form a threat to us, he said in a daily briefing.

Hamas are simply trying to save their skins. This conflict could end this afternoon. This afternoon, before we here in Israel put our kids to bed, and the way it can end is quite simple: if Hamas lay down their arms and release the hostages. Anything else where Hamas remains in power is simply not an option for Israel. We refuse to live next to this terrorist entity anymore. Weve come to the conclusion any end to this conflict that leaves Hamas standing is not an option.

Israel dispatched what is reported to be a mid-level delegation to Cairo today to continue talks, but fears have grown that the overall progress has been dashed. On the other side, Hamas has maintained that it will not walk away with any other outcome than a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Negotiators will likely be working on bridging the gap for a temporary pause in fighting that broke down last night, reportedly over Israel not accepting that Hamas return the bodies of dead hostages in the first phase.

02:29 PM BST

Gazans in Rafah continue to evacuate following Israeli assault

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day - AFP

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day - AFP

02:26 PM BST

Smotrich says it was a mistake to send a negotiating team to Cairo

Israels far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said it was a mistake to have sent a negotiating team to Cairo today.

Sending the delegation to Cairo is a mistake and falls into the manipulative trap set by Hamas together with Qatar and Egypt. This is the time to press more and more on the neck of Yahya Sinwar and Hamas until they are destroyed, he said in a statement.

You must not give in to international pressure and you must not stop until victory and the submission of the enemy. This is our war of independence and we must win it.

02:24 PM BST

US must stop Rafah invasion, demand Palestinian leaders

The US must intervene immediately to stop Israel from invading Gazas southernmost city of Rafah, The Palestinian Authority said.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, the spokesman for the Palestinian Presidency, called the Israeli seizure of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing a crime and blasted the unacceptable international silence.

Israel ignored warnings from its close allies and moved into the southern city on Tuesday after its war cabinet rejected Hamas agreement of a ceasefire proposal, saying that it did not meet its core demands.

Abu Rudeina called the Israeli decision to enter Rafah a dangerous escalation and said that controlling the border crossings will only double the suffering of civilians.

Hamas also called on the US to pressure Israel into stopping the full assault on Rafah that was promised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli officials have said that the current offensive, which saw them halt all aid into the besieged territory, is only a limited operation.

01:43 PM BST

The UK deeply concerned about a full military incursion into Rafah, Sunak says

The Prime Minister has said that he is still deeply concerned about Israels plan for a full military offensive in Rafah, just hours after Israeli troops ignored the warnings from allies and moved into part of the southernmost city.

On a visit to south-east London, the Prime Minister said: Weve been consistent in saying that we want to see an immediate humanitarian pause in this conflict so that we can crucially release the hostages, get them back to their families and get more aid in to Gaza, people desperately need it, and then use that pause to build a more lasting and sustainable ceasefire.

He added: When it comes to the question of Rafah, again Ive been clear that we are deeply concerned about the full military incursion of Rafah, given the humanitarian consequences of that.

Ive made that point specifically to Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu whenever Ive spoken to him.

01:29 PM BST

Pictured: Pro-Palestine demonstrations near the Met Gala last night

People attend a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the Met Gala, an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute with this year's theme 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion' in New York City, New York, U.S., May 6, 2024. - REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

01:26 PM BST

Hezbollah claims three attacks on Israel today

Hezbollah said it has targeted Israel three times today, claiming that it has caused military casualties and damage to Iron Dome equipment.

In the first attack, Hezbollah said that it launched drones that targeted enemy officers and soldiers while they were inthe courtyard of the Yiftah barracks... leaving dead and wounded... At the same time, other aircraft targeted one of the Iron Dome platforms located south of the Ramot Naftali barracks and hit it directly, leading to its damage.

In the second attack, Hezbollah said at 14:15pm (local time) it targeted the spy equipment at the Al Samaqa site in the occupied Lebanese Kfarshouba hills with weapons.

The IDF today said that several suspicious aerial targets were identified approaching Israeli territory. The IDF said it intercepted one of them, another fell in an open after in Yiftah and caused a fire; two fell in an open area; and the others fell and caused light damage  without referencing what they inflicted damage on.

The Israeli military said that no injuries had been reported.

01:00 PM BST

Prices in Rafah shoot up as future of aid deliveries uncertain

Food prices in Rafah have shot up amid the uncertainty of when aid will be allowed to enter Gaza again, after Israel closed the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.

There was not enough aid to go around before, now people are very worried, Mohammad Najjar, a student in Rafah, told The Telegraph over the phone. The price for a kilo of sugar two days ago was around $3, today it is $20.

The UN earlier today warned that it only has one day worth of fuel inside Gaza to fuel humanitarian operations, after they were denied access to cross the border by the Israel authorities.

12:49 PM BST

Netanyahu must face consequences, says Jordanian foreign minister

Instead of giving negotiations on hostage release & ceasefire a chance, Israeli govt occupied Rafah crossing & closed it to humanitarian aid to starved Gazans. Its attack on Rafah threatens another massacre. SC must act firmly & immediately. Netanyahu must face real consequence.  Ayman Safadi (@AymanHsafadi) May 7, 2024

12:08 PM BST

Israeli forces deployed to stop protestors demanding an acceptance of the hostage deal proposal from advancing

Israeli forces deployed to the area prevented the protesters demanding that the Israeli government accept proposal for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange agreement in Tel Aviv, Israel on May 6, 2024. - Nir Keidar/Anadolu via Getty Images

11:55 AM BST

Israel says it shot down drone coming from Iraq for second consecutive night

Israeli fighter jets intercepted a drone flying toward Israel from the eastern direction, the IDF said.

The military said that it was tracked until the moment of interception and did not enter Israeli airspace.

According to The Times of Israel, it was the second night in a row that a drone apparently launched from Iraq was shot down.

The pro-Iran umbrella group, Islamic Resistance in Iraq, said they had launched a drone at Israel overnight.

11:47 AM BST

Imminent ceasefire deal appears unlikely with Israel reported to be sending mid-level delegation to talks

A team of mid-ranking Israeli officials will go to Cairo in the next few hours to assess whether Hamas can be persuaded to shift on its latest ceasefire offer, a senior Israeli official says, reiterating that the proposal as it currently stands was unacceptable to Israel.

This delegation is made up of mid-level envoys. Were there a credible deal in the offing, the principals would be heading the delegation, the official tells Reuters.

11:41 AM BST

EU voices alarm over Israel assault on Rafah

EU ministers expressed mounting alarm on Tuesday over an Israeli military assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip, with the blocs top diplomat warning it would cause a lot of casualties.

Belgiums development minister, Caroline Gennez, said an Israeli offensive on Rafah would cross a red line and said that sanctions... have to be on the table in response.

Speaking hours after Israel sent tanks into Rafah, she said an attack on the city threatens millions with famine.

It is very clear that international law is no longer respected in Gaza, she said.

Gennez also urged her European Union counterparts to unanimously agree on a decision to stop exporting weapons to the Middle East, to Israel and the warfaring countries.

Germanys development minister, Jochen Flasbarth, said the situation is dramatic and continues to worsen in Gaza and called the humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian territory appalling.

But he said there would be no discussion of potential sanctions at Tuesdays talks.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who was chairing the meeting of development ministers, warned there is no safe zone in Gaza for Palestinian civilians to flee to, noting that there were 600,000 children in the densely populated enclave.

He stressed that the European Union and United States had all asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to not go ahead with his threatened assault on Rafah.

11:36 AM BST

Storming of Rafah is a serious escalation: Hamas

The Israeli military capturing the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing this morning was a serious escalation, Hamas has said in a statement.

This crime, which comes immediately after Hamas announcement of its agreement to the mediators proposal, confirms [Israels] intention to disrupt mediation efforts to cease fire and release prisoners, for the personal interests of Netanyahu and his extremist government, the statement read.

We call on the American administration and the international community to pressure [Israel] to stop this escalation, it continued.

Israel has said that it was caught off-guard when Hamas accepted a proposal that was not on the table, although US officials and western diplomats have told several newspapers that it is unlikely Israel would have been kept in the dark by any major change in the proposal.

11:16 AM BST

Fears of a full ground invasion grip the west of Rafah

As the IDF came into Rafah overnight, fears that the limited operation in eastern Rafah that allowed them to take the border crossing could turn into the full-assault promised took over, Gazans said.

Speaking to the Telegraph over the phone from the west of Rafah, Mohammad Najjar, a student, said that the night was very difficult.

From east to west, Rafah is no wider than 15 kilometres (9 miles), he stressed, so the IDF are very close to where he is and everyone is of course worried about what might happen next. Until this moment we can hear the bombing, he said, following a night of artillery, drones and air strikes.

Israeli media is quoting officials as saying that this is a limited operation and not the full assault that Netanyahu promised.

10:53 AM BST

With Rafah crossing closed by Israel, UN warns it only has a one day buffer supply of fuel for Gaza

Israeli authorities have denied the UN access to the Rafah crossing, a spokesperson for the UNs humanitarian agency OCHA, has confirmed.

Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson, said there was only a one-day buffer of fuel to run humanitarian operations inside Gaza.

We currently do not have any physical presence at the Rafah crossing as our access... has been denied by COGAT, he said, referring to the Israeli agency that oversees supplies into the Palestinian territories.

We have been told there will be no crossings of personnel or goods in or out for the time being. That has a massive impact on how much stock do we have.

Theres a very, very short buffer of one day of fuel available.

As fuel only comes in through Rafah, the one day buffer is for the entire operation in Gaza.

If no fuel comes in, it would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave, said Laerke.

Currently, the two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are currently choked off, he said, referring to the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel.

10:49 AM BST

Pictured: The displaced fled again yesterday ahead of Rafah ground offensive

Palestinians yesterday fled as Israel issued evacuation orders for the east of Rafah ahead of their offensive beginning - REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

10:46 AM BST

Egypt condemns Israeli control of Rafah border crossing

The Egyptian foreign ministry has released a statement condemning the Isreali offensive on Rafah and their move to control the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing.

Egypt considers that this dangerous escalation threatens the lives of more than a million Palestinians who depend primarily on this crossing as it is the main lifeline of the Gaza Strip, the statement read.

The Arab Republic of Egypt calls on the Israeli side to exercise the utmost restraint, and to stay away from a policy of brinksmanship, it continued, adding that it would threaten the fate of a truce.

Egypt also calls on all influential international parties to intervene and exert the necessary pressure to defuse the current crisis and allow diplomatic efforts to achieve their desired results.

10:35 AM BST

Whats in the three-phase ceasefire deal Hamas backs, but Israel does not?

Based on details announced so far by Hamas officials, a copy of the proposal and an official briefed on the talks, Reuters reports that the deal that the Palestinian group said it had agreed to included the following:

PHASE ONE

- 42-day ceasefire period - Hamas freeing 33 Israeli hostages, alive or dead, in return for Israel releasing 30 children and women for each released Israeli hostage, based on lists provided by Hamas according to the earliest date of detention.

- Starting from the first day of the ceasefire, the entry of intensive and sufficient quantities of humanitarian aid, relief materials, and fuel (600 trucks per day, including 50 fuel trucks, of which 300 are for the north), including the fuel necessary for operating the power plant, trade, and equipment needed for rubble removal, rehabilitation and operation of hospitals, health centres and bakeries in all areas of the Gaza Strip, and the continuation of this in all stages of the agreement.

- Hamas will release three Israeli hostages on the third day of the agreement, and then release three more hostages every seven days, prioritising women if possible, including civilians and conscripts.

- In the sixth week, Hamas will release all remaining civilian hostages covered by this phase. In exchange, Israel will release the agreed number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, according to the lists that will be provided by Hamas.

Israel partially withdraws troops from Gaza and allows the free movement of Palestinians from south to north Gaza.

- Cessation of military flights over the Gaza Strip will take place for 10 hours per day and 12 hours on the day of releasing the hostages and prisoners.

- On the third day after releasing the first Palestinian prisoners, the Israeli forces will completely withdraw from al-Rashid street in northern Gaza, and all military sites will be dismantled.

- On the 22nd day of the first phase, Israeli forces will withdraw from the centre of the strip, east of Salah al-Din road to an area near the Israeli border.

PHASE TWO

- Another 42-day period that features an agreement to restore a sustainable calm to Gaza, language that an official briefed on the talks said Hamas and Israel had agreed in order to take discussion of a permanent ceasefire off the table.

- The complete withdrawal of most Israeli troops from Gaza.

- Hamas releases Israeli reservists and some soldiers in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from jail.

PHASE THREE

- The completion of exchanging bodies and starting the implementation of reconstruction according to the plan overseen by Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations. - Ending the complete blockade on the Gaza Strip.

- Start of the implementation of a 3-5 year plan for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, including homes, civilian facilities and infrastructure, and compensation for all those affected, under the supervision of a number of countries and organisations including Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.

10:28 AM BST

Israeli officials reportedly say Washington hid proposal presented to Hamas; US denies they were faced with any surprises

The US knew of the new proposal that was presented to Hamas in recent days, but did not inform Israel about the changes, Axios has reported, citing Israeli officials.

The report said that Israel was caught off-guard when it reviewed the proposal that Hamas accepted yesterday and has created suspicion among senior Israeli officials regarding the US role in the hostage talks.

A senior US official cited in the report denied that Israel was faced with any surprises and said that US diplomats have been engaged with their Israeli counterparts throughout the mediation.

10:17 AM BST

A view inside Rafah this morning

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in eastern Rafah, Gaza on May 07, 2024. The Israeli army said that its forces have seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. - Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images

Palestinians inspect the damage following Israeli bombardment of Rafah's Tal al-Sultan district in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024. - AFP

Palestinians inspect houses damaged in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 7, 2024. - REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

10:11 AM BST

IDF confirms Hezbollah killed two soldiers in drone attack yesterday

The IDF this morning confirmed Hezbollahs claim that yesterday it killed two soldiers in a drone attack on Metula, northern Israel.

The Israeli military, according to The Times of Israel, said that it attempted and failed to the intercept the explosive-laden drone.

The two reserves soldiers were named as Master Sgt. Dan Kamkagi, 31, and Master Sgt. Nahman Natan Hertz, also 31.

The IDF said that another soldier was lightly injured in the attack.

09:45 AM BST

Hamas targets Israeli troops at Kerem Shalom crossing this morning

Hamass armed wing said it fired rockets at Israeli troops this morning at the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, which was already closed after previous rocket fire over the weekend.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, which claimed a rocket attack on the crossing on Sunday that killed four Israeli soldiers, said in a statement that it had targeted the gathering of enemy forces at Kerem Shalom in the latest attack.

The IDF said that four mortars were launched from Rafah at Kerem Shalom a short while ago and that an earlier attack saw two rockets fired at the same area. In the first attack the IDF said that one rocket hit an open area and the second fell short in Gaza.

No casualties were reported.

09:39 AM BST

China urges Israel to stop attacking Rafah

China on Tuesday urged Israel to stop attacking Rafah, after the Israeli army said it took operational control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

China... strongly calls on Israel to heed the overwhelming demands of the international community, stop attacking Rafah, and do everything it can to avoid a more serious humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

Israel carried out strikes on the Gazan city of Rafah overnight as it sought to put pressure on Hamas ahead of talks in Egypt on Tuesday aimed at sealing a truce proposal endorsed by the militants.

09:37 AM BST

Macklemore goes viral across the Middle East with new song for Palestine

American rapper Macklemore is going viral across much of the Middle East after he released a song overnight named Hinds Hall inspired by the pro-Palestine demonstrations taking place across US campuses.

Once its up on streaming all proceeds to UNRWA, the rapper said as he posted the video on X last night.

Former Egyptian political prisoner Abdelrahman ElGendy posted on X:

Heartening to see childhood heroes take a clear stance. For years, I engraved Macklemores lyrics from Wings on the walls of my prison cell in Egypt, and Wings was originally my memoirs title for how much it moved me. Love the full circle. And great song, too.

09:14 AM BST

Israeli tank bulldozes I heart Gaza sign at Rafah crossing

09:13 AM BST

Gaza health ministry releases new casualty figures

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza has issued new casualty figures, putting the total death toll up to 34,789 and injuries to 78,204.

The figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Many other bodies are believed to still be trapped beneath the rubble are not included in the figures.

According to the health ministry spokesperson, the death toll rose by 54 people in the past 24 hours and 96 wounded.

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, said that 21 Palestinian civilians  including women and children  were killed this morning across Gaza, the majority of them in Rafah.

09:01 AM BST

Israeli foreign minister welcomes IDF ground presence in Rafah; says Hamas would be crushed by now if not for hostages

Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz has welcomed the IDF ground assault on Rafah this morning.

If not for the hostages dear to our hearts, for whose release we are bound by a supreme obligation and we will do everything to bring them home, the Hamas gang would have long since been crushed and thrown into the dustbin of history, he posted on X.

The entry of the IDF into Rafah promotes the two main goals of the war: the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.

The work of persuasion on the political front is becoming more difficult - but I will do everything to meet the task and allow our heroic soldiers to complete the work.

08:54 AM BST

Pictured: Iron Dome intecepts rockets fired from Gaza overnight as Rafah strikes intensified

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, May 6, 2024. - REUTERS/Amir Cohen

08:46 AM BST

HRW finds Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed seven paramedics in unlawful attack using US weapon

A report released today by Human Rights Watch has found that Israel used an American JDAM (joint direct attack munition) to strike an emergency centre in Lebanon in March that killed seven paramedics.

HRW says it found no evidence of a military target at the site, making it an unlawful attack on civilians as they called for the US and other allies to suspend arms to Israel.

An Islamic Group official  a Lebanese Islamist political party whose armed wing, the Fajr Forces, has been engaged in cross-border hostilities with Israel  said that while some Islamic Group supporters are volunteers in the Lebanese Succour Association (the relief organisation), they do not include any fighters from its armed wing.

HRW notes that just a week before the strike Israel reportedly submitted written assurances to the US State Department that US-provided weapons were not being used in violation of international law.

08:39 AM BST

Interrupting the aid supply will make catastrophic hunger worse, says UNRWA

Continued interruption of the entry of aid and fuel supplies at the #Rafah crossing will halt the critical humanitarian response across the #GazaStrip



The catastrophic hunger faced by people especially in northern #Gaza will get much worse if these supply routes are interrupted. pic.twitter.com/CYMxbbHMbL  UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 7, 2024

08:28 AM BST

Two explosions reported near vessel off the coast of Yemen

A merchant vessel passing through the Gulf of Aden reported two explosions in close proximity, British maritime security agency UKMTO said this morning.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said the vessel and all crew are safe, adding that authorities are investigating the blasts south of Yemens southern port city of Aden.

UKMTO, which is run by Britains Royal Navy, did not provide details on the ship or the nature of attack.

Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched dozens of drone and missile strikes against ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November.

08:14 AM BST

Negotiations set to resume today; returning dead hostages in first phase appears to be sticking point

Delegations from Israel and Hamas are set to head to Cairo today to resume negotiations on the new Egyptian-Qatari proposal, accepted by Hamas, to pause the fighting for an exchange of some of the 128 hostages held by Hamas and prisoners held by Israel.

While the terms of the deal were not public during yesterdays whiplash back and forth between Israel and Hamas, Al Jazeera reports that it has obtained a copy of the proposal that was approved by Hamas (Israel claims this proposal does not meet its core demands and was not on the table).

One of the most important points, we are to believe, is that Hamas is to release 33 Israeli captives (alive or dead), including women (civilians and soldiers), children (under the age of 19 who are not soldiers), those over the age of 50, and the sick in the first phase, in exchange for a number of prisoners.

It also says that Hamas will release all living Israeli female soldiers in return for prisoners.

The text says in the second (of three) stages Israeli forces shall withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip.

The New York Times this morning reports that Hamas informed the negotiators yesterday  as part of its counteroffer to Israels proposal  that not all of the 33 hostages to be released in the first stage would still be alive, but their remains would be returned.

The first group is supposed to include women, older men, the wounded and the sick. Israel, NYT reports, initially wanted it to be 40 hostage returns in this group but came to understand that Hamas did not hold that many that fit the criteria.

07:57 AM BST

Israeli military vehicles tour the Gaza-Egypt border with flags

Israeli military vehicles drive along the Egypt-Gaza border with obnoxiously large flags. pic.twitter.com/5VArNIp7o1  Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 7, 2024

07:55 AM BST

Silence from Egypt

Egypt has not yet commented on the Israeli seizure of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing and officials are declining to make any comments to the press.

Cairo previously has warned any seizure of Rafah could see Palestinians fleeing over the border  a scenario they are particularly anxious about  that could threaten a 1979 peace deal with Israel thats been a linchpin for regional security.

The seizure again raised the risks of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah.

07:47 AM BST

Closing of Rafah crossing leaves Palestinians trapped

Israels capturing and closing of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing this morning has not only halted the flow of aid, but trapped all civilians inside Gaza.

While most could not afford the hefty fees required to leave  with thousands raising funds online  the border crossing was the only way out for those who pieced together the money for the Egyptian brokers.

The crossing was also being used to evacuate some of the most seriously wounded children. It is not immediately clear how long the crossing will be closed, or when Israel will reallow aid deliveries and evacuations to continue.

The Israeli flag hangs inside the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing - Israel Defence Forces

07:36 AM BST

Good morning

Hello and welcome to the Telegraphs live blog of the Israel-Gaza war. Follow along as we bring you all of the latest developments.

First up this morning:

Israeli tanks capture Rafah border crossing

Israeli tanks seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border this morning and closed the crossing to aid deliveries into the besieged territory.

Footage released by the Israeli military showed a tank entering the crossing, which is also vital for evacuations from Gaza, after a night of heavy strikes on the southern Gazan city.

Israel also said that it had closed the Kerem Shalom crossing and that it will only reopen when the security conditions allow it.

The Israeli military claimed it seized the crossing after receiving intelligence it was being used for terrorist purposes. The military did not provide evidence to immediately support the assertion, though it alleged the area around the crossing had been used to launch a mortar attack that killed four Israeli troops and wounded others near the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

Israel launched the operation to seize the Rafah crossing with ceasefire negotiations on a knife-edge after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari deal last night.

Mr Netanyahus office said the truce proposal fell short of Israels demands but Israel would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement.
A soldier of the National Guard of Ukraine takes off his gas mask and breathes fresh air

Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine is now in its third year, with a stalemate along the 1000 kilometres of the contact line. Unable to break the spirit and fortitude of Kyivs forces with conventional weapons, the Kremlin is now resorting to WW1-style gas attacks.

With the statesmen of the West busy trying to avoid the escalation Putin and his gangsters threaten on an almost daily basis, Russia has hoodwinked our leaders into ignoring the chemical threat. It is clear to me that over the last 12 months, Russian forces have been using chemical weapons on an industrial scale, and with great effect: they are making tangible gains across the front.

There has been no retribution from the US, the UK or other Nato countries who know full well that Putin is, in effect, conducting war crimes with impunity. For sure, the CS gas being deployed sits at the very left end of the scale of the deadliness of chemical weapons, and they are legal to use in some circumstances  mostly breaking up civil protest and disobedience. But it is this ambiguity, and the Wests obvious desire not to get decisively engaged in this complex war, which Putin is exploiting as a conductor would an orchestra.

I know first hand how deadly these weapons can be. As well as having commanded the British Armys Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, I have seen Assad use improvised chemical weapons in Syria and have been on the receiving end of ISIS firing chlorine mortars near Mosul in 2016. I can assure you that they are devastatingly effective if you dont have protection.

These are morbidly brilliant weapons and if you have no morals and nobody to stop you, you will use them all the time. Putin and his gangsters have neither, and he is using them to great effect and without fear of retribution. The psychological effect of chemical weapons is ten as to one their physical. This is why tyrants like Assad and Putin, who rely on terror to subjugate their own people, as well as their enemies, are so trigger happy with them.

If Ukraine is to remain free, we must give it the means to do so. This means the training and equipment needed to survive these attacks. Ive done it in Syria and Iraq, and it will work in Ukraine as well. When Syrian civilians were dying in their hundreds from Assads chemical attacks, and when the Iraqi soldiers I was advising came under attack from ISS chemical weapons, we gave them gear and training, and watched as the casualties fell markedly.

It is very clear what our government should now do. The weapons Putin is using are potent only for minutes. You dont need fancy suits or boots and gloves to protect against them, just a decent gas mask. It was the Germans in WW1 who first realised how chemical weapons could be used to break through a trench stalemate at Ypres in April 1915. It was British gas masks then which nullified this weapon. Today, we are still the foremost manufacturer of gas masks worldwide. Its time we stepped up to the plate.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators vandalised a First World War memorial and burned an American flag in Central Park on Monday evening after being held back from the Met Gala by police.

Around 1,000 protesters took to the streets of New York, marching up Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan before penetrating barricades that were blocking access to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the gala was being held.

The demonstrators were heard chanting: Its called divest! We will not stop. We will not rest! as they marched towards the star-studded event.

Police managed to divert the group towards Central Park by forming a blockade - standing two officers deep - which prevented them from gaining access to the gala.

Footage posted to X, formerly Twitter, appeared to show police officers detaining some protesters outside of the event, as others across the street chanted: Let them go.

A protester is held by police near the Met Gala on Monday - Said Elatab/Splash News

As the protests diverged, some demonstrators then headed down Park Avenue, setting off smoke bombs and flares.

After reaching the war memorial, some of the protesters climbed up it and waved Palestinian flags, before spray painting Gaza on its stone base.

Pictures from the scene also showed an American flag being burned in front of the monument.

The memorial, which depicts members of the 107th United States Infantry in the throes of battle, was also covered in stickers that read: Stop the Genocide. End the apartheid. Free Palestine.

Pro-Palestinian protesters, pictured in in New York on Monday, have been calling for a ceasefire in the conflict - Said Elatab/Splash News

Day of rage

Multiple arrests were made, police confirmed to The Independent.

The stunt was part of a citywide day of rage, where people across New York City took part in demonstrations protesting the Israel-Gaza war, demanding that Israel stops its invasion of Rafah.

Protesters spent the day blocking traffic and marching in an attempt to convince the US government to stop sending funds to Israel, and to call for an immediate ceasefire.

Earlier in the day, nearly 1,000 pro-Israel demonstrators gathered in Riverside Park near Columbia University in response to the pro-Palestinian encampment at the site.

The protests at Columbia have inspired similar demonstrations at dozens of universities across the US and the world.

The university has since been forced to cancel its main graduation ceremony as a result of the rising on-campus tensions.
Ukraine has started arming its naval drones with anti-aircraft missiles as it looks to counter Russias dominance of the skies above the Black Sea.

A video released by the Russian Defence Ministry showed a gritty dogfight playing out in the Black Sea between a Ukrainian drone armed with at least one missile and a Russian helicopter.

Against an azure blue sky, the tiny Ukrainian drone is seen swerving and skidding across the sea as it tries to dodge machine gun fire from the chasing attack helicopter.

Video footage shot by the two pilots and later released by Russian Telegram channels showed the helicopter hunting down the Ukrainian drone as bullets smashed into the sea around it, sending plumes of water into the air.

Eventually, the drone slows and halts, before it is then raked by more gunfire. It catches fire and then explodes, sending smoke, water and fire up towards the hulking helicopter which just manages to lurch out of the way.

Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of the Kyiv School of Economics and an analyst of the Ukraine war, said it was the first time that a Ukrainian maritime drone had been spotted armed with an anti-aircraft missile.

Ukrainians have adapted marine drones to carry air-to-air Soviet missiles, he said. Many believe[d] this to be impossible until today.

Rapid evolution of drones

Ukraines naval kamikaze drone programme has been one of its great successes in the war and is credited with helping to drive the bulk of Russias Black Sea Fleet from its original base in Crimea to the port of Novorossiysk, 200 miles away, where the Russian Navy has built special drone defence barriers.

Mr Mylovanov said that one of the strengths of the Ukrainian programme was its quick ability to learn from failures and to adapt.

We should now expect a rapid evolution of Ukrainian marine drones to carry other drones, ship missiles, and more air defence, he said.

Russias main TV channels broadcast the video footage in an apparent attempt to show its defences countering Ukrainian threats. The location and date of the naval dogfight are uncertain.

H I Sutton, an independent naval analyst, described the missile system fixed on the Ukrainian drone as a FrankenSAM.

Until now the unmanned surface vehicles had been almost defenceless against aircraft, and Russia has air superiority over much of the Black Sea, he said.

But the addition of air defences aboard some unmanned surface vehicles may make them even harder for Russia to counter.

A still from the Russian footage

The weapons attached to the Ukrainian drone were been identified as two AA-11 Archer missiles, which Mr Sutton described as a Soviet-era dogfighting missile with a range of up to 10 miles when fired from a maritime drone, rather than a fighter jet.

The actual engagement ranges would be limited by onboard sensors, so likely much shorter. All the same, it is likely generally effective as a surface-to-air missile, he said.

Vladimir Putin, who was inaugurated as Russias president for the fifth time on Tuesday, appears increasingly confident that he will win his war in Ukraine but is frustrated by the inability of his Black Sea Fleet to defend itself against Ukrainian attacks.

This year he sacked the commander of the Black Sea Fleet after a series of missile strikes destroyed several warships.
Thousands left eastern neighbourhoods in Rafah after the Israel Defense Forces told people to leave in advance of an attack. Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA

On Monday, thousands left eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah in southern Gaza after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) told people to move to a humanitarian zone north-west of the city to avoid being harmed in an imminent attack. Then Hamas, after a week of stalling, accepted terms for a ceasefire put forward by mediators. Hours later, Israel said it would participate in a new round of ceasefire talks but that the conditions of a deal were still far from decided. Finally, after airstrikes overnight, the IDF sent a column of tanks and other armoured vehicles to seize the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday.

Why has Israel moved into Rafah?

Israel has said the Palestinian side of the Rafah border was being used for terrorist activities.

Any border control is an important strategic objective and the seizure of this one allows Israel to control the key entry and exit point with Egypt. Israeli military officials have not put a timeline on their operation in Rafah but may not want to relinquish the site soon. A presence there brings Israel closer to cutting off any Hamas leaders in Rafah and allows control of aid convoys as well as other traffic.

The US has made clear its opposition to any broader assault into the city, but this operation signals continued determination from the Israel government to keep fighting Hamas, thus increasing its leverage during ceasefire negotiations.

The release  or apparently authorised leak  of clips of soldiers raising Israeli flags and using a tank to destroy a concrete I love Gaza sign at the crossing suggests a symbolic purpose too. This may be to frame the operation as the final  and so far elusive  victory ahead of concessions in negotiations.

What does closing the Rafah crossing mean for Palestinians?

The crossing has been a lifeline to the outside world for Palestinians in Gaza, allowing the delivery of aid and the evacuation of patients from a collapsed healthcare system. Closing it is a death sentence against the people of Gaza, particularly the ill and injured, the Palestinian-run Gaza Crossings Authority says. The only other crossing point in the south  Kerem Shalom  through which most aid to Gaza has been delivered recently, has also been closed after a Hamas rocket attack.

Whats in the deal that Hamas has accepted?

This is unclear, though broad outlines are known and Al Jazeera has published what the Qatari network says is a draft. At its heart is an exchange of hostages seized by Hamas during its attack into Israel on 7 October for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Complex formulae determine how many of which category of prisoner and hostage  old, young, male, female, ill or healthy, military or civilian, convicted or not  will be released and when. There would, probably, be an initial 42-day ceasefire, followed by two extensions of a similar length of time if both sides stick to the deal. Israeli troops would pull back from Gaza, although the timescale and extent of this is one point of contention. Israeli restrictions on aid would be lifted and the supply of basic utilities, cut off by Israel in the early days of the conflict, restored.

The deal, which was drafted primarily by Egyptian and Qatari officials, would bind both parties to work towards a sustainable calm  wording that could suggest either the permanent end to hostilities demanded by Hamas or the temporary pause that Israel wants.

Why hasnt Israel accepted it?

Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to crush Hamas. Signing a ceasefire deal and making painful concessions shows clearly that the military offensive has not achieved this aim and will leave the Israeli prime minister very exposed.

Far-right coalition partners are fiercely opposed to a deal and are likely to resign, threatening the collapse of Netanyahus government, hastening elections and exposing him to a lengthy prison term if found guilty in corruption trials.

Many rightwing Israelis hope the war will offer an opportunity to re-occupy Gaza and re-establish settlements there. Some extremists, including members of the government, have called for the voluntary migration of Palestinians from Gaza.

More broadly, Israelis remains traumatised by the 7 October attacks and fearful of a repeat. A deal leaving Hamas in charge of part of Gaza and its leaders unscathed is difficult for many to swallow  despite their deep desire to see the release of all hostages.

There is also a deep lack of trust  in mediators, the US, and the international community more generally. Outrage overseas at the high toll of civilian casualties, massive destruction or acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza is often dismissed as manufactured, unjustified or in bad faith.

Whats next in the talks?

Israel has said it will send a delegation to Cairo in the coming days to discuss with mediators the proposal that Hamas leaders have said they have accepted. The optimistic view is that this at least provides a framework for serious discussion that could lead to a deal reasonably quickly. The pessimistic view is that fundamental disagreements that have prevented agreement since a short-lived truce in November are still to be resolved and that any permanent end to hostilities is still some way off. On Monday night, Israels war cabinet decided to press ahead with its military offensive targeting Rafah.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) speaks to reporters outside the Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill on April 23, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Senate takes up a $95 billion foreign aid package today for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Weeks after a teenage gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Uvalde elementary school in May 2022, senior Texas Sen. John Cornyn helped craft the most significant federal firearm legislation the nation has seen in decades.

Now, Cornyn is fighting against a federal rule that has angered Republicans and gun rights advocates  but that the Biden administration says his law helped create.

Video still frames from the body camera of officer Justin Mendoza of law enforcement operations during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Courtesy of the State of Texas Wooden crosses honoring the victims of the Robb Elementary School massacre are displayed in front of the school marquee at the intersection of Geraldine Street and Old Carrizo Road in Uvalde, Texas, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. Sam Owens/Staff photographer

READ MORE: Senators strike bipartisan deal on new gun laws

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The U.S. Justice Department rolled out a new policy last month requiring background checks for people who informally sell firearms at gun shows or on the internet. The rule, which is set to take effect on May 20, is based on a revised definition of gun dealers put forth in Cornyns so-called Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Previously, gun dealers were defined under federal law as those who sell firearms with the principal objective of livelihood and profit. Under the revised definition, gun dealers are any people who predominantly earn a profit from selling firearms.

Under this regulation, it will not matter if guns are sold on the internet, at a gun show, or at a brick-and-mortar store: if you sell guns predominantly to earn a profit, you must be licensed, and you must conduct background checks, Attorney General Merrick Garland said last month. This regulation is a historic step in the Justice Departments fight against gun violence. It will save lives.

Cornyn has vowed to file a congressional resolution of disapproval over the policy, and he said the Biden administrations efforts to tie it to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is an outright lie.

This rule has long been on Democrats wish list, and for the Biden administration to say its a result of our school safety and mental health law is a shameless attempt to hide their real goal: to take away the firearms of every law-abiding American, Cornyn said in a joint statement with North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. We will fight this unconstitutional rule tooth and nail, and look forward to overturning it in the Senate as soon as possible.

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Law enforcement officials evacuate students and staff from Robb Elementary School after a gunman entered a classroom and began shooting on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. Pete Luna /Uvalde Leader-News

Cornyn had negotiated with Democrats on legislation that bolstered background checks for young buyers but did not give gun control advocates their top priorities of banning or raising the age to purchase assault-style weapons. He faced criticism from both sides of the aisle and was booed by fellow Republicans at the state partys convention that year. He has maintained that the legislation did not infringe on Second Amendment rights.

In a letter last year to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Cornyn and Tillis said their goal with the 2022 revision was to stop someone from shopping around for an unlicensed gun dealer, not to give the ATF the authority to impose a gun control regime on law-abiding Americans.

This was done to prevent someone who should register as a firearms dealer from evading licensing requirements because he or she had another job that supported his livelihood, the pair wrote. In other words, we wanted to clarify that if a person has a job and also operates a firearms business, he or she must still register as a firearms dealer.

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Randy Kozuch, the executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, said last month that the policy change is an attack on law-abiding firearm owners and a blatant attempt to coerce Americans to forego legal activity with firearms under threat of potential confiscation.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is booed as he addresses delegates during the second day of the Republican Party of Texas Convention at George R. Brown Convention Center on Friday, June 17, 2022. Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

The administration has conceded that it cannot enforce this unlawful rule in criminal cases because they know that it exceeds the limited authority granted to them by Congress and, in some cases, expressly contradicts the statutory text, Kozuch said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced earlier this month that he and several other state attorneys general filed lawsuits challenging the rule. Theyre asking the courts to temporarily stop the policy from taking effect while litigation continues.

Paxton didnt mention Cornyn at a press conference about the lawsuit, but the pair has been sparring for months, and Paxton hasnt shut the door on a primary challenge against Cornyn in 2026. At the same time, Cornyn is vying for the chance to be Senate majority or minority leader, depending on this Novembers election results.

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WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 23: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) talks to members of the media as he walks to the Senate chamber at the U.S. Capitol on April 23, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Senate is taking up a $95 billion foreign aid package today for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Cal Jillson, a politics professor at Southern Methodist University, said Cornyn is well aware that the conservative wing of his party has been more dominant in recent years, and pushing back against the Biden administration on the new rule is a way to appeal to that base. Still, Cornyns skills as a negotiator and perhaps more moderate legislator overall will help him in his efforts to lead the party when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell steps down.

When Congress meets after the November 2024 elections, whether the Republicans have a majority or a minority, theyre going to try to select the leader who can bring them home on a whole series of issues, Jillson said.

But the fallout from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is broader than just Cornyns personal aspirations. U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio is facing a difficult and bitter primary challenge this year after voting in favor of the legislation, and his support has been central to the criticism against him. Uvalde is in Gonzales district.

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A spokesperson for Gonzales did not respond to a request for comment on the new Justice Department rule.

But as Republicans and Second Amendment advocates decry the rule change, gun safety activists say it is a welcome reform that does not contradict the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Delegates boo U.S. Sen. John Cornyn after he speaks during the second day of the Republican Party of Texas Convention at George R. Brown Convention Center on Friday, June 17, 2022. Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Mark Collins, the federal policy director at the gun violence prevention group Brady, said GOP criticism of the new rule does feel rather political.

You really need some guardrails up, and theres really nothing in this rule that wouldnt be covered by the law as its written, Collins said. I think thats really the most important point to make here is that this is not some expansion of the law. This is a clarification of what this actually means for everyday Americans.

He added that some Republicans have inaccurately presented the new policy as universal background checks that would require licensing for individuals who decide to sell their personal gun to a friend or gift one to a family member. In reality, the rule change focuses on people who are regularly selling guns for profit, he said.

When it comes to this engaged in business rule, and specifically the change in the law, were going to see a lot less guns floating around that shouldnt be, Collins said. Thats a big deal for us. We want to see a lot less people getting hurt.

People attend a vigil at Memorial Park Amphitheater on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, as they remember the 21 victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting. Sam Owens/Staff photographer

Nicole Golden, the executive director of the advocacy group Texas Gun Sense, said she viewed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act as a start in the right direction to do some really important things. The legislation opened the door for the Biden administration to take additional steps on gun safety policies, she said, and the expanded background checks are a welcome reform.

In 2019, after a pair of mass shootings in El Paso and Midland-Odessa, some Republicans seemed open to closing the gun show loophole. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, one of the most conservative Republicans in Texas, infamously said he would take an arrow from the National Rifle Association to advocate for stronger background checks and end stranger-to-stranger gun sales.
Ms Hochul, who was elected governor in 2021, has previously apologised for a ham-fisted analogy of the conflict in Gaza - SGSAN

The Democrat governor of New York has been forced to apologise after suggesting that black children in the city do not know what a computer is.

In an attempt to highlight the difference between poor and rich backgrounds, Kathy Hochul suggested to the Milken Institute Global Conference in California on Monday that some children in her own state were not even aware of the devices.

Right now we have young black kids growing up in the Bronx who dont even know what the word computer is, she said. They dont know, they dont know these things.

She added: I want the world to open up to all of them, because when you have their diverse voices innovating solutions through technology, then youre really addressing societys broader challenges.

Ms Hochuls comments were condemned in her own state, forcing a speedy apology.

Amanda Septimo, a Democratic member of the New York state assembly for the south Bronx, said the comments were harmful, deeply misinformed and genuinely appalling.

Harmful stereotypes

Repeating harmful stereotypes about one of our most underserved communities, while failing to acknowledge the states consistent institutional neglect, only perpetuates systems of abuse, she said.

Karines Reyes, another Democrat assembly member for the Bronx, said her words were inartful and hurtful.

Addressing the criticism, Ms Hochul claimed she had misspoken at the conference.

Of course black children in the Bronx know what computers are  the problem is that they too often lack access to the technology needed to get on track to high-paying jobs in emerging industries like AI, she said.

Ms Hochul, who was elected governor in 2021, has previously apologised for a ham-fisted analogy of the conflict in Gaza, where she suggested she would annihilate Canada if it invaded the city of Buffalo in New York state.

Im sorry, my friends, there would be no Canada the next day, she said.

She later apologised for a poor choice of words.
Ukraines security service suggested that preparations to assassinate Zelenskiy were well under way. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Ukraine says it has foiled a Russian plot to assassinate its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and other senior officials, using a network of agents who were recruited by Vladimir Putins domestic spy agency.

The SBU state security service in Kyiv said the alleged agents had been instructed to find someone close to the presidential guard. The person would take Zelenskiy prisoner  in his office or when he left the building  and then kill him, the SBU said.

Zelenskiys murder was intended as a gift for Putin, the Russian president, who was inaugurated at the Kremlin on Tuesday for a fifth time, it added. The FSB also hatched a plan to eliminate Ukraines military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, who is a hated figure in Moscow, and the SBUs head, Vasyl Maliuk, the SBU said.

The agency said three FSB intelligence officers were behind the operation. It named them as Maxim Mishustin, Dmytro Perlin, and Aleksii Kornev, from the ninth department of the FSBs fifth service. Perlin handled a network of Ukrainian moles, recruited before Russias full-scale invasion, it added.

One of the alleged Ukrainian agents was a colonel serving in Ukraines state guard service. The colonel held several secret meetings with Kornev before 2022, which took place in a neighbouring European country, it said.

It was unclear when the plot to kill Zelenskiy was discovered, but the SBU suggested preparations were well under way. One of the Ukrainian agents received a call from his FSB handler in February 2022 and the next month was instructed to find someone working in Zelenskiys immediate entourage who might kidnap and kill him.

The FSB also instructed its network to gather information on prominent Ukrainian politicians, the SBU said. The agency released what it said was an intercepted telephone call between Perlin and one of his alleged Ukrainian contacts. The Russian spy sketched out a complicated plot to assassinate Budanov.

The operation was supposed to take place before Orthodox Easter. A spotter was to keep watch on a house used by Budanov which the Russians intended to hit with a missile strike. An agent nearby would then attack other people at the site using kamikaze drones. A second missile strike would cover up evidence of a drone attack, Perlin said, according to the intercept published by the SBU on Telegram.

The FSB officer reassured his contact in Kyiv that he would have 20 or 30 minutes to get away from the scene once visuals had been confirmed. Perlin referred to the planned missile as a big bird and the drone as a small bird. He emphasised: The order is rocket, drone, rocket.

The SBU said it recovered drones, warheads and mines from one of the arrested Ukrainian accomplices. He and other members of the alleged network face charges of treason and terrorism. The FSB promised to pay $50,000 if the business was successfully carried out, it was said.

The SBU chief, Vasyl Maliuk, was quoted as saying by his agency on Telegram: The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin for the inauguration, was indeed a failure of the Russian special services. Maliuk added: We must not forget that the enemy is strong and experienced. He cannot be underestimated.

Moscow had no immediate comment. The Kremlin declined to say anything last month when asked about the arrest in Poland of a man accused of working with Russian intelligence to prepare another possible attempt to assassinate Zelenskiy. The president said last autumn that there have been at least five Russian plots to kill him.

One intelligence source in Kyiv said it was unclear whether top officials in Moscow had authorised the plot. They suggested it may have been the result of an operation by mid-level officers, seeking to impress their bosses. Possibly they were acting on their own initiative, the source said.
The boss of P&O Ferries has admitted to paying the firms workers as little as 4.87 per hour, nearly two years on from a scandal which saw it branded pirates for laying off hundreds of staff without notice.

Peter Hebblethwaite repeatedly told MPs on the Business and Trade Committee that P&Os workers were not being exploited, while resisting calls for an independent investigation into the companys employment practices.

The chief executive, who admitted he could not live on 4.87 per hour, also revealed he earned 508,000 including a bonus of 183,000 last year.

Mr Hebblethwaite said: We are paying considerably ahead of the international minimum standard. We believe that it is right that as an international business operating in international waters, we should be governed by international law.

He added: All we want is a level playing field with our competitors.

Mr Hebblethwaites appearance before MPs came two years after P&O Ferries fired 786 of its staff and replaced them with low-paid workers who are employed by an external crewing agency.

The company fired employees without notice or union consultation, attracting widespread criticism from ministers, unions and the public.

The Insolvency Service later said it would not pursue criminal proceedings against the company, which has been owned by Dubai-based DP World since 2019.

It replaced the sacked workers with overseas agency staff, and told Parliament in 2022 its agency workers pay averaged 5.50 per hour.

Since then, an analysis of payslips conducted by the Guardian and ITV News suggested that P&O agency workers had in some cases been earning about 4.87 an hour, which Mr Hebblethwaite confirmed on Tuesday.

Committee chair Liam Byrne asked Mr Hebblethwaite: Are you basically a modern day pirate?

Mr Hebblethwaite did not respond directly to the accusation.

P&O laid off nearly 800 workers in 2022 without warning (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Mr Byrne later asked: Do you think you could live on 4.87 an hour?

Mr Hebblethwaite said: No, I couldnt.

Labour MP Charlotte Nichols repeatedly urged Mr Hebblethwaite to commit to an independent investigation into the companys employment practices, which he resisted.

He said: You can take from the retention levels that the crewing agent experiences and their ability to recruit the highest standard of international seafarers is hard evidence that people who could work anywhere in the world on any ships have chosen to work for P&O.

The UK minimum wage was 10.42 an hour at the time, and rose to 11.44 an hour in April.

But for maritime workers employed by an overseas agency, who work on ships which are foreign-registered in international waters, the rates do not apply.

The Government promised to close the loophole two years ago after the P&O Ferries job cuts.

It said earlier this year that it expects new legislation addressing the issue to become active this summer. France brought in a similar law this year.

Mr Hebblethwaite recently agreed to sign a voluntary Government Seafarers Charter which commits it to pay maritime workers at least the UK minimum wage in British waters. He said the company would sign the charter within months.

When asked whether the legal changes would result in more lay-offs and large-scale staffing changes, Mr Hebblethwaite could not give a guarantee either way.

Trades Union Congress general secretary Paul Nowak said Hebblethwaites response showed zero remorse for laying off workers.

He added: It beggars belief that P&O Ferries has faced no sanctions for its misdeeds and that its parent company DP World has continued to be awarded government contracts.

Labours shadow secretary of state for transport Louise Haigh said: Its insulting that P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite expects staff to get by on a measly 4.87 an hour, while admitting he wouldnt be able to survive on it himself.

It has now been two years since P&O Ferries illegally sacked 786 workers and replaced them with agency workers paid less than the minimum wage.

Since then little to nothing has changed  the investigation into the company has gone silent, fire and rehire is still legal, no binding measures are in place to protect seafarers, and ministers have rewarded P&O with hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money.
Accounting giants PwC and Ernst & Young have been hit with multimillion-pound fines by the sectors watchdog over their audits of failed minibonds firm London Capital and Finance (LCF).

LCF collapsed in early 2019 after it was unable to meet the payments it had promised to bondholders on high-risk, unregulated investments, owing around 237 million to nearly 12,000 people, many of them elderly.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said PwC has agreed to a 4.9 million penalty, reduced from 7 million for early settlement, for failures over its audit of the 2016 financial statements of London Capital & Finance.

PwC audit engagement partner Jessica Miller was also given a 105,000 financial sanction.

PwC and Miller admitted eight breaches, with the most significant being a failure to obtain an adequate understanding of the nature of LCFs business and the companys internal controls, and to apply sufficient professional scepticism in that regard, according to the FRC.

Ernst & Young (EY), which was responsible for auditing LC&Fs 2017 accounts, the last before it collapsed, has been fined 4.4 million, with its audit engagement partner Neil Parker paying a 47,250 sanction.

The FRC said EY and Mr Parker admitted six breaches, with failures including multiple breaches of fundamental requirements in several key areas.

Again, there was a significant failure to gain a proper understanding of LCFs business, said the FRC.

Both the EY penalties were also reduced, from an initial 7 million and 75,000 respectively, with the FRC adding that PwC and Mr Parker gave an exceptional level of co-operation worthy of being treated as a mitigating factor.

A third, smaller firm, Oliver Clive & Co, which had audited LC&Fs 2015 statements, has been sanctioned with a 42,000 penalty and a 14,000 financial sanction for its auditor Emma Benjamin.

These were reduced from 60,000 and 20,000 respectively.

Jamie Symington, deputy executive counsel at the Financial Reporting Council, said: In each of these three audits the auditors failed to identify and assess the risks of material misstatement through understanding LCFs business.

These breaches are made considerably more serious by the fact that all of the auditors knew they were auditing an expanding business which was engaged in selling unregulated financial products to retail investors, and that potential investors might place reliance on the clean audit opinions.

LCF promised high returns on investments in its bonds.

It said the funds raised, around 237 million at the time of its collapse, were being invested on bondholders behalf.

However, after it collapsed, around 11,600 people, many of them saving for retirement or already retired, were unable to get their money back.

Some were able to get payments from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), but most were not eligible, causing the Government to step in with a special fund to bail out the savers.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said last October after its own probe into the scandal that LCFs promotions presented a misleading picture which made its bonds appear a far more attractive investment than they were.

Bondholders were not told about hidden charges, and the high risk involved, the FCA said.

The FCA said LCF also used investors money to fund seemingly independent comparison websites which showed its bonds next to other investments with lower rates of return.

The Serious Fraud Office is currently investigating whether to bring fraud charges against those who ran LCF.
Students at the Queens University Belfast have staged a sit-in protest on campus calling for the removal of Hillary Clinton as chancellor.

In a statement the QUB Palestine Assembly said they want to see a democratic election process for the next chancellor.

The group is also calling for Queens to end all ties with universities in Israel, to issue a statement condemning Israels mass killing of Palestinians and deliberate destruction of Gazas educational infrastructure and offer sanctuary status to Palestinian academics and students.

Breaking news Students have just occupied the main Lanyon Building at @QUBelfast in solidarity with the Palestinian people QUB Palestine Assembly demands are below pic.twitter.com/ZOrgFjcksr  John Barry is part of UCU Rising (@ProfJohnBarry) May 7, 2024

They have also condemned terminology and some content used in the universitys deeply divided societies course around Palestine.

The group said further action will be discussed among members.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll attended the sit-in.

I think its very, very important that theyve done this, he said.

Hopefully the students can force management to act. This place, as many universities do, has a history of people standing up against oppression and these students are following their friends and fellow students in America and at Trinity (College, Dublin). I want to commend them and extend whatever solidarity I can to them.

Responding, a Queens University spokesperson said they recognise and defend the right to protest, but said it is essential that those who want to go about their business on campus can do so.

Members of the Queens University Belfast (QUB) Palestine Assembly hold a sit in in the main Lanyon building of the campus (Niall Carson/PA)

Queens University Belfast is committed to freedom of expression, the right to hold a range of views, and the promotion and protection of the right to protest, they said.

This applies to our students, academics and professional staff, and indeed the wider public.

During recent months, we have met individuals and representatives of many organisations, including trade unions, students union and many other interest groups.

We have had constructive discussions, listened to concerns and ideas, and exchanged views in an atmosphere of mutual respect, with a genuine desire to find solutions and common ground on a range of issues, and we will continue to do so.

We accept there are different views on the Middle East. Queens University is committed to freedom of thought and expression for students and staff within a framework of respect for the rights of other persons.

While we will recognise and defend the right to protest and have voices heard, in a respectful and legal way, it is essential that those who want to go about their normal business on campus can freely and safely do so without interference.
An episode of Roman Kemps breakfast show on Capital Radio broke Ofcom guidelines on offensive language when a clip of a song contained a swear word, the regulator said.

During a pre-recorded interview with guests Michael Buble and Jason Derulo, which aired at 7.30am on February 8, a musical item involving a mash-up of several of the guests songs included an expletive.

The clip, from Savage Love by Derulo, violated the broadcasting code, Ofcom ruled, saying the most offensive language was broadcast at a time when children were particularly likely to be listening.

Ofcom (Yui Mok/PA)

Global Radio Limited, the owners of Capital FM, said that during the checking of the content, the swear word complained about within the Jason Derulo song Savage Love was missed.

It said that the team responsible for checking content believed the lyric was something else entirely.

Global told Ofcom that it had not received any complaints directly about the incident and that the interview is no longer available to listen to on the stations catch-up service.

Capital Breakfast is broadcast daily on weekdays from 6am-10am across Capitals network of 11 local radio stations, as well as nationally on Capitals DAB service.

It is now hosted by Im a CelebrityGet Me Out of Here! runner up Jordan North alongside continuing co-hosts Chris Stark and Sian Welby.

Kemp left the show in February after 10 years with the station.
Small moments with my dogs are so special, but I remember feeling on top of the whole world when my parents and I adopted our very first family dog. There was nothing else that mattered besides helping my little brother adjust to his new home, and every first we experienced together was made of pure magic. He's a sweet senior boy now, but watching dog mom Katie's recent viral video brought all of those feelings flooding back.

This nurse and her husband visited an animal shelter in Phoenix, Arizona, on April 30, where they met their perfect match. This Pit Bull boy was the 'saddest dog at the shelter' before they found him, but the way he lit up after meeting them could put a smile on anyone's face.

Congratulations, sweet boy! It seems like you hit the jackpot with Katie and her husband (and a Chiweenie doggie sibling at home). This empathetic dog mom was in tears while visiting the sweet shelter dogs, and the fact that they celebrated with cheeseburgers says it all.

Related: Gentle Pit Bull Becomes Shelter's 'Greeter Dog' While Waiting for Loving Forever Home

Commenters like @taylorfordjohnson noticed "The way he lit up IMMEDIATELY," and it speaks volumes about the power of animal rescue. Showing a shelter pet a little bit of love can literally change their life, and this is the perfect proof. However, if you ask me, it seems like the dog parents' lives have changed for the better, too!

Many dogs find the shelter environment to be loud, lonely, and overstimulating. Plenty of shy rescue pets end up being outgoing and energetic once they're in a more relaxing environment where their needs are all met. Shelter staff and volunteers do their best to keep their residents entertained, but nothing is better for a dog than a safe home with a loving, attentive owner or family. Now that this precious Pit Bull is headed home, he'll be able to blossom into his true self.

Pit Bulls Wait Longer at Shelters

On the first video that Katie posted about going to the animal shelter, someone made a comment that got viewers thinking: "As someone that works in rescue thank you so much for adopting-- and a Pittie boy!" Why does it matter that he's a male Pit Bull?

Statistically, this rescue dog's demographic waits a very long time at shelters. Pit Bulls tend to have longer shelter stays than most other dog breeds, as do adult dogs (puppies are adopted quickly). However, not many people know that female dogs are adopted more often than males. This may be due to female dogs reaching maturity at a younger age or due to the role testosterone plays in some male dogs' territorial behavior.

This pup's Happily Ever After is the perfect proof that stereotypes and generalities don't determine a dog's personality. Many of the saddest, shyest, longest-waiting dogs at the shelter are the sweetest you'll ever meet!

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The UK, US and Australia have sanctioned the Russian leader of one of the worlds most prolific ransomware groups, LockBit.

As part of an ongoing international law enforcement investigation, Russian national Dmitry Khoroshev has been identified as one of the leaders of the group, which the Government says has been responsible for extorting more than one billion dollars from victims globally.

As part of the sanctions, the Foreign Office said he would now be subject to a series of asset freezes and travel bans.

According to the Government, LockBit was responsible for a quarter of ransomware attacks globally last year  including targeting more than 200 UK businesses.

In February, the National Crime Agency announced that it had infiltrated LockBits network and taken control of its services, significantly reducing the groups capacity and threat, it said.

Sanctions minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: Together with our allies we will continue to crack down on hostile cyber activity which is destroying livelihoods and businesses across the world.

 SANCTIONED: leader of worlds most prolific ransomware group. Together with our allies, we are cracking down on malicious cyber-criminal activity emanating from Russia that seeks to undermine our global integrity, prosperity and security  pic.twitter.com/5R2CuO2plu  Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) May 7, 2024

In sanctioning one of the leaders of LockBit we are taking direct action against those who continue to threaten global security, while simultaneously exposing the malicious cybercriminal activity emanating from Russia.

National Crime Agency director general, Graeme Biggar, said: These sanctions are an important moment in our fight against cybercriminals behind the LockBit ransomware group, which is now on its knees following our disruption earlier this year.

They have caused untold damage to schools, hospitals and major companies across the world, whove had to pick up the pieces following devastating cyber attacks.

Dmitry Khoroshev thought he was beyond reproach, even offering 10 million dollars to anyone who could reveal his identity, but these actions dispel that myth.

Our investigation into LockBit and its affiliates continues and, working with our international partners, well do everything we can to undermine their operations and protect the public.

The announcement comes following the revelation that the UKs Ministry of Defence (MoD) had been targeted in a cyber attack, which saw a third-party payroll system hacked, potentially compromising the bank details of service personnel and veterans, with speculation the attack had been carried out by China.
University leaders must take robust action to ensure Jewish students are not harassed, Downing Street has urged as students have set up encampments on campuses to protest against the war in Gaza.

The Prime Minister has summoned vice-chancellors to a meeting this week to discuss antisemitism on campuses and ensuring Jewish students are safe.

Students at Cambridge and Oxford universities are among the latest protesters to launch camps against the war in Gaza on university campuses.

Rishi Sunak opened Tuesdays Cabinet meeting by saying there had been an unacceptable rise in antisemitism on our university campuses and vice-chancellors would be meeting to discuss the need for our universities to be safe for our Jewish students, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said.

Students marching through Cambridge (Joe Giddens/PA)

He said: Our university campuses should be places of rigorous debate, but they should also be tolerant places where people of all communities, particularly Jewish students at this time, are treated with respect.

Protesters have set up tents outside universities across the UK, including Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle, after unrest at similar sites in the US.

Asked what the Prime Ministers message was to students involved in the protests, the spokesman said: The right to free speech does not include the right to harass people or incite violence.

We expect university leaders to take robust action in dealing with that kind of behaviour and that will be the subject of the conversation in No 10 later this week to ensure a zero-tolerance approach to this sort of behaviour is adopted on all campuses.

Pressed on whether police should be called in to clear protest camps, the spokesman said: We want to see university leaders taking a robust approach to unacceptable behaviour.

More than 100 people attended a demonstration outside Kings College, Cambridge, on Tuesday  where a protester with a megaphone by the encampment led a chant of From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

Protesters with Palestine flags and placards marched from the encampment to deliver their demands to the University of Cambridge.

A Cambridge student, who did not wish to be named, described herself as part of a global collective which is a struggle for Palestinian liberation.

The student said the protesters were demanding that the university disclose all of its research collaborations and financial ties with companies and institutions complicit in Israels genocide and then to divest from these.

We will be staying here until our demands are met, she said.

Students from the University College London (UCL) took part in a rally outside Downing Street on Tuesday to protest against the war in Gaza.

More pro-Palestinian protests are likely to be held on university campuses in the upcoming days, organisers have suggested.

Stella Swain, youth and student campaigns officer at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), told the PA news agency: I would anticipate students being inspired by what theyve seen, and more and more springing up over the next week or so.

When asked about concerns about antisemitism, Ms Swain added: Every single encampment that I have spoken to has a complete zero tolerance policy for all forms of racism.

Id say the encampments are completely safe for Jewish students.

But the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) has said previously that the protests create a hostile and toxic atmosphere on campus for Jewish students.

Edward Isaacs, president of the UJS, said: As the encampment protests expand across several campuses, including at Oxford and Cambridge, it is deeply concerning to see the increasingly hateful language emanating from these protests.

He added: University inaction against such rhetoric only serves to alienate Jewish students from campus, they must act to safeguard Jewish life on campus.

A spokesperson for Universities UK (UUK) said: Universities are monitoring the small number of encampments which have appeared on UK campuses.

Universities work hard to strike the right balance between ensuring the safety of all students and staff, preventing harassment, and supporting peaceful and legitimate protests on campus.

Mature dialogue between students and universities on site has so far limited any significant escalation.

Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Chicago on Tuesday amid tensions on US campuses over the war in Gaza.

Students at an encampment on the grounds of Cambridge University, protesting against the war in Gaza (Joe Giddens/PA)

An University and College Union (UCU) spokesperson said: It has been shocking to witness militarised police forces invited onto campuses in the United States to violently shut down peaceful dissent.

As peaceful encampments and occupations spread across Britain, we call on vice-chancellors to take a different approach.

We are clear that antisemitism and Islamophobia have no place on our campuses or in our society, but freedom of speech and freedom of assembly within the law are fundamental human rights and civil liberties which must be upheld.

An University of Cambridge spokesperson said: The university is fully committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law and we acknowledge the right to protest.

We ask everyone in our community to treat each other with understanding and empathy. Our priority is the safety of all staff and students.

We will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia and any other form of racial or religious hatred, or other unlawful activity.
Whipsnade Zoo has welcomed the birth of a camel calf for the first time in eight years.

The fluffy baby camel, named Sally, was born to 12-year-old mum Izzy and four-year-old dad Oakley in the early hours of April 11, after a 13-month pregnancy at the Bedfordshire zoo.

Whipsnade camel keeper George Spooner said: Despite their reputation for being grumpy, camels are actually very patient, nurturing parents and its been great for us to see first-time mum Izzy attentively caring for her newborn daughter.

Mr Spooner explained that the baby camel began walking within hours of being born.

The baby camel began walking within hours of being born (Whipsnade Zoo/PA)

Sally has very long, gangly legs which shes still getting to grips with. Visitors can spot her following her mum and dad around her vast paddock, getting to know her family, he said.

Whipsnade Zoos domestic Bactrian camels act as an ambassador species for their critically endangered cousins, the wild camel, in Mongolia and China.

There are only 950 wild camels left in the deserts of Mongolia and China today, due to hunting, water scarcity and predation by the grey wolf, Mr Spooner said.

The conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) behind Whipsnade Zoo is working to protect Mongolias wildlife, including in the Gobi Desert, where it is believed there are only 450 wild camels, the zoo said.

ZSL is closely involved in the wild camel project, working with conservation partners to contribute towards scientific evidence which will inform a management plan for these critically endangered animals, Mr Spooner said.

Baby Sally and the herd of camels can be found along the Passage Through Asia at Whipsnade Zoo.
A Missouri man allegedly admitted to killing his wife in her hospital bed because he couldn't afford to care for her, according to authorities.

According to court records filed Saturday, Ronnie Wiggs told police he smothered his wife, who had come to the hospital for a new port for dialysis. Wiggs now faces 2nd-degree murder charges.

He said he choked her and covered her nose and mouth to keep her from screaming.

"I did it, I killed her, I choked her," medical staff said Wiggs said.

The victim's son was at the hospital at the time of the killing after giving Wiggs a ride there.

After he was arrested, an affidavit stated that Wiggs admitted that he had tried to kill his wife two other times.

One time allegedly took place when she was at a rehabilitation facility for her medical issues. He said he tried to choke her but could not follow through with it.

He told police that she had woken up and told him not to do it again.

The Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker says Wiggs told police he was "depressed" and "could not take care of her anymore and he could not pay the medical bills that had been acquired."

Wiggs is being held on a $250,000 bond.
A dog owner is battling the Georgia kennel where he claims his dog picked up a case of parasites and allegedly got pregnant by another pup. Steven Schild claims that he sent his Goldendoodle, Nala, to stay at the Savage River Kennels in Chickamauga, Georgia and she came home with an unwelcomed surprise.

Schilds first sent 10-month-old Nala to the kennel for behavior training.

The Doodle dad was hoping that Nala would return leash trained and to have better manners, WFLA reports. Schilds was referred to Savage River by another parent at his daughter's school.

Related: Goldendoodle Eats $4K Worth of Familys Cash and the Outcome Is Priceless

The trip should've been easy enough. Nala was boarded at the facility from January 31 through February 26. Schilds first noticed something was off because the dog had diarrhea for nearly two weeks.

"We thought that the first day or two it was maybe due to the anxiety from being away but after about a week of it, I mentioned to my wife that something wasnt normal so we made a vet appointment," he explained to the news outlet.

It was at that appointment that Nala's veterinarian diagnosed her with Giardia, a parasite that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention states is caused by infected feces. Anything that comes in contact with the feces can contract the illness, causing diarrhea, gas, abdominal discomfort, nausea, and vomiting.

A few weeks later, Schild was in for another surprise  the Goldendoodle was pregnant. It was two weeks before she gave birth to her seven puppies that the dog owner saw physical changes in his dogs and then felt the puppies moving in her stomach. Nala gave birth on April 17.

Speaking with Fox Nashville, Schild said there was no signs that Nala was in heat before they sent her to the facility.

"We feel that there was not the supervision that she says that there is there at the place," he told them, speaking of Savage River's owner.

The kennel has said it's not responsible for any pregnancies that happen on their premises. The Schilds signed a contract which said the company will not be held responsible for any costs involved with the pregnancy either. Schild told WFLA that he spent over $2,000 training his dog and has yet to receive a refund from the company.

In another astonishing update, Jason Smith, an employee of the Georgia Department of Agriculture, told Fox Nashville the kennel does not currently have a current kennel license either, but continues to market and advertise their services. They did have a license in the past but it has lapsed. It's unclear if any legal charges can be served but an investigation could be possible if a formal complaint is lodged.

As of this reporting, Schild said he will seek legal advice for his predicament. It's unclear if he's obtained a lawyer.

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Free-flowing champagne, 24-karat gold facials, and a VVIP cabana with a suspended plunge pool: these are just some of the ultra-luxury experiences at one of the Middle Easts most opulent resorts.

Atlantis, The Royal, opened in Dubai last year, next to the brands flagship resort on The Palm. Its three-day opening party  featuring performances from Beyonce and Swedish House Mafia  put the hotel on the map as one of the regions most iconic resorts, and nine months later it became the only hotel in the Middle East to snag a spot on the inaugural Worlds 50 Best Hotels list.

The guest rooms and suites are truly setting the bar for the industry, but beyond that, theres also the collection of restaurants: its a great location for entertainment and dining, says Tom Roelens, general manager at The Royal and managing director at Atlantis Resorts.

90 swimming pools

Atlantis, The Royal, isnt a resort to do things by halves  evidenced in its 90 bathing spots, ranging from a 300-foot-long (91-meter) sky pool to private cabana plunge baths.

CNN visited the hotel in March, before devastating floods hit the city in April.

The resorts must-see venue is Cloud 22, the infinity pool on the 22nd floor. Its floating sun loungers shaded by Dolce&Gabbana parasols offer sweeping views of the iconic man-made Palm islands, with cocktails and light bites (caviar bruschetta, anyone?) available at the swim-up lotus bar. Theres a second lap pool overlooking the Arabian Gulf, and the deck is lined with private cabanas.

The VVIP Cabana on the Cloud 22 pooldeck overlooks the Arabian Gulf, with a glass plunge pool suspended from the second floor. - Rebecca Cairns / CNN

But when private isnt enough, theres the VVIP duplex pool cabana; used by Kendall Jenner for the launch party of her tequila brand, the luxe pool pad has two lounge areas for entertaining and its very own glass-bottomed dipping pool, suspended from the second floor.

In the resorts sky pool villas and signature suites, guests also have access to pools on their private terrace, up to 43 floors high, says Roelens.

Weve taken the concept of a resort, which typically would be horizontal, but weve made that vertical, adds Roelens. That really creates a very unique experience, where you have these exceptional views across The Palm and skyline of Dubai, but at the same time, you have great privacy.

Pools arent the only water feature in this hotel.

The interior designers dip into the regions history, taking inspiration from the Bedouin, the nomadic people who originally inhabited the Arabian desert and navigated via water wells.

The theme is neatly summarized in Droplets: a 37-foot-tall (11.3-meter) stainless-steel structure in the lobby that represents the first drop of rain in the desert.

The theme of water is repeated throughout the resort, from glass elevators encased in 3,500 gallons of cascading water, to three floor-to-ceiling aquariums filled with 7,200 marine animals.

Atlantis Royal Dubai, March 2024. - Rebecca Cairns / CNN

Gilded glamour

The hotels 795 rooms boast designer amenities from diamond jeweler Graff, bathrobes by Italian luxury textile brand Frette, and specially designed gold toothbrushes, combs and brushes.

Guests with access to the Royal Club can take advantage of all-day champagne service, daily afternoon tea and canapes, although theres no shortage of places to eat here.

The resort has 17 dining options, including the largest collection of celebrity chef restaurants anywhere on the planet, says Roelens. And venues like Nobu Beach Club  the luxury hospitality brands first, and currently only, beach club venue  are helping establish the resorts reputation as somewhere they want to see and be seen, adds Roelens.

For a bit of rest and relaxation, its 32,300 square-foot (3,000-square-meter) spa offers not only a gold facial (this is Dubai, after all) but also a golden hour massage  gold-dipped hot volcanic stones with gold-infused aromatherapy oil  along with therapies grounded in Arabic wellness traditions: desert sand and date sugar exfoliations, and Gulf salt and date seed scrubs.

The Royal Mansion penthouse suite has designer amenities made by French fashion house Hermes, as well as bespoke gold toothbrushes, combs, and brushes. - Atlantis, The Royal

A penthouse fit for a Queen (B)

For the ultra-rich, the star of the show is the Royal Mansion, an 11,840-square-foot (1,100-square-meter) four-bedroom, split-level suite  where Beyonce and Jay Z stayed when the superstar performed for the opening.

Accessed via a private elevator and entrance landscaped with 100-year-old olive trees the resort adopted, the duplex offers 360-degree views across the Palm and the Gulf, says Roelens. With its own infinity pool, amenities by French fashion house Hermes, a triple-height library, a home-cinema room, and three dining spaces, guests are given a unique experience here, he says.

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We have added some great touches backgammon games by (crystalware designers) Baccarat, and a Louis Vuitton ping pong table, so there are some really fun elements to that suite as well, he adds.

The stunning interiors are complemented by five-star service: guests are met at the airport where their luggage is picked up by staff, and designer brands  from Graff to Valentino  are brought into the suite for a personal shopping experience. Chefs from any of the resorts restaurants, including its celebrity venues, can cook for guests in the suites private kitchen, and 24-hour butlers and bartenders are on-call for any occasion.

Ultimately, its about the service: its about our endeavor to create what our guests are looking for, whether or not they know they are looking for that, says Roelens.

The Sky Blaze fountain combines 1,200 lights with pyrotechnics and dancing water jets. - Atlantis, The Royal

A taste of luxury

With room rates starting from around $1,300 a night during high season  and from $100,000 for its most exclusive penthouse, one of the citys most expensive suites  the high-life comes with a hefty price tag.

But there are more accessible ways to enjoy the resort, says Roelens: the Sky Blaze fountain, for example, located in the resorts expansive grounds, puts on a dramatic show every hour from 12pm daily.

The fountain is overlooked by Elements Lounge, a terrace bar serving up sunset cocktails, and Estiatorio Milos by Costas Spiliadis, a Greek restaurant with extensive outdoor seating. The business lunch menu at the latter costs just 200 dirhams ($55)  not a bad price for fountain-side dining at the Middle Easts best resort.

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A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 95 men and women who claim they were sexually abused while housed at youth centers throughout Illinois.

The complaint accuses the state of Illinois, the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) of failing to protect the plaintiffs from adult employees sexually abusing them.

"The state of Illinois has caused and permitted a culture of sexual abuse to flourish unabated in its IYC facilities," the complaint says. "Upon information and belief, the State of Illinois is aware (and has for decades been aware) that the conditions identified above as connected to sexual abuse and conditions of juvenile detention facilities were and are endemic to all IYC facilities"

The 95 plaintiffs were housed at Illinois youth centers in Chicago, Murphysboro, Valley View, Joliet, Kewanee, Warrenville, St. Charles, Pere Marquette, and Harrisburg, according to the suit filed in the Illinois Court of Claims. The plaintiffs, who are now adults, all suffered the alleged sexual abuse from 1996 to 2017 when they were between the ages of 12 and 17 years old.

USA TODAY reached out to the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Illinois Attorney General's office for comment but did not receive a response.

Pictures is the symbol of law and justice in the empty courtroom.

Youth center staff sexually abused the plaintiffs, complaint says

The sexual abusers were correctional officers, counselors, supervisors, sergeants, nurses, therapists, a chaplain and other Illinois youth center staff, the complaint alleges. Multiple plaintiffs alleged "severe abuse" by the same abusers, the suit continued.

"The very people that were entrusted with keeping our clients safe when they were children at these youth centers, were the ones that were perpetrating the sexual abuse," Jerome Block, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told USA TODAY on Tuesday during an interview. "This is long-term institutionalized sexual abuse that took place for more than 20 years."

Block said many of his clients were raped and forced to perform oral sex and other sexual acts.

"All of our clients were sexually assaulted in one way or another," the attorney said. "Many of our clients reported the sexual abuse and nothing was done. Our clients were often threatened or incentivized with contraband, such as cigarettes or other privileges... Overall this shows that the Illinois juvenile justice system is broken."

In June 2013, the Department of Justice's National Survey of Youth in Custody reported Illinois "was among the four worst states in the nation for sexual abuse in juvenile detention facilities," according to the complaint.

Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice 'aware of the lawsuit'

In a statement emailed to USA TODAY, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice said it is aware of the lawsuit "related to allegations under prior administrations."

"Although the Department is unable to comment on active litigation, IDJJ takes seriously the safety of youth in the care of the Department," the statement read.

"All allegations of staff misconduct are immediately and thoroughly investigated in partnership with the Department of Corrections, the Illinois State Police and the Department of Children and Family Services," the statement continued.

The IDJJ has also "enacted policies and protocols to ensure the safety of youth and staff and identify any possible instances of misconduct," according to the statement.

"IDJJ protocols comply with both state and federal safety standards and IDJJ completes ongoing policy and protocol evaluations," the statement said. "All staff working in IDJJ facilities undergo background checks and training, along with participating in ongoing professional development."

'They're able to stand together'

Block said he and his co-counsel are preparing for additional complaints as they represent hundreds of people who were sexually abused at Illinois youth centers. The 95 women and men are a part of the first complaint, but the attorney said additional groups of plaintiffs will be filing suits in the coming months.

"It's my privilege and honor to support our clients through this process," Block said. "Many of them have held this trauma inside all of their lives."

All the plaintiffs "feel empowered" since they're able to seek some form of accountability, according to Block.

"They're able to stand together with other people who suffered similar sexual abuse after really living alone with this much of their lives," the attorney said.

Each plaintiff is demanding individual judgments of $2 million, which is the "jurisdictional maximum," the complaint says.

Correction: The original photo previously attached to the story is of the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, Illinois. This facility is not a part of the lawsuit filed by the 95 men and women accusing Illinois youth centers of not preventing sexual abuse.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Illinois sued by 95 men, women alleging sex abuse at youth centers
Palestinian civilians told to evacuate eastern Rafah by the Israeli military have described their fear and despair at being uprooted from their homes and shelters, as Israel airstrikes hit Gazas southernmost city.

There were hopes that the Rafah offensive would not go ahead after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal on Monday, but those were quickly dashed after Israel said the terms were far from Israels necessary requirements and it would continue in order to exert military pressure on the militant group.

By Tuesday morning, Israeli airstrikes on Rafah had killed 23 people, including six children, according to hospital officials in southern Gaza.

The Israeli military said it had operational control of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, a vital entry point to transport desperately needed aid into the enclave from its southern border with Egypt.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said on Tuesday the military was undertaking a precise counterterrorism operation to eliminate Hamas terrorists and dismantle Hamas terrorist infrastructure within specific areas in eastern Rafah.

Hamas said the Israeli militarys move on Rafah constituted a humanitarian catastrophe that posed a direct threat to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.

People fleeing the area have told of terrifying experiences while recounting their past 24 hours to CNN, after the Israeli military ordered an estimated 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate immediately on Monday. Residents were told to move to Al-Mawasi, a coastal town near the city of Khan Younis that aid groups say is not suitable for habitation.

One man, Rabee Gharableh, told CNN that it was his familys seventh displacement. The situation is very difficult we left in fear, as civilian houses were being targeted, people we know. The shelling was arbitrary and random last night, he said.

Another woman, who did not share her name, said she fled from death with her children. She said her family has been displaced over 10 times since the war broke out and had endured much suffering and humiliation.

The current war began on October 7 when Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel and took more than 200 people hostage.

In the almost seven months since, Israels military bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 34,600 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and driven more than 1 million Palestinians to seek refuge in Rafah, a city that the medical NGO Medicines San Frontieres said was absent of the necessary conditions for survival.

A displaced Palestinian, who fled Rafah after the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of civilians, sits on a vehicle, in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on May 6, 2024. - Ramadan Abed

CNN witnessed people in eastern Rafah in a state of panic following Israels evacuation announcement, which sparked a flurry of appeals from world leaders, the United Nations, and humanitarian groups urging Israel not to carry out its long-threatened assault.

The move was described as inhumane by United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk and beyond alarming by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Faisal Barbakh, who fled on his bicycle, said he is leaving a lifetime of memories behind for the unknown.

Im carrying all of my life here. My family is torn in seven places. I feel its the end of life. I cant think anymore. I left 59 years of life behind, all of my memories, my childrens pictures, the contract of my house.

Video footage shows families arriving to the beach road of Deir el Balah, which is further north than the IDF-outlined humanitarian area, on overloaded trucks, donkey carts and cars. Their vehicles were piled with mattresses and personal belongings, as other people started setting up tents.

Many of those leaving eastern Rafah have been previously displaced multiple times as Israels focus has moved from city to city.

This is the fourth time Im being displaced. From Nuseirat to Khan Younis, then to Rafah, and now another one. I dont know where I am heading, one man told CNN.

Displaced Palestinians fleeing Rafah after the Israeli military told civilians to leave the eastern parts of the southern Gazan city, May 6, 2024. - Ramadan Abed/Reuters

Israel takes operational control of crossing

After the Israeli military stormed the Rafah crossing, Palestinian flags were replaced with Israeli flags, which according to photos on social media, could be seen mounted outside the main building.

IDF spokesperson Shoshani said intelligence indicated that the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing was being used for terrorist purposes.

The border crossing has been a key humanitarian aid portal, with as many as 300 trucks entering the strip through it each day, according to an announcement from Egypt last month.

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesperson for the General Authority of Border and Crossing, told CNN that all movement and aid shipments through Rafah had stopped after Israeli tanks captured the crossing facilities from the Palestinian side.

Gazas Ministry of Interior and National Security warned that Rafahs closure exacerbates the humanitarian crisis and represents a policy of collective punishment against more than 2 million people.

The ministry described the crossing as a main lifeline for citizens in the Gaza strip which does not represent any threat to the Israeli occupation.

This photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows a tank with an Israel flag on it entering the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday. - IDF/AP

Aid groups quickly expressed concern that the Israeli operation there could bring humanitarian relief efforts across the Gaza Strip to a standstill.

Continued interruption of the entry of aid and fuel supplies at the Rafah crossing will halt the critical humanitarian response across the Gaza Strip, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on X.

It added that the catastrophic hunger faced by people especially in northern Gaza will get much worse if these supply routes are interrupted.

CNN has reached out to the IDF and COGAT on this and asked about any plans to keep aid getting into Gaza.

In recent months, Israeli strikes have further deteriorated conditions for those living and sheltering in the city, including an estimated 600,000 children. Malnutrition is rapidly spreading and medical facilities are rendered ineffective by the Israeli authorities siege, Medicines San Frontieres said.

Two boys, Malek and Yousef, were making their own way of Rafah out on bicycles Monday, clinging to their bags. We are running away from the Israelis. They warned us and ordered us to evacuate the eastern area. I have my clothes and food in the bag. We are going to our grandparents house, one said.

No safe zones in Gaza, EUs top diplomat says

There has been a chorus of condemnation over the situation facing many in Rafah and other places in the strip after Israel ignored international calls against proceeding with the operation.

The European Unions foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Tuesday that there were no safe zones in Gaza after criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He added that he was afraid the offensive would lead to many civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, fuel shortages in Rafah have prevented people from fleeing and reaching the Israeli-designated expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, Suze van Meegen, the NRC head of operations in Palestine told CNN by phone from Rafah on Tuesday.

A Palestinian youth carries a child as he walks through rubble in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan district on Tuesday. - AFP/Getty Images

Several people in Rafah told CNN that they didnt know where to go. One man, Odeh Asaliyeh, said death is more dignified than this and that he prays to get hit and find rest from all of this. I dont know where to head to there is no safe place in all of Gaza Asaliyeh added.

Alaa Abu Ramadan said her family had been waiting for daylight to leave. We dont know what to do. We are going into the unknown, Ramadan said.

For those that are able to travel the many kilometers to Al-Mawasi, the coastal town near Khan Younis, they arrive to find it already crowded with displaced people, some of the new arrivals appearing confused and disorientated. The streets were packed with trucks and donkey carts, surrounded by huge piles of garbage.

I came here from Rafah and didnt find any place to stay. People even say we should leave (here). I swear, I dont know where to go. They distributed leaflets, and people panicked and started running away, said Mohammad Abu Khamash.

UNRWA previously warned that Al-Mawasi is not appropriate for habitation.

Its really not somewhere thats quite suitable for people to put up tents and to be able to sit and try to live and meet their basic necessities every day, Scott Anderson, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, told CNN Monday.

Palestinians inspect a house damaged in an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. - Hatem Khaled/Reuters

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNNs Eve Brennan, Mia Alberti, Magdi Abdelhadi, Richard Roth, Sarah El Sirgany, Jomana Karadsheh, Louis Mian, Ibrahim Dahman, Michael Schwartz and Martin Goillandeau contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Americans are addicted to caffeine but not to Starbucks, it seems.

When Chicago writer Natalia Nebel steps out for an espresso, for instance, Starbucks no longer comes to mind, even though she lives within walking distance to two of the coffee chain's more than 17,000 U.S. stores.

"I used to go all the time and now I don't go anymore," said Nebel, 61, recalling her pre-COVID routine of setting up shop four days a week at a local Starbucks, finding it an enjoyable change of scenery and a comfortable spot to work. "I liked being around people in a different setting," Nebel told CBS MoneyWatch.

But Starbucks' appeal for Nebel faded along with the pandemic. "Once I stopped going, I didn't really miss it," she said, noting that she prefers the ambiance of the independent cafes in her Lincoln Park neighborhood.

"The whole concept got old. Starbucks started really feeling like corporate America in a way it hadn't before," she added.

Delaware resident Troy Turner also sees benefits to brewing at home, saying it's relatively easy, quick and far less expensive to make "significantly better coffee than anything you'd get at Starbucks."

The home barista community has gained traction online, with tutorials available on making coffee, noted Turner, 29, a leave and disability examiner who lives in Dover.

"A few years ago, when I was first getting into coffee, I was on the fence about Starbucks versus Dunkin' Donuts, but I quickly got out of attending both places," said Turner, a self-described coffee enthusiast.

Rare drop in sales

Nebel and Turner are not alone in forging a life without Starbucks, at least if the company's latest earnings report is any guide.

The biggest coffee chain on the planet is losing ground with people around the globe, its first drop in quarterly revenue since 2020 recently showed. The slowdown in store traffic was particularly acute in the U.S., with same-store sales down 3% in the January through March period from a year ago.

Budget-conscious consumers are shelling out less on quick-service offerings, and that includes Starbucks, according to CEO Laxman Narasimhan.

"We continue to feel the impact of a more cautious consumer," he said on an earnings call last week.

"Many customers have been more exacting about where and how they choose to spend their money, particularly with stimulus savings mostly spent," Narasimhan said. "We saw this materialize over the quarter as customers made the trade-offs, but being food away from home and food at home."

The company's plan to turn things around includes updating its app and mobile payment offerings, speeding up service, and overhauling its menu to lure customers back, he said.

"The consumer is starting to feel the bite of tighter finances, and Starbucks is one of those indulgent luxuries that people can easily cut out," said Neal Saunders, managing director, retail, at GlobalData.

Schultz calls for "maniacal focus"

The financial setback last quarter also prompted some unsolicited advice from former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who led the company for decades as it expanded around the globe.

"The stores require a maniacal focus on the customer experience, through the eyes of a merchant. The answer does not lie in data, but in the stores," Schultz wrote on his LinkedIn account on Monday. Starbucks should revamp its mobile ordering and payment app to "once again make it the uplifting experience it was designed to be," suggested Schultz, who finished his third stint as CEO early last year but remains one of the company's biggest shareholders.

According to Schultz, Starbucks will recover, but it's "clearly not business as usual."

"We always appreciate Howard's perspective. The challenges and opportunities he highlights are the ones we are focused on. And like Howard, we are confident in Starbucks long-term success," a Starbucks spokesperson said in response to Schultz's remarks.

The "customer experience flags in a world where seamless mobile/digital ordering and throughput are emphasized," Sean Dunlop, an analyst at MorningStar, said. "If baristas are constantly operating at 100% capacity, it's challenging to snap out of that and ensure that a customer's having a really unique experience  they simply don't have the bandwidth," Dunlop said.

If one looks at the long history of Starbucks, the brand in its early days was very much an experiential occasion, with consumers "going in, ordering a beverage just the way they wanted it and having a nice interaction with the barista, a nice feel-good experience," said David Tarantino, an analyst at Robert W. Baird. "One of the downsides of mobile ordering is it becomes very transactional."

Labor strike turns off some customers

Both Nebel and Turner mentioned Starbucks' strife with employees as another reason they choose not to patronize the business, although most analysts downplayed the issue.

From Nebel's perspective, a Starbucks cafe in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood that used to bustle with energy and people now has fewer patrons and a downbeat atmosphere. "I don't know that the employees seem that happy there, and maybe you pick up on it, too," she said.

Starbucks and the union organizing its workers are currently in contract negotiations after a protracted battle that has the Supreme Court hearing its case challenging the authority of the National Labor Relations Board.

"It's not implausible to surmise that the occasional consumer or a consumer with less affinity for Starbucks in general might shift a couple of visits, at the margin, away from the brand if they found labor practices particularly distasteful," said Dunlop at MorningStar. "The great irony there, of course, is that Starbucks offers one of the best employee value propositions (wages and benefits) in the restaurant industry, so they're being punished for labor practices that most folks partake in."

Meanwhile, headlines about Starbucks employees not being allowed to wear Black Lives Matter attire tarnished the brand for Morgan Bissett-Tessier, a 31-year-old law school student and part-time school administrator in New York. The Brooklyn resident now avoids Starbucks despite the company reversing its dress code policy on BLM.

Starbucks "was never a regular thing for me because it was expensive, so it was a treat," Bissett-Tessier said. "Now it doesn't feel worth it."

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WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden denounced a wave of antisemitic incidents that have broken out since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, assuring Jewish-Americans in a speech Tuesday that they shouldnt feel isolated and alone as they face down bigotry.

The president also used the address to reaffirm his unswerving commitment to Israel, though he hinted at disagreements with Israeli government leaders whose offensive in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of civilians.

My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, to the security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, he said. Even when we disagree."

Speaking at the U.S. Capitol, Biden gave the keynote address for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museums annual commemoration of Germanys attempt to annihilate European Jews during World War II.

He drew a parallel between the Holocaust and Hamas' surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that killed 1,200 people. Both, he said, were "driven by the ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the earth."

Biden spoke with particular conviction as he condemned the violent protests that have played out across college campuses over the war, leaving many Jewish students fearful of attending class.

Voice rising as he talked, the president said, To the Jewish community, I want you to know: I see your fear, your hurt, your pain. Let me reassure you, as your president youre not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will.

Underscoring the oddities of the 2024 presidential race, Biden appeared at the same time the presumptive GOP nominee, Donald Trump, sat in a New York City courtroom and listened to the latest witness in his criminal trial: adult film star Stormy Daniels.

American politics has long been filled with so-called split-screen moments. But this one might rank as the starkest, with Biden talking solemnly about one of the darkest episodes in human history as Daniels recounted having sex with Trump in his hotel room in 2006.

Biden used the speech to define the limits of acceptable campus protest. While students have a distinct right to protest peacefully, theyre not free to harass and intimidate Jewish students with whom they may disagree, he said.

He rattled off ways that campus protesters have abused their freedoms, forcing frightened Jewish students to hide their Jewish stars beneath their shirts.

There is no place on any campus in America, or any place in America, for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind, Biden said.

Weve seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world, he added. On college campuses, he said, Jewish students have been blocked, harassed and attacked while walking to class.

The Biden administration says it has worked aggressively to combat antisemitism. Last year, the White House released a National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism that outlines more than 100 actions the administration has taken and continues to take to fight antisemitism in the U.S. The strategy involves actions by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to strengthen security for Jewish institutions, along with actions by the Department of Education to combat antisemitism.

In the months following Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Biden secured $400 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program through a supplemental spending bill that passed in February, which provides funding for security improvements and training to nonprofits and houses of worship, especially Jewish institutions.

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced additional actions by the Departments of Education, Homeland Security and State in an effort to counter antisemitism.

The Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights issued new guidance to school districts and colleges that provides examples of antisemitism discrimination and other forms of hate that could prompt investigations into civil rights violations.

Yet the department has faced criticism from both parties that it has been lax in investigating reports of campus antisemitism. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D.-N.J., sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona last month objecting to the pace of the department's investigations under Title VI of the 1964 civil rights act.

While the evidence is often clear and convincing, many Title VI investigations have remained unresolved for months, and even years, Gottheimer wrote.

Testifying before the House Education Committee on Tuesday, Cardona said he would consider revoking federal funds from schools that fail to protect students from antisemitic acts.

"If a school openly refuses to adhere to Title VI, revoking funds is something that I can do and I would do," Cardona said.

DHS plans to work with interagency partners to create an online campus safety resources guide and provide assistance to campuses through an accessible website. It will also develop best practices for community-based violence and terrorism prevention.

The Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism at the Department of State will gather and consult with technology firms to formulate best practices to counter antisemitic content found online.

CORRECTION (May 7, 2024, 2:18 p.m. ET): Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article misstated where Biden gave his speech. It was at the Capitol, not the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
As AccuWeather meteorologists correctly forecasted, another dangerous outbreak of severe weather, including strong and long-track tornadoes, unfolded through Monday night.

AccuWeather meteorologists first raised the potential of severe weather for this stretch of May back in April and have been raising the severe weather threat level since early last week. An 'extreme' risk of severe weather, including tornadoes, was issued by AccuWeather Monday morning, which is rare and reserved for the most dangerous events.

The extreme classification implies the risk of multiple dangerous, strong, long-track tornadoes.

On Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service issued a "potentially dangerous situation (PDS)" watch area because of the seriousness of the event.

A tornado near Interstate 80 in Lincoln, Nebraska, on April 26, 2024. (Nebraska Department of Transportation)

This dangerous weather will kick off another multi-day episode of severe storms that will expand east to also include parts of the Midwest, East, and South through the rest of the week. After that, a change in the weather pattern will bring a much-needed break in the stormy weather for the nation's heartland.

Following a relative lull in severe weather over the weekend, the same storm that brought heavy rain, mountain snow and gusty winds to the West will emerge in the Plains. It was this system, combined with a warm and humid air mass, that sparked the tornadic thunderstorms to start the week, say AccuWeather meteorologists.

Thunderstorms rapidly erupted from west-central Kansas to central Nebraska, western South Dakota, and southeastern Montana on Monday afternoon.

Severe thunderstorms then raced across these states, while thunderstorms quickly developed in west-central Oklahoma, through Monday night, producing over 200 reports of hail, damaging wind gusts and tornadoes. A strong tornado moved through the towns of Barnsdall and Bartlesville, Oklahoma Monday evening, causing significant damage and leading to at least one casualty, according to the Osage County Sheriff's Office.

As of early Tuesday morning, over 50,000 customers were without power in Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas as a line of severe thunderstorms moved through the states.

Monday's extreme risk was the first issued by AccuWeather since April 4, 2023. In addition to April 4, the only other extreme risk in 2023 was a few days earlier on March 31.

GET THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

This region has been no stranger to severe weather lately, with more than 100 confirmed tornadoes, some deadly, and over 1,000 incidents of severe weather reported since April 25. That tally is sure to grow in the coming days.

By Tuesday and Tuesday night, while the severe weather and tornado threat will shift largely out of the central Plains, it will impact millions more from Arkansas to Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and western Pennsylvania, including in the metropolitan areas of Chicago and Indianapolis.

"The Tuesday morning commute is likely to be a slow one as a line of thunderstorms roars through areas from St. Louis to Fort Smith, Arkansas," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tyler Roys. "Chicagoland should also get in on these potentially strong storms in the morning."

There are some questions about how primed the atmosphere will be for storms later in the day, farther south and east on Tuesday, thus leading to lower risk categories for severe weather. Despite that, thunderstorms are still expected to develop again later in the day after some daytime heating provides fuel for the atmosphere.

The zone at moderate risk from severe thunderstorms, including several tornadoes, stretches outward from much of Indiana to southeastern Illinois, western Ohio and western and central Kentucky on Tuesday afternoon and evening.

The risk for severe thunderstorms will not abate after Tuesday. AccuWeather meteorologists say that dozens more states will be threatened by storms during the mid- and late-week periods. New injections of atmospheric energy will be responsible for maintaining this threat through at least Friday, extending all the way to the East Coast.

"A more potent day of severe weather is anticipated on Wednesday as an area of low pressure develops across the eastern Plains into Missouri," said Roys. "Widespread severe thunderstorm activity, including the risk of flash flooding, damaging winds, hail and tornadoes, can occur from northeastern Texas to the Ohio Valley."

Included in the risk area on Wednesday will be many of the same areas that were under at least 'some' risk for severe weather on Tuesday. Additionally, AccuWeather meteorologists have increased the risk for severe weather on Wednesday to 'high' across southern Illinois, southern Indiana, western Kentucky, southeastern Missouri and far northwestern Tennessee.

The likelihood of severe weather will extend to the Atlantic coast and toward the Gulf coast later this week.

By the time this week ends, it will have been over two weeks since the recent rash of severe weather and violent tornadoes kicked off in the Plains. With little in the way of breaks in between weather systems over that timeframe, those cleaning up from the storms will be happy to know a much-needed break in storminess is in the forecast, say AccuWeather meteorologists.

Drier air expanding across the Plains beginning on Friday, but especially during the upcoming weekend dates of May 11 and 12, will lead to a much quieter weather pattern across the region. This is especially great news because Mother's Day falls on May 12.

Even after those dates, early in the following week, conditions should remain quieter than earlier in May because the amount of energy in the atmosphere appears displaced from the region and weaker than is required for severe weather outbreaks.
Police in Missouri arrested a man after they said he admitted to strangling his ailing wife in a hospital bed because he reportedly could not afford to pay for her medical care.

Ronnie Wiggs, 76, is charged with second-degree murder in connection to the death of his wife, who died Saturday in Independence, a Kansas City suburb, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Jackson County, Wiggs told police he killed the victim while she was at Centerpoint Medical Center for a new port for dialysis.

Neither police nor prosecutors have released the victim's name.

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Wife found with no pulse, revived

While in the hospital on Friday, staff found Wiggs 72-year-old wife unresponsive with no pulse, but were able to revive her and transport her to the intensive care unit, an Independence Police Department officer wrote in the affidavit.

In court papers, the officer wrote hospital staff told police they heard Wiggs say I did it. I killed her. I choked her.

After police said Wiggs allegedly choked her unconscious, he left the hospital.

The Independence Police Department arrested Ronnie Wiggs on a second-degree murder charge after they say he admitted strangling his ailing wife in a hospital bed on May 3, 2024, because he reportedly could not afford to pay for her medical care.

Police reported she died the following day.

USA TODAY has reached out to prosecutors and police.

Watch: Man points gun at Pennsylvania pastor during church, police later find body at man's home

Police: Wiggs covered her nose and mouth to keep her from screaming

During an interview with detectives, police wrote, Wiggs said he choked his wife in the hospital bed, covering her nose and mouth to keep her from screaming.

Wiggs claimed he couldnt afford to pay his wife's medical bills and take care of her any longer.

He also reportedly told detectives he was depressed.

Affidavit: Wiggs said he tried to kill his wife once before

According to the affidavit, Wiggs told police he tried to strangle his wife on a previous occasion while she was at a rehab facility, but "could not follow through with it."

Court papers show Wiggs told police the victim woke up after he choked her and "told him not to do that again."

On Tuesday, Wiggs was being held on $250,000 bond, prosecutors said, and was set to appear in court Thursday for a hearing.

It was not immediately known if he had obtained an attorney.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Man charged with murder for strangling wife in hospital bed
This Korean rice wine is a versatile cocktail ingredient and pairs with everything from fried chicken to pepperoni pizza.

Hana Makgeolli

As U.S. drink lovers become better acquainted with categories like sake and shochu, a wealth of newly available options originating from East Asian drinking traditions has presented itself stateside with the wider availability of wines and spirits like soju, baiju, and umeshu. Among these is makgeolli, a centuries-old Korean beverage made from grains  typically rice  fermented with water and yeast, thats been enjoying a craft revival in its home country. Now, owing to a new crop of dedicated craft producers, the drink is increasingly making its way to the Americas.

What is makgeolli?

Its important to recognize that makgeolli falls under the overall category of sool, says Alice Jun, founder of Hana Makgeolli in Brooklyn.

Sool is the term for alcohol in general, and the best descriptor for all Korean alcohols whether fermented or distilled, says Jun. Makgeolli in particular is technically a sedimented Korean rice wine.

Makgeolli can be made from wheat, barley, millet, sorghum, or other alternative grains, but the majority of the products available today are rice-based. The drink is made by fermenting rice, water, and nuruk, a grain cake with bacteria and yeast that jump-starts the fermentation process.

The undiluted result is known as wonju, and the rice sediment settles into a layer called takju (which means cloudy alcohol). Diluted, takju becomes makgeolli, but Jun says the amount of sediment left in the makgeolli is up to the producer. Makgeollis alcohol content is low, typically from under 10% to around 15% ABV.

The tradition of making makgeolli is over 2,000 years old but faced nearly insurmountable obstacles in the twentieth century when it was banned during the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula until 1945.

Makgeollis modern revival

Some production began again after that ban was lifted, but then grain shortages during the Korean War prompted the government to forbid the use of rice in alcohol. In the decades that followed, the makgeolli on the market was made with other starches and was often sweetened and artificially flavored. This fostered an impression of makgeolli as cheap and mass-market which also in part drew younger generations to imports like Japanese beer instead.

In recent years, however, these younger consumers have become interested in drinking traditions of Koreas past, and have started to investigate how authentic makgeolli can be made. A new makgeolli scene has since emerged, with craft breweries and makgeolli bars blossoming across Korea. There are breweries like Hanayangjo in Seoul and Geumjeong Sanseong Makgeolli in Busan, and bars like Mukjeon and Makgeolli Salon. Now, purveyors like Hana Makgeolli, ANGMA Traditional Craft, and Makku have brought this embrace of natural makgeolli stateside.

Seongjoon Cho / Getty Images

What does makgeolli taste like?

In simplest terms, makgeolli tastes like sake, but more casual or unrefined with a creamier mouthfeel, and a bit of sweetness, says Carol Pak, CEO and founder of Makku. [Its] rice-forward, with tart notes that come from lactobacilli and a creamy mouthfeel that comes from the starch in the rice  unlike sake, we do not polish any of the rice for makgeolli. Fruity notes are also common, a byproduct of the fermentation process.

Jun explains those fruity characteristics are the result of esterification. When the yeast converts the grains sugars into alcohol, it creates fruity flavor compound byproducts called esters. The microbes from the nuruk during fermentation also lend a touch of acidity, and the entire fermentation process results in light effervescence. Makgeollis remaining sediment balances that acidity and effervescence with a silky, sweet, almost milky texture.

Before shaking the bottle, you can see that there is a good amount of sediment that settles on the bottom with a clearer liquid on top, says Keeyoung Kim, owner of Chingu, a Korean restaurant in Kansas City that serves makgeolli and also started making its own soju. But when shaken, the result is a cloudy liquid that almost resembles a hazy beer. While you wouldnt shake a beer, you do gently shake makgeolli before pouring.

From that common profile, brewers can put their own spins on makgeolli.

Makgeolli has a range of flavors and textures depending on who is brewing it and their flavor preferences, says Jhonel Faelnar, beverage director at New York City Korean restaurant Atoboy. Some are tart and acidic with a decidedly sharper mouthfeel and others can be soft and smooth on the palate. Dilution also plays a strong part, along with added flavors and sugar, depending on the desired final style.

Atoboy serves Hana Makgeolli, and the brands range of expressions offer a glimpse at this potential for differentiation within the category. Their signature Makgeolli, Takju 16, is floral and melon-forward.

Yakju 14 is made from the clarified portion of that initial brew (called yakju) and aged for three weeks to create a light-bodied, dry, citrusy, and grainy finish. Other expressions are infused with hydrangea leaves and chrysanthemum flowers, steeped with elderflower, or made with sweet brown or black rice.

Related: Korean Japchae

How to drink makgeolli

When it comes to enjoying makgeolli, Jun stresses the drinks laid-back, convivial spirit.

People come into the tasting room and say, Oh, what are the rules? she says. And its just, drink it with people you love and drink it with food.

Basically, theres not a lot of pomp and circumstance, says Hana Makgeolli head bartender Molly McClintock. Makgeolli is versatile and approachable. To drink it straight, McClintock simply recommends pouring a chilled bottle. If you have smaller ceramics available, thats a great serving mechanism, she adds.

Traditionally, makgeolli is enjoyed from aluminum bowls and served from aluminum kettles to maintain its cool temperature, says Dustin Donghyuk Lee, owner of Los Angeles Korean restaurant and modern sool jib (Korean drinking destination) Jilli.

At Chingu, the team uses gold-colored, aluminum, shallow bowls that they store in the freezer, which Kim says creates an amazing first sip experience.

Makgeollis modern age and expansion across dining and drinking hot spots showcase the versatility Jun and McClintock mention. Jilli and Atoboy both utilize wine glasses, which Faelnar believes is especially good for highlighting makgeollis aromas. Though more of a recommendation than a rule, the general consensus is makgeolli should be chilled  Pak recommends serving it at 4555 F  and the bottle should be shaken to stir up the sediment. Makku has opted for another contemporary twist on makgeolli, marketing their offerings in single-serve cans rather than the traditional bottles.

But makgeolli can also be a team player. Faelnar says it can replace vermouth or wine in a cocktail. Adding bitter-leaning ingredients like amaro plays off makgeollis sweetness, while tonic water or sparkling water amplifies its natural carbonation.

Fruit juices can lend even more complexity to the drinks natural esters, and less conventional cocktail elements like rice vinegar or soy sauce can round makgeolli out with savory qualities, umami, and a heightened acidic bite. Steve Choi, owner of C as in Charlie and Kisa restaurants in New York City, both of which serve White Lotus makgeolli, likes pairing the drink with fruity ingredients. He also suggests playing up makgeollis wine-like qualities by combining it with various fresh fruits for a modified take on sangria.







"In simplest terms, makgeolli tastes like sake, but more casual or unrefined with a creamier mouthfeel, and a bit of sweetness, says Carol Pak, CEO and founder of Makku."







How to pair makgeolli with food

Makgeolli is surprisingly versatile to pair with anything from raw seafood to cheese platters.

Hanas Takju 16, for example, has richness and body and a bit of sweetness but is also quite dry, Jun says. I think the most obvious pairing is any cuisine thats herbaceous, like Middle Eastern dishes that involve a lot of fresh green herbs.

McClintock points out that makgeolli can easily be incorporated into dishes, and cites a friends scallop crudo made with Hwaju 12 as a base, and Yakju 14 as an oyster mignonette.

Sparkling makgeolli like Makku plays well with any dish you might crack open a beer for, like pizza, burgers, or fried chicken. For example, Faelner loves makgeolli with a spicy pepperoni pizza, and, of course, with Atoboys fried chicken.

Naturally, makgeolli is a go-to for Asian fare, especially Korean dishes. Faelnar recommends jeon, or Korean pancakes, and the various incarnations from pajeon (scallion pancakes) to kimchi jeon to yukjeon (meat pancakes).

Interestingly, theres a cultural tradition where people drink makgeolli with pancakes, particularly during rainy weather, says Choi, who also favors this pairing. [It] dates back to a time when farmers couldnt work in the rain, so they would gather together to enjoy makgeolli and pancakes until the rain stopped.

Makgeollis sweetness is a particularly good foil to the heat of spicy dishes. Kim suggests tteokbokki, fried chicken with gochujang-garlic sauce, and jeyuk bokkeum (stir-fried spicy pork). Recently, a friend made me some mapo-tofu and went heavy on the mala, and the makgeolli was a great balance.

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Read the original article on Food & Wine.
As the Israel-Hamas war crosses the seven-month mark, renewed negotiations are underway to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, as Israeli forces continue to prepare for an apparent invasion of the southern Gazan town of Rafah.





Latest Developments





May 7, 3:51 PM

White House expects Kerem Shalom crossing to open, fuel to be delivered through Rafah Wednesday

The White House expects the Kerem Shalom crossing to reopen on Wednesday, but are working to move up that timeline to get vital humanitarian assistance into northern Gaza even sooner.



Israel has committed to reopening the Kerem Shalom, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told ABC News. We've been told that that's going to happen tomorrow. We are working to move that up.



Fuel deliveries through Rafah should also commence tomorrow. That's what we've been told. And we believe Rafah border crossing should also be quickly reopened for the movement of humanitarian assistance. We are insisting that there should be no disruptions of humanitarian assistance flows," Jean-Pierre said.



Jean-Pierre would not say if the U.S. still expects the Israelis to alert them when they do plan to go ahead with a full-scale operation in Rafah, but reiterated that they do not support the IDF carrying that out.



"We do not want to see a major operation happening in Rafah. We want to see a plan, a comprehensive plan, on how Israel plans to protect the 1.5, more than 1 million civilians that are currently seeking refuge in Rafah," Jean-Pierre said.



-ABC News' Mary Bruce and Justin Gomez





May 7, 4:07 PM

Israeli hostage declared dead

Lior Rudaeff, 61, an Israeli hostage taken by Hamas, has been declared dead, after being killed in the Oct. 7 attack, the Hostage Release Center said.



Rudaeff volunteered as an ambulance driver. He was married to his wife, Yaffa, for 38 years and had four children: Noam, Nadav, Bar and Ben.

PHOTO: Lior Rudaeff is shown in this undated file photo. (Hostage Families Forum)

"The Israeli government has a profound moral duty to pursue every avenue in the current negotiations to bring Lior home. He deserves a dignified burial in his homeland, alongside the 38 other hostages brutally murdered. The government must also secure the swift return of all living hostages, so they can begin the long road to healing and recovery," a spokesperson for the Hostage Release Center said in a statement Tuesday.



The bodies of 35 hostages who have been declared dead continue to be held by Hamas.



-ABC News' Will Gretsky





May 7, 2:37 PM

Situation in Rafah is not yet a major ground invasion, US says

The White House is watching the situation that is playing out in Rafah "very, very closely," but arguing that based on what Isarel has told them, this is not equivalent to the full-scale invasion the U.S. has been warning Israel against undertaking, U.S. National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.



"We've been told by our Israeli counterparts this operation last night was limited and designed to cut off from Hamas' ability to smuggle weapons and funds into Gaza. Our views on Rafah remain the same. We've repeatedly and consistently expressed those views about a major operation in Rafah in densely populated areas that would give higher risk to civilians and civilian casualties," Kirby said.

PHOTO: Palestinians inspect a house damaged in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 7, 2024. (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)

PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip, May 7, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)

"President Biden made that very clear yesterday when he spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu as I said yesterday, and we're going to be monitoring this situation very closely to see how it unfolds," Kirby said.



Kirby was also asked if he believes that Isarel was abiding by international law, given the two main arteries to get aid into Gaza have been choked off. Kirby sidestepped the questions, underscoring the U.S. desire to get more aid into Gaza and Biden's explicit ask of Netanyahu to make sure that happens during their call Monday.



-ABC News' Molly Nagle





May 7, 2:32 PM

Hamas delegation back in Cairo for negotiations

Hamas' delegation has arrived in Cairo as cease-fire negotiations continue with mediators in Egypt and Qatar.



Hamas said Monday it had agreed to a cease-fire deal, but Israel said the agreement included "significant gaps" that needed to be worked out in negotiations.



-ABC News' Will Gretsky





May 7, 2:27 PM

Biden administration delaying ammunition deliveries to Israel: Sources

The Biden administration is delaying shipments of ammunition that were expected to be sent to Israel, according to three U.S. officials.



The Biden administration has been trying to pressure Israel to hold off on a full-scale invasion of Rafah until it has a plan to protect the million civilians now living there.



PHOTO: Israeli soldiers stand next to military vehicles, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza Border, in southern Israel, May 7, 2024. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)



The Air Force has been told by the White Houses National Security Council to pause shipments of ammunition deliveries specifically from Dover Air Force Base, according to a U.S. official. The NSC was behind the decision to pause the munitions, a second U.S. official confirmed.



The National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



-ABC News' Martha Raddatz, Anne Flaherty, Matt Seyler and Ben Siegel





May 7, 12:41 PM

Republican leaders blast Biden over reports US is withholding aid to Israel

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise have publicly accused the Biden administration of withholding aid to Israel following reports that some aid shipments have been halted. Johnson said that the Biden administration as recently as Friday had assured his staff that there would be "no delay" in assistance to Israel.



Johnson said he received a report this morning from on the ground in Israel that said "a shipload of munitions and precision weapons, which are to be used to help protect civilians and Rafah, is being withheld."



In a letter to President Joe Biden, Senate Republicans Jodi Ernst and Ted Budd said they are "shocked" and "deeply concerned" that the Biden administration failed to notify Congress before withholding ammunition to Israel.



"If these reports are true, then you have once again broken your promise to an American ally," they said.



-ABC News' Lauren Peller and Shannon Crawford





May 7, 12:07 PM

Netanyahu says Hamas' proposal intended to 'torpedo' Rafah operation

In his first comments since Israel's offensive into Rafah began, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas' cease-fire proposal on Monday was "intended to torpedo the entry of our forces into Rafah."



"It did not happen. As the War Cabinet unanimously determined, the Hamas proposal is very far from Israel's necessary requirements," Netanyahu said.



"I instructed the working-level delegation that went to Cairo: continue to stand firm on the conditions necessary for the release of our abductees, continue to stand firm on the essential requirements for guaranteeing Israel's security," Netanyahu said.



-ABC News' Will Gretsky





May 7, 5:26 AM

Israeli tanks control Rafah border crossing, IDF says

Israeli tanks controlled Gaza's Rafah border crossing early Tuesday, as military officials accused Hamas of using the crossing for "terrorist purposes."

PHOTO: This image grab taken from footage released by the Israeli army on May 7, 2024 shows the 401st Brigade's combat team tanks entering the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024. (Fayez Nureldine/Israeli Army/AFP via Getty Image)

"Following intelligence that indicated that the Rafah Crossing in eastern Rafah was being used for terrorist purposes, IDF troops managed to establish operational control of the Gazan side of the crossing," Israel Defense Forces officials said in a statement.

Mortars had on Sunday been fired "from the area," killing four IDF soldiers, the Israeli military said.

PHOTO: This handout picture released by the Israeli army shows the 401st Brigade's combat team tanks entering the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024. (Israeli Army/AFP via Getty Image)

A video and photos taken by the Israeli military and released Tuesday appeared to show several Israeli tanks operating on the Gazan side of the border.



-ABC News' Kevin Shalvey





May 7, 2:59 AM

Israeli troops enter Rafah in 'precise' operation, taking control of border crossing

The Israeli military moved into eastern Rafah late Monday to begin a "precise counterterrorism operation" targeting Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday.

PHOTO: This handout picture released by the Israeli army shows Israeli forces operating on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024. (Israeli Army/AFP via Getty Image)

IDF troops also took "operational control" of the Gazan side of the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, officials said in a statement.

The operation in Rafah overnight included air strikes and on-the-ground troops, the military said. About 20 "terrorists" were killed and three tunnels were located, IDF officials said.

PHOTO: Palestinians inspect houses damaged in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 7, 2024. (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)

"IDF ground troops are continuing to operate against Hamas terrorist operatives and infrastructure in the area of the Rafah Crossing in eastern Rafah," the statement said.



-ABC News' Jordana Miller, Jessica Gorman and Kevin Shalvey





May 6, 6:36 PM

Qatar to send mediators to Cairo

Qatar will send a delegation of mediators to Cairo on Tuesday to work on negotiations for a cease-fire deal, according to a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry.



In a statement, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said they hope "talks will culminate in reaching an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners and detainees, and the sustainable flow of humanitarian aid into all areas of the Strip."

Click here to read the rest of the blog.
A South Carolina pastor's estranged wife died of a self-inflicted bullet wound and rumors she was shot in the back of her head aren't true, a medical examiner said Monday.

The finding in the April 27 death of Mica Miller, 30, of Myrtle Beach, came one day after friends and relatives rallied for "justice" outside her husband's church, TV station WPDE reported.

Miller's body was found in the Lumber River State Park in Robeson County, North Carolina, and the county's medical examiner, Dr. Richard Johnson, released the information about her cause of death, WPDE said.

"Based on the nature of the wound, that it is consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. And it was not in the back of the head, as it has been speculated," the station quoted him as saying.

The finding jibed with what Mica Miller's husband, the Rev. John-Paul Miller, told worshippers at his Solid Rock at Market Common church in Myrtle Beach the day after her body was found.

John-Paul Miller said that his wife's death was "self-induced" and that she "wasn't well mentally," according to a video recording posted online.

Also that day, Mica Miller's sister, Sierra Francis, wrote on Facebook that people should ignore "false stories being spread about her," apparently referring to her husband's report of suicide.

On Thursday, a friend of Mica Miller's also told WPDE: "This has to be at least looked into deeply."

There's "got to be some accountability here," Kenn Young told the station. "It's not just as simple as somebody had some mental issues."

The New York Post reported that Mica Miller filed for divorce about six months ago.

In March, she also posted a cryptic video on Facebook that she said was intended for "ANYONE struggling with leaving a dangerous situation."

In the recording, she referred to "my situation" and said "abuse is abuse," but didn't make any specific allegations.

The national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.
Palestinians in Rafah celebrate news that Hamas had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire deal - Reuters TV/REUTERS

The UNs secretary-general has warned that Israels impending ground invasion of Rafah would be intolerable.

Israels war cabinet on Monday night voted unanimously to go ahead with the planned invasion of the Gazan city, despite opposition from the US due to the likelihood of significant civilian casualties.

It comes after Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, on Monday night rejected a ceasefire offer from Hamas and vowed to push on into the southern Gazan city where 100,000 people were earlier in the day ordered to evacuated.

The purpose of the operation is to apply military pressure on Hamas, with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims, Benjamin Netanyahus office has said in a statement.

Hamass latest truce offer is far from Israels obligatory demands, the statement said.

However, the Israeli prime ministers office said Israel would also send negotiators for talks to try to find a deal that meets Israels demands.

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general called on Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement to stop the suffering.

This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and a ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences, and because of its destabilising impact in the region, he said on Monday night.

11:59 PM BST

What happened today

Here are todays top stories:

Israel rejected a ceasefire offer from Hamas on Monday night, vowing to press ahead with plans to invade Rafah

Israel said the terms of the deal were far from its obligatory demands and officials warned that the Hamas plan would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal

On Monday night Israeli jets launched a bombardment of Rafah, striking 50 targets according to the IDF

Earlier on Monday Israel told 100,000 people in eastern Rafah to evacuate the city

Joe Biden, the US president, urged Mr Netanyahu not to go ahead with the invasion

Rishi Sunak said he was deeply concerned by the prospect of a Rafah offensive

11:46 PM BST

Five reported dead in Rafah strikes

Israeli strikes left at least five people dead in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a local hospital said on Tuesday morning, as Israel vowed to launch a vast ground operation there.

The citys Kuwaiti hospital said it had received five martyrs and several injured after Israeli strikes overnight.

The area is currently the site of intense Israeli military strike activity, according to witnesses and Palestinian security sources.

11:33 PM BST

Peace talks will resume on Tuesday  Qatar

Hamas on Monday sent its response to the truce proposal to mediators and it can be described as positive, according to a spokesperson for Qatars foreign ministry.

Qatars delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas through the mediators, Majed Al-Ansari said.

11:06 PM BST

US: Strikes on Rafah not a major military operation

The United States is concerned about Israels latest strikes against the southern Gaza city of Rafah but does not believe they represent a major military operation, a US official has said.

The official told Reuters that the White House is focused on heading off a major military operation into densely populated areas of Rafah and that it does not appear the Israelis are doing that.

10:47 PM BST

Biden warns Netanyahu against Rafah assault

Joe Biden has tonight warned Benjamin Netanyahu against invading Rafah as Israel defiantly issued evacuation orders and carried out intense air strikes on the crowded Gaza city.

The United States said it was reviewing a response from Hamas, which said it has accepted a deal to halt seven months of war and free hostages, with CIA Director Bill Burns in the region to negotiate through Arab allies.

The US president told Netanyahu in April that invading Rafah would be a mistake, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken told him last week in Jerusalem that there should be no offensive due to the safety of more than one million civilians sheltering there.

The president reiterated his clear position on Rafah, the White House said in a brief readout of the call.

10:04 PM BST

Netanyahu jeopardising peace deal  Jordan

Jordans foreign minister has said that Benjamin Netanyahu is jeopardising a ceasefire agreement by bombing Rafah.

Tremendous effort has been made to produce an exchange deal thatll release hostages & realize a ceasefire, Ayman Safadi said on X.

Hamas has put out an offer. If Netanyahu genuinely wants a deal, he will negotiate the offer in earnest. Instead, he is jeopardizing the deal by bombing Rafah.

09:45 PM BST

Rafah celebrations will be cut short

Palestinians in the city of Rafah erupted in cheers as news of a potential ceasefire deal broke on Monday, hoping it would prevent an Israeli invasion of the sanctuary where more than one million people have taken shelter.

In one square in the southern city near the border with Egypt, young men clapped, danced and rode on each others shoulders shouting Allahu Akbar.

Children joined in the celebrations with some climbing to the top of a white van as onlookers filmed on their phones.

But the jubilation appeared premature as Israeli officials briefed that Hamas had in fact carried out a ruse by accepting a ceasefire deal that was not on the table, in an effort to paint Israel as the party obstructing peace.

Read more: Rafah erupts in celebration after Hamas accepts ceasefire offer even as Israeli offensive continues

09:43 PM BST

Families of hostages join protest in Tel Aviv

Hamass announcement that it will accept a ceasefire deal must accelerate the return of Israeli hostages, the The Hostages Families Forum said.

In statement, the group said: Hamas announcement must pave the way for the return of the 132 hostages held captive by Hamas for the past 7 months.

Now is the time for all that are involved, to fulfil their commitment and turn this opportunity into a deal for the return of all the hostages.

On Monday night the families of hostages taken by Hamas joined a protest in Tel Aviv urging the government to do more to release their loved ones.

A woman holds a sign identifying Matan Zangauker (24) , one of the hostages taken captive by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip during the October 7 attacks, as she stands on the roof of a car during a demonstration by hostages' relatives and supporters in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on May 6, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas group.

Relatives and supporters of hostages taken captive by Palestinian militants in Gaza during the October 7 attacks, hold placards and wave national flags during a demonstration calling for their release, in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on May 6, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas group.

Protesters block a highway demanding the immediate release of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 6, 2024

09:23 PM BST

Israel not sure which proposal Hamas accepted  report

The Israeli government is unsure which ceasefire proposal Hamas has accepted because the terms are different to those seen by Israel, according to a report.

An anonymous Israeli official, cited by the Guardian, said it was not clear which peace proposal Hamas had agreed to because some of the terms appeared to be fundamentally different from those shown to mediators by Israel and signed off by the Israeli government last week.

09:18 PM BST

FCK HMS  Israeli minister

Israels minister for diaspora and combating anti-Semitism has posted on X: FCK HMS

09:01 PM BST

Pictured: Palestinians get out of Rafah

Palestinians flee following Israeli army orders to evacuate the eastern side of the city, ahead of military operations in Rafah, Gaza, on Monday, May 6, 2024. Israel rejected a statement from Hamas that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal to end the fighting in Gaza, saying its forces would continue their operation in Rafah to eradicate the Palestinian militant group. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

Palestinians flee following Israeli army orders to evacuate the eastern side of the city, ahead of military operations in Rafah, Gaza, on Monday, May 6, 2024. Israel rejected a statement from Hamas that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal to end the fighting in Gaza, saying its forces would continue their operation in Rafah to eradicate the Palestinian militant group. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

Palestinians flee following Israeli army orders to evacuate the eastern side of the city, ahead of military operations in Rafah, Gaza, on Monday, May 6, 2024. Israel rejected a statement from Hamas that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal to end the fighting in Gaza, saying its forces would continue their operation in Rafah to eradicate the Palestinian militant group. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

08:55 PM BST

Jordan denounces attack on Rafah

Jordans King Abdullah has denounced Israels attack on the city of Rafah.

In a meeting with Joe Biden, the King said the Israeli armys operation  which the IDF confirmed has begun this evening  would lead to a new massacre in Gaza.

His Majesty King Abdullah II, during a meeting with #US President Joe Biden at the White House, says the international community must take urgent action to prevent a new catastrophe in #Gaza as a result of the Israeli attack on #Rafah #Jordan pic.twitter.com/PqsvP1rti1  RHC (@RHCJO) May 6, 2024

08:49 PM BST

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Auschwitz remembrance march

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a remembrance march to honour the victims of Nazi atrocities at the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp, write Daniel Hardaker and Natalie Lisbona.

The demonstrators chanted slogans at the marchers, unfurling Palestinian flags and banners reading stop genocide.

Survivors of the Holocaust and the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel took part in the march on Monday, alongside thousands of others who came to reaffirm the vow: Never again.

Read more here.

Protesters chanted slogans at those attending the solemn march from Auschwitz - WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP

08:43 PM BST

UN chief urges Israel and Hamas to go the extra mile to get deal done

Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, has urged the Israeli government and Hamas to go the extra mile needed to make an agreement come true and stop the present suffering, his spokesperson said.

The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the indications that a large-scale military operation in Rafah may be imminent, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

The Secretary-General reminds the parties that the protection of civilians is paramount in international humanitarian law.

08:35 PM BST

Israeli military strikes Hamas in east Rafah

The Israeli military said on Monday it was currently conducting targeted strikes against targets belonging to Hamas in the eastern part of Rafah.

The military, in a brief statement, said that more details would follow.

08:18 PM BST

Israel still plans to go ahead with Rafah operation, says US official

Israel still plans to proceed with a 90-day plan to invade Rafah, which Washington is committed to stopping, a US official familiar with truce negotiations between Hamas and Israel said on Monday.

Netanyahu and the war cabinet have not appeared to approach the latest phase of negotiations [with Hamas] in good faith, the official told the Reuters news agency, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

08:10 PM BST

Biden urged Netanyahu not to go ahead with Rafah assault

Joe Biden urged Benjamin Netanyahu not to invade Rafah in a phone call this morning, the White House said.

Mr Kirby told reporters: Ill reiterate again that we cannot and we will not speak for IDF operations, but weve made clear our views about operations in Rafah that could potentially put more than a million innocent people at greater risk.

During this call with Prime Minister Netanyahu, the president again made this clear. He also made clear that we continue to believe that the hostage deal is the best way to avoid that sort of an outcome while securing the release of those hostages, and as I said, those conversations continue.

07:59 PM BST

White House refuses to comment on ceasefire deal

The White House said it would not comment further on the ceasefire deal until the details had been established, writes Tony Diver.

John Kirby, the White Houses national security spokesman, said US officials were discussing it with countries in the region.

I know everybodys curious about whats in this response and what the Israeli reaction to it is, he said. Im just not getting ahead of the process. We want to get these hostages out. We want to get a ceasefire in place for six weeks, we want to increase humanitarian assistance.

And the last thing that I want to do is say anything at this podium thats going to put that process at risk.

07:54 PM BST

Hamas says Gaza three-phase proposal aims for permanent ceasefire

Khalil al-Hayya, a Senior Hamas member, said the ceasefire proposal agreed by the group for a Gaza ceasefire includes a three-stage truce with the goal of a lasting ceasefire.

Mr Hayya told Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel that each phase would last 42 days, and the deal includes plans for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the return of Palestinians displaced by the ongoing war, an exchange of hostages and prisoners and the aim of a permanent ceasefire.

07:50 PM BST

Pictured: Palestinians celebrate after Hamas agrees to truce proposal

Palestinians celebrate in a street in Rafah after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal - AFP

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah - Anadolu

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh informed mediators Qatar and Egypt that his Palestinian terror group had accepted their proposal - AFP

07:40 PM BST

Egypt urges all parties to exert more effort to reach deal in Gaza

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian president, has called on all sides to exert more effort to reach a deal in Gaza, saying he was closely following positive developments of the current negotiations to reach a comprehensive truce.

07:35 PM BST

Hamas agreed to latest Israeli proposal

Hamas agreed to the latest proposal that Israel had made on April 27 and there were no major changes since then, an official briefed on the ceasefire talks said, adding the Qatari mediators had spoken to Hamas about this on Sunday and Monday.

What happens next depends on Israel to accept or reject Hamas response. The ball is in Israels court, the source told the Reuters news agency, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

07:31 PM BST

We want to get a ceasefire in place

Admiral John Kirby, US National Security Council Spokesman, says the US is examining the deal that Hamas said it had accepted.

We want to get these hostages out, we want to get a ceasefire in place, he told a press briefing.

Reaching the agreement is the absolute best outcome, not only for the hostages but for the Palestinian people, he added.

07:28 PM BST

Erdogan discusses Hamas ceasefire acceptance with Haniyeh

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he held a phone call with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to discuss efforts to end the fighting in Gaza, as well as the militant groups decision to accept a ceasefire in the enclave.

During the call, in which I stated that I found it positive for Hamas to take such a decision with Turkeys suggestion, we emphasised that Israel must take a step for a lasting ceasefire too, Mr Erdogan said on X

07:19 PM BST

Israeli army says it examines all hostage deal proposals

All proposals regarding negotiations to free hostages in Gaza are examined seriously, Israels military spokesperson has said.

Asked during a media briefing whether Hamas saying it accepted a ceasefire proposal would impact a planned offensive in the Gaza city of Rafah, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: We examine every answer and response in the most seriously manner and are exhausting every possibility regarding negotiations and returning the hostages.

In parallel, we are still operating in the Gaza Strip and will continue to do so, he said.

07:06 PM BST

US to discuss Hamas truce response with allies

The United States will discuss Hamas response to a ceasefire proposal with allies in the Middle East in the coming hours, Matthew Miller said.

07:02 PM BST

US still opposes Rafah operation

The US has said it continues to oppose an Israeli military operation in Rafah, following reports that Palestinians had been told to evacuate further north.

We made quite clear our position on Rafah for some time, which is that we cannot support an operation in Rafah as it is currently envisioned, Mr Miller said.

We have made clear, the Secretary made this clear in his conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli government last week, that we have not seen a humanitarian plan that is credible, and that is implementable.

We believe a military operation in Rafah right now would dramatically increase the suffering of the Palestinian people would lead to an increase in loss of civilian life, which would dramatically disrupt the delivery of humanitarian assistance, he said.

07:01 PM BST

US concerned as Israel shuts down Al Jazeera

The United States is quite concerned about Israel shutting down Al Jazeeras operations in the country, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Mr Millers comments came a day after the Israeli authorities raided a Jerusalem hotel room used as the TV stations local office.

Washington thinks Qatari-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera ought to be able to operate in Israel, Mr Miller added.

06:55 PM BST

Top priority to try to reach a ceaesfire agreement, says US

Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the State Department, declined to comment on reports that Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal that was not on the table from Israel.

He said US officials would discuss the Hamas statement in the coming hours with Egypt, Qatar and Israel.

Reaching a ceasefire deal of some sort is a top priority, he said.

The US has not seen a credible Israeli plan for the evacuation of Rafah and would not support an invasion of the southern Gazan city, he added.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller

06:49 PM BST

Turkeys Erdogan welcomes Hamas accepting ceasefire

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish President, said he welcomes the decision by Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal in Gaza, adding he hopes Israel would do the same.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Mr Erdogan called on Western countries to increase pressure on Israels leadership to accept the ceasefire.

We welcome the statement by Hamas that they accepted the ceasefire with our suggestion. Now, Israel must take the same step, he said.

06:39 PM BST

Hamas agreed to proposal including prisoner swap deal

The ceasefire proposal Hamas agreed to entails a ceasefire, reconstruction of Gaza, return of the displaced and a prisoner swap deal, Taher Al-Nono, a Hamas official said.

06:26 PM BST

Israel cannot accept softened truce deal

A truce Hamas said it agreed to was a softened version of an Egyptian proposal that included far-reaching conclusions that Israel could not accept, an Israeli official has said.

This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal, said the Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

06:21 PM BST

Crowds celebrate in Rafah after Hamas leader approves truce plan

Crowds cheered and fired in the air in the streets of the southern Gaza city of Rafah Monday after Hamas said it approved a ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar.

People were crying tears of happiness, chanting Allahu Akbar and shooting guns in the air in celebration of the news, footage from the city showed.

06:15 PM BST

Ball in Israels court, says Hamas

A senior Hamas official has said Israel must decide whether it accepts or obstructs a truce in Gaza after the terror group announced it had accepted mediators latest proposal.

After Hamas agreed to the mediators proposal for a ceasefire, the ball is now in the court of Israeli occupation, whether it will agree to the ceasefire agreement or obstruct it, the official told the AFP news agency.

Hamas had approved a softened Egyptian proposal that is not acceptable to Israel, an Israeli official said.

05:45 PM BST

Watch: Hamas release video of rocket attack on Israeli forces

Hamas claims responsibility for three rocket and mortar attacks on the Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip today, where the Israeli military has several forward operating bases.



The IDF says no injuries or damage were caused in the attacks. pic.twitter.com/1KB8m2njLL  Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 6, 2024

05:41 PM BST

Rafah evacuation order is inhumane, says UN

Israels order for Palestinian civilians to evacuate from eastern Rafah is inhumane, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights has said.

In a statement, Volker Turk said: Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine.

They have been told that they must relocate yet again as Israeli military operations into Rafah scale up.

This is inhumane. It runs contrary to the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights laws, which have the effective protection of civilians as their overriding concern.

05:27 PM BST

Netanyahu agrees to keep crossing open for humanitarian assistance after call with Biden

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has agreed to ensure that the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza is kept open for humanitarian assistance, the White House said in a statement.

The move came after Joe Biden, the US president, held urgent talks with Mr Netanyahu on Monday as Israel ordered 100,000 Palestinian civilians to evacuate from eastern Rafah ahead of an expected ground offensive.

During the call, the White House said the US president reiterated his position on a Rafah offensive.

Washington has previously said it would not support an offensive in the Rafah area without a credible plan to aid some 1.2 million civilians sheltering there.

04:28 PM BST

Sunak: UK concerned deeply about possible Rafah offensive

Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said that Britain was concerned deeply about a possible offensive in Rafah after Israel told around 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate part of the southern Gaza city.

We are concerned deeply about the prospect of a military incursion into Rafah given the number of civilians that are sheltering there and the importance of that crossing for aid, Mr Sunak told Sky News in an interview.

03:58 PM BST

600,000 children face catastrophe in Rafah, Unicef warns

Unicef has warned that 600,000 Palestinian children in the southern Gaza city of Rafah face further catastrophe as it urged against Israels evacuation of the city ahead of an expected ground offensive.

Given the high concentration of children in Rafah... Unicef is warning of a further catastrophe for children, with military operations resulting in very high civilian casualties and the few remaining basic services and infrastructure they need to survive being totally destroyed, the United Nations childrens agency said in a statement.

Catherine Russell, Unicefs executive director, said that More than 200 days of war have taken an unimaginable toll on the lives of children.

The agency said there are some 78,000 infants under the age of two sheltering in the city, along with 175,000 children under five who are affected by infectious disease.

03:42 PM BST

Hamas is suspending peace talks, reports suggest

Hamas has said it is suspending ongoing peace and hostage release negotiations, according to a London-based Qatari media organisation citing a Hamas source.

According to the source, the Islamist group is suspending its involvement in the Egyptian-mediated peace talks and will not return to Cairo, where the negotiations are being held.

03:23 PM BST

Biden to hold urgent talks with Netanyahu as Rafah assault fears grow

Joe Biden, the US president, will hold urgent talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, on Monday after Israel defied US warnings and told Palestinians to evacuate part of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Mr Biden told Mr Netanyahu in April that invading Rafah would be a mistake, and Washington has said it would not support an offensive without a credible plan to aid some 1.2 million civilians sheltering there.

The move comes as the US launches a diplomatic offensive to get ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas back on track after they reportedly reached an impasse when Hamas demanded an immediate end to fighting before any release of hostages.

Israels military on Monday called for the evacuation of roughly 100,000 Palestinians from eastern Rafah in a move the US believes is in response to a rocket strike by Hamas militants that killed four Israeli soldiers on Sunday.

03:02 PM BST

Pictured: Palestinians flee Rafah after Israeli warning to evacuate

Palestinians flee eastern Rafah - Anadolu/Anadolu

Children flee from Rafah after Israel warning to evacuate - Anadolu/Anadolu

02:34 PM BST

Pro-Palestine protestors chant at Holocaust survivors outside Auschwitz

Pro-Palestine protestors have reportedly chanted at Holocaust and October 7 survivors taking part in an annual remembrance march outside Auschwitz death camp in Poland.

Images of protestors waving Palestine flags and chanting slogans at participants of the March of the Living have emerged on social media.

March participants reportedly sang back Am Israel chai, a Jewish solidarity anthem, which means the people of Israel live.

The March of the Living is an annual three kilometre silent march between the former Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps.

Police sirens sound outside Auschwitz - Holocaust survivors and Oct 7 victims are walking for March of Living and Gaza protesters are chanting at them. #Auschwitz #marchoftheliving pic.twitter.com/kdnkqhkFwa  Natalie Lisbona (@NatalieLisbona) May 6, 2024

02:14 PM BST

Pictured: Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings - AFP

Displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip pack their belongings in a truck following an evacuation order by the Israeli army - AFP

01:41 PM BST

EU: Israels Rafah evacuation order is unacceptable

Israels order for around 100,000 civilians to flee from the southern Gaza city of Rafah ahead of an expected ground assault is unacceptable, the EU has said.

Israels evacuation orders to civilians in Rafah portend the worst: more war and famine. It is unacceptable. Israel must renounce to a ground offensive, Josep Borrell, the EUs foreign affairs chief, wrote on social media.

The EU, with the International Community, can and must act to prevent such scenario, he added.

01:18 PM BST

Hamas: Rafah operation will not be a picnic for Israeli forces

An Israeli offensive in Rafah will not be a picnic for Israeli soldiers, Hamas has said in a statement.

The Islamist group added that they are fully prepared to defend Palestinians in Rafah, and that Israels evacuation order underscores an insistence on pursuing genocide against Palestinians.

The Israeli military said on Monday that it is evacuating about 100,000 people from eastern Rafah, ahead of an expected ground assault.

Despite growing international opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has vowed to attack Hamas in Rafah in order to achieve total victory.

12:59 PM BST

Rafah offensive must not go ahead, says David Lammy

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, has urged Israel not to go ahead with its expected offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

In a post on X, Mr Lammy wrote: An Israeli offensive in Rafah would be catastrophic. It must not go ahead. We need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of hostages, and immediate unimpeded aid to Gaza.

12:38 PM BST

France: Civilian displacement in Rafah could constitute a war crime

France has reiterated its strong opposition to Israeli military action in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and warned that the displacement of civilians could be considered a war crime.

France also recalls that the forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes a war crime under international law, the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Israeli military said on Monday that it is evacuating about 100,000 people from eastern Rafah, ahead of an expected ground assault.

12:21 PM BST

Former Israeli hostage joins IDF

A former hostage held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip joined the Israeli military on Monday, according to an Israel Defence Forces publication.

Noga Weiss, 18, was kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attacks on southern Israel along with her mother Shiri. Her father, Ilan, was killed during the assault.

Noga and her mother were subsequently released in a hostage deal in November.

I always wanted to enlist and provide myself for the country, Ms Weiss said. I feel that I can contribute a lot, be significant and help others, she added.

Ms Weiss will serve as a mashakit tash, which is the Israeli equivalent of a welfare officer.

12:01 PM BST

Palestinians flee Rafah by car after Israeli warning

11:54 AM BST

Germany condemns Israels closure of Al Jazeera

The German foreign ministry has criticised Israels decision to shut down Al Jazeeras operations in the country.

A free and diverse press landscape is an important cornerstone of any liberal democracy, the ministry wrote in a post on social media.

The Qatari government-funded station was taken off-air in Israel on Sunday as police raided the stations Jerusalem office and seized its broadcasting equipment.

Israeli officials said the move was justified because Al Jazeera posed a threat to national security. The station said the accusation was a dangerous and ridiculous lie.

11:29 AM BST

Rafah evacuation zone not suitable for meeting basic needs, UNRWA says

The area demarcated for evacuation from Rafah is not suitable for meeting basic needs, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has said.

Its really not somewhere thats quite suitable for people to put up tents and to be able to sit and try to live and meet their basic necessities every day, Scott Anderson, the director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, told CNN on Monday.

I know they expanded the area recently, but a lot of thats in Khan Younis which were still trying to recover from an operation that happened there, he added.

Israel has urged Palestinian civilians in Rafah to evacuate to a designated a humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, a coastal town west of Khan Younis, where it says field hospitals, tents, increased quantities of food, water, medicines, and additional supplies have been made available.

11:11 AM BST

Teenage Israeli soldier killed in Hamas border crossing strike

The Israel Defence Forces announced Sergeant Michael Ruzal, 18, as the fourth soldier killed in a Hamas strike on the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Sunday.

The IDF announces the death of a fourth soldier killed in the Hamas-claimed rocket attack against a staging ground near Kerem Shalom in southern Israel yesterday.



He is named as Sgt. Michael Ruzal, 18, of the Nahal Brigade's 931st Battalion, from Rishon Lezion.



Last night, the pic.twitter.com/JPbQcvsgBv  Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 6, 2024

11:04 AM BST

Why a ceasefire is a problem for Netanyahu

Over the weekend, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, made several statements to the effect that he will not agree to ending the war and that an operation in Rafah will happen with or without a hostage deal.

Some Israeli officials see Netanyahus statements as an attempt to provoke Hamas and sabotage the talks, an analysis by US news website Axios has suggested.

According to Axios, a deal could create a political crisis for Mr Netanyahu as two of his coalition partners, the ultranationalist ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, have threatened to leave government if a truce is approved.

Without the pair, Netanyahus coalition would collapse and early elections would likely be called. According to recent polls, Netanyahu would not win if a vote was held today.

Hamas has demanded an end to fighting before the group signs any peace deal with Israel. The original proposal stipulates that a ceasefire would only occur after an exchange of prisoners and hostages.

10:27 AM BST

Hamas attack on Israeli troops caused ceasefire talks to stall

A Hamas rocket attack that killed four Israeli soldiers on Sunday caused Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks to impasse, Egyptian state-affiliated TV news quoted an unnamed source as saying.

Israel said the barrage was fired from Rafah and hit an Israeli military staging post near the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

The crossing was then closed before the Israeli military launched strikes on Rafah, which reportedly killed at least 12 people.

Egyptian negotiators are intensifying talks to contain the current escalation between Israel and Hamas, the source said according to the channel.

10:04 AM BST

Pictured: Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day

An Israeli soldier marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, at an installation at the site of the Nova festival massacre

An Israeli soldier stands during a two-minute siren marking the annual Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day, at an installation at the site of the Nova festival where party goers were killed and kidnapped during the October 7 attack

09:46 AM BST

Hamas: Israels evacuation order is a dangerous escalation

A senior Hamas spokesman has said that Israels order for civilians to evacuate parts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah is a dangerous escalation.

Sami Abu Zuhuri said that the escalation would have consequences, but did not elaborate further. He however added that the US administration, alongside the occupation, bears responsibility for this terrorism.

Zuhuris statement is the first reaction from Hamas since the Israeli military urged 100,000 civilians to evacuate Rafah earlier this morning.

09:31 AM BST

Israel blames Hamas for collapse of peace deal

Hamas insistence on an immediate end to fighting caused the current round of peace talks to collapse, an unnamed Israeli official told the Times of Israel.

Hamas wants to declare victory, thats its entire aim in the talks, the official said.

Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, told his US counterpart earlier that a Hamas refusal to discuss the frameworks at hand meant Tel Aviv now needed to take military action.

On Friday, reports indicated that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader, had demanded an unconditional end to fighting before the group signed any peace deal with Israel.

The Egyptian-mediated proposal had originally stipulated that a phased de-escalation in fighting would only occur after an initial exchange of prisoners and hostages between Hamas and Israel.

09:03 AM BST

Pictured: Israel warns people to evacuate with leaflet drop

Israel is warning people to evacuate Rafah with leaflets dropped from the sky - Anadolu/Anadolu

In Rafah, people received flyers Monday morning in Arabic detailing which neighborhood blocks needed to leave and where humanitarian zones had expanded to. The flyers said that aid services would spread from Deir al Balah in the north to the center of Khan Younis city in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians in Rafah said people gathered to discuss their options after receiving the flyers. Most said they did not want to move alone and preferred to travel in groups.

So many people here are displaced and now they have to move again, but no one will stay here its not safe, Nidal Alzaanin told The Associated Press.

People were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi.

Israels army said Monday on X it would act with extreme force against militants and urged the population to evacuate immediately for their safety.

08:51 AM BST

Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets at Israeli base

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it fired dozens of Katyusha rockets at an Israeli base in the occupied Golan Heights on Monday in retaliation for a strike in Lebanons east.

Earlier, Lebanese official media said three people had been wounded in an Israeli strike early Monday in the countrys east, with the Israeli army saying it had struck a Hezbollah military compound.

Hezbollah fighters launched dozens of Katyusha rockets targeting the headquarters of the Golan Division... at Nafah base, the group said in a statement, saying it was in response to the enemys attack targeting the Bekaa region.

Israel and Lebanons Hezbollah have exchanged regular cross-border fire since Palestinian militant group Hamass unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip.

In recent weeks Hamas-ally Hezbollah has stepped up its attacks on northern Israel, and the Israeli military has struck deeper into Lebanese territory.

08:22 AM BST

Pictured: People flee Rafah

Photographers on the ground in Rafah have captured photos of people evacuating, as Israel prepares a limited scope operation in the city.

Some 100,000 people have been told to evacuate, Israel says - Hatem Khaled/Reuters

People flee the eastern parts of Rafah - Hatem Khaled/Reuters

07:54 AM BST

Evacuation comes after violent reminder of Hamass presence

Israel had a violent reminder of Hamass presence and operational abilities on Sunday, a military spokesman said.

On Sunday, three Israeli soldiers were killed and a dozen wounded when a barrage of rockets was fired towards the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza.

The army said the rockets were fired from an area adjacent to Rafah.

The soldiers were hit while guarding heavy machinery, tanks and bulldozers stationed in the area.

Hamass armed wing claimed the rocket attack, which led Israeli authorities to close the crossing, used to deliver aid into Gaza.

07:47 AM BST

Israel evacuating people from eastern Rafah

The Israeli army says it is evacuating about 100,000 people from eastern Rafah, ahead of an expected ground assault.

The estimate is around 100,000 people, a military spokesman told journalists when asked how many people were being evacuated.

About 1.2 million people are currently sheltering in Rafah, according to the World Health Organization, most having fled there from elsewhere in Gaza during the seven-month war between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants.

This is an evacuation plan to get people out of harms way.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene met again Tuesday as the Georgia congresswoman continues to dangle the threat of an ouster vote against the speaker  but it remains unclear if they will reach a resolution that will hold off the vote.

Following their second meeting, Greene would not specify when she may force the vote and wouldnt commit to moving to oust the speaker this week, but she said that Johnson has a pretty short window to act on a list of demands. A vote to remove the speaker is certain to fail, however, since House Democrats have announced they would vote to kill her motion.

Right now, the ball is in Mike Johnsons court, Greene told CNNs Manu Raju. Were interested to see his actions, not his words.

The demands she referenced include Johnson committing to the so-called Hastert Rule, which states that a majority of the majority have to support every bill that comes to the floor; defunding special counsel Jack Smiths investigation into former President Donald Trump; no more aid for Ukraine; and a 1% slash to the federal budget if they cant process 12 separate appropriations bills for fiscal year 2025.

Greene said that they are waiting for the speaker to reach back out to them with a response. She added that they didnt give him a deadline to get back to them.

We didnt give a specific timeline, but its pretty short, she said.

Asked if she still plans to force an ouster vote this week  as she previously had said that she would  Greene said, Well well see. Its up to Mike Johnson.

Later on Tuesday, Johnson would not say if he would meet the asks.

We are having discussions. Thats all, Johnson told CNN.

Johnson also called the talks productive and said he is optimistic they can get to a resolution.

Were working through a lot of ideas and suggestions, as I said, as I do with all members of the conference. Thats part of the process here, he told reporters. And so Im optimistic that we can get to some resolutions.

Johnson and Greene met for around two hours on Monday and after that meeting Greene declined to provide details about what was discussed or say if she would still force a vote seeking his ouster this week.

Johnson has defended his leadership against the threat, saying that he will not resign and warning that a vote to oust him could cause chaos in the House.

On Tuesday ahead of the meeting, Johnson emphasized close his ties to Trump and projected confidence, saying he intends to lead this conference in the future and that he is glad to have the support of President Trump.

Johnson insisted his meetings are not a negotiation and that he seeks input from all his members.

Its not a negotiation, he said. Everybody knows I have lengthy discussions, detailed discussions on a daily basis with members across the conference, there are 217 of us, it takes a lot of time, he told reporters.

Trump and Greene have spoken on the phone about her motion, multiple sources with knowledge of the call told CNN.

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, one of the three Republicans publicly pushing for Johnsons ouster, said he and Greene are giving Johnson one last chance to agree to several suggestions ahead of Tuesdays meeting.

I think Marjorie has been very measured and reasonable about this and logical, and she and I decided to give Speaker Johnson one last chance to say hes going to be with the Republicans and not with the Democrats, Massie told CNN. And there are sort of some litmus tests on that, but these are things that matter to the conference.

Republicans voice concerns over empowering Greene

Many Republicans oppose the push to oust Johnson, not wanting to see the conference devolve into bitter infighting like it did after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a historic and unprecedented vote last year.

Johnson briefly addressed his ongoing conversation with Greene during a news conference, but declined to give any specific details.

Some Republican House members voiced concerns Tuesday about empowering Greene any further by giving into any demands.

I think if you negotiate with two members who want something, you are going to lose 30 members of the conference who want something else and I think he knows that, Rep. Kelly Armstrong, a North Dakota Republican, said. I would always hesitate to agree to anything when you know the goal posts are going to move within five minutes.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican, said, I dont deal with terrorists.

I dont deal with people who are threatening me. Never have, Never will, Gimenez said. If I dont, I dont think he should either.

But a narrow majority has given Johnson few options in this moment as the speaker wants to avoid the spectacle on the floor months ahead of the election.

The speaker is dealing in practical arts here not philosophical ones, so I am going to stand by him in his decisions, said Rep. John Duarte, a California Republican. I think it is utterly regrettable that these very small minority of members are putting the speaker in this very difficult spot at a time when we should be focusing on the things that matter to the American people.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said that the speaker simply has an open door policy and meets with anybody who has an issue they want to bring to him.

Scalise didnt want to get into specifics of what Greene and Massie were asking for. But when asked about potentially vowing not to bring up additional Ukraine aid, Scalise said that more aid for Ukraine probably wasnt coming up soon anyway.

If you look at the last Ukraine bill, it took months for that coalition to come together, he said.

Asked if he had any concerns that agreeing to anything with Greene could empower her, Scalise said, All our members are empowered right now. It is a time where everybody knows we either all move in the same direction or we are not going to be able to advance our agenda for that particular week. Weve got to stay united.

Meanwhile, Johnson has been taking steps to reach out to his right flank. Johnson met with the conservative House Freedom Caucus Monday night, according to a source familiar. Greene was booted from the caucus in July 2023.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

CNNs Manu Raju, Kristen Holmes, Melanie Zanona and Kristin Wilson contributed.

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LONDON - Oscar-winning U.S. actor Kevin Spacey on Tuesday overturned a London court ruling which effectively found him liable for an alleged sexual assault on a British man, after his lawyers mistakenly failed to serve a defense to a civil lawsuit.

Spacey is being sued at London's High Court by a man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, who alleges that in 2008 he was sexually assaulted by the Hollywood star. The actor has denied the allegations.

In 2022, the 64-year-old was charged in Britain with nine sexual offences against four men between 2004 and 2013 but was acquitted of all charges after a high-profile trial last year.

One of those four complainants separately sued Spacey in a civil lawsuit at London's High Court in 2022.

Kevin Spacey is being sued in a civil lawsuit over an alleged sexual assault in London.

Earlier this year, a judge granted the man "judgment in default"  a ruling in his favor without a trial  after Spacey's lawyers failed to serve a defense to the lawsuit in time.

Adam Speker, a lawyer representing Spacey, said it was a "genuine error" by the actor's legal team from the prominent British law firm Carter-Ruck.

Speker argued it would be unfair for the claimant to effectively win his lawsuit against Spacey without a trial when he had been "disbelieved on oath by a jury".

Judge Jeremy Cook ruled in Spacey's favor and overturned the judgment in default against the actor.

"The defendant's solicitors have made an error," Cook said. "In my view, that error should not be visited upon the defendant."

Tuesday's ruling means that the claimant's case against Spacey will proceed towards a full trial.

Kevin Spacey acquitted of all sexual assault charges: The actor's UK trial explained

The ruling comes a day after Britain's Channel 4 broadcast a documentary featuring testimony from several men who made allegations of inappropriate behavior by Spacey.

Spacey gave an interview to British broadcaster Dan Wootton ahead of the broadcast in which he denied any illegal activity and said he would not allow himself to be "baselessly attacked without defending himself".

"I take full responsibility for my past behavior and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologize to anyone whos made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me," he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kevin Spacey to go to trial in UK for alleged sexual assault
When Melissa Demiranda was seven months pregnant, she went to see a cardiologist at the suggestion of her OB-GYN.

In the days leading up to the appointment, Demiranda, 34, was waking up gasping for air. Shortness of breath is common in the third trimester, and Demirandas doctors werent overly concerned, according to her husband, Matthew Quinones.

They just wanted her to get checked out to be on the safe side, Quinones tells TODAY.com.

After the exam on April 10, Demiranda called her husband to let him know she was being transported to the hospital in an ambulance. The cardiologist had noticed some fluid in her lungs that warranted a further look. Her blood pressure was also high.

She was like, Dont worry, I feel normal, I feel fine, Quinones says.

Melissa Demiranda. (Courtesy Matthew Quinones)

Quinones hopped in his car and headed to Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey, to meet Demiranda. He remembers feeling relieved that Demiranda was going to be monitored.

I was glad they were sending her to the hospital. We were going to get some answers about why she having problems breathing, Quinones says.

Shortly after Quinones arrived at the emergency room, he noticed a crowd surrounding an ambulance.

They pulled someone off a gurney and their arm was just dangling over the side, and my first thought was, That person must be dead, Quinones says. He kept scanning for Demiranda. Why hadn't her ambulance arrived?

Moments later, Quinones was led into a small room with a chaplain.

Honestly my brain was like, They have the wrong person, Quinones says. Then they asked for my wifes name.

Quinones starts to cry as he recalls the moment he realized it wasnt a terrible a mix-up.

My heart just dropped, he says.

Quinones was taken into a room where a doctor was performing chest compressions on Demiranda.

I looked at her and I could see clearly she was gone. There were like 40 people in the room and they all knew it, too, he says. That was the hardest moment of my life by far.

Baby Mia (Courtesy Matthew Quinones)

The couples newborn daughter, Mia Melissa, miraculously survived and remains in the neonatal intensive care unit at Morristown Memorial Hospital.

Quinones says Mia, who was born 9 weeks early, is expected to be discharged by her due date, June 8.

I dont know how I would be able to go on without my little girl, Quinones says through tears.

Quinones and Demirandas family are awaiting autopsy results, which can take up to two months.

None of it makes sense, he says. I still cant believe shes gone.

Dr. Comisha Holloman, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Texas Childrens Hospital, says shortness of breath during pregnancy is typically caused by hormonal and physiologic changes. For example, as the uterus continues to grow, it pushes up against the diaphragm reducing lung capacity.

Im concerned about shortness of breath when theres a sudden onset, and if its persistent and worsening, Holloman, who did not treat Demiranda, tells TODAY.com. Other abnormal symptoms include breathlessness accompanied by chest pain, heart palpitations and coughing up blood.

In these cases, shortness of breath can signal something more serious such as preeclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder that starts after the 20th week of pregnancy. Sudden shortness of breath is also a symptom of pulmonary embolism, which occurs when a blood clot gets stuck in the artery in the lung.

Pulmonary embolism is rare, but pregnant women are at slightly higher risk for that, Holloman says.

A rainbow baby

After experiencing two devastating miscarriages, the high school sweethearts conceived Mia with the help of IVF. Demiranda spent all of her free time researching newborn care.

She knew what kind of diapers she wanted, she knew the best formula and the safest furniture and all the stuff, Quinones says. Wed go for regular walks around Target.

Recently, when Quinones was going through Demirandas keepsakes, he found a box filled with notes she had written to their unborn babies.

She literally documented every single day that she was pregnant and it broke my heart, he says. Melissa was going to be the best mom.

Quinones who has a GoFundMe to help with Mias medical expenses, says there is a picture of Melissa next to his daughter's crib. Mia also sleeps on linens that nurses made from her Moms clothing.

He sees Melissa in Mia.

Even when Melissa was freezing, one foot would be hanging out from under the blanket, and Mia is the same way  one foot is always sticking out, Quinones says.

Quinones will never stop talking about Demiranda, and has found that sharing her story is therapeutic.

Ill make sure Mia knows that she was her mothers whole world, Quinones says. Mia meant absolutely everything to Melissa.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
MEXICO CITY (AP)  The mother of two Australian surfers killed in Mexico delivered a moving tribute to her sons Tuesday at a beach in San Diego.

Our hearts are broken and the world has become a darker place for us, Debra Robinson said, fighting back tears. They were young men enjoying their passion of surfing together.

Her sons, Callum and Jake, were allegedly killed by car thieves in Baja California, across the border from San Diego, somewhere around April 28 or 29.

Robinson also mourned the American who was killed with them, Jack Carter Rhoad.

The beachside location where she spoke, across the border from the Baja California city of Tijuana, was no coincidence. She noted that her son Callum considered the United States his second home."

Robinson noted that her son Jake loved surfing so much that, as a doctor, he liked to work in hospitals near the beach.

Jakes passion was surfing, and it was no coincidence that many of his hospitals that he worked in were close to surfing beaches, she said.

Choking back tears, Robinson conveyed a final message that coincided with her sons' adventurous lifestyles.

Live bigger, shine brighter, and love harder in their memory, she said.

Robinson thanked Australian officials and supporters there and in the United States.

While she thanked Mexicos ambassador to Australia, she notably did not thank the local officials in Baja California who eventually found the bodies of her sons and Carter Rhoad.

Their killers dumped the bodies of the men into a well about 4 miles (6 kilometers) away from where they had been attacked at a beachside campsite. Investigators were surprised when, underneath the bodies of the three foreigners, a fourth body was found that had been there much longer, suggesting the gang had been working in the area for some time.

The fact that such killers are not caught or stopped in the overwhelming majority of cases in Mexico suggests that authorities allow killers to roam free and only investigate such disappearances when they are high-profile cases involving foreigners.

Robinson said that her sons' bodies, or their ashes, will eventually be taken back to Australia.

Now its time to bring them home to families and friends, she said. And the ocean waits in Australia.

Prosecutors have identified three people as potential suspects, two of whom were caught with methamphetamines. One of them, a woman, had one of the victims cellphones when she was caught. Prosecutors said the two were being held pending drug charges but continue to be suspects in the killings.

A third man was arrested on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping, but that was before the bodies were found. It was unclear when or if he might face more charges.

The third man was believed to have directly participated in the killings. In keeping with Mexican law, prosecutors identified him by his first name, Jesus Gerardo, alias el Kekas, a slang word that means quesadillas, or cheese-filled tortillas.

He had a criminal record that included drug dealing, vehicle theft and domestic violence, and authorities said they were certain that more people were involved.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a radio station in the Robinsons home town of Perth in Western Australia state that every parent felt for the familys loss.

I think the whole nations heart goes out to the parents of Callum and Jake Robinson. It is every parents worst nightmare to lose a son or a daughter. To lose these two brothers is just awful and my deepest sympathies and condolences and Im sure the whole nations with the parents and with the other family and friends of these two fine young Australians, Albanese told Perth Radio 6PR.

Albanese said he was reminded of when his only child Nathan Albanese traveled last year at the age of 22 to a musical festival in Spain.

You do worry, but you think as well thats part of the Australian right of passage, is traveling around with a backpack and meeting people and its how you grow as a person as well so you want to encourage them, Albanese said.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California  also known as the Sea of Cortez  from the Baja peninsula. Authorities said they were victims of highway bandits. Three suspects were arrested in that case.

___

Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
The release of the NFLs 2024 schedule seems imminent based on recent history. And while we do know all of next seasons matchups  including the typically nasty division rivalry pairings  it's currently unclear when theyll land on the calendar.

Yet, regardless of where theyre slotted, there are quite a few (temporary, at minimum) grudge-style matches  whether theyre between teams with an axe to grind or a player facing a former club  that will be unique to this years docket.

Here are 15 that should be highly anticipated and almost certain to wind up in an exclusive broadcast window or, at least, a late-afternoon Sunday placement:

1. Baltimore Ravens at Los Angeles Chargers, Harbowl II

Its been nearly a dozen years since Ravens HC John Harbaugh (barely) defeated hyper-competitive brother Jim in Super Bowl 47  aka the "Harbowl." In the interim, Jim Harbaugh left the 49ers to (eventually) forge a controversial (occasionally) but ultimately legendary run at the University of Michigan, capped by last seasons national championship. Meanwhile, John has kept Baltimore among the AFCs elite but hasnt returned to the Super Bowl since vanquishing his younger bro. Probably premature to suggest the Bolts are ready to contend in 2024 under their new boss, but theyll doubtless carry extra motivation in this game given GM Joe Hortiz, OC Greg Roman, DC Jesse Minter and RBs Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins are among the Ravens alumni who have gone west.

2. Kansas City Chiefs at San Francisco 49ers

Well, a grudge match for Niners HC Kyle Shanahan anyway? Hes 0-4 against counterpart Andy Reids Chiefs, three of those losses by double-digit margins, and two most memorably occurring in Super Bowls 54 and 58  including last seasons overtime heartbreaker. The last time these clubs tangled at Levis Stadium two years ago, K.C. QB Patrick Mahomes passed for 423 yards and three TDs in a 44-23 decision that was nip and tuck until getting out of hand in the fourth quarter.

3-4. 2023 championship game rematches

While hosting their first AFC title game in January, the Ravens came up short against the eventual champion Chiefs. Beating them at Arrowhead this year wont make Baltimores players whole  though it might be a little sweeter if they get their shot in Week 1. Meanwhile, the Lions are returning to the scene of the 2023 NFC championship game crime  meaning Levis Stadium, where Detroit coughed up a 17-point second-half lead to the Niners.

5. Buffalo Bills at Houston Texans, can you Diggs it?

The trade of Pro Bowl WR Stefon Diggs from Buffalo to Houston was the most notable of the offseason. Certainly would have been more interesting if Diggs, who typically seemed to be trailing a degree of undefined smoke in Western New York, was slated to return to Orchard Park and face Bills Mafia. But no matter where its staged, nothing wrong with an added layer of intrigue to a potential AFC title-round preview.

6. Houston Texans at Dallas Cowboys

Could "Americas Team" be Texas second best in 2024? Definitely possible, even if the Cowboys have won the Lone Star battle in four of its previous five iterations. But this could be quite an opportunity for Houston and QB C.J. Stroud to make their case, particularly given the likelihood this will be decided in front of a national television audience. Sidebar: It should also mark the first head-to-head meeting between Diggs and his brother, Cowboys Pro Bowl CB Trevon Diggs, whose torn ACL prevented them from lining up in Buffalo last December.

7. Las Vegas Raiders at New Orleans Saints, Carr collision

Though the regime that unceremoniously kicked the Silver and Blacks all-time leading passer to the curb at the end of the 2022 season has largely been swept out, you know this ones going to have significant meaning for Saints QB Derek Carr. In 2021, he pledged, "I am a Raider for my entire life" and said hed quit playing football rather than play for another NFL franchise. Funny how quickly things can change in this league.

8. Denver Broncos at New York Jets, Hackett Bowl II

You might (or might not) recall the NYJ beat the Broncos 31-21 in Denver last season, getting a small measure of revenge for ex-Broncs HC Nathaniel Hackett, currently New Yorks offensive coordinator. You might (or might not) recall that Jets QB Aaron Rodgers clapped back at current Denver HC Sean Payton after he panned the tenure of his predecessor, Hackett, in an exclusive to USA TODAY Sports in 2023. "I thought it was way out of line, inappropriate, and I think (Payton) needs to keep my coach's name out of his mouth," Rodgers said during a training camp interview with NFL Network last year. Injured Rodgers obviously missed last seasons date with Denver, so should be interesting to see how much hes still holding on to that bile.

8a. Denver Broncos at New Orleans Saints, Payton comes dome

Lets acknowledge this without overhyping it. But it will be Paytons first game at the Superdome since he "retired" as coach of the Saints more than two years ago. Hard to believe that the greatest coach in New Orleans history will receive anything other than a warm welcome  even if neither the Saints nor Broncos have yet to benefit much since he switched sidelines after being "traded" last year.

9. Los Angeles Rams at Detroit Lions, Stafford Bowl III

Yes, LA QB Matthew Stafford has now returned to Motown  the Rams unexpectedly encountering the team he led for a dozen seasons in January and losing a 24-23 wild-card round thriller to the Lions. Maybe this season, Stafford  he beat Detroit in Hollywood in 2021  can enjoy a more laid-back visit to Ford Field in the rubber game given his service to the Lions, possession of his own Super Bowl ring and likelihood his team will again be the underdog against the reigning NFC North champs, who seem closer than ever to their first Lombardi Trophy.

10. Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants, Saquons return

Pro Bowl RB Saquon Barkley not only bolted Big Blue after six turbulent years, he took the short trip down Interstate-95 to join the Giants' most bitter rivals. His return to MetLife Stadium should be one of the more highly anticipated ones this fall, especially since Barkley averaged nearly 100 yards and a TD in his nine regular-season games against Philly.

11. Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers, Aarons return (the other one)

Sorry, TV networks, but the Packs second-half surge in 2023 precluded a 2024 visit from Rodgers. However free agency precipitated perhaps the next-best thing after a March whirlwind of roughly 24 hours when Green Bay signed RB Josh Jacobs, then cut ties with Aaron Jones, a beloved mainstay for seven seasons, before he turned around and joined the NFC North rival Vikings for the 2024 campaign. Wouldnt be a surprise to see more than a few sombreros and wraparound shades at Lambeau Field  Jones likely to sport his signature garb in purple and gold, too  whenever he comes back.

12. Atlanta Falcons at Minnesota Vikings, Captain Kirks return?

A month ago, this projected as one of the seasons better homecoming subplots  QB Kirk Cousins, after a half-dozen years as the Vikes starter, heading back to U.S. Bank Stadium with his Falcons in tow. It will likely still play out that way, though Atlantas shocking decision to draft QB Michael Penix Jr. eighth overall could drastically alter the look of his new team at any point  a reality Minnesota is already embracing as veteran QB Sam Darnold and first-rounder J.J. McCarthy vie to replace Cousins themselves.

13. Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos, Russ return?

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton talks with quarterback Russell Wilson (3) in the fourth quarter against the Washington Commanders at Empower Field at Mile High.

No guarantee that Russell Wilson will still be in Pittsburghs QB1 "pole position," to use HC Mike Tomlins metaphor, whenever these teams intersect. But whether he or Justin Fields is behind center, you know Wilson will have this matchup circled given his abortive stint in the Rocky Mountains, which may ultimately represent lasting damage to his legacy  especially after he was benched and brusquely cast aside by Payton in March.

14. Washington Commanders at Dallas Cowboys, Quinn comes back

The NFC East could be extra spicy in 2024. These once bitter enemies have a chance to revive a fairly dormant rivalry after former Dallas DC Dan Quinn took the head job in D.C.  then proceeded to poach a good chunk of the Cowboys roster  DE Dorance Armstrong, C Tyler Biadasz, DE Dante Fowler Jr., CB Noah Igbinoghene and DC Joe Whitt Jr. following him east from North Texas. The currently cap-strapped division champions still dont seem to have recovered from the defections.

14a. Washington Commanders at Arizona Cardinals, Kliff comes back

Quinns new offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury, gets to go home, too  well, not to that sweet desert bachelor pad he had  and face a Cards organization that fired him in 2023  less than a year after signing him to a contract extension through the 2027 campaign.

15. Chicago Bears at Washington Commanders, Caleb vs. Jayden

The top two picks of the 2024 draft, Bears QB Caleb Williams and Commanders QB Jayden Daniels, respectively, never met on a college field. But they will almost certainly gear up this season, neither likely to wait to enter the starting lineup  nor wait long to stake an early claim as the best rookie passer to enter the league this year. And remember, though Stroud was the infinitely superior player in 2023, he lost his one vs. two matchup with the Carolina Panthers Bryce Young, the No. 1 selection a year ago.

15a. Caleb Williams vs. the NFLs next-gen QBs

Daniels is far from the only fellow up-and-comer Williams will see as a rookie. Hes set to meet fellow No. 1 picks Young, Kyler Murray (2019), and Trevor Lawrence (2021); see Daniels and potentially other 2024 Round 1 QBs Drake Maye and McCarthy; play 2023 first-round QBs Stroud and Anthony Richardson; and, finally, tangle with blossoming Packers star Jordan Love, who might have a major hand in shaping Williams legacy in the Windy City for good and/or bad.

***

Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2024 NFL schedule: Best grudge games put revenge on the line
The Ohio House will vote Wednesday to put President Joe Biden on the November ballot after the state ran into a scheduling snafu with the Democratic National Convention.

Lawmakers unveiled a proposal on Tuesday that would change the certification deadline to 74 days before the Nov. 5 election. Current law requires officials to certify the ballot 90 days beforehand, but the president won't be nominated at the DNC until 12 days after the Aug. 7 deadline.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose said the conflict put Biden at risk of not making the ballot.

"I think everyone agreed this is good for democracy," House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, said Tuesday. "We want people to have full access to the ballot. And that's good for both parties."

Ohio has one of the earliest ballot deadlines in the country, according to the National Association of Secretaries of State. And this isn't the first time it caused problems: The Legislature voted in 2012 and 2020 to temporarily change the deadline when parties scheduled their conventions too late.

Legislative leaders want to prevent a similar situation down the road. Under the bill, parties that can't meet the 90-day deadline for presidential elections in 2028 and beyond must alert the secretary of state's office. They would then be allowed to certify candidates either 74 days before the election or within three days of the convention, whichever is earlier.

"Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states," Biden campaign spokesperson Charles Lutvak said. "Election after election, states across the country have acted in line with the bipartisan consensus and taken the necessary steps to ensure the presidential nominees from both parties will be on the ballot. And this election is no different."

President Joe Biden announces a new plan for federal student loan relief during a visit to Wisconsin on April 8.

Will Ohio Senate back Biden ballot fix?

Wednesday's House vote doesn't mean it's a done deal.

House lawmakers amended a Senate bill dealing with last year's August special election, which means it must return to the Senate for final approval. A spokesman for Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, said she hadn't reviewed the House bill yet but believes lawmakers will resolve the issue.

"All the conversations I've had, there are indications that yes, there is a willingness to get this done so we can get on to other things," Antonio said.

Russo said Democrats are still keeping other options on the table, just in case. Attorney General Dave Yost's office nixed a proposal from the party to provisionally certify Biden before Aug. 7, but an attorney for the DNC and Biden's campaign maintains that's still a viable option.

In an April 18 letter, obtained by the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, attorney Don McTigue said Democrats hope to "resolve this issue without resorting to litigation."

"We urge Ohio to accept a provisional certification, just as secretaries of state in other states have done in this and prior presidential election cycles," McTigue wrote. "...On the other hand, a court will have little trouble finding that the inflexible application of (state statute) would create unconstitutional results."

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio lawmakers unveil plan to make sure Joe Biden's on 2024 ballot
With 110 years of life behind her, Yoshiko Miwa isnt going to wallow in the negative, and she doesnt want you to either.

The oldest living person of Japanese descent in the United States, according to the Gerontology Research Group, Miwa prefers to focus on the times when she was happiest. Shes lived through the Spanish flu, prohibition, Black Tuesday, World War II, and the losses of her parents, siblings and friends, and still the supercentenarians go-to piece of longevity advice is: Dont dwell.

Miwa is part of the nisei  the second-generation Japanese Americans sent to internment camps during World War II  who often say gaman, which translates to enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity, Alan Miwa, her son, tells TODAY.com. Its often loosely translated to perseverance, patience, or tolerance.

These feelings, Alan Miwa suspects, are born from the resilience of many from his mothers generation  who had much to endure. Shikata ga nai (), a Japanese phrase meaning, It cannot be helped, or, Nothing can be done about it, is a common saying among them, too, he adds.

Yoshiko Miwa was born Yoshiko Tanaka on Feb. 28, 1914, in Guadalupe, California, to Japanese immigrants. She was the fifth of seven children. When her mother and infant brother died in 1919, her father struggled to care for his family and tend to the farm he owned. So Yoshiko Miwa and her siblings were sent to live at the childrens home founded by their parish, Guadalupe Buddhist Church.

She went on to graduate from Santa Maria High School in 1932, and she studied business at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1936. She married Henry Miwa in 1939.

During the Second World War, the pair and their families were sent to Poston Internment Camp in Arizona before relocating to Hawthorne, California, after the war. When they, along with many other Japanese people, had difficulty finding work upon their release in 1945, her husband founded a plant nursery business, and in 1963, Yoshiko Miwa got her nursing license.

Yoshiko Miwa has three sons, 10 grandchildren, 20 great-grand children and one great-great-grandchild.

Yoshiko Miwa (Alan Y. Miwa)

These days, Alan Miwa says shes in good health and lives in a care facility, where she gets her hair done weekly and attends church services on Sundays.

In addition to a positive spirit, keeping your mind and body active is the key to a long life, Yoshiko Miwa has said in the past. Ahead she shares a few other aspects of her life that she believes have led to her longevity.

She keeps an ever-expanding roster of hobbies

When Yoshiko Miwa retired, shed walk 4 miles each morning. In 1990, at 76, she walked a 20K as part of the March of Dimes Walkathon. Shes an avid reader, she practices ikebana (flower arranging), sumi-e (Japanese ink art), sashiko (Japanese stitching), sewing, furniture refinishing and reupholstery.

These days, though, her favorite activity is sleeping, she tells TODAY.com via email.

She wrote an autobiography

After taking a writing course, Yoshiko Miwa penned an autobiography. In it, she recalls her travels to Rome, Japan, Paris and Niagara Falls. She describes life in the childrens home and the long walks to school, her siblings and her childhood with her parents.

We had a big pasture for the horses and cows to graze on, she wrote of her familys farm her in autobiography. Some days, my sister and I would wander around the pasture to pick wild violets that grew there.

She loves to eat noodles

Yoshiko Miwas a fan of any kind of noodles, eating them every day. When I was in the childrens home, the cook used to make noodles and I used to love them, she says. Today, I like spaghetti, udon, ramen, soba and any other kind of noodles.

Her faith energizes her

Yoshiko Miwa is grateful to Rev. and Mrs. Issei Matsuura of the Guadalupe Buddhist Church, who took her in when her mother died of the Spanish flu.

Family and friends of Yoshiko Miwa at her 110th birthday celebration at the Gardena Buddhist Church. (Courtesy Alan Y. Miwa)

Yoshiko Miwa was 4 years old when her father turned to the church for help. The church then started a childrens home and taught us Buddhism, Japanese language, Japanese culture and responsibility, she recalls. Ive always been indebted to Rev. and Mrs. Matsuura.

... And her family does, too

The Miwa family travels together and hosts reunions. Ive been fortunate that my sons, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren and relatives have always been there for me, says Yoshiko Miwa.

Because my mother died so young, I have never enjoyed the warmth and love of a family unit, she wrote in her autobiography. Later, when I had my children, I keenly felt the wholesomeness of a complete family.
Drake's Toronto home was taped off after a shooting Tuesday morning, police say.

The shooting took place outside Drake's house around 2 a.m. and Toronto Police Service officers found a man suffering from an apparent gunshot wound when they arrived at the scene, according to Inspector Paul Krawczyk of the Integrated Gun and Gang Task Force at the Toronto Police Service.

The victim was a security guard who was standing outside the gates. He was transported to the hospital with serious injuries and a suspect fled the scene in a vehicle, according to police.

Police confirmed to City News in Canada that Drake was not the person injured but would not confirm if he was home at the time of the shooting on Tuesday.

More: Drake says he'd be arrested if he committed sexual assault. Statistically that's not true.

Drake, pictured in March of this year, is making headlines amid his feud with fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar after a shooting outside his Toronto home.

Reps for Drake did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.

Police did not immediately release a description of the suspect nor the vehicle. The incident in the "One Dance" rapper's neighborhood comes as the 37-year-old has been making headlines for a highly contentious, weekslong feud with rap genre peer, Kendrick Lamar, which has featured numerous diss tracks.

Drake, Kendrick Lamar diss tracks escalate with 'Meet the Grahams' and 'Family Matters'

The Canadian rapper's feud with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Compton lyricist has spurred a series of public accusations from secret children to sexual assault.

In his diss tracks, Lamar claimed Drake has a secret daughter, gambling and drug addictions, that he has predators on his label's payroll, and should be in a "cell" with Harvey Weinstein while Drake alleged that Lamar physically abused his fiancee, that Lamar's child might not be his and that the California rapper is living a double life full of infidelity.

Drake's house is also a notable centerpiece within the topic of discussion between the two rappers. His opulent property is well-known among his fans and the mega-mansion is featured on the cover of Lamar's "Not Like Us," one of many diss tracks aimed at Drake where he suggests that sex offenders live there.

Contributing: Anika Reed, Taijuan Moorman, Edward Segarra

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Drake's Toronto house taped off by police following shooting
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders announced his bid for re-election Monday, seeking to secure his fourth term in the U.S. Senate.

The 82-year-old Independent previously served 16 years as a Democrat in the House of Representatives. Prior to that, Sanders was Mayor of Burlington from 1981-1989.

In 2007, he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

"I have been and will be, if reelected, in a strong position to provide the kind of help the Vermonters need in these difficult times," Sanders said in his announcement video. "We have made important progress addressing some serious, serious challenges."

Touting victories in his state's healthcare, his fight to lower the cost of prescription drugs, and working to cancel millions of dollars in student debt, Sanders said his reelection is crucial to the well-being of Vermonters and the nation.

"I am proud of my 100% lifetime voting record in defense of women's rights and the absolute need for women to control their own bodies," he said. "And I'm proud of Vermont for becoming the first state to enshrine abortion rights in our Constitution. But that is not enough. We must codify Roe v. Wade into national law and do everything possible to oppose the well-funded, right-wing efforts to roll back the gains that women have achieved after decades of struggle. No more second-class citizenship for the women of Vermont or America."

He also criticized President Joe Biden's handling of the war in Gaza, stating he supports its ending and the cutting off of funding to "the extremist Netanyahu government."

Sanders called the upcoming 2024 elections the "most consequential elections in our lifetime."

"Will the United States continue to even function as a democracy, or will we move to an authoritarian form of government? Will we reverse the unprecedented level of income and wealth inequality that now exists or will we continue to see billionaires get richer, while working families struggle to put food on the table?" he questioned.

Sanders previously sought the Democratic nomination in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. In 2023, he endorsed Biden's reelection.
Three horses are confirmed as headed to Baltimore for the Preakness Stakes, though the status of Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan remained unclear Tuesday, with no imminent decision expected.

Mystik Dan is scheduled to return to the track Wednesday at Churchill Downs, site of his photo-finish victory Saturday ahead of Sierra Leone and Forever Young in the most-watched Derby in 35 years. Trainer Kenny McPeek has not committed to running Mystik Dan in the Preakness, telling the Maryland Jockey Club that he and owners would let the rest of the week play out before making a decision on the 3-year-old colt.

Entries for the Preakness must be made by Monday, when the post position draw is held.

If Mystik Dan does not run in the Preakness, it will be the fifth time in six years that the race goes on without a true Triple Crown on the line, a combination of Derby circumstances, the pandemic and other factors. McPeek has expressed concern about putting the horse through another two-week turnaround, which did not work out so well in November.

At least one Derby entrant is on track for the Preakness, with Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas bringing 17th-place finisher Just Steel, along with Seize the Grey, who won the Pat Day Mile on the undercard Saturday. Lukas, 88, has won the Preakness six times.

Also going is Mugatu, the last horse left out of the Derby field, with trainer Jeff Engler calling the Preakness a logical spot.

Two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert is expected to have a couple of horses in the Preakness after he was unable to run any in the Derby because of the ban on him that Churchill Downs extended for an additional year, based on Medina Spirit's positive drug test from 2021. Muth, winner of the Arkansas Derby in his most recent start on March 30, could be the Preakness favorite ridden again by Juan Hernandez, while Frankie Dettori is set be aboard Imagination.

Baffert, 71, won his record-breaking eighth Preakness last year with National Treasure, whose victory ended Mage's chance at a Triple Crown.

The Preakness is May 18. The Belmont Stakes, being run at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York each of the next two years, is June 8.

___

AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing
A handout photo of an abandoned missile silo in Deer Trail, Colorado where multiple fire departments rescued an 18-year-old who had fallen 30 feet down the silo Sunday morning.

A teenager was rescued after he fell into an abandoned missile silo in Colorado Sunday, according to local police.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff Department posted on X, formerly Twitter, that an 18-year-old male fell in an approximately 30 feet into an abandoned missile silo in Deer Trail at approximately 3:30 a.m. local time.

A group of eight, seven juveniles and the injured 18-year-old, accessed the silo through a broken gate, according to the Sheriff Department. The juveniles attend school in the Cherry Creek School District, according to the department.

Two juveniles that were staying with the 18-year-old were rescued from the silo around 6:00 a.m. and the injured person was rescued at around 8:30 a.m. The person was airlifted to a local hospital with serious injuries.

The 18-year-old received a summons for 3rd-degree criminal trespass and the juveniles were released to their parents pending possible charges the Sheriff Department said in a news statement.

Why are there abandoned missile silos in Colorado?

The silo was a part of the Titan I missile system that had six installations in Colorado, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The system was designed to carry intercontinental ballistic missiles and was decommissioned in 1965, according to the department.

On its website, the department raises concerns that the silo sites can contaminate soil, groundwater and wells around them.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fall down abandoned missile silo leaves Colorado teen badly injured
If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, dial 988 to reach someone with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. They're available 24 hours a day and provide services in multiple languages

Before a Texas mother killed her 3-year-old son and herself, she recorded a 21-second video seated at the drainage ditch where their bodies were found and sent a text message to her ex-husband saying," Say goodbye to your son," police said.

Bexar County sheriff's deputies discovered Savannah Samantha Kriger's and her son Kaiden's bodies on March 19 in a ditch near Tom Slick Park in San Antonio. At the time of the discovery, Kriger was considered the only suspect.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar confirmed during a news conference on May 1 that Kriger's manner of death was deemed a suicide, and Kaiden's death was ruled a homicide. The sheriff then reconstructed the timeline of events leading up to the murder-suicide.

Savannah Samantha Kriger

Savannah Kriger 'damaged various items' in ex-husband's home, sheriff says

Kriger and Kaiden were reported missing on March 18 after the 32-year-old mother was last seen leaving her job early to pick up her son from daycare for a doctor's appointment, according to the sheriff's office. Salazar said Kriger left her parking garage around 12:49 p.m. on the day of her disappearance and traveled in her 2023 Lincoln Aviator 7.9 miles to her ex-husband's house.

When Kriger entered her ex-husband's home, Salazar said she "damaged various items," including personal clothing, furniture and other miscellaneous things like towels. While Kriger was inside the house, her ex-husband was "at his place of employment, which is an auto dealership," the sheriff said.

Savannah Kriger shot wedding portraits, sheriff says

Kriger would leave her ex-husband's home at 1:57 p.m. and return to her residence, according to Salazar. Sheriff's deputies who entered Kriger's home the following day for a welfare check noticed wedding dresses laid out and two wedding portraits with bullet holes in them on a bed, Salazar said.

"We believe that she fired two shots into her wedding portraits," the sheriff said. "It should be noted that the shell casings found in the residence... match the shell casings found at the crime scene."

Savannah Kriger sent final text message to ex-husband

After shooting the wedding portraits, Kriger left her home around 2:18 p.m. and arrived at Kaiden's daycare at 2:32 p.m., Salazar said. Surveillance video shows Kriger checking Kaden out of the daycare and loading him into the rear passenger seat of the Lincoln Aviator, the sheriff added.

Kriger left the daycare at 2:46 p.m. and she made a FaceTime call to her ex-husband. The ex-husband uses another phone to record the call, which catches Kriger saying, "You don't have anything to go home to now... and you won't have anything at all at the end of the day," Salazar said.

The Lincoln Aviator then traveled 7.9 miles to Tom Slick Park, and as Kriger and Kaiden arrived, her ex-husband called 911 to report "criminal mischief," according to Salazar. Kriger attempted to FaceTime her ex-husband again at 3:19 p.m., and when he did not answer, she sent her final text message to him which said, "Say goodbye to your son," the sheriff said.

Savannah Samantha Kriger and her son Kaiden Kriger

'It's pretty obvious what's about to happen'

Once Kriger's ex-husband didn't answer another FaceTime call at 3:21 p.m., she recorded a 21-second video showing her and Kaiden sitting at the drainage ditch where their bodies were found, Salazar said. In the video, Kriger tells Kaiden to say "goodbye to daddy," apologizes to her son for "daddy not being there" and then kisses him, the sheriff added.

"There's nothing graphic about the video, except for the fact that now knowing what we know about what happened in the moments thereafter," according to Salazar. "It's pretty obvious what's about to happen in the video."

San Antonio police met Kriger's ex-husband at his home at 3:37 p.m. to take the criminal mischief report, which led to authorities conducting an unsuccessful search on March 18, Salazar said. The next day, Kriger's and Kaiden's bodies were found at the park during daylight, the sheriff continued.

Savannah Kriger legally bought gun from friend, sheriff says

A gun was also found at the crime scene, which Salazar said Kriger legally bought from a friend who had purchased the firearm from a sporting goods store.

"It was a legal gun," according to the sheriff. "It was hers."

Salazar said he doesn't think this tragedy could have been prevented because the sheriff's office didn't get called into the search until around 7 p.m., and he believes Kriger and Kaiden had already been dead for "several hours."

"To those that are hesitant to call for a welfare check, I don't think there's any reason that you should ever be hesitant," the sheriff said. "... In an abundance of caution, always call. That's what we're there for. We would rather you call and it'd be nothing and we find out everything is OK versus not calling and then wishing for the rest of your life that you had called."

Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Savannah Kriger made 21-second video before killing 3-year-old son
Former President Trump is taking concrete steps to deprive Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of oxygen as they compete for a portion of the same voters.

Trump is going to the Libertarian Party national convention this month and criticized Kennedy, who is running as an independent but who has ties to the party, as not a serious candidate. Republicans also pounced on the unhinged Kennedy last week for saying red state people are more likely to murder you.

The strong anti-Kennedy sentiment from Trumps orbit comes as polling suggests the independent could take support from the former president, who is looking to galvanize the anti-establishment lane to win the White House.

Are there lunatics that wont vote for Biden? Are there lunatics that wont vote for Trump? mused a former Trump campaign adviser. Yeah, its a third option.

Many Republicans believe Kennedy, an ex-Democrat whose family has enthusiastically endorsed Biden, will likely take more votes from the incumbent president than his predecessor. They predict Kennedys still-forming base is coming from displeased Democrats who dont want to support an octogenarian they see as ineffective. Some, they also hope, still respect the Kennedy name.

I think Kennedys going to pull real numbers, the former Trump adviser added, expecting more to come from Bidens coalition.

But Trump is covering his bases nonetheless. He recently mocked Kennedy as a Democrat plant, baselessly suggesting that he is being backed by liberals using him to hurt Trump. Many Democrats, meanwhile, argue its the other way around  that Kennedy was recruited and funded by Trump allies.

To some in Trumps circle, the 45th presidents response to Kennedy has been remarkably tepid. He hasnt eviscerated the environmental lawyer the way he has with other targets, instead opting for random one-offs implying that he cant win.

Yet Trumps associates have been coordinated in their attempt to discredit him. Several Trump supporters on Capitol Hill took to the social platform X to knock Kennedy after his comments about red state people, as well as other disparaging comments made in a years-old clip that surfaced online.

The pro-Trump Make America Great Again Inc. PAC circulated a memo with a roundup of 10 GOP leaders comments denouncing the third-party candidate. The release included voices from battlegrounds such as Florida and Texas, as well as more traditional conservative states like Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) fumed that Kennedy was much worse for Republicans than what some may initially think. RFK is a WOLF in Sheeps Clothing!! He HATES our Conservative movement and thinks people from Red states are IGNORANT and VIOLENT. Dont be FOOLED this November  TRUMP 2024!!! Jackson wrote on X.

Sen. John Barrasso, the Senate Republican Conference chair, went a step further by arguing that Kennedy should not be allowed to occupy the Oval Office. Im proud to be from the most conservative state in America and represent the best of our country, said Barrasso, who is from Wyoming. RFK Jr.s divisive attacks are disqualifying.

Trump has suggested that many within his own party dont know enough about Kennedy and that more information needs to be brought to the surface to illuminate the 70-year-old candidates views.

A Vote for Junior would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against the Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him, Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Polling suggests reasons for Trump to be worried. A NewsNation/DecisionDesk HQ poll released Monday found that Kennedy has a higher favorability rating among Republicans than the public at large. However, the same poll also found Kennedy rating reasonably well among young voters  a key constituency for Democrats.

Trumps circle is looking to fill in the gaps to paint Kennedy as the most liberal of the three major contenders. Trumps campaign has been slinging opposition research to bring past comments into the current discussion. Just last week, it listed several hot-button issues and major figures Kennedy has supported intended to make Republicans grimace. That included his past praise of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described democratic socialist running for reelection, and support for former President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The video composite compiled by the Trump campaign also highlighted so-called culture war topics where Kennedy is likely to clash with the GOP, such as previously referring to the National Rifle Association as a terror group.

You dont spend money trying to define somebody if you dont think they could hurt you, said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist. I think theres a race to define Kennedy by both Republicans and Democrats.

Trump folks want to define Kennedy as the heir to the Kennedy throne and a very liberal Democrat, he said.

The effort to brand Kennedy as a progressive is growing with Election Day only six months away and the candidate gaining access to more ballots. Initially, he only qualified for a few states that arent essential to get to 270 and struggled to get going after leaving the Democratic Party. But his campaign got a new boost of financial momentum after he chose Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. Shanahans money as a tech lawyer  she was once married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin  has given Kennedy essentially a blank check to extend his ballot access journey to now include 10 states.

Kristen Hawn, a Democratic strategist, said the electorate has shifted to show more surprising signs of worry for Trump.

Once people are looking more and more at RFK, the more and more it seems to be that its becoming a Trump problem, Hawn said. More than a problem for President Biden.

Kennedy, for his own part, is currently more preoccupied with Biden than his GOP rival. He has formed a new messaging campaign attempting to convince voters that Biden is the real spoiler of the 2024 cycle.

To be a spoiler, a candidate has to fulfill two requirements. First, they must not be able to win themselves, and, second, by participating in the election, they must prevent someone else from winning who otherwise would, Kennedy said during a press briefing in New York last week. By that criterion, the only spoiler in the race is President Biden. He is the one who cannot win against either candidate.

Kennedys direct attacks against the 81-year-old president also come as Democrats have stepped up their offense against him. But the more he focuses on Democrats, the less bandwidth Kennedy may theoretically give to counter Trump-style attacks from the right.

The Democrats would love to elevate his populism and his conspiracy theories, Conant said. Because not only does that offend Democratic voters, but it could  drive some Trump voters too.

Julia Mueller contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
At least two people were killed and another 21 injured in a knife attack in a hospital in Chinas southwestern province of Yunnan on Tuesday, local authorities said.

The attack took place just before midday at Chengnan Hospital in Zhenxiong, the countys public security bureau said in a statement.

A 40-year-old man was arrested and the case is under investigation, local police said.

Authorities said they do not know the motive for the attack.

The alleged attackers cousin said he had previously been jailed for three years for injuring others in a dispute over a motorcycle transaction, according to the state-owned Henan Daily.

Before he was imprisoned, his character was still good. He used to behave well. But after he came outhe felt that he had been wronged, the cousin was quoted as saying.

The report has since been deleted from Chinese news platforms, where censors routinely scrub content.

Another report from the Cover News, a state-owned media outlet, confirmed the suspect was sentenced to three years in jail for intentional injury in 2013, citing a court document.

China, where private gun ownership is illegal is for most civilians, has faced a spate of mass stabbings in public places in recent years.

Last year, six people were killed and one injured in an early morning knife attack outside a kindergarten in southern Chinas Guangdong. A 2020 knife attack at an elementary school injured 37 children and two adults in the southern Guangxi region, while a 2022 stabbing, also at a kindergarten, killed three and injuring six in eastern Jiangxi province.

Yunnan was also the location of a 2014 knife attack at a train station in the provincial capital of Kunming, where multiple assailants killed 33 people and wounded 133. Authorities blamed terrorists from its Northwestern region of Xinjiang for that attack.

Violence at hospitals is also not unheard of in China, where health professionals have a history of facing assault from patients or their families, often over concerns about high costs and standard of treatment.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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UBS has reported its first quarterly profit since buying ailing rival Credit Suisse, marking a sharp turnaround from six months of losses that immediately followed the closure of the rescue deal.

Shares in the Swiss lender surged 10% in Zurich Tuesday after it posted net profit of $1.8 billion for the first three months of 2024  a 71% increase from a year ago. Combined losses for the June-to-December 2023 period totaled almost $1.1 billion.

CEO Sergio Ermotti said the latest performance was a testament to the strength of the bank and its ability to deliver significant progress on its integration plans.

Johann Scholtz, an analyst at Morningstar, noted that the results were much stronger than expected.

The market was initially concerned that the Credit Suisse merger would lead to revenue attrition, which would have left cost reduction as the only lever to drive earnings growth, he said in a note.

In fact, revenue surged 45% from a year ago to $12.7 billion and UBS attracted net new money of $27 billion into its global wealth management business, the banks biggest division, in the first quarter. It also realized cost savings of $1 billion, adding to cost cuts of some $4 billion last year.

UBS pledged in February to slash costs by $13 billion by the end of 2026, including by cutting thousands of jobs, as it works to make sure the mammoth deal pays off.

The bank bought its crosstown rival in March last year in a government-orchestrated rescue aimed at preventing a global financial crisis. The deal was completed in June, but the process of integration is expected to take at least another two years.

Ermotti, who was brought back for a second stint as CEO to oversee the emergency takeover, has previously said that this year will be pivotal to the combination, which involves merging operations across more than 50 countries.

On Tuesday, Ermotti said UBS was on track to achieve significant integration milestones this year, including the merger of the two banks operations in Switzerland in the third quarter.

Regulatory risk

Shares in UBS have risen more than 54% over the past year but recently suffered a selloff after Switzerlands finance ministry proposed significant increases to the amount of cash and other liquid assets the bank must hold to absorb potential losses.

Swiss finance minister Karin Keller-Suter later said the additional capital requirements could amount to as much as 25 billion Swiss francs ($27.5 billion).

UBS has raised serious concerns about the proposals and on Tuesday Ermotti reiterated the banks view that it wasnt lack of capital that left Credit Suisse needing to be rescued.

While some modifications to the regulatory regime may be necessary the discussion around capital should be based on facts that include a full and transparent account of what led to the idiosyncratic failures of Credit Suisse, he told analysts on a call.

He said UBS was already adding almost $20 billion to its capital buffers as a result of the takeover of Credit Suisse, in part because of the banks increased market share and balance sheet size.

We will be constructively contributing our views to the relevant authorities and I remain hopeful for a proportionate outcome, he added.

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The US State Department on Monday released an ambitious new cybersecurity strategy that seeks to curb Russia and Chinas digital influence in the developing world and blunt those countries alleged efforts to interfere in elections.

With roughly half of the worlds population holding elections in 2024, their vulnerability to cyber-enabled interference is particularly acute and requires the US to continuously expose hackers and propagandists trying to undermine confidence in democracies, says the strategy, which CNN has reviewed.

We have communicated and will continue to communicate to Russia and to China that we view interference in our democratic processes in the United States as absolutely unacceptable, Nate Fick, the State Departments top cyber diplomat, said in an interview. Secretary [Antony] Blinken has said it, and I have said it.

Fick accompanied Blinken on a trip to China last month, where Blinken told CNN that the US has seen evidence of Chinese attempts to influence and arguably interfere with the upcoming US elections.

The new State Department strategy lays out principles that US diplomats will try to use to rally support for implementing tech policies and isolating autocratic regimes that control the flow of information. Washington is unleashing our diplomatic arsenal to help innovative tech firms from the US and elsewhere compete for business opportunities, Blinken said in a speech announcing the strategy on Monday at the RSA Conference in San Francisco , one of the worlds biggest tech forums.

A key premise of the strategy is that economies and democracies need cybersecurity to thrive. A catastrophic ransomware attack, for example, can hobble an economy. A government can use phone-hacking spyware to put dissidents in jail.

The State Department strategy looks to win over more developing countries to what US officials call an affirmative vision for cyberspace that rejects digital repression. It builds on years of US lobbying allies and partners not to use key communications technology and software made in autocratic countries like Russia and China.

US officials have long argued that the technology is less secure and could be used for surveillance by Moscow or Beijing. But with the strategy, US officials are stepping up their arguments that the entire vision of the internet espoused by authoritarian arguments leaves societies worse off.

I think that repressive regimes, including [China] and other actors  theyre in a lot of ways doing our work for us, Fick told CNN. Theyve misused cyber and digital tools repeatedly to threaten international peace and stability, to threaten economic security, to exert malign influence, to undermine human rights. And that narrative is becoming more widely understood and more broadly held, including in the developing world.

Fick pointed to Costa Rica, a US ally that suffered a devastating ransomware attack by Russian-speaking hackers in 2022. The US announced $25 million in aid to help Costa Rica recover from the hack, which disrupted the Costa Rican governments social security and finance agencies.

Costa Rica has also heeded US advice in rejecting the use of Chinese technology in its 5G mobile networks  a move that has angered Beijing. Elsewhere, though, Chinese telecom firms like Huawei have thrived, winning contracts across Africa.

Of course we have our work cut out for us, Fick conceded. Of course theres still a degree of attraction in many economies for these Belt and Road initiatives, he added, referring to global infrastructure projects that analysts say China uses as a diplomatic tool.

Blinken alluded to Huaweis dominance in some markets in his speech on Monday.

Weve learned from the 5G experience that we cannot be complacent and let strategic competitors dominate the technologies that form the backbone of the global economy and that determine how and where information flows, Blinken said.

The United States top diplomat also warned that, while the country currently leads the world in cloud computing technology, providers from authoritarian states are increasingly competitive.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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Whoopi Goldberg detailed the darkest parts of her life in her new book, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, dedicated to her late mother, Emma Harris, and late brother, Clyde K. Johnson.

Now, its time for a book about my nucleus family: my brother, Clyde, and especially about my mother, because none of the other stuff would have happened for me without her, Goldberg, 68, wrote in the memoir, which was released on Tuesday, May 7. (Harris died at age 78 in 2010 after suffering a stroke while Johnson died at age 65 in 2015.)

Goldberg is no stranger to the publishing industry, having written various books over the years  including seven childrens books. Prior to the 2024 memoir, the actress most recent book was released in 2015, titled Whoopis Big Book of Relationships. Goldbergs Bits and Pieces differs from her other published works as its more on the personal side.

From her mothers death to her bouts with drug addiction, and even her own musings on motherhood, Goldberg kept things honest. Keep reading for the biggest revelations from Bits and Pieces:

Who Are Whoopi Goldbergs Ex-Husbands? See Her Relationship History

Goldbergs Childhood

The View star wrote that she only understood her mothers plight after becoming an adult.

My father and mother had separated, so I didnt grow up with him, Goldberg wrote. She tried to get him to pay some support through the courts, but helping Black women living in the projects wasnt high on the state courts priority list, and she couldnt afford a lawyer who might have gotten something done.

Nancy R. Schiff/Getty Images

Despite the struggles, her mother refused to apply for welfare because Harris didnt like the stigma. Goldberg added, I saw her cry once or twice about being unable to pay her taxes. But as a kid, I never grasped that we were always one paycheck away from the worst-case scenario.

Her Moms Mental Health Struggles

Goldberg recalled how her mother disappeared for two years during her childhood. It was later revealed that Harris was hospitalized and underwent electroshock therapy causing her to forget Goldberg and her brother.

I didnt understand until later that my mother had been sent to Bellevue Hospital for having a nervous breakdown, she wrote. She had been acting differently for a couple of months, like she wanted to be alone and not have me and Clyde to think about.

Goldberg explained that her father and grandfather approved of the experimental treatment.

Being Dyslexic

Goldberg wrote about having dyslexia  and hiding her struggles in school.

Nobody in the 1960s was talking about dyslexia, she shared. I never even knew there was a diagnosis for what my brain did to the alphabet. I only knew I had to make it look like I didnt have a problem.

'The View' Cohosts Through the Years and Why They Left

Goldberg further explained that she used memorization skills while reading in class. I locked it in my brain and then acted like I was reading it off the page, she wrote.

How Goldberg Got Her Name

Born Caryn Johnson, the actress has her mother to thank for the name Whoopi Goldberg. She got her stage name Whoopi after Goldberg would sometimes let loose with a fart, she admitted. I added Cushione to it  with a French pronunciation.

Once the stage name gained traction, Goldberg fielded a call from her mom  who offered a suggestion.

I explained to her the whole farting thing. Well, if youre going to change your name and want people to take you seriously, you need a more substantial name, my mother advised me, Goldberg recalled. I said, Oh, really, great namer of the stars? What do you think it should be? She said, Well, you should take one of the names from the family tree. How about Goldberg? That has a nice ring to it. That became my name.

Her Addiction Struggles

Goldberg revealed that she became dependent on drugs at 16 years old. But was able to shake the habit after hanging out at a youth center nightly.

During the day, it was offices for drug rehab counselors, she wrote. In the evening, it was a place where young people could come together and keep themselves from falling into bad things. I had already fallen in and out of bad things. But Id show up and listen to people talking about why they did what they did and how they got free of it.

Billy Crystal Recalls Asking the Doctor for Taco Bell After Taking 4 Edibles

In the 1980s, Goldberg fell into drugs again after being invited to parties with Quaaludes and lines of cocaine  which became her vice.

I thought I could handle the cocaine thing. It didnt seem dangerous. Everybody seemed to have access to it, even on TV and movie sets, Goldberg wrote, referring to herself as a very high-functioning addict.

The cocaine started to kick my ass and her work was impacted, she explained. Finally, I had one of those slap-in-the-face moments that make you see pretty fking clearly that youve hit bottom.

Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images

Becoming a Mother

Goldberg welcomed her daughter, Alex Martin, in 1973 with her first husband, Alvin Martin. Goldberg said the pain she experienced during childbirth was enough to make her not want to do it again.

Further discussing motherhood, Goldberg admitted that Alex was going to be really angry at her for being away all the time. Elsewhere in the book, Goldberg noted that she would never win a motherhood award.

She gets it now. But as a kid, youre not thinking about financial independence, security, or having some backup in the bank account, Goldberg wrote. When youre 8 or 9, you just want your mom around.

How Patrick Swayze Pushed For Her Role in Ghost

After reading the script for the 1990 film Ghost, Goldberg knew she wanted to play Oda Mae. My agent told me that they werent going to consider me for the role, she said. But that was until the late Patrick Swayze became Goldbergs advocate for the part, which she eventually got.

It turned out that Patrick and I had a really good connection in the scenes. We had fun together, Goldberg recalled. Patrick gave me a gift I never got to repay and never could. Because of him, I got my second Oscar nomination.

Goldberg won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her Ghost role in 1991.

Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage

A Friendship With Elizabeth Taylor

Goldberg met the late Elizabeth Taylor  whom she called an inspiration  at a fundraiser, and they began a years-long friendship.

She took many slings and arrows from people about her weight, her marriages, and her illnesses, even her name. She did not like it when people called her Liz. She never let that crap get in the way, Goldberg wrote. She was the best example of what fame could do to help people.

Meeting Marlon Brando

In one hilarious moment, Goldberg wrote that she and the late Marlon Brando became friends after he  more or less  broke into her house and played the piano. When Brando died in 2004, he left Goldberg a parcel of land on his Fiji island, which the actress said threw her for a loop.

After a call with Brandos family, Goldberg eventually gave her share of the island back to his family.

Her Mothers Death

Harris died in 2010, while Goldberg was performing in the stage version of Sister Act in Londons the West End. Dame Maggie Smith was at the show when Goldberg received a call from her brother that their mother had died. (Both Goldberg and Smith starred in the 1992 movie Sister Act.)

Whoopi Goldberg Through the Years: From EGOT Win to Hosting 'The View'

Goldberg wrote that Smith went from being her backstage company to staying with her for the rest of the evening. A flight was arranged for me to leave early the next morning. For the next five hours, Maggie sat with me and let me talk her ear off, telling stories about my mom, my growing-up years, and my brother. We laughed a lot, Goldberg wrote.

Because of that, Goldberg wrote that she would do anything for Smith.

Scattering Her Mothers Ashes

Apparently, scattering a loved ones ashes in Disneyland is prohibited  and Goldberg learned that the hard way. She scattered her mothers ashes on the Its a Small World ride, telling an employee years later.

Ive been told its a HEPA cleanup issue, she wrote. You might find yourself escorted to the parking lot pretty quick. Dont do what I did.


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A boozed-up pilot's drunken antics in a Dallas hotel forced Japan Airlines to cancel a recent flight to Tokyo, according to a report.

The unidentified, 49-year-old aviator arrived in Dallas on April 22 and had dinner with his flight crew, Japan's the Mainichi newspaper said, citing JAL.

The crew members then reportedly partied in the lounge of the hotel where they were staying and later moved up to the pilot's room.

A hotel worker asked them to quiet down, but the pilot's obviously intoxicated speech and behavior prompted the hotel to call the police around 2 a.m. on April 23, the Mainichi said.

Cops responded, questioned the pilot, and warned him not to cause any more problems.

He was due to fly back to Tokyo's Haneda Airport on April 24, but JAL canceled the 11:05 a.m. flight because it needed to check out his mental and physical health and couldn't find anyone to replace him, the Mainichi said.

The pilot didn't violate JAL's prohibition against drinking within 12 hours of a flight, but he was barred from the cockpit as a precaution, the airline told USA Today.

The Mainichi said the company had to put 157 passengers on other flights.

"We are fully aware of the seriousness of this situation," JAL said in a statement to USA Today. "In order to prevent such an incident from happening again, we will thoroughly implement measures to prevent recurrence and work to restore trust in our airline.
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YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. Poland's security services discoveredwiretappingdevices in a room where the governmentwas due to meet in the southern city of Katowice on Tuesday, Polskie Radio reports citing officials.

"The State Protection Service (SOP), in cooperation with theInternal Security Agency (ABW), detected and dismantled devices thatcould be used for eavesdropping ina room wherea Cabinet meetingwas due to be held today in Katowice," JacekDobrzynski, spokesman for the minister in charge of Poland's security services, wrote on the X social media platform on Tuesday morning.

"The services are carrying out further activities inthis matter," he added.

Poland, a hubfor Western military supplies to Ukraineamid Russia's invasion, is on heightened alert for any signs of spying activity, Reuters news agency reported.
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. Vladimir Putins fifth term as president of Russia started on Tuesday, after his inauguration in Moscow, RT reports.

The ceremony was held at the Grand Kremlin Palace, after the 71-year-old leader took a short car ride to the location from his work office. The oath to serve the nation and its people is taken while placing one hand on a special copy of the constitution used during inaugurations.

Putins fifth presidency will last for six years under the current constitution.

Lawmakers from both chambers of the nations parliament and justices of the Constitutional Court were present.

Putins previous inaugurations took place in 2000, 2004, 2012, and 2018. This year stands out, as a number of Western nations and the EU chose to boycott the event. Their governments claim that this years presidential election in Russia, which Putin won with a record 87.28% of the vote, was not free and fair.
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS/CHINA DAILY.As this year marks the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, there is a growing interest in furthering educational and cultural exchanges between the two countries, exemplified by the sister-city relationship between Hangzhou and Nice.

Cecile Claris, head of the Institution Saint-Joseph de Roquebrune, about 20 kilometers east of Nice, said her school is looking forward to having more exchanges with Chinese counterparts, especially resuming cooperation with Hangzhou Foreign Languages School, a bond forged in 2009.

Fruitful exchanges had flourished between the two schools until the interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I hope it will become more convenient for our students to renew cooperation with China, including traveling there and having exchanges," Claris said. She said she was happy to learn that China is offering 15-day visa-free entry to French nationals until Nov 30.

Yan Yu, a Chinese language teacher instrumental in building bridges between the Institution Saint-Joseph de Roquebrune and Hangzhou Foreign Languages School, said, "The pandemic had seriously affected bilateral exchanges."

Having been living on the French Riviera for more than 20 years, Yan, originally from Zhejiang province, fondly recalled her initial proposal for bilateral exchanges with Hangzhou Foreign Languages School during a trip in 2009. The response was immediate and positive, she said.

"They sent a delegation to visit our school right in 2010 and I then helped organize a delegation of teachers and students to go to Hangzhou in 2012," she said. The two-week China trip included a week in Beijing and a week of exchange at the Hangzhou school.

2014 was the peak year for exchanges when a formal agreement of cooperation was signed, she said. Two of Yan's students studied at Hangzhou Foreign Languages School for three weeks that October.

The students from Hangzhou were also warmly received in France, including being invited to the Nice City Hall in 2019, thanks to the sister-city relations between Nice and Hangzhou.

While the pandemic affected educational exchanges with China, Claris said her school has received great support from the Confucius Institute Cote d'Azur.

"I'm so grateful. In the last three years, the Confucius Institute has come to our school to hold various Chinese cultural events and achieved great success. Students like them very much," she said, citing events such as Peking Opera facial makeup workshops and Chinese cultural contests.

Wang Yan, head of the Confucius Institute Cote d'Azur, said that in addition to language classes, the institute has been organizing events at local schools to foster students' understanding and appreciation for Chinese culture.

"The French are very interested in China," she said.

At a recent event in Nice, Paris-based Chinese tea culture expert Zhang Le captivated locals of all ages with her insights into this age-old tradition.

Yann Gravot, a laboratory worker from the University of Cote d'Azur, said he learned a lot about the different types of tea.

"Sometimes I do this tea ceremony at home, (but) may not be as beautiful (as hers)," he said.

Malcom Dorman from the United Kingdom, who has lived in Nice for 35 years, said he also learned a lot, especially about Chinese green tea.

"English tea is nothing special and there is no ceremony," he said.

As educational and cultural exchanges continue to evolve, China is witnessing a surge in people's desire to learn French.

Language learning can further enhance exchanges, said Chen Jianwei, Chinese director of Alliance Francaise of Hangzhou, an organization that aims to promote the French language.

The growing enthusiasm for French is evident in events such as the French Corner, held weekly in Hangzhou, Chen said. "In class, we teach students everything about France. The students are very interested in Cote d'Azur, a region with a perfect mix of nature and culture."

Fabien Gouez, a French teacher in Hangzhou, said he has seen an evolution in cooperation between French and Chinese universities with the opening of more Sino-French institutions across Zhejiang province.

Hangzhou native Shen Jiaqi, who studied French at Alliance Francaise and is now pursuing studies at the National School of Fine Arts at the Villa Arson in Nice, said: "French culture is fascinating. And I want to learn art here in Nice, a place from which many artists like Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso have drawn inspiration."

Shen said she hopes to see stronger links between her hometown and Nice. She also hopes the Villa Arson and the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou can resume exchanges.
Motorola Solutions has deployed its SmartConnect Solution for volunteer rescue organisation VRA Rescue NSW, boosting the reach and capacity of its radio communications.

VRA will gain access to the states Public Safety Network through Smart Connect by using more than 300 of the vendor and systems integrators APX 8000 series P25 radios and APX NEXT P25 all-band smart radios.

Additionally, Smart Connect will also be deployed to 100 VRA service vehicles to establish a mobile communications hub for rescue missions in rural and remote areas.

Our P25 radio technology is designed to help public safety personnel to communicate with clarity in whitewater rapids, on the frontlines of bushfires and in a variety of other extreme conditions, said Con Balaskas, Australia and New Zealand managing director for Motorola Solutions.

With APX NEXT broadband-enabled radios and SmartConnect, responders can take resilient voice communication even further by automatically switching from LMR to broadband networks when users travel outside of radio coverage areas.
Xi says China supports convening of peace conference on Ukraine crisis

Xinhua) 09:09, May 07, 2024

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China supports convening of an international peace conference on the Ukraine crisis at an appropriate time, Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Monday.

The conference should be recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation of all parties and fair discussion of all peace plans, Xi made the remarks when he jointly met the press with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.

Noting that history has proven time and again that at the end of the day, conflicts can only be resolved through negotiation, Xi said that China calls on all parties to resume engagement and dialogue to build mutual trust.

China supports a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe, he said.

Xi stressed that China has stated its position on the Ukraine crisis on many occasions.

China did not start the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to or a participant in it, Xi said, noting that instead of being an onlooker, China has been playing an important role for peace.

The special representative of the Chinese government on Eurasian affairs is on his third round of shuttle diplomacy, he added.

At the same time, China opposes attempts to use the Ukraine crisis to scapegoat or smear a third country or to stoke a "new Cold War," he said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
Haylee Moulder said she paid Nick Berry of The Wolf of Roofing more than $20,000 after her home in Broken Arrow was damaged by extreme weather during the Father's Day storms in June 2023.

She recalled a tree falling in her backyard during the Father's Day storms, damaging her windows, roof, fence, and storage building.

Moulder said she does not want anybody else to fall victim to a scam and wants to alert others about the company because she knows that extreme weather could damage more homes.

She claimed that her family has lived in this house for over 50 years through four generations.

"This house is all I have ever known, it's all my kids have ever known, we're the only ones that have ever lived here, this house and it's just falling apart," she said.

Her brother, who she claimed only vaguely knew Berry, suggested that Berry fix her house and roof.

Moulder said he came out, took pictures, and did everything, which seemed great. She noted that he was the only one getting things done for them then, so he said he needed the first check to cash.

However, it has been several months, and the roof has not been fixed, even after she claims to have given him two insurance checks totaling $22,000.

She explained that her brother had acquired all of the money, and then it was just another excuse after another excuse. Almost a year after this happened, she still hasn't done anything.

Several negative Yelp reviews of his business and complaints from customers with similar situations exist. According to court documents, he was ordered to pay someone over $9,000 last year after taking $10,000 without fixing their roof.

Moulder said her heart sank when she saw those reviews after giving him money.

Furthermore, she expressed fear that nothing would get done in her house. She claimed that she had reached out to him and only gave her excuses for why these cases were brought up, but she still gave him the benefit of the doubt.
On a panel at SXSW recently, John Dworkin, a VP at Universal Music Group, the worlds largest music company, told the story of how at one point last summer, a Taylor Swift song placed at No. 7 on the Billboard charts. At No. 6 was Vacuum Cleaner for Babies, the sound of a vacuum cleaner that parents can play on a loop to soothe babies and help them sleep. He used the example to illustrate how just measuring raw consumption is a flawed way to determine popularity, let alone music.

So what? Popularity was never a particularly good way of sorting out quality. But at least in the old days, buying things  records, books, tickets  when it cost real money to make a choice, demonstrated consumer investment directly to an artist or creator. In the streaming era  movies, music, social media  content is bundled together to deliver access to everything (or at least a representation of everything), meaning you dont have to choose artists to support, or for that matter make practically any effort to be entertained by any particular artist or genre; its all part of the stream, disposable and endless.

This collective consumption model has weakened attachments between artists and their fans and arguably dampened interest in music generally. But where it really sucks is that compensation in the streaming era is tied to this consumption paradigm. When you get paid by how many times your work is played and the marketplace is flooded with fake, synthetic or utilitarian vacuum tracks algorithmically optimized to gain plays, your ability to be found and heard  and thereby paid  is diminished.

Deezer, the French music streaming company, has an idea to increase payouts to musicians on its service. Recognizing that not all listens are equal, Deezer will now pay a higher per-stream rate for tracks that listeners choose themselves, with a lower rate for music played as part of an algorithmic stream. Additionally, artists wont earn royalties until their music has generated more than 1000 plays. That cuts out miniscule payments of a few cents or a few dollars to hundreds of thousands of creators that can be redistributed to artists who have cleared a minimally viable threshold. While this doesnt necessarily address the vacuum track issue, its the latest attempt to break the notion that all consumption is equal.

That idea has been the internets default value proposition, in which anything being created or shared is generically content, devoid of value until someone pays attention to it. Content is a Silicon Valley weasel word that suggests that nothing has any intrinsic worth or quality  every digital byte is equal and interchangeable  until it draws attention as measured and defined by popularity algorithms. Those algorithms are based on attention scores which dont measure the quality or impact of engagement, but merely the volume of responses.

Deezer says its new system is artist-centric, rewarding artists that are building relationships with their fans, as opposed to the old system which is user-centric and simply measuring consumption and the ability to be found.

That old admonition you are what you measure doesnt just apply to budgets and school testing but also to social media posts, news consumption and anything where attracting attention is the goal instead of the byproduct of some intrinsic quality. Deezers shift is an attempt at redefining value, pushing back against traditional popularity metrics conflating consumption with appreciation. If consumption were just one choice over another on a level playing field, the model would still be problematic. But in the age of algorithmic curation, attention metrics increasingly promote and reward the wrong value.
New Delhi: In a major blow to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, lieutenant-governor V.K. Saxena has recommended an NIA probe against him for allegedly receiving political funding from the banned Khalistani terrorist outfit Sikhs for Justice. The move also holds significance in view of the Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday to consider interim bail to him in view of the Lok Sabha elections.

Reacting to this, AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj called it yet another conspiracy against Mr Kejriwal at the behest of the BJP. He added: They are losing all seven seats in Delhi and are rattled by the fear of defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

In a letter to the Union home secretary on May 3, the L-Gs office said that Mr Saixena had received a complaint that the Kejriwal-led AAP had allegedly received $16 million funding from extremist Khalistani groups for facilitating the release of Devendra Pal Bhullar.

Bhullar, who is in Amritsar Central Jail, was convicted for the killing of nine people in a bomb blast in 1993 in the national capital. He was sentenced to death by a designated Tada court on August 25, 2001 and is undergoing life imprisonment after the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence.

In the letter, Mr Saxena said: The electronic evidence adduced by the complainant requires investigation, including forensic examination. The letter said that the complaint is made against a chief minister and relates to political funding received from a banned terrorist organisation.

The complaint refers to a video released by Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, where he alleged that the Kejriwal-led AAP received $16 million from Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022.

The complainant alleged that Mr Kejriwal held closed-door meetings with Khalistani leaders at Gurdwara Richmond Hills, New York, during his visit in 2014. The Delhi CM had allegedly promised to facilitate the release of Bhullar in return for substantial financial backing from Khalistani factions to the AAP. Bhullar was moved to Amritsar Central Jail from Delhi's Tihar Jail on health grounds in June 2015.

The complaint said in a series of posts on the social media, former AAP worker Munish Kumar Raizada had also shared purported pictures of Mr Kejriwal's meeting with Khalistani leaders.

The L-Gs letter came into the public domain just a day prior to the Supreme Courts consideration of granting interim bail to Mr Kejrwal in view of the ongoing parliamentary polls.

The AAP chief, who is in Tihar jail, was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an excise policy-linked money-laundering case. As his judicial custody will end on Tuesday, he will most likely be produced before the Rouse Avenue court through video-conferencing.

Last week, the apex court had asked additional solicitor-general S.V. Raju to take instructions (from the Centre) on what conditions should be imposed in case it decides to grant interim bail to Mr Kejriwal.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta had told Mr Raju, appearing for the ED, that the hearing on Mr Kejriwal's plea against arrest was likely to take time and therefore the court was considering hearing the anti-money laundering probe agency on interim bail to him.

When Mr Raju said he will be opposing interim bail to Mr Kejriwal, the bench said: We are saying we will hear on interim bail and not saying we will grant interim bail. We may or may not grant interim bail.

Justice Khanna said: Please also take instructions on what are the conditions (to be put in place in case it decides to grant interim bail) because of the position you hold, whether you should be signing any files, official files.

Referring to the interim bail granted to AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, Mr Raju told the bench: Look at the statements he is making. He said: Your statement will be blown out of proportion. Thats the problem with the open court, Justice Khanna said, adding, the court is not saying that it will grant or not grant bail. We are not saying either way We have been open about it. Do not assume anything.

The high court had on April 9 upheld Mr Kejriwals arrest, saying there was no illegality and the ED was left with little option after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.
In the Laotian capital, residents are frustrated after the government issues a notice urging them to stock up on water with containers. The searing temperatures of recent weeks have complicated the situation, but Laos has long had problems ensuring a safe and steady water supply.

Vientiane (AsiaNews)  Many families in the Laotian capital of Vientiane are struggling with problems related to water shortages due to a great heatwave that has gripped South Asia and Southeast Asia for weeks.

On Saturday, the Water Supply State Enterprise in Vientiane issued an official warning. Citing rising consumption, it reported technical difficulties related to water infrastructure and urged residents, especially those in elevated and suburban areas, to use water sparingly and store it in containers for later use in case of disruptions.

Several people have expressed their frustration on social media because the problem is not new. In the capital, residents claim that the government has failed to take the necessary steps in time.

A resident of Dongnasok, a village in Sikhottabong district, near the capital, told the Laotian Times, that water pressure at his home began to drop in mid-March with the onset of the hot season.

I have to store water in a tank at night time and use it sparingly, as for drinking water, we filter it in advance, in a 20-litre bottle, said Douangsavanh Jack Phimmasone as he explained how he handled the situation this year, which appears particularly serious because of the intense heat.

Kyungmin Sarah Kim, a South Korean woman who lives in Nongbone, a village in Saysettaha district, faces frequent water outages.

From the end of April, water has been cut off once every two days. Starting in early May, water has been cut off every half day, she explained.

Lamenting the lack of forewarning about the outages, she said: I have never received a government notice. Are they simply pretending to make an announcement?

Despite abundant water resources, including the Mekong River, whose drainage area in Laos extends over about 200,000 square kilometres, the country is hard pressed to provide clean water, especially in rural communities.

The continued construction of new dams and climate change do not help.

As a 2021 update shows, while 84 per cent of people in Laos have basic water services at home, only 18 per cent can access a safe water supply that meets their daily needs for water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Last year, the Laotian Ministry of Public Works and Transport set as its goal to provide clean, drinking water to 85 per cent of urban residents by 2025, to increase to 90 per cent by 2030.
by Arundathie Abeysinghe

An incident at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport on 1 May sparked tensions between the tourism industry and the Sri Lankan government. Private operators like GBS and VFS have been allowed to issue visas, and raise fees. As accusations whirl around the Ministry of Public Security, the government plans an investigation.

Colombo (AsiaNews)  An unexpected incident on 1 May at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport is shedding light on the current mismanagement of visas in Sri Lanka.

The refusal by the Indian staff handling Sri Lankas immigration to issue a visa to the foreign wife of Sri Lankan lawyer, Sandaru Kumarasinghe, has triggered a controversy after videoclips of the incident were posted on social media.

Since the Sri Lankan government decided to outsource visa procedures to private companies, the tourism industry has been in an uproar over this decision, which has resulted in visa fees soaring, the scrapping of the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system, and the inexplicable disappearance of the convenient and cheap 30-day visa category for tourists.

The people involved in the videotaped incident are employees of a joint venture involving GBS Technology Services & IVS Global FZCO and VFS VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd, which the Public Security Ministry authorised last month to handle electronic entry visa documents.

The current deal has resulted in the price of tourist visas skyrocketing to over US 0 for a stay of 180 days. Tourists who wish to stay for less than a month must pay US$ 75 for a minimum three-month entry permit, including .5 and as "service and convenience fees.

Reacting to the matter, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles said that action will be taken against the person who caused the disturbance in the visa issuance section at the BIA and the officers who recorded the incident.

Lawyer Sandaru Kumarasinghe, who was returning home after a trip to Thailand, was later summoned to the police station in Katunayake Airport to file a statement about the 1 May incident.

Regretting having to go to the police station, he said that people must determine, if the statement should be recorded from him, who represented the people, or from those who decided to outsource the visa issuance to a foreign company.

His goal is to draw attention to those responsible for the flawed visa management, i.e. the government and authorised private companies, and avoid bringing to trial or questioning ordinary citizens and tourists who are victims of this system.

Senior officials at Bandaranaike Airport told AsiaNews that, The exorbitant fees directly contravene the Public Security Ministrys own Gazette, issued in November last year, which not only allowed for free visas to seven countries  China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, and Thailand  but also slashed the previous 30-day online visa fee for all non-SAARC[*] countries from US$ 50 to US$ 35.

According to changes announced by the Department of Immigration and Emigration effective 17 April, the short-term visa is not currently offered, while the more expensive three-month visa is available along with additional fees agreed by the Public Security Ministry with private parties.

However, neither the Gazette nor the Immigration Department's notice containing visa categories and fees mention any agreement with private companies or publicise the fees for their services. The situation thus contains grey areas that explain the controversy.

Meanwhile, VFS, a renowned global company involved in the visa entry controversy, raised several concerns with the Public Security Ministry, stating that it was "shocked to be left victimized", blaming the incident on an internet network failure at the airport, which caused a system failure.

On 1 May, serious delays were reported at the airport's entry visa counter due to network malfunction, while VFS and GBS expressed to the Public Security Ministry their concerns about possible sabotage.

According to a highly placed source, as the foreign companies involved had raised these concerns with the Public Security Ministry, the government will soon commence a probe headed by Senior Assistant Secretary to President Chandima Wickramasinghe.

Since the company involved was slow in getting the platform back up working, the visa counter was handed back to the Department of Immigration and Emigration, which operated it without problems. Currently, VFS Global partners with 67 governments.

[*] South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
At the end of the summit in the Pyrenees, France and China issued a joint statement against any Israeli operation in Rafah, calling for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire and a political settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the two-State solution. Twenty-five years after NATO bombs hit its embassy in Belgrade, China warned: we will never allow such tragic history to repeat itself.

Paris (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Chinese President Xi Jinping is in France on a state visit. Prompted by the latest reports from the Middle East, he and his French counterpart have taken the same position on events in the region, the most significant result of the visit so far.

As permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China and France are opposed to an Israeli offensive on Rafah, which would lead to a humanitarian disaster on a larger scale, as well as to forced displacement of Palestinian civilians.

From the Pyrenees, which French President Emmanuel Macron chose for the second and final day of meetings, the two heads of state issued a nine-point statement a day after Israel launched a ground operation in Rafah, limited so far, despite Hamass overtures to an agreement mediated by Qatar and Egypt, albeit based on conditions partly different from those accepted by the Israeli government.

In the press release, Macron and Xi say that, an immediate and sustainable ceasefire is urgently needed to enable the delivery of large-scale humanitarian aid and the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

They go on to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and the guarantee of humanitarian access to meet their medical and other humanitarian needs, as well as respect for international law with regard to all detainees.

Both condemn Israel's policy of settlement construction, which violates international law and constitutes a major obstacle to lasting peace as well as to the possibility of establishing a viable and contiguous State of Palestine.

Likewise, they stress that the future governance of Gaza cannot be dissociated from a comprehensive political settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the two-State solution.

This can only be based on the implementation of the two-State solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security, both with Jerusalem as their capital, and the establishment of a viable, independent and sovereign State of Palestine based on the 1967 borders.

China and France are equally committed to a political and diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, stressing the importance of safeguarding freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden; for this reason, they call for an immediate cessation of attacks on civilian vessels to safeguard maritime security and global trade and prevent regional tensions and humanitarian and environmental risks.

Finally, China joins France to call for an Olympic Truce during the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. This will provide an opportunity to work toward a durable resolution of conflicts in full respect of international law.

Xis trip to Europe gives him a chance to reiterate Chinas role in global politics, rattling the cage of the Western alliance system.

Significantly, the European tour by the Chinese leader includes a stop in Belgrade. Today marks 25 years since NATO bombs hit Chinas embassy in the Serbian capital, which the Atlantic Alliance then called a tragic mistake that cost the lives of three Chinese journalists.

Chinas president chose this stop in his European trip, at a time when the United States is mobilising, including militarily, to contain Chinas expansionism in Asia, as evinced by the Taiwan issue and the clash with the Philippines in the South China Sea.

Xi wants to use the anniversary of the attack in Belgrade for domestic consumption, pushing the image of a China that will never be weak in the face of aggression.

In a letter published in the Serbian newspaper Politika, on the eve of his arrival, he urged his countrymen and women not to forget what NATO did in 1999. "The Chinese people, he writes, cherish peace, but we will never allow such tragic history to repeat itself.
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The Ministry of Defence has suffered a significant data breach, exposing the personal information of UK military personnel.

The department immediately disconnected the external network operated by a contractor.

The hack targeted a third-party payroll system used by the MoD, which contains the bank account information and names of former and current members of the armed services. It is also possible that a very small number of addresses were accessed.

The BBC and Sky, who first reported the story, initial investigations had found no proof that data had been removed. According to the data obtained by The Guardian, the defense secretary, Grant Shapps, is scheduled to make a statement in the afternoon following the Tuesday Commons debate.

Ministers will point at hostile and malign actors without identifying the country responsible for the cyberattack.

As a precaution, affected service staff will be notified and given expert guidance. They can use a personal data protection service to find out if their information is being used or if there is a plan to use it.

All salaries were paid at the last payday, and nothing unusual is expected for the one that comes at the end of this month. However, there might be a slight delay in paying expenses in a few instances.

The shadow defense secretary, John Healey, said, "So many serious questions for the defense secretary on this, especially from forces personnel whose details were targeted."

He added that any such hostile action is utterly unacceptable.

After learning about the incident a few days ago, the MoD has attempted to confirm its scope and consequences. In March, the US and the UK launched an unprecedented joint operation to expose Beijing's espionage, accusing China of launching a global campaign of "malicious" cyberattacks.
On Monday evening, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered and marched near the Met Gala in New York City, with several arrested by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

According to the information obtained by The New York Post, which estimated the number of protesters to be over a thousand, a double line of police officers wearing riot gear stopped protesters at the East 79th St Transverse in Central Park.

Protesters holding Palestinian flags, banging drums, and yelling "Free, Free Palestine!" marched down Madison Avenue, one block east of the gala venue, despite a heavy police presence.

Videos and photos from the scene showed protesters in action as they filled the street and blocked traffic on nearby Park Avenue, marching through Central Park before being arrested by police.

At least one vandal who hated America set fire to Old Glory near the site of the 107th Infantry Memorial, the base of which had "Gaza" written in bold black letters.

A group of people decorated the bronze soldiers of the statue with stickers with the Palestinian flag and the words "Stop the Genocide. End the Apartheid. Free Palestine."

Some protesters climbed up on top of the infantrymen, covered the figures, and waved Palestinian flags.

On Monday night, vandals also targeted the bronze statue of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in Grand Army Plaza, another Central Park landmark.

This year, there was a heavy police presence outside the event with steel barricades and traffic closures, but the protest continued. NYPD deputies wearing masks and zip-tied handcuffs were also observed near the event.

There are going to be a lot of Israel-Hamas war protests in New York City on Monday. Furthermore, Columbia and New York University will host rallies as part of what is being called a "Citywide Day of Rage for Gaza."
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7 May 2024 16:43 (UTC+04:00)

Nazrin Abdul, AZERNEWS

In a bid to bolster their bilateral ties, Azerbaijan and Slovakia have intensified efforts to enhance cooperation across various sectors, marking significant strides towards mutual prosperity.

President Ilham Aliyev welcomed Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during his visit to Azerbaijan on May 7, highlighting the significance of this meeting as a catalyst for a new chapter in Slovakia-Azerbaijan relations.

Within this pivotal meeting, several foundational agreements were inked, including the Joint Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Slovak Republic, Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Defense Industry of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic in the field of Military-Technical Cooperation and Agreement between the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic on Defense Cooperation.

With Azerbaijan's strategic geographical position linking Europe and Asia complemented by Slovakia's pivotal role in Central Europe, both nations envision promising opportunities for enhanced trade and commercial collaboration. Prime Minister Robert Fico echoed this sentiment, expressing readiness to serve as a conduit between the European Union and Azerbaijan, aiming to provide an objective portrayal of Azerbaijan within the EU.

We are ready to become a bridge between Azerbaijan and the European Union, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico said in a joint press conference with President Ilham Aliyev.

"We want to present the objective situation in Azerbaijan to the European Union," the Prime Minister added.

During the discussions, President Aliyev addressed the imperative of ensuring reliable transportation of Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe. Highlighting plans to increase gas supply from 8 to 12 billion cubic meters this year, constituting 50% of Azerbaijan's total gas exports, President Aliyev reiterated ambitions to transport 20 billion cubic meters of gas to the European Union by the end of 2027.

According to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev "Azerbaijan presently exports its natural gas to 8 countries, with Slovakia poised to become the 9th destination. In April of last year, the 'Ring of Solidarity' agreement was signed, paving the way for the transportation of Azerbaijani gas to the Slovakian market, thereby creating promising opportunities for bilateral energy cooperation."

Economic ties between Azerbaijan and Slovakia continue to burgeon as both nations collaborate on regional and global issues of mutual interest. The Azerbaijani President announced that the reconstruction of the Garvand village in Aghdam will be undertaken by a Slovak company, emphasizing the symbolic significance of this collaboration.

The project, guided by the principles of "smart city" and "smart village," is poised to meet the highest modern standards, offering a beacon of hope for the returning populace.

Moreover, the Azerbaijan-Slovakia Business Forum held in Baku witnessed the signing of two pivotal documents. Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov highlighted the concerted efforts to bolster bilateral relations, underscoring the expansion of the legal framework with the signing of 11 significant documents between the two nations.

Of notable significance is the "Agreement on Economic Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Slovak Republic," signed in October 2021, fostering collaboration across various sectors including industry, construction, transport, logistics, investment promotion, and energy.

Furthermore, an agreement aimed at preventing double taxation, signed in 2023, is poised to enhance the business environment between Azerbaijan and Slovakia. The Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership between the two countries, currently under consideration, holds promise for deeper economic ties.

In her address at the Business Forum, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Denisa Sakova of Slovakia affirmed that the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership would serve as another milestone in deepening economic relations between Azerbaijan and Slovakia. She highlighted the role of the documents signed in simplifying trade cooperation and facilitating market entry for companies from both nations.

Sakova emphasized the transformative potential of the documents inked, noting their facilitation of trade cooperation and the opening of new avenues for companies to engage in both markets. Notably, 37 Slovak companies and institutions participated in the forum, underscoring the keen interest in forging new partnerships and strengthening existing ones.

Among the agreements signed to reinforce bilateral relations, two memoranda stand out. Firstly, a memorandum of cooperation between the Azerbaijan Investment Company and the Slovak Export and Import Bank (EXIMBANKA), is poised to enhance financial collaboration. Secondly, a memorandum of cooperation between Slovakian firm "SEAK Energetics" and "ITECH GROUP" LLC from Azerbaijan, promising collaborative ventures in the energy sector and beyond.

In essence, the documents signed today herald a new chapter in the Azerbaijan-Slovakia partnership, reflecting a shared commitment to mutual growth, prosperity, and enduring friendship.

In a recent statement to journalists at the Azerbaijan-Slovakia business forum in Baku, Yusif Abdullayev, the executive director of Azerbaijan Republic's Export and Investment Promotion Agency (AZPROMO), highlighted the ongoing development of relations between the two nations.

Abdullayev acknowledged the current modest trade figures between Azerbaijan and Slovakia. He emphasized with over 90 representatives from various companies participating in the forum, Abdullayev emphasized the potential for significant expansion in bilateral cooperation.

"Unfortunately, our trade figures are not high. Only 7 Slovak companies operate in Azerbaijan. After the forum we organized in Baku, our trade relations will develop further. In total, more than 90 company representatives are participating in this forum. This business forum is the visit of the Prime Minister of Slovakia to Azerbaijan. We believe that cooperation in the field of industry, agriculture and IT will develop."

Despite the existing small volume of exports between the two countries, Abdullayev stressed the importance of expanding trade, not only in terms of products but also services. Looking ahead, both Azerbaijan and Slovakia anticipate a mutually beneficial partnership that will drive economic growth and prosperity for both nations.

He emphasized that the Azerbaijan-Slovakia Business Forum convened today marks the dawn of fresh avenues and opportunities for collaboration between the two nations. "Our partnership with Slovakia has been robust and fruitful. Over the past 15 years, we have witnessed a multitude of joint initiatives held both here in Azerbaijan and Slovakia," he remarked.

In his address, Y. Abdullayev extended a warm invitation to his counterparts to partake in the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), slated to convene in Baku this November.

As Azerbaijan and Slovakia deepen their partnership, prospects for enhanced cooperation are on the horizon. Leveraging their respective strengths and exploring new avenues of collaboration, both nations are poised to reap the rewards of their burgeoning relationship. With a shared commitment to prosperity and development, Azerbaijan and Slovakia are primed to chart a course towards a mutually beneficial future.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 May 2024 20:37 (UTC+04:00)

Elnur Enveroglu Read more

Crimes such as blackmail, sabotage, and embezzlement within the state can be carried out not only by state structures and political institutions but also by churches and religious institutions in Armenia. Just like today, the churches in the country, especially the Archbishop and his supporters, are trying to create tensions on the eve of the Armenian government leaning towards peace.

This means that the above-mentioned institutions are engaged in executing the orders of external opposition forces, as well as interfering in state affairs. Meanwhile, the Armenian Apostolic Church became known for its various activities. The church, which wants to strengthen its financial base, had to resort to some tricky ways.

Although it sounds strange, when it comes to the essence of the matter, it is clear that a large amount of funds have been embezzled from the state budget. It is about the candle business of the church which Catholicos Karekin II thinks as a base for raising a fund against the government.

For a long time, there has been an opinion among people that the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin earns large sums from the sale of candles, which are not taxed, while the candle business is a serious resource for money laundering.

Since 2018, the current authorities have offered the church various mechanisms by which it would be possible to keep tax records of the sale of candles, while the state would simultaneously help the church so that this would not affect its normal activities. The purpose of the state proposal was not taxation itself, but the prevention of shadow activities and the fight against money laundering. The Church repeatedly discussed these proposals with the government, and each time rejected them. And suddenly, the church stopped worrying about this.

Armenian social media sources report that for a long time, the import of candles to Armenia was registered as the import of charity, which was sanctioned by the government. However, recently Catholicos Karekin II has come up with an interesting mechanism by which one can "cheat" the state through his brother. Through this mechanism, Archbishop Ezras began to import candles from Russia to Armenia and formalize it as a donation to the church. In this case, it is recorded that the candles were allegedly already taxed in the territory of the EAEU member country and, therefore, are not subject to taxation in Armenia.

The Armenian social media also writes that it is no coincidence that archbishops from Karekin IIs entourage often voice the idea that the state is not eternal, and the church needs to be strengthened. Their actions over the past weeks most likely serve precisely this purpose: in Armenia, there should be not a state, but a religious community of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and they are the leaders of the community!

Thus, opposing forces against the incumbent government in Yerevan appeared neither in the parliament nor among political parties. The forces trying to break the pillars of the state are hiding in the church...

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Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews Deputy Editor-in-Chief; follow him on @ElnurMammadli1

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 May 2024 19:17 (UTC+04:00)

By Huseyn Sultanli

Ever since the First Karabakh War and the occupation of its territories, Azerbaijan has faced the challenge of integrating itself into an international community that was not always swift to reiterate its support for the countrys territorial integrity. Despite the existence of numerous UN Security Council resolutions calling for the withdrawal of occupying forces and the general righteousness of the countrys position in terms of international law, it was unclear whether Western leaders were willing to show unequivocal support for the restoration of sovereignty.

After all, the current world order was established with the underlying objective of preventing armed conflicts at a large scale from occurring again. This was prioritised given the unimaginable levels of human suffering experienced in the two World Wars of the 20th century. However, this desire to adhere to international legal norms and especially ensure the refrainment from the use of force for the pursuit of territorial gains, was not adequately applied in Azerbaijans case.

Moreover, there are serious doubts about the impartiality of the European Union and United States as potential mediators to the Azerbaijani-Armenian confrontation. Several high-profile EU officials and even leaders of the most influential member states have demonstrated a hostile approach to the country, explaining Azerbaijans unwillingness to allow an issue as crucial to its sovereignty and long-term prosperity as the peace deal to be managed and influenced by interests considered external to the region. Over the years, this has become an integral reason behind the highly flexible foreign policy approach pursued by President Aliyev. Integration and partnership with Europe were always seen as a positive, especially given the immediate socio-economic benefits that this brings for the countrys development.

Nevertheless, it was always made clear that this integration into the Western centric international community would not be something pursued at any cost. As a country that felt let down by the ability of international cooperation mechanisms to punish military violence, Azerbaijan has always been swift to develop a foreign policy that is multi-faceted and based on unequivocal respect for its own interests and a recognition of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

A multi-faceted foreign policy

Despite a broad and multi-layered policy of economic cooperation with the West, the personality of Azerbaijani foreign policy possesses a distinct uniqueness to it. This is partly a consequence of the nature of the countrys strategic position, described by many as being at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and bordering some of the regions most influential powers. Crucially, though, the countrys foreign policy apparatus has been directed at maximizing the potential for cooperation within more than just one established framework or direction. Increasingly, Azerbaijan is not only becoming more participative in tackling highly pressing issues but also becoming a reference point for countries that are not traditionally considered to be a part of the Western system. The countrys chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement between 2019-2023, an organisation that unites 120 countries across four different continents, is the clearest indicator of this. Hence, in the below analysis, we will focus on the different foreign policy directions in which Azerbaijan has worked to solidify its status of an increasingly influential state. Crucially, there is a deliberate emphasis on frameworks that deviate from a Western presence. This way, states can ensure that solutions to often understated problems that they are most affected by can be addressed in a way that suits the immediate and long-term interests of their populations.

This analysis will consider examples from three key issues areas: climate change, the battle against the remaining influence of colonialism and the on-going influence of post-colonialism, and the role played by cultural and historical heritage in encouraging more tight-knit cooperation. Finally, further examples will be drawn upon from more recent times to confirm the on-going nature of this foreign policy dynamic.

Climate and the green transition

A working assumption exists that states traditionally considered to be major oil and gas exporters are unable to contribute to the green transition pursued by the international community in an attempt to combat climate change. The consecutive hosting of COP28 and COP29 in UAE and Azerbaijan, however, highlights the ignorant and rather divisive nature of this viewpoint. The disproportionate reliance on fossil fuels and the inability to satisfy commonly established pledges is something that concerns the entire global community and not just those states that have strategically benefitted from their possession of natural resources.

The hosting of COP29 in Azerbaijan is undoubtedly a major success for the country and a demonstration of real trust on behalf of the international community. The conference presents Azerbaijan with a unique opportunity to use this platform to not only progress with already established processes and negotiations but also act as a bridge by extending the hand of international cooperation mechanisms such as COP to poorer nations. The President Delegate of COP29 recently pointed out that there must not only be an emphasis on working with states that are traditionally viewed as the largest contributors to global warming but also with those that most intensely feel its consequences. Hence, by underlining the measures it has already undertaken and by seeking to engage members of the Global South in the fight against climate change, Azerbaijan is positioning itself at the heart of a truly international effort to combat an issue that poses an existential threat to the entire planet.

Azerbaijans green agenda, however, began before the awarding of this event to its capital city. This further refutes the suggestion that the hosting of COP29 is simply a political win for an oil-rich country. Azerbaijan was swift and proactive in acknowledging the threat of climate change and implementing a green transition that is far-reaching and reflective of the urgency of the need to act. Key examples of this transition include offshore wind projects in the Caspian Sea and the development of the largest solar power plant in the Caucasus and Caspian region. It is expected that power stations to be inaugurated this year will be responsible for the production of 1300 megawatts of solar and wind energy. Moreover, Azerbaijan has teamed up with leading renewable energy companies such as Masdar to facilitate the development of renewable projects, expected to be a truly national effort given the designation of 2024 as the year of Green World Solidarity. The inauguration of the Garadagh solar power plant was a significant moment, as the plant alone is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 200,000 tons a year, provide electricity to 11,000 homes, and save 110 million cubic meters of natural gas.

Additionally, Azerbaijans track record of participating in global climate initiatives, such as last years COP 28, reinforce the countrys serious approach to tackling the issue. At COP28, the Azerbaijani delegation emphasized the desire to create, within the countrys Karabakh region, a carbon-neutral zone that acts as a leading source of foreign direct investment in the region. Moreover, in addition to solar and wind energy, the country is keen on hydropower plants that would further diversify and strengthen the Green Agenda.

Azerbaijan has been an enthusiastic contributor to the United Nations' green agenda, working with the aim of achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. In 2024, Azerbaijan is expected to submit the fourth Voluntary National Report on the national implementation of SDGs to date. Azerbaijan has also committed to increasing the share of green energy as a proportion of total generating capacity from 17% to 30%, with an underwater electric cable along the bottom of the Black Sea currently under construction to facilitate the delivery of energy generated from Azerbaijans renewable sources to European capitals.

A useful example of Azerbaijans pro-activeness is the suggestion put forward which calls for the introduction of an additional SDG, focusing exclusively on mine action. Given the increasingly prevalent nature of armed conflict in the international system, and especially the challenges posed by mines in post-conflict reconstruction, the lack of cohesion in global efforts to tackle this issue is becoming more and more concerning. The SDG consists of five goals and 15 indicators that would guide its implementation and monitor progress achieved. Evidently, this measure is targeted at countries most impacted by war such as Ukraine but also numerous others in the Middle East such as Syria and Yemen. Azerbaijan has always placed special emphasis on cooperation with the United Nations, both on an international level but also domestically where the organisation has a significant and ever-increasing presence. This is an example of one way in which Azerbaijan can act as the leading voice for countries experiencing problems such as mine contamination, one of the several issues that tends to be overlooked.

Chairmanship of Non-Aligned Movement and on-going initiatives

The ability of Azerbaijan to act as a representative for the Global South is not restricted to efforts in one specific sphere. As already mentioned, the country was elected as the chair of the Non-Aligned Movement for the period 2019-2023. In fact, the final year was an additional one following the unanimous approval of all member states to extend the chairmanship. As with COP29, this represents a huge demonstration of trust and confidence by the broader international community. Crucially, it represents, once again, the enthusiasm of Azerbaijani foreign policy towards multilateralism and international cooperation in vital areas like international security, global health, youth development and unity against neo-colonialism which threatens to undermine the sovereignty and future development of nation-states.

Azerbaijans time as chair of NAM coincided with an unprecedented global pandemic. Upon the countrys initiative, an online NAM summit was held. This event sought to unite the collective effort to vaccinate populations and ensure that access to global distribution was as equitable and effective as possible, despite evident barriers to this being a possibility. Independently, Azerbaijan also provided humanitarian support to more than 80 countries. This included voluntary contributions to the WHO in the form of approximately 10 million USD. The country also directly supplied five countries with vaccines.

Furthermore, it was Azerbaijans initiative to establish the NAM Parliamentary Network and the NAM Youth Organization (in 2021 and 2022, respectively). The latter, headquartered in Baku, plays a crucial role in uniting youths of member states and serving as a platform for the exchange of opinions on mutual cooperation as well as ideas on confronting existing challenges facing member states. Since its establishment in 2021, the Youth Organization successfully established national chapters, more simply known as branches, in 50 member states. Moreover, the Youth organization has pursued an agenda of successful cooperation with other youth platforms around the world. Most recently, it co-organised an event at the ECOSOC Youth Forum in New York, focusing on the increasingly pertinent synergy between mine action, climate change and the role played by the youth globally. The Parliamentary Network has been equally successful, with the Third Conference held in Geneva in March 2024 following the Second Conference in Bahrain (2022), the First Conference in Baku (2022) and the Inaugural Conference in Spain (2021). A further proposal was made on the creation of a womens platform, set to be put into practice by the upcoming chair of the Movement, Uganda. This further highlights the desire to deepen institutionalized cooperation via this framework.

Azerbaijans legacy as the chair of the movement is undoubtedly valued and serves as an example to future chairs on how to approach the difficult task of chairing an organization with over 100 members. This example does not merely demonstrate an increasingly participative foreign policy. In fact, it is an example of Azerbaijan acting as a leader on the global stage by relying on its increasingly diverse foreign policy apparatus but also its status as a respected and proactive member of the global community. The importance of these efforts must never be underemphasized, especially given how sensitive the issues uniting NAM member states remain to be for their respective populations.

Economic (and other) cooperation based on cultural heritage

In addition to more prominent areas of cooperation, such as climate change and unity among non-aligned states discussed so far, Azerbaijan has demonstrated leadership that is based on a more cultural and historical foundation as opposed to current pressing issues. As a Turkic state, Azerbaijan is an integral part of the Organization of Turkic States, established in 2009 and a forum which has since gained vital strategic and economic importance. OTS is composed of several sub-bodies, focusing on facilitating dialogue and interconnectedness in areas such culture, economic growth, science, and education. One of the key underlying aims of this platform was to facilitate the development of the Middle Corridor (also known as the Trans-Caspian Transport Route), designed to connect Europe and China through Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Equally, given Azerbaijans increasingly deep ties with Turkey on both the economic and military field, it serves as a platform through which the countries can further institutionalize their relationship by solidifying the influence of the common culture and history that unites the member states. The organization has gone as far as adopting a Turkic World Vision  2040, underlining the desire to build a cooperative platform that will allow member states to defend their own interests in an environment that is free from the influence of one or several great powers. President Aliyev has always emphasized this point, referring to the organization as Azerbaijans only family and the key to ensuring unity in a highly complex and volatile international system.

Given that Central Asia and the South Caucasus are geographically located in ways that make all of its states, especially developing ones, vulnerable to the instability that usually follows great power competition, the OTS also promotes economic cooperation. Initiatives such as the Turkish Investment Fund, headquartered in Istanbul, is the first official financial organization uniting all the Turkic states. The underlying aim of the fund is to mirror institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank by providing a similar forum for Turkic states. Its operation consists primarily of facilitating economic cooperation, with an essential pillar being the provision of credits to corporations and SMEs engaging in large-scale infrastructure projects. Azerbaijan is a key contributor of the fund. This is essential in helping Turkic nations such as Kyrgyzstan develop long-term financial stability that provides a degree of protection for the countrys economy and population amidst rising geopolitical instability. Crucially, however, it allows economic cooperation to be conducted by Turkic states independently and in accordance with the outcomes of regional dialogue. The five members benefit from an entirely equal split of the Funds resources, with each country allocated 20% of the entire fund.

Further examples

There are numerous other examples of instances where Azerbaijan has evidently taken the lead. A clear pattern can be observed if one is to take a step back and assess the key issue areas that the countrys constantly evolving foreign policy engages with. Crucially, these initiatives stem from issues that appear to have been marginalised by the traditional international community. This includes but is not limited to the involving of the Global South in the fight against climate change, limiting the negative influence of postcolonialism and the protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of less developed states that allows them to act in accordance with their own culture and interests and not ideas imposed on them by powers external to their region.

Further examples from 2024 have served to reinforce this dynamic. The Conference on Inter-Action & Conference Building Measures in Asia (CICA), established in 2002 by the initiative of Kazakhstan, is a similar platform that promotes military confidence-building and reinforces the core principle of non-interference by member states into each others internal affairs. Recently, it was announced that Azerbaijan has been elected as the next chair of the conference, with the Seventh Meeting of the Ministerial Council occurring in the second half of 2024. Highlighting the countrys increasingly decisive role in the international security landscape, particularly by safeguarding territorial integrity and sovereignty as inherent components of the international legal order, member states (of which 28 are permanent) have once again highlighted the strategically important role of Azerbaijan in acting as a bridge between different countries and region. The fact that the CICA is the only official framework which Iran and Israel share and cooperate through further stresses this point.

Once again, Azerbaijans desire to engage in multilateral settings that seek to strengthen the ability of states to act on their own behalf, is not limited to just international security and the complex field of defence. This May alone, Baku is hosting the 6th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue of which cooperation and interconnectivity are key discussion topics. Attended by leading international institutions such as UNESCO and the WTO, the forum first began in 2008 as part of the Baku Process initiative. Attended by thousands of professionals and representatives of different governments and agencies, this framework seeks to encourage intercultural discussion and cooperation, essential given the increasingly divisive and polarized international arena where Islamophobia and other forms of racial discrimination are becoming worryingly more widespread.

Conclusion

The examples discussed in this analysis all have a clear but highly essential common denominator. Azerbaijan, a country that recently freed itself from military occupation, is beginning to firmly position itself at the heart of truly international cooperation. As initially proposed, although Western institutions have set an undeniable precedent on fostering international cooperation, the key limitation of their most influential members tends to be the inability to consider the interests and issues facing those communities that are not in their most proximate environment. The rather spontaneous recent visit to all five Central Asian countries by UK Foreign Minister David Cameron, described as an attempt by the UK government to reinforce its vision of becoming more Global, demonstrates that Western powers do not always have a strong record of using their soft power to establish a deep-rooted influence in other regions. Given the return of armed conflict to Europe and other continents as a fixed feature of international relations, marginalization is becoming more dangerous than ever before. It is precisely this factor that has forced countries like Azerbaijan to take responsibility, preserve (or restore, in Bakus case) the respect for its territoriality and gain a foothold in influencing the evolution of events in its immediate neighbourhood.

For Azerbaijan, this new era represents a highly promising and exciting opportunity. The country, despite the evident complexities it faces as a consequence of its geostrategic position and the unpredictable nature of its neighbours, has learnt to stand firm and develop in the direction that it itself deems most necessary and most beneficial. A direct consequence of the uniquely decisive and commanding foreign policy trajectory chosen by President Aliyev, Azerbaijan is as influential and respected on the international community as ever before. Most importantly, this trend is only going to become more apparent and noticeable with time. The sheer breadth of directions in which Azerbaijans diplomacy is currently operating is likely to be met with fierce enthusiasm and ambition from the countrys future generations.

About the Author: Huseyn Sultanli is a political analyst and expert on Political Risk, the Application of International Law, Conflictology, European Cooperation, and Azerbaijani foreign policy.

He is a MSc International Relations Graduate, LSE in London, United Kingdom.

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7 May 2024 11:00 (UTC+04:00)

Ulviyya Shahin Read more

The Azerbaijani-Slovak business forum has kicked off in Baku, Azernews reports.

The forum is attended by ministers of economy of Azerbaijan and Slovakia Mikayil Jabbarov and Denisa Sakova.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Slovakia Denisa Sakova said during the Azerbaijani-Slovak business forum in Baku, that bilateral relations, including economic cooperation, between Azerbaijan and Slovakia are developing rapidly.

She appreciated the fact that the relations between the two countries are developing at such a fast pace.

According to the minister, Slovakia is actively monitoring Azerbaijan's economic growth.

She added that Azerbaijan's strategy for development as Slovakia's regional trading partner is strengthening year by year.

Sakovan official emphasized that the strengthening of trade relations was recently confirmed by the double taxation agreement, which entered into force in early April, and negotiations on an investment protection agreement are in the final stages of preparation.

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7 May 2024 11:17 (UTC+04:00)

Ulviyya Shahin Read more

During the Azerbaijan-Slovakia business forum, significant strides were made in fostering bilateral cooperation between the two nations, Azernews reports.

A pivotal moment arose with the signing of a memorandum of mutual understanding between Azerbaijan Investment Company and Slovakia's Eximbank. This memorandum outlines a framework for collaboration, aiming to facilitate investment activities and bolster economic ties between the two countries. The agreement signifies a commitment to exploring joint ventures and investment opportunities that align with the strategic interests of both parties.

Additionally, another milestone was achieved with the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between Slovakia's SEAK Energetics and Azerbaijan's ITECH GROUP. This memorandum highlights the intent of both entities to collaborate in the field of energy, paving the way for joint projects and technological exchanges. By combining their expertise and resources, SEAK Energetics and ITECH GROUP aim to contribute to the development of sustainable energy solutions and advance the energy sector in both Azerbaijan and Slovakia.

These agreements underscore the mutual desire of Azerbaijan and Slovakia to deepen their economic cooperation and forge stronger ties across various sectors, ultimately fostering shared prosperity and growth for both nations.

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7 May 2024 15:34 (UTC+04:00)

Nazrin Abdul, AZERNEWS

Amid ongoing efforts to bolster women's economic participation, the Entrepreneurship Development Fund, under the Ministry of Economy, has extended preferential loans exceeding 50 million manats to over 800 investments related to the development of women's entrepreneurship projects during the first quarter of 2020-2024, Azernews reports.

This initiative has not only injected vitality into women-led ventures but also facilitated the creation of more than 1,000 new job opportunities.

Deputy Minister of Economy, Sahib Mammadov, highlighted these significant strides during his address at the "Consultations with interested parties on the 4th Voluntary National Report of Azerbaijan, expansion of women's economic rights and opportunities and progress on the 5th SDG".

Mammadov emphasized the pivotal role played by the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (SMBDA) in fostering women's entrepreneurship, with a dedicated focus on increasing the participation of women in small and medium enterprises.

"Informing women about entrepreneurship, innovations in this field, support mechanisms, their educational events, training, seminars, and round tables are regularly organized for the study of ideas and proposals. Besides KOBIA, the Association for the Development of Women's Entrepreneurship is also represented in the Public Council."

He emphasized that the 4th SDG Dialogue serves as a crucial platform for sharing insights and recommendations to accelerate progress towards achieving the 5th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), particularly in enhancing women's economic empowerment.

"In this regard, the 4th SDG Dialogue will act as an effective platform to discuss and share knowledge on issues of a global nature and specific to Azerbaijan, especially in terms of increasing the economic empowerment of women, in achieving the 5th SDG. By 2030, it will be aimed at proposing innovative solutions and policy recommendations to accelerate the achievement of gender equality and women's economic empowerment in Azerbaijan."

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7 May 2024 18:00 (UTC+04:00)

Fatima Latifova Read more

Azerbaijan and Russia discussed cooperation in the field of climate change, Azernews reports, citing the post shared on COP29's official "X" account.

"COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev met Russias Natural Resources and Ecology Minister, Alexander Kozlov, and Minister of Economic Development, Maksim Reshetnikov to support regional and bilateral cooperation in the field of climate change and environmental protection," the post reads.

COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev met Russias Natural Resources and Ecology Minister, Alexander Kozlov, and Minister of Economic Development, Maksim Reshetnikov to support regional and bilateral cooperation in the field of climate change and environmental protection. pic.twitter.com/u3YYGRJMI4  COP29 AZ (@COP29_AZ) May 7, 2024

Recall that Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, will host the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 29) for the first time in the region from November 1122, 2024. The decision was made at the plenary session of COP28 on December 11. Azerbaijan successfully participated in the COP28 held in Abu Dhabi last year.

Azerbaijan will take the opportunity to bring heads of state and governments, civil society organisations, business, and international institutions together in the South Caucasus to discuss climate change, measures to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement, and focus on long-term climate strategies and goals.

It is worth noting that Azerbaijan confirmed its commitment to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 35 percent by 2030 and increase this target by 40 percent by 2050. Fulfilling the commitments under the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 and actively working in this regard are priority issues for the government of Azerbaijan.

The Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been held annually since 1995. The event aims to assess the progress made in combating climate change around the world.

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Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York continues on Tuesday with some of the most dramatic testimony so far in the trial.

Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was called as a witness.

Related: Judge denies mistrial request by Trump defense over Stormy Daniels' testimony

Daniels described her hotel encounter with Trump.

She talked about meeting Trump at the Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament. Daniels said she declined a dinner invitation from Trump but his bodyguard took her phone number and later messaged her to come to his hotel.

She was planning to go to dinner with people from her company but her publicist encouraged her to go to dinner with Trump instead.

When she went into the hotel room she says Trump was wearing wearing satin pajamas.

She testified that she asked Trump to change and he returned wearing a dress shirt and dress pants.

Daniels testified that Trump said it was too early for dinner and started asking questions about her life and work.

At one point she says they had a "very brief" conversation about his wife, Melania.

She recalled saying, "We don't sleep in the same room."

Trump closed his eyes, shook his head and murmured to his attorneys as said this, CNN reported.

Daniels claimed that Trump told her that she should go on his television show, The Apprentice.

After a short court break, Daniels returned to the stand.

She says they talked for about two hours. She says she went to the bathroom and returned to Trump sitting on the bed in his boxers and t-shirt.

She said that startled her but a short time later she was undressed and in bed with him.

Daniels testified that after the sex was over, "I just left as fast as I could. That was it."

She claimed that Trump did not ask her to not tell anyone about the encounter.

Daniels testified that they met in public the next day while Trump was at a table with NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

She said she began speaking with Trump often after the encounter, as often as once a week.

They met again in 2007 at Trump's vodka launch party.

Trump allegedly asked if she had plans that night but she said she lied and told him her friend were "flying out on a girls trip."

She then brought up other times they met in public. She said she continued to meet with them because she thought participation in The Apprentice could still be in play.

After a lunch break, and the judge denied the request for a mistrial, Daniels returned to the stand for more questioning.

Early in the morning, Trump had posted on his Truth Social that he was "recently told" who the witness would be on Tuesday and complained his lawyers had "no time to prepare." He later deleted the post. Prosecutors have previously given an entire list of witnesses they will call but not their order in an effort to limit attacks by the former president.

As court got underway, Trump's lawyers objected to her testifying, particularly about any sexual acts.

Judge Juan Merchan said he agreed that Stormy Daniel's has credibility issues, but that's why the prosecutors need to be given a chance to establish her credibility, CNN reported.

Daniels was the second witness of the day.

Sally Franklin, a top editor for publisher Penguin Random House, was called to the stand as the first witness of the day.

Prosecutors say their case could take another two weeks.

On Monday, Judge Juan Merchan ruled that Trump had violated a gag order in the case for a 10th time. He fined Trump $1,000 and warned that future violations could result in jail time.

Prosecutors called to testify former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney on Monday.

Jurors for the first time heard the details of the financial transactions at the center of the case.

Prosecutors showed the jury payment checks bearing Trump's signature.

During cross-examination, McConney said that Trump never asked him to log the reimbursements as legal expenses or discussed the matter with him.

Prosecutors are building toward their main witnesses, former porn star Stormy Daniels and former Trump lawyer and personal fixer Michael Cohen.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with payments Cohen made to Daniels, who claimed she had sex with Trump. She was paid for rights to her story to keep the information hidden from voters, prosecutors are arguing.

The hush money was recorded as Trump's business legal expenses, but was actually part of his campaign, according to the charges against him.

The former president has pleaded not guilty.

On Friday, Trump's former communications director Hope Hicks testified of the "crisis" his infamous "Access Hollywood" tape presented to his 2016 presidential campaign just weeks before the election.

Trump boasted off camera on the 2005 tape about his celebrity in his "Apprentice" reality series, and what that meant he could do to women.

"When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the p---- [genitals]," he bragged. "You can do anything."

Trump did not deny the tape after it was released, but merely dismissed his words as "locker room talk."

Daniels' story emerged in the wings almost immediately afterward just as Trump's attitude toward women was threatening the success of his campaign.
7 May 2024 11:36 (UTC+04:00)

Ulviyya Shahin Read more

The traditional attire of Azerbaijan was showcased at an exhibition held in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, Azernews reports.

The exhibition, which featured national costumes from various countries, took place at the Woodrow Wilson House Museum. With assistance from the Embassy of Azerbaijan in the United States, Azerbaijan's national costume was featured among the garments exhibited.

Jamila Mammadova, the embassy's public relations officer, highlighted that the attire was dedicated to Sara Khatun, recognized as the first female diplomat from Azerbaijan and the broader Muslim East, renowned for her diplomatic prowess.

Elizabeth Karcher, the executive director of the museum, expressed appreciation to the participating embassies during the opening remarks. She mentioned that the exhibition is an annual event, showcasing national costumes from 40 countries this year. Karcher emphasized that the exhibition aims to demonstrate the influence of fashion and promote messages of peace through clothing.

Guests were presented with a magazine featuring photographs of the showcased garments. The section dedicated to Azerbaijan in the magazine provided details about the fabrics used in the exhibited clothing and information about Sara Khatun's contributions.

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7 May 2024 08:00 (UTC+04:00)

Nasir Mammadov, Azerbaijans Ambassador to Iraq, met with the countrys Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Iraqi PM Mohammed Shia al-Sudani asked the ambassador to convey his greetings to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and wished continuous development and prosperity to the state and people of Azerbaijan.

The Iraqi PM emphasized the significance of taking advantage of the existing potential to strengthen bilateral relations and enhance cooperation with friendly Azerbaijan in the domains of energy, economy, investment, tourism, education and infrastructure.

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani underscored that the relations between the two countries have been developing steadily over the past two years, mentioning the official visit of Iraqs President Abdullatif Jamal Rashid to Azerbaijan on November 20-21 last year, which contributed to the cooperation between the two countries. He also noted that high-level reciprocal visits gave a substantial impetus to the development of relations.

The PM described the discussions held during the visits of Rashad Nabiyev, Azerbaijan's Digital Development and Transport Minister to Iraq in last December, and Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov to Iraq this March as fruitful in terms of determining the potential of cooperation between the two countries in various realms.

Ambassador Nasir Mammadov expressed his gratitude for the reception, and conveyed the greetings of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the Prime Minister of Iraq.

Highlighting the close cooperation within the international organizations, the diplomat said that the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Iraq are developing steadily in many areas. He pointed out the vast potential for strengthening cooperation between the two nations.

Emphasizing Azerbaijans preparations for the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in November this year, the ambassador expressed confidence that the delegation representing Iraq would contribute to the work of the session.

Underlining the necessity of COP29 amid the climate changes such as global warming, desertification and drought, which most countries of the world face, and its environmental effects, the Prime Minister said that the Iraqi side would be represented at the event by a large delegation.

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7 May 2024 09:00 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov had a telephone conversation Monday with Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Malta, OSCE Chair-in-Office Ian Borg.

According to Azernews, during the telephone conversation, the discussions revolved around the issues on the OSCE agenda, as well as the regional situation.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov highlighted the key areas of the Azerbaijan-OSCE bilateral cooperation agenda and the countrys position on the current challenges facing the OSCE.

FM Bayramov provided an insight into the current post-conflict situation in the region, the Azerbaijan-Armenia normalization process, as well as the country's approach to the issues.

The sides also discussed prospects for cooperation with the OSCE and its current chairmanship within the framework of the Baku-hosted 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

During the conversation, the two also exchanged views on other bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.

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7 May 2024 10:37 (UTC+04:00)

Fatima Latifova Read more

On May 6, First Deputy Minister of Defense  Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army, Colonel General Karim Valiyev met with the delegation led by Professor Talat Canbolat and Lieutenant General Yasar Kadoglu, Azernews reports.

Within the framework of Foreign Study Trip, the guests visited the graves of the National Leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev and prominent ophthalmologist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva in the Alley of Honor, as well as the Alley of Shehids (Martyrs) and Turkish Martyrs' Cemetery.

The guests laid wreaths and flowers and paid tribute to their bright memory. Colonel General K.Valiyev welcomed the guests at the meeting held at General Staff of Azerbaijan Army and expressed his satisfaction with seeing them in Azerbaijan. The Chief of General Staff noted that bilateral military cooperation with Turkiye is based on friendship and fraternity. The importance of further expansion of cooperation in the field of military education between Azerbaijan and Turkiye was highlighted.

The Turkish delegation expressed gratitude for the hospitality and noted the high level of cooperation aimed at expanding experience in military education.

Then the guests met with the Advisor to the Minister of Defense, Colonel General Bakhtiyar Ersay and the First Deputy Commander of the Air Force  Chief of Staff Colonel Mazahir Rustamov.

The meetings discussed reforms carried out in the Azerbaijan Army, and expressed importance of further development of joint cooperation in military education and the exchange of mutual experience.

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7 May 2024 11:54 (UTC+04:00)

Ulviyya Shahin Read more

The British Embassy congratulated the Azerbaijani team on its successful performance at the "Windsor Royal Equestrian Show".

Azernews reports that the congratulation was published on the embassy's account on the "X" social network.

"We congratulate the Azerbaijani team for their brilliant performance at the International "Windsor Royal Equestrian Show", - it was noted in the post.

The Royal Windsor Horse Show started in the UK on May 1. Azerbaijan was represented by a delegation of 100 people, including a dance ensemble and cavalry detachment of the border service, as well as the Land of Fire polo team.

Congratulations to Team Azerbaijan for their outstanding performance at the @windsorehorse International polo event! Celebrating the enduring bond between Azerbaijan and the UK.  https://t.co/JqU6dUAMp7  UK in Azerbaijan (@ukinazerbaijan) May 7, 2024

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7 May 2024 10:43 (UTC+04:00)

Fatima Latifova Read more

The 4th Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Dialogue is being held in Baku on the topic "Consultations with interested parties on the 4th Voluntary National Report of Azerbaijan, expansion of women's economic rights and opportunities and progress on the 5th SDG", Azernews reports.

At the event, state officials, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, the Ministry of Science and Education, the Ministry of Health, the State Statistics Committee and the Central Bank, UN agencies, international financial institutions, the scientific community and brain representatives of the centers, representatives of the private sector participate.

The 4th Voluntary National Report of Azerbaijan will be reviewed within the framework of the event.

Also, the SDG Dialogue Series will stimulate knowledge, present international best practices and promote Azerbaijan's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for key stakeholders, including the Government, the UN, the private sector, civil society, international financial institutions and development partners. It aims to fulfill the function of a platform for creating conditions for innovative solutions for practical support to the Government of Azerbaijan and the National Coordinating Council for Sustainable Development in the implementation of national priorities within the framework of the Strategy.

Each SDG Dialogue focuses on a specific topic selected in consultation with the National Coordinating Council for Sustainable Development. A Policy Review is prepared after each dialogue. It is an analytical paper containing a brief analysis of the context, examples of international best practices, as well as a section on practical policy recommendations on the topic.

Since the first SDG Dialogue was held in November 2022, 3 SDG Dialogues have been held. The first SDG Dialogue was dedicated to "Green transformation in Azerbaijan", the second to "Towards 2030: socio-economic inclusion in Azerbaijan", and the third to "Results of the 2023 Global SDG Summit and the role of supreme audit institutions in the implementation of SDGs".

It should be noted that the UN and its partners are working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Azerbaijan. As a result of this partnership, Azerbaijan prioritized 17 SDGs, 88 targets and 119 indicators covering economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development. By submitting two Voluntary National Reports (VNRs) in 2017 and 2019, Azerbaijan was the first country in the CIS to submit two VNRs until 2019.

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7 May 2024 15:57 (UTC+04:00)

Fatima Latifova Read more

Amendments were made to the Law "On Education", Azernews reports, citing the report on the session of the Milli Majlis.

Certification in educational institutions requires 3 years instead of 5 as before. Participation in certification is voluntary for persons aged 60 and over. The related issues were reflected in the draft law on amending the Law "On Education", which was put on the agenda at the session of the Milli Majlis.

The document envisages the certification of educators in state preschool educational institutions in order to expand the scope of teachers whose social protection is strengthened.

The changes include issues such as increasing attention to the proposed scientific research works, giving higher and secondary education institutions the right to prepare curricula, and increasing the duties of the state in the field of education.

According to the draft law, the rules for changing the educational institution, specialization, their expulsion from the educational institution, or their reinstatement to the educational institution, as well as the temporary suspension of the education of the students (granting them an academic leave) are defined.

During the transition from one stage or level of education to another, the requirements for the suitability of the educational program (specialty) are determined, as well as the procedure for the internship of students of higher and secondary specialized educational institutions is approved.

Participation in the certification of persons aged sixty and older is voluntary.

The bill was adopted in the third reading after the vote.

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7 May 2024 13:57 (UTC+04:00)

Today marks the opening of a new chapter in Slovakia-Azerbaijan relations, President Ilham Aliyev said in a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico.

I hope that our joint path will be very successful, the head of state emphasized.

According to Azernews, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, received Robert Fico, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, who is on a visit to Azerbaijan.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is accompanied on his visit by a group of entrepreneurs who are holding talks on cooperation between Slovakian and Azerbaijani businesses.

This is Fico's first foreign visit outside the EU, the aim of which is to support the Slovak economy and develop bilateral relations with countries that have high economic potential.

The Slovak delegation also includes Economy Minister Denisa Sakova, Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar, and Defence Minister Robert Kalinak.

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7 May 2024 17:23 (UTC+04:00)

Ulviyya Shahin Read more

Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov, who is on an official visit to Turkiye, visited Tuesday the countrys Kahramanmaras province to view the progress of construction work in the Azerbaijani quarter, Azernews reports.

Under President Ilham Aliyevs instructions, Azerbaijan facilitated the construction process in the Azerbaijani quarter in the Kahramanmaras province hit by a devastating quake occurred in Turkiye on February 6, 2023.

In accordance with the Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement signed in Nakhchivan on September 25, 2023, $100 million was earmarked by the Azerbaijani government for the implementation of the project.

Sadig Sadigov, Chairman of the Board of Azerbaijans State Housing Development Agency, an executive body from the Azerbaijani side, briefed PM Ali Asadov about the ongoing construction process within the project.

The Azerbaijani Prime Minister gave relevant instructions for the timely and high-quality implementation of the construction works.

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7 May 2024 19:05 (UTC+04:00)

Fatima Latifova Read more

EFES-2024 multinational exercise is being held with the participation of a total of 1567 personnel from 49 countries in the cities of Istanbul and Izmir of Turkiye, Azernews reports.

The servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army, to be involved in the practical classes of the multinational live-fire exercise, have been sent to Turkiye.

EFES-2024 multinational international exercise will continue until May 30.

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Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza's Rafah border crossing early on Tuesday.

The Israel Defense Forces said on X that "A precise counterterrorism operation to eliminate Hamas terrorists and infrastructure within specific areas of eastern Rafah began overnight, based on intelligence."

The Israeli 401st Brigade took "operational control" of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing.

4 mortar shells were launched from the area of Rafah toward Israeli territory, following the sirens that sounded in the Kerem Shalom area.



2 additional rocket launches were also identified from the area of Rafah toward Israeli territory.



These launches are further evidence of https://t.co/wycFg7zQI5  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 7, 2024

Images released by the military showed Israeli flags flying from tanks after the operation.

The military said residents in eastern Rafah were encouraged to evacuate to Al-Mawasi before the assault.

The crossing connects the blockaded territory to Egypt and is one of the main access points for aid into Gaza.

The operation does not appear to be the large-scale offensive into Rafah that Israel has planned.

Israel's attack came after conflicting reports about a possible cease-fire. On Monday, Hamas said it had agreed to a cease-fire but Israel responded that it was not any agreement it had been OK with.

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian affairs office told the Associated Press that Israeli authorities have denied it access to the Rafah crossing.

He says that disruption at Rafah could break the fragile aid operation.

"It will plunge this crisis into unprecedented levels of need, including the very real possibility of a famine," he said.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel.

Militants killed more than 1,000 people and kidnapped around 250 others back into Gaza.
7 May 2024 17:34 (UTC+04:00)

Fatima Latifova Read more

Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico, who is on an official visit to Azerbaijan, visited the Alley of Martyrs in Baku, Azernews reports.

Prime Minister Robert Fico paid tribute to Azerbaijani heroes who sacrificed their lives for the countrys independence and territorial integrity. He also laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame monument.

The Slovak PM then enjoyed a panoramic view of Baku as he was informed about the history of the Alley of Martyrs and the redevelopment works carried out in the city.

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7 May 2024 22:30 (UTC+04:00)

On May 6-7, 2024, within the framework of Azerbaijan's presidency of COP29, experts of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) prepared the Biennial Transparency Report (BTR), which is the main component of the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) in accordance with the Paris Agreement. training was conducted with the participation of relevant state institutions for the purpose of support.

According to Azernews, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, COP29 Chief Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev spoke at the opening ceremony of the event and emphasized that the presentation of the BTRs of the party states, including Azerbaijan, is one of the priority directions of the COP29 presidency. In this regard, he called on the relevant state institutions of our country to contribute to the preparation of Azerbaijan's BTR as soon as possible.

During the two-day training, the representatives of the UNFCCC secretariat informed the participants about the main elements of the ETF, modalities, procedures, and guidelines in this field, as well as the use of new electronic software in the process of preparation of BTRs.

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8 May 2024 00:01 (UTC+04:00)

Fatima Latifova Read more

Shusha is one of the important centers of Azerbaijans historical, cultural, social, and political life.

However, as a result of the Armenian military aggression against Azerbaijan, Shusha was occupied on May 8, 1992. After occupying Azerbaijans internationally recognized territories, Armenia tried to create a separatist puppet regime on the sovereign territories of Azerbaijan, namely the former Nagorno-Karabakh region, including Shusha, and seven adjacent districts.

During this process over 30,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis were killed and one million others were expelled from their hometowns in a brutal ethnic cleansing policy conducted by Armenia.

Before the Armenian occupation, Shusha hosted many museums, secondary and higher education institutions, schools, and libraries. The occupying forces annihilated all these cultural assets. Because Armenia pursued a policy of destroying the historical and cultural heritage of real owners- Azerbaijanis in the city.

This cleansing campaign was part of an overall genocidal strategy destined to sustain the occupiers propagandistic discourse and convey an imagined history that expunges the predominant Azerbaijani presence over its territory.

While these vile actions amount to crimes against humanity, the prevailing double standards in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the international justice system have made recourse to those instruments futile.

Almost 30 years later, after the 44-day Patriotic War the Azerbaijani President, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, announced Shushas liberation from Armenian occupation. The center of the city hosted Azerbaijans tricolor flag.

Shushas liberation was the Azerbaijani armys successful operation, which predetermined the outcome of the Patriotic War. On November 7, Azerbaijani special forces made their way through dense forests and ravines, hard-to-reach mountain passes. Azerbaijans brave fighters entered Shusha from several directions, with hand-to-hand fighting ensuing. During the battle, Armenian troops launched a rocket attack on Shusha, firing Iskander missiles targeting the Azerbaijani special forces. Despite Armenias resistance, the valiant Azerbaijani army liberated Shusha on November 8.

After Shusha regained its freedom, restoration, construction, and reconstruction work started in the city. Thus, new schools, mosques, hospitals, several important facilities, and residential buildings, are being built.

During this period, Shusha also hosted plenty of local and international events. To support the revival of the cultural life of the city, music festivals, poetry days, and numerous local and international cultural events have been held.

It is worth noting that 2022 was declared the year of Shusha in Azerbaijan. Over the past four years, President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited Shusha many times and observed the repair, restoration, and reconstruction works carried out there.

With the opinion of the 12th Conference of Ministers of Culture in the Islamic World conference participants, Shusha was declared the capital of the Islamic world for 2024, in Doha, Qatar.

Last month, the lottery was held among the families to be transferred to the city of Shusha at the initial stage. Representatives of the Shusha District Executive Power and the Public Council under the State Committee attended the event.

The families to be relocated to Shusha City will be provided with apartments in multi-apartment buildings. The drawing of lots among the families to be relocated to Shusha City will continue in a phased manner.

The Azerbaijani leadership has proven to be astonishingly adept at handling the intricacies of war and peace.

Nowadays the progress towards the peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia is ongoing. It should not be forgotten that the conclusion of the peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia guarantees development in many areas.

First of all, if there is no war or conflict in the region, there is no need for the mediation of external forces. This means that Azerbaijan and Armenia will not only recognise each other's borders, but will also start cooperating within the framework of the open door principle.

Secondly, Armenia's signing of a peace treaty with Azerbaijan will contribute to its relations with Turkiye, and the borders will open, which will massively affect Armenia's economic structure. On the other hand, Armenia will also benefit from Azerbaijan's giant oil and gas projects as well as its projects, in green energy.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the development of Armenia in the region will undermine the plans of colonialist countries like France to influence the South Caucasus for evil purposes. Yerevan will no longer have to be a toy for other countries and play into the hands of some Western organisations.

Undoubtedly, the signing of the peace treaty in the region will contribute a lot to Armenia as well as Azerbaijan and will maintain long-term security in the South Caucasus.

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7 May 2024 18:21 (UTC+04:00)

Alimat Aliyeva, AZERNEWS

The authorities of Serbia and the People's Republic of China will sign more than 30 agreements during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Belgrade, Azernews reports.

It is noted that the security of the delegation of the head of China, numbering 400 people, will be provided by 3.4 thousand police officers. In the air, Xi Jinping's flight will be met by Serbian MiG-29 fighters who will accompany him from the border, and the Serbian army guard will be lined up at the Belgrade airfield. A solemn reception of the Chinese delegation will be organized in front of the "Chamber of Serbia" and more than 30 agreements are planned to be signed.

Xi Jinping will be on a state visit to Serbia on May 7-8. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said this visit to Serbia would be the first in eight years and would be "an important milestone in improving and renewing Sino-Serbian relations." Xi Jinping and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic are expected to discuss the international and regional situation, raising the level of Chinese-Serbian relations, and outline a course for the development of bilateral ties.

Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, on the eve of the Chinese leader's visit, noted that China is a reliable ally and strategic partner of Serbia, and relations between the two countries will continue to develop despite the discontent of the West. He pointed out that "the highest point of cooperation this year will be the ratification and entry into force of the free trade agreement," which will open the doors of a large Chinese market for Serbian entrepreneurs.

Vucevic expressed confidence that Xi Jinping's visit to Belgrade "will mark a new stage in the development of steely friendship between Serbia and China." The iron, or steel, friendship between China and Serbia is the official wording used by Beijing and Belgrade to describe bilateral relations.

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British authorities are asking for witnesses to a possible neglect incident at a Legoland theme park to come forward after a disturbing incident.

A 27-year-old woman was arrested after a five-month-old boy suffered a cardiac arrest at the Legoland Windsor Resort a child-friendly park based on lego building blocks.

It happened at the Coastguard HQ boat ride around 1 p.m. last Thursday.

The Thames Valley Police say the boy was taken to hospital, where he remained in a critical condition.

The woman, who was not named, was arrested on suspicion of neglecting a child to cause unnecessary injury. She has been released on police bail until a July 26 hearing.

"We are investigating a distressing incident involving a very young child at Legoland Windsor," Investigating officer Detective Constable Zoe Eele, of the Child Abuse Investigation Unit said.

Police did not release any information about what happened or why they suspect it is a child neglect case.

"Firstly, our thoughts are with the family of the boy who is in a critical condition in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest. We are supporting them as best we can at this extremely difficult time," Eele said.

Police say they are not looking for anyone else as a suspect in the case.

"I would ask for the public to please avoid speculation about the incident and to respect the boy's family at this deeply upsetting time," Eele said.

Legoland Windsor Resort is a popular tourist destination with 55 rides geared for children aged 2 to 12.

HNGN has reached out to Legoland for comment on the incident.
This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal . The author of this post is CJ Staff Gov. Roy Cooper's lawsuit against state elections board changes will shift to a three-judge Superior Court panel. A Wake County judge ordered the shift Wednesday without addressing Cooper's request for a temporary restraining order.The new board is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1.wrote Superior Court Judge Vince Rozier in the case titled Cooper v. Berger.Cooper's lawsuit against a new state elections boardRozier wrote.State Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby will appoint the three-judge panel to oversee the case.Rozier's order didn't mention Cooper's request Monday for a temporary restraining order against the new elections board.Cooper's lawyers argued in a motion.Cooper asked for his restraining order request to be addressed before the case headed to a three-judge panel. His lawyers argued,Cooper and Rozier are both Democrats. Newby is a Republican.This is the second time in less than a month that a Cooper lawsuit has moved from a single Wake County Superior Court judge to a three-judge panel. In the other case, also called Cooper v. Berger, the governor challenges changes in appointment authority for seven state boards and commissions.In that case, the governor filed an Oct. 19 objection when the case was transferred to a three-judge panel without consideration of Cooper's request for a temporary restraining order. The three-judge panel later granted the governor an injunction blocking changes to three of the seven challenged boards.In the elections board lawsuit, filed on Oct. 17, Cooper challenges Senate Bill 749.The governor argues the new eight-member board created by that billaccording to a news release from Cooper's office.Local elections boards also would be split evenly between the two major parties. Under current law, the governor's party holds a majority of seats on state and county elections boards.Cooper said in the news release.The state Supreme Court rejected lawmakers' previous attempt to create a bipartisan elections board in 2018. Voters defeated a constitutional amendment that year addressing the same issue.Cooper's complaint targets Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland. The suit says legislative leaders ignored state Supreme Court decisions thatCooper's lawyers wrote.the complaint continued.Cooper's lawyers wrote.Democrats held a 4-3 majority on the state Supreme Court in 2018. After building that majority to 6-1 in 2019, Republican sweeps of statewide judicial races in the last two election cycles have produced a 5-2 GOP majority on the state's highest court.Court records do not show any hearing scheduled for the three-judge panel in the elections board case.
Six construction workers who were filling potholes on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore when a container ship rammed into one of its supports are presumed dead.Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, told NBC News that the six individuals, who were not named, are presumed to have died from the accident.The crew was working in the middle of the bridge when the ship struck, causing the bridge to collapse. The bodies of the six workers have not been recovered.Pritzker said.Jesus Campos, who has worked on the bridge for the company, said that he knew some of the members of the crew. He said that they were on a break sitting in their trucks when the ship hit.Campos said.Investigators have said that all initial signs point to the crash as an accident and that there is not any proof that terrorism was involved.The ship issued a mayday warning just shortly before the crash, which allowed officials to stop traffic from crossing onto the bridge before it was struck.Earlier in the day, Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said two people were rescued from the water; one person was unharmed, while the second was rushed to the hospital in serious condition.Top officials from across the U.S. have offered assistance to help fix the situation.President Joe Biden said that the federal government would pay the entire cost to fix the bridge.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that he directed the Florida Division of Emergency Management to
A Tennessee music venue is hosting aconcert just days after the one-year anniversary of the deadly shooting at The Covenant School, in which a transgender-identifying woman killed three children and three adults, apparently out of ideological fury.A flyer promoted by several bands says that the Graveyard Gallery in Murfreesboro is hosting the concert on March 31, and using it to raise money for a group that provides gender reassignment surgery. The shooting occurred on March 27, 2023, at the Christian school in Nashville, less than an hour away.The party comes with Nashville schools in high alert because of the potential for violence on the anniversary of the shooting. The shooting last year came as radical transgender activists rallied for aon the same day that year, with the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN) saying,President Joe Biden in 2021 recognized March 31 as thewhich trans activists changed toWhether that Day of Vengeance may have spurred the timing of the child-killer's act is unknown because authorities have refused to release her manifesto.The flyer for this year's event saysand that the bands include Dumpster Pussy, Dru The Drifter + The Back Alley Hookers, Boy Clothes, Spinning Lodge, and the Oitakus. It says the event is presented by Boro Fondo, athat is advertising the show and asking attendees toa poster on Boro Fondo's Instagram page says.Graveyard Gallery did not return requests for comment. Nor did Spinning Lodge or the Oitakus.Boro Fondo told The Daily Wire that while its event calling formaynobody associated with the eventit said in an email to the Daily Wire.it added.TRAN's website for last year's event included violent rhetoric, quoting trans activist Sylvia Rivera who said,The 2023 event in Washington, D.C. was cancelled at the last minute - not out of respect for the slain children, but becauseand there was aTransgender activists aim to getfor what they imagine is aagainst them. However, that genocide does not exist, according to Department of Justice statistics.Transgenders were the victims of 271 hate crimes in 2021, most of them minor, with the exception of two murders and two rapes. Seventy wereand 37 were vandalism. Half of the offenders were black.Based on the FBI data, a black person's chance of being the victim of a hate crime in a given year is 98 in a million, a Jewish person stands a 109 in a million chance. The likelihood of a transgender person is less than half of that, a rate similar to the one for Muslims.The national TRAN group, which is not known to be affiliated with the Murfreesboro concert, was led by an individual whoas well as another who saidThe Virginia chapter was led by Bo Belotti, who once worked for Elizabeth Guzman, a Democrat Virginia state lawmaker.
Now that Kamala Harris has been coronated the Democratic Socialist designee for nomination as their candidate for President of these United States, after that political party's contrived primary process "democratically" elected Joseph R. Biden: What are your feelings about this party's progressive posture within their self-styled exercise of "Saving Democracy for America," and how truly critical the outcome of this presidential election will be?

8.7% I am ecstatic that this "Democracy's" First partially Black, First partially Indian, First female Co-Parent, and this nation's primary necessity is to her elect our First woman president.26.09% I really do not care about all these "Firsts." I will continue to pray, and work for this Representative Republic to elect someone competent, and brilliantly patriotic to be our next president.65.22% I will never vote for any politician that "first" does not have the core values to understand how dire this Constitutional Republic's situation has become.
Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine is phasing out common anesthesia gas desflurane, the most potent greenhouse gas found in hospitals, according to a May 7 report from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Desflurane, which was once favored by physicians because it leaves the body quickly, can hang in the atmosphere for 14 years, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Sevoflurane could now provide a better option for patients, as it is less likely to cause nausea and is less irritating to the airway. It also disperses in the atmosphere in just over a year.

Penn Medicine is following several other systems, including Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Marlton, N.J.-based Virtua Health, Radnor, Pa.-based Main Line Health, Pittsburgh-based UPMC and Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital, in making an effort to cut back on anesthesia emissions.

Penn Medicine has already phased out desflurane at four of its six hospitals, and the remaining two will follow suit by the end of the year.

The elimination follows a broader climate initiative that Penn Medicine signed along with 130 other health organizations. Penn also plans to save millions of dollars through its emissions reduction initiatives, according to the report.

Princeton (N.J.) Hospital has reported a $40,000 yearly savings through the elimination of desflurane, according to the newspaper.

The climate pledge Penn signed calls for health organizations to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and eliminate emissions by 2050, according to an April 22 news release from the health system.

Penn is taking additional steps toward green operating, including turning off air-filtration systems when operating rooms are not in use overnight and on weekends. Some of its single-use medical supplies, such as pulse oximeters and scalpels, are now collected and sent to a plant that sanitizes and refurbishes them.
Pumpjacks are obscured by heat as they operate and a flare burns in Midland. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer This chart, produced by the nonprofit research organization Climate Central and based on data from NOAA, shows that Houston's average daily low temperatures between June and August have warmed by 5.5 degrees since 1970. Image: Steve Gonzales; Chart: Climate Central CPS Energy Calaveras Power Station in San Antonio. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer A drilling rig in the Eagle Ford Shale. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Imagine a world where we can burn all the coal, oil and natural gas we desire without worrying about climate change, but with one significant trade-off: No living thing will see a blue sky again.

Entrepreneurs and scientists are launching a burgeoning industry called solar radiation management that would do just that. They say our refusal to reduce carbon emissions will force us to spray reflective particles into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight and avoid overheating the planet.

So-called geoengineering will appeal to victims of climate change-induced extreme weather, such as last weeks flooding in Houston, who will demand quicker fixes than the fossil fuel industry wants to deliver.

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Meanwhile, petrochemical companies see a reasonable way to maintain their profitability by spraying sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, a product they already make in large quantities.

The most frightening fact about geoengineering is there is no law to stop a West Texas billionaire, a petrostate dictator or an international corporation from unilaterally attempting to cool the planet down. Its already happening.

Humans are causing climate change by burning fossil fuels and releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. These gases trap the suns heat from returning to space. If we cant stop releasing those gases, some say we must reflect the suns rays away from Earth.

Nature provides a template every time a giant volcano erupts and spews tiny droplets of sulfuric acid high into the air. Past eruptions, such as Indonesias Mount Tambora in 1815, turned 1816 into the year without a summer, causing crop failures and famine in Europe and North America.

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A company called Making Sunsets is already using weather balloons to release sulfur particles into the highest parts of the atmosphere. The Mexican company is run by an American, Luke Iseman, a 41-year-old serial entrepreneur and climate provocateur.

I think we need to do solar geoengineering  hard stop  because the world is too hot. We need to cool it off, Iseman told National Public Radio. I wouldnt say we should only do that after we start dropping global greenhouse (gas) emissions. Cause, frankly, I dont know when were gonna do that.

Humanitys track record in slowing global warming is dismal. Global greenhouse gas emissions are rising, especially carbon dioxide from less-wealthy countries. Texas officials are suing the federal government to block regulations that would reduce relatively easy-to-control gases such as methane, which are far more destructive than CO2.

We are on track to avoid warming the planet by more than 3 degrees Celsius by 2100, a date young people today will live to see. But we are far from limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, the point at which severe and lasting damage takes place.

An Israeli-U.S. company called Stardust Solutions has raised $15 million to perfect a technique for dispersing particles at 60,000 feet to reflect sunlight, the Wall Street Journal recently reported. The company is already conducting experiments but declined to disclose the makeup of its proprietary particles.

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Janos Pasztor, a high-profile Swiss climate scientist and diplomat, has started consulting as an ethics adviser to Stardust.

Societies and their governments need to decide whether they wish to ban such activities; allow them to continue, but within guardrails; or do nothing, and let these different actors do what they want! Pasztor told the Axios news service in an email.

While volcanic eruptions have reduced global temperatures for as many as three years, environmentalists object to human intervention. Reducing solar energy would harm plant and animal life, not to mention the efficiency of solar panels. The sulfuric acid also eventually falls back to earth.

Lastly, consider the irony of injecting more gases into the atmosphere to correct a problem created by us releasing other gases into the atmosphere. Many corporations might get excited by the chance to create a new line of business, but it makes more economic sense to simply stop releasing greenhouse gases.

We humans dont like change, and we especially dont like expensive or inconvenient change. How many of us would trade gray skies to avoid using public transit or electric vehicles? How many would rather continue eating inexpensive meat than see the stars clearly at night?

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Most of us would reject those trade-offs. But what worries me is that we wont have a choice. A dictator will act unilaterally to ensure their oil remains profitable, or global warming will become so severe that we have no other choice.
Robert Eyzaguirre, MD, the owner and sole physician of a medical clinic in Bellflower, Calif., pleaded guilty to submitting false claims to a Medi-Cal program.

Dr. Eyzaguirre admitted to submitting millions of dollars in false claims to the program, leading to more than $2.5 million in losses to the state healthcare program, according to a May 7 news release from the Justice Department.

From December 2013 through January 2020, Dr. Eyzaguirre and two employees submitted more than $4.6 million in fraudulent claims to the Family PACT program for reimbursement.

An employee created fake patient files including fake vitals and patient notes, which were then signed by Dr. Eyzaguirre and submitted to the program. Medi-Cal paid more than $2.5 million on the fraudulent claims.

The two employees also referred the names of the fake patients to a laboratory in California, which paid more than $372,000 in illegal kickbacks. Medi-Cal paid more than $1 million on fraudulent claims submitted by the laboratory.

When Dr. Eyzaguirre learned law enforcement was investigating the scheme, he attempted to conceal the activity by instructing an employee to hide the files offsite.

Dr. Eyzaguirre pleaded guilty to one count of healthcare fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, the release said.
Anthony Fletcher, MD, an interventional cardiologist in Central Arkansas, has been named president of the Association of Black Cardiologists, according to a May 6 report from ABC affiliate KATV.

Dr. Fletcher was installed as the ABC's 20th president at an ABC membership meeting in early May. In the role, he will focus on advocating for heart health and wellness in minority communities.

He has been treating patients in Arkansas for more than 30 years, specializing in all aspects of clinical cardiology and placing high importance on patient education and prevention in both minority and underserved communities.
Here are five of the many physicians on the cutting edge of gastroenterology who have recently made headlines:

If you would like to nominate a physician, please email pnewitt@beckershealthcare.com

Justin Forde, MD.

Dr. Forde, an advanced endoscopist at Lawrenceville, Ga.-based Northside Hospital Gwinnett, is a part of a recent expansion of the hospitals' interventional gastrointestinal program. The hospital added third-space endoscopy, an organ-preserving treatment option for patients who otherwise may require resection surgery to address precancerous lesions or early cancers.

Minesh Mehta, MD.

Dr. Mehta is a gastroenterologist at Atlanta-based multidisciplinary practice University Health Alliance. He will spearhead a recent partnership with Athens, Ga.-based oncology practice University Cancer & Blood Center to open a high-risk gastroenterology clinic, which will combine advanced technology with clinical expertise for the early detection of GI cancer.

Mick Meiselman, MD.

Dr. Meiselman recently joined Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Sansum Clinic for his expertise in endoscopic ultrasound. Dr. Meiselman, who also serves as the director of advanced endoscopy at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, will be working with Sansum and community physicians when they notice areas of concern during imaging, or when they have patients with gastrointestinal symptoms that require further investigation.

Neal Patel, MD.

Dr. Patel was named the CEO of United Digestive in April. Before his promotion, Dr. Patel was president and chief strategy officer for United Digestive. He is currently a partner physician and serves as a member of the physician executive committee for Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates. He recently joined Becker's to discuss his new role.

Jon Vogel, MD.

Dr. Vogel announced he will serve as director of Aurora-based University of Colorado department of surgery's new colorectal surgery fellowship program. The one year fellowship is the only colorectal surgery fellowship to have been approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in Colorado.
Here are seven dentistry updates in North Carolina that Becker's has covered since March 21:

1. Jiaming Geng, DDS, a dentist in Morehead City, N.C., was accused of practicing dentistry while having a suspended license.

2. The North Carolina dental board revoked the license of Andrew Kelly, DDS, after an investigation into several alleged issues.

3. The office of Paul Jeffrey Lowe, DMD, closed indefinitely after the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners took emergency action against his license.

4. A North Carolina woman was charged with working as a dental hygienist despite not having a license.

5. Fayetteville, N.C.-based Village Family Dental experienced an attack on its network which potentially impacted patient data.

6. A North Carolina dentist and his wife purchased a building for $1.3 million to house a new dental practice.

7. Brevard, N.C.-based Carolina Smiles Family Dental purchased a dental office in Etowah following the death of the former owner.
CMS has rescinded its April 11 determination to terminate Modesto, Calif.-based Stanislaus Surgical Hospital's Medicare contract.

In a May 3 letter shared with Becker's, the federal agency said the decision is "based on additional documentation and information received," including the hospital's May 1 letter "expressing its willingness to work to correct its condition-level deficiencies and efforts to meet the statutory definition of a Medicare-certified hospital."

CMS also said SSH's letter "expressed that it would rather attempt to remain certified as a hospital than receive an expedited opportunity to be certified as an ambulatory surgery center. In response, CMS has decided to exercise its discretion and provide SSH with another opportunity to remain certified as a hospital if an acceptable plan of correction is promptly implemented and substantial compliance is maintained. CMS reserves its full authority, including authority to terminate SSH at a later date."

CMS is giving the hospital until May 15 to submit an acceptable plan of correction that will include the dates by which SSH expects to be in full compliance with Medicare conditions of participation. CMS also said it will conduct an unannounced onsite survey no later than July 31 "to determine whether SSH has substantially complied with the conditions of participation and to further assess whether SSH has made sufficient progress with meeting the statutory definition of being 'primarily engaged' in providing inpatient, hospital services."

"SSH and CMS have had productive discussions, and SSH will now go through the more standard process of responding to deficiencies and submitting a plan of corrections for approval," Patrick Haley, a spokesperson for the hospital, told Becker's.

On April 11, CMS notified hospital leadership that it would terminate its Medicare Provider Agreement with SSH on April 30, citing the hospital's non-compliance with multiple conditions of participation related to issues such as the hospital's handling of patient emergencies after surgeries, infection prevention and control, and sterilization processes and governance.

Later that month, Reps. John Duarte, Tom McClintock, Josh Harder and Jim Costa as well as Sen. Alex Padilla advocated for CMS to give the hospital a 45-day extension, according to the Turlock Journal.

This was followed by CMS rescinding the determination to terminate the hospital's Medicare contract after approximately 15 layoffs and dozens of furloughs had occurred, Mr. Haley said.

"SSH is confident that this will be resolved in the coming months," he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Sutter Health, which includes Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, has indicated it welcomes the ability to help accept cases originally scheduled at SSH.

"We continue to be in contact with physicians from Stanislaus Surgical Hospital to discuss how we can help accommodate any procedures from the facility to support healthcare access for the community," a spokesperson for the Sacramento, Calif.-based health system, told Becker's.

In a statement shared with Becker's, CMS said that safe, comprehensive healthcare "is a top priority for CMS. CMS is committed to holding facilities accountable for meeting certain health and safety standards necessary to be certified as a Medicare and Medicaid provider.

"On May 3, 2024, following discussions with the hospital, CMS decided to exercise its discretion and provide Stanislaus Surgical Hospital a period of time to come into compliance with our requirements to remain certified as a hospital if an acceptable plan of correction is promptly implemented and substantial compliance with those requirements is maintained. SSH must submit an acceptable plan of correction to CMS and demonstrate substantial compliance with CMS requirements in an on-site inspection to avoid termination from Medicare and Medicaid."

"SSH is grateful to CMS for the reconsideration of its original decision," the hospital said in a separate statement shared with Becker's. "SSH is extremely proud of our 5-star patient satisfaction score as published at cms.gov and will continue to prioritize the provision of high-quality patient care going forward. We greatly appreciate the loyalty and dedication of our 200 employees in supporting this important work. We look forward to continuing our 40-year tradition of serving our community."

Editor's note: This article was updated on May 9.
Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund is expected to run out in 2036, five years later than the fund's trustees projected last year.

The Trustees of Social Security and Medicare published their annual report on the financial health of the two programs May 6.

The improved financial state of the hospital insurance fund is due to several factors, including a policy change correcting for the way medical education expenses are accounted for in Medicare Advantage rates, according to the trustees. The fund also brought in higher payroll tax income compared to the previous year, and lower-than-expected spending on inpatient and home health services.

Once the hospital fund is depleted, it will be able to pay for only 89% of total scheduled Medicare benefits.

Income in the hospital insurance fund is expected to exceed expenses by $12.2 billion in 2023. The trustees expect the fund to continue in a surplus until 2029, then a deficit until it is depleted in 2036.

The fund had $208.8 billion in assets at the beginning of 2024, around 50 percent of expenditures predicted for the year. The fund is below the trustees' minimum recommended level of 100%. The fund has not met the trustee's minimum recommended level since 2003.

Though the fund's go-broke date was pushed back again, the trustees warned Congress must take action. By 2098, Medicare costs are expected to reach 6.2% of the country's GDP, up from 3.8% in 2023. The increase would increase strain on taxpayers, the economy, Medicare beneficiaries and the federal budget, the trustees wrote.

"Taking action sooner rather than later will allow consideration of a broader range of solutions and provide more time to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare," the trustees wrote in a fact sheet.

Read the full report here.
The decision to close McCurtain Memorial Urgent Care - Hochatown near Broken Bow, Okla., on April 28 has sparked confusion and controversy between local political and healthcare leaders.

The clinic, which was one of three owned by McCurtain Memorial Hospital in Idabel, Okla., shuttered after it had "struggled since its inception" and was mainly used by tourists visiting the town of Hochatown, which locals tend to avoid due to "extreme traffic congestion," Brian Whitfield, president and CEO of McCurtain Memorial Hospital, said in a statement shared with Becker's.

Mr. Whitfield said the clinic had operated at a loss since it opened. The hospital held an assessment of the clinic from late March to early April to see if it should remain open and made the decision to close in mid-April.

Nurse practitioners and other employees at the shuttered clinic have been moved to the hospital's clinic in Idabel, Okla.

"These decisions have allowed us to focus on the growing demand for more providers at our remaining two RHCs and also affords us an opportunity to grow," Mr. Whitfield said.

Hochatown Mayor Dian Jordan, PhD, said her team had not been provided with data to support the reason for a "sudden and permanent closing" of the clinic, which is a critical loss ahead of tourism season that can see 30,000 visitors on most summer weekends.

"We know locals utilized the clinic," Dr. Jordan said in a statement shared with Becker's. "Patients were not notified of the closing and have been unable to obtain their medical records from the facility. The doors were locked, and signage removed. No notice is posted on the facility for how to obtain medical records. The phone goes unanswered."

A 2% lodging tax passed by voters to build a new hospital was halted by town leadership in November 2022. The hospital plans to open a bi-weekly women's and children's clinic in DeQueen, Ark., and a monthly surgery clinic to drive hospital revenue and patients, Mr. Whitfield said.

Dr. Jordan called the decision to close the clinic in Oklahoma and open one in Arkansas a decision that "only the hospital can understand."

The town has started looking into alternative or emergency healthcare services for the community, Dr. Jordan said.






Dallas-based White Rock Medical Center laid off nearly 35% of its staff and has resumed taking patients transported by emergency medical services after halting them temporarily due to the layoffs, The Dallas Morning News reported May 7.

On May 6, White Rock General Counsel and Chief Restructuring Officer Terry Fokas told the publication that the hospital temporarily stopped taking patients transported by emergency medical services "out of an abundance of caution" so patients would not be affected by the workforce reduction, which affected 158 employees.

White Rock, which is owned by Heights Healthcare of Texas, began accepting EMS-transported patients again on May 7, although it is still diverting patients needing stroke and STEMI heart attack care due to the reduced staffing capacity.

"During this period, we made the cautious decision to divert ambulance services to ensure that we could maintain the highest level of care with the staffing resources available. I am pleased to report that we have now stabilized our staffing levels across all critical services necessary for effectively handling EMS operations," Mirza Baig, MD, PhD, CEO of Heights Healthcare, wrote in an email to staff on May 7.

The hospital averages 15 EMS-transported patients per day.

Prior to the workforce reduction, White Rock had 460 staff members, according to the publication. Mr. Fokas attributed the layoffs to ongoing litigation with the hospital's former owner, Pipeline.

Pipeline filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and is looking to sell White Rock.

Pipeline told the publication it did not have comment on the layoffs.

Becker's reached out to White Rock Medical Center for comment and will update this story if more information becomes available.

Editor's note: This article was updated May 8.
Cleveland Clinic has appointed new leaders for its Northeast Ohio Market and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Donald Malone Jr., MD, president of the Northeast Ohio market, was selected as a senior advisor for capital, space and strategy, according to a May 7 news release from the health system. Dr. Malone is a 35-year veteran of Cleveland Clinic. In addition to his new role, he will continue his clinical practice.

Jorge Guzman, MD, was selected as the new president of the health system's Northeast Ohio market, according to the release. Dr. Guzman serves as CEO of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, part of the M42 group. He previously spent five years as chief of staff for Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and served as chief medical officer there in 2017.

Georges-Pascal Haber, MD, PhD, was selected as the new CEO of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, according to the release. Dr. Haber has nearly two decades of experience at Cleveland Clinic. His most recent role is chair of the Glickman Urological Institute, enterprise chair of urology, and professor of surgery.

Dr. Malone and Dr. Guzman are slated to begin their new roles on July 1. Dr. Haber's appointment is effective on June 1.
Resident physicians and fellows at the University of Chicago Medical Center voted to join the Committee of Interns and Residents, a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union.

More than 98% of voters cast ballots in favor of representation, according to a May 6 CIR/SEIU news release.

The vote, which covers more than 1,000 physicians, follows a vote by resident physicians and fellows at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, which is on the university's Chicago campus, to join the union.

After the vote earlier this year by their Chicago peers, physicians at the University of Chicago Medical Center are looking forward to negotiating a first contract, according to the CIR/SEIU.

"While we love our jobs and caring for our patients, we do not have an endless supply of stamina and capacity. We are human beings who must have our basic needs met," Aisha Amuda, MD, a fourth-year resident in internal medicine and pediatrics, said in the release. "We are now in a position to advocate for necessary improvements to our working conditions that directly impact the quality of care our patients receive."

The University of Chicago Medical Center shared a statement with Becker's, saying it "respects the National Labor Relations Board's secret ballot process along with the results of the vote by our residents and fellows. We will, in the near future, begin the collective bargaining process with CIR-SEIU Healthcare in order to craft a fair and equitable contract that supports the needs of our trainees, our patients and our institution.

"This group of 1,040 residents and fellows are integral members of our clinical teams, and they provide exceptional care to our patients and community. Just as we did before the vote, UCMC is committed to continuing to foster an exceptional learning and care environment for our residents and fellows."
The Department of Interior is 18 months past a congressional deadline for establishing a system for leasing and permitting carbon storage projects in the Gulf of Mexico and other federal waters. Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON  The Gulf of Mexicos depleted oil and gas fields have caught the attention of carbon storage developers, encouraged by decades of geologic studies and intent on claiming lucrative tax credits for capturing emissions from the regions sprawling network of energy and petrochemical facilities.

But 18 months past a deadline set by Congress in 2021s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Biden administration continues to debate how best to move ahead on creating a system for leasing and permitting carbon storage projects in federal waters. The Interior Department is still consulting with industry and counterparts in other countries and has no timeline on when its draft rule will be ready, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland testified at a Senate hearing last week.

Creating a new regulatory program for a new applied technology, its very technical and very complex, she said. We want to make sure were doing a good job.

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The Gulf of Mexico would seemingly make an ideal focal point of U.S. carbon storage efforts, technology the United Nations and the Biden administration have identified as crucial to decarbonizing the global economy. Exxon Mobil, which is leading a conglomerate of chemical and industrial companies aiming to store Houston-area emissions in the Gulf, estimates the Gulfs carbon storage capacity at more than 500 million metric tons  equivalent to 130 years of emissions from the U.S. industrial and power sectors.

But storing carbon offshore brings its own host of challenges, experts say. Interior officials must decide a regulatory structure for storing carbon in depleted oil and gas fields that are many miles from shore and surrounded by active oil and gas operations, a task that would typically be handled by the Environmental Protection Agency.

At the same time, they must decide on monitoring and performance standards, seeking to avoid the problems suffered by other projects overseas. Chevrons Gorgon project almost 40 miles off the northwest coast of Australia has so far struggled to meet is promised storage targets.

Theres plenty of depleted fields in the Gulf that could serve as storage, and I imagine (Interior is) contemplating whats involved in converting those facilities, said Tip Meckel, a geologist at the the University of Texas at Austins Bureau of Economic Geology, who sits on the Biden administrations carbon storage task force. Its a big challenge because it takes in all the federal waters, not just the Gulf.

There are approximately 10 offshore carbon storage projects under development in the Gulf, with companies including Exxon, Chevron, Repsol and Venture Global looking to pump carbon dioxide from coastal refineries, petrochemical plants and other industrial facilities beneath the sea floor.

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Those projects are mostly in state waters, acreage that can be leased through agencies in Texas and Louisiana, but companies are eager to go beyond the three- to nine-mile boundary where state waters end, said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents offshore energy developers.

Investment is being made in what are billion-dollar projects in places like the North Sea and southeast Asia, and were sitting back and watching that money flow to other parts of the world, he said. The Gulf should be a global leader in carbon sequestration. Time is a wasting.

Norway has been storing carbon dioxide beneath its sea floor since 1996, and in recent years has issued seven licenses for projects in the North Sea and Barents Sea. Chevron has been storing carbon dioxide offshore Australia since 2019.

But environmentalists continue to raise doubts about the technology, including whether the carbon dioxide will remain underground and not leak out into the atmosphere. In a report last year, the Center for International Environmental Law cautioned that offshore carbon storage hubs such as those being developed in the Gulf of Mexico posed uncalculated risks.

Despite the fanfare around (carbon storage), it is a costly and risky endeavor and nearly all the worlds past (carbon storage) projects have experienced unexpected problems or failed outright, the report said.

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Offshore might nevertheless present a less risky proposition than onshore and shallow water-carbon storage operations.

There are no landowners to negotiate with or freshwater aquifers to contaminate, problems with which onshore carbon storage facilities must frequently contend. And depleted onshore and near-shore oil and gas fields, particularly older ones, often have unmapped wells that if not properly capped can offer an escape vent for carbon dioxide.

That is not a problem for oil fields farther offshore, which have been developed more recently and typically have far fewer holes from drilling than onshore and shallow water fields, said Graham Bain, an analyst with Enverus Intelligence Research.

Whats attractive for offshore projects is the lack of penetration, and the lack of fresh water issues, so youre lowering the risk, he said. In older fields you could suddenly have CO2 escaping when you had no idea there was (well) penetration. If that happens in the early stages that would be really negative for the industry.

Figuring out how best to manage carbon storage in federal waters has been a yearslong project for the Interior Department. Its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released a report in 2019 titled, Best Management Practices for Offshore Transportation and Sub-Seabed Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide, comparing and contrasting various regulatory schemes over more than 250 pages.

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But patience on Capitol Hill is running thin, with members of both parties eager to see carbon storage projects up and running.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chastised the Biden administration last week, both for delays in offshore leasing at Interior and the backlog of onshore and carbon storage projects waiting for permits at EPA.
The American Hospital Association is urging Congress to keep regulation for artificial intelligence in healthcare flexible to keep "pace with innovation."

Rep. Ami Bera, MD, D-Calif., urged the organization for more information about the state of AI use in healthcare to which the AHA suggested the flexibilities.

"Technology is most effectively regulated based on how and where it is used, and this sector-specific approach has allowed the relevant oversight organizations to tailor the specifics of their regulation to the risks associated with the uses of the technology," the AHA wrote in a May 6 article on its website. "AI is not a monolithic technology, and thus a one-size-fits-all approach could stifle innovation in patient care and hospital operations. Such an approach may even prove inadequate at addressing the risks to safety and privacy that are unique to healthcare. Just as software is regulated based on its use across different sectors, the AHA urges Congress to consider regulating AI's use in a similar manner."

The AHA said modifying current regulatory framework centered on technology to suit AI might prove more efficient and effective than developing entirely new approaches.
While preventable harm in hospital settings has been a widely discussed issue for decades, new research suggests that adverse events are relatively common in outpatient settings, marking a critical opportunity to improve safety.

A team led by researchers at Boston-based Mass General Brigham conducted the study published May 7 in Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers analyzed data on 3,103 patients who received care at 11 outpatient sites in Massachusetts in 2018.

Four key findings:

Seven percent of patients had at least one adverse event, and 1.9% experienced at least one preventable event.





Adverse drug events were the most common type (63.8%), followed by healthcare-associated infections (14.8%) and surgical or procedural events (14.2%).





About 17% of adverse events were serious, and 2.1% were life-threatening.





Adults 85 and older were disproportionately affected by adverse events in outpatient settings. Nearly 9% experienced preventable adverse events and 4.4% had serious adverse events.

Researchers said the findings merit urgent actions to prevent outpatient harm. For health systems, the first step is ensuring they're measuring patient safety in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

"Our study is an alarm bell. About 1-in-4 people every month are touched by outpatient care, yet we do not know enough about its safety. If we do not measure outpatient safety, we cannot start to improve care for all patients," corresponding author David Levine, MD, a clinician-investigator and internal medicine physician at Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, said in a news release.
A pain management physician accused of failing to make a timely diagnosis of a patient's spine growth settled a lawsuit for $2 million, New Jersey Law Journal reported May 6.

Arik Mizrachi, MD, of Princeton (N.J.) Orthopaedic Associates saw a patient experiencing weakness in both legs in February 2020, the report said. The patient said he should have been directed to a spine surgeon or neurosurgeon after an MRI revealed irregularities on his spine.

But Dr. Mizrachi allegedly told the patient to see an oncologist or primary care physician, but the patient disputed the claim, the report said. Dr. Mizrachi had the patient return to the office a month later for intra-articular facet injections but allegedly didn't assess the patient's leg weakness or ask about visits with other physicians.

The patient woke up on March 30, 2020, unable to stand and was diagnosed with plasmacytoma on his thoracic spine. He sued Dr. Mizrachi in 2021, and the settlement was reached on March 18.

Attorneys for Dr. Mizrachi didn't respond to the publications' request for comment.
Hastings Hotels Group says its Stormont Hotel in east Belfast is unaffected by a planning application from a different company to turn it into a retirement complex

An artist's impression showing an aerial view of the proposed retirement village at Stormont Hotel, Belfast

An investment company has applied for outline planning permission to turn the site of Belfasts Stormont Hotel into a retirement complex.

But owners Hastings Hotels Group said on Tuesday that they have not sold the site and that it is not for sale.

Summerhill Retirement Developments, which is not linked to the hotel group, has applied for outline permission for independent living and assisted living retirement apartments on the hotels site at 587 Upper Newtownards Road. Their plans first emerged in 2022.

The plans would also affect 11 nearby properties at Castleview Road, as well as three at Summerhill Parade and two at Summerhill Park.

Summerhill Retirement Developments planning application includes permission for internal access roads, communal open space, revised access from Castleview Road and car parking, according to a notice published on Friday.

The companys website describes it as an investment-backed venture established solely for the purposes of exploring development opportunities in Northern Ireland.

"This outline planning application represents the entitys first expression of interest in the NI market, its website adds.

According to Companies House, the companys sole director is Mark McGugan, whose address is given as Victoria House in Gloucester Street, Belfast.

Hastings Hotels Group on Tuesday that it had nothing to add to a statement issued in 2022. At that point, it said it had been approached by Summerhills planning agent to seek planning permission for a retirement complex on lands occupied by their hotel.

"The Upper Newtownards Road site has been identified by Summerhill Retirement Developments Limited as a prime location option for the development of a new retirement living complex...

Summerhills interest in the site which is currently occupied by the Stormont Hotel, and the ensuing outline planning application process, does not pose any impact on the operations of the hotel or any existing or incoming accommodation or event bookings.

They said the 106-room hotel had been trading for over 60 years with around 75 members of staff.

"Hastings continues to operate the Stormont Hotel as a successful hotel and conference venue and therefore has no plans to close the Stormont Hotel.

"The group does, however acknowledge the external interest in the sites potential, its benefits and that of the Upper Newtownards Road locale.

They added that the process was speculative and had no impact on staff retention. There will be no discussions in relation to redundancies or hotel closure and all future discussions related to such are subject to Summerhills feasibility assessment and continued interest.

"All existing accommodation and event bookings remain unaffected.

If planning permission is granted, Summerhill is expected to start identifying long-term investment partners and an operator for the retirement complex.

Hastings Hotels Group owns five other hotels around Northern Ireland  Culloden Estate and Spa , the Europa Hotel and the Grand Central Hotel, also in Belfast, as well as Ballygally Castle on the north coast, and the Everglades Hotel in Londonderry.

Last week, the group reported a more than 60% jump in pre-tax profits to 6.9m as a post-pandemic recovery in tourism bedded in.

The firm, founded by Sir William Hastings, also reported an 18% jump in its turnover from 43.18m to 50.74m over the year to October 31 2023.

In 2021, it sold the Slieve Donard Resort & Spa in Newcastle, Co Down to US firm AJ Capital Partners for a reported 40m.

News Catch Up: Tuesday 7th May 2024
Sian Brooke as Grace Ellis and Martin McCann as Stevie Neil in Blue Lights, on which post-production work was carried out by Yellowmoon in Holywood

Co Down post-production company Yellowmoon, which has worked on TV shows including homegrown cop drama Blue Lights, has announced a multi-million pound investment.

The firm, based in Holywood, has been supported by Bank of Ireland in its investment, boosting post-production services.

As well as Blue Lights, currently being shown on the BBC, it has worked on Line of Duty, Derry Girls and Game of Thrones. The company is also working on the live-action movie version of How to Train Your Dragon, which is being filmed in Northern Ireland.

Sian Brooke as Grace Ellis and Martin McCann as Stevie Neil in Blue Lights, on which post-production work was carried out by Yellowmoon in Holywood

Yellowmoon started out as a two-man operation with one cutting room, growing to employ 50 people in 35 cutting rooms, with specialists across picture, sound and visual effects.

Managing director Greg Darby said: With business growing, we knew the time was right for us to take this step and expand our premises. And with the support of Bank of Ireland, we have acquired and transformed a building site to create Northern Irelands premier post-production space  and the only one with a Dolby Atmos dubbing theatre.

The new facility illustrates just how far we have come in the past 30 years. And, more importantly, it demonstrates our confidence in the future of the film and television industry in Northern Ireland.

Gareth Wilson, business manager at Bank of Ireland UK, said: We are delighted to support Greg and the team with this investment and we look forward to working closely with them as the business continues to excel and grow.
British model and activist Adwoa Aboah has debuted her pregnancy bump on the steps of the 2024 Met Gala.

Aboah is one of the worlds most recognisable models and fronted Edward Enninfuls first edition at the helm of British Vogue in December 2017 which began his six-year reign at the fashion magazine.

Posing on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Aboah bared her baby bump for the first time in a voluminous red bubble skirt, paired with a matching red ruffled crop top, layered on top of a red sparkling bra.

Adwoa Aboah on the catwalk during the Burberry show in September (Ian West/PA)

She paired her interpretation of the theme Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion with a pair of matching satin court heels and opted for a fresh makeup look with an avant-garde red lipstick.

The 31-year-old, who is dating cinematographer Daniel Wheatley, kept a minimalistic approach to accessories with a pair of small diamond drop earrings and her hair in an up-do.

The model has joined the tradition of Met Gala red carpet pregnancy announcements, following in the footsteps of Karlie Kloss and Serena Williams last year.

Aboah has modelled for Vogue, Calvin Klein and Fendi and went on to found online platform Gurls Talk to empower young women and provide them with a space to discuss mental health, sexuality and body image.

She has previously been open about her past struggles with drinking, drugs and depression.
I saw a real niche: Meet the Co Down dermatologist branching out with her skincare brand

Dr Sam Bunting discusses getting her products into the retail space, having supportive parents, and running for Ireland

Dr Sam Bunting

Margaret Canning Tue 7 May 2024 at 10:00

There are plenty of famous names from Northern Ireland in the beauty trade, but Dr Sam Bunting from Co Down has been below the radar compared to others.
Belfast mum with terminal ovarian cancer on her journey and hopes for all-Ireland approach to care

I believe women instinctively know when something does not feel right

Christine Campbell

Aine Toner Tue 7 May 2024 at 10:06







Ahead of World Ovarian Cancer Day tomorrow, the Irish Network for Gynaecological Oncology is emphasising the BEAT symptoms of the disease.
EXCLUSIVE | Case of man who killed four people in house fire received 90k of legal aid

It took more than five years for him to admit three counts of murder and one of manslaughter

Daniel Sebastian Allen admitted three counts of murder and one of manslaughter in relation to the fatal fire in Co Fermanagh

Niamh Campbell Tue 7 May 2024 at 07:00

The case of a man who killed three generations of one family in Co Fermanagh received legal aid worth more than 90,000, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
Sport

Glentoran still have so much more to give, claims Declan Devine after taking down Swifts
Montgomery County Food Bank volunteers. Montgomery County Food Bank

Several disaster relief organizations are aiding those affected by recent floods in the Houston area and Southeast Texas. Here's what you can do to contribute:

Houston Food Bank

The Houston Food Bank is actively distributing pallets of supplies, food and water to help flood victims. The most needed food items include water, crackers, protein snacks, cereal, canned tuna and canned soups (pull top preferred). There is also demand for non-food supplies such as paper towels, toilet paper, disposable plates, cups, utensils and cleaning products. Secured monetary donations can be made at houstonfoodbank.org

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Montgomery County Food Bank

The Montgomery County Food Bank is seeking donations of non-perishable food items, including canned fruits and vegetables, canned meats, ready-to-eat meals, healthy snacks, cereal, and peanut butter. They are also collecting toiletries and cleaning products. Donations can be made Monday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The food bank does not accept clothing. The organization notes that a $1 cash donation can provide up to four meals. Monetary donations can be made online at mcfoodbank.org

Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center

The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center is accepting blood at 17 Housotn-area donation centers and mobile drives. To schedule a donation, visit giveblood.org

ARE TORNADOES AND FLOODING MORE COMMON?: Join our virtual event Thursday to get your weather questions answered

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American Red Cross Gulf Coast Region
NI Covid Inquiry hears from former Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health Richard Pengelly

Former Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health Richard Pengelly appeared before the Covid Inquiry in Belfast

A belief that Covid could have been contained within China should have been dispelled when Northern Ireland welcomed visitors from Wuhan on January 25, 2020, the UK Covid Inquiry has heard.

The delegation from the city at the epicentre of the pandemic arrived in Larne from Scotland, with Chief Medical Officer Sir Michael McBride unconcerned about the visit.

It took place a week before any cases had been confirmed in the UK and a month before the first case in Northern Ireland.

Appearing before the inquiry in Belfast, former Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health, Richard Pengelly, said that the Public Health Agency had been despatched to provide advice when the party arrived.

They reported asymptomatic, made their way to Republic of Ireland. It was a very short stay, Mr Pengelly told the inquiry.

Richard Pengelly, the former permanent secretary for Northern Irelands Department of Health (PA)

Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett said it should have been clear that China was not going to be able to control international travel.

When people in your position and many others around you and in the rest of the UK were told that the two scenarios were  China contains or global pandemic  didnt anybody stop and say we know visitors from Wuhan, the centre of where the disease started, have been visiting Northern Ireland? she asked.

Mr Pengelly said: My understanding was that was why the assessment was that the second of the two scenarios was seen as the most likely situation, that it wouldnt be contained within China.

In January we were starting to plan on that basis. By January 27 in the Department of Health we had activated our own gold arrangement.

The inquiry also heard how the Department of Health had to step in and assume a command and control approach over failures in the Public Health Agency to provide accurate statistics at the start of the Covid pandemic.

Mr Pengelly said that the decision was taken due to the PHA not taking the concerns of the Health Minister seriously enough.

He admitted he had been stunned by the lack of urgency shown by the PHA after Health Minister Robin Swann had expressed frustration over its inability to provide accurate statistics to aid with planning.

The Minister was very sensitive to this issue, said Mr Pengelly. He believed accurate and reliable data was central to the response and was an issue of public confidence.

Part of frustration was on data accuracy and that the response to his concerns wasnt as robust as expected.

He said it was mid-April 2020 before the issue was resolved, with the Department of Health adopting command and control measures which included a closer watch over tracing and testing, with the PHA only able to carry out 40 tests a day in the early stages of the pandemic.

He said there were frustrations over the early inability to grow the test and trace facilities. At one point the PHA informed the department 500 people were in training to add extra capacity.

That was never the case, he said, but even as late as May 2020 he admitted there was no reliable data available on Covid hospital admissions.

I was aware of a very understandable tension across the Executive, he continued. There was a thirst for analysis and data which we struggled to meet. On any given day the decision was underpinned by data only emerging overnight. I struggle to think of what the alternative would have been given the speed at which we were moving.

Mr Pengelly said a decision to move patients from hospital into care home settings had been taken in the best interests of overall planning.

Through March 2020 we communicated to the care sector about surge plans and that the Trust should work to maximise all spare capacity with Trusts to fill vacant places in the care sector to free hospital beds with those medically fit for discharge.

Mr Pengelly also admitted Northern Ireland did not have the capacity or knowledge to deal with a highly infectious disease in early 2020 and the plan was to send the first Covid patient to England for care.

There was a lack of knowledge about how the virus would present itself. No beds with the correct specification were available on February 22, he said.

Earlier Mr Pengelly said the Health Service was already in a state of fatigue prior to the onset of the pandemic, something which hindered its ability to manage the crisis.

He said there was very little capacity to shoulder the burden of the oncoming pandemic, conceding that in January 2020 extremely fragile was not putting too dramatic a profile on the health service.

A typical metric for a hospital is that it should ideally run at no more than 85% capacity. All hospitals were routinely in excess of 85%.

All those issues contributed to the service being not as resilient as it would have been.

Asked why there had been no modelling capacity until the end of March 2020 until Prof Ian Young came back from leave, Mr Pengelly said: That hadnt been needed prior to the pandemic.

Had Ian been about we would have triggered that capacity before the end of March. There would have been a low confidence point in February until case numbers started to escalate. There was a low number of data points for Northern Ireland.

My sense isnt that the Chief Medical Officer wasnt banging his desk asking for it at an earlier stage.

The inquiry was also told it was extremely surprising Northern Ireland lacked the input of a Chief Scientific officer until such a late stage, with Professor Young having been on leave from mid-February until the end of March.

Meanwhile, a prominent Stormont minister will not appear at the Inquiry on Wednesday as scheduled after receiving medical advice.

The current Economy Minister Conor Murphy served as Finance Minister during the coronavirus pandemic.

He was due to appear before the inquiry along with a number of other Stormont Ministers, including Lord Weir, Diane Dodds, Deirdre Hargey and Caral Ni Chuilin on Wednesday.

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, Sinn Fein First Minister Michelle O'Neill said Mr Murphy has been advised to rest pending medical tests.

"Conor Murphy has been advised by his doctor to rest pending scheduled medical tests," she said.

She said he has informed the Covid Inquiry that he will not be able to attend the hearing.

"First and foremost I wish Conor well and a full and speedy recovery. It is essential that, while under medical supervision he follows fully the medical advice he has been given and takes the time to rest and recover."
Fire investigation officers and PSNI at Boucher Crescent in Belfast. Credit: PACEMAKER

One person has been treated by the ambulance service after an explosion caused by a fire at a petrol station in Belfast on Tuesday morning.

Firefighters were called to the blaze on Boucher Crescent, which has since been reopened after being closed to traffic.

A Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) spokesperson said three fire engines were called to the scene.

"The fire was extinguished prior to the arrival of firefighters, they said.

Firefighters secured the area and used gas monitors to ensure gas levels were normal. One person was transferred to the care of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service with no serious injuries.

"The cause of the incident was accidental and it was dealt with by 10.41am.

Diversions were in place earlier at Boucher Road and Glenmachan Place, while police advised for the area to be avoided.

News Catch Up: Tuesday 7th May 2024
A number of airports have reported the UK Border System has crashed

One of NIs main airports has been affected by a UK-wide system error that resulted in an outage in the UK Border Force computer system.

It comes as a number of airports across the UK have confirmed a nationwide issue is affecting its border systems.

UK Border Force are responsible for operating passport control, including e-gates, providing assistance to passengers where necessary.

A spokesperson for Belfast International Airport said they were working with Border Force to resolve the issue.

We are aware that Border Force is experiencing a network wide IT issue, they said.

"We are working with Border Force to deploy their contingency plans to process all internationally arriving flights while the situation is resolved.

"We apologise to those passengers who may experience longer than expected processing times.

George Best Belfast City Airport said they had experienced no issues.

The malfunction has resulted in lengthy queues at a number of UK airports, with passengers left stranded as the authorities work to resolve the issue.

Problems have been reported at a significant number of major UK airports, including London Heathrow, Edinburgh and Manchester.

A UK Home Office spokesperson said they were aware of the problem.

"We are aware of a technical issue affecting e-gates across the country, they said.

"We are working closely with Border Force and affected airports to resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused."
The group unveiled a list of demands for the university

Sit-in in the main Lanyon Building of the Queen's campus in Belfast. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire

The protest was organised by the QUB Palestine Assembly, which moved into the universitys Lanyon Building on Tuesday afternoon.

The group also issued a series of demands for the university to take action on the Middle East conflict.

Read more Two children taken to hospital following serious crash in Co Antrim

That list includes a call for Queens to issue a statement condemning Israels mass killing of Palestinians and the deliberate destruction of Gazas educational infrastructure.

The group also called for QUB to demand an immediate ceasefire in the region and offer sanctuary status to Palestinian academics and students.

It has further called for Queens to review all ties with Israeli universities, cultural institutions and its industrial sector, as well as implementing a sector-wide withdrawal of support for companies engaged in violations of Palestinian human rights.

Tuesday's sit-in protest at Queen's. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire

The sit-in was also attended by People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll, who said: "I think it's very, very important that they've done this.

"Hopefully the students can force management to act.

"This place, as many universities do, has a history of people standing up against oppression and these students are following their friends and fellow students in America and at Trinity (College, Dublin).

"I want to commend them and extend whatever solidarity I can to them."

A Queens University spokesperson said though they recognised the right to protest, it was important others on campus were allowed to go about their business.

"Queen's University Belfast is committed to freedom of expression, the right to hold a range of views, and the promotion and protection of the right to protest," they said.

"This applies to our students, academics and professional staff, and indeed the wider public.

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"During recent months, we have met individuals and representatives of many organisations, including trade unions, students union and many other interest groups.

"We have had constructive discussions, listened to concerns and ideas, and exchanged views in an atmosphere of mutual respect, with a genuine desire to find solutions and common ground on a range of issues, and we will continue to do so.

"We accept there are different views on the Middle East. Queen's University is committed to freedom of thought and expression for students and staff within a framework of respect for the rights of other persons.

"While we will recognise and defend the right to protest and have voices heard, in a respectful and legal way, it is essential that those who want to go about their normal business on campus can freely and safely do so without interference."

QUBs Jewish Society welcomed the fact the sit-in at the university was peaceful.

"We support the right of students to protest what is happening in Gaza, particularly given the events in Rafah right now, said a spokesperson.

"The sit-in today was respectful and aligns with our hopes  peace for all and ceasefire. Yet, we are also nervous about the antisemitic rhetoric that we have seen on campuses elsewhere.

"We have seen how easy it is for these protests for peace, to turn into something else.

Sit-in in the main Lanyon Building of the Queen's campus in Belfast. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire

The PSNI confirmed they had attended the protest.

"Police attended a protest in the College Green area of Belfast this afternoon, Tuesday 7th May. The protest has now ended, and no issues were noted, said a spokesperson.

It comes as a wave of student-led protests in support of Palestine have popped up worldwide.

Students at Cambridge and Oxford universities are among the latest protesters to launch camps against the war in Gaza on university campuses.

Tents have also been set up outside universities in Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle, after unrest at similar sites in the US.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has summoned vice-chancellors to a meeting this week to discuss antisemitism on campuses and ensuring Jewish students are safe.

At a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Mr Sunak said: Our university campuses should be places of rigorous debate, but they should also be tolerant places where people of all communities, particularly Jewish students at this time, are treated with respect.
Students at the Queens University Belfast have staged a sit-in protest on campus calling for the removal of Hillary Clinton as chancellor.

In a statement the QUB Palestine Assembly said they want to see a democratic election process for the next chancellor.

The group is also calling for Queens to end all ties with universities in Israel, to issue a statement condemning Israels mass killing of Palestinians and deliberate destruction of Gazas educational infrastructure and offer sanctuary status to Palestinian academics and students.

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They have also condemned terminology and some content used in the universitys deeply divided societies course around Palestine.

The group said further action will be discussed among members.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll attended the sit-in.

I think its very, very important that theyve done this, he said.

Hopefully the students can force management to act. This place, as many universities do, has a history of people standing up against oppression and these students are following their friends and fellow students in America and at Trinity (College, Dublin). I want to commend them and extend whatever solidarity I can to them.

Responding, a Queens University spokesperson said they recognise and defend the right to protest, but said it is essential that those who want to go about their business on campus can do so.

Members of the Queens University Belfast (QUB) Palestine Assembly hold a sit in in the main Lanyon building of the campus (Niall Carson/PA)

Queens University Belfast is committed to freedom of expression, the right to hold a range of views, and the promotion and protection of the right to protest, they said.

This applies to our students, academics and professional staff, and indeed the wider public.

During recent months, we have met individuals and representatives of many organisations, including trade unions, students union and many other interest groups.

We have had constructive discussions, listened to concerns and ideas, and exchanged views in an atmosphere of mutual respect, with a genuine desire to find solutions and common ground on a range of issues, and we will continue to do so.

We accept there are different views on the Middle East. Queens University is committed to freedom of thought and expression for students and staff within a framework of respect for the rights of other persons.

While we will recognise and defend the right to protest and have voices heard, in a respectful and legal way, it is essential that those who want to go about their normal business on campus can freely and safely do so without interference.
Exclusive | Indefensibly, the Covid Inquiry is hiding key Stormont evidence from public  and that is not just stupid, but dangerous
Flowers left at the scene where the three siblings died (Cate McCurry/PA)

An 26-year-old Irish man has been jailed for life for the triple murder of his two sisters and brother.

Andy Cash, 26, of Rossfied Avenue in the Tallaght area of Dublin, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the murders of his three siblings.

Lisa Cash, 18, and her eight-year-old twin brother and sister Christy and Chelsea Cawley were violently killed in their home in September 2022.

At the time, the commissioner of the Irish police service said it was one of the worst incidents he had heard of while senior politicians conveyed their condolences to the family and the community.

A death notice posted online said the children were the beloved and cherished son and daughters of Margaret and the late Andy Cash and Billy Cawley and the much-loved brother and sisters of Margaret and Mikey.

Lisa, Chelsea and Christy will be forever loved and very sadly missed by their heartbroken family, grandparents Martin McDonagh, Martin and Mag, aunts, uncles, cousins, brother-in-law Michael, nephew Baby David, extended family and all their many friends, the notice read.

In Ireland, murder carries a mandatory life sentence.
A man has appeared in court accused of attempted murder after a chainsaw incident in a residential street.

Liridon Kastrati, 30, appeared on petition at Paisley Sheriff Court, charged with attempted murder, breach of the peace, and possession of an offensive weapon (section 47 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995).

He was also charged with four road traffic offences.

Footage on social media showed a man running with what appeared to be a chainsaw in a residential street in Paisley, Renfrewshire, on Bank Holiday Monday at around 1pm.

The suspect was apprehended and the road reopened six hours later.

Kastrati did not enter a plea and was committed for further examination.

He was remanded in custody to appear within the next eight days.
The National Union of Students has reached a settlement with its former president who was sacked after an investigation into allegations of antisemitism (Chris Ison/PA)

The National Union of Students has reached a settlement with its former president who was sacked after an investigation into allegations of antisemitism.

Shaima Dallali had her contract as the National Union of Students (NUS) president terminated in November 2022 after an independent panel found that significant breaches of NUS policies have taken place.

Ms Dallai rejected the findings of a disciplinary panel and began employment tribunal proceedings against the union in March 2023 as she claimed she had been subjected to discriminatory conduct.

A joint statement from the NUS and Ms Dallai on Tuesday said a settlement has been reached between the two parties bringing an end to the proceedings before the employment tribunal.

The terms of the settlement will not be disclosed, the statement said.

Ms Dallali said: I am pleased that we have been able to resolve matters and that I can put this matter behind me.

I am an anti-Zionist and a proud pro-Palestinian. Following todays settlement, I look forward to being able to focus on continuing to dedicate myself to the Palestinian cause and to serving my community.

I am immensely grateful to those who have supported me during this difficult chapter in my life and I am pleased that all parties can now move on.

Now more than ever, it is important that all communities come together for peace and justice.

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A joint statement from the NUS and Ms Dallai said: As has been noted repeatedly in the media, NUS was very concerned by a tweet that was written by Ms Dallali when she was a teenager, before she was even a student, in 2012.

Ms Dallali has accepted that while it was not her intention, the tweet was antisemitic. Both parties accept that Ms Dallali has repeatedly apologised for that tweet.

Throughout this matter, Ms Dallali has suffered truly horrific abuse, which has included death threats, threats of sexual assault and flagrant Islamophobia. This is wholly unacceptable, and NUS categorically condemn it.

Ms Dallali now has the right to move on with her life and her career free from harassment or abuse.

In May 2022, the NUS commissioned Rebecca Tuck KC to lead an independent investigation into allegations of antisemitism within the union, as well as an investigation into Ms Dallali under the NUS code of conduct.

Michelle Donelan, universities minister at the time, ordered the NUS to be removed from all the Department for Education departmental groups amid concerns about antisemitism in the body.
Sadiq Khan began his third term as London mayor on Tuesday with a pledge to make the capital the best city in the world to grow up in.

The Labour incumbent won a historic third term at the polls last week, becoming the first London mayor to do so, with a majority of some 275,000 over Conservative rival Susan Hall.

Speaking at a declaration of office ceremony held in the Tate Modern, Mr Khan set out his stall for the capitals young people and nightlife.

Its humbling to have the results we had on Thursday, Mr Khan told the PA news agency.

It was a hard election because Londoners know the last eight years have been tough, we have been rowing against the tide of a Conservative government.

I want London to be a byword for opportunity, the best place in the world for people to grow up in, and that means supporting young people.

Mr Khan said he wants to make free school meals permanent in Londons state primary schools, fund more youth clubs and mental health support, as well as invest in high-quality mentoring.

The mayor said he was proud that his campaign of positivity was able to overcome what he considered to be divisive and dishonest Tory tactics.

He said: We had a Conservative candidate whose campaign was extremely negative, somebody who was spreading misinformation, fake information and lies, so we had to respond and rebut that at the same time as trying to put forward a positive vision for our city  a fairer, greener, safer London.

Im really proud that this city has rewarded that positive campaign and rejected the Conservative campaign.

Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya pose for photographers on the Millennium Bridge (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Though Mr Khan said he would always shake hands after a contentious debate, he urged politicians to have greater consideration towards the knock-on dangers of divisive rhetoric.

It is important that those politicians who are irresponsible understand the consequences, he said, adding: It means people like me need police protection, it means threats to my family, it means people protesting by my home, it means my wife and children being incredibly distressed.

I think all of us should reflect on our behaviour and the impact it has on others. I speak as somebody who was close friends of Jo Cox and have a huge amount of respect for David Amess.

Throughout the mayoral contest, Mr Khan repeatedly denied reported plans to introduce a pay-per-mile road charging scheme.

The mayor arrived at the Tate Modern on foot, walking across Millennium Bridge in a green linen suit from Hackney-based Percival, flanked by his wife, Saadiya.

During his speech at the art gallery, Mr Khan said: It would be nice to take a moment to celebrate becoming the first person in British political history to win successive victories over Count Binface.

(PA Graphics)

He added: If you need another reason to love London, Count Binface easily beat Britain First.

Standing behind a lectern which read London for Everyone, Mr Khan described London as a city of progress, pluralism and endless possibility, where the story is one written by people of all faiths, all ethnicities and all backgrounds.

The mayor rebuffed comments made last week by Donald Trump, which accused London of having opened the door to extremism.

He couldnt be more wrong, Mr Khan said, adding: The truth is, through the results of this election Londoners have slammed the door shut on his brand of hard-right populism.

Londoners have said no to racism, no to division and no to hate, and yes once again to diversity, unity and hope.

The mayor acknowledged that these are challenging times with many struggling desperately to make ends meet.

Labours Sadiq Khan was re-elected mayor (Jeff Moore/PA)

If you work hard and get a helping hand, you can achieve anything, Mr Khan said of his London promise, but he told PA that too many Londoners were not receiving a sufficient helping hand.

Im hoping later on this year, after the general election, the British public vote in a Labour government and we can make a real difference, he said.

When asked about the struggling nightlife sector, Mr Khan told PA that a perfect storm of Brexit, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis had impacted hospitality.

We are going to carry on supporting those businesses and frankly speaking what they need is a situation where the business rates arent going through the roof, he said, adding: Im looking forward to a really vibrant summer, attracting tourists back to the city, and if Taylor Swift cant do it, nobody can.

Mr Khan plans to provide free skills training for unemployed or low-income Londoners and create more than 150,000 new jobs by 2028.
Dennis Orellana carries wet drywall to a debris pile as he helps Yanira Diaz, far left, clean up her flood-damaged home in the River Plantation neighborhood on Monday, May 6, 2024 in Conroe. Texas officials are encouraging residents to report any home damages from the floods through their online system. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Yanira Diaz walks across her muddy living room floor as she begins the clean up process after her home was flooded in the River Plantation neighborhood on Monday, May 6, 2024 in Conroe. Texas officials are encouraging residents to report any home damages from the floods through their online system. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough, right, shakes hands with Gov. Greg Abbott after a press conference on severe weather and flooding conditions in the state Monday, May 6, 2024 at Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management Warehouse in Conroe. Texas officials are encouraging residents to report any home damages from the floods through their online system. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

State Office of Emergency Management officials are scrambling to collect a complete flood damage tally to bolster the region's case for federal recovery help after spring flooding killed at least three people and filled thousands of homes and businesses with muddy water.

"We're on our way now to receive that federal declaration, you can count on us," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news conference Monday.

As the floodwater began rising on April 30, Abbott declared a state of disaster for 29 counties including Harris, Montgomery, Polk and Liberty. He expanded the order to cover 88 counties on May 2. The state has yet to secure a disaster declaration from the U.S. government though, a key step to unlocking aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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"For a federal declaration, our state agencies and local partners need to demonstrate over $54 million of uninsured damage to government infrastructure and response cost," chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management Nim Kidd said Monday.

Kidd said he still worried about "a whole lot of uninsured loss" from the flooding, and implored residents to report damages as soon as possible. FEMA's individual assistance program offers grants up to $75,000 per household, but to access that funding officials need to prove the storm severely damaged or destroyed at least 800 uninsured homes.

Unlike in past storms, the state's initial report to FEMA will relying heavily on individual Texans' online damage reports, submitted via the State of Texas Assessment Tool (iSTAT).

"Rather than the historical method of walking door-to-door to assess personal property damage, these preliminary damage assessments are being conducted virtually," said Wes Rapaport, a spokesman for the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

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Rapaport said the state changed reporting methods to speed the disaster relief, allowing help to come sooner. The state plans to combine self-reported information with images from aerial flyovers, analysis of GPS data, search and rescue observations and flood modeling.

A FEMA Civil Air Patrol team began aerial surveys Tuesday starting in the Conroe area, alongside state emergency response personnel. Local officials' door-to-door efforts were already underway in areas no longer cut off by flooding.

"Harris County is ... putting eyes on the areas that were flooded (to see) how high the water was and make a determination as to what level of damage they may have sustained," said Brian Murray, Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator for the county.

Murray said the county still has no estimate on the extent of the damage, since water levels remain high in some areas. City of Houston officials are conducting their own assessment within city limits, and have also released no information on the storm's scale.

Montgomery County, where the heaviest floods began earlier than in the Houston area, identified 1,500 flooded homes.

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Jason Millsaps, executive director of Montgomery Countys Office of Emergency Management, said Monday the severity of the damage to those structures was not yet known.

Abbott said that the storm caused 160,000 power outages at its peak and hundreds of residents had reported damage to structures across the region, though he said he suspects the final number will be much higher.

As of Sunday, data showed that 501 people statewide had registered claims with their flood insurance provider.

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Israel is set to launch an offensive on the city of Rafah which has already suffered significant destruction (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Israel has not demonstrated to the UK how it will safeguard civilians if it mounts a full-scale assault on Rafah, Downing Street said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was deeply concerned about the potential humanitarian cost of an offensive around the city in southern Gaza which has become a refuge for Palestinians forced out of other areas in the war-ravaged territory.

The UK urged both sides in the Israel-Hamas conflict to focus on negotiations to end the bloodshed.

Israeli forces seized control of the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, an important route for aid to reach the territory.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK Government was concerned about an assault on Rafah (Carl Court/PA)

The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Israeli authorities had denied it access to the crossing.

On a visit in south-east London, Mr Sunak said: Ive been clear that we are deeply concerned about the full military incursion of Rafah, given the humanitarian consequences of that.

Ive made that point specifically to Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu whenever Ive spoken to him.

At a regular briefing in Westminster, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said: Israel, as the occupying power, has responsibility for ensuring that the civilian population is safe and has access to the food, water, medical care it needs.

We have consistently made that point to Israel.

Weve not seen any plans in relation to the Rafah incursion along those lines, thats why, as the PM said just yesterday, we remain deeply concerned about the prospect of a military incursion into Rafah given the number of civilians sheltering there and the importance of that crossing for aid.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy questioned whether the Government believed an assault on Rafah could be a clear risk of a serious breach of humanitarian law, something which would trigger a ban on arms exports.

Now, more than ever, we need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and unimpeded aid to Gaza, Mr Lammy told MPs.

The diplomatic push for a pause in the fighting continued after Hamas said it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated ceasefire proposal, which Israel rejected because it failed to meet Tel Avivs core demands.

Mr Sunak urged Israel and Hamas to continue talking, negotiating, getting around the table.

On a visit to south-east London, the Prime Minister said: Weve been consistent in saying that we want to see an immediate humanitarian pause in this conflict so that we can crucially release the hostages, get them back to their families and get more aid in to Gaza, people desperately need it, and then use that pause to build a more lasting and sustainable ceasefire.
Demonstrators at the University of Amsterdam in Amsterdam (InterVision/AP)

Police arrested about 125 activists as they broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam, as protests that have stirred up campuses in the United States spread into Europe.

Police in the Dutch capital said in a statement on the social media platform X that their action was necessary to restore order after protests turned violent.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Video from the scene aired by national broadcaster NOS showed police using a mechanical digger to push down barricades and officers wielding batons and shields moving in to end the demonstration, beating some of the protesters and pulling down tents.

Protesters formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, NOS reported.

Police arrested 125 activists as they broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam in Amsterdam (InterVision/AP)

Scores of demonstrators occupied a small island at the university on Monday, urging Amsterdam universities to break academic ties with Israel because of its offensive in Gaza in the aftermath of the deadly October 7 attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel.

There have also been demonstrations in recent days at campuses in France and the United Kingdom.

Photos from the Amsterdam campus showed tents, banners and food along with piles of cobblestones that had been pulled up from the street.

Before police moved in, scuffles broke out between two rival groups of activists.

Police said in a statement that they cleared the makeshift camp after the protesters refused repeated orders to leave.

The protest in this form created a very unsafe situation, partly due to the barricades that prevented emergency services from entering the site.

In the event of a disaster, the activists themselves could possibly become stuck on the site, police said.

They said the campus was calm on Tuesday morning, but that officers remained present in the area.

Calls to the university went unanswered early Tuesday and the university did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

In Finland, dozens of protesters from the Students for Palestine solidarity group set up an encampment outside the main building at the University of Helsinki.

Demonstrators said they would stay at the site in central Helsinki until the university, which is Finlands largest academic institution, cuts academic ties with Israeli universities.

In Denmark, students set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen.

About 45 tents were erected on the lawn outside the campus of the Faculty of Social Sciences, known as CSS.

The faculty sits in an old municipal hospital in the heart of the Danish capital.

The universitys administration said students can protest on campus but called on them to respect the rules on its grounds.

Seek dialogue, not conflict and make room for perspectives other than your own, the administrators said in a statement posted on X.

It said the administration cannot and must not express an opinion on behalf of university employees and students about political matters, including about the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

On their Facebook page, members of the activist group Students Against the Occupation said their attempts to talk to the administration over the past two years about withdrawing the schools investments in companies with ties to activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have been in vain.

We can no longer be satisfied with cautious dialogue that does not lead to concrete action, the group said.

In Paris, student groups called for gatherings in solidarity with Palestinians later Tuesday.

On Friday, French police peacefully removed dozens of students from a building at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, after they had gathered in support of Palestinians.

On Tuesday, students at the prestigious institution, which counts French prime minister Gabriel Attal and President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni, were seen entering the campus unobstructed to take exams as police stood at the entrances.

Protests took place last week at some other universities across the country, including in Lille and Lyon.

The Prime Ministers Office said police had been requested to remove students from 23 sites on French campuses.

Meanwhile, in Germany Berlin police broke up a pro-Palestinian student camp at the citys Free University.
The federal judge in Florida presiding over the classified documents prosecution of former President Donald Trump has cancelled the May 20 trial date, postponing it indefinitely.

The order from US District Judge Aileen Cannon had been expected in light of still-unresolved issues in the case and because Trump is currently on trial in a separate case in Manhattan charging him in connection with hush money payments during the 2016 presidential election.

The New York case involves several of the same lawyers representing him in the federal case in Florida.

Ms Cannon said in a five-page order on Tuesday that it would be imprudent to finalise a new trial date now, casting further doubt on federal prosecutors ability to bring Trump to trial before the November presidential election.

No new date has been set for the case, for which Trumps defence involves several of the same lawyers representing him in New York (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)

Trump faces dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021 at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

He is also accused of then obstructing the FBIs efforts to get the documents back.

He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

Trump faces four criminal cases as he seeks to reclaim the White House, but outside of the New York prosecution, it is not clear whether any of the other three will reach trial before the election.

The Supreme Court is weighing Trumps arguments that he is immune from federal prosecution in a separate case from special counsel Jack Smith charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia have also brought a separate case related to election subversion, though it is not clear when that might reach trial.
A police officer stands guard blocking pro-Palestinian protesters from returning to their encampment as the encampment is dismantled at the University of Chicago (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Chicago as tension ratcheted up in standoffs with demonstrators at other college campuses around the US  and increasingly, in Europe.

Nearly three weeks into a movement launched by a protest at Columbia University, the Rhode Island School of Design held talks with protesters occupying a building, and MIT dealt with a new encampment on a site that was cleared but immediately retaken by demonstrators.

The confrontations come as campuses try a range of strategies, from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action, to resolve the protests against the Israel-Hamas war and clear the way for commencements.

At the University of Chicago, protesters numbering in the several hundreds had gathered in an area known as the Quad for at least eight days.

A pro-Palestinian protester leads chants at the universitys police (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

Campus administrators warned them on Friday to leave the area or face removal.

Police in riot gear blocked access to the Quad on Tuesday as law enforcement dismantled the encampment.

Officers later picked up a barricade erected to keep protesters out of the Quad and moved it toward the demonstrators, some of whom chanted, Up, up with liberation. Down, down with occupation!

Police and protesters pushed back and forth along the barricade as the officers moved to re-establish control.

School president Paul Alivisatos said: The protesters were given an opportunity to disassemble their structures and depart the encampment, and there have been no arrests. Where appropriate, disciplinary action will proceed.

By 7.30am on Tuesday, the number of protesters had doubled to more than 200.

About 30 minutes later, campus police removed a barricade and stepped aside to allow protesters back into the Quad where they gathered in front of Levi Hall, the campus administration building.

At MIT, protesters were given a Monday afternoon deadline to voluntarily leave or face suspension.

Many left, according to an MIT spokesperson, who said protesters breached fencing after the arrival of demonstrators from outside the university.

On Monday night, dozens of protesters remained at the encampment in a calmer atmosphere, listening to speakers and chanting before taking a pizza break.

Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said that the group has been at the encampment for two weeks and that they were calling for an end to the killing in Gaza.

Specifically, our encampment is protesting MITs direct research ties to the Israeli Ministry of Defence, he said.

No arrests had been made as of Monday night, according to the MIT spokesperson.

At the Rhode Island School of Design, where students started occupying a building Monday, a spokesperson said that the school affirms students rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly and that it supports all members of its community.

The RISD president and provost were on site meeting with the demonstrators, the spokesperson said.

The student protests have spread to Europe, where they are gaining momentum.

Police arrested about 125 activists early Tuesday as they broke up a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Amsterdam.

Students also have held protests or set up camps in Finland, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Britain.

Many protesters want their schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or otherwise contribute to the war effort.

Others simply want to call attention to the deaths in Gaza and for the war to end.

Demonstrations at New York Citys Columbia University, where the protest movement began about three weeks ago, have disturbed its campus.

Officials on Monday cancelled its large main ceremony but said students will be able to celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies this week and next.

Columbia had already cancelled in-person classes.

More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbias green or occupied an academic building were arrested in recent weeks.

Similar encampments sprouted up elsewhere, leading universities to struggle with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.

Police block protesters (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

The University of Southern California earlier cancelled its main graduation ceremony.

Students abandoned their camp at USC on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.

Other universities have held graduation ceremonies with beefed-up security.

The University of Michigans ceremony was interrupted by chanting a few times on Saturday.

A group of faculty and staff members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked the administration for amnesty for student protesters who were recently arrested and suspended.

Harvard Universitys interim president, Alan Garber, warned students that those in an encampment in Harvard Yard could face involuntary leave, meaning they would not be allowed on campus, could lose their student housing and might not be able to take exams.

At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students.

The University of California, Los Angeles, moved classes online for the week due to disruptions following the dismantling of an encampment last week that resulted in 44 reported arrests.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.

Hamas on Monday announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its core demands and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

Ceasefires are temporary, said Selina Al-Shihabi, a Georgetown University student who was taking part in a protest at George Washington.

There can be a ceasefire, but the US government will continue to arm the Israeli military.

We plan to be here until the university divests or until they drag us out of here.
Ex-UDA boss boasts hell go back to Shankill on release despite threats from terror gang

Loyalist drug baron Dee Coleman has been boasting about how he will make a triumphant return to the Shankill when he is freed from prison in the summer.

The former UDA boss, who fled his Belfast home when it was attacked by the terror gang, is currently behind bars awaiting sentencing for cocaine dealing, money laundering, kidnapping and GBH. But because of time served on remand  he has been in prison since November 2021  Coleman is predicting he will be out in time for the Twelfth.
Xi calls for immediate, comprehensive, sustainable ceasefire in Gaza

Xinhua) 09:13, May 07, 2024

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China calls on all parties to work for an immediate, comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, and supports the full membership of Palestine in the United Nations, Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Monday.

The prolonged tragedy of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a test for human conscience, and the international community must act, Xi made the remarks when he jointly met the press with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.

China supports restoring to Palestine its legitimate national rights and restarting the two-State solution, so as to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East, he said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
Three people died in a crash involving a Maserati in Montrose on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. On Scene TV

A Houston man was arrested and charged with three felonies in connection to a 2022 crash that killed three men riding in a luxury car in Montrose.

Juan Depaz Jr., 32, was arrested and charged with three counts of failure to stop and render aid involving death on May 2, days after being indicted by a Harris County grand jury.

RENTAL APP SCHEME: Man used rental app to steal dozens of Houston vehicles, FBI says

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Depaz is accused of driving and operating a Jeep that caused a crash on Nov. 13, 2022, in the 2900 block of Dallas. Police said a speeding Jeep Grand Cherokee hit a Maserati Ghibli, causing the car to crash into a utility pole and fence.

Both the Maserati and the Jeep were speeding and heading in the same direction before the crash

The crash killed three men, identified as Luis Ramirez Torres, 24, Jacob Rodriguez, 23, and Johnny Aguilar, 26. A fourth man was hurt and taken to a hospital.

The Jeep crashed into a utility pole and then fled, police said. Authorities said there had been multiple people inside the Jeep at the time of the crash.

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Tomas Ojea Quintana said Argentinian court will decide this year on whether to issue international arrest warrants for alleged perpetrators.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana, attends a news conference after delivering his report before the Human Right Council on March 9, 2020, in Geneva.

In an interview with Ye Kaung Myint Maung of Radio Free Asia (RFA), a news service affiliated with BenarNews, international human rights attorney Tomas Ojea Quintana spoke about a case filed in a court in Argentina in 2019 that alleges crimes against humanity and genocide committed by senior Myanmar military officials against Rohingya Muslims.

The complaint was filed under the principle of universal jurisdiction enshrined in Argentinas constitution, which holds that some crimes are so heinous that alleged perpetrators thousands of miles away can be tried.

The 46-page criminal complaint centers on violence in 2012 and 2018 that drove about 1 million Rohingya from Myanmar, mostly to neighboring Bangladesh, where many live in squalid refugee camps to this day.

The document describes rapes, beheadings and the slaughter of Rohingya civilians committed by Myanmars military and their civilian supporters. It includes detailed information collected by the 2017-2019 United Nations-backed Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar, which interviewed hundreds of witnesses in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Quintana served as United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar between 2008 and 2014. He served in a similar role for the U.N. in reporting on the situation of human rights in North Korea between 2016 and 2022.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

RFA: Mr. Quintana, welcome to RFA. Id like to start the interview by asking how far along is the Rohingya case?

Tomas Ojea Quintana: I would say that the case is moving forward. The Argentine prosecutor has been producing important evidence. The file now has a number of testimonies from survivors  Rohingya survivors from [the] Coxs Bazar [refugee camps in Bangladesh].

Actually, they  have visited Argentina and given in-person testimonies to the Argentinian court. This is something very important for a universal jurisdiction case because the victims now [have] had a chance to tell their stories to the court.

So I would say now we are in the investigative stage, and at some point, we believe that the court will make a substantive decision regarding the accused persons.

Myanmar protesters residing in Japan step on posters of their countrys junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, which carry a Wanted message, during a rally to mark the second anniversary of Myanmars 2021 military coup, outside the Embassy of Myanmar in Tokyo, Feb. 1, 2023. [Issei Kato/Reuters]

RFA: Do you have a timetable for any decision in the case?

TOQ: Actually, in December last year, the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, which is a plaintiff in this criminal investigation, submitted a request to the court  an international arrest warrant request. Now that request is under consideration by the court.

At some point, we hope that, during this year, the court in Argentina will make a decision on whether or not the conditions are there for international arrest warrants to be issued.

RFA: What can you tell us about the alleged perpetrators?

TOQ: Well, the file is confidential. What I can tell you is that the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK included a list of seven perpetrators that goes from the top military authorities to two individuals who participated directly in the atrocities. Thats all I can tell you.

As I say, we hope that during this year, at some point, the court will issue a resolution on this very important aspect, and that it will be very important for the Rohingya community to continue to build on their hope for justice. It will also be an important message to the Myanmar military about accountability.

It will also be [an] important [reminder] for the overall international community that action needs to be taken with regards to this very dramatic international crime, which was genocide against the Rohingya.

RFA: We see, since the military coup in 2021, the situation of Rohingya refugees has deteriorated. Some of the refugee witnesses in your case come from the Rohingya refugee camps in Coxs Bazar. Have conditions improved for women in those camps?

TOQ: Well, thats something that is not directly related to the case itself. The court is basically investigating the genocide committed in August 2017.

But the court pays attention to the protection situation of the witnesses who give testimony in the file. And the court of Argentina is following up on that, trying to check whether or not these witnesses that returned to Coxs Bazar are in adequate conditions in terms of protection and the overall situation in the camp.

There are almost 1 million people leaving the largest refugee camp in the world where, you know, the living conditions are not adequate. So, thats an issue that the international community needs to pay more attention to.

A protester covered in fake blood (right) flashes the three-finger salute next to an image of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration outside the United Nations office in Bangkok on Feb. 1, 2024, to mark the third anniversary of the coup in Myanmar. [Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP]

RFA: For now, the worlds focus is far away from Myanmar because of other international issues. What would it take to get the spotlight back on Rohingya issues?

TOQ: It is time for the international community to take action. The Security Council of the United Nations has been dealing with the Myanmar situation, but its been more of a reaction.

The truth is that the Myanmar military committed the first genocide of the 21st century. We hope that this case in Argentina will contribute to raise awareness around the world about the need to not recreate the conditions that led to the genocide.

RFA: We see other legal proceedings on the Rohingya case at the International Criminal Court and at the International Court of Justice. But its extremely rare to see a case filed under universal jurisdiction and to get proper punishment. Look at the case against Chilean President Augusto Pinochet. How much can we expect from this case?

TOQ: The case of Pinochet was very important for the sake of justice all over the world. He was detained in London based on a universal jurisdiction case in Spain. It was very important for the Chilean victims of his dictatorship.

The instrument of an international arrest warrant is also important. We will reach out to all those who are committed to preventing international crimes, such as ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], the U.N. and of course  The Hague  the International Court of Justice.

All these legal cases help to reinforce the universal idea that we should not accept genocide, wherever that genocide takes place. So if the Argentinian court issues these warrants, we will reach out to everyone, including the media, to let everybody know that those perpetrators who committed the crime are being summoned by a court of law.
I am worried that the situation will be even worse than in 2017, says Tun Khin.

Tun Khin is the president of the U.K.-based Burmese Rohingya Organization. A leading campaigner for Rohingya rights, he believes that the Rohingya people are being subjected to war crimes amid the conflict between the military and the ethnic Arakan Army, or AA, in western Myanmars Rakhine state.

While both sides are forcibly recruiting Rohingya to join the fighting there, he says, the junta is systematically fueling hatred between ethnic Rakhines and the Rohingya people. The Rohingya are not recognized as citizens of Myanmar by the government and have been the target of ethnic violence throughout history  including in 2017, when a military clearance operation in Rakhine state sent about 740,000 fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh.

In an interview with Radio Free Asia, a news service affiliated with BenarNews, Tun Khin expressed concern that the current situation in Rakhine state may fuel further violence against his people. He also addressed accusations by the military that he led a group of activists to Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh to recruit 50,000 soldiers for the AA.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

RFA: Firstly, I would like to ask about your team meeting with the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh last month. The junta claimed that the goal of your visit was to recruit about 50,000 Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh for the AA. What is your response to this?

Tun Khin: We went to Bangladesh to meet our Rohingya people. They have been taking refuge there for almost seven years after escaping a genocide. Another reason for our visit was to meet with the Bangladeshi government. We also discussed the schooling of children, as well as the repatriation program [to bring the refugees back to Myanmar]. We have to go back to our country  it is our right.

However, Zaw Min Tun, the junta spokesperson, gave the wrong information. We neither met with the AA nor recruited soldiers for them. In fact, we just investigated the lives of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and worked to get more support for them.

RFA: The Rohingya people are being recruited for military service, while armed clashes are escalating in Rakhine state. What is your opinion on the current situation in Rakhine state?

TK: The current situation is very bad. I am worried that the situation will be even worse than in 2017. Since the beginning of the latest armed struggle in November 2023 [when the AA ended a ceasefire agreement with the military], the Rohingya people have been trapped between the AA and junta troops. Many Rohingyas died in airstrikes in Minbya [township] and other areas.

Rohingya stand on their capsized boat before being rescued in the waters off West Aceh, Indonesia, March 21, 2024. [Reza Saifullah/AP]

Especially after the AA took control of the village of Hpon Nyo Leik [in Buthidaung township], junta troops totally destroyed the village, despite its status as an IDP [internally displaced persons] village. Recently, the Rohingya people have been forced to serve in the military, and at least 500 from the refugee camp in [the Rakhine state capital] Sittwe were recruited for military service. There were also about 500 [recruited] in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships.

The junta staged [Rohingya] protests against the AA. We believe that the junta is systematically working to create tensions between the Rohingya and the Rakhines. We all should be aware of that.

Meanwhile, the AA has illegally arrested Rohingya  and killed innocent civilians in Maungdaw and Buthidaung. They accused them of cooperating with the junta regime and confiscated food and other goods from Rohingya villages. It is unacceptable.

We also have reports that the AA forcibly arrested and extorted money from Rohingyas to be exempted from military service. So our Rohingya people are in a very bad situation amidst the armed conflict.

AA control in Rakhine state

RFA: The AA is  taking over towns in Rakhine state. If the AA gains control of the entire state, what would happen to the Rohingya?

TK: The military is our common enemy. They beheaded and killed thousands of our Rohingya people in 2017. Thousands of Rohingya women were brutally raped. The Myanmar military burned more than 390 Rohingya villages. We have suffered all kinds of brutality from the army. So, we stand together with any group which is working to remove the military.

On the other hand, the AA is committing war crimes against the Rohingya people, who are already facing genocide, while it fights the military. They need to stop it. We see that hatred is spreading. We Rohingya just want to live together in peace.

RFA: The AA leaders dont use the term Rohingya and instead use Bengali [which suggests the Rohingya are from Bangladesh]. What do you want to say about that?

TK: We are not Bengalis. We are an original indigenous ethnic group in Rakhine state. We are Rohingya, and we expect to be called Rohingya. We have our own customs and cultures.

We are a group of people with our own characteristics. We are  the second largest ethnic group in Rakhine state. The AA needs to recognize this and practice mutual respect.

Rohingya embrace after taking part in Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, at a temporary shelter in Meulaboh in Indonesias Aceh province, April 10, 2024. [Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP]



RFA: The military has equipped Rohingyas with weapons. Do you think that the Rohingya are able to protect themselves?

TK: The military is giving weapons to the Rohingya, but using them as human shields.  So, it is clear that the Rohingya cannot protect themselves.
Treasury Department says its concerned about Washington-sanctioned Iranian oil being moved from ship to ship in Southeast Asian waters.

The Liberian-flagged oil tanker Ice Energy transfers crude oil from the Iranian-flagged oil tanker Lana (formerly Pegas), off the shore of Karystos, on the Island of Evia, Greece, May 26, 2022.

A U.S. Treasury delegation will discuss the consequences of allowing transshipments of Washington-sanctioned Iranian oil in meetings with government officials here this week, amid longtime allegations by Western news and research firms that Malaysia permits Iran to use its waters for ship-to-ship petroleum transfers.

The American officials who arrived in Kuala Lumpur late on Monday will engage in blunt discussions with their Malaysian counterparts, U.S. Ambassador Edgard Kagan said on the sidelines of Asias largest defense show.

We are confident that the Malaysian government understands the U.S. position with regard to transshipment of oil that has been sanctioned, and understands the potential impact that this could have, Kagan said in response to a question about whether Washington sees Malaysia as a transshipment hub for Iranian oil.

He did not elaborate on what he meant by potential impact, which could mean anything from sanctions on Malaysia to an emboldened Iran potentially causing more trouble for Washington. Sanctions deny people or companies access to assets within the United States and prevent American citizens or financial institutions from doing business with them.

We look forward to candid and frank discussions that are going to be done very much from our standpoint in the spirit of working together to address a common problem, Kagan said.

Iran has been the target of a range of American sanctions since 1979, after students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took hostages. The latest ones have been implemented over Irans nuclear program.

In December, the U.S Treasury Department imposed sanctions on four Malaysia-based companies it accused of helping Irans production of drones. Washington accuses Iran of supplying deadly drones to what it says are terrorist proxies in the Middle East, and to Russia for use in Ukraine.

On Friday, the Treasury Department said that two of its top officials would visit Malaysia and Singapore on May 6-9 to advance its work in countering what it called terror financing by Iran and its proxies, and the implementation of sanctions against Russia.

Since the beginning of this year, the Treasury has taken several significant actions to combat and disrupt the illicit shipment of Iranian oil to buyers in East Asia, including shipments via ship-to-ship transfers in international waters near Singapore and Malaysia, the department said in a statement on Friday.

In Malaysia, Under Secretary Nelson and General Counsel MacBride will discuss the United States efforts to disrupt terrorist financing, including through fundraising for fraudulent charities and illicit oil sales, while ensuring that U.S. sanctions and other financial measures do not impede the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

BenarNews contacted the Prime Ministers Office and the foreign ministry for comment on the U.S. officials visit and Kagans comments, but did not immediately hear back.

Images of the Iranian flag and a miniature oil pump model are overlain on the picture of a stocks trading graph, in this illustration from Oct. 9, 2023. [Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters]

Both the issues  sanctions against Russia and Iran  have seen the East and the West divided in their responses.

In the case of Iran, responses have diverged even more following the attack by Palestinian Hamas militants on Oct. 7 that killed around 1,100 people, and Israels retaliation after, which has taken more than 34,000 lives of people in Gaza.

The U.S. and its allies in the West firmly fault Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and staunchly support Israel, while many in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world are not so quick to denounce Moscow, but downright denounce Israel.

Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, has consistently advocated for a two-state solution as the Jewish state has occupied the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank. And amid the latest crisis, it has denounced Israel in no uncertain terms.

Malaysia has taken a stance supporting Iran, which launched drones and fired missiles at Israel on April 13. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim described Irans actions as a legitimate act in response to Israels barbarous attack on Irans consulate in Damascus.

I will not accept any threats

Anwar has dug in on the threat of U.S. sanctions as well.

He said in November that Malaysia would maintain ties with Hamas and not be cowed by the threat of unilateral sanctions for doing so in the face of a proposed U.S. law to sanction the groups supporters.

He was responding to the Nov. 1 passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of the Hamas and Other Palestinian Terrorist Groups International Financing Prevention Act. It has yet to be passed by the Senate.

I will not accept any threats, including this, Anwar said in Parliament back then.

This action is unilateral and not valid because we, as members of the United Nations, only recognize decisions made by the United Nations Security Council.

In December, Malaysia banned Israeli shipping company ZIM, vessels flying the Israeli flag and those headed there from docking at its ports, saying the move was a response to the Jewish states actions in Gaza.

Washington ups the pressure

Still, allegations about Malaysias support for Iran evasion of U.S. sanctions have been made for years, and long before the latest crisis in the Middle East.

More recently, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (USEIA), in September, noted that Chinas oil imports from Malaysia in the first half of 2023 rose to 1 million barrels a day  a figure that exceeded total production in Malaysia.

USEIA pointed to a May 2021 article from the Washington-based Middle East Institutes website to explain this discrepancy. The article was titled Iranian sanctions evasion and the Gulfs complex oil trade, and cited news sources like Bloomberg and Reuters as well.

With a heavy discount on Irans high-risk, illegal oil exports, buyers in China are purchasing so much that oil tankers are clogging up ports in the country, the article said, referring to a Bloomberg News story for the information about the choked ports.

Identifying the oils true origin is difficult, however, as it is often imported indirectly, first passing through transshipment hubs in the UAE, Malaysia, and Oman, or simply relabeled as Middle Eastern oil, it said, citing Reuters as the source for information about indirect imports.

Meanwhile, Washington is ratcheting up the pressure on sanctions violators.

The Treasury officials visit to Malaysia comes less than two weeks after President Joe Biden signed a national security package that included the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act, which extends the statute of limitations for violations of sanctions to 10 years.

It also included the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act, which authorizes sanctions on foreign ports, vessels, and refineries involved in the trade of sanctioned Iranian petroleum products.

Additionally, the Fight and Combat Rampant Iranian Missile Exports Act, the Iran-China Energy Sanctions Act of 2023, and the No Technology for Terror Act, each address specific aspects of Iran-related sanctions and activities.

In a recent article for The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, research assistant Rebecca Redlich wrote that Kuala Lumpur is once again displaying its willingness to facilitate Irans illicit activity.

The United States has repeatedly sought to curb Kuala Lumpurs growing ties with Iran by sanctioning various Malaysia-based entities, she said in her article dated April 24.

U.S. officials have focused most of their outreach and punitive actions on areas where Malaysian decisions directly threaten U.S. objectives, such as facilitating illicit Iranian oil sales and creating a permissive environment for sanctions evasion.
The Philippine military denies it is linked to an alleged agreement between Manila and Beijing over Second Thomas (Ayungin) Shoal.

Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, chief of the Philippine militarys Western Command, speaks during an interview with reporters at a port in Palawan, Philippines, March 6, 2024.

UPDATED at 12:05 p.m. ET on 05-08-2024

The military commander who oversees most Philippine-claimed territories in the South China Sea took a leave of absence days after Beijing claimed that his regional command and other government agencies had agreed with it on a new model for resupply missions to a contested shoal.

Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, chief of the Western Command (WESCOM), filed for a personal leave, but it had no connection to the controversy focused on maritime missions to a Philippine outpost at Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Shoal), according to a military spokeswoman.

Lets respect his decision. It is an inherent right of every individual to go on leave for whatever reasons, Col. France Margareth Padilla told reporters on Tuesday.

Carlos will return to his post after his personal leave, Padilla said, although it was not clear when Carlos had filed for leave. Carlos did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BenarNews.

On May 4, the military designated Rear Adm. Alfonso Torres Jr. as the acting WESCOM commander, effective May 6. Torres will also continue to handle his duties as commander of the Naval Education and Training Command in San Antonio, Zambales province, according to Padilla.

The Department of National Defense said it had no information to share on the matter.

WESCOM oversees Manilas defense of the Palawan and Kalayaan islands  including the disputed Spratly chain.

Second Thomas Shoal is claimed by the Philippines, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. In 1999, Manila deliberately grounded an old navy ship, BRP Sierra Madre, to serve as its military outpost at the shoal.

The Philippines regularly dispatches boats to the Sierra Madre to deliver fresh supplies to the military personnel who are stationed aboard it.

No deal

In recent days, China claimed that Manila and Beijing had agreed on a model for resupply missions to the Second Thomas Shoal after multiple rounds of discussions through the diplomatic channel and the AFP WESCOM.

The Philippine military has made repeated confirmation[s] that the new model has been approved by all key officials in the Philippine chain of command, including the Secretary of National Defense and the National Security Adviser, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a press briefing on Monday.

Lin said that the Philippines had carried out one resupply mission under this new model on Feb. 2 before abandoning it as well.

But the Philippines defense and foreign affairs departments, as well as the National Security Council, denied having struck such a deal with Beijing on Second Thomas Shoal.

Philippine coast guard personnel and journalists sail on a rigid inflatable boat (left) as they head back after filming the BRP Sierra Madre, anchored at Second Thomas Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea, Nov. 10, 2023. [Jam Sta Rosa/AFP]





The [Department of Foreign Affairs] wishes to emphasize that only the President of the Republic of the Philippines can approve or authorize agreements entered into by the Philippine government on matters pertaining to the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

The West Philippine Sea is how Manila refers to South China Sea waters that lie within its exclusive economic zone.

The department can confirm that no cabinet-level official of the Marcos administration has agreed to any proposal pertaining to the Ayungin Shoal. As far as the Philippine government is concerned, no such document, record, or deal exists, as purported by the Chinese Embassy, it said.

Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general at the Philippine National Security Council, said there was no reason to probe Carlos over Chinas alleged deal with his military command. Carlos, he added, was a decorated officer with the Philippine Navy.

I dont think there is any cause for the investigation because this narrative coming from China is simply, you know, there to create dissent and sow disinformation to our fellow Filipinos, Malaya said in a televised briefing on Monday.

Duterte-Xi deal on Scarborough Shoal

There were other informal or undocumented deals, according to China.

On May 4, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Manila said Beijing had entered into an unwritten 2016 deal with former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, allowing small-scale fishing around Scarborough Shoal  another disputed area in the South China Sea  while restricting entry of government ships and planes within 12 nautical miles of the resource-rich shoal.

No less than Duterte himself alluded to this in October 2016 after returning from his state visit to China. Duterte said that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had discussed Filipinos fishing rights in the Scarborough Shoal, which has been under Chinas effective control since 2012. He, however, refused to give details because the meeting was confidential.

In 2022, fishermen told BenarNews that they were able to move more freely  although still under the watchful eyes of the China Coast Guard  near the shoal during the Duterte administration.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila said that the Philippines had abided with the deal for several years until the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. disrupted the arrangement.

Marcos Jr. earlier denied knowing of any secret arrangements with China on the West Philippine Sea and said he would seek clarification from officials of the Duterte administration.

Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the South China Sea, also denied the existence of an unwritten deal under the Marcos administration.

Let us not be influenced by their fabricated stories once again, which aim to confuse the Filipino people and divert the public discourse from the real issue of their harassment and provocative actions in Bajo De Masinloc, he said, referring to Scarborough Shoal.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to show that one resupply mission under this new model occurred earlier this year, on Feb. 2.
Human rights activists and academics in Thailand say they are concerned that the upcoming Senate selection process is as undemocratic as the last one when the junta appointed the senators.

They said the new process to replace the 2019 senators, whose five-year term ends May 11, lacks public participation because it limits those who can contest to members of specific professional groups who must be at least 40 years old. And the candidates are not allowed to campaign.

Isa Gharti, a public policy researcher at Chiang Mai University, said the Senate election process in a democracy should be transparent and accountable.

[S]enators should be directly elected by the people. If only certain groups are given the right, it will be difficult for senators to truly represent the public, she told BenarNews.

The election must be open to all citizens, allowing them to directly contest and vote. The process must be simplified.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is also among the critics of the new process to select members of the Thai legislatures upper house, which will now have 200 senators, down from 250.

The Thai Senate election scheduled for June will not be able to erase the legacy of military rule and will be an obstacle to the restoration of democratic governance, said Sunai Phasuk, HRWs senior researcher for Thailand.

Candidate registration is set to begin on May 13 with selections occurring on June 9 at the district level, June 16 at the provincial level, and June 26 at the national level. The selection results are to be announced on July 2.

Senate candidates must be at least 40 years old, and from one of 20 professional groups with at least 10 years of experience in their respective fields. The groups include public administration and security, law and justice, rice farming and field crop cultivation.

Candidates also have to either be born, registered or have previously lived or worked in the district they are contesting from for at least two years, and pay a registration fee of 2,500 baht (U.S. $67.83).

Candidates in each group will vote among themselves at the district, provincial and national levels. The Election Commission (EC) has estimated that 100,000 candidates could register for the 200 Senate seats, according to media reports.

The way it will work is that at the national level, candidates from the professional groups will select candidates for the groups they dont belong to. Then the top ten of those who were chosen in each of the professional groups will become senators.

Candidates ranked 11th to 15th from each group  100 of them  will serve as reserve senators.

A supporter of the Move Forward Party holds a sign calling for Thai senators to respect democracy during a protest in Bangkok, July 14, 2023. [Sakchai Lalit/AP]

HRW said that in this so called intra-group election system, candidates cast votes among themselves within the same social and professional group.

For those seeking reform, Thailands Senate election is unlikely to bring it, the rights watchdog said in a statement on May 5.

This is problematic given the Senates role in approving independent organizations, although unlike earlier it will no longer have a role in selecting the prime minister, Sunai of HRW said.

[I]t still holds the right to approve key positions in important agencies such as the Election Commission (EC), the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), and the Constitutional Court judges who play a significant role in dissolving political parties and revoking the rights of MPs, HRWs Sunai said.

Thai democracy campaign group ilaws Director Yingcheep Atchanont had told BenarNews last week that the outgoing senate members, for instance, voted only those who shared their political views and those who represented their interests

The Senate also has the power to approve constitutional amendments, he added, which was crucial at a time when Thailand has begun the process to amend the 2017 Constitution, which was drafted by a junta-backed committee

EC defends process

Yingcheep of iLaw told BenarNews on Tuesday that senators may be even more important than members of parliament.

Senators are crucial for the nation, especially in advancing the peoples constitution, selecting individuals to serve in organizations that oversee state power and enacting various laws, he said.

However, the Senate election law seems to discourage public participation.

The Election Commission denied that the public will not be able to participate in the Senate selection, when BenarNews contacted it for comment.

Sawang Boonmee, EC secretary-general, on Tuesday said the public participation would be in the form of monitoring and observing the selection process.

The EC recognizes the importance of public participation. Therefore, the public has the right to follow, inspect and observe the process after the registration closes, Sawang told BenarNews.

The EC will publish the names of all Senate candidates on the Smart Vote application and the ECs website. Senate candidates can contact each other via email or the Line application to introduce themselves.

Sawang added that according to the EC, this information is sufficient for the public and Senate candidates to consider and select candidates among themselves.

He reiterated that Senate candidates are not allowed to campaign and can only introduce themselves and their work experience.

Lawsuit

Meanwhile, a prospective candidate filed a lawsuit on April 29 with the Administrative Court to revoke the ECs regulations, citing a lack of public participation.

Tewarit Maneechai, managing editor of the Prachatai news site, also said in his petition, set to be heard May 15, that the Senate selection appeared to be a closed-door process.

set to be heard May 15 that the Senate selection regulations appear

I hope that the process will be amended in accordance with the constitutional intent, which desires that citizens who want to participate in politics are not excluded, Tewarit told BenarNews.

If senators continue to come from a selection system that restricts rights, is not open and is dominated by interest groups, we will see growing calls for the abolition of the Senate because it goes against the democratic spirit that power must come from the people.
Houston Chronicle

Jason Spencer, the chief of staff to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, has been charged with injury to a child in connection with a 2023 allegation that he attacked his teen son.

Spencer, 50, went before a judge Tuesday after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He is free on bond.

The child, in September 2023, accused Spencer of slamming him against a wall during a scuffle after the teen got into an argument with a sibling, according to court records. Spencer initially yelled at the child to go to his room but the encounter escalated. The child fell down the stairs when Spencer threw a plastic gun case against him. The teen asked the sibling to later take pictures of his bruises, the records show.

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MORE FROM THE CHRONICLE: Takeaways from the investigation into the Lakewood shooting.

The childs mother, an ex-wife of Spencer, told Houston police that Spencer described the boy as having a meltdown that day and urged her not to take him to a hospital.

A defense attorney, Murray Newman, maintained Spencers innocence in the case and added that his client loves his children.

Jason has cooperated with the investigating authorities completely in this matter and he turned himself into the court this morning to address these charges, Newman said in a statement.

The lawyer likened the allegations to family law cases where one party may attempt using the criminal justice system to their advantage.

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That is what we believe has happened here, Newman said.

Jeremy Odom, a representative for the family of the ex-wife, rebuked Newman's allegations.

"Victim blaming is a cowardly move with the Harris County District Attorney has already spoken with the charges," Odom said in a statement. "We feel confident the district attorney's case will shine truth and bring justice for the injured party. There will be no further comment from the family out of respect for and to protect the children involved."

Court records indicate a protective order was filed against Spencer in the weeks that followed the alleged assault. The warrant was issued last Thursday, about eight months later.

Spencer, a former Houston Chronicle assistant city editor, has worked at the Harris County Sheriffs Office since 2017, when he joined the agency as director of public affairs. He left the sheriffs office briefly and returned as Gonzalezs chief of staff.

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In a statement, Gonzalez expressed assurances that the criminal allegations are unfounded.

While I am not aware of all the facts in this case, Ive known and worked with Jason for years and based on what we know at this time, I have every confidence that the charges will not be sustained, Gonzalez said. I have faith in the investigative and judicial processes and will continue to monitor the situation.

Spencer is expected to "remain on the job" as the criminal case continues through the courts.

"We will take appropriate steps to ensure that the current situation does not present a conflict with any of his duties," sheriff's spokesman Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland said.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Mostly clear skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 36F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 36F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Bill Schmick is registered as an investment adviser representative of Onota Partners Inc. in the Berkshires. He can be reached at 413-347-2401, or email him at billiams1948@gmail.com.
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Peter Warren is a general assignment reporter for the Houston Chronicle. He can be reached at peter.warren@houstonchronicle.com.

Peter previously lived in Dallas, where he covered the sports as a freelancer for the Dallas Morning News and other outlets. He has been published in Texas Highways Magazine, DMagazine.com, the Star Tribune and Bowlers Journal International. Peter graduated from Northwestern University in 2021.
Todd Logan, far right, presents his citizens petition to recommend Portland concrete as the standard material for the town's sidewalks at the annual town meeting.
Richard Reiss is the author of Desperate Love: A Fathers Memoir. He lives in Canaan, N.Y., with his wife Paula. Richard Reiss can be reached at rpreiss63@gmail.com.
1 Samuel 3:1-10

How many times will it take for people to hear, listen, and respond to the Lords calling? On the last call, Samuel finally responds, Speak, for your servant is listening. The first few times, I believe that he knew someone was calling him, but he was unsure of who it was. He just assumed that it was Eli. However, Eli guided him as to what he should do.

In Acts 24:25, Pauls discussion with Felix turned out to be really close to home, so that Felix felt sentenced (convicted). Felix, similar to Herod Antipas (Mark 6:17-18), had taken another man's spouse. Pauls words were intriguing until they zeroed in on righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.

Many individuals will be happy to examine the Gospel with us as long as it does not come in contact with their personal lives. At the point when it does, some will oppose or leave. Be that as it may, this is what is really going on with the Gospel, Gods ability to change lives. The Gospel is not productive until it moves from doctrine and standards into a groundbreaking dynamic. If our witness causes somebody to oppose or run from us, we have made the Gospel intimate.

In Acts 26:28-29, Agrippa addressed the presentation that Paul gave with a snide comment. Paul did not respond to the rejection; however, he made an individual appeal to which he trusted every one of his audience members would react. Paul's reaction is a genuine model for us as we inform others regarding God's plan of salvation. An earnest individual appeal or declaration can show our sincere consideration, and can possibly shatter through solidified hearts.

God might make multiple calls, yet there clearly comes a day when an individual's heart is solidified. Proverbs 29:1 tells us, Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed  without remedy. Making a similar error over and over is an invitation to destruction. Ultimately, individuals will need to confront the outcome of declining to learn.

On the chance that their error is declining the invitations of God or dismissing his commands, the result will be particularly consequential. Eventually, God might need to dismiss them. We should ensure that we are not guilty of hardening our hearts.

Do we Christians have spiritual cobwebs? Do we need to dust and clean out our spiritual minds? Is our spiritual alarm clock buzzing? Does God need to nudge or shake us to get us out of our spiritual nap? Are we too tired from work, stress, staying up late at night with other things, or our home and yard work? Have we fallen asleep during our Christian walk? Have the mature Christians given assistance to the younger Christians? (Remember Samuel went to Eli for guidance).

God may have to work like the boot camp company commanders or drill instructors by turning on the lights, banging on the trash cans, yelling out loud, and blowing a whistle to wake people up. Do you hear God calling you, or have you heard God calling you?

Photo credit: Getty Images/gorodenkoff
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The first crewed launch of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft was scrubbed on Monday, May 6, 2024, due to a valve issue on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. This handout photo provided by NASA shows the rocket and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on May 4, 2024, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Photo Credit: (Photo by Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images) NASA via Getty Images NASA astronaut Suni Williams waves to well wishers as she leaves the Operations and Checkout building before heading to Space Launch Complex 41 to board the Boeing's Starliner capsule atop an Atlas V rocket for a mission to the International Space Station at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Monday, May 6, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) John Raoux/Associated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - MAY 06: NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (R) gestures towards NASAs Boeing Crew Flight Test Commander Butch Wilmore (L) after he walked out of the Operations and Checkout Building on May 06, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Wilmore and NASA Pilot Suni Williams are heading to Boeings Starliner spacecraft, which sits atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 41 for NASAs Boeing crew flight test to the International Space Station. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The first crewed launch of Boeings Starliner spacecraft was scrubbed Monday night due to a valve issue on the rocket that will push it into space.

United Launch Alliance, which made the rocket, called off the flight so it could evaluate an oxygen relief valve on the second stage of its Atlas V rocket. The next launch attempt will occur no sooner than May 17 at 5:16 p.m. CDT from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

MORE ON THIS MISSION: Boeing looks to overcome delays, setbacks with first crewed flight of Starliner spacecraft

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Standing down on tonights attempt to launch #Starliner, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on X. As Ive said before, @NASAs first priority is safety. We go when were ready.

This mission, NASAs Boeing Crew Flight Test, or CFT, is a rigorous evaluation of Starliner to see how it performs with humans onboard. Its the last major requirement before NASA can certify the spacecraft for annual trips to the International Space Station.

On the flight test, Boeing will carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the space station. Theyll spend roughly one week onboard the orbiting platform before returning to Earth beneath parachutes, with six airbags inflating just before they land in the western U.S.

Boeing has experienced technical setbacks over the years, including its own valve issues, but Mondays delay was attributed to United Launch Alliance rather than Boeing.

The valve was buzzing, meaning it was opening and closing quickly, said United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno. The companys testing allows the valve to be cycled  where it is fully opened and closed  up to 200,000 times.

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The crew was never in any danger, Bruno said during a news conference Monday night. The concern is that if it does that for too many cycles you use up the fatigue life of the mechanical parts in the valve, and eventually they would fail.

The company has seen a valve do this before. The buzzing generally stops if the valve is forced closed, which cycles the valve. United Launch Alliance forced the valve closed after Wilmore and Williams exited the spacecraft, and this temporarily dampened the buzzing. But it started again as fuel was being removed from the rocket.

After analyzing how many times the valve fully opened and closed (or determining an equivalent analysis if it was only partially opening and closing), United Launch Alliance determined that it had exceeded 200,000 times. The company will replace the valve  a procedure that requires rolling the rocket back from the launch pad.

This is a rare condition that can be present in a valve, Bruno said. Very specific temperatures, pressures, geometry of the valve as it is sitting in that given stroke can stimulate this.

When the mission does launch, it will be an important milestone for both Boeing and NASA.

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Boeing has spent more than a decade developing the commercially owned and operated capsule. Its rival, SpaceX, began launching crews to the space station in 2020.


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H-E-B awarded Galena Park ISD $100,000 in its 22nd annual Excellence in Education Awards on Sunday. H-E-B

H-E-B awarded a $100,000 grant to Galena Park ISD and cash to two area educators in this years Excellence in Education Awards.

Galena Park ISD won in the large school district category, alongside small school district, early childhood and school board award winners. Galena Park has more than 20 schools and 21,200 students, according to a district financial report.

H-E-B also awarded Christian De la Cruz, head choir director at Obra D. Tompkins High School in Katy ISD, and Roxanne McCabe, counselor at Sam Houston Elementary in Galena Park ISD.

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De la Cruz is in his 13th year teaching and first year as head choir director, Tompkins High Schools website shows.

Judges for the grocery icon chose 10 winning educators  six teachers, two counselors, two principals  out of the pool of 68 finalists.

The statewide program since 2002 has gifted more than $13 million in cash awards and grants to teachers and schools. It awarded $480,000 in cash and grants at a Sunday ceremony in downtown Houston.
The HSEs Enhanced Community Care Programme has resulted in very significant improvements in waiting lists with a 16 percent reduction in chronic disease hospital admissions between 2019 and 2023, with 39,772 hospital bed days avoided last year.

Dr Orlaith OReilly, the HSE's clinical lead for the Chronic Disease Management programme, told RTE radios Morning Ireland, that the system was designed to provide care closer to home, to avoid hospital admissions and to support early discharge, and address waiting lists.

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Under the new programme, integrated care consultants, who work 50 per cent in the community and 50 per cent in hospitals, have been treating patients with chronic conditions, such as heart failure, COPD, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

The programme is designed to provide care closer to home, to avoid hospital admissions and to support early discharge, as well as address waiting lists, Dr OReilly explained.

It's comprised of a number of elements, both strengthening community networks, providing older persons community teams, and also providing these care hubs for people with chronic disease, which has specialist teams like nurse specialist nurses, specialist physios in them and these new integrated care consultants.

New figures relating to the programme published on Tuesday show significant progress for patients, particularly older people and those living with chronic diseases.

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The data shows there was a 65 per cent reduction under the programme in the number of people waiting more than 12 months for care.

Community specialist teams have contributed to reductions in chronic disease hospital admissions by 16 per cent between 2019 and 2023, Dr OReilly said, compared to a 3.5 per cent decline in overall medical admissions during the same period.

Readmission rates decreased by over 23 per cent for people with chronic disease, lower than the 5 per cent reduction for all medical patients over the same five-year period.

There were nearly 100,000 patient contacts by the community specialist teams for older people, the data shows.

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Of the patients seen, 74 per cent were discharged home with community-based interventions, avoiding acute hospital admissions. Just 3 per cent of patients were admitted to long-term care, and only 6 per cent required acute care.

There were 95,962 referrals to community intervention teams, resulting in 39,772 bed days being saved through timely interventions and treatments administered at home in 2023.

The figures also show that through the GP Access to Community Diagnostics (GPACD) scheme, there was a record number of radiology scans carried out last year, increasing by over 85,000 on the previous year to 335,000, reducing referrals to Emergency Departments, Acute Medical Units and outpatient departments.
Gayle Killilea has been at the sharp end of litigation for 12 years and should not have to meet a 2014 Irish case brought against her by the trustee of the bankruptcy of her Celtic Tiger-era developer ex-husband, Sean Dunne, the High Court has been told.

The issues in the Irish proceedings against her, concerning alleged fraudulent transfer of assets between the former spouses, was or should have been decided in a separate case taken in the United States, her lawyer said as he opened an application seeking a strike-out of the case.

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Alan Doherty SC said the legal action should be stopped for the sake of the interest of the public and his client.

Ms Killilea and Mr Dunne were living in Connecticut in the US in 2013 when he filed for bankruptcy there, with debts of 700 million. Mr Dunne, originally from Co Carlow, was declared bankrupt in Ireland and the US.

The pair maintain that the transfers occurred when he was fully solvent, but in 2019 a Connecticut jury found that Mr Dunne had fraudulently transferred assets worth millions of euro to Ms Killilea, including a mansion on Shrewsbury Road in Dublin 4.

The verdict made her liable to pay 18 million in damages to the bankruptcy trustee.

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A US appeals court dismissed the former couples separate appeals against the 2019 verdict. Each has filed separate requests for further appeals to the US Supreme Court.

Ms Killilea, a former columnist, is asking the High Court for a second time to dismiss the 2014 case that alleges Mr Dunne fraudulently transferred shares in a company called Mavior to her in a bid to defeat his creditors.

It also concerns the transfer of the Lagoon Beach Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, and all other assets transferred to her under a 2008 agreement.

Agreement

In 2018, the High Court rejected her first strike-out bid, which was grounded on a claim that the Republic was not the appropriate jurisdiction and the action conflicts with US law.

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On Tuesday, Mr Doherty, for Ms Killilea, said his client  previously a fairly well-known columnist, journalist and commentator  married Mr Dunne in 2004. The next year they agreed she would prioritise the family while he would be the provider, the court heard.

They entered a written property transfer agreement which stated that the Lagoon Beach Hotel would be sold, and she would get certain sale proceeds, Mr Doherty, appearing with Michael Binchy, said.

There was difficulty selling the property, so a further written agreement, signed in February 2008, provided for its transfer, he added.

As part of the two deals, assets were transferred to Ms Killilea from 2005 onwards, with it being envisaged that she would get 20 per cent, or about 100 million, of Mr Dunnes estimated worth, counsel said.

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However, Mr Dunnes fortunes changed, Mr Doherty added, and the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) secured a 184 million judgment against him in 2012.

Mr Doherty said three lawsuits were issued against Ms Killilea that year concerning the 2005 and 2008 written agreements. One of the cases fell away, while the other two were merged and heard over 14 days before the jury deliberated for five days, he said.

He claimed the evidence entirely overlapped with the Irish case.

Although maybe unpalatable for the official assignee in Mr Dunnes bankruptcy, Ms Killilea offered to have a unified case in Ireland or the US, with the jurisdiction to be chosen by the plaintiff, Mr Doherty said.

His side speculates that the plaintiff wanted to leverage the advantage of having two jurisdictions.

The application, which is contested by the official assignee, continues before Mr Justice Max Barrett on Wednesday.
The Special Criminal Court has rejected arguments that it should dismiss the charge against a man accused of conspiring to pervert the course of justice during garda killer Aaron Brady's trial.

The three-judge, non-jury court found that at its highest, the prosecution case against Dean Byrne could amount to proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he conspired with Brady to persuade prosecution witness Daniel Cahill not to give evidence.

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Daniel Cahill would eventually tell Aaron Brady's trial that Brady confessed to him on at least three occasions that he had shot a garda.

The court will hear closing arguments in Mr Byrne's trial on Wednesday before considering its verdict.

Dean Byrne (30) from Cabra Park, Phibsborough, Dublin is on trial accused of conspiring with Aaron Brady in Mountjoy Prison between April 8th 2020 and June 22th 2020 to persuade prosecution witness Daniel Cahill not to give evidence at Brady's murder trial, a course of conduct which had a tendency to and which was intended to pervert the course of justice.

In August 2020, Brady (33) formerly of New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh was convicted by a jury of the murder of Det Gda Adrian Donohoe during a credit union robbery at Lordship, Bellurgan, Co Louth on January 25th 2013.

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In submissions to the court last week Padraig Dwyer SC, for Mr Byrne, argued that "persuading" a witness not to give evidence is not unlawful. Mr Dwyer also said that Mr Byrne had a "benign motive" because he genuinely believed Daniel Cahill was going to give false evidence.

Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Mr Justice Burns said persuasion, even where the person believes a witness is going to give false evidence, can be an offence. He also found that there does not have to be evidence that the accused used force, the threat of force or corrupt inducements.

"The course of justice may be perverted if it is obstructed, interfered with, defeated or changed," he said.

Mr Justice Burns did not accept a prosecution argument that all attempts to persuade a witness not to give evidence would amount to criminal conduct.

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He said there may be an "extremely limited set of circumstances" where a friend, relative or health advisor might lawfully try to persuade someone not to give evidence.

Mr Justice Burns said before coming to a verdict, the court will have to consider all the prosecution evidence. At its highest, he said the evidence could be sufficient to prove that Mr Byrne was in communication with Aaron Brady while both men were being housed in the D-wing of Mountjoy prison.

He said the court will have to consider evidence that Mr Byrne used a smartphone in the prison to disseminate Daniel Cahill's garda statement to others outside the prison.

He said there is also evidence that Mr Byrne recruited members of Mr Cahill's family to call upon him not to give evidence and that Mr Byrne "was not wholly motivated by a desire to prevent false testimony".

The trial continues on Wednesday.
A prison governor was not entitled to ban a solicitor from visiting clients in prison after it was alleged she had been rude to prison staff, the Court of Appeal (CoA) ruled.

Dublin solicitor Caroline Egan brought a challenge over her exclusion from Cloverhill Prison following complaints by staff to the governor that she was allegedly rude and aggressive in dealing with them when requesting "walk-in" visits to clients.

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Ms Egan strongly denied she was rude or aggressive.

The High Court heard the governor imposed the ban on July 4th, 2022, under a prison rule (number 36.9.c) allowing exclusion in order to "maintain good order and safe and secure custody".

The court heard there had been two complaints the previous April about her from individual staff members followed by another in May from the prison officer's trade union of a more general nature.

Ms Egan said she endeavoured as best she could to meet with her clients via videolink, but the physical ban from the prison proved to be quite disruptive. Certain clients expressed a wish to instruct another solicitor in light of their perceived view that she would not meet with them, she said.

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The High Court found that a prison governor cannot impose a blanket ban on personal visits of a solicitor to all prisoner clients "in order to ensure good manners by solicitors in dealing with staff and prevent further discourtesy", just as other public officials cannot refused to deal with bad-mannered members of the public on a blanket ban basis.

The governor appealed the decision and on Tuesday, a three-judge CoA unanimously dismissed the appeal.

Mr Justice Brian O'Moore, in one of two judgments by the CoA, said it would have been wise of Ms Egan to engage with the governor in pre-ban correspondence inviting her to meet him to discuss the matter particularly given her own position that she had no t verbally abused anyone.

However, he said, she was never provided with details of the complaints against her and never warned that she would face exclusion if she failed to attend the meeting with the governor.

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The evidence indisputably established that Ms Egans ability to earn a living as a solicitor was significantly disrupted by the decision to bar her from visiting her clients in Cloverhill, he said.

Even accepting the proposition of law advanced on behalf of the governor that Ms Egans entitlement to due process was fully engaged, it was not respected, he said.

He said that, strikingly, the failure on the part of the governor to provide the basics of natural justice to Ms. Egan was "so severe" that it was not necessary to refer to any authority in carrying out the court's analysis.

In relation to the prison rules used to exclude her, the judge said he did not believe it was open to a governor to exclude a solicitor from visiting any of their clients "simply because he or she has been rude to prison officers".

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The purpose of the relevant rule was clearly to deal with much more significant matters.

Along with "good order" the rule also deals with controlled drugs, the commission of criminal offences, and the safe and secure custody of prisoners, he said.

"The good order of the prison is not, in my view, imperilled by rudeness or passive aggression on the part of a solicitor," he said.

In a separate judgment, Ms Justice Ann Power said while she agreed the appeal should be dismissed she believed the court had also confirmed the governors contention that the relevant prison rule is not confined to any particular form of visit and that it applies to visits by legal advisers to clients in custody.
Students from Texas Southern University are joined by alumni and community leaders as they march down Cleburne Street, Thursday, March 4, 2021, at in Houston. The marchers were commemorating the March 4, 1960 sit-in led by 13 Texas Southern Students at a Weingartens grocery store that started a sit-in movement aimed towards desegregating Houston. The sit-in at Weingartens Supermarket was the first in a series of non-violent demonstrations that ultimately lead to the peaceful end of segregation in public places. Houstons lunch counters quietly desegregated on August 25, 1960, according to the Texas Historical Commission. Mark Mulligan/Staff photographer

This city, once dubbed Heavenly Houston, has long touted its harmonious racial and ethnic diversity. But the real story is, of course, more complicated. In the newly published Houston and the Permanence of Segregation: An Afropessimist Approach to Urban History, historian David Ponton III examines postwar Houston, arguing that our sense of the city as a progressive paradigm ignores the persistent presence of segregation. Senior editorial writer Leah Binkovitz caught up with the University of South Florida professor to discuss Houstons past, present and future. Their conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Q: Why Houston? This is a book about segregation in the postwar era, a point in history when we typically think of legal segregation finally falling. What makes Houston the right place to talk about this?

A: A lot of urban history has focused on big cities that were familiar with: Los Angeles; Philadelphia; Oakland, Calif.; Washington, D.C.; New Orleans; Atlanta. Houston has been left out of the story of what happens in postwar America in terms of residential segregation.

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Houston did not experience this postwar economic fallout. Its economy was actually growing when other economies were flailing. Houston didn't experience a population decline, whereas these other cities were experiencing population declines. And Houston didn't have a bifurcation of a Black urban core and white suburbs. Houston already had Black suburbs, some of which were federally subsidized.

Houston can't be explained by these other mechanisms in the way that other cities can. But the outcomes have been the same. There has been very clearly a hypersegregation of Black Americans across the country, including in Houston. That means that the mechanisms, while they're important to understand, aren't an explanation. And if they're not explanations, Houston begs the question: why does segregation persist, right?

Q: What alternative explanation for Houstons segregation do you explore in the book? (Spoiler alert: Its sort of in the title.)

A: What is left is the kinds of things we see pop up in these intimate stories in the book: a persistent anti-Blackness. So even today in Houston, one of the most diverse metropolitan areas in the country, the Kinder Institute continues to find slowly decreasing levels of segregation except for one group in particular, and that is the Black population within Houston. In fact, the Kinder Institute has noted that Black Houstonians continue to live substantially apart from their white and Asian counterparts.

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Q: Residential segregation is definitely the most visible outcome, but in the book you talk about all sorts of segregation. Why does segregation matter? What does it do?

A: Segregation looks like separation. But it's also a very intimate kind of relationship. It's necessary to have closeness and proximity.

Take, for instance, the story of Green Pond. There's a young white boy, Billy Bodenheimer, 12 years old, living in Montrose in 1959. He was found sexually abused and murdered in an icebox. The city police investigate this case. They descend upon this neighborhood Green Pond, which is in the area close to where the River Oaks Shopping Center currently is.

Neighborhoods like River Oaks were developed in close proximity to established Black neighborhoods like Green Pond because the developers thought, "we want to be apart from this poor Black population, but we also need to be close enough to them so they can work for us as domestic laborers and so on." So here you have this poor Black neighborhood nestled in between middle-class Montrose, Black Fourth Ward and the super wealthy River Oaks.

And this young boy dies. In the prior weeks, there had been reports of a white man in his 20s, who had tried to lure young white girls into his car. There was another instance of a young Black girl found sexually abused and killed nearby. And several reports of this same description, of this white man preying on children in the area.

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But instead of investigating that, the police go into Green Pond, and they collect these seven young Black men and boys. They put them in the icebox. They call them racial slurs. And the young men are found guilty of this crime.

So residential segregation translates, through this structured intimacy, into a power separation within the criminal legal system.

Q: Houston is very proud of its diversity. For some, I think this is going to be a hard narrative to square with what they see: Is the city still currently so segregated? What kinds of reactions have you had so far to the work?

A: In response to the hesitancy people might have with accepting this: First, look back at Houston's past, the boosterism even back in the Jim Crow era. People described Houston as a heavenly place. It was viewed as a place where, even in the Jim Crow South, Black people could build wealth for themselves; they could start businesses; they could survive. Where there was not going to be racial violence or intimidation from white Houstonians  you wouldn't face the kind of violence that we saw in places like Alabama or Mississippi in the rural areas. Houston has always boasted that its this progressive place to be in the South. I also don't want to discount that. Houston is a special place.

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That being said, that is part of the work of the narrative, right?

Houston was a better place to live for a lot of Black Texans, and still, they also were hypersegregated. They still suffered high rates of police brutality. They had the lowest paying jobs. Today, you can find Black people living in River Oaks, but there are very few of them.

Second, just look down your street: Who do you live next to? Look at your child's classroom: Who are they educated with? We are looking at segregation, and it's staring us directly in the face.

The question is not whether the argument is right. The question is, does your everyday life reflect a truly integrated Houston? Or are we fooling ourselves?

Q: You open the book with Christia Adair, a Black civil rights organizer and suffragist from the 20th century. You underscore all her achievements, but you also note that she was still constrained  sometimes literally  about what she could accomplish or even dream about because of some of these underlying dynamics.

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You write about her going to the department store and forcing the salesclerks to allow her to try on a corset. Its sort of the perfect metaphor, right? She is protesting the degrading views of Black women as being too dirty to try on clothes, but shes doing so by buying right into another sort of constraining ideology.

This is very much a book of Houstons history, but you also argue that we need to dream new dreams of the future. How? I always struggle with what a truly out-of-the-box dream looks like.

A: I'm with you, Leah. We're both going to struggle with the dreaming part.

By the end of this text, I want people to say, this whole system of segregation has been constructed, and we spent a lot of money constructing it; and the system of police violence, and we spend a lot of money maintaining it. And theres this system of divesting from public education, which ironically costs a lot of money. Weve invested in these structures that make life more difficult for poor Houstonians of all racial groups and also for Black Houstonians as a racial group.

But there really is no limit to how we can dream otherwise. Imagine the wildest thing possible. What would it look like to create a Houston that reflects the things that you dream of the most?
The Government has been criticised over immigration policy with 70 asylum seekers staying in tents pitched along Dublin's Grand Canal.

It comes after a 'tent city' outside the International Protection Office (IPO) on Mount Street was cleared.

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The location is close to Mount Street where around 100 tents were cleared from outside the IPO last week.

Many asylum seekers are sleeping rough as the State struggles to keep up with demand for accommodation.

Aontu leader Peadar Toibin said the Government is not in control of the issue.

Mr Toibin told Newstalk: "We have a situation at the moment where the Government is spending quite a bit of money on a process to differentiate between those who need help, and those who don't.

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"At the end of that process, when people have been decided upon that they're not asylum seekers, 85 per cent of those people find themselves not receiving an actioned deportation order. I believe that is putting an incredible pressure on the system."

The Social Democrats have criticised the Government for not allowing "shanty towns" on Dublin's streets, but "standing by" as over 70 tents were pitched along the Grand Canal over the weekend.

Sinead Gibney, an MEP candidate for the Social Democrats, said the State needs to house these people properly.

Ms Gibney told Newstalk: "Nobody wants to be homeless and the conditions that they [asylum seekers] are living in really are unsanitary and unsafe.

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Ireland Ireland's migration challenge  explained in seven... Read More

"We know this from any international protection applicant spending time on the street, they feel extremely vulnerable and are subject to increased danger. I really don't think we should be looking for solutions like extra police, because as a State we should be providing accommodation for these people."

Migration has been in the spotlight recently after Minister for Justice Helen McEntee claimed 80 per cent of migrants arriving here were crossing the border from Northern Ireland.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin disputed the figure, saying it was "not statistical".
Legal action launched by the Government against a contentious UK law aimed at dealing with the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles has been branded unnecessary and unhelpful by a British minister.

Speaking in UK parliament, Lord Caine repeated that the UK government profoundly regret the decision by Dublin to challenge the legislation in the European Court of Human Rights.

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The Tory frontbencher argued the Irish governments stance was hard to reconcile given previous positions it had taken and its own record of dealing with Troubles-related cases.

The criticism by the Northern Ireland Office minister came after the new body responsible for investigating unresolved deaths from the turbulent period became operational.

The Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) was created by the UK governments legacy legislation, which was introduced in the face of widespread opposition from political parties, victims organisations in Northern Ireland and the Irish government.

A key part of the Act, a provision for conditional immunity from prosecution for Troubles offences, was ruled unlawful by the High Court in Belfast earlier this year and struck out.

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Separately, the Irish Government brought an interstate legal case against the UK, claiming the new law breached the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). That case is still to be heard.

Raising the issue in Parliament, Tory peer Lord Lexden, who worked as a political adviser to Airey Neave until the MPs murder by Republican terrorists in 1979, argued the UK government should be entitled to take strong exception to the move by Dublin.

Responding, Lord Caine said: On the interstate case, the Government profoundly regret the decision of the Irish government to bring this unnecessary and unhelpful case against the UK, particularly when these matters are likely to be dealt with by the domestic courts long before the case ever reaches Strasbourg.

Highlighting the strong opposition to the controversial legislation, Labour former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Murphy of Torfaen said: The minister knows that you can move in Northern Ireland, eventually, only by consensus.

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But Lord Caine argued the opposition had no coherent plan for dealing with legacy matters whatever, other than taking us back to square one.

The minister told peers: It is worth recalling that both the UK and Irish Governments have previously decided to make compromises on established criminal justice processes in the hope of moving the process forward, including decommissioning, prisoner releases and the search for the location of victims remains.

He added: The Irish Governments position is hard to reconcile in relation to the positions they have adopted on these matters in the past and, indeed, their own record of dealing with Troubles-related cases within their own jurisdiction, where, to the best of my knowledge, there has not been a single prosecution since April 1998.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue is to introduce regulations in the coming months to ban the use of electric dog collars.

The move follows months of significant consultation on this serious welfare issue, he told RTE radios Today Show.

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The regulations will not have an effect on electric fences as animals can avoid them. The target is electric shock collars which can be used on dogs and cats to control their behaviour and in some circumstances can be used for training.

However, people who already have remote controlled electric collars on their animals will not be required to remove them. The plan is to phase out use of such control methods, explained the Minister.

This was a proportionate response, he said. Mr McConalogue added that he did not anticipate a rush to purchase such items before they are banned.

They were not broadly used, but it was a significant issue from a welfare point of view and the new regulations were necessary to ensure that people provide appropriate respect and care for their pets.

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The move had been prompted in an effort to ensure that Irelands laws and policies were appropriate to protect animals and was an issue that was constantly monitored and adjusted as necessary as new evidence emerged.

The new regulations had been advised by the Companion Animal Welfare Committee advisory council which had been set up to bring together all the key stakeholders and organisations, he said.
A 17-year-old charged with the murder of gunman Tristan Sherry in Blanchardstown on Christmas Eve has been granted bail after successfully appealing a previous High Court decision refusing his application.

However, in a judgement delivered on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Courts decision to refuse bail to two other men charged with the murder.

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Mr Sherry (26) was killed after he shot and fatally injured Jason Hennessy Senior on December 24th 2023 at Brownes Steakhouse in Blanchardstown. Mr Hennessy died eleven days later.

The teenager, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, was granted bail by the court subject to a number of conditions, including that he stays away from a list of named individuals, that he observe a curfew, that he surrender his passport and that he sign on twice a week.

His co-accused David Amah (18), of Hazel Grove, Portrane Road, Donabate and Michael Andrecut (22), Sheephill Avenue, Dublin 15 have also been charged with Mr Sherry's murder.

They will both remain in custody after the court found that their risk of flight was significant and could not be effectively addressed by imposing rigorous bail terms and conditions.

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In delivering judgement, Court of Appeal President Mr Justice George Birmingman said that concerns about future offending by the three applicants did not, in the courts view, meet the threshold to justify a refusal of bail under Section 2 of the 1997 Bail Act.

He said it was clear the judge had concerns that all three applicants were at risk of reprisals, and if reprisals were to follow there would be risks to the community, in particular to those who might find themselves, wittingly or unwittingly, in close proximity to one or other of the applicants.

Mr Justice Birmingham said that while the court fully understood the reasoning of the judge, Mr Justice Tony Hunt, it could not lose sight of the fact that the Act states that a court may refuse bail if it is satisfied it is necessary to prevent the commission of a serious offence by that person.

While one has to have concerns that one or all of the applicants might engage in actions seeking to avenge the death of Mr Hennessy Snr, it does not seem to us to reach the threshold of causing us to believe that refusal of bail is reasonably necessary to prevent the commission of a serious offence, he said in the judgement.

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The judge said that as the High Court decision to refuse bail to the juvenile was based on Section 2 of the Act only, the court was prepared to release the teenager on bail, subject to conditions.

However, in the case of Mr Amah and Mr Andrecut, Mr Justice Birmingham said the assessment of the flight risk was informed by the fact that, unusually, the entire incident was caught on CCTV, from beginning to end.

He said one of the most significant aspects of the availability of the CCTV footage is that each of the applicants now know in full detail the case against them and must have an appreciation of just how serious their individual situations are. He said the temptation to flee and avoid trial must be very great.

The court previously heard that Mr Andrecuts passport was in a bag thrown on a dog cage in the kitchen of his house when gardai arrived three days after the incident.

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The Court of Appeal on Tuesday said it found that the judge was entitled to reach the conclusion he made in relation to the passport  that he did not believe there was any accident or carelessness about its positioning.

The court went on to say that it was also the case that both Mr Andrecut and Mr Amah have links to other countries.

Mr Justice Birmingham said that while there was nothing unusual about this, and it was certainly not the case that because someone has links to another country they cannot be granted bail, it was a factor to be weighed in the balance.

Overall, we are of the view that the risk of flight is significant indeed and is not a risk which can be effectively addressed by admitting the applicants to bail and imposing rigorous terms and conditions, he said.

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Fiona Murphy SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, this afternoon told the court that the terms of bail for the juvenile had been agreed and outlined these to the court.

She said the conditions include that the teenager reside at a specific address and that he stay away from another named address.

She also told the court the youth is to have no contact with a number of named individuals, that he is to observe a curfew between 11am and 7pm, that he is to sign on two days a week and that he surrender his passport.

Having heard details of the conditions, Mr Justice Birmingham said the court would admit the applicant to bail on those terms.
The idea that Covid presented no threat outside of China was very clearly dispelled when a busload of tourists from Wuhan visited County Antrim in the early days of the virus spreading, a public inquiry has heard.

The Covid-19 Inquiry, which is sitting in Belfast, heard evidence that an official attended the asymptomatic tourists to give health advice in January 2020, but that Northern Irelands chief medical officer Sir Michael McBride was unconcerned about the visit to Larne.

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A senior civil servant also said Northern Ireland entered the pandemic with a very tired health workforce, and said that had the Stormont powersharing institutions not been suspended in the years before, the region may have been better prepared.

Richard Pengelly, who was permanent secretary at Stormonts Department of Health during the pandemic, gave evidence to the inquiry  which is investigating the initial response to the pandemic, central government decision-making, political and civil service performance.

Chair of Covid-19 Inquiry Baroness Heather Carol Hallett. Photo: Victoria Jones/PA.

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Discussing preparedness for a pandemic and whether it was believed it could be contained, lead counsel for the inquiry Clair Dobbin KC referred Mr Pengelly to an internal civil service message sent on January 25th 2020, a week before any Covid cases had been recorded in the UK, and a month before a case was recorded in Northern Ireland.

The message said: A group of Chinese tourists from Wuhan have arrived in Larne by bus from Scotland. They are staying overnight in Larne, touring today and heading to Dublin this evening.

DOH (Department of Health) are deploying someone from the PHA (Public Health Agency) to provide advice to the group and to check their health. CMO (Chief Medical Officer) is not concerned.

The message went on to say that the health minister Robin Swann would be calling then-first minister and deputy first minister Arlene Foster and Michelle ONeill to brief them on the visit.

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Mr Pengelly said that the tourists had all reported to be asymptomatic.

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Ms Dobbin said: Any idea that this pandemic was something happening on the other side of the world and presented no threat to Northern Ireland was very clearly dispelled at this point in time.

Mr Pengelly said: Yes.

Inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett said: When people in your position and many others around you and in the rest of the UK were told that the two scenarios were  China contains or global pandemic  didnt anybody stop and say we know visitors from Wuhan, the centre of where the disease started, have been visiting Northern Ireland?

Doesnt that indicate that back in January people should have been questioning whether China could ever contain it because people were travelling the world?

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Mr Pengelly said: My understanding was that was why the assessment was that the second of the two scenarios was seen as the most likely situation, that it wouldnt be contained within China.

Mr Pengelly was also questioned about whether Stormont should have activated earlier a cross-department emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Dobbin quizzed the senior civil servant on why the Northern Ireland Central Crisis Management Arrangements (NICCMA) were not stood up when the first case of Covid was detected in the region on February 27th 2020 or when the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global pandemic on March 12th.

She said: Even that didnt prompt a whole of government response in Northern Ireland.

Mr Pengelly said: A whole of government response is absolutely essential in terms of the fight against the pandemic.

When the architecture is formally triggered, because there was dialogue happening at a whole of government level, the value proposition of establishing formally these mechanisms on a specific date, these are fine judgements and it is difficult to say today is wrong and tomorrow is right.

Northern Ireland was without devolved government from January 2017 until the institutions were restored in January 2020.

Mr Pengelly told the inquiry that the health system in the region had been in a sub-optimal state before Covid spread to the region.

Richard Pengelly said Northern Ireland entered the pandemic with a tired workforce. Photo: Niall Carson/PA.

He said: The structure of our system wasnt and isnt right for the services we are trying to provide to the population of Northern Ireland.

We certainly entered the pandemic with a configuration of services that wasnt as good as it could have been.

I think had an Executive been in place for three years, it wouldnt have been perfect, but it would have been better than it was at the point we entered the pandemic.

He added: We entered the pandemic with a very tired workforce.
Israeli leaders have approved a military operation in the southern Gaza town of Rafah and began striking targets in the area, despite Hamas announcing its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal.

Hamass abrupt acceptance of the deal came hours after Israel ordered an evacuation of Palestinians from eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah, signalling an invasion was imminent.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office said the proposal Hamas accepted was far from Israels essential demands but it would send negotiators to continue talks.

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The diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope  but only barely  for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the seven-month war that has devastated the Gaza Strip.

Hanging over the wrangling is the threat of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah, a move the US strongly opposes and that aid groups warn will be disastrous for 1.4 million Palestinians taking refuge there.

The Israeli military said it was conducting targeted strikes against Hamas in eastern Rafah.

President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reiterated US concerns about an invasion of Rafah, telling him a ceasefire was the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages, according to a National Security Council spokesperson.

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State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said US officials were reviewing the Hamas response and discussing it with our partners in the region. An American official said the US was examining whether Hamas agreed to a version of the deal that had been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators.

Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu (AP)

Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US secretary of state Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a ceasefire in stages starting with a limited hostage release and partial Israeli troop pullbacks within Gaza.

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The two sides would also negotiate a permanent calm that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal from the territory, they said.

Hamas had been seeking clearer guarantees for its key demand of an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal in return for the release of all hostages, according to Egyptian officials.

Mr Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected that trade-off, vowing to keep up their campaign until Hamas is destroyed after its October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

Thousands of Israelis rallied around the country on Monday night calling for an immediate agreement. About 1,000 protesters gathered near the defence headquarters in Tel Aviv, where police tried to clear the road. In Jerusalem, about 100 protesters marched toward Mr Netanyahus residence with a banner reading: The blood is on your hands.

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Israeli demonstrators block a road in Tel Aviv (Ariel Schalit/AP)

Israel says Rafah is the last significant Hamas stronghold in Gaza, and Mr Netanyahu said on Monday that the offensive against the town is vital to ensure the militants cannot rebuild their military capabilities.

After the Israeli evacuation order was issued, Mr Miller said the US has not seen a credible and implementable plan to protect Palestinian civilians. We cannot support an operation in Rafah as it is currently envisioned, he said.

Aid agencies have warned that an offensive will bring a surge of civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has already killed 34,000 people and devastated the territory. It could also wreck the humanitarian aid operation based in Rafah that is keeping Palestinians across the Gaza Strip alive, they say.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Monday called the evacuation order inhumane.

Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease and even famine. And today, they have been told that they must relocate yet again, he said. It will only expose them to more danger and misery.

Israeli military leaflets were dropped ordering evacuation from eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah, warning that an attack was imminent and anyone who stays puts themselves and their family members in danger.

The military told people to move to an Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi, a makeshift camp on the coast. It said Israel has expanded the size of the zone and that it includes tents, food, water and field hospitals.

Around 450,000 displaced Palestinians are already sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it has been providing them with aid but conditions are squalid, with few toilets or sanitation facilities in the largely rural area.

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, condemned the forced, unlawful evacuation order and the idea that people should go to Muwasi.

The area is already overstretched and devoid of vital services, he said, adding that an Israeli assault could lead to the deadliest phase of this war.

Israels bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them children and women, according to Gaza health officials.

More than 80% of the population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, and hundreds of thousands in the north are on the brink of famine, according to the UN.
Police arrested about 125 activists as they broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam, as protests that have stirred up campuses in the United States spread into Europe.

Police in the Dutch capital said in a statement on the social media platform X that their action was necessary to restore order after protests turned violent.

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There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Video from the scene aired by national broadcaster NOS showed police using a mechanical digger to push down barricades and officers wielding batons and shields moving in to end the demonstration, beating some of the protesters and pulling down tents.

Protesters formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, NOS reported.



Police arrested 125 activists as they broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam in Amsterdam (InterVision/AP)

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Scores of demonstrators occupied a small island at the university on Monday, urging Amsterdam universities to break academic ties with Israel because of its offensive in Gaza in the aftermath of the deadly October 7 attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel.

There have also been demonstrations in recent days at campuses in France and the United Kingdom.

Photos from the Amsterdam campus showed tents, banners and food along with piles of cobblestones that had been pulled up from the street.

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Before police moved in, scuffles broke out between two rival groups of activists.

Police said in a statement that they cleared the makeshift camp after the protesters refused repeated orders to leave.

The protest in this form created a very unsafe situation, partly due to the barricades that prevented emergency services from entering the site.

In the event of a disaster, the activists themselves could possibly become stuck on the site, police said.

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They said the campus was calm on Tuesday morning, but that officers remained present in the area.

Calls to the university went unanswered early Tuesday and the university did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

In Finland, dozens of protesters from the Students for Palestine solidarity group set up an encampment outside the main building at the University of Helsinki.

Demonstrators said they would stay at the site in central Helsinki until the university, which is Finlands largest academic institution, cuts academic ties with Israeli universities.

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In Denmark, students set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen.

About 45 tents were erected on the lawn outside the campus of the Faculty of Social Sciences, known as CSS.

The faculty sits in an old municipal hospital in the heart of the Danish capital.

The universitys administration said students can protest on campus but called on them to respect the rules on its grounds.

Seek dialogue, not conflict and make room for perspectives other than your own, the administrators said in a statement posted on X.

It said the administration cannot and must not express an opinion on behalf of university employees and students about political matters, including about the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

On their Facebook page, members of the activist group Students Against the Occupation said their attempts to talk to the administration over the past two years about withdrawing the schools investments in companies with ties to activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have been in vain.

We can no longer be satisfied with cautious dialogue that does not lead to concrete action, the group said.

In Paris, student groups called for gatherings in solidarity with Palestinians later Tuesday.

On Friday, French police peacefully removed dozens of students from a building at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, after they had gathered in support of Palestinians.

On Tuesday, students at the prestigious institution, which counts French prime minister Gabriel Attal and President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni, were seen entering the campus unobstructed to take exams as police stood at the entrances.

Protests took place last week at some other universities across the country, including in Lille and Lyon.

The Prime Ministers Office said police had been requested to remove students from 23 sites on French campuses.

Meanwhile, in Germany Berlin police broke up a pro-Palestinian student camp at the citys Free University.
Israeli troops seized control of Gazas vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday in what the White House described as a limited operation, as fears mount of a full-scale invasion of the southern city and cease-fire talks with Hamas remain on a knifes edge.

The UN warned of a potential collapse of the flow of aid to Palestinians from the closure of Rafah and the other main crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, at a time when officials say northern Gaza is experiencing full-blown famine.

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The move comes after hours of whiplash in the Israel-Hamas war, with the militant group on Monday saying it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated ceasefire proposal.

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Israel, meanwhile, insisted the deal did not meet its core demands.

The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive but only barely  for a deal to bring at least a pause in the seven-month war, which has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and has devastated the Gaza Strip.

By capturing Rafah, Israel gained full control over the entry and exit of people and goods for the first time since it withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, though it has long maintained a blockade of the coastal enclave in co-operation with Egypt.

The incursion appeared to be short of the full-fledged offensive into Rafah that Israel has planned and might have been a pressure tactic in the ceasefire talks.

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Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah (Ramez Habboub/AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it an important step toward dismantling Hamas military and governing capabilities, and defence minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would deepen the Rafah operation if the talks on the hostage deal failed.

Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official based in Beirut, said the militant group would not respond to military pressure or threats and would not accept any occupying force at the Rafah crossing.

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White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the operation along the Gaza-Egypt border in eastern Rafah was not a full-on invasion of the city that President Joe Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the capture of the crossing an important step (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)

He said Israel had described it as an operation of limited scale and duration aimed at cutting off Hamas arms smuggling.

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A senior Biden administration official said late on Tuesday that the US had paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on Rafah against US wishes.

The US has historically provided Israel enormous amounts of military aid, which has only accelerated since Hamas October 7 attack that ignited the war.

The official said no final decision had been made yet on proceeding with the shipment later.

Mr Kirby also expressed optimism about the negotiations, saying Israel and Hamas should be able to close the remaining gaps to complete an agreement, without offering a timetable.

He said CIA chief William Burns will attend further talks in Cairo with representatives from Israel, Egypt and Qatar.

Hamas also sent a delegation to Cairo, which will meet separately with the Arab mediators.

Everybody is coming to the table, Kirby said.

The White House has said that the Israeli operation along the Gaza-Egypt border was not a full-on invasion of the city (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Footage released by the Israeli military showed a tank entering the crossing. Details of the video matched known features of the crossing and showed Israeli flags flying from tanks that seized the area.

The Israeli military claimed it seized the crossing after receiving intelligence it was being used for terrorist purposes.

The military did not provide evidence to immediately support the assertion, though it alleged the area around the crossing had been used to launch a mortar attack that killed four Israeli troops and wounded others near the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

The military also said that ground troops and airstrikes targeted suspected Hamas positions in Rafah.

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, acknowledged Israeli forces had seized the crossing and had closed the facility for the time being.

He said strikes had targeted the area around the crossing since Monday.

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on residential building in Rafah, Gaza Strip (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson declined to immediately comment on the Israeli seizure.

Egypt previously has warned any seizure of Rafah could see Palestinians fleeing over the border, a scenario that could threaten a 1979 peace deal with Israel thats been a cornerstone for regional security.

The offensive again raised the risks of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah, a move the United States strongly opposes and that aid groups warn will be disastrous for some 1.4 million Palestinians taking refuge there.

Egyptian officials said the proposal called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and partial Israeli troop pullbacks within Gaza.

The two sides would also negotiate a permanent calm that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal out of the territory, they said.

Hamas sought clearer guarantees for its key demand of an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal in return for the release of all hostages, but it wasnt clear if any changes were made.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected that trade-off, vowing to keep up their campaign until Hamas is destroyed after its October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
US president Joe Biden on Monday urgently warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

It comes as the divide between the two leaders continues to grow along with the mounting Palestinian death toll.

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The call between Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu came as Israel appeared to be moving closer to a major military operation to root out Hamas militants in Rafah  something that Mr Biden and his top aides have repeatedly told Israeli officials will only lead to more death and worsen the despair in the war-ravaged territory.

Both leaders are facing growing public pressure  Mr Biden from protests on college campuses and Mr Netanyahu from the families of some Israeli hostages  for a ceasefire deal.

US president Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (AP Photo)

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The president doesnt want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.

The White House described the leaders 30-minute conversation as constructive.

Privately, however, administration officials concern was mounting as Israel on Monday ordered about 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate from Rafah and began carrying out targeted strikes in the eastern part of the city.

White House officials were carefully watching the unfolding, intensified Israeli action in Rafah with deep worry but did not believe it amounted to the widescale attack Mr Netanyahu has been threatening, according to a person familiar with administration thinking who was not authorised to comment publicly.

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More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war that started after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7th that killed 1,200. Some 250 people were also taken hostage in the attack.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating in huge areas of Gaza.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah (Ramez Habboub/AP)

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The head of the United Nations World Food Program, Cindy McCain, said on Sunday that northern Gaza has entered full-blown famine after nearly seven months of war.

Ahead of the leaders call, Israel announced it was ordering Palestinians to begin evacuating from Rafah.

Soon after the order, Hamas said in a statement it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a ceasefire.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel would continue its operations in Gaza as officials deliberate the ceasefire proposal approved by Hamas.

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The Israeli war cabinet voted unanimously to approve a Rafah military operation but said it would continue ceasefire efforts.

The new targeted strikes in eastern Rafah appeared aimed at keeping the pressure on Hamas as talks continue.

Mr Kirby said Mr Biden had been briefed on Hamas response that it would accept a hostage deal.

CIA director William Burns, who was in Qatar for hostage talks with regional officials, was discussing the Hamas statement with allies in the region.

Mr Kirby declined to discuss the parameters of what Hamas is saying it has agreed to.

Bill Burns is looking at that response. Hes talking to the Israelis about it, Mr Kirby told reporters.

And well see where this goes. Hopefully, it can lead to those hostages getting out real, real soon.

In recent days, Egyptian and Hamas officials have said the ceasefire would take place in a series of stages during which Hamas would release hostages it is holding in exchange for Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza.

Mr Biden also told Mr Netanyahu he still believes reaching a ceasefire with Hamas is the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, officials said.

Israel says Hamas is holding about 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others in Gaza. The leaders call occurred before Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal.
The mother of Manchester Arena bombing victim Martyn Hett will begin a 200-mile walk from the venue to Downing Street on Tuesday to demand the introduction of stronger protections against terrorism in public places.

Martyns Law, named in tribute to the 29-year-old who was one of 22 people killed at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017, would require venues and local authorities in the UK to have training requirements and preventative plans against terror attacks.

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Figen Murray, Mr Hetts mother, has long campaigned for the introduction of the law, which has yet to get beyond draft stage.

The 22 victims of the terror attack during the Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena. Photo: GMP/PA.

From Tuesday, she will be joined by family and friends, politicians, security industry experts, and members of the public over 16 days as she walks from the spot where her son was killed to Downing Street. She will arrive on May 22nd, the seventh anniversary of his death.

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Ms Murray said her life changed overnight when her son was killed in the attack.

Martyns death could have been avoided if there were basic security measures in place that night and that is why I have been tirelessly campaigning to ensure no parent experiences the pain and loss that I endure daily, she said.

On Tuesday morning, Ms Murray will be joined by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and former counter-terrorism police chief Nick Aldworth, as well as Mr Hetts friends Russell Hayward and Mikey Keating at the AO Arena in central Manchester.

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Martyn Hett. Photo: GMP/PA.

She will then begin the 186-mile walk to Downing Street. Over the 16 days, she will visit memorials to victims of terror attacks to pay her respects, including the Glade of Light in Manchester and the 7/7 Memorial in London.

I am walking from the spot where my son died to 10 Downing Street to remind the Prime Minister of his commitment to introduce legislation that will improve security and protections at public venues, Ms Murray said.

The campaign for Martyns Law has already been a long journey, I hope this walk is the final leg. All I am asking is for the PM to keep his promise.

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Ms Murray has written to Rishi Sunak and asked him to meet her when she arrives at Downing Street and to name a date when the Governments draft law will come to the House of Commons.

Since her sons death, she has obtained a masters degree in counter-terrorism and received an OBE.

Figen Murray with her OBE medal. Photo: Victoria Jones/PA.

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Her campaigning has been supported by experts and activists including the co-founder of Survivors Against Terror, Brendan Cox, who was married to murdered MP Jo Cox.

Governments first duty is keeping us safe, he said.

The fact that the Government knows that there are dangerous terror loopholes and has promised to fill them, yet hasnt been able to find parliamentary time for its own bill is simply not good enough.

Martyns Law was a commitment in the Conservative Manifesto in 2019 and was followed by public consultations.

A UK Home Affairs Select Committee in July 2023 criticised a draft of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill which it said would put small businesses and organisations at risk of closure and fail to make a significant impact on preventing attacks.

UK MPs found the draft Bill, which has different standards based on venue capacity, would require a local village hall to have certain safety precautions, while an outdoor market in a city centre would not.

They said it was a concern that attacks which had occurred in some parts of the UK, such as in Scotland, would not fall into the draft Bills scope.

But Ms Murray claimed the committee reached a dangerous and misguided conclusion after scrutinising the draft legislation.

Martyns Law will make us all safer without changing our way of life, she said.

It is not meant to restrict us but empower us by making the general public more resilient to such attacks.

A UK Home Office spokesperson said: As set out in the Kings Speech, we are committed to bringing in Martyns Law  legislation that will better protect the public from terror attacks, and we are grateful to Figen Murray for her tireless support of this issue.

It is important that our new law stands the test of time and is a fitting tribute to those who have campaigned for it. That is why we have consulted on how we can protect the public without putting unnecessary burdens on smaller businesses.

We are now in the final stages of drafting this legislation, and it will be brought in as soon as possible.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire speaks during a press conference at Houston Fire Station 102 after severe flooding in the region, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Kingwood. Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer

On Mayor John Whitmires first day in office, he got a call from Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham.

Her message? We want to work with the city of Houston, Whitmire recounted at an April 17 council meeting.

Whitmire shared the contents of the call at the start of Buckinghams visit to City Hall  a trip largely framed as a relationship reset and one the land commissioner was quick to note herself.

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It is wonderful to actually be invited here, as last time I tried outreach I was disinvited, Buckingham told council members.

After years of verbal and legal battles between the former mayor and the former land commissioner, Whitmire and Buckingham seem poised to usher in a new era of cooperation between their new offices. As experts predict an active hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico, the potential for better relations between the city and state agency could be well-timed.

MAYORAL PROMISES: Houston has a new mayor. Here are 7 things Whitmire promised to do once he gets to City Hall

Whenever disaster strikes in Texas  whether it be wildfire, winter storm or hurricane  its the states General Land Office that has primarily retained responsibility for divvying up the federal funds to cities and counties across the state that apply for relief. The agency is also in charge of making sure the cities and counties it grants funds to are spending it correctly.

But despite the rhetorical reset, Houston remains on the outs when it comes to the Hurricane Harvey funds. The city still is not set to see a single dollar from $4.3 billion in federal funds approved for flood mitigation after the 2017 storm.

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Houstons history with the GLO has been rocky since Harvey. After the storm, the GLO, then led by George P. Bush, was charged with distributing federal funds for home repair and flood mitigation.

Bushs office, at the time, argued that Mayor Sylvester Turners administration was mishandling the housing funds it had been given and determined not to provide the city with any funds for flood mitigation. The city argued that the GLO made the process of applying for and receiving funds difficult and called the state agency an overbearing partner.

Since then, Buckingham has taken over the GLO office and Whitmire has taken over the mayors office. The two have a longstanding relationship as former colleagues who worked together in the Texas Senate, and the new mayor said that will only continue in the days to come.

There will be strong collaboration with the GLO and our state partners, Whitmire told the Houston Chronicle.

The GLOs history in Houston

Federal relief funds for hurricanes are usually reserved for two issues: efforts to cover the cost of rebuilding and flood mitigation projects, meant to make communities more resilient against future storms.

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Houston received $1.3 billion to build back and remodel housing destroyed by Harvey in 2017, with $427 million set aside for rebuilding homes damaged in the hurricane and $350 million to build affordable apartments.

But those housing recovery funds quickly became mired in controversy. The city sued the GLO in 2020 as the agency moved to take control of the citys entire $1.3 billion portfolio, and both parties ultimately agreed to cut most of the citys program responsible for rebuilding and remodeling homes.

The GLO then came back and took away more money from the city, claiming it had missed spending benchmarks, and the city argued that the agency had failed to see the progress it made. Houston was left with $664 million  about half of its initial allotment.

And the dispute wasnt just limited to housing funds. Though the GLO received over $4 billion for federal mitigation relief to prepare cities and counties for future storms, the agency decided to not give Harris County or Houston  which expected $1 billion each  any of the cash.

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Regional leaders such as County Commissioner Adrian Garcia speculated that the move was politically driven. The GLO, however, maintained that the application process had been fair.

Harris County later received $750 million from the GLO after bipartisan outcry and a federal finding that the decision violated the Civil Rights Act. Houston, though, still is not set to receive funds.

As Buckingham entered office in 2023, she made clear that she had no plans to deviate from the post-Harvey plan that denied Houston mitigation funds and that she would continue with the effort that took away half of the citys housing recovery funds.

But once Whitmire was sworn in, Buckingham penned a letter to the new administration offering to help the city spend the rest of its recovery aid for building more housing. The city has about $151 million left in federal grants.

A change of tune

In a sign of good faith, Buckinghams office conceded on a small portion of recovery funds for a property where 120 single-family homes are planned on the site of a former business park near NRG Stadium.

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During the April 17 council meeting, Buckingham said the GLO was prepared to extend the timeline the city had to build on the lot, just as the city was getting ready to abandon the program ahead of the deadline.

With the GLO grant of an extension by the Housing and Urban Development Department to use the funds, the city may be able to build single-family homes on the Stella Link Road property. The city started with a $60 million budget for its single-family home program and has put $44 million toward other housing projects so far. Housing Director Mike Nichols told the Chronicle the projects price tag has yet to be fully determined but that he expects that federal dollars will be able to cover the cost.

But HUDs extension does not guarantee the programs viability. The city will have to prove it will build and sell the homes on the property before the GLO sets a new deadline to spend the cash. The rest of the citys recovery portfolio, including efforts to build apartment complexes and buy out flood-prone properties, will need to be spent by the original August 2024 and February 2025 deadlines.

Asked how the GLO and city were working to rebuild their relationship, spokespeople for Whitmire and Buckingham redirected back to a news conference the pair held in April.

The recent news conference I held with GLO Commissioner Buckingham to help some Houstonians post-Harvey exemplifies the strong partnership I am building between the city and state, Whitmire said in a statement. We are former colleagues in the state senate, and she understands we represent the same people.

That relationship reboot will likely fall on the shoulders of Whitmires chief of intergovernmental relations, Joshua Sanders, who told the Chronicle that the mayors office communicates regularly with the GLO.

Our improved relationship will bring about increased efficiencies when delivering much needed support to the residents of Houston, Sanders said.

Brittany Eck, Buckinghams spokesperson, referred to Buckinghams preexisting relationship with Whitmire as valuable.

They not only are wanting to work together, they have that existing relationship where they can pick up the phone and call each other and have that conversation, Eck said.
A tech issue with British Border Force passport e-gates has caused significant disruption at airports across the UK.

Images and footage shared on social media on Tuesday evening appeared to show long queues forming at the gates, which scan passports, in Londons Heathrow Airport.

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A spokesperson for the airport said: Border Force is currently experiencing a nationwide issue which is impacting passengers being processed through the Border.

Our teams are supporting Border Force with their contingency plans to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible and are on hand to provide passenger welfare.

We apologise for any impact this is having to passenger journeys.

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We are aware that Border Force is currently experiencing a nationwide issue which is impacting passengers being processed through the Border.



Our teams are supporting Border Force with their contingency plans to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible, and we apologise pic.twitter.com/vLziUchFjP  Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) May 7, 2024

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A spokesperson for Stansted Airport said: We are aware of an issue with UK Border Forces systems across the country, affecting all UK airports.

Our operational and customer service colleagues are supporting passengers while UK Border Force and the Home Office fix the issue.

The disruption comes after the UK Border Force workers staged a four-day strike at Heathrow in a dispute over working conditions last week.

The union said the workers were protesting against plans to introduce new rosters they claim will see around 250 of them forced out of their jobs at passport control.
German police broke up a protest by several hundred pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied a courtyard at Berlins Free University earlier in the day, the latest such action by authorities as protests that have stirred up campuses in the United States spread across Europe.

The protesters had put up about 20 tents and formed a human chain around the tents.

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Most had covered their faces with medical masks and had draped keffiyah scarves around their heads, shouting slogans such as Viva, viva Palestina.

Earlier on Tuesday, Dutch police arrested about 125 activists as they broke up a similar pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam.

In Berlin, police called on the students via loudspeakers to leave the campus.



Police arrest some 125 activists as they broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam (InterVision/AP)

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Police could also be seen carrying some students away and some scuffles erupted between police officers and protesters.

Police used pepper spray against some of the protesters.

The schools administrators said in a statement that the protesters had rejected any kind of dialogue and they had therefore called in police to clear the campus.

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This form of protest is not geared towards dialogue. An occupation is not acceptable on the FU Berlin campus, university president Guenter Ziegler said.

FU is the abbreviation for Free University.

We are available for academic dialogue  but not in this way.

The administrators said some protesters attempted to enter rooms and lecture halls at Free University in order to occupy them.

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The protest organisers, which say they are made up of students from various Berlin universities and other individuals, had called on other students and professors to take part in the action, the university statement said.

In recent days, students have held protests or set up encampments in Finland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, France and Britain, following earlier protests at US campuses.

Amsterdam police said on the social media platform X that their action was necessary to restore order after protests turned violent.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

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Video from the scene aired by national broadcaster NOS shows police using a mechanical digger to push down barricades and officers with batons and shields moving in, beating some of the protesters and pulling down tents.

Protesters had formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, NOS reported.



A man shows an Israeli flag during a pro-Palestinian demonstration by the group Student Coalition Berlin (MArkus Schreiber/AP)

The demonstrators occupied a small island at the university on Monday, calling for a break in academic ties with Israel over the war in Gaza.

After clearing the Amsterdam protest by early afternoon Tuesday, police closed off the area by metal fences.

Students sat along the banks of a nearby canal.

The school said in a statement that police ended the demonstration at its Roeterseiland campus overnight Tuesday due to public order and safety concerns.

The war between Israel and Hamas is having a major impact on individual students and staff, it said.

We share the anger and bewilderment over the war, and we understand that there are protests over it.

We stress that within the university, dialogue about it is the only answer.

In Finland, dozens of protesters from the Students for Palestine solidarity group set up an encampment outside the main building at the University of Helsinki, saying they would stay there until the university, which is Finlands largest academic institution, cuts academic ties with Israeli universities.

In Denmark, students set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen, erecting about 45 tents outside the campus of the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The university said students can protest but called on them to respect the rules on campus grounds.

Seek dialogue, not conflict and make room for perspectives other than your own, the administrators said on X.

The administration cannot and must not express an opinion on behalf of university employees and students about political matters, including about the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the statement said.

On their Facebook page, members of the activist group Students Against the Occupation said their attempts to talk to the administration over the past two years about withdrawing the schools investments from companies with ties to activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have been in vain.

We can no longer be satisfied with cautious dialogue that does not lead to concrete action, the group said.

In Italy, students at the University of Bologna, one of the worlds oldest universities, set up a tent encampment over the weekend to demand an end to the war in Gaza as Israel prepared an offensive in Rafah, despite pleas from its Western allies against it.

Groups of students organised similar protests in Rome and Naples, which were largely peaceful.

More than a dozen tents were set up in a piazza named for a university student who fought against fascist rule during the Second World War.

Some were decorated with Palestinian flags and a banner read Student Intefadeh, or Student Uprising.

In Spain, dozens of students have spent over a week at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Valencia campus.

Similar camps were set up Monday at the University of Barcelona and at the University of the Basque Country.

A group representing students at Madrids public universities announced it would step up protests against the war in the coming days.

In Paris, student groups called for gatherings in solidarity with Palestinians later Tuesday.

On Friday, French police peacefully removed dozens of students from a building at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, after they had gathered in support of Palestinians.

On Tuesday, students at the prestigious institution, which counts French prime minister Gabriel Attal and President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni, were seen entering the campus unobstructed to take exams as police stood at the entrances.

Protests took place last week at some other universities in France, including in Lille and Lyon.

Mr Macrons office said police had been requested to remove students from 23 sites on French campuses.
Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Chicago as tension ratcheted up in standoffs with demonstrators at other college campuses around the US  and increasingly, in Europe.

Nearly three weeks into a movement launched by a protest at Columbia University, the Rhode Island School of Design held talks with protesters occupying a building, and MIT dealt with a new encampment on a site that was cleared but immediately retaken by demonstrators.

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The confrontations come as campuses try a range of strategies, from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action, to resolve the protests against the Israel-Hamas war and clear the way for commencements.

At the University of Chicago, protesters numbering in the several hundreds had gathered in an area known as the Quad for at least eight days.



A pro-Palestinian protester leads chants at the universitys police (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

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Campus administrators warned them on Friday to leave the area or face removal.

Police in riot gear blocked access to the Quad on Tuesday as law enforcement dismantled the encampment.

Officers later picked up a barricade erected to keep protesters out of the Quad and moved it toward the demonstrators, some of whom chanted, Up, up with liberation. Down, down with occupation!

Police and protesters pushed back and forth along the barricade as the officers moved to re-establish control.

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School president Paul Alivisatos said: The protesters were given an opportunity to disassemble their structures and depart the encampment, and there have been no arrests. Where appropriate, disciplinary action will proceed.

By 7.30am on Tuesday, the number of protesters had doubled to more than 200.

About 30 minutes later, campus police removed a barricade and stepped aside to allow protesters back into the Quad where they gathered in front of Levi Hall, the campus administration building.

At MIT, protesters were given a Monday afternoon deadline to voluntarily leave or face suspension.

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Many left, according to an MIT spokesperson, who said protesters breached fencing after the arrival of demonstrators from outside the university.

On Monday night, dozens of protesters remained at the encampment in a calmer atmosphere, listening to speakers and chanting before taking a pizza break.

Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said that the group has been at the encampment for two weeks and that they were calling for an end to the killing in Gaza.

Specifically, our encampment is protesting MITs direct research ties to the Israeli Ministry of Defence, he said.

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No arrests had been made as of Monday night, according to the MIT spokesperson.

At the Rhode Island School of Design, where students started occupying a building Monday, a spokesperson said that the school affirms students rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly and that it supports all members of its community.

The RISD president and provost were on site meeting with the demonstrators, the spokesperson said.

The student protests have spread to Europe, where they are gaining momentum.

Police arrested about 125 activists early Tuesday as they broke up a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Amsterdam.

Students also have held protests or set up camps in Finland, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Britain.

Many protesters want their schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or otherwise contribute to the war effort.

Others simply want to call attention to the deaths in Gaza and for the war to end.

Demonstrations at New York Citys Columbia University, where the protest movement began about three weeks ago, have disturbed its campus.

Officials on Monday cancelled its large main ceremony but said students will be able to celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies this week and next.

Columbia had already cancelled in-person classes.

More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbias green or occupied an academic building were arrested in recent weeks.

Similar encampments sprouted up elsewhere, leading universities to struggle with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.



Police block protesters (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

The University of Southern California earlier cancelled its main graduation ceremony.

Students abandoned their camp at USC on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.

Other universities have held graduation ceremonies with beefed-up security.

The University of Michigans ceremony was interrupted by chanting a few times on Saturday.

A group of faculty and staff members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked the administration for amnesty for student protesters who were recently arrested and suspended.

Harvard Universitys interim president, Alan Garber, warned students that those in an encampment in Harvard Yard could face involuntary leave, meaning they would not be allowed on campus, could lose their student housing and might not be able to take exams.

At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students.

The University of California, Los Angeles, moved classes online for the week due to disruptions following the dismantling of an encampment last week that resulted in 44 reported arrests.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.

Hamas on Monday announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its core demands and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

Ceasefires are temporary, said Selina Al-Shihabi, a Georgetown University student who was taking part in a protest at George Washington.

There can be a ceasefire, but the US government will continue to arm the Israeli military.

We plan to be here until the university divests or until they drag us out of here.
The Swiss Army Knife, the iconic, more than century-old fold-up tool used by whittlers, soldiers and even astronauts, will soon be available without a blade.

Victorinox, the company behind the quintessentially Swiss product, is responding to tighter regulations around weapons around the world, chief executive officer Carl Elsener told the Blick newspaper on Monday.

Instead, it plans to add tools for cyclists and other functions to a gadget that usually also features scissors and a corkscrew.

The Swiss central bank bail out of Credit Suisse shows regulatory intervention is back

We are concerned about the increasing regulation of knives due to the violence in the world, Elsener said, citing laws in the UK and in Asian countries that permit knife-carrying only for work or outdoor activities. In some markets, the blade creates an image of a weapon.
A security guard working at Drakes mansion in Toronto has been hospitalised with serious injuries after being shot outside the residence.

The victim was standing outside the homes entrance when the shooting occurred, Toronto police inspector Paul Krawczyk said at a news conference outside Drakes palatial residence. The shooting was captured on video, he said, but the shooter fled, and a motive has not been determined.

Drake was not thought to have been hared in the shooting. Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Krawczyk said he couldnt confirm whether Drake was home during the incident but said the rappers team has been cooperating with the investigation. There is no indication that the shooting harmed Drake, who has been involved in an increasingly hostile, extremely public rap feud with Kendrick Lamar.

Police were called about 2am Eastern time to the intersection of Lawrence and Bayview avenues near the upscale Bridle Path neighbourhood. The victim was reportedly transported with a gunshot injury to Sunnybrook Hospital, where staff declined to comment to The Washington Post.
Its an epic tale of political destruction and family ties. A runaway success in its Sydney season, its Melbourne run later this month has been long awaited. But the most exciting news for the Australian play Counting and Cracking is this: its heading to New York.

It will premiere with the same New York company that launched three of the worlds hit musicals, running for a three-week season in partnership with New Yorks Public Theatre, incubator of some of Broadways biggest blockbusters including Hamilton, Cabaret and A Chorus Line.

New York here we come: Counting and Cracking director, Eamon Flack and writer S. Shakthidharan. Credit: Janie Barrett

Its a coup for Belvoir Street Theatre, which last toured an Australian production in New York 10 years ago with the childrens production of Peter Pan.

Australian theatre is riding a wave of international success. Counting and Crackings move follows the critical success of Sydney Theatre Companys West End production of The Picture of Dorian Gray, which won actor, Sarah Snook, and costumier, Marg Howell, Olivier awards each. Last year, playwright and former Sydney lawyer Suzie Miller won best new play at the Olivier awards, for Prima Facie. It also ran on Broadway.
An investigative journalist has batted away allegations that a series of articles she helped write, which criticised the medical practice of a renowned orthopaedic surgeon, implied he took shortcuts to make money.

On Tuesday, reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald Charlotte Grieve defended the depth and fairness of her reporting as she was cross-examined by surgeon Munjed Al Muderis barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, in the Federal Court.

Munjed Al Muderis is pursuing a defamation case over reports from 2022. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

The months-long defamation trial will also see 60 Minutes reporter Tom Steinfort and producer Natalie Clancy take the stand in coming days.

Al Muderis is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes over reports published and aired in September 2022.
The parents of two Australian brothers shot dead in Mexico have spoken publicly for the first time, saying from the US it was time to bring their sons home.

Debra and Martin Robinson have urged people to hold their loved ones closer, following the tragic murder of their sons Callum, 33, and Jake, 30.

The Robinson brothers were on a surfing trip with American friend Carter Rhoad, 30, when they were allegedly killed by Mexican nationals attempting to steal parts of their ute.

Debra and Martin Robinson travelled from Western Australia to Mexico on Friday, where they identified the bodies of their two sons this week.

Now its time to bring them home to families and friends and the ocean waves in Australia, Debra said.

Please live bigger, shine brighter and love harder.

Heres the full story.
Brisbane public transport users will soon be able to plan their trips across not just trains, buses and CityCats but include walking and riding, with a contract awarded to replace the beleaguered MyTranslink app.

Last year, Brisbane Times revealed that support for Xamarin, a free open-source platform used to build the MyTranslink app, would no longer be supported and would be end of life from April 24 this year for iOS and May 1 for Android.

The current MyTranslink app will be replaced in July. Credit: MyTranslink

The Queensland government has now awarded Siemens Mobility the contract to deliver a new mobile app and journey planner, with Translink working with the German company and its subsidiary, Hacon, on the new interface.

Hacon is responsible for the award-winning SmartRide app, used in Germany and Austria, which enables people to find and compare public transport, walking, biking and car routes, with respective travel times, and accounts for current traffic conditions, construction sites, traffic jams, and late buses and trains.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire speaks at a press conference on Monday, March 11, 2024, in Houston. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer

Mayor John Whitmire is set to unveil his first budget proposal in the coming days, shaping how billions in city funds will be spent on services from public safety to trash pickup in the new fiscal year that starts in July.

This year's budget deliberations will take place against the backdrop of Houstons existing fiscal gap, a $1.5 billion landmark settlement with the firefighters union and an April court ruling concerning the citys drainage system that could lead to an additional $100 million in costs for the upcoming year.

Whitmire recently said Houston is broke and asked most city departments to come up with strategies to cut their spending by 5%.

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While much of the budget work is done behind the scenes, the public will have several opportunities to voice their opinions during a month-long process in which City Council scrutinizes each department's spending plan and seeks to amend the new mayors proposal.

Here is what you need to know about Houstons budgeting process and how to get involved.

How big is Houstons budget?

Houstons budget has grown from $3.6 billion to $6.2 billion in the past decade.

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About half of the city's total budget goes into a general fund that powers daily services like policing, trash collection, parks and libraries. Currently, the police department, with a $1 billion annual spending plan, and the fire department, at $593 million, together account for nearly half of all general fund expenditures.

The remainder of the citys budget is directed to enterprise funds. These are self-sustaining funds that use fees and charges to pay for specific operations. For example, one enterprise fund collects Public Works revenue from water bills to support Houstons water infrastructure. The city also has a separate budget for large-scale capital improvement projects, which will be adopted later this summer.

Around 40% of Houstons current budget is used to support the citys over 21,000 employees. This includes around 10,000 police and fire personnel, plus another 11,000 municipal workers, ranging from 311 operators and library staff to Solid Waste drivers and Public Works crews.

How does the budgeting process work?

In previous years, the mayor's office released the initial version of the budget proposal in May, followed by more than two dozen workshops where council members discussed each department's budget and residents provided public comments.

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This year, the hearings are scheduled from May 15 to May 28. A Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee meeting, set for noon on May 15, will kick off the workshops with a five-year forecast of the city's overall finances. A public hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. on May 29 will wrap up the weeks-long process.

The proposal will then head to City Council for a vote, where members can ask for amendments to the mayor's plan  the most significant tool at their disposal during the budget season. Last year, council members proposed nearly 30 amendments to former Mayor Sylvester Turner's budget proposal, but most did not receive the administrations support and failed to advance.

Why is this years budget process worth tracking?

Houston has long grappled with a structural deficit, where recurring expenses outstrip revenues. In recent years, federal COVID-19 relief funds have allowed the city to amass the largest budget reserve the city has seen in decades. Finance Director Melissa Dubowski estimated Houston would have a fund balance of $468 million by the end of the current fiscal year, $282 million above the legally required minimum.

City officials, however, warned this reserve will not sustain the city for more than one or two years. Controller Chris Hollins recently projected a budgetary shortfall between $230 million and $280 million for the upcoming fiscal year.

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The firefighters settlement  which includes $650 million in backpay, up to 34% salary increases and potentially an additional $10 million per year to cover special incentives  will have an immediate impact on the city budget. Its financial strain is also expected to persist for decades, as the city pursues plans to spread its cost of the backpay through a settlement bond.

Adding another layer of financial pressure, a judge ruled in April that Houston must allocate significantly more tax revenue to combat flooding through street and drainage projects. Both Dubowski and Hollins estimated the amount dedicated to drainage might need to increase by $100 million in the new budget, pending legal developments as the city pursues an appeal.

Meanwhile, Houston's municipal employees union is in the process of negotiating its own pay raises, with the police union set to do the same next year. The Whitmire administration is contemplating new fees, higher taxes and budget cuts to bridge the budgetary gap. Officials will present more detailed financial forecasts and discussions of potential cost-saving measures during the budget discussions this coming month.

How can you get engaged?

Residents can get involved by attending and signing up to comment at any budget workshop from May 15 to May 28, or at the public hearing on May 29. The city will also host four budget town halls on May 16, 18, 21 and 28. Details about the workshops and town hall meetings are available online.

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Additionally, Council Member Sallie Alcorn, chair of the city's Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee, is inviting the public to participate in a survey to express their spending priorities and submit any budget questions for city departments. Alcorn said respondents have so far identified infrastructure improvement, public safety and garbage collection as three top priorities in need of investment.
Police converged on a Fortitude Valley office complex on Tuesday afternoon after reports that an armed man was in the car park of the Crime and Corruption Commissions headquarters.

Officers were called to the incident at the Green Square complex about 4.20pm, as peak-hour traffic began building on St Pauls Terrace.

Multiple police crews and an ambulance were at the scene on Tuesday afternoon.
A woman has been killed every four days in 2024. We bring you stories of lives lost in recent years. Some of the cases featured are still before the courts.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following story contains an image of a deceased person.

The family of a West Australian woman who was viciously beaten by her partner in an attack that included punching her 40 times, stomping on her head five times and choking her, felt betrayed by the justice system after he was cleared of contributing to her death.

Instead, the cause of death of Jigalong woman, Nyaparu*, 24, was found to be a heart attack suffered in the moments after she was bashed.

Nyaparu died from a heart attack after suffering a sustained beating from her partner in Perths CBD in 2022. Credit: WAtoday

The finding comes a month after Victorian woman Emma Bates was found dead inside her home after allegedly being bashed by her neighbour, who is not facing charges over her death due to a post-mortem being unable to determine if illness played a part.
Thank you for joining us as we covered the days biggest headlines.

We sign off after a heated question time in parliament, the first since the Easter break, during which Liberal Leader Libby Mettam accused the government of dragging its heels on new domestic violence legislation that would compel courts to impose GPS monitoring on family violence perpetrators.

Domestic violence, sadly, is rarely far from the headlines. Throughout the day we brought you reactions to the horrible story of a 24-year-old Jigalong woman who was beaten savagely in Perths CBD by her partner.

The 28-year-old man was jailed over the horrific attack, however he never faced charges over Nyaparus subsequent death.

And WAs education minister has sought to distance a letter sent by parents from Rossmoyne Senior High School raising concerns of radicalisation with the fatal police shooting of an extremist 16-year-old student at the weekend.

Tony Buti confirmed he had received a letter from parents at Rossmoyne, but clarified it was a mother and father who were concerned their child was being radicalised at school.

The letter, Buti said, had nothing to do with the boy who died, and the two should be treated as separate issues.

Meanwhile, Labor risks losing office or sliding into minority government if it cannot hold key seats in WA, where it made big gains at the last election.

And the biggest shift? Male voters, who have turned against Labor and increased their support for the Coalition over the past six months, and exclusive survey reveals.

Finally, to Mexico, where the deaths of Perth brothers Callum and Jake Robinson have shocked the local community and sparked tributes from across the globe.

Thanks again for joining us, and remember to tune in tomorrow for more news, as it happens.
The Coalition is demanding the government rein in the toughest conditions of its deportation bill by beefing up safeguards for families visiting from certain nations and foreigners resisting deportation.

In a Senate inquiry report on the deportation bill that Labor attempted to rush through the last parliamentary sittings, the opposition criticised the governments flagrant disregard for legal groups and Iranian, South Sudanese and Zimbabwean communities who condemned the bill.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is facing a laundry list of recommended changes to the controversial bill. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The concerns of multicultural communities need to be heard, Coalition senator and inquiry committee member Paul Scarr said. Diaspora groups were blindsided by this bill.

The oppositions humanitarian push to soften the deportation laws comes as its frontbench accuses the government of failing to protect the community from criminals released into the community after the High Court decision last November outlawed indefinite immigration detention.
A Senate inquiry has rebuffed calls for stricter controls on hundreds of lobbyists who gain access to Parliament House to influence politicians, sparking a new dispute about whether to force them to reveal all their meetings with ministers.

The inquiry admitted the need to consider sweeping changes to the lobbying regime, saying a further inquiry could explore the options, but it did not embrace major proposals for reform after months of submissions from experts.

Independent ACT senator David Pocock has led the push for tougher rules for lobbyists. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The findings, published in a Senate committee report on Tuesday afternoon, provoked sharp criticism from senators who wanted immediate action to expand the regime to include in-house government relations executives as well as independent lobbying firms.

Lobbying has the potential to improve legislation and policy outcomes and strengthen democratic participation by bridging the divide between the public and decision-makers, said the final report from the inquiry, chaired by Liberal senator Richard Colbeck.
Private training colleges are being sent federal orders to stop recruiting fake overseas students and cease their exploitation of the visa system in a new move to tighten the rules and cut the nations migration intake.

The official warnings identify the most concerning conduct by colleges that bring thousands of students into the country each year, telling the owners they will lose their licences within six months if they do not improve their operations.

Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Cybersecurity Clare ONeil. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The sanctions follow other federal actions that have cut offshore student visa grants to 223,000 since July, putting the program on track to fall from the intake of 370,000 last financial year.

The government believes the student intake passed a key point in March when the numbers fell below the level seen before the pandemic, with 68,540 visa grants in the first quarter of this year compared with 68,960 in the same period in 2019.
Washington: US President Joe Bidens administration has paused a shipment of weapons to Israel in opposition to apparent moves by the Israelis to invade the Gazan city of Rafah, a senior administration official said.

Biden has been trying to head off a full-scale assault by the Israelis against Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from combat elsewhere in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Credit: AP

The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that as Israeli leaders seemed to approach a decision on whether to attack last week, we began to carefully review proposed transfers of particular weapons to Israel that might be used in Rafah beginning in April.

As a result of that review, we paused one shipment of weapons last week. It consists of 1800 2000-pound bombs and 1700 500-pound bombs, the official said, referring to general purpose bombs designated by their weight.
Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, acknowledged Israeli forces had seized the crossing and had closed the facility for the time being. He said strikes had targeted the area around the crossing since Monday. The whole western area [of Rafah] has become a theatre of operations since yesterday. The bombardment has not stopped, said Abu Omar, adding that crews have fled the facilities because of the bombing. The Israeli army has stopped the movement of people and aid completely, the Hamas-run crossing authority said in a statement. Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on residential building in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. Credit: AP The Israeli army said 20 Hamas militants were killed in the Monday operation and it discovered three tunnel shafts. Israeli airstrikes also hit elsewhere in Rafah on Tuesday, killing at least five people, including a child and a woman, hospital officials said.

The movement of troops to the area came a day after Israel told residents in parts of eastern Rafah to leave immediately ahead of a possible attack on the city. An Israeli army official said the vast majority of people located in an ordered evacuation zone had left. Palestinians read leaflets dropped by Israeli aircraft warning them to evacuate on Monday ahead of military operations in Rafah, Gaza. Credit: Bloomberg An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson declined to immediately comment on the Israeli border seizure. Egypt previously has warned any seizure of Rafah could see Palestinians fleeing over the border, a scenario that could threaten a 1979 peace deal with Israel thats been a linchpin for regional security. The offensive again raised the risks of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah, a move the United States strongly opposes and that aid groups warn will be disastrous for some 1.4 million Palestinians taking refuge there. Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Rafahs east. Credit: AP

Ceasefire talks between the two sides continue to drag. Hamas said earlier it had accepted a proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar. Israel rejected it, saying it contained demands the Jewish state could not accept  it said it did not meet its core demands. It said was pushing ahead with an assault on Rafah. Egyptian officials said the proposal called for a ceasefire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and partial Israeli troop pullbacks within Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a permanent calm that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal out of the territory, they said. Hamas sought clearer guarantees for its key demand of an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal in return for the release of all hostages, but it wasnt clear if any changes were made. Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected that trade-off, vowing to keep up their campaign until Hamas is destroyed after its October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war. Israels War Cabinet decided to continue the Rafah operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office said on Monday.

US President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and reiterated American concerns about an invasion of Rafah. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said American officials were reviewing the Hamas response and discussing it with our partners in the region. An American official said the US was examining whether what Hamas agreed to was the version signed off to by Israel and international negotiators or something else. It was not immediately known if the proposal Hamas agreed to was substantially different from one that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed the militant group to accept last week, which Blinken said included significant Israeli concessions. Ceasefire deal agreed to by Hamas PHASE ONE Ceasefire lasting 42 days

Hamas releases 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from Israeli jails

Israel partially withdraws troops from Gaza and allows free movement of Palestinians from south to north Gaza PHASE TWO Another 42-day period that features an agreement to restore a sustainable calm to Gaza, language that an official briefed on the talks said Hamas and Israel had agreed in order to take discussion of a permanent ceasefire off the table

The complete withdrawal of most Israeli troops from Gaza

Hamas releases Israeli reservists and some soldiers in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from jail PHASE THREE The completion of exchanging bodies and starting the implementation of reconstruction according to the plan overseen by Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations

Ending the complete blockade on the Gaza Strip Egyptian officials said that proposal called for a ceasefire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and partial Israeli troop pullbacks within Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a permanent calm that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal out of the territory, they said.

Hamas sought clearer guarantees for its key demand of an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal in return for the release of all hostages, but it wasnt clear if any changes were made. Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected that trade-off, vowing to keep up their campaign until Hamas is destroyed after its October 7 attack on Israel that killed about 1200 people and triggered the war. Netanyahu is under pressure from hard-line partners in his coalition who demand an attack on Rafah and could collapse his government if he signs onto a deal. But he also faces pressure from the families of hostages to reach a deal for their release. Thousands of Israelis rallied around the country calling for an immediate agreement. About a thousand protesters swelled near the defence headquarters in Tel Aviv, where police tried to clear the road. In Jerusalem, about a hundred protesters marched toward Netanyahus residence with a banner reading, The blood is on your hands.

Israel says Rafah is the last significant Hamas stronghold in Gaza, and Netanyahu said that the offensive against the town was vital to ensuring the militants cant rebuild their military capabilities. The looming operation has raised global alarm. Aid agencies have warned that an offensive will bring a surge of more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has already killed 34,000 people and devastated the territory. It could also wreck the humanitarian aid operation based out of Rafah that is keeping Palestinians across the Gaza Strip alive, they say. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called the evacuation order inhumane. Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine. And today, they have been told that they must relocate yet again, he said. It will only expose them to more danger and misery. Israeli leaflets, text messages and radio broadcasts ordered Palestinians to evacuate eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah, warning that an attack was imminent and anyone who stays puts themselves and their family members in danger.

The military told people to move to an Israel-declared humanitarian zone called al-Mawasi, a makeshift camp on the coast. It said Israel has expanded the size of the zone and that it included tents, food, water and field hospitals. Loading About 450,000 displaced Palestinians are already sheltering in al-Mawasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it has been providing them with aid. But conditions are squalid, with few sanitation facilities in the largely rural area, forcing families to dig private latrines. AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
Washington: Over the course of a few hours, the news from the Middle East came into the White House Situation Room fast and furious.

Israel orders 100,000 civilians out of Rafah in prelude to invasion. Hamas accepts ceasefire deal, potentially precluding invasion. Israel conducts strikes against Rafah, possibly opening invasion.

The war-is-on-off-on-again developments left White House officials scrambling to track what was happening and what it all meant. At the end of the day, they came to believe, each of the moves signalled less than originally met the eye, but reflected efforts to gain leverage at the negotiating table with a clear resolution not yet in sight.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah. Credit: AP

In fact, Hamas did not accept a ceasefire deal so much as make a counteroffer to the proposal on the table previously blessed by the United States and Israel  a counteroffer that was not itself deemed acceptable but a sign of progress. At the same time, Israels strikes in Rafah evidently were not the start of the long-threatened major operation but targeted retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks that killed four Israeli soldiers over the weekend  and along with the warning to civilians, a way to increase pressure on Hamas negotiators.
At Prospa, we know our success isn't just about cutting-edge technology; its about empowering people, said Andrew Malak, CTO of Prospa. We align every effort to what our customer needs, and we support our people to grow and develop their skills and their careers. Together, we redefine innovation, not just in what we create, but in how we nurture those who make it possible.
Boeing is facing another investigation from the US Federal Aviation Agency after the aircraft maker admitted that some of its workers may have falsified records during the production of its 787 Dreamliner planes.

According to The Seattle Times report, Boeing has noted "several people" of violating company policies after failing to perform required tests on the planes and instead marking it as complete.

Following the confirmation, Boeing stated that it is "taking swift and serious corrective action" regarding the violators.

The FAA vowed to "take any necessary action" to ensure public safety once the investigations are completed.

The probe is only the latest series of investigations launched on Boeing as auditors found dozens of safety design flaws in several commercial planes.

At least two flights have already been affected by these safety issues, one under Alaska Airlines and another on Southwest Airlines, this year alone.

FBI, DOJ Seeks to File Criminal Charges Against Boeing

Regulatory probes are not the only legal challenge Boeing is hard pressed right now as several federal agencies have also opened the potential for criminal charges against the company.

Several passengers of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, where one of the 737-MAX 9's fuselage panels blew off midflight, reported receiving messages from the Federal Bureau of Investigation stating that they could be a "victim of crime."

The Department of Justice later announced it is also starting a criminal investigation related to the same Jan. 5 flight.

The DOJ is set to release its decision on whether Boeing breached its promises to improve the safety of its aircraft on May 28.

Boeing in Hot Water After Deaths of Whistleblowers

On top of safety concerns for its aircraft, Boeing is facing backlash from many of its passengers following the deaths of two whistleblowers.

John Barnett, one of the primary leads on the firm's production issues, was found dead last March due to a supposed "self-inflicted" wound.

The 62-year-old former Boeing employee was giving his testaments against the company just a few days before his death.

Just two months after, the second whistleblower Joshua Dean suffered a "sudden" death over an unspecified illness after raising safety concerns in the manufacturing of the 737 MAX aircraft.

The company is facing 10 more whistleblowers ready to speak against the company's unsafe practices.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun has already announced his plans to step down as chief executive by the end of the year amid the fiasco.

Calhoun replaced Dennis Muilenburg in 2020 after the latter was fired in the aftermath of the two 737 MAX air crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 passengers.
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Amazon has reached an agreement with Visa that will see it continue accepting payments from Visa credit cards. (Photo: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters/file photo)

Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a significant expansion in Singapore, committing to invest an additional S$12 billion ($8.87 billion) over the next five years to enhance its cloud infrastructure. This move underscores the tech giant's commitment to bolstering its presence in Southeast Asia, a region that continues to attract massive interest from global technology firms due to its burgeoning digital economy and tech-savvy population.

The announcement was made at the AWS ASEAN Summit in Singapore, where AWS Country Manager Priscilla Chong outlined the company's strategy. "AWS is doubling down on its cloud infrastructure investments in Singapore from 2024 to 2028 to support customer demand and help reinforce Singapore's status as an attractive regional innovation launchpad," Chong stated.

This new investment will build upon the S$11.5 billion that Amazon has already funneled into the Asia Pacific region up until 2023, bringing its total planned expenditure to more than S$23 billion by 2028. The funds will be directed towards constructing and enhancing data center capabilities, all associating with the Asia-Pacific Singapore region.

AWS's expansion is not just about scaling infrastructure but also about fostering a robust digital skills ecosystem. Chong revealed that AWS has trained over 400,000 individuals in Singapore in cloud skills since 2017 and plans to continue these efforts to boost productivity and upskilling across the nation.

The expansion in Singapore coincides with a broader AWS strategy in Southeast Asia, demonstrated by recent announcements of a $5 billion investment in Thailand and a commitment of at least $6 billion in Malaysia by 2037. AWS also launched a new region in Jakarta in December 2021, emphasizing its deepening ties to the ASEAN bloc.

Supporting these infrastructure developments is AWS's collaboration with the Singapore government and local enterprises to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI technologies. "Cloud service providers like AWS play an important role in improving the digital economy ecosystem," said Tan Kiat How, senior minister of state at Singapore's Ministry of Communications and Information, during the summit.

Tan highlighted the ongoing digitalization momentum within the region and pointed out the acute shortage of tech professionals, a gap AWS aims to fill through its educational initiatives.

The investment also reflects broader trends in the global tech landscape, where the demand for cloud services and AI capabilities is surging. As companies and governments increasingly rely on big data and advanced computing technologies, cloud infrastructure providers like AWS are crucial in providing the necessary resources and services.
Call of Duty publisher Activision announced a new DLC to the franchise following a massive donation to help military veterans find new jobs.

In a press release on Monday, Activision announced that its non-profit service Call of Duty Endowment received a generous $2.5 million gift to help at least 4,000 retired soldiers.

The donator was named Kenneth C. Griffin, founder and CEO of hedge fund firm Citadel. Griffin's donation was the "largest single private donation" the non-profit group has ever received in its 15 years of operations.

To celebrate the huge donation, Activision is rolling out its newest DLC, "Call of Duty Endowment Knight Recon: Tracer Pack" for Modern Warfare III (2023), Warzone, and Warzone Mobile.

All proceeds from the DLC will be given to the Call of Duty Endowment to further help more veterans in finding "high-quality, high-paying jobs."

Features Bundled in the Call of Duty Endowment DLC

The most notable addition in the "Knight Recon: Tracer Pack" is the brand new operator skins for Vanish and Lancer.

Two new blueprints will also be released: sniper "Silent Seige" and assault rifle "Veiled Vigilance."

Meanwhile, additional in-game accessories will style trident-inspired looks reminiscent of the Navy SEAL graduation badge.

Warzone Mobile will receive an additional "Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) Regulator Pack" featuring a new female operator, Splicer, as well as new vehicle skin, calling card, operator skin, emblem, and more.

Both DLC packs are currently available on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, iOS, and Android for $19.99.

Call of Duty to Host Fund-Raising Challenges for Veterans

In addition to the DLC pack, Activision announced that it will be holding off a new challenge event for Modern Warfare III and Warzone.

The event, "U Assist Veterans," which will be held from May 8 to 22, will be in partnership with The United Services Automobile Association, an insurance firm exclusively for military and retired servicemen.

A guaranteed $1 million from the event will go to 15,500 veterans in the US and the UK.
The Empire State Building (ESB) hosted 20 brave supporters of Outward Bound  along with participant Jared Leto  in a historic rappel down the buildings south facade, in partnership with Outward Bound to raise transformational funds for the charity across the world. Participants total donations exceeded $3 million to Outward Bound, which will make a profound difference in the educational journeys of young people everywhere.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240506846659/en/

The Empire State Building Partners with Outward Bound on First-Ever, Full Rappel Down the Building for Charity (Photo: Business Wire)

The Empire State Building is the perfect host to amplify Outward Bounds charitable mission through this historic rappel, and it reaffirms the Empire State Buildings long-held status as a symbol of hope, strength, and resilience, said Tony Malkin, chairman and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust. My wife and I chose to join the Big Rappel to benefit a great cause, and I got to see the amazing views from the three levels of our Observatory and the Empire State Buildings few remaining great office leasing opportunities on the way down!

Leto kicked off the Big Rappel, that spanned nearly 900 feet from the buildings iconic spire down to the 30th floor. Leto famously climbed the Worlds Most Famous Building in November 2023.

This morning, the Empire State Building hosted a lighting ceremony with Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice, Trustee of Outward Bound in the UK, who flipped the famous switch. Tonight, at sunset, the Empire State Building will shine in blue, pink, green, and white to honor Outward Bound and their important work with young people and the Big Rappel at the Empire State Building. Text CONNECT to 274-16 to receive real-time information about the Empire State Buildings tower lights.

On behalf of Outward Bound, thank you to the Empire State Building for hosting such an inspirational event. Bringing young people out of their comfort zones and supporting them to achieve something they never thought possible is what Outward Bound is all about. I am so happy to offer my support as a trustee and a great admirer of the Outward Bound Trust and all they stand for  these participants really are an inspiration, said Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice.

Outward Bound is a worldwide educational and charitable network whose mission is to change young peoples lives through challenge, learning, and adventure. Four Outward Bound organizations  which include Outward Bound International, The Outward Bound Trust, Outward Bound USA, and NYC Outward Bound Schools  united to create this once-in-a-lifetime event.

Outward Bound has supported young people to push through and challenge themselves for the last 85 years, and the participants of the Big Rappel show that appetite for adventure in abundance, said Martin Davidson, CEO, The Outward Bound Trust UK. In the UK, The Trust inspires thousands of young people every year to achieve something they never thought possible by taking them from inner city environments into our national parks where they experience the extraordinary and learn what they are truly capable of."

The Empire State Building Observatory recently underwent a $165 million reimagination that included the addition of a dedicated visitor entrance, an immersive museum with nine galleries, brand-new, bespoke Observatory Host uniforms, and a new 102nd Floor Observatory with unmatched view. The reimagined Observatory Experience was voted the number one attraction in the U.S. by Tripadvisor travelers for two consecutive years.

Hi-res imagery and video can be found here. More information about the Empire State Building can be found online.

About the Empire State Building

The Empire State Building, the World's Most Famous Building," owned by Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (ESRT: NYSE), soars 1,454 feet above Midtown Manhattan from base to antenna. The $165 million reimagination of the Empire State Building Observatory Experience creates an all-new experience with a dedicated guest entrance, an interactive museum with nine galleries, and a redesigned 102nd Floor Observatory with floor-to-ceiling windows. The journey to the world-famous 86th Floor Observatory, the only 360-degree, open-air observatory with views of New York and beyond, orients visitors for their entire New York City experience and covers everything from the building's iconic history to its current place in pop culture. The Empire State Building Observatory Experience welcomes millions of visitors each year and was declared "America's Favorite Building" by the American Institute of Architects, the world's most popular travel destination by Uber, the #1 attraction in the US for the second year in a row in Tripadvisors 2023 Travelers Choice Awards: Best of the Best, and the #1 New York City attraction in Lonely Planets Ultimate Travel List.

Since 2011, the building has been fully powered by renewable wind electricity, and its many floors house a diverse array of office tenants such as LinkedIn and Shutterstock, as well as retail options like STATE Grill and Bar, Tacombi, and Starbucks. For more information and Observatory Experience tickets visit esbnyc.com or follow the building's Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Weibo, YouTube, or TikTok.

Source: Empire State Realty Trust

Category: Observatory

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240506846659/en/
Peng Liyuan visits UNESCO headquarters, meets agency chief

Xinhua) 09:32, May 07, 2024

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, also a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, visits the UNESCO headquarters on invitation, and meets with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, visited the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters on Monday morning in Paris on invitation.

Upon the arrival of Peng, also a UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay warmly welcomed her at the entrance.

Azoulay accompanied Peng to visit an exhibition on the ten-year achievements of cooperation between China and UNESCO, and spoke highly of China's contribution to the development of girls' and women's education around the world.

Peng briefed Azoulay on China's latest progress in promoting girls' and women's education, especially the achievements of the Spring Bud Project, a Chinese nationwide drive to help dropout girls return to school and improve teaching conditions in impoverished areas.

Peng said that serving as the UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education in the past decade, she has visited many schools in various countries and is delighted to see more and more women being able to have a better life thanks to education.

Promoting girls' and women's education is a great cause that is closely related to social progress and the shared future for humanity. The Chinese side is willing to work with UNESCO to encourage increased global investment in girls' and women's education, help more women obtain equal access to education rights and jointly create a better future, she added.

For her part, Azoulay highly praised Peng's work and contributions as the special envoy, expressing UNESCO's willingness to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China to promote new developments in global girls' and women's education.

Azoulay presented Peng with a ten-year service honor certificate. Peng presented UNESCO with a tapestry titled "blooming spring bud" co-created by beneficiaries of the Spring Bud Project.

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, also a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, visits the UNESCO headquarters on invitation, and meets with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Audrey Azoulay presents Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, also a UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, with a ten-year service honor certificate, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. Peng visited the UNESCO headquarters on Monday morning in Paris on invitation and met with Azoulay. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Audrey Azoulay accompanies Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, also a UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, to visit an exhibition on the ten-year achievements of cooperation between China and UNESCO, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. Peng visited the UNESCO headquarters on Monday morning in Paris on invitation and met with Azoulay. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
(Photo : Unsplash/Michael Fousert)

Elon Musk cuts deeper at Tesla, with another round of layoff notices sent out on Sunday night.

Fourth Week of Layoff Notices at Tesla

The most recent layoffs signal the company's fourth consecutive week of issuing termination notices to its employees. According to reports from Business Insider, managers informed four workers of further reductions within their teams on Monday morning. Moreover, several Tesla employees turned to LinkedIn to express that they had been served layoff notices during the weekend.

One Tesla employee expressed on LinkedIn the gradual reduction of their team since mid-April, followed by receiving a dreaded "Hello Employee" email last Sunday afternoon. Another worker posted a screenshot of her layoff email indicating that her last day was May 5.

READ ALSO: Tesla Implements Broad Restructuring, Cuts Another 14% of Workforce, Affecting 285 Employees in Buffalo Factory

Workers at the carmaker previously informed Business Insider that the ongoing waves of layoff notices left them anxious, prompting many to seek opportunities elsewhere. An anonymous current Tesla employee also expressed a longing for reassurance, stating they await another email signaling they are done firing employees, seeking closure and relief from job insecurity.

Massive Removal of Job Duplications

Since Elon Musk announced on April 14 that Tesla would reduce its workforce by over 10%, employees have received layoff notices in successive waves. Musk cited duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas as the reason for the cuts, according to BI's screenshot of the April email. Shortly after the memo was circulated, affected employees began receiving termination notifications. However, some only discovered their roles had been eliminated when they tried to badge into a Tesla facility.

In the weeks following the initial announcement, Tesla's workforce reductions have affected various teams, including recruiters, the marketing team, and the Supercharging team. BI was the first to report that some Tesla recruiters were among those laid off.

Last week, Musk reportedly informed executives that the company needed to adopt an "absolutely hard-core" approach to managing headcount.

Fewer and Fewer Executives Remain At Tesla

At least six executives have left the company over the past months.

The same day Tesla announced its first round of layoffs, two executives, Drew Baglino, SVP of Powertrain and Electrical Engineering, and Rohan Patel, VP of Public Policy and Business Development, revealed their resignations, citing significant "overall changes" at Tesla as the reason for their departures. As a result of the reshuffling, Musk was reported to oversee 35 direct reports, as per The Information.

Tesla had a workforce of over 140,000 globally before the cuts. Notices filed under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act indicate that the company has already laid off thousands of employees at its California and Texas sites.

The latest wave of layoffs coincided with decreased demand for Tesla's electric vehicles when the car manufacturer reported lower-than-expected delivery numbers in April.

RELATED ARTICLE: Tesla's EV Supercharger Team Getting Disbanded, Leaving Officials, Suppliers Uncertain on Musk's Future Plans

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Ador, a sublabel of K-pop powerhouse HYBE, will hold a critical board meeting Friday in what is expected to mark a decisive moment in the protracted conflict between the sublabel's CEO and HYBE.

Sources in the music industry said Tuesday the meeting will take place at 9 a.m. Friday at an undisclosed place in downtown Seoul.

Convening an extraordinary shareholders' meeting is on the agenda of the upcoming board meeting, according to other media reports.

Earlier, the lawyer for Min Hee-jin, CEO of Ador, told reporters shortly after a court hearing last Tuesday that the board of directors would convene a board meeting by May 10 and an extraordinary shareholders' meeting by the end of the month.

This schedule, unveiled by Min's side, is about one to two weeks faster than HYBE's plan to call an extraordinary shareholders' meeting with court permission, indicating her determination to maintain control of the issue.

It remains unknown what agenda Ador will bring to the shareholders' meeting and exactly when and where it will take place.

The court may intervene in the conflict by accepting HYBE's request to call one to discuss the replacement of the label's management if the board refuses to discuss the matter during the shareholders' meeting.

The board meeting comes as the two sides continue to exchange salvos in the ongoing conflict over allegations that the current management of the sublabel, home to popular girl group NewJeans, attempted to take over control of the company.

HYBE currently holds an 80 percent stake in Ador while the label's management holds the remaining 20 percent.

The K-pop giant launched a surprise audit against Min on April 22 and filed a complaint against her three days later, accusing her of having plotted with other executives to separate from HYBE and take NewJeans with her.

Min has denied the allegations and claimed that the audit followed her internal whistleblowing.

After Min rejected HYBE's demand to convene a board meeting by April 30 to discuss the possible replacement of the label's management, citing the illegality of the demand for replacement, HYBE requested a Seoul court's permission to bypass the board to convene an extraordinary shareholders' meeting.

Considering the schedule earlier unveiled by Min's lawyer, the meeting is highly likely to be held between Monday and Thursday next week.

Ador's board of directors consists of three members  CEO Min herself, the deputy CEO and another director, identified only by their family names Shin and Kim, respectively. This setup effectively grants Min control over the board.

The music scene is paying attention to the fact that NewJeans is scheduled to return with a new single on May 24.

Industry sources say public opinion sympathetic to Min could be generated if she, who produced NewJeans, is dismissed from her position during a shareholders' meeting likely to closely follow the group's return.

Also on Tuesday, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho said that police will swiftly conduct an investigation into suspicions of breach of duty that Hybe filed against Min.

"Given the public attention, the police will expedite the investigation more closely than other cases and provide explanations on matters of interest," Cho said.

The Seoul police chief said that the police are currently in the process of reviewing related records, and no individuals have been questioned in connection with the investigation so far. (Yonhap)
If theres one car that can be considered as the king of reinvention, its the Hyundai Santa Fe. In the five generations its been around, e...
ATLANTA  The Montana Election Observation Initiative (MEOI), a nonpartisan election observation effort supported by The Carter Center, announced today plans to conduct a pilot election observation in Missoula County, Montana during the states June 4 primary.

This small-scale pilot, designed to test observation forms and approaches, will mobilize a limited number of trained volunteer observers to gather information about election processes in the county, with the goal of determining the possibility of expanding the observation in November. If a broad-based election observation effort proceeds for the general election, the project would recruit and train observers to monitor election processes throughout the state and would release a comprehensive assessment of the quality of the 2024 general election in Montana.

The presence of nonpartisan observers  who represent the public interest and are focused on the conduct and not the outcome of an election  has been shown to improve election administration and increase trust in election results.

Under the guidance of a cross-partisan advisory committee, chaired by Jeff Mangan and Geraldine Custer, the MEOI aims to enhance transparency and public understanding about election procedures in Montana, detect and deter electoral malfeasance, and offer evidence-based recommendations for electoral reform to improve the conduct of elections, if warranted.

Mr. Mangan, a Democrat, formerly served in the Montana House and Senate and held the role of Commissioner of Political Practices. Ms. Custer, a Republican, formerly served in the Montana House of Representatives and was county clerk and recorder for Rosebud County, Montana for 36 years.

MEOI observers will focus on compliance with legal standards, the electoral environment, and the overall transparency of the election. They will observe in accordance with a rigorous code of nonpartisan conduct and will not interfere in or disrupt the election processes.

The Carter Center will provide funding and technical assistance to MEOI. Since 1989, The Carter Center has observed more than 120 elections in 40 countries, including the United States.

For further details on the pilot, to volunteer as a nonpartisan election observer, or to request interviews with Jeff Mangan, Geraldine Custer, or representatives from The Carter Center, please contact: montana@cartercenter.org.

###

The Carter Center

Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope.

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
The Calarts Producers Show is an annual curated selection of student work from the schools iconic character animation department and the screening is attended by a wide swath of industry professionals looking to preview new talent entering the animation industry.

This years screening took place last Tuesday at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, where a packed house was treated to 23 films produced in the program, under the leadership of program director Maija Burnett. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the show, at least to me, was how boldly the current crop of student work diverges from the type of work currently being produced within the commercial animation industry.

The films on display werent just copies of the same-old animation aesthetics that we see in the mainstream. Rather, there was a plethora of exciting approaches to design, motion, and compositing that felt like a definitive push in new direction.

The big question is whether the commercial industry can find a way to make space for these fresh voices or if it will continue to expect conformity. In years past, if the industry didnt know what to do with talent, young artists were out of luck. Thats no longer the case thanks to the internet. There is now a clear option for artists whose ambitions exceed those of the industry. Projects like The Amazing Digital Circus and Hazbin Hotel have built huge online audiences and upended conventional thinking that only corporations and networks can launch original animation concepts.

The growing possibilities of internet distribution combined with an ever-more cautious IP-driven approach in the commercial industry has created profuse uncertainty and confusion, but also opportunity as never before. This years Producers Show inspires confidence that the future of U.S. animation is brighter than ever before; whether these creators end up in the industry or carve their own paths, audiences can look forward to much exciting work.

Below are five films from the Producers Show enjoyed. These were by no means the only excellent films of the screening. Many of the other films in the Producers Show, as well as other films that werent selected for the screening, can be seen on the 2024 Calarts Youtube playlist.

Sankofa by Ryan Mesidor

Mesidor has a strong eye for character design and costume, but he also made a really well-constructed and efficient documentary short about fashion that delivers its point with the same stylish confidence as the people interviewed for the film.

Girls in Real Life Situations by Ofre Sparrow Vaknin

I have never been so invested in a tween turf war, and when this short ended, I was ready to see more of these characters. Vaknin has a well-developed voice thats funny, character-driven, and rooted in observation. If this was a pilot, it would be a greenlight from me.

La mort de Robespierre by Janelle Feng

A film that was tonally and stylistically distinct from all others. Excellent visual choices throughout, from the comic book-style framing device to the muted color palette, served to heighten the drama and tension of the story, which is inspired by historical events.

Vinterfint by Ben Knight

An unlikely choice for the character animation program, but Knight made this film in Blender as a one-week exercise. The best film concepts are often those that seem so obvious that you wonder afterward why no one else has done it before. This is absolutely a film that needs to be seen with an audience and it deserves a strong festival run.

CAPITALISM! by Christina Wu

Visually playful, strong directorial instincts, and such fun that you may not even realize the powerful message that Wu delivers about how wealth isolates from community. Capitalism shouldnt be this entertaining.
Reports of NK soldiers in Ukraine may show Russia's 'profound' desperation: US official
FIDEtechnology launches low carbon grinding mill

Peter Bell By 07 May 2024

FIDEtechnology, a pioneering start-up dedicated to decarbonising the construction industry, has introduced its revolutionary Low Carbon (LC) Grinding Mill to the cement sector. The debut of the LC Mill prototype occurred at the prestigious Innovandi annual technology and research gathering hosted by the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) at the Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. The event, attended by 450 delegates from 35 leading global cement companies and academic institutions, centred on the vital topic of achieving decarbonisation in cement and concrete production by 2050.

Raju Goyal, executive president and chief technical officer at UltraTech Cement Ltd, hailed FIDEtechnology's LC Mill as a "game changer" for the grinding industry, asserting that it will propel the race towards achieving net-zero emissions.



Karen Scrivener, the Innovandi scientific chair and eminent cement expert, expressed EPFL's pride in showcasing yet another disruptive and innovative concept, the FIDEtechnology LC Mill, and pledged support for its scaling up to significantly contribute to the journey towards achieving net-zero emissions. EPFL commissioned the first FIDEtechnology LC Mill in 2023.



Davide Zampini, Innovandi industrial chair and VP of Global Research Development at CEMEX, emphasised the imperative of collaboration beyond the industry to realise the ambitious goal of net-zero concrete production by 2050.



The CEOs of FIDEtechnology echoed their excitement about the enthusiastic response from the cement industry, affirming, "We are thrilled by the overwhelming enthusiasm and encouragement from the cement industry for this disruptive grinding concept. This response marks a significant stride towards realising our vision of rapidly decarbonising the construction industry."

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North Korea's premier has inspected regional farms and called for enhancing an irrigation system to cope with droughts and heat waves, state media reported Tuesday, amid the country's chronic food shortages.

Premier Kim Tok-hun visited farms in the South Pyongan, North Hwanghae and Jagang provinces and checked the agricultural situation, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim called for "ramping up irrigation works qualitatively in a bid to timely deal with abnormal climate such as droughts and high temperature," the KCNA said.

The Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, said Tuesday that the very existence of the country relies on the success of farming as the rice planting season started.

"People should practically contribute to achieving the goal of grain production and increasing agricultural output," the newspaper said, praising the Korean People's Army for improving the situation on farms.

North Korea is known for chronic food shortages that have been apparently aggravated in recent years by global sanctions for its nuclear and missile programs, unfavorable weather and yearslong border lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The North's crop production is estimated to have increased 310,000 tons on-year to 4.82 million tons last year, according to South Korea's Rural Development Administration.

But it was still below 5.76 million tons, the annual amount that the North needs to feed its people, according to a projection by the Food and Agriculture Organization for the North.

Last month, Ri Chol-man, chief of the North's state agricultural commission, visited Russia amid deepening bilateral cooperation with Moscow and the North's food woes.

Ri said his country had sown wheat seats, provided by Russian specialists earlier in April, in several counties near Pyongyang and northern provinces in order to determine the most suitable wheat varieties for cultivation in the North, the Russian Embassy in North Korea said on its Facebook page. (Yonhap)
Freshman Senator J. Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun) recently completed his first legislative session as the Tennessee General Assembly concluded the 113th Legislative Assembly last week.

Senator Lowe, a first term Republican from Calhoun, was recognized by the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, a chapter of the national conservative organization, saying he "quickly established a reputation for conservative policy."

He was recognized as a Defender of Freedom based on his legislative work challenging federal overreach, addressing drug and human trafficking, cutting taxes, and protecting second amendment rights.

Senator Lowe was the cosponsor of a proposed Tennessee Constitutional amendment to prevent the state from establishing a property tax and the passage of legislation addressing the trafficking of the drug fentanyl. Additionally, he was active in the historic passing of the Goods in Tennessee bill to address federal overreach, a legislative initiative that he drafted. The bill was praised by the Tennessee House Republican Caucus as the #1 legislative achievement of the session.

Senator Lowe has become a valuable part of the senate and has done so quicker than any I can remember said Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson at a recent gathering for Senator Lowe. He is studied, conservative, and it no secret that he cares deeply for the families of his district and Tennessee.

He was involved when the legislature passed a bill during a special session late last month which mandates that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) release an annual report on the states human trafficking crimes and trends. TBI has previously said that human trafficking is the second-fastest growing criminal industry in the Volunteer State, and the law enforcement organization had already received nearly 200 referrals of human trafficking in 2023 by early last month.

Senator Lowe said, "Tennessees effort to better track the crime reflects how bad the situation has become amid a surge in illegal border crossings since Biden took office. In 2022, reported human trafficking cases spiked 84 percent nationwide from 2021, and are set to soar higher still this year.

"As human trafficking numbers have increased, Tennessee and other red states have made criminal penalties more severe. But without the ability to address the problem directly at the border, those efforts have been marginally effective at best."

Aaron Gulbransen, the executive director of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, praised the Tennessee legislatures effort as a promising sign. He said, This bill is the first step in a very lengthy war. Its the kickstart of a swathe of bills that are intended to cut the heart out of human trafficking in the state of Tennessee.

Senator Lowe carried and passed Dillards Law and Ledfords Law, two pieces of legislation reforming policies around DUI offenders and named to honor local DUI victims from his district.

When asked about what he anticipates for the 114 th General Assembly, Senator Lowe said he hopes to tackle issues related to juvenile mental health, further protecting first responders, and eliminating more taxes.




Courtyus Fletcher, 18, and a 17-year-old juvenile are charged with two counts of theft of property and 12 counts of burglary of an auto in connection with vehicle break-ins and the theft of two autos at the UPS Customer Center, 4300 Founders Way.

Police said investigation of the case was helped by social media postings by Fletcher in which his face was uncovered.

On April 9, an investigator was looking into a large number of break-ins at the UPS facility.

The detective was shown video of a theft of a red 2023 Dodge Charger worth $25,000.

The video shows a blue Kia Optima pull into the UPS lot at 10:47 p.m. and park in front of the Charger. A passenger got out, walked to the driver door, and appeared to use a object on the door. He then got back into the Kia.

The driver of the Kia then got out, broke the window crawls on the Charger, made his way inside the vehicle and was able to drive off with it.

Police said the owner of the Charger has the only key to it. Police said it appears the thieves used a key programmer to start the car.

The passenger was wearing all black with blue gloves.

The driver was wearing a puffy camo jacket and blue gloves.

The investigator was also provided video of the break-in of 14 vehicles and the theft of a second car, a $25,000 2016 Dodge Ram at the same UPS lot.

The video shows the same blue Kia Optima pull into the lot at 1:10 a.m. Four individuals got out of the Kia and began breaking windows on vehicles in the lot and taking items out of cars.

They were able to get into the Dodge Ram, start it and steal it.

All of the individuals were wearing all black and blue gloves. One was wearing a puffy camo jacket.

A total of five guns, along with other items, were taken from the vehicles.

The thieves left in the Kia and the Dodge Ram.

Police were later called to 2549 Glass St. on a suspicious white Dodge Ram truck parked behind businesses. It was found to be the stolen Dodge Ram from Founders Way.

There was video of four suspects dropping the Dodge Ram off, walking around a building and leaving.

The first suspect leaving was wearing a puffy camo jacket and blue gloves. He was holding a handgun.

Another suspect, the last to leave, had a black jacket with a distinctive white zipper and was wearing gloves. He was wearing a handgun also.

The other two suspects were wearing all black and blue gloves.

Later that day, April 9, police said an Instagram appeared from an account of Fletcher showing two suspects driving the stolen red Dodge Charger and displaying handguns.

Police said the the driver in the Instagram was identified as Fletcher and the passenger has been identified, including by narcotics detectives. Police said the two individuals in the Instagram were wearing the same clothes as when they broke into the vehicles, stole two vehicles, and dropped off the Dodge Ram.

The other two suspects have not yet been identified.

The Kia Optima that was used had been stolen out of East Ridge.

The Dodge Charger was also recovered.
Morning Pointe Senior Living campuses across the Southeast are celebrating National Nurses Week, May 6-12."Registered nurses and licensed practical nurses are essential to the care of residents in all of the senior living companys communities, from assisted living to memory care," officials said. "During Nurses Week, we say a special thank you to each nurse, from our directors of nursing and regional nurse leaders to our floor nurses providing medication and daily care.""Our nurses do so much for our residents throughout Morning Pointe's communities, from passing out medications and assessing our residents' medical statuses to overseeing and coordinating care with their physicians, said Bebe Kennedy, RN, vice president of clinical services for Morning Pointe Senior Living.We are thankful for all they do."Contact your local Morning Pointe community to see how it is recognizing National Nurses Week. Area communities are located in Chattanooga, East Hamilton, Hixson, Collegedale and Walker County, Georgia.
Nearly $2 million in funding will benefit residents across the greater Chattanooga region through a grant awarded to The Enterprise Center for its Tech Goes Home program. The investment is part of the State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development's recently announced $163 million allocation for broadband access and digital opportunity.Were thrilled Tech Goes Home will be able to deepen its work in communities across our region through this investment, said The Enterprise Center CEO Deb Socia.Broadband is essential in 2024 and this ongoing digital equity work is crucial to community connectivity. Since 2015, TGH has reached more than 12,000 Tennesseans and were committed to ensuring that every individual has the technology and training they need to succeed.Officials said, "Tech Goes Home, a program of The Enterprise Center, provides digital literacy training and workforce development initiatives to respond to the growing importance of digital skills for careers in nearly every field. The Enterprise Centers two grant awards, totaling $1,979,965, will serve more than 3,300 area residents across Hamilton, Bradley, Polk, McMinn, Marion, Sequatchie, Bledsoe, Rhea, Meigs and Grundy Counties. In a nod to its exceptional track record of positive impact, The Enterprise Center received the highest funding amount in the grants Digital Skills, Education and Workforce category."In order to make sure we are preparing Tennesseans for access to high-paying tech-based jobs and giving them the tools to feel confident using broadband connected devices, we are excited to launch the Digital Skills Education and Workforce Development (DSEW) Program, said TNECD Broadband Program Director Taylre Beaty. Our DSEW grants are designed to invest in programs that will increase digital adoption and we look forward to seeing how The Enterprise Centers Tech Goes Home Program benefits folks across Southeast Tennessee.According to TNECD, $27.9 million in new Digital Skills, Education and Workforce, or DSEW, grants will be distributed among 47 organizations that will offer a variety of training and education programs to advance digital skills and workforce development, creating a pipeline for well-paying digital jobs."Broadband and digital opportunities are critical to keeping communities connected  as well as ensuring a robust and economically thriving Chattanooga," said Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. "In-home access to resources, career advancement and so much more require both technology and the education on how to harness it, and our office is a proud partner of Tech Goes Home's ongoing efforts. This significant investment through our state's Economic and Community Development Department will benefit our communities for years to come."The State of Tennessees investment in The Enterprise Centers Tech Goes Home program sets Gig City up for even further success in our mission to provide broadband access to every Hamilton County resident, agreed Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp. In an ever-changing digital economy, this funding will provide equal opportunities for local residents, regardless of their neighborhood.Officials said, "As our regional economy continues to grow, these grants will help support residents not just get employed, but enter competitive, thriving-wage careers. A 2023 report by the National Skills Coalition and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta found that an estimated 92 percent of jobs require digital literacy and that workers who qualify for jobs that require even one digital skill can earn an average of 23 percent more than in a job requiring no digital skills."Ongoing skills education in partnership with Chattanooga State Community College  like EMPACT, a Google IT certification course in a supported class setting  frequently experience full classes and have an ongoing waitlist, highlighting community interest in pathways to tech career opportunities."We at Chattanooga State are thrilled that the Enterprise Center has been awarded this funding to increase digital equity through its Tech Goes Home program, said Chattanooga State President Rebecca Ashford. We are so proud to partner with the Enterprise Center, and we will support them in their efforts to support more Hamilton County residents."In addition to leading this significant local effort, Tech Goes Home will also partner with more than a dozen other organizations and governments around the state to provide training and digital skills classes to serve an estimated 13,000 Tennessee residents over the next two years," officials said.
A portion of Meeting Street in Dalton will be dedicated to honor the life and legacy of the late Reverend Dr. Stephen A. Thomas, better known in Dalton as Bishop Thomas.The portion of Meeting Street between Underwood Street and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard will be dedicated in Bishop Thomas' honor with a ceremony this Thursday at 10 a.m.The Mayor and Council voted unanimously to approve a resolution honoring Bishop Thomas' life and service and dedicated the street at their meeting Monday night.Dr.Thomas served as the bishop of the Community Fellowship Church in Dalton for 37 years, and also was one of the founding members of the Concerned Clergy of Whitfield County. He also founded the Northwest Georgia College of Theology."His service to the community was extensive, and also included serving on the Dalton Parks and Recreation Commission including serving as its chairman. In that role, he was integral to the creation of the Mack Gaston Community Center which continues to transform neighborhoods and lives in Dalton. Bishop Thomas passed away on Feb. 3, 2023," officials said."I'm really excited and humbled about this opportunity today. First and foremost, I'd like to say thank you to Mayor Sams, the Council and so many others that helped put together the resolution on tonight's agenda in commemoration of my dad," said Matthew Thomas, one of Bishop Thomas' sons. "It is our honor and with humility we are excited to celebrate in the resolution and the following street dedication at Meeting Street in honor of my dad."Mayor Annalee Sams read the resolution honoring Bishop Thomas and dedicating the portion of Meeting Street at Monday night's council meeting before it was unanimously approved by the Council.Resolution 24-12 states:WHEREAS, The Reverend Doctor Stephen A. Thomas (Bishop Thomas) served Community Fellowship Church in the City of Dalton for almost forty years; andWHEREAS, Bishop Thomas was a founder of the Community Fellowship Church of Ministries Outreach Program, which included such programs as the Bethlehem House of Bread, Youth Ministries, Music Ministries, and other outreach programs; andWHEREAS, Bishop Thomas was a founder of the Northwest Georgia College of Theology, an extension of the North Carolina College of Theology; andWHEREAS, Bishop Thomas served for many years on the Dalton Parks and Recreation Commission, including extensive service as the chair of the Commission; andWHEREAS, Bishop Thomas was an integral part of the creation of the Mack Gaston Community Center; and WHEREAS, Bishop Thomas was a founding member of the Concerned Clergy of Whitfield County; andWHEREAS, Bishop Thomas loved this community and was a proud member of the Dalton High School Class of 1980; and WHEREAS, Bishop Thomas was a community leader who worked tirelessly to better the lives of the citizens of Dalton; and WHEREAS, Bishop Thomas was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather who served as an example to all; andWHEREAS, Bishop Thomas served as a mentor to other pastors and to numerous citizens of this community; and WHEREAS, Bishop Thomas exemplified service and left a great legacy of serving this community; andWHEREAS, the Mayor and Council of the City of Dalton have determined that Bishop Thomas and the legacy that he has left the community are worthy of high honor and recognition;NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor and Council of the City of Dalton hereby recognize the great contributions of Bishop Thomas to the City of Dalton;BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Mayor and Council of the City of Dalton hereby dedicate the portion of Meeting Street from Underwood Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in memory of Bishop Dr. Stephen A. Thomas;BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all resolutions or parts thereof of the City of Dalton in conflict with the provisions herein contained are, to the extent of such conflict, hereby superseded and repealed.BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that these Resolutions shall take effect immediately upon their adoption.
Swedish researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg have developed an AI method that improves the identification of toxic chemicals  based solely on knowledge of the molecular structure. The method can contribute to better control and understanding of the ever-growing number of chemicals used in society, and can also help reduce the amount of animal tests.

A representation of the molecule's structure is used as input to a pretrained transformer, which interprets the molecular structure. The transformer creates a so-called vector embedding  a numerical representation of the toxicity of the structure. That is then used as input to a deep neural network (DNN), together with information about the type of toxic effect you want to assess and the exposure duration. The output of the neural network is the predicted molecule concentration that causes the requested effect. Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg Mikael Gustavsson and Erik Kristiansson, Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg. Daniel Stahre, Chalmers University of Technology

The use of chemicals in society is extensive, and they occur in everything from household products to industrial processes. Many chemicals reach our waterways and ecosystems, where they may cause negative effects on humans and other organisms. One example is PFAS, a group of problematic substances which has recently been found in concerning concentrations in both groundwater and drinking water. It has been used, for example, in firefighting foam and in many consumer products.

Negative effects for humans and the environment arise despite extensive chemical regulations, that often require time-consuming animal testing to demonstrate when chemicals can be considered as safe. In the EU alone, more than two million animals are used annually to comply with various regulations. At the same time, new chemicals are developed at a rapid pace, and it is a major challenge to determine which of these that need to be restricted due to their toxicity to humans or the environment.

Valuable help in the development of chemicals The new method developed by the Swedish researchers utilises artificial intelligence for rapid and cost-effective assessment of chemical toxicity. It can therefore be used to identify toxic substances at an early phase and help reduce the need for animal testing.

"Our method is able to predict whether a substance is toxic or not based on its chemical structure. It has been developed and refined by analysing large datasets from laboratory tests performed in the past. The method has thereby been trained to make accurate assessments for previously untested chemicals," says Mikael Gustavsson, researcher at the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Chalmers University of Technology, and at the Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg.

"There are currently more than 100,000 chemicals on the market, but only a small part of these have a well-described toxicity towards humans or the environment. To assess the toxicity of all these chemicals using conventional methods, including animal testing, is not practically possible. Here, we see that our method can offer a new alternative," says Erik Kristiansson, professor at the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Chalmers and at the University of Gothenburg.

The researchers believe that the method can be very useful within environmental research, as well as for authorities and companies that use or develop new chemicals. They have therefore made it open and publicly available.

Broader and more accurate than today's computational tools Computational tools for finding toxic chemicals already exist, but so far, they have had too narrow applicability domains or too low accuracy to replace laboratory tests to any greater extent. In the researchers' study, they compared their method with three other, commonly used, computational tools, and found that the new method has both a higher accuracy and that it is more generally applicable.

"The type of AI we use is based on advanced deep learning methods," says Erik Kristiansson. "Our results show that AI-based methods are already on par with conventional computational approaches, and as the amount of available data continues to increase, we expect AI methods to improve further. Thus, we believe that AI has the potential to markedly improve computational assessment of chemical toxicity.

The researchers predict that AI systems will be able to replace laboratory tests to an increasingly greater extent.

"This would mean that the number of animal experiments could be reduced, as well as the economic costs when developing new chemicals. The possibility to rapidly prescreen large and diverse bodies of data can therefore aid the development of new and safer chemicals and help find substitutes for toxic substances that are currently in use. We thus believe that AI-based methods will help reduce the negative impacts of chemical pollution on humans and on ecosystem services," says Erik Kristiansson.

More about: the new AI method The method is based on transformers, an AI model for deep learning that was originally developed for language processing. Chat GPT  whose abbreviation means Generative Pretrained Transformer  is one example of the applications.

The model has recently also proved highly efficient at capturing information from chemical structures. Transformers can identify properties in the structure of molecules that cause toxicity, in a more sophisticated way than has been previously possible.
North Korea's external economic relations minister has expressed intent for his country's cooperation with Iranian automaker Saipa during a recent rare trip to Tehran.

Yun Jong-ho made the remark as he visited a booth run by Iran's second-largest automaker at a trade show in Tehran during his 10-day stay in Iran, according to posts shared on the company's Instagram account on April 29.

"North Korea is ready to cooperate with Saipa Automotive Group," Yun was quoted as saying. "Given favorable bilateral political ties, the two countries could cooperate in the automotive industry."

But it remains unclear to what extent the two countries will be able to cooperate, with the passenger carmaking industry in North Korea known to have ground to a halt as the North focuses on manufacturing military vehicles.

North Korea took part in the inter-Korean carmaking joint venture Pyeonghwa Motors with the Unification Church foundation in South Korea in the early 2000s, but the foundation handed over management to the North in 2013.

It is rare for a ranking North Korean official to visit Iran. The last such visit took place in 2019, when Pak Chol-min, then North Korean vice chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, visited Iran to discuss cooperation.

Having established diplomatic ties in 1973, Pyongyang and Tehran are known to have close ties while under international sanctions for their weapons programs. The countries have been suspected of exchanging ballistic missile parts and technology, especially during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. (Yonhap)
When Robin Lee Graham was 16 years old, he made international headlines for becoming the youngest person to sail around the world on his own.

From 1965 until 1970, he traveled a total of 30,000 miles with a crew of cats as his only companions. Now, Robin lives on the shores of Flathead Lake in Montana with his wife Patti, whom he met at sea.

Ever since childhood, Robin has always had an interest in all things water. At the age of 10, he persuaded his father to buy a small dinghy boat for him. A few years later, his father purchased a bigger boat and decided to take the family on a journey out to sea.

When they returned, Robin struggled to keep up with school. He was bored with the lessons in the classroom and preferred the skills he learned while at sea.

So, Robin moved out to their familys new home in Hawaii. He made two friends who also loved sailing. Together, they pooled their savings and bought a 16-foot aluminum lifeboat. On January 28, 1965, Robin and his friends set out to Lanai.

However, they got caught in a storm. The next morning, they discovered through their transistor radio that the U.S. Coast Guard was looking for them and that it was assumed they had perished in the storm.

They managed to reach Lanai and came across some beachgoers who drove them to the police station. They were fined with a $100 ticket for negligently operating a boat, but the judge dropped the fine. Robins dad got him a better boat in California so he wouldnt try to go off in an unsafe vessel again.

In the summer of 1965, he took off from California to Hawaii, starting on his five-year-long adventure. He made stops in Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, and the West Indies. Sailing solo came with a lot of hardships, but he managed to overcome them. For instance, it was a challenge to get proper sleep. The biggest struggle was the constant loneliness.

He also encountered some near-death experiences. Between New Guinea and Australia, he almost collided with a big steamer passing by him in the middle of the night. The wave caused his boat to tilt sideways, and water started pouring into it. Fortunately, his boat righted itself.

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WikiMedia Commons / Edits by CT

In Ephesians 5:21, Paul instructs Christians to submit to one another. These words have traditionally been understood to require mutual submission, even among family members. The reformer John Calvin, for example, acknowledged that the notion of a father submitting to his child or a husband submitting to his wife might seem strange at first glance, but he never questioned that such submission is indeed what Paul prescribes.

In more recent years, however, this reading of Ephesians 5:21 has been called into questionironically, in the name of theological conservatism. Many evangelical scholars now assert that the submission in this verse is not mutual submission (everyone submits to everyone) but one-directional submission to those in authority (some submit to others). The most outspoken proponent of this view is Wayne Grudem, a prominent theologian who helped establish the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

Grudem, who recently announced his retirement from teaching, has argued for more than three decades that Ephesians 5:21 could be paraphrased as follows: Those who are under authority should be subject to others among you who have authority over them. On Grudems reading, this verse requires a wife to submit to her husband, but it does not in any sense require a husband to submit to his wife.

In defense of this interpretation, Grudem appeals to the meaning of hypotasso, the Greek verb translated to submit or to be subject. Grudem claims that this verb always means to be subject to someone elses authority, in all Greek literature, Christian and non-Christian.

In every example we can find, Grudem contends, when person A is said to be subject to person B, person B has a unique authority which person A does not have. In other words, hypotasso always implies a one-directional submission to someone in authority.

The problem with this argument is that the claims about hypotasso are simply not true. Consider the following eight ancient passages containing the verb hypotasso. Each decisively refutes Grudems claim that hypotasso always implies one-direction submission to someone in authority. In several, hypotasso is used to describe submission that is explicitly mutual, not one-directional. And in all eight passages, hypotasso is used to describe submission to people who are not in positions of authority. (All translations are my own. An extended discussion of these and other relevant texts will appear in my forthcoming article in the Lexington Theological Quarterly.)

The seventh-century monk Antiochus of Palestine gives the following advice to the one seeking humility: Let him submit to his neighbor, and let him be a slave to him, remembering the Lord, who did not disdain to wash the feet of his disciples (Pandectes 70.7577). The fourth-century bishop Gregory of Nyssa explains that every member of a monastic community should consider himself a slave of Christ who has been purchased for the common need of the brothers and should thus submit to all (De instituto Christiano 8.1:67.1368.12). In a personal letter, the fourth-century bishop Basil of Caesarea speaks of one who in accordance with love submits to his neighbor (Letters 65.1.1011). In a treatise regulating life in a monastic community, Basil cites Pauls exhortation in 1 Corinthians 10:24: Let no one seek his own good, but the good of the other. Basil thus concludes that it is necessary to submit either to God according to his commandment or to others because of his commandment (Patrologia Graeca 31:1081.3038). In a treatise attributed to Basil, the author describes members of a monastic community as both slaves of one another and masters of one another. This slavery to one another is not brought about by coercion, but is rather done willingly, with love submitting the free to one another (Patrologia Graeca 31:1384.714). In a sermon addressing sexual promiscuity, the fourth-century archbishop John Chrysostom states that the bridegroom and the bride who have not had prior experience with other sexual partners will submit to one another in marriage (Patrologia Graeca 62:426.3335). In an exhortation to mutual submission, Chrysostom considers how one should treat a fellow Christian who has no intention of reciprocating: But he does not intend to submit to you? Nevertheless, you submit; not merely obey, but submit. Entertain this feeling towards all, as if all were your masters (Patrologia Graeca 62:134.5659). In a treatise attributed to the fourth-century monk Macarius of Egypt, the author exhorts members of a monastic community to remain in this good and edifying slavery and to render all submission to each one. The author envisions all the brothers submitting to one another with all joy, and exhorts them as imitators of Christ to embrace submission and pleasant slavery for the refreshment of one another (Great Letter 257.22261.1).

Grudems interpretation of Ephesians 5:21 is thus founded upon a misunderstanding of the Greek verb hypotasso. As illustrated by the passages cited above, this verb is not only used to describe submission to people in positions of authority; it is also used to describe submission to neighbors, to brothers, and to wives.

Moreover, using Thesaurus Linguae Graecaea massive digital library containing essentially all of the extant Greek literature from the ancient worldI have examined every citation and allusion to Ephesians 5:21 prior to A.D. 500. I find no evidence that the Greek-speaking church was even aware of the some-to-others interpretation defended by Grudem. Pauls words in Ephesians 5:21 are uniformly understood by the ancient Christians to require submission to everyone in the community, regardless of rank, and are thus routinely associated with passages such as Mark 10:44 (be a slave of all) and Galatians 5:13 (be slaves to one another).

For example, immediately after quoting Ephesiasn 5:21, Chrysostom gives the following exhortation to mutual submission: Let there be an interchange of slavery and submission. For thus there will be no slavery. Let not one sit down in the rank of free, and the other in the rank of slave; rather it is better that both masters and slaves be slaves to one another (Patrologia Graeca 62:134.2832).

Notice that in expounding Ephesians 5:21, Chrysostom uses the language of Galatians 5:13: be slaves to one another. While these two verses are routinely associated in the Greek patristic literature, Pauls English readers often miss the connection. English Bibles typically render Galatians 5:13 as serve one another, but Pauls language is stronger than this translation suggests. The Greek noun for slave is doulos, and the verb used in Galatians 5:13 is the cognate douleuo, which means to be a slave.

The verbs douleuo and hypotasso are thus quite similar and are sometimes used together as near synonyms. Consider the following four passages in which the verb hypotasso is paired with the verb douleuo.

The second-century Roman author Plutarch cites Platos advice not to submit and be a slave to passion (Moralia 1002E). The Roman philosopher Epictetus, a younger contemporary of Paul, excoriates the one who fails to attain the Stoic ideal: You are a slave, you are a subject (Discourses4.4.33). The Shepherd of Hermas, a second-century Christian text, describes what will happen if you are a slave to the good desire and submit to it (45.5). In the first of the eight passages cited above, Antiochus writes, Let him submit to his neighbor, and let him be a slave to him.

In his arguments against mutual submission, Grudem has overlooked the similarity between these two verbs. He correctly observes that hypotasso implies a hierarchy in which one person is ordered below another person. Since two people cannot simultaneously be beneath each other, Grudem and other critics of mutual submission dismiss the concept as self-contradictory.

However, these scholars fail to observe that the verb douleuo in Galatians 5:13 also implies a hierarchy in which one person is ordered below another person. Nevertheless, as all commentators acknowledge, Paul is obviously using the verb douleuo in Galatians 5:13 to describe action that is mutual, not one-directional. Thus, while Pauls language of mutual submission in Ephesians 5:21 is indeed (deliberately) self-contradictory, it is no more self-contradictory than his language of mutual slavery in Galatians 5:13.

The ancient church uniformly understood Ephesians 5:21 to require mutual submission, and the modern rejection of this interpretation among some evangelicals is rooted in spurious claims about the Greek verb hypotasso. Jesus took the form of a slave (Phil. 2:7), and all who follow him, both male and female, are called to embrace submission too.

Murray Vasser is assistant professor of New Testament at Wesley Biblical Seminary. This article summarizes academic research that was presented at the 2023 meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature and is forthcoming in Lexington Theological Quarterly.
Photography by Angela Lu Fulton

Inside a cemetery in West Java, a woman rests on a mattress laid on top of a gravestone beneath the oak trees. The graveyard is home not only to the dead but to the living poor, who have nowhere else to go.

Residents of the Rose Cemetery community collect garbage, drive pedicabs, or clean graves by day. In the northern section of the cemetery, about 200 families live in brick and tin buildings lining a ditch filled with trash and milky sewage water. At night, many women resort to prostitution to provide for their families. Their daughters are often soldor kidnappedinto the sex trade. (CT changed the names of the cemeteries and only used the first names of its residents for security reasons.)

Compassion First (CF) offered tutoring, parenting classes, and cooking classes for the community on a blue covered porch in the cemetery complex. Recently they moved to a new community center nearby. CF focuses on fighting sex trafficking in Indonesia, and here at the cemetery, that means community development among families vulnerable to exploitation.

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Susi and Mala, two mothers who have lived in the community their whole lives, noted that neighbors rarely knew one another in the past. CF arrived during the COVID-19 pandemicinitially to provide food for the community and scholarships to the children. Since then, the neighborhood has become much more close-knit and better resourced. For young girls, this could make the difference between whether they are trafficked or not.

Susi learned from the cooking class how to make seblak (a spicy dish made of wet crackers and meat or seafood, smothered in sambal chili paste) and now sells it to supplement her income. Mala learned about the five love languages in the parenting class and this helped her relate to her children and husband. I learned that kids are like durians, she said. Spiky on the outside and soft inside.

Mala said that since CF started its program, all the moms have started small businesses.

Usually a group comes for a while [then leaves], but YKYU comes here continually, Mala said. (YKYU is the Indonesian name for CF.) They really care for us, both the kids and the moms.

Staying in a community continually is what makes Compassion First effective in Indonesia and unique among international antisex trafficking efforts there. Beyond the two community development programs in West Java cemeteries, the Oregon-based organization operates two shelters for girls rescued from sex trafficking and a transitional home.

They also work with law enforcement to help return trafficked girls to their homes, partner with other groups to monitor ferry terminals for traffickers, and arrange trainings for police, churches, and local communities on how to spot trafficking.

The work is slow and challenging, and opposition from mafia-linked traffickers and corrupt police had prompted CF leaders to consider giving up. But, amid their weariness, they say theyve seen God bring the right people and the right resources at the right time.

We talk about our work  in terms of everyday aftercare, everyday advocacy, said Traci Espeseth, Compassion Firsts director of development. And it really comes back to just being faithful in showing up day in and day out and saying yes to Gods invitation.

Photography by Angela Lu Fulton A cemetery in West Java where the poor have made their homes.

Providing resources to victims of child sex trafficking

An estimated 70,00080,000 Indonesian children are victims of sexual exploitation, according to the US State Departments 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report on Indonesia. Because the archipelago is expansive, girls are frequently transferred between the 6,000 inhabited islands, making it difficult to track them down and bring them home.

Sex traffickers often use debt or false offers of employment to trap girlsespecially those from poor familiesinto sex work. Tourist spots like the island of Bali are destinations for foreign and local child sex tourism.

In 2022, the TIP report ranked Indonesia as Tier 2, meaning that while the government hasnt reached the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking, it is making a concerted effort.

The government has come a long way since CF founder and CEO Mike Mercer first started to work in Indonesia in 2010. Before that, Mercer worked on postHurricane Katrina relief through his Foursquare church in Beaverton, Oregon. After learning about sex trafficking in Southeast Asia, he sought to work in an underserved country. His contacts told him that Indonesia had a great need, as other NGOs have tried and failed due to the difficulty of the work.

While other antisex trafficking groups congregated in Thailand and Cambodia, he headed to Indonesia, where his denomination had 13,000 churches. He knew that to succeed, hed need local partners.

In 2010, CF opened a shelter for child victims of sex trafficking in the Christian-majority province of North Sulawesi. Due to the poverty in the province and the fact that women from the region are light-skinned (which is viewed as attractive in Indonesia), it has the second-highest number of women trafficked in Indonesia.

CF built connections with law enforcement in the city, especially the head of the investigative unit for women and children. We were hand in glove from the beginning because we were aligned, Mercer said. I think that was the provision of God.

Police were eager for CF to build a shelter as they had recently busted a sex trafficking ring and sent the girls back to their homes in North Sulawesi. Yet because the families and communities werent ready to receive themsome came from unsafe homes and many were stigmatized for their pastthey struggled to reintegrate into society, and all the girls were re-trafficked.

The police were demoralized. So when CF contacted them about providing aftercare for rescued girls, local law enforcement were eager to help.

CFs growing pains

With funds donated from the US, CF hired Indonesian staff, trained them with the help of veteran sex trafficking groups like Transitions Global, and started housing girls. But it wasnt nearly enough.

At first, we had to make it up as we went, said Winda Winowatan, president of CF Indonesia. A North Sulawesi native, Winowatan worked in the church before joining the organization. She noted that while they had models from other parts of the world, locally, we had no one to learn from.

Ervillia Valentina, one of the first house moms at Sarahs House in North Sulawesi, experienced many of those challenges firsthand. She lived 24/7 at the shelter with another house mom and two security guards. Even on her days off, Ervillia slept at the shelter. Together, they cared for four girls.

One night, all four ran away. They were terrified because they were going through their legal cases, where they needed to testify against their traffickers, Ervillia said. These attempts at prosecution would upset traffickers, who are closely tied to the mafia. Ervillia remembers mafia members revving their motorbikes outside the shelter to intimidate them. At times, the girls and the CF team needed to spend the night at a hotel.

When a girl ran away, case managers checked in with their parents, friends, and social media to find out where theyd gone. Then they brought them back and discussed whether the shelter was the right place for them. The first time, all four girls decided to return to the shelter.

One time after a girl ran away and Ervillia found her, the girl grabbed a knife from the kitchen and threatened to kill Ervillia. From then on, CF decided that house moms should not stay at the shelter 24 hours a day but live outside and trade shifts with others.

Valerie Bellamy, CFs director of operations, said that although the girls choose to enter the shelter, most have tried to run away. Every time, CF will go find them again: There comes a point when she realizes that shes worth going after.

Photography by Angela Lu Fulton In the cemetery complex, Compassion First held classes on the blue covered porch.

Miraculous interventions

At times, the dangers have been grave. Mercer noted that one of their first court cases in 2011 took place in a rural city, and CF faced opposition not only from the mafia but from the corrupt police force. During the trial, one girl testified and named seven government officials whom she had been sold to. Several were sitting in the courtroom.

Its [times like this] where everybody on our team should have just  gone home, everybody should have quit, Mercer said. One of the ways we know the hand of God is with us is that all of those people still work for us today. Its phenomenal.

Their story landed in the newspaper, which was seen by an official from the US embassy, who asked for a meeting with Mercer and CF staff. A photo from that meeting was publicized, and suddenly all the opposition stopped as the police realized the world was watching. Through CFs connections with the embassy in Indonesia, they were able to invite the head of the Portland Police Bureau and other US government officials to train local Indonesians on how to investigate sex trafficking cases and how to identify and engage with the victims.

Westerners dont actually get to go in and kick down doors, Mercer said. Anybody who says they do that is acting dangerously.  We are here to partner with our friends who are legally able to do that work, and then were here to take care of the humans that they intervene for.

Becoming a government model

Over time, CF has been able to improve their care for the girls as well as their staff. Mercer said they realized they needed to raise a lot more money to hire more people and pay competitive wages to keep them, due to the hazards of the job. By providing their staff with extensive training and support for the secondhand trauma that they encounter, they have prevented the staff turnover that plagues other groups. Today, CF has more than 100 staff, and 90 percent are Indonesian.

At the home, CF provides the girls with trauma-based counseling, homeschooling, legal advocacy, and opportunities to explore their skills and hobbies so that they can pursue different career paths in the future.

Theres a need to transition from surviving from day to day to thinking about tomorrow, what your dreams are, Bellamy said. Referencing the typical girl they serve, she noted, We wish trafficking wasnt part of her story, yet her future is brighter than it has ever been.

At the same time, they work with the girls families to make sure they are ready for their daughters to return. In some cases, the parents were the ones who decided to sell their daughter in the first place, so CF needs to find another safe family in the community.

Since its founding, CF has helped 67 girls and seen 24 cases go to trial, with a total of 23 traffickers convicted. Some cases resulted in multiple convictions and some with none.

The Indonesian government now uses Sarahs House as a model. Winowatan has created step-by-step instructions for the North Sulawesi government to deal with trafficking victims.

CF has also seen fruit from its partnership with local law enforcement: In 2015, a government official in the province of Papua told Mercer that since doing a training two years earlier, they had seen a 50 percent reduction in the trafficking of girls from North Sulawesi to Papua.

And since 2022, CF has partnered with Love Justice International to monitor ferry terminals in North Sulawesi. Mercer heard that traffickers are now unable to get girls off the boats in North Sulawesi, so theyve had to either find girls from another province or take more expensive routes.

Going where theyre invited

The needs elsewhere in Indonesia are many, but Mercer doesnt want the group to dictate where they go to help. Instead, they wait to be invited into different spaces.

They expanded their work into West Java cemeteries in 2012 only after female sex workers invited them into their community. Mercer had heard that cemeteries in urban centers are the end of the road for sex workers, as the women there are either stuck in a generational cycle of prostitution or have matriculated through this nefarious network of prostitution and they age out of everything, Mercer said. This is the last stop.

With the leader of a local Christian ministry, a person of peace, and a box of sandwiches, CF staff visited what they have called Marigold Cemetery after dark and got to know the women selling themselves among the gravestones. On their second visit, they asked if they could organize and invite the women to a Christmas gala. The women agreed.

From there, relationships developed. CF started to better understand their needs, and in 2015, they opened their first community center near the cemetery, providing scholarships, tutoring, and classes. Every year, they continue to hold a gala, now for Thanksgiving instead of Christmas.

CFs entrepreneurship class teaches adults and teens how to make journals using leftover fabric from boldly patterned Indonesian batiks. The journals are then sold in the US or to tourists visiting Indonesia, and all the proceeds return to the students.

One member of the class, 22-year-old Asya, has come to the center since she was in the sixth grade. She started making journals as a teen in between taking classes at the center. From the skills shes learned from that class, including managing finances and photographing products, shes started small businesses selling satays on the street and creating flower arrangements for special events.

What she appreciates most is the community shes found in the class. I share everything with them, Asya said.

Expansion in Java

The invite into the Rose Cemetery community, where Mala and Susi reside, came when COVID-19 devastated the already-struggling community. Many residents lost their jobs and could not feed their children.

CF helped provide food for those families and invited them to join the Thanksgiving gala at the Marigold Center. At the event, the families told staff they also wanted the same resources and opportunities. CF eagerly agreed.

I wish in 1997 YKYU was here so I could also study instead of getting married at 16, Mala said wistfully. She dropped out of school after her first year of junior high because her dad died, and the family had no money for school. I would rather have gone to school, so thats what I tell my kids to do.  I ask them to join [YKYU] programs so that they can get support for their education, because as a mom, I cant help them.

As police connected CF with more rescued girls from the Muslim-majority West Java, CF realized they needed to open another aftercare home in the region. This would allow the girls to stay within their community and quell concerns among Muslim parents that their daughters would be Christianized if they went to Christian-majority North Sulawesi.

So in 2019, CF opened a second shelter called Grace House. Ervillia, who worked at the home as a program coordinator, said that they never forced Christianity on their mostly Muslim girls but gave them opportunities to learn about Jesus. Once a week, they hold share nights where pastors and volunteers share about their lives and tell stories from the Bible.

One of the girls in our care program said she felt really loved and really accepted by our staff, and so that makes her love being in the program, Ervillia said. Thats how we see her life change and her self-worth change.

While Grace House closed in 2021 due to landlord issues, around the same time, a pastor in West Java donated a property to CF, inviting them to build a shelter there to help local girls. Today, that center cares for three girls.

In the future, Mercer sees CF continuing to step into new spaces where their services are needed. The Indonesian government had said they hoped Compassion First would work in every province in the country. Currently, they are in fourincluding a case management office in Bali.

As Indonesia continues to invite us to serve, then thats what well be doing, Mercer said. We grow out of assignment, not out of ambition.
Home News 3 Episcopal dioceses vote to unify pending denomination approval

Three Episcopal Church dioceses based in Wisconsin have voted in favor of a measure to unify into a single regional body, a proposal that still needs approval from the denomination.

Last week, the Episcopal dioceses of Eau Claire, Fond du Lac and Milwaukee held a joint special convention in Baraboo, where clergy and lay leaders overwhelmingly voted to become one regional body.

The Episcopal Wisconsin Trialogue website announced the results of the vote on Saturday, with Eau Claire clergy and laity voting 52-2 in favor, Fond du Lac clergy and laity voting 86-20 in favor and Milwaukee clergy and laity voting 213-7 in favor.

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If the merger is approved by the 81st General Convention in June, the new Episcopal Diocese of Wisconsin will have approximately 11,500 baptized members and 101 member congregations.

The new diocese would be led by the Rev. Matthew Gunter, the bishop of Fond du Lac, bishop provisional of Eau Claire and assisting bishop in Milwaukee, reported Episcopal News Service.

Efforts to merge the three dioceses date back to 2021, when a steering committee began convening task forces to investigate the possibility amid declining membership.

The proposal to merge the three bodies had been called a reunification, as all three entities derive their existence from a single Diocese of Wisconsin created in 1847.

Gunter said in an April 2022 video that the world is changing and the Church, as we are right now, is not ready to engage with the realities and the people shaped by them.

We need to adapt, Gunter said at the time. With two of the bishops of the dioceses in Wisconsin retiring at the end of 2020, we have an opportunity to take a fresh look at how we are organized.

To become one diocese, not just to create a bigger version of what we have been, but to look at what it might mean to reconfigure ourselves and organize ourselves as a diocese, so that we can be about mission.

Last October, the three dioceses each separately approved a resolution at their annual conventions that would allow for a final vote on the issue sometime in late April or early May.

The resolution passed in Eau Claire with 91.5% support and in Milwaukee with 92% support. It was less popular in Fond du Lac, where the regional body leadership held a roll call vote in which 61.2% of the laity and 76% of the clergy voted yes.
Home News Austin City Council prompts pushback from Paxton over 'transgender protection resolution'

The Austin City Council in Texas voted 10-1 last Thursday to approve a resolution that one councilmember opposed out of concern it would effectively mandate city authorities to disobey the state Legislature's recent Senate Bill 14 passed last year.

The city council's measure also prompted pushback from Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The resolution, which was also described as a "transgender protection resolution" by its lead sponsor Councilmember Jose "Chito" Vela, directs the municipal government not to provide municipal staff, funds or resources to "investigate, criminally prosecute, or impose administrative penalties upon []" anyone pursuing trans-affirming care.

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The measure further directs the Austin Police Department to make enforcement of SB 14 their lowest priority.

"Trans people deserve the right to self-determination," Vela said shortly before the resolution was passed last week. "Our state has forced them and their medical providers into hiding and that is wrong, Austin should not be a party to that any more than we legally have to be."

Austin is the first city in the state to pass such a resolution against SB 14, which passed last June.

The bill, which went into effect Sept. 1, prohibits gender medicalization such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and elective cosmetic surgeries such as double mastectomies for girls who identify as boys. It also forbids the use of state funds for such procedures in children.

Austin City Councilmember Mackenzie Kelly, the only member affiliated with the Republican Party on the officially nonpartisan city council, was the only holdout against the resolution, as noted by Courthouse News. Kelly was concerned that the resolution was effectively suggesting that municipal personnel should disregard state law.

"To me, this resolution sends an explicit yet confusing message to our law enforcement officers to act in conflict with state law," Kelly said. "As a home rule city, Austin does indeed have a significant degree of autonomy, however, as a political subdivision of the state of Texas our autonomy should not be construed as a license to continually undermine state law."

Ken Paxton, the state's Republican attorney general, fired off a statement last Thursday rebuking Austin's city government, reminding them that they are under state authority when it comes to protecting children from trans procedures.

Claiming that it seemingly directs city authorities not to comply with the state's prohibition of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and trans surgeries for children, Paxton said the resolution is "riddled with problems." He also said it is predicated on the "falsehood" that such treatments have been "proven to be evidence-based, medically necessary, and lifesaving."

Citing the growing body of medical research rejecting such claims, Paxton noted that the Texas Legislature banned gender medicalization for minors after concluding they were dangerous, and the resolution effectively has no power.

"Further, the resolution is no more than an empty political statement," Paxton continued. "Each clause directing the City Manager to defy SB 14 is prefaced with the nonsensical qualification, 'except to the extent required by law.' In other words, the Austin City Council would order the City Manager and city employees to follow the law while pretending to say the exact opposite."

"If the City of Austin refuses to follow the law and protect children, my office will consider every possible response to ensure compliance," Paxton added. "Texas municipalities do not have the authority to pick and choose which state laws they will or will not abide by. The people of Texas have spoken, and Austin City Council must listen."

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, who is affiliated with the Democratic Party and once served in the Texas Senate, voted for the resolution and issued a statement last week pushing back against Paxton's assertion that the city is defying state law, according to KXAN.

"Paxton is accusing the City of Austin of refusing to follow state law while simultaneously dismissing the resolution as an 'empty political statement,'" Watson said. "The Austin City Council isn't flouting state law. Were doing what the state and our residents want us to do  prioritizing public safety and basic needs of all Austinites. This is about priorities."

Watson went on to note that he and the rest of city council want Austin's "limited city resources" to go to 911 calls and other crucial services "rather than targeting transgender individuals seeking healthcare."

"The resolution passed by the Austin City Council is a statement  that we care about all Austinites and want to use our limited City resources to serve and protect all our neighbors," Watson added.

The Christian Post has reached out to the city of Austin for further comment, and will update this story they provide one.
Home News Biden awards priest who runs gang rehab ministry Presidential Medal of Freedom

A Catholic priest who founded a ministry serving former gang members received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In a statement published Friday, President Joe Biden announced 19 individuals who would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony at the White House that day.

One recipient, Fr. Gregory Boyle, is a Catholic priest who founded Homeboy Industries, which the White House describes as the worlds largest gang-intervention and rehabilitation program.

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As Biden said during the ceremony, the Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by former President John F. Kennedy to recognize any person who has made an especially meritorious contribution to the security  and national interests of the United States or world peace, cultural or other significant  public or private endeavors.

Biden praised Boyles faith in a better tomorrow.

Your service as a Jesuit priest over four decades reminds us of the power of redemption, rehabilitation, and our obligation to those who have been condemned or counted out," Biden said. "Thank you, Father Greg, for your amazing grace.

Inspired by his Jesuit teachers, Fr. Greg Boyle has dedicated his life to healing and hope, a military aide detailed as Biden wrapped the Presidential Medal of Freedom around Boyles neck. As a young priest assigned to one of Los Angeles most underserved parishes, he founded Homeboy Industries, now the largest gang-rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world.

The military aide credited Homebody Industries with helping thousands of Angelenos turn their lives around, connecting them to jobs, counseling and a warm-hearted community where all are welcome and cherished.

Noting how Boyle answered Jesus call to serve the least of these, the military aide characterized him as a testament to the power of Gods healing love and Americas enduring grace.

The main programs offered by Homeboy Industries are an 18-month employment and re-entry program and discrete services such as tattoo removal or substance abuse resources," according to its website.

Homeboy Industries says that it has served 7,800 community clients and provided over 3,000 tattoo removal treatments since its founding in 1988.

The 18-month employment and re-entry program served over 400 men and women in 2018 alone. The ministry's 2022-23 annual report shows that 21,500 class sessions took place during that time period, and about 11,840 tattoo treatments were also performed.

We work with the population that nobody desires to work with, and its a principle of this place that we stand with them," Boyle said in a statement on the website.

Gang violence is about a lethal absence of hope.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is not the first award bestowed on Boyle in recognition of his work to rehabilitate gang members. Boyle has also received the California Peace Prize and was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

In 2014, former President Barack Obama named Boyle a "Champion of Change." In 2017, the University of Notre Dame awarded Boyle the Laetare Medal, which the website describes as the oldest honor given to American Catholics.

While Homeboy Industries originated in Los Angeles, where it continues to operate to this day, the organization has become a blueprint for over 400 organizations around the world, from Alabama and Idaho, to Guatemala and Scotland.

Founded in 2014, the Global Homeboy Network works with organizations worldwide "to create therapeutic communities that offer job skills training, cost-free programs and services and social enterprise employment.

The Global Homeboy Network has partner organizations in 33 states, the District of Columbia, 19 countries and Native American nations.

Boyle has authored two books: Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, written in 2010, and Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, published in 2017.
Home News Jim Jordan launches inquiry into FBI's diversity employment practices

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, has launched an inquiry into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's diversity, equity and inclusion hiring and employment practices.

In a letter sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday, Jordan alleged that the bureau "has struggled with attracting enough qualified applicants from all desired target groups to sustain its mission" because of "the FBI re-focusing its recruitment efforts on DEI statistics."

"The FBI's hyper-fixation on hitting Biden Administration-imposed DEI initiatives, rather than qualifications that make the best federal law enforcement candidates and officers, has created a climate within the FBI that puts the American public and American civil liberties at risk," wrote Jordan, citing an FBI memo leaked last year that expressed concern over "radical-traditionalist" Catholics and the arrest of pro-life activist Mark Houck in 2022.

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Jordan asked Wray to provide the Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government documents showing how many FBI staff are employed in DEI roles, documents listing incentives for meeting DEI goals, recruitment data for the past 10 years and all documents "referring or relating to the FBI's implementation of the Biden Administration's DEI Executive Orders."

Jordan requested the information be provided no later than 5 p.m. on May 20.

Wray was nominated director of the FBI by then-President Donald Trump in 2017. He assumed the role that August and championed the need to better diversify the bureau.

"The reality is we are very focused on trying to make sure our workforce better reflects America," he said before the International Association of Chiefs of Police shortly after becoming director, reported The Wall Street Journal.

"And it doesn't as much as it should, not nearly. A lot of attention is being paid to it. We are starting to see some progress. But I'm impatient with the level of progress we have achieved."

When he took office, around 67% of the FBI's 13,000 agents were white men and 16% were white women, with 4.4% African American and about 7% Hispanic, reported the WSJ.

Although the FBI apologized for the "Radical Traditionalist Catholic" memo, saying it did not meet the "exacting standards of the FBI," U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz submitted a report to Congress last month concluding that there was no "inappropriate" targeting of religious groups.
North Korea on Tuesday promoted its maternity protection policy amid its low birthrate, saying the country provides pregnant women with pre-and post-natal care services 11 times.

The Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, said the country held an event to mark the International Day of the Midwife at the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital the previous day.

In 1992, the International Confederation of Midwives designated May 5 as the International Day of the Midwife and has celebrated it annually.

Citing a participant in the event, the newspaper stressed the need to offer "good environment and conditions" to pregnant women, those who delivered a child, and their babies and highlighted midwives' role in protecting their health.

Naenara, a propaganda media outlet, also promoted the country's maternity protection policy, saying that ordinary pregnant women are receiving pre-natal care services six times and post-natal ones five times.

"Those considered in a high-risk group are taking antenatal care in an unlimited number of times for safe childbirths," it said, citing an official at the maternity hospital in Pyongyang.

North Korea is suffering from low childbirths, prompting its leader Kim Jong-un to call for measures to prevent a fall in the country's birthrate at the first national meeting of mothers in 11 years in December last year.

North Korea's total fertility rate  the number of children that are expected to be born to a woman over her lifetime  came to 1.8 in 2023, according to data posted on the website of the U.N. Population Fund.

North Korea's maternal mortality ratio, the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 newborns, came to 107 in 2020, down from 186 in 2020, according to the "Trends in Maternity Mortality 2000 to 2020" report estimated by the World Health Organization and other U.N. agencies.

The figure compared with eight for South Korea in 2020. (Yonhap)
Home News Mica Miller died from self-inflicted gunshot wound, medical examiner reveals Sister claims Mica told family her husband would shoot her in the head, was stalking her

Updated at 10:57 p.m. ET, May 6: Mica Miller died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Robeson County Medical Examiner Dr. Richard Johnson, ABC 15 reported Monday evening.

Original report:

Two days before she was found dead with a gunshot wound on April 27, Mica Miller, the wife of Pastor John-Paul Miller of Solid Rock at Market Common in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, served her husband with divorce papers. She allegedly warned her family that if she was found fatally shot in the head, her husband should be blamed, according to claims made by her younger sister, Sierra Francis.

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In a sworn affidavit shared on X by Protestia and filed as part of her application to serve as special administrator for her sisters estate, Francis said Mica Miller, 30, had served her husband with divorce papers on April 25 and was looking forward to being free of him because she said he was abusive.

She further warned family members that if she was ever to be found with a bullet in my head, it was not by me, it was JP, Francis said in the affidavit, fingering her brother-in-law.

The affidavit, which was filed in Horry Countys Probate Court, comes as police in North Carolina continue to investigate Mica Millers death. Her husband insists he loved his wife, and despite all his care and support for her, she died by suicide because she suffered from serious mental illness with which she had been grappling for years.

Francis, in her affidavit, rejected the narrative presented by Pastor Miller at his church two Sundays ago.

My sister was hopeful for her future after filing for divorce from John-Paul, Francis wrote in the affidavit.

My sister also expressed to me that she was fearful that she would not make it to the divorce and that her life would be taken from her. It is my belief, based on conversations with my sister, that she told multiple people, including other family members, Francis explained.

Mica stated to me on many occasions if I end up with a bullet in my head, it was not by me, it was JP. Mica forwarded a family group text message notifying us that Mr. Miller was served the divorce papers on April 25, 2024, Francis added. On April 27, 2024, my sister, Mica A. Miller, was found dead as a result of a gunshot wound in Lumberton, North Carolina.

In a separate affidavit supporting Francis application to serve as special administrator, Mica Millers brother, Nathaniel Francis, who was a member of Solid Rock at Market Common, said his late sister also confided in him about her marital struggles.

Nathaniel Francis noted in his affidavit that was also shared on X by Protestia, that he left Solid Rock at Market Common after several years there due to the behaviors I observed.

He said shortly before her death, Mica Miller reported to police that she was being viciously stalked by her estranged husband.

Mica made several police reports over the last few weeks of her tires being slashed and tracking devices found on her car. In Mr. Millers email forwarded to me, he apologizes to Mica for the tires and causing damage to her vehicle, Nathaniel Francis wrote.

Mr. Millers email to my sister continued to state that he was angry when Mica confided or put her family before him and that made him want to hurt her. In his words when someone hurts me, I try to hurt them back rather than forgive. And instead of me forgiving youI just attack and try to cause pain.

When contacted by The Christian Post for comment on Monday, the Rev. Charles Randall, Pastor Millers spiritual advisor and mentor, who previously told CP that the allegations against him were lies, did not respond.

A notice sent to church members on Sunday indicated that Pastor Miller had been released from all ministerial duties at the church "for a time of healing, counsel, and guidance, pursuant to our governing instrument, according to ABC 15.

The Robeson County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the death of Mica Miller, also did not provide any additional updates on her death Monday beyond that they are continuing their investigation.

Two reports from the Horry County Police Department dated March 11 confirmed suspicious stalking claims on that date, ABC 15 reported.

According to one of the reports, Mica Miller told police a razor blade had been placed in her tire at the Springmaid Pier. She said it was the second time she had experienced a tire being deflated in that manner in a week. The responding officer said the metal was a tire deflation device that could be bought online.

Mica Miller named a suspect in the report whose name was redacted. She also expressed concern that she was being watched or followed, but the police stated they didnt have enough evidence to prove the suspect had placed the razor device under her tire.

The story, however, did not end there. Mica Miller was forced to call the police again later that same day while she was at the East Coast Honda dealership. She told police that after another officer helped her change her tire, she stopped at a gas station on her way to the dealership and was approached by the unidentified suspect. She indicated that she didn't wish to talk and attempted to record the suspect with her phone, but the suspect drove off.

Police further acknowledged that Miller informed them that a mechanic had found a tracking device on her car. While she was at a local court office to get a restraining order against the suspect, police reported that the suspect drove by slowly in a white Honda.

Mica told me on numerous occasions that she feared John-Paul and just wanted to escape him, Nathaniel Francis said in the affidavit shared by Protestia.

Sierra Francis explained that she and her sister spoke every few days and would meet in person at least once a month.

I know my sister to have expressed the abuse and violence against her by her husband to others including family members and members of the church congregation, she said. Mica told me that there were people following her, keeping track of where she went. She thought that Mr. Miller hired people to follow her. Mr. Miller later confirmed this during a sermon I watched.

Pastor Miller told CP last Friday that his wife was diagnosed with bipolar II, schizophrenic and dependent personality disorder and had struggled with mental illness for the entirety of their marriage, which began in 2017. He said she was being treated with lithium but did not always want to take her medication which made life difficult to the point where she would try to take her own life.

I took care of her through every time she went to the mental institute. I took care of her every time she stopped taking her lithium. I would never expose this stuff of her if I didn't have to now, but every time she tried to kill herself, I would be there. I would literally sometimes pick her up physically, put her in the truck, take her to the [hospital], Miller said with a slight crack in his voice.

Sierra Francis claimed in the affidavit, however, that Pastor Millers abuse of her sister contributed to her mental decline.

In February 2024, Mr. Miller removed my sisters personal items from the home they shared while she was admitted to Waccamaw Mental Health facility and left them at the apartment of Dianna Niosi. My sister was not aware that her personal possessions had been removed from her residence until she was released from the hospital, Sierra Francis said in the affidavit.

Prior to her admission to Waccamaw, Mica was gathering and sorting the evidence she had to bring to an attorney for filing for divorce, to support her claims against Mr. Miller, and as to his abuse, character, his paramours, and associates he paid off or blackmailed, she added.

While at the facility, those documents, emails, files, etc., were removed from her phone, personal laptop, vehicle, and purse and never recovered. Further, Mica was unable to access her iCloud account, email, or Facebook profile. Mr. Miller continued using at least one of Micas accounts, causing any recipient to believe it was Micas communications.

Sierra Francis said her sister had big plans to move to Kenya to do missionary work and get her life back after the divorce she was planning from Pastor Miller.

Pastor Miller told CP, however, that he has video evidence of his wife testifying to how she previously tried to shoot herself in the head.

Before the pastor could explain to CP last Friday how he believes his wife ended up dead in Lumber River State Park in Robeson County, he was advised by his attorney not to make any further public comments about her passing.
Home News Pursuit Church, Sean Feucht to hold pro-Israel rally at University of Southern California

A Washington state church and Christian worship artist Sean Feucht will hold a pro-Israel rally at the University of Southern California on Wednesday as many pro-Palestinian protests and encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the country.

The multi-campus Pursuit Church is joining various Jewish and Christian groups to hold the "United for Israel" march and rally at the Los Angeles-based campus, according to a statement.

The rally will begin off campus at Exposition Boulevard, between Figueroa Street and Vermont Avenue. Attendees will march to the campus for the conclusion of the demonstration.

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"Collaborating with Sean Feucht, Let Us Worship, Hold the Line, StandWithUs, and various Jewish and Christian groups, The Pursuit aims to provide a platform for the majority voice in America amidst concerning media portrayals influenced by minority extremist perspectives," the statement reads.

"'Pursuit Church Pastor [Russell] Johnson emphasizes the rally's focus on essential issues, including Israel's right to self-defense, the immediate release of all remaining hostages, and the restoration of lasting peace in the region."

The Christian Post contacted Pursuit Church for this story. A spokesperson responded that they could not return comment by press time.

The pro-Israel rally at USC will be held days after Los Angeles police and USC police cleared out a student encampment at the university on Sunday that was created in opposition to Israel's offensive in Gaza. University officials had issued multiple warnings to protesters to vacate the area before the clearing operation commenced.

USC President Carol Folt said in a statement the protest had to be broken up because "the occupation was spiraling in a dangerous direction," as people were being harassed and parts of campus blocked.

"Areas of campus were blocked, people walking down Trousdale, our main thoroughfare, were harassed, and iconic Trojan symbols were defaced," Folt said.

"In addition, university property was stolen, and commencement structures were dismantled. Residence halls, campus throughfares, and libraries had become places of confrontation. Some finals were disrupted with noise and chanting during mandated quiet periods. Yesterday afternoon, outside agitators jumped the perimeter fencing and assaulted our officers."

The operation was "peaceful" with no arrests, Folt stated.

"Campus is opening, students are returning to prepare for finals, and commencement set-up is in full swing," she said.

Another "United for Israel" March was held last month on the campus of Columbia University in New York City, where pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up an encampment on April 17. Authorities broke up the encampment last week, but not before demonstrators took over one of the campus buildings.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas, a terror group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, launched several attacks on Southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostages, some of whom were American citizens.

Israel responded to the attacks with extensive air strikes on the Gaza Strip and a ground offensive, with the stated goals of destroying Hamas and freeing the surviving hostages.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed since last October. The ministry does not differentiate between armed militants and unarmed civilians.

Last month, the ministry reportedly admitted to having "incomplete data" on more than 11,000 of the deaths in its official tally, leading some to question the reliability of the numbers.

Nevertheless, the war in Gaza has sparked many protests on college campuses across the United States, with numerous reports of anti-Semitic incidents between protesters and Jewish students.

On the campus of the University of California Los Angeles last week, violence erupted between demonstrators at a pro-Palestinian encampment and pro-Israeli counter-protesters. On Thursday, police raided the encampment and made over 130 arrests.
Home News Under 1% of Catholics agree with denomination's teaching on sanctity of life issues: report

Less than 1% of American Catholics agree with all three of the Catholic Church's teachings on the sanctity of life issues, showing the widespread existence of what some call "cafeteria Catholics" in the United States, according to an analysis.

Researcher Ryan Burge, an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University who publishes articles on a Substack called "Graphs About Religion," shared data Thursday about the beliefs of Catholics in the U.S., focusing on their views on abortion, capital punishment and euthanasia.

Burge attributed the motivation to conduct the research to comments made by Cardinal Wilton Gregory of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, who referred to President Joe Biden as a "cafeteria Catholic" during an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" on March 31.

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Gregory defined a "cafeteria Catholic" as someone who "chooses that which is attractive and dismisses that which is challenging." Referring to Biden, Gregory stated, "Like a number of Catholics, he picks and chooses dimensions of the faith to highlight while ignoring or even contradicting other parts." In other words, a "cafeteria Catholic" picks and chooses which parts of the faith to abide by, much like someone selecting food in a cafeteria rather than accepting all the teachings of the faith.

When investigating the phenomenon of "cafeteria Catholics," Burge discovered that "it's not just many Catholics who disagree with the teachings of the church."

"[I]n fact, if you look at the data, it's nearly all of them," he wrote.

Using data from the General Social Survey dating back to 1988, he measured the percentage of U.S. Catholics who said they did not support abortion for any reason and also opposed the death penalty and euthanasia at 0.9% in 2022.

The share of U.S. Catholics who aligned with church teaching on all three matters reached a high of about 7% in 1989 while fluctuating between 2.6% and 6.2% in the years since. The 0.9% of U.S. Catholics whose positions on the three issues matched those of the church in 2022 constituted an all-time low.

After noting the Catholic Church's teaching that "Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an ends or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law," Burge presented six graphs documenting U.S. Catholics' positions on abortion over time based on data found in the General Social Survey collected between 1972 and 2022.

Three of the six graphs showed that until recently, most U.S. Catholics opposed legal abortion if a woman "wants no more kids," "is not married" or "can't afford more." However, in all three of those cases, support for legal abortion is at about 50%, according to the most recent data.

"From the 1970s through the 1990s, the share of Catholics who would allow an abortion [if a woman doesn't want more kids] was right around 40%. Now, about half of Catholics would support an abortion in that circumstance," Burge stated. "The trend line is largely the same when Catholics are asked about electing an abortion in a situation where the woman is not married. Now, about half of Catholics would support the right of a woman to obtain a legal abortion in that case."

On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of Catholics have consistently supported legal abortion in cases where the "mother's health" is at risk, the baby was conceived as a result of rape and the baby was determined to have a "serious defect."

The most recent statistics show support for abortions in those cases hovering at around 90%, 80% and 75%, respectively. Support for legal abortion in cases where the mother's health was in danger has never dropped below 80%, while the percentage of Catholics who favored legal abortion in the other two cases has never dipped below 70%.

"[I]f you look at the stated opinion of rank and file Catholics on abortion, there's clear majority support for elective abortion in almost every circumstance," Burge wrote. "For instance, at least three quarters of Roman Catholics favor a woman's right to obtain an abortion if she became pregnant due to a sexual assault. Nearly the same share are supportive of abortion if the child has a serious birth defect."

Burge shared a statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops illustrating the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty, highlighting their declaration that "no matter how heinous the crime, if society can protect itself without ending a human life, it should do so." He presented a graph showing consistent majority support for the death penalty among U.S. Catholics from 1974-2022, ranging from a low of 55% in 2021 to a high of 81% in 1990, with the most recent data measuring Catholic support for the death penalty at 61%.

When looking at data about U.S. Catholics' support for euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide, Burge found that about 70% of American Catholics supported helping or letting people commit suicide in cases of incurable disease in 2022. This represented a stark increase from the 36% who expressed support for euthanasia when the question was first asked in 1977.

The Catholic Church teaches that because "direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons," it is "morally unacceptable."

Burge noted that Catholics are not the only religious demographic that doesn't adhere to the teachings of their churches. He pointed to a poll conducted by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research that asks specific doctrinal questions.

Among Evangelicals who participated in the survey, about a quarter (26%) said they don't believe the Bible is literally true. Meanwhile, more than half (56%) said that "God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam," and 43% said that "Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God."

Research from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University's American Worldview Inventory 2024 finds that only 6% of professed Christians in the United States hold a biblical worldview.

"[T]he typical American adult is not a worldview purist but is essentially a worldview plagiarist, combining beliefs and behaviors borrowed from an average of nine recognized worldviews into their personal worldview blend," the report stated.
Home Opinion Beware the leaven of Progressive clergy

A recent article in The Christian Post highlighted a gathering of Christian clergy, theologians and scholars at the Yale Divinity Schools Center for Public Theology & Policy. Religious Leaders Sign Declaration Denouncing Religious Nationalism, Promoting Progressive Causes, read the headline, capturing the essence of the event.

At the heart of their assembly was the signing of the New Haven Declaration of Moral and Spiritual Issues in the 2024 Presidential Election, a document condemning religious nationalism while affirming support for progressive initiatives. [1]

Bishop William J. Barber II, a well-known progressive activist, spearheaded this effort. Hailing from North Carolina, Barber previously led the Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro and held the presidency of the states NAACP chapter. His advocacy during that time, notably through the Moral Mondays movement, garnered national attention, albeit not without criticism.

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Despite purportedly transcending political divisions, Barbers tactics did more to exacerbate societal rifts rather than bridge them. While some lauded his causes, especially the press, his legislative impact remained less than minimal and overshadowed by disruptive protests that not only delayed legislators in the North Carolina General Assembly from doing the peoples business but led to hundreds of unnecessary arrests that congested the states court system.

As a registered lobbyist for the Christian Action League of North Carolina, I had a front-row seat to Barbers conduct in the Tar Heel state. I contend it fell far short of the standards expected of a clergyman or a statesman. Instead, he operated as a political agitator with a religious veneer. His agenda was, and never has been, aligned with advancing the Kingdom of God; instead, Barber has sought to supplant the soul-saving Gospel of Jesus Christ with spiritually ruinous progressive Christianity.

The current president and senior lecturer at Repairers of the Breach and co-chair for the Poor Peoples Campaign, Barber denigrates Christians who espouse the belief nations that forsake God and His Commandments will be turned into Hell. He smears them with derogatory terms such as white evangelicalism and religious nationalism (sometimes referenced in America as Christian nationalism). He contends that their concerns are not only a perversion of Christianity but also a distraction from the real issues such as a living wage, healthcare, ecological justice, criminal justice reform, and voting rights  all focal points of the New Haven Declaration. [2]

What do these issues have in common? What thread ties them together? Its not the Scriptures, regardless of the claims. Many progressives dont take the Bible as fully reliable and reject its inspiration and inerrancy. These issues reflect a commitment to social justice.

While Barber and his co-signatories on the New Haven Declaration interpret social justice differently from the biblical concept of justice, its important to recognize that both perspectives emphasize the importance of righteous living in community. In biblical terms, justice is foundational to Gods requirements. However, progressive Christians prioritize social justice with a theological emphasis on addressing immediate societal needs to the detriment of considerations about the afterlife. Specifically, this shift alters Christianitys message from a proclamation of Christs completed work of salvation and the promise of eternal life for believers to an emphasis purely on ethical imperatives for societal improvement.

Michael J. Kruger, a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, provides light here, arguing:

In other words, human problems are defined by progressives in purely horizontal terms (the way humans relate to the world or fellow humans), and not in vertical terms (the way man relates to God). As a result, the highest ideal of progressive Christianity can be nothing other than fixing present, temporal problems. Speaking of eternity is seen as a distraction at best and a waste of time at worst. Tragically, the progressive position clouds the real message of Christianity  the real message of Jesus. Jesus cared about the suffering of humans, and he called Christians to do the same. We do not address human suffering as an act of moralism but as a response to the grace shown to us at the cross. Moreover, we dont address temporal human suffering exclusively. For even if we could somehow alleviate all human suffering, it would do exactly nothing to meet humanitys greatest need. As Jesus reminds us, What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?' (Matthew 16:26). [3]

In his epistle to young Timothy, the Apostle Paul, gave in one short sentence the core message of genuine Christianity:

This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners  and I am the worst of them all (I Timothy 1:15).

This profound truth articulated by the apostle strongly resonates with every person born of the Spirit of God: that we are profoundly sinful, and none can attain eternal life through their own merits. Redemption required the innocent sacrificial blood of Gods Son, Jesus Christ, spilled on Calvarys cross, to atone for our sins, reconcile us to God, and empower us to extend the same kindness and mercy to others that God has lavished upon us.

This is historic Christianity, which is a religion of grace, Gods unmerited favor, and not a religion of merit. As Kruger correctly contends the ethos of progressive Christianity is actively turning away from matters eternal to a focus on matters earthly. We shouldnt worry ourselves about what happens after death  because no one really knows anyway. All that matters is helping the poor, feeding the hungry, and relieving human suffering. [4]

Christian apologist Alex McFarland similarly addresses this serious doctrinal error, stressing humanitys bearing of the divine image and underscoring the inherent value and dignity of every individual.

Its incumbent upon Christians to extend assistance to those in need. Nonetheless, this doesnt necessitate compromising foundational Christian doctrines about soteriology, the afterlife, Heaven, and Hell, says McFarland. The Gospel message shouldnt be diluted, prioritizing physical needs over the desperate need for spiritual salvation, or endorsing political ideologies contrary to the Christian worldview. [5]

This is exactly what progressive Christianity does, demonstrating it is the actual perversion of the Christian faith, grossly feigning its authentic form. It is mostly definitely not the real McCoy, as Barber insists.

Eric Rush, in an editorial for World Net Daily, aptly labeled progressive Christianity as apostasy, highlighting its perilous political ramifications.

Social justice Christians are those who profess Christianity, but who adhere to politically entrenched concepts of equality and redistribution of wealth. These ideas are ostensibly rooted in their faith, but in truth, they have been incrementally and insidiously insinuated into many American churches by Marxists, progressive politicians, and pastors whose religion has been tainted by the aforementioned parties. How can this be? Well, through the misrepresentation of Gospel messages in the areas of charity and egalitarianism, such Christians have been led to believe that:  Government has a right to enforce religious doctrines (such as those of charity and egalitarianism), and

 Jesus Christ, as a threat to the existing paradigm, was the first radical and essentially commanded this in his teachings. A preposterous extrapolation, to be sure, but thats what they espouse. And of course, government only has the right to enforce the religious doctrines of which these folks and their leaders happen to approve. I declare that social justice Christianity is apostasy; its adherents have abandoned their faith for a cause, and their religion has become perfunctory and pretextual. While some are misguided Christians, others ... are out-and-out Marxist posers. [6]

If anyone doubts the gravity of the situation, consider Barbers remarks at the August 2019 Democratic National Committee meeting, advocating for government involvement in healthcare:

If someone calls it socialism, then we must compel them to acknowledge that the Bible must then promote socialism, because Jesus offered free health care to everyone, and he never charged a leper a co-pay. [7]

Allow me to be abundantly direct. Socialism, by every biblical standard, is anti-Christian!

While I typically refrain from critiquing fellow clergy, its worth recalling Jesus caution to His disciples in Matthews Gospel: Watch out! Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:6). This warning, though symbolic, serves as a timeless reminder to remain vigilant against the teachings and influence of spiritually corrupt leaders, just as Jesus advised His followers in His own time. Its relevance endures today as much as it did when Jesus first uttered these words.

The true threats to America do not stem from those who are concerned about sin-related issues such as abortion, LGBT rights, and the rejection of traditional family structures. Nor do they arise from those who seek to safeguard God-given rights such as religious freedom and gun rights for self-defense, family protection, and defense against tyranny.

The peril to democracy does not come from individuals troubled by the influence of secularism and liberal ideologies in education, particularly in public schools, or those advocating for the inclusion of religious perspectives in curricula. It is not those who prioritize border control who endanger our nations heritage, nor is it the professing Christians who support policies promoting free market principles, limited government intervention, lower taxes, and individual responsibility. Similarly, it is not proponents of tough-on-crime policies, including mandatory sentences and prioritizing law and order, who jeopardize our nations flourishing.

The individuals to be genuinely concerned about are those who profess Christianity, hold religious leadership roles, or serve as civic leaders but reject the foundational principles of historic Christianity. Make no mistake, those who peddle a false promise of cultural salvation can offer nothing more than a bleak existence devoid of vibrancy and hope. Those who espouse socialist political ideologies threaten to diminish our role as stewards of Gods blessings and ultimately relegate us to becoming mere slaves of the state.

This characterization aptly fits Barber and his associates who recently endorsed the New Haven Declaration of Moral and Spiritual Issues. Its imperative to be vigilant of their influence. Beware their leaven, for it will drag this nation straight into Hell.

Resources:

1. Jon Brown, Religious Leaders Sign Declaration Denouncing Religious Nationalism, Promoting Progressive Causes, Christian Post, (2024), accessed April 25, 2024, https://www.christianpost.com/news/religious-leaders-sign-declaration-against-religious-nationalism.htm



2. Ibid.

3. Michael J. Kruger, The 10 Commandments of Progressive Christianity (CruciformPress, 2019), 52-54.

4. Ibid., pg. 51

5. Alex McFarland, 10 Issues That Divide Christians (Regal, 2014), 69-70.

6. Eric Rush, The Apostasy of Social Justice Christians, World Net Daily, accessed April 25, 2024, https://www.wnd.com/2010/05/155917/

7. Paul Kengor, The Christian Left Just Doesnt Get It: Socialism is Anti-Christian, Crisis Magazine, accessed April 25, 2024, https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/the-christian-left-doesnt-get-it-socialism-is-anti-christian.
Home Opinion Speaker Johnson, Senate Republicans must block warrantless US spy tool FISA

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republicans need to keep one set of numbers in mind  35-2  when being pushed to reauthorize the Biden administrations unconstitutional warrantless spying on American citizens under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), as some members of Congress talk about inserting the reauthorization in spending legislation Congress is debating this week.

That number represents the vote tally in the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) on Chairman Jim Jordans proposed reforms to FISA, most especially stopping the ability of Bidens weaponized Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to spy on American citizens without a federal judge first signing a warrant.

FISA goes back to 1978, but Congress added Section 702 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It allows intercepting emails and phone calls from foreigners overseas, but the past few years revealed shocking reports that those warrants also captured communications from Americans.

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For example, one declassified report said that in June 2022, a government analyst conducted four searches of the name of a U.S. senator, which was later determined to be unauthorized.

For another example, reports are that federal agencies were buying information on Americans from companies that sell information to marketers that the Fourth Amendment would block the government from accessing directly.

FISA warrants dont go through the standard process for getting a search warrant as required by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Although the judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) are real federal judges, not all of the legal protections apply in that secretive court. For one thing, only government lawyers are involved.

Section 702 information is stored for years, and the FBI doesnt need a warrant to search some of those records. Many Americans are concerned about that kind of spying power, and its no surprise that members of Congress share that concern.

Opposition is widespread. Not only was Jordan joined by all Republicans on HJC, but he was also joined by every Democrat on the committee except for two. Hardcore leftists like Jerry Nadler and Pramila Jayapal voted in support of the reform package.

Only two especially problematic Democrats  Eric Swalwell and Hank Johnson  opposed it. Most Americans dont take their national security cues from a congressman who sleeps with Chinese Communist spies.

Conservatives in the Senate are also demanding reform. Senator Mike Lee, in particular, has been leading the charge demanding that these unconstitutional warrantless searches must end.

Supporters of the status quo know that a bill that reauthorizes FISA with no reforms would have a very hard time passing as a standalone bill. So, theyve been looking at options to insert them into federal spending bills. Republican leaders in the House and Senate need to make sure that FISA does not end up in must-pass legislation.

Speaker Johnson and Senate Republicans need to stand strong on the policy that any bill that can pass 35-2 in HJC has overwhelming bipartisan support. Such legislation deserves to be debated and voted upon as a standalone measure, not tied up with federal funding.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali feels 'regret' for mocking Christianity

Women's rights activist and recent convert to Christianity, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, has said she feels "regret" for having once mocked the faith she now claims as her own.

She shared a platform with the evolutionary biologist and staunch atheist Richard Dawkins for the inaugural Dissident Dialogues conference in New York at the weekend.

Ali has been on quite a faith journey, being born a Muslim in Somalia before becoming a new atheist alongside Dawkins and a fierce critic of her birth religion. Then last year she made headlines when she became a Christian, saying that Christianity was the only "credible answer" to the global challenges of Islam, communism and woke ideology.

She admitted to conference moderator Freddie Sayers, Unherd editor, that she did "regret" lumping all religions together as destructive forces in the past.

Now she feels that undermining Christianity simply created a moral void that has been filled with ideas that are harmful to civilisation.

"What you value in Christianity is something that really is absolutely necessary to pass on to the next generation," she said.

"And we have failed the next generation by taking away from them that moral framework and telling them it's nonsense and false.

"We have also not protected them from the external forces that come for their hearts, minds and souls."

She admitted that she "did mock faith in general and probably Christianity in particular".

"But I don't do that anymore," Ali continued. "I have come down to my knees to say that the people who always had faith have something that we who lost faith don't have."

She said that while New Atheism comes from a place that says "there's nothing", she has come to accept that "there is something".

"And when you accept that there is something, there's a powerful entity  for me, [that's] the God that turned me around," she said.

Dawkins recently admitted to being a "cultural Christian" and said on Saturday that although he considers himself "Team Christianity" he still thinks "Christianity is nonsense" and a "milder form" of "mind virus" than Islam.
Love for God and love within the family according to Jewish thought

Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster reflects on what familial love means within Jewish thought.

In my previous article about Rabbi Shai Held's new book, Judaism is about Love, I talked about how Judaism is not simply about law, but also about love. In Judaism love and law work hand in hand. Judaism's core prayer, the Shema, which is the most internalized by children at a very young age, speaks about G-d's love for us and our love for G-d in everything we do, and also the way we go about loving G-d. This is what is called 'the path' in Judaism.

The second part of Shai's book gets down to practicalities. Where should we start with our love of G-d, and in fact, can we be educated in love?

Shai starts with a chapter entitled: 'Learning to Love and be Loved: The Family.' In the experience of many outside the Jewish community love appears mainly in the abstract, the ideal being the love of humanity. In other words, if we all sit down together and sing communal hymns, then everything will turn out OK. Sadly this ideal turns out to be far from the truth, as we are experiencing at the moment.

So, amazingly no doubt for many of his Christian readers, where love is concerned, Shai starts with those nearest to us in both proximity and sentiment, i.e. the much-derided family. Shai tells us that G-d's love is mediated for us through 'human caregivers', which is American for those who nurture us, i.e. parents.

Families are 'schools of love'. In order to become G-d's partners, we need to be nurtured in love from childhood onwards. Later, marriage is not a 'weakness' but a 'blessing'. We are social animals who thrive on relationship. The interesting word to 'cleave' which is used of the marriage between a man and a woman has two meanings in English. It means to become attached, but at the same time to separate. So, to 'cleave' to your spouse implies retaining your own separateness while working together in partnership.

And the word for partnership is also very interesting and hard to translate accurately. On that very interesting Hebrew phrase ka-negdo, G-d says in Genesis 2:8, 'It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a fitting helper for him.' Other translations include 'a helper as his partner', 'a helper suitable for him', 'a sustainer beside him', and the King James version of around 1610, 'a help meet for him'. The King James is actually probably the most precise literal translation. A spouse is someone who encounters her partner and assists him, just as G-d is often depicted, e.g. in Psalms 121:1, as our assistant. This is incidentally the psalm we are currently reciting daily during the dreadful hostage situation in Gaza: 'I lift my eyes to the hills from where my help comes/from where does my help come?'

Modern interpreters want to emphasize the equality of the spouse with the man, so another translation is 'a helper who is a counterpart.' But the connotation of ka-negdo remains one in which there is a hint of encounter, encompassing encounter's positive and negative connotations. To encounter someone can be a positive experience, but may also betray a hint of menace, or at least have the unexpected about it. An example is when Jacob encounters the 'man' for instance. Is 'the man' an angel, the better angels of our nature, or as some have said, Jacob's betrayed nemesis, Esau in disguise (Genesis 32:25 ff)?

However we translate that particular phrase, all are agreed that marriage is a covenantal relationship between two parties. As the greatest Jewish writer on relationship, Martin Buber (1878-1965) has stated, 'In the beginning is the relation', and also 'the other is unique.' In Jewish mysticism G-d contracts to make space for creation, including for human beings. However, for the earlier midrashim (very early rabbinic interpretations) G-d actually moves into space to make His presence known to us. Two opposite movements are described as taking place in G-d therefore, connoting both absence and presence.

The love of a couple for each other can also be redemptive for the community and for the wider world. This is depicted by the chuppah under which the Jewish couple marry, often outside in the fresh air. The chuppah is a canopy with no walls; it is open to all, in emulation of Sarah's tent (Genesis 18), to which everyone was welcome. Marriage can therefore be a training ground for the exercise of care in the world. Marriage can make us not more insular, but more fully present and therefore more open. Marriage is both a challenge and an opportunity.

Children are a blessing. We should shower blessings on them, as G-d showers blessings on us, with unconditional love, in emulation of G-d's love for us. The prophet Hosea makes clear (11: 8-9) that G-d never gives up on us. Similarly, we should never give up on our children. And yet, each child is unique, and we should respond to each individual child not in the abstract, nor in our own image. Obviously this parental undertaking is very difficult indeed. But even G-d had difficulty with human beings, His own children, as Hosea and others make clear.

As it states in Proverbs 22:6: 'Train your child on the way he should go.' (al pi darcho). This phrase has often been interpreted as advocating a strict training in one particular track, according to the ideals of a particular dogma. But the Hebrew verse makes perfectly clear that the emphasis is on the child's own way or path, which is unique to that particular child, and in fact the English verb is an unnecessary addition. Incidentally, there is no word for 'dogma' in Hebrew!

Therefore, a better translation might be: 'Educate for the child according to his or her own particular way.' As strict a commentator as the German Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-88) stated: 'The verse demands a totally individualized education.' For Rabbi Hirsch the ideal of a Torah life is universal, but 'the paths that get each young person there are different. They depend on the child's distinctive inclinations and capacities. No one educational approach is appropriate to each and every child.'

The Malbim (1809-1979) 'points out that the verse from Proverbs actually commands two things: first, that we actively guide our children and train them in good actions, attributes, and ways of thinking, and second, that we pay careful attention to their unique interests, yearnings, and predilections, and guide them accordingly.'

Therefore, there can be no generic education. It should be added that both rabbis were strictly Orthodox and highly respected in their communities, as they both still are in strictly Orthodox communities today, and their teachings continue to be disseminated widely in our contemporary synagogues.

Healthy parental love therefore builds up the child and this early love gives rise to what we call the 'self' and also makes us feel fully alive. At the present time of year, from Pesach to Shavuot (Pentecost), we are encouraged to read the popular Mishna Pirke Avot (Sayings of our Ancestors), preferably with our children. In the Talmud it states that a father is obliged to circumicize his son, redeem him, teach him Torah, see him be married, and teach him a trade. Also added is the injunction to teach his child to swim. Teaching to swim fosters resilience.

Circumcision (brit in Hebrew) is also the word for 'covenant'. Circumcision therefore brings the male child into an intimate and enduring relationship with G-d, Torah and the Jewish people. Covenantal living is intergenerational in that it relates us to our ancestors and looks forward to our becoming, in our turn, the ancestors of descendants in a world of dignity, where G-d is manifest.

Redemption of the first-born child introduces us to the simple words of the Pesach Haggadah, which we have just finished reading: 'We were slaves to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt, but now we are free,' which, by the way, we intone leaning, like the wealthy Roman upper classes, reminiscent of the Egyptians who enslaved us.

The story of Egypt and the Exodus teaches our children, together with us, their parents, that we are all a people shaped by the memory of suffering, called to lives of empathy and service of G-d. The story further teaches that G-d champions the widow, the orphan and the 'stranger'. We can't enter our future redemption as free people without internalizing the history of our past throughout the many millennia since the Exodus from Egypt, including in our own day.

The great Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (1903-93) stated that part of raising children is 'befriending [them] with [their] Maker.' And nobody did more for American Jewish education than Rabbi Soloveitchik himself, who, new to the US from eastern Europe via Berlin, together with his wife, Tonya, founded a number of schools in the Boston area and he himself ordained more rabbis than anyone in American history. Rabbis, of course, are primarily teachers and educators so Rabbi Soloveitchik certainly practised what he preached!

Teaching Judaism to our children is, then, 'the inexhaustible conversation' which is just as interested in the question 'Why is there something rather than nothing'? as in 'If I damage your property, how do I compensate you?' Yes, Judaism, as taught to our children from a very early age, discusses both the highly practical and mundane, and also the most arcane and often unanswerable philosophical questions. Judaism isn't either or; it is both and. This sort of question and answer system, started at a very young age, leads to a love for community service and often to work wider afield, embracing what we now call 'the global community'. But the starting point is always with the very mundane questions surrounding the home and close community.

In other words, the family conditions may be created which 'foster the psychological capacity to love.'

Children of course do not only differ from one another: they also differ from us, their parents. Children are not an extension of our will, and we have to learn to 'let go', while still being around when needed. This is a very difficult task indeed! But freedom is not simply freedom from slavery; it is also the capacity to live what the philosopher Martha Nussbaum calls 'a separate, non-slave life.'

Most important of all, maybe, is that love should not be dependent simply on emotions, but should be a 'disposition', a way of looking at the world. If that disposition is in play most of the time, whenever we don't feel emotionally up to it, we can at least revert to the dispositional source, something in which we ourselves must first be educated. 'Good parenting therefore requires a steadfast commitment to self-awareness.'

So, to sum up this first chapter of Part Two of Shai's book, loving can only be learned. However, it is not really a top down enterprise from parent to child, but more a horizontally-based exercise in relationship, with give and take, questions and answers, and continual education for the parent figure. Even when on occasion we may feel ambivalent, we have to continue in constancy, even if our own feelings ebb and flow.

It is an astounding fact that the Hebrew word translated as 'Amen' in English stems from the root ''men', depicting faith, both in G-d, and generally. However, 'men also means 'nurture' and is related to the word 'mother'. Fidelity and faithfulness, child-rearing and nursing all go hand in hand with the constancy that only a mother can give. And in Hebrew all these words derive from the same root. Bringing a child into the world in order to love them is an act of imitatio Dei.

No-one said it is easy. But this kind of interaction will hopefully lead to the love of neighbour and stranger that have become the hallmark of Christian doctrine, most often without any awareness either of this doctrine's roots in Judaism, or of the exact role it plays in Jewish life, something I hope to continue to discuss in more detail in later articles.
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By Kwak Yeon-soo

A North Korean diplomat-turned-defector has recently been appointed the president of the National Institute for Unification Education (NIU).

Ko Young-hwan, who had worked as a North Korean diplomat in Africa for more than 10 years before defecting to South Korea in 1991, was selected through a public contest and will serve his two-year term until May 2026.

Before taking office, he served as a special aide to Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho and vice president of the Institute for National Security Strategy.

The NIU is committed to developing various unification education programs to foster public opinion on peaceful unification on the Korean Peninsula.

Ko started his diplomatic career in 1979 and worked in central and east Africa, including the North Korean Embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire), while interpreting French for late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il several times in his meetings with French-speaking African leaders.

The ministry has been encouraging and supporting North Korean defectors to work in the public sector. Ko sets a good example for both North Korean defectors who have settled in South Korea and North Korean residents. He shows how a North Korean defector can fully demonstrate his expertise to contribute to our society, the Ministry of Unification said.
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Ukrainian state prosecutors say they have examined debris from 21 of around 50 North Korean ballistic missiles launched by Russia between late December and late February, as they seek to assess the threat from Moscow's cooperation with Pyongyang.

In previously unreported details of an investigation under way into the missiles, the office of Ukraine's top prosecutor, Andriy Kostin, also told Reuters that the failure rate of the North Korean weaponry appeared to be high.

"About half of the North Korean missiles lost their programmed trajectories and exploded in the air; in such cases the debris was not recovered," Kostin's office said in written answers to Reuters' questions.

North Korean missiles account for a tiny portion of Russia's strikes during its war on Ukraine, but their alleged use has caused alarm from Seoul to Washington because it may herald the end of nearly two-decade consensus among permanent members of the United Nations Security Council on preventing Pyongyang expanding its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

In addition to providing North Korea with an opportunity to test missiles, Russia has taken steps that will make it harder for the United Nations to monitor sanctions imposed on Pyongyang in 2006.

Last month, Moscow vetoed the annual renewal of the U.N. sanctions monitors - known as a panel of experts - that has for 15 years monitored enforcement of the U.N. sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), North Korea's official name.

China, one of the five permanent members on the Security Council with Russia, the United States, Britain and France, abstained from the vote.

Days before its mandate expired, the panel submitted a report confirming for the first time that, in a violation of U.N. sanctions, a North Korean-made ballistic missile known as Hwasong-11 had struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

This, and Moscow's veto, underscore how Russia and North Korea have intensified their bilateral relations beyond largely transactional, barter agreements, said Edward Howell, an expert on North Korea at Oxford University.

"There is a lasting legacy that is being shaped now, which is the fact that North Korea, through being assured of Russia's support, is really being able to undermine key international institutions like the U.N. Security Council," he said.

The Russian presidency referred questions on the North Korean missiles to the Russian Defence Ministry, which did not respond to emailed questions from Reuters. North Korea's mission to the United Nations in Geneva also did not respond.

Dozens killed or wounded

Despite the setback at the United Nations, Kostin has said his office will carry on with the investigation.

The prosecutor's office said that when debris could not be collected at impact sites, Hwasong-11 missiles, which are also called KN-23 in the West, were identified by looking at their flight trajectories, speed and launch sites.

The last recorded use of a KN-23 was on Feb. 27, the prosecutor's office said, adding that the total number of launches it has identified tallied with intelligence showing North Korea delivered about 50 ballistic missiles to Russia.

According to the United States, Russia received ballistic missiles and artillery rounds from North Korea after the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, met Russian President Vladimir Putin for a rare summit last September.

The 21 cases, in which debris was collected, include three that were fired at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and its surrounding region, Kostin's office said. The others struck the regions of Kharkiv, Poltava, Donetsk and Kirovohrad.

The attacks, which began on Dec. 30, 2023, killed 24 people, wounded 115 and damaged a number of residential buildings and industrial facilities, it said.

The about 50 missiles were launched from multiple sites including in Russia's western regions of Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk, it added.

The Ukrainian statement did not say whether any of the missiles had been shot down by air defences. Ballistic missiles are typically hard to intercept because of their trajectory and speed.

According to Kostin's office, Ukrainian authorities were still investigating whether Pyongyang had dispatched instructors to monitor the ballistic missile launches. (Reuters)
By sebra, Adobe

Asylum Aid has launched legal action against prime minister Rishi Sunaks plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The charity has launched legal action against the Home Offices new Safety of Rwanda policy, claiming that it is inconsistent with the Safety of Rwanda Act and could put people at great risk.

Lawyers on behalf of Asylum Aid have sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Home Office.

However, a spokesperson for the government department said the policy and act work hand in hand.

The highly contested Rwanda bill finally passed through the House of Lords last month , with the first flight to the east African country possibly to be on 1 July.

Following the news, over 250 civil society organisations wrote to the prime minister calling it a cruel law that risked lives.

Home Office: Working at pace to get flights off the ground

A spokesperson from the Home Office told Civil Society: We have proven time and again that Rwanda is a safe country, most recently with our landmark Safety of Rwanda Act and joint, legally binding Treaty which makes clear that individuals relocated to Rwanda will not be returned to an unsafe country.

We remain confident in the countrys strong and successful track record in resettling people and are working at pace to get flights off the ground to Rwanda in the next eight to ten weeks.

The Home Office said it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings and that the Safety of Rwanda Act limits unnecessary challenges to the deportation of refugees to the country.

Asylum Aid

Asylum Aid provides free legal representation to vulnerable people.

Alison Pickup, executive director of Asylum Aid, said: There is a lack of information on when flights to Rwanda will take off and who will be on them, but the government has made clear that it is determined to act quickly as we have already seen the Home Office carrying out forcible detentions.

The panic this causes is made worse by the limited capacity to provide high quality legal representation in the legal aid and charity sector.

We have brought forward this legal action to ensure that the Home Office properly considers any individual cases against removal to Rwanda, including on the grounds that they would be returned from Rwanda to the place they fled.

At the time of writing, a crowdfunder has gained almost 2,000 from 46 pledges to support its legal action.

The charity's legal case is represented by law firm Leigh Day.

sign up to receive the free Civil Society daily news bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector,
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This past Friday, May 3, was World Press Freedom Day. The date marks the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, a 1991 statement, named for the capital of Namibia, that asserted the need for an independent and pluralistic African press. As the UN puts it, the annual event is a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom, but also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics, as well as a chance to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Each year, World Press Freedom Day brings with it a welter of statistics on the state of press freedom around the worldno few of them offered up by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) alone, in its influential World Press Freedom Index. (The index ranks 180 countries and territories worldwide from best to worst on press freedom, according to five indicators spanning political, economic, legislative, social, and security considerations.) Journalists, of course, do not live or work by statistics aloneand, as Ive written before in this newsletter, press-freedom statistics are often contested, sometimes bitterly so, with the picture they paint depending, among other factors, on who we consider to be a journalist, what aspects of their experience we measure, and what aspects are even measurable in the first place.

Still, this picture can be revealingand on this years World Press Freedom Day, it showed a global crisis for the press that, on numerous metrics, is only getting worse. Below are ten figures from this years World Press Freedom Day, what they show, and, sometimes, what they dont.

At least 1 journalist was killed on World Press Freedom Day. According to Voice of America, Muhammad Siddique Mengal, the president of a local press club, was traveling in a car in Pakistans Balochistan Province when an assailant on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the vehicle, which blew up seconds later. The perpetrator has not been identified, but VOA notes that Balochistan has lately experienced almost daily attacks mostly claimed by ethnic Baluch insurgents and that the region is home to other militant groups; Pakistans security services have also been accused of attacking critics there. The killing came one day after the Committee to Protect Journalists raised the alarm about a series of recent death threats targeting Hamid Mir, a prominent Pakistani TV journalist (who has been attacked before, as I wrote in 2022). On Friday, Mir described Mengals killing as a message to all independent journalists in Pakistan.

3 journalists were called out by name in a statement that President Joe Biden issued to mark World Press Freedom Day: Austin Tice, an American journalist who was abducted in Syria in 2012; Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter jailed in Russia since last year; and Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist with the US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who is also in jail in Russia. (She is a dual US-Russian citizen.) Biden has repeatedly spoken the names of Tice and Gershkovich. By my count, this was only the third time that he has publicly mentioned Kurmashevas nameand the second time in less than a week, after he said, during remarks at the White House Correspondents Dinner, that Russian president Vladimir Putin should release Evan and Alsu immediately. This recent uptick is notable: as I reported recently, critics have argued that Bidens administration could be doing more to highlight Kurmashevas case. Her husband told me that he would like to hear Biden say her name more often.

10 journalists worldwide are worthy of particularly urgent attention, according to the One Free Press Coalition, a collective of international news organizations that aims to highlight the cases of threatened media workers. The coalition launched its 10 Most Urgent list in 2019 and updated it monthly; it apparently stopped doing so in 2022, but has just relaunched the list as an annual project pegged to World Press Freedom Day, according to its website. Gershkovich and Kurmasheva lead the latest list, which also draws attention to the plight of jailed reporters in Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Rwanda, and Myanmar. Also on the list are three journalists Ive written about in this newsletter: Jose Ruben Zamora and Gustavo Gorritiveteran muckrakers in Guatemala and Peru, respectivelyas well as Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American reporter for Al Jazeera who was shot and killed while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank in 2022.

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26 journalists deaths in the line of work have been condemned by UNESCO since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and Israel responded by bombarding Gaza. UNESCO cited this figure in a press release announcing that Palestinian journalists covering Gaza would collectively receive this years World Press Freedom Prize, an award given in honor of Guillermo Cano, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated outside his newspapers offices in 1986. In the same release, UNESCO attributed its Gaza figure to information from partner NGOs and said that it is reviewing dozens of other cases. Indeed, its figure is significantly lower than similar data maintained by various other groups; CPJs tally of media workers killed in the conflict currently stands at 97, while the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) tally stands at 109 and regional groups peg the total higher still. As I wrote recently, how this figure is calculated has been a source of controversy. As of last month, RSFs tally stood at 105, but the group had to that point only determined that 22 of those journalists were killed in the course of their worka distinction that a Palestinian press group has blasted as tantamount to whitewashing Israeli crimes.

42 percent is the rate of increase in attacks on journalists and news outlets covering the environment in the past five years (compared with the prior five-year period) according to a new report produced by UNESCO. (The theme of this years World Press Freedom Day was journalism and freedom of expression in the context of the current global environmental crisis.) Earlier this year, UNESCO and the IFJ surveyed 905 environmental journalists in 129 countries, over 70 percent of whom said they had suffered attacks, threats, or pressure linked to their work. The report notes that such attacks have taken place in every region of the world, including Europe, where police have arrested reporters covering climate protests in the UK, France, Spain, Poland, and Sweden.

More than 50 percent of the worlds population now lives in countries colored red in RSFs World Press Freedom Indexthe groups lowest classification, reflecting poor scores on its indicators and a very serious situation for press freedom. Only 36 countries out of 180 worldwide are in RSFs red zone, but this figure is an increase on 31 last year and includes half of the worlds most populous countriesChina, Russia, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistanall of which (bar China) held or are holding elections this year. According to RSF, less than 8 percent of the worlds population now lives in places with good or satisfactory press freedom.

55 is the new ranking of the US on RSFs index, a 10-place drop from last year and a lower ebb than it recorded at any point when Donald Trump was president. The US has not placed higher than 40th since 2013, and comparing placements on the index from year to year is not an exact science anyway. But the recent dropwhich puts the US below various countries with notably hostile recent press-freedom climates, including Slovakia and Polandnonetheless reflects what RSF describes as major structural barriers to press freedom, including economic struggles and declining public trust. Not that the US was the biggest dropper in the index this year: Slovakia, for example, is down 12 places, Niger 19, Argentina 26, and Burkina Faso 28. All four countries have seen recent changes of government, be they the result of elections or coups.

177 is the new ranking on the index of North Korea, that countrys highest placement in at least a decadebut still the worlds fourth worst country for press freedom overall. For five of the past ten years, including the past two, North Koreawhich has a notoriously totalitarian approach toward independent journalism (and a more favorable one toward propagandistic cinema, as I wrote last year)has been rock bottom of the index, with Eritrea occupying that rank most of the rest of the time. Eritrea is back at the bottom this year. But Syria has now also fallen below North Koreaas has Afghanistan, where the repression of journalists has steadily intensified since the Taliban seized power in 2021, as RSF puts it. Prior to that, the country had hovered around the 120 mark for the better part of a decade.

310 BBC World Service journalists are now working in exile, according to a figure that the broadcaster released to mark World Press Freedom Day. The figure has nearly doubled since 2020, a reflection of events since then in Afghanistan and Russia, as well as in Ethiopia and Myanmar. The BBC pulled most of its staff out of Afghanistan after the Taliban took power, and moved its Moscow team to neighboring Latvia after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and simultaneously intensified its crackdown on the press. (Last month, Russian officials labeled a BBC reporter as a foreign agent, a designation intended to confer stigma and onerous bureaucratic requirements that is also at issue in Kurmashevas case.) Some BBC journalists who were already working from exile, meanwhile, have recently been on the receiving end of an uptick in threatsnot least journalists working for BBC Persian, 10 of whom learned recently that they had secretly been convicted in absentia in their home country. Exiled Iranian journalists families have also been harassed, as I wrote recently.

2.5 billion is the amount (in US dollars) that tax authorities in Turkey fined a media company that had been critical of Recep Tayyip Erdoganostensibly on fraud charges, but actually, many critics suspected, as a political punishment. This happened in 2009, but on World Press Freedom Day last week, Jan-Werner Muller, a professor at Princeton, returned to the story to highlight the anti-press tactics to which repressive leaders (including Erdogan, who was prime minister then and is now the president) have resorted in order to maintain at least a veneer of plausible deniability. As another World Press Freedom Day arrives, news media organizations will dutifully display lists of journalists imprisoned or killed around the world, Muller wrote in Foreign Policy. It is important to acknowledge these victims. But its also time to recognize that analysts and policymakers need a new framework to understand how a new generation of authoritarian leaders disables critical coverage without putting journalists in jail or physically harming them.



Other notable stories:

The winners of this years Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday. They included ProPublica, for its coverage of Supreme Court justices ties to billionaires, and the New York Times, for its coverage of October 7 and its aftermath, as well as smaller outlets including the Invisible Institute, a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago that won in both the audio and local reporting categories, in partnership with USG Audio and City Bureau, respectively. (Disclosure: I served as a juror this year in the criticism category; congratulations to the winner, Justin Chang, for his writing about film for the LA Times.) The Pulitzer Board also issued a citation honoring the courageous work of journalists and media workers covering the war in Gaza. Last week, the board put out a statement praising the work of student journalists covering Gaza-related protests on US campuses.

Last week, Republicans in Congress summoned Katherine Maher, the new CEO of NPR, to testify at a hearing, scheduled for tomorrow, about supposed political bias at the broadcaster. (The request came after a senior NPR editor, who has since resigned, alleged left-wing dogma on the part of his colleagues in an essay for the Free Press; conservative activists subsequently targeted Maher by resurfacing tweets in which she espoused liberal positions before entering the media industry.) According to NPRs David Folkenflik, Maher has since agreed to testifybut not tomorrow, since the hearing clashes with a long-scheduled meeting of the broadcasters board that will be Mahers first since taking over as CEO. She will offer written testimony in her absence.

As we noted in yesterdays newsletter, unionized staffers at titles owned by Conde Nast were poised to picket last nights Met Gala in protest of stalled contract negotiations with managementbut after we published, the union and bosses came to a tentative agreement and the picket was averted, leaving journalists at the gala to focus on fashion (and Rita Oras accurate claim that there are no surviving humans from the second century BC). The Conde Nast union said that it has won wage increases, higher starting salaries, just cause in firing decisions, expanded family and bereavement leave, and benefits for laid-off colleagues, among other victories.

Politicos Jack Shafer makes the case that American journalism has lost its swagger. At one time, big city newspaper editors typified by the Washington Posts Ben Bradlee strode their properties like colossuses, barking orders and winning deference from all corners. Todays newspaper editor comes clothed in the drab and accommodating aura of a bureaucrat, often indistinguishable from the publishers for whom they work, Shafer argues. These editors then impose that style on their journalists, many of whom do their work in a defensive crouch instead of the traditional offensive stance.

And for her newsletter, The Media Mix, Claire Atkinson spoke with Elvire Camusthe editor in chief of the English edition of Le Monde, which launched two years agoto find out how the initiative is going. We feel that our reporting is good enough to exist globally and we feel that its important to add a different perspective than the dominant American perspective on global news, because the global language is English, Camus said. And as we all know, two people reporting on the same story dont write the same story.

ICYMI: New York just committed $90 million to help save local journalism. Will it work?

Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
Maryland plans to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in just over four years at an estimated cost between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion, a state transportation official said Thursday.

The state plans to build a new span by fall of 2028, said David Broughton, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Transportation. He said the cost estimate is preliminary, and detailed engineering specifics have not been confirmed.

As salvage efforts continue, authorities also announced late Wednesday they had recovered the body of a fifth person who was missing after the bridges March 26 collapse, which shut down the port of Baltimore, one of the busiest ports in the country.

Six members of a roadwork crew plunged to their deaths when a container ship lost power and crashed into one of the bridges supporting columns. The Key Bridge Response Unified Command announced that the victim found Wednesday was identified as Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez, 49, of Glen Burnie, Maryland. All of the victims were Latino immigrants who came to the United States from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

We continue to pray for Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez, his family and all those who love him, acknowledging the anguish they have experienced since the Key Bridge collapsed, Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement Thursday. We pray for comfort, we pray for healing, and we pray for peace in knowing that their loved one has finally come home.

Salvage teams found one of the missing construction vehicles Wednesday and notified the Maryland State Police, officials said. State police investigators and Maryland Transportation Authority Police officers and the FBI responded to the scene and recovered the body inside a red truck. The state police underwater recovery team and crime scene unit also assisted.

Insurance Payouts

Meanwhile, the broker for the bridges insurance policy confirmed Thursday that a $350 million payout will be made to the state of Maryland in what is expected to be the first of many payouts related to the collapse.

Chubb, the company that insured the bridge, is preparing to make the $350 million payment, according to WTW, the broker. Douglas Menelly, a spokesperson for WTW, on Thursday confirmed plans for the payout, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Chubb did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Insurer Chubb Readies $350M Payout Tied to Baltimore Bridge Collapse

The Maryland Transportation Authority said Thursday that the states treasurer filed a claim on the day of the bridges collapse against our $350 million property policy and put on notice our $150 million liability policy first tier carrier on behalf of MDTA.

We expect the full property policy to be paid very shortly, the agency said in a news release.

Maryland transportation officials noted that the states estimates for the cost to rebuild the bridge are in line with similar projects of this scale and complexity. Federal funding, insurance proceeds and other reimbursements will bring a variety of resources toward the rebuild and recovery effort, the officials said, and the state is pursuing other recovery options to minimize net cost to taxpayers and toll customers.

The Dali container ship has been stationary amid the wreckage since the collapse, but crews plan to refloat and remove the ship, allowing more maritime traffic to resume through Baltimores port. Officials expect to have it removed by May 10, according to a Port of Baltimore news release.

Insurance Industry Readies for Historic Losses From Baltimore Bridge Tragedy

Salvage and demolition crews were still working around the clock to clear wreckage from the collapse site. Theyre now focused primarily on freeing the Dali from a massive steel span that came crashing down on the ships bow.

That will allow the ship to be refloated and guided back into the Port of Baltimore. It will also allow most maritime traffic to resume through the busy East Coast port.

On Thursday morning, crews were preparing for a controlled demolition that will break down the largest remaining span and send it tumbling into the water. Then a massive hydraulic grabber will lift the resulting sections of steel onto barges.

The hydraulic grabber, which officials have called the largest in the country, was also in motion Thursday morning. Moving ever so slowly, the giant claw descended into the depths of the Patapsco River and emerged with a steel beam in its trusses. It was operating in tandem with the Chesapeake 1000, one of the largest cranes on the Eastern Seaboard.

Associated Press journalists Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia, and Lea Skene in Baltimore, contributed to this report.

Photo: The collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge lay on top of the container ship Dali, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Cracked steel columns are not property damage, but are building products that are not covered by a contractors general liability policy, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decided in an opinion that lets St. Paul and other insurers off the hook in a botched construction project at Chicagos OHare International Airport.

While U.S. courts have often found that policy wording is ambiguous, in this case, the lower court and the appeals court concluded that a St. Paul Guardian Insurance Co. policy for a subcontractor was clear enough and limited coverage only to damage to property owned by others. Travelers and Charter Oak policies similarly excluded coverage for the steel-making subcontractors own products.

The dispute began in 2003 when the city of Chicago contracted with Walsh Construction Co. to build a canopy and glass-and-steel curtain wall at the airport. Walsh subcontracted with a steel company, which subcontracted with LB Steel LLC to fabricate and install the steel columns to support the wall and canopy.

Per an agreement, LB listed Walsh as an additional insured on its GCL policies. Several years into the project, city inspectors found cracks in the welds on the columns, and the city sued Walsh. Walsh in turn sued LB Steel and won more than $19 million in state court. LB then filed for bankruptcy protection, the appeals court explained.

LBs insurers and Walsh both asked the federal court in Chicago to decide if the carriers owed coverage and a duty to defend in litigation. The district federal court sided with the insurance companies, finding that the cracked welds did not constitute property damage, as narrowly defined by the policy language.

The three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit this week agreed.

Walsh had argued that LBs steel columns were an integral part of the construction project and were destined to become airport property  property owned by others, in other words. The contractor also posited that the cracks threatened the entire project and required it to spend millions on preventive measures, including reinforcing the columns.

But the appellate judges said that Walsh had not met its burden of proving property damage beyond LBs own products.

For example, Walsh has not identified any cracks in the glass, damage to concrete, or alterations to any other parts of the canopy or curtain wall not provided by LB Steel. Walsh does note that it had to install retrofit structures around the affected columns, but those retrofits were only installed to remedy the defects in the columns themselves, appeals court Judge John Lee wrote.

In order to succeed on the coverage question, Walsh must demonstrate some physical injury to tangible property beyond the steel elements fabricated by LB Steel, the court wrote.

Walsh also argued that the defective welds increased the potential for the canopy to collapse. At the same time, it offers no evidence that this structural instability had manifested itself in any physical way (other than in the LB Steel columns themselves).

Under Illinois law, an increased potential for damage does not constitute property damage, the court noted. Citing previous court rulings, the judges found that Walshs preventative measures were economic losses not recoverable under the insurance policies.

To find coverage here would mean that manufacturers like LB Steel could perform defective work without consequence, knowing that they could later recoup any resulting adverse judgments under their CGL policies, the court concluded. That can hardly be what the contracting parties intended.

The opinion can be read here.
Berkshire Hathaway continued to deliver eye-popping results for its insurance and reinsurance operations during the first quarter of 2024, with underwriting profits for personal auto insurer GEICO and reinsurance operations topping any prior first quarter in the last decade.

Across Berkshires insurance and non-insurance operations, operating profit rose 39 percent, but an 80 percent jump in the businesses that Chairman Warren Buffett describes as the most important ones in the conglomeratethe insurance and reinsurance operationssoared 80 percent to $5.2 billion after taxes. Underwriting and investment income from the insurance and reinsurance operations each contributed $2.6 billion to the overall results.

Related articles: Jain Successor is Recurring Berkshire Board Topic; Leadership Lessons; GEICOs Eye-Popping 2023 Insurance Profits, Falling Employee Counts

GEICOs pretax underwriting profit soared 174 percent to $1.9 billion in first-quarter 2024 from $703 million in first-quarter 2023with both the 2024 and 2023 first-quarter results reversing an underwriting loss in 2022. The latest underwriting profit figure eclipsed the prior first-quarter profit record at GEICO of $1.0 billion set in 2022.

GEICOs $1.9 billion underwriting profit translates to a first-quarter 2024 combined ratio of 81.2. That was 11.5 points lower than first-quarter 2023, with the loss ratio improving 10.5 points to 72.5, and the expense ratio coming down a full point to 8.7.

GEICO vs. Progressive: Playing Catch-Up

In spite of the stunning progress, Berkshires leaders admit they are still lagging on an important aspect of the personal auto insurance business: data analytics. During the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on Saturday, Chair Warren Buffett and Vice Chair Ajit Jain addressed a shareholders question about GEICOs relative weakness when measured against competitor Progressive. Jain said GEICOs work in this area is continuing but wont be finished until the end of 2025, while Buffett pointed to GEICOs low-cost operating model as a continuing source of profitability.

Jain responded first echoing statements he and Buffett made in 2021.

One of the drawbacks that GEICO is faced with [is that] it hasnt been doing a good job at matching rate with risk, and segmenting and pricing product based on the risk characteristics. This has been a disadvantage at GEICO for a few years now, Jain said.

We are trying to still play catch-up. Technology is something that is unfortunately a bottleneck. But we are making progressand equally importantly, we have hired people who are much better than what they inherited in terms of data analytics and pricing and slicing data, he said.

I recognize were still behind. Were taking steps to bridge the gap and hopefully, certainly by the end of 25, we should be able to be [among] the best of players when it comes to data analytics, whether its pricing, whether its claims or any other factor that drives the economics of the insurance business.

Buffett continued, noting that equating rate with risk is important in every line of insurance business. Progressive has done a better job in that recently, he said.

Related 2021 article: Progressive Crushing It on Profit: Berkshires Jain and Buffett (2021)

Still, Buffett asserted that GEICOs fundamental advantage against all auto competitors is that we have lower costs than virtually anybody. And that cost advantage has been dramatic. Weve driven our underwriting expense ratio below 10 percent, and there are just very, very few companies that can compete with that, he said.

Buffett went on to note that the fact that GEICO has trailed competitors on data analysis technology is not a threat. Its not remotely a threat to survival. Its not a threat even to profitability. On the other hand, we would like to be growing with something that is the best model around in the insurance business of delivering at a low cost.

We would rather have X percent of the market than half of X percent, he said, noting that GEICO didnt lose many of its 16 million policyholders in the month of March.

Buffett concluded that GEICO does have to do a better job of matching rate to risk, adding that the insurers low cost model has masked the fact that it was behind on that. GEICO CEO Todd Combs is working intensively on shoring up that part of the business. While GEICO has made good strides, theres still work to be done. In the meantime, were not going to shrink and we should make better underwriting profits than most companies in the auto insurance business, he said.

The Management Discussion and Analysis section of Berkshires first-quarter 2024 earnings report indicates that GEICOs written premiums grew 7.3 percent compared to the same quarter in 2023, with rate hikes pushing up average premiums per policy by 9.8 percent partly offsetting a 6.6 percent decline in policies in force. According to the discussion, the rate of decline of policies slowed in the first quarter of 2024, driven by increased new business and higher retention rates.

The MD&A attributed the 10.5 point drop in GEICOs loss ratio to the impact of higher average premiums per policy and lower claim frequencies offset by higher claims severity. Explaining the 1.0 point decline in the expense ratio vs. the prior-year first quarter, the report said the improved operating efficiencies and increased operating leverage were partially offset by higher advertising expenses. The report did not specifically refer to any decline in the number of employees at GEICO, which was evident from a schedule in the conglomerates 2023 annual report published in February.

Progressive recently announced a hiring push to keep pace with growing revenue, with the goal of filling 10,000 open roles in claims, IT and other areas of the carriers operations. (Related article: Growing Progressive Set to Hire 10,000+ in Claims, IT, Other Roles)

What About Tesla?

During Saturdays annual meeting, Buffett and Jain were asked another question they have addressed in at prior meetings: What will be the impact on GEICO of Tesla making inroads into the auto insurance business? More specifically, a shareholder asked what would happen to GEICOs business volume if Teslas full self-driving capabilities achieve CEO Elon Musks goal of reducing accidents by 50 percent.

If the accidents get reduced 50 percent, its going to be good for society, and its going to be bad for insurance companies volume. But good for society is what were looking for, Buffett said, later describing consumer advocate Ralph Naders contribution to bringing down road fatalities.

Related article: I Worry Much More About Progressive Than Tesla, Buffett Says (2019)

As for Tesla being in the insurance business, Buffett said, Insurance always looks easier than it is. Its so much fun because you get the money at the start, he said, adding that you dont find out whether youve done something stupid until later on. Its a very tempting business when somebody hands you money and you hand them a little piece of paper. Its a very tempting business when somebody hands you money and you hand them a little piece of paper, he said.

Jain said that even if the number of accidents do come down, repair costs are skyrocketing. If you multiply the number of accidents [by] the cost of the each accident, Im not sure that total number has come down as much as Tesla would like us to believe, he said,

Tesla has been toying with the idea of writing insurance directly or indirectly, and so far it hasnt been much of a success. Time will tell, but I think automation just shifts much of the expense from operator to the equipment provider, Jain added.

Florida Reinsurance Bet Pays Off; Corruption Lingers

While GEICOs profit surge accounted for nearly 60 percent of the overall $2.1 billion improvement in insurance and reinsurance underwriting profits in the first quarter of the year, a nearly four-fold increase in reinsurance profits explained another 30 percent, with specialty primary insurance operations accounting for the rest.

First-quarter 2024 reinsurance profits of roughly $900 million were higher than any prior year since 2013, according to records kept by Carrier Management.

Adding underwriting profits from the primary specialty operations and investment income from all the insurance and reinsurance divisions brought operating income to $6.5 billion before taxes, or $5.2 billion after taxesup more than 80 percent over first-quarter 2023.

The MD&A noted that loss and loss adjustment expenses for the property/casualty reinsurance operations decreased $394 million in the first quarter of 2024. There were no significant catastrophes impacting first-quarter 2024 results, but $400 million in first-quarter 2023.

(Editors Notes: Berkshire considers pretax incurred losses exceeding $150 million to be significant. The chart above includes results for life reinsurance and retroactive reinsurance operations.)

While Buffett and Jain didnt address any questions specific to the reinsurance market during Saturdays annual meeting, last year Jain spoke about a big bet that Berkshire was making by writing property-catastrophe reinsurance in Florida during renewal periods after 1/1/2023. And this year, he addressed a question about the Florida primary auto and homeowners insurance markets referencing Berkshires good fortune in avoiding losses last year.

Related article: Jain Talks Reinsurance: Berkshire Could Lose $15B in Florida

A Florida resident, who described the car and property insurance situations in Florida as out of control, asked whether a mismanaged Florida market represents an opportunity for Berkshire. I hope Florida will be a fairly buoyant insurance market, because at the end of the day, they do believe in the free market more than some of the other states that have insurance crises, like California and New York. Jain said insurers face two problems in Florida: One is the lawyers, and the amount of corruption that takes place in the Florida market, [which] keeps skyrocketing making it difficult for us to price the product and make a profit.

Secondly, the amount of activity in terms of stormsboth the frequency and the severityis also so severe that the losses in Florida tend to make it very difficult for a risk bearer to make money.

Having said that, weve fortunately had a very good run at Florida last yearNothing bad happened so a lot of our premiums that were in the top line flew straight to the bottom line, he continued.

Speaking about the situation in Florida more generally, Jain said, Florida is a large market. Florida is a market thats subsidized by the rest of the country. I dont think that is going to stand the test of time, noting that legislators passed reforms aimed at bringing down the amount of fraud.

I hope Florida will be a fairly buoyant insurance market, because at the end of the day, they do believe in the free market more than some of the other states that have insurance crises, like California and New York.

He concluded: Yes, Florida has a problem. Prices will go up fairly substantially, but at the end of the day, I think well achieve a degree of balance so that the risk bearers can make a decent profit and will be deploying capital out there.

Related Article: Berkshire Wary of Fashionable Cyber Insurance, AI
For the first time, a Colorado appellate court has concluded that COVID-19 can be an occupational disease that is compensable under the states Workers Compensation Act.

The Colorado Court of Appeals ruling came in a case in which Life Care Centers of America and its insurer, Old Republic Insurance Co., sought review of decisions by an administrative law judge (ALJ) and the Industrial Claim Appeals Office awarding workers compensation benefits to an employee of a Life Care skilled nursing facility who contracted COVID-19 and died.

The appellate court backed the award of benefits to Vincent Gaines and his surviving spouse, Sheila Jackson, agreeing that there was sufficient evidence that it was more probable than not that Gaines became infected at work and there was no credible evidence that Gaines contracted COVID at home or anyplace else.

The appeals panel commented:

The novel virus raises a unique consideration under Colorado workers compensation law. Because of the nature of a virus, it cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt precisely where or from whom an individual had the exposure that transmitted the disease. Like the ALJ, we believe a reasoned statistical analysis can determine where the site of exposure was most probable. The ALJ concluded that it was more probable than not that the exposure site was within the facility. In our view, the ALJ used the appropriate burden of proof.

Under the law, an employee is entitled to compensation if the injury or death is proximately caused by an injury or occupational disease arising out of and in the course of the employees employment and is not intentionally self-inflicted.

Gaines worked in Life Cares housekeeping department for more than 20 years. His duties included cleaning and maintaining the main areas of the facility, including the dining room, hallways, common areas, and lobby. He also disposed of the trash. There was testimony that Gaines may also have occasionally transported infected patients to the isolation room.

Gaines became sick with COVID-19 on or about May 26, 2020, and the facility declared a COVID-19 outbreak three days later. By the end of the outbreak on July 29, 2020, there were 35 among residents, with eight resident deaths. Among the staff, there were 13 known cases and nine probable cases. Gaines was the third staff member to test positive. On June 2, 2020, he was hospitalized with a diagnosis of acute respiratory failure with hypoxia due to pneumonia. Gaines died a month later.

On June 8, 2020, Jackson, on Gainess behalf, filed a workers compensation claim based on his exposure to and contraction of COVID-19 at the facility. The claim went before an administrative law judge (ALJ).

The appeals court supported the ALJs findings of fact and conclusion that Gaines had suffered a compensable occupational disease causally related to his employment. The court also agreed with ALJ that it was more probable than not that Gainess COVID-19 infection was related to his presence in Life Cares facility to discharge his work duties.

Life Care and Old Republic were ordered to pay temporary total disability benefits from June 2, 2020, through June 30, 2020, and to pay death benefits to Jackson.

In its appeal to the Industrial Claim Appeals Office, Life Care asserted that the ALJs order was not supported by substantial evidence. Life Care further contended that the ALJs order violated the public policy underlying the statute pertaining to occupational diseases. The appeals panel affirmed the ALJs order and Life Care appealed to the court.

The Colorado Court of Appeals noted that Workers Compensation Act expressly limits its review to whether the findings of fact entered by the ALJ are supported by substantial evidence or whether the award or denial of benefits is not supported by applicable law.

The factual record supports that at the time of Gainess exposure, the working conditions included a high prevalence of COVID-19. A doctor testified that COVID-19 was present in 30% of the residents, and in 12 or 15 staff members. Thus there was person-to-person transmission within that workplace environment. The doctor said that no available evidence suggested that Gaines was exposed to COVID-19 in his home, s asserted by Life Care. Also, because the exposure rates were very low in the county, he said that it was highly unlikely that Gaines encountered a source of COVID-19 in the community. He concluded that the Life Care facility was the highest medically probable environment in which Gaines could have contracted COVID-19. His opinion was unrebutted.

Life Care maintained that Gaines did not have direct contact with patients as a member of the housekeeping staff. The ALJ had concluded that, regardless of whether Gaines had direct contact with patients, the expert testimony showed that it was still more probable than not that Gaines became infected at work. The ALJ also found no credible evidence that Gaines contracted COVID at home or anyplace else.

The appeals court said that the ALJs analysis was detailed and reasoned.

A claimant must establish a reasonable causal connection but is not required to prove causation with mathematical certainty or beyond a reasonable doubt; rather, it is sufficient that the claimant present facts and circumstances indicating a reasonable probability that his disease was proximately caused by the conditions of his employment, the appeals court wrote.

Life Care had argued that the legislature intended to limit the scope of occupational diseases to those that result from working conditions that are characteristic of the vocation. But the court found ALJs finding regarding Gaines was consistent with that assumption.
WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio  A person driving the wrong way Sunday on a road in southwest Ohio set off two crashes that claimed the lives of three people, reports say.

The Butler County Coroners Office tells WCPO Channel 9 that Gregory Meyer, 65, of Middletown, Patrick Pelton, 52, of Liberty Township, and Nicole Collins, 52, of Liberty Township, all died in crashes, which occurred just after 6 p.m. Sunday.

Barb Wilson, a public information officer for West Chester, tells the Journal-News that Meyer was driving an SUV in the wrong direction on Cox Road. It first struck a vehicle near a shopping center, but no one in the first vehicle was injured.

Meyer then crashed head-on into a second vehicle, killing him as well as Pelton and Collins, the Journal-News reports. The impact caused one vehicle to flip onto its side, reports say.

Collins was a middle school teacher in the Ross Local School District, WLWT Channel 5 reports.
China expert recommends Seoul adopt strategic ambiguity on Beijing's disputed territorial claims

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yuls visit to China, preceding an envisaged trilateral summit involving South Korea, Japan and China, is anticipated to represent a crucial opportunity for diplomatic progress between Seoul and Beijing following recent strains in bilateral relations, experts said, Tuesday.

According to the South Korean Embassy in China, it is coordinating the date of Chos upcoming visit to Beijing, which would mark the first visit by a South Korean foreign minister to the country in more than six years.

Experts said the meeting between Cho and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi would hopefully provide mutual assurance that both sides want to stabilize ties. The current relationship between China and South Korea is at its lowest point since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992.

President Yoon Suk Yeol is counting on successfully hosting the three-way summit because he wants to tout his diplomatic achievements, especially as he is facing huge political setbacks after the ruling partys defeat in the general elections last month. South Korea is trying to give assurance to China following the latters reluctance to confirm its participation in the leadership summit, said Kim Heung-kyu, director of the U.S.-China Policy Institute at Ajou University.

However, he refrained from expressing optimism about the meeting between Cho and Wang.

It remains to be seen how the Yoon administration will navigate Korea's relationship with China, Kim said.

Kang Jun-young, a Chinese studies professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said Chos visit is aimed at fixing a date and agenda for the upcoming trilateral summit, which is expected to focus primarily on fostering economic and people-to-people exchanges.

Bilateral talks may also take place during the summit. I think Seoul-Beijing talks will largely be related to facilitating people-to-people exchanges as well as economy and trade, as geopolitical issues may hamper discussions, Kang he said.

He pointed out that a recent diplomatic thaw between South Korea and Japan could obstruct Beijings bilateral ties with Seoul, but a trilateral summit is necessary for China, too.

The summit will practically be Chinese Premier Li Qiangs debut on the international stage, he said.

The three countries are in talks to hold a high-level summit likely on May 26 or 27. Hosted by South Korea, the meeting is expected to bring together Yoon, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Li.

They said the North Korea issue could be addressed, but their talks would likely end without any progress being made.

South Korea would want Beijing to play a role in making North Korea stop developing its nuclear weapons and missiles. However, China will maintain its regular stance of saying We condemn North Koreas nuclear test and we support maintaining peace and stability in the region, Kim said.

Kang said South Korea should refrain from commenting on the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as it can stoke anger in China.

South Korea should remain ambiguous about its position on the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as it could negatively affect relations with China. China may be in wait-and-see mode until the May 20 inauguration of new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te to see how neighboring countries react, Kang said.
Korean Ambassador to Russia Lee Do-hoon attended the inauguration ceremony of its leader Vladimir Putin, who began his fifth term as president on Tuesday (local time), Seoul officials said.

Lee's attendance at the event held at the Kremlin came in contrast to counterparts from Korea's ally, the United States, and many Western countries that boycotted the event over its war in Ukraine. European Union nations were also divided over sending delegations to the inauguration, according to news reports.

The decision was made after careful consideration of various pending bilateral issues and the need to manage bilateral relations with Moscow, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

The government also reportedly took into account its responsibility to protect the rights and interests of Korean nationals and businesses in Russia.

Whether to send a presidential letter to Putin for his reelection victory is still under consideration, a foreign ministry official said.

Bilateral ties between Seoul and Moscow have chilled since Korea joined a U.S.-led move to impose sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has labeled Korea as one of the unfriendly nations, calling for the withdrawal of a string of economic sanctions Seoul has imposed on Moscow.

Russia revealed early last month that a Korean missionary has been held in the Lefortovo detention facility in Moscow since late February on espionage charges, a claim denied by the Christian aid group he works for. (Yonhap)
Chinese-bulit Jur River Bridge handed over to South Sudan

Xinhua) 09:37, May 07, 2024

JUBA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The recently finished Jur River Bridge, also known as the Clement Mboro Bridge, was handed over to the South Sudanese government by the Chinese embassy on Monday.

The new bridge, located in Western Bahr el-Ghazal state, has a designed length of 240 meters and a width of 14 meters, and spans a total of 1,480 meters.

Minister of Roads and Bridges Simon Mijok Mijak said during the handover ceremony held in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, that the modern bridge built since 2021 by Chinese firm Tianyuan Company Limited will "stand as the symbol of our true, unshakable friendship between China and South Sudan."

Meanwhile, he asked the Chinese government to continue funding the development of important infrastructure in the nation, adding that they would like to see Chinese companies involved in the building of a massive corridor that would connect South Sudan with Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Sarah Cleto Hassan, governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal State, said the Clement Mboro Bridge will play a very important role in fostering peace and improving security across the country.

"There are enormous needs for infrastructure development in South Sudan, but this may not happen without stability in the country. It has always seemed that bridges are among the most powerful and important symbols in human society, symbols of connection, cooperation and harmony. When peace and healing come, then it is the construction and rehabilitation of bridges that mark our progress," Hassan said.

The governor said that building roads and bridges will spur sustainable peace and contribute toward the economic development of the country.

Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan Ma Qiang said that the transportation industry, when properly developed, plays a fundamental and strategic role in driving economic and social development.

He said Wau, the capital of Western Bahr El Ghazal, where the bridge is constructed has the advantageous geographical location, abundant resources and unique development conditions, but its economic potential is being restrained due to limited infrastructure.

"After the completion of the bridge, it will save time for crossing the Jur River, connect people on both sides, increase employment opportunities, and inject new vitality into the local economic and social development," Ma said.

"The Clement Mboro Bridge is one of the fruits nourished by the Belt and Road Initiative between China and South Sudan. It realizes both the infrastructure connectivity and heart-to-heart links between the two countries," he added.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
By Monica Nickolai

Paul Fortunato, a Daejeon-based artist whose surname means lucky in Italian, survived a horrific episode of internal bleeding that could have ended his life. During his illness and long recovery, he had to take what he describes as a mandatory vacation. Forced into stillness, he contemplated his life, mortality and place within the world as a vulnerable living being. Reflecting upon his past as well as his future, he responds with humor and pathos in his solo art exhibition, Circular Time, opening May 8 at the Daejeon Gallery.

In an interview with The Korea Times, he described himself as being born with a crayon in my hand.

As a child, he had considered becoming a veterinarian because of his love of animals. Instead, he decided to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York, graduating in 1984. His work has appeared in group exhibitions around the world, including the U.S., France, Spain, China and Korea. He has won accolades from the Elizabeth Foundation, the National Academy of Design, the MacDowell Colony, the Ucross Foundation and the Hillwood Art Museum. He taught at the School of Visual Arts before becoming a professor of painting and drawing at Hanbat National University in Daejeon.

Fortunato, now 62, creates large magical realist paintings, drawings and assemblages. His love of traditional master artists, such as Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Durer, can be seen through the physicality presented in his large paintings as well as in the warring fantasy worlds and epic narratives he creates. He also adds a level of abstraction and color saturation to his work in the style of modern artists he admires, including Philip Guston, Pablo Picasso and Thomas Hart Benton. Finally, he also adds the irreverent satire of Jack Davis and Mort Drucker, illustrators at Mad Magazine. His paintings are often corporeal with humorously ugly figures and vivid in technicolor violence.

However, the violence and grotesqueness are far from gratuitous, as Fortunato also brings his empathy and understanding of animals into the work. He described how watching a video of a zookeeper nurturing a gorilla orphaned by poaching brought him to tears. Theres a subtle understanding in the video that animals are very smart, he said. The figures in his paintings are often animalistic, yet seem to have a human intelligence and awareness of the world.

He brings his worldview into his art as well as his classroom. I ask my students, When you look in the mirror, what animal do you see? Because everyone is an animal. They draw and paint themselves as that animal by looking at a photo of the animal that they think they are plus themselves in the mirror so that theres a synthesis between the animal and the person," he said. "And thats what I do a lot in my own work. I am the animal in a lot of the animal pictures.

With a self-effacing grin, he added, And if you were to ask me what animal I am, its probably some kind of rodent. Theres a picture in the show of me as a big rat.

Fortunato has tailored his home, nestled on the outskirts of Daejeon, for his art and his feline companions. I have an intimate family relationship with eight cats plus a ninth outsider cat. You get to know them, and they almost become like people because you have an intimate understanding about each of their personalities, he said.

Attached to the ceiling are boards as walkways for his cats, literal catwalks that he has created. Theres a lot of work now that is passively produced with the help of the cats, he said, mentioning the shedded fur they generate and their destructive capabilities, which he plans to incorporate into the exhibition.

He has also designed and built an outdoor artist studio, largely using found materials. His studio spaces, akin to living entities, undergo a perpetual evolution, mirroring the fluidity of his creative journey. He often works across multiple canvases simultaneously in addition to creating sculptural works he has assembled with found materials, much of which he has collected from his university campus.

However, he has had his share of setbacks.

In 2023, he lost consciousness on a sidewalk outside a hospital as he was seeking care for severe colorectal bleeding. A kind stranger helped him, and had he been a little late in getting medical attention, he might not have survived. He has been in and out of the hospital several other times, including for knee surgery and another near-death emergency.

I went through a period post-op where I basically dropped off the face of the earth," he said. "I wanted to just be with whatever I was thinking and feeling and seeing in my mind. During this time, he receded from social media and public life, including exhibitions of his work.

The name of the exhibition, Circular Time, contrasts with more linear conceptions of time. For this exhibition, he returned to the artistic instincts he had as a child and shifted away from painting and toward drawing, his first love. He says the work is less topical and stylized and more from his direct observations of his own experiences.

The stuff has darknessIve had a lot of time to reflect, he said.

Despite the dark turn of events in his life  or perhaps because of them  he also rekindled a sense of humor. I looked in the mirror, and I said, Paul, youre a funny guy. You should take that serious, you know?

The death of two of his friends has also given him pause. The exhibition is the first he has done in four years, and he has a lot to say.

He said of the show, Its about me feeling vulnerable. Theres a lot of themes running through the work about death and my own physical declineBut with a humorous slant. Its not maudlin. To steal a line from the movie 'Network,' Im closer to the end than to the beginning.

Then, he added, Death has a recognizable face, you know?

Circular Time will be presented at the Daejeon Gallery, about a 10-minute walk from Daejeon Station, from May 8 to 13. The gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. An opening reception will be held this Saturday from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. Follow @fortunatopaul31 on Instagram.

Monica Nickolai is a writer and artist. Her text-based artwork has appeared at exhibitions in the U.S., Europe and Korea. She currently lives in Daejeon and teaches at Hongik University's Sejong Campus. Visit monicanickolai.com for more information.
An American soldier was detained on charges of criminal misconduct in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok last week while on leave after finishing his tour of duty in South Korea, officials said Monday.

U.S. Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith said that the soldier, whose name was withheld, was detained Thursday, and that the U.S. Army notified his family of his detention.

The soldier was on leave in Russia following the completion of his tour of service in South Korea, a U.S. official told Yonhap News Agency. He was in the process of returning to the United States for his next assignment.

He is not absent without leave or AWOL, the unnamed official added.

"The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations," Smith said in a statement.

"The Army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia," she added.

The soldier's detention comes as relations between Washington and Moscow have been frayed due to Russia's war against Ukraine and other issues.

White House Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said that he is aware of the case.

"I can't really say much about it right now. ... I hope you can understand that," he told a press briefing. "It's certainly a better question put to our DoD colleagues, but we are aware of this case."

DoD stands for the Department of Defense. (Yonhap)
Amazon's computing unit AWS is in talks with Italy to invest billions of euros in the expansion of its data center business in the country as part of the tech giant's effort to boost its cloud offer in Europe, four people familiar with the matter said.

SINGAPORE  Amazon Web Services on Tuesday said it will invest an additional 12 billion Singapore dollars (about $8.87 billion) over the next five years to grow its cloud infrastructure and services in Singapore.

"The investment will go into the construction and build up of the DC capabilities, all associating with the Asia-Pacific Singapore region," Priscilla Chong, country manager of AWS Singapore, told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Tuesday.

The U.S. tech giant's cloud computing arm launched its first Asia-Pacific region in Singapore in 2010  its first foray outside of the U.S. and Europe. Since then, AWS said it has pumped over SG$11 billion into Singapore's cloud infrastructure and ecosystem.

"Starting with our investment in Singapore in 2010, AWS has continued to strengthen their commitment to the ASEAN region, sharing the uplift [in] digital skills across the nations, providing secure and resilient infrastructure consistently across the region," Chong said during a Tuesday summit.

Chong added that the firm has trained over 400,000 people in Singapore in cloud skills since 2017 and will "continue to invest in upskilling and improve productivity" across the country.
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The injectable weight loss medication Wegovy is available at New City Halstead Pharmacy in Chicago, Illinois, on April 24, 2024. Scott Olson | Getty Images

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have long dominated the rapidly growing weight loss drug market, but their duopoly is closer than ever to facing a threat from a new rival. Amgen is among the leaders of a pack of drugmakers racing to join the market with their own weight loss treatments. As the company proceeds with the trials needed to bring its experimental obesity injection to the market in the coming years, it could see a few advantages. Amgen's drug, MariTide, is taken less frequently than Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound, and may cause longer-lasting weight loss than the market leaders' injections. Amgen, one of the nation's biggest pharmaceutical companies, can also produce drugs at scale  a huge edge over smaller biotech companies that lack a large manufacturing footprint. "There are a number of others trying to break into [the market] both small and large, but when I step back, I do think that Amgen has a real shot at being disruptive and challenging Eli Lilly and Novo," William Blair & Company analyst Matt Phipps told CNBC. Amgen has seen its shares pop 12% since CEO Bob Bradway on Thursday said he was "very encouraged" by an ongoing mid-stage study on MariTide. But it isn't the only company with a chance to upend the market. Other companies  like Viking Therapeutics , Altimmune , Structure Therapeutics , AstraZeneca and partners Boehringer Ingelheim and Zealand Pharma  are among those that are making progress on their own treatments. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are also working on new weight loss drugs. "I don't know if I'm ready to pick another clear winner yet based on the data we have," Phipps said. The competition for a slice of the weight loss market has only grown more fierce in recent months. Still, despite intermittent supply shortages and limited insurance coverage, demand for Wegovy and Zepbound isn't expected to slow down anytime soon. That leaves room for new entrants in a segment expected to grow to $100 billion by the end of the decade. While Amgen is in a strong position, it will take years for MariTide to reach patients. The company has not provided an estimated launch date for its obesity injection. In a research note published Thursday, JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott estimated it will hit the market in 2028.

Amgen appears to have a competitive edge

Amgen is testing out a once-a-month or even less frequent basis for its drug, which would be more convenient than the weekly medicines on the market. Several drugmakers are developing weekly injections or daily pills, but some haven't ruled out testing less frequent dosing for their drugs. MariTide showed sustained weight loss after a single injection or multiple shots during a phase one trial, which allowed for less frequent doses of the drug, according to the study authors. They added that the company's drug can also stick around in the body for much longer than current therapies.

The Amgen logo is displayed outside Amgen headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California, on May 17, 2023. Mario Tama | Getty Images

Phipps said he's confident that patients can take MariTide even less frequently, such as once a quarter, to maintain the weight loss they saw after starting the drug. That could make it easier for Amgen to manufacture enough supply  and avoid an issue that has been plaguing Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Amgen is already starting to expand manufacturing capacity for MariTide, executives said during an earnings call on May 2. Less frequent doses of MariTide may also cause fewer side effects than other weight loss treatments, Phipps noted. Many patients stop taking existing drugs due to nausea and vomiting. MariTide causes some of those same side effects, but Phipps said a monthly or quarterly injection of the drug would lead to fewer days of feeling sick compared with a weekly dose. He added that fewer doses could help patients stick to the treatment and maintain weight loss. "Even if you do have some nausea for the day, just once a quarter versus once a week I think that's huge for getting more patients to stay on," said Phipps. Much like Wegovy and Zepbound, Amgen's treatment activates a gut hormone receptor called GLP-1 to help regulate a person's appetite. But while Zepbound activates a second appetite-suppressing hormone receptor called GIP, Amgen's drug blocks it. Wegovy does not target GIP, which as a receptor may also improve how the body breaks down sugar and fat. While Amgen's progress has excited Wall Street and sent its stock climbing, other companies are also moving toward putting a product on the market. Here is where those other drugs stand.

Newer Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly drugs on the way

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are developing new drugs for weight loss and diabetes that could improve on their current treatments and enter the market earlier than MariTide and other experimental medicines. They include a weekly injection from Novo Nordisk for diabetes and obesity called CagriSema. That drug combines semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy, along with an experimental drug called cagrilintide. CagriSema helped diabetes patients who were overweight or obese lose 15.6% of their weight after 32 weeks in a mid-stage trial. Novo Nordisk is studying CagriSema in six late-stage clinical trials and could release data from a 68-week study in obese patients later this year.

An injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lillys weight loss drug, is displayed in New York City on Dec. 11, 2023. Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly is studying an experimental drug called retatrutide in a late-stage trial. That treatment helped patients lose up to 24% of their weight after almost a year in a mid-stage trial, which set a new bar for weight loss. Retatrutide mimics three different hunger-regulating hormones: GLP-1, GIP and glucagon. That combination appears to be even more effective at curbing a person's appetite. Eli Lilly is also developing an oral drug called orforglipron, which targets GLP-1. The company is slated to release late-stage trial data on the pill and retatrutide in 2025.

Boehringer Ingelheim, Zealand Pharma injection

Among other potential entrants, Boehringer Ingelheim and Danish biotech firm Zealand Pharma are developing a weekly weight loss injection. The experimental drug targets GLP-1 to suppress appetite and glucagon to increase energy expenditure. Boehringer Ingelheim in August said it was moving the drug, called survodutide, into a late-stage study. A mid-stage trial found patients who are overweight or have obesity lost up to 19% of their weight after 46 weeks of treatment with the drug. In February, the companies also posted positive mid-stage trial data on survodutide in patients with a severe form of liver disease. Boehringer Ingelheim hopes survodutide will launch as a treatment for obesity or liver disease in 2027 or 2028, as long as trial data is favorable, according to a Reuters interview.

AstraZeneca and Pfizer pills

AstraZeneca is also developing a daily obesity pill, called ECC5004, under a partnership it inked with Chinese biotech company Eccogene in November. AstraZeneca executives have said the pill is rapidly absorbed and doesn't stay in the stomach long, which could reduce side effects relative to existing treatments. Executives have also said that patients can take the pill alone or in combination with its other oral drugs, such as the diabetes drug Farxiga, to treat obesity and related health issues. But the drug, which targets GLP-1, is years away from entering the market. The company has completed a phase one trial in patients with diabetes and plans to present the data at a medical conference later this year, executives said during an earnings call in April. Also in an early-stage trial is AstraZeneca's experimental obesity drug AZD6234, which targets another gut hormone called amylin. The company hopes it can combine AZD6234 with its oral GLP-1 to help patients achieve greater weight loss than with existing drugs, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said in November.

Outside the Macclesfield factory of AstraZeneca. Christopher Furlong | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Meanwhile, investors are eager to see new data on Pfizer's once-daily obesity pill around the middle of the year, which will determine the company's fate in the weight loss drug market. The company scrapped the twice-a-day version of that pill, danuglipron, in December after patients had a difficult time tolerating it in a trial. Pfizer could have another chance to enter the market if it acquires a smaller obesity drugmaker. But for now, a deal appears unlikely as the company works to rebound from the decline of its Covid business last year. "As it relates to bolt-on acquisitions, in the near term you would not expect us to do much there," Pfizer Chief Financial Officer David Denton said during an earnings call on May 1.

Smaller biotechs show promise
Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo on Tuesday met with the head of the U.S. Space Force to discuss ways to bolster their joint capabilities in space to fend off evolving North Korean threats.

Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, the chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force, was on a three-day visit to South Korea amid speculation that North Korea could be readying for the launch of its second spy satellite, following the first one in November.

The two sides discussed ways to closely coordinate space policy and operations to counter rising threats posed by North Korea's space-based surveillance and deepening military ties with Russia, the JCS said.

They also agreed to develop combined space operations, establish a military space consultative body and push for a tabletop exercise on space domains to strengthen their combined space capabilities, it said.

Saltzman's visit comes two weeks after Gen. Stephen Whiting, the commander of the U.S. Space Command, visited South Korea to coordinate their space strategy.

Established in December 2019, the U.S. Space Force is the newest of the branch whose mission is to organize, train and provide forces and capabilities to the U.S. Space Command and the other unified combatant commands around the world.

Seoul and Washington have been exploring avenues to expand their coordination in the realm of space, which was demonstrated by the launch of the U.S. Space Forces Korea, a component unit under the U.S. Forces Korea, in December 2022. (Yonhap)
The sails of the Opera House are illuminated with projections on the opening night of Vivid Sydney 2023 in Sydney, Australia, on Friday, May 26, 2023.

South Korean stocks led gains in Asia-Pacific markets on Tuesday after Wall Street rose overnight on expectations that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates soon.

South Korea's Kospi closed 2.16% higher at 2,734.36 to scale a more than one month peak, powered by heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The small-cap Kosdaq ended 0.66% higher at 871.26.

The Reserve Bank of Australia held its benchmark lending rate at 4.35% for the fourth meeting in a row.
Consumers, particularly those in China, have been tightening their purse strings and cutting their spending on luxury goods in light of macroeconomic uncertainties. But Barclays notes that several companies in the sector make good plays right now. The MSCI Europe textiles, apparel and luxury index has fallen nearly 3% in the last month. Year-to-date, the index is up by nearly 5.8%, but has plunged by 8.6% in the last 12 months. Referencing data from the first-quarter Vogue survey of Chinese customers, Barclays noted that respondents continued to cut their spending on luxury goods, with 56% spending less that 22,500 Chinese yuan ($3,118.85) in the past quarter. While consumers' spending intentions for the second quarter shows that they plan to spend more money on luxury, the investment bank's analysts "remain cautious about the possibility of seeing improving trends." Still, expenditure on luxury goods is expected to rise to 68% this year from 66% in 2023, they wrote in a May 3 research note. Here are three stocks the investment bank likes right now. LVMH Barclays is bullish on French label LVMH and raised its target price by nearly 13.6% to 937 euros ($1,009.18). That gives the stock  whose rating was raised to "overweight"  just over 20.2% upside potential. LVMH's portfolio includes Tiffany & Co, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Sephora. "LVMH-owned brands continued to enjoy strong desirability in Q1," Barclays's analysts noted, adding that Dior and Louis Vuitton remain in the top five most purchased brands of the names the bank covers, with 36% and 28% of those surveyed having bought from them, respectively, in the quarter. Tiffany topped the list for the jewelry segment. Moncler Italian fashion house Moncler also made it to Barclays' list "despite signs of normalising trend in April." "We remain confident that Moncler will deliver above-market growth for the rest of 2024," the analysts wrote. Barclays has a target price of 68 euros, representing 5% potential upside. Richemont Also on Barclay's list is the Switzerland-based Richemont , which produces and sells jewelry, watches, pens, accessories and clothes, among other things. "We view the Q1 24 edition of the Vogue survey as a positive read across for Richemont. Jewelry emerged once again as the most in-demand product category, with 37% of respondents stating they bought jewelry over the past quarter, and strong purchase intention in Q2 24," the analysts wrote. The brand's "desirability" and "spending intentions" for it rose more than those of its peers, according to the survey, the bank noted. Barclays' target price on the stock is 168 Swiss francs ($182.62), which gives it around 28.2% potential upside.
China stocks have staged such a strong rally after a protracted slump for the past few years that they're beating even the S & P 500 so far this year. The MSCI China index, which includes the mainland A-shares, Hong Kong-listed shares and U.S.-listed China names, has jumped around 9%, while the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF is up around 13%. The S & P 500 has risen around 8%. That breakout has come after a deep and lengthy decline in Chinese markets, as they lost nearly $5 trillion in three years . Investors were bearish as a result of the property debt crisis, slowing growth and other factors. But is the bounce back sustainable? Here's what Wall Street and other analysts say, and what to buy in the market. China policy a big factor Bernstein said in a May 3 note: "Chinese market has seen one of the most silent bull [cycles]; MSCI China up 19% since Jan bottom despite skeptical investors. With rebounding strength in recent weeks, many investors question if this rally can continue or is it already time to take profit." It believes there's "more room" for the China rebound  largely through growth stocks. But it also advised that hedging through momentum  selectively  is important. The momentum strategy is one in which investors buy stocks that are rising but sell when they appear to have hit the peak. Most analysts said whether the rally can be sustained will largely depend on China policy. In a May 3 note, BNP Paribas said it's increasing its MSCI China target "to the bullish scenario" to have another 10% to 15% upside. It cited the April statement by China's Politburo  the gathering of top Chinese leaders  that focused on a stronger commitment to pro-growth and pro-reform policy. "We see the current uneven recovery broadening to benefit capable leaders across sectors that have yet to participate or fully participate in the ongoing rally," said JPMorgan in a May 3 note, adding that a segment of property buyers who wish to upgrade will lend support to this sector till 2026 to 2027. Goldman Sachs said in an April 23 note that its analysis suggested that China's A-shares could jump around 20%  if China can "narrow the gap" with the international average in terms of shareholder returns, corporate government standards and institutional investor ownership. The Wall Street bank also cited the Asian giant's policy focus in 2024, which has shifted to a focus on promoting high-quality development of its markets. "More direct and to-the-point fiscal stimulus measures targeting the demand side are key in keeping the rally going forward," Kevin Liu of CICC Research told CNBC last week. Risk factors to consider include when policies will be rolled out, and how quickly the economy, property sector and earnings can recover, according to Nomura's May 5 report. Still, the bank believes that the Politburo event is "clearly positive" for stocks. "We think underweight investors are likely to be forced to chase the rally," the bank's analysts said, adding that beaten-down cyclical recovery stocks are likely to outperform. How to play China Though most were bullish on China stocks, they would be selective in stock-picking. Goldman built a screen of what it called "large-cap stable growers" that included these characteristics: High historical earnings growth rates but low realized earnings growth volatility. A healthy balance sheet  defined by a low net-debt-to-equity ratio. A track record of returning cash to shareholders. The stocks with market capitalizations of more than $10 billion that showed up included: BYD, SAIC Motor , Changan Automobile , Longi Green Energy and Anhui Conch Cement . JPMorgan named 14 stock picks from a few main themes, including "high yielders" (utilities) and growth picks (artificial intelligence and electric vehicle batteries). There are also names that can benefit from improving housing transactions, broadening economic activities (advertising and trucking) and consumption (liquor, smartphones). The bank described them as "well positioned to catch up," and they include: Kweichow Moutai, CATL, Kuaishou Technology , Ping An Insurance , China Merchants Bank and JD.com . Of the list, JPMorgan gave Ping An the highest potential upside to the price target of 77 Hong Kong dollars ($9.85)  at 102.6% as of May 3. U.S. and other investors who wish to invest in China via exchange-traded funds can consider the following, which Morningstar gave ratings of bronze to gold and overall fund ratings of three to five stars. They include: SPDR S & P China ETF iShares MSCI China A ETF Global X MSCI China Consumer Disc ETF iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF  CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
China says its edge in EVs comes from "constant innovations," a well-established supply chain system and market competition. But U.S. officials and others have raised concerns that years of government support for the industry have created overcapacity , raising the risk that excess Chinese products could flood overseas markets and undercut domestic production.

But they are not available in the U.S., where they face high trade barriers and allegations that Chinese government subsidies have given them an unfair advantage. The Alliance for American Manufacturing , an advocacy group, says the introduction of Chinese cars to the U.S. market would be an "extinction-level event" for the U.S. auto industry.

Despite lower price tags, Chinese EVs often have more powerful batteries and more advanced technology.

"They're not ready," said Stella Li, chief executive of BYD Americas. "For BYD, we are ready. We are ready for technology, and we are more ready on supply chain," she told NBC News in an exclusive interview in April at BYD headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen, where SUVs, sedans and other gleaming models are displayed in the cavernous lobby.

Chinese companies such as BYD, the biggest global rival to America's Tesla , are forcing Western automakers to change their approach to electric vehicles if they want to remain competitive in a growing industry.

And this metropolis known as China's Silicon Valley is at the heart of the country's bid for dominance in the lucrative global market .

Growing stars of the auto world, EVs are also now the subject of intense commercial competition and national security concerns for the world's two largest economies.

On the long list of disputes between the United States and China , electric vehicles enjoy an increasingly prominent role.

BYD is a privately owned company that began as a battery manufacturer in 1995. The company, whose name stands for Build Your Dreams, controls most of its own low-cost EV supply chain, from basic components to the ships that transport its vehicles overseas.

In the last quarter of 2023, BYD surpassed Tesla as the world's top EV maker by sales, though Tesla reclaimed the title in the first quarter of this year when BYD reported a 43% drop in sales compared with the previous quarter.

The rise of BYD and the Chinese EV industry in general has been aided by more than a decade of strong support from Beijing in the form of subsidies, tax breaks and consumer incentives  in line with what the ruling Communist Party has billed as a larger strategy to fulfill its global climate commitments but what industry experts widely view as a competitive means to build a Chinese auto industry.

The competition among hundreds of Chinese EV makers has spurred rapid innovation.

"What the Chinese have been able to do in the past 10 to 12 years in terms of quality of the vehicles is pretty amazing," said Mark Fields, former chief executive of Ford. "The designs have improved a lot, the quality has improved a lot."

This year, up to 45% of the cars on Chinese roads could be electric vehicles, compared with 25% in Europe and about 11% in the U.S., according to a report by the International Energy Agency.

All this could add up to trouble for U.S. automakers struggling to catch up.

Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who made a surprise visit to Beijing last week, has said that without trade barriers Chinese EV makers would "demolish" their competitors.

Chinese EVs tend to be smaller, cheaper and more accessible to the masses  BYD's Seagull, a small all-electric hatchback, starts at less than $10,000. In the U.S., by contrast, EV makers have emphasized larger, more luxurious models targeted at wealthier buyers, though Musk said in April that the company would begin production of new affordable EV models by early next year.

With sales slowing down at home, Fields said, Chinese automakers are looking for new markets for their lower-priced inventory, including eventually the U.S.

"It's not unlike a playbook that they've used in other industries, whether it's steel or aluminum or solar panels," he said, "and that could be a real threat to the U.S. and the Western automakers."

Western EV makers can't avoid competing with Chinese companies in a global industry, but it will take time for them to catch up, particularly on price, Fields said.

"At the end of the day, the consumer votes with their pocketbook, and when it comes time for the the mainstream consumer to really get behind EVs, you know that's going to dominate their thinking," he said.

One thing buying U.S. automakers some time is a 27.5% import tax on any vehicles that are made in China and shipped to the United States. Lawmakers from both parties are calling for those tariffs to be increased. China, in turn, has filed a case with the World Trade Organization accusing the U.S. of discriminating against Chinese products in its own electric vehicle subsidies.

The European Commission is also considering whether to impose punitive tariffs on imports of Chinese EVs as part of an investigation into Chinese government subsidies that Beijing has criticized as protectionist and stacked against Chinese manufacturers. According to a report in April by Rhodium Group, European Union tariffs would need to be as high as 55% to curb imports of Chinese EVs.

With BYD seeking to set up a factory in Mexico, there are concerns that it and other Chinese automakers could try to evade the tariffs by exporting cars to the U.S. from there. (Li said the company's Mexico operations are focused only on local sales and that BYD currently has no plans to enter the U.S. market.)

"I think it's going to take not only just potentially higher tariffs but also trade restrictions," Fields said.

In addition to tariffs and trade restrictions, Chinese EV makers would face a number of regulatory and compliance hurdles to selling cars in the U.S. It would take time to set up a sales and distribution network, Fields said, and Chinese EV makers could face a perception issue among American consumers.

The Biden administration is also investigating Chinese-made "smart cars," whose features it says could be used to collect personal information about American drivers.

Li said there was no data to support such an investigation and that U.S. concerns about national security were "overblown."

"If you have national security concerns, you should be more concerned about your cellphones," most of which are also produced in China, she said.

She added that BYD has "world-class" standards for the protection of personal data.

China has had its own privacy concerns about Tesla, whose EVs are said to have been barred from some government-related properties in the country over concerns about what information they might be collecting. During Musk's visit last week, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced that certain models from Tesla, BYD and four other Chinese manufacturers had passed China's data security requirements.

The move could clear the way for approval in China of Tesla's highest level of self-driving software, whose safety and performance was criticized by U.S. regulators in a recent report.

Li said the atmosphere in the U.S. was similar to decades past, when American automakers felt threatened by imports from South Korea and Japan. The American brands survived, she said, and that "positive competition" ultimately benefited consumers.

The auto market has "never been taken by one company or never been taken by one country," she said. "That's never happened if you see all the history."
Emmanuel Macron, France's president, right, greets Xi Jinping, China's president, ahead of the state dinner marking the visit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on Monday, May 6, 2024. Xi called on France to help fend off a "new Cold War" as the EU increasingly aligns with U.S. concerns over security risks and trade tensions.

China's President Xi Jingping on Monday called for a global truce during the Olympic Games in Paris this summer after the French president and the head of the European Commission urged him to use his influence on Russia to end its war in Ukraine.

President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the Chinese leader for his first visit to Europe in five years and held talks with him and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris as they sought to show a united front on issues ranging from trade to Ukraine.

China has strengthened trade and military ties with Russia in recent years as the U.S. and its allies imposed sanctions on both countries, especially on Moscow since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

China-Russian trade hit a record of $240.1 billion in 2023, up 26.3% from a year earlier, Chinese customs data shows. Chinese shipments to Russia jumped 46.9% in 2023 while imports from Russia rose 13%.

"The world today is far from being calm. As member of the United Nations Security Council and as a responsible country, China urges with France for a truce in the world during the Paris Olympic games," Xi said, speaking through an interpreter alongside Macron during a joint statement.

Suspending armed conflicts under an "Olympic truce" is a longstanding tradition, and Macron has said he would work towards achieving one when Paris hosts the Summer Games from July 26 to Aug. 11 and the Paralympic Games until the end of August.

French officials hope Xi's endorsement is a sign that he could use his influence to persuade Russia to reach a truce when President Vladimir Putin travels to China later this month.

Their hope is that a small truce could open the window to broader diplomacy.

"We wanted to explain the impact of this conflict on Europe's security and our determination to support Ukraine for as long as necessary," Macron said, adding that Paris was not looking to change the regime in Moscow.

Macron said he hoped Putin's visit to China would help assess the perspectives for peace.

Xi said he supported an international peace conference supported by Russia and Ukraine, appearing to be lukewarm on a peace conference organized by Switzerland on June 16, to which Moscow has not been invited.

"We are opposed to using this crisis to place the responsibilities on a third country and tarnish its image and incite a new Cold War," he said.

"History has shown conflicts can only be resolved by negotiations."

Fighting on Ukraine's eastern front has worsened in recent weeks as Kyiv's troops await crucial U.S. and European military aid to beat back a Russian advance. Russia has previously been lukewarm about a truce saying Ukraine might use it as an opportunity to regroup and rearm.
Hundreds of Palestinians, including women and children living in east part of Rafah, migrate to the west part of the Khan Yunis with their few belongings loaded on vehicles following the Israel's announcement on the evacuation of neighborhoods, in Khan Yunis, Gaza on May 6, 2024. Ashraf Amra | Anadolu | Getty Images

Crude oil futures were little changed Tuesday as the U.S. moved to replenish the strategic petroleum reserve and a potential cease-fire in Gaza remained uncertain. The U.S. Energy Department announced a bid for the purchase of 3.3 million barrels to help replenish the strategic petroleum reserve, lifting oil prices earlier in the session before ultimately closing lower. The oil market has grown tighter with global inventories declining by 300,000 barrels per day so far this year as OPEC+ has largely adhered to production cuts, according to a report from the Energy Information Administration. Here are Tuesday's closing energy prices: West Texas Intermediate

Brent

RBOB Gasoline June contract: $2.54 a gallon, down 1.73%. Year to date, gasoline futures have gained about 21%.

Natural Gas

Stock Chart Icon Stock chart icon WTI vs. Brent.

There remains significant uncertainty surrounding developments in the Middle East which could still lead to a sharp increase in oil prices, according to the EIA. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday the cease-fire proposal accepted by Hamas was "meant to sabotage the entry of our forces into Rafah," according to the Times of Israel. Netanyahu said the cease-fire proposal was "very far from Israel's vital demands." Oil prices have briefly made moves higher on geopolitical risk in the Middle East for months before pulling back as no major disruption to supplies has occurred. U.S. crude oil and Brent are both down about 7% since their April highs when traders bid up prices on fears that Israel and Iran were on the brink of war.
Imprisoned Silicon Valley CEO Elizabeth Holmes has shaved more months from her initial 11-year-plus sentence for wire fraud and conspiracy, federal records show, and is due to be released two years earlier than expected.

Holmes, 40, has a current release date of Aug. 16, 2032, from a women's federal prison in Bryan, Texas, according to the Bureau of Prisons. Last July, her expected release date was listed as Dec. 29, 2032.

The disgraced founder of failed blood-testing startup Theranos entered prison in May 2023 after she was handed a 135-month prison sentence for defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

While the BOP declined to comment specifically about Holmes' status for privacy and security reasons, the agency said in a statement that "projected release dates are calculated with several factors in mind."Inmates are eligible for "good conduct time," and those who qualify can earn up to 54 days for each year of sentence imposed by the court. In addition, inmates can see more time taken off their sentences by earning time credits that accrue when they complete certain prison and work programs, part of the federal government's way to reduce recidivism and ease the prison population.

Time credits are awarded over a 30-day period for programs related to anger management, mental health, financial literacy and other topics that seek to address behavior and instill personal skills. Once the credits are calculated and it is determined those credits equal the time left on the sentence, the inmate can be transferred out of prison into "pre-release custody," such as a halfway house or home confinement. Some may also be eligible for supervised release like probation.

Supporters of the Trump-era law say they believe it can cut particularly harsh sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and lessen the racial disparities affecting people of color in the criminal justice system, although the calculation of time credits has come under scrutiny in recent years.

Holmes is being held at FPC Bryan, a minimum-security prison camp where former "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star Jen Shah is serving her federal wire fraud sentence for a telemarketing scam.

A lawyer for Holmes did not respond to a request for comment about her prison sentence.

Along with Holmes, Theranos Chief Operating Officer Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani was also convicted at a separate trial for his role in the Theranos fraud, getting sentenced in December 2022 to nearly 13 years in prison.

He is currently set to be released on Nov. 22, 2032, from a federal prison in Southern California, which would be two years sooner than expected. His lawyer declined to comment about his prison time.

Meanwhile, a federal appeals court in San Francisco is set to hear oral arguments for Holmes' appeal on June 11. The appeal will deal with "convictions, sentences, and restitution orders" related to the case, according to the court calendar. Balwani is also supposed to have his appeals case heard at that time.

After giving birth to her second child in early 2023, Holmes attempted to remain free on bail while appealing her conviction, but a judge denied that request.

Theranos, which said its technology could give users health data by testing blood from a single finger prick, became emblematic of startups that lured investors with false promises in the early 2000s. Holmes' rise as a Stanford University dropout-turned-Silicon Valley sensation was the subject of investigative reports and a TV series that sought to scrutinize her dramatic story.
Citi analysts, led by Andrew Gardiner, said in a note that the cut to revenue outlook was in line with investor expectations.

"The updated guidance does, however, indicate that while demand is weaker than expected, the cycle trough has also been reached for Infineon and it calls for revenue to increase in Jun- and Sep-Qs q/q/q and for margins to trough in Jun-Q before improving in Sep-Q," they wrote.

"Management cite continued weak demand in consumer and industrial and a slowing in growth in automotive, with FY24 expectations reduced for all 4 segments. We think the reduction in automotive growth to low-to-mid-single digits for FY24 is a prudent and reasonable cut to expectations, one that should be taken well by investors."

 Katrina Bishop
A protester holds a sign saying 'Palestine Will Be Free From The River to the Sea' as protesters listen to speeches in the Camp of Resistance on May 4, 2024 in Manchester, United Kingdom.

The independent Oversight Board that hears appeals about content decisions on Facebook and Instagram said Tuesday it would consider whether the pro-Palestinian phrase "from the river to the sea" violates the platforms' rules including their ban on hate speech.

The Oversight Board, which operates similarly to a court, said in a statement that it had agreed to hear three cases concerning the phrase as used in comments or posts on Facebook. The three cases all date to November, following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel and the start of Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

In each of the three cases, other Facebook users reported the phrase, saying it violated platform rules on hate speech, incitement or violent organizations. In one case, 937 users reported the phrase 951 times. In a second case, four users reported it seven times, and in a third case, one user reported the phrase, the board said.

And in each of the three cases, Facebook did not take down the phrase. Automated systems handled the complaints initially, and when the complaints reached human moderators, they ruled that the phrase did not violate platform rules, according to the board. The users opposed to the phrase then appealed to the Oversight Board.

"The Board selected these cases to consider how Meta should moderate the use of the phrase given the resurgence in its use after October 7, 2023, and controversies around the phrase's meaning," the board said in a statement on its website. Meta is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

The Oversight Board said it would accept public comment on the question for the next two weeks before deliberating and issuing a decision that would likely be binding on Facebook and Instagram.

The phrase is often included as part of pro-Palestinian slogans and chants, including at protests across the country, and it has long been a point of controversy. It generally refers to the geographic area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea  the region central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict  and the phrase's deeper meaning is sharply debated.

Some interpret the phrase as a general appeal to Palestinian nationalism, while others, including Hamas, have used the phrase to call for a Palestinian state over the entire area, meaning Israel would not exist as an independent state.

The Oversight Board summed up the competing views this way: "On the one hand, the phrase has been used to advocate for the dignity and human rights of Palestinians. On the other hand, it could have antisemitic implications, as claimed by the users who submitted the cases to the Board."

Among the people who have used the phrase has been Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the sole Palestinian American in Congress. In November, House lawmakers voted 234-188 to censure her, saying she had called for the destruction of the state of Israel. She said the censure resolution distorted her views and said the phrase "is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate."

One of the Facebook posts being reviewed by the Oversight Board received about 8 million views, the board said. That post contained "what appears to be a generated image of fruit floating on the sea that form the words from the phrase, along with 'Palestine will be free,'" according to the board.

Human moderators reviewed the user reports and denied them, and Meta's management has stood by those decisions, the board said.

"After that review, Meta determined that, without additional context, it cannot conclude that 'From the river to the sea' constitutes a call to violence or a call for exclusion of any particular group, nor that it is linked exclusively to support for Hamas," the board wrote, summing up the position of Meta's management.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg began talking about setting up the appeals board in 2018, saying that social media companies needed an outside check on their decision-making about content moderation.

In one of its most significant decisions, the Oversight Board in 2021 upheld the suspension of former President Donald Trump from Meta's platforms but ruled that it was inappropriate to make the ban indefinite. Meta last year reinstated Trump's accounts.

The board currently has 22 members including a former prime minister of Denmark, free speech advocates and law professors from around the world, according to its website.
Food waste is so prolific in the U.S. that roughly one-third of the amount produced ends up in landfills rather than in stomachs. That adds up to excess production, packaging, storage and delivery requirements, all negatively contributing to climate change.

A recent study published in the journal Science found that food production accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Food delivery services like HelloFresh, Blue Apron and EveryPlate reduce that somewhat by sending consumers what they need for specific recipes.

A New York-based startup called Hungryroot is going one step further. The 9-year-old company  using artificial intelligence  is providing a more curated experience and delivering the precise amount of food a consumer will use.

Customers answer a slew of questions about their food likes and dislikes, allergies and health goals. They also answer questions on how and when they cook. Taking those answers, Hungryroot's technology infers what recipes and grocery items are best for each customer.

"Hungryroot is entirely designed to give you just the foods that you're going to need for your week," Ben McKean, the company's CEO, told CNBC. "And it gives you simple recipes, so you know exactly what to do with them, and as a result, food waste with our customers is significantly reduced."

Hungryroot sends users a list of what's in their weekly cart, allowing them to approve or change items.

The company can reduce its own waste as well. If it determines that a user has no preference between broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and the company happens to have more broccoli in its warehouse, that's what they'll recommend.

The company said these processes help lead to 80% less food waste at its facilities compared with a traditional supermarket.

Investors say the unique model is also good for its bottom line.

"They have been profitable for three or four years now, which is unusual for a lot of these e-commerce, food businesses," said Jeremy Liew, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. "They've been able to drive that through efficiency of spend, and because they have built a business that customers really love."

In addition to Lightspeed, Hungryroot is backed by L Catterton, Crosslink Capital, KarpReilly and Lerer Hippeau. The company has raised a total of $75 million.

 CNBC climate producer Lisa Rizzolo contributed to this piece.
Korea's homegrown fighter jet KF-21 under development is set to conduct its first live-fire test with long-range air-to-air Meteor missiles this week, sources said Tuesday.

A prototype of the KF-21 is scheduled to conduct the test over the waters off the country's southern coast Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the issue.

In March 2023, two prototype aircraft succeeded in separating the Meteor test missiles in midair.

If the test is successfully conducted, it is expected to extend the KF-21's long-range and demonstrate interception capabilities.

A successful test would make the KF-21 join the ranks of select fighter jets, including the Eurofighter Typhoon, Rafael and Gripen in achieving this feat.

The Meteor missile is capable of flying at over Mach 4, equivalent to four times the speed of sound, and can intercept targets over 200 kilometers away. It measures 3.6 meters in length, 17.8 centimeters in diameter and weighs 185 kilograms.

Each KF-21 can carry up to four Meteor missiles, with deployment scheduled to begin next month.

Korea Aerospace Industries plans to build 20 KF-21s this year and produce 20 more next year.

If the project proceeds as planned, the Air Force is expected to receive its first KF-21 in the second half of 2026 to replace its aging fleet of F-4 and F-5 jets. (Yonhap)
An injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lillys weight loss drug, is displayed in New York City on Dec. 11, 2023.

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Good afternoon! A highly popular group of weight loss and diabetes drugs is still hard to find in the U.S. The dominant manufacturers of those treatments, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk , are making progress toward changing that.

But Wall Street appears to be more encouraged by one than the other.

The drugmakers shared supply updates when they reported their financial results for the first quarter. Demand for their weight loss and diabetes medications has far outpaced supply over the last year, forcing the pair to invest heavily to scale up their manufacturing.

Investors cheered Eli Lilly after the company hiked its full-year revenue outlook by $2 billion, in part due to confidence about increased production of its weight loss drug Zepbound, diabetes treatment Mounjaro, and similar drugs for the rest of the year. The company refers to those treatments as incretin drugs, which mimic certain gut hormones to suppress a person's appetite and regulate blood sugar.

"Now that we're four months into the year, we have greater visibility into that, into these nodes of capacity and feel more confident," Eli Lilly Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi told investors during an earnings call on April 30.

She noted that Eli Lilly has several manufacturing sites either "ramping up or under construction," including two locations in North Carolina, two in Indiana, one in Ireland and one in Germany. There's also a seventh site the company recently acquired from Nexus Pharmaceuticals.

Ashkenazi also highlighted the recent approval and upcoming launch of a new delivery device for Mounjaro called KwikPen in Europe and the U.K., which she said will "unlock new supply capacity" for certain international markets. That's because Eli Lilly for years has used that device for insulin, so the company can tap into existing manufacturing resources to make more of other incretin drugs.

KwikPen is a single four-dose pen that covers a month's treatment. Patients using current autoinjectors for weight loss and diabetes drugs go through four different pens per month. When asked whether the company will launch the device in the U.S., Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks told investors, "We haven't ruled it out in other jurisdictions."

Eli Lilly expects supply for Zepbound, Mounjaro and other incretin drugs to remain "quite tight" in the near- to mid-term as demand remains high, Ashkenazi said. But she noted that Eli Lilly expects its production of sellable doses of incretin drugs to be at least 1.5 times higher later this year compared with the second half of 2023  a goal the company first outlined in February.

On the day Eli Lilly reported earnings, shares of the company jumped more than 5% on the raised guidance and supply updates.

"While [Lilly] continues to see demand for incretins as outstripping supply for the foreseeable future, the company is clearly making progress ramping capacity, and this should translate to accelerating volume growth throughout the year," JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott said in a research note last week.
Entry-level jobs are typically thought of as positions requiring little to no prior experience or skills. But it's a longstanding gripe among job seekers on social media that job listings' requirements are more ambitious.

"When you apply for an entry level marketing job and they ask for: 2+ years of experience, a degree, experiences in graphic design, SEO, copywriting and a viral TikTok account on the side," one TikTok user offered as an example.

"Companies listing 'Masters preferred' for entry level office positions," posted another.

There's truth to the meme.

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Treasury Department announces new Series I bond rate

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Don't believe these money misconceptions

Almost half (42%) of employees said they felt excluded from job opportunities due to a lack of formal qualifications or experience, according to a 2023 report from TestGorilla. In a 2022 report from McKinsey & Company, the second-most-cited barrier to employment was a lack of experience, relevant skills, credentials or education.

There has been a shift over the past few years towards skills-based hiring, with employers far more concerned about employees experience and skills than even their degrees," said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter.

That shows up in hiring trends. Less than 61% of human resources leaders said in 2023 that they are hiring for entry-level and less-specialized positions, down from 79% in 2022, according to a PwC survey.
There's mounting evidence of how serious Apple is about artificial intelligence, Jim Cramer said Tuesday, pointing to a Wall Street Journal report about the tech giant developing AI data center chips. "This is a very good sign," Jim said. "This is the beginning of what I regard as the Apple offense on AI." He also reiterated his Apple stock mantra: "Own it, don't trade it." According to the Journal , the project known as Apple Chips in Data Centers, or ACDC internally, has been in the works for years but does not have a definitive timeline. The report also said Apple has been working with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to design and produce these chips. Apple was not available to respond to CNBC's request for comment on the Journal article. Hours later, however, Apple announced at a planned product event Tuesday new iPads and an updated M4 chip, which the company described as "outrageously powerful" for AI. The headlines indicate that Apple is taking AI more seriously, which in turn should advance the company's position in the heated arms race among its Big Tech peers and improve its financial performance. Apple CEO Tim Cook also teased upcoming AI updates during last week's post-earnings conference call. "We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI, and we believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era, including Apple's unique combination of seamless hardware, software and services integration." AAPL YTD mountain Apple (AAPL) year-to-date performance While experiencing a bounce last week after concerns about quarterly iPhone sales and China's weakness proved to be overblown, Apple shares were still down 5.5% year to date compared to the S & P 500 's nearly 9% over the same stretch. Following a 48% gain last year and an all-time just under $200 per share back in December, Apple shares fell on hard times. The stock dropped to the mid-$160s last month. Jim suggested Tuesday that Apple investors will be rewarded for their patience once management fully unveils their forthcoming AI strategy. That's expected at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Jim added, however, that investors who wait for Apple's announcement to buy shares could miss the expected upside from an AI-driven iPhone refresh cycle. "Nobody cares until they see it," Jim said, one day after he expressed excitement about what's to come. "I mean, I can't imagine not wanting to get that phone if AI is in it."
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced criminal charges against a Russian national, Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, for allegedly creating, developing and administrating the LockBit ransomware-as-a-service group.

The U.S. State Department at the same time offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the apprehension and arrest of Khoroshev, a 31-year-old from Voronezh, Russia.

The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on Khoroshev, blocking all property and interests he holds in the U.S. or are in the possession of Americans.

The Department of Justice said the LockBit group led by Khoroshev at times was "the most prolific ransomware group in the world," targeting more than 2,000 victims, most of them in the U.S., stealing more than $500 million in ransomware payments, and causing billions of dollars more in broader losses including lost revenue.

LockBit's ransomware-as-a-service model licensed its software to other cybercriminals in exchange for payments that included a percentage of ransoms paid by victims, which included "individuals, small businesses, multinational corporations, hospitals, schools, nonprofit organizations, critical infrastructure, and government and law-enforcement agencies," according to the DOJ.

Khoroshev, who also is known as LockBitSupp, LockBit and putinkrab, was charged in a 26-count indictment in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, which accuses him of personally pocketing at least $100 million from victims of the group. He typically received 20% of each ransom payment, authorities said.
Samantha Coxe's business idea came from a relatable experience: lying to her dentist about flossing regularly.

After her lack of flossing resulted in getting more than 10 cavities filled, the now-32-year-old former corporate attorney left her career in 2021 to launch Flaus, the "world's first electric flosser," she told investors on Friday's episode of ABC's "Shark Tank."

Coxe sought $250,000 for 5% of her company, which brought in "about $900,000 in sales" over the 12 months prior to filming, she said. She wanted the funding to help grow her company into an "oral beauty" brand, hopefully ending up in stores like Sephora and Ulta, she added.

"It's just like your electric toothbrush," said Coxe. "Simply snap on a fresh, recyclable floss head, power it up and select your favorite speed setting of up to 18,000 sonic vibrations per minute. Then, let Flaus work its magic."

The show's investor judges tried out the Flaus flosser, calling it "cool" and complimenting its peppermint flavor  but they wanted to learn more about the numbers.

"Customers will buy the kit up front for $99. It costs us about $10 to make," Coxe told them. "Every three months, customers will receive a little baggie of 90 floss heads [if they subscribe]... The subscription is $15 every three months or $5 a month."

Flaus was projected to become profitable in 2024, she noted. Right now, it's built for adults  but Coxe said a version for kids is "the next product we're coming out with."
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A.P. Moller-Maersk says that based on progress made in the Port of Baltimore collapsed bridge clean-up, it may be able to set a timeline on returning to the port in the next week or so, and resumption of network services at the Baltimore port for the second-largest global ocean carrier could come by the end of this month. "It's a fluid situation and the uncertainty is based on the progress of clean-up activities and when the channel will be open again for sizable vessels," said Charles Van der Steene, president of Maersk North America. "But based on the progress, and if the channel is open by the end of May, our network team would expect to make final decisions on the rerouting of vessels back to the Port of Baltimore in the next five to ten days." A spokesperson for Unified Command, the government entity in charge of the effort, tells CNBC it will be a Unified Command decision to authorize the reopening of the port.

The remains of the Key Bridge in the Patapsco River entrance to Baltimore Harbor on May 2, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland. Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images

Based on the Maersk network team's review of the cleanup effort after the container ship Dali crashed into and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Maersk vessels could start arriving at the Port of Baltimore by the end of May or early June. Van der Steene says the Maersk team has seen less than 200 containers taken off the Dali over the last nine days. "At this stage, there is no immediate planning to take more containers off the Dali and that's almost entirely linked to the ability to float it and make sure that we can get it into the port," Van der Steene said. Maersk was the shipping company that chartered the Dali.

Salvage personnel work on the wreckage of the cargo ship Dali after it collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge on April 04, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The process of removing shipping containers from the 984-foot-long Dali began in early April. The Port of Baltimore reopened for limited marine traffic after the bride collapse which occurred on March 26. Unified Command has said the goal is to refloat the Dali by May 10, with the main goal to have the main 50-foot-deep channel set to reopen by the end of May. "We at this stage have helped our customers create mitigating solutions through either Norfolk or Newark, both of the road or through shuttle," Van de Steene said. The Port of Baltimore is just one of the headwinds facing Maersk and the global supply chain. In its first-quarter earnings released last week, CEO Vincent Clerc said the Red Sea diversions would stretch at least to the end of the year. The longer vessel transits around the Cape of Good Hope have had a global impact on vessel and container availability.

Salvage personnel work to clear wreckage after the cargo ship Dali crashed into and collapsed the Francis Scott Key Bridge, on April 02, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

"Capacity is going to be a challenge across the board in the industry, including for North America," said Van der Steene. "The impact could be significant as a result of the Red Sea diversions, coupled with the reduced throughput of the Panama Canal and an overarching growth of peak season. " Shipping surcharges have also increased due to the longer transit and fuel costs, charges retailers then pass onto the consumer. But based on North American freight orders from Asia, Van der Steene described 2024 as a "year of reinvigoration." He said that view is mostly driven by the growth of flows into North America and specifically the U.S. "Growth is outstripping any previous expectations," Van der Steene said. "Since the beginning of the year, the actual overall growth out of Asia and out of Europe into the U.S. has superseded any of our expectations."

The cargo ship Dali sits in the water after running into and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Earlier this year, Maersk issued cautious guidance for 2024, suspended its buybacks, and warned of shipping overcapacity. But its guidance last week was improved. Imports from Vietnam and China arriving into Mexico and then being trucked into the United States have increased, and Maersk is growing its infrastructure in Mexico, building out both its terminal complex offerings and landside fulfillment capacity. "From the start of 2023 to the end of year 2024, we will have a five-fold increase of our footprint," said Van der Steene. "That's additional campus buildings that will help us provide fulfillment capabilities into the U.S. market." He said Maersk is seeing at least a 10% to 15% increase in transborder trucking, which boomed during the pandemic and now is back with the nearshoring of more manufacturing and concerns about the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China including tariffs. Peak shipping season, which starts in June and continues through the summer for the back to school shopping and then the holidays, is expected to be normal in volume, Van der Steene said. "There's nothing that indicates that it would be a slower peak season or a bigger peak season," said Van der Steene. "We believe in normalized peak season. ... Depending on the industry that can be more skewed, of course, retailers more skewed than others in that latter half of the year."

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Robyn Denholm, chairman of Tesla Inc., speaks during an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia event in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday, March 27, 2019.

Tesla Chairwoman Robyn Denholm has just sold $17.3 million worth of her shares in the electric vehicle maker, according to a filing Monday, bringing her total stock sales this year to more than $50 million.

Denholm, who joined Tesla's board as an independent director in 2014 and became chair four years later, sold the shares as part of what's called a 10b5-1 program put into place in October. She has now sold all of the 281,116 shares allowed in the agreement.

While Denholm still has the vast majority of the 1.66 million shares she owned as of the end of last year, according to the company's proxy filing, her stock sales follow hefty selling from other big stakeholders. Former Tesla Senior Vice President Drew Baglino, who announced his resignation in mid-April, sold shares worth around $181.5 million soon after his departure, according to a filing.

Another Tesla board member, Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, set up a 10b5-1 trading plan in February 2024, for the potential sale of up to 280,000 shares by or before Feb. 28, 2025.

Tesla shares are down 26% this year, closing Monday at $184.76. The slide comes as the company faces increased competition, weakened demand for its EVs and a drop in first-quarter deliveries.

CEO Elon Musk has tried to focus investors' attention on the company's self-driving future instead of its core automotive business. He told investors on Tesla's earnings call last month that those who doubt the company's ability to deliver self-driving vehicles should stay away from the stock. For years, Tesla has been working to develop, but hasn't brought to market, software that will make its existing cars autonomous, a dedicated robotaxi and humanoid robots capable of factory work.

"If somebody doesn't believe Tesla's going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company," Musk said on the call.

In Denholm's early years on the Tesla board, she served on the audit committee. She eventually replaced Musk as chair in November 2018, after the company struck an agreement with the SEC to settle civil securities fraud charges requiring Musk to relinquish that role temporarily, among other provisions.

The SEC had charged Musk and Tesla with securities fraud after Musk said, in a series of tweets in 2018 that he was considering taking the company private at $420 per share with "funding secured." The tweets led to a stretch of volatility in Tesla shares.

Before joining the Tesla board, Denholm served in executive roles at Sun Microsystems, and in finance roles at Toyota in Australia and at accounting firm Arthur Andersen. Denholm is currently part of Tesla's audit, compensation, nominating and corporate governance, and disclosure controls committees.

Denholm, who didn't respond to a request for comment, is a named defendant in a shareholder lawsuit  Tornetta vs. Musk  that was decided in January. The judge in the Delaware case ruled that Tesla's 2018 CEO pay plan, which was the largest in public corporate history, was only allowed by a board that was "beholden to Musk," and should be rescinded.

In her opinion, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick wrote that by serving on Tesla's board, Denholm received "life-changing" compensation, which "far exceeded the compensation she received from other sources."
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The top prosecutor on Tuesday pledged to speedily and strictly conduct an investigation into allegations that first lady Kim Keon Hee illegally received a luxury bag as a gift in 2022.

Prosecutor General Lee One-seok made the pledge after he ordered last week the creation of an investigation team dedicated to the allegations involving the first lady.

"The prosecution will conduct the investigation speedily and strictly only in accordance with evidence and the legal principles and take appropriate action accordingly," Lee told reporters.

Last year, Voice of Seoul, an internet news outlet, first reported the allegations that Kim received a Christian Dior handbag worth 3 million won ($2,210) from a Korean American pastor in September 2022.

The outlet also published a video showing the scene, which was recorded by the pastor using a hidden camera.

The outlet's head has since filed a complaint against President Yoon Suk Yeol and the first lady on suspicions of bribery and anti-graft law violations.

Following its landslide victory in the parliamentary elections, the main opposition Democratic Party has pledged to pursue legislation mandating a special probe into multiple suspicions surrounding the first lady during the upcoming parliamentary term.

Separately, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho said in a press briefing that police need to look into whether the pastor's secret filming constitutes a stalking crime.

The police are currently conducting an investigation after a civic group lodged a complaint against the Korean American pastor for suspected stalking.

"It needs to be confirmed whether the action constitutes a stalking crime as specified by the law," the Seoul police chief said.

Police are currently reviewing whether to summon the pastor for questioning. (Yonhap)
By Jung Min-ho

A saw-wielding man injured three police officers in downtown Gwangju three weeks ago, reminding the public of the dangers they face daily.

To better protect the first responders, the National Policy Agency (NPA) will start providing lighter, more durable protective gear next month, it said Tuesday.

The next-generation safety equipment includes stab-resistant vests, jackets, neck guards as well as shields.

Police officers in criminal and 16 other departments will receive them.

Many police officers have pointed out that the current safety gear is too heavy and rigid, which hampers their body movement.

The new vests are 30 percent lighter and far more flexible while providing better protection to the torso.

The most common complaint about the current police shields has been about their size  the big one is cumbersome and the smaller one is too small. The latest model has the ideal size many have asked for, according to the NPA.

Police officers have faced increasing risks to their safety in recent years amid an increase in the number of unusual crimes, NPA Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun said. The next-generation protective equipment will help them respond more proactively and safely.

According to the latest data available, the number of police officers injured by criminal suspects was 336 in 2022, up by a whopping 284 from the previous year.
A study led by Professor Albert Giralt from the University of Barcelona sheds light on the promising application of low-intensity light therapy in addressing neurological disorders, particularly depression.

Collaborating with teams from various institutions including the University of Girona and the University of Montpellier, the research introduces a novel approach of combined photobiomodulation to simultaneously stimulate the brain and the gut, known as the gut-brain axis.

"This is one of the most innovative scientific contributions of the study: to co-stimulate in a coordinated way the brain and the gut at the same time, i.e. the gut-brain axis. Today, the area of research into the gut-brain axis is generating great scientific interest and is a very promising field for the possible treatment of diseases of the nervous system," said Giralt, a member of the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) and the Network Centre for Biomedical Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Science Daily reported.

"The new therapeutic approach focuses on this now rediscovered scenario of intervention and manipulation of the gut-brain axis to address neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Photobiomodulation, a non-invasive technology utilizing light from lasers or low-intensity sources, has been employed to activate organs with altered physiology. This study pioneers its application in depression treatment, aiming to target both the brain and the gut.

Giralt highlighted the significance of this innovative approach, emphasizing its non-invasiveness and minimal side effects compared to traditional pharmacological treatments. Developed by the company REGEnLIFE, devices for photobiomodulation have been adapted for clinical use, offering a promising avenue for patients, particularly those with treatment-resistant depression.

Furthermore, the study challenges the conventional notion that psychiatric disorders solely originate in the brain, advocating for a comprehensive understanding that includes the role of other tissues and organs. By exploring molecular mechanisms, researchers unveiled how photobiomodulation can reverse cognitive effects of chronic stress, restoring physiological pathways and normalizing diversity in the intestinal microbiota.

Researcher Anna Sancho-Balcells, the article's first author, noted, "Previous studies showed the SIRT1 pathway is altered in stress and depression models, but how photobiomodulation works remained unknown. Our study found it's the most affected pathway in certain brain regions under chronic stress, and photobiomodulation can restore it."

Moreover, photobiomodulation demonstrated superior efficacy in dual brain-gut stimulation compared to gut-targeted interventions alone. Professor Xavier Xifro, from the TargetsLab research group at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Girona, underscored the role of photobiomodulation in ameliorating neuroinflammatory processes, saying, "The associated cellular mechanisms seem to be linked to the improvement of neuroinflammatory processes. Thus, the changes observed in the microbiota are strongly associated with some changes in neuroinflammation (for example, microgliosis and astrogliosis, which occur through the inflammation of specific cells of the nervous system)."

Looking ahead, the research team wants to translate these findings into clinical applications, particularly in the realm of depression treatment. Photobiomodulation holds promise as an adjunctive therapy for treatment-resistant depression, offering a non-invasive and well-tolerated alternative to conventional pharmacotherapy.
In the fast-paced world of college life, where the weight of expectations often takes its toll, students frequently grapple with mental health challenges. However, a straightforward and effective solution to these issues might be found just outside their dormitory windows. A recent study shed light on the potential of birdwatching to alleviate stress and mental health issues among college students.

The research demonstrated the substantial benefits of actively participating in nature activities, particularly birdwatching, in enhancing mental wellness and reducing psychological distress.

Conducted by a team of environmental and forestry researchers, the study compared the mental health outcomes of various nature-based activities. Participants were divided into three groups: one engaged in regular guided nature walks, another participated in organized birdwatching sessions, and the third served as a control group with no structured natural interactions, Earth.com reported.

The researchers utilized the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5) to gauge the effects of these activities on mental health. This index serves as a direct survey instrument, prompting individuals to assess their present state of well-being by reflecting on their recent emotions and feelings. The aim was to obtain precise measurements of each participant's mental well-being based on their self-assessments.

Besides the WHO-5, the study incorporated the STOP-D questionnaire, tailored to assess psychological distress. This instrument furnished essential data enabling researchers to discern and juxtapose stress and distress levels among the three groups.

Through the integration of both the WHO-5 and the STOP-D questionnaire, the study sought to provide an exhaustive analysis of how varied nature-based interventions might impact the mental health outcomes of participants.

The results of the study were striking. While all groups demonstrated enhancements in their WHO-5 scores, participants engaged in birdwatching reported notably greater improvements in well-being and significant reductions in distress compared to those who simply went for walks or comprised the control group.

Nils Peterson, the study's lead author and a professor of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University, explained the significance of these findings, saying, "There has been a lot of research about well-being during the pandemic, suggesting adolescents and college-aged individuals are struggling the most."

He emphasized the widespread availability of birdwatching, even on college campuses in urban areas, as a notable advantage for promoting mental well-being.
Power abuse allegations raised against Korea's top envoy to China by one of the embassy staffers were found to not be serious enough to warrant disciplinary action, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry reached the conclusion after conducting a 10-day inquiry into the allegations that Ambassador Chung Jae-ho verbally harassed and treated the embassy official in an arrogant and authoritarian manner.

The complaint also included allegations that Chung pressured Korean companies in China to pay for the costs to set up business promotion booths at embassy events.

The probe has found that while Chung did make some "inappropriate" remarks to his staff members at the embassy during some workshop sessions, the degree of impropriety was insufficient to constitute grounds for taking any disciplinary measures.

It also decided to close the case regarding the alleged violation of the graft law with the embassy events, as the booths were voluntarily set up by the participating companies expecting promotional effects.

The ministry plans to issue a verbal notice to Chung calling his attention to practicing caution, as it has determined that the case does not fall into the category that calls for disciplinary measures, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The allegations stirred up criticism that Chung's alleged attitude potentially amounted to a bad workplace practice known as "gapjil" in Korean.

The case has also drawn attention as Chung, a former college professor, is known for his close ties with President Yoon Suk Yeol. (Yonhap)
Think of the most memorable political quote youve heard from the last few years. Were guessing its not some especially inspiring line spoken by the candidate you support. Its more likely some heinous declaration made by the candidate you hate. Maybe they said your side are villains who must be defeated. And now, youre more eager than ever to fight, simply to defend your honor.

But youve sometimes got to question the wisdom of these quotes, which fire up the candidates base but also spark such resistance. Why dont they reach across the aisle and try to attract support from everyone? you might ask, your eyes shining with idealism. Well, thats the funny part. Sometimes, people do just that. Only, were so primed to hear ourselves being attacked that we miss that sentiment and just assume were being insulted again.

4 Hillary Clintons Deplorables Comment Was About Reaching Out to Trump Supporters On September 9, 2016, Clinton spoke at New Yorks Cipriani Club for an LBGT for Hillary Gala, a fundraising dinner that raised $4 million. You could put half of Trumps supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables, she told the crowd. Theyre racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic  you name it. Don't Miss Trump voters didnt take kindly to that remark when they later heard reports about it. It sounded like one more condescending taunt thrown down by the elites (in this case at a fundraiser literally held on Wall Street). Clinton went on to lose the election, and Trump supporters would go on to reclaim the word deplorable as an ironic nickname. Glen Peterson Its a pretty badass word, when you apply it to yourself. But the point of Clintons speech wasnt to call Trump supporters terrible and five different kinds of prejudiced. That setup, talking about one basket of supporters, was a prelude to the real point, talking about the other basket. That other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, said Clinton, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and theyre just desperate for change. It doesnt really even matter where it comes from. Advertisement They dont buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. That they wont wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like theyre in a dead end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well. The point was to reach out to this group. We cant take anyone or any place for granted, she said. And therefore I am asking you to volunteer for a phone bank, for a canvas  at the very least if you know anybody whos even thinking about voting for Trump, stage an intervention! That may be one conversion therapy I endorse. Advertisement Advertisement So, she was calling some Trump supporters deplorables to say the rest are not. But also, even the part calling some deplorables wasnt exactly serious. The full deplorable sentence was, You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trumps supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? And then she paused for laughter. The part where she lists off all the -phobics, that was her rattling off peoples previous accusations rather than levying them herself. Go watch the video  a proper transcription of that part might surround each word with mocking quotation marks. Joshua Hoehne A proper transcriptionist would be confused, though, because deplorables and generalistic arent words. Some people on Trumps side are like that, she said, but the point here was that few are, they werent significant before Trump amplified their message and they dont encompass his entire base. Clinton later regretted using the word half, and the rest of the speechs wording implies she was placing much less than half of supporters in that category. Advertisement The lesson here is, in general, dont say someones one of the good ones in an attempt to connect. It rarely works. Had she not said that deplorables line, people the next day would instead be talking about what immediately followed her speech at that event. It was Barbra Streisand singing a Trump-themed parody of Send in the Clowns. Granted, that alone might have been enough to cost Clinton the election.

3 Barack Obamas Guns and Religion Crack Was Sympathetic Advertisement Advertisement That misunderstanding was eerily similar to a comment that popped up during the 2008 election. Obama was at a fundraiser that April in San Francisco, and he talked about working-class voters elsewhere in the country. They get bitter, he said. They cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who arent like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. Tony Alter Spoken like a man who doesnt own a single Bible concealing weaponry. The guns and religion part hit harder than the rest. Peoples general response wasnt so much how dare you accuse us of being all those things as how dare you characterize attachment to guns and religion as a flaw. The point of this speech from Obama wasnt really to list peoples flaws but explain their grievances. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, he said, and  like a lot of small towns in the Midwest  the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothings replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate, and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion... Advertisement FatSiberian/Pixabay A different candidate might have embraced cling to guns or religion as a campaign slogan. The reporter who attended the private event wrestled with publishing the quote, figuring that doing so would miss the context. Later, Obama said he was sorry if hed offended anyone with his wording, but he said the point still stood. People feel like Washingtons not listening to them, and as a consequence, they find that they can only rely on the traditions and the things that have been important to them for generation after generation. Faith. Family. Traditions like hunting. And they get frustrated. Obamas opponent in the race leapt upon the opportunity, calling the remarks elitist and out-of-touch and passing out stickers labeled Im not bitter. That opponent for the Democratic nomination was Hillary Clinton. Lets hope that practice of calling out such remarks as elitist would never come back to bite her. Advertisement Advertisement

2 People Really Reacted Strongly to Mitt Romneys Binders of Women for Some Reason The 2012 election, in hindsight, was very boring and straightforward, but we found laughs where we could. During one of the debates, Romney said that people had delivered to him binders full of women. People quoted this bizarre line as evidence of Romneys sexism, and it became a meme, something about women being bound or trapped. via govexec.com 2012 memes were awesome. We need to go back. Heres the context of the line. I had the chance to put together a cabinet, and all of the applicants seemed to be men, said Romney. And I went to my staff and said, How come all the people for these jobs are all men? And they said, Well, these are the people that have the qualifications, and I said, Well, gosh, cant we find some women that are also qualified? Advertisement And so, we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of womens groups and said, Can you help us find folks, and they brought us whole binders full of women. I was proud of the fact that, after I staffed my cabinet and my senior staff, that the University of New York in Albany did a survey of all 50 states and concluded that mine had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America. The binders were not metaphorical. The Boston Globe later reported on them  they were actual three-ring binders, weighing a total of 15 pounds, filled with compiled resumes of women. Of course, those were binders of womens resumes, not binders of women, but as gaffes go, that wording should have been pretty unremarkable. Advertisement Advertisement People could have dissected the remarks more seriously. They could have pointed out that the question he was answering was about pay equity, not representation in government, and those are two different issues. But it was more fun to mock the phrasing because that lets us make memes. via govexec.com Were not joking. These memes are great. Thats not to say all famous Romney quotes were about him fighting for equality. Why, remember the time he said 47 percent of the country were beyond hope? He said 47 percent dont pay income tax, will vote for Obama no matter what and believe that they are entitled to all kinds of government assistance. These are people who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims. This quote was also said at a fundraiser, and we never would have heard this one, had a bartender not recorded it and leaked it. Surprisingly, even this speech  much like the deplorables one  wasnt really about the people being insulted but about reaching out to the remainder. What I have to do, said Romney, after summarizing the people in the first basket, is convince the 5 to 10 percent in the center that are independents, that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not... Advertisement At that point, the footage ends, so we sadly never got to hear Romneys plan for becoming likable. The number 47 wasnt arbitrary, incidentally, like the deplorable half was. That was the actual percentage of Americans at the time who didnt pay income tax. Some might point out that those 47 percent have good reasons for not paying income tax and arent breaking any law, but the fact remains, if you dont pay income tax, you have little chance of being attracted by Romneys promise to cut income taxes. Advertisement Advertisement In fact, when people expressed anger at the quote, they didnt dispute that part about taxes or the characterization that they think the government should give people stuff. People interviewed in the video below seem most struck by the tone of divisiveness  and by the part that says they believe they are victims. Note: Be careful how you phrase your objection when someone accuses you of feeling like a victim. Otherwise, youll be feeling like a victim over being accused of feeling like a victim, and youll never win. That above reaction video, by the way, was put up by the Obama campaign. And so, the chain of each politician mocking the others quotes goes on. Advertisement Advertisement
The Simpsons has generated a lot of wild theories over the years, from the claims that it was Homer, not Maggie, who shot Mr. Burns, to speculation that Bart is a secret Stonecutter, to the bizarre hypothesis that radiation from the nuclear plant has engulfed the town of Springfield in some kind of hopelessly inescapable time loop (hence why decades pass, but no character ever ages).

Now, some fans are taking their conspiracy theorizing to even greater extremes by suggesting that the shows creator, Matt Groening, is secretly an ex-spy. You know, like James Bond, if James Bond got his MI6 job by drawing cartoon bunny rabbits.

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Seemingly inspired by the many spurious claims that the show can predict real world events, some folks online have been suggesting that this is all due to the fact that Groening is a former CIA agent, which is why he was able to prophesize everything from U.S. election results to ebola virus outbreaks, a thing that definitely existed prior to 1997.

One person on social media proposed (using conspicuously doctored Simpsons screen grabs) that the ex-CIA operative Groening even hid references to upcoming events like the death of Joe Biden and a horrific nuclear attack  oh wait, the attack was scheduled to happen on May 5, 2024. Maybe the CIAs precogs screwed up their math?

The theory prompted an in-depth investigation from professional internet debunkers Snopes, which concluded that the rumor appears to be a hoax that started from social media platforms, adding that there is no credible evidence to support this claim. They also pointed out that Groenings backstory is pretty well-documented. Its true, from what we can tell, Groening was born in Portland, Oregon, attended Evergreen State College, created the popular alternative comic Life in Hell, and then hastily threw together the Simpson family characters while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks office.

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Unless, of course, thats just what the Deep State wants us to believe.

Snopes also pointed out that this isnt the first time people have cobbled together harebrained theories about Groening in order to explain the shows apparent cultural foresight, like how people insisted that he was really a time traveler who had journeyed to the past with his knowledge of future events (not to mention his knowledge of future head museums and Bachelor Chow). Or maybe its really due to his connections to the Freemasons, who apparently orchestrated every significant global event of the past three decades? No word on whether or not they were responsible for the celebrity of Steve Guttenberg.

We should probably point out that Groening doesnt actually write for the show currently, and in fact, he only has writing credits on a grand total of 10 episodes in the shows 35-year run. But thats probably because he was too busy traveling the globe and taking out enemy combatants.

You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter (if it still exists by the time youre reading this).
Jon Stewart helped kick off the first days of the Netflix Is a Joke Festival with a snootful of righteous indignation, according to The Hollywood Reporter, firing darts at a number of targets including comedians who strut around in their anti-woke pants. In particular, Stewart is so fucking sick of those comics and their go woke and go broke mantra.

What are you losing? You cant say anything anymore. What do you want to say? Stewart asked an imaginary anti-woke comic during his set at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. Shut the fuck up. And by the way, the people who talk about anti-woke are the biggest fucking pussies you would ever find.

In particular, Stewart lit up conservative comics who got hot and bothered over Bud Light and its controversial partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Im just so tired of it. The woke shit, you lose nothing. Im a comedian. Ive lost two words in 35 years, Stewart said about insensitive phrases he no longer uses in his comedy. Honestly, are you that fucking unimaginative that you cant figure it out?

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Stewart saved some of his most pointed barbs for non-conservatives, specifically those who say comedians shouldnt joke about President Bidens age. I know liberals say, Dont say Joe Biden is old  dont say what people see with their own eyes! You can say it, he cant hear us, Stewart jabbed. I know you know how fucking old he is, and I know you dont want to say it because Trump is so scary, but hes so fucking old. When you watch him on television, youre nervous, arent you?

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Trump has the advantage of deluded supporters and the ability to lie his way out of trouble, Stewart said, but hes an even worse option. Why are we allowing this? ranted the Daily Show host. And now were going to have a president from the two oldest people that have ever run for the office of the presidency.

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Stewart isnt the only Daily Show alum performing at the Netflix comedy festival. Late last week, Hasan Minhaj hosted a showcase for up-and-coming comics, according to Variety. Minhaj addressed both his scandal over stretching the truth in his stand-up and losing the Daily Show hosting gig. Weve all failed in our lives, but have you ever failed so bad, you bring back Jon Stewart? Minhaj joked. I saved a dying institution. Youre welcome.
John OHurley agreed with Seinfelds take that wokeness killed comedy, says that silliness has been replaced by mocking and sarcasm

John OHurley says that his old pal Jerry Seinfeld is right about what the extreme left has done to American comedy, claiming that America has lost our ability to be silly. I suppose that J. Peterman will start the search to find it again in an exotic location like Myanmar  or Burma, as it will always be to him.

Though hes best known for playing the eccentric and fictional head of the J. Peterman Company on Seinfeld, OHurley is more than just a charismatic purveyor of fine furs and linens from faraway lands  hes also the guy who hosted Family Feud before Steve Harvey. And, on top of that, OHurley is one of the many outspoken conservative voices in comedy who feels the need to chime in every time Fox News finds a new talking point about how the Republicans are the only funny people left, a narrative that they will push in between promos for Rob Schneiders newest Fox Nation special.

One such angle that has had Fox anchors salivating at those sweet, sweet anti-woke clicks for the last two weeks came from OHurleys old colleague, Seinfeld himself, who recently claimed that the liberal agenda killed comedy on television with all their PC crap.

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Last week, OHurley appeared on Jesse Waters Primetime to concur with Seinfelds assessment of leftisms effects on comedy while defending old and uncomfortably racial plot lines from his time on Seinfeld that even caused a stir back in the 1990s, saying, Historically, ethnic groups would be searching to be included in the comic repertoire of our culture.

OHurley must have written his comments on the show after a hit of what he calls The Chinamans Nightcap.

Waters asked OHurley about the plot line from Seinfeld that the series namesake says couldnt be made today  Kramers scheme to employ homeless people as rickshaw drivers in The Bookstore  and OHurley agreed with Seinfelds claim that the episode wouldnt fly on TV today. There are several actual episodes of Seinfeld that have been stripped from the syndication because they didnt pass mustard back then, OHurley continued, specifying, I think it was the Puerto Rican flag one.

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In the episode OHurley mentioned, The Puerto Rican Day, Kramer accidentally sets the flag of Puerto Rico on fire with a sparkler during the Puerto Rican Day Parade, inciting an angry mob to attack him. After the episode aired in 1998, Puerto Rican activists and politicians criticized Kramers comments following his inciting of a minor riot, in which he said, It's like this every day in Puerto Rico. As a result to the condemnation and despite objections from the cast and crew of Seinfeld, NBC pulled The Puerto Rican Day from syndication for four years, though the episode would return to the rotation in 2002.

How that minor controversy from a quarter of a century ago proves that Woke Twitter killed comedy is known only to OHurley.

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OHurley confusingly pointed to Seinfelds notoriously clean act and non-divisive style of comedy as proof that the sitcom star is a credible expert on controversial humor, further suggesting, The problem is that we have lost our ability to be silly. Thats a sad thing when you think about it.

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OHurley lamented that, as a culture, We have lost our sense of humor, opining, Our comedy is no longer silly, its not about that. Its mocking and its sarcasm, and thats not comedy.

If OHurley thinks that mocking and sarcasm arent comedy, I just have to ask  has he ever seen Seinfeld?
The democratic vote for me is right thing to do, Philadelphia. So do

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been on the cutting edge of acerbic, absurdist comedy since it premiered in 2005. In fact, the Paddys Pub crew is still shocking audiences, and clapping back at dinosaurs, to this very day. Here are some of their most bizarre jokes and exchanges

15 The Start of Charlie and the Waitress Will-They-Wont-They Charlie: Well, now that you know that Im not racist, you and I could maybe go on a little The Waitress: Dude. N-O. How many times do I have to say it to you? Charlie: One time is fine. The Waitress: Well, apparently one time is not fine Charlie: Well, no. One time per time I ask you.

14 Dee and Dennis in a Battle of Wits Dee: I actually majored in psych, so Dennis: You failed all your classes. Dee: So? Dennis: I had a minor, and I passed all mine. Dee: Well, you know what? Three-quarters of a major is a lot bigger than a whole minor. Dennis: I dont even know how to respond to that. Dee: That doesnt surprise me. Dennis: Well, it shouldnt because what you said is really dumb

13 Frank Reynolds Triumphant Debut Frank: Your mothers dead. Dee/Dennis: No. What? Oh my God. Frank: No, shes not dead. Were gettin divorced though.

12 Charlie Summing Up the American Health-Care System Oh, look at me! The millionaire who goes to see doctors! Advertisement Advertisement

11 Charlie Knows How to Get a Girl Yeah, I lied to you, all right? Look. The girl she wears a Lance Armstrong bracelet. Okay? So I tell you that I have cancer, right? Then youre gonna tell her, shes gonna feel sorry for me, were gonna start dating, and thats the way that life works, man!

10 Dennis Learning Kindness and Empathy The old Dennis would have said, Dee, your sad little acting ship sailed a decade ago. Its pathetic. But the new Dennis says that its not my place to kill your pipe dreams. Advertisement Advertisement

9 Dennis Couldnt Pull Macs Mom Dennis: Why dont we go inside and have a little fun? Macs Mom: Dont find you attractive. Dennis: What? Macs Mom: I think youre an ugly man. Dennis: You think Im ugly? Macs Mom: Yeah. Dennis: Im not ugly. Youre ugly. Macs Mom: Yeah. Dennis: Jesus Christ. What is wrong with you, woman?

8 The Waitress, Describing Sex With Danny DeVito Thats right, I had sex with your father. Because, just like you, I like my sex old and ugly. And with fake hair on their heads that falls off when youre having sex with em. Advertisement Advertisement

7 Dee Bonding With Frank Oh, I have an idea, dad. Why dont you shut your fat little monkey face and hold the bag?

6 Charlie Kelly, Political Speechwriter Hello, fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power. Good. Thank you. Thank you. If you vote me, Im hot. Taxes: theyll be lower, son. The democratic vote for me is right thing to do, Philadelphia. So do. Advertisement Advertisement

5 Charlies Patriotic Anthem Im gonna rise up. Im gonna kick a little ass. Gonna kick some ass in the USA. Gonna climb a mountain, gonna sew a flag, gonna fly on an Eagle. Im gonna kick some butt; Im gonna drive a big truck; Im gonna rule this world. Gonna kick some ass, gonna rise up; Im gonna kick a little ass. ROCK, FLAG AND EAGLE!

4 Charlies Performance Enhancing Drug Charlie: You want to huff some of this glue with me? Mac: No! Put the glue away! Charlie: Please. Huff a little with me, dude. Mac: Alright, fine! Charlie: We just need to keep an edge. We got to stay hard, dude, because you cant do it if Mac: This is Elmers glue, for Christ sakes, Charlie! Advertisement Advertisement

3 Charlie Adds to His Collection of Cursed Sharp Objects Dennis: Thats a great looking set of knives, pal. Whered you get those? Charlie: This old magician was trying to unload em.

2 Mac Trying to Make New Friends What up? Were three cool guys looking for other cool guys who wanna hang out in our party mansion. Nothing sexual. Dudes in good shape encouraged. If youre fat, you should be able to find humor in the little things. Again nothing sexual. Advertisement Advertisement
John Hughes movies as a rule havent aged well  just ask Molly Ringwald about Breakfast Club. But few characters are more problematic than Long Duk Dong, the horny Asian exchange student in Sixteen Candles played by Gedde Watanabe. (Cue GONG sound effect.)

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As a young actor, Watanabe was just happy to get the work, he told PEOPLE. Frankly I was like, this is a good job, and Im going to get paid more doing one week in this movie that I did for all the years I was in the theater.

Did Watanabe have second thoughts about playing such a stereotypical character? It didn't really occur to me that it was a stereotype because there wasn't really anything out there for Asian actors at the time, he says. It was just so scarce. So I didnt think it was stereotypical or racist. Isnt that weird?

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For better or worse, there could have been even more Dong. And Hughes being Hughes, it would have involved even more racial stereotypes with Dong performing a rap (circa mid-1980s) at the school dance. It went something like, I like Coca-Cola, lady skate roller, rock n rolla, Watanabe says in the book You Couldnt Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation. Somehow, I sneak behind the podium in the gym. I get everybody dancing. I was really disappointed that they didnt use it.

These days, Watanabe admits he wasnt completely blind to the characters potential offensiveness. I remember the movie using the word Chinaman, and even then I was like, Oh, thats not great, he says. But you also have to remember in that period of time, people still had to be educated about parameters, what the alarm bells were when it came to being offensive.

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Watanabe, who was born in Utah, got the role by learning a friends heavy accent. Because he stayed in character, Hughes had no idea that Watanabe didnt really talk like Dong until he finally came clean during a table read. (Hughes) totally burst out laughing, he says. He was in shock.

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The actor finally realized the impact of the character when he was approached years later at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This Asian woman came up to me and said, How could you do that? She was really upset over the movie, Watanabe says in You Couldnt Ignore Me. Back then I didnt understand as much as I do now. I was a little bit ignorant, too, because I grew up in Utah. I had a very strange upbringing where I didnt experience that much racism. I just thought I was a part of everybody else.

Watanabe told PEOPLE that he believes Hughes at least played against stereotypes when Dong got a sexy American girlfriend. That was really unusual in a sense, for the Asian character to get the girl and party and be in bliss like that.
Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said Tuesday that the government will extend its financial support for emergency care services by another month, as massive walkouts by junior doctors have disrupted health services at major hospitals for nearly three months.

The government has injected 190 billion won ($139 million) per month from the national health insurance system since February to support operations at emergency rooms and increase compensation for emergency doctors.

Cho told a response meeting that the government plans to extend such financial support by one month from Saturday "to cope with a possibility of emergency medical conditions being extended."

The government will deploy more military doctors to fill a "vacuum" in medical services hit by the walkouts, Cho said.

Some medical professors who are senior doctors at major hospitals have warned that they would take a one-week leave of absence this month if the government formally confirms details of admissions to boost the number of medical students, a thorny issue that sparked the walkouts.

Cho called for medical professors to stop the planned collective action, while renewing a pledge to accomplish the medical reform.

About 12,000 trainee doctors have left their worksites since Feb. 20 in protest of the plan to boost the number of medical students by 2,000, causing delays in medical treatments, with some emergency rooms partially limiting their treatment of critically ill patients.

The medical community and health authorities, meanwhile, have been also at odds as the Seoul High Court ordered the government to submit minutes and other documents to verify that the decision to increase the number of medical school students by 2,000 was based on scientific grounds by Friday.

In a statement, the Medical Professors Association of Korea criticized the government for inadequately maintaining records of meeting minutes concerning medical reform, raising suspicions that the minutes may not exist.

The government earlier acknowledged that the minutes from the meeting on medical issues with the Korean Medical Association (KMA) were not recorded, as per an agreement. Instead, it vowed to submit minutes from separate committee meetings on health policy that included representatives from civic groups.

"The government has been transparent in managing committees and consultative bodies related to the medical school quota increase," Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told reporters at a separate briefing.

He noted that minutes for all required meetings are lawfully recorded and maintained.

"Following the request from the Seoul High Court, the government plans to submit the minutes," Park added. "There is no need for the government to conceal such procedures."

Park noted that the government has been making efforts to openly share the outcomes of even the meetings with the KMA that are not recorded, including making opening remarks public and holding joint press briefings. (Yonhap)
The US government is doing everything it can to manage the cybersecurity challenges of quantum computing, cloud strategies, and generative AI and trying to secure sensitive technology hardware, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Monday.

We cant tolerate technologies that the United States has developed being used against us or our friends, falling into the hands of bad actors, or helping advance the military capabilities of strategic competitors, Blinken said in a keynote speech to the annual RSA Conference.

Thats why we issued carefully tailored restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports, Blinken said. Advanced semiconductors are the backbone of frontier AI and future military capabilities. Its a national security imperative that these technologies not aid or accelerate the military modernization of countries that seek to challenge the United States.
President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday he has revived the position of senior presidential secretary for civil affairs and appointed a former vice justice minister to the post.

Kim Joo-hyun, a former prosecutor who served as vice justice minister in 2015, has been named senior secretary for civil affairs, Yoon told reporters at the presidential office.

The position, which had dealt with legal and anti-corruption issues, was abolished when Yoon took office two years ago amid accusations it was used to meddle in investigations by the prosecution and the police.

"The function of listening to the public sentiment has been too weak," Yoon said when asked why he decided to revive the office. "There's a reason why all administrations do it, and because they said the civil affairs work was not functioning properly, I thought hard about it and decided it would be good to restore it."

Yoon cited the example of former President Kim Dae-jung, who abolished the office of the senior secretary for civil affairs before reviving it two years into his term.

The appointment is the latest measure Yoon has taken to reset his running of state affairs following the ruling party's crushing defeat in the April 10 parliamentary elections.

Two weeks ago, he replaced his chief of staff and senior secretary for political affairs.

When asked to address suspicions the new office could be used to control investigation agencies and respond to his own legal issues  an apparent reference to allegations surrounding first lady Kim Keon Hee  Yoon said the office was established "for the people."

"If there are things raised against me, that would be for me to explain and resolve, not the job of the senior secretary for civil affairs," he said.

Kim, the new secretary, told reporters afterward that his office will oversee the secretary for civil affairs, a position to be newly established, as well as the offices of the secretary for civil service discipline and the secretary for legal affairs, which will be transferred from under the presidential chief of staff.

"I will listen to the candid public sentiment and do my best to reflect it in the running of state affairs," he said. (Yonhap)
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Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.


The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) could consider introducing special counsel probes to ensure the legality of ongoing investigations targeting opposition figures, the party's floor leader said Tuesday.

Rep. Park Chan-dae made the remarks in a written interview with Yonhap News Agency amid claims of prosecutorial manipulation in a probe into allegations that former Gyeonggi Province Vice Gov. Lee Hwa-young accepted bribes from Ssangbangul Group and participated in an unauthorized remittance case to North Korea.

He also pointed to another investigation involving the daughter of disgraced former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, who was indicted on charges, including document forgery and obstruction of business.

"The prosecutors' investigation is rife with illegal acts and procedural violations," Park said. "Ultimately, the National Assembly has to play its role."

On a bill that recently passed the National Assembly mandating a special counsel investigation into the military's response to a Marine's death last year, Park warned that Yoon will "witness an explosion of public anger" if he vetoes it.

He also stressed that an independent counsel investigation into the allegation of stock price manipulation involving first lady Kim Keon Hee is "essential" for a fair investigation.

The top prosecutor on Tuesday pledged a "speedy and strict" investigation into allegations that the first lady illegally received a luxury bag as a gift in 2022. Park earlier accused the prosecutor of speeding up the investigation as a way of quelling public sentiment to avoid a special counsel investigation.

He then called on President Yoon Suk Yeol to clarify his stance on special counsel investigations into both the Marine's death and the first lady during an upcoming press conference marking his second year in office.

Park, who is seen as being closely aligned with Lee, was elected as the DPK's new floor leader Friday.

Park earlier reaffirmed the party's stance to resubmit eight bills that Yoon has vetoed, including two special investigation bills  one of which involves the first lady. (Yonhap)
China urges the Philippines to respect facts on Ren'ai Jiao issue : spokesperson

Xinhua) 09:42, May 07, 2024

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China urged the Philippines to respect facts, honor its commitments, stop infringement and provocations on the Ren'ai Jiao issue, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Monday.

Lin made the remarks when asked to comment on the recent statements separately issued by Philippine National Security Advisor Eduardo A o, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and Department of Foreign Affairs that denied the existence of any arrangements between China and the Philippines on the Ren'ai Jiao issue, including "new model" arrangement.

Lin said that China has all along been committed to managing maritime disputes, including the Ren'ai Jiao issue, with the Philippines through dialogue and consultation. The "gentlemen's agreement", internal understandings and the agreed "new model" all reflect China's effort and sincerity to that end.

He once again outlined the following basic facts:

First, at the end of 2021, after intensive communication and consultation, China and the Philippines reached the "gentlemen's agreement." During the first few months of the current Philippine administration, both sides continued to implement the "gentlemen's agreement" until the Philippines stopped honoring it in February 2023.

Second, last September, the Chinese side invited the Envoy of the President to China for Special Concerns of the Philippines to Beijing to discuss how to properly manage the situation at Ren'ai Jiao, which resulted in an internal understanding. The understanding was approved by the Philippine leadership. One resupply mission was carried out within the realm of the understanding before it was abandoned by the Philippines.

Third, early this year, the Chinese side and the Philippine side agreed on a "new model" for resupply missions concerning Ren'ai Jiao after multiple rounds of discussions through the diplomatic channel and AFP WESCOM. The Philippine military has made repeated confirmation that the "new model" has been approved by all key officials in the Philippine chain of command, including the Secretary of National Defense and the National Security Advisor. On February 2, the Philippines carried out one resupply mission under this "new model" before abandoning it as well.

"Whatever the Philippine says, it will not erase the fact that it did reach the 'gentlemen's agreement,' internal understandings and the 'new model' with China," Lin said.

He stressed that those understandings and arrangements are aimed to manage differences, prevent conflict and build trust so that the waters of Ren'ai Jiao can remain peaceful and stable.

"China urges the Philippines to adhere to the basic norms on international exchanges, respect facts, honor its commitments, stop infringement and provocations and take concrete steps to come back to the right path of properly handling differences with China through dialogue and consultation," the spokesperson said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
Opposition condemns appointment as power grab over prosecution

By Nam Hyun-woo

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday appointed former Vice Justice Minister Kim Joo-hyun as senior secretary for civil affairs, reinstating the position Yoon himself abolished when taking office two years ago.

While the president claims that the re-establishment of the position is aimed at "hearing public opinions," the opposition describes it as an attempt to maintain control over the prosecution, police, and other investigative functions of the government in order to shield himself and his family from potential "legal risks."

During a media interview in July 2021, I said that I would abolish the position of senior secretary for civil affairs, Yoon said during a briefing introducing Kim. I have maintained that stance until now, but the (presidential offices) function of gauging public sentiment is not working well, and Ive received a lot of advice about that.

The role of senior secretary for civil affairs has traditionally been one of the most influential positions within the Korean presidential office. This role entails overseeing various government agencies, including the prosecution, police, the National Tax Service and others with investigative powers. The secretary is also responsible for legal affairs, anti-corruption efforts, and gathering information on public sentiment, thereby managing highly sensitive domestic political information.

Due to the power of handling legal affairs, former presidents mostly appointed ex-prosecutors to the position, except for President Moon Jae-in who appointed then-Seoul National University professor Cho Kuk.

During the Moon administration, Yoon conducted an investigation into the Cho family's alleged academic document fabrications, defying instructions from the president to suspend the probe. The conflict propelled Yoon to political prominence among the conservatives, and he pledged to abolish the position which he described is too powerful.

The reinstatement came after the ruling People Power Party (PPP) suffered a crushing defeat in the April 10 general elections. After the loss, Yoon said he accepts criticism that the administration had failed to reflect public sentiment and vowed to listen to people's voices more attentively.

There are reasons why previous administrations had this position, and there are opinions that the current administration's civil affairs initiatives are not functioning effectively, Yoon said, citing the example of former President Kim Dae-jung, who abolished the position, but revived it two years into his term.

Kim is a former prosecutor who served as vice justice minister in 2015. Until Tuesday, he was employed at the law firm Kim & Chang.

As rumors about his appointment emerged recently, critics argue that the president aims to maintain his grip on the prosecution, even after the election defeat, by appointing a former prosecutor to the position. Moreover, there is speculation that this move is an attempt to shield his wife, Kim Keon Hee, from allegations related to a stock manipulation scandal and the receipt of a luxury handbag from a pastor under questionable circumstances.

Regarding such speculation, Yoon said, If there are any allegations against me, I believe it's my responsibility to address and resolve them personally. It shouldn't be the duty of the senior secretary."

Against this backdrop, Prosecutor General Lee One-seok vowed on Tuesday that the ongoing investigation into the first lady's handbag scandal would be "conducted swiftly and strictly based solely on evidence and legal principles."

Those comments triggered speculation regarding how the prosecution will navigate its relationship with the new senior secretary.

Despite the president's explanation that the new position was established "for the people," the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) characterized Yoon's actions as "making an excuse" to exert control over the prosecution.

"The office of civil affairs senior secretary has historically been used to consolidate presidential power by exerting control over the prosecution and the police, and this will be the case again," DPK spokesperson Choi Min-seok said.

"Kim served as the vice minister of justice during the conservative Park Geun-hye administration, which orchestrated control over investigative institutions alongside then-senior secretary Woo Byung-woo. In the end, the appointment obviously shows that Yoon seeks to strengthen his grip on investigative institutions following the election defeat."

Woo was the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs under former President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached amid a corruption scandal. Woo resigned due to negligence in preventing Park's wrongdoings. He subsequently served over a year in prison for illegally investigating liberal figures.

Yoon was one of the prosecutors who spearheaded investigations into Woo. However, the president pardoned and reinstated him in 2023.

The minor progressive Rebuilding Korea Party, which is led by Cho, the former senior secretary, said in a commentary: Who will believe (Yoons) comments that he will hear the public voice through a former prosecutor? ... it will only make way for the Yoon administration to control the prosecution the same way Woo Byung-woo did.
On Thursday, it is Alan Bennett's 90th birthday. This should rightly be a cause for national celebration, though it's unlikely he would want us to make a song and dance of it.

'If you live to be 90 in England and can still eat a boiled egg they think you deserve the Nobel Prize,' he observed, years ago.

He is not one for being made a fuss of. In 1996, he received a letter offering him a knighthood.

'Admittedly it was quite a thin year so there may have been some scraping of the barrel,' he recalled.

He immediately struggled to think of a joke to accompany his letter of refusal.

Alan Bennett, who turns 90 this week once said: 'If you live to be 90 in England and can still eat a boiled egg they think you deserve the Nobel Prize'

Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour in Bennett's The History Boys at the National Theatre, London 2004

The playwright's most famous work was adapted into a film with the original cast in 2006 and starred James Corden and Dominic Cooper

'The nearest I got to humour was to think, quite genuinely, that being a knight would be like wearing a suit every day of one's life.

This didn't seem quite funny enough, though, so I just said, 'No, thank you.'

Six years later, a list of people who had declined honours was leaked to the Press, his own name among them. Journalists badgered him, asking him why he had refused, but his explanations were taken for boasts.

'To have accepted an honour without fuss would seem less self-regarding than to turn it down then boast about it . . .

'Self-regard, though, is boundless, and, lest it be thought that this refusal has much to do with modesty, when the list of those who had turned down honours was leaked in the newspapers I cared enough to note how obscuredly placed I was on the list and that sometimes I wasn't mentioned at all.'

He is wary of self-deprecation. 'There is no such thing as false modesty,' he once remarked, adding: 'All modesty is false, otherwise it's not modesty.'

Nonetheless, he seems to take a perverse delight in other people's putdowns. In 1969, he was invited to No 10 Downing Street to a dinner for Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau.

When Trudeau asked what he did, he told him he was a playwright who had once performed in a show called Beyond The Fringe.

Our own Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, looked at him suspiciously. 'Beyond The Fringe?' he said. 'But you weren't one of the original four.'

Yes, he was, replied Bennett. But Wilson still didn't believe him: 'Well, I don't remember you. Are you sure?'

When he went into dinner, he noticed the guest opposite, a grand publisher, had moved his seat in order to speak to someone more important.

Nor did his humiliation end there. 'At a later stage in the meal one of the legs of my chair came off.'

In January 1997 he was at home in Yorkshire. In need of more coal, he rang the coal merchant in the next village.

He recalled their exchange in his diary: 'Hello, Mr Redhead, this is Alan Bennett. I'm wanting some coal.'

'Goodness me! I am consorting with higher beings!'

'Last time I rang Mr Redhead he said, 'Well, I don't care how celebrated you are, you'll never be a patch on your dad.' I reminded him of this.

'That's correct and I reiterate it.'

Ten years later, Bennett was in Leeds, where he had been born and brought up.

He was attempting to get into a hotel when he found its entrance cordoned off.

It turned out that Shilpa Shetty, the star of that year's Celebrity Big Brother, was soon to arrive.

But an attendant took pity on him, and let him through, saying: 'Well, you're a celebrity yourself. Or on the celebrity side, anyway.'

On the few occasions I have met Alan Bennett, I've been struck by his complete lack of grandeur.

You would never guess that he is one of our greatest writers and performers; he is the least pompous of people.

Unusually for someone so gifted and successful, he appears to be more interested in other people than in himself.

In October 2005, he was reading the newspapers. 'Robert Hanks, the radio critic of the Independent, remarks that personally he can have too much of Alan Bennett. I wonder how he thinks I feel.'

Personally, I disagree with Robert Hanks. I can never have too much of Alan Bennett.

He is one of the greatest compensations for being British now, and in Thursday's column I will explain why.
YouTube star Sam Rader has admitted that he's been unable to sleep and 'super nervous' ahead of the release of Netflix's docuseries about Ashley Madison that he and his wife will appear in - seven years after the website devoted to cheating was hacked and his name was among the list of users.

Ashley Madison was launched in 2001 as a dating site for spouses looking to be unfaithful and told those who had tied the knot to embrace infidelity, becoming known for its tagline, 'Life is short. Have an affair.'

More than 37 million unfaithful spouses took the bait and created a profile on the site in hopes of getting tangled up under the bedsheets with another married stranger.

And while the dating page proved to be popular, everything came crashing down for the brand when it got hacked in 2015 - with every name on the site leaked and destroying marriages.

YouTube star Sam Rader has admitted that he's 'super nervous' ahead of the release of Netflix's docuseries about Ashley Madison that he and his wife, Nia, will appear in. Both pictured

One of the members who was forced to face the wreckage that was left in the aftermath of the hack was Christian vlogger Sam, who is married to fellow content creator Nia.

On their combined YouTube channel, Sam And Nia, the couple uploaded a new video titled, 'Our Lives Will Never be the Same.... We're coming to Netflix', on Saturday following the release of the trailer for Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies, and Scandal.

The lovebirds admitted to being a part of the docuseries as Sam confessed that he hadn't been able to sleep because he had been up thinking about their story.

'I haven't been able to sleep for the past couple of days, it's been rough,' he revealed

The couple explained that they first got an email about the Netflix docuseries in February 2022 before telling viewers that they had opened up even more about their journey in their upcoming book, which is set to be released on May 16.

Sam and Nia also shared that they weren't sure how their story would 'play out' on the streaming platform.

'I just don't know how our story will play out, or if it would be portrayed accurately,' he expressed.

Last week, the couple also hinted at the docuseries with a video titled, 'We're Super Nervous,' just one day before the release of the trailer for the Netflix show.

Ashley Madison was launched as a dating site for spouses looking to cheat in 2001 and told those who have tied the knot to embrace infidelity (Sam seen in the trailer for the docuseries)

The couple's marriage was put under the spotlight after the website devoted to cheating was hacked and Sam's name was among the list of users. Pictured is Nia in the Netflix docuseries

In another video shared to YouTube, Sam - who is featured in the trailer alongside Nia -admitted that he was 'nervous' for the release of the show

And while the dating page proved to be popular, it all came to a screeching halt in 2015 when Ashley Madison got hacked, destroying marriages (Sam seen with his wife and kids)

Though they did not name the project in that video, they alluded to having 'nerves' about an event their followers would know about 'soon enough.'

'It's almost happening,' Sam says to his wife in the clip, before adding: 'How do you feel?'

Nia then appears to laugh nervously.

'I feel like every day I have to overcome a new [level]... I have to like go through the steps of like why we did this, what was our goal, why did we do it and forget about the nerves that are behind it,' she responded.

'Yeah I keep asking why too,' Sam adds.

'Why was I up for this? What was I thinking?'

Nia continues: 'I'll try to go to sleep and suddenly this new thought pops in my head, a new person seeing it, like having a reaction and I have to talk myself out of caring what that person will think or say.'

Sam then says he 'imagines our phones are going to blow up with just like texts from a bunch of people that we haven't heard from in a long time,' with Nia adding: 'Gosh, I hope not.'

'And for those of you who don't know what's going on, let me just say...,' Sam says.

'Neither do we,' Nia jokes, 'No I'm kidding.'

Going along with her, Sam quips: 'Yeah we don't either. What the heck are we even talking about?'

He then continues: 'So guys you'll know soon enough and when you do come on back over... let us know what we did, why we did it?'

Sam said he was headed off to go camping with their son, Abram, 'but something might big might happen while I'm away, so we're just kind of out here talking with each other, preparing for it, just in case it does happen, we don't know yet.'

'Crap might hit the ceiling fan,' he added.

The docuseries features the couple and appears to also have testimonies from other members of Ashley Madison and employees

The trailer for the three-part docuseries titled, Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies, And Scandal, was released on YouTube on Thursday. It's set to stream on Netflix from May 15

Later on Nia says: 'If it does, we need to make a decision right now... are we gonna watch it together or are we going to make each other wait.

'I think we should watch it and text each other, I don't want to wait.'

Sam agreed with this stance.

Underneath the video, one fan alluded to the Netflix docuseries coming out.

'I just saw the trailer!!!! I'm honestly so excited! I've been watching for a long time, and remember when everything happened. I'm really proud that you guys can talk about and it and worked through everything and decided to do this documentary! Can't wait!!!!' they said.

The trailer for the three-part docuseries titled, Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies, And Scandal, was released on YouTube on Thursday - and it's set to stream from May 15.

'I love being a dad, I love my wife, it was a beautiful marriage but it was also monotonous,' the first man featured in the trailer - who appears to be Sam - said.

'I remember seeing an advertisement. "Life is short. Have an affair." That sounds intriguing.'

The trailer than cut to snippets of other couples who used the site and employees of Ashley Madison.

'Ashley Madison was ahead of its time,' one woman - who was unnamed - said.

In 2015, hackers who called themselves the 'impact team', stole 32 million records of data from the extramarital affair site

Another man - who seemed to work for the company and be on the site - said: 'The vision was to be the largest and only website for married people who wanted to have an affair. When I'd go to trade shows, they'd say, "Who's your biggest competitor?" And I'd say, "The Bible."'

A second woman declared: 'I thought it was a great idea, go on a site, and you're able to tell this stranger your deepest, darkest desires.'

'I signed up with all my real information, which obviously was a stupid decision,' Sam said.

Meanwhile, employees of the company noted that 'security' became a heightened issue - adding that they were 'worried' about it.

'Ashley Madison was a cash cow and then all of a sudden, we got hacked,' one employee said.

In 2015, hackers who called themselves the 'impact team,' stole 32 million records of data from the extramarital affair site.

The hackers demanded that the site be taken down, which didn't happen, and as a result the names of everyone who had been involved in an affair went up for the public to see.

Marriages were destroyed due to the leak as well as lives; the state attorney in Florida was forced to resign and a pastor in New Orleans committed suicide.
Sometimes it's nice to get an apology but other times they can leave you even more confused and angry.

People from around the world have taken to social media to share the most bizarre apologies they have received and Bored Panda collated the best into an online gallery.

One person had their door knob got stolen at a house party only for it to show up with an apology note saying the thief thought it was a muffin when they were 'tripping'.

Elsewhere a person, who was double parked, left a note on their windshield apologising to the traffic warden and explaining they are just gone to poop.

Another clogged the office toilet but left an apology note explaining they 'feel much better.'

You made it worse! People from around the world have taken to social media to share the most bizarre apologies they have received and Bored Panda collated the best into an online gallery. Including someone who spray painted an apology after crashing into a car

Meanwhile someone else left a 'sorry' note to their future self on top of the tangled Christmas fairy lights.

FEMAIL takes a look at some of the most hilarious apology notes around...

Thanks for the update! Another clogged the office toilet but left an apology note explaining they 'feel much better'

Why? Someone else killed two birds with one stone and made their graffiti artwork also the apology

Yikes! Someone else got their door knob stolen at a house party only for it to show up with an apology note saying the thief thought it was a muffin when they were 'tripping'

Clever! Meanwhile someone else, in the UK, left a 'sorry' note to their future self on top of the tangled Christmas fairy lights

How can you be mad at that! In an adorable note this neighbour sent a card from their anxious dog about his consistent barking

Who says romance is dead! A husband got creative with his apology card to his wife and even drew a graphic diagram

Honest! Elsewhere a person, who was double parked, left a note on their windshield apologizing to the traffic warden and explaining they are just gone to poop

Worth it! A girl who stole someone bike while she was drunk decided to return it with a coupon for a free Dominos lava cake

Well played! Lee slept in late for work and didn't show up to the offcie until midday but he brought doughnut's to butter up the boss

Overthinking! This person, the US, clearly couldn't get this road rage incident off their mind for some time
By Trudy Rubin

As someone who remembers when Columbia University students took over Hamilton Hall 56 years ago, let me say that 2024 is not 1968. Back then, our whole country was engaged in debate over the justice of a Vietnam War that involved tens of thousands of American troops.

Today, students are setting up tent encampments to protest a war that is not ours, but where U.S. weaponry is being used to kill thousands of Palestinian women and children  after Hamas murdered and kidnapped about 1,200 Israeli civilians.

Todays cause is far murkier, since some of the demonstrators are anti-Zionist, which can be seen as wanting an end to the Jewish state. Some are also pro-Hamas, ignoring that terrorist groups murderous pledge to kill all Israeli Jews.

But many other protesters  understandably aroused by videos of starving, maimed, or dying Gazan children  arent thinking that far ahead. They want their universities endowment funds to divest from U.S. companies involved in sales of weapons to Israel that accelerate civilian deaths.

So are the universities justified in calling in the cops? Are the demonstrators current or future antisemites? Or have they opened a debate that even strong supporters of Israel ignore at their peril?

Here are four points that lay out my thinking. Feel free to email me your thoughts.

Why only Gaza?

It stuns, but does not surprise me, that student concern over civilian deaths and starvation does not extend to Vladimir Putins relentless and deliberate bombing of Ukraines schools, hospitals, markets, churches, and apartment complexes.

This Russian terrorist campaign has turned dozens of Ukrainian villages, towns, and cities into ash and surpassed Israels destruction in Gaza many times over. The student outrage also ignores the massive and terrible civilian slaughter ongoing in Sudan, especially in Darfur. Ive concluded, after much reading, online videos, and talking with friends children and grandchildren at various universities, that the draw of the Israel-Hamas conflict is not necessarily antisemitic. It attracts many students who view it as the last white colonial project, where white people kill brown people.

Never mind that half of Israelis are brown or Black, having fled discrimination in Arab or African countries, and many of the rest are descendants of Holocaust survivors. And never mind that pre-1967 Israel was recognized by the United Nations.

To undo its statehood by force (as Putin is trying to do to Ukraine) would delegitimize the borders of countless other post-World War II states. But leaving those inconvenient realities aside, the colonial analogy has gained traction after negotiations failed over establishing a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza (virtually all of whose borders and economy are still controlled by Israel).

Now that peace talks are dead, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is dominated by right wingers who want Israel to annex the West Bank and Gaza, so the colonial analogy becomes more attractive to many students. Out of that analogy comes the slogan, from the river to the sea, which has been projected onto buildings and shouted by many students on and off campus. This means one Palestinian Arab state that would include Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Many demonstrators and key student organizing groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine, along with Jewish Voices for Peace, call themselves anti-Zionist, meaning they oppose the existence of the Jewish state. This cannot help but unnerve Jewish students, whether or not they have relatives in Israel.

What does anti-Zionism mean?

Ive heard students insist that theirs is only a search for justice, with equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis within one state. But no one has yet explained to me how 7 million Jews would be convinced, short of destruction, to dismantle a prosperous modern country.

I doubt that many campus demonstrators have thought through what the term anti-Zionist means or how to establish one Arab state from the river to the sea. The big question: Do those students who fly the Hamas flag even know how Hamas envisions that project?

The terror groups conception makes clear why Hamas can have no future role in ruling Gaza or negotiating over a Palestinian state. It also lays bare why student endorsements of Hamas are so ugly  even if they are protected speech. The Hamas charter calls for killing all Jews in Palestine, with a later version merely calling for a temporary truce if a Palestinian state is established alongside Israel.

In late 2021, at a Hamas-funded conference in Gaza, participants discussed how Israeli spoils would be distributed after Palestine was fully liberated from the sea to the river, and a new state established on the ruins. Jewish fighters would be killed, others might be given time to flee. But, said the concluding document, educated Jews and experts would be retained for some time to pay back for the knowledge they had acquired while living in our land.

It is time for pro-Palestinian demonstrators who call themselves anti-Zionists to clarify what they mean by that term, and how the concept differs (if it does) from the death and destruction that Hamas has in mind.

Protests, not encampments

However, and I stress this, students have every right to speak freely and to demonstrate for a Gaza cease-fire, for more humanitarian aid, and for divestment.

I have written on conditioning U.S. support on Israel permitting more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza and on its safe distribution. Of course, free speech  including speech some may find offensive  does not extend to blocking or threatening others, whether intimidating Jewish students at Columbia, or attacking pro-Palestinians at UCLA.

Nor does it confer the right to disrupt the functioning or safety of the university, including the taking of finals and graduation ceremonies. Permanent encampments, or occupations of buildings, provide magnets for outsiders and encourage radicalization.

Mark Rudd, president of the Students for a Democratic Society who led the 1968 Hamilton Hall occupation, recalled to NPR in 2010 how another SDS student leader burned 10 years of research papers in the Hamilton Hall office of a faculty member who had annoyed him by trying to mediate with students.

Better if university leaders can negotiate a student exodus, as happened at Brown University, and avoid the viciousness of law enforcement at the University of Texas at Austin. But if repeated and final warnings are rejected, along with compromise proposals, the only option for administrators is to call in law enforcement.

Extremists on both sides

Where the student mantra against occupation has legs is in the West Bank. While all eyes are on the Gaza war, Netanyahus far right ministers are encouraging settler violence against Palestinians on the West Bank and pushing for massive new Jewish settlements there.

The Israeli far rights openly expressed goal is to make life untenable for Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza, and it hopes to drive many Palestinians into Egypt or Jordan. Enabled by Netanyahu, the far rights written objective is a reverse parallel to the Hamas charter: one Jewish state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, where reduced numbers of Palestinians can either submit to Israeli rule, leave, or die.

If the right wing succeeds, then future student demonstrations will be protesting against a true apartheid state. The only way to block Hamas and Israels far right is to reach a humanitarian cease-fire, as the White House is urging. That opens the door for new Palestinian leadership in Gaza, rebuilding the strip, and a possible path to a two-state solution.

But (as of this writing) neither Netanyahu nor Hamas appear eager for such a U.S.-backed cease-fire because it could lead to the political demise of both. Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar says he would be willing to sacrifice 100,000 Palestinians for his goals.

Meanwhile, Netanyahus prime goal is clinging to power.Each will use the scenes of student demonstrations on American campuses to encourage his followers to hew to his destructive hard line. Students, beware.

Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for the The Philadelphia Inquirer. This article was published in The Philadelphia Inquirer and distributed by Tribune Content Agency
Fans of K-pop band Stray Kids say they've been left in shock at their idols' treatment at the hands of New York paparazzi on the red carpet during the Met Gala Ball on Monday.

A video clip that's been widely shared on social media appears to show photographers making negative comments within earshot of the pop stars as they posed at the fashion extravaganza.

Speaking about the eight-member boyband from Seoul, one photographer is heard saying: 'I've never seen so many unemotional faces in my life' before another brands the South Korean group 'robots'.

Furious fans of the K-Pop band, which consists of members Changbin, Hyunjin, Bang Chan, Lee Know, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N. and Han, took to X, formerly Twitter, to slam the photographers making the remarks, calling them 'unprofessional'.

South Korean boyband Stray Kids made their debut on the red carpet at the Met Gala Ball but video footage revealed negative comments made about the K-Pop stars by photographers

The footage, which lasts just over a minute, sees the boyband arriving on the red carpet at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art as the iconic fashion event gets underway.

The stylish octet are then seen posing, stood several feet apart from each other, before they turn their backs on the paparazzi momentarily to remove their overcoats.

The South Korean stars then turn towards the gathered cameras once more to reveal their co-ordinated outfits for the fashion extravaganza.

However, their cool-as-ice demeanours didn't go down well with the waiting throng of photographers.

One photographer said the young stars were 'unemotional', while a female voice was heard calling them 'robots'

The eight-member band consists of Changbin, Hyunjin, Bang Chan, Lee Know, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N. and Han, pictured posing together at the Met Gala Ball on May 6th

While one is heard politely shouting the South Korean word for 'thank you' - gam-sa-ham-ni-da - many of the other comments caught on the footage were branded 'harassing' and 'rude' by fans.

One photographer is heard saying in a tone filled with sarcasm: 'Alright guys, tone it down! Tone it down!' as he tries to goad them into being more expressive.

He then continues: 'What the f***? I've never seen so many unemotional faces in my life!'

A woman's voice is then heard saying: 'They're robots', to which the same male voice replies: 'Yeah, right'.

A groan erupts when the boys take their black coats off, with the same photographer shouting: 'Now we've gotta do it again. Now, let's do it with feeling!'

Lee Know, left, and Hyunjin, right, from Stray Kids pose on the red carpet; the band faced comments from photographers including 'Now, do it with feeling' and 'Go crazy' while they posed

The band smiled as they arrived before a carefully orchestrated red carpet routine saw them pose several feet apart from each other before removing their coats to reveal their outfits

Another shouts: 'Go crazy! Everybody jump!'.

A voice is then heard saying: 'Look how far apart they are. I hate 'em'.

Eventually, Stray Kids turn and head up the stairs into the venue.

Moments after they depart the red carpet, two photographers are captured suggesting that people will assume there were 'two K-Pop bands' because they were photographed with their jackets both on and off, sparking outrage from followers of the band.

Many have raged at the band's treatment in the clip, calling it 'outrageous' and 'racist'.

One wrote: 'This is so unprofessional and disgusting.'

Another added: 'Every video I see the more rage I get. The racism, the unprofessionalism, who hired them??? I hope they are fired.

'And its their job to take PHOTOS not to be disrespectful to celebrities.'

Moments after the band depart the red carpet, two photographers are heard on the clip suggesting that people will assume there were 'two K-Pop bands' - because Stray Kids were photographed with their jackets on and off, sparking outrage from K-Pop fans

The band arrived in long black coats before taking them off on the red carpet

An American who watched the video penned: 'Welcome to US paparazzi. They suck we know. Ask Britney Spears.'

Others called for action, saying: 'There needs to be consequences. They were racist and were purely harassing the boys.'

In London last month at the Olivier Awards, the show's host Hannah Waddingham called out a photographer on the red carpet after she was asked to 'show a leg.'

Video shared by a fan on X captured the moment the Ted Lasso star, 49, was posing outside the Royal Albert Hall before a photographer apparently requested she 'show leg.'

The band looked bemused by some of the comments but didn't respond to the photographer's taunts

The photographer's remarks are inaudible but Hannah is seen shouting over to the crowd of photographers: 'Oh my God, you'd never say that to a man, my friend.'

As fans applauded her she then threatened to leave if the comments continued saying: 'Don't say "show me leg." No.'

The star later revealed on The One Show that the photographer had apologised to her.
As the Met Gala once again showcased the very best of loud fashion with artistic gowns, shimmering suits and a few downright bizarre showpieces, one trend has made a somewhat quieter return to the red carpet - black tights.

Style trailblazer Sienna Miller, 42, stepped out at the pre-party in New York in a green minidress with a huge flower applique as she attended the pre-party with her partner Oli Green, 27.

She paired the party dress with white stiletto pumps - but interestingly added a pair of 30 black Luxe 9 stockings from Wolford to the ensemble, in a trend that harks back to red carpet looks of the noughties.

Sienna isn't the only A-lister to have brought back black tights in recent months, as celebrities including Lily Collins, Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence have peppered the red carpet with the accessory at various events since 2023 - but in opting for the accessory at the Met Gala, the actress has confirmed that they are officially in vogue again.

Sienna Miller, 42, arrived at the Met Gala pre-party in New York with her partner Oli Green, 27, wearing an accessory that has long been forgotten about - black tights

Although the accessory, associated with red carpet looks more than a decade ago in the 2000s, is now being seen on red carpets again, the trend looks a little different.

Back then, it was common to see thick, block black tights being paired with multicoloured floral gowns, contrasting light and shade; colour and monochrome.

They might have been teamed with peplum or pencil skirts, thick belts and ballet pumps - but today's tights are styled very differently.

Today's tights are lower denier and sheer, only barely covering the leg with a very light layer and they are often (although not in Sienna's case) paired with black, textured dresses.

Gigi Hadid walked for Chanel at Paris Fashion Week in 2020 wearing sheer black tights embroidered with the French fashion house's logo

Typically, black tights are now worn alongside black outfits, but rather than the thick block styles previously fashionable, sheer is back

Anne Hathaway paired a leather dress and leather boots with sheer black tights at a Versace show in 2023

The resurgence of the trend may be traced back to Chanel's 2020 collection, which saw Gigi Hadid strutting the catwalk in Paris wearing lightweight stockings embroidered with the French Fashion House's logo.

Last year, at various fashion week events around the world, several designers' AW23 collections featured tights including Jacquemus and Miu Miu.

Describing the trend as 'sleepy' and in need of 'waking up', Vogue noted in December 2023 that designers are now looking for ways to revive black tights for red carpets of today.

It's not only black tights making their way back into fashion; Burberry's signature check tights are also considered a staple fashion accessory and have been for some time.

Last year, style expert Shane Watson explained the new trend and how to wear it.

He noted that, in order to perfect the style, low denier is what to aim for - by his definition, no greater than 20.

Shane wrote: 'Forty-plus denier looks way too heavy now, not to mention a bit dowdy  and industrial strength.

'If you want your denim skirt and furry jacket to have the right frisson of polish and glamour, you'll need to break out the sheers.'

He continued: 'If you want last year's block colour dress to keep working through the autumn, add sheer black tights and glossy bootees. And if you're partial to black and monochrome, that dense top-to-toe look is lightening up with sheer tights and kitten heel slingbacks.

'Even if you're wearing knee boots, a glimpse of sheer stocking in the front split of your skirt is what looks modern now.

'So, although your heart might sink at the thought of giving up your bomb-proof tights, think of it as a way of future-proofing the clothes you own: sheer tights will keep your dresses and skirts and even your cropped trousers looking on point.

'There's no avoiding the practical downside  sheer tights will ladder more easily and you'll have to take more care: moisturise first and take off rings before you put them on; make sure they're long enough  hitching up is the big cause of snags; and opt for styles with the fewest seams so the fewest stress points.'
Greggs has unveiled its 2024 summer menu, and it includes the return of a fan-favourite, alongside a plethora of new iced drinks.

The Vegan Mexican Chicken Free-Bake Greggs is back, and the British high street retailer is also introducing two brand new flatbreads.

The new range includes summer inspired iced drinks, including the Mango & Strawberry Cooler and a Strawberries & Cream Refresher.

The two brand-new drinks will join the existing menu of iced options, which include the Strawberry Lemonade, Americano, Latte, Caramel Latte and Vanilla Latte, offering the perfect pick-me-up for the warmer days ahead.

From May 9, the iced drinks range will also be available on delivery for the first time - customers will be able to add to their Greggs basket via Just Eat or Uber Eats.

Logo of British bakery chain Greggs in London, Britain, the retailer that has just unveiled their summer menu

The popular Vegan Mexican Chicken-Free Bake is back! It's made with vegan chicken-free pieces, mixed vegetables, and a spicy Mexican style tomato sauce, packed into a crispy pastry case topped with a seasoned crumb topping (2.00)

Whether you're veggie or more into your meat, Greggs has got you covered with their new flatbreads, packed with leafy greens or bell peppers depending on which you opt for (both 3.35)

New Greggs summer menu items Pesto Chicken Flatbread (3.35)

The Spicy Mexican Bean Flatbread (3.35)

Mango & Strawberry Cooler (2.50)

Strawberries & Cream Refresher (2.80) Advertisement

Also joining the drinks menu for summer are the Ready to Drink Latte and Caramel Latte cans, which can be picked up in the drinks chiller.

The cold brew coffees make a refreshing addition to the cold sandwich and salad deal from 3.75, or with a breakfast roll from just 2.85.

Those looking for a light lunch option can try out the new Pesto Chicken Flatbread and Spicy Mexican Bean Flatbread, both part of Greggs Balanced Choice range meaning theyre 400 calories or less and green or amber on the nutritional traffic light system.

The flatbreads are available in the cold sandwich and salad deal when you purchase a regular hot or cold drink, from just 3.75.

For those looking for a tasty snack to be enjoyed at any time of the day, then look no further than the brand-new Cherry Bakewell Muffin, or for something a little lighter -the Apple & Strawberry Fruit Pot.

Customers may recognise the Vegan Mexican Chicken-Free Bake which makes a very welcomed return to the brands much loved vegan range since its hiatus last summer.

Made with vegan chicken-free pieces, mixed vegetables, and spicy Mexican style tomato sauce, the bake is packed into a deliciously crispy pastry case topped with a seasoned crumb topping.

Full details on Greggs new menu items which launch on May 9 can be found below. All of which can also be ordered via Click + Collect through the Greggs App or website, and for delivery via Just Eat or Uber Eats.

If you're part of the healthier among us, you can curb your fruit cravings with the Apple & Strawberry pot (1.25), but if you fancy a sweeter treat, you can feast on the Cherry Bakewell Muffin (1.45)

The Ready to Drink cans (both the latte and caramel lattes) are made with a cold brew base crafted from Greggs classic house blend of coffee beans. They're then shaken with semi skimmed milk and poured into a can that you can throw in your bag and enjoy on the go (1.70)

NEW The Strawberries & Cream Refresher is an iced drink made with semi skimmed milk and strawberry flavoured syrup, topped with cream and strawberry flavoured sauce (2.80)

NEW The Mango & Strawberry Cooler is an iced drink made with mango puree and strawberry flavoured syrup (2.50)

Please note that all of the additions, with the exception of the Strawberries & Cream Refresher and Mango & Strawberry Cooler that are available in selected stores only, are available nationwide.

This comes after residents in some of Britain's poshest towns said their commuter havens are crying out for a Greggs bakery - after the chain announced plans to launch 160 new stores.

Greggs, which had 2,473 outlets by the end of last year, has announced further expansion plans to open up more than 100 shops in 2024.

The exact locations of the new outlets are not yet known by the brand - famous for its sausage rolls - but the chain wants to open a store in every UK town.

One high street without a Greggs is the pretty stockbroker belt town of Sevenoaks just off the M25 in Kent - where the average house costs nearly 800,000.
Steven Bartlett bizarrely contradicted himself as he claimed ex US President Barack Obama gave him advice - only to clarify that they 'didn't have a conversation'.

Speaking in an interview with The Times, the British business magnate and Diary of CEO podcaster, 31, revealed how he once shared a stage with the American politician.

He was referring to the VTEX Day 2019 summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from five years ago.

The social media savvy businessman was telling the outlet about being 'on the verge of urinating into his own underwear' while making a school speech aged 14 - 'fast-forward ten years from that traumatic day, I'm headlining alongside Barack Obama in front of 10,000 people in Sao Paulo'.

He continued that there are 'two things Barack Obama said to him that he's always remembered' - which were how he made his decision for 'getting' Osama bin Laden and his thoughts on diversity.

Steven Bartlett (pictured last year) bizarrely contradicted himself as he claimed ex US President Barack Obama gave him advice - only to clarify that they 'didn't have a conversation'

But when the Times interviewer asked about the meeting, Steven clarified that they were 'in the same space', and were 'both backstage'.

However, after being prodded on if they spoke to another, the Dragons' Den star admitted they 'didn't have, like, a conversation'.

It's not the first time Steven has name-dropped Barack, 62, while doing press.

In February earlier this year Steven was speaking to Mel Robbins on the podcast The 51% Rule (and 3 More Strategies to Think Like a Millionaire), when he was discussing the importance of decision-making.

'I thought of Barack Obama, who I spoke with on stage many, many years ago at this event in Sao Paulo, Brazil,' he explained.

'He was recounting the time he was faced with the decision to fly to Pakistan with those two Apache helicopters with about 50 per cent certainty that Osama bin Laden was waiting in that compound.

'He was risking two Apache Helicopters of American Lives. He says, on the big decisions in life, you have to get to 51 per cent certainty or as close as you can and make the decision with the peace of mind that you made that decision in that moment with all of the available evidence, and you have to let it go.

'Because we all know in life that the 100 per cent certainty on these big decisions that everyone's seeking only exists in hindsight.'

He was referring to the VTEX Day 2019 summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil , from five years ago. Barack Obama pictured at the event

When the Times interviewer asked about the meeting, Steven clarified that they were 'in the same space', and were 'both backstage'. Barack pictured at the event in 2019

Steven also recounted the tale in a 2022 episode of his own podcast, the Diary of a CEO.

It's clear that the story has truly resonated with the business expert, who also made a LinkedIn post about the same concept less than a year ago.

'I had the pleasure of speaking at an event alongside Barack Obama in Brazil and he said: "You don't have to get to 100 per cent certainty on your big decisions, get to 51 per cent, and when you get there, make the decision and be at peace with the fact that you made the decision based on the information you had",' he penned.

'I really believe that overthinking and the procrastination it creates stems from trying to make perfect decisions in a world where perfect decisions only exist in hindsight.

'Get to 51 per cent and make the decision with the peace of mind that you made that decision with the best available information you had.'

He was bringing up the event as far back as 2020, while speaking on the High Performance podcast with hosts Jake and Damian.

Speaking in an interview with The Times , the business magnate and Diary of CEO podcaster (pictured with his Dragons' Den co-stars) revealed how he once shared a stage with the American politician

In December, when asked by the Guardian who his dream podcast guest would be, he replied: 'Michelle and Barack Obama'. Both pictured in 2016

The influencer was sharing advice for people who are lacking in self-belief.

'It's really about building evidence in your own life by taking these small steps every day,' he said.

'Just, you know, just do. And that's how I think you build belief. I spoke in front of a couple of people when I was 16. It went really badly. I was shaking so much that I couldn't, read what it's saying.

'And you fast forward 10 years of me just doing that. And I'm on stage, you know, in Brazil with Obama for 15,000 people. I'm doing arenas in Barcelona with 9,000 people. How did I get there? Just doing, you know.'

And Steven may well be manifesting.

In December, when asked by the Guardian who his dream podcast guest would be, he replied: 'Michelle and Barack Obama. And I'd love to interview Elon Musk. Donald Trump? No. I have no interest in interviewing him.'
A student was left with second degree burns when her favourite university meal of Heinz Spaghetti Hoops exploded in her face - leaving her with hoop-shaped wounds.

Phoebe Mason, now 21, had just returned to the University of Leeds from Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, for her second year of her degree when she decided to make one of her go-to meals.

She poured the Heinz product into a bowl which she then popped into the microwave as she had done many times before - but she believes this time, she left them inside for far too long.

However, when she took the hoops out of the microwave, she claims the boiling hot product blew up in her face and stuck to her skin.

She jumped straight into a cold showed before one of her flatmates called 111 - and was referred to A&E immediately.

Phoebe Mason, 21, from Manchester, was left with second degree burns after a bowl of Heinz Spaghetti Hoops exploded in her face

Phoebe said: 'I was just making a classic uni dinner of fish fingers and Spaghetti Hoops.

'The Spaghetti Hoops were in a bowl and the fish fingers were in the oven.

'I went to take my hoops out of the microwave. I think I'd probably left them in there for a tiny bit too long.

'I grabbed the bowl with a tea towel.

Phoebe, who studies at the University of Leeds, said she believes she left the Spaghetti Hoops in the microwave for too long

'From what the nurses said, there must have been an air pocket or something because when I put my fork in to stir them, they just exploded.

'It all kind of happened in the blink of an eye. It exploded all over me.

'I was wearing a sort of low cut top and a shirt and the hoops had actually stuck down the top so there were a few Spaghetti Hoop scars.

'Until then, this was a staple uni meal for me to be honest. I'd have Spaghetti Hoops probably about five nights out of seven.'

The philosophy and politics student claims she put the hoops in for two and half minutes, and believes it was 30 seconds too long, also stating the explosion could have occurred because she had forgotten to stir them.

The student still has marks on her skin after the accident occurred in 2022

Phoebe believes an air pocket in the Spaghetti Hoops may have burst which caused the contents of the bowl to explode in her face

After the explosion, Phoebe's housemate called 111 where the operator told her to go to A&E immediately

Phoebe's burns covered her face and her chest, and medica in A&E told her they were second-degree

Phoebe, who works part-time in marketing, said: 'My friends realised what happened so they were bringing me cold towels. One of them ran a cold shower for me.

'I was in shock for about half an hour. I got out of the shower and I realised I was actually in quite a lot of pain.

'That was when my friends called 111 for me. They advised to attend A&E so I went and had the wounds dressed. I had bandages on for about two weeks.

'They classified them as second degree burns.

'I felt really stressed out. I'd just gotten back to uni.

'We were eight girls just trying to deal with it. We were only 19 and 20 at the time so it was all a bit stressful.'

Despite the explosion happening back in October 2022, Phoebe still has some scarring.

While she now finds the accident funny, she hopes to warn other students to learn how to cook instead of relying on the microwave.

Phoebe said: 'I've still got quite a noticeable one on my shoulder and my chest but in terms of the hoop shaped ones, they've gone down quite nicely.

'I didn't end up with any scarring on my face either, which is great.

'Now looking back on it, it's definitely something I can laugh at. It's such a niche experience and it's funny the way it happened with Spaghetti Hoops of all things.

'I'd never had any issue with it before. I'd done Spaghetti Hoops in the microwave like that so many times and nothing had ever happened before.

'I haven't exactly touched them since.

'My advice to other students would be to follow the instructions on the tin and the recipes and maybe actually start learning how to cook things so you don't have to microwave things as much.'

Heinz have been contacted for a comment.
A woman who claims to have the 'world's biggest lips' has admitted to getting even more filler in order to 'even things out'.

Andrea Ivanova, 26, from Bulgaria said she'd had the soluble substance injected into either side of her nose to avoid looking 'aged' and to 'preserve a youthful face'.

The social media influencer - who recently made headlines for having six procedures done in a single day as an 'experiment' - also revealed she'd been warned by doctors that the extra filler could be 'life threatening'.

However in the same breath, she claimed her current surgeon advised the 437 procedure was 'very important' as part of preventative measures to ward off future facial wrinkles.

She explained: 'My doctor said that it is very important [to have filler] in these areas as if there is none, then over the years, my face will look aged.

Andrea Ivanova, 26, from Bulgaria, proclaims to have the 'world's biggest lips' but has admitted to recently getting filler on either side of her nose (pictured: Andrea after the procedure)

The content creator said she had the soluble substance injected into her face to avoid looking 'aged' and to 'preserve a youthful face' (pictured: Andrea, a day before her procedure)

'As I have a large amount of filler in my lips, as well as in my cheekbones, there is an accumulation of filler on both sides of my face, causing wrinkles.

'Such delicate areas need to be hydrated and injected in order to keep things fresh and young'.

Although the former psychology student - who has spent over 20,000 on lip filler alone - bemoaned the 'sweet pain' that came with the procedure, she was left pleased with the 'wonderful' results.

Andrea is well known for her voluptuous lips and sharp cheeks following numerous bouts of filler work.

Becoming somewhat of an expert on the cosmetic technique, Andrea had noticed her nasolabial wrinkles 'worsening' prior to the augmentation.

And despite having her mind set on fixing this, she had some initial concerns.

She said: 'This area is quite dangerous for injection since the sinuses are located there, as well as many blood vessels.

'It's possible that if these are blocked, the situation could be life-threatening.

She also revealed she'd been warned by doctors that the extra filler could be 'life threatening' (pictured: Andrea before having any surgery)

Andrea claimed her current surgeon advised the 437 procedure was 'very important' as part of preventative measures to ward off future facial wrinkles (Andrea poses after the new filler)

'Although dangerous, in my opinion, it's a must to inject this area to preserve a youthful face'.

Despite continuous concerns from her surgeon, she has since been told that in order to continue with the extreme transformation, there are some necessary steps which need to be taken.

Andrea added: 'My doctor is worried about necrosis of the tissue in my lips, but as long as I'm careful and remember to hydrate, then I should be fine.

'It's difficult to smile and I need to drink a lot of water since the hyaluronic acid acts like a sponge.

'I can't rub my face hard with my hands when I wash it or make any sudden movements where the newly injected areas are.

'But I will have the nasolabial folds injected again since I want my lips and cheeks to be more voluminous'.

The former psychology student has spent over 20,000 on lip filler alone

It appears Andrea is keen to have more cosmetic procedures done despite warnings from medical professionals that they could be dangerous to her health (Andrea is pictured before the procedure)

Andrea is keen on continuing with the facial procedures despite warnings from several medical personnel.

She explained: 'They are convinced, though, that I'm going too far with the enlargement of my cheekbones, too, but I am absolutely adamant that I will continue with these procedures without stopping'.

In a bid to achieve her dream look, Andrea recently underwent six procedures as an 'experiment' in one day alone, spending an eye-watering 830 on the invasive process.

Her long list of treatments included, chin shaping, enlargement and lengthening, jaw shaping and lip augmentation, as well as cheekbone enhancement - all at once.

Revealing it was extreme, Andrea confessed that she previously only ever had a maximum of three needles in her face at the same time.

Andrea's long list of treatments include chin shaping, enlargement and lengthening, jaw shaping and lip augmentation

The social media influencer even had to seek out a doctor in Germany to do the procedures on February 21, 2024, as her usual surgeon outright refused.

And even though Andrea was excited about the experience, she confessed it had been extremely painful - more so than usual.

'I have pain all over my face right now and my jaw and chin hurt a lot,' she said.

'It's hard for me to smile because of the pain in my cheekbones and there's a pulling sensation over my face.'

However she believes this feeling is normal after treatment because the 'filler hasn't settled into place'.
Crown Princess Victoria looked sophisticated as she arrived for lunch with the Danish royals in Stockholm.

The Swedish royal, 46, looked summery in a bright pink gown as she arrived at the City Hall with husband Prince Daniel on Tuesday, ahead of a meal with Queen Mary of Denmark and King Frederik X.

It is Danish royal couple's second day of their state visit to Sweden, after they arrived on the royal yacht Dannebrog on Monday.

On arrival to the venue Princess Victoria, who appeared in great spirits, received a bouquet of flowers from a young girl.

The royal completed her ensemble with a nude clutch bag and matching stilettos, while her brunette locks were swept back into a chic updo.

Crown Princess Victoria looked sophisticated as she arrived for lunch with the Danish royals in Stockholm

Meanwhile Prince Daniel looked smart in a navy suit which he paired with a white shirt and blue tie.

It comes after the Swedish royal couple attended a gala dinner last night to welcome King Frederik X of Denmark and his wife Queen Mary, for their first state visit since ascending to the Danish throne.

The first evening was as spectacular as expected, the glittering event was hosted by King Carl Gustaf and German-Brazilian-born Queen Silvia, while high-profile Swedish royals such as Prince Carl Philip, Princess Sofia, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel were also in attendance.

Not a detail was spared as a stunning bouquet of flowers made for the centrepiece on the banquet table, where hundreds of guests sat to enjoy a meal certainly fit for a king.

Royal couple Mary and Frederick have been dogged by affair rumours in recent months since ascending the throne - but put on a united display once more as they attended the event hosted by their Swedish royal counterparts.

Queen Mary, 52, herself looked chic in a flowing gown with an intricate scarlet floral bodice and flowing silk skirt.

Australian-born Mary was the epitome of elegance as she wore the Danish Ruby Parure tiara and jewellery collection to perfectly complement her dress of the same colour.

On arrival to the venue Princess Victoria, who appeared in great spirits, received a bouquet of flowers from a young girl

The Swedish Royal, 46, looked summary in a bright pink gown as she arrived at the City Hall with husband Prince Daniel (left) on Tuesday, ahead of a meal with Queen Mary of Denmark and King Frederik X

The royal completed her ensemble with a nude clutch bag and matching stilettos, while her brunette locks were swept back into a chic updo

The royal looked bright and breezy in the short sleeved pink gown which cinched at the waist

Meanwhile Prince Daniel looked smart in a navy suit which he paired with a white shirt and blue tie

The royals were greeting by officials before entering the City Hall ahead of the lunch

She also wore the Sash and Star of the Swedish Order of the Seraphim, the Star of the Order of the Elephant and the historic Ordensportrttet - a family portrait brooch.

Her bodice was the Jesper Hovring New Top from the fall 2018 collection, which she paired with an upcycled skirt from 2018.

Mary seemed to spend much of the evening in conversation with Queen Silvia, showing the close ties between the nations - and the royals were in constant conversation as they were seated for the meal.

Queen Silvia, 80, opted for a rich emerald green gown and wore the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Tiara, with her jewellery adding deep blue hues to the look.

The spectacular tiara is known to be one of Silvia's favourites and consists of an ornate diamond base, topped by eleven massive sapphire jewels.

And the husbands also did not disappoint in their finery as King Frederick, 55, wore the Collar of the Swedish Order of the Seraphim with the Star of the Order of the Elephant.

He led the way into the banquet hall with his host, King Carl Gustaf XVI, 78, also in the Danish Order of the Elephant, as they were followed in by Queen Mary and Queen Silvia.

Victoria and Prince Daniel arrived for a gala dinner yesterday. Victoria and Princess Sofia both stunned in shades of blue

The gala dinner was hosted by Queen Silvia and King Carl Gustaf XVI of Sweden. Mary is pictured with Queen Silvia

It was a glamorous event for the Swedish royals, as Crown Princess Victoria, the heir apparent to the Swedish throne as the eldest child, was also present - as was her brother Prince Carl Philip.

Victoria stunned in a light blue gown alongside her husband Prince Daniel. She too was laden with jewellery, opting for the Connaught Diamond Tiara.

Prince Carl Philip arrived with his glamorous wife Princess Sofia on his arm, who had opted for a similar hue of light blue to her sister-in-law Victoria.

Sofia, 39, wore a Ida Lanto gown with the topaz version of her wedding tiara as the gorgeous couple turned heads upon their arrival.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Danish Minister of Defence Troels Lund Poulsen were among the esteemed guests in attendance.

Queen Mary and Frederick are on their first state visit to Sweden since ascending to the Danish throne.
Judi James says Harry wants to let people know he won't be dining alone tonight

Prince Harry name-dropped someone during his Invictus speech in London today because he is keen to let 'everyone' know he will not be sitting alone in his hotel room this evening, according to a body language expert.

The Duke of Sussex, 39, arrived in the UK alone today after flying in from California for a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games in London tomorrow.

Ahead of the service, Harry visited Armoury House this afternoon for an Invictus Games discussion called 'Realising a Global Community' hosted by Louise Minchin.

During his chat onstage, Louise asked the former senior working royal to reflect back on a magic moment that made him smile.

Harry said: 'It probably hasn't changed, it has to be the beginning, 2014, in the Copper Box. I was at the DJ sets and trying to choose some of the music, put the lights on and get people on their feet.

'And...is Guy in the house? Guy Monson? Are you here? No? Well we're having dinner at his place later so he'll definitely be there.'

Judi James, body language expert, said Harry name-dropped his friend because he wanted to let people know he won't be alone in his hotel room tonight. Above: Prince Harry at Armoury House in London this afternoon for an Invictus Games discussion

Judi said Prince Harry appeared to be touching his wedding ring, a sign that he is wanting to evoke emotional back-up from his wife and family back in the States

Prince Harry speaks with a member of the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers at the Honourable Artillery Company in London today, while appearing to clutch onto his wedding ring

The Duke of Sussex will enjoy dinner this evening with Guy Monson, who attended the unveiling of a statue of Princess Diana in 2021 at Kensington Palace (he is seen on the far left)

Guy Monson is a city financier and a trustee of the Invictus Games Foundation, who was on the organising committee for the launch in 2014.

In 2018, he was appointed treasurer to William and Kate and Harry and Meghan, before the Sussexes stepped down as working royals.

Guy, chief investment officer of Sarasin and Partners, a London-based 18billion investment fund, was alongside the warring brothers when they unveiled a statue of their mother Princess Diana in 2021 at Kensington Palace. It was Harry and William's last solo engagement together.

Speaking of the moment, Judi James, a body language expert, told FEMAIL that the name-dropping was intentional to put out a message to the crowd that he won't be short of company during his stay in the UK.

She said: 'He looks keen to be meeting friends here in the UK, at one point he name-checks someone, rubbing his upper thigh with both hands in a gesture of positive anticipation.

'[Harry] then throws in the info that he will be having dinner with them tonight as though keen to let everyone know he will not be sitting alone in his room, dining from room service and the mini-bar and pining for dinner at the Palace.'

Harry is expected to stay at a hotel in London because he no longer has Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.

Harry at Armoury House in London today for an Invictus Games panel with Louise Minchin

Harry was three miles away from Charles at the Invictus Games discussion in London today

The Prince had hoped to meet his estranged father the King during his trip, which follows a previous quick visit in February after Charles's cancer diagnosis. And Harry's event was just three miles away from where Charles was at Clarence House.

But Harry's spokesman said today: 'In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not The Duke will meet with his father while in the UK this week, it unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majesty's full programme.

'The Duke of course is understanding of his father's diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.'

During his walk, where he spoke to Pikemen and Musketeers at the Honourable Artillery Company, Harry can be seen appearing to clutch onto his wedding ring.

Judi said the Duke may have been doing this to feel 'emotional support' from his wife, Meghan, but also family in the states.

She said: 'As he walks he brings his hands up in a barrier gesture and he seems to clutch at his wedding ring.

'This is a self-comfort ritual that suggests desire to evoke emotional back-up from friends and family back in the US.'

The body language expert said he also walked around the grounds, exuding confidence.

'His walk towards the camera retains signals of confidence, with a leg-splay and an eye-smile suggesting delight at being able to adopt a princely air again as he, although not quite reviewing the troops, walks along past the military musicians as though going through similar motions.'

Judi added that Prince Harry was keen to display 'power' and 'status' while speaking onstage at the event.

She said: 'Harrys on-stage presentation is a similar blend of peacocking mixed with some signs that this display might be based on bravado.

'His thighs are splayed wide to signal physical power and status and his back is slightly slumped to imply he is relaxed.'

Sky News also captured the father-of-two on camera exiting a black Range Rover at Armoury House today.

As he opens the door and leaves the car, the Duke swings his blazer around slightly before putting it on.

Judi said: 'Harry makes a rather dashing entrance to the UK here, swirling his jacket around like a cape as he exits his car to suggest he has no desire to keep a low profile.

Prince Harry is seen at Armoury House in London today attending an Invictus Games event. Judi said he swirled his jacket around to show that he does not intend to keep a low profile on his visit

King Charles III waves as he is driven away from Clarence House in London this morning

February 14, 2024 -- Harry and Meghan attend an Invictus Games event in Whistler, Canada

'The gesture involves some leg-splaying and pit-baring, both rituals that are connected to confidence although this can also mean bravado rather than the authentic thing.'

Harry is understood to have various Invictus Games commitments today, according to ITV. These are expected to include further meetings and a dinner this evening.

Tomorrow, the Duke is set to give a reading at a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral marking a decade since the inaugural competition in London in 2014.

Organisers had said there was no confirmation of any other royals attending, or if Harry's wife Meghan Markle or children Archie and Lilibet would also be in the UK.

But Harry arrived in London by himself today, and is expected to join the Duchess on a tour to Nigeria later this week with Meghan set to fly there from the US by herself.

And Harry is not expected to see his brother Prince William , who is scheduled to be away from the capital on Thursday and Friday, or his sister-in-law Kate Middleton whose cancer treatment continues following her revealing the diagnosis in March.

Earlier today, Charles was photographed being driven from Windsor Castle before arriving at Clarence House in London soon after. The King later held an audience nearby at Buckingham Palace with the Prime Minister of Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka.

The Duke has invited William and other senior members of the Royal Family to the service but none of them are expected to attend, sources told Page Six in the US.

Among the royals who could attend are his cousins Zara Tindall and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, but there has been no confirmation of this.
EXCLUSIVE

Queen Mary of Denmark has 'outclassed' her husband King Frederik in their first interview since taking the throne, with their performance leaving experts questioning if they are still a couple.

The Australian-born Queen's efforts in the interview, which was televised by Danish subscription television service TV 2, left royal fans sure she has taken the reins both in the relationship and their public image following a year of scandal.

Body language expert Dr Louise Mahler told FEMAIL she believes Mary is obviously taking the lead while her husband has been 'left sulking' because he wants to be in control but 'isn't allowed'.

King Frederik has previously revealed his struggle with having a strong wife, saying she has reminded him that just because he's a man doesn't mean he's 'automatically believed'. He joked that she let's him know 'he can be wrong'.

Dr Mahler said that while the Queen is typically warm and engaging, her body language shows she's completely blocking King Frederik out.

The couple's body language during the TV 2 interview was 'closed off' and 'awkward' with Queen Mary blocking King Fred with her hands and legs and leaning away with her shoulders while he 'fidgeted' the whole time (pictured)

Queen Mary, pictured here a step ahead of her husband, has 'taken the reins' of the relationship and of the couple's public image

'Queen Mary faces towards Frederik, but her head is tilted away, while her hands are also clasped with her left hand over her right and shielding from Frederick. In that distancing she seems calm,' she said.

'He on the other hand appears a little befuddled, his hands keep fidgeting,' she said, adding that the interview clip highlighted 'orange flags' in their relationship.

She noted that while most couples would be given the benefit of doubt based on the length of their relationship - this is not the case for the royal pair.

'Given previous tactile behaviour and the rumours before the they [took the throne], one senses a challenge,' she said.

It is the first sit-down interview with the couple since their fairytale marriage was thrust into the spotlight over a rumoured affair when the then Crown Prince was photographed enjoying a night out in Madrid in November with glamorous socialite Genoveva Casanova.

The King and Queen have tried to convey a 'happy couple' image but experts claim it's just a carefully crafted facade

This photo - which gave Danes hope they had sorted through any relationship issues - shows Mary trying to create as much distance as possible, leaning away with her head and shoulder while Frederik blocks her with his arm, leans out with his head and clenches his fists

In the interview, seen in full by FEMAIL, the King spoke in circles and often failed to get to a clear point - despite being presented with very simple questions. It led to many in the Danish press complaining that he came across as 'ridiculous'.

He got off to a bad start when he spoke about boarding the Royal Yacht, where the interview was held, for the couple's tour of Scandanavia - a summer tradition for Danish rulers.

Pictured: Dr Louise Mahler, Body Language Expert

'It is not the first time I have boarded the Dannebrog, I have many times before, this time is very special, it fills me with pride and also with awe as it is the first time I am boarding as King with my Queen. We are [here as a] royal couple. We are on the royal ship,' he said.

Queen Mary gave him the opportunity to answer each of of the simple questions and appeared to grimace as he struggled to get his words out.

Throughout the interview, when it was obvious the conversation was not moving forward, she took charge.

At one stage the couple was asked to share a favourite memory of the famous boat.

The King immediately jumped in and said he had more memories of the boat than Mary as he grew up going aboard with his family.

'I remember joining the deck with the conscripts, my brother and I wore the white uniform as the conscripts do - with the hat too,' he said.

He went into detail about the orders involved in preparing the ship for a royal voyage.

The King and Queen recently set sail on their first diplomatic tour of Scandinavia as rulers

Mary took control as Frederik laughed at the floor and said her memories of the ship were wonderful.

She said they ranged from being warmly welcomed across Scandanavia as the ship sailed into foreign harbours to weaving among icebergs enroute to Greenland.

'In recent times we have been lucky enough to have our children with us,' she said, before reflecting on moments where the family would jump from the boat into 'the deep blue sea'.

In other parts, the King stuttered when he was asked how important his foreign relations are - before Queen Mary revealed they're of critical importance.

She added they were nothing without their neighbours and the friendships with them will be maintained going forward.

They sat side-by-side, with King Frederik emphasising the couple's united front by using the word 'we' instead of 'I' countless times.

Royal House commentator Jakob Steen Olsen believes the interview, including its delayed timing, suggests the couple wish to move forward as one after months of nasty affair rumours.

He added that the pointed language suggests the pair wish to 'get off to a good start without any unpleasant questions or agendas'.

Mr Olsen said the television interview was the perfect 'launching pad' for the couple who have been relatively tight-lipped since the scandal.
A woman has claimed she was placed in a 17-day coma after suffering a rare reaction to ibuprofen that caused her to 'burn from the inside out'.

Jaqueline Gmack, from Papanduva in Brazil, took the over-the-counter tablets in 2011 to help relieve her period cramps. Within just 48 hours, the now 31-year-old suffered a mild itch in her eye and blood blisters in her mouth.

After rushing to hospital, her symptoms rapidly escalated and she developed blisters across her face which left her unable to see properly.

Medics revealed she was suffering from Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and placed her in an induced coma.

Jaqueline Gmack, from Papanduva in Brazil , took the over-the-counter tablets in 2011 to help relieve her period cramps. Within just 48 hours, the now 31-year-old suffered a mild itch in her eye and blood blisters in her mouth

After rushing to hospital, her symptoms rapidly escalated and she developed blisters across her face which left her unable to see properly. Medics revealed she was suffering from Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and placed her in an induced coma

The rare skin condition causes the immune system to overreact to a trigger, such as a drug, and attack healthy skin, mucous, the eyes and genitals. Even today, however, Ms Gmack's vision has only restored to around 40 per cent of what it was despite more than a dozen surgeries

WHAT IS STEVENS-JOHNSON SYNDROME? Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) is a rare, serious disorder of the skin and mucous membranes. It often begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by a painful red-purple rash that spreads and blisters. SJS is thought to affect up to six people per million in the US. One 2017 study tracking cases between 1995 and 2013, suggested there were 5.76 cases of SJS per million people-years in the UK. Other symptoms may include: Fever

Unexplained widespread pain

Blistering of the skin, mouth, nose, eyes and genitals The top layer of skin then dies and sheds. The cause of SJS is often unclear but may be as a side effect of medication or an infection, like pneumonia. People are more at risk if they have a weakened immune system, or a personal or family history of the disorder. Hospital treatment usually involves fluids to prevent dehydration, creams and dressings to moisturise the skin, strong painkillers to ease discomfort and medicines to control inflammation and prevent infection. Source: Mayo Clinic, NHS England Advertisement

The rare skin condition causes the immune system to overreact to a trigger, such as a drug, and attack healthy skin, mucous, the eyes and genitals.

Even today, however, Ms Gmack's vision has only restored to around 40 per cent of what it was despite more than a dozen surgeries.

Further tests are still required to determine if the reaction has caused permanent damage.

Recalling her ordeal after she woke from the coma, Ms Gmack said: 'It was like I'd been burned from the inside out.

'I didn't know what had happened to me.

'I noticed my entire body was bandaged, my vision was completely blurred, and I had a tube down my throat, but I wasn't in any pain.

'Only then did the penny start to drop and I realised that I was very weak, and that something very serious had happened to me.'

Ms Gmack is not believed to have suffered a reaction from ibuprofen before or have any underlying health conditions.

SJS often begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by a red or purple rash on the skin that spreads and forms blisters.

It does the same to the mucous membrane, reproductive organs and eyeballs.

Mucous membranes are a soft, thin layers of tissue which line the digestive system, the inside of the mouth, nose and the genitals.

Without treatment, the condition can prove life-threatening with studies suggesting around one in 10 cases are fatal.

It is thought to affect up as few as one in a million people each year.

Hospital treatment usually involves fluids to prevent dehydration, creams and dressings to moisturise the skin, strong painkillers to ease discomfort and medicines to control inflammation and prevent infection.

Ms Gmack is not believed to have suffered a reaction from ibuprofen before or have any underlying health conditions. SJS often begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by a red or purple rash on the skin that spreads and forms blisters

Hospital treatment usually involves fluids to prevent dehydration, creams and dressings to moisturise the skin, strong painkillers to ease discomfort and medicines to control inflammation and prevent infection

Some patients are placed in induced comas to minimise damage.

Ms Gmack said: 'They [the doctors] told me it was a miracle I'd survived.

'My family didn't let me see myself in the mirror for a few days.

'When I did finally look in the mirror, I saw someone I didn't recognise.'

In a bid to save her vision, she began ophthalmologist treatment.

Ms Gmack has undergone 24 operations to help her vision including a cornea transplant, stem cell transplant and amniotic membrane transplant  where a sheet of amniotic membrane is secured over the surface of the eye to the eyelid

'He [the ophthalmologist] also said I needed to have surgery as quickly as possible otherwise I would lose the eye,' she added.

'I left the office crying.'

Since then, she has undergone 24 operations to help her vision including a cornea transplant, stem cell transplant and amniotic membrane transplant  where a sheet of amniotic membrane is secured over the surface of the eye to the eyelid.

When performed immediately after an ocular surface burn, research has suggested it reduces pain and accelerates healing.

In the decade since, Ms Gmack still undertakes fortnightly check-ups to monitor her eye health and claims she has around 40 per cent of her vision.

'The most difficult obstacle to overcome is knowing I can never have the vision that I once had,' she said.

'I wish I could find a cure to see again. But I feel like a warrior.'
By Gwynne Dyer

History repeats itself  the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce, said Karl Marx. He was talking about European history, of course, and here it comes again, a century later, doing a tribute act to the 1920s.

In Germany, we have had a replay of Hitlers failed coup attempt of 1923. The first of three trials opened in Stuttgart this week, targeting nine alleged ringleaders of the "military wing" of the far-right Reichsburger group who were arrested two years ago on charges of high treason, attempted murder and membership of a terrorist organisation.

Further mass trials will follow in Frankfurt this month for the "political wing" and in Munich in June for what the prosecutors chose to call the "esoteric wing." Theres a clue there, if you are paying attention. These would-be emulators of Adolf Hitler are not actually ex-stormtroopers hardened by years in the trenches. They are nasty but marginal fantasists.

Another clue lies in the name of their leader, a 72-year-old self-styled aristocrat calling himself Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss. They really did want to take over Germany and remake it as a neo-fascist state, they really did hate the Jews, and at least some of them were willing to kill, but they were never a serious threat.

In Italy, where the other great inter-war dictator, Benito Mussolini, seized power and created the worlds first fascist state in 1922, there is already a neo-fascist in power. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni formed her first government in 2022, but she uses no violence, shes loyal to the NATO alliance, and she seems almost harmless.

Maybe shes just biding her time, but theres no sign that she is planning to invade Ethiopia or even Greece. There are no gangs of fascist thugs beating people to death, and no political prisoners. Life in Italy is pretty normal.

So it is in Spain, although you wouldnt think so if you listened to the Peoples Party (PP), the increasingly hard-right, ultra-nationalist opposition to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs Socialist Workers Party. The PP calls him a psychopath, a traitor, and a terrorist sympathiser who deserves to be strung up by his feet, but it obeys the law.

Claims that the Spanish prime ministers wife is really a man and that her family runs the drug trade in Morocco were so hurtful that Sanchez took five days off to ponder whether he really wanted to stay in politics. However, its really just the online rules of engagement leaking into the real world. Theres no new Franco plotting an armed fascist rebellion.

And in Poland the ultra-nationalist, militantly religious Law and Justice Party was voted out of power last year despite claiming that the opposition leader, Donald Tusk, is planning to give half of Poland to Russia and bring German order to whats left. (You know, exactly like the Nazis did).

The point is that the Law and Justice Party didnt win, and neither did the PP in Spain.

Meloni only won by pretending very hard not to be a fascist, and the Reichsburger in Germany were just a comic opera group (albeit with loaded guns).

Marine Le Pen in France may come closer to winning the presidency on her fourth try in 2027 than ever before, but her Rassemblement National party has achieved that by ditching almost all of its extreme-right policies except for its trademark hostility to immigration.

Britains Conservative Party has shifted steadily to the right during its fourteen years in power, but whatever influence that might have had in the alleged rightward migration of other European parties was nullified by its lunatic obsession with Brexit and its stunning incompetence and indiscipline. It will be all but annihilated in the election due this year.

The Labour Party which will take its place is pretending to have no intention of shifting the United Kingdom even a millimetre to the left, because it is superstitiously terrified of scaring the voters back into the arms of the Conservatives, but that is not a realistic possibility. After it wins, it will set about rescuing the welfare state.

The results of the upcoming European Union parliamentary elections may seem to indicate a rightward shift in European politics, but this could be attributed to voters using their EU votes as a safe means to express dissatisfaction with the economy. However, it's important to note that national elections hold greater significance in shaping political landscapes and policies within individual countries.

Americans may elect Donald Trump this November and Canadians may elect Pierre Poilievre next year, but Europe is not leading a charge to the right.

Gwynne Dyers new book is "Intervention Earth: Life-Saving Ideas from the Worlds Climate Engineers." Last years book, "The Shortest History of War," is also still available.
A social media-famous doctor has revealed he does not use plastic water bottles - and is urging others not to either.

California-based physician Dr Saurabh Sethi warned they contain too many toxic nanoplastics, which get lodged in the body and are linked to cancer and infertility.

He pointed to a study covered by DailyMail.com earlier this year that found the average bottle of water sold in the US contains 240,000 pieces of these particles.

In a TikTok video viewed nearly half a million times, the gastroenterologist starts by saying: 'Stop using plastic water bottles.'

'[These particles] have the potential to penetrate human cells and gain entry into the bloodstream and major organs.

Dr Saurabh Sethi, a gastroenterologist in California, took to TikTok to share why shopping makes you poop

Instead, he urged his followers to use stainless steel, reusable containers to consume water.

Dr Sethi said that drinking from a plastic bottle during hot days was most harmful.

Dr Sethi added: 'The heat will cause even more release of microplastics into your water bottle.'

But the video left some of his viewers with more questions than answers, with many pointing out that tap water also contains harmful toxins linked to health issues.

And reusable containers like Stanley Cups have also been shown to contain metals linked to various diseases.

When it comes to water bottles, tiny pieces of plastics are thought to end up in the products as a byproduct during the manufacturing process.

In January, DailyMail.com spoke to the lead authors of the plastic bottle study, who said the entire team reduced their bottled water consumption after uncovering the tiny particles.

Professor Beizhan Yan, a chemist from Columbia University, told this website: 'In terms of microplastic levels, tap water is a good option to drink.

'Other studies have found its microplastic level to be much lower than that in bottled water,' Yan said.

Fears about tiny plastics have intensified in recent years.

A study published in 2023 used biological models and biomarkers to determine the toxic effects of nanoparticles when consumed.

The UK-based researchers found the molecules can cause cell death, produce oxidation stress, damage DNA and induce inflammatory responses - processes that are linked to the formation of tumors.

Other studies have found tiny particle exposure may produce major congenital heart defects that impair cardiac function in chicken embryos.

But, the effects on humans are based on laboratory and animal studies with no direct evidence.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for example, told DailyMail.com it was too early to panic about bottled water.

A spokesperson said the agency 'is not aware of scientific evidence that would support that would support consumers being concerned about the potential level of microplastic or nanoplastic contamination in food, including bottled water.'
READ MORE: Officials warn of deadly salmonella in frozen chicken tenders

Health officials have announced a recall of popular sweets sold at Walmart stores across the US due to concerns about contamination with deadly bacteria.

Iowa-based Palmer Candy Company voluntarily recalled its 'White Coated Confectionary Items' this week after finding they could be contaminated with salmonella, a foodborne illness that infects 1.3 million Americans a year.

The FDA said that affected products - mixtures of snacks like pretzels, popcorn and chocolates - were distributed nationwide in Walmart, HyVee, Target, and Dollar General stores.

They were also sent to distributors in the following states: Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

No illnesses have been reported.

The products were sold under several brand names, including Walmart's Great Value

The potentially harmful sweets are covered in a sugary coating that appears white, and come in a variety of packaging, such as bags, pouches, and tubs.

The affected sweets were sold under brand names including Palmer Candy, Great Value, Casey's, and Every True Tiger - a brand out of the University of Missouri.

Palmer Candy was notified of the potential danger by its liquid coating supplier, who said the products could potentially be contaminated with salmonella.

Salmonella is caused by eating foods contaminated with animal feces. It typically causes diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps that begin six hours to six days after initial infection, according to the CDC.

Most people recover within days, though the illness is responsible for more than 26,000 hospitalizations and 400 deaths a year.

Production has been suspended while the FDA and Palmer Candy investigate.

Consumers who have purchased any white coated confectionary items manufactured by Palmer Candy Company are encouraged to return the items to the place of purchase for a full refund.
Britain's women receive poorer healthcare than those in Vietnam, Latvia and even Kazakhstan, an international study has found.

The UK has dropped from 30th to 37th place in a global league table which ranks how nations perform in five key areas of women's health and wellbeing.

Experts blamed the slide on the UK's failure to make much-needed progress in women's healthcare over the last three years, while other countries had 'leapfrogged' ahead.

The country scored lower than the EU average on areas like cancer screening, emotional health and women's safety in the 2023 Hologic Global Women's Health Index, published today.

There were also declines in how women in the UK rated their pregnancy care, access to healthcare and happiness levels.

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The annual survey of nearly 79,000 women from 143 countries and territories found women's health in the UK had not improved on average since 2020, while other nations had advanced.

Poland, for example, scored the same as the UK last year but positive changes meant it jumped ahead to 9th place globally this year.

Tim Simpson, of Hologic UK & Ireland, a medical technology company specialising in women's health, described the findings as 'a call for action and improvement'.

He said: 'Despite significant potential for progress, the UK is being leapfrogged by other countries, which are making more substantial gains in women's health.

'This underscores an urgent need for enhanced focus on topics like preventative measures and pregnancy care, to not only catch up but to set a standard for women's health globally.'

The poll found women in the UK were less likely than those living in EU countries to have received preventive care in the past year, with fewer receiving screening for high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes and sexually-transmitted infections than the EU average.

Two in five women in the UK reported feeling daily worry and stress, with women more likely to say they felt sadness, stress and anger than those living in EU countries.

Levels of negative emotions, including worry, sadness, stress and anger among women living in the UK have all risen significantly since 2020, while levels have slightly reduced across the EU on average.

In fact, sadness levels reported by women in the UK have increased every year since the survey was first published in 2020.

Now one in three (32 per cent) said they felt sad the previous day, up from one in five (21 per cent) three years ago.

Women in the UK were also more likely than their EU counterparts to feel dissatisfied about being able to access high-quality healthcare  such as getting a GP or hospital appointment  where they lived.

Two thirds of women surveyed in the UK (67 per cent), compared with 68 per cent in the EU, said they were satisfied they could access high-quality healthcare, down from 75 per cent three years ago.

In the UK, women are also now less likely to say care during pregnancy is satisfactory, with 74 per cent agreeing with this statement compared to 77 per cent last year.

In the UK, women are also now less likely to say care during pregnancy is satisfactory. The graphic shows the NHS trusts in England that have logged the biggest drop in midwives between September 2022 and July 2023  the latest data available. Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust has seen its midwife workforce drop 12.8 per cent over this period

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More than one in four women (27 per cent) in the UK said they lived with daily pain and a similar number (26 per cent) said they were living with health problems which limited their normal day-to-day activities.

The number of women who said chronic conditions interfered with their daily lives has increased by more than 50 per cent in three years.

Commenting on the research, Dr Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: 'This work underscores the critical need for governments, non-governmental organisations and policy-makers to prioritise women's health and invest in interventions that put women's best interests first.'

The top-ranked places were Taiwan (72), Kuwait (68), Austria (67), Germany (67) and Switzerland (66).

The UK was 37th with a score of 60 out of 100, putting it below the EU average of 61.

The worst countries in the world in 2023 for women's health were Afghanistan, with a score of 26, followed by Sierra Leone (34), the Republic of the Congo (35) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (36). Globally, the average score was 54.

Janet Lindsay, chief executive of the charity Wellbeing of Women, said the report should serve as a 'stark reminder' that women and girls needed better care and support.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'The Government has made women's health a top priority, and is driving forward a Women's Health Strategy that is delivering a better standard of care for women and girls.'
Panera Bread will phase out its controversial Charged Lemonade from stores nationwide after the drinks were linked to several deaths.

A spokesperson for the chain said the change was part of a 'menu transformation' and internal memos suggest it could begin within the next two weeks.

The move comes after lawsuits blamed the highly caffeinated drinks for two deaths and heart damage in a third patient.

The family of a Pennsylvania college student who had a pre-existing heart condition alleged she died after drinking a large Charged Lemonade in 2022.

A second lawsuit was filed in December by the family of a disabled Florida man, 46, who also died after drinking several Charged Lemonades.

Sarah Katz (pictured) died on September 10, 2022, just hours after she consumed a large Charged Lemonade from a branch of Panera Bread in Philadelphia

The lawsuit claims that Mr Brown was 'reasonably confident it was a traditional lemonade containing a reasonable amount of caffeine safe for him to drink'

A regular size of Charged Lemonade, which is 20 ounces, has 260 milligrams of caffeine. The large, which comes in a 30-ounce cup, has 390 milligrams

A third lawsuit was filed in January by Lauren Skerritt, a 28-year-old from Rhode Island who claimed the beverage left her with 'permanent' heart injuries.

A 30-ounce large Charged Lemonade contains 390 milligrams, which is nearly the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) entire recommended daily limit.

A spokesperson for Panera said Tuesday that the phasing out of the drinks was due to customer feedback.

'We listened to more than 30,000 guests about what they wanted from Panera, and are focusing next on the broad array of beverages we know our guests desire  ranging from exciting, on-trend flavors, to low sugar and low-caffeine options,' they said.

After news of the first lawsuit broke, Panera put more detailed disclosures in all of its restaurants and on its website warning customers to consume the drinks in moderation.

The chain also stated that they were not recommended for children, pregnant women, breastfeeding moms or people sensitive to caffeine.

Internal memos shared with NBC News by senior staff in Missouri and Pennsylvania indicate the phase-out could happen in two weeks.

But not all employees were aware of the change - including staff in one store in New York City who said they had no knowledge of the move.

Charged Lemonades first became mired in controversy last October when the family of Sarah Katz, 21, blamed the high caffeine content on her cardiac arrest.

The University of Pennsylvania student died in 2022 just hours after she consumed a large Charged Lemonade from a branch of Panera Bread in Philadelphia.

A regular size, which is 20 ounces, has 260 milligrams of caffeine. The large, which comes in a 30-ounce cup, has 390 milligrams.

In comparison, the average eight-ounce cup of coffee has 80 to 95 milligrams of caffeine.

The FDA's recommended daily caffeine limit is 400 milligrams.

Ms Katz had been diagnosed with the heart rhythm condition long QT syndrome as a child, which caused her heart to beat irregularly (arrhythmia).

Dr Stuart Fischer, an internal medicine physician in New York, previously told DailyMail.com that caffeine can eliminate the vital pauses between heartbeats for people with long QT syndrome.

'Patients with this condition need a little bit longer than usual to reboot after the heart muscle has contracted.'

Caffeine, he explains, speeds up the beating pattern, placing too much stress on the already stretched organ.

'If there is too much activity when the muscle needs to relax, it can be potentially fatal or at least a major medical emergency.'

Ms Katz had managed her condition by taking medication and limiting caffeine, according to legal documents.

A lawsuit filed in December alleged that Dennis Brown, 46, went into cardiac arrest just after he left his local branch of Panera Bread in Fleming Island.

He was found unresponsive on the sidewalk and pronounced dead on the scene.

According to the lawsuit, Mr Brown, who lived with developmental disabilities and high blood pressure, started ordering the drinks consistently three weeks before his death.

Mr Brown had a habit of ordering three drinks in a row, according to the lawyer representing the family, and drank three charged lemonades with his dinner the day of his death.
Pfizer has paused its trial of a drug for a rare muscle-wasting disease after a child died suddenly.

The boy, who was between two and four years old, suffered cardiac arrest after receiving the one-off gene therapy last year.

Pfizer has not determined exactly what happened or whether the death was caused by the treatment, called fordadistrogene movaparvovec.

The New York pharma giant said the pause would allow it to investigate the death 'while protecting the safety of the participants, which is our top priority.'

Pfizer has paused its trial of a drug for a rare muscle-wasting disease after a child died suddenly (stock)

The victim was part of a mid-stage study that enrolled children between the ages of two and four with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The rare disease primarily affects boys - about one in 3,500 male births - and patients usually don't live over the age of 25.

There were three serious adverse events during the study, but all of the children recovered within two weeks.

Pfizer has paused administering the same gene therapy in a separate final-stage study that enrolled boys aged up to eight.

That study was comparing whether the drug could slow the progression of the disease compared to a placebo.

If the trials went well, it was poised to become one of the most expensive drugs ever.

A competing gene therapy from Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. won accelerated approval by the FDA last year, becoming the only approved treatment for kids with DMD.

A single dose costs around $3million.

DMD is caused by a genetic mutation that means the body doesn't produce enough of a protein called dystrophin, which maintains muscle strength.

Without it, muscles gradually break down, leading to problems walking, sitting and speaking, and eventually affect the muscles around the lungs and heart.

By the age of 11, most sufferers will usually need a wheelchair.

Pfizer's drug works by introducing a shortened but functional dystrophin protein directly to patients muscle cells, slowing their degradation.

It is administered via a one-time infusion.

Historically, the only medications used to treat DMD were steroids such as prednisone or deflazacort.

They dampen down inflammation  a major problem in Duchenne  which slows the decline in muscle strength and mobility and can delay heart and lung complications.

But these can cause serious side effects, from weight gain, stunted growth, delayed puberty and a reduction in bone density, which can increase the risk of fractures.
New car registrations in the UK grew for the 21st consecutive month in April, rising by 1 per cent, the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show.

While electric vehicles (EV) were the main driver of this growth, this is almost entirely due to business purchases rather than private buyers.

In fact, the data shows that fewer than one in six new EVs bought last month were by the general public as demand for battery-powered cars remains in freefall.

And this shrinking appetite for EVs means the UK automotive sector has been forced to revise its sales forecasts for 2024, downgrading electric car market share to fewer than one in five new cars (19.8 per cent)  which is well below the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate benchmark manufacturers need to hit to avoid being stung with substantial fines.

While BEV growth helped new car registrations rise in April, new BEV sales forecasts for 2024 are below ZEV mandate requirements

New car registrations continued to grow for the 21st consecutive month in April, but only by a small 1 per cent. April is usually a smaller growth month than March, when new car plates are released

New car registrations grew to 134,274 units last month - marking the markets best April since 2021 - but uptake was still significantly below pre-pandemic levels (-16.6 per cent).

April is traditionally a lower volume month than March, which produces bumper sales numbers thanks to the biannual plate change.

Across the board new car market growth was driven entirely by fleets, where overall registrations rose by 18.5 per cent to reach 81,207 units  more than six in 10 of all new cars registered in April.

Electric vehicle uptake drove the UK's 1 per cent rise in new car registrations in April 2024 with battery electric vehicles (BEVs) up 10.7 per cent

EV uptake might seem a good thing overall, but the market is facing tough times as private buying stalls and zero emissions driving is reliant on businesses

'Electrified' vehicle uptake was the biggest driver behind last months growth.

Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) recorded the strongest growth, rising by 22.1 per cent to account for 7.8 per cent of the market, followed by conventional hybrids (HEVs), up 16.7 per cent with a 13.1 per cent share of demand.

In terms of fully-electric cars. registrations increased by 10.7 per cent.

This increased EV total market share to 16.9 per cent  a solid uplift on April 2023s 15.4 per cent.

However, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which represents the UK car sector - said these numbers are masking a major downfall in EV demand among Britain's drivers.

Britons aren't buying EVs - and it's fast becoming a big problem for car makers

Official figures on Tuesday confirmed that fewer than one in six new EVs bought in April went to private buyers, whose uptake volumes fell by 21.9 per cent, despite a choice of over 100 models now on the market.

Instead EV growth was single-handedly propelled by business buyers, as a result of electric cars offering compelling fiscal incentives for firms including tax incentives.

Mike Hawes, the SMMT's chief executive, says an 'absence of government incentives for private buyers' is having a marked effect on demand for battery-powered cars.

'Although attractive deals on EVs are in place, manufacturers cannot fund the mass market transition single-handedly,' he explained.

'Temporarily cutting VAT, treating EVs as fiscally mainstream not luxury vehicles, and taking steps to instil consumer confidence in the chargepoint network will drive the market growth on which Britains net zero ambition depends.'

Sue Robinson, chief exec at the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) representing car showrooms up and down the country, added: 'With the Government disappointingly ruling out introducing price incentives for electric vehicles last month, NFDA calls on the Government to have an urgent rethink, particularly as many OEMs seek to meet ZEV mandate targets for this year and with private demand having declined in recent months.'

Based on current conditions and appetite, the SMMT has revised down its 2024 EV sales estimate by a whopping 5.2 per cent.

This will result in an anticipated market share of just 19.8 per cent by the end of the year - significantly below the governments target of 22 per cent in accordance with the Zero Emissions mandate (ZEV).

The market is now having to revise its BEV sales predictions, with a newly updated 19.8 per cent BEV market share predicted for the end of 2024 now, below the 22 per cent set by the ZEV mandate

Electric future: The ZEV mandate is forcing car makers to sell an increasing volume of EVs between now and 2035. Failure to meet targets introduced this year will result in 15,000 fines per vehicle below the required threshold

The ZEV mandate requires 22 per cent of each mainstream marques car registrations to be electric, scaling up to 28 per cent in 2025 and 100 per cent by 2035  in line with the band on new petrol and diesel cars.

Failure to meet the sales targets will result in huge 15,000 fines to car makers per model below the threshold.

This seems inevitable given the latest forecast, with industry calling on the government to step in and build a stronger consumer EV market.

Temporarily halving VAT on new BEV purchases  which the SMMT predicts would help more than a quarter of a million drivers switch over the next three years  is top of the list of industry demands.

And altering the threshold for the expensive car supplement to Vehicle Excise Duty due to apply to EVs from April 2025 would help send the message to drivers that EVs are necessities and not luxuries.

Charging, as usual, is another big talking point.

Jamie Hamilton, automotive partner and head of electric vehicles at Deloitte, commented: 'Lack of accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure continues to be the biggest barrier for many looking to make the switch.

'While the amount of public charging points continues to grow, more needs to be done to accelerate this further and improve accessibility to the preexisting infrastructure.'

This comes after Vauxhall found 75 per cent of UK drivers are depending on their Local Authorities to be the main driving force behind installing accessible on-street charging - devices located on residential streets only - to meet demand and increase EV ownership.

Industry-wide calls for the government to step up its EV incentives are largely focused on improving charging infrastructure, as well as cutting VED and halving VAT on new EV purchases

Yet Paul Tomlinson, co-founder of Cord, believes that making home charging more accessible is just as important as improving public infrastructure.

He said: 'It's time for the EV industry to move on from this campaign against the 'Pavement Tax'.

'Don't get me wrong: As an EV driver and entrepreneur I don't think the VAT rate should be so much higher for public charging. But the response from the Government makes clear that they have no interest in even modelling the impact on their revenue that it would have. Labour don't seem likely to jump on this issue either.

'A legislated 'right to install' could quash the issues that are stopping the Government from effectively supporting home charger installation.

'Too many renting households don't see EV as an option because their landlords are reluctant to allow installation of chargers, despite the subsidies available.'
I booked to see Take That at the new Co-op Live venue in Manchester.

The concert has been moved to the AO Arena, Manchester, but the new seats Ive been given are 53 rows behind those on my original tickets. What are my rights?

Back row: A reader isn't happy with his news seats after the Take That concert at the Co-op live in Manchester was moved to the AO Arena

L.M., Derby.

Dean Dunham replies: This is a common complaint among those who have elected to transfer their tickets to the alternative venue following the delay in the Co-op Live arena opening.

Firstly, it is understandable that the organisers have had problems issuing like-for-like tickets, as the AO Arena is not comparable to the Co-op Live because the seating configuration and venue sizes are completely different.

However, this does not diminish your consumer rights.

Your obvious right is to demand a full refund before the concert. Some readers have queried if they can do this after initially choosing replacement tickets rather than a refund. The answer is yes.

The Consumer Rights Act says consumers should get the goods or service as described.

And, if the trader (here the venue or ticket seller) must give you a replacement (here replacing the Co-op Live tickets with AO Arena tickets), the replacement must be like-for-like.

This means your seats should either be exactly the same, comparable, or better  anything less entitles you to a remedy.

If you have already attended the concert you cannot demand a full refund, but you still have rights.

Section 24 of the Consumer Rights Act provides consumers with the right to a price reduction (basically a partial refund) in situations where the goods or service received are not in accordance with the contract, and are worth less than what the consumer paid.

This is the situation here, as seats 53 rows back will be worth less than the originals.

If you havent yet attended the concert and still want to go, you could tell the ticket seller you will keep the tickets if you are given some money back to reflect the fact they are inferior to the originals.

They may say no and only offer a cancellation and full refund. If this is so, you could say you are entitled to a price reduction, as under the Consumer Rights Act they had the right to invoke one remedy and exhausted this when they gave you the replacement tickets, meaning you now have the right to demand a reduced price.

I can't return damaged trainers

I bought two pairs of trainers online for 104.99 on my credit card.

I have tried to return one pair (costing 42) as they are damaged, but the seller will not assist. Can I claim on my credit card?

G.G., Cambridge.

Dean Dunham replies: When you buy goods with a credit card you may be eligible to protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. For Section 75 to apply you must have paid the trader direct  the money must have been sent from your credit card straight into the traders bank account.

So, if you pay via the likes of PayPal, you are not covered, as the money is transferred to PayPal then to the trader. However, PayPal has its own resolution scheme.

The second requirement is that the cost of the goods must be between 100 and 30,000.

Note, I said the cost of the goods, not the amount paid on the card. For, as long as the cost of the goods is between the above amounts you are covered, regardless of how much was paid on your card.

So, if the goods cost 200 and you paid 20 on your credit card and the rest in cash, Section 75 will apply. If your claim was successful, your credit card provider would give you the full 200 back.

Applying Section 75 to your circumstances is not good news, as it makes clear the individual item complained of (42 trainers here) must have cost between 100 and 30,000.

However the good news is that if you made the purchase within the past 120 days you can instead make a chargeback claim with your credit card provider. Here there is no requirement that the goods cost a certain amount.

Chargeback allows you to ask your card provider to withdraw funds deposited in the recipients bank account and put them back into your own if goods are damaged. The recipient can dispute a chargeback if it can prove a claim is not valid.
In early March, I purchased six outfits at a cost of about 12,000 from online fashion retailer Matches ahead of a family wedding. I planned to get everyone from the bridal party together in one place to try on the clothes and figure out what looks worked on whom.

I chose to buy from Matches because it stocked brands that you can't otherwise find in the UK  and I felt confident that if the clothes weren't right, I could send them back under its 14-day quibble free returns policy.

But a few days later I heard that its owner Frasers Group had put the firm into administration. The items were not suitable and needed to go back, but Frasers refused to take them. S. H., Kettering, Northants.

It's one thing needed to return an item of clothing if a retailer goes bust, it's another if it's 12,000 worth of wedding outfits

Sally Hamilton replies: You contacted me soon after it was announced on March 8 that Matches had been put into administration  which means an insolvency specialist has taken over the running of the business with a view to possibly turning it around or finding a buyer.

It came as a shock, as the firm had been taken over by retail giant Frasers for 52 million a few months earlier.

Customers can still shop on the website, and those who have made purchases since March 8 can take advantage of its returns policy as before. But those who purchased items before that date, like you, have been told they cannot be helped.

When you tried to arrange the return, you were informed by Matches  as was I when I chased up your request for a refund  that you were not eligible to get your money back.

An automated response read: 'Unfortunately any orders purchased prior to the administration period  are not eligible for a refund. Please do not attempt to return these orders as we will be unable to honour the refund or return these items to you.'

This struck me as unfair, as the law says any purchase made online can be returned if the business has been informed that the buyer wants to cancel the purchase within 14 days of the goods being received.

Shoppers have another 14 days to return items, and should get a refund within 14 days of the firm receiving the goods back. This is an essential protection for online buyers, as they haven't had the chance to inspect or try on items, as they would in a shop.

Your order included ensembles in different shades of yellow from Matches' own brand Raey. Yellow was the colour theme for the wedding party of a relative. Also in the order was a Paul Smith jacket for the groom, along with some citrus-coloured T-shirts.

As you had purchased the items with credit and debit cards, I was hopeful you would be protected. Credit cards offer Section 75 protection, which is part of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

It comes to the rescue if customers are left out of pocket when things go wrong with a credit-card purchase valued between 100 and 30,000.

The credit-card provider is 'jointly and severally' responsible for a breach of contract by a retailer, including if it goes out of business.

SCAMWATCH Drivers should beware scam texts claiming to be from an electronic toll collection company, consumer website Which? warns. Tricksters lure in motorists by warning that their vehicle's electronic toll collection information is incomplete due to a system upgrade. The fake texts ask recipients to confirm their information by clicking on a link  but this will lead to a phishing website which will try to gather your personal information. Do not click on the link  forward the scam text to 7726 instead.

Chargeback is similar, but is offered voluntarily by card providers. They will consider a refund where a purchase costing any amount has gone wrong, either on a credit card or debit card. Customers must usually tell the retailer before commencing a chargeback and do this within 120 days of making the purchase.

You were aware of these options but worried that you might not be covered because you still had 12,000 worth of clothing in your possession  items you didn't want but couldn't return.

I asked your card provider Nationwide for guidance. It said that if you could show that you had tried to return the items, this could strengthen your chance of succeeding with the claim.

You did have evidence  including requests for a courier to pick up the items  so you initiated a chargeback claim via your Nationwide Visa card. Card providers usually return the money to customers during this period, but it can be taken away again if the dispute fails.

Businesses typically have 30 days to contest a claim. If cardholders hear nothing after that time, then their chargeback is deemed successful. When I caught up with you last week, you confirmed the application had succeeded and your 12,000 was secure.

A Nationwide spokesman says: 'We are pleased that our customer has been successful with their claim. This is a prime example of why we encourage people to pay by credit or debit card where possible, as they offer more consumer protection should the goods not turn up or arrive not as described, or because you cannot return the items.'

You are considering selling the yellow clothes and donating the proceeds to the Citizens Advice charity to help others understand their consumer rights.

Can Sally Sorts It help you? Do you have a consumer problem you need help with? Email Sally Hamilton at sally@dailymail.co.uk  include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail or This is Money for answers given.

Our insurer turned down a 1,118 pet insurance claim

We have a pet insurance policy with LV=. In January our fit labradoodle, Dave, became unwell and was diagnosed with kidney failure, with vet bills of 1,118.

We submitted a claim but it was rejected as the insurer said he had shown previous symptoms of a kidney illness. We do not agree. Please help. P. L., Diss, Norfolk.

Sally Hamilton replies: Since you pay 380 a year for this cover, you expected better treatment when it came to making a claim for your furry friend.

Dave was a generally healthy pup, you say, except for one day about a year ago when he was off-colour and panting in an uncharacteristic way. Routine blood and urine tests done by a vet showed nothing was amiss.

Tests were repeated a month later as a precaution, but the results came back normal for a dog of Dave's age  nine at the time. But in January this year, when Dave appeared to have lost his appetite, you became concerned  being part labrador, he usually eats voraciously.

The vet thought he had a virus but did an additional blood test to check. It emerged he had a renal problem, leading to a treatment bill of 1,118.

I asked LV= to give its decision a second look, as your vet backed up your version of events. It agreed to pay your claim in full.

An LV= spokesman says: 'We have reviewed this case, and the information provided by the vet, and reassessed the claim.'
British self-driving tech start-up Wayve has raised $1.05billion (840million) in a funding round led by Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group.

The fundraise will help accelerate the development and launch of in-production model vehicles using Wayve's Embodied AI technology, which trains self-driving vehicles to learn from and adapt to human behaviour.

It marks the biggest-ever investment in a British start-up focused on artificial intelligence technology, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement is 'a testament to our leadership in this industry'.

Wayve's tech is integrated into six different vehicle platforms including electric vehicles like the Jaguar I-PACE and Ford Mustang MachE as part of advanced driver assistance systems

Founded in 2017, Wayve's AI offering equips vehicles with a 'robot brain' capable of learning from and interacting with real-world environments.

It has the potential to boost safety in the burgeoning self-driving vehicle market by helping to 'navigate situations that do not follow strict patterns or rules, such as unexpected actions by drivers, pedestrians, or environmental elements', according to Wayve.

The Government, which has previously awarded grants to Wayve, launched a 100million safety research project in 2022 with the aim of getting full self-driving vehicles on UK roads before 2025.

'Self-driving' vehicles currently in commercial use are not completely unattended, with a driver on board to 'assist' the technology.

This can be seen in a deal struck between Wayve and Asda last year, which sees the supermarket group's London-based customers receive deliveries by 'self-driving' Jaguar I-Pace electric cars.

Wayve's tech is currently integrated into six different vehicle platforms including electric vehicles like the I-Pace and Ford's Mustang MachE as part of advanced driver assistance systems.

The latest fundraise, which also included investment from Nvidia and Microsoft, brings Wayve's total funds raised to just over $1.3billion.

Alex Kendall, co-founder and chief executive of Wayve, said: 'Our vision is to develop autonomous technology that not only becomes a reality in millions of vehicles but also earns people's trust by seamlessly integrating into their everyday lives to unlock extraordinary value.

'This significant funding milestone highlights our team's unwavering conviction that embodied AI will address the long-standing challenges the industry has faced in scaling this technology to everyone, everywhere.'

Managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers Kentaro Matsui, who also sits on Wayve's board, said: 'The potential of this type of technology is transformative; it could eliminate 99% of traffic accidents.

'SoftBank Group is delighted to be at the forefront of this effort with Wayve, as advanced intelligence redefines mobility and connectivity, contributing to a more convenient and safer society.'
IWG upheld its annual outlook on Tuesday following a robust performance by its managed and franchised business.

The office space provider reported group revenues flatlined at $912million in the first three months of 2024, while system-wide turnover grew by 2 per cent to $1.04billion (820million).

Its managed and franchised arm saw sales rise by 15 per cent on a constant currency basis to $139million thanks to the opening of 47,000 new rooms over the previous 12 months, compensating for lower revenue per available room.

Work environment: Office space provider IWF upheld its annual outlook on Tuesday

The division opened 19,000 rooms and 124 centres during the opening quarter of 2024 and signed deals for a further 179 centres.

Simultaneously, revenues at IWG's company-owned and leased operation, its largest segment, dipped slightly to $799million, while its net debt declined by around 8 per cent to $791million

Following the result, the Regus owner continues to expect earnings before nasties and net debt for the full year to align with management forecasts.

IWG's latest trading update comes amid reports that it could join other British businesses in abandoning its London listing in favour of New York.

The group is switching to reporting in dollars rather than pounds this year and has also pledged to simplify its financial reporting and reduce its debt.

Mark Dixon, chief executive and co-founder of IWG, said: 'We are delivering on our plan to grow in a capital-light way, and the momentum in signings, and importantly openings, continues to accelerate.'

IWG shares were 0.5 per cent higher at 190.7p on late Tuesday afternoon, meaning they have increased by 14 per cent in the past 12 months.

Could another firm leave London for New York?

Firms often choose to go public on Wall Street, lured by the prospect of higher valuations and deeper capital pools than in the UK.

Paddy Power owner Flutter, mining group AngloGold Ashanti, and building materials supplier CRH all recently switched their primary listing to New York.

And last year, Softbank dealt a considerable blow to the London Stock Exchange by choosing a US listing for semiconductor giant ARM Holdings, whose technology is in almost every smartphone.

Later this month, shareholders at pharmaceutical group Indivior will vote on whether to approve the company changing its primary listing to Wall Street.
Conflict between presidential office and Assembly unnecessary

Timing has proven crucial in certain matters, yet the administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol has struggled to master this skill during his initial two years in office.

Five months after the initial complaint was filed, Prosecutor General Lee One-seok last week instructed a speedy investigation over allegations that first lady Kim Keon Hee accepted a luxury bag from a Korean American pastor. It is undeniable that this issue significantly undermined the ruling People Power Party's prospects in the April 10 general elections. The issue arose last November when a local media outlet released footage showing the first lady accepting a small bag valued at around 3 million won ($2,206) from the pastor who hailed from the same hometown as Kim. The pastor secretly filmed her with a hidden camera. This incident occurred when the first couple was still residing at their private home in Seocho-dong in September 2022, as the official presidential residence was undergoing renovation. The scene of the first lady meeting and accepting the bag from that pastor created an unusual image. In December, Voice of Seoul, a YouTube-based news channel, lodged the initial complaint with the prosecution, alleging that the first lady and the president had received a bribe.

Why did prosecutors fail to launch a probe immediately? They cited concerns about potential political repercussions leading up to the April elections. However, the outcome of the elections has demonstrated that questions still linger over the gift and suspicions of possible special treatment for the first lady.

Thus, the probe, albeit belated, is an appropriate move. Prosecutors should conduct a comprehensive and meticulous investigation to offer fair and transparent answers regarding whether the luxury bag was related to official duties and whether the president was aware of it. In addition to the investigation, the prosecution and the ruling camp should address and counter criticism from the opposition camp that the probe is an attempt to undermine the opposition's efforts to push for special counsel bills focusing on the administration's missteps.

The DPK, just days after the first official meeting between its leader Lee Jae-myung and President Yoon, once again expedited a special counsel bill on the death of a Marine last year. Even with the delays by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, proposing a special counsel bill while an investigation is underway raises concerns. The DPK also announced plans to initiate a special counsel probe into the first lady's luxury bag gift and the alleged stock manipulation of Deutsch Motors when the 22nd National Assembly opens on May 30.

Both sides should be cautious about creating political discord, where delayed government investigations are followed by opposition-led special counsel bills. The crux of the matter is that the public demands clear explanations regarding how the death of a Marine during a rescue operation amid floods, as well as the handling of the luxury bag gift, were addressed. When the president expressed regret in February that his wife did not "coldheartedly" reject the gift but stopped short of apologizing, he undeniably compounded public frustration.

It appears that the president is making efforts to reach out to the public. In an effort to better gauge public sentiment, the president appointed Kim Joo-hyun, a former prosecutor and vice justice minister, as senior secretary for civil affairs. On Thursday, Yoon will hold his first press conference in almost two years. Presidential office staff said the press conference is intended "to directly address and provide detailed explanations on topics that the public wants to know about or may have misunderstandings about." The press conference will provide a chance to reshape his obstinate style of leadership. With three years remaining in his single tenure and facing a sizable 192-seat opposition bloc in the National Assembly, the president would benefit from explaining contentious issues and gaining public empathy.
Debanked: MPs claim 'legitimate' companies are being denied accounts

MPs have condemned the woke debanking of firms deemed undesirable.

A report by the Commons Treasury select committee on banking services for small companies took aim at the unfair practice of denying accounts to legitimate businesses, from defence firms to slot machine operators.

It said environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns raised by investors should not become the basis for shutting out those involved in arms making or oil and gas.

MPs heard evidence that more than 140,000 small firms had been debanked over the past year, often with little or no notice.

Cross-party members condemn the debanking of legitimate businesses, the report said.
BPs boss insisted the oil giant has no plans to leave the London stock market as first quarter profits tumbled.

Chief executive Murray Auchincloss yesterday said leaving the City is not on the agenda.

It comes as Auchincloss faces pressure to close the valuation gap with competitor Shell and US rivals such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron.

Shell has said it would consider switching its listing to New York over concerns the company is undervalued.

Footsie firms across other industries have already departed the struggling exchange, with gambling giant Flutter the latest major player to announce a move to Wall Street.

Under fire: BP chief exec Murray Auchincloss (pictured) said leaving the City is not on the agenda as he comes under pressure to close the gap with Shell and US rivals

Londons stock market is also in the grip of a takeover frenzy as buyers circle undervalued firms for cheap deals.

Recently announced bids include Australian miner BHPs 31billion offer for rival Anglo American, which was dismissed.

Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is considering another bid for Royal Mail owner International Distributions Services after the board rejected his 3.2billion offer as opportunistic. Challenger bank Virgin Money and packaging firm DS Smith have both agreed to sell up this year.

Analysts have suggested BP could be a takeover target, with Shell named as a potential bidder.

Auchincloss, who took over after Bernard Looney quit as boss in disgrace last year, dismissed concerns that the oil giant could leave the City.

Its not on our agenda, he said when asked about moving BPs listing. Were just focused on quarterly deliveries.

BP reported a 45 per cent fall in profits to 2.2billion in the first quarter as oil and gas prices fell from last years highs. An outage at an American oil refinery also hit profits in the first quarter.

The energy giant announced a further 1.4billion of share buybacks as part of its plan to return 2.8billion in the first half of the year.

Auchincloss said BP is committed to returning at least 11billion to shareholders by the end of 2025  provided oil and gas prices remain stable.

BP held its dividend at 5.8p per share and promised to cut costs by 1.6billion by the end of 2026.

Russ Mould, investment director at broker AJ Bell, said: Auchincloss is eyeing a big valuation disparity between BP and rivals across the Atlantic and will clearly feel a big part of his remit is closing that gap.

To that end, the company is targeting efficiencies and savings through initiatives like the use of technology and improvements to its supply chain.

Maintaining the pace on share buybacks demonstrates a commitment to returning cash to shareholders.

Stuart Lamont, investment manager at RBC Brewin Dolphin, added: BP has missed profit expectations on the back of lower gas prices, weaker margins, and operational outages.

But he said the dividend and extension to the share buyback programme will provide shareholders with some solace.
Saudi Aramco is set to pay shareholders almost 100billion in dividends this year as the kingdoms ruling family seeks funds to transform the economy.

The worlds largest oil producer said it expects to hand out 99billion in 2024 despite a 14 per cent fall in first quarter profits to 21.7billion.

The proposed dividend payments are 30 per cent higher than last year and will hand crown prince Mohammed bin Salman a war chest to fund a series of major projects.

The Saudi state owns 82 per cent of Aramco and is heavily dependent on the oil giant for its finances.

PIF, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, owns a further 16 per cent.

Ambitious: How Saudi Arabia's desert megacity could look - one of a series of projects to make the kingdoms economy less dependent on oil

The crown prince  who is known as MBS  is embarking on a series of projects to make the kingdoms economy less dependent on oil.

These include investments in tourism, manufacturing and renewable energy as well as a 100-mile futuristic megacity.

Aramco also hiked dividends by around 30 per cent last year, raising payouts to 78billion after profits soared to the second highest level in the companys history.

In the previous year, Aramco reported annual profits of 134billion  a record for any publicly-listed company in history  due to sky-high energy prices following Russias invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Ritchie Wilson was thrilled to discover in February that he had an extra pension pot worth up to 40,000 on his Scottish Widows account that he hadnt previously accounted for.

But when the 52-year-old didnt recognise the employer that he had supposedly earned the pension with, he realised it did not belong to him.

After digging into the details he discovered that he had complete, unrestricted access to a strangers pension  a person who shared his date of birth and his last, but not first, name.

Alarmingly, father-of-two Ritchie feared this meant the stranger could also access his own pension pot  which was far larger at well over six figures.

Anxious, Ritchie, of Ayrshire, South-west Scotland, says he emailed and called Scottish Widows repeatedly, but a lack of urgency among call handlers meant nothing was done for more than nine weeks to restrict his access.

Careless: Our investigations have uncovered a shocking pattern of disregard for customers private information at pension giant Scottish Widows

Instead, the pension company started to send him emails that outlined how to access the strangers pension and divulged a range of their personal details.

This included their full name, date of birth, National Insurance number, Scottish Widows account and policy numbers and home address.

I was horrified, says the IT worker, who knows all too well how vital data protection is. Its a significant data breach. I could have used this information to transfer the other Mr Wilsons money elsewhere.

Filled with fear that this stranger who shared his last name could in turn access his pension, Ritchie started to check his account multiple times a day to make sure money had not been cashed in.

Today, Money Mail reveals that Ritchie is one of many to be caught up in a series of disastrous data breaches at Scottish Widows that have exposed customers personal details and left their savings at risk.

Our investigations have uncovered a shocking pattern of disregard for customers private information.

In the worst case seen by this newspaper, a readers pension was stolen after Scottish Widows sent all the details necessary to cash it in to a stranger.

Readers tell us they have received letters addressed to someone else, which contain a host of personal information.

In the wrong hands, this is a fraudsters dream and could easily be used to defraud Scottish Widows customers and take out loans, credit cards or phone contracts under the victims name.

Others say they have found out their own details have been sent to an unknown address, putting the savings they have entrusted with Scottish Widows at risk.

We have put a handful of the most serious cases of clear data protection breaches to the firm for investigation.

Scottish Widows confirmed that all cases had been reported to the regulator and said they were all unconnected.

A spokesman said: We take our data protection responsibilities seriously and are sorry that in these individual cases we shared some information with the wrong customers by mistake.

We are working hard behind the scenes to ensure this wont happen again. Money Mail has raised the alarm with City regulator the Financial Conduct Authority and the Information Commissioners Office.

Fightback: Thousands of concerned customers have joined a Facebook group called Scottish Widows Complaint Platform

The ICO has the power to fine companies found to have breached data protection laws as much as 4 per cent of their turnover.

Thousands have joined a Facebook group called Scottish Widows Complaint Platform, set up by retired American businessman Mark Radin.

Over the past 18 months Mark has helped hundreds of frustrated Scottish Widows customers deal with their complaints.

He says he has seen a dozen recent cases of data breaches, adding: Its astounding. I hear it all the time, letters are getting sent to the wrong people.

Its incredible a company that has been around for 220 years can conduct itself in this manner. It makes you wonder just how many others have had their data wrongly shared.

Mark spends up to 50 hours a week talking to members. At any one time, he has up to 30 cases on the go. The Facebook group has over 1,600 members.

It was only after contacting Mark, who made a complaint to Scottish Widows on his behalf, that Ritchies problems were resolved at the end of April.

He can no longer view the other persons pension and has been assured his pension is not visible to anyone else. However, he was told he has had access to the strangers pension pot since 2022 due to a technical error.

For years, I could have done anything with this strangers money, he says. Ive got zero confidence in Scottish Widows. They said over the phone that my pension is secure but until they put it in writing I cant trust that.

Scottish Widows has offered Ritchie 300 for the distress caused and 250 for expenses. His fears that someone would have been able to steal his pension are not unfounded.

In a horrifying case, Nicola Davies, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, found out her Scottish Widows pension had been drained by a stranger after her private details were wrongly divulged.

The mother of two, 55, checked in on her workplace pension pots last summer ahead of her birthday, when she would be able to start drawing from her pension.

Nicola has worked for the NHS since 2006 and has an older workplace pension saved with Scottish Widows from a previous job.

But when she logged into her account, she realised she had not been issued with an annual pension statement from Scottish Widows since 2015, when the pension was worth 33,310.

She called Scottish Widows and was baffled to be told by customer services that in 2015 she had transferred all her money to a financial advice firm.

Nest egg: One readers pension was stolen after Scottish Widows sent all the details necessary to cash it in to a stranger

Following Money Mails involvement in November, Scottish Widows called to tell Nicola her statement had been sent to the wrong address in 2015 and had gone to another customer. Shortly after, her money was cashed out and invested elsewhere.

Im absolutely gobsmacked, she says. I expect the person living at that address would have access to all of my personal details, because they were on the document.

A spokesman has confirmed Nicolas name, date of birth, NI number and policy value were on the document sent to another customer.

Scottish Widows has since reimbursed Nicola the value of her pension had it remained invested since 2015 and paid 5,000 in compensation. She transferred the money to another pension provider.

She says: The trust is broken. I could not leave my money with them because of what they have done and how they fobbed me off when I warned them. A spokesman said: We are sorry that Mrs Davies didnt receive the service from us that she should have.

The swathe of data breaches discovered by Money Mail is the latest in a long line of errors and shortcomings made by Scottish Widows.

Money Mail has previously exposed how over the past two years, thousands have been caught in a customer service meltdown at the pension provider.

The chaos has left customers facing hour-long call wait times on hold to Scottish Widows and being given incorrect information about their pensions, for example wrong balances and missing payments. Many customers complain of rude staff and of information being lost by the company.

Money Mail understands these failings are ongoing.

Founded in 1815, Scottish Widows original mission was to take care of women and children  who had lost fathers, brothers and husbands  by providing insurance and pension products.

Yet it is now letting down the widows and widowers from Scotland and the rest of Britain that it was designed to help. Polly MacIntosh*, from West Sussex, says her late father  a Scottish widower  would have been horrified to see how the institution has treated his family since his death.

The musician, 50, who inherited 39,900 held in a bond with Scottish Widows after her father died in August 2022, has been caught in the data breaches.

When a letter never arrived and Polly called Scottish Widows, she was told it had been sent to an address she did not recognise. Scottish Widows confirmed it had been sent in error and contained her name and policy number.

With the help of Mark Radin, Polly received her inheritance in November, 15 months after her fathers death.

She was offered 1,050 for the inconvenience, including 150 for the data breach. She has also been paid 1,744 in late interest for the delays.

Paul Davies, 52, has similarly been on the receiving end of a letter addressed to another person. The father of two from Worcestershire requested a full pension statement to check he was on track for retirement.

A document appeared on Pauls online account but he found it contained the details of another persons 20,000 pension with their personal information.

There was so much information, it even included their financial advisers details, he says. When he called Scottish Widows, he says the call handler told him to delete the file and not to worry.

He says he was assured his details had not been shared with anyone else and told the human error occurred because the other person shared his name. He has since transferred his pension out of Scottish Widows and was offered 150 in compensation.

A spokesman for the FCA said: Weve been engaging with Scottish Widows in response to concerns raised about customer service.

We expect firms to resolve any data breaches as a matter of urgency. We take these matters extremely seriously.

An ICO spokesman said: People have the right to expect financial institutions will keep their sensitive information secure and if anybody has concerns over how their data has been used, we would encourage them to get in touch with us so we can assist.

*Name has been changed
First Direct has relaunched its 175 switching bonus after pulling it just two weeks ago.

From today, new customers will receive 175 if they switch their current account to a First Direct current account though the Current Account Switch Service (CASS).

The digital bank says the deal is available for a limited time and the cash will be paid within a month of making the switch.

Get it while it lasts: First Direct has relaunched its popular 175 switching deal just two weeks after its last one ended

It comes as the challenger saw 'significant take up' when First Direct launched its last switching deal for four weeks between March 26 and April 22.

It also suggests that without this incentive, it could be struggling to attract new current account customers.

This is now the only switching deal on the market as all other switching deals have been pulled by banks.

Andrew Hagger, founder of website Money Comms said: 'First Direct has probably had time to evaluate how successful it was last time round and are confident enough to launch a further campaign to give more people a chance to take advantage - there's not much else around in terms of switching incentives right now so it should prove popular.

'First Direct has an excellent reputation for customer service and a 250 interest free overdraft limit, so there won't be any shortage of takers.'

What you need to do to get the cash

To get the 175 cash bonus, new customers must open a First Direct current account and switch their current account through the CASS process.

Customers need to set-up at least two direct debit or standing orders within 30 days of opening the account

They must also deposit at least 1,000 into the account within 30 days of opening and log-in to its app.

Customers who snapped up First Direct's last switching deal will not be able to get the cash.

Indeed, the offer is only open to new First Direct customers who have not previously held any First Direct product or opened an HSBC current account on or after 1 January 2018.

As well as the bonus, the account comes with a 250 interest-free overdraft, fee-free spending abroad and a 7 per cent regular saver.

Chris Pitt, chief executive of First Direct, said: 'We want to reward customers for choosing to bank with us, which is why we are bringing back our popular 175 incentive.

'The offer will only be around for a limited time only, so we'd encourage people to make the most of it while it's available.'
When Donald Trump arrived in a Manhattan courtroom last month to stand trial in the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president, he barely acknowledged the man whos been trying to take him down for years.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo is Trump's polar opposite - a slim gray-haired man in a gray suit whose mild manner and steady tone belie the relentlessness with which he has pursued the flamboyant ex-president.

Even as Colangelo laid out his case against the Republican presidential hopeful, reading aloud the shocking details of the 'P****gate' scandal and various alleged schemes to buy the silence of women who say they had affairs with Trump, the wiry, bespectacled prosecutor displayed little emotion.

But Colangelos critics say that moment marked a major milestone in his apparent personal crusade to destroy a political enemy.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo speaks during a hearing before former U.S. President Donald Trump's trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. March 25, 2024 in this courtroom sketch

A rare public photograph of the low-key prosecutor Matthew Colangelo

In December 2022, Colangelo, the high-flying third most senior official in President Joe Biden's Justice Department, astonished colleagues by packing his bags and leaving for the Big Apple to take a less senior role working for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Colangelo's 'unusual' move was technically a demotion, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo told DailyMail.com.

'Moving from [The Justice Department] to the Manhattan DAs office must mean that someone is a true believer,' said Yoo, who served in the George W. Bush administration and now teaches law at the University of California at Berkeley.

It suggests that the prosecutor here is after the man, Trump, and not the crime, said Yoo.

Trump was forced to listen in silence as Colangelo laid out the case

After all, justice is supposed to be blind. And indeed, Colangelos career step-down has raised concern.

'Joe Biden's former #3 official at the Department of Justice left DC to help go after President Trump in New York,' wrote Republican Senator Tom Cotton on social media in April as the case began.

'All the Democrat-led prosecutions of Trump are as concocted as they are political.

Stranger still is the case that seems to have compelled Colangelo to make such a conspicuous move.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo makes opening arguments as former U.S. President Donald Trump watches with his attorney Todd Blanche before Justice Juan Merchan during Trump's criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. April 22, 2024 in this courtroom sketch

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his office are accusing Trump of committing 34 felonies by allegedly falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels and, thus, corrupt the 2016 presidential election.

But what is unclear to many legal experts is if that allegation even constitutes a crime.

Boston University law professor Jed Handelsman Shugerman called the prosecution an embarrassment for prosecutorial ethics and a historic mistake in an opinion article for the New York Times last month.

He even accused Colangelo of evading specifics about what was actually illegal, and gave voice to what many Trump defenders now believe: That the Republican frontrunner is being targeted for prosecution by Democratic political operatives.

Now, as the trial picks up steam and threatens to imperil Trumps 2024 presidential campaign, DailyMail.com reveals new insights into the prosecutor whose career has never strayed far from the beating heart of the Democratic establishments anti-Trump legal resistance.

Trump listens with his lawyer Todd Blanche as Colangelo speaks

Colangelo, 49, has long maintained a virtually non-existent public profile while quietly rising to great heights in government.

He graduated from Harvard Law and then clerked for Judge Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Court of Appeals years before she became a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Colangelo then went to work for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as its director of 'economic justice.

After that he hopped from the Obama Administration Labor Department to the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department and eventually to the Obama White House, where he served as a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the National Economic Council.

Then in 2017, his career took a distinctive turn after Donald Trumps surprise electoral victory against Hillary Clinton.

Colangelo left Washington, D.C., to join New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who was deemed the leader of the Trump resistance by Politico and had seemingly reoriented his office for one purpose: Destroying Donald Trump.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo speaks as former U.S. President Donald Trump sits between his attorneys Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles during a hearing before his trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. March 25, 2024 in this courtroom sketch

It was here that Colangelo first worked with future-Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg  and it was around this time that Colangelo reportedly started accepting paychecks from the Democratic National Committee, which was being run by his old boss at the Obama Labor Department, Tom Perez.

Colangelo received two payments totaling $12,000 for political consulting in 2018, according to a Fox News Digital report.

And as a member of Schneidermans team, Colangelo relentlessly pursued dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration on issues from healthcare to civil rights to immigration policy.

He also helped lead an investigation into links between Trump's 2016 campaign and his charity, The Donald J. Trump Foundation.

That probe resulted in a 2018 agreement in which Trump denied wrongdoing but agreed to dissolve the foundation.

From there, Colangelo plowed straight into Trump's business empire fishing for any irregularities in bookkeeping.

During that investigation, Colangelo personally quizzed the ex-presidents son Eric Trump in a deposition.

When the junior Trump complained that prosecutors were singling out his father in an act of political sabotage Colangelo snapped at him.

'I cant spend the entire day with this sort of obstreperous answer, hes recorded as saying.

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg speaks about arrests at university campus protests in New York, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in New York

Meanwhile, Schneidermans career was dramatically flaming out.

He resigned in May 2018 after four women came forward to accuse him of sexual assault and the New York Times bemoaned that the powerful office at the heart of the Democratic legal resistance could be sidelined and besmirched by scandal.

Shortly thereafter, Colangelo was back in D.C .and moving up in the world.

The new Biden Administration tapped him to be Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General, the number three spot in the Justice Department  but, perhaps, after arriving he found the DOJ was less zealous in its pursuit of Donald Trump than he expected.

Most notably, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York declined to bring charges against Trump related to those alleged payment to Stormy Daniels.

The feds had reportedly concluded that they likely couldnt prove that Trump intended to break the law  and they closed the matter in the summer of 2019.

Even back in New York, local prosecutors were struggling to make this so-called zombie case against Trump that various government lawyers kept animated but not fully alive.

That was until Colangelo and Alvin Bragg reunited in Manhattan to breathe new life into this Frankensteins monster of a prosecution.

Former US President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom at Manhattan criminal court in New York, USA, 02 May 2024

On April 22, Colangelo finally got his chance to go face-to-face with Trump.

Silence fell in the 83-year-old wood-paneled Manhattan courtroom as Trump, his Secret Service detail, 12 jurors and the world's media hung on every carefully chosen word in Colangelos opening statement.

'This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a coverup,' he declared in monotone. 'The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election.

'Then, he covered up that conspiracy in his business records by lying over and over and over again.'

Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney is questioned by prosecutor Matthew Colangelo during former U.S. President Donald Trump's criminal trial

Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after exiting court for the day from his hush money trial in New York, Monday, May 6, 2024.

Seated a few feet to his left, Trump sat in silence but outside the courthouse, he has repeatedly said his piece.

'They have absolutely no case, Trump said Monday. It's a political hoax, it's election interference.

Ultimately, seven men and five women on the jury will decide if this resurrected zombie case has enough life left in it to secure a conviction.

And as for Colangelo, he seems to have finally gotten his case.
The failure to punish brazen shoplifters could be helping to fuel a rise in 'dine-and-dashing' at pubs and restaurants because offenders feel more confident they won't be caught, retail experts have warned.

There have been a spate of these incidents across the country in the last few months - with pub and restaurant industry bosses complaining they feel powerless to fight back.

A gastropub in East Sussex has become latest to fall victim to dine-and-dashers after a group of six people stuffed their faces with 240 worth of food and booze before walking off without paying the bill.

The Farm pub in Eastbourne shared images of several people it claimed had eaten and drank for free last Sunday as they downed double vodka Red Bulls, bottles of prosecco and pints of lager.

Professor Joshua Bamfield is director of the Centre for Retail Research and has carried out research on retail crime. He suggested were were some similarities between the motivations of people stealing from shops and those targeting hospitality venues.

The Farm in Eastbourne restaurant recently shared images of what staff said were alleged dine-and-dashers who left without paying

On April 23 at Exeter's Tamarind Bay restaurant, a group of 20 enjoyed a large meal of curries, naans and chips before walking out without settling the 270 bill

The group also got through dozens of drinks including beers and Coca Cola, pictured above

'The fact that people are prepared to do that and think they can get away with it shows you how they are thinking,' he told MailOnline. 'It's true of shoplifting as well, with many offenders not even bothering to conceal what they are doing.

'Shoplifters have learnt from other shoplifters just how easy it is and how unlikely it is that you're going to end up in court.

'Presumably the dine-and-dash people have done that too.'

Professor Bamfield said other factors that made it less likely that retail criminals would be caught included the quality of CCTV in hospitality venues and a lack of enforcement by the police and courts.

'Not every restaurant has CCTV in the right areas that let you identify people, as it's mainly there to deal with public order issues,' he said.

'The people who are seen on CCTV eating and running away may well have done it many times before and got away with it.

'But mainly it's to do with the declining moral standards in society. They want to have a nice meal so go to a good restaurant or pub, but don't want to have to pay for it.'

Dine-and-dashing is not recorded as a specific offence by police, so figures showing the scale of the crime are hard to come by.

But Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), believes it is an increasing problem.

Six women leaving the Wheelbarrow Castle pub in Worcester allegedly without paying on March 23

CCTV images show one of the women even took the time to stand and pick her nose while waiting for her friends to walk out

The bill the women are alleged to have racked up

'In all honesty I think there is an escalation because people have been able to get away with it, with limited or no action taken by the police in many circumstances,' he told Yahoo News.

'The greater the chance of getting away with it, the more people will take that chance.

'It is also clear that police have limited or no time to deal with petty crime and businesses feel that these crimes are not being taken seriously, resulting in people walking free without recourse.'

On April 23, the owners of Exeter's Tamarind Bay restaurant were left 270 out of profit after a gang of 20 diners gorged themselves on curry, chips and naan bread before failing to pay the bill.

The party, which included adults and children, made off from the restaurant in a Land Rover and vans.

On March 23, six women visited the Wheelbarrow Castle pub in Worcester before enjoying a 140 meal and then allegedly leaving without paying.

In February, 52-year-old Craig Sharp was jailed for a year after running up more than 8,000 in unpaid bills for accommodation, high class food and drinks

Sharp (pictured) admitted five charges of fraud by false representation at a string of venues in Essex and Suffolk, including a 15th Century manor house

CCTV images show one of the women even took the time to stand and pick her nose while waiting for her friends to walk out.

Landlady Sarah Hutchins said staff tried to chase the women who swore and laughed as they drove away.

Despite concerns about the lack of enforcement, some dine-and-dashers have been successfully caught.

In February, 52-year-old Craig Sharp was jailed for a year after running up more than 8,000 in unpaid bills for accommodation, high class food and drinks.

The crook admitted five charges of fraud by false representation at a string of venues in Essex and Suffolk, including a 15th Century manor house.

Chelmsford Magistrates heard how he ran up a bill of more than 5,000 staying between April and July last year at the Kingscliff Hotel in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

Sharp then stayed at the 15th-century Channels Hotel in Chelmsford, Essex, between November 15 and 19 where he ran up a bill of 214.50.

He went on to con the Angel gastro pub in Wangford, Suffolk, where he treated himself to a two night stay.

Sharp, of Harwich, tucked into lavish meals, washed down with numerous beers, and even bought rounds of drinks for locals which he added to his bill.

Disgraced solicitor Kerry Ann Stevens was struck off after she was convicted for a string of thefts at multiple restaurants over a two-year period from 2021 to 2023.

Disgraced solicitor Kerry Ann Stevens was struck off after she was convicted for a string of thefts at multiple restaurants over a two-year period from 2021 to 2023

In dramatic scenes, staff and customers could be seen preventing Stevens and her partner from leaving until police arrived after the pair were recognised at a pub

Police launched an investigation after a three-bedroom house in Port Talbot, south Wales had its front downstairs windows smashed men in black balaclavas last month. It is said to be rented by two suspected dine-and-dashers

The Somerset Arms in Port Talbot, The Longbow Beefeater in Pontyclun, the Chilli Too Indian restaurant in Clydach, La Casona in Skewen, the Riverhouse Lounge and Restaurant in Swansea and The Yard in Cowbridge all believe they are all victims of the couple

In March 2022, Ms Stevens attended South Essex Magistrates Court where she was found guilty of two counts of fraud and ordered to pay a total of 1,943 in costs and compensation.

Another time, Ms Stevens and her partner, Daniel Alani, were confronted by members of the public in a pub after allegedly refusing to pay for their Sunday lunch.

CCTV footage obtained by MailOnline showed the couple being prevented from fleeing the Castle Inn in Little Wakering by staff and fellow customers without settling their 62 bill.

Other suspected dine-and-dashers have faced revenge from the local people, with one couple having their windows smashed by a masked gang.

Police launched an investigation after a three-bedroom house in Port Talbot, south Wales had its front downstairs windows shattered last month.

Neighbours told MailOnline they heard what they thought was gunfire and called police to the house, which was said to be rented by a couple allegedly behind a 'dine and dash' racket.

At least seven restaurants have claimed that a couple allegedly behind a 'dine and dash' racket have been ordering expensive menu items - typically steaks - before fleeing and leaving the bill unpaid.

South Wales Police said they had arrested two suspects, aged 41 and 39, for fraud and theft offences.

Compounding shopkeepers' woes, it emerged today that TikTok pranksters have been putting fake posters in stores encouraging people to shoplift

Shoplifting is now at the highest level since records began. Dine-and-dashing is not recorded as a specific offence by police, so figures showing the scale of the crime are hard to come by

David Hanson, 44, who had 105 previous convictions including 33 burglaries, was recently jailed after a private prosecution

The number of shoplifting incidents recently hit the highest figure on record, with a total of 430,104 offences recorded by police in the year to December 2023, up by more than a third (37%) from 315,040 in the previous 12 months.

The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Retail bosses have accused ministers of allowing shoplifting to become effectively decriminalised, with many police forces failing to attend the majority of reports and failing to gather any evidence when they do.

Under 40 per cent of shoplifting reports were attended by the Met between April 2022 and April 2023, recent figures revealed.

The lack of official action means some retailers are turning to private police forces, and this week a prolific burglar who broke into a M&S store to steal 500 of sirloin and T-bone steak as well as 20 bottles of prosecco became the first person to be jailed in a private prosecution.

David Hanson, 44, who had 105 previous convictions including 33 burglaries, was caught in the act and arrested by two detectives from a private policing company.

The store manager from M&S in Streatham Hill had called police immediately after catching Hanson stealing on CCTV but despite the footage, the Met Police decided not to investigate.

Instead, the case was taken on my TM Eye - a private investigator company which was founded by former Scotland Yard chief detective David McKelvey.

This is the moment two shoplifters brazenly steal products from a Boots store just yards from a police station - as helpless staff watch on

The firm, which uses plain clothed officers and those in uniform, has already helped prosecute 280 shoplifters. However, the south London case marks the first time a prosecution has been made against a burglar.

It led to Hanson being jailed for a year for a total of five offences. These included four burglaries and one assault on an M&S employee.

Compounding shopkeepers' woes, it emerged today that TikTok pranksters have been putting fake posters in stores encouraging people to shoplift.

A sign in a London Co-Op store read: 'Shoplifting is encouraged in this branch.'

The signs were made by Pattern Up, a self-described 'art group' who previously put up fake posters declaring that Camden Council, in North London, had legalised cocaine and heroin.

All the posters have since been removed.
Notorious inmate Charles Bronson has had a prison punch-up with a murderer, jeopardising his parole bid for freedom in ten months, the Mail can reveal.

Bronson, 71, hit killer Robert Donaldson with two hooks and two uppercuts when the sick killer tried to attack him on a wing of Category A HMP Woodhill on Monday, a source revealed.

Donaldson, 48, was jailed in 2005 for murdering Paul Bourke, 38, weeks before gagging a deaf 100-year-old woman and beating up her 76-year-old son while they slept.

In 2014, while serving his sentence in HMP Grendon Underwood, he slashed the throat of another inmate using an improvised weapon, severing the jugular vein, and grabbed a prison officer and threatened to cut his neck.

The former crack addict has been detained at HMP Woodhill alongside Bronson for two-and-a-half years but Bronson was so disgusted by his crimes that he had always avoided him, a source said.

Notorious inmate Charles Bronson had a fight with a notorious convicted killer, it can be revealed

Robert Donaldson, now 48, was jailed in 2005 for murdering Paul Bourke, 38, weeks before gagging a deaf 100-year-old woman and beating up her 76-year-old son while they slept

The source said Donaldson had angrily charged at Bronson with his fists raised after banging into him as he walked down a landing last week.

They added: 'Charlie knows this man's history. Donaldson has attacked older people in the same age bracket as Charlie and has also slashed the throat of another inmate using a concealed weapon.

'Charlie obviously feared the worst and could not know if this nasty piece of work was holding a weapon so, to defend himself, he hit Donaldson.

'It was two hooks and two uppercuts. Charlie has been in this position many times before; he knows how to handle himself of course, but it is such a shame because he has been on his best behaviour for six years so now worries this will undo all his work.'

Bronson, who was first convicted in 1974 for armed robbery and now spends 23 hours a day in a cell, lost a parole board bid for freedom last March.

His next opportunity to make a case for his release will come early next year.

The fight is under internal investigation but it is understood Bronson has been deprived of his enhanced prisoner status and various privileges including television use while the probe is ongoing.

The source said Donaldson had not been punished.

Bronson, who changed his named to Charles Salvador in 2014, was convicted of wounding while inside prison in 1975, 1978 and 1985

'Donaldson is now going around with a load of bandages on his head acting like the victim,' they continued.

'The prison authorities will be going through the CCTV and statements from the officers.'

They said officers will 'understand' Bronson was 'not the antagonist', but added: 'He is so worried that he could be found guilty of assaulting Donaldson that all his hard work will be undone and his bid for freedom will be scuppered.'

The Ministry of Justice confirmed it was investigating an incident in the prison.

A spokesman said: 'We do not tolerate violence in prisons and anyone who breaks the rules will be punished. It would be inappropriate to comment further while investigations are ongoing.'

Bronson, who changed his named to Charles Salvador in 2014, was convicted of wounding while inside prison in 1975, 1978 and 1985.

He was released in 1987 but was back inside 69 days later after robbing a jewellers.

He was released again in 1992 but jailed again weeks later for intent to rob.

In 1994 he took prison deputy governor Aidan Wallace hostage, then three years later took two staff members and three inmates hostage in the same way.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed it was investigating an incident at the Category A Woodhill Prison

In 1999 he took art teacher Phil Danielson hostage for two days then in 2014 assaulted a prison governor for allegedly withholding his letters.

But he told his Parole Board hearing last year that in the past decade he has become a peace-loving artist and described himself as a 'retired prison activist.'

Donaldson was described as 'sub-human' after he shook deaf centenarian Annie Steinberg awake then gagged her and tried to rip her rings from her fingers.

He then went into her 76-year-old son Woolf's room and hit him over the head several times with a whisky bottle before taking a watch, a camera and 25 from the home in Stoke Newington, north London, almost 20 years ago.

Mrs Steinberg, who had been deaf since the age of 12 and came to Britain from Russia with her family when she was eight to escape anti-semitic pogroms, had received a birthday telegram from the Queen shortly before the attack.

While on remand for the robbery, Donaldson admitted stabbing Mr Bourke to death in Dalston, East London.

He was later convicted of attempted murder and threats to kill relating to the 2014 prison attacks.
Shoppers have been forced to navigate temporary barriers on a busy dual carriageway because Aldi and a developer have spent nine months arguing over who should build the pedestrian crossing.

Aldi opened in Longwater Retail Park in Costessey, Norfolk last July despite the expected pedestrian crossing along William Frost Way not yet being built.

And pedestrians are still having to navigate temporary barriers on the narrow central reservation as they try to cross the road.

Aldi previously tried to pull out of installing the crossing, amid disagreements with housing developer Persimmon, leading to Norfolk County Council erecting the barriers.

The crossing was included in Aldi's planning permission, leading to the situation being branded 'a mockery' by frustrated locals.

Aldi opened in Longwater Retail Park in Costessey, Norfolk last July despite the expected pedestrian crossing along William Frost Way not yet being built across a dual carriageway

Gary Blundell, who has said it's unacceptable a pedestrian crossing hasn't been built yet

Locals have slammed the delay. Nathan Freeman, who was walking past Aldi, said: 'It's quite ridiculous really.

'It's quite unsafe crossing the road at times, so having a pedestrian crossing would make it so much safer because it's a busy area of the retail park..'

Steven Mitchell, another shopper, added: 'There should be a crossing at this major road.

'It's congested all the time and is extremely busy, which makes it hazardous for anyone trying to cross.

'Whoever is financially responsible for the crossing should fulfil their contract and make sure it's actually put in place.'

Other aspects of the supermarket giant's site have been criticised since work started, including work by contractors last June to expand the pavement to make it wide enough for cyclists and pedestrians to share.

However, drivers complained that only part of the work had been done, leading to a small section of the pavement protruding into the road which could cause a crash.

Gary Blundell, district councillor for the New Costessey ward, said: 'I'm deeply frustrated by the ongoing failure of both Aldi and Persimmon to fulfil their obligations.

Despite having the option to explore enforcement action due to the delay, South Norfolk Council says it is continuing to work with 'both parties' on the issue

'It's disheartening to witness large developers neglecting responsibilities, especially when they're directly linked to public safety.

'The fact that these conditions were agreed upon as part of the planning process, yet remain unmet, makes a mockery of the system.

'It's unacceptable that they are allowed to delay, or disregard, these crucial conditions without facing any consequences.'

Despite having the option to explore enforcement action due to the delay, South Norfolk Council says it is continuing to work with 'both parties' on the issue.

A spokesman said: 'The delivery of a crossing on William Frost Way remains a planning requirement of both the Aldi development and the Easton Persimmon residential development.

'Both South Norfolk Council and the highway authority are continuing to work with both parties to get the approved crossing delivered.

'Until then, the temporary measures along William Frost Way will remain in place.'

A spokesperson from Persimmon Homes said: 'Alongside South Norfolk Council and Norfolk County Council, we have made numerous efforts to engage the relevant party about the delivery of this joint scheme in accordance with the requirements of our respective planning permissions.

'We share local residents desire to see the crossing delivered as soon as possible and have already fully funded the initial survey and design costs ourselves to try and get things moving. Regrettably, assurances on the required payments in line with the planning permission for the other half of the costs has not been forthcoming.

'We will continue to work with both councils, and liaise with the other relevant party, to resolve this as soon as possible.'

Aldi was contacted for comment.

It follows announcements last months that rival supermarket giant Lidl plans to open hundreds of stores across the country.

Despite challenges, Lidl saw its revenue increase to 9.3billion in the year to February 2023  up 18.8 per cent from the previous year. It has also seen record growth, with its market share now standing at eight per cent.

In November last year, it was revealed that Aldi and Lidl were winning over the Waitrose crowd, with affluent families making up 54 per cent of their shoppers.

The German-owned budget chains beat mainstream supermarkets on price despite the fact they have seen some of the steepest increases in the past year, according to Which? research.

At the same time, the chains have built a reputation for quality as a result of regularly matching and beating more expensive products from rivals in blind taste tests.

Meanwhile, Lidl has been in a locked-in court battle with rival retailer Aldi after they both opened new stores in the quiet market town of Horncastle in Lincolnshire.

The budget rivals are battling to build a new store in the market town of around 7,000 people.
Caroline Lucas, the countrys best known Green politician and a Member of Parliament for Brighton  a city which might be described as the beating heart of woke Britain  has just written a book.

According to the publishers blurb, Ms Lucas seeks to reclaim Englishness from the toxic legacy of the Empire and Brexit.

Her work, entitled Another England, is a hymn to the radical inclusivity of its people and their long struggle to win rights for all.

Mothin Ali, left, celebrated his election to Leeds City Council by declaring: We will not be silent. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine. Allahu Akbar!

Sentimental or not, it has been well received in certain quarters, and not just by the privileged Lefties you might predict.

Its fair to suppose, in fact, that Ms Lucass greener, fairer future is just the sort of thing that Green voters thought they were endorsing in Thursdays local elections when her party did so strikingly well.

But the Gipton and Harehills ward of Leeds presented a very different vision of the Greens when we reached Friday.

Thats when their candidate Mothin Ali, wearing a keffiyeh, a scarf symbolic of Palestinian resistance, celebrated his election to Leeds City Council by lifting his arms over his head and declaring: We will not be silent. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine. Allahu Akbar!

Youll forgive me asking, but are we in Palestine or Britain? And are local elections concerned with housing, potholes and libraries, or about importing conflicts from abroad?

Mr Ali was not the only successful Green candidate who seemed more bothered about foreign affairs than the environment. Two newly elected councillors in the west have been accused of posting anti-Semitic comments on social media. And a Green candidate in the east is said to have made insultingly anti-Israeli statements.

The party has responded by launching the inevitable inquiry. More significantly, the Governments independent adviser on anti-Semitism, Lord Mann, is set to investigate, according to The Times.

Middle Eastern politics are some distance from the songbirds and wildflower meadows that many  perhaps most  Green voters thought they were embracing on Thursday. But to me the real surprise is why anyone should be surprised at all.

The Greens have spent years welcoming cranks, luddites and monomaniacs into their big sustainable tent. Now theyre harbouring sectarian extremists  and its no accident.

Thats because were witnessing the rise of a toxic alliance between a radicalised liberal Left and some British Muslims who, on the issue of Gaza, are taking an increasingly radical stance. And this alliance  strengthened by the furious protests that followed the October 7 atrocities and Israels response  is pushing us into a dangerous new sectarianism.

In recent years the Greens have become a natural home for affluent progressives, people obsessed with racial, sexual and gender identities or reparations for historical wrongs.

Mr Ali stirred up so much hatred towards Rabbi Zecharia Deutsch, pictured left with his wife Nava, that he was advised to go into hiding with his family

And this groups relentless focus on identity politics and resentment at so-called white oppressors has led to them overlooking the reality of who they are now letting into their midst.

The Greens cant say they werent warned about Mr Ali, a zealous YouTuber who, as the Daily Mail revealed, had already stirred up so much hatred towards a Jewish chaplain at Leeds University that he was advised to go into hiding along with his wife and children.

Rabbi Zecharia Deutsch, an Israeli citizen, had been called up as a reservist with the Israel Defence Forces following Hamass atrocity on October 7. Mr Alis charming response was to publicly describe the Rabbi as an animal and tell the university: If hes willing to kill people there, how do you know hes not going to kill your students here? It is all the more shocking that such disgraceful things have either been downplayed by the progressive Left or ignored entirely. So long as its a minority voice, it must be a good voice.

Which is why, bewildering as it might seem, we now have an apparent meeting of minds between the Greens and dangerous agitators of every stripe from Gaza to trans-rights fanatics.

Today there is a terrible danger of sliding ever further into a kind of fragmented politics that reflects the failure of some groups to assimilate into our wider society.

What else are we to make of The Muslim Vote, a group of pro-Gaza activists who have recently threatened Keir Starmer, telling the Labour leader that he must concede to their demands  including cutting military ties with Israel and granting children the right to pray to Allah in school  or face Muslims withdrawing their vote.

I cannot overstate the dangers in this  the result will be a Britain reduced to a society of warring tribes battling it out for resources and recognition.

Thanks to Thursdays vote, we already have revolutionary ideologues in the mainstream of British politics.

When you hear cries of Allahu Akbar on an evening supposedly devoted to electing representatives who will have power over who will collect the bins, you know there is a problem.

And it is the Greens, and those who follow them, who are responsible.

The Green appeal at the ballot box has always been more of a rallying cry than a political agenda. The movement has spent decades persuading well-meaning people that doing the right thing is a substitute for making hard political choices.

Even when its the wrong thing, such as stalling the development of nuclear power, so leaving the West dependent upon tyrants in Russia and the Middle East for energy.

Or forcing Germany to close down its nuclear plants and replace them with power stations that burn coal  a move which has ineluctably cost German lives as a result of the pollution, and perhaps the lives of those in neighbouring countries.

Or persuading the Scottish National Party to adopt extreme and widely unpopular pro-trans measures in their coalition government not to mention the criminalisation of free speech and net zero targets so wildly unrealistic that even the Scot Nats finally blinked and backed down.

No wonder that the march of the Greens has been slowing in the rest of Europe, including in Germany, which now finds its energy policy and industrial base  in crisis.

The Greens have always been something of the watermelon party: green on the outside, Marxist-red on the inside  and with the authoritarian tendencies to suit.

Green politicians have been consistently happy to close down free speech and free expression in the name of their own authoritarian agenda  a classic sign of the woke Left and something they have in common with many of the radicals they now harbour.

To them, after all, politics is not about negotiation, or bargaining, compromise or the other things that make for a working democracy.

Rather, like the elders of a puritan sect, they think that politics is defined by being righteous. Justified with a capital J.

And why wouldnt they think that way, when so many of our Greens and the progressive liberals who support them lead lives of such comparative privilege.

Except that when it comes to Mothin Ali and the nasty sectarian politics he represents, they are wrong.

Disturbingly so.
Korea has raised its automotive industry's concerns with the United States over Washington's inquiry and envisioned rules to address potential security risks from "connected vehicles" that use technology from China and other countries of concern.

On April 30, the Korean government submitted its comments to the U.S. Department of Commerce as the department has requested public feedback on its rule-making process designed to tackle those risks stemming from supply chains for connected vehicles.

Connected vehicles refer to smart cars linked to the internet and other wireless networks for navigational programs and other online services. In February, the Biden administration said it would launch the inquiry into the risks posed by the vehicles, especially those involving Chinese-manufactured technology.

"The Korean automotive industry expresses concerns about the broad scope of the investigation into connected vehicle supply chains, uncertainties surrounding the scope of potential regulatory targets and the timing of the implementation, all of which may lead to significant burdens on the industry," the Korean government said in the comments.

The government expressed expectation that the U.S. will provide a "precise" definition of the scope of connected vehicles, as it pointed out that the current U.S. definition of the cars in question is "excessively broad."

It also requested that the U.S. investigation and subsequent measures about the supply chains for connected vehicles focus on "components and services that pose significant risks to national security."

"The Korean automotive industry is concerned that the current scope of the investigation is highly likely to become subject to regulatory measures, which could significantly undermine the predictability and stability of its business operations," the government said.

In addition, it called for the U.S. to give "sufficient" time for the auto industry to thoroughly investigate and restructure its supply chains in anticipation of new U.S. security regulations. (Yonhap)
The desperate puppy who melted a nation's heart by chasing after the owners who dumped her in a trailer park has a new home  and a bright future ahead of her.

Now renamed Phoenix  because she has risen from the ashes  the black German Shepherd has already experienced a 2,700-mile cross-country road trip as she is given a chance to start fresh.

And hopes are high that she is going to make it as a therapy dog to support those in hospitals and hospices, once she is properly trained.

Video taken by DailyMail.com shows the moment the three-month-old pup arrived at her new home, desperately jumping on her new owner in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday after traveling five days across the country from Fresno, California.

'We already have a potential adopter for her if, for any reason, she can't stay with us,' her new guardian Meredith Gintzig-Hayes, 33, told DailyMail.com. 'But if it falls through, she'll be with me  I can't ever put her in a situation that feels abandonment again.'

DailyMail.com can reveal that the puppy that was dumped last month is getting adopted, has been renamed Phoenix and will be trained as a therapy dog

'As cliche as it sounds, I was adopted at two days old and I've struggled with abandonment, even though I had a family that loved me unconditionally,' Gintzig-Hayes said.

'But you always have that sense, and so when I saw the video my soul literally connected to her through it.

'I knew that I had to save her no matter what.'

Security cameras caught Phoenix desperately chasing after her callous owners' white Nissan Sentra after they dropped her in the Country Living Mobile Home Park in Fresno, California, shortly after 10am on April 25.

She was captured looking around in confusion before watching the vehicle speed away, and then desperately tried to chase the car down the street.

But as the security gates shut, Phoenix paused, turned and ran back into the trailer park where a worker coaxed her into the office.

'The video of Phoenix was heart wrenching,' Gintzig-Hayes said. 'But I hear about such things every day in the line of work I do.

'The difference is that you can actually see it happen in this case.'

The trailer park's assistant manager Priscilla Garvey told DailyMail.com she was 'horrified' when she saw the video of Phoenix being dumped.

'I was worried that the dog was going to get hit by a car.'

DailyMail.com has learned that the owners may have tried to take 10 lb. Phoenix to the Fresno Animal Center  but it was closed that day.

A person wearing a red sweatshirt was seen carrying a black German Shepherd dog with a pink collar to the center.

'We already have a potential adopter for her if, for any reason, she can't stay with us,' her new guardian Meredith Gintzig-Hayes, 33, told DailyMail.com

Once the dog's plight had been shown on DailyMail.com, Gintzig-Hayes, who runs an organization called Regional Deployed K9 Inc and Equine Rescue, sprung into action

Surveillance footage showed a German Shepherd puppy chasing a car after being abandoned in a parking lot in Fresno, California

She was captured looking around in confusion before watching the vehicle speed away, and then desperately tried to chase the car down the street

Under California law it is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine to abandon an animal willfully

A center worker took the photo and told DailyMail.com, 'I took a picture of the dog so I could send to various rescue centers and shelters in the area to see if there as any interest.

'I obviously had no idea he was going to abandon it just minutes later. He told me he had found the dog, and that it wasn't his. I didn't believe him.'

Nor does Gintzig-Hayes, who said there is 'no way' a dog would chase after a car if they had only met the person an hour before.

'They're probably just trying to say they were doing the right thing. But she wouldn't have chased after the car like that if that was true.

'If anyone is looking to rehome their dog, I'd advise them to go to a shelter and ask for a list of rescues that might specialize in the breed of dog they have and reach out to them.

'Even if they're full they will have a network who can try to find a forever home for the dog, giving it an opportunity to live. It takes a lot of stress out of the situation and could prevent them being euthanized.'

Under California law it is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine to abandon an animal willfully.

A complaint has been filed with police over Phoenix's case.

Once Garvey had the dog at the mobile home park she had to decide what to do with her. She initially tried the park's residents to make sure Phoenix didn't belong to one of them.

When that proved fruitless it was time to contact various animal welfare organizations to see if any would accept her.

Eventually Fresno Animal Center  the very place the previous owners may have tried to drop her  agreed to take her in.

Gintzig-Hayes said there is 'no way' a dog would chase after a car if they had only met the person an hour before

The trailer park's assistant manager Priscilla Garvey told DailyMail.com she was 'horrified' when she saw the video of Phoenix being dumped

DailyMail.com has learned that the owners may have tried to take 10 lb. Phoenix to the Fresno Animal Center  but it was closed that day

Phoenix is happily settling into her new home, playing with her new siblings and cuddling up to Gintzig-Hayes and the drive who took her from cross-country

Once the dog's plight had been shown on DailyMail.com, Gintzig-Hayes, who runs an organization called Regional Deployed K9 Inc and Equine Rescue, sprung into action.

'I immediately reached out to the rescue coordinator, and I made it happen so now she will either be with us forever,' she said.

Gintzig-Hayes, an EMT who began taking in rescue animals in 2017 and started her non-profit three years later, says she often works with shelters in California because many of them euthanize abandoned animals quickly.

The EMT even rehomed one black shepherd called Wiggles to White Lotus actress Jennifer Coolidge last year.

Gintzig-Hayes is an EMT who began taking in rescue animals in 2017 and started her non-profit three years later. She's pictured with her dog Rogue

'I save dogs from California because they don't have a fighting chance,' she said. 'They have two to 10 days if they're lucky.

'California is swamped with German Shepherds, pitbulls, everything and because I focus on Shepherds it's a really good way to make a difference out there.

'Here in Carolina, we get them at least two weeks and that gives us time to find a rescue and line everything up.'

Black dogs, in particular, often get forgotten about in shelters, she added. Many people believe that is because they do not photograph as well as lighter-colored animals and potential owners looking to adopt online often pass them over.

But now Phoenix is happily settling into her new home, playing with her new siblings and cuddling up to Gintzig-Hayes and her wife, having her tattered pink collar replaced with a brand new one.

She will undergo basic training with Gintzig-Hayes, who is hoping she will end up working as a therapy dog in the future.

But exactly what kind of work Phoenix will do is unknown. Gintzig-Hayes is setting up a program later this year to train service dogs, who will then be donated to veterans and first responders.

Gintzig-Hayes trained two of her other rescue dogs to be working dogs after being told of a rising need for canines on search and rescue teams in Raleigh and the surrounding areas.

'I decided that it was best to do it myself. And do it with rescue dogs so that people can see that there is no difference between when you get a dog from a breeder and when you get from a shelter. They can be trained to work and do the same things.

'I think they're some of the best dogs you'll ever find. Phoenix is so playful, she just wants to play all the time and we're hoping she fits in well with my other rescue, Rogue.'

Gintzig-Hayes's dog Rogue has gotten along with the new addition - with the little pup copying everything her new older sister does

The pup will undergo basic training with Gintzig-Hayes, who is hoping she will end up working as a therapy dog in the future

Rogue was rescued from California, from a litter which saw two of her siblings put down in a shelter before Gintzig-Hayes could save them.

The pair are settling into the rough and tumble, with the little pup copying everything her new older sister does.

Phoenix is settling in extremely well to her new home and has bonded with all of her new siblings as well as running around in an acre of land.

The pup spent her first night in her home cozied up in a phoenix blanket, sleeping next to Meredith and her wife Kylie.

Both described her as a 'wild child' and told DailyMail.com she had refused to leave a small plush monkey toy, as well as putting her best paw forward to learn some tricks and get treats.

She was coaxed inside their home with the promise of food, and quickly attached herself to Rogue as her shadow.

Gintzig-Hayes added: 'Her true colors of being a wild child have begun to show through, she's started to decompress from such a traumatic experience.

'Phoenix is fitting in well with the other dogs here and has begun to show confidence by beginning to explore our yard, which is about an acre, while the other fur babies are out playing.

'And of course, we humans, both myself and Kylie, have already fallen in love with her. In fact, Phoenix slept on Kylie's neck and head last night, so she seems to have taken to her a bit more than to me!

'We both have a hard time imagining her anywhere but here for the rest of her life and we will be extremely picky about any potential adoptions if we can even bear to let her go after her training.'
A mother has thrown her disabled six-year-old son into a crocodile-infested river where he has reportedly been mauled to death by reptiles.

Savitri Kumar, 26, from Uttara Kannada, a district in the western Indian state of Karnataka, had a heated argument with the boy's father, Ravi Kumar, 27, who repeatedly ordered her to 'throw the child away', the Times of India reports.

Police say her husband allegedly questioned her decision to give birth to a child with a disability.

When the parents fought about their son again on Saturday evening, Savitri was 'distressed' and reportedly threw her son into a waste canal that flows into the Kali river, which is infested with crocodiles.

Neighbours who witnessed this called the police, who deployed divers to search for the boy in the water, but to no avail, as the darkness hindered their operations.

A mother has thrown her disabled six-year-old son into a crocodile-infested river where he has reportedly been mauled to death by reptiles (file image)

They returned on Sunday morning and found the child's body, which showed bite marks all over.

The boy suffered severe injuries and was missing a hand, which a police officer suggested indicated that the boy was mauled to death by one or more crocodiles.

A post mortem has been ordered to determine the six-year-old's cause of death.

The couple also has another son aged two and is said to frequently fight about their older son's speech impediment.

Officers have launched an investigation into the incident.

A police officer telling local media that it was a 'murder' case and that both the husband and wife have been arrested.
The radicalised teenager who was shot dead by police outside a Bunnings has been unmasked as shocking footage emerges of him blowing up a school toilet.

The teenager, 16, stabbed a 30-year-old man in the back and threatened police with the same 30cm knife outside the store at Willetton, in Perth's south, on Saturday.

Just moments before the attack, he texted multiple people saying he was 'going on the path of jihad tonight for the sake of Allah'.

The teenager was one of six juveniles in Western Australia enrolled in a national deradicalisation program, which he attended for two years before his death.

However, the teenager first caught the attention of authorities after he blew up a toilet at Rossmoyne Senior High School in 2022 when he was just 14.

In terrifying footage, the teenager was seen throwing the homemade bomb into the toilet as two other boys cowered behind a bathroom wall.

The bomb then detonated and filled the stalls with smoke as the teenagers were heard laughing and yelling over the deafening sound.

The 16-year-old boy (pictured) was shot dead by police after he stabbed a man in his 30s with a knife and threatened police outside a Bunnings in Perth's south on Saturday

The incident occurred at Rossmoyne Senior High School when the student was 14-years-old

It's understood students suggested the idea of the bomb to the teen who thought it would be 'funny' to damage the toilet, The West Australian reported.

He was put on a police terror watch list and faced disciplinary action at the school.

The teenager was forced to use a basic phone without internet and received weekly visits from officers as part of the deradicalisation program.

However, students at the senior school claimed they saw him watching Islamic extremist content in class which he kept on a USB.

The group said the teachers didn't notice and students didn't report the behaviour.

'They were like ISIS videos, I'm kind of uneducated on that subject, but something along the lines of like Al-Qaeda groups and a lot of religious extremism,' they said.

'He wasn't really like that, I think he kind of went down a bit of a rabbit holehe definitely had some mental health issues.'

The Department of Education said the incident had done no damage to the toilet block and had been investigated by WA Police.

Another video seen by the publication shows the teenage wrapping a cloth around his face and making a hand gesture during a school lockdown in 2023.

Family, friends and neighbours have been left shocked by the death of the 'kind-hearted' teen

WA Premier Roger Cook (pictured) confirmed that parents at Rossmoyne Senior School repeatedly raised the alarm about the teenager's behaviour - with the Education Department revealing the complaints were taken seriously

WA Premier Roger Cook confirmed that parents at Rossmoyne Senior School repeatedly raised the alarm about the teen's behaviour - with the Education Department revealing the complaints were taken seriously.

'Since 2022, this student has been on an individual management plan which outlined rules in regard to his behaviour, monitored his attendance and online engagement, included routine check-ins to authorities and saw him provided with extensive psychological support,' Education director-general Lisa Rodgers said.

Mr Cook said it was up to the department to probe whether a group of like-minded students at the school had an ongoing problem with Islamic extremism.

'This young man was harbouring some extremist thoughts, which is the reason why he was part of the countering violent extremism program,' Mr Cook said.

The incident outside Bunnings on Saturday, which saw the teen shot dead by police, has left his schoolmates, friends and neighbours in shock.

Police Commissioner Col Blanch is yet to officially declare the incident a terrorist attack

The incident outside Bunnings on Saturday, which saw the teen shot dead by police, has left his schoolmates, friends and neighbours in shock (pictured is blood outside the store)

They say the 'kind-hearted' teenager had a long, dark descent into Islamic radicalisation by watching extremist content online.

Neighbours of the teenager's father, said that police conducted a thorough search of the home last year, spanning several hours.

His meccano club, similar to Lego, were left shocked by the teen's death.

'He was always a nice kid around the club,' a spokesperson said.

'He'd even bake a cake on Saturday afternoons.'

Police Commissioner Col Blanch is yet to officially declare the incident a terrorist attack with a decision to be made in coming days.

He said on Sunday the stabbing had the 'hallmarks' of a terror attack.
The closest friend of a woman who was murdered by her partner has broken her silence to slam the stereotype that 'domestic violence only happens to weak or easily led, vulnerable women'.

Shereen Kumar, 43, was killed by her boyfriend, Vincent Carlino, in July 2022 inside their home at Dural, in Sydney's north-west, before dumping her body in a bushland grave.

Shereen's friend, Erika Wadlow-Smith, has now expressed confusion at how she 'could possibly be interested in him'.

Carlino was arrested on July 23, 2022, just four days after Ms Kumar went missing from their home.

He has since pleaded guilty to murdering the mother-of-two.

Ms Kumar and Carlino's on-again-off-again relationship lasted for 17 months. Both were dog walkers and sometimes lived together, sometimes apart.

Erika Wadlow-Smith (left) has spoken out against the stereotype that 'domestic violence only happens to weak or easily led, vulnerable women' after her 'astute and intelligent' friend, Shereen Kumar (right) was killed

Ms Kumar (right) was murdered by her partner, Vincent Carlino (left), inside their Dural home, in July 2022

Ms Wadlow-Smith wasn't aware her friend had moved back in with Carlino until her missing person alert was shared by New South Wales Police.

'I was questioning everything, even the friendship.

'How could we be so close, and yet she wouldn't tell me about something as big as this? That's what domestic violence does; it's the shame of it,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday.

Ms Wadlow-Smith believes Ms Kumar was able to be manipulated by Carlino because she was 'so full of love, had such a kind heart, so full of forgiveness'.

Ms Kumar took 'a long time' to open up to her close friend about the violence she was experiencing in her relationship with Carlino and even when she finally did, she remained 'defensive'.

Carlino used various tactics to maintain control over Ms Kumar, including using her spirituality against her.

An example of the 'mind games' he frequently used against Ms Kumar occurred after the one time she retaliated against him, which he then threatened to report to police so she could no longer see her children.

Ms Wadlow-Smith described leaving her phone nearby through the night in case Ms Kumar needed help and leaving a spare room made up for her in case she needed shelter.

'I remember asking her if she loved him because I couldn't understand how anyone could love someone who was doing such things. She never answered, she just kept saying, "Oh, but we're meant to be together",' she said.

Ms Kumar had admitted to Ms Wadlow-Smith she was communicating with Carlino in the weeks before her death, but said it was only for business purposes.

Ms Kumar (pictured) was in an on-again-off-again relationship with Carlino for 17 months before her death

Carlino initially told police Ms Kumar had left their home to get 'fresh air' on the night of her disappearance. He claimed she was wearing pyjamas and a dressing gown.

Ms Wadlow-Smith was immediately suspicious of Carlino's story and rang officers to allege he was talking 'bulls***'.

However, she claims police dismissed her concerns as she was not present on the night of Ms Kumar's disappearance.

Police discovered Ms Kumar's body wrapped in plastic and tape, dumped just 2.5km from her home.

Now, as Carlino nears sentencing, Ms Wadlow-Smith wants to break the stereotype that only 'weak' women are affected by domestic violence.

She described Ms Kumar as 'astute and intelligent', saying: 'She was nobody's fool.'

Ms Wadlow-Smith also wants to see the government take more action to protect women.

At least 27 women in Australia have been killed by domestic violence so far in 2024.

Last year, 64 women lost their lives to violent incidents.

The grim statistics triggered nationwide rallies in April with women demanding the government take action to prevent violence against women in its early stages.

Ms Wadlow-Smith described those murdered by their partners as 'the tip of the iceberg'.

'Below the waterline, not seen, you've got the pushing, the shoving, the controlling, the terror  those women are in their thousands,' she said.

Carlino (right) will face a sentence hearing in December for the murder of Ms Kumar (left)

Former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty, whose 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his father in 2014, last week told a NSW cabinet meeting: 'I think that you have a very strong focus on police response and judicial response.

'So you're always at the bottom of the cliff, dealing with catastrophe, you really need to look at prevention and primary prevention alongside of that, so that we're stopping those falling off the edge of the cliff.'

She added that while 'emergency injections of money' could help in a crisis situation, 'we also need to look at how do we stop violence before it starts'.

Carlino will face a sentence hearing in December.
The moment a car being towed rolled across a road and plummeted down a steep embankment has been captured by another driver - who has now been criticised online for not helping prevent the incident.

The video, posted on Sunday, shows a Nissan Patrol attempting to pull a black Hyundai Getz out of a ditch at Lower Beechmont in Queensland's Gold Coast hinterland.

The woman filming, Lily Georget, has since copped backlash for not stopping to help, but told the Gold Coast Bulletin the teenagers towing the car were being 'silly' and she didn't want to get involved.

The video showed the Hyundai moving diagonally across the road after being pulled from a ditch when the towing rope appeared to drop to the ground.

But the car kept moving towards a steep embankment on the other side.

A man can seen running towards the Hyundai after it had been towed out of a ditch, only to pick up speed and head towards a steep embankment

A man can then be seen running after the unoccupied Hyundai trying to stop it from falling over the side.

Voices of those inside the car filming the incident can be heard panicking.

'Oh s***, s***, s***, no one is in the car!' one woman said.

Another occupant in the vehicle is also heard.

'Oh my god, there is going to be an accident. Oh no, the control's gone,' she said.

As the Hyundai picked up speed, the man in pursuit couldn't catch up to it in time before it hurtled over the side and crashed nose-first into the rugged terrain below.

Ms Georget told the publication she was approaching the mountain summit at Beechmont when she and her mother encountered the Hyundai tied up to the Patrol.

On their return trip the cars were still there, but with another Patrol at the scene. The occupants of all three vehicles appeared to know each other.

As the Hyundai picked up speed, the man in pursuit couldn't catch up to it in time before it hurtled over the side and crashed nose-first into the rugged terrain below

'I think they might have had a go at pulling it back up again because the car [the Patrol] that was hooked up to it had been pulled down to the edge a little bit more,' she said.

Ms Georget said she understood it's not just the Hyundai that is now stranded on the mountain.

'There have been a few comments on the post I put up that said the Patrol is still there because they cant actually unhook it... theres too much tension on the Patrol that they cant actually get the strap off.'

Ms Georget has defended her choice of not helping and stopping, as she said she had a newborn in the car.

'[Also] the fact they told us they were being silly, that attitude and all that like, you dont want to help, you know?' she said.

No-one was hurt in the accident.
A Georgia candidate for state house says that a group of squatters who'd been arrested at his $450,000 home have returned just hours after making bond to escape jail.

Police arrested six squatters who took residence in the home after they stole a neighbor's car this past Saturday.

South Fulton cops busted the squatters at 4300 Caveat Court and recovered the stolen vehicle on Saturday - after they had been illegally lodging in the home for five months.

Mel Keyton - a Democratic candidate for the state house in Georgia and president of Hampton Oaks Homeowners Association - says they broke back into the house shortly after 1am Monday morning.

'This is the worst criminal activity I've ever seen in my life,' Keyton said.

A Georgia candidate for state house says that a group of squatters who'd been arrested at his $450,000 home have returned just hours after making bond to escape jail

Police arrested six squatters who took residence in the home after they stole a neighbor's car this past Saturday

Keyton says the problem is that local laws remain on the side of the squatters encouraging them to return.

'We have to get the police back involved, the city of South Fulton back involved, and we'll go through the same process again because they are trespassing. They are already aware that the property is supposed to be vacant,' he told Fox News.

The National Rental Home Council surveyed its members and found that about 1,200 homes in the Atlanta area have had squatters, reported Newsweek.

'They were just using the legal system to stay in the house,' he added.

On Saturday, video showed cops putting the intruders in handcuffs and sitting them on the sidewalk outside of the home.

Keyton told Atlanta News First the neighbor whose car was stolen was out of town.

'Squatters stole her car and they brought it back over here to drive it in the driveway,' said Keyton.

Mel Keyton - a candidate for the state house in Georgia and president of Hampton Oaks Homeowners Association - says they broke back into the house shortly after 1am Monday

Police arrested six squatters who took residence in the home after they allegedly stole a neighbor's car this past Saturday

South Fulton cops busted the squatters at 4300 Caveat Court and recovered the stolen vehicle on Saturday - after they had been illegally lodging in the home for five months

According to police the home at 4300 Caveat Court, which has a Zillow estimated worth of $518,400, is supposed to be vacant

According to police the home at 4300 Caveat Court, which has a Zillow estimated worth of $518,400, is supposed to be vacant.

Hampton Oaks Homeowners Association Vice President Kendra Snorton told FOX 5 Atlanta the squatters moved into the vacant house on Christmas Day.

'The ringleader, we see him walking his dog all the time. He's very courteous and polite when he interacts with the community,' Snorton said.

The squatters had been living in the community for months but were finally arrested after they stole the car.

'When the police showed up, the car was behind us in the yard. That's how we put two and two together,' Keyton said.

'We don't know who these people are and what they are doing.'

The South Fulton Police Department told DailyMail.com the stolen vehicle was returned to its rightful owner.

'We sincerely appreciate the vigilance of our community members, who play a vital role in our ongoing efforts to reduce crime in our city,' police said.

According to police the home at 4300 Caveat Court (pictured), which has a Zillow estimated worth of $518,400, is supposed to be vacant

Neighbors in South Fulton hope the passage of a new law will make it easier to evict squatters and it will no longer take them committing crimes like stealing vehicles to get them arrested.

'Hopefully, it won't get this bad. Hopefully, we won't have to use this amount of police,' Keyton said.

Governor Brian Kemp signed House Bill 1017, known as the Georgia Squatter Reform Act, into law last month. The bill establishes the offense of unlawful squatting, defining it as 'entering and residing on the land or premises of the owner without consent.'

Offenders will be required to provide authorization of consent within three days, and failure to do so will result in an arrest for criminal trespassing.

If documentation is provided, the accused squatter must attend a magistrate court hearing within seven days to prove that the documents are legitimate.

The new law, which goes into effect in July, makes squatting a misdemeanor offense. Intruders could face a $1,000 fine and up to one year in jail, or both.

False swearing and the submission of improper or fraudulent documentation, meanwhile, count as more serious felony charges.

Those who submit fake documents will be subject to fines covering damages, back rent based on the property's fair market value and up to a year in jail.
Nine people alleged to have taken part in a wild church riot after a teenager allegedly stabbed a bishop have been urged by the police to turn themselves in.

Eight men and a woman are among the alleged rioters that took part in violent attacks outside Christ the Good Shephard Church in Wakeley, in Sydney's west, on April, 15.

The riot, which investigators say swelled to involve 2000 people and injured several police officers, followed the stabbing of Assyrian bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and priest Isaac Royel during a live-streamed service that day.

Dozens of police were injured, their cars vandalised and some officers and paramedics were forced to shelter inside the place of worship before the 16-year-old could be taken away safely.

The 16-year-old boy has been charged with a terrorism offence over the stabbing that ignited the riot and which police say was religiously motivated.

Thousands gathered outside the Christ the Good Shephard Church in chaotic scenes (pictured) as dozens of police officers were called to the place of worship to restore order

A strike force has been established by NSW Police (pictured heavily armed officers) to investigate the riots that took place at the church

Police said 14 men have been charged for their suspected participation in the riot and are awaiting trial.

NSW Police are seeking nine more in connection with the incident.

Strike Force Dribs Commander Andrew Evans, urged the alleged rioters to come forward to avoid heavily armed officers entering properties to conduct arrests.

'If you were there on the evening and undertook some kind of violent criminal action, you need to turn yourself in,' Commander Evans told the Daily Telegraph.

The stern warning comes after dozens of heavily armed officers arrested George Boulous at his home in Picnic Point. Boulous is alleged to have used a metal ladder to smash a window in the church in an attempt to confront the teenager.

'As you've seen today, we will execute those search warrants at family homes and as a result, unfortunately, their families and their neighbours, and their communities, are exposed to police coming through the front door and actively seeking to arrest people,' Commander Evans said.

Who police are seeking?

As investigations continue, detectives have now released images of eight men and a woman who may be able to assist with their inquiries.

The first person depicted (Person P) is described as being a man of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, slim build, with short dark hair.

He is shown wearing light coloured clothing, dark coloured shoes and carrying a black bag across his body.

Person P (pictured) was seen wearing a body bag on the night police allege the violence occurred

The second person depicted (Person U) is described as being a man of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, with long dark brown hair tied in a bun and a dark coloured beard.

He is shown wearing a light-coloured shirt.

One man with a dark beard who had his hair tied back in a bun (pictured person U) is also a person of interest police intend to speak to over the alleged riots

The third person depicted (Person V) is described as being a man of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, solid build, with a dark coloured beard.

He is shown wearing a grey hooded jumper, black cap, black shorts and white shoes.

Person V (pictured) was wearing a grey hoodie and black shorts on the night the alleged acts of violence took place

The fourth person depicted (Person Z) is described as being a man of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance and muscular build.

He is shown wearing a black singlet, shorts, cap and shoes.

Person Z (pictured) who has a solid build was also allegedly involved in the riots

The fifth person depicted (Person AH) is described as being a man of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, solid build, with a dark coloured beard.

He is shown wearing a grey t-shirt.

Police are on the hunt for nine people including person AH (pictured), who allegedly took part in violent scenes that erupted outside a church in Sydney's west, when a teenager allegedly stabbed a bishop

The sixth person depicted (Person AN) is described as being a woman of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, medium build, with blonde hair.

She is shown wearing a singlet top and shorts, with a shirt tied around her waist and a dark coloured cap.

Person AN (pictured) has blonde hair and was dressed in a singlet top and shorts and was wearing a cap on the night

The seventh person depicted (Person AO) is described as being a man of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, solid build, with a dark beard and a star tattoo on his right arm.

He is shown wearing a light-coloured shirt with dark writing on the back, shorts and a cap.

Investigators intend to speak to person AO (pictured) who they allege was involved in the violent scenes

The eighth person depicted (Person BC) is described as being a man of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, solid build, with dark hair and a beard.

Eight men are alleged to have taken part in the riots including person BC (pictured)

He is shown wearing a t-shirt with a motif on the front left-hand side.

The ninth person depicted (Person BN) is described as being a man of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, muscular build, dark hair and a beard, with a black bandage on his right arm.

Person BN (pictured) who was seen wearing a shoulder bag also allegedly took part in the violence

He is shown wearing black pants and a black shoulder bag and white sneakers.

As investigations under Strike Force Dribs continue, anyone who can identify the men depicted or provide information that may assist is urged to contact Fairfield Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A Queensland teen has been banned from driving for life after a high-speed police chase in Gympie.

Brodee Podetti, 18, pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Friday as he appeared via video link from Maryborough Correctional Centre to offences including dangerous operation of a vehicle, driving when disqualified and evading police, the Courier Mail reports.

Police Prosecutor Leon Casey told the court Podetti was captured on CCTV footage arriving at a Gympie hotel car park just after 9pm on February 26 2024.

He was already disqualified from driving and the registration plates on the car he was driving belonged to another vehicle, the court heard.

Not long after entering the hotel, Podetti was again shown on CCTV footage driving out of the car park before stopping at a red light behind an unmarked police car.

The court heard the police officer observed the teenager rev the engine several times before running a red light.

The officer turned on the the lights and sirens on his car, but Podetti failed to stop and accelerated away.

Brodee Podetti (pictured) received a head sentence of five years imprisonment, and is permanently disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver's licence

Magistrate Edwina Rowan (pictured) told Podetti his previous sentence did not deter him from dangerous driving

Podetti was then observed driving at high speed, swerving into oncoming traffic while doing burnouts and narrowly avoiding collisions with other cars.

The court heard he exceeded the 60 km/h speed limit in the residential area.

Magistrate Edwina Rowan revealed the teen's 'appalling' driving history, including previous convictions for hooning.

He was disqualified from driving and sentenced to 18 months in prison with immediate release on parole earlier this year.

'You... ought to have known that by driving a motor vehicle, you placed yourself at very real risk of being returned to custody and sentenced to a further term of imprisonment,' Ms Rowan said.

'The only inference that I can draw is that there was a blatant disregard by you both for the orders of the court, the disqualification of your motor vehicle licence... in addition to a blatant disregard for the safety of other road users.'

Magistrate Edwina Rowan revealed Podetti's 'appalling' driving history, including previous convictions for hooning

Podetti's solicitor told the court the teenager's father was in hospital for 12 months with a serious brain injury following a motorcycle accident and that the teenager had cared for his father from a young age.

Magistrate Rowan told Podetti: 'In those circumstances you should be someone who is acutely aware of responsible driving and acting in a way that does not have the potential to harm other users.'

Podetti received a head sentence of five years imprisonment, and was permanently disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver's licence.

He will be eligible for parole on August 2, 2024 with time served in pre-sentence custody.
A team of New York police officers scaled the side of skyscraper to rescue a distraught woman 54-stories in the air, video shows.

The incident occurred on May 1 in Midtown Manhattan, and was captured by one of the intrepid detectives' body cameras.

Footage of the dangerous operation was then shared to the New York Police Department's X page, where officers wrote of how the woman was hoisted to safety, after being found on a ledge outside protective glass meant to keep spectators safe.

The minute-long video tells the story, and how detectives worked together with a system of ropes and pulleys to get the woman on solid ground.

As of writing, it remains unclear if she was suicidal. DailyMail.com has reached out to the NYPD, as well as the ritzy hotel where it is believed to have happened, for comment.

Scroll down for video:

A team of New York police officers scaled the side of skyscraper to rescue a woman 54-stories in the air, video shared by the NYPD shows

The incident occurred on May 1 in Midtown Manhattan, and was captured by one of the detectives' body-cameras

When the public needs help, they call the police. When the police need help, they call ESU. @NYPDSpecialops ESU detectives recently saved a distraught woman on a rooftop 54-stories up using their rope rescue skills.



Watch the body-worn-camera footage of the rescue pic.twitter.com/mQrg5o3M8M  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 6, 2024

'We're right here! We're not going anywhere!' one of the Emergency Service Unit officers is heard assuring the woman as her and at least six other officers arrived on the scene.

'I got her,' another adds, as the clip cuts to a few minutes later, as they pulled her arm between an open space between the panels of protective glass to help her keep her footing.

'What's your name?' an officer asks her, before propelling himself over the more than five-feet tall partition with a harness and rope.

Her response is censored, but the officers' ensuing words of encouragement are not.

'You alright? We're going to help get you back over this thing,' one is heard telling her, while standing perched on the small ledge more than 500 feet above ground.

'Stand her up. Lift her up, and I want her leg over,' another on the safe side of the glass advises, as two harnessed officers follow his directions.

'Got her?' one asks, as the team carefully pull her over, before letting her fall the few feet to the ground.

A collective sigh of relief from the officers is then heard, with the woman now safe of the building's rooftop. The city skyline is seen in the background throughout the dramatic rescue.

'We're right here! We're not going anywhere!' one of the Emergency Service Unit officers is heard assuring the woman as her and at least six other officers arrived on the scene.

'I got her,' another adds, as the clip cuts to a few minutes later, as they pulled her arm between an open space between the panels of protective glass to help her keep her footing

'What's your name?' an officer asks her, before propelling himself over the more than five-feet tall partition with a harness and rope

'You alright? We're going to help get you back over this thing,' one is heard telling her, while standing perched on the small ledge more than 500 feet above ground

'Stand her up. Lift her up, and I want her leg over,' another on the safe side of the glass advises, as two harnessed officers follow his directions

'Got her?' one asks, as the team carefully pull her over, before letting her fall the few feet to the ground.

A collective sigh of relief from the officers is then heard, with the woman now safe of the building's rooftop

Her name was not immediately released, but DailyMail.com has reached out to the NYPD for comment

It is unknown if the woman was either a patron or a resident of the building, but DailyMail.com has reached out for comment.

It is also unknown whether or not the woman was suicidal, but cops shared a statement that indicated she may have been.

'If you, or someone you know are experiencing a crisis, know that you are not alone,' the NYPD wrote in an ensuing tweet.

'Help is available, and you have options.'
An international student has been forced to search for a housemate to share a bed at his house for $300 a week in a sign of Australia's worsening rental crisis.

Belgian student William Vanneste, 22, is living in a two-bedroom home in Lane Cove, in Sydney's lower north shore, while he completes a three-month internship.

Mr Vanneste lived in the furnished rental with two Frenchmen who decided to share a bed and halve their portion of the $1,150 weekly rent.

The students' recent departure has left Mr Vanneste in the difficult position of finding someone to fill the vacancy and share a bed with a complete stranger.

He advertised the unusual living arrangements in a post on Facebook which explained there were only two beds available.

'So the probability is very high you end up sharing your bed, but they're very large and we respect privacy, so if you don't mind, you're welcome!' he wrote.

'If needed, we can buy an inflatable mattress for one of us.'

Student William Vanneste, 22, has been forced to ask his potential roommates to share a bed

Pictured is the furnished two-bedroom apartment in Sydney's lower north shore

In the post, Mr Vanneste said there was a gym and pool next door to the apartment and that it was located close to public transport.

He told the ABC it was near-impossible to find short-term accommodation in Sydney and that the majority of his peers were in hostels.

'The difficulty is to find some people who would like to stay in the same bed, or share a bed with somebody they don't know, so that's a little bit of a problem,' he said.

He added potential tenants had not responded well to the idea they would be required to share a bed with a stranger.

It comes as rental prices in Australia surge to record highs with the median rent across the nation skyrocketing to $627 a week.

Rental prices ranged from $547 in Hobart to $770 in Sydney, according to the latest report from property data provider CoreLogic.

The regional median was $540, driven by rises in regional Queensland and Tasmania.

Rents are going up faster in areas between 30 and 40km from city centres, CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen reported.

'Part of the reason for the re-acceleration in rents nationally could be due to renters being forced into more affordable, peripheral housing markets as they become priced out of more desirable and central metropolitan locations,' she said.

Mr Vanneste is on the hunt for a roommate who can pay up to $575 a week for the rental

It comes as rental prices across Australia surge to a record-high with the median rent across the nation skyrocketing to $627 a week (pictured,

But supply and demand pressures remain high across the nation and migration levels implied there were at least 200,000 new households in Australia, while only 173,000 new dwellings were completed to September last year, Ms Owen said.

'Given there is little that can be done on the supply side for renters in the short term, reprieve in the rental market is most likely to come from a moderation in net overseas migration,' she said.

Median rents were more than $1000 in nine areas, with Cottesloe-Claremont suburbs in beachside Perth the only area outside Sydney to command four figures.

Rents in Pittwater, 25km from the CBD on Sydney's northern beaches, were the highest at $1335 per week, coming down half a percentage point since March.

Rents were still up 8.4 per cent annually in Pittwater, in line with the 8.5 per cent national increase.

The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council launched its inaugural report on Friday, painting a dire portrait of Australia's housing system.

Significant housing shortfalls over three consecutive years and resumed migration contributed to all-time low vacancy rates in the rental market, leading to nearly 170,000 households waiting for public housing, the report revealed.
German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz regained its position as the largest seller of imported cars in Korea last month, surpassing the previous leader BMW, industry data showed Tuesday.

The number of newly registered imported cars came to 21,560 units in April, up 3.1 percent from 20,910 units a year ago, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association.

But the figure represented a 14.7 percent decrease from March, when 25,263 units were newly registered.

Mercedes-Benz was the top foreign car brand in terms of sales last month, selling 6,683 units, thanks to the resolution of a supply disruption caused by tensions surrounding the Red Sea earlier this year.

BMW, which had held the top spot for the first three months of this year, finished second with 5,750 units, while Tesla dropped one notch to third with 1,722 units sold.

Volvo, Lexus and Toyota sold 1,210, 920 and 893 units, respectively.

Of last month's import sales, hybrid models accounted for the biggest share of 11,177 units, followed by gasoline and electric models with 5,536 and 3,626 units, respectively.

By model, Mercedes-Benz's E-class was the bestseller in April with 2,081 units sold, trailed by Tesla's Model 3 with 1,716 units, BMW's 5 Series with 1,556 units and Mercedes-Benz's C-class with 951 units. (Yonhap)
The thunderstorms and heavy showers that blighted the UK over the bank holiday weekend will be replaced by sunny spells and warm temperatures over the next few days.

Tuesday will be sunny all day for many parts of the UK and after some showers have eased, it is likely to remain dry in most areas.

Temperatures are set to rise throughout the week and the weather will turn increasingly warm, although some parts of northern Scotland could continue to experience showers and rain.

Ellie Glaisyer, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: 'It will generally be a lot more settled this week.

'It will start to feel much more pleasant with temperatures on Tuesday likely to reach the very early twenties in the south, and then later on in the week, we could see temperatures of around 22C to 23C, while the north is likely to reach temperatures in the high teens.'

Sunny weather is on the way after days of rain and thunderstorms. Pictured: Scarborough beach in the sunshine

Although the Bank Holiday weekend is over, many will be able to enjoy the sunny spells and much warmer temperatures moving into next week

Ms Glaisyer said an area of high pressure will start to build and move across the UK from Wednesday onwards, potentially bringing more settled, warmer, and drier weather.

The bank holiday weekend saw the UK experience a mix of rain and sunny spells.

The Met Office issued yellow weather warnings for parts of England, Wales, and southern Scotland on Monday, as it warned that thunderstorms and heavy downpours could cause flooding and travel disruption.

While the showers began to let up on Monday evening, nine flood warnings and 57 alerts remained in place on the Environment Agency website.

Temperatures are set to be much warmer than over the Bank Holiday weekend and in some areas, they could even hit 20C

Tuesday's forecast for sunnier days is a contrast to the rainy weekend which saw flood warning issued for part of England

Some areas in the UK suffered from downpours and weren't able to make the most of the extra day off work

It said local flooding from surface water and rivers was 'possible but not expected' across parts of south-east England and London, while local flooding from surface water was 'possible in other parts of England' from 'isolated, heavy thundery showers'.

The sunny weather to come will be a relief to most Brits who had to battle thunderstorms and rain over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The Met Office activated two urgent 'danger to life' thunderstorm warnings as some areas faced more than an inch of rain in just one hour.

The UK endured a washout Bank Holiday Monday with the South East bearing the brunt of the rain amid downpours in London for the whole day.

Some areas faced more than an inch of rain in just one hour as the Met Office issued a thunderstorm warning for South London along with Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire.

A separate warning was also announced at the same time for parts of northern England and Scotland.

Areas hit by the storms and downpours 1.6in (40mm) of rain in one hour.

Forecasters warned that 'spray and sudden flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions', while communities could 'become cut off by flooded roads'.

Hail or strong winds also hit, and some areas experienced fast flowing or deep floodwater which was identified as posing a 'danger to life'.
Avid listeners of The Archers were last night fearing a bloodbath on the normally sedate BBC drama, but the ending of the highly-anticipated episode was instead eclipsed by a shocking twist.

Fans of the Radio 4 show had been fearing up to four beloved characters could have ended up dead after a driving disaster that saw two vehicles plunge off a bridge into the river.

Yet instead they were left stumped when the 'village hero' turned to an 'evil monster' within minutes.

The near-fatal accident occurred after young George Grundy stumbled upon Alice Carter passed out in her car after necking a bottle of vodka. She had secured the keys the glovebox yet he decided to drive her home in the car.

It was then that George's collided with ongoing traffic seeing two cars fall into the water - with Fallon Rogers becoming trapped in her vehicle as it plunged into the water. Mick and Joy's car also was caught up in the terrifying ordeal.

Monday's episode delves into the aftermath after George drove Alice Carter's car home after she passed out drunk. Pictured: Actress Hollie Chapman

Young George Grundy (played by Angus Stobie pictured) quickly turns from village hero to villain

Fans were stumped at George's quick change in character, fearing for the future of Alice - a mother-of-one who suffers from alcoholism

George set out to save the day, grabbing Fallon and saving her from drowning, leading him to praised by his fellow villagers for his heroic actions.

Yet his courageous actions are quickly overshadowed. As emergency services race to the scene of near-devastation, George slyly manages to move Alice's semi-conscious body into the driving seat - making it look as though she was responsible.

The shocking episode ends with villagers pondering that Alice's fate now lies in the hands of the authorities.

Fans were stumped at George's quick change in character, fearing for the future of Alice - a mother-of-one who suffers from alcoholism.

One fan wrote: 'George went from village hero to evil monster in minutes', while another said: 'Flipping Nora that was an episode and a half.'

Fans were stumped at George's quick change in character, fearing for the future of Alice - a mother-of-one who suffers from alcoholism.

Some had suggested that Alice's ex-husband Chris and her young daughter Martha could also be involved in the situation. Pictured: Wilf Scolding, who plays Chris

'The drama!! Did George move Alice into the driving seat, making out the crash was due to her drink driving?' a third pondered. '

The incriminating voice message he sent to Will.Alice is going to wake up with a hangover, a criminal conviction and maybe losing custody.'

A fourth added: 'What annoys me is that if George told the truth, I think a lot of people would forgive him. Losing control of a vehicle is not as bad as framing someone like that is it?'

Following Sunday's dramatic episode many regular listeners were left questioning which of their favourite characters could end up involved in the car smash.

One fan wrote: 'Oh my goodness, what on earth happened there? I need a general anaesthetic until tomorrow.'

Another said: 'What a great cliffhanger this evening, can't wait to hear what actually happened as a consequence of today's "incident"'.

Fans of The Archers were left on the edge of their seats on Sunday night after the normally sedate BBC radio drama left listeners fearing up to four characters could be dead

A third added: 'Well that's a genuine cliffhanger because I have absolutely no bloody idea of what just happened there. I think I know, but I'm almost certainly wrong.'

Others, however, found the episode deeply distressing and said it might put them off from listening again.

One said: 'Think I'm going to stop listening. It's all too upsetting especially on a Sunday evening. I had a lovely weekend in London and now I am all upset.'

Many different theories had been swirling last night - with some suggesting Alice's ex-husband Chris and daughter Martha would be involved.

Others said that George could get done for driving without insurance. Yet many of the theories were proved wrong this evening.
When I stumbled upon the social media feeds of Green Party election candidate Mothin Ali, I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was mid-February, and the Daily Mail was investigating an anti-Semitic hate campaign that had forced Leeds University's Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Zecharia Deutsch, into hiding.

Rabbi Deutsch is an Israeli national. So, like almost all of his countrymen under the age of 40, he is required to serve as a reservist in its armed forces.

Following the October 7 terror attacks, he had therefore been called upon to temporarily return to his homeland.

He spent three months with his regiment in the Israeli Defence Forces before returning to the UK in January.

In an increasingly frenzied tirade, a video posted by Mothin Ali before his election whipped his viewers into turning against Leeds University's Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Zecharia Deutsch, forcing him into hiding

Rabbi Zacharia Deutsch, with his wife, Nava, received menacing calls and threats following a video posted by Mothin Ali

This fact became public a few weeks later. There followed an appalling online hate campaign, which  in turn  resulted in more than 300 highly threatening messages being sent to the family home where he lived with his wife Nava and their two small children.

'Tell that Jewish son of a b***h we're coming for him,' went one of the more sinister late-night telephone calls, picked up by Nava at midnight.

'We're coming to his house and we're going to kill him in his house and you as well, you f*****g racist b***h, s**g.'

Another anonymous caller said: 'We are going to get you, we're going to get your husband and we are going to get you as well, love. It's as simple as.

'How dare you come to Leeds and expect the Muslims not to do 'owt, when all you lot have been doing is killing innocent children?'

A third caller, who like the two previous ones was male and spoke with a Yorkshire accent, promised: 'Us Muslims are coming for you, you dirty Zionist mother****ers.'

Rabbi Deutsch and his family responded to the menacing calls  which included several threats to rape Nava and torture their children  by going into hiding. They have remained there since.

That was the backdrop. My job was to find out exactly why this revolting pile-on had taken place; not to mention who might be to blame.

I didn't have to look far. For I quickly discovered that the aforementioned Mothin Ali, a prominent local YouTube and TikTok personality, had posted a two-minute video about Rabbi Deutsch to his various social media feeds, a mere three hours before the death threats had begun to roll in.

The online rant was notable for the utterly dehumanising way in which it described the Jewish chaplain, saying his 'contract should be terminated with immediate effect' and he ought to be 'prosecuted for war crimes'.

'This creep, that's the only way I can describe him, is someone who went from Leeds to Israel to kill children and women and everyone else over there,' it began, neatly ignoring the fact that Deutsch went to Israel because he was legally required to.

Ali continued his message by branding the chaplain an 'animal' (a rhetorical trick once commonly used by Nazi propagandists), saying: 'We [Muslims] are treated as second-class citizens and Leeds University is violating safeguarding standards.

'You should be protecting people. You should be protecting students from this kind of animal, because if he's willing to kill people over there, how do you know he's not going to kill your students over here?'

In an increasingly frenzied tirade, the video added that the rabbi had been 'massacring people' (there is no evidence that he killed anyone) before concluding that the 'far-Right radical' is 'radicalising students,' meaning that 'Leeds University should dismiss him urgently. He's absolutely disgusting. He's shameful'.

Viewers swiftly took the bait. On Ali's TikTok feed, there were 340 comments about the video, some of them virulently anti-Semitic.

'He's a terrorist, psychopath and paedo,' reads one. 'Zio lunatics pathetic savages beastly f***s always ugly deranged f***s, they need to be put in nutters asylum or concentration camps,' goes another.

'I am beginning to believe the Holocaust is a myth, we seeing the lies and propaganda,' said a third commentator.

Ali, a 42-year-old father of three from Roundhay, Leeds, who describes himself as 'an accountant by day and an Islamic teacher at night', did nothing to discourage or hide the vile outpouring of anti-Semitism, or to dial down the nature of the debate his hateful video had kicked off.

This wasn't his first rodeo, either. Take, for example, Ali's behaviour on October 7, the day Hamas terrorists attacked Israel from Gaza, slaughtering more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, including 360 revellers at a music festival, carrying out mass rape and taking more than a hundred people hostage, including several babies.

Hours after that incident, he posted a two-and-a-half-minute video to TikTok suggesting that the atrocities were justified because 'Palestinians have the right to resist occupying forces'.

He urged viewers to 'support the right of indigenous people to fight back'.

Mothin Ali appeared, in other words, to be a deeply questionable character with a track record of posting highly insensitive and unpleasant material about Israel.

And his hateful and dehumanising posts about a local rabbi had fuelled an outpouring of virulent anti-Semitism which had driven a young family from their home.

Yet, as I discovered, this tub-thumping social media activist, who boasted around 55,000 followers across various platforms, was no ordinary online provocateur.

Instead, he was a prominent member of the Leeds Green Party, who was about to stand for election to the city council.

So it was that, at 5pm one Wednesday in February, I emailed the Green Party to alert them to Ali's questionable online behaviour.

My lengthy message included links to several of his most vile social media posts, along with quotations of the ugliest bits, which had sparked criticism from, among others, the Campaign Against anti-Semitism, and the Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitic hate crime.

It concluded: 'Given all of the above, I wanted to ask whether the Green Party is prepared to allow him to continue to remain as not only a member but also one of its election candidates.'

Normal practice, when a candidate stands accused of a racially motivated misdeed, is for their political party to launch an immediate investigation.

Often, the individual concerned is suspended for the duration, especially when (as in this instance) that candidate's behaviour has attracted criticism from anti-racism groups.

The Green Party did things differently, however. In fact, its senior officials chose to ignore it.

On February 15, at 2.59pm, a senior press officer, Paul Corry, responded to my email by issuing a statement that indicated that it would not be taking any action because 'the Green Party believes in free speech'.

Corry's message included a rambling official comment from Ali, in which he disingenuously claimed to be a victim, saying: 'I have received hundreds of death threats from those on the far Right and supporters of what the Israeli government is doing, many of which have been reported to the police.

'I understand very well the emotional turmoil threats of violence can have and would not wish that on others... the video in question has absolutely nothing to do with violence.'

I have worked as a journalist for almost three decades, becoming a connoisseur of political cynicism in the process.

Yet the official Green Party response  or rather lack of it  to its candidate's revolting online behaviour left me so gobsmacked that I took the highly unusual step of contacting Corry to make sure it had not been issued in error.

'Just to confirm,' I wrote, 'the Green Party is totally happy for someone who used the terms that Mothin Ali used in that video  'creep', 'low-life', 'animal' etc  to now stand for election?

'And neither you nor Mr Ali have any regrets whatsoever about the death threats that Rabbi Deutsch subsequently received? Or the grotesque outpouring of anti-Semitism his video triggered?'

I did not receive a response. A lengthy article about the ugly affair then appeared in our pages the following Saturday.

Fast forward to this weekend, and Mothin Ali is once more at the centre of controversy.

Specifically, following his victory in last week's local government elections, which he greeted by shouting the words 'Allahu Akbar!' at the count, his appalling attacks on the Jewish community have sparked a major political scandal.

The Green Party's response has been to launch a formal investigation, claiming it was unaware of its candidate's previous remarks.

On Channel 4 News on Sunday night, party co-leader Carla Denyer claimed: 'I'm not familiar with all of the details of what you're saying about the Leeds councillor so I wouldn't be able to comment on that I don't have the full facts at hand.'

The party's press office, which was made aware of Ali's offending remarks in mid-February, sought to argue that they'd only just stumbled across them.

'The Green Party is investigating issues drawn to our attention in relation to Councillor Mothin Ali, so cannot comment further. However, we are clear that we never support anything that extols violence.'

This is at best misleading and, at worst, a straightforward lie.

They were contacted about Ali in February and sought to claim in official statements that he'd done nothing wrong.

That position did not alter following the publication of the Mail's article that month.

As for Mothin Ali, he has belatedly deleted his Twitter account.

Perhaps he hopes the whole thing will blow over. But as he, and the Green Party, will soon come to realise, the internet never forgets.
Fern Britton's stalker drove 200 miles to stay in her holiday cottage in the village where she lived in a bizarre episode which the TV presenter described as 'disturbing and scary'.

James Haviland, 63, from Basingstoke tracked down the star as part of a terrifying campaign against her.

Last week he admitted to magistrates in Cornwall that he had been stalking her for two years.

His crusade against the author and TV star began when he started sending her cards and flowers.

He then travelled more than 200 miles to the village of Padstow where the former This Morning presenter has gone on holiday as a child.

Fern Britton, 66, has revealed that a stalker drove 200 miles to stay in her holiday cottage in her village in Cornwall

Briton has most recently appeared on Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year but when not in front of the cameras often retreats to her Cornish cottage which she bought after her parents died

Britton moved to the Cornish village of Padstow after the separation from her TV chef husband Phil Vickery (pictured)

The picturesque village of Padstow, Cornwall where Haviland stayed a week in Briton's holiday cottage

As part of his terrifying behavior, he even rented out the holiday cottage which the star owns.

Haviland stayed in the quaint home in the picturesque village near Padstow, Cornwall for a week in September and tried to book again in November before he was reported to the police according to The Sun.

The mum-of-four, 66, had moved out of the Buckinghamshire home she had shared with her then TV-chef husband Phil Vickery in 2020.

Britton moved into the cosy cottage To heal from their separation after 20 years of marriage and to process the deaths of her parents.

The TV presenter has been holidaying in Cornwall since she was a child and even became a local reporter there in the 1980s.

But her bolthole became a nightmare when her stalker began turning up in the village.

Last week Haviland appeared at Bodmin magistrates' where he admitted stalking without fear, alarm or distress between November 20, 2021 and September 16, 2023.

Prosecutor Samantha Rogers named 'Fern Britton, a TV personality' as his victim.

She said: 'Over a prolonged period he sent flowers, stayed in a particular village moving closer to where she lives and staying in a cottage that she owns.'

Haviland appeared via a video link in court and wore glasses and a jumper over a shirt as he confirmed he understood the charges.

JPs bailed him while a probation report was prepared ahead of sentencing at Basingstoke magistrates court on June 18.
A young mum has revealed the heartwarming act Million Dollar Fish winner Keegan Payne performed for her amid the furore over Sky News presenter Peter Stefanovic shaming the teen about his past on national television.

Sarrita King, an artist from Darwin, recounted online on Sunday what happened when she and her family where left stranded after crashing into several buffaloes on the way home from Katherine, in the Northern Territory, at the end of last year.

Ms King said they were 'totally stranded' at the side of the road after her mother's car was left a wreck in the incident before Mr Payne and his friends provided invaluable assistance.

Mr Payne, 19, made national headlines when he caught a barramundi worth $1million in Katherine, 317km south of Darwin at the end of April.

But his momentous win was overshadowed when Stefanovic interviewed the teen on Wednesday and put him on the spot about a past theft.

Sarrita King, an artist from Darwin, (pictured) shared her feel-good story about the Million Dollar Fish winner and his friends, who she later described as 'heroes'

Keegan Payne (pictured, left) helped tow Ms King's (pictured, right) vehicle after she and her mother collided with a couple of buffaloes. The car was wrecked, leaving the family stranded until the mates came along and helped

Some viewers called for the journalist to resign after the harsh line of questioning, prompting Stefanovic to issue a grovelling apology.

The Darwin mum never referenced Stefanovic's interview in the video she posted online, but did say she had 'the best story of the week' and shared it with the hashtag 'goodnewsstories' 'keeganpayne' and 'legend'.

'These kids came and actually towed us back to safety,' she said.

'So it was an hour out of their time, they unhooked a buggy, they were on their way to go fishing for the Million Dollar Barra, and they were absolutely amazing.

'They restored both my partner and I's faith in kids these days.'

Ms King said the friends made her and her family feel 'really safe'.

'For a terrible situation - the car was wrecked - they were the best,' she said.

'At the time we were like "I hope these guys have the best life", they have so much going for them.'

The artist then went on to express her surprise that one of the teenagers who had helped went on to win the life-changing prize.

Keegan Payne with his whopping $1m prize after hooking a tagged barramundi in the long-running competition, which he was the first win in nine fishing seasons

Keegan Payne, (pictured centre) and his family were emotional after the huge life-changing win. The artist said he is deserves his prize and thinks he will be 'someone in the future'

'We have just been over the moon for him ever since,' she said.

'And we just can't stop smiling and thinking about it.

'So congratulations and how Darwin is that? Like, good karma.'

The mum's followers showed overwhelming support for the teen and labelled the artist's video a 'beautiful story'.

'Darwin kids have a heart of gold,' one wrote.

'His story just gets better and better, I think he's going to be a full-on Aussie icon,' another said.

The mum has since told NT News Mr Payne came across as a 'wonderful' young man.

'He was kind, he spoke proudly about being from Katherine  where Im from too, so we spoke about that,' she said.

'He spoke about his family and his love of fishing  it was just what you want your own kid to be like that at that age.'

Ms King called the teens 'proper heroes' who were confident and 'calm'.

EXCLUSIVE READ MORE: Peter Stefanovic says he regrets confronting Indigenous teen after public backlash Stefanovic says he regrets humiliating the teen on live TV after his question sparked a major public backlash Advertisement

The artist also said the teen was deserving of his win.

'The way hes handled himself through everything, hes going to be someone in the future  with all the pressure and all the scrutiny, hes got his head screwed on,' she told NT News.
They had argued about right-of-way on the footpath

A manhunt is underway for the rider of an e-scooter after an 81-year-old woman was struck and knocked unconscious following an argument over who had right-of-way on the footpath.

The elderly woman was walking toward Jolimont Railway Station from the MCG in central Melbourne after attending the Carlton-Collingwood AFL match on Friday.

At about 11pm, she was confronted by a man riding an e-scooter who told her to move off the footpath.

Undeterred, the woman told him the path was not for vehicles and walked around him.

Police claim the male rider then ran into the woman, causing her to fall and lose consciousness.

A manhunt is underway for the rider of an e-scooter (pictured) after an 81-year-old woman was struck and knocked unconscious after attending the Carlton-Collingwood AFL match last Friday

A witness tried to chase after the rider as he fled the scene and last saw him travelling west from Swan St Bridge.

The 81-year-old woman was rushed to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. As of Tuesday morning, she remained there in recovery.

Victoria Police released an image of the e-scooter rider who officers wish to speak to about the incident.

The man has very fair skin, is of a stocky build and average height with straight blonde/brown hair and grey/blue eyes.

He was wearing glasses with thick lenses, which caused his eyes to appear magnified, and a red jacket in shiny, waterproof material at the time of the collision.

Anyone with information about the crash has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
San Francisco's recent homeless crisis appears to be easing according to new figures released by the city's woke mayor, London Breed, that shows numbers hitting a five-year low.

The city calculates its homeless figures every three months and at the end of the last count in April, a 41 percent reduction was noted compared to July 2023.

There were 360 tents and structures counted in April - down from 610 last summer and 385 during February's count.

It is the lowest figure the city has recorded since it began tracking the data in 2018.

Breed says the reduction has come about as a result of a number of factors, not least the police enforcement of anti-camping laws when homeless people have reasonable access to shelter accommodation.

San Francisco has cleaned up several well-known homeless encampments

Where tents were previously propped up, sidewalks are clear and spotless. Locales where homeless once congregated are now cleared

The city calculates the city's homeless figures every three months and at the end of the last count in April a 41 percent reduction was noted compared to July 2023.

San Francisco's recent homeless crisis appears to be easing according to new figures released by the city's woke mayor, London Breed

London also touted the increased availability of new shelter beds and a renewed effort to fill vacant housing units as being behind the reduction in numbers.

'Our encampment teams and outreach workers are working tirelessly to go out and help bring people into shelter and clean up encampments,' said Mayor Breed. 'We are continuing to use all of the resources we have and working to add more, but there is a lot more to do.

'We will be relentless in our efforts to help people into safer, supportive facilities, and make our neighborhoods cleaner and healthier for everyone. I want to thank our outreach workers across all of our agencies for their commitment to getting people help.

'This is not easy work, but it is making a difference. We are continuing to use all of the resources we have and working to add more, but there is a lot more to do', Breed said in a statement.

Early in the morning a homeless man and woman quickly pick up their belongings as Urban Alchemy crews begin their daily cleaning of the streets in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco

City workers are seen cleaning the streets and removing tents and items belonging to homeless people

The area outside the Federal Building in San Francisco, was considered the biggest of all the open-air drug markets across the city

Hangouts along Mission Street and Market are also no more, along with a brazen open drug market that for more than a year that had been outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building

Federal rules have now freed the city's ability to forcibly move homeless encampments with the rules allowing for tents to be forcibly taken down by police if people are given 'reasonable' access to shelter.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals clarified in September 2023 that those who decline shelter are not 'involuntarily homeless,' making them not protected under the injunction. A three-judge panel in January largely upheld the ruling.

Since the beginning of the year, the city has cleared 242 encampments during which outreach workers made contact with 1,530 homeless people.

Following a change in the rules, the city saw a decrease in the number of people visibly living on the city's streets.

Not everyone is convinced by the figures, however, noting that a reduction in tents 'does not necessarily mean a reduction in homelessness.'

'There is still great unmet need with long waitlists for shelter and housing,' Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, which sued the city over its encampment sweeps, said in to The San Francisco Standard.

'Touting a reduction in tents as a result of sweeps is mere political theater.'

Data from the city reveals how offers of shelter were accepted 30 percent of the time and rejected on 60 percent of occasions.

As of Monday night, 155 people remain on the waitlist for individual shelter beds with a further 372 families still on a separate waitlist for family shelter beds.

Police are being allowed to enforce anti-camping laws when homeless people have reasonable access to shelter accommodation

A San Francisco Police Department officer asks two people sitting on the sidewalk to move

Officers are now taking a more active role in moving homeless people along and into shelters

A San Francisco Police Department vehicle drives through a homeless encampment being cleaned up in San Francisco

Scenes of homeless drug addicts stumbling on sidewalks and fears of violence and petty crime have become a national political issue, with Donald Trump making it part of his campaign platform.

In a video on homelessness released by his campaign, Trump said that 'hardworking, law-abiding citizens' were being sidelines and made to 'suffer for the whims of a deeply unwell few.'

He vowed to 'ban urban camping' and create 'tent cities' on 'inexpensive land' for homeless people that will be staffed with doctors and social workers to help people address systemic problems.

Still, homeless people and their advocates say sweeps and relocation policies are cruel and a waste of taxpayer money.

The answer, they say, is more affordable housing, not crackdowns on tent cities.

San Francisco is reeling from soaring crime, an emptying downtown, and residents moving away to safer, cheaper areas

Breed is facing a re-election bid and is currently in trouble according to recent polling. She has overseen a continued downturn of San Francisco's economy and the prevalence of homelessness and overdoses on its streets.

'As someone who grew up in San Francisco, Macy's has always meant a lot to the people of this city. It's where families came to shop for the holidays,' Breed said earlier this year.

The crime-ridden downtown area of San Francisco has seen the closure of many shops and restaurants since its drastic downfall, despite Breed attempting to hype statistics claiming offenses went down in 2023.

In October 2023, it was reported that seven Starbucks stores were planning to close as the city continues to deal with crime, drug use, and homelessness.

In the end of August 2023, video was released showing San Francisco's newly shut-down flagship Nordstrom store that was almost barren after nearly three decades in business.
A prolific burglar who broke into a M&S store to steal 500 of sirloin and T-bone steak as well as 20 bottles of prosecco, has become the first person to be jailed in a private prosecution.

David Hanson, 44, who had 105 previous convictions including 33 burglaries, was caught in the act and arrested by two detectives from a private policing company.

The store manager from M&S in Streatham Hill had called police immediately after catching Hanson stealing on CCTV but despite the footage, the Met Police decided not to investigate.

Instead, the case was taken on my TM Eye - a private investigator company which was founded by former Scotland Yard chief detective David McKelvey.

The firm, which uses plain clothed officers and those in uniform, has already helped prosecute 280 shoplifters. However, the south London case marks the first time a prosecution has been made against a burglar.

David Hanson, 44, who had 105 previous convictions including 33 burglaries, was caught in the act and arrested by two detectives from a private policing company

The store manager from M&S in Streatham Hill had called police immediately after catching Hanson stealing on CCTV but despite the footage, the Met Police decided not to investigate

It led to Hanson being jailed for a year for a total of five offences. These included four burglaries and one assault on an M&S employee, The Telegraph reported.

Officers studied the footage of Hanson breaking through a glass window of M&S before making off with the pricey goods and quickly recognised him as well-known shoplifter in the area.

Mr McKelvey told the paper: 'He was wearing the same clothing as worn during the burglary.

'He was detained and immediately admitted the recent burglary and an earlier burglary at the same premises some days before which was also written off by police.

'The lesson is that every burglary deserves an investigation because there is always an opportunity to solve the case if you take the time to do the basics.'

Police bosses decided in October that officers would attend shoplifting incidents if violence was made against employees, a suspected burglar was detained or cops were needed to help gather evidence.

But many police forces said the plan was not realistic, explaining officers cannot attend every shoplifting incident.

Hanson's sentencing comes as shoplifting rose to the highest level on record in April.

A total of 430,104 offences were recorded by police in the year to December 2023, up by more than a third (37%) from 315,040 in the previous 12 months.

A total of 430,104 offences were recorded by police in the year to December 2023. The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003

This security-protected bar of Dairy Milk Wholenut was seen at a Co-op in Codsall in Staffordshire

A Tesco branch in Theydon Bois, Essex, has slapped security tags on shopping baskets

The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Retail bosses accused ministers of allowing shoplifting to become effectively decriminalised, with many police forces failing to attend the majority of reports and failing to gather any evidence when they do.

Under 40 per cent of shoplifting reports were attended by the Met between April 2022 and April 2023, recent figures revealed.

The epidemic of shoplifting has seen shops resort to desperate measures to protect stock, with shoppers left stunned this week after spotting a 2 chocolate bar locked inside a security box in a Co-op supermarket in Codsall, Staffordshire.

Meanwhile, one Tesco branch in Theydon Bois, Essex, has even begun putting security tags on shopping baskets due to a rise in the number of people helping themselves to 'five-finger discounts'.

Another Tesco in Bristol has started checking customers on CCTV before letting them into the store in a 'nightclub-style door policy'.

The branch in Southville has also moved their shopping baskets away from the doors to stop thieves piling them up with shopping and running out.

MailOnline has contacted the Met for comment.
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged not to give in to a 'dangerous' set of demands from a Muslim pressure group.

The Labour leader was hit with the extraordinary list of 18 orders by The Muslim Vote after he promised to win back the trust of voters alienated by his stance on the Middle East conflict.

He was told he must apologise for his failure to back a ceasefire last autumn and for 'greenlighting a genocide' when he appeared to say Israel had the right to cut off water and power in Gaza.

On foreign policy, he was told he must recognise the state of Palestine, impose sanctions on Israeli politicians and cut military ties with the country.

Domestically, the group said he must ensure Muslim pupils can pray at school, ditch a new Government definition of extremism and guarantee 'Sharia-compliant' pensions are available in every workplace.

Senior MPs have urged Sir Keir Starmer not to give in to a 'dangerous' set of demands from a Muslim pressure group

Tory MP Andrew Percy called some of the demands 'outright dangerous' for the security of the UK 'and the future of our democratic values'

The Muslim Vote has issued 18 demands to Sir Keir Starmer after he promised to win back the trust of voters alienated by his stance on the Middle East conflict

The Muslim Vote  which is endorsing pro-Palestine candidates ahead of the general election  said if Sir Keir 'can't commit' then the Green Party or Liberal Democrats 'would be happy to take the votes'.

Labour has not yet responded to the group publicly and last night declined to say if it would do so.

Who are The Muslim Vote? The Muslim Vote is an activist group set up after Israel invaded Gaza following the Hamas terror attacks in October. In recent months it has been outspoken in its desire to 'punish' politicians that have not backed a ceasefire in the region. People affiliated with the group have suggested that it could aim to unseat 55 MPs who voted against a ceasefire at the next general election, either by putting forward independent candidates or backing other parties. Vowing to mobilise the four million Muslim voters in the UK, the activist group claims it has a 'bank of thousands of volunteers' who can help in political campaigns. It claims to be backed by more than 25 organisations, including the Muslim Association of Britain, Muslim Engagement and Development, and the Palestinian Forum in Britain. Advertisement

But the party was urged by senior MPs not to cave in to its demands.

Tory MP Andrew Percy, who previously said in the Commons that he feels safer in Israel than Britain, told the Mail: 'Some of these demands are outright dangerous for the security of the UK and the future of our democratic values.

'Starmer has a choice to make.

'He can either be on the side of the liberal mainstream majority in this country or he can lean into sectarian identity-based politics.

'UK politics is facing an increasing threat from extremism and division and many of these demands would do nothing to prevent that and everything to increase divisions.'

He added: 'If Keir Starmer really has changed the Labour Party and moved on from the anti-Semitism scandal that plagued it, he should show leadership by rejecting calls that specifically target the world's only Jewish state.'

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'This is shaping up to become a very big issue.

'It is a threat to our democracy and this amounts to nothing more or less than political blackmail.

'The threat is that they won't vote for Labour.

'If you give in to blackmail it never stops and others will see you are weak.'

It comes after the Mail reported that dozens of councillors were elected in last week's local elections after campaigning primarily on the issue of Gaza, in many cases either defecting from the Labour Party or beating its candidates.

Labour chairman Anneliese Dodds insisted yesterday the party 'did call for that immediate humanitarian ceasefire and ensured that Parliament had a vote on it'.

Asked on ITV why some voters were still calling for a stronger position on Gaza from Sir Keir, she said: 'I said it was important that Labour had that discussion with people, that we understand why people may have previously supported Labour and have shifted away from that support.

'All of the party is committed to that.'
John Swinney yesterday seized control of the SNP after a 'stitch-up' meant he was the only candidate for party leader.

The veteran Nationalist politician is on course to become the third First Minister in just over a year this week after he succeeded Humza Yousaf unopposed.

He was the only nominee after he persuaded former Finance Secretary Kate Forbes to join his team rather than challenge him, in a move billed a 'stitch-up' by opponents.

He also survived a late scare by persuading activist Graeme McCormick not to go ahead with forcing a leadership contest despite securing the support required to stand.

In his victory speech in Glasgow yesterday, he acknowledged the scale of the infighting and crises which have engulfed the SNP and admitted the party has been through a 'rough, tough time'.

John Swinney yesterday seized control of the SNP after a 'stitch-up' meant he was the only candidate for party leader

Swinney is on course to become the third First Minister in just over a year this week after he succeeded Humza Yousaf (pictured) unopposed

Swinney was the only nominee after he persuaded former Finance Secretary Kate Forbes (pictured) to join his team rather than challenge him

But he claimed that his party has now 'come back together again' under his leadership and 'got our act together'.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: 'It's difficult to see how he can be the fresh start Scotland needs, when he's the ultimate continuity candidate.

John Swinney was joined at the hip with the disgraced Nicola Sturgeon and his fingerprints are all over her numerous policy failures and cover-ups.

'The stitch-up the SNP have engineered to ensure John Swinney's coronation highlights the mess they're in.

'Is a failed former leader from two decades ago  who, as education secretary, sent Scotland plummeting down international league tables  really the best they have to offer?

'With John Swinney at the helm, the SNP will double down on their independence obsession  the one issue they agree on  and ignore the real priorities of the Scottish people, such as fixing our ailing public services and growing the economy.'

The SNP confirmed Mr Swinney was the sole candidate when nominations closed at lunchtime yesterday, and MSPs are expected to vote on him becoming First Minister at Holyrood today.

In an acceptance speech at the University of Glasgow, Mr Swinney:

Promised to 'seek common ground' and strike 'coalitions of the willing' as he prepares to head a minority government;

Issued a plea to pro-Union parties to work with him even though he refused to take independence off the table;

Said that his key policy priority would be to eliminate child poverty;

Admitted it would be wrong to 'continually' raise taxes but defended the SNP's previous decisions which have made Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK;

Said that his predecessor in the role, Mr Yousaf, still has 'a significant contribution to make';

Refused to say if the SNP would repay the 60,000 loan it still owes to its former chief executive Peter Murrell, who was charged in connection with embezzlement of funds from the SNP last month.

Mr Yousaf's time as First Minister was spent dealing with a long list of crises, including developments in the police probe into the SNP's funding and finances, a series of policy U-turns, disciplinary issues, defections and bitter infighting between factions in his party.

In his speech yesterday, Mr Swinney claimed the speedy leadership process can allow the SNP to 'get back on the front foot'.

He said: 'Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our party's history  a chapter that will be about coming together, uniting and dedicating ourselves to the service of Scotland.'

A Norstat poll at the weekend showed the SNP is on course to fall to just 15 seats following the general election, and to slide behind Labour at the next Holyrood election.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: 'John Swinney's coronation is entirely about managing the SNP rather than running our country.

'At a time when Scotland is crying out for change, the SNP is offering more of the same.'

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: 'It's hardly a good look for senior SNP parliamentarians to have to beg a party activist to step aside and allow a coronation because of the expense of a leadership election.

'John Swinney will now take the top role without any discussion of his preferred policies aside from breaking up the UK.'

Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, said: 'He cares only about independence, and won't care if every other devolved area suffers as a consequence.'

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: 'We look forward to working with the new ministerial team to ensure the economy is the priority.'

Tracy Black, devolved nations ambassador for business body the CBI, added: 'We need to create a competitive and resilient economy that champions business and delivers opportunity for communities across Scotland.'
By Park Jae-hyuk

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) said Tuesday that its employees filed a lawsuit last Friday against Hanwha Oceans executives and employees for defamation by spreading false information.

The legal battle emerged as Hanwha Ocean conducted a series of press conferences in March, detailing its request for a police investigation into HD HHI executives for their alleged involvement in the theft of warship technologies by company employees between 2012 and 2015 from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, which was renamed following Hanwha's acquisition last year.

Although the HD HHI employees involved in the technology theft were found guilty last November, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) allowed the shipbuilder to bid for the construction of destroyers for the Republic of Korea Navy, citing a lack of evidence indicating that the company's executives had instructed employees to steal data.

In response, the Hanwha subsidiary asserted that investigation records from the Ministry of National Defense demonstrate that HD HHI executives were indeed involved in the technology theft.

However, a group of HD HHI employees involved in the case refuted the claims, saying that the company executives had never been involved in any violation of the Military Secret Protection Act. They emphasized that the highest-ranking employee mentioned in the investigation records was not an executive at the time.

This was verified during two and a half years of investigations by the Defense Counterintelligence Command and the Ulsan District Prosecutors Office, the employees were quoted as saying by the company. With the intention of slandering the complainants, Hanwha Ocean spread false information and defamed us through the news media.

HD HHI said the company itself will also take countermeasures against Hanwha Oceans claims.

Our employees are suffering mental pain due to Hanwha Ocean's unilateral disclosure of investigation records, an HD HHI official said.

Hanwha Ocean said the recent lawsuit highlights the alleged wrongdoing of HD HHI and its employees.

We believed an HD HHI executives involvement in the technology theft, considering its installment and operation of a server to store military secrets, and not just testimonies by its employees, a Hanwha Ocean official said. We requested a police investigation in March as there had been no investigation into the management of HD HHI and the highest-ranking employee mentioned in the investigation records.

The company added that its accusations against HD HHI executives were intended to prevent the recurrence of similar illegal acts and to ensure justice and fairness in the defense industry.

During the press conference held in March, the shipbuilder denied speculation that its accusations against HD HHI executives were aimed at monopolizing the domestic warship market. Additionally, it clarified that it was not contesting DAPA's decision.

At that time, however, HD HHI dismissed Hanwha Ocean's claim as baseless, emphasizing that the court and the arms procurement agency had already reached conclusions on this matter.
An Israeli tank brigade this morning seized control of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, moving forward with an offensive in the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remain on a knife's edge.

The Israeli 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing and took 'operational control' of the crucial crossing for both aid and those able to flee into Egypt, officials said, adding this morning that they had 'eliminated approximately 20 terrorists'.

Footage circulating on social media showed an IDF tank trundling over the border, with another clip later appearing to show Israeli flags flying at the crossing point.

This came just hours after Israel roundly rejected a new ceasefire deal hashed out by Egyptian and Qatari negotiators that Hamas said it had accepted.

The announcement from Hamas sparked premature celebrations in Rafah yesterday as war-weary Palestinians took to the streets rejoicing news of a ceasefire deal.

But Tel Aviv later dismissed the ceasefire, describing it as a 'softened' version of an Egyptian proposal, which included 'far-reaching' conclusions that Israel could not accept.

'This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal,' said the Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Palestinian hopes for an end to the war were shattered late last night when Israel launched intense air strikes on Rafah at 10pm local time (9pm British time).

This handout picture released by the Israeli army shows the 401st Brigade's combat team tanks entering the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024

The IDF released footage taken by a gunner atop a tank that shows the armoured column arriving at the Rafah crossing

This image grab taken from footage released by the Israeli army on May 7, 2024 shows the 401st Brigade's combat team tanks entering the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 7, 2024

A Palestinian rescuer searches for casualties at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 7, 2024

Flares light up the night sky above Rafah, Gaza on May 6, 2024, ahead of an Israeli bombing campaign

Thousands of Palestinians celebrated in various areas in the Gaza Strip on Monday evening, shortly after Hamas accepted a proposed cease-fire - but Israeli rejected the proposal and began bombing the city overnight

Palestinians celebrate after Hamas accepted a proposed ceasefire in Rafah, Gaza on May 6, 2024, just before Israel launched air strikes on the city

The joy of war-weary Palestinians was short-lived as Israel launched missiles on Rafah overnight

Palestinians celebrate in a street in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal on May 6, 2024

'Even though the Hamas proposal is far from Israel's essential demands, Israel will send a working-level delegation to the mediators,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's (pictured) office said in a statement after a war cabinet meeting

Hamas fighters near the Rafah crossing on Sunday fired mortars into southern Israel, killing four Israeli soldiers near the Kerem Shalom crossing close to an Israeli kibbutz of the same name.

The Israeli military used this as justification for seizing the Rafah crossing in a statement this morning, adding it had received intelligence the area around the border checkpoint was being used for 'terrorist purposes' - though gave no further information.

READ MORE: Dogs start eating bodies of the dead in the streets of Rafah as Israel begins evacuation of the city with offensive 'imminent' after latest breakdown in peace talks with Hamas Advertisement

'The IDF is currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in southern Gaza,' the Israeli military said on X.

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, today acknowledged Israeli forces had seized the Rafah crossing and had closed the facility for the time being. He said strikes had targeted the area around the crossing since Monday.

An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson declined to immediately comment on the Israeli seizure.

Egypt previously has warned any seizure of Rafah could see Palestinians fleeing over the border, a scenario that could threaten a 1979 peace deal with Israel that has been a linchpin for regional security.

Hamas said in a brief statement yesterday that its political leader Ismail Haniyeh had informed Egyptian and Qatari officials of his acceptance of the terms.

The ceasefire deal Hamas said it agreed to is a three-phased agreement, and each is 42 days long, the group's deputy chief in Gaza told Al Jazeera on Monday.

Hamas deputy Khalil Al-Hayya also said the second stage of the agreement stipulates a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on social media platform X that Haniyeh had also informed him of the ceasefire deal and told him: 'We are sincere in our intentions.'

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu however said the ceasefire agreement was 'far from Israel's basic requirements' and rejected the reported terms.

He later added he would send a delegation to Cairo to continue negotiations on a new ceasefire deal today.

Meanwhile, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari confirmed during a press conference last night that his forces would continue their operations in Rafah while a new ceasefire is being hashed out.

'We are exhausting the potential about negotiations and bringing back the hostages and that is our main mission, to bring them home as quickly as possible, but in parallel we are continuing to act in an operational manner in the Gaza Strip and we will continue to do so.'

A statement from Netanyahu's office last night read: 'The war cabinet has unanimously decided that Israel is continuing the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages and the other objectives of the war.'

According to former Israeli intelligence official and regional analyst Avi Melamed, the clock is ticking towards the moment of truth for both Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Netanyahu to choose a hostage deal or initiate Israel's long-promised Rafah intensive.

'Neither Sinwar nor Netanyahu have significant manoeuvering space.

'Reports have emerged that Israel earlier in the week issued an ultimatum to Hamas to respond on the latest round of negotiations, and with the looming intensive Israeli operation against Rafah, Hamas will likely respond in a manner that is closer to what Israel is willing to agree to, yet something that will require additional negotiation before signing.

'For Hamas, showing itself as a willing party to the negotiations, but not signing yet, is the only option to continue to delay the Israeli operation in Rafah, which has led to Israeli frustration focused on the country's own government.

'Regardless of political alignment, the Israeli population has grown frustrated with its leadership's lack of resolve to either complete the operation in Rafah or sign a deal.'

News of Hamas' announcement sent people in Rafah cheering in the streets, hoping the deal meant an Israeli attack had been averted

Palestinians dance around a fire in celebration in a street in Rafah after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce deal on May 6, 2024

Palestinian children celebrate in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip after Hamas's announcement

Palestinians react after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2024

Palestinians celebrate with fireworks in a street in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal on May 6, 2024

Palestinians react after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2024

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, May 6, 2024

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to celebrate after Hamas informed Qatar and Egypt that it had approved their proposals for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on May 6, 2024

Palestinians celebrate with fireworks in a street in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal on May 6, 2024

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to celebrate after Hamas informed Qatar and Egypt that it had approved their proposals for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on May 6, 2024

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to celebrate after Hamas informed Qatar and Egypt that it had approved their proposals for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on May 6, 2024

News of Hamas' announcement sent people in Rafah cheering in the streets this evening, hoping the deal meant an Israeli attack had been averted

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike east of Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 6, 2024

An Israeli army tank takes a position in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on May 6, 2024

US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the US was 'reviewing Hamas' response' to the ceasefire deal and will be discussing it 'with others in the region'.

'We will be discussing this response with our partners in the coming hours. We continue to believe a hostage deal is in the best interests of the Israeli people and Palestinian people,' Miller added.

'We continue to believe that a hostage deal is in the best interests of the Israeli people; it's in the best interests of the Palestinian people.'

The agreement, should it take effect, would be the first truce since a week-long pause in the fighting in November, and follows months of failed attempts at pausing the fighting to free hostages and allow more aid into Gaza.

But Israel is now pressing on with its military operation in Rafah, starting to evacuate civilians while conducting bombing raids and sending tanks to seize the border crossing.

The city, which sits on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, has been the last sanctuary for around half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents pushed south by Israel's seven-month-old assault.

Just hours before Hamas announced that they had accepted the agreement, Israel had ordered Palestinians to begin evacuating Rafah ahead of an Israeli military operation.

Netanyahu said earlier Monday that seizing Rafah is vital to ensure Hamas cannot rebuild their military capabilities and repeat the attack on Israel that triggered the war.

Over a million people in Rafah are huddled in tents and overcrowded apartments after fleeing Israel's military offensive in other parts of the territory.

Israel's closest allies, including the US, have repeatedly said that Israel should not attack Rafah, and the looming operation has raised global alarm over the fate of around 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering there.

Aid agencies have warned that an offensive would worsen Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe and bring a surge of more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has killed 34,000 people and devastated the territory.

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the terror group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip May 6, 2024

A woman mourns during the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2024

Much of the world, and especially its allies, have condemned Israel's decision to plough ahead with the planned offensive

Palestinians inspect the destruction following overnight Israeli strikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 6, 2024

The Israel-Hamas war has driven around 80 per cent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction in several towns and cities

Smoke rises from different points after Israeli attack on Rafah, Gaza on May 06, 2024

People flee the eastern parts of Rafah after the Israeli military began evacuating Palestinian civilians ahead of a threatened assault

An Israeli tank is pictured moving near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on Thursday, May 2

A picture taken on May 6, 2024 shows smoke billowing following bombardement east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip

Families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest calling for a hostage deal on May 6, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel

Protesters block a highway demanding the immediate release of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 6, 2024

Families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest calling for a hostage deal on May 6, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israe

Protesters block the Ayalon highway where they call for the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 6, 2024

Families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest calling for a hostage deal on May 6, 2024, in Tel Aviv, Israel

US President Joe Biden spoke on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reiterated US concerns about an invasion of Rafah.

He said a ceasefire is the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, a National Security Council spokesperson said.

Hamas and Qatar said invading Rafah would derail efforts by international mediators to broker a ceasefire.

The three-phase ceasefire deal Hamas backs, but Israel does not Based on details announced so far by Hamas officials and an official briefed on the talks, the deal that the Palestinian group said it had agreed to included the following: PHASE ONE 42-day ceasefire period

Hamas releases 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from Israeli jails.

42-day ceasefire period Hamas releases 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from Israeli jails. PHASE TWO Another 42-day period that features an agreement to restore a 'sustainable calm' to Gaza, language that an official briefed on the talks said Hamas and Israel had agreed in order to take discussion of a 'permanent ceasefire' off the table.

The complete withdrawal of most Israeli troops from Gaza.

Hamas releases Israeli reservists and some soldiers in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from jail. PHASE THREE The completion of exchanging bodies and starting the implementation of reconstruction according to the plan overseen by Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations.

Ending the complete blockade on the Gaza Strip. Advertisement

Days earlier, Hamas had been discussing a US-backed proposal that reportedly raised the possibility of an end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops in return for the release of all hostages held by the group.

Israeli officials rejected that trade-off, vowing to continue their campaign until Hamas is destroyed.

Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said about 100,000 people were being ordered to move from parts of Rafah to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi, a makeshift camp on the coast.

He said Israel has expanded the size of the zone and that it included tents, food, water and field hospitals.

Around 450,000 displaced Palestinians are already sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it has been providing them with aid but conditions are squalid, with few toilets or sanitation facilities in the largely rural area.

Israeli military leaflets were dropped with maps detailing a number of eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah to evacuate, warning that an attack was imminent and anyone who stays 'puts themselves and their family members in danger'.

UNRWA will not evacuate from Rafah so it can continue to provide aid to those who stay behind, said Scott Anderson, the agency's director in Gaza. 'We will provide aid to people wherever they choose to be,' he said.

The UN says an attack on Rafah could disrupt the distribution of aid keeping Palestinians alive across Gaza.

The Rafah crossing into Egypt, a main entry point for aid to Gaza, lies in the evacuation zone. The crossing remained open on Monday after the Israeli order.

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, condemned the 'forced, unlawful' evacuation order and the idea that people should go to Muwasi.

'The area is already overstretched and devoid of vital services,' he said, adding that an Israeli assault could lead to 'the deadliest phase of this war'.

Israel's bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them children and women, according to Gaza health officials.

More than 80 per cent of the population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, and hundreds of thousands in the north are on the brink of famine, according to the UN.
A teenage girl put a busy shopping centre into lockdown after she brandished a knife outside a Kmart before being cornered by security.

The teenager produced the knife in the Lake Haven Centre near Wyong, on the NSW Central Coast, at about 12:30pm on Monday.

In footage of the incident, the girl was seen surrounded by police officers and security guards in a corner of the shopping centre.

No threat was made to the public and the knife was eventually secured.

The teenager was taken to hospital for assessment.

The incident comes as the latest in a spate of knife attacks across Sydney including Wesfield Bondi Junction, Wakeley and Blacktown.

In footage of the incident, the young girl is surrounded by police officers and security guards in a corner of the shopping centre on NSW's Central Coast (pictured)

The girl is pictured brandishing the knife at the Lake Haven Centre

The shopping centre (pictured) went into lockdown over the incident on Monday afternoon

It was announced this week NSW Police will be granted new 'wanding powers' that will allow officers to scan people for bladed weapons without a warrant.

The powers are modelled on Queensland laws introduced after the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Jack Beasley during a brawl on the Gold Coast in 2019.

Police in NSW will be able to 'scan' or 'wand' people for knives with hand-held metal detectors in areas such as shopping centres, pubs and train stations.

The laws will not be in place 24/7 but can be activated for a 12-hour period.

It will also be illegal for retailers to sell knives to anyone under the age of 18 unless the buyer can prove they need it for work or study.

Retailers selling illegal knives will face even harsher penalties.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said his state will not accept these types of crimes.

'In recent weeks and months, we have all borne witness to the devastating outcomes of knife-related violence,' Mr Minns said in announcing the legislation.

'It's essential that we step up to take immediate action to send a clear message that NSW will simply not accept these kinds of crimes.

Jack Beasley, 17, was stabbed during a brawl on the Gold Coast, prompting new knife laws

NSW Premier Chris Minns announced new powers for police in a crackdown on knife crime

'Today we are announcing reform including legislation modelled on new powers for Police to search and detect knives in public spaces, based on Queensland's Jack's Law, and a commonsense increase to the age limit for purchasing knives from 16 to 18 to make it harder for children to get access to these deadly weapons.'

Police and Counter-Terrorism Minister Yasmin Catley said that the new measures would 'send a strong warning to would-be perpetrators'.

'These reforms will give police improved tools to quickly detect concealed knives and take action before a potential perpetrator has the chance to use them,' she said.

Queensland Police have scanned 39,000 people and seized 400 weapons since the introduction of Jacks Law operations last April.

Kitchen and butchers knives, hammers, hunting knives, knuckledusters and tomahawks were arrested in a bid to combat knife crime.

The latest rollout in NSW, which took place last month and involved over 800 officers, seized 51 knives and resulted in 145 people being charged with weapon-related offences, including seizure of a firearm.

Police seized 4000 knives in public places last year, after the NSW government doubled the penalties for those caught with a weapon in public.
Lucy Wicks has broken her silence after a months-long investigation into her Upper House MP ex-lover's conduct and a series of abusive texts he sent.

Taylor Martin was dumped from the Liberal Party during a Friday evening meeting with NSW state executive members after an external investigation into his behaviour.

Ms Wicks, the former federal MP for the NSW Central Coast seat of Robertson, made a confidential complaint in July 2023 about a series of text messages she'd received from Mr Martin over a sustained period of time, which she said amounted to harassment.

In the messages, which he admitted were 'ugly', Mr Martin called Ms Wicks a 'f***ing idiot', a 'dumb s***', a 'sicko', an 'absolute c*** of a person' and a 'f***ing pig ignorant b***h'.

The investigation took nine months to complete and was marred by delays and scandal, including the revelation that Mr Martin was still welcomed at crucial NSW Liberal state council meetings.

Ms Wicks, the former federal MP for the NSW Central Coast seat of Robertson, made a confidential complaint in July 2023 about a series of text messages she'd received from Mr Martin over a sustained period of time, which she said amounted to harassment

Taylor Martin MLC was stood down from the NSW Liberal parliamentary party room back in July amid uproar over text messages he sent to former MP Lucy Wicks. He has since been expelled

But ultimately, it was determined Mr Martin had engaged in 'abusive conduct' and he was expelled from the Liberal Party on April 19, but will sit on the cross bench for the remainder of his term.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday, Ms Wicks said she felt she 'never stood a chance' after she was outed as the complainant in the media without her consent.

'I felt so violated and degraded,' she said.

'Then a vile smear campaign ran immediately off the back of it.'

Reports at the time suggested Ms Wicks had started an affair with Mr Martin while he was a young staffer in her office - and while she was married.

It's understood her relationship with Mr Martin didn't begin until 2017 - the same year he was elected to parliament, and after Ms Wicks' marriage had ended.

Ms Wicks feared speaking out would ruin her own career and reputation. Mr Martin had the strong backing of the centre right contingent of the Liberal party.

Mr Martin publicly apologised for a series of text messages he sent Ms Wicks during that period calling her a 'dumb s***' and a 'f***ing pig'

'Living under the threat of... professional defilement and reputational harm was beyond terrifying,' she said.

She knew that speaking up could 'cost her almost everything - including financial security'.

'This a big reason why when victims speak up  you should always believe them. Speaking up is often harder than staying silent, because of the retribution that too often follows,' she said.

'That terror, that fear  that overwhelming sense of impending dread that you learn to live with day after day and month after month  is what so many other women face when experiencing the insidious and often hidden impact of abuse.'

Daily Mail Australia revealed in March that Ms Wicks began receiving threatening anonymous letters to her new place of work after she was publicly identified as the complainant.

Mr Martin bombarded Ms Wicks with a series of 'ugly' text messages after their romantic relationship ended, calling her a 'f***ing idiot', a 'dumb s***', a 'sicko', an 'absolute c*** of a person' and a 'f***ing pig ignorant b***h'

One letter falsely claimed there was 'X rated' content of her 'on the dark web'.

'Can't wait to see this surface on the media (sic),' the letter continued.

EXCLUSIVE READ MORE: Taylor Martin's bride stuns the political world by walking out just weeks after fairytale wedding - after heated incident in which police were called Advertisement

At least three letters were referred to police for investigation, each of them typed and printed.

A source with knowledge of the incident said 'you could tell it was with a purpose to scare or intimidate her. Someone wanted to denigrate her'.

There is no suggestion Mr Martin had anything to do with those letters.

'Speaking has cost me almost everything. But through it, Ive got my voice back, my sense of safety and wellbeing back,' Ms Wicks said.

She's also rediscovered her determination to 'drive real change to make a difference'.

'Ive lived through and had to confront some horrible threats, move through crippling fear, learn to stand up in the face of overwhelming terror, and remain determined to still serve my community in whatever capacity I can, even through this vile degrading smear campaign,' she said.

'But its also increased my grit, resilience, empathy and ability to hear the unspoken pain of others.'

Ms Wicks hopes her experience and the outcome of the investigation will encourage women who may find themselves in a similar position.

'It can happen to anyone,' she said. 'It is not your fault.

'Trust yourself. Trust your instincts and that others will believe you if you do speak up.'

She is still weighing up whether she should attempt to run again in the 2025 federal election.

The report's findings were released to the party months after Mr Martin's new wife Brittany walked out on their marriage.

Daily Mail Australia revealed NSW Member of the Legislative Council Taylor Martin married his girlfriend Brittany in a luxurious ceremony at the Grounds of Alexandria in December, only for her to leave the relationship several weeks later following an altercation
Those without a receipt are only entitled to between $10 and $25

Shoppers must submit a claim form by June 5 in order to receive payment

A class action lawsuit accuses the retail giant of overcharging for certain items

Walmart is shelling out $45 million as part of a legal settlement - and here's how shoppers can get their hands on the payout.

The class action suit was filed in Florida after shoppers accused the retail giant of overcharging for certain pay-by-weight items, such as produce.

The settlement class includes those who bought weighted goods or bagged citrus in person at a Walmart in the United States or Puerto Rico between October 18, 2018 and January 19, 2024.

The maximum amount Walmart will pay each customer is $500. Claim forms can be filed online or mailed in by June 5, but shoppers must file in order to receive a payment.

Walmart is shelling out $45 million as part of a legal settlement - and here's how shoppers can get their hands on the payout

Customers are entitled to up to $500 each, but must file claim forms by June 5 in order to receive payment

The lawsuit stated Walmart 'falsely inflates the product weight' and overcharged shoppers for certain 'weighted goods' and 'bagged citrus'

The lawsuit stated Walmart 'falsely inflates the product weight' and overcharged shoppers. The weighted goods that are eligible include meat, poultry, pork and seafood products that are labeled with a price-embedded bar code and designated by Walmart as part of its Department 93 products.

As for bagged citrus, that includes organic oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and navel oranges sold in bulk in mesh or plastic bags. The terms exclude online and resale purchases.

The amount paid out to each customer will depend not just on the number of people who file claims, but whether the U.S. District Court in Tampa decides to approve the settlement itself. That decision is set to be reached in June.

Customers with a receipt, proof of purchase or other documentation can recoup 2 percent of the total cost up to $500.

That amount sharply decreases for those without a receipt. The breakdown is as follows:

For purchases of 50 eligible items claimed, shoppers are entitled to $10.

For purchases of 51 to 75 eligible items claimed, shoppers are entitled to $15

For purchases of 76 to 100 eligible items claimed, shoppers are entitled to $20

For purchases of 101 or more eligible items claimed, shoppers are entitled to $25

The deadline to object, comment or exclude from the settlement - meaning people won't receive a payment, but reserve the right to sue the company - is May 22.

Customers with a receipt, proof of purchase or other documentation can recoup 2 percent of the total cost up to $500, but those without a receipt are entitled to merely a fraction of that

Online and resale purchases are not included under the terms of the settlement

The deadline to object, comment or exclude from the settlement - meaning people won't receive a payment, but reserve the right to sue the company - is May 22

A class action complaint reviewed by DailyMail.com asserts that Walmart's 'false, misleading, unfair and deceptive conduct' is in direct violation of state consumer protection statutes and state common law.

In a statement, a Walmart representative denied the allegations, but conceded that a settlement was 'in the best interest of both parties.'

Tampa man Vassilios Kukorinis was the first to sound the alarm about the overcharging.

According to Kukorinis, who is the lead plaintiff in the class action suit, charges at the register exceeded what prices should have been based on the stores posted prices-by-weight.

He visited Walmart stores around the state to gather evidence, which he then presented to lawyers at Manhattan-based firm Morgan & Morgan.

Morgan & Morgan sent its own investigators to Walmart stores before filing a class action complaint in February 2019.

In November 2019, Kukorinis flew to California with lawyers for a mediation session with the retail chain.

Morgan & Morgan subsequently reached a settlement with Walmarts lawyers at Greenberg Traurig - but Kukorinis claimed he wasn't notified of the result.

In 2020, the Florida man vowed not to accept his $25,000 service award, deeming the settlement a 'betrayal to all class action members, orchestrated without my knowledge.'
Individual Los Angeles public school campuses should be allowed to decide whether to station a police officer on campus, a safety task force has ruled.

The recommendation comes years after the LA Unified School District did away with cops on campus - a direct result of anti-police student activism brought on by movements such as Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police.

Now, amid steeply escalating crime, drug use and violence, some of these students' parents are reconsidering.

Citing district data that shows a sharp rise in what the school system refers to as 'reported incidents', parents produced 'Bring Back School Police' signs at a regional campus safety meeting May 2.

Meanwhile, a taskforce quietly established by the board of education came to the conclusion schools should be left to their own devices.

Individual Los Angeles public school campuses should be allowed to decide whether to station a police officer on campus, a safety task force has ruled. Pictured: A parent holding a 'Bring Back School Police' sign during a regional campus safety meeting May 2

Citing district data that shows a sharp rise in what the school system refers to as 'reported incidents', parents at the meeting echoed the task force's assertion, after it was created in 2020 to replace the mandatory police

Meanwhile, LAUSD staff members listened as parents aired concerns alongside the task force this past Thursday at Patrick Henry Middle School that focused on school safety.

In the aftermath of the George Floyd killing and protests, the city passed by narrow margin the removal of police from hallways. The vote also saw the Los Angeles School Police Department budget slashed by 35 percent.

In the four years since, cops by and large have been kept off campus, leaving the more than 600,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade mostly to their own devices.

This has proved to be a recipe for more fights on campus and difficulty controlling vaping and the use of serious drugs such as fentanyl, which killed a student at one of the district's more than 1,000 schools in 2022.

In the newly released data, incidents of fighting more than doubled since the 2017-18 schoolyear, from 2,270 reported incidents to just under 4,800 so far this year.

Within that span, use of illegal or controlled substances also almost doubled, from 854 incidents to just over 1,500.

The recommendation comes years after the LA Unified School District did away with cops on campus - a direct result of anti-police student activism brought on by movements like Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police

In the four years since, cops by and large have been kept off campus, leaving the more than 600,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade mostly to their own devices. Pictured, anti-police protesters parading through the streets of LA on June 23, 2020

The anti-police processions were spurred by movements like such as Black Lives Matter and the May 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis

LAUSD students, parents, educators and community members alike participated in the campaign, which has contributed to the alarming increases

If heeded, the recommendation would reverse a decision arrived at after months of heated protests by members of the student body, parents, and LA citizens

Within weeks, the decision to remove mandatory police officers from the district's high schools and other campuses was made final

Instances of weapons being confiscated also spiked drastically, by more than 200 incidents.

Reported incidents deemed a threat to school staffers and the student body, meanwhile, rose by more than 1,300, going from 1,994 during the 2017-18 school year to 3,302 in 2023.

Categories of 'suicide risk' also showed rises even when on-campus cops were still a policy - supporting some parents' assertions that not all was well and good even when officers were still stationed across the district's schools.

If heeded, the recommendation would reverse a decision arrived at after months of heated protests by members of the student body, parents, and LA citizens alike.

Within weeks, the decision to remove mandatory police officers from the district's high schools and other campuses was made final.

The move almost immediately affected the Los Angeles School police's more than 400 officers, with 65 officers laid off during that first year, after which three dozen additional vacant positions were also left unfilled.

The move almost immediately affected the Los Angeles School police's more than 400 officers, with 65 officers laid off during that first year, after which three dozen additional vacant positions were also left unfilled

In the years since, some of the budget has been reinstated - angering some activists who see it as a reneging on the district's promise in 2020.

However, as some pointed out at the emergency meeting in Granada Hills and Thursday, cause and effect for some of these rises is difficult to immediately blame on a lack of policing.

Simultaneous phenomena such as the rise of student mental health issues in the wake of the pandemic must also be kept in mind, as well as the largely anecdotal reports of increased campus fighting.

Still, the data shows the lack of police has played at least some part in the rise in incidents, due to the stark changes seen in the years since the policy was implemented.

Several headline-grabbing incidents involving LA Unified District students have occurred since, including a brutal fight at Crenshaw High School where a student was filmed being kicked in the head multiple times.

Several headline-grabbing incidents involving LA Unified District students have occurred since, including a brutal fight at Crenshaw High School where a student was filmed being kicked in the head multiple times

A few months before, in December, Redondo Union High School found itself on 'lockdown' following a report of a student with a gun. The report saw a large response from Redondo Beach's police department, and resulted in another teen being lead away in cuffs

Any changes to the district's policing policy would go into effect during the upcoming school year. In the meantime, schools remain relatively unprotected, with district officers forced to patrol areas around schools and respond to emergency calls off and on campus

A few months before, in December, Redondo Union High School found itself on 'lockdown' following a report of a student with a gun.

The report saw a large response from Redondo Beach's police department, and resulted in another teen being lead away in handcuffs.

The incident itself came a day after a different student was arrested for bringing a loaded, high-capacity handgun onto campus - an offense that contributed to the statistics above.

Any changes to the school district's policing policy would go into effect during the upcoming school year.

In the meantime, schools remain relatively unprotected, with district officers forced to patrol areas around schools and respond to emergency calls off and on campus.
EXCLUSIVE

Bruce Lehrmann is being sued by the owner of a luxurious home in Sydney's northern beaches where he stayed for a year on Channel Seven's money.

Civil proceedings have been launched against Mr Lehrmann by Lady Gaenor Meakes, who owns the sprawling property in Balgowlah.

The former Liberal staffer had stayed in the home for a year while Seven paid the rent in exchange for an exclusive interview on Brittany Higgins' rape allegations.

A date of conciliation has been set down for May 23, however, it is unclear what Lady Meakes' is suing for.

Daily Mail Australia understands Mr Lehrmann was shocked on Tuesday to learn his former landlord had launched the civil suit against him.

'Oh well, add it to the pile,' he said.

Mr Lehrmann moved out of the Balgowlah home just over a month ago, with the lease being cut short by three weeks.

Bruce Lehrmann is being sued by the owner of a luxurious home in Sydney 's northern beaches where he stayed for a year on Channel Seven 's money

The inside of the Balgowlah unit Mr Lehrmann has been staying in, which features views over Sydney's north

The weekly rent was $2,000, with the home being snapped up by Lady Meakes and her husband Mark Richards for $2.4million in 2019. Mr Richards is a world renowned sailor and yachtsman.

It comes after Mr Lehrmann lost his defamation case against Network 10 when Justice Michael Lee found on a balance of probabilities that he had raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019.

Ms Higgins had alleged details of the rape during an interview with Lisa Wilkinson on The Project in 2021.

Network Ten's case hinged on a truth defence, which meant it sought to prove Ms Higgins' rape claims were true and that Lehrmann was therefore not defamed in the broadcast - even though he was not named in the program.

Mr Lehrmann is considering appealing the decision and was granted an additional two weeks to do so.

He must launch the appeal before May 31.
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Pskai has no issue with President Joe Biden's seeming disinterest in doing press conferences, saying he should entertain the ladies of The View instead.

Biden has given just 89 total interviews and three press conferences in his first three years in office, a noted dip from former President Donald Trump's first three years, where he gave 300 interviews and 54 press conferences.

The current president has chosen alternative media of late, appearing on The Howard Stern Show and the popular Smartless podcast.

Psaki was appearing herself on the daily ABC gabfest and asked about how Biden should balance the demands of the press as he heads into another presidential campaign.

'The benefit of the media environment right now  there's a lot of challenges, but I'm going to start with the optimistic side  is that there are so many choices,' Psaki said, praising Biden's appearances with Stern at Smartless co-hosts Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes.

Former White House Press Secretary has no issue with President Joe Biden's seeming disinterest in doing press conferences, saying he should entertain the ladies of The View instead

Biden has given just 89 total interviews and three press conferences in his first three years in office, a noted dip from former President Donald Trump's first three years, where he gave 300 interviews and 54 press conferences

She then went on to say that Biden should follow her lead and appear with the ladies of The View.

'When you're communicating from the White House, I mean respect for freedom of speech and freedom of the press is important, but you're also just really trying to communicate with the American people, right? So my view is he should come on "The View" before he does a press conference,' she continued.

Biden has taken flack for not being as publicly open with the press over his presidency.

White House officials claimed in 2023 that this is part of a deliberate strategy to go around the traditional news media to connect with audiences 'where they are,' without being subjected to the filter of political or investigative journalists, according to The New York Times report.

But, others surmise that Biden's camp are doing this to protect him from unscripted exchanges that have often garnered criticism and missteps.

White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt said: 'The fracturing of the media and the changing nature of information consumption requires a communications strategy that adapts to reach Americans where they get the news.

'Our ultimate goal is to reach the American people wherever and however they consume media, and that's not just through the briefing room or Washington-based news outlets.'

White House officials claim the move is part of a deliberate strategy to go around the traditional news media to connect with audiences 'where they are,' without being subjected to the filter of political or investigative journalists, according to The New York Times report.

Howard Stern interviews President Joe Biden on April 26

President Joe Biden sits with actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes for an episode of the 'Smartless' Podcast in November 2022

The Bidens' appear on the Drew Barrymore Show in October 2022

But, others surmise that Biden's camp are avoiding the traditional press to protect him from unscripted exchanges that have often garnered criticism and missteps.

White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt said: 'The fracturing of the media and the changing nature of information consumption requires a communications strategy that adapts to reach Americans where they get the news.

'Our ultimate goal is to reach the American people wherever and however they consume media, and that's not just through the briefing room or Washington-based news outlets.'

LaBolt also said Biden has held more question-and-answer sessions with journalists than Trump or presidents Obama and Bush.
An undocumented immigrant who illegally crossed the Mexican border into the US has been arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl.

Marvin Perez Lopez, 20, was arrested by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on Saturday after allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor under the age of 13.

Lopez, who has confessed to the crimes, made it to the United States from his native Guatemala in January.

After being picked up by Border Patrol he was released pending an immigration court date some three years in the future - in 2027.

Marvin Perez Lopez, 20, was taken into custody by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office for an incident involving the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor under 13 years old

Lopez made it to Florida in January of this year where it is alleged he carried out his heinous crimes against a pre-teen girl who is in the sixth grade.

The abduction occurred in a residential area of Lake Worth Beach, south of West Palm Beach.

Lopez is alleged to have raped the girl in a van that was parked outside her family home.

Incredibly, the girl's mother banged on the side of the van where her daughter was being held and she was able to escape.

Lopez then ran out of the van, saying he was sorry and asked for forgiveness.

The affidavit said the child and Lopez live in the same apartment building.

The mother didn't call the police initially because she was afraid that her own immigration status might be called into question. She had also had a prior incident when her daughter was taken from her by authorities.

The 11-year-old girl told investigators how Lopez grabbed her hand and told her to 'get into the van.'

She explained how he started touching her and that she pushed Lopez away and was able to get out of the van, only for him to pull her back inside the vehicle.

The girl then outlined to investigators how Lopez sexually assaulted her.

Police then went to Lopez's apartment to question him but as they did so, he escaped through a window in the back of the home.

Lopez sister-in-law appeared to now know what he had done.

'It was 9 at night and the mom came into my house saying that something happened with her daughter and Marvin,' Hermencie Vasquez said to WPTV. 'I asked Marvin what would he do if she got pregnant and if he would be responsible, and he said yes he would be responsible for the child.'

Lopez is currently being held in the Palm Beach Country Jail without bond. Police say he has admitted to the charges against him.

It was workers at the Guatemalan Maya Center that alerted police about the sexual assault.

'Our work in the community paid off because we have a good relationship with that center,' Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.

'We have a lot of people here in Palm Beach County that may or may not be illegal, and they become victims. They shouldn't be afraid to call us. We're not going to call Border Patrol if they're a victim and haven't committed a crime. We're going to help them.

'Before he [Lopez] even remotely even thinks he's going to get deported, he's going to do the time here first,' Bradshaw explained.

Lopez had made it to Florida from Guatemala where it is alleged he carried out his heinous crimes against a pre-teen

When migrants cross the US border, they are assigned a hearing date to explain to an immigration judge why they should not be deported.

The hearing is often set years in advance.

Immigrants are issued with a Notice to Appear when they enter, but the document also has to be filed with the court by the Department of Homeland Security.

'They know they'll get a hearing date many years from now and during that time, just with that hearing notice, for example, they can get a driver's license,' Immigration attorney Richard Hujber told WPTV.

'If they seek asylum, they can also get a work permit, and nobody is looking at the merit as to whether they have a legitimate valid asylum claim.'

When migrants cross the US border, they are assigned a hearing date to explain to an immigration judge why they should not be deported (file photo from April 2023)

This incident comes only months after three undocumented immigrants from Guatemala were accused of forcing a woman into a car and sexually battering her at two locations in Palm Beach County. From left, Andres Felipe Morale, Darinel Ordonez Jimenez, Marcos Felipe Ramirez

Failure to do so means the hearing can't proceed and a decision can't be made.

This incident comes only months after three undocumented immigrants from Guatemala were accused of forcing a woman into a car and sexually battering her at two locations in Palm Beach County.

All three suspects, 29-year-old Andres Felipe Morales, 30-year-old Darinel Ordonez Jjimenez, and 31-year-old Marcos Felipe Ramirez, were arrested and booked into the Palm Beach County jail.

Morales was faces charges of sexual assault and false imprisonment while the other other two are held on two counts of felony criminal conspiracy.
Police have swarmed the Western Australian high school of a 16-year-old boy who was shot dead by police after threats to shoot its students were posted online.

The teen stabbed a man in the Willetton Bunnings carpark in Perth's south about 10.15pm on Saturday, with police shooting the boy after they were unable to stop him with Tasers.

The man remains in Royal Perth Hospital in a stable condition.

A WA Police spokesperson said they were investigating the threats to Rossmoyne Senior High School - which appeared to be vexatious and not made by a student.

The disturbing messages were sent through the school's internal forum for students and teachers on Monday night.

The school of a 16-year-old boy (pictured several years ago) who was shot dead by police was sent into chaos on Tuesday morning

A series of disturbing messages (pictured) were posted to the school's internal forum on Monday night

They include: 'All I'm saying is Allahu Ahkbar I will kill the n...... tomorrow' and 'the reason I threw up gang signs in my photos is cause I always planned to shoot up at the school and f... all the n...... c... you are all going to get punished for what you have said to me in school we will prevail'.

The school's principal Alan Brown labelled the messages as a 'hoax' and blamed a 'hacking incident'.

'As many of you are aware there are some inappropriate messages circulating amongst students and in the community,' he said in an email on Tuesday, obtained by The West.

'It has been confirmed that there has been a hacking incident and the messages have not originated from a student.

'Police have been notified and are investigating the matter and have confirmed there is no additional threat to the school or our students.'

Several parents chose to keep their children home from school on Tuesday following the messages.

Six police cars and multiple officers were seen outside the school on Tuesday morning.

'Police do not have any concerns for the safety of the students, teachers and the broader community, and WA Police continue to work with the Department of Education to identify the source of the messages,' the spokesperson said.

One parent, upon leaving a meeting with the principal at the school, told reporters authorities would not tell parents if other youths that are part of a group of known extremists attended the school or where they were located.

'The Department of Education will not give out that information,' she said.

The parent said they had been told the school had done everything it could to ensure students' safety and that it was 'no concern' that the student had remained at the school after he detonated a homemade bomb that destroyed a toilet block.

The messages (pictured) threatened to 'shoot up' the school but the principal has declared them a hoax

Multiple police officers attended the school (pictured) on Tuesday morning and assured parents and students there was no ongoing threat

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'We had a known extremist that brought a bomb to school,' she said.

'They knew he was an extremist before the bomb, he had been an extremist in a program for about four years now, the bomb happened last year.'

She said students at the high school and other schools nearby felt scared, and if authorities were to wait until something happened to act, it would be too late.

On Monday, Premier Roger Cook confirmed claims that parents of students who attended Rossmoyne Senior High School, the same school as the boy, raised concerns about the teenager.

Mr Cook revealed the teenager had been radicalised online despite only having access to a 'very basic telephone' with no internet access.

Before the attack, the teenager sent a final message to people saying he was going on 'the path of jihad', with members of Perth's concerned Islamic community alerting police to the messages.

'Brothers please forgive me for any time I have wronged you, I am going on the path of jihad tonight for the sake of Allah,' the boy, who had reportedly converted to Islam, wrote.

'I am a soldier of the mujahideen of al-Qa'ida and take responsibility for the actions that will ... take place tonight.'

He also warned his contacts to 'clear' incriminating evidence from devices like laptops and phones.

'If you have any illegal or jihadi things online or in real life please make sure to hide them well and clear your technology such as laptops and phones including search history ... as the police will likely look into my contacts,' the boy wrote.

The teen had reportedly attempted to indoctrinate other students at his high school and had spent more than two years in a 'deradicalisation' program.

The 16-year-old boy was shot dead by police in Perth on Saturday after stabbing a man in the back (pictured, emergency services at the scene)

WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam said while Premier Roger Cook would like to spin this incident as an example of how his government was keeping the community safe, she struggled to agree with such a suggestion.

'We have an incident where a 16-year-old who had been in a deradicalisation program had been involved in creating a homemade bomb which had destroyed a toilet block,' she said.

'He had plans to interrupt an assembly in the most devastating of ways and had been able to continue to learn in a public mainstream school.

'There were a number of red flags raised by parents in this community and the Minister for Education continued to fob off those very real concerns.

'This is a government failing to keep a community safe.

'It is appalling to hear this government had repeatedly fobbed off this very real concerns of parents from this school community.'

Department of Education director-general Lisa Rodgers said it was a distressing incident for everybody and they were working closely with the school to make sure students were getting all the support they needed.

'I cannot comment on the specifics of this police investigation, but I can reassure parents there are very comprehensive protocols across many government agencies to identify students who may present a risk to others in relation to violent extremism,' she said.

'This includes referrals to the Department of Child Protection. Once a student is referred, specialist teams within WA Police case-manage the young person.'

Ms Rodgers said this process for dealing with students vulnerable to extremism had been in place between WA Police and the Department of Education since 2016, and in this particular case all the proper protocols were followed.

'Since 2022, this student has been on an individual management plan which outlined rules in regard to his behaviour, monitored his attendance and online engagement, included routine check-ins to authorities and saw him provided with extensive psychological support,' she said.

'He was also part of the Countering Violent Extremism Program.

'In every case when a young person is identified as being at risk of radicalisation, state Government agencies work together to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the whole student population, including those who may be vulnerable to extremism.'

Mr Cook also addressed claims an extremist group of teenagers were using Rossmoyne's prayer room as a meeting space.

A man in his 30s, who was not known to the teenager, was taken to hospital in a serious condition with back injuries

'The prayer room is about creating an inclusive school environment so that all students feel that they belong and can and can go to that school and get a great education in an inclusive community,' he said.

'With regards to the use of prayer rooms in that sort of environment this is an issue for our education experts to make a call on.

'They're the ones responsible for creating the schooling community and for educating our kids and they do a great job.'
An accountant who reportedly has links to the Comanchero bikie gang was kidnapped by three men clad in balaclavas after pulling up to his office.

The man had just arrived at work in Silverwater in Sydney's west at about 8.40am on Monday when he was suddenly pounced on and pulled from his car.

Police allege one kidnapper was brandishing a handgun.

A Sydney businessman was kidnapped on Monday morning by three men in balaclavas as he was arriving at work in Slough Business Park at Silverwater (pictured)

'Officers attached to State Crime Command's robbery and serious crime squad attended and commenced an investigation into the incident,' a police statement said.

Police traced two vehicles allegedly involved in the abduction - a BMW and a Hyundai.

One of the vehicles led investigators to a home in South Wentworthville where riot police were dispatched.

The missing accountant was not at the home but a tip-off at 7.30pm led police to Grantham Park in southwestern Sydney where he was found.

He reportedly suffered a broken nose and was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics for facial injuries.

Police say the businessman refused to go to hospital for the injury and has not co-operated with subsequent investigations.

Inquiries are continuing.
By Lee Min-hyung

The nation's major airlines are showing growing preference for Airbus planes amid inadequate quality control of scandal-tainted Boeing whose defective airplanes escalate safety woes across the industry, according to company officials, Tuesday.

Boeing has rapidly lost its once-robust corporate reputation after its Boeing 737 MAX  operated by Alaska Airlines  lost a door-plug panel during a flight in January, as no bolts had been installed on it.

In April, a Boeing 767 aircraft of Delta Air Lines also made an emergency landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after its exit slide fell off in midair.

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 also returned to Denver International Airport last month after its engine cover fell off during takeoff.

Given that any airline can take a serious hit in revenue and reputation in case of such a malfunction, planes from Airbus are increasingly being preferred by Korean aviation players, according to officials from major airlines here.

"Boeing's sequential involvement in safety scandals pushes more airlines to opt for Airbus jets," an official from an airline here said. "The safety concerns are escalating day after day, so it is natural for any airlines to display more preference for jets not manufactured by Boeing."

In March, Korean Air, the nation's flag carrier, clinched a contract with Airbus to procure 33 state-of-the-art A350 family of aircraft with an investment of $13.7 billion (18.61 trillion won).

Asiana Airlines also operates 69 passenger planes, but only 10 out of them are from Boeing.

T'way Air is also scheduled to borrow Airbus A330-200 aircraft from Korean Air for its new routes to Europe.

"After Boeing was mired in a series of scandals for its defective aircraft, airlines' preference for Airbus is on the rapid rise," the official said. "As far as I know, overseas airlines react more sensitively to the issue than their Korean counterparts."

Southwest Airlines, a U.S. air carrier, said it will not include the Boeing MAX 7 aircraft in its fleet this year.

Another official from a low-cost carrier here said the preference for Airbus is expected to remain in place until safety concerns are cleared.

"The involvement in any kind of safety controversy is the worst-case scenario from the perspective of the airlines," the official said. "Even if multiple factors are taken into consideration when introducing new planes  such as delivery timeline  few airlines are willing to sign a contract to introduce ones that have been linked to defect scandals."

Boeing ended up delivering only 83 airplanes in the first quarter of this year, down 47 percent from 157 in the previous quarter, amid unceasing safety concerns.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators defaced a World War I memorial in New York City's Central Park on Monday evening, daubing the base of a statue with graffiti and lighting an American flag on fire.

The demonstrators - part of a crowd of 1,000 people - also added Palestinian flags to the 107th Infantry memorial at the intersection of East 67th Street and Fifth Avenue.

The act of wanton vandalism was part of a 'day of rage' protest with those taking part showing no respect for the Stars & Stripes or the war memorial above.

Only a few protesters could be seen in video footage, but a chant of 'free Palestine' could be heard in the background. The word 'Gaza' was spray-painted onto the base of the statue in both black and red paint.

Its unclear if police have made any arrests for the vandalism.

Pro-Palestinian protestors vandalized a World War I memorial in Central Park on Monday as 1,000 marched around town

An American flag was left burning on the ground while chants of 'Free Palestine' rang out

The protestors spray-painted 'Gaza' on the base in black and red paint and added Palestinian flags to the memorial

The desecration of the memorials occurred when demonstrators could not get near the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as police blocked protestors access to the event.

Videos and photos showed police ordering protestors out of nearby streets and arresting those who didn't comply.

Almost 30 anti-Israel protesters were arrested close to the Met Museum.

Other protestors turned their attention to the 107th Infantry Memorial, pulling out marker pens and spray paint in order to make their mark. Some stuck Palestinian flag stickers onto the statue's bronze soldiers.

As footage of the desecration made rounds online, several onlookers - some of whom actually had relatives who served in WWI - made their distaste known.

'My great grandfather died over there,' one commenter wrote. 'Wish I was in the vicinity.'

'Seeing this is upsetting,' added another. 'My Dad served in the US army in Vietnam during the war. My uncle served in army in Panama during the Vietnam war. Also my great great uncle served in World War One. I find it very offensive.'

One person sniped: 'Someone there needs to push back on this. Step up to the plate and push these desecrations out.'

Another declared: 'Those who deface a memorial should serve long sentences in prison.'

'Disgusting,' one person simply wrote

'Make them pay to clean it up,' someone else added.

There was no police in sight in the now viral footage, with much of the NYPDs effort tasked with protecting the ongoing star-studded gala some 15 blocks north.

Video footage showed a few demonstrators chanting 'free Palestine' while defacing the statue, draping it with a Palestinian flag

The act occurred when protesters were unable to reach the Met Gala, prompting them to target the 107th Infantry memorial instead

Anti-Israel protesters vandalized a World War I memorial in Central Park

Protestors cheered those who defaced the memorial waving Palestinian flags

On Monday evening, the protestors marched throughout New York City after starting on Manhattan's Upper East and Hunter College. They headed to the Met as celebrities started to arrive.

The protests  officially billed as part of a 'Day Of Rage For Gaza: From The Encampments To The Streets'  began earlier on Monday afternoon at Columbia University and NYU downtown with the two groups merging close to the Gala.

Both protests met up at CUNY Hunter College at 5pm - just one mile from the Met, or about 20 minutes walk away before they made their way uptown.

After facing off with police, demonstrators started to march along Park Avenue blocking the southbound lanes.

Uniformed officers could be seen walking along the streets armed with dozens of plastic zip-ties should any further protestors wish to make an appearance and cause disruption.

A woman was forced to the ground by officers with the NYPD as she was placed under arrest

One thousand pro-Palestine protestors clashed with the NYPD just a block away from New York's Met Gala on Monday evening

Dozens of protestors were arrested along Madison Avenue and East 84th Street as the police attempted to ensure none of the demonstrators spilled over to neighboring Fifth Avenue where the Met Gala was taking place

Protestors were met with a swift response from the NYPD who had been bracing for them

A woman wearing a keffiyeh is placed under arrest by the NYPD

Police face pro-Palestinian demonstrators near the Met Gala

Police arrest an ultra-Orthodox Jewish pro-Palestinian demonstrator near the Met Gala

Police arrest a pro-Palestinian demonstrator near the Met Gala

A pro-Palestinian protester is apprehended on-site even before the Met Gala began

The NYPD had earlier said it was well prepared, adding that it would 'have an adequate security deployment.'

NYPD sources said the Met will have a larger security contingent than normal with both plain clothes police inside and outside the museum along Fifth Avenue, at the iconic Upper East Side venue.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, along with the police, noted how 'outside agitators' had been involved in the college demonstrations that had overrun college campuses across the city over the last two weeks.

Gaza demonstrators have not shied away from disrupting other high-profile events in the city including the 2023 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and last year's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting.

The Met Gala sees some of the biggest names in film, fashion, music, sports, politics and social media, making it a lightning rod for protests.

Nationwide campus protests began at Columbia in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza.

Actor Chris Hemsworth and his wife make a grand entrance under tight New York Police Department security at the Met Gala in New York City

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on Monday evening at Manhattan's Hunter College, just a mile away from the star-studded 2024 Met Gala

The message from the protestors was clear as they called for the war in Gaza to end

On Monday, the Ivy League school announced the cancelation of its university-wide commencement ceremony, scheduled for May 15.

'Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families,' the university said Monday. 'As a result, we will focus our resources on those school ceremonies and on keeping them safe, respectful, and running smoothly.'

This comes days after the New York Police Department burst onto Columbia with riot gear to break up the tent encampment and re-take Hamilton Hall back from student occupiers.

Over 100 people were arrested at the New York City university, according to CNN. Police said there were no injuries or people resisting arrest.
However, the results may be surprising to some readers

The top 10 best states have been revealed - and the list is sure to enrage people nationwide.

U.S. News and World Report, best known for its annual college ranking, released its list of the country's 'Best States' for 2024 on Tuesday.

The results were based on the average of three years of data from recent national surveys that asked nearly 70,000 people total to prioritize subjects such as public safety, crime and more in their home state.

Some categories were assigned more value than others. Health care and education were weighted most heavily, followed by state economies, infrastructure, and opportunity, a broad category including measures of affordability and equality.

The list is sure to infuriate those whose home states did not make the cut. Some might be aghast to find that New York is missing from the list; Arizona, despite its pristine natural landscape and growing economy, was also left off.

Read on to see if your state made the list.

1. Utah

Topping the list was none other than Utah. It achieved its high ranking thanks to its economy, which ranked third out of all 50 states; education, which ranked second; and infrastructure, which ranked third. The landlocked state fell behind in natural environment, falling to 46th place. This category encompasses metrics reflecting pollution threats and water and air quality, which were perceived as poor by residents.

Utah ranked first in the U.S. News and World Report's 'Best States' ranking for 2024. Pictured: Snow Canyon State Park

2. New Hampshire

Despite its small size, New Hampshire packed a punch in this year's rankings. The Granite State did the best by far in terms of crime and corrections, coming in first. This metric took into consideration crime rates as well as the number of incarcerated people in the state. New Hampshire also fared well in the categories of economy, natural environment and education, ranking seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.

New Hampshire came in second, scoring first in crime and corrections and faring well in the categories of economy, natural environment and education. Pictured: the town of Littleton

3. Nebraska

The Cornhusker State secured its high placement thanks to achievements in fiscal stability, ranking third, and infrastructure, ranking fourth. Its lowest mark was in the health care category, which factored in perceptions of public health, health care quality and health care access.

Nebraska ranked third, thanks to its resident's positive perceptions of the state's fiscal stability and infrastructure. Pictured: Toadstool Geologic Park

4. Minnesota

Minnesota achieved an impressively high ranking in natural environment, coming in second out of all states in the country. Its rankings in the categories of fiscal stability and infrastructure were fairly high as well - seventh and ninth - but the state lost some ground in terms of its economy, coming in 26th. While Minnesota's economy is growing, it is lagging behind the U.S. as a whole.

Minnesota scored well in the category of natural environment, ranking second out of all 50 states. Pictured: Birch Lake, St. Louis County

5. Idaho

Idaho - well-known for its potatoes, trout and snow-capped mountains - beat other contenders in the economy category, ranking second. All other rankings were in the double digits, with the exception of fiscal stability, which was ranked ninth. Residents docked the state some points over its perceived lack of protections for its natural environment, which came in 29th.

Idaho crushed its competitors in the economy category, but residents were less optimistic about the state's protections for its natural environment Pictured: the resort town of McCall

6. Iowa

Iowa ranked surprisingly high in the opportunity category, coming in third place. This metric included perceptions of affordability, economy and equality. Despite its low unemployment rate and robust job creation, the state stumbled when it came to its economy, landing in 36th place out of all 50 states.

Iowa ranked surprisingly high in the opportunity category, coming in third place

7. Vermont

Vermont soared to the top of the list in terms of opportunity, reaching the first-place spot. It also fared well in term of crime and corrections, ranking third. The small, rural state has long been regarded as one of the safest in the country. However, Vermont did less well in the fiscal stability category, ranking 35th. This metric took into account liquidity, budget balancing, pension fund liability and government credit rating.

Vermont, long regarded as one of the safest states in the country, ranked third in crime and corrections. It also ranked first in the opportunity category. Pictured: the village of Grafton

8. Washington

Washington, the only state named after a U.S. president, received high marks in the infrastructure and health care categories, ranking seventh and 10th respectively. The Biden administration's Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, passed in 2021, delivered billions of dollars worth of funding to the state, including over $5 billion for 1,192 road, bridge, transit and climate resilience projects.

Washington fared well in the infrastructure and health care categories, ranking seventh and 1 10th respectively. Pictured: the Space Needle in Seattle

9. Florida

Florida ranked surprisingly well in its education and economy categories - first in both. Residents appear to think highly of reading and math scores, tuition and fees, and college readiness throughout the state. However, Florida nearly wound up at the bottom of the list when it came to opportunity - 45th place.

Floridians ranked their home state highly went it came to education and economy, landing it top marks in both categories. Pictured: Miami Beach

10. Massachusetts

The Bay State narrowly made it into the top 10. It attained single-digit rankings in health care, education, crime and corrections, natural environment and economy. However, residents were unhappy with fiscal stability and infrastructure, both of which ranked 39th. Governor Maura Healey signed legislation on Sunday authorizing $200 million for the 2025 fiscal year to fund bridge and road maintenance and other projects across the state.
Two men who committed hundreds of acts of child sexual abuse - including against family members and kids under their watch at a childcare centre - have been handed a combined 63-year sentence for their crimes.

The men, who are aged 25 and 30, used their many victims as 'play things' before their arrests in June 2020, a judge declared during their sentencing on Tuesday.

The duo were in a relationship with each other before the busts under an Australian Federal Police-led taskforce that revealed one of the worst child abuse cases in the nation's history.

The older of the men, neither of whom can be identified for legal reasons, was sentenced to 37 years behind bars at Sydney's Downing Centre District Court.

He was handed a non-parole period of 26 years, meaning he will be ineligible for release until June 2046.

Judge Sarah Hopkins (pictured) said the men engaged in a predatory and persistent pattern of offending, dehumanising their victims as 'play things'

Two men who committed hundreds of acts of child abuse were sentenced to a combined 63-years behind bars at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court (pictured)

The younger man received a 26-year sentence with a non-parole period of 16 years and nine months, making him first eligible for release in March 2037.

Both men reported being sexually and physically assaulted while behind bars and as a result are being housed in protective custody.

Following their arrests, the men pleaded guilty to hundreds of serious child abuse offences including aggravated sexual intercourse with very young children, in March 2022.

The older man, who worked at a childcare centre, was convicted of 248 offences, including 195 acts of a sexual nature against 27 children.

The younger man was convicted of 106 offences, including physical acts against seven children, including some who were the children of his sisters.

Judge Sarah Hopkins said the men engaged in a predatory and persistent pattern of offending, dehumanising their victims as 'play things'.

Despite the men's relatively young ages at the time of the offending - including one being a juvenile when the crimes began - the judge said the 'prolonged and egregious' nature of their abuse meant their youth was less significant in determining sentence.

She noted significant jail time imposed on the men reflected the community's 'abhorrence' for such crimes and the need for general deterrence.

After being employed by a childcare centre in June 2017, the older man recorded hundreds of photos and videos of children, including showing him lifting up their clothing.

The abuse was uncovered when one of the parents told the centre her son complained the man kissed him on the lips and liked 'looking at his bum'.

Following an investigation, the man was served a prohibition notice preventing him from working in childcare and education and he resigned from the centre in January 2019.

Police would later recover hundreds of thousands of child abuse images and videos from devices seized from the men.

The older man admitted sharing the material online and collaborating with a network of like-minded persons, the true extent of which remained unknown, the court was told.

AFP Commander Kate Ferry said the operation that led to the men's arrests uncovered some of the worst offending the agency had ever seen.

'The criminal behaviour of these two men is perhaps the most disturbing representation of what child sex offenders are capable of,' she said.

'Being the systemic sexual abuse of children over many years, across geographical locations and by people who have been entrusted with so much responsibility.'

The older man was convicted of 248 offences including 195 acts of a sexual nature against 27 children (pictured stock image)

Both men reported being sexually abused themselves as children, including extreme acts of degradation committed against the older man that were reportedly filmed and posted online.

Judge Hopkins accepted the older man was remorseful but had limited insight into the nature of his offending.

In a letter to the court, the man said: 'I confused love, care, trust and affection with abuse.'

He demonstrated narcissistic, pedophiliac and empathy disorders, and had a high risk of future offending - meaning he should never be given access to children, the court was told.

He may also be a candidate for anti-libidinal therapy, commonly referred to as 'chemical castration'.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
She's also worked at NBC News and has been seen schmoozing with the Obamas

A former CNN reporter took to social media Sunday to talk about how she is 'haunted' by a dinner with several Donald Trump supporters who, at first glance, seemed 'normal.'

'All were well-educated and successful in careers,' Michelle Kosinski recalled of the recent dinner party that she described on X.

'They seemed great! On the surface. For like an hour ' the one-time NBC News correspondent continued, categorizing the Trump-leaning guests as 'closeted.'

'But slowly, over a few drinks, they began to let slip their true MAGA natures.'

The 50-year-old who served as CNN's White House Correspondent until 2020 went on to add how she was surprised by the revelation - marveling at how a 'normal' a group of people could support a politician she does not approve of.

Former CNN reporter Michelle Kosinski took to social media Sunday to talk about how she is 'haunted' by a dinner with several Donald Trump supporters.

The 50-year-old who served as CNN's White House Correspondent until 2020 went on to add how she was surprised by the revelation - marveling at how a 'normal' a group of people could support a politician she does not like. She is seen here with her husband Kimbell Duncan and the Obamas in a photo from her stint as WH correspondent

She proceeded to provide personal details about the party guests, along with some of their children

'One of the couples each attended top Ivy League colleges,' the former CNN staffer wrote in a thread that has since been viewed 3million times.

'But now that it was university time for their own kids, they were adamantly NOT letting them apply to any ivies.

'And were weird about explaining why. Though the kids were double legacies. Okayyy... moving on...'

Pivoting from the subject likely linked to recent protests over the current conflict in Gaza, Kosinski turned to the next group of non-progressive principles.

'The next crew suddenly busted out with air quotes when mentioning climate change,' the onetime Senior Diplomatic Correspondent for famously left-leaning CNN recalled.

'Again, these are otherwise smart people,' she added, insinuating that the millions of Americans who support the current GOP frontrunner are of below-average intelligence.

'Not scientists, clearly,' she sniped. 'But educated. And the dude took seething umbrage when my friend mentioned the damage Trump had done and vowed to continue to do.'

'The others,' she added, 'when they realized that a few in their presence came armed with (gasp) actual facts (NO!)-- quickly changed the subject.

'[They] nervously said they don't want to talk politics,' the journalist remembered, adding of her fellow diners: 'They realized they would be eviscerated on all idiotic points, especially on the economy.'

'My friends and I realized we were surrounded by otherwise carefully closeted MAGAts,' she eventually concluded - before describing how the supposed 'ordeal' has already left an emotional toll

'It's funny how the extremist or just wrong beliefs can't help but leak out, even when you least expect them, and from people you least expect. They are out there.'

'This dinner continues to haunt me. They all seemed so... normal.'

Many were quick to mock the anecdote, pointing out the political writer's hesitance to accept other schools of thought as legitimate, as well as her desire to not socialize with those sporting particular views.

Kosinski, most recently the host of a left-leaning podcast, has 65.5K followers on X, with whom she regularly shares anti-Trump content

Donald Trump is seen leaving Trump Tower on his way to court in Manhattan on Monday

Commenters were quick to hone in on the outspoken progressive's apparent desire to put Trump supporters through a process - made popular by several regimes - known as 'reeducation'

'[They] nervously said they don't want to talk politics,' the journalist remembered, adding of her fellow diners: 'They realized they would be eviscerated on all idiotic points, especially on the economy'

'Damn, to be haunted by conversations with those you disagree. You have my sympathy,' wrote one such user, in a post that has been like more than 1,500 times.

Jokingly parroting he "This dinner continues to haunt me", someone else sniped" You desperately need to engage with people outside your bubble if divergent views "haunt" you.

Someone else added: 'You live in your bubble.

'People are fed up with self-righteous progressives freedom of thought precedes freedom of speech.'

Mark Hemingway of Real Clear Investigations, meanwhile, pointed to how mortgage rates have tripled after three years of Joe Biden.

'It is truly amazing how at a time when mortgage rates have close to tripled in three years, overall consumer prices are up 20 percent (25 for food), and Russia's at war in Eastern Europe and the entire Middle East is a powder keg -- the response is "MAGAs don't know facts!"'

Others online were quick to mock the outspoken progressive's presumptuous anecdote

Others honed in on the outspoken progressive's apparent desire to put Trump supporters through a process made popular by regimes known as 'reeducation.'

'If people don't ever talk about these things as friends and neighbors, and only live in their own warped information silos, how will they ever learn what is true or false?' a post from Koinski in the same threat reads.

'How will the truth ever make them consider alternatives? The allure of bullsh*t is co-opting decent minds.'

Kosinski, most recently the host of a left-leaning podcast, has 65.5K followers on X, with whom she regularly shares anti-Trump content.

In a post published in December 2016, she is seen schmoozing with her husband and the Obamas during her stint as CNN's White House Correspondent.

She has yet to pen a follow-up to her series of posts about the dinner.
Several women have been targeted by a serial flasher at a popular walking spot with police promising 'positive body language' will help keep them safe.

At least five women have shared online their harrowing experiences with a male flasher at Lake Eden in North Lakes, a northern suburb of Brisbane, over the last two months.

The man is described as having blonde hair and is frequently seen wearing a singlet and coloured boardshorts.

April reported seeing him on a Sunday afternoon in late March, the Courier Mail reported.

She noticed the strange man sitting on a bench and staring at her.

A serial flasher has been targeting women walking at Lake Eden (pictured) in North Lakes, Brisbane

'There was a group of people walking ahead and once they went around the corner, he got up and started walking ahead,' she said.

'As I approached the corner, I walked as far away from the bush as I could and he popped his head out from behind the tree.

'When I yelled out, he dashed off in the opposite direction.'

Maggie encountered the flasher on April 15 while walking her dogs.

She noticed the man walking towards her before he 'veered off' into nearby bushes.

'At first I thought he was going to going to urinate, but that in itself is weird because he was walking towards me,' she said.

'I could still see him from between some trees.

'He put his hands down his pants, but I saw the pathway to the left and took that pathway, so I wouldn't have to walk past him.'

Maggie believes the man only left her alone as another person walked past her.

'I think he was going to follow me up that pathway,' she said.

'I hadn't seen him until he was right in front of me walking towards me, so I think it was just he saw that I was alone.

'There was no one around and thought it was a good time.'

Holly shared another report against the man on April 26 when she saw him running towards her before slowing as he came close.

'I continued my walk and then noticed him jumping over the railing into the bushes,' she said

'As I walked past, I turned around to see him hiding behind the tree with his hands in his waistband.

'As he saw me looking, he jumped back over the rail to run towards the other direction.

'He kept looking back towards me while running.'

Sophie said she was almost brought to tears after the man approached her on April 27.

'I noticed a man following behind me and didn't think anything of it until I noticed he had gotten in front of me and started watching me as I walked past,' she said.

'He had his pants down and hands in his you-know-what.

'I started to fast walk towards people as I thought it was pretty suspicious.

'I then heard him yell out to me to come over to him, and that's when I started panicking.

'I was still a little far from my car, so I started jogging and realised he had disappeared.'

Another woman, Paula, saw the man in April doing 'odd things' with his hands down his pants.

Concerned residents applauded an increased police presence at the lake but said they won't feel safe until CCTV cameras are installed at the park.

Many women are now too scared to walk alone in the area for fears the man's behaviour could suddenly escalate.

Queensland Police Service Facebook page told residents 'good personal safety can be achieved by the following steps'.

The man is described as having blonde hair and is frequently seen wearing a singlet and coloured boardshorts.

'Exhibit strong and positive body language to appear self-assured,' it said.

'Be mindful of your surroundings; listen to, trust, and act on your instincts if you sense danger, remove yourself from the situation.

'Where possible, walk in well-lit areas and face oncoming traffic; inform a friend or family members where you are going and an ETA for your return.

'Together, we can do our bit to ensure our communities are as safe as possible.'

Queensland Police Service asked anyone with information about the flasher to reach out to Policelink at 131 444.
Kris Hallenga told how she founded charity CoppaFeel with her twin sister because her fatal tumour was only spotted when it was too late.

The campaigner, 38, has died after 15 years of living with secondary breast cancer, having been diagnosed in 2009 aged 23 and given a life expectancy of two years.

Kris used her charity to teach a generation of women how to make sure breast cancer is diagnosed early and accurately.

Before her death, Kris revealed she had been motivated by being 'confused and baffled' when diagnosed with the disease.

'I kept thinking this is b*******. Why didn't anyone tell me to check my boobs? Why didn't I know I could get breast cancer at 23? I'm pretty sure my friends don't know either, and if none of us do then literally no young person in this country f****** knows this secret. This needs to change. And I got this wave of energy,' she told the Guardian in 2021.

After her diagnosis in 2009, Kris founded CoppaFeel with her twin sister Maren, and watched the charity grow to become the third most recognised cancer charity in the UK.

Kris Hallenga, 38, (pictured) has died after 15 years of living with secondary breast cancer

Kris (right) told how she founded charity CoppaFeel with her twin sister Maren (left) because she was never told how to check for breast cancer

In a statement about her death, CoppaFeel said yesterday: 'We share the sad news that our founder, boob chief, colleague, friend and queen of glittering turds, Kris, has died.

'Kris approached life in a creative, fun and fearless way, showing us that it is possible to live life to the full with cancer.'

CoppaFeel has a huge following on social media and encourages woman to check their breasts for signs of cancer.

Kris is the best-selling author of Glittering A Turd, a book which details how she discovered her life after being told she would die.

In its statement, CoppaFeel added: 'In 2009 Kris was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer at the age of 23, after being turned away from her GP for over a year.

'By the time she was diagnosed, it was terminal. Kris' ambition was for no one else to find themselves in her position and so CoppaFeel! was born, to ensure breast cancers are diagnosed early and accurately.

'Kris has reached millions of people with her message of health advocacy and empowerment, successfully campaigned for cancer education to be included in the school curriculum, won the Women of the Year Outstanding Young Campaigner award, received an Honorary Doctorate in Public Administration from Nottingham Trent University and wrote a Times Best Selling book: Glittering a Turd.

The campaigner was first diagnosed in 2009 with incurable secondary breast cancer and given a life expectancy of just two years

Kris made a conscious decision to face her illness head-on and seize every opportunity

Kris is the best-selling author of Glittering A Turd, seen here with an advert for her book which details how she discovered her life after being told she would die

'Kris' life mission was that CoppaFeel! would no longer need to exist, with late diagnosis of breast cancer eradicated in her lifetime. We are committed to continuing Kris' legacy, to ensure that everyone has the best chance of living a happy and healthy life. If you'd like to support this mission, you can donate here.'

The charity added: 'For 15 years Kris had been living with secondary breast cancer. She hasn't lost a battle, she wasn't in a fight and she certainly wouldn't want you to see her death as tragic. She was simply living. She was 38 and died with fulfilment and a heart full of love.

Kris' family have one request  for peace and privacy to allow them the time and space needed to process Kris' death. We would like to thank our community for your love and messages of support and kindly ask that you respect the family's wishes at this time.

'Please remember the amazing life Kris led and the things she achieved, but above all else honour her memory by checking your chestit could just save your life.

'Trust your body, believe in hope, leave room for miracles.' Kris Hallenga.

'With love from all at CoppaFeel! HQ x.'
A fraudster who scammed women he met on Tinder out of 80,000 by stealing their personal details while on dates with them.

Peter Gray secretly took photos of driving licences and bank cards while on dates with four women, before using them to apply for massive loans.

The 35-year-old portrayed himself as being a loving, caring partner who showered his victims with gifts and even got one of them pregnant.

However, the West Yorkshire man had a dark side bubbling under the surface, and set alarm bells ringing for one of the women when he sent flowers to her home despite not being told where she lived.

Gray, from West Yorkshire, would later leave a trail of ruined lives behind him, with one victim having her mortgage revoked two days before moving into her new home as a result of his actions.

In February this year the conman was jailed for 56 months and handed restraining orders preventing him contacting all four women.

The women involved have warned people to be mindful of similar cons, with one saying it had 'totally ruined my life'. Tinder says it has 'implemented various ways to warn users of potential scams'.

Were YOU affected by this scam? Email matthew.lodge@mailonline.co.uk

Peter Gray (pictured) scammed four women out of 80,000 after meeting them on the dating app Tinder

The scammer took photos of his victim's bank cards and driving licences before applying for bank loans using their details. Pictured: Gray's Tinder profile

When Gray first met his victims he put on the persona of a kind man, with one called Jessica - not her real name - recalling how he was a 'good listener and everything I needed at the time'.

Meeting the fraudster on Tinder in 2018 after she had come out of a six-year relationship, she told BBC Radio 5 Live's Clare McDonnell how she was targeted by him on just their third date.

'I left my bag on his dining table, he went in my bag and took pictures of my driving licence and both my bank cards,' she said.

Using her details he would take out loans worth 9,000 out in her name, with Jessica going to the police after she discovered the fraud despite the conman's attempts to convince her to let him pay it back over time.

She says his actions have 'totally ruined my life' and left her unable to trust strangers.

Another of his victims, Hannah, told the BBC how despite coming across as 'calming and reassuring' she sensed something wasn't quite right with Gray.

Only a week after ending her relationship with the fraudster she received a letter in the post saying she'd had a 20,000 loan application accepted.

He would convince her to take him back months later, showering her with gifts, before she ended it once more due to the 'alarm bells and red flags' that were 'waving high'.

Hannah would later find out she pregnant, but her sister delved into Gray's history and found one of his ex's who warned them about him, with the information tearing her world apart.

Hannah (left) said her world fell apart after her sister (right) found out about Peter Gray's past and told her about him

Gray (pictured here in his police mugshot) was jailed for 56 months and handed restraining orders forbidding him from contacting the women

She says she was determined not to let her child be brought up 'anywhere near such a vile human', adding that her world had 'broken apart in front of my eyes in that half-an-hour conversation'.

In 2020 Gray matched with Elizabeth - not her real name - on the app before pulling off the exact same con.

The warning signs started to appear when he the scammer sent flowers to her home, despite not being told where she lived.

She told the BBC: 'Red flags popped up, but I just kept thinking, stop being silly, you need to be going for a guy that treats you nice.'

It was only when Elizabeth had her mortgage revoked two days before moving into her new house that she realised Gray had obtained a loan of 10,000 using her driving licence.

She says the havoc he has wreaked on her life has left her distrusting of people, and constantly asking 'Is this person who they say they are or are they not?'

Gray was brought to justice after two of the women he scammed invoked the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, also known as Clare's Law, which asks police to do background checks on their partner.

A Tinder spokesman told MailOnline : 'The unfortunate reality is that scammers may pull on the heartstrings and prey on those looking for love or connection - not just on dating apps but on all online platforms.

'Tinder acts to help prevent and warn users of potential scams or fraud by using AI tools to detect words and phrases and proactively intervene.

'We have implemented various ways to warn users of potential scams or fraud, from in-app features to popup messages and education.

'We encourage our users to look for the 'blue tick', which indicates that the user's age and likeness have been verified through our Photo and ID Verification programmes, which require users to submit an official document (either passport or driving license).

'All users can request that their match be photo-verified prior to messaging. We also partner with NGOs and local authorities to promote awareness of online fraud.
A consultant gynaecologist who sterilised a new mother without her permission while in a middle of a cesarean section has been suspended for a year.

Dr Olusegun Lawrence Olujide had 'no excuse' to carry out an 'outdated' procedure on the female patient during the birth of her baby at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, in Winchester.

He had not received permission from the patient and there was no clinical justification for doing it without consent, a disciplinary hearing was told.

Dr Olujide also failed to tell colleagues that he intended to carry out the sterilisation and then didn't inform the woman afterwards that he had done so.

Concerned colleagues raised the alarm to bosses about his behaviour who then took 'immediate action to ensure other patients were not put at risk'.

Dr Olujide no longer works for the hospital.

Dr Olusegun Lawrence Olujide sterilised a female patient without her permission during the birth of her baby at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, in Winchester (pictured)

He admitted misconduct following the incident on August 6, 2020.

At the hearing, Katie Nowell, counsel for the General Medical Council, said that the method that Dr Olujide used to sterilise the patient, the application of diathermy to the fallopian tubes, is outdated.

She also said that he had shown 'limited reflection' following the incident, and that he had failed to identify where exactly he had gone wrong - although she did say he had now apologised to the patient.

The tribunal decided that Dr Olujide's fitness to practice has been impaired, with the tribunal deciding to suspend him from practicing for 12 months.

Dr Olujide asked for the suspension period to begin in 28 days time, allowing patients under his care to be transferred to a different doctor in a timely and responsive manner.

Ms Nowell added that the GMC was not calling for Dr Olujide to be suspended immediately, saying that it had not received any complaints about his conduct since the incident in August 2020.

The chair of the tribunal, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, said: 'Having considered all submissions in this case, we have determined that a 12-month suspension is in order.'

A spokesperson for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: 'We would like to express our deepest regret to the patient affected by the actions of Dr Olujide.

'Obtaining patient consent is fundamental to ethical practice, as is made clear by the General Medical Council, and the provision of good care; there is simply no excuse for what took place.

'We are very grateful to those colleagues who recognised that Dr Olujide had carried out the procedure without consent and raised the alarm.

'Through them, we were able to take immediate action to ensure other patients were not put at risk and we could give our sincerest apologies to the patient and explain what had happened.

'We respect the decision made by the General Medical Council and the further scrutiny provided through their tribunal, and we can confirm that Dr Olujide will not be reinstated by Hampshire Hospitals.

'If any patients of Dr Olujide are concerned we would invite them to make contact through our Patient Advice and Liaison Service by emailing PALSandcomplaints@hhft.nhs.uk or on 01256 486766.'
What do YOU think?

People visiting Cumbria's beaches have been warned they could face fines of up to 1,000 for removing pebbles or shells.

The Coastal Protection Act states it is unlawful in the UK to take any natural materials such as sand, shells and pebbles.

Cumberland Council said it wants to educate visitors about the harm caused to the environment when shells are removed.

Shells and pebbles, which are often collected as ornaments or souvenirs, act as a natural barrier protecting the land from coastal erosion, Neil Dixon from Cumberland Council explained.

'Although it might seem harmless to remove a few stones and pebbles from our beaches it is actually quite detrimental to the delicate ecosystem that is situated here,' he said.

However, locals and visitors slammed the threat of fines, saying collecting shells is a normal and fun part of going to the beach.

What do YOU think? Email katherine.lawton@mailonline.co.uk

People visiting Cumbria's beaches have been warned they could face fines of up to 1,000 for removing pebbles or shells

Steve Emery, a resident of Allonby in Cumbria, said: '[For] young kids and families, it's part of being at the seaside. It's part of the history of Allonby.'

Meanwhile, Scott MacKinnon said picking shells gives you a 'souvenir of your day', adding that people should only be fined for 'taking loads'.

Cumberland Councillor Bob Kelly, Executive Member for Cumberland Policy and Regulatory Services, said: 'I understand people's reluctance to follow this guidance, as I have been a collector of shells myself. But taking a pebble or a shell from a beach, can in fact damage the environment.

'Pebbles and other natural matter act as a natural sea defence against coastal erosion, natural flood defences and wildlife habitats which many experts warn has become even more of an issue due to climate change.

'We are asking people to leave the pebbles, shells and sand as we all want to ensure that our beaches remain vibrant and intact for future generations.'
On February 28, Chris 'Willow' Wilson and Seb Robinson were part of a three-chopper egg collection expedition (map pictured) to the remote King River swamps in West Arnhem Land

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

7:03am Pilot Seb Robinson and egg collector Chris 'Willow' Wilson are on one of three Robinson R44 helicopters which set off from Noonamah on a crocodile egg collection operation on West Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, about 500km from Darwin. Each chopper has one pilot and one egg collector. They fly for 90 minutes to a drum refuelling site in the bush near Mount Borradaile.

8.30am Choppers fly from drum refuelling area to the King River staging area, 20 minutes away. Mr Wilson allegedly shares a picture of the fuel gauge showing it was almost full to their shared WhatsApp group.

Around 9am Choppers split up to go to their various egg collection areas. Two head 12km north-east and collected eggs from nine nests between 0911 and 1014.

10.14am The other two crews realise they've not heard from Robinson and Wilson and chief helicopter pilot - and director of Remote Helicopters Australia - Michael Burbidge, 44, goes to look for them.

10.36am It finds the wreckage of their helicopter, 30km south of South Goulburn Island. Mr Wilson, 34, is dead 40m from the wreckage and Mr Robinson, 28, is seriously hurt with spinal injuries on the ground next to the aircraft. Their chopper has collided with trees and terrain. The second chopper briefly takes off again to make radio contact and raise the alarm.

Outback Wrangler Matt Wright allegedly flies to the crash scene with off-duty police sergeant Neil Mellon and Darwin publican and crocodile farmer Mick Burns. Mr Burns has not been charged with any offences.

The chopper (pictured) was found upright but badly damaged. Trees nearby showed signs of being damaged by its rotors, but there was no fire at the scene

12.30pm A CareFlight helicopter arrives at the scene and airlifts the pilot to Maningrida, where he was transferred by plane to Darwin.

APRIL 19, 2022: The Australian Transport Safety Bureau release their initial findings into the crash, with the full report expected in the first quarter of 2023. It finds the helicopter's engine stopped prior to impacting the ground. Just 250ml of fuel was in the fuel bladders which were both intact, but the report notes fuel may have drained into a nearby creek as the fuel system was damaged in the crash. There were no other obvious signs of mechanical failure and no fire at the scene.

AUGUST 25, 2022: Father of three Neil Mellon, 47, is arrested shortly after he arrives for work at Darwin police station. Police raid his home and allegedly find illegal wildlife, fireworks and firearms.

AUGUST 26, 2022: Mellon is charged with 31 offences, including attempting to pervert the course of justice and stealing and unlawfully accessing data. His charges also relate to weapons, firearms and wildlife offences, as well as alleged destruction of evidence in relation to a major crash investigation.

Later the same day, his wife Sandi, also a serving NT police officer, posts accusations on Facebook, unrelated to the crash, about a former close female friend which were later deleted.

Mellon is understood to have since resigned from the police after 27 years' service.

SEPTEMBER, 2022: Outback Wrangler and father of four Matt Wright, 43, relocates with his pregnant wife Kaia from Darwin to the Gold Coast in Queensland.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022: Helicopter pilot Michael Burbridge - who was first on the scene of the tragedy - is charged in connection with the crash. He is accused of destroying evidence, conspiracy and attempting to pervert the course of justice, and providing a false statement.

NOVEMBER 28, 2022: NT Police issue an arrest warrant for Wright and he's told to present himself at Darwin police station within 48 hours to face at least six serious charges concerning the crash. They relate to his actions before and after the crash and allege he tampered with evidence.

NOVEMBER 29, 2022: Wright checks in for an 8.15am flight from Sydney to Darwin with his wife and their newborn daughter Dusty. He is charged in the afternoon with a string of offences in relation to the chopper crash.

NOVEMBER 30, 2022: Wright appears at Darwin Court on seven charges relating to the crash which he strenuously denies and is granted bail until the next court appearance on January 25, 2023.

Wright is charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, destroying evidence, fabricating evidence, unlawfully entering a building, unlawfully entering a dwelling, making a false declaration and interfering with witnesses in a criminal investigation or court process by making threats/reprisals.

NOVEMBER 22, 2023: Air Transport Safety Bureau finds the crash 'likely' happened when the helicopter ran out of fuel and Chris Wilson died of multiple injuries when the pilot released him from above a survivable height as he dangled below the chopper.

DECEMBER 7, 2023: Wright, Mellon and Burbidge will face court for a preliminary examination application in Darwin. If the application is unsuccessful, the trio will return to court on December 8 for a Preliminary Examination (on the papers). However, if the application is successful, a further court date will be set, probably next year, for a Preliminary Examination (Oral).
Palestinian militant group Hamas on Monday agreed to a Gaza cease-fire proposal from mediators, but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and pressed ahead with strikes in Rafah while planning to continue negotiations on a deal.

The developments in the seven-month-old war came as Israeli forces struck Rafah on Gaza's southern edge from the air and ground and ordered residents to leave parts of the city, which has been a refuge for more than a million displaced Palestinians.

Hamas said in a brief statement that its chief, Ismail Haniyeh, had informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the group accepted their proposal for a cease-fire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said later that the truce proposal fell short of Israel's demands but Israel would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement.

Qatar's foreign ministry said its delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

In a statement, Netanyahu's office added that his war cabinet approved continuing an operation in Rafah. Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on social media site X that Netanyahu was jeopardizing a cease-fire by bombing Rafah.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the proposal that Hamas approved was a watered-down version of an Egyptian offer and included elements that Israel could not accept.

"This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal," said the Israeli official.

Another official briefed on the agreement said Hamas had agreed to the phased cease-fire and hostage release deal Israel proposed on April 27 with only minor changes that did not affect the main parts of the proposal.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington would discuss the Hamas response with its allies in the coming hours, and a deal was "absolutely achievable".

More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, according to Gaza health officials. The U.N. has said famine is imminent in the enclave.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Rafah hit by strikes

Any truce would be the first pause in fighting since a week-long cease-fire in November, during which Hamas freed around half of the hostages.

Since then, all efforts to reach a new truce have foundered over Hamas' refusal to free more hostages without a promise of a permanent end to the conflict, and Israel's insistence that it would discuss only a temporary pause.

Taher Al-Nono, a Hamas official and adviser to Haniyeh, told Reuters the proposal met the group's demands for reconstruction efforts in Gaza, return of displaced Palestinians and a swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

The Hamas deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, told Al Jazeera television the proposal comprised three phases of six weeks each, with Israel to pull its troops out of Gaza in the second phase.

Earlier on Monday, Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of Rafah, the city on the Egyptian border that has served as the last sanctuary for around half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents.

An Israeli strike on a house in Rafah killed five Palestinians, including a woman and a girl, medics said.

Israel believes that a significant number of Hamas fighters, along with potentially dozens of hostages, are in Rafah and has said that victory requires taking the key city.

Israel's closest ally, the United States, has called on it not to assault Rafah, saying it must not do so without a full plan in place to protect civilians there, which has yet to be presented.

A separate U.S. official said that Washington is concerned about Israel's latest strikes against Rafah but does not believe they represent a major military operation.

Israel said on Monday it was conducting limited operations on the eastern part of Rafah. Palestinian residents said there were massive air strikes.

They have been firing since last night and today after the evacuation orders, the bombardment became more intense because they want to frighten us to leave, Jaber Abu Nazly, a 40-year-old father of two, told Reuters via a chat app.

Others are wondering whether there is any place safe in the whole of Gaza, he added.

Instructed by Arabic text messages, phone calls and flyers to move to what the Israeli military called an "expanded humanitarian zone" around 20 km (12 miles) away, some Palestinian families began trundling away in chilly spring rain.

Some piled children and possessions onto donkey carts, while others left by pick-up or on foot through muddy streets.

As families dismantled tents and folded belongings, Abdullah Al-Najar said this was the fourth time he had been displaced since the fighting began seven months ago.

"God knows where we will go now. We have not decided yet." (Reuters)
A security expert specialising in Mexico has argued that the theory suggesting that thieves killed two Australian brothers and their American friend for their tyres doesn't stack up.

The remains of Callum, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, and their American friend Carter Rhoad, 30, were found in a well, with authorities investigating their deaths as murder.

The Robinson brothers, originally from Perth, were in northern Mexico on a surfing holiday when they failed to check into an Airbnb near the city of Ensenada in the province of Baja California last Saturday.

Jake and Callum's Perth-based mother Debra raised the alarm and when police arrived at their last known whereabouts, they discovered a campsite covered in blood.

Baja California state prosecutors believe the alleged killers were driving by when they spotted the foreigners' pick-up truck.

Australian brothers Callum, 33 (left) and Jake (right), 30, were found in a well, with authorities investigating their deaths as murder

The alleged murderers attempted to destroy the evidence by burning the tent and driving off in the pick-up away before it was alight (pictured: the trio's vehicle was later found burnt-out in the Santo Tomas area)

Chief state prosecutor Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez said that they attempted to steal its tyres and parts, but the men resisted.

She said that's when the killers would have shot the men. She said they were likely not attacked because they were tourists.

'The evidence suggests they (the killers) did not know where they were from.'

The alleged murderers attempted to destroy the evidence, burning the tent and driving the coveted pick-up away before setting it alight as well.

The bodies were dumped in a four metre deep well about 6km away, on top of a fourth body prosecutors say had been there much longer.

It took rescuers up to 20 hours to pull the bodies out of the well, with physical characteristics, including hair and clothes, matching the three men.

Expert points out major flaw with tyre theory

However, Eltan Talmi, CEO of Tactical Troop, a private security company specialising in Mexico, argues that the theory suggesting the brothers were killed for their tyres doesn't stack up.

'The tyres issue is, of course, a cover story,' he said.

'No one will kill three tourists in Mexico for tyres. You can steal the tyres during the night without drawing so much attention.'

His comments come after the style of the alleged slayings - a single gunshot to the head - sparked fears locally about the possible involvement of drug cartels, which are rife in the region.

Violence in Mexico is mainly carried out by warring cartels and criminal groups battling for control of the cities, according to Mr Talmi.

'Many tourists from many parts of the world believe they can behave the same as they do in their home country without understanding the culture,' he said.

Mr Talmi said that areas like Baja California are of special concern for tourists as they are very isolated with low government presence.

'Mexico today is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Visitors may face different risks as robberies, kidnappings, extortions and more,' he said.

Eltan Talmi (pictured) is a security expert and the founder/chief executive of Tactical Troop

It took rescuers up to 20 hours to pull the men's bodies out of the well (pictured)

Three suspects arrested

Mexican authorities have detained three suspects- Jesus Gerardo Garcia Cota (alias El Kekas), his partner Ari Gisel Garcia Cota, and his brother Cristian Alejandro Garcia

They were all allegedly found in possession of drugs, including methamphetamine.

Jesus Gerardo has a criminal record of drug dealing, vehicle theft and domestic violence.

His partner Ari Gisel was allegedly found in possession of the mobile phone of one of the brothers.

Police focused on the suspects after the mobile phone was turned on and they were able to trace it.

Brothers Jesus Gerardo Garcia Cota and Cristian Alejandro Garcia were two of the three arrested. It is unclear which brother is which in their mugshots

Ari Gisel Garcia Cota, 23, is one of three suspects arrested. She is reportedly the partner of Jesus Gerardo Garcia Cota, who was also arrested

The trio was arrested during two police operations on Wednesday, May 1 - with Ms Garcia Cota reportedly found in possession of one of the missing men's phones as well as illegal drugs

BAJA CALIFORNIA: ONE OF MEXICO'S MOST VIOLENT STATES Baja California is one of Mexico's most violent states, with the US State Department advising Americans to reconsider travel there due to crime and kidnapping. Tijuana, 100km north of where the three surfers were found and close to the US border, is plagued by violence and has the most homicides of any city in Mexico. With a population of more than two million, it regularly has around 2,000 murders a year. By comparison, Houston, Texas, which has a similar population, saw 435 killings in 2022, according to Associated Press. In December last year, furious drug lords hunted down corrupt officers who allegedly stole a drug shipment. The revenge hits led to the deaths of at least five officers. It is believed the region is riven by turf battles between the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, in addition to other groups. In June last year, the citys mayor, Montserrat Caballero, announced she had decided to live at an army base for her own safety after receiving threats. Advertisement

Grieving parents travel to Mexico to identify bodies

The shock new details emerged as Callum and Jake's grieving parents Martin and Debra performed the grim task of identifying their bodies on Sunday local time.

The couple also plan to visit San Miguel Beach, where their sons, aged 33 and 30, spent their final days holidaying and surfing.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by a family friend to bring their bodies home, which has raised more than $500,000 so far.

Earlier, Callum's partner, Emily Horwath, paid tribute to her boyfriend.

Callum and Jake's grieving parents performed the grim task of identifying their bodies on Monday (pictured: the boys' parents at the Ensenada Forensics Lab)

Jake Robinson (left) is pictured with his brother Callum (right) and their parents Martin and Debra - who made the mercy dash from Perth to Mexico to identify their bodies

'My heart is shattered into a million pieces. I don't have the words right now,' Ms Horwath posted in tribute to Callum.

'This world lost one of its kindest, silliest and most genuine of souls this week. Rest easy. I miss you.'

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered his condolences to the brothers' loved ones.

'This is a terribly tragedy and my heart goes out to them,' he told reporters in northern Queensland on Tuesday.

'I've indicated that I wish to speak to them at an appropriate time of their choosing.

'To all of the family and the friends of these young Australians, the whole of Australia's thoughts are with you at this difficult time.'

Callum was based in the US where he was an accomplished lacrosse player known as 'the Big Koala'.

His brother Jake, who worked in regional hospitals across Australia, had flown out to San Diego two weeks ago to visit him.

Rhoad worked in technology services in San Diego.

A line of National Guard vehicles guarded the beach as state prosecutors search the site where the three surfers were camping before they disappeared
Jewish students are 'deeply concerned' that university encampments will fuel a fresh wave of antisemitic attacks - as a series of sit-in protests at Oxbridge campuses enter a second day.

Students from Oxford and Cambridge have begun their second day of Gaza protests after setting up encampments in front of Britain's most prestigious universities.

Dozens of masked campaigners spent the night sleeping in tents outside the Pitts Rivers museum in Oxford and on the front lawn of King's College, Cambridge.

The sit-in rallies, which echo protests seen in the US which later saw violent students clashing with police, have sprung up at other UK universities including Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle over the last week.

But the demonstrations have sparked concern from the Jewish communities in Oxford and Cambridge, who now fear further 'intimidation' and 'harassment' by pro-Palestine protesters amid claims Jews are being 'vilified'.

More than 70 students at the University of Oxford spent the night sleeping at their encampment

The students slept outside the university's Museum of Natural History. One protester is seen waking up on Tuesday morning next to a Palestine flag

Protests in Oxford (pictured) were joined by fellow Oxbridge students yesterday in Cambridge, who also staged their own Gaza sit-in demonstration, which is expected to continue today

Students at the University of Cambridge are pictured on Tuesday waking up for the second day of their encampment rally

In a statement, the president of the Oxford Jewish Society said: 'Since the attacks in Israel on October 7, Jewish students across Oxford are facing a wave of intimidation and harassment.

'This includes protest chants and signs which violate the Universitys commitment to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances definition of antisemitism.

'Now, with the encampment seeking to mimic what has been seen across United States campuses, we are deeply concerned that there will be further escalation in the vilification of Jewish students in Oxford.'

The concern was echoed by Jewish students in Cambridge. where 60 tents have been pitched up.

As around 200 protestors held a rally chanting anti-Israel slogans on Monday, student Ari Vladimir, 19, unfurled an Israel flag and shouted support for the country.

In a shocking outburst, one protestor is seen ripping the flag from him and tossing it to the ground as the lone Jewish student was pushed and jostled by other activists.

Mr Vladimir told MailOnline: 'I had to come here to express my support for Israel. If these people have a right to protest then so do I.

Footage shows the protest taking place outside Cambridge University's Kings College

The lone first-year Jewish student is seen displaying an Israeli flag before he is shoved

CAMBRIDGE: Students waking up in their an encampment in solidarity on Tuesday morning

CAMBRIDGE: Students are seen preparing their breakfast on Tuesday for the second day of protests at the historic university site

'As you saw, I didn't feel particularly welcome. I was pushed and shoved and felt quite scared.

'But I wanted these people to know that the Jewish people will never be defeated and we stand with Israel.'

Mr Vladimir is a first year history student at Christ's College who comes from New York.

He said he was alone because many of his fellow Jewish students feel 'intimidated,' and were too scared to join him.

READ MORE: World holds its breath as Israel tanks roll on Rafah: Jerusalem vows vast new ground invasion after rejecting Hamas ceasefire deal Advertisement

'A lot of Jewish students on campus feel quite scared,' he added. 'They are just keeping their heads down. But I had to take a stand.

'This encampment is going to make Jewish students even more concerned. How would you feel walking past people who are supporting Hamas?'

During the rally, protestors shouted: 'Israel is a terror state,' and 'From the river to the sea.'

No police were present at the encampment or rally, something Ari thinks would have 'made him feel safer' and given more protection to counter protestors.

Ari added: 'I have to walk through here all the time. I'm still recognisably Jewish and I would not feel safe'.

The comments come comes as the world continues to hold its breath after an Israeli tank brigade seized control of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the latest offensive.

The Israeli 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing and took 'operational control' of the crucial crossing for both aid and those able to flee into Egypt, officials said, adding this morning that they had 'eliminated approximately 20 terrorists'.

The demonstration at the UK universities come as tanks from the Israeli army's 401st Brigade rolled into the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 7, 2024

Footage circulating on social media showed an IDF tank trundling over the border, with another clip later appearing to show Israeli flags flying at the crossing point.

The overnight offensive came just hours after Israel roundly rejected a new ceasefire deal hashed out by Egyptian and Qatari negotiators that Hamas claimed it had backed.

The latest development in the war is likely to add further fuel to the fire of student protesters in the UK.

At Oxford's camp, named the 'liberated zone', students pinned up a board of six demands including calls to boycott Israeli genocide, stop banking with Barclays and help rebuild Gaza's education system.

Cambridge for Palestine said it will 'not move' from the encampment until the university agrees to four demands including disclosing financial ties with complicit organisations and protecting students at risk.

The protests seek to emulate those seen at American universities in recent weeks, where more than 130 college campuses have been targeted by pro-Palestine supporters.

These have resulted in growing disorder and unrest, with more than 2,000 arrests.

As Gaza protests continue to grow in the UK, the government has expressed 'serious' concerns they could escalate to violence, as witnessed in the US.

The encampments have been organised by groups Oxford Action for Palestine and Cambridge for Palestine, as well as several other smaller groups.

The protests had been organised in coalition with each other.

OXFORD: Students put up a sign listing their six demands at their 'Liberated Zone' camp

Student encampments for Gaza spread to Oxford university  #StudentsForGaza pic.twitter.com/HnMID4hLR4  Socialist Worker (@socialistworker) May 6, 2024

OXFORD: They say 'will not rest until their demands are met', with study tents, toilet facilities, and food making areas already in place

Oxford University's Museum of Natural History remained open and apparently untroubled by the 25-strong encampment of tents on its front lawn.

Oxford and Cambridge encampments: What are the protesters' demands?

Students staging encampment protests in solidary with Gaza have put up a lengthy list of demands, and vowed they 'will not move' until these are met. Cambridge for Palestine's four demands are: 1. Disclose: Financial and professional ties with complicit organisations. 2. Divest: Funds and collaborations away from such organisations. 3. Reinvest: In Palestinian students, academics and scholars. 4. Protect: Students at risk, and become a university of sanctuary. Oxford students have pinned up a board with a list of six demands to university bosses. These are: 1. Boycott Israeli genocide, apartheid and occupation. 2. Disclose all finances. 3. Stop banking with Barclays. 4. Help rebuild Gaza's education system. 5. Divest from Israeli genocide, apartheid and occupation. 6. Overhaul the university's investment policy. Advertisement

Footage from the first day of the protest, posted on X, showed students chanting: 'We are the people. We will not be silenced. Stop the bombing now, now, now.'

Unlike in scenes across the Atlantic, where there were fierce clashes with ranks of guardsmen, students inside Oxford's 'liberated zone' worked on their dissertations on laptops while others gathered around to listen to the first in a series of lectures on the 'history of the Occupation', beginning with the Ottoman period.

In a printed manifesto, the protestors hit out at the 'infamous' museum beside their protest, in an attempt to stoke wider concerns about imperialism.

'We have established a Liberated Zone on the lawn of the infamous University of Oxford Pitt Rivers Museum. The museum, which 'acquired' items from across the globe through imperial expansionism, mirrors the ongoing struggle of the Palestinian people and connect us to colonised peoples everywhere', it read.

'We invite you to struggle with us. Join us in our library, in our study space, in our peaceful protest, in our call for Oxford to sever its institutional relationships that facilitate the genocide and occupation of the Palestinian people.'

The rain quickly reduced the well-kempt lawn into a quagmire, while to gain admittance, visitors had to hand over their details, which will be kept 'in accordance with our data security protocols'.

The paranoid atmosphere was increased by the insistence that all visitors wear a Covid-era mask - whether this was to protect the protestors' health or anonymity was not made clear.

The obligatory sign-up procedure told visitors: 'The University of Oxford is complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. With strong ties to companies supporting the Zionist entity (like Rolls Royce and Raytheon) and academic ties to Israel, Oxford continues to uphold israel's apartheid regime. The Univeristy's lack of transparency protects its financial interests in the genocide of the Palestinian people. We have had enough.'

More than 100 dons have backed the encampment. In an open letter, 108 lecturers, faculty members and researchers said they stood 'firmly in support' of the students who had set up the encampment.

OXFORD: Students have erected anti-Israel signs as they call for a ceasefire in Gaza

A spokesperson at Oxford University told MailOnline there is 'no place for intolerance' and the protest must be carried out with 'respect, courtesy and empathy'.

They added: 'We respect our students and staff members right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests.

'Oxford University's primary focus is the health and safety of the University community, and to ensure any impact on work, research and learning, including student exams, is minimised.

'The Natural History Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum remain open.'

An Oxford masters student who gave their name only as Wren said: 'We've taken inspiration from students in the USA and also now in the UK as well.

'We're going to be here through all weather and there's going to be loads of us.

'We're going to be here until our demands are met. We're going to be here probably for a while judging by Oxford's inaction so far.'

In Cambridge a food station, tent to make placards and banners, makeshift toilet were set up in the encampment, which currently holds around 30 tents.

Cambridge for Palestine, the group behind the encampment, asked students to join them in solidarity with Palestinians who are being subject to what they claimed is a 'murderous campaign of ethnic cleansing'.

They claim their institution is 'complicit in genocide' because of its 'financial and academic ties' to a 'settler colonial state'.

CAMBRIDGE: Students gave speeches as they outlined their demands during sit-in protests

CAMBRIDGE: Protesters paint signs as they stage demonstrations on their university lawns, echoing similar encampments seen in the US

It claimed: 'Cambridge University has over $46 million in defense industry partnerships, contributing to the manufacture of weapons that Israel has used to kill over 40,000 Palestinians, 40 per cent of whom are children, and to destroy every university in Gaza.'

A Cambridge University spokesperson said: 'The University is fully committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law and we acknowledge the right to protest.

'We ask everyone in our community to treat each other with understanding and empathy. Our priority is the safety of all staff and students.

'We will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia and any other form of racial or religious hatred, or other unlawful activity.'

Last week saw students at Russell Group universities including Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle, pitch tents and erect anti-Israel signs as they called for an end to military action in the Gaza strip.

Students from Manchester University filled nearby Brunswick Park with banners, plaques and Palestinian flags to call for the university to 'end it's partnership with systems which support Israel'.

One banner read: 'UOM blood on your hands', while another claimed: 'UOM supports Israeli Genocide.'

In Bristol, hand-painted banners were erected between tents, emblazoned with messages of defiance as students lobbied their university to cut ties with arms companies and back calls for a ceasefire.

In Newcastle, students were entertained by a Palestinian DJ and treated to regular food supplies, as well as being enticed by free drinks vouchers at the student union bar.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said police will 'have our full support' to tackle potential disorder if students attempt to replicate the violent demonstrations recently seen at US university campuses.

Jewish community leaders have urged universities to shut down encampments over fears Jewish students may be 'harassed and excluded'.

Jewish students said the protests have made them feel unwelcome on their own campuses, due to the aggressive stance on Israel.

NEWCASTLE: Students say their protest 'highlights the institution's investment strategy and its complicity in the Israeli military's war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank'

MANCHESTER: A protester gives a 'peace' sign at an encampment set up at Brunswick Park

BRISTOL: Fine arts student Sam was taking part at a protest at Bristol University last week

LEEDS: Students manning stalls and camping out at Leeds University last week

NEWCASTLE: Students gathered in front of the university as they protest in solidarity with Gaza on May 1

Edward Isaacs, president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), said campus bosses have been 'unwilling' to be 'allies' to his members and are not making them feel 'included'.

Last week he called on vice chancellors to 'muster the moral courage' to 'ensure campuses are places where they can study free from hatred'.

Mr Isaacs said he was aware that students in UK protests are using anti-Israel phrases such as 'globalise the Intifada' and 'do not engage with Zionists'.

He wrote: 'Encampments are growing and the rhetoric emanating from these encampments is increasing in hostility

'Universities have been unwilling to effectively stand in allyship with their Jewish students and ensure they can be fully included in campus life.

'Now is a bellwether moment for university administrations as to whether they will muster the moral courage to stand in allyship with Jewish students, and ensure campuses are places where they can study free from hatred The moral imperative is theirs.'
Tourists and locals fearing for their safety have been banned from going into the sea due to a shark sighting off a popular Spanish beach.

Coastguards hoisted the red flag and called emergency services after the fin of a seven-foot blue shark was seen above the water line, perilously close to the coast.

Shocking video showed the shark patrolling the water near a boat, just off the coast of the Arenal d'en Castell beach around 3.30pm.

The bathing ban is thought to have been lifted, although the local council covering the area has not yet made any official comment on social media.

The shark sighting is believed to be the first so far this year near a Costa beach.

A shark was spotted on the same beach in June 2018 when swimmers were also banned from entering the water for the entire afternoon.

Tourists have been banned from swimming at the beach following a sighting on Monday

The Arenal d'en Castell beach in Menorca, a popular destination also home to sharks

Blue sharks, among the most common in Spain, have been blamed for a number of beach closures which have affected holidaymakers in Spain.

Last June, a tiger shark was seen inside the Ciutadella Port in Menorca, video showing the predator slowly circling boats moored as people leaned over to look.

READ MORE: Shark spotted by Portuguese beach sees swimmers flee the water in latest sighting of the predators in tourist hotspots Advertisement

Two sharks were spotted within days of each other in the area, prompting wider concerns for safety.

Last summer, British holidaymakers in Malaga were also rushed out of the water after a shark's dorsal fin was seen protruding from the waves.

Dozens massed on the beach near Torremolinos to catch a glimpse of the beast - the fifth such sighting off the Spanish coast in the space of a month.

When another blue shark was spotted off the Arenal d'en Castell beach five years ago, a tourist could be overheard saying in English as it appeared in the surf: 'It's coming. Oh my God, I think it's dead.'

A woman, believed to be a relative, replied 'No, it's not dead' as other tourists started screaming in the background before she added: 'Every time we go to the beach something happens.'

Blue sharks rarely bite humans but have been implicated in several biting incidents, four of which are said to have ended fatally.

A blue shark was blamed for an attack on a holidaymaker in Elche near Alicante in July 2016.

The 40-year-old victim was rushed to hospital and given stitches to a wound in his hand.

First aiders described the bite as 'large' and said he had come out of the sea with blood streaming from the injury.

In June last year a fully grown blue shark measuring some seven feet caused panic off the Costa Blanca beach of Aguamarina in Orihuela Costa south of Alicante.

Sharks are a fairly common sighting in the region and often come up to the shoreline

Authorities were called immediately when a shark approached the beach yesterday afternoon

Bathers were filmed trying to run to safety through waist-high water as it neared the shoreline.

Lifeguards blew on their whistles to warn locals and holidaymakers about the big fish and urge them to get out of the sea as quickly as possible.

One woman, thought to have been an elderly person seen being helped out of the water by Good Samaritans, is said to have suffered a panic attack after realising the shark was beside her.

It washed up dead the following day by rocks at La Caleta Beach in Cabo Roig a couple of miles away.

The same day it emerged the same species of shark had been spotted inside Ciutadella Port in Menorca.
A man about to be arrested over child sex abuse images jumped to his death from a bedroom window in front of police officers.

Ashley Crews, aged in his 40s, fell from the ninth floor of a tower block on Hamerton Road, in Collyhurst, Manchester, on February 20.

Officers had entered his flat to carry out an arrest on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.

But they did not place him in handcuffs and followed him into his bedroom where Mr Crews opened a window and jumped out, a coroner's report revealed.

Paramedics raced to the building and alongside officers fought to save his life. Mr Crews was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ashley Crews, aged in his 40s, was about to be arrested over child sex abuse images when he jumped to his death from a bedroom window in front of police officers in Manchester

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has referred itself to the police watchdog which has launched an independent investigation.

Coroner Zak Golombeck has raised concerns in a 'prevention of future deaths' report that there is currently no local policy for the use of handcuffs when executing an arrest warrant.

Writing to the chief coroner, College of Policing, GMP and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), ahead of a full inquest into Mr Crews' death being held, he said: 'There is concern that future deaths will occur, and I am of the opinion that action should be taken to reduce the risk of death.'

Mr Golombeck said 'attending officers' didn't apply handcuffs and Mr Crews walked to his bedroom after they entered his flat. 'Some' officers are said to have followed him, but he 'was able to open a window and jump out'.

The organisations have 56 days to respond to the report and confirm what action they have or propose to take.

An inquest into Mr Crews' death was opened on March 12 this year. A final inquest hearing has not yet taken place.

He fell from the ninth floor of a tower block on Hamerton Road, in Collyhurst, Manchester, on February 20

The IOPC said the College of Policing sets national policy.

A spokesperson for the IOPC said: 'Our independent investigation into an incident in which a man fell from a property in Collyhurst, north Manchester, on Tuesday 20 February after Greater Manchester Police officers attended continues to progress.

'We acknowledge the coroner's report that has been published this week and we will be looking at what local and national policies are in place. At the end of our investigation we will consider organisational and national learning recommendations.'

A GMP spokesperson said in response: 'We have seen the report and will be assessing this, however as there is a live IOPC investigation into this incident, at this time it wouldn't be appropriate for us to comment.'
A musical director has blamed British audience's 'narrow outlook' after Brexit for his flop of a show, as audience members walked out half way through performances.

Rufus Wainwright argued that the reason 'Opening Night' starring Sheridan Smith received such poor reviews was because it was 'too European' and British people lacked 'curiosity' since Brexit.

Opening Night tells the story of functioning alcoholic actress Myrtle Gordon, played by Sheridan, who gets a second chance - it is based on the 1977 drama film starring Gena Rowlands.

'I do feel that since Brexit, England has entered into a darker corridor where it is a little more narrow in its outlook and the vitriol because we put 'English rose Sheridan Smith through this ordeal of European theatre' felt a little bit suspect to me,' he told the Guardian.

Rufus Wainwright (left) argued that the reason 'Opening Night' starring Sheridan Smith received such poor reviews was because it was 'too European' and British people lacked 'curiosity' since Brexit

Opening Night tells the story of functioning alcoholic actress Myrtle Gordon (played by Sheridan, pictured) who gets a second chance - it is based on the 1977 drama film starring Gena Rowlands

The West End show included other 'experimental elements' which Wainwright now believes were too much for conservative audiences, such as a moment where Sheridan leave the venue to stagger along the streets of London while acting drunk.

The moment is filmed live every night outside the theatre, for all passersby to see and the audience witnesses the action live via a video transmitted onto the stage.

He continued: 'There's a lack of imagination and curiosity about change. All of the reviews from Europe were incredible for this piece; the staging and the rhythm is more European and there was a vitriolic reaction against that.

'I don't think it was perfect and that I don't deserve criticism, but this thing of shutting it down if it's not exactly what you want is not really the theatrical lane that I want to live in.'

The West End play was due to finish on July 27, however following poor reviews and theatre goers walking out, the final performance will now be on May 18.

Based on John Cassavetes's 1977 arthouse film Opening Night, the new musical  written by Rufus Wainwright and directed by Ivo van Hove  follows the life of alcoholic actress Myrtle Gordon, played by Ms Smith.

The performer, 42, stars as functioning alcoholic actress Myrtle Gordon in the new musical - which is based on the 1977 drama film starring Gena Rowlands

The West End show included other 'experimental elements' which Wainwright now believes were too much for conservative audiences, such as a moment where Sheridan leave the venue to stagger along the streets of London while acting drunk

Sheridan Smith has been praised for her 'exquisite' performance in Opening Night yet critics agreed it's not enough to save the 'hot mess' of a West End show

Myrtle's behaviour spirals out of control after the death of her young fan Nancy, played by Unorthodox actress Shira Haas, and Myrtle battles her inner demons while rehearsing for the debut of her new Broadway show.

The performance of Ms Smith, who has been vocal about her own battles with depression, anxiety and addiction, has resulted in rave reviews for the actress.

However others were quick the critise the production, The Evening Standard called it a 'dismally muddled, self-important, furtively misogynist musical', the Telegraph said 'Sheridan Smith enthralls, but this play is a pretentious, convoluted mess' and the Express argued it was an 'abominable, misjudged musical adaptation'.

Wainwright admitted to being 'a little beaten up by' the experience but was glad the production was ambitious and stood out from what he thinks is a conservative landscape on the West End.

'I think the West End has got pretty staid. The main objective I have is that people think about it for days and days and look: people have thought about Opening Night now for weeks.

'It has remained in the psyche of the press and the public  it does endure for better or for worse.'
An American citizen has reportedly been arrested in Moscow over claims he got drunk, climbed through the window of a children's library and fell asleep.

The man, named locally as William Russell Nycum, has been placed under administrative arrest for 10 days after the incident at a Moscow children's library on May 3, and was charged with 'petty hooliganism'. A separate criminal case of vandalism is also being pursued.

According to local media, Nycum was in Russia for a vacation, and was staying with some teachers he knew.

On May 2, he went to a bar and disappeared before his arrest the following day.

He claimed to have been kidnapped after getting into a fight with his friends at a bar, but in reality had simply left in a taxi, a source told Ren TV, before he crashed through the library window.

According to his visa, he was allowed to stay in Russia for up to six months, though it is not known when he entered the country, or how his administrative arrest will affect this.

The man, named locally as William Russell Nycum, has been placed under administrative arrest for 10 days after the incident at a Moscow children's library

William Russell Nycum is being held for 10 days in Moscow (File Image)

According to his visa, he was allowed to stay in Russia for up to six months, though it is not known when he entered the country, or how his administrative arrest will affect this

While his 'petty hooliganism' charge resulted in a 10 day stint behind bars, his vandalism charge may end up with even more time in prison.

According to Russia's Criminal Code, the crime can result in a fine of up to 40 thousand Roubles (350), up to 360 hours of 'compulsory work', up to a year of 'corrective labour', or a three month sentence in prison.

Administrative charges are generally broader than criminal charges, though carry less severe penalties.

Administrative charges can be as minor as violating fishing rules, but can be as severe as the 'promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships and (or) preferences.'

News of Nycum's arrest comes after an American soldier was detained in Russia over the weekend, according to US officials.

Staff sergeant Gordon D. Black was taken into custody on May 2 in Vladivostock, near the border with China and North Korea.

He was stationed in South Korea and traveled to Russia on his own, as reported by CBS News on Monday.

It's not clear how Black traveled to Russia but it was not on official business for the army.

Black was apparently in the process of changing stations from Korea to Fort Hood in Texas.

The soldier is reportedly accused of stealing from a woman.
Vladimir Putin has revamped his 1 billion clifftop palace, getting rid of his pole-dancing boudoir and installing a church with a 'throne' for his personal use.

The dictator, 71, was stung when investigative journalists working with Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption foundation (FBK) discovered the gaudy Gelendzhik castle overlooking the Black Sea three years ago.

Amid a scandal over misuse of state funds, the Kremlin claimed it belonged instead to his childhood friend Arkady Rotenburg, 72, who told reporters he was creating a sumptuous 'apart-hotel'.

But Putin-watchers saw this as a smokescreen and now a new leak appears to show the changing tastes of the dictator amid an opulent makeover of the sprawling palace, which includes a 16-storey underground complex built into the cliff-face that has drawn comparisons with a James Bond villain's lair.

The latest embarrassing disclosures about the palace come as Putin is today inaugurated as Russian president for the fifth time following his 'victory' in a March election widely seen as rigged.

As part of the makeover, Putin had a gilded altar installed with decorative marble columns

Navalny's team previously shared a photo they claimed showed a strip pole in the house

Dug into the sprawling countryside of Gelendzhik, Putin's opulent 1billion palace

A swanky new remodelling brings together elements from antiquity and modern stylings

Past renderings shared by Navalny's team show what was described as a private bar

The Russian president's notorious striptease stage and pole-dancing hookah hall, casino, gaming room and 'aqua disco' - for which he was mocked and shamed in the 2021 disclosure - are out.

Commentators speculated the accoutrements were not in keeping with his recent push for Russians to embrace traditional values.

Out, too, is the garish gold ornaments and decorations noted in the previous expose of the palace.

Instead, the property has been furnished with a traditional church complete with its own wooden throne for Putin, along with sacred religious icons and images.

One depicts canonised Prince Vladimir the Great - the same name as Putin, and his historical hero - who more than one thousand years ago was credited with uniting Ukraine and Russia.

'This is probably the only room where the name of the real owner of this palace is directly indicated,' said the investigation by outlets FBK - formerly associated with 'murdered' opposition leader Alexei Navalny - and independent Russian outlet Proekt.

Putin's personal church takes centre stage with a gilded altar, marble floor mural, and a wash of dark green patterns on the walls to provide a sensible, sober feel.

It is a world away from previously leaked computer generated images revealing plans for a hookah room in the palace, complete with strip pole and sofas.

Epic paintings of historical war scenes have appeared - showing a heroic Russia, for example at the 1812 Battle of Borodino when Napoleon suffered grievous losses.

One includes part of a prominent Kremlin painting called 'Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword!'

The latest investigation into the palace renovation was based on disclosures from a worker on the palace redesign who slipped his FSB minders to film the gargantuan palace dripping in luxury.

The probe with inside sources confirms this is no apart-hotel, as written on the paperwork, but 'a palace built for Vladimir Putin'.

Computer generated renderings of plans for a strip or hookah room at the 'palace'

The renderings stand in stark contrast to scenes from the remodelling, featuring marble floors and a carved wooden chair

Putin's renovation (left) has mirrored his Kremlin desk (right) design, with four phones by his side

Putin working at his desk, location unknown, complete with multiple phones to his left

A room dubbed an 'aqua disco' in Putin's Palace in Gelendzhik by the Black Sea

Footage recorded inside the house appeared to show a hot tub in the remodelled home

From the outside, another water feature fills the space, surrounded by columns

It revealed: 'The reconstruction of the facility was carried out in the strictest secrecy.

'Workers were transported to work on chartered buses, but were often not immediately allowed onto the premises.

'They arrived at the checkpoint but were forced to wait for several hours without food or water.

'Apparently someone important had arrived, they concluded. Inside, they prohibited the use of telephones.'

Secret services officers are said to have constantly monitored their work as they conducted renovations.

The FBK and Proekt reports added: 'Shortly before the end of the work, one of the builders walked around the almost-finished palace.

'Contrary to strict prohibitions, this man brought a phone inside andfilmed the second floor, on which there are 11 bedrooms, and then went down to the first - the one where there used to be rooms with a pole, a casino, a gaming area and an aqua discotheque.'

These had been replaced, it concluded, while the church had appeared.

They found French carpets costing 87,000 'in this type of Louis XVI' and chandeliers valued at ten times this amount.

Video showed how the building had been modelled in a completely new direction, drawing inspiration from antiquity and featuring reminders of Russia's imperial past.

In a sitting area, earthy tones contrasted sprawling rugs with traditional, colourful designs.

Towering mirrors gave extra depth to a large room of high-ceilinged white walls otherwise only punctuated by landscapes of Russia's warring victories.

War heroes also featured prominently in the President's personal palace, pictured in oval portraits around the house.

Renderings shared by Navalny's team once purported to show a hookah lounge in the house

Today the house looks very different, with depictions of religious icons and sparse decor

Part of the new interior at the renovated Gelendzhik Palace (on the left) copies Kremlin's interior, seen during Vladimir Putin's 2018 inauguration (on the right)

The revamp draws inspiration from antiquity, brought to life with colourful paintings and stunning chandeliers

French carpets priced at 87,000 each to be featured in Putin's opulent new revamp

A swimming pool inside the high-ceilinged 1billion getaway near the Black Sea

Navalny's team from FBK exposed the scandal over the secret cliff top residence in a 2021 film called 'Palace for Putin. The story of the biggest bribe.'

In that reveal, a mining engineer who worked on the construction of the clifftop palace said it had indeed been built for the president and 'there is a whole anthill in the rock under the house' including a nuclear shelter.

The subterranean maze includes a cliff face balcony overlooking the sea and a vast wine cellar.

Its construction was more ingenious than Dr No's bunker in James Bond, he said.

It was 'a balcony - literally a loggia hanging over the sea' built into the cliff, from which the owner can enjoy wine tasting from the palace stocks, he said.

In August 2023, General Gennady Lopyrev, 69, once close to Putin, who was keeper of the secrets about the palace's construction died mysteriously in jail.

He suddenly became ill - gasping for breath - and was told by doctors he had previously undiagnosed leukaemia.

Suspicions arose that he was poisoned just as he became eligible for parole.

The general was jailed for ten years in 2017 by a military court accused of bribe-taking and illegal possession of ammunition - charges he always denied.
More than half of British primary schools (55 per cent) have no ethnic minority teaching staff and 30 per cent do not have male teachers in the classroom, according to research published today.

The study from the University of Warwick found that a quarter of British schools only had white female teachers to act as role models for pupils.

Joshua Fullard, an assistant professor at Warwick Business School, said: 'Diversity in the classroom matters. We know ethnic minority students and young boys are missing out by not having teachers that represent them.'

While the new research suggested that the proportion of schools with no diversity among staff has fallen since 2010, it also warned that the rate of change has slowed in recent years.

The professor, whose research focuses on teacher labour markets, said: 'This data shows the highly limited progress being made on diversity in the classroom, with slow progress in achieving a representative pool of teachers.'

More than half of British primary schools (55 per cent) have no ethnic minority teachers and 30 per cent had no male teachers last year

Following the study from the University of Warwick, Joshua Fullard, an assistant professor at Warwick Business School, said: 'Diversity in the classroom matters (Stock Image)

Professor Fullard added that the lack of diversity among teaching staff 'will worsen existing gaps in attainment and inequality in adulthood'.

The new report was based on school workforce data obtained through a series of freedom of information requests.

It suggested that ethnic and gender diversity is even lower among leadership roles in schools.

Almost nine in ten schools (87.8 per cent) did not have a senior leader from an ethnic minority background last year,

And nearly half of British schools (46.5 per cent) did not have a male senior leadership team member.

The National Foundation for Educational Research has already called on the government to launch an action plan to improve the diversity of teaching staff, warning that ethnic minority teachers face an 'invisible glass ceiling'.

The harrowing report from the University of Warwick also pointed to the lack of male teachers in British primary schools compared to senior schools.

Around 30 per cent of primary schools had no male teachers last year while only 0.2 per cent of secondary schools lacked a male classroom teacher.

The report said: 'The proportion of male teachers is declining year on year... driven by a decline in the number of white male teachers.'

The drop in male teachers will impact recruitment targets for Stem subjects such as physics and maths where the pool of potential staff is predominantly male.

Last year the government recruited just 49 per cent of its target for trainee teachers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

The study from the University of Warwick (pictured) was based on government school workforce data obtained through a series of freedom of information requests (Stock Image)

The newly published study from the University of Warwick follows Department for Education research which found white-working class pupils to be rapidly falling behind their peers.

It said: 'For the majority of trust and school leaders to whom we spoke, the group of pupils about which they were most concerned was white British working-class pupils.

'This message was consistent across trusts and schools working in ethnically diverse areas, where white British pupils did not represent the majority of pupils, and for schools and trusts where the majority of the pupils were from white British working-class.'

The government report said these pupils were hit by a 'combination of issues linked to deprivation, inter-generational poverty, attitudes to and experiences of education, and aspirations'.
Governor Kathy Hochul was forced to apologize after making a controversial claim that 'young Black kids growing up in the Bronx who don't even know what the word "computer" is'.

The New York Democrat claims she 'misspoke' when she issued the highly criticized remark at an on-stage forum in California on Monday and, in a statement later that evening, said: 'I regret it.'

She attempted to clarify the intent of her remark, alleging she was trying to highlight her focus on increasing economic opportunity for children in the Bronx, which has the highest rate of poverty in New York City.

'Of course Black children in the Bronx know what computers are,' Hochul's statement said. 'The problem is that they too often lack access to the technology needed to get on track to high-paying jobs in emerging industries like AI.'

But despite her lackluster apology, residents and lawmakers alike have hit back, claiming the Governor is 'disconnected from reality', needs to 'do better' and 'should resign in disgrace'.

Governor Kathy Hochul was forced to apologize after making a controversial claim at the Milken Institute Global Conference on Monday. Hochul (pictured at the event) said that 'young Black kids growing up in the Bronx who don't even know what the word 'computer' is'

Hochul was given the opportunity to highlight her new $400million AI initiative on Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference, an annual meeting of billionaires and business leaders.

She was trying to express her desire to make technology more accessible, especially in low-income communities, but instead made a shocking gaffe which some have since branded as 'racist', as well as 'inartful and hurtful'.

'Right now we have, you know, young black kids growing up in the Bronx who don't even know what the word "computer" is,' she told the conference.

'They don't know, they don't know these things. And I want the world opened up to all of them.'

The Governor later claimed she 'misspoke' and in a statement to the New York Post double-downed on the alleged inequity in the tech industry.

She said: 'That's why I've been focused on increasing economic opportunity since Day One of my Administration.'

However, Hochul's so-called apology has not calmed the wave of criticisms from lawmakers and citizens alike.

Assemblywoman Karines Reyes, a Bronx Democrat, said she was 'deeply disturbed' by the Governor's remarks and the 'underlying perception' that she has of minority children living in the borough.

'Our children are bright, brilliant, extremely capable, and more than deserving of any opportunities that are extended to other kids,' Reyes tweeted. 'Do better.'

Despite the Governor issuing a lackluster apology, lawmakers in the Bronx have hit back, claiming they are 'deeply disturbed' by Hochul's comments

Assemblyman John Zaccaro, also a Bronx Democrat, issued a statement saying: 'Our children, far from being underestimated, are the epitome of brilliance, resilience, and untapped potential.

'They are not only capable but deserving of every opportunity that their counterparts are offered. It's disheartening to witness such a portrayal that undermines their abilities and aspirations.'

Democratic Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo went on to invite Hochul to visit the borough and 'experience firsthand the intelligence, resilience, and joy that radiate from Bronx children and residents each day'.

Social media users have also slammed Hochul, with several claiming she was 'out of touch' with reality and one even branding her a 'delusional sociopath'.

'Detached from reality is an understatement,' penned X user Richard Pierce. 'Says a lot about the Governor from New York.'

'These Democrat politicians are so disconnected from reality, so caught up in pandering, that they fail to realize how patronizing they come across to their target audience,' echoed Marc.

Social media users have also slammed Hochul, with several claiming she was 'out of touch' with reality and one even branding her a 'delusional sociopath'

Bob Kain added: 'This is about as racist as it gets...not to mention one helluva indictment on NYC public schools.'

One X user highlighted Hochul's alleged 'soft bigotry' and another added that she 'should resign in disgrace'.

While also criticizing her choice of words, one Bronx politician did come to Hochul's defense.

'While the Governors words were inartful and hurtful, I dont believe that is where her heart is. I firmly believe she wants to see all of our students excel,' said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, the Post reported.

'Working with Governor Hochul, I hope we can redouble our efforts to bring greater access to technology to our kids in the Bronx. All our students deserve an equal chance to grow and thrive.'

DailyMail.com has approached Hochul's office for comment.
The sister of Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing victim Dawn Singleton has revealed how videos of her slain sibling's laughter have helped her through the immense tragedy.

Sally Singleton-Hawach, who along with 25-year-old Dawn is a daughter of advertising giant John Singleton, paid a heartfelt tribute to her sister who was one of six stabbing victims of knifeman Joel Cauchi on April 13.

It comes as NSW Premier Chris Minns and state MPs officially paid tributes to the victims to those who lost their lives in the horrific atrocity.

Coogee MP Marjorie O'Neill, whose eastern Sydney electorate takes in the Westfield was among those to make a tearful tribute in parliament on Tuesday.

Dawn Singleton, 25, was one of six stabbing victims of knifeman Joel Cauchi at Westfield Bondi Junction on April 13

READ MORE: Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing: Survivor Liya Barko reveals the chilling words uttered by knifeman Joel Cauchi Liya spent 10 days in intensive care Advertisement

Ms Singleton was farewelled by loved ones in a private ceremony last week.

In an emotional social media post, Ms Singleton-Hawach shared a photo collage of her little sister growing up.

She said that 'Dawnie' 'embodied love' and 'always spoke with words of such kindness... with a smile that warmed all our hearts'.

'And that laugh, I play on repeat in my videos,' Ms Singleton-Hawach wrote.

'You were so loved. I love you little Sis. Till we meet again'.

Ms Singleton had been set to marry her high school sweetheart, NSW police officer Ashley Wildey, in coming months.

The bride-to be had bought her wedding dress and sent 'save the date' invitations to loved ones and friends days prior.

She had been in Chanel buying make-up for her upcoming nuptials when her life was tragically cut short,

Dawn is one of Singleton's three daughters from his marriage to Julie Martin.

He has eight children in total.

In NSW Parliament on Tuesday, Ms O'Neill said the raw shock of the tragedy was still reverberating in the community she represents.

'There isn't a day that goes by since April 13 when I haven't met someone who was there during the incident, who would have normally been there at that time,' she said.

Sally Singleton-Hawach (pictured right with father John Singleton) said her sister Dawn 'embodied love'

Sally Singleton-Hawach shared a heartfelt tribute to her little sister 'Dawnie' on Tuesday

'It could have been any one of us struck down, which is why our community feels so strongly about supporting the victims of this horrific act.'

Family and friends of the stabbing victims watched on from the public gallery as Ms O'Neill was one of a number of MPs paying tearful tribute the tragic events.

Ms Neill said along with grief she had seen resilience among her constituents.

'There is more light than darkness in our community,' she said.

'Amidst the sorrow, moments of light have emerged as our community has come together to remember the lives lost.'

Coogee MP Marjorie O'Neill wiped away tears while paying tribute to the stabbing victims in parliament on Tuesday

Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloan, whose electorate also takes in part of Bondi, said the memories of those lost would be cherished.

'There was a mum taking her little girl to buy a birthday present, there was a bride-to-be preparing for her wedding, a young mum shopping with her baby and students celebrating the end of exams,' she said.

'Beautiful hope filled lives with so much potential, cut so cruelly short.'

Jade Young, Ashlee Good, Faraz Tahir, Pikria Darchia, and Yixuan Cheng were also killed as Cauchi stalked the shopping complex looking for victims.

There were also 12 people rushed to hospital on the day, including a nine-month-old Harriet, the daughter of Ms Good.
The United States and most European Union nations will boycott a Kremlin ceremony to swear in Vladimir Putin for a new six-year term as president on Tuesday, but France and some other EU states were expected to send an envoy despite a plea by Kyiv.

The varying diplomatic response by the Western powers underscored differences over how to handle the Russian leader more than two years after he launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"No, we will not have a representative at his inauguration," Matthew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, said. "We certainly did not consider that election free and fair but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity."

Britan and Canada said they would not send anyone to attend the ceremony, which comes a day after Russia on Monday announced it would hold tactical nuclear weapons drills that it said it hoped would cool down "hotheads" in the West.

Putin won a landslide victory in a presidential election in March just weeks after his most prominent opponent, Alexei Navalny, died in jail. Western governments condemned the re-election as unfair and undemocratic.

"Ukraine sees no legal grounds for recognizing him as the democratically elected and legitimate president of the Russian Federation," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony, it said, sought to create "the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship."

A senior Kremlin official said the heads of all the foreign diplomatic missions in Moscow had been invited to attend Putin's inauguration, the Interfax news agency reported.

An EU spokesperson said the bloc's ambassador to Russia would not attend the ceremony, in keeping with the position of most of the bloc's member states.

A European diplomat said 20 EU member states would boycott the event, but that seven others were expected to send a representative. Apart from France, Hungary and Slovakia were both expected to attend, two diplomatic sources said.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said it would not attend.

'No desire for regime change'

Underscoring divisions over how to deal with Russia, a Paris diplomatic source said: "France will be represented by its ambassador to Russia."

Speaking alongside China's president on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said: "We are not at war with Russia or the Russian people, and we have no desire for regime change in Moscow."

The source said France had previously condemned the context of repression in which the election was held, depriving voters of a real choice, as well as the organization of elections in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, which France considers a violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.

Franco-Russian relations have deteriorated in recent months as Paris has increased its support for Ukraine.

Just last week Macron did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, saying if Russia broke through Ukrainian front lines it would be legitimate to consider it if Kyiv requested the support.

The Baltic states, which no longer have envoys in Moscow, have categorically ruled out attending the inauguration.

"We believe that the isolation of Russia, and especially of its criminal leader, must be continued," Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.

"Participation in Putin's inauguration is not acceptable for Lithuania. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people fighting against Russian aggression." (Reuters)
The King travelled from Windsor to London today as Prince Harry prepares to fly back to Britain for a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games.

Charles was seen arriving at Clarence House this morning after being driven there from Windsor Castle, ahead of the Duke of Sussex's arrival in the coming hours.

Harry is expected to meet his estranged father during his latest trip to the UK, which follows a previous quick visit in February after Charles's cancer diagnosis.

Tomorrow night Harry is set to give a reading at a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral marking a decade since the inaugural Invictus Games in London in 2014.

Organisers say there has been no confirmation of any other royals attending, or if Harry's wife Meghan Markle or children Archie and Lilibet will also be in the UK.

However it is expected that the Duke will come to London alone before joining the Duchess on a tour to Nigeria, with Meghan set to fly there from the US by herself.

And Harry is not anticipated to see his brother Prince William, who is scheduled to be away from the capital on Thursday and Friday, or his sister-in-law Kate Middleton whose cancer treatment continues following her revealing the diagnosis in March.

The Duke has invited William and other senior members of the Royal Family to the service but none of them are expected to attend, sources told Page Six in the US.

Among the royals who could attend include his cousins Zara Tindall and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, but there has been no confirmation of this. Harry is expected to stay at a hotel in London because he no longer has Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.

King Charles III leaves Windsor Castle as he heads to Clarence House in London this morning

The King is driven away from Windsor Castle this morning as he travels to Clarence House

April 12, 2024 -- Harry and Meghan at a charity polo match for Sentebale in Wellington, Florida

But Charles is likely to be in London tomorrow for his usual weekly audience with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, providing father and son with a chance to meet again.

READ MORE Moment beaming Prince Harry excitedly announces birth of his son Archie in footage filmed just months before Megxit - with couple set to celebrate his fifth birthday at home in California Advertisement

Although Charles has been left wounded by his son's behaviour in recent years, he has always privately insisted he will keep the door open for him to at least speak.

William, however, is understood to find his brother's betrayal more difficult to forgive or even put to one side.

The Prince and Princess of Wales will be at Windsor where they have asked for privacy so that Kate can focus on her recovery from serious abdominal surgery and ongoing preventative chemotherapy for the cancer that was subsequently discovered.

It will be Harry's first visit to the UK since February when he returned for a brief trip to see his father the King following his cancer diagnosis.

It is also the first major event he has attended in Britain for some time and comes amid his ongoing a legal case about his personal security arrangements whenever he is in the UK.

It will also be Harry's first visit since the Princess of Wales revealed her cancer diagnosis.

Experts say that while he may meet his father the King, he will unlikely meet up with Kate or Prince William.

February 14, 2024 -- Harry and Meghan attend an Invictus Games event in Whistler, Canada

February 6, 2024 -- Prince Harry arrives at Clarence House in London to visit his father Charles

September 16, 2023 -- Prince Harry and Meghan at the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany

May 6, 2023 -- Harry leaves Westminster Abbey after the Coronation of Charles and Camilla

Royal author Tom Bower told MailOnline: 'I'm sure he won't see Kate. I would be surprised if Meghan came.'

Fellow royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams added: 'Catherine is undergoing preventative chemotherapy treatment and given how deep the rift is, to me it seems unlikely.

'The only hope of reconciliation is that it would happen privately and we wouldn't know.'

And former BBC royal correspondent Michael Cole said: 'After so much bad blood, it is very difficult indeed to see any sort of reconciliation between the Sussexes and the Royal Family happening (this) week - or for the foreseeable future.'

Harry and Meghan were understood to have made contact with the Prince and Princess of Wales 'privately' after Kate announced her cancer diagnosis.

They also released a statement, saying: 'We wish health and healing for Kate and the family.'

Tomorrow's service at St Paul's, which is expected to run from 5pm until 6pm, will come two days after Harry's son Archie celebrated his fifth birthday yesterday.

Actor Damian Lewis is set to recite a poem during the service.

September 14, 2022 -- Harry and Meghan with other royals at the Queen's funeral in London

September 10, 2022 -- William, Kate, Harry and Meghan in Windsor after the Queen's death

June 3, 2022 -- Harry and Meghan at St Paul's Cathedral following a Platinum Jubilee service

July 1, 2021 -- Harry and Meghan at Kensington Palace to unveil a statue of their mother Diana

Representatives from across the Invictus Games participating nations, including members of the wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veteran community, will also be in attendance.

Following the ceremony, Harry and Meghan are scheduled to head to Nigeria after being invited by the west African country's chief of defence staff.

He met Harry in Germany last September at the Invictus Games Dusseldorf in Germany, which was also attended by the Duchess.

Harry is patron of the Invictus Games Foundation and last year released a documentary series with Netflix called Heart of Invictus about the athletes.

Yesterday, the Sussexes celebrated Archie's fifth birthday privately before their upcoming travel plans, reported People.

A source said a 'low-key' party was planned at the family's 12million mansion in Montecito, California.

They added: 'They'll have friends around them and Meghan's mom, Doria (Ragland). Meghan will definitely have support that weekend.'

Speaking about Lilibet, the source also said: 'They are so sweet together. Archie loves Lili. He's such a sweet boy. When she's not around, he asks, 'Where's Lili?''

March 11, 2019 -- Harry and Meghan speak with William and Charles at Westminster Abbey

November 27, 2017 -- Harry and Meghan at Kensington Palace after their engagement

June 16, 2012 -- Prince Harry with Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice at Buckingham Palace

In February, the Duke and Duchess both attended a launch event for the new winter version of the Invictus Games in Whistler, Canada.

Speaking to ABC's Good Morning America at the time, Harry said: The kids are doing great.' He added. 'The kids are growing up like all kids do, very, very fast.

'They've both got an incredible sense of humour and make us laugh and keep us grounded every single day, like most kids do. I'm just grateful to be a dad.'

Also yesterday, Charles and Queen Camilla celebrated the first anniversary of their Coronation, which was attended by Harry  fifth in line to the throne.

He was seated in the third row in Westminster Abbey and had no formal role in the proceedings.
A cyber attack targeting the financial information of 250,000 Ministry of Defence employees fits China's 'pattern of behaviour' and could lead to blackmail attempts, a former spy chief warned today - as Beijing dismissed the claims as a 'smear'.

The massive data breach targeted a third-party payroll system and potentially compromised the bank details of all serving personnel and some veterans. A very small number of addresses may also have been accessed.

Cabinet minister Mel Stride today said the MoD acted 'very swiftly' to take the external network - operated by a contractor - offline. The Government is understood to suspect China of being behind the breach but has not accused it publicly.

Ciaran Martin, the first CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre, said identifying the culprit would be a 'long and complicated process'.

'There's a pattern of Chinese behaviour in the past that might lead one to suspect that China is responsible, but it certainly wouldn't be the only suspect in a case like this,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

'In terms of personal data sets, governments of all shapes and sizes are interested in the defence, and foreign ministries of governments. Criminals are interested in any data set they can get their hands on.'

China's President Xi Jinping is on a two-day state visit to France  his first visit to Europe since 2019. Xi is pictured with his wife Peng Liyuan, President Macron and Brigitte Macron

Ciaran Martin, the first CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre, said identifying the culprit of the data breach would be a 'long and complicated process'

Mr Martin said the attack was not as serious as a 2015 hack on US government security clearance records but remained worrying.

Asked if he could see how such an attack could lead to blackmail, he said: 'That is absolutely the case and that is why perhaps not as serious as the incident in the US, it's still of concern and we do worry about supply chain risk or the soft underbelly of professional services firms doing this type of thing, often more cheaply and efficiently than perhaps they're done in government.

'But that does require robust security procedures to be employed by the company and overseen by the sponsoring agency, in this case the MoD and clearly that's something that's going to have to be looked at in this case.'

China's foreign ministry reacted to reports it was involved in the data breach by saying that it firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyber attack and rejected any attempt to use the issue to 'smear' other countries.

Mr Stride, the World and Pensions Secretary, said the Government was not yet pinning the blame on Beijing.

He told Sky News, which first claimed China was behind the hack: 'That is an assumption. We are not saying that at this precise moment.'

But Mr Stride said the Government viewed Beijing's government as an 'epoch-defining challenge' and 'our eyes are wide open when it comes to China'.

He confirmed the attack was on a third-party system rather than a MoD database but 'nonetheless that's still a very significant matter'.

The Government's refreshed review of foreign and defence policy had cybersecurity 'right at the heart of that, exactly these kinds of risks, particularly when it comes to state actors'.

It is understood that initial investigations have found no evidence that data has been removed.

But affected service personnel will be alerted as a precaution and provided with specialist advice. They will be able to use a personal data protection service to check whether their information is being used or an attempt is being made to use it.

All salaries were paid at the last payday, with no issues expected at the next one at the end of this month, although there may be a slight delay in the payment of expenses in a small number of cases.

Tom Lysemose Hansen, chief technical officer of Norwegian cybersecurity company Promon, said data on payroll systems could be used to forgery, identity theft and fraud.

'While we don't know the exact volume and nature of the data that was breached, it doesn't really matter as payroll systems, by their very nature, hold a lot of sensitive information,' he said.

'For example, personally identifiable information like full names, dates of birth and addresses, all of which can be used to forge documents, steal identities and commit fraud.

'Additionally, these systems will likely hold banking information for each employee, which when coupled with the other stolen information, opens each employee up to a wide range of future phishing scams, and extortion attacks that could result in serious financial losses.

'What's worse is that this information will likely not even stay with the attackers now that it's been obtained. They could (and likely will) sell it on for a cash prize, meaning there is no way of saying in whose hands this information could end up.'

The MoD has confirmed Defence Secretary Grant Shapps 'will make a planned statement to the House of Commons this afternoon setting out the multi-point plan to support and protect personnel'.

Ministers will blame hostile and malign actors, but will not name the country behind the hacking.

President Xi in France yesterday. China's foreign ministry has said suggestions it was involved in the data breach were a 'smear'

The MoD has been working at speed to uncover the scale of the attack since it was discovered several days ago.

The attack was on a payroll system operated by an external contractor which contained details of current service personnel as well as a number of officials and veterans. Their names and bank details are among the information in the system.

The identification of Special Forces soldiers, who are entitled to lifelong anonymity, has not been compromised, according to defence sources.

Labour's shadow defence secretary John Healey said: 'So many serious questions for the Defence Secretary on this, especially from Forces personnel whose details were targeted.'

Lauren Wills-Dixon, data privacy expert at law firm Gordons, said the fact the breach appears to be on a database run by a private company did not exempt the MoD from responsibility as the 'data controller'.

She told MailOnline: 'Incidents like this are a reminder to any public or private sector organisation engaging third parties for things like IT and payroll systems to ensure that such third parties have robust security measures in place to protect personal and sensitive personal data.'

Pete Cooper, Former Deputy Director of Cyber Defence in the Cabinet Office, said: 'This is still really early days so there will be more to come out. Teams from across the MoD, Cabinet Office and NCSC will be working hard with the supplier to ascertain what may have been compromised, how it was compromised, the potential impacts and how to mitigate them.'

China's President Xi Jinping is currently on a two-day state visit to France  his first visit to Europe since 2019.

Yesterday, he met French president Emmanuel Macron and called for a 'worldwide truce' on conflicts around the globe during the Olympic Games this summer.

The incident risks dissuading other countries with challenging relationships with China from sharing sensitive intelligence with the UK.

Up to 250,000 people could be impacted by the breach with their names and bank details amongst the information that has been compromised

It comes less than two months after Chinese state-affiliated actors were blamed by the Government for two 'malicious' cyber attack campaigns in the UK.

They involved an attack on the Electoral Commission in 2021 and on MPs sceptical of China.

It is understood that initial investigations have found no evidence that data has been removed.

But some of the MPs targeted by the Chinese state said the response did not go far enough, urging the Government to toughen its stance on China by labelling it a 'threat' to national security rather than an 'epoch-defining challenge'.

Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith repeated those calls, telling Sky News: 'This is yet another example of why the UK Government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that.

'No more pretence, it is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states.'

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: 'Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel's bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced.'

Beijing hit back at the claims from Mr Ellwood, a China hawk who has publicly criticised Beijing's crackdown on rights in Hong Kong.

'The remarks by relevant British politicians are utter nonsense,' foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

'China has always firmly opposed and cracked down on all types of cyberattacks.'

It comes less than two months after Chinese state-affiliated actors were blamed by the government for two 'malicious' cyberattack campaigns in the UK (file image)

In the Commons last month, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden confirmed that the Chinese ambassador would be summoned to 'account for China's conduct in these incidents'.

He said the UK  alongside international partners including the US would be issuing sanctions against the Chinese government.

Last night shadow defence secretary John Healey said: 'So many serious questions for the Defence Secretary on this, especially from Forces personnel whose detail were targeted.

Any such hostile action is utterly unacceptable. Parliament will expect a full Commons statement.'

During Mr Xi's visit, President Macron is expected to press the Chinese leader to lean on Russia to end the war in Ukraine, while Mr Xi said France and China should both aim to prevent a 'new Cold War' between global blocs.

It comes amid a European Union investigation into Chinese electric vehicle exports and a Beijing probe into French brandy imports.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: 'The Defence Secretary will make a planned statement to the House of Commons this afternoon setting out the multi-point plan to support and protect personnel.'
Five men have reportedly been caught attempting to cross into Australia illegally.

The group of illegal migrants, who are believed to be from the West African nation of Senegal, were discovered hiding in mangroves on Saibai Island, which is located in the Torres Strait 4km off the Papua New Guinea mainland.

PNG Police Commissioner David Manning told the ABC that the men allegedly travelled to Papua New Guinea via Indonesia using fake passports.

The group then allegedly attempted to enter far north Queensland on a small dinghy and then tried to run from Australian Border Force (ABF) officials while hiding in the mangroves.

The men were arrested and are currently in custody on Saibai Island, where they are undergoing medical checks.

The group were discovered hiding in mangroves on Saibai Island (pictured), located in the Torres Strait about 4km off Papua New Guinea

The ABF said it didn't comment on operational matters but insisted it has a 'well established operational processes to manage irregular movements of people in the Torres Strait'.

Two PNG nationals are reportedly being questioned over their alleged involvement in attempting to traffic the five men to Australia.

'It's an ongoing investigation," Commissioner Manning told the ABC.

PNG Assistant Police Commissioner Hodges Ette told Post Courier: 'Their whole travel was to get into Australia, and they have already broken several laws including coming into the country illegally.'

The journey from Saibai Island to Cape York, Queensland's most northern tip, is around 140km.

But it's rare for foreign nationals to attempt to make illegal crossings over the Torres Strait.

The journey from Saibai Island to Cape York, Queensland's most northern tip, is around 140km

In 2017, a boat carrying six Chinese nationals landed on Saibai Island.

It comes in the wake of a number of illegal boat crossings into Australia in recent months.

Last month, a group of around '15 Chinese people' reportedly landed at the Mungalalu Truscott Airbase in Western Australia's remote Kimberley region.

The suspected boat arrival is understood to be the third illegal maritime landing on Australian soil in under six months.

In February, more then 40 asylum seekers were discovered in remote Western Australia after they landed by boat.

Bemused locals discovered the men who werebelieved to come from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, at Beagle Bay, about 100km north of Broom.

Others were discovered further north at Pender Bay.

They were taken to Nauru. where the ABF runs an immigration detention centre.
A British DJ is 'broken' and 'lucky to be alive' after he said he was allegedly ambushed by an armed gang in Brazil who then chased him and his crew at high speed down a motorway.

Daley Pedley, who goes by the stage name Hot Since 82, cancelled his upcoming shows and said he doesn't think he will ever return to the country after the ordeal.

He said he did not know if the gang were 'jackers or murderers' but claimed that they specifically targeted his car in the centre of Rio de Janeiro as he travelled from a club to the airport with his team.

The gang were wearing balaclavas and were armed with AK-47s, Pedley said, adding that his 'heroic' driver put the car into reverse before speeding for 'miles and miles down the motorway in reverse to try to get away from the shooters.'

'We were really lucky to not have crashed because we were weaving in and out of oncoming traffic going 60, 70mph with the car full of AK47s following us,' he said in an emotional Instagram video.

Pedley said the gang 'were adamant they were going to get us,' and that they only got away from them thanks to their driver

The 41-year-old told his 525,000 followers that the chase was 'like a scene out of Fast and Furious', but failed to explain how his car was able to reverse backwards at such a high speed.

The Rio de Janeiro Civil Police have said there has so far been no registered incident report relating to the case, according to Brazilian media.

Pedley said the gang 'were adamant they were going to get us,' and that he and his team only got away from them thanks to their driver's manoeuvres, which he said likely saved their lives.

The music producer, who has children at home and a baby on the way in six weeks, said he was sad to be leaving Brazil but 'can't risk being put in a position like this.'

He said he sympathised with people in Brazil who have to live in dangerous conditions, adding that 'humanity is cruel'.

The musician, who hails from Barnsley, said he had changed hotel rooms after the encounter and booked the next flight home.

He apologised to fans who hoped to see him perform but said he had to put his 'safety first'.

The DJ said he believes he and his team were 'set up' and that someone had told the alleged jackers where they would be and when.

The artist cancelled gigs at the Time Warp Festival in Sao Paolo and the Warung Festival in Curitiba

'I am broken inside. It makes you lose faith in humanity to think somebody has told these shooters where we are going to be,' he said.

The electronic house artist cancelled gigs at the Time Warp Festival in Sao Paolo and the Warung Festival in Curitiba.

Pedley's Instagram was flooded with support from fans and fellow musicians, who said they were glad he escaped the attack.

DJ Sonny Fodera wrote: 'Glad your ok brother, get home safe,' while world famous Dutch producer Tiesto said: 'so happy to hear you're safe'.
Mica Acacia Miller was found dead in North Carolina April 27 just days after filing for divorce from her pastor husband John-Paul Miller.

A medical examiner confirmed that Mica died of a 'self inflicted gunshot wound', although her family had previously insisted 'there's more to the story' with the 30-year-old sharing a clip speaking about abuse within marriage.

Mica met Miller, 14 years her senior, when she was just 14 years old and a member of his church youth group.

The case became one of national interest amid conflicting messages from her family and her husband - who had five children to whom Mica was step-mother.

Read a full timeline of the events which led up to Mica's death and those that followed below.

Mica Miller, 30, was found dead at Lumbee River State Park, North Carolina, on April 27

She had filed for separation from husband and pastor John-Paul Miller in the weeks before she died

The 30-year-old, who was step-mother to Miller's five children, had previously filed for divorce in October 2023, before withdrawing the filing after four months

Mica Miller timeline

October 2023

Court records suggest there was a tumultuous recent history within the marriage as Mica filed for divorce a first time in October 2023.

February 2024

Mica's filing was withdrawn February 12, 2024, but later that same month, her husband filed against her for Separate Support and Maintenance.

March 2024

On March 12, Miller's filing was dismissed without prejudice.

After less than a fortnight, on March 22, Mica posted an emotional video in which she spoke of abuse within marriage and offered support to 'ANYONE struggling with leaving a dangerous situation because they think God will be 'mad' at them.'

She said: 'Today my heart's a little heavy. I've had lots of women that have reached out to me about situations of abuse, and I just want to tell you what a lot of people have told me lately, because I think I forgot.

'But you are the bride of Christ before anybody else's, male or female, it doesn't matter what gender you are, abuse is abuse.

'You don't have to stay in an abusive relationship. Whether that's sexual, whether that's somebody forcing you to take illegal drugs or alcohol abuse, or physical abuse, psychological abuse, making you think that this is all your fault or that you're a bad mom or a bad husband or you're not giving it your all when you know you are.

'God hates divorce, but why? According to everybody that I've asked and the scriptures I've seen it's because it hurts people. But does abuse hurt people. How do you think God feels about that?'

Mica offered her support to victims of abuse and reminded them that they 'don't have to stay' in an emotional Facebook video shared on March 22

She urged her friends and followers to share her message with anyone struggling to reconcile their faith with their abusive relationships

April 15

Mica filed for separation April 15 and 16, 2024.

April 23

A hearing date of June 5 was set for the separation with a notice going out.

April 27

Mica was found dead with gunshot wounds at Lumber River State Park in Robeson County. It came just two days after the pastor was served with the separation papers.

April 28

Miller stunned his congregation at Solid Rock at Market Common Church in South Carolina when, after a service in which he had laughed and appeared entirely at ease, he announced that his wife had died and that her death was 'self-induced.'

He added that she was 'mentally unwell' then told worshippers that he would be taking 'a little break' and to leave the church without discussing what he had just told them.

Mica's obituary, penned by Miller - who has a criminal record including multiple counts of aggravated assault and battery to which he pleaded guilty - makes no mention of the fact that the couple had separated.

Instead, the 44-year-old described her as a 'great stepmother, and an amazing wife and helpmate', and portrayed her as his biggest cheerleader.

It revealed that Mica was from Wichita, Kansas, as one of five children

Miller shocked his congregation when he announced her death as a suicide at the end of a service at Solid Rock at Market Common Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on April 28

May 2

A 'close friend' of Mica's posted on X saying: 'She 100 per cent would not have commited suicide. She was excited to start a new life no longer living in fear of him & was finally on her way out.'

May 3

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Mica's sister Sierra Brown, 28, said that the family wasn't making any statements until the investigation was complete.

However, she pointed out: 'The one thing I would say is that he has said it was an official suicide, that is not the case. There's still an open investigation.'

Another friend of Mica's, Kenn Young, told WPDE: 'This has to be at least looked into deeply. There's got to be some accountability here. Because yeah, a tragic life was lost, and it's not just as simple as mental health issues.'

Miller reiterated to the outlet that his wife took her own life, saying 'she had struggled with suicide before'. He added she was 'probably the greatest wife anyone could ask for' and described nights spent talking to each other for hours.

Mica's sister Sierra Brown, seen above in Facebook video, told DailyMail.com the family is not commenting publicly until the investigation is completed but confirmed her official cause of death has not yet been determined

May 5

Two memorial ceremonies were held for Mica, one at Solid Rock Church in Market Common attended by John-Paul Miller and the other along the beach in North Myrtle Beach organized by Mica Millers family.

May 6

Robeson County Medical Examiner Dr. Richard Johnson told ABC: 'Based on the nature of the wound, that it is consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. And it was not in the back of the head, as it has been speculated.'

The outlet also reported that Mica had filed police reports against a man - whose name was redacted in the reports - in March accusing him of harassing her.

She had told officers that she was 'afraid for her life', having found a tracking device on her car and had her tires repeatedly deflated.
An Israeli tank brigade this morning seized control of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt - a move described as a 'death sentence for Gazans' by as it cuts off the last land route for vital aid.

One armoured vehicle from the Israeli 401st brigade was seen trundling up to an 'I love Gaza' sign that took pride of place at the crossing, before surging forward and reducing the structure to rubble, crushing it underneath its tracks in symbolic footage posted to social media.

Other clips showed several tanks and other vehicles arriving on the scene early today with Israeli flags flying at the crossing point.

The 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing this morning and took 'operational control' of the location seen as crucial for both aid going into Gaza and refugees fleeing into Egypt, officials said, adding this morning that they had 'eliminated approximately 20 terrorists'.

This came just hours after Israel roundly rejected a new ceasefire deal hashed out by Egyptian and Qatari negotiators that Hamas said it had accepted.

Israeli tank is seen moments before driving over and destroying an 'I love Gaza' sign in Rafah

This handout picture released by the Israeli army shows the 401st Brigade's combat team tanks entering the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024

The IDF released footage taken by a gunner atop a tank that shows the armoured column arriving at the Rafah crossing

This image grab taken from footage released by the Israeli army on May 7, 2024 shows the 401st Brigade's combat team tanks entering the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt

Border gate is seen as the Israeli army announced that it has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in Rafah

The announcement from Hamas sparked premature celebrations in Rafah yesterday as war-weary Palestinians took to the streets rejoicing news of a ceasefire deal.

But Tel Aviv later dismissed the ceasefire, describing it as a 'softened' version of an Egyptian proposal, which included 'far-reaching' conclusions that Israel could not accept.

Palestinian hopes for an end to the war were shattered late last night when Israel launched intense air strikes on Rafah, with Gaza's crossing authority claiming that Israel's decision to press on with its assault in spite of ongoing negotiations would see the deaths of countless more Gazans.

Sam Rose, director of planning at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), also said Israeli's seizure of the Rafah crossing would be 'devastating' for Palestinians.

'(The crossing) has been the lifeblood for the small amounts of goods that have been coming into Gaza since October'.

'There's no ability for desalination plants to operate and provide safe water. There's no electricity - it cuts off everything,' Rose told Al Jazeera.

Sources in the Red Crescent organisation in Egypt said aid to Gaza had completely halted at Rafah this morning.

Professor John Strawson, an expert in Middle East Studies at the University of East London, said the IDF's seizure of the border was likely part of a wider plan to achieve as great a military advantage as possible ahead of entering new ceasefire negotiations.

The joy of war-weary Palestinians was short-lived as Israel launched missiles on Rafah overnight

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 7, 2024

A Palestinian rescuer searches for casualties at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 7, 2024

Thousands of Palestinians celebrated in various areas in the Gaza Strip on Monday evening, shortly after Hamas accepted a proposed cease-fire - but Israeli rejected the proposal and began bombing the city overnight

Palestinians celebrate after Hamas accepted a proposed ceasefire in Rafah, Gaza on May 6, 2024, just before Israel launched air strikes on the city

Hamas fighters near the Rafah crossing on Sunday fired mortars into southern Israel, killing four Israeli soldiers near the Kerem Shalom crossing close to an Israeli kibbutz of the same name.

The three-phase ceasefire deal Hamas backs, but Israel does not Based on details announced so far by Hamas officials and an official briefed on the talks, the deal that the Palestinian group said it had agreed to included the following: PHASE ONE 42-day ceasefire period

Hamas releases 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from Israeli jails.

42-day ceasefire period Hamas releases 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from Israeli jails. PHASE TWO Another 42-day period that features an agreement to restore a 'sustainable calm' to Gaza, language that an official briefed on the talks said Hamas and Israel had agreed in order to take discussion of a 'permanent ceasefire' off the table.

The complete withdrawal of most Israeli troops from Gaza.

Hamas releases Israeli reservists and some soldiers in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from jail. PHASE THREE The completion of exchanging bodies and starting the implementation of reconstruction according to the plan overseen by Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations.

Ending the complete blockade on the Gaza Strip. Advertisement

The Israeli military used this as justification for seizing the Rafah crossing in a statement this morning, adding it had received intelligence the area around the border checkpoint was being used for 'terrorist purposes' - though gave no further information.

'The IDF is currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in southern Gaza,' the Israeli military said on X.

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, today acknowledged Israeli forces had seized the Rafah crossing and had closed the facility for the time being. He said strikes had targeted the area around the crossing since Monday.

An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson declined to immediately comment on the Israeli seizure.

Egypt previously has warned any seizure of Rafah could see Palestinians fleeing over the border, a scenario that could threaten a 1979 peace deal with Israel that has been a linchpin for regional security.

Hamas said in a brief statement yesterday that its political leader Ismail Haniyeh had informed Egyptian and Qatari officials of his acceptance of the terms.

The ceasefire deal Hamas said it agreed to is a three-phased agreement, and each is 42 days long, the group's deputy chief in Gaza told Al Jazeera on Monday.

The first phase of the agreement would see a temporary cessation of hostilities and a withdrawal of Israeli troops away from major population centres. In return, Hamas would gradually release 33 captives - some alive, some dead - back to Israel.

These captives would be women, those aged over 50, those who are ill, and non-soldiers under the age of 19.

Hamas deputy Khalil Al-Hayya also said the second stage of the agreement stipulates a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on social media platform X that Haniyeh had also informed him of the ceasefire deal and told him: 'We are sincere in our intentions.'

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu however said the ceasefire agreement was 'far from Israel's basic requirements' and rejected the reported terms.

He later added he would send a delegation to Cairo to continue negotiations on a new ceasefire deal today.

Palestinians celebrate in a street in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal on May 6, 2024

Flares light up the night sky above Rafah, Gaza on May 6, 2024, ahead of an Israeli bombing campaign

'Even though the Hamas proposal is far from Israel's essential demands, Israel will send a working-level delegation to the mediators,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's (pictured) office said in a statement after a war cabinet meeting

Palestinians celebrate with fireworks in a street in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal on May 6, 2024

Meanwhile, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari confirmed during a press conference last night that his forces would continue their operations in Rafah while a new ceasefire is being hashed out.

READ MORE: Dogs start eating bodies of the dead in the streets of Rafah as Israel begins evacuation of the city with offensive 'imminent' after latest breakdown in peace talks with Hamas Advertisement

'We are exhausting the potential about negotiations and bringing back the hostages and that is our main mission, to bring them home as quickly as possible, but in parallel we are continuing to act in an operational manner in the Gaza Strip and we will continue to do so.'

A statement from Netanyahu's office last night read: 'The war cabinet has unanimously decided that Israel is continuing the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages and the other objectives of the war.'

According to former Israeli intelligence official and regional analyst Avi Melamed, the clock is ticking towards the moment of truth for both Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Netanyahu to choose a hostage deal or initiate Israel's long-promised Rafah intensive.

'Neither Sinwar nor Netanyahu have significant manoeuvering space.

'Reports have emerged that Israel earlier in the week issued an ultimatum to Hamas to respond on the latest round of negotiations, and with the looming intensive Israeli operation against Rafah, Hamas will likely respond in a manner that is closer to what Israel is willing to agree to, yet something that will require additional negotiation before signing.

'For Hamas, showing itself as a willing party to the negotiations, but not signing yet, is the only option to continue to delay the Israeli operation in Rafah, which has led to Israeli frustration focused on the country's own government.

'Regardless of political alignment, the Israeli population has grown frustrated with its leadership's lack of resolve to either complete the operation in Rafah or sign a deal.'

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, said the assault on Rafah would be deadly for civilians.

'The Rafah offensive has started again, in spite all the requests of the international community, the US, the European Union member states, everybody asking Netanyahu not to attack,' Borrell told reporters.

'I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties, civilian casualties. he said. 'There are no safe zones in Gaza.'

News of Hamas' announcement sent people in Rafah cheering in the streets, hoping the deal meant an Israeli attack had been averted

Palestinians dance around a fire in celebration in a street in Rafah after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce deal on May 6, 2024

Palestinian children celebrate in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip after Hamas's announcement

Palestinians react after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2024

Palestinians celebrate with fireworks in a street in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal on May 6, 2024

Palestinians react after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2024

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, May 6, 2024

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to celebrate after Hamas informed Qatar and Egypt that it had approved their proposals for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on May 6, 2024

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to celebrate after Hamas informed Qatar and Egypt that it had approved their proposals for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on May 6, 2024

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to celebrate after Hamas informed Qatar and Egypt that it had approved their proposals for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on May 6, 2024

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike east of Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 6, 2024

An Israeli army tank takes a position in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on May 6, 2024

US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the US was 'reviewing Hamas' response' to the ceasefire deal and will be discussing it 'with others in the region'.

'We will be discussing this response with our partners in the coming hours. We continue to believe a hostage deal is in the best interests of the Israeli people and Palestinian people,' Miller added.

'We continue to believe that a hostage deal is in the best interests of the Israeli people; it's in the best interests of the Palestinian people.'

The agreement, should it take effect, would be the first truce since a week-long pause in the fighting in November, and follows months of failed attempts at pausing the fighting to free hostages and allow more aid into Gaza.

But Israel is now pressing on with its military operation in Rafah, starting to evacuate civilians while conducting bombing raids and sending tanks to seize the border crossing.

The city, which sits on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, has been the last sanctuary for around half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents pushed south by Israel's seven-month-old assault.

Just hours before Hamas announced that they had accepted the agreement, Israel had ordered Palestinians to begin evacuating Rafah ahead of an Israeli military operation.

Netanyahu said earlier Monday that seizing Rafah is vital to ensure Hamas cannot rebuild their military capabilities and repeat the attack on Israel that triggered the war.

Over a million people in Rafah are huddled in tents and overcrowded apartments after fleeing Israel's military offensive in other parts of the territory.

Israel's closest allies, including the US, have repeatedly said that Israel should not attack Rafah, and the looming operation has raised global alarm over the fate of around 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering there.

Aid agencies have warned that an offensive would worsen Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe and bring a surge of more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has killed 34,000 people and devastated the territory.

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the terror group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip May 6, 2024

A woman mourns during the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2024

Much of the world, and especially its allies, have condemned Israel's decision to plough ahead with the planned offensive

Palestinians inspect the destruction following overnight Israeli strikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 6, 2024

The Israel-Hamas war has driven around 80 per cent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction in several towns and cities

Smoke rises from different points after Israeli attack on Rafah, Gaza on May 06, 2024

People flee the eastern parts of Rafah after the Israeli military began evacuating Palestinian civilians ahead of a threatened assault

An Israeli tank is pictured moving near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on Thursday, May 2

A picture taken on May 6, 2024 shows smoke billowing following bombardement east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip

Families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest calling for a hostage deal on May 6, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel

Protesters block a highway demanding the immediate release of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 6, 2024

Families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest calling for a hostage deal on May 6, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israe

Protesters block the Ayalon highway where they call for the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 6, 2024

Families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest calling for a hostage deal on May 6, 2024, in Tel Aviv, Israel

US President Joe Biden spoke on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reiterated US concerns about an invasion of Rafah.

He said a ceasefire is the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, a National Security Council spokesperson said.

Hamas and Qatar said invading Rafah would derail efforts by international mediators to broker a ceasefire.

Days earlier, Hamas had been discussing a US-backed proposal that reportedly raised the possibility of an end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops in return for the release of all hostages held by the group.

Israeli officials rejected that trade-off, vowing to continue their campaign until Hamas is destroyed.

Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said about 100,000 people were being ordered to move from parts of Rafah to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi, a makeshift camp on the coast.

He said Israel has expanded the size of the zone and that it included tents, food, water and field hospitals.

Around 450,000 displaced Palestinians are already sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it has been providing them with aid but conditions are squalid, with few toilets or sanitation facilities in the largely rural area.

Israeli military leaflets were dropped with maps detailing a number of eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah to evacuate, warning that an attack was imminent and anyone who stays 'puts themselves and their family members in danger'.

UNRWA will not evacuate from Rafah so it can continue to provide aid to those who stay behind, said Scott Anderson, the agency's director in Gaza. 'We will provide aid to people wherever they choose to be,' he said.

The UN says an attack on Rafah could disrupt the distribution of aid keeping Palestinians alive across Gaza.

The Rafah crossing into Egypt, a main entry point for aid to Gaza, lies in the evacuation zone. The crossing remained open on Monday after the Israeli order.

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, condemned the 'forced, unlawful' evacuation order and the idea that people should go to Muwasi.

'The area is already overstretched and devoid of vital services,' he said, adding that an Israeli assault could lead to 'the deadliest phase of this war'.

Israel's bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them children and women, according to Gaza health officials.

More than 80 per cent of the population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, and hundreds of thousands in the north are on the brink of famine, according to the UN.
A paramedic and top bodybuilder busted with a cache of steroids, adrenaline, drugs and related paraphernalia will learn within hours whether she'll be jailed.

Marlette Le-Feuvre, 31, pleaded guilty to a string of charges in Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday, including possessing dangerous drugs, buying or possessing medicines or hazardous poisons, and failing to properly dispose of a needle or syringe.

The court heard that police uncovered a vial of stimulant clenbuterol with syringes, MDMA, and containers of steroid pills in the bedroom during a raid of her Maudsland home last year.

Officers also found a vial of adrenaline in the kitchen, which Le-Feuvre had mistakenly left in her pocket after a shift, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

An elite bodybuilder pleaded guilty to several drug related charges in court on Tuesday

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Prosecutor Gavin Reece told the court that a bag containing about 6.5g of cocaine and a smaller quantity of MDMA belonging to her then-partner was also found.

It was not alleged that Le-Feuvre used her then-partner's drugs.

Texts found on her phone referred to using clenbuterol, the court also heard.

Le-Feuvre was suspended by Queensland Ambulance shortly after the charges were laid.

She has since had further conditions imposed on her registration.

Defence lawyer Jaimee-Lee Jessop told the court that her client turned to bodybuilding as an escape at a time when she was struggling with 'personal chaos'.

Le-Feuvre's life started to 'spiral out of control' after she became friends with a woman allegedly involved in similar conduct.

'Of course after making such a decision as she did  resulting in catastrophic impacts  she appreciates that's by virtue of her own decision-making,' Ms Jessop told the court.

'She's extremely ashamed to be before the court today.'

Ms Jessop said her client felt embarrassment among her colleagues and has faced intense scrutiny online and in the media.

The court heard that Le-Feuvre has since sought treatment for her mental health concerns.

Le-Feuvre remains free on bail until acting magistrate Sarah Thompson hands down her sentencing on Wednesday afternoon.
Russell Brand being baptised in the Thames has raised more than a few eyebrows.

And the revelation he was flanked by his high profile pal Bear Grylls during the ceremony has caused a further stir.

Yet the scandal hit comic may be spearheading the ancient tradition of river baptisms in England following his conversion to Christianity.

Brand, 49, said he got baptised as he saw it as 'an opportunity to leave the past behind' and 'leave behind the sins'.

He told his four million Instagram followers that his baptism was an 'incredible and profound experience'.

Brand said: 'This is my path now. And I already feel incredibly blessed, relieved, nourished, held.'

Russel Brand was baptised in April with his pal Bear Grylls attending the ceremony. The duo are pictured here during the comedian's appearance on Grylls' Running Wild show

Brand says he was christened at 'at home and in the River Thames' after converting to Christianity

The ancient tradition of river baptisms is not as common in modern times (Pictured: Hatchetts Ford in Cricklade was used for baptisms in the 19th century)

He confirmed on social media Grylls, 49, who is a Chief Scout, 'and my mate Joe' joined him for the traditional ceremony which dates back to the seventh century.

Christian baptisms are first recorded in the 'holy' River Swale nearly fourteen hundred years ago.

York's first bishop, St Paulinus, submerged thousands of converts in the river around the year 627 AD according to historian, the Venerable Bede.

It led to the Swale becoming known as the Holy River of St Paulinus.

The practice of full immersion baptisms still occurs among churches across Britain, although the setting is more likely to be a sterilised swimming pool rather than the dirty meandering waters of a river.

Anglican churches sometimes perform river baptisms including in the Thames, as do Pentecostal ones.

Of course, nowadays, most churches baptise only at the font with a sprinkling of water over someone's head.

His baptism has courted mixed reactions within Christian circles. Although many have welcomed him into the faith, some are sceptical and see it as a publicity stunt.

The whereabouts of Brand's baptism remains a mystery with no church near where he lives in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, admitting to carrying out the service.

The unlikely attendance of Grylls at the ceremony too has piqued interest further following Brand's revelation this week.

The pair had become friends through their television work. Last year, the comedian ventured across the Hebrides with Grylls in the former SAS trooper's Apple TV+ show, Running Wild with Bear Grylls.

The comedian ventured across the Hebrides with Grylls in the former SAS trooper's Apple TV+ show, Running Wild with Bear Grylls before the adventurer helped the comic with his conversion

The River Thames and All Saints Church in the background in Marlow, Buckinghamshire where Brand lives. No church in the area has admitted carrying out the baptism

Brand has been discussing faith more openly on his social media pages and in his YouTube videos

During his appearance, Brand opened up to Grylls about his failed marriage to American pop superstar Katy Perry, whom he referred to as 'an amazing person', although he described his time married to her as 'chaotic'.

Grylls told the Daily Mail: 'Faith and spiritual moments in our lives are really personal, but it is a privilege to stand beside anyone when they express a humble need for forgiveness and strength from above.

'Friendships when we go through tough times are worth so much.'

Grylls is one of Britain's most prominent Christians and has appeared in marketing material for the Alpha course, an evangelical introduction to Christianity that is said to have recruited 29 million to the faith.

It was created by the Anglican priest Nicky Gumbel, of Holy Trinity Brompton, just across the road from Harrods in London's Knightsbridge.

Grylls has spoken about the difference between faith and religion, as he sees it. 'I meet so many people who don't want 'religion' as such,' he said.

'I get it. I feel the same. And, in fact, so did Jesus, the heart of all Christian faith. Faith and religion are not the same thing.

'The Jesus I read about in the Bible was fun, free and wild. He loved a party and he always hung out with the non-religious folk. The only people he ever got angry with were the overly religious types.'

The controversial comedian's turn to Christianty comes amid allegations of rape and sexual assault.

He has retreated to his countryside Oxfordshire bolthole in recent months after being questioned by police twice in relation to allegations of rape.

The comedian has strenuously denied wrongdoing, and says he has evidence to refute allegations.

Since December he has posted a number of videos and pictures on social media in which he has discussed his relationship with Christianity.

In his baptism announcement, Brand said: 'What's been explained to me is, it's an opportunity to die and be reborn. An opportunity to leave the past behind and be reborn in Christ's name.'

He then referenced a verse from scripture, adding: 'Like it says in Galatians: that you can live as an enlightened and awakened person', before saying that the prospect of baptism was 'so inviting and beautiful.'
When Gyles Brandreth hit headlines last week by 'confessing' he might have 'killed' legendary comedian Rod Hull, former Countess of Bradford Joanne was shocked for two reasons.

Firstly, that the story had made it into the media, and secondly, because the tale had allegedly been 'pinched' from her by the writer and former MP.

Hull died from brain fractures and chest injuries after falling while attempting to fix a TV aerial on the roof of his bungalow so he could watch Manchester United play Inter Milan in the 1999 quarter finals with his teenage son.

The former Countess said this week that TV personality Brandreth, who is godfather to her third son Ben, had not been present when she had suggested to Hull someone climb onto the roof to fix a TV aerial - adding his memory seemed to have 'appropriated' the story.

'I don't recall Gyles being with us at all that night  I think I would have done,' she told the Mail.

'I can only think that my former husband must have told him some time later how we had urged Rod to fix his TV problem, which led to his really tragic death and, 25 years later, Gyles's memory has appropriated our instructions to Rod to himself.'

After the tragedy made its way into the national spotlight once again, MailOnline takes another look at that fateful night.

Hull died in 1999 aged 63 after suffering a severe skull fracture and chest injuries when he fell from the roof of his bungalow

A 2003 documentary about Hull showed him climbing onto the roof to fix his aerial on a separate occasion

Rod attends West End

It was March 1999 when the former Countess of Bradford and her then-husband Richard were invited to the opening night of a revival of the musical Animal Crackers, at the West End's Lyric Theatre.

The Bradfords picked up the comedian, 63, from the Chelsea Arts Club in Old Church Street before travelling by taxi to the theatre.

It was shortly after Hull had split from his second wife Cher, who, following the couple's serious financial woes, had returned to Australia with their children.

Hull had found himself moving out of his Grade I listed house and living in a rundown bungalow in East Sussex.

Shepherd's Cottage, which was owned by the National Trust, set Hull back 20 per week and was described by family members in a 2003 documentary as 'derelict'.

Shortly afterwards, his son Oliver returned to the UK after he turned 18 and moved in with Hull at the isolated location.

At some point during the evening on March 16, Joanne says Hull - who was most famous for his appearances alongside his puppet Emu - informed them he was having problems with his TV reception and was concerned about missing an upcoming Manchester United game.

The National Trust cottage that Hull moved into after his split from second wife Cher cost him 20 per week in rent

At the time of his dath aged 63, Hull lived with his son Oliver, 19 (pictured in 2003)

Rod Hull pictured with Joanne, the former Countess of Bradford. She says she attended the theatre with Hull on March 16 without Gyles Brandreth

Gyles Brandreth hit the headlines last week when he claimed on his Rosebud podcast that he had 'killed' the comedian Rod Hull

'We told him that, if necessary, it should be easy enough to put a ladder up the side of his bungalow and fiddle with the aerial to fix the reception,' she said.

Last week Brandreth repeated claims first made on his podcast as he told This Morning he was at the theatre with the Bradfords and Hull, who he said was interrupting the show with his complaints about his television.

Last week Brandreth repeated claims first made on his podcast as he told This Morning he was at the theatre with the Bradfords and Hull, who he said was interrupting the show with his complaints about his television.

He added that he 'blames himself' and had 'encouraged' Hull to climb onto the roof.

Joanne said she does not recall Brandreth being present at the theatre, something the presenter said this week made him 'sad'.

Brandreth said: 'I said, "Don't moan about it, if you want to watch the television get a ladder out, climb on to the roof, and fix it Rod".

'And after the show, in this stormy weather, he went home, he got out a ladder, he climbed the ladder, and he tried to fix the aerial.

'Unfortunately the wind was very great and he fell backwards off the ladder and killed himself. So I wasn't actually there, but I'd encouraged him.'

However, Brandreth's claims his 'encouragement' was on the same night as Hull's death is impossible - as the opening night of the performance was the night before Manchester United's quarter final tie.

Home video footage showed Hull often fixed the aerial himself - both Brandreth and Joanne say they also advised him to do so

Hull was best known for his performances with his puppet Emu, which had a penchant for attacking TV presenters

Hull is pictured in the small cottage where he lived at the time of his death with his son Oliver

A quarter-final tie

The following evening on March 17, Hull sat down with his son Oliver, 19, to watch the much-anticipated Champions League fixture against Inter Milan at his bungalow home in Winchelsea, East Sussex.

According to the inquest held shortly after his death, Hull became frustrated due to the poor sound quality during the quarter final match and decided to try and fix it by climbing the roof, something he did often.

Home video footage shows Hull adjusting wires around the aerial on a different occasion before his death, while stood on a ladder set against the slanted roof.

Friends, speaking on a documentary of Rod's life, said he had fixed the aerial himself 'a thousand times before'.

Oliver told the 2003 doc Rod Hull: A Bird in the Hand that he had offered to make the climb, but Hull was adamant he would sort out the issue.

'Obviously, now I feel terrible that I didn't go up,' he said.

'Dad's fallen, I can't get a pulse'

At half-time, about 8.20pm, Hull left the house, leaving instructions for his son to keep listening to the television and shout out the window when the sound quality had improved.

He then climbed a ladder onto the roof of the building to fiddle with the aerial. Despite strong winds and the cloud cover leaving no moonlight, Hull did not take a torch.

The cottage was described as 'desolate' by members of Hull's family - he moved their after suffering serious financial problems

Hull died from a severely fractured skull and chest injuries after falling off his roof (Hull pictured on a previous occasion)

Oliver then heard a 'light thud', followed by a 'much heavier thud'. The 19-year-old rushed outside and desperately called out to his father but received no reply.

After running outside to check on him, Oliver climbed onto the roof, at which point he found Hull lying on the concrete beside their greenhouse.

After calling an ambulance, Oliver phoned his mother in Australia. She said: 'It was dreadful. He was just saying "Dad's fallen, I can't get a pulse".'

Describing the moment paramedics arrived and attended to his father, Oliver said: 'It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world to behold.'

The comedian was rushed to Conquest Hospital in Hastings, but was sadly declared dead on arrival.

There was speculation at the time that Hull may have suffered a heart attack, which was mentioned by agent Laurie Mansfield when he announced his death.

A post-mortem found he died from a severely fractured skull and chest injuries, and declared his death an accident.
Fallen Hollywood star Kevin Spacey once declared his love for girlfriend Dianne Dreyer from the stage as he accepted the Oscar for Best Actor in 2000.

The pair, who had met on the set of Glengarry Glen Ross in 1992, were said to have had an eight-year relationship and were often photographed together at events.

During that time he gave interviews denying he was gay and described her in another as his girlfriend in footage which has now been aired again in a Channel 4 documentary making new allegations about his behaviour.

The two-part investigation involves 10 men making new accusations of sexual impropriety against the double Academy Award-winning actor.

Spacey, 64, has denounced the claims as 'ridiculous' and 'completely offensive'.

Script supervisor Dianne Dreyer (left) and Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey (right), are pictured at the First Annual Directors Guild of America Honours Gala in November 1999 in New York

Spacey paid tribute to Dreyer when accepting his Oscar for Best Actor in February 2000

Ten men have made new accusations of sexual impropriety against the double Academy Award-winning actor in the two-part Channel 4 documentary Spacey Unmasked

The American Beauty and House of Cards actor, 64, was last year found not guilty of nine sexual offences after accusations against him by four men who were in their 20s and 30s between 2004 and 2013.

Spacey, who sobbed at the dock as his verdict was delivered, went on to add that he 'never told someone that if they give me sexual favours, then I will help them out with their career, ever'.

Dreyer, 67, a Hollywood script supervisor, film producer and director, was among those providing character statements in support of him at the trial.

She said in her testimony read out to Southwark Crown Court last July: 'I travelled with Kevin all over the world and marvelled at his patience and politeness'.

Dreyer, whose script supervisor credits include The English Patient, The Talented Mr Ripley and The Bourne Legacy, has also appeared as an actress in You've Got Mail.

She was namechecked by Spacey when interviewed on CBS show 60 Minutes in 2000, as shown in last night's Channel 4 episode.

When asked whether he had a girlfriend at the time, Spacey is seen answering: 'I've been in a relationship for a while. Her name is Dianne.'

He also paid tribute to her when receiving the Best Actor Oscar for American Beauty at that year's ceremony, five years after his Best Supporting Actor prize for his performance in The Usual Suspects.

Spacey, who was sitting beside Dreyer in the audience, took to the stage where he said: 'Dianne, thank you for teaching me about caring about the right things. And I love you.'

Dianne Dreyer and Kevin Spacey were reported to have an eight-year relationship from 1992 - they are pictured here attending the Golden Globes in Los Angeles in 1999

Spacey starred in 1999 movie American Beauty alongside Mena Suvari, seen here bathing in rose pedals in one of the film's most famous scenes

His Academy Award for American Beauty, pictured here in March 2000, was his second Oscar - having won the Best Supporting Actor prize for his role in The Usual Suspects in 1996

Rumours about Spacey's sexuality had already been circulating in the showbiz world, as covered in the Channel 4 documentary.

It highlights how the star was reportedly furious when Esquire magazine ran a feature about him in 1997 with the cover headline: 'Kevin Spacey has a secret.'

The actor gave an interview to Playboy magazine in 1999 denying he was gay.

He was also questioned about the same issue by the Sunday Times, telling the paper: 'The answer to that is no. But why should it matter?'

Other women he was said to have relationships with include fellow Oscar winner Helen Hunt, who he co-starred alongside in Pay It Forward (2000), and Jennifer Jason Leigh after they appeared together in the off-Broadway play Hurlyburly.

The new accusations include an actor saying Spacey pleasured himself while watching the bloody Normandy landing scene in Saving Private Ryan.

An aspiring actor - referred to only by his first name Scott - claimed the unnerving incident happen in 1998 at a cinema.

Spacey was acquitted of the nine sexual offences in relation to four men at Southwark Crown Court last year.

Dianne Dreyer gave a character statement in support of Spacey last year at his Southwark Crown Court trial, which ended with the actor cleared of all charges against him

Spacey spoke to the media after being acquitted of all charges following claims of sexual assault during his time as artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London

A court artist's illustration shows the moment Spacey sobbed when cleared by the jury

Spacey, 64, has responded to the new Channel 4 allegations in a 95-minute interview with Dan Wootton - sharing a link to it on X, formerly Twitter

He has also posted a statement hitting back at Channel 4 and the documentary's producers

The dismissal came after he won a US civil lawsuit in 2022 after being accused of an unwanted sexual advance towards American actor Anthony Rapp when he was just 14 in 1986.

Spacey came out as gay in a statement posted on Twitter in October 2017 after Rapp had made the allegation.

He wrote at the time: 'I know that there are stories out there about me and that some have been fueled by the fact that I have been so protective of my privacy.

'As those closest to me know, in my life I have had relationships with both men and women.

'I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man.'

Spacey described himself as 'beyond horrified' at Rapp's allegations about him and insisting that he did not remember the encounter.

He has also now taken to X, formerly Twitter, to launch a fightback against the new allegations being made as part of the Channel 4 documentary - and shared a link to a 95-minute interview with former GB News presenter Dan Wootton.

Spacey posted that he had been 'provided with insufficient time and detail to respond to the testimonies in the film'.

Spacey and Dreyer are seen attending the June 1995 premiere in California of Batman Forever

Spacey thanked Dreyer in his 2000 Oscars speech for 'teaching me about caring about the right things', adding: 'And I love you'

In the new documentary Spacey is accused of groping a 21-year-old man in highly intimate and invasive way before whispering: 'Don't worry about it'

Another man accuses him of pushing his groin into the face of an employee at the Old Vic theatre in London during a performance of the pantomime Cinderella

Spacey won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1996 for his role as Roger 'Verbal' Kint in The Usual Suspects.

He added: 'I have consistently denied - and now successfully defended - numerous allegations made both in the US and the UK, both criminal and civil, and each time have been able to source evidence undermining the allegations and have been believed by a jury of my peers.

'I will not sit back and be attacked by a dying network's one-sided "documentary" about me in their desperate attempt for ratings.

'Each time I have been given the time and a proper forum to defend myself, the allegations have failed under scrutiny and I have been exonerated.'

When contacted by MailOnline today, the actor said: 'We have offered my Right Of Reply interview to all UK media outlets for free, some of whom have taken us up on that.

'Unfortunately, Channel 4, who have decided that their documentary about me is in the publics interest, have decided my rebuttal is not.'
The Invisible Inhabitants of the Arab World

The Arab world is ethnically extremely diverse, as many non-Arab communities also live in it.

The region encompasses many ethnic groups and religious communities. In addition to the Arabs, there are Kurds, Assyrians, Copts, and many other smaller and larger groups. Religious communities such as Christians, Jews, Sabaeans, Yazidis, and Bahai also reside in the region. This rich cultural mosaic colors and complicates the identity of the inhabitants of the Arab world.

Throughout history, several important civilizations and empires have left their mark on the region, and these influences have, to some extent, shaped the image of the later Arab nation-states. For example, the great empire of ancient Egypt has left a tremendous legacy that is reflected in architecture, art, and literature. Furthermore, the influence of the ancient Mesopotamian and Mediterranean empires can be seen indirectly in several Arab nation-states. Examples of this are the fact that some Christian communities in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon still speak the Syriac (Neo-Aramaic) language, which predates the Islamic era, or that members of the group living in Iraq, who call themselves Assyrian Christians, celebrate the so-called "Akitu" festival (Babylonian New Year), which was already celebrated at the time of the Neo-Assyrians (911 BC -- 612 BC) and the Neo-Babylonian Empire (612 BC -- 539 BC).

Minorities in the Arab world in historical context

Throughout history, the situation of non-Muslims living in the territory of today's Arab countries has always been volatile. They also experienced positive periods in which they were treated with relative tolerance (e.g. the first two centuries of the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258); the period of the Millet system of the Ottoman Empire; the rule of Abd al-Karim Qasim in Iraq between 1958-1963; the 1926 Constitution of Lebanon in the period after its adoption), at the same time they were victims of massacres, pogroms and the phenomenon of marginalization also affected these communities.

The fundamental change in the political status of non-Muslims in modern Arab countries was that they went from being subjects of Muslim empires to citizens of modern nation states. In the Middle East, minorities were protected subjects of the Muslim-dominated empire until the time of the Ottoman reforms in the 19th century. They paid a special tax (jizya), obeyed the ruler and were subject to various restrictions, mainly to maintain the supremacy of Islam in the public sphere. In this system, non-Muslims were "protected persons" who were distinguished from other citizens on religious grounds. Religious affiliation determined legal status, and different religious groups enjoyed different rights.

Imperialist minority policy

The Ottoman reform movements of the 19th century, the spread of new ideas of popular sovereignty and the creation of modern state systems after the First World War drastically changed the previous conditions, and the various minorities were able to experience the effects of Western-style minority policies for a time.

After the First World War and the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire, France and Britain, which acquired mandated territories in the Arab world, adopted the practice of patronizing members of certain religious minorities, and they were often used in the establishment of their administrations. It is important to emphasize that this type of Western imperialist policy had a long-term negative impact on the situation of minorities living in the Arab nation states. The Western powers created a divide between the Muslim majority and the Christian, Jewish and other minorities and then abandoned the non-Muslim population of the modern Arab countries when the various colonies and mandated territories were dissolved. France did this with the Maronites in Lebanon and to some extent with the Kurds in Syria, and the British treated the Assyrian Christians, Kurds and Jews similarly. However, it is part of the overall picture that the minorities were also interested in alienating themselves from Muslim society and deepening relations with the French or the British, because they wanted to fight for autonomy in the emerging Middle East and saw the necessary guarantees provided by the foreign powers. However, the fact that the non-Muslims living in the Arab world became a hated community and collaborators of the imperialists in the eyes of the majority during this period contributed in the long term to the conflicts between the parties, which in many cases ended in serious violence.

An uncertain future

Many Christians in the region have been concerned about the rise of Islamist politics and parties since the last third of the 20th century, fearing the potential threat they pose to their full civil rights. Furthermore, amid political instability and wars, religious minorities have been forced into larger forces and have emigrated in ever-increasing numbers. Accused of being allies of the West, they have been targeted by various terrorist organizations and militias and their cultural heritage has been partially destroyed. Suffice it to mention the civil war and the rise of radical jihadist groups in Syria, as well as the American invasion of Iraq, the subsequent outbreak of sectarian violence and the rise of the Islamic State terrorist organization. But other lines of conflict have also emerged in the region, such as the violence between the Turkish government and Kurdish separatists or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has remained unresolved for many decades. These and other factors continue to have a detrimental effect on the indigenous ethnic and religious groups.

The persecution of non-Muslim groups mostly takes place at the non-state level. It is a serious problem that the rule of individual governments does not cover the entire territory of the respective country, which has led to the strengthening of military organizations (militias) outside their control. In addition, the situation in several countries is aggravated by the fact that, due to the lack of secular leadership, extreme religious thinking exerts an excessive influence on public life, which has a negative impact on minority groups. The factors described above clearly encourage emigration to Western Europe (e.g. the UK and Sweden), the United States and Canada, as well as Australia.

The Arab region has been an area of ethnic and religious diversity for thousands of years, but the current political conditions make the future of non-Muslim communities uncertain, which may lead to the disappearance of indigenous groups who have existed for thousands of years.
Serbian student discovers China's charm

09:49, May 07, 2024 By Peng Yukai, Cao Xinyue ( People's Daily Online

"I want to know why China is so powerful in the 21st century," said Yovana Marsenic, a Serbian student majoring in international politics at Beijing International Studies University, when asked why she came to China to study Chinese.

Marsenic's affinity with China began in 2017 when she excelled in the entrance examination and enrolled at the University of Belgrade to study Chinese, marking the start of her journey in learning the language.

In 2019, Marsenic had the opportunity to go to Xi'an Jiaotong University for an exchange program. Setting foot in China for the first time, the Serbian student was awestruck by the beauty of the country which felt both strange and familiar. "China is a great country with a long history and fascinating culture, and I can't get enough of it," Marsenic recalled, reminiscing about her experiences visiting famous sites such as the Terracotta Warriors and the Datang Everbright City scenic area in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Although the exchange program lasted only a month, the precious experience planted a seed in Marsenic's heart. After graduating with a master's degree, she decided to travel to China again for an in-depth experience of life in the country.

After arriving in Beijing last year, Marsenic visited cultural monuments like Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Great Wall, as she had wished. In addition to historic sites, she also enjoys immersing herself in Beijing's local culture and exploring the city's hutongs  the intricate maze of narrow alleyways and traditional courtyard residences.

"I like the hutongs very much because I can feel the authentic traditional Chinese culture, communicate with the local people, and eat delicious local delicacies," Marsenic said.

Now, eight months into her stay in China, Marsenic has witnessed the dynamism and energy of Chinese society up close. Her Chinese proficiency has soared, complemented by firsthand experiences of life in Beijing. "I think Beijing has a rich history and culture. It is also a very tolerant city, open to all kinds of views and opinions. In addition, the pace in China is also very fast, with the culture and technology constantly evolving," said Marsenic.

In Marsenic's view, China's mobile payment system has brought great convenience to her life. Without carrying a wallet when she goes out, she can easily travel with her mobile phone and a power bank. Her favorite means of transportation is the subway. "The Chinese subway is very convenient and fast, and I don't have to worry about being late or getting stuck in traffic," Marsenic added.

The past eight months have bolstered Marsenic's determination to stay in China. She hopes to continue her studies in professional field and become a friendly envoy between China and Serbia.

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Du Mingming)
Exiled Russian opposition leader Yulia Navalnaya urged supporters on Tuesday to keep up the fight against President Vladimir Putin, describing him on the day of his re-inauguration as a murderous tyrant.

"Our country is currently being led by a liar, a thief and a murderer, but this will definitely come to an end. Don't give up, truth will prevail," Navalnaya said in a video published on YouTube shortly before the Kremlin ceremony in which Putin took the oath of office for a new six-year term.

Based outside Russia, Navalnaya has vowed to continue the work of her late husband Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16. She has accused Putin of having him killed, an accusation the Kremlin denies.

Navalnaya said Putin's war in Ukraine and his jailing of political opponents had made a mockery of his promises at past inaugurations to deliver peace and prosperity to Russia and protect the rights and freedoms of its people.

"Huge sums of money are stolen from all of us every day to fund bombings of peaceful cities, riot police beating people with batons, propagandists spreading lies. And also for (the elite's) own palaces, yachts and private jets," she said.

"And as long as this continues, we can't stop the fight."

Putin won a huge landslide in a tightly controlled election in March. The Kremlin said the vote demonstrated that Russians are overwhelmingly united behind him, and portrays Navalnaya and supporters of her late husband as Western-backed extremists bent on trying to destabilise the country.

With Navalny dead and other leading Kremlin critics in prison or exile, opposition inside Russia has been effectively crushed. Navalnaya acknowledged the struggle was hard, but urged people to unite in opposition to corruption and against the war.

"With each of his terms, everything only gets worse, and its' frightening to imagine what else will happen while Putin remains in power," she said.

"With him at the helm, our country will have neither peace, nor development, nor freedom... We must ensure that no one in the world believes Putin - neither in Russia nor beyond its borders." (Reuters)
Vladimir Putin has been sworn in for his fifth term as Russia's president in front of dignitaries, celebrities and friends, including US actor Steven Seagal and a biker gang leader known as 'The Surgeon'.

The dictator was first sworn in as president almost a quarter of a century ago in May 2000, vowing at the time to 'preserve and develop democracy' and to 'take care of Russia.'

He has since launched his country into a full-scale war with Ukraine, resulting in hundreds of thousands of Russian casualties, and brutally extinguished all opposition either through arrest, assassination, or during the recent rigged election.

Russian opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya called President Vladimir Putin a 'liar, a thief (and) a murderer' in a statement ahead of his inauguration ceremony.

'Our country is being led by a liar, a thief and a murderer. But this will definitely come to an end,' said Navalnaya, the exiled widow of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison.

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes the oath during an inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia May 7, 2024

US actor Steven Seagal arrives to Russia's president-elect Vladimir Putin inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 7, 2024

The Russian dictator was first sworn in as president almost a quarter of a century ago

Alexander Zaldostanov, also known as Khirurg (The Surgeon), a leader of the Night Wolves bikers' club, arrives for the inauguration ceremony

The ceremony took place in the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace and was attended by hand-picked guests

During the ceremony inside the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace, Putin placed his hand on the Russian Constitution and vowed to defend it as a crowd of hand-picked dignitaries looked on.

They included fellow politicians but also Putin's friends, such as Hollywood actor Seagal, who received his Russian citizenship in 2017.

The pair first bonded over their shared love of martial arts and the Hard to Kill and Under Siege actor last year received an Order of Friendship medal from Putin.

The 72-year-old hailed his friend as the 'greatest world leader' and claimed that the future in Russia would 'be the best' under the dictator's rule.

Biker club leader Alexander Zaldastanov was also among attendees, and arrived at the ceremony clad in leather with his signature unruly beard and long hair.

The patriotic punk has described himself as a 'friend' of Putin, and has been put under Western sanctions for his support for Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Also in attendance was Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, a crony of Putin's who has been the subject of claims that he is terminally ill in recent weeks.

The Head of the Chechen Republic appeared to struggle up the stairs into the hall as he arrived flanked by his aides, who helped him to pull off his jacket when they reached the top.

Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov speaks to journalists after a ceremony inaugurating Vladimir Putin

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu at the ceremony

Vladimir Putin is flanked by dignitaries as he walks the red carpet to take his oath as Russian president in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow

The dictator was first sworn in as president almost a quarter of a century ago in May 2000 (pictured in 2001)

The Russian leader was greeted with applause when he entered the hall with more than 2,500 people who, his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, had been invited to the ceremony.

Senior members of the Russian government, including Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, lined the red carpet.

While many Western governments boycotted the event, an anonymous French diplomat confirmed that the French ambassador attended.

US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy did not attend and Russian state news agency Tass reported she was out of the country.

Putin said in his speech that Russia would pass through the current 'difficult' period stronger and emerge victorious - an apparent reference to his long-running war in Ukraine.

'We will pass through this difficult period with dignity and become even stronger,' Putin said, adding: 'We are a united and great nation, and together we will overcome all obstacles, realise everything we have planned, and together, we will win.'

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Irina Yarovaya (C) attends the inauguration ceremony

Attendees applauded as Putin ascended the stairs to the podium to be sworn in

Soldiers of the Presidential Regiment bring in the national flag during the inauguration ceremony of Vladimir Putin

Since succeeding President Boris Yeltsin in the waning hours of 1999, Putin has transformed Russia from a country emerging from economic collapse to a pariah state that threatens global security.

Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine that has become Europe's biggest conflict since World War II, Russia has been heavily sanctioned by the West and is turning to other regimes like China, Iran and North Korea for support.

Taking aim at the West, Putin used his speech to insist that his country is not refusing dialogue with Ukraine's allies and to bemoan the 'pressure' being placed on Russia.

He claimed that Moscow stands ready to become an 'honest' partner with anybody who is willing.

'We are not even refusing the dialogue with Western countries,' he said. 'We will see if they continue to halt the development of our country and continue to put pressure on our country, or look for ways to cooperate with us.'

After he was sworn in, Putin met with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, in part of the ceremony which symbolises the backing of the new leader by the church.

Going from a little-known KGB agent to leader of the biggest country in the world, Putin was first inaugurated as president exactly 24 years ago, making him the second democratically elected president in the country's history.

He said at the time: 'We want Russia to be free and flourishing, a rich, strong and civilized country of which its citizens are proud and which is respected in the world,'

Chechen leader Kadyrov appeared to struggle up the stairs as he was seen arriving at the ceremony

When he got to the top of the staircase he went to take his jacket off, but seemed to require assistance

Two of his aides are seen rushing to help pull the coat off Kadyrov before he continued to walk up the hallway

'The construction of a democratic society has not been completed; we have to preserve and develop democracy,' he added in the 10-minute address, which he made after being sworn in.

He is now the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin, and the question now is what the 71-year-old Putin will do over the course of another six years in power.

Russian forces are gaining ground in Ukraine, deploying scorched-earth tactics as Kyiv grapples with shortages of men and ammunition. Both sides are taking heavy casualties.

Ukraine has brought the battle to Russian soil through drone and missile attacks, especially in border regions. In a speech in February, Putin vowed to fulfill Moscow's goals in Ukraine, and do what is needed to 'defend our sovereignty and security of our citizens.'

Shortly after his orchestrated reelection in March, Putin suggested that a confrontation between NATO and Russia is possible, and he declared he wanted to carve out a buffer zone in Ukraine to protect his country from cross-border attacks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin places his hand on the Constitution as he takes the oath during an inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow

A honour guard carries the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the President's sign prior to Vladimir Putin's inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin

At home, Putin's popularity is closely tied to improving living standards for ordinary Russians.

He began his term in 2018 by promising to get Russia into the top five global economies, vowing it should be 'modern and dynamic.' Instead, Russia's economy has pivoted to a war footing, and authorities are spending record amounts on defense.

Analysts say now that Putin has secured another six years in power, the government could take the unpopular steps of raising taxes to fund the war and pressure more men to join the military.

At the start of a new term, the Russian government is routinely dissolved so that Putin can name a new prime minister and Cabinet. One key area to watch is the Defense Ministry.

Singer Yaroslav Dronov, also known as SHAMAN, waits ahead of the inaugauration ceremony

Actor and producer Ivan Okhlobystin waits before a ceremony inaugurating Vladimir Putin

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin (C) arrives for the inauguration ceremony of Vladimir Putin as Russian President in the Kremlin

Last year, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu came under pressure over his conduct of the war, with mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin launching withering criticism against him for shortages of ammunition for his private contractors fighting in Ukraine.

Prigozhin's brief uprising in June against the Defense Ministry represented the biggest threat to Putin's rule.

After Prigozhin was killed two months later in a mysterious plane crash, Shoigu appeared to have survived the infighting. But last month, his protege, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, was detained on charges of bribery amid reports of rampant corruption.

Some analysts have suggested Shoigu could become a victim of the government reshuffle but that would be a bold move as the war is still raging in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during a meeting last year

Prigozhin's brief uprising in June against the Defense Ministry represented the biggest threat to Putin's rule. Pictured: Mercenaries in Russia's city of Rostov-on-Don, June 24, 2023

In the years following the invasion, authorities have cracked down on any form of dissent with a ferocity not seen since Soviet times. There is no sign that this repression will ease in Putin's new term.

His greatest political foe, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic penal colony in February. Other prominent critics have either been imprisoned or have fled the country, and even some of his opponents abroad fear for their security.

Laws have been enacted that threaten long prison terms for anyone who discredits the military. The Kremlin also targets independent media, rights groups, LGBTQ+ activists and others who don't hew to what Putin has emphasized as Russia's 'traditional family values.'
A British father who disappeared during a solo retirement holiday in Thailand last week has been found.

David Goldthorpe, 65, from Edinburgh, was expected to return home on Sunday after more than three weeks travelling alone in the southeast Asian nation, until police revealed he had never boarded his flight from Phuket to Doha.

Relatives described receiving 'some odd messages and then silence' before David vanished in appeals for information on Facebook.

They say David had flown out on April 12 and stayed at a hotel in Bangkok for a week before travelling to a popular resort in the country. He had not been in touch since last Wednesday, around 3.30am.

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told MailOnline this afternoon that they were supporting a British national in Thailand and were in contact with the family, without providing further details.

David Goldthorpe was staying in Phuket, Thailand, before disappearing on Wednesday, May 1

Prior to the discovery, the family had shared concerns about the disappearance in pleas for information shared on Facebook.

'After some odd messages and then silence, we haven't heard from our uncle for five days,' one relative posted on Facebook.

'He has been on holiday in Thailand but police confirmed he never made his flight home. Please share as we are incredibly worried about him.'

The family continued to support police efforts to find David, sharing his photo in Thailand-based expat groups.

Kate described her father-in-law as 5ft 8' tall, aged 65-years-old.

'He is single and had recently retired so just wanted a holiday,' she said.

'He was booked on a flight to Doha on Sunday morning but police confirmed he was unfortunately not on that.'

David was expected to catch a connecting flight from Doha to Edinburgh on May 5 before the disappearance.

MailOnline contacted Police Scotland for comment.

Police confirmed David did not get on the flight to Doha from Phuket on May 5
Humza Yousaf officially quit as Scottish First minister today paving the way for John Swinney to be installed.

Mr Yousaf signed his resignation letter to the King as the transition to the veteran MSP - set to become the third holder of the post in barely a year - takes effect.

In a valedictory speech at Holyrood this afternoon, Mr Yousaf thanked colleagues who had shown him 'kindness' amid the 'toxic nature of our political debate'.

Despite swipes that he is a 'Sturgeon apologist' and 'continuity' option, Mr Swinney was the only candidate running when nominations closed yesterday.

He managed to convince former finance secretary Kate Forbes to join his team rather than challenge him, in a move billed a 'stitch-up' by opponents.

MSPs will vote on him becoming First Minister at Holyrood this afternoon, with the Greens propping up the SNP.

Mr Swinney will then appoint his Cabinet, with eyes on whether Ms Forbes will be handed the key post as his deputy.

John Swinney is set to be installed as Scottish First Minister after being confirmed as the new SNP leader yesterday

In a valedictory speech at Holyrood this afternoon, Humza Yousaf thanked colleagues who had shown him 'kindness' amid the 'toxic nature of our political debate'

Humza Yousaf officially quit as Scottish First minister today paving the way for John Swinney to be installed within hours

Mr Yousaf signed his resignation letter to the King as the transition takes effect

Mr Yousaf's fall from grace was sparked when he summarily ditched the coalition deal with the Greens in Scotland

Mr Yousaf said in his final speech: 'Let me offer thanks to every single colleague across the political divide for the kindnesses that you have shown me over the years.

'We often, and I'm guilty of this too, lament the toxic nature of our political debate and it's true, there is entrenched tribalism that feels difficult to free ourselves from.

'However I will remember far more fondly the kindness and generosity of colleagues over the years.'

Mr Swinney swerved a late obstacle yesterday as he persuaded activist Graeme McCormick not to go ahead with forcing a leadership contest, even though he had secured the support required to stand.

In his victory speech in Glasgow yesterday, Mr Swinney acknowledged the scale of the infighting and crises which have engulfed the SNP and admitted the party has been through a 'rough, tough time'.

But he claimed that his party has now 'come back together again' under his leadership and 'got our act together'.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said Mr Swinney would just 'double down on the independence obsession' rather than tackling Scotland's problems.

'It's difficult to see how he can be the fresh start Scotland needs, when he's the ultimate continuity candidate,' he said.

'John Swinney was joined at the hip with the disgraced Nicola Sturgeon and his fingerprints are all over her numerous policy failures and cover-ups.

'The stitch-up the SNP have engineered to ensure John Swinney's coronation highlights the mess they're in.

'Is a failed former leader from two decades ago  who, as education secretary, sent Scotland plummeting down international league tables  really the best they have to offer?

Mr Yousaf's time as First Minister was spent dealing with a long list of crises, including developments in the police probe into the SNP's funding and finances, a series of policy U-turns, disciplinary issues, defections and bitter infighting between factions in his party.

In his speech yesterday, Mr Swinney claimed the speedy leadership process can allow the SNP to 'get back on the front foot'.

A Norstat poll at the weekend showed the SNP is on course to fall to just 15 seats following the general election, and to slide behind Labour at the next Holyrood election.

The SNP vote share in a Westminster election was seen as dropping to its lowest level since the 2014 independence referendum.

The party would hold just 15 of its 43 seats with Scottish Labour winning 28 - a dramatic increase from its current two.

Mr Swinney was the only nominee after he persuaded former Finance Secretary Kate Forbes (pictured) to join his team rather than challenge him

According to the Sunday Times survey, the SNP had support from 29 per cent of the electorate - a fall of three points in a month, while Labour's share increased by two points to 34 per cent.

Under Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP became the third largest party at Westminster, winning 56 of 59 Scottish seats in 2015.

The Scottish Conservatives, whose vote share remained at 16 per cent in the poll, would add three seats to return nine MPs - while the Liberal Democrats, on 8 per cent, would boost their yield by one to five MPs.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: 'John Swinney's coronation is entirely about managing the SNP rather than running our country.

'At a time when Scotland is crying out for change, the SNP is offering more of the same.'
A Kansas man charged with killing his hospitalized wife admitted to police that he could not afford her medical bills.

Ronnie Wiggs, a 75-year-old from Independence in Kansas, appeared in court on Monday on a second-degree murder charge, where he was referred to the public defender's office. Bail was set at $250,000.

On Friday, his wife was in Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, where she was getting a new port for her dialysis, when staff responded to a Code Blue as she was unresponsive.

While medical practitioners were able to bring a pulse back, she was considered brain dead, and they made preparations to harvest her organs that day. She officially died on Saturday.

After she was declared brain-dead, Wiggs left the hospital, but confessed to the killing after the woman's son brought him back to see her.

Ronnie Wiggs, a 75-year-old from Independence in Kansas, (pictured) appeared in court on Monday on a second-degree murder charge

Wis wife was in Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence (pictured), where she was getting a new port for her dialysis

'I did it, I killed her, I choked her', he reportedly said.

After being arrested, Wiggs told detectives that he covered his wife's nose and mouth to keep her from breathing and screaming, adding that he was depressed and wasn't able to deal with the caregiving and the mounting bills from his wife's treatment.

This wasn't the first time Wiggs allegedly tried to kill his wife. He admitted to attempting to kill her while she was at a rehabilitation center, but she woke up and told him not to ever do that again.

He also admitted to trying to kill his wife while she was hospitalized, but said he couldn't as she was hooked up to too many monitors.

Ronnie faces 10 to 30 years behind bars, or may even get life with the possibility of parole.

He is due back in prison on Thursday, where his bail will be reviewed.
A man has been charged after an officer was 'chased down the road with a chainsaw' following a police car crash which left two injured.

The disturbance happened following a collision involving a car and a stationary police vehicle on Glasgow Road in Paisley, Renfrewshire at around 1pm yesterday.

Police Scotland said that a 30-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident, although it is not being treated as terror related.

It added that two officers were injured and did need treated by paramedics.

He is due to appear at Paisley Sheriff Court today and a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.

Glasgow Road was closed between Buchlyvie Road and Allanton Avenue, but has since reopened.

The man, 27, has now been arrested following the 'disturbance involving a weapon'

The incident in Paisley, Renfrewshire saw a police vehicle collide with a wall and two officers treated by paramedics

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: 'A 30-year-old man has been arrested and charged following a disturbance involving a weapon, and a collision on Glasgow Road in Paisley.

'Two officers were injured and were treated by paramedics.

'The 30-yr-old man is due to appear at Paisley Sheriff Court on Tuesday, May 7.'

Footage of the scene showed a man dressed in a grey top and black trousers yelling as he allegedly sprinted towards an officer, while wielding a large weapon.

Around a dozen officers swarmed to the road with images from the scene showing a police patrol car crashed into the wall of a nearby house after an alleged collision between motors during the chase. A dark coloured Volkswagen is also seen with its front badly damaged.

The smash saw the two injured officers requiring treatment from paramedics. Police have since assured concerned residents that there is not wider risk to the public and there have been no other injuries reported.

Other footage shows police officers scrambling to the scene as they restrain an individual on the pavement with the help of have-ago-heroes who were passing by.

A number of officers were seen bundling a person to the floor before more officers sprint to their aid. Plain clothed officers also then emerge to help their colleagues at the scene outside a dental surgery.

'It's a busy road but it's the first time I've seen the likes of this,' one local told the Scottish Sun.

'Thankfully no one appears to have been seriously hurt which is the main thing.'

A statement from Police Scotland yesterday said: 'Around 1pm on Monday, 6 May, 2024, a disturbance involving a weapon occurred following a collision involving a car and a stationary police vehicle on Glasgow Road in Paisley.

'There is no wider risk to the public and officers remain at the scene while enquires are ongoing.

'Glasgow Road is closed between Buchlyvie Road and Allanton Avenue. Drivers are asked to avoid the area and use an alternative route.'

MailOnline has contacted the Scottish Ambulance Service for comment.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has dropped its controversial hiring practice that requires prospective faculty to write a 'diversity statement' as part of the application process.

The university previously required faculty applicants to provide the hiring team with a statement demonstrating 'knowledge of challenges related to diversity, equity, and inclusion'.

Applicants were also required to outline their 'track record of working with diverse groups of people' and share how they plan to advance diversity, equity (DEI) and inclusion within their role at the school.

MIT President Dr. Sally Kornbluth has now decided to remove the requirement because 'compelled' diversity statements allegedly 'impinge on freedom of expression' and 'don't work', the university confirmed to DailyMail.com.

The school is the first elite private university to backtrack on the controversial application practice.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) President Dr. Sally Kornbluth, pictured in December, has dropped the university's controversial hiring practice that requires prospective faculty to write a 'diversity statement' as part of the application process

An MIT spokesperson on Monday confirmed that 'requests for a statement on diversity will no longer be part of applications for any faculty positions at MIT'.

Kornbluth made the decision to reform the highly-criticized hiring practice with the 'support of the Provost, Chancellor, and all six academic deans'.

The President said she believes MIT can 'build an inclusive environment' without requiring diversity statements.

'My goals are to tap into the full scope of human talent, to bring the very best to MIT, and to make sure they thrive once here,' Kornbluth told DailyMail.com in a statement.

'We can build an inclusive environment in many ways, but compelled statements impinge on freedom of expression, and they don't work.'

The policy change comes after a survey conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free speech advocacy group, last year revealed that students and faculty were 'unclear' if the 'administration protects free speech'.

The report, released in January 2023, found that 'large portions of MIT faculty and students are afraid to express their views in various academic settings.'

Around 25 per cent of faculty reported they were 'very' or 'extremely' likely to self-censor, the FIRE survey revealed. Forty-one per cent of faculty also agreed that the administration's stance on free speech was 'not clear'.

MIT previously required faculty applicants to provide the hiring team with a statement demonstrating 'knowledge of challenges related to diversity, equity, and inclusion'. Applicants were also required to outline their 'track record of working with diverse groups of people' and share how they plan to advance diversity, equity (DEI) and inclusion within their role at the school (Pictured: The Maclaurin Buildings on the MIT campus)

Last month, a Harvard Law School professor urged the Ivy League - which MIT is not apart of - to eliminate mandatory diversity statements.

Randall L. Kennedy, in a column in the Harvard Crimson, argued that requiring faculty to sign DEI statements 'poses a profound challenge to academic freedom'.

He argued DEI statements force faculty and staff to 'toe a political line' apply pressure towards 'leftist conformity' and 'abets cynicism.'

'Universities are under a legal, moral, and pedagogical duty to take action against wrongful discriminatory conduct,' Kennedy wrote.

'But demands for mandatory DEI statements venture far beyond that obligation into territory that is full of booby-traps inimical to an intellectually healthy university environment.'

The DEI statement policy, often leading to the select hiring of minorities or specific demographics in order to increase diversity, was strongly pushed by Harvard's first Black female president Claudine Gay.

Gay, alongside the presidents of UPenn and MIT were called before a congressional hearing in December last year to account for the rise of antisemitism on their college campuses.

During the hearing, Gay refused to categorize calls for Jew genocide as harassment or concede that Jewish students had a right to feel safe at Ivy League schools.

Gay resigned as president of Harvard in January but failed to apologize for testimony. The academic had actively pushed a DEI agenda at the college, and had herself been criticized as underqualified for the role.

The DEI statement policy was strongly pushed by Harvard's first Black female president Claudine Gay. Gay alongside the presidents of UPenn and MIT were called before a congressional hearing in December 2023 (pictured) to account for the rise of antisemitism on their college campuses

Higher education institutions are not the only firms revising their DEI hiring practices. Last year's Supreme Court ruling overturning the use of affirmative action in universities has drawn attention to corporate diversity efforts.

Laws limiting the use of DEI policies in public schools have been introduced in Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis and in the universities of Texas by Governor Greg Abbott.

Several American companies have distanced themselves from controversial diversity initiatives in the wake of the college antisemitism row, business consultants revealed earlier this year.

The spate of antisemitism at some of the country's most elite college campuses has reportedly dragged the DEI term further into a toxic political debate that businesses now wish to distance themselves from.

'The focus is moving away from 'those three words' towards efforts around 'wellbeing and inclusion,' Diana Scott from The Conference Board told Axios in January.

DEI had already attracted some high-profile critics from the business world including Elon Musk and billionaire Bill Ackman.
A crisis at Jersey Zoo over animal welfare concerns has led to the mass departure of the zoo's directors and senior staff.

Jersey Zoo, which was founded by the naturalist Gerald Durrell, was praised in the past for protecting endangered species but has been in a state of turmoil in recent months.

Conservationists have raised concerns about the conditions exotic animals are being kept in at the zoo following the publication of a number of distressing photos from inside.

One image showed a Sloth, which are usually found lounging about in tall trees, lying on the floor of a public stairwell, allegedly close to children. While another image appeared to show a bloody aardvark with scratches down its back.

Jersey Zoo has denied allegations that their keepers do not know how to care for the animals. In a statement they told MailOnline 'A picture at a moment in time does not tell the whole story of that animal and the care it receives.'

Conservationists have raised concerns about the conditions exotic animals are being kept in at the zoo following the publication of a number of distressing photos. One image showed a Sloth, which are usually found lounging about in tall trees, lying on the floor of a public stairwell

Another image appeared to show a bloody aardvark with scratches down its back. Critics of Jersey Zoo have cited the newly surfaced pictures as illustrative of the ongoing crisis at the zoo

Jersey Zoo was originally founded by naturalist Gerald Durrell (pictured) with the aim of protecting endangered species. Recently, the board has been accused of bringing in more popular animals at the expense of the endangered species that Mr Durrell promoted

Critics of Jersey Zoo have cited the newly surfaced pictures as illustrative of the ongoing crisis at the zoo which has seen in recent months staff, with a combined career at the zoo spanning over 250 years, quit en masse.

Trustees of the zoo have been accused of eroding the original mission of the late Mr Durrell who died in 1995.

The friend of David Attenborough opened Jersey Zoo in 1959 with the aim of championing lesser known animals he called 'little brown jobs.'

Recently, the board has been accused of bringing in more popular animals, such as sloths, at the expense of the endangered species that Mr Durrell promoted.

Last Wednesday the board of trustees narrowly survived a confidence vote despite hundreds of members calling for them to be ousted, and who plan to voice their concerns at the next annual general meeting.

Who was Gerald Durrell? Gerald Durrell was born in India in 1925 but spent most of his childhood in Corfu. His experience growing up on the Greek island was the inspiration behind the hit ITV series The Durrells. Growing up, Mr Durrell developed a love of wildlife and started travelling the world. He documented his travels through his writing and became a successful author. From the money made from his writing, he created the Jersey Zoo with a clear mission to save endangered species. Mr Durrell passed away in 1995 at the age of 70. In his honour the zoo's trust was named Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. Source - Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Advertisement

In words reported by The Times, Quentin Bloxam who worked at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust for more than 45 years, claims he voiced concerns about the treatment of animals.

He cited the sloth enclosure as one of example of an enclosure that was not suitable for the creatures claiming it was originally intended to be an immersive jungle experience with plants.

Jersey Zoo insists animal welfare is its highest priority. In response to the pictures, the zoo released images of the sloths exploring at night and aardvarks sleeping indoors.

Rebecca Brewer, CEO (Interim), Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust said: 'The implication of recent news articles that our passionate and experienced keepers do not care for our animals couldn't be further from the truth and is extremely distressing for our team.

'A picture at a moment in time does not tell the whole story of that animal and the care it receives.

'At Jersey Zoo, we continually evolve and adapt our animals' environments, in line with the latest husbandry guidelines and scientific data available to us. We have a team of professional vets based on site, incredibly devoted keepers, who work tirelessly to look after our animals, and regular zoo inspections to ensure we are meeting the relevant standards.'

Dr Lee Durrell, Honorary Director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust said: 'Healthy debate about management decisions and strategic direction of any organisation is to be welcomed  Gerald Durrell himself encouraged constructive criticism of the zoo. This debate culminated at last week's EGM, where the members voted in support of the current Board of Trustees.

'I'm working together with the Board to ensure that the way forward reinforces Gerry's legacy to the world: his unique approach to wildlife conservation, integrating animal husbandry skills, scientific expertise and a long-term commitment to the animals, people and places we focus on, including Jersey Zoo.

'As David Attenborough said, 'the world needs Durrell'. And what Durrell needs now is stability and to move forward for the greater good of our mission to 'save species from extinction'.'

Matthew Hatchwell, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust said: 'The EGM was an opportunity to hear from our members and directly address any concerns or questions. The turmoil of recent months must end here. What Durrell needs now is to move on, learning from the past, and restrengthening our focus on vital work here in Jersey and around the world.'
Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden has paid a heartbreaking tribute to CoppaFeel founder Kris Hallenga after she died from breast cancer aged 38.

The Welsh Strictly pro, 33, was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in May 2023, revealing earlier this year that her latest cancer check-up showed 'no evidence' of the disease.

Touching photos show Amy taking part in the Pembrokeshire trek which raised thousands for women with breast cancer.

The dancer revealed it was not until she went on the trek that she realised - thanks to Kris's charity CoppaFeel - that she should be checking her breasts for signs of cancer.

Kris died after 15 years of living with the disease, having been diagnosed in 2009 aged 23 and given a life expectancy of two years. Her charity taught a generation of women how to make sure breast cancer is diagnosed early and accurately.

Speaking on the Lorraine show today, Amy said: 'I did the Pembrokeshire trek and it was on that trek [that] I was speaking to the most wonderful trekers. I realised I'm here, advertising, raising awareness to check yourselves and I don't even check myself.

'So from that trek, I started to check myself and just a few months later, I found my lump. And so if it wasn't for CoppaFeel, if it wasn't for Kris, I probably wouldn't be sat here right now.'

Photos show Amy Dowden (left) taking part in the Pembrokeshire trek which raised thousands for women with breast cancer

Amy appeared on the Lorraine show to pay a heartbreaking tribute to CoppaFeel founder Kris Hallenga

Kris Hallenga, 38, (pictured) has died after 15 years of living with secondary breast cancer

Before her death, Kris revealed she was motivated to start CoppaFeel after being 'confused and baffled' when diagnosed with the disease.

'I kept thinking this is b*******. Why didn't anyone tell me to check my boobs? Why didn't I know I could get breast cancer at 23? I'm pretty sure my friends don't know either, and if none of us do then literally no young person in this country f****** knows this secret. This needs to change. And I got this wave of energy,' she told the Guardian in 2021.

After her diagnosis in 2009, Kris founded CoppaFeel with her twin sister Maren, and watched the charity grow to become the third most recognised cancer charity in the UK.

In a statement about her death, CoppaFeel said yesterday: 'We share the sad news that our founder, boob chief, colleague, friend and queen of glittering turds, Kris, has died.

'Kris approached life in a creative, fun and fearless way, showing us that it is possible to live life to the full with cancer.'

CoppaFeel has a huge following on social media and encourages woman to check their breasts for signs of cancer.

Kris is the best-selling author of Glittering A Turd, a book which details how she discovered her life after being told she would die.

In its statement, CoppaFeel added: 'In 2009 Kris was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer at the age of 23, after being turned away from her GP for over a year.

Kris (right) told how she founded charity CoppaFeel with her twin sister Maren (left) because she was never told how to check for breast cancer

The campaigner was first diagnosed in 2009 with incurable secondary breast cancer and given a life expectancy of just two years

Kris made a conscious decision to face her illness head-on and seize every opportunity

Kris is the best-selling author of Glittering A Turd, seen here with an advert for her book which details how she discovered her life after being told she would die

'By the time she was diagnosed, it was terminal. Kris' ambition was for no one else to find themselves in her position and so CoppaFeel! was born, to ensure breast cancers are diagnosed early and accurately.

'Kris has reached millions of people with her message of health advocacy and empowerment, successfully campaigned for cancer education to be included in the school curriculum, won the Women of the Year Outstanding Young Campaigner award, received an Honorary Doctorate in Public Administration from Nottingham Trent University and wrote a Times Best Selling book: Glittering a Turd.

'Kris' life mission was that CoppaFeel! would no longer need to exist, with late diagnosis of breast cancer eradicated in her lifetime. We are committed to continuing Kris' legacy, to ensure that everyone has the best chance of living a happy and healthy life. If you'd like to support this mission, you can donate here.'

The charity added: 'For 15 years Kris had been living with secondary breast cancer. She hasn't lost a battle, she wasn't in a fight and she certainly wouldn't want you to see her death as tragic. She was simply living. She was 38 and died with fulfilment and a heart full of love.

Kris' family have one request  for peace and privacy to allow them the time and space needed to process Kris' death. We would like to thank our community for your love and messages of support and kindly ask that you respect the family's wishes at this time.

'Please remember the amazing life Kris led and the things she achieved, but above all else honour her memory by checking your chestit could just save your life.

'Trust your body, believe in hope, leave room for miracles.' Kris Hallenga.

'With love from all at CoppaFeel! HQ x.'
An Aussie mum is baffled as to why some schools have banned metal drink bottles as the move away from plastic continues.

Melbourne TikToker Olivia White uploaded a video questioning the decision after the ban was enforced at her friends' kids' schools.

The topic has divided the internet, with the mum inundated with a wide range of responses as to why the ban is in place.

'Does anyone know why schools are banning metal drink bottles?' Ms White began.

'Mine has not but I've seen people other people posting on Instagram that they can't take metal drink bottles.'

Olivia White (pictured) uploaded a video asking if anyone knows why schools are banning metal bottles

READ MORE: Devastating reason why grandparents were banned from classroom Grandparents were invited to attend an 'Inquiry Afternoon' at St Joseph's Primary School Yarra Junction last Friday Advertisement

Ms White believes that the bottle ban 'doesn't make any sense'.

'I don't understand why,' she continued.

'I thought we weren't doing plastic. All of mine are metal. Is the answer really obvious?'

She has received hundreds of messages from people saying that their schools have concerns about children throwing them.

Others said that the bottles were banned because they weighed down students' bags.

'I put that (post) up and I've had so many people saying they have banned them,' Ms White told Yahoo News Australia.

'They are not all for the same reason, some reasons sound a bit like maybe they don't want to say what the actual reason is.

'A few said that they had been used as weapons but really, anything can be a weapon.

'Another is the 'haves and have nots' drink bottle culture  just as many people have said that's the reason. Children are bullying each other about what they do and don't have.'

@olivialaurawhite Ive had a few people tell me now that their schools have banned metal drink bottles and I dont get why? Because I thought we didnt do plastic now? Whats the alternative? Is the answer really obvious? And my brain just isnt working?  original sound - Olivia White

While there is no blanket ban on taking metal drink bottles to school, a spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education said individual school were able to make their own rules.

The viral TikTiokhas attracted hundreds of comments and almost 25,000 views since it was uploaded last month.

'I'm a teacher. The only thing I can think of is that they're so loud when they drop them,' one said.

Ms White received hundreds of messaged from parents and teachers sharing their experiences about metal popl

Another teacher claimed she 'had a kid throw a metal water bottle across the class when they were angry'

Another recalled how she was 'nearly seriously injured' by a flying bottle.

'My sons high school did it so kids couldnt hide what they were drinking. The rule was water only,' a parent commented.

Another added: 'Boys kick them round and use them as weapons in real and play fights with each other.'

A third wrote: 'Its so if the bottle is thrown around the playground, it wont 'hurt, or thats the reason my kids school gave.
A seven-year-old girl who was crushed to death on an overcrowded cross-Channel boat has been laid to rest, as her heartbroken father says he will 'never forget' her tragic final moments.

Sara Alhashimi was with her father Ahmed when he claims their dinghy was attacked by a rival group of migrants, causing it to become heavily overcrowded and capsize just off the coast of Calais on April 30.

The young child was laid to rest this week in France, in a white coffin surrounded by her family, who placed flowers and her favourite teddy bear on top of the mound of earth to mark the grave.

'I lost my child, I lost my daughter. She was like a butterfly, like a bird, she was everything to us, the light in our home, our source of laughter, she was everything,' Ahmed told Sky News.

Sara Alhashimi was with her father Ahmed when he claims their dinghy was attacked by a rival group of migrants, causing it to become heavily overcrowded and capsize just off the coast of Calais on April 30

The young child was laid to rest this week in France , in a white coffin surrounded by her family, who placed flowers and her favourite teddy bear on top of the mound of earth to mark the grave

He is now calling on the British government to help him get legal passage to the UK, hoping they will see his pain and feel his loss

He is now calling on the British government to help him get legal passage to the UK, hoping they will see his pain and feel his loss.

'I call on the British people and the government to help me reach Britain legally. I don't want assistance. I can work, so can my wife. I just want security and safety for my children. That is all.'

Five people, including young Sara, were trampled to death or suffocated beneath the heaving mass of bodies on the dinghy, which capsized just off the coast of Wimereux, near Boulogne-sur-Mer just south of Calais.

Ahmed continued: 'For all the sadness and sorrow, those final scenes of her life are ones that I will never forget.

'When she was taken out of the boat, those scenes I will never forget for the rest of my life.

'I lost my daughter. Every father who has a daughter, who knows the love you get from a daughter, can imagine the feeling they would suffer if they were to lose their daughter. For me - I am not imagining. I lost her for real.'

French police had attempted to intervene, but were pushed back by migrants and smugglers who swung sticks at them and threw flares.

As the crowd of migrants pressed tightly together, Ahmed desperately tried to hold onto Sara, who had fallen beneath the feet of other passengers and was being trampled as the dinghy began to capsize.

The family were originally from Iraq but had been living in Sweden for the last seven years, where Sara and her brothers had been attending school and had learnt the language.

Despite having extended family already living in Sweden the Alhashimi's were denied residency, and over fears of being deported back to Iraq decided to illegally cross into Britain instead.

The dinghy got into difficulty off the coast of Wimereux between Calais and Boulogne

Sara (right) is survived by the rest of her family - her father Ahmed, his wife Nour Al Saeed, and their two other children, 13-year-old Rahaf (middle) and eight-year-old Hussam (left)

Ahmed claimed all he was only trying to cross the Channel to 'protect her [Sara's] life', adding: 'I wanted her to have a future, a life with dignity like other children, but I could not'

Five people, including a child, died while trying to cross the English Channel from France to the UK aboard the horrendously overcrowded dinghy

Ahmed claimed all he was only trying to cross the Channel to 'protect her [Sara's] life', adding: 'I wanted her to have a future, a life with dignity like other children, but I could not.

'Everything went against me. The Swedish government, and the immigration officials, are the reason behind the tragedy we suffered.

'We are talking about children, who were born here in Europe. How could you send them to Iraq?'

By the time the boat was pulled ashore, Sara was dead, the air forced out of her tiny body by the crushing weight of humanity scrambling to save themselves.

She is survived by the rest of her family - her father Ahmed, his wife Nour Al Saeed, and their two other children, 13-year-old Rahaf and eight-year-old Hussam.

While Ahmed is Iraqi, Sara was born in Belgium and had spent most her life in Sweden.

It is understood that Belgium reportedly denied Ahmed asylum because his hometown of Basra, in Iraq, was considered safe.

He told the BBC he had spent 14 years in the EU and his children had spent the last seven years staying with relatives in Sweden.

'We were in Sweden for seven years and we did not even think of leaving. Our children would go to school and live their normal lives. But when we were obliged to leave Sweden, when we received the deportation letter, I was left with no alternative.'

Ahmed has said he will never try to risk the crossing again, as he would not risk losing his sons to the same fate as poor Sara.
A builder who starred as a 'good guy' in the BBC's 'Cowboy Trap' has been accused of a 'shambolic' job after a widow claimed his workman left a boot print in the paint of her house and her shower is too short.

Paul Shanahan, managing director of Greystoke Builders Ltd, played a key role as a 'good guy' during nine episodes of the BBC show in which he was called in to salvage 'disasters' and botched jobs done by rogue builders.

But now he is facing claims from widow and African studies academic Dr Zohor Aylwin that his workers left multiple defects behind after a 100,000 revamp at her 1.2m house.

She alleges his staff left a 'boot print of the company's employee' in paintwork.

It is also claimed his workers installed a toilet that wouldn't flush and a shower too low to get under.

The company is denying what it says are 'alleged but unsubstantiated defects' and demanding 50,000 in unpaid bills for the work, in a case that has run up 460,000 in lawyers' bills.

Paul Shanahan (pictured outside court), managing director of Greystoke Builders Ltd, played a key role as a 'good guy' during nine episodes of BBC's 'Cowboy Trap,' in which he was called in to salvage 'disasters' and botched jobs done by rogue builders

Widow and African studies academic Dr Zohor Aylwin (pictured with her son Idris) claims that his workers left multiple defects behind after a 100,000 revamp at her 1.2m house

But now his company is in a legal fight with Dr Zohor Aylwin after Greystoke carried out a revamp on her home in Watford, in 2019.

The case began when Mr Shanahan's company sued Dr Aylwin for unpaid invoices totalling about 50,000, with her then suing the company in return over an alleged series of defects in the work.

Her barrister, Ashley Pratt, told Judge Nicholas Parfitt KC at Mayors and City County Court that she has a number of complaints about the quality of the revamp project.

This ranged from the cost of replacing a boiler, sub-standard paintwork including one surface being marked with a 'boot print of the company's employee', problems with the newly fitted Howden's kitchen, and a toilet that failed to flush.

'The shower was clearly too short to fit under and was clearly unsuitable,' he added, also claiming there were 'fittings defects for the dishwasher', problems with the kitchen electrics, defective tiles in an en-suite bedroom - as well as 'gross over-charging' when installing sliding doors in a bedroom.

Dr Aylwin is disputing the claim, saying there were multiple defects in the work done which effectively 'extinguish' the building company's 50,200 bill.

Her barrister further claimed that even on Greystoke's best case the debt owing would only amount to 44,000, and insisted that the company did not prepare a proper contract or operate a coherent invoicing system.

'The invoicing and estimate process was nothing short of shambolic,' he told the court.

But Greystoke's barrister Paul Fisher denied there was evidence of the defects alleged and highlighted the north London-based company's 'many years experience undertaking work of the nature undertaken at the property'.

It is claimed his workers installed a toilet that wouldn't flush and a shower too low to get under after a 100,000 revamp at her 1.2m house (pictured)

He told the judge: 'Indeed one of the company's witnesses and directors, Mr Paul Shanahan, worked as an expert on the BBC television programme 'Cowboy Trap', in which his team sought to rectify and compete works in residential homes initially undertaken by 'cowboy' builders.'

Mr Shanahan was personally engaged in the renovation works at Dr Aylwin's home, the court heard, and had also negotiated the contract and 'scope of works'.

Mr Fisher said the company took on the project in 2019, with Mrs Aylwin's son, Idris, overseeing the project for his parents.

Greystoke had sent a series of invoices to the Aylwin family, said Mr Fisher, receiving just over 67,000 and leaving - the builders say - a 50,200 shortfall.

The company claims the right to recover its 50,200 debt - or alternatively is asking the judge to assess what is due.

'The defects alleged by the defendants do not come close to a sum that would set off or nullify the total debt claimed by the claimant,' he told the judge.

Greystoke insists its team did their utmost to carry out a successful overhaul of Dr Aylwin's home.

Mr Fisher highlighted expert evidence suggesting that 'the property had not been maintained to a very high standard prior to the claimant undertaking its works'.

The decor was in 'visibly poor pre-existing condition', said the barrister, adding that the previous poorly finished paintwork 'clearly had an impact on the visual appearance of the claimant's works'.

Mr Fisher labelled the case a 'relatively simple debt claim which has spiraled out of control by virtue of alleged but unsubstantiated defects that have been raised by the defendants'.

As a result, he said the relatively small-scale debt dispute has mushroomed into a three-day court action involving expert witnesses and with total legal costs projected at around 460,000, which will leave whoever loses over 500,000 out of pocket.

The judge has now reserved his decision in the case.
Reports have suggested The Line could cost more than $2 trillion if built in full

Designs for Saudi Arabia's The Line are stretching the imagination once again, with baffling concept images showing a ship travelling through the megacity, amid reports that the ambitious project will need to be scaled back.

NEOM, which is behind the project and is the brainchild of ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, claims the 106-mile metropolis will 'redefine liveability' and 'transform how we live'.

But critics have said the grand plan is unfeasible, with a Bloomberg report last month suggesting it's length will be reduced by 98 per cent to just one-and-a-half miles and will be home to just 300,000 people by 2030, rather than 1.5 million.

Renderings suggest that the metropolis will be encased in two long mirrored skyscrapers which reflect the sky, surrounding desert and water, giving the illusion of invisibility.

So when a cruise ship sails towards its concealed entrance, it appears to vanish from a certain angle, with little explanation available as to what purpose the futuristic marina would serve or how it will be accessed.

The metropolis appears to be invisible, floating over a marina, in one confusing artist's impression of the plans

Renderings suggest that the metropolis will be encased in two long mirrored skyscrapers which reflect the sky, surrounding desert and water

NEOM claims the 106-mile futuristic metropolis will 'redefine liveability' and 'transform how we live'

New aerial pictures of the construction site show a bare desert landscape and no apparent foundations

The Line has been pitched as a new vision for urban design - with computer generated promotional material making it look like something out of a science fiction film

A map shows where The Line was set to be built, and how long it would have been. Saudi officials said it would be built in stages, and would eventually cover a 106-mile stretch of desert along the coast of the Red Sea in the western Tabuk province

The Line has been pitched as a new vision for urban design - with computer generated promotional material making it look like something out of a science fiction film.

As well as its otherworldly designs, the staggering cost of the huge project has sparked scepticism about its viability.

When it was first announced, The Line was slated to cost $1.5 trillion (1.2tn), but now reports have emerged that it could cost more than $2 trillion if it is built in full.

The first 1.5 miles of The Line alone are estimated to cost more than $100 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports today, citing two employees familiar with the plans.

Analysts have also expressed concern over technology touted by the project that is yet to be invented.

Unsurprisingly, it has consistently raised eyebrows for proposed flourishes like flying taxis and robot maids.

And its proposed mirrored walls have also proved controversial, with experts warning that the vast surfaces would be a 'death trap' for for millions of birds migrating between Europe and Africa each year.

The Line is seen in a concept video released by Saudi Arabia, showing the two vast structures stretching off into the distance

The Line - part of the country's audacious and futuristic NEOM project - was meant to be 106 mile sin length and home to 1.5 million residents by the end of the decade. According to Bloomberg, the plans have been scaled back, with The Line now set to be just 1.5 miles

Saudi Arabia has been forced to scale back its $1.5trillion plans for a 106-mile linear desert city (pictured in concept images), according to reports, in a humiliating decision for the kingdom

As Saudi Arabia touted the finished projects sustainability credentials, researchers identified the construction project itself as one of the 15 most pressing conservation issues to watch in 2024.

Experts have said in a study released in December that a combination of factors mean it poses a huge risk to birds that migrate over Saudi Arabia every year.

These include the mirrored facades, the city's orientation and the intention to have wind turbines along the top of it.

The Line has been promoted as an entirely green city, powered by 100 per cent renewable energy.

NEOM said three million cubic tonnes of earth are being moved thanks to their teams of excavators

It is one of 15 projects announced as part of Mohammed bin Salman's ambitious NEOM undertaking.

It is part of the Crown Prince's overall 'Vision 2030' scheme to reshape his oil-dependent country's economy and image.

In a progress video released by NEOM earlier this year, Chief Development Officer Denis Hickey said the Saudi megadevelopment is committed to hit ambitious development targets.

He said: 'The first phase of The Line will be complete by 2030. We are committed.

'We've done a lot of the foundation work, literally and figuratively. I think the construction of The Line is unique in terms of its industrialisation and its modulised approach'.

NEOM was first announced in 2017, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (pictured) delivering a presentation on The Line in July 2022

New aerial pictures of the construction site show a bare desert landscape and no apparent foundations.

Hundreds of diggers are seen in the clip, with NEOM saying three million cubic tonnes of earth are being moved thanks to their teams of excavators.

With the group insisting that the plans are going ahead as intended, the clip is captioned: 'Our vertical city is progressing. Witness the first phase of our masterplan take shape.'

NEOM as a whole remains one of the largest and most difficult construction projects in history, with the region set to cover a 10,000 square mile swathe of desert - the size of Belgium.

NEOM has been contacted for comment.
A plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been 'foiled', according to the Security Service of Ukraine.

Two Ukrainian counterintelligence officers were today announced to have been detained over 'plans of the FSB [Russian security agency] to eliminate the President of Ukraine and other representatives of the top military and political leadership of the state'.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed on Telegram two colonels were implicated in the plot, allegedly 'leaking' information back to Russia.

SBU investigators allegedly uncovered a drawn out plot to closely follow watched persons before targeting a safehouse with a 'rocket attack'.

'Then they were going to attack the people who remained at the affected area with a drone,' the SBU claimed, without providing evidence.

'After that, the Russians planned to target with another missile, including to destroy traces of the use of the drone.'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a speech in Kyiv Ukraine, on April 29, 2024

Ukrainian secret services swoop to arrest suspects accused of plotting an assassination

The SBU claimed to have foiled the plot in anticipation of an attack over the weekend

The SBU claimed Russia intended to 'eliminate' the head of its own department, Yasyl Malyuk, the head of the State Administration of Ukraine, Kyryll Budanov, and 'other high-ranking officials'.

They claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate Budanov, a key player in Ukrainian Intelligence, 'before Easter'.

READ MORE: Vladimir Putin is sworn in for his fifth term as president at glittering ceremony in front of hand-picked guests including Steven Seagal and Night Wolves biker gang leader The Surgeon Advertisement

Ukraine celebrated Easter on Sunday, May 5.

One of the colonels personally handled the supply of FPV drones, RPG-7 rockets and MON-90 anti-personnel mines intended for the attack, the SBU claimed.

Ukrainian Intelligence claimed to have 'gradually' documented the unfolding plot and detained the actors believed to be involved before they could unleash terror.

'A limited number of people knew about our special operation, and I personally monitored its progress,' said the Head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk, ostensibly implicated as a target in the attack.

'The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin before the inauguration, was actually a failure of the Russian special services.

'But we must not forget - the enemy is strong and experienced, he cannot be underestimated.

'We will continue to work ahead of time, so that every traitor receives the well-deserved court sentences.'

Last month, a man was arrested in Poland, accused of plotting to help assassination Zelensky with Russian coordination.

Suspect Pawe K was charged with 'reporting his readiness to act for foreign intelligence', according to the prosecutor's office.

Several attempts on the life of the Ukrainian President have been reported since the ground invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In March 2023, a group of foreign citizens were arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia, Polish government officials told the BBC.

Polish security services reportedly broke up the spy network accused of installing secret cameras at the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport in order to film transport infrastructure used to deliver aid to Ukraine.

Mikhail Podolyak, presidential adviser to Zelensky, claimed previously that the Ukrainian leader had survived more than a dozen attempts in the first two weeks of the war alone.

As early as March 2022, Ukrainian Pravda reported that the Ukrainian military had 'destroyed' a Chechen outfit tasked with 'eliminating' Zelensky.

One of the men detained by security services, accused of plotting to kill top officials

One of the colonels personally handled the supply of FPV drones, RPG-7 rockets and MON-90 anti-personnel mines intended for the attack, the SBU claimed

Head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk, was among those reportedly targeted in the plot

Volodymyr Zelensky meets with British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron in Kyiv on May 3

Putin was today sworn in for his fifth term as president following a contentious election in March.

The Russian leader was greeted with applause when he entered the hall with more than 2,500 people who, his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, had been invited to the ceremony.

Senior members of the Russian government, including Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, lined the red carpet.

Government officials and foreign diplomats in Moscow were invited to the ceremony, including French ambassador Pierre Levy.

While many Western governments boycotted the event, an anonymous French diplomat confirmed that the French ambassador attended as tensions ratchet up following President Macron's recent comments refusing to rule out putting boots on the ground in Ukraine if pressed.

The appearance came despite reports the French ambassador to Moscow had been summoned on Monday.
An American soldier arrested in Russia was visiting his girlfriend when he was detained on theft charges, according to his mother.

Staff sergeant Gordon Black, 35, had reportedly just finished his service in South Korea and traveled to Russia without any kind of permission.

On Thursday, Black - who's reported to be married - was arrested for theft in Vladivostok, a port city near Russia's border with North Korea and China.

Kremlin-controlled Russian TV has reported Black was arrested for beating a woman, identified as Aleksa Viktorovna, 31, and stealing money from her.

Speaking to Good Morning America, his mother Melody Jones said Black was on a two-week leave when he traveled to Russia, and that she felt he was being set up because she suspected his girlfriend was a spy.

'I told him I was really uncomfortable,' the concerned mother said. 'I had a bad feeling about him going, but he went anyway.... I knew something was going to happen.'

Staff sergeant Gordon Black, 35, had reportedly just finished his service in South Korea and traveled to Russia without any kind of permission

Kremlin-controlled Russian TV has reported Black was arrested for beating a woman, identified as Aleksa Viktorovna, 31, and stealing money from her. They are pictured together

His mother Melody Jones said Black was on a two-week leave when he traveled to Russia

A U.S. soldier has been detained in Vladivostok, Russia, on charges of criminal misconduct. @martharaddatz has more details on his arrest. https://t.co/L5R3hXB9kt pic.twitter.com/tSmn8pKLPg  Good Morning America (@GMA) May 7, 2024

Black was questioned for nine hours upon arrival at a Russian airport, Jones said, adding that she does not know if her son had a visa to visit Russia.

Jones said Black met his girlfriend at a club in South Korea over a year ago and they had a 'volatile' relationship.

Black had reportedly claimed his girlfriend got deported from South Korea after they were involved in a dispute in the fall of 2023.

Pictures posted on social media showed them together in January and earlier.

Russian reports say that two weeks after coming to Vladivostok the US army staff sergeant 'beat his beloved and stole 200,000 roubles from her.'

The court did not list any charge of violence against him.

Pro-Kremlin BAZA news outlet, with links to law enforcement, said Gordon came to Russia in mid-April.

Jones said Black met his girlfriend at a club in South Korea over a year ago and they had a 'volatile' relationship

Black had claimed his girlfriend got deported from South Korea after they were involved in a dispute in the fall of 2023

Aleksa Viktorovnais pictured holding a rifle

'About two weeks later they quarreled and, according to [Aleksa], Gordon beat her.' they said. 'After that, he stole 200,000 rubles and alcohol from her.'

The court ordered him to be held in pre-trial detention until July 2nd on a charge that could see him jailed for five years.

Black was supposed to transfer from South Korea to Fort Cavazos in Texas.

The Russian Foreign Ministrys office in Vladivostok has said Black's arrest is not political or related to espionage.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US is aware of the cause but could not say much more at the moment.

Army spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith said: 'The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

Melody Jones said Black was on a two-week leave when he traveled to Russia, and that she felt he was being set up because she suspected his girlfriend was a spy

'The Army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia. Given the sensitivity of this matter, we are unable to provide additional details at this time.'

Black is now one of several American citizens currently imprisoned in Russia.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been held by Russia since last March.

Meanwhile former Marine Paul Whelan has been jailed since 2018; he is sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted of espionage.

Both are wrongfully detained, according to the US government.

Moreover, American-Russian ballerina Ksenia Karelina has been jailed in Russia since January or donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity.

She was charged with treason and faces up to 20 years in jail for making a small donation to the humanitarian charity Razom on the day Russia invaded Ukraine.

The payment was discovered after her phone was seized when she flew into Yekaterinburg's Koltsovo Airport on January 2, planning to visit her 90-year-old grandparents in time for Russia's Christmas day.

The US government has warned US citizens against traveling to Russia.
A Columbia janitor who was 'held hostage' by a mob including a millionaire advertising heir says he fears for his job as he hit out at the school for failing to protect him.

Mario Torres was one of several facilities workers caught up in the violence when pro Palestine protesters stormed Hamilton Hall on April 30.

The father-of-two had to fight his way out of the building and has been too scared to return to campus since.

'It all comes down to the school, it's not really public safety's fault even though I felt abandoned my them,' Torres told the Free Press.

'The school could have done more to a) prevent this and b) to be there for us when we needed them.

I want to get out. Thats the only thing youre thinking of is getting out.



EXCLUSIVE: Mario Torres, the Columbia custodian trapped by student protesters, sat down for his first on-camera interview with our own @FrancescaABlock.



Full story: https://t.co/ueKsoE8Ow7 pic.twitter.com/f4BcXFYVRG  The Free Press (@TheFP) May 7, 2024

Columbia janitor Mario Torres, who was 'held hostage' by a mob including a millionaire advertising heir, says he fears for his job as he hit out at the school for failing to protect him

Torres (pictured) was one of several facilities workers caught up in the violence when pro Palestine protesters stormed Hamilton Hall on April 30

The group was led by James Carlson, the 40-year-old son of millionaire ad execs who lives in a four story $3.4 million Brooklyn townhouse

'We don't expect to go to work and get swarmed by an angry mob with rope and duct tape and masks and gloves.'

His comments come as it emerged the head of John Samuelsen the Transport Workers Union slammed Columbia president Minouche Shafik, as he revealed plans to sue the institution for failing to involve police sooner.

'It's on them to protect their workforce and they didn't do it,' Samuelsen told Politico.

More than 100 protesters were arrested at Hamilton Hall last week after riot-gear clad cops stormed the building via an upstairs window.

This included the group's leader, James Carlson, the 40-year-old son of millionaire ad execs who lives in a four story$3.4 million Brooklyn townhouse.

Carlson, who also goes by Cody Carlson and Cody Tarlow, was arrested by the NYPD and charged with burglary and illegal entry after he stormed Columbia's Hamilton Hall and re-named it 'Hind' Hall.

The accused, who is described as 'a long-time figure in the anarchist world' by officials, was also arrested for allegedly attacking a police officer during the violent G8 protests in San Francisco in 2005, according to the New York Post.

Torres revealed his terror as he allegedly came face-to-face with Carlson.

NYPD cops dressed in riot gear stormed through the window of a Columbia University building occupied by dozens of pro-Palestine protestors to begin clearing them out

Columbia University protestors smashed windows, upended furniture and caused damage throughout Hamilton Hall amid their brief occupation

Images and video showed extensive damage to Hamilton Hall after protestors were evicted on Tuesday night

'He had a Columbia hoodie on, and I managed to rip that hoodie off of him and expose his face. I was freaking out. At that point, I'm thinking about my family. How was I gonna get out? Through the window?' He said.

Torres also pointed out that Hamilton Hall has historically been targeted by students protesters in the past.

He questioned why there was not more campus security around the historic hall.

'They should have protected us a little bit more. Even when I left the building I did not see one public safety officer what's that about? We had to fight our way out,' he added.

'They make people feel uncomfortable, other workers. They need to find another place to protest,' Torres said.

'People don't feel safe walking through a mob to punch in to get into campus. That's crazy, they're right there. Move them somewhere else.'

He added he is reluctant to get involved with the politics amid fears of retaliation.

'Who is wrong or who is right is not the story. Whether I believe in what they do or not I have nothing to do with that. Leave me alone,' Torres said as he explained that the protests appeared to have been 'funded'.

'We found out who this paid agitator is, he's worth millions, I'm not. I don't want to p*** people off.'

NYPD riot cops released dramatic video showing the moment they stormed Columbia University's occupied Hamilton Hall

Around 100 protesters were arrested at Hamilton Hall during the raid, including Carlson who is charged with burglary and illegal entry

Protesters seized Hamilton Hall by force last week, renaming in Hinds Hall in honor of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed alongside her family by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Torres has not been able to work since the traumatic events and fears that he could face consequences for speaking out.

'My concerns are I haven't been to work since that happened I have a family to support, this story is going to blow over, is Columbia going to retaliate to find a reason to fire me? Is someone going to come after me?' he said.

'I think that they failed and I think that's the bigger story. They should have done more to protect us and they didn't.'

A GoFundMe has now been set up for Torres to cover his expenses and legal fees.

'In a distressing event that went viral from Columbia Universitys encampment, a dedicated facilities worker, Mario Torres, found himself in a harrowing situation that has since threatened his livelihood and well-being,' the GoFundMe states.
A contestant on the The 1% Club died after filming for an appearance on the popular ITV quiz show hosted by comedian Lee Mack.

Steven Wong's death was announced at the end of the episode which aired on Saturday night.

Mr Wong, 52, had a colourful life and shared his encounter with Hollywood stardom-when he narrowly lost out for a role in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Had he made the part in the 1984 classic he would have featured with Harrison Ford.

He told fellow contestants: 'I did not realise this but apparently we got down to the final two and it was me and another kid.

'Do not forget this was only when I was about ten!'

Steven Wong, 52, made an appearance on the popular quiz show hosted by Lee Mack on ITV

Mr Wong, 52, spoke about narrowly missing a role in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom

Host of the 1% Club Lee Mack spoke to Mr Wong about his audition as a child actor

Mr Mack and the fellow guests were equally impressed by his interesting backstory.

The host said: 'Wow! And you got down to the final two!'

Before adding jokingly: 'You say you don't like to talk about it, you brought it up on national television.'

But during the credits, a simple notice ran explaining Mr Wong died after filming but before the airing of the show.

Fans of the television quiz show expressed t

The show gets its name because 100 contestants enter hoping to claim the 100,000 prize money- but only one can win.

Mr Wong managed to answer half of the questions before being eliminated in the later stage of the game.

At the end of the programme viewers were greeted with the sad news Mr Wong had died.

In a tribute to him in the credits, the creators said: 'In Memory of Steven Wong 1972-2024.'

The tribute made to Mr Wong at the end of Saturday night airing

The 1% Club began in April, 2022 and is onto its third series.

It was created by executive producer Dean Nabarro and his colleague Andy Auerbach.

Host Lee rose to fame on the comedy 'Not Going Out' but also appears on 'Would I Lie To You' and 'Have I Got News For You' and 'Taskmaster'.
An Illinois official dubbed 'America's Worst Mayor' by critics sparked outrage after vetoing plans to have former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot investigate her finances.

Tiffany Henyard, 40, the Mayor of Dolton, erupted in a furious rant on Monday evening as she shot down the probe, telling her colleagues at a city council meeting: 'How dare you!'

The city council meeting was met with extra police security and protests over Henyard's recent controversies, and was the first since federal investigators served subpoenas on city hall.

The subpoenas are seeking documents from Henyard and Dolton Village Administrator Keith Freeman related to expenses reimbursements and trips allegedly paid for by the city.

After trustees voted to hire Lightfoot - a former prosecutor - for $400 an hour to investigate, Henyard rejected the move, telling the city council meeting: 'You know, it's veto power, so how dare you think you can come into someones town and do work.'

'There is a right way to do things, and this is just not that,' she said. '(Lightfoot) will not be paid for her services.'

Dolton, Illinois Mayor Tiffany Henyard slammed her city colleagues as she faced an investigation into her finances, telling them 'there is a right way to do things, and this is just not that'

Trustees in Dolton voted to hire former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (pictured) to investigate the embattled mayor, before the move was vetoed on Monday

Dolton, around 20 miles south of Chicago, has a population of only around 20,000 people, but the small town has been thrust into the spotlight amid controversies surrounding Henyard.

Since her election in 2021, Henyard has faced allegations of corruption, fraud and financial mismanagement, including a lawsuit filed a month ago claiming she worked to cover-up a sexual assault on a trip to Las Vegas in 2023.

Unrelated to the sexual assault allegation, that trip was among the issues that was set to be investigated by Lightfoot, and was allegedly one of several taxpayer funded trips Henyard took that totaled over $102,000.

The former mayor was hired at a previous city council meeting as trustees voted for her to launch a special investigation into Henyard's finances.

She sparked anger at her decision to use her veto power to end the probe into herself, with residents at the meeting calling for her resignation and slamming her scandal-ridden tenure as mayor.

One woman at the meeting said: 'Youre not accountable, you dont respect people who dont agree with you, youre not qualified for that seat.'

'We are watching the fall of this administration,' added Edward Steave, reports the Chicago Tribune. 'We got to get her out.'

Protests formed outside the city hall meeting this week, where residents demanded Henyard's resignation amid her controversies

Subpoenas have been served against Henyard and Dolton Village Administrator Keith Freeman (pictured) related to expenses reimbursements and trips allegedly paid for by the city

Henyard, dubbed 'America's Worst Mayor' by her critics, is also said to be the subject of a criminal investigation

Much of the anger was reportedly targeted at Henyard due to the federal subpoenas served on the city last month, seeking records about trips by city officials and expenses reimbursements.

Alongside the embattled mayor, Dolton Village Administrator Keith Freeman was also the subject of the subpoenas, including potential reimbursements involving his businesses.

Records are also being requested related to trips made by city officials, including to Washington DC in March 2023, and one to Las Vegas in May 2023.

On that trip to Vegas, Henyard's former assistant Fenia Dukes - who led protests outside the city hall meeting this week - alleged that she was attacked by Dolton trustee and alleged Henyard-ally Andrew Holmes.

Holmes denied the allegations against him, and has not been charged by police.

After coming forward with her allegations, Dukes was reportedly placed on leave then fired, and her supporters say the scandal is typical of Henyard's tenure as mayor.

At the fiery city hall meeting, furious residents embraced Dukes outside before slamming Henyard and calling for her resignation.

'This administration is a disgrace,' one resident said. 'And you won't step down?'

In response, Henyard said that the city's board was manipulating her constituents with 'fake news', adding that it was 'putting our community in a bad light.'

One subpoena is reported to focus entirely on Henyard, including a restaurant and a property management company she owns, as well as her political fund and the charity bearing her name

The news of Henyard's subpoenas was first reported last week by Fox 32 Chicago, which obtained records that revealed the mayor is the target of a growing criminal investigation.

Former FBI agent Ross Rice told the outlet: 'It's very broad in scope.

'It's very broad in the number of people and entities they're asking for records on. So, there must be some serious allegations of wrongdoing that they're trying to get to the bottom of.

'The mayor and the Township Supervisor, who are one and the same, appear to be the primary focus of the investigation.

'Overall, it tells me that the investigation is expanding. It's not just focusing on the City of Dolton,' Rice said.

One subpoena is reported to focus entirely on Henyard, including a restaurant and a property management company she owns, as well as her political fund and the charity bearing her name.

The subpoena seeks all records including personnel files, wage and tax statements, time and attendance, records of work performed, contracts, and checks written to 'cash.'

The second subpoena is said to request township records, including financial reports, budgets, payroll records, and ordinances covering credit card purchases, expense reimbursements, security details and use of vehicles.
A Jewish student at Oxford University has been denied admittance to the event after he refused to sign up to a radical pro-Palestine pledge in a sign that the Gaza university demonstrations sweeping the UK are becoming more authoritarian.

Elsewhere, students from the University of Cambridge began shouting the genocidal 'From the river to the sea' chant and calling for an 'intifada' at their encampment outside King's College.

In Cambridge, students have been seen marching through the city to the Old Schools University Offices while chanting 'Israel is a terrorist state' before tucking into batch cooked pesto pasta and focaccia.

Media covering the event in Oxford have been mobbed and abused by demonstrators whilst attendees to the encampment have been told they must be 'committed to upholding the Thawabit' in order to join in.

Speaking to MailOnline, the Jewish student in his 30s said he was too concerned for his safety to give his name and that he wanted to bring an Israeli flag but thought better of it as he didnt want to end up in hospital.

He said he would not sign a document condemning the Zionist entity and backing Palestinian Thawabit.

The fact that they allowed in Press TV tells you everything you need to know about them. How many rockets did Iran send at Israel?

OXFORD: A Jewish student at Oxford University has been denied admittance to the event

CAMBRIDGE: Demonstrations in Cambridge have been going on since yesterday evening

CAMBRIDGE: Signs outside the rally are calling for an 'intifada' against Israel

COVENTRY: Students set up pro-Palestine camps outside University of Warwick

OXFORD: Students have continued to occupy the lawn outside the Oxford University Museum of Natural History

CAMBRIDGE: Activists have began chanting 'From the river to the sea' at the protest

CAMBRIDGE: Students are now marching through the city calling for a ceasefire

Activists in Cambridge have a packed day planned featuring marches, speeches and 'apartheid workshops'

COVENTRY: Students have said they have thousands of pounds in funding for their actions

CAMBRIDGE: Leading one of the workshops in Cambridge was serial activist Stella Swain (pictured)

CAMBRIDGE: Students were photographed issuing demands to the University for Vice Chancellor, Deborah Prentice

COVENTRY: Demonstrations in Coventry are on a smaller scale to those in Oxford and Cambridge

OXFORD: More than 70 students at the University of Oxford spent the night sleeping at their encampment

OXFORD: The students slept outside the university's Museum of Natural History. One protester is seen waking up on Tuesday morning next to a Palestine flag



The Jewish student added: 'They haven't gone as far as the Americans have done and hopefully it will not. But if it comes to this point, they start harassing, they start blocking entries to buildings then they will have to do something about it. I think it's not a university job, its the police's job

'If it starts getting out of control, they have to do something about it.'

After denying the student entry, the activists returned to their schedule, which included couscous for lunch followed by lectures, poetry readings and eventually a 9pm film screening.

Dozens of masked campaigners in Cambridge spent the night sleeping in tents outside the universities and have a packed day planned featuring marches, speeches and 'apartheid workshops.'

Leading one of the workshops in Cambridge was serial activist Stella Swain, a student who has been at the university since 2018 and previously voted against the promotion of Remembrance Day and the Poppy Appeal.

Receiving his letter from the mob in person was Mr Bhaskar Vira, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Cambridge.

When asked how he felt about protesters shouting 'shame' when they read out his name, Mr Vira told MailOnline: 'They are entitled to their views.'

Following their march through the city, Cambridge demonstrators lounged on the lawn and tucked into a lunch of pesto pasta and focaccia bread.

In Coventry, a copycat protest to those at Oxbridge has struck up in protest of the University of Warwick's ties with arms manufactures.

The sit-in rallies, which echo protests seen in the US which later saw violent students clashing with police, have sprung up at other UK universities including Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle over the last week.

In a statement, the president of the Oxford Jewish Society said: 'Since the attacks in Israel on October 7, Jewish students across Oxford are facing a wave of intimidation and harassment.

'This includes protest chants and signs which violate the University's commitment to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances' definition of antisemitism.

'Now, with the encampment seeking to mimic what has been seen across United States campuses, we are deeply concerned that there will be further escalation in the vilification of Jewish students in Oxford.'

The concern was echoed by Jewish students in Cambridge where 60 tents have been pitched up.

The confrontational demonstrations have been slammed by the government.

When asked about US-style encampments cropping up on British campuses, Prime Minster Rishi Sunak's spokesman said: 'The right to free speech does not include the right to harass people or incite violence.'

No10 also said Mr Sunak would back the police in crackdown on 'disruptive' protests adding that 'a vocal and aggressive minority must not be allowed to intimidate other students or academics.'

No10 says PM would back the police in crackdown on 'disruptive' protests

Footage shows the protest taking place outside Cambridge University's Kings College

The lone first-year Jewish student is seen displaying an Israeli flag before he is shoved

CAMBRIDGE: Students waking up in their an encampment in solidarity on Tuesday morning

CAMBRIDGE: Students are seen preparing their breakfast on Tuesday for the second day of protests at the historic university site

OXFORD: A pro-Palestinian demonstrator covers her face

OXFORD: A pro-Palestinian demonstrator camps outside Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Ella, the co-external affairs officer of Cambridge University Jewish Society, told MailOnline that their main priority was keeping Jewish students safe while the protest movement builds.

She said: 'The Jewish society doesn't take an official line on these protests. But our main concern is about the welfare and safety of Jewish students' safety.

'As long as they remain peaceful and no clashes between Jewish students and protesters, we are fairly neutral.'

Ella, who did not want to give her surname for her own safety, added: 'I think the general feeling among Jewish students in Cambridge is that since October there has been a huge rise in anti-semitic incidents, both on and off campus and across the UK.

'The specifics of the Cambridge protest, we aren't seeing anti-semitics like Leeds and Birmingham. But there is obviously going to be some anxiety among Jewish students with the protest movement building.'

Reacting to a lone Jewish protester who was confronted after waving an Israeli flag near the encampment yesterday, she said: 'We've spoken to the student personally. I think what is important to say is that the protest movement has a policy that people shouldn't be interacting with anti-protesters. So the person he was involved with was acting out of the guidelines of the protests.

'Equally he was not acting on behalf of the Jewish or Israeli society, he was a lone protester. As for his welfare, we've checked in and he seems to be OK.'

She continued: 'I've heard from various people, having walked past encampments, it seems to be quite peaceful and non-aggressive, just sort of disruptive.

'As far as Jewish students are concerned, on the whole I think people feel fairly safe.

'I think as long as these protests remain peaceful, protesters remain committed to their pledge to not tolerate racism or hatred or prejudice, continues to include, lack of perpetuation of anti-semitic, these protests will not be a problem.

'Most Jewish students, and students full stop believe in continual right to protest and that freedom of speech on campus is really important.

'Our main concern is a Jewish society is that Jewish welfare on campus is protected.'

'I haven't been properly down, but I've walked past it. It seems fairly peaceful, quiet. I saw the rally but I didn't feel particularly intimidated, I'm sure other students may have done.

'As long as they remain to be committed to indulge in anti-semitic rhetoric then it should be fine.'

OXFORD: A person looks out of a tent at Oxford University, outside Oxford University Museum of Natural History

OXFORD: Many of the protesters on site have taken to wearing full face coverings to obscure their identities

OXFORD: Students listen to speeches outside the university on day two of the movement

As around 200 protestors held a rally chanting anti-Israel slogans on Monday, student Ari Vladimir, 19, unfurled an Israel flag and shouted support for the country.

In a shocking outburst, one protestor is seen ripping the flag from him and tossing it to the ground as the lone Jewish student was pushed and jostled by other activists.

Mr Vladimir told MailOnline: 'I had to come here to express my support for Israel. If these people have a right to protest then so do I.

'As you saw, I didn't feel particularly welcome. I was pushed and shoved and felt quite scared.

'But I wanted these people to know that the Jewish people will never be defeated and we stand with Israel.'

Mr Vladimir is a first year history student at Christ's College who comes from New York.

READ MORE: World holds its breath as Israel tanks roll on Rafah: Jerusalem vows vast new ground invasion after rejecting Hamas ceasefire deal Advertisement

He said he was alone because many of his fellow Jewish students feel 'intimidated,' and were too scared to join him.

'A lot of Jewish students on campus feel quite scared,' he added. 'They are just keeping their heads down. But I had to take a stand.

'This encampment is going to make Jewish students even more concerned. How would you feel walking past people who are supporting Hamas?'

During the rally, protestors shouted: 'Israel is a terror state,' and 'From the river to the sea.'

No police were present at the encampment or rally, something Ari thinks would have 'made him feel safer' and given more protection to counter protestors.

Ari added: 'I have to walk through here all the time. I'm still recognisably Jewish and I would not feel safe'.

The comments come comes as the world continues to hold its breath after an Israeli tank brigade seized control of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the latest offensive.

The Israeli 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing and took 'operational control' of the crucial crossing for both aid and those able to flee into Egypt, officials said, adding this morning that they had 'eliminated approximately 20 terrorists'.

The demonstration at the UK universities come as tanks from the Israeli army's 401st Brigade rolled into the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 7, 2024

Footage circulating on social media showed an IDF tank trundling over the border, with another clip later appearing to show Israeli flags flying at the crossing point.

The overnight offensive came just hours after Israel roundly rejected a new ceasefire deal hashed out by Egyptian and Qatari negotiators that Hamas claimed it had backed.

The latest development in the war is likely to add further fuel to the fire of student protesters in the UK.

At Oxford's camp, named the 'liberated zone', students pinned up a board of six demands including calls to boycott Israeli genocide, stop banking with Barclays and help rebuild Gaza's education system.

Cambridge for Palestine said it will 'not move' from the encampment until the university agrees to four demands including disclosing financial ties with complicit organisations and protecting students at risk.

The protests seek to emulate those seen at American universities in recent weeks, where more than 130 college campuses have been targeted by pro-Palestine supporters.

These have resulted in growing disorder and unrest, with more than 2,000 arrests.

As Gaza protests continue to grow in the UK, the government has expressed 'serious' concerns they could escalate to violence, as witnessed in the US.

The encampments have been organised by groups Oxford Action for Palestine and Cambridge for Palestine, as well as several other smaller groups.

The protests had been organised in coalition with each other.

OXFORD: Students put up a sign listing their six demands at their 'Liberated Zone' camp

Student encampments for Gaza spread to Oxford university  #StudentsForGaza pic.twitter.com/HnMID4hLR4  Socialist Worker (@socialistworker) May 6, 2024

OXFORD: They say 'will not rest until their demands are met', with study tents, toilet facilities, and food making areas already in place

Oxford University's Museum of Natural History remained open and apparently untroubled by the 25-strong encampment of tents on its front lawn.

Oxford and Cambridge encampments: What are the protesters' demands?

Students staging encampment protests in solidary with Gaza have put up a lengthy list of demands, and vowed they 'will not move' until these are met. Cambridge for Palestine's four demands are: 1. Disclose: Financial and professional ties with complicit organisations. 2. Divest: Funds and collaborations away from such organisations. 3. Reinvest: In Palestinian students, academics and scholars. 4. Protect: Students at risk, and become a university of sanctuary. Oxford students have pinned up a board with a list of six demands to university bosses. These are: 1. Boycott Israeli genocide, apartheid and occupation. 2. Disclose all finances. 3. Stop banking with Barclays. 4. Help rebuild Gaza's education system. 5. Divest from Israeli genocide, apartheid and occupation. 6. Overhaul the university's investment policy. Advertisement

Footage from the first day of the protest, posted on X, showed students chanting: 'We are the people. We will not be silenced. Stop the bombing now, now, now.'

Unlike in scenes across the Atlantic, where there were fierce clashes with ranks of guardsmen, students inside Oxford's 'liberated zone' worked on their dissertations on laptops while others gathered around to listen to the first in a series of lectures on the 'history of the Occupation', beginning with the Ottoman period.

In a printed manifesto, the protestors hit out at the 'infamous' museum beside their protest, in an attempt to stoke wider concerns about imperialism.

'We have established a Liberated Zone on the lawn of the infamous University of Oxford Pitt Rivers Museum. The museum, which 'acquired' items from across the globe through imperial expansionism, mirrors the ongoing struggle of the Palestinian people and connect us to colonised peoples everywhere', it read.

'We invite you to struggle with us. Join us in our library, in our study space, in our peaceful protest, in our call for Oxford to sever its institutional relationships that facilitate the genocide and occupation of the Palestinian people.'

The rain quickly reduced the well-kempt lawn into a quagmire, while to gain admittance, visitors had to hand over their details, which will be kept 'in accordance with our data security protocols'.

The paranoid atmosphere was increased by the insistence that all visitors wear a Covid-era mask - whether this was to protect the protestors' health or anonymity was not made clear.

The obligatory sign-up procedure told visitors: 'The University of Oxford is complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. With strong ties to companies supporting the Zionist entity (like Rolls Royce and Raytheon) and academic ties to Israel, Oxford continues to uphold israel's apartheid regime. The Univeristy's lack of transparency protects its financial interests in the genocide of the Palestinian people. We have had enough.'

More than 100 dons have backed the encampment. In an open letter, 108 lecturers, faculty members and researchers said they stood 'firmly in support' of the students who had set up the encampment.

OXFORD: Students have erected anti-Israel signs as they call for a ceasefire in Gaza

A spokesperson at Oxford University told MailOnline there is 'no place for intolerance' and the protest must be carried out with 'respect, courtesy and empathy'.

They added: 'We respect our students and staff members right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests.

'Oxford University's primary focus is the health and safety of the University community, and to ensure any impact on work, research and learning, including student exams, is minimised.

'The Natural History Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum remain open.'

An Oxford masters student who gave their name only as Wren said: 'We've taken inspiration from students in the USA and also now in the UK as well.

'We're going to be here through all weather and there's going to be loads of us.

'We're going to be here until our demands are met. We're going to be here probably for a while judging by Oxford's inaction so far.'

In Cambridge a food station, tent to make placards and banners, makeshift toilet were set up in the encampment, which currently holds around 30 tents.

Cambridge for Palestine, the group behind the encampment, asked students to join them in solidarity with Palestinians who are being subject to what they claimed is a 'murderous campaign of ethnic cleansing'.

They claim their institution is 'complicit in genocide' because of its 'financial and academic ties' to a 'settler colonial state'.

CAMBRIDGE: Students gave speeches as they outlined their demands during sit-in protests

CAMBRIDGE: Protesters paint signs as they stage demonstrations on their university lawns, echoing similar encampments seen in the US

It claimed: 'Cambridge University has over $46 million in defense industry partnerships, contributing to the manufacture of weapons that Israel has used to kill over 40,000 Palestinians, 40 per cent of whom are children, and to destroy every university in Gaza.'

A Cambridge University spokesperson said: 'The University is fully committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law and we acknowledge the right to protest.

'We ask everyone in our community to treat each other with understanding and empathy. Our priority is the safety of all staff and students.

'We will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia and any other form of racial or religious hatred, or other unlawful activity.'

Last week saw students at Russell Group universities including Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle, pitch tents and erect anti-Israel signs as they called for an end to military action in the Gaza strip.

Students from Manchester University filled nearby Brunswick Park with banners, plaques and Palestinian flags to call for the university to 'end it's partnership with systems which support Israel'.

One banner read: 'UOM blood on your hands', while another claimed: 'UOM supports Israeli Genocide.'

In Bristol, hand-painted banners were erected between tents, emblazoned with messages of defiance as students lobbied their university to cut ties with arms companies and back calls for a ceasefire.

In Newcastle, students were entertained by a Palestinian DJ and treated to regular food supplies, as well as being enticed by free drinks vouchers at the student union bar.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said police will 'have our full support' to tackle potential disorder if students attempt to replicate the violent demonstrations recently seen at US university campuses.

Jewish community leaders have urged universities to shut down encampments over fears Jewish students may be 'harassed and excluded'.

Jewish students said the protests have made them feel unwelcome on their own campuses, due to the aggressive stance on Israel.

NEWCASTLE: Students say their protest 'highlights the institution's investment strategy and its complicity in the Israeli military's war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank'

MANCHESTER: A protester gives a 'peace' sign at an encampment set up at Brunswick Park

BRISTOL: Fine arts student Sam was taking part at a protest at Bristol University last week

LEEDS: Students manning stalls and camping out at Leeds University last week

NEWCASTLE: Students gathered in front of the university as they protest in solidarity with Gaza on May 1

Edward Isaacs, president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), said campus bosses have been 'unwilling' to be 'allies' to his members and are not making them feel 'included'.

Last week he called on vice chancellors to 'muster the moral courage' to 'ensure campuses are places where they can study free from hatred'.

Mr Isaacs said he was aware that students in UK protests are using anti-Israel phrases such as 'globalise the Intifada' and 'do not engage with Zionists'.

He wrote: 'Encampments are growing and the rhetoric emanating from these encampments is increasing in hostility

'Universities have been unwilling to effectively stand in allyship with their Jewish students and ensure they can be fully included in campus life.

'Now is a bellwether moment for university administrations as to whether they will muster the moral courage to stand in allyship with Jewish students, and ensure campuses are places where they can study free from hatred The moral imperative is theirs.'
Donald Trump's team is game planning how to continue campaigning if the former president ends up in jail or home confinement.

While Trump doesn't necessarily want to go to jail, he has suggested he sees himself as a martyr for his supporters and would only have that view exacerbated if ordered to report to the cell.

The biggest change would be a suspension of Trump's ability to travel the country and hold his signature large-scale campaign rallies.

'Over the past couple of months, everybody has come to the realization that [it's a possibility], and thought about what must be done,' a person close to the campaign told Semafor regarding strategy if Trump is jailed. 'These are all professionals.'

If Trump is pulled from the campaign trail because he is put behind bars, his campaign will likely deploy his surrogates and decry even louder that the sentencing is further proof of 'election interference.'

Donald Trump's team is considering how to restructure the campaign if the former president is put behind bars or placed on home confinement in the hush money case

Judge Juan Merchan (depicted in a court sketch on May 3) found Trump in contempt Monday for violating his gag order, fined him $1,000 and warned of jail time if he violates it again. Last week Trump was fined $9,000  $1,000 for each of the nine violations

Trump's supporters, most polls show, won't be deterred if Trump is convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail time. An ABC survey released on Sunday shows 80% of the former president's backers wouldn't change their vote in November if their candidate is convicted.

Judge Juan Merchan has already admitted he is reluctant to issue jail time to the former president, calling it a 'last resort,' so Trump's team is also exploring how he would continue campaigning for 2024 if placed on home confinement.

The campaign would almost certainly scale up its fundraising messages, asking supporters to donate money to help Trump 'defend democracy.'

Some aides believe that any restrictions put on the former president would only serve his messaging that the trials are politically motivated and ways to derail his 2024 presidential campaign.

In the hush money trial on Monday, Judge Merchan found Trump in contempt for again violating his gag order and fined him $1,000. Last week he was fined $9,000  $1,000 for each of the nine violations.

ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday reveals 80% of Trump's supporters would continue to back the ex-president in 2024 if he is convicted of a crime

'It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent,' the judge said on Monday before jurors were brought into the room. 'Therefore going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction.'

Trump glared at the judge as he handed down the ruling on Monday, then shook his head twice and crossed his arms after he was done speaking and warning about jail time.

It's highly unlikely that Trump will remain silent both when speaking to the media and on his Truth Social account, which makes the possibility of punishment beyond fines almost unavoidable.

Most obvious to Trump's team is that no matter the punishment, the former president would still take lead on the messaging.

Since it's unlikely that Trump will stop speaking to media and posting to Truth Social about the trial, there is a chance he will face time behind bars for repeatedly violating his gag order

The biggest change to Trump's 2024 strategy if he is put in a call is that he would need to suspend his signature campaign rallies

Trump's team argues the gag order is unconstitutional.

After Monday's ruling handing down the 10th violation of the gag order banning Trump from speaking about the trial and his subjects, the former president's spokesman Steven Cheung accused Judge Juan Merchan of being 'a partisan operative.'

'The threat to throw in jail the 45th President of the United States and the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election for exercising his First Amendment rights is a Third World Authoritarian tactic typical of Crooked Joe Biden and his comrades,' Cheung said.
Women's rights campaigners have warned they will fight any plans by the new SNP leader to resurrect gender self-ID reforms.

John Swinney refused to rule out revisiting gender self-ID plans when he takes over as First Minister, saying instead he would engage in 'respectful dialogue' and would consider 'the best steps to take' before deciding on possible new gender laws.

The controversial laws, which would have made it simpler for trans people to legally change their sex without the need for a medical sign-off, were backed by MSPs but then blocked by UK ministers.

Grassroots women's groups, who provided robust resistance to the Gender Recognition Reform Act, insist such reforms pose an existential threat to sex-based rights and warned they are prepared to fight any plans to repackage the reforms.

Members of the Scottish Feminist Network outside the Court of Session, Edinburgh

John Swinney MSP pictured delivering a speech at Glasgow University yesterday

Outgoing Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf signs his official resignation letter today

Clare Blom, of campaign group Women Won't Wheesht (WWW), said 'This Bill was not supported by the vast majority of the public and our highest court deemed it to be outwith the competency of the Scottish Government.

'We can only assume this is a cynical attempt to appease the Greens,' she said before Mr Swinney became the new leader.

'We will not stand by idly while our democracy is threatened by unelected, science-denying, dangerous politicians and would remind Mr Swinney that kowtowing to gender ideology has already cost two First Ministers their jobs.'

The spectre of gender reform rising again comes weeks after the grassroots army of women who opposed it, as well as the handing out of puberty blockers to trans children, felt vindicated by the findings of the Cass report into gender identity services for young people.

They say their campaign has been borne out by the report, which concluded that children experiencing gender distress and wanting to transition had been let down by a lack of research and 'remarkably weak' evidence on medical interventions championed by trans lobbyists such as Stonewall.

The spectre of gender reform rising again comes weeks after the grassroots army of women who opposed it, as well as the handing out of puberty blockers to trans children, felt vindicated by the findings of the Cass report. Dr Hilary Cass is pictured

Caroline McAllister, a founder of WWW  one of dozens of women's groups that collectively form the grassroots resistance against gender ideology with combined memberships in the thousands  said: 'I think the Cass report is a watershed moment because it is there in black and white.

'There's an expert releasing the findings and it is backed up by other recent studies, where there have been health concerns raised around puberty blockers and cross sex hormones. Every piece of research published helps us and adds to our armoury.'

She said the resistance was mounted by 'ordinary women engaged in an extraordinary battle', with women 'let down badly' by politicians.

Ms Blom, 53, said her only regret is that she didn't become involved sooner. She said: 'I've always been an ally to those who are LGB and, initially, I was genuinely upset that I was being referred to as a bigot for speaking out.

'I have been lucky that those I stand shoulder to shoulder with are some of the bravest, most principled, empathetic, intelligent, funny, compassionate women I have ever met.

'Women and children need all of our support and we will not allow them to have their rights removed.'

The Scottish Government declined to comment.
Michael Douglas has claimed that production companies are 'taking control away from filmmakers' by using intimacy coordinators on Hollywood film sets.

The Oscar award winning actor and producer argued that when filming a sex scene, it is the responsibility of the 'man to make sure the woman is comfortable'.

Douglas, 79, was questioned about the apparent trend of having fewer sex scenes in movies during an interview Tuesday with Radio Times.

'I'm past the age where I've got to worry about that. But it's interesting with all the intimacy coordinators,' the Fatal Attraction star said. 'It feels like executives taking control away from filmmakers.'

He admitted there been 'some terrible faux pas and harassment' in Hollywood, but reiterated that he believes actors should be accountable to 'talk it through' before filming intimate scenes.

Michael Douglas (pictured in February) has claimed that production companies are 'taking control away from filmmakers' by using intimacy coordinators on Hollywood film sets

Douglas, pictured alongside co-star Glenn Close in 1987's Fatal Attraction, said he believes actors have a responsibility to 'talk it through' before filming intimate scenes

Douglas' commentary comes just weeks after his Basic Instinct co-star Sharon Stone revealed the identity of the producer who she alleged pressured her to have sex with another actor in order to improve their on-screen chemistry. He and Stone are pictured in a promotional image for the film

'Sex scenes are like fight scenes, it's all choreographed,' Douglas explained.

'In my experience you take responsibility as the man to make sure the woman is comfortable, you talk it through.

'You say, "OK, I'm gonna touch you here if that's all right". It's very slow but looks like it's happening organically, which is hopefully what good acting looks like.'

The actor has said that while he is 'sure' some people 'overstepped their boundaries', he was careful to navigate intimate scenes with his co-stars.

He told The Telegraph: 'I talked to the ladies, [because] I did a few of those sex movies  sexual movies  and we joke about it now, what it would have been like to have an intimacy coordinator working with us.

'I'm sure there were people that overstepped their boundaries, but before, we seemed to take care of that ourselves. They would get a reputation and that would take care of them.'

Douglas' commentary comes just weeks after his Basic Instinct co-star Sharon Stone revealed the identity of the producer who she alleged pressured her to have sex with another actor in order to improve their on-screen chemistry.

Michael Douglas argued that when filming a sex scene, it is the responsibility of the 'man to make sure the woman is comfortable'. He is pictured alongside co-star Sharon Stone in the 1992 film Basic Instinct

Stone, pictured alongside Douglas in the film, when asked about filming intimate scenes with Douglas said that 'Michael could come to work and know how to hit those marks, and do that line, and rehearse and show up'

The actress, 66, previously discussed the situation in her 2021 memoir - without disclosing identities - but in March divulged that the producer was Robert Evans, the actor was Alec Baldwin's brother, and the film was Sliver in 1993.

Evans, who died in 2019, was also a producer on Chinatown and The Cotton Club, and headed production at Paramount for The Godfather, The Italian Job, True Grit and The Great Gatsby.

Sliver was Stone's next movie after achieving huge success and megastardom in the previous year's hit Basic Instinct.

Speaking on Louis Theroux's podcast, Stone said Evans summoned her from filming to his office to make the request for her to sleep with leading man William Baldwin - one of four acting brothers, and more widely known as Billy - off set.

She said: 'He called me to his office. He had these very low seventies, eighties couches, so I'm essentially sitting on the floor, when I should have been on set.

'And he's running around his office in sunglasses explaining to me that he slept with Ava Gardner and I should sleep with Billy Baldwin, because if I slept with Billy Baldwin, Billy Baldwin's performance would get better.

'Sex scenes are like fight scenes, it's all choreographed,' Douglas (pictured last month) explained in his Radio Times interview. 'In my experience you take responsibility as the man to make sure the woman is comfortable, you talk it through'

'And we needed Billy to get better in the movie because that was the problem.

'And if I could sleep with Billy then we'd have chemistry on screen, and if I would just have sex with him then that would save the movie, and the real problem with the movie was me because I was so uptight, and so not like a real actress who could just f**k him and get things back on track. The real problem was I was such a tight a**e.'

Stone said on hearing his demand she just thought how he hadn't listened to the list of actors that she had suggested for Baldwin's part of Zeke Hawkins, and was frustrated that the film's bosses expected her to go from co-starring with Douglas in Basic Instinct to Baldwin.

She added: 'I didn't have to f**k Michael Douglas. Michael could come to work and know how to hit those marks, and do that line, and rehearse and show up. Now all of a sudden I'm in the "I have to f**k people" business.'
Senator Linda Reynolds and her former staffer Brittany Higgins appeared to be heading for a trial in their defamation battle, but now there is new hope they may be able to reach a settlement.

Western Australia's Supreme Court has listed a mediation conference for May 21 between Ms Reynolds, Ms Higgins and her fiance David Sharaz.

It is not yet known whether the trio will have to appear in person for the mediation talks.

The case still has a strategic conference planned for this Friday, as well as May 24, and trial dates listed from July 24.

Senator Reynolds has been suing Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz for defamation over several social media posts they published in 2022 and 2023, following Ms Higgins' claims she was raped in Parliament House by her then-colleague Bruce Lehrmann.

Senator Linda Reynolds and her former staffer Brittany Higgins appeared to be heading for a trial in their defamation battle

But during a directions hearing in the WA Supreme Court last week, Mr Sharaz revealed he would no longer contest the case because he could not afford it.

'Despite our best efforts, Linda Reynolds has not accepted attempts to resolve this matter through mediation and Brittany may now be exposed to another trial. It will be her third,' he said in a statement posted to social media.

'I cannot afford to pay legal costs to defend myself over a six-week trial.

'As a result, I have today informed the court that I will not fight Reynolds' legal action anymore.

'I now appeal for Senator Reynolds to settle her litigation against Brittany, a rape victim, by agreeing to disagree and putting all of this behind them.

'It's time to move on. It's time to let Brittany heal.'

Outside court following that directions hearing, Senator Reynolds' barrister Martin Bennett said if there was going to be a settlement it would have happened quickly but it had not eventuated.

David Sharaz said he could not afford the legal fight. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sharon Smith

Federal Court Justice Michael Lee recently ruled he was convinced to a civil standard - which is different to a criminal standard - that on the balance of probabilities Ms Higgins was raped.

That finding came following legal action Mr Lehrmann brought against Network 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over a report on The Project program in 2021.

Justice Lee also found a political cover-up involving Senator Reynolds and others was not true, which Senator Reynolds said was vindication of her.

In her own statement, Ms Higgins said she was sorry for the hurt suffered by her former boss and Ms Brown.

'While I do not agree with all of Justice Lee's findings, I do respect his observations about the many people scarred and damaged in the aftermath of my rape,' Ms Higgins said.

'Senator Reynolds and Fiona Brown have also been hurt and for that, I am also sorry. My perceptions and feelings about what happened in the days and weeks after my rape are different from theirs.

'I deeply regret we have not yet found common ground. I hope we can resolve our differences with a better understanding of each other's experience.'

Senator Reynolds has been suing Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz for defamation over several social media posts they published in 2022 and 2023

Senator Reynolds indicated her defamation action would continue.

'I welcome Ms Higgins' olive branch and her commitment to engage with me to reach a resolution,' she said.

'What still lies between us are not different perceptions. It is a fact that Ms Higgins received our support and that there was no cover-up.

'If Ms Higgins does not accept Justice Lee's findings on the claims of cover-up and mistreatment then, regrettably, it will have to be proved again in our trial set for July this year.'
A woman has admitted killing an 11-year-old girl after scattering chemicals around her home in a bid to eradicate bedbugs.

Fatiha Sabrin was overcome by toxic fumes when a poisonous gas drifted into her home from a downstairs property where her neighbour Jesmin Akter, 33, was spreading chemical pellets to tackle an infestation of bed bugs.

Moisture in the air activated the dangerous gas phosphine from the aluminium phosphide pellets which travelled to the apartment above Akter's flat poisoning the schoolgirl who went into cardiac arrest on November 26, 2021.

She died shortly afterwards in hospital on December 11, just a day after her 11th birthday.

Akter evacuated her family from the block of flats in Shadwell, east London, who escaped serious injury in the incident.

Fatiha Sabrin (pictured) was overcome by toxic fumes when a poisonous gas drifted into her home from a downstairs property

Now the defendant at the centre of the extraordinary poisoning case has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

She is said to have put down three times the prescribed amount of pellets to deal with bedbugs, distributing them on the floor and on the top of cabinets in her determination to get rid of the problem said to be rife in the block of flats.

The chemicals designed for pest control on farmland to protect crops are a regulated substance in the UK, which requires a license to possess and use it.

Akter admitted manslaughter when she appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday.

But she denied a further charge of importing a regulated substance, namely aluminium phosphide, from Italy without a licence.

Judge Alexia Durran told the defendant that she may still face a trial on the importation charge: 'Prosecution lawyers will tell your lawyers by Thursday 16 May if there needs to be a trial or not.' She released Akter on bail ahead of a further hearing on 20 May.

Weeks after she died, it emerged that the victim's autobiographical poem had been recognised by judges of a national writing competition.

Jesmin Akter, 33, pictured at the Old bailey, had been spreading chemical pellets to tackle an infestation of bed bugs.

Nishat Tasnim Disha, Fatiha's mother's cousin, known to Fatiha as an aunt, said Fatiha had dreamed of becoming a doctor.

She said: 'Fatiha was such a brilliant and happy child, exceptionally kind and always curious to learn.

'I don't have words to say for such a tragic loss.' It is thought to be only the third death relating to chemicals to tackle bedbugs.

In 2018, a British couple died in Egypt from carbon monoxide poisoning after the next-door hotel room was sprayed with pesticide to kill bedbugs.

John Cooper and Susan Cooper, from Lancashire, fell ill while on a family holiday in Hurghada after the next-door room was fumigated following a report of an infestation.
President Joe Biden will condemn anti-semitism during a speech at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony on Capitol Hill Tuesday, as he tries to balance his support for Israel's war with concern for the citizens of Gaza.

Biden's speech comes at a critical time: Israel has sent tanks into Rafah and taken control of the Gaza side of a crossing to Egypt that is a major conduit for humanitarian aid. And, in the U.S., college campuses have been rocked by pro-Palestinian protests with some schools canceling commencement addresses as the demonstrates grow anti-semitic.

'You can expect the president to make clear that during these sacred days of remembrance, we honor the memory of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust and recommit to heeding the lessons of this dark chapter. Never again,' White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday.

Israeli tanks cross into Rafah in the Gaza strip

The president has struggled to balance his support for Israel after the October 7th attack by Hamas - the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust - with his efforts to protect the civilian population of Palestine.

About a million refugees have crowded into Rafah. Biden on Monday warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against a full-scale assault on the area but Israeli forces moved forward anyway.

Progressives have urged the president to do more to help the Palestinian refugees.

And young voters, a key constituency for Biden, have expressed their dissatisfaction with the war.

As the issue grows more contested, some protests on campuses have started to feature antisemitic chants and threats toward Jewish students.

Biden will address the issue.

The president 'will speak to how since October 7th, weve seen an alarming rise in antisemitism in the U.S. and our cities, our communities and on our campuses,' Jean-Pierre said.

About 35,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities. And many of the area's 2.3 million people on the brink of starvation, with the UN worried about famine conditions.

Biden himself has faced protesters at his public events with many of them calling him 'Genocide Joe.'

He has spoken little on the protesters that follow him and those who have been disrupting college campuses. More than 2,000 people have been arrested on university campuses since April 18.

'There's the right to protest but not the right to cause chaos,' he said last week in his first in-depth remarks on the matter. 'People have the right to get an education, the right to get a degree, the right to walk across the campus safely without fear of being attacked.'

President Joe Biden will condemn anti-semitism in a speech Tuesday for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual National Commemoration of the Days of Remembrance

A Day of Rage for Gaza was called in New York City by student groups as campus demonstrations against the war continue

Biden will speak at the Capitol building in a keynote address for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual National Commemoration of the Days of Remembrance.

In conjunction with his speech, his administration is highlighting its actions to combat antisemitism.

The Department of Education is sending every school district and college in the nation a letter outlining examples of antisemitism and other hate that could lead to federal civil rights investigations.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, the department has opened more than 100 investigations into complaints about antisemitism and other forms of discrimination under Title VI.

On Monday, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, met with Jewish college students at the White House about the administration's efforts to combat antisemitism.

Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security is working to 'build an online campus safety resource guide' to provide 'financial, educational, and technical assistance' for campuses, according to a White House fact sheet

And the State Department's Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism 'will convene technology firms to identify best practices to address Antisemitic content online,' the fact sheet said.

Biden's Republican rival in the presidential race, Donald Trump, has looked to take advantage of Democratic divisions over Israel's response to improve the GOP's chances with Jewish voters, who traditionally vote Democratic.

'Jewish Americans are realizing that the Democrat Party has turned into a full-blown anti-Israel, antisemitic, pro-terrorist cabal, and that's why more and more Jewish Americans are supporting President Trump,' Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson, told Reuters.

About seven in 10 U.S. Jewish voters support Democrats, while three in 10 are Republican-aligned, according to the Pew Research Center.

A protester is held in the street during demonstrations in New York

A Palestinian man watches as smoke rises after Israeli strikes while Israeli forces launch a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah

In response, Biden's campaign has issued a lengthy list of Trump's antisemitic comments and behavior, including reports that Trump has allegedly said that Adolf Hitler 'did some good things.'

But polls show young voters are unhappy with the president.

A survey by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's Kennedy School found that only 18% of young voters approve of Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
A radicalised teen shot dead by police reportedly made references to Palestine and warned that he was going to kill all men in the vicinity during a triple-0 call in his harrowing final minutes.

The teen, who has been identified by his first name 'James', stabbed a man in the Willetton Bunnings car park in Perth's south on Saturday night.

Armed with a large knife, he then lunged at three police officers, who then shot the boy dead after they were unable to stop him with Tasers.

It has since been reported that five minutes prior to the incident, James rang police and made references to the federal government's support for Israel.

James also declared that he intended to kill all men in the vicinity, The West Australian reported.

Western Australian Police Commissioner Col Blanch said that it was still unknown whether the war in Gaza may have motivated the teen.

James reportedly made references to Palestine and warned that he was going to kill all men in a triple-0 call minutes before his death

The teen, who has been identified as 'James' (pictured several years ago), stabbed a man in the Willetton Bunnings car park in Perth 's south on Saturday night before he was shot dead by police

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'I think that is the subject of the investigation at the moment, is what caused him to take those actions on the night' Commissioner Blanch said on Tuesday.

'Something happened on that night that we have to determine what that was and we don't know.'

He remains confident that James acted alone.

'We have no intelligence that says anyone is connected to him in relation to those actions  I am confident at this time where we are in the investigation that he was acting alone,' Commissioner Blanch said.

While police are yet to designate the incident as a terrorist act despite its 'hallmarks', it hasn't been ruled it out in the future.

'It meets the definition of a terrorist act,' Commissioner Blanch added.

There was a heavy police presence at the teenager's mother's house on Tuesday.

Some of the boy's phones and other electronic devices have been seized by police.

His family were said to be 'extremely emotional'.

It comes after police were forced to investigate threats to Rossmoyne Senior High School, where James was a student, after threats of violence were made online - later found to be a hoax.

The disturbing messages were sent through the school's internal forum for students and teachers on Monday night.

Now it has emerged that around five minutes before James (pictured) stabbed the man, he rang police and made references to the Australian government's support for Israel and also said he intended to kill all men in the vicinity

They include: 'All I'm saying is Allahu Ahkbar I will kill the n...... tomorrow' and 'the reason I threw up gang signs in my photos is cause I always planned to shoot up at the school and f... all the n...... c... you are all going to get punished for what you have said to me in school we will prevail'.

WA Policing Minister Paul Papalia has since confirmed that the messages were a sick prank.

School's principal Alan Brown had previously labelled the messages a 'hoax' and blamed a 'hacking incident'.

'As many of you are aware there are some inappropriate messages circulating amongst students and in the community,' he said in an email on Tuesday, obtained by The West.

'It has been confirmed that there has been a hacking incident and the messages have not originated from a student.

'Police have been notified and are investigating the matter and have confirmed there is no additional threat to the school or our students.'

Several parents chose to keep their children home from school on Tuesday following the messages.

Six police cars and multiple officers were seen outside the school on Tuesday morning.

'My son isn't at school today and a lot of his friends, they're frightened,' one parent told Nine News.

A second mum added: 'It shouldn't come to something like this for them to have to do something.

'They're [students] genuinely fearing - they just don't understand what's going to happen next.'

A series of disturbing messages (pictured) were posted to the school's internal forum on Monday night

The messages (pictured) threatened to 'shoot up' the school but the principal has declared them a hoax

Multiple police officers attended the school (pictured) on Tuesday morning and assured parents and students there was no ongoing threat

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One parent, upon leaving a meeting with the principal at the school, told reporters that authorities would not tell parents if other youths that are part of a group of known extremists attended the school or where they were located.

'The Department of Education will not give out that information,' she said.

The parent said they had been told the school had done everything it could to ensure students' safety and that it was 'no concern' that the student had remained at the school after he detonated a homemade bomb that destroyed a toilet block.

'We had a known extremist that brought a bomb to school,' she said.

'They knew he was an extremist before the bomb, he had been an extremist in a program for about four years now, the bomb happened last year.'

She said students at the high school and other schools nearby felt scared, and if authorities were to wait until something happened to act, it would be too late.

It also emerged on Tuesday that group of parents had warned that a Muslim prayer room at the school was being used to spread extremist ideologies.

The parents of a Rossmoyne student wrote to West Australian Education Minister Tony Buti and other elected officials to raise fears about attempts by other students to radicalise their son, just a month before the teenager's attack, The Australian reported.

The 16-year-old boy was shot dead by police in Perth on Saturday after stabbing a man in the back (pictured, emergency services at the scene)

They also raised concerns that a group of Muslim converts at the school were using a dedicated prayer room as a meeting place in which to try to recruit more children after finding a series of texts on his son's phone.

The family has since started an online petition calling for the removal of prayer rooms from all state schools in WA, describing them as 'divisive, exclusionary, and contrary to the principles of secular education'.

'This practice not only undermines the diverse fabric of our society but also violates the fundamental rights of students to receive an education free from religious influence,' the petition said.

'Moreover, the promotion of religious activities within public schools perpetuates societal divisions and contributes to the alienation and marginalisation of certain religious and cultural groups, thereby fostering religious radicalisation among impressionable students.'

The petition since garnered more than 600 signatures.

Shortly before he was shot dead, James sent a final message to people saying he was going on 'the path of jihad', with members of Perth's concerned Islamic community alerting police to the messages.

'Brothers please forgive me for any time I have wronged you, I am going on the path of jihad tonight for the sake of Allah,' James,who had reportedly converted to Islam, wrote.

'I am a soldier of the mujahideen of al-Qa'ida and take responsibility for the actions that will ... take place tonight.'

A man in his 30s, who was not known to the teenager, was taken to hospital in a serious condition with back injuries

He also warned his contacts to 'clear' incriminating evidence from devices like laptops and phones.

'If you have any illegal or jihadi things online or in real life please make sure to hide them well and clear your technology such as laptops and phones including search history ... as the police will likely look into my contacts,' James wrote.

The teen had reportedly attempted to indoctrinate other students and had been filmed in 2022 throwing a small homemade explosive device into a toilet block at the school.

That incident led to him spending more than two years in a 'deradicalisation' program.
China is being blamed for a major cyber attack on the Ministry of Defence that may have affected information about more than 250,000 armed forces personnel.

No10 refused to blame Beijing for the hack of a payroll system that has potentially compromised the bank details of all serving military personnel and some veterans - and may have also released some home addresses.

Speaking to broadcasters in south-east London, Rishi Sunak said there were 'indications that a malign actor' had compromised the database, but declined to attribute the attack to a specific state or 'actor'.

But politicians and experts said the attack, via a third-party contractor, bore all the hallmarks of Chinese origin.

Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News: 'This is yet another example of why the UK Government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that.

'No more pretence, it is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states.'

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: 'Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel's bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced.'

It comes as president Xi visits France on a state visit, where he will hold talks with Emmanuel Macron.

The Chinese embassy in London denied involvement, saying claims of an attack were 'completely fabricated and malicious slanders'.

Speaking to broadcasters in south-east London, Rishi Sunak said there were 'indications that a malign actor' had compromised the database, but declined to attribute the attack to a specific state or 'actor'.

It comes as president Xi visits France on a state visit, where he will hold talks with Emmanuel Macron.

Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News : 'This is yet another example of why the UK Government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that.'

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) took immediate action when it discovered the breach, taking the external network - operated by a contractor - offline.

Downing Street said the Government had also launched a security review of the contractor's operations.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman declined to comment on speculation about the origin of the attack ahead of a planned statement to the Commons on the incident by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps this afternoon.

Mr Shapps is not expected to attribute the attack to a specific state or actor when he addresses MPs on Tuesday afternoon.

It comes less than two months after Chinese state-affiliated actors were blamed by the government for two 'malicious' cyberattack campaigns in the UK.

The two incidents involved an attack on the Electoral Commission in 2021 as well as targeted attacks against MPs sceptical of China.

In a speech made in the commons last month, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden confirmed that the Chinese ambassador would be summoned to 'account for China's conduct in these incidents'.

He also announced that the UK  alongside international partners including the US  would be issuing sanctions against the Chinese government.

The MoD is said to be hopeful that serving personnel will not be concerned about their safety. Those impacted by the data breach will be given advice and support tomorrow.

The contractor system is not connected to the main MoD computer systems and has been taken down with a review launched.

Up to 250,000 people could be impacted by the breach with their names and bank details amongst the information that has been compromised

It comes less than two months after Chinese state-affiliated actors were blamed by the government for two 'malicious' cyberattack campaigns in the UK (file image)

All salaries were paid at the last payday, with no issues expected at the next one at the end of this month, although there may be a slight delay in the payment of expenses in a small number of cases.

The MoD is said to have worked on the issue intensively over the last 72 hours to figure out how much data was exposed during the hack. It is understood that investigations have not shown any data to have been taken so far.

Up to 250,000 people could be impacted by the breach with their names and bank details amongst the information that has been compromised.

The identification of Special Forces soldiers - who are entitled to lifelong anonymity - has not been compromised according to defence sources.

The country's President Xi Jinping is currently on a two-day state visit to France  his first visit to Europe since 2019.

Meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, President Xi called for a 'worldwide truce' during the Olympic Games this summer.

The incident risks dissuading other countries with challenging relationships with China from sharing sensitive intelligence with the UK.
Her comments were branded 'embarrassing' by Tomi Lahren and others

A former CNN reporter who took to social media to moan about being 'haunted' by a dinner with Donald Trump supporters who 'seemed normal' at first has been eviscerated in the replies.

Michelle Kosinski, 50, was blasted over her 'total lack of self-awareness' after she tore into the 'closet MAGA fans' for supporting a different ideology to her own.

'All were well-educated and successful in careers,' Michelle Kosinski recalled of the recent dinner party that she described on X. 'They seemed great! On the surface. For like an hour.'

Her remarks have now sparked a furious backlash, including by conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren.

'This whole thread is so embarrassingfor YOU,' Fox host Lahren wrote on X. 'Get out of your liberal la la land, take off the mask and come up for air. Trump Derangement Syndrome. Get help.'

Former CNN reporter Michelle Kosinski took to social media Sunday to talk about how she is 'haunted' by a dinner with several Donald Trump supporters

The 50-year-old who served as CNN's White House Correspondent until 2020 went on to add how she was surprised by the revelation. She is seen here with her husband Kimbell Duncan and the Obamas in a photo from her stint as WH correspondent

But her comments were met with a backlash online as many accused her of demonizing those with differing political views

Others were equally unimpressed as they accused Kosinski of demonizing those with differing political views.

'By all means, don't let your oversized ego blind you to thinking you're the arbiter of truth,' one X user wrote.

'Framing their opinions in this way is not helpful,' another user admonished her.

'People can be intelligent, moral and cogent but disagree with you. The partisanship we see enables this, and both sides are guilty of feeding this. Condescension does not help.'

While one user simply wrote, 'self awareness zero' in sentiments echoed by many in the thread.

For her part the broadcaster remained unfazed, writing back on Tuesday: 'MAGAs TRIGGERED! Must be fixin for the Boogaloo. Or was it the Rapture? The civil war? Somethin violent.'

Kosinski, who served as CNN's White House Correspondent until 2020 sparked the back and forth with her thread marveling at how a 'normal' a group of people could support a politician she does not approve of.

She proceeded to provide personal details about the party guests, along with some of their children

'One of the couples each attended top Ivy League colleges,' the former CNN staffer wrote in a thread that has since been viewed 3million times.

'But now that it was university time for their own kids, they were adamantly NOT letting them apply to any ivies.

'And were weird about explaining why. Though the kids were double legacies. Okayyy... moving on...'

Conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren waded into the thread to brand Kosinski's comments, 'embarrassing'

Kosinski's comments saw her accused of having an 'oversized ego' in outraged replies on X. Pictured: Trump greets the crowd before a campaign rally in Freeland, Michigan on May 1

Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on May 01, 2024 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. May 1, 2024

Pivoting from the subject likely linked to recent protests over the current conflict in Gaza, Kosinski turned to the next group of non-progressive principles.

'The next crew suddenly busted out with air quotes when mentioning climate change,' the onetime Senior Diplomatic Correspondent for famously left-leaning CNN recalled.

'Again, these are otherwise smart people,' she added, insinuating that the millions of Americans who support the current GOP frontrunner are of below-average intelligence.

'Not scientists, clearly,' she sniped. 'But educated. And the dude took seething umbrage when my friend mentioned the damage Trump had done and vowed to continue to do.'

'The others,' she added, 'when they realized that a few in their presence came armed with (gasp) actual facts (NO!)-- quickly changed the subject.

'[They] nervously said they don't want to talk politics,' the journalist remembered, adding of her fellow diners: 'They realized they would be eviscerated on all idiotic points, especially on the economy.'

'My friends and I realized we were surrounded by otherwise carefully closeted MAGAts,' she eventually concluded - before describing how the supposed 'ordeal' has already left an emotional toll.

Kosinski, most recently the host of a left-leaning podcast, has 65.5K followers on X, with whom she regularly shares anti-Trump content

Donald Trump is seen leaving Trump Tower on his way to court in Manhattan on Monday

Commenters were quick to hone in on the outspoken progressive's apparent desire to put Trump supporters through a process - made popular by several regimes - known as 'reeducation'

'[They] nervously said they don't want to talk politics,' the journalist remembered, adding of her fellow diners: 'They realized they would be eviscerated on all idiotic points, especially on the economy'

'It's funny how the extremist or just wrong beliefs can't help but leak out, even when you least expect them, and from people you least expect. They are out there.'

'This dinner continues to haunt me. They all seemed so... normal.'

Many were quick to mock the anecdote, pointing out the political writer's hesitance to accept other schools of thought as legitimate, as well as her desire to not socialize with those sporting particular views.

'Damn, to be haunted by conversations with those you disagree. You have my sympathy,' wrote one such user, in a post that has been like more than 1,500 times.

Jokingly parroting he "This dinner continues to haunt me", someone else sniped" You desperately need to engage with people outside your bubble if divergent views "haunt" you.

Someone else added: 'You live in your bubble.

'People are fed up with self-righteous progressives freedom of thought precedes freedom of speech.'

Mark Hemingway of Real Clear Investigations, meanwhile, pointed to how mortgage rates have tripled after three years of Joe Biden.

'It is truly amazing how at a time when mortgage rates have close to tripled in three years, overall consumer prices are up 20 percent (25 for food), and Russia's at war in Eastern Europe and the entire Middle East is a powder keg -- the response is "MAGAs don't know facts!"'

Others online were quick to mock the outspoken progressive's presumptuous anecdote

Others honed in on the outspoken progressive's apparent desire to put Trump supporters through a process made popular by regimes known as 'reeducation.'

'If people don't ever talk about these things as friends and neighbors, and only live in their own warped information silos, how will they ever learn what is true or false?' a post from Koinski in the same threat reads.

'How will the truth ever make them consider alternatives? The allure of bullsh*t is co-opting decent minds.'

Kosinski, most recently the host of a left-leaning podcast, has 65.5K followers on X, with whom she regularly shares anti-Trump content.

In a post published in December 2016, she is seen schmoozing with her husband and the Obamas during her stint as CNN's White House Correspondent.

Kosinski previously attracted ridicule when she was caught out exaggerating the extent of flooding while a rookie reporter for NBC.

The incident, that would later be dubbed 'Canoe-gate', took place on October 14 2005 when the new and up-and-coming correspondent was reporting live about flooding in Wayne, New Jersey.

A clip shows Kosinski canoeing through floodwater telling viewers how 'deep' it is before she is rumbled when two men stroll casually through the ankle-deep water.

Kosinski previously attracted ridicule when she was caught out exaggerating the extent of flooding while a rookie reporter for NBC

The incident, dubbed 'Canoe-gate', took place on October 14 2005 when the new and up-and-coming NBC News correspondent was reporting live in Wayne, New Jersey. It shows Kosinski canoeing through floodwater when two men stroll casually through the ankle-deep water

Kosinski found herself in hot water again decades later when the UK's former ambassador to the US was investigated over suspicions he passed White House secrets to her during an affair.

Suspicions were raised among US officials after a series of articles by Kosinski detailed highly-sensitive insider information about the Trump administration.
This is the moment a mysterious loud boom exploded across Las Vegas as a huge slash lit up the night sky.

The spectacle was captured on a resident's surveillance camera on April 25 just after 11pm in the Sunrise Manor area.

Out of nowhere, on a dark and quiet street, a large flash consumed the sky, followed by a large boom.

Kevin Laatz told Fox 5 that when he heard and felt the large boom, he hopped out of bed in a panic.

'I initially thought it was lightning and I brushed it off as such. But car alarms were going off and there's no clouds in the sky. It wasn't raining,' Laatz said.

A mysterious loud boom and bright flash took over the Sunrise Manor area on April 25 around 11pm. (pictured: the street view of the incident)

It is unclear exactly what caused the big boom, but Van Romero, a professor at New Mexico Tech, said he believes it was caused by a 'good-sized' firework.

The moment was captured on multiple cameras placed around Laatz's home.

In one shot, recorded from his driveway, the large flash is seen lighting up the sky, as the boom sound follows.

In a street view, the light takes over the dark sky and reflects off of vehicles, just before the loud sound comes crashing down.

Another angle captures the incident from inside his house as something is heard being shot into the air before the flash and boom occurs.

His dogs, who are seen laying in the living room, suddenly run away after they hear the noise and see the bright light.

Kevin Laatz said that he felt his house shake and saw the flash that he initally thought was lightening

Video from inside Laatz's home showed his dogs react to the 'good-sized' firework that is believed to have caused the event

'The first initial small sound woke me up and then I saw the flash and the boom shook the house and everything around me,' Laatz said.

'I felt it in bed, yeah, it was an intense shake.'

Romero predicted that the firework had to have been 10 to 12 inches in diameter or bigger, and is comparable to one that could be seen at a commercial firework show.

Due to its size, Romero explained that the suspected firework could have created the large flash and loud sound. He also thinks that it was launched about 200 to 400 feet off the ground.

A similar experience was felt and heard just after Super Bowl LVIII in the Lake Las Vegas area in Henderson.

Another video angle caught the strike of light and loud boom near Laatz's driveway

People said that windows rattled and homes shuddered, but it is unclear what caused that incident.

Although there is a possibility that the April incident was caused by a homemade firework, Romero said he is not sure if that is the case.

He added that the incident could have turned deadly and made rocks soar into the sky, similar to bullets being fired.

Romero warned that the loud explosions can also break eardrums and cause fingers to blow off.

Laatz said that he feared for the safety of the community that is filled with many families and young children.

'There's so many things that can go wrong,' he said.
The mayor of a small town in Illinois has been accused of sexually abusing young boys while working at a juvenile corrections facility, according to a bombshell new lawsuit.

Filed in the Illinois Court of Claims, the lawsuit viewed by DailyMail.com claims at least 95 victims were abused while staying at juvenile corrections facilities and lists several repeat abusers.

The longtime mayor of Eldorado, Rocky James, 59, is accused of harassing and assaulting at least six boys in the 1990s and 2000s. He has denied the allegations.

One victim, who was 13 years old when he was housed at the Illinois Youth Center Harrisburg facility, said James repeatedly groped him and made masturbatory gestures toward him.

'A few times during [the victim's] stay in the confinement unit, all of the mattresses were revoked from the confinement cells. During these occasions, James told [the victim] that he would give him his mattress back if he masturbated him or administered oral copulation on him,' the lawsuit said.

The longtime mayor of Eldorado, Rocky James (pictured), 59, is accused of harassing and assaulting at least six boys in the 1990s and 2000s

Victims claim James would force them to perform oral sex and intercourse while at the Illinois Youth Center-Harrisburg juvenile corrections facility (pictured)

James has been the mayor of Eldorado since 2007 and in a March 2011 story for the Harrisburg Register, James said he had been employed with the Department of Juvenile Justice at the Illinois Youth Center-Harrisburg for over 26 years and held the title of juvenile justice supervisor.

A boy who was 15 to 16 years old in 2002 and 2003 said James and another correctional officer would force him to perform oral sex on them, penetrate him with their fingers and force the victim to have sexual intercourse with them.

In 2006 to 2007, another 15 to 16-year-old victim claimed James and another officer threatened to write him up and send him to confinement if he did not comply with their abuse.

'[The victim] was scared and uncomfortable but succumbed to their coercion. James put his hands down [the victim] pants and masturbated him, and then [another officer] administered oral sex on [the victim] and sodomized him while James watched and masturbated himself,' the lawsuit said.

One victim who was 16 years old when he was housed at the Illinois Youth Center Harrisburg facility in 2006 said James grabbed and slapped his buttocks on multiple occasions.

'On one occasion, when [the victim] was in his cell in the afternoon, James entered [the victims] cell, exposed himself and put his penis on [the victims] bare leg. James told [the victim] to 'be a good boy,' and he tried coaxing [the victim] to perform oral copulation on him,' the lawsuit said.

A victim who was 14 to 16 years old in 1999 when he alleged James abused him said hogtied him and force him to perform oral sex in order to be released.

James allegedly coerced that victim to sign a piece of paper confessing to sexually abusing another inmate in order to cover up the abuse that James performed.

James (pictured) said he had been employed with the Department of Juvenile Justice at the Illinois Youth Center-Harrisburg for over 26 years in 2011

The lawsuit claims that a forced confession lead to the victim being required to stay at the juvenile facility until his 18th birthday, then he was transferred to an adult prison for three additional years.

In 2010, a victim who was between 14 to 16 years old claimed James penetrated and masturbated him at least three to four times.

'On one occasion, [the victim] was taken into segregation in handcuffs. While handcuffed, James pulled [the victims] pants down and attempted to put his finger in [the victims] buttocks,' the lawsuit said.

'While in the segregation cell, James touched [the victims] penis and attempted to digitally penetrate [the victims] buttocks while making sexual comments. James rubbed [the victims] penis masturbating him for a short time while [the victim] tried resisting by moving around and yelling.'

When contacted by the Associated Press on Monday, James said it was the first he was hearing of the allegations.

'There's absolutely no truth to it,' he said, declining further comment.

The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice told DailyMail.com: 'Although the Department is unable to comment on active litigation, IDJJ takes seriously the safety of youth in the care of the Department.'

'All allegations of staff misconduct are immediately and thoroughly investigated in partnership with the Department of Corrections, the Illinois State Police and the Department of Children and Family Services.'

The lawsuit is seeking $2 million for each of the 95 victims included in the complaint from the State of Illinois, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice.
A billionaire investor has claimed artificial intelligence is 'overhyped' as he pulled back on a huge investment in a booming company.

Stanley Druckenmiller, worth over $6 billion, said he slashed his stocks in Nvidia in late March, despite the shares making a historic run over the last few years.

He decided to take the gains, adding the AI surge that's been seen since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November 2022 could mean AI stocks are overvalued.

Hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller, right, speaks while his wife Fiona Druckenmiller listens at the Langone Medical Center Violet Ball in New York on May 4, 2011. Druckenmiller had recently closed his hedge fund Duquesne Capital Management

Nvidia stock is up over 2,000 percent over the last five years, with a notable pickup in 2023 and 2024 as the AI boom continues

'I just need a break. We've had a hell of a run. A lot of what we recognized has become recognized by the marketplace now,' Druckenmiller said on CNBC show 'Squawk Box.'

Druckenmiller, who founded and runs the Duquesne Family Office, said he reduced his stake in Nvidia after 'the stock went from $150 to $900.'

He added that his investment strategy differs from Warren Buffett, who just recently announced his decision to sell billions of dollars worth of Apple stock.

'I'm not Warren Buffett; I don't own things for 10 or 20 years. I wish I was Warren Buffett,' Druckenmiller said.

The last time Nvidia shares were near $150 was again when OpenAI released its instant success ChatGPT on November 30, 2022.

Over the last year, the chipmaker's stock has rocketed up more than 216 percent. Over the last five, Nvidia has seen a 21-fold increase in value.

One of the primary reasons Nvidia has been one of the best performing stocks of 2023 and 2024 is because its graphics cards are largely used to develop the AI models that have become so popular, CNBC reported.

Druckenmiller said he was introduced to Nvidia stock by one of his younger partners in fall 2022.

Druckenmiller admitted he didn't know how to spell Nvidia when he bought shares of the chipmaker back in 2022

Druckenmiller said he was no Warren Buffett, who's known for his strategy of holding onto blue chip stocks for decades. Buffett recently reduced his stake in Apple, another company trying to take advantage of the AI goldrush

'I didn't even know how to spell it,' he said. 'I bought it. Then a month later ChatGPT happened. Even an old guy like me could figure out okay, what that meant, so I increased the position substantially.'

Even though Druckenmiller cashed out on a portion of his Nvidia holdings, he said he still believes AI will be a hugely important investment sector in the coming years.

'So AI might be a little overhyped now, but underhyped long term. AI could rhyme with the Internet,' he said. 'The big payoff might be four to five years from now.'

Druckenmiller's other AI plays include Microsoft and Alphabet, both of which he owns. Both tech giants have seen double digit gains in their shares year to date.

Druckenmiller began his career in 1981 as the president and founder of hedge fund Duquesne Capital Management, which oversaw $12billion in assets when he closed the firm in 2010. He also managed George Soros' Quantum Fund from 1988 to 2000.
The family of an aspiring doctor whose friends left him to die in a lake when they knew he couldn't swim are calling for legal action as he recovers in hospital.

Medical student Christopher Gilbert, 26, was pushed into a lake in Farmerville, Louisiana, on April 14, and left fighting for his life for 20 minutes while his friends watched on.

His heart and breathing had stopped by the time a patron from a nearby restaurant saw what was going on, hauled him to the surface and began CPR. By the time he reached hospital, doctors said he was almost 'brain dead'.

Now, as the medical student makes a remarkable recovery, his family is considering civil action against the restaurant Gilbert was at before the incident and are demanding to know why no one has been arrested.

Family lawyer Claudia Payne told the New York Post: 'Had Chris, a black male, pushed a white female into a lake, he would be arrested.'

Christopher Gilbert, 26, had graduated with a master's degree from Louisiana State University

Video from the incident shows Gilbert's friends casually peering into the water as he fought for up to 20 minutes to save himself at the lake in Farmerville, Louisiana

'We don't know if it may turn worse again because at one point, he was off the ventilator but then they put him back on two days later' his mother said

Video filmed at the scene showed the group of friends casually peering into the water as Gilbert fought for up to 20 minutes to save himself.

The group of friends told police he 'just kind of fell face first into the water' before a young woman admitted that she had pushed him off the pier during 'horse play'.

Gilbert was pulled from the water by a patron at the restaurant, Dawson Foust, who noticed what was happening and dived into the water.

If not for Foust, he may have died.

He was rushed to hospital and placed on life support as doctors told his family he was almost 'brain dead'.

But less than a month later he has made a remarkable recovery and is talking to his family and eating again, although he is still dealing with memory problems.

Payne told The Post that his family are planning a civil suit against that restaurant, claiming it failed to properly restrict access to the lake despite serving alcohol.

They also want the girl who admitted to pushing Gilbert into the lake to be arrested.

Payne said: 'Had Chris, a black male, pushed a white female into a lake, he would be arrested. Ive defended alleged criminals with less evidence that theyve made arrests on.'

'In the legal field, we characterize things the way we see fit,' said family lawyer Claudia Payne. 'Of course, they are saying horseplay. We are saying that it was a criminal intentional push into the lake.'

His heart and breathing had stopped by the time an onlooker hauled him from the 15ft water

Gilbert's mother, Yolanda George, said she was alerted when one of the friends rang her at home.

'She told me that Chris had fallen into the lake and he had been underwater for 20 minutes or so,' George told Fox8.

'And I was like, 20 minutes? Why was he underwater for 20 minutes?

'And she was just crying hysterically and he was being airlifted to Shreveport.

'And initially when my son got there the doctor called us in and told me that at this time he was "brain dead pretty much, and the rest of his organs were starting to fail".'

George raced to the center where she found her son clinging to life.

'I was devastated, I felt like my life had ended in a moment,' she said. 'My son is aspiring to be a medical doctor, he got his master's last year. My son is so sweet, the most selfless being you'll ever meet, I was in a terrible state.'

Outside she found some of the group in the hospital waiting room.

The young scientist from Shreveport planned to enroll in medical school to become a doctor

His father and grandfather proudly watched as he qualified from LSU

'The friend group came to the hospital still telling me the same fabricated story that he fell,' she said.

'I learned at that moment in the ER, the sheriff called me,' she said, adding that once they met she was asked if she knew what happened.

She told him: 'Yes, he was at the lake and fell'.

But he said: 'No, one of the young ladies pushed him.'

'I was like "who pushed him?" And I started looking around the room, "which one of you all pushed him?"

'The young lady like "I did", and I was "Why would you push my son in the lake knowing he couldn't swim?"

'She said, "Well ma'am I didn't know that man couldn't swim".'

The concerned mother then asked who the girl meant by 'that man' but understood soon enough she meant Chris.

She continued: 'Everyone knows he can't swim. He jokes about not being able to swim, even when we went to the restaurant the owner of the restaurant stated everybody knows Chris can't swim, he's been coming here for two years he's always joking about it.'

Three weeks on he remains on life support at Ochsner LSU Health

Mother Yolanda (center) and lawyer Claudia Payne (right) told KSLA they want justice

The video shows that at one point a woman in a black bikini followed Gilbert into the water but returned without him.

Sgt Ashley Rhodes of the Union Parish Sheriff's Office arrived at the lake to find restaurant patron Dawson Foust desperately trying to save Gilbert's life.

In his incident report he noted his conversation with the group of friends.

'They advised they thought he was playing a prank by not coming up immediately,' he wrote.

'Some members of the group did not realize Gilbert could not swim.

'It was later discovered the group was horse playing and one of the females in the group pushed Gilbert in the water, not knowing he could not swim.

'Foust advised me it was approximately 15 feet deep at the location he found Gilbert.'

Union Sheriff Dusty Gates gave a different account when he was interviewed about the April 14 incident.

'The party he was with began panicking or screaming and an individual within the restaurant saw what was going on and he came out and dove in and retrieved the victim,' he said.

'It was a joint effort by a lot of people to make this happen, and that's what we try to work for here in Union Parish, to work together to make it a better place.'
A Bank of America investment banker and former Green Beret has died, the bank said on Monday.

Leo Lukenas III, 35, died of natural causes on Thursday, according to the New York Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The married Brooklyn resident and father-of-two died of 'acute coronary artery thrombus,' the office said.

The disease causes the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart.

Lukenas' stepmother told DailyMail.com the family was 'devastated' by the loss.

Former Green Beret and investment banker at Bank of America Leo Lukenas III, 35, died on Thursday. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Lukenas is survived by his parents, wife and twin brother Les, who is also a Green Beret

Lukenas is pictured with his mother

Lukenas served as a Green Beret for a decade, according to his family

Bank of America said 'our focus is on doing whatever we can to support the family and our team, who is devastated.'

The associate was part of the financial institutions group (FIG) team that advises bank clients on deals, according to a source familiar with the situation, and was also a former member of the US Green Beret special forces.

Lukenas' stepmother told DailyMail.com the family was 'devastated' by the loss

Lukenas spent 10 years in the military and started working at Bank of America a little over a year ago.

Originally from California, he started at the bank through the Veteran Associate Program.

On LinkedIn, he described himself as an 'Investment banking associate leveraging a decade of experience as a Green Beret leading high-performing teams in volatile, complex, and ambiguous environments.'

Lukenas is survived by his parents, wife, son and daughter, and twin brother Les, who is also a Green Beret.

A donation page was opened in honor on Tuesday with a goal of $1,000,000.

The page reads: 'Leo Lukenas was a son, brother, husband, Green Beret, and most importantly, a father.

A donation page was opened in honor on Tuesday with a goal of $1,000,000. He is seen with his mother and brother

Lukenas married his wife in 2015 in a wedding in Florida

Les and Leo Lukena are pictured above. Both served as Green Berets

'He spent over a decade in Army Special Operations, deploying multiple times with 1st Special Forces Group.

'Leo was dedicated to everything he did, never settling for good enough. He always set the example and held himself to the highest standards, prioritizing the team and mission success over himself. With the heart of a lion, Leo always fought to defend what was right.

'Leo transitioned out of the military to pursue new opportunities for his family. Now, in remembrance of Leo, it's our duty to support his family just like he would have done for all of us.'
READ MORE: Lawmakers to hold Attorney General in contempt of Congress

House Republicans are investigating whether Donald Trump's classified documents investigation is tainted following revelations that the FBI may have tampered with the materials.

Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team - who are overseeing the prosecution of Trump for his alleged mishandling of classified documents - admitted that the boxes of files recovered from the former president's Mar-a-Lago home were altered or manipulated.

Previously, Smith and his team had claimed that the evidence was in the original condition it was found in following the August 2022 FBI raid of Trump's Florida residence.

House Judiciary head Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said he has 'grave concerns' about the department's 'commitment to impartial judgment' in a letter to DOJ obtained by DailyMail.com.

Boxes of documents found in the August 2022 FBI raid of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. According to new court filings, the contents of the boxes are not in the same order they were when they were recovered by federal agents

Donald Trump has been indicted on 40 felony charges related to his handling of classified documents after his presidency

The Republican claims the manipulation of the boxes amounts to 'witness tampering.'

The alleged tampering was discovered by Trump aide Walt Nauta's legal team as they sifted through the evidence shared with them by Smith's prosecution, according to Jordan's letter.

Smith has accused Nauta of conspiring with Trump to thwart the classified documents investigation - and he faces charges of misleading federal prosecutors.

Nauta has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Additionally, Jordan's letter reveals that Jay Bratt, a senior member of Smith's prosecution team, improperly asserted that Nauta's lawyers could be given favorable consideration for future roles as judges should they work with federal officials.

'The admission, unfortunately, reflects a broader trend of attorneys for Special Counsel Jack Smith's team violating ethical norms in persecution of President Trump.'

'Given these highly concerning disclosures about the serious ethical lapses in Special Counsel Smith's prosecution, the Committee requests that OPR brief the Committee about what steps you are taking to investigate Jack Smith ... to determine whether disciplinary actions are appropriate,' Jordan wrote.

Jordan wants DOJ to turn over documents and communications related to potential ethics investigations into Smith and information on why the boxes of documents were manipulated.

The Ohio Republican gave the department until May 20 to comply with his request.

Special Counsel Jack Smith admitted in a court filing Friday that his team changed the order of documents seized from Donald Trump's home in August 2022

Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to the classified documents-related charges

In total, the FBI raid of Trump's Florida home yielded 33 boxes of documents, some containing classified files.

As a result, the former president was indicted on 40 felony charges, 32 of which come under the Espionage Act for handling classified files and another eight related to lying to prosecutors and obstructing justice.

The trial for Trump's classified document case was expected to begin on May 20, but the judge in the case has not issued a new start date.

It is unclear when the case will begin.

The FBI did not immediately return a request for comment.
A mother who threw her disabled six-year-old son into a crocodile-infested river where he was mauled to death by reptiles has now blamed her husband, claiming he goaded her into it.

Savitri Kumar, 32, from Uttara Kannada, a district in the western Indian state of Karnataka, had a heated argument with the boy's father, Ravi Kumar, 27, who repeatedly ordered her to 'throw the child away', the Times of India reports.

Police say her husband allegedly questioned her decision to give birth to Vinod, who was born deaf and mute.

When the parents, who also have a two-year-old son, fought about their eldest again on Saturday evening, Savitri was 'distressed' and reportedly threw her son into a waste canal that flows into the Kali river, which is infested with crocodiles.

According to local media, she told police: 'My husband is responsible. He used to keep saying let the son die and that all he does is eat. Let him be, I'd say. If my husband keeps saying that, how much torture can my son endure? Where will I go share my pain?'

Vinod (pictured) was born deaf and mute, and died after being thrown into the waste canal

Savitri Kumar, 32, (pictured) threw her son into a crocodile-infested river

Neighbours who witnessed this called the police, who deployed divers to search for the boy in the water

A mother has thrown her disabled six-year-old son into a crocodile-infested river where he has reportedly been mauled to death by reptiles (file image)

Neighbours who witnessed this called the police, who deployed divers to search for the boy in the water, but to no avail, as the darkness hindered their operations.

They returned on Sunday morning and found the child's body, which showed bite marks all over.

The boy suffered severe injuries and was missing a hand, which a police officer suggested indicated that the boy was mauled to death by one or more crocodiles.

A post mortem has been ordered to determine the six-year-old's cause of death.

The couple also has another son aged two and is said to frequently fight about their older son's speech impediment.

Officers have launched an investigation into the incident.

A police officer telling local media that it was a 'murder' case and that both the husband and wife have been arrested.
Drake's security guard is fighting for his life after being gunned down outside the rapper's $100 million Toronto mansion in a drive-by shooting, reports say.

The incident unfolded in the upscale neighborhood of Bridle Path shortly after 2am Tuesday, as the unnamed 48-year-old man was rushed to hospital after being found 'outside the gates of the home' with life-threatening injuries.

Toronto Police told DailyMail.com they could not confirm if the rapper was home at the time of the shooting.

A suspect fled the scene in a vehicle, and reports indicate they are still at large.

Sources told the Toronto Sun that the victim was Drake's security guard, and witnesses said he was shot multiple times during a 'drive-by shooting.'

It comes amid his ongoing viral feud with rival rapper Kendrick Lamar. Although officials have not indicated any early link to the shooting, Drake is said to be 'cooperating' with investigators.

A shooting outside rapper Drake's Toronto mansion left one man seriously injured, reported to be his security guard. It is unclear if the artist was at home at the time

Drake constructed the Toronto home (pictured) in 2015 for a reported $100 million

A police perimeter was set up around the mansion after the victim was found with serious injuries in the street shortly after 2am

Police were seen on the steps of the star's huge Toronto mansion on Tuesday, as sources said the rapper offered his cooperation with the investigation

The area around Drake's mansion, built by the star in 2015 for a reported $100 million, was restricted by a police perimeter amid the ongoing investigation.

The victim was said to have been 'standing outside the gates of the home' when he was hit by several gunshots, and was found on the street with serious injuries.

He was raced to Sunnybrook Hospital and received emergency surgery, with one of the wounds believed to be to the upper chest. Officials later described his condition as 'life threatening.'

Around an hour earlier, a man was shot dead and a woman was injured in another shooting in Oakwood Village, roughly nine miles away. It is unclear if the two shootings are related.

Earlier reports from police said the shooting occurred several streets away, but the information was later corrected to state it was outside the rapper's home. Sources told CP24 that Drake has offered to cooperate with investigators as they probe the shooting.

A heavy police presence was seen outside the mansion throughout Tuesday, with police appearing to take items to and from the home.

The location of the shooting at Drake's Toronto mansion comes amid his ongoing feud with rival rapper Kendrick Lamar, who used the same mansion to taunt Drake this week.

As the two men have released 'diss tracks' against each other the last few weeks, Lamar shared the cover for his track 'Not Like Us', featuring Drake's mansion covered in markers for a sex offender app.

A heavy police presence was seen outside the mansion throughout Tuesday, with police appearing to take items to and from the home

Officials have released no evidence at this time that the shooting is related to the viral feud with Kendrick Lamar (pictured last week in New York City)

The location of the shooting at Drake's Toronto mansion comes amid his ongoing feud with rival rapper Kendrick Lamar, who this week shared the cover for his track 'Not Like Us', featuring Drake's mansion covered in markers for a sex offender app

Drake made headlines in 2015 by paying $6.7 million for the plot of land before shelling out a staggering $100 million to construct the palatial estate

Although he is known to be private over details about the property, Drake has offered fans a glimpse at the luxury home on social media, including showing off his private basketball court

At a Tuesday press conference, Inspector Paul Krawczyk said there is no known evidence at this time that the shooting is related to Drake's viral feud with Lamar, and the motive remains unclear.

'It is so early in the investigation that we don't have a motive at this time,' he said.

The suspect in the shooting fled the scene, police said, and investigators have yet to release any descriptions of either the gunman or the vehicle.

Discussions to set up police interviews inside the huge mansion are taking place, reports the Toronto Sun.

Drake - real name Aubrey Graham - made headlines when he set out to build the palatial home in 2015, and purchased the plot of land it sits on for $6.7 million.

He then spent a reported $100 million constructing the huge estate, which is situated on one of the highest value streets in all of Canada.

The artist is known to be private around details with his residence, although he has occasionally offered fans a glimpse at the luxury property on social media, including showing his private basketball court.

The shooting in the early hours of Tuesday is not the first time the home has been involved in serious incidents.

On March 30, 2021, a woman was arrested outside the mansion after allegedly attacking a security guard with a knife.
Americans seek tough action against the pro-Palestine protestors who have roiled college campuses, with large numbers calling for expulsions and financial penalties, new polling shows.

Six-in-ten respondents said students should be kicked out for making anti-Semitic comments; and nearly half said anti-Israel protestors should lose out on student loan forgiveness schemes.

The DailyMail.com/Tipp survey of 1,435 adults shows a hardening of attitudes to protestors who've erected tents and smashed windows to decry Israel's assault on Hamas in Gaza.

It comes after police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent camp at the University of Chicago on Tuesday, and as clashes continued across the US and increasingly spread to Europe.

Students participate in a pro-Palestine rally at Hunter College in New York, after being blocked by police barricades from reaching the nearby Met Gala

Chicago Police officers prepare to arrest dozens of Pro-Palestinian protesters at the Art Institute of Chicago

Many demonstrators want their schools to divest from firms that do business with Israel or otherwise help the war effort.

Others just want to highlight mass Palestinian deaths in Gaza and for the war to end.

Still, others go further, by attacking and harassing Jewish students.

In one notable example, Columbia University' Khymani James was banned from campus last month after videos emerged of the student saying Zionists 'don't deserve to live.'

The protests have raised tough questions about the limits of free speech on campus, when criticizing Israel becomes anti-Semitism, and whether Jewish and conservative students can safely attend classes.

The clashes come as officials try a range of strategies, from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action, to resolve the protests and clear the way for graduation ceremonies.

At MIT, protesters had a Monday afternoon deadline to voluntarily leave or face suspension.

Dozens of demonstrators remained at the encampment on Monday night, listening to speakers and chanting before taking a pizza break.

At the Rhode Island School of Design, where students started occupying a building Monday, a spokesperson said the school affirms students' rights to peaceful protest and laid plans for talks with demonstrators.

Officials at New York City's Columbia University, where the protest movement began about three weeks ago, on Monday canceled its large main graduation ceremony.

Students could celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based events, they said.

The survey shows a hardening of attitudes to protestors who have erected tents and smashed windows to decry Israel's assault

Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia's green or occupied an academic building were arrested in recent weeks.

Harvard University's interim president, Alan Garber, warned students that those in an encampment in Harvard Yard could face 'involuntary leave.'

They would not be allowed on campus, could lose their student housing and might not be able to take exams.

At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students.

The University of California, Los Angeles, moved classes online for the week because of disruptions after the dismantling of an encampment last week that resulted in 44 reported arrests.

Similar encampments sprouted up elsewhere, leading universities to struggle with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.

Our survey suggests that, for the public, college officials should not spare the rod.

Fully 58 percent said students who made anti-Semitic protests should be expelled.

Another 25 percent said they should not be kicked off their courses, and 17 percent said they were not sure.

Pro-Palestine protesters chant slogans outside of an entrance at the New School,in New York City

Pro-Palestinian students at Hunter College hold a rally to demand an end to the war in Gaza

Older respondents, men, white people and Republicans were more in favor of expulsions, the poll showed.

There was also widespread support for barring student protestors from loan forgiveness schemes.

Fully 45 percent of respondents said protestors should lose out on debt relief programs, compared to 34 percent who said they should not.

Another 21 percent said they were not sure.

Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton this week introduced a bill to stop student rioters from having loans forgiven.

It would apply to those convicted of such an offense.

'It's innately un-American for taxpayers to be paying off their federal student loan debts when they have caused chaos and committed crimes on college campuses because they support Hamas terrorists,' Cruz said.

But the Biden administration's education chief Miguel Cardona, a Democrat, refused to commit to any such plan.

For many, however, the troubles on campuses are the result of a liberal that's reshaped America's colleges in recent decades.

Pro-Palestinian encampments have spread at campuses across the US, but are more common at those on the costs

Fully 60 percent of respondents said rampant antisemitism was a sign that schools had 'become overly woke,' while 21 percent said it was not.

Another 19 percent said they were not sure.

Public anger over the protests has been at times directed to the leaders of elite schools.

Claudine Gay and Liz Magill, the former presidents of Harvard University the University of Pennsylvania, resigned late last year amid outrage of their failures to condemn antisemitism at a congressional hearing.

The survey has a +/-2.7 percent error margin. It was carried out earlier this month by TIPP, which has been noted for the accuracy of its polls.

The student protests are now spreading to Europe, where they are gaining momentum.

Police arrested about 125 activists Tuesday as they broke up a camp at the University of Amsterdam, and German police dismantled an occupation at Berlin's Free University.

Students also have held protests or set up encampments in Finland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, France, and Britain.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an assault on Gaza that'as killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, says the territory's Health Ministry.

Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.
While 71 migrants in three boats were stopped from leaving France the same day

The Home Office has started revealing how many migrants have been prevented from leaving France as dozens more arrive in Dover today.

The changes to the website were made last week in a move to highlight unity between British and French authorities in dealing with the issue of illegal immigration.

New sections titled 'Migrants prevented' and 'Events prevented', which MailOnline understands is data coming directly from French Police details how many boats have been stopped from getting in the water and how many people were in those dinghy's.

The latest data reveals that 98 migrants arrived on small boats yesterday, while 71 migrants in three small boats were stopped from leaving France.

The Home Office has started revealing how many migrants have been prevented from leaving France as dozens more arrive in Dover today (pictured)

Graph showing the number of migrants that have arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel since 2019

The latest data reveals that 98 migrants arrived on small boats yesterday, while 71 migrants in three small boats were stopped from leaving France. Pictured: Migrants arrive in Dover today

The changes to the website were made last week, and now include new sections under 'Migrants prevented' and 'Events prevented' in move to showcase unity between British and French officers in dealing with the issue. Children and adults arriving in Dover today (above)

Images from Dover today showed the group of people, including young children being brought in to the port in Kent by a Border Force vessel.

Taking this years figures alone to over 8,500 - a significant upswing compared to this time last year with more expected as the people smuggling gangs take advantage of the relatively calm weather to make more landings.

Last year 29,437 migrants arrived in the UK, down 36 per cent on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.

The perilous crossings cost more lives last week, as five people died, including seven year old Sara, when they were trampled to death or suffocated beneath the heaving mass of bodies on the dinghy, which capsized just off the coast of Wimereux, near Boulogne-sur-Mer just south of Calais.

Her distraught father, Ahmed, 41, said he all he wanted was for my kids to go to school and saw the UK as his last chance after 14 years of failed claims to stay on the continent, even though his daughter was born in Belgium.

The young child was laid to rest this week in France, in a white coffin surrounded by her family, who placed flowers and her favourite teddy bear on top of the mound of earth to mark the grave.

'I lost my child, I lost my daughter. She was like a butterfly, like a bird, she was everything to us, the light in our home, our source of laughter, she was everything,' Ahmed told Sky News.

Sara Alhashimi was with her father Ahmed when he claims their dinghy was attacked by a rival group of migrants, causing it to become heavily overcrowded and capsize just off the coast of Calais on April 30, leading to her death

The young child was laid to rest this week in France , in a white coffin surrounded by her family, who placed flowers and her favourite teddy bear on top of the mound of earth to mark the grave

The first illegal migrants set to be removed to Rwanda have now been detained, following a series of nationwide operations

It comes ahead of the Government's bid to get flights to send migrants to the east African nation off the ground by July, after the Safety of Rwanda Act became law last week

It comes ahead of the Government's bid to get flights to send migrants to the east African nation off the ground by July, after the Safety of Rwanda Act became law last week.

Enforcement action is said to have taken place throughout the UK - in England, Wales and Scotland as well as Northern Ireland - since midday on Monday.

Children are not expected to be detained as part of the operations, but it is not known how many people are already being held in preparation.

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The unacceptable number of people who continue to cross the Channel demonstrates exactly why we must get flights to Rwanda off the ground as soon as possible.

'We continue to work closely with French police who are facing increasing violence and disruption on their beaches as they work tirelessly to prevent these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary journeys. Last year they stopped 26,000 people from reaching our shores.

'We remain committed to building on the successes that saw arrivals drop by more than a third last year, including tougher legislation and agreements with international partners, in order to save lives and stop the boats.'
A retired paramedic told today how he helped saved a baby boy who had 'died for 15-minutes' after suffering a cardiac arrest at Legoland Windsor.

Matthew Burns, 60, was at the attraction with his family stood at the coastguard HQ when a woman ran over screaming 'help, my baby's in trouble'.

Mr Burns over to find the baby 'blue in the face and floppy'  and helped another off-duty medic desperately try to revive the little boy.

They gave him CPR for 20 minutes until he started breathing again before paramedics rushed him to hospital for emergency treatment.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mr Burns, a father-of-three from Eastbourne, Sussex, said: 'When I got to the baby boy, he was clinically dead. His was blue and floppy and he wasn't breathing. We couldn't feel a pulse.

Matthew Burns, 60, was at the attraction with his family stood at the coastguard HQ when a woman ran over screaming 'help, my baby's in trouble'

Mr Burns over to find the baby 'blue in the face and floppy'  and helped another off-duty medic desperately try to revive the little boy (file photo)

'We tried and tried and managed to get him breathing again.

'Myself and the other paramedic were literally three seconds away from the child. It is a miracle that two medics were nearby at Legoland when this happened.

Mr Burns, who spent 40 years working for the ambulance service, was at the attraction with his daughter and her family when it happened.

He said the boy had been in a baby carrier strapped to his mother when he raced to his aid.

'I'd been alerted by my son's girlfriend who shouted over for help,' he said

'The other medic had got the boy out of the pouch and had laid him down on top of a bin.

'It sounds bizarre but we needed a nice flat surface. I said to him 'I'm a paramedic' and he replied, 'so am I'.

Mr Burns, a father-of-three from Eastbourne, Sussex, said: 'When I got to the baby boy, he was clinically dead. His was blue and floppy and he wasn't breathing. We couldn't feel a pulse'

He did the chest compressions while I looked after the baby's airways. Due to the fact that we were dealing with such a young baby I had to do mouth-to-nose initially.

'We carried on working on the boy until first aiders from Legoland arrived with the oxygen and a bag of masks and stuff we needed.

'Just before the ambulances and police turned up, we got a pulse from the boy and he started to make some slight respiratory effort.

'When we first got to him, I held up his little arm but it flopped down flat but when we later checked for a pulse his arm stayed up so at least we were getting some tone.

'The ambulance took him on blue lights to John Radcliffe Hospital up in Oxford. There were about six policemen that turned up and cordoned off the area and took statements.

'My focus had been on the baby. The mother was being looked after by other visitors while this was going on. She was distraught obviously and a bit shellshocked.

'She hadn't said what was wrong with her son, just that he was in trouble and there was something wrong with him.

'He didn't look good  and it was at least 15 minutes or so after reaching him that we managed to revive him.

'My background was perfect for this situation, thankfully. I was in the ambulance service as a paramedic and got my anaesthetic qualifications but I was also the lead clinical educator and head of resuscitation at Lewisham University Hospital in South London.'

A 27-year-old woman from Witham in Essex was later arrested on Saturday on suspicion of neglect causing unnecessary injury.

She was released on police bail until July 26.

Mr Burns' daughter Stacey Irwin told on social media how he saved the boy.

She described the family trip to Legoland as 'eventful  and wrote on Facebook: 'At the time Matt went to help the baby was essentially not alive, he was not breathing, had no pulse, totally blue and floppy!

'He and another paramedic that also happened to be there both very quickly started CPR on the baby.

Legoland at Windsor has become the country's most visited theme park in recent years, attracting 2.43million people in 2022 (file photo)

'Staff at Legoland were excellent getting the area cleared and soon the first aiders arrived with oxygen etc that assisted Matt and the other paramedic to continue saving this babies life.

'It was a long time they spent doing CPR - at least 20 plus minutes! Matt and the other man did the incredible job and managed to get the baby back breathing at the point the ambulances turned up.

'Heroes don't wear capes, but today Matthew most definitely was wearing that cape - talk about being in the right place at the right time. (He has had a phone call from the baby's mum and the hospital are pleased with how the little boy is doing).

'That's the second time I have witnessed Matt bringing someone back to life (the last time was in our own home for grandad many years ago)!'

Legoland at Windsor has become the country's most visited theme park in recent years, attracting 2.43million people in 2022.

In a statement a Legoland spokesperson hailed the actions of Mr Burns and the other off-duty medic and said: 'We are extremely grateful to medically trained members of the public who provided immediate care, alongside our resort first aid team, until the emergency services arrived.

'The guest left the resort in the ambulance for further treatment.

'We'd like to thank the emergency services for their swift response, and our guests for their cooperation.

'We will continue to support Thames Valley Police with their ongoing investigation.'
Annastacia Palaszczuk will take up a job with Australia's renewable energy industry body, just months after her shock departure from politics.

The former Queensland premier will become an international ambassador for the Smart Energy Council (SEC), an independent body that advocates for renewable energy businesses.

Ms Palaszczuk's role on the Canberra-based council will be unveiled to SEC members on Wednesday.

Her first major task will be to lead the body's delegation to China to discuss solar panels, hydrogen production and electrical vehicles with 'distinguished Chinese enterprises' in June, The Courier Mail reported.

The former Queensland premier will become an international ambassador for the Smart Energy Council (SEC), an independent body that advocates for renewable energy businesses, , according to the Courier Mail

Ms Palaszczuk's role will be unveiled to SEC members on Wednesday, with her first major task being to lead the body's delectation to China to discuss solar panels, hydrogen production and electrical vehicles with 'distinguished Chinese enterprises' (pictured with her surgeon boyfriend Reza Adib)

READ MORE: Annastacia Palaszczuk puts her feet up and knocks back a glass of bubbly on the balcony of her surgeon boyfriend's luxury apartment as the ex-premier recovers from her freak accident, ahead of shock appearance on ABC documentary Annastacia Palaszczuk, the former Queensland Premier, was spotted putting her crutches to one side, sticking her feet up and knocking back a glass of champagne on the balcony of her surgeon boyfriend's Burleigh Heads apartment on Saturday (pictured) Advertisement

Smart Energy Council recently advised stakeholders about the appointment

Ms Palaszczuk isn't expected to have any formal engagement with the Queensland government in her first post-politics job.

Ms Palaszczuk, who announced her shock resignation in December after eight years in the top job, previously spoke at an event organised by the SEC in 2020 entitled 'Stimulus Summit: A Renewables-led Economic Recovery'.

'I'm very excited about the future for Queensland when it comes to renewable energy,' Ms Palaszczuk told delegates at the time.

She spruiked the state's solar, wind and hydrogen capabilities.

Im very proud of what weve achieved through our renewable energy policies,' she added.

'This year we are on track to exceed 20 per cent of energy generation from renewables and the number of jobs supported has more than doubled.

Its a great story up here in Queensland. This has involved $6 billion worth of investment, 5,300 construction jobs to build 3,240 megawatts of renewable energy capacity.

It is understood Ms Palaszczuk will not have any formal engagement with the Queensland government in her new role.

It was revealed last month that Ms Palaszczuk had hired high-profile celebrity publicist Max Markson who is tasked with building a career for her on the speaking circuit across Australia and abroad.

PR king Mr Markson has organised speaking tours for world leaders and international celebrities including Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Mike Tyson.
Germany should copy Britain's Rwanda policy in order to deter asylum seekers from Europe, the current leader of Angela Merkel's CDU party has said.

Friedrich Merz, who has been at the helm of the Christian Democrats Union (CDU) since 2022, said he was 'firmly convinced' that the controversial policy would work adding that Germany ought to 'emulate' it as it would be 'a signal that we're just not going to accept everybody here.'

He told the FT: 'The mere prospect that you won't end up in the promised land of Germany, and that you'll have to apply for asylum in a third country  say Albania, if you're trying to get into Italy, or Rwanda if you're aiming for the UK  will reduce the number of asylum seekers.'

In another sign of deference to the UK, Merz also admitted that Brussels and Berlin were partly to blame for Brexit, as they failed to offer David Cameron, then prime minister of the UK, any meaningful reforms to the EU in the leadup to the 2016 referendum.

'I remember that David Cameron asked for changes to EU social policy and came back to London empty-handed.

Friedrich Merz (pictured) has been at the helm of the Christian Democrats Union (CDU) since 2022

'The continental Europeans were not entirely blameless when it came to Brexit,' he said, adding:

'We lost patience with the special role that Britain always played in European politics. We didn't do enough to help them come to a different referendum result.'

Despite recent frictions, Merz said he was keen for the UK and Germany to forge a closer relationship.

'We have a plethora of opportunities, at least in foreign and defence policy, that we should explore together.

'We Germans have a huge strategic interest in keeping the UK closely engaged in Europe.'

Merz's party has held a comfortable lead in the polls since at least August 2022.

The Rwanda policy become one of UK PM Rishi Sunak's flagship policies

Border Force Defender escort 50 migrants into Dover Docks, Kent

Though there was a small spike in Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing party, support for the populists have been falling since January 2024.

Aggregated poll data from Politico shows the CDU is currently 12 points ahead of AfD.

The CDU is set to endorse a new party programme soon, the first time it has done so since 2007.

'We are a conservative party again. The CDU was always Christian-social, liberal and conservative at the same time. But we recently hid away the conservative part, rather shamefacedly. Now were saying [it] out loud.'

Despite this, he rejected his critics' idea that he was departing from Angela Merkel's well-known centrist stance, claiming the new programme was 'a commitment to the basic values and principles that sustained us through more than 50 years of governing postwar Germany.'
The millionaire boss of P&O Ferries has admitted to paying workers as little as 4.87 per hour during a grilling from MPs who accused him of being 'a modern day pirate'.

Peter Hebblethwaite, the chief executive of P&O Ferries, was questioned by the Business and Trade Committee nearly two years on from a scandal which saw the ferry company lay off hundreds of staff without notice.

Mr Hebblethwaite, 53, repeatedly told MPs that P&O's workers were not being exploited despite being paid as little as 4.87 per hour but resisted calls for an independent investigation into the company's employment practices.

He said: 'We are paying considerably ahead of the international minimum standard. We believe that it is right that as an international business operating in international waters, we should be governed by international law.

'All we want is a level playing field with our competitors.'

The chief executive later admitted he could not live on 4.87 per hour.

P&O CEO Peter Hebblethwaite, who sacked 800 workers in one go, is the owner of a large farmhouse worth 1.5million

Mr Hebblethwaite, 53, repeatedly told MPs that P&O's workers were not being exploited despite being paid as little as 4.87 per hour

There was uproar and condemnation from UK government ministers and trade unions following the sacking of hundreds of British P&O Ferries staff in 2022

Mr Hebblethwaite, who has previously been described as the 'most hated man in Britain', earned 508,000 including a bonus of 183,000 last year.

Land Registry records showed Mr Hebblethwaite and his wife Honor, an interior designer, paid 1.575 million for their farmhouse in 2019.

A sales brochure for the Victorian property described it as 'an imposing detached family house offering extensive accommodation, including a heated swimming pool and stables set in approximately six acres'.

The millionaire boss appeared before MPs two years after P&O Ferries fired 786 of its staff and replaced them with low-paid workers who are employed by an external crewing agency.

The company fired employees without notice or union consultation.

The scandal attracted widespread criticism from ministers, unions and the public.

The Insolvency Service later said it would not pursue criminal proceedings against the company, which has been owned by Dubai-based DP World since 2019.

P&O Ferries told Parliament in 2022 that they replaced sacked workers with overseas agency staff who received an average of 5.50 per hour.

Since then, an analysis of payslips conducted by the Guardian and ITV News suggested that P&O agency workers had in some cases been earning about 4.87 an hour, which Mr Hebblethwaite confirmed in front of the Business and Trade Committee on Tuesday.

Mr Hebblethwaite lives in an expensive farm house in Gloucestershire with his interior designer wife Honor

Protests were held outside the P&O offices (pictured), after hundreds of people were let go from their jobs with immediate effect in 2022

Local MP Natalie Elphicke (pictured) clashed with protestors gathered in support of the sacked P&O workers in Dover

Nautilus International posted a photo in 2022 of what they claimed showed the binned personal belongings of the hundreds of staff sacked

Former workers at P&O Ferries pictured leaving the Port of Dover in 2022 with their personal belongings

Sacked P&O Ferries staff took part in a demonstration and blocked roads after taking part in an RMT demonstration outside Dover in 2022

Sacked P&O workers and their supporters protested along the main road to the port of Dover on March 23, 2022

Liam Byrn, chair of the Business and Trade Committee, asked Mr Hebblethwaite: 'Are you basically a modern day pirate?'

Mr Hebblethwaite did not respond directly to the accusation.

Mr Byrne later asked: 'Do you think you could live on 4.87 an hour?'

Mr Hebblethwaite said: 'No, I couldn't.'

Labour MP Charlotte Nichols repeatedly urged Mr Hebblethwaite to commit to an independent investigation into the company's employment practices.

Mr Hebblethwaite resisted and said: 'You can take from the retention levels that the crewing agent experiences and their ability to recruit the highest standard of international seafarers is hard evidence that people who could work anywhere in the world on any ships have chosen to work for P&O.'

The UK minimum wage rose to 11.44 an hour in April of this year.

But for maritime workers employed by an overseas agency, who work on ships which are foreign-registered in international waters, the rates do not apply.

Boris Johnson promised to close the loophole two years ago after the P&O Ferries job cuts.

Earlier this year the government said that it expects new legislation addressing the issue to become active this summer.

Meanwhile France brought in a similar law this year.

A protest was staged by unions outside the Houses of Parliament in London in 2022

P&O Ferries told Parliament in 2022 that they replaced sacked workers with overseas agency staff who received an average of 5.50 per hour

New P&O staff members during safety training at the Port of Dover in Kent after the ferry giant handed 800 seafarers immediate severance notices in 2022

Mr Hebblethwaite recently agreed to sign a voluntary Government Seafarers' Charter which commits it to pay maritime workers at least the UK minimum wage in British waters.

He said the company would sign the charter 'within months'.

When asked whether the legal changes would result in more lay-offs and large-scale staffing changes, Mr Hebblethwaite could not give a guarantee either way.
Israel has taken a 'very significant step' towards its goal of destroying Hamas with the Rafah crossing seizure, Netanyahu has said.

The Israeli Prime Minister dismissed Hamas' proposals to return 33 hostages, which the terror group said could be either alive or dead.

'During the first phase, Hamas releases 33 Israeli detainees (alive or corpses),' Hamas said when it laid out the conditions for the ceasefire deal they had agreed to, according to the Times of Israel.

Netanyahu's office said the proposal was 'far from Israel's essential demands', but the government would still send negotiators for talks.

This comes just hours after an Israeli tank brigade seized control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Smoke rises from shopping center following Israeli airstrike on east of Rafah, Gaza on May 7, 2024

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024

The 401st Brigade's combat team tanks enters the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on May 7, 2024

Israeli bombing inside Rafah in southern Gaza Strip as seen from inside southern Israel on May 7, 2024

The IDF released footage taken by a gunner atop a tank that shows the armoured column arriving at the Rafah crossing

Footage released by the Israeli army shows the 401st Brigade's combat team tanks entering the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt

The border gate is seen as the Israeli army announced it has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in Rafah

Hamas accused Israel of trying to undermine efforts to secure a ceasefire in the seven-month-long war that has laid waste to Gaza and left hundreds of thousands of its people homeless and hungry.

Israeli army footage showed tanks rolling through the Rafah crossing complex and the Israeli flag raised on the Gaza side.

One armoured vehicle from the Israeli 401st brigade was seen trundling up to an 'I love Gaza' sign that took pride of place at the crossing, before surging forward and crushing the structure underneath its tracks in symbolic footage posted to social media.

Other clips showed several tanks and other vehicles arriving on the scene early today to take control of the crossing point - a move described by the Palestinian crossing authority as a 'death sentence for Gazans' as it cuts off the last land route for vital aid.

The 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing this morning and took 'operational control' of the location seen as crucial for both aid going into Gaza and refugees fleeing into Egypt, officials said, adding this morning that they had 'eliminated approximately 20 terrorists'.

UN and other international aid agencies said the closing of the two crossings into southern Gaza - Rafah and Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom - had virtually cut the enclave off from outside aid and very few stores were available inside.

Red Crescent sources in Egypt said shipments had completely halted.

'The Israeli occupation has sentenced the residents of the Strip to death,' said Hisham Edwan, spokesperson for the Gaza Border Crossing Authority.

As well as a key entry point for aid, the crossing was the only exit point for those needing to leave Gaza for medical treatment that is no longer available in the enclave.

The Rafah offensive came after Israel roundly rejected a new ceasefire deal hashed out by Egyptian and Qatari negotiators that Hamas said it had accepted.

The announcement from Hamas sparked premature celebrations in Rafah yesterday as war-weary Palestinians took to the streets rejoicing news of a ceasefire deal.

But Tel Aviv later dismissed the ceasefire, describing it as a 'softened' version of an Egyptian proposal, which included 'far-reaching' conclusions that Israel could not accept.

Netanyahu's office said the proposal was 'far from Israel's essential demands', but the government would still send negotiators for talks.

In the meantime, it added, 'Israel is continuing the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages'.

Palestinian hopes for an end to the war were shattered late last night when Israel launched intense air strikes on Rafah, with Gaza's crossing authority claiming that Israel's decision to press on with its assault in spite of ongoing negotiations would see the deaths of countless more Gazans.

Sam Rose, director of planning at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), also said Israeli's seizure of the Rafah crossing would be 'devastating' for Palestinians.

In the meantime, it added, 'Israel is continuing the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages'.

Smoke rises following Israeli airstrike on east of Rafah, Gaza on May 7, 2024

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024

An Israeli Howitzer weapon fires from southern Israeli into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024

An Israeli tank is seen moments before driving over and destroying an 'I love Gaza' sign in Rafah

A Palestinian boy walks through the rubble following Israeli bombardment of Rafah's Tal al-Sultan district in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike as Israeli forces launch a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 7, 2024

Internally displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings, set up tents on the ruins of their homes after the Israeli army asked them to evacuate from the city of Rafah, in Khan Yunis camp, southern Gaza Strip, May 7, 2024

The joy of war-weary Palestinians was short-lived as Israel launched missiles on Rafah overnight

Palestinians inspect the devastation of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah

A Palestinian rescuer desperately searches for casualties among the rubble

Palestinians celebrate after Hamas accepted a proposed ceasefire in Rafah, Gaza on May 6

Thousands of Palestinians celebrated in various areas in the Gaza Strip on Monday evening, shortly after Hamas accepted a proposed ceasefire - but Israeli rejected the proposal and began bombing the city overnight

'(The crossing) has been the lifeblood for the small amounts of goods that have been coming into Gaza since October'.

'There's no ability for desalination plants to operate and provide safe water. There's no electricity - it cuts off everything,' Rose told Al Jazeera.

Sources in the Red Crescent organisation in Egypt said aid to Gaza had completely halted at Rafah this morning.

Professor John Strawson, an expert in Middle East Studies at the University of East London, said the IDF's seizure of the border was likely part of a wider plan to achieve as great a military advantage as possible ahead of entering new ceasefire negotiations.

The three-phase ceasefire deal Hamas backs, but Israel does not Based on details announced so far by Hamas officials and an official briefed on the talks, the deal that the Palestinian group said it had agreed to included the following: PHASE ONE 42-day ceasefire period

Hamas releases 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from Israeli jails.

42-day ceasefire period Hamas releases 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from Israeli jails. PHASE TWO Another 42-day period that features an agreement to restore a 'sustainable calm' to Gaza, language that an official briefed on the talks said Hamas and Israel had agreed in order to take discussion of a 'permanent ceasefire' off the table.

The complete withdrawal of most Israeli troops from Gaza.

Hamas releases Israeli reservists and some soldiers in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from jail. PHASE THREE The completion of exchanging bodies and starting the implementation of reconstruction according to the plan overseen by Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations.

Ending the complete blockade on the Gaza Strip. Advertisement

Hamas fighters near the Rafah crossing on Sunday fired mortars into southern Israel, killing four Israeli soldiers near the Kerem Shalom crossing close to an Israeli kibbutz of the same name.

The Israeli military used this as justification for seizing the Rafah crossing in a statement this morning, adding it had received intelligence the area around the border checkpoint was being used for 'terrorist purposes' - though gave no further information.

'The IDF is currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in southern Gaza,' the Israeli military said on X.

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, today acknowledged Israeli forces had seized the Rafah crossing and had closed the facility for the time being. He said strikes had targeted the area around the crossing since Monday.

An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to immediately comment on the Israeli seizure.

Egypt previously has warned any seizure of Rafah could see Palestinians fleeing over the border, a scenario that could threaten a 1979 peace deal with Israel that has been a linchpin for regional security.

Hamas said in a brief statement yesterday that its political leader Ismail Haniyeh had informed Egyptian and Qatari officials of his acceptance of the terms.

The ceasefire deal Hamas said it agreed to is a three-phased agreement, and each is 42 days long, the group's deputy chief in Gaza told Al Jazeera on Monday.

The first phase of the agreement would see a temporary cessation of hostilities and a withdrawal of Israeli troops away from major population centres. In return, Hamas would gradually release 33 captives - some alive, some dead - back to Israel.

These captives would be women, those aged over 50, those who are ill, and non-soldiers under the age of 19.

Hamas deputy Khalil Al-Hayya also said the second stage of the agreement stipulates a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on social media platform X that Haniyeh had also informed him of the ceasefire deal and told him: 'We are sincere in our intentions.'

Benjamin Netanyahu however said the ceasefire agreement was 'far from Israel's basic requirements' and rejected the reported terms.

The Israeli Prime Minister later added he would send a delegation to Cairo to continue negotiations on a new ceasefire deal today.

Palestinians celebrate in a street in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal on May 6, 2024

Flares light up the night sky above Rafah, Gaza on May 6, 2024, ahead of an Israeli bombing campaign

'Even though the Hamas proposal is far from Israel's essential demands, Israel will send a working-level delegation to the mediators,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's (pictured) office said in a statement after a war cabinet meeting

Palestinians celebrate with fireworks in a street in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal on May 6, 2024

Meanwhile, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari confirmed during a press conference last night that his forces would continue their operations in Rafah while a new ceasefire is being hashed out.

'We are exhausting the potential about negotiations and bringing back the hostages and that is our main mission, to bring them home as quickly as possible, but in parallel we are continuing to act in an operational manner in the Gaza Strip and we will continue to do so.'

A statement from Netanyahu's office last night read: 'The war cabinet has unanimously decided that Israel is continuing the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages and the other objectives of the war.'

According to former Israeli intelligence official and regional analyst Avi Melamed, the clock is ticking towards the moment of truth for both Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Netanyahu to choose a hostage deal or initiate Israel's long-promised Rafah intensive.

'Neither Sinwar nor Netanyahu have significant manoeuvering space.

'Reports have emerged that Israel earlier in the week issued an ultimatum to Hamas to respond on the latest round of negotiations, and with the looming intensive Israeli operation against Rafah, Hamas will likely respond in a manner that is closer to what Israel is willing to agree to, yet something that will require additional negotiation before signing.

'For Hamas, showing itself as a willing party to the negotiations, but not signing yet, is the only option to continue to delay the Israeli operation in Rafah, which has led to Israeli frustration focused on the country's own government.

'Regardless of political alignment, the Israeli population has grown frustrated with its leadership's lack of resolve to either complete the operation in Rafah or sign a deal.'

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, said the assault on Rafah would be deadly for civilians.

'The Rafah offensive has started again, in spite all the requests of the international community, the US, the European Union member states, everybody asking Netanyahu not to attack,' Borrell told reporters.

'I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties, civilian casualties. he said. 'There are no safe zones in Gaza.'

The Kuwaiti hospital said it had received the bodies of 23 people and the Najjar hospital recorded another four killed.

Later, Hamas's armed wing said it fired rockets at Israeli troops at Kerem Shalom, two days after four Israeli soldiers were killed there in an attack it also claimed. The Israeli army alleged the latest attack came from Rafah.

News of Hamas' announcement sent people in Rafah cheering in the streets, hoping the deal meant an Israeli attack had been averted

Palestinians dance around a fire in celebration in a street in Rafah after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce deal on May 6, 2024

Palestinian children celebrate in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip after Hamas's announcement

Palestinians react after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2024

Palestinians celebrate with fireworks in a street in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, after Hamas announced it has accepted a truce proposal on May 6, 2024

Palestinians react after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2024

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, May 6, 2024

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to celebrate after Hamas informed Qatar and Egypt that it had approved their proposals for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on May 6, 2024

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to celebrate after Hamas informed Qatar and Egypt that it had approved their proposals for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on May 6, 2024

Palestinians gather outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to celebrate after Hamas informed Qatar and Egypt that it had approved their proposals for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on May 6, 2024

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike east of Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 6, 2024

An Israeli army tank takes a position in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on May 6, 2024

US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the US was 'reviewing Hamas' response' to the ceasefire deal and will be discussing it 'with others in the region'.

'We will be discussing this response with our partners in the coming hours. We continue to believe a hostage deal is in the best interests of the Israeli people and Palestinian people,' Miller added.

'We continue to believe that a hostage deal is in the best interests of the Israeli people; it's in the best interests of the Palestinian people.'

The agreement, should it take effect, would be the first truce since a week-long pause in the fighting in November, and follows months of failed attempts at pausing the fighting to free hostages and allow more aid into Gaza.

But Israel is now pressing on with its military operation in Rafah, starting to evacuate civilians while conducting bombing raids and sending tanks to seize the border crossing.

The city, which sits on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, has been the last sanctuary for around half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents pushed south by Israel's seven-month-old assault.

Just hours before Hamas announced that they had accepted the agreement, Israel had ordered Palestinians to begin evacuating Rafah ahead of an Israeli military operation.

Netanyahu said earlier Monday that seizing Rafah is vital to ensure Hamas cannot rebuild their military capabilities and repeat the attack on Israel that triggered the war.

Over a million people in Rafah are huddled in tents and overcrowded apartments after fleeing Israel's military offensive in other parts of the territory.

Israel's closest allies, including the US, have repeatedly said that Israel should not attack Rafah, and the looming operation has raised global alarm over the fate of around 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering there.

Aid agencies have warned that an offensive would worsen Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe and bring a surge of more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has killed 34,000 people and devastated the territory.

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the terror group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip May 6, 2024

A woman mourns during the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2024

Much of the world, and especially its allies, have condemned Israel's decision to plough ahead with the planned offensive

Palestinians inspect the destruction following overnight Israeli strikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 6, 2024

The Israel-Hamas war has driven around 80 per cent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction in several towns and cities

Smoke rises from different points after Israeli attack on Rafah, Gaza on May 06, 2024

People flee the eastern parts of Rafah after the Israeli military began evacuating Palestinian civilians ahead of a threatened assault

An Israeli tank is pictured moving near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on Thursday, May 2

A picture taken on May 6, 2024 shows smoke billowing following bombardement east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip

Families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest calling for a hostage deal on May 6, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel

Protesters block a highway demanding the immediate release of hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 6, 2024

Families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest calling for a hostage deal on May 6, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israe

Protesters block the Ayalon highway where they call for the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 6, 2024

Families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest calling for a hostage deal on May 6, 2024, in Tel Aviv, Israel

US President Joe Biden spoke on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reiterated US concerns about an invasion of Rafah.

He said a ceasefire is the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, a National Security Council spokesperson said.

Hamas and Qatar said invading Rafah would derail efforts by international mediators to broker a ceasefire.

Days earlier, Hamas had been discussing a US-backed proposal that reportedly raised the possibility of an end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops in return for the release of all hostages held by the group.

Israeli officials rejected that trade-off, vowing to continue their campaign until Hamas is destroyed.

Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said about 100,000 people were being ordered to move from parts of Rafah to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi, a makeshift camp on the coast.

He said Israel has expanded the size of the zone and that it included tents, food, water and field hospitals.

Around 450,000 displaced Palestinians are already sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it has been providing them with aid but conditions are squalid, with few toilets or sanitation facilities in the largely rural area.

Israeli military leaflets were dropped with maps detailing a number of eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah to evacuate, warning that an attack was imminent and anyone who stays 'puts themselves and their family members in danger'.

UNRWA will not evacuate from Rafah so it can continue to provide aid to those who stay behind, said Scott Anderson, the agency's director in Gaza. 'We will provide aid to people wherever they choose to be,' he said.

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, condemned the 'forced, unlawful' evacuation order and the idea that people should go to Muwasi.

'The area is already overstretched and devoid of vital services,' he said, adding that an Israeli assault could lead to 'the deadliest phase of this war'.

Israel's bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them children and women, according to Gaza health officials.

More than 80 per cent of the population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, and hundreds of thousands in the north are on the brink of famine, according to the UN.
Those familiar with the situation are concerned more staff could leave

Rep. Henry Cuellar's chief of staff quit after the Texas Democrat and his wife were charged by the Justice Department with bribery and fraud.

Jake Hochberg served as Cuellar's top aide since 2021 but left the office on Monday, multiple people familiar with the situation confirmed to Punchbowl News.

The sources say that more staffers are also considering leaving in coming days.

Henry, 68, and Imelda Cuellar were indicted Friday on charges alleging they used a series of shell businesses and fake invoices to conceal approximately $600,000 in bribes from foreign companies  including an Azerbaijani oil company and a Mexican bank.

In exchange for the alleged bribes, Rep. Cuellar (D-Texas) is believed to have used his office to help advance the two companies' interests in U.S. policy agendas.

Jake Hochberg (pictured) quit as Rep. Henry Cuellar's chief of staff on Monday after the congressman was charged with bribery and fraud

Rep. Henry Cuellar (right) and his wife Imelda Cuellar (left) were charged by the DOJ with $600,000 that came in from foregin companies for alleged bribery, money laundering and wire fraud

Besides already resigning his committee assignments, it's likely that Cuellar could face backlash even before a verdict is handed down.

Hochberg did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment on his departure from Cuellar's office.

Republicans are preparing to pounce if Democrats don't move to immediately punish Cuellar. Last year, 105 GOP lawmakers joined Democrats to expel former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) before he was convicted of a crime but after a congressional investigation found wrongdoing.

Cuellar was one of the 206 Democrats who voted to expel Santos in December despite a federal investigation on his end.

The married couple from Laredo, Texas pleaded not guilty and were released on $100,000 bail each.

While the trial is scheduled to begin this summer, it's likely that pre-trial legal disputes over the case will delay the start by months  and could even result in dismissal.

Cuellar, one of the remaining moderate Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, has already stepped down from his assignment on the House Appropriations Committee amid active criminal case proceedings.

On Monday, the Texas lawmaker did not appear for his first chance to cast a vote since the indictment.

The Justice Department's charges against the Democrat include alleging the Cuellar's engaged in bribery, money laundering and wire fraud.

Rep. Cuellar resigned from his committee assignments and pleaded not guilty. He and his wife were released on $100,000 bail each

Trump on Sunday stepped in to defend Cuellar, calling the pro-life lawmaker a 'respected Democrat congressman.'

In the Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump accused Biden's DOJ of targeting Cuellar because he has more moderate or conservative views on border security.

'They're a bunch of D.C. Thugs, and at some point they will be paying a very big price for what they have done to our Country,' wrote the former president.

Cuellar's seat is seen as flippable in 2024  and now Republicans see it as an even bigger possibility after the indictment last week.
Father, Seth Rogers has confirmed his identity in a photo from North Carolina

Missing teen Sebastian Rogers's father has confirmed that the newly emerged mysterious picture is indeed his son and holds a clue about his disappearance.

Sebastian, a 15-year-old autistic teen, is believed to have left his family home in Tennessee, barefoot with just a flashlight in the early hours of February 26.

A mysterious picture which was taken by a woman at the rest stop near a visitors' center in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, shows a man who very strongly resembles Sebastian.

The woman later turned the picture into the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations and her friend posted the picture online.

Days after the photograph began circulating social media, Seth Rogers, the teen's biological father told NewsNation that 'he believes it is his son and he is across state lines'.

He is also hopeful that the FBI would intervene in the case.

Sebastian, a 15-year-old autistic teen, is believed to have left his family home in Tennessee, barefoot with just a flashlight in the early hours of February 26

A possible picture of missing autistic teen Sebastian Rogers has been circulating social media, more than two months after he went missing

Days after the photograph began circulating social media, Seth Rogers, the teen's biological father told NewsNation that 'he believes it is his son and he across state lines'

'My private investigator has spoken to the person who took the video (and photo). I would surely hope that the FBI would take the lead.

'Because I believe that is my son, and he is across state lines. I would really truly appreciate it if the FBI did take the lead,' Seth said.

He also told the channel that he 'has no idea' where Sebastian could be living, or who with, in North Carolina, especially since it is a six-hour drive from his Tennessee home.

Rogers is believed to have left his family home with a flashlight in the early hours of February 26. He was reported missing by his parents at 6.30am.

The state Bureau of Investigation released an endangered child alert for the teenager on the day he disappeared - and officials immediately deployed drones, dogs, boats, horses and helicopters in the search for him.

Sebastian lives in Stafford Court, Hendersonville, on the north-eastern outskirts of Nashville.

Investigators still have no meaningful leads that they have shared with the public, as the search for Rogers enters its third month

Seth has previously said that his son would not get into a stranger's vehicle

Journalist Nick Beres, who has been closely tracking Sebastian's case since his disappearance nearly ten weeks ago, says investigators are still lacking strong evidence in one direction or the next about where this case is headed.

On a recent Facebook livestream addressing the mysterious photo, Beres said he finds it interesting that now, seven days after the rest stop photo was released, investigators have not ruled the possibility of the teen in the photo being Sebastian.

About a month ago, the search for Sebastian was called off due to safety concerns for the members of the Cajun Navy deployed to help find him.

In late March, Sebastian's mother Katie Proudfoot and her husband Chris left Hendersonville to go back to work in Memphis.

Katie Proudfoot, Sebastian's mother, claimed she heard a 'noise' from her son's room the night before his disappearance nearly a month ago

A few seconds later, Subject One can be seen moving out of frame. Subject Two then reappears in the video and follows Subject One

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said more than 2,000 miles have been searched on foot and there have been aerial searches with helicopter, drones, and a fixed wing plane

The Cajun Navy, the non-profit comprised of volunteers with boats, was formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to help look for survivors.

The group had been helping with Rogers' search and rescue efforts, and even took over the search in March.

In March, eerie footage from the back of the house from which Sebastian disappeared was released, revealing two light sources far away, and another one closer to the house.

Officials have still not been able to determine if one of the light sources was Rogers, they do believe that the sources suggest another person was outside the house that night.

Seth insists his son would not have gotten into a stranger's vehicle 'unless he knew them.'

He has also said that Sebastian was not one to wander off, and due to an experience as a young boy, would never go far without shoes on.

Police continue to investigate the disappearance, 'working' every new piece of evidence they receive, though no concrete leads have taken form in the weeks since the search efforts were scaled back.
In the 19 years since it was founded, the green-fingered members of Chatteris in Bloom have won a glittering array of awards for their colourful entries.

But the floral displays are under threat after they were told a new safety course had to be completed to hang baskets on lampposts.

Anyone involved in the operation must take part in the 165 programme  otherwise contractors would have to be hired at huge expense to do the job.

The street lights pose a risk of volunteers electrocuting themselves, according to Cambridgeshire County Council  even though it has no record of anyone suffering an electric shock from draping posies from a lamppost.

CiB president Sue Unwin accused council health and safety 'jobsworths' of stifling community spirit with the heavy-handed edict.

Chatteris in Bloom president Sue Unwin accused council health and safety 'jobsworths' of stifling community spirit with the heavy handed edict

Chatteris in bloom have been told they must take part in the 165 programme on how to hang the basket safely  otherwise contractors would have to be hired at huge expense to do the job

Ms Unwin said: 'We do everything properly and this bureaucracy is going to kill community spirit because we are getting fed up with this. We work hard to make our town look nice'

Complaining that members already spend time and money on dressing up the town every year, the 64-year-old said: 'It has become impossible with the bureaucracy and the red tape.

'There's some jobsworth in the county council who has made this decision. We have been doing this for over 18 years. None of us have that capability or the money. We give enough of our time.

'We do everything properly and this bureaucracy is going to kill community spirit because we are getting fed up with this. We work hard to make our town look nice. Why can't they leave us along to get on with it?'

Chatteris in Bloom was founded in 2005 and between 2017 and 2022 achieved Anglia in Bloom's highest gold award four times, as well as being joint overall winner with Huntingdon last year.

The uplifting displays are put in place at the end of May each year and are judged in July.

Just 20 lampposts are used overall but critics have pointed out one volunteer who has taken the day-long safety course wouldn't be able to oversee every installation, thereby greatly adding to the costs.

Using a contractor is a non-starter because the cost of employee time and any machinery could leave the group with a four-figure bill.

Local Maggie Manders, 76, told the BBC the market town, which has around 11,000 residents, wouldn't be the same without the hanging baskets.

'You can't just have the flowers  the hanging baskets do make it. You can't have the fish without the chips,' she said.

'It would make my day if they let us have it. We love Chatteris in Bloom. Please let us have this.'

But a council source admitted while there was a risk of an electric shock only in 'very unusual circumstances', there would be no change of policy.

Chatteris in Bloom was founded in 2005 and between 2017 and 2022 achieved Anglia in Bloom's highest gold award four times, as well as being joint overall winner with Huntingdon last year

Ms Unwin and her group of volunteers usually put up the flower displays at the end of May each year and they are judged in July

Denying being over-cautious, they said: 'I've heard they've got public liability insurance but that's for if something fell off [a lamppost] and hit someone.

'We'd be liable if something happened with our street lights during the hanging.'

A spokesman added: 'It's great seeing the creative ways that communities across the county make use of street lights with festive displays.

'As street lights are directly connected to the local power grid, to ensure everyone's safety any group wishing to display items from a street light needs to get in touch with the council so we can make sure essential independent safety training is completed for everyone's wellbeing. We look forward to hearing from Chatteris in Bloom.'

Last year, the Left-leaning 'rainbow' coalition of Labour, Lib Dem and independent members who run Salisbury City Council were accused of 'ideological silliness' and 'absurd virtue-signalling' after scrapping hanging baskets and planters because they were not 'biodiverse' enough.

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: 'We are always keen to work closely with local communities across Cambridgeshire to make use of streetlights with festive displays.

'All we are asking is that any group wishing to create displays on our streetlights  which could involve putting heavy items overhead, on streetlights directly connected to the local power grid  is that they contact us first.

'This is so we can make sure essential independent safety training is completed for everyone's wellbeing. This is not red tape, it's about keeping people safe.'

'We are meeting with Chatteris Town Council tomorrow to discuss any concerns.'
The Prospector has now been hit with backlash for the anti-Semitic comment

A Sacramento high school newspaper has been hit with backlash after publishing an article saying 'Hitler had some good ideas' in its 'overheard' section.

C.K. McClatchy High School in the Land Park area has been slammed with controversy due to an article published in the student newspaper's spring edition.

The Prospector printed an offhand remark allegedly made by a student, who said 'Hitler's got some good ideas' in a Government class.

After one of the paper's editors heard the shocking comment, it was included in the 'What did you say' section - a feature that states 'some of the weirdest stuff' overheard on campus.

Nine of the 'favorite' remarks were listed, including other items such as 'I would definitely get suspended if I beat up the mascot' and 'I miss my ex. I'm probably gonna stalk him.'

C.K. McClatchy High School in the Land Park area of Sacramento has been slammed with controversy due to an article published in the student newspaper's spring edition that said 'Hitler's got some good ideas'

The Prospector's website lists seniors Ivy Hawkins and Ilijah Curtin as editors

'I may have kissed my cousin,' 'Dammit, I wasted the whole time drawing drugs' and 'Please stop licking my armpits' were several of the other 'favorite quotes' included.

The disturbing Hitler comment was last on the list.

After receiving furious backlash, the paper issued a 'response to 2024 Spring Edition Controversy.'

'The recent release of the spring edition of The Prospector has sparked controversy, and we would like to speak on the matter that involves a column found on page 15 titled 'What Did You Say' which includes anonymous quotes from students here at McClatchy. The quote in question is 'Hitler's got some good ideas.'

'We would first like to express that this quote does NOT reflect our ideals or beliefs; it was included to spark a conversation on how students here choose to use their words. The quote was included along with others deemed inappropriate for school, such as, 'I miss my ex. I'm probably gonna stalk him.'

'The topic of Hitler is, of course, a very sensitive one, especially considering the current political climate. We understand many were hurt and are concerned about the publishing of this quote. We, as a news outlet, believe it is important to bring awareness to the fact that a student on campus felt it was ok to say that in a classroom setting.'

After the inviting those who want to express their opinion on the matter openly because the paper 'want to hear your voices' - the editors were then forced to disable Instagram comments because of 'malicious comments'

'Unfortunately, due to individuals using the comment section to publicly shame and make malicious statements, we have decided to disable our comment section,' an Instagram post stated.

The Prospector's website lists seniors Ivy Hawkins and Ilijah Curtin as editors.

It it is unclear who made the initial decision to include the controversial quote, which editor heard the statement being uttered and who said the disturbing sentence to begin with.

The paper's faculty advisor, Samantha Archuleta said that, although the remark was troubling it was 'important' for them to report it.

After receiving furious backlash, the paper issued a 'response to 2024 Spring Edition Controversy'

McClatchy High's principal, Andrea Egan, said in an autodial response to the antisemitic remark sent to parents and the school community on Sunday that she found the comment 'alarming'. Pictured: McClatchy High School

Archuleta, writing with her student-editor, Ilijah Curtin, told The Sacramento Bee, 'The discussion before the publication was that the students' intent was to show a variety of overheard statements on campus, from innocuous to harmful.'

The faculty advisor said that the student journalists and the editor that overhead the comment made by her classmate are working on a follow-up story to provide more context.

McClatchy High's principal, Andrea Egan, said in an autodial response to the antisemitic remark sent to parents and the school community on Sunday that she found the comment 'alarming.'

'My primary goal was and is to ensure that our campus is a safe and welcoming community for all students while navigating the complicated free speech issues associated with student publications,' she said in the message.

'I promptly met with the journalism students early the next day to discuss my concerns, and shared with them the importance of exercising good judgment in their editorial decision-making. Words have the power to cause harm.'

Egan also said that she would be organizing a meeting with representatives from a local Jewish congregation to strategize on a response.

Brian Heap, the chief spokesman for the Sacramento City Unified School District, released a a statement saying that the 'highly offensive comment' hadn't been reported to a teacher or administrator before it was published.

'Our principals are first and foremost instructional leaders and, in this capacity, Principal Egan felt that addressing the (journalism) class directly and promptly was an important and necessary teaching opportunity.'

DailyMail.com have reached out to The Prospector and C.K. McClatchy High School for comment.
A Colorado teenager has been dramatically rescued after plunging 30 feet while trespassing inside an abandoned nuclear missile silo.

The 18-year-old boy was left with serious injuries after he fell down an 'elevator like shaft' landed at the pitch black bunker in Araphoe County.

The teen was with seven other friends at 3.30am on Sunday when their adventure went horribly wrong.

Rescuers were scrambled to the scene near the town of Deer Trail and managed to use the teenagers' screams to locate them after two hours of searching. It was a further three hours before they were able to get the injured boy out.

'I've never done anything like this before in my life,' firefighter Tyler Loveless told the Denver Gazette, as he described the treacherous rescue mission. 'Literally death is around every corner.'

A Colorado teenager has been dramatically rescued plunging 30 feet while exploring a pitch-black abandoned nuclear missile silo

Rescuers described seeing 'death round every corner' as the structure was littered debris and jagged metal

Rescuers described seeing 'death round every corner' as the structure was littered wit hazards including debris and jagged metal

He described the silo as, 'a maze of tunnels and loose metal and wires,' filled with potential hazards.

'All those who went down there are very lucky to be alive,' said Loveless. 'Not just the one who fell, but every single one of them because of one wrong turn and who knows.'

Loveless worked alongside his father Deer Trail Fire Department Chief Richard Loveless as part of a team of 16 rescuers who risked their lives to help rescue the teens.

'Fear was the only thing going through my mind,' Loveless Sr. explained. 'The dangers are more real than most people probably understand.

'There's not only the danger of the noxious gases that can kill you in there  from when the military had nitrogen, kerosene  but there's the dangers of all of the rusty jagged metal.'

The mission was further complicated by the lack of signal within the catacombs.

'There was a time where we didn't have communication with anyone for about 30 minutes or so. So it was just me and my partner,' Firefighter Travis Daniels told Live 5 News.

'Once we found the patient using the rope system that we have, we hoisted him up. It was a relief, big step accomplished.  A lot goes into it.'

Rescuers were scrambled to the scene near the town of Deer Trail and managed to use the teenagers' screams to locate them after two hours of searching

Video taken from inside the creepy silo shows jagged metal poking out across the dark, dank tunnels

The silo contains hazards such as debris, but also stagnant water which contains cancer-causing chemicals

Video taken from inside the creepy silo shows jagged metal poking out across the dark, dank tunnels.

The teens managed to gain access to the silo by crawling in through a 12 inch gap in a broken fence.

The structure has been abandoned for the last 60 years after initially being designed as a shelter built during the panic of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War.

The Titan 1 missile silo was one of the first strategic, intercontinental ballistic missiles developed by the United States, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The 98-foot-long, two-stage missile was fueled by kerosene (RP-1 fuel) and liquid oxygen, and was designed to carry nuclear warheads.

A 2009 site inspection of the silo near Deer Trail showed cancer-causing chemicals in the waters.

The structure is no longer owned by the US military and sits on private property.

Once we found the patient using the rope system that we have, we hoisted him up.

The teens managed to gain access to the silo by crawling in through a 12 inch gap in a broken fence

The structure has been abandoned for the last 60 years after initially being designed as a shelter built during the panic of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War

No further details have been released about the teens except that two, including the injured party, were 18-years-old.

Only the non-injured person has so far been given a summons on charges of third-degree trespassing.

However the rest of the group could face the same charge.

Officials are now pleading with the public to stay away from the area citing the potential risks if something goes wrong.

'We responded knowing we'd be in for a difficult rescue,' Sable Altura Fire Chief Rich Solomon told CBS.

'Inside the facility, it's cave darkness, so there's no light unless you bring it with you. There's only the person next to you that you can hear.'
Republican Rep. Don Bacon has introduced a resolution to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar for saying some Jewish students are 'pro-genocide.'

The moderate Nebraska Republican's resolution will not force an immediate vote, but it strongly condemns remarks made by the Squad progressive.

The censure accuses Omar of a 'long and demonstrated history of hateful rhetoric that plays into the worst antisemitic tropes.'

While visiting campuses last month to show solidarity with pro-Gaza student protesters after her daughter was arrested, Omar spoke out against bigotry against Jewish students in a seemingly tongue-in-cheek remark.

'I think it is really unfortunate that people don't care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe, and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they're pro-genocide or anti-genocide,' she said.

Her daughter Isra Hirsi was handcuffed at Columbia and suspended from Barnard College for participating in the anti-Israel protests. She later went on cable news touting herself as homeless and hungry after being booted from her dorm and dining halls.

Rep. Ilhan Omar has been accused of 'blood libel' by the anti-defamation league for saying some Jewish students are 'pro-genocide'

While visiting campuses last month to show solidarity with pro-Gaza student protesters after her daughter was arrested, Omar spoke out against bigotry against Jewish students in a seemingly tongue-in-cheek remark

The resolution also notes comments Omar made in 2021 when she tweeted, 'we have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan and the Taliban.'

It notes the Somalia-born progressive has called Israel's response to the October 7 attack an 'act of terrorism.'

The resolution notes a slew of past anti-Israel social media posts from Omar:

Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel,' she wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in 2012.

Drawing attention to the apartheid Israeli regime is far from hating Jews,' she posted in 2018.

The Minnesota Democrat was previously booted from the Foreign Affairs Committee for reportedly suggesting that lawmakers and activists who support Israel hold 'allegiance to a foreign country.'

In 2019, she came under fire for saying AIPAC and Jewish people were trying to buy influence: 'Its all about the Benjamins, baby. Congressional Democratic leadership condemned her for it.

She would follow Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who was censured over anti-Israel comments in November for parroting the Palestinian slogan 'from the the river to the sea.'

A protester holds a Palestinian flag as students rally on Columbia University campus at a protest encampment in support of Palestinians, despite a 2 pm deadline issued by university officials to disband or face suspension,

'It is gaslighting to impute that Jewish people are somehow at fault for being harassed and menaced with signs and slogans literally calling for their own extermination. It is abhorrent that a sitting member of Congress would slander an entire group of young people in such a cold, calculated manner. This is how people get killed.'

Omar then referred to a report from The Intercept about the Department of Education investigating protests at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for anti-Palestinian bias.

In a civil rights complaint 18 students said they had been the victim of 'extreme anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab harassment and discrimination.'

One allegation claimed a student had shouted 'kill all Arabs' at pro-Gaza demonstrators.

A university official had allegedly said of the protestors: 'They are all Hamas. All grotesquely evil.'

'This is the pro-genocide I was talking about, can you condemn this like I have condemned antisemitism and bigotry of all kind?' Omar challenged Greenblatt.

Omar is one of 37 House Democrats who voted against aid for Israel earlier this month as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza since October 7 surpassed 34,000.

Omar's comments come as Republicans have repeatedly demanded Columbia President Minouche Shafik resign for being unable to quash the demonstrations. Speaker Mike Johnson suggested President Joe Biden bring in the National Guard.

Last week the House's Republican Whip Tom Emmer accused Omar of being 'pro-terrorist.'

Columbia sophomore, David Lederer, waves a large flag of Israel outside the student protest encampment on the Columbia University campus, Monday, April 29, 2024,

Pro-Palestinian students protest at an encampment on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 28, 2024

The protests against Israel's war with Hamas began at Columbia University earlier this month before spreading to campuses across the country

Columbia's 2 p.m. deadline for student demonstrators to clear out an encampment or face disciplinary action came and went on Monday but the camps remain.

Columbia faculty linked arms and formed a wall of protection around the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito suggested pro-Palestinian demonstrators were 'proud that you've been endorsed by Hamas.'

Florida Democrat Rep. Jared Moskowitz likened anti-Semitism within Columbia's protests to the 2017 Charlottesville white nationalist rally last week.

'We were mad years ago when we saw Charlottesville and 'Jews will not replace us' and Donald Trump saying 'Good people on both sides' or 'Mexicans are rapists,' right? But somehow we don't have the same anger of, 'Go back to Poland,'' Moskowitz said on CNN.

'It's the same message, which is, 'Jews are not welcome,'' he continued.
Furious parents have spoken out about the alleged abuse their children experienced at the hands of an Arizona teaching aide.

Disturbing footage showed Tracey Stewart, a former Chino Valley Head Start Child Care Center worker, repeatedly slap, shove and spray children with liquids in the classroom.

Now, four mother's, Jessica Ouellet, Courtney Silva, Blanca Aguiar and Nicole Stroh, have taken legal action against Stewart and the daycare.

Tracey Stewart, a former Chino Valley Head Start Child Care Center teaching aide, is seen spanking a young girl before forcing her into a seat in January 2023

Stewart is seen hovering over a young boy before she forcibly removes him from his chair. In another clip she was seen shoving him in the face

The lawsuit revealed that Stewart was previously fired as a teacher's aide at another daycare for abusing children before she started at Chino Valley Head Start.

'I honestly, I did not want to watch. But when I was watching them, all I see is a person that's completely out of control,' Aguiar told Fox 10.

'A person that has a lot of rage to, you know, the kids, that she has zero patience with them,' she added.

Video clips of the shocking moments start with Stewart in a classroom with a group of children in January 2023.

Stewart is seen talking to other kids and pointing towards Ouellet's non-verbal daughter before she storms over to the little girl, grabs her, spanks her and forces her into a chair.

Another shot shows the teaching aide dragging the girl away from the table in her chair.

A police report was filed following the traumatic incident, as Ouellet said she cried when she read it.

'Obviously like, freaked out and mad. Why would anyone hit her for what reason?'

'It's a parent's worst nightmare,' Ouellet said.

The officer that wrote the report described Stewart's behavior as 'physically' and 'verbally aggressive' toward Ouellet's daughter.

After the Chino Valley Police Department investigated the incident involving her daughter, Stewart was placed on administrative leave. By March 2023, she was fired.

Aguiar also learned that the teacher's aide got physical with her son as video showed the moment Stewart shoved him.

While holding a paper in her left hand, Stewart is seen using her right hand to shove Aguiar's son in the face.

Jessica Ouellet, the mother of the non-verbal girl who was seen being spanked by Stewart said: 'It's a parent's worst nightmare'

In another clip, Stewart was seen spraying the cleaning liquid Tersano directly at two children

The officer that wrote the report described Stewart's behavior as 'physically' and 'verbally aggressive' toward Ouellet's daughter (pictured) when she spanked her

Another clip shows her son being aggressively grabbed out of his chair by Stewart.

His distraught mother said that police told her that her son 'was shoved in an aggressive manner.'

'I feel like I should have been there to protect him, and I wasn't,' Aguiar said.

In another video, Stewart is seen cleaning a table with a liquid she sprays out of a bottle.

As she sprays it, she points the bottle directly at two students, striking them in the face with the liquid. According to police, the spray contained the cleaning solution Tersano.

Silva told Fox 10 that her son was one of the children that was sprayed by Stewart and that she wasn't initially informed about it.

'I have guilt and shame for it every single day. There is not one day that goes by that I don't feel horrible for it,' she said.

In other clips, Stewart is seen swatting a child in the face with napkins and also pulling a kid's head back before she swiftly gets in his face.

Both Silva and Ouellet said that they started to notice 'red flags' from each of their children.

'So red flags started coming up in my mind when they would call me probably at least once a week, if not three, telling me he's crying hysterically, saying his stomach hurts or he would have a fever or whatever the reason was, and I'd have to come get him during the day, and he was perfectly fine,' Silva said.

Ouellet said that her daughter, who used to be 'excited' to go to school, soon became noticeably frightened to go.

Blanca Aguiar also learned that the teacher's aide got physical with her son as video showed the moment Stewart shoved him

After the Chino Valley Police Department investigated the incident involving Ouellet's daughter, Stewart was placed on administrative leave. By March 2023, she was fired

'Then it was like a switch. She just was fighting, going to school, throwing a fit. She started having bad dreams, and like, nightmares,' the mother said.

When Stewart started at Chino Valley Head Start, three managers covered up her abuse history in order to allow her to keep working, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit revealed that in December 2022, Stewart pulled a mat from under Stroh's child and caused her to fall and hit her head.

The suit described that a manager who witnessed the incident take place did not take any action.

'I just kind of thought, 'Ok, maybe she just rolled off',' Stroh said.

'When it came to my attention that one of the teachers actually removed the bed from underneath my daughter, I was furious, and I was in shock.'

Chino Valley Head Start Child Care Center serves newborn children to five-year-old's in Apache, Navajo, Coconino and Yavapai counties. The program is run by the Northern Arizona Council of Governments.

In response to the lawsuit, the daycare center has denied all allegations and said that they are entitled to immunity.

'As I am sure you understand Chino Valley Head Start is not in a position to comment on pending litigation,' Chino Valley Head Start said in a statement.

'However the program takes its responsibility to the children in the program very seriously as we take the allegations. The matter is being fully investigated and we are confident that we will be able to demonstrate the significant effort put into caring for the children in our charge.'

Solomon Radner, the attorney defending the mother's, said that the videos make his 'blood boil.'

'What I see, and what it appears to me, is that there is somebody who is acting clearly more aggressively with these children than any reasonable person would. There's simply no reason for this kind of thing,' he said.

Another mother, Courtney Silva, said that her son was one of the children who was sprayed in the face by Stewart. She said that he has since been diagnosed with PTSD

Chino Valley Head Start Child Care Center serves newborn children to five-year-old's in Apache, Navajo, Coconino and Yavapai counties. The program is run by the Northern Arizona Council of Governments

Nicole Stroh explained how in December 2022, she found out that her daughter fell off her bed and hit her head after Stewart pulled a mat from under her

After she was let go, the Chino Valley Police Department recommended that the Yavapai County Attorney's Office charge Stewart with aggravated assault on a minor.

The attorney's office then declined to file and said that there was 'no reasonable likelihood of conviction.'

The mother's are outraged at this decision and have requested that Stewart faces a jury trial where they will seek compensatory or punitive damages.

Silva said that her son has since been diagnosed with PTSD from his interactions with Stewart.

'He has night terrors. He pees the bed. No matter what I do to try to console him, he just becomes beside himself, screaming, 'No, no, no, no,' like I'm going to hurt him,' Silva said.

Ouellet said: 'How is this person just able to go about her life and her day as if nothing happened? They just simply fired or let go.'

'Our kids are in therapy. They've regressed. They've had night terrors. They had bedwetting,' Ouellet added.

Each mother admitted that they regret ever sending their children to the school.
Belarus has ordered a surprise inspection of its tactical nuclear weapon carriers, just one day after Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to carry out drills for Russia's tactical nukes.

Belarus' defence ministry said the inspection will test the 'planning, preparation and use of strikes with tactical nuclear warheads' and involve a squadron of Su-25 aircraft.

While Belarus doesn't own any nuclear weapons, it agreed last year to host Russian tactical warheads on its soil, amid rising tensions in Europe over Ukraine.

Just yesterday, Putin ordered troops based near Ukraine to practice nuclear weapons scenarios in a bid to 'deter' adversaries following perceived threats of escalation from Western leaders.

Military drills in the undisclosed 'near future' will include practice for the preparation and deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons, Russia's defence ministry claimed.

Belarus' defence ministry said the inspection will test the 'planning, preparation and use of strikes with tactical nuclear warheads'

The drills would also involve Su-25 planes

While Belarus doesn't own any nuclear weapons, it agreed last year to host Russian tactical warheads on its soil

The ministry said the exercises would be carried out 'in response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation', the Kremlin citing threats to deploy troops in Ukraine.

'It's obvious we are talking about statements from Mr. Macron and statements from British representatives,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked by reporters what had prompted the drills, adding: 'This is a completely new round of escalating tensions. It is unprecedented and requires special measures.'

A Russian diplomat said Moscow would have to increase its entire missile arsenal as a deterrent following what was framed as the worst breakdown in relations since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

'We are now at the stage of open confrontation, which, I hope, will not result in a direct armed conflict,' Russian Ambassador-at-Large Grigory Mashkov told the state RIA news agency.

File photo. A Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is launched by Russia in April 2022

Russian 'Yars' intercontinental ballistic missile launchers are displayed in the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal on the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, May 5 2024

Mashkov added that it will now be necessary to take 'further steps to strengthen the country's defense capability, including building up the missile arsenal, in order to discourage any potential enemy from testing Russia's strength.'

He added that Russia was already doing a lot in this area but that more was needed given what he said was the growing threat from the West and the technological advances in most types of missiles, from tactical to inter-continental.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia is set to spend 7.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on the military, or more than a third of total government spending, in 2024.

Ramping up drills, Putin reportedly told Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to prepare missile firing exercises in the near future 'in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to fulfil combat missions'.

Troops from the Southern Military District, which borders Ukraine and includes the occupied Ukrainian territories will take part in the drills, the ministry said.

Close Putin ally and former President Dmitry Medvedev said today on Telegram that 'the number of scoundrels among the Western political elite calling for sending their troops to a non-existent country is expanding'.

'Now it includes representatives of the US Congress, French and British leadership, and individual madmen from the Baltic states and Poland...'

'Sending your troops to the territory ofUkraine will entail the direct entry of their countries into the war, to which we will have to respond.

'And, alas, not in the territory of Ukraine. In this case, none of them will be able to hide either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in 10 Downing Street.

'A world catastrophe will come.'

As part of a new drive of 'deterrence', Russia is also understood to have commissioned a notable Russian political scientist to explore possible avenues for pushing back what is perceived as an encroaching West including nuclear deterrence.

Sergey Karganov, a longtime advisor to Putin and his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, has reportedly been commissioned to carry out eight studies into topics including the 'theory and practice of nuclear deterrence' within the context of Russia's current political climate, and how Russia might go about 'developing' such a deterrence with Russia, China, India and Pakistan.

The 71-year-old, who currently heads the Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, is notable for his post-USSR doctrine suggesting Russia should aim to leverage Russian minorities living nearby to spread and maintain its influence in former dominions.

Last year, he called for Russia to launch nuclear strikes on Europe as a pre-emptive measure to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and restore the perceived authority of the nuclear threat.

The escalation of Russian nuclear rhetoric follows weeks of more pronounced threats from the West to intervene in the conflict in Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently told The Economist he 'absolutely' stands by pledges to put boots on the ground in Ukraine if push comes to shove.

'As I said, I'm not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out,' he told the magazine in an interview published last Thursday.

Macron has also called on Europe to reduce reliance on the United States and develop independent capacity to face down hostile foreign actors.

In February, Putin warned Macron that if France were to send any troops to Ukraine, they would meet the same fate as Napoleon Bonaparte's Grand Armee, whose 1812 invasion ended in staggering defeat and huge casualties.

British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron also received condemnation from Russia after telling reporters in Kyiv that Ukraine could use British-supplied missiles as they saw fit, including firing into Russian territory and lifting a previously held requirement only to fire Storm Shadow missiles within Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the conference of All-Russia People's Front on January 25, 2016 in Stavropol, Russia

A firefighter works at a site of a Russian drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine May 4, 2024

The Kremlin called Lord Cameron's statement a 'direct escalation' of the war in Ukraine deemed 'dangerous to European security'.

Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said comments made on Friday could imperil the entire system of European security architecture - and namechecked Macron while condemning perceived threats from the West.

'The statement [from Macron] is very important and very dangerous,' Peskov told reporters on Friday.

Macron 'continues to constantly talk about the possibility of direct involvement on the ground in the conflict around Ukraine. This is a very dangerous trend,' he added.

Peskov said the recent statements by Macron and Cameron 'potentially pose a danger to European security, to the entire European security architecture'.

'We see a dangerous tendency towards escalation in official statements. This is raising our concern,' he added.

US House Leader Hakeem Jeffries added to Russian fears with comments in a CBS interview this week that if Ukraine falls 'there's a significant likelihood that America will have to get into the conflict  not simply with our money, but with our servicewomen and our servicemen'.

Experts following developments in the war suggest Macron's comments reflect a new approach of 'strategic ambiguity' mirroring threats from Russia.

Vlad Sutea, founder and lead analyst at early warning and threatcasting group T-Intelligence, told MailOnline: 'Macron is one of the few Western European leaders to understand the value of strategic ambiguity.

'Putin doesn't take anything off the table, neither should we. And that includes sending troops, in whichever capacity that is feasible.'

'Chances are, Macron and other European leaders have outlined implicit thresholds that could prompt direct Western intervention.

'A scenario warranting action could entail a collapse of the front in the East, leading to further Russian encroachment, posing a threat to cities like Kyiv, Odesa, and, albeit less likely, western regions such as Lviv.

'Our reading is that the intra-NATO discussions on this topic have not been as hypothetical as believed.

'One should remember that France also recently signed a security agreement with Moldova and has a robust presence in Romania as part of the NATO battle group that will be elevated to brigade-level in 2025.'

He suggested that criticism of Macron, claiming the comments could invite nuclear Armageddon, played into the Kremlin's hands.

'This appears to be typical pro-Russian scaremongering, aimed at dissuading bold Western action,' he said. 'The true irresponsibility lies in shying away from confronting Russia.'

'Weakness invites aggression and this is particularly relevant when talking about Putin's Russia.'

Ukrainian servicemen carry out anti-sabotage mock drills on the border with Belarus, Jan 17

Ukrainian soldiers fire with mortar during a military training with French servicemen in Poland

Amid rising tensions, Macron is today to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a state visit in a bid to persuade him to switch positions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In Xi's first visit to Europe since 2019, he is also expected to give talks in Serbia and Hungary.

President Xi has said he wants to find peace in Ukraine but has been a careful ally to Putin and is expected to host the Russian leader in Beijing next month.

In an op-ed for Le Figaro daily, Xi recently said that he wanted to work with the international community to find ways to solve the conflict sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while emphasising that China was 'neither a party nor a participant'.

'We hope that peace and stability will return quickly to Europe, and intend to work with France and the entire international community to find good paths to resolve the crisis,' he wrote.
A convicted fraudster accused of drowning his wealthy heiress wife schemed to get her fortune 'almost from the minute he met her' a court was told.

'Serial liar' Donald McPherson, 50, walked free from court in 2021 when the prosecution couldn't prove that his wife Paula Leeson, 47, hadn't drowned in an accident.

But Ms Leeson's family have brought civil legal proceedings against him, asking a High Court judge to rule that McPherson was unlawfully responsible for the death by choking her until she was unconscious and drowning her.

It is claimed he went about setting up policies with 'indecent haste' and the scheme for her inheritance was 'planned from the outset'.

If they succeed, 'calculated' McPherson will forfeit any legal entitlement to benefit from her will and estate, which is said to be worth 4.4 million.

Heiress Paula Leeson died in 2017 and was found in a swimming pool in Denmark

'Serial liar' Donald McPherson, 50, walked free from court in 2021 when the prosecution couldn't prove that his wife, 47, hadn't drowned in an accident

Ms Leeson, who was 5ft 5in tall, drowned in a swimming pool in Denmark in June 2017, that was under 4ft deep - despite the fact she could swim and was a healthy mother-of-one.

The husband has always claimed that her death was a 'tragic accident'.

She wed McPherson, who did not attend the court hearing and is believed to be in the South Pacific, at a no-expense-spared ceremony at a Cheshire castle in 2014 after a 'whirlwind romance'.

McPherson was born Alexander James Lang and was originally from New Zealand.

He told Ms Leeson that he was an orphan to hide his past after serving jail time for an 11 million bank fraud in Germany, the court heard.

Ms Leeson oversaw the skip hire part of her family's successful ground-working business her father Willy, 80, had built up in Sale, Greater Manchester, after emigrating from County Wicklow, Ireland, in the 1960s.

Ms Leeson and her brother Neville stood to inherit the business.

Ms Lesley Anderson, KC, for the family, told Mr Justice Richard Smith yesterday that McPherson was 'a morally corrupt individual' and 'this permeates every aspect of this case.'

She said: 'In the circumstances of the defendant's history of dishonest acquisitiveness and the deterioration of his finances prior to Paula's death, the assiduous amassing of insurance polices totalling 4,482,149.29 provide a compelling motive for the unlawful killing of Paula by him.

'The insurance was grossly in excess of any underlying liabilities which at no point exceeded 1m.

'She said that there were insurance policies worth 3.176 million, which the wife did not know about, two trust funds worth a further 800,000 and joint money and property worth 506,000.

She added: 'This was planned almost from the minute he met Paula. He went about setting up policies with indecent haste. They were not even married by the time some of the policies were taken out. This was planned from the outset.

'He killed her because of the significant motive of the insurance policies. This case is extraordinary because of his lies to almost everybody in this case.

'All of the facts, taken together, make it substantially more likely he killed Paula.'

Ms Leeson's father William, 81, and her brother Neville believe she suffered pressure to her neck which caused her to pass out and deny she committed suicide or drowned

Ms Anderson said said that at the time of Paula's death, McPherson was 'running out of options to fund his extravagant lifestyle without Paula's largesse' and was paying 500 a month in the insurance premiums.

The court heard that the insurance policies included travel insurance for the Denmark trip in which he was to make sure that he was 'sufficiently covered' for the repatriation costs of Paula's body.

Ms Anderson said:' Whoever checks these things? This was about as calculated as you can get.

'His communications with his insurers in advance of the trip to Denmark are highly significant as they highlight the calculated and pre-meditated nature of his actions.'

'The calls go beyond what a conscientious individual would do for satisfaction or re assurance.'

The court has heard McPherson being described as a 'Walter Mitty', 'who had changed his name multiple times, had 32 convictions spanning 15 years in three countries, and whose previous wife and their child died in a house fire.

McPherson told police he awoke to find Ms Leeson face down in the shallow swimming pool at a holiday cottage in remote western Denmark he had booked for the couple, on June 6 2017.

Her death was initially treated as a tragic accident by the Danish authorities - though she had suffered 13 separate external injuries.

Within hours he was transferring thousands of pounds from her accounts to cover his debts, the court heard.

Soon after, McPherson cleared their home in Sale of his late wife's possessions and joined a bereavement group, Widowed And Young - that he called 'Tinder for widows.'

McPherson's lawyers had argued Ms Leeson's injuries could be a result of her rescue from the pool and resuscitation attempts and pathologists could not rule out that she could have fainted or accidentally fallen into the pool and drowned.

The husband contests the Leesons' court application but is not present or legally represented at the hearing.

Mr Justice Richard Smith is expected to rule on the Leesons' application later this year.
John Swinney was officially installed as Scottish First Minister today after Humza Yousaf quit.

The new SNP leader was elected to the post in a Holyrood vote, with the Greens ensuring he could not be blocked.

The confirmation came hours after Mr Yousaf signed his resignation letter to the King, and gave a valedictory speech slamming 'bigots'.

Mr Swinney becomes the third holder of the top role in barely a year, and paid an emotional tribute to his wife Elizabeth, who suffers with MS. He voiced 'profound and eternal gratitude' that she was willing to make sacrifices so he could serve Scotland.

The veteran MSP also struck an emollient tone after the SNP's meltdown, saying he will 'reach out' to opponents.

Attention will now turn to his Cabinet, with questions over whether Kate Forbes will be handed the key post as his deputy amid tensions over her devout Christian views. Appointments will happen after he is sworn in tomorrow.

Despite swipes that he is a 'Sturgeon apologist' and 'continuity' option, Mr Swinney was the only SNP leadership candidate running when nominations closed yesterday.

He managed to convince former finance secretary Ms Forbes to join his team rather than challenge him, in a move billed a 'stitch-up' by opponents.

John Swinney is set to be installed as Scottish First Minister after being confirmed as the new SNP leader yesterday

In a valedictory speech at Holyrood this afternoon, Humza Yousaf thanked colleagues who had shown him 'kindness' amid the 'toxic nature of our political debate'

Humza Yousaf officially quit as Scottish First minister today paving the way for John Swinney to be installed within hours

Mr Swinney won the backing of 64 MSPs, with his nearest rival Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross picking up 31. As the Greens abstained that was enough for a simple majority.

Afterwards he said: 'I am leading a minority government. I will need to reach out to others to make things happen to pass legislation to agree a budget.'

He said Holyrood was 'intensely polarised', adding: 'I accept my part in creating that environment, whether that is by shouting put-downs from the front bench or heckling from a sedantry position.

'I do promise Presiding Officer, that that will all stop. I have changed.'

Amid laughter in the chamber, he added: 'Perhaps time will tell on that one.'

Pitching for the role in the chamber earlier, Mr Swinney said: 'I hope we can all recognise that despite our political differences, we're all here because we want the best for Scotland, whatever our specific role happens to be.

'For me, it is with all my experience  but with much more than that  with my burning ambition for a better future for this country, that I am seeking to become first minister.'

He said his 'core belief' is that 'Scottish self-government is the right way forward for Scotland'.

He pledged to listen to those who voted for pro-independence parties in 2021 as well as those who did not.

Mr Yousaf said in his final speech: 'Let me offer thanks to every single colleague across the political divide for the kindnesses that you have shown me over the years.

'We often, and I'm guilty of this too, lament the toxic nature of our political debate and it's true, there is entrenched tribalism that feels difficult to free ourselves from.

'However I will remember far more fondly the kindness and generosity of colleagues over the years.'

Mr Swinney swerved a late obstacle yesterday as he persuaded activist Graeme McCormick not to go ahead with forcing a leadership contest, even though he had secured the support required to stand.

In his victory speech in Glasgow yesterday, Mr Swinney acknowledged the scale of the infighting and crises which have engulfed the SNP and admitted the party has been through a 'rough, tough time'.

But he claimed that his party has now 'come back together again' under his leadership and 'got our act together'.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said Mr Swinney would just 'double down on the independence obsession' rather than tackling Scotland's problems.

'It's difficult to see how he can be the fresh start Scotland needs, when he's the ultimate continuity candidate,' he said.

'John Swinney was joined at the hip with the disgraced Nicola Sturgeon and his fingerprints are all over her numerous policy failures and cover-ups.

'The stitch-up the SNP have engineered to ensure John Swinney's coronation highlights the mess they're in.

'Is a failed former leader from two decades ago  who, as education secretary, sent Scotland plummeting down international league tables  really the best they have to offer?

Mr Yousaf's time as First Minister was spent dealing with a long list of crises, including developments in the police probe into the SNP's funding and finances, a series of policy U-turns, disciplinary issues, defections and bitter infighting between factions in his party.

In his speech yesterday, Mr Swinney claimed the speedy leadership process can allow the SNP to 'get back on the front foot'.

A Norstat poll at the weekend showed the SNP is on course to fall to just 15 seats following the general election, and to slide behind Labour at the next Holyrood election.

The SNP vote share in a Westminster election was seen as dropping to its lowest level since the 2014 independence referendum.

The party would hold just 15 of its 43 seats with Scottish Labour winning 28 - a dramatic increase from its current two.

Mr Swinney was the only nominee for SNP leader after he persuaded former Finance Secretary Kate Forbes (pictured) to join his team rather than challenge him

Mr Yousaf's fall from grace was sparked when he summarily ditched the coalition deal with the Greens in Scotland

Mr Yousaf signed his resignation letter to the King as the transition takes effect

According to the Sunday Times survey, the SNP had support from 29 per cent of the electorate - a fall of three points in a month, while Labour's share increased by two points to 34 per cent.

Under Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP became the third largest party at Westminster, winning 56 of 59 Scottish seats in 2015.

The Scottish Conservatives, whose vote share remained at 16 per cent in the poll, would add three seats to return nine MPs - while the Liberal Democrats, on 8 per cent, would boost their yield by one to five MPs.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: 'John Swinney's coronation is entirely about managing the SNP rather than running our country.

'At a time when Scotland is crying out for change, the SNP is offering more of the same.'
The five-month-old baby who suffered a cardiac arrest at Legoland Windsor has died in hospital.

The tragedy unfolded at the tourist attraction in Berkshire last week, when a woman began screaming for someone to 'help her baby boy' while queuing for the Coastguard HQ ride.

Thrill-seekers were left shocked as they watched the upsetting scenes unfold and were quickly evacuated from the scene as two paramedics who happened to be nearby jumped into action to try to save the infant.

He was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, but sadly authorities confirmed today that he passed away on Sunday.

Police officers arrested a 27-year-old woman from Witham, Essex, on suspicion of negligence causing unnecessary injury. She was released on bail until July 26.

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of neglect after a five-month-old boy suffered a cardiac arrest at Legoland Windsor Resort (file image)

The boy suffered the cardiac arrest near the Lego Coastguard HQ ride last Thursday afternoon

Matthew Burns, 60, was at the attraction with his family stood at the coastguard HQ when a woman ran over screaming 'help, my baby's in trouble'

Police said they were not looking for anyone else in relation to this incident but were keen to speak to anyone queuing for the Coastguard HQ boat ride between 11.30am and 12.45pm on May 2.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Zoe Eele, of the Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: 'We are investigating a distressing incident involving a very young child at Legoland Windsor earlier this week. Our thoughts are with the family of the boy who sadly died in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest.'

Matthew Burns, 60, was at the attraction with his family stood at the coastguard HQ when a woman ran over screaming, 'help, my baby's in trouble'.

The retired paramedic, who spent 40 years in the ambulance service, told MailOnline he was first on the scene at the tragedy and added it was 'a miracle that two medics were nearby'.

Together they gave him CPR for 20 minutes until he started breathing again before he was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.

Mr Burns said the boy had been in a baby carrier strapped to his mother when he raced to help.

He said: 'I'd been alerted by my son's girlfriend who shouted over for help.

'The other medic had got the boy out of the pouch and had laid him down on top of a bin.

'It sounds bizarre but we needed a nice flat surface. I said to him, ''I'm a paramedic'' and he replied, ''so am I''.

'He did the chest compressions while I looked after the baby's airways. Due to the fact that we were dealing with such a young baby I had to do mouth-to-nose initially.

'We carried on working on the boy until first aiders from Legoland arrived with the oxygen and a bag of masks and stuff we needed.

'Just before the ambulances and police turned up, we got a pulse from the boy and he started to make some slight respiratory effort.'

Riders must be a minimum of 1.3m (4ft 4in) to go on the ride if they are not accompanied by an adult or 'responsible person' at least 16 years of age

Coastguard HQ (pictured) is a popular ride at Legoland Windsor Resort and police are asking people queuing for it to come forward if they have any information about the incident

Legoland at Windsor has become the country's most visited theme park in recent years, attracting 2.43 million people in 2022.

A Legoland employee told MailOnline how the upsetting scenes unfolded as people queued for the nearby Lego Coastguard HQ ride, one of the venue's most popular.

They said: 'The whole area around the ride was cordoned off. Guests and staff were asked to leave the area and barriers were set up stopping anyone from wandering in.

'Other rides nearby were closed too. It sounds dramatic, but people were calm.

'I saw two ambulances drive down towards the ride and one of the vehicles parked directly outside the face-painting stand.

'I didn't see what happened, but I was told that there had been some kind of an incident in or around the queue to the Coastguard ride.

'There was a woman with [the baby boy] - I don't know if she's the same person who was later arrested.

'From where I was working, I couldn't see any police so I don't know if they actually spoke to her in the park.'

In a statement a Legoland spokesperson hailed the actions of Mr Burns and the other off-duty medic and said: 'We are extremely grateful to medically trained members of the public who provided immediate care, alongside our resort first aid team, until the emergency services arrived.

'The guest left the resort in the ambulance for further treatment.

'We'd like to thank the emergency services for their swift response, and our guests for their cooperation.

'We will continue to support Thames Valley Police with their ongoing investigation.'

DC Eele said: 'We are supporting [the family] as best we can at this extremely difficult time.

'We are working closely with the team at Legoland Windsor Resort but would like to speak to anyone who may have information about this incident, specifically anyone who was queuing for the Coastguard HQ boat ride between around 11.30am and 12.45pm.

'Get in touch either by calling 101 or via our website, quoting reference number INC-20240502-0977.

'Alternatively, you can provide information anonymously to independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or via its website.

'We have made an arrest in relation to this incident and are not looking for anyone else as a suspect.

'I would ask for the public to please avoid speculation about the incident and to respect the boy's family at this deeply upsetting time.'
A 'tent village' has sprung up yards from luxurious The Savoy hotel and several West End theatres.

The makeshift encampment on Adelphi Terrace is in one of the wealthiest areas of London close to designer shops and restuarants owned by Gordon Ramsay.

The Five-Star 800-a-night Savoy Hotel contains three of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsays restaurants, including the Savoy Grill, the River Restaurant and 175-a-head Restaurant 1890.

Footage and pictures show rows of tents being used by homeless people just a brief walk from the hotel and the Savoy and Adelphi theatres.

The 'village' began over the Bank Holiday weekend and is now home to a dozen tents with the occupants using a mixture of sleeping bags and mattresses.

One occupant John Torrance, 45, believes the government is more concerned with immigrants than they are with the homeless.

He said: 'Theres more money going on immigration than there is trying to help the homeless. Were spending billions on other peoples problems but what about people in our own country?

The tent village near The Savoy hotel in Central London where homeless people are sleeping

John Torrance who says the government spend more on migrants than the homeless

Looming over the encampment is the Grade II-listed Adelphi building, which is the home of the Economist magazine and Spotify, and was once the offices for the Department of Works and Pensions.

Mr Torrance originally from East Yorkshire, has been on the streets since the age of 17 and thinks: The government and the council dont want us to be around, where theres shops and all that lot. It looks bad for business, bad for the tourists.

Its life. You get used to it. Its no different than being indoors.

Those living in the tents do their best to keep the area clean.

One tent had a sweeping brush outside, while other rough sleepers had put their rubbish carefully into plastic bags.

Some of the tents have tarpaulins draped over to further protect them from the elements.

There are bikes locked up and most have mattresses and duvets or sleeping bags inside.

The row of tents extending from front to back where Mr Torrance and others are living

Latest figures for the first quarter of 2024 show there were 850 rough sleepers in the Westminster borough, up by 168 people on the same period in 2023.

Of those, 43.5% were from the UK, 18% were Romanian, 16% African, 7% Asian, 3.3% Polish and 2.5% from the Americas.

Iesha Muhammad is living on Adelphi Terrace with her autistic husband Dominic and has the life-limiting condition ALS- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis- a disease which affects nerve cells in the spine and brain.

She said the couple receive Universal Credit but have struggled to find a landlord as they have no deposit and no guarantor.

Another rough sleeper is a construction worker who came to the UK 13 years ago but had to stop working after he developed a heart condition and needed an implantable cardioverter defibrillator fitted.

He gets 500 a month personal independence payment (PIP) but still cant afford a home or the medicines he needs.

One passerby and frequent visitor to the area expressed her dismay at the situation, saying it showed the stark difference between Londons haves and have nots.

The Savoy- one of London's most expensive and desired hotels- found just off The Strand

The Savoy Theatre which is just a few yards from the tent village and close to the Savoy Hotel

Remaining anonymous, she said: 'I think its cruel to encourage people to live out there rather than give them access to a place to sleep.

These are human beings and these are people who suffered. I feel like if youre a tourist and youre passing by, you dont see it but if you live and work here you see them all the time.

It seems like nothings being done and its sad that nothing is happening and its been getting worse. Thats not ok. No human being should live like this permanently.'

A spokesperson for Westminster Council said: 'As the centre of London, Westminster is a destination for people sleeping rough from both the UK as well as abroad and the council spends far more than any other council - 7m a year  to help those arriving here.

'We work with charity partners to provide outreach teams across the city. These teams work day and night to find, and offer support to, people sleeping rough on our streets. Known gathering places are visited frequently.'
Sadiq Khan today claimed Londoners had 'slammed the door shut' on Donald Trump's 'brand of hard-right populism' as he began his historic third term as mayor.

The Labour politician returned to his personal feud with the former US president following his victory in last week's mayoral election in the capital.

Speaking at a declaration of office ceremony held in the Tate Modern, Mr Khan blasted comments made last week by Mr Trump.

The Republican hopeful, who is bidding for a return to the White House, claimed London was 'unrecognisable' because it had 'opened its doors to jihad'.

But Mr Khan said Mr Trump 'couldn't be more wrong', adding: 'The truth is, through the results of this election Londoners have slammed the door shut on his brand of hard-right populism.

'Londoners have said no to racism, no to division and no to hate, and yes once again to diversity, unity and hope.'

The mayor, dressed in a green linen suit from Hackney-based Percival, stood behind a lectern which read 'London for Everyone' as he hailed the capital as 'a city of progress, pluralism and endless possibility'.

He added London's story was 'one written by people of all faiths, all ethnicities and all backgrounds'.

Sadiq Khan claimed Londoners had 'slammed the door shut' on Donald Trump 's 'brand of hard-right populism' as he began his historic third term as mayor

Mr Khan, pictured with his wife Saadiya, returned to his personal feud with the former US president following his victory in last week's mayoral election in the capital

Mr Khan said Mr Trump 'couldn't be more wrong', adding: 'The truth is, through the results of this election Londoners have slammed the door shut on his brand of hard-right populism.'

Mr Trump, who is bidding for a return to the White House, recently claimed London was 'unrecognisable' because it had 'opened its doors to jihad'

The mayor, dressed in a green linen suit from Hackney-based Percival, hailed the capital as 'a city of progress, pluralism and endless possibility'

The Labour politician signed a declaration of acceptance of office to begin his third term as mayor

Mr Khan trounced Tory rival Susan Hall in Thursday's mayoral election with a majority of some 275,000 votes.

His win prompted soul-searching within Conservative ranks over the choice of Ms Hall as their candidate - and why she was unable to capitalise on anger at the mayor's performance.

Ms Hall used the campaign to challenge Mr Khan over ULEZ and crime rates, while she also accused the mayor of plotting new 'pay-per-mile' charges for London's drivers - which he repeatedly denied.

The mayor today slammed his defeated Tory rival for her 'lies' during the election battle.

He said: 'We had a Conservative candidate whose campaign was extremely negative, somebody who was spreading misinformation, fake information and lies.

'So we had to respond and rebut that at the same time as trying to put forward a positive vision for our city  a fairer, greener, safer London.

'I'm really proud that this city has rewarded that positive campaign and rejected the Conservative campaign.'

Mr Khan said he would always 'shake hands' after a contentious debate, but added: 'It is important that those politicians who are irresponsible understand the consequences.

'It means people like me need police protection, it means threats to my family, it means people protesting by my home, it means my wife and children being incredibly distressed.

'I think all of us should reflect on our behaviour and the impact it has on others.

'I speak as somebody who was close friends of Jo Cox and have a huge amount of respect for David Amess.'

When asked about London's struggling nightlife sector, Mr Khan blamed Brexit, the Covid pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis for harming hospitality.

'We are going to carry on supporting those businesses and frankly speaking what they need is a situation where the business rates aren't going through the roof', he said.

'I'm looking forward to a really vibrant summer, attracting tourists back to the city, and if Taylor Swift can't do it, nobody can.'
A Louisiana lawmaker who was born of rape is campaigning for rape and incest victims to be immune from the state's strict abortion ban.

New Orleans Rep. Delisha Boyd, 54, has shared the deeply personal story driving her tabled exemption bill as the legislative committee prepares to debate it on Tuesday.

The Democrat lawmaker was born in 1969, four years before abortion became legal under the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v Wade ruling.

Her mother was just 15 years old at the time, after becoming the victim of statutory rape by a man nearly twice her age.

Boyd said her mother turned to drugs and died before the age of 30 as a result of the trauma of raising a child before she was ready.

New Orleans Rep. Delisha Boyd, 54, has shared the deeply personal story driving her tabled abortion exemption bill as the legislative committee prepares to debate it on Tuesday

The Democrat lawmaker was born in 1969, four years before abortion became legal under the Supreme Court 's landmark Roe v Wade ruling. Her mother (pictured) was just 15 years old at the time, after becoming the victim of statutory rape by a man nearly twice her age

A Louisiana lawmaker who was born of rape is campaigning for rape and incest victims to be immune from the state's strict abortion ban

'It was a life for a life,' Boyd said. 'Youre then telling me to consider her life less important than my life.'

Boyd has been campaigning hard to ensure the next generation of Louisiana women aren't subject to the same fate five decades later - but she faces an uphill battle against a GOP-dominated legislative committee in the Bible Belt region.

Abortion was banned in the Pelican State in 2022, meaning rape and incest survivors must carry the baby to term or travel to another state where the procedure is legal.

It came despite Louisiana having one of the country's highest maternal mortality rates.

Supporters of Louisiana's ban note that if Boyd's mother had been given the choice to abort, the lawmaker might not exist.

'Aren't you glad to be here?' GOP state Rep. Tony Bacala asked her, according to a report in The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.

Boyd said she doesn't regret having been born, but believes her mother's life was ruined as a result.

She added that her story is likely an 'exception to the rule' - other children of teen mothers can end up in foster care or turn to drugs or crime, she said.

Boyd said that just because she has found success in life, it does not give her 'the right to tell you what to do in your family' and rape victims should have a choice.

Her supporters have noted via X that even the last GOP president Donald Trump backs abortion law exemptions for women who have been victims of rape and incest, and in cases where the life of the mother is otherwise endangered.

Boyd has been campaigning hard to ensure the next generation of Louisiana women aren't subject to the same fate as her mother five decades later - but she faces an uphill battle against a GOP-dominated legislative committee in the Bible Belt region

Protesters cheer during nationwide demonstrations following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, at Duncan Plaza in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., May 14, 2022

Boyd's supporters have noted via X that even the last GOP president Donald Trump backs abortion law exemptions for women who have been victims of rape and incest, and in cases where the life of the mother is otherwise endangered

Since authoring the bill, Boyd says, she has been told stories similar to her own, including a Louisiana girl who was raped and gave birth at 13 years old, and a nine-year-old girl who became pregnant after being sexually assaulted.

As in several other Republican states, Louisiana's abortion law went into effect in 2022 following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, ending a half-century of the nationwide right to abortion.

The only exceptions to the ban are if there is substantial risk of death or impairment to the mother if she continues the pregnancy or in the case of 'medically futile' pregnancies - when the fetus has a fatal abnormality.

In 2021, there were 7,444 reported abortions in Louisiana, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of those, 27 were obtained by people younger than 15. Nationwide, 1,338 pregnant patients under 15 received abortions, according to the CDC.

A study released by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that between July 2022 and January 2024, there were more than 64,000 pregnancies resulting from rape in states where abortion has been banned in all or most cases.

The legislative committee will review Boyd's bill on Tuesday. A nearly identical measure effectively died in the same committee last year. Committee members delayed the hearing they began last week to give Boyd time to make adjustments.

Anti-abortion demonstrators outside the Louisiana Capitol show support for legislation that would subject women who get abortions to possible murder charges on Thursday, May 12, 2022 in Baton Rouge, La

Boyd said she plans to amend her proposal so that rape and incest exceptions would only apply to those 17 and younger. She's hoping the change will help the measure advance to a debate before the full House.

Of the 14 states with abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy, six have exceptions in cases of rape and five have exceptions for incest.

But Boyd faces an uphill battle in Louisiana, a reliably red state firmly ensconced in the Bible Belt, where even some Democrats oppose abortions.

She is hoping that sharing her mother's story will bring to light the realities that pregnant rape and incest survivors face - and, even possibly, change the minds of some opposing lawmakers.

'No one took care of her, no one thought to even consider what was going on with her emotionally, psychologically, probably even spiritually... I was just conceived and left for her to raise,' Boyd said.
Police said he swiped a $17,000 watch from a London Jewelers on Long Island

The girlfriend of an international jewel thief arrested in New York has broken her silence and claimed that he swindled his way into her heart with the stolen gems.

Yaorong Wan, 49, was arrested on Friday after he was caught stealing from at least two jewelry stores across the Big Apple.

He has open arrest warrants out of Long Island and New Jersey, a Red Notice from Interpol and is wanted in South Korea for stealing from high-end jewelry stores.

Wan's girlfriend, who spoke anonymously to the New York Daily News, said he often gifted her with jewelry and although she is unsure if they were the stolen goods, she threw them out after his arrest.

'He looked like a nice person when we initially met, which is why I accepted him as a partner. And so when he was arrested, I was very surprised and scared,' she said.

Yaorong Wan, 49, has open arrest warrants out of Long Island and New Jersey , a Red Notice from Interpol and is wanted in South Korea for stealing from high-end jewelry stores

Nassau County police said Wan stole a $17,000 Chopard Watch from a London Jewelers in Manhasset (pictured) using a 'sleight of hand trick'

The woman, who appeared to be in her 40s, said she met Wan while on a trip to Los Angeles in January while he was using the alias Wen San.

He quickly swooned her and convinced the woman to let him move into her Queens home. She said he never paid rent while living with her, but would bring home jewelry.

'I saw some of the jewelry he has but I didn't know where it was from,' she told the Daily News.

'I asked him where those are from and he said he purchased them used. He was certainly lying to me. He was hitting on me.'

'He treated me really well. He was very nice to me. As a woman, I basically fell for him because he was a man who was very nice to me. I think he is charming. He really cared about me. That's why I allowed him to move in,' the woman said.

After he was arraigned in New York City on two counts of grand larceny, Wan was moved to Long Island to face charges for an April 19 theft.

Nassau County police said Wan stole a $17,000 Chopard Watch from a London Jewelers in Manhasset using a 'sleight of hand trick.'

Wan is accused of swiping a ring worth a quarter-million dollars from a Tiffany & Co in Rockefeller Center and another ring from a Cartier in Hudson Yards in March.

The accused jewel thief entered the Tiffany's on Fifth Ave. on March 4 and inquired about multiple pieces of jewelry, including the $255,000 ring, according the criminal complaint viewed by DailyMail.com.

An employee allowed him to hold the pieces, but Wan allegedly duped them by handing back a counterfeit ring.

It wasn't until a week later during an inventory check the Tiffany employees discovered the diamond ring was replaced with a cubic zirconia stone and 18-carat white gold mounting.

'The genuine Tiffany ring contained a natural diamond mounted in platinum. Furthermore, the genuine ring contained engraving, hallmarking, a unique SKU number, all of which were not present on the counterfeit ring,' the criminal complaint said.

On March 12, Wan entered the Cartier store at 20 Hudson Yards and inquired about multiple pieces of jewelry, including two engagement rings and two watches.

'While [the Cartier employee] was distracted, [Wan] handed back one of the diamond rings to [the Cartier employee], but kept the second diamond ring in his hand, placed that ring in his pocket, and left the store a short time later without paying for the ring and without permission or authority to take the ring,' said the criminal complaint.

Wan is accused of stealing a ring worth $255,000 from the Tiffany & Co at Rockefeller Center (pictured) by swapping it out with a counterfeit ring

Police said Wan pocketed a ring worth $25,000 from the Cartier in Hudson Yards (pictured)

Police said surveillance footage showed Wan concealed the $25,000 diamond ring in his hand then placed it in his pocket and left the store.

Wan has also been identified as the prime suspect in a series of thefts from Cartier stores in California and Miami, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

There is an active arrest warrant for Wan in the Republic of Korea for a $332,000.00 theft of jewelry that took place in Seoul, Korea on September 30, 2018, according to the Nassau County Police Department.

He has also been identified as the prime suspect in a series of thefts from Cartier stores in California and Miami.

Wan is currently being held on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond in Nassau County.

Police said Wan entered the United States illegally on December 29 at the border in San Diego, California and was arrested.

He was subsequently released after pleading asylum and his next scheduled Federal court date is on January 30, 2025.
President Joe Biden compared the actions of Hamas to those of the Nazis and condemned the 'ferocious surge of antisemitism' rising up around America.

'I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget,' the president said during remarks at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.

'As Jews around the world still cope with the atrocities and trauma of that day and its aftermath, we've seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world,' he noted.

'I have not forgotten nor have you. And we will not forget,' Biden told Jewish leaders

Biden's speech on Capitol Hill on Tuesday came as he tries to balance his support for Israel's war with concern for the citizens of Gaza and amid tension in his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu.

He spoke at a critical time: Israel has sent tanks into Rafah and taken control of the Gaza side of a crossing to Egypt that is a major conduit for humanitarian aid. And, in the U.S., college campuses have been rocked by pro-Palestinian protests with some schools canceling commencement addresses as the demonstrates grow anti-semitic.

The president, in a forceful speech greeted with several rounds of applause, vowed to support Israel's right to exist 'even when we disagree.'

He began his remarks by tracing the rise of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany in 1933, noting the dictator rose to 'power by rekindling one of the world's oldest forms of prejudice and hate- antisemitism' through propoganda and ecnoomic hardship.

'We recommit to heading the lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history, revitalize and realize the responsibility of never again,' he noted.

And, he pointed out, 'the truth is, we're at risk of people not knowing the truth.'

'Now, here we are not 75. years later, but just seven and a half months later,' he added in reference to the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas - the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust

'People are already forgetting - already forgetting - that Hamas unleashed this terror,' he said and vowed: 'I have not forgotten nor have you. And we will not forget.'

He wore a dark suit and tie during his keynote address at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual National Commemoration of the Days of Remembrance. The audience was filled with members of Congress, Jewish leaders and survivors of the Holocaust.

President Joe Biden, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hold images of Holocaust victims during the annual Days of Remembrance ceremony for Holocaust survivors at the US Capitol

Smoke rises from shopping center following Israeli airstrike on east of Rafah, Gaza

The president has struggled to balance his support for Israel with his efforts to protect the civilian population of Palestine.

About a million refugees have crowded into Rafah. Biden on Monday warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against a full-scale assault on the area but Israeli forces moved forward anyway.

Progressives have urged the president to do more to help the Palestinian refugees.

And young voters, a key constituency for Biden, have expressed their dissatisfaction with the war.

As the issue grows more contested, some protests on campuses have started to feature antisemitic chants and threats toward Jewish students.

Biden defended Americans' right to free speech but said violence had no place in the country.

'There's no place on any campus in America - any place in America - for antisemitism or threats of violence of any time - whether against Jews or anyone else,' he said.

'Destroying property - it's not peaceful protest. It's against the law. We're not a lawless country. We're civil society.'

'We know scapegoating and demonizing any minority is a threat to every minority, and to the very foundation of our democracy.'

He then reiterated his committment to Israel.

'To the Jewish community, I want you to know, I see your fear, your hurt, your pain. Let me reassure as your president, you're not alone. You belong. You always have and always will. My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent state is ironclad, even when we disagree,' he said.

'That's why I call on all Americans stand united against antisemitism and hate in all its forms.'

About 35,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities. And many of the area's 2.3 million people on the brink of starvation, with the UN worried about famine conditions.

Biden himself has faced protesters at his public events with many of them calling him 'Genocide Joe.'

He has spoken little on the protesters that follow him and those who have been disrupting college campuses. More than 2,000 people have been arrested on university campuses since April 18.

'There's the right to protest but not the right to cause chaos,' he said last week in his first in-depth remarks on the matter. 'People have the right to get an education, the right to get a degree, the right to walk across the campus safely without fear of being attacked.'

Israeli tanks cross into Rafah in the Gaza strip

A Day of Rage for Gaza was called in New York City by student groups as campus demonstrations against the war continue

In conjunction with Biden's speech, his administration is highlighting its actions to combat antisemitism.

The Department of Education is sending every school district and college in the nation a letter outlining examples of antisemitism and other hate that could lead to federal civil rights investigations.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, the department has opened more than 100 investigations into complaints about antisemitism and other forms of discrimination under Title VI.

On Monday, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, met with Jewish college students at the White House about the administration's efforts to combat antisemitism.

Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security is working to 'build an online campus safety resource guide' to provide 'financial, educational, and technical assistance' for campuses, according to a White House fact sheet

And the State Department's Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism 'will convene technology firms to identify best practices to address Antisemitic content online,' the fact sheet said.

Biden's Republican rival in the presidential race, Donald Trump, has looked to take advantage of Democratic divisions over Israel's response to improve the GOP's chances with Jewish voters, who traditionally vote Democratic.

'Jewish Americans are realizing that the Democrat Party has turned into a full-blown anti-Israel, antisemitic, pro-terrorist cabal, and that's why more and more Jewish Americans are supporting President Trump,' Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson, told Reuters.

About seven in 10 U.S. Jewish voters support Democrats, while three in 10 are Republican-aligned, according to the Pew Research Center.

A protester is held in the street during demonstrations in New York

A Palestinian man watches as smoke rises after Israeli strikes while Israeli forces launch a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah

In response, Biden's campaign has issued a lengthy list of Trump's antisemitic comments and behavior, including reports that Trump has allegedly said that Adolf Hitler 'did some good things.'

But polls show young voters are unhappy with the president.

A survey by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's Kennedy School found that only 18% of young voters approve of Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
This is the breathtaking moment a family was almost struck by lightning outside their home in the northeastern Argentinian city of Resistencia.

Surveillance footage shows four adults and two children sitting at a table and indulging themselves in mate tea when a bolt of lightning landed several feet away from them on Wednesday night.

The impact of the lightning then releases a loud thunder crack that startles the family except for an elderly woman who remains seated.

Lightning strikes again seconds later, sending everyone running into the home while a man helps the woman out of the chair.

A family-of-six gathered for tea outside their home in Resistencia, Argentina, on Wednesday when lightning bolts struck near the residence and broke a tree in half. No injuries were reported

Sparks scattered across the ground moments after lighting struck outside a northeastern Argentina residence where a family was enjoying tea

A child can be heard in the background mentioning that her cell phone is on the table before lightning lands close to the home again.

One of the bolts fractured a tree in half and caused additional damage to property nearby, according to El Alcasti digital news outlet.

No injuries were reported.

According to the National Lightning Safety Council, 13 people were killed by lightning strikes in the United States in 2023.

It was the second-lowest total since 2021 when 11 deaths were registered.

Most of the family member were quickly on their feet moments after the first lighting bolt struck in front of their home last Wednesday night in Argentina

Four adults and two children were sitting at a table in front their home in Resistencia, Argentina when lightning struck and broke a tree in half

At least two-thirds of the deaths involved people who were participating in outdoor events, including fishing, boating and camping activities, according to lightningsafetycouncil.org.

Florida had the most deaths with four followed by Texas, where two people were killed.

A total of 242 million lightning flashes were registered in the United States in 2023, according to Vaisala Xweather.

Texas topped the list with more than 42 million lightning flashes.
A twenty-year-old illegal migrant has been arrested after allegedly kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl outside her Florida home.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office identified Marvin Dionel Perez Lopez as the girl's attacker, claiming he forced her into his white van where the alleged sexual assault took place.

The child's mother, according to police, searched for her daughter and saw the van not far from where she and Lopez lived in Lake Worth.

The mother caught a glimpse of her daughter and the suspect in the van and began banging on the door, shouting at him to free the girl, according to an arrest report.

Sherriff's deputies said Lopez fled from the van at that point. The victim's mother then stopped by Lopez's apartment where his brother also lived. Lopez's brother got him to come home where the mother confronted him.

After listening to Lopez's pleas for forgiveness, the victim's mother called 911.

PICTURED: Marvin Dionel Perez Lopez, the suspect in an alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl. he appears bruised and bloodied in his mugshot photo, but it is unclear who inflicted those injuries on him

A snippet from the arrest affidavit where it says the suspect said he was sorry and asked the girl's mother for forgiveness

Investigators on the scene interviewed the victim who told them that Lopez forced himself on her even after she tried to refuse and get away.

At the same time, Lopez again tried to flee, this time through a back window of his apartment. Police noticed Lopez doing this and chased after him. It's not clear if they caught him right there and then, but police confirmed Lopez's arrest on Monday.

Lopez is from Guatemala and left the Central American country sometime in January, according to local station WPTV. When he crossed into Mexico, he reportedly surrendered to border patrol and was given a court date in 2027, after which he was released.

At the end of January, he made it to Florida. It's unclear how Lopez secured an apartment in Palm Beach or what he does for work.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said that Lopez 'has confessed to the crime.'

'He's gonna get tried for a capital crime before he even remotely thinks he's gonna get deported. He's gonna do the time here first,' Bradshaw said.

An expert spoke to CBS12, saying that this type of crime is uncommon.

'Stranger rape is far less prevalent than acquaintance rape. So most oftentimes it is someone that the person knows,' said Palm Beach County Victim Services director Nicole Bishop.

Hermencia Vasquez, Lopez's sister-in-law, said she asked him if he would be responsible for the 11-year-old girl's baby if she got pregnant from his alleged rape. According to her, Lopez said he would be responsible

Pictured: Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, whose department captured and arrested Lopez, the suspect in a rape of an 11-year-old girl

Hermencia Vasquez, Lopez's sister-in-law, said she was home when the alleged victim's mother also came rapping at her door.

'It was 9 at night and the lady/mom came into my house saying that something happened with her daughter and Marvin,' Vasquez said in an interview with WPTV. 'I asked Marvin what would he do if she got pregnant and if he would be responsible, and he said yes he would be responsible for the child.'

Ever since the migrant crisis has begun capturing the attention of politicians and citizens alike, the media has been spotlighting particularly gruesome crimes by migrants who weren't supposed to be in the US at the time of their offenses.

Murdered nursing student Laken Riley suffered a disfigured skull after being beaten to death by undocumented Venezuelan immigrant

Jose Ibarra, 26, is accused of using a mystery object as a weapon to kill the 22-year-old Augusta University student

One case that's had particular staying power is the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley at the hands of undocumented Venezuelan immigrant Jose Ibarra, 26.

Lopez was taken into custody on counts of kidnapping to sexually assault a minor, sexual assault of a victim under 12 years old, and resisting an officer without violence.

He's currently being held in the Palm Beach County jail without bond.
An Oklahoma man has been arrested after he confessed to killing a 19-year-old teen in 2016 during a routine welfare check by highway officials.

Joseph Tyler Beck, 28, admitted murdering Jennifer Kyli Molloy after he was found on the side of Interstate 40 near the Reno/Scott Street exit by Oklahoma Highway Patrol on May 3.

Beck was taken to the Edmond Police Department and charged with first-degree murder after police said he confessed to strangling and murdering Molloy.

The young woman had been found dead in her apartment on October 5, 2016.

At the time, the Edmond Police Department considered the case to be a 'suspicious' incident and after multiple failed leads, no arrests were made till now.

Joseph Tyler Beck, 28, admitted murdering Jennifer Kyli Molloy after he was found on the side of Interstate 40 near the Reno/Scott Street exit by Oklahoma Highway Patrol on May 3

Molloy had been found dead in her apartment on October 5, 2016. At the time, the Edmond Police Department considered the case to be a 'suspicious' incident and after multiple failed leads, no arrests were made till now

In a Facebook post, officials wrote: 'A routine welfare check by Trooper Matt Snyder #828 turned into much more on Thursday. A passerby reported someone sitting on the side of I-40 near the Reno/Scott Street exit.

'Trooper Snyder stopped to check on the man who began voluntarily telling him about his involvement in a 2016 Edmond death. Troopers transported 28-year-old Joseph Tyler Beck to the Edmond Police Department.

'Beck was interviewed by Edmond detectives who placed him under arrest for first degree homicide for the death of 19-year-old Jennifer Kyli Molloy.'

Since the accused's arrest, the Molloy family said they were 'shocked' and 'blindsided' by the arrest.

The grieving family further said that they thought the case would never get solved.

'A complete blindside,' Johnny Molloy, the victim's father told NEWS4.

Since the accused's arrest, the Molloy family said they were 'shocked' and 'blindsided' by the arrest

Court documents have revealed that Beck new the victim for years, which was later confirmed by family members and that the two were former co-workers

According to documents, Beck told detectives that he became violent and killed Molloy because he felt as if she 'had wasted his time'

Court documents have revealed that Beck new the victim for years, which was later confirmed by family members and that the two were former co-workers.

Beck further admitted to officials that Molly had allowed him to come inside her apartment after he invited himself on the day of her death.

He said that he made romantic advances towards the young victim but she kept refusing and asked him to leave.

According to documents, Beck told detectives that he became violent and killed Molloy because he felt as if she 'had wasted his time'.

'Everybody knows him. Everybody thinks he was the sweetest person and never would do anything to anybody. What kind of sick individual does that?

'The good Lord works in mysterious ways, and hes haunted that man every day, and I hope he continues to.

'This man has taken so much from my family and Im glad hes in jail and I want justice to be served swift and strict,' said the grieving father.

Beck is being held at Oklahoma County Detention Center. A court date has not yet been set.
Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history in a bid to 'boost inclusion'.

The Texas-based organization is set to become Scouting America as it hopes to improve participation amid flagging membership.

The historic change is the latest in a series designed to take the troop into the 21st century, including allowing gay youth and welcoming girls throughout its ranks.

It comes as the organization is emerging from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims.

'In the next 100 years we want any youth in America to feel very, very welcome to come into our programs,' Roger Krone, who took over last fall as president and chief executive officer, said in an interview before the announcement.

The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history in a bid to 'boost inclusion'

The announcement of the name change at its annual meeting in Florida came on the fifth anniversary of welcoming girls into Scouting. Pictured: Roger Krone, president and chief executive officer of the Boy Scouts of America

The Texas-based organization is set to become Scouting America in a move designed to tackle flagging membership and a desire to focus on inclusion.

The announcement came at its annual meeting in Florida on the fifth anniversary of the organization welcoming girls into Cub Scouting.

Boy Scouts of America began allowing gay youth in 2013 and ended a blanket ban on gay adult leaders in 2015.

In 2017, it made the historic announcement that girls would be accepted as Cub Scouts as of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout program - renamed Scouts BSA - in 2019.

Eagle-eyed South Park fans have since come forward to suggest that the cartoon may have predicted the Scouts' move towards progression.

One episode shows the characters attend their first ever Scout meeting orchestrated by a character named 'Big Gay Al'.

The move has been met with some backlash, with calls to boycott the institution in the same way that Bud Light customers chose to stop supporting the company after they partnered with a transgender influencer.

'Boy Scouts are removing the word boy from their name after 114 years. Now they will be called Scouting America,' one irate X user wrote.

'Bud light them too. Seriously, BUD LIGHT every piece of garbage institution in this country that is doing everything they can to tear down and torch our culture, our traditions, common sense, biology, and our way of life.'

'"Everyone can be their authentic self and they will be welcomed here" This is antithetical to Boy Scouts,' another fumed.

'The boy is to be shaped by scouting, HE should change, that's the point. Not the other way around. This is little more than a humiliation ritual.'

Radio presenter Dana Loesch pointed out that a separate organization for Girl Scouts already exists.

There were nearly 1,000 young women in the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts in 2021, including Selby Chipman.

The all-girls troop she was a founding member of in her hometown of Oak Ridge, North Carolina, has grown from five girls to nearly 50, and she thinks the name change will encourage even more girls to realize they can join.

'Girls were like: `You can join Boy Scouts of America?' said Chipman, now a 20-year-old college student and assistant scoutmaster of her troop.

Within days of the announcement that girls would be allowed, Bob Brady went to work.

A father of two girls and a proud Eagle Scout himself, the New Jersey attorney eagerly formed an all-girls troop.

There were nearly 1,000 young women in the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts in 2021

The announcement of the name change at its annual meeting in Florida came on the fifth anniversary of welcoming girls into Scouting

'In the next 100 years we want any youth in America to feel very, very welcome to come into our programs,' Roger Krone said

JUST IN: The Boy Scouts have rebranded and are dropping the Boy to become Scouting America so "everyone feels welcome."



South Park strikes again.



The woke organization says they want to be welcoming and inclusive which is why they are dropping the boy.



"This will be a pic.twitter.com/SBXNvbbcpn  Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 7, 2024

At their first weekend gathering with other troops, the boys were happy to have the girls involved but some adult leaders seemed concerned, he recalled.

Their worries seemed to melt away as soon as the girls led a traditional cheer around the campfire.

'You could see a change in the attitude of some of the doubters who werent sure and they realized, wait, these kids are exactly the same, they just happen to have ponytails,' said Brady.

His daughters are among the 13 girls in his troop and 6,000 girls nationwide who have achieved the vaunted Eagle Scout rank.

Like other organizations, the scouts lost members during the pandemic, when participation was difficult.

After a highpoint over the last decade of over 2 million members in 2018, the organization currently services just over 1 million youths, including more than 176,000 girls and young women. Membership peaked in 1972 at almost 5 million.

The move by the Boy Scouts to accept girls throughout their ranks strained a bond with the Girl Scouts of the USA, which sued, saying it created marketplace confusion and damaged their recruitment efforts.

They reached a settlement agreement after a judge rejected those claims, saying both groups are free to use words like 'scouts' and 'scouting.'

Cars drive past the Boys Scouts of America headquarters in Irving, Texas, Feb. 12, 2020

A woman walks out of the Boy Scouts of America national headquarters building in Irving, Texas, Nov. 1, 2019

The name change has prompted a furious backlash among some people, including calls to boycott the institution

While camping remains an integral activity for the Boy Scouts, the organization offers something for everyone today, from high adventures to merit badges for robotics and digital technology.

'About anything kids want to do today, they can do in a structured way within the scouting program,' Krone said.

The Boy Scouts $2.4 billion bankruptcy reorganization plan took effect last year, allowing the organization to keep operating while compensating the more than 80,000 men who say they were sexually abused as children while scouting.

Angelique Minett, the first woman chairperson of Scouts BSA, is excited about the future of scouting and the engagement from the group's youth council on issues ranging from sustainability to the fit on some of the uniforms.

'When we think scouts we think knots and camping, but those are a means to an end,' Minett said.

'We are actually teaching kids a much bigger thing. We are teaching them how to have grit, and were teaching them life skills and were teaching them how to be good leaders.'

The organization won't officially become Scouting America until February 8, 2025, the organization's 115th birthday. But Krone said he expects people will start immediately using the name.

'It sends this really strong message to everyone in America that they can come to this program, they can bring their authentic self, they can be who they are and they will be welcomed here,' he said.
A serial thief from San Francisco has been found guilty of stealing more than $60,000 in merchandise at the self-checkout after hitting a Target store 120 times.

Aziza Graves, 43, was convicted of felony and grand theft and 53 misdemeanor counts of petty theft on Friday after she stole over a 13-month period - starting October 3, 2020 and ending November 16, 2021 - from the Target store in the Stonestown Galleria, a shopping mall located North of San Francisco State University.

Graves' trickery involved bringing goods to the self-checkout counter, scanning them and then inserting 'a single coin or bill' into the machine before exiting the store, the District Attorney's office said.

Officers with the San Francisco Police Department said they watched Graves leave the Target store twice after carrying out her scheme. She was later seen selling the stolen goods at the city's UN Plaza, KDVR News reported.

After her November 2021 arrest, San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott called her a 'particularly brazen and prolific retail theft offender.'

Aziza Graves (pictured) was convicted of felony and grand theft and 53 misdemeanor counts of petty theft on Friday after she stole over a 13-month period

Target location at Stonestown Galleria, a shopping mall located North of San Francisco State University, where Aviva Graves visited 120 times stealing more than $60,000 in merchandise

Graves carried out her scheme by using self-checkout kiosks to appear as though she were paying for her merchandise. She would scam the machine by scanning the items, but only submitting cash payments of $1, or sometimes even one cent

Graves is currently not in custody. Her shoplifting spree took place when the former DA Chesa Boudin was in office. His approach to crime was not to prosecute lower-level offenses.

Critics had worked getting the 'woke' official out of office and secured a recall election on June 7 and won. Boudin was replaced by Brooke Jenkins, the interim District Attorney for San Francisco.

Graves is scheduled to be sentenced later this month. She potentially faces three and a half years in prison, a partial or full sentence in custody, or mental health rehabilitation.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said: 'individuals such as Aziza Graves commit egregious thefts through brazen and repeated conduct that greatly impacts retailers' ability to operate and serve the general public in their area.'

'These crimes demand accountability and we need to send the message to others who engage in open and brash thefts, with the support of our local law enforcement partners, our office will continue to pursue and prosecute those involved.'

Last week, ABC7 News shared video that included evidence from the court file.

A study using law enforcement data compared current rates of shoplifting in 2023 to pre-pandemic numbers from 2019 in 24 major U.S. cities

San Francisco is reeling from soaring crime, an emptying downtown, and residents moving away to safer, cheaper areas

In the video, Graves is seen pushing a shopping cart in the aisle of the Target filling up her cart with dozens of containers of washing machine detergent.

Investigators told the news outlet that Graves would often steal jugs of detergent and resell those items at the illegal market at the city's UN Plaza.

Two months ago, she told ABC7 News Bay Area, 'I don't think I should be on trial for anything right now.'

According to a court filing, a jury found Graves guilty in 53 counts connected to more than a year of the shoplifting scam at Target, and a theft at the Ambercombie & Fitch store, as per the news outlet.

During her November 2021 arrest, she was originally charged with eight felony counts of grand theft and 120 misdemeanor counts of petty theft, as per KRON News.

She was convicted of one felony count of grand theft and 53 misdemeanor counts of petty theft.

Before she hit the Target store, the repeat offender had gone to a Safeway but had gotten kicked out, as per the news outlet.

The video jurors viewed helped the come to their guilty verdict.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told the news outlet. 'People should take the message that San Franciscans are going to make sure that there's accountability in our city again for this type of crime,' she said.

'No longer, do they view is as low level crime that doesn't matter when we provide adequate evidence to them that they will convict.'
Tuesday's Trump trial began with salacious claims by Stormy Daniels about spanking and bedding the future president in a Lake Tahoe hotel room  but ended with demands for a mistrial and claims she was fabricating sex claims out of greed and spite.

The porn star revealed new details about the alleged 2006 hookup while speaking under oath during a criminal trial with Trump seated just feet from the witness stand, including repeating her claim about swatting the future 45th president's behind.

It was a dramatic performance where she shared intimate details about their banter inside a a Nevada hotel suite, even as judge Juan Merchan yielded to defense lawyers' request that she keep sexual details to a minimum. (Her mention of the word 'missionary' drew an immediate objection).

She had told details of the affair before  discussing it in her own book, on Twitter, and in TV interviews. She had tried to sell her story, but also made an agreement to bury it. That left an opening for Trump's lawyers to exploit when she was finished describing her claims about what happened more than a decade ago.

Her appearance included comments about the Trump's daughter, his then-new wife Melania, and Trump's detailed questions about her business career and how she dealt with the risk of STDs.

While her comments riveted the courtroom, they also fed demands by Trump's team for a mistrial for sex claims that could prejudice the jury  and by Tuesday afternoon it was Daniels on her heels as the subject of fierce cross-examination.

Stormy Daniels testified about her alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006, revealing details of what she says she and Trump spoke about, what he war, and details of their alleged hookup

He 'dared me' to spank him

'He dared me to do it and now I had to,' Daniels said of the spanking, retelling a story about a copy of Forbes magazine that had Trump on the cover.

'I took it from him and said turn around and swatted hm' she testified.

She said that after she swatted him, 'He was much more polite.' Trump shook his head in apparent disagreement  in a sign of how his team would try to poke holes in her story.

The judge and lawyers tried to limit the sex talk, but that didn't keep Daniels from offering testimony about Trump's bedroom.

Separate beds

'He showed me a few pictures and I said what about your wife, shes very beautiful,' Daniels said of the future first lady, a former model, describing another element of their wide-ranging discussion.

'Oh dont worry about that. We actually dont sleep in the same room,' she says Trump told her.

Talk also turned to Ivanka Trump, who had a prominent role on NBC's 'The Apprentice.' Daniels says Trump dangled a potential cameo for the exotic dancer who got introduced to him as a film 'director.' That was one reason she said she kept in touch with Trump even after the encounter she said rattled her.

'Even you don't have that much power,' she said she told him about getting on the show, having revealed she didn't know much about Trump's background when she first got introduced to him.

Trump looked on when prosecutors introduced as evidence a photo of him with Daniels in 2006

'He said you remind me of my daughter, she is smart, people underestimate her as well,' Daniels testified Trump told her inside his hotel suite

Daniels began by telling her story to prosecutor Susan Hoffinger

Adult film star reminded him of Ivanka for being underestimated

'He said you remind me of my daughter, she is smart, people underestimate her as well,' she said.

Stormy gave a more detailed account of that bit of the conversation in her new documentary. She descried it as a subject that allowed the porn star and real estate baron to bond.

'He told me he reminded me of his daughter. I felt like he was being sympathetic to me. Ivanka is beautiful and she's blonde and I'm sure she's had people assume that she's an idiot. But I felt like as this father figure who has watched his daughter being treated a certain way could identify with me. I thought we had this mutual respect,' she said.

'Which is why it was so crazy when having no red flags whatsoever in a conversation I came out of the bathroom to find myself cornered. I don't remember how I got on the bed. It was awful. But I didn't say no,' she said in the film.

'Does Mr Hefner know you stole his pajamas?'

Daniels spoke about her surprise when she first met Trump inside the foyer of his hotel room, after an introduction from former Trump security chief Keith Schiller.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked what Trump was wearing. She said he was 'wearing silk or satin pajamas that I immediately made fun of.

Daniels said she made a crack about the late Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner after Trump appeared in pajamas

'Does Mr Hefner know you stole his pajamas?' she says she asked him, in a reference to Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner.

Hoffinger asked her about Hefner being known to wear his PJs in public.

'Sort of his signature,' was Daniels' dry reply, in a comment that got no reaction from Trump.

'I told him to go change and he obliged straight away,' she added, in one of multiple comments about the evolving power dynamic between them.

The 'brief' sexual encounter

By Tuesday afternoon, Daniels was finally testifying about the sexual encounter she says preceded the hush payments that have Trump facing 34 criminal counts of falsifying financial records.

After a few hours of speaking inside Trump's suite, she went to use the bathroom, she said. She rummaged through his toiletry bag to uncover a bottle of Old Spice, which she found 'amusing and odd,' as well as a pair of gold tweezers.

She was startled to find Trump on the bed outside the door. He was wearing only boxer shorts and his t-shirt, she said.

Daniels said she 'wasn't expecting someone to be there minus their clothing.'

She said Trump stood between her and the door. 'He said said i thought we were getting somewhereIf you ever want to get out of that trailer park.'

It was a remark that Daniels, who testified about her troubled upbringing, said offended her.

At one point, she says she 'just blacked out,' although she wasn't drugged, and she and Trump were just drinking water.

Asked if the pair ended up on the bed having sex, she replied simply, 'Yes.'

Asked to briefly describe the event, she said, 'Next thing I know, [I] was on the bed, the opposite side of the bed, I had my clothes and my shoes off. My bra was still on. Missionary position.'

That brought an objection from the defense that the judge sustained.

'Without describing the position, do you remember how you got your clothes off?' the prosecutor asked her.

'No,' Daniels replied.

'Was he wearing a condom?' Hoffinger asked.

'No.'

'Was it brief?'

'Yes,' she responded.

Trump's lawyer demands a mistrial

Daniels' repeated statements sharing intimate details about the encounter drew a furious objection from Trump lawyer Todd Blanche after a lunch break.

The testimony about the alleged incident in 2006, a lot of the testimony is way different than the story she was peddling in 2016,' he told Judge Merchan, arguing that it would prejudice the jury against Trump.

There was testimony today about being blacked out, not weaning a condom which was after testimony from her employer you had to wear a condom [during work], the height of the two individuals, the spacing the room, the power dynamic, the question do you want out of the trailer park.

All of this has nothing to do with this case and is extraordinarily prejudicial,' he said. The only reason the govt asked those questions aside from pure embarrassment is to inflame the jury not to look at the evidence that matters but just to hear from this witness.

Judge Merchan was unpersuaded. He said he sustained most of Trump's objections, even intervened on his behalf at one point.

I was surprised there were not more objections.and in fact at one point the court objected because there was no objection coming from the defense,' he said.

'When you say the bell has been rung, the defence has to take some responsibility for that,' the judge added.

Lawyer Necheles (l) got Daniels to say she 'hates' Trump during cross-examination

She was questioned about the $130,000 'hush' agreement

Stormy admits she 'hates' Trump under withering cross-examination

It was not surprise when Trump lawyer Susan Necheles began going hard at Daniels during cross-examination, with questions designed to expose her as angry, defiant, and driven by hate and greed.

'You hate President Trump,' Necheles asked her.

'Yes,' she replied.

'And you want him to go to jai?' That brought Daniels to say: 'I want him to be beheld accountable.'

She was confronted with a tweet she had posted that read, 'Ill dance down the street when hes selected to go to jail.

The porn star was an inviting target when Necheles wanted to paint her as driven by a desire for money.

'You started acting in porn to make more money?' she got asked. 'Correct.'

She admitted she 'lost' her defamation case against Trump, and said she had no intention of paying him what a court ordered her to pay.

She confirmed she hadn't paid the $560,000 she owes Trump for legal fees.

'I choose not to make a payment,' she said. Then she got confronted with a 2022 tweet where she wrote, 'I will go to jail before I pay a penny.'

I dont owe him s*** and Ill never give that orange turd a dime she wrote in another missive that year.

Mysterious parking lot incident

Then, it was time for Necheles to try to poke holes in Daniels' story about being confronted by a man in a parking lot back in 2011 while accompanied by her daughter. Daniels has long described the episode as a chilling effort to silence her from telling her story.

Necheles questioned her about why she went to the class, but didn't tell the instructor, or her husband, or call the police.

'The reason you told this in 2018 is you were using it as an excuse why you never publicly said so before?' Necheles asked, getting a denial.

You use this supposed threat as an excuse to tell people this is why I didnt talk publicly? Necheles followed up. Daniels said she spoke on a Tampa radio show back in 2007. But Necheles had already quizzed her on why she told different versions of the story to The Dirty in 2011 (saying there was no affair with Trump) versus negotiating with InTouch magazine for an interview about sex with Trump.

This man never existed? Necheles told her.

He absolutely existed, Daniels shot back.

The whole story was made up? said Necheles.

None of it was made up, Daniels responded.

Trump vents his fury  after appearing to doze off

Despite the drama in the courtroom, there were times when Trump appeared to check out during the 13th day of his criminal trial.

At one point he leaned back in his seat with his eyes closed. He briefly opened them, then closed them again, in a courtroom that was warmer that it had been earlier when he complained it was 'freezing' inside.

That didn't keep him from getting his verve back when the judge decided it was time to call it a day.

'They have nothing on books and records and even something that should bare very little relationship to the case. It's just a disaster for the DA, the Soros-backed DA is a disaster,' he said of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. 'This whole case is just a disaster.'
Co-op Live has announced more shows despite doubts over whether the crisis-hit arena will be ready to open next week - after disastrous gigs were axed at the last-minute, even when fans were already queuing.

The Manchester-based arena has said it will be hosting Travis Scott in July this year.

On social media, it wrote: 'Just announced: @trvisXX Travis Scott's Utopia - Circus Maximus Tour is set to continue this summer with a headline performance here at Co-op Live on 13 July 2024.'

The announcement comes after a string of re-scheduled and postponed shows.

On May 2, the venue provided an update after it postponed a number of gigs and said it would be taking 'a short pause to events at Co-op Live to fully ensure the safety and security of fans and artists visiting the venue'.

The day previous, a gig by American rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie was cancelled at the last minute due to a 'technical issue' during a soundcheck.

The Manchester-based arena (pictured) has said it will be hosting Travis Scott in July this year

On social media, it wrote: 'Just announced: @trvisXX Travis Scott's Utopia - Circus Maximus Tour is set to continue this summer with a headline performance here at Co-op Live on 13 July 2024.' Pictured: Travis Scott

Agig by American rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie was cancelled at the last minute earlier this month due to a 'technical issue' during a soundcheck. Fans queuing were asked to leave (pictured)

Many fans had already arrived at the venue and were left puzzled at what had gone wrong when they were asked to leave.

It is understood that a nozzle from the ventilation and air conditioning system fell to the ground from the ceiling shortly before the event was due to take place.

Tim Leiweke, chairman and chief executive of US-based venue operator Oak View Group, apologised for the delays and to 'all those that have been affected'.

He said: 'As many of you will know, it's not been the smooth start we had planned for, and I know that has caused a huge amount of disruption and frustration to thousands of people.'

'The team here is working incredibly hard to get the building up and running, and we look forward to welcoming you to the arena from 14 May 2024', he added.

British rock band Elbow are the next artists scheduled to perform at the indoor arena and they will be the venue's opening act if the performance goes ahead as planned.

The issues began following a test event in April which led to Co-op Live announcing it would have to reschedule dates for Peter Kay's stand-up show.

Kay, who was meant to be the 'first artist in the world to perform at Manchester Co-op Live', according to promotional posters, had his shows moved to April 29 and 30 before they moved again to May 23 and May 24, as the venue was still not ready to open.

Co-op Live also announced it would move The Black Keys gig to May 15 and said it had been 'undertaking an extensive protocol of testing critical procedures to ensure all areas are ready for fans'.

Olivia Rodrigo's May 3 and 4 dates were postponed and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie's May 1 performance took place on May 4 after it was moved to the AO Arena.

On May 2, a Keane gig scheduled for May 5 was postponed while Take That's slew of concerts were moved to the AO Arena.

On May 2, a Keane gig scheduled for May 5 was postponed while Take That's (pictured) slew of concerts were moved to the AO Arena

The Eagles, Nicki Minaj, Pet Shop Boys, Stevie Nicks and Eric Clapton are all due to play the arena, but so far only a test event by Rick Astley has gone ahead.

The arena's general manager, Gary Roden, announced his resignation last month following the slew of issues that led to the delays in the venue opening.

A Co-op Group spokesperson previously said: 'Co-op is a sponsor and does not own or run the venue, and we have made it clear to Oak View Group, who are responsible for the building, that the impact on ticketholders must be addressed as a priority.

'We are pleased that they will shortly be putting plans in place to do so.'

They added that safety checks would be independently verified so Co-op members and other ticket holders 'can be reassured that the venue has the very highest levels of security and safety measures'.

In 2021, American rapper Scott, 33, performed at the Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas which saw 10 people die after fans surged towards the stage.

The artist has just announced a European tour which includes a date in London scheduled for July 11, alongside the Manchester gig.

MailOnline has contacted Co-op Group for comment.
A New Mexico couple who found a genie lamp while treasure hunting in the desert have been granted three wishes worth of a total of $1.2 million.

Ron Novak and Michelle Bush spent around three months across two trips in Dallas to find the coveted object as part of a competition run by Treasure Games company.

Participants pay a subscription to receive clues leading to the hidden lamp. If successful, they can opt to get $1 million in cash or three wishes worth $1.2 million.

Novak and Bush cracked a Seinfeld-themed clue to track down the genie bottle in the Texas brush...and have since received three life-changing wishes.

'The initial moment, I was in shock,' Novak said as he recalled discovering the lamp while speaking with WWLP.

New Mexico couple Ron Novak and Michelle Bush found a genie lamp while treasuring hunting in the desert and have been granted three wishes worth of a total of $1 million

Treasure hunters pay a subscription fee to receive clues as to where the object might be hidden. If successful, they can opt to get $1 million in cash or three wishes worth $1.2 million

They went about the treasure hunt in a tiny Subaru crammed complete with four canine passengers - so their third gift was a Sprinter van fit for their doggy family

Novak and Bush cracked a Seinfeld-themed clue to track down the genie bottle in the Texas brush, and they opted to receive three gifts - a Sprinter van fit for their four dogs, a run-down motel they want to renovate (pictured), and a charitable donation

Ron Novak and Michelle Bush spent around three months across two trips in Dallas to find the lamp as part of a competition run by Treasure Games company

They opted to receive three gifts - a Sprinter van fit for their four dogs, an entire motel they want to renovate, and a charitable donation.

The couple extended their trip by one day because they felt close to finding the artifact - and it paid off when they uncovered it on the final day.

Ron Novak and Michelle Bush found the lamp in the Texas desert

Novak said their first gift was a donation to the Hare Krishna Food for Life Group, a charity which he credited with helping him get back on his feet when he was homeless.

'For me, it was the biggest gift to be able to give them money for this because I used to be a taker. I just took, and I needed help and wanted help,' he told WWLP.

The couple also purchased the Southwest Motel in Grants, New Mexico, which they're now working to fix up.

They went about the treasure hunt in a tiny Subaru crammed complete with four canine passengers - so their third gift was a Sprinter van fit for their doggy family.

'We bought the van for the dogs. That's an internal joke,' Bush told WWLP.

They also plan to launch their own treasure hunt game with a grand prize of at least $5,000 for the winner.

'It will be a lot easier than this one - meant to be solved within a weekend or a week,' Bush said.

Treasure Games said their next genie bottle hunt with a $1 million prize starts in June.
A man who murdered his wife and a teenager died just hours apart at a Welsh prison where nine inmates have also died in just over two months.

David Maggs, 73, and Michael Horton, 19, died within an hour of each other at HMP Parc in Bridgend, South Wales, on Tuesday, becoming the eighth and ninth deaths at the prison since February 27.

South Wales Police has previously said that four of the previous deaths were believed to be drug-related, with the so-called 'zombie drug' spice identified in connection with two of these.

A spokesperson for G4S, which runs the prison, has said the deaths in the jail are unrelated, while an investigation will now be carried out by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

However, politicians in the Senedd have said the situation in the prison is now 'getting out of control' and have 'agreed set of actions' is now being put in place 'to help mitigate the risk of future harm'.

HMP Parc in Bridgend, South Wales, where two people died just hours apart on Tuesday, becoming the eighth and ninth deaths at the prison since February 27

Michael Horton, 19, (pictured) died within an hour of fellow inmate David Maggs, 73

Maggs (pictured), a retired accountant, was jailed in 2022 for stabbing his wife, Linda Maggs, more than 15 times with a kitchen knife while she was lying in bed

Maggs, a retired accountant, was jailed in 2022 for stabbing his wife, Linda Maggs, more than 15 times with a kitchen knife while she was lying in bed.

A spokeswoman for the Bridgend-based prison said: 'Mr David Maggs, aged 73, passed away on Tuesday May 7.

'His next of kin has been informed and our thoughts are with his family and friends.

'Mr Michael Horton, aged 19, passed away on Tuesday May 7. His next of kin has been informed and our thoughts are with his loved ones.

'Their deaths were unrelated. Family liaison officers are supporting the families.

'As with all deaths in custody, these will be investigated by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.'

A police spokesman said: 'South Wales Police was called between 12.20am and 12.55am on Tuesday May 7, with reports of two sudden deaths at HMP Parc of a 73-year-old man and a 19-year-old man.

'Investigations are continuing into the circumstances surrounding the deaths. However, at this time they are not believed to be suspicious.

'It will be for HM Coroner to give a determination on the cause of death.'

A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesman said: 'We were called to two separate incidents at HMP Parc, Bridgend. The first call was received at 11.17pm on May 6. We sent one Cymru High Acuity Response Unit and one emergency ambulance to the scene.

'The second call was received at 12.37am on May 7. We sent an additional Cymru High Acuity Response Unit and emergency ambulance to the scene.'

An inmate writhing around on the floor after taking the drug spice at a prison in the north-east of England

The two deaths come just days after the death of 47-year-old Wayne Hay at HMP Parc. Prior to his death six inmates had died within a space of little more than three weeks earlier this year.

South Wales Police said it was treating two of the six Parc inmate deaths between February 27 and March 19 as non-suspicious but believed the other four to be drug-related.

Detective Steve Jones said in March that 'a fast-track process has been undertaken and identified the presence of nitazene-based substances in connection with all four deaths'.

The psychoactive substance spice was identified in connection with two of the four deaths.

Speaking during plenary on Tuesday, Sarah Murphy, Labour MS for Bridgend, suggested that with two further deaths at the prison, the situation was 'getting out of control'.

In reply, the Trefnydd - leader of the house - and chief whip Jane Hutt said the deaths at the prison are 'very sad and tragic for their families'.

She added: 'You recognise the operational responsibility for the running of the prison is the responsibility of the UK Government and not devolved to Wales but we work very closely with the HM Prison Service and Probation Service with devolved areas, such as health and social care, where we do have responsibilities.

'I would like to reassure Sarah Murphy that the Welsh Government, Public Health Wales and HM Prison and Probation Service have met and discussed the tragic deaths and an agreed set of actions is being taken forward to help mitigate the risk of future harm.'
TikTok is suing the US Government after Joe Biden signed a bill which would force its Chinese owners to sell the popular app or face a ban in the US.

The platform's parent company ByteDance has accused Biden's administration of violating First Amendment rights by allegedly trying to 'silence the 170 million Americans' who use the social media application.

The bill was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and signed by Biden on April 24, giving ByteDance until January 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban. It was driven by concerns that China could use the app to access American users' data.

ByteDance has now filed a lawsuit in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in an attempt to block the bill, arguing that divestiture 'is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally'.

'There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere,' the lawsuit says.

TikTok is suing the US Government after Joe Biden signed a bill which would force its Chinese owners to sell the popular app or face a ban in the US (Pictured: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew with his wife Vivian Kao at the Met Gala on Monday night)

The bill was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and signed by Biden on April 24, giving ByteDance until January 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban

According to the ByteDance lawsuit, the Chinese government 'has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States'

Shou Zi Chew, who has been the CEO of TikTok since 2021, was seen with his wife Vivian Kao enjoying New York City's Met Gala on Monday night.

The 41-year-old Singaporean businessman was an honorary chair for the evening along with Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson.

The new law which threatens his company prohibits app stores from offering the TikTok app, while barring internet hosting services from supporting it unless ByteDance divests it.

According to the suit, the Chinese government 'has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States.'

It also said TikTok has spent $2 billion to implement measures to protect the data of U.S. users and made additional commitments in a 90-page draft National Security Agreement developed through negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

That agreement included TikTok agreeing to a 'shut-down option' that would give the U.S. government the authority to suspend TikTok in the United States if it violated some obligations,' according to the suit.

In August 2022, according to the lawsuit, CFIUS stopped engaging in meaningful discussions about the agreement and in March 2023 CFIUS 'insisted that ByteDance would be required to divest the U.S. TikTok business.'

CFIUS is an interagency committee, chaired by the U.S. Treasury Department, that reviews foreign investments in American businesses and real estate that implicate national security concerns.

TikTok is suing the US Government after Joe Biden signed a bill which will compel its owner to sell the popular video sharing platform used by 170 million Americans. (Pictured: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at the Met Gala on Monday night)

TikTok is suing the US Government after Joe Biden signed a bill which will compel its owner to sell the popular video sharing platform used by 170 million Americans

Biden could extend the Jan. 19 deadline by three months if he determines ByteDance is making progress.

In 2020, then-President Donald Trump was blocked by the courts in his bid to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat, a unit of Tencent, in the United States.

Trump, the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 U.S. election, has since reversed course, saying he does not support a ban but that security concerns need to be addressed.

Many experts have questioned whether any potential buyer possesses the financial resources to buy TikTok and if China and U.S. government agencies would approve a sale.

To move the TikTok source code to the United States 'would take years for an entirely new set of engineers to gain sufficient familiarity,' according to the lawsuit.

The four-year battle over TikTok is a significant front in the ongoing conflict over the internet and technology between the United States and China.

In April, Apple said China had ordered it to remove Meta Platforms' WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China over Chinese national security concerns.
It is 'not racist' to 'air concerns' about immigration, BBC journalists have been told in a review into the corporation's coverage.

The BBC's coverage of migration contains 'risks to impartiality', an independent review has found.

The independent report, ordered by the BBC board, revealed that its own journalists were 'anxious' about tackling topics that 'could appear hostile to migrants'.

The report, which focused particularly on news and current affairs, was undertaken by policy specialist Madeleine Sumption, who spoke to more than 100 people inside and outside of the company.

It concluded that while the corporation provides 'a lot of excellent content on migration' there are 'risks to impartiality that point in multiple directions', despite there being 'no consistent bias towards one point of view'.

External experts were interviewed for the review and while some argued that coverage implicitly promoted a pro-government agenda on migration, others argued it had a consistent liberal bias.

Ms Sumption said she did not try to add up these criticisms to identify which way coverage may lean as this 'might miss the point'.

An inflatable dinghy carrying migrants makes its way towards England in the English Channel, on May 4

The BBC's coverage of migration contains 'risks to impartiality', an independent review has found (File image)

Graph showing the number of migrants that have arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel since 2019

The most common problem identified was that the BBC 'often tells migration stories through a narrow political lens, reporting what high-profile people are saying without really getting under the skin of the issue'.

The research found that some stories were not always fully understood by viewers and said 'clear explanation and context' would be less likely to alienate an audience.

It also found that a lack of confidence, time or expertise meant BBC journalists sometimes failed to carefully examine claims and challenge 'questionable statements'.

The report said that 'fully interrogating political claims may help the BBC to avoid presenting an overly polarised picture of the arguments.'

The BBC's reporting could also 'do a better job of distinguishing between different types of migration', according to the review, as audiences would sometimes come away with a false impression that most migration to the UK takes place via small boat crossings.

It added that 'the perspectives and voices of migrants themselves are often missing entirely from BBC reporting' and said audiences want to hear more from from actual migrants.

Ms Sumption wrote that migrant voices would not make reporting biased and said 'BBC coverage should have equal empathy for migrants and UK residents who worry about the impacts of migration'.

The report said its coverage should also reflect the nuanced attitudes towards migration in the UK and said migrant participants in the audience research wanted to see greater nuance in the news' portrayal of migrants in general.

Alongside this was advice that journalists should used the term 'asylum seekers' rather than 'migrants' for groups of people that only include asylum seekers, adding that the words are not interchangeable.

Sir Nicholas Serota, BBC board member and chair of the editorial guidelines and standards committee said: 'As recent events confirm migration is a highly contested area of public policy, and that is why BBC reporting on it must meet the highest editorial standards.

'This board-commissioned review finds that BBC coverage of migration has many strengths, but that it could also better reflect the topic's complexities, as well as ensuring coverage is not overly dominated by political and high-profile voices.

The Home Office has started revealing how many migrants have been prevented from leaving France as dozens more arrive in Dover today (pictured)

The latest data reveals that 98 migrants arrived on small boats yesterday, while 71 migrants in three small boats were stopped from leaving France. Pictured: Migrants arrive in Dover today

'We have asked the director-general and the executive to ensure all actions suggested in the review are implemented and the editorial guidelines and standards committee of the board will monitor progress to ensure all the challenges raised are addressed.

'Along with my fellow board members I want to thank Madeleine Sumption for her thorough review and extremely helpful insights, which I hope become indispensable to newsrooms both in and outside the BBC.'

The BBC executive has endorsed six key points from the report which it expects all journalists to consider carefully when working on stories about migration.

The summary points are; to cover the substance and not just the politics, make sure audiences have enough context, hear from migrants, explain migration terms clearly, represent the full range of opinions and remember that good stories also come from outside Westminster.

Downing Street declined to comment on the findings of an independent review that the BBC's coverage of migration contains 'risks to impartiality', but said Rishi Sunak is 'acutely aware of the frustrations of the British people' with the numbers of small boat arrivals.

A No 10 spokeswoman told reporters: 'The BBC's reporting is one for them.

'But it is clearly an issue that is of paramount importance to many people in the communities who are facing pressures as a result of these crossings and absolutely those should be taken very seriously.'

She added: 'For the Prime Minister's part, he is acutely aware of the frustrations of the British people with the numbers of people who are unfairly jumping the queue by undertaking these crossings to get to the UK.

'And he's also acutely aware of the pressures that these crossings are placing on local communities and public services. That's why he's taking the action that he has to break the business model of the criminal gangs. And he's certainly aware of the importance of doing that and the importance placed on doing that.'
The man accused of fatally shooting NYPD officer Jonathan Diller pleaded not guilty to murder as he faced the victims devastated family and colleagues in court.

Guy Rivera, 34, who had a cast around his right hand, appeared in Queens Supreme Criminal Court on Tuesday where he was arraigned on charges including first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder.

Diller was allegedly gunned down by Rivera on March 25 during a routine traffic stop on an illegally parked car in Far Rockaway. He was shot in the stomach.

The police officers wife, mother, family and colleagues flooded the courtroom for the arraignment in which prosecutor John Kosinski claimed Rivera admitted to hiding a knife in his rectum after he was apprehended.

Judge Michael Aloise remanded Rivera in custody and ordered him to return to court on July 22.

Guy Rivera, 34, who had a cast around his right hand, appeared in Queens Supreme Criminal Court on Tuesday where he was arraigned on charges including first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder charges

Officer Jonathan Diller, 31, of New York's 105th precinct was just three years into the job

Horrific surveillance footage captured the moment Diller writhed in agony on the streets after he was shot.

Rivera allegedly opened fire on Diller after he ordered the suspect to get out of the car. In the video, three loud gunshots are heard ringing out as bystanders flee for safety.

'I'm hit!' Diller is heard yelling, while onlookers sprinted from the sound of gunshots. As the footage continues, Diller is heard screaming in pain.

Despite being shot, Diller heroically moved the gun away from the shooter after it was dropped on the ground.

The officer was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Rivera was also wounded in the shooting and spent days in hospital where prosecutors claim he admitted to concealing a knife in his rectum.

He pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Rivera faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

His co-defendant Lindy Jones, 41, the driver of the car, was arraigned April 16 on charges of criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third degrees.

He was remanded into custody and faces up to 30 years in prison. He is due back in court on June 12.

Queens County District Attorney Melinda Katz said: Detective Diller was shot and killed while trying to rid our streets of illegal weapons, a lawless act that was an affront to a civilized society.

Judge Michael Aloise remanded Rivera in custody and ordered him to return to court on July 22

Wife of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller wipes away tears at the footsteps of the Queens Court house

Devastated family and colleagues of the killed cop stand for a press conference after the hearing

His tragic death is a painful reminder that we must never let up in our quest to get these guns and those who use them off of our streets.

We are grateful that the grand jury returned serious charges against the defendant. Our thoughts are with Detective Dillers family, friends and colleagues as they continue to grieve. We will seek justice for him.

The Queens County District Attorneys office has filed a motion to have the defendants legal counsel removed from the case due to potential conflict with witnesses.

Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association union, was among those in attendance at the hearing.

Diller's family were in tears as the union president gave a speech outside on the courthouse steps.

He said: We hope that this vicious, violent cop killer took a good look at the crowd in the courtroom because he is going to see us every time he comes to court.

This vicious individual wasn't afraid to prey on New Yorkers, because nothing happened to him.

He was arrested a dozen times in and out of prison, back on the streets. He shouldn't have been back on the streets and he was emboldened to carry an illegal firearm.

He added: They [Rivera and Jones] were getting together to figure out how they were going to commit their next crime and they thought they were going to get away with it.

But they didn't count on our hero, police officer Jonathan Diller, to go into that scene and fight to get that gun away from him.

And he fought to the end, even though he was shot. I got a message for every violent recidivist out there. If you attack one of us, you attack all of us.

Following Rivera's arrest, it emerged that he has a lengthy criminal history including first degree robbery, illegal gun possession and assaults.

He had 21 prior arrests and previously served five years in prison on drug charges before being paroled in 2021.

Officer Diller lived with his wife Stephanie and their one-year-old son (pictured) in Massapequa Park on Long Island in New York City

Guy is pictured in the Queens court this morning

Neighbors heard shots ring out at 5:50 pm, less than two blocks from the NYPD's 101st Precinct stationhouse before seeing the fatally injured officer lying in the street

Accused NYPD cop killer Guy Rivera has a long rap sheet of 21 arrests including one last April for gun charges, police confirmed

Rivera had also been incarcerated from 2011 to 2014 over a first-degree assault charge. The driver of the car, Lindy Jones, 41, was also found to have a criminal background.

Jones had 14 prior arrests, including a conviction for attempted murder and robbery in 2003 that saw him serve 10 years behind bars.

He had been arrested on gun charges last April, but was released on a $75,000 bail that was set to bring him back to court Monday.

Following Jones' April arrest, where he was caught with a loaded firearm, Mayor Adams said that he was a prime example of a 'recidivist problem' - meaning a small number of perpetrators committing a large number of crimes.

'Same bad people doing bad things to good people,' Adams added.

Diller leaves behind his wife of six years, Stephanie, and their one-year-old son.

A GoFundMe set up for his family has already amassed more than $1million since it was set up just hours ago.

His brother-in-law Jonny Mac vowed to take care of Diller's son in his absence.

'What started out as an everyday car stop, instantly became a moment where so many lives would be turned upside down. Jon leaves behind a wife and a one year old son who will now grow up without his father.

'To those of you out there in the streets, it can be so easy to become wrapped into the moment.

'To think horrible events like this can't happen to you. To become focused on making that next arrest or racing to the action. Remember those who love you at those moments.

'Jon, there are no words to describe how devastated we are that you are gone. You were a good man and a great father whose shoes can never be filled. I swear to you that I will look after your son as if he were my own. For the rest of my life.'
Failures by a formerly government-owned contractor may have made a cyber attack on Armed Forces data being blamed on China 'easier' to carry out, the Defence Secretary said today.

Grant Shapps confirmed that Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL) was the company whose system was hacked, exposing the names and bank details of hundreds of thousands of service personnel - and some home addresses.

In a statement to MPs this afternoon Mr Shapps suggested that little or no data had been stolen, as he announced a probe into what happened.

Up to 272,000 service personnel may have been hit by the data breach, Mr Shapps told MPs as he set out an eight-point plan to support and protect those potentially affected.

He blamed the attack on a 'malign actor', but failed to confirm reports that China was behind the break-in despite saying a nation state may have been involved.

The Defence Secretary also criticised SSCL, saying there was 'evidence of potential failings by them that may have made it easier for the malign actor to gain entry.'

Politicians and experts said the attack bore all the hallmarks of Chinese origin.

Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News: 'This is yet another example of why the UK Government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that.

'No more pretence, it is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states.'

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: 'Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel's bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced.'

It comes as president Xi visits France on a state visit, where he will hold talks with Emmanuel Macron.

The Chinese embassy in London denied involvement, saying claims of an attack were 'completely fabricated and malicious slanders'.

Grant Shapps confirmed that Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL) was the company whose system was hacked, exposing the names and bank details of hundreds of thousands of service personnel - and some home addresses.

Speaking to broadcasters in south-east London, Rishi Sunak said there were 'indications that a malign actor' had compromised the database, but declined to attribute the attack to a specific state or 'actor'.

It comes as president Xi visits France on a state visit, where he will hold talks with Emmanuel Macron.

Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News : 'This is yet another example of why the UK Government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that.'

Mr Shapps told the Commons: 'In recent days the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has identified indications that a malign actor gained access to part of the Armed Forces payment network. This is an external system completely separate to the MoD's core network, and it's not connected to the main military HR system.

'The House will wish to note that it is operated by a contractor and there is evidence of potential failings by them which may have made it easier for the malign actor to gain entry. A specialist security review of the contractor and their operations is under way and appropriate steps will be taken.

'The contractor-operated system in question is held and holds personal data of regular reserve personnel and some recently retired veterans, this includes names and bank details and in a smaller number of cases addresses.

'In response to this incident, we've undertaken significant and immediate action, enacting a multi-point response plan to support and protect our people.'

Up to 272,000 service personnel may have been hit by the data breach, Mr Shapps told MPs.

He set out an eight-point plan to support and protect those potentially affected.

Mr Shapps told the House of Commons he couldn't release further details of the attack 'for reasons of national security'.

But he added: 'We do have indications that this was the suspected work of a malign actor and we cannot rule out state involvement.'

'This incident is further proof that the UK is facing rising and evolving threats... the world is I'm afraid becoming somewhat more dangerous.'

Labour's shadow defence secretary John Healey said there would be 'serious concern' that news of the cyber attack was reported in the media before Mr Shapps was able to update Parliament.

He added: 'The media have clearly been briefed that China is behind the hack but the Defence Secretary only tells us about a malign actor.

'Now, the Government rightly has a very rigorous system before official accusations or attributions are made.

'But if this deep data breach is found to be carried out by a hostile state, it would represent a very serious threat to our national security.'

Mr Shapps replied: 'The media release last night was coincidental and unwelcome as far as we were concerned. Unfortunately, of course, a lot of people were involved in this.'

Tory MP Bob Seely, who served in the Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, revealed to MPs that he was among the victims of the hack.

He told the Commons: 'It is a little frustrating to be told that one's bank details and National Insurance are winging their way to Beijing or wherever they've gone.

'Considering that I was also caught up in the IPAC (Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China) breach, I am wondering if I am currently in the running for being the most hacked MP in Britain.'

Mr Shapps responded: 'I want to thank him for his service and I'm sorry he had to receive that phone call about what's happened.

'I want to stress, actually, that we do not believe the data has necessarily been stolen, so there's a danger here of just running a couple of steps ahead.'

Sir Iain tackled Mr Shapps on refusing to name China as the malign actor in hacking incidents, and called for the country to placed in the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.

He said: 'We know now that the British Government were warned by the security services in America nearly two years ago that the Electoral Commission's system was hacked and that also a number of MPs had also been hacked here in the UK.

'We now discover that in that two-year period the Government said nothing about China's role in all this.

'I have a concern that, although the Government now refuses to say who it is, we may spend another two years before we ever discover or say publicly.'

He added: 'Why in heaven's name don't we take the decision to place this malign actor into that enhanced place and then make sure we deal with them accordingly?'

Mr Shapps told Sir Iain he was 'absolutely right' on attribution with regard to the hack affecting the Electoral Commission and MPs, but added: 'He has encouraged me at the despatch to therefore jump to the conclusion that the malign actor involved is China as well, and I'm simply unable to do that at this stage. He would expect me to follow due process.

'I do rather support his view that, if attribution is required, that that should happen in a timely and speedy manner, and I will undertake from this despatch box to ensure that in this case that is what happens and we do not get into a situation where many months or years pass by without it being mentioned.'

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) took immediate action when it discovered the breach, taking the external network - operated by a contractor - offline.

Downing Street said the Government had also launched a security review of the contractor's operations.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman declined to comment on speculation about the origin of the attack ahead of the statement to the Commons by Mr Shapps this afternoon.

It comes less than two months after Chinese state-affiliated actors were blamed by the government for two 'malicious' cyberattack campaigns in the UK.

The two incidents involved an attack on the Electoral Commission in 2021 as well as targeted attacks against MPs sceptical of China.

In a speech made in the commons last month, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden confirmed that the Chinese ambassador would be summoned to 'account for China's conduct in these incidents'.

He also announced that the UK  alongside international partners including the US  would be issuing sanctions against the Chinese government.

The MoD is said to be hopeful that serving personnel will not be concerned about their safety. Those impacted by the data breach will be given advice and support tomorrow.

The contractor system is not connected to the main MoD computer systems and has been taken down with a review launched.

Up to 250,000 people could be impacted by the breach with their names and bank details amongst the information that has been compromised

It comes less than two months after Chinese state-affiliated actors were blamed by the government for two 'malicious' cyberattack campaigns in the UK (file image)

All salaries were paid at the last payday, with no issues expected at the next one at the end of this month, although there may be a slight delay in the payment of expenses in a small number of cases.

The MoD is said to have worked on the issue intensively over the last 72 hours to figure out how much data was exposed during the hack. It is understood that investigations have not shown any data to have been taken so far.

Up to 250,000 people could be impacted by the breach with their names and bank details amongst the information that has been compromised.

The identification of Special Forces soldiers - who are entitled to lifelong anonymity - has not been compromised according to defence sources.

The country's President Xi Jinping is currently on a two-day state visit to France  his first visit to Europe since 2019.

Meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, President Xi called for a 'worldwide truce' during the Olympic Games this summer.

The incident risks dissuading other countries with challenging relationships with China from sharing sensitive intelligence with the UK.
A charity shop owner has been left 'gobsmacked' after receiving a badly written poison pen letter which wished their demise for selling 'Blackpool-style trinkets'.

The angry error-strewn note sent to social enterprise Kreate expressed hope the store in Sheffield would 'fail', adding: 'Soon be countdown for you. Shutters will be permantley [sic] down.'

The anonymous letter, riddled with bad grammar and spelling mistakes, was posted to the shop on Saturday and went viral after being shared online.

Shop manager Ruth Denton, 37, said she was left 'gobsmacked' after opening the letter, signed off by a seemingly fictitious group called Residents Unite (Bocking Lane).

Kreate, located in the Beauchief area of the city, opened in November to provide work experience for adults with learning difficulties, with the income from products invested in charity work.

Charity shop owner Ruth Denton, who has been left 'gobsmacked' after receiving a badly written poison pen letter which wished their demise for selling 'Blackpool-style trinkets'

This angry error-strewn note sent to social enterprise Kreate expressed hope the store in Sheffield would 'fail'

A general view of the Kreate charity shop in Hutcliffe Wood Road in Beauchief, which currently has scaffolding outside for much needed work

Mother-of-three Ruth said: 'I wasn't going to open it, but the envelope looked a little bit suspicious because of the scruffy handwriting and how it was addressed to 'The Owner'.

'I literally couldn't believe what I read. I was gobsmacked. I just thought 'is this what people really think of us?'.

'For a few hours I was really upset. Then I started to find it funny - because whoever wrote it has no idea about what we do here.

'They've clearly never set foot in the shop because what they've written makes no sense at all.

'I don't know if they've got a genuine grudge against us, or if they might not be the full shilling - but it's just taken us all aback.

'I can't understand what they would have against us.'

The letter, sent with a second-class stamp and postmarked in Sheffield, read: 'To the owner. Just a note from neighbourhood watch not to welcome you. The opposite.

Ruth, seen here reading the letter, was left 'gobsmacked' after opening it and was signed off by a seemingly fictitious group called Residents Unite (Bocking Lane)

Some of the things on sale in the shop such as the cards, mini houses, wooden stars and wooden flowers are made by students that attend the charity

These miniature houses feature as some of the many hand made items in the shop

The items in the shop, such as these colourful mugs, were described in the letter as 'Blackpool-style trinkets'

'We try not to encourage Charity Shops Round the Area or shops selling Blackpool style Trinkets.

'A lot of buisnesses [sic] needed by comunitys [sic] have failed and I hope yours does too.

'another grey painted trendy Tak [sic], soon be countdown for you. Shutters will be permantley [sic] down.'

Locals have rallied behind the shop after the letter was posted on Facebook where it has been shared hundreds of times.

Ruth said: 'We've had people who have coming today who live on Bocking Lane who are raging. One lady was quite angry and insistent that it wasn't the opinion of residents.

'Another guy from Bocking Lane said he has his suspicions of who it was. But to be honest, I don't want to know who it is.

'At the end of the day, even if this person had written their name, it wouldn't stop us from what we're doing here.

'I know this person clearly doesn't like us but I think it's probably for the best that we don't know who they are.

'What they've said has only made us more determined to make Kreate a success.

'Everything they've done has worked in our favour. The letter has gone viral and people across the country - not just in the local area - are now aware of what we're doing.

Ruth Denton pictured outside the Kreate shop in Sheffield

Mother-of-three Ruth pictured sitting behinf the checkout of the store

Jean Nowell-Eyre. 80, visited the shop today to show her support for the charity and workers

This trio of flower decorations are sold inside the shop alongside a number of quality homeware and gifts

'We've had enquiries from Scotland and messages from America. The letter has had the opposite effect of what that person wanted to achieve, so more fool them.

'They clearly don't have a clue about what we do.'

Kreate is part of the Sheffield charity Work Ltd, which helps people with learning difficulties.

They are able to work in the Scandi-style shop, which sells quality homeware and gifts, to gain retail experience.

Ruth continued: 'We've poured our hearts and souls into this place to make it what it is. We do not sell Blackpool-style trinkets. The response from people who have come in the shop since we opened in November has been great.

'The locals love it. The response has been great. Maybe this person just hasn't bothered to work out what we are.

'We're not just a shop. We do this for the students.'

Celebrant Fiona Smith, 64, popped into Kreate to buy a pair of earrings as a show of support over the 'vile' letter.

She said: 'I don't know if they've got a bee in their bonnet or just too much time on their hands. It's just dreadful. These guys do an amazing job. Why would people say such vile things about such a wonderful charity.

'The people who work here have feelings. Whoever has written that letter, I've got one word for them - 'karma'.'

Natalie Simmonite, 51, who works at the nearby Forge Bakehouse, added: 'The letter is disgusting. It's not a reflection on what they do and what they sell. They've got good quality stock in the shop - it's not Blackpool trinkets at all.

Fiona Smith, 64, popped in the shop today and said she was disgusted by the letter and bought some earrings on her visit

Some of the things on sale at the Kreate shop are pictured on shelves. They include quality gifts such as the cards, mini houses, wooden stars and wooden flowers

Natalie Simmonite, 51, who works in the Forge Bakehouse on the same street was shocked and loves the shop and everything is does for charity

'When I read the letter, I just thought that the writer clearly has never been to the shop. The ladies who work there are so passionate about what they do. They're an asset to the area.

'What does this person prefer? Shuttered-up shops? I'm just flabbergasted by it. Shops make a community. We're crying out for things like Kreate around here. There's not a lot around here and what they sell is unique. I love going in there.'

Jean Nowell-Eyre, 80, whose granddaughter Holly Webber accesses Work Ltd's services twice a week, said: 'I think it's somebody who's got problems. I wouldn't want any fallout from this to damage local people's understanding of what the shop is doing.

'It's a very positive thing that's happening here in Sheffield and the last thing we need is for that to be damaged by an anonymous letter-writer.'
The First Minister of Wales has denied that he lied to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry after messages emerged appearing to contradict his evidence to the pandemic probe.

Vaughan Gething, who was the health minister during the pandemic, told the inquiry in March that his lost WhatsApp messages were not deleted by him but by the Senedd's IT team during a security rebuild.

He said the lost information was a 'real embarrassment' but a message leaked to the Nation.Cymru news website casts doubt on Mr Gething's version of events.

In a message posted to a ministerial group chat on August 17, 2020, Mr Gething apparently wrote: 'I'm deleting the messages in this group.

'They can be captured in an FOI (Freedom of Information request) and I think we are in the right place on the choice being made.'

The First Minister of Wales Vaughan Gething (pictured) has denied that he lied to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry after messages emerged appearing to contradict his evidence to the pandemic probe

Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth (pictured) accused Mr Gething of committing perjury in the evidence he gave under oath to the inquiry

Mr Gething, who became First Minister in March, told plenary the leaked message was from a section of an iMessage group chat with other Labour ministers and related to internal discussions within the Senedd Labour group.

He denied the message contradicted the evidence he had given to the Covid-19 inquiry when he stated Senedd IT staff had deleted some of his WhatsApp messages after handing in the handset for maintenance.

'In my witness statements (to the public inquiry), I set out in some detail honestly and fully how messages have been retained and stored to ensure that a proper record of all choices made by me and other ministers have been captured and provided to the inquiry,' Mr Gething said, in reply to a question from Conservative opposition leader Andrew RT Davies.

'The screenshot that you refer to is actually from a conversation between ministers that relates to a Labour group meeting in August 2020.

'It is not about decision making to do with the pandemic, it's about comments that colleagues make to and about each other.

'It's about ensuring that we don't provide things that are potentially embarrassing, but not those things that affect any information about decision making during the pandemic.'

In further questions, Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth accused Mr Gething of committing perjury in the evidence he gave under oath to the inquiry.

'That is an extraordinary accusation to make, absent of context or fact of what's happening at the time,' Mr Gething said in reply.

'The individual message relates to a discussion within the Labour group and about how people do and talk to each other.

'It's essentially an appeal for people to consider what they have to say, as you'll recall I had a difficult experience during some of that during the pandemic.

'This is actually about how we talk to each other and about each other, not about information that has been provided.

'I reject completely the suggestion that I have not been honest with the Covid-19 Inquiry.

'It matters to me that that inquiry has a full record of what we did and why.

'I've given evidence at length on this in writing and in person and I expect to do so again, and I'd ask the member to think again about his accusation that I have committed perjury.

'That is a serious matter and not one that I think he should lightly make.'

Mr Gething added: 'I'm entirely relaxed about the screenshot and its context being seen by the inquiry.

'I have already asked the full unredacted screenshot is shared with the Covid-19 Inquiry.

'If they want to question me about it, I will have no difficulty at all and appearing before them and having the conversation.

'I think it's important that we focus on what we did and why and the full information that has been shared with the inquiry about why we made decisions during that extraordinary time.

'August 2020 is nearly four years ago but I am still affected on a regular basis by the choices that we had to make and the pressure that we were under.

Vaughan Gething signs his affirmation, assisted by Justice Martin Griffiths, presiding judge of Wales, at the Senedd in Cardiff on Wednesday, March 20

'I have been and will continue to be entirely honest and transparent with the inquiry about what I did and why and the choices that I helped to make to try to keep our country safe.'

A spokesman for the UK Covid-19 Inquiry confirmed it has been made aware of the message and is now considering whether Mr Gething will need to provide further information.

Mr Gething has come under sustained pressure in recent weeks, with repeated calls for an investigation into donations he received while running to be Welsh Labour leader.

Last week in the Senedd he survived a vote calling for an independent inquiry into the 200,000 donation he took from a man convicted of environmental offences.

Opposition groups have raised concerns that it could be a possible conflict of interest and breach of the ministerial code while members of his own benches have questioned his decision-making.

Former Labour minister Lee Waters went so far as to question his leader's judgment in taking the money.
A bakery in Kensington is selling a super-sized pain au chocolat for 28 but critics say bigger is not always better.

The Philippe Conticini, in South Kensington, went viral last year when it began offering an XXL croissant that weighs 1.5kg, feeds up to eight and costs 25.

But another huge buttery treat can also be ordered in a super-sized 28 pain au chocolat.

Described as offering 'a maximum level of pleasure' the giant version of the much-loved French breakfast food is understood to contain around 3,000 calories - 1,000 more than women are advised to eat in a day and 500 more than men.

It is made from just two ingredients - croissant dough with chocolate bars packed inside.

Another huge buttery treat can also be ordered from The Philippe Conticini, in a super-sized 28 pain au chocolat

The Philippe Conticini, in South Kensington, went viral last year when it began offering an XXL croissant that weighs 1.5kg, feeds up to eight and costs 25. Pictured: Alina Moisiuc trying the giant croissant

There is no nutritional information but at roughly the same size as its non-chocolate counterpart, it would give 3,000 calories and be around 50% fat.

However, some critics have claimed pastry chefs are making giant bakes to attract attention on social media because of the 'novelty', the Times reported.

A French pastry chef, Christophe Felder, told Le Figaro: '... Some of the new generation pastry chefs and bakers come up with creations with the foremost obsession being the impact of novelty of social media.'

The marketing director at Conticini, Tom Palmieri Rambaud, agreed that social media is influencing pastry making.

He added that customers were attracted to bakes that looked appealing however, 'its now become a diktat that you have to create an event for Instagram or TikTok. Alas, that often takes precedence over taste although we are here above all to procure emotions by tasting.'

Conticini's large pastries have attracted foodies and some have posted their experiences on social media.

Both the XXL croissants must be pre-ordered, presumably as it would take up so much space to stock them daily.

Model and musician Mary Charteris posted herself enjoying one of the XXL pain au chocolats recently as she celebrated her 37th birthday.

Conticini's large pastries have attracted foodies and some have posted their experiences on social media. Pictured: Callum Ryan trying the giant croissant

Food blogger Erika was visiting London from Vancouver, Canada, and rushed to try one, filming her pal Quin Diep scoffing it.

'It was decent,' she said.

Philippe Conticini, 60, is a French pastry chef and has worked in a string of top-rated outlets across the world, as well as in Michelin-starred restaurants.

He now has three self-titled bakeries in the UK, in Kensington, Camden and Islington.

His normal-sized croissants come in at 2.75 for a plain one and 2.90 for a pain au chocolat.

The chef is also responsible for another viral trend - le crookie, a cross between a croissant and a cookie that is filled with cookie dough.
Criminals will be released up to 70 days early in an extension of a scheme to free up space in bursting jails.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk announced emergency measures last autumn for criminals serving up to four years' imprisonment in England and Wales.

The scheme, known as End of Custody Supervised Licence, initially allowed prisoners to be released up to 18 days early.

It will be increased to 70 days from May 23. Sex offenders and terrorists are excluded but lower-level violent criminals and drug dealers are eligible.

The move, first reported by The Times, emerged in an internal email sent to prisons staff.

Criminals will be released up to 70 days early in an extension of a scheme to free up space in jails. Pictured: HM Prison Belmarsh

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, pictured, announced emergency measures last autumn

'This power will only be used for a limited period and only in targeted areas,' Mr Chalk said.

Four months on and the scheme is being expanded to more jails. And leaked guidance to prisons seen by Sky News suggests the scheme will continue to run for the foreseeable future.

The guidance says the scheme has been 'revised' and 'activated for an undefined period', plus 'updated to facilitate/support activation in new prisons'.

Officials have been unable to supply a date when the practice will end.

Anyone serving a life sentence, extended determinate sentence, or jailed for a serious violent, terror or sexual offence is excluded from the scheme. But violent thugs serving time for wounding and assault are among those that could win early release.

Offenders guilty of domestic abuse crimes may also be eligible.

More than 250 prisoners were freed 18 days before their scheduled release date in the first two weeks of the emergency scheme.

That represented around one in eight prisoners freed at that time, with 1,000 inmates being released on average every week.

It is the first time in more than 16 years that the Government has been forced to introduce an early release scheme because of the lack of space in prisons in England and Wales. It was last done under Labour in 2007.

Officials have refused to say how many criminals have already been released under the scheme, but offenders will remain on licence with conditions on their release.

The scheme, known as End of Custody Supervised Licence, initially allowed prisoners to be released up to 18 days early. It will be increased to 70 days from May 23 (stock image)

Breach of the conditions could lead to the offender being recalled to custody.

Senior prison staff have been given criteria by which they could block inmates from early release.

However, the document stresses that doing this should only be in 'exceptional' circumstances. Latest figures show that 87,973 inmates are currently behind bars in England and Wales.

The number that can be held in 'safe and decent accommodation' in prison, known as the 'certified normal accommodation', is considered by the Ministry of Justice to be 79,507, meaning the system is at 110.6 per cent capacity.

Labour justice spokesman Shabana Mahmood said: 'This is extraordinarily damning  the Conservative Government cannot continue to extend and expand indefinitely what is supposed to be a temporary scheme with zero transparency.

'It is not a surprise to me given the scale of the Government's prison crisis that they have extended this scheme, but at the very least they should acknowledge the public have a right to know about the details of this scheme, and Parliament has a right to know.'

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'The terms of the End of Custody Supervised Licence scheme have not changed since it was announced in October.'

The spokesman added: 'It is temporary and only used to relieve pressure in prisons where necessary. Only offenders who are a matter of days away from release are being considered and anyone convicted of a sexual, terrorist or serious violent offence is excluded, with those who break the rules facing a return to jail.'
A combination of factors is prompting the mass exodus from West Coast states

Residents from California, Oregon and Washington state are the ones fleeing

Americans from liberal west coast states are fleeing in greater numbers to a neighboring red state to escape political riots, homelessness and crime.

Idaho appears to be where disaffected residents of California, Oregon and Washington are now flocking to, with the state's population surging by 12 per cent in just five years.

Husband and wife Nick Kostenborder and Ashley Manning are among those who brought their then-9-month-old son to Sandpoint to escape Portland.

The couple's baby, who they named Taylor, was on the way in summer 2020, right when the Portland riots following George Floyd's death were in full swing.

A view of downtown Boise, Idaho's biggest city with a population of over 236,000 as of 2022

Boise's capitol building is seen near sunset

Kostenborder pointed to the homeless problem in his old city as something that swayed his decision to up and leave.

'You're worried about someone else besides yourself. So you start to notice threats more.

'Like, it's no longer charming to have the homeless guy asleep in front of the grocery store. Now it's like, all right, this actually might be dangerous,' Kostenborder told Fox News.

In fact, the homeless problem has gotten so out of hand in Portland, that its own city government has a tracking portal detailing the number of encampments in the city.

'Currently there are hundreds of unsanctioned camps spread out across virtually every neighborhood of our city, over a massive 146 square mile area,' according to the Portland city government.

West coast problems could be part of the reason Idaho's population soared more than 12 percent from 2018 to 2023.

Tents that shelter homeless people line the sidewalk along Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles

An image of a night of protesting and rioting in Portland on October 31, 2020. Armed counter-protesters stand outside a bail bonds agency as a protester holds a shirt with a picture of Black man Kevin E. Peterson Jr. who was shot dead by police in Vancouver

A protester holds up her hands as police detain other protesters and clear a park after a vigil and march marking the shooting death by police of black man Kevin E. Peterson Jr.

The City of Portland's homeless encampment tracker pinpoints the exact location of the sites which litter the city 'across virtually every neighborhood'

Manning, the mother of now three-year-old Taylor, said their little cul-de-sac is much safer than their old neighborhood in Portland, adding that she couldn't imagine her son playing outside there like he does in Idaho.

'He just can take off on his bike and it's so safe,' she said. 'Everybody just watches out for him.'

Kostenborder said the same year his family moved to Sandpoint, families from Seattle and San Diego moved next door.

'It's this kind of weird little expat group that we all found ourselves here,' Kostenborder said.

For Bryan Zielinski and his wife, who moved to Idaho from the Seattle area, it was a combination of things that got them to flee.

Zielinski was the general manager at one of the largest gun shops in Washington, and as a conservative who has an affinity for firearms, the state's growing hostility to his values concerned him greatly.

'Everything is political,' Zielinski said. 'Whether it's the car you drive, where you work. You're wearing a mask, you're not wearing a mask.'

Tents line the sidewalk on Clay Street on December 9, 2020, in Portland, Oregon

Lawmakers also targeted his livelihood by banning the sale of magazines with 10 or more rounds in 2022 and then banning the sale or import of 'assault weapons' in 2023.

A combination of strict COVID-19 policies and the new gun laws caused Zielinski to move to Idaho and open his own gun shop, which has been in business for four months.

Thanks to these west coast transplants, Idaho's small towns are becoming less small everyday.

Sandpoint, in Idaho's Bonner County, grew 13 percent from 2020 to 2022. And although towns adding to their population sounds inherently good, there are some drawbacks.

Idaho natives are dealing with rising home prices, new developments in what used to be open fields and wooded areas, and more traffic clogging up their previously sleepy roads.

'Growing up in a wide-open space like this, people get used to having elbow room,' Bonner County Commissioner Luke Omodt said. 'And we're struggling with the fact that there's other people that want to share the same beauty that we do.'
A woman who developed sepsis and had all her fingers and thumbs partially amputated after was bitten by one of her her pet dogs is suing paramedics who advised her not to go to hospital - and instead stay at home and take paracetamol.

Michelle Ellis, 45, from Plymouth was bitten twice by her family dog on January 13, 2021 on her right wrist and outer forearm.

Two days later she called an ambulance after developing 'flu like symptoms' and paramedics attended her home.

But despite suffering from a high temperature, breathlessness, shivering and with visible dog bite marks on her arm, they decided not to take her to hospital.

Michelle Ellis (pictured) was bitten twice by the family dog on January 13, 2021 - and called an ambulance two days later after developing ' flu like symptoms'

On her Facebook Ms Ellis shared this photo of two dogs. It is unknown which dog attacked her

She was instructed to strip off, cover herself with a sheet, use a fan to keep her temperature down and take some paracetamol to deal with the pain she was experiencing.

But her condition deteriorated and the next day she was rushed to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth where she suffered multi-organ failure.

She was put into an induced coma, had to be resuscitated twice and was diagnosed with sepsis.

READ MORE: Mother-of-four bitten by the family dog has to have both her hands amputated after she developed sepsis and was put in a coma Advertisement

Surgeons also had to carry out amputations on parts of all ten of her digits and she also had to undergo an emergency tracheostomy enabling her to breathe.

Ms Ellis, a mother-of-four is taking legal action against South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust for damages of more than 200,000 alleging the negligence of their paramedics led to these complications and has left her with life-long effects.

In a legal document, it does not identify the name or breed of the dog that bit Ms Ellis.

In the document her lawyer argued: 'The claimant's (Ms Ellis) injuries were caused or materially contributed to by the negligence of the Defendant (SWASFT), its servants or agents in the mismanagement of the Claimant's treatment.'

They state: 'Each of the paramedics and other clinical staff employed by the Defendant owed to the Claimant a duty of care in respect of the clinical advice, actions and treatment provided by them. The Defendant is vicariously liable for any breach of such duty.'

Ms Elli's lawyers also argue that when she was eventually taken to hospital, her dog marks were visible and recorded in the clinical notes.

The document maintains: 'They must, therefore, have been visible when paramedics attended the Claimant between 23.08 on 15 January 2021 and 00.23h the following day.'

Court documents also maintain that Ms Ellis is now unable to fully use her hands and has pain in her fingers.

The mother of four claims that she has been left with PTSD and also suffers from depression.

The document states: 'She has been left with significant cosmetic defects and significant loss of function in her hands which will be permanent. She also experiences pain and sensitivity in the tips of her index fingers which will probably improve but, if it does not, will require further surgery.'

Ms Ellis phoned for an ambulance two days after she was bitten by one of her dogs - but paramedics advised her against going to hospital and she later had her fingers and thumbs paritially amputated . Here she is pictured with a dog. It is unknown which dog attacked her

In the legal document, her lawyers argue that paramedics failed to take an adequate medical history when they attended Ms Ellis's home, especially the fact that she had been bitten by her dog just days earlier.

Lawyers allege that they were also negligent in failing to carry out a proper examination, notice the presence of dog bites, mottling to Ms Ellis's skin and her raised heart rate and temperature, which resulted in them not considering the possibility that she had contracted sepsis.

They argue that if she had been taken to hospital on that day then she would have been screened for the condition and avoided even more serious medical complications.

Her lawyers state: 'The Defendant's breaches of duty, and each of them, have therefore, caused or materially contributed to the Claimant exacerbation and development of sepsis and its sequale, and have resulted in otherwise avoidable amputations.'

A spokesperson for South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said: 'It would be inappropriate for us to comment at this stage.'
Two men have been jailed for stealing over 5.7million in cryptocurrency from 55 victims across the globe in a fraud plot that saw them amass a suitcase filled with 551,000 in cash and a 60,000 Banksy art work.

Jake Lee, 38, from Bath and James Heppel, 42, from Wiltshire spoofed the domain of online cryptocurrency exchange website Blockchain.com to gain access to their victims login details and Bitcoin wallets so they could steal their funds.

An investigation by the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) identified 55 victims from 26 different countries, including 11 from the UK.

Police put a restraint order on 835,000 in cash, including the 551,000 in the suitcase that was handed over voluntarily by Lee, 64,000 worth of cryptocurrency, a Banksy print worth 60,000 and three vehicles.

Jake Lee (left), 38, from Charlcombe in Bath and James Heppel (right), 42, from Staverton in Wiltshire both pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud

A confiscation order for nearly 1million was made against Lee, which will be used to compensate the victims.

The investigation started in 2018 after Lee was arrested on suspicion of money laundering.

Police seized 24,000 in cash, digital devices and three laminated Bitcoin wallet recovery seeds - a list of words printed or written on a piece of paper that can restore lost Bitcoin funds but can also be used to steal funds if someone else finds it.

The investigation unit found a link between Lee and a cryptocurrency scam they were looking at reported by a victim in Wiltshire who had 11,000 worth of Bitcoin stolen from his Blockchain wallet.

The 835,000 in cash that was seized from Lee and Heppel, including the 551,000 from the suitcase

The 60,000 Banksy print called 'Bomb Love' that police seized from the crypto fraudsters

Detective Sergeant Matt Brain from SWROCU's Regional Cyber Crime Unit said: 'We took on the investigation into Lee and when we analysed his devices, we established he was a central figure involved in a sophisticated domain spoofing fraud and worked to identify numerous victims.'

Lee and Heppel both pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud.

Lee was sentenced to four years and Heppel was sentenced to 15 months at Bristol Crown Court on Friday.

DS Brain said: 'Mapping out Lee and Heppel's offending and links to other suspects and cryptocurrency exchanges all over the world was complex work, but the fact they both pleaded guilty to all counts, negating the need for a six-week trial, shows the strength of evidence we secured against them.'

Pamela Jain, a specialist prosecutor with the Serious Economic Organised Crime International Directorate of the Crown Prosecution Service, said:

'Jake Lee and James Heppel defrauded people in 26 countries, including 11 victims in the UK, by diverting Bitcoin into wallets over which they had control.

'This was a complex and time-consuming prosecution which involved enquiries with numerous victims and prosecuting authorities all over the world.

'A substantial sum of money and assets have been seized. In addition to his prison sentence, the court also ordered Jake Lee to pay almost 1 million by way of a confiscation order which will enable the victims to be compensated. Confiscation proceedings against James Heppel are ongoing.

'Compensation orders force criminals to handover available money and assets or face having time added onto their prison sentence.'
Napa Valley's most elite wineries are panicking over their reputations being ruined as their fine wine is sold at discount prices.

It is a winery's worst nightmare for the product they dedicated years of time, effort and resources into to be sold at a price below its worth. When this happens, wine-drinkers don't see why they should pay full price after already purchasing it for a bargain price.

Even the most high-end wineries use schemes and tricks to tempt buyers. Businesses offer free shipping - to make customers feel like they're saving money while keeping the actual price of the wine high.

Other wineries networks of wine snobs to try and sell bottles down back-alleys, but this can be a risky game, wine experts have revealed, as some 'bad folks' will re-sell a bottle for a far cheaper price and destroy the brand.

The best wineries of Napa Valley have been fighting to keep the hefty price tags on their exclusive bottles as high as possible, which means fighting wine stores across the country who try to sell the luxury alcohol at a discount.

Napa Valley's most elite wineries are panicking over their reputations being ruined as their fine wine is sold at discount prices

Pictured: a 1500ml bottle of Realm Cellars' 2014 red magnum which is almost a whopping $4000

A bottle of Robert Craig Winery's 2019 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon costs $118 to buy straight from the Napa Valley winery. However, last month a San Francisco retailer sent out a promotional email offering the wine to its customers for $99.95.

Robert Craig's CEO, Elton Slone, said the promotion caused him 'sleepless nights' as customers began to complain that they had overpaid, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

'I can't even tell you how frustrating it is,' Slone said - as more retailers are now asking if they can sell the fine wine, awarded 97 points by critic Antonio Galloni, for less than $100.

Discounting in the world of fine wine is a huge no-go, as it's widely considered a brand killer.

But other Napa wineries are facing similar problems as they lose control over how distributors, stores and restaurants are choosing to price their wines.

Scott Becker is the owner of Realm Cellars in Napa - whose least expensive bottle costs $175 and most expensive bottle, a 1500ml bottle of their 2014 red magnum, is almost a whopping $4000.

Becker insists that pricing wines is a complicated process. 'There's an art and science to pricing,' he said.

The cost consists of taking into account the price of goods, which for Napa's finest wineries includes millions of dollars worth of prime California real estate and a whole team of staff and equipment to nurture the vineyards year-round.

On top of that - there are expert winemakers to be hired, tasting rooms to be built and brands to be designed and managed.

'It's not just the cost to produce that single bottle, but the overall investment into the project,' Becker said. 'Price also sends a signal, for better or worse, about quality.'

Some wineries hire special consultants to assist them with make-or-break decisions that could lead to great success or a huge loss.

Scott Becker is the owner of Realm Cellars in Napa - he insists that pricing wines is a complicated process: 'There's an art and science to pricing'

Kerrin Lax, owner of high-end Yountville wine shop and tasting room K. Laz Wine Collection, is an advisor for such businesses. 'I can tell them, "to me this is a $100 bottle of wine",' she said.

When the price is finally decided - there's almost no going back.

Employees of the wineries monitor websites and restaurant menus to make sure prices remain above a certain threshold.

If a wine is being sold for too cheap, some wineries will even go as far as to buy the bottle back to protect its prestige and reputation.

'You wouldn't walk into a Rolex shop expecting to get a discount on a Rolex,' says general manager of Calistoga's Venge Vineyards - whose wine typically retails at around $100.

When the company noticed that a Colorado store which was going out of business started selling their products at a clear-out sale price, they sent a distributor out to the location to pull all the bottles off the shelf, according to Williams.

However, luxury wine prices have been trending higher over the years - and while there used to be only a handful of wines that retailed for over $500, there are now many.

Even wine collectors are put off by the price tag of some expensive bottles.

Becker, who sells most of his wine for over $700, has softened his view on pricing over the years.

We want the retailer to be successful. If some of these promotional deals and sales tactics work, and it gets somebody to try your wine, then knock yourself out,' Becker said - adding that a consumer will reveal what the wine is worth.
A 15-year-old girl has died after taking what is believed to be a fentanyl-laced pill at her high school in Georgia.

The victim has been identified as Mia Dieguez and she went into cardiac arrest at Dunwoody High School on Monday.

She was taken to hospital where she was later pronounced dead. The school was placed under lockdown and the students were held back.

Police arrested a person in connection with her death on Monday, according to the school districts police department. But their identity and any charges are still unknown.

Mia Dieguez, 15, has died after taking what is believed to be a fentanyl-laced pill at her high school in Georgia

She went into cardiac arrest at Dunwoody High School on Monday

Dieguez suffered a medical emergency at the high school and went into cardiac arrest.

Her sister believes she died of an overdose from drugs that she was handed at school.

Paola Covarrubias claimed the young girl took a fentanyl-laced pill.

Tom Bass, principal at Dunwoody High School, wrote a letter to parents following the incident but said he would not share any information surrounding Dieguez's death.

'It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the tragic loss of a student today following a medical emergency while at school.

'We will not disclose additional information about the circumstances surrounding this student's passing out of respect for the family's privacy.

'We understand the gravity of the situation and have shared the news with our students, teachers and staff this afternoon,' he wrote.

'Our deepest sympathies remain with the students loved ones during this challenging period.'

He said it happened while many students were taking a test and they placed the school on lockdown to prevent anyone coming in or out.

Tom Bass, principal at Dunwoody High School, wrote a letter to parents following the incident but said he would not share any information surrounding Dieguez's death

Dieguez's sister believes she died of an overdose from drugs that she was handed at school

Thomas Tran, a student at Dunwoody High School, told WANF the girl's death was very concerning.

Thomas Tran, a student at Dunwoody High School, told WANF the girl's death was very concerning.

'It shows theres a really bad drug problem,' he said.

His father Long Tran, state representative for Dunwoody, said: 'It doesnt surprise me that teens would be taking drugs on campus, especially as we get closer to finals week.

'The pressure is going to be there, and for some students, theyre looking for an edge.'

Principal Bass added that the students and staff will be offered grief counselors and has encouraged parents to speak to their kids.

DailyMail.com has contacted the Dunwoody Police Department and Dunwoody High School for comment.
A faculty member at Arizona State University has been put on leave after he was seen aggressively confronting a female pro-Palestine protester.

Post-doctorate research scholar Jonathan Yudelman was filmed getting close to a woman wearing a head scarf and screaming at her at a pro-Israel protest near campus on Sunday.

When the woman said Yudelman was disrespecting her religious boundaries, he replied: 'You disrespect my sense of humanity b**ch!'

Yudelman appeared to continue to follow the woman as she seemed to be trying to get away.

It's not clear what happened before or after the filmed interaction.

Various pro-Palestine activists have shared the video on social media as they asked for the university to fire Yudelman.

Post-doctorate research scholar Jonathan Yudelman was filmed getting close to a woman wearing a head scarf and screaming at her

It's not clear what happened before or after the filmed interaction

As reported by 12News, Yudelman taught two courses at ASU last year: Great Debates in American Politics and Great Ideas in Politics and Ethics.

ASU said in a statement: 'ASU is aware of the allegations against Jonathan Yudelman and is investigating them.

'Dr. Yudelman is on leave and will remain so pending the outcome of the investigation.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to ASU for comment on this story.

Yudelman taught two courses at ASU last year: Great Debates in American Politics and Great Ideas in Politics and Ethics

Before Yudelman's outburst, he was interviewed by 12News and said he attended the pro-Israel rally to counter the message of pro-Palestine protesters across the country.

'I'm faculty... it was important to come out and make a statement for the community,' he said.

'I see what's going on across the country... campuses being taken over by supporters of terrorism [and] Jewish students being intimidated.'

The Council on American-Islamic Relations not only called for Yudelman's firing but also his arrest.

CAIR-AZ Executive Director Azza Abuseif said: 'CAIR-Arizona strongly condemns Professor Jonathan Yudelmans alleged harassment of an American Muslim woman near a pro-Israel demonstration.

'We call on Arizona State University to terminate his employment if these allegations are verified, and we call on law enforcement to investigate and file any appropriate criminal charges.'

Tensions continue growing on university campuses in the US this week, as graduation ceremonies are scheduled.

Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Chicago on Tuesday after administrators who had initially adopted a permissive approach said the protest had crossed a line and caused growing concerns about safety.

Tensions continue growing on university campuses in the US this week, as graduation ceremonies are scheduled

The confrontations come as campuses try tactics from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action to resolve the protests against the Israel-Hamas war

Students gather for a Pro-Palestinian protest at ASU last month

Tensions have continued to ratchet up in standoffs with protesters on campuses across the U.S.  and increasingly, in Europe  nearly three weeks into a movement launched by a protest at Columbia University.

Some colleges have cracked down immediately on protests against the Israel-Hamas war. Among those that have tolerated the tent encampments, some have begun to lose patience and call in police over concerns about disruptions to campus life, safety and the involvement of nonstudents.

Since April 18, just over 2,600 people have been arrested on the campuses of 50 colleges and universities, according to figures based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.

The confrontations come as campuses try tactics from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action to resolve the protests against the Israel-Hamas war and clear the way for commencements.
A Mexico City neighborhood, whose economy has flourished with lavish restaurants and immersive shopping experiences, has now turned into a hotbed for migrant encampments.

The locality of Juarez is often flooded with tourists staying at luxury hotels, visiting artisan bakeries, and partying the night away in speakeasy bars - but a recent influx of asylum seekers have transformed the up-and-coming landscape.

Dozens of colorful tents, housing migrants waiting with the hope of crossing into Texas at the border, have cropped up across the quaint streets of the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, residents in the swanky district flock to the new Soho House - where it costs around $2,800 a year to be a member. The exclusive club opened last year.

Natural wine bars serving caviar bumps, bicycle 'taco tours' and high-end clothing stores have also become a common sight in the gentrified locality - all while desperate asylum seekers pitch up on the sidewalk.

Two women pose at Soho House in Mexico City. Residents in the swanky district flock to the new Soho House - where it costs around $2,800 a year to be a member. The exclusive club opened just shy of a year ago

Natural wine bars, bicycle 'taco tours' and high-end clothing stores became a common sight in the locality - sitting alongside the migrant crisis in the neighborhood. Pictured: Soho House, Mexico City

While there is a section of Juarez where people are living their 'best life', another part of the neighborhood is ridden with migrants from other countries living in makeshift tents and seeking asylum (pictured)

The area, once titled 'Mexico City's Hottest Neighborhood' by Vogue, is a hub for digital nomads  remote workers who have moved to the city to take advantage of the lower cost and better standard of living.

But parts are now filled with migrants from other South American and island countries living in makeshift tents and seeking asylum.

Families from nations including Haiti and Venezuela continue to live in shelters on the streets, cooking over open fires, bathing in water taken from fountains while waiting for an opportunity to request asylum at the US border.

Once known for its leafy streets and historic architecture, Juarez has slowly turned into a haven for migrants as Mexican authorities continue to set up extensive checkpoints and increase deportation in other parts of the country.

Pictured: A speakeasy bar in the Juarez district

The area, once titled 'Mexico City's Hottest Neighborhood' by Vogue, very soon became a hub for digital nomads. Pictured: An artisanal bakery in Mexico City

Families from nations including Haiti and Venezuela continue to live in shelters, cooking over open fires, bathing in water taken from fountains while waiting for an opportunity to request asylum at the US border

The locality of Juarez used to be flooded with tourists staying at luxury Airbnbs and visiting artisan bakeries (pictured)

Karenis Alvarez, 36, a Venezuelan migrant told LA Times that living in tents is far better than what her life was in her own country.

'We have a place to sleep. Even if it's a tent', said Alvarez.

But not all migrants are delighted living in Mexico City.

Marc Arthur Garcon, a 52-year-old Haitian who works for a butcher moved to Nicaragua in 2021 after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise plunged Haiti into turmoil.

But in 2024, Garcon says he is tired of how little he earns in the city - just $16 for each 12-hour shift and worries about growing annoyance from neighbors.

'I'm really frustrated,' he told the publication.

Thousands of migrants arrive to Ciudad Juarez aboard the train coming from the city of Chihuahua

Haitian migrants camp out at the Giordano Bruno plaza in Mexico City

A Haitian migrant child inside a shelter in the San Luis Tlaxialtemalco Forest in Mexico City

Migrants eat on mats inside a shelter in the San Luis Tlaxialtemalco Forest in Mexico City

The sprawling encampment also has locals divided - with one section launching protests chanting 'the street is not a shelter' during a recent demonstration.

They told local journalists that the migrants were making the area unsafe. But others within the Mexico City district have taken pity on their plight - and are trying to help out as much as they can.

Idelbrano Lopez, 40, a longtime resident told the publication that seeing kids spending a day after day on the street makes him sad and their unsanitary conditions leave him worried.

'As a human being, I want to help them but if we keep helping them, they might stay forever,' he said.

Some others said concerns about the migrants are a distraction from the issue of gentrification.

'They don't give us any problems. The real problem here is the rising costs, said 50-year-old Lorena Perez.

But for many, the question remains on what the future of Juarez looks like in the coming years.
A Texas attorney was shot dead by an irate McDonald's customer after he tried to calm him down and told him to stop shouting at staff about his order.

Jeffrey Limmer, 46, stepped in when a customer started shouting at McDonald's employees at the branch on 8147 Katy Freeway, Houston, on Saturday at 6pm.

Limmer tried to calm the man down and then as they fought outside the store, the angry man went to his car, pulled out a gun and shot him twice.

The gunman then fled the scene in an early 2000s blue Ford pickup truck and has not yet been identified.

Limmer's sister, Jennifer Thomas, told ABC13 it was unsurprising Limmer had stepped in, saying, 'he's always wanted to fight for the little guy and do the right thing.'

Jeffrey Limmer, 46, stepped in when a customer started shouting at McDonald's employees at the branch on 8147 Katy Freeway, Houston, on Saturday at 6pm

He tried to calm the man down and then as they walked out of the store together arguing, the angry man walked to his car, pulled out a gun and shot him

According to Thomas, Limmer lived near to the McDonald's and went there often.

He worked as an attorney in a local law office, Lewis Brisbois, having attended the University of Texas and then graduated law school at South Texas College of Law.

Thomas said he had likely gone to the McDonald's on Saturday evening to get some work done.

She said he had spent all of his career trying to help others, so she wasn't surprised to hear that he had tried to help the employees.

'Knowing Jeff, he's the one who always says, "Calm down. It's not that big of a deal," and divert the situation', she said.

'He's always wanted to fight for the little guy and do the right thing.'

She said he was a 'good Samaritan who is trying to do the right thing and not letting those employees at McDonalds go through that.'

The Houston Police Department responded to reports of a shooting at 8147 Katy Freeway at about 6pm on Saturday.

A customer at the McDonald's was angry with his order and had started shouting at employees, detectives told ABC7.

Limmer tried to calm the customer down and drew his attention from the staff.

They started arguing and then fighting outside the store.

Limmer's sister, Jennifer Thomas, told ABC13 it was unsurprising he had stepped in, saying, 'he's always wanted to fight for the little guy and do the right thing.'

Thomas said he had likely gone to the McDonald's on Saturday evening to get some work done

She said he was a 'good Samaritan who is trying to do the right thing and not letting those employees at McDonalds go through that'

Limmer pushed the angry customer to the floor, according to the detectives, and then the man got off the floor and ran to his car.

He took a gun out of his car and shot Limmer twice, before fleeing in his pickup truck.

Limmer then ran back into the McDonalds where staff called paramedics.

His friend, Greg Monteverde, told Fox26: 'Utilizing cuss words and other profanities, Jeff stepped in to try and de-escalate the situation try and calm him down. I thought it was brave. I respect it.

'I think a lot of us knew Jeff to be that type of individual. In school, he would invite somebody who wasn't the most popular student to a party or things like that.'

He added: 'He's in Heaven. He's looking down on all of us saying it's going to be OK.'

The suspect has not yet been identified.
Students at the Queen's University Belfast have staged a sit-in protest on campus calling for the removal of Hillary Clinton as chancellor.

In a statement, the QUB Palestine Assembly said they want to see a democratic election process for the next chancellor.

The group is also calling for Queen's to end all ties with universities in Israel, to issue a statement 'condemning Israel's mass killing of Palestinians and deliberate destruction of Gaza's educational infrastructure' and offer sanctuary status to Palestinian academics and students.

They have also condemned terminology and some content used in the university's deeply divided societies course around Palestine.

The group said further action will be discussed among members.

Students at the Queen's University Belfast have staged a sit-in protest on campus calling for the removal of Hillary Clinton as chancellor

In a statement the QUB Palestine Assembly said they want to see a democratic election process for the next chancellor

They have also condemned terminology and some content used in the university's deeply divided societies course around Palestine

Hillary Clinton become Queen's University Belfast's chancellor in 2020

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll attended the sit-in. 'I think it's very, very important that they've done this,' he said.

'Hopefully the students can force management to act. This place, as many universities do, has a history of people standing up against oppression and these students are following their friends and fellow students in America and at Trinity [College, Dublin].

'I want to commend them and extend whatever solidarity I can to them.'

Responding, a Queen's University spokesperson said they recognise and defend the right to protest, but said it is essential that those who want to go about their business on campus can do so.

The group is also calling for Queen's to end all ties with universities in Israel

Students were seen holding a sit-in today

They held cardboard signs that read 'remove Hillary' and 'We stand with Palestine'

'Queen's University Belfast is committed to freedom of expression, the right to hold a range of views, and the promotion and protection of the right to protest,' they said.

'This applies to our students, academics and professional staff, and indeed the wider public.

'During recent months, we have met individuals and representatives of many organisations, including trade unions, students union and many other interest groups.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters descended on Downing Street this evening to voice their concern about Israel's attack on Rafah

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament claimed as many as 5,000 people were protesting outside Number 10 on Tuesday evening

'We have had constructive discussions, listened to concerns and ideas, and exchanged views in an atmosphere of mutual respect, with a genuine desire to find solutions and common ground on a range of issues, and we will continue to do so.

'We accept there are different views on the Middle East. Queen's University is committed to freedom of thought and expression for students and staff within a framework of respect for the rights of other persons.

'While we will recognise and defend the right to protest and have voices heard, in a respectful and legal way, it is essential that those who want to go about their normal business on campus can freely and safely do so without interference.'

Meanwhile, thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters descended on Downing Street this evening to voice their concern about Israel's attack on Rafah.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament claimed as many as 5,000 people were protesting outside Number 10 on Tuesday evening.
Tap water that ranges in color from pale yellow to a deep orange is driving residents of one Illinois town to spend thousands of dollars on filtration systems in a bid to make it drinkable.

Not even toothpaste can disguise the taste of the polluted water flowing through the pipes of Eastwood Manor which is tempting some residents to abandon basic hygiene.

But regulators are refusing to put any pressure on the supplier to improve water quality because the Chicago suburb does not have more than 1,000 residents.

'The flavor of the water, even when I brush my teeth, is noticeable and then bathing it, if it's orange that day we most likely will skip showers and baths,' Stephanie Tesmer said. 'It tastes horrible. I'm very, very upset.'

EPA records show the water has contained excessive levels of iron for at least 10 years, consistently registering at more than one milligram per liter, which is considered 'unsatisfactory' by state regulators

Stephanie Tesmer is among residents of the Illinois suburb of Eastwood Manor who have endured years of foul-tasting discolored tap water

The tap water ranges in color from pale yellow to a deep orange and is tempting some residents to abandon basic hygiene

Mark Slovacek showed ABC7 the think orange sludge which had clogged up a previously white filter within two months of its installation

EPA records show the water has contained excessive levels of iron for at least 10 years, consistently registering at more than one milligram per liter, which is considered 'unsatisfactory' by state regulators.

The water company, Aqua, says they have brought levels down to 2.3 milligrams from a level 10 times what they were when they became the supplier in 2016.

But residents say the pollution is powerful enough to stain their clothes and leave expensive filters clogged with orange gunk within weeks of installation.

'The filter starts out white, as new, but this is only two months,' resident Mark Slovacek told ABC7.

'You can see all the all this orange slime. If we didn't have this filter this would be coming through our faucets.'

More than nine million Americans US homes still have lead pipes, potentially exposing residents to the toxic metal, with some of the highest concentrations in Illinois.

Lead causes heart disease by triggering high blood pressure, which happens because as the heavy metal builds up in the body it causes blood vessels to constrict reducing the amount of space blood has to flow through.

In babies and small children, it can also cause damage to the brain and central nervous system leading to language and speech problems and developmental delays.

But the state's Department of Health says the orange water does not pose a health hazard, and that iron is categorized as a 'secondary or aesthetic contaminant'.

Aqua insists that it complies with the state EPA regulations but experts told the station that some people are particularly vulnerable to too much iron.

'If you have a pre-existing condition, something like hemachromatosis, where it prevents your body from absorbing iron normally, that can be an issue,' said Dr Tasha Stoiber of the Environmental Working Group in DC.

But it is not just the vulnerable of Eastwood Manor who are fed up of soap that will not lather and a rusty residue on their skin.

Michael Clarke said the coloring was powerful enough to stain clothes and ceramics

Some have spent thousands of dollars on bottled water and filters to manage the problem

'It stains the toilets,' said neighbor Michael Clark. 'It stains the shower, it'll stain clothes.

'To put it on the residents to filter their own water doesn't seem to be very fair.'

Aqua said the problem stems from high levels of iron in the groundwater rather than in pipes and claimed it had 'exhausted efforts' at finding a quick fix.

It has however promised to install a 'permanent iron filtration treatment' by the beginning of next year.

'There are potent smells that come out and clearly that's yellow,' said resident Kyle Waggoner, pointing to a glass.

'This is a glass of yellow water. Fill the tub up a quarter way, halfway, and the water is yellow.'
A 16-year-old boy was shot in the head in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday, according to officials.

A suspect fled on a Citibike after the shooting, which happened just before 2.30pm, according to the New York Post.

Law enforcement sources told the outlet the shooting in Soho might have been 'school-related.'

The teen was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he died, an NYPD spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

Officers arrived at the scene, next to the Dominick Hotel, after receiving a 911 call and found the victim unconscious.

He had also been shot in the thigh, per the NYPD.

Police are currently searching for at least two suspects.

No arrests have been made.

This is a developing story.
A window washing firm has been fined $447,000 after a worker plunged to his death from a skyscraper when two safety lines on his harness snapped.

Nicholas J. Marks, 40, fell 29 stories from the 450-foot 100 Summer Street high-rise in downtown Boston on October 23 last year.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Massachusetts firm Sky Safety Inc. had been responsible for two willful, four serious and two repeat violations of workplace safety standards linked to Marks' death.

Marks tumbled hundreds of feet while climbing into a bosun chair and preparing to wash the windows of the Boston building when the anchor line snapped, and a second lifeline gave way as he fell.

Nicholas J. Marks, 40, fell 29 stories from the 450-foot 100 Summer Street high-rise in downtown Boston on October 23 last year

A window washing firm has been fined $447,000 after a worker plunged to his death from the 100 Summer Street skyscraper (pictured) when two safety lines on his harness snapped

'Surveillance video showed the employee setting up and the instance when the employee fell from the building,' the investigation report reads.

'The employee struck the parapet wall with such force there appeared to be damage to the wall.'

At the time of the tragedy, three ropes were visible hanging from one side of the skyscraper, and a fourth snapped line could be seen around 16 floors up.

'To ensure the safety of employees who work at heights, employers like Sky Safety Inc. must make their responsibility to provide comprehensive training on inspecting rope descent systems and fall protection equipment and components before each use an absolute priority,' OSHA Regional Administrator Galen Blanton said in a statement.

It's not the first time Sky Safety Inc. has been found responsible for unsafe working practices. The employer was previously cited for safety equipment violations while operating under another name: Hi-Rise Inc.

The alarm was raised over incidences of employees working on the McCormack State Office Building in downtown Boston in May 2019, and in August 2013 at 1 Congress St.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Massachusetts firm Sky Safety Inc. had been responsible for two willful, four serious and two repeat violations of workplace safety standards linked to Marks' death. (Pictured: The scene after Marks fell from the high-rise)

In the later incident, investigators found that the safety rope designed to protect employees from falls was 'badly damaged' and should have been removed from service.

The report added that the 'rope descent system was not protected against damaged from rough and narrow wall and angle iron surfaces'.

100 Summer Street is a landmark 32-story, 1.1 million square foot office tower located in Boston's financial district.

It's one of the tallest buildings in Boston with 360-degree views of the city and harbor.
An Israeli woman fell to her death while vacationing in Rio de Janeiro.

Alma Bohadana, 22, and another foreigner identified as Dan Hen were walking on a street in the Rio de Janeiro town of Santa Teresa on Monday when they were frightened by the sight of a motorcycle because they thought they were going to get robbed.

The pair took off running before Bohadana jumped over a wall and suffered a 49-foot fall into a forested area.

Paramedics pronounced the young woman dead at the scene.

Israeli tourist Alma Bohadana died on Monday in Rio de Janeiro after falling into a forest. Another tourist identified as Dan Hen told authorities they started running after they heard the loud sound of a motorcycle and thought they were going to get mugged. Bohadana jumped over a wall and suffered a 49-foot fall. Paramedics declared her dead at the scene

Law enforcement in Rio de Janeiro is investigating the death of Israeli tourist Alma Bohadana, who suffered a 49-foot fall into a forested area on Monday while reportedly running away from a motorcycle because she and another tourist thought they were going to be robbed

Hen, who was initially interviewed by police, did not say see if the person on the motorcycle was approaching them or if a weapon was brandished, Brazilian news outlet O Dia reported.

He was interrogated a second time and mentioned that a red vehicle approached them but a weapon was never flashed.

Hen was interviewed a third time and said that he and Bohadana had met at a hostel in Copacabana, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro.

Marcio da Silva told Brazilian news outlet G1 that he heard bystanders shouting for help and climbed down a hill to help the young woman.

'When I arrived, she was already on the floor passed out,' he said. 'I tried to save her life, but I couldn't.'

Alma Bohadana had been vacationing in Brazil for three months and 10 days. She spent the first 90 days of her trip in the northeastern city of Bahia before moving on to Rio de Janeiro 10 days ago

Hostel workers remembered Alma Bohadana as a 'loving person, she just smiled, sang and talked a lot'

Bohadana's death is being investigated by the Capital Homicide Police Station, which is looking into whether a motorcycle was in the area when she and the other tourist took off running.

Investigators will also be reviewing surveillance cameras in the area.

'Further steps are underway to clarify the facts and circumstances surrounding the woman's death,' the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police said in a statement.

Bohadana had been vacationing alone in Brazil for a little more than three months.

She spent her first 90 days in the northeastern city of Salvador and traveled down to stay in Rio de Janeiro 10 days ago.

Workers at the Salvador hostel where she stood at remembered Bohadana for her charisma and immersing herself into the Brazilian culture despite only speaking English.

'She was a loving person, she just smiled, sang and talked a lot,' a male employee told G1. 'She even made a drawing on a wall in our hostel.'

A female hostel staffer recalled Bohadana was 'always smiling, radiant, talkative, very intelligent.'

'She had learned to samba and shared a lot of her Israeli culture with me,' the woman said.

'Everyone in the hostel loved her and it was impossible to be different. She will stay here forever, with us, in the mandala that she painted with so much love in every detail.'
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie have laid out a list of demands for Speaker Mike Johnson - and are now holding off on their movement to oust him...for now.

'I am so done with words,' said Greene, who last week said she would 'absolutely' call up a motion to oust Johnson this week after huddling behind closed doors for hours. 'For me, it's all about action.'

Greene, R-Ga., along with Massie, R-Ky., are insisting the speaker commit to no more funding for Ukraine, among other demands.

Johnson spearheaded a $95 billion foreign policy bill that passed last month with Democrat support authorizing nearly $61 billion to Ukraine, along with billions to Israel and Taiwan.

He was forced to rely on support from Democrats as he presides over a tiny one-vote majority in the House, and it's challenging to get the unruly GOP conference in line.

'Not another red cent this year,' Massie said. 'Which is probably as long as he's going to be speaker if he survives using Democrat votes and motion to vacate assuming that he doesn't come through on some of these suggestions.'

Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene,left, and Thomas Massie, second from right, have laid out a list of demands for Speaker Mike Johnson - and are now holding off on their movement to oust him

Other demands included adhering to the so-called 'Hastert Rule' which means not bringing legislation to the floor that does not have the support of a majority of Republicans.

And another is to defund Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into former President Donald Trump for 'inciting' the January 6 riot and for his alleged mishandling of classified documents - which the Democratic-led Senate and White House would never agree to.

'You can't make things happen instantly. And we all are aware and understanding of that. So now the ball is in his court, and he's supposed to be reaching out to us, hopefully soon,' Greene said.

If Congress can't pass all 12 spending bills to fund the government in fiscal year 2025 by September 30, Greene and Massie want a continuing resolution to punt the deadline through the November elections with an automatic one percent cut.

He 'shacked up with Democrats to get FISA without warrants, to get the minibus passed, and to get the funding for Ukraine,' said Massie. 'It's time for him to come home now.'

Greene, Massie and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., have signed on to a motion to vacate - but have not made the motion 'privileged' which would force a vote within two legislative days.

Democrats have already said they would vote to table - or kill - the motion, essentially taking air out of the Republican trio's threat.

Still, Johnson spent close to two hours on Monday and again on Tuesday in his office with his biggest GOP antagonist, Greene.

Some Republicans have questioned why he would negotiate with Greene.

'It's not a negotiation,' he insisted. 'Everybody knows I have lengthy discussions, detailed discussions, on a daily basis with members across the conference.

Greene has increasingly found herself at odds with former President Donald Trump in her crusade against Johnson. Trump has publicly supported the speaker and noted the difficulties of operating under a one-vote majority.

Recent reports came to light of a phone call where Trump told Greene to back off of the ouster. Greene declined to share details on whether the former president is supportive of her motion.

Reporters swarm MTG and Massie to see if they will try to kick out Speaker Johnson

Greene, R-Ga., along with Massie, R-Ky., are insisting the speaker commit to no more funding for Ukraine

'I have to tell you, I love President Trump. My conversations with him are fantastic. And again, I'm not going to go into details. You want to know why I'm not insecure about that. And I don't have to go into the details here with you guys.

Just days ago she was dead-set on making her motion to vacate 'privileged' this week - a move that would force a House vote on whether or not to keep Johnson as speaker within two legislative days.

Asked if she would still trigger the motion, Greene said: 'That's up to Mike Johnson.'

Massie said they did not give Johnson a 'timeline' to agree to their demands, but it's pretty short.'

'Next week I am going to be calling this motion to vacate,' Greene declared just last week.

'Absolutely calling it. I can't wait to see Democrats go out and support a Republican speaker and have to go home to their primaries,' she taunted one day after Democrats said they would vote down Green's motion to oust the speaker, deflating her attempt.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. But before all that, Alex Cole-Hamilton.

Alphabetical order dictated that the Scottish Lib Dem leader was the first of four candidates to replace Humza Yousaf as First Minister to address a special meeting of the Scottish parliament yesterday afternoon.

Mr Cole-Hamilton, a man who carries an entirely unjustified air of self-satisfaction, didnt expect to win the contest but, anyway, hadnt everyone noticed how well the Lib Dems were doing in England and werent their Scottish poll ratings just splendid?

Democracy meant Mr Cole-Hamilton was given a full five minutes to indulge his fantasy of a Scottish Liberal Democrat rebirth before Tory leader Douglas Ross was invited to make his pitch.

New start: John Swinney with his wife Elizabeth Quigley at Bute House

Mr Ross  whose motion of no confidence pushed Mr Yousaf to resign  began by pointing out that it appeared the leader of the largest minority party at Holyrood was about to be made First Minister by the smallest party.

John Swinney began to laugh. These were the words hed spoken in 2003 when, as leader of the SNP opposition, he made his first pitch to become First Minister.

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon seemed generally unamused, frequently looking at the ceiling as Mr Ross tore into the SNPs record under her leadership.

Really. The audacity of people who refuse to bow before the Nicola.

Scottish Labours Anas Sarwar connected hammer with nail head.

The selection of Mr Swinney as the next leader of his party was nothing to do with what was best for Scotland and everything to do with managing a chaotic SNP.

The people of Scotland didnt want platitudes from Mr Swinney, they wanted action on issues that mattered to them.

Rising to his feet, Mr Swinney said he was greatly honoured to be his partys candidate.

This was, he said, a time of anniversaries  25 years since the establishment of the Scottish parliament, a decade since the independence referendum  but now it was time to look to the future.

Before looking to the future, Mr Swinney had another look at the past. He could not resist crowing over the SNPs accomplishments.

And what were they? How about free tuition fees and free prescriptions? How do you like them onions?

Them onions are well past their sell-by date. The prescriptions and tuition fees policies are now almost 20 years old.

The SNP campaigned on them in its successful 2007 run at Holyrood and promptly set about implementing both.

There are arguments to be made over the value of these policies but one thing is for certain, neither is evidence of a Scottish government overloaded with ideas and driven to bring about change.

That change would see his government reach out across party lines.

Mr Swinney also paid tribute to his predecessor, Mr Yousaf, who had served with distinction.

Insofar as Mr Yousaf was distinctly unsuited to the position of First Minister, this was an accurate analysis.

After the entirely unsurprising result of the vote was announced and Mr Swinney was confirmed as the nominee to be the seventh First Minister of Scotland, there were congratulations from opposition leaders, who paid sincere tribute to Mr Swinneys family for making the sacrifices necessary to support him in his role.

Mr Swinneys wife, the journalist Elizabeth Quigley, who was in the public gallery, lives with multiple sclerosis and he thanked her for making it possible for him to take on this new task.

At the close, Mr Swinney strode around the parliament chamber, warmly shaking the hands of all the opposition leaders. Perhaps he really has changed. Perhaps the days of division are over.

Im not so sure. Without turning its opponents into bogeymen, how can Scottish nationalism prevail?
Criminals may have to be freed from prison to tackle an overcrowding crisis, jail bosses have warned.

Seven prisons in Scotland are already at red risk status amid soaring numbers of inmates  raising fears they can no longer be safely run.

The Prison Governors Association Scotland (PGAS) has written to MSPs to voice concern at the permacrisis and to call for emergency release measures and greater use of electronic tagging.

There is a precedent as hundreds of convicts were freed early during the pandemic to reduce the virus risk behind bars  although more than 40 per cent ended up back in jail.

Seven prisons in Scotland are already at red risk status  raising fears they can no longer be safely run

Prisoner numbers are already at the highest level since 2019, at around 8,200, while the remand population, those awaiting trial or sentence, has nearly doubled over the past five years to around 2,000  mainly due to court backlogs.

Ministers predict the total will hit 8,450 by next month, causing significant overcrowding and requiring cells to hold more people than they are designed for.

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Russell Findlay last night said: A succession of dithering and weak SNP justice ministers has allowed Scotlands prisons to reach a state of permanent crisis.

Staff are paying the price for their shocking failure to build much-needed new prisons.

Of the countrys 17 jails, the PGAS said seven have declared a red risk.

This means the Scottish Prison Service may be required to reduce or discontinue service delivery for those in SPS care [prisoners], leading to increased operational risks, instability and reputational damage.

In a letter to Holyroods criminal justice committee, PGAS chair Natalie Beal said: Our members are working in a state of permacrisis, with constant pressures due to a mix of population complexity and physical numbers.

We are concerned emergency action will only be taken when something goes significantly wrong.

We would welcome the consideration of urgent mitigation in the form of emergency release measures, greater use of electronic monitoring  particularly used instead of remand.

The latest official figures from the SPS show there were 8,198 people in custody as of April 26.

At the end of April last year, the prison population was 7,361.

An SPS spokesman said: We have a population which is rising rapidly and is increasingly complex, and this is putting significant pressure on our staff.

The complexity is driven by the high number who require to be accommodated separately, for example because they are on remand, have links to serious and organised crime, or due to their offending history, all of which exacerbates the challenges faced.

Many of our establishments are full beyond design capacity. This restricts our staffs ability to support rehabilitation which is key to reducing reoffending.

The Scottish Government said it is focused on addressing the high prison population, including investing in community-based sentences which can be more effective at reducing reoffending.

Thinning blue line as police cuts bite

Police numbers in Scotland have dropped to their lowest level in 16 years  with 259 officers leaving the force in the past year.

Scottish Government data shows Police Scotland had 16,356 full time equivalent officers at the end of March  the lowest figure since September 2008.

Declining force: Police Scotland

The decline in frontline officers comes after police chiefs said the force would no longer investigate minor crimes under a new proportionate response approach.

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Russell Findlay said: This latest alarming drop highlights how Police Scotlands ability to tackle crime is being undermined by the SNP Government. Ministers expect falling numbers of officers to do more with less.

Police Scotland said: Recruitment was delayed in 2023 to ensure policing was delivered on budget. We re-started recruitment in March.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: Scotland has more police per head of population than England.
The FBI has laid out horrifying claims against a husband who is accused of kidnaping his wife in Spain before fleeing to Miami.

David Knezevich was arrested on Saturday on his return to the United States from his home country Serbia in connection with the disappearance of Ana Maria Knezevich Henao.

She was declared missing on February 5 after she failed to meet a friend to travel from Madrid to Barcelona for a conference.

Her husband has been charged with kidnap and the FBI allege he spray painted security camera lenses outside her apartment on February 2 and left an hour later carrying a suitcase.

But authorities have given no indication about what has happened to Ana Maria.

The FBI has laid out horrifying claims against a husband who is accused of kidnaping his wife in Spain before fleeing to Miami

David Knezevich was arrested on Saturday on his return to the United States from his home country Serbia in connection with the disappearance of Ana Maria Knezevich Henao

She was declared missing on February 5 after she failed to meet a friend to travel from Madrid to Barcelona for a conference

Knezevich flew into Miami last weekend where the FBI and officials from the Spanish National Police arrested him.

Investigators claim there is a video of the 36-year-old business owner buying the same brand of paint and duct tape hours earlier.

They allegedly interviewed a woman who insists Knezevich asked her to translate a text which was sent to his wife's friends after she disappeared.

His attorney Ken Padowitz has said his client is innocent and was in Serbia on the day his wife disappeared.

But the FBI claim he rented a Peugeot in Belgrade four days earlier. They added that a Spanish driver reported that his license plates were stolen.

While on the night Ana Maria went missing, the stolen plate number was recorded by Spanish police.

Authorities also claim that hours after she disappeared, a Peugeot with the stolen license plates went through a toll in Madrid but the driver could not be identified through the tinted windows.

When the car was returned by Knezevich five weeks later, the license plates had been changed and the windows had been tinted, according to the rental agency, and the car had been driven almost 4,800 miles.

Knezevich had been married for 13 years but the couple had been going through a difficult separation when she went missing, according to her friends and family.

An 11-page FBI complaint included allegations from an anonymous Colombian woman who he allegedly met on a dating app last fall.

He allegedly messaged the woman to ask if she would translate a few English sentences into 'perfect Colombian' Spanish for someone who was writing a screenplay.

But she said she did not speak English and would have to use an online translator which he said was fine, according to investigators.

Authorities have given no indication about what has happened to Ana Maria

Knezevich had been married for 13 years but the couple had been going through a difficult separation when she went missing, according to her friends and family

Ana Knezevich had been going through a 'tough' divorce from husband David when she went missing in Madrid on February 2

The FBI said he sent the woman a passage in English which read: 'I met someone wonderful. He has a summer house about 2h (two hours) from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. There is barely any signal though. I will call you when I come back. Kisses.'

She then translated it and sent it back and the message was sent to two of Ana Maria's friends, according to investigators.

They said the message didn't sound like her and told the police who launched an investigation.

Henao had reportedly moved to Madrid at the end of 2023 partly to get away from her husband.

Investigators recovered surveillance footage of a man in a motorcycle helmet hanging around Henao's Madrid apartment on February 2, the day before friends lost contact with her.

He was spotted waiting for people to exit the building before slipping inside at around 9:30pm.

The same man is believed to have spray-painted the lens of two security cameras of the apartment building in Madrids upscale Salamanca neighborhood.

Knezevich's friend, Sanna Rameau, told DailyMail.com she last exchanged messages with her on February 2.

The last message from Knezevich's WhatsApp account, sent the following day, said she had 'met someone wonderful.'

'He has a summer house about 2h from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. Signal is Spotty. I'll call you when I get back,' it read.

Another message detailed the circumstances of their first encounter, claiming they met on the street. 'Amazing connection. Like I never had before,' it read.

The couple got married in 2011 and moved to the south Florida city of Fort Lauderdale

Her family became concerned after they started receiving text messages in Spanish from Ana Maria's phone that did not sound like they were written by the Colombia native.

'That message in Spanish, it is like its translated from Google . It's not her. She doesn't say those things. Like nobody in Spanish will say it like that,' her brother said.

Knezevich and her husband, also known as Dusan, had yet to formally file for divorce at the time of her disappearance.

A March 12 report from Spanish publication El Cierre Digital cited 'sources close to the case' who claimed the Scientific Police found biological remains in the missing woman's living accommodations.

But her brother, Felipe Henao, recently appeared on NewsNation's 'Cuomo' with a desperate plea to the public and denied the report about the remains, saying the family is still desperate for answers.

'We want to know the truth. We want to know where my sister is,' Henao said. 'If anybody has any information, any tips please reach out to the FBI or the Spanish authorities.'

When asked about the supposed discovery of biological remains in her apartment, Henao said he asked the FBI if the report was true and 'they told me it isn't.'

There was no further details on the specifics of the remains found.

Investigators 'dont want to share any information, because it could jeopardize the case. I understand. Justice moves slow,' Henao added.

He said her case was being treated as matter of domestic violence as it moved through the court system, and a case of forced disappearance rather than voluntary.

The couple ran a successful computer support and repair business from their home in Fort Lauderdale.

Ana Maria and Sanna had traveled extensively on holidays together and were in daily communication as she hunted for a new apartment in the Spanish capital.
Dolphins at a once-popular Bahamas tourist attraction have reportedly been abandoned and left to starve after the facility shut down during the pandemic.

Eight dolphins have died and five remain deserted and starving at Blackbeard Cay, on Balmoral Island in Nassau, Bahamas, according to Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project.

The non-profit said from 2018 to present day eight out of a total of 13 dolphins have died at the facility. Five of which died in 2023 alone and at least three are said to be caused by starvation.

O'Barry said he visited the desolate facility and noted the surviving dolphins looked underweight and appeared to be suffering from malnutrition and dehydration.

'The five survivors are in a world of trouble from everything I have seen. From critical food (and water) deprivation to lack of critically needed shade, and electricity, from potential hazards within the dolphins' enclosures to lack of proper medical care, it would be more appropriate to state that survivors are living a nightmare,' O'Barry said.

Eight dolphins have died and five remain deserted and starving at Blackbeard Cay, on Balmoral Island in Nassau, Bahamas, according to Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project

O'Barry said he visited the desolate facility and noted the surviving dolphins looked underweight and appeared to be suffering from malnutrition and dehydration

O'Barry met with the one remaining caretaker at the facility, Luis Arturo Hernandez, who confirmed the desolate conditions

He said there is a lack of electricity and running water on the property and noted a small generator on-site hasn't been working for the past six months.

A lack of electricity means the facility does not have the ability to keep the dolphin's food frozen and captured photos of semi-frozen open boxes of fish sitting in a freezer with no power.

O'Barry met with the one remaining caretaker at the facility, Luis Arturo Hernandez, who confirmed the desolate conditions.

'He's been with these dolphins for eight years He has no electricity whatsoever, he's like a homeless guy living on the island,' O'Barry told Yahoo News.

'I was shocked. It's so beautiful out there on the island, the water is gin-clear. But that doesn't work in their favor because the water is too shallow and in the summer time it heats up. They really suffer.'

In 2013, eight dolphins were imported from Honduras to the tourist attraction and produced five offspring at the facility.

Environmental activist Sam Duncombe sued the government to get the dolphins moved to a safer location away from tourist and hurricane exposure, yet no changes were made.

According to the Dolphin Project, Duncombe met with the Bahamian government to express her concerns regarding the conditions and offered that the non-profit would fund recovery measures.

He said there is a lack of electricity and running water on the property and said it looked in a state of disarray

Semi-frozen open boxes of fish were photographed sitting in a freezer with no power on the facility

'The government of the Bahamas has a unique opportunity to "get ahead" of the horrifying and heartbreaking reality surrounding the deaths of one of the world's most beloved animals,' Duncombe said.

'This is a chance to take decisive action and demonstrate commitment to upholding animal welfare standards, thereby restoring trust and goodwill both locally and internationally.'

However, the organization said when Duncombe attempted to follow up with the government, they seized communication.

'We have offered to buy them fish and get them first aid  they need veterinarians,' O'Barry said.

'I first went there on March 31, and I didn't want to blow the whistle on them. I wanted to give them every benefit to do the right thing. And they just ignored us hoping we would go away. And now, here we are.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Bahamas Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources who had no information on the matter and the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism for comment.
Why did he do it? All the drama over the past couple of weeks  from the almighty strop taken by the Scottish Greens, to Alex Salmonds brief return to relevance, to John Swinneys unlikely recasting as Scotlands latest Father of the Nation  has rather obscured this question.

Why, two weeks ago, did Humza Yousaf suddenly pull the plug on his Green partners, crashing his political career in the process?

As the dust settles on an extraordinary few days in Scottish politics, its a question worth returning to.

The answer, I believe, tells us something important about where Scotland stands as we begin the long run-in to the 2026 Holyrood election.

Its also, Id suggest, a cause for optimism.

The answer to why Humza pulled the plug on his deal with the Greens tells us something important about where Scotland stands, says Eddie Barnes

Mr Yousaf wasnt specific about his reasons when he held his fateful press conference two weeks ago.

The pact with the Greens had simply run its course, he declared. Perhaps he didnt want to spell it out.

The truth was quite simple: with possibly just weeks to run before a general election, Mr Yousaf junked the Greens because the deal had become politically toxic for the SNP, synonymous across Scotland with broken promises (on, for example, the environment), cock-ups (on, for example, the bottle deposit scheme) and fringe cultural issues (on, for example, trans rights).

The way the SNP and the Greens were running Scotland was going to cost the SNP seats, and it needed to change.

That final sentence sounds like the ultimate statement of the bleeding obvious but, in our strange political culture in Scotland, it marks a significant break with the recent past and from the way politics has been conducted here for the ten long years since our era-defining referendum.

Let Professor Sir John Curtice, the great polling guru, explain.

The thing Ive picked up, Sir John said at the weekend, is that whereas as recently as 2022, peoples willingness to vote for the SNP was unrelated to their attitudes to the state of the health service and so on, now they are.

Therefore the insulation of the constitutional question that has been around them for a long time, and indeed has become thicker and thicker over time, has been punctured.

In short, the 2014 referendum changed our political culture.

It saw people identify as either Yes people or No people. The SNP benefited as the party of Yes, a position that hardened even further after the Brexit referendum.

As Sir John notes, the SNP discovered it was therefore insulated from the usual wear and tear that afflicts political parties in office, when the trains stop running on time or when the health service stops working.

This insulation meant that, in 2021, Nicola Sturgeon

could bring the Greens into government without needing to worry too much about whether theyd be any good at governing. Here was our Yes government in action.

What has changed, however, is that the umbilical link that connected pro-independence voters to the SNP and the Greens has weakened.

Many of these people have had enough of the way the SNP (and the Greens) have been running the country.

In focus groups, what used to be our Scottish Government is now viewed, one UK Government source tells me, in the same negative light as everybody else in power. It no longer gets the benefit of the doubt.

A significant poll last week found that more people now believe a Labour-led Scottish Government would do a better job of running Scotland than an SNP-led one.

Many pro-independence voters will agree with that. The constitutional connection they felt with the SNP no longer blinds many of them to the failings the government has overseen. Hence the reason Mr Yousaf had to act to change the government.

It suggests that after a decade-long hangover following the referendum, Scotland may finally be returning to something approaching normality.

Another pollster, Peter Kellner of YouGov, recently took a deep dive into Scottish political attitudes.

His verdict was that, for the first time since the referendum, the next general election will be fought in Scotland on competence not the constitution.

I note that the salience of constitutional matters  or how much they mean to voters when they cast their vote  is at its lowest ebb since the 2014 referendum.

We are, perhaps, finally beginning to move on.

We can all feel it, I think. The Westminster circus that helped feed Scotlands constitutional fervour has begun to wane: not even Tory rebels these days can be bothered to muster much of a rebellion against Rishi Sunak. The crazy show is over.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, the referendum era is beginning slowly to slip into history. The totemic ruling of the Supreme Court, preventing a Holyrood-run poll, has deflated the SNPs campaign entirely.

And Father Time has been cruel for nationalism. These days the entire constitutional debate has grown stale and  frankly  very boring, symbolised best by the unreported papers on independence that the SNP government still insists on producing.

Its not all over, I should say: many Scots still want the ability to yank the emergency cord if the UK once again acts like a runaway train.

Pro-independence voters are not necessarily changing their minds  its just that these same Scots would really rather not have to break the glass on the UK, not when a scary world of pandemics, war and insecurity threatens our futures, thanks very much.

The fact the SNP has happily swapped first activist Mr Yousaf in favour of the softly-softly leadership of John Swinney suggests the Nationalists know it too.

Two-and-a-half years ago, in my first column in this space, I wrote that thanks to our unrelenting constitutional cold war, Scotland had got stuck.

Today  in what is my last regular column here  I think we can finally begin to detect a shift in the weather. Were not yet unstuck but peer ahead and its possible to make some predictions.

Those weakening ties between constitutional allegiance and voter behaviour will put the SNP under greater pressure to deliver better outcomes.

It means itll get judged more and more on its actions.

Failure to deliver will mean that at the 2026 election, the SNP may well shed seats.

That in turn could lead to a parliament similar to the one we elected in 2007 when the two largest parties  the SNP and Labour  were practically neck and neck.

And that would mark a welcome shift. Such a parliament would require Nationalist and Unionist parties to cross the constitutional no mans land and seek to work together. It would necessitate consensus and seriousness.

It might just see MSPs tackling the deepening challenges Scotland faces and grabbing the many opportunities that are there for the taking.

Its not a time for gloom, in other words. Scotland has extraordinary strengths, a talented workforce and can reasonably claim to be leading Britain in many of the new industries and sectors that will drive wealth creation over the coming years.

If our politics at Holyrood can catch up with the ambitious nation around it that wants to get on in the world, then there is plenty of cause for hope.
Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher touted Dundee as a potential manufacturing hub for smart watches, newly released documents show.

Government correspondence from 1983 shows reclusive Norwegian billionaire Fred Olsen, the owner of the watch manufacturer Timex, had informed Mrs Thatcher that his company was on the cusp of a technological breakthrough.

In a private briefing for the then PM he claimed his firm would soon pioneer a ground-breaking concept: watches linked to computers and which had screens capable of showing moving images.

Pioneering: Smart watch

The revelation led Mrs Thatcher to urge Mr Olsen to choose Dundee as a base for research, development and production of what were referred to as wrist computers.

A briefing note from February 1983, seen by The Times, states: Olsen predicts five years of difficulty before expansion.

Also he predicts a revolutionary development in timepieces towards what he calls a wrist instrument, bringing together watch, computer and possibly even flat-screen television technology.

The note suggested there was potential for technology not yet available anywhere in the world to be developed in Dundee.

Timex came to Dundee in 1946, starting with 11 employees in a converted farm building. By the 1970s it had grown to become Dundees biggest employer, with 5,000 people on its books.

Wrote letter: Mrs Thatcher

However, by the 1980s, demand for traditional mechanical watches had slumped and more than 1,000 workers were made redundant.

The decline prompted Mrs Thatcher to write: Dundee has established a clear lead in the manufacture of computers.

I ask, therefore, to give consideration to establishing Dundee as the flagship of the Timex electronics business by giving Dundee key responsibility worldwide for research and development in this field.

The proposals failed to materialise, with Timex leaving Dundee in 1993 after an industrial dispute.
The parents of Perth brothers Callum and Jake Robinson, who were were killed during a surfing trip in Mexico, have spoken emotionally after flying over to the country and identifying their remains.

Martin and Debra Robinson broke down in tears as they spoke from San Diego, California, on Tuesday (local time).

Callum, 33, and Jake, 30, and their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, were killed in what authorities suspect was a robbery that escalated when the surfing trio resisted attempts to take their ute.

They had been camping at San Miguel beach in the Mexican state of Baja California when they were reported missing on April 27.

Their bodies were eventually found in a 50-foot well on a cliffside property nearby, along with that of another local ranch owner.

Martin and Debra Robinson broke down in tears as spoke from San Diego, California, on Tuesday (local time), where they shared their heartbreak over their son's deaths

'It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Callum and Jake have been murdered,' Ms Robinson said

'It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Callum and Jake have been murdered,' Ms Robinson said.

'Our hearts are broken and the world has become a darker place for us.

'We also mourn the loss of Carter Rhoad, a close friend.

'They were young men enjoying their passion of surfing together.

'Now it's time to bring ... them home to family and friends - and the ocean waves in Australia. Please live bigger, shine brighter and love harder in their memory.'

She said thanked those who had offered their condolences and said they had been 'overwhelmed with the outpouring of emotions and support'.

'We have always been very proud of their academic and sporting achievements and admired their life choices as,' she said.

Martin and Debra Robinson (pictured) break down as they speak about their heartbreak

Mexico police allege the Perth surfers and Mr Rhoad were shot in the head by locals attempting to steal the tyres from their pick-up truck

She spoke of Callum's 'larger than life character' and his sporting achievement, playing professional lacrosse in America.

She described Jake as a 'happy, gentle and compassionate soul' who was pursuing a career in medicine and about to take up a new job in Geelong - close to some of Victoria's best surf beaches.

'Jake's passion was surfing and it was no coincidence that many of his hospitals that he worked in were close to surfing beaches.'

Their comments come after the pair visited the morgue in Ensenada, Mexico, to identify their sons' bodies on Sunday (local time).

Mexico police allege the Perth surfers and Mr Rhoad were shot in the head by locals attempting to steal the tyres from their Chevrolet pick-up truck.

Mexican authorities have arrested three people - Jesus Gerardo Garcia Cota, Ari Gisel Garcia Cota and Cristian Alejandro Garcia - who were all allegedly found in possession of drugs.

The charges they will face were yet to be announced while authorities awaited formal confirmation of the bodies.

Brothers Jesus Gerardo Garcia Cota and Cristian Alejandro Garciawere two of the three arrested in the suspicious deaths of two Australian brothers, Callum and Jake Robinson and American Jack Carter Rhoad
A man has appeared in court charged with attempted murder after an officer was 'chased down the road with a chainsaw' following a police car crash which left two injured.

Liridon Kastrati, 30, is also accused of a number of road traffic offences following a car crash on Glasgow Road in Paisley, Renfrewshire, yesterday afternoon.

Dramatic footage posted on social media showed one of the cops being chased down the street by a man wielding a chainsaw.

Glasgow Road was closed between Buchlyvie Road and Allanton Avenue for a number of hours, but has since reopened.

Kastrati made no plea and has been committed for further examination.

Liridon Kastrati, 30, appeared in court charged with attempted murder after an officer was 'chased down the road with a chainsaw' in Paisley

The incident in Paisley, Renfrewshire saw a police vehicle collide with a wall and two officers treated by paramedics

He has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Paisley Sheriff Court again in eight days time.

Footage of the scene showed a man dressed in a grey top and black trousers yelling as he allegedly sprinted towards an officer, while wielding a large weapon.

Around a dozen officers swarmed to the road with images from the scene showing a police patrol car crashed into the wall of a nearby house after an alleged collision between motors during the chase.

A dark coloured Volkswagen is also seen with its front badly damaged.

The smash saw the two injured officers requiring treatment from paramedics.

Police have since assured concerned residents that there is not wider risk to the public and there have been no other injuries reported.

Other footage shows police officers scrambling to the scene as they restrain an individual on the pavement with the help of have-ago-heroes who were passing by.

A number of officers were seen bundling a person to the floor before more officers sprint to their aid.

Plain clothed officers also then emerge to help their colleagues at the scene outside a dental surgery.

Glasgow Road was closed between Buchlyvie Road and Allanton Avenue, but has since reopened.

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said earlier: 'A 30-year-old man has been arrested and charged following a disturbance involving a weapon, and a collision on Glasgow Road in Paisley.

'Two officers were injured and were treated by paramedics.

'The 30-yr-old man is due to appear at Paisley Sheriff Court on Tuesday, May 7.'

'It's a busy road but it's the first time I've seen the likes of this,' one local told the Scottish Sun.

'Thankfully no one appears to have been seriously hurt which is the main thing.'

A statement from Police Scotland yesterday said: 'Around 1pm on Monday, 6 May, 2024, a disturbance involving a weapon occurred following a collision involving a car and a stationary police vehicle on Glasgow Road in Paisley.

'There is no wider risk to the public and officers remain at the scene while enquires are ongoing.

'Glasgow Road is closed between Buchlyvie Road and Allanton Avenue. Drivers are asked to avoid the area and use an alternative route.'

MailOnline has contacted the Scottish Ambulance Service for comment.
The mastermind behind the world's most dangerous ransomware gang Lockbit that carried out damaging cyber attacks on Royal Mail and Porton Down has been unmasked as a Russian hacker.

The National Crime Agency has identified the Russian national behind the cybercrime group as Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev.

The alleged leader's identity was revealed following the dramatic seizure of the criminal gang's infrastructure in February, and Khoroshev now faces asset freezes and travel bans.

He has been sanctioned by the UK, US, and Australia as a result of the unmasking.

'These sanctions are hugely significant and show that there is no hiding place for cyber criminals like Dmitry Khoroshev, who wreak havoc across the globe,' Graeme Biggar, Director General of Britain's National Crime Agency, said in a statement.

'He was certain he could remain anonymous, but he was wrong'.

The National Crime Agency has identified the Russian national behind the cybercrime group LockBit as Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev

Visitors to the Lockbit website saw a message saying it is 'under the control of law enforcement' in February

Khoroshev, who paraded himself online under the moniker LockBitSupp, was notoriously so certain of his anonymity that he once offered a staggering 8million reward to anyone who could reveal his identity.

The US government is now offering a reward of up to $10million for anyone who can provide information that will lead to his arrest or conviction.

According to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, Khoroshev is 31 and lives in Russia, with details of his sanction designation also listing multiple email addresses and cryptocurrency addresses, alongside his Russian passport details.

The US has also filed an indictment against him.

LockBit was first disrupted by the NCA, U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and Europol in February, in an unprecedented campaign that saw the gang's darkweb site hijacked by police and used to leak internal information about the group and the people behind it.

'In sanctioning one of the leaders of LockBit we are taking direct action against those who continue to threaten global security, while simultaneously exposing the malicious cyber-criminal activity emanating from Russia,' Britain's Sanctions Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said in a statement.

LockBit was seen as one of the world's most dangerous ransomware groups and its high-profile victims included the Royal Mail, Boeing, and Porton Down.

In February, LockBit's entire 'command and control' structure was seized by law enforcement after a joint international operation.

Following the reveal of the alleged leader, UK security minister Tom Tugendhat said: 'Cybercriminals think they are untouchable, hiding behind anonymous accounts as they try to extort money from their victims.

'By exposing one of the leaders of LockBit, we are sending a clear message to these callous criminals. You cannot hide. You will face justice.'

Khoroshev is expected to remain at large for the time being as officials scramble to obtain any information that will lead them to a solid conviction.

Lockbit are thought to have been behind as many as 1,400 cyber-attacks globally and brought Japan's busiest cargo port to a shuddering halt in July after attacking the system that manages the movement of containers.

Russian national Magomedovich Astamirov has been charged in the US for 'involvement in deploying numerous LockBit ransomware and other attacks in the US, Asia, Europe, and Africa'.

And last year the US announced charges against Russian-Canadian Mikhail Vasiliev, who is being held in Canada awaiting extradition.

Another Russian, Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev, is wanted for alleged participation in other Lockbit attacks.

Ransomware is the costliest and most disruptive form of cybercrime, crippling local governments, court systems, hospitals and schools as well as businesses. It is difficult to combat as most gangs are based in former Soviet states and out of reach of Western justice.

Law enforcement agencies have scored some recent successes against ransomware gangs, most notably the FBI's operation against the Hive syndicate. But the criminals regroup and rebrand.

The NCA has previously warned that ransomware remains one of the biggest cyber threats facing the UK, and urges people and organisations not to pay ransoms if they are targeted.

Experts have said that LockBit may try to rebuild its operation but Chris Morgan, analyst from cyber security firm ReliaQuest, said the law enforcement action was 'a significant short-term blow'.
Labour MPs groaned and hissed the moment that Suella Braverman was called to speak during a discussion of Gaza.

Mrs Braverman (Con, Fareham) was further ya-booed when she said that Israel should be allowed to 'finish the job' in its war with Hamas. Cries of 'shame' and 'disgrace' and 'finish the job!' volleyed from the Labour benches.

It is a fact universally acknowledged that Suella has a genius for making things more explosive. She should sell sparkplugs for a living. Even so, the reaction to her very presence was unusual and it felt performative.

This was explained when the Speaker invited George Galloway (Workers' Party, Rochdale) to ask a question. The reaction from Labour MPs was now very different.

No one groaned. No one hissed or sucked their teeth. They went utterly still, as hartebeests will when a predator is in the vicinity. Mr Galloway frightens them.

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman pictured earlier this week after featuring on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

An Israeli soldier pictured near the Israel-Gaza border on May 7

Smoke pictured rising from buildings in Rafah after an Israeli airstrike on May 7

That may account for the tone in the Commons yesterday. When Hamas terrorists attacked Israel last October the parliamentary Labour party made great show of being even-handed towards Israel. Sir Keir Starmer pointed to this as evidence of his 'changed party'.

Little now remains of that position. The opposition parties today are in an anti-Israel competition. 'We Labour lot hate Netanyahu.' 'No you don't, we Scots Nats really hate him and have done so for longer.'

In the chamber Mr Galloway does not wear his trademark fedora hat. This is confusing, for he and Liam Byrne (Lab, Hodge Hill) are ringers: same height, same baldness, same scrofulous stubble.

Okay, Mr Byrne was wearing pink socks, which might be open to unfortunate misinterpretation among some of Mr Galloway's more socially fundamentalist friends, but apart from that and George's Ronseal sun tan, it was not easy to tell them apart.

Mr Byrne struggled to catch the chair's eye. Speaker Hoyle possibly thought 'I've already called Galloway and don't intend to give him a second go'. Poor Liam. And he takes himself so seriously.

So does David Lammy, Shadow Foreign Secretary. He has developed a terrible bogus gravitas, perhaps to compensate for his lack of ballast upstairs. He approached the despatch box with the tread of a statesman weighed down by international responsibilities and leaned on it as if grateful to have found a support for his IQ.

He proceeded to ask why the Government was not doing things that it was largely already doing. 'Yes!' said his Shadow Cabinet colleague Lisa Nandy, showing enough right leg to get her stoned by Hamas's Tehran paymasters.

Labour leader Keir Starmer pictured as he welcomed Chriss Webb as the new MP for Blackpool south

Another Labour woman, I think Dawn Butler (Brent Central), kept making the sort of 'mmmnn' sounds people emit after biting into a particularly delicious custard tart.

Andrew Mitchell, deputy foreign secretary, called Mr Lammy 'eloquent'. The House enjoyed that.

Mr Mitchell used to be nicknamed 'Thrasher' on account of his disciplinarian bent as a teenager at Rugby School but nowadays he weaponises politeness.

In a parliamentary setting this is deadlier than anger. He repeatedly declined to rise to the bait  instead spraying his opponents with treacle.

Pericles Lammy was not the only one told he was 'eloquent'. The same fate befell that Hussain man from Bradford East who had gone to all the trouble of working himself into a tremendous vortex of wheezy indignation, only to be smarmed by Mitch. What's more, he believed it, sitting back and smiling as he heard Mitchell's syrup.

Stella Creasy was also told she was 'very eloquent'. The Walthamstow whinger eloquent? Mr Mitchell said it without a hint of public-school irony. What a wonderful straight-man he would make.

Anyway, they were all, even dull Starmerites like Ealing North's James Murray, hurling themselves into the fray, desperate to say something pro-Palestinian to stick on their social-media feeds in the hope of seeing off the Workers' Party and the Greens.

The latter seem overnight to have gone from quinoa to al Qaeda. Hoity-toity Caroline Lucas (Green, Brighton Pavilion) was absent. Must have been at her local madrassa, undergoing re-education.
An Illinois official dubbed 'America's Worst Mayor' by critics now faces a public outing by the victim of a sexual assault alleged to have taken place on a taxpayer-funded business trip in Las Vegas.

Tiffany Henyard, 40, the Mayor of Dolton, is facing claims of misusing funds, wrongful termination and covering up the sexual assault of a former employee.

The village has hired former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to investigate Henyard, which she vetoed, while reports emerged last week that she's under criminal investigation after being subpoenaed by the feds.

Now, Fenia Dukes, Henyard's former assistant, has made her claims regarding Henyard and Dolton Trustee Andrew Holmes public in a video released Monday.

Dukes accused Holmes of raping her during the trip to Las Vegas with the pair in May of 2023.

Tiffany Henyard, 40, the Mayor of Dolton, is facing claims of misusing funds, wrongful termination and covering up the sexual assault of a former employee

Fenia Dukes, Henyard's former assistant, has made her claims regarding Henyard and Dolton Trustee Andrew Holmes public in a video released Monday

'This has been a long journey for me already,' Dukes said. 'I'm fighting for every woman that's been in my position. I'm fighting for a sister that doesn't have a voice.'

Dukes has already filed a civil suit against Holmes, for the assault, and Henyard for retaliating.

She was there on an 'economic development trip' with Henyard and Holmes - whom she referred to as 'Uncle Dru' - as well as officials of the village and a neighboring town.

'He made everyone feel comfortable,' Dukes said of Holmes. 'I've even been in places by myself with him ... and he's never gave me an inkling of he'll harm me.'

However, on the night of May 24, 2023, Dukes said that she had dinner and walked the Vegas Strip with Holmes before she started to feel uncomfortable and blacked out.

'My last memory was me waking up in his room,' she said.

In her lawsuit, Dukes says that a member of Henyard's security detail, Officer Byron Miles, was told by Holmes that he had unprotected sex with Dukes and even showed a partially-undressed Dukes in his bed on a video call to Miles.

Dukes thanked Miles in the video for being 'the only one who stood up for me and opened your mouth.'

Dukes has already filed a civil suit against Holmes, for the assault, and Henyard for retaliating

Henyard is accused of attempting to protect Dolton Trustee and community activist Andrew Holmes after he was accused of sexual assault. Holmes (pictured) denies the claims

Henyard, dubbed 'America's Worst Mayor' by her critics, is also said to be the subject of a criminal investigation

She claims Henyard fired her after she made the accusation of rape against Holmes, while Miles - who is also filing a lawsuit - received a demotion that took him off Henyard's security detail.

The village of Dolton told NBC Chicago that Miles denied knowing about the incident when they hired a third-party company to investigate.

They called the suit 'nothing more than two disgruntled village employees trying to make off with the taxpayers' hard-earned dollars' and 'the village looks forward to defending these allegations.'

Dukes says she's starting a foundation to support women in situations similar to her own.

'If you are a victim, find your way to contact me or my people,' she said. 'We are going to help you, because you need a voice, and if you don't have one, I will be.'

Holmes has denied the allegations against him, and has not been charged by police.

The video is the latest in a series of increasingly bizarre accusations against Henyard.

FBI agents served subpoenas last week at the Thornton Township Hall, where Henyard also works as township supervisor, reported FOX 32 Chicago.

FBI agents served subpoenas last week at the Thornton Township Hall, where Henyard also works as township supervisor

Dolton, Illinois Mayor Tiffany Henyard slammed her city colleagues as she faced an investigation into her finances, telling them 'there is a right way to do things, and this is just not that'

Trustees in Dolton voted to hire former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (pictured) to investigate the embattled mayor, before the move was vetoed on Monday

The local news station obtained copies of the subpoenas and revealed the embattled mayor is the target of a growing criminal investigation.

'It's very broad in scope. It's very broad in the number of people and entities they're asking for records on. So there must be some serious allegations of wrongdoing that they're trying to get to the bottom of,' former FBI agent Ross Rice told FOX 32.

'The mayor and the Township Supervisor, who are one and the same, appear to be the primary focus of the investigation.'

'Overall, it tells me that the investigation is expanding. It's not just focusing on the City of Dolton,' Rice said.

One subpoena is reported to focus entirely on Henyard, including a restaurant and a property management company she owns, as well as her political fund and the charity bearing her name.

The subpoena seeks all records including personnel files, wage and tax statements, time and attendance, records of work performed, contracts, and checks written to 'cash.'

The second subpoena is said to request township records, including financial reports, budgets, payroll records, and ordinances covering credit card purchases, expense reimbursements, security details and use of vehicles.

The Del Galdo Law Group is asking to withdraw from cases in which it represents Henyard and the village of Dolton, Illinois.

Henyard even has a criminal past and a mugshot, having been arrested and charged with criminal trespass to vehicles in 2016, the New York Post reported

Dolton Democrat Mayor Tiffany Henyard, 40, faces a litany of investigations over claims of corruption, sexual harassment and retaliation against political opponents

In a letter to Henyard and trustees, the firm said the village is approaching the point of becoming uninsurable. It faces millions of dollars in judgments from earlier cases and could potentially be required to shell out millions more in the coming months.

To add insult to injury, the firm has allegedly not been paid for its work.

'The Board recently voted to stop paying our legal bills,' reads the letter provided to DailyMail.com. 'We are, of course, not required to work for free and decline to do so.'

The firm announced that it would no longer be entering any appearances or defending newly filed cases and would withdraw from an additional 19 cases, effective May 8.

Five of the cases involve 'serious injury or death,' including two 'jail suicide by hanging cases' and two 'officer involved shooting wrongful death causes of action'.

'No one wants to represent the Village,' the firm continued.

'The Village already has a $33.5 million judgment against it that the previous administration and the Board ignored please to settle within policy limits, where the Village's best hope is that the jury verdict will be reversed on appeal.

'If that is unsuccessful, the Village will owe more than $20M in excess insurance policy limits on that case alone.'

Self-described 'Super Mayor' Tiffany Henyard, 40, has been accused of embezzling taxpayer funds

The video is the latest in a series of increasingly bizarre accusations against Henyard

The high-rolling mayor, who earns $300,000 for her public duties, has spent thousands more on first class trips, a professional hair and makeup team and a security detail

According to the firm, Dolton 'is quickly approaching the point of being uninsurable' due to its immense debt.

In addition to her entanglement in the village's legal affairs, Henyard, 40, is the subject of 22 lawsuits regarding her conduct.

She faces a slew of accusations ranging from misusing funds while Dolton slides deeper into debt, to wrongful termination, to covering up sexual misconduct by a village employee.

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was tapped to investigate claims against Henyard by the village of Dolton.

Henyard erupted in a furious rant on Monday evening as she shot down the probe, telling her colleagues at a city council meeting: 'How dare you!'

After trustees voted to hire Lightfoot - a former prosecutor - for $400 an hour to investigate, Henyard rejected the move, telling the city council meeting: 'You know, it's veto power, so how dare you think you can come into someones town and do work.'

'There is a right way to do things, and this is just not that,' she said. '(Lightfoot) will not be paid for her services.'

Dolton, around 20 miles south of Chicago, has a population of only around 20,000 people, but the small town has been thrust into the spotlight amid controversies surrounding Henyard.
Feature: China-donated tents offer swift shelter for flood-hit Afghans

09:51, May 07, 2024 By Abdul Haleem ( Xinhua

HERAT, Afghanistan, May 7 (Xinhua) -- In a continuation of humanitarian support reminiscent of last year's earthquake response, China-donated tents were distributed to families affected by flooding in west Afghanistan's Herat Province a couple of days ago, to offer a temporary refuge to those grappling with the aftermath of natural disasters.

"Heavy rains and flash floods have destroyed our homes and rendered us homeless. Luckily the timely distribution of China-donated tents as shelter has been very helpful for us," a tent recipient Sayed Ahmad told Xinhua.

Mawlawi Enayatullah Sabir, deputy director for Herat's disaster management authority, underscored the significance of international aid during times of crisis.

"The recent rains and flooding have caused huge property damages to families in Herat. The disaster management authority of the province has distributed 150 tents donated by China to the flood-affected families," Sabir said, acknowledging China's pivotal role in alleviating the sufferings of the Afghan people.

The official also thanked China for its consistent assistance, saying the Chinese donation has been proved vital to the quake-affected families in Herat last October.

Following the catastrophic earthquakes in Herat, which led to over 2,000 deaths, the first batch of earthquake relief supplies donated by the Chinese government arrived at the Herat International Airport on Oct. 15, 2023, and the second batch arrived one month later.

The impact of the recent natural disasters in Afghanistan has been devastating, with heavy rains and flash floods claiming over 80 lives and leaving several hundreds homeless over the past month. In Herat province, the situation remains dire, with seven deaths and 150 houses destroyed in the latest onslaught of rainstorms and flooding.

"There are six people in the family and they have been living in dilemma. However, I am very happy to receive a China-donated tent that has resolved our problems to some extent. I am thankful to China," another beneficiary of the aid, Imamudin Ahmadi, said.

China has supported Afghanistan by building infrastructure and offering disaster-relief materials over the past years, in addition to providing COVID-19 vaccines, winter clothes, tents, and food, among others, which have been distributed among poor and flood-affected families in the war-torn country.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
The wife of a pastor who took her own life called authorities and told them she was about to kill herself, after purchasing a handgun that same day.

Mica Miller, 30, was found dead at Lumbee River State Park, North Carolina, on April 27, weeks after speaking about abuse within her marriage to John-Paul Miller, 44.

At 2:54 pm, Miller told Robeson County police: 'I'm about to kill myself and I just want my family to know where to find me', authorities told WAVY.

By 3:03 pm, officers were sent to the state park where he body was found with authorities confirming on Monday she died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Police said that throughout the call she remained calm, asking the dispatcher if her phone could be tracked.

In the days after her death, her friends and family held a rally calling for 'justice for Mica' outside the Solid Rock Church where Pastor Miller, 44, works.

At 2:54 pm, Miller told Robeson County police: 'I'm about to kill myself and I just want my family to know where to find me'

Miller was found dead at Lumbee River State Park, North Carolina weeks after speaking about abuse within her marriage to John-Paul Miller, the couple are seen here

The pastor stunned his congregants last week when, after a service in which he had laughed and appeared entirely at ease, he announced that his wife had died and that her death was 'self-induced.'

He then told worshippers that he would be taking 'a little break' and to leave the church without discussing what he had just told them.

Weeks before she died Mica posted an emotional video in which she spoke of abuse within marriage and offered support to 'ANYONE struggling with leaving a dangerous situation because they think God will be 'mad' at them.'

She said: 'Today my heart's a little heavy. I've had lots of women that have reached out to me about situations of abuse, and I just want to tell you what a lot of people have told me lately, because I think I forgot.

'But you are the bride of Christ before anybody else's, male or female, it doesn't matter what gender you are, abuse is abuse.'

On Monday, before her cause of death was announced, ABC reported that Mica had filed police reports against a man - whose name was redacted in the reports - in March accusing him of harassing her.

She had told officers that she was 'afraid for her life', had found a tracking device on her car and had her tires repeatedly deflated.

In the days since Mica's death on April 27, her family had pushed back at her husband's explanation of it as suicide.

John-Paul Miller shocked his congregation when he announced her death as a suicide at the end of a service at Solid Rock at Market Common Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina last Sunday

Speaking to DailyMail.com last week, Mica's sister Sierra Brown said: 'The one thing I would say is that he has said it was an official suicide, that is not the case. There's still an open investigation.'

Mica's death came just 48 hours after her husband, from whom she had been separated for one month, was served with divorce papers.

Court records hint at the tumult within the marriage with Mica first filing for divorce back in October 2023 before withdrawing the filing February 12.

Later that same month Miller filed against his wife for Separate Support and Maintenance in a motion withdrawn March 11.

But on April 15, just 12 days before she was found dead, Mica filed once more and, according to friends, also sought a no contact order against her husband.

Her friends Kenn and Allicia Young have also now insisted on NewsNation that Mica did not take her own life.

Mica previously shared a video speaking about abuse within marriage to pastor John-Paul Miller, 44 (pictured), as claims emerge she was allegedly being harassed

Mica's friends Kenn and Allicia Young spoke out on NewsNation and said they do not believe the pastor's wife took her own life

Allicia Young, who is a member of the Solid Rock Church alongside her husband Kenn, said: 'I absolutely do not believe that she took her own life.'

'I absolutely do not believe that she took her own life because she was energetic and her faith in God was unwavering,' Allicia said on Banfield.

'She was always quick to encourage somebody else, including myself. We went to lunches together, we worked out together.'

Speaking March 22 Mica said: 'You don't have to stay in an abusive relationship.

'Whether that's sexual, whether that's somebody forcing you to take illegal drugs or alcohol abuse, or physical abuse, psychological abuse, making you think that this is all your fault or that you're a bad mom or a bad husband or you're not giving it your all when you know you are.

'God hates divorce, but why? According to everybody that I've asked and the scriptures I've seen it's because it hurts people. But does abuse hurt people. How do you think God feels about that?'

In Mica's obituary penned by Miller, he makes no mention of the fact that the couple had separated

Mica's sister Sierra Brown, seen above in Facebook video, told DailyMail.com the family is not commenting publicly until the investigation is completed but confirmed her official cause of death has not yet been determined

In Mica's obituary penned by Miller, who has a criminal record including multiple counts of aggravated assault and battery to which he pleaded guilty, makes no mention of the fact that the couple had separated.

Instead, he described her as a 'great stepmother, and an amazing wife and helpmate', and portrayed her as his biggest cheerleader.

Kenn Young, Mica's friend, is among those searching for answers over what happened.

'This has to be at least looked into deeply. There's got to be some accountability here,' he told WPDE. 'Because yeah, a tragic life was lost, and it's not just as simple as mental health issues.'

In an interview with ABC15, Mica's husband reiterated that his wife had taken her own life.

'She had struggled with suicide before,' he said. 'Each time we would help her through it and take her to the doctor, and we got through it and everything was fine.

'She even gave a few testimonies here at church that we have on video. She battled suicide but God took care of her and got her through it.'

He added she was 'probably the greatest wife anyone could ask for' and described nights spent talking to each other for hours.
READ MORE: Small Business Committee claims SBA is nearly empty of workers

Republicans are accusing Biden administration officials of being behind a 'vote grabbing' operation in a critical swing state.

The House Small Business Committee Chair Roger Williams, R-Texas, subpoenaed multiple officials from the Small Business Administration.

He says they're involved in an alleged scheme to improperly register voters in Michigan as part of an effort to boost Biden.

The committee has been investigating how the SBA is involved in voter registration efforts following a March 2021 executive order by Biden aimed at increasing access to voting.

It is the first time in history that the body has subpoenaed members at the SBA.

'These actions were necessary because of the agencys refusal to comply with the Committees ongoing investigation into potential electioneering activities by the SBA regarding the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) they have entered with Michigans Secretary of State to register voters,' a release announcing the subpoenas stated.

The House Committee on Small Business subpoenaed two SBA workers for additional details about how the agency is allegedly involved in electioneering

GOP lawmakers on the committee have said that the SBA in coordination with the Michigan Secretary of State are working to improperly register voters in the critical swing state

'The fact that we are having to issue subpoenas to speak with SBA officials is extremely disappointing,' Williams said in a statement announcing the enforcement action.

'The committee has given these two individuals the opportunity to speak with us voluntarily, but this appears to be the only way to get them to comply with our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities.'

'The American people deserve answers and transparency on the electioneering activities of the SBA and how they have or plan to insert themselves in the upcoming federal elections,' Williams continued.

'The SBA's sole mission is to help Main Street thrive and grow, and they have repeatedly strayed from that mission to pursue outside political objectives.'

The SBA under Biden announced in March the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Michigan's Department of State.

The SBA program came the same month Biden campaigned in the important swing state.

Notably, the president beat Donald Trump in the battleground state by less than three percent in 2020.

According to a release announcing the plan, the goal of the Biden action was to 'promote civic engagement and voter registration in Michigan,' which was dubbed a 'first-of-its-kind collaboration.'

The program is set to run through 2036 and 'will help connect Michiganders to vital voter registration information from the State of Michigan so that more small business owners can exercise their right to vote,' SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said in a March statement.

SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman has testified that the program 'will help connect Michiganders to vital voter registration'

Republican Rep. Dan Mesuer called the SBA's MOU with Michigan 'a blatant attempt by the Biden Administration to illegally use the SBA as an extension of the Presidents campaign'

But Republicans are saying the collaboration is blatant election interference and that the Biden administration is targeting swing states with the program ahead of the November election.

'It is unconscionable that during such a precarious time for our nations small businesses, the sole federal agency created to serve as their advocate is instead utilizing their limited taxpayer resources and time to advance partisan political campaigns,' Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said in a statement.

'The SBAs MOU with the Michigan Department of State is a blatant attempt by the Biden Administration to illegally use the SBA as an extension of the Presidents campaign.'

'They are working to elect Democrats, which is abundantly clear considering registration efforts are targeted at cities like Detroit and other urban areas. And if this is being done in Michigan, we can make an educated assumption that it is also happening in other swing states.'

The subpoenas demand that both SBA officials sit for interviews on May 21.
University chiefs have been summoned to Downing Street over concerns with growing pro-Palestinian protests on campuses across the UK.

Vice-chancellors will meet with Rishi Sunak this week to discuss an 'unacceptable' rise of anti-Semitism at universities and discuss the need for campuses 'to be safe for our Jewish students'.

It comes as a Jewish student at Oxford was denied admittance to a pro-Palestine encampment for refusing to sign a radical pledge condemning Israel.

The student, in his 30s, told the Mail he was barred entry after he would not sign a document condemning the 'Zionist entity', in a sign that the Gaza demonstrations sweeping university campuses are becoming increasingly authoritarian.

It follows Education Secretary Gillian Keegan's warning to university chiefs that they must alert the police if 'illegal hate speech' or extremism is seen during campus protests.

University chiefs have been summoned to Downing Street to meet with PM Rishi Sunak over concerns with growing pro-Palestinian protests on campuses across the UK

Students from UCL in London take part in a rally outside Downing Street, to protest against the war in Gaza

Students at an encampment on the grounds of Cambridge University, protesting against the war in Gaza

Protests against the war in Gaza have been set up in several prominent institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick and Manchester.

Ministers fear that tensions over the war may see a repeat of the violence at college campuses in the US, where pro-Palestinian demonstrators have clashed with both counter-protestors and riot police.

While protests in British universities have largely remained peaceful, concerns remain in government over the safety of Jewish students.

Mr Sunak told Cabinet yesterday: 'Our university campuses should be places of rigorous debate, but they should also be tolerant places where people of all communities, particularly Jewish students at this time, are treated with respect.

'The right to free speech does not include the right to harass people or incite violence.

'We expect university leaders to take robust action in dealing with that kind of behaviour and that will be the subject of the conversation in No 10 later this week to ensure a zero-tolerance approach to this sort of behaviour is adopted on all campuses.'

Students set up pro-Palestine camps outside University of Warwick campus piazza in Coventry, May 7 2024

Banners are displayed next to tents at The University of Manchester campus, as students occupy parts of British university campuses to protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza

Tents are pictured at a pro-Palestinian student protest encampment, demonstrating against the conflict in Gaza, outside of the Leeds University Union building in Leeds, northern England on May 7, 2024

Oxford and Cambridge University students are the latest groups to have set up pro-Palestinian encampments on campus lawns.

Their tactics include setting up tents and 'occupying space', while calling on their universities to divest from investments in Israeli companies.

Yesterday it emerged that anyone wanting to join the protest must be 'committed to upholding the Thawabit', a set of demands laid down by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in the 1970s.

The Thawabit calls for Jerusalem to be recognised as the 'capital of Palestine', the right to self-determination and 'the right of colonised people to resist against occupation'.

The obligatory sign-up procedure told visitors: 'The University of Oxford is complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. With strong ties to companies supporting the Zionist entity (like Rolls-Royce and Raytheon) and academic ties to Israel, Oxford continues to uphold Israel's apartheid regime.'

A University and College Union (UCU) spokesperson said: 'We are clear that anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have no place on our campuses or in our society, but freedom of speech and freedom of assembly within the law are fundamental human rights and civil liberties which must be upheld.'
Labour's new West Midlands mayor has called for an arms embargo on Israel as debate raged over the party's attempts to win back lost Muslim voters.

Richard Parker said he was already in discussions over the move - which is not current party policy - but critics said his role has nothing to do with foreign affairs.

The businessman narrowly beat Tory incumbent Andy Street in last Thursday's election, having lost almost 70,000 votes to a pro-Palestine candidate.

On Monday, his first proper day in the job, he faced a backlash for posting on social media about the planned offensive in Rafah before he set out his ideas for Birmingham.

Then yesterday he was asked about his fears of what Israel might do. 'I am incredibly concerned, and I made a very clear statement that they mustn't go into Rafah,' he told LBC radio.

Labour's new West Midlands mayor Richard Parker, pictured, has called for an arms embargo on Israel

Mr Parker pictured alongside Conservative party candidate Andy Street and Reform UK party candidate Elaine Williams

'I've called previously for a ceasefire, we need to ensure that we get aid into Gaza, that the international community works collectively to create a two-state solution and we need the recognition of a Palestinian state.'

Asked if he supported an arms embargo on Israel he replied: 'I'm currently discussing that approach with a number of MPs. I think it's unlikely to be achieved in the short term.

EXCLUSIVE READ MORE: Andy Street LOSES West Mids mayor battle in body blow for Rishi Sunak after nightmare local elections Advertisement

'I think what is possible in the short term is a ceasefire and a route to long-term peace in the Middle East.'

His position is more hardline than that of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who have said that arms exports should only be blocked if the Government gets legal advice that Israel has broken international law.

In response to their stance, activists daubed Labour HQ in red paint and a separate group held a protest outside Sir Keir's home with a banner reading 'Starmer stop the killing'.

Mr Parker was also asked how his party leader should respond to a list of 18 demands by pressure group The Muslim Vote, including apologising for his past comments and imposing sanctions on Israeli politicians.

He replied: 'I'll be working with council leaders here, with councillors, with our MPs across all parties to rebuild trust with our Muslim community and hoping to ensure that they come back to Labour.' Pressed on whether they should give in to the demands, he said: 'I don't at all.'

Last night Tory MP Andrew Percy said: 'The new Mayor was elected to address economic development and other issues in the West Midlands, not to pontificate on international affairs over which he has no competence.'
EXCLUSIVE

A Victorian government website that reveals home addresses of TV and movie stars, stalker victims and hitman targets, as well as random strangers, has been slammed.

Daily Mail Australia has been able to access the home addresses of everyone from acting judges and multimillionaire businessmen to protected witnesses, news reporters and celebrities.

The site, which Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to reveal, has been created to help people establish if they are owed money by the government.

However, an easy exploit allows anyone to look up the names and addresses of these people simply by punching in a surname and the suburb where the intended target lives.

While people using the website do need to have some knowledge of where a person might reside, there is no limit to the number of times users can try to hit the correct suburb.

It is understood young Australians have been alerted to the 'hack' by a TikTok video, which instructs them how to manipulate the search function for nefarious outcomes.

Daily Mail Australia spoke to several shocked Australians that were oblivious to their home details being published online by the Victorian government.

Celeste Manno was murdered after stalker Luay Sako managed to track down her address online

One high profile Victorian who has endured repeated death threats said he was outraged at the ease of which his personal details could be accessed.

'What's the point of taking your name off the electoral roll if someone can just pull up your address by punching in your surname on a government website?' he blasted.

Addresses of protected people are often displayed due to their partner, parents or children appearing in the search results.

'I'm kind of surprised it is so easy,' a Victorian government insider told Daily Mail Australia.

The Australian Electoral Commission lets eligible people remove their name from the electoral roll, but the Victorian search engine appears to bypass those restrictions.

Di McDonald, who made nationwide headlines over her horror experience with a stalker, told Daily Mail Australia she was disgusted by the government website.

Ms McDonald had previously gone to war with former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews over his introduction of the health information sharing bill, which came into effect in February.

'Its against our human rights to have our most private information at any medical persons beck and call. They could then pass it on to someone like my stalker,' she said.

'To now find out another government department is allowing peoples most private information to be accessed is insane.

'There are a few others Im aware of - some have fees to find out information but most dont. This age of technology we live in makes it very easy for stalkers to locate you. Its horrific.'

Di McDonald was ruthlessly stalked by a man she met while working in a Big W shop

Aggie Di Mauro - the mother of murdered woman Celeste Manno - slammed the Victorian government for the privacy breach.

'I'm perplexed and outraged at realising just how easily available our information is on so many of these government websites,' she said.

Luay Sako used the internet to find Celeste Manno's home. The Victorian Government is operating a similar service free of charge

'They're irresponsible, incompetent and more to the point actually breaking our clearly ridiculous privacy laws.'

Ms Di Mauro's daughter was cruelly murdered in her own home by stalker Luay Sako after he found her address online.

'Our information on any website, government or otherwise, should only ever be an opt in,' she added.

'You shouldn't have to know to opt out. That's actually deceiving the public because most won't know our information is readily available on any government website.

'It would never occur to us, especially given we're under the impression that the Privacy Act protects us from something so intrusive.'

HOW JUSTICE SYSTEM LET DOWN STALKING VICTIM

Di McDonald met Max Gardiner when he was a customer in the Melbourne Big W store she managed in October 2014. She'd recently amicably separated from her husband, and was swept off her feet by the unemployed and twice divorced Mr Gardiner, who penned a letter and delivered her a rose an hour after first meeting her. After calling time on the relationship, Ms McDonald experienced the full force of Max's obsession with her. She would return home to find used condoms on her doorstep. Her elderly mother had rocks thrown through her windows and, at one stage, Ms McDonald was convinced Max had installed a tracking device on her. The next two years of her life became a living hell as all of her energy was focused into staying one step ahead of Max, who appeared almost everywhere she was. He eventually received just eight months prison out of the maximum 15 years and 3 months he was facing. Dan Andrews' lockdowns then saw him earn 22 days credit off his sentence. Ms McDonald is spearheading a Stalking Awareness Day on May 24. For more information go to: sada.com.au Advertisement

A Victorian legal insider told Daily Mail Australia the site had the potential to expose lawyers, judges, police and witnesses to harm.

'It's an outrageous breach of the privacy of all Australians and what's worse is it's being supplied by the government,' the source said.

'As if this country doesn't have a big enough problem with stalkers and men hunting down estranged partners to cause them harm.'

The source told Daily Mail Australia the breach had the potential to end up in court.

'This has a class action written all over it,' he said.

A spokesperson from the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner - the primary regulator and source of independent advice to the community and Victorian government about how the public sector collects, uses and discloses information - told Daily Mail Australia it would be contacting the offending government department about the issue 'over the coming days'.

'It appears that when using the searchable register, the "street name" field does not require a street name to be input and will match an address if a suburb is searched instead (along with a name and postcode),' the spokesperson said via a statement.

'This means that the searcher does not need to know the address of the person they believe to have unclaimed money and can obtain their address using their name and suspected postcode/suburb.'

The OVIC stated the government organisation responsible for the breach was required to comply with Victoria's Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014.

'OVIC intends to contact the (government) in the coming days to discuss the (website) and the privacy protections relating to it.'

Samantha Murphy was out for a job when she was allegedly murdered. It remains unknown how or why her alleged killer did what he did

Last week, a 35-year old man was charged with the murder of 30-year-old Erica Hay in Perth, taking the number of women to die in violent circumstances in Australia this year to 27.

An Australian woman is being violently killed every four days.

Former Federal Court and Supreme Court judge Tony North KC said stalking remained 'a real societal problem of big proportions'.

Speaking to the ABC after the sentence of Celeste Manno's killer Luay Sako, Mr North described stalking as an 'epidemic'.

The revelations come amid claims a million people who visited a pub or RSL have had their drivers license shared online in another major data breach.

On Wednesday Qantas was forced to apologise after an issue with its app allowed customers to view the details of other passengers, including names and upcoming flights.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan about the offending website without any reply.

A spokesperson for Victoria's Victims of Crime Commissioner said no-one had complained about the site therefore the commissioner had no view.

'I am advised that this issue hasnt been raised by victims to the Commissioner and so she doesn't have a policy position on it,' he stated.

A spokesman for eSafety - Australia's independent regulator for online safety - said the website was 'not within the scope of our powers'.

Liberty Victoria and Victoria Police declined to comment on the website.
She is accused of using mushrooms to murder

Erin Patterson will go straight to a jury trial after deciding not to pursue her bid to hold a preliminary hearing in her local community.

Patterson officially pleaded not guilty to murdering her in-laws and attempting to murder her estranged husband during a hearing before the LaTrobe Valley Magistrates' Court on Tuesday .

The plea means Patterson will now go directly before the Supreme Court of Victoria where a jury will decide her fate.

Erin Patterson was dressed in a blue jumper during her court appearance via video link on Tuesday

Ms Patterson had wanted to run her preliminary hearing close to her local community

Patterson, 48, showed no emotion as she answered 'not guilty your honour' eight times.

Her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gails sister, Heather Wilkinson, died from suspected mushroom poisoning after eating a beef wellington dish allegedly cooked by Patterson at her Leongatha home on July 29.

She faces three murder charges over their deaths and is also accused of five counts of attempted murder of her estranged husband Simon Patterson.

Pastor Ian Wilkinson was the only one to survive the fatal lunch.

Patterson, dressed in blue prison garb, appeared before Magistrate Tim Walsh via videolink from a conference room within Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.

She will face the Supreme Court of Victoria on May 23.

It had been anticipated Patterson would run a three-week preliminary hearing before her likely committal to the Supreme Court.

It is understood her ex-husband was likely to have been among the witnesses called at that hearing.

In another development, the court heard Patterson is accused of attempting to murder Mr Patterson at three separate locations.

Don and Gail Patterson died after eating an allegedly poisoned meal at Erin Patterson's home

In addition to his alleged attempted murder at the deadly lunch, which he pulled out of at the last minute, Patterson is accused of trying to kill her ex-husband at Howqua, 300km north of Leongatha, on May 27, 2022.

She is also accused of trying to kill him on September 6 that same year in Wilsons Promontory, about 60km south of Leongatha, and a year earlier at Korumburra - his home town.

Last month, the court heard Patterson had been determined to run a preliminary hearing at the Morwell Magistrates' Court despite it being unable to be accommodated until next year.

Magistrate Walsh told Patterson's barrister Colin Mandy, SC then that he could not accommodate the preliminary hearing this year as the court was fully booked out.

'I'm not content to wait Mr Mandy because I don't think it's fair on your client,' he told him.

Mr Mandy insisted those were Patterson's own instructions and he was determined to see them come to fruition no matter the delay.

'She would like to have her committal hearing heard in your honour's court, in her local community, and she's content to wait until the court can accommodate her,' he said.

Pastor Ian Wilkinson (right) survived but his wife Gail (left) perished

The Leongatha home where Erin Patterson is accused of murdering her estranged family members

On Tuesday, Mr Walsh clarified why the court was unable to accommodate the preliminary hearing, blaming the unavailability due to specific dates set by Patterson's own barrister.

'There is no criticism of anybody. Mr Mandy is a senior counsel, he's extremely capable... but they were the only dates he was available,' he said.

'I just wanted to clarify that because I think it's important the community is aware that the court could of accommodated a date this year.

'The court's not sitting here saying, "We can't hear a very significant matter until early or mid-next year". I just want to make that quite clear.'

Mr Walsh had previously warned Patterson she faced a lengthy time behind bars at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre waiting for a court date.

'Does she understand it's unlikely to be this year?' he asked then.

'Yes your honour,' came the response.

'We anticipated the court might be able to accommodate us at that period, in that window we flagged with your honour, but if it's the next year then Patterson is content to wait.

'Which puts her in custody for 14 or 15 months... at the least,' Mr Walsh said.

Crown prosecutor Sarah Lenthall had objected to the proposed delay.

'Our position is the committal should proceed as soon as possible,' she said.

Erin Patterson is accused of trying to murder her estranged husband Simon Patterson (pictured)

The court heard the matter could be held in Melbourne without delay or go directly to the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Mr Mandy said the proceeding ought be held in the community where the alleged crime happened and close to the accused person's home.

'That's the proper venue for a proceeding... we anticipate a three week committal and most of the witnesses are from that area and those that aren't we've agreed can appear by (videolink),' he said.

'It's not only a matter of principle and there are powerful reasons for the committal having to take place in Patterson's local community.'

Mr Walsh told Patterson the actual court was in Morwell - some 60km from Leongatha where the alleged murders took place.

'That's close to Patterson's home in the context of regional Victoria,' Mr Mandy said.

Mr Walsh refused to commit to Patterson's request and said he would hand down his decision on Tuesday before the shock aboutface.

Patterson will face the Supreme Court of Victoria on May 23.
Texas cops are slamming an Austin judge after the court granted a woman accused of beating her three-month-old a $250 bond so she could be released from jail.

Brittney Bailey, 31, is a free woman despite her March arrest for beating her three-month-old baby girl.

Police are also investigating the death of the infant's twin who was found in the home, but no charges have yet been filed.

Despite the on-going murder investigation, local magistrate Judge Tania Jeffers agreed to lower Bailey's bond to $250.

Brittney Bailey, 31, is charged with the physical abuse of her 3-month-old infant baby and is under investigation for the death of a second baby, according to Austin police

'Mother brutally beats her defenseless three-month-old child and the twin is found dead.

'A heinous crime against an innocent child' tweeted the president of the Austin police union Michael Bullock.

'Our criminal justice system is broken. Maybe one day we can find judges that actually care about protecting victims instead of coddling criminals.'

Judge Tania Jeffers was elected to her post in March

Paramedics were called to an apartment where Bailey was staying with her newborn twins March 10.

One of the twin girls was not breathing after Bailey claimed the baby rolled off the bed, reported local station KVUE.

The baby who allegedly fell off the bed also had cuts and bruises to her face.

Bailey blamed her 17-year-old daughter, telling police she saw the teen play rough with the newborn and even throw a cellphone at her.

While Bailey was not charged in that infant's death, police noticed what they considered signs of abuse on the dead baby's twin sister.

An abuse investigation was launched for the baby at home, while the twin taken to the hospital died.

When that baby was examined at the hospital, doctors found injuries to her lips, cheeks and nostrils and bruising to her forehead and neck.

There were also numerous fractures to both legs and possible fractures to her ribs.

That baby girl died March 15.

Doctors didn't buy Bailey's version of events, writing in their report to police that the wounds on the baby were 'attributable to forces generated by someone with the strength and coordination of an adult.'

The father of twins witnessed Bailey being rough with the infant on several occasions, but claimed she would beat on him when he tried to intervene.

While investigating the death of the baby, police noticed signs of abuse on the other twin.

Bailey was charged with injury to a child, a first-degree felony, for the twin who is still alive.

Originally, Bailey was given a $40,000 bond.

Meanwhile, the investigation into who, if anyone at all, will face charges for the death of the other twin remains open as police wait for an autopsy, the Austin Police Department told DailyMail.com.

'There is potential for further charges,' the agency confirmed.

However, Bailey's lawyer submitted a request to lower Bailey's bond, claiming she was 'indigent,' court records show.

On April 23, Jeffers reduced Bailey's bond to $250. The mom walked out of the jail the next day.

As part of her bond, Bailey must wear a GPS monitor for 90 and has a curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Bailey was originally given a $40,000 bond, however, her lawyer submitted a request to lower it on ground she is indigent, and Judge Tania Jeffers agreed to lower it to $250 on April 23. Bailey bonded out the next day

'In general, it just seems to be a lackadaisical attitude towards actually holding people when they commit violent offenses.

'We seem to not have a concern that the the violence means they're likely to have something else happen.'

Jeffers did not immediately respond to a request for comment for DailyMail.com.

Additionally, there is nothing in the terms of her bond keeping Bailey from seeing the child is she is accused of abusing.

Bullock called Jeffer's move a 'slap in the face' to cops and the victims in this case.

'You have a small child incapable of communicating, incapable of defending themselves,' he said. 'The only true advocate that they're going to have is the person investigating the case. To see the person who caused the harm released, it's a slap in the face of the officer, not to mention the victim.'
Drivers and their passengers are breathing in harmful and potentially toxic chemicals every time they travel, a new study warned.

Researchers at the Green Science Policy Institute reported that 99 percent of cars made in 2015 through 2022 contained a flame-retardant chemical called tris (1-chloro-isopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP) that can affect children's IQ levels and cause deadly cancers.

The chemical serves no real benefit, according to the study, and is currently under investigation by the US National Toxicology program as a potential carcinogen.

Drivers and their passengers are breathing in harmful and potentially toxic chemicals every time they travel, a new study warned. The toxin has been linked to the above health effects in adults and children

The majority of toxic chemicals were found in the seat foam in 99 percent of the vehicles studied

Researchers analyzed 101 cars across the US and tested about half of the vehicles in both the summer and winter and found that the higher temperatures caused higher flame-retardant concentrations, according to the study published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal.

The amount of TCIPP in the summer was two to five times higher compared to winter because of what's called off-gassing - when the gas containing chemicals that was absorbed in materials is released into the air.

They also analyzed samples of the seat foam from half of the cars and found that those containing TCIPP had higher concentrations of the chemical in the air.

The average person spends about an hour in a car per day, making the findings 'particularly concerning for drivers with longer commutes as well as child passengers, who breathe more air pound for pound than adults,' said Rebecca Hoehn, the study's lead author and a scientist at Duke University.

Infants and children are also considered to be more vulnerable because they're transported to and from schools, doctor's appointments and childcare, according to the study.

It revealed that increased exposure to the toxic chemicals could reduce a child's IQ levels by three to five points because it interferes with the thyroid which emits brain-developing hormones.

Exposure to the toxins at a young age could lead to a child developing learning disabilities, autism and behavioral issues.

Car manufacturers have continued to inject harmful chemicals into cars including tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP) and tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) which have been linked to neurological and reproductive issues.

The chemicals have also been labeled as two Proposition 65 carcinogens by the California government because they can cause cancer.

Children are more at risk because they breathe in more air pound for pound than adults. Increased levels of flame-retardant chemicals can cause children's IQ levels to drop by three to five points

The researchers also referenced a separate research paper that revealed people with the highest levels of flame-retardant chemicals in their blood had four times greater risk of dying from cancer than those who had low levels.

'Firefighters are concerned that flame retardants contribute to their very high cancer rates,' said Patrick Morrison, who oversees Health and Safety for 350,000 U.S. and Canadian firefighters at the International Association of Fire Fighters.

'Filling products with these harmful chemicals does little to prevent fires for most uses and instead makes the blazes smokier and more toxic for victims, and especially for first responders.'

A 1975 law that required all furniture manufacturers, including automakers, to add flame-retardant chemicals to upholstered furniture, which has since been disbanded.

In 2013, lawmakers found that the typical sofa produced two to three pounds of cancer-causing chemicals which were also linked to reproductive issues.

The following year, a new flame-retardant law was implemented that removed the need for the chemicals to be injected into upholstered products but didn't ban the chemicals from being used.

Up until the early 2000s, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were used in furniture, vehicles and electronics, but when scientists linked it to cognitive developmental and reproductive issues, it became restricted.

However, automakers found ways around it by using non-restricted flame-retardants like the TCIPP to comply with flammability standards even though they still carry major health risks.

The study said the harmful effects of using the chemicals in furniture was studied extensively but evidence of exposure from personal vehicles is still relatively understudied.

More studies need to be conducted to determine the exact types of flame-retardant chemicals that are injected into manufactured vehicles and what levels humans are exposed to.

The researchers said there are ways to mitigate the risk of exposure such as opening your windows or parking in the shade, 'but what's really needed is reducing the amount of flame retardants being added to cars in the first place,' said co-author Lydia Jahl, a senior scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute.

'Commuting to work shouldn't come with a cancer risk,' she added, 'and children shouldn't breathe in chemicals that can harm their brains on their way to school.'
A new study of metal ore deep inside the moon is offering fresh evidence that Earth's natural satellite was formed by an ancient planet crashing into Earth long ago.

This long-theorized interplanetary collision  which scientists believe occurred some 4.5 billion years ago  saw a Mars-sized planet named 'Theia' slice itself into hot lava fragments upon impact with the Earth.

While some of Theia's planetary remains appear to be buried as dense and massive 'blobs' deep underneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean's tectonic plates, scientists said evidence for where the rest of Theia went after this crash had remained elusive.

But now, new data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft has found large telltale deposits of titanium-iron ore deep beneath the moon's surface, suggesting Theia's other remains did, in fact, form Earth's moon.

A new study of the moon is offering fresh evidence that Earth's natural satellite was formed by an ancient planet crashing into Earth. This long-theorized collision, some 4.5 billion years ago, saw a Mars-sized planet named 'Theia' slice into hot lava fragments upon impact with Earth

Under the moon's crust, in the region between the crust and the core known as the mantle, NASA's GRAIL craft detected two dense regions (pictured above) that match the titanium and iron 'ilmenite' deposits that would exist if the 'planet Theia' impact theory proves to be correct

Planetary geophysicist, Adrien Broquet of the German Aerospace Center in Berlin, described NASA's GRAIL findings as nothing short of 'mesmerizing.'

His team's new paper, published this April in Nature Geoscience, focused on 'gravity anomalies' deep under the moon's surface: dense, heavy pockets of matter identified by the GRAIL spacecraft's sensors.

'Analyzing these variations in the moon's gravity field allowed us to peek under the moon's surface and see what lies beneath,' Broquet said.

READ MORE: Earth may have lost 60 percent of its atmosphere in the massive collision that formed the Moon 4.5 billion years ago New research led by Durham University involved more than 300 supercomputer simulations designed to show the consequence of a huge collision on the planet. Advertisement

Under the moon's crust, in the region between the crust and the core known as the mantle, the GRAIL craft detected two dense regions that match the titanium and iron 'ilmenite' deposits that would exist if the Theia impact theory was correct.

After Theia's likely collision with Earth, and after fragments of this lost planet became buried deep below Earth's crust, molten lava pools of heavy titanium and iron on the moon's surface began to sink deeper towards its core, pushing lighter rock up.

'Our moon literally turned itself inside out,' said Broquet's co-author, Jeff Andrews-Hanna, a geophysicist at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

Computer models by their colleague, Nan Zhang at Peking University in Beijing, offered the original framework for their theory that titanium-rich material would exist deep within the moon as a result of the moon's origins as chunks of planet Theia.

'When we saw those model predictions,' Andrews-Hanna said, 'it was like a lightbulb went on.'

'We see the exact same pattern when we look at subtle variations in the moon's gravity field,' he said, 'revealing a network of dense material lurking below the crust.'

Back on Earth, two similarly dense and unusual regions at the base of our planet's mantle  known as Large Low Velocity Provinces (LLVPs)  have also lent credence to the theory that an interplanetary 'Theia' collision created our moon.

One LLVP is located beneath the African tectonic plate and the other under the Pacific tectonic plate, as measured by seismic equipment similar to that used to detect earthquakes.

Their existence was established when geologists found that seismic waves slowed dramatically at a depth of 1,800 miles (2,900 km) in the two regions, which differed to other parts of the Earth.

Scientists have found new evidence our that the moon was created during a giant impact between Earth and a Mars-sized protoplanet called Theia 4.5 billion years ago. This also buried relics of Theia deep within Earth's mantle (depicted following the collision)

After running a series of simulations, Professor Hongping Deng discovered that following the moon-forming impact a significant amount of Theian mantle material  around two percent of Earth's mass  entered the lower mantle (shown in orange in the artist's impression above)

Scientists believe the material in these LLVPs is between 2 and 3.5 percent denser than the Earth's surrounding mantle.

Last year, Researchers led by the California Institute of Technology came up with the idea that these LLVPs could have evolved from a small amount of Theian material that entered the ancient Earth's lower mantle.

To back this up, they asked Professor Hongping Deng, of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, to explore this idea with the help of his pioneering methods in computational fluid dynamics.

After running a series of simulations, Professor Deng discovered that following the moon-forming impact a significant amount of 'Theian' material  around two percent of Earth's mass  would have entered the lower mantle of the ancient planet Earth.

'Through precise analysis of a wider range of rock samples, combined with more refined giant impact models and Earth evolution models, we can infer the material composition and orbital dynamics of the primordial Earth, "Gaia," and "Theia,"' said Deng's co-author Qian Yuan, a CalTech geophysicist who also worked on this project.

Deng and Yuan's team published their study in the journal Nature late last year.

Broquet said he hopes future NASA missions to the moon, like those scheduled for the Artemis program, will be able to take similar seismic measurements: first-of-their-kind seismic data from the moon to better corroborate the Theia collision theory.

'Future missions, such as with a seismic network, would allow a better investigation of the geometry of these structures,' the researcher said.
Tourists making a trip to the Lake District this summer might be looking forward to cooling off in the deep blue waters of Lake Windermere.

But as the temperatures rise, holidaymakers might be shocked to find that the UK's biggest lake has turned a shocking emerald green.

Scientists from Map Impact now say that it might be tourists themselves who are to blame for this yearly transformation.

A study funded by the UK Space Agency found that sewage from the hundreds of thousands of visitors fuels the algal blooms which threaten wildlife and people.

Richard Flemmings, CEO of Map Impact, told MailOnline: 'We're able to see a link between increasing numbers of people and increasing algal strength.

 Slide me  Tourists may be causing Lake Windermere (pictured) to turn green as their sewage fuels massive algal blooms each summer

Each summer Lake Windermere has started to turn green as warmer temperatures make algal blooms more and more likely

In the last few years, Lake Windermere has started to become alarmingly green each summer as warmer temperatures help the algae to grow faster.

During a heatwave in 2022, for example, tourists were warned to avoid Lake Windermere's water as the lake was overwhelmed by a blue-green algal bloom.

However, the researchers discovered that it isn't just warmer summers that are responsible for this change.

The team compared anonymised phone data with satellite recordings of chlorophyll levels in the lake.

They discovered that there was a link between the high numbers of tourists and algal blooms in the next few days, whether the weather was hot or not.

Mr Flemmings says: 'What we're seeing with those spikes in tourist season is algae events three to five days later.

 Slide me  The researchers found that algal blooms in the Lake District like this one in Esthwaite Water were due to increased numbers of tourists

Sewage from the 300,000 tourists arriving on some peak days adds nutrients to the water which causes algae to grow out of control

What causes algal blooms? Algal blooms are the sudden and rapid growth of small aquatic plants called algae. To grow, they need a combination of high temperatures and nitrates. Nitrates, such as those contained in phosphorus, can come from agricultural run-off or sewage discharge. When these nutrients enter the water, the algae use them to grow rapidly. They can grow so fast that they use up all of the oxygen in the water, killing off other animals. Advertisement

On peak tourist days, the population of the Lake Windermere catchment area can balloon more than eight times in 24 hours from 40,000 to more than 300,000.

That is equivalent to a town with the population of Nottingham appearing overnight.

With this many people arriving, there is inevitably a massive increase in the amount of sewage generated.

Both treated and untreated sewage contain high levels of phosphorus - a source of the nitrates that are key to making algae bloom.

Although Mr Flemmings notes that this study doesn't directly look at the sewage infrastructure in the Lake District, he says that this research 'highlights the need for action'.

'I think what we can conclude is that the sewage infrastructure probably isn't sufficient for this huge increase in people,' he said.

A 2023 study found that phosphorus levels significantly increased during the school holiday and summer period and that the increases were especially high near sewage discharge points.

This suggests that even sewage discharge may carry enough nutrients to contribute to the formation of algae blooms.

At peak times the researchers found that the Lake Windermere catchment area was visited by eight times its resident population - as much as the population of Nottingham

A 2023 study found that during April 2023 (left) and August 2023 (right) sewage discharge into the lake was linked with significantly higher levels of phosphorous

In November 2023, another study found that just three per cent of water samples collected from around the lake met the standards for phosphorus levels under UK legislation.

United Utilities, which manages sewage treatment in the Windermere area did not comment on whether algal blooming was linked to sewage discharge.

A company spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Our wastewater treatment works are sized to treat the sewage from maximum population numbers at peak times, and use the highest treatment standards including phosphorus removal and UV treatment to kill bacteria.'

The spokesperson added that United Utilities had carried out a feasibility study into a 'discharge-free' solution to sewage around the lake.

Algae blooms absorb so much oxygen from the water that they kill fish and other animals. Extremely strong blooms even produce toxins that can be harmful to humans

However, greening lakes are more than just an eyesore as these algal blooms can be harmful to wildlife and even people.

Mr Flemmings says: 'If you've got those green pieces of algae growing very quickly, it means many other things are starved of oxygen in the water.

'This can have a negative impact on wildlife and there is also evidence that algal blooms, when there very strong, can have a harmful effect on humans swimming or using the lake.'

Some species of algae are known to produce toxins that people can ingest from swimming in the water or even eating fish that live in the lake.

The toxins found in Lake Windermere during the 2022 bloom were described as being as toxic as cobra venom by a top ecologist.

Chemicals produced by some algae are linked to gastrointestinal illness as well as liver damage, while others could be deadly for dogs and humans in high doses.
It's thought getting sucked into a black hole would be one of the most painful deaths in the universe.

Just like any other infalling object, you would be violently stretched out like a noodle in a process astrophysicists call spaghettification.

Now, an incredible new animation from NASA shows what we'd see in our final moments if we could ever reach such a void.

The clip, produced on a NASA supercomputer, shows a first-person plunge towards a supermassive black hole's 'event horizon'  its dreaded point of no return.

Although it's not showing a specific black hole, in terms of size it's roughly equivalent to the monster located at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy.

Ever wonder what happens when you fall into a black hole? Now, thanks to a new animation from NASA, viewers can plunge into the event horizon, a black hole's point of no return

As the video begins and the 'camera' approaches the void, we can see the bright orange 'accretion disk' with a starry galaxy in the backround

What are black holes? Perhaps one of the scariest features of the universe are black holes - regions of spacetime where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. Black holes act as intense sources of gravity that hoover up surrounding dust and gas, as well as planets and even other black holes. They are often described as 'destructive monsters' because they tear apart stars, consuming anything that comes too close, and hold light captive. With light unable to escape black holes, Earth would have little chance either. Advertisement

NASA scientists created the animation on the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Center for Climate Simulation in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The project generated about 10 terabytes of data  equivalent to roughly half of the estimated text content in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

'This new, immersive visualization produced on a NASA supercomputer represents a scenario where a camera just misses the event horizon and slingshots back out,' says the space agency.

'The destination is a supermassive black hole with 4.3 million times the mass of our sun, equivalent to the monster located at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy.'

As the video begins and the 'camera' approaches the void, we can see the bright orange 'accretion disk'  a hot disk of gas orbiting the black hole and its main source of light.

The accretion disk is created by material emitting energy as it falls into the black hole, whether it's gas, dust or matter.

We can also see the thinner photon sphere  a thin ring of light that forms closer to the black hole's 'event horizon'.

The term 'event horizon', which famously spawned the sci-fi disaster film of the same name in 1997, is the point at which nothing, not even light, can escape.

Inside the black hole: The bright orange 'accretion disk' (top) and the photon sphere (bottom) - the thin ring of light appearing at the edge of the event horizon shadow

An annotated black hole: Right at the centre is the event horizon - the point at which nothing, not even light, can escape

The simulated black holes event horizon spans about 16 million miles (25 million kilometers), or about 17 per cent of the distance from Earth to our sun.

After posting the video on YouTube, internet users described the clip as 'impressive, 'beautiful' and 'so cool'.

One commented: 'Black Holes are such a fascinating part of space, and i find them insanely cool, but man do they unlock a deep fear within me.'

Another said: 'Why does this feel scary, like my instinct kicks in to avoid this.'

Yet another said it was 'like I nearly went down a cosmic drain', while someone else joked, 'all engines full reverse!'

According to NASA, the first-person perspective provided by the hypothetical 'camera' is hugely sped up  it manages to reach 60 per cent the speed of light.

The camera is supposed to represent the viewpoint of an astronaut if we could ever reach a black hole, which at the moment is impossible.

Pictured, the black hole at the heart of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87). The stunning image was released earlier this year

What is spaghettification? Spaghettification is the scientific term for what happens to someone falling towards a black hole. If you were dropping into a black hole feet first, you would discover that the gravitational pull on your feet was greater than that on your head because your feet are closer to the black hole's centre of mass. What initially would be an irritation would become a painful and irresistible force, stretching your body longer and longer until you became a long, pink spaghetti-like structure. Advertisement

Xavier Calmet, a professor of physics at the University of Sussex, said the gravitational force of a black hole would become so strong that we would experience 'spaghettification'.

'Your body will be stretched into a shape similar to that of a long pasta until it is reaped apart by the strong gravitational force,' Professor Calmet told MailOnline.

'I can't imagine that this would be pleasant  it would happen rather quickly, so if painful, it is unlikely to last long.'

Dr David L Clements, a senior lecturer at Imperial College London's physics department, said 'the end would likely be quick' if falling into a black hole.

'It could come from asphyxiation if the atmosphere is stripped, or from the process called spaghettification where tidal forces stretch everything out into long strings  maybe briefly painful,' he said.

Thankfully, the chances of Earth ever being swallowed by a black hole are 'nearly zero', according to Dr Clements.

'The fact that were still here shows that this hasnt happened over the whole history of the Earth,' he told MailOnline.

'So the chances are at least less than once every 4.5 billion years and likely much much less.'

The closest black hole to Earth, called Gaia BH1, is around 1,600 light years away and is 10 times the size as our sun.

Researchers recently revealed the second-closest known black hole to Earth, which is about 1,500 light-years away.
Social media is calling Apple's new tablet the 'Ozempic iPad' Pro, after the tech giant revealed it is the thinnest device yet.

Apple hosted hosted the 'Let Loose' event, which also saw a new iPad Air, Magic Keyboard and Pencil Pro take the stage.

But the latest iPad Pro stole the show when Apple said it measures just 5.1 millimeters thick - thinner than the iPod Nano.

The iPad Pro is $1,000 for an 11-inch model and $1,300 for a 13-inch model.

The tablet is also the fastest ever due to a new AI-focused M4 chip with a larger 'neural engine' that can complete 38 trillion tasks per second.

Apple has launched a new 'Ozempic iPad Pro' on Tuesday, declaring the tablet its thinnest device yet. The latest iPad Pro stole the show when Apple said it measures just 5.1 millimeters thick - thinner than the iPod Nano (left)

Social media users are calling the new iPad Pro 'iPad Ozempic' due it being the thinnest tablet yet - and that the drug has made a name for itself as a weight-loss alternative

The new iPad Pro also feature OLED screens to provide richer color and enhanced contrasts compared to previous models

Apple often introduces new iPads in May, a time when education customers are making purchasing decisions for the next academic year.

But in recent years, Apple has started to transform its higher-priced models into devices for creative and business professionals with its iPad Pro models.

iPad Pro with the new M4 chip

Social media users are calling the new iPad Pro 'iPad Ozempic' due it being the thinnest tablet yet - and that the drug has made a name for itself as a weight-loss alternative.

The new iPad Pro also feature OLED screens to provide richer color and enhanced contrasts compared to previous models.

And the device comes with the front-facing camera.

The new iPad Pro is made possible with the new M4 chip, the next generation of Apple silicon, which delivers a huge leap in performance and capabilities.

Apple said the iPad Pro - its highest-priced model - will have upgraded displays and start at $1,000 for an 11-inch model and $1,300 for a 13-inch model

The 13-inch model measures just 5.1 millimeters thick, which Apple says is its thinnest device ever - thinner than the Nano iPod

The in-house chip features a new display engine to enable the precision, color, and brightness of the Ultra Retina XDR display.

It features a new CPU with four performance cores and six efficiency cores, making it 50 percent faster than other chips - Apple said the M4 performs up to four times faster than the M2.

Tim Millet, vice president of platform architecture at Apple, said: 'The neural engine makes M4 an outrageously powerful chip for AI.

'In fact, with this level of performance, the neural engine and M4 is more powerful than any neural processing unit in any AI PC today.'

The new iPad Pro is made possible with the new M4 chip, the next generation of Apple silicon, which delivers a huge leap in performance and capabilities

Precisely what AI features the new chips could power might not become fully clear until Apple's developer conference, where it often shows new capabilities for Siri, its voice assistant, as well as the rest of its operating systems.

For now, many AI features - such as helping zoom in on a user during a video call and slightly altering the look of their eyes to make it look as though they are looking directly into the camera - are not likely to inspire a wave of upgrades, according to some analysts.

iPad Air comes with the largest display yet

The first device shown during the event was a new iPad Air, which comes with the redesigned 11-inch and all-new 13-in iPad Air - both feature Apple's in-house M2 chip.

Apple has launched several new products that include redesigned iPads, in-house chip, Magic Keyboard and Pencil Pro. Pictured is the new iPad Airs

Unlike previous models, the new tablet features a front-facing camera for improved video calls, along with faster Wi-Fi and an all-day battery life.

The 13-inch iPad Air offers 30 percent more screen than the 11-inch, but both include a Liquid Retina design and an anti-reflective screen coating.

The new iPad Air is available in new blue and purple finishes, along with starlight and space gray.

The 11-inch iPad Air still starts at just $599, and the 13-inch iPad Air is a fantastic value at just $799. Customers can order the new iPad Air today, with availability beginning Wednesday, May 15.

Bob Borchers, Apple's vice president of Product Marketing, said: 'So many users  from students, to content creators, to small businesses, and more  love iPad Air for its performance, portability, and versatility, all at an affordable price. Today, iPad Air gets even better.'

'We're so excited to introduce the redesigned 11-inch and all-new 13-inch iPad Air, offering two sizes for the first time.

'With its combination of a brilliant Liquid Retina display, the phenomenal performance of the M2 chip, incredible AI capabilities, and its colorful, portable design with support for new accessories, iPad Air is more powerful and versatile than ever.'

Apple Pencil Pro with 'even more magical capabilities

The new Apple Pencil Pro can sense when you squeeze it and brings up a new palette, so you can quickly switch tools, line weights and colors

Apple Pencil pairs, charges, and stores magnetically on the side of your iPad. And it is available for $129

The new Pencil lets users perform tasks by squeezing and barrel rolling to take notes, mark up images and create digital masterpieces.

Squeezing the pen brings up a new pallet, allowing users to quickly switch between tools, line designs and colors.

By activating barrel roll, users can rotate the device for precise control of shaped pen and brush tools.

The upgraded device also comes with haptic feedback and hover, which lets users write, sketch and illustrate with out touching the Pencil to the iPad.

Apple Pencil pairs, charges, and stores magnetically on the side of your iPad.

And it is available for $129.

Magic Keyboard with a larger trackpad

The new Magic Keyboard for the latest iPad Pro is available in two sizes, 11 and 13 inches, along with either black of silver

The new Magic Keyboard for the latest iPad Pro is available in two sizes, 11 and 13 inches, along with either black of silver.

The smaller version can be purchased for $299 and the larger for $349.

While the keyboard is only compatible with the new iPad Pro announced Tuesday, the device sees the first major updates to the line.

The palm rest was designed with aluminum - an upgrade from plastic - and users can enjoy a larger trackpad with haptic feedback.

Industry expert Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, said Apple would be looking to 'reinvigorate' its tablet range with the updates.

'Although tablets are one of Apple's less prominent products, the iPad generated 5.6 billion dollars in revenue in the company's most recent quarterly earnings, surpassing the total revenue of many rival device makers,' he said.

'However, given this was more than 15% down year-on-year, Apple is undoubtedly keen to reinvigorate the category, particularly in the premium tier.

'Whilst these new iPads are unlikely to return the category to growth immediately, they represent a much-needed reason to upgrade for customers with ageing products.

'The emphasis on artificial intelligence was palpable with Apple determined to seize back the initiative in this area given the huge focus on this topic by all its rivals over the last 18 months.'
Government experts have issued an urgent warning over a deadly disease that could kill millions of farm animals in Britain.

Bluetongue disease  caused by a virus spread by flying insects called midges  mostly affects sheep and cattle, but also goats, deer and even camel.

Infected animals can get swelling of the tongue ('bluetongue') which can cause breathing difficulties, but other symptoms include lesions and nasal discharge.

Bluetongue disease was first reported in the UK in 2007, but now government says there's a 'very high probability' of a new strain of the virus called BTV-3 spreading across Britain.

Already there have been confirmed cases of BTV-3 in sheep and cattle in Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Bluetongue disease mainly affects sheep and cattle, but also other ruminants such as deer and goats and even camels. Experts in France treat infected sheep in 2008

What is bluetongue disease? Bluetongue disease is an insect-borne, viral disease of ruminants - mainly sheep and less frequently cattle, goats, buffalo, deer and even camel but not horses or pigs. Affected animals can have swelling of the tongue ('bluetongue') which can cause breathing difficulties. Other symptoms include fever, lesions, redness of the mouth, eyes, nose, skin reddening above the hoof, excessive salivation and nasal discharge. It is caused by Bluetongue virus which is spread mainly by biting midges. Source: NFU/WOAH Advertisement

Bluetongue does not pose a threat to human health or food safety.

Instead, the danger is the threat to livestock that could be slaughtered in places where infection is confirmed.

In a statement, the government said the new strain will likely infect more British farm animals due to infected biting midges being blown over from northern Europe.

These biting midges are most active between April and November but a potential 'incursion' of the flying insects will depend on temperature and wind patterns.

Because the midges thrive in warmer temperatures, the risk of virus transmission is expected to increase in hotter weather.

Counties along the south and east coasts of England, including Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, and Sussex, are considered most likely to be impacted.

'Our robust surveillance systems show we have now entered the period where biting midges are more active,' said Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Christine Middlemiss.

'We know that the likelihood of bluetongue virus entering Great Britain is increasing.

'Despite the increase in midge activity, the current risk of transmission has not changed, but I would urge farmers to remain vigilant and report any suspicions to the Animal Plant Health Agency.'

Aside from a swollen tongue, symptoms in cattle and sheep include eye and nasal discharge, lesions and redness, drooling as a result of ulcerations in the mouth, swelling of the head and neck, and lameness.

Bluetongue disease is caused by a virus spread by flying insects called midges. Pictured, an electron micrograph of the bluetongue virus

Aside from a swollen tongue, symptoms in cattle and sheep include eye and nasal discharge (pictured in a sheep), lesions and redness, drooling as a result of ulcerations in the mouth, swelling of the head and neck, and lameness

The severity of disease varies among different species, but symptoms tend to be the most severe in sheep, resulting in death, weight loss and disruption in wool growth.

Cattle (cows and bulls) often have a higher infection rate than sheep and affected cows can suffer from lower milk yield even if they survive.

Government says there have been 126 confirmed bluetongue cases in England  119 in cattle and seven in sheep.

There are no authorised vaccines available for BTV-3 in the UK or Europe.

However, the government is 'actively engaging' with vaccine manufacturers on the development of a BTV-3 vaccine for use in the UK.

According to the government, the overall risk of importing livestock infected with the bluetongue virus into Britain is considered to be 'very low'.

However, rules on the movement of livestock from regions affected by bluetongue are already in place

Sheep are more likely to show obvious clinical signs of bluetongue than cattle if they become infected with bluetongue virus

'We must not be complacent to the bluetongue virus risk and the challenge this could pose to our livestock sector,' said Biosecurity Minister Lord Douglas Miller.

'We want to ensure our control strategy is proportionate, and we will continue to work with industry to keep them briefed on the latest disease and veterinary assessments.

'Once the risk of transmission increases, we will also be offering free bluetongue tests to keepers in high-risk counties and we are actively engaging with vaccine manufacturers on the development of a BTV-3 vaccine for use in the UK.'

The public can read more about bluetongue disease on the government's website.
Americans in several southwest states have reported seeing a glowing, hazy UFO in the night sky around 9pm local on May 2.

The videos were uploaded to Enigma Labs, which shows observations in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada.

While shot in different locations, witnesses described the UFO as appearing out of nowhere without a sound and disappearing into thin air.

Enigma Lab's UAP advisor Alejandro Rojas said that all the images appeared to be the same, but suggested it could have been a rocket - 'but there were no rockets scheduled at that time.'

Americans in several southwest states reported seeing glowing, hazy UFOs in the night sky around 9pm local on May 2. Pictured is footage from Palm Springs, California

'We live by an airport. This was not an airplane, a planet, a star, a comet, or fireball, a drone, a satellite, or a rocket,' a witness in Oroville, California claimed (pictured)

Enigma Labs has built a massive catalog of incidents to weed out what is real or a hoax.

The batch received by DailyMail.com included seven videos and two non-video reports showing similar objects, but Engima said it collected more than 20 witnesses of the same observation.

'We live by an airport. This was not an airplane, a planet, a star, a comet, or fireball, a drone, a satellite, or a rocket,' a witness in Oroville, California claimed.

'We are familiar with them all as we are used to rocket launches and what they look like. This was something that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared into thin air.'

Enigma confirmed that, in several videos, the object was seen disappearing.

'It appeared to have a spotlight on both sides of the object,' another witness wrote on the website.

One of the videos captured in Palm Springs clearly shows a bowtie-shaped object, with lights appearing to be directed in opposite directions.

'Some of the reports indicate the object could be coming from either Vandenburg, China Lake, or the Nellis Test Range,' Rojas said.

Enigma Labs has built a massive catalog of incidents to weed out what is real or a hoax. The image was taken in Palms, California

A family in Peoria, Arizona (pictured) said they have remained baffled by what they caught on video: 'We've watched this video a hundred times and can't explain it'

Another sighting issues to Enigma came from Las Vegas, Nevada (pictured)

'If this was military testing, it would explain why it is not listed on public sites such as Spaceflight Now.

'We will continue to look into it, but for now we don't have a clear explanation.'

A family in Peoria, Arizona said they have remained baffled by what they caught on video: 'We've watched this video a hundred times and can't explain it.'

The Arizona witness shot the footage in a neighborhood, showing houses lining the streets.

One star is visible in the clip, located northeast of the UFO.

The witness said they and their son were out walking when they saw a 'bright light that looked like it was glowing in the clouds.'

'There were no clouds, no moon and no planes at this time,' the report continued.

'We noticed the light and my son started filming with his iPhone.

'The light with a large glow around it was far away and completely silent. It wasn't falling from the sky but rather coming west to east towards us. It was glowing and steady.'

The person continued to explain that at the end, the object faded out and disappeared - no sounds were heard during the sighing.

Another sighting issues to Enigma came from Las Vegas, Nevada.

'I was in my backyard in Las Vegas. I am in the northwest part of the city. I was at my neighbor's house down the street,' the description reads.

'She has a great view of the sky. And I saw this really bright light in the distance and it looked so fuzzy like it was behind clouds, but it was a super clear night.

Enigma received five other reports from California (pictured is from Mariposa), all showing the same type of object and another from Utah

'You can see the stars in the video. We could tell it was getting closer because it was getting bigger and then the cloudy/foggy part, which kind of had a similar effect that a rocket would have but no trail, started to change. It looked like a bow tie or snow angel wing shape.

'After about a minute it started to fade until it looked like a star and then no more. It was going about the same speed as the ISS. Maybe a tad faster.'

And a similar sighting was reported more than 500 miles away in Oroville, California.

The same hazy orb appeared in the video, which flew in a circular motion before disappearing.

'We live by an airport. This was not an airplane, a planet, a star, a comet, or fireball, a drone, a satellite, or a rocket,' the person shared.

'We are familiar with them all as we are used to rocket launches and what they look like. This was something that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared into thin air.'

Enigma received five other reports from California, all showing the same type of object and another from Utah.
A seasoned traveler has detailed the brutal realities of spending 24 hours in the world's highest town in Peru as he branded it his 'scariest travel experience' ever, with crime and pollution rife - not to mention the dizzying lack of oxygen and frigid climate.

Ammar Kandil, who is a co-founder of the YouTube channel Yes Theory, reveals in a new upload how he journeyed to the lofty town of La Rinconada in the Peruvian Andes.

Drone footage shows how the ramshackle settlement - which sits at around 16,700 ft - is nestled amid snow-tipped mountains but marring its beauty are dozens of mining pits with the area rich in gold.

In another clip, the short documentary shows how a road leading to the town is sandwiched by sprawling garbage patches as there are no landfill sites in the vicinity and all the trash is left on display.

Ammar Kandil, who is a co-founder of the YouTube channel Yes Theory, reveals in a new upload how he journeyed to the lofty town of La Rinconada in the Peruvian Andes

On a phone call with one of his business partners, Amman offers his initial impression: '[La Rinconada] is by far the sketchiest place that I've ever been'

Drone footage shows how the ramshackle town - which sits at around 16,700 ft - is nestled amid mountains but marring its beauty, are dozens of mining pits as the area is rich in gold

Making matters worse, Ammar discovers when he arrives in La Rinconada that there are only three hot showers in the entire town where some 50,000 people reside

As he journeys along the road, Ammar muses: 'This just has to be one of the saddest arrivals I've ever had in into a place.

'From just gorgeous views on the way up and then just this sea of trash everywhere.

'I mean that's what happens when 50,000 people settle somewhere they're not supposed to without the infrastructure necessary for them to be able to live there and with just illegal mining activity everywhere. Dude, this breaks my heart.'

Making matters worse, Ammar discovers when he arrives in La Rinconada that there are only three hot showers in the entire town and the water is heavily contaminated with mercury, which is used to extract the gold.

He reveals that this pollution, which has seeped into the surrounding lakes and streams, 'leads to serious health issues for the miners and the wider community including neurological and reproductive damage.'

On a phone call with one of his business partners, Amman offers his initial impression: '[La Rinconada] is by far the sketchiest place that I've ever been.

'[There are] fights breaking out everywhere, people giving us looks as we walked around.

'I don't think I've ever been as worried going to [a] filming.'

He reveals that this pollution, which has seeped into the surrounding lakes and streams, 'leads to serious health issues for the miners and the wider community'

In a 2015 article from the New Yorker, writer William Finnegan explains how La Rinconada mainly operates as an illegal mining town with no company overseeing things

In a 2015 article from the New Yorker, writer William Finnegan explains how La Rinconada mainly operates as an illegal mining town with no company overseeing things.

Detailing the employment scene, he wrote: 'The mines, whatever you call them, are small, numerous, unregulated, and, as a rule, grossly unsafe.

'Most don't pay salaries, let alone benefits, but run on an ancient labor system called cachorreo.

'This system is usually described as thirty days of unpaid work followed by a single frantic day in which workers get to keep whatever gold they can haul out for themselves.'

He also highlights how women are 'barred' from the mines due to a 'long history of gender discrimination both in mining and in Peru, and a wealth of related superstition about bad luck and women and mines.'

Despite this, he notes that women still mine gold in the town, but they do it by scavenging through discarded scrap rock for gold flakes.

In the Yes Theory documentary, Ammar meets one of these women who are known as 'pallaqueras' close to one of the garbage patches.

On talking to her using a translator, he learns that she has been scouring for gold for four years and generally she works eight hours a day hunched over on her hands and knees.

Ammar leaves with a plea to the Peruvian government to enforce more regulations around mining in the area

Women are 'barred' from the mines due to a 'long history of gender discrimination both in mining and in Peru, and a wealth of related superstition about bad luck and women and mines'

However, it is very hard to make a living and the little bits of gold she had collected that day would only be worth 10 to 20 cents.

As mining brings in so little income for the female miners, Ammar says many turn to prostitution and around 2,500 women from neighboring communities flock to La Rinconada every year.

After bidding farewell to the woman, the camera crew drive into La Rinconada itself.

Ammar describes the scene, stating: 'The first impression for me that it's way bigger than I thought.

'I mean I knew that close to 50,000 people live here but I guess I didn't picture what that would look like on the side of a mountain.

'Okay, there's parts where people are temporary residents of the town so they just come for mining days or mining months and then they leave.

'But they say it's between 20,000 to 30,000 people and then there's the main town which is more permanent.'

After arriving into the town, Ammar meets a young miner called Fidel who has good English and he is able to learn a little more about life in La Rinconada.

Fidel reveals that he ventured to the mountain town from Cusco to find employment opportunities.

He said the biggest thing he had to get used to was the high altitude, as there is significantly less oxygen being so high up.

In another scene, Fidel shows Ammar the potential income they can make in the mines if they hit upon gold.

On top of hearing fighting throughout the night, the YouTuber said the cold he experienced was unbearable, as was the lack of oxygen which resulted in constant toilet breaks

After arriving into the town, Ammar finds a young miner called Fidel who has good English and he is able to learn a little more about life in La Rinconada

Some local women show Ammar and Fidel a couple of sizeable nuggets of gold.

They explain that these deposits would be worth around $675.

However, Fidel explains that finding such sizeable pieces is unpredictable and it could be 'maybe in one day, in one hour, or in half an hour... it depends.'

Along with the mining being backbreaking work, the young man also reveals that death is a possibility as the shafts collapse, and there are fatalities on a daily basis.

Come nightfall, the Yes Theory team venture into town, but they quickly return to their hotel after becoming scared of the rising tension outside.

On top of hearing fighting throughout the night, the YouTuber says the cold he experienced was unbearable, as was the lack of oxygen which result in constant toilet breaks.

He explains: 'Good morning, it's 5.30am, not much sleep. In fact no sleep at all.

'I think I had like 45 minutes. I have one of the strongest headaches I've ever had. [I] feel dry everywhere. I counted I peed eight times in nine hours which is just a lot. I wasn't even drinking that much water.'

With it being time to leave the town, Ammar sums up his trip to La Rinconada. He tells viewers: '[It was just a] very intense experience that we went through and it's torn between such extremes.

'Like waking up at the bottom of a glacier seeing the most beautiful view but being up during the night and hearing what was going on in the town and hearing gunshots and hearing people scream and hear hearing people drunk breaking bottles.

'It's this weird paradox between being in one of the most beautiful places that you can be on our planet but also seeing the worst of what human beings can do to our planet.'

Ammar leaves with a plea to the Peruvian government to enforce more regulations around mining in the area. He concludes: 'It's really dangerous because there's tunnels that are inside of the mountain underneath the glacier.

'[There is] nobody caring about the structural integrity of anything so it almost feels like a ticking time bomb.

'That the mine has been operating since the 70s and hundreds of thousands of people have come through to do this and and it's just layers upon layers upon layers [with] no proper inspection.

'I pray that people stay safe and that the government does something about it before it becomes catastrophic.'
To many fans mesmerised by Netflixs global hit Baby Reindeer, the plot is unthinkable and terrifying. A single act of kindness  a young man working in a bar offers a distressed woman a free cup of tea  turns into a relentless campaign of stalking that destroys his life.

But as I watched the seven-part series, in the light of my own experience as a forensic psychiatrist who has given evidence in numerous stalking cases, the facts seemed both stunningly convincing and frighteningly recognisable.

Like every complex psychological crime, the Baby Reindeer story has unique elements. At first, the show  based on creator and star Richard Gadds real-life ordeal, though he plays a character called Donny  goes in directions I was not expecting.

In the light of my own experience as a forensic psychiatrist who has given evidence in numerous stalking cases, Baby Reindeer seemed both stunningly convincing and frighteningly recognisable, writes Dr Sohom Das

Donny seems to be unusually self-absorbed. But as the story progresses, he is honest and open about how his own behaviour stoked his stalkers obsession. We gradually come to understand why he is so susceptible to the relentless attention directed at him by the dangerously deluded Martha (Jessica Gunning).

It emerges that, as a struggling comedian on the stand-up circuit, he had been befriended by a much older man  a powerful TV writer and director  who had led him to believe that he could help his career. But after an evening of drink and drugs at the mans London flat, Donny passes out and is raped.

So its a damaged and fragile person that Martha meets in episode one. He gives her free drinks when she comes into the pub where he works, agrees to meet her at a cafe and exchanges messages with her.

When she cuts off contact after being given a talking to by the police about her harassment of him, he misses her attention so much that he begins to obsess over her, too.

That doesnt mean stalking victims are complicit in their own persecution  far from it. Most have done nothing to invite or sustain the unwanted attention.

But the crime is far more prevalent than most people would possibly guess. According to a 2018 survey published by the Office for National Statistics, 7 per cent of women and about 2.5 per cent of men in England and Wales had been stalked in the previous 12 months.

All the signs point to stalking becoming more and more common. The sad truth is that social media makes it easy for an obsessive to delve into their targets life online  to befriend them on Facebook or decipher clues from photos on Instagram.

Most stalkers dont have a mental illness, but they do share defined personality traits. They lack empathy, are impulsive and often have a previous history of violence or a criminal record.

Being naturally aggressive and hostile, they tend to be dismissive of the law or at least behave as though it doesnt apply to them.

Viewers of Baby Reindeer may feel that Donny, played by creator Richard Gadd, also exacerbated Marthas behaviour by reacting to it. But the reality is that ignoring a stalker will only work in some cases

This can be summed up as an anti-social personality disorder, something that affects between 2 and 4 per cent of men, and less than half a per cent of women.

These personality traits are partly inherent, probably genetic and heightened by experiences in early childhood such as lax or over-strict parenting and emotional, physical or sexual abuse.

But none of these things will be immediately apparent when we meet a stranger. In the course of my work I have identified five broad categories of stalker, of which the most common is what I call the incompetent suitor.

In such cases, the stalker believes that what theyre doing is a form of flirtation, with the aim of starting a relationship. They dont intend to intimidate their victim  they actually think that theyre making romantic gestures.

The character of Martha in Baby Reindeer probably matches this profile most closely.

A sub-category of the incompetent suitor, and probably the type that I come across most frequently, is the stalker who imagines they are in a genuine relationship with somebody. One well-known example of such erotomania was Margaret Mary Ray, a divorced woman so obsessed with the U.S. talk show host David Letterman in the 1980s that she repeatedly broke into his house to leave him gifts and even do his housework.

She was arrested after stealing his Porsche and claiming to be his wife  telling police that he was father of her young son, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

Like Martha in Baby Reindeer, Ray felt she had been encouraged by the man she was stalking. Letterman talked about her on air, making a joke of her behaviour.

The attention given to her, and the actions of the authorities, made her situation that much worse, her daughter Anna-Lisa said. Ray killed herself in 1997.

Viewers of Baby Reindeer may feel that Donny also exacerbated Marthas behaviour by reacting to it. But the reality is that ignoring a stalker will only work in some cases. If the obsession is triggered by rejection, such as a romantic break-up, a complete absence of attention or reaction sends a strong signal and might well work.

But in cases of genuine mental illness, nothing short of clinical treatment is likely to be effective.

The worst cases of stalking involve physical violence. While Martha may have occasionally lashed out at Donny, she never mounted any kind of sustained assault. But the most extreme category of stalker I have come across  one I describe as predatory  can kill.

These individuals monitor and pursue their victim, with the intention of sexually assaulting or intimidating them, and this can escalate to rape and murder.

An ITV documentary last month highlighted one of the most tragic cases, that of 23-year-old Gracie Spinks, who was murdered three years ago. Gracie contacted police to report a campaign of stalking by her former supervisor at work, Michael Sellers.

Her fears were not taken seriously enough, even when a dog walker found a bag of weapons including knives and an axe close to the field where Gracie stabled her horse. Weeks later, Gracie was stabbed to death by Sellers at that spot. He then killed himself.

Relatively few stalkers harbour fantasies of murder but it can be difficult for victims to know what will happen next. Thats why being targeted is so scary.

The best advice is to be on guard for warning signs. If someone new enters your life and begins to make you feel uncomfortable, dont dismiss your fears.

If they seem over-interested, if they know more about you than seems healthy, if theyre suddenly following all your social media accounts and messaging you  these are all red flags.

Baby Reindeer gives us some dramatic examples of this. The show raises our awareness of a dangerous phenomenon that is all too often treated as a joke.

For our own safety, we need to take stalking seriously.
Rebel Wilson has made a heartbreaking admission about how her difficult childhood with her late father Warwick shaped her career.

The Australian actress, 44, admitted on Monday that there was a 'dodginess' within her father, which significantly affected her as a person.

'Why I have certain parts of my personality, and I do comedy, is because my dad had dodginess everywhere,' she told The Diary Of A CEO podcast.

'Alcoholism, addictions and also a mentality that is a bit dodgy. There is a dark side, and if I didn't have that I don't think I would be as interesting as a person.'

Rebel added that she felt many of her famous friends had personalities that were 'bland' as a result of coming from happy, untroubled childhoods.

Rebel Wilson (pictured) has made the heartbreaking admission about how her difficult childhood with her late father Warwick shaped her career

'I have friends in the industry that had awesome childhoods. To me, they come across as very vanilla in their work. They are just not as interesting.'

In her new memoir Rebel Rising, she opened up about the physical abuse she endured at the hands of her father, including one incident where he threatened to 'choke and throttle' her.

In the book, Rebel recalled her father Warwick, who died in 2013, once had a violent outburst when she begged him to buy her a Slurpee as a 12-year-old.

The Australian actress, 44, admitted on Monday that there was a 'dodginess' within her father, which significantly impacted her as a person. (Pictured: Rebel [left] with her father [third from right] and family in the 90s)

The pair were in the car with Rebel's sister Liberty when their father lost his temper after they kept asking him to buy them drinks, saying he would 'choke' her if she kept talking.

She wrote: 'He whips around violently like he might actually try to choke me, then and there. He's furious. It's like a switch has flipped.'

The actress recalled another incident during her childhood years when her father allegedly hit her across the face after he thought she had wet the bed.

'Why I have certain parts of my personality, and I do comedy, is because my dad had dodginess everywhere,' she told The Diary Of A CEO podcast. 'Alcoholism, addictions and also a mentality that is a bit dodgy. There is a dark side'

Rebel told how she and Liberty had been dabbing their faces with washcloths in bed to try and cool down on a particularly hot night.

The Bridesmaids star had the idea to wet both their mattresses in the hope it would help them cool down quicker.

But when their father entered their bedroom, he thought the pair had wet their bed and Rebel said he immediately lost his temper and became a 'red-faced giant'.

She wrote: 'He brings his palm up to his cheek and, with the full force of a strong, stocky adult man, hits me as I'm lying there on the wet mattress. Whack. Whack. Whack.'

In her new memoir Rebel Rising, she opened up about the physical abuse she endured at the hands of her father, including one incident where he threatened to 'choke and throttle' her
Harvey Keitel, Faye Dunaway and Andrew McCarthy headline the cast of an upcoming movie titled Fate for director Jonathan Baker.

'There is an excellent chance it will stand as one of the most memorable love stories of our time,' Baker, who is also a producer on the movie, told Deadline Monday.

The film is described as 'a suspenseful, supernatural romance' by the outlet, which noted it will hit the international market at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival through the company Highland Film Group.

The motion picture has remained in the development stage in the past five years, according to the outlet, with production slated to commence in Vancouver later in May.

While the storyline of the motion picture has not been disclosed, according to the outlet, it is set to be focused at a fictional hotel called the Vista.

Harvey Keitel, 84, Faye Dunaway, 83, and Andrew McCarthy, 61, headline the cast of an upcoming movie titled Fate for director Jonathan Baker. Pictured April 18 at the TCM Classic Film Festival in LA

Dunaway and McCarthy appear in the film, which is described as 'a suspenseful, supernatural romance' by the outlet

The Vista, according to the outlet, is purportedly inspired by the landmark movie theater in Los Angeles, which Keitel collaborator Quentin Tarantino refurbished two years ago.

All three of the film's principal performers bring decades of experience, and a wealth of memorable roles, into the project.

Keitel, 84, received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Bugsy in 1992.

The gritty actor appeared in some of his most memorable roles in the early 90s, including the titular role in the Abel Ferrara drama Bad Lieutenant in 1992, the same year he helped launch Tarantino's career playing Mr. White in his feature directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs.

He played fixer The Wolf in Tarantino's breakout 1994 film Pulp Fiction, attending an event in Los Angeles in support of the film's anniversary last month.

Other notable films he's appeared in include 1997's Cop Land and 1991's Thelma & Louise, as well as Martin Scorsese movies such as 1987's The Last Temptation of Christ, 1976's Taxi Driver and 1973's Mean Streets.

His recent work includes a role in the Peacock war drama The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

Dunaway's been nominated for three Academy Awards, winning the honors for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 1977 for her work in the movie Network.

Keitel appeared opposite John Travolta at an event in LA in support of the 30th anniversary of the film Pulp Fiction last month

Dunaway's been nominated for three Academy Awards, winning the honors for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 1977 for her work in the movie Network. Pictured 2017 in LA

McCarthy appeared in a number of classic 1980s films, including 1985's St. Elmo's Fire, 1986's Pretty in Pink, 1987's Less Than Zero and 1987's Mannequin

He appeared alongside Jonathan Silverman and Terry Kiser in the 1989 comedy Weekend at Bernie's, which continues to maintain relevance amid meme culture

She was also nominated for her roles in 1974's Chinatown opposite Jack Nicholson, and 1967's Bonnie and Clyde opposite Warren Beatty.

She past collaborated with Baker on his first feature film, the 2017 motion picture Inconceivable, and is the focal point of the forthcoming HBO documentary titled FAYE, set to debut at Cannes.

McCarthy appeared in a number of classic 1980s films, including 1985's St. Elmo's Fire, 1986's Pretty in Pink, 1987's Less Than Zero, 1987's Mannequin and the 1989 comedy Weekend at Bernie's.

In recent years he's acted in and directed episodes of shows including The Blacklist and Good Girls.

He also directed Brats, a documentary about the group of actors that composed the 1980s Brat Pack, which he was a part of, due out later this year on Hulu.
Rachel Zegler channeled her inner princess vibes with a stunning icy blue look at the 2024 Met Gala.

The 23-year-old actress will portray Snow White in Disney's upcoming live-action remake, slated for release in 2025.

She was also named a global ambassador for Dior in December 2023, with the actress rocking a stunning Dior gown at the Met museum in New York on Monday.

The outing comes just weeks after it was revealed that Zegler will make her Broadway debut with Kit Connor in a new adaptation of Romeo + Juliet.

She also teased on her Instagram story that her inspiration for the look may have come from Marilyn Monroe.

Rachel Zegler channeled her inner princess vibes with a stunning icy blue look at the 2024 Met Gala

The outing comes just weeks after it was revealed that Zegler will make her Broadway debut with Kit Connor in a new adaptation of Romeo + Juliet

The actress stepped out in a powder blue Michael Kors gown with a plunging V neckline and Dior makeup for the event.

She accessorized with stunning diamond strand earrings from Chopard and rocked a matching powder blue opera coat.

Her footwear was obscured by the gown and her lengthy opera coat as she hit the red carpet.

The actress seemingly teased the inspiration for her dress in her Instagram story, sharing a photo of Marilyn Monroe in a similar powder blue dress.

'Let's go. See u soon :)' she captioned the Instagram story post.

The photo was taken in 1957 by photographer Richard Avedon in New York City, showcasing Marilyn in a powder blue dress with a matching sash.

The outing comes a few months after she was named a global ambassador for Dior back in December 2023.

She opened up in a February interview with Gotham about joining Dior's ambassadors such as Anya Taylor-Joy, Yara Shahidi and Dilraba Dilmurat.

'Its been so wonderful. I never really imagined myself to be the face of a beauty campaign. Its been very, very cool. And everyones been so supportive,' she said.

The actress stepped out in a powder blue Dior gown with a plunging V neckline for the event

The actress seemingly teased the inspiration for her dress in her Instagram story, sharing a photo of Marilyn Monroe in a similar powder blue dress

The photo was taken in 1957 by photographer Richard Avedon in New York City, showcasing Marilyn in a powder blue dress with a matching sash

'Theres a sisterhood within the Dior family that is undeniable,' she added of the other women at the company.

'And its been really fun to go from seeing these incredible young women during Paris Fashion Week to suddenly working with them on a bustling set that can only be compared to a fashion and beauty factory with cameras,' she said.

'They capture the essence of Diors legacy with their personal balance of strength and elegance,' she added.

Zegler stars in Y2K, which debuted at the SXSW Festival in March, and she voices Princess Ellian in the animated Spellbound, due out later this year.
Miranda Kerr has revealed why she did not grace the Met Gala red carpet this year.

The Australian supermodel, 41, recently welcomed her fourth son - a baby boy named Pierre - with Snapchat billionaire husband Evan Spiegel.

Excited to see this year's fashion showcase, Miranda explained the reason for her absence was to stay home with her newborn.

Taking to Instagram moments before the red carpet kicked off, the former Victoria's Secret model shared a throwback photo of herself with Evan from the Gala in 2022.

'Happy Met Gala Monday! Decided to sit this one out with our newborn,' she revealed.

Miranda Kerr has revealed why she did not grace the Met Gala red carpet this year. Pictured in 2023

'Can't wait to see all of the beautiful looks tonight!'

The KORA Organics founder has looked utterly breathtaking at previous red carpets held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 2023, Miranda was as pretty as a princess in an off-white gown from designer Dior with pearl embellishments.

The year prior, she cuddled up to husband Evan while turning heads in a low-cut white Oscar de la Renta gown that showed off her decolletage.

Excited to see this year's fashion showcase, Miranda explained the reason for her absence was to stay home with her newborn. Pictured with husband Evan Spiegel at the 2022 Met Gala

'Happy Met Gala Monday! Decided to sit this one out with our newborn,' she revealed

The brunette beauty was also dripping in breathtaking Bulgari jewels, including a choker necklace, glittering bracelet and large stud earrings.

Miranda went for old Hollywood glamour for her hair and makeup - pulling her locks back into a chic chignon and opting for a bold red lip and a wing-tipped lined eye.

The dress code in 2022 was 'gilded glamour' to match the theme of 'In America: An Anthology of Fashion,' a continuation of last year's 'In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.'

Miranda has been no stranger to the Met Gala in the years prior. Pictured at the Met Gala in 2016

Miranda attended in 2011 alongside her then-husband Orlando Bloom

Tickets for the glitzy soiree two years ago reportedly cost up to $35,000 apiece, while prices for a table range from $200,000 to $300,000, with 2021's bash raking in a whopping $16.4 million for the Met's Costume Institute.

Miranda has been no stranger to the Met Gala in the years prior, having attended fashions biggest night in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Miranda also shares sons Hart, five, and Myles, four, with Evan, 33, and is also mum to a 13-year-old son, Flynn, who she shares with ex-husband Orlando Bloom.

Orlando, 47, is now engaged to Katy Perry, 39, and they share a three-year-old daughter together, Daisy.

Pictured: Miranda Kerr at the Met Gala in 2017. The theme was Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art of the In-Between

Miranda Kerr also stepped out for the lavish event in 2015 (left) and 2013 (right)
Married At First Sight Australia's Lauren Dunn has announced a shocking new career move.

The PR maven, 32, has signed with one of the country's leading celebrity talent managers, SF Celebrity Management.

But it looks like Lauren won't be following in the footsteps of many other MAFS alum such as Tahnee Cook and Ella Ding, who have used their platform to become influencers and brand ambassadors.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia, a source close to Lauren's management said she has already had some big brands and advertising campaigns reach out, however 'she is not looking to become an influencer.'

Rather than just working with brands on social media, Lauren, who was paired with Jono McCullough on the reality dating show, is hoping to launch 'a career in media television.'

Married At First Sight Australia's Lauren Dunn, 32, (pictured) has signed with one of the country's leading celebrity talent managers, SF Celebrity Management

On Monday, Lauren's new management released a statement to Daily Mail Australia, saying they were pleased to have signed Lauren and that her 'energetic nature and strong opinions made her a standout in this season.'

'Showcasing her sharp wit, and ability to hold her own in tough situations, Lauren is smart and charismatic and we're proud to have her on board and look at opportunities that align to her brand and wider interests,' the statement read.

But Lauren isn't the only MAFS participant from 2024's season to cash in on their 15. minutes of fame.

According to a source closer to her management, Lauren has already had some big brands and advertising campaigns reach out to her, however 'she is not looking to become an influencer...[Lauren is hoping] to launch a career in media television'

On Monday, Lauren's new management released a statement to Daily Mail Australia, saying they were pleased to have signed Lauren and that her 'energetic nature and strong opinions made her a standout in this season'

Lauren's co-star Lucinda Light has also secured a management opportunity as she is now represented by Day Management.

The Melbourne and Sydney based company took to Instagram a few weeks ago to confirm their collaboration with the fan favourite reality TV star.

In a post, they gushed: 'We could NOT be more excited to welcome Lucinda Light to the Day team.

Her co-star Lucinda Light (pictured) has also secured a management opportunity as she is now represented by Day Management

Lucinda, arguably the most popular bride from this year's season, has also made several night club appearances in Darwin and Brisbane since the show wrapped

'Her infectious positivity, warmth and wild spirit has captured hearts all over the world. Big things are coming, stay tuned! If you're interested in working with Lucinda, please get in touch!'

Lucinda, from Byron Bay, boasts 446,000 Instagram followers, close to 200,000 more than the other contestants.

Their other co-stars have also been leveraging their reality TV fame with a string of new ventures since the series aired on Channel Ten.

Sara Mesa, Tristan Black and Tim Calwell all recently also made paid nightclub appearances, where they partied with delighted fans.

MAFS cast members are earning up to $2,500 per nightclub appearance, with multiple dates locked in for the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Ridge Barredo has launched his own clothing line built around his 'Deece' catchphrase, which is short for 'decent'.

Jonathan McCullough has also been hard at work preparing to re-launch his vitamin and supplement store Buoya Vital, while Ellie Dix told Daily Mail Australia that she had plans to launch something in the cosmetic industry.
Jeremy Strong and his wife Emma Wall matched in off-white ensembles as they attended the Met Gala 2024 Monday in New York City at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Succession star, 45, according to GQ, wore a custom made suit from designer Loro Piana to the event, which was themed 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.'

The Boston-born actor was clad in a two-piece ensemble that made extensive use of floral highlights, as flowers covered the jacket's left-side lapel, while he wore a flower where a neck tie or bow tie would typically be located.

Strong, an alum of Yale University, sported a mustache at the event, and accessorized with a dangling earring from jeweler Sidney Garber.

The Emmy-winning actor rounded out his swanky ensemble with matching pants and black leather loafers also provided by Loro Piana, according to GQ.

Jeremy Strong, 45, and his wife Emma Wall, 36, matched in off-white ensembles as they attended the Met Gala 2024 Monday in New York City at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Emmy-winning actor wore a custom made suit from designer Loro Piana to the event, which was themed 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion'

In his role as media heir Kendall Roy on the critically-acclaimed HBO drama from 2018-2023, Strong was seen in 'caps and hoodies' designed by the Italian fashion label.

He also wore a designed timepiece GQ dubbed 'the thinnest watch in the entire world,' a Richard Mille RM UP-01.

The watch is especially scarce, as only 150 pieces were ever manufactured, according to the fashion outlet.

Wall, 36, was clad in a matching sleeveless silk dress which was adorned with hand-embroidered floral highlights on its upper half.

The Denmark-born beauty, who has been wed to Strong since 2016, has past worked as a documentary filmmaker and child psychiatrist.

The couple, who share three daughters, were seen holding hands as they posed in front of banks of photographers at the annual event in the Big Apple.

Strong at the event was seen socializing with former late night host James Corden, 45, as well as actor Sebastian Stan, 41, who he costars with in the upcoming motion picture The Apprentice.

In the period piece, Stan portrays former President Donald Trump while Strong plays his attorney, the late Roy Cohn.

Wall, 36, was clad in a matching sleeveless silk dress which was adorned with floral highlights on its upper half

The couple, who share three daughters, were seen holding hands as they posed in front of banks of photographers at the annual event in the Big Apple

Strong had a mustache at the event, and accessorized with a dangling earring from Sidney Garber

The Boston-born actor was clad in a two-piece ensemble that made extensive use of floral highlights, as flowers covered the jacket's left-side lapel

Strong also wore a designed timepiece GQ dubbed 'the thinnest watch in the entire world,' a Richard Mille RM UP-01

Wall was clad in a matching sleeveless silk dress which was adorned with hand-embroidered floral highlights on its upper half

The Denmark-born beauty has been wed to Strong since 2016

A Reddit user said of Strong and Wall at the Met Gala: 'Omg him and his wife are so cute!!!'

Strong was seen sharing a laugh with former late night host James Corden, 45

Strong posed at the event with fellow actor Sebastian Stan, who he costars with in the upcoming motion picture The Apprentice

The event was also attended by Strong's Succession costars Kieran Culkin, 41, and Matthew MacFadyen, 49, who posed together

Strong played embattled media heir Kendall Roy on the critically-acclaimed HBO drama Succession from 2018-2023

Strong has also recently worked on the Broadway revival of the play An Enemy Of The People alongside another HBO standout, The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli, 58. Pictured in March

A number of Succession fans commented on a Reddit thread about Strong's ensemble and appearance alongside his spouse, incorporating references from the series

In addition to the film, Strong has also recently worked on the Broadway revival of the play An Enemy Of The People alongside another HBO standout, The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli, 58.

The event was also attended by Strong's Succession costars Kieran Culkin, 41, and Matthew MacFadyen, 49.

It's been nearly a year since the finale of Succession aired in an ending that was hailed as perfectly timed and executed.

A number of fans of the series commented on a Reddit thread about Strong's ensemble and appearance alongside his spouse, incorporating references from the series.

One user referenced a nickname Strong's Kendall character used for himself on the series, saying, 'Little Lord F***leroy and his little lady.'

Another user said of Strong and Wall: 'Omg him and his wife are so cute!!!'

One user said Strong's look was 'giving Bridal and I mean that as a compliment,' while another called the method actor a 'sugarplum prince.'
For the first time in 23 years, Meg Ryan made her presence known on the Met Gala red carpet with a stunning look.

The 62-year-old actress was all smiles on the red carpet, posing for photographers alongside the designer of her dress, Michael Kors.

The outing comes just a week after the Top Gun actress spoke about how she has felt 'liberated' since turning 60 a few years back.

Her last Met Gala was back in 2001 - which she attended with her Kate & Leopold co-star Liev Schreiber - which had the theme Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years.

Ryan stepped out in a stunning sheer black dress with black floral embellishments over the chest and across her waist.

For the first time in 23 years, Meg Ryan made her presence known on the Met Gala red carpet with a stunning look

Her last Met Gala was back in 2001 - which she attended with her Kate & Leopold co-star Liev Schreiber - which had the theme Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years

She wore her wavy blonde hair down just below her chin, which hid a pair of turquoise strand earrings from Cartier.

The actress also accessorized with a turquoise ring, with her long black dress spreading out below her, obscuring her footwear for the evening.

Ryan later rocked some black Aviator sunglasses to pose alongside Michael Kors, who designed the dress she wore for the evening.

When she last attended in 2021, she had been separated from husband Dennis Quaid since June 2000, with the divorce finalized in July 2001.

The actress' surprise appearance comes just days after she opened up about how turning 60 has been a 'liberating' experience for her.

'I appreciate my years, I say that seriously. 'I appreciate my age. For me, now, it is more important to say clearly what you think rather than pleasing others and trying to make everyone happy. ' she told IO Donna.

'I feel almost liberated because I have said certain things and made observations about love and relationships,' she added.

'And for trying to be honest. I can finally look back and be in the present at the same time,' Ryan continued.

She wore her wavy blonde hair down just below her chin, which hid a pair of turquoise strand earrings.

The actress also accessorized with a turquoise ring, with her long black dress spreading out below her, obscuring her footwear for the evening

Ryan later rocked some black Aviator sunglasses to pose alongside Michael Kors, who designed the dress she wore for the evening

When she last attended in 2021, she had been separated from husband Dennis Quaid since June 2000, with the divorce finalized in July 2001

The actress' surprise appearance comes just days after she opened up about how turning 60 has been a 'liberating' experience for her

'I appreciate my years, I say that seriously. 'I appreciate my age. For me, now, it is more important to say clearly what you think rather than pleasing others and trying to make everyone happy. ' she told IO Donna

'I feel almost liberated because I have said certain things and made observations about love and relationships,' she added

'And for trying to be honest. I can finally look back and be in the present at the same time,' Ryan continued

She returned to the big screen last year in What Happens Later, her first film in eight years, explaining why she needed a break.

'I needed other experiences, to meet people outside the film industry. For this reason I moved to New York, I raised my daughter Daisy, and then on I started travelling, especially to distant countries,' she said.

Ryan said that stepping away from the spotlight helped her see things more clearly as she learned to balance her career and family

'When you are up to your neck in the 'bubble of fame' you cannot suddenly free yourself from it, you always remain somehow lost in the labyrinth of notoriety

'But you know what? I'd had enough, I'm happy to have made that choice and moved away from that world: I became a better and more interesting human being,' she finished

Meg Ryan poses with Michael Kors at the 2024 Met Gala

Meg Ryan and Michael Kors wear their sunglasses at night at the 2024 Met Gala

She returned to the big screen last year in What Happens Later, her first film in eight years, explaining why she needed a break.

'I needed other experiences, to meet people outside the film industry. For this reason I moved to New York, I raised my daughter Daisy, and then on I started travelling, especially to distant countries,' she said.

Ryan said that stepping away from the spotlight helped her see things more clearly as she learned to balance her career and family.

'When you are up to your neck in the 'bubble of fame' you cannot suddenly free yourself from it, you always remain somehow lost in the labyrinth of notoriety.

'But you know what? I'd had enough, I'm happy to have made that choice and moved away from that world: I became a better and more interesting human being,' she finished.
Sarah Paulson returned to the Met Gala on Monday, sporting a very colorful pink look on the red carpet.

The 49-year-old actress hit the red carpet at the 2024 Met Gala in a pink Prada dress while sporting a very short hairdo.

She also posed on the red carpet alongside fellow actors Amanda Seyfried, Harris Dickinson and Damson Idris, who were also all wearing Prada.

Paulson's dress was a short-sleeved pink dress with a pink jeweled collar with a number of other gems embedded in the dress.

The front of the dress also featured a number of various ribbons, that gave way to pink veiled strands that trailed behind her.

Sarah Paulson returned to the Met Gala on Monday, sporting a very colorful pink look on the red carpet

She also posed on the red carpet alongside fellow actors Amanda Seyfried, Harris Dickinson and Damson Idris, who were also all wearing Prada

However the pink on the front of the dress appeared to be a facade on the front of a black gown that trailed behind her.

She also had her short hair slicked back and accessorized with black earrings for the outing, plus a thick black bangle bracelet.

The actress also accessorized with a massive black onyx gem pinky ring, while holding a white clutch.

Paulson's footwear for the evening was obscured by her long flowing dress at the event.

Seyfried opted for a silver look with a long flowing gown with silver floral embellishments and a silver headdress with diamond earrings.

Their table mates Dickinson and Idris opted for black suits, though Dickinson wore a colorful white and green shirt under his black coat.

The actress recently discussed aging in a new interview with longtime pal and fellow actor Pedro Pascal.

In the conversation between the two stars for Interview Magazine, the Nurse Ratched star lightheartedly said, 'Well, [because] I dont shoot anything into my face at this particular juncture, I imagine everyone knows Im 49.'

However the pink on the front of the dress appeared to be a facade on the front of a black gown that trailed behind her.

The actress also accessorized with a massive black onyx gem pinky ring, while holding a white clutch

And the pair, who often appear on TV and in movies, spoke about how stage acting affects their vitality.

Pascal suggested that 'going back to the theater' is something 'thats going to keep you young,' but Paulson, who stars in the Broadway show Appropriate, disagreed.

'Oh my god,' Sarah  who dates 81-year-old Holland Taylor  replied. 'If theres anything thats going to age me rapidly, its going back to the theater.'

She admitted that she thinks being expressive on stage night after night is taking a toll on her skin.

'Sometimes Im backstage doing this play, Appropriate, and Im thinking, "Wow, Im making these facial expressions multiple times a day all day for months on end. Ive never had those lines in between my eyebrows."
A former long time Channel Seven journalist has officially jumped ship to rival Network Nine breakfast show Today.

Presenter Kendall Gilding, 32, made her debut on the early morning program on Tuesday when she appeared during a live cross to Queensland.

Reporting on a crime spree happening west of Brisbane, the newsreader took a shine to her new role following 12 years as a fill-in reporter at Seven.

Kendall distanced herself from her former employers after stepping down from the network last year in a shock move.

The veteran newsreader has been a recognisable face on Channel Seven for over a decade, but stepped down from her role in December in a 'radical step'.

A former long-time Channel Seven journalist has officially jumped ship to rival Nine breakfast show Today. Pictured: Today hosts Karl Stefanovic and Sara Abo

Presenter Kendall Gilding, 32, made her debut on the early morning program Tuesday when she appeared during a live cross to Queensland

She took things a step further in February and tried to remove all traces of Seven from her social media accounts, just weeks after leaving her former job.

Kendall took to Instagram to share a video telling fans she deleted the word 'seven' from her Instagram handle.

Flashing a big smile in delight, the presenter, who was self-employed at the time as a budding influencer and columnist, said: 'This is a post celebrating being Kendall Gilding and not Kendall Gilding Seven!'

The big change comes after Kendall shocked fans with the news that she was quitting her role on Channel Seven in December.

In an on-air announcement, she hinted at her next steps as she quashed rumours she was quitting to become a full-time mother.

Kendall shares children Olive, four, and Moses, one, with her husband Timothy Morgan.

Reporting on a crime spree happening west of Brisbane, the newsreader took a shine to her new role following 12 years as a fill-in reporter at Seven

'This Friday will be my final day. I'm reading the 6pm news all week. Praying this isn't a moment of insanity, but rather a radical step of bravery,' she said at the time.

'I'm not becoming a stay at home mum, I don't plan on leaving media. I'm looking forward to a huge 2024 - ready to work harder than ever! Stay tuned.'

Following her exit from Seven, Kendall became very active on social media, promoting brands as well as her column for QWeekend magazine.

She began her journalism career in 2011 as a presenter on Brisbane radio station 96five Family Radio and later that year, she began working for Seven.
Eddie Redmayne, 42, and his wife, Hannah Bagshawe, 41, stood out from the crowd at the 2024 Met Gala on Monday as they pushed the boundaries on the red carpet.

The Fantastic Beasts actor took to the red carpet in a black blazer dress with a white net skirt, featuring sheer cut out panels and a wavy ink blot pattern - an androgynous look that matched Hannah's strapless gown with the same pattern.

Since partnering with stylist Harry Lambert, Eddie has entered a new era, and has caught the eye of Anna Wintour and made the exclusive guestlist to the biggest night in fashion.

Despite garnering attention for their high-end sense of style, the couple have not always been so adventurous - at the beginning of their relationship they often stuck to the likes of humble suits, crew neck knits, and simple dresses.

Here, MailOnline looks at the evolution of the couple's fashion journey, as they ditched the basics and became best dressed....

Eddie Redmayne, 42, and his wife, Hannah Bagshawe, 41, stood out from the crowd at the 2024 Met Gala on Monday evening - but they have not always been so experimental (right in 2012)

Speaking of Eddie's style evolution, his stylist Harry, who boasts clients such as Harry Styles and Emma Corrin told Vogue last year after working with him for six months: 'Ive always admired Eddies fashion sense, and his sense of flair and fun on the red carpet. When he asked to collaborate, I was super excited to start working with him.'

Eddie hadn't worked with a stylist before but had seen Harry's work with other stars and decided to switch up his style.

Harry said: 'He wanted to evolve his fashion, take some risks, and have fun, says Lambert. To try some things that he hadnt tried before.'

The once tailored suits were switched up, with the duo deciding to subvert menswear classic to create a more modern twist.

Eddie's wife Hannah has seemingly had a fashion glow-up to complement her husband's new reputation as a fashion guru.

Eddie and Hannah, who is a financial PR, met in 2000 at a charity fashion show while attending Eton College. They soon struck up a friendship and later started dating in January 2012.

Hannah and Eddie were friends for 12 years before things turned romantic in 2012 and the actor invited her on a holiday to Florence during a filming break from Les Miserables.

They are now married and are the proud parents of eight-year-old daughter Iris, eight, and six-year old son Luke.

Eddie stepped out in a three-piece black and white tuxedo, meanwhile Hannah donned a green floor length gown (Pictured at the Oscars in 2015)

From the Alexander McQueen jumpsuit he wore to last year's BAFTA's (left) to a sheer turtleneck he sported at the 2022 GQ Awards (right), Eddie has had a style glow up

Sticking to the green theme, in May 2014 while attending a Costume Institute Gala Benefit in NYC, Hannah was pictured wearing a floral-patterned floor-length dress with open-toe shoes

At the film's premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, he stepped out of his comfort zone and into a garishly bright turquoise suit, with his lover donning a short and formal-looking navy dress

The couple stepping out at the British Academy of Film Awards at the Royal Opera House in February 2014

In 2015, the star told the Daily Mail: 'I saw Hannah across the room at a party and she was very beautiful and very funny and she loves the arts and theatre just as I do, so we became friends.

'Id finished rehearsals and was about to start shooting in a few days and so I said to myself, Im going to go to Florence for a quick break and write or do something like that.

'Before I went, Hannah and I were on a sort of date  wed been good friends for 12 years  and we had a wonderful evening and I suddenly said, You dont want to come to Florence with me next week, do you? She said, Thats absurd, you dont mean it. I said, Yes I do! So our first proper date was in Florence.'

As their romance blossomed, they made their first few appearances together at various events that same year.

Pictured at the 10th anniversary performance of King Lear at the Almeida Theatre, London, Eddie sported a simple trouser and blazer combo, with a light blue crew neck sweatshirt underneath.

Meanwhile, Hannah opted for a modest black dress with a red stripe, complete with a red blazer and tights - a far cry from the couple's outlandish fashion statements of today.

In the same year, the pair attended the BAFTA's and Hannah stepped up her style, showing off a glamorous embelleshed dress, next to her husband in his suave velvet suit

Fast forward to 2016, aged 34, the A-list actor received an OBE at Windsor castle and wore a tailored tailcoat, while Hannah kept in simple in a black dress and fascinator

Hannah and Eddie at the 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them' film premiere in 2016

At the BAFTA's in 2017, Hannah stepped out in a gorgeous floor-length, embroidered mesh dress, alongside Eddie who looked smart in a white tuxedo with a black bow tie

In 2013, the couple attended the 85th Annual Academy Awards Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles.

Eddie stepped out in a three-piece black and white tuxedo, meanwhile Hannah donned a green floor-length gown accompanied by a grey, black and white clutch bag.

Sticking to the green theme, in May 2014 while attending a Costume Institute Gala Benefit in New York, Hannah was pictured wearing a floral-patterned floor-length dress with open toe shoes.

Meanwhile, the Theory of Everything star again went for a simple tuxedo, but this time switching out a black bow tie for the white.

In the same year, The Theory of Everything was released, which the actor bagged an Academy Award for.

At the film's premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Eddie stepped out of his comfort zone and into a garishly bright turquoise suit, with his lover donning a short and formal-looking navy dress.

In 2015, things took a turn and Eddie began to properly explore the world of fashion - the British actor was even named GQ magazine's best dressed man thanks to his sharp suits and daring style choices - the same year he and Hannah tied the knot at the Babington House.

The pair also attended the BAFTA's in 2015 and Hannah stepped up her style, showing off a glamorous embellished dress, next to her husband in his suave velvet suit.

Fast forward to 2016, aged 34, the A-list actor received an OBE at Windsor castle.

Stylish: The pair wowed at the Fantastic Beasts The Secrets of Dumbledore film premiere in March 2022

Designer: Hannah donned a glitzy Chanel belt at a Charles Finch X Chanel dinner in February 2023

However, the couple's real high-end fashion journey began in more recent years, as Eddie ditched the tailored suits for the likes of more experimental and playful choices (Pictured at the Met Gala in 2023)

He looked dapper in a black tailcoat, pale grey waistcoat and grey pinstripe trousers and complemented the stylish three-piece suit with a cream pocket handkerchief and a pale blue tie.

And as Eddie's fashion sense evolved, so did his partners - the star linked arms with Hannah, who wore a classy knee-length black dress and heels.

The publicist's elaborate fascinator caught the eye, and from underneath her long tresses fell over her shoulders.

At the BAFTA's in 2017, Hannah stepped out in a gorgeous floor-length, embroidered mesh dress, alongside Eddie who looked smart in a white tuxedo with a black bow tie.

However, the couple's real high-end fashion journey began in more recent years, as Eddie ditched the tailored suits for the likes of more experimental and playful choices.

From the black Alexander McQueen jumpsuit he wore to last year's BAFTA's, to a sparkling sheer turtleneck he sported at the 2022 GQ Men of the Year Awards, his sense of style has dramatically shifted.

At the Met Gala last year, the loved-up couple wowed as the actor looked effortlessly cool in his double breasted blazer which was adorned with pearl brooches with draping chains and flare trousers.

Meanwhile, Hannah looked glamorous in a pearl dress with a satin ruffle gown, an homage to Karl Lagerfeld, which was the theme of last year's event.

Hannah donned a thin-strapped Valentino dress to the Golden Globes last January, with Eddie brandishing a huge flower on his tuxedo suit

And it's not just red carpet glamour - the actor has also become more adventurous with his everyday looks, swapping out grew and blue crewnecks for more quirky and colourful jumpers (Pictured in December 2022)

Eddie again displayed his unique sense of style on the star-studded red carpet at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles

The actor, 42, pushed the boundaries for fashion's biggest night, opting for an androgynous look that he matched with his wife, 41

Hannah donned a thin-strapped Valentino dress to the Golden Globes last January, with Eddie brandishing a huge flower on his tuxedo suit.

And it's not just red carpet glamour - the actor has also become more adventurous with his everyday looks, swapping out grew and blue crewnecks for more quirky and colourful jumpers.

Eddie again displayed his unique sense of style on the star-studded red carpet at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles.

He commanded attention in quirky white shirt with huge sculpted collar - a piece that wouldn't have been looked at by the fashion icon in his early career days.

Now, in one of his most daring looks yet, he stole the spotlight at the Met Gala by flashing a cheeky glimpse of his legs in an androgynous piece that got people talking.

Hannah's dress boasted a wide pleated net skirt, while she added sheer evening gloves and a matching black fascinator.

She gave her petite frame a few extra inches of height in black velvet high heels as she held hands with Eddie.

The actor has become a fashion icon, making his way into various best-dressed lists.

He and Hannah's custom matching Met Gala looks were designed by Steve O Smith, a London-based designer.

Eddie told Vogue: 'I love line drawings, and particularly charcoal those great artists who could create something extraordinary with so little  Matisse, Cy Twombly or the romance of Seurat charcoal drawings. Steves clothes merge fashion and art so uniquely and I adore that.'
Rebel Wilson has revealed that she did not feel 'worthy' of being loved before she met her now fiancee, Ramona Agruma.

The Pitch Perfect actress, 44, told The Project on Tuesday that her journey to self-love was a bumpy one.

'I get a bit emotional about that because why does a girl feel like that? Just feel like not good enough and not lovable?' she said.

'And then, yes, there have been things that have happened in my life, not massive traumas, but little things that have led to me feeling that way and I didn't feel lovable or worthy,' she continued.

'And that's why I was eating all that crap and junk food late at night because I felt like I was trash and treating my body like trash.'

Rebel Wilson has revealed that she did not feel 'worthy' of being loved before she met her now fiancee, Ramona Agruma. Both pictured

Rebel says that she processed her negative emotions after her father's death, and after beginning her weight loss journey that saw her lose 36 kilos and led to her finding true love.

'I was being able to have true intimacy with somebody and really let somebody in and that happened to be my partner,' she said.

Rebel also discussed the censored version of her book Rebel Rising, which is published in Australia with an entire chapter blacked out due to a legal battle.

'Yeah, I mean so obviously behind the scenes that was something I was not happy about,' she told The Project.

The Pitch Perfect actress, 44, told The Project that her journey to self-love was a bumpy one. 'I get a bit emotional about that because why does a girl feel like that? Just feel like not good enough and not lovable?' she said

'I mean Australia is my home country, if anything I want my full story told and I will say the book is not about that guy. I know there's been a lot of media about it. But it's not about that guy and it's just my full life story.'

Rebel added that she was glad the book had been released so she could focus on her baby daughter.

'So, at least it's come out now. Being a new mum I didn't want to have some lengthy legal battle for it to come out,' she said.

Although the book has already been published in the US, publisher HarperCollins Australia confirmed that Aussie readers will not be able to read the chapter.

'For legal reasons we have redacted one chapter in the Australian/New Zealand edition and included an explanatory note accordingly,' they said in a statement.

'I was being able to have true intimacy with somebody and really let somebody in and that happened to be my partner,' she said

Rebel first met Ramona in 2021, and they announced their engagement in February 2023

'That chapter is a very small part of a much bigger story and we're excited for readers to know Rebel's story when the book is released...'

Earlier this month, Rebel cancelled her Australian book tour which had been scheduled to promote her tell-all memoir.

The actress was set to host an event in Brisbane on May 12 and Melbourne on May 14.

She said she 'won't be able to host any book events due to a changing work schedule'.

'I'm really excited for UK and Australian readers to finally get to read Rebel Rising...' she wrote on Instagram.

Rebel also discussed the censored version of her book Rebel Rising, which is published in Australia with an entire chapter blacked out due to a legal battle. 'Yeah, I mean so obviously behind the scenes that was something I was not happy about,' she told The Project

Rebel came out as queer in June 2022 by posting on Instagram: 'I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess' .

The star, who revealed she lost her virginity at 35, recalled how she challenged herself to date 50 men, before she fell in love with a woman.

Rebel first met Ramona in 2021, and they announced their engagement in February 2023.

The pair welcomed their 16-month-old daughter Royce Lillian Elizabeth Wilson via surrogate in 2022.
Kristen Stewart went braless and covered her modesty with black leather gloves as she posed in a sexy photoshoot for PORTER magazine.

As she stunned on the front cover of NET-A-PORTER's digital cover, the actress, 34, took the opportunity to call out Hollywood.

The American star criticised Hollywood for scarcely supporting female filmmakers, claiming only four women directors are championed.

Speaking to the publication, Kristen admitted more female leads need to be congratulated and celebrated, in order to broaden the industry.

She said: '[There's a] thinking that we can check these little boxes, and then do away with the patriarchy, and how were all made of it.

Kristen Stewart, 34, went braless and covered her modesty with black leather gloves as she posed in a sexy photoshoot for PORTER magazine

As she stunned on the front cover of NET-A-PORTER's digital cover, the actress took the opportunity to call out Hollywood

'Its easy for them to be like, "Look what were doing. Were making Maggie Gyllenhaals movie! Were making Margot Robbies movie!"

'And youre like, OK, cool. Youve chosen four And Im in awe of those women, I love those women [but] it feels phony.

'If were congratulating each other for broadening perspective, when we havent really done enough, then we stop broadening.'

Inside the cover, Kristen slipped into plenty of racy looks, showcasing her svelte model figure.

She modelled a range of barely-there looks, flaunting her ample cleavage and long bronzed legs.

Kristen will once again star in a vampire thriller as she joins Oscar Isaac in dark new 80s movie, Flesh of the Gods.

The Oscar nominee, who played Bella Swan in five Twilight films between 2008-2012, and Golden Globe winner Isaac, 45, will play a married couple who descend from their luxury skyscraper each evening into 'an electric nighttime realm of 80s LA' per THR.

The thriller will be directed by Panos Cosmatos, who helmed 2018 horror movie Mandy.

The American star criticised Hollywood for scarcely supporting female filmmakers, claiming only four women directors are championed

Speaking to the publication, Kristen admitted more female leads need to be congratulated and celebrated, in order to broaden the industry

She said: '[There's a] thinking that we can check these little boxes, and then do away with the patriarchy, and how were all made of it'

'Its easy for them to be like, "Look what were doing. Were making Maggie Gyllenhaal s movie! Were making Margot Robbie s movie!" And youre like, OK, cool. Youve chosen four And Im in awe of those women, I love those women [but] it feels phony'

'If were congratulating each other for broadening perspective, when we havent really done enough, then we stop broadening', she added

Inside the cover, Kristen slipped into plenty of racy looks, showcasing her svelte model figure

To see the full interview, read PORTER

Flesh of the Gods is written by Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker and based on a story by Cosmatos and Walker.

Per the producers, the story follows couple, Raoul (Isaac) and Alex (Stewart), who 'cross paths with the mysterious and enigmatic woman and her hard-partying cabal, Raoul and Alex are seduced into a glamorous, surrealistic world of hedonism, thrills, and violence.'

Back in January Kristen revealed that she now recognises 'queerness' in her Twilight franchise and expressed her disdain for filming Charlie's Angels.

'I can only see it now, I dont think it necessarily started off that way, but I also think that the fact that I was there at all, it was percolating,' the star, who came out in 2017, said of the 2008 teen vampire romance. 'Its such a gay movie.'

As for Elizabeth Banks' 2019 reboot of Charlie's Angels, Kristen didn't mince words either, admitting, 'I hated making that movie. I dont know what else to say'.

She then referenced the original 2000 film featuring Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, and Drew Barrymore, adding, 'Honestly, the three  you cant touch [that]. Cameron, Lucy and Drew  I love that movie. I love that movie! If that says anything.'

To read PORTER on iPhone, iPad and Android, visit or download the NET-A-PORTER app from the App Store and Google Play
LEGO Masters Australia vs The World saw a record-breaking finale on Tuesday night as the winning team was revealed in a shock announcement.

USA team Krystle Starr and Michelle Brooks became the first female team and the first international team to take home the crown on the Channel Nine show.

The duo walked away with a trophy and $100,000 after their record-breaking win which saw them build an enormous artist studio made entirely of LEGO pieces.

'Representing Team USA was an incredible honour. The memories and family made Down Under will be held in our hearts for the rest of our lives,' they said.

'Over the course of the series and building together for the first time, the respect we have for each other is like no other.'

LEGO Masters Australia vs The World saw a record-breaking finale on Tuesday night as the winning team was revealed in a shock announcement

They continued: 'We were determined to give it everything we had and we are proud to be the first ever all-female team to hoist a LEGO Masters Australia trophy.'

Krystle and Michelle pulled off an incredible feat with their final build in season six, as they pulled the life-sized art studio together in just 28 hours despite all doubts.

Judge Ryan 'The Brickman' McNaught, along with 200 members of the public, determined the winners of this season, which is hosted by radio star Hamish Blake.

USA team Krystle Starr and Michelle Brooks became the first female team and the first international team to take home the crown on the Channel Nine show

The Australian LEGO designer said: 'It was super exciting having teams from other countries come and do LEGO Masters Australia.

'Mainly because whilst LEGO is universal and doesn't have a language, every country's builders bring a different and unique style.

'Krystle and Michelle certainly did that, which made for some amazing builds. Not only did they blow us away with their builds, I think I learnt from them too.'

The duo walked away with a trophy and $100,000 after their record-breaking win which saw them build an enormous artist studio made entirely of LEGO pieces

Annalena Rohr and Felix Geisbush took out second place this season, despite having a strong lead after winning the first four episodes.

The team previously won season one of LEGO Masters Germany with a stunning fairy build which they attempted to expand on with the Fairy Village this year.

Meanwhile, Australian team Shane and Dianne Horvath landed in third place with their build called the Final Frontier.

The couple played to their strengths with a massive technical challenge which featured a spaceman who crash-landed on a foreign planet.
Travis Scott has announced a 2024 summer UK and European tour of twelve arena and stadium shows - one of which will be at Manchester's under-fire Co-op Arena.

The new venue has been hit by a wave of cancelled shows, including by Peter Kay, amid a chaotic opening as general manager Gary Roden quit just 12 months into the job after criticising smaller grassroots venues.

The US rapper, 33, announced on Tuesday he is bringing his Utopia: Circus Maximus tour to the other side of the pond after a successful sold-out run in North America last year.

Named after his fourth studio album Utopia, which was the biggest-selling hip-hop released of 2023, the tour has been described as 'an unparalleled audiovisual experience'.

Of the twelve dates announced, two of them will be in the UK. The music artist is heading to London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on July 11 and Manchester's Co-op Live arena on July 13.

The show at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be the music star's largest ever UK headline show to date.

Travis Scott has announced a 2024 UK and European tour of twelve arena and stadium shows - one of which will be at Manchester's under-fire Co-op Arena (Pictured in 2023)

The US rapper is bringing his Utopia: Circus Maximus tour to the other side of the pond after a successful sold-out run in North America last year

It will kick off with an opening night in Arnhem on June 28, followed by Krakow, (July 2), Zurich (July 4), Nice (July 6) and finally Antwerp (July 9) before debuting in the UK.

Following the London and Manchester dates, the rapper will head to Hamburg, Prague, Cologne, and Milan, before the tour ends in Frankfurt on July 27.

Fans will need to be quick as tickets go on sale at 10am BST on Friday May 10, with some presales also taking place beforehand as soon as Thursday May 9.

Only Tottenham Hotspur Season Ticket Holders and One Hotsupur members will get access at 10am the day before the general sale.

The same applies to Co-op members who are hoping to head to the Manchester show.

However, concert-goers may be put off purchasing a ticket for that date due to the fiasco surrounding the new 365million arena.

The Co-op Live Arena has been billed as the greatest indoor arena for music, comedy and sport ever built outside the United States.

It is the most expensive and largest purpose-built concert venue in Britain and the jewel in the crown for an American-based firm that owns 300 venues around the world.

Named after his fourth studio album Utopia, which was the biggest-selling hip-hop released of 2023(Pictured performing in California in 2023)

Fans will need to be quick as tickets go on sale at 10am BST on Friday May 10, with some presales also taking place beforehand as soon as Thursday May 9 (Pictured in New York 2023)

Manchester's landmark 365million Co-op Live Arena has been beset with disasters, postponing its opening several times

Following the Travis Scott tour date announcement, angry music fans have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to express their concern at the Manchester Co-op Live Arena

Venue mogul Tim Leiweke, co-founder of its owner Oak View Group, also claimed it is also 'acoustically the most perfect ever built in the UK' ahead of some of the biggest music and comedy gigs of 2024.

He also said it would be a springboard to building a new arena in the London to finally rival the 02 in Greenwich.

However, it stoked fury among fans of Olivia Rodrigo after her two dates last weekend were postponed - while American rapper A Boogie Wit da Hoodie's show was cancelled while punters queued outside.

Take That also decided to move its upcoming shows from the troubled Co-op Live following the string of cancelled gigs.

The nearby rival AO Arena will now host Take That's five upcoming dates after the band made the 'difficult decision' to 'give our fans as much notice as possible'.

Following the Travis Scott tour date announcement, angry music fans have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to express their concern at the venue announcing new dates.

One user quipped: 'Youre a joke. Weve had no update on postponed events and youre announcing new ones?'

'It'll be cancelled' and 'What about Olivia?' added a second and third.

Travis recently enjoyed some down time on the Greek island of Meganisi

The rapper enjoyed a day out at Marina Yacht Club during his stay on the island

He made the most of the Mediterranean weather by going for a jet ski ride

Meanwhile, someone else questioned: 'Why would anyone risk buying concert tickets for this venue in July, when it isnt clear if events in May/June will even happen?'

Others chimed in with: 'They are brave announcing a gig so soon!' and 'Well that aint happening'.

The full list of dates for the UK and European 2024 leg of Utopia: Circus Maximus can be found below:
Nadia Bartel has shared exciting career news with her fans.

In a video posted to Instagram, the former WAG and fashion designer announced that she was opening a new Henne boutique in Sydney.

Giving a tour of the premises, which is located in trendy fashion district Paddington, Nadia showed renovations underway at the storefront.

'If you haven't heard, we are coming to Sydney @henne_ this is the first look inside' she wrote in her caption.

'Can't wait to take you along with the process, let me know what you are interested to see with the build'.

Nadia Bartel (pictured) has shared exciting career news with her fans. In a video posted to Instagram, the former WAG and fashion designer announced that she was opening a new Henne boutique in Sydney

It will be the second physical location for Nadia's fashion label, with another boutique located in Melbourne's Prahran.

It comes after style aficionados were left scratching their heads over this year's Australian Fashion Week lineup.

Major brands like Carla Zampatti, Romance Was Born and P.E Nation will be taking to the runway to showcase their stylish designs and pieces at the 2024 event, with labels like Bec + Bridge, Mariam Seddiq, Michael Lo Sordo, and Acler making favourable returns.

Yet Bartel's brand Henne was not included in this year's show, despite it being the most popular event on the schedule in 2023.

Giving a tour of the premises, which is located in trendy fashion district Paddington, Nadia showed renovations underway at the storefront

'If you haven't heard, we are coming to Sydney @henne_ this is the first look inside' she wrote in her caption

'Can't wait to take you along with the process, let me know what you are interested to see with the build' she added

The fashion brand, which has been modelled by stars like American supermodel Emily Ratajkowski, made its Fashion Week debut in 2022 before making a triumphant return the following year.

A spokesperson from Henne told Daily Mail Australia that the company is focusing on bigger and highly-anticipated plans for its brand, including the opening of its Sydney boutique in the coming months.

'Henne will not be participating in Australian Fashion Week 2024,' they said in a statement.

'After two successful showcases in 2022 and 2023, Henne is redirecting its focus to the opening of its first Sydney boutique in June. This decision reflects the brand's commitment to expanding its retail presence and ensuring a successful launch.'

'Henne expresses gratitude to AFW for past opportunities and looks forward to future collaborations.'

Daily Mail Australia also reached out to Australian Fashion Week for comment.

In November, Nadia shared a huge career update, teasing plans for the brand's global expansion.

'A few exciting things are coming,' she told Daily Mail Australia inside The Birdcage at the Melbourne Cup.

'We're really busy at the moment... Yeah [we have plans to go global] ... We've had a few big people wear the brand, which has been so exciting.'

It will be the second physical location for Nadia's fashion label, with another boutique located in Melbourne's Prahran
Kim Kardashian landed in Hamburg on Tuesday afternoon for a work event just hours after her stunning appearance at the Met Gala in New York on Monday night.

The businesswoman, 43, wowed on the red carpet where she showed off her impossibly slim waist in the silver custom Maison Margiela by John Galliano number.

But she chose not to attend any raucous afterparties in the Big Apple and instead hopped straight on her private jet to head to Europe on a redeye.

She is in Hamburg to speak at the OMR digital trade fair which is described as an event for 'information, inspiration and networking on all things digital business'.

Kim landed in Hamburg at 3pm on Tuesday after walking the red carpet at around 7pm New York time on Monday night.

Germany is six hours ahead of New York making her two appearances just 13 hours apart. The flight time from New York to Hamburg is around nine hours.

Kim Kardashian landed in Hamburg on Tuesday afternoon for a work event just hours after her stunning appearance at the Met Gala in New York on Monday night

The businesswoman, 43, wowed on the red carpet where she showed off her impossibly slim waist in the silver custom Maison Margiela by John Galliano number

She still looked immaculate as she arrived at the airport in Hamburg to her adoring fans and even took time to sign autographs after the long flight.

She wore a long black padded coat and striped jogging bottoms and donned dark shades.

Her blonde tresses still looked perfectly styled in loose waves over her shoulders.

On Monday night Kim sparked a shock reaction for her astonishingly tiny waist in a silver corset on the star-studded red carpet of the Met Gala 2024 in New York City.

The reality star - who is known for her curvaceous figure and bodacious behind - showcased a wild body transformation in custom Maison Margiela by John Galliano.

John Galliano, creative director of Maison Margiela, fashioned Kim - who attended his recent Artisanal show and sat in the front row - the stunning dress.

Just a day after Kim was booed at the Tom Brady Netflix Roast, many took to social media to react to the wild look as one wrote: 'how many ribs did Kim get removed????'

Her tiny torso look featured a shiny metallic silver corset which flowed into a sheer lacy skirt which showed off her legs.

She teamed the strapless number with matching shiny silver platform heels.

But she chose not to attend any raucous afterparties in the Big Apple and instead hopped straight on her private jet to head to Europe

She is in Hamburg to speak at the OMR digital trade fair which is described as an event for 'information, inspiration and networking on all things digital business'

Kim landed in Hamburg at 3pm on Tuesday after walking the red carpet at around 7pm New York time on Monday night. Germany is six hours ahead of New York making her two appearances just 13 hours apart

The flight time from New York to Hamburg is around nine hours (her private jet is seen touching down in Germany)

Kim sparked a shock reaction for her astonishingly tiny waist in a silver corset at the Met Gala on Monday - just 13 hour before landing in Hamburg

One interesting fashion choice that the A-lister made was wrapping herself in a grey knit cropped sweater which felt a bit disjoined from the rest of the look.

Kim wore her newly-dyed platinum blonde locks down in a middle-part which showed off her dark roots, having once again teamed up with her longtime hairstylist Chris Appleton.

Her make-up was complementary to her face and topped off with a swipe of shiny nude lip.

However the thing that was most talked about on social media was her tiny waist.

One X (formally Twitter) user wrote: 'Jesus, she's gonna be in the hospital by the end of the night. Did they remove a rib or 2?!?!?'

Others fed into the rib removal theory as one said: 'Did she have a rib removed? Good Lord.'

Another made referenced to the body transformations the SKIMS founder has undergone for previous Met Galas.

They wrote: 'Kim Kardashian does it again, I wonder how she breathes with that #MetGala'

They seemed to be referencing one of Kim's most iconic looks at the gala when she looked impossibly skinny to wear Marilyn Monroe's classic dress in 2022.

Months later in an episode of The Kardashians which aired in November, she even called herself a 'shapeshifter' as she did all that she could to fit into the frock.

She tried on a replica of the dress Marilyn wore in 1962 to serenade then-President John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday on the episode.

Kim said: 'If this does not fit me, I can't even try the original. So I've Googled her measurements, I'm looking at my measurements.'

She backed her shapeshifting claims as she said that the width of her shoulders would allow her to 'squeeze into anything.'

The influencer - who is known for her curvaceous figure and bodacious behind - showcased a wild body transformation in custom Maison Margiela

She put on a busty display in the low-cut number as she left her hotel to head to the red carpet event

The mother-of-four said: 'No one trusted us; for years, they would never send samples. And then once I would get to Paris and try on the samples, they would be like, "Oh, wait, she actually fits in our stuff."

'So I don't know how to convince the guy who owns the original Marilyn dress that I'm a shapeshifter.'

Kim kept a low profile while returning to The Ritz-Carlton hotel after the event on Monday. A bodyguard held a white towel in front of the star as she attempted to shield her impossibly thin waist.

The Costume Institute's spring exhibition falls on the first Monday in May every year and is held at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Eiza Gonzalez was a sight to behold at Monday's star-studded Met Gala in New York City  after declaring she is 'too pretty' for show business.

The Mexican actress, 34, climbed the steps of the Met Museum in an elegant pale pink dress that showed off her decolletage with a plunging neckline.

The dress was complemented with a wide diamond and emerald necklace.

Her lustrous brunette curls were swept up in a romantic bun that allowed her soft, radiant makeup to pull focus.

Eiza made headlines last month when she claimed to InStyle that she's been passed over for roles because she's too attractive.

Eiza Gonzalez was a sight to behold at Monday's star-studded Met Gala in New York City  after declaring she is 'too pretty' for show business

The star-studded affair took place at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art

'I remember being [told for] so many projects, "She's too pretty for the role. She's too hot for the role,"' she said.

'Then I'd just be like, What is Margot Robbie?' added Gonzalez. 'She's the hottest, most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life!'

She admitted she 'had an identity crisis for a very long time,' explaining that she even considered shaving her head.

'Do I make myself less attractive?' she recalled asking herself. 'Do I make myself more attractive? Do I not dress super-hot or do I dress super-hot or do I cover myself all the time?'

After receiving an onslaught of scrutiny over the interview, Gonzalez clarified the comments to ET.

The Mexican actress, 34, climbed the steps of the Met Museum in an elegant pale pink dress

The frock showed off her decolletage with a plunging neckline

Gonzalez was seen departing the Carlyle Hotel en route to the Met Gala

Here the looker was seen getting ready at her hotel

She explained that she was shedding light on Hollywood's narrow perceptions of Latin women.

'That's what I was mentioning is the Latin community has gone through so much and women specifically in Latin culture through this idea of what they are versus the reality of what they are,' said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez noted that 'times are changing and we're moving forward in such a positive way' as she raved about playing a nano physicist in Netflix's 3 Body Problem.

Gonzalez is seen at The Carlyle Hotel as she was in a new outfit for an after-party. She was in an IM Original by Isaac Mizrahi

Gonzalez seen in Guy Ritchie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare which came out April 19

'It's sad that it's taken out of context because the intention is quite the opposite,' she continued.

'It's shedding light to a thing that I think was making people think of a culture in a specific way and shedding light in a positive [way],' added Gonzalez.

'But it had nothing to do with my personal experience within itself.'

Gonzalez was last in Guy Ritchie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which came out April 19.

Eiza is also known for her films Ambulance and Baby Driver.
Alison Hammond's toyboy boyfriend is refusing to listen to his mother's desperate pleas for him to end the relationship, according to reports.

It emerged last month, the presenter, 49, is dating Russian masseur David Putman, 26, despite their 23-year age gap.

David is said to be ignoring his mother Olga's advice to pull the plug on his relationship due to the age gap and the fame she has bought to her son.

The TV presenter has been dating the Russian masseur since she booked him for a 150 massage and the pair hit it off.

Olga is said to have been calling her son every day with pleas to break-up with Alison, but David is firmly turning his back on her advice.

Alison Hammond 's toyboy boyfriend is refusing to listen to his mother's desperate pleas for him to end the relationship, according to reports

David is said to be ignoring his mother Olga's advice to pull the plug on his relationship due to the age gap and the fame she has bought to her son

A source told The Sun: 'David is happy with his relationship so anything his mum says isnt going to affect him.

'She's uncomfortable that her son is with someone who has so much more financial power than him. Olgas traditional values dont sit well with their relationship.

'She's told him in no uncertain terms that he must end it. Olga raised her children in the Orthodox Church. This kind of relationship doesnt fit her beliefs.

'She calls her son almost every day and tells him how unhappy she is.'

MailOnline have contacted Alison's representatives for a comment.

It comes as Alison spoke out about their relationship for the first time last week and confirmed he even has her son Aiden's seal of approval.

Speaking about the relationship on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe's podcast Parenting Hell, the comedians grilled the TV star as they asked: 'Are you single Alison?'

Acting coy, Alison said: 'No I'm not single.. I'm dating. I'm dating.'

Alison is mother to her only child, Aiden, who she shares with her former husband Noureddine Boufaied, and Rob and Josh asked about the complexities of dating now her son is almost an adult.

Aiden is 19-years-old, only a few years younger than her new boyfriend David who is thought to be in his mid twenties.

The TV presenter has been dating the Russian masseur since she booked him for a 150 massage and the pair hit it off

It emerged last month, the presenter, 49, is dating Russian masseur David Putman, 26, despite their 23-year age gap

'David is happy with his relationship so anything his mum says isnt going to affect him', a source said

Explaining the struggles, Alison confessed: 'It's more difficult, he is more verbal now that he is older. He'll want to know who this person is and he'll want to meet them.

'It's a lot harder. He'll wanna know that this guy is treating me well.

'The person who I am seeing at the moment, he is on his Instagram and is like "yeah I like him, he's not too in your face". Aiden is on it.'

Last month Alison shared snaps of her and David together on social media including one where they cosied up together with their arms wrapped around each other on a country walk.

Alison is said to be 'happier than ever' with her new partner following a 'turbulent love life'.

Discussing the first time David and her son met, she revealed: 'When they actually met, he really liked him, he really thought he was lovely, so that's nice.

'Thank goodness for that! Because normally Aiden hates anybody I date, literally just not interested.

'And you just know at that point, if Aiden doesn't like them, this isn't gonna work. There are moments where I think, "who's the parent here?!"

Alison opened up about their relationship for the first time last week and confirmed he even has her son Aiden's seal of approval

'It's nice though because I always feel like there's someone there looking over me, protecting me.'

Originally from Krasnodar in Russia, David left the country for the UK in December 2022 to escape the front line following President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

A friend of David previously told The Sun: 'When the war in Ukraine began David's mother Olga began to worry. She didn't want her boys dragged into it. She wanted them safe like any mother would.'

David therefore moved to the UK, where he now lives with his uncle Nigel Putman, 71, in Slough, but he spends a lot of time in London for work.

The friend explained David was able to avoid being drafted into the Russian army as his father, also called David, is originally from Slough himself, therefore the young masseur already had British citizenship.

David's father is reportedly a retired welder and panel beater who moved to Russia in the late 1990s after marrying Russian architect Olga Kovalenko following a divorce from his first wife.

David also two brother, twins Apollo and Sviatoslov, who are three years older than him and were born in England.

They explained: 'David is a very quiet, unassuming and thoughtful person who likes to play the guitar. He's the strong, silent type, not a pushover, but not chatty like Alison.

Alison shares Aiden, 19, with her former husband Noureddine Boufaied

'In that sense they're perfect for each other and to David age is just a number. He's not bothered by fame, he probably didn't even know who Alison was when they first met.'

The Sun also reportedly spoke to David himself, but he wouldn't yet speak about his reasons for leaving Russia or relationship with Alison.

Alison hinted at their growing relationship back in November when she liked David's post documenting a recent trip to Dublin.

A source told The Sun: 'Alison has never been happier. She has had a turbulent love-life, but is finally confident she has found a trusted companion.'
Gisele Bundchen opted to skip the 2024 Met Gala to stay home with her daughter Vivian, 11, and son Benjamin, 14, in Florida.

While her presence was greatly missed at the annual soiree, which always takes place on the first Monday in May, the supermodel, 43, decided to prioritize quality time with her family over attending fashion's biggest night out.

As for why she passed on the opportunity to make an appearance at the high profile event, which is strictly invitation-only, a source told People that the best-selling author was simply 'busy with her family down in Miami.'

'She has a totally full life and she's very busy with her kids,' the insider explained. 'Plus, she's been working more than she has in 20 years this past year. She has so many projects; she's been working all the time.'

Gisele Bundchen opted to skip the 2024 Met Gala to stay home with her daughter Vivian, 11, and son Benjamin, 14, in Florida (seen in May 2023)

Additionally, Bundchen has 'been working tirelessly this past week to help her home state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which is suffering from the most devastating flood it's ever had.'

'She has family there and she's been consumed with worry,' the source noted.

During the gala, she urged her Instagram followers to donate to the Brazil Foundations Luz Alliance Fund.

'It's so heartbreaking. I'm helping but they need all the help they can get,' she captioned a video of a team of rescue workers heroically bringing a child to safety.

Over the weekend, she was reeling over the devastating floods in her native country that have killed at least 83 people.

'My heart breaks for the Brazilians who are living through the devastation of the massive floods in Rio Grande do Sol this week,' she wrote on Instagram. 'Thousands of people have sadly lost everything.'

She continued: 'My team and I have been received many inquiries about where to donate to get funds directly to the people dealing with this disaster. Thus, I have made the decision to reopen donations to the Luz Alliance Emergency Fund in partnership with @brazilfound.'

The mother-of-two added that 'all the funds will be allocated to the people affected by this natural disaster in our Rio Grande do Sul.'

While her presence was missed at the annual soiree, which takes place annually on the first Monday in May, the 43-year-old supermodel decided to prioritize quality time with her family over attending fashion's biggest night out

As for why she passed on the opportunity to make an appearance at the high profile event, which is strictly invitation-only, a source told People that the best-selling author was simply 'busy with her family down in Miami'

'She has a totally full life and she's very busy with her kids,' the insider explained. 'Plus, she's been working more than she has in 20 years this past year. She has so many projects; she's been working all the time'

'If you live near any of the regions and want to help directly, they need mattresses and pillows, all types of bedding, toiletries, cleaning products, all types of clothing for all ages, furniture, appliances, pet food, and general daily living items,' the Vogue cover girl told her 22.6 million Instagram followers. 'Please take these items to a collection drop off location near your home.'

Bundchen concluded: 'Anything you can do to help will make a difference; no act of kindness is too small. The most important thing is to take care of each other in any way we can,' she concluded.

The philanthropist, a sixth-generation German Brazilian, was raised in the city of Horizontinaa small rural town in southern Brazil.

In addition to trying to bring relief efforts to Brazil amid the disaster, she is said to be feeling 'deeply disappointed by the disrespectful portrayal of her family' during ex-husband Tom Brady's Netflix roast show, which aired live on Sunday.

During the gala, she urged her Instagram followers to donate to the Brazil Foundations Luz Alliance Fund

In addition to trying to bring relief efforts to Brazil amid the disaster, she is said to be feeling 'deeply disappointed by the disrespectful portrayal of her family' during ex-husband Tom Brady's Netflix roast show, which aired live on Sunday; seen in 2018

'As always, [Bundchen's] priority is to support her children who were affected by the irresponsible content that was broadcasted,' the insider went on

A source told People that she was left fuming at The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady, which featured several shock quips about her new romance with Joaquim Valente.

'As always, [Bundchen's] priority is to support her children who were affected by the irresponsible content that was broadcasted,' the insider went on.

As she focuses on 'aiding those in need in her home state,' the model was hurt to 'hear her life being joked about.'

The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady, which was part of the Netflix Is a Joke Fest, was streamed live, is the first-ever roast to be live-broadcast, unedited.

Tom and Gisele  who share two kids together, son Benjamin and daughter Vivian  finalized their divorce on October 28, 2022, after 13 years of marriage.
Kim Kardashian was interrupted by a protester campaigning for a free Palestine during her talk at the OMR business festival in Hamburg on Tuesday afternoon.

The businesswoman, 43, visited the German city to speak at the OMR digital and marketing trade fair just hours after her shock appearance at the Met Gala in New York on Monday night.

According to German publication Bild, the US star's appearance at the festival, which is described as an event for 'information, inspiration and networking on all things digital business', will cost more than 1,000,000.

Kim herself will receive a generous fee of 700,000 plus the expenses for her private jet and her entourage.

But DailyMail.com can confirm that Kim will actually be receiving several million dollars as her fee.

After taking to the stage, Kim was interrupted by a protester in the audience who began repeatedly shouting 'Free Palestine'.

Kim Kardashian was interrupted by a free Palestine protester as she spoke at OMR business festival in Hamburg on Tuesday afternoon just hours after her shock appearance the Met Gala red carpet in New York on Monday night

According to German publication Bild , the US star's appearance at the festival, which is described as an event for 'information, inspiration and networking on all things digital business', will cost more than 1,000,000; DailyMail.com has learned that Kim is actually getting several millions of dollars

During #KimKardashian's speech at #OMR24 in Hamburg, a livestream interruption occurred due to a protester shouting for Palestine's freedom and was escorted out by security. @KimKardashian @officially_omr pic.twitter.com/TAUx1zbokA  PK (@p_kiloalpha) May 7, 2024

As security ushered the protester out of the venue, the host could be heard apologising to Kim as she insisted: 'It's ok,' before adding 'Free everybody'.

According the German publication Morgen Post, the woman was then escorted out of the hall full of 7,000 people by security forces.

Kim reportedly later added: 'I sympathize with the people of Israel and with those in Palestine. I sympathize with everybody. All we want is for everyone to feel safe and free.'

'Feel safe. And be good people and treat them in the same respectful way you want to be treated. These are definitely scary times.'

Kim was at the event for a 40 minute appearance where she spoke about the success of her company SKIMS as well as how she built her own personal brand to continuously garner worldwide attention.

Discussing the importance of authenticity she told the crowd: 'It has to be so authentic to you and you have to really fill that void of what is missing and know how to come up with that solution.

'I mean authenticity is just everything right? You can have a great idea but if you don't also know how to connect to it and relate and get that out there, then it is just an idea.

'So having something that is so authentic to you at your core, is so believable and that is where the beginning of a good product comes about really.'

However after taking to the stage, Kim was interrupted by a protester in the audience who began repeatedly shouting 'Free Palestine'

The woman was then escorted out of the hall full of 7,000 people by security forces as Kim told the audience: 'Free everybody'

Kim reportedly later added: 'I sympathize with the people of Israel and with those in Palestine. I sympathize with everybody. All we want is for everyone to feel safe and free'

On Monday evening the reality star wowed on the red carpet where she showed off her impossibly slim waist in the silver custom Maison Margiela by John Galliano number

Kim herself will receive a generous fee of 700,000 plus the expenses for her private jet and her entourage

The star also discussed how SKIMS began solely dependent on her but explained 'the goal was to take myself out of that position so that it can sustain with or without me.'

Kim was first approached to speak at the event after the founder Philipp Westermeyer approached her team during a trip to the US.

In an interview with Stern, the Head of Content at OMR, Roland Eisenbrand explained it was a month-long process to secure Kim as a guest.

He said: 'Even though there was a lot of talk and Kim Kardashian of course receives a reasonable fee, it has to be said quite clearly that she would certainly not need to come to the OMR Festival from a purely financial point of view. Obviously, we have already convinced them with our concept.'

Gushing about the success of Kim's empire, Roland added: 'She had a mobile game with millions in sales. She has 364 million followers on Instagram. She has managed to generate reach and attention over the years, and she is very adept at monetizing them.

'Her underwear brand Skims is now said to be worth four billion US dollars and is about to go public. All of this makes her very interesting to us, and we believe that anyone who works in marketing can learn something from Kim Kardashian.'

Proving she really can do it all, Kim landed in Hamburg landed in Hamburg at 3pm on Tuesday after walking the red carpet at around 7pm New York time on Monday night.

Germany is six hours ahead of New York making her two appearances just 13 hours apart. The flight time from New York to Hamburg is around nine hours.

The reality star wowed on the red carpet where she showed off her impossibly slim waist in the silver custom Maison Margiela by John Galliano number.

But she chose not to attend any raucous afterparties in the Big Apple and instead hopped straight on her private jet to head to Europe on a redeye.

She still looked immaculate as she arrived at the airport in Hamburg to her adoring fans and even took time to sign autographs after the long flight.

She wore a long black padded coat and striped jogging bottoms and donned dark shades.

Her blonde tresses still looked perfectly styled in loose waves over her shoulders.

The star looked positively radiant despite the nine hour flight and six hour time difference as she took a cheeky selfie with the event host

Proving she really can do it all, Kim landed in Hamburg landed in Hamburg at 3pm on Tuesday after walking the red carpet at around 7pm New York time on Monday night

Kim chose not to attend any raucous afterparties in the Big Apple and instead hopped straight on her private jet to head to Europe

On Monday night Kim sparked a shock reaction for her astonishingly tiny waist in a silver corset on the star-studded red carpet of the Met Gala 2024 in New York City.

The reality star - who is known for her curvaceous figure and bodacious behind - showcased a wild body transformation in custom Maison Margiela by John Galliano.

John Galliano, creative director of Maison Margiela, fashioned Kim - who attended his recent Artisanal show and sat in the front row - the stunning dress.

Just a day after Kim was booed at the Tom Brady Netflix Roast, many took to social media to react to the wild look as one wrote: 'how many ribs did Kim get removed????'

Her tiny torso look featured a shiny metallic silver corset which flowed into a sheer lacy skirt which showed off her legs.

She teamed the strapless number with matching shiny silver platform heels.

She is in Hamburg to speak at the OMR digital trade fair which is described as an event for 'information, inspiration and networking on all things digital business'

The flight time from New York to Hamburg is around nine hours (her private jet is seen touching down in Germany)

Kim sparked a shock reaction for her astonishingly tiny waist in a silver corset at the Met Gala on Monday - just 13 hour before landing in Hamburg

One interesting fashion choice that the A-lister made was wrapping herself in a grey knit cropped sweater which felt a bit disjoined from the rest of the look.

Kim wore her newly-dyed platinum blonde locks down in a middle-part which showed off her dark roots, having once again teamed up with her longtime hairstylist Chris Appleton.

Her make-up was complementary to her face and topped off with a swipe of shiny nude lip.

However the thing that was most talked about on social media was her tiny waist.

One X (formally Twitter) user wrote: 'Jesus, she's gonna be in the hospital by the end of the night. Did they remove a rib or 2?!?!?'

Others fed into the rib removal theory as one said: 'Did she have a rib removed? Good Lord.'

Another made referenced to the body transformations the SKIMS founder has undergone for previous Met Galas.

They wrote: 'Kim Kardashian does it again, I wonder how she breathes with that #MetGala'

They seemed to be referencing one of Kim's most iconic looks at the gala when she looked impossibly skinny to wear Marilyn Monroe's classic dress in 2022.

Months later in an episode of The Kardashians which aired in November, she even called herself a 'shapeshifter' as she did all that she could to fit into the frock.

She tried on a replica of the dress Marilyn wore in 1962 to serenade then-President John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday on the episode.

Kim said: 'If this does not fit me, I can't even try the original. So I've Googled her measurements, I'm looking at my measurements.'

She backed her shapeshifting claims as she said that the width of her shoulders would allow her to 'squeeze into anything.'

The influencer - who is known for her curvaceous figure and bodacious behind - showcased a wild body transformation in custom Maison Margiela

She put on a busty display in the low-cut number as she left her hotel to head to the red carpet event

The mother-of-four said: 'No one trusted us; for years, they would never send samples. And then once I would get to Paris and try on the samples, they would be like, "Oh, wait, she actually fits in our stuff."

'So I don't know how to convince the guy who owns the original Marilyn dress that I'm a shapeshifter.'

Kim kept a low profile while returning to The Ritz-Carlton hotel after the event on Monday. A bodyguard held a white towel in front of the star as she attempted to shield her impossibly thin waist.

The Costume Institute's spring exhibition falls on the first Monday in May every year and is held at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ariana Grande performed a seven-song medley while clad in her 'favorite thing' she's 'ever worn' at the annual Costume Institute benefit celebrating the 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion' exhibit inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Midtown Manhattan on Monday.

The platinum-blonde pop star - turning 31 next month - dramatically entered the room perched on the back of one of her 30 back-up dancers as she sang Sammy Fain and George Bruns' song Once Upon a Dream from Disney's 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty.

Ariana began her set wearing bespoke Maison Margiela Artisanal designed by creative director John Galliano, which consisted of a white frilly top and a massive hoop skirt.

Grande (born Butera) was then carefully lifted out of her shell by two dancers to reveal a gorgeous green tulle dress and custom hand-painted Tabis by Christian Louboutin.

The two-time Grammy winner's nude bodysuit and cincher were visible beneath the gossamer fabric draped with rosettes, hand-sprayed gold dust, and crystal/mirror embroideries.

Ariana Grande performed a seven-song medley while clad in her 'favorite thing' she's 'ever worn' at the annual Costume Institute benefit celebrating the 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion' exhibit inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Midtown Manhattan on Monday

'So here is the thing: I am the biggest Margiela and John Galliano fan on the planet, so when I heard that there was a chance that John was going to be designing my costume, I wept. When I saw the sketch, I wept. When I tried it on, I wept. The whole thing has been quite a lot,' Ariana gushed to Vogue on Monday.

'I've never felt more beautiful or more "me" in a performance look than I did in this one. I felt like a Margiela fairy from John's own planet, which is something I have dreamt of being for years. It is my favorite thing I've ever worn, and I'd like to never take it off. I mean it - they will have to try their very best to pry it off of me.'

Hairstylist Alyx Liu fastened Grande's signature massive faux-nytail for the performance that included her 2016 track Into You and her 2019 track Seven Rings as well as her new singles The Boy Is Mine, We Can't Be Friends, and Yes, And.

Make-up artist Michael Anthony fully contoured the R.E.M. Beauty founder's complexion and fastened custom petal wing appliques to her temples.

For the grand finale, Ariana showcased her four-octave soprano pipes alongside her Wicked castmate Cynthia Erivo, who joined her to perform their rendition of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston's 1998 duet When You Believe.

Grande and the British 37-year-old sang in front of the Temple of Dendur and they were accompanied by the 40-person choir Broadway Inspirational Voices.

In a role reversal from their witchy characters Glinda Upland and Elphaba Thropp, the former Nickelodeon child star wore green and Cynthia wore a red-and-white Thom Browne dress that appeared pink from a distance.

'Thank you to the divine and magical @cynthiaerivo for joining me in the end and for lighting up the museum brighter than any star in the sky ever could,' Ariana - who boasts 510.6M social media followers - later wrote on Instagram.

The platinum-blonde pop star - turning 31 next month - dramatically entered the room perched on the back of one of her 30 back-up dancers as she sang Sammy Fain and George Bruns' song Once Upon a Dream from Disney's 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty

Ariana began her set wearing bespoke Maison Margiela Artisanal designed by creative director John Galliano, which consisted of a white frilly top and a massive hoop skirt

Grande (born Butera) was then carefully lifted out of her shell by two dancers to reveal a gorgeous green tulle dress and custom hand-painted Tabis by Christian Louboutin

The two-time Grammy winner's nude bodysuit and cincher were visible beneath the gossamer fabric draped with rosettes, hand-sprayed gold dust, and crystal/mirror embroideries

Ariana gushed to Vogue on Monday: 'So here is the thing: I am the biggest Margiela and John Galliano fan on the planet, so when I heard that there was a chance that John was going to be designing my costume, I wept. When I saw the sketch, I wept. When I tried it on, I wept. The whole thing has been quite a lot'

She continued: 'I've never felt more beautiful or more "me" in a performance look than I did in this one. I felt like a Margiela fairy from John's own planet, which is something I have dreamt of being for years. It is my favorite thing I've ever worn, and I'd like to never take it off. I mean it - they will have to try their very best to pry it off of me'

Hairstylist Alyx Liu fastened Grande's signature massive faux-nytail for the performance that included her 2016 track Into You and her 2019 track Seven Rings as well as her new singles The Boy Is Mine, We Can't Be Friends, and Yes, And

Make-up artist Michael Anthony fully contoured the R.E.M. Beauty founder's complexion and fastened custom petal wing appliques to her temples

For the grand finale, Ariana showcased her four-octave soprano pipes alongside her Wicked castmate Cynthia Erivo (R), who joined her to perform their rendition of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston's 1998 duet When You Believe

Grande and the British 37-year-old sang in front of the Temple of Dendur and they were accompanied by the 40-person choir Broadway Inspirational Voices

In a role reversal from their witchy characters Glinda Upland and Elphaba Thropp, the former Nickelodeon child star wore green and Cynthia wore a red-and-white Thom Browne dress that appeared pink from a distance

Ariana later wrote on Instagram: 'Thank you to the divine and magical @cynthiaerivo for joining me in the end and for lighting up the museum brighter than any star in the sky ever could. It was my honor to have you and to sing with you as always. I love you!'

Missing from Grande's side on Monday was her Wicked costar-turned-boyfriend Ethan Slater (M, pictured April 10), who portrays munchkin-turned-tinman Boq in Jon M. Chu's big-screen adaptation of the 2003 Broadway musical

Universal Pictures is scheduled to release the first part of Wicked on November 27 followed by the second part on November 26, 2025

'It was my honor to have you and to sing with you as always. I love you!'

Missing from Grande's side on Monday was her Wicked costar-turned-boyfriend Ethan Slater, who portrays munchkin-turned-tinman Boq in Jon M. Chu's big-screen adaptation of the 2003 Broadway musical.

Universal Pictures is scheduled to release the first part of Wicked on November 27 followed by the second part on November 26, 2025.
Gisele Bundchen 'was deeply disappointed by the disrespectful portrayal of her family' on Netflix's The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady over the weekend.

The roast included jabs at her new relationship with Joaquim Valente.

'As always, [Bundchen's] priority is to support her children who were affected by the irresponsible content that was broadcasted,' the source said to People on Tuesday.

In light of those comments, DailyMail.com has take a look at Bundchen's romance with Valente.

The Brazilian supermodel, 43, began training with the jiu-jitsu instructor, 36, in late 2021, less than a year before her divorce was finalized with ex-husband Tom Brady.

Despite the questionable timeline of their relationship, Bundchen continues to deny cheating on her husband of 13 years.

'That is a lie,' she told the New York Times in late March, explaining that she doesn't 'want to make my life a tabloid.'

'This is something that happens to a lot of women who get blamed when they have the courage to leave an unhealthy relationship and are labeled as being unfaithful,' explained Bundchen.

Gisele Bundchen, 43, began training with jiu-jitsu instructor Joaquim Valente, 36, in late 2021, less than a year before her divorce was finalized with ex-husband Tom Brady

Despite the questionable timeline of their relationship, Bundchen continues to deny cheating on her husband of 13 years

She added, 'They have to deal with their communities. They have to deal with their family. Of course for me, it just happens to be a little bit amplified.'

The interview came days before she and Valente made their public debut as a couple at the Miami launch of her cookbook Nourish.

After months of being romantically linked, Bundchen confirmed her new relationship in the interview, although she didn't name Valente.

'This is the first time I am seeing someone that was a friend of mine first,' Bundchen told NYT. 'It's very different. It is very honest, and it's very transparent.'

The couple was first romantically linked on Valentine's Day as they were photographed sharing a kiss during a date in Miami.

Page Six reported at the time that the couple is 'deeply in love.'

A source told People that Bundchen and Valente 'have been dating since June,' adding: 'They're taking it slow.'

Another insider said 'they started out as friends' and had a lot in common, both moving from their native Brazil at a young age.

'He was a huge comfort for Gisele while she went through her divorce,' the source said. 'Their friendship turned romantic after the divorce.'

She and Valente made their public debut as a couple in late March at the Miami launch of her cookbook Nourish

'This is the first time I am seeing someone that was a friend of mine first,' Bundchen told NYT. 'It's very different. It is very honest, and it's very transparent'

The couple was first romantically linked on Valentine's Day as they were photographed sharing a kiss during a date in Miami, although some sources say they've been dating since 2021

Meanwhile a source told TMZ the pair actually began dating in 2021.

Another source told DailyMail.com in February that Brady, 46, 'has accepted' the fact that Bundchen is dating Valente.

'If she wants to have people think she has been dating Joaquim only since June, so be it, but they have been together longer and they aren't taking it slow,' the insider said. 'Tom has accepted it.'

They noted that Brady and Valente 'are not friends' but the seven-time Super Bowl champion 'has to find the good in him and does believe he is a good guy.'

'If Joaquim ever becomes a father figure to his kids, Tom will be able to adapt,' the source added.

In late February, Page Six reported that Valente had 'frequently been seen' leaving Bundchen's $9 million Miami mansion 'early in the morning' ever since her mother Vania Nonnenmacher died of cancer in January.

A source told People that Bundchen ' was deeply disappointed by the disrespectful portrayal of her family' on Netflix's The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady over the weekend, which included jabs at her new relationship

Bundchen shares son Benjamin , 14, and daughter Vivian , 11, with Brady, to whom she was married from 2009 to 2022

A source previously told People that the pair is not in a 'traditional dating scenario,' explaining they 'have a deep personal relationship, and he is a teacher to her and the kids. Whether or not it will ever become more than that rests on the table.'

In November, she took her and Brady's children on a family vacation to Costa Rica with Valente, when a source told DailyMail.com they're just friends.

'He's been her kids' jiu-jitsu teacher for years,' the insider said. 'There's no truth to the rumors that they're dating.'

The trip marked their second year traveling to Costa Rica with Valente.

Bundchen shares son Benjamin, 14, and daughter Vivian, 11, with Brady, to whom she was married from 2009 to 2022.

A source told People that Bundchen 'was deeply disappointed by the disrespectful portrayal of her family' on Netflix's The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady over the weekend, which included jabs at her new relationship.

'As always, [Bundchen's] priority is to support her children who were affected by the irresponsible content that was broadcasted,' the source said.
Nicola Coughlan is set to star alongside actor Ncuti Gatwa as a new companion in the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas special.

The Bridgerton actress, 37, will take take on the huge guest role with Ncuti, 31, but sidekick Millie Gibson and Varada Seethu will not be appearing.

Nicola, who is renowned for starring in Derry Girls, filmed the exciting Christmas Day episode in 2023, with a picture released of her on set in November, although details of her role were not revealed.

A first look image showed Coughlan, 36, dressed in a modern red jacket and matching hat - a far cry from the ostentatious ballgowns she wore as socialite Penelope Featherington in Bridgerton.

Nicola is preparing to make a huge impact on the festive episode, which will see her take a trip through time and space in the TARDIS.

According to The Mirror, Doctor Who's TV producer Russell T Davies said: 'This has been the most brilliant shoot, with Nicola lighting up the set and bringing joy. From Derry, via Bridgerton, to the TARDIS, its the trip of a lifetime.

Nicola Coughlan, 37, is set to star alongside actor Ncuti Gatwa, 31, in the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas special

The Bridgerton actress will take take on the huge guest role with Ncuti, but sidekick Millie Gibson and Varada Seethu will not be appearing

Nicola added: 'Ive been a fan of Ncuti Gatwa for some time and getting to share the screen with him as the Doctor has been an absolute joy.'

It comes after Nicola confirmed that she and her Bridgerton co-star Luke Newton got 'so comfortable' that they would lounge together naked in between filming sex scenes.

The eagerly-anticipated new season of the show, which hits Netflix this month, will feature the actress getting hot and heavy with her love interest Colin Bridgerton, played by Luke, 31.

Nicola has already teased that series three will be even raunchier than the previous two, which became famous for their racy moments.

But despite admitting she was initially nervous about having her own intimate scenes, she has gushed that she and Luke got to the point where they were able to relax, even while nude.

Nicola appeared on the cover of the April issue of Teen Vogue, looking resplendent in a sparkly off-the-shoulder gown.

Speaking to the publication, she was asked about the veracity of her and Luke's previous comments about their comfortability on set.

In February, the pair had spoken to AP about the show's sex scenes, with Nicola saying: 'There is such vulnerability in those scenes and it's also a really important part of the story - they're an important part of the narrative.

Nicola is preparing to make a huge impact on the festive episode, which will see her take a trip through time and space in the TARDIS

Nicola said: 'Ive been a fan of Ncuti Gatwa for some time and getting to share the screen with him as the Doctor has been an absolute joy'

'But [Luke] made me feel really taken care of. Like we really had each other's backs and also then we could just have a laugh about it. Like to the point that we were just lying under a blanket being like "We're actually chill now."'

Luke laughed and echoed: 'Yeah halfway through the day you just relax and you're like "I don't even care that I'm naked".'

Nicola added: 'We were having the best time. They were like do you want to get up and we were like "No, no, I'm fine. I'm comfy".'

Speaking to Teen Vogue, Nicola confirmed: 'Yeah, so its really funny. That is true.

'It is a testament to the fact that we just got to a point where we were so comfortable together. Wed just finished the big sex scene, the most intense and involved one. and we just felt relieved.'

She added that logistically it also made sense to only be clad in a tiny amount of 'not of even real clothes' so they could get back to work straight away.
Tori Spelling is marking what would be her 18th wedding anniversary with her estranged husband Dean McDermott, 57, as 'just another day.'

On the Monday, May 6 episode of her podcast MisSpelling, Tori, 50, revealed that she didn't even realize her anniversary was upon her 'until, no joke, two days ago.'

'Its May, you guys. Its a huge month for me,' she said to open the episode, citing her May 7 anniversary, May 16th birthday, and Mother's Day.

'I would always be like, "Hey, buddy. Sorry, youre screwed. You got three Tori days to deal with, essentially, in May,"' Tori  who said she'd love to have another baby with her ex  explained.

A friend of hers recently remarked that he could now remove May 7 from his calendar which set off a lightbulb in the Beverly Hills, 90210 star's head.

Tori Spelling is marking what would be her 18th wedding anniversary with her ex-husband Dean McDermott , 57, as 'just another day'

On the Monday, May 6 episode of her podcast MissSpelling, Tori, 50, revealed that she didn't even realize her anniversary was upon her 'until, no joke, two days ago'

'I hadnt thought about that. May 7 is just gonna be another day from now on,' she said.

She added: 'That kind of hit me. I was like, "Wow, yeah, wow," I mean, obviously, I filed for divorce. We're getting a divorce, but I hadn't thought about that.'

In the past, Tori made Dean DIY gifts for their anniversary and she shared some of the various things she's made for him over the years.

She calls herself a 'crafter to the core' and said she 'would always make something for Dean on our wedding anniversary because you know anyone can buy someone something. Allegedly.

'If you can, thats very nice. But I always say homemade equals love. Whether thats in the past, present or the future I still maintain that.'

One year she made him a leather cuff and another year she made him a bench and inscribed the phrase 'I want to grow old with you' on it.

'Or something,' she said. 'Im conveniently blocking it out, because it hurts,' adding that the gift was 'inspired by those old couples sitting on a bench.'

'At the end of the day, he and I and our kids, we're a family unit. He's their father, whether we're married on not,' Spelling said, adding, 'Well, I'm not going to grow old with him.'

Continuing to tear up, Spelling added, 'Oh my god, you guys, every week it is not going to be about me, like, "Oh I'm Tori, I'm alone and single!" Or it can be, I mean, I don't know.'

'Its May, you guys. Its a huge month for me,' she said to open the episode, citing her anniversary, May 16th birthday and Mother's Day

'Oh my god, I'm tearing up, I do have feelings, look at that. She exists!' she exclaimed.

Joking about what she'd make for McDemott this year, she pondered the idea of making him fake teeth.

'How would his girlfriend feel about that? "If you ever loved me, you will wear my porcelain teeth around your neck! Five of them for the five beautiful kids we made,"' she joked.

'How can you say no to that? Sorry, Lily, you know I love you,' she said referring to McDemott's new girlfriend Lily Calo.

'I would always be like, "Hey, buddy. Sorry, youre screwed. You got three Tori days to deal with, essentially, in May"'

A friend of hers recently remarked that he could now remove May 7 from his calendar which set off a lightbulb in the Beverly Hills, 90210 star's head

'I hadnt thought about that. May 7 is just gonna be another day from now on,' she said.

Another year she made him something more intimate: a brass c*ck ring.

'Oh, the brass cck ring was really good that year,' she said. 'I hammered it. Oh, my God. Im so talented. I welded it.'

Tori filed for divorce from Dean in March after nearly 18 years of marriage. She cited June 17, 2023 as their date of separation, which is the same day McDermott announced their split on social media.

Spelling and McDermott married in a private ceremony in Fiji in 2006. The reality star shares Liam, 17, Stella, 15, Hattie, 12, and Finn, 11, and Beau, 7, with her ex-husband.

Meanwhile Tori may have a nice Mother's Day with her mom Candy for a change as they have been getting along better these days.

Tori has had a shoulder to lean on as she ends her marriage to McDermott.

Her mother, whom she has previously had a rocky relationship with, has been a source of support for her.

'Well, she really needed [support],' Candy, 78, told People in April.

She noted it meant 'a lot' that she had been able to provide her daughter with the assistance she needed during this time.

'Everything's good,' she added.

Tori has a shoulder to lean on as she ends her marriage to Dean McDermott - her mother, Candy Spelling

The mother-daughter duo have previously been embroiled in a family feud; pictured 2015

Last year Candy vocalized her support for Tori amid her split from Dean.

At the time, Dean had famously announced their separation on Instagram before deleting the post.

'She's doing great,' she told TMZ.

Candy admitted she didn't know what the fate of Tori and Dean's marriage would be.

When asked if Tori and Dean were done for good, Candy said she didn't know before adding, 'I love my daughter, and I support her in whatever she does. I support my daughter, what can I tell you?'

She was also asked if she would be willing to provide Tori financial support if necessary.

'Of course, I will always be there for her,' she said.
Bruce Willis wife, Emma Heming, revealed that sharing his frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis with the world felt like removing a huge weight from her shoulders.

When asked how her life has changed since publicly disclosing the Die Hard legend's health battle in 2023, a year after revealing he was suffering from a disorder called aphasia, the actress, 45, said 'everything changed for the better once we were able to disclose his diagnosis.'

'I could breathe,' she said while attending the AFTD 2024 Education Conference on May 3. 'I could really exhale and sort of just feel this weight lift from my shoulders.'

The mother-of-two continued: 'I was able to seek the support that I so desperately needed for my husband, for our whole family.'

Bruce Willis wife, Emma Heming, revealed that sharing his frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis with the world felt like removing a weight from her shoulders; seen in 2009

On Tuesday, Heming shared footage of herself on stage at the conference in Houston, Texas, alongside a message on her goal to 'raise as much awareness of FTD as' she can.

'My goal? To one day see a treatment and cure,' she told her 942,000 Instagram followers.

Additionally, she shared an image of herself, alongside three other attendees, with a caption about 'feeling grateful' to be 'surrounded by other FTD care partners, volunteers and advocates' with the same goal of supporting one another.

The model has been married to Bruce since 2009 and shares daughters Mabel, 11, and Evelyn, nine with him.

He shares daughters Rumer, 35, Scout, 32, and Tallulah, 30, with his ex-wife Demi Moore.

In March, Heming marked her and Willis' 15th wedding anniversary with a heartfelt tribute on social media.

'Today marks our 15th wedding anniversary! And today, I can make a choice. I can wallow in sorrow or I can celebrate it,' she wrote on Instagram. 'I call this the "remarkable reframe." What I know is there is so much to celebrate. Our union and connection is probably stronger than ever.'

She continued: 'We have two bright, fun and healthy daughters. We have a family unit that is built on mutual respect and admiration. And simply, I just love and adore the man I married. Im so proud of what we have and continue to create. So, happy crystal anniversary to us!'

When asked how her life has changed since publicly disclosing the Die Hard legend's health battle in 2023, a year after revealing he was suffering from a disorder called aphasia, the actress, 45, said 'everything changed for the better once we were able to disclose his diagnosis'

'I could breathe,' she said while attending the AFTD 2024 Education Conference on May 3. 'I could really exhale and sort of just feel this weight lift from my shoulders'

Additionally, she shared an image of herself, alongside three other attendees, with a caption about 'feeling grateful' to be 'surrounded by other FTD care partners, volunteers and advocates' with the same goal of supporting one another

Earlier this year, the retired actor's spouse sang his praises on Instagram by describing him as a 'true gentle-man' with a 'pure' and 'good' core.

'Just like you, we simply adore him,' she posted to Instagram. 'What you might not know, but maybe you could imagine, that being wrapped in his arms is the safest place in this whole wide world.

Additionally, she called him 'the gift that keeps giving.'

In this spring, Heming pushed back on a report that stated the actor had 'no more joy' in his life amid his health battle with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia.

Heming said in a clip on her Instagram page that she saw a headline that basically said 'there is no more joy' in her husband.

'I can just tell you, that is far from the truth,' she fired back. 'I need society and whoever's writing these stupid headlines to stop scaring people.'

Heming added that the perception of the public and the media in regards to neurocognitive diseases needs to shift.

In March, Heming marked her and Willis' 15th wedding anniversary with a heartfelt tribute on social media

'Stop scaring people to think that once they get a diagnosis of some kind of neurocognitive disease that - "That's it, it's over, let's pack it up, nothing else to see here, we're done" - no, it's the complete opposite of that,' she said.

Heming said that while the health battle has brought 'a lot of ... grief and sadness' to her family, there is also love, connection, joy and happiness.

She wrapped up in saying, 'So stop with these stupid headlines ... there's nothing to see here, okay?'

In the caption of the post, Heming said that her 'experience is that two things can be true and exist at the same time.'

Heming provided contrasting examples including 'grief and deep love,' 'sadness and deep connection,' and 'trauma and resilience.'

It's been a little over two years since Heming released a joint statement via Instagram with her two daughters and Willis's ex-wife Demi Moore, 61, and daughters Rumer Scout, Tallulah, announcing that Willis was stepping back from acting amid his aphasia diagnosis

She opened up about how she came to her thought process in the caption of the post.

'I had to get out of my own way to get here but once I arrived, life really started to come together with meaning and I had a true sense of purpose,' Heming said. 'There is so much beauty and soulfulness in this story.'

Heming said that she's come to understand that 'people that have not taken the time to properly educate themselves on any kind of neurocognitive disease' based on the 'headline after headline and blurbs of misinformation' she's seen on the topic.

In a follow-up post, Heming detailed that that the headlines were discouraging to the people providing care for people living with dementia.

'Care partners are already having a tough go in the support department,' Heming said. 'These headlines that paint this constant doom and gloom picture of dementia are harmful to them as they try to build their support unit around them. Or could sway a person who is wanting to help, the other way.

In the March 30, 2022 statement, they said that Willis 'has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities; seen in 2019

In the March 30, 2022 statement, they said that Willis 'has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities; pictured in 2018

'I just ask you to consider reframing this negative narrative around dementia. That would be so kind and generous to the next care partner and their loved one.'

It's been a little over two years since Heming released a joint statement via Instagram with her two daughters and Willis's ex-wife Demi Moore, 61, and daughters Rumer Scout, Tallulah, announcing that Willis was stepping back from acting amid his aphasia diagnosis.

In the March 30, 2022 statement, they said that Willis 'has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities.

'As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him. This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support.'

They continued: 'We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him. As Bruce always says, "Live it up" and together we plan to do just that.'
Jeffrey Dean Morgan was spotted wielding his ionic barbed wire bat Lucille while filming the second season of The Walking Dead: Dead City in Massachusetts on Tuesday.

The 58-year-old actor - who was recently spotted cuddling up to his wife Hilarie Burton - put on his bad boy persona for the camera while suited up in character.

He was dressed in a black leather jacket and matching gloves while smirking mischievously off camera.

The actors black jeans and leather belt tied the dark ensemble together while posing up a storm for the series.

His dark locks were stylishly slicked back and his silver beard and mustache were perfectly trimmed.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan was spotted wielding his ionic barbed wire bat Lucille while filming the second season of The Walking Dead: Dead City in Massachusetts on Tuesday

The 58-year-old actor put on his bad boy persona for the camera while suited up in character

Actors were dressed up in gas masks, leather jackets and matching gloves while carrying tanks

The set look impressive picturing a battle scene as the undead attacked the living.

Actors were dressed up in gas masks, leather jackets and matching gloves while carrying tanks.

The fan favorite post-apocalyptic horror show is expected to make waves when the second season premieres, but a release date has yet to be set.

Morgan began starring as Negan in The Walking Dead during its seventh season, having made his debut as the character during its sixth run of episodes.

The performer portrayed the character up until the show's final season, which wrapped November of 2022.

He will star alongside Lauren Cohan, who will reprise her old role as Maggie Greene.

Development on the spinoff program was revealed to the public in March of last year.

At the time, all actors were expected to return to their respective roles.

The show will follow the characters as they head into a zombie-filled Manhattan in an attempt to find Maggie's kidnapped son Hershel.

Other members of the program's cast include Gaius Charles, Zeljko Ivanek and Michael Anthony.

Physical production of the first season took place from July to October of last year, with much of filming occurring in New Jersey.

The Walking Dead: Dead City's first season will ran for six episodes, the first of which made its debut on June 18.

The fan favorite post-apocalyptic horror show is expected to make waves when the second season premieres, but a release date has yet to be set

Morgan began starring as Negan in The Walking Dead during its seventh season, having made his debut as the character during its sixth run of episodes

Other members of the program's cast include Gaius Charles, Zeljko Ivanek and Michael Anthony.

The Walking Dead: Dead City produced ratings and viewers that were higher than those of any of the last seasons of the flagship series.

Per MovieWeb, 'The series continues the stories of Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan as they head to Manhattan in search of her character's daughter.'

The second season is confirmed to have eight episodes.
Ireland's performance at the Eurovision semi-final on Tuesday got the continent talking with many viewers predicting it could win the contest.

Bambie Thug, 31, a non-binary artist from County Cork, delivered a showstopping performance of their song Doomsday Blue for the crowd in Malmo, Sweden.

They sang while performing a ritual surrounded by candles and were joined on stage by a male dancer wearing demonic makeup and fake teeth.

Ireland's entry has created a buzz in recent weeks for being radically different to anything the country has sent to the song contest before.

Bambie Thug immediately began trending on X/Twitter during the show with many viewers praising the standout performance.

Ireland's performance at the Eurovision semi-final on Tuesday got the conintent talking with many viewers predicting it could win the contest

Bambie Thug, 31, a non-binary artist from County Cork, delivered a showstopping performance of their song Doomsday Blue for the crowd in Malmo, Sweden

They sang while performing a ritual surrounded by candles and were joined on stage by a male dancer wearing demonic makeup and fake teeth

Ireland's entry has created a buzz in recent weeks for being radically different to anything the country has sent to the song contest before

Fans wrote: 'Crown the witch! Go Bambie Thug!'... 'Bambie Thug is going to win'... 'Bambie Thug - true artist'... 'Bambie Thug literally slayed'.

'Totally flabbergasted! Blown away by this act. It was pure art. Although I don't like the song, the total package was amazing.'

'Please everyone vote Bambie Thug to go through to the #Eurovision final and tbh win the whole thing! Have been obsessed for weeks. LOVE Bambie so much'.

'Bambie Thug from Ireland coming out on stage dressed as a non-binary demon... Oh I absolutely have to stan'.

Bambie, who describes their music as 'ouija pop' was feeling the pressure to deliver a good performance given Ireland has not qualified for the Eurovision final since Ryan O'Shaughnessy finished 16th with Together in 2018.

Speaking to The Standard, they said: 'Yes, there is more pressure but also, I have full faith in my performance ability.

'I'm really grateful to have this platform, especially as a non-binary person and as an alt little goth. I'm super proud and I'm just excited to go and kick some a** on stage.'

They added: 'I've had so many people drawing me, making me bracelets and making cute things. [I've] had loads of lovely messages from parents about their children loving the song and about some queer kids feeling like they can come out.'

Bambie Thug immediately began trending on X/Twitter during the show with many viewers praising the standout performance

Although Ireland has struggled in Eurovision it recent years, the country is tied with Sweden for the most wins in the contest's history with seven.

Ireland last won in 1996 with Eimear Quinn's song The Voice. Other memorable past winners include Johnny Logan and Dana.

The United Kingdom is represented by Olly Alexander who has already qualified for the final as the UK is one of the 'Big Five' countries that automatically qualify.

The Eurovision Song Contest final airs on Saturday at 8pm on BBC One.
Hollywood hunk Matthew McConaughey traded the movie set for the beach during a recent outing.

The actor and Pantalones Tequila cofounder, 54, shared snaps from his recent surfing session on Instagram on Tuesday, captioning them 'magic carpets.'

In the snaps, Matthew rode a wave as his friend awaited him at the foot of the water, his hand outstretched.

Matthew grinned with happiness as he glided down the wave, eventually meeting his friend and shaking hands.

The actor is no stranger to the sport, having played soul-surfing surfer Steve Adington opposite Woody Harrelson in the 2008 film Surfer Dude.

Hollywood hunk Matthew McConaughey traded the movie set for the beach on Tuesday

Lately Matthew has been blending another sport with the alcohol brand he cofounded with wife Camila Alves, Pantalones Tequila.

The couple recently appeared in in a very cheeky ad as they went 'sans pants' for their tequila brand.

The lovebirds have released new video and pictures as part of a campaign to promote their alcohol, where the duo is seen doing laundry and playing pickleball without wearing pants.

Fittingly, it came a day before No Pants Day, which is usually marked on the first Friday of May.

In the video promo, Matthew rolls a bar table onto a pickle ball court and asks Camila: 'Is apres-pickleball even actually a thing?'

He pointed to the camera while embracing Camila 41, and said: 'Well it is now.'

The brand has labeled its alcohol as the 'Official Tequila of Pickle Ball and Spring Cleaning.'

Pantalones is also celebrating its first Cinco de Mayo by sharing a pickle margarita cocktail recipe.

The actor, 54, shared snaps from his recent surfing session on Instagram, captioning them 'magic carpets'

Lately Matthew has been blending his love for another sport with the spirit brand he cofounded with wife Camila Alves, Pantolones Tequila

In the video, Camila announces: 'Introducing the Pantalones pickle margarita. Start with a half cup of ice, and three jalapenos.'

Matthew continues: 'Then you take one ounce of Pantalones Organic Tequila [and] one ounce of pickle juice.'

She adds: 'And add a half-ounce of lime juice and agave.'

He concludes: 'Then serve.' Camila then joked: 'The best serve of the day,' as Matthew points at her and laughs.

Meanwhile in another photo, the couple is seen smiling together while doing the laundry as Camila is perched on top of a washing machine wearing a white T-shirt without any bottoms on

The rest of the commercial features the doubles partners playing pickleball, sans pants, while their bottom-halves blurred, and the overlaid text on the left side displaying their cocktail recipe.

As for the campaign's stills, Matthew and Camila are seen looking over their shoulders at the camera and baring their naked backsides, but they're blurred to protect their modesty.

Meanwhile in another photo, the couple is seen smiling together while doing the laundry as Camila is perched on top of a washing machine wearing a white T-shirt without any bottoms on.

A standing Matthew is similarly dressed, again their lower regions have been censored.

Both are holding towels with one thrown casually over his shoulder.
Robert Downey Jr. proudly announced he'll make his Broadway debut in Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar's new play McNeal produced by the Lincoln Center Theater.

'I knew I wanted to do Ayad's new play before I was done reading it, then hearing [Tony winner Bartlett Sher] would be directing at the Beaumont theater sealed the deal,' the 59-year-old Oscar winner - who boasts 113.3M social media followers - wrote on Tuesday.

'It's been 40 years since I was last on "the boards," but hopefully I'll knock the dust off quick. McNeal is a timely and important story about the future of creatives, and I intend to do it justice.'

Robert takes on the titular role of fictional writer and 'perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature' Jacob McNeal who struggles with 'an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind, and an unhealthy fascination with AI.'

'McNeal is a startling and wickedly smart examination of the inescapable humanity  and increasing inhumanity  of the stories we tell.'

Robert Downey Jr. proudly announced he'll make his Broadway debut in Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar's new play McNeal produced by the Lincoln Center Theater (pictured April 9)

Previews for the strictly limited engagement begin September 5 and it runs September 30-November 24 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Manhattan's Upper West Side neighborhood.

The rest of the cast will be announced at a later date, but tickets for general admission officially go on sale starting May 21 at 12pm ET.

Downey Jr. is also executive producing McNeal with his wife of 18 years - Susan Levin Downey - who co-founded their production company Team Downey a decade ago.

Here's hoping it goes better than the former Brat Packer's prior play, Patricia Birch's off-Broadway musical American Passion, which opened and closed on the same night - July 10, 1983 - (after 42 previews) at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.

Robert currently executive produces and stars as four different characters in Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar's seven-episode spy thriller The Sympathizer, which airs Sundays on Max.

Each of Downey Jr.'s antagonistic characters reportedly represent a different arm of the American establishment.

Cowboy Bebop star Hoa Xuande plays the main character - a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States.

The small-screen adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 debut novel also features Sandra Oh, Kieu Chinh, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Vy Le, and Alan Trong.

The 59-year-old Oscar winner wrote on Tuesday: 'I knew I wanted to do Ayad's new play before I was done reading it, then hearing [Tony winner Bartlett Sher] would be directing at the Beaumont theater sealed the deal'

Robert continued: 'It's been 40 years since I was last on "the boards," but hopefully I'll knock the dust off quick. McNeal is a timely and important story about the future of creatives, and I intend to do it justice' (pictured April 13)

Downey Jr. takes on the titular role of fictional writer and 'perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature' Jacob McNeal who struggles with 'an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind, and an unhealthy fascination with AI'

Previews for the strictly limited engagement begin September 5 and it runs September 30-November 24 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (pictured April 23) in Manhattan

The former Brat Packer is also executive producing McNeal with his wife of 18 years - Susan Levin Downey (L) - who co-founded their production company Team Downey a decade ago

Here's hoping it goes better than Robert's prior play, Patricia Birch's off-Broadway musical American Passion, which opened and closed on the same night - July 10, 1983 - (after 42 previews) at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood
Kim Kardashian notably skipped out on the Met Gala after-parties after her tiny waist sparked concern online.

The reality star, 43, was absent from the celebrations after her super slim waist drew attention from fans, with one asking online, 'How many ribs did she get removed?'

Then, Vogue shared video of Kim struggling to breathe as she prepared for fashion's biggest night.

The video began with Kim taking long, slow exhales as she is asked by the director, 'How's the breathing going?'

'It's an art form. But I got it,' Kim replied.

But ultimately Kim's outfit wasn't what kept her from attending the after-parties - the reality star missed out on the late night celebrations because partying has never really been her 'thing.'

Kim Kardashian skipped out on the Met Gala after-parties as partying was never really her 'thing'

Kim traveled straight to Europe after the fashion bash as she was scheduled to speak at the 2024 OMR Festival in Hamburg, Germany on May 7 and 8th.

'I went from there to the plane,' Kim - who also recently appeared at Tom Brady's roast - explained at the festival, according to People. 'Slept on the plane and here I am.'

She added partying wasn't really for her: 'It was really good to not go to all the after parties. Its not really my thing to go out so it was the perfect excuse, because I really wanted to come here.'

Proving she really can do it all, Kim landed in Hamburg at 3pm on Tuesday after walking the red carpet at around 7pm New York time on Monday night.

Germany is six hours ahead of New York making her two appearances just 13 hours apart. The flight time from New York to Hamburg is around nine hours.

The reality star wowed on the red carpet where she showed off her impossibly slim waist in the silver custom Maison Margiela by John Galliano number.

But she chose not to attend any raucous afterparties in the Big Apple and instead hopped straight on her private jet to head to Europe on a redeye.

She still looked immaculate as she arrived at the airport in Hamburg to her adoring fans and even took time to sign autographs after the long flight.

Kim's Met Gala ensemble sparked fierce concern from social media users - with one person predicting that she'd 'be in the hospital by the end of the night,' and another asking, 'How many ribs did she get removed?'

Others fed into the rib removal theory as one said: 'Did she have a rib removed? Good Lordt.'

The reality star wowed on the red carpet where she showed off her impossibly slim waist in the silver custom Maison Margiela by John Galliano number

Kim was scheduled to speak at the 2024 OMR Festival in Hamburg, Germany on May 7 and 8th

Another made referenced to the body transformations the SKIMS founder has undergone for previous Met Galas.

They wrote: 'Kim Kardashian does it again, I wonder how she breathes with that #MetGala'

They seemed to be referencing one of Kim's most iconic looks at the gala when she looked impossibly skinny to wear Marilyn Monroe's classic dress in 2022.

Kim was seen struggling to breathe in her 2024 Met Gala look in video capturing her preparations for the soiree by Vogue.

'I went from there to the plane,' she said at the festival, according to People . 'Slept on the plane and here I am'

The video began with Kim taking long, slow exhales as she is asked by the director, 'How's the breathing going?'

'It's an art form. But I got it,' Kim replied.

Kim previously revealed she undertook corset breathing lessons to fit into a corseted dress by Thierry Mugler for the 2019 Met Gala.

She gushed: 'I learned so much about couture from this genius man [Thierry Mugler], it was beyond couture, it was art! 7 months in the making and fittings in Montreal, Paris and LA.

The reality star's waist appeared especially tiny in new video she uploaded to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday

The arty video depicted Kim posing up a storm in her metallic outfit

She followed it up with a behind-the-scenes glimpse of her shoot

'Corset breathing lessons from none other than Mr. Pearl. It was worth it all!!!'

Although Kim has not confirmed if she underwent a corset breathing refresher lesson, Mr Corset has previously worked with John Galliano, who designed her Met Gala outfit this year.

Kim's waist looked even tinier in a video she uploaded Tuesday of her Met Gala look.

The post included an artistic video of her posing in the ensemble followed by a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the shoot.
Gemma Collins has revealed her mother Joan has been rushed to hospital and is in intensive care after having to resuscitate her.

The reality TV personality, 43, shared sweet snaps with her mum to social media, telling fans Joan is 'really ill at the minute'.

In a video shared to Instagram, Gemma - who has openly spoken about her mother's health struggles in the past - explained: 'My mum is really ill at the minute, she's in intensive care.

'It's been a hell of a time and you know, I'm really happy, and well not that happy, because my mum's in intensive care, but she is on the mend, thank god.'

Gemma later wrote: 'Last week I had the shock of my life when my mum stopped breathing. I called an ambulance and was told to prepare for the worst and would I like to resuscitate her.

Gemma Collins has revealed her mother Joan has been rushed to hospital and is in intensive care

The reality TV personality, 43, shared snaps with her mum to social media, telling fans Joan is 'really ill at the minute'

She then reassured worried fans that Joan is now 'stable' and will 'hopefully' be much better soon.

In August last year, Gemma shared a snap of her mother with a breathing tube in her nose after being admitted to Queens Hospital in Essex.

She penned: 'Such a scary moment when Mum comes to hospital. Thank you Queens Hospital Romford for all you're doing.'

Sharing another snap of her mother on her grid, she added: 'Love your parents as hard as you can. Thank you to everyone looking after mum @joancollins1 at QUEENS HOSPITAL ROMFORD.'

Many of Gemma's followers shared their own messages of support in the comments, with Jedward writing: 'Your mom is the most loving and caring soul ever - sending healing energy.'

In March 2023, Gemma revealed she was having a life-saving gene test after Joan was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The Diva Forever star was left shaken after learning her mum Joan found a cancerous lump between her breast and armpit.

Gemma, who has also lost a family member to cancer, has spoken to her doctor about undergoing a BRCA gene test, which screens her DNA to see if she has inherited a faulty gene which means she may be more susceptible to cancer.

Former The Only Way Is Essex star told The Sun she broke down in tears the moment her mother told her she'd had cancer over the phone.

Gemma didn't share exactly what prompted the sudden hospital admission, but has openly spoken about her mum's health struggles in the past

She then reassured worried fans that Joan is now 'stable' and will 'hopefully' be much better soon

She explained: 'It was over the phone. I was in the back of a taxi in London and I was like, 'Are you all right, mum? Where are you?'  as we say every day, ten times a day.

'She said, 'Ah I didn't want to tell you, but I've had a lump in my breast'. I was like, 'What?', and she said, 'But it's fine I've got the all-clear'. I was like, 'Oh, my God. Why didn't you tell me?''

Gemma said Joan chose not to tell her daughter about her diagnosis as she was filming Diva Forever at the time.

Former Celebrity Big Brother housemate Gemma said her mother found the lump on the right side of her breast and doctors caught it 'in the nick of time'.

She added: 'She knew that I would have fallen apart in the worst-case scenario so she kept it to herself because she didn't want to upset me  but she was very scared.'

Gemma praised the NHS for their swift action, saying they removed the lump straight away.

Joan was diagnosed in 2016 with ductal carcinoma in situ, which means the cells in the lining of the breast tissue become cancerous, and she now attends a screening every year.

The cancerous cells are contained inside the milk ducts and have not spread to the surrounding breast tissue.

Hereditary breast cancer is most commonly caused by an inherited mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.

In August last year, Gemma shared a snap of her mother with a breathing tube in her nose after being admitted to Queens Hospital in Essex

In March 2023, Gemma revealed she was having a life-saving gene test after Joan was diagnosed with breast cancer

If a woman has inherited a mutated copy of these genes from either parent, they are at a greater risk of developing breast cancer, with up to a 70 per cent chance of getting the disease by the age of 80.

Gemma noted that her mother is lucky to be a breast cancer survivor and she hopes telling her story will encourage other people to go for checks.

Screen star is currently taking part in The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer and has decided only now to speak out about her mother's ordeal.

It comes after Gemma revealed she is having ice spa sessions after enduring a heart attack scare.

She ended up in hospital after having palpitations last year as she battles what she thinks is long COVID and has been plunging herself in sub-zero temperatures in a bid to combat the issue and rebuild her immune system.

She told OK! Magazine : 'The palpitations got so bad I thought I was having a heart attack.

'I called an ambulance and the paramedics did an ECG [electrocardiogram] and said, 'We need to take you to hospital.' I said to myself, 'Great, this is it. My time is up.'

'But, thank God, it was a condition called costochondritis, which can cause severe chest pain and happens because of coughing or an infection.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge looked chic in a grey trouser suit on Tuesday as she happily signed autographs for fans in London ahead of the UK premiere of IF.

The English actress, 38, paired the suit with a slightly unbuttoned white shirt as she patiently went through the group outside the Corinthia Hotel.

Phoebe expertly balanced her suit jacket over her shoulders and smiled as she handed a pen back to one fan.

Her trousers were slightly cropped and the Fleabag star completed her look with heeled black brogues.

It comes just hours before Phoebe is due to attend the UK premiere of the Paramount Pictures film IF at London's Cineworld in Leicester Square.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, 38, looked chic in a grey trouser suit on Tuesday as she happily signed autographs for fans in London ahead of the UK premiere of IF

The English actress, paired the suit with a slightly unbuttoned white shirt as she patiently went through the group outside the Corinthia Hotel

Phoebe expertly balanced her suit jacket over her shoulders and smiled as she handed a pen back to one fan

IF is a live-action animated fantasy comedy directed, written, and produced by John Krasinski, who also stars.

The film follows a young girl named Bea (Cailey Fleming), who has been going through a troubling experience in her life, unexpectedly gains the ability to see people's imaginary friends, or 'IFs'.

John, 47, stars as Bea's father, Ryan Reynolds as Bea's neighbour who can also see IFs, and Phoebe as a friend's IF.

Also starring is Harry Potter and Killing Eve actress Fiona Shaw CBE as Bea's grandmother.

Phoebe and Fiona co-starred in Phoebe's magnum opus Fleabag and Phoebe wrote the first series of Killing Eve, in which Fiona starred.

For her role as Fleabag's counsellor, Fiona received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

IF is Phoebe's only film of 2024, but she is currently filming A Big Bold Beautiful Journey along with Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, and Jodie Turner-Smith.

John Krasinski's IF is available to watch in cinemas from May 11 at Vue and May 17 nationwide.

IF follows a young girl named Bea (Cailey Fleming) who unexpectedly gains the ability to see people's imaginary friends, or 'IFs' (pictured with co-star Ryan Reynolds and an IF)

Phoebe and Fiona Shaw CBE will reunite at the UK premiere of IF on Monday night - the actresses worked together on Fleabag and Killing Eve
Tess Daly showed off her age-defying figure on Instagram on Monday when she shared a series of sexy bikini shots from her holiday to the Dominican Republic.

The television presenter, 55, treated her almost 900,000 to the mirror selfies taken from her room at the Eden Roc Cap Cana hotel.

In one snap, Tess smiled brightly in sunglasses and a white bikini subtly lined with brown which was tied together by stylish knots.

Another closer up snap saw her in a gorgeous nude and black halter neck bikini with an animal print design.

In a final bikini selfie from her new fashion range, Tess wore a stunning black set with gold detailing and a criss-cross design at the bust.

Tess Daly, 55, showed off her age-defying figure on Instagram on Monday when she shared a series of sexy bikini shots from her holiday to the Dominican Republic

Another, closer up snap saw her in a gorgeous nude and black halter neck bikini with an animal print design as she promoted the range

In the final bikini selfie, Tess wore a stunning black set with gold detailing and a criss-cross design at the bust

There was one more selfie - and in it she wore a white kaftan over a white one-piece swimming costume.

Reposting the back bikini snap onto her Story, Tess wrote: 'This is a fave piece, has gorgeous gold detailing for those of you who (like me) like a little poolside sparkle.'

Over the kaftan snap she wrote: 'And this kaftan! If you saw me on this holiday wearing it basically everyday (sic) to breakfast then ... it's just so comfy!'

All the pieces were from Tess's very own 'luxury beachwear' line Naia Beach, which she co-founded with her friend Gayle.

Though home now, Tess was joined on the holiday by her husband of over two decades, Vernon Kay, who turned 50 on April 28.

Fans were shocked when Tess took to Instagram to wish Vernon a happy birthday, as the presenter looks well below his years.

One said: 'You guys have aged about 5 years in the last 25 years.'

The birthday boy was inundated with comments from fellow famous faces who wanted to send their well-wishes.

Tess also modelled a white kaftan over a white one-piece swimming costume

Tess was joined on the holiday by her husband of over two decades, Vernon Kay, who turned 50 on April 28

Strictly winner and former Coronation Street actress Ellie Leach wished Vernon a happy birthday and emblazoned her comment with heart emojis.

Other stars from the BBC Latin and ballroom competitions to send a birthday wish included head judge Shirley Ballas, professional dancer Diane Buswell and 2015 contestant Kirsty Gallacher.

West End actresses Denise van Outen and Tamzin Outhwaite also raced to the comments section to send a sweet message each, as did former Hear'Say star Suzanne Shaw.

Tess and Vernon share two children: daughters Phoebe, 19, and Amber, who turns 15 at the end of the month.
The Ash family said closures were inevitable due to online shopping

The chain has been beloved by musicians since it opened its first store in 1924

Music shop chain Sam Ash is set to close all 42 of its stores

An iconic family-run chain of music stores has been forced to shut down all of its shops after exactly 100 years.

Sam Ash, which opened its first store in Brooklyn in 1924, announced it would soon be closing all forty-two of its locations in a statement.

All of the chain's stores, which span New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Ohio, will close by the end of July.

Sam Ash has supplied guitars, pianos, keyboards, drums to countless amateur and professional musicans.

The remaining stock is being sold off cheaply to clear stock, bosses said.

'It is with a heavy heart that we announce that all Sam Ash Music store locations will begin store closing sales,' a statement from the Ash family read.

'Thank you for allowing us to serve musicians like you for 100 years. With much love and deep gratitude' it added.

Iconic family-run music business Sam Ash is set to close all 42 of its stores

The Ash family said closures were inevitable due to online shopping

It's main rival over the years was Guitar Center, which now has more than 300 shops.

But Derek Ash, who has continued his great-grandparents legacy, told the New York Times the stores ultimately could no longer compete with online retail.

'A lot of this has been the move to online shopping,' Ash, the company's chief marketing officer told the Times.

'There are so many choices, and to maintain a store with that much selection is very difficult.'

Musicians expressed their sadness that the stores were to close and recalled their fond memories of visiting over the years.

Two-time Emmy Award-winning composer Michael Whalen told the Times he used to frequent the Sam Ash location on West 48th Street in Manhattan in the 1990s.

'Since the pandemic, you go around the city and you're constantly remarking at all these things that have closed,' Whalen told the publication.

'This feels like that sort of denouement. The city is changing so much and a lot of people accuse Manhattan of being a place only for superrich people.

'I can see that because the places that made it feel like a community are going away' he added.

Sam Ash settled in New York City in 1907 after immigrating from Austria

His wife, Rose, pawned her engagement ring to come up with the $400 down payment needed to open the first Sam Ash store

Many musicians expressed their sadness that the stores were to close and recalled their fond memories of visiting over the years

Rock guitarist and Billy Idol collaborator Steve Stevens also lamented the closures.

'Even though it was a corporate, multicity store, it still had kind of a mom-and-pop feel to it,' Stevens told the Times.

'It was always the place I hung out at 48th Street in Manhattan. It just seemed like family.'

Sam Ash settled in New York City in 1907 after immigrating from Austria, aged ten.

He first worked in the garment industry and played violin at weddings but soon became determined to open up a music store.

His wife, Rose, pawned her engagement ring to come up with the $400 down payment needed to open the first Sam Ash store.

Over the decades the business grew but in alter years was continually battling practices such as 'showrooming', where customers come into stores to try out instruments but then buy the instrument online elsewhere.

Many other retailers have closed stores in the wake of online shopping's domination.

In the week ending April 26, retailers announced they would close 169 stores across the country.

Stores included included Express, Outfox Hospitality, Shop 'n Save, Urban Outfitters and Walmart.

Physical stores in shopping malls, strip malls, downtown centers and on main street in towns have been under threat from online retail and changing tastes.

'Year to date, in 2024, major US retailers have announced 7.4 percent fewer openings and 12.3 percent more closures compared to the same time last year,' read a Coresight Research report on the closures.
Social Security is expected to run short on funds by 2035, according to a new report.

Social Security relies on its trust funds to provide monthly benefit checks to around 70 million Americans.

But an aging population is pushing up the cost of the program as a smaller share of people are paying into it, and spending is outpacing income.

The latest annual report from the Social Security Board of Trustees found that the program will only be able to pay out full benefits for the next 11 years - which is one year later than previous estimates.

While Martin O'Malley, Commissioner of Social Security, said this was 'good news' for beneficiaries, he urged Congress to take steps to 'extend the financial health of the Trust Fund into the foreseeable future.'

Martin O'Malley, Commissioner of Social Security, urged Congress to take steps to 'extend the financial health of the Trust Fund into the foreseeable future'

Social Security relies on its trust funds to provide monthly benefit checks to around 70 million Americans

Social Security is financed mainly through payroll taxes that are taken out of paychecks - which are then used to pay retirement and disability benefits.

If the trust funds which the Social Security Administration relies on are depleted, it does not mean that payments will suddenly disappear.

Instead, the Trustees forecast that beneficiaries will face a cut to their monthly checks - losing 17 percent of their current benefits.

This could be significant for millions of disabled Americans, and those who rely on Social Security as their sole income in retirement.

However it is a slight improvement on last year's estimates, which forecast that funds could be depleted by 2034 - at which point only 80 percent of scheduled benefits would be able to be covered.

'This year's report is a measure of good news for the millions of Americans who depend on Social Security, including the roughly 50 percent of seniors for whom Social Security is the difference between poverty and living in dignity - any potential benefit reduction event has been pushed off from 2034 to 2035,' Social Security Commissioner O'Malley said in a statement.

He put the improved outlook on last year down to more people contributing to Social Security due to 'strong economic policies that have yielded impressive wage growth, historic job creation, and a steady, low unemployment rate.'

The uncertain path of Social Security has been a concern for many - in particular those who are close to retirement age.

In what has been dubbed the 'silver tsunami,' around 4.1 million Americans are due to turn 65 in 2024, and every year through 2027, according to a report from the Alliance for Lifetime Income.

Earlier this year, billionaire CEO Larry Fink said Americans should work beyond the age of 65 to stop the Social Security system collapsing.

O'Malley urged Congress to take action to shore up the program into the future on a bipartisan basis.

'Eliminating the shortfall will bring peace of mind to Social Security's 70 million-plus beneficiaries, the 180 million workers and their families who contribute to Social Security, and the entire nation,' he added.

Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO of dedicated over-50 organization AARP, said in a statement: 'Congress owes it to the American people to reach a bipartisan solution, ensuring people's hard-earned Social Security benefits will be there in full for the decades ahead.

'The stakes are simply too high to do nothing.'

The financial outlook of the Social Security system has long been a point of political contention.

Republicans have suggested the retirement age be raised, while Democrats have offered increasing the cap on payroll taxes as a potential solution.

Some experts are warning that politicians are running away from the problem rather than trying to fix it - and it is crucial that they act now.

In what has been dubbed the 'silver tsunami,' around 4.1 million Americans are due to turn 65 in 2024, and every year through 2027

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement: 'We're driving straight into this mess despite all the warning bells and alarms that the Trustees and others have been ringing for decades now.

'Every year we get closer to the deadline, we seem to get further away from the solutions.'

Meanwhile the report also updated forecasts for when Medicare funds will become depleted.

Medicare, which provides health insurance for people aged 65 and older, will see its reserves become depleted by 2036 - five years later than was projected last year.

This is due in part, the report said, to higher payroll tax income and lower-than-projected 2023 expenditures.

President Joe Biden said in a statement Monday: 'Since I took office, my economic plan and strong recovery from the pandemic have helped extend Medicare solvency by a decade, with today's report showing a full five years of additional solvency.

'I am committed to extending Social Security solvency by asking the highest-income Americans to pay their fair share without cutting benefits or privatizing Social Security.'
Steward Health Care has put all 31 of its hospitals up for sale, after filing for bankruptcy on Monday.

The largest private hospital chain in the US hopes to finalize all transactions by the end of the summer to address $9 billion in debt, its attorneys said at a Tuesday court hearing in Texas.

Steward, which runs hospitals in eight states, hopes to keep all hospitals open in the long term, attorney Ray Schrock said.

'Our goal remains that there are zero hospitals closed on our watch,' he said. 'There's going to be a change in ownership in many hospitals, we recognize that. But we don't want to see any of these communities fail to be served.'

Steward filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Houston, Texas, on Monday after months of financial instability.

Steward Health Care, which is the largest private hospital chain in the US, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas on Monday after months of financial instability (Pictured: St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts)

In court documents filed before the hearing, Steward said it had over $9 billion in total liabilities, including $1.2 billion in loans, $6.6 billion in long-term rent obligations, nearly $1 billion in unpaid bills from medical vendors and suppliers, and $290 million in unpaid employee wages and benefits.

The for-profit chain - which operates 31 hospitals across eight states and cares for 2.2 million patients a year - had $6 billion in annual revenue before filing for bankruptcy.

Shrock said it has been pursuing a sale of its physician group, Stewardship Health Care, for an amount that would repay the company's loans and allow it to pay some of its vendors.

Steward had hoped to use the proceeds of that sale to avoid bankruptcy. But stalled regulatory approvals forced the company to seek short-term emergency financing that did not give Steward enough cash to continue operations for long, he added.

At Tuesday's hearing, the company was able to borrow $75 million from its landlord Medical Properties Trust.

It also hopes to borrow an additional $225 million from the landlord later in its bankruptcy.

After filing for bankruptcy Monday, Steward bosses said they would continue day-to-day operations as normal at its hospitals, medical centers and physician's offices during its bankruptcy.

After it closed a hospital in Massachusetts, officials in the state heavily criticized the company over its financial decisions.

In particular, they criticized a series of transactions that sold off the company's real estate and saddled it with long-term rent costs at its hospitals.

Democratic Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said Steward's bankruptcy should provide state officials with more insight into the company's financial condition and whether it compromised patient care in its pursuit of profits.

'If those efforts have violated the law, those involved will absolutely hear from my office,' Campbell said at a Monday press conference.

Alongside Massachusetts, Steward also operates hospitals in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The chain has been struggling with its finances for months, and has been failing to pay bills and taking out emergency loans, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In one Steward hospital in Florida, there was a bat infestation in an intensive-care unit, while surgeries have been postponed in others due to vendors not being paid.

Traveling nurses have left jobs at other Steward hospitals after their temporary agency said it had not been paid, the outlet reported.

'Steward Health Care has done everything in its power to operate successfully, said CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre

'Steward Health Care has done everything in its power to operate successfully in a highly challenging health care environment, said Chief Executive Officer Dr. Ralph de la Torre in a statement.

'Filing for Chapter 11 restructuring is in the best interests of our patients, physicians, employees, and communities at this time.'

Steward has so far been kept afloat by its relationship with its landlord Medical Properties Trust, which owns 10 percent of the company and has put billions of dollars into the company's real estate.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities in a bankruptcy court in Houston, Texas.

In Massachusetts, where Steward accounts for around 7 percent of hospital capacity in the state, regulators have been making contingency plans.

Kate Walsh, the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the state, said they are working to find new owners for Steward hospitals to protect access to healthcare in Massachusetts.

'We will be advocating as strongly and as aggressively as possible for Massachusetts' interests' during the bankruptcy proceedings, Governor Maura Healey said.

Alongside Massachusetts, Steward also operates hospitals in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas

'Those interests are patients, jobs and the stability of the healthcare market.'

Officials in the state have created a website to provide information and resources for patients, workers and community members as they navigate the bankruptcy filing.

Steward has said it is working with the state to ensure its hospitals and medical centers are compliant with safety standards.

Across the US, Steward has nearly 30,000 employees, including 4,500 primary and specialty care physicians at 400 facility locations.

Several private equity-backed medical companies have filed for bankruptcy in recent years, including hospital staffing companies Envision Healthcare and American Physician Partners, and prison health company Tehum Care Services.
Cannes transcends its role as a mere film festival; it serves as a beacon of cultural exchange, artistic exploration, and industry innovation

As we inch closer to the second week of May, excitement for the forthcoming 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is reaching a crescendo. The Cannes Film Festival, since its inception, has been hailed as the platform celebrating the joy and creativity of cinema, the high point of confluence of cultures, and talents, and an assembly of masters of storytelling. In recent years, its stage has increasingly spotlighted the cinematic voices of the Global South, a trend underscored by the burgeoning presence of films from Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Building on last years diverse selection from Japan, China, and South Korea, Cannes in its 77th edition, from 14th to 25th May 2024, reaffirms its commitment to amplifying varied narratives and perspectives. This years edition promises to continue this trajectory, featuring standout entries like All We Imagine As Light by Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia, Boku No Ohisama (My Sunshine) by the acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Okuyama, Viet And Nam by Vietnamese filmmaker Truong Minh Quy, and The Village Next to Paradise by Somalian filmmaker Mo Harawe. These selections highlight the new creative talent spots for cinema.

With the evolving world, there is a deeper significance highlighted by the recognition of cinema as a potent tool of soft power by countries in the Global South. Across the continents of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, nations have increasingly acknowledged the power of storytelling through cinema as a means to amplify their cultural influence and enhance their global standing. Over the past two years Cannes Film Festival has seen a dynamic shift in programming, from a European narrative to a more perceptive Southern inclusion and interconnection. In the borderless world that we live in today, the prominence of the Global South as a group has risen despite being dominated by multipolarity. Enhanced communication and the growing effects of globalisation have blurred geographical boundaries, ushering in a new era where technology plays a pivotal role in shaping interactions. This transition has reverberated across various realms, including the cinematic sphere, where soft power finds expression on prestigious platforms. Cannes truly give the Global South a platform for creativity on the silver screen

Nomination and participation in prestigious festivals like Cannes are not merely accolades but recognition of the importance of soft power in the creative ecosystem. By showcasing their cinematic prowess and an amalgamation of their creative skills on a global stage, countries in the Global South seek to assert their cultural identity, foster cross-cultural dialogue, and bolster diplomatic ties. In an era where cultural diplomacy holds increasing sway, the Cannes Film Festival serves as a creative platform for nations to assert their soft power through the medium of cinema. Through their cinematic endeavours, these filmmakers become cultural ambassadors, bridging divides and fostering mutual understanding between nations.

At the helm of the 77th Cannes Film Festival jury stands Greta Gerwig, both an accomplished actor and a filmmaker. Gerwigs appointment signals a broader effort towards gender representation at Cannes, a realm historically dominated by male voices. Symbolising a step towards inclusivity and recognition of the invaluable contributions of women in shaping cinematic discourse. As the jury list for this year awaits announcement, anticipation brews for a lineup that mirrors the festivals commitment to diversity, echoing last years eclectic mix of talents from Argentina, Afghanistan, Morocco, Zambia, and beyond.

Amidst the glitz and glamour, the Marche du Film emerges as a vital nexus for industry professionals, offering a platform for networking, deal-making, and creative exchange. With its finger firmly on the pulse of evolving industry dynamics, the Marche du Film embraces innovation and adaptation. Recognising the need to cater to the ever-changing landscape of filmmaking, it champions emerging trends, technologies, and voices, fostering a conducive environment for the flourishing growth of the global film industry. As over 14,000 industry professionals converge in Cannes annually to present and explore nearly 4,000 films and projects, the Marche du Film serves as a catalyst, urging professionals to elevate their business acumen and seize new opportunities.

Indeed, Cannes itself is a reflection of societys evolution, a microcosm of shifting cultural paradigms and technological advancements. Embracing the ethos of change, the Festival de Cannes introduces innovative elements to its programming, staying at the vanguard of storytelling in the digital age. One of the nominations for this years Immersive Competition includes Maya: The Birth of a Superhero, an XR experience created by Poulomi Basu, an Indian artist and CJ Clarke.

The announcement of eight projects as part of the Immersive Competition heralds a bold foray into uncharted territory, encompassing location-based virtual reality, mixed reality experiences, projection mapping, and holographic works. Amid these shifts, India shines bright with the participation of Payal Kapadia, Sandhya Suris Santosh, FTIIs Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know and the screening of Shyam Benegals Manthan.

As the global cinematic landscape continues to evolve, Cannes remains steadfast in its mission to celebrate the myriad voices that enrich the tapestry of world cinema.

(The writer is former additional director general, DFF and Festival Director, IFFI; Views are personal)
Amidst the hostile weather conditions, the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Tuesday saw a further dip in the voting percentage which recorded 61.81 per cent voter turnout when compared to 66.14 per cent in the first phase followed by 66.71 per cent in the second.

Comparatively, in the 2019 elections, these same 93 seats collectively recorded an overall turnout of 67.33 per cent. The third phase failed to buck the trend amid hot weather and heatwave in the polling States. Experts and political parties attributed the decline to heatwave and voters' apathy.

The stakes are high for the BJP in this round as it had won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, in the last election. Fate of candidates for more than half of the 543 Lok Sabha has been sealed while four phases still remain for the counting to be done on June 4. Voting has been completed in 283 seats out of 543 seats so far.

Except sporadic incidents of violence in four constituencies in West Bengal, the polling in 10 States and Union Territories has been peaceful.

Five States  Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat and Karnataka  have wrapped up their polling in phase three.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Electoral Officer for Gujarat, P Bharathi, industrialist Gautam Adani were among the early voters to cast their vote. Modi urged people to vote in record numbers and said their active participation will make the election more vibrant.

While the BJP has already declared a win in Surat Lok Sabha seat as unopposed, stakes are significant for the BJP and its allies, which had, in 2019, won 75 of the 93 seats. INDIA Bloc parties had won only 11. Four seats had gone to the undivided Shiv Sena, two were won by independents, and one by the AIUDF.

As per the EC's voter turnout app (till 8 pm), Assam witnessed the highest voter turnout of 75.30 per cent followed by West Bengal at 73.93 per cent, while Maharashtra witnessed the lowest at 55.21 per cent, with Bihar doing slightly better at 56.55 per cent and Gujarat at 56.88 percent.

Chhattisgarh recorded 67.24 per cent, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu 65.23 per cent, Goa 74.47 per cent Karnataka 68.75 per cent and Madhya Pradesh. According to the Election Commission, the figures are an "approximate" trend and are likely to rise as data is being collected.

In Uttar Pradesh, Agra witnessed 51.53 per cent polling, Aonla 54.73 per cent, Budaun 52.77 per cent, Bareilly 54.21 per cent, Etah 57.07 per cent, Fatehpur Sikri 54.93 per cent, Firozabad 56.27 per cent, Hathras 53.54 per cent, Mainpuri 55.88 per cent and Sambhal 61.10 per cent. "The polling was held smoothly and peacefully in all States/UTs across the three phases which covered the entire North Eastern part of the country, Left Wing Extremists affected and vulnerable areas in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh," the EC said in a statement.

During the third phase polling, 13 people were injured when swarms of bees attacked them in two separate polling booths of two constituencies in north Chhattisgarh. Eight people were injured in Aara village under Raigarh Lok Sabha constituency and five at Jawaharnagar under Surguja Lok Sabha constituency.

The first vote for the election to Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency was cast by Ali Mohammad Rather, a visually impaired person, under the Election Commission's new home voting facility.

In Karnataka's Kapalapur village in Bidar district, a 110-year-old Gattigitti Lakshmibai reached a polling station along with her son and grandson to cast her vote while 100-year-old Gurama exercised her franchise in Sindbandagi village. In many polling stations, the elderly reached in wheelchairs.
Over 55 per cent polling was recorded till 5 pm in the Lok Sabha elections being held for 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday in the third phase.

According to the Election Commission, by 5 pm, 55.13 per cent votes were cast. Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. More than 1.89 crore voters are eligible to vote in these 10 constituencies. With the end of this phase of voting, 26 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats have already gone to polls.

Agra witnessed 51.53 per cent polling, Aonla 54.73 per cent, Budaun 52.77 per cent, Bareilly 54.21 per cent, Etah 57.07 per cent, Fatehpur Sikri 54.93 per cent, Firozabad 56.27 per cent, Hathras 53.54 per cent, Mainpuri 55.88 per cent, and Sambhal 61.10 per cent.

The third phase is important for the family members of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav is aiming to retain the Mainpuri seat, which she won in a bypoll following the death of her father-in-law. Akshay Yadav, the son of SP national principal general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav is contesting from Firozabad and Aditya Yadav, the son of SP national general secretary Shivpal Yadav, is making his electoral debut from Budaun.

Voting began at 7 am and concluded at 6 pm. More than 1.89 crore voters are eligible to vote in these 10 constituencies. With the end of this phase of voting, 26 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats have already gone to polls.

Uttar Pradesh has the highest 80 parliamentary constituencies among all the states. Polling in the state is spread across all seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.

Early in the day, Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, their daughter Aditi Yadav, Ramgopal Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav and other family members cast their votes in Etawah's Saifai. BJP candidates S P Singh Baghel and Parmeshwar Lal Saini cast their votes in Agra and Sambhal, respectively.

Speaking to reporters after casting his vote, Ramgopal Yadav exuded confidence that Dimple Yadav would win the Lok Sabha polls with a greater margin compared to the bypolls.

A group of Muslim women near a polling station in Budaun's Sahaswan Assembly segment alleged that they were being stopped from casting their vote. They also alleged that the men accompanying them were beaten by police.

District Magistrate Manoj Kumar refuted the charges, saying the people who had already cast their votes were gathering unnecessarily and police had to move them away to maintain law and order.

He said, "Voting is going on peacefully in the district and the effort was to a higher polling percentage than in the last election."

In Budaun, residents of Dhoranpur village boycotted the polling for the first three hours, saying politicians had ignored their demand for a road. A sub-divisional magistrate reached the village and persuaded the local people to vote.

BJP leader Prem Shankar Shakya alleged that some unidentified persons hurled stones at his vehicle in Mainpuri's Kusmara area when he was going to vote along with the party's former district unit chief Pradeep Chauhan and others.

He claimed that his driver was injured in the attack. Superintendent of Police, Vinod Kumar said that action will be taken after a complaint is received.

Samajwadi Party's Budaun candidate Aditya Yadav alleged that the local administration was not allowing party supporters to vote at various booths in Ujhani Sahaswan.
After a political slugfest over Constitution, SC/ST & OBC reservations during the campaigning for three phases of the Lok Sabha elections, a row over Muslim reservation has gained momentum ahead of the fourth phase scheduled on May 13. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out at RJD president Lalu Prasad over his statement that he is in favour of extending reservation benefits to Muslims.

Modi said the INDIA Bloc wants to snatch all quotas for SC, ST, and OBCs and give them to their 'vote bank' as part of a deeper conspiracy. The PM also asserted that India has reached a turning point in history, and people have to decide in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections whether 'vote jihad' or 'Ram Rajya' is the way forward for the country.

BJP's partner in NDA, the JD(U) slammed Lalu for favouring reservation for Muslims, saying his stand violates the basic spirit of the Constitution as well as the Mandal Commission report. Such a statement is tantamount to a conspiracy against the backwards who get reservation due to their social and educational backwardness, Janata Dal (United) spokesperson K C Tyagi said.

Addressing a public rally in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar, the PM said a big alliance partner of the INDIA Bloc has endorsed what he used to say about their plan to end the reservations for SC, ST and OBCs.

"Their leader, who has eaten the animal's fodder and convicted by the court, even by the Supreme Court in the corruption case, is out on bail due to health. The Congress is making him dance on their head. He is saying not only Muslims should get reservations but all the reservations should be given to Muslims. Means they want all the reservation to Muslims by snatching it from SC, ST and OBC," Modi said.

After all, why these people are doing this is because they are counting their remaining breath with the help of this "very vote bank" as everything else is over and nothing left with them, "one by one all have left and ran away", he said.

"I have been saying the same thing about them for the last several days. I was saying that they would cut some part of the reservation and give it on the basis of religion but the conspiracy is deeperThey are saying on the day of voting that they want to give all the reservation of SC, ST and OBC to Muslim community," Modi said.

He recalled how the maker of Constitution BR Ambedkar had opposed religion-based reservation.

Lalu alleged that the ruling BJP at the Centre wanted to do away with reservations by scrapping the Constitution.

"The BJP is against the provision of reservations made in the Constitution. Hence, it wants to do away with both", Lalu told reporters at the legislative council premises.

The ailing septuagenarian, who nowadays prefers to stay indoors, is attending a swearing-in ceremony where his wife Rabri Devi took oath as an MLC.

On BJP's charge that if voted to power, the Congress, RJD and other allies would "steal" reservations meant for OBCs and divert these to Muslims, Lalu said, "But should not Muslims get the benefit of reservations? (Aarakshan to milna hi chahiye Musalmanon ko)".

He also said the BJP is indulging in scaremongering (bhadka rahe hain) by raising the bogey of "jungle raj" at election rallies.

Addressing an election rally in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone district, Modi hit out at the Opposition Congress, saying its intent is very dangerous and alleged it calls for "vote jihad" were directed against him.

Speaking at a poll rally a week ago, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Maria Alam, the niece of Congress leader Salman Khurshid, called for "vote jihad" in favour of Naval Kishore Shakya, the INDIA Bloc candidate from the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha seat of Uttar Pradesh. The SP is an ally of the Congress and a key constituent of the Opposition INDIA Bloc.
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Four officers of the Indian Police Services (IPS) cadre were transferred on Tuesday. The transfers were effected with the permission of the Election Commission.

SN Sabat has been removed from the post of Director General of Police (Prison Administration and Reforms) and given the responsibility as Director General of Crime Branch, Crime Investigation Department (CBCID). PV Ramasastri, who has returned from central deputation, has been made the Director General of Prison Administration and Reforms.

Additional Director General of Police Anand Swaroop has been sent to the Police Headquarters. He has also returned from central deputation. Apart from this, Additional Director General of Police Dr N Ravinder has been made the GSO of the Director General of Police.
Delhi Chief Electoral Officer P Krishnamurthy on Tuesday clarified that the AAP had in fact modified its song including the removal of the video, which was one of the main objections put forward by the poll body. He was responding to a query on the AAP leader who claimed to secure a moral victory by getting its campaign song Jail ke jawab mein hum vote denge without any modification.

On May 2, we received a letter of approval for our campaign song without any changes. We have started using the song. In our point-by-point rebuttal, we had objected to all issues raised by the ECI and did not accept any of their recommendations or change any word in our campaign song. We did not surrender to the tanashahi of the EC. We did not bow down to the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) intentions. The result was the truth won, democracy was saved and the BJP lost, claimed song-writer and AAP Timarpur MLA Dilip Pande.

While answering questions put forward by the media on the claims of AAP getting its campaign songs without modified and the BJP calling it a lie, the Delhi CEO said that as far as he knows the song has been modified. While there is a separate body that oversees such matters, from what I know they had removed the video of the song, which was one of the main problems with its campaign song Jail ke jawab mein hum vote denge and made other modifications in their songs as per they were asked.

The Election Commision on May 27 raised eight objections to various lines and phrases in AAPs campaign song while stating that it violated various provisions of the Advertising Codes and ECI guidelines. The phrase jail ke jawab mein hum vote denge made to the top of the list while the election body objected to its video.

It alleged that an aggressive mob holding the photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, showing him behind bars, cast doubts on the judicial system.

Further it objected to the phrases tanashahi party ko hum chot denge and goondagardi ke khilaf hum vote denge. The Delhi chief electoral officer had said that these phrases, along with a clip showing Manish Sisodia being escorted by the police, tends to present the picture of police in bad taste.

The Delhi Chief Electoral Office said that lines Awazein khilaf thi jo sabko jail mein daal dia, bas unko hi bahar rakha jisne unko maal dia/ itna lalach, itna nafrat, bhrastachari se mohabbat are slanderous and criticised the ruling party on the basis of unverified facts.

Tanashahi party ko hum chot denge with clip showing aggressive mob clasing with police shows criticism of the ruling party on the basis of unverified facts, the state election commission said, while citing Rule-6, Programme Code (1) and Rule 7 (2) (iii) .

It also quoted para 2.4 (d) of Part B of the ECI guidelines, which says incitement of violence shall not be permitted while certifying political advertisements. It cited ECI guidelines Para 2.5 (d) which bars criticism of other parties or their workers on behalf of unverified allegations or on distortions.

Following this, the Election Commission asked the AAP to modify the contents of the creative as per the Advertising Codes prescribed under the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994 and the ECI guidelines/ norms.
The Aam Aadmi Party teachers' body, AADTA, has written to Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh requesting him to take down the photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other political leaders from the varsity's website stating it violates the UGC's directives to enforce Model Code of Conduct in view of the Lok Sabha elections.

The official websites of several colleges, including the Hansraj College and Non Collegiate Women's Education Board (NCWEB), display photographs of political figures.

Asked for a comment on violation of the UGC's directives, chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar said "Following a letter received by the Ministry of Education from the ECI, emphasising the need to adhere to electoral guidelines, the UGC has written to all higher education institutions (HEIs) with a request to strictly follow the guidelines of the ECI as issued from time to time. All HEIs must adhere to the ECI guidelines on the Model Code of Conduct."

There was no immediate response from the Delhi University Vice-Chancellor's office. The University Grants Commission (UGC) in a letter dated May 1 to the vice-chancellor and principals of different colleges asked them to immediately take down the photos and references of the ministers, politicians and political parties from the institute's website abiding by the Election Commission's order.

Citing the UGC's letter while also terming it as written in a "reluctant" and "late mode", the teachers' body wrote, "We draw your attention towards the violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) even after the UGC letter to the VCs and principals dated May 1, 2024.

"This aforementioned letter was written by the UGC reluctantly in better late than never' mode as it forwarded the Election Commission of India's (ECI) directive to enforce the MCC (which came in force on March 16) after the duration of one and half months."

The Academics for Action and Development Teachers' Association (AADTA) said that despite the directive of the UGC, the Delhi University's website still replete with the photographs of the prime minister and ministers, especially under Glimpses, DU Centenary, Viksit Bharat Ambassador Nari Shakti Conclave sections.

"The websites of some colleges are also displaying such photographs violating the MCC. So, we request you to take such photographs and references out in compliance with the MCC without any further delay," the teachers' body added.

The teachers' body further demanded to cancel the 'Run for Viksit Bharat' event while stating the phrase is part of the political branding of the ruling BJP led Central government. Citing instances from the saffron party's manifesto where the phrase 'Viksit Bharat' has been used as part of its poll campaign, the Academic for Action and Development Delhi Teachers' Association (AADTA) wrote, "This Hindi phrase has been used at least 13 times in English version of the BJP manifesto 2024, thus indicating its political specificity."

"On page 6 of the BJP manifesto, BJP president appeals to vote and support to build Viksit Bharat'. On the next page of the party manifesto, chairperson of the BJP manifesto committee talks about our Viksit Bharat Campaign and attributes importance and significance of this manifesto document lies in defining the vision of Viksit Bharat'."

"Further on page 40, BJP manifesto contains, We will build upon this foundation in the next five years to launch our country on the path to Viksit Bharat by 2047," the letter read.

The teachers' body said that the 'Viksit Bharat Run' is in violation of the ECI directive, which states that during the election period for partisan coverage of political news and publicity regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided'. "We request you to apply the MCC in case of the scheduled run and cancel it urgently in order to uphold the impartial image of our 100-years old university," it said.
The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee has recommended action against the Delhi Development Authority over illegal construction and felling of around 750 trees in the ridge area in south Delhi in violation of the top court's directions and without approval from the Centre.

According to a report submitted to the apex court, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) stated that in December last year, the DDA allotted land with ridge-like morphological features for the construction of an approach road from the main Chhatarpur road to SAARC University, Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences, and other establishments.

This was done in violation of the provisions of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.

The CEC said 222 trees have been felled in a non-forest area without permission under the Delhi Protection of Trees Act, 1994, for the construction of the road, and 523 trees have been felled in the area having "morphological features" without the approval of the central government under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, and Supreme Court directives.

The committee investigated the matter after a complainant claimed that local authorities did not act against the illegal construction of the road due to the involvement of the land mafia and senior officers of the Delhi government in it.

The Delhi Ridge is a rocky outcrop of the Aravalli Ranges stretching from Delhi University in the north to the south and beyond. Extending over 7,777 hectares, it consists of Northern Ridge (87 hectares), Central Ridge (864 hectares), South Central Ridge (626 hectares), and Southern Ridge (6,200 hectares).

In 1994, the city government notified Delhi Ridge as a reserved forest, commonly referred to as the 'Notified Ridge Area'. Morphological ridge refers to that part of the ridge area "which has ridge-like features but is not a notified forest".

Permission from the Ridge Management Board, headed by the Delhi chief secretary, and approval from the Supreme Court through the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) are required to carry out any construction in the Delhi Ridge and morphological ridge areas.
Chandigarh Congress candidate Manish Tewari on Tuesday said that its government at the centre will provide 50 percent reservation to women in government jobs. Addressing a meeting of the city women organized by local councillor Taruna Mehta in Sector 30, Tewari said, providing 50 percent reservation to women in government jobs was one of the 25 guarantees the party has promised in its election manifesto. He said that Congress has always encouraged the progress of women and their participation in public life including politics. He pointed out, it was the Congress Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi who had provided 33 percent reservation to women in local bodies.



He said the BJP government at the centre recently betrayed the women of the country by delaying the implementation of the law for providing 33 percent reservation to women in legislative bodies including the parliament and state legislative assemblies. Besides, Tewari added, for the poor and downtrodden women, the Congress manifesto has promised Grah Lakshmi scheme under which one lady member in every poor family will get Rs one lakh every year directly in her bank account.



The former union minister expressed his gratitude to the party workers, particularly the women for their overwhelming support. He appreciated the women representatives for their suggestions to improve the city. He said, he had taken note of all these suggestions and promised to get these implemented immediately after the elections.



Congress wants to reduce SC/ST/OBC's reservation quota and give it to Muslims: Tandon



The BJP candidate for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat Sanjay Tandon on Tuesday said that the Congress wants to reduce SC's/ST's/OBC's reservation quota and give it to Muslims. He added that when Modi ji asked Congress to give in writing that it will not reduce the quota of SC's/ST's/OBC's to give to Muslims, the party was silent and not reacting with an answer. Tandon was addressing members of the business community and industrial labour force.



Meanwhile, Tandon also launched a scathing attack on the Congress and its nominee Manish Tewari for trying to demoralize the security forces. Referring to the observations made by former Punjab Chief Minister SS Channi regarding the attack on the IAF convoy in J & K, Tandon said this is the Congresss real character. Tandon wanted Tewari to explain his stance on the national security issue. It is to be noted that Channi, a senior congressman had termed the attack by terrorists in J & K a poll stunt of BJP.



Slamming the Congress, Tandon said, Such irresponsible statements are demoralizing for the armed forces.Tandon said further that Congress was trivializing the sacrifices made by our soldiers and brave hearts and this shows their anti-national character. Modi, on the other hand, is worried about all segments of society particularly the armed forces so that the morale of the defence forces remains high. It is clear that it is only under Modi that growth of the country is possible.
Regarding the organization of a special Lok Adalat, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of Principal District Sessions Judge cum DLSA President Rajesh Sharan Singh at his chamber, on Tuesday. He gave instructions to dispose of all the pending cases related to the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Act in the special Lok Adalat organized on June 8.

Addressing the advocates and judicial officers, the Principal District Judge said that everyone's cooperation is needed in the execution of all the cases related to motor vehicle accidents in the special Lok Adalat. Because such sensitive cases in which the cooperation of dependents is very important, therefore, prompt disposal of these cases is necessary. He also instructed the insurance company and their advocates to cooperate in the execution of as many cases as possible and try to get proper compensation under the settlement agreement. He also instructed all the District and Sessions Judges to select the pending motor vehicle related cases in their court and issue notice to both the parties so that both the parties can appear in the special Lok Adalat for disposal of the case. He especially appealed to the advocates to cooperate in this matter and become a part of virtue by helping the family members of the deceased in the motor accident.

Apart from DLSA Secretary Ravi Choudhary and insurance company representatives, advocate Yudhishthir Giri, bar association president Gautam Krishna Sinha and other advocates were present in the meeting.
n a bid to beat low voter turnout on the polling day on May 25 due to heatwave which will be more intense than usual in the national Capital, the Election Commision has decided to improve the facilities at the 13,641 polling booths in Delhi for making the voting process more comfortable for the voters.

This included facilities such as arrangement of shades and coolers being set up by the electoral body.

Delhi Chief Election Officer P Krishnamurthy informed that a high level meeting took place between the Commission and other stakeholders such as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMDC) and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) keeping in mind that the heatwaves on the day of polling will be more intense than usual.

The heatwave is expected to be more intense than usual in Delhi. To ensure that there are ample facilities for the voters and this doesnt affect the voter turnout, we had a meeting with all the stakeholders including MCD, NDMC, Delhi Jal Board, and the health department. Coolers and mist fans will be set up in waiting areas.

Cold drinking water will be made available at the polling stations. Delhi Jal Board tankers will be stationed at MCD zonal offices, Delhi CEO P Krishnamurthy said, adding that paramedics with basic medical kit, which includes will also be present so if any situation arises, we can give them medical assistance immediately.

In a first, there will be at least one polling booth managed by people with disabilities in each of the seven parliamentary constituencies.

Further, there will be a total of 70 pink polling booths, handled by women, located at each of the ten assembly constituencies.

There are a total of 15,201,936 voters in Delhi. Briefing the press, he also said that the number of male, female and transgender voters have also seen a rise.

While in 2019 the total number of male was 78,73,022, in 2024 it stands at 82,12,794. From 64,42,762 in 2019, the total number of women stands at 69,87,914. If we look at the transgender population in Delhi, the number has almost doubled with the number reaching to 1,228 in 2024 from 669 in 2019. There are a total of 2,52,038 first time voters, he said.

With the gender ratio in the national capital improving from 818 women per 1,000 men to 851, the Delhi CEO added, this means that there will be more participation of women in the elections this time. As many as 13,637 main polling booths are set up with four auxiliary booths being made. An auxiliary booth is set up when the voter limit for the main booth, which is 1,800 exceeds.
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Gorakhpur has undergone a remarkable transformation in its air connectivity, achieving a significant milestone in just seven years. The upcoming launch of non-stop flights by Akasa Air, linking Gorakhpur to Delhi and Bengaluru, signifies a turning point in travel convenience for passengers.

Notably, after receiving approval from the Airport Authority of India for the schedule, online booking for tickets has commenced. With Akasa Air flights, the distance from Gorakhpur to Delhi will be covered in just one hour and 15 minutes, while the distance from Gorakhpur to Bengaluru will be covered in two hours and 35 minutes.

According to Akasa Air website, starting on May 29, the flight from Gorakhpur to Delhi will take off at 2:45 pm and land in Delhi at 4 pm. Conversely, the flight from Delhi to Gorakhpur will depart at 4:55 pm and reach Gorakhpur Airport at 6:45 pm.

Similarly, starting from May 29, the flight to Bengaluru will also commence. The Akasa flight from Bengaluru will take off at 11:15 am and reach Gorakhpur at 2:05 pm.

Conversely, flights from Gorakhpur to Bengaluru will depart at 7:20 pm and land in Bengaluru at 9:55 pm.

In view of the starting of these services between Gorakhpur as well as Delhi and Bengaluru, from May 29, Akasa Air has initiated online booking for tickets.

Notably, Alliance Air and IndiGo have already been operating flights on this route. There is hope for the soon-to-be-launched Mumbai flight service by Akasa as well.

Additionally, IndiGo is also preparing to initiate flights between Gorakhpur and Bengaluru in the next two months. Airport Authority of India Director RK Parashar stated that the initiation of flight services by more aviation companies would increase competition in fares, ultimately benefiting passengers. They will have the opportunity to travel at lower fares.

The increase in air services has brought Gorakhpur much closer to cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. Whether its for essential purposes or leisure trips, the distance to these cities is covered within a few hours. Previously, travelling to these cities took anywhere from 16 to 36 hours.

In addition, this transformation has been made possible through the combined efforts of the state and Central governments, resulting in excellent air connectivity from Gorakhpur to major cities over the past seven years. Gorakhpur, which was once deprived of airplane service, currently has flight services available to seven major cities including the countrys capital and financial capital.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday affirmed that India in todays day and age is not only seen across the globe as friendly but also as a firm and fiery nation that cares for its people and fends for them in crisis situations while speaking on the topic Viksit Bharat @2047-The Voice of the Youth at an event at Delhi Universitys Hansraj college.

The Minister was referring to the rescue operations run by India to bring back its citizens from war-torn countries such as Ukraine. He said that the world is closely watching India as it is moving away from the shackles of the past and making strides to become the worlds third largest economy.

Right now, we are a little less than a four-trillion dollar economy. Soon we will become the third largest economy when we reach five trillion dollars. By the time we reach Amrit Kaal, I am confident we will build a 30-trillion dollar economy, he asserted, adding that the country

has made an impressive growth in the last couple of years and this has been acknowledged and recognised by world leaders

Today we are respected because of our economic performance. Indias talent is present in all sectors of the world, Jaishankar said. He added that the world is watching India to see how it will grow further. Asserting that Viksit Bharat is not a mere slogan to motivate the people, he said that it is the foundation built in the last 10 years upon which the future of Indias next 25 years will be built.

The next 25 years of the Amrit Kaal are your future. It is the journey towards Viksit Bharat, and it is you who will make this journey possible, he said while addressing the college students.

The external affairs minister said that he sees these 25 years as a period of opportunity and new challenge.

This change is of the kind that we have never seen before, Jaishankar said while highlighting the developments that have taken place in the economy and the technology sector, and in Indias position in the global forum.

Referring to Indias management of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he termed as once in a century challenge, Jaishankar said India outshined the worlds expectations. When the Covid outbreak happened and world leaders met to find a way forward, they thought India would not be able to handle the situation. They had good reasons to be worried about. But the same country ended up supplying about 100 counties with vaccines, he said.

He lauded the Digital India initiative and said that the country was among the few which provided digital vaccination certificates. The former diplomat also said that India is growing as a digital economy with cashless transactions of 12 billion per month, higher than America where four billion such transactions take place in a year.
JBKSS President and Giridih Lok Sabha constituency candidate Jairam Mahato has got a big relief from Ranchi Civil Court. During the hearing on the anticipatory bail plea of Mahato, the court has banned any coercive action against him.

The court of Additional Judicial Commissioner (AJC 15) of Ranchi Civil Court has directed the investigator of this case to present the diary before the court. Now the court will hear this matter on May 21.

Ranchi Police had taken a warrant against Jairam Mahato in case number 48 registered in the year 2022 in Nagdi police station of Ranchi. After this, Ranchi Police also raided Giridih to arrest Jairam Mahato. But he was not caught by the police.

Just couple of days earlier Ranchi Lok Sabha candidate of JBKSS, Devendranath Mahato, who came to file nomination, was arrested by the police. Mahato was arrested by Ranchi Police from Ranchi Collectorate on Saturday.

Police had arrested Devendranath in the Assembly protest case in Ranchi. In the assembly protest case, case number 48/22 was registered in Nagari police station. In this case, a warrant was issued against Devendranath Mahato and many others.

Jairam Mahato had filed nomination from Giridih Lok Sabha seat on Wednesday. He handed over nomination papers to Bokaro DC Vijaya Jadhav. After this he requested the police that he was holding an election meeting in Chas, Bokaro. Permission for election meeting should be given. The police gave permission for this.

Jairam addressed the public meeting and since then there is no trace of him. Ranchi Police had reached Ranchi to arrest him in the Assembly siege case, but had to return empty handed. A warrant was issued against Jayaram.

According to the information, Devendra Mahato had secretly reached the Collectorate wearing tribal traditional attire. During this time, the police, waiting in advance, noticed Devendra and arrested him. Let us tell you that today Devendra Nath had come to file the nomination of Mahato, but even before the nomination, the police arrested him.
Jharkhand BJP president and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi has written a letter to Chief Minister Champai Soren demanding a CBI probe in connection with recovery Rs 35 crore and secret letter from the house of rural development minister Alamgir Alams PS Sanjeev Lal household helper Jahangir Alam house. Marandi through his letter has raised the issue that a copy of the confidential letter written by the ED regional office to the Chief Secretary has been found from the house of the employee of the private secretary of Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam. He said that it is a serious matter how a confidential letter has been found from the residence of the private secretary's employee and demanded an investigation.

Marandi raising the issue questioned how did this confidential letter reach the residence of the private secretary of the Minister, which official played a role in it, it is necessary to conduct an investigation and also on the cognizance of this letter, action was to be taken against the corrupt, were they saved, who all were involved in this conspiracy? Is there a role? The people of Jharkhand have the right to know this.

Marandi has demanded registration of FIR on this serious matter without any delay and hand over the entire matter to the C.B.I. We will recommend you to get an investigation done by the CBI, otherwise it will be considered that you remained silent in this serious matter of corruption and kept watching all this mischief. The people of Jharkhand will also ask you this question. Remember, if you and the Chief Secretary do not take action on the request for the above action even after knowing and coming to the notice of all this, then sooner or later you too will not be able to escape from being accused of criminal conspiracy in this serious matter.

On Monday, a raid was conducted in the residence of Jahangir, assistant to PS Sanjeev Lal of Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam. During the raid, ED seized a total cash amount of Rs 35 crore. The seizure of such a huge amount of cash from an assistant has become a topic of discussion in the entire country. During the day-long raid on Monday, the ED found a confidential letter from the Enforcement Directorate. This letter was written by ED to the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand on 8 May 2023.

The Chief Secretary had sent this letter to the Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development the next day on 9 May 2023 and asked him to take action. Babulal Marandi alleges that the Rural Development Ministry did not get it investigated. This letter was recovered along with a bundle of notes during the ED action. Regarding this, Babulal Marandi wrote a letter to CM Champai Soren demanding a CBI inquiry. Babulal Marandi says that it is a very serious matter that how a confidential letter was recovered from the house of a PS servant and that too along with a bundle of notes.
Bahujan Samaj Party president and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Addressing an election gathering at the Government Inter College ground in Lakhimpur Kheri on Tuesday afternoon, the BSP chief said that the people of BJP crushed the farmers movement, and the public is not going to fall for any of their deceptions now. Mayawati said that the public has learned a lesson from the BJPs empty election manifesto and jumlebaazi.

She said that the BSP is fighting the elections on its own and has no alliance with any other party.

The BJP has crushed the farmers movement. No drama, jumlabaazi, or guarantee is working in this election, she said, adding that her party has not formed an alliance but is fighting alone.

The BSP supremo claimed that the party has given proper participation to the entire society in ticket distribution. Regarding the Congress, BJP and their allies, she said: The Congress has been in power for most of the time since independence. They made the capitalists rich, gave them concessions at every level, and made them strong. The BJP is also using government agencies to silence the voice of dissent and issues raised by opposition parties.

She also said that the countrys borders are also not safe. She told the crowd that the Congress and the BJP have to be stopped from coming to power in the countrys elections.

No one should be fooled by empty election manifestos because these parties do not implement the manifestos after the elections. The little food material being given to the farmers is not being given by the BJP from its own pocket but from the taxes paid by the common people. Attacking the BJP, she said that in the name of religion, the Muslim community is especially being exploited and harassed, and this will be stopped. The Sikh community has also been exploited. At that time, the Sikh community was devastated and ruined, Mayawati said.
The nomination process for Punjab's 13 Lok Sabha seats and Himachal Pradesh's four parliamentary constituencies as well as six assembly segments where bypolls are to be held on June 1 began on Tuesday.



The nomination process will continue till May 14, barring May 11 and 12 which are public holidays. The scrutiny of papers will take place on May 15 and the last date for the withdrawal of nominations is May 17, according to an official release.



In Himachal Pradesh, four candidates, including two Independents, filed their nominations for the parliamentary polls on Tuesday. Ramesh Chand Sarthi (50) filed his nomination as an Independent for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat while BSP candidate Anil Kumar (31) filed his papers for the Shimla seat. Mahesh Kumar Saini (45) of Himachal Janta Party and Independent candidate Ashutosh Mahant (38) filed their nominations from the Mandi Parliament seat, a spokesperson of the election department said.



Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C said 13 candidates filed their nominations on the first day. A nomination each was filed for the Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib, Faridkot and Sangrur seats, he added. No candidate filed nomination papers for the Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Bathinda Lok Sabha seats, the official said. He said May 4 was the deadline for registering new voters in Punjab. According to the electoral roll released on May 6, the total number of voters in Punjab is 2,14,21,555 of which 1,12,67,019 are male and 1,01,53,767 female. As many as 5,28,864 people are first-time voters, the CEO said.



The forms submitted for the registration of new voters by May 4 are to be decided by May 14 and thus the final figure of the total number of voters will be released after that date.



According to the CEO, 1,89,832 voters are aged above 85 years and comprise 88,169 men and 1,01,661 women. For the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state, a total of 24,451 polling stations will be set up with 16,517 in villages and 7,934 in cities, he said.



In Himachal Pradesh, there are 7,990 polling stations for four Lok Sabha seats of which 425 have been designated as critical. The state has 56,38,422 voters, including 28,79,200 men and 27,59,187 women.



The bypolls to six assembly seats of Sujanpur, Dharamshala, Lahaul and Spiti, Barsar, Gagret and Kutlehar, necessitated following the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs, would be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls on June 1.



The six Congress rebels had voted in favour of the BJP's Rajya Sabha poll candidate Harsh Mahajan on February 27. Two days later, they were disqualified for defying a party whip to be present in Vidhan Sabha and vote in favour of the government during the cut motions and budget.



These MLAs later joined the BJP and were given the ticket from their respective assembly seats. The Congress announced its candidates from five assembly seats while the candidate for the Dharamshala assembly segment is yet to be declared.
Former Delhi Minister Raaj Kumar Anand, who quit from both the Delhi Cabinet and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a month ago, filed his nomination for the New Delhi seat on Monday after he officially joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Sunday. Party workers were seen fluttering BSP flags to support his candidature from the BSP party in the national capital.

On the day of his nomination filing, AAP leader Somnath Bharti, who has been fielded as a joint AAP and INDIA alliance candidate from the New Delhi seat, said that his former party colleague Raaj Kumar Anand joined BSP due to fears of ED. Today I learned an interesting thing, if you want to escape ED, then your first choice is BJP and now the second choice is BSP. Kanshi Rams party, BSP, which had set out to uplift Dalits is now working as the B-team of BJP, he said.

Last month, the Patel Nagar MLA resigned from the Delhi cabinet, after he claimed that there is inadequate representation of Dalits within the party and the Kejriwal government is anti-dalit. "The public is being misled, they should understand this and support our BSP party," said the BSP candidate replying to Bhartis claim. Further, he added that he doesnt understand the reason for Bharti being so serious about him leaving the AAP.

After joining the BSP, Anand said, I offer tributes to Baba Saheb Ambedkar. I feel that I have come back to my party. Monday was the last day for filing nominations for the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 25. BJPs Bansuri Swaraj and AAPs Somnath Bharti have already submitted their nominations from the constituency.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had conducted searches at locations linked to him in November last year in relation to a suspected money laundering case related to alleged evasion of Customs duty and hawala payments to China.
In a proactive move to combat the blistering heatwave gripping the state, the Yogi Adityanath government has prepared a comprehensive action plan to protect people from its severity and also provide relief during emergencies. Under this, the appointment of nodal officers has been mandated at the state, district, and municipal levels. Additionally, stringent measures include monitoring of heatwaves at district and civic level through video conferencing.

With a view to safeguarding citizens from the sweltering temperatures, the action plan will be implemented effectively by following the instructions received from the Government of India. Instructions have been given by the Urban Development Department for implementation of the action plan on priority basis for the management of heatwave as well as the diseases and ill-effects arising from it.

As per the instructions, wide publicity should be done regarding dos and donts during the heatwave and warnings should be issued through mobile messages/WhatsApp regarding its ill-effects.

Additionally, proper arrangements should be made for ORS packets at health and Anganwadi centres.

The instructions also include changes in the working hours of schools, labourers and workers, and guidelines for preventing deaths due to sunstroke.

It has also been mandated to designate temples, community halls, and malls as cooling centres. Arrangements for water and buttermilk should be made at public places by NGOs, community groups and individuals. Adequate shelter arrangements will be ensured in urban bodies to protect people from heat.

In addition to this, all necessary measures to ease the impact of heatwave should be widely disseminated among the public in extreme temperature conditions. A public awareness campaign should also be conducted regarding prevention and treatment of heat-related illnesses. Weather forecasts and temperature will be displayed at busy places.

Furthermore, special campaigns for water supply will be conducted by urban bodies to keep all water pumps in working condition and to repair and restart those which are not working. Repairing of pipelines supplying water from main pipelines to residential areas will be done to ensure clean water supply.

Additionally, chlorination will be carried out periodically for water purification. Samples of water will be collected at user-end points regularly for bacteriological and virological testing to monitor the quality of drinking water.

In areas where drinking water supply is from hand pumps, distribution of chlorine tablets in appropriate quantities will be done as required. In areas affected by drinking water scarcity, water supply will be arranged through tankers.

Inspection of sewer lines and water pipelines will be conducted in urban areas, and any breakage or leakage found in sewer or water pipelines will be promptly repaired.

Until the leakage is fixed, alternative arrangements will be made to ensure safe drinking water supply in the affected area. Additionally, appropriate veterinary medicines and provision of drinking water will be ensured for animals at shelter locations.

The instructions also include arrangements for shade and drinking water at bus stations and terminals. Provision of drinking water will be ensured for pilgrims at temples and other religious places.

Areas like cities, hamlets, and slums expected to be most affected by heatwave will be identified, and arrangements for drinking water made there.

Additionally, proper shade will be arranged in open parks. Water will be sprinkled on the streets regularly.

Appropriate planning should be prepared for the construction of new buildings in urban areas. Construction work for green buildings will be carried out while adhering to environmental and building codes.




Former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday alleged that jobs used to be on sale during the Congress rule in the State and said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has set the system right and given jobs based on merit. We will win all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana as well as the Karnal Assembly seat (for which bypolls will be held along with the 10 parliamentary seats on May 25, he asserted.



Khattar said the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state have undertaken development work in various spheres. He alleged that there was favouritism in giving jobs during the previous Congress-led regime in the state. "Jobs used to be on sale. During the Congress rule, be it the job of a peon, clerk, superintendent, HCS, class 1, class 2 -- rates were fixed. We set the system right and deserving candidates got jobs on merit. We have given 1.3 lakh jobs purely on the basis of merit," the BJP leader said while addressing a gathering during his roadshow in Samalkha, which falls under the Karnal parliamentary constituency.



He is the saffron party's candidate from Karnal in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. Khattar said that the BJP will retain power at the Centre because people have seen the work the party did over the last 10 years.

Drugs, cash & valuables worth Rs 37.29 crore seized in Hry, says CEO

PNS Chandigarh



Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Agarwal on Tuesday said that the enforcement agencies are continuously keeping a strict vigil on the movement of illicit liquor, drugs, and cash in the ongoing Lok Sabha election in the State. Till now cash amount of Rs 7.24 crore has been seized. Apart from this, illicit liquor, drugs, and valuables worth Rs 30.05 crore have also been seized. Notably, this figure is much more than the items seized in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections of 2014 and 2019.



Agarwal said that till now Rs 7.24 crore in cash, 3,87,332.77 liters of illicit liquor worth Rs 12.94 lakh, Narcotics worth Rs 12.55 crore have been seized. Valuables worth Rs 1.80 crore, and other items worth Rs 2.76 crore have been seized. He said that in the 2014 assembly elections, a total of Rs 7 crore including cash worth Rs 3.10 crore, illicit liquor worth Rs 2.69 crore, and narcotics worth Rs 1.21 crore were seized. Similarly, during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a total of Rs 18.36 crore was seized, which included cash worth Rs 2.74 crore, illicit liquor worth Rs 6.23 crore, and narcotics worth Rs 9.38 crore, shared Agarwal.



He said that during the Assembly Elections 2019, cash worth Rs 5.17 crore, illicit liquor worth Rs 9.73 crore and drugs worth Rs 3.27 crore, silver worth Rs 4.14 lakh were seized, the total value of which is Rs 18.22 crore.



Party in power or its candidates will not have a monopoly on using government rest houses



Agarwal said that as per the Model Code of Conduct, the party in power or its candidates will not have the monopoly to use government rest houses, dak bungalows, or other government residential complexes. He said that the use of such government premises cannot be done for any meetings of election offices or any election-related meetings for the Lok Sabha 2024 general elections. He mentioned that Circuit House, dak bungalows can only be used for temporary accommodation. He stated that as per the Election Commission's instructions, no formal or informal meetings of political party candidates will be allowed inside these premises, and if such events occur, it will be considered a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.



Children can win cash prizes ranging from Rs 2,500 to Rs 10,000 at District level



The CEO said that according to the directives of the State Election Commission, children will be involved in all districts under a new scheme so that on the day of voting, children are encouraged to take selfies with the inked fingers of their parents on social media. Under this scheme, all such selfies can be uploaded on the portal and children can win cash prizes ranging from Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 10,000 at the district level. Similarly, school students can also participate in this initiative, and the school whose students upload the most selfies will also be awarded a special prize of Rs. 25,000. A link has been created on the www.ceoharyana.gov.in portal for uploading selfies, which will be open on the day of voting, i.e., May 25. The link to upload selfies will open for school children along with voting from 7 AM on the day of voting, and selfies can be uploaded until 8 PM, he added.

President Murmu visits 2 temples in Himachal

PNS / Shimla

President Droupadi Murmu, who is on a five-day visit to Himachal Pradesh, performed puja at the famous Tara Devi temple and Sankat Mochan temple on Tuesday.



Murmu, accompanied by members of her family and Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla, went around the Tara Devi temple, 17 km from the state Capital. She also ate at the langar (bhandara) at the temple. The temple committee presented a memento of the temple to her. Earlier, she worshipped at the Sankat Mochan temple and took a keen interest in its history. She was presented an idol of 'Ram Darbar' by the governor. She was also briefed about the history of the temple.



These temples are visited by a large number of people on Tuesdays and Sundays but today there was no rush as the entry was restricted.
The Congress on Tuesday hit out at the Centre over the "delay" in the construction of Beed-Ahmednagar railway line in Maharashtra and asked why this crucial project has been languishing for 10 years now.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his rallies in Beed and Ahmednagar.

"Will the Beed-Ahmednagar railway line ever be completed? Why has the BJP ignored the Dhangar community's demand for ST status? Did PM Modi deliver a jumla to Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj?" Ramesh said in a post on X.

Elaborating on what he said were "jumla details", Ramesh said the Beed-Ahmednagar railway line has been languishing for 10 years now.

"Residents of Beed have been eagerly awaiting this project and the education and employment opportunities it would unlock for them. When the BJP came to power in 2014, this crucial project was chosen to be directly monitored by the Prime Minister's Office. Yet, no work was undertaken in the next five years," he claimed.

Before the 2019 elections, a senior railway official said that the line would be completed by March 2020, but that deadline has also gone, Ramesh said.

"Now, the Central Railway has set a revised deadline of 2025-26. Why has this project been stalled for so long, even after receiving the PMO's support? What is the PM doing to ensure that this project meets its latest deadline?" he said.

The Dhangar community, which constitutes an estimated 9 per cent of Maharashtra's population, has been demanding ST status for years but in vain, he said.

"Effects of caste-based marginalisation are evident from the Dhangars' poor performance on Human Development Index indicators, but they have received no support from the Mahayuti government," he said.

Last year, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made "vague commitments" about studying other states' methodologies to address their demands for reservation but no meaningful progress has been made, he claimed.

"In the Congress Party's 2024 Nyay Patra, we have promised to conduct a nationwide caste census to ensure that every backward community in India is able to access the opportunities they deserve. What is the PM doing to ensure the wellbeing of the Dhangar community?" he said.

Why have the BJP and their allies ignored the plight of the Dhangars, Ramesh asked.

Ramesh also said seven years ago, the prime minister laid the foundation stone for a 696 feet statue of Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai.

"It has since been silently abandoned by his government. Can the PM clarify if his Government will ever follow through on the project? What hope can Indians have from a man who has given jumlas even to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj?" he said.
More than 26 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the first four hours of polling for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.

The state witnessed 26.12 per cent polling till 11 am in the third phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha election.

While Agra witnessed 25.87 per cent polling, Aonla recorded a 25.98-per cent voter turnout, Budaun 26.02 per cent, Bareilly 23.6 per cent, Etah 27.17 per cent, Fatehpur Sikri 27.63 per cent, Firozabad 24.42 per cent, Hathras 26.05 per cent, Mainpuri 25.13 per cent and Sambhal 29.55 per cent, the Election Commission (EC) said.

Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. More than 1.89 crore voters are eligible to vote in these 10 constituencies.

Prominent among those who cast their votes are the Samajwadi Party's (SP) Akhliesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav in Saifai (Etawah) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates S P Singh Baghel and Parmeshwar Lal Saini in Agra and Sambhal respectively.

In Budaun, the villagers of Dhoranpur boycotted the polling. They protested against politicians for not paying heed to their demand for a road. District Magistrate Manoj Kumar said the issue has come to his notice and a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) has been sent to the village.

Talking to reporters in Sambhal, SP candidate Zia-ur-Rehman Barq alleged that a circle officer doubled up as a BJP worker and snatched bags and voter slips from SP workers and detained them.

He requested the EC to remove the officer immediately.

Not a single vote was cast in three villages of Firozabad -- Nagla Jawahar, Neem Kheria and Nagla Umar -- as the villagers tried to draw the administration's attention to their problems.

It is an important phase for the family members of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

SP's Dimple Yadav is aiming to retain the Mainpuri seat, which she won in a bypoll following the death of her father-in-law and party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Akshaya Yadav, the son of SP national principal general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, will try to reclaim the Firozabad seat.

Aditya Yadav, the son of SP national general secretary Shivpal Yadav, is making his electoral debut from the Budaun constituency, which was won by his cousin Dharmendra Yadav in 2014.

Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of 80 parliamentary constituencies among all the states. Polling in the state is spread across all seven phases from April 19 to June 1.

The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Tuesday accused PDP president Mehbooba Mufti of opposing the withdrawal of the controversial AFSPA from Jammu and Kashmir when he was the chief minister.

"I have not forgotten this thing. When I was talking about the removal of AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) from here (in 2012-13), Mehbooba Mufti, who is PDP president, said Omar Abdullah is disrespecting the Army.

"She said the talk about the revocation of AFSPA is belittling the Army. That is where the opposition to revocation of AFSPA came from," Abdullah told reporters in north Kashmir Kupwara district after an election meeting.

He was reacting to a statement of Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari that time had come for the armed forces in Jammu and Kashmir to go back to the barracks.

"I had tried to send them back to the barracks in 2012 and 2013. That time the conspiracy was hatched by the party with which Bukhari was affiliated at that time. Today, they are talking about sending the army back to barracks. It is good. Better late than never," he said.

Asked about the crisis in the National Conference (NC) in Kargil on giving support to the INDIA bloc candidates for Ladakh Lok Sabha seat, Abdullah said he cannot do anything which is beyond his control.

"To stand by our commitment to the INDIA bloc, the National Conference party has disappeared there (Kargil) because we clearly told our colleagues in Kargil that if we have to support anyone and help anyone to win, it should be Congress candidate T Namgyal.

He said the NC's colleagues in Kargil unfortunately did not accept it and decided to leave the party en masse. Expressing regret over the development, he said he had repeatedly visited Kargil after 2019 and rebuilt the NC there with a lot of difficulty.

"We cannot do anything about something that is not in our control but still I will appeal to people with National Conference in Leh and Kargil, if there are any left, to vote for Namgyal," he added.

The entire Kargil unit of the NC on Monday resigned from the party saying the party high command was pressurising them to support Congress candidate Namgyal.

Qamar Ali Akhoon, who was the additional general secretary and party in-charge for Kargil, said the political and religious organisations in Kargil had decided to support independent candidate Haji Hanifa for the Lok Sabha election. He said it was not possible for him to go against the "local consensus".

Under the seat-sharing agreement between the Congress and the NC, the two parties had agreed to field three candidates each for the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. While the NC has fielded candidates on three seats in the Kashmir valley, the Congress has fielded its candidates on two seats in Jammu and one in Ladakh.

A similar situation had arisen in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, which were contested by the NC and the Congress in a pre-poll alliance.

NC leader Ghulam Hassan Khan had rebelled against the party decision to concede the mandate for Ladakh Lok Sabha seat to Congress leader P Namgyal and contested, and won, as an independent candidate.

Khan, who defeated Namgyal by a margin of 3,000 votes, supported the Congress-led UPA-II government on the advice of Farooq Abdullah.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that he wanted to hand over 'Jal, Jungle, Jameen' belonging to tribals to industrialists.

Addressing an election rally in Jharkhand's Chaibasa, Gandhi promised to make crores of people 'lakhpati' if voted to power.

Asserting that this Lok Sabha election is for saving the Constitution and the rights of tribals, poor and backward, he said INDIA bloc leaders were ready to sacrifice their lives to save the Constitution.

The former Congress president said, "PM wants to handover tribals' 'Jal, Jungle, Jameen' to 14-15 industrialists...He made 22 people billionaires in his 10-year tenure... We will make crores of lakhpatis if voted to power and provide Rs 1 lakh annually to poor women."

He also promised to provide one-year apprenticeship to unemployed diploma holders and graduates.
Voting is progressing in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday in the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah among the early voters.

Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

While PM Modi cast his vote at a polling booth in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, Shah cast his vote at a polling booth in Ahmedabad.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Modi urged people to vote in record numbers and said their active participation will make the election more vibrant.

Modi, who is a registered voter from Ranip area in Gandhinagar, also greeted people and signed autographs on his way to the polling booth in the Gujarat capital.

Shah, who is contesting to retain the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, greeted his supporters, interacted with them and signed autographs at the polling booth.The senior BJP leader was accompanied by his wife Sonal Shah, son Jay Shah other family members as they exercised their franchise.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also cast his vote at a polling booth in Ahmedabad and appealed to the people to exercise their franchise to make the country developed and prosperous.

Polling is being held in 25 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, and for bypolls in five assembly constituencies in the state.

As the voting for the third phase commenced, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra urged people to vote in large numbers, asserting that this is an election to protect democracy and the Constitution.

Over 1,300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray in the third phase. Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).

As many as 17.24 crore people, including 8.39 crore women, are eligible to vote and 1.85 lakh polling stations manned by 18.5 lakh officials have been set up.

Polling is being held in 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the remaining 14 of the 28 in Karnataka, seven in Chhattisgarh, five in Bihar, four each in Assam and West Bengal, and all two in Goa.

Polling is also underway in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2 seats) and nine seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Betul where elections were deferred,

Queues were seen at polling booths in most Lok Sabha segments in northern districts of Karnataka with voters, mostly senior citizens and morning walkers, lining up to cast their votes early, with temperature expected to rise as the day progresses.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and Bhagwanth Khuba, and Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge were among those who came in early to cast their votes in Karnataka.

Former chief minister B S Yediyurappa along with sons B Y Raghavendra, BJP candidate from Shimoga Lok Sabha segment and B Y Vijayendra, party's state President -- and daughters-in-law cast their vote at Shikaripura in Shivamogga district.

"Out of 28 Lok Sabha seats, according to me we (BJP) are going to win at least 25 to 26 seats. The atmosphere is very good. Wherever we go people say Modi, Modi, it is going to have its own effect," Yediyurappa said after voting.

In Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, his wife Sunetra Pawar, who is the NCP candidate from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar were among those who cast their votes.

Sharad Pawar was welcomed with a traditional 'aarti' as he arrived at a polling booth in Malegaon area of Baramati constituency in Pune district.

The veteran politician stood in a queue before casting his vote at the booth.

Ajit Pawar and Sunetra Pawar cast their votes at a polling booth in Katewadi area of Baramati.

Talking to reporters after casting his vote, Ajit Pawar, the estranged nephew of Sharad Pawar, said he has been maintaining it is not a contest between family members, but the other side is propagating that it is about the family and trying to show they are together against him.

"I want to make it clear that the senior most family member in the Pawar family is my mother Ashatai Anantrao Pawar, who is with me and the three of us today exercised our voting right," he said.

As polling started for the third phase, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati appealed the voters to come out and vote.

In his post on X, Adityanath said, "Today is the third phase of the great festival of democracy. Respected voters are appealed to definitely vote to give continuity to the concept of heritage and development and to fulfil the concept of 'developed India'. Your one vote can contribute in establishing India as a world superpower.Remember - first vote, then refreshment."

The SP chief asked voter to come out to vote to maintain democracy and the Constitution.

The BSP chief said, "We should not forget the resolution of 'first vote, then refreshment' and we should not lose this democratic opportunity of shaping our own future by voting while protecting our vote in every way."

Voting was completed in 189 seats out of 543 seats in the first two phases. The next four phases will be on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes is on June 4.
China, Serbia deepen pragmatic cooperation in infrastructure

11:02, May 07, 2024 By Yan Huan, Xie Yahong ( People's Daily

In 2015, China and Serbia signed a memorandum of understanding, pledging to jointly push ahead the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which marked a new stage of high-quality development in their cooperation.

Chinese enterprises have taken an active part in important infrastructure projects in Serbia, promoting connectivity between Serbia and its neighboring regions, and contributing to the local economic and social development.

Photo shows a bridge built by a Chinese company over the Sava River in Serbia. (Photo/Li Jie)

Starting from 7 am, the Belgrade bypass gradually became busy. A continuous stream of large trucks and private cars swiftly moved along the spacious asphalt road. The logo of Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina) was clearly shown on the side of the interchange.

For a long time, Belgrade lacked a bypass, and the core route connecting Europe's north and south, the Pan-European Corridor X, had to pass through downtown Belgrade. This not only caused severe traffic congestion but also brought about problems such as air and noise pollution.

In 2016, during the 5th Summit of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), PowerChina signed a contract with the Serbian side for the Belgrade bypass project. The project, with a total length of 20.34 kilometers, includes four tunnels, 22 bridges, and two sets of large overpasses, making it an important branch of the Pan-European Corridor X.

Through the unremitting efforts of both China and Serbia, the project was completed and opened to traffic ahead of schedule by the end of June 2023. Since its opening, the traffic pressure in downtown Belgrade has been greatly relieved. The congestion in the city has reduced by approximately 30 percent. At the same time, the capacity and efficiency of the Pan-European Corridor X have significantly improved, making it easier for Serbia to better integrate into regional connectivity.

Photo shows the Belgrade bypass built by a Chinese company in Serbia. (People's Daily/Liu Zhonghua)

Jelena works at a law firm in Stari Grad, also known as the Old Town of Belgrade. Before the Belgrade bypass was built, she had brace herself for possible traffic jams every time she left home for work.

"Previously, it took me about an hour to go to the office or go home by car, but now it has been reduced to 15 to 20 minutes, which is much more convenient! Even my friends who came back from abroad told me that Belgrade has become more spacious, facilitated, and modern," Jelena said.

The Golubac Fortress and the Djerdap National Park by the Danube River in east Serbia's Golubac attract numerous domestic and foreign tourists. However, the outdated road infrastructure there severely limits the carrying capacity for tourists and local economic development. Currently, Chinese enterprises are constructing a "Danube Corridor," which will help Golubac break through these bottlenecks.

The "Danube Corridor", undertaken by China's Shandong Hi-Speed Company Limited, officially commenced in November 2021. The project connects Pozarevac and Golubac, both in east Serbia, spanning approximately 68 kilometers. The two-way four-lane road has a designed speed of 100 kilometers per hour, and includes over 50 bridges and more than 20 roundabouts.

As part of the eastern Serbian transportation network, the "Danube Corridor," upon completion, will strengthen connectivity between the cities in east Serbia and other major cities in the country, attracting more investments and tourists to the east.

The project team of the "Danube Corridor" includes nearly 200 employees, and over 3/4 of them are Serbian. Dara, an experienced engineer from Serbia who works at the project, told People's Daily that the "Danube Corridor" reaches many EU member states and is a crucial branch of the European E-75 highway.

Photo shows the E-763 highway built by a Chinese company in Serbia. (Photo/Wang Wei)

"I have supervised road construction projects for many foreign companies, and I believe that the work done by the Chinese builders not only meets EU standards but is also more efficient. I am confident that we will fulfill our schedule on time, and create new opportunities for industrial development," Dara said.

The ground leveling project for the Belgrade metro officially started in 2021, undertaken by PowerChina's SinoHydro Bureau 7 Co., Ltd. At the construction site in the western part of Belgrade, bulldozers and dump trucks are always seen shuttling back and forth under the command of both Chinese and Serbian engineers.

As one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe, the Belgrade metro will not only effectively improve transportation in the Serbian capital, expand urban development space, and accelerate the city's entry into the era of multi-dimensional transportation, but also drive economic development along its route, promote the development of green and low-carbon transportation, create significant economic and social benefits, and further build a bridge to deepen the friendship between China and Serbia.

With the deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Serbia, the practical cooperation in infrastructure construction between the two countries is accelerating. In addition, in the field of digital infrastructure, Serbia has already reached cooperation agreements with Chinese technology companies such as Huawei in areas such as broadband networks, smart city construction, and railway wireless communication systems, which are fueling Serbia's digital transformation.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Wu Chengliang)
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Dalhousie researcher Dr. Graham Gagnon has been elected as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), one of the highest honours an engineer can receive in Canada.



Dr. Gagnon serves as director of Dalhousies Centre for Water Resources and Studies (CWRS) and has been instrumental in shaping engineering practices at Dalhousie for more than 25 years.

His research programs, which have trained over 250 students and secured more than $50 million in research funding, have positioned him as a leading authority in applied water and wastewater research in Canada.

Being recognized by my peers in the Academy is truly humbling and is recognition of the talented teams and partners that I have been fortunate to work with throughout my career, says Dr. Gagnon, who also currently serves as dean of Dalhousies Faculty of Architecture and Planning.



Leading advances and adaptations



Dr. Gagnon's pioneering research has focused extensively on drinking-water safety, particularly in distribution systems and adaptation strategies to combat the impacts of climate change.

Through his roles as Canada Research Chair in Water Quality and Treatment and NSERC/Halifax Water Industrial Chair in Dal's Faculty of Engineering, he has spearheaded ground-breaking research, including the development of a rapid detection method for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. This method, now adopted by leading water-monitoring companies, has significantly accelerated the analysis process, aiding in pandemic response efforts.



The development of new methodologies in water has been a core pillar of research that we have conducted alongside Halifax Water, Moncton, LuminUltra and many other partners for several years, says Dr. Gagnon. This monitoring project was accomplished through the efforts of incredible research students and the support of colleagues in Nova Scotia Health.



In addition to his contributions in wastewater surveillance, Dr. Gagnon has been actively engaged in recent research aimed at improving the identification of water-borne pathogens using state-of-the-art genetic sequencing equipment. Furthermore, he has played an integral role in studying harmful algal blooms triggered by cyanobacteria, which have emerged as a pressing issue in Atlantic Canada. The impacts of climate change have intensified the spread of these bacteria, leading to their increased frequency and prolonged presence in Nova Scotia's lakes.

Supporting self-determination



However, one of his most notable achievements lie in his leadership and commitment in establishing the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority (AFNWA), a pioneering Indigenous-owned and operated water utility in Canada.

Dr. Gagnon has dedicated more than 15 years to offering technical expertise and advisory support for the AFNWA's development, advocating for self-determination in water-service delivery for First Nations communities. His dedication to equity and sustainability in water management has left a lasting impact on the region



I am honoured to support First Nations across Wabanaki and the AFNWA as they forge new paths in the pursuit of clean and safe water for their communities, says Dr. Gagnon. Together, we can develop Two-Eyed Seeing engineering education that will prepare Indigenous students to care for water in a good way.

Dr. Gagnon continues to play a pivotal role in a research partnership between the AFNWA and Dalhousie University, supported by a $4.3 million NSERC Alliance-Mitacs Accelerate Grant. This collaborative effort aims to advance the AFNWA's mission of providing top-tier drinking water and treatment grounded in Indigenous knowledge and values.

Dr. Gagnon's research focuses on implementing UV LED technology for wastewater treatment, aligning with the AFNWA's commitment to sustainability and innovation in water management. Through this partnership, he is actively shaping the future of water infrastructure and training a new generation of engineers, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to ensure the long-term success of the AFNWA and sustainable water management practices in the region.
North west technology company Alchemy Technology Services has been awarded the Kings Award for Enterprise in the category of International Trade.

Alchemy is one of only four recipients from Northern Ireland and among 252 organisations nationally recognised this year, highlighting the companys continuous commitment to excellence.

Founded in 2018, Alchemy Technology Services has grown to become a key provider of technology and consulting services to the global insurance sector.

Headquartered in Derry and operating a key office in the heart of the Lloyds market in the City of London through Alchemy London Market, the company employs over 200 skilled professionals across its two locations. Alchemy is celebrated not just for its business achievements, but also for its substantial contributions to the socio-economic development in the Northwest region of Northern Ireland.

John Harkin, CEO of Alchemy Technology Services, said: "We are delighted and honoured to receive the Kings Award for Enterprise. This accolade is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team who have consistently pushed the boundaries of excellence. It reaffirms our commitment to not only advancing our industry, but also contributing positively to the communities where we operate.

"We look forward to continuing our mission of driving forward International Trade, growth, and an unwavering commitment to client success across the globe."

The Kings Awards for Enterprise, the most prestigious business awards in the UK, recognises and celebrates outstanding achievements in international trade, innovation, sustainable development, and promoting opportunity through social mobility. This year marks the 58th anniversary of the program, which allows its winners to use the esteemed Kings Awards Emblem for the next five years.

Alchemy Technology Services will officially receive the award during a special ceremony presented by the Lord-Lieutenant of the County, the Kings personal representative. Following this, a celebratory reception will be held at Windsor Castle, hosted by His Majesty The King.

Visit www.alchemytechs.com for further information about Alchemy Technology Services and their work in the technology services industry.
A judge at Derry Magistrate's Court has said that he doesn't want people to think the courts were being 'too heavy handed' in enforcing anti-terrorism legislation as he granted bail to a dissident republican to allow him to go to Dublin to meet with a TD.

Thomas Ashe Mellon (48) of Rathmore Road in Derry applied for a bail variation to allow him to travel to Dublin on May 9 to meet with Fianna Fail TD, Eamonn O'Cuiv to discuss the prisoners issue.

Defence solicitor Paddy MacDermott made the application for Mellon, who is currently on bail charged with breaching the Anti-terrorism legislation by crossing the border, to travel to Dublin and back on the same day.

Police opposed the application stating that they had to monitor Mellon to manage the risk to the public.

He said that Mellon was prohibited from being in the company of anyone involved in terrorism and was found in the company of someone charged with directing terrorism.

He said that the defendant had also broken his residency requirements.

The officer said that if the application was granted the PSNI would have no ability to monitor Mellon.

He added that it would be easier for the TD to travel to the North.

Mr MacDermott said that his client had been subject to the Anti-terrorism legislation for the last 9 years and during that period had made many trips across the border.

He said that Mellon had to notify police what border crossing he was using and the alleged breach occurred in November and Mellon was not arrested until March so 'there was no great urgency'.

The solicitor said that it was a one day trip and there 'was not a lot he could get up to' in that time.

District Judge Barney McElholm said there was no objections to the proposed meeting and there was 'nothing objectionable in that'.

He said that the issue was travelling out of the jurisdiction.

The judge said that he didn't believe that Mellon wouldn't return and he could probably 'survive outside Creggan for the day.'

He granted the variation on condition Mellon informs police of his travel details, who he will be accompanied by and who he will be meeting.

He is also not to associate with any member of a proscribed organisation or anyone who supported such organisations.

Mellon's case will be before the court again on May 9.
A woman has been granted bail at Derry Magistrate's Court today on condition she does not enter the city because police said they 'can't keep her away from an address in the city.'

Courtney Temple (19) of Foyle Road in Derry appeared charged with breaching her bail by going to Claremont House despite being banned from there.

Temple is charged with criminal damage on November 26 last year and a police officer told the court that this was her third breach for the same thing.

He said Temple had been given 'a clear warning' on the last occasion and he asked for a remand in custody to stop Temple going to that address.

Defence counsel Sinead Rogan said that her client was awaiting sentencing for the criminal damage.

She said Temple had a limited record and in thus case there were no further allegations against her.

District Judge Barney McElholm said he had warned Temple on the last occasion that another breach would result in custody.

He said that the police had 'better things to do' than chasing Temple.

The judge said that the defendant 'had been told not to go there' but still did.

But he said he would grant bail to an address approved by the PSNI outside of the city and she was not to enter Derry except for court.

The case was adjourned until later this month.
The triggering of cross-community votes by Stormont ministers over lockdown restrictions was not helpful in maintaining public confidence in measures to combat the Covid pandemic, a senior scientific adviser has said.

Professor Ian Young also told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that he believed that hospital services were within days of being overrun by the rising numbers of infections during a second wave of the virus in the autumn of 2020.

Professor Young is the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) in the Department of Health and was one of the most high-profile figures during efforts by the devolved administration to tackle the pandemic.

Giving evidence to the inquiry, sitting in Belfast, Prof Young was questioned about a rise in Covid cases in Northern Ireland during the time in question.

He said: By October 8 (2020) I think we had reached the point where there was a realistic danger of the healthcare system becoming overwhelmed if there was not a rapid intervention.

The inquiry was then shown a handwritten note from former Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots from an Executive meeting on that date which read CSA  looking for v damaging approach.

Asked about this, Prof Young said: I understood that some ministers were unhappy with the information they were receiving and there was certainly plenty of robust discussion, which I thought was entirely appropriate in terms of the science being questioned.

Always, I think that I sought to provide advice on a wide range of options.

Lead counsel for the inquiry Clair Dobbin KC said the Executive did not make any decisions about extending lockdown measures at that October meeting.

Prof Young said: I think that following that meeting there were exchanges over the weekend where we emphasised the fact that we were very close to reaching the point where the hospital system could be overwhelmed.

Ms Dobbin added: There was some suggestion by the same minister (Mr Poots), and it was made in public, that transmission rates were higher in areas that were of a particular political background. Is that correct?

Prof Young said: From recollection, the minister suggested that transmission rates were higher in areas which would have been perceived as predominantly nationalist in terms of their background and make-up.

He added: I recall being asked about it in more than one media interview and saying it had never been an analysis or comparison that we had done, nor would I think it appropriate to do in terms of our response to the pandemic.

The inquiry then heard about a series of Executive meetings in November 2020 where ministers struggled to agree on extensions to lockdown measures.

Prof Young said: We were very concerned about hospital numbers at that time and in particular about much higher numbers in hospital in the post-Christmas period.

Ms Dobbin said a recommendation from Health Minister Robin Swann for a two-week extension to lockdown measures was initially defeated.

Prof Young confirmed that the vote was taken on a cross-community basis by ministers.

At the time the DUP triggered the cross-community vote, effectively giving them a veto over the plan.

The cross-community vote can be deployed by any three ministers to require cross-community support on a particular matter, effectively giving a party with enough ministers in the power-sharing executive a veto.

Ms Dobbin said: The idea that a public health measure should be voted on on a cross-community basis, was that a concern to you as a scientific adviser?

Prof Young said: I thought it was unfortunate in terms of public perception, particularly given the ongoing discussion of events at Executive meetings, I didnt think it was helpful in terms of public confidence.

Ms Dobbin said: I wonder is it a little bit more than a perception of public confidence?

Prof Young added: I think it was unfortunate. I think it was not helpful in terms of public perception and confidence in terms of decision-making.
Microsoft accelerates data center construction and digital talent cultivation in Southeast Asia due to AI potential

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently concluded his Southeast Asia tour, during which he visited Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, and met with government leaders. From Nadella's itinerary and Microsoft's announcements, it can be observed that Microsoft is bullish on the development potential of AI in Southeast Asia and is accelerating local data center infrastructure construction and digital talent cultivation.

Data Center Construction

Microsoft has pledged to build data centers in Indonesia and Thailand. In particular, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia suggested that the data center could be located in the tourist destination of Bali or Nusantara, the "future capital" set to be inaugurated in August 2024.

Back in 2021, Microsoft announced plans to establish a data center in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area. This time, it has announced further investment in local AI and cloud infrastructure, claiming it the "largest scale in 32 years."

Photo: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim.

Credit: Microsoft

Bloomberg pointed out that Southeast Asia, with its population of 650 million, is attracting not only Microsoft but also Google and Amazon, all eyeing the rapidly growing market. With the continuous tensions between China and the US, Malaysia has become one of the hotspots for businesses seeking a "China +1" option, with neighboring Singapore also being highly favored.

At the end of 2023, Malaysia's YTL Group also announced a partnership with Nvidia to establish an AI data center in Johor Bahru, located adjacent to Singapore.

Training developers and "people who know how to use AI"

Microsoft's goal is to train 2.5 million people with AI utilization skills in the SEA region by 2025, with targets of 840,000, 100,000, and 200,000 for Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia respectively. The populations of these three countries are approximately 270 million, 72 million, and 34 million respectively.

Citing data from research firm Kearney, Microsoft stated that by 2030, AI's GDP contribution to Southeast Asia will reach US$1 trillion, with US$366 billion expected for Indonesia, US$117 billion for Thailand, and US$115 billion for Malaysia.

Microsoft also aims to cultivate more AI-related developers in Southeast Asia. As digital services in Southeast Asia are on the rise, Microsoft and Apple operate their platforms and naturally hope to attract more developers to join their ecosystems. They also want to make AI tools more familiar to both corporations and general consumers.

Microsoft pointed out that in 2023, the number of GitHub developers in Malaysia grew to 68,000, a 28% year-on-year increase; Thailand exceeded 90,000, a 24% year-on-year increase; and Indonesia reached 3.1 million, becoming the largest developer community, behind only India and China.

Photo: Satya Nadella and president of Indonesia Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

Credit: Microsoft

Meeting national leaders

During this trip, Nadella met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Microsoft also aligned itself with each country's digital or AI development policies.

The Indonesian government has introduced the "Golden Indonesia 2045 Vision," while Thailand has the "Ignite Thailand 2030" initiative. Both aim to strengthen digital talent development and establish themselves as digital centers in their respective regions.

Thailand, renowned for its tourism industry, has also set a goal to increase the tourism sector's GDP contribution to 25% of the national GDP. Therefore, tourism and labor-related government departments in Thailand were some of the first to partner with Microsoft, hoping to leverage AI to upgrade the tourism industry.

In Malaysia, Microsoft has pledged to collaborate with the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA) to enhance cybersecurity.

Photo: Satya Nadella and Prime Minister of Thailand Srettha Thavisin.

Credit: Microsoft

Southeast Asia and India emerging as new battlegrounds for digital economy

Apple CEO Tim Cook just finished his Southeast Asia tour and was followed almost immediately by Nadella's visit. At the end of 2023, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also visited Southeast Asia. While each company targets different market demands, it is clear that Southeast Asia has become a fiercely contested region. Not only is it crucial for supply chains to have a "China +1" strategy, but the growth potential of the digital economy in Southeast Asia also cannot be underestimated.

Besides the Southeast Asian market, Nadella visited India in February 2024, acknowledging the market's development potential and rich talent resources. OpenAI also welcomed its "first employee" in India in April, responsible for negotiating with government agencies.

Meanwhile, Google is undergoing organizational restructuring. While downsizing in some areas, it is shifting job openings to countries like India and South America, claiming to get "closer to users" and seizing "rapidly growing markets."
Johor surges as top data center hub in Malaysia amid growing multinational interest

Malaysia's Johor state has emerged as a main hub for data center construction in the country, attributed to its proximity to Singapore, relatively, inexpensive land, water, and electricity resources, and the ongoing China-US trade conflicts, all of which are attracting more multinational corporations to establish operations there.

According to data from Baxtel cited by Singaporean media outlet CNA, Johor currently hosts over 13 data centers, with another four under construction. This makes Johor the largest data center market in Malaysia and the ninth biggest in the Asia Pacific region.

Several major companies have already established data centers in Johor, including Nvidia, AirTrunk, GDS, YTL Power, and Princeton Digital Group (PDG). Nvidia's supercomputer project, in collaboration with YTL Power, is also situated in Johor. In addition, Microsoft is reportedly planning to construct a new data center in Kulai within the Johor state after having acquired land there.

The Malaysian government supports the development of data centers in Johor and designated two parks, Sedenak Tech Park (STeP) and Nusajaya Tech Park, as industry accelerators to further bolster the sector's growth.

While Johor is poised to attract investments from more multinational enterprises due to its cheaper land and electricity supply, as well as lower operating costs compared to neighboring Singapore, the Singaporean government is actively promoting the "SG+1" initiative. This initiative is designed to encourage companies to establish headquarters in Singapore to leverage its status as an international hub, numerous free trade agreements, and easy access to professional talent.

Furthermore, the Singaporean government is embracing the trend of diversifying supply chains to neighboring areas of Singapore, including Johor and Indonesia's Batam. In January 2024, the Malaysian and Singaporean governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish the Johor-Singapore Economic Zone and facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and talent between the two areas.

Amidst the US-China trade tensions, Malaysia has emerged as a preferred destination for many multinational corporations pursuing a "China+1" strategy. Numerous US semiconductor manufacturers have established operations in Penang, while Johor is attracting American tech giants and their clients from China.

According to former Malaysian Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry, Ong Kian Ming, Chinese companies are also considering investing in data centers in Johor. However, some prefer to maintain a low profile to avoid unwanted attention from the US government.

Furthermore, Bridge Data Centres, backed by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, launched its data center in Sedenak Tech Park in October 2022, further solidifying Johor's position as a regional data center hub.

Data centers demand substantial amounts of water and electricity, and Johor has encountered water shortages and power outages in the past. Johor State Assemblyman Lee Ting Han has affirmed that the federal and state governments are dedicated to addressing water and electricity concerns. The state government is constructing Malaysia's largest power substation in Johor.
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Mechatronic Systemtechnik unveils state-of-the-art technology center in Furnitz

Mechatronic Systemtechnik GmbH (Mechatronic), a leading global supplier of automation equipment for critical wafer handling, proudly announces the opening of its new cutting-edge technology center in Furnitz, a village in the Carinthia, a southern Austrian region in the eastern Alps.

An investment exceeding EUR20 million in value, the new facility spans 6,500 square meters across three stories where a progressive clean room and laboratory are included. They are central to the planning, development, and production of the company's advanced systems.

Founded in 1998, Mechatronic specializes in addressing the semiconductor industry's needs for reliable, safe, and fully automated handling of non-standard substrates  including stacked, thin, or warped wafers, as well as eWLP, MEMS, TAIKO, bumped, and film frames.

The company achieved an average annual growth rate of 20% over the last five years, and this move is essential to meet burgeoning customer demand and accommodate future development. In response to the need for greater operational capacity, the management team made a strategic decision to relocate to Furnitz from its Villach site.

"We are excited about the capabilities this new facility brings to our operations," said Mr Walter Schober, CEO and Founder of Mechatronic. "The Technology Center not only expands our production capacity but also underscores our dedication to sustainable practices."

Environmental sustainability was a key priority in the design of the technology center. The entire building is heated and cooled using innovative methods, such as underfloor heating combined with heat recovery and concrete core activation.

Workspaces are also fitted with a lighting control system that mimics natural daylight, offering employees a conducive and productive work environment. Furthermore, the building features a solar photovoltaic (PV) system [with a capacity of 361 kWp] on its roof, which demonstrates Mechatronic's commitment to green technology and empowers the company to achieve its net zero carbon emissions goal.

The official opening of the technology center marks a new chapter for Mechatronic, reinforcing its position as a global leader in semiconductor handling solutions. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Philip Yeo, Chairman of Accuron Technologies remarked, "This new Technology Center is a milestone for both mechatronic and the Accuron Group. It demonstrates our long-term commitment to subsidiaries, employees, and host countries. We look forward to celebrating Mechatronic's achievements and industry contributions in the years ahead."

Mechatronic joined the Accuron family in 2017. The investment made by Accuron reflects a strong belief in the company's potential, alongside shared values of innovation, quality, and excellence.

The Furnitz site is around 35% larger than the current facility and will accommodate approximately 130 employees, with plans for additional recruitment to support future growth. Interested candidates are encouraged to visit the company's website at www.mechatronic.at for more information.
How Indian fabless startup's affordable new SoC will change India and global chip landscape

Indian fabless startup Mindgrove Technologies has introduced Secure IoT, a new RISC-V-based system on chip (SoC) to meet the increasing local demand.

The Chennai-based company, backed by Peak XV Partners, announced that its new chip would enable Indian OEMs to manufacture cost-effective, feature-rich devices. Clocked at 700 MHz, the chip is estimated to be 30 percent cheaper than comparable products on the market.

"India consumes over a billion chips a year, and anywhere between 10 to 50 million of them can be replaced by Secure IoT," said Shashwath TR, CEO and Co-Founder of Mindgrove Technologies

The company said the product is currently the only commercially available Indian chip in this segment. It is versatile and designed to handle various applications, from wearable devices like smartwatches to smart city infrastructure, including connected utilities such as electricity, water, and gas meters.

Additionally, it is well-suited for home automation systems including smart locks, fans, and speakers, as well as electric vehicle battery management and various other control systems.

Ready to meet demand

Naturally, India isn't the only market. Shashwath highlighted the global demand for microchips and expressed optimism that international buyers would also be enthusiastic about this new offering from India.

The company remains confident of its ability to meet the demand. Besides selling the chip, Mindgrove also offers design support to Indian brands to accelerate innovation and scale production in the country.

"Since we have already realized the physical design, making more chips is simply a question of manufacturing," Shashwath said. "The semiconductor supply chain we have leveraged is well equipped to deal with manufacturing and distributing chips, even at a scale of tens of millions of units. Secure IoT will be sold to companies looking to procure Indian chips for their use cases. We are talking to a few international players interested in using our chips in their products."

Aiming at mid-end market

Shashwath noted that the pandemic highlighted the significant disparity between high-end and low-end players in the embedded systems industry. The lower end of the market often prioritizes cost and volume over actual chip performance.

In response, Mindgrove Technologies aimed to design chips that cater to the middle market. Shashwath said that 'right-sizing' has been a key differentiator for Mindgrove, providing it with an advantage through enhanced flexibility, adaptability, security, and cost-efficiency, along with a robust support system.

"If you look at the current market, most of the chips are either expensive, feature-rich, high-end chips or cheap, unreliable, low-end ones," Shashwath said. "There is a gap for chips in the middle, especially in India. Secure IoT is designed to fill this gap. It is aptly designed for modern connected devices like smartwatches, meters, appliances, and even EV and other auto applications."

Security measures in place

Secure IoT has crypto-accelerators built into the silicon, making encryption and decryption much faster and safer than using software-based accelerators. It also has a One Time Programmable memory, equipped with a True Random Number Generator, making it secure even on silicon. This enables features such as chip-level secure boot.

Customers can either buy this chip and use it on their devices or get the chip along with an additional service to build their circuit board around it. "For teams that want more support, we can co-develop a design for their product," Shashwath said.
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Free period products will be rolled out at many Irish universities and colleges in a bid to ensure students are not disadvantaged due to their period.

That's according to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Patrick ODonovan TD, who today (May 7) announced funding of 500,000 to provide free period products for students.

The funding of 250,000 to ETBs and 250,000 to publicly-funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) aims to deliver free and sustainable period products for students as part of a Government commitment under the Period Dignity scheme.

Minister ODonovan said, "I am pleased to announce that my Department has secured 500,000 in Budget 2024 to seek to address period indignity in further and higher educational settings.

"This initiative promotes equality and respect across our educational sector and the funding will allow my Department to further enhance work in this important area. It will also allow us to build on previous initiatives to ensure that no students are disadvantaged in their education by period indignity."

Previously the Department worked on the Worryfree pilot, which was rolled out to nine further education and training colleges across six Education and Training Boards (ETBs).

The pilot delivered free, sustainable period products and dispensers for students in participating ETBs.

Minister ODonovan added, "I also wish to acknowledge the great work that is already taking place across a number of Higher Education Institutions where free period products are currently available.

"I look forward to enhancing provision across campuses and reducing disadvantage in this area."

Other work has already been taking place across HEIs where free period products are already available, such as Code Red in MTU, Any time of the month in University Limerick (UL), Brigits Basket in the National College of Ireland (NCI), and the End Period Poverty campaign in UCD.

Trinity College, DCU and Mary Immaculate College (MIC) also have similar initiatives currently running, with DCU devising a postal service for students who are unable to access products on campus.

Ireland's publicly-funded universities include University College Dublin, University College Cork, University of Galway, Maynooth University, University of Limerick, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, Technological University Dublin, Munster Technological University, Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Atlantic Technological University, and South East Technological University.
A leading paediatric cardiologist has warned Irish parents about red flags to look out for in childrens cardiac health.

Speaking to Dr Afif El Khuffash on The Baby Tribe podcast, paediatric cardiologist Professor Orla Franklin gave advice to parents of children and teenagers about common symptoms experienced by this cohort that may indicate heart disease.

She says: The most common one we see in boys is chest pain. Chest pain and growing teenagers is super common. Cardiac chest pain (angina) is very rare, even in children that we know have heart disease. As kids grow and stretch, what you find is that sometimes children and teenagers will develop short, sharp central chest pain that's not provoked by exercise. It's really sharp and then it's gone. It's gone as soon as it comes.

"There's excellent data now from multiple surveys involving tens of thousands of kids that these boys will be fine. But of course, the kids who come in are often super sporty, super active. They come from families who are very invested in maintaining their children's long term cardiac health. And so we see them, we see them, we do the screening and we make sure that there's nothing else going on. And we know from all of our own data, and from the worldwide literature that there's something else going on in less than 2% of these kids.

"The girls, and also to a lesser extent, the boys tend to experience problems with fainting. So we know as you go through puberty, 1 in 6 teenagers will faint. We know the peak ages for fainting is around 15. We see a lot of kids like this again, to screen for heart disease and make sure it's not there, which by and large it isn't. By and large, the complex stuff that we see in kids, they're born with, for children with symptoms of fainting, chest pain, they're by and large a healthy group.

When asked about other red flags to watch out for, Professor Franklin explained: We don't like any events relating to swimming or cold water immersion. We don't like it when we hear that a child was running and then they dropped. Most kids run, feel a bit unwell, look white in the face, get to the edge of the pitch and then they drop. That's a more benign phenomenon. We can be worried if we hear that this occurs in the context of a family history.

"The dynamic is changing a little bit. There used to be a lot of issues in relation to exercise, but now we realise that some of that is adrenaline release. And so now, for example, there are certain arrhythmias that are well described in boys playing video games, tragically and suddenly, a boy who has been invested and excited about a video game may drop, may have a sinkable event, anything like that. We need to see this child. We need to go through this with a fine tooth comb and try to find those kids and preserve their health."

Professor Franklin also speaks about the worry parents have about sudden death in children: Every single parent in Ireland is completely worried, and rightly so, about the risk of sudden death. It's something that we all really worry about. We've all stood at the side lines watching our kids get very flushed in the face, or come off a pitch looking white because they've given it their all and we think could there be something happening here?

"And, you know, finding those kids who have that risk because of heart muscle disease, because of inherited rhythm problems, that's something in the teenage group that we are super invested in doing. There's very good screening available for that. Should you have any red flags at all in your history where you think you might need to come in and for us to have a second look, we will look and hopefully our objective will be to get you back on the pitch. That's where we want you to be. We want to do the testing, reassure you and get you back out there with confidence.

In this interview, Professor Franklin also shares her journey to becoming a paediatric cardiologist. Her stories from the corridors of prestigious hospitals to the realities of healthcare in Ireland show the importance of early intervention in children's cardiovascular health and the societal factors childrens hearts.

This episode provides a unique perspective on prevalent heart conditions, recent advances in paediatric cardiology, and the challenges of dealing with congenital heart defects.

You can listen here.
Irish national broadcaster RTE should introduce and publish pay bands for its on-air presenters, according to long-awaited expert reports.

The recommendation is one of more than 100 contained in two reports which had been ordered by the Irish Government and were published on Tuesday, alongside an examination on the organisations use of off-balance sheet.

Minister for Media Catherine Martin published the Government-commissioned reviews and examinations of practices at RTE.

The first review of RTEs governance and culture was prepared by Professor Niamh Brennan  and a separate review of contractor fees, human resources and other matters was chaired by Brendan McGinty.

Both reviews have led to a total of 116 recommendations.

These include assigning the Comptroller and Auditor General as auditor of RTE; modernise the legislation governing the role of the RTE Board; improve and resource the risk and compliance functions within RTE.

It also recommended requiring RTE to include a financial or formula cap in any future exit scheme; reforming the approach to engaging and paying presenters; improve the functioning of the RTE Board and its committees; and ensure greater transparency for higher executive pay.

It further recommended to improve the accountability of the director general to the RTE Board; strengthen the implementation of gender, equality, diversity and inclusion policies in the broadcaster; and ensure the review of roles and grades and forthcoming review of allowances in RTE are effective, transparent and include consultation with employees.

The cost of three reports has amounted to around 570,000 euro to date, however the cost is expected to reach as much as one million euro as the department awaits confirmation of further invoices.

The review of governance and culture includes 90 recommendations to reform RTEs corporate governance framework, its organisational culture and its way of doing business.

The review of its HR practices made 26 detailed recommendations, including improving the oversight and mechanisms by which it engages contractors and presenters and the use of short-term employment contracts and employment terms and conditions in RTE.

The Government said it has accepted in principle all 116 recommendations made by the expert advisory committees.

RTE will now be required to prepare an implementation plan within six weeks, setting out the actions and associated timelines that it will take to implement the recommendations.

The implementation plan will be overseen by a monitoring group, composed of the Ministers department and senior representatives and NewERA (New Economy and Recovery Authority).

RTE was plunged into crisis in June last year after it admitted understating the fees for its star presenter and previous top-earner Ryan Tubridy.

A series of probing parliamentary committee hearings also uncovered other concerns about culture, governance and financial management at RTE and there have been several high-profile resignations from the board and executive of the station.

Disclosures during the scandal revealed the use of barter accounts by the broadcasters commercial wing.

Barter accounts are commonplace in the media industry to allow organisations to exchange advertising airtime that would otherwise go unsold in return for goods and services from companies.

However, RTEs use of the accounts came under intense scrutiny and a previous report found that there were significant gaps in controls and record keeping.

The organisation commissioned external auditors to produce reports on the Tubridy payments, the use of barter accounts and voluntary exit schemes as well as an ill-fated musical which accrued millions of euros in losses.

However, Ms Martin has said the two independent expert reports which were ordered by her Department will form the main basis for the Governments decision on reforming the funding of public-service broadcasting in Ireland, including RTE.

A pre-existing steady decline in licence fee revenue was accelerated by the expanding controversy.

RTE operates on a dual-funding model that sees around 55% of its income brought in through the obligatory licence fee, which costs 160 euro a year for Irish households with a television.

Approximately 85% of revenue from TV licence fees goes to RTE to carry out its public service broadcasting commitments, while it also earns money through commercial operations.

RTEs director-general Kevin Bakhurst, who assumed the role in the early weeks of the crisis, has also announced a strategic plan for reforming the institution by 2028.

It includes cutting headcount by 400  a reduction of up to 20%  and a significant increase in investment in the independent production sector.

RTE said it has welcomed the publication of the reports.

In a statement, RTE said that it accepts in principle the recommendations made in the two expert advisory committee reports.

The broadcaster said its board and the RTEs interim leadership team will take time to fully review all three reports, including the recommendations.

RTE has begun a programme of works to deliver on the recommendations, it said.

RTE chairman Terence ORourke said: RTE has supported both Expert Advisory Committees and Mazars in their work and we welcome the publication of their reports by Government today.

Their analyses and their recommendations, all of which we accept in principle, will make a significant contribution to the task of rebuilding trust in RTE. RTE is tasked with providing a vital public service.

The organisations corporate governance, transparency and operations must be of a standard commensurate with that mandate. The board is focused on returning RTE to levels of corporate governance and transparency that should define it. We look forward to working with Government, staff in RTE and all our stakeholders, in delivering the process of transformation that commenced last year.
A retired garda who sent his ex-wife's solicitor bullets and threatened to kill his children has been jailed for two years.

Maurice O'Carroll (63), with an address in Co Wexford, was found guilty by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of two counts of harassment and two counts of threatening to kill the solicitor and his wife on dates between December 2019 and September 2020 following a trial last November.

Detective Garda Barry Brennan told Kieran Kelly BL, prosecuting, that O'Carroll harassed and threatened to kill the family of the solicitor who represented his ex-wife in divorce proceedings.

The court heard O'Carroll developed an animosity towards the solicitor, and he sent five letters to the man's home address where he lived with his family.

The first letter was addressed to the solicitor's wife and alleged that her husband was a gambler, a cheater and was involved in genocide, gun-running, and arms dealing.

The letter said: Your world and that of especially your children, is about to come crumbling down and that the children would be targeted, saying a tremendous amount of pain and suffering will befall them.

Another letter asked the solicitor's wife to pick one of (her) children to die, while another alleged that her husband was involved with a lowkey, private prostitute in Wexford.

The final letter the wife received contained a live and a spent bullet, and said: You won't even see it coming. That's a promise.

Sentencing O'Carroll, Judge Sarah Berkeley said: For someone to behave in this fashion as an ex-member of An Garda Siochana, having an unblemished history, is quite incredible.

She noted O'Carroll made things extremely difficult for his victims, who knew he was a former garda and that he knew their address. The effects were extremely profound, and O'Carroll took away their sense of security and imposed fear.

The judge noted that O'Carroll, who represented himself at trial, presented as a pleasant man and was not difficult to deal with. The court heard O'Carroll had written a letter of apology and had 20,000 for his victims, which they declined to accept.

The judge handed down a sentence of three years and suspended the final year on a number of conditions, including that he refrain from contacting his victims for a period of five years.

In a victim impact statement handed into the court and read out on his behalf, the solicitor described how the harassment and threats were a huge concern for him, leading him to install security cameras at his home and take great care going about his daily business.

The solicitor said O'Carroll has never shown any remorse and expressed apprehension that he would continue his campaign against him.

His wife also handed in a victim impact statement to the court. I was scared stiff of the threats O'Carroll made, she said.

I really feared that he was capable of violence. I still do not feel safe, she added.

John Griffin BL, defending, said his client had a long and unblemished work history as a member of An Garda Siochana. He had 30 years of exemplary service before he retired in 2013, the court heard. He has no prior convictions and has been in custody since last November.

Mr Griffin submitted his client was remorseful but agreed with Judge Sarah Berkeley that it was worrying that a Probation Services report before the court asserted that while O'Carroll is remorseful for the hurt he caused the solicitor's wife, he still has anger issues against the solicitor.
The number of tourists travelling into Northern Ireland from the Irish Republic has almost doubled in a year, new figures have indicated.

Tourism NI welcomed the figures relating to numbers of overnight visitors from the Republic as unprecedented.

According to figures released by the Republics Central Statistics Office, 1.3 million overnight trips were taken by visitors from the Republic to Northern Ireland in 2023, up 46% compared to 2022.

These trips translated into almost three million overnight stays and spending of more than 267m, an increase of 48% on the numbers recorded in 2022.

The CSO data also indicated that all types of tourism grew rapidly in 2023, from holiday trips to visiting friends and relatives, and business tourism.

Tourism NI chief executive, John McGrillen said the figures demonstrate the potential growth in the sector.

These results are exceptional, especially given the tough economic climate and the increased levels of competition from other destinations, he said.

We are clearly reaping the rewards of additional investment in new visitor experiences in recent years, and increased marketing and promotion in the Republic of Ireland.

Our research shows that every part of Northern Ireland is benefiting from this investment and the very strong growth in visitor numbers and spend which has resulted from it.

While there continue to be challenges for the industry, these results demonstrate tourisms growth potential as we look to the future.
'The Boss' is back in Ireland for four concerts this month, with tens of thousands of Irish fans set to rock on with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in Belfast, Kilkenny, Dublin and Cork.

Arguably the most important part of the trip (other than securing a ticket!) is a good parking spot.

You've got your ticket and accommodation, you've chosen your outfit, you even know what merch you're going to pick up, but none of it matters without a good place to park.

The perfect spot - or even an acceptable spot - can be very hard to find depending on the venue, and with thousands of others fans looking for the same thing, it's best to prepare ahead of time.

Here are the best places to park for May's gigs:

UPMC Nowlan Park, Kilkenny (Sunday May 12)

Car parks close to Nowlan Park include O'Loughlin Gaels GAA Club, McDonagh Junction Shopping Centre, and Kilkenny County Council Car Park off Maudlin Street.

Over 1,000 parking spaces are available at MacDonagh Junction, which will be operating on a pre-booked basis only for 11 from 4pm - 1am.

Concert goers are reminded that the area around Nowlan Park is residential and are urged to park responsibly.

Boucher Playing Fields, Belfast (Thursday May 9)

Unfortunately, there is no parking available in the vicinity of Boucher Playing Fields, with most concert-goers urged to use bus and rail transport options.

Translink offers a special deal on public transport to events, and Bruce Springsteen's 2024 World Tour is no different.

While the Bus Special is currently sold out, the Rail Special is still available, with hundreds of seats up for grabs upon writing.

Additionally, a train can be taken from Great Northern Mall to City Council Depot (with a 5 minute walk to Boucher Playing Fields), and Lancefield Road (plus a 12 minute walk).

Parking in Belfast City Center includes Q-Park in Victoria Square (open 24 hours), and Hi Park (closes 11pm).

SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork (Thursday May 16)

No parking is available at Pairc Ui Chaoimh for concert goers, except for 15 parking spaces for wheelchair users.

Specific Wheelchair permits need to be requested in writing from Cork County Board (contact (021) 4963311 or send a letter of request to Cork GAA, Mainport, Monahan Road, Cork City).

Gardai recommend people walk 15 minutes to the grounds from the City Centre where possible, with city parking available at Cork City Car Parks, Cork City Q Parks, Blackrock GAA Club, and Cork Constitution Rugby Club.

The recommended drop off point is near Pairc Ui Rinn on Boreenmanna Road, which is a 5 minute walk to the stadium.

Alternatively, public transport is available for concert goers:

According to the Pairc Ui Chaoimh website, Route 202 operates from Merchants Quay to Mahon Point and customers can board at Merchants Quay in the City Centre or at Mahon Point, to be dropped off at Ballintemple, adjacent to Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

The stadium is a 5 minute walk from this stop.

The enhanced Route 202 will reportedly operate a direct bus from Lapps Quay to Monaghan Road adjacent to Pairc Ui Chaoimh every 10 minutes.

After the concert, Route 202 will depart from The Venue Bar Ballintemple to the City Centre, while Route 215 or 219 stops at the Churchyard Lane stop which is 10 minutes to the stadium.

Croke Park, Dublin (Sunday May 19)

Parking around Croke Park is limited as the area surrounding the stadium is residential.

However, a limited number of spaces for those with accessible needs is available at Croke Park.

Concert goers should be aware of parking restrictions around the venue, as well as increased traffic volumes and potential significant delays.

The stadium is well sign posted from the city and from cordon entry points, and attendees can plan their walking route by using Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps

O'Connell Schools' Supervised Car Park on North Circular Road is open for 2 hours before all events until 1 hour after with a cost of 10 per car.

Park Rite at the Parnell Centre Car Park is another option for concert-goers, as well as Q-Park at The Spire car park on Marlborough Street (open 24 hours).

Alternatively, bus routes serving Croke Park include 1, H1, H2, H3, 7, 11, 13, 14, 16, 27/A/B, 29A, 31/A/B, 32, 33, 40/B/D, 41/B/C, 42, 43, 44, 53, 123, and 130.

The Luas Red Line stop at Connolly Station is just a 15-minute walk to Croke Park, and the stadium is a similar walking distance from both Parnell and Marlborough stops on the Luas Green Line.

All four concerts begin at 7pm on their respective nights.
TOKYO, May 07 (News On Japan) - Tokyo police arrested a 32-year-old man on Monday in connection the death of his common-law wife's parents, whose charred bodies were found last month by a riverside in eastern Japan.

The police believe Seiha Sekine may have been the mastermind of the incident that led to restaurant operator Ryutaro Takarajima, 55, and his wife Sachiko, 56, being found murdered in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, on April 16, the sources said.

Four other people had already been arrested in connection with the murders, but none of them knew the couple before the incident, according to the sources.

Related: Four Arrested in Nasu Double Murder Potentially Met at Shibuya Club

Source: NEWS
Louth Labour TD, Ged Nash, is calling for the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda to become a regional hub for IVF treatment to address long waiting times for IVF patients living in Louth and attending the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.

Deputy Nash recently tabled a series of parliamentary questions relating to IVF treatment for Louth patients under the new and, what he calls, "very welcome public treatment programme", to the Minister for Health.

Deputy Nash commented: I have been contacted by local couples whose wait for an initial appointment at the Rotunda is unacceptably long. I was shocked to learn that patients in Louth are waiting seven months for IVF treatment at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, when the HSE officially aims to have IVF referrals seen within six weeks.

It has been confirmed to me by the RCSI Hospital Group that there are currently 78 people in County Louth who are on the waiting list for IVF treatment in the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.

The current average waiting time for those County Louth patients is a staggering. At seven months it is putting locals through an agonising wait in an already long, stressful and time-sensitive process.

The Louth Labour TD continued: It seems to me, the answer to these unacceptable delays is to work to establish a regional IVF treatment centre for the North-East at the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. If the service is to grow and to meet demand, this is what will need to happen.

According to the National Women and Infants Health Programme, within the HSE, patients refer to one of the existing six regional IVF hubs should be seen within six weeks but the wait for Louth patients attending the Rotunda is now an average of seven months.

I acknowledge there are a number of private providers of IVF services. The expense involved had put IVF out of the reach of too many. It is clear in the first year of operation that the six public regional hubs are insufficient to cope with the demand for these services.

The Lourdes Hospital already has the expertise in obstetrics in place and would in my view be the ideal location to site a seventh regional hub, catering to patients seeking IVF treatment in the North-East.

Deputy Nash concluded: Access to IVF treatment cannot be allowed to become some kind of post-code lottery and patients from County Louth seeking this life-changing treatment cannot be put at any disadvantage, purely based on their address.

I will continue to press the Minister for Health and the HSE on this issue and push for the establishment of a new regional IVF services hub for the North-East at the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
Schools from across the North Leinster and South Ulster region recently came together with hundreds of their second-level student peers to compete in the SciFest@DkIT 2024 regional competition at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).

On the day this exciting and high energy event had 140 projects on exhibition and almost 300 second level students in attendance. The judges had an extremely difficult task of shortlisting the regional winners due to the high calibre of projects presented.

Students from Louth took home six individual awards to the Wee County, winners included St Olivers Community College who picked up two awards, the SciFest Maths in Science Award was bestowed on Leah Newman for the Out of this world rollercoasters  A Mathematical Investigation into the factors which influence rollercoaster motion and how these vary on other planets and the SciFest Business Excellence Institute Award was won by Laura Rothwell & Niamh Floyd for the project on What are the effects of sleep therapy techniques on quality of sleep.

St Marys Diocesan School also picked up two awards on the day, student Cillian OKelly received the ESERO Discovery Space Student Award for his project entitled The Effect of Microgravity on Plants and his teacher Sophie Caine was bestowed the Discover Space Teacher Award.

St Vincents Secondary School Dundalk won the SciFest Physics Award for their project An attempt to create an improved artificial version of the Helicopter seed produced by acer Pseudoplatanus, a project by Erin Roe, Dearbhla McKenna & Erin Finnegan.

Ardee Community School saw Hayden Higgins Lynch & Ema Matulyte pick up the prestigious Regeneron Life Sciences Award for Enzyme catalases activity and inhibition when interacting with prescribed and over the counter medicine for various health conditions.

SciFest@DkIT co-ordinator Dr Edel Healy, Head of School of Health & Science, DkIT said:

Today on campus has been a great day, we really enjoyed welcoming the post primary students and their teachers from our region to SciFest 2024. A massive thank you to our sponsors Intel, Boston Scientific, EirGrid, The Department of Education and all SciFest sponsors from industry and academia.

It was such a wonderful day, and we were all inspired with the inventiveness and ingenuity of all the projects. We can safely say the future is bright for STEM in the Northeast.

SciFest is an all-island STEM initiative which fosters active, collaborative and inquiry-based learning among second-level students. The programme operates throughout the school year and, being locally and regionally based and free-to-enter, is highly inclusive and accessible. Winners from each regional STEM fair go on to compete at a National Final in November.
Trinity College has announced a series of measures in response to concerns raised by students taking part in a pro-Palestinian encampment protest on its grounds.

Visitors have been unable to access the historic Book of Kells since the action began on Friday evening when the activists set up tents inside the campus of the prestigious Dublin university.

The students taking part in the protest have vowed to maintain the blockade until the university cuts all ties with Israel.

University management met with student representatives on Monday to discuss the situation.

Following the meeting, Trinity confirmed it had initiated a process to divest from investments in companies that are active in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as identified on the UN Blacklist. It said this process would be completed by June.

Trinity is also setting up a taskforce to examine its links to Israeli universities and institutions in other states.

The university also made clear it supported the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must take all measures prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.

The college also outlined details of its initiative to support Palestinian scholars taking places on Trinity courses.

Trinity also made clear it was treating the encampment as an internal matter  a statement that appeared to rule out the university calling in gardai.

A further meeting with student representatives is scheduled for Tuesday.

We wish for a return to normal services for our students, staff, and the public as soon as possible, Trinity said in a statement.

Outgoing students union president Laszlo Molnarfi described the development as a partial victory.

He insisted the protest would continue until all their demands are met.

This proves the power of student and staff protest for Palestine, and this should raise the confidence for other students to push for apartheid free campuses, he posted on X.

Weve witnessed a historic mass movement on the march for seven months, and while our partial victory today is just the first step, it hopefully will be one towards ending Irelands complicity in the oppression of Palestinians, bringing them closer to a liberated future.

The scenes at Trinity follow a wave of similar student protests at university campuses across the US.

The encampment was initiated days after it emerged that the university authorities had fined the students union more than 200,000 euro over previous protests on campus.

It invoiced the union for 214,285 euro after a series of demonstrations about fees and rent, as well as pro-Palestinian solidarity protests.

The university cited a loss of revenue due to blockades of the Book of Kells and famous Long Room library among the reasons for the fine.

The protesting students are calling for a retroactive amnesty for students involved in protests on campus and the rescinding of the bill imposed on the students union.
A united Ireland would be the most desirable outcome for people and communities across Ireland, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said.

The former Irish leader, who played a significant role enabling the landmark Belfast/Good Friday peace agreement in 1998, said unity is not a short-term goal.

He also challenged those who backed a united Ireland to be prepared to put in the hard yards.

Mr Ahern is set to take part in a New Ireland Commission in conversation event at Leinster House on Tuesday.

The discussion is set to focus on the SDLP initiatives mission to build a detailed prospectus for Irish unity, building on the experience of leaders across Ireland who spilled their sweat for peace.

Speaking ahead of the event, Mr Ahern said: I fundamentally believe that the vision for a new Ireland based on the consent of the people who share this island, as set out in the Good Friday Agreement, is not just possible but it is the most desirable outcome for people and communities across Ireland.

It is not a short-term goal. All of those who believe in change must be committed to putting in the hard yards to build a prospectus that reaches across traditional divides and demonstrates to our unionist neighbours that they will be respected, their traditions will be cherished and their children will be at home in the new Ireland we build together.

This commission is a serious political project and I look forward to contributing my own experiences of working towards a common goal with communities across Ireland.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood described the event as the latest in a series across Ireland.

We are delighted that former taoiseach Bertie Ahern will provide his insights into the campaign to build a new Ireland, he said.

Berties long association with peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland and his commitment, in particular, to meaningful engagement with those from a unionist background provide important lessons for those of us who believe in a new future for everyone who shares our island.

This is the latest in a series of engagement events that the New Ireland Commission has held in Belfast, Derry, London, Bellaghy and Dublin.

We are committed to engaging with people and communities across these islands to build a prospectus for change. Indeed, we believe we are best placed to bridge the gaps between our communities.

I look forward to hearing from Bertie and to building on the work of creating a new Ireland for everyone.
TOKYO, May 07 (News On Japan) - In the case of a couple's burned bodies found in eastern Japan, Tokyo police have arrested a 36-year-old man, a real estate company executive and acquaintance of the couple.

The newly arrested suspect, Ryo Maeda, faces charges of corpse mutilation. On April 16, the burned bodies of Ryutaro Takarajima, 55, and his wife Sachiko, 56, were found in Nasushiobara. Earlier, on May 6, the couple's daughter's common-law husband, Seiha Sekine, 32, and four others were arrested. Maeda is the sixth person to be arrested in connection with the case.

According to investigative sources, Maeda, an acquaintance of the Takarajimas, managed a vacant house in Shinagawa Ward where they are believed to have been assaulted. Maeda also knows Sekine.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department suspects that Sekine was the ringleader and is currently investigating Maeda's role and communication channels with other suspects, including those giving and executing orders.

Related: Is Daughter's Partner Mastermind Behind Murder of Parents?

Source: ANN
TOKYO, May 07 (News On Japan) - To keep pace with the intense international competition in space development, the Japanese government has launched the necessary Space Strategy Fund to accelerate Japan's space exploration activities.

The fund, designed to grow the country's space business, is set to operate over a 10-year period with an allocation of 1 trillion yen. The government has recently announced the first 22 themes to support startups and universities.

A few years ago, it was common for the government to lead rocket development. However, recognizing the need to win future global competition, Japan has decided that harnessing private sector power is crucial. In the United States, companies like SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, are taking the lead. China, Russia, and India are also stepping up their efforts. The space-related market is projected to grow to 1 trillion USD, or approximately 150 trillion yen, by the 2040s. Can Japan establish a strong presence?

In a segment on BS TV Tokyo's "Nikkei News Plus 9" aired on May 6, the discussion focused on the increasing reality of space travel and spaceports in Japan.

Introducing the guests, first is Kojiro Hatada, President of the rocket development startup Future Space Transportation System. Next is Shoji Kodama, an editorial writer at The Nikkei, who is well-versed in the space industry.

Recently, Japan and Europe agreed to collaborate on lunar exploration and asteroid observation. Kodama, what do you think of this partnership?

"In space development, the U.S. has an overwhelming advantage. Additionally, China and Russia, which have both succeeded in human spaceflight, form the top group. Japan and Europe are in the second group. Moving forward, cooperation between Japan and Europe on issues such as lunar development and space debris will increase their presence."

Is this a joint venture between two second-tier groups?

"Yes, it's important to show presence and not be left behind."

The U.S.-Japan cooperation involves the Artemis program for human lunar landings, with Japanese participation. Hatada, what do you think of such international cooperation?

"Until now, each country conducted space development independently, but the U.S.-Japan partnership has deepened significantly. One reason is that space development is challenging and expensive, so collaboration is key. Additionally, China has been developing space stations and lunar sample return missions on its own, so the U.S. is keen to develop space jointly with allies like Japan. We, in the private sector, are also benefiting from such government partnerships. Our company is collaborating with U.S. ventures, leveraging government cooperation."

However, in terms of budget and rocket launches, Japan lags behind in international competitiveness. Hatada's company is developing rockets and aims to start space tourism. We'll discuss this in detail after this feature.

Continuing the feature, here is an international comparison in the space sector. For instance, last year, the U.S. had 104 rocket launches, while Japan had only two, showing a significant gap. Kodama, how do you view this?

"America's dominance is undeniable. Out of 104 U.S. launches, 96 were from SpaceX. While America is strong, private sector-wise, SpaceX is leading, and other companies have room to catch up."

What is behind SpaceX's dominance?

"Elon Musk's determination is crucial. NASA's support has also been significant. Their mindset of learning from failures and rapidly improving has led to success."

How does Japan's space industry categorize?

"Hatada's company focuses on reusable rockets. SpaceX is commercially successful, but Japan's JAXA succeeded in reusable rocket tests 15 years ago. However, as a research institute, it didn't pursue business. We plan to use reusable rocket technology for satellite launches and space tourism."

Hatada's company plans 7-night space trips starting in 2040.

"People often say the price is too low, but to achieve this, we need to cut current space costs by two digits, which is challenging."

The key to reducing costs is effective reuse. SpaceX's reusable rockets are used 10-20 times, but the aim is for over 1,000 reuses, like aircraft.

How is Japan developing spaceports for space tourism?

"Japan's geography offers great potential for spaceports. If private companies lead, real estate developers and contractors can create tourism opportunities."

How does the public-to-private shift in space development look?

"NASA contracting services to private companies sparked a trend. Private involvement accelerates development."

How crucial is space as an industry?

"Space is becoming infrastructure, essential for society, like internet from satellites."

How does Hatada view Japan's space startups, which have increased to over 100?

"Japan's space startups have increased tenfold in six or seven years, but globally, we are still lagging. However, there is potential to catch up."

Source: BIZ
TOKYO, May 07 (News On Japan) - The price of seaweed, commonly used in rice balls, has been rising, impacting the availability of onigiri in convenience stores.

The "Equation of Prices" examines how various prices in society are determined, featuring commentator Takanao Murano from Radio Nikkei, who has written extensively on prices for The Nikkei.

Murano introduced today's topic as "Turmoil for Rice Balls: Poor Harvest Drives Seaweed Prices to Record Highs." Seaweed is essential not only for sushi but also for rice balls, popular both at home and in convenience stores.

How much have prices increased? Seaweed is measured in sheets, 21 cm by 19 cm. Trading takes place from November to May, referred to as the "nori season." The seaweed is auctioned or sold in bulk by the fishing cooperatives to processors. The average price for the current year, 2023, is around 21.10 yen per sheet, over 20% higher than the previous year, and is currently at a record high. Historically, prices hovered around 11 yen per sheet, but in 2022, they rose sharply, nearly doubling over two years

As the producer price increases, it inevitably affects consumer prices. From June, major manufacturers have announced price hikes, with Shirako raising prices by 12% to 18%, Omoriya by 12% to 22%, and Hagoromo Foods by 13.5% to 20%. The poor harvest is primarily due to two factors.

First is the rising sea temperature. Unlike fish, seaweed cannot swim away, making it vulnerable to changes in sea conditions. Nori thrives in cold waters, but in 2023, sea temperatures did not drop sufficiently, delaying the deployment of aquaculture nets by several weeks.

The second factor is red tide. In the Ariake Sea, which produces about 40% of Japan's seaweed, red tide occurrences have increased. Red tide, caused by massive algal blooms, absorbs nutrients, depriving the seaweed of essential nourishment, leading to poor growth.

Japan's annual seaweed consumption is between 7.5 billion and 8 billion sheets. Currently, around 4.9 billion sheets are expected to be harvested in 2023, down from over 8 billion in the past. For two consecutive years, production has not met 5 billion sheets, covering only about 60% of domestic consumption.

Murano visited a major seaweed producer, Shirako, which began operations near Tokyo Bay. President Harada explained that the rising cost of raw seaweed has forced a price increase. He stated, "The supply situation will be challenging. Last year, prices rose as well, so we are announcing an average increase of about 11%."

The price increase affected sales, with revenues declining to about 90% of the previous year's level. Harada remarked, "Sales prices rose 30%, but revenue fell 10%."

Source: BIZ
China's AG600 amphibious aircraft completes initial water-rescue verification

Xinhua) 11:09, May 07, 2024

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China's independently-developed AG600 large amphibious aircraft has completed the initial verification of its water-rescue capabilities, according to Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).

An AG600 tech-demonstrator in late April carried out the water-rescue verification at the reservoir of the amphibian Zhanghe Airport in Jingmen in central China's Hubei Province, said the AVIC, China's leading aircraft manufacturer.

This move is key for the AG600 large amphibious aircraft to effectively meet the demands arising from the country's emergency-rescue system construction efforts, said the AVIC.

It also marks a new major breakthrough for the AG600 aircraft family and provides tech-support for the follow-up development of the search-and-rescue variant, the developer added.

China's AG600 large amphibious aircraft family is being developed as vital advanced aeronautical equipment to strengthen the country's emergency-rescue capabilities. The aircraft family is tailored to carry out rescue missions such as firefighting, and maritime search and rescue in all types of terrains across the country.

The AG600 series amphibious aircraft features a unique configuration consisting of an integrated aircraft-shaped upper body and ship-bottom-shaped lower body.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Zhong Wenxing)
TOKYO, May 08 (News On Japan) - The United States is moving towards easing cannabis regulations, while Japan maintains strict controls. How should Japan approach cannabis in the future?

Some may think cannabis is freely available in the U.S., but this is a misconception. In fact, cannabis use is still prohibited in roughly half of U.S. states.

Previously, the U.S. categorized drugs into five classes based on abuse potential. Cannabis was classified as "Schedule I," the most dangerous category, alongside heroin. However, a new policy will reclassify cannabis at the same level as some painkillers. The Associated Press reported that this easing of regulations removes a major hurdle for nationwide legalization.

Several U.S. states, including New York, Nevada, and Illinois, have already legalized cannabis. But this trend is not unique to the U.S.

In 2018, Canada legalized cannabis, and last month, Germany followed suit. It seems that global attitudes towards cannabis are becoming more positive.

However, Japan is taking a different approach. The country is expected to enact a revised law, including changes to the Cannabis Control Act, this year.

Health Minister Takemi stated, "We believe that making it an offense to use cannabis will curb the spread of abuse."

Previously, cannabis possession and transfer were punishable offenses in Japan. The revised law also prohibits use and introduces penalties. The measure aims to prevent misuse among young people, but it has drawn criticism online.

Source: ANN
THE HSE has said that ongoing works at Millstreet Community Hospital are expected to be completed and the facility open and operational by the end of the year.

Refurbishment and extension works at the hospital, which provides 24-hour nursing care to residents aged over 65, are currently at snag stage, Tess ODonovan, chief officer of Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, told the regional health forum meeting for the southern region in recent days.

The HSE hopes to register the building with the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) in the next four weeks, she added, in a written response to a query from Fine Gael councillor Eileen Lynch.

Subject to commissioning, handover and successful completion of HIQA registration, it is anticipated that the extended and refurbished hospital will be fully resourced and operational during Q4, 2024 pending maintenance of adequate staffing levels to deliver optimal care to our residents, Ms ODonovan said.

In October of last year, the HSE had stated that works at Millstreet Community Hospital would continue on a phased basis with subsequent HIQA registrations and are expected to be completed by June 2024.

Ms Lynch said that while the delay was disappointing, the planned opening of the hospital by the end of the year was welcome.

The most important thing here is that it will be open very soon and the development is in the final stages. Better late than never, she said.

Im delighted to see it progressing, its obviously something thats badly needed in the region, and its a fantastic facility that will be of massive benefit to the area.
VULNERABLE people are being removed from Cork hospital waiting lists without ever receiving any treatment, a Cork GP has said.

Figures revealed to The Echo under the Freedom of Information Act show that almost 80,000 people on waiting lists for outpatient and inpatient appointments in Cork were sent letters asking if they still needed treatment in 2023 as part of a National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) validation scheme.

This scheme involves hospital administration contacting patients on waiting lists to ensure that they are still available to attend appointments or require their procedure, as some may have made alternative arrangements such as a private appointment due to the length of time waiting.

Of 79,779 people who were sent letters from six Cork hospitals asking if they wanted to remain on the waiting list, 12,269 people did not respond, and 13,346 were taken off the lists.

Dr John Sheehan, a GP in Blackpool and Fianna Fail councillor for Cork City North West, said patients being removed from lists they wanted to stay on is something he sees on a regular basis.

Dr Sheehan said that his practice often has to write to hospitals to get people back on the lists.

Cork University Hospital sent out the most letters at 41,774, followed by South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital at 18,238, the Mercy University Hospital at 12,754, Mallow General Hospital at 4,755, Bantry Hospital at 1,456, and Cork University Maternity Hospital at 802.

Overall, just over 15% of those contacted did not reply, and just under 17% were taken off the list, suggesting that only 1,077 responded saying that they were happy to be taken off the list as they had received treatment elsewhere, while the remainder were removed for not replying.

There is difficulty with these letters for a lot of people, Dr Sheehan explained.

There could be language barriers, or literacy issues, and the system not designed for people who move around  if youre a young person or student or new to the country, the letter could go to an old address and suddenly youre taken off the list.

Its a significant concern for us, he said.

We get notified about some of these people getting taken off, some we dont, if we do we often contact the patient, and frequently they have not heard anything about it.

Another vulnerable group who might not reply to their letters despite wanting to stay on the list is older people, he said.

They get a letter saying theyre on the list, then six months later another asking if they still need the treatment.

They may not realise or may have forgotten what its about, and they are often afraid to do anything, with all the scams going around, many are nervous to reply to anything.

Dr Sheehan called for a digital system to be used instead of relying solely on letters.

People tend to hang onto their mobile phone number longer than their address, he said. Its generally the more vulnerable patients that this happens to: They come in, they think theyre on the list because they havent heard anything about being taken off it, he said.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) previously noted that the three main waiting lists reduced by just over 3% last year, considerably less than the 10% target reduction, saying that modest reduction in waiting lists would not even have been achieved had it not been for the fact that so many people were removed from the lists without treatment.

A spokesperson for the South/South West Hospital Group told The Echo: The use of the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) is a core element in the delivery of timely clinical care to patients and also ensures waiting lists are accurate.

The programme is just one of a number of initiatives introduced across the HSE that has successfully led to an ongoing reduction in waiting lists.
A NEW study which looks at cardiac arrests in Ireland has revealed that survival was 65% higher in urban areas than in rural areas.

A cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly stops beating and malfunctions. The study, co-authored by a professor of emergency medicine in both UCC and CUH into resuscitation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Ireland, looked at more than 18,000 cardiac arrests occurring between 2012 and 2020, and found that overall, survival was 5.8%, with the highest survival found in patients who had bystander defibrillation at 30%.

However, only 6.8% of all patients were in this category, and just a 1% survival rate was found in patients who did not have defibrillation attempted at any stage, which was the situation for over two thirds of patients at 68.3%.

The median age and call response interval were lower in survivors, and urban location was associated with increased odds of survival when compared to rural location.

Survival rate

The survival rate of those who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in an urban setting was 65% higher than those who had a cardiac arrest in a rural setting, with a 4% survival rate in rural areas and a 6.6% survival rate in urban areas.

Over one third of all patients had OHCA [out-of-hospital cardiac arrest] in a rural setting and thus the survival differential is a significant issue at population level, the report noted.

Professor Conor Deasy was one of the authors of the report.

Weve known that theres been an urban/rural difference for quite some time, it was on the strength of that knowledge that Community First Responder (CFR) programmes in Ireland were started, he told The Echo.

Basically, they help educate people in areas who organise themselves into a CFR team how to use an AED defibrillator and how to perform chest compressions.

The programmes are supported by the ambulance services, because we recognise that even with the best will in the world, we could never have enough ambulances and ambulance staff to reach every corner of the country within eight minutes  thats the timeline that they should be there.

It was recognised that the rural response time was longer than eight minutes, and even the urban response time was longer, so a big effort [is] made to support CFRs.

He explained: What that means is that if youre in, say, Ballinspittle, and you drop, somebody rings 999 and says: My loved one has dropped, they are not breathing and not responding, the person on the phone in Tallaght gives instructions to perform chest compressions and activates the highest level of blue-light response. But, in parallel to that, an automated text message is sent to a Community First Responder group geofenced in that area.

Media coverage

Prof Deasy added that media coverage is very valuable for encouraging others to get involved in a CFR group.

Its not for everyone  you have to be fit enough to administer chest compressions, and brave enough to go into a place where someone is potentially dead, he said.

Ireland lives in a very dispersed way, 40% of the population lives in rural conurbations, so it makes delivery of emergency services very difficult.

He added that public access to defibrillators was important, but that often cardiac arrest happens in homes, adding: It will often be your loved one who collapses and that you need to perform CPR on.
THE ever-popular Ballydehob Jazz Festival came to an end for another year yesterday, with the West Cork village once again attracting musicians from all over the world and droves of visitors for the annual event.

The community- and volunteer-run music and art festival returned from May 3-6, featuring more than 30 performances from Irish and international acts such as The Bonk, Donal Dineen, The Lava Birds, Tacla, Becca Ruane, and BoolaBoom.

Festival highlights this year included a debut from outdoor circus show Pirate Taxi; the Bootleggers Ball featuring the Canibal Dandies; DJs and dancers; and the legendary New Orleans-style funeral parade on Sunday, which was themed the Carnival Of Creatures and led by Modh Coinniollach (the Good Mood) muppet.

Leading the parade at the Ballydehob Jazz Festival Photo: Eddie O'Hare

Over 80% of the festival events, art exhibitions, music trail, street performances, and more had free entry.

Ballydehob Jazz Festival, which is supported by Cork County Council, the Arts Council of Ireland, and local businesses, also ran free community and school workshops during April in Levis Corner House, offering skills in puppet-, mask- and prop-making, and putting together performance pieces such as dance and drumming.

Creative director Joseph OLeary said the festival, which has been running since 2007, marks a celebration of the village.

Its a really unique festival we have created together, full of heart, fun and community, music and art, he said

Its a celebration of Ballydehob, and could happen nowhere else because theres nowhere like this village.
Broadcaster Paul Byrne and his employer Virgin Media Television have agreed to mediate a legal dispute between the two, the High Court has heard.

Mr Byrne, who is the broadcaster's southern correspondent, has sued his employer, seeking various injunctions over what he claims is a flawed internal disciplinary process against him. The claims are denied.

The matter was mentioned before Mr Justice Mark Sanfey on Tuesday, who was told the matter could be adjourned for a month, as the parties had agreed to try and mediate the dispute.

The judge, who had previously suggested that the sides seek to resolve their differences outside of court, agreed to put the matter back to a date in June.

The court previously heard that Mr Byrne was suspended from his role following a live report he made on the afternoon of February 9 last concerning the death of a young boy in County Waterford.

Mr Byrne, the court heard, had stated that one line of inquiry being considered by the Gardai as part of the investigation into the child's death was that the boy had allegedly been drowned and placed into a car.

The claim was published after Mr Byrne checked it with at least two credible sources, and after two other media outlets had published the same information. While he had believed the information to be credible, the information later turned out not to be true.

Suspended

Shortly afterwards, he claims his employer suspended him for allegedly breaching the broadcaster's News Guidelines and Production Handbook, because he had allegedly failed to speak to his line manager about the matter in advance of the broadcast.

The disciplinary process, he claims, could result in his dismissal for alleged gross misconduct. He denies any wrongdoing, and claims that the process engaged by his employer is flawed, punitive, disproportionate and should be set aside.

He also claims that the process lacks credibility, and is in breach of his contractual rights. As part of the process, he claims, he was asked to attend a disciplinary hearing, which he had claimed he was unable to do on medical grounds.

He fears that the outcome of that meeting, which was put on hold after proceedings were commenced, could have had serious repercussions for his employment and reputation.

As a result, he commenced proceedings before the High Court last month seeking an injunction restraining Virgin Media Ireland Ltd, and Virgin Media Television Limited from continuing the disciplinary process against him.

He also seeks orders requiring the defendants to pay his salary and benefits, lift his suspension, and not appoint anyone to carry out Mr Byrne's duties.

The court heard that in correspondence the defendants reject Mr Byrne's claims against both them and the disciplinary process itself.

They said that given its role as a public broadcaster it deems the alleged breach as being "serious in nature" and informed him that "steps needed to be taken to avoid a repeat".
The 43-year-old Carrigaline man accused of murdering his brother and attempting to murder his father, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity, was remanded in custody to the Central Mental Hospital today for continuation of his in-patient care.

John Murphy Jnr of Seaview Avenue, Carrigaline, Co Cork, was so found on April 24 on charges of murdering his 27-year-old brother, Shane Murphy, and attempting to murder his father, John Aloysius Weeshie Murphy Snr, who was 75 at the time, at the family home on Saturday, March 26, 2022, contrary to common law.

He was also found not guilty by reason of insanity on two related charges of producing a knife during the crimes.

It is appropriate the court would make an order returning him to the Central Mental Hospital, thereafter to take whatever therapeutic course in ordered, Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford said after reading the report of consultant psychiatrist Dr Patrick McLoughlin, agreed by both prosecution and defence.

Prosecution senior counsel Jane Hyland said Dr McLoughlins report stated that John Murphy Jnr continues to suffer paranoid schizophrenia and has significant treatment needs that can only be provided by the Central Mental Hospital.

The law provides for reviews every six months of his detention for in-patient treatment but the matter does not have to be brought back before the Central Criminal Court.

Clinical psychiatrists Dr Stephen Monks and Dr Jamie Walsh, for the defence and prosecution respectively, testified a fortnight ago that the accused man, John Murphy Jnr was in an acute psychotic state as a result of schizophrenic illness at the time, that his judgement was significantly impaired and he was suffering delusions and hallucinations and had lost touch with reality.

In effect, there was agreement between the prosecution and defence about the psychiatric evidence in the case.

Detective Garda Ian Breen outlined the background to the events in the early hours of that morning when the accused man stabbed his brother nine times causing his death and stabbed his father multiple times too in attempted murder.

He made a series of allegations against several members of his family, all of which gardai believed were without any basis. These included allegations that his life was being threatened.

Det Garda Breen said that the late Shane Murphy had acted in a selfless manner to protect his father from a knife attack by his brother John and that in so acting he was himself stabbed nine times, one of those wounds a stab to the heart  being fatal on its own.

In evidence of the tragic nature of the incident at the Murphy family home on that date just over two years ago, Det Garda Breen said it was believed that Shane Murphy died in his bedroom while on a phone call to the emergency services.
By David Young, PA

Trinity College has announced a series of measures in response to concerns raised by students taking part in a pro-Palestinian encampment protest on its grounds.

Visitors have been unable to access the historic Book of Kells since the action began on Friday evening when the activists set up tents inside the campus of the prestigious Dublin university.

The students taking part in the protest have vowed to maintain the blockade until the university cuts all ties with Israel.

University management met with student representatives on Monday to discuss the situation.

The Book of Kells has been closed to the public due to the protest (Brian Lawless/PA)

Following the meeting, Trinity confirmed it had initiated a process to divest from investments in companies that are active in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as identified on the UN Blacklist. It said this process would be completed by June.

Trinity is also setting up a taskforce to examine its links to Israeli universities and institutions in other states.

The university also made clear it supported the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must take all measures prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.

The college also outlined details of its initiative to support Palestinian scholars taking places on Trinity courses.

Trinity also made clear it was treating the encampment as an internal matter  a statement that appeared to rule out the university calling in gardai.

A further meeting with student representatives is scheduled for Tuesday.

We wish for a return to normal services for our students, staff, and the public as soon as possible, Trinity said in a statement.

Outgoing students union president Laszlo Molnarfi described the development as a partial victory.

He insisted the protest would continue until all their demands are met.

This proves the power of student and staff protest for Palestine, and this should raise the confidence for other students to push for apartheid free campuses, he posted on X.

Weve witnessed a historic mass movement on the march for seven months, and while our partial victory today is just the first step, it hopefully will be one towards ending Irelands complicity in the oppression of Palestinians, bringing them closer to a liberated future.

The scenes at Trinity follow a wave of similar student protests at university campuses across the US.

The encampment was initiated days after it emerged that the university authorities had fined the students union more than 200,000 over previous protests on campus.

It invoiced the union for 214,285 after a series of demonstrations about fees and rent, as well as pro-Palestinian solidarity protests.

The university cited a loss of revenue due to blockades of the Book of Kells and famous Long Room library among the reasons for the fine.

The protesting students are calling for a retroactive amnesty for students involved in protests on campus and the rescinding of the bill imposed on the students' union.
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.

Long known to be the peaceful close relative of humans, scientists have discovered that the endangered bonobo is more complicated than previously believed.

A new study has observed male bonobos acting aggressive more often than male chimpanzees within their own communities. The researchers also found that more aggressive males of both species had more mating opportunities.

Chimpanzees and bonobos use aggression in different ways for specific reasons, said lead author of the study Maud Mouginot, a Boston University anthropologist, in a news release from Cell Press. The idea is not to invalidate the image of bonobos being peaceful  the idea is that there is a lot more complexity in both species.

Earlier studies had looked at aggression in both bonobos and chimpanzees, but this was the first to use the same methods of comparison for the two species behavior in the field.

I think earlier studies did not really try to quantitatively compare the two species. There are papers on chimpanzees aggression, and few on bonobos aggression, but the methods used do not allow us to directly compare those studies (they have different methods or it is too unclear), Mouginot told EcoWatch in an email. Only one study did this (Surbeck et al. 2017), however, they used different methods [in] the field. For the chimpanzees they used group follow (e.g., following a group the entire day) and all day focal follow (e.g., following one individual and recording all their behaviors), for bonobos they used group follow and 10-min focal follow. Because those methods were different, we decided to use data that used the same method on the two species (all day male focal follow).

The study, Differences in expression of male aggression between wild bonobos and chimpanzees, was published in the journal Current Biology.

The research team examined male aggression rates in three communities of bonobos at Democratic Republic of Congos Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, as well as two communities of chimpanzees at Tanzanias Gombe National Park.

The team looked at a dozen bonobos and 14 chimpanzees, tracking one individual at a time for a whole day, noting the frequency of their aggressive interactions, who they were with and if they engaged in physical contact such as pushing and biting or chasing their adversary.

You go to their nests and wait for them to wake up and then you just follow them the entire day  from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep at night  and record everything they do, Mouginot said in the press release.

Overall, the researchers found male bonobos to be aggressive more often than chimpanzees, engaging in three times more physical aggressions and 2.8 times as many aggressive interactions.

Male bonobos were almost only aggressive toward other males, while chimpanzees were apt to be aggressive toward females. Aggression by chimpanzees was more likely to involve male coalitions  13.2 percent compared with one percent of bonobo aggressions.

Male chimpanzees form coalitions for within group fights but especially for territory defense (which include border patrols or sometimes, killing raids). When one male fights another male from his group, he is taking the risk of losing an important coalitionary partner which would have helped for territory defense. Therefore, this might affect their ability to efficiently defend their group against other groups, Mouginot told EcoWatch.

The researchers believe coalitions may be one of the reasons aggression is not as frequent among chimpanzees. When groups of males fight, there is the potential for more injuries. And if the fighting is within their own community, it could weaken the ability of the group to fend off other groups.

This isnt an issue for bonobos since most of their altercations are one-on-one. They are also not believed to be territorial and have never been known to kill one another.

More aggressive males of both species had greater mating success.

Male bonobos that are more aggressive obtain more copulations with females, which is something that we would not expect, Mouginot said in the press release. It means that females do not necessarily go for nicer males.

This was surprising for the researchers to see within bonobo communities, since they have a social dynamic where females frequently outrank males.

I dont think females are specifically attracted to more aggressive males. First, by acting aggressively against other males, more aggressive males may manage to push away other males and then spend more time with females. Second, males are aggressive toward other males but avoid acting aggressively against females. One study (Surbeck et al. 2012) shows that more aggressive males spend more time affiliating with females, Mouginot told EcoWatch.

In the future, the research team would like to compare the aggressive behavior of other groups of bonobos and chimpanzees to see if that behavior varies between subspecies and communities.

Id love to have the study complemented with comparable data from other field sites so we can get a broader understanding of variation within and between species, Mouginot said in the press release.

Bonobos are listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species as endangered. They are only found in forests located below the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Despite their threatened status, Mouginot said there are things people can do to help these rare primates from disappearing altogether.

People can help by learning about bonobos, spreading their knowledge and sharing the critical situation in which bonobos are. They can also follow local or international associations such as BCI (Bonobo Conservative Initiative). They can make donations to those associations or to research centers to help pursue research which helps to maintain reserves and protect the bonobos too, Mouginot told EcoWatch.

Bonobos are threatened by illegal hunting, agriculture and development, but Mouginot remains optimistic.

The future of bonobos is very uncertain. They are endemic to one country (the Democratic Republic of Congo), which makes our ability to save them harder. They are losing their territory over farming and villages, they are also victims of poaching. The IUCN estimates that there are only 15,000 bonobos left, however, they are so remote in the rainforest that it is hard to get an exact count. Nevertheless, I dont think we should lose hope, Mouginot said. Reserves, such as the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve and many others, help to protect the species. Research also helps by improving our understanding of bonobos and by helping building reserves.
May 08 (News On Japan) - Three band members practice relentlessly to improve their skills. Desperate to defeat Diamond Dust, Nina searches for ways to boost their fan base but struggles to find a good method. In the midst of this, Tomo and Rupa, who had attended their recent live performance, approach Nina.

The protagonist, a second-year high school student, drops out and heads to Tokyo alone to pursue university.

A girl, betrayed by her friends, feels lost.

Another girl, abandoned by her parents, survives in the big city by working part-time.

This world always betrays us.

Nothing goes our way.

But we want to love something.

We believe there's a place for us somewhere.

So, we sing.

Source: GIRLS BAND CRY Channel
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.

The flooded Travessia da Orla square at Menino Deus neighborhood in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil on May 7, 2024. Jefferson Bernardes / Getty Images

Following days of heavy rains in Brazil, the countrys southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul is experiencing severe landslides and flooding. At least 85 people have been killed.

Of the 497 cities in the area, more than two-thirds have been affected by the storms, which have destroyed roads and bridges, reported Reuters.

On Monday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva requested that a state of public calamity be declared by Congress. The declaration would free up government funds free from a spending cap imposed by new rules last year.

We dont have an estimate yet of what will be necessary, said Simone Tebet, the countrys minister of planning, budget and management, as Reuters reported. Only when the water recedes will we see the immense extent of the damage in the state.

Roughly 150,000 people have been displaced by the floods, with more than 130 still missing, according to state officials, as reported BBC News.

More heavy rain forecast for the coming week is expected to add to the dangerous conditions in the region. Many residents were forced to evacuate, including some vulnerable people aided by rescue workers.

Despite improvements in parts of the state, some areas will remain under severe conditions for a very long time, said MetSul Meteorologia, a local weather agency, as Reuters reported.

Canoas resident Flavio Rosa, who is 72, said it was the first time he had seen the annual rains in Rio Grande do Sul cause such widespread damage.

Ive seen other floods, but nothing like this, Rosa said, as reported by Reuters.

Governor of Rio Grande do Sul Eduardo Leite said the death toll could rise substantially as more areas are reached by rescue workers.

When the rain stops, they have been doing short operations to save as many people as possible. Yesterday (Saturday) [we were] able to intensify operations, Colonel Jose Carlos Sallet, Rio Grande do Sul Military Firefighters subcommander, told CNN.

Rescue teams were using inflatable rafts to rescue residents and their pets.

According to railway operator Rumo, the extreme weather had caused train disruptions in the state, Reuters reported.

One of the countrys busiest airports, Salgado Filho International in the states capital of Porto Alegre, suspended operations until the end of May at least due to flooding from the Guaiba River, BBC News said.

Local officials said the river had reached 17.4 feet, breaking the previous record from 1941 of 15.6 feet.

The severe storms were caused by an unusual mix of high humidity, hotter than average temperatures and strong winds.

Rio Grande do Sul has always been a meeting point between tropical and polar air masses, Francisco Eliseu Aquino, a climatologist, told AFP. But these interactions intensified with climate change to create a disastrous cocktail that makes the atmosphere more unstable and encourages storms.
(Image by Studio Incendo via Wikimedia Commons)Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protest, August 18, 2019.

A court in Hong Kong has sentenced Catholic media mogul and pro-free expression activist Jimmy Lai to a second jail term, this one for14 months, for participating in an unauthorized assembly in 2019.

The 73-year-old Lai, was among 10 pro-democracy politicians and activists also sentenced on May 28 on similar charges, ucanews reported.

Lai who has criticized China's policies in Hong Kong was given the new prison sentence over his role in an unauthorized assembly on Oct. 1, 2019, during one of the city's pro-democracy rallies that year, said Reuters.

He has been in jail since December after being denied bail in a separate national security trial.

Lai faced three charges under the new law, introduced by China in 2020 in response to the protests, including collusion with a foreign country.

"Lai is one of the most prominent supporters of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement," said the BBC.

With estimated wealth of US$1 billion from clothing and media ventures, Lai is one of the most prominent faces of the pro-democracy movement in the former British colony, according to UCA.

His company, Next Digital, publishes Apple Daily, a popular newspaper with a pro-democracy tilt and critical of Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leadership under Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party.

Apple Daily is viewed among the last exponents of the free press in the Chinese-ruled territory that UCA said faces one of the most difficult periods in its political history since the British 1997 handover.

Lai has been already serving a sentence in prison and faces two charges of subversive and seditious acts, which can carry life imprisonment if convicted under Hong Kong's draconian national security law.

"If they can induce fear in you, that's the cheapest way to control you and the most effective way and they know it. The only way to defeat the way of intimidation is to face up to fear and don't let it frighten you," Lai told BBC News.

Earlier in May, Hong Kong authorities sent threatening letters to Lai and branches of banking groups HSBC and Citibank, warning them of seven-year jail sentences for any dealings with the billionaire's accounts in the city.

Hong Kong's Security Secretary John Lee signed the letters and announced earlier that he had frozen assets of Lai including his bank accounts and his stake of 71.26 percent in Next Digital, which is estimated to be worth $45 million.

"I am exercising the power because Lai has been charged with two offenses of collusion with other countries or external forces to endanger national security," Lee told journalists on May 27.

"It is my duty to specify in my notice to the relevant parties what will be the consequences if they fail to comply with my direction."

Critics charge that by attempting to crush Lai and Apple Daily, Beijing is attempting to crush the once-vibrant and independent media industry in the city altogether.
(Image by Studio Incendo via Wikimedia Commons)Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protest, August 18, 2019.

Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai said police raided his private offices on Oct. 15, months after he was arrested on suspicion of violating the city's national security law and this will not deter him from his faith.

Lai is a British-Hong Kong citizen and is accused of "colluding" with foreign forces under the sweeping national security law for supporting the pro-democracy movement, ucanews reported on Oct 10.

But he said he would not leave Hong Kong for the United Kingdom.

The 71 year-old Lai has been a supporter of Cardinal Joseph Zen, who baptized him in 1997.

The cardinal who retired in 2009 has been outspoken for human rights, political freedom and religious liberty.

"If I go away, I not only give up my destiny, I give up God, I give up my religion, I give up what I believe in," he said in a video conversation with the U.S.-based Napa Institute on Oct. 5.

"I am what I am. I am what I believe. I cannot change it. And if I can't change it, I have to accept my fate with praise.

"When you lift yourself above your own self-interest, you find the meaning of life. You find you're doing the right thing, which is so wonderful. It changed my life into a different thing."

Lai told the Catholic institute that the Chinese Communist Party is eager to supplant religion with government control and guidelines.

He said he had supported the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong for the past 30 years because of "the Lord's teaching that your life is not about yourself."

Lai told the Catholic institute that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is eager to supplant religion with government control and guidelines.

He said he had supported the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong for the past 30 years because of "the Lord's teaching that your life is not about yourself."

"The way I look at it, if I suffer for the right cause, it only defines the person I am becoming. It can only be good for me to become a better person. If you believe in the Lord, if you believe that all suffering has a reason, and the Lord is suffering with me ... I'm at peace with it."

When police conducted an Aug. 10 raid on the office of Apple Daily, the newspaper Lai started in 1995, he was arrested along with at least nine others for their role in the pro-democracy movement in the former British colony.

Though Lai is out on bail, he is charged under the draconian national security law, which China imposed on July 1, bypassing the Hong Kong legislature.

The drama comes as Cardinal Zen returned to Hong Kong after a visit to the Vatican during which he tried in vain to meet Pope Francis, Hong Kong Free Press reported Oct. 5.

Zen, 88, said he had journeyed to Rome in the hopes of persuading the Pope to appoint a new bishop for Hong Kong, who "can be trusted by the people" and not be mired in political considerations related to a desire to appease Beijing.

Lai came to Hong Kong when he was 12 years old from mainland China. He launched a chain of clothing stores under the brand name Giordano's, which fetched rich dividends and allowed him to launch pro-democracy magazines and newspapers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

He financially supported Cardinal Zen's programs, which included sponsoring mainland Catholic priests in studies and training.
(Photo: LWF / MTI)Hungarian police form a cordon as refugees board a train for northern Europe in Sept. 2015.

The international crisis posed by refugees from the Syrian civil war and other conflicts has raised questions about whether all States are doing enough.

Church and religious groups are saying the United States should resettle at least 100,000 Syrian refugees in the next year and other countries face calls to do more.

Secular groups, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and the Jewish refugee assistance agency HIAS have backed the 100,000 figures proposed by Church World Service.

CWS works in partnership with the World Council of Churches and ACT Alliance and has also called for the U.S. to increase its total resettlement commitment to 100,000 from other parts of the world.

But it not the only the United States and Europe that are being asked to pull their weight in solving the world refugee crisis.

There are calls for other countries like the Gulf States, Russia and Japan to step in and accept people.

The 3.8 million refugees from Syria (95 per cent) are in just five countries Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, Amnesty International notes.

Amnesty says:

 The six Gulf countries - Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain - have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees.

 Other high income countries including Russia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea have also offered zero resettlement places.

The US and Nato are concerned over reports that Russia is increasing its military presence in Syria. Russia, a key ally of Syria during its four-year civil war, says it has sent military experts but that is all.

Some commentators say that without Moscow's backing, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have fallen by now.

At the same time, Lebanon hosts more than one million refugees registered with UNHCR, which amounts to around 26 per cent of the country's population.

"The obligation and responsibility to refugees and persons in distress is not defined by their proximity to the place that caused the problem," Peter Sutherland, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Migration and Development told journalists Sept. 8.

"I think it's important to make that point," he said noting "the burden that is being taken at the moment by Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, and the burden in European terms, taken by frontline States of the Mediterranean and in particular Greece and Italy."

VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE

(Photo: REUTERS / Osman Orsal) A Kurdish refugee boy from the Syrian town of Kobani walks past a refugee camp in the border town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province November 24, 2014.

"In earlier crises, for example Vietnam and the Vietnamese boat people, over a million people were concerned - or indeed in 1956, the Hungarian Revolution. There was a global acceptance of a responsibility in terms of refugees," said Sutherland at the United Nations in Geneva.

He noted that at time of the Vietnam refugee crisis, an international conference was convened and responsibilities were taken across the globe.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sept. 9 discussed the refugee and migrant crisis with UK Prime Minister David Cameron in while conferring with European leaders on what has become the biggest influx of people into the continent in decades.

Church groups and NGOs have criticized migrant wary Britain of being woefully insufficient in its response to the European refugee crisis.

And in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE officials defend themselves by noting that each has given millions of dollars to the United Nations to help the refugees.

The UAE says it's given more than $530 million in relief aid. They stress that Syrians have entered Gulf states on visas, and stayed, CNN reported Sept. 8.

When some countries take no refugees, including, for example a number of the Arab countries close to Syria or where others argue that financial contributions are the to be used "for their contribution to a dreadful situation, let me say that that, in my opinion, is not enough," said Sutherland.

(Photo: REUTERS / Jamal Saidi) Priests offer prayers as worshipers carry bread for the communion during a service for around 600 Iraqi Christian refugees at a church in Hazmiyeh, near Beirut December 12, 2014. Iraqi Christians who sought refuge in Lebanon after Islamist militants tore through their homeland said they had no idea when they would be able to return as they gathered for prayers ahead of Christmas.

"Refugees have to be dealt with as human beings. The broader migrant community, including economic migrants, cannot be dismissed with the wave of the hand, and a simple statement that all economic migrants should be sent home."

Linda Hartke, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service said LIRS is petitioning U.S. President Barack Obama.

The petition call for the protection of "all vulnerable people seeking safety, particularly religious minorities that include Christian brothers and sisters, and those especially vulnerable people fleeing persecution in Syria who are especially at risk.

The petition says that Christianity calls on caring for those in need.

"As a nation that has proudly stood as a beacon of hope for those in need, we are defined by our commitment to compassion for the vulnerable and justice for all. We ask that you stand with people of faith by welcoming Syrian refugees into the United States," the LIRS petition says.

LIRS' Hartke says, "The Syrian conflict has caused one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history and has forced more than 4 million people, more than half of whom are children, to flee their homes in search of safety.

"In addition, widespread human rights violations perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) have left more than 10 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection within Syria and in surrounding countries."
(Photo: United Nations Human Rights Facebook page)

Religious freedom globally has been under serious and sustained assault an independent government-backed yearly report on 2015 says, but that freedom in the United States, say, and in the rest of the world focus on very different issues.

In the Middle East it can mean the struggle for Christian survival against the onslaught of Islamist extremists, while in America "religious liberty" has become associated for the religious right as intertwined with the right to oppose LGBT protections and same-sex marriage.

"At best, in most of the countries we cover, religious freedom conditions have failed to improve," says Princeton professor Robert George, the USCIRF chairman. "At worst, they've spiraled downward," NPR reported.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reports on the "serious and sustained assault" on religious people and practices abroad in its latest report.

"From the plight of new and longstanding prisoners of conscience, to the dramatic rise in the numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons, to the continued acts of bigotry against Jews and Muslims in Europe, and to the other abuses detailed in the 2016 annual report, there was no shortage of attendant suffering worldwide," says the report.

"Adding disproportionately to the ranks of the displaced were millions from Iraq and Syria, including Yazidis, Christians, Shi'a Muslims, and Sunni Muslims who do not subscribe to the barbaric interpretation of Islam of the terrorist group ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also often referred to as IS, ISIL, or Da'esh).

ISIS MAYHEM

The report says ISIS summarily executes, rapes, sexual enslaves, and abducts children, destroying houses of worship, and forcing conversions in "a genocidal effort to erase their presence from these countries."

The report cites the incarceration of prisoners of consciencepeople whom governments hold for reasons including those related to religion.

Such imprisonment remains astonishingly widespread, says the report, occurring in country after country, and underscores the impact of the laws and policies that led to their imprisonment.

"When we hear about religious freedom in the U.S. today, we may think about a baker who doesn't want to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. But in other countries, religious freedom can be a matter of life or death. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom underscored that today," NPR's Tom Gjelten commented.

The report names China, where religious freedom in the world's most populous knowledge has been whittling away.

In China, pastor Bao Guohua and his wife, Xing Wenxiang, were sentenced in Zhejiang Province in February 2016 to 14 and 12 years in prison, respectively.

They led a Christian congregation that was opposing a government campaign to remove crosses from church tops.

They join many other prisoners of conscience, including Ilham Tohti, a respected Uighur Muslim scholar, who was given a life sentence in September 2014 for alleged separatism.

"Over the past year, the Chinese government has stepped up its persecution of religious groups deemed a threat to the state's supremacy and maintenance of a "socialist society," says the report.

Christian communities have borne a significant brunt of the oppression, with numerous churches bulldozed and crosses torn down.

DALAI LAMA

It also says Uighur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists continue to be repressed, and the Chinese government has asserted its own authority to select the next Dalai Lama.

Falun Gong practitioners often are held in "black jails" and brainwashing centers, with credible reports of torture, sexual violence, psychiatric experimentation, and organ harvesting.

The report also names Eritrea, where 1,200 to 3,000 people are imprisoned on religious grounds, there reportedly were new arrests this past year.

Religious prisoners are routinely sent to the toughest prisons and receive the cruelest punishments.

Religious freedom conditions are grave especially for Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses.

In Iran the report names Shahram Ahadi, a Sunni cleric, who was sentenced in October 2015 to death on unfounded security-related charges.

Iran locks up many other prisoners of conscience including the Baha'i Seven who were given 20-year sentences in 2010 for their leadership roles in the persecuted Baha'i community. They are: Afif Naeimi, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Vahid Tizfahm, Fariba Kamalabadi, Mahvash Sabet, and Saeid Rezaie.

Iran elevates its own interpretation of Shi'a Islam above all others, and it subjects Shi'as, Sunnis, Sufi Muslim dissenters, Baha'is and Christian converts to mounting religious freedom abuses, from harassment to arrests and imprisonment.

Since President Hasan Rouhani took office in 2013, the number of individuals from religious minority communities imprisoned due to their beliefs has increased.

North Korea has long been one of the worst violators of religious freedom and there thousands of religious believers and their families are imprisoned in labor camps, including those forcibly repatriated from China.

"Because North Korea is such a closed society, it is hard even to know the names of religious prisoners," says the report.

All political and religious expression and activities are controlled and the government punishes those who question the regime leaving religious freedom non-existent.

"North Koreans suspected of contacts with South Koreans or foreign missionaries or who are caught possessing Bibles have been executed."

Other violators of religious freedom named are Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
(Image by Studio Incendo via Wikimedia Commons)Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protest, August 18, 2019.

The plight of imprisoned Chinese Catholic media magnate Jimmy Lai, who is standing trial, will be highlighted at a Holy Hour at the Archdiocese of San Francisco's seminary on May 8.

Hong Kong entrepreneur, democracy activist, and Roman Catholic convert Jimmy Lai is currently held in prison and in solitary confinement for speaking out against the communist government, the National Catholic Register reported.

Lai, aged 76, is on trial in Hong Kong on charges of breaching national security and colluding with foreign forces.

He is on trial on two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces and a third of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publication, according to the South China Morning Post.

Lai denies all the charges and has been held in jail since December 2020. Lai faces life in prison if he is found guilty, the BBC reported.

The self-made millionaire was arrested under a security law that China is accused of using to crush dissent.

His case has caused an international outcry and is widely seen as a test of Hong Kong's judicial independence.

"As an entrepreneur who arrived in Hong Kong penniless, Jimmy Lai was always an inherently interesting man," The Wall Street Journal's William McGurn told the Register.

"But he became an inspiration by accepting a prison cell instead of fleeing to one of his homes abroad because he believed that was his obligation. It's what we mean by picking up our cross. It is now clear this is Jimmy's moment, his destiny."

SPECIAL HOLY HOUR

So, on May 8 at 5 p.m., McGurn will join Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and the seminarians at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California, for a special Holy Hour honoring the sacrifice of heroic Christians like Lai.

The prayer service will feature a newly commissioned Hymn for the Martyrs of Chinese Communism, followed by a lecture on "The Prison Witness of Jimmy Lai," delivered by McGurn, who is Lai's godfather.

Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka, director of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music will speak about Lai during the Holy Hour.

"The situation of Catholics is grim in China, and I'm afraid the Vatican's secret deal a few years back has made it worse. But the people are tremendously faithful under very trying circumstances," observed McGurn.

"In San Francisco, you have a large Chinese community. I would like them to know the heroism of a fellow Chinese languishing in solitary confinement in Hong Kong and to pray for a better day."

McGurn also noted that Lai is grateful for the support of those from the United States.

"I know from Jimmy Lai's letters to me that he is so humbled to think people he does not know and will never meet are praying for him," McGurn said. "Believe me, he draws strength from this."
Meta is expanding its paid verification service for businesses, adding three new tiers to the program that offers extra perks to companies willing to pay a monthly subscription. The company began testing the service, called Meta Verified, with businesses last fall after rolling out a paid verification for individuals.

With the new plans, which are coming first to Australia, and New Zealand, Meta is offering a much wider range of services to business owners that rely on its platform. Under the new structure, the basic standard plan is $14.99/month. It offers a verification badge, higher ranking in search, impersonation protection, the ability to add links to images and access to customer support. (Each subscription covers a single Facebook or Instagram account, the program is expected to roll out to WhatsApp "soon.")

While that base plan is now the same price for businesses as it is for individuals, companies will pay a hefty premium for the extra perks. There are three additional tiers for business owners to choose from: the $44.99/month plus plan, the $119.99 premium plan and $349.99/month max plan. Each of these includes additions like the ability to add links to a Reels posts, fast-tracked customer support and more profile customization options.

Meta

The most expensive plan also expands impersonation protection to up to five employees as well as extra customer service perks. It includes a semiannual account review, which will consist of personalized guidance on their content strategy. And it allows account owners to request a phone call from a Meta customer service representative for help with account issues and other problems.

During a briefing with reporters, Metas VP of new monetization experiences Pratiti Raychoudhury said the expansion of Meta Verified is meant to meet businesses where they are in their journey on our apps. She said Meta will continue to tweak its offerings as more companies sign up for verification.
China is accused of hacking the payroll system for the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The BBC and Sky News report that the severe data breach exposed the personal information of active military personnel and veterans. The information mainly consists of full names and bank details, but in some cases, it might also include personal addresses.

Affected individuals are being notified, and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps should provide MPs with a more detailed update today. He is anticipated to outline a plan of action for protecting anyone whose data was compromised. All salaries are expected to be paid as usual this month.

In a statement, China's foreign minister said the country "firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyber attacks" and "rejects the use of this issue politically to smear other countries." However, this isn't the first time the UK and China have clashed over security concerns. In March, UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden accused China of being behind an August 2021 hack of the Electoral Commission, as the BBC reported at the time. The UK also banned TikTok  owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance  from all government devices in March 2023, claiming protective measures.
"Lovely Runner" episode 9 will see Im Sol traveling back in time once more to save Sun-jae.

A trailer for the Korean drama's ninth episode teased the aftermath of Sun-jae (Byeon Woo-seok) being attacked by an unidentified assailant in his hotel room.

In "Lovely Runner" episode 8, all appeared to be well in Sol's (Kim Hye-yoon) current timeline in 2023 following her two trips to 2008.

She was walking, driving and working at a media production company after changing the past and avoiding what viewers now know to be an attempted murder rather than an accident.

Though still a superstar, Sun-jae no longer appeared to be as gloomy as he did before Sol went back to the past -- likely because she escaped relatively unscathed from the 2008 incident.

Sol even confessed her feelings to Sun-jae, leading to a steamy kiss between the now-couple that fans had been looking forward to for weeks.

However, it seemed that Sol was unable to change Sun-jae's fate as "Lovely Runner" episode 8 ended with his life hanging in the balance at the hospital.

According to the trailer for episode 9, Sol goes back in time again, though this time she lands in 2009.

Now college students, Sol and Sun-jae are seen going on a trip with their schoolmates and having fun while playing games.

The "Lovely Runner" episode 9 teaser also showed police investigating the case of the taxi driver who kidnapped Sol and tried to kill her.

Officers recovered the car keys to the man's taxi that Sol had previously taken when she was kidnapped.

Fans were also given a potential glimpse of how Hyun-joo (Seo Hye-won) and Im Geum's (Song Ji-ho) romance began.

In the clip, Geum is seen crying and lamenting about a lost love while hanging upside down from a tree.

Hyun-joo finds him in this state and asks, "Did you break up [with your girlfriend]?"

Meanwhile, Sol appears to avoid Sun-jae seemingly in an effort not to leave him hurt and disappointed once she goes back to her original timeline.

"By the time this spring ends, I won't be here," she says in the trailer.

At the end of the teaser, Sol can be seen marking a particular date on a calendar, saying: "This is really the last time."

Another teaser shared by tvN on Instagram showed the hilarious moment Sol first meets Sun-jae in 2009.

In the clip, Sol wakes up to find herself sitting on a statue in what appeared to be a college campus. She looks around and sees a billboard on the side of the building indicating that she's in the year 2009.

While trying to get down from the statue, Sol accidentally slips and falls, causing Hyun-joo and the other students to rush to catch her.

Sol ultimately ends up being saved again by Sun-jae.

While the teasers confirmed that Sol's trips to the past are not yet over, they left several questions unanswered, such as why Kim Tae-sung (Song Geon-hee) was seen standing outside Sol's apartment in episode 8 and what role he plays in this whole situation.

It also remains unconfirmed who attacked Sun-jae, though fans have theorized that the assailant could be the taxi driver, who may have been getting revenge on Sun-jae because he saved Sol and helped the police catch him.

Fans can catch what happens next to Sol and Sun-Jae when "Lovely Runner" episode 9 airs on tvN on Monday.

U.S. viewers will be able to stream "Lovely Runner" episode 9 with English subtitles on Rakuten Viki on the same day provided they have a subscription.
Jim Jones was caught on video fighting two men in an airport in a brawl he claims was self-defense.

Footage obtained by TMZ shows Jones, formally Joseph Guillermo Jones II, involved in a violent altercation with two men on an escalator at Fort-Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport in Florida.

The video begins with the men standing in close proximity on the moving stairs. Already grappling, Jones grips the man and tosses him down the stairs, resulting in the unidentified man's bloodied forehead.

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Knocking many over in the process, another man in a black collared shirt gets up to adjust his glasses before swinging to hit Jones in the head multiple times. When police arrived at the scene, the man pointed to the rapper, identifying him as an aggressor.

"Hey! Knock it off!" a woman in Sheriff's gear urged Jones while grabbing him by the collar. "It's two of them against me!" the 47-year-old yelled repeatedly.

The rapper was seen with his hands in the air, signaling his standing down; however, the man involved with the altercation wasn't done yet. "He [Jones] assaulted me," the man claimed, as three more officials arrived at the scene.

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"I was minding my business and defended myself. They got what they were looking for," Jones said in a statement to TMZ.

According to the media outlet, it remains unclear if anyone has been arrested because of the altercation. Despite the rapper's explosive brawl between two unnamed men, the Byrd Gang Boss remains unfazed.

His recent instagram Story showed him partying at Taboo Miami just hours after the fight took place.

"Come catch this vibe," he wrote alongside a video.
Elizabeth Muto Hunterton documented on TikTok her journey of tracking down her biological parents, which is culminating in a reunion that's over 40 years in the making.

The 44-year-old former beauty queen, who introduces herself as "just a former Baby Jane Doe" in her TikTok bio, was abandoned as a 10-day-old baby at the gate of an airport in Nevada in January 1980. She was discovered by two pilots and was quickly adopted into a loving family in Reno, according to People.

While she was treated and loved well by her adoptive family, she felt like there were missing puzzle pieces in her life, so she decided to track down her birth parents.

Thanks to 23andMe, she was able to connect with her biological mom for the very first time in August 2020.

This connection did not come easy, however. Before getting connected with her birth mom, she matched with three different women who were possible matches that were related to her in some distant way, only to find out later that they were not who she was looking for.

However, due to her persistence, a new connection came up, leading her to her biological mother. That month, she wrote a handwritten, two-page letter to her via email. Since then, they exchanged occasional emails, texts and holiday messages.

With their email exchanges, Elizabeth learned that her mom did not plan on leaving her at the airport.

"When I received her email, she shared that she wasn't able to take care of me as she believed I deserved. Therefore, she gave me to her roommate who was supposed to take me to an adoption agency. When my birth mother was told that I was actually left at the airport instead, it took quite a toll," Hunterton shared.

By the time they were able to communicate, COVID-19 made it difficult for them to meet in person. Now, almost four years later since they first connected with the help of 23andMe, they are finally meeting soon.

In a TikTok video the former Miss Nevada posted last week, she said she is finally meeting her biological mom in person.

"As a newborn, I was abandoned at the airport and in two and a half weeks, I'm meeting my birth mother," she told her followers.

"I got a lot of feelings happening, probably the overarching one is fear. I'm freaking scared of what, who knows? But I think the best way for me to understand what I'm feeling and why is going to be for me to unpack the biological mother search again. So I'm gonna be doing that."

In another video, she talked about her biological father, who she discovered already passed away in 2004 before she had the chance to find him.

23andMe is a biotechnological company that helps people understand what their DNA says about their health, traits and ancestry.

They provide a kit that comes with instructions. After registering an account, forwarding a spit sample and sending it back to the lab, they will process it for analysis and interpretation.
In the southern reaches of Brazil, officials worked tirelessly on Sunday to extract individuals from surging floods and mudflows, confronting what is now deemed the area's most extensive climate catastrophe on record.

The disaster has claimed a minimum of 78 lives, compelling 115,000 individuals to evacuate their residences.

Whole urban centers found themselves submerged, with numerous individuals isolated from civilization due to the deluge, stemming from incessant rainfall over several days.

Within Porto Alegre, the primary city of Rio Grande do Sul, inhabitants sought refuge atop their rooftops while others maneuvered through waterlogged streets using canoes or small vessels.

Following what a meteorologist described as "a calamitous mix" of climate variations and the influence of El Nino, over 3,000 military personnel, firefighters, and other emergency responders endeavored to reach citizens, many of whom were trapped without running water or electricity. Authorities from civil defense reported a minimum of 105 individuals as unaccounted.

"It looks like a scene out of a war, and after it is over it will require a post-war approach," said Eduardo Leite, Governor of Rio Grande do Sul.

Brazil President Luiz Lula da Silva pledged that the administration would allocate ample resources for the rebuilding efforts. Apart from Porto Alegre, an additional 341 municipalities and rural areas have borne the brunt of the deluge.

Military personnel are establishing makeshift medical facilities following the evacuation of hundreds of patients from conventional hospitals.

"Everyone helps in their own way, as they can," said 32-year-old Luis Eduardo da Silva who volunteered with rescue efforts.

The Guaiba River, coursing through the city of 1.4 million inhabitants, surged to an unprecedented height of 5.3 meters (17.4 feet), as reported by the local authorities, surpassing the previous record of 4.76 meters set during the catastrophic floods of 1941.

"Rio Grande do Sul has always been a meeting point between tropical and polar air masses," climatologist Francisco Eliseu Aquino shared with AFP. "But these interactions intensified with climate change" to create "a disastrous cocktail that makes the atmosphere more unstable and encourages storms."

Rosana Custodio, a 37-year-old nurse, evacuated her inundated residence in Porto Alegre alongside her husband and three children.

"During the night on Thursday the waters began to rise very quickly," she told AFP in a WhatsApp correspondence. "In a hurry, we went out to look for a safer place. But we couldn't walk... My husband put our two little ones in a kayak and rowed with bamboo. My son and I swam to the end of the street." Her family was safe, but "we've lost everything we had."
Long Beach, CAOne of the more interesting pilots of the World Flight Across Russia, July 1992, was Long Beach, California businessman, pilot and philanthropist Don Temple. His lovely aircraft, a Cessna 421 Golden Eagle aptly named The Ultimate Trip, graces the front of the new book, Round the World & Across Russia in 21 Days, 30 Years Later, by air rally documentarian and author Michael B. Butler. Temple, who passed away in 2013 at 85, was accompanied by fellow local aviators Sully Sullens and Bob Leavelle, the later whose detailed flight journal is a major part of the story.

This second book about the World Flight is more extensive, containing two additional major pilot journals and key historical aviation and world historical context. Additionally, history left out of the first book has been reinserted and added to by the author. 30 years of tumultuous Russian history have made the flight of 12 small planes flying 18,000 miles around the world in three weeks, while crossing all of Siberia, truly unique. Don Temple and his crew, and all the participants, truly slipped through a wormhole in time not likely to come around ever againthat honeymoon summer right after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Well known in Long Beach for generous philanthropic work through the Don Temple Foundation, his work has continued through his widow, Marlene, who was pleased to see an updated publication about an event Don was proud to have participated in and been part of. As evidenced by the image above, a book Dedication Page was created for Don.

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the author constructed the book using seven major pilot journals, five ancillary journals, 25 hours of video tape, interviews and what he recalled. Details and color slide shows can be found at www.MichaelButlerBooks.com.

A part of Bob Leavelle's journal landing at Southend Airport in UK.

On July 9, 1992 the Beechcraft Super King Air 200 progressed towards Southend Airport over the clouds to land second to last; Norm and Mario, after false problems in Iceland, arrived much later. Bob Leavelle brings in the twin Cessna 421 Ultimate to Southend, "We're up at 5:30 am short night we depart into a low overcast sky rain during the night low clouds about 40 degrees F six hours plus seven minutes we land at London's Southend Airport didn't expect this lot of people waiting happily greet us news people with camera crews ask why we were doing this no good reason I say no justification whatsoever just for the heck of it we learn London TV carried us on the evening news the newspaper carried a nice write-up with pictures."

A part of Bob Leavelle's journal covering the flight from Novosibirsk to Bratsk in Siberia

Bob Leavelle, in Don Temple's twin Cessna 421 Ultimate Trip with Sully Sullens, relates their morning routine, "Breakfast at 7:20 am porridge a pancake greasy hot dog look-a-like can't understand why the meat has so much fat 80% or so the bread is heavy but good one of our people reached to next table and took a piece of bread waitress came over upset and admonished him severely in Russian seems a specific ration is allocated for each breakfast hotels pack us a lunch for travel days bread or greasy meat sandwich, cheese, small apple or tomato, but always whole cucumber Mario gave us a supply of Nestle mini chocolate bars, good thing, thanks Mario & Nestle for fallback rations



"We are off the ground at 9:50 am and bound northwest for Bratsk a fuel stop our destination is Yakutsk well to the northeast 1,200+ miles away see lots of green fields, large rivers and streams flying up the Angara River to the northwest slightly more than a one hour flight we are first to land at Bratsk when we stop eight to ten Russians rushed up they are looking and feeling the plane as if they never saw one with paint before talks rapidly in Russian to no avail, nobody speaks English, we don't speak any Russian you would think we landed from Mars a supervisor comes by in an official car, I can't understand a word, all of his front teeth are gold friendly chap but wasn't making his point so he jumped in his car, soon to return!"

Media Interviews: For review copies or interviews please contact Eric Blair Enterprises at MichaelButlerBooks@pm.me or 213-534-7292.
CHARDON, Ohio  Naturalist Linda Gilbert will host a bird sit on World Migratory Bird Day, May 18 from 6:30-11 a.m. at Geauga Park Districts newest park, Troy Wetlands, 18725 Claridon-Troy Road in Troy Township.

For any not familiar with the term, a bird sit is a time for nature lovers to stay in one spot and record all the birds seen and heard for a period of time. Participants can meet at the observation deck at Troy Wetlands and sit for as little or long as desired to help tally spring bird life. No registration is required.

As of April 30, Troy Wetlands had accrued the highest number of bird species sighted in Geauga County (123) according to eBird.com, an honor usually reserved for LaDue Reservoir (111). This comes with only about half the number of checklists or reports (163 vs. 323).

Troys combination of wetlands and forest provide habitat for a great variety of birds, and its boardwalks and viewing platform give fantastic vantage points to see all there is to see.

Participants school-aged and older should plan to dress for the weather and bring a chair, binoculars, a camera and whatever else is needed for comfort and relaxation. Check the website before coming out in the event of heavy rain or storms that result in cancellation. Signs will be posted en route to the assigned location, the observation deck; the route is not wheelchair/stroller accessible.

For more on Geauga Park District offerings, call 440-286-9516 or visit Geauga Park District online at geaugaparkdistrict.org.
A Derbyshire farmer who was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder after he shot two men during a burglary has been bailed.

Police were called to reports of a burglary at the farm, located on Eccles Road, Whaley Bridge, just after 1am on Wednesday 1 May.

Marcus Smith, aged 19, was found by police officers with fatal gunshot wounds.

Another man, also aged in his teens, suffered a gunshot wound. He remains in hospital with injuries not thought to be life-threatening.

Derbyshire Police said the arrested man, a farmer aged in his 50s, has been bailed while investigations continue.

"Three other men arrested in connection with the burglary have also now been bailed as investigations continue," the force said.

"Officers are continuing to appeal for witnesses and information on the incident."

In response to the incident, the son of the arrested farmer has since set up an online fundraiser to cover his father's legal fees.

The page, entitled 'Free the Farmer', has so far raised over 50,000, far surpassing the initial 20,000 target.
Farm safety campaigners have raised serious concerns over HSE's decision to halt on-farm inspections, fearing it will pose major risks to the health and safety of workers.

In 2022, the regulatory watchdog, which oversees health and safety in the UK workplace, launched its new strategy which will run until 2032.

As part of this, HSE recently announced to the Farm Safety Partnership (FSP) that it would no longer be running farm safety inspections once the current season finishes at the end of spring 2024.

The HSE is switching to a focus on occupational health issues rather than preventative general health and safety inspections.

It will continue to provide investigative inspections in response to serious incidents such as on-farm accidents or deaths.

Speaking for the first time as chair of the FSP, NFU Deputy President David Exwood warned we cannot afford to compromise on the safety of our farmers, farm workers, or those living on or visiting farms.

We simply must prioritise the wellbeing of the nations farmers and growers," Mr Exwood added.

The decision to halt inspections is deeply troubling and we urge the government and HSE to reconsider and continue to work collaboratively with farmers to help ensure they are compliant."

The HSE advised that despite efforts over several decades, there has not been a significant reduction in the fatality rate for agriculture.

The watchdog advised the reduction in actual numbers of fatal injuries have been attributed to a reduction in the numbers working in the industry since the 1980s.

Last month saw the first on-farm fatality for the HSEs new recording year. The notification stated that "a worker was trapped and killed by agricultural machinery."

The HSE issued guidance on machinery maintenance, adding that this is a significant cause of death and serious injury on farms.

Mr Exwood explained that agriculture had one of the highest rates of fatalities and serious injuries in any workplace.

Because of this, he said the lack of public awareness surrounding HSE's decision raises serious questions about their prioritisation of safety within the farming sector.

While the HSE assures us that investigative inspections will continue in response to serious incidents, the lack of all regular inspections, training and events leaves a notable gap in proactive and preventative safety measures," he added.

As a sector we need to work on changing the culture of farm safety. This decision by HSE completely goes against that goal.

We are calling on Defra and the Department for Work and Pensions to recognise the critical safety implications of this decision, urgently review the potential impacts and establish a clear plan to prioritise the safety of those in the sector."
Ginger cats accompanied the Vikings as they invaded Britain.

Ginger cats invaded Britain with the Vikings

Experts say that the flame-haired felines were the preferred pet for the Scandinavian warriors as they rampaged across Europe and suspect that this is the reason why they are the most confident moggies in modern times.

Roger Tabor, a biologist and cat behaviour expert, told BBC News: "York, once a Viking stronghold, still has a higher population of ginger cats than London.

"Vikings may just have liked the distinctive fur. But I would suggest that the perceived friendly, less-fearful nature of the ginger cat could by why it boldly strolled onto their boats."

Tabor also suggested that the ginger cats possess something of a "Viking disposition" as they can be aggressive towards other felines.

He said: "Gingers cats themselves could be said to have a Viking disposition - friendly to people they get on with but fierce with opponent tom cats."
Garment exports from Sri Lanka were valued at $1,145.7 million during the first quarter of 2024, noting a decline of 1.1 per cent compared to the $1,157.9 million exported during the same period in the previous year, according to statistics released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

During January-March 2024, textile exports from the island nation dropped by 18.9 per cent year-on-year, totalling $72.1 million. The exports of other manufactured textile articles were valued at $30.5 million during the same period, an increase of 17.0 per cent, as detailed in the bank's report titled 'External Sector Performance  March 2024'.

Garment exports from Sri Lanka in Q1 2024 were $1,145.7 million. Textile exports dropped by 18.9 per cent to $72.1 million, while other manufactured textile articles increased by 17.0 per cent to $30.5 million. In March 2024, textile exports rose by 6.6 per cent to $444.9 million. Meanwhile, textile imports increased, but clothing imports decreased in 2023.

Exports of textiles, garments, and other manufactured textile articles collectively accounted for 49.58 per cent of all industrial exports from Sri Lanka during the reviewed period, the report indicated. All textile product exports summed up to $1,248.3 million in January-March 2024, while Sri Lanka's total industrial exports were $2,517.3 million in the same period.

In March 2024, all textile product exports from the country gained by 6.6 per cent year-on-year, totalling $444.9 million. Category-wise, garment exports increased by 7.3 per cent to $407.3 million, while textile exports decreased by 8.2 per cent to $26.1 million. Exports of other manufactured textile articles gained by 24.0 per cent, amounting to $11.5 million.

On the other hand, imports of textiles and textile articles increased by 8.9 per cent to $658.5 million, while imports of clothing and accessories edged up by 24.3 per cent, amounting to $56.8 million in January-March 2024. In March 2024, textiles and textile articles decreased by 15.1 per cent to $187.9 million, while imports of clothing and accessories jumped by 45.7 per cent to $36.0 million.

In 2023, garment exports from Sri Lanka were valued at $4,440.6 million, which was 19 per cent lower than the exports of $5,483.1 million in 2022. The imports of textiles and textile articles had declined by 22.6 per cent to $2,371.2 million, and Sri Lanka's imports of clothing and accessories were down by 21.1 per cent, amounting to $170 million in 2023.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
Bangladesh think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) recently proposed BDT 22,776 (~$207.57) as the minimum monthly wage for grade 5 tannery workers in the country.

It proposed BDT 25,980 (~$236.84) for grade 4 workers, BDT 29,184 (~$266) for grade 3, BDT 33,641 (~$306.68) for grade 2 and BDT 39,270 (~$358) for grade 1 workers.

In arriving at the figure, CPD took into consideration various factors like food costs, non-food expenses, family size and the number of income earners in a family.

Bangladesh's Centre for Policy Dialogue has proposed $207.57 as the minimum monthly wage for grade 5 tannery workers. It proposed $236.84 for grade 4 workers, $266 for grade 3, $306.68 for grade 2 and $358 for grade 1. CPD advocated adopting a unified grading system, integrating all existing wage board and collective bargaining agreements-based grades.

To streamline and ensure consistency in grading practices across the tannery industry, CPD advocated adopting a unified grading system, which would integrate all existing wage board and collective bargaining agreements-based grades into a cohesive framework comprising five primary grades.

CPD carried out a study along with OSHE Foundation with support from the European Union (EU), Solidar Suisse and the Leather Development Forum (LDF). Its objective was to propose a benchmark minimum wage for Bangladesh tannery workers for this year.

Members involved in the study briefed the media recently in Dhaka on the study findings and their proposals.

In the existing grading system in the tannery sector, workers are unable to progress to a higher grade once they commence working within a specific grade, noted CPD senior research associate Tamim Ahmed. Instead, the sole means of wage enhancement is through nationally-set minimum wage hikes, community-based adaptation and annual increments, he said.

Drawing inspiration from the practices outlined by the US office of personnel management, CPD has proposed an approach that allows employees to advance from a lower sub-grade to a higher sub-grade while remaining within the same overall grade through within-grade increases (WGI). Such a method fosters career progression within the same grade level, enabling upward mobility for workers, Ahmed was quoted as saying by a CPD release.

CPD also recommended determining housing allowances and other wage components as a percentage of the basic wage rather than fixed amounts so that these are more reflective of economic fluctuations and the cost of living.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
CHICAGO, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cloud-based contact centre market trends for the future include seamless omnichannel communication, support for remote workforce enablement, and faster adoption of AI and automation. Along with a focus on customer-centric innovation, worldwide expansion, and sustainability initiatives, integration with the CX ecosystem, sophisticated analytics, security, and compliance will be important drivers.

The Cloud-based Contact Center Market is projected to grow from USD 26.2 billion in 2024 to USD 86.4 billion by 2029, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.9% during the forecast period, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The Cloud-based Contact Center Market is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period, owing to various business drivers like rising requirement for customized and streamlined engagements, increasing significance of social media in contact center operations, sustained adoption of cloud technology in contact center infrastructure, and rapid rise in the implementation of next-gen contact center technologies.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Cloud-based Contact Center Market"

299 - Tables

67 - Figures

359 - Pages

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Scope of the Report

Report Metrics Details Market size available for years 2019-2029 Base year considered 2023 Forecast period 2024-2029 Forecast units USD (Billion) Segments Covered Offering, Application, Communication Channel, Vertical, and Region Geographies covered North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America Companies covered NICE (Israel), AWS (US), Genesys (US), Vonage (US), Five9 (US), Talkdesk (US), Cisco (US), Avaya (US), Zoho (India), 8x8 (US), Verizon (US), Alvaria (US), Amelia (US), Twilio (US), CloudWave (Australia), Content Guru (UK), RingCentral (US), 3CLogic (US), Enghouse Interactive (US), Vocalcom (France), Evolve IP (US), Sprinklr (US), Mitel (Canada), BT Group (UK), Pypestream (US), TechSee (Israel), Aircall (France), Sentient Machines (UK), Nubitel (Singapore), JustCall (US), Dialer360 (UK), Servetel (India), NeoDove (India), and Rulai (US).

By Software type, omnichannel routing software type to register for the largest market share during the forecast period

Omnichannel routing software type is projected to hold the largest market share in the Cloud-based Contact Center Market during the forecast period due to its ability to seamlessly integrate multiple communication channels, such as voice, email, chat, social media, and more. This software type addresses the growing demand for unified customer experiences, allowing businesses to efficiently manage interactions across various channels from a single platform. With consumers increasingly expecting consistent and personalized engagement regardless of channel, omnichannel routing software offers the flexibility and efficiency that contact centers need to meet these expectations.

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By communication channel, self-service segment is poised for the fastest growth rate during the forecast period

Self-service communication channel is poised for the fastest growth in Cloud-based Contact Center Market due to their efficiency and convenience. As customers increasingly seek quick resolutions and personalized experiences, self-service options such as AI-powered chatbots, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, and knowledge bases offer round-the-clock assistance without the need for agent intervention. This not only reduces operational costs for businesses but also provides customers with immediate access to information and support, driving satisfaction and loyalty. The scalability and flexibility of cloud-based contact center solutions further enhance the appeal of self-service channels, making them a key driver of growth in the coming years.

By region, North America to account for the largest market during the forecast period

The region's robust IT infrastructure and early adoption of cloud technologies have paved the way for widespread acceptance of cloud-based contact center solutions. Additionally, the presence of major market players and technological innovators in the region, particularly in the United States and Canada, drives continuous advancements and deployments of cloud contact center services. Furthermore, the growing emphasis on customer experience and the need for scalable, flexible, and cost-effective customer interaction solutions propel the demand for cloud-based contact centers, with North American businesses recognizing the efficiency gains and agility afforded by these platforms.

Top Key Companies in Cloud-based Contact Center Market:

Some major players in the Cloud-based Contact Center Market include NICE (Israel), AWS (US), Genesys (US), Vonage (US), Five9 (US), along with startups such as Pypestream (US), TechSee (Israel), Aircall (France), Sentient Machines (UK), Nubitel (Singapore).

Recent Developments:

In March 2024, Vonage announced the addition of Vonage Enhanced Noise Cancellation to the Vonage Contact Center (VCC). This noise and echo cancellation feature uses machine learning to eliminate disruptive background noises and voices, boosting agent productivity, reducing average handle time, and improving the overall customer experience.

In March 2024, Five9 announced GenAI Studio, an industry-first solution that allows organizations to customize general-purpose, off-the-shelf generative AI models, such as OpenAI, for the contact center with just a few clicks.

In December 2023, NICE announced the launch of the 2023 CXone Fall Release, expanding AI and automation and increasing openness across the CXone platform. CXone is the industry's leading interaction-centric platform, enabling organizations to effectively manage all interactions-attended and unattended. As organizations look to infuse AI and automation throughout their CX operations, this release further enhances NICE's leadership gap with unique capabilities that allow organizations to succeed and compete in the digital era.

In June 2023, Genesys collaborated with Lighthouse Works, which has resulted in significant career opportunities for the Blind or Visually Impaired (BI). According to Lighthouse Works, using the Genesys Cloud CX platform integrated with its proprietary API, Lighthouse Works created more than 25% of new blind jobs in the US last year.

In December 2022, AWS partnered with Stability AI to build and grow its AI models for creating pictures, language, audio, video, and 3D content. Stability AI accelerated its work on open-source generative AI models by utilizing Amazon SageMaker (AWS's end-to-end machine learning service) and AWS's computer and storage infrastructure. Stability AI will work with Amazon to make its open-source tools and models accessible to startups, academics, and businesses worldwide.

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Cloud-based Contact Center Market Advantages:

Scalability is a feature of cloud-based contact centres that enables companies to quickly scale up or down in response to varying call volumes, seasonal needs, or corporate expansion without having to make large infrastructure investments.

These solutions enable distributed teams, remote work, and company continuity in the event of disruptions or emergencies by giving agents the freedom to work remotely from any location with an internet connection.

By providing a pay-as-you-go pricing model where businesses only pay for the products and resources they use, cloud-based contact centres save upfront capital expenses and total cost of ownership. They also do away with the need for on-premises hardware and maintenance costs.

With less setup and configuration needed, cloud-based contact centre systems may be rapidly and simply implemented, allowing businesses to react more swiftly to changes in the market or in customer expectations.

These solutions enable businesses to provide individualised customer experiences, streamline workflows, and consolidate customer data by offering seamless interaction with other company systems including CRM, helpdesk, and marketing automation platforms.

In the event of system failures or outages, cloud-based contact centres include built-in disaster recovery and redundancy features, including data backup, failover, and redundancy techniques to maintain company continuity and minimise downtime.

Businesses may serve clients worldwide using cloud-based contact centres because they may set up virtual contact centres in several locations, customise customer experiences, and adhere to local laws and data protection standards.

Report Objectives

To define, describe, and predict the Cloud-based Contact Center Market by offering (software (type, engagement type, deployment mode) and services), communication channel, application, vertical, and region

To provide detailed information related to major factors (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges) influencing the market growth

To analyze the micro markets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contribution to the total market

To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high-growth segments of the Cloud-based Contact Center Market

To analyze the opportunities in the market and provide details of the competitive landscape for stakeholders and market leaders

To forecast the market size of segments for five main regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America

To profile key players and comprehensively analyze their market rankings and core competencies.

To analyze the competitive developments, such as partnerships, product launches, and mergers & acquisitions, in the Cloud-based Contact Center Market

To analyze the impact of recession across all regions in the Cloud-based Contact Center Market

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EQS-Ad-hoc: Dexus Finance Pty Limited / Key word(s): Quarter Results/Real Estate

Dexus Finance Pty Limited: March 2024 quarter update



07-May-2024 / 02:43 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.





Dexus (ASX: DXS) ASX release 7 May 2024 March 2024 quarter update - Demonstrating platform resilience across the investment portfolio and the funds business Ross Du Vernet, Dexus Group Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director said: "Our vision is to be Australasia's leading real asset manager, and we remain focused on our strategic objectives of generating resilient income streams and being identified as an investment manager of choice. "As incoming CEO, my immediate priorities are driving investment performance in the next phase of the investment cycle through refined investment strategies and deep sector expertise, as well as evolving our approach to capital allocation and risk management. We believe these areas will set up the group to scale efficiently and achieve leadership through investment performance." Key highlights Property portfolio continues to demonstrate resilience, maintaining high occupancy across the Dexus office portfolio of 94.4% and Dexus industrial portfolio of 96.6%

maintaining high occupancy across the Dexus office portfolio of 94.4% and Dexus industrial portfolio of 96.6% Rent collections remain strong at 99.5%

remain strong at 99.5% Dexus Real Estate Partnership 2 (DREP2), which launched late last year, raised more than $300 million in commitments towards its first close

(DREP2), which launched late last year, raised more than $300 million in commitments towards its first close Secured circa $0.4 billion of transactions across the platform, the majority of which were divestments on behalf of a number of funds

of transactions across the platform, the majority of which were divestments on behalf of a number of funds Continued to drive fund performance through active management across our real asset platform, delivering outperformance in Dexus Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund and Dexus Diversified Infrastructure Trust

across our real asset platform, delivering outperformance in Dexus Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund and Dexus Diversified Infrastructure Trust Restocking the trading pipeline Outlook Ross Du Vernet said: "While conditions remain challenging, our investment portfolio continues to deliver resilient income streams and we have a strong balance sheet supported by a disciplined approach to capital management. With the integration of the AMP Capital platform now complete, we have turned our focus to the immediate two priorities which will set us up for growth in the next phase of the investment cycle. "Barring unforeseen circumstances, for the 12 months ended 30 June 2024 [1] Dexus reiterates its expectation for distributions of circa 48.0 cents per security. AFFO excluding trading profits is expected to be broadly in line with that delivered in FY23." Funds management continues to deliver for investors Since transitioning to Dexus's platform, Dexus Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund (DWSF) continued to generate strong performance, outperforming its benchmark during the nine months to 31 March 2024 by circa 195 basis points. Dexus Diversified Infrastructure Trust (DDIT) outperformed its benchmark [2] over the past 12 months. Dexus Real Estate Partnership 2 (DREP2), which launched late last year, has raised more than $300 million in commitments towards its first close from both institutions and private investors, as well as returning DREP1 investors. Dexus secured circa $0.4 billion of transactions across the platform during the quarter, the majority of which were divestments on behalf of a number of funds. High-quality property portfolio supports resilient cashflows Office Industrial Key metrics 31 Mar 2024 31 Dec 2023 31 Mar 2024 31 Dec 2023 Occupancy by income 94.4% 94.5% 96.6% 99.0% Occupancy by area 93.6% 94.0% 97.5% 99.5% Weighted average lease expiry (by income) 4.5 years 4.6 years 4.4 years 4.6 years Square metres leased [3] 27,400 66,600 20,900 102,500 Number of lease transactions3 55 135 9 17 Average incentives [4] 29.0% 29.4% 17.8% 18.6%

In office, location remains a key differentiator for asset performance, with the Sydney core and Melbourne eastern core again reporting lower vacancy compared with their respective CBD averages. Dexus's office portfolio occupancy by income of 94.4% remained well above the wider market at 86.5% [5] and was in line with HY24, reflecting leasing success across the portfolio. Average incentives of 29.0% were slightly below HY24 levels, as smaller customers accounted for a higher proportion of leasing deals during the quarter. Dexus's industrial portfolio occupancy decreased to 96.6%, primarily due to vacancy at a large facility in Sydney Outer West where various leasing options are being explored. The industrial sector remains resilient and vacancy rates remain low, despite economic headwinds impacting retail and overall business confidence. Across Dexus's stabilised industrial portfolio, rent growth remained above trend with double digit effective releasing spreads achieved during the nine months to 31 March 2024. The portfolio is 16% under-rented, benefiting from continued market rent growth across our key markets. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Dexus launched a pilot of the Sustainable Development Standards (SDS) tool and framework, to enhance consistency in embedding sustainability into the development process and contribute to the delivery of high performing assets. This will be trialled across select projects in FY24. Dexus progressed decarbonisation roadmap studies across 26 office assets, and through our partnership with the Black Dog Institute, delivered mental health workshops for the people leaders and employees of our customers nationally across office, industrial and healthcare assets. Developments and Trading At the flagship industrial development precincts of Ravenhall and Jandakot, Dexus completed 65,600 square metres and progressed construction across 86,500 square metres. Dexus has also commenced restocking of its trading book. Capital management Dexus continues to maintain a strong balance sheet and is rated A- by S&P and A3 by Moody's. Dexus elected to withdraw the Moody's credit rating for Dexus Office Trust Australia and S&P's credit rating for Dexus Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund given there is no outstanding capital markets debt in these vehicles. Authorised by Scott Mahony, Company Secretary of Dexus Funds Management Limited For further information please contact: Investors

Rowena Causley

Head of Listed Investor Relations

+61 2 9017 1390

+61 416 122 383

rowena.causley@dexus.com Media

Luke O'Donnell

Senior Manager, Media and Communications

+61 2 9017 1216

+61 412 023 111

luke.odonnell@dexus.com

[1] Subject to no material deterioration in conditions and assumes circa $10 million of trading profits (post tax). [2] Australian 10 Years Government Bond yield plus 450 basis points. [3] Including Heads of Agreement and excluding development leasing transactions. [4] FY24 to date, excluding development leasing. [5] Australian CBD average by Property Council Australia January 2024.



End of Inside Information

Information and Explanation of the Issuer to this announcement:



About Dexus Dexus (ASX: DXS) is a leading Australasian fully integrated real asset group, managing a high-quality Australasian real estate and infrastructure portfolio valued at $57.1 billion. We believe that the strength and quality of our relationships will always be central to our success and are deeply connected to our purpose: Unlock potential, create tomorrow. We directly and indirectly own $15.8 billion of office, industrial, healthcare, retail and infrastructure assets and investments. We manage a further $41.3 billion of investments in our funds management business which provides third party capital with exposure to quality sector specific and diversified real asset products. The funds within this business have a strong track record of delivering performance and benefit from Dexus's capabilities. The platform's $16.9 billion real estate development pipeline provides the opportunity to grow both portfolios and enhance future returns. Our sustainability aspiration is to unlock the potential of real assets to create lasting positive impact and a more sustainable tomorrow, and is focused on the priorities of customer prosperity, climate action and enhancing communities. Dexus is supported by more than 35,000 investors from 22 countries. With four decades of expertise in real estate and infrastructure investment, funds management, asset management and development, we have a proven track record in capital and risk management and delivering returns for investors. www.dexus.com Dexus Funds Management Ltd ABN 24 060 920 783, AFSL 238163, as Responsible Entity for Dexus (ASX: DXS)

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07-May-2024 CET/CEST The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

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SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2024 / Shoreline Recovery Center offers support for family members in support of their loved ones.









"For many people, alcohol use disorder does not develop overnight, which means that someone struggling with an addiction to alcohol may not see the consequences because their perspective can be skewed over time," said Shoreline Recovery Center therapist and Clinical Director Mike Gallagher.

It also affects the loves ones of those caring for those in recovery. When it comes to the parents, caretakers and other supportive individuals, Gallagher said it can be difficult to know what to do if relapse occurs and how to support their family, friends and coworkers.

One of the reasons is because individuals who are newly sober are more likely to have a lower threshold for stress. "This is because using drugs and alcohol addictively does not only provide euphoria and pleasure, it also alters the body's stress response (fight, flight, freeze)," he said. "Highly stressful situations can lead to impulsive responses like relapse, avoidance patterns or other addictive tendencies."

Shoreline clients are encouraged to use individual and group therapy to build their tolerance when it comes to dealing with internal (cognitive, behavioral and emotional) and external (people, places and things) factors that cause stress.

When it comes to addiction and what to look out for, changes in sleeping and eating patterns can be a sign, said Shoreline Recovery Center Therapist Max Kubota.

"Isolation and/or withdrawal from friends and family is another hallmark sign," he said. "Drastic changes in thoughts and behaviors - especially erratic, impulsive, and irrational thoughts and behaviors are other indicators.

If this is occurring, Kubota said that loved ones should be assertive by sharing what they are noticing as well how it is affecting them and encourage the addict to seek professional help.

He also said it's important for loved ones to consider how they may be enabling their addiction. "This is, of course, easier said than done, so we encourage loved ones to find a support network like ALANON and/or their own therapy in order to receive guidance from those that have been through similar situations and/or have expertise on the matter," Kubota said.

The last thing a loved one should consider he said, is trying to treat the addict on their own or think they can "fix" the addict. "This is an all-too-common pitfall."

Mindfulness and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy-based coping strategies such as deep breathing techniques and meditation are highly encouraged at Shoreline Recovery Center.

"Being able to identify triggers for substance use and mental health, having a plan to deal with those triggers, and knowing the warning signs that indicate someone is headed for a relapse will help set them up for success," Kubota said.

Contact Information

Steven Esparza

Chief Executive Officer

info@camppublicrelations.com

6193631368

SOURCE: Shoreline Recovery Center

View the original press release on newswire.com.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2024 / Gold Mountain Mining Corp. ("Gold Mountain" or the "Company") (TSX:GMTN)(OTCQB:GMTNF)(FRA:5XFA) is pleased to announce that Nadine Hoehne has been appointed to its Board of Directors (the "Board") effective immediately.

Ms. Hoehne is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, with a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations. Ms. Hoehne is a relationship builder with over 20 years experience in advancing major projects in a variety of industries including the forestry, mining, energy, and transportation sectors.

Ms. Hoehne has a rare and important skill set that allows collaboration between Indigenous leadership, communities, senior levels of provincial and federal government, and industry proponents to develop relationships that not only respect Indigenous title and rights, but also find creative solutions that produce positive outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike.

Ms. Hoehne experience in major projects ranges from large electrical generation, transmission and distribution, major mine expansions, oil and gas development, and more recently renewable energy, including BC's first photovoltaic solar facility to be located on reclaimed tailings within Teck's HVC mine site. Ms. Hoehne is an Indigenous Title Implementation Specialist and is currently employed with the Nlaka'pamux Nation Tribal Council (NNTC) based in Lytton, BC. Ms. Hoehne will join Gold Mountain as an independent director and member of the audit committee, while also overseeing the build out of strategic planning, recovery and expansion.

Gold Mountain also wishes to announce that Keith Minty has resigned from the Company's Board of Directors. The company would like to thank Mr. Minty for his time with the company and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.

About Gold Mountain

Gold Mountain is a British Columbia based gold and silver production, exploration and development company focused on the development of the Elk Gold Mine, a producing mine located 57 kilometers from Merritt in South Central British Columbia. Additional information is available at www.sedar.com or on the Company's new website at www.gold-mountain.ca .

For more information, please contact:

Gold Mountain Mining Corp.

Ronald Woo, CEO

Email: IR@gold-mountain.ca

Website: www.gold-mountain.ca

Twitter: www.twitter.com/goldmtnmine_

Forward Looking Statements

This includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward- looking statements include statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release and are not purely historical including any information relating to statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future and often, but not always, use words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of 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 board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; the price of gold; and the results of current exploration. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Gold Mountain 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.

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this News Release.

SOURCE: Gold Mountain Mining Corp

View the original press release on accesswire.com
DUBAI, UAE, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- TerraPay, a leading global money movement company, has joined forces with Multipass, a bank challenger in the financial technology sector, to redefine cross-border payment solutions for corporate customers. This strategic collaboration aims to offer unparalleled reliability, efficiency, and cost optimisation to businesses operating in the UK, Europe, and beyond.

Through this partnership, Multipass gains access to TerraPay's extensive global payments network, expanding its reach to new jurisdictions and local payouts in multiple currencies, ensuring efficient cross-border payment solutions to its clients. Both organizations offer 24/7 customer support and dedicated personal account managers, emphasising the importance of human interaction alongside technological advancement.

Sudhesh Giriyan, President - Cross-Border Payments at TerraPay, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, "TerraPay is thrilled to collaborate with Multipass to revolutionize cross-border payments for their corporate customers. This partnership underscores our dedication to providing innovative solutions that drive efficiency, reliability, and cost optimisation."

Rami Chedid, CEO of Multipass for the UAE and the Middle East, commented, "Our partnership with TerraPay represents a significant step forward in our commitment to deliver secure and fast payment solutions to medium-sized entrepreneurs trading internationally. All while prioritizing security and efficiency in speed and costs. As we continue to work on our expansion plans in the UAE, this trusted partnership gives a new level of importance, offering our clients practically a global payment reach."

He continued to state that Multipass has initiated the application process for a financial services license in UAE to be regulated by The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), and having received the in-principal approval, the company will launch operations very soon. "This operational expansion will broaden the global payment reach for UAE-based businesses from the very first day, providing them with a competitive edge and opportunities for business growth", he explains.

About TerraPay:

TerraPay simplifies global money movement - by providing a single connection to the most expansive cross-border payments network regulated in 31 global markets and enabling payments to 144 receive countries, 210+ send countries, 7.5Bn+ bank accounts and 2.1Bn+ mobile wallets. TerraPay is on a mission to connect a borderless financial world, making moving money everywhere instant, reliable, transparent, and fully compliant. TerraPay pushes the boundaries for global businesses - ranging from banks, fintechs and money-transfer operators to travel businesses, creator economy platforms and e-commerce marketplaces - while driving financial inclusion in even the most inaccessible markets. Founded in 2014, TerraPay is headquartered in London, with global offices in Bangalore, Dubai, Miami, Bogota, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Hague, Dakar, Joburg, Nairobi, Milan, Singapore and is expanding rapidly, having received funding from leading investors, including the IFC (the World Bank), Prime Ventures, Partech Africa, and Visa.

About Multipass:

Multipass a part of Dyninno Group of Companies, is a bank challenger that provides modern financial solutions for businesses with cross-border activity. It offers a multi-currency business account with an instant FX desk and a corporate card that allows international companies to manage their bank transfers in foreign markets in a simple way. Multipass's customer offering includes local UK, US, and EU (European Union) accounts, as well as a single multi-currency IBAN supporting over 70 currencies and 200 global payment destinations. The company was founded in 2017 and is led by Dmitry Tsymber.

Media Contact:

juveria.n@terrapay.com

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1222771/TerraPay_Logo.jpg

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LONDON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Brands Magazine's prestigious 'Global Brand Awards' night took place at the Athenee Hotel, Bangkok, on the 04th of May 2024 in its bid to identify the world's most prominent brands under various categories.

The iconic evening was marked by the presence of some of the biggest brands in the world in the Grand Hall with a star-studded line-up. The event was presided by the chief guest Ms. Deepali Khanna who is the vice president of the Rockefeller foundation.

The awards ceremony was marked by guest speeches by Ms. Deepali Khanna, Mr. Teeraphol Ambhai and Mr. Joseph Chan followed by the awards presentation by Ms. Deepali Khanna, Mr. Joseph Chan and Mr. Vishal Sood. This awards night witnessed top executives from top brands across the globe with an opportunity to come together and receive the coveted awards. The event was embraced by some of the top brands such as FedEx Express Thailand, Malaysia Airlines, Mercedes Benz (Thailand) Limited, TH Group, Major Cineplex, Asia Pay and other prominent brands.

Commenting on the awards night, Mr. Jay Reddy, CEO of Global Brands Magazine, stated, "This year's awards process was rigorous and over 20,000 companies were evaluated across various categories. It's a privilege to host the winners of these awards under one roof. Their commitment to fostering lasting brand value through customer satisfaction is truly admirable. We extend our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to all the deserving winners."

The event was proudly sponsored by AlphaLegal.ai, Zaga Urban, and Sportzlete, demonstrating their commitment to recognizing and celebrating excellence in global branding. The GBM team extends its heartfelt gratitude to Chief Guest Deepali Khanna, our esteemed speakers, the awards presenters, and all the award-winning brands who travelled from near and far to join us. Your presence and contribution made this event truly memorable.

About Global Brands Magazine

Global Brands Magazine (GBM) leads the way in covering brands shaping their industries. Based in the UK, it highlights top-notch brands globally. Each year, GBM awards companies with exceptional vision, service, and products. These accolades elevate their branding in social and digital realms, providing valuable recognition and exposure.

To nominate your company or business leader for the Global Brand Awards, please click on the following link:

https://www.globalbrandsmagazine.com/nomination-form/

Check out our social media shout outs from the links below:

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3UKqOXJ

Linkedin: https://bit.ly/4b66iX5

Twitter: https://bit.ly/3WpqgaY

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3QVyzIb

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Sights on global expansion for DAMAC Properties as appetite for DAMAC's luxury portfolio grows even further amongst investors in Asia Pacific (APAC) and other global markets, including across the US and Europe

DAMAC Properties previously announced its Shanghai office opening in December 2023 in APAC

DUBAI, UAE, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- UAE-founded real estate developer with global aspirations, DAMAC Properties, has announced brand-new office openings in Beijing and Singapore. With its sights firmly set on global expansion, the office openings signal the brand's push and significant investment and commitment to APAC. As UAE's largest private real estate developer with headquarters in Dubai since 1982, DAMAC has grown exponentially to an impressive diverse portfolio, including luxury real estate developments, hospitality experiences, data centres, retail, fashion, and capital markets. In December 2023, DAMAC announced plans to enter the Chinese market with its entry into Shanghai, capitalising on the growing demand for the UAE and DAMAC's portfolio from Chinese HNWI and UHNWI investors.

The official ribbon cutting and event in Singapore was conducted by H.E. Jamal Abdulla AlSuwaidi, Ambassador of The United Arab Emirates to the Republic of Singapore, Dr Brian Shegar, President, UAE Singapore Business Council, Mr Mohamed Al Zarooni, UAE Head of Economic Affairs and Media, Singapore, and Hany Kotat, VP, International Sales, DAMAC Properties. The launch event included CEOs and Heads of the top brokerage firms in Singapore, including Propex, Huttons, ERA, Orange Tee and Tie and SRI.

Abbas Sajwani, Board Member, DAMAC Properties, commented: "Since 2002, DAMAC Properties has been synonymous with redefining luxury. We are excited as we expand our footprint further into APAC with our recent office openings in Beijing and Singapore. With excellence in our DNA, today we create products of the highest international standards. Across APAC, we see discerning, seasoned, high-value individuals who are looking to buy premium and quality developments for investments and as a home alike. We look forward to working with our partners in bringing DAMAC's acclaimed global portfolio to APAC markets."

Today, DAMAC's total portfolio comprises over 75+ towers, multiple branded residences, large communities, hotels and hotel apartments across 12 global cities such as Dubai, London, Toronto and Riyadh. Some of the globally acclaimed projects include DAMAC Tower Nine Elms London, Europe's first Versace-branded luxury residence tower, Safa Two by de GRISOGONO, overlooking the iconic Dubai Canal, Canal Crown by de GRISOGONO, Mediterranean lifestyle inspired DAMAC Lagoons- UAE's first pre-certified LEED Platinum community. A range of upcoming projects include Zaha Hadid Architects designed condo in Miami and a luxury resort in partnership with Mandarin Oriental in Maldives that is set to redefine the standards of luxury hospitality.

Anson Tay, Managing Partner, SRI: "Dubai's property market and the city continue to be attractive for investors and residents from Singapore and across APAC. Dubai's leading developers know and understand luxury craftsmanship in real estate developments well. DAMAC is one example that has delivered on promises with a whole range of luxury developments and investment opportunities."

Michael Long, CEO, Senturion Real Estate: "A TrendLens report in 2023 from luxury consulting firm Agility revealed that more than 20% of Chinese millionaires were planning to visit the Middle East in 2024 with consumers having accumulated capital to invest in international real estate. Dubai and the UAE offer high yields, safety, speed, stability and an opportunity to own true luxury and quality with a developer like DAMAC."

The DAMAC Office in Singapore is located at Asia Square Tower 1, Marina View, Marina Bay, Singapore, 11th Floor, Unit 06.

The DAMAC Office in Beijing is located at East Tower, No.1 East Middle 3rd Road, Beijing, 4th Floor, Unit 03.

The Shanghai DAMAC Office Address is located at 3 Corporate Avenue

168 Hubin Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, 25th Floor, Units 2510-2511.

A significant number of agent partnerships are in place to manage demand within both markets.

About DAMAC??

DAMAC has been at the forefront of the Middle East's luxury real estate market since 2002, delivering award-winning residential, commercial and leisure properties across the region, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, the Maldives, Canada, the United States, as well as the United Kingdom.?Since then, the company has delivered approximately 46,000 homes. Joining forces with some of the world's most eminent fashion and lifestyle brands, DAMAC has brought new and exciting living concepts to the market in collaborations that include luxury homes in association with Versace, Cavalli, de GRISOGONO, Zuhair Murad, Paramount Hotels & Resorts, Rotana and Radisson Hotel Group. With a consistent vision and strong momentum, DAMAC Properties is building the next generation of Middle Eastern luxury living.

Visit us at www.damacproperties.com ???

Follow DAMAC Properties on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , LinkedIn and YouTube (@DAMACofficial).???

For more information, please contact: Corporate Communications, DAMAC Properties: Tel: +971 4 373 2197 Email: corporatecommunications@damacgroup.com

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Jackpot Digital Inc. ("Jackpot" or the "Company"), (TSXV:JJ)(TSX-V:JJ.WT.B)(TSX-V:JJ.WT.C)(OTCQB:JPOTF)(Frankfurt Exchange:LVH3). Further to the Company's News Release dated May 6, 2024, the headline incorrectly stated "Jackpot Digital Cancels Its Investor Relations with Investor Cubed (I3)". The Company would like to clarify that Investor Cubed (I3) terminated the IR agreement and the Company agreed to the termination.

About Jackpot Digital Inc.

A positive disruptor in the casino business, Jackpot Digital Inc. is a leading manufacturer of dealerless multiplayer electronic poker tables for the cruise ship and land-based regulated casino industries. The Company specializes in dealerless poker which is complemented by a robust suite of backend tools for casino operators to efficiently control and optimize their poker business. For more information on the Company, please contact Jake H. Kalpakian, President and CEO, at (604) 681- 0204 ext. 6105, or visit the Company's website at www.jackpotdigital.com.

On behalf of the Board of Jackpot Digital Inc.,

"Jake H. Kalpakian"

_____________________________

Jake H. Kalpakian,

President & CEO

Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news 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 news release.

Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking". Forward-looking statements may include, among others, statements regarding Jackpot's future plans, the obtaining of customary regulatory approvals, projected or proposed financings, costs, objectives, economic or technical performance, or the assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. In this News Release, words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "enable", "feel", "seek", "project", "predict", "potential", "should", "might", "objective", "believe", "expects", "propose", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "plans" "estimate", "in due course" and similar words are used to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, projections and estimations, there can be no assurance that these assumptions, projections or estimations are accurate. Readers, shareholders and investors are therefore cautioned not to place reliance on any forward-looking statements as the plans, assumptions, intentions or expectations upon which they are based might not occur.

SOURCE: Jackpot Digital Inc.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Agronomics Limited (AIM:ANIC), the leading listed company focused on the field of cellular agriculture, announces that its unaudited Net Asset Valuation ("NAV") per share calculation as at closing on 31 March 2024 was 16.98 pence per share, a 0.5% increase from 16.90 pence per share at 31 December 2023. Net Assets were 171 million, including investments of 153 million and uninvested cash and short-term deposits of 19 million.

The share price of 8.80 pence at the 31 March 2024 close represented a discount of 48% to the 31 March 2024 NAV per share. The average discount to the prevailing NAV per share over the last 12-month period was 38%. Under IFRS, the Company's unquoted investments are generally carried at cost or the most recent priced funding round.

Jim Mellon, Chair of Agronomics, commented:

"We are delighted by the significant progress made by our portfolio during the quarter, successfully closing a number of funding rounds at a time when wider venture capital funding is challenging as the result of macro-economic uncertainty.

Highlights included a 30 million funding round for cultivated meat company Meatable, led by Agronomics alongside a new investor, Invest-NL. UK-based Clean Food Group also completed a 2.5 million funding round to commercialise its fermentation-derived palm oil. In addition, Liberation Labs is also making significant progress in securing the further US$ 55 million fundraise as announced on 5 April 2024 to help construct its facility, enabling precision fermentation at a commercial scale.

These successes highlight the industry-leading quality of the companies within our portfolio, and we look forward to their continued growth and commercial development.

Agronomics continues to have a strong cash balance and has no intention to raise capital, while trading at a discount to NAV."

Financing

During the period, 1,659 new ordinary shares were issued following the exercise of warrants. Gross proceeds of 498 were received by the Company.

During the period, no fees were payable or accrued relating to the Shellbay Investments Limited Agreement.

Investment review

During the 3-month period, the Company had two positive revaluations and saw the portfolio companies receive government support and form new strategic partnerships:

6 February 2024 - Bond Pet Foods, the US-based company that produces animal proteins through precision fermentation, delivered two metric tons of animal protein to one of the most popular pet food providers in the US, Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc - a division of the Colgate-Palmolive Company.

14 February 2024 - California Cultured Inc. reached a partnership agreement with the Japanese company Meiji Co., Ltd, Japan's largest chocolate manufacturer, involving a 10-year-long arrangement for the supply and integration of California Cultured's cell-cultured flavanol cocoa powder into an array of products tailored for both the US and Japanese markets.

13 March 2024 - Shiok Meats Pte. Ltd. was acquired by UMAMI Bioworks Pte. Ltd. in a share-for-share transaction, and subject to audit, this position will be carried forward at a book value of 0.378 million.

18 March 2024 - Good Dog Food Ltd created the world's first cans of pet food that use cultivated chicken as a protein source.

20 March 2024 - Formo Bio GmbH partnered with Those Vegan Cowboys, a Belgium-based company focusing on precision fermentation-derived caseins.

21 March 2024 - SuperMeat The Essence of Meat Ltd announced the conclusions from a Life Cycle Assessment, projecting a carbon footprint 47% lower when compared to conventional chicken.

26 March 2024 - Clean Food Group Ltd received a further 2.5 million in funding from Clean Growth Fund Management LLP.

27 March 2024 - Onego Bio Ltd completed a Series A financing round, successfully raising 27 million and led by NordicNinja VC, a Japanese-Nordic VC backing companies in climate and deep tech. In addition, Onego Bio secured a further 9.5 million in non-dilutive funding from Business Finland, a government organisation offering grant funding for innovative Finnish companies that address significant global needs and challenges. Subject to audit, Agronomics' position in Onego Bio, including the Subscription, will be carried at 11.1 million (12.9 million), including an unrealised gain of 3.8 million.

The Board notes that VitroLabs Inc, currently held at 7.6 million, is now undertaking a substantial restructuring and fund raising. Whilst the outcome of this is uncertain at the moment, pursuant to AIM Rule 11, we consider that it is probable that the holding in VitroLabs Inc will require a significant write-down and we will inform shareholders in due course once this is quantified. Meanwhile, a number of the Company's other holdings have experienced positive gains post-period, and it is therefore unlikely that the overall NAV will decline materially.

Unaudited to 31 March 2024  Current Assets Investments 153,061,704 Uninvested cash and deposits 19,685,863 Trade and other receivables 125,116 Current Liabilities Trade and other creditors (1,475,919) Net Assets 171,396,764 Capital and Reserves Share capital 1,009 Share premium 136,168,841 Retained earnings 35,226,914 Net assets 171,396,764 Shares in Issue 1,009,409,750 Net Asset Value per share 16.98 pence

The quoted investments within the portfolio are valued under IFRS at bid price.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014, as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

For further information please contact:

Agronomics Limited Beaumont Cornish Limited Canaccord Genuity Limited Cavendish Securities Plc Peterhouse Capital Limited SEC Newgate The Company Nomad Joint Broker Joint Broker Joint Broker Public Relations Jim Mellon Denham Eke Roland Cornish James Biddle Andrew Potts Harry Pardoe Alex Aylen (Head of Equities) Giles Balleny Michael Johnson Lucy Williams Charles Goodfellow Bob Huxford Anthony Hughes +44 (0) 1624 639396

info@agronomics.im +44 (0) 207 628 3396 +44 (0) 207 523 8000 +44 (0) 207 397 8900 +44 (0) 207 469 0936 agronomics@secnewgate.co.uk

ENDS

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: Agronomics Limited

View the original press release on accesswire.com
New LeGer Fragrance To Join Coty's Mass Fragrance Portfolio

Today, Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) (Paris:COTY), one of the world's largest beauty companies with a portfolio of iconic brands across fragrance, color cosmetics, skin and body care, is pleased to announce that it has signed a long term license agreement with Lena Gercke to develop, produce, and distribute LeGer's debut fragrance.

This agreement marks the beginning of a long-term partnership between Coty and German Television Presenter and Model, Lena Gercke. The agreement is rooted in a mutual focus on empowerment, inspiration, and innovation. The collaboration comes as Coty continues to elevate and diversify its portfolio, continuously bringing new products, brands, and innovations to the forefront.

Stefano Curti, Coty's Chief Brands Officer Consumer Beauty, said: "We are delighted to be collaborating with Lena Gercke to bring our shared vision to life in the beauty space. Lena's fashion brand LeGer is one of the fastest growing personal fashion labels in Germany, creating unique yet timeless pieces that empower women through fashion. Together, we are excited to work with Lena in building her presence in the beauty market with a fragrance that is authentically her."

Lena Gercke, LeGer CEO and Founder, added: "This partnership with Coty marks another big step for the brand as we make our foray into the beauty space. I am thrilled to be working with the industry leader, to develop a fragrance which is emblematic of the ethos that underpinned LeGer's creation: the idea of being able to express yourself freely and feel confident and comfortable with who you are."

Coty will develop, produce, and distribute the new LeGer fragrance, which is expected to launch in the DACH region this summer.

About Coty Inc.

Founded in Paris in 1904, Coty is one of the world's largest beauty companies with a portfolio of iconic brands across fragrance, color cosmetics, and skin and body care. We serve consumers around the world, selling prestige and mass market products in more than 125 countries and territories. Coty and our brands empower people to express themselves freely, creating their own visions of beauty; and we are committed to protecting the planet. Learn more at coty.com or on LinkedIn and Instagram.

About LeGer

Lena Gercke launched her fashion label, LeGer by Lena Gercke, in collaboration with the online retailer AboutYou in 2017. By 2019, LeGer was named Germany's most successful personal brand and the following year, she moved the now independent company to Berlin. Since then, Lena has grown the business, expanding LeGer into furniture and home accessories under LeGer Home. And now, in 2024, she has taken the next step with LeGer Beauty, in partnership with Coty.

Lena Gercke's modeling career took off after she won 'Germany's next Topmodel', leading to work with global brands such as Adidas, BMW, Maybelline, Intimissimi, and Syoss. Lena has also been a regular on German and Austrian TV, initially on the jury of Germany's Got Talent before launching her own show and hosting one of Germany's most successful shows, The Voice of Germany.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240506174012/en/

Contacts:

Coty Inc.

Antonia Werther

Antonia_werther@cotyinc.com

LeGer

Besna Kahraman

b.kahraman@ab-glanz.de
PARIS, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Wanbang Digital Energy Co., Ltd, also known for its brand name "StarCharge", a global leader in electronic vehicle (EV) charging solutions and microgrid technology, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Schneider Electric (SU.PA), the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation. The parties intend to form a joint venture aimed at accelerating the adoption of EVs and revolutionizing smart energy infrastructure across Europe.

The planned joint venture will focus on developing and marketing prosumer products, solutions and services, tailored for residential, commercial and industrial sectors. This includes a range of AC/DC EV chargers, inverters, and energy storage systems designed to meet the diverse needs of the European market.

The collaboration is directly aligned with Europe's drive for sustainability, offering support and opportunities that are essential for success. As environmental concerns rise, there is an urgent need for consumer engagement with smart energy solutions to facilitate a shift away from fossil fuels. Benefiting from this trend, the joint venture is poised for significant growth in Europe, leveraging its innovative energy solutions and an extensive distribution network.

About StarCharge

StarCharge is a premium provider of comprehensive EV energy supply and storage solutions, with a global foot print spanning over 60 countries across six continents. With a commitment to a greener future, StarCharge has delivered 2 million EV chargers worldwide, leading the industry in sales volume over the past decade.

http://www.starcharge.com/

About Schneider Electric

Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Joining United Fintech's circle of institutional investors, Danske Bank takes a seat at the board of a leading industry-neutral Digital Transformation Platform alongside BNP Paribas and Citi to support the bank's Forward '28 strategy from a digital frontier. A move signalling that shared collaboration is the way ahead for financial services as global banking enters a new era of collective innovation.

Danske Bank A/S has become the third institutional investor in United Fintech Group Limited securing the Nordic bank a rotating board seat in the rapidly growing industry-neutral Digital Transformation Platform:

"Danske Bank is very excited to join United Fintech and sees great opportunities as per both collaboration within the existing ecosystem of fintech companies, but also in being closer to the future fintech investment processes and decisions. The partnership allows Danske Bank to expand its exposure to innovative solutions, ultimately benefiting our customer value proposition," says Claus Harder, Head of Transaction Banking & LC&I Business Development with Danske Bank.

Digitally supporting the strategy

The investment will enable swift access to exploration of cutting-edge fintechs through United Fintech's platform. Building on collective efforts along +200 other financial institutions, this will also allow Danske Bank to benefit from new strategic partnerships and scalable ways of diversifying its digital ambitions - and thus support the bank's Forward '28 strategy across areas such as corporate banking, capital markets, wealth management and API integrations:

"With a company backbone highly aligned with our Forward '28 strategy, United Fintech is an investment that provides a digital edge and competitive advantage to support our strategy in terms of both relevance and time-to-market when it comes to future solutions. Furthermore, the investment in United Fintech will generate possibilities to engage directly with fintechs that are subscale; to support their growth while simultaneously helping fuel our own digital transformation and growth strategy," elaborates Claus Harder.

United Fintech: Broad industry shift underway

The announcement of Danske Bank's investment comes just months after it was published on February 27 that BNP Paribas and Citi entered as institutional investors in United Fintech.

According to United Fintech's founder and CEO, Danske Bank's investment is not only a testimony to the Nordic bank's commitment to shared collaboration on an industry-neutral platform, but the financial industry as a whole, as the Unithed Fintech confirms it is also in advanced talks with further strategic investors to join its transformative journey, signalling a broad industry shift towards collaborative fintech innovation as global banking enters a new era:

"We are delighted that Danske Bank has decided to invest and join United Fintech's industry-neutral Digital Transformation Platform. Their innovative and forward-looking approach to digital transformation is a cornerstone in our mission to build a transformative platform. This commitment is instrumental in addressing the industry's most pressing challenges through collaboration, rather than isolated efforts. By uniting the strengths of Danske Bank and our other banking partners, we are setting the stage for a new era in banking where we move beyond traditional silos to propel the industry into the digital age," ends Christian Frahm, CEO and founder of United Fintech.

About Danske Bank  For more than 150 years, Danske Bank has helped enable growth and development in society. The bank has developed in tandem with the societies it exits in providing advisory services, expertise and financial solutions that have helped individuals, families, businesses, and organisations to realise their ambitions and potential. The bank helps customers in eight countries, has more than 200.000 small and medium-sized business customers and more than 35 percent of large corporates in the Nordics. With long-term sustainable development an ambition the bank will continue to work every day to be the best possible bank, for the benefit of customers, employees, shareholders and the societies it is part of.

About United Fintech  Founded in 2020, United Fintech is an industry-neutral Digital Transformation Platform where global financial institutions and cutting-edge technology providers come together to unleash their full potential and enable the future of finance. United Fintech remains on the frontier of innovation by acquiring engineering-led fintechs within Capital Markets, Wholesale Banking and Wealth Management under a central umbrella and in just four years, the company has acquired five fintechs and is on track to acquire many more. In 2024, United Fintech received investments from BNP Paribas and Citi.

Contact  For more information, please direct media enquiries to:

Ulrik Scheibye / ulrs@danskebank.dk / +45 4514 1400

Nic. Rossen / rossen@unitedfintech.com / +45 2072 9972

Download pictures of Claus Harder of Danske Bank and Christian Frahm of United Fintech here:

Harder and Frahm 1

Harder and Frahm 2

Harder and Frahm 3

Harder and Frahm 4

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/danske-bank-a-s/r/danske-bank-invests-in-united-fintech-and-joins-board-to-digitally-support-its-forward--28-strategy,c3973986

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/23149/3973986/2780279.pdf Press release (PDF)

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/danske-bank-invests-in-united-fintech-and-joins-board-to-digitally-support-its-forward-28-strategy-302137721.html
STOKHOLM, SWEDEN / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Storytel AB (publ) (STO:STORY B) "The first quarter marked another step up in our financial performance as Storytel delivered a strong result with improved profitability and operational cash flow", says Johannes Larcher, CEO, Storytel.

Highlights

Numbers for the first quarter 2024 are compared to the first quarter 2023

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 167% to 104 (39) MSEK, equaling a margin of 11.7% (4.9%)

Adjusted Gross profit up 22% to 385 (316) MSEK, equaling a margin of 43.2% (39.6%)

Streaming revenue up 13% to 837 (742) MSEK; and 13% at constant exchange rates (CER)

Storytel implemented an efficiency optimization initiative including a 13% reduction in workforce, which resulted in related Items Affecting Comparability (IACs) of 45 MSEK

Storytel Books and Nextory reached an agreement to distribute Storytel Books' titles on Nextory's platform as of 1 February 2024

Storytel extended the existing revolving credit facility (RCF) until 2 April 2025 and reduced the facility to 750 MSEK, at otherwise unchanged terms

Johannes Larcher to step down as CEO in the fall of 2024

Financial summary

MSEK Q1 2024 Q1 2023 % 2023 Streaming Revenue[1] 837 742 12.8% 3,242 Group Revenue[2] 892 796 12.0% 3,489 Adjusted Gross profit 385 316 22.1% 1,389 Gross profit 378 316 20.0% 1,247 Adjusted Operating profit 31 -43 173.0% -50 Operating profit -24 -48 50.8% -742 Adjusted Gross margin 43.2% 39.6% 3.6p 39.8% Adjusted EBITDA 104 39 167.2% 283 Adjusted EBITDA margin 11.7% 4.9% 6.8p 8.1% EBITDA 51 34 50.1% 165 Basic and diluted earnings per share (SEK) -0.32 -0.81 60.5% -10.63 Cash flow from operations before changes in working capital 28 18 54.3% 102 Operational cash flow 73 1 - 125

[1] Streaming revenue includes all of Storytel Norway's revenue.

[2] In the consolidated accounts, Storytel Norway is reported in accordance with the equity method. As a result, the Streaming revenue listed in Table 1 is higher than in the consolidated statement of accounts in order to provide a more accurate figure for average revenue per subscriber. Please see Note 5 in the interim report for additional details.

FNCA Sweden AB is the Company's Certified Adviser.

For more information, please contact:

Mattias Frithiof, Head of Investor Relations, Storytel Group

Tel: +46 76 535 26 74

Email: mattias.frithiof@storytel.com

Malin Lindborn, Head of Communications, Storytel Group

Tel: +46 735 33 17 70

Email: malin.lindborn@storytel.com

About Storytel

Storytel is one of the world's largest audiobook and e-book streaming services and offers more than one million titles on a global scale. Our vision is to make the world a more empathetic and creative place, with great stories to be shared and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere and anytime.

The streaming business within the Storytel Group is conducted under the brands Storytel, Mofibo and Audiobooks.com. The publishing business is managed by Storytel Books, and by the audiobook publisher StorySide. The Storytel Group operates in over 25 markets, with a focus on ten core markets: the five Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Turkey, Poland, Bulgaria, and the USA. The headquarters are located in Stockholm, Sweden.

This information is information that Storytel AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 2024-05-07 08:00 CEST.

Attachments

Q1 2024 Report Storytel AB (publ) May 7, 2024

SOURCE: Storytel AB (publ)

View the original press release on accesswire.com


EQS Newswire / 07/05/2024 / 09:45 MSK

Polymetal International plc ("Polymetal" or the "Company") reports production results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. "Q1 production was in line with our guidance. We expect sales to gain pace in the following quarters", said Vitaly Nesis, Group CEO of Polymetal International plc. HIGHLIGHTS No fatal accidents among the Company's employees and contractors occurred in Q1 2024 as well as no lost time injuries were recorded.

Gold equivalent ("GE") production for the quarter grew by 2% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 117 Koz on the back of higher concentrate shipment volumes at Kyzyl.

GE sales stood at 116 Koz. Improvements in shipments of the Kyzyl concentrate remain limited. Inventory previously accumulated in the Russian far-eastern ports are expected to be monetized by the end of the year.

Revenue was up by 26% y-o-y to US$ 294 million on the back higher gold prices and improved timing of the sales receipts.

Given the cash proceeds from the disposal of the Russian business and strong free cash flow in Q1, the Company recorded a Net Cash position of US$ 155 million versus pro forma Net Debt of US$ 174 as at the end of 2023.

The Company reiterates its full-year guidance: production (475 Koz), TCC (US$ 900-1,000/oz) and AISC (US$ 1,250-1,350) guidance.

Polymetal will host its Capital Markets Day in Astana on 11 June 2024. At the event, Vitaly Nesis, Group CEO, and Maxim Nazimok, CFO, will present updated business strategy of the Group including new capital allocation policy. The event will begin at 4:00 pm Astana time (12:00 pm London time) at the "Tulpar" room, St. Regis Hotel, 1 Qabanbay Batyr Avenue, Astana, Kazakhstan. To attend in-person please register by Monday, 10 June 2024, with the Investor Relations team using the contacts below. To join the video webcast please follow the link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/qza39mby . Webcast participants will be able to ask questions via live chat. PRODUCTION RESULTS 3 months ended Mar 31, % change1 2024 2023 Waste mined, Mt 31.7 30.6 +4% Ore mined (open pit), Mt 1.2 1.3 -10% Ore processed, Mt 1.6 1.5 +3% Average GE grade processed, g/t 3.0 2.9 +2% Production, GE Koz2 117 115 +2% Kyzyl 76 71 +6% Varvara 41 44 -6% Sales, GE Koz2 116 125 -7% Kyzyl 75 76 -1% Varvara 41 49 -17% Revenue, US$m3, 4 294 234 +26% Net debt/(cash), US$m5 (155) 174 NA Safety LTIFR (Employees)6 0 0 NA Fatalities 0 0 NA Notes: (1) % changes can be different from zero even when absolute numbers are unchanged because of rounding. Likewise, % changes can be equal to zero when absolute numbers differ due to the same reason. This note applies to all tables in this release. (2) Based on 80:1 Au/Ag conversion ratio and excluding base metals. Discrepancies in calculations are due to rounding. (3) Calculated based on the unaudited consolidated management accounts. (4) Revenue includes re-sale of third party metal. Sales are shown net of re-sale of third party metal. (5) Non-IFRS measure based on unaudited consolidated management accounts. Comparative information is presented for 31 December 2023. (6) LTIFR = lost time injury frequency rate per 200,000 hours worked. Company employees only are taken into account.

Enquiries Investor Relations Media Evgeny Monakhov +44 20 7887 1475 (UK) Kirill Kuznetsov Alikhan Bissengali +7 7172 47 66 55 (Kazakhstan) ir@polymetalinternational.com Yerkin Uderbay +7 7172 47 66 55 (Kazakhstan) media@polymetal.kz

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This release may include statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements speak only as at the date of this release. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words "targets", "believes", "expects", "aims", "intends", "will", "may", "anticipates", "would", "could" or "should" or similar expressions or, in each case their negative or other variations or by discussion of strategies, plans, objectives, goals, future events or intentions. These forward-looking statements all include matters that are not historical facts. By their nature, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors beyond the company's control that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding the company's present and future business strategies and the environment in which the company will operate in the future. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. There are many factors that could cause the company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. The company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based. KYZYL 3 months ended Dec 31, % change 2024 2023 MINING Waste mined, Mt 20.8 20.0 +4% Ore mined (open pit), Kt 582 518 +12% PROCESSING Ore processed, Kt 604 560 +8% Gold grade, g/t 5.3 5.2 +2% Gold recovery 88.2% 88.5% -0% Concentrate produced, Kt 30.7 30.0 +3% Concentrate gold grade, g/t 92.6 86.7 +7% Gold in concentrate, Koz1 92 84 +10% Concentrate shipped, Kt 12.8 8.8 +46% Payable gold shipped, Koz 24 16 +47% Toll-processing at Amursk POX Concentrate processed, Kt 17 14 +18% Gold grade, g/t 116.6 125.4 -7% Gold recovery 93.3% 93.6% -0% Dore produced, Koz 52 55 -6% TOTAL PRODUCTION Gold, Koz 76 71 +6% Note: (1) For information only; not considered as gold produced and therefore not reflected in the table representing total production. It will be included in total production upon shipment to off-taker or dore production under the tolling contract at Amursk POX.

Gold in concentrate increased by 10% on the back of higher processing volumes and better grades. Concentrate sales and bookable production continued to lag due to logistical constraints. Q1 gold production at Kyzyl grew by 6% y-o-y to 76 Koz due to higher volumes of concentrate shipped to offtakers in comparison with the low base of Q1 2023 when there were logistical challenges related to concentrate shipped through the Russian ports. In the reporting quarter, Kyzyl was producing low-arsenic concentrate which was railed directly to China which significantly reduces the working capital cycle. VARVARA 3 months ended Mar 31, % change 2024 2023 MINING Waste mined, Mt 11.0 10.6 +3% Ore mined (open pit), Kt 590 782 -25% PROCESSING Leaching Ore processed, Kt 765 768 -0% Gold grade, g/t 1.3 1.4 -8% Gold recovery1 87.7% 89.1% -2% Gold production (in dore), Koz 31 34 -9% Flotation Ore processed, Kt 198 189 +5% Gold grade, g/t 2.3 2.2 +6% Recovery1 89.3% 85.1% +5% Gold in concentrate, Koz 10 10 +8% TOTAL PRODUCTION Gold, Koz 41 44 -6% Note: (1) Technological recovery, includes gold and copper within work-in-progress inventory. Does not include toll-treated ore.

In Q1, Varvara recorded a planned 6% y-o-y decline in production driven by a moderate planned decrease in Komar ore grade at the leaching circuit. PERSONNEL The Company strengthened its management team by four new appointments. For more information please see the relevant press release at the link . 07/05/2024 Dissemination of a Financial Press Release, transmitted by EQS News.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Media archive at www.todayir.com


Long-term Employee Brings Industry Expertise, Boots-on-the-ground Growth Mindset

BEXHILL ON SEA, England, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Lining Division, Ltd. (LDL), a leading UK-based infrastructure contractor and division of Vortex Companies (Vortex), today announced the promotion of Paul Brooker to Managing Director. Brooker brings over three decades of experience in the industry and is poised to lead LDL into a new period of growth in the high-demand UK wastewater market.

Brooker will be overseeing all aspects of LDL's business, ensuring quality work and strategic expansion. Brooker spent the last nine years as director of operations for the company; during that time LDL grew from a three-vehicle business to the large operation it is today.

"When we acquired LDL, maintaining business continuity and local leadership was critical," said Mike Vellano, CEO of Vortex. "Not only does Paul have deep roots at LDL, but he is also well-regarded in the industry, having grown up in the business working in both operations and management, in both public and municipal sectors."

Empowering strong local leaders is part of Vortex's business model, and Brooker has been energized by the resources provided by the new management. "Vortex's involvement has given us a real punch," said Brooker. "Our posture in the industry has rocketed, and through Vortex's available resources, we've been able to expand our offerings, invest in new equipment and leverage their expertise."

"I believe that in working his way through the ranks, he's earned respect from the team and our customers," said Quin Breland, Managing Director of Vortex Europe. "He is still relatable to the engineers in the field and is not above getting his hands dirty to make every project successful."

Water and sewer systems have significant challenges in this region and Brooker sees Vortex's model as a crucial part of the solution. "It takes companies like Vortex to support the long-term objective of renewing the infrastructure here," he added. "I love challenges like these, where we can be a part of the solution. It's what keeps me going."

About Lining Division Ltd. (LDL)

Located in Bexhill on Sea, UK-based Lining Division Ltd. is a trenchless rehabilitation and contracting services business. With a focus on drain maintenance and drain lining, LDL rehabilitates pipes from 75mm to 1200mm using a variety of Cured-in-Place-Pipe (CIPP) solutions. More recently LDL expanded its trenchless rehabilitation offering by adding Geopolymer lining solutions for deteriorated manholes and larger diameter infrastructure. LDL core customers include local water authorities and commercial facilities. For more information, www.liningdivision.co.uk.

About Vortex Companies

Vortex is a leading provider of advanced trenchless water and sewer technologies. Through its products and services divisions, Vortex delivers a comprehensive suite of rehabilitation products, equipment, services, and field support to the municipal, industrial, and commercial marketplaces. This includes pipe and manhole lining systems; sewer robotics; mortars; epoxies and resin materials; installation equipment; contracting services, training, and field support.

Operating globally, Vortex is focused on providing customers a broad range of industry leading, cost-effective trenchless solutions and technical expertise, best suited for their project needs. For more information, go to vortexcompanies.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/paul-brooker-promoted-to-managing-director-of-lining-division-ltd-302137724.html
Der Goldpreis haussiert und schwingt sich von Hoch zu Hoch. Getrieben von geopolitischen Unsicherheiten sowie der Aussicht auf eine lockere Geldpolitik der FED gehen Experten aktuell von weiter steigenden Notierungen bis sogar in den Bereich von 3.000 US-Dollar je Unze Gold aus.



Im Schatten des Basispreises notieren Goldproduzenten aus der zweiten Reihe sowie Explorationsunternehmen noch weit weg von ihren historischen Hochststanden entfernt und bieten dadurch erhebliches Aufholpotential.



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Kunstliche Intelligenz hat spatestens nach dem Raketenstart von Chat GPT das Leben aller verandert. Doch der Superzyklus steht nach Meinungen von Experten erst am Anfang. Wahrend Aktien wie Nvidia von der ersten Aufwartsentwicklung stark profitieren konnten, versprechen aussichtsreiche Player aus der

zweiten Reihe noch enormes Aufwartspotenzial.



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LONDON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hoffman Agency, a global communications consultancy, today announced that Jenny Fieldgate has accepted the role of European managing director.

Previously, Fieldgate worked at Red Consultancy, where she served as managing director over corporate and technology practices.

"Jenny joins our European team at a time when the building blocks are in place to shift into serious growth mode," said Lou Hoffman, global CEO. "Jenny's ambition, experience across many sectors, not just tech, and connections to the London PR scene will serve her well in growing the business."

Fieldgate succeeds Mark Pinsent, who continues to be a senior consultant with the company.

"I am so excited to join this special agency. As one of the few independent global networks, Hoffman's distinctive approach to comms and true cross-market collaboration is a powerful proposition," said Fieldgate. "Mark and the team have built a fantastic foundation in Europe, and I look forward to working with this talented team to drive the next stage of growth."

The consultancy started retooling its global leadership in 2022 with Caroline Hsu's promotion to the newly created role of chief global officer. More recently, the agency named Gerard LaFond as North America MD.

One of the few independent communication consultancies with global reach - 14 offices across Asia, Europe and the U.S. - it projects revenue to tip the $30M mark this year. Beyond the traditional tech sector, the company is finding increasing opportunities to help non-tech companies tell tech-led stories, a dynamic accelerated by artificial intelligence.

About The Hoffman Agency

The Hoffman Agency (www.hoffman.com) offers its clients the best of both worlds - the high touch of a boutique and the sophistication of services associated with mega shops. While campaigns vary by client and industry, they all share one theme: the creation of content that reflects the tenets of storytelling and what the firm calls storytelling techniques.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2404705/Jenny_Fieldgate.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/the-hoffman-agency-taps-jenny-fieldgate-as-european-managing-director-302137023.html




Original-Research: q.beyond AG - from NuWays AG



Classification of NuWays AG to q.beyond AG



Company Name: q.beyond AG

ISIN: DE0005137004



Reason for the research: Update

Recommendation: Kaufen

from: 07.05.2024

Target price: EUR 1.00

Target price on sight of: 12 Monaten

Last rating change:

Analyst: Philipp Sennewald



Q1 figures set to display operational improvements / chg.

q.beyond's Q1 figures, which will be released on May 13th, are seen to provide investors with confidence

regarding the company's outlook. While top-line growth is expected to come in rather muted, the imposed efficiency measures should already become visible on the bottom-line.



Q1 sales look set to increase by 2% yoy to EUR 47.5m (eNuW). Compared to the previous year, q.beyond will report under a new segmentation, comprising the two segments Managed Services (2023: EUR 129m sales) and Consulting (EUR 60.3m). While overall sales growth is seen to remain muted throughout the year, we expect the company to also benefit from the general acceleration of the SAP S/4HANA transformation. Just recently, the company announced to have completed another conversion project with regional newspaper Neue Westfalische. Mind you, SAP ERP customers are getting more and more under pressure regarding the transformation, as SAP will fade out mainstream maintenance for the old ECC by the end of 2027.



EBITDA in Q1 is seen to improve strongly to EUR 1.4m (eNuW), up from EUR -1.3m in Q1 '23. Main drivers for the improved profitability should be an increased near- and off-shoring ratio, which management is aiming to lift from 11% in 2023 to 20% by 2025. This alone should allow for a gross margin improvement of c. 2pp (eNuW). Moreover, we expect an increased focus on the consulting and development business, where gross margins of >20% should be well achievable driven by increased daily rates.



With this, q.beyond should be on track to achieve its full year guidance. While the sales outlook looks conservative with implied 3.0% yoy growth at mid-point (eNuW: 3.1% yoy) the company looks set to achieve at least the lower end of the EBITDA guidance of EUR 8-10m (eNuW: EUR 8.2m) as we expect gradual profitability improvements driven by the aforementioned effects throughout the year.



Besides this, inorganic growth might become a factor towards YE, as implied by CEO Rixen in the call for the FY prelims. In fact, with more than EUR 30m net cash the company looks well equipped to tap the M&A market again. Here, one possibility could be to partner up with a company from a respective industry in order to access new verticals, comparably to logineer.

q.beyond remains a BUY with an unchanged PT of EUR 1.00 based on DCF.

You can download the research here:

http://www.more-ir.de/d/29617.pdf

For additional information visit our website

www.nuways-ag.com/research.



Contact for questions

NuWays AG - Equity Research

Web: www.nuways-ag.com

Email: research@nuways-ag.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuwaysag

Adresse: Mittelweg 16-17, 20148 Hamburg, Germany

++++++++++

Diese Meldung ist keine Anlageberatung oder Aufforderung zum Abschluss bestimmter Borsengeschafte. Offenlegung moglicher Interessenskonflikte nach  85 WpHG beim oben analysierten Unternehmen befinden sich in der vollstandigen Analyse. ++++++++++



transmitted by EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this research. The result of this research does not constitute investment advice or an invitation to conclude certain stock exchange transactions.




OSLO, Norway, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Photocure ASA (OSE: PHO), the Bladder Cancer Company, announces its participation in the congress, and two abstract presentations at the AUA 2024: the American Urological Association Annual Congress 2024 was held May 3-6, 2024, in San Antonio, TX, USA. The results of the BRAVO study performed within the VA healthcare system showed significant decreases in the risk of recurrence and progression, as well as the potential for improved overall survival in patients who received a blue light cystoscopy (BLC) compared to patients whose cystoscopy was only performed under white light. Another comparison of BLC with Hexvix/Cysview and white light cystoscopy (WLC), for the detection of bladder cancer using modern HD 4K equipment, was presented in an abstract from the multicenter phase III study of Hexvix in China, including new real world evidence data.

On Sunday, May 5th, Dr. Sanjay Das presented the study, "Use of Blue Light Cystoscopy Among Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Patients and Outcomes in an Equal Access setting: A Propensity Scored Matched Analysis."

The study, known as BRAVO (Bladder Cancer Recurrence Analysis in Veterans and Outcomes), is a retrospective, propensity score matched analysis that evaluated oncologic outcomes following BLC compared to WLC alone in patients from the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. The study addresses a lack of practical real-world data comparing the impact of BLC versus WLC, specifically for recurrence, progression, and survival. The results of this study confirm that BLC use is associated with positive and statistically significant impacts on these outcomes. The Veterans' Affairs (VA) Healthcare system accepts all U.S. Veterans, regardless of financial background, and retains its patients, allowing for high-quality data capture over a long-term follow-up period, therefore serving as a robust real-world model for equal access.

626 patients were included in this study, 313 in each study arm (WLC versus BLC). Recurrence and progression data for BRAVO was measured at a 3-year time point. Overall survival follow-up was for 10 years.

Study results include:

Risk of recurrence was significantly lower following BLC (HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.29-0.61) - 40% reduction in risk of recurrence. This confirms data from multiple RCT studies.

Patients who underwent BLC had significantly reduced risk of progression (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.36-0.99) compared to patients who underwent WLC.

There was improved overall survival among BLC vs. WLC (HR 0.41, 95% CI 0.30-0.72)

Additionally, in the equal-access setting of the VA Healthcare System, benefits of BLC were equitably shared between race/gender.

The Principal Investigator of the BRAVO Study, Dr. Steven Williams, commented: "The results of the BRAVO study performed within the VA healthcare system showed significant decreases in the risk of recurrence and progression, as well as the potential for improved overall survival in patients who received a BLC compared to patients who received WLC only. These findings demonstrate the benefit of BL-enhanced cystoscopy as part of comprehensive care for NMIBC* patients, especially as improved tumor visualization helps to appropriately make determination of intravesical therapy use, such as BCG. The results are encouraging and consistent with prior clinical trial long-term oncological outcomes. It supports the generalizability of prior clinical trial results in the real-world clinical practice setting. The demonstrated impact on overall survival warrants future studies to better understand the oncologic benefit of BLC in NMIBC."

Read the abstract: https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/01.JU.0001008712.53259.7d.05

On Monday, May 6th, a Poster presentation by Dr. Hailong Hu: Blue Light Cystoscopy versus White Light Cystoscopy for the Detection of Bladder Cancer using modern HD 4K equipment: An Analysis of Pivotal Trial and Real-World Data

This pooled meta-analysis presented data from a randomized clinical trial and a supporting real-world evidence study conducted in China. Both studies enrolled patients with known or suspected bladder cancer. A total of 177 patients were enrolled, 128 patients underwent blue light cystoscopy (BLC) with Cysview (HAL) and were included in the full analysis set. Among patients diagnosed with Ta, T1, or CIS, 46 out of 109 patients (42.2%) had at least one lesion detected by BLC but not by white light cystoscopy (WLC) (p<0.0001). Fifteen patients had CIS of which 12 (80%) showed at least one additional CIS lesions found by BLC but not by WLC. The BLC detection rates for CIS, Ta, T1, and T2-T4 tumors were 95.2%, 100%, 98.3%, and 100%, respectively, while the WLC detection rates were 42.9%, 76.5%, 91.7%, and 100%, respectively.

This study confirms the superiority of HAL BLC over WLC in the detection of bladder cancer even if improved WLC using HD 4K equipment is utilized. In particular, additional high-risk difficult to see CIS lesions have been identified in 80% of CIS patients only by HAL BLC. The quality of resection is still a key cornerstone in the treatment of NMIBC of which BLC remains a crucial part despite the further development of WLC imaging.

Read the abstract: https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/01.JU.0001009548.76580.ba.18

Beyond this groundbreaking data on BLC/WLC comparison, Photocure provided attendees with hands-on experience in the blue light cystoscopy with Cysview procedure on its congress booth, that featured a Saphira HD equipment tower.

*NMIBC: Non muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Note to editors:

All trademarks mentioned in this release are protected by law and are registered trademarks of Photocure ASA.

This press release may contain product details and information which are not valid, or a product is not accessible, in your country. Please be aware that Photocure does not take any responsibility for accessing such information which may not comply with any legal process, regulation, registration or usage in the country of your origin.

About Bladder Cancer

Bladder cancer ranks as the 8th most common cancer worldwide - the 5th most common in men - with 1 949 000 prevalent cases (5-year prevalence rate)1a, 614 000 new cases and more than 220 000 deaths in 2022.1b

Approx. 75% of all bladder cancer cases occur in men.1 It has a high recurrence rate with up to 61% in year one and up to 78% over five years.2 Bladder cancer has the highest lifetime treatment costs per patient of all cancers.3

Bladder cancer is a costly, potentially progressive disease for which patients have to undergo multiple cystoscopies due to the high risk of recurrence. There is an urgent need to improve both the diagnosis and the management of bladder cancer for the benefit of patients and healthcare systems alike.

Bladder cancer is classified into two types, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), depending on the depth of invasion in the bladder wall. NMIBC remains in the inner layer of cells lining the bladder. These cancers are the most common (75%) of all BC cases and include the subtypes Ta, carcinoma in situ (CIS) and T1 lesions. In MIBC the cancer has grown into deeper layers of the bladder wall. These cancers, including subtypes T2, T3 and T4, are more likely to spread and are harder to treat.4

1 Globocan. a) 5-year prevalence / b) incidence/mortality by population. Available at: https://gco.iarc.fr/today, accessed [February 2024].

2 Babjuk M, et al. Eur Urol. 2019; 76(5): 639-657

3 Sievert KD et al. World J Urol 2009;27:295-300

4 Bladder Cancer. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/bladder-cancer.html

About Hexvix/Cysview (hexaminolevulinate HCl)

Hexvix/Cysview is a drug that preferentially accumulates in cancer cells in the bladder, making them glow bright pink during Blue Light Cystoscopy (BLC). BLC with Hexvix/Cysview, compared to standard white light cystoscopy alone, improves the detection of tumors and leads to more complete resection, fewer residual tumors, and better management decisions.

Cysview is the tradename in the U.S. and Canada, Hexvix is the tradename in all other markets. Photocure is commercializing Cysview/Hexvix directly in the U.S. and Europe and has strategic partnerships for the commercialization of Hexvix/Cysview in China, Chile, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. Please refer to https://photocure.com/partners/our-partners for further information on our commercial partners.

About Photocure ASA

Photocure: The Bladder Cancer Company delivers transformative solutions to improve the lives of bladder cancer patients. Our unique technology, making cancer cells glow bright pink, has led to better health outcomes for patients worldwide. Photocure is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: PHO). For more information, please visit us at www.photocure.com, www.hexvix.com, www.cysview.com

For further information, please contact:

Dan Schneider

President and CEO

Photocure ASA

Email: ds@photocure.com

Erik Dahl

CFO

Photocure ASA

Tel: +4745055000

Email: ed@photocure.com

David Moskowitz

Vice President, Investor Relations

Photocure ASA

Tel: +1 202 280 0888

Email: david.moskowitz@photocure.com

Media and IR enquiries:

Geir Bjrlo

Corporate Communications (Norway)

Tel: +47 91540000

Email: geir.bjorlo@corpcom.no

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

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In continuation of its strategic and relentless pursuit of innovation and growth, Workhuman, the company revolutionizing the way employees celebrate, connect with, and appreciate each other in the workplace, announces several key leadership appointments. These appointments underscore the organization's commitment to business growth while leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies to develop superior employee recognition and employee engagement solutions that help companies foster cultures of gratitude, transparency, and resiliency. The appointments include:

Richard Maclachlan, Chief Marketing Officer: Based in Framingham, having joined Workhuman in 2021, Maclachlan quickly rose from VP of Integrated Strategy to SVP, Global Head of Marketing, demonstrating a growth-first mindset and a proven ability to scale operations effectively. As the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Maclachlan will oversee the Global Marketing team, handling responsibilities across brand and creative, product marketing, digital transformation, growth marketing, revenue operations, and global communications. Maclachlan's focus will be on refining and communicating Workhuman's value propositions, making them clear and compelling to customers, both current and future. Maclachlan will leverage Workhuman's rich history of innovation with emerging technologies to optimize go-to-market strategies to infuse new energy into the Workhuman brand and reinforce customer trust to accelerate Workhuman's global market share, and pipeline velocity, with a keen focus on expanding customer acquisition, retention, and expansion.

"We're on a mission to make work more human for every company on the planet, and I feel deeply responsible for bringing that vision to life through a cohesive and AI driven strategy that enhances our brand's global presence and delivers tangible growth while showcasing the genuine impact of our solutions on workplaces globally," said Maclachlan.

Kevin Heinzelman, Senior Vice President, Product Management: Initially joining Workhuman in 2019, Heinzelman has held several leadership positions throughout his tenure across ecommerce and product management, most recently serving as VP, Product ManagementWith the goal of streamlining operations and bolstering Workhuman's product strategy, Heinzelman has been promoted to Senior Vice President (SVP) of Product Management where he will oversee Workhuman's Product Management and Design, Business Analytics, and Workhuman iQ teams. Heinzelman plans to leverage the collective expertise of these teams to guide and accelerate Workhuman's momentum toward AI dominance, developing advanced new models and use cases, ensuring Workhuman remains at the forefront of revolutionizing employee recognition and engagement solutions for the modern workplace.

"By capitalizing on the unique strengths of each department and aligning our efforts into a unified strategy, we're not just refining our product roadmap we're shaping the future of employee recognition and setting new benchmarks for innovation and technological excellence," said Heinzelman.

Shmulik Barel, Vice President, Product Engineering: With a robust background in leading technology disruptors through hyper-growth phases, Barel will work to create hybrid intelligence systems that blend human and AI to redefine efficiency and innovation in the workplace. Based in the company's Dublin headquarters, Barel will apply learning from his various C-level roles across operations, product, and engineering to enhance Workhuman's core product suite and develop new AI-driven tools that facilitate dynamic workforce and employee engagement. Before joining Workhuman, Barel served as the CEO of a mobile startup, and Chief Operating Officer of a customer engagement and loyalty SaaS platform, prior.

"Recognizing the evolving challenges in workforce management, including keeping employees engaged, productive, and motivated, my goal in joining Workhuman is to drive meaningful change through innovation powered by the synergy of human and artificial intelligence," said Barel.

Jose Malpartida, Vice President, Product Management, Recognition Solutions: Malpartida brings over a decade of experience in product management, serving in various leadership roles across a diverse range of companies, including Amazon, Wayfair, and cybersecurity startups, Aura, and Bond. Operating out of Workhuman's Framingham office, Malpartida will leverage his passion for innovation and optimizing customer experiences to develop and deliver enhanced social recognition solutions that will help Workhuman customers foster cultures of appreciation and connection. To achieve this, Malpartida will focus on integrating AI and other emerging technologies into Workhuman's technological infrastructure to optimize and enhance the customer experience.

"I firmly believe that AI will be instrumental in accelerating Workhuman's mission to cultivate more compassionate workplaces, and I look forward to applying my experience with emerging technologies to drive meaningful change in the way we work," said Malpartida.

"Leveraging cutting-edge technologies to foster innovation and push the boundaries of what is possible in the workplace is deeply embedded into Workhuman's ethos and DNA," said Eric Mosley, Workhuman co-founder and CEO. "Each of these distinguished leaders brings a wealth of experience in using AI and other emerging technologies to inspire their teams to embrace new ways of working and drive meaningful business outcomes. Their collective expertise will be pivotal in our mission to make work more human for every person on the planet."

As the pioneer in employee recognition technology, Workhuman is committed to continuous innovation and transforming the modern workplace into a vibrant and diverse ecosystem of appreciation and connectivity. Most recently, Workhuman announced the addition of a generative AI assistant to Workhuman iQ, the industry's most comprehensive AI-powered social analytics solution. Workhuman's AI Assistant allows customers to gain instant access to an aggregate knowledge base encompassing the strengths, weaknesses, and untapped potential of their entire workforce all without the need for data analytics expertise.

Gleaning data from millions of authentic human interactions, Workhuman's Social Recognition programs build environments where employee engagement and productivity can be directly measured to uncover and break down the barriers and real human issues holding employees back. In fact, according to a recent study from Workhuman and Gallup, recognition comes with significant cost savings. By making recognition an important part of company culture, a 10,000-person organization with an already engaged workforce can save up to $16.1 million annually due to reduced employee turnover. Additionally, these programs have the potential to boost productivity by 9 percent, showcasing the tangible returns on investment for organizations that prioritize cultivating cultures of recognition and gratitude.

For more information on Workhuman's innovative employee recognition and engagement solutions, please visit www.workhuman.com.

About Workhuman

Workhuman is helping companies meet today's biggest human capital challenges including unprecedented turnover, employee engagement, hybrid work environments, and DEI through the Workhuman Cloud, a secure SaaS platform that provides the industry's best-in-class Social Recognition solution. As the leading global provider of technology solutions, analytics, expertise, and services helping organizations of all sizes build and foster workplace cultures powered by employee recognition and crowdsourced feedback, Workhuman is revolutionizing the way employees celebrate, connect with, and appreciate each other in the workplace. Combined with unmatched data through iQ, Workhuman gives HR and business leaders proactive insight to understand issues as they develop and tools to help them make the right decisions to align business objectives and culture to deliver immediate impact. And, with world-class award redemption from our proprietary global e-commerce network, Workhuman is committed to building more connected human-centered workplaces that recognize the value and potential of each and every employee.?

?For more than 20 years, Workhuman has been pioneering the human workplace by disrupting legacy and obsolete HR approaches to improve the employee experience at work, with solutions that engage with approx. seven million customer employees in 30+ languages, in 180 countries, generating 100 million instances of human connection. With dual headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and Framingham, Massachusetts, Workhuman deploys solutions and services at scale and is committed to helping companies improve returns on their most important investment- their people. For more information, please visit www.workhuman.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240507141287/en/

Contacts:

PR@workhuman.com
COPENHAGEN and NEW YORK, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Templafy, a leader in document automation, today announces the launch of Templafy M365 Microsoft Copilot integration, which is now available to users directly through the Microsoft Teams App, enabling them to produce better business documents faster.

Designed to integrate seamlessly into the search functionality of Microsoft Copilot, Templafy allows users to create higher-quality documents, providing immediate access to up-to-date company template and content libraries through to fully automated documents when working within Teams. Users can now prompt Microsoft Copilot to search for specific templates when starting document creation, enabling increased efficiency and accuracy. From here, Templafy's document compilation engine, which blends rules-based data and Generative AI, creates the on-brand document, while giving users the ability to make edits via a suite of productivity and AI tools, before saving back to the Teams channel.

Templafy, with their Preferred Solution, was selected to participate in building a Copilot integration due to native M365 and Teams functionalities. In addition to being available to users through Teams, Templafy is also available on Microsoft AppSource, Teams Store, and Azure Marketplace.

Oskar Konstantyner, VP, Product at Templafy comments: "Our close partnership with Microsoft throughout the last decade has seen us work together in multiple capacities to discover and create the best solutions for large enterprise organizations when it comes to document generation. In this new wave of AI, this collaboration presents more shared opportunities to give customers access to tools that will enable them to create high-quality business documents that boost revenue, reputation, and differentiation. We're looking forward to seeing the value that the combined power of Copilot and Templafy's document compilation engine brings for customers, taking them a step closer to eliminating manual document work."

"Through Microsoft AppSource, customers around the world can easily find tailored line-of-business partner solutions that work with the products they already use," said Giovanni Mezgec, Vice President, Modern Work + Business Applications Field & Partner Marketing, Microsoft Corp. "We're happy to welcome Templafy M365 Microsoft Copilot integration to the Microsoft Teams App."

About Templafy

Templafy is the next gen document generation platform that enables enterprises to boost revenue and reputation through documents.

Templafy protects the integrity of enterprises through brand, InfoSec, legal, and AI governance, guaranteeing full compliance with company policies and guidelines. From immediate access to on-brand, compliant company templates directly within Microsoft Office, to fully automated compilation of a sales proposal within Salesforce and every content workflow between and beyond, the platform enables employees to create business documents faster so they can focus on the work that matters.

Founded in Denmark in 2014, Templafy is a global organization with offices across Europe and the US. Templafy supports over 3.8m users and works with enterprise customers like KPMG, IKEA, and BDO to eliminate manual document work from their organizations.

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Lucy Westman, Templafy, (+44) 7776 454 946, lwe@templafy.com

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Bravo Networks to support Applied Epic brokers in handling client money for greater time and cost savings

Brighton, UK, May 07, 2024today announced an expanded partnership with Bravo Networks to support client money management for Applied Epic brokers. The partnership has enabled the network and broker management system provider to complete architecture enhancements that deliver new reporting functions and compliance assurances, allowing Bravo Networks to support brokers with, their FCA compliance responsibilities thereby enabling additional cost savings and scalability.

"At Bravo Networks, it's all about evolving the broker proposition and acting as an extension of each brokerage's in-house team," said Scott Bennett, Managing Director, Bravo Networks. "As we have a growing number of Epic brokers in our network, we are pleased to add Applied Epic to the list of systems we can support for client money functions so our team to help them navigate the regulatory landscape in an easy and cost-effective manner."

Client Money refers to the risk management services for this highly regulated and specialised area, including completion of client money bank reconciliation and insurer payments. Applied Epic brokers can work directly with Bravo Networks to set up their client money function and receive benefits including management of external audit and relief of bank charges on the business client money account, among others.

"Brokers are focused on providing the best advisory services to their clients, so leveraging the Bravo Networks allows them to extend their teams' capabilities and reduce the time and expense of handling client money," said Tom Needs, chief executive officer, Applied Systems Europe. "We are thrilled to partner with Bravo Networks, enabling Epic brokers within the network to spend their time and energy where it matters most each day."

# # #

The Applied products and logos are trademarks of Applied Systems, Inc., registered in the U.S.

About Applied Systems

Applied Systems is the leading global provider of cloud-based software that powers the business of insurance. Recognized as a pioneer in insurance automation and the innovation leader, Applied is the world's largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. By automating the insurance lifecycle, Applied's people and products enable millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most.
The most prestigious business award in the United Kingdom.

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A4P, A LabConnect Company, located at Discovery Park in the UK, has been honoured with a King's Award for Enterprise for exemplary performance in International Trade. A4P is one of 252 organisations nationally recognised with a prestigious King's Award for Enterprise for their contribution to International Trade, Innovation, Sustainable Development and Promoting Opportunity (through Social Mobility).

A4P is a scientific consultancy specializing in bioanalytical and biosample project management, biomarker strategy and logistics solutions in support of clinical research around the world. A4P recently joined LabConnect forming a combined international team which brings an unparalleled breadth and depth of technical and scientific expertise to help clients successfully achieve pre-clinical and clinical trial objectives sooner.

A4P is grateful to receive the King's Award for Enterprise as a testament to the dedication of everyone within the company since its founding in 2012.

Ian James, CEO of A4P commented, "We are thrilled to receive the King's Award for Enterprise and the recognition that this brings for the work A4P colleagues have performed with our international customers in supporting the development of new medicines. We are excited to continue to build on this success in the future."

The King's Awards for Enterprise, previously known as The Queen's Awards for Enterprise, were renamed last year to reflect His Majesty The King's desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II's by recognising outstanding UK businesses. The Award programme, now in its 58th year, is the most prestigious business award in the country, with successful businesses able to use the esteemed King's Awards Emblem for the next five years.

About King's Awards for Enterprise

The King's Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the UK. The awards were first established in 1965 and since then over 7000 companies have achieved a King's Award. 2024 marks the second year of The King's Awards for Enterprise, reflecting His Majesty The King's desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II, by recognising outstanding UK businesses. The awards celebrate the success of exciting and innovative businesses which are leading the way with pioneering products or services, delivering impressive social mobility programmes, or showing their commitment to excellent sustainable development practices. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/kings-awards-for-enterprise

About A4P

A4P offers scientific project management solutions and consultancy for bioanalytical and biomarker support within pre-clinical and clinical programs, and scientific logistics. The bioanalytical project management team has expertise in working with organizations from start-up to established global entities. A4P offers a solution to ensure on-time, in-budget and in-compliance delivery of programs. A4P logistical team provides fully customized, managed support for customers. A4P provides outstanding service with a single proactive point of contact for management of all logistical requirements. Visit us at A4PBio.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

About LabConnect

LabConnect improves lives by partnering with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research organizations (CROs), and foundations/non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to accelerate the development of new medicines around the world. LabConnect delivers a unique combination of support services through Central Laboratory Services and Functional Service Provider (FSP) Solutions that are tailor-made, timely and flexible to meet the evolving study demands of traditional to increasingly complex clinical trials. Visit us at LabConnect.com.

Follow us on LinkedIn.

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GUANGZHOU, China, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from GDToday:

On May 3rd and 4th, the opera "Marco Polo" made its return at the Guangzhou Opera House. This three-act opera, sung in Chinese, takes the audience on a journey along the historic Silk Road, recounting the legendary adventures of the iconic Italian traveler Marco Polo and his companions and promoting friendship between China and Italy.

Marco Polo, who was born in Italy in the 13th century, traveled to China with his father and uncle. His travelogue, "The Travels of Marco Polo," provided a detailed account of his experiences in China, and sparked the Western people's interest in China.

A GDToday Salon "An Encounter with Marco Polo" series was held in conjunction with the opera "Marco Polo," including a global gathering with over 200 international participants and an exhibition of Guangdong's intangible culturing heritages.

"The opera 'Marco Polo' reminds me of the strong ties between China and Italy. I am pleased to announce that on May 5, the opera will air on GOLDTV channels across Italy," said Gianfranco Sciscione, President of Group Sciscione, at the GDToday Salon. He also invited the "Marco Polo" troupe to perform a series of shows in Italy. "This cultural exchange will offer Italian audiences a chance to experience the rich theatrical arts of China," he added.

Opera inspires audiences with harmony and diversity

By portraying the adventure that Marco Polo, his father, Niccolo Polo, and his uncle Maffeo Polo along the ancient Silk Road in the 13th century, this opera recreates the rise and fall of the Song and Yuan dynasties as well as the communication and trade between the East and the West.

The opera premiered in Guangzhou in 2018 and was directed by Kasper Holten, winning four stars from Financial Times' critics and ranking as one of the "Top Ten Music Trends/Events in China, 2018" by Musical America. In 2019, it returned "home" and was staged at Teatro dal Verme in Milan and Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Italy.

To commemorate the 700th anniversary of the passing of the legendary Italian traveler Marco Polo, the opera returns with a stellar cast and conductor after its debut in 2018. The opera has dazzled audiences with the performance of "Marco Polo," a captivating opera commissioned by the esteemed venue.

Many lyrics in the opera are profound and impressive, such as "One's happiness does not cause misfortune to others. One's palace does not ruin others' roofs". "In the beginning, the characters in the opera seems to be unable to change each other, but in fact, civilizations have subtly blended and merged through exchanges and collisions," said Wei Jin, the librettist of opera Marco Polo and Distinguished Professor of Zhejiang Conservatory of Music. He hopes that this opera can promote the concepts of openness, inclusiveness, and harmony without uniformity, and contribute to the friendship between China and Italy as well as the progress of human civilization.

Following the performance, attendees expressed awe and appreciation for the opera's artistic brilliance and thematic depth. "Actually, I feel a connection with the show because Marco Polo was a foreigner to China, and then the whole love took place in China. And I'm in love with a beautiful Chinese girl now," said Rei, an audience member from Venezuela.

Gianluca Zoppa, an Italian playwright, producer, director, and actor who has resided in Guangdong for a long time, said after watching the opera that it reflected the integration of Chinese and Western cultural elements in many aspects. "This opera tells the story of Marco Polo's travels in China, which is a very appealing theme for Western audiences. It not only resonates with the aesthetic preferences of Western viewers but also stimulates their imagination about the East through its narrative, music, costumes, and stage design."

Hoping to invite Marco Polo to explore the GBA

The series of GDToday Salon "An Encounter with Marco Polo" was highlighted with a global gathering, aiming to boost global cultural exchanges with over 200 participants from consulates general and chambers of commerce from 29 countries in Guangzhou, as well as guests from home and abroad.

"I think it's a wonderful initiative to bring people with different backgrounds together, recounting a legendary figure and paying tribute to the friendly messenger, Marco Polo," Valerio De Parolis, Consul General of Italy in Guangzhou, told GDToday that he was impressed by the fact that Marco Polo still touches the lives of so many people. He expected to focus on some cultural projects that can enhance the cooperation between universities and promote student exchanges in the future.

Alessandro Lamantia, a board member of the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce, shared with GDToday his excitement about Guangdong's dynamic atmosphere and the potential for fostering cultural exchange and business collaboration between the two nations. Reflecting on his journey since 1999 in China, he expressed enthusiasm for the city's energy and highlighted the importance of building strong ties between local and Italian communities.

"If I had the honor to meet with Marco Polo today, I would humbly recommend him to explore the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with me to appreciate the ongoing changes, growth, and innovation, and perhaps he would even be able to witness a new edition of IL MILIONE written by artificial intelligence made in China!" Alessandro Lamantia added.

Sandro Trotti's oil painting series "The Reverie of Marco Polo", curated by Professor Lei, was also exhibited during the event. Sandro Trotti is a contemporary Italian painter, who has portrayed Marco Polo's travels in a new era with his paintbrush, depicting the journey from Italy to China.

The event also included an exhibition of Guangdong's intangible culturing heritages, part of exchanges through the ancient Silk Road that Marco Polo traveled along. The exhibition displayed over 30 masterpieces of Guangzhou painted porcelain (Guangcai) and Guangzhou embroidery (Guangxiu), two significant commodities that were exported from the province to Europe through the ancient Silk Road.

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Kelowna, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - F3 Uranium Corp (TSXV: FUU) (OTCQB: FUUFF) ("F3" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that drill crews have mobilized to site, and drilling has resumed on the PLN Property. Two diamond drills will focus on exploration drilling to the south of the JR Zone for new mineralized zones along the ~5km long A1/B1 structural corridor.

The program will test new targets generated from the 30-hole winter drilling program along the A1 and B1 systems. Drilling will initially focus on the area where a significant reverse fault with vertical offset exceeding 100 meters, likely related to the Harrison Fault or the Harrison Fault itself, is interpreted to crosscut the main conductor system including the A1 and B1 shears (see NR dated April 16, 2024). High priority drill targets include both the A1 and B1 shear intersects with the large displacement reverse fault, the "nose" of the sandstone hosted and strongly graphitic basement wedge, as well as the area directly between the A1 and B1 shears as defined by new ground EM which is also highlighted by a resistivity anomaly. The A1 shear itself will continue to be targeted for additional mineralized zones similar to the high-grade JR Zone, starting with the area around PLN24-140 which was drilled within an 800m long segment along the A1 shear with no previous drilling and intersected the strongest downhole radioactivity outside of the JR Zone itself.

Sam Hartmann P.Geo, VP Exploration, commented:

"We have spent the last few weeks developing new geological and geophysical models, incorporating the wealth of data collected in drillholes and through geophysical inversions, and the F3 technical team is eager to resume the drill program with five drill holes already pre-cased from the end of the winter program. We see the potential for the PLN property, in particular the A1 and B1 conductor system, to host additional uranium mineralization based on structure and alteration. At the south end of A1, as well as at B1, new ground EM modeling has developed high priority targets in close association with the crosscutting fault - a reverse fault with a significant and favorable magnitude of vertical displacement, and we look forward to testing those structural confluences and the other new targets with the drill bit this spring and summer."

The ground gravity survey over the southwest sections of the PLN and Broach properties is set to resume later this week, surveying on land and infilling between areas that were surveyed from the lake ice this winter. This survey aims to add to the understanding of the A1 and B1 areas, in addition to other regional conductive corridors to the northeast and southwest of the A1/B1 corridor. Follow-up ground EM and Resistivity will be carried out over gravity targets as appropriate, to further define distinct drill targets.

About Patterson Lake North:

The Company's 4,078-hectare 100% owned Patterson Lake North property (PLN) is located just within the south-western edge of the Athabasca Basin in proximity to Fission Uranium's Triple R and NexGen Energy's Arrow high-grade world class uranium deposits which is poised to become the next major area of development for new uranium operations in northern Saskatchewan. PLN is accessed by Provincial Highway 955, which transects the property, and the new JR Zone uranium discovery is located 23km northwest of Fission Uranium's Triple R deposit. The PLN property is part of the PLN Project which also includes the Minto and Broach properties.

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 approved on behalf of the company by Raymond Ashley, P.Geo., President & COO of F3 Uranium Corp, a Qualified Person. Mr. Ashley has verified the data disclosed.

About F3 Uranium Corp.

F3 Uranium is a uranium project generator and exploration company, focusing on projects in the Athabasca Basin, home to some of the world's largest high grade uranium discovery. F3 Uranium currently has 18 projects in the Athabasca Basin. Several of F3's projects are near large uranium discoveries including Triple R, Arrow and Hurricane.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, including statements regarding the suitability of the Properties for mining exploration, future payments, issuance of shares and work commitment funds, entry into of a definitive option agreement respecting the Properties, are "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company based on information currently available to it. Forward-Looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities, which may cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

The TSX Venture Exchange and the Canadian Securities Exchange have not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this press release, and do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

F3 Uranium Corp.

750-1620 Dickson Avenue

Kelowna, BC V1Y9Y2

Contact Information

Investor Relations

Telephone: 778 484 8030

Email: ir@f3uranium.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Dev Randhawa"

Dev Randhawa, CEO

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208208

SOURCE: F3 Uranium Corp.
ISTANBUL, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Karpowership and Petrobras have signed a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) to combine their respective expertise in the natural gas and power sectors. This includes liquefaction for both floating and onshore natural gas, storage of natural gas and LNG, as well as regasification programs, to guarantee supply and meet the demand of the energy industry across the Americas.

Investments in the country are part of Karpowership's global strategy, which seeks not only to support energy security, but also the socioeconomic development of its strategic partners. Since 2022, the company has developed the world's fastest LNG-to-power project in Brazil where it now operates four floating plants, known as Powerships, with 560 MW of contracted capacity. This is in addition to two solar energy generation projects in the State of Rio de Janeiro.

"This agreement with Petrobras reinforces our long-term commitment to Brazil, our investment hub in South America. It will be an opportunity for us to work together on new business strategies with one of the world's largest energy companies, and potentially expand our offerings to Brazilian society and the Americas", said Beyza Ozdemir, Regional Director of Commercial Operations for South America at Karpowership.

The company also expects to make new investments in the coming years in renewable projects as well as green technology initiatives. Furthermore, Ozdemir indicates that the company is committed to creating new employment opportunities in the Brazilian maritime, gas and power industries in synergy with international ESG best practices.

About Karpowership

With over 25 years of experience in the floating power plant industry, Karpowership has established itself as a leading provider of flexible, reliable, and cleaner energy solutions worldwide. With a global installed capacity up to 7,000 MW, spanning the company's signature Powerships and onshore plants, alongside a fleet of floating LNG infrastructure including LNG carriers and FSRUs, Karpowership operates on 4 continents. Offering swift and efficient power generation solutions, Karpowership's multi-fuel enabled vessels can be rapidly deployed to meet diverse grid demands within just 30 days.

In Brazil, the company's two solar energy projects, along with its 560MW LNG-to-Power Project utilizing Powerships and FSRUs located in Rio de Janeiro have generated more than 1,500 direct and indirect jobs. Karpowership Brasil also upholds the best global ESG practices in the country by offering technical qualification and skills transfer programs in partnership with the Navy, engaging in reforestation and volunteering initiatives and donating educational and technological items to local communities.

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LISBON, Portugal, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Keyrus, a global leader in data analytics and digital transformation, is proud to announce the consolidation of developing and delivering data solutions remotely from Portugal. After successfully demonstrating its expertise for over 3 years in the UK, France, and Belgium markets, Keyrus Portugal Nearshore is expanding its offering to the rest of Europe. This significant move establishes a seamless connection between the rich technological talent of Portugal and the robust markets of the Dach Region, Netherlands or Nordic Countries. This strategic initiative not only signifies Keyrus' unwavering dedication to fostering digital innovation and transformation across the globe but also marks a milestone in its ongoing mission to bridge technological frontiers.

Keyrus Portugal's focus on data nearshore services highlights the country's competitive advantages, including its highly skilled technological talent, cutting-edge infrastructure, and geographical and cultural proximity to major European markets. These factors, combined with Keyrus' deep experience and knowledge in data analytics, cloud solutions, ML, Gen AI, and digital solutions, ensure an unprecedented offering in terms of quality, efficiency, and value.

Javier Riera, Executive Director of Southern Europe at Keyrus, expresses excitement, "Consolidating our data nearshore services heralds a new era of collaboration, uniting Portugal's top tech talent with leading European businesses. Our goal: deliver personalized resources, aligned with client needs, for efficient implementations and exceptional results."

About Keyrus

Keyrus is a global consulting and technology company that focuses on making data matter, truly matter, from a human perspective. Since it is not only the data itself that matters, but the opportunities we can develop by leveraging it. A mere means to an end, data, whether big, small, human, complex, historical, prospective, only ever makes sense when it is used to develop experiences, shape understanding, make the best decisions. Our value proposition is founded upon five major groups of services, each comprising multiple offerings:

Automation and artificial intelligence.

Human-centric digital experience.

Data & analytics enablement.

Cloud and security.

Business transformation & innovation.

At Keyrus, we help our clients to successfully transform themselves to build a better future.

Keyrus employs over 3500 employees and is based in 27+ countries across 4 continents.

Discover more about how Keyrus' data nearshore services can revolutionize your business & data strategy by visiting nearshore.keyrus.com

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CHICAGO, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Aerospace Composites Market by Fiber Type (Glass Fiber, Carbon Fiber, Ceramic Fiber), Matrix Type (Polymer Matrix Composite, Metal Matrix Composite, Ceramic Matrix Composite), Manufacturing Process, Aircraft Type, Applications & Region - Forecast to 2029", is estimated at USD 29.1 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 52.1 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 12.3% from 2024 to 2029.

The growth of the aerospace composites market is propelled by a range of factors, including the pursuit of fuel efficiency through reduced aircraft weight, enhanced performance via superior strength-to-weight ratios, and decreased maintenance needs due to resistance to environmental degradation. Regulatory pressures for lower emissions and advancements in material science and manufacturing technology further drive the adoption of composites. The flexibility in design that composites offer facilitates aerodynamically superior aircraft structures, catering to rising global air traffic and robust military demands. Additionally, the industry's shift towards sustainability, seeking materials that not only perform efficiently but also have a reduced environmental impact throughout their lifecycle, significantly influences the expansion of composite applications in aerospace.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Aerospace Composites Market"

440 - Tables

66 - Figures

357 - Pages

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Glass fiber type segment is expected to grow with third highest CAGR in aerospace composites market during the forecasted period.

The aerospace composites market is segmented based on the fiber types into glass fiber, carbon fiber, ceramic fiber and others. Glass fiber composites is significant segment of the aerospace composites market, with a growing demand due to their superior physical properties and higher stiffness-to-density ratio. Glass fiber composites are used in a variety of aerospace applications, including commercial and military aircraft, rotorcraft. cost-effectiveness, desirable mechanical properties, and lightweight nature, making glass fiber a valuable material for various aerospace components. Glass fiber composites offer a cheaper alternative to carbon fiber without compromising much on strength, durability, and weight reduction, which are crucial for enhancing fuel efficiency and meeting environmental sustainability goals. These factors are expected to boost growth of glass fiber composites in aerospace composites.

Ceramic matrix segment to be the fastest-growing segment in the global aerospace composites market in terms of value

The ceramic matrix segment is projected to register the highest CAGR, in terms of value, during a forecast period. The adoption of ceramic matrix composites is driven by the increasing demand for more efficient, high-performing aircraft and the ongoing pursuit of advancements in aerospace technology that meet stringent environmental and performance regulations. As such, ceramic matrix composites are becoming increasingly integral to the design and manufacture of next-generation aerospace components, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in high-temperature and high-stress applications in the aerospace sector.

Resin transfer molding manufacturing process is expected to have second largest share during forecasting period, both in terms of value and volume during the forecast period

Resin transfer molding manufacturing process is expected to have second largest share during forecasting period of the global aerospace composites market. The key advantage of resin transfer molding in aerospace applications is its ability to produce complex molded parts with high fiber volumes and consistent quality. The process allows for precise control over fiber placement and the resin content, leading to parts that are strong, lightweight, and have excellent surface finish on both sides. This level of control and quality is crucial for aerospace components which must withstand extreme operational conditions while maintaining structural integrity. Resin Transfer Molding has become a preferred method in the aerospace composites market due to its ability to produce structurally complex and reliable components that meet the stringent demands of the aerospace industry.

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Military aircraft to be the third fastest-growing aircraft type segment in the global aerospace composites market in terms of value and volume

aerospace composites in the military aircraft segment gained significant attention driven by the demand for aircraft that are lighter, more durable, and capable of higher performance under extreme conditions. Composites, including carbon fiber and ceramic matrix composites, offer critical advantages such as reduced weight, which enhances fuel efficiency and flight range, and improved strength and heat resistance, essential for modern high-speed military aircraft. These materials also provide reduced radar signatures, which is crucial for stealth capabilities. The ongoing technological advancements in composite materials and manufacturing processes, such as automated lay-up and resin transfer molding, further bolster their adoption. Additionally, the growing focus on modernizing and expanding military fleets worldwide presents substantial opportunities for the increased use of composites in developing new aircraft and upgrading existing ones, aligning with global defense strategies and operational requirements.

Asia Pacific region is expected to register third highest CAGR both in terms of value and volume during forecasted period

The aerospace composites market has been studied in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa.

The Asia Pacific aerospace composites market is experiencing explosive growth, fueled by a potent mix of factors. Soaring demand from industries like aerospace is at the forefront, with China leading the charge. China, the world's one of the largest aerospace composites producer and consumer, is driving the market with its booming domestic aircraft production. This insatiable demand for lightweight and fuel-efficient materials is propelling the region's aerospace composites market to new heights. Countries like Japan and South Korea, with their established aerospace and defence industries, are also contributing significantly to the regional market growth. Their focus on technological advancements and sustainability goals aligns perfectly with the advantages of aerospace composites, ensuring continued demand in the years to come.

Key players

Prominent companies include Solvay (Belgium), Toray Industries, Inc. (Japan), Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation (Japan), Hexcel Corporation (US), Teijin Limited (Japan), SGL Carbon (Germany), Spirit AeroSystems (US), Materion Corporation (US), Lee Aerospace (US), General Dynamics Corporation (US), Absolute Composites (India), FDC Composites Inc. (Canada), Avior Produits Integres Inc. (Canada), Collins Aerospace (US), Aernnova Aerospace S.A (Spain) among others.

Browse Adjacent Market: Fibers & Composites Market Research Reports & Consulting

Related Reports:

Carbon Fiber Market - Global Forecast to 2033

Fiberglass Market - Global Forecast to 2028

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Earlier this year, we made a formal transformation into one of America's best management consulting firms as per a survey conducted by Forbes.

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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PARIS, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- This is a report from Xinhuanet:

A forum focused on fostering people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and France was held in Paris on May 4. The event was co-organized by Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese Embassy in France, and Publicis Groupe. During the forum, Liu Qihong, Director of China Southern Power Grid (CSG), delivered a keynote speech highlighting his company's efforts in pioneering Chinese-style modernization in collaboration with the firm's French partners.

Mr. Liu underlined the importance of collaboration between CSG and French entities in the power sector, especially among the utilities themselves, research institutions, and other organizations in the industry chain. He noted that such partnerships in management and technological benchmarking would enhance CSG's expansion into the European market. He stressed that the collaborations would improve CSG's technology, operations, resource management, human resources, brand image, and corporate culture, ultimately boosting its international operational capabilities. He expressed a collective ambition to promote green, low-carbon, sustainable development and the creation of a global community with a shared future.

Over the years, CSG has upheld robust exchange and collaboration ties with the EDF Group, RTE (France's transmission system operator), and Enedis. To further broaden the scope of engagement with European power industry peers, CSG established the European Regional Development Department. At the forum, CSG unveiled the bilingual Chinese-French edition of its "Report on the New Practices of Chinese-style Modernization by CSG". The French version of the promotional film "Walk Before the Light" also made its debut at the venue.

During the forum, Eric Alauzet, Chairman of the France-China Friendship Group of the French National Assembly, highlighted the crucial role of culture as a bond between the distinct civilizations of France and China. He noted that since establishing diplomatic ties, the two nations have enjoyed deep cultural exchanges that have spurred cooperation and development across multiple sectors, including economic and trade partnerships and joint efforts in addressing climate change. France and China have achieved a series of notable accomplishments through these collaborative efforts.

In conjunction with the forum's relevant themes, Chen Zexin, representing CSG, participated in the "Opportunity in China - Dialogue with France" salon seminar held on the same day. As a former student in France who was present for the conclusion of the Paris Agreement, Chen highlighted the significance of deepening China-France cooperation in energy transformation to combat climate change. He recognized France's critical role in advancing global climate governance, and expressed confidence that through Sino-French collaboration, more effective strategies could be developed to promote the low-carbon transition of energy and address global climate issues.

Founded on December 29, 2002, CSG provides power supply services to approximately 1 million square kilometers, serving a population of 272 million in Southern China, with nearly 50% of its energy generation coming from non-fossil sources. The company has made significant advances in digital grid, high-voltage transmission, pumped storage, and virtual power plant technologies. For many years, CSG has been ranked among the world's top 500 companies, demonstrating global leadership and contributing to the achievement of carbon peaking and neutrality goals.

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Organizations can now benefit from developer-friendly, mobile-specific security testing that scales

Guardsquare, the mobile application security provider, today announced the company's award-winning free mobile application security testing (MAST) product, AppSweep, is now available in an enterprise version to help organizations scale their ability to find and address security risks across multiple teams working at different stages of mobile app builds. AppSweep Enterprise facilitates access across teams, compliance with IT security policies and seamlessly integrates with existing tools and systems.

Now available in both free and paid versions, Guardsquare's introduction of AppSweep Enterprise provides organizations with the ability to seamlessly integrate with existing business tools and processes while also scaling to meet the needs of growing teams. With this latest release, organizations can now:

Manage team permissions and roles with fine-tuned access controls that can be customized

Unified, secure login experience for all team members with seamless single sign-on (SSO)

Easily integrate detailed findings with existing tools through extended command line interface (CLI)

AppSweep helps developers quickly find and with the actionable recommendations within the product solve security issues in Android and iOS app code and dependencies, based on security standards such as OWASP MASVS. Built for mobile, AppSweep automates the testing of mobile apps leveraging different analysis techniques to obtain relevant, actionable findings about an app's code through static analysis (SAST) and dynamic analysis (DAST/IAST) at runtime. AppSweep is now available in both free and Enterprise versions.

"I am proud of the ongoing evolution of AppSweep as we continue our quest to make mobile app security testing accessible to organizations of all sizes now in both free and paid versions," said Roel Caers, CEO of Guardsquare.

"AppSweep has become our go-to mobile applications security testing tool, with its low rate of false positives and actionable advice to avoid security issues," says a leading financial services provider. "We leverage AppSweep's automation capabilities to routinely trigger security scans without burdening the DevSecOps team, resulting in the most secure mobile experience for our customers."

For more information about AppSweep, visit: https://www.guardsquare.com/appsweep-mobile-application-security-testing

About Guardsquare

Guardsquare offers the most complete approach to mobile application security on the market. Built on the open-source Proguard technology, Guardsquare's software integrates seamlessly across the development cycle. From app security testing to code hardening and real-time visibility into the threat landscape, Guardsquare solutions provide enhanced mobile application security from early in the development process through publication. More than 900 customers worldwide across all major industries rely on Guardsquare to help them identify security risks and protect their mobile applications against reverse engineering and tampering.

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Contacts:

Erica Sheehan

Chief Marketing Officer

erica.sheehan@guardsquare.com
UK-based Contract Research Organisation (CRO) Gentronix a leading specialist toxicology firm based at Alderley Park has been awarded the King's Award for Enterprise after achieving a triple-figure revenue growth following rapid expansion in international markets.

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Gentronix Recognised With King's Award After Record International Growth (Photo: Business Wire)

Gentronix recorded total growth of 239% in overseas earnings over the past three years, with the percentage of total sales exported rising from 71% to 81% over the same period, driving revenue to in excess of 10m per annum. The US has been a particularly strong area of growth and this market now makes up almost half of the firm's international business, with demand continuing to increase across North America.

As a result of the business's success and enhanced overseas trading, Gentronix has received a prestigious King's Award for Enterprise for 2024, marking its success in the area of International Trade.

Along with its UK and US client base, Gentronix also supplies its services to a growing number of international customers including in the EU, Switzerland and Japan.

To support this exceptional growth, the business has also expanded laboratory space at its home at Alderley Park in Cheshire by 30% an additional 5,000 sq. ft and increased its headcount to 67, with further investment continuing in 2024 and 2025. Its workforce supports the needs of seven of the top 10 global pharma companies.

Gentronix's growth and expansion has further strengthened its ability to support clients in meeting their regulatory requirements, identifying potential hazards within project pipelines and managing risk for their materials.

Its ongoing growth strategy and rising global demand for its services has also enabled it to create more than 30 new job opportunities for scientists in the North West of England in the last three years.

CEO at Gentronix, Matt Tate, said: "The past three years have been extremely successful for the business as we continue on our long-term growth journey, and it has been especially satisfying to provide our services to new customers across the globe.

"We remain committed to offering best-in-class toxicology services to our expanding client base, whilst creating more opportunities for talented scientists in the North West, without whom we wouldn't have been able to achieve any of this.

"To be recognised with a King's Award is a fabulous achievement and is testament to the exceptional work that the entire team has put into realising our growth ambitions and cementing our credentials as a truly international business."

As a leading predictive toxicology CRO, operating from its GLP laboratory base at Alderley Park, UK, Gentronix's work helps develop safe products used by millions of people around the world including pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, fragrances, foods, flavours, personal care products and cosmetics.

For more information about Gentronix, please visit the website.

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Contacts:

ben.rowe@thisisdefinition.com 07402 325645
More than two-thirds of business leaders believe AI is critical for operating and being competitive across global markets, but 97% express concerns related to their AI plans

BOSTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- G-P (Globalization Partners) , the recognized leader in the global employment market and standard bearer for industry compliance, today released a revealing research report providing a comprehensive view of how and where AI will have the biggest impact on global business growth and employment: AI at Work: Unlocking Global Opportunities.

The report found that business leaders around the globe are feeling the pressure to adopt AI with 81% reporting their organization has an established AI program and 84% planning to invest more in the technology this year. However, without the right people, processes and technology in place, organizations are often ill-prepared for successful AI adoption.

"AI is redefining the boundaries of what's possible in global business," said Nat Natarajan, chief product and strategy officer, G-P. "But we've only just scratched the surface of AI and its potential is still largely unrealized. AI is evolving at exponential rates, strategic planning, investment and continuous learning will be required for businesses looking to leverage the technology to thrive on the global stage."

Key findings of G-P's AI at Work report include:

Going global. Executives worldwide are thinking of ways AI can help them expand into new markets and build new teams. 96% of executives believe that companies that use AI to support asynchronous work across countries or time zones will soon outpace those that don't.

Executives worldwide are thinking of ways AI can help them expand into new markets and build new teams. 96% of executives believe that companies that use AI to support asynchronous work across countries or time zones will soon outpace those that don't. Increasing investments. Organizations worldwide are investing more in AI than in their people. Close to 60% of executives say they are putting more dollars toward implementing and/or developing AI technology and tools than in hiring and retaining employees.

Organizations worldwide are investing more in AI than in their people. Close to 60% of executives say they are putting more dollars toward implementing and/or developing AI technology and tools than in hiring and retaining employees. Tapping talent. Getting AI right requires calling in the experts. An overwhelming 98% of executives predict their organization will need to create new roles to implement and monitor AI successfully.

Getting AI right requires calling in the experts. An overwhelming 98% of executives predict their organization will need to create new roles to implement and monitor AI successfully. Mitigating risks. Execs are losing sleep worrying about incorrect AI use. Two-thirds report that their top concern is the financial consequences of using AI incorrectly - surprisingly, sensitive and proprietary data loss is last on the list.

"AI holds a lot of potential to drive value impact, but only when done in partnership with a future-ready workforce," says Zachary Chertok, research manager for employee experience at IDC. "AI is shifting the narrative for digital use cases into a focus on workforce empowerment. Building a winning formula with AI requires organizations to invest in training the workforce for how to collaborate with AI-based tools just as much as it requires them to invest in the tools themselves."

Download G-P's AI at Work report to learn more about the state of AI at work and how to leverage it to navigate the complexities of the global business landscape.

Methodology

To better understand how leaders are navigating AI's role in the complexities of the global business landscape, G-P partnered with a third-party research firm to survey more than 1,500 business executives from around the world. Looking at factors like implementation and adoption, risk and compliance, competitive advantages and more, the findings provide business leaders with practical knowledge when it comes to understanding how AI can drive growth and innovation and ultimately reshape the future of work.

About G-P

G-P is the recognized leader of the global employment industry and has delivered world-class global compliance and workforce products designed to meet the needs of growing companies since 2012. G-P's global growth platform is driven by the G-P Meridian Suite of SaaS-based global employment products. G-P helps thousands of customers build and manage teams quickly and compliantly in 180+ countries without navigating legal, tax or HR issues.

G-P: Global Made Possible

To learn more, please visit: g-p.com or connect with us via Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook , or check out our Blog .

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TOKYO, May 7, 2024 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu today announced the Japan market launch of its successful modernization automation service "Fujitsu PROGRESSION," building on a proven track of over global 50 use cases in which it migrated legacy systems to the Fujitsu mainframe "GS21 Series.""Fujitsu PROGRESSION" is a service that automatically converts script written in COBOL into Java or C# while preserving functionality of applications built on mainframes. It delivers modernization services for end-to-end support, from drafting migration plans based on customer systems audits, to asset migration, through to testing and operation."Fujitsu's PROGRESSION" makes it possible to select the optimal migration platform, for each customers unique needs. Fujitsu contributes to the acceleration of the legacy system modernization as well as to the customer's transition to data-driven management and the realization of DX by expanding customer options regarding migration of assets.Features of the modernization service based on Fujitsu PROGRESSIONFujitsu North America, Inc. has migrated legacy systems built on mainframes from other manufacturers for more than 50 customers over the past 20 years.To help accelerate migration efforts for customers in the Japanese market, Fujitsu updated the system for Japanese language support and confirmed compatibility with Fujitsu's GS21 Series.1. Wide choice of mainframe migration infrastructure"Fujitsu PROGRESSION" is not only compatible with cloud environments, but is also with on-premises environments. Since users can select either Microsoft Windows or Linux as an OS, flexible modernization can be achieved without major constraints on the selection of middleware.2. Efficient and high-quality modernization service systemFujitsu's Modernization Knowledge Center has accumulated knowledge and know-how cultivated through working with customers in various industries, and has transferred FNAI's know-how and skills in "Fujitsu PROGRESSION" and modernization.Until 2026, Fujitsu aims to establish an organization of 500 people to propose, optimize, and deliver customer modernization projects through the recruitment and aggregation of new legacy technology-savvy, specialized engineers, both internally and externally. In cooperation with its Global Delivery Centers (GDCs) and its partner SIer and engineering companies, Fujitsu in June 2024 will further establish an engineering organization, a program to pre-register experts who are familiar with legacy engineers and to secure engineers who can respond quickly to customer projects. The organization will employ 2,000 employees to provide strong support for customer projects.3. Providing high-quality end-to-end services from assessment to testingAfter determining the assets to be migrated through a comprehensive assessment that investigates and analyzes the current system, Fujitsu experts propose a migration plan, including cost estimation and scheduling.After automatic analysis of the COBOL source code and business logic generation according to the characteristics of the mainframe model, the program is automatically converted to a highly maintainable program according to the optimal technical structure of the destination language. In addition to these automated conversion steps, Fujitsu's engineers will design and build the target infrastructure and test the automated converted test data and scenarios to ensure reliable and high-quality modernization.Future PlansFujitsu looks forward to utilizing generative AI in system migration to automatically generate test data and test code, to further improve the efficiency of the testing process and shorten the migration period. It will also begin applying "Fujitsu PROGRESSION" to mainframes from other manufacturers in Japan. In addition to its own development, Fujitsu will strive to apply excellent services from around the world to provide a variety of options and strongly promote the modernization of its customers.Fujitsu promotes "Road to 3X" to support aggressive modernization that forms the basis for customers' transformation to data-driven management, and works with customers on sustainable transformation and green transformation to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.About FujitsuFujitsu's purpose is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation. As the digital transformation partner of choice for customers in over 100 countries, our 124,000 employees work to resolve some of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Our range of services and solutions draw on five key technologies: Computing, Networks, AI, Data & Security, and Converging Technologies, which we bring together to deliver sustainability transformation. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.7 trillion yen (US$26 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 and remains the top digital services company in Japan by market share. Find out more: www.fujitsu.com.Press ContactsFujitsu LimitedPublic and Investor Relations DivisionInquiries (https://bit.ly/3rrQ4mB)Source: Fujitsu LtdCopyright 2024 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Faraday Copper Corp. ("Faraday" or the "Company") (TSX:FDY)(OTCQX:CPPKF) is pleased to announce the results of the Gold Program from the Keel Zone at the Copper Creek project in Arizona, USA. The results support the potential to unlock significant value through the contribution of payable gold in concentrate in future Mineral Resource Estimates ("MRE")1.

Paul Harbidge, President and CEO, commented "The results show that the Keel Zone hosts the largest gold-bearing domain on the property to date. For context, the Keel underground zone represents approximately 60 million tonnes of the 330 million tonnes in the current underground mineral resource. This newly acquired data, together with our recent metallurgical results, supports the potential for the addition of gold in concentrate as a significant source of by-product revenue that would increase the value of Copper Creek."

Highlights

Doubled the gold assay coverage in the Keel Zone with 1,017 new gold assays, in addition to the 1,062 historical gold assays.

with 1,017 new gold assays, in addition to the 1,062 historical gold assays. Examples of intercepts with new gold assays and re-assayed copper from historical core include: 103.64 m ("metres") at 1.34% copper and 0.28 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold from 667.51 m in drill hole LM-2; 85.35 m at 0.91% copper and 0.11 g/t gold from 652.27 m in drill hole LM-1; and 272.19 m at 0.47% copper and 0.05 g/t gold from 921.11 m in drill hole RMK-12-068.

Gold and copper are correlated on an intercept basis with an overall ratio 2 of approximately 1:9 gold (g/t):copper (%) at the Keel Zone.

of approximately 1:9 gold (g/t):copper (%) at the Keel Zone. Recently completed metallurgical test work supports gold recoveries exceeding 80% to a payable grade in the copper concentrate from the Keel Zone.

As part of the gold program, copper was re-assayed and the results confirmed historical data, providing additional confidence in the database.

Keel Zone Overview

The Keel Zone (Figure 1 and 2) represents approximately 60 million tonnes of the 330 million tonnes of the current underground MRE. The Keel Zone contains several domains of mineralization with the dominant style including bornite and chalcopyrite that occur disseminated and in miarolitic cavities, as well as in porphyry-style veins. This is indicative of a high emplacement temperature near the apex of a magmatic intrusion and this environment is commonly referred to as a cupola zone (Figure 1). In addition, chalcopyrite-rich breccias crosscut the magmatic cupola mineralization. The Keel Zone is located below the Mammoth breccia and together these areas form the most continuous vertical mineralization (over 1,400 m) discovered on the project to date.

Gold mineralization within Keel is zoned, with the greatest enrichment occurring in the magmatic cupola associated with bornite (Figure 3). Metallurgical test work, reported in a news release dated February 26, 2024, on bornite-bearing samples from the Keel Zone suggests that gold recoveries average over 80% and gold has the potential to be payable in a copper concentrate.

Gold Program Overview

Historically, only a small portion of samples analyzed for copper were also analyzed for gold. The Company has been analyzing archived sample material for gold with the aim of increasing data coverage for potential inclusion in future MRE updates. In addition to gold assays, samples have been re-analyzed for copper, silver and molybdenum to further validate historical results. Assay results for Childs Aldwinkle, Copper Prince and the Keel Zone have been released.

Gold and copper results for the Keel Zone are presented in Table 1. Gold values were calculated for a total of 15 drill hole intercepts and the results improve spatial coverage (Figure 1).

Next Steps

Additional zones in the current MRE are being evaluated for gold assay data coverage as the Company intends to include gold in future MRE updates. Further, gold continues to be analyzed as part of the ongoing Phase III drill program which has the following objectives:

Expanding the MRE;

Better delineating high-grade, mineralized zones; and

Reconnaissance drilling on new targets.

The current focus of the Phase III drilling program is on shallow breccia-hosted mineralization at American Eagle. This follows the approval by the Bureau of Land Management of the Company's Notice of Intent, as reported in a news release dated May 2, 2024.

Figure 1: Cross section of the Keel and Mammoth domain with gold intercepts for the Keel Zone

Note: The underground footprint and open pit shell are based on constraints used in the MRE1.

Figure 2: Mineral Resource areas at the Copper Creek project

Figure 3: Example of magmatic cupola-style mineralization at 690.3 m from a core sample from 688.85 m to 691.90 m grading 1.43 g/t gold and 6.03% copper in drill hole LM-2

Table 1: Intercept Values at the Keel Zone

Drill Hole ID From To Length Au g/t Ag g/t Cu % Mo % Cu:Au (m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) (%) (%) FCD-22-007 1112.00 1217.59 105.59 0.09 9.71 1.21 0.0200 13.44 FCD-22-0072 1277.10 1289.77 12.67 0.14 36.52 5.00 0.0230 35.71 FCD-23-024 757.25 949.49 192.24 0.05 2.24 0.42 0.0068 8.40 LM-1 652.27 737.62 85.35 0.11 5.24 0.91 0.0366 8.27 LM-2 667.51 771.15 103.64 0.28 12.18 1.34 0.0606 4.79 LM-3 664.47 789.43 124.96 0.10 4.12 0.70 0.0190 7.00 LM-6 685.80 765.05 79.25 0.05 2.72 0.49 0.0058 9.80 NE-5 871.73 932.69 60.96 0.07 1.81 0.44 0.0162 6.29 Including 905.26 926.59 21.33 0.14 2.86 0.82 0.0074 5.86 RMK-07-015 849.02 1101.70 252.68 0.10 9.77 1.40 0.0335 14.00 Including 868.38 907.85 39.47 0.15 9.78 1.95 0.0494 13.00 RMK-08-031 904.95 914.10 9.15 0.12 4.95 0.74 0.0263 6.17 RMK-11-072 816.26 895.51 79.25 0.06 2.39 0.46 0.0108 7.67 RMK-12-068 921.11 1193.30 272.19 0.05 2.58 0.47 0.0129 9.40 RMK-12-069 970.18 1065.89 95.71 0.05 4.49 0.55 0.0039 11.00 Including 979.33 994.26 14.93 0.08 6.39 0.61 0.0034 7.63 VIX24-22 792.94 926.59 133.65 0.02 0.64 0.33 0.0150 16.50 Including 832.11 880.87 48.76 0.03 1.01 0.36 0.0265 12.00 And 594.36 615.70 21.34 0.03 3.90 1.77 0.0072 59.00 VIX28-2 No significant gold intercepts

Notes: Copper, silver and molybdenum columns indicate re-assayed metal values. Drill holes FCD-22-007, FCD-23-024 and RMK-07-015 were not re-assayed as part of this program. Mineralization is dominantly bulk porphyry and magmatic and cupola-style and lesser breccia mineralization. Drilled widths are interpreted to be the best available approximation to true widths.

Sampling Methodology, Chain of Custody, Quality Control and Quality Assurance

All sampling was conducted under the supervision of the Company's geologists and the chain of custody from Copper Creek to the independent sample preparation facility, ALS Laboratories in Tucson, AZ, was continuously monitored. The samples were taken from archived pulverized rock material (pulps). Pulps were re-blended and analyzed using industry standard analytical methods including a 4-Acid ICP-MS multielement package and an ICP-AES method for high-grade copper samples. Gold was analyzed on a 30-gram aliquot by fire assay with an ICP-AES finish. A certified reference sample was inserted every 15th to 20th sample. Blanks were inserted every 10th sample. In addition to the internal QA-QC protocol, additional blanks, reference materials and duplicates were inserted by the analytical laboratory according to their procedure. Data verification of the analytical results included a statistical analysis of the standards and blanks that must pass certain parameters for acceptance to ensure accurate and verifiable results.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Faraday's Vice President Exploration, Dr. Thomas Bissig, P. Geo., and Faraday's Vice President, Projects and Evaluations, Zach Allwright, P.Eng., both of whom are considered a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

Notes

1 The Mineral Resource Estimate is presented in the report titled "Copper Creek Project NI 43-101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment" with an effective date of May 3, 2023 (the "Technical Report") available on the Company's website at www.faradaycopper.com and on the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

2 The gold:copper ratio for the Keel Zone should not be applied to other mineralized domains. The gold occurrence has not undergone economic assessment and therefore it does not currently qualify as part of a mineral resource. Certain intercepts in holes FCD-22-007 and VIX24-2 with outliers in gold and copper concentrations were not considered for the calculation of this ratio.

About Faraday Copper

Faraday Copper is a Canadian exploration company focused on advancing its flagship copper project in Arizona, USA. The Copper Creek Project is one of the largest undeveloped copper projects in North America with significant district scale exploration potential. The Company is well positioned to deliver on its key milestones and benefits from a management team and board of directors with senior mining company experience and expertise. Faraday trades on the TSX under the symbol "FDY".

For additional information please contact:

Stacey Pavlova, CFA

Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications

Faraday Copper Corp.

E-mail: info@faradaycopper.com

Website: www.faradaycopper.com

To receive news releases by e-mail, please register at www.faradaycopper.com.

Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking statements" and are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Faraday to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information specifically include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the possibility of adding payable gold in future Mineral Resource Estimates, the thesis that precious metals are mineralogically associated with copper within the Copper Creek property and the areas to be included in the review of historical samples for increased assay coverage.

Although Faraday believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include without limitation: market prices for metals; the conclusions of detailed feasibility and technical analyses; lower than expected grades and quantities of mineral resources; receipt of regulatory approval; receipt of shareholder approval; mining rates and recovery rates; significant capital requirements; price volatility in the spot and forward markets for commodities; fluctuations in rates of exchange; taxation; controls, regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which Faraday does or may carry on business; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, competition; loss of key employees; rising costs of labour, supplies, fuel and equipment; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; accidents; labour disputes; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties; unexpected delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of Indigenous peoples and other groups; risks, uncertainties and unanticipated delays associated with obtaining and maintaining necessary licenses, permits and authorizations and complying with permitting requirements, including those associated with the Copper Creek property; and uncertainties with respect to any future acquisitions by Faraday. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, including environmental events and hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks as well as "Risk Factors" included in Faraday's disclosure documents filed on and available at www.sedarplus.ca.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction. This press release is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, a prospectus, an offering memorandum, an advertisement or a public offering of securities in Faraday in Canada, the United States or any other jurisdiction. No securities commission or similar authority in Canada or in the United States has reviewed or in any way passed upon this press release, and any representation to the contrary is an offence.

SOURCE: Faraday Copper Corp.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Chinese peacekeepers to Lebanon celebrate China's Youth Day

China Military Online) 12:54, May 07, 2024

The 22nd Chinese Peacekeeping Multi-Role Engineering Company to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) organizes an oath-taking ceremony to review the army admission oath on the occasion of China's Youth Day, which falls on May 4. In December 1949, the Chinese government announced May 4 National Youth Day to commemorate the May Fourth Movement, a patriotic movement mainly participated by college students in Beijing on May 4, 1919. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/ Photo by Huang Yuanli)

The 22nd Chinese Peacekeeping Multi-Role Engineering Company to UNIFIL organizes an oath-taking ceremony to review the army admission oath on the occasion of China's Youth Day, which falls on May 4. In December 1949, the Chinese government announced May 4 National Youth Day to commemorate the May Fourth Movement, a patriotic movement mainly participated by college students in Beijing on May 4, 1919.(eng.chinamil.com.cn/ Photo by Wu Peichen)

The 22nd Chinese Peacekeeping Multi-Role Engineering Company to UNIFIL organizes its members to watch the patriotic movie 1919 to celebrate China's Youth Day on May 4, 2024. In December 1949, the Chinese government announced May 4 National Youth Day to commemorate the May Fourth Movement, a patriotic movement mainly participated by college students in Beijing on May 4, 1919. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/ Photo by Qu Fatong)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
SINGAPORE, May 7, 2024 - (ACN Newswire) - Cordlife Group Limited ("Cordlife" or the "Company") announced today that it has accelerated recruitment of laboratory and technical staff to ensure laboratory operational excellence as part of its strategic plan for financial year 2024 ("FY2024") to prioritise rebuilding its foundation and strengthening core processes to prevent future disruptions.Cordlife also provided an update that as of 30 April 2024, a significant number of affected active clients whose cord blood units were stored in Tank A has accepted the offer of a refund of annual fees from the year of the temperature excursion.The Company will continue to store cord blood units for these clients until the maturity of their service agreements when their children turn 21, without charge. In the event a transplant physician determines that the cord blood unit cannot be successfully used for an approved cord blood transplant solely because it does not meet the viability criteria, Cordlife will make every effort to find a suitable replacement.Cordlife has also extended the same offer to affected clients with cord blood units stored in Tank 6 and the dry shipper. The Company will be reaching out to these clients with the next steps in due course.Cordlife has confirmed that its medical and technical teams, along with three of its Singapore-based directors - Dr Ho Choon Hou, Mr Yeo Hwee Tiong and Mr Cheong Tuck Yan Titus Jim - and Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ivan Yiu, have been engaging with the Ministry of Health ("MOH") regularly to provide updates on its corrective actions to rectify the identified lapses.Cordlife's new sample collection in Singapore has been suspended by MOH since 15 December 2023, following checks that reported suboptimal temperatures in seven of the 22 cryogenic storage tanks based in Singapore. Checks on the remaining 15 tanks confirmed that they were not affected.The Company emphasised that the tanks managed by its subsidiaries in markets outside Singapore remain unaffected.As announced on 8 April 2024, cord blood units in Tank A are unlikely to be suitable for stem cell transplant purposes; units in Tank 6 and a dry shipper are deemed to be at high risk of being affected by the temperature excursions, while cord blood units in the remaining five other tanks are deemed to be at low risk ("Low-Risk Tanks").The Company will undertake additional testing on more cord blood units from the Low-Risk Tanks and will pause any applicable billings for clients whose cord blood units are stored there, pending the test results of each tank.Singapore Exchange Mainboard-listed Cordlife operates Asia's largest network of private cord blood banks with stem cell storage facilities in six markets, including Singapore. Since its inception, Cordlife has processed and stored more than 400,000 cord blood, cord lining, cord tissue and placenta stem cell samples across its stem cell storage facilities in Asia.As part of Cordlife's strategic plan to strengthen core processes and prevent future disruptions, it has executed or is undertaking several major rectification plans in recent weeks:Hiring More Technical and Laboratory Staff - Cordlife has begun hiring more specialists to lead its laboratory teams more effectively. The Company has successfully recruited two additional lab directors with PhDs and implemented a retention programme to foster stability among its high-potential lab personnel in Singapore. Additionally, Cordlife continues its recruitment efforts to further enhance in-house technical expertise and improve clinical governance standards by adding more lab directors to its team.Cordlife is also reaching out to former staff from its processing and storage facilities in other markets to support its laboratory operations in Singapore. As part of a major overhaul of processes in Singapore, the Company has commenced extensive training aimed at cultivating a stronger sense of accountability and responsibility among its staff.Engagement of Expert Consultant from the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy ("FACT" www.factglobal.org) - In its pursuit of industry excellence, Cordlife has enlisted the expertise of a consultant from FACT. This US-based expert has been guiding its technical team since December 2023 and will be on-site in mid-May to provide further guidance to the Singapore team on reinforcing core processes and on the Company's organisational structure.Enhanced Monitoring and Operations - Cordlife has implemented a more advanced digitalised system to enhance 24/7 real-time monitoring of its Singapore lab facility, both on-site and remotely. Additionally, the Company has also fortified fail-safe measures to ensure uninterrupted operations.Establishment of a Distinguished Medical and Technical Advisory Board - Cordlife has been in discussions with several esteemed medical and technical experts as part of its effort to form a Medical and Technical Advisory Board for the Group. This Board aims to provide guidance and insights to the Company's medical and technical teams. By harnessing the collective expertise of these distinguished professionals, the Company hopes to improve the quality and efficacy of its services to ensure it remains at the forefront of medical and technical innovation and excellence.Engagement and Resolution Reached with Affected Customers - Since the lapses were identified, Cordlife has been providing updates to its clients as soon as it was in the position to do so. In February this year, Cordlife provided offers to approximately 1,800 active clients who had stored cord blood units in Tank A. Clients with units stored in Tank 6 and the dry shipper have also received information on Cordlife's offer.Mr Yiu said, "I sincerely apologise to all our clients and empathise with their disappointment and concerns over these lapses. We are diligently working on ways to minimise the impact on our clients."In response to media queries on the letter of demand from solicitors acting on behalf of one of its clients as well as the notice of a claim lodged against the Company in the Small Claims Tribunals by another client, Mr Yiu said, "Although we have sought legal advice on the claims and allegations, we want to address the issues amicably and hope that the affected clients will work with us to achieve resolution."Commenting on the financial impact of the MOH suspension, Mr Yiu said that Cordlife's FY2023 performance was affected as new sample collection was suspended from December 2023. "FY2024 will be dedicated to rebuilding Cordlife's foundation, with a focus not just on growth but also on long-term sustainability. The implementation of enhanced processes and boosting staff expertise and experience will make us stronger so we can expand to new markets and capture adjacent opportunities. We hope that this strategic advancement will elevate our position within stem cell field in the region," he added."Despite the suspension, we have continued to incur fixed running costs in Singapore as we are committed to meeting our contractual obligations with our clients. Even though the suspension has continued thus far in FY2024, we are investing in more resources to improve our core processes and hire more qualified personnel. This demonstrates our unwavering commitment to our stakeholders, including our clients, MOH, business partners, staff and shareholders," Mr Yiu said.Cordlife also wishes to acknowledge and address the concerns raised by active clients whose service agreements are nearing maturity. Mr Yiu said, "We would like to reassure these clients that the Company will not dispose of any cord blood units belonging to them while we work towards resolution. We also kindly ask for their patience as we carefully assess our next steps, and we will contact these clients as soon as we have determined the most appropriate course of action."ABOUT CORDLIFE GROUP LIMITEDCordlife Group Limited ("Cordlife", together with its subsidiaries, the "Group"), founded in 2001, owns and operates Asia's largest network of private cord blood banks. The Group is committed to ensuring the health and well-being of both mother and child, amongst others. Listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange since 2012, the Group is a pioneer in private cord blood banking in Asia with extensive transplant experience, having processed and stored more than 400,000 cord blood, cord lining, cord tissue, and placenta stem cell samples. Cordlife is an industry leader in Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the Philippines and one of the top three market leaders in India and Malaysia. Through its majority-owned subsidiary in Malaysia, Stemlife Berhad, Cordlife has an indirect stake in Thailand's largest private cord blood bank, Thai Stemlife. In addition to cord blood, cord lining, cord tissue, and placenta banking, Cordlife offers families a comprehensive suite of clinical diagnostics, including non-invasive prenatal testing, paediatric vision screening, and newborn metabolic screening. Cordlife strives to ensure reliable quality and is committed to a customer-centric approach. For more information, visit http://cordlife.listedcompany.com.Media & Investor ContactIsaac TangWhatsApp (Text): (65) 9748 0688cordlife@wer1.netSource: Cordlife Group LimitedCopyright 2024 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
PUNE, India, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ProMobi Technologies today announced that Scalefusion - its unified endpoint management solution - has now entered into a strategic partnership with B2M Solutions. This collaboration enables organizations to harness enhanced intelligence, to proactively manage their field-deployed mobile devices.

B2M Solutions is the creator of Elemez, a product designed to provide the actionable intelligence needed to proactively minimize downtime of on-field devices and maximize the ROI from the frontline workforce. By providing insightful data points around the usage and performance of mobile devices, applications, and network connections in the field, in real-time, Elemez brings in the much-needed visibility in enterprise mobility.

Partnering with Scalefusion, Elemez adds intelligence to mobile device management. With this bundled solution, customers can leverage lower costs and improve their overall TCO of enterprise mobility, by obtaining advanced analytics into the business-critical devices.

"We're thrilled to partner with B2M Solutions. At Scalefusion, our customers obtain real-time insights into battery status, data usage, storage capacity, and connection quality through our DeepDive analytics. With B2M's Elemez, they get even more detailed reports on device and application usage, license allocation, lost devices, proactive real-time battery health, and device, network and data performance," said Amit Ponam, Sales Director - North America. "Together, we're providing a robust solution that equips operations teams with the tools to manage their mobile devices more efficiently and make informed decisions," he added.

"Our 6th Annual State of Enterprise Mobility Survey of IT leaders and Frontline workers shows, less than 2% of IT leaders say their MDM/EMM is giving them the insights and intelligence needed to proactively find and fix problems as they occur," said Gary Lee, CEO of B2M Solutions. "When we combine this lack of visibility with IT leaders' critical need for reliable mobile devices, batteries, apps, and network connections in the hands of their workers, it drives a second stat from our survey showing that almost 100% of IT leaders see value in an intelligent MDM/EMM solution like announced today from Scalefusion and B2M."

For more information about this partnership or to request an evaluation, please visit: https://scalefusion.com/

About Scalefusion

ProMobi Technologies provides a leading Unified Endpoint Management solution under the brand Scalefusion. Scalefusion UEM allows organizations to secure and manage endpoints, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, rugged devices, POS and digital signage, and apps and content. It supports the management of Android, iOS, macOS, Windows and Linux devices and ensures streamlined device management operations with Scalefusion Remote Troubleshooting.



More than 8000 companies worldwide are unlocking their true potential using Scalefusion, which is used across various industries such as Transportation & Logistics, Retail, Education, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Construction & Real Estate, Hospitality, Software & Telecom, Financial Services and others.



For more information, please visit https://www.scalefusion.com

Scalefusion on LinkedIn

Contact: swapnil@scalefusion.com

About B2M Solutions

B2M Solutions is a global software company dedicated to improving the deployment and reliability of enterprise mobility. Our flagship product, Elemez, provides real-time Enterprise Mobility Intelligence, which proactively detects and resolves mobile device and application issues negatively impacting your employees and business. Unlike traditional enterprise mobile software management tools used for MDM, EMM, and UEM, Elemez takes a proactive approach by monitoring and measuring mobile devices, applications, batteries, and network connections in real time. This approach empowers enterprises to proactively prevent and avoid problems, boost enterprise mobility's reliability and performance, and significantly reduce the True Cost of Ownership of mobility, delivering tangible value to your business. Founded in 2002, B2M is a privately held company with global headquarters in London, UK, with North American headquarters in Atlanta, GA., USA. For additional information, visit www.b2msolutions.com.

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BENGALURU, India, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced that it has been certified with ISO 42001:2023, world's first international standard on AI management systems, by TUV India (part of TUV Nord Group), a leading independent provider of technical quality and safety services. Infosys is among the first IT services companies globally to have earned the certification for implementing an Artificial Intelligence Management System (AIMS) framework that fosters responsible AI practices and adherence to regulatory requirements for enhanced efficiency and accountability in AI initiatives.

This AIMS framework is a part of Infosys Topaz Responsible AI Suite, a set of 10+ offerings built around the Scan, Shield, and Steer framework. The certification underscores Infosys' dedication to responsible AI practices, enhancing accountability, and mitigating risks associated with AI initiatives.

The ISO 42001:2023 certification provides a clear roadmap and systematic approach to AI management, through effective risk mitigation and streamlined processes. By adhering to this global standard, Infosys can embed strong AI management practices across its diverse pursuits, for clients, internal adoption, and product development.

The Infosys Topaz Responsible AI Suite aims to monitor and protect AI models and systems from risks and threats, while enabling businesses to apply AI responsibly. The offerings, across the framework, include a combination of accelerators and solutions designed to drive responsible AI adoption across enterprises.

Lauding the remarkable achievement of Infosys, Manish Bhuptani, Managing Director of TUV India (TUV Nord Group), said, "Infosys has set a new benchmark for excellence and commitment to AI innovation. This certification not only underscores their dedication to quality and compliance but also reinforces their leadership in leveraging AI responsibly. TUV India (TUV Nord Group) is honored to have supported Infosys in this significant milestone and looks forward to continued collaboration in shaping the future of AI-driven solutions."

Rahul R. Nayak, Associate Vice President - System Certification, Training & Sustainability, TUV India (TUV Nord Group), said, "TUV India congratulates Infosys on being certified to Artificial Intelligence Management System based on ISO 42001:2023. We commend Infosys on being one of the first IT services companies globally to achieve the ISO 42001:2023 certification, testifying their commitment to excellence in AI management. This certification reflects Infosys' proactive approach in implementing robust systems and adhering to internationally recognized standards, ensuring ethical and efficient AI deployment. We appreciate the effort put in by the Infosys team to adopt a responsible AI framework based on the requirement of the standard and the core values of Infosys. A robust mechanism was adopted to assess the AI initiatives, which not only enhances the organization's credibility but also inspires trust and confidence in its AI-driven solutions globally."

Balakrishna D. R. (Bali), Executive Vice President, Global Services Head, AI and Industry Verticals, Infosys, said, "We are delighted to have received the ISO 42001:2023 certification. This achievement underscores our commitment to ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence. The certification not only distinguishes us but also serves as a guiding beacon for our clients and stakeholders in navigating AI-related risks adeptly. With this certification, Infosys is poised to continually foster constructive transformations in the world of AI, championing Responsible AI principles."

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 300,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses and communities. We enable clients in more than 56 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by cloud and AI. We enable them with an AI-first core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, or our future financial or operating performance, are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding the execution of our business strategy, our ability to attract and retain personnel, our transition to hybrid work model, economic uncertainties, technological innovations such as Generative AI, the complex and evolving regulatory landscape including immigration regulation changes, our ESG vision, our capital allocation policy and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, liquidity, capital resources, our corporate actions including acquisitions, and cybersecurity matters. Important factors that may cause actual results or outcomes to differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements are discussed in more detail in our US Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

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The agricultural fumigant market is driven by the need to minimize post-harvest losses and manage pests effectively. Increasing soil salinity in major agricultural countries like India, China, and the US is pushing demand for organic fumigants. While concerns about safety exist, solid fumigants like phosphine offer advantages in cost, efficiency, and ease of handling, making them popular choices.

NEWARK, Del., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Future Market Insights, the agricultural fumigant market is experiencing a marked increase in valuation, with a growth from US$ 1,190.0 million in 2019 to US$ 1667.0 million in 2024. This growth is expected to continue, with an estimated valuation of US$ 2,830 million for 2034 and a projected CAGR of 5.4% through 2034. This growth can be attributed to various factors, including advancements in farming techniques and the need for effective and economical pest management techniques to minimize post-harvest losses.

Download the Sample PDF report to explore key market insights and trends: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-19566

One of the key drivers of growth in the agricultural fumigant market is the increasing salinity of the soil, which has forced farmers in countries like India, the United States, and China to adopt organic agrarian fumigants. Suppliers store produce, and with advancements in storage techniques, fumigant demand has also accelerated.

It is important to note that fumigants can cause problems like phytotoxicity according to crop type, seasonal conditions, and more. Research shows that fumigants can be used only by professional fumigators due to their high toxicity, which can promote lower-risk fumigants as land safety is prime for farmers.

Despite this, the market for agricultural fumigants remains robust, with solid forms such as phosphine being particularly popular due to their higher efficiency and lower cost compared to other fumigants. Solid forms are also easier to handle and store, making them more convenient for suppliers to stock and sell.

"Suppliers and farmers alike will need to remain vigilant to ensure the safe and effective use of these products, but with the right precautions in place, the agricultural fumigant market is poised for continued success, " says Nikhil Kaitwade (Associate Vice President at Future Market Insights, Inc.)

Key Takeaways from the Market Study

Phosphine product type covers a share of 5.2% for 2024 in this agricultural fumigant market.

Solid form tops in the agricultural fumigant sector, contributing a share of 5.0% for 2024

The agricultural fumigants market in South Korea is predicted to rise by an 8 % CAGR through 2034.

The agricultural fumigants market in Japan has exponentially increased to a 7.1% CAGR through 2034.

The agricultural fumigants market in the United Kingdom is projected to inflate at a CAGR of 6.6 % through 2034.

The agricultural fumigants market in China is anticipated to develop at a CAGR of 6.2% through 2034.

The agricultural fumigants market in the United States is estimated to rise at a 5.7% CAGR through 2034.

Competitive Landscape

Manufacturers are aimed at meeting the transforming needs of local and international farmers. Major companies are advancing with artificial intelligence and new monitoring techniques to provide seamless and hassle-free experiences with the best quality yields. Overall, the market is filled with high-end companies contributing to taking the agricultural sector to new heights.

Market players in the agricultural fumigant industry are Syngenta International AG, Amvac Chemical Corporation, Corteva Agriscience, BASF, Detia Degesch GmbH, ADAMA Ltd., Nufarm Limited, Arkema, Solvay, UPL Limited, Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd., Tessenderlo Group.

Recent Developments:

MustGrow Biologics Corp.'s TerraSanteTM Crop Fertilizer and Soil Amendment technology received USDA Organic approval in October 2023.

Researchers exploring the potential of nanopesticides for grain storage in a February 2022 article in Frontiers in Nanotechnology to reduce agricultural losses from insect infestation.

Purchase now and gain full access to the Agricultural Fumigant Industry report, featuring comprehensive Market Forecast, Company Share Analysis, Competition Intelligence, DROT Analysis, Market Dynamics and Challenges, and Strategic Growth Initiatives.

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Nikhil Kaitwade (Associate Vice President at Future Market Insights, Inc.) has over a decade of experience in market research and business consulting. He has successfully delivered 1500+ client assignments, predominantly in Automotive, Chemicals, Industrial Equipment, Oil & Gas, and Service industries.

His core competency circles around developing research methodology, creating a unique analysis framework, statistical data models for pricing analysis, competition mapping, and market feasibility analysis. His expertise also extends wide and beyond analysis, advising clients on identifying growth potential in established and niche market segments, investment/divestment decisions, and market entry decision-making.

Nikhil holds an MBA degree in Marketing and IT and a Graduate in Mechanical Engineering. Nikhil has authored several publications and quoted in journals like EMS Now, EPR Magazine, and EE Times.

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Visible Gold Zone Intercept Returns 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq From 53.3m Depth

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Meridian Mining UK. S (TSX:MNO),(Frankfurt/Tradegate:2MM)(OTCQX:MRRDF) ("Meridian" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on its drilling and exploration activities at its advanced Cabacal copper-gold-silver VMS project ("Cabacal") in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Drill hole CD-470 has returned a zone of high-grade mineralization grading 16.0m @ 12.5g/t AuEq[1]Meridian Mining UK S (12.1g/t Au, 0.3% Cu & 0.6g/t Ag) including a high-grade zone hosting visible gold grading 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq (29.9g/t Au, 0.5% Cu & 1.0g/t Ag) from 53.3m ("Figure 1"), within the Cabacal Mine's Southern Copper Zone ("SCZ"). CD-470 is part of an ongoing program[2] aimed at testing visible gold-rich areas within historical drilling records but with incomplete assay data, which were not incorporated into the Cabacal Mineral Resource Estimate[3]. Importantly, CD-470 is located below a mining void, confirming that zones of significant mineralization remain. Results are progressively being returned from the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study's[4] ("PFS") infill drill program. Further results are pending.

Highlights Reported Today

Meridian drills strongest gold-dominant zone of mineralization within the Cabacal Mine area to date;

Drilling continues to support resource conversion, with high-grade gold & copper mineralization intersected at Cabacal; CD-470 returns 16.0m @ 12.5g/t AuEq (12.1g/t Au, 0.3% Cu & 0.6g/t Ag) from 53.3m; including: 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq (29.9g/t Au, 0.5% Cu & 1.0g/t Ag) from 53.3m;

Cabacal PFS drill program continues to deliver robust grades and widths of gold-copper mineralization;

The Cabacal metallurgical program continues to show the potential for optimised and improved recoveries of the copper concentrate; and

The Santa Helena metallurgical program will shortly be launched to expedite Santa Helena towards an Initial Mineral Resource Estimate in Q4 2024.

Mr. Gilbert Clark, CEO, comments: "Today's remarkable drill results, under the skilled technical guidance of our team, demonstrate Cabacal's potential to capitalize on the current gold and copper price surge. High-grade results, such as 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq, emphasize the deposit's capacity to deliver value for shareholders. Within the historical mine records, there are various holes referencing visible gold where assay records were lost in whole or in part, for some of which only graphical estimates were available from bar charts. CD-470 is the first result of an ongoing program to test such areas and future results will be included in Cabacal's resource update. Importantly, the high-grade mineralization extends past the underground mining voids and shows that Meridian's drill program is highly efficient in targeting this missed upside. The result illustrates well the broad zones of gold-copper mineralization that are found at the Cabacal mine."

Figure 1: Overview of core tray beneath mining void intersected in CD-470, with detail of sample CBDS65674 (53.3 - 54.0m).

Cabacal Deposit Drill Program Update

The Cabacal drill program ("Figure 2") continues, with today's reported results bringing a new interval returned under the accelerated drilling program [5] . Results reported include intervals from the peripheral areas of the resource where drilling has been sparse, and from select areas of the Cabacal mine zone where several results from the last phase of BP drilling have been lost. The first of these results from CD-470 has encouraging mineralization. Results emphasise that the previous room and pillar underground mining method left behind significant high-grade mineralization due to the structural variability and grade variances in the deposit.

The CD-470 hole commenced with a shallow copper-dominant interval, including a zone of 2.2m @ 1.1% Cu & 6.4g/t Ag from 16.1m. The hole passed through a mining void from 48.7 - 53.3m. Data compiled by the Cabacal project vendors indicates that 3.8m @ 90.0g/t Au, 0.4% Cu & 20.6g/t Ag from 48.8m were intersected in this mining void position. The source data for these analyses were subsequently lost, and to date, Meridian has not been able to locate an alternative archival copy. Encouragingly, the interval below the void in Meridian's drilling has returned mineralization at grades significantly higher than the historical underground mining cut-off grade of 3.0g/t Au. CD-470 has returned 16.0m @ 12.5g/t AuEq (12.1g/t Au, 0.3% Cu & 0.6g/t Ag) from 53.3m, including 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq (29.9g/t Au, 0.5% Cu & 1.0g/t Ag) from 53.3m.

Figure 2: Cabacal Mine drill results

CD-470 is one of several planned verification holes that will contribute to the PFS database. The initial verification program of 2021-2022 targeted areas where comparative historical assay data existed for twin drilling. The current holes are designed to better understand grade distribution where data has been lost or was only partially digitized by the project vendors. The information gaps for certain historical results were more prevalent in the SCZ where the later generation of BP Minerals infill holes were drilled, although a number of infill holes were also missing from the Central Copper Zone and the Eastern Copper Zone. Amongst this lost data are holes which are recorded to have intersected visible gold. For some of these, graphic assay bar charts on old cross sections denote high grades as >5 g/t Au, but the true grades are unknown.

The Company remains grateful to past professionals who have contributed material. In particular, the Company is currently working to incorporate assays from recently retrieved underground grade control data, amongst which are historical gold assay records (Figure 3). Examples of results include:

CH17: 2.04m @ 142.3g/t Au (RI1936 NE Wall)

CH10: 2.18 m @ 21.7g/t Au (RI1936 SW Wall)

CH11: 2.23 m @ 84.1g/t Au (RI1936 SW Wall)

CH14: 1.86 m @ 76.1g/t Au (RI1936 SW Wall)

CH6: 2.96 m @ 31.6 g/t Au (RI1938 SW Wall)

CH3: 2.87 m @ 54.9 g/t Au (SN1943 Nth Wall)

CH1: 3.25 m @ 85.5 g/t Au (SN1943 Sth Wall)

The results provide an indication of mineralization that we expect to encounter in pillars, and projecting between levels, as shown by the CD-470 intersection.

Figure 3: Example of historical underground grade control data for gold in channel sampling.

The current phase of drilling and field activities in the mine area will focus on assessing areas where data has been partially lost in the mine sphere, and refining the void model through additional survey programs, with some ongoing drilling in the peripheral areas of the resource. Future drilling may also target the corridor extending from the southern limits of Cabacal towards the C4-A gold-silver discovery area [6] where drilling is sparse and some areas may be considered for site infrastructure. Additional results from the infill program have included:

Eastern Copper Zone:

CD442: 39.9m @ 0.5g/t AuEq from 8.1m; 29.3m @ 0.6g/t AuEq from 60.8m;



Including:

6.9m @ 1.1g/t AuEq from 80.0m;

Cabacal Northwest Extension:

CD441: 21.4m @ 0.5g/t AuEq from 48.7m;

Including:

5.0m @ 1.2g/t AuEq from 60.5m;

Southern Copper Zone:

CD440: 7.9m @ 1.1g/t AuEq from 131.1m; 16.4m @ 0.4g/t AuEq from 144.1m; and 8.0m @ 0.4 AuEq from 167.3m.



Update on Cabacal Metallurgical Program

The metallurgical and engineering aspects of the PFS preparations are ongoing. Testwork on Cabacal samples is in progress using a combined collector (3418A and Aero208). Initial results suggest this combination has potential to improve copper recoveries and concentrate grades compared to the initial phase of testwork, with further results pending.

Initiation of Santa Helena Metallurgical Program

The Company's metallurgical advisors are currently reviewing available drilling data and processing data to define Santa Helena's first round of metallurgical testwork to determine the metal recoveries and associated flow sheet. Historic operations data and testwork indicates the potential to produce up to four products: gold dore from gravity concentration, copper concentrates with high gold & silver credits, zinc concentrates, and a silver-gold rich lead concentrate.

About Meridian

Meridian Mining UK S is focused on:

The development and exploration of the advanced stage Cabacal VMS gold-copper project;

Regional scale exploration of the Cabacal VMS belt; and

Exploration in the Jauru & Araputanga Greenstone belts (the above all located in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil).

Cabacal is a gold-copper-silver rich VMS deposit with the potential to be a standalone mine within the 50km VMS belt. Cabacal's base and precious metal-rich mineralization is hosted by volcanogenic type, massive, semi-massive, stringer, and disseminated sulphides within deformed metavolcanic-sedimentary rocks. A later-stage gold overprint event has emplaced high-grade gold mineralization.

The Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report (the "PEA Technical Report") dated March 30, 2023, entitled: "Cabacal Gold-Copper Project NI 43-101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment, Mato Grosso, Brazil" outlines a base case after-tax NPV5 of USD 573 million and 58.4% IRR from a pre-production capital cost of USD 180 million, leading to capital repayment in 10.6 months (assuming metals price scenario of USD 1,650 per ounces of gold, USD 3.59 per pound of copper, and USD 21.35 per ounce of silver). Cabacal has a low All-in-Sustaining-Cost of USD 671 per ounce gold equivalent for the first five years, driven by high metallurgical recovery, a low life-of-mine strip ratio of 2.1:1, and the low operating cost environment of Brazil (see press release dated March 6, 2023).

The Cabacal Mineral Resource estimate consists of Indicated resources of 52.9 million tonnes at 0.6g/t gold, 0.3% copper and 1.4g/t silver and Inferred resources of 10.3 million tonnes at 0.7g/t gold, 0.2% copper & 1.1g/t silver (at a 0.3 g/t gold equivalent cut-off grade), including a higher-grade near-surface zone supporting a starter pit.

Readers are encouraged to read the PEA Technical Report in its entirety. The PEA Technical Report may be found on the Company's website at www.meridianmining.co and under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca .

The qualified persons for the PEA Technical Report are: Robert Raponi (P. Eng), Principal Metallurgist with Ausenco Engineering), Scott Elfen (P. E.), Global Lead Geotechnical and Civil Services with Ausenco Engineering), Simon Tear (PGeo, EurGeol), Principal Geological Consultant of H&SC, Marcelo Batelochi, (MAusIMM, CP Geo), Geological Consultant of MB Geologia Ltda, Joseph Keane (Mineral Processing Engineer; P.E), of SGS, and Guilherme Gomides Ferreira (Mine Engineer MAIG) of GE21 Consultoria Mineral.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Meridian Mining UK S

Mr. Gilbert Clark - CEO and Director

Meridian Mining UK S

Email: info@meridianmining.co

Ph: +1 778 715-6410 (PST)

Stay up to date by subscribing for news alerts here: https://meridianmining.co/contact/

Follow Meridian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeridianMining

Further information can be found at: www.meridianmining.co

Technical Notes

Samples have been analysed at SGS laboratory in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and ALS laboratory in Lima, Peru. At SGS, samples are dried, crushed with 75% passing <3 mm, split to give a mass of 250-300g, pulverized with 95% passing 150#. Gold analyses are conducted by FAA505 (fire assay of a 50g charge), and base metal analysis by methods ICP40B and ICP40B_S (four acid digest with ICP-OES finish). Visible gold intervals are sampled by metallic screen fire assay method MET150-FAASCR. At ALS, Samples are dried, crushed with 70% passing <2mm, split off to give a mass of approximately 250g, and pulverized to >85% passing 200#. Routine gold analyses have been conducted by Au-AA23 (fire assay of a 30g charge with AAS finish). High-grade samples (>10g/t Au) are repeated with a gravimetric finish (Au-GRA21). Samples are held in the Company's secure facilities until dispatched and delivered by staff and commercial couriers to the laboratory. Pulps and coarse rejects are retained and returned to the Company for storage. The Company submits a range of quality control samples, including blanks and gold and polymetallic standards supplied by Rocklabs, ITAK and OREAS, supplementing laboratory quality control procedures. Approximately 5% of archived samples are sent for umpire laboratory analysis, including any lots exhibiting QAQC outliers after discussion with the laboratory. In BP Minerals sampling, gold was analysed historically by fire assay and base metals by three acid digest and ICP finish at the Nomos laboratory in Rio de Janeiro. Silver was analysed by aqua regia digest with an atomic absorption finish. True width is considered to be 80-90% of intersection width (except for some scissor holes in the CNWE: CD-443, CD-447, CD-450, CD-452, where widths may be 10-20% of intersection widths). Assay figures and intervals are rounded to 1 decimal place. Gold equivalents for Cabacal are calculated as: AuEq(g/t) = (Au(g/t) * %Recovery) + (1.492*(Cu% * %Recovery)) + (0.013*(Ag(g/t) * %Recovery)), where:

Au_recovery_ppm = 5.4368ln(Au_Grade_ppm)+88.856

Cu_recovery_pct = 2.0006ln(Cu_Grade_pct)+94.686

Ag_recovery_ppm = 13.342ln(Ag_Grade_ppm)+71.037

Recoveries based on 2022 metallurgical testwork on core submitted to SGS Lakefield

Qualified Person

Mr. Erich Marques, B.Sc., MAIG, Chief Geologist of Meridian Mining and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed, and verified the technical information in this news release.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information or forward-looking statements for the purposes of applicable securities laws. These statements address future events and conditions and so involve inherent risks and uncertainties, as disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Meridian's most recent Annual Information Form filed on www.sedarplus.ca . While these factors and assumptions are considered reasonable by Meridian, in light of management's experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, Meridian can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Meridian disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or results or otherwise.

Table 1: Assay results reported in this release.

Hole-id Dip Azi EOH (m) Zone Int (m) AuEq (g/t) CuEq (%) Au (g/t) Cu (%) Ag (g/t) From (m) CD-470 -90 000 104.0 SCZ 6.6 0.8 0.6 0.0 0.6 3.0 15.1 Including 2.2 1.8 1.2 0.1 1.1 6.4 16.1 16.0 12.5 8.4 12.1 0.3 0.6 53.3 Including 6.4 30.6 20.5 29.9 0.5 1.0 53.3 Including 2.1 90.4 60.6 88.7 1.2 2.2 53.3 14.0 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.6 75.4 CD-457 -45 059 183.6 CWNE 2.2 0.4 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.2 126.0 4.8 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.5 147.0 9.5 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.4 157.0 CD-456 -43 061 150.7 CWNE 3.5 0.6 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.7 120.3 CD-455 -65 055 163.5 CWNE 3.1 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.2 96.8 3.3 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.3 125.3 CD-454 -21 054 150.2 CWNE 2.2 0.4 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.2 15.3 7.0 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.9 114.5 CD-453 -45 057 132.8 CWNE 0.8 0.9 0.6 0.6 0.3 0.7 112.8 CD-452 -46 237 228.7 CWNE Subparallel hole 4.0 0.4 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.4 37.0 3.1 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.7 51.0 3.0 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.9 72.0 1.6 1.2 0.8 0.1 0.8 1.0 181.9 CD-451 -76 237 82.6 CWNE 2.6 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.7 29.8 1.4 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.6 45.4 1.1 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.9 51.6 CD-450 -50 243 253.0 CWNE Subparallel hole 3.2 0.6 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.4 45.5 7.4 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.3 54.5 3.5 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.9 111.2 7.0 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.2 1.0 125.0 22.0 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.3 1.2 138.0 Including 2.0 2.6 1.7 1.5 0.8 4.2 158.0 2.5 3.1 2.0 0.6 1.6 13.7 200.5





Hole-id Dip Azi EOH (m) Zone Int (m) AuEq (g/t) CuEq (%) Au (g/t) Cu (%) Ag (g/t) From (m) CD-449 -80 245 87.2 CWNE 3.3 0.7 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.6 25.4 1.4 0.9 0.6 0.1 0.6 1.5 44.0 1.0 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.7 51.0 1.7 0.7 0.5 0.3 0.3 2.3 61.7 CD-447 -45 239 206.2 CWNE Subparallel hole 5.6 0.7 0.5 0.2 0.4 2.5 23.8 31.0 0.8 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.7 43.9 Including 16.6 1.0 0.7 0.2 0.6 0.8 46.7 14.7 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.6 86.8 Including 1.7 3.0 2.0 0.8 1.5 3.0 95.1 0.5 6.9 4.6 6.7 0.2 0.6 118.9 1.9 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.5 147.4 11.7 1.6 1.1 1.4 0.2 0.6 167.0 Including 4.6 3.6 2.4 3.3 0.2 1.0 170.6 CD-446 -21 060 159.3 CWNE 1.0 0.9 0.6 1.0 0.0 0.1 97.2 1.5 1.2 0.8 0.6 0.4 1.7 122.8 CD-445 -54 051 98.5 CSTH 1.4 0.6 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.7 66.3 9.7 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.7 74.0 CD-444 -89 000 98.8 CSTH 0.5 2.9 2.0 3.1 0.0 0.2 44.1 1.0 0.5 0.4 0.1 0.3 2.0 74.0 1.3 1.8 1.2 0.4 0.9 6.2 80.8 CD-443 -64 253 139.3 CWNE Subparallel hole 3.0 1.0 0.7 0.4 0.5 1.2 99.5 6.9 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.6 95.6 3.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.1 2.4 118.7 CD-442 -21 045 104 ECZ 39.9 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.9 8.1 29.3 0.6 0.4 0.1 0.4 1.9 60.8 CD-441 -52 312 106.4 CWNE 21.4 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.3 48.7 Including 5.0 1.2 0.8 1.1 0.1 0.3 60.5 2.9 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.3 2.3 81.6 CD-440 -44 046 195.8 CSTH 7.9 1.1 0.7 0.0 0.7 1.0 131.1 Including 1.9 3.9 2.6 0.2 2.6 3.5 131.8 16.4 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.6 144.1 8.0 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 1.0 167.3





Hole-id Dip Azi EOH (m) Zone Int (m) AuEq (g/t) CuEq (%) Au (g/t) Cu (%) Ag (g/t) From (m) CD-438 -67 048 170.3 CSTH 5.7 0.6 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.8 94.9 15.8 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.4 116.7 13.7 0.9 0.6 0.6 0.2 0.8 140.7 Including 2.5 2.9 2.0 2.4 0.5 2.2 141.6



[1] Refer to technical note for AuEq equation [2] See Meridian news release April 23, 2024 [3] See Meridian news release September 26, 2022 [4] See Meridian news release January 10, 2024 [5] See Meridian news release April 23, 2024 [6] See Meridian news releases February 3, April 5 & June 21 2022

SOURCE: Meridian Mining UK S

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Experienced Infrastructure Investor Strengthens Investment Capabilities in Europe

Expands Vision Ridge Team in London

Vision Ridge Partners ("Vision Ridge" or the "Firm"), a global sustainable real assets investor, today announced that Ramzi Moubarak, former Managing Director on Macquarie Capital's Infrastructure and Energy Capital team in Europe, has joined the Firm as a Managing Director and Head of Europe, effective immediately. Mr. Moubarak is based in London.

An accomplished investor with more than fifteen years of infrastructure and private equity experience, Mr. Moubarak will be responsible for sourcing and executing investments principally in Europe, across the energy, transportation, and agriculture sectors. Mr. Moubarak's addition to Vision Ridge follows the opening of its London office in October 2023, deepens the Firm's regional bench, and enhances the team's network for global investment opportunities.

"We are excited to welcome Ramzi to Vision Ridge, as we seek to continue to strengthen our capabilities in Europe," said Reuben Munger, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Vision Ridge. "I expect that his breadth of infrastructure investment experience will be a great asset to our London team as we evaluate attractive opportunities to add to our portfolio. We look forward to Ramzi's contributions to our Firm, our investment portfolio, and our clients."

"I have long viewed Vision Ridge as a leader in mobilizing capital to address climate change," added Mr. Moubarak. "As the world continues to transition to a more sustainable, lower carbon economy, I am proud to join the Firm and to lead its growth in Europe."

At Macquarie Capital, Mr. Moubarak led the value-add infrastructure investing business and co-led the energy transition sector in Europe. Previously, he served as a Partner at European private equity firm Montagu. Earlier, Mr. Moubarak was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners. He earned an M.S. in Finance from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Management from Grenoble Ecole de Management.

About Vision Ridge Partners

By seeking to deliver superior investment returns, Vision Ridge mobilizes capital to address humanity's greatest challenge: climate change. The Vision Ridge team seeks to leverage its diverse, complementary skillsets, deep industry experience, and strong network of relationships to execute investments across sustainable real assets, with a focus on energy, transportation, and agriculture. Vision Ridge manages approximately $3.75 billion on behalf of institutional investors globally, as of December 31, 2023. For more information visit: https://vision-ridge.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240507129659/en/

Contacts:

Media

Amanda Shpiner/Iain Hughes

Gasthalter Co.

(212) 257-4170

vision-ridge@gasthalter.com
Allied Universal Holdco LLC and Allied Universal Finance Corporation (collectively, "Allied Universal") today announced the commencement of a tender offer (the "Tender Offer") to purchase for cash up to $500,000,000 in aggregate principal amount (as such aggregate principal amount may be increased or decreased by Allied Universal, the "Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount") of its outstanding 6.625% Senior Secured Notes due 2026 (the "Notes"). The Tender Offer is being made in connection with a concurrent offering of notes by Allied Universal to be sold in an offering (the "New Offering") exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The Tender Offer will be financed by the amounts raised in the New Offering (net of transaction fees and expenses), together with cash on hand. The Tender Offer is being made pursuant to an Offer to Purchase, dated May 7, 2024 (the "Offer to Purchase").

The following table sets forth the Tender Offer Consideration, the Early Tender Payment and the Total Consideration (each, as defined herein) for the Tender Offer:

Title of Note CUSIP /ISIN

(144A)(1) CUSIP /ISIN

(Reg S)(1) Principal Amount

Outstanding Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount Tender Offer Consideration

(2)(3) Early Tender Payment

(3)(4) Total Consideration

(3)(5) 6.625% Senior Secured Notes due 2026 019576 AA5 / US019576AA51 U0201T AA8 / USU0201TAA89 $944,976,000 $500,000,000 $971.25 $30.00 $1,001.25

(1) No representation is made as to the correctness or accuracy of such CUSIP or ISIN numbers; such numbers are provided solely for the convenience of the Holders (as defined below).

(2) Per $1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Expiration Date (as defined herein).

(3) Excludes accrued and unpaid interest ("Accrued Interest"), which will be paid in addition to the Tender Offer Consideration or the Total Consideration, as applicable.

(4) For each $1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Early Tender Date (as defined herein).

(5) For each $1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Early Tender Date. Total Consideration includes the Early Tender Payment.

The Tender Offer will expire at one minute after 11:59 p.m. New York City time, on June 4, 2024 unless extended or earlier terminated (such date and time, as it may be extended or earlier terminated, the "Expiration Date"). Registered holders (each, a "Holder" and collectively, the "Holders") of the Notes must validly tender their Notes at or before 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on May 20, 2024 (such date and time, as it may be extended or earlier terminated, the "Early Tender Date") in order to be eligible to receive the Early Tender Payment in addition to the Tender Offer Consideration.

Tenders of the Notes may be withdrawn at any time at or prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on May 20, 2024, unless extended or earlier terminated by Allied Universal, and not thereafter, except in certain limited circumstances where withdrawal rights are required by applicable law.

Subject to the Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount and the other terms and conditions of the Tender Offer, possible proration of the Notes on the Early Settlement Date or the Final Settlement Date will be determined in accordance with the terms of the Tender Offer.

If the aggregate principal amount of Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Early Tender Date and accepted for purchase by Allied Universal equals or exceeds the Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount, then Holders who validly tender their Notes after the Early Tender Date will not have any such Notes accepted for payment (unless the terms of the Tender Offer are amended by Allied Universal in its sole and absolute discretion).

If on the Early Settlement Date or Final Settlement Date (each, as defined herein), as applicable, only a portion of the tendered Notes may be accepted for purchase, due to the aggregate principal amount of Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Early Tender Date or the Expiration Date, as applicable, exceeding the Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount, then the aggregate principal amount of Notes accepted for purchase will be prorated (subject to adjustment to maintain the authorized denomination of the Notes) based upon the aggregate principal amount of Notes that have been validly tendered and not validly withdrawn and not yet accepted for purchase in the Tender Offer, such that the Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount will not be exceeded. If the Tender Offer is not fully subscribed as of the Early Tender Date, Holders who validly tender Notes after the Early Tender Date may be subject to proration, whereas Holders who validly tender Notes at or prior to the Early Tender Date will not be subject to proration.

The Total Consideration includes an early tender payment (the "Early Tender Payment") of $30.00 for each $1,000 principal amount of the Notes, which Early Tender Payment is in addition to the Tender Offer Consideration.

Subject to purchase in accordance with the Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount and possible proration, Holders validly tendering Notes that have not been validly withdrawn at or prior to the Early Tender Date will be eligible to receive the applicable Total Consideration listed in the table above, which includes the Early Tender Payment, on the "Early Settlement Date," which is expected to be May 22, 2024 (the second business day after the Early Tender Date), but that may change without notice. Holders validly tendering Notes after the Early Tender Date but at or prior to the Expiration Date will only be eligible to receive the "Tender Offer Consideration" listed in the table on the "Final Settlement Date." The Final Settlement Date is expected to be June 6, 2024 (the second business day after the Expiration Date), but that may change without notice. In addition to the Total Consideration or Tender Offer Consideration, Holders whose Notes are accepted for purchase will also receive Accrued Interest from the last interest payment date up to, but not including, the applicable settlement date.

The obligation of Allied Universal to accept for purchase, and to pay for, Notes validly tendered pursuant to the Tender Offer is subject to, and conditioned upon, the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions as set forth in the Offer to Purchase, in the sole and absolute discretion of Allied Universal, including Allied Universal's completion of the New Offering, on terms satisfactory to Allied Universal, the proceeds of which New Offering (net of transaction fees and expenses), together with cash on hand, will be used to finance its purchase of Notes pursuant to the Tender Offer. For avoidance of doubt, references in the Offer to Purchase to "completion" of the New Offering mean completion of the closing under such New Offering at which closing Allied Universal receives the anticipated proceeds from the New Offering. No assurance can be given that the New Offering will be completed on the terms currently envisioned or at all. If such conditions shall not have been satisfied (or waived by Allied Universal), no payments will be made to tendering Holders on the Early Settlement Date or Final Settlement Date, as applicable. The Tender Offer is not conditioned on any minimum principal amount of Notes being tendered. The Tender Offer and its provisions may be amended, extended, terminated, waived or withdrawn by Allied Universal in its sole and absolute discretion.

None of Allied Universal, the trustee for the Notes, any paying agent, transfer agent or listing agent under the Notes, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, as the dealer manager, the information and tender agent, any of their respective subsidiaries or affiliates or any of their respective directors, officers, employees or representatives makes any recommendation to Holders as to whether or not to tender all or any portion of their Notes, and none of the foregoing has authorized any person to make any such recommendation. Holders must decide whether to tender Notes, and if tendering, the amount of Notes to tender. Holders are urged to evaluate carefully all information in the Offer to Purchase, consult their own investment, legal and tax advisors and make their own decisions whether to tender Notes and, if so, the principal amount of Notes to tender.

All of the Notes are held in book-entry form. If you hold Notes through a broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee, you must contact such broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee if you wish to tender Notes pursuant to the Tender Offer. You should check with such broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee to determine whether they will charge you a fee for tendering Notes on your behalf. You should also confirm with the broker, dealer, bank, trust company or other nominee any deadlines by which you must provide your tender instructions, because the relevant deadline set by such nominee may be earlier than the deadlines set forth herein.

Allied Universal has retained Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC to serve as the sole dealer manager for the Tender Offer. Allied Universal has retained Global Bondholder Services Corporation to act as the information and tender agent in respect of the Tender Offer.

For additional information regarding the terms of the Tender Offer, please contact Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC at its telephone number set forth on the back cover page of the Offer to Purchase. Copies of the Offer to Purchase may be obtained at https://www.gbsc-usa.com/allieduniversal or by contacting Global Bondholder Services Corporation at (855) 654-2014 or by email at contact@gbsc-usa.com.

This press release does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to purchase or sell, or any solicitation of any offer to sell or purchase, the Notes or any other securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction, and neither this press release nor any part of it, nor the fact of its release, shall form the basis of, or be relied on or in connection with, any contract therefor. The Tender Offer is made only by and pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Offer to Purchase and the information in this press release is qualified by reference to the Offer to Purchase.

This press release does not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell any securities in any jurisdiction or in any circumstances in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. In those jurisdictions where the securities, blue sky or other laws require the Tender Offer to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Tender Offer will be deemed to be made by the dealer manager or one or more registered brokers or dealers licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction.

About Allied Universal

The world's leading security and facility services provider and trusted partner to more than 400 of the FORTUNE 500, Allied Universal delivers unparalleled customer relationships, innovative solutions, cutting-edge smart technologies and tailored services that enable clients to focus on their core businesses. With operations in over 100 countries, Allied Universal is the third-largest private employer in North America and seventh in the world. Annual revenue is more than $20 billion. There is no greater purpose and responsibility than serving and safeguarding customers, communities and people. For more information, visit www.aus.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements based on current expectations. The words "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "appears," "intends," "may," "plans," "projects," "would," "could," "should," "targets" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. By their nature, forward-looking statements require Allied Universal to make assumptions and are subject to important known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause Allied Universal's actual results in future periods to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. For additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties, and the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Offer to Purchase. The forward-looking statements set forth herein reflect management's expectations as at the date the statements are made and are subject to change after such date. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Allied Universal expressly disclaims any intention, and assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

Media Contact:

Kari Garcia

Director of Public Relations

Allied Universal

Phone: 949-826-3560

Email: investors@aus.com

SOURCE: Allied Universal

View the original press release on accesswire.com
BTU METALS CORP. ("BTU" or the "Company") (TSXC:BTU)(OTCQB:BTUMF) announces it has entered into a purchase and sale agreement pursuant to which the Company will purchase, upon closing, a 100% interest in two large gold exploration projects in the active Wawa gold area of northern Ontario; the Echum Gold Project adjacent to Alamos Gold Inc. (TSX-AGI) and the Hubcap Gold Project adjacent to Red Pine Exploration Inc. (RPX-TSX:V).

Each of the projects covers areas of historic gold mineralization and neither project has been the subject of significant or comprehensive exploration in recent years. The Echum property is adjacent along trend of the Alamos Gold Inc. ("Alamos") Island Gold Mine property and the Hubcap property is adjacent along the geological trend of the gold mineralization being drill tested extensively by Red Pine Exploration Inc. ("Red Pine").

Figure 1: Map showing the Echum and Hubcap properties and Their Location in Relation to the Properties of Red Pine and Alamos

Asset and Area Highlights

Each project is adjacent to an active, large scale gold exploration/development project

Both projects host historic gold mineralization [1]

Echum, the northern property, covers the extension of geological host rocks that occur on the adjacent Alamos Island Gold Mine property

Hubcap, the southern property, just southeast of the town of Wawa covers the extension of the geological trends on the Red Pine property, starting approximately 1200m from their historic Darwin Grace gold mine

The Hubcap project includes the historic Centennial Gold Mine where underground mine work was last undertaken in the 1930's

The properties, to be purchased 100%, have no ongoing or contingent payments, and are subject only to net smelter royalties of not more than 2% (on the majority of the claims the royalty can be reduced to not more than 1%)

Only two drill holes have been drilled on the entire property position in the past 6 years

Existing data sets and work by neighbouring companies will allow the Company to quickly vector in on the best exploration targets

Both projects have excellent proximity to infrastructure - roads, highways (including Trans Canada Highway), town of Wawa, airport, water, power, mining aware population and mining labour pool

No work commitments other than ongoing assessment work requirements with the Ontario government

The properties cover more than 750 mining claims over a total of 16,048 hectares

Alamos has acquired other exploration/development projects in the area over the past 2 years and also purchased a 19.9% interest in Red Pine in late 2019

[1] Mineralization on neighboring projects are not indicative of mineralization on the Echum Gold Project or the Hubcap Gold Project

BTU CEO Paul Wood commented; "We are excited to get in the field on both the Echum and Hubcap projects as soon as possible. Based on previous work on the projects which included surface exploration, drilling and, in the case of one area on the Hubcap project, mining, management believes that these are projects of considerable merit. We are funded and intend to start exploration this summer. At the same time Kinross continues to progress early exploration work at Dixie Halo project under the terms of the 2023 Exploration Option Agreement. Dixie Halo is located adjacent to their world class Great Bear project outside Red Lake. We will also continue to pursue additional high-quality projects in strong jurisdictions."

Asset Acquisition

The consideration payable by BTU on closing for a 100% interest in the Echum and Hubcap properties is: CAD$25,000 and 5 million BTU treasury common shares. The only other obligation of the Company is in regards to assuming four 2% net smelter royalties (the "Royalties") to the original vendors of various parcels in relation to four parts of the property, where applicable. The Company shall have the right to pay $1 million for 1% of 3 of the 4 existing 2% NSR's. The 4th claim group has no buy down provision however has a right of first refusal in favor of the Company should the vendors decide to sell their NSR upon receipt of an offer to for their NSR. Some claims have no underlying royalty payable.

This transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including corporate and regulatory approvals.

The Acquisition is an arm's length transaction pursuant to the policies of the TSX-V and is subject to approval of the TSX-V and the shareholders of the vendor which is anticipated to be received in not more than 60 days.

About the Purchased Properties

The Company entered into a property purchase and sale agreement with Kingsview Minerals Ltd., pursuant to which BTU will purchase an undivided 100% interest in and to 763 mining claims (34 Boundary Cell Mining Claims, 2 Multi-cell Mining Claims, and 727 Single Cell Mining Claims) covering approximately 16,048 hectares of land, located in the Sault Ste. Marie District of Ontario. The properties are in good standing, there are no ongoing payments and there are no work commitments on any of the claims (other than as required by the province of Ontario to keep the claims in good standing).

Bruce Durham, P. Geo., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release.

About BTU

BTU Metals Corp. is a junior mining exploration company looking to acquire high quality exploration projects to add to its portfolio for the benefit of its stakeholders. The Company's main asset is the Dixie Halo Project located in Red Lake, Ontario immediately adjacent to the Great Bear Project. The Company has no debt, no property obligations and maintains a cash balance of approximately $1.6M.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Paul Wood"

Paul Wood, CEO, Director

pwood@btumetals.com

BTU Metals Corp.

Telephone: 1-604-683-3995

Toll Free: 1-888-945-4770

Cautionary Statement

Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. 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.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws that are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. The information in this release about future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking information. Other forward-looking information includes but is not limited to information concerning: the intentions, plans and future actions of the Company.

Any statements that involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information and are intended to identify forward-looking information.

This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time it was made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others: risks relating to the global economic climate; dilution; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; the competitive nature of the industry; currency exchange risks; the need for the Company to manage its planned growth and expansion; the effects of product development; protection of proprietary rights; the effect of government regulation and compliance on the Company and the industry; reliance on key personnel; global economic and financial market deterioration impeding access to capital or increasing the cost of capital; and volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance. The Company has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of the normal course of business. 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 or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking information other than as required by law.

SOURCE: BTU Metals Corp.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - Atomic Minerals Corporation (TSXV: ATOM) ("ATOMIC MINERALS" or the "Company") ( is pleased to announce the results of a detailed analysis of stratigraphic and gamma ray logs from the historical oil well log data at the Dolores Anticline Project ("Dolores Anticline") in SW Colorado.

This initiative underlines the Company's commitment to integrating advanced geophysical techniques to refine its exploration strategies and enhance the geological understanding of its central uranium prospects.

"Utilizing historical gamma ray logs for a refined geological analysis at the Dolores Anticline enables us to pinpoint geological formations and evaluate their uranium potential with precision," remarked Clive H. Massey, President & CEO of Atomic Minerals. "This advanced technology bolsters our efforts in uranium exploration and optimizes our strategy for assessing our broad portfolio. We are particularly grateful for the support from the communities in Monticello and San Juan County, which is crucial as we advance our projects."

Gamma Ray Logs in Geophysical Evaluation

Atomic Minerals analyzed the stratigraphic logs or stratigraphic estimates in conjunction with the gamma ray logs from historic oil and gas holes drilled throughout the Dolores Anticline to zero in on the favorable Moss Back member of the Chinle formation. The Moss Back hosts the bulk of the Triassic uranium mineralization within the salt anticlines throughout the Paradox Basin within the Colorado Plateau, America's premier uranium mining district. The Chinle formation has produced 120 million pounds of U3O8 to date.1

A total of 93 Colorado oil and gas hole locations were found in the database and were analyzed: 21 holes were permitted but never drilled, 31 holes either did not have a gamma log or were cased through the Chinle, 1 was collared below the base of the Chinle and 1 was lost before intersecting the Chinle. Of the remaining 39 holes, 19 recorded anomalous gamma ray values associated with the suspected base of the Chinle formation, a success rate of almost 50%.

A review of the plan map of the western arcuate belt of the Lisbon Valley Anticline, the type location for the Chinle uranium deposits, shows the uranium occurred in distinct deposits along the 17 km long belt, some clustered and others widespread, most notedly with barren gaps within the deposit clusters.2

Uranium Projects in SE Utah / SW Colorado- A Rich Mining Heritage

Southeastern Utah / Southwesten Colorado hosts a number of prominent uranium districts for both Morrison and/or Chinle uranium deposits, with the majority of the Chinle deposits intimately associated with the salt anticlines. With a long history of uranium exploration, development and production and fully permitted uranium mill, this area of the Colorado Plateau is poised to take advantage of the current uranium boom and the recently announced tarrif on Russian uranium imports.

Community and Operational Insights in Moab and Monticello

Exploration activities at the SW US Projects are feasible throughout the year, albeit with some interruptions due to potential seasonal muddy conditions during the rainy season. The town of Moab, situated near the 10 Mile project and the town of Monticello near the Harts Point and Dolores Projects, provide a comprehensive array of essential services and infrastructure, from healthcare and education to retail and lodging. This supportive community backdrop ensures a steady supply of skilled labor and sufficient resources, such as power and water, to sustain continuous mining operations.

Dolores Anticline

As a result of the Dolores database thorough analysis, the Company is now laying out drill hole locations, guided by the oil and gas drilling, to allow commencement of the permitting process for summer drilling.

The Dolores claim group (SC claims) lies in San Miguel County, Colorado, on the northern end of the Dolores anticline and proximal to the southern end of the Uravan mineral belt. The Uravan (a contraction of uranium-vanadium) mineral belt produced 75.5 million pounds of uranium oxide and 331.8 million pounds of vanadium from the Salt Wash member of the Jurassic Morrison formation during the years between 1947 and 1979, from more than 1,200 mines.3 While these mining claims are located on the southern end of the Uravan, they were located in an area considered to be very favourable for the concentration of uranium mineralization in the Moss Back member of the Triassic-age Chinle formation and the Permian Cutler formation, as well as the Salt Wash member of the Morrison formation. Atomic Minerals' geological consultants have confirmed the presence of uranium mineralization in several prospects in the Dolores River Canyon, where the favourable Moss Back member has been exposed and appears to have a wide extent, which guided the location of the SC claim block.

In the late 1970s, widely spaced exploration drilling for uranium by the Hunt Oil Company and Newmont Mining Company confirmed the presence of the highly favourable Moss Back member of the Chinle formation on this anticlinal structure. Gamma ray logs of a number of these holes reported spikes within the Moss Back.

Sources

Hall,S.M.; Van Gosen,B.S. and Zielinski,R.R. (2023). Sandstone-hosted uranium deposits of the Colorado Plateau, USA. Ore Geology Reviews 155. 39p. DahlKamp,F.J. (2010) Uranium Deposits of the World - USA and Latin America. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. 499p. Chenoweth, W.L. (1981). The Uranium-Vanadium Deposits of the Uravan Mineral Belt and Adjacent Areas, Colorado and Utah. New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, 32nd Field Conference. pp. 165-170.

The data disclosed in this news release are related to historical exploration and drilling results. Atomic Minerals has not undertaken any independent investigation of the sampling, nor has it independently analyzed the results of the historical exploration work in order to verify the results. Atomic Minerals considers these historical exploration and drill results relevant as the Company is using these data as a guide to plan exploration programs. The Company's current and future exploration work includes verification of the historical data through sampling and drilling.

Qualified Person

Mr. R. Tim Henneberry, P.Geo. (BC), an advisor to the Company, is the "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the technical contents of this news release and has approved the disclosure of the technical information contained herein.

About the Company

Atomic Minerals Corp. is a publicly listed exploration company on the TSX Venture Exchange, trading under the symbol ATOM, led by a highly skilled management and technical team with a proven track record in the junior mining sector. Atomic Minerals' objective is to identify exploration opportunities in regions that have been previously overlooked but are geologically similar to those with previous uranium discoveries. These underexplored areas hold immense potential and are in stable geopolitical and economic environments.

Atomic Minerals' property portfolio contains uranium projects in three locations within North America, all of which have significant technical merit and or are known for hosting uranium production in the past. Three of the properties are located on the Colorado Plateau, an area which has previously produced 597 million pounds of U3O8; Three others are in the prolific Athabasca Basin region and nine uranium projects are located Northern Saskatchewan, encompassing a total exploration area of 6,495 hectares.

For additional information about the Company and its projects, please visit our website at www.atomicminerals.ca.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Clive Massey"

Clive H. Massey

President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

info@atomicminerals.ca

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "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 Atomic Minerals Corporation believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Atomic Minerals Corporation management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Atomic Minerals Corporation undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208195

SOURCE: Atomic Minerals Corp.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - Excellon Resources Inc. (TSX: EXN) (FSE: E4X2) ("Excellon" or the "Company") is pleased to announce further drill results from the 2022 exploration program at its 100% owned Kilgore Project ("Kilgore") in Idaho, USA.

Final results from 2022 drill program released, including:

1.37 g/t Au over 81.21 metres in EX22KG004, including 2.77 g/t Au over 15.64 metres and 5.28 g/t Au over 5.54 metres, confirming high-grade mineralization in the Aspen sediments.

0.53 g/t Au over 56.24 metres in EX22KG005, including 2.91 g/t Au over 1.45 metres, successfully testing extension of the existing mineralized envelope to the southwest.

0.74 g/t Au over 115.60 metres in EX2KG001, including 26.50 g/t Au over 0.65 metres, improving definition of the mineralized envelope.

Information will be included on future resource and geological modelling to further refine targets.

"Today's announcement is two-fold: we have successfully confirmed mineralization in an area of Kilgore previously underdrilled, returning grade-intervals inline with the current Mineral Resource Estimate cut-off and potentially further extending mineralization to the southwest of the deposit," stated Shawn Howarth, President and CEO. "We have also intersected mineralization in the Aspen sediments, where we are focusing on the potential for higher-grade zones. The information announced today will help us to better understand grade contouring and will be used in future resource modelling and exploration drill programs."

Exploration Results:

The 2022 drill program comprised six diamond drill holes totalling 2,145 metres with oriented core and detailed sampling to improve structural understanding of high-grade mineralization and potential. A summary of the selected holes is provided below:

EX22KG001: A confirmation drillhole within the current mineral resource envelope identified by previous drilling. A more detailed sampling was conducted, identifying a high level of grade variability, and control of mineralization by narrow jarosite-filled structures and high-grade vein stockwork. Mineralization returned was previously reported in the Company's press release dated December 6, 2022, and is summarized in Table 1 below.

EX22KG003: Drilled at an oblique angle and designed to improve structural data within the deposit along the north-west margins and further insights on lithological contacts. The hole reconfirmed mineralization in the Tertiary volcanics including an intersection of 0.44 g/t Au over 83.68 metres.

EX22KG004: Drilled for structural data within the deposit for improved modelling, EX22KG004 confirmed high-grade mineralization within the resource envelope and in the Aspen sediments, returning 1.37 g/t Au over 81.21 metres, including 2.77 g/t Au over 15.64 metres and 5.28 g/t Au over 5.54 metres.





Figure 1: Cross-Section of Hole EX22KG004



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1601/208205_excellon1.jpg

EX22KG005: Drilled in the southwest area of the deposit previously underdrilled, EX22KG005 potentially increases tonnage by extending the limit of the grade shell and returning 0.53 g/t Au over 56.24 metres, including 2.91 g/t Au over 1.45 metres and 1.00 g/t Au over 8.19 metres. Mineralization occurs in the Tertiary Tuffs and Tertiary Quartz Porphyry, which proves to be a good mineralization host and could be used a mineralization guide in other parts of the property.





Figure 2: Cross-Section of Hole EX22KG005



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1601/208205_excellon2.jpg

EX22KG006: Successfully tested an undrilled area proximal to grade shell intersecting 0.36 g/t Au over 34.82 metres, potentially increasing mineralization towards the southwest.

A summary of drill assays can be found in the following table.

Table 1: Kilgore Interval Summary (2022 Drilling)

Hole ID Interval(1) Interval(2) Au From (m) To (m) metres g/t EX22KG001(3) 200.60 316.20 115.60 0.74 including 235.25 235.90 0.65 26.50 and including 289.27 316.20 26.93 1.07 EX22KG002 214.7 236.12 21.42 0.19 EX22KG003 54.52 138.2 83.68 0.44 EX22KG004 108.34 189.55 81.21 1.37 including 116.81 132.45 15.64 2.77 and including 170.36 175.9 5.54 5.28 EX22KG005 107.05 163.29 56.24 0.53 including 107.05 108.50 1.45 2.91 and including 131.33 139.52 8.19 1.00 EX22KG006 118.16 152.98 34.82 0.36

(1) From-to intervals are measured from the drill collar.

(2) All intervals are reported as core length.

(3) Released on December 6, 2022.





Figure 3: Drillhole Summary



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1601/208205_excellon3.jpg

Technical Information and Quality Control Notes

The drilling results contained in this news release have been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

Kilgore drill core samples are prepared and assayed by ALS in Twin Falls, Idaho. The lab is accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:20015. Assay turnarounds have been impacted recently by a worldwide increase in demand for laboratory services. The Company has a comprehensive QA/QC program, supervised by a Qualified Person.

The sampling of, and assay data from, the core sampling and reporting is monitored through a quality assurance and quality control (QAQC) program designed according to best industry practice. Samples from HQ- and BQ-sized drill core are selected by Excellon geologists and cut into halves at the project site. Half of the core is retained at the site for reference purposes. Sample intervals vary from 0.2 to 3.05 metres in length, with samples being selected to honour geological contacts. Samples are labelled and packed into sealed plastic bags which are grouped into larger fibre bags for shipping. A formal chain-of-custody procedure is in place for the security of samples from project to laboratory.

Samples are delivered by Excellon staff to the ALS laboratory in Twin Falls, Idaho. Samples then undergo crushing to 70% passing two millimetres, rotary split of 250 grams, followed by pulverizing to 85% passing 75 microns before a 50-gram sub-sample is selected for analysis. The samples are then analyzed using fire assay for gold and silver with a gravimetric finish and multi-element analysis performed by ICP-MS analysis for base metals and multi-element data.

Qualified Person

Mr. Jorge Ortega, P. Geo. has acted as the Qualified Person, as defined in NI43-101, with respect to the disclosure of the scientific and technical information contained in this press release.

About Excellon

Excellon's vision is to realize opportunities through the acquisition of advanced development or producing assets with further potential to gain from an experienced management team for the benefit of our employees, communities and shareholders. The Company is advancing a portfolio of gold, silver and base metals assets including Kilgore, an advanced gold exploration project in Idaho; and Silver City, a high-grade epithermal silver district in Saxony, Germany with 750 years of mining history and little modern exploration.

Additional details on Excellon's properties are available at www.excellonresources.com.

For Further Information, Please Contact:

Excellon Resources Inc.

Shawn Howarth, President & Chief Executive Officer

(416) 312-6665

info@excellonresources.com

www.excellonresources.com

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained, referenced or incorporated by reference in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" and "forward looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as: "actively", "advance", "anticipated", "assess", "believe", "cause", "commence", "completion", "conditions", "consideration", "continues", "development", "due course", "expectation", "exploration", "extend", "extension", "flexibility", "focused", "forward", "further", "future", "if", "implement", "liquidity", "looking", "maturity", "may", "negotiations", "occur", "opportunities", "options", "outcome", "outstanding", "potential", "providing", "reach", "restructuring", "risk", "subject to", "to be", "update", "vision", "waive", "when", "will", and "would", or variations of such words, and similar such words, expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results can, could, may, should, to, will, would (or not) be achieved, occur, provide, result, complete or support in the future or which, by their nature, refer to future events. In some cases, forward-looking information may be stated in the present tense, such as in respect of current matters that may be continuing, or that may have a future impact or effect. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding potential mineralization; future resource and geological modelling to further refine targets; potentially further extending mineralization to the southwest of the deposit; focusing on the potential for higher-grade zones; and the Company's objectives, goals and future plans and strategies. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct, and any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future actions, results or performance. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions, which are considered reasonable and represent best judgment based on available facts, as of the date such statements are made. If such assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions prove to be incorrect, actual and future results may be materially different than expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors which may cause the actual results or performance of the Company to be materially different from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors include, among others, the "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated April 1, 2024 (the "2024 AIF"), and the risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors identified in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis, and accompanying financial statements, for the year ended December 31, 2023, and the Company's other applicable public disclosure (collectively, "Company Disclosure"). The foregoing list of risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors is not exhaustive; readers should consult the more complete discussion of the Company's business, financial condition and prospects that is provided in the 2024 AIF and the other Company Disclosure. The forward-looking statements referenced or contained in this news release are expressly qualified by these Cautionary Statements as well as the Cautionary Statements in the other Company Disclosure. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release (or as otherwise expressly specified) and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208205

SOURCE: Excellon Resources Inc.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - AVANTI GOLD CORP. (CSE: AGC) (FSE: X37) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that Ian MacLean, former Vice President of Investor Relations at B2Gold Corp., has been appointed as the Company's new Chief Executive Officer effective May 6, 2024.

Ian MacLean

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Ian MacLean has over 25 years of experience in the mining industry, where he has played key roles in the formation and success of several mining ventures, demonstrating an aptitude for driving transformative growth and cultivating sustainable shareholder value. He has a proven track record of collaborating with Board members, senior executives, technical management, government officials, and investors to facilitate corporate development, governance, and risk management.

Most recently, Mr. MacLean was a co-founder and Vice President of Investor Relations at B2Gold Corp. He spent 15 years on the executive team that built B2Gold from a private exploration company in 2007 into a world-class international senior gold producer with a current market capitalization of approximately CDN$4.5 billion.

In 2001, Mr. MacLean joined Bema Gold Corporation (B2Gold's predecessor Company), where he rose to Vice President of Investor Relations, orchestrating comprehensive communication strategies and serving as the primary liaison for key stakeholders. During his tenure, he contributed to the growth of Bema Gold from a market capitalization of approximately $83 million in 2001 to approximately $3.0 billion when it merged with Kinross Gold Corporation in 2007.

Mr. MacLean began his career in 1997 as an Investor Relations representative for Nevsun Resources Corporation, a respected gold miner in Africa, acquired by Zinjin Mining in 2018. Mr. MacLean was also a co-founder and Board member of Rolling Rock Resources Inc., which owned the Monument Bay gold project in Manitoba, Canada, now being explored by Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.

"As Chairman of the Board, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Ian MacLean as the new CEO of Avanti Gold," commented Sir Samuel Jonah, Chairman of the Board of Directors. "Ian brings a wealth of experience in the mining industry. His strategic vision and management expertise make him the ideal leader to steer Avanti Gold towards continued growth and success."

"I am honored to accept the role of CEO at Avanti Gold Corp. I eagerly anticipate collaborating with Sir Samuel Jonah and the rest of the Board, as well as with the experienced technical team, to drive shareholder value through exploration success and strategic initiatives," said Ian MacLean, CEO of Avanti Gold.

Mr. MacLean replaces Dr. Colin Porter, the Company's former CEO. Dr. Porter will continue to serve as a member of the Board and Technical Consultant of the Company. The Company thanks Dr. Porter for his service and commitment to the Company's success.

About Avanti Gold Corporation

Avanti Gold Corporation is a mineral exploration company working on a Tier-1 gold opportunity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DRC"), located in the Fizi territory of South Kivu province, in the DRC. The Misisi Gold Project (or the "Project") has a contained Inferred Mineral Resource of 3 million ounces of gold at 2.16 g/t as reported in the Company's National Instrument 43-101 technical report on the Misisi Gold Project (the "Technical Report").

The Project is located 250 kilometers south of Bukavu, the provincial capital of the South Kivu Province, in the DRC. The Project is comprised of three contiguous 30-year mining leases, valid until 2045, covering 133 square kilometers of prospective exploration ground along the 55-kilometre-long Kibara Gold Belt. The Kibara Belt is a well-known metallogenic province and hosts a number of other deposits including the Twangiza (5.1 Moz oz Au, source: S&P Global) and Namoya (1.9 Moz, source: S&P Global) gold mines. The Project is host to the Akyanga deposit, which is the subject to Inferred Resource of 40.8 million tonnes at an average grade of 2.37 grams per ton gold containing 3.11 million ounces.

On behalf of the Board of Directors.

For more information on Avanti Gold Corp., contact info@avantigoldcorp.com or +1 604 808 6300.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208210

SOURCE: Avanti Gold Corp.
Backed by Zeev Ventures, the fast-growing digital landlord insurance provider will use funding to expand into additional insurance markets and accelerate innovation of AI-powered insurance solutions

CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Honeycomb, a leading, fast-growing digital insurer, announced today that it has raised $36 million in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Zeev Ventures, with the participation of new investors Arkin Holdings and Launchbay Capital. Existing investors Ibex Investors, Phoenix Insurance and IT-Farm also took part in the round.





Honeycomb's co-founders

From left to right - Itai Ben Zaken, CEO; Nimrod Sadot, CTO. Credit - Yossi Zeliger





In 2024, finding landlord insurance remains an increasingly challenging task due to the ongoing narrowing appetite among traditional insurers using a "broad brush" approach for underwriting. For example, when a major California insurer incurred losses in the state recently, it decided to completely pull out of the region and leave it to landlords and homeowners to find a solution. In other states, carriers who haven't completely pulled out of the landlord insurance market have imposed new limitations, rendering their coverage non-viable or unavailable. Some will only insure properties built after 2004, despite more than 80% of U.S. residential properties being built prior to 2004.

Honeycomb's proprietary AI-driven technology enables granular risk management, underwriting "at the individual building level," and providing consistent coverage at a better price for well-maintained properties. In a market estimated at over $34 billion in the U.S., Honeycomb is the first landlord insurer to simultaneously streamline the customer and broker experience, leverage unique proprietary underwriting technology, and offer bespoke insurance coverage that adapts to ever-changing client needs. Given its tech advantage, Honeycomb does not need to impose "blanket limitations" on the age of the properties it insures or similar categorical restrictions.

The company sells its policies directly via its platform and through a growing group of best-in-class insurance brokers, who can virtually "bulk-quote" an endless number of submissions in real time; significantly improving a process that used to take weeks to complete, and translating into greater profitability for brokers and meaningful value for customers.

"The new funding will be used to further improve the end-user experience, driving enhanced profitability to our broker partners, and broadening the type and size of policies offered," said Itai Ben-Zakan, co-founder and CEO of Honeycomb. "We plan to deepen our technological advantage with proprietary AI models leveraging unique first-party data and expand into new insurance markets, turning Honeycomb into a one-stop shop for everything related to commercial real-estate insurance in the U.S."

Honeycomb now operates in sixteen of the largest states in the U.S., covering approximately 60% of the U.S market. It insures more than $21 billion worth of real estate assets and expects to triple that number in the next 12 months. To achieve these goals, Honeycomb plans to double its staff from the current headcount of 90 employees to 180 within the next 18 months.

"Honeycomb is an example of an Insurtech company that solves a major problem in a huge market, thus allowing it to increase ARR at a fast pace and progress to operational profitability in a short time," said Oren Zeev, the Founding Partner at Zeev Ventures, which has invested in category-defining companies such as Navan, Houzz, Next Insurance, Tipalti, and Sunbit, among others. "I am happy with this opportunity to lead the current round, as the company's unique technological advantage positions it well to become the market leader in their space."

About Honeycomb

Honeycomb is a deep-tech powered P&C insurer covering landlords and condo associations in the U.S. By integrating aerial imagery and street-level photography with cutting-edge technologies including computer vision and artificial intelligence, Honeycomb can underwrite risks more accurately and in real time, delivering significant value to its customers and agents, and growing at a pace of 200-300% year over year. Honeycomb is headquartered in Chicago, IL with offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, and in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia.

Contact Information

Yuval Porat

Tell NY

yuval@tellny.com

SOURCE: Honeycomb

View the original press release on newswire.com.
Pacer ETFs ("Pacer"), the leading U.S. issuer in free cash flow ETFs*, has announced the launch of three Cash Cows UCITS ETFs. This will give European investors access to some of the firm's most successful strategies through the Euronext Dublin Exchange and the Euronext Amsterdam Exchange, in accordance with UCITS regulations:

Pacer US Cash Cows 100 UCITS ETF [COWZ]

Pacer Developed Markets International Cash Cows 100 UCITS ETF [ICOW]

Pacer Global Cash Cows Dividend UCITS ETF [GCOW]

"By entering the European market, we aim to serve a broader demographic of investors and advisors who are looking to tap into the opportunity these free-cash-flow focused funds offer," says Sean O'Hara, President of Pacer ETFs Distributors.

The Cash Cows Series has over $35 billion in assets following a year of notable performance and 118.2% growth in assets in 2023. This growth is largely spurred by the series' standout ETF, COWZ, which grew from $12.5 billion to $20 billion in 2023. The success of these strategies catapulted Pacer's total assets to over $43 billion after entering 2023 with just over $19 billion.

"Our entrance into this new market is more than just geographical expansion; it's a step forward with our advisor community, sharing innovative strategies that have defined our firm allowing investors to achieve their financial goals," adds Bruce Kavanaugh, EVP Portfolio Manager of Pacer.

The UCITS ETFs are sub-funds of the Pacer ETFs ICAV, the firm's Dublin-based collective asset-management vehicle authorized and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

To learn more about Pacer UCITS strategies and fund offerings, visit paceretfs.com/library/ucits/.

About Pacer ETFs

Pacer ETFs is a strategy-driven exchange-traded fund provider with 47 ETFs and over $43 billion in assets under management (as of 05/01/2024). For more information, please visit PacerETFs.com.

*Source: Bloomberg. Number one in net flows across free cash flow based ETFs in the U.S. from 12/31/22-12/31/23.

Disclosures

This is a marketing communication. This material contains information relating to the Pacer US Cash Cows 100 UCITS ETF, the Pacer Global Cash Cows Dividend UCITS ETF, the Pacer Developed Markets International Cash Cows 100 UCITS ETF (the "Funds"), sub-funds of Pacer ETFs ICAV (the "ICAV") with different classes of shares which is authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland and established as an undertaking for collective investment in transferrable securities pursuant to the European Communities (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) Regulations, 2011) as amended in Ireland.

This is not a contractually binding document and its issuance is not mandated under any law or regulation of the European Union [or the United Kingdom].

This marketing communication does not include sufficient detail to enable the recipient to make an informed investment decision. Therefore, we recommend that you obtain detailed information about the Fund (including further information on the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund) from the Prospectus, key information document (PRIIPs KID) and key investor information document (UCITS KIID) as appropriate for your relevant jurisdiction, along with other fund related materials before making any decision to invest in the Fund.

These documents are available free of charge from www.paceretfs.com and can also be obtained from our EEA centralised facilities agent, DE Facilities Limited, 33 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2, Ireland or from the following distributor: Pacer Financial Inc.

Pacer Cash Cows ETFsTM and Cash Cows Index are registered trademarks of Index Design Group, LLC.

2024, Pacer Financial, Inc.& Pacer Advisors, Inc., All rights reserved.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240502322330/en/

Contacts:

Media

Trevor Davis

Gregory FCA for Pacer ETFs

215-475-5931

trevor@gregoryfca.com

Company

Ashlee Thomson for Pacer ETFs

610-981-6214

ashlee.thomson@pacerfinancial.com
The microArch D1025 Dual-Resolution 3D Printer Delivers Flexible, High-Precision 3D Printing of Parts that Require Micron-Level Precision and Repeatability

To offer more flexibility for customers looking for high precision 3D printing solutions, Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) is launching the industry's first line of hybrid printing solutions for micro-scale and ultra high-resolution applications. The dual resolution microArch D1025 is the first printer in the series, printing in either 10m or 25m resolution, or in hybrid mode with both resolutions in the same print layer or in different layers.

Since BMF launched its first printer in 2016, the company now supports over 2,000 customers across the world as they look to iterate and produce more precise parts. Built upon BMF's patented Projection Micro Stereolithography (PSL) technology, the microArch D1025 enables more efficiency within the 3D printing process, allowing users across healthcare, electronics, life sciences, and photonics applications to print two resolutions within a single layer.

Using a technique that allows for rapid photopolymerization of layers of liquid polymer using a flash of UV light at micro-scale resolution, the 25m resolution mode can be used for parts in which the features don't require ultra-high resolution and 10m mode supports small, complex features to optimize the 3D printing process. Users also have the ability to choose to print a single build in either 25m or 10m depending upon the part geometry, providing greater flexibility and efficiency across all applications and industries.

"Our driving motivation for innovation has been to offer new platforms that can help realize high value applications for 3D printing. Increasingly, we have been pushed by our customers to bring our technology to applications where higher precision and tighter tolerances would result in an overall increase in quality and performance, regardless of part size," said John Kawola, CEO-Global, BMF. "The launch of the microArch D1025 continues our commitment to answer this call, combining the advances of the microArch S350 25m platform with the high-resolution capability of our 10-micron printer into one powerful, flexible solution for our customers."

In addition to offering dual platform capabilities, the microArch D1025 delivers enhanced, built-in automation and easy shifting between resolution modes to optimize the user experience while saving time, resources and cost. To learn more about the microArch D1025, please visit https://bmf3d.com/microarch-d1025/

The microArch D1025 will be showcased at the following upcoming events:

TCT Asia, Shanghai, May 7-9, Booth #8F30

TCT 3Sixty, Birmingham, UK, June 5-6, Booth H31

Rapid TCT, Los Angeles, June 25-27, Booth #1139

About Boston Micro Fabrication:

Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) enables highly precise, micro-scale 3D printing across healthcare, the life sciences, electronics, and machining industries. Using the company's proprietary PSL (Projection Micro Stereolithography) technology, the microArch system printers produce the industry's most accurate and precise high-resolution 3D prints for product development, research, and industrial short run production. Founded in 2016, BMF has offices in Boston, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Tokyo with a research and development center in San Diego. For more information on BMF please visit www.bmf3d.com or follow the company on LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240507598394/en/

Contacts:

Jessika Parry

BMF@greenoughagency.com
This is the Out-of-Home Leader's Fourth Global Expansion since September 2023

Billups, a global Out-of-Home (OOH) managed services agency that helps advertisers and agencies strengthen media performance through a patented analytics and measurement platform, today announced the acquisition of Billie Media, a New Zealand-based specialist OOH agency. This follows Billups' acquisitions of Outsight, TAC Media, and OOH Labs, all since September 2023.

"The Australia and New Zealand Out-of-Home market is a billion-dollar-plus advertising opportunity," said Benjamin Billups, Co-founder of Billups. "Customer demand has driven our major expansion over the past year, and they trust Billups to have the team and technology in place to deliver ROI. Billie Media's core local focus on expertise, data and tech will help enhance our promise to advertisers for a solutions-focused, centralized and accountable approach to driving engagement and value through Out-of-Home experiences."

Founded in Auckland in 2021, Billie Media is a leader in outdoor media solutions across Australia and New Zealand. The agency has developed well-regarded in-house technology, creative optimization and measurement solutions. As well, Billie Media has managed and executed both static and digital Out-of-Home activations for a slate of local and global brands.

"Technology, innovation and transparency are growing engagement and opportunity in Out-of-Home," said Ben Poole, Director and Co-founder, Billie Media. "Our customers will get tremendous benefit from the centralized, global offering Billups brings to Australia and New Zealand. With the support of a cross-border, market-leading partner we can give advertisers confidence, value and accountability in buying OOH media wherever their customers may be."

This acquisition brings Billups' full suite of Out-of-Home solutions and services to the ANZ market for the first time. Starting in September 2023, the company acquired agencies in Belgium, Canada and Malaysia. This expansion gives significant advantages to global and local customers who benefit from the enhanced scale of Billups' targeting, measurement and optimization platform.

About Billups

Billups is reinventing Out-of-Home planning and placement for the performance age. Blending art and science, Billups leads the industry with patented scientific targeting, accurate Out-of-Home measurement and an AI-powered recommendation engine. Billups supports advertisers, agencies and media owners through services and platform technology that make Out-of-Home as automated and attributable as the most effective digital ads. Visit us at www.billups.com.

About Billie Media

Founded in 2021, Billie Media is a New Zealand-based specialist Out-of-Home agency. Harnessing channel innovation, local expertise, technology and data, and creative outputs, Billie Media provides enhanced outdoor solutions for brands locally and internationally.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240507754351/en/

Contacts:

Billups

Jonathan Gardner

jonathan@salientmg.com
London Finance & Investment Group Plc - PDMR Notification

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, May 07

London Finance & Investment Group PLC 7 May 2024

(Incorporated in England & Wales with registered number 201151)

LSE code: LFI

JSE code: LNF

ISIN: GB0002994001

("London Finance" or "the Company")

PERSON DISCHARGING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITES

DEALING ANNOUNCEMENT

The Company announces that it has received notification that Mr Warwick Marshall purchased 125,000 ordinary shares of 0.05 each in the Company on 3 May 2024. Following the purchase Mr Marshall holds a direct beneficial interest in 125,000 shares representing 0.4% of the issued share capital.

This announcement is made in accordance with Article 19 of the UK Market Abuse Regulation ('MAR'). In accordance with MAR, the relevant Financial Conduct Authority ('FCA') notifications are set out in below.

This announcement is also made in compliance paragraphs 3.63 to 3.74 of the JSE Limited Listings Requirements

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

Enquiries to: London Finance & Investment Group PLC 020 3709 8741
LYON, France and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amolyt Pharma, a global company specialized in developing therapeutic peptides for rare endocrine and related diseases, today announced that the company has had multiple abstracts accepted for presentation at the 10th International Congress of the Growth Hormone Research Society (GRS), which is being held May 10-11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the 26th European Congress of Endocrinology (ECE), which is being held May 11-14 in Stockholm, Sweden, and at the 2024 Endocrine Society Meeting (ENDO), which is being held June 1-4 in Boston, Massachusetts. These presentations cover both of Amolyt's development programs, eneboparatide in Phase 3 for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism and AZP-3813 in Phase 1 for the treatment of acromegaly.



Details of the presentations are as follows:

10th International Congress of the Growth Hormone Research Society (GRS) - May 10-11, Stockholm, Sweden

Title: Additive Effect of Combined Treatment with the Small Peptide GH Receptor Antagonist, AZP-3813, and the Somatostatin Analog, Octreotide, in Decreasing IGF1 Levels in the Rat

Format: Oral Presentation

Session: Acromegaly

Date: Friday, May 10, 2024

Time: 2:00-3:00 p.m. CEST

26th European Congress of Endocrinology (ECE) - May 11-14, Stockholm, Sweden

Title: Renal Complications in Chronic Hypoparathyroidism

Format: Mini Satellite Symposium

Session: Industry-sponsored Mini Satellites, Room A6

Date: Sunday, May 12, 2024

Time: 9:45-10:15 a.m. CEST

Title: A Translational Approach to Investigate the Mechanism Whereby Eneboparatide Induces Prolonged Calcium Normalization in Patients with Chronic Hypoparathyroidism

Format: Oral Presentation

Session: Oral Communications 2: Calcium and Bone - Part I

Date: Sunday, May 12, 2024

Time: 2:40-3:40 p.m. CEST

Title: Increased Urinary Excretion of Calcium and Nephrolithiasis: Real-Life Data from the Epi-Hypo Cohort of Hypoparathyroidism Patients

Format: Oral Presentation

Session: Oral Communications 2: Calcium and Bone - Part I

Date: Sunday, May 12, 2024

Time: 2:40-3:40 p.m. CEST

Title: Remaining Secretion of Parathyroid Hormone Is Associated with Calcium Excretion in Chronic Hypoparathyroidism

Format: Oral Presentation

Session: Oral Communications 2: Calcium and Bone - Part I

Date: Sunday, May 12, 2024

Time: 2:40-3:40 p.m. CEST

Title: A Phase 1 Clinical Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of AZP-3813, a Novel, Small Peptide Growth Hormone Receptor Antagonist, in Healthy Subjects

Format: Rapid Communication

Session: Rapid Communications 5: Pituitary and Neuroendocrinology - Part I

Date: Monday, May 13, 2024

Time: 3:00-3:40 p.m. CEST

Poster Display: 9:40am CEST on Sunday, May 12 to 3:30pm CEST on Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Title: Additive Effect of Combined Treatment with the Small Peptide GH Receptor Antagonist, AZP-3813, and the Somatostatin Analog, Octreotide, in Decreasing IGF1 Levels in the Rat

Format: Poster Presentation

Date: Monday, May 13, 2024

Poster Display: 9:40 a.m.-7 p.m. CEST

Poster Presentation: 5:30-6:30 p.m. CEST

Title: Increased Bone Fragility Over Time in Women with Chronic Hypoparathyroidism: Real-world Data from the HypoparaNet Italian Cohort

Format: Rapid Communication

Session: Rapid Communications 10: Calcium and Bone - Part II

Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Time: 1:00-1:40 p.m. CEST

Poster Display: 9:40am CEST on Sunday, May 12 to 3:30pm CEST on Tuesday, May 14, 2024

2024 Endocrine Society Meeting (ENDO) - June 1-4, Boston, Mass.

Title: A Phase 1 Clinical Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of AZP-3813, a Novel Small Peptide Growth Hormone Receptor Antagonist, in Healthy Subjects

Format: Rapid Fire/Poster Presentation

Session: RF03-02/SAT-043

Date: Saturday, June 1, 2024

Time: 1:45-3:15 p.m. EDT

Title: Skeletal Effects Among Pre and Postmenopausal Women with Hypoparathyroidism (HypoPT); Data from the Canadian National Hypoparathyroidism Registry (CNHR)

Format: Poster Presentation

Session SUN-253

Date: Sunday, June 2, 2024

Time: 12:00-1:30 p.m. EDT

Title: Increased Fragility of Bone Over Time in Female Patients with Chronic Hypoparathyroidism: Real-world Data from the Italian Cohort

Format: Poster Presentation

Session: SUN-259

Date: Sunday, June 2, 2024

Time: 12:00-1:30 p.m. EDT

Title: Enhanced Ability of the Small Peptide GH Receptor Antagonist, AZP-3813, to Decrease IGF1 When Combined with the Somatostatin Analog, Octreotide

Format: Poster Presentation

Session: MON-113

Date: Monday, June 3, 2024

Time: 12:00-1:30 p.m. EDT

Title: Eneboparatide, a Potent Stimulator of Urinary Calcium Reabsorption, Induces Prolonged Renal Cortex Retention and PTH1 Receptor Signalling

Format: Oral Presentation

Session: OR14-02

Date: Monday, June 3, 2024

Time: 1:45-3:15 p.m. EDT

About Amolyt Pharma

Amolyt Pharma, a clinical stage biotechnology company, is building on its team's established expertise to deliver life-changing treatments to patients suffering from rare endocrine and related diseases. Its development portfolio includes eneboparatideor follow us on Twitterand LinkedIn.

Media Inquiries:

Kristin Politi

LifeSci Communications

kpoliti@lifescicomms.com

Investors Inquiries:

Ashley Robinson

LifeSci Advisors, LLC

arr@lifesciadvisors.com

+1.617.430.7577
New release empowers IP professionals with enhanced operational efficiency and functionality

BOSTON, May 07, 2024, the leading provider of innovation and intellectual propertyVersion 8, the latest release of the patent and trademark management software. With this announcement, PATTSY WAVE Version 8 offers a streamlined IP management experience for IP professionals in corporations and law firms focused on efficient task execution.

Created to simplify workflows, mitigate risk, and elevate accuracy, Version 8's new components help IP professionals manage their portfolios with greater precision and ease. New capabilities include:

Inventor Portal: A cutting-edge tool that enhances collaboration between inventors and legal teams. The Inventor Portal streamlines the invention disclosure process with customizable, no-code questionnaires, intuitive tracking mechanisms for inventor awards, and automated workflows for legal processing.



APIs: PATTSY WAVE's APIs will provide a standard, reliable mechanism to share data with external applications. Clients will be able to retrieve bibliographic and action data from any of PATTSY WAVE's primary modules.



Unlimited Parties & Customizable Roles: Users can now assign an unlimited number of responsible parties to any matter. Teams can also define roles applicable to their organization and create specialized roles associated with Action Categories.



PATTSY WAVE Version 8 also includes enhanced user experience and functionality with expanded data validation to provide global coverage and detailed assignment history, ensuring a comprehensive and intuitive system for all.

"With the release of PATTSY WAVE Version 8, Anaqua continues our commitment to empowering intellectual property professionals with innovative solutions that enhance efficiency, reduce risk, and drive productivity," said Bob Romeo, CEO at Anaqua. "Version 8 is the ideal solution for IP professionals seeking a modern, integrated tool to drive their IP operations with speed, accuracy and control."

For more information about PATTSY WAVE Version 8 and its latest features, visit anaqua.com/pattsy-wave/.

About Anaqua

Anaqua, Inc. is a premier provider of integrated intellectual property, or on Anaqua's LinkedIn.

Company Contact:

Amanda Glagolev

Director, Communications

Anaqua

617-375-5808

aglagolev@anaqua.com
LONDON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nayms , the cutting-edge digital insurance marketplace, is thrilled to announce a groundbreaking collaboration with Coinbase, utilizing Coinbase Prime, Base, and Coinbase Web3 wallet. This launch aims to empower insurance companies, reinsurance funds, and capital providers by leveraging on-chain technology for seamless insurance transactions. Nayms' recent decision to build on Base, an Ethereum Layer2, incubated inside of Coinbase, sets the stage for a globally connected network to reinvent how institutional insurance markets operate.

Industry-Leading Infrastructure for On-Chain Insurance Transactions

Through this collaboration, Nayms, with the use of the Coinbase technology stack, will provide industry-leading infrastructure that enables insurance entities to transact directly on the blockchain. By utilizing Coinbase's Prime offering, insurance companies gain access to institutional-grade security and custody-a critical requirement for effective risk management. The integration of Coinbase's Web3 wallet with Nayms' marketplace facilitates secure capital deposits into segregated accounts and streamlines policy binding.

"We are very excited to introduce Coinbase to our insurance partners within the Nayms ecosystem," said Adam Adamson, Head of Business Development at Nayms. "The Coinbase Prime offering ensures top-tier security, which is paramount for any risk management company. Additionally, Coinbase's Web 3 wallet seamlessly connects with our marketplace, allowing efficient capital flow and policy management."

Unlocking New Opportunities for Traditional Insurers

The Nayms-Coinbase collaboration opens up fresh possibilities for traditional insurers. By providing the necessary tooling for on-chain operations, Nayms and the Coinbase product suite, empower insurers to navigate this dynamic landscape with confidence. As the crypto insurance market continues to grow, this collaboration promises to redefine industry standards and drive innovation.

About Nayms

Nayms SAC Ltd. is the world's leading crypto-native insurance marketplace. The company is registered and regulated in Bermuda with licences for both insurance (IIGB) and digital asset (DABA Class F) business. It operates as a bridge between alternative capital and a wide variety of property and casualty risks. It provides the technical and legal infrastructure over which relevant stakeholders, including insureds, insurers, brokers, and underwriters, can come together to capitalise and transfer risk on-chain. Building on Ethereum and Base, Nayms' diverse team uses smart contracts to enable on-chain insurance placement and crypto-native transactions for collateral, commissions, premiums, and claims.

For more information on Nayms and investment opportunities, contact lachlan@nayms.com or visit the website directly.

About Coinbase Institutional

Coinbase Institutional is the market leader in delivering crypto solutions to global financial services companies. Built by experienced leaders from traditional financial services, Coinbase Institutional provides scalable solutions to institutional investors with industry-leading security and compliance. To learn more about Coinbase Institutional's solutions, click here .

Media Contact

Sarah George

Head of Operations

sarah@nayms.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2405668/Coinbase.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/nayms-joins-forces-with-coinbase-to-leverage-on-chain-technology-for-seamless-insurance-transactions-302137714.html
Volunteers worked together to build and unveil the new playground in Paulsboro, N.J. in just one day

MAYS LANDING, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Volunteers from Atlantic City Electric, KABOOM!, Gateway Community Action Partnership, the Borough of Paulsboro and community members came together to bring a children-designed and community-built playground to life at the West Buck Street Park in Paulsboro, N.J. Hundreds of local volunteers came together on April 10 for this one-day, community-driven playground build. This project represents progress in ensuring every child has a place to play, providing a state-of-the-art playground for children to enjoy each year.

"I am truly proud to work for a company that focuses so much on our communities where we not only serve, but where many of us live and work," said Doug Mokoid, Region President, Atlantic City Electric. "The work we do day in and day out is important, but we must also remember that helping our communities grow and flourish is also vital. Seeing our employees come together outside of their daily work, side-by-side with the community, is a prime example of the company's core principles- putting to action that we are more than energy."

More than 100 volunteers from Atlantic City Electric, which included members from IBEW Local 210, took part in the day-long build, which brought to life the design concepts inspired by local children. The "Design Day" held in January 2024 kicked off the planning process and brought community members together to intricately compose their designs into what is now seen today at West Buck Street Park.

"The West Buck Street Playground has always been an integral part of the immediate neighborhood it serves and to the residents of Paulsboro," said Borough of Paulsboro Mayor John Giovannitti. "The Borough of Paulsboro is excited to partner with KABOOM!, Gateway CAP and Atlantic City Electric to create, design and build a 'new' West Buck Street Playground. We believe this will help unite our community and create a fun and safe place for our families to meet and play."

The project is part of a nationwide effort led by KABOOM! to end playspace inequity - the reality that far too many children - especially children of color - do not get the chance to play on a playground, something that should be part of every child's life. Their work is to ensure every child can experience the numerous physical, social and mental health benefits of play regardless of background or where they live.

"Playgrounds are an iconic part of childhood where kids collect some of their best memories and experience the countless physical and mental health benefits of play," said Lysa Ratliff, Chief Executive Officer of KABOOM!. "KABOOM! is thrilled to work with Atlantic City Electric, Gateway Community Action Partnership, and the Borough of Paulsboro to build the new playspace on West Buck Street and ensure that generations of kids can grow up happy and healthy through access to playspaces where they feel they are valued and belong."

This playground build is also the starting point of a longer-term revitalization plan for the Paulsboro community. It is a launching pad to Gateway Community Action Partnership's initiative through the Neighborhood Revitalization Planning Grant, which they received in December 2023. It focuses on community-driven projects, like the playground build, to support comprehensive equity focused community development plans.

"This represents more than just an investment in swings and slides; it symbolizes a dedication to the well-being, joy and unity of our local community. It reflects our profound commitment to fostering secure, welcoming and interactive spaces that support the growth of our children, strengthen family bonds and promote neighborly connections," said Edward Bethea, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Gateway Community Action Partnership. "We must also emphasize that this new playground will act as a key catalyst for the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative process in the Paulsboro area."

Atlantic City Electric is committed to ensuring the communities it serves and where its employees live and work, thrive. Events like this further strengthen the company's commitment to powering a cleaner and brighter future for its customers and communities.

About KABOOM!

KABOOM! is the national nonprofit committed to ending playspace inequity - the reality that quality places to play are not available to every child, especially in communities of color. Since 1996, KABOOM! has partnered with kids and communities to build or improve 17,000+ playspaces and ensure that nearly 12 million kids have equitable access to the crucial benefits and opportunities that playspaces offer. In 2022, KABOOM! launched the 25 in 5 Initiative to End Playspace Inequity to accelerate its mission in 25 high-priority locations over five years. Learn more at kaboom.org or join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

About Gateway Community Action Partnership

Gateway Community Action Partnership is the designated Community Action Program (CAP) for Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties in Southern New Jersey and also provides services in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May and Mercer counties, as well as Philadelphia. As a CAP, Gateway Community Action Partnership helps low- and moderate-income residents identify and overcome barriers to self-sufficiency. The agency's more than 650 employees form a network of professional teachers, social workers, counselors, nutritionists and program planners, all dedicated to making our communities better places to live and work for all residents. Gateway CAP is a private, non-profit, community-based organization with a federal 501-C-3 designation by the IRS.

About the Borough of Paulsboro

Paulsboro Borough is robust diverse municipality located in Southern New Jersey. Founded the 17th. Century and incorporated as" Paulsboro" in 1904, it is the home to Fort Billingsport, the first land purchase made by the United States, acquired on July 5, 1776, the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

To learn more about Atlantic City Electric, visit The Source, Atlantic City Electric's online newsroom. Find additional information by visiting atlanticcityelectric.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/AtlanticCityElectric , and on X, formerly known as Twitter, at twitter.com/AcEleCconnect . Atlantic City Electric's mobile app is available at atlanticcityelectric.com/MobileApp.

View original content here.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Atlantic City Electric on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Atlantic City Electric

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/atlantic-city-electric

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Atlantic City Electric

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Cummins

Valvoline Global, a worldwide leader in automotive and industrial solutions, and Cummins Inc., a global power leader, announced a major milestone of their longstanding partnership.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of a comprehensive partnership for the world-class brands.

Like all good collaborations, it continues to move both companies forward.

Since 1994, the teams at Valvoline Global and Cummins have worked together in the field and in labs to develop products that complement each other. Working as a single team to deliver the best customer value, Cummins designs and builds cutting-edge engines, generators and power systems, and Valvoline Global creates innovative lubricants and fluid solutions alongside them. Customers benefit from that teamwork and have the peace of mind knowing they have two premium products that were designed to bring out the best in one another.

"Our partnership with Cummins is one that we are really proud of. At Valvoline Global, we'll continue innovating, whether its diesel, natural gas, hydrogen, alternative fuels, fuel cells and future technologies," said Jamal Muashsher, CEO, Valvoline Global. "Whenever Cummins creates a product, Valvoline will make sure there are lubricants, fluids and sustainable solutions that complement it."

"Customers can run equipment with maximum efficiency and reliability, perform fewer oil changes over the life of the equipment, resulting in cost savings," said Tony Satterthwaite, Senior Vice President, Cummins Inc. "And fleet managers could also see reduced cost of ownership due to product consolidation, increased working capital and reduced risk of incorrect oil-to-engine usage."

Recently, trade publication Heavy Duty Trucking named Premium Blue One Solution Gen2 as one of its top innovative products. The industry-first fuel agnostic technology is approved for use in multiple heavy-duty, medium-duty and light-duty engine types, providing extended drain intervals for both diesel and natural gas engine platforms.

Satterthwaite added, "We have an extended partnership in the form of joint ventures to sell and market our products together in emerging markets, delivering fantastic results while supporting customers. Our Cummins-Valvoline joint venture in India just celebrated their own 25th Anniversary in 2023."

With a steadfast commitment to excellence and a vision for continued growth, Valvoline Global and Cummins are poised to make an even greater impact on global communities, including automotive and industrial sectors in the years ahead.

About Cummins Inc.

Cummins Inc., a global power solutions leader, is comprised of five business segments - Components, Engine, Distribution, Power Systems and Accelera by Cummins - supported by our global manufacturing and extensive service and support network, skilled workforce and vast technological expertise. Cummins is committed to its Destination Zero strategy, which is grounded in the company's commitment to sustainability and helping its customers successfully navigate the energy transition with its broad portfolio of products. The products range from advanced diesel, natural gas, electric and hybrid powertrains and powertrain-related components including filtration, aftertreatment, turbochargers, fuel systems, valvetrain technologies, controls systems, air handling systems, automated transmissions, axles, drivelines, brakes, suspension systems, electric power generation systems, batteries, electrified power systems, hydrogen production technologies and fuel cell products. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana (U.S.), since its founding in 1919, Cummins employs approximately 75,500 people committed to powering a more prosperous world through three global corporate responsibility priorities critical to healthy communities: education, environment and equality of opportunity. Cummins serves its customers online, through a network of company-owned and independent distributor locations, and through thousands of dealer locations worldwide and earned about $735 million on sales of $34.1 billion in 2023. See how Cummins is powering a world that's always on by accessing news releases and more information at https://www.cummins.com/.

About Valvoline Global Operations

Valvoline Global is a worldwide leader in automotive and industrial solutions, creating future-ready products and best-in-class services for partners around the globe. Established in 1866, the company introduced the world's first branded motor oil and developed strong brand recognition and customer satisfaction ratings across multiple product channels. With sales in more than 140 countries and territories, Valvoline Global's solutions are available for every engine and drivetrain, including high-mileage and heavy-duty vehicles, offered at more than 80,000 locations. Valvoline Global is powering the future of mobility through innovative solutions for vehicles with electric, hybrid and internal combustion powertrains - and the company will continue to solve for global automotive and industrial challenges as it moves forward. To learn more, visit ValvolineGlobal.com.

Trademark, Valvoline Global or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries.

Media Contact

Jon Mills

Director - External Communications

(317) 658-4540 jon.mills@cummins.com

Abby Malik

Valvoline Global Operations Contact

+1-606-923-8864 abby.malik@valvoline.com





View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Cummins Inc. on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Cummins Inc.

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cummins-inc

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Cummins Inc.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - Omai Gold Mines Corp. (TSXV: OMG) (OTCQB: OMGGF) ("Omai Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Marcel Cameron P.Eng. as Country Manager, Guyana. Mr. Cameron is a Mining Engineer with 25 years experience in mine planning, engineering and project management for large-scale open pit and underground operations in North and South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Guyana. He will be responsible for managing and advancing operations at the Company's 100% owned Omai gold project, overseeing permitting and community engagement, and leading the Company's broader business activities in Guyana.

Elaine Ellingham, President and CEO comments: "We are pleased to welcome Marcel to the team. His extensive hands-on experience with technical and mine planning for advanced stage projects will drive forward the next phases of work at our Omai project. We announced positive results for a baseline Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) about a month ago that sets the stage for the next phases of project development. Our PEA provides a solid mine plan and economics, while incorporating less than 45% of Omai's current Mineral Resource Estimate. This alone presents obvious opportunities. We are confident that with some additional drilling along strike and even within the PEA pit at Wenot we can incorporate additional known Resources and some of the adjacent gold occurrences that could expand the mine plan and more importantly boost the overall economic return. At the same time, engineering, environmental studies, and permitting initiatives will accelerate now that our PEA is complete. Mr. Cameron is a Guyanese citizen. His early career experience at the Omai mine, when it was a large-scale 300,000 ounces per year operation, is invaluable, giving him an excellent base of knowledge of the property and its potential to be re-developed as a large scale mine."

The Company is also pleased to announce that the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission has granted a new Omai Prospecting Licence providing the exclusive right of occupation and exploration for gold, base metals, precious metals and precious stones. The licence has an initial three-year term until April 29, 2027 that can be extended to 2029. This licence gives the Company the exclusive rights to apply for a Mining License and the Company has commenced meetings with government officials that have provided guidance on the process.

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 a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on its Wenot deposit at Omai on April 4, 2024, showing an open pit operation to produce 1.84 million ounces of gold over a 13-year period, with an NPV5% of US$556 million at a US$1950/oz gold price. An updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") announced February 8, 2024 includes 2.0 million ounces of gold (Indicated) and 2.3 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 process recoveries and many other relevant mining parameters.

For further information, please see our website www.omaigoldmines.com or contact:

Elaine Ellingham, P.Geo.

President & CEO

info@omaigoldmines.com

Phone: +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.

1The reader is referred to the NI 43-101 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 filed on www.sedarplus.ca and on the Company's website at www.omaigoldmines.com. The PEA will be filed by the Company on Sedar+ and will include the updated Mineral Resource Estimate.

Qualified Persons

Elaine Ellingham P.Geo. is a Qualified Person (QP) under NI 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" and has reviewed the technical information contained in this news release. Ms. Ellingham is not considered to be independent for the purposes of NI 43-101.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements or information (collectively, "FLI") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. FLI is based on expectations, estimates, projections, and interpretations as at the date of this press release.

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are FLI that involve various risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties. Generally, FLI can be identified by the use of statements that include words such as "seeks", "believes", "anticipates", "plans", "continues", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "intends", "projects", "predicts", "proposes", "potential", "targets" and variations of such words and phrases, or by statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "will", "could", "would", "should" or "might", "be taken", "occur" or "be achieved." FLI herein includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the results of the Omai PEA, including the production, operating cost, capital cost and cash cost estimates, the projected valuation metrics and rates of return, and the cash flow projections, as well as the anticipated permitting requirements and Project design, including processing and tailings facilities, infrastructure developments, metal recoveries, mine life and production rates for the Project, the potential to further enhance the economics of the Project and optimize the design, potential timelines for obtaining the required permits and financing. Forward-looking information is not, and cannot be, a guarantee of future results or events.

FLI is designed to help you understand management's current views of its near- and longer-term prospects, and it may not be appropriate for other purposes. FLI by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such FLI. Although the FLI contained in this press release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders and prospective purchasers of securities of the Company that actual results will be consistent with such FLI, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such FLI. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such FLI contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law. Unless otherwise noted, this press release has been prepared based on information available as of the date of this press release. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the FLI or information contained herein.

Assumptions upon which FLI is based, without limitation, include the results of exploration activities, the Company's financial position and general economic conditions; the ability of exploration activities to accurately predict mineralization; the accuracy of geological modelling; the ability of the Company to complete further exploration activities; potential changes in project parameters or economic assessments; the legitimacy of title and property interests in the Project; the accuracy of key assumptions, parameters or methods used to estimate the MREs and in the PEA; the ability of the Company to obtain required approvals; geological, mining and exploration technical problems; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the evolution of the global economic climate; metal prices; foreign exchange rates; environmental expectations; community and non-governmental actions; any impacts of COVID-19 on the Project; and, the Company's ability to secure required funding. Risks and uncertainties about Omai Gold's business are more fully discussed in the disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available at www.sedarplus.ca. Furthermore, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in FLI.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208219

SOURCE: Omai Gold Mines Corp.
Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - EDM Resources Inc. (TSXV: EDM) ("EDM" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it continues to make significant progress on the required environmental work that is necessary for the restart of the Scotia Mine.

Completion of three of four seasons of sampling for Atlantic Salmon DNA as required by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans ("DFO").





Reconnaissance work to identify additional potential locations for stream and/or river restoration required by the DFO for the fish habitat offsetting plan.

"We are pleased to report that the results of winter season of testing for Atlantic Salmon DNA, yielded no detection of Atlantic Salmon in or nearby the Scotia Mine. We anticipate the remaining one season of testing to also yield similar results which would be favourable for the restart of the Scotia Mine" said, Mr. Mark Haywood, President & CEO. "We also continue to make significant progress on satisfying the DFO's requests through our environmental studies and offsetting restoration work which is designed to replace any fish habitat that may be impacted through our future mining operations at the Scotia Mine" he added.

EDM's environmental consultants, Strum Consulting, have also stated that: "Three rounds of sampling (summer, fall, and winter) have now been completed resulting in no confirmed detections of Atlantic Salmon near the mine site. A fourth and final round of sampling will be conducted in Spring, which is expected to show similar results."

Atlantic Salmon and Our Testing

Atlantic Salmon are anadromous, spending part of their life growing at sea and then returning to reproduce in their natal freshwater rivers. Generally, adults that are ready to spawn move into estuaries and then into freshwater rivers in the summer. However, the timing of river entry varies among populations as an adaptation to local conditions and water levels. Some populations return to rivers as early as late spring, whereas other populations return during the fall.

In Nova Scotia, Atlantic Salmon typically spawn in October and November. The young develop in gravel nest pits known as "redds", emerging from their nests as fry from May-June. After two or three years in freshwater, they descend their natal rivers and enter the ocean.

EDM has undertaken seasonal environmental DNA ("eDNA") sampling to provide evidence on the presence or absence of Atlantic salmon in watercourses near the mine, in consideration of the timing of freshwater life history stages.

EDM continues to work with Strum Consulting (McCallum Environmental) and GHD to complete the comprehensive four-season ecological study to demonstrate to the DFO, that the Project's mining activities will not affect the Inner Bay Of Fundy (IBOF) Atlantic Salmon Habitat.

The Company has now completed three-seasons of eDNA testing (summer 2023, fall 2023, and winter 2024) and the results to-date of the first three seasons have yielded no Atlantic Salmon DNA .

EDM is continuing with the remaining one season of testing which is expected to be completed in May 2024.

About EDM Resources Inc.

EDM is a Canadian exploration and mining company that has full ownership of the Scotia Mine and related facilities near Halifax, Nova Scotia. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, EDM also holds several prospective exploration licenses near its Scotia Mine and in the surrounding regions of Nova Scotia.

The Company's common shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "EDM". For more information, please contact:

Mark Haywood

President & Chief Executive Officer

Kevin Farrell

Chief Financial Officer

Manish Grigo

Corporate Development

Telephone +1 (902) 482 4481

Facsimile +1 (902) 422 2388

Email & Web info@EDMresources.com & www.EDMresources.com

The Company's corporate filings and technical reports can be viewed on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Further information on EDM is also available on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/EDMresources.inc Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/EDMresources and LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/EDMresources .

CAUTIONARY 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 news release.

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "should", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties, and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward- looking information. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Company's objectives, goals or future plans, statements, potential mineralization, exploration and development results, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from EDM's expectations include, among others, the degree to which mineral resource and reserve estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources and reserves, the degree to which factors are present which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable, the price of zinc, lead and gypsum, uncertainties relating to availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, risks related to international operations, the actual results of current exploration activities, delays in the development of projects, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as well as future prices of metals, ability to predict or counteract potential impact of COVID-19 coronavirus on factors relevant to the Company's business, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in EDM's management's discussion and analysis of the Company's annual financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2023. Although EDM has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results to be not as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208220

SOURCE: EDM Resources Inc.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - Forge Resources Corp. (CSE: FRG) (OTCQB: BNNHF) (FSE: 5YZ) ("FRG" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the scheduled start of mobilization on May 18, 2024, of equipment and fuels to commence the re-establishment of camps and construction of drill pads. On or about May 24, drill crews will travel to site and commence drill testing of the priority targets.

Lorne Warner P.Geo, President of Forge Resources, states: "We are excited to restart our Phase 1 drilling program. Based on last year's successful results and quality of targets, we have high expectations of further success. I anticipate being in camp for most of the drilling to help guide the program and observe the cores alongside our partnered operators, Archer Cathro."

Drill Plan Recap

The company is proposing to complete up to 5 drill holes for a total of 2,500 metres as part of the continuation of the fall 2023 diamond drilling program that paused in for the winter season.

As announced on April 18, 2024, the proposed holes will focus on several high priority and undrilled tested coincident geochemical/geophysical anomalies along a four-kilometre trend. Archer Cathro has created a preliminary drill plan for the 2024 Alotta field program, to test for porphyry-style mineralization on the property. The plan is designed to test the best drill targets based on merit. The company plans to commence further reconnaissance drill testing on the Payoff and Severance target areas this spring. These areas are situated in closer proximity to the core area of coincident soil and geophysical anomalies with previous rock sampling confirming the occurrence of copper and gold mineralization.

Payout and Severance Zones

The two primary targets on the property are the Payout and Severance Zones, located in the west-central and east-central parts of the property. These two zones have significant surface mineralization, which comprise highly anomalous gold, copper and molybdenum values from rock and soil samples. These targets represent the areas of the property with significant (>1 g/t gold) rock values on surface.

For preliminary drilling, a total of four holes are recommended to test surface mineralization and geophysical anomalies at depth. At both targets, the first hole is designed as a shallow angle hole to test the extent of mineralization directly beneath the prospective area, while the second is steeper to test for deeper mineralization and corresponding chargeability/resistivity anomalies present in the vicinity.

Alimony and Commission Targets

In a later drilling phase, the company has two additional drill targets to test. The Alimony Target is a significant 1200 m by 500 m molybdenum-gold soil anomaly that coincides with overlapping chargeability and resistivity anomalies. In the eastern part of the property, the Commission Target is defined by a 1500 m by 1000 m gold-copper-molybdenum soil anomaly, which corresponds to magnetic low to moderate response. A well constrained resistivity anomaly is present that coincides with strongly anomalous gold and copper soil values.

Fall 2023 Program Results

In November 2023 two drill holes were completed on the property which confirmed the porphyry style nature of mineralization. As announced on February 24, 2024, Hole ALT-23-01 intercepted 211.65 metres of 0.46 grams/tonne gold from the first ever diamond drill hole on the property.

Proximity to Proven Resources

The Alotta property consists of 96 mineral claims that cover approximately 1,926 hectares that is located 50 km south-east of Western Copper and Gold's Casino deposit. The Casino deposit is one of the most economic, greenfield copper-gold mining projects in the world which is ranked as one of the top ten largest, undeveloped, copper-gold porphyry deposits in the world. Western Copper and Gold announced on April 30, 2024, the completion of their bought deal public offering with gross proceeds of $46 million. Subsequently, on May 6, 2024, they announced the completion of a further $5 million financing with Rio Tinto.

Figure 1 outlines the high priority target areas and proposed drilling within the Alotta property with potential gold-copper-molybdenum, porphyry style mineralization.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8680/208211_b8c8056de45dfa66_001full.jpg

Figure 2 provides an illustration of the Casino Deposit superimposed over the Allotta's molybdenum in soil geochemistry.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8680/208211_b8c8056de45dfa66_002full.jpg

About Forge Resources Corp.

Forge Resources Corp. is a Canadian-listed junior exploration company focused on exploring and advancing the Alotta project, a prospective porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum project located 50 km south-east of the Casino porphyry deposit in the unglaciated portion of the Dawson Range porphyry/epithermal belt in the Yukon Territory of Canada.

In addition, the Company holds a 40% interest in Aion Mining Corp., a company that is developing the fully permitted La Estrella coal project in Santander, Colombia. The project contains eight known seams of metallurgical and thermal coal.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Cole McClay", CEO Forge Resources Corp.

info@forgeresources.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, information concerning the Company's intentions with respect to the development of its mineral properties. Forward-looking information is based on the views, opinions, intentions and estimates of management at the date the information is made, and is based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking information (including the actions of other parties who have agreed to do certain things and the approval of certain regulatory bodies). Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of the Company and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws, or to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of the Company, its financial or operating results or its securities. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. We seek safe harbor.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208211

SOURCE: Forge Resources Corp.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Zeus North America Mining Corp. (formerly Umdoni Exploration Inc.) (CSE:ZEUS)(OTCQB:ZUUZF)(FRANKFURT:O92) (the "Company" or "Zeus") is pleased to announce that it has qualified for trading on the OTCQB Venture Market in the United States operated by the OTC Markets Group Inc. and the Company's common shares have commenced trading on the OTCQB under the symbol "ZUUZF" with an effective date of April 30, 2024. The Company has additionally secured Depository Trust Company ("DTC") eligibility for its common shares traded in the United States.

Zeus is also pleased to announce the listing of its common shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange ("FSE") under the symbol "O92". The Company officially began trading on the FSE on April 17, 2024 as part of the Company's expansion into European investment markets. With its status as a prominent European listing venue, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange plays an important role in facilitating trading activities, handling around 90 percent of all securities traded within Germany. Companies listing on the FSE often aim to enhance shareholder accessibility and foster investment opportunities for a global audience of investors.

The Company's common shares continue to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") under the symbol "ZEUS".

Dean Besserer, the Company's President and CEO, commented: "Both the Frankfurt and the OTCQB listing with DTC eligibility will allow Zeus to broaden its shareholder base in the USA and abroad, as well as provide market awareness and increased liquidity as we continue to explore our portfolio of 100% owned copper and copper-gold properties in the USA".

About the OTCQB

The OTCQB offers early stage and developing U.S. and international companies the benefits of being publicly traded in the U.S. The OTCQB helps companies build shareholder value with a goal of enhancing liquidity and achieving fair valuation.

U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time level 2 quotes for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com. The Company's listing on the CSE and the trading of its shares on the OTCQB contribute to a larger global presence and offers investors preeminent access to trading.

About the Depository Trust Company

The Depository Trust Company is a subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and manages the electronic clearing and settlement of publicly traded companies. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through the DTC are considered "DTC eligible". This electronic method of clearing securities speeds up the receipt of stock and cash, and thus accelerates the settlement process for investors trading the Company's shares on the OTCQB.

On behalf of the board of directors.

"Dean Besserer"

President and CEO

For more information, please contact the Company at info@zeusminingcorp.com

FOR INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACT:

Kin Communications Inc.

Ph: 604-684-6730

ZEUS@kincommunications.com

About Zeus North America Mining Corp.

The Company is in the business of mineral exploration. The Company is focused on its exploration properties in the state of Idaho known as the: Cuddy Mountain; Selway; and Great Western properties, respectively. The Idaho properties consist of 82 (Cuddy Mountain), 57 (Selway) and 38 (Great Western) lode mining claims respectively and cover a cumulative area of approximately 3822.1 acres. The Company's flagship Cuddy Mountain Property is adjacent to Hercules Silvers' Leviathan Copper Porphyry discovery.

Forward Looking Statements

When used in this news release, the words "estimate", "project", "belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or "should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. Although the Company believes, in light of the experience of their respective officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate, that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the parties can give no assurance that such statements will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements and information in this news release include, amongst others, the Company's exploration plans. Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Company. There are risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements or implied by such forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by forward-looking statements and information. Such factors include, among others: currency fluctuations; limited business history of the parties; disruptions or changes in the credit or security markets; results of operation activities and development of projects; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; and general development, market and industry conditions.

The Company undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of its securities or its financial or operating results (as applicable). The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. When relying on the Company's forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. The Company has assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraph will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. The Company does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

SOURCE: Zeus North America Mining Corp.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
see attached

FORT MILL, SC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Catheter Precision, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE American:VTAK), a US based innovative medical device company focused on electrophysiology products, announced the receipt of a purchase order for LockeT, the company's newest product, from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) health system. This initial purchase order from UCSD enables product evaluations at the hospital to begin.

"Many hospitals require an evaluation of products before a commitment to long-term purchase," stated David Jenkins, CEO of Catheter Precision. "Obtaining this purchase order requires buy-in from the physician, hospital staff, and purchasing departments before it can be issued. This purchase order indicates that the hospital and its staff see the value and benefits that LockeT can bring not just to their hospital, but to their patients."

Robert Locke, Catheter Precision's VP of Product Development for LockeT stated, "I have worked with the UCSD Health System for many years. This hospital is often one of the earliest adopters of new technologies and a leader in the electrophysiology field. I am delighted that they are one of the first users of LockeT as we start our nation-wide product launch."

About LockeT

Catheter Precision's LockeT is a suture retention device intended to assist in hemostasis after percutaneous venous punctures. LockeT is a Class 1 device registered with the FDA.

About Catheter Precision

Catheter Precision is an innovative U.S.-based medical device company bringing new solutions to market to improve the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. It is focused on developing groundbreaking technology for electrophysiology procedures by collaborating with physicians and continuously advancing its products. Reincorporated as Ra Medical Systems, Inc. in Delaware in 2018, the Company changed its name to Catheter Precision, Inc. on August 17, 2023.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to substantial risk and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "anticipate," "may," "might," "can," "could," "continue," "depends," "expect," "expand," "forecast," "intend," "predict," "plan," "rely," "should," "will," "may," "seek," or the negative of these terms and other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding product evaluations at the hospital, and that the purchase order indicates that the hospital and its staff see the value and benefits that LockeT can bring. The Company's expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements as a result of uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances, including but not limited to risks and uncertainties included under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 10-K filed with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov. These risks and uncertainties include, but aren't limited to, that we do not have sufficient liquidity to fund our operations through May 2024 unless we are able to obtain additional financing or enter into a strategic transaction that would provide additional liquidity, we will not be able to reach profitability unless we are able to achieve our product expansion and growth goals, our research and development and commercialization efforts may depend on entering into agreements with corporate collaborators, we have entered into joint marketing agreements with respect to our products, and may enter into additional joint marketing agreements, that will reduce our revenues from product sales, royalty agreements with respect to our LockeT device will reduce any future profits from this product, if we experience significant disruptions in our information technology systems, our business may be adversely affected, litigation and other legal proceedings may adversely affect our business, if we make acquisitions or divestitures, we could encounter difficulties that harm our business, failure to attract and retain sufficient qualified personnel could also impede our growth, failure to maintain effective internal controls could cause our investors to lose confidence in us and adversely affect the market price of our common stock, we have determined that our internal controls and disclosure controls were not effective as of December 31, 2023 and March 31, 2024, and as a result, without effective remediation of the material weaknesses that we have identified, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud, our revenues may depend on our customers' receipt of adequate reimbursement from private insurers and government sponsored healthcare programs, we may be unable to compete successfully with companies in our highly competitive industry, many of whom have substantially greater resources than we do, our future operating results depend upon our ability to obtain components in sufficient quantities on commercially reasonable terms or according to schedules, prices, quality and volumes that are acceptable to us, and suppliers may fail to deliver components, or we may be unable to manage these components effectively or obtain these components on such terms, if hospitals, physicians and patients do not accept our current and future products or if the market for indications for which any product candidate is approved is smaller than expected, we may be unable to generate significant revenue, if any, our medical device operations are subject to pervasive and continuing FDA regulatory requirements, our products may be subject to additional recalls, revocations or suspensions after receiving FDA or foreign approval or clearance, which could divert managerial and financial resources, harm our reputation, and adversely affect our business, changes in trade policies among the U.S. and other countries, in particular the imposition of new or higher tariffs, could place pressure on our average selling prices as our customers seek to offset the impact of increased tariffs on their own products, increased tariffs or the imposition of other barriers to international trade could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and operating results. The risks and uncertainties described above may be amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused significant economic uncertainty, or other pandemics, supply chain disruptions from the Ukraine war or Israeli-Hamas conflict and otherwise, and ongoing volatility in the stock markets and the U.S. economy in general.

The forward-looking statements included in this communication are made only as of the date hereof. The Company assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

CONTACTS:

At the Company

David Jenkins

973-691-2000

IR@catheterprecision.com

# # #

SOURCE: Catheter Precision, Inc

View the original press release on accesswire.com
The Urban League of Greater Hartford has received a $150,000 charitable grant from KeyBank Foundation payable over two years to support the agency's Project Ready program, a signature national youth development direct service. The funds will launch two new modules, (1) STEAM and (2) Financial Capability, to provide high schoolers with skills and experiences to help foster more racial diversity in quantitative fields.

"The Project Ready Scholars have been a cornerstone of our agency's work and this investment from KeyBank in our students' financial capabilities will be valuable to them in their personal and professional development," said David Hopkins, President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Hartford. "The generous intentionality of this grant from our friends at KeyBank actually makes it the largest annualized ($75,000/year) donation ever presented by a private funder to our Project Ready program!" Founded in 1964 with a mission to promote racial equity through economic empowerment, the Urban League of Greater Hartford is celebrating 60 years as one of the 92 affiliates of the National Urban League, providing programming and services in education, employment, housing, health, and justice.

Project Ready modules operating in Hartford include mentoring, digital literacy, history and culture, and college success. The addition of the STEAM and Financial Capability modules will provide the Scholars, ranging in age from 14 to 19, with age-appropriate financial literacy in earnings, living expenses, budgeting, maintaining bank accounts, investing, and acquiring assets, as well as workforce readiness and entrepreneurship. Through workshops, simulations, speakers, tours, games, and activities, participants will be exposed to basic financial management techniques, and receive insights to help put them on a path to building wealth and reducing the wealth gap. Thanks to KeyBank, the Urban League of Greater Hartford expects to have an impact on current students, and attract new students, with these new modules, which also include financial incentives that afford participants an opportunity to actually put the things they learn into practice. In 2022, the Greater Hartford Project Ready team served nearly 70 students, 100 percent of whom were promoted to the next grade, with all of its seniors enrolling in college.

"Empowering our youth through financial education is an investment in a future where everyone has equal access to economic opportunities and where racial equity thrives," said Matthew Hummel, KeyBank Connecticut and Western Massachusetts Market President. "KeyBank shares this vision with The Urban League and is proud to support Project Ready as a strong step forward toward that goal."

KeyBank's grant to The Urban League of Greater Hartford is part of the bank's $40 billion community investments plan focused on economic access and equity to communities across the country. The scope of the plan includes investments and lending in affordable housing, home lending, small business lending, green initiatives, and transformative philanthropy targeted toward workforce development, education, and safe, vital neighborhoods for underserved communities and populations.

On May 1, 2024, KeyBank presented a check to Urban League of Greater Hartford leaders and young scholars at the nonprofit organization's "College Signing Day" for graduating students, their parents and educators, held this year at the Chrysalis Center in Hartford.

Hartford program helps students commit to college (wtnh.com).

About the Urban League of Greater Hartford:

The Urban League of Greater Hartford is a community-based, not-for-profit 501(c)(3), established in 1964 as the National Urban League's 66th affiliate. Its mission is to promote racial equity through economic empowerment programs in the areas of youth development, adult education, workforce development, housing, personal financial management, community health, and social justice. Its programs and operations impact more than 3,000 individuals and their families every year. visit www.ulgh.org or call 860-527-0147. Follow us on social media @ulgh64.

About KeyBank Foundation:

KeyBank Foundation serves to fulfill KeyBank's purpose to help clients and communities thrive, and its mission is to support organizations and programs that prepare people for thriving futures. The Foundation's mission is advanced through three funding priorities - neighbors, education, and workforce - and through community service. To provide meaningful philanthropy that transforms lives, KeyBank Foundation listens carefully to understand the unique characteristics and needs of its communities and then backs solutions with targeted philanthropic investments. KeyBank Foundation is a nonprofit charitable foundation, funded by KeyCorp.

About KeyCorp/KeyBank

KeyCorp's roots trace back nearly 200 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $187 billion at March?31, 2024. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,200 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit?https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC

Media contacts:

Urban League of Greater Hartford: Laura Soll, Communications, | 860-688-4499, M 860-833-4466 | Laura@sollpr.com

KeyBank: Karen Crane, Communications Manager | 203-789-2752 | karen_crane@keybank.com

Photo caption (from left): Project Ready Scholars are pictured with KeyBank leaders Neil Cyr, Area Retail Leader; Matt Hummel, Market President; David Hopkins, President and CEO, Urban League of Greater Hartford; Analisha Michanczyk, KeyBank Corporate Responsibility Officer; and Trayvonn A. Diaz, Senior Outreach Assistant to Senator Christopher Murphy.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from KeyBank on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: KeyBank

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/keybank

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: KeyBank

View the original press release on accesswire.com
DUBAI, UAE, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Huatai Securities Co., Ltd (Stock Code: 601688.SH, 6886.HK, HTSC.L; "the Company"), a leading technology-driven financial group, has participated in the second edition of the Dubai FinTech Summit for the first time, hosted by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). As a significant and prominent financial institution representative from China, Huatai Securities showcased its cutting-edge technologies by highlighting its diverse business solution platforms and systems.

The Dubai FinTech Summit serves as a global platform for innovation, bringing together the brightest minds, policymakers, and influencers to collectively shape the future of FinTech and the financial industry. The summit attracted the participation of over 8,000 decision-makers, 300 thought leaders, and 200 exhibitors from various countries and regions, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, South Korea, India, China, Europe, and the United States.

During the summit, Huatai Securities highlighted its leading technology in service systems and platforms, including "HTSC CONNECT", an integrated service platform for financial institutions and corporate customers, as well as "ZhangLe Fortune Path", a one-stop wealth management services platform for global assets for individual customers. Huatai Securities also showcased its latest digital business systems and platforms, including the Credit Analysis Management System (CAMS) and the HTSC Electronic Advanced Dealing System (HEADS), which were officially released to the market in 2023. These platforms cater to institutional investors, offering research, trading, and risk management capabilities. These advancements demonstrate Huatai Securities' ongoing commitment to empowering innovation in business models and continuously improving customer service capabilities. Furthermore, Huatai Securities implemented HTSC Digital Employee, an automated and intelligent service for financial business operations. The adoption of digital employees aims to assist employees in resolving repetitive tasks and enhance overall personnel efficiency.

Leveraging the summit, Huatai Securities is committed to sharing its innovative experiences and fostering connections with leading players in the financial technology industry. By integrating best practices and insights from different countries, the Company is well-prepared to tackle the increasingly complex challenges of the international financial market and seize opportunities for transformative growth.

Huatai Securities is bolstering its presence in the Middle East market while actively supporting financial connectivity for countries within this area. With a strong foothold in global markets, including the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Europe, and the United States, Huatai Securities stands as a prominent player in international business. Leveraging its expanding global network, Huatai Securities will continue to provide integrated financial services across domestic and international markets. These encompass overseas listings, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and regional business spin-offs designed to empower Chinese enterprises, enabling them to explore new markets and become integral parts of the global innovation ecosystem.

About Huatai Securities

Established in 1991, Huatai Securities Co., Ltd. (601688.SH; 6886.HK; HTSC.LI) played a key role in modernizing China's securities industry with financial technologies, offering a diverse range of financial services to individuals and institutions. In 2023, the Company achieved an operating revenue of RMB 36.6 billion and a net profit attributable to the parent company of RMB 12.8 billion, solidifying its position as a frontrunner in the Chinese securities sector, and aiming to become a preeminent investment bank with strong footprint in China and global influence.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/huatai-securities-unveils-cutting-edge-fintech-solutions-at-the-dubai-fintech-summit-302138210.html
HNR Acquisition Corp (NYSE American:HNRA) (the "Company" or "HNRA") is an independent oil and gas company focused on the acquisition, development, exploration and production of oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin in New Mexico. Today, the Company announces its receipt of a letter from the NYSE American LLC ("NYSE American") indicating the Company's compliance with Section 1007 of the NYSE American Company Guide following the Company's filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K on May 3, 2024. Pursuant to the letter, the Company will be removed from the NYSE American's late filers' list and the "LF" indicator posted on the Company's "Profile, Data and News" page on the NYSE American website will be removed.

Receipt of Audit Opinion with Going Concern Qualification

In addition, the Company is issuing this release to incorporate certain disclosures that are required under the NYSE American Company Guide Sections 401(h) and 610(b). Included below are these additional disclosures related to the Company's receipt of an audit opinion with going concern qualification for the year ended December 31, 2023.

The audit opinion provided by the Company's independent public auditing firm relating to the Company's audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023 included a going concern qualification. The financial statements were included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 3, 2024. The opinion of the Company's independent public auditing firm notes that the Company has a significant working capital deficiency and needs to raise additional funds to meet its obligations and sustain its operations. The Company's independent public auditing firm indicated in its opinion that these conditions raise a substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. Management's plans to alleviate this substantial doubt include improving profitability through streamlining costs, maintaining active hedge positions for its proven reserve production, and the issuance of additional shares of Class A common stock through under the Common Stock Purchase Agreement with White Lion Capital, LLC. The Company has a three-year Common Stock Purchase Agreement with a maximum funding limit of $150,000,000 that can fund the Company operations and production growth, and be used to reduce liabilities of the Company, subject to the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1, which is in the review process, being declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission

About the Oil Field Property

In November 2023, the Company acquired LH Operating, LLC ("LHO") including its holdings in New Mexico of oil and gas waterflood production comprising 13,700 contiguous leasehold acres, 342 producing wells and 207 injection wells situated on 20 federal and 3 state leases in the Grayburg-Jackson Oil Field. The Grayburg-Jackson Oil Field is located on the Northwest Shelf of the prolific Permian Basin in Eddy County, New Mexico.

Leasehold rights of LHO, now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, include the Seven Rivers, Queen, Grayburg and San Andres intervals that range from as shallow as 1,500 feet to 4,000 feet in depth. The December 2023 reserve report from our third-party engineer, William H. Cobb and Associates, Inc. ("Cobb"), reflects LHO to have proven reserves of approximately 15.4 million barrels of oil and 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The mapped original-oil-in-place ("OOIP") in the LHO leasehold is approximately 876 million barrels of oil in the Grayburg and San Andres intervals and 80 million barrels in the Seven Rivers interval for a total OOIP of approximately 956,000,000 barrels of oil.

Our primary production is currently from the Seven Rivers zone. In addition to proven reserves, the Company believes we may access an additional 34 million barrels of oil by adding perforations in the Grayburg and San Andres formations. With proven oil reserves of over 15 million barrels, combined with the potential 34 million additional barrels from the Grayburg and San Andres zones, LHO should produce oil and a revenue stream for more than two decades with a slow decline rate.

About HNR Acquisition Corp

HNRA is an independent upstream energy company focused on maximizing total returns to its shareholders through the development of onshore oil and natural gas properties in the United States. HNRA's long-term goal is to maximize total shareholder value from a diversified portfolio of long-life oil and natural gas properties built through acquisition and through selective development, production enhancement, and other exploitation efforts on its oil and natural gas properties. On November 15, 2023, HNRA acquired its operating entity, LH Operating, LLC, whose assets include interests in the Grayburg-Jackson oil field in the prolific Permian Basin in Eddy County, New Mexico.

HNRA's Class A Common Stock trades on the NYSE American (NYSE American: HNRA) and our public warrants trade on the NYSE American (NYSE American: HNRAW). For more information on HNRA, please visit the Company's website: https://www.hnra-nyse.com/

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expected. Words such as "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "seeks," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "should" and variations and similar words and expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or future results, based on currently available information and reflect the Company's management's current beliefs. A number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events and results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors - including the availability of funds, the results of financing efforts and the risks relating to our business - that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on EDGAR (see www.edgar-online.com) and with the Securities and Exchange Commission (see www.sec.gov). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor Relations:

Michael J. Porter, President

PORTER, LEVAY & ROSE, INC.

mike@plrinvest.com

SOURCE: HNR Acquisition Corp

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Dallas, Texas--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - Led by the visionary Calvin Yadav, IREX.ai's Ethical AI Platform was of discussion during Earthx 2024, generating interest about the responsible use of artificial intelligence in surveillance. Calvin Yadav provided enlightenment in the niche category of "Ethical AI Surveillance" through his company IREX.ai.





Calvin Yadav, CEO of IREX.ai

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8871/207391_real_07c35430-19e5-4bce-8849-01a01634fdfb.jpg

In his speech at Earthx 2024, Calvin Yadav, CEO of IREX.ai, articulated the organisation's powerful vision for leveraging AI to benefit and protect communities worldwide. With a strong understanding of the intersection between technology and ethics, Yadav addressed the audience, painting a vivid picture of a future where AI serves as a force for good.



At the heart of IREX.ai's mission lies the Ethical AI Platform, a revolutionary system designed to uphold the highest standards of fairness, transparency, and accountability in AI applications. Unlike traditional AI models that prioritize efficiency and performance above all else, IREX.ai places ethical considerations at the forefront, ensuring that AI systems are developed and deployed in a manner that respects human rights, diversity, and societal well-being.



During his speech, Yadav shared inspiring examples of how IREX.ai's Ethical AI Platform is making a tangible difference in communities around the world. From finding missing children to detecting weapons and wanted vehicles. IREX.ai's solutions are empowering organizations to harness the full potential of AI while safeguarding against potential risks and biases. During this year alone thousands of children have been reported missing and the emergence of Ethical AI, such as IREX is being used as a tool to combat this seemingly growing issue.



What sets IREX.ai apart is its unwavering commitment to inclusivity and collaboration. Recognizing the importance of diverse perspectives in AI development, Yadav emphasized the need for interdisciplinary cooperation and stakeholder engagement. By fostering dialogue between technologists, policymakers, ethicists, and community representatives, IREX.ai has created AI solutions that reflect the values and priorities of the people they serve.



IREX.ai's involvement at Earth 2024 emphasizes the global relevance of Ethical AI in Surveillance, marking a critical juncture where technology and ethics converge on a worldwide scale.



With Earthx 2024 coming to a close, Calvin Yadav's speech on IREX.ai's role on the new era of Ethical AI takes into consideration where the technology becomes community driven, with ethics and protection at the core.



About IREX.ai



IREX.ai is a leading provider of artificial intelligence solutions for the security industry. Leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms and computer vision technologies, IREX.ai's innovative platforms empower organizations to detect threats, optimize operations, and enhance safety and security. With a commitment to continuous innovation and excellence, IREX.ai is driving the future of security through the power of AI.



For more information about IREX.ai, please contact hello@irex.ai



Contact Details:

Daniel Eborall

IREX Global Director

daniel@irex.ai

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/207391

SOURCE: PRNews OU
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In a significant stride toward sustainable maritime operations, Compagnie Maritime Monegasque (CMM) announced the closing of up to $94 million in financing. The transaction was funded by Summit Ridge Capital Partners. Panorama Capital Partners sourced and advised on the transaction, and participated as a co-investor.

This financing enables CMM to recompose its shareholder structure and to expand its fleet. As part of this expansion, CMM will construct pioneering ethanol powered Platform Supply Vessels in Brazil. This is a new use of ethanol as fuel in an industry in dire need of decarbonization and will position CMM as a global leader in environmentally sustainable maritime operations.

"Summit Ridge is proud to support CMM's innovative approach to maritime logistics", stated Christopher Park, CEO of Summit Ridge. "This strategic investment reflects our ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship and our belief in Brazilian Shipping and the economic potential of sustainable energy solutions."

"We are thrilled to partner with Summit Ridge and Panorama on this transformative journey," said Christophe Vancauwenbergh, CEO of CMM. "This financing not only strengthens our capital structure but significantly accelerates our transition to a sustainable fleet, offering both environmental and economic benefits on a global scale".

Stephanos Velissaropoulos, founding partner of Panorama Capital Partners, commented, "Our involvement in this transaction underscores our dedication to advising and investing in sustainable infrastructure and technologies. CMM's initiative to deploy ethanol-powered vessels is a game-changer for the maritime industry and represents a substantial advancement in eco-friendly marine operations."

About Compagnie Maritime Monegasque

Compagnie Maritime Monegasque (CMM) is a leading company providing innovative solutions to the Brazilian Offshore Support Vessel market with a fleet among the most modern in Brazil. Committed to sustainable practices, CMM is pioneering the adoption of ethanol-powered vessels to reduce environmental impact.

About Summit Ridge Capital Partners

Summit Ridge Capital Partners is a leading alternative credit manager and capital solutions provider in Latin America. Based on fundamentally oriented and on-the-ground research, Summit Ridge looks to build high conviction portfolios of investments offering high yield and superior risk adjusted returns, using strong adhoc legal structures to maximize downside protection.

About Panorama Capital Partners

Panorama Capital Partners is a leading merchant bank in Latin America, specializing in sustainable natural resource development. With offices in three key Latin American markets, Panorama offers expert capital raising and advisory services to asset management funds and strategic clients. The firm's robust portfolio and targeted growth strategies ensure that it consistently delivers operational excellence and long-term success for its partners.

For further information, please contact:

info@cmmoffshore.com

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REDDING, Calif., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report titled, 'Electric Scooters Market by Vehicle Type (Electric Motorcycles, E-Kick scooters & Bikes, Electric Mopeds), Power Output (Less Than 3.6kW, 3.6kW to 7.2kW), Battery Technology, Motor Type, Charging Type, End-user, and Geography-Forecast to 2031', the electric scooters market is projected to reach $408.1 billion by 2031 from an estimated $103.5 billion in 2024, at a CAGR of 21.6% during the forecast period (2024-2031). By volume, this market is expected to reach 298.5 million units by 2031 from an estimated 93.4 million units in 2024, at a CAGR of 18.1% during the forecast period 2024 to 2031.

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The growth of the global electric scooters market is driven by the increasing localization of electric scooter manufacturing in emerging economies, the increasing consumer acceptance of electric two-wheelers compared to ICE two-wheelers, and the rising inclination of developed economies toward electric-powered two-wheelers. However, the growing reliability issues among consumers due to increasing incidents of accidents involving electric two-wheelers and inadequate investment by legacy two-wheeler manufacturers toward electric scooters restrain the growth of this market.

The rise in government initiatives to mitigate traffic congestion and pollution is expected to generate market growth opportunities. However, the lack of charging infrastructure poses a major challenge for the market's growth.

The global electric scooters market is segmented by vehicle type, power output, battery technology, motor type, charging type, end user, and geography. The study also evaluates industry competitors and analyses the country and regional-level markets.

Increasing Localization of Electric Scooter Manufacturing in Emerging Economies Supporting the Growth of the Electric Scooters Market

The market for electric scooters is witnessing a surge in the localization of manufacturing operations within emerging economies, marking a crucial development for its sustained growth. Several manufacturers are strategically shifting their production hubs to key emerging economies, drawn by the prospect of capitalizing on cost-effective labor and abundant resources. For instance, in August 2023, an Indian electric scooter manufacturer, AVERA (India), announced its plan to expand with an investment of USD 12.1 million (INR 1.0 billion) to increase production from 25,000 units per annum to 1,00,000 per annum and cater to the emerging markets in Australia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and some other countries in the immediate future.

Similarly, in December 2023, Gogoro Inc. (Taiwan) expanded in India by introducing a new locally-produced electric scooter, the Gogoro CrossOver GX250, and announced the immediate availability of its battery-swapping ecosystem for e-scooters. The e-scooters initially were available for B2B customers in Delhi and Goa, the company plans to roll out in Mumbai and Pune in the first half of 2024, with ample consumer availability in the second quarter of 2024. Such developments not only enhance the affordability of electric scooters but also align with global sustainability goals set by local governments by promoting the adoption of eco-friendly transportation alternatives. This trend is particularly significant in emerging economies where urbanization and a growing middle-class population create a burgeoning demand for electric two-wheelers.

In some countries, the government's push to strengthen the local electric two-wheeler market share is expected to encourage the E2Ws adoption in coming years. For instance, in February 2023, Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC), a state-owned battery company, targets to achieve up to 30% share of the electric motorbikes market in Indonesia as the government is pushing the adoption of electric vehicles. The Government of Indonesia is aiming to reach 2 million sales of electric motorbikes by 2025 with a huge investment in processing its rich nickel reserves into battery materials. With such targets, companies aim to cater to the rising consumer demand more efficiently while fostering economic development in developing economies.

The electric scooters industry continues to embrace localization. It ensures the affordability and accessibility of these sustainable vehicles by establishing a foundation for a resilient and responsive electric mobility ecosystem in emerging economies.

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Based on vehicle type, in 2024, the e-kick scooters & bikes segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global electric scooters market by value and by volume. In terms of sales volume, the e-kick scooters & bikes segment is estimated to hold the share of 85% of the total electric scooters market. The large market share of this segment is attributed to rising global awareness of environmental sustainability, the need for eco-friendly transportation, favorable government policies and initiatives, and growing investments by key players and key stakeholders. However, the electric motorcycles segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of this segment is attributed to increasing government policies for promoting electric mobility, growing awareness regarding the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution, rising demand for electric motorcycles among consumers, increasing gasoline prices, and stringent emission norms.

Based on power output, in 2024, the less than 3.6 kW segment is expected to account for the largest share of 68% of the electric scooters market. The large share of this segment is attributed to the increasing adoption of e-kick scooters & bikes for urban commute and recreational activities, rising initiatives by government authorities for increasing adoption of e-kick scooters & bikes, and increasing investments by ride-hailing companies for deploying e-kick scooters & bikes for micromobility. However, the 3.6 kW to 7.2 kW segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 27.5% during the forecast period.

Based on battery technology, in 2024, the lithium-ion battery segment is expected to account for the largest share of 88% of the electric scooters market. The large share of this segment is attributed to the growing use of electric and hybrid electric vehicles and the rising adoption of battery technology in the renewable energy industry. However, the lithium-ion polymer battery segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. A steady increase in lithium-ion polymer batteries adoption is attributed to their superior performance characteristics. These batteries provide a higher power-to-weight ratio, faster charging capabilities, and increased cycle life compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries, contributing to enhanced efficiency and range for electric two-wheelers.

Based on motor type, in 2024, the hub motors segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global electric scooters market. The large market share of this segment is attributed to its high flexibility and stability. Additionally, government initiatives aimed at promoting the adoption of electric vehicles have spurred significant demand for hub motors.

Based on charging type, in 2024, the connector charging segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global electric scooters market. The large share of this segment is attributed to the increasing development and adoption of standardized connector types to ensure compatibility between charging stations and electric two-wheelers and the increasing need for faster charging connectors compatible with high-power DC fast charging.

Based on end user, in 2024, the business organizations segment is expected to account for the largest share of 43% of the electric scooters market. The large market share of this segment is attributed to government initiatives aimed at promoting EV adoption and reducing road congestion. This segment is also expected to grow at the highest CAGR of during the forecast period.

Based on geography, in 2024, Asia-Pacific is expected to command the largest share of 78% of the electric scooters by value. The Asia-Pacific electric scooters market is estimated to be worth USD 80.7 billion in 2024. Asia-Pacific's significant market share can be attributed to several factors, including rising incomes in developing countries, rising fuel prices, traffic congestion, and pollution. These factors are driving the demand for economical and environmentally friendly modes of transportation, such as electric scooters. Governments across various countries in the region are taking initiatives to promote electric vehicles, while market players are establishing charging infrastructures and launching e-scooters to meet the growing demand. Additionally, growing consumer interest in purchasing EVs to benefit from tax incentives contributes to the market growth in this region.

However, North America electric scooters market is expected to grow with the highest CAGR of 28-30% during the forecast period. The growth in this region is propelled by the growing urbanization, environmental consciousness, and the need for flexible and sustainable transportation options. Cities across the U.S. and Canada have embraced electric scooters as a viable solution to address the challenges of traffic congestion and the last-mile commute. The compact nature and emission-free operation of electric scooters align with North America's commitment to reducing carbon footprints and creating greener urban environments.

The key players operating in the electric scooters market are Fuji-Ta Bicycle Co., Ltd. (China), Trek Bicycle Corporation (U.S.), Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (Japan), Yadea Group Holdings Ltd. (China), Riese & Muller GmbH (Germany), Leon Cycles (Germany), Niu Technologies (China), Walberg Urban Electrics GmbH (Germany), myStromer AG (Switzerland), Magnum Bikes (U.S.), Pedego Electric Bikes (U.S.), Aventon Bikes (U.S.), Govecs AG (Germany), Zhejiang Minimotors Bike Co Ltd (China), Zero Motorcycle Inc. (U.S.), Gogoro Inc. (Taiwan), Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd (India), Energica Motor Company (Italy), Revolt Motors (India), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (India), and Rad Power Bikes Inc. (U.S.).

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Scope of the Report

Electric Scooters Market-by Vehicle Type

E-Kick Scooters & Bikes

Electric Motorcycles

Electric Mopeds

Electric Scooters Market-by Power Output

Less Than 3.6 kW

3.6 Kw to 7.2 kW

20 Kw to 100 kW

Electric Scooters Market-by Battery Technology

Lithium-Ion Battery

Sealed Lead-Acid Battery

Lithium-Ion Polymer Battery

Electric Scooters Market-by Motor Type

Hub Motors Gearless Hub Motors Geared Hub Motors

Mid-Drive Motors

Electric Scooters Market-by Charging Type

Connector Charging

Wireless Charging

Electric Scooters Market-by End User

Business Organizations

Micromobility Service Providers

Individuals

Academic Institutes/Universities

Government Institutions

Other End Users

Electric Scooters Market Assessment-by Geography

Asia-Pacific China India Thailand Japan South Korea Singapore Rest of Asia-Pacific

Europe Germany France Netherlands Italy Spain U.K. Switzerland Sweden Norway Denmark Rest of Europe

North America U.S. Canada

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

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About Meticulous Research

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BOSTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Silicon Photonics and PICs market is experiencing robust growth, driven by the surge in AI and datacom transceiver demand. Key players in the industry, such as Intel, Coherent, and Infinera, are actively using PICs within their transceivers.

What are the benefits and challenges for Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits?

Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) are tiny optical systems made of materials such as Silica (Glass), Silicon, or Indium Phosphide. PICs enable everything from complex optical designs that allow billions of bits of information to be sent and received in a package the size of a candy bar to artificial noses that can detect different compounds and molecules in the air around them.

By leveraging the billions of dollars in investment in the CMOS chips, PICs can unlock new processing scaling potential beyond Moore's law. However, there are still significant challenges for the PIC market, such as material limitations, integration complexity, and cost management. Large demand volumes are required to offset the initial cost of designing and manufacturing PICs, and production lead times can take months. The brand new IDTechEx report on the topic, 'Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits 2024-2034: Market, Technologies, and Forecasts', thoroughly investigates the PIC market and has identified Photonic Transceivers for AI as an emerging segment that is soon to be the largest source of demand for PICs.

What are the PIC materials of the future?

There is a wide variety of future PIC materials. Most of the current market uses Silicon and Silica-based PICs for light propagation; however, as an indirect semiconductor, Silicon is not an efficient light source or photodetector. Therefore, Silicon is usually combined with III-V materials for light sources and photodetection. Silicon's market dominance is set to continue; however, Thin Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN), with its moderate Pockels effect and low material loss, is emerging as a strong contender for applications that require high-performance modulation, such as quantum systems or potentially high-performance transceivers in the future. Monolithic Indium Phosphide (InP) continues to be a major player due to its ability to detect and emit light. Additionally, innovative materials like Barium Titanite (BTO) and rare-earth metals are being explored for their potential in quantum computing and other cutting-edge applications.

How AI is changing the demand for Silicon Photonics and PICs

The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has spurred an unprecedented demand for high-performance transceivers capable of supporting the massive data rates required by AI accelerators and data centers. Silicon Photonics and PICs are at the forefront of this revolution, with their ability to transmit data at speeds of 1.6Tbps and beyond. As shown by Nvidia's latest Blackwell CPUs, which, according to IDTechEx's research, require approximately two 800G transceivers per GPU, the need for efficient, high-bandwidth communication is becoming more critical for AI, positioning Silicon Photonics and PICs as essential components in the AI-driven future. The biggest driver of the development of PIC transceivers is AI, as higher-performance AI accelerators will require higher-performance transceivers, with 3.2Tbps transceivers expected to arrive by 2026.

What are the future applications?

Other applications for Silicon Photonics and PICs vary - from high-bandwidth chip-to-chip interconnects to advanced packaging and co-packaged optics. These technologies are paving the way for next-generation computing.

Photonic Engines and Accelerators: Using certain photonic components, such as Mach-Zehnder Interferometers, and controlling these components through electro-optical interconnects, high-performance processors and programmable PIC devices can be designed and manufactured, unlocking higher performance than what is possible with electronic accelerators alone.

PIC-based Sensors: Certain PIC materials, such as Silicon Nitride, can used for a range of different sensors, from gas sensors to 'artificial noses'. The healthcare sensor industry may be able to take advantage of the miniaturization of optical components into PIC devices, which could see applications in Point-of-Care diagnostics or Wearables.

PIC-based FMCW LiDAR has the potential to transform the automotive and agricultural industries with applications in drones and autonomous vehicles.

Quantum Systems: Companies investing in Trapped Ion and Photon-based Quantum Computing are looking to PICs for more stable and scalable quantum systems. PICs are used in photonic quantum systems to achieve the precise control of photons necessary for quantum computation.

The market for Silicon Photonics and PICs is experiencing robust growth, driven by the surge in AI and datacom transceiver demand. Key players in the industry, such as Intel/Jabil, Coherent, and Infinera, are actively using PICs within their transceivers. Innolight, a China-based transceiver company, hit 1.6Tbps of transfer speed in their latest transceivers in late 2023, which are due to start shipping for data-center applications in 2024. Coherent, which has its own InP wafer fab facilities, is also developing higher-performance transceivers for 1.6T+ applications. Intel Silicon Photonics, which is potentially going to be acquired by manufacturing firm Jabil, sold ~1.7 million PICs in 2023, according to IDTechEx's analysis, and is continuing to develop datacom and telecom transceivers. IDTechEx forecasts that PIC technology will continue dominating the high-performance transceiver market, further solidifying its position as a critical component in the modern technological landscape.

Key aspects of the IDTechEx report, 'Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits 2024-2034: Market, Technologies, and Forecasts', include:

Key Player Analysis for the High-Performance PIC-based Transceiver Market

A breakdown of Co-Packaged Optics and its key concepts

Analysis of Photonic Integrated Circuits for Quantum Systems

Benchmarks and comparisons of photonic materials, with an industry breakdown by material. It also includes an insight into emerging materials such as Thin-Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) and Barium Titanite (BTO).

Photonic Integrated Circuit Fundamentals and Key Concepts, including important components and underlying principles.

An analysis of how AI is changing demand for PIC-based transceivers, with a look at how Nvidia's recommended server architecture requires large numbers of transceivers.

An overview of PIC manufacturing techniques.

A look into future applications of PICs such as interconnects, LiDAR, biosensors, and gas sensors.

To find out more about this report, including downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/SemiPIC.

Upcoming free-to-attend Webinar

Photonic Integrated Circuits: Materials, Forecasts, and How AI Accelerator Demand Is Affecting the PIC Market

James Falkiner, Technology Analyst at IDTechEx and author of this article, will be presenting a free-to-attend webinar on the topic on Thursday 30 May 2024 - Photonic Integrated Circuits: Materials, Forecasts, and How AI Accelerator Demand Is Affecting the PIC Market.

This webinar will include:

What is a photonic integrated circuit?

What are current and future applications for PICs?

An insight into IDTechEx's Total PIC Market Forecasts

How AI accelerator demand is affecting the PIC Transceivers market

The roadmap for the future of Datacom Transceivers

PIC Material Benchmarks and Forecasts

Please click here to check timings and register for your specific time zone.

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 provides trusted independent research on emerging technologies and their markets. Since 1999, we have been helping our clients to understand new technologies, their supply chains, market requirements, opportunities and forecasts. For more information, contact research@IDTechEx.com or visit www.IDTechEx.com.

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May 7, 2024

Amsterdam, the Netherlands - Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), today announced that its shareholders approved all proposals at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) 2024, including:

The re-appointment of Chairman Feike Sijbesma and Peter Loscher as members of the Supervisory Board.

The appointment of Benoit Ribadeau-Dumas as member of the Supervisory Board.

The appointment of Charlotte Hanneman as member of the Board of Management, with effect from October 1, 2024.

The discharge of the members of the Board of Management and members of the Supervisory Board.

A full overview of the resolutions taken at the AGM 2024 can be found below.



Feike Sijbesma, Chairman of Philips' Supervisory Board, said: "I am very pleased with the re-appointment of Peter and the appointment of Benoit, who has extensive experience with large and global industrial companies. With our highly knowledgeable and experienced members, the composition of our Supervisory Board is very strong and well positioned to fulfill our vital duty of advising, challenging, and supporting Management in executing Philips' strategy, and it is an honor to serve a second term leading this Board.

I would also like to welcome Charlotte to Philips. She will join Philips' Board of Management on October 1, and fulfill the role of Chief Financial Officer. Her strong MedTech knowledge and extensive finance experience, coupled with her energy and passion for the healthcare industry, make her an ideal fit for the role. Charlotte will work with Abhijit, Philips' current Chief Financial Officer, until October, ensuring a smooth transition. I would also like to thank Abhijit in advance for his tremendous contribution to Philips over the last 38 years, and more particularly during his nine years as Chief Financial Officer."

Roy Jakobs, CEO of Royal Philips said: "I want to congratulate our Chairman Feike with his re-appointment. Together with Peter and Benoit, as well as the other Supervisory Board members, they represent the best in the industry to provide oversight and valuable insights to Management in executing Philips' 2023-2025 plan to create value with sustainable impact for all stakeholders. We look forward to a continued strong and successful collaboration, as we aim to improve the health and well-being of people through meaningful innovation."

All resolutions taken at the AGM 2024:

Agenda item Resolution 2 Annual Report 2023 Adoption of the financial statements 2023

Adoption of a dividend of EUR 0.85 per common share, in common shares, against retained earnings

Positive advisory vote on the approval of the Remuneration Report 2023

Discharge of the members of the Board of Management

Discharge of the members of the Supervisory Board 3 Composition of the Board of Management Appointment of Ms Hanneman as member of the Board of Management with effect from October 1, 2024 4 Composition of the Supervisory Board Re-appointment of Mr Sijbesma as member of the Supervisory Board with effect from May 7, 2024

Re-appointment Mr Loscher as member of the Supervisory Board with effect from May 7, 2024

Appointment of Mr Ribadeau-Dumas as member of the Supervisory Board with effect from May 7, 2024 5 Remuneration of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board Adoption of Remuneration Policy for the Board of Management

Adoption of Remuneration Policy for the Supervisory Board 6 Authorization of the Board of Management to issue shares or grant rights to acquire shares and restrict or exclude pre-emption rights 7 Authorization of the Board of Management to acquire shares in the company 8 Cancellation of shares

Further details about the dividend can be found via this link , and additional information on the composition of the Board of Management, the Executive Committee and the Supervisory Board can be found here . Philips' 2023 financial statements are included in its Annual Report 2023 that was published on February 20, 2024.



For more information about Philips' AGM 2024, please click on this link .

For further information, please contact:

Elco van Groningen

Philips External Relations

Tel.: +31 6 8103 9584

E-mail: elco.van.groningen@philips.com

Dorin Danu

Philips Investor Relations

Tel.: +31 20 59 77055

E-mail: dorin.danu@philips.com

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips.

Attachment
Procedures for obtaining preparatory documents for the General Meeting

Regulatory News:

GenSight Biologics (Euronext: SIGHT, ISIN: FR0013183985, PEA-PME eligible), a biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders, announced that it will hold its Annual General Meeting on May 29, 2024, at 9:00 am CEST at the Company's headquarters, 74 rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, 75012 Paris, France.

The General Meeting will also be webcast live for shareholders on the Company's website (www.gensight-biologics.com).

The notice containing the agenda and draft resolutions was published in the French BALO on April 24, 2024. The notice confirming the time and place of the meeting will be published in the French BALO and in a legal gazette on May 13, 2024.

The preparatory documents for the General Meeting listed in Article R. 22-10-23 of the French Commercial Code are posted on the Company's website (www.gensight-biologics.com) in the Investors, Documentation section.

The preparatory documents for the General Meeting will also be made available to shareholders as of the convening of the meeting.

It is specified that the full text of the documents intended to be presented to the Meeting, in accordance in particular with Articles L. 225-115 and R. 225-83 of the Commercial Code, are made available at the Company's headquarters.

From the date of the convocation and until the fifth day inclusive before the meeting, any shareholder may ask the Company to send him the documents and information mentioned in Articles R. 225-81 and R. 225-83 of the Commercial Code, preferably by email to the following address: ir@gensight-biologics.com. Bearer shareholders must justify this status by sending an account registration certificate.

About GenSight Biologics

GenSight Biologics S.A. is a clinical-stage biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders. GenSight Biologics' pipeline leverages two core technology platforms, the Mitochondrial Targeting Sequence (MTS) and optogenetics, to help preserve or restore vision in patients suffering from blinding retinal diseases. GenSight Biologics' lead product candidate, LUMEVOQ (GS010; lenadogene nolparvovec), is an investigational compound and has not been registered in any country at this stage, developed for the treatment of Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), a rare mitochondrial disease affecting primarily teens and young adults that leads to irreversible blindness. Using its gene therapy-based approach, GenSight Biologics' product candidates are designed to be administered in a single treatment to each eye by intravitreal injection to offer patients a sustainable functional visual recovery.

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Contacts:

GenSight Biologics

Chief Financial Officer

Ivan Tortet

itortet@gensight-biologics.com



LifeSci Advisors

Investor relations

Guillaume van Renterghem

gvanrenterghem@lifesciadvisors.com

+41 (0)76 735 01 31
Redde Northgate Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, May 07

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

7 May 2024

REDDE NORTHGATE PLC

("Redde Northgate" or the "Group" or the "Company")

Transaction in Own Shares

Redde Northgate plc (LSE:REDD) announces that on 7 May 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 392.25 pence per share Highest purchase price paid 392.5 pence per share Lowest purchase price paid 392 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 19,189,362 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 226,902,061 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 7 May 2024)

Number of shares

purchased Transaction price

(GB pence per share) Time of transaction Transaction reference number Venue 25,000 25,000 392.00 392.50 10:46:01 16:22:19 00069845318TRLO0 00069858436TRLO0 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:
Temple Bar Investment Trust Plc - Result of AGM

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, May 07

TEMPLE BAR INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

Results of the Annual General Meeting

The following resolutions were passed by shareholders on a poll at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on Tuesday, 7 May 2024.

The level of votes received is shown below.

Resolutions Votes For % Votes Against % Total Votes Cast Votes Withheld**

Ordinary Resolutions To approve the Company's Annual Report & Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023 (together with the reports of the Directors and Auditor therein). 86,560,768 99.92% 72,360 0.08% 86,633,128 31,533 To approve the Report on Directors' Remuneration for the year ended 31 December 2023. 86,034,690 99.47% 459,673 0.53% 86,494,363 170,298 To re-elect Mrs Carolyn Sims as a Director of the Company. 86,438,532 99.82% 158,486 0.18% 86,597,018 67,643 To re-elect Mr Charles Cade as a Director of the Company. 86,477,626 99.84% 140,922 0.16% 86,618,548 46,113 To re-elect Mr Richard Wyatt as a Director of the Company. 86,450,812 99.83% 145,656 0.17% 86,596,468 68,193 To re-elect Dr Shefali Yogendra as a Director of the Company. 86,332,326 99.70% 255,622 0.30% 86,587,948 76,713 To re-appoint BDO LLP as Auditor to the Company, to hold office from the conclusion of this meeting until the conclusion of the next meeting at which financial statements are laid before the Company. 86,423,372 99.79% 180,815 0.21% 86,604,187 60,474 To authorise the Audit and Risk Committee to determine the remuneration of the Auditor. 86,474,900 99.85% 133,242 0.15% 86,608,142 56,519 To approve the Company's dividend policy, authorising the Directors of the Company to declare and pay all dividends of the Company as interim dividends, and for the last dividend referable to a financial year not to be categorised as a final dividend that is subject to shareholder approval. 86,448,925 99.81% 161,061 0.19% 86,609,986 54,675 To authorise the directors to allot ordinary shares. 86,374,547 99.77% 199,865 0.23% 86,574,412 90,249 Special Resolutions 11. To authorise the Directors to allot equity securities for cash pursuant to sections 570 and 573 of the companies act 2006 otherwise that in accordance with statutory pre-emption rights basis. 86,134,489 99.51% 423,258 0.49% 86,557,747 106,914 12. To authorise the Company to make market purchases of the Company's own shares. 83,499,109 96.42% 3,099,737 3.58% 86,598,846 65,815 13. To approve that any general meeting of the Company other than the Annual General Meeting may be called on not less than 14 clear days' notice. 85,907,138 99.19% 699,763 0.81% 86,606,901 57,760

**Please note that 'Vote withheld' is not a vote in law and is not counted in the calculation of the proportion of votes 'For' and 'Against 'a resolution.

Any proxy votes which are at the discretion of the Chair of the Meeting have been included in the "for" total. A vote withheld is not a vote in law and is not counted in the calculations of votes cast by proxy.

At the date of the AGM the total number of Ordinary shares of 5p each in issue was 334,363,825 (with 47,847,667 shares held in treasury). The total number of voting rights was 286,516,158.

The voting figures will shortly also be available on the Company's website at https://www.templebarinvestments.co.uk/

In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.2, the full text of the special resolutions passed has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism . The special resolutions will additionally be filed at Companies House.

7 May 2024

For further information please contact:

Mark Pope Frostrow Capital LLP - Company Secretary 020 3 008 4913

LEI:213800O8EAP4SG5JD323
EQS-News: PlusPlus Capital Financial S.a.r.l. / Key word(s): Legal Matter

AS PlusPlus Capital Progresses in Restructuring Process - Application for Approval of Restructuring Plan Submitted to Court Following Investor Voting



07.05.2024 / 19:00 CET/CEST

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





AS PlusPlus Capital Progresses in Restructuring Process

Application for Approval of Restructuring Plan Submitted to Court Following Investor Voting



Tallinn, Estonia, 7 May 2024. PlusPlus Capital ("PPC"), a leading pan-Baltic and Finnish technology-driven receivables management group, has made significant progress in the restructuring of Aktsiaselts PlusPlus Capital (the "Parent Company") under the Reorganization Act ("Saneerimisseadus"). Following the broad support to the reorganization plan from the creditors, PlusPlus Capital filed an application for approval of the reorganization plan prepared in collaboration with financial and legal advisors to the court on 2 May 2024.

The reorganization plan encompassed approximately 180 investors, whose claims amounted to over EUR 87 million. The plan received approval from investors representing approximately 95% of all claims covered by the reorganization plan. Creditors with secured claims supported the plan to an extent of approximately 75%.

Kaarel Raik, Member of the Management Board of PlusPlus Capital: "We are very pleased to see such extensive support for a reorganization plan, which is rare in Estonia, and are confident that the court will approve the reorganization plan. Once approved, payments under the reorganization plan can commence immediately, with at least EUR 5 million to be paid out to creditors within this year."



Contact:

PlusPlus Capital

Kaarel Raik, Member of the Management Board

Email: kaarel.raik@plusplus.ee

Phone: +372 56 606 148



About PlusPlus Capital:

PlusPlus is a pan-Baltic and Finnish technology-driven receivables management company with offices in Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, and Helsinki. The company acquires overdue loans and other non-performing exposures from financial institutions and non-financial sector merchants. With its core competence in handling claims against private individuals, PlusPlus prefers diversified portfolios balanced by geography, portfolio type, and other metrics.

Since its inception in 2010, PlusPlus has bought over 120 thousand claims with nominal value of approximately EUR 270 million. The company offers its clients affordable recovery solutions and aims to avoid litigious scenarios. In doing so, PlusPlus pursues win-win solutions that allow sellers to focus on their core business, provide affordable solutions for borrowers, and ensure adequate returns for investors.

PlusPlus is a transparent and socially responsible company set to assist people in resolving problems connected with their insufficient solvency. The ambition of PlusPlus is to increase its market share and further strengthen its position as a leading player in its regional market.

pluspluscapital.eu

07.05.2024 CET/CEST Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

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DUBAI, May 7, 2024 - (ACN Newswire) - Crypto Oasis proudly presented the an update on the ever-evolving UAE blockchain ecosystem during the second edition of Dubai FinTech Summit 2024. Over the past year, The number of active companies has surged from 1,800 to 2,040, marking a significant 13.3% YoY increase. This growth is a testament to the robustness and innovation within the industry, which now has over 10,600 professionals, with a healthy mix of 71% native Blockchain organizations and 29% non-native companies contributing to the ecosystem.The UAE Ecosystem proves to be a hub for innovation and a magnet for attracting talent with over 10,600 individuals now working in the space.Key Highlights:- Active companies within the ecosystem surged by a significant 13% year-on-year, reaching a staggering record of 2,040 organizations.- Marked increase in the industry workforce, with over 10,600 individuals working in the Blockchain space.- Regulatory clarity drives crypto industry growth as major global names such as Binance, Bybit, and OKX receive Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licenses from VARA.Within the vibrant UAE blockchain ecosystem, a diverse array of organizations contributes to its continuous success. Traders, brokers, and asset managers form a significant segment, accounting for 20.6%. Close behind, 19.9% are dedicated to technology and advisory services. NFT platforms represent 6.9%, while venture capitalists (VCs) make up 5.3%. The metaverse has a growing presence with 3.7%, and Web3 gaming initiatives account for 3.1%. Additionally, tokenization platforms are carving out a niche, representing 1.5% of the Blockchain organisations in the country.The past year has been pivotal for the UAE blockchain space, with notable developments that have solidified its position as a global leader in blockchain innovation and disruption. VARA, the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, has demonstrated a commitment to responsible growth and intends to secure the market's integrity. Regulatory tailwinds have helped establish the region as a welcoming hub for blockchain enterprises.Binance, Fasset, Hex Trust, Komainu and OKX are among the global crypto service providers to receive the VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) license from VARA last year. Regulatory milestones include, Aquanow, Bybit, Crypto.com and Deribit receiving preliminary licenses from VARA.Throughout 2023, the UAE has seen a significant increase in cryptocurrency adoption, reinforcing its status as a burgeoning centre for digital finance. The XRP token from Ripple has been approved under the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and Iota, an open-source distributed ledger focused on the Internet of Things (IoT) announced the creation of the Iota Ecosystem DLT Foundation in Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM). Furthermore, the launch of the Dubai Web3 and AI Campus at the DIFC last year has positioned the UAE at the forefront of technological convergence, attracting talent and investment from across the globe.Other blockchain-related news that shows the ecosystem's remarkable growth trajectory is the fact that the UAE-based Bitcoin miner Phoenix Group became the first crypto-related firm to go public on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange at the end of 2023. DFINITY, a Layer 1 protocol, set up their regional hub, ICP.Hub GCC, is an initiative to provide an access point for projects and developers in the region into the Internet Computer Protocols Ecosystem.The UAE has also become home to landmark blockchain events like Ripple Swell and Cardano Summit in November last year, underscoring the country's status as a premier destination for global Blockchain discourse. TOKEN2049, a global conference series, had a premier blockchain event in Dubai in April this year with over 400 side events and over 20,000 attendees. The Dubai AI & Web3 Festival planned for September 11-12, 2024 will be another feather in the cap of the city, as it posed to attract top global thought leaders to discuss the future of the Web3 and AI industry.Ralf Glabischnig, co-founder of the Crypto Oasis said: "The Crypto landscape in the UAE and Middle East region is the fastest growing ecosystem worldwide. The government is doing for Blockchain what Silicon Valley did for tech. This past year has been nothing short of phenomenal for the Crypto Oasis Ecosystem. The surge in companies and talent underscores the UAE's commitment to fostering a vibrant blockchain and Web3 environment. We're excited to witness the continued growth and innovative solutions emerging from this dynamic ecosystem."With a talented workforce and a commitment to innovation, the Crypto Oasis is poised to continue its exceptional progress. The Dubai FinTech Summit was a prime opportunity to witness the UAE's flourishing Blockchain ecosystem firsthand and to present the growth numbers of the ecosystem.About Crypto OasisThe Crypto Oasis is the largest Web3 ecosystem in the world focused on the Middle East and Africa region and is supported by initiators of the Crypto Valley Switzerland. The core elements needed for its development are Talent, Capital, and Infrastructure. The Ecosystem's stakeholders include Investors & Collectors, Start-Ups & Projects, Corporates, Education & Research Institutions, Service Providers, and Government Entities & Associations. Crypto Oasis is the leading Blockchain ecosystem in the world. Today it is the fastest growing, with more than 2,040 blockchain-related organizations in the UAE alone. www.Cryptooasis.aeFor more information contact:Faisal ZaidiCrypto Oasisfaisal@Cryptooasis.ae+971552000840Source: Crypto OasisCopyright 2024 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Article L. 238-8-II of the French commercial Code and article 223-16 of the AMF (French Financial Markets Authority) general regulation

Regulatory News:

Corporate name of the issuer: Veolia Environnement (Paris:VIE) 21 rue La Boetie 75008 PARIS FRANCE (ISIN code: FR0000124141-VIE)

Information closing date Total number of shares forming the share capital Total number of voting rights May 6, 2024 (1) 726,148,514 Total number of theoretical voting rights (2): 726,148,514 Total number of voting rights that may be exercised (3): 715,877,788

Inclusion in the Veolia Environnement Articles of Association of a clause requiring a reporting obligation of the declaration of crossing a shareholding threshold, complementary to the one relating to the thresholds provided by the French law and the regulations in force (article 8).

(1) On May 6, 2024, Veolia Environnement's share capital was increased as a result of the vesting of the performance shares granted under the 2021 performance share plan, thereby increasing its share capital from 3,627,058,335 to 3,630,742,570

(2) Number of theoretical voting rights abolition of double voting rights as of April 25, 2024

(3) Number of voting rights that may be exercised number of theoretical voting rights (or total number of voting rights attached to shares) shares without voting rights (number of treasury shares held as of May 6, 2024, i.e. 10,270,726).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240507691367/en/

Contacts:

Veolia Environnement
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - The Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE" or "the Exchange") today welcomed the listing of Global Uranium Corp. The common shares of the Vancouver, BC-based company began trading today under the symbol: GURN.

Global Uranium, a junior exploration company, is currently focused on the Wing Lake Property located in the Mudjatik Domain of northern Saskatchewan, an area known for uranium and base metal deposits. The Company also targets other mineral exploration opportunities in North America and may acquire interests in additional mineral projects of sufficient geological or economic merit.

"Demand for nuclear capacity as a source of clean energy is increasing worldwide," said James Black, the CSE's Vice President, Listings Development. "The addition of Global Uranium to the CSE marks another success in the Exchange's mandate to support companies in emerging businesses."

"Listing on the CSE is a significant step towards establishing Global Uranium Corp. as a leader in uranium exploration and development," said John Kim, CEO of Global Uranium. "Continuing geopolitical uncertainty has accelerated the importance of developing new reliable resources. We are excited to leverage our CSE listing to grow and advance our assets to address the critical demand for a domestically sourced uranium."

About the Canadian Securities Exchange:

The Canadian Securities Exchange is a rapidly growing exchange invested in working with entrepreneurs, innovators and disruptors to access public capital markets in Canada. The Exchange's efficient operating model, advanced technology and competitive fee structure help its listed issuers of all sectors and sizes minimize their cost of capital and enhance global liquidity.

Our client-centric approach and corresponding products and services ensure businesses have the support they need to confidently realize their vision.

The CSE offers global investors access to an innovative collection of growing and mature companies.

STAY CONNECTED WITH THE CSE

=============================

Website: https://thecse.com/

Blog: https://blog.thecse.com/

CSE TV on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/csetv

CSE's "The Exchange for Entrepreneurs" Podcast: https://blog.thecse.com/category/cse-podcast/

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/canadian-securities-exchange

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSE_News

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/canadianexchange/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CanadianSecuritiesExchange/

Contact:

Richard Carleton, CEO

416-367-7360

richard.carleton@thecse.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208259

SOURCE: Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE)
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Southern Company

Southern Company

Solar energy accounted for more than half of new U.S. electricity generating capacity for the first time ever in 2023, according to a report from consulting firm Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)..

Last year, the United States saw a record 32.4 gigawatts of new solar power generating capacity added to the grid, up 51% from 2022, according to the report. That 2023 total also represents a 37% increase from the previous record, set in 2021. Utility-scale installations accounted for 69% of total new solar capacity additions, followed by residential solar at 21%. Community solar accounted for around 3.5% of new solar capacity.

In the Southeast, Southern Company and its subsidiaries are leading the way in this solar expansion. As we work across the company to enable a net-zero transition, our renewables portfolio continues to grow. Across the Southern Company system of retail electric utilities, more than 2,800 MW of solar generating capacity has been added since 2015. The company plans to nearly triple solar capacity by the early 2030s and in total, expects to have approximately 20,000 MW of renewable capacity and storage by 2030.

"Carbon-free solar generation resources are an instrumental component of our energy mix as we build the energy network of the future," said Clay Rikard, Southern Company vice president of System Planning. "We expect solar generation to continue its accelerated growth trajectory across our service territory as we transition our electric generating fleet in pursuit of our goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Our customers and communities depend on the clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy we serve every day - and we're committed to keeping them at the center of everything we do."

Georgia has ranked in the top 10 for annual solar capacity additions in the U.S. for each the past three years. Georgia Power recently advised regulators that adding some 10,000 MW of solar capacity to their generation fleet by 2035 can potentially stimulate economic benefits for that state.

In addition to Southern Company's retail electric utilities, the company's wholesale energy subsidiary, Southern Power, currently owns or operates more than 2,740 MW of solar generating capacity at 30 facilities nationwide*. Southern Power helps serve the energy needs of municipalities, electric cooperatives, investor-owned utilities and other energy customers across the nation.

While various policy and economic factors could impact the continued growth of solar in the U.S., the outlook is currently optimistic. "If we stay the course with policies in the IRA, solar capacity will quadruple over the next 10 years," said SEIA CEO Abigail Ross Hopper.

* Some 250 MW of this amount is under contract to Georgia Power and is included in the 2,800 MW value cited above. Also, 26 of these facilities are co-owned by third parties, with Southern Power having majority ownership.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Southern Company on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Southern Company

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/southern-company

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Southern Company

View the original press release on accesswire.com
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Julia Reilly, senior legal analyst, has turned her lifelong passion for horses into purpose with the Fair Hill Emergency Response Team (FHERT). Since 2019, Julia has spent countless hours working with the all-volunteer team, bringing a humane and dignified approach to large animal rescue in Northern Maryland, Northern Delaware, as well as Eastern and Lower Pennsylvania.

Through her volunteer work, Julia earned Exelon's highest achievement for volunteerism and community involvement, the Powering Communities Employee Volunteer award, and FHERT a $5,000 grant. We spoke with Julia about the organization, how it serves its community, and of course - her horse, Finn.

Why are you passionate about Fair Hill Emergency Response Team (FHERT)?

It's a blend of my passion for horses and the convenience of being nearby. Firstly, I own a horse, and with that comes the necessity of having a well-thought-out plan for when things inevitably go awry. I don't own a truck or trailer, so I've always needed to have a plan in the event that I would need to transport my horse to an equine hospital. Since 2019, I have boarded my horse with Jo Ann Bashore who leads FHERT and just by being around the barn, I was exposed to the organization. For example, we planned to ride on New Year's Day, but a call came in about a calf in distress. Without hesitation, we jumped into the ambulance and rushed to assist. Working with FHERT is not just about passion - it's also about being in the right place at the right time.

In the horse community, we all pitch in to support one another. Whether we're going for a ride or handling emergencies, we ensure everyone is taken care of, and that nobody gets left behind. It's an extension of my commitment to caring for the community I'm part of.

What is the horse community like in your area?

Maryland has a very large horse population. At one point, Maryland had the highest number of horses per capita of any state in the country. We also have large events, like the Fair Hill International Five-Star Event, which is one of only two events at its level in the United States, and one of seven internationally.

What kind of services does FHERT provide?

We handle a wide range of situations. For instance, if a horse gets cast, meaning it's lying down in a way it can't get up, we have the tools like ropes and straps to assist in getting the horse back on its feet. Additionally, we respond to various other issues and emergencies, such as transporting horses that need medical attention or surgery. Our organization is equipped with diverse equipment and skills to address a variety of equine-related needs, as well as other large animals. We will also go to horse shows and serve as emergency personnel in case of any issues, and we host obstacle course clinics and de-sensitization classes to help people train their horses.

How does the organization engage with the local community?

We engage in extensive outreach efforts with members, the public, and first responders. We recently received a grant from Maryland to provide Large Animal Technical Rescue training for first responders, helping them understand how to handle animal emergencies. This training is crucial because many first responders and even veterinarians need more expertise in technical rescue for animals. We also conduct outreach for children and youth, including school visits and working with local 4H clubs.

Can you tell us a little about your horse?

I met my horse, Finn, when his previous owner had been told by doctors that she was no longer able to ride. Originally, I just started riding him to get him out of the barn, but I fell in love with him - it was very serendipitous. He is a total rock star and is absolutely perfect for me. He is a seven-year-old Bay Roan Quarter Horse, and I'm looking forward to a long time with him.

How has this organization impacted your life?

It has deepened my appreciation for the effort required to manage these situations. I've had horses for a long time, but I've been fortunate to avoid major issues. However, there have been instances where we needed urgent assistance, which wasn't readily available, underscoring the importance of having a solid plan and access to resources, especially as I age. There's a growing need in our community for this type of service, which is evident from the significant increase in our call volume. Initially, we barely received a handful of calls in a year, but now, we're surpassing that in just a few months. The word is spreading among the community, EMTs, and police about our availability as a resource. Assisting someone in distress holds immense value for me, especially knowing that support would be reciprocated if I were ever in a similar situation.

What is one call that stands out to you?

We had a horse that was hit by two cars and lived. We were able to get him on the ambulance and to New Bolton, the premier equine veterinary hospital in the area. Not only did he live, but he's actively enjoying a happy and fulfilling life.

As part of your Exelon Powering Communities Employee Volunteer Award, FHERT received a $5,000 grant. How is that being used?

We were able to purchase a dedicated truck for the ambulance. We've had a trailer for some time, but relying on individual member's trucks wasn't ideal for a variety of reasons. The truck is a reliable way for us to answer calls quickly and transport horses and other large animals when needed.

Exelon's strong support for volunteerism is truly inspiring, and it's incredible to be recognized with this award. I'm deeply grateful for the company's commitment to empower employees to get out there and champion causes that we're passionate about.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Delmarva Power on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Delmarva Power

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/delmarva-power

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Delmarva Power

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Report highlights the role of high-net-worth travelers in boosting the travel and hospitality industry

Over a third (38%) of luxury seekers are willing to pay 30-50% more for sustainable travel features 1

Affluent travelers in the MENA region are power users of loyalty and membership card programs

GCC tourists are some of the highest spenders, whether vacationing within the region or further afield

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has emerged as one of the main regions driving growth in affluent travel, recording high spends, while also displaying an appetite for sustainable eco-luxury and meaningful cultural experiences. Mastercard's latest report, 'Affluent Travel: A Middle East Perspective', released during the Arabian Travel Market 2024,unpacks some of the key trends.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240507531225/en/

Mastercard Affluent Travel Report 2024 Cover (Graphic: AETOSWire)

The appetite for new experiences in unexplored destinations, micro-trips and 'bleisure' will likely drive the growth of the global luxury travel market, which is expected to grow by 7.9% (CAGR) between 2024 and 2030, according to Grand View Research2. While the world awaits the emergence of the first trillionaires, high-net-worth travelers contribute approximately 36% of the global spend on travel as stated in a Jones Lang LaSalle study3

"At Mastercard, we are committed to connecting people to their passion for travel. This report gives a great snapshot of how high-net-worth individuals choose to travel, and it's wonderful to see sustainability, cultural immersion and purpose as key considerations, along with quality accommodation, seamless technology and loyalty benefits. We will continue to harness the power of partnerships with leading industry players to come up with innovative solutions that unlock access to a whole new world of unparalleled travel experiences," said Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President, Market Development EEMEA, Mastercard.

As per YouGov research, over a third (36%) of luxury travelers say they want to experience different cultures4. The combination of business and leisure, or 'bleisure', is also resulting in more remote-work trips as digital nomads change the face of travel. Affluent travelers are almost twice as likely as the global average to have taken a vacation as an extension to a business trip4. Furthermore, Marriott Bonvoy research also showed that solo travel is being embraced, with 70% of respondents in the UAE and 69% in Saudi Arabia saying they've travelled solo5

Seeking out sustainable credentials and authentic eco-luxury

Affluent consumers are keen adopters of the conscious travel trend and place a premium on the authenticity of eco-luxury experiences. These include associating with travel brands that support local communities. Globally, one in 10 consumers have stayed in luxury eco-friendly accommodation in the last three years, compared to five of 10 among 18-34-year-old affluents. According to Euromonitor, a sizeable 38% of luxury seekers are willing to pay between 30% and 50% more for sustainable travel features such as energy-efficient services. A quarter would pay even higher to find less carbon-intensive transport1

Meaningful experiences over material things

The YouGov report notes that this discerning segment places more emphasis on experiences than on physical goods. More than half of affluent travelers, compared to 43% of the global total, prioritize meaningful travel experiences over shopping and souvenirs4. Close to a quarter say that they are willing to pay more for a remote destination experience, customized tours to connect with local culture, and eco-friendly resorts4

Personalization, privacy and pampering

Luxury travelers are prioritizing unique personalized experiences over location. However, they also want their money's worth in the form of exemplary customer service and pampering. Quality luxury accommodation is a high priority, with 27% saying they would pay more for villas and chalets in secluded and private locations and 21% happy to splurge on luxury stays on a private island4. Younger affluent travelers are more likely to pay more for Michelin-starred or unique gourmet experiences. According to Marriott Bonvoy research, light, air, temperature, and sound in future hospitality spaces guided through digital concierges will recognize and respond to guests in real-time, based on mood, schedules, and health requirements.

High-spending loyalty supporters

Based on average spend per card by origin market, GCC travelers are among the highest spenders. According to a 2023 Mastercard Economics Institute report, Kuwaiti tourists, for instance, spend on average of $3,390 per card in Paris, five times as much as their American counterparts. High-net-worth individuals are also power users of loyalty schemes and membership cards 34% versus the overall average of 24%6. Exclusive airport lounges, as well as priority check-in and boarding, are among the most used perks of loyalty membership, highlights the Euromonitor report1

As wealth migrates to younger generations, Millennials (aged 30 to 44 years) now comprise the highest percentage of luxury seekers, followed by Gen Z (aged 15 to 29)1. Within the GCC, however, Gen X (aged 43 to 58 years) is expected to make the highest contribution to travel growth, according to Arabian Travel Market7. While much of the world is still catching up to pre-pandemic travel levels, MENA is the only region to show airport arrivals at 22% above 2019 numbers. According to the World Tourism Barometer, specific destinations such as Qatar (+90%) and Saudi Arabia (+56%) have contributed to this surge8

To read more about the report, please visit here.

Notes to the editor

Mastercard's 'Affluent Travel: A Middle East Perspective' report was written by White Paper Media Consulting. Sources and data include Mastercard Economics Institute, Marriott Bonvoy, YouGov, Adara, Euromonitor.

References

Bremner, Caroline; Roberts, Fflur. Meet the New Luxury Travel Seeker: Discerning, Digitally Savvy and Diverse. Euromonitor. February 14, 2024. Grand View Research. Luxury Travel Market Size, Share, and Trends Analysis Report. Demuth, Zach et al. The evolution of global luxury hospitality. Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). May 15, 2023. Stewart, Eva. The future of affluent travel will balance luxury, well-being, and exclusivity. YouGov. August 14, 2023. Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy 2024 Future Travel Trends. January 2024. Mastercard Economics Institute. Tourism fuels economic diversification in the Gulf states. Press Statement. Gen X driving GCC outbound travel according to research, says ATM. Arabian Travel Market. February 6, 2024. UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. International Tourism to Reach Pre-Pandemic Levels in 2024. January 19, 2024.

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240507531225/en/

Contacts:

Mastercard Communications

Amelia Naidoo Amelia.Naidoo@mastercard.com
Glen Ellyn, Ilinois--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - College of DuPage Professor of Biology Dr. Tara Leszczewicz is the College-Wide Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Member for the 2023-2024 academic year. Representing the STEM Division, Leszczewicz said she is honored to receive recognition from an organization filled with talented educators who work to foster supportive learning experiences.

"I strive to create the type of experience all students deserve and that I hope my children will experience when they venture into college," she said. "I am grateful each day to have the privilege of being a professor at College of DuPage, helping students change their lives with education."

Leszczewicz's fascination with human anatomy and physiology led her to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Maryville University in St. Louis. Upon graduating, she went on to obtain a Master of Health Administration from Maryville. "During this time, I continued to practice as a physical therapist in a variety of settings, finding my niche to be outpatient orthopedics," she said. "Working with diverse patient populations ranging in age from 1 to 100 was very rewarding, as I was making a difference in the functional aspects of my patients' lives while sharing my love for anatomy and physiology through patient education and explaining treatment rationales."

Leszczewicz became an American Physical Therapy Association Credentialed Clinical Instructor and began accepting physical therapist students for clinical education internships. "After the first week with my first student, I knew what I ultimately wanted to do for the rest of my life - teach," she said.

She earned her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Saint Louis University, providing her with the education necessary to teach at the collegiate level. After moving to the Chicago suburbs, she continued working as a physical therapist while teaching part time at several local community colleges. Through teaching a variety of courses, Leszczewicz realized her passion was anatomy and physiology education.

"While I appreciated having the ability to make a difference in the quality of my patients' lives, I feel fortunate to have the amazing opportunity to facilitate the learning of future health care providers and add value to their education with my clinical background," she said. "I hope my students leave my class with new, enhanced life skills that promote personal, academic and professional growth such as self-advocacy, self-care, self-reflection, inclusion and time management."

Leszczewicz wants her students to leave with a toolbox of study strategies to apply in subsequent classes. She embraces the challenge of helping all students wherever they are on the spectrum of preparedness, including those students with learning differences.

"My students leave knowing that our relationship together is not over, that my door is always open to support and mentor them along their academic journey," she said. "I hope the life skills my students have developed over a semester, coupled with a strong knowledge of anatomy and physiology, will provide them the solid foundation needed to be successful in future coursework and in their chosen health care career as well as be able to effectively advocate for their own health care needs."

Tara Leszczewicz



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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###

Contact: Angela Mennecke

menneckea@cod.edu

(630) 942-3134

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208255

SOURCE: College of DuPage
Tego Cyber Inc. (OTCQB:TGCB), a cybersecurity company focused on threat intelligence, detection and correlation tools, today announced that is has been authorized as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) by the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures ('CVE') Program. This prestigious designation now allows Tego Cyber Inc. ('Tego') to contribute to the program's mission of identifying, defining, and cataloging publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities, thereby contributing to the global effort of enhancing cybersecurity awareness.

The mission of the CVE Program is to identify, define, and catalog publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities. When a vulnerability is discovered by a contributing partner, it is assigned an identification number which is then published and added to the catalog. Contributing partners publish newly assigned CVE identification numbers to ensure consistency within the cybersecurity industry resulting in time and cost savings. As a member of the CVE Program, Tego is now authorized to publish any vulnerabilities it discovers unless covered under the scope of another CNA.

Shannon Wilkinson, President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Tego Cyber, stated, "We are honored to join the CVE community and continuing to actively contribute to identifying and addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Our acceptance as an authorized CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) is just another step in demonstrating Tego's ongoing commitment to cybersecurity excellence."

Melissa Knight, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Tego Cyber, remarked, "We're thrilled to join the CVE Program. Participation in community-driven initiatives like CVE is essential for our industry. We strongly believe that industry collaboration is vital for quickly identifying and remediating critical vulnerabilities to safeguard organizations and the data they collect. This partnership underscores our dedication to proactive cybersecurity, guaranteeing swift responses to emerging threats and upholding strong cybersecurity frameworks across digital environments, all while prioritizing the protection of our clients and their sensitive data.

About the CVE Program

The mission of the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Program is to identify, define, and catalog publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities. There is one CVE Record for each vulnerability in the catalog. The vulnerabilities are discovered, then assigned and published by organizations from around the world that have partnered with the CVE Program. Partners publish CVE Records to communicate consistent descriptions of vulnerabilities. Information technology and cybersecurity professionals use CVE Records to ensure they are discussing the same issue, and to coordinate their efforts to prioritize and address the vulnerabilities.

The CVE Program is Community Driven. The Program relies on the community to discover vulnerabilities. The CVE Board, which drives the direction of the CVE Program, consists of industry, academic, and government representatives from around the world. CVE Working Groups develop the program's policies (approved by the CVE Board) and are open to the community. Learn more at CVE.org

About Tego

Tego Cyber Inc. was founded to mitigate the disparity in the rapidly evolving cyber threat hunting, correlation, and threat intelligence market. The Company is focused on developing solutions for threat intelligence and autonomous threat hunting/correlation. Tego's curated threat intelligence feed not only contains a comprehensive list of indicators of compromise, but also provides additional context including specific details needed to counteract threats so that security teams can spend less time searching for disjointed indicators of compromise. Tego's threat correlation engine integrates with top security and data lake platforms to proactively identify threats. The Tego threat correlation engine allows security teams to find threats faster using curated data feeds, powerful and low latency searches across large disparate data sets, and user-friendly visualizations that help reduce the time to detection and response. For more information, please visit www.tegocyber.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements contained in this press release, those which are not purely historical or which depend upon future events, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements regarding the Company's expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future constitute forward-looking statements. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements because of various factors. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based on information available to the Company on the date hereof and the Company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement. Prospective investors should also consult the risks factors described from time to time in the Company's Reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K and Annual Reports to Shareholders.

Contact:

Corporate

Tego Cyber Inc.

8565 S Eastern Avenue, Suite 150

Las Vegas, Nevada 89123

USA

Tel: 855-939-0100 (North America)

Tel: +1 725-726-7840 (International)

Email: info@tegocyber.com

Web: tegocyber.com

Facebook: facebook.com/tegocyber

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/tegocyber

X/Twitter: twitter.com/tegocyber

Investor Relations

Brett Maas

Managing Partner

Hayden IR

Tel: 480-861-2425

Email: brett@haydenir.com

SOURCE: Tego Cyber Inc.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Fortitude Gold Corporation (OTCQB:FTCO) (the "Company") today reported its first quarter 2024 results including $8.2 million net sales, $3.6 million in exploration expense, $2.9 million cash dividends to shareholders, $4.2 million mine gross profit, and a cash balance on March 31, 2024 of $41.9 million. The Company confirmed its previously announced preliminary 2024 first quarter production of 3,983 gold ounces as it awaits permit approval to mine deeper in the Pearl zone of the Isabella Pearl pit. Fortitude Gold is a gold producer, developer, and explorer with operations in Nevada, U.S.A. offering investors exposure to both gold production and substantial dividend yield.

First Quarter 2024 Financial Results and Highlights

$8.2 million net sales

$0.00 per share, $2 thousand net loss

$41.9 million cash balance on March 31, 2024

3,983 gold ounces produced

$63.3 million working capital at March 31, 2024

$4.2 million mine gross profit

$3.6 million exploration expenditures

$661 total cash cost after by-product credits per gold ounce sold*

$777 per ounce total all-in sustaining cost*

$2.9 million dividends paid

* The calculation of our cash cost and all-in sustaining cost per ounce contained in this press release is a non-GAAP financial measure. Please see "Management's Discussion and Analysis and Results of Operations" contained in the Company's recently filed Form 10-K for a complete discussion and reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures.

Fortitude Gold sold 3,970 gold ounces at a total cash cost of $661 per ounce (after by-product credits) and an all-in-sustaining-cost per ounce of $777. Realized metal prices during the quarter averaged $2,072 per ounce gold(1). While the Company produced 3,983 ounces of gold during the quarter, the 2024 annual production outlook was previously deferred as the Company awaits permits from regulatory agencies to mine deeper in the Isabella Pearl deposit as well as expand mine operations with permit approval to build its second mine, its County Line project.

"The first quarter of 2024 was successful on numerous fronts despite the ongoing permitting delays," stated Fortitude Gold CEO and President, Mr. Jason Reid. "Our Isabella Pearl mine's lower grade Civit Cat zone and our heap leach pad operations generated over $8 million in revenue for the Company at $777 per ounce all-in sustaining cost. During the quarter we aggressively explored our properties and had as many as six drills operating at a time focusing on our County Line project, the Scarlet target on the Isabella Pearl mineralized trend, and East Camp Douglas. The Company remains in a very strong financial position as we await our permits to mine both deeper in the higher-grade Pearl zone in the Isabella Pearl Pit and to begin mine construction of our County Line project, our next targeted mine build."

Mr. Reid continued, "We continue to work with the permitting agencies and look to execute our original plan to overlap mine operations and layer production while transitioning to our second mine targeted to be County Line. We remain ready to begin development of County Line upon regulatory approvals, with a plan to mine it as an aggregate operation, hauling crushed ore to our nearby processing facilities at Isabella Pearl. With minimal infrastructure to be built, we are optimizing the mining sequence to access the highest-grade ore possible in the phased mining approach and look forward to being able to add additional new ore from County Line to our Isabella Pearl heap leach pad for operational longevity."

"Our exploration team continued to generate exceptional drill results during the quarter," stated Mr. Reid. "We intercepted from surface 90 feet grading 1.49 grams per tonne at the East Camp Douglas northern veins as well as 5 feet grading over one ounce per tonne at the same target area. Our southern lithocap target at East Camp Douglas returned 40 feet grading 2.90 grams per tonne gold, where we believe we may have discovered our first feeder zone into the lithocap. We also released successful drill results from our Isabella Pearl Scarlet North target where we drilled 70 feet of 1.14 grams per tonne gold from surface. The Scarlet North target, just 700 meters away from the processing facility, has great potential to become an additional open pit on the larger Isabella Pearl property. Subsequent to quarter end, we also released exciting drill results from the County Line property including 16.76 meters grading 2.19 grams per tonne gold, 7.62 meters grading 1.28 grams per tonne gold, and 6.10 meters grading 1.49 grams per tonne gold. We see strong potential to continue adding gold ounces to County Line's mineral resource. Overall, we feel very fortunate to have acquired 100% interest in the exceptional land portfolio of eight gold properties in Nevada, now encompassing over 40,000 acres."

The following Sales Statistics table summarizes certain information about our operations for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023:

Three months ended March 31, 2024 2023 Metal sold Gold (ozs.) 3,970 11,429 Silver (ozs.) 20,866 17,480 Average metal prices realized (1) Gold ($per oz.) 2,072 1,889 Silver ($per oz.) 23.28 22.72 Precious metal gold equivalent ounces sold Gold Ounces 3,970 11,429 Gold Equivalent Ounces from Silver 234 210

4,204 11,639

Total cash cost before by-product credits per gold ounce sold $ 783 $ 534 Total cash cost after by-product credits per gold ounce sold $ 661 $ 499 Total all-in sustaining cost per gold ounce sold $ 777 $ 578

Average metal prices realized vary from the market metal prices due to final settlement adjustments from our provisional invoices when they are settled. Our average metal prices realized will therefore differ from the market average metal prices in most cases.

The following Production Statistics table summarize certain information about our operations for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023:

Three months ended March 31, 2024 2023 Ore mined Ore (tonnes) 66,496 106,475 Gold grade (g/t) 0.69 3.83 Low-grade stockpile Ore (tonnes) - 2,118 Gold grade (g/t) - 0.46 Waste (tonnes) 451,509 218,127 Metal production (before payable metal deductions)(1) Gold (ozs.) 3,983 11,487 Silver (ozs.) 21,115 17,649

The difference between what we report as "metal production" and "metal sold" is attributable to the difference between the quantities of metals contained in the dore we produce versus the portion of those metals actually paid for according to the terms of our sales contracts. Differences can also arise from inventory changes incidental to shipping schedules, or variances in ore grades and recoveries which impact the amount of metals contained in dore produced and sold.

See Accompanying Tables

The following information summarizes the results of operations for Fortitude Gold Corporation for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, its financial condition at March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, and its cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023. The summary data as of March 31, 2024 and for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 is unaudited; the summary data as of December 31, 2023 is derived from our audited financial statements contained in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, but do not include the footnotes and other information that is included in the complete financial statements. Readers are urged to review the Company's Form 10-K in its entirety, which can be found on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

The calculation of its cash cost before by-product credits per gold ounce sold, total cash cost after by-product credits per gold ounce sold and total all-in sustaining cost per gold ounce sold contained in this press release are non-GAAP financial measures. Please see "Management's Discussion and Analysis and Results of Operations" contained in the Company's most recent Form 10-K for a complete discussion and reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures.

FORTITUDE GOLD CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(U.S. dollars in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

March 31, December 31, 2024 2023 (Unaudited) ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 41,870 $ 48,678 Gold and silver rounds/bullion 1,635 1,532 Accounts receivable 9 42 Inventories 24,389 23,848 Prepaid taxes 672 355 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 530 811 Total current assets 69,105 75,266 Property, plant and mine development, net 24,326 25,365 Operating lease assets, net - 631 Deferred tax assets 2,826 2,860 Leach pad inventories 33,603 30,533 Other non-current assets 386 344 Total assets $ 130,246 $ 134,999 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 2,944 $ 3,881 Operating lease liabilities, current - 631 Mining taxes payable 2,521 2,309 Other current liabilities 355 1,133 Total current liabilities 5,820 7,954 Asset retirement obligations 6,648 6,500 Total liabilities 12,468 14,454 Shareholders' equity: Preferred stock - $0.01 par value, 20,000,000 shares authorized and nil outstanding at March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023 - - Common stock - $0.01 par value, 200,000,000 shares authorized and 24,161,209 shares outstanding at March 31, 2024 and 24,084,542 shares outstanding at December 31, 2023 242 241 Additional paid-in capital 104,150 104,020 Retained earnings 13,386 16,284 Total shareholders' equity 117,778 120,545 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 130,246 $ 134,999

FORTITUDE GOLD CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

For the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023

(U.S. dollars in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

Three months ended March 31, 2024 2023 Sales, net $ 8,181 $ 21,540 Mine cost of sales: Production costs 2,577 5,653 Depreciation and amortization 1,391 3,479 Reclamation and remediation 48 72 Total mine cost of sales 4,016 9,204 Mine gross profit 4,165 12,336 Costs and expenses: General and administrative expenses 1,221 1,059 Exploration expenses 3,638 3,688 Other (income), net (621 ) (327 ) Total costs and expenses 4,238 4,420 (Loss) income before income and mining taxes (73 ) 7,916 Mining and income tax (benefit) expense (71 ) 1,548 Net (loss) income $ (2 ) $ 6,368 Net (loss) income per common share: Basic $ (0.00 ) $ 0.26 Diluted $ (0.00 ) $ 0.26 Weighted average shares outstanding: Basic 24,135,246 24,063,853 Diluted 24,135,246 24,208,676

FORTITUDE GOLD CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

For the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023

(U.S. dollars in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

Three months ended March 31, 2024 2023 Cash flows from operating activities: Net (loss) income $ (2 ) $ 6,368 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash from operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 1,419 3,502 Stock-based compensation 54 49 Deferred taxes 34 (448 ) Reclamation and remediation accretion 48 72 Reclamation payments - 3 Unrealized gain on gold and silver rounds/bullion (103 ) - Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable 33 - Inventories (2,910 ) (310 ) Prepaid expenses and other current assets 281 162 Other non-current assets (42 ) (3 ) Accounts payable and other accrued liabilities (1,610 ) 45 Income and mining taxes payable (105 ) 1,836 Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities (2,903 ) 11,276

Cash flows from investing activities: Capital expenditures (1,083 ) (1,211 ) Net cash used in investing activities (1,083 ) (1,211 )

Cash flows from financing activities: Dividends paid (2,896 ) (2,887 ) Proceeds from exercise of stock options 77 60 Repayment of loans payable (3 ) (22 ) Repayment of capital leases - (3 ) Net cash used in financing activities (2,822 ) (2,852 )

Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents (6,808 ) 7,213 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 48,678 45,054 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 41,870 $ 52,267

Supplemental Cash Flow Information Income and mining taxes paid $ - $ 160 Non-cash investing and financing activities: Change in capital expenditures in accounts payable $ (102 ) $ 48

About Fortitude Gold Corp.:

Fortitude Gold is a U.S. based gold producer targeting projects with low operating costs, high margins, and strong returns on capital. The Company's strategy is to grow organically, remain debt-free and distribute substantial dividends. The Company's Nevada Mining Unit consists of seven high-grade gold properties located in the Walker Lane Mineral Belt and an eighth high-grade gold property in west central Nevada. The Isabella Pearl gold mine, located on the Isabella Pearl mineralized trend, is currently in production. Nevada, U.S.A. is among the world's premier mining friendly jurisdictions.

Cautionary Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. If you are risk-averse you should NOT buy shares in Fortitude Gold Corp. The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. When used in this press release, the words "plan", "target", "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend" and "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the statements regarding the Company's strategy, future plans for production, future expenses and costs, future liquidity and capital resources, and estimates of mineralized material are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon information available to the Company on the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this press release.

Contact:

Greg Patterson

719-717-9825

greg.patterson@fortitudegold.com

www.Fortitudegold.com

SOURCE: Fortitude Gold Corporation

View the original press release on accesswire.com
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Bath & Body Works recently recognized several outstanding associates for their dedication to creating, promoting, and nurturing inclusion in the workplace. Inclusion Excellence Awards were presented at the company's inaugural Inclusion Jamboree event at Bath & Body Works' headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. This special event celebrated diverse backgrounds, perspectives and values and brought associates together with engaging workshops, activities, recognition, music and food.

"We believe a culture where everyone feels a sense of belonging, has a chance to be heard and is valued and treated with respect makes us a smarter, stronger brand," says Kelie Charles, Chief Diversity Officer for Bath & Body Works. "This culture of belonging starts with our own associates and it's important to recognize the outstanding work which supports and advances those efforts."

Bath & Body Works' Inclusion Excellence Awards were presented in four categories:

LEADER:?Presented to an outstanding people leader who has demonstrated excellence in inclusion.

COMMUNITY:?Presented to an associate who has demonstrated inclusion excellence in the communities where our associates and customers live and work.

GROUP:?Presented to a group of associates who have demonstrated inclusion excellence.

LIVING OUR VALUES:?Presented to an associate who embodies our company value 'Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Make Us Stronger' through their actions and words; promoting a company culture where everyone belongs.

Inclusion Leader Award Winner

Michiyo Nelson, Director of Design

Michiyo Nelson led the direction and guided teams behind many of Bath & Body Works' Perfumer Series collections which included Black History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Hispanic Heritage Month. These special product capsules spotlight professionals from historically underrepresented groups in fragrance to raise awareness of their important contributions and stories and inspire the next generation.

"The success of the perfumer series would not have existed without Michiyo's valuable knowledge and leadership," says Charles. "She works with design associates and external perfumers from different teams and cultural backgrounds to foster a truly collaborative experience that exemplifies our commitment to diversity and inclusion."

Community Inclusion Award Winners

Tierra Hayes, Gretchen Denk, Courtney Goodburn, Kristen Eaton, Grant Conkel, Cyle Goldrick, Mickey Huether, Bath & Body Works Logistics Team

This group meets monthly to plan volunteer events and facilitate programs which support non-profit organizations in the central Ohio community.

The Mid-Ohio Food Collective, Kitchen of Life, Community Development for all People, Lifetown and Keep Columbus Beautiful were all directly impacted by this team's commitment to service.

"We're proud of this group for their continued commitment and dedication to improving and supporting the community many of our associates and customers call home," says Charles.

Group Inclusion Award Winners

Brian Burnett, Sarah Disselkamp, Lee McConkey, Fidel Gutierrez, Annie Mackowick, Lauren Weber, Donnie Guanciale, Gabby Guanciale, Jason Lyons, Bath & Body Works Merchandise, Planning and Allocation Team

This group developed a quarterly newsletter which educates and informs their large team of over 100 associates about important Inclusion Resource Group (IRG) events, community volunteer opportunities and cultural celebrations. By amplifying the work of their colleagues on the DEI and IRG teams, they've encouraged engagement and participation amongst their team and set the stage for continued growth and learning.

"This team does an incredible job of keeping a function of 100+ associates engaged in activities that support our culture of inclusivity," says Charles. "Through their communication efforts they build excitement for events and activities and encourage their colleagues in their learning and development as professionals."

Living Our Values Inclusion Award Winners

Selma Eltayeb, Learning and Development Manager

For decades, Bath & Body Works has hired associates in their distribution center space who are English Language Learners (ELL). Selma Eltayeb took action by serving as the project lead in the development and launch of ELL classes for those associates.

"Selma is the embodiment of turning words into actions," says Charles. "She knows firsthand the challenges of navigating a world where you are learning the language of everyone else, and she openly shares her experiences and supports others."

Elena Scarf, Distribution Center Group Lead

Elena Scarf has made it her goal to recognize and celebrate the many diverse cultures of her department.

For example, she planned a year-end department meeting with a special potluck so associates could bring their favorite dishes to share. She incorporated music and dancing into her team's stretching sessions before their shifts, and she decorates the Distribution Center bulletin board to celebrate holidays and other important commemorations important to her team.

"Elena is the definition of inclusion excellence," says Charles. "She values her fellow associates' diverse background and has created a strong, cohesive and collaborative department with her efforts."

Bath & Body Works is proud of all the associates recognized with Inclusion Excellence Awards. Learn more about the company's commitment to culture and inclusion at bbwinc.com.

Michiyo Nelson is honored with the Inclusion Leader Award and stands alongside Kelie Charles, Bath & Body Works' Chief Diversity Officer.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Bath & Body Works on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Bath & Body Works

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/bath-body-works

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Bath & Body Works

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Bilibili: A Catalyst for Sino-French Cultural Exchanges

PR Newswire

PARIS, May 7, 2024

PARIS, May 7, 2024 PRNewswire/ -- This is a report from Xinhuanet:

With the ongoing evolution of the Internet and of social media landscapes, new opportunities for cultural exchanges between China and France have emerged. Bilibili, a leading youth culture community in China, is leveraging its platform to foster these cross-cultural interactions.

In an interview with 'Paris Xiao Guo Guo' (Guo Zhanglong), a reporter and a prominent Bilibili content creator who is attending a forum on the development of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and France in Paris, said, "As 'Paris Xiao Guo Guo', I utilize my channel on Bilibili to showcase not only the delights of Shanxi knife-shaved noodles but also interesting stories from France. In this digital age, I am honored to be instrumental in bringing cultural exchanges between China and France to life in a more vivid and authentic manner through the new media platform, Bilibili."

Chen Rui, Chairman and CEO of Bilibili, affirms that the Internet is a potent tool for the exchange of cultural ideas. He sees his platform as an essential accelerator in the spread of culture. Stressing the importance of youth in cultural innovation, Chen argues that it is vital for young people to engage in cultural exchanges that promote understanding, respect, and learning. He also stressed the importance of quality content in cultural dissemination, noting that Bilibili actively supports its content creators in producing excellent work and uses its advanced recommendation system to ensure that this content reaches a wide audience.

Guo Zhanglong, who arrived in France as an international student in 2011, has since established himself in Paris, where he and his family own several successful knife-shaved noodle restaurants.

Reflecting on a transformative experience in 2022, Guo said, "That year, we took the initiative to introduce traditional Shanxi knife-shaved noodles at a small food fair in France. Our stall quickly became an online sensation, celebrated for its distinctive flavor and genuine cultural engagement. We were more than pleased as we observed its transformation from a simple showcase into a dynamic venue for Chinese and French cultural fusion.

Mr. Guo noted, "Our videos serve not only as a chronicle of daily life but also as a bridge for cultural exchange. Every video we share and every interaction we engage in with our French friends contribute to deepening and enhancing the Sino-French cultural dialogue, while fostering a closer bond between us all."

Looking to the future, particularly to later in 2024-an important year that marks the 60th anniversary of China-France diplomatic relations and coincides with the Paris Olympic Games-Guo is optimistic: "We aim to further expand our footprint and establish Chinese cuisine as a major player on the international stage. We are confident that, amid the surge in video content creation, more talented creators will join our ranks, and together, we will spearhead the globalization of Chinese culture."

On the platform, vloggers like Paris Xiao Guo Guo showcase Sino-French exchanges through innovative storytelling techniques. Peng Jingxuan, an international student from China, captivates her audience with the retelling of her many academic and cultural adventures in France. It's a unique blend of content that covers everything from local music and art to broader cultural practices and lifestyles, giving her audiences an opportunity to better understand the nuances of the French way of life.

Bilibili is also expanding its reach globally. By collaborating with overseas multi-channel network (MCN) agencies, the platform has attracted a diverse pool of international creators, including several French vloggers. The expansion not only enriches the platform's content offerings, but also enhances its global footprint and influence.

Mr. Chen, the Bilibili CEO, highlighted the company's ongoing effort to promote vibrant cultural exchanges across the global youth community and to advance the understanding of Chinese culture through a combination of innovation within the framework of tradition and the preservation of tradition through innovation. The platform places a strong emphasis on the quality of its content and on connecting with younger audiences, aiming to foster cultural evolution through its video-sharing technology.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2406415/image.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/bilibili-a-catalyst-for-sino-french-cultural-exchanges-302138861.html
Northern Superior Resources Inc. (" Northern Superior ") (TSXV:SUP)(OTCQB:NSUPF) and ONGold Resources Ltd. (the " Company " or " ONGold ") are pleased to announce that further to the press releases dated April 2, 2024 and April 30, 2024 regarding receipt of conditional approval to list on the TSX Venture Exchange (the " Exchange " or " TSXV ") following the Company's transaction with Northern Superior which closed on April 26, 2024 (the " Transaction "), the Company has received final approval to list the Company's common shares (" Common Shares ") on the Exchange. Under the policies of the Exchange, the Company will be classified as a Tier 2 Mining Issuer.

The Company expects that the Common Shares will commence trading on the Exchange at the opening of the market on May 8, 2024 under the symbol "ONAU".

Appointment of Kyle Stanfield to Board of Directors and as CEO

The Company is also pleased to announce that Mr. Kyle Stanfield has been appointed as a new member of the Company's board of directors, as well as the Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

Rodney Barber, President of ONGold, stated: "We are pleased to have Kyle join us as CEO and director as we commence trading on the TSXV. Kyle brings over 25 years of experience in the mining sector that includes working with several publicly listed junior mining and exploration companies."

Mr. Stanfield, ONGold CEO, commented: "I am thrilled to join ONGold as Chief Executive Officer and to serve on the board of directors as we launch this new Ontario-focused exploration company. Having spent over two decades in the mining sector, particularly in roles that enhanced collaboration with indigenous communities and fostered sustainable project development, I am eager to leverage this experience at ONGold. My experiences successfully collaborating with numerous First Nations and Metis communities have profoundly shaped my approach to sustainable exploration and mining practices, and I am eager to apply this perspective to maximize the potential of ONGold's impressive portfolio in Northern Ontario. Together with the board and our dedicated team, I look forward to steering our projects through successful and responsible exploration phases."

Kyle Stanfield

Mr. Stanfield brings over 25 years of extensive experience in mineral exploration and project development with a particularly strong focus on project planning, indigenous consultation and agreements, as well as regulatory engagement. Mr. Stanfield has worked collaboratively with over 30 First Nations and Metis communities in Ontario and British Columbia in support of mineral resource exploration and project development. Earlier in his career, he played a pivotal role at the Musselwhite gold mine in Northern Ontario, currently operated by Newmont Corporation, consulting with the five Musselwhite Agreement signatory First Nations. In British Columbia, he was instrumental in leading the operational launch of the Tahltan First Nation environmental joint venture including facilitating an environmental training program for Tahltan elders and youth at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, his alma mater. In recent years, Mr. Stanfield spearheaded environmental assessments, indigenous consultation and permitting programs for both the Rainy River mine, located in Ontario and operated by New Gold Inc., as well as Argonaut Gold Inc.'s Magino mine, which recently achieved commercial production, also in Ontario.

About ONGold Resources Ltd.

ONGold Resources Ltd. (formerly 1348515 B.C. Ltd.) is a reporting issuer in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta with no current activities or operations. ONGold owns significant exploration assets in Northern Ontario, highlighted by the district-scale TPK Project and October Gold Project. These projects represent a strategic footprint in one of Canada's most prolific gold-producing regions.

The TPK Project, known for its extensive gold mineralization, covers 47,976 of hectares in a highly favourable geological setting, and has shown promising exploration results from historical drilling and recent surveys. The project area is situated in a region renowned for its mineral potential.

Similarly, the October Gold Project, consisting of 1,281 claims covering an area of 265km 2 , holds substantial promise with its favorable geological setting for large-scale gold deposits and is located approximately 35 km along strike from the Cote Lake Mine. The project has undergone preliminary exploration activities, which have indicated the presence of mineralized zones with significant gold anomalies. ONGold also holds a 100% interest in additional Properties in northwestern Ontario, known as Rapson Bay, Thorne-Ellard and Meston Lake. Together, these comprise 2,334 cell claims, covering 43,791 ha.

ONGold is committed to responsible exploration practices and sustainable development, emphasizing strong partnerships with local communities and stakeholders. By adhering to high standards of environmental stewardship and community engagement, ONGold aims to not only explore and develop its assets but also contribute positively to the regions in which it operates.

ONGold received final approval to list the Company's Common Shares on the TSXV and trading will commence under the symbol "ONAU" on May 8, 2024. With a seasoned management team led by industry veterans and a strategic focus on high-potential mining assets, ONGold Resources Ltd. is well-positioned to become a leader in the development of next-generation mines in Canada's prolific mining sectors.

Contact Information

Rodney Barber

President

Telephone: 1 (855) 525-0992

Email: info@ongoldresources.com

About Northern Superior Resources Inc.

Northern Superior is a gold exploration company focused on the Chibougamau Camp in Quebec, Canada. The Company has consolidated the largest land package in the region, with total land holdings currently exceeding 62,000 hectares. The main properties include Philibert, Lac Surprise, Chevrier and Croteau.

The Philibert Project is located 9 km from IAMGOLD Corporation's Nelligan Gold project which was awarded the " Discovery of the Year " by the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association (AEMQ) in 2019. Philibert host a new maiden 43-101 inferred resource of 1,708,800 ounces Au and an indicated resource of 278,900 ounces of Au 1 . Northern Superior holds a majority stake of 75% in the Philibert Project, with the remaining 25% owned by SOQUEM, and retains an option to acquire the full 100% ownership of the project. Chevrier hosts an inferred mineral resource of 652,000 ounces Au (underground and open pit) and an indicated mineral resource of 260,000 ounces Au. 2 Croteau hosts an inferred mineral resource of 640,000 ounces Au. 3 Lac Surprise hosts the Falcon Zone Discovery, interpreted to be the western strike extension of IAMGOLD Corporation's Nelligan Deposit.

Northern Superior is a reporting issuer in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SUP and the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol NSUPF. For further information, please refer to the Company's website at www.nsuperior.com or on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca).

Northern Superior Resources Inc. on Behalf of the Board of Directors

Simon Marcotte, CFA, President and Chief Executive Officer

Contact Information

Simon Marcotte, CFA

President and Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (647) 801-7273

info@nsuperior.com

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. Unless otherwise noted, references to "$" or dollars in this news release are to Canadian dollars.

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. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Company's listing statement dated April 29, 2024, 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 the Company should be considered highly speculative.

Cautionary Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is based on expectations, estimates, projections and interpretations as at the date of this news release. The information in this news release about the proposed transaction; and any other information herein that is not a historical fact may be "forward-looking information". Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, interpretations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "interpreted", "management's view", "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 and are intended to identify forward-looking information. This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company, and at the time it was made, involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the companies to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, risks relating to the ability of the Company to list the Common Shares on the Exchange and the Exchange's approval of the appointment of Kyle Stanfield as CEO and director of the Company. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the parties cannot assure shareholders and prospective purchasers of securities that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither party nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such forward-looking information. Neither party undertakes, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law.

1 Northern Superior announces 1,708,809 gold ounces in inferred category and 278,921 gold ounces in indicated category at 1.10 g/t in maiden NI 43-101 pit constrained resource estimate at Philibert; Northern Superior Resources Inc. press release dated August 08, 2023.

2 NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimation for the Chevrier Main Deposit, Chevrier Project Chibougamau, Quebec, Canada, October 20, 2021, Prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 by Lions Gate Geological Consulting Inc. IOS Services Geoscientifiques Inc. for Northern Superior Resources Inc.

3 Chalice Gold Mines Limited and Northern Superior Resources Inc. Technical Report on the Croteau Est Gold Project, Quebec, September 2015, Prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 by Optiro Pty Ltd ("Optiro") to Chalice Gold Mines Limited and Northern Superior Resources Inc.

SOURCE: Northern Superior Resources Inc.

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Perk Labs Inc. (CSE:PERK)(OTC PINK:PKLBF)(FKT:PKLB) ("Perk" or the "Company"), is providing a further update on the status of a management cease trade order (the "MCTO") application to the British Columbia Securities Commission that the Company announced was granted on April 3, 2024.

The Company was granted a voluntary MCTO under National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203"). As previously announced, the application for the MCTO was made by the Company in order to secure additional time for the Company to file its audited annual financial statements and the related management's discussion and analysis for the year ended November 30, 2023,(the "Annual Filings"), which were due on April 1, 2024.

The MCTO prohibits all trading in the capital of the Company, whether directly or indirectly, by the Company's CEO and CFO. The MCTO does not affect the ability of other shareholders to trade in the securities of the Company.

The Company and its auditors continue to work diligently toward completing the Annual Filings as soon as possible. The Company maintains its expectation that it will be in a position to file the Annual Filings on or before May 31, 2024.

The Company confirms that since the date of the Announcement: (i) other than as described above, there has been no material change to the information set out in the Announcement that has not been generally disclosed; (ii) there has been no failure by the Company in fulfilling its stated intentions with respect to satisfying the provisions of the alternative information guidelines set out in NP 12-203; (iii) there has not been any other specified default by the Company under NP 12-203; and (iv) there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed.

The Company will continue to satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines under NP 12-203 by issuing bi-weekly default status reports in the form of news releases for so long as it remains in default of the above-noted filing requirements

About Perk Labs Inc.

Perk Labs Inc., (CSE:PERK)(OTC PINK:PKLBF)(FKT:PKLB), the owner of Getit Technologies Inc. and Perk Hero Software Inc. ("Perk Labs"), provides innovative mobile ordering and payment systems, allowing customers the ability to scan a QR code or NFC sticker to order and pay for their purchases directly from their phone. Perk Labs specializes in providing a single unified payment interface for complex purchase environments - environments that have multiple retailers processing an array of different transactions, including food and beverage purchases, merchandise sales, ticketing, registrations, donations, parking fees, and service payments. Perk Labs provides a custom-branded solution that is ideal for multi-transaction brands such as stadiums and arenas, university and college campuses, conference centers, hotels and resorts, festivals and events, and professional service companies.

For more information, contact:

Ryan Hardy

CEO

(833) 338-0299

investors@getittechnologies.io

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "may", "believe", "thinks", "expect", "exploring", "expand", "could", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "pursue", "potentially", "projected", "should", "will" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. These forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, relate to, among other things, the discussion of the Company's business strategies and its expectations concerning future operations, and expectations of future revenues for the Company. Although the Company considers these forward-looking statements to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking information, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur.

SOURCE: Perk Labs Inc. ?

View the original press release on accesswire.com
Delphia Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company which specializes in cancer therapeutics, raised $67M in Series A funding.

The round was led by GV, Nextech Invest, Polaris Innovation Fund and Alexandria Venture Investments.

The company intends to sue the funds to expand operations and its R&D sector.

Delphia Therapeutics is leveraging its activation lethality platform to develop highly differentiated, first-in-class targeted cancer medicines with the potential for significant anti-tumor activity and more durable patient benefit. The company integrates tumor genetics, novel functional genomic approaches, and studies of inhibitor drug resistance to identify targets that drive activation lethality.

Co-founders include:

Bill Sellers, M.D., director of the cancer program of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Mike Dillon, Ph.D., former chief scientific officer of IDEAYA Biosciences and former global head of discovery chemistry for oncology at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR)

Kevin Marks, Ph.D., president and CEO of Delphia, entrepreneur-in-residence at GV, and former oncology drug discovery site head at NIBR

FinSMEs

07/05/2024
Innovative Motion Technologies, a Germantown, WI-based industrial technology platform specializing in interface and control solutions, announced the acquisition of Check Technology, a Troy, MI-based company which specializes in flexible heating systems.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

The acquisition enhances IMTs strategic position in the healthcare, agriculture, and off-road vehicle markets.

Founded in 1993, Check Technology designs, manufactures, and markets heating and control systems tailored to meet the needs of seating and other applications across a multitude of industries. With full-scale manufacturing in Troy, Michigan, the company has been a player in American-made control modules since its founding.

Led by CEO Rich Weeden, Innovative Motion Technologies (IMT) is a provider of an industrial technology platform and a designer and supplier of interface and controls solutions across a diversified set of OEM and aftermarket applications. The company operates under two brands, Raffel Systems and Micro-Air.

Raffel Systems focuses on electro-mechanical controls for residential, healthcare, industrial, cinema, and hospitality markets.

Micro-Air focuses on environmental controls for residential, recreational vehicle, HVAC, and marine applications.

FinSMEs

06/05/2024
Swypex, a Cairo, Egypt-based provider of a payments and financial workflow automation platform, raised $4M in Seed funding.

The round was led by Accel with participation from Foundation Ventures, The Raba Partnership, and angel investors.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and development efforts.

Founded by Ahmad Mokhtar (CEO, ex-PlayStation), Tarek Mokhtar (CPO, ex-Spotify), and Sasan Hezarkhani (CTO, ex-Twitter), Swypex provides a platform that consolidates businesses financial tools, bringing together services such as corporate cards, a business account, and invoice management in one place. With it, businesses have instant access to:

Smart corporate cards: Issue cards with built-in advanced card controls and real-time tracking to empower businesses to control spend before it happens and reduce their reliance on cash expenses.

Issue cards with built-in advanced card controls and real-time tracking to empower businesses to control spend before it happens and reduce their reliance on cash expenses. Comprehensive financial dashboard: A centralised view of a businesss finances, facilitating better insight, decision-making, and strategic planning.

A centralised view of a businesss finances, facilitating better insight, decision-making, and strategic planning. Seamless integrations: Easy sync with existing financial systems and accounting software, automatically pulling invoices, eliminating double-entry bookkeeping, and simplifying financial workflow.

Commenting on the news, Ahmad Mokhtar said: By empowering businesses with the most powerful corporate card in Egypt, paired with our all-in-one financial platform, we will help businesses simplify their financial operations and improve their financial health. Swypex is the first and last platform a finance team needs. Were excited to partner with Accel, Foundation Ventures, and Raba to make this vision a reality, and we look forward to continuing this journey.

FinSMEs

07/05/2024
The images of the Raazi actress went viral on social media in no time read more

The Deepfake menace is far from over and continues to make celebrities its victim. Rashmika Mandanna was one of the first victims that was followed by Katrina Kaif, Kajol, and most recently, Ranveer Singh.

We have a new victim- Wamiqa Gabbi as her face was morphed by fans with Alia Bhatt.

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Heres the original video:

Last year, ahead of the release of Tiger 3 , a deepfake picture of Katrina Kaif went viral. And the actress has become a victim of this new menace again accompanied by Artificial Intelligence. The actress could be seen giving a speech on a podium to a group of people in French which was generated by AI.

The occasion was the launch of Bina Kaks book that saw Salim Khan and Salman Khan in attendance too:

While AI technology has turned out to be a massive game-changer across the globe in a positive manner, its misuse has been garnering the headlines in recent times. A few months back, actress Rashmika Mandannas face was morphed with an influencer named Zara Patel, which created outrage on social media with many celebs including Amitabh Bachchan, Naga Chaitanya Akkineni and others coming out in her support.

Before Katrina and Rashmika, several Hollywood biggies became victims of deepfakes and raised their points on social media among the netizens.
Teenagers widespread use of smartphones is contributing to a mental health crisis. The problem began in 2010 when smartphones were combined with other factors such as social media, high-speed internet, a backward-facing camera, addictive games, easily accessible pornography, and free apps that maximise profit by cultivating addiction and social contagion read more

Haidts two central claims are that Gen Z is suffering from a major mental illness epidemic and that smartphones are largely to blame. Image used for representational purpose/Pixabay

The social psychologist Jonathan Haidt s new book The Anxious Generation delivers an urgent call for action.

Haidt argues that the evidence is in. Teenagers widespread use of smartphones is causing a mental health crisis. Individual, collective and legislative action is required to limit their smartphone access.

Haidt begins his book with an allegory. Imagine someone offered you the opportunity to have your ten-year-old child grow up on Mars, even though there is every reason to believe that radiation and low gravity could greatly disrupt healthy adolescent development, leading to long-term afflictions. Surely, given the risks, you would refuse the offer.

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A decade ago, parents could not have known the threats lying within the shiny new smartphones they presented to their excited teenagers. But the evidence is mounting that the children who grew up with smartphones are struggling.

Haidt calls the period from 2010 to 2015 the great rewiring. This was a period when adolescents had their neural systems primed for anxiety and depression by extensive daily smartphone use.

The kids arent alright

Haidts two central claims are that Gen Z is suffering from a major mental illness epidemic and that smartphones are largely to blame.

Readers should be wary about both these claims  not in the sense that we should resist believing them, but rather we should not be too eager to embrace them. After all, it is perilously easy to believe that the kids arent alright. Elders routinely despair of the younger generation.

Haidt explicitly acknowledges that other experts have argued against claims of widespread teenage anxiety. In response, he cites recent evidence from a host of different sources: not just self-reports of problems, but hard data on self-harming, suicide rates, diagnosed mental disorders and mental health hospitalisations.

Haidt calls the period from 2010 to 2015 the great rewiring. This was a period when adolescents had their neural systems primed for anxiety and depression by extensive daily smartphone use. Image used for representational purpose/Pixabay

While Haidt focuses on the US, he observes concurrent shifts in youth mental health in many Western countries, including Australia.

But do these findings constitute an epidemic demanding society-wide responses? Here the book would have benefited from systematically drawing together the science in easily understandable terms.

Haidts marshalled evidence consistently shows a rise, beginning around 2010 and starting with girls, in a host of adolescent mental health disorders and wellbeing concerns. Broadly speaking, the figures in the US show mental health issues that previously plagued around five-10 per cent of adolescents growing to afflict around twice that amount.

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On the one hand, these data suggest the term anxious generation is somewhat misleading. A large majority of Gen Z do not have anxiety disorders  and of those who do, almost half would have done so irrespective of smartphone usage.

On the other hand, the numbers remain concerning.

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No parent would be comfortable handing their child any substance they knew had a one-in-ten chance of causing the child a mental disorder within a few years. There are also data suggesting that, even among those without disorders, children increasingly suffer from loneliness and other concerning outcomes.

Perhaps the most alarming part of the steep curves and precipitous falls in Haidts many graphs is not the current figures, but the current trajectories. In almost all cases, things are getting worse. It is possible we may be in the early days of an unfolding catastrophe.

Insert your ideological preference

If we accept there is a serious problem, then the question arises as to its cause. Again, we must resist intuitively appealing answers to this question. The worry is that we will all look into a witchs mirror, seeing what we want to see or what our preferred ideology tells us we should expect. I am old enough to remember panics about heavy metal music and Dungeons & Dragons .

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The mental health concerns currently plaguing Gen Z might turn out to be ones that every generation will face. Image used for representational purpose/Pixabay

Indeed, it is possible that Haidt himself fell into this trap, at least in part. In a previous book, The Coddling of the American Mind , Haidt and his co-author Greg Lukianoff argued that harmful worldviews and beliefs prevalent in US educational settings were priming young people for worrying mental health outcomes.

Haidt thinks this coddling remains a factor, but now recognises the hypothesis fails to fit the data. Specifically, he acknowledges the plummeting mental health of adolescents is evident in many countries, and across all educational levels and social classes.

Are there alternative hypotheses that fit this data? Perhaps kids today are anxious and depressed because they should be anxious and depressed? After all, they inherit a world facing runaway global warming, systemic injustices, insecure work futures and more. Yet Haidt rightly observes that past generations with dire prospects did not show similar mental health outcomes.

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Ultimately, the problem is likely to stem from a mix of factors. Haidt argues the current situation was not caused exclusively by smartphone use. Recent decades have also seen the rise of  safetyism   a term he and Lukianoff coined to describe the preferencing of individual safety ahead of other values  and helicopter parenting . These phenomena have increasingly shielded children from the vital development provided by physical play and unsupervised exploration of the real world.

Haidt argues that parents became fearful of the healthy risks posed by the outside world, even as they catastrophically opened their children up to the unhealthy dangers of the virtual world.

Developmental concerns

Smartphones did not initially raise major developmental concerns for children. The problems started around 2010 when they combined with other factors like social media, high-speed internet, a backward-facing camera (encouraging selfies), addictive games, easily accessible pornography, and free apps that maximise profit by cultivating addiction and social contagion.

This toxic technological mix allowed smartphones to take over childrens lives. Usage rates averaging seven hours a day gradually but profoundly rewired their maturing brains. Haidt thinks this rewiring gives rise to four foundational concerns:

Social deprivation: a smartphone is an experience blocker, taking up hours a day that would otherwise be spent in physical play or in-person conversations with friends and family. Sleep deprivation: too many teenagers stay on their smartphones late at night when they need rest. Attention fragmentation: alerts and messages continually drag teenagers away from the present moment and tasks requiring concentration. Addiction: apps and social media are deliberately designed to hack vulnerabilities in teenagers psychologies, leading to an inability to enjoy anything else .

Building on these foundational concerns are ones specific to each gender. Girls proved more vulnerable to the damaging effects of social media, while boys retreated into online gaming and pornography.

Dangers to adolescent mental health

An intriguing part of Haidts book is its account of the way smartphones became addictive and damaging.

Teenagers, like all humans, have several basic needs and emotional drivers: for social connection and inclusion, for a sense of individual empowerment and agency, for sexual fulfilment, and so on.

kids today inherit a world facing runaway global warming, systemic injustices, insecure work futures and more. Yet Haidt rightly observes that past generations with dire prospects did not show similar mental health outcomes. Image used for representational purpose/Pixabay

Haidt explains that, normally, for almost all human history and evolution, these incentives drove teenagers to do things in person, in the real world  things like making friends, playing games together, navigating disputes, getting tasks done, developing romantic attachments and taking physical risks.

While these activities can lead to injuries, tears and frustrations, they are nevertheless important for teenagers mental health and development. Children are antifragile : they need these types of risks and stressors to grow properly.

Smartphones  and their apps, games and social media  also provide responses to all these drivers. But they do so without prompting the above activities and the important outcomes they deliver, such as close friendships and resilience.

For example, a teenager might feel lonely and want connection, so they join Instagram or TikTok. Social media provides a type of connection and delivers a temporary dopamine hit. But it fulfils the teenagers immediate need in a way that does not involve real world connections and challenges. This only makes them lonelier and more isolated in the longer term.

What can we do?

Even if we accept Haidts claims about the rise in anxiety fuelled by smartphones, it is not clear how we should respond. Perhaps radical solutions are unnecessary. In time, things might work themselves out, such as through further technological innovations .

Haidts view is that collective action is critical. As he sees it, the problem is not only that smartphones are intrinsically useful and alluring (which is why we all wanted them in the first place); it is not only that their apps are addictive. The problem  especially in a school setting  is that if most of a teenagers peers have smartphones, then the ones who dont have one risk being social outcasts, perpetually left out and never in the know.

For this reason, Haidt thinks actions by isolated parents are unlikely to be successful.

Ironically, the same heightened parental concern for child safety Haidt has previously critiqued may prove to be a powerful force for change. At least some parents are likely to view their childrens future mental health as a non-negotiable good and treat smartphones as the modern-day hypodermic needle .

For his part, Haidt argues for four new norms, to be created by parents collective action alongside legislative and regulatory reforms:

No smartphones before high school No social media before 16 Phone-free schools More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world .

A deeper problem

Haidts book leaves the reader with a further, deeper worry.

Suppose he is right that the things that lead to human flourishing involve real world physical encounters with other people: family, close friends, romantic partners, neighbours, local community groups and members.

Such encounters are often unpredictable, messy, inconvenient and frustrating. Conversely, the online world is becoming easier, cheaper and more alluring every day. Innovations and algorithms continually hone our experience, as profit-driven industries work ever more aggressively to capture and keep our attention.

In the face of all this, it may be that the real world cant compete. The mental health concerns currently plaguing Gen Z might turn out to be ones that every generation will face.

If so, Haidts suggested reforms might mark the first foray in what will be a long battle between the human need for real-world experience and connection, and the powerful temptations of an online world that offers something we cant possibly resist:  a little bit of everything, all of the time .

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .
During Chinas five-day Labour Day holiday this year, a significant increase in travel was observed. Despite around 295 million trips reported, there was a disappointing growth in consumer spending, which only rose by 13.5 per cent compared to 2019. Per capita spending actually decreased. We explain the reasons behind this paradox read more

In communist China, the first day of May- Labour Day- actually marks the beginning of a five-day holiday. During the recent May Day holiday in China, there was a noticeable surge in travel, with millions of people taking advantage of the extended break. This uptick in travel could be seen as a positive sign, indicating a rebound from the restrictions of the pandemic era.

However, despite the high numbers of travellers, there is an underlying trend that dampens this good news: a significant concern regarding consumer spending patterns.

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We dive into the specifics of these trends and explain why the figures from this Labour Day holiday are disappointing despite the high volume of travel.

The purpose of the May Day holiday

The 5-day vacation around May Day is created by rejigging workdays.

Like every year, in 2024 too, 1 May, Wednesday, was a holiday on account of Labour Day. 4 and 5 May were off days because of the weekend. To ensure 2 May is a holiday, the preceding weekend, i.e., 28 April, a Sunday, was a working day. Similarly, for 3 May, the succeeding weekend, 11 May, a Saturday, will be a working day.

The purpose of the rejigging the workdays is to give Chinese workers the opportunity to make holiday plans during the five consecutive days off to boost the countrys consumer spending. The Chinese government had hoped to boost tourism and the economy by encouraging millions of households to travel during the holiday season.

Heres how that worked out this year.

A surge in tourism

Chinas Ministry of Culture and Tourism reported a staggering 295 million trips made within mainland China during the holiday, marking a 28 per cent increase compared to the 2019 Labour Day period, which lasted only four days. Despite this surge in travel, the economic benefits were not as pronounced as expected. This years tourism revenue reached 166.89 billion yuan ($23.6 billion), which, while 13.5 per cent higher than in 2019, shows that the revenue increase did not match the rise in travel.

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Fireworks light up over Victoria Harbour for the Chinese Labour Day Golden Week holiday, in Hong Kong, China 1 May, 2024. File image/Reuters

Drop in spending

The average spending per trip has notably decreased; tourists spent about 565.73 yuan ($80) per trip, down 6 per cent from five years ago, according to CNN.

An estimate by Reuters suggests that the average spending is down much more. Compared to pre-COVID levels in 2019, the spending per head during the holiday period was down by 11.5 per cent, the media house said.

Although there was a 12.7 per cent increase in total spending from last year, shortly after China lifted COVID-19 restrictions, the lower per capita spending indicates a cautious consumer behaviour.

Instead of flocking to the bustling metropolises like Beijing and Shanghai, many travelers have been opting for smaller, tier-3 cities and lesser-known towns. This trend is largely driven by cost considerations, as these destinations generally offer more affordable travel and accommodation options.

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Reasons for decreased spending

There are several reasons for this restrained spending. They reflect broader economic challenges within China, the worlds second-largest economy. One significant factor is the ongoing crisis in the property sector. Construction and real estate are a big source of employment and wealth generation in China. A record downturn in this sector has severely impacted spending habits of households, and larger consumer confidence as well.

Moreover, job security has become a major concern for many Chinese. The economic slowdown has led to heightened job uncertainty, making consumers hesitant to spend. This economic backdrop is crucial to understanding why, despite the freedom to travel and the desire for experiences post-pandemic, spending has not rebounded to expected levels.

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The consumer sentiment is further evidenced by a survey from the Peoples Bank of China, which found that less than one in four residents wanted to spend more, while an increasing share of the urban population preferred to save during the first quarter of the year. This shift in consumer priorities from spending to saving highlights the prevailing economic uncertainty and the direct impact it has on consumer behaviour.

Additionally, the expansion of Chinas high-speed rail network and increased car ownership have made these remote destinations more accessible.

With inputs from agencies
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has reportedly asked its staff to wear wrinkled clothes on Mondays to save energy. But how does not ironing garments help tackle climate change? read more

Its okay to not seek perfection all the time, even if it is by letting go of that crisp kurta. In fact, wearing unironed clothes is actually good for the environment.

Indias eminent research body, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is reportedly encouraging its staff to wear wrinkled clothes on Mondays.

Lets take a look at whats going on.

CSIR launches WAH Mondays

CSIR has initiated a WAH Mondays campaign, which expands to Wrinkles Acche Hai (wrinkles are good), asking its staff to wear unironed clothes on the first day of the week.

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The initiative, which is a part of the Swachhata Pakhwada from 1-15 May, is aimed at conserving energy.

CSIR decided to contribute by wearing non-ironed clothes on Mondays. Ironing each set of clothes amounts to emission of 200 g (grammes) of carbon dioxide. So, by wearing non-ironed clothes, one can prevent emission of carbon dioxide to the tune of 200 g, Dr N Kalaiselvi, secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the first woman director general of CSIR, told NDTV.

CSIR has also implemented standard operating procedures (SOPs) to reduce electricity consumption in all labs across India. Initially, it aims to slash workplace electricity expenses by 10 per cent.

This is a pilot trial that will be in place from June-August 2024, reported India Today.

Unironed clothes and climate change

Carbon dioxide is a key greenhouse gas that is driving climate change . As greenhouse gas emissions cover the Earth, they trap heat, leading to global warming and climate change.

India relies heavily on coal to produce electricity. Many of us use irons, usually rated between 500 watts to 2000 watts, to remove wrinkles from our clothes. These machines consume electricity to work.

If a 2000-watt electric iron is used for 15 minutes daily, it will take up around 0.5 kWh of electricity each day. Pixabay (Representational Image)

As per an Indiatimes report, if a 2000-watt electric iron is used for 15 minutes daily, it will take up around 0.5 kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity each day, and 15 kWh of electricity monthly.

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Since the clothes are worn in pairs, it is two pieces of clothes that one person will be ironing for a day. It takes five-seven minutes to iron one piece. This will result in the equivalent of 200 grammes of CO2 emission. In other words, the entire country will be emitting 250 million grammes of CO2 a day just to iron their clothes, IIT Bombays Professor Chetan Singh Solanki told the news outlet in 2022.

He pointed out that in India, the majority of electricity comes from coal. It is estimated that one unit of electricity results in one kg of CO2 emission. So if we all decide not to iron our clothes for one day, we can save 250 million units of electricity, the IIT Bombay Professor added.

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Last October, the Energy Swaraj Foundation started the Wah - Wrinkles Achhe Hai! campaign to reduce carbon footprint.

Our campaign offers a refreshing perspective on environmental responsibility in a world that often prioritises appearances over substance. Its a reminder that sometimes, less is more, and wrinkles can be beautiful, especially when they represent a commitment to our planet, Professor Solanki wrote for Indiatimes at the time.

Why we must act now

Climate change is already raising global temperatures. 2023 was the hottest year on record.

According to the European Unions Copernicus Climate Change Service, between February 2023 and January 2024, global average temperatures rose 1.52 degrees Celsius above average temperatures measured, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, between 1850 and 1900, noted Vox.

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A boy gets ready to dive to cool off during hot and humid weather in Karachi, Pakistan, on 2 October 2023. Reuters File Photo

Oceans are warming, countries are witnessing adverse weather events and the survival of several species is at risk due to climate change.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) recently forecasted that climate change could expose around 2.4 billion workers globally to health hazards like cancer, cardiovascular illness, kidney dysfunction and physical injury.

The Paris climate agreement of 2015 set a target of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. To achieve this goal, the world has to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

However, the demand for fossil fuels, which contribute to warming, is at its highest level and is expected to rise further.

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Amid all this, it becomes all the more important that we do our bit and act now to arrest the spike in global temperatures before it is too late. Even if we have to ditch the neat and tidy look expected at work or school for a day every week, it is worth it to save the environment.

With inputs from agencies
The Election Commission of India (ECI) in a letter warned all political parties not to use deepfakes. The poll body also said they would be responsible for taking the content down in three hours and would issue a warning to the person responsible. This comes after several deepfakes including that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mamata Banerjee, Amit Shah, Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh have gone viral read more

The Election Commission put the onus of combatting deepfakes on political parties and noted the harm that such videos could cause to the electorate. Representational image

As voting for the Lok Sabha polls continues, the Election Commission is looking to crack down on deepfakes.

The poll body in a letter warned all political parties not to use deepfakes. It also said they would be responsible for taking the content down in three hours.

The development came just days after the Delhi High Court on Thursday said it trusted the Election Commission of India (ECI) to deal with the issue and that it cannot devise a policy in the middle of elections.

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But what did the Election Commission say? And what deepfakes have gone viral this poll season?

Lets take a closer look:

What did EC say?

The EC put the onus of combatting deepfakes on political parties.

As per Moneycontrol, the EC in its missive wrote, Whenever such deepfake audios/videos, come to the notice of political parties, they shall immediately take down the post but maximum within a period of three hours and also identify and warn the responsible person within the party.

It also noted the harm that such videos could cause.

It said the use of such manipulated, distorted, edited content on social media platforms has the potential to wrongfully sway voter opinions, deepen societal divisions, and erode trust in electioneering process by attacking laid out instrumentalities of the electoral steps in terms of means and material, as per Indian Express.

Further, the scale of spread of such misinformation has been observed to be dangerously unrestrained due to the availability of the option of forwarding/re sharing/ re-posting/ re-tweeting on the social media platforms," it added.

The poll body said parties could approach the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) under Rule 3A of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, in case of continued presence of such unlawful information or fake user account after reporting to social media platform.

Will it help?

A piece in Indian Express noted that the ECI is acting after two phases of the Lok Sabha polls. It said the real impact the ECIs letter remains to be seen.

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It also noted that some parties were sharing the deepfakes on their official handles and it is thus unclear what the poll body means when it says they should take down deepfakes when it comes to their notice.

It also stated that merely warning the person responsible for putting up such material on their social media appears to be lacking teeth.

The piece also noted that the Election Commission did not mention WhatsApp.

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It said the app has over 500 million users in India and is perhaps the most effective way to spread misinformation/ disinformation.

Deepfakes going viral

This poll season has witnessed number of deepfakes.

Two deepfake videos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee videos went viral.

The video of Modi was posted on 6 May.

It showed the prime minister walking and dancing on a stage.

Also on 6 May, a similar video of West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee was put up online.

The Cyber Crime division of Kolkata Police issued a notice two social media users for posting a clip of material that is offensive, malicious, and inciting.

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It has been observed that you are using social media for posting offensive, malicious and inciting posts. Cyber Police Station Kolkata hereby issues notice against you under Section 149 CrPC for posting such message," the post by the Kolkata Police stated.

A deepfake that showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi dancing went viral on 6 May. X/@ANI

You are hereby directed to delete the above mentioned post and also refrain from such acts failing which you will be liable for strict penal action under relevant provision of law, it added

Modi just said last week fake voices were being used to purportedly show leaders making statements that we have never even thought of, calling it a conspiracy to create tension in society.

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A deepfake morphed clip of Union home minister Amit Shah was put up on social media.

In the fake video, Shah was purportedly seen announcing the curtailment of reservation rights of the SCs, STs and OBCs.

Shah retorted on X, posting his original and the edited fake speech and alleging  without providing any evidence  that the main opposition Congress was behind the video it created to mislead the public. The minister said directions have been issued to the police to address this issue.

The police arrested at least nine people, including six members of Congress social media teams, in the states of Assam, Gujarat, Telangana and New Delhi last week for circulating the fake video, according to police statements.

Five of the Congress workers were released on bail, but the most high-profile arrest made by the cyber crime unit of New Delhi police came on Friday, when they detained a Congress national social media coordinator, Arun Reddy, for sharing the video. New Delhi is one region where Shahs ministry directly controls police. Reddy has been sent into three-day custody.

The Mumbai police in April registered a case against the Maharashtra Youth Congress social media handle and 16 others for allegedly sharing the deepfake.

This, after Mumbai BJP functionary Pratik Karpe filed a complaint at the Bandra Kurla Complex cyber police station.

Another fake video that sparked a storm last week showed Yogi Adityanath, the states chief minister, criticizing Modi for not doing enough for families of those who died in a 2019 militant attack. Though fact checkers said the video was created using different parts of an original clip, state police called it an AI generated, deepfake.

Using internet address tracking, state police arrested a man named Shyam Gupta on 2 May who had shared the fake video post on X a day earlier, receiving over 3,000 views and 11 likes.

The police have accused Gupta of forgery and promoting enmity under Indian law provisions that can carry a jail term of up to seven years if convicted.

In April, a Facebook user shared a deepfake of actor Ranveer Singh criticising the prime minister

The video features the Congress party symbol with the text: Vote For Nyay, Vote For Congress.

The video falsely claimed that the actor had endorsed the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.

April also saw social media users share a deepfake video of Bollywood actor Aamir Khan.

The fake clip showed the actor purportedly talking about two types of guarantees given to the citizens - good and bad  thus claiming that he had endorsed the Congress.

How bad will things get when it comes to deepfakes?

Only time will tell.

With inputs from agencies
The voting for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 is being held today in 93 constituencies across 11 states and Union Territories. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the interim bail of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case. Russian president Vladimir Putin will begin another six-year term as president wielding extraordinary power read more

Voters show their ink-marked fingers and ID cards after casting their votes in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, in Jammu. PTI

It is going to be busy for India today.

The voting for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 is being held today in 93 constituencies across 11 states and Union Territories.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the interim bail of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case, and the allegations of misleading claims against Patanjali and Divya Pharmacy.

On the global front, Russian president Vladimir Putin will begin another six-year term as president wielding extraordinary power.

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Heres a quick look at big headlines today.

Third phase of Lok Sabha elections

The voting for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 is set to take place today.

The polling will be held in 93 Lok Sabha constituencies across 11 states and Union Territories.

As many as 1,351 candidates are in the fray in the phase three polls, as per the Election Commission of India.

Notably, the voting for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir has been deferred to 25 May.

Polling in Madhya Pradeshs Betul, which was to be held in the second phase on 26 April, is being held today.

SC hearing in Patanjalis misleading ads case

The Supreme Court will hear a plea by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) accusing Patanjali and Divya Pharmacy of making misleading claims regarding treatments.

In the last hearing, the top court had questioned the Uttarakhand State Licencing Authority (SLA) over its response to the allegations and said it had woken up only after the courts intervention in the matter.

Yoga guru Ramdev and Patanjali MD Acharya Balkrishna show their fingers marked with indelible ink after casting their votes for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, in Haridwar. PTI

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah was hearing the case.

The court had noted that only newspaper cutting of the public apologies issued by Patanjali was filed and had asked to see the entire page to know the size of the public notice.

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Hearing on Arvind Kejriwals bail plea

The apex court will hear arguments on the interim bail of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case.

On Friday, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said that arguments on Kejriwals plea against arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and his subsequent remand in the excise policy case, may take some time, so it may hear arguments on the question of interim bail Kejriwal on Tuesday.

However, the bench also made it clear that it had not decided anything finally and that it was only informing all counsel that such a form of interim relief may be considered if the hearing is unlikely to conclude soon.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Kejriwal had challenged a Delhi High Court judgment that dismissed his plea against arrest by the ED and his subsequent remand in the excise policy case.

Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by the ED thrice so far, most recently on 21 December. File photo/PTI

Kejriwal, while filing an appeal in the apex court had contended that his arrest after the announcement of the General Elections was motivated by extraneous considerations.

President Murmu to attend cultural programme in Shimla

President Droupadi Murmu arrived in Shimla on Saturday for a five-day visit to Himachal Pradesh.

On Tuesday, she will witness a cultural programme at the Gaiety Heritage Cultural Complex in Shimla.

This will be followed by a dinner hosted by the Governor of Himachal Pradesh at Raj Bhawan.

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During her visit, she has been staying at the Rashtrapati Niwas, Mashobra near Shimla.

In the wake of her visit, tight security arrangements have been made and around 1,500 police personnel have been deployed in the city.

NASAs Boeing crew flight test

Indian-origin astronaut Captain Sunita Williams and her fellow veteran NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore are set to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on a brand new spacecraft, the Boeing Starliner, on Tuesday.

The duo will launch into space from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida in the first crewed test flight of Starliner. The flight, if it succeeds, will become the second private firm being able to provide crew transport to and from the ISS.

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The launch is scheduled to take place at 10:34 pm EDT on Monday, 6 May, i.e., 7 May at 8.04 am Indian Standard Time.

Vladimir Putin begins another term

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday will begin another six-year term as president wielding extraordinary power.

The former KGB lieutenant first rose to power in 1999 and has shaped Russia into a monolithic society.

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a forum at the VDNKh exhibition of economic achievements in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Over the last decade, Putins Russia evolved from a country that tolerates at least some dissent to one that ruthlessly suppresses it. Arrests, trials and long prison terms  once rare  are commonplace. (Sergei Karpukhin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

This March, he cemented his already tight grip on power in a victory he said showed Moscow had been right to stand up to the West and send its troops into Ukraine.

The new term will see him overtake Josef Stalin and become Russias longest-serving leader for more than 200 years if he completes it.

IPL 2024  DC vs RR

Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals (DC) will play against the high-flying Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 56th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

The match will be held at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi today at 7.30 pm.

In the IPL point table, the DC has secured the sixth spot with 10 points from 11 matches played, while the RR stands second in the table.

Apple event likely to announce new iPad models

Apple is set to kick off its iPad refresh cycles with a Let Loose event on Tuesday.

The American giant is expected to announce the iPad Pro and iPad Aid.

The event will begin at 7.30 pm (IST) and the virtual event will be livestreamed on Apples website for a global audience.

Apple is also expected to unveil new accessories such as new models in its pencil line-up.

A day to remember
Hopes of peace remain a dream after Israel rejected the ceasefire proposal, which was earlier accepted by Hamas. The Benjamin Netanyahu-led government said the deal was not what they had agreed to and has significant gaps. Moreover, the Jewish nation has said it would continue its operation in Rafah, carrying out night airstrikes read more

Relatives and supporters of hostages taken captive by Hamas in Gaza during the 7 October attacks, hold placards and wave national flags during a demonstration calling for their release, in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv. AFP

On Monday (6 May), almost seven months into the Israel-Hamas war, came a sliver of hope that the war would come to an end as the Palestinian group, Hamas, approved a proposal for a ceasefire put forward by mediators Qatar and Egypt.

With the announcement, Palestinians celebrated in the streets of Gaza, while in Tel Aviv, hostage families and their supporters implored Israels leaders to accept the deal.

However, it seems that peace will elude the region for longer.

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Thats because Israel responded sceptically and said it would press on with its campaign in Gazas southernmost city, Rafah . The Israeli prime ministers office said the war Cabinet had decided unanimously to push ahead with an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation in Rafah in order to apply military pressure on Hamas, with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims.

Amid this confusion, we explore what is in three-phase ceasefire deal that Hamas accepted, why Israel rejected it and what this means for the ongoing war.

Hamas accepts ceasefire deal

On Monday, after days and days of negotiations, Hamas approved a ceasefire proposal put forth by Egypt and Qatar . The Palestinian group in a statement said that its supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh , had expressed his agreement in a phone call with Qatars prime minister and Egypts intelligence minister.

Haniyeh said in a call with Qatars head of state that Israel should seize the moment and accept the proposal.

After Hamas agreed to the mediators proposal for a ceasefire, the ball is now in the court of Israeli occupation, whether it will agree to the ceasefire agreement or obstruct it, a senior Hamas official told AFP, soon after the office of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh had announced its acceptance.

Palestinians react after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters

It is reported that Hamas accepted the proposal only after mediators reworked it with CIA Director Bill Burns even travelling to Cairo last week and then on to Doha where he worked with the Qataris on the language, CNN reports.

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Hamas acceptance of the proposal was the first glimmer of hope that further bloodshed  over 34,735 people have been killed  would be averted. There were celebrations in Gaza as Palestinians hoped this would finally bring an end to the bloody war.

The three-phase proposal

While it is not confirmed what exactly was Hamas agreeing to, officials involved in the negotiations said that the proposal comprised three phases, each being 42 days long.

In the first phase, Hamas would release 33 hostages  the group is believed to still hold 128 of the 250 hostages they had taken  in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from Israeli jails. Moreover, Israel would partially withdraw troops from Gaza and allow for free movement of Palestinians from south to north Gaza.

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In phase two, which is another 42 days long, there would be a complete and permanent halt to military activity in Gaza.

And the final phase, phase three would see the completion of exchanging bodies and starting the implementation of reconstruction according to the plan overseen by Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations. It would also see the ending of the complete blockage in the Gaza Strip.

Israel rejects proposal

Shortly after Hamas announced it had approved the proposal, celebrations broke out in Gaza. Al Jazeera reported that people started celebrating near the Kuwaiti Hospital upon hearing the Hamas announcement. The announcement brought a sense of relief and tranquility among Palestinians who are exhausted and traumatised, said the news outlet.

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However, confusion prevailed as Israel initially remained mum on the matter and then later stated that their operation in Rafah would continue.

It was later reported that Israeli officials said the terms Hamas claimed to have accepted did not match those that they had approved. A statement from Benjamin Netanyahus office said, Hamass latest offer was far from [meeting] Israels essential requirements.

Protesters block a highway demanding the immediate release of hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas. Reuters

It further added that Israel would send working-level teams to hold talks with the mediators in order to exhaust the possibility of achieving an agreement on terms that are acceptable to Israel.

War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz also was quoted as telling the Times of Israel that the ceasefire proposal Hamas accepted is inconsistent with the dialogue [Israel] held with the mediators to this point and has significant gaps [from Israels demands].

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Israels negotiators were continuing their work at every moment and will leave no stone unturned, Gantz promised. Every decision will be brought before the war cabinet. There will be no political considerations in the decision-making, he added (emphasis in original).

Israel officials, as per a Channel 12 report, said that this was not the same proposal that the Jewish nation and Egypt has agreed upon days ago.

An official also told Sky News that Hamas announcement appears to be a ruse to cast Israel as the side refusing a deal.

Israel has consistently asserted that it wont accept any deal which provides for a permanent ceasefire and that it would resume its military campaign after any truce-for-hostages deal, in order to complete its two declared war goals: returning the hostages and destroying Hamas military and governance capabilities.

However, Benjamin Netanyahus decision to reject the deal prompted family members of the hostages to protest in Tel Aviv. They called on their government to accept the deal, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum saying, Hamass announcement must pave the way for the return of the 132 hostages held captive by Hamas for the past seven months. Now is the time for all that are involved to fulfil their commitment and turn this opportunity into a deal for the return of all the hostages.

US officials at the White House and the State Department were repeatedly asked by journalists during news briefings about Hamass acceptance of the deal. But Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, and John Kirby, the White House National Security spokesperson, refused to get into any details.

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah after the Israeli military began evacuating civilians from the eastern parts of the southern Gazan city, ahead of a threatened assault. Reuters

Uncertain and shaky future awaits

While Israel asserted that it would send its delegation for further talks, it also reiterated its commitment to an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying its war Cabinet had unanimously decided to continue with the operation to exert military pressure on Hamas.

The IDF said it was conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. An AFP reporter in the city reported heavy bombardment throughout the night, while the Kuwaiti hospital there said on Tuesday in an updated toll that 11 people had been killed and dozens of others injured in Israeli strikes.

News agency AP also reported that Israeli tanks had entered Rafah, reaching as close as 200 metres from Rafahs crossing with neighbouring Egypt.

It is also reported that US president Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and reiterated US concerns about an invasion of Rafah. Aid agencies and human rights activists have also warned that an offensive in Rafah would bring a surge of more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has already killed over 34,000 people and devastated the territory. It could also wreck the humanitarian aid operation based out of Rafah that is keeping Palestinians across the Gaza Strip alive, they say.

With inputs from agencies
On Tuesday, Maldives tourism minister appealed to Indians to return to the island nation. This request comes after data reveals a significant drop in Indians travelling to the archipelago  from 73,785 arrivals in the first four months of 2023 to 42,638 this year. After a diplomatic standoff between the two nations, Indian travellers boycotted the holiday destination en masse read more

A waiter prepares the table at a restaurant at a resort on an island at Har Alif Atoll in the Maldives. The island nation has witnessed a dip in Indian tourists amid the ongoing New Delhi-Male spat. File image/Reuters

Please be a part of Maldives tourism. Our economy depends on tourism, appealed Maldivian tourism minister Ibrahim Faisal amid the ongoing India-Maldives spat.

The request came after Indian tourists shunned the island nation after Maldivian officials made derogatory remarks about India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media.

How badly was Maldivian tourism hurt by Indians? We explore more.

Plea to return

Ibrahim Faisal, Maldives tourism minister, on Monday (6 May), in a PTI news interview said: We have a history. Our newly elected government also wants to work together (with India). We always promote peace and a friendly environment. Our people and the government will give a warm welcome to Indian arrivals. As the tourism minister, I want to tell Indians to please be a part of Maldives tourism. Our economy depends on tourism.

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The plea comes after Indians tourists visiting the archipelago began dwindling following the Indo-Maldives spat, which began early in January when three leaders belonging to President Mohamed Muizzus government made offensive remarks about India as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Indians shun the Maldives

Maldivian government data has revealed that the number of Indian tourists has dipped in the first four months of this year. The island nation welcomed a total of 43,991 tourists from India as of 4 May. Moreover, between January and April, Maldives received 42,638 Indians. Compare this to last year, Maldives recorded 73,785 tourist arrivals from India.

Statistics show a total of 12,792 Indians visited the island nation in January 2024. In February, a total of 11,522 Indian tourists visited the Maldives, as compared to a total of 19,497 the same month last year. In March this year, only 8,322 Indians visited the nation, as compared to a total of 18,099 during the same month in 2023.

Indian tourists are among the highest foreign visitors to the Maldives. In 2023, of the total 17 lakh tourists who visited the island nation, more than 2,09,198 visitors were Indians, followed by Russians  2,09,146  and China with 1,87,118 tourists.

Tourists enjoy the beach at a resort island at the Male Atoll. Indian tourists are among the highest foreign visitors to the Maldives. In 2023, of the total 17 lakh tourists who visited the island nation, more than 2,09,198 visitors were Indians. File image/Reuters

In 2022, the number of Indian visitors was more than 2.4 lakh while in the previous year, 2021, the number of Indians flying to the island nation was over 2.11 lakh.

And with Indians shunning the island nation, the tourism industry is feeling the pinch. News portal Sun.mv explaining the significance of Indian tourists said: Indian travellers have a counter-travel pattern to European travellers; meaning Indian visitors frequent to the Maldives during hot seasons, which coincides with a drop in European market arrivals. In other words, India is the most significant filler for the Maldives tourism off-peak season.

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Seeing the importance of the Indian tourists, the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) also met with Munu Mahawar, the Indian high commissioner to the Maldives in April to explore collaborative efforts in tourism promotion.

On 9 April, the MATATO also said that plans were underway to woo Indian tourists back to the island-nation, including carrying out comprehensive roadshows across key cities in India as well as roping in influencers and conducting media familiarisation trips to the Maldives in the coming months.

The economy of the Maldives is driven by tourism  25 per cent of its GDP directly and 75 per cent from secondary sources. So if Indian tourists boycott the country en masse, it is likely to hurt.

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Why Indians are bidding adieu to Maldives

But what exactly is the cause of Indians shunning the beautiful island nation. The answer stems from the Maldives itself.

President Mohamed Muizzu , who came to power in the Maldives in September last year, has been a proponent of the  India Out  campaign and is pro-China. In fact, soon after he assumed charge, he kept his election promise of evicting Indian military personnel from his country.

Moreover, in January three ministers in his government took to X and passed offensive remarks about PM Modi as well as the country. Mariyam Shiuana, a deputy minister in the Maldivian Cabinet, called Modi a puppet of Israel and a clown on X. Her two other colleagues too joined in, posting derogatory comments about the prime minister and Indians.

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The comments, which have since been deleted, angered many Indians, who then called for a boycott of the island nation . Many celebrities, for whom the Maldives has been a preferred holiday destination, also jumped on to the bandwagon, urging people to explore Indias own. Actor Amitabh Bachchan promoted travel to Lakshadweep in a post on X, while Akshay Kumar also batted for the same.

The Maldives president Mohamed Muizzu has a pro-China stance and this has further caused tensions between India and the island nation. File image/PTI

The boycott was further fuelled when EaseMyTrip, one of the countrys leading online travel platforms, declared it wouldnt be accepting any bookings for the Maldives. However, since then, they have changed their stance, accepting bookings.

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However, deteriorating ties with Maldives isnt the only reason for the dip in Indian tourists to the archipelago. Some tour operators note that other global markets opening up for Indian travellers could also be the reason for a drop in numbers. For instance, several countries such as Kenya, Thailand, Malaysia are granting visa-free travel to Indians.

With inputs from agencies
Two government employees, who were on Lok Sabha poll duty in Karnataka, passed away on Tuesday due to heart attacks. According to Election Commission rules, an ex-gratia is paid to the families of polling personnel deployed for election-related duties who sustain grievous injuries or die while performing their duties read more

The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls will kick off on 19 April with the counting of votes set to take place on 4 June. File image/AP

Two government employees, who were on Lok Sabha poll duty in Karnataka, passed away on Tuesday due to heart attacks.

According to PTI sources, 48-year-old Govindappa Siddapura, the headmaster of a government school in Bagalkot taluk, collapsed at the Mudhol bus stand and succumbed to a heart attack on Monday.

Assistant agriculture officer Anand Telang (32) died at Kudumbal in Bidar district.

Voting for the second phase of elections in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies across the state is being held on Tuesday.

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The compensation policy for death on poll duty

An ex-gratia is paid to the families of polling personnel deployed for election-related duties who sustain grievous injuries or die while performing his duties, according to the Election Commission of India.

The payment of ex-gratia compensation applies to Parliamentary/Assembly/Bye elections and to elections of Legislative Councils, President and Vice-President of India.

The Election Commission rules state that death would be considered to have taken place while on duty only if it occurred after the worker left home to report for any election-related work, including training, and before he/she returned home after finishing his/her duty,

Personnel deployed for all types of election-related duties, such as election observers, security personnel under CAPFs, SAPs, State Police, Home Guards, any private person like drivers, cleaners, etc. hired for election duty, BEL/ECIL engineers engaged in First Level Checking (FLC), EVM Commissioning, poll day and counting day duty, are eligible for ex-gratia.

If the death is caused by any violent acts and COVID-19, the compensation amount would be Rs 30 lakhs. In the event of death for any other reason, the compensation amount would be Rs 15 lakhs.

In case of permanent disability, the amount compensated would be Rs 15 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh in case of grievous injury, as per ECI.

According to the rules, if someone gets ex-gratia compensation, he/she will also be eligible for the compensation already being paid by the Ministry of Home Affairs under its existing guidelines and any other compensation by the state government or any employer.

The expenditure incurred due to ex-gratia compensation will be borne by the Government of India during elections to Lok Sabha, Vice President and President of India, by the state government during elections to Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Council and 50:50 basis between the Government of India and concerned state government during the simultaneous election to Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly.

With inputs from PTI
News of a five-year-old girl being mauled by two pet Rottweilers at a park in Chennai has yet again shone the spotlight on whether some dog breeds pose an inherent danger to humans. Experts say people should choose their pets carefully and look for warning signs, but add that even some good-natured animals can attack humans if they havent been trained properly or are mistreated read more

Rottweilers are among the 23 dog breeds that the Centre has asked states to ban. File photo/Reuters

Another day and another story of a dog attack has hit the headlines.

This time, a five-year-old girl was seriously injured after being attacked by two pet Rottweilers at a park in Chennai.

The victim, the daughter of a security guard, was playing in the park in Thousand Lights area on Sunday evening when the two Rottweilers attacked.

She was saved by her mothers and some passers-by.

The girl is currently in hospital.

The incident comes just months after a man was attacked by his pet Rottweiler after forgetting to feed it.

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But are aggressive dog breeds really to blame for the attacks?

Lets take a closer look:

Centre urges ban on ferocious dog breeds

The Centre seems to think so.

The government in March urged states to ban two dozen dog breeds including Pitbulls, Rottweilers, Terriers, Wolf Dogs and Mastiffs.

That came after a report from a panel of experts and animal welfare bodies constituted after the Delhi High Court directed the Centre to consider banning certain breeds.

According to The Times of India, the Centre said it such breeds were a threat to human life.

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying constituted an Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Animal husbandry Commissioner with members from the various stakeholder organizations and experts. The Committee has identified the following breeds of dogs as ferocious which are dangerous for human life, the letter states.

The committee also recommended that the dog breeds listed be banned from being imported, bred and sold.

It said the Department of Animal Husbandry shall not issue any licenses or permit for sale, breeding of the animals.

It also said local bodies could issue guidelines. The letter added that those having such breeds as pets must ensure they are sterilised.

Animal activists too support the recommendation.

The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) too had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in March urging that nearly two dozen dog breeds be banned.

This order is key toward providing vital protection for both humans and dogs and sends a strong, clear message that pit bulls and other such breeds are bred to be used as weapons. Pit bulls and related breeds are the most commonly abandoned dogs in India, and this action can prevent a great deal of suffering for the dogs, the organisation wrote in its writ petition.

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India isnt alone in acting to ban or restrict certain breeds.

A number of countries including Ecuador, Bermuda, France, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Qatar, Ukraine, Malaysia  as well as several US states  have banned Rottweilers.

Pitbulls, meanwhile, are outlawed in 30 countries including the UK, Denmark, Colombia, Norway, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Malta, Spain, France, Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand.

The prohibition extends to crossbreed and mixed breeds as well. Pixabay

Ukraine, Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Israel, and New Zealand have all banned the Dogo Argentino.

Australia, Bermuda, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates have outlawed or limited Terriers.

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Bermuda, Malaysia, Qatar, and Singapore have prohibited or restricted keeping Mastiffs as pets.

But are certain dog breeds inherently dangerous?

What do experts say?

Experts say that even some good-natured dogs can go after humans if mistreated.

Every dog, even a Retriever or a Labrador, which are known to be extremely human-friendly, can become aggressive if not exercised or kept in good living conditions, Delano Henriques, a Mumbai-based dog trainer and behaviourist, told Mint.

They recommend that people choose their dogs carefully, that choosing a dog is a huge decision and that dogs tend to behave like their parents.

As per The Conversation, some warning signs people can look for are:

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Nervousness or shyness around people

Barking, growling and snapping

Every dog and breed is different and people should do their homework thoroughly before taking them home. They need to first figure out what they are looking for in a pet  a companion, friend or a guard. Every dog has a different temperament and different ways of letting off steam, Manoj Poovanniyil of Rottweiler Chennai kennel told The Times of India.

Rottweilers were originally used to pull carts to the market, herd animals and guard the home and farm. They were used as working dogs, animal activist Mini Vasudevan added. For many, their dark and sturdy features can come across as a bit terrifying. But I would say that Rottweilers are a breed that is gravely misunderstood. Rotts can be fiercely loyal to the family.

A Soundararajan, who has 20 years of experience in the Coimbatore polices Dog Squad, sounded a word of caution.

Rottweilers are ferocious breeds, especially the ones abroad, which is why they are banned in many countries. They are aggressive dogs with powerful jaws and they have the tendency to not release their victims from their hold. They need to be trained from a very young age to acclimate themselves to their surroundings.

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Others argue that a blanket ban makes little sense.

Jiby, a Rottweiler breeder from Kochi pointed out to Mint that thousands of people across India work in the dog breeding industry employs thousands of people across India.

Such restrictions would put an end to several businesses and cost people their jobs.

Instead of a blanket ban, regulating breeding would be a better idea, Jiby added.

Henriques also pointed out that some people may simply abandon their pets as a result of the ban,

There will be a whole new problem that we will have to deal with, he added.

With inputs from agencies
French artist Gustave Courbets famous painting The Origin of the World, featuring a womans vulva, was boldly spray-painted Me too by two activists at the Centre Pompidou-Metz museum. The protest was to throw light on the misogynistic divide in the world of art read more

Two women defaced the iconic artwork of Gustave Courbet using spray paint. AP

The attack on famous artworks as a form of protest continues. The latest target was French artist Gustave Courbet. In a controversial act of defiance at Frances Centre Pompidou-Metz museum on Monday, Courbets iconic painting The Origin of the World was defaced by two women activists.

The 19th-century nude painting featuring a womans vulva was boldly spray painted Me too by two activists in a stunt by a performance artist, a museum and the artist confirmed.

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The artwork which was loaned from Musee dOrsay in Paris for an exhibition, was protected under a glass pane and the police were on site to assess the damage, the Centre Pompidou in the northeastern city of Metz told AFP.

A feminist performance

French-Luxembourgish performance artist Deborah de Robertis told AFP she had organised the spray painting in red, carried out by two other people, as part of a performance titled: You Dont Separate the Woman from the Artist.

In a video sent to AFP by de Robertis, one woman tags Courbets famous painting with red paint and then another one. They then chanted MeToo before being dragged away by security guards.

Metz prosecutor Yves Badorc said two women, aged 38 and 31, had been arrested after five works in total, including Courbets nude, had been sprayed with the words MeToo.

Earlier this year, two climate activists threw soup at world-famous Mona Lisa. AFP

A third person, who has not been detained, is believed to have stolen another artwork, he said.

The stolen piece, red embroidery on white material by French artist Annette Messager, is called I Think Therefore I Suck.

The artist says her actions were a feminist performance, carried out because the very closed world of contemporary art has remained largely silent until now.

Wanted to challenge the history of art

In an open letter, de Robertis denounced the behaviour of six men in the art world, describing them as predators and censors.

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The artist justified her act saying that she wanted to highlight the misogynistic divide in the art world. She said she wanted to challenge the history of art, in particular by tagging MeToo on the famous painting because women are the origin of the world.

De Robertis adds in her statement, I call on all women, with or without vulvas, all intersex, trans and non-binary people, and all underrepresented peoplewhether artists, assistants or interns in the art worldto dare to express yourself.

The artist said they had also targeted another work by Austrian artist Valie Export.

De Robertis had a piece exhibited at the venue: a photograph capturing her 2014 performance at the Musee dOrsay, where she posed naked beneath Courbets painting.

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Artwork is not a poster

French culture minister Rachida Dati took to X to condemn the act.

To activists who think that art is not powerful enough to carry a message alone An artwork is not a poster to colour in with the days message, she wrote in her post.

Apres la Galerie des Glaces samedi, cest maintenant cinq uvres presentes au Centre @PompidouMetz, dont lOrigine du Monde de Courbet, pretee par le @MuseeOrsay, qui viennent detre prises pour cibles.



 Aux activistes qui pensent que lart ne serait pas assez puissant pour https://t.co/7WeISyDKgB  Rachida Dati  (@datirachida) May 6, 2024

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Metz mayor Francois Grosdidier, called the act a new attack on culture, this time by fanatic feminists.

Not the first for European museums

Some of Europes greatest artworks have been targeted recently.

After being saved from an attack of food cream in 2022, earlier this year, two climate change activists hurled hot soup at the protective glass in front of the world-famous Mona Lisa at Paris Louvre Museum.

Vincent Van Goghs Sunflower was splattered with tomato soup by environmental activists at Londons National Gallery in 2022.

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Last year, environment activists smeared red paint and glued their hands to the protective glass on a Monet painting at Stockholms National Museum before being arrested by the police.

With inputs from AFP
During Xi Jinpings state visit to France, the Ukraine war emerged as a predominant theme in discussions with President Emmanuel Macron. Chinas exports aiding Russia, the potential influence Xi holds over Moscow, and Macrons domestic and global ambitions were at play in this conversation. We decode read more

The Ukraine was in focus during Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron. Image courtesy: Chinese Foreign Ministry

When Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in France for a state visit, his agenda with French President Emmanuel Macron was packed with critical issues, from trade disputes to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The topic of Russia-Ukraine war, in particular, dominated the discussions.

We explain why the war in Europe was a significant talking point during Xis visit, decoding the considerations that brought this issue to the forefront of Franco-Chinese diplomacy.

Chinas influence over Moscow

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Xi Jinpings relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been notably strong. Beijing and Moscow had signed a no limits agreement just before Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This alliance has only deepened as Russia faces growing international isolation due to its actions in Ukraine. With the West distancing itself and imposing sanctions, Russia has increasingly turned to China for support, both diplomatically and economically.

Xi, for his part, has refused to condemn Russia for the attack on Ukraine, despite mounting global pressure.

Following his presidential inauguration on Tuesday, Putins first international trip is expected to be to China. That highlights the importance of Beijing in Moscows current foreign policy. It also shows the clout and influence China has with Russia.

Russin President Vladimir Putin is set to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in May. Reuters

Macron, as well as other European leaders, understand how important Chinas influence would be in talking Russia out of stretching the war any further. This is exactly why the topic of Ukraine is expected to be a common theme in Xis upcoming visits to countries like Serbia and Hungary.

READ MORE: Paris immersed in protests and Tibetan flags as Chinese president begins France tour: Dictator Xi Jinping, your time is up

Chinas exports supporting Russias war effort

China claims neutrality in the Ukraine conflict. However, its alleged actions tell a different story. Last month, an assessment by the United States revealed that China significantly ramped up its sales to Russia, including critical components like machine tools and microelectronics, which are essential for Russias military production.

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These components have been used extensively by Moscow to manufacture weaponry used in Ukraine, including missiles, tanks, and aircraft. Notably, about 90 per cent of Russia microelectronics in 2023 came from China.

Chinese and Russian companies have also collaborated on producing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) in Russia. Chinese firms like Wuhan Global Sensor Technology and Hikvision have been implicated in supplying optical components used in Russian military hardware. This level of support has drawn international criticism and led to urgent calls from leaders like Macron for China to cease these activities. Macrons administration has pressed Xi to strictly control sales of products and technologies that could be dual-use, i.e., for civilian and military purposes.

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Macrons interest in Ukraine

Since 2023, Macrons foreign policy stance has become markedly more hawkish. The French President has been a vocal advocate for Europes strategic autonomy, seeking to position Europe as a powerful, independent actor on the global stage, especially in matters of security.

This vision includes reducing dependency on the US and boosting European capabilities to support Ukraine independently.

Macrons approach to the Ukraine war is driven by this vision. He sees the conflict not just as a regional security issue but as a test case for Europes broader strategic ambitions. By actively engaging with leaders like Xi, Macron aims to demonstrate Europes, and Fraces, ability to influence global geopolitics and manage its security interests without over-reliance on American support.

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READ MORE: We need the Chinese: Macron calls for economic reset with Beijing ahead of Xi Jinpings visit to France

Electoral calculations

Macrons focus on Ukraine also has to do with attacking and defending attacks from domestic opposition parties. In March, the French far-right Rassemblement National party, led by Marine Le Pen, was 12 points ahead of Macrons centrist alliance, as reported by Financial Times. Le Pen had, in the past, been quite close to Putin.

French President Some of Emmanuel Macrons calculations ahead of the EU elections are tied to the response to Frances Ukraine war. Reuters

On the other hand, the far-left in France has been attackign Macron for being all talk about Ukraine. His diplomatic efforts to ease the war-situation is likely also aimed at quelling some of that criticism.

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Chinese cooperation remains a challenge

Despite fervent diplomatic efforts, achieving Chinese cooperation on the Ukraine issue has proven to be a formidable challenge. Last year, President Macron made a direct appeal to Xi Jinping, urging him to leverage his influence to bring Russia to its senses. However, this plea seemed to have little effect, with no noticeable change in Beijings stance or actions following the appeal.

During his time in France, too, Xi did not side with Ukraine. History has repeatedly proven that any conflict can ultimately be resolved only through negotiation, he said. We call on all parties to restart contact and dialogue.

Given how deep China and Russias ties run, it is unlikely that Beijing will switch to a hardline stance, or antagonise Russia publicly. However, the West may still hope for some behind-closed-doors lobbying by China.

With inputs from agencies
Sensitive details of thousands of British soldiers and veterans including names, banks and addresses have been compromised through an attack on a payroll system sometime over the past three days. While the UK is not expected to name the country behind the attack, government ministers have taken aim at Beijing read more

A payroll system containing the names, addresses and bank details of UK soldiers was targeted.

The UKs ministry of defence has been hacked  and China is suspected to be behind it.

According to several media reports, the details of thousands of British soldiers and veterans have been compromised.

The development comes just a day after Chinese president Xi Jinping began a five-day tour of Europe  his first since 2019.

But what happened exactly? And did China really hack the UKs ministry of defence?

Lets take a closer look:

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According to The Sun, the hack was uncovered sometime over the past three days.

Sky News reported at least two or three tries were made at hacking.

A payroll system which contains the names of employees and veterans was the target.

Their names and bank details have been exposed.

However, The Telegraph reported that addresses have also been revealed.

Around 2,000 people are thought to have been impacted.

The UK government is not expected to name the country behind the hacking.

Sky News reported that the system that has been compromised is not linked with the MoD main computer system.

The system has since been taken offline and a probe has been launched.

The personnel will be given guidance by the MoD.

According to The Telegraph, information of special forces personnel are thought to be safe as those are on a separate system.

While the MoD will make all salary payments, some expense settlements may be held up.

The Sun reported that defence officials, spies from GCHQ, the National Cyber Security Centre and the offensive Cyber Force and civilian contractors are working on this together.

The MoD is also hiring personnel to check if the data is being sold or put up on the dark web.

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Eyes are widen open

The Guardian reported that defence secretary Grant Shapps is likely to make a statement on Tuesday afternoon.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, a former soldier, told Sky News China was probably looking at the financially vulnerable with a view that they may be coerced in exchange for cash.

Government minister Mel Stride told Sky News on Tuesday that China is an epoch-defining challenge and our eyes are wide open.

Stride was quoting from the 2021 Integrated Review of the UKs national security and international policy.

Stride did not name China but said the UK ought to get the balance right regarding Beijing.

By balance, I mean protecting our security. At the same time, I recognise and, of course, China is a very important economic player globally and, of course, big global challenges like climate change need to have China at the table, if we are to resolve those as well, Stride was quoted as saying.

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The Guardian quoted shadow defence secretary John Healey as saying: So many serious questions for the defence secretary on this, especially from forces personnel whose details were targeted.

Any such hostile action is utterly unacceptable.

Ex-conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News, This is yet another example of why the UK government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that.

No more pretence. It is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states.

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According to The Independent, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden in March told the House of Commons the UK had sanctioned two individuals and a company linked to China for attacking the Electoral Commission.

The same firm did reconnaissance activity against UK parliamentary accounts in 2021, Dowden added.

Dowden said two people and a company associated with the cybergroup APT31, linked to the Chinese Ministry of State Security, were being punished.

The UK and the United States has claimed China was mounting a global campaign of malicious cyberattacks.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London in March pushed back saying the so-called cyberattacks by China against the UK are completely fabricated and malicious slanders.

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With inputs from agencies
The Supreme Court made it clear that had there been no ongoing elections, there would have been no consideration for interim bail read more

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred its order on the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwals interim bail plea but it made a few key observations in the process. The Delhi chief minister is lodged in Tihar Jail due to his alleged involvement in an excise policy-linked money laundering case.

Here are the five key things that the apex court said while dealing with interim bail plea of the Delhi chief minister:

 Supreme Court noted that without ongoing elections there would be no consideration for interim bail of Kejriwal.

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 The apex court expressed concerns about the potential cascading effects if Kejriwal were released on interim bail and allowed to participate in elections and perform official duties, questioning how he would handle tasks like signing files and attending office.

 Supreme Court emphasized that being the elected chief minister of Delhi during elections constituted extraordinary circumstances but stated that politicians involved in crimes should not be treated differently. However, the court also said that Kejriwal is not a habitual offender.

 Supreme Court clarified that elections were a separate matter held once every five years and reiterated the courts stance against treating politicians involved in crimes differently.

 The Supreme Court further stated that they were not basing their decision on whether the individual in question was a politician or not. They emphasized that every individual might have special or exceptional circumstances warranting consideration. They clarified that the discussion revolved around whether an exception was necessary in light of the elections. They further clarified that their stance did not imply the need for a separate law tailored for politicians.
ED said that at the nascent stage Kejriwal was not the focus and the probe agency was not looking at his involvement, but his role became clearer only when the investigation progressed read more

The Supreme Court on Tuesday started hearing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.

Delhi Excise Policy case | Enforcement Directorate (ED) tells Supreme Court that Arvind Kejriwal stayed at 7 star Grand Hyatt hotel during 2022 Goa Assembly election and its bill was paid by Chanpreet Singh, who allegedly accepted cash funds for AAPs campaign.



ED tells Supreme pic.twitter.com/2WCudxohs0  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

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During the court proceeding, ED told the court that it is not a politically motivated case and the probe agency was only concerned with the evidence and they have it.

We are not concerned with politics, we are concerned with evidence and we have it, said Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for ED.

ED said that at the nascent stage Kejriwal was not the focus and the probe agency was not looking at that, but his role became clearer only when the investigation progressed.

ED told the apex court that Kejriwal stayed at 7-star Grand Hyatt hotel during 2022 Goa Assembly election and its bill was paid by Chanpreet Singh, who allegedly accepted cash funds for AAPs campaign.

The apex court had earlier said that it would consider granting interim bail to the Delhi Chief Minister in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

We will keep the matter on Tuesday morning now, and since it is going to take time, we may hear you on the questions of interim bail due to the elections so please be prepared to answer on that, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta had told told Additional Solicitor General S V Raju on Friday.

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Kejriwal was arrested on 21 March and is currently lodged in Tihar Jail under judicial custody.

The top court had issued a notice to the ED on 15 April and sought its response to Kejriwals plea against his arrest.

On 9 April, the Delhi High Court had upheld Kejriwals arrest, saying there was no illegality and the ED was left with little option after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.

The case relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi governments now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.

With inputs from agencies
Pro-Khalistan elements in Canada allegedly targeted the India leadership and gave inflammatory speeches at a rally in Toronto on May 5. Reportedly, a gathering the previous Sunday had seen pro-Khalistan chants in the presence of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. read more

Expressing concern over the display of imagery against Indias political leadership in Canada, the Ministry of External Affairs asked it to stop providing a safe haven and political space for criminal, extremist factions and secessionist elements.

The MEA statement read: Celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civilized society. Democratic countries which respect the rule of law should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression.

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We continue to remain concerned about the security of our diplomatic representatives in Canada and expect the Government of Canada to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear, read the MEA statement.

The MEA communique also pointed out that last year, a float depicted the assassination of our former Prime Minister was used in a procession. Display of posters of Indian diplomats have also been put out across Canada threatening violence against them.

The Ministry of External Affairs called upon the Government of Canada to stop providing criminal and secessionist elements a safe haven and political space in Canada.
Assam recorded the highest voter turnout at 75.30 per cent, followed by Goa at 74.47 per cent , and West Bengal at 73.93 per cent. read more

In the third phase of polling, a voter turnout of 62.87 percent was recorded during the third phase on Tuesday. Assam, Goa and West Bengal recorded the highest voting percentages at 75.3%, 74.47% and 73.93% respectively.

In Madhya Pradesh, a turnout of 66.63% was recorded in these nine constituencies- Morena, Bhind (SC-reserved), Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal, Rajgarh and Betul (ST-reserved)- in the 2019 general elections and an overall turnout of 71.20% in Madhya Pradesh.

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A voter turnout of 54.09 per cent was recorded in 11 out of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra, where polling was held today in the third phase of the general elections, officials said.

The first two phases of polling in the state saw more than 62 per cent voter turnout. As per the data shared by the election authorities, the Kolhapur seat saw the highest turnout of 63.71 per cent, while the Baramati seat, where two members of the politically influential Pawar family were locked in a bitter tussle, recorded the lowest turnout of 47.84 per cent.In Baramati, Sharad Pawars daughter Supriya Sule was pitted against Sunetra Pawar, wife of the veteran leaders estranged nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

A turnout of over 57 per cent was recorded in 10 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh that went to polls in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday, according to the latest Election Commission figures. Agra witnessed 53.99 per cent polling, Aonla 57.08 per cent, Budaun 54.05 per cent, Bareilly 57.88 per cent, Etah 59.17 per cent, Fatehpur Sikri 57.09 per cent, Firozabad 58.22 per cent, Hathras 55.36 per cent, Mainpuri 58.59 per cent and Sambhal 62.81 per cent.

Polling in five constituencies in Bihar in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections passed off peacefully, with a provisional voter turnout of 60 per cent, almost one per cent less than that of the 2019 general elections, officials said.

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Two persons engaged on poll duty died of cardiac arrest in Araria and Supaul Lok Sabha seats, they said. The polling was also held in Jhanjharpur, Madhepura and Khagaria constituencies.

The voting was largely peaceful, barring an incident of damage caused to an EVM following a minor clash between two groups of supporters inside a polling station in Khagaria, officials said.

The voter turnout in these five Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections was 61.22 per cent. Araria recorded 62.80 per cent voter turnout followed by Supaul (62.40), Madhepura (61) Khagaria (58.20) and Jhanjharpur (55.50).

Voting began at 7 am amid tight security. After the deadline for voting ended at 6 pm, around 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded. But this figure is provisional, Chief Electoral Officer H R Srinivasa said.

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The turnout percentage will increase voters had been in queues at certain booths at 6 pm, he said. The CEO said that voters boycotted polling at nine booths out of total 9,848 polling centers because of certain local issues.

With inputs from agencies.
After casting his vote from Ahmedabad, PM Modi congratulated the Election Commission for successfully conducting the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections with hardly any violence being recorded in the country read more

India entered its third phase of voting on Tuesday. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Amit Shah, political bigwigs from across the country cast their votes on May 7.

After casting his vote from Ahmedabad, PM Modi congratulated the Election Commission for successfully conducting the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections with hardly any violence being recorded in the country.

Check our live blog here

Voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections! Urging everyone to do so as well and strengthen our democracy. pic.twitter.com/PlLCw7Fwe3  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 7, 2024

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The prime minister also said the way the Indian elections are being conducted could be a learning process for other democracies, and that it has been the subject of case studies for many universities.

Matdaan is mahadaan

Today is the third phase of voting. There is great importance of Daan in our country and in the same spirit, the countrymen should vote as much as possible, said PM Modi.

This phase of voting will also see Home Minister Amit Shah running from Gujarats Gandhinagar.

#WATCH | Ahmedabad, Gujarat: After casting his vote, PM Modi says, "Today is the third phase of voting. There is great importance of 'Daan' in our country and in the same spirit, the countrymen should vote as much as possible. 4 rounds of voting are still ahead. As a voter in pic.twitter.com/K4svEIanmQ  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

Branding his inked finger, PM Modi acknowledged Shahs candidature and asked the people of Gujarat to vote in large numbers.

Crowd greets Modi

After casting his vote at Ahmedabads Nishan Higher Secondary School, the prime minister greeted huge crowds of people and was later joined by Amit Shah.

#WATCH | An elderly woman ties rakhi to PM Modi as he greets people after casting his vote for #LokSabhaElections2024 at a polling booth in Ahmedabad, Gujarat pic.twitter.com/pGKPQhQiQd  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

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#WATCH | An elderly woman ties rakhi to PM Modi as he greets people after casting his vote for #LokSabhaElections2024 at a polling booth in Ahmedabad, Gujarat pic.twitter.com/pGKPQhQiQd  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

The prime minister gave his autographs to people, greeted supporters and thanked them for exercising their right to franchise.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi shares a light-hearted moment with a child as he greets people after casting his vote at a polling booth in Ahmedabad, Gujarat #LokSabhaElections2024 pic.twitter.com/h1QI7l1dDD  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

Lok Sabha elections phase 3

The third phase of the elections spans across 11 states and Union Territories (UTs) and will cover 94 constituencies. The first phase covered 102 constituencies while the second covered 88. The voting process will begin at 7 am and go on till 5 pm. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.

The constituency of Surat , which was initially slated to go to polls in this phase, will not witness the election process as the BJP candidate from this seat has won unopposed.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 3 LIVE Updates: The Phase 3 polling underway in 93 seats across 11 states and a UT has recorded 50.71% voter turnout till 3 pm, the Election Commission of India said read more

VIDEO | Here's what RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said on the Lok Sabha Polls in Patna. "People are voting for us. They want to finish Constitution and democracy. It came to knowledge of people and that is why they are clarifying." #LSPolls2024WithPTI #LokSabhaElctions2024 pic.twitter.com/h4HJAOgcOK

'People are voting for us', says RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said on the Lok Sabha Polls

#WATCH | Karnataka: Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge casts his vote at a polling station in Kalaburagi. Congress has fielded party chief Mallikarjun Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani from Kalaburagi constituency and BJP has fielded Umesh G Jadhav. pic.twitter.com/ynfFT0bspi

After casting his vote in Uttar Pradeshs Safai in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said, BJP is going to have a very bad defeat because farmers, youth, businessmen, people of every section are upset with them.

'BJP is going to have a very bad defeat because....' explains SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav

The move was taken for the sake of peaceful voting in the Morena parliamentary constituency.

BJP nominee Shivmangal Singh Tomar, Congress Satyapal Singh Sikarwar and BSPs Ramesh Chandra Garg were kept under house arrest and Superintendent of Police Shailendra Singh Chauhan himself is present with them.

Morena district administration on Tuesday kept three major candidates of Morena parliamentary seat under house arrest in police lines here in view of peaceful voting.

VIDEO | "I appeal to all the voters of Maharashtra to use their voting right for state's progress and country's development. Use your voting right to strengthen our democracy," says Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde ( @mieknathshinde ). #LSPolls2024WithPTI #LokSabhaElections2024 (Full pic.twitter.com/OPsJRvV2QV

Use your voting right to strengthen our democracy, says Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde

While Bhosale is running from Satara on a BJP ticket and will face NCP (SP) candidate Shashikant Shinde, Chhatrapati is making his political debut from Kolhapur on a Congress ticket and will face the Shiv Senas current MP, Sanjay Mandlik, who is headed by Eknath Shinde. On May 7, the third phase of voting takes place in both seats.

Shahu Chhatrapati and Udayanraje Bhosale, two descendants of Maratha warrior king Shivaji, are running for different Lok Sabha seats in western Maharashtra, representing the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the Mahayuti, respectively, two opposing political fronts.

Two descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji gear up for electoral battle in Maharashtra

#WATCH | Narhari Amin says, "...Voting is being held on 25 seats of Gujarat today. One of our candidates has already won from Surat. In 2014 and 2019, we won all 26 seats. But in 2024, we will get a lead bigger than what we got in 2019 on all seats. Our target is to win all seats https://t.co/afmvw3sYGl pic.twitter.com/hkPB4HKQgh

Our target is to win all seats, says BJP MP Narhari Amin

All the businessmen and the poor people will together make Congress win this time. People are regretting that they made a mistake last time and they will elect Congress party with a huge majority, Mr. Kharge said after voting.

On Tuesday, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and his son Priyank Kharge voted at a polling station in Gundugurthi village, Kalaburagi, in the third round of the Lok Sabha elections.

My letter to the leaders of INDIA parties, regarding the discrepancies in the voting data released by Election Commission of India and non-publishing of registered voters. Sharing the text of the same - 2024 Lok Sabha elections is the fight to save Democracy and the pic.twitter.com/cwIokvYlIo

Congress president Malikarjun Kharge on May 7 urged INDIA bloc parties to collectively, unitedly and unequivocally raise voice against voting data discrepancies to protect the culture of a vibrant democracy and the Constitution.

On Tuesday, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra urged voters to turn out in huge numbers for the third phase of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, emphasising the importance of this election in protecting democracy and the Constitution.

#WATCH | West Bengal: A verbal spat occurred between CPI(M) candidate from Murshidabad, Mohammed Salim and TMC supporters at a polling booth in CPI(M) in the Lok Sabha constituency. pic.twitter.com/aQ5vhIrPQa

While the TMC and CPI(M) are both part of the oppositions INDIA coalition, the two parties do not have an alliance in West Bengal. The two parties have fiercely clashed with each-other in the state.

Mohammed Salim, the CPI(M) candidate on West Bengals Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat, got into a spat with the supporters of the states ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) at a polling booth.

In terms of voter turnout, West Bengal is followed by:

Maharashtra has recorded the lowest voter turnout at 18.18% till 11 am, according to CNN-News 18.

The Modi government scrapped Article 370, which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir, in 2019.

In last five years, we had nearly 400 seats, including NDA, regional parties, and Independents. We used it to remove Article 370We used 400-plus seats to scrap Article 370, extend SC/ST quota for 10 years, and appoint a tribal woman as countrys President. Modi wants 400 seats in ongoing Lok Sabha polls to ensure that Congress is unable to bring back Article 370 in Kashmir, said Modi, as per PTI.

Speaking at a rally in Madhya Pradeshs Dhar, Modi said that the BJP had nearly 400 seats for the past five years and it allowed it do carry out acts like revoking Article 370.

As India votes in the third phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) needs 400 seats to prevent the Congress party from reinstating Article 370.

We need 400 seats so that Congress doesn't bring Article 370 back, says PM Modi

In the ongoing election campaign, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the senior coalition partner of JD (U) in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has staunchly slammed the demands for reservations for Muslims and has constantly reiterated that religious-based reservation is unconstitutional.

VIDEO | "Lalu Yadav supported reservation for backward castes with us. His statement has hurt us. By seeking reservation on the basis of religion, he is opposing the established practices of Mandal Commission," says JD(U) leader KC Tyagi on RJD chief's 'Muslims must get pic.twitter.com/EOAnnf6yhl

Tyagi said that Lalu had previously supported the reservation for backward castes and the call for religion-based reservation hurts the Mandal movement.

Janata Dal-United (JDU) leader KC Tyagi has said that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadavs call for reservation to Muslims has hurt the Mandal movement.

Ram Gopal, brother of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and uncle of current party chief Akhilesh Yadav, further said that they would carry out a caste census if they form government. He said it is needed as several castes have not got their due.

Speaking to News 18 in Hindi, Yadav said, Wo mandir to bekaar ka hai. Mandir aise banaye jaate hain? Mandir aise nahi bante. Dekhiye kaise bante hain dakshin se le kar uttar tak. Iska naksha theek nahi bana hai. Vaastu ke lihaaj se theek nahi banaya gaya. (That temple is useless. Is this how temples are made? Temples are not made like this. You see how temples are made from South to North. This temples design is not okay. It is not okay as per architecture).

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ram Gopal Yadav has criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue of Ram Mandir and has dubbed the temple in Ayodhya as bekaar (useless).

I urge everyone to cast their vote. This day can change your next five years. Go and cast your vote, and see how the nation has to be taken forward. I think voting is an act of patriotism he said.

Chhattisgarh is also witnessing a high voter turnout of 46.14 per cent. Maharashtra has the lowest turnout till 1 pm at 31.55 per cent.

West Bengal is still leading the voter turnout at 49.27 per cent while Goa, is inching closer to it at 49.04 per cent voter turnout till 1 pm, as per the data provided by the Election Commission of India.

They talk of vote jihad against PM Narendra Modi and BJP. I want to appeal to the people of the country to answer them through their votes he said.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur claimed the people who are raising slogans of vote jihad are supported by people doing jihad from Pakistan.

He further said that although ministers, their allies, and their families are allowed to move around Mainpuri, his party workers are being imprisoned.

There is a tussle going on within the BJP as to whose hand power should remain. Everyone understands this. The statements given by them (BJP leaders) are for self-appeasement. These people talk cleverly, Yadav said.

Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, said that BJP members were getting ready to plunder a booth in Mainpuri.

#WATCH | Malda, West Bengal: A woman boycotting the voting says, "No development work has been done in our area, roads and bridges have not been built. The MP and MLA of the area are absent from here. The government will have to listen to us. We will sit here as long as the pic.twitter.com/th5xp3mCNH

One of the protesting women voters said that no developmental activities have taken place in her area and MP and MLA are also absent.

Dakshin Malda is one of the four seats in West Bengal that are going to polls in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday.

A group of women voters has boycotted Lok Sabha elections in West Bengals Malda, according to ANI.

#WATCH | Bihar: A presiding officer at a polling booth in Supaul passed away allegedly due to heart attack. He has been identified as Shailendra Kumar. Doctor says, "He passed away in the morning...This happened where he was posted. He was rushed to PHC where he was declared pic.twitter.com/Q8ggZWjqaC

ANI quoted the doctor as saying that he died from a heart attack.

A presiding officer, identified later as Shailendra Kumar, died on Tuesday at a polling booth in Bihars Supaul.

Rahul and the Congress party have made caste census central to their election platform. Rahul has said that jobs and other resources in the country should be distributed as per the share of various communities

I want to tell you from this stage, we will increase reservation beyond the 50 per cent cap. We will give as much reservation as needed for the poor, the backwards, Dalits and adivasis, said Rahul on Monday.

This is in line with what Rahul said in Madhya Pradesh on Monday. He said that his partys government will give as much reservation as needed.

Jharkhand: "These people want to end reservation, I am guaranteeing you that we will increase it by eliminating the 50% reservation limit," says Congress leader Rahul Gandhi pic.twitter.com/mAd0hQwEWa

They want to destroy reservation. I am guaranteeing you that we will tear apart and throw away this 50% limit on reservation. We will take reservation beyond 50%. Everyone will benefit from it, said Rahul in Hindi.

Rahul also repeated the promise to scrap the Supreme Court-mandated ceiling of 50% on reservation.

As the country votes in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday announced that he will implement the Sarna religious code for tribals.

#WATCH | PM Modi addresses an election rally in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar, "The expiry date of INDI alliance has been fixed for 4th June...This election is between 'Santushti-Karan' and Tushti-karan'." pic.twitter.com/dnphJYnOKK

The expiry date of INDI Alliance has been set. There will be no one left to pick up the pieces of INDI Alliance after June 4. The parties that came together before elections will fall apart like a sand dune after June 4. Friends, this election is being contested between santushtikaran (satisfaction) and tushtikaran (appeasement). The BJP and the entire NDA is doing everything to satisfy Indians, said Modi in Hindi.

Speaking at a rally in Maharashtras Ahmednagar, Modi said that the ongoing Lok Sabha elections are a contest between santushtikaran (satisfaction) and tushtikaran (appeasement).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that June 4 the date of counting of votes will be the expiry date of the INDIA coalition.

The voter turnout for the other states is as follows:

Youth unemployment, crimes against women, and discrimination against Dalits, Adivasis, and minorities have reached unprecedented levels. These challenges stem from the niyat and niti of PM Modi and the BJP which aim for power rejecting inclusivity and dialogue. The sight of our Constitution and democracy being under threat, our poor being left behind, and the fact that the fabric of our society is being torn apart fills me with anguish, said Sonia.

Sonia, the former Congress President and current Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson, further accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP of driving unemployment and crimes and discrimination against women and marginalised groups.

My dear brothers and sisters, Youth unemployment, crimes against women, and discrimination against Dalits, Adivasis, and minorities have reached unprecedented levels. These challenges stem from the niyat and niti of PM Modi and the BJP which aim for power rejecting pic.twitter.com/4npHwd8DNW

In a video shared by the partys X account, Sonia said, They have promoted hatred for political gain. The Congress Party and I have always fought for the progress of all, justice to the deprived and to strengthen the countryThe Congress and INDIA alliance is dedicated to protecting the Constitution and democracy.

As the country votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being focussed on gaining power at any cost.

BJP's focus is only on gaining power at any cost, they've promoted hatred for political gain: Sonia Gandhi

We have lodged a complaint with the State Election Commission against the (Indapur) NCP MLA (Bharne) for abusing and threatening our party worker in Indapur. This is a violation of the model code of conduct, Rohit was quoted as saying.

NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar said that it was a violation of model code of conduct.

Sule filed the complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) after a video purportedly showing NCP MLA Dattatraya Bharne allegedly threatening a party worker went viral, as per the report.

Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP) has filed a complaint against an MLA from his cousin Ajit Pawars faction of the NCP, according to The Indian Express.

Taking aim at the RJD leaders conviction in a fodder scam case, the prime minister called Prasad a politician who ate fodder meant for animals while speaking at a rally in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a stinging attack on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, claiming that an INDIA ally is discussing giving Muslims full reservation and denying members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and the OBC community.

The Karnataka BJP faced backlash from the Congress when they accused the party of favoring Muslims over backward classes when it came to reservation and fund allocation. The video attacked the party and accused BY Vijayendra of posting derogatory content that could cause law and order problems. The Election Commission ordered the microblogging social media platform X to remove the controversial post, which the party did not remove even after the state chief electoral officer had ordered it to do so earlier.

Alongside Suman, Radhika Khera, the national coordinator of the Congress media department, also joined the BJP after leaving the party on Sunday.

Speaking to the media at the party headquarters on Tuesday, Suman thanked God for giving him the command to take this action and said he didnt know until yesterday that he would be doing so. Senior BJP leaders in attendance included National General Secretary Vinod Tawde and National Media Department In-Charge Anil Baluni.

On the eve of the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, actor and TV celebrity Shekhar Suman has joined the BJP, giving the party a boost.

Voting for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, which include 12 states and a union territory, is underway.

Elections are being held in 93 constituencies. Gujarats Surat seat has already been won by the BJP without opposition.

In the third phase, there will be a struggle for two seats in Goa, 25 in Gujarat, seven in Chhattisgarh, and 14 in Karnataka.

This will conclude the electoral process in these states.

Previously, on April 26, the second phase of the Karnataka election saw contests for 14 seats. Tuesday is also the day for voting on two Lok Sabha seats in Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

In addition to these, voting will take place for the following seats: four in Assam, five in Bihar, seven in Chhattisgarh, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, 10 in Uttar Pradesh, and four in West Bengal.

May 25, phase 6, has been chosen as the new election date for the Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha constituency of Anantnag-Rajouri.

Around 2.09 crore individuals will have the opportunity to vote for 258 candidates in the third phase. A total of 23,036 polling centers have been set up for this. There are 1,02,26,946 women, 1,07,64,741 men, and 929 members of the third gender among the voters.

After the third phase, voting will be finished in 283 of Lok Sabhas 543 seats. The counting of votes is slated for June 4, and the next four stages are set for May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.
There was a possibility earlier that the Supreme Court might grant Delhi Kejriwal interim bail in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections today who is in custody due to an excise policy-linked money laundering case read more

After much deliberation on the arguments made by Arvind Kejriwals legal team and those representing the Enforcement Directorate, the Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred its order on the Delhi chief ministers interim bail plea. The court is likely to hear the matter day on Thursday.

There was a possibility that the Supreme Court might grant Delhi Kejriwal interim bail in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections today who is in custody due to an excise policy-linked money laundering case.

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Earlier, the Supreme Court noted that Kejriwal does not have a history of habitual offences as it deliberated on the plea for interim bail by the Delhi chief minister. Kejriwal is presently incarcerated in Delhis Tihar Jail on money laundering charges associated with the discontinued liquor excise policy.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta took up as the first matter the plea of the AAP leader.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer and Congress leader AM Singhvi who is representing the Delhi chief minister told the two-judge bench that the ED had no basis to arrest Chief Minister Kejriwal on 21 March He also referred to cases of other politicians like Narayan Rane, Chandrababu Naidu and Shiv Shankar Das who all got bail under normal conditions with restrictions over giving press interviews or public comments.

Justice Datta, however, pointed out that had there been no elections happening now, there would have been no question of interim bail.

While deliberating on the interim bail plea, Justice Khanna expressed reservations that if Kejriwal is released on interim bail and he is allowed to participate in elections and he performs his official duties that might have cascading effects. What about signing files and attending office? If you go to office, it may not be correct.

SG Mehta pleaded that the court should clarify the role of the Delhi chief minister before allowing him to proceed on interim bail.

While dealing with the interim bail plea of the Delhi chief minister, Justice Khanna said, When we can pass a final order, we can always pass an interim order.

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Singhvi also countered SG Mehtas arguments that in the absence of signature of chief minister, the administration does not stop functioning.

In course of the proceedings, Justice Khanna while replying to a question set forth by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta if the apex court is setting a different example just because other people are less important than the chief minister, said, He is elected CM of Delhi. There are electionsThese are extraordinary circumstances. Hes not a habitual

According to LiveLaw, SG Mehta strictly opposing any interim bail to the Kejriwal said, There cant be any deviation only because he is a CM. Are we carving out exception for politicians? Would campaigning for elections be more important?

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However, Justice Khanna made it clear that the election is an entirely different scenario.

Thats separate. Elections are held once in five years. We dont appreciate this. We certainly do not want that politicians who are involved in crimes be treated differently, Justice Khanna said. We are not going by whether it is a politician or notevery individual would have some special or exceptional circumstances. We are considering whether exception is required in view of elections. We are not saying there has to be a different law for politicians.

SG Mehta argued that since the Delhi chief minister is in jail, he will have to forego his right and whatever his rights are there either as MLA or as a political leader.

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During his argument, SG Mehta hinted that had the Delhi chief minister cooperated his arrest may have been avoided.

If he had cooperated, maybe he would not have been arrested. Now he says I want to campaign. All common men are at par, SG Mehta told the court.

The Tihar turmoil begins

Kejriwal was arrested on 21 March and is currently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody.

On 3 May the top court had said it may consider granting him interim bail in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

It had told the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that arguments on Kejriwals plea against his arrest are likely to take time and therefore it was considering hearing the probe agency on the issue of interim bail on account of the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi. Polling will be held in Delhi on 25 May.

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It appears we cant complete today. We will post it on Tuesday morning itself. Mr Raju, one more thing. If it is going to take time and it does appear to us that it may take some time, we will then consider the question of interim bail because of the elections, the bench had told Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who was wrapping up his arguments for the day.

Raju had said he would oppose bail to Kejriwal and pointed to the statements made by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh after getting bail last month in the same case. Just look at the kind of statements he is making, the ASG said.

The bench had said it is putting the agency on notice about the courts intention so that it is not taken by surprise on 7 May, when the interim bail issue will be dealt with.

We are not commenting on it either way. We are just saying we will hear on interim bail and not saying we will grant interim bail. We may or may not grant interim bail, the top court had said.

It also told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal to take instructions. Because of the position he holds, whether he should be signing official files? it had said.

During the hearing, Singhvi told the bench that elections were announced on 16 March and Kejriwal was arrested on 21 March on the basis of statements and material which were available with the agency since last July.

The top court had issued a notice to the ED on 15 April and sought its response to Kejriwals plea against his arrest.

On 9 April, the Delhi High Court had upheld Kejriwals arrest, saying there was no illegality and the ED was left with little option after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.

The case relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi governments now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.
Today if you look at the range, how digitized India has become. How many of you today anymore use cash? How many of you use your phone-based cashless payments? We think it is normal, but others dont think that. In India, we do 10-11 billion cashless transactions per month, said Jaishankar at an event in Delhi read more

Asserting how robust India digitised system has become, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said that in India today we do 10-11 billion cashless transactions per month which we think is normal but others dont think that.

#WATCH | Delhi: At the Viksit Bharat 2047 program at Hansraj College, EAM Dr S Jaishankar says, "Today if you look at the range, how digitized India has become. How many of you today anymore use cash? How many of you use your phone-based cashless payments? We think it is normal, pic.twitter.com/VtwQ2p654x  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

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To drive home his point, he cited the US and China who process 4 billion cashless transactions in a year and China a maximum of 20 billion in a year.

Speaking at the Viksit Bharat 2047 program at Hansraj College in Delhi, EAM Jaishankar said, Today if you look at the range, how digitized India has become. How many of you today anymore use cash? How many of you use your phone-based cashless payments? We think it is normal, but others dont think that. In India, we do 10-11 billion cashless transactions per month. America does 4 billion in a year China does a maximum of 20 billion in a year

The minister said that people today get their income tax filed, housing allotments and driving licences faster.

We give passports faster Digital has cut down corruption because everything is digitally recorded With transparency, honesty also comes, added Jaishankar.

Talking about Artificial Intelligence, he said in a maximum of five years, it will change our lives.

#WATCH | Delhi: At the Viksit Bharat 2047 program at Hansraj College, EAM Dr S Jaishankar says, "Artificial intelligence, in a maximum of five years, will change our lives... We are talking of self-driven cars, we are looking at drones. Drones used to be like something from a pic.twitter.com/hYuGuj0HpF  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

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We are talking of self-driven cars, we are looking at drones. Drones used to be like something from a movie some years ago, he said.

Sharing some economy-related numbers, he said India expects to be a 5 trillion economy in the next few years.

Today, we are a little bit less than USD 4 trillion economy. We expect in the next few years to cross 5 trillion. We will become the worlds third-largest economy. By the time we reach Amrit Kal, we are confident of minimum being a 30 trillion economy, added the minister.

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Talking about Indias image globally, he said the sense today is that India is a firm country but also a fair country.

#WATCH | Delhi: At the Viksit Bharat 2047 program at Hansraj College, EAM Dr S Jaishankar says, "The image of India is of friendly but fair... If you look at a challenge like terrorism, the world recognizes that today's India deals with terrorism very differently from how it used pic.twitter.com/XGgtDSeQdo  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

The image of India is of friendly but fair If you look at a challenge like terrorism, the world recognises that todays India deals with terrorism very differently from how it used to The comparison is very simple. What happened in the Mumbai attacks and what happened in Uri and Balakote Thats a comparison they make, said

Jaishankar.

#WATCH | Delhi: At the Viksit Bharat 2047 program at Hansraj College, EAM Dr S Jaishankar says, "The image of India is of friendly but fair... If you look at a challenge like terrorism, the world recognizes that today's India deals with terrorism very differently from how it used pic.twitter.com/XGgtDSeQdo  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

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Jaishankar also talked about Indias firm stance on China border row and how India continued buying oil from Russia after the Ukraine conflict despite international pressure.

We have a challenge at our China border. They look at these people (India) standing up and sending the troops. They are staying firm We came under pressure not to buy oil from Russia India said my interests require that I buy oil and I am not hiding it We were very open and honest about it We were very courageous about it, he said.

The sense today is that India is a firm country but it is also a fair country, added the minister.

With inputs from agencies
In response to threats from Western officials to deploy NATO troops to Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered nuclear weapons drills near Ukraine, as stated by Moscow on Monday. Its as if the world has donned a blindfold and is walking, unseeing, towards the cliffs edge. Thermonuclear warthe greatest existential threat to humanitylooms, and yet many governments and their citizens appear largely indifferent to the danger.

The prospect of nuclear annihilation, once an ever-present fear during the Cold War, has faded into the background, replaced by a sense of complacency. Yet, the shadow of Armageddon is creeping back as Russia and the US abandon critical nuclear treaties. At the same time, growing regional tensions led by Chinese belligerence and turbocharged by a loss of faith in security guarantees created by Americas isolationist stance are creating a chain reaction that massively increases hydrogen bombs and the inevitable rise of new nuclear powers.

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The INF treaty that denied the US and Russia nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometres was abrogated by Moscow in 2019 and the US soon afterward. This puts Europe on a hair trigger with such short-range missiles, armed with nuclear weapons at each other, and with the war in Ukraine still very much on the margin for annihilation, which has been drastically reduced.

This is just the beginning. Last year, Russia suspended the last nuclear arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington, New START, which was signed in 2010. Now both countries are free to have many more hydrogen bombs and delivery platforms. Thus, the superpowers have no effective arms control agreement between them. The Dominos are falling very fast.

One important factor is the American unwillingness to be the global policeman. Serious questions are being raised in Seoul and Tokyo. Will Biden or Trump sacrifice Los Angeles for Tokyo as the world faces a nuclear monsoon amidst the gathering storm of American allies? The American allies find their security umbrella full of holes. This will have dramatic geopolitical consequences. Chinas massive nuclear modernisation: Beijing has already started modernising and developing its mammoth nuclear arsenal.

According to US estimates, China already has 400 nuclear weapons and will have a staggering 1500 by 2030. This is already altering Indias force structure, which now includes MIRV missiles, which can carry multiple nuclear weapons on a single cycle. India is expected to double its nuclear arsenal from the current estimate of 200 deliverable weapons just to ensure the credibility of its doctrine of no first strike of nuclear weapons. The danger is particularly increasing in East Asia with North Korea claiming to have a submarine-delivered weapon and a new light water reactor, which will give it the ability to increase its deliverable nuclear weapons from the current estimate of 35 to 50 within five years. This is making South Korea jittery.

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In fact, South Korea is the real candidate for a new nuclear power, given the current geopolitical scenario. The Korean Peninsula, long a flashpoint for military escalation, has become a showcase for how nuclear weapons work as the ultimate tools of deterrence. North Koreas acquisition of nuclear weapons has transformed the way it is treated on the global stage.

Unlike Iran, which faces severe international sanctions and diplomatic isolation for its nuclear ambitions, North Korea commands a status borne out of fear of its proven nuclear capability. This differential treatment has not gone unnoticed by other nations in the region. South Korea, once content with the security provided by its alliance with the US, has begun to question whether American support is truly absolute. As North Koreas nuclear capabilities have grown, so too have doubts about the extent to which Washington would risk its own cities to protect Seoul.

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These concerns have fueled a quiet but growing discussion within South Korea about the possibility of developing its own nuclear weapons. The implications of a nuclear-armed South Korea are profound. It would likely trigger an arms race in East Asia, with Japan potentially following suit. Japan, which has relied on the US nuclear umbrella for decades, is increasingly uneasy about Chinas military buildup and North Koreas provocations.

The notion of a nuclear-armed Japan was once unthinkable, given its post-World War II pacifism, but the regional security landscape is changing. If Japan were to go nuclear, it would mark a dramatic shift in the balance of power in East Asia, with ripple effects felt across the globe. Nuclear weapons have long been viewed as the currency of power, a means of ensuring national security and sovereignty. Their very existence alters the calculations of adversaries, creating a delicate balance of deterrence that can both prevent and precipitate conflict.

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However, this balance is inherently unstable. The spread of nuclear weapons to additional nations heightens the risk of accidental or intentional use, and the more fingers on the nuclear trigger, the greater the chance of catastrophe. Despite these dangers, the world seems reluctant to confront the reality of nuclear proliferation.

Arms control agreements have faltered, and non-proliferation efforts are often undermined by national interests. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) has lost all credibility since its obligation to those who already possess nuclear weapons to get rid of them has been totally ignored. The stakes could not be higher. A thermonuclear war, even a limited one, would have catastrophic consequences. The use of larger arsenals would almost certainly result in the end of human civilisation as we know it. Paradoxically, North Korea proves that it is in the interest of those who do not have nuclear weapons to possess them. Simultaneously, there is neither institutional capacity for arms control nor global leadership bandwidth for bilateral or multilateral initiatives to control these weapons. Get ready for the countdown.

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The writer is a senior journalist with expertise in defence. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.
Considering the reports of Western media, harsh terminologies like intolerance, worrying nationalism, apocalyptic tensions, etc are used for India, while for the US, the terminologies are quite soft in nature read more

As the world witnesses anti-Semitic protests erupting across universities in the United States, numerous questions regarding Western media reporting have ignited among free thinkers. This isnt the first instance of the Western medias hypocritical behaviour coming to light; rather, it signals the onset of the worst credibility crisis the Western media has faced since its inception. With the advent of digitalisation and the rise of social media, previously unheard voices are now gaining prominence and challenging the established credibility of hegemonised media outlets. Numerous articles and books have been penned with the aim of exposing and debunking the orchestrated agenda of the Western media.

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The worst phase for the credibility of the Western media reached its zenith when it tried to create a perception regarding the possession of WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction) in Iraq under the reign of military general Saddam Hussain without giving any evidence to their claims. There have been allegations in the Western media pertaining to the reporting of the possession of WMD by Iraq that it favoured the narrative that justified the NATO-led invasion of Iraq. The United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix said in January 2003 that Iraq had cooperated well with the investigation team, and after the completion of the investigation on whether Iraq possessed WMD, they did not find any evidence pertaining to the alleged claims of the presence of WMD.

Was it the first instance or the last, when the United States and the Western media accepted its mistake and tendered an apology? The answer to this question is no. There have been several instances in history where the US acted as the aggressor and participated in the killings of innocents, more than what we know about Hitler-led Germany.

In the context of India, there have been various instances in history when the Western media have shown hypocrisy in covering similar issues through two lenses and tried to present different perspectives catering to their interests. In the pandemic era, the Western media left no stone unturned to criticise India for the number of deaths due to COVID-19, labour migrants, vaccines, etc., ignoring all the efforts of the Indian government that micromanaged the crisis with a population of around 1.3 billion people (approximately).

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Similarly, during the Russia-Ukraine war, there was a huge influx of negative reporting in the context of India, especially when she abstained from voting in a UN General Assembly that condemned Russias invasion of Ukraine and the oil was purchased from Russia despite calls for sanctions on India.

Assessing the level of anti-India reporting by the Western media, Indias External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said while addressing a joint press conference with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in December 2022, Our trade with Russia is at a very small level$1213 billion, in comparison to European countries. I would urge you to look at these figures. There is a website called Russia Fossil Fuel Tracker that would give you country-by-country data of who is really importing what, and I suspect that might be very, very helpful, he added. The statement was made during a period when the Western media sparked a controversy about India by asserting that it was providing financial support to Russia for the war.

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The hypocrisy of Western media

Recently, more than 100 students and faculty members have been arrested in a pro-Palestine protest at the University of California, Berkeley, which is yet another centre of anti-Asian and anti-Semitic activities in the United States. The reporting of the Western media on such arrests is not as aggressive as it happened at the time of the arrests of three JNU students, Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, and Anirban Bhattacharya, who allegedly raised controversial and anti-national slogans like Bharat Tere Tukde honge and Tum kitne Afzal maaroge, har ghar se Afzal niklega.

As discussed at the beginning of the article, there have been various instances when the Western media has exposed itself by reporting in a way that caters to the interests of the US and its allies. A recent example is the recent reporting of the ongoing anti-Semitic protests in the universities of the US by the Western media.

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A social media page on X (formerly Twitter) named Stop Hindu Hate Advocacy Network (SHHAN) shared a thread on the comparative reporting of ten Western media houses with their headlines on similar actions taken by the Delhi police in 2016 on JNU students and another by the local police in the United States. Reporting on both actions by different police on similar types of protests appears to be different, yet again highlighting the hypocrisy of the Western media.

Comparative headlines of the Western media are shared below:

1. The Conversation

 US: Campus protest escalate, surrounding Israel-Gaza war, Ontarios Bill 166 is not the answer (Adam Davies, university of Guelph & Zuhra Abawi, Niagara University; April 25, 2014)

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 India: University freedoms in India under threat as student leader charged with sedition (Deborah Sutton, Lancaster University; February 17, 2016)

2. Time Magazine

 US: Pro-Palestinian Columbia Student Protests Continue despite arrests, suspensions (Sanya Mansoor; April 19, 2024)

 India: Arrest of a Student leader at a Top University reignites Indias Intolerance Debate (Rishi Iyengar; February 15, 2016)

3. The Guardian

 US: Police allegedly use rubber bullets and teargas at university protest in Georgia (Timothy Pratt in Atlanta, Maya Yang in New York and Erum Salam in Princeton; April 26, 2024)

 India: Another Indian student arrested on charges of sedition (Aman Sethi; February 23, 2016)

4. The Economist

 US: Efforts to tackle student protests in America have backfired badly (April 23, 2024)

 India: The Last refuge: The government of Narendra Modi seeks to define Indian patriotism, and to own it (March 05, 2016)

5. The Washington Post

 US: Where campus protests have led to arrests across the US (April 29, 2024)

 India: Indian students called it free speech. The government called it sedition (Annie Gowen and Rama Lakshmi; February 24, 2016)

6. The Independent

 US: As some universities negotiate with pro-Palestinian protestors, others quickly call the police (Steve Leblanc, Nick Perry; April 26, 2024)

 India: Kanhaiya Kumar arrest: Britains top universities join global academic community to condemn illegal police action in India (Aftab Ali; February 18, 2016)

7. CNN

 US: Police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters at Emerson College (April 25, 2024)

 India: Student leader urges freedom of speech after arrest, release in India (Harmeet Shah Singh; March 04, 2016)

8. The New York Times

 US: Campus Protests Over Gaza Intensify Amid Pushback by Universities and Police (J. David Goodman, David Montgomery, Jonathan Wolfe and Jenna Russell ; April 24, 2024)

 India: Sedition Arrests in India Inflame Old Free-Speech Tensions (Nida Najar and Swati Gupta; February 24, 2016)

9. ABC News (An Australia-based media house)

 US: Pro-Palestine protests sweep across US colleges, with dozens of students arrested at Yale, NYU and Columbia (Stefan Jeremiah, AP, April 24, 2024)

 India: Indias apocalyptic politics: The violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University reflects a need always to find new enemies (Bhanu Pratap Mehta, 13 Jan 2020)

10. Le Monde France

 US: US campus protests for Gaza turn into electoral trap for Biden (Arnaud Leparmentier, April 25, 2024)

 India: In India, Modis worrying nationalism (Article not available on the Le Monde website, Business standard covered the article, March 28, 2016)

What parameters make the reporting of Western media anti-India? Considering the above reports of Western media, harsh terminologies like intolerance, worrying nationalism, apocalyptic tensions, etc. are used for India, while for the US, the terminologies are quite soft in nature. Hence, it could be understood that the majority of the Western media houses carry hatred and a divisive agenda against India. Such reporting also signifies that the Western media house caters for the hegemony of the West over other nations like India. Accordingly, Western media does not appear to be free and independent, which has been portrayed for a long time, and accordingly, it loses its credibility.

The writer is a doctoral candidate at SCNSS, JNU, and is a published author of a book titled- The Puritan Movement: US Universities and their anti-Bharat Approach. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.
Rising and known for arm-twisting, China will always remain a competitor, with a clash of interests with France. On the other hand, Paris continues to view New Delhi as a more reliable, long-term global partner read more

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and France's President Emmanuel Macron take part in a toast at an official state dinner as part of the Chinese president's two-day state visit to France, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS

On his first visit to Europe since 2019, Xi Jinping met French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday. He heads next to Serbia and Hungary, both of whom have maintained close ties with Russia despite its continued war in Ukraine. Xi lauded Chinas ties with France as a model for the international community amid threats of a trade war over Chinese electric cars and French cognac. On the very first day, Xi also met the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. She urged him to reduce trade imbalances and use his influence with Russia over the war in Ukraine.

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Xi is likely to exploit the blow-hot-blow-cold differences within the EU about how to deal with China. Will the European countries, especially France, get persuaded to be less reliant on the US and reduce the dominant cross-Atlantic influence? Interestingly, Xi was greeted by demonstrations for supporting Russia and enabling it to fight Ukraine.

China-EU Relations Complexities

China has three times the population and two times the area of the European Union (EU). The EU and China are among each others largest trading partners. Yet, since March 2019, the European Union has referred to China as a systemic rival. In December 2020, the two sides proposed to pursue an investment deal that was first launched in 2013, referred to as the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). But there was no consensus, and in May 2021, the European Commission announced plans to reduce dependence on China in strategic areas of the economy. The EU has put an arms embargo and numerous anti-dumping measures against China in place. Many European countries still see China essentially as a market of opportunities" while it exports massively to Europe.

In 2023, China was the third largest destination for EU exports of goods (8.8 per cent) and Chinese good were the EUs 20.5 per cent imports. Among EU Member States, the Netherlands was the largest importer of goods from China, and Germany was the largest exporter of goods to China. Only Germany, Finland, Ireland, and Luxembourg had trade surpluses with China; the other 23 EU members had trade deficits. The largest deficit was held by the Netherlands (95 billion).

Between 2013 and 2023, the EUs trade in goods deficit with China varied between 104 billion in 2013 and 397 billion in 2022. In 2023, the EU trade in goods deficit with China stood at 291 billion, which was 106 billion lower when compared with 2022 (-27 per cent). The most imported products from China were telecommunications equipment, electrical machinery and apparatus, and automatic data processing machines. Motor cars and motor vehicles registered the highest increase in imports in 2022.

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As China now has excess capacity in many areas, it undercuts and exports massively to Europe. In September 2023, the EU launched an investigation into whether to impose punitive tariffs to protect EU producers against cheaper Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports. During her meeting with Xi, Von der Leyen signalled the EUs continued discontent with China, which she said was currently manufacturing with massive subsidies. This could lead to deindustrialisation in Europe and the loss of jobs, particularly in the German car industry. The EU also suspects that sanctions on exports to Russia are being circumvented by Chinese companies. In February 2024, the EU proposed sanctions that would target Chinese companies aiding Russias war effort in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Xi maintained that Beijing was not a party to or a participant in the Ukraine conflict, and that China was striving for a peaceful settlement of the crisis".

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The European Commission, the EUs authority on trade issues, has opened more than 20 competition probes targeting China in recent months, including into the supply of cars, wind turbines, and medical devices. The EU arms embargo since Chinas suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 remains a major impediment to developing stronger EU-China cooperation on foreign policy and security matters. The EU has been repeatedly raising human rights issues related to Uighurs.

China-France Relations: A Balancing Act

France was the first Western country to formally recognise the Peoples Republic of China on January 27, 1964. Beijing and Paris are thus marking 60 years of diplomatic relations. France maintains the One China policy and Beijing as the sole legitimate government of China, but maintains unofficial relations with Taipei. The Chinese-French relationship was raised to the level of global strategic partnership in 2004.

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During an April 2023 visit to China, French President Macron called for Europe to reduce its dependence on the US and avoid being drawn into a confrontation between the US and China over Taiwan. Macron emphasised his view of strategic autonomy, suggesting that Europe could become a third superpower. According to Macron, Europe should focus on boosting its own defence industries and reducing dependence on the US dollar. Xi sensed an opportunity in this, and thus chose France as the sole major European power to visit. Xi acknowledges the French leaders stature as an EU powerbroker.

Xi, on his arrival, said that ties between China and France were a model for the international community of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation between countries with different social systems. It is in our interest to get China to weigh in on the stability of the international order, said Macron. We must, therefore, work with China to build peace, he added.

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The EUs 27 members are divided on their attitude towards China, particularly France and Germany stress on the need to engage with the rising Asian giant. France seeks to make progress on opening the Chinese market to its agricultural exports and resolve issues around the French cosmetic industrys concerns about intellectual property rights. China may announce an order for about 50 Airbus aircraft during Xis visit.

Yet, protesters wearing Tibetan flags on their shoulders took part in a demonstration in support of members of the Tibetan and Uighur communities and against the Chinese Presidents two-day state visit. Analysts are sceptical that even with the lavish red carpet welcome, Macron will be able to exercise much sway over the Chinese leader. Others feel that Xi is not on a mission to repair ties but to make a symbolic point to woo Europe away from the US.

Xi highlighted that through 75 years of perseverant hard work, the Chinese people have turned China from an impoverished country into the second largest economy in the world. China will remain a source of global growth and create opportunities for all countries.

Frances Strategic Interests in Indo-Pacific

France still has significant island territories in the south-west Pacific, such as French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna. Similarly, they have significant territories in the Indian Ocean (Reunion Islands, Mayotte). After Chinas aggressive moves in the South China Sea and its desire to move into Oceania, France has become a conscious and important player in the Indo-Pacific. In 2019, France sent an aircraft carrier strike group, led by the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle, on a mission to the Indo-Pacific, which included sailing through the contentious Taiwan Strait and holding joint naval drills with regional partners. Building upon its island territories in the Indo-Pacific, France has sought to identify itself as a state of the Indo-Pacific and promote itself as a bridge between the two geographically distant continents.

Challenges in France-US Relations

The United States and France established diplomatic relations in 1778 following the United States declaration of independence from Great Britain, and France provided key assistance to the United States as an ally during its war of independence. In 1966, President Charles de Gaulle decided to withdraw France from NATOs integrated military structure. This reflected the desire for greater military independence, particularly vis-a-vis the United States, and the refusal to integrate Frances nuclear deterrent or accept any form of control over its armed forces.

In recent years, the United States and France have continued to work together on a range of issues, such as counterterrorism, climate change, and trade. However, there was sharp disagreement over the Iraq War in 2003. Relations again deteriorated in September 2021 due to the fallout from the AUKUS agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Philippe Etienne, the French ambassador, was recalled as a result of the fallout; no French ambassador to the United States has ever previously been recalled.

However, relations improved sharply in early 2022 as Paris worked closely with the US and NATO to help Ukraine and punish Russia for its invasion. Today, France is the United States third-largest trading partner in Europe (after Germany and the UK). Macron has recently emerged as one of the most hawkish of the EU leaders on the continents security. France wants Europe to stand alone and be somewhat independent of the US.

India-France Tried and Tested Relations

Traditionally, India and France have been enjoying an exceptionally warm relationship, which is the fruit of deep affinities and the unwavering trust between the two countries since Indias independence. France is considered the most reliable Western friend. France readily sold Ouragans (Toofani) and Mystere aircraft to India in the 1950s. This was followed by the Aerospatiale Alouette III helicopters and Alize carrier-based maritime aircraft. The Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar deep penetration strike aircraft, Dassault Mirage 2000, and Rafale are important parts of the IAFs fleet. India and France work closely on aeroengines, radars, and weapons. The Indian armed forces regularly exercise with the French forces.

France and India continue to strengthen their very close relations. The president of France was the guest of honour at this years Indian Republic Day, where India and France discussed bilateral cooperation, expressing satisfaction with the increasing complexity and interoperability of India-France joint defence exercises. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached a new peak at $13.4 billion in 202223, with exports from India crossing $7 billion.

India and France are working closely in the Indo-Pacific region for their sovereign and strategic interests. The defence and security partnership between India and France remains the cornerstone of their collaboration. The launch of the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) is considered of great strategic importance for enhancing the potential and resilience of commerce and energy flow between India, the Middle East, and Europe.

Both sides reiterated their commitment to deepening integration between the two countries defence industrial sectors. Tata and Airbus are already cooperating to make the C-295 Transport Aircraft in Gujarat. The industrial partnership aims to produce H125 helicopters with a significant indigenous and localization component. There are ongoing discussions on a joint Make-in-India fighter aero-engine. The countries launched the Strategic Space Dialogue to expand space cooperation. There is a firm commitment to strategic autonomy and non-alignment. France maintains its support for Indias permanent membership in the UN Security Council.

Both countries agreed to intensify cooperation in the Southwest Indian Ocean, building on joint surveillance missions carried out from the French island territory of La Reunion in 2020 and 2022. Both countries committed to revitalising trilateral cooperation with Australia, deepening cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and exploring new trilateral partnerships in the region.

Conclusion

For centuries, China had claimed the Indo-China territory to its south as a tributary state, but France began a series of invasions, turning French Indochina into its own colony. China lost its claim to sovereignty over Vietnam, and that country remained under French dominance until 1954. De Gaulles view in 1964 was that maintaining diplomatic contact with the PRC could be a moderating influence. But clearly, there are clashes of interests between China and France in the Indo-Pacific.

India and France both support each other in shaping international order or even balancing out other nations. The Indo-Pacific forum between the two should be able to better assist in ensuring strategic interests and bilateral cooperation. Yet there are challenges. The absence of a Free Trade Agreement between France and India hinders the maximisation of their trade potential. Also, the slow progress on the India-EU Broad-Based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) further compounds the challenges of fostering comprehensive economic cooperation. The dominance of defence products in the trade relationship poses challenges for diversification and achieving a more balanced economic exchange.

Rising and known for arm-twisting, China will always remain a competitor, with a clash of interests with France. On the other hand, France continues to view India as a more reliable long-term global partner. India needs French technology. France needs strong partners in the Indo-Pacific and the growing Indian market. There is a strategic congruence of interests that makes it win-win for both.

The writer is former Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.
In a situation that is reminiscent of the FTX crypto crisis, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is now facing a lawsuit from some users, who are alleging that the platform deceived its customers and investors read more

Coinbase is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, and holds over $25 billion worth of bitcoins. It also holds several other cryptos worth billions. Image: File

In the wake of reporting a surge in first-quarter revenue, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is now entangled in a legal battle. Six users of the platform have filed a lawsuit, accusing Coinbase and its CEO Brian Armstrong of breaching state securities laws and misleading users by claiming that the exchange doesnt deal in crypto tokens as securities.

The lawsuit has been lodged in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division. It alleges that Coinbase lists cryptocurrencies like Solana, Polygon, Near Protocol, Decentraland, Algorand, Uniswap, Tezos, and Stellar as securities.

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According to the plaintiffs, Coinbase has operated in a murky crypto ecosystem on the fringes of legality since its inception over a decade ago. They assert that Coinbases entire business model hinges on a falsehood: the claim that we do not sell securities. The lawsuit accuses Coinbase of knowingly engaging in deceptive practices, banking on the belief that seeking forgiveness later is easier than seeking permission upfront.

The lawsuit further contends that Coinbase, in its user agreement, explicitly labels the crypto assets it sells as securities, yet it has never registered itself, its personnel, or the crypto securities it deals in. Moreover, the document highlights that Coinbase acknowledges its role as a Securities Broker.

In response to these accusations, the plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief through a jury trial and a full rescission, as reported by CoinTelegraph. However, Coinbase has not issued an official statement regarding the lawsuit, though CoinTelegraph mentions that the exchange has argued that the sales of secondary crypto assets do not meet the criteria for securities transactions.

This isnt the first time Coinbase has come under legal scrutiny for allegedly violating US securities laws. In January of this year, a federal judge in Manhattan scrutinized Coinbase and the US securities regulator over their conflicting views on whether and when digital assets qualify as securities. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had previously filed a lawsuit against Coinbase, prompting the exchange to petition the US court to dismiss the SECs lawsuit.

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Despite these legal challenges, Coinbase reported robust profits in the first quarter of 2024. The exchange boasted total revenue of $1.6 billion and net income of $1.2 billion for Q1 2024. Additionally, Coinbase reported $1 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

(With inputs from agencies)
The new iPad Pro from Apple comes equipped with the M4 SoC, which surpasses even the M3 chips found in Apples MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. Apple has enhanced the Neural Engine for on-device AI tasks, further improving the capabilities of the latest iPad Pro read more

Apple's new iPad Pro 2024 also comes in two sizes, one with a 11-inch display and the other, with a 13-inch display. Both the iPad Pros come with Apple's new Tandem OLED technology. Image Credit: Apple

Apple has officially unveiled its latest flagship tablet, the iPad Pro (2024), during its recent Let Loose launch event. This cutting-edge device introduces several groundbreaking features, including a revolutionary Tandem OLED screena significant departure from the Mini-LED technology used in the previous generation of iPad Pro models.

Available in 11-inch and 13-inch display options, the iPad Pro (2024) boasts slimmer bezels compared to its 2022 predecessor, resulting in a more immersive viewing experience. Powering this innovative tablet is Apples formidable M4 chip, which promises exceptional performance and efficiency. Additionally, users can enjoy ample storage space, with the option to expand storage capacity up to 2TB.

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Running on the latest iPadOS 17 operating system straight out of the box, the iPad Pro (2024) offers a seamless and intuitive user experience. To complement the new tablet, Apple has also introduced the Apple Pencil Pro and a new Magic Keyboard, both designed to enhance productivity and creativity for users.

Apple M4 iPad Pro 2024: Specifications

This year, Apple has raised the bar in tablet performance with the introduction of the iPad Pro (2024), powered by its latest 10-core M4 chip. This chip marks a significant advancement in tablet technology, surpassing even the M3 chips found in Apples MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. The M4 chip not only matches the performance of the M2 chip used in the previous iPad Pro (2022) model but also achieves this level of performance while consuming only half the power. Additionally, Apple has enhanced the Neural Engine for on-device AI tasks, further improving the capabilities of the latest iPad Pro.

The iPad Pro (2024) is available in 11-inch and 13-inch display variants, both featuring Apples new Tandem OLED screens. These stunning displays offer a 120Hz (ProMotion) refresh rate, a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, True Tone support, and P3 wide colour gamut coverage. With adaptive refresh rates ranging between 30Hz and 120Hz, users can enjoy smooth and responsive visuals. Customers also have the option to choose a Nano-texture display glass option on the 1TB and 2TB iPad Pro (2024) models, enhancing the viewing experience further.

Image: Apple

Equipped with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle TrueDepth camera on the front, similar to the iPad Air (2024), the iPad Pro supports Center Stage for seamless video calls. On the back, the device features a 12-megapixel primary camera and a LiDAR scanner, with the rear camera supporting ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30fps and slow-motion video recording at 1080p at up to 240fps.

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Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 support for charging at 20W. In the US, the iPad Pro (2024) supports both Sub-6 and mmWave 5G connectivity, while offering Sub-6 5G support in other regions. Face ID provides secure biometric authentication for users.

The iPad Pro (2024) comes in at 249.7x177.5x5.3mm (11-inch) and 281.6x215.5x5.1mm (13-inch) dimensions, weighing up to 466g (11-inch) and up to 582g (13-inch).

Alongside the iPad Pro (2024), Apple introduced the new Apple Pencil Pro, featuring a new sensor in the stylus barrel that adds support for squeeze gestures to bring up a tool palette. Equipped with a haptic engine for confirmation and a gyroscope for orientation changes, the Apple Pencil Pro offers enhanced functionality. Additionally, it supports the Find My network for added convenience.

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Apple M4 iPad Pro 2024: Pricing

The iPad Pro (2024) is set to make waves in India with its impressive lineup of features and storage options. Starting at Rs. 99,900, the base model with an 11-inch screen and Wi-Fi connectivity offers exceptional value for users seeking top-tier performance. For those who require cellular connectivity, the Wi-Fi + Cellular variant is priced at Rs. 1,19,900.

Meanwhile, the larger 13-inch model of the iPad Pro (2024) comes with a price tag of Rs. 1,29,900 for the Wi-Fi variant and Rs. 1,49,900 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular variant, providing users with a larger canvas for their creative endeavours.

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Apple offers a range of storage options to cater to diverse user needs. For the 11-inch models, pricing starts at Rs. 99,900 for 256GB of storage, increasing to Rs. 1,19,900 for 512GB, Rs. 1,59,900 for 1TB, and Rs. 1,99,900 for 2TB. Similarly, for the 13-inch iPad Pro, pricing begins at Rs. 1,29,900 for 256GB, Rs. 1,49,900 for 512GB, Rs. 1,89,900 for 1TB, and Rs. 2,29,900 for 2TB.
More and more fast food outlets and food retailers are pushing AI and robots to serve customers, take their orders, and bring them food. On the surface, this may seem to be a way to cut costs or keeping up with the time. In reality though it is about something much sinister  your data read more

Robots and AI bots are a great way to collect data and process the data quickly. Image Credit: Reuters

In the bustling world of fast-food drive-thrus in the US and the UK, a new star is emerging: Wendys FreshAI. Videos of customers interacting with this AI bot have gone viral, showcasing its astonishing speed, accuracy, and polite demeanour.

While still in its early stages and often requiring human assistance, FreshAI exemplifies a larger trend in retail: the embrace of artificial intelligence to replace human workers.

But why the rush to automate? At first glance, it may seem like a straightforward cost-cutting measure, with AI stepping in for human labour. However, theres a deeper force propelling this wave of restructuring  data.

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Unlike retail employees, who primarily contribute their personal experiences and expertise, AI bots excel at data collection. Every customer interaction is seamlessly recorded and stored in a database, providing invaluable insights into consumer behaviour. This data harvest encompasses not only the dialogue exchanged but also various demographic details, thanks to advancements in video and audio recording technology.

Moreover, AI bots dont just collect data; they use it to enhance customer interactions in real time. By analyzing vast amounts of past data, bots can tailor their responses to individual customers, creating dynamic touchpoints that influence perceptions and decisions. This continuous feedback loop, fueled by data, allows businesses to refine their strategies and maximize profits.

The allure of AI lies in its ability to transform businesses into equations that can be constantly optimized. By leveraging AI-driven insights, retailers can implement minute adjustments, such as tweaking interaction timings, to boost profitability. This data-driven agility creates an uncanny sense of anticipation for customers, reminiscent of the personalized experiences offered by tech giants like Google and Amazon.

However, as AI reshapes the retail landscape, concerns about job displacement arise. Jobs that involve high data volumes or rely heavily on data-driven decision-making are particularly susceptible to automation. Roles like fast-food drive-thru workers, dealing with high-volume traffic, may soon be targeted as AI seeks to streamline data loops and maximise efficiency.

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In contrast, jobs that are less data-intensive and rely more on human touchpoints may be safer for the time being. Nevertheless, the relentless march of AI-driven automation poses challenges for workers across the retail sector, underscoring the need for proactive adaptation and re-skilling efforts.

In the age of retail AI, the key to survival lies in navigating the evolving relationship between humans and machines, leveraging technology to enhance customer experiences while ensuring a sustainable future for the workforce.

(With inputs from agencies)
The proposed law was presented in Canadas Parliament on Monday, alongside several amendments aimed at facilitating the prosecution of illegal foreign influence activities, according to a report read more

After allegations of Chinese interference in the last two Canadian elections, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government has announced a new requirement for people engaged in lobbying or representing foreign governments to publicly register their activities.

According to a Bloomberg report, the proposed law was presented in Canadas Parliament on Monday, alongside several amendments aimed at facilitating the prosecution of illegal foreign influence activities.

While many of Canadas democratic counterparts, such as the United States and Australia, already maintain foreign agents registries, Trudeau had previously been cautious about implementing one due to concerns regarding potential racial discrimination practices.

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One has to only think of the internment of Japanese citizens, or Japanese-Canadians or Italian-Canadians, during the past World Wars to know that we must be very, very careful with these things, Bloomberg quoted Trudeau as saying last year when asked about creating a registry.

According to the report, under these regulations, the activity that could land someone on the registry include lobbying a public official, advertising to the public or distributing funds on behalf of foreign principals, which could mean a foreign government or other proscribed foreign organisations.

However, exemptions will be granted to individuals holding valid diplomatic passports, providing them relief from registry obligations.

To ensure effective implementation and enforcement, a new commissioners office will be established by the government. This office will be tasked with overseeing the registry and related laws, aiming to maintain compliance and accountability in foreign engagements.

The legislation will also strengthen criminal laws concerning sabotage targeting essential infrastructure, establish fresh criminal offenses for conducting specific forms of foreign interference activities, and streamline the process for security agencies to issue alerts regarding foreign interference utilizing classified intelligence.

Over the past few months, a public inquiry has been digging into allegations China meddled in the last two Canadian elections in an attempt to get Beijing-friendly candidates elected.

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In a sworn testimony last month before a commission conducting a public inquiry into alleged foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian elections, Trudeau had said that China tried to meddle in the last two Canadian elections but the results were not affected and it was improbable Beijing preferred any one party over another.

Trudeau answered questions about intelligence briefings he had received and asserted the elections were free and fair.

Last year, in response to pressure from opposition legislators concerned about media reports regarding Chinas potential involvement in the elections, the prime minister established the commission.

China has continually refuted allegations of meddling in Canadas domestic matters, dismissing them as unfounded.

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With inputs from agencies
Anti-Israel protesters vandalized a World War I memorial in Central Park on Monday and burned an American flag after a mob of over 1,000 marchers was blocked by police from reaching the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the star-studded Met Gala was underway read more

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators attend a protest near the Met Gala, an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institut in New York City, New York, US, on Monday. Reuters

Anti-Israel protesters vandalized a World War I memorial in Central Park on Monday and burned an American flag after a mob of over 1,000 marchers was blocked by police from reaching the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the star-studded Met Gala was underway.

Multiple arrests of pro-Palestine protesters near the Met Gala, where protests at NYU and Hunter College converged.



SRG is now marching down the street threatening arrest of anyone in the roadway. pic.twitter.com/VOdd52odeQ  Isabelle (@isabelle_leyva) May 6, 2024

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The incident took place near the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 67th which is very close to the Metropolitan Museum of Art but there was a large police presence near the venue to ensure that the fashion event was not crashed by anti-Israel protesters.

According to a New York Post report, during the confrontation, one protester set fire to an American flag near the 107th Infantry Memorial. The memorials base was defaced with graffiti bearing the word Gaza in bold black letters.

#NOW 107th infantry War Soldier Memorial draped in Palestinian flag while American flag burns on the ground on 5th Ave in NYC during 'DAY OF RAGE' protest. pic.twitter.com/GAOyQoD130  Oliya Scootercaster  (@ScooterCasterNY) May 7, 2024

The bronze soldiers of the memorial were adorned with stickers displaying the Palestinian flag and slogans advocating for the end of what they perceived as genocide and apartheid, alongside calls for the liberation of Palestine.

Further adding to the tension, some demonstrators climbed onto the memorial, waving Palestinian flags and draping them over the figures, added the report.

Another Central Park monument, the Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman bronze statue in Grand Army Plaza, was also vandalized Monday night.

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Free Gaza was graffitied in red letters on the base of the memorial and a Palestinian flag was affixed to its front.

Earlier in the evening, according to New York Post, citing police sources, at least 24 anti-Israel protesters were arrested near Madison Ave and East 83rd Street.

They were part of a large group marching from Hunter College toward the Met. This demonstration, organised by the Palestinian activist group Within Our Lifetime under the banner of a Day of Rage, disrupted traffic along Fifth Avenue as they moved northward. The procession was halted by law enforcement at the East 79th Street Transverse in Central Park, added the report.

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Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest, New York Post report quoted the group as chanting as they waved Palestinian flags and wore keffiyeh face coverings.

Although aiming to protest at the glamorous event, which had long been anticipated as a focal point for demonstrations, the protesters were unable to reach the iconic art museum.

Police successfully redirected the crowd into Central Park, then blocked the exits, leaving them at a standstill and uncertain about their next move.

This is an exercise in futility at this point. Theres nowhere for them to go, the report quoted a cop attempting to corral the crowd as saying to his partner.

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The protesters then filed out of the park and were within sight of the Met, but dozens of police formed a blockade  standing two cops deep  preventing them from heading north.

The group tried to reach the museum again by turning down East 81st Street but was again stopped by more police barricades at the intersection with Madison Avenue.

Soon after cops met the protesters head-on three blocks uptown and began making about two dozen arrests.

With inputs from agencies
The entire attack was planned in Afghanistan, the car used in it was also prepared in Afghanistan, and the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national, Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Ahmed Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad read more

Dasu has been the site of deadly attacks against Chinese nationals in the past Image Courtesy Agencies

Pakistans military said on Tuesday that a suicide bomb attack that killed five Chinese engineers in March was planned in neighbouring Afghanistan, and that the bomber was also an Afghan national.

The suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a dam project in northwest Pakistan, killing six people.

The entire attack was planned in Afghanistan, the car used in it was also prepared in Afghanistan, and the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national, Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Ahmed Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad.

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Afghanistans Taliban-run administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have soured in recent months with Islamabad saying the Taliban-run administration in Kabul is not doing enough to tackle militant groups targeting Pakistan.

Islamabad has gone as far as to say some elements in the Taliban are facilitating the Islamist militants of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - which is not affiliated with the Taliban, but has long pledged loyalty to the Afghanistan-based movement.

Taliban officials deny this allegation.
The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which has a 1,084-kilometer (673-mile) border with Ukraine, would allow Russian aircraft and missiles to reach potential targets there more easily and quickly if Moscow decides to use them. read more

FILE - In this photo taken from a video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, on Dec. 9, 2020, a Russian Tu-160 strategic bomber fires a cruise missile at test targets, during a military drills, Russia. - AP

Belarus has started inspections to assess the readiness of its army to deploy tactical nuclear weapons along with Russia. State news agency Belta quoted Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin as saying President Alexander Lukashenko had ordered a surprise inspection of forces in charge of such weapons.

The entire range of activities from planning, preparation and use of strikes with tactical nuclear weapons will be checked during the inspection, Khrenin said.

The checks involved an Iskander missile division and a squadron of Su-25 aircraft, he added.

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Tactical nuclear weapons, unlike their intercontinental counterparts, are designed for battlefield use against troops rather than cities, with yields as small as about 1 kiloton. For comparison, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II had a yield of 15 kilotons. These weapons, including aerial bombs, short-range missile warheads, or artillery munitions, are compact and can be discreetly transported by truck or plane.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed in April that several dozen Russian tactical nuclear weapons had been deployed in Belarus under an agreement with President Vladimir Putin, aimed at deterring the West. These weapons are distinct from strategic warheads, which target entire enemy cities.

Russia announced on Monday that it would conduct military exercises involving the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, citing threats from France, Britain, and the United States. Ukrainian military intelligence dismissed the drill as routine, labelling it as nuclear blackmail typical of Putins regime.

Unlike strategic weapons, which are subject to arms control agreements between Moscow and Washington, tactical nuclear weapons have never been limited by such pacts. Russia has not disclosed specific details or numbers regarding these weapons.

Last year, Russia moved some of its tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus, an ally situated near Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. Lukashenko, known for his authoritarian rule, had long advocated for the stationing of nuclear weapons in Belarus, which maintains close military ties with Russia and was involved in the conflict in Ukraine.

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The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which has a 1,084-kilometer (673-mile) border with Ukraine, would allow Russian aircraft and missiles to reach potential targets there more easily and quickly if Moscow decides to use them. It has also extended Russias capability to target several NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe.

With inputs from agencies.
The official stated that following Israels incursion into the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza, the Hamas negotiators had canceled their earlier Tuesday plans to travel from Doha to Cairo for negotiations, but they would be departing shortly for Egypt read more

The current round of talks follows Hamas' announcement late on Monday that it had approved a ceasefire plan put out by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, claiming that Israel now had the upper hand Image Courtesy Reuters

A senior Hamas official warned that Tuesday would be Israels last chance to free its detainees when a delegation from the Palestinian organization was scheduled to depart for Gaza truce negotiations in Cairo.

This could be the final opportunity to rescue the Israeli hostages, the official stated, speaking about the negotiations but wishing to remain anonymous.

The official stated that following Israels incursion into the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza, the Hamas negotiators had canceled their earlier Tuesday plans to travel from Doha to Cairo for negotiations, but they would be departing shortly for Egypt.

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The source issued a warning, stating that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to let the prisoners (hostages) die by his decision to invade Rafah.

This will be the last chance for Netanyahu and the families of the Zionist prisoners to return their children, the official said.

If not, he warned, the fate of the hostages will be the same as the fate of pilot Ron Arad, referring to the 1986 downing of an air force navigator over Lebanon. Arad is thought to have been detained by Shiite organizations there and is currently thought to be dead.

Israeli officials said that discussions were scheduled for later on Tuesday.

The current round of talks follows Hamas announcement late on Monday that it had approved a ceasefire plan put out by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, claiming that Israel now had the upper hand.

After months of sporadic negotiation, mediators have not succeeded in bringing about a fresh ceasefire similar to the one that released 105 captives in November of last year, including Israelis in return for Israeli-held Palestinian inmates.

Previous attempts at talks had faltered partly due to Netanyahus threats to destroy Hamass surviving fighters in Rafah and the Palestinian organizations demand for an indefinite ceasefire.

Families of the hostages have been among those putting up constant pressure on Israel to work out a settlement with Hamas so that the prisoners might be sent home.

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The Hostages and Missing Families Forum stated on Tuesday that it had pushed Israel to reach an agreement with Hamas for the release of its people who are being held hostage by sending letters to the ambassadors of other states.

This is the time to exert your influence on the Israeli government and all other parties concerned to ensure that the agreement comes through which will finally bring all our loved ones home, the message said.

Palestinian terrorists took some 250 hostages, including foreigners and dual nationalities, including US, Thai, French, British, and Russian people, during the October 7 raid that ignited the bloody conflict in Gaza.

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Over 1,170 people were killed in Hamass October 7 strike, the majority of them were civilians, according to an AFP count of Israeli government numbers.

The health ministry of the Hamas-run enclave in Gaza reports that at least 34,789 individuals have died as a result of Israels retaliatory offensive against the group, the majority of them were women and children.
The incident occurred Saturday as the Australian air warfare destroyer HMAS Hobart was enforcing UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea in international waters in the Yellow Sea, officials said Monday. There were no injuries or damage reported read more

Australia has protested to Beijing through multiple channels that a Chinese fighter jet endangered an Australian navy helicopter with flares over international waters, the prime minister said Tuesday.

The incident occurred Saturday as the Australian air warfare destroyer HMAS Hobart was enforcing UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea in international waters in the Yellow Sea, officials said Monday. There were no injuries or damage reported.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian public expected an explanation from China.

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Weve just made it very clear to China that this is unprofessional and that its unacceptable, Albanese told Nine Network television.

Weve made it very clear  through all of our channels, at all measures at our disposal, including here publicly, Albanese said.

He said Beijing had yet to make any public comment on the incident.

Its important that we speak out when events like this occur. Its important that we make clear our position, which has been done at the diplomatic levels, at government-to-government, but also defense-to-defense as well. And all of those avenues have been made clear. This issue, we have made public in order to be able to speak out very clearly and unequivocally that this behavior is unacceptable, the prime minister said.

Defense Minister Richard Marles said Monday that a Chinese Chengdu J-10 fighter jet released flares in the flight path of an Australian navy Seahawk helicopter deployed from the Hobart.

He said the flares were 300 meters (986 feet) in front of the helicopter and 60 meters (197 feet) above it and the helicopter pilot had to take evasive action in order to not be hit by those flares.

The consequence of being hit by the flares would have been significant, Marles said.

He said the Chinese interception was unsafe and unprofessional.

We will not be deterred from engaging in lawful activities and activities which are there to enforce U.N. sanctions in respect of North Korea, Marles added.

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It was the most serious encounter between the two nations forces since Australia accused the Chinese destroyer CNS Ningbo of injuring Australian navy divers with sonar pulses in Japanese waters in November. Australia said China disregarded a safety warning to keep away from the Australian frigate HMAS Toowoomba.

China maintains that encounter happened outside Japanese territorial waters and that the Chinese warship caused no harm.

During a visit to China earlier in November, Albanese invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Australia for the first time in a decade as bilateral relations have improved in recent years from unprecedented lows. He said Tuesday that Xi would not visit Australia this year.

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But Albanese said he expected to have some face-to-face engagement with the Chinese leader when they both attend G20 and APEC summits late this year.
The courts decision suspends the lower courts rulings that approved the USs extradition request. Gupta had challenged these decisions from the Municipal Court and the High Court in Prague, arguing that they failed to properly assess the political nature of the alleged crime read more

The Czech Republics top court has intervened to pause the extradition of Indian national Nikhil Gupta to the United States, where he faces charges for plotting the assassination of Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

According to a report, the Constitutional Court in Prague issued an interim decision on January 30, 2024, stating that extraditing Gupta would cause him disproportionate harm, and the action would be irreversible.

The courts decision suspends the lower courts rulings that approved the USs extradition request. Gupta had challenged these decisions from the Municipal Court and the High Court in Prague, arguing that they failed to properly assess the political nature of the alleged crime.

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Marketa Androva, spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Justice, was quoted in an Indian Express report explaining that the interim decision prevents the Justice Minister from making a final decision on extradition until the Constitutional Court resolves Guptas complaint.

The timeframe for the Constitutional Courts verdict remains uncertain, with Androva highlighting that it varies based on case complexity and court workload.

Under the extradition treaty between the US and Czech Republic, Gupta, accused of acting on behalf of an Indian official, faces extradition to the US. He was detained by Czech authorities following a request from the US government after arriving in Prague in June last year.

US prosecutors allege Gupta attempted to hire a hitman to kill Pannun, designated as a terrorist in India.

Gupta has also raised allegations of human rights violations by Czech authorities during his custody, a matter the Constitutional Court will address.

Previously, the US shared information with India regarding the foiled assassination attempt, prompting calls for an investigation into the alleged involvement of an Indian official, identified as CC1 in the indictment.

While The Washington Post recently reported on a former Indian intelligence officers alleged role, the Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the claims as unwarranted and unsubstantiated.
President Xi and little ambassadors of Hungary-China friendship

14:41, May 07, 2024 By Jiang Hanlu, Liu Chang ( Xinhua

File photo taken on Oct. 16, 2009 shows Xi Jinping (2nd L), then Chinese vice president, visiting the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school in Budapest, capital of Hungary. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BUDAPEST/BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Nestled near the glittering Danube River in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, a Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school has enjoyed rising popularity in recent years.

Saying "Nihao," hello in Chinese, is the first lesson for students. Many of them can fluently recite the Chinese version of poems by Hungarian poet Sandor Petofi. Teachers there also give lectures on Lu Xun, one of China's greatest modern writers in the 20th century.

Founded in 2004, the school has played a unique role in promoting cultural exchanges between China and Hungary over the past two decades. And in 2009, its bond with China grew stronger after a visit of a special guest.

Students practice martial arts at Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

"HELLO, UNCLE XI"

For Zsuzsanna Erdelyi, principal of the school, many heart-warming moments of the visit by Xi Jinping, who was Chinese vice president then, remain fresh in her memory.

During the tour of the school, he kept a smile on his face, and chatted with the children about poems and nursery rhymes, Erdelyi recalled.

To greet Xi, students wrote in Chinese characters on a blackboard "Hello, Uncle Xi." They also sang Mandarin songs, danced ballet and put on martial arts performances.

Xi was particularly impressed when two students recited "Quiet Night Thoughts" and "Love Seeds," two classic poems from China's Tang Dynasty more than 1,000 years ago.

Applauding the children's performance, Xi shared with them his appreciation of the Hungarian culture and the long-running bilateral cultural exchanges. He took himself as an example, saying that quite many Chinese of his age watched "Ludas Matyi," a 1950 Hungarian movie based on an eponymous poem.

Noting that some Chinese literature classics like "A Dream in Red Mansions" were translated into Hungarian long ago, Xi said that many Chinese were also fond of the Hungarian Rhapsodies, a collection of 19 piano pieces by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, who is considered the greatest piano virtuoso of his time.

Xi gave textbooks and teaching equipment as gifts to the school. The students also returned a present to him: a piece of drawing of a little red heart with some handwritten warm wishes.

Over the years, the Chinese leader has followed the school's development, said Erdelyi. "He gave a lot of valuable advice for the school, including the famous Chinese proverb: 'It takes 10 years to grow trees, but 100 years to cultivate people.'"

"Teaching children is a similar process ... It's only when they turn into adults after many years of schooling that we truly appreciate the impact of school education on their lives," she added.

Bonita Varga (L) and Tamara Imre, two Hungarian students whose Chinese names are Hu Lingyue and Song Zhixiao, speak in an interview with Xinhua at Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 7, 2023. (Xinhua/Deng Yaomin)

NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS

To commemorate Xi's visit 15 years ago, a group photo of Xi and the students still hangs on the wall in the school's hallway. That trip saw the start of a special bond between the Chinese president and the students and teachers of the school that spans the years.

Prior to the Spring Festival of 2023, Bonita Varga and Tamara Imre, two Hungarian students whose Chinese names are Hu Lingyue and Song Zhixiao, received scholarships for the second time from China. So they decided to write a letter to Xi and his wife, Professor Peng Liyuan, on behalf of all students in the school to express their gratitude and convey their Chinese New Year's greetings.

They tried to write on different kinds of paper to make sure that their letter looked nice. In their letter, they wrote about their experience of studying Chinese in the school for 12 years, and expressed their willingness to study at Chinese universities and contribute to the Hungary-China friendship.

Not long after they mailed the letter, Xi replied. Xi said he still remembered chatting with teachers and students of the school in 2009. He encouraged Hungarian youths to learn more about China and become envoys of the China-Hungary friendship.

Encouraging the students to study in Chinese universities after graduation from high school, Xi said he hopes that more and more Hungarian youths will love to study the Chinese language.

Erdelyi said Xi's reply "was a big surprise for us." With his encouragement, many students in the school are aiming to "play an important role in building the relations of the two countries," she said.

Now, over 7,000 km away from Budapest, Varga and Imre have realized their dreams of studying in China. Last autumn, the two students began their undergraduate studies at the Capital Normal University in Beijing.

Their life in Beijing has been quite interesting, and challenging as well. They encounter "cross-cultural experiences" almost daily. Take food: the Chinese people eat a lot of rice, while the Hungarians prefer potatoes and bread. But the pair have also found that both peoples love a homely dish -- "beef stew with potatoes."

"I am willing to be a warm-hearted envoy of China-Hungary friendship," said Varga, whose wish is to be a Chinese language teacher or a translator after graduation.

Yang Chao (R), charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, presents a book to Zsuzsanna Erdelyi, head of Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school, at the school in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

STRONGER CULTURAL TIES

Wang Yue, deputy principal and Chinese teacher at the school, said Xi's reply greatly inspired students. More of them now have a stronger enthusiasm to learn Chinese and to study in China.

Erneszt Sandor Durand, a 12th-grade student of the school, has been to many Chinese cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing. As China's importance in the world economy is increasing, so is the importance of learning Chinese, he said, adding that he plans to further his studies at universities in Beijing in the future.

Dorina Inges, also a student of the school, said she is quite fascinated with the Chinese culture. She can play guzheng, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, and dance traditional Chinese folk dances.

The growing popularity of the Chinese language and culture among the Hungarians also contributes to the school's continuous development over the past two decades. Initially, most students were from Chinese families living and working in Hungary. Currently, the school has 12 grades and 20 classes with more than 530 students, with the majority being native Hungarians.

"The bilingual school far exceeds traditional economic, cooperative and other types of relations," former Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy told Xinhua. "It actually encompasses the opportunity for interpersonal connections, the chance for people to get to know each other, to learn and recognize each other's culture and civilization, and to embrace these, encouraging people to be open, curious, and objective in such matters."

A Chinese teacher instructs students on Chinese calligraphy at the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

Guo Jiaming, former deputy principal of the school, told Xinhua that the school's development reflects the good momentum of strengthening China-Hungary relations and growing exchanges between the two peoples.

Presently, there are five Confucius Institutes in Hungary, and 12 universities in China offer opportunities to learn the Hungarian language.

The Chinese language has been incorporated into Hungary's national education system and has become one of the subjects in the university entrance examination. The cultural centers set up by both sides are also an important platform for cultural exchanges.

"It is important to the relations of the two countries to have people who speak both languages well," said Erdelyi, expressing her hope to see more intercultural exchanges to promote understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

(Xinhua reporters Chen Hao, Chen Wenxian, Sun Xinjing in Budapest, Zhang Yuan, Zhao Xu, Su Liang in Beijing also contributed to the story.)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
European Commission data reveal that one in three women in the 27-nation bloc has experienced some type of violence, often from intimate partners. Moreover, 600,000 women in Europe have undergone female genital mutilation. read more

European Union Council has given the green light to an EU directive to combat violence against women and domestic abuse. However, the text controversially failed to settle on a common definition of rape.

The law requires all EU countries to criminalise female genital mutilation, forced marriage and cyber violence such as the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

The European Parliament already approved the rules in April and the countries green light was the last step before it became law.

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Belgium justice minister, Paul Van Tigchelt said that this law will guarantee EU-wide that its perpetrators will be strongly sanctioned and that its victims will receive all the support they need.

The new law also contains provisions to prevent violence against women and domestic violence, establishing standards for victim protection in such cases. The directive includes specific regulations outlining the assistance and protection measures that member states must afford to victims.

The legislation aims to streamline the process for victims of violence against women and domestic violence to report crimes, facilitating online reporting for cybercrimes at a minimum. Additionally, EU countries are mandated to implement measures ensuring that children receive professional assistance. When a child reports a crime involving a person with parental responsibility, authorities must prioritise the safety of the child before notifying the alleged perpetrator.

To safeguard victims privacy and prevent recurring victimisation, member states are required to restrict the use of evidence about the victims past sexual conduct in criminal proceedings, permitting it only when relevant and essential.

In alignment with the overarching goal of fostering a safer future, preventive measures seek to raise awareness about the root causes of violence against women and domestic violence, emphasising the pivotal role of consent in sexual relationships.

European Commission data reveal that one in three women in the 27-nation bloc has experienced some type of violence, often from intimate partners.

Moreover, 600,000 women in Europe have undergone female genital mutilation.
The strained relations between China and developed nations, including the US and some European countries, have made participation in BRI projects more contentious. Concerns over environmental standards, labor practices, and debt sustainability add layers of complexity read more

European companies, including German multinational Duisport, continue to see potential in projects aligned with Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), particularly in areas like infrastructure development. Despite this, geopolitical complexities and differing opinions on project execution present significant hurdles.

Duisports investment of US$30 million in a cross-border railway hub in Chongqing underscores Germanys interest in BRI-related ventures. However, navigating geopolitical tensions and divergent standards poses challenges for foreign firms, according to reports.

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The strained relations between China and developed nations, including the US and some European countries, have made participation in BRI projects more contentious. Concerns over environmental standards, labor practices, and debt sustainability add layers of complexity.

German multinationals, despite their interest in collaborating with Chinese counterparts on African projects, face obstacles due to differing approaches and standards. While China stresses on self-reliance and autonomy in project execution, European companies advocate for adherence to international norms and standards.

Chinas shift towards smaller-scale, domestically-focused projects signals a departure from its earlier emphasis on large-scale infrastructure initiatives with foreign partners. This shift reflects a renewed focus on domestic economic priorities and a reduced appetite for international collaboration.

European countries like France, the UK, and the Netherlands have engaged with China on BRI-related projects in the past, but political factors and evolving dynamics have tempered enthusiasm. Concerns over alignment with OECD guidelines for responsible business conduct and potential isolation from fellow developed nations contribute to hesitancy.

Despite challenges, some European companies quietly contribute technical expertise to Chinese projects, preferring to avoid public association with the BRI. Swiss company Nexxiot, for example, collaborates with Chinese partners to digitise transportation assets, leveraging Chinas manufacturing capabilities.

Overall, while European companies remain interested in BRI-related opportunities, navigating geopolitical complexities and differing standards requires careful consideration and strategic decision-making.
Scholzs visit underscores the strategic significance of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in the aftermath of Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine. These three NATO and EU countries are staunch supporters of Kyiv and are concerned that the Kremlins military aggression may not be limited to Ukraine. read more

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany is determined to defend every inch of three Baltic NATO allies in case of a Russian attack and to complete the establishment of a permanent brigade in Lithuania by the end of 2027.

After holding talks in Riga with his counterparts from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania Scholz said that the security of the three nations bordering Russia and Belarus is also key for Germanys safety. Referring to the countrys obligation to stand by NATO, Scholz said that Germanys commitment with the Bundeswehr is serious.

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Scholzs visit underscores the strategic significance of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in the aftermath of Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine. These three NATO and EU countries are staunch supporters of Kyiv and are concerned that the Kremlins military aggression may not be limited to Ukraine. Given their shared border with Russia and their history as part of the Soviet Union, they are particularly vulnerable.

Reflecting this new reality on NATOs eastern flank, Germany is preparing to deploy a permanent Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania, comprising approximately 4,800 soldiers. The objective is for the unit to achieve full combat readiness by 2027. A preliminary detachment has already arrived, and soldiers from the Bundeswehrs 10th Armoured Division are currently participating in a major NATO exercise in Lithuania.

During his visit, Scholz met with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda at the Pabrade military training area. He is scheduled to continue his trip to the Latvian capital, Riga, where he will hold meetings with the prime ministers of the three Baltic states.

Discussions with Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte will focus on various issues, including security and defense policy.
Israel says Rafah is Hamas last stronghold, however the United States opposes a full-scale invasion of the city unless Israel provides a credible plan for protecting civilians there. read more

Israeli soldiers are seen near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. -AP

Israel has outlined four key issues with a ceasefire deal proposed by Qatar and Egypt, which Hamas has accepted, the Independent quoted an anonymous Israeli official as saying.

Israel takes issue with four aspects of the proposal, including a demand for a permanent ceasefire and a clause stipulating that bodies of Israeli hostages could be substituted for living hostages if they cannot be found, according to reports.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have confirmed taking control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, which borders Egypt in southern Gaza. Tanks from the 401st Brigade were observed rolling into the region.

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Israel rejected the agreement last night, deeming it unacceptable and claiming it represents a softened version of a previous deal outlined by mediators. Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that a negotiating team has been dispatched to Cairo, Egypt, to assess the terms of the plan.

Israel regards Rafah as Hamas final stronghold, yet the United States opposes a full-scale invasion of the city unless Israel presents a credible plan for safeguarding civilians there. Intense Israeli airstrikes in the area forced a major hospital in Rafah to evacuate on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson from the Health Ministry.

The conflict in Gaza has displaced approximately 80% of the regions population of 2.3 million and inflicted extensive damage on residences, medical facilities, mosques, and educational institutions in numerous cities. Local health authorities report that the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 34,500 people.

The conflict erupted on October 7 when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of roughly 1,200 individuals mostly civilians and the abduction of around 250 others. Israel asserts that militants continue to hold approximately 100 hostages and the remains of over 30 others.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the operation along the Gaza-Egypt border in eastern Rafah was not a full-on invasion of the city that President Joe Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds. He said Israel had described it as an operation of limited scale and duration aimed at cutting off Hamas arms smuggling.

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Kirby also expressed optimism about the negotiations, saying Israel and Hamas should be able to close the remaining gaps to complete an agreement, without offering a timetable. He said CIA chief William Burns will attend further talks in Cairo with representatives from Israel, Egypt and Qatar. Hamas has also sent a delegation to Cairo, which will meet separately with the Arab mediators.

Biden warned Netanyahu again Monday against launching an invasion of the city after Israel ordered 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate from parts of Rafah. But Netanyahus far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he calls off the offensive or makes too many concessions in cease-fire talks.

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With inputs from agencies.
Following an Israeli raid at the Rafah border crossing in the southern portion of the Strip, Gallant visited the Rafah sector and declared that Israel is prepared to make compromises in order to release the hostages in Gaza read more

Previous attempts at talks had faltered partly due to Netanyahu's threats to destroy Hamas's surviving terrorists in Rafah and the Palestinian organization's demand for an indefinite ceasefire Image Courtesy AFP

Israel is ready to deepen its Gaza operation, according to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, should peace negotiations fail to win the release of captives that Hamas is holding in Palestinian territory.

After visiting the Rafah region in the wake of an Israeli incursion at the Rafah border crossing in the southern part of the Strip, Gallant stated that Israel is willing to make compromises in order to free the hostages in Gaza.

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However, in a statement, he said, if that option is removed, we will go on and deepen the operation.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel is prepared to deepen its Gaza operation in the event that peace talks do not result in the release of prisoners held by Hamas on Palestinian land.

Following an Israeli raid at the Rafah border crossing in the southern portion of the Strip, Gallant visited the Rafah sector and declared that Israel is prepared to make compromises in order to release the hostages in Gaza.

He did, however, add in a statement, We will continue and deepen the operation if that option is removed.

Previous attempts at talks had faltered partly due to Netanyahus threats to destroy Hamass surviving terrorists in Rafah and the Palestinian organizations demand for an indefinite ceasefire.

Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that he had ordered the seizure of the Rafah gate late on Monday and that our forces raised the Israeli flags at the Rafah crossing and took down the Hamas flags within hours.

Seizing the passage in Rafah today is a very important step, he stated  an important step on the way to destroying the remaining military capabilities of Hamas .

This morning we denied Hamas a passage that was essential for establishing its reign of terror in the (Gaza) Strip, Netanyahu declared on Tuesday.

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Gallant hinted of the possibility of a protracted ground action following Israels request for Palestinians living east of the city to leave. This led to the limited Rafah incursion.

This operation will continue until we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and the entire Gaza Strip, or until the first hostage returns, he stated in the statement.

Israel would increase its operations all over the Strip, in the south, in the center, and in the north, according to Gallant, if the hostages are not freed.

Hamas only responds to force, so we will intensify our actions, and the military pressure will result in us crushing  Hamas.
Earlier Monday, Israels War Cabinet decided to push ahead with a military operation in Rafah, after Hamas announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a cease-fire deal. The Israeli military said it was conducting targeted strikes against Hamas in Rafah without providing details read more

A Palestinian security official and an Egyptian official say Israeli tanks entered the southern Gaza town of Rafah, reaching as close as 200 metres from its crossing with neighbouring Egypt.

The Egyptian official said the operation appeared to be limited in scope. He and Hamas Al-Aqsa TV said Israeli officials informed the Egyptians that the troops would withdraw after completing the operation.

The Israeli military declined to comment. On Sunday, Hamas fighters near the Rafah crossing fired mortars into southern Israel, killing four Israeli soldiers.

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The Egyptian official, located on the Egyptian side of Rafah, and the Palestinian security official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the scope of the operation.

Earlier Monday, Israels War Cabinet decided to push ahead with a military operation in Rafah, after Hamas announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a cease-fire deal. The Israeli military said it was conducting targeted strikes against Hamas in Rafah without providing details.

Hamas announced its acceptance Monday of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its core demands and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Still, Israel said it would continue negotiations.

The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive - but only barely - for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the 7-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip. Hanging over the wrangling was the threat of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah, a move the United States strongly opposes and that aid groups warn will be disastrous for some 1.4 million Palestinians taking refuge there.

Hamass abrupt acceptance of the cease-fire deal came hours after Israel ordered an evacuation of some 100,000 Palestinians from eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah, signalling an invasion was imminent.

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Israels War Cabinet decided to continue the Rafah operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office said. At the same time, it said that while the proposal Hamas agreed to is far from meeting Israels core demands, it would send negotiators to Egypt to work on a deal.

The Israeli military said it was conducting targeted strikes against Hamas in eastern Rafah. The nature of the strikes was not immediately known, but the move appeared aimed at keeping the pressure on as talks continue.

President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reiterated US concerns about an invasion of Rafah. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said American officials were reviewing the Hamas response and discussing it with our partners in the region. An American official said the U.S. was examining whether what Hamas agreed to was the version signed off to by Israel and international negotiators or something else.

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It was not immediately known if the proposal Hamas agreed to was substantially different from one that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed the militant group to accept last week, which Blinken said included significant Israeli concessions.

Egyptian officials said that proposal called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and partial Israeli troop pullbacks within Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a permanent calm that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal out of the territory, they said.

Hamas sought clearer guarantees for its key demand of an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal in return for the release of all hostages, but it wasnt clear if any changes were made.

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Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected that trade-off, vowing to keep up their campaign until Hamas is destroyed after its October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

Netanyahu is under pressure from hard-line partners in his coalition who demand an attack on Rafah and could collapse his government if he signs onto a deal. But he also faces pressure from the families of hostages to reach a deal for their release.

Thousands of Israelis rallied around the country Monday night calling for an immediate agreement. About a thousand protesters swelled near the defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, where police tried to clear the road. In Jerusalem, about a hundred protesters marched toward Netanyahus residence with a banner reading, The blood is on your hands.

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Israel says Rafah is the last significant Hamas stronghold in Gaza, and Netanyahu said Monday that the offensive against the town was vital to ensuring the militants cant rebuild their military capabilities.

But he faces strong American opposition. Miller said Monday the U.S. has not seen a credible and implementable plan to protect Palestinian civilians. We cannot support an operation in Rafah as it is currently envisioned, he said.

The looming operation has raised global alarm. Aid agencies have warned that an offensive will bring a surge of more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has already killed 34,000 people and devastated the territory. It could also wreck the humanitarian aid operation based out of Rafah that is keeping Palestinians across the Gaza Strip alive, they say.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Monday called the evacuation order inhumane.

Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine. And today, they have been told that they must relocate yet again, he said. It will only expose them to more danger and misery.

Israeli leaflets, text messages and radio broadcasts ordered Palestinians to evacuate eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, warning that an attack was imminent and anyone who stays puts themselves and their family members in danger.

The military told people to move to an Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi, a makeshift camp on the coast. It said Israel has expanded the size of the zone and that it included tents, food, water and field hospitals.

It wasnt immediately clear, however, if that was already in place.

Around 450,000 displaced Palestinians already are sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it has been providing them with aid. But conditions are squalid, with few sanitation facilities in the largely rural area, forcing families to dig private latrines.

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, condemned the forced, unlawful evacuation order to Muwasi.

The area is already overstretched and devoid of vital services, Egeland said.

The evacuation order left Palestinians in Rafah wrestling with having to uproot their families once again for an unknown fate, exhausted after months living in sprawling tent camps or crammed into schools or other shelters in and around the city. Israeli airstrikes on Rafah early Monday killed 22 people, including children and two infants.

Mohammed Jindiyah said that at the beginning of the war, he tried to hold out in his home in northern Gaza under heavy bombardment before fleeing to Rafah.

He is complying with Israels evacuation order this time, but was unsure whether to move to Muwasi or elsewhere.

We are 12 families, and we dont know where to go. There is no safe area in Gaza, he said.

Sahar Abu Nahel, who fled to Rafah with 20 family members, including her children and grandchildren, wiped tears from her cheeks, despairing at a new move.

I have no money or anything. I am seriously tired, as are the children, she said.

Maybe its more honorable for us to die. We are being humiliated.

Israels bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them children and women, according to Gaza health officials. The tally doesnt distinguish between civilians and combatants. More than 80 per cent of the population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, and hundreds of thousands in the north are on the brink of famine, according to the UN.

The war was sparked by the unprecedented October 7 raid into southern Israel in which Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted some 250 hostages. After exchanges during a November cease-fire, Hamas is believed to still hold about 100 Israelis as well the bodies of around 30 others.
The call for Indian tourists comes amid a backlash faced by the Maldives after derogatory remarks were made against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by three Maldivian officials. The subsequent social media campaign calling for a boycott led to a significant decline in tourism, with Indias ranking dropping from the top to the sixth position read more

As tensions strain bilateral relations between India and the Maldives, the Maldivian tourism minister has extended an invitation to Indian tourists, highlighting their vital role in supporting the archipelagos tourism-dependent economy.

Minister Ibrahim Faisal stressed the enduring historical ties between the Maldives and India, expressing the governments commitment to fostering cooperation. He urged Indian visitors to partake in Maldives tourism, highlighting its crucial role in the countrys economy.

We have a history. Our newly elected government also wants to work together (with India). We always promote peace and a friendly environment. Our people and the government will give a warm welcome to Indian arrivals. As the Tourism Minister, I want to tell Indians to please be a part of Maldives tourism. Our economy depends on tourism, Faisal told PTI in Dubai.

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The call for Indian tourists comes amid a backlash faced by the Maldives after derogatory remarks were made against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by three Maldivian officials. The subsequent social media campaign calling for a boycott led to a significant decline in tourism, with Indias ranking dropping from the top to the sixth position.

Tourism Ministry statistics reveal a 42% decrease in Indian tourist arrivals during the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year. The strained relations stem from President Mohamed Muizzus administrations pro-China stance, including the decision to withdraw Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives.

President Muizzu, elected on an India Out platform, has accused India of interference and pursued measures to reduce reliance on India across various sectors. This includes agreements with other countries for medical services, food supplies, and military equipment.
The ties between the two countries came under severe strain in view of Muizzu insisting on withdrawal of Indian military personnel operating three military platforms in the island nation. read more

Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer will visit India on May 9, in the first high-level trip from Male after the Maldives pro-China president Mohamed Muizzu assumed office six months ago.

Announcing Zameers visit, the Ministry of External Affairs said it is expected to lend further momentum to the bilateral cooperation.

The ties between the two countries came under severe strain in view of Muizzu insisting on withdrawal of Indian military personnel operating three military platforms in the island nation.

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India has already withdrawn most of its military personnel. President Muizzu had set May 10 as the deadline for withdrawal of the Indian military troops from his country.

Moosa Zameer, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives, will be in India on an official visit on May 9, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Tuesday.

It said Zameer will meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for discussions on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.

The Maldives is Indias key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region and Foreign Minister Zameers visit is expected to lend further momentum to the bilateral cooperation between the two countries, the MEA said in a statement.

The Maldivian foreign ministry said Zameer will hold talks with Jaishankar focusing on deepening and expanding the longstanding the Maldives-India partnership.

This is Foreign Minister Zameers first official visit to India since assuming office, it said.
Daniel Chapo was chosen this past weekend by the Liberation Front of Mozambique, also known by its Portuguese abbreviation Frelimo, to be its flagbearer for the elections scheduled for October, which it is nearly guaranteed to win. The group has ruled the country since 1975 read more

One of the worlds poorest countries, Mozambique is trying to convince TotalEnergies to resume a $20 billion natural gas export project Image Courtesy Reuters

As the nation steps up attempts to revitalize one of Africas largest-ever investments and overhaul the economy, the ruling party in Mozambique chose an unexpected pick for its next leader and presidential candidate.

Daniel Chapo was chosen this past weekend by the Liberation Front of Mozambique, also known by its Portuguese abbreviation Frelimo, to be its flagbearer for the elections scheduled for October, which it is nearly guaranteed to win. The group has ruled the country since 1975.

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Chapo, a lawyer and former radio host, is the governor of the province of Inhambane, which is located on the seashore. He never held a position in the national government, but he was chosen by the party to be its nominee when President Filipe Nyusi was unable to appoint Roque Silva, the secretary general of Frelimo, to succeed him.

It will be difficult for Chapo to succeed.

One of the worlds poorest countries, Mozambique is trying to convince TotalEnergies to resume a $20 billion natural gas export project. In 2021, work came to an end when rebels affiliated with the Islamic State attacked the town nearest to the project in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, killing hundreds of people.

While TotalEnergies has recently given encouraging signals as the militants have been pushed back with the assistance of troops from Rwanda and Mozambiques neighbors, intermittent attacks have persisted.

The projects supporters may also be concerned about a decision made by French prosecutors to look into suspicions of involuntary manslaughter related to accusations that the firm did not take sufficient precautions to protect its subcontractors. The oil tycoon disputes any misconduct.

Nyusi recently voiced his frustration about the delays in accessing some of the worlds largest gas reserves last week.

Chapo will be responsible for answering questions regarding whether doing business in Mozambique is safe.
Following closely behind in second place is the Bay Area in Northern California, comprising San Francisco and Silicon Valley, which has experienced remarkable wealth growth over the past decade read more

In the recently published 2024 Worlds Wealthiest Cities Report by international wealth migration specialists Henley & Partners in collaboration with global data intelligence firm New World Wealth, New York City retains its leading position as the worlds wealthiest city.

The report highlights New York Citys dominance, with a staggering total wealth exceeding USD 3 trillion and a notable population of 349,500 millionaires, 744 centi-millionaires, and 60 billionaires.

Following closely behind in second place is the Bay Area in Northern California, comprising San Francisco and Silicon Valley, which has experienced remarkable wealth growth over the past decade.

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Tokyo, once the worlds wealthiest city, has slipped to third place with a decline in its high-net-worth-individual (HNWI) population. Meanwhile, Singapore has risen to fourth place, demonstrating impressive growth in its millionaire population and positioning itself as a leading Asian financial hub.

Londons descent in the ranking continues, now occupying fifth place, while Los Angeles has climbed to sixth place with significant growth in its wealthy population. Paris maintains its position as the wealthiest city in mainland Europe, with Sydney ascending to eighth place after strong wealth growth in recent years.

Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley & Partners, attributes the growth in the worlds wealthiest cities to the strong performance of financial markets and advancements in technology. However, he warns that geopolitical risks, such as the war in Ukraine, underscore the fragility of wealth in todays uncertain world.

China emerges prominently on the list, with several cities making significant strides in wealth accumulation. Beijing enters the Top 10 for the first time, while Shenzhen stands out as the worlds fastest-growing city for the wealthy, experiencing exponential growth in its millionaire population.

Dubai leads the Middle East as the wealthiest city in the region, with Abu Dhabi showing promising growth potential. In Africa and South America, rising stars like Nairobi and Cape Town are identified as future contenders in the global wealth landscape.

Meanwhile, Mumbai and Delhi also got a mention in the list at 24th & 37th place respectively. Last year, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad had also made to the list along with Delhi and Mumbai.

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The report also highlights the most expensive cities in the world, with Monaco topping the list for its high wealth per capita and extravagant real estate prices. New York City follows closely behind, reflecting the allure of prime real estate in leading global hubs.

Dominic Volek, Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners, emphasizes the importance of investment migration programs in attracting foreign direct investment and diversifying assets. Such programs, he notes, offer opportunities for families and cities alike to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and dynamic global economy.
In the face of the conflict in Ukraine, Poland is strengthening its defence capabilities, allocating over 4% of its Gross Domestic Product. read more

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on to step up the blocs defence capabilities and asked the European Union to mobilise at least $108 billion to jointly develop an air defence system as the bloc contends with Russian aggression.

Speaking at the European Economic Congress, a meeting of politicians and business figures in Katowice, Tusk said that a long debate on ramping up the EUs defence capability must culminate in a decision soon.

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Poland is strengthening its defence capabilities, allocating over 4% of its Gross Domestic Product in the face of the conflict in Ukraine.

Tusk also said that Europe must be prepared in the next dozen or so months and the entire next five years for a situation in which no power in the world will dare raise a hand against it.

A joint air defence must become a European project that will be a financial effort to build a dome over Europe, he said. We have many more initiatives and meetings than real actions to defend the European sky.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission stressed the need for increased defence spending in Europe. She also announced her intention to propose new defence projects if she remains in office for another term. Von der Leyen also reiterated her support for the creation of a full-time EU defence commissioner to bolster the European defence industry.
Last week, Russia claimed to have captured a village near the town of Avdiivka that it captured in March after over a year of grinding war read more

Russia has claimed to have captured two villages in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry on Monday said that its forces had captured the village of Kotlyarivka in the Kharkiv region and the village of Soloviove in the Donetsk, according to AFP.

The village of Soloviove lies in the part of the Donetsk province that Russia has annexed. In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed four captured regions of Ukraine: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk. It was the largest forced absorption of territory in Europe since World War II.

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The village is not far from Ocheretyne, another village that Russia claimed to have captured on Sunday, as per the report.

The Kharkiv is one of the areas where Russia focussed in the initial days of the invasion but was soon repelled by the Ukrainians. The village of Kotlyarivka is about 20 kilometers from Kupiansk, which has seen heavy artillery firing lately amid indications that Russia may soon launch a major offensive there.

In recent months, Russia has expanded its gains in the eastern part of the country. Last week, Russia claimed to have captured the village of Berdychi, which is located near the town of Avdiivka that Russia captured in March after over a year of grinding war. Last month, Russia also claimed to have captured the village of Bohdanivka near the key battleground town of Chasiv Yair in eastern Ukraine.

For several months, Ukrainian forces on the frontlines were affected by shortage of arms and ammunition as supplies from the United States dried up as ta Ukraine aid package was stuck in US Congress. The weapons shortages coupled with low morale resulted in the Ukrainian forces struggling to hold the frontline against relentless Russian assaults.

Last month, Ukraines Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that the military had withdrawn from three villages in the eastern Donetsk and was building a new line of fortifications amid fears of a new Russian offensive, according to the report.
Russia on Monday justified its veto of a UN resolution that urged all nations to halt a nuclear arms race in outer space. Instead, it challenged the US, Japan, and their Western allies to back Moscows competing resolution, which calls for a permanent ban on all space weapons read more

Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia addresses members of the UN Security Council during a meeting on Non-proliferation of nuclear weapons on 24 April, 2024, at the United Nations headquarters. AP File

Russia on Monday defended its veto of a UN resolution urging all nations to prevent a nuclear arms race in outer space, challenging the US, Japan and their Western allies to support Moscows rival resolution calling for a ban on all weapons in space for all time.

Russias UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the United States and Japan, which sponsored the vetoed resolution, are guilty of of hypocrisy and double standards. He accused the US and Western nations more broadly of planning for the military exploration of outer space, including the deployment of weapons, in particular strike combat systems.

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US deputy ambassador Robert Wood countered, telling the UN General Assembly: The truth is that Russia currently has several conventional anti-satellite weapons already in orbit, one of which it tested in 2019. He added Russia has threatened to target satellites with weapons, and said there is credible information that Russia is developing a new satellite carrying a nuclear device.

The verbal clash came on a day that Russia threatened to strike British military facilities and said it plans to hold drills simulating the use of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons. Moscows actions were a response to comments by senior Western officials about possible deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine.

In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to rising tensions with the West over its support for Ukraine by announcing that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty  the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States.

The United Nations warned Monday of growing concern about recent increasing talk about nuclear weapons by various parties when asked about Russias planned drills simulating the use of tactical nukes.

Current nuclear risks are at an alarmingly high level, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. All actions that could lead to miscalculation, escalation with catastrophic consequences, must be avoided.

Under a General Assembly resolution adopted in April 2022, any of the permanent member of the Security Council  the U.S, Russia, China, Britain and France  that vetoes a resolution must appear before the 193-member world body to explain why.

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Before the U.S.-Japan resolution was put to a vote April 24, Russia and China unsuccessfully proposed an amendment that would have called on all countries to prevent all weapons  not just weapons of mass destruction  in outer space.

In the ensuing vote on the US-Japan resolution, 13 countries voted yes, China abstained, and Russia voted no, vetoing the measure.

A week later, Russia circulated its rival resolution that calls on all countries to stop all weapons from being deployed in outer space as well as the threat or use of force in outer space, also for all time.

On Monday, Nebenzia argued that the United States and its allies oppose a ban on all weapons in outer space because they plan to deploy weapons there and hold out the threat of using force in outer space  from outer space and against objects in outer space.

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Wood questioned the sincerity of Putins public comments that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.

If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed this resolution, Wood said. Russias actions cast significant doubt as to whether it will uphold the existing legal obligations under the Outer Space Treaty and raise concerns about what this could mean for international peace and security.

The vetoed U.S.-Japan resolution would have affirmed that countries which ratified the 1967 Outer Space Treaty must comply with their obligations not to put in orbit around the Earth any objects with weapons of mass destruction, or install them on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space. The treaty was ratified by 114 countries, including the U.S. and Russia.

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Wood said all countries should support the Outer Space Treaty and not let Russia distract from the pacts provisions by seeking to advance its own resolution, which he said has language being discussed in other bodies where there is not yet consensus.

Russias actions only seeks to divide states not unite us, he said.

Japanese Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki asked U.N. member nations to imagine what would happen if a nuclear weapon detonated in outer space.

A large number of satellites and other critical space infrastructure would be taken down, he said.

But the consequences wouldnt be limited to outer space, Yamazaki said, saying there would be repercussions on peoples lives and it would obstruct development in every region on Earth, disastrously and irreversibly.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, despite an international tribunal ruling that Beijing has no legal basis for these claims. China also claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory despite the latters strong objections. read more

In a bid to strengthen its military presence in the Indo-Pacific, Germany sent two warships to the region on Tuesday amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan and over the disputed South China Sea.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that those tensions were putting pressure on the freedom of navigation and free passage on trade routes. Looking the other way, showing no presence in the Indo-Pacific in support of the international rules-based order, thats not an option for Germany, he told reporters before the vessels departed. Presence matters.

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According to an estimate, some 40 per cent of Europes foreign trade flows through the South China Sea.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, despite an international tribunal ruling that Beijing has no legal basis for these claims. China also claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory despite the latters strong objections.

The supply ship Frankfurt am Main departed from Wilhelmshaven, while the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg set sail from the Spanish port of Rota. These vessels will rendezvous at sea before proceeding to Halifax in Canada and onward to the Indo-Pacific.

While the ships will traverse the South China Sea, it remains unclear if they will navigate through the Taiwan Strait like the United States, a decision likely to provoke China, Germanys principal trading partner.

Given that several allied navy vessels have traversed the Taiwan Strait, this is a feasible option. However, no definitive choice has been made, stated Pistorius.

In 2021, a German warship ventured into the South China Sea after nearly two decades, aligning with other Western nations efforts to bolster its military presence in response to Chinas territorial ambitions.

On Monday morning, U.S. Marines alongside their Filipino counterparts darted out of Black Hawk helicopters during combat exercises in the northernmost island town of Itbayat, situated along the strategic Bashi Channel off the southern coast of Taiwana focal point in the military rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

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This display of allied combat readiness in Batanes province, part of the annual Balikatan military drills that commenced last month, underscores the joint efforts of over 16,000 American and Philippine military personnel. Balikatan, translating to shoulder-to-shoulder in Tagalog, symbolizes the unity between the two nations.

These exercises, the largest to date between the long-time treaty allies, serve as a deterrent against potential aggression. They unfold amidst Chinas escalating assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea, where confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coast guards, along with accompanying vessels, have grown increasingly tense since last year.
TikTok said that the law infringed upon the First Amendment by effectively removing an app that millions of Americans use to express their opinions and communicate without freely. read more

A view shows the office of TikTok after the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that would give TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest the US assets of the short-video app or face a ban, in Culver City, California. Reuters

Calling the potential ban unconstitutional, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance filed a lawsuit Tuesday, saying that the law infringed upon the First Amendment by effectively removing an app that millions of Americans use to express their opinions and communicate without freely.

TikTok contended that the law infringed upon the First Amendment by essentially removing an app that millions of Americans use to express their opinions and communicate freely. It also asserted that divestiture was simply not possible, especially within the laws 270-day timeline, citing challenges such as Beijings refusal to sell a key feature that powers TikTok in the United States.

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The battle for TikToks survival in the United States is expected to unfold primarily in the courts over the coming months. The conflict pits Congresss national security concerns regarding the social media apps connections to China against TikToks argument that a sale or ban would violate the First Amendment free-speech rights of its users and harm small businesses reliant on the platform. Ultimately, the case is anticipated to reach the Supreme Court.

For years, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data, or influence Americans by suppressing or promoting certain content on TikTok. The U.S. has yet to provide public evidence to support those claims, but political pressures have piled up regardless.

If upheld, legal experts also stress that the law could set a precedent carrying wider ramifications for digital media in the U.S.

Heres what you need to know.

IS A TIKTOK BAN UNCONSTITUTIONAL?

Thats the central question. TikTok and opponents of the law have argued that a ban would violate First Amendment rights of the social media platforms 170 million U.S. users.

Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLUs National Security Project, previously told The Associated Press that a TikTok ban would stifle free expression and restrict public access to a platform that has become central source for information sharing.

Among key questions will be whether the legislation interferes with the overall content of speech on TikTok, Elettra Bietti, an assistant professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University, noted following the laws passage last month  as content-based restrictions meet a higher level of scrutiny.

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Congress has taken the unprecedented step of expressly singling out and banning TikTok: a vibrant online forum for protected speech and expression used by 170 million Americans to create, share, and view videos over the Internet, ByteDance said in its lawsuit Tuesday. For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide.

COULD TIKTOK SUCCESSFULLY PREVENT THE BAN IN COURT?

TikTok has expressed confidence about the prospects of its legal challenge.

Rest assured, we arent going anywhere, TikTok CEO Shou Chew said in a video response posted to X shortly after the legislation was signed into law on April 24. The facts and the Constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again.

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Toomey also said that he was optimistic about the possibility of TikTok being able to block the measure in court, noting that both users and the company have extremely strong" First Amendment claims.

Many of the calls to completely ban TikTok in the U.S. are about scoring political points and rooted in anti-China sentiment, Toomey added. And to date, these steps to ban TikTok had not been remotely supported by concrete public evidence.

Still, the future of any litigation is hard to predict, especially for this kind of case. And from a legal perspective, it can be difficult to cite political motivations, even if theyre well-documented, as grounds to invalidate a law.

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The battle could also string along for some time, with the potential for appeals that could go all the way to the Supreme Court, which would likely uphold the law due to its current composition, said Gus Hurwitz, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvanias Carey Law School.

HOW MIGHT THE GOVERNMENT RESPOND TO THE CHALLENGE?

TikToks legal challenge wont go on without a fight. The government will probably respond with national-security claims, which were already cited prominently as the legislation made its way through Congress.

Toomey maintains that the government hasnt met the high bar required to prove imminent national-security risks, but some other legal experts note that its still a strong card to play.

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One of the unfortunate and really frustrating things about national-security legislation (is that) it tends to be a trump card, Hurwitz said. Once national-security issues come up, theyre going to carry the day either successfully or not.

Hurwitz added that he thinks there are legitimate national-security arguments that could be brought up here. National security can be argued because its a federal measure, he noted. That sets this scenario apart from previously unsuccessful state-level legislation seeking to ban TikTok, such as in Montana.

But national-security arguments are also vulnerable to questioning as to why TikTok is getting specific scrutiny.

Personally, I believe that what TikTok does isnt that different from other companies that are U.S.-based, Bietti said, pointing to tech giants ranging from Google to Amazon. The question is, Why ban TikTok and not the activities and the surveillance carried out by other companies in the United States?

IF THE LAW IS UPHELD, COULD THERE BE WIDER RAMIFICATIONS?

Still, legal experts note that there could be repercussions beyond TikTok in the future.

The measure was passed as part of a larger $95 billion package that provides aid to Ukraine and Israel. The package also includes a provision that makes it illegal for data brokers to sell or rent personally identifiable sensitive data to North Korea, China, Russia, Iran or entities in those countries.

That has encountered some pushback, including from the ACLU, which says the language is written too broadly and could sweep in journalists and others who publish personal information.

Theres real reason to be concerned that the use of this law will not stop with TikTok, Toomey said. Looking at that point and the bigger picture, banning TikTok or forcing its sale would be a devastating blow to the U.S. governments decades of work promoting an open and secure global internet."

With inputs from AP.
The FAA is investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes read more

A new investigation into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been opened by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after the planemaker said some employees had committed misconduct by claiming some tests had been completed.

Giving out the details, the FAA said it is probing whether Boeing completed the inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records.

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It went on to say that at the same time, Boeing is re-inspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet.

Reuters in its report said when Boeing was asked to comment, it provided an April 29 email from Scott Stocker, who leads the companys 787 program, to employees in South Carolina where the 787 is assembled.

What did the email say?

Stocker, in the email, had said an employee saw what appeared to be an irregularity in a required 787 conformance test.

After receiving the report, Stocker continued in the email, we quickly reviewed the matter and learned that several people had been violating Company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed.

Stocker further said Boeing promptly informed the FAA about what we learned and are taking swift and serious corrective action with multiple employees.

Our engineering team has assessed that this misconduct did not create an immediate safety of flight issue, he added.

In April, Boeing said it expects a slower increase in the production rate and deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner widebody jets as it wrestles with supplier shortages on a few key parts.

Recently, a quality engineer with Boeing criticised some of the manufacturing practices on the 787 and 777 widebody programs and testified last month before Congress.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into a January 5 mid-air emergency of a Boeing 737 MAX 9.

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The National Transportation Safety Board has said four key bolts appeared to be missing from the plane that had been delivered by Boeing months earlier. Boeing has said it believes required documents detailing the removal of the bolts were never created.

With inputs from Reuters
Vladimir Putin has been called as the president for life as he has ruled Russia continuously since 1999 and is expected to remain in power till at least 2036 read more

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to be sworn in for his fifth term as the leader of Russia on Tuesday.

After first becoming the Russian leader in 1999 on the New Years Eve, 71-year-old Putin has continuously held onto power. In nearly 25 years, he has consolidated power like few leaders have anywhere in the world.

Putin, a former agent of erstwhile Soviet Unions intelligence agency KGB, has cultivated a host of loyalist oligarchs, removed those political and business elite who could challenge him, shut down dissent, removed all opposition in his country, and ramped up the challenge to the Western world order.

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Putin has not just challenged the West by not following the rules of the US-led world order, but Russia under him has increasingly set out to undermine the West and United States by interfering in elections across countries, deploying proxies in parts of the world, partnering with China to prop a parallel alliance against Western democracies, and plunging Europe into the most serious crisis since the World War II with the invasion of Ukraine.

Putins 5th term overshadowed by Ukraine war

The highlight of Putins fifth term is expected to be the Russian war against Ukraine that he launched in 2022.

While Russia will observe a weeklong celebration to mark Putins fifth term, the West has declared the elections sham as Putin did not have any substantial opposition challenging him. His most notable critic, Alexie Navalny, died in a Russian penal colony during the elections under mysterious circumstances. Other opponents are also serving prison sentences or have been forced into exile.

While Putins first year of war against Ukraine did not go as per the plan as Russian forces spectacularly failed to capture Kyiv and overthrow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Russian war efforts have gained momentum in recent months as Moscows forces have started piling on new victories in the east.

After failing to capture Kyiv in the initial weeks of the invasion, Russia focussed war efforts to the countrys east, the Donbas region, and the war has seen been focussed them.

Russian leader for life

Putin served two terms as the President of Russia and left the office in 2008.

In 2008, Putin became the Prime Minister of Russia after the Russian constitution barred him from a third presidential term. Even though he was not the president, it is understood that he called the shots during the four-year stint as PM of Russia.

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In 2012, Putin returned as the President of Russia. He got the Russian constitution amended to allow two more six-year terms for himself.

In 2021, Putin again got the constitution amended that would allow him to be in office till 2036. Much like his closest partner Xi Jinping of China, it said been said that he will remain president for life.

Putin building his New World Order

In October 2023, Putin accused the West of building a new iron curtain and said he was building a new world order to counter the West.

The iron curtain is a term that refers to the barriers the erstwhile Soviet Union erected to seal off itself from the West.

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In contradiction to the liberal Western values, Putin has increasingly pushed nationalism and social conservatism, which have included passing laws against the LGBTQ community, notes AFP.

Putin has also pushed for family-centric roles for women and has clamped down on feminist movements.

Some countries deliberately destroy norms of morality, institutions of the family, push whole peoples towards extinction and degeneration. We choose life, said Putin in an address.

As for women, Putin said, You, dear women, are capable of changing the world with your beauty, wisdom, and generosity of spirit, but mostly thanks to your greatest gift the nature gave you: giving birth to children. Motherhood is an amazing preordination of women.

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Ksenia Luchenko, a Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that Russia is pushing moral traditionalism to the extreme under Russia in the remaking of the country.

Just as Bolshevism in the Soviet Union was a radical, fundamentalist interpretation of socialism, Russia now pushes moral traditionalism to the extreme. The president hands down one decree after another to regulate morality and ethics, and demonstrates his power over the private lives of his citizens. In doing so, he not only positions himself as a leader in an alternative (authoritarian) global order, but also stamps out liberal life in Russia and strengthens his autocracy, said Luchenko in an article.
The vessel and all crew are safe, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which also stated that authorities are investigating the explosions that occurred south of Aden, the port city in southern Yemen read more

Since November, the Huthi rebels in Yemen, who are supported by Iran, have attacked ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with several drone and missile strikes

According to the British maritime security organization UKMTO, two explosions were detected in close proximity by a merchant vessel traveling through the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen on Tuesday.

The vessel and all crew are safe, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which also stated that authorities are investigating the explosions that occurred south of Aden, the port city in southern Yemen.

The Royal Navy of Britain operates UKMTO. It did not disclose information on the ship or the type of attack.

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Since November, the Huthi rebels in Yemen, who are supported by Iran, have attacked ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with several drone and missile strikes.

The Huthis claim that their campaign is a show of support for Palestinians amidst the conflict in Gaza.

They made a warning on Friday to broaden their operations to include the Mediterranean Sea and cargo headed for Israel.

The Huthi attacks have forced large corporations to steer clear of the route that typically carries 12 percent of world trade, prompting the United States to initiate a campaign in December to protect Red Sea shipping from these attacks.

The United States and the United Kingdom have also repeatedly carried out retaliatory strikes on Huthi sites in Yemen since January.

US military personnel shot down a drone that the Huthis had fired over the Red Sea on Monday, according to a statement from the US militarys Central Command (CENTCOM).

According to CENTCOM, the drone presented an imminent threat to US coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region.
MediaTek just announced the Dimensity 9300+ as the upgraded version of the Dimensity 9300 at the MediaTek Dimensity Developer Conference (MDDC) 2024, as it had promised.

Faster CPU

It retains the third-generation TSMCs 4nm process tech, but the Arm Cortex-X4 core now operates at up to 3.4 GHz compared to 3.25GHz while retaining 3 x performance core clocked ARM Cortex-X4 cores at a slower 2.85GHz and 4 x Cortex-A720 cores clocked at 2.0GHz.

Improved APU

The Dimensity 9300+ boasts improved AI processing over the previous generation, thanks to up to 10% performance boost in MediaTeks new NeuroPilot Speculative Decode Acceleration technology in the companys latest generative AI engine.

Gen-Al collaborations include 01.Al Yi-Nano, Alibaba Cloud Owen LLM, Baichuan Al, ERNIE-35-SE, Google Gemini Nano, Meta Llama 2 and Llama 3. The APU 790 AI engine supports LLMs with 1B, 7B, and 13B parameters, with scalability up to 33B, and can also run LLMs quickly and efficiently.

With NeuroPilot Speculative Decode Acceleration, Dimensity 9300+ can run LLMs with seven billion parameters at 22 tokens per second, more than 2X the rate of competitive mass market solutions, said the company.

GPU Improvements

The 12-core Arm Immortalis-G720 GPU has a 2nd generation hardware ray tracing engine for fast raytracing experiences at a smooth 60 FPS, along with console-grade global illumination effects.

The chip has MediaTeks latest HyperEngine technologies such as MediaTek Adaptive Gaming Technology (MAGT) for a boost in power efficiency when enabled in popular game titles, helping to extend battery life and keep devices cool.

Additionally, the HyperEngines new Network Observation System (NOS) can improve Wi-Fi/Cellular dual-network concurrency and leverage precise network prediction technology. When enabled, MediaTek NOS offers up to 10% power savings and up to 25% cellular data savings, says the company.

ISP

The MediaTek retains the Imagiq 990 ISP offering 18-bit RAW processing and has a built-in AI Semantic Analysis Video Engine to support advanced AI videography features including 16 scene segmentation with real-time video capture to reduce noise, increase brightness, and enhance colors.

The MediaTeks MiraVision 990 has advanced AI depth engine technologies to enhance smartphone content.

Connectivity

The Dimensity 9300+ includes a 5G R16 modem designed with AI situational awareness and the modem supports 4CC-CA Sub-6GHz with up to 7Gbps downlink, same as the Dimensity 9300.

MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ specifications

1 x ARM Cortex-X4 cores up to 3.4GHz + 3 x ARM Cortex-X4 cores up to 2.85GHz + 4 x Cortex-A720 cores at up to 2.0GHz

18MB L3 + SLC cache: 29% larger than previous generation

Arm Immortalis-G720 MC12 GPU, 2X MSAA support, 2X Pixel blend throughput, 2X Texture throughput

MediaTek APU 790 (Generative AI), Up to 33 billion parameters, Exclusive hardware-accelerated memory compression technology, Support Dimensity AI LoRA Fusion 2.0 technology, Supports speculative decoding acceleration, performance improvement up to 10%, Support AI framework ExecuTorch

TSMCs third generation 4nm process

WQHD at 180Hz and 4K up to 120Hz

Up to 320MP camera, Imagiq 990

Secure Processor, HWRoT, Arm Memory Tagging Extension (MTE) Technology, CC EAL4+ Capable, FIPS 140-3, China DRM

Sub-6GHz (FR1), mmWave (FR2), 2G-5G multi-mode, 5G-CA, 4G-CA, 5G FDD / TDD, 4G FDD / TDD, TD-SCDMA, WDCDMA, EDGE, GSM

5G/4G Dual SIM Dual Active, SA & NSA modes; SA Option2, NSA Option3 / 3a / 3x, NR FR1 TDD+FDD, DSS, FR1 DL 4CC up to 300 MHz 44 MIMO, FR2 DL 4CC up to 400MHz, 256QAM FR1 UL 2CC 22 MIMO, 256QAM NR UL 2CC, R16 UL Enhancement, 256QAM VoNR / EPS fallback

GPS L1CA+L5+ L1C, BeiDou B1I+ B1C + B2a +B2b, Glonass L1OF, Galileo E1 + E5a +E5b, QZSS L1CA+ L5, NavIC L5

Wi-Fi 7 (a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) ready, 2T2R, Bluetooth 5.4

Supports LPDDR5T memory up to 9600Mbps,UFS 4.0 + MCQ

Availability

The first smartphones featuring the Dimensity 9300+ chipset will be available in the market starting this month.

vivo has confirmed that the X100s and X100s Pro which will be introduced on May 13th in China will be the first to use the chip.

iQOO Neo9S Pro will also use the chip. Based on rumours, the Neo9S Pro will retain almost similar specifications as the Neo9 Pro, and launch in China later this May. iQOO Pad2 Pro will also use the chip.
The three major private telecom companies in India  Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi)  have submitted their applications for the upcoming spectrum auction, reports Economic Times.

This auction, scheduled to commence on June 6, will offer 5G spectrum valued at Rs. 96,317.65 crore.

Application by Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea

According to officials cited by ET, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has received applications only from these three telecoms within the application deadline.

Notably, no new companies have applied this time around. In the previous auction of 2022, an entity from the Adani group emerged as a surprise bidder.

Spectrum Offered

The spectrum auction will encompass airwaves across various bands including 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz.

As per estimates by Jefferies, Airtel and Vodafone Idea need to renew airwaves valued at around Rs. 4,200 crore and Rs. 1,950 crore, respectively. On the contrary, Reliance Jio doesnt have any spectrum renewals due this year.

Industry Outlook

Industry experts anticipate a subdued response to the spectrum sale, as the top telcos in India already possess sufficient 5G airwaves. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are likely to engage in selective bidding, primarily to renew airwaves in specific regions.

Airtel needs renewal in J&K, Odisha, Bihar, UP (East), West Bengal, and Assam, while Vodafone Idea requires renewal in West Bengal and UP West.

Operational Details

The DoT allows the surrender of acquired spectrum after a minimum of 10 years. Additionally, bidders are not required to provide financial or performance bank guarantees.

The spectrum acquired through the auction wont be subject to spectrum usage charges (SUC) in alignment with telecom reforms from September 2021.

Upcoming Timeline

Ownership details of the applicants will be published by DoT on May 10. The deadline for withdrawal of applications is May 17, and the final list of bidders will be declared on May 20.

Successful bidders must deposit the amount within 10 calendar days of receiving the demand notice from DoT. The department will then issue a frequency assignment letter within 30 calendar days from the date of payment receipt.

Source
ASUS today introduced its ExpertBook B3 laptop series in India, focusing on durability and adaptability to enhance productivity and security. The laptops feature a 14-inch or 16-inch NanoEdge display with up to an 85% screen-to-body ratio, providing ample workspace.

They come with a 180 hinge design and offer optional IPS WQXGA Touchscreen with MPP2.0 stylus support, along with an optional ASUS Pen 2.0 stylus for touchscreen configurations. Additionally, they offer AI-powered noise cancellation and an optional Full-HD IR camera.

The B3604 model includes a full-sized numeric keypad for efficient data entry and a large trackpad for multi-finger gestures. Powered by up to 13th generation Intel Core processors and up to NVIDIA RTX 2050 dedicated graphics, with support for up to 64 GB of DDR5 RAM, it also has an expansion slot.

They come with a variety of ports, including Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and a built-in smart card reader, and have battery options of either 50Wh or 63Wh with fast-charging support via the bundled 65W/90W USB-C charger.

For audio, they have 2W stereo speakers, supporting Dirac audio, and have a built-in array microphone. The ExpertBook B3 series prioritizes security with features like Windows Hello facial recognition, a fingerprint sensor, smart card reader, and TPM 2.0 chip for authentication.

Additionally, it ensures physical security with a webcam cover and Kensington lock slot. Engineered for durability, it holds MIL-STD 810H certification, undergoing rigorous testing for hinge, lid, port, drop, and spill resistance, making it suitable for rugged mobility.

Quick specifications: ASUS ExpertBook B3 (B3404CVA/ CVF)

Quick specifications: ASUS ExpertBook B3 (B3604CVF)

The rest of the specifications remain the same as B3404CVA/ CVF

Pricing and availability

The ASUS ExpertBook B3 series is now available for business users in India starting May 07, 2024. For enquiries related to pricing, please contact your local ASUS representative for detailed information.

Speaking about the launch, Dinesh Sharma, Vice President of Commercial PC and Smartphone at ASUS India, said,
US-Israeli espionage cell dismantled in Yemen

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 5:09 PM

Yemen's security forces have dismantled a major espionage network operating for the US and Israeli intelligence services amid a campaign by the Arab country to defend the people of Palestine in their struggle against the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

Yemen's Saba News Agency said in a Monday report that the security services in the country, in cooperation with its defense ministry, had carried out an operation to arrest members of the spy ring known as Force 400.

It said Force 400 had been led by Ammar Affash, a man who has long been on Yemen's wanted list because of his efforts to recruit people to carry out sabotage operations for the US and the Israeli regime.

The group was mainly operating in areas in western coasts of Yemen where the country has based missile and drone capacities that have been used to attack shipping activities linked to the US, Britain and Israel.

A video of confessions of 18 members of the spy ring were released showing that they had been supplying information about Yemen's missile, drone, and ship launch sites to the US and Israeli intelligence services. The information has enabled attacks by US and British warplanes on Yemen, said the report by Saba.

The spies also relayed information about the increase in the number of fighters recruited by Yemen's ruling Ansarullah movement in recent months.

One of the spies said that he had sold the intelligence for only 300 Saudi Riyals ($80 USD).

Yemen started launching attacks on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in November, more than a month after Israel invaded Gaza.

The Yemeni attacks later expanded to cover US and British ships after the two countries launched airstrikes on Yemen to force it to stop its pro-Palestine campaign.

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Slovak and Spanish Defence Ministers Robert Kalinak and Margarita Robles Fernandez visit NATO Battlegroup troops at MTC Lest

Ministry of Defence of The Slovak Republic

03.05.2024

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the Slovak Republic Robert Kalinak and Minister of Defence of Spain Margarita Robles Fernandez visited the Military Training Centre (MTC) Lest on Thursday 2 May 2024. It is there that the Spanish Contingent is operationally deployed as part of the NATO Battlegroup in Slovakia. Spain will take over command of the NATO Multinational Battlegroup Slovakia (NATO MN BG SVK) from the Czech Republic as early as this July.

During their bilateral talks at MTC Lest, Mr Robert Kalinak thanked Ms Margarita Robles Fernandez for her country's vital contribution to this multinational task force. As such, ESP troops participate in joint exercises and play a part in deterring the realistic threat of a physical attack on Alliance territory. With this in mind, he expressed his appreciation for Spain's decision to assume command of NATO MN BG SVK as the Framework Nation (FN).

Speaking on this occasion, Robert Kalinak said: "The Spanish service personnel praise the hospitality of Slovakia as the Host Nation, our mutual cooperation, and the conditions and facilities for the soldiers stationed at the Training Centre Lest, which is a modern military training area of European format."

The Defence Minister further underpinned that Slovakia cannot rely on collective defence only, but, under Article 3 of the North Atlantic Treaty, it needs to ramp up its efforts to make substantial upgrades to the country's individual warfighting capabilities as the basis for collective capacity to resist any armed attack.

In this context, both Minister Kalinak and Minister Fernandez were interested in the coordination and synchronisation of all troops engaged in the defence of Slovakia. According to Mr Kalinak, ESP and SVK military personnel serving shoulder to shoulder with other Battlegroup soldiers confirmed their readiness to defend Alliance territory during Ex Strong Cohesion 2024 (STCO24) - the Battlegroup's NATO Combat Readiness Evaluation (CREVAL) exercise - which demonstrated the compatibility of their standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the conduct of defensive combat operations.

As the Defence Minister reminded us, the Spanish Contingent has been arriving in Slovakia in stages from the start of this year. Up to 780 Spanish service personnel along with combat and support equipment will have been deployed to Slovakia by July 2024.

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Hamas: No truce without a complete end to war

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sun / 5 May 2024 / 11:40

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has said it would not accept a truce deal that did not completely end the Israeli regime's nearly seven-month-long genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

Tehran-ISNA- The comments were made on Saturday by a senior official with the movement, who asked not to be named, AFP reported.

At least 34,654 people have died in Gaza since October 7, when the Israeli regime began the war in response to al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver's resistance groups.

The official said the group would "not agree under any circumstances" to a truce that did not explicitly include a complete end to the war, including the regime's withdrawal from Gaza.

He said the regime was trying to secure a deal that would enable the release of those who were taken captive during al-Aqsa Storm "without linking it to ending the aggression on Gaza."

The official, meanwhile, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "personally hindering" efforts to reach a truce due to "personal interests."

The comments echoed those made by Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas' Political Bureau, to the agency a day earlier.

Bardan had condemned Netanyahu for stonewalling a deal, saying the Israeli premier's insistence on carrying out a ground invasion against the southern Gaza city of Rafah was a key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at potential arrival at an agreement.

Around 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge in the city from the ravages of the war.

The Israeli official has said the regime would go ahead with invading the city "with or without" a truce.

End Item

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Meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir on the Sidelines of the 15th Islamic Summit in Banjul, The Gambia

Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Contact Group of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Jammu and Kashmir met on 5 May 2024 on the sidelines of the 15th Islamic Summit of the OIC in Banjul, The Gambia. The meeting reviewed the political and security environment in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). It also took stock of the grim human rights situation in the occupied territory.

Chaired by the Assistant Secretary General (Political Affairs) of the OIC and the Secretary General's Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir, Yousaf-Al-Dobeay, the meeting was attended by the member states of the Contact Group i.e. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Niger and Azerbaijan. A delegation of the True Representatives of the Kashmiri People, and the senior officials of the OIC-Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission were also in attendance.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, led the Pakistan delegation to the meeting. He briefed the Contact Group on India's ongoing efforts to transform Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their own land. He apprised the meeting that India was systematically denying the Kashmiri people their fundamental rights and freedoms. He added that the Indian authorities had created an environment of fear and intimidation in the IIOJK to crush dissent. He urged the international community to take cognizance of the Indian leaders' provocative statements and unwarranted claims about Azad Jammu and Kashmir, which constitute a serious threat to regional peace. He also stressed that India must release all the political prisoners, lift curbs on the outlawed political parties, revoke the illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 and the subsequent steps aimed at demographic change and political engineering, and implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

The participating delegations from different member states emphasized the importance of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute on the OIC's agenda, and expressed support for the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for realization of their inalienable right to self-determination in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. They called for an early and peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.



Islamabad

05 May 2024

73/2024

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405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

By Cameron Porter, 405th AFSB Public Affairs Officer May 6, 2024

LIBAVA, Czechia -- Less than 24 hours after touching down in Czechia via a commercial airline flight from the U.S., West Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers - some running on just a couple of hours of sleep - fell in on Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 at the Libava Training Area in Czechia at the start of DEFENDER 24.

A combined 405th Army Field Support Brigade team made up of Soldiers and Army civilians from Army Field Support Battalion-Africa from Livorno, Italy, and contractors from the Coleman APS-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany - who worked for days setting the staging grid at an Equipment Configuration and Hand-Off Area - greeted the National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, and provided them with a safety briefing. Immediately following the briefing, together, they began the work.

In less than 60 hours, the 1st Squadron, 150th Cav. Regt., and the 405th AFSB team completed all the joint technical inspections and preventative maintenance checks and services on all of the APS-2, and the National Guard Soldiers signed for the cavalry regiment APS-2 set - over 400 major end items - such as M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, M113 Armored Personnel Carriers and a variety of rolling stock, to include Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, Light Medium Tactical Vehicles, fuelers, wreckers and more.

Sgt. 1st Class Chad Garrick, a medic and the readiness noncommissioned officer for 1st Squadron, 150th Cav. Regt., said the three dozen National Guard Soldiers who arrived first to Czechia from West Virginia to receive the APS-2 equipment were part of the squadron's advance party, and right behind them over 400 more Soldiers were on their way.

"We got here and hit the ground running, some of us with less than two hours of sleep," Garrick said. "I was impressed. I've been on several deployments where it takes forever to receive your equipment. Here, it was already setup and waiting for us."

"To have the vehicles already here, it helps us out a lot during a rapid deployment like this one for DEFENDER 24," said Garrick. "And when we had any questions or issues, they were right on top of things and ready to help. It makes things a whole lot faster and better."

"I'm very proud of the team, not only our military but also the contracted workforce," said Lt. Col. Alexander Amato, the commander of AFSBn-Africa. "In addition to maintaining APS-2 stocks in Italy, exercises like DEFENDER 24 give us the opportunity to exercise our processes, systems and people to be able to go wherever the need is to support U.S. Army Europe and Africa and NATO and to help ensure deterrence throughout Europe."

Army Maj. Duane Dumlao, the AFSBn-Africa executive officer, was the Equipment Configuration and Hand-Off Area, or ECHA, officer in charge at the Libava Training Area. Overall, he was responsible for issuing the APS-2 cavalry regiment equipment set to the National Guard Soldiers. He said it took a lot of coordination, communication and hard work to get to the point where they were 100 percent ready to receive the gaining tactical unit and conduct the issue.

"The overall push and movement from Coleman worksite in Germany to the Libava Training Area in Czechia was smooth. The equipment arrived on time, according to our planned timeline, and there's been no issues at the ECHA site," Dumlao said. "The host nation has been great. Our counterparts from the Czech army executed everything we submitted in our statement of requirements in order for us to set up the ECHA operations, to include 24-hour armed security."

The Czech army even provided a secure perimeter, to include triple-strand concertina wire around the entire ECHA site and a secured entryway, which was something that wasn't included in the statement of requirements, Dumlao said.



405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

1 / 7 Show Caption + The combined 405th Army Field Support Brigade team made up of Soldiers and Army civilians from Army Field Support Battalion-Africa from Livorno, Italy, and contractors from the Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, as well as West Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, pose for a photo before conducting a safety briefing May 2 at an APS-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

2 / 7 Show Caption + A combined 405th Army Field Support Brigade team made up of Soldiers and Army civilians from Army Field Support Battalion-Africa from Livorno, Italy, and contractors from the Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, as well as West Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, conduct a safety briefing May 2 at an APS-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

3 / 7 Show Caption + West Virginia National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, and contractors from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade's Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, conduct a joint inventory of APS-2 cavalry regiment equipment set at an APS-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 2.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May.

DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

4 / 7 Show Caption + Contractors from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade's Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, prepare an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle for action at an APS-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

5 / 7 Show Caption + A line of Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 rolling stock stands at the ready with individual pre-packaged basic issue item containers placed in front of each vehicle at an APS-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

6 / 7 Show Caption + A West Virginia National Guard Soldier from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, conducts preventative maintenance checks and services on an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle at an Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

7 / 7 Show Caption + Two contractors from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade's Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, prepare an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle for action at an APS-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

LIBAVA, Czechia - Less than 24 hours after touching down in Czechia via a commercial airline flight from the U.S., West Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers - some running on just a couple of hours of sleep - fell in on Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 at the Libava Training Area in Czechia at the start of DEFENDER 24.

A combined 405th Army Field Support Brigade team made up of Soldiers and Army civilians from Army Field Support Battalion-Africa from Livorno, Italy, and contractors from the Coleman APS-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany - who worked for days setting the staging grid at an Equipment Configuration and Hand-Off Area - greeted the National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, and provided them with a safety briefing. Immediately following the briefing, together, they began the work.

In less than 60 hours, the 1st Squadron, 150th Cav. Regt., and the 405th AFSB team completed all the joint technical inspections and preventative maintenance checks and services on all of the APS-2, and the National Guard Soldiers signed for the cavalry regiment APS-2 set - over 400 major end items - such as M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, M113 Armored Personnel Carriers and a variety of rolling stock, to include Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, Light Medium Tactical Vehicles, fuelers, wreckers and more.

Sgt. 1st Class Chad Garrick, a medic and the readiness noncommissioned officer for 1st Squadron, 150th Cav. Regt., said the three dozen National Guard Soldiers who arrived first to Czechia from West Virginia to receive the APS-2 equipment were part of the squadron's advance party, and right behind them over 400 more Soldiers were on their way.

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

1 / 7 Show Caption + A West Virginia National Guard Soldier from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, and a contractor from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade's Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, conduct preventative maintenance checks and services on an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle at an APS-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

2 / 7 Show Caption + National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, and contractors from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade's Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, conduct a joint inventory of APS-2 cavalry regiment equipment set at APS-2 an Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

3 / 7 Show Caption + West Virginia National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, conduct preventative maintenance checks and services on M113 Armored Personnel Carriers at an Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

4 / 7 Show Caption + A line of Joint Light Tactical Vehicles stand at the ready an Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

5 / 7 Show Caption + West Virginia National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, conduct preventative maintenance checks and services on Coleman M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles at an Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May.

DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

6 / 7 Show Caption + National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, and contractors from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade's Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, conduct a joint inventory of APS-2 cavalry regiment equipment set at APS-2 an Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

7 / 7 Show Caption + West Virginia National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, conduct inventories and preventative maintenance checks and services on M113 Armored Personnel Carriers at an Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May.

DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

"We got here and hit the ground running, some of us with less than two hours of sleep," Garrick said. "I was impressed. I've been on several deployments where it takes forever to receive your equipment. Here, it was already setup and waiting for us."

"To have the vehicles already here, it helps us out a lot during a rapid deployment like this one for DEFENDER 24," said Garrick. "And when we had any questions or issues, they were right on top of things and ready to help. It makes things a whole lot faster and better."

"I'm very proud of the team, not only our military but also the contracted workforce," said Lt. Col. Alexander Amato, the commander of AFSBn-Africa. "In addition to maintaining APS-2 stocks in Italy, exercises like DEFENDER 24 give us the opportunity to exercise our processes, systems and people to be able to go wherever the need is to support U.S. Army Europe and Africa and NATO and to help ensure deterrence throughout Europe."

Army Maj. Duane Dumlao, the AFSBn-Africa executive officer, was the Equipment Configuration and Hand-Off Area, or ECHA, officer in charge at the Libava Training Area. Overall, he was responsible for issuing the APS-2 cavalry regiment equipment set to the National Guard Soldiers. He said it took a lot of coordination, communication and hard work to get to the point where they were 100 percent ready to receive the gaining tactical unit and conduct the issue.

"The overall push and movement from Coleman worksite in Germany to the Libava Training Area in Czechia was smooth. The equipment arrived on time, according to our planned timeline, and there's been no issues at the ECHA site," Dumlao said. "The host nation has been great. Our counterparts from the Czech army executed everything we submitted in our statement of requirements in order for us to set up the ECHA operations, to include 24-hour armed security."

The Czech army even provided a secure perimeter, to include triple-strand concertina wire around the entire ECHA site and a secured entryway, which was something that wasn't included in the statement of requirements, Dumlao said.

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

1 / 6 Show Caption + Two contractors from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade's Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, prepare an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle for action at an APS-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May.

DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

2 / 6 Show Caption + Contractors from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade's Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, prepare MK19 Grenade Laucher mounts and ammunition carriers for M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles at an APS-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May.

DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

3 / 6 Show Caption + Two West Virginia National Guard Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, conduct preventative maintenance checks and services on an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle at an Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response.

DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May. DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

4 / 6 Show Caption + Two contractors from the 405th Army Field Support Brigade's Coleman Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Mannheim, Germany, prepare an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle for action at an APS-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May.

DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

5 / 6 Show Caption + A National Guard Soldier from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, inspects an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle at an Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 2.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May.

DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

405th AFSB completes issue of APS-2 set to National Guard cavalry unit at DEFENDER 24

6 / 6 Show Caption + A West Virginia National Guard Soldier from the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, conducts preventative maintenance checks and services on an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle at an Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 Equipment Configuration and Hand-off Area at the Libava Training Area in Libava, Czechia, at the start of DEFENDER 24, May 3.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May.

DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (Photo Credit: Cameron Porter) VIEW ORIGINAL

"It's a good feeling to know that we're making a difference and helping the gaining tactical unit meet it's goals and move forward to execute their battle tactical exercise requirements during DEFENDER 24," said Dumlao.

"This is the second year we've been supporting DEFENDER at a forward location with APS-2 command and control assets, during my command," said Amato. "Having the 405th AFSB and the subordinate battalions take part in DEFENDER is - in my opinion - extremely important strategically and operationally because it clearly demonstrates how we tie into and support U.S. Army Europe and Africa."

The cavalry equipment set was transported from the Coleman APS-2 worksite in Mannheim using commercial line-haul transporter assets. The contracted workforce at Coleman, approximately 50 personnel, traveled from there to Libava to help set the staging grid for DEFENDER 24 and assist with the issue of equipment at the ECHA site while command and control of the site was the responsibility of AFSBn-Africa

The 405th AFSB's APS-2 program provides turn-key power projection packages ready to deploy at a moment's notice while helping to reduce the amount of equipment needed from the deploying forces' home stations. APS-2 sites help reduce deployment timelines, improve deterrence capabilities and provide additional combat power for contingency operations. APS-2 equipment may also be drawn for use in training and exercises, like DEFENDER 24.

DEFENDER is the Dynamic Employment of Forces to Europe for NATO Deterrence and Enhanced Readiness, and is a U.S. European Command scheduled, U.S. Army Europe and Africa conducted exercise that consists of Saber Strike, Immediate Response, and Swift Response. DEFENDER 24 is linked to NATO's Steadfast Defender exercise, and DoD's Large Scale Global Exercise, taking place from 28 March to 31 May.

DEFENDER 24 is the largest U.S. Army exercise in Europe and includes more than 17,000 U.S. and 23,000 multinational service members from more than 20 Allied and partner nations, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

For more information on DEFENDER 24, go HERE.

The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The brigade and provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. Forces throughout Europe and Africa - providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging the U.S. Army Materiel Command's materiel enterprise to support joint forces.

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Commander Allied Air Command General James B. Hecker visited the Czech Republic

Ministry of Defence & Armed Forces of the Czech Republic

6.5.2024

Author: by Filip Tesar

Commander of the Allied Air Command (AIRCOM) General James B. Hecker visited the Czech Republic on April 29-30th. The Czech Air Force Commander Major General Petr Cepelka accompanied him during his visit of the 21st Tactical Air Force Base Caslav on Monday. On Tuesday, General Hecker had a meeting with the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces Lieutenant General Karel Rehka to discuss modernisation projects, particularly the acquisition of the 5th generation fighter F-35, the Czech Armed Forces' engagement in the collective defence, and the strengthening of air defence posture.

At its last year's Summit in Vilnius, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation agreed on new tasks in the field of the collective defence which, according to General Rehka, the Czech Armed Forces take very seriously. He says the tasking links to the assignments arising from the new national Security Strategy and Defence Strategy. General Rehka and General Hecker discussed the use of airpower in potential conflicts but also the integrated air defence and, of course, the lessons learnt from the war in Ukraine. The analyses of the situation in Ukraine as well as the recent Iranian attack on Israel resounded in the discussions during both days. "Airpower and air defence will obviously play a very important role in any potential armed conflict in the future," General Rehka summed up. He pointed out that the Czech Republic moves tangibly ahead in this field, including by procuring the SPYDER system, 3D radars, passive surveillance systems, and, as a matter of course, the F-35 fighters. General Hecker acknowledged this year's increase of the Czech Republic's defence expenditure to 2% GDP and underscored the recently approved package of American assistance for military and economic aid to Ukraine and countries in the region valued at US$ 61 billion.

According to General Hecker, the biggest surprise of the war in Ukraine for many was the fact that the war did not end in 14 days due to Russian's failure to achieve air superiority. This was accomplished by the Ukrainian integrated air and missile defence system. After shooting down more than a hundred Russian planes, Russia changed its tactics and started to use long-range missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and recently also ballistic missiles from North Korea. "This shows what kind of war is that without air superiority. It's almost like the trench warfare during World War II," GEN Hecker said. "This proves how important for NATO is the ability to achieve air superiority at the outset." Over the past decades, the NATO airpower has provided air support in conditions in which it had outright air superiority. "In the future, we might need to win it first," General Hecker remarked and added that the key importance in this endeavour will rest in the F-35 aircraft. By the end of this decade, NATO nations will operate as many as six hundred F-35s. General Hecker opined the aircraft with the support of other components should overcome the Russian air defence. That is why it is essential to strengthen the Alliance's capabilities in multi-domain operations. Air, land, space, and cyber domains are interdependent and the joint concurrent operation in all domains synergises much better outcomes. This will also require appropriately demanding training and a network of bases able to join the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) in which the air power is moved during the opponent's decision-making cycle. Therefore, mutual interoperability is vital in this process. According to General Hecker, the Caslav Air Force Base, which is being prepared for the F-35 aircraft, is very promising.

Lastly, General Hecker and General Rehka emphasised the importance to continue the support of Ukraine. Lieutenant General Rehka pointed out that while NATO supports Ukraine with supplies of necessary weapon systems, Ukraine itself is concurrently developing own systems. In some segments of air defence, such as the use of mobile firing units or acoustic sensors, it is NATO which learns from Ukraine.

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May 6, 2024

Transcript

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder Holds an Off-Camera, On-the-Record Press Briefing

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder

MAJOR GENERAL PAT RYDER: As you know, Secretary Austin returned from Hawaii early Saturday morning after a very productive trip. Now, while he was in Hawaii, he had the chance to meet with his counterparts from Australia and the Philippines for several bilateral and multilateral discussions which were all intended to deepen our security cooperation and strengthen alliances.

He also presided over the INDOPACOM Change of Command on Friday. He had the opportunity on the margins of the ceremony to meet the leaders from the Freely Associated States, to include the president of the Republic of Palau, president of the Federated States of Micronesia and the foreign minister of the Republic of Marshall Islands, and he also had the chance to meet with service members stationed in Hawaii and thank them and their families for their service and sacrifice in defense of our nation.

Separately, Secretary Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart yesterday to discuss the ongoing hostage negotiations, humanitarian assistance efforts in Rafah, per the readout that we issued after the call yesterday. The secretary also expressed his condolences for the IDF soldiers that were killed and wounded by a rocket and mortar attack launched by Hamas out of Rafah. During the call, the secretary reaffirmed his commitment to the unconditional return of all hostages and stressed the need for any potential Israeli military operation in Rafah to include a credible plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians and maintain the flow of humanitarian aid. Secretary Austin also reiterated the United States' commitment to supporting Israel's defense.

Also, earlier today, Deputy Secretary of Defense Hicks announced some of the capabilities and one of the systems selected for accelerated fielding as part of the first tranche of the Replicator Initiative, which as you know, is focused on the fielding of all-domain attritable autonomous systems, and that release was posted to defense.gov, so I'd invite you to take a look.

And then finally, looking ahead to this week, Secretary Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Brown are slated to testify to the HACD on Wednesday, that's 8 May, to discuss --

REPORTER: SACD.

GEN. RYDER: What's that?

REPORTER: The SACD.

GEN. RYDER: SACD. Did I say HACD?

REPORTER: Yes.

GEN. RYDER: SACD -- on Wednesday to discuss the FY25 DOD Budget Request, and on Friday, Secretary Austin will deliver the commencement address at South Carolina State University in South Carolina. We'll have more details to provide about that trip later in the week.

And with that, happy to take your questions. Ma'am?

Q: Good morning. Can you confirm that Israel has started to move civilians from Rafah to humanitarian camps? Have you -- what -- based on what you've been able to see or any other way to confirm?

GEN. RYDER: So as I'm sure you can appreciate, I'm not going to do an operational update for Israel, so I'd refer you to them to talk about their operations. We do know that they have notified some of the people in Rafah to evacuate, so of course, we're continuing to monitor that. We've been very clear publicly and privately about what I highlighted in the readout there, that we still want to ensure that civilian safety and humanitarian assistance are taken into account as it relates to any potential operations in Rafah, and we'll continue to emphasize that to our Israeli partners.

Q: Does that have any impact on delivering humanitarian aid to the south?

GEN. RYDER: As of right now, you know, we're going to continue to be focused on getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza, whether it's via air or the maritime corridor, and of course, you know, also continuing to work to try to increase the flow via land. So can't predict the future, but that will continue to be a significant emphasis.

Phil?

Q: Just two quick questions. One is, over the weekend, there was a report saying that the U.S. had halted the shipment of certain ammunition to -- or certain delivery of ammunition to Israel. Is that correct? Has there been any halt in any deliveries of -- of weapons? And then secondly on -- on Rafah, you know, the secretary had said on Thursday that he wanted to see the humanitarian needs sequenced ahead of an operation. Does he still believe that that's necessary or possible?

GEN. RYDER: Yeah, so on Rafah, I mean, you're right. Secretary Austin and others have been clear that, you know, in any type of operation that goes after Hamas that's in Rafah, sequencing is important, and the point there is that given the large number of civilians and ensuring that those civilians can be evacuated from the battle space so as to mitigate potential civilian casualties or suffering, you know, will continue to be an important factor. You've seen some of the public messaging by the Israelis indicating that they're taking that into account; again, something that we're continuing to monitor.

As it relates to security assistance, I've seen those press reports, Phil. I don't have anything to provide. I mean, as you know, broadly speaking, we've provided a significant amount of security assistance to Israel in support of its defense, but I don't have anything on any particular individual cases or security assistance based on those reports.

Natasha?

Q: Thanks, Pat. So on Wednesday, the administration's assessment of whether Israel has been abiding by international humanitarian law in its use of U.S. weapons, NSM 20, is due, and I'm just wondering if the department has any -- has -- has provided any input on that or seen an early kind of assessment of that. And also, if we can get an update on the pier, because last week it was moved to the Port of Ashdod. So is it back in the Eastern Med, or --

GEN. RYDER: Yeah, so on NSM 20, National Security Memorandum 20, I obviously don't want to get ahead of that process. That's a State Department-led process, so you know, I'd defer you to them. When and if we have something to provide on that, we'll be sure to let you know.

As it relates to JLOTS, you saw CENTCOM put out a release last week that they had moved the construction of the pier temporarily to Ashdod due to the sea states, or the weather conditions. As I understand it, they're continuing to construct the pier in the vicinity of Ashdod. And so you know, all indications are that we're continuing to move forward with the construction and the implementation of JLOTS, understanding that variables like the weather can -- and the security situation can always play a factor. So we'll keep you posted, but right now, again, all indications are that they'll continue to move forward with that.

Q: Can I have just a quick follow-up on NSM 20? Has the department provided input for that assessment? Can you say --

GEN. RYDER: I don't have anything to provide on that right now. Thanks.

Q: So Pat, you don't have a specific date on when the pier would -- all of the -- the construction would be done? Is that correct?

GEN. RYDER: I'm not going to give a specific date just because of the variables I highlighted other than to say, you know, I would anticipate in the relatively near future.

Q: Okay. And then to follow up on a question earlier about -- so Austin said in the -- well, you said in the readout of the call yesterday that he needs to see this credible plan. So can we assume that so far, the U.S. has not seen a credible plan to help civilians in Rafah?

GEN. RYDER: Yeah, they -- you know, as he's highlighted, we've seen kind of the concepts, but nothing detailed at this point.

Carla, then I'll go to Laura.

Q: Thanks, Pat. Is the U.S. pulling its forces out of Syria?

GEN. RYDER: No.

Q: And there's no plan to potentially be pulling them out in the coming weeks?

GEN. RYDER: I'm not tracking any force posture changes at this point in time.

Laura?

Q: Are there any other delays to JLIT -- JLOTS aside from the weather, particularly given the fact that somehow Israel (inaudible) from Hamas rocket fire and what are the (inaudible) these latest rounds?

GEN. RYDER: Again, I'm not tracking any specific delays with the caveat that, you know, again, senior leaders managing this project can always make the call whether or not to speed things up or slow things down based on conditions.

And so, we're obviously going to pay attention to the safety of the soldiers that are constructing this, whether it be weather or security situations. But as I said, right now, all indications are that we're moving forward, but if anything changes, certainly, we'll let you know.

Thanks. Will?

Q: Russia's announced tactical nuclear exercises near Ukraine. I was wondering if DOD's assessment of this is it just posturing? Is it something more? And has this led to any changes on the U.S. side?

GEN. RYDER: Yes, so I've seen those comments in the press. And I would say again, this is an example of the kind of irresponsible rhetoric that we've seen from Russia in the past. It's completely inappropriate, given the current security situation. And, you know, we've not seen any change in their strategic force posture. Obviously, we'll continue to monitor. But it's just, yes, irresponsible rhetoric.

Q: Thank you, General. Back to Rafah, Secretary Austin said last week that many things must happen before any operation in Rafah to protect civilians. Is Secretary Austin, today, confident that Israelis are taking these things into consideration, to protect civilians? And to -- the way that you described that you didn't see the plan, but how confident you are that Israel is really in -- on track or like can really protect these civilians in Rafah?

GEN. RYDER: Yes, well, I mean, it's one of those things that we're going to have seen play out. But again, I think those concerns are still there. That there needs to be a credible plan to take into account how you're going to deal with the hundreds of thousands of civilians, displaced civilians, you know, over a million that are in Rafah. And so, that is going to continue to be very important in our conversations with our Israeli partners and something that we're going to continue to expect to see if there are operations in Rafah.

Q: Representative Calvert on the House Arms Services Committee has said the U.S. plans to establish a sovereign rule. And I was just seeing, is there any DOD component to this? Any forward operating base on the lunar surface?

GEN. RYDER: You know, it's funny you mentioned that, Jeff, because I was just playing Moon Patrol over the weekend, one of my favorite 1980s video games. But all joking aside, I'm not tracking at this point, especially from the DOD standpoint, any plans to establish a lunar facility. As you know, NASA, on the research and space exploration side may have more on that front. But the DOD are focused on the issues at hand right now here on the Earth. So, thanks.

Q: Got it.

Q: Back on Earth here and Moscow, the (inaudible) at the May Day parade, displayed an M1 tank and a Bradley tank -- a Bradley fighting vehicle that were captured in Ukraine. If you know, is there a sense at DOD that there's some technology's been compromised by their capture and dismantlement?

GEN. RYDER: Tony, I don't have anything along those lines to pass along. You know, certainly, that's something that we always take into account whenever we're providing capabilities to foreign partners. But I don't have any intelligence or specifics.

Q: Can you check? Because I guarantee that Austin's going to be asked at that at the -- Wednesday by some senator.

GEN. RYDER: Yes, again, I'm not -- I'm not tracking any concerns at this point, nor do I have anything to pass along.

Q: Nor what?

GEN. RYDER: Do I have anything to pass along in that --

Q: Okay, thanks.

GEN. RYDER: Thanks.

Q: Just to follow up on two things, not to bang on about this, but I think the secretary said last Thursday, mentioned that he was not so much concerned about the lack of a plan with the Israelis for Rafah, but the lack of implementation of that plan. So, I take it from your comments a moment ago, that they're not moving fast enough still (inaudible)?

GEN. RYDER: Well, look, you just have to look at the situation on the ground in Rafah, right? As I've highlighted, as the secretary and many others have highlighted, there's over a million displaced people in Rafah. And so, any operation that's there, I think we've been very clear, as I mentioned, that we want to understand how the Israelis would evacuate the civilian population, again, taking civilian safety into account. And so, that has not changed and that won't change.

Q: What about JLOTS? You've mentioned, I think, in the past that, you know, there's a number of pieces of this checklist that have to be checked off before JLOTS is properly set up and put into place. Is distribution squared away? Is that ready to go or is that one of the pieces that's still kind of in the works?

GEN. RYDER: Yes, I mean, again, as I understand it, working with World Food Program, USAID, the short answer is yes, you know. So, I think -- what you will see initially, as JLOTS implements, you know -- is implemented, once it goes operational, you will see some initial distributions as we sort of go on the initial operating capability there, and then you'll start to see that ramp up as it's all implemented. So, it's not going to be like on day one, two million meals disturbed. It's going to ramp up to work the system and make sure it's all operating smoothly. So, thanks.

Missy?

Q: Yes, Pat, just to ask a variation of the questions about the evacuation plan or the humanitarian plan. So like, is it accurate to say that the piece that you've seen a sort of potential plan or conceptual plan but not a detailed plan of the evacuation/humanitarian plan that the Israelis have. So, is it accurate to say that it still is the case that DOD believes it's not -- inadequate or planned or what gives the U.S. confidence, because that's what people were saying up till late last week and I assume --

GEN. RYDER: Yes. No, I think there's still concerns, in terms of the, you know, again, given the number of people there and how you're going to take into account the safety and well-being of the million plus people that are in Rafah as any operation commences.

Again, we agree with our Israeli partners on the importance of defeating Hamas and preventing them from being able to conduct attacks like they've done in the past. But we want to see that operation done in a way that, again, takes into account civilians, takes into account how you're going to evacuate them off the battlefield. And so, those conversations will continue.

Q: And you haven't seen a plan that gives you confidence that that will occur?

GEN. RYDER: We have not seen a detailed plan that indicates how that would be taken into account to a scale necessary as it relates to, again, the number of displaced persons.

I can take a few more. Sir?

Q: Have the Israelis given assurance to the U.S. that none of the personnel involved in securing JLOTS would be impacted by any invasion of Rafah?

GEN. RYDER: I'm not going to get into the specifics of Israeli forces or speak for them. But again, we're confident that Israel will provide security for the forces that are -- and the personnel that are supporting this effort. And so, that's both on land and at sea, in addition to our own security capabilities that we're going to have supporting this operation.

Q: But the Israelis are still going to have to anchor that thing, right?

GEN. RYDER: The Israelis will be providing support on the ground, so I mean, again, we -- you know, CENTCOM has planned this, rehearsed it, working with the Israelis and others. And so again, right now are things moving forward. If anything changes, you know, obviously, I'll let you know.

Okay, we'll do three more. Phil, and then Natasha.

Q: Did the secretary, in his call with Minister Gallant, call for any ultimatums or say what would happen if the Israelis went ahead with a Rafah operation without a -- a credible plan to protect civilians?

GEN. RYDER: I'm not going to go beyond what was in the readout that we provided. Again, they did discuss Rafah, and as I highlighted in the readout, the secretary emphasized and reaffirmed the need for a credible plan to take civilian safety and evacuations into account.

Natasha?

Q: I know that you -- Phil and -- and you reported last week that the Russians are now in the same base as Americans in Niger. Can you talk a little bit about how close they are, whether they've had any interactions and whether there are concerns about them being on such a small base together?

GEN. RYDER: Yeah. So I don't have a breakdown of, you know, exact distance, but they're not right next to each other by any stretch. They're on the same compound, but as I understand it, pretty big compound, so you know, not co-located in near proximity. They -- as Secretary Austin highlighted last week, they don't have access to our personnel, our equipment, any of our resources. No indication that it poses a force protection concern. And so, you know, they're doing their thing. We're focused on ours.

Q: No interactions?

GEN. RYDER: No interaction to my knowledge.

Yeah?

Q: I was going to ask on Niger, do you have an update on how many troops are there? And have any U.S. troops have left (inaudible)?

GEN. RYDER: Still approximately 1,100 and still working with the Nigeriens in terms of, you know, what that orderly withdrawal will look like. So don't have any updates beyond what we provided previously, but we'll keep you posted.

Last question. Yes, ma'am?

Q: Has the U.S. changed its policy with regard to conditioning aid to Israel?

GEN. RYDER: I'm not aware of any changes in policies at this time.

Okay, all right, thanks very much, everybody. Have a great day.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/1927792/

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May 6, 2024

By Joseph Clark, DOD News

DOD Continues Work on Temporary Pier for Gaza After High Seas Force Move

The Defense Department is moving forward with plans to assemble a temporary pier for delivery of humanitarian aid despite relocating the construction site due to weather conditions, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said today.

U.S. Central Command announced on Friday that construction of the pier  which is being carried out as part of a U.S. military Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, mission  had been moved to the Israeli Port of Ashdod, about 18 miles northeast of the Gazan border.

"All indications are that we're continuing to move forward with the construction and the implementation of JLOTS, understanding that variables like the weather and the security situation can always play a factor," Ryder said today.

He said the units assigned to carry out the mission have continued constructing the pier in the vicinity of the Port of Ashdod.

Construction of the pier began late last month, marking a significant milestone following President Joe Biden's State of the Union address where he called for the military to conduct the emergency operation.

Soldiers from the Army's 7th Transportation Brigade at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, and sailors from Naval Beach Group 1 at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, California, were tapped to deploy the JLOTS capability.

Delivering the capability involves the complex choreography of logistics support and landing crafts that carry the equipment used to construct the approximately 1,800-foot causeway comprising modular sections linked together, which is known as a Trident pier.

The units are also constructing a roll-on, roll-off discharge facility that is 72 feet wide by 270 feet long. The discharge facility will remain about 3 miles off Gaza's shore and enable cargo ships to offload aid shipments at sea prior to being transported to shore.

About 1,000 soldiers and sailors are involved in the operation.

Once completed, it will initially facilitate the delivery of an estimated 90 truckloads of international aid into Gaza a day and scale to up to 150 truckloads a day once fully operational.

Pentagon officials said that construction was just over 50% complete as of last week.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Wednesday the floating pier has been fully constructed and set up and construction on the causeway is in progress.

U.S. forces relocated the project to the Port of Ashdod on Thursday due to forecasted high winds and high sea swells, Centcom said on Friday.

Centcom units have continued to supply humanitarian assistance via airdrops into Gaza, as U.S. forces make progress on establishing the aid corridor from the sea.

On Sunday, two U.S. C-130 Hercules aircraft dropped more than 25,000 meals ready to eat into Northern Gaza as part of a sustained effort to deliver life-saving aid.

To date, the U.S. has delivered more than 1,170 tons of humanitarian assistance to civilians in need.

"The DOD humanitarian airdrops contribute to ongoing U.S. and partner-nation government efforts to alleviate human suffering," Centcom officials said in a release. "These airdrops are part of a sustained effort, and we continue to plan follow-on aerial deliveries."

Ryder emphasized today that the safety of U.S. service members remains the top priority.

"Senior leaders managing this project can always make the call whether or not to speed things up or slow things down based on conditions," he said. "And so, we're always going to pay attention to the safety of the soldiers that are constructing this  whether it be weather or [the] security situation. But as I said, all indications are that we're moving forward."

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Malaysia - Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods

Media/Public Contact: pm-cpa@state.gov

Transmittal No: 24-30

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2024 -- The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Malaysia of Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods and related equipment for an estimated cost of $80 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.

The Government of Malaysia has requested to buy ten (10) AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods. Also included are technical data and publications; personnel training; software and training equipment; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated total cost is $80 million.

This proposed sale will support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a key partner that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific region.

The proposed sale will improve Malaysia's capability to meet current and future threats by modernizing its current F/A-18D platform with a common targeting pod. This proposed sale will also mitigate future obsolescence concerns and allow the Royal Malaysian Air Force to meet future operational requirements. Malaysia will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.

The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Corporation, located in Orlando, FL, and The Boeing Company, located in St. Louis, MO. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

Implementation of this proposed sale will not require the assignment of any additional U.S. Government or contractor representatives to Malaysia.

There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.

The description and dollar value are for the highest estimated quantity and dollar value based on initial requirements. Actual dollar value will be lower depending on final requirements, budget authority, and signed sales agreement(s), if and when concluded.

All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department's Bureau of Political Military-Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov.

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Astral Knight 24 to exercise U.S. EUCOM's Integrated Air and Missile Defense

A multi-national military exercise, called Astral Knight 2024, kicked off Monday, in Europe. It is focused on exercising Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) and the incremental development of theater-wide security capabilities.

By Capt. Jose Davis , U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany May 06, 2024

A multi-national military exercise, called Astral Knight 2024, kicked off Monday, in Europe. It is focused on exercising Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) and the incremental development of theater-wide security capabilities.

The exercise, slated to run through May 18, is U.S. European Command's capstone IAMD exercise and falls under the Department of Defense's broader exercise program called Large Scale Global Exercise 2024.

AK24 is scheduled to host nearly 5,000 Allied personnel from six participating Allied nations and more than 50 aircraft. Four Allied nations will provide aircraft for the exercise: Lithuania, Poland, the U.K. and the U.S. Other participating nations include Denmark and Greece, which will observe elements of the exercise, advancing Allied interoperability throughout the Baltic regions.

"Astral Knight demonstrates the collective defense capabilities of NATO Allies and partners across Europe," said Gen. James Hecker, U.S. Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa and NATO Allied Air Command commander. "By fostering early collaboration and integration in air and missile defense efforts among USAFE-AFAFRICA and NATO nations, we enhance our ability to deter and respond effectively to shared threats."

On top of safeguarding NATO sovereignty, IAMD involves a coordinated approach to protect Allied military forces and critical assets from air and missile attacks, ensuring they can operate freely, without disruption and impediment from enemy air and missile strikes. Recent conflicts, such as those in Ukraine and Israel, have highlighted the importance of quickly detecting and responding to aerial threats, such as missiles or drones.

IAMD is likened to a highly effective immune system in the human body. Just as the body's immune system detects, identifies, and neutralizes foreign invaders, such as viruses and bacteria, IAMD leverages technology to detect, track, and destroy incoming airborne threats such as missiles and drones.

USAFE-AFAFRICA has enhanced IAMD systems by incorporating offensive and defensive measures across multiple components to create a comprehensive Allied force, capable of preventing an enemy from successfully employing offensive air and missile weapons to attack NATO sovereignty.

USAFE-AFAFRICA adopts a multi-layered, multi-domain defense design to effectively counter various threats. This is done both passively -- with measures including camouflage, concealment, and deception -- and actively, by integrating multiple air and missile kinetic and non-kinetic defense systems, such as defensive counter air, Patriot, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, Aegis, and European-based assets.

The final layer of IAMD is Air Base Air Defense (ABAD), which recognizes the importance of protecting Allied bases from attacks. The defense of main operating bases, such as Ramstein Air Base, requires officials to consider and be prepared to defend against evolving capabilities including the proliferation of cruise missiles and drones. ABAD prioritizes the need to continually improve how NATO Allies defend their main operating bases against today's threats.

"Recent events show our most probable threats today and in the foreseeable future could target our main operating bases, making IAMD and ABAD that much more important," said James Shaw, USAFE-AFAFRICA's Integrated Air and Missile Defense deputy division chief. "It's critical to recognize 360-degree threats reach from beyond the borders all the way back to our air bases, which are key to generating combat power for the NATO Alliance and our nation."

If a main operating base is likened to a castle, then ABAD signifies the defending walls and fortifications surrounding the castle. Before ABAD, these walls didn't always exist. Now, ABAD provides local commanders the ability to defend their bases against these direct aerial threats.

ABAD is ultimately about self-defense.

During the USAFE-AFAFRICA-led IAMD exercise, participating nations will focus on enhancing movement, maneuverability, and integration between U.S. forces, NATO Allies and other partners, while practicing critical elements in USAFE-AFAFRICA's agile combat employment strategy.

USAFE-AFAFRICA has invested in advanced sensors, radars, and surveillance technologies, and integrated them with Allies and partners to develop a comprehensive and accurate common situational awareness picture. Such capabilities allow for effective detection, tracking and identification of potentially hostile airborne and missile threats.

Collaboration with NATO Allies, as in AK24, strengthens collective defense capabilities across the European theater and allow the U.S. and Allies to test command and control relationships. Through early collaboration and integration of Allied air and missile defense efforts, USAFE-AFAFRICA and NATO nations effectively deter and respond to threats.

AK24 will include live-fly and combat operations focused in Poland and the Baltic countries.

Find publicly releasable and photo, video and print products relating to AK 24 on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Interested individuals are encouraged to subscribe to the AK24 DVIDS' page to receive notifications on newly published content and material.

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US again fails to bring cease-fire to Gaza, 'more civilian casualties unavoidable if Israel attacks Rafah'

Global Times

By Yang Sheng Published: May 06, 2024 09:45 PM

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is set to continue, as Israel warned Palestinians to evacuate from Rafah and the Israeli military prepared for an attack on the southern city on Palestine's border with Egypt. Experts said on Monday this will surely cause large numbers of civilian casualties, and the latest development in the situation proves that the US-dominated mediation has failed once again.

Although analysts doubted that Israel can realize the goal of "eradicating Hamas," they said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet would like to see the war extended, until they see Donald Trump winning the US presidential election at the end of this year. They added that this is the only chance for the Netanyahu administration to stay in power, and unfortunately, more civilians in Gaza will die, and the US will just refuse all demands to stop military aid to Israel.

As long as the conflict continues, the pro-Palestine protests in universities in the US and many other major Western countries will continue, and this will surely damage the image of the Joe Biden administration, as all of this proves that Biden is refusing to try his best to stop Netanyahu, experts said. They noted that the pro-Palestine protesters are mostly Democratic voters, and after a series of conflicts with US police, many of them might realize that political elites in the Democratic Party are just using them and failing to deliver what they are asking for. If they don't vote for Biden, Trump will have a chance to win, and this is exactly what Netanyahu is waiting for, they said.

Israel's military has issued a call for residents in eastern Rafah to "evacuate immediately," one day after the country's defense minister told troops inside Gaza to expect "intense action in Rafah in the near future," CNN reported on Monday.

A CNN stringer in east Rafah said that people were terrified and in a state of panic after the evacuation order from the Israeli military. Video footage showed people in the city packing cars and donkey-drawn carts with belongings.

Earlier, a Hamas delegation was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported "noticeable progress" in cease-fire talks for Gaza, but Israel did not send a delegation, the AP reported.

The bloodshed continued on Sunday as three Israeli soldiers were killed in a rocket attack claimed by Hamas' armed wing near Rafah, where Palestinian health officials said at least 19 people were killed by Israeli fire on the same day, Reuters reported.

Netanyahu on Sunday doubled down on his rejection of Hamas' demand for an end to Israel's war against it in exchange for freeing the hostages it holds, saying that such a move would "keep Hamas in power in Gaza and pose a threat to Israel," the Times of Israel reported on Sunday.

Liu Zhongmin, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times on Monday that the main difficulty facing cease-fire talks is that Israel wants to eradicate Hamas after it releases the detained Israelis, while Hamas wants a sustainable cease-fire to ensure the group stays alive.

Another key reason behind the failure of the US mediation is that Washington is adopting a problematic stance: On the one hand, it wants to respond to both internal and external pressures by pushing Israel and Hamas toward a deal, on the other hand, the US will unconditionally provide military aid to Israel, and both of them want Hamas to be eradicated, Liu said.

Ma Xiaolin, dean of the Institute for Studies on the Mediterranean Rim at Zhejiang International Studies University, told the Global Times on Monday, "Netanyahu understands that if he accepts the cease-fire, he and his cabinet will have to face consequences, as the goal that they promised of eradicating Hamas has not been realized, and this will be considered a failure in Israel, but the ground attack against Rafah will inevitably result in more civilian deaths."

No matter how many civilians are killed by Netanyahu and his army, the US will unconditionally defend Israel, despite Washington occasionally complaining about the ruthless behavior of Israeli military forces, experts said.

Although Israel will be heavily criticized if it launches a massive attack against Rafah, as long as the Biden administration refuses to stop military aid, Israel will be immune to criticism and condemnation, and will be able to do whatever it wants in Gaza, while the US, especially the Biden administration, will face the pressure and pay the price for Israel, experts noted.

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Statement from Minister for Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide on ceasefire negotiations: 'Expect more from both parties'

Government of Norway

News story | Date: 06/05/2024

'It is critical that both Hamas and Israel do more to establish a ceasefire in Gaza. The whole world is watching and expects both parties to demonstrate willingness to reach an agreement', says Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

'Gaza is a man-made disaster. Words cannot describe the suffering and hardship its 2.3 million inhabitants have endured over the past seven months. The most important thing now is to agree to stop the hostilities, release the hostages and improve humanitarian access to Gaza. It is up to Israel and Hamas to put an end to the atrocities that have made Gaza almost unlivable for its people'.

'A ceasefire is essential to ensure that no more lives are lost among the Palestinians in Gaza and the Israeli hostages still held there. The hostages must be protected and released. Israel must refrain from further plans to enter Rafah, where more than one million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge. Israel has more to gain by refraining from a military operation against Rafah, given the uncertain outcome and the risk of too many civilian casualties. An operation against Rafah would be a tragedy for the population and make it even more difficult and dangerous to provide life-saving humanitarian aid to the population'.

'Every attack that jeopardises the possibility of getting enough vital aid into Gaza is a betrayal of Palestinian women and children. The attack by the Hamas military wing on an area at the Kerem Shalom border crossing is unacceptable. This is now affecting humanitarian deliveries to Palestinians threatened by famine. The parties must do more to protect aid shipments and the brave aid workers who, despite risking their own lives, are there for those suffering in Gaza'.

'Every attempt at a ceasefire could be the difference between life and death for too many people on both sides of the conflict. The short-term goal of such an agreement is to bring an end to the immense suffering in Gaza. At the same time, it is crucial that the international community, as well as Israeli and Palestinian authorities, engage on the political track, including moving forward the work for a Palestinian state. Having plans for what happens next is also crucial for the ongoing ceasefire negotiations and humanitarian aid work'.

'I reiterate my call on the parties to agree on a durable ceasefire, comprehensive humanitarian assistance to all of Gaza and the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages', says the Foreign Minister.

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Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, May 6, 2024

IDF Press Release

May 6, 2024

06.05.24

IDF

"Good evening. Sergeant Michael Ruzal, Staff Sergeant Ruben Marc Mordechai Assouline, Staff Sergeant Ido Testa, and Staff Sergeant Tal Shavit (may their memory be a blessing). Four soldiers from the Givati and Nahal Brigades fell yesterday while carrying out a defensive mission in the Kerem Shalom area near the Gaza border. They fell due to mortar shells launched from the Rafah Border Crossing area. We support the bereaved families during this difficult time and will continue to accompany them. The memory of the fallen is our compass to continue fighting, especially these days. This morning, we announced the start of the evacuation of residents in the eastern Rafah area and the expansion of the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi and Khan Yunis, as part of the preparation for ground operations in the area, following the directive of the political level. During the day, IAF aircraft struck over 50 terrorist targets in the Rafah area. Tonight, we also call upon those staying in specific areas which we have communicated and defined through every meansradio, media, internet, and flyersin eastern Rafah, to move towards the expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi and Khan Yunis, where they will receive full humanitarian aid and where water, food, medical equipment, and shelter will be provided. Following the firing from the Rafah area towards Kerem Shalom yesterday, the Kerem Shalom Crossing was closed for security reasons. Once the operational situation allows, the crossing will reopen.

Over the last day, on the northern border, there have been exchanges of fire. Overnight, fighter jets targeted a military compound deep in Lebanon, and during the afternoon, we completed a strike on approximately 20 military buildings and terrorist infrastructure belonging to the Radwan Forces in southern Lebanon. During the day, a UAV from the Hezbollah terrorist organization hit near Metula.

In Judea and Samaria, IDF, ISA, and the Israel Border Police forces have been conducting an operation over the past week to thwart terrorism in Tulkarm, during which the forces have destroyed laboratories for manufacturing explosives, confiscated weapons, and apprehended terrorists. During an operation carried out last weeka significant operation to neutralize a Hamas cell in Tulkarma Yamam (Israel's National Counter Terror Unit) soldier was seriously injured. At this time, we are still fighting for his life, and we wish him a speedy and full recovery.

This evening marks the end of Holocaust Remembrance Day. This day, maybe more than any other day of the year, symbolizes the right and duty of the Jewish people and the State of Israel to defend themselves. This evening, I wish to remember the Holocaust survivors who were kidnapped and murdered on October 7th, and those who survived the brutal attack, including Shlomo Mansour, 86 years old, who survived brutality in Iraq during the Holocaust and was kidnapped from his home in Kissufim on October 7th. Along with him, 131 hostages are still held cruelly in the captivity of Hamas terrorists. Today, it is our moral obligation to do everything possible to bring them home as quickly as possible."

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Air defence is our main and key priority, Minister of National Defence says meeting Dutch counterpart

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of National Defence

2024-05-06

International cooperation | Security and defense policy

Minister of National Defence Laurynas Kasciunas met with Minister of Defence of the Netherlands Kajsa Ollongren. L. Kasciunas thanked the Netherlands for the country's contribution to the Baltic security. According to him, security and defence cooperation between our nations is steadfast and unbreakable, and it is vital for the Baltic security.

The Netherland has a substantial contingent in the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group Lithuania of approx. 270 Dutch servicemembers, besides contributions to the NATO Air Policing Mission, NATO Force Integration Unit, consistent cooperation with the Lithuanian Armed Forces. L. Kasciunas expressed appreciation of the Dutch decision to deploy the Patriot long-range air defence system to Lithuania.

"Air defence is our main and key priority. Training of the Netherlands and units of the Lithuanian Armed Forces this summer will strengthen our capabilities and help to implement the Rotational NATO Air Defence Model which was agreed to at the NATO Summit in Vilnius. Deployment of the Patriot system could be a signal to encourage other nations to contribute to the implementation of the model as well," L. Kasciunas said.

Minister acknowledged that implementation of the rotational model which enables training to switch between crisis and peace modes seamlessly is a good deterrent and a priority in the eastern flank.

After the meeting Minister of Defence of the Netherlands K. Ollongren noted that "the Netherlands has a commitment to your and neighbors' security. We understand your borders as ours and we have to protect it together. The Dutch military have been in Lithuania since 2017 with the NATO enhanced Presence Battalion Battle Group. We are grateful for the hospitality that your country has provided to our troops. Therefore it is my pleasure to notify you that the Netherlands has decided to extend the NATO eFP contribution mandate for two more years until 2026. It is a demonstration of our commitment and our dedication to contribute to deterrence. <<...>> Moreover, we are going to send F-35 fighter aircraft to help protect the skies over the three Baltic states with the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission, the equipment will be based in Estonia from December of this year until March 2025. Our plan is to deploy 3 to 10 fighter jets with full maintenance staff composition," said Minister K. Ollongren after the meeting with Minister L. Kasciunas.

Ministers also discussed the NATO agenda ahead of the upcoming Summit in Washington. "Our priorities must focus on implementing the regional NATO plans. We understand some capability gaps will remained unfilled that have to be taken care of immediately, as well as to enhance deterrence and defensibility of the eastern flank of NATO," said Minister L. Kasciunas.

Ministers also addressed assistance to Ukraine and the necessity to render support for as as long as it takes as well. They touched upon the initiatives of the different formats of assistance to attend Ukraine's most urgent needs. Lithuania's assistance to Ukraine is for the long-haul. Military assistance we have delivered since the war was begun amounts to approx. EUR 610 million. This year alone approx. EUR 84 million have been spent in support of UKRAine already. This dynamic is aimed to stay.

Yet another topic of the meeting was cyber-threat and cyber security initiatives. Ministers invited more cooperation in the Cyber Rapid Response Teams (CRRT) format.

After meeting with Minister L. Kasciunas Minister of Defence of the Netherland will visit Rukla to meet with the Dutch military serving there.

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The President: Permanent stationing of the German brigade in Lithuania is our top priority

President of the Republic of Lithuania

May 06, 2024

On Monday, President Gitanas Nauseda, together with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, visited the German troops serving in the NATO forward presence battlegroup in Lithuania in Pabrade and observed the German Armed Forces' large-scale exercise Grand Quadriga.

"I thank Germany and you personally for your contribution to strengthening Lithuania's defense. Germany's decision to permanently station a brigade in Lithuania is a testimony and example of the much-needed leadership and strong commitment to collective defense. We highly appreciate this decision. The permanent deployment of the brigade in Lithuania as soon as possible is our number one priority," the Head of State stressed, adding that we cannot waste a single minute when, despite a successful progress of deploying the brigade, the strategic security environment requires an even faster pace in the implementation of this critically important objective.

During the bilateral meeting, President Gitanas Nauseda and Chancellor Olaf Scholz discussed the security situation in the region and the forthcoming NATO Summit in Washington, D.C. "As we implement the decisions of the Vilnius Summit, we need to further focus on how to strengthen the Baltic region and the eastern flank of NATO. We need to work towards the full implementation of NATO's defense plans and the rotational air defense model, and to further increase our defense investments," Gitanas Nauseda pointed out. The President also stressed the pursuit of Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations and its importance for the security and stability of the entire Euro-Atlantic area. According to the Head of State, Ukraine belongs in the NATO family.

The President underlined his appreciation for Germany's initiative and leadership to take prompt action to strengthen Ukraine's air defense and for the decision to send an additional Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. "Lithuania will join your initiativewe plan to assist Ukraine with the necessary air surveillance radar systems," the President said.

The Head of State also welcomed the intensifying relations between Lithuania and Germany in the field of defense industry. "I hope that the decision of the German company Rheinmetall to come to Lithuania will open up even broader opportunities for cooperation between defense industry companies," Gitanas Nauseda added.



The President's Communication Group

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Israeli army urges Palestinians to evacuate eastern Rafah ahead of planned offensive

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 15:33, May 06, 2024

GAZA/JERUSALEM, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army on Monday ordered Palestinian residents to evacuate the eastern neighborhoods of Gaza's southernmost city Rafah, ahead of a planned offensive in the area.

Avichai Adraee, the spokesperson of the Israeli army, said in a press statement that "for all people who live in the neighborhoods of Al-Salam, Al-Jeneina, Tabba Zaraa, and Al-Byouk in the Rafah area in blocks 10-16, 28, and 270, the army will work with extreme force against terrorist organizations there."

He added that anyone who is near terrorist organizations is putting their lives and the lives of their families at risk, and urged them to evacuate these areas immediately to avoid any danger to their lives.

He said that the army is expanding the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, which includes field hospitals, tents, food, water, medicines, and other supplies.

The army, cooperating with international organizations and other countries, also allowed the expansion of humanitarian aid that is brought into the Strip, said Adraee.

The operation in eastern Rafah will move forward gradually based on the ongoing assessment of the situation that will take place throughout, said Adraee, adding that the army will distribute leaflets, send SMS messages and conduct phone calls, as well as broadcast information through Arab media.

The Israeli military noted in a statement that it will continue pursuing Hamas "everywhere in Gaza" until all the hostages that they are holding are back home.

Israel considers Rafah the last major stronghold of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Located in the southernmost part of the Strip, Rafah shelters approximately 1.2 million Palestinians.

Israel has launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, following Hamas's surprise attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

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Ball in Israel's court over Gaza ceasefire, Hamas chief tells Iran FM

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 7:23 PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has said Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh briefed him on the Palestinian resistance movement's response to a proposed ceasefire for the Gaza Strip.

In a post on his X account on Monday, Amir-Abdollahian said Haniyeh appreciated strong positions of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raeisi and the Iranian nation in support of Palestine and the Gaza Strip.

The Iranian minister added that Haniyeh also briefed him on the latest developments on the ground in the war-torn Gaza in the phone conversation on Sunday.

He emphasized that Haniyeh said that he had conveyed Hamas' response to a joint Egyptian-Qatari proposed plan on ending the Israeli regime's attacks, exchanging captives and lifting the blockade.

"The ball is now in the opposite side's court. Hamas is honest in its intentions," Amir-Abdollahian quoted Haniyeh as saying.

A short statement from Hamas on Monday said that the movement has agreed to a ceasefire proposal in Gaza, where it has fought a seven-month Israeli aggression that has left tens of thousands dead.

According to the statement, Haniyeh had informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that it accepted their proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In a statement on Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry said during the Sunday night talks Haniyeh had briefed Amir-Abdollahian on the political plan aimed at stopping Israel's war in Gaza.

It added that Haniyeh has reiterated that the Hamas stance is to insist on restoring the Palestinian people's right to achieve any political agreement.

The top Iranian diplomat, for his part, hailed the brave resistance of the Palestinian people and resistance groups in the face of the Israeli regime during its war and genocide against Gaza over the past seven months.

Amir-Abdollahian also voiced Iran's support for the proposed plan for the realization of the Palestinian people's rights, including the immediate and permanent cessation of the Israeli regime's crimes, the lifting of the cruel blockade on Gaza, the exchange of captives, the complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying Israeli forces from the Strip and the reconstruction of the war-stricken areas.

He also briefed Hamas on Iran's latest diplomatic efforts to support Palestine and the resistance movement in international circles, including the Islamic Republic's active presence in the 15th annual Islamic Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Gambia's capital Banjul.

In the first stage of the truce agreement, the Israeli military will withdraw to areas adjacent to Gaza, he said.

In the second stage, he said, a permanent ceasefire and cessation of hostilities will be declared.

Nearly 35,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its aggression on the territory on October 7 last year.

The invasion came hours after Hamas carried out a brief but extensive military operation into the Israeli-occupied territories near Gaza, killing nearly 1,200 Israeli settlers and military forces.

Hamas also took some 250 captives during its anti-Israeli operation in October. Under growing pressure from settler communities living in the occupied Palestine, the Israeli regime has been pushing for the release of the captives as part of a potential ceasefire deal with Hamas.

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UNICEF warns Rafah invasion to put 600,000 children at risk of catastrophe

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 6:30 PM

UNICEF says an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza's southern city of Rafah would pose "catastrophic risks" to the hundreds of thousands of children taking shelter there.

In a statement released on Monday, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell issued a stark warning indicating that around 600,000 children in Rafah are facing an imminent "catastrophe."

"Rafah is now a city of children, who have nowhere safe to go in Gaza. If large scale military operations start, not only will children be at risk from the violence, but also from chaos and panic, and at a time where their physical and mental states are already weakened," she said.

UNICEF said children in Gaza are being "disproportionately" killed and wounded, while suffering "more acutely from disruptions to healthcare and education."

"More than 200 days of war have taken an unimaginable toll on the lives of children," Catherine said.

UNICEF underscored the dire circumstances the children of Rafah face, highlighting the potential for a significant increase in civilian casualties and the destruction of essential services and infrastructure.

According to UNICEF, Gaza's youth are already teetering on the brink of survival, with many in Rafah having endured displacement multiple times and having nowhere else to seek refuge.

The agency underscored the urgent need to protect the lives and well-being of these children.

Israel has already killed more than 34,700 people, mostly children and women, in Gaza since early October, according to the ministry of health in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The resistance movement Hamas has warned Israel that any ground operation in Rafah would have serious consequences for the regime. The Palestinian resistance group said in a statement on Monday that "any military operation in Rafah will not be a walk in the park for the fascist occupation army."

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Israel signals rejection of ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 6:00 PM

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire proposal in Gaza, where it has fought a seven-month Israeli aggression that has left tens of thousands dead.

A short statement from Hamas on Monday said that head of the group's politburo, Ismail Haniyeh, had informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that it accepted their proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Israeli regime, however, appears not to have accepted the deal.

If the ceasefire agreement takes effect, it would be the first truce since a week-long pause in the fighting in November 2023.

The statement by Hamas came hours after senior officials in the group said efforts for reaching a ceasefire would stop if Israel goes ahead with its plans to invade the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than half of the territory's population of 2.3 million people has been sheltering from Israel's brutal bombardments in other regions.

Israel on Monday ordered people in some parts of Rafah to evacuate in an apparent move to prepare for an invasion of the city.

The US government said it had warned the Israeli regime against a major operation in Rafah.

Speaking to reporters after Hamas' announcement on the ceasefire, the Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari would not confirm whether Israel would go ahead with plans to attack Rafah.

However, he said that the Israeli regime will exhaust "every possibility regarding negotiations and returning the hostages."

A senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera that the proposal presented by Qatar and Egypt consists of a three-stage plan, and includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of Palestinian refugees, and a prisoner exchange.

Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of Hamas politburo in Gaza, explained that the plan is interconnected in terms of the stages of its implementation.

In the first stage of the agreement, the Israeli military will withdraw to areas adjacent to Gaza, he said. In the second stage, he said, a permanent ceasefire and cessation of hostilities will be declared.

Al-Hayya insisted that the ball was now in the Israeli regime's court whether to accept the deal and end the war.

The Hamas official also said that the mediators promised that US President Joe Biden had signaled a commitment to ensuring the implementation of the proposed deal.

Biden spoke over the phone with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to warn him that Washington is concerned about Israel's Rafah invasion plans.

Saudi Arabia also warned of the dangers of Israel targeting Rafah as part of its "bloody" and "systematic campaign to storm all areas of the Gaza Strip and displace its residents".

Nearly 35,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its aggression on the enclave on October 7 last year.

The invasion came hours after Hamas carried out a brief but extensive military operation into the Israeli-occupied territories near Gaza, killing nearly 1,200 Israeli settlers and military forces.

Hamas also took some 250 captives during its anti-Israeli operation in October. Under growing pressure from settler communities living in the occupied Palestine, the Israeli regime has been pushing for the release of the captives as part of a potential ceasefire deal with Hamas.

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Hamas: Looming invasion of Rafah will have serious consequences for Israel

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 3:08 PM

Hamas warns Israel that any ground operation in Rafah would have serious consequences for the regime as the Palestinian resistance movement is fully prepared to defend its people in the southern Gaza city.

The Palestinian group said in a statement on Monday that "any military operation in Rafah will not be a walk in the park for the fascist occupation army."

"Our valiant resistance, led by al-Qassam Brigades, is fully prepared to defend our people," Hamas said referring to its armed wing.

The Palestinian movement also called on the international community to take urgent action to stop the regime's planned offensive on Rafah, home to about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians, who have taken refuge in the border town and its surroundings after they fled their hometowns elsewhere in the territory to escape the regime's onslaught and now face another move.

Hamas warned that any incursion into Rafah threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of defenseless civilians, including children, women and the elderly.

"The actions taken by the terrorist occupation army in preparation for an attack on the densely populated city of Rafah ... have resulted in massacres of innocent civilians."

On Monday, Israel's military issued a call for residents and displaced people to evacuate eastern neighborhoods of the border town.

The military also carried out airstrikes on areas in eastern Rafah, according to Gaza's Al-Aqsa TV.

People in Rafah, Hamas said, are now "subject to the most heinous crimes by the Zionist killing machine, supported limitlessly by the complicit American administration in the genocide."

US must 'prevent genocide' in Rafah

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said on Monday that the president urged the United States to "act immediately and prevent genocide and displacement in Gaza."

He said Washington will be responsible for the "genocidal" results of the regime's planned offensive on Rafah.

Biden will speak to Netanyahu

Later in the day, the White House said in a statement that Biden will speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the planned offensive on Rafah.

A spokesman for the National Security Council told AFP Washington had made its "views clear on a major ground invasion of Rafah" to Israel, and "the president will speak with the prime minister today."

Biden has recently authorized the transfer of over 1,000 500-pound bombs and over 1,000 small-diameter bombs to Israel, CNN cited sources familiar with the matter.

The Palestinian presidential spokesman said the Biden administration provided financial and military support to Israel and encouraged the regime to continue "massacres" against Palestinians.

Israel has killed more than 34,600 people in Gaza since early October, according to the ministry of health in the besieged Palestinian territory.

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May 5: 'Axis of Resistance' operations against Israeli occupation

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 12:18 PM

By Press TV Website Staff

Amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 34,700 Palestinians so far, including more than 16,000 children, resistance groups in Palestine and across the region continue their operations against the Tel Aviv regime and its Western backers.

The major operations carried out by the Palestinian and regional resistance groups on Sunday, May 5, are as follows:

Al-Qassam Brigades' operations on May 5:

Targeted the command and control headquarters and deployments inside the Karam Abu Salem ["Kerem Shalom"] military site, east of the city of Rafah, with a "Rajoom" rocket barrage.

In a joint operation with the Al-Quds Brigades, bombed the positions of Israeli soldiers in the "Netzarim" axis with short-range 107mm rockets.

Sniped an Israeli regime soldier on Street 10, south of Tal Al-Hawa, in Gaza City.

Targeted a group of Israeli soldiers stationed on Street 10, southwest of Gaza City, with heavy-caliber mortar shells.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' operations on May 5:

Bombed the positions of Israeli soldiers on the supply line of the "Netzarim" axis

Bombed the positions of Israeli troops and their military vehicles with a barrage of heavy mortar shells along the supply line of the "Netzarim" axis.

Bombed the gatherings of Israeli military vehicles with mortar shells east of the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli forces and their military vehicles storming the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, using machine guns and explosive devices.

Al-Quds Brigades' operations on May 5:

Bombed the gatherings of Israeli soldiers around the Al-Baydar area on Al-Rashid Street, west of Gaza City, with a barrage of mortar shells.

Mujahideen Brigades' operations on May 5:

Bombed the Israeli military's command and control center on the "Netzarim" axis with a barrage of short-range rockets.

Martyr Omar Al-Qasim Forces' operations on May 5:

Fired a number of heavy-caliber mortar shells at the "Kissufim" military site.

Hezbollah's operations on May 5:



Eastern sector:

At around 13:10 local time, the Kiryat Shmona settlement was targeted with dozens of Katyusha and Falaq rockets.

At around 15:30 local time, Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the Al-Za'oura site were targeted with dozens of Katyusha rockets.\

Around the same time, targeted the Kfarouval settlement with a barrage of missiles.

Around the same time, targeted the Kfargaladi settlement with a barrage of missiles.

Around the same time, targeted the Margaliot settlement with a barrage of missiles.

Western sector:

At around 15:20 local time, the surveillance equipment of the Israeli military at the Ramia site was targeted with appropriate weapons.

Around the same time, targeted a building in the Avivim settlement with appropriate weapons.

Around the same time, targeted a building in the Shtola settlement with appropriate weapons.

At around 18:00 local time, the surveillance equipment at the Malkeyeh site was targeted with appropriate weapons.

Islamic Resistance in Iraq's operations on May 5:

Launched Arqab advanced cruise missile towards the Port of Haifa in the occupied territories.

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Hezbollah targets Israeli military command base in occupied Golan Heights

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 10:33 AM

The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has targeted an Israeli military command base in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights with dozens of Katyusha rockets.

Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television news channel, citing a brief statement by the group, reported that the resistance fighters struck the Israeli army's 210th Division base on Monday in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli onslaught against the coastal sliver.

It further noted that the strike was also in retaliation for repeated Israeli aggression on the strategic Bekaa Valley, which is situated about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) east of the capital Beirut.

Heavy rocket barrages were launched from southern Lebanon at Israeli military installations at the Galilee panhandle in the northern part of the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories as well as the occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli media outlets reported that sirens blared over incoming rocket fire in a number of communities in the Golan Heights and close to the border with Lebanon.

Hundreds of Israeli settlers in the area were asked to take cover in public shelters during the rocket attack.

There were reports that nearly 70 missiles were launched from Lebanon at the southern Golan Heights.

Earlier, Lebanese official media said three people had been wounded in an Israeli strike early Monday on a factory in the country's east.

The Israeli regime has repeatedly attacked southern Lebanon since October 7, when it launched a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed at least 34,683 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

In retaliation, Hezbollah has launched near-daily rocket attacks on Israeli positions.

At least 390 people have been killed on the Lebanese border, including more than 70 civilians.

Hezbollah has already fought off two Israeli wars against Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. The resistance forced the regime to retreat in both conflicts.

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Israel orders 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate Rafah ahead of ground invasion

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 8:18 AM

The Israeli regime is forcibly evacuating Palestinians from the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid the prospect of its widely-discouraged ground invasion.

"The estimate is around 100,000 people," an Israeli military spokesman told journalists on Monday when asked how many people were being evacuated.

International organizations, including the United Nations, have repeatedly warned the regime against invading the city, citing its hosting around 1.5 million Palestinian refugees.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a ground assault on Rafah would "put the final nail in the coffin" for humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said, "Any ground operation would mean more suffering and death," with an official saying "It could be a slaughter of civilians."

Multiple aid agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have likewise warned against a Rafah offensive.

The NRC said such an invasion "would profoundly exacerbate the already catastrophic levels of need and the humanitarian emergency for millions of civilians with nowhere left to go."

The official alleged Hamas had killed three Israeli forces on Sunday, attacking them from Rafah.

The evacuation order came a sat least 22 people lost their lives in the regime's airstrikes killed in Rafah earlier on Monday.

Rafah's evacuation "is part of our plans to dismantle Hamas," the Israeli spokesman added, referring to the Palestinian resistance movement that has been defending Gaza in the face of the war.

The Palestinians have fled there from the ravages of a war that the regime began waging against Gaza on October 7, following a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver's resistance groups.

At least 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 78,018 others injured so far during the brutal military onslaught.

On Friday, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas' Political Bureau, said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on carrying out a ground invasion of Rafah was a key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at a truce agreement.

The Israeli premier has said the regime would go ahead with invading the city "with or without" a truce.

Hamas has, however, asserted that the regime has failed to defeat the resistance during the war.

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Sri Lanka's cabinet approves digital transformation of general education with China's help

Xinhua) 14:47, May 07, 2024

COLOMBO, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan cabinet approved a proposal for the digital transformation of general education with the support of the Chinese government, the government's information department said on Tuesday.

The department said the Chinese government has agreed to support the digital transformation of general education in the South Asian country.

A feasibility study has been conducted in relation to the implementation of the project, according to the department.

The devices of the related digital system to be provided will support the effective and efficient performance of the blended learning method, sharing resources, imparting the knowledge of teachers with special skills to the students when needed, avoiding the problems that arise in the case of shortage of teachers and facilitating the proposed educational reforms, the department said.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
Hamas says seeks 'comprehensive truce' as Israel hell-bent on war, blockade

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 6:41 AM

Hamas has said it would only settle for a deal that encompasses all of the Palestinian resistance movement's demands from the Israeli regime amid the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

"Our consistent position is that the only option [out there] is the conclusion of a comprehensive truce agreement," Osama Hamdan, Hamas's senior representative in Lebanon, told Qatar's Al Araby TV channel on Monday.

"The occupiers always try to focus on the issue of captive exchange," and evade the group's other demands, the Palestinian official said.

He said those demands included the complete cessation of the Israeli aggression, the regime's full withdrawal, the return of the displaced people, an end to the siege that has been imposed by Tel Aviv on Gaza, and the beginning of the coastal sliver's reconstruction process.

The regime began the war on October 7 in response to Al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by Gaza's resistance groups, during which hundreds were taken captive.

At least 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza and 78,018 others injured so far during the brutal military onslaught.

Talks led to 'specific mechanism'

The remarks came after two days of intense negotiations in the Egyptian capital of Cairo with Egyptian, Qatari, and American mediators, following which the Palestinian negotiators returned to Gaza for consultation with the group's leadership.

"We negotiated with mediators, including the Americans, concerning certain issues and we arrived at a specific mechanism," Hamdan said.

The Palestinian negotiators, however, still needed to consult Hamas's leadership concerning the mechanism before coming up with a "final standpoint."

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Iraq's Islamic resistance hits two Israeli military bases with drones

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 2:27 AM

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq says it has targeted two Israeli military bases in the occupied Palestinian territories using drones.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which is an umbrella group of the country's anti-terror movements, made the announcement in separate statements early Monday.

"The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, on the morning of Monday, 06-05-2024, targeted a military facility of the Zionist occupation in our occupied lands by drone," the first statement said.

"The fighters of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, on the morning of Monday, 06-05-2024, targeted a military air base for the Zionist occupation in "Eilat," Umm Al-Rashrash, in our occupied lands by drone," the group said in its second statement.

The Iraqi resistance noted that the new anti-Israeli operations came "in support of our people in Gaza and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, and the elderly."

It also affirmed that the resistance fighters will continue to strike the enemy's strongholds.

The new operations came just a day after the Iraqi resistance said it had launched a missile strike against a strategic target in the port of Haifa in the occupied territories using an advanced Arqab cruise missile.

Earlier, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq had claimed responsibility for three operations, two of which were against Israeli targets in Tel Aviv and Beersheba -- both within the occupied lands -- and one against an Israeli interest in the Dead Sea area.

The attack on Tel Aviv, the first of its kind, targeted the Glilot intelligence center linked to the Israeli Mossad spy agency.

Israel started its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023 after the territory's resistance fighters carried out Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the apartheid regime in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a complete siege on the territory, cutting off fuel, medicine, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

The Israeli genocide in Gaza has so far killed 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 78,018 others.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has also struck major American military bases in Syria and Iraq amid anger over the US support for Israel's onslaught on Gaza.

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UNRWA chief: Israel continues to deny humanitarian access to UN in Gaza

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 12:16 AM

The commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, says the Israeli regime continues to bar the world body's humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.

Philippe Lazzarini made the comment in a Sunday post on X social media platform, after the regime prevented him from entering the besieged territory for the second time.

"The Israeli authorities continue to deny humanitarian access to the United Nations," Lazzarini said, adding, "Just this week, they have denied - for the second time- my entry to Gaza where I planned to be with our UNRWA teams, including those on the front lines."

He noted that there has been a recent "increase in the denial of humanitarian access & attacks on humanitarian workers and convoys" in Gaza.

"Only in the past 2 weeks, we have recorded 10 incidents involving shooting at convoys, arrests of UN staff ... & long delays at checkpoints forcing convoys to move during the dark or abort," Lazzarini said.

The UNRWA chief noted that preventing the movement of aid convoys and restricting access to the territory come "at the time we are engaged in a race against the clock to avert famine in Gaza."

"I call on the Israeli authorities to facilitate humanitarian access across the Gaza Strip, including to the north," Lazzarini said, stressing, "The denial of humanitarian access is a violation of [international] humanitarian law."

His remarks came after the World Food Program (WFP) said there is a "full-blown famine" in the northern Gaza Strip following months of Israel's genocidal war against the blockaded Palestinian territory.

WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain raised the alarm in an interview with NBC, saying, "It's horror."

"There is famine  full-blown famine  in the north, and it's moving its way south," McCain warned.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had warned in March that northern Gaza is on the brink of famine and likely to experience it in May.

Acute malnutrition rates there among children under five have surged from one percent before the war to 30 percent five months later, the USAID added, calling it the fastest such climb in hunger in recent history; more than in grave conflicts and food shortages in Somalia or South Sudan.

The Israeli genocide in Gaza as has killed 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 78,018 others since it started early last October.

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US, Filipino forces thwart 'beach attack' by enemy force in annual military drills

Simulation drills in the northern Philippines took place amid Manila's row with Beijing in the South China Sea.

Jason Gutierrez for BenarNews 2024.05.06 -- American and Filipino troops on Monday thwarted an attack of an imagined enemy force from waters in the northern Philippines across from Taiwan, as the two military allies staged live-fire drills against the backdrop of regional tensions with China.

Hundreds of U.S. and Philippine troops took positions on a beachhead in Laoag, in Ilocos Norte province, where they fired rockets, Javelin missiles and artillery shells from Howitzers into the sea. Powerful blasts from the day's war game rocked this usually tranquil seaside city, which is famous for its sand dunes.

"It started out with a military activity approaching the shores," said U.S. Marines Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of the joint task force overseeing the annual Balikatan (or shoulder-to-shoulder) exercise.

"So you had 155-mm Howitzers shooting out about seven clicks (kilometers) into the water where the target is. It was highly successful."

The "wave" of the enemy approach continued, forcing the defending troops to fire successively on fortified positions atop a hill on the beach that gave them a good vantage point. The American troops used their tactical utility vehicles to back up Humvees mounted with machine guns.

The troops overwhelmed the approaching enemy force, as loud booms echoed across Laoag, during the event that locals described as impressive and terrifying at the same time.

"From my vantage point, it was very successful," Cederholm told reporters, adding that the drills were done "through live virtual construct" - meaning there were U.S. military drones flying overhead to track the targets.

"There were multiple command posts out there. And that's part of the command and control integration that we did," he said. "It was a huge success, the weapons work."

Sovereign rights

The live-fire phase of the exercise will end Wednesday, when the allies are expected to sink a decommissioned Filipino navy ship at sea.

This year's Balikatan will officially end on Friday this week. In the 2024 edition of the annual exercise, at least 11,000 American troops have joined about 5,000 Filipinos in the drills, and France, Australia, Japan, India and other countries have sent observers.

For the first time, part of this year's drills were staged in waters outside the Philippines' 12-mile territorial waters and farther out within Manila's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The annual military exercises come amid increased tensions between the Philippine and China in the disputed South China Sea and between China and the United States over Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a renegade province.

"No military exercises should target a third party or jeopardize the interests of a third party, nor should they undermine mutual trust among regional countries and undermine peace and stability in the region," Lin Jian, Beijing's foreign ministry spokesperson told a press conference on Monday, when asked about the Balikatan drills.

"I believe that the countries of the region see very clearly who is currently stoking military confrontation and tensions in the region," he added.

Meanwhile, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Manila's coast guard and military would not "follow" in China's footsteps in using water cannons against vessels in the South China Sea to avoid stoking tensions over the territorial row.

"What we are doing is defending our sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea," Marcos Jr. told reporters, using Manila's name for South China Sea waters with the Philippines' EEZ. "And we have no intention of attacking anyone with water cannons or any such offensive - I would have to call them 'weapons' - because it has been causing damage."

Last April 30, the Chinese coast guard fired water cannons at two Philippine vessels near the contested Scarborough Shoal - a South China Sea shoal virtually occupied by China since 2012 - causing some damage, Filipino officials said.

The incident was the latest confrontation between Manila and Beijing, which have overlapping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea. Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam also have claims over the waterway.

Marcos engaged his U.S. and Japanese counterparts in a first-ever trilateral summit in Washington last month. Under his administration, the Philippines has allowed the United States greater access to Filipino bases, including in northern areas facing Taiwan.

Manila and Washington have been allies since 1951, when the two countries signed the Mutual Defense Treaty. The Philippines is America's oldest treaty ally in the Asia-Pacific region.

Both impressed and fearful

For the locals in Ilocos Norte, the military drills were both exciting and terrifying.

On the outskirts of Laoag, the Filipino marines erected a military park called Cape Bojeador, where old military articles were put on display, including a Northrop F-5A "freedom fighter" jet, an airplane that had been originally used by the Philippine air force's fighting squadron.

The military drills in the city have ignited a sense of nationalism for many locals, but also fears that Manila may be roped into a war that is not its own.

Richel Puyaoan, a local nurse, said she had to explain to her elderly mother - a child during World War II - that the Philippines is now a military and economic ally of Japan, the Southeast Asian country's former occupier but which sent observers to Balikatan.

"For many, this is the first time that they are seeing that the Philippines can also defend itself," Puyaoan, who was celebrating her partner's birthday at the park with their 15-year-old daughter, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news outlet. "It is just somehow alarming for some people because they think we are suddenly at war."

Jojo Rinoza, Mark Navales and Jeoffrey Maitem contributed to this report.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news outlet.

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 May 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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Wider Europe Briefing: Ukraine Is Edging Closer To The EU (Along With Moldova)

By Rikard Jozwiak May 06, 2024

Brief #1: Moldova And Ukraine To Start EU Accession Talks. Or Are They?

What You Need To Know: Both Ukraine and Moldova are expected to formally open EU accession talks in the final week of June. Several diplomats that RFE/RL spoke to on condition of anonymity are confident that a "ceremonial intergovernmental conference" (IGC) will be held in Brussels with the pair just before Hungary takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on July 1.

They also said they expected the negotiation frameworks with both countries to be adopted by EU member states at the same time. You would be forgiven for thinking that talks with Ukraine and Moldova had already started, recalling that EU leaders in December 2023 green-lighted the kickoff of negotiations. That, however, was just a political opening shot in a long and arduous process of accepting new members to the club in which unanimity by the 27 current member states will be required at many stages. And it is a process that both politicians and the media are rather confused about.

Deep Background: Just take the question of what actually constitutes the start of EU accession talks with an EU candidate country. It's complicated, as the answer might differ depending on who you ask. There are, in fact, three correct replies to that query. Some say it is when EU leaders say they give a green light; in other words, what happened for Ukraine and Moldova at the end of last year. Others in Brussels would argue it is when the first IGC takes place, which is what Kyiv and Chisinau are expecting at the end of next month.

But there are also officials in the EU capital who claim that the negotiations only start in earnest once the first of around 33 accession chapters (covering EU rules in everything from agriculture to foreign policy that candidates need to adopt) is officially opened. And this is not expected to happen for either Ukraine or Moldova in June, as the IGC is expected to be a "ceremonial" one and not what Brussels types refer to as "political IGCs," in which chapters are opened or closed.

At best, this could happen sometime in 2025. And, as always, all EU member states must agree to such a move, which isn't always a cakewalk. To illustrate this, take the examples of North Macedonia and Albania. In March 2020, EU leaders decided to open talks with that Western Balkans pair, and in July 2022 they had their respective ceremonial IGCs. But they haven't actually opened and/or closed any chapters yet.

The main reason for this is bilateral issues with EU member states. North Macedonia needs to change its constitution to include language on Bulgarians as a founding people. Albania's path remains blocked by Greece over a nearly yearlong spat over the imprisonment of an ethnic Greek mayor in the southern Albanian town of Himare.

So, Ukraine and Moldova would essentially move into the same "category" as Tirana and Skopje at the end of June: EU leaders have green-lighted the start of talks and ceremonial IGCs will have taken place, but the nitty-gritty matters of actually negotiating stuff in various policy fields are yet to take place.

Drilling Down

Why does the EU conduct these "ceremonial IGCs," then? In a sense, to encourage EU hopefuls. Montenegro, for example, had one in January. This despite the fact that it had previously both opened and closed chapters and is the most advanced of all EU candidate countries in this exercise. Brussels essentially wanted to give Podgorica "a tap on the shoulder," indicating that the country is slowly heading in the right direction again after a few politically turbulent years.

But the real reason is also to avoid vetoes. Hungary has made clear that it opposes Ukrainian EU membership for the moment. Budapest will reportedly be OK with lifting its veto in June for Ukraine (and by extension Moldova, as it is paired with Kyiv) because it knows full well that it doesn't mean that negotiations chapters will be opened.

It also means that Hungary doesn't have to give Ukraine any "carrots" during its presidency in the second half of this year. I have also heard from sources in Brussels that Ukraine is being encouraged not to make too much of a fuss over the potential IGC in June -- mainly to avoid needlessly provoking Hungary.

Budapest has on numerous occasions voiced worries about the rights of the Hungarian-speaking minority in Ukraine, and that's still an open question. When the European Commission presented so-called "oral updates" to EU member states on the progress made by Ukraine and Moldova so far on necessary reforms, the European Commission found that Kyiv still had not completed all necessary legislative changes pertaining to laws related to national minorities.

Several EU member states, however, believe that Ukraine has done its homework and that the European Commission's assessment is colored by Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, a Hungarian with close ties to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

This discrepancy in interpretation has meant that there won't be another European Commission assessment on Ukrainian progress (or lack thereof) in June, as it would provide Hungary with another opportunity to block. But it also means that Budapest can, of course, and probably will, use its veto further down the road if it isn't satisfied with Kyiv's reforms.

And in June, Hungary will most likely also use its threat of a veto to "leverage" progress for some of its friends among candidate countries in the Western Balkans: Montenegro, and possibly Serbia.

The former is set to close a few accession chapters in June, and it could be that Belgrade is likely to open some. Serbia has essentially stood still on its EU path for the last few years, as several EU member states have questioned its refusal to align with EU sanctions against Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It could well be that the Russia hawks such as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have to lift their vetoes for Belgrade in order to secure an IGC for Ukraine. The Brussels horse-trading over enlargement decisions could, in other words, still be in full swing.

Brief #2: What Central And Eastern Europeans Think About NATO And The EU

What You Need To Know: On May 2, perhaps the foremost think tank in Central Europe, GlobSec, published its annual survey of political attitudes among seven Central and Eastern European countries that joined the EU 20 years ago -- the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia -- as well as Bulgaria and Romania, which became members of the club in 2007. In other words, a club of nine former Warsaw Pact members or Soviet republics that now are anchored in Western institutions and organizations and playing an increasingly prominent role in them.

Titled Globsec Trends 2024 - A Brave New Region, the survey quizzed respondents in February/March about their attitudes to EU and NATO memberships of their home countries, the war in Ukraine, and relations with big powers, among other things.

Deep Background: Support for EU and NATO membership remains strong across the nine countries polled. On average, 78 percent of the respondents want their country to remain in the EU, a number similar to previous years; for NATO membership, the regional average is 81 percent -- a surge from 73 percent in 2021, likely triggered by the Russian invasion in nearby Ukraine and the appreciation of being part of a bigger military alliance.

Digging deeper into the numbers, some interesting things pop up. Only 71 percent of Czechs want to stay in the EU -- the lowest figure among the nine countries. No explanations are offered, but it might stem from Brussels-bashing ex-presidents like Vaclav Klaus and Milos Zeman or the enduring legacy of the right-wing Civic Democratic Party (ODS), for decades arguably the most influential party in the Czech Republic and a staunch member of the mildly Euroskeptic European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) political grouping in the European Parliament.

Interestingly, the highest level of support for EU membership is in Hungary with 86 percent (tied for first with Lithuania). An enigma perhaps, considering that Hungarians for over a decade have opted electorally for Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party, which are in a seemingly perpetual struggle against Brussels in many areas.

You also have Slovakia, in which 72 percent of people want to stay in the EU. That figure is still quite high, but when you consider that it was 93 percent when the country joined the bloc 20 years ago, that's quite an alarming slide and possibly something that the recently returned left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico has tapped into.

Or take Bulgaria, which is the only country of the nine in which respondents don't believe that their country has a greater influence in global affairs thanks to its EU membership; on the contrary, a whopping 73 percent of Bulgarian respondents thinks Brussels dictates what to do without Sofia having the power to influence it.

Drilling Down

Wading more deeply into the numbers, you'll quickly notice that there is substantial evidence that Bulgaria and Slovakia, and to a certain extent Hungary, are proper outliers compared to the other six countries.

Twenty-seven percent of Bulgarians and 24 percent of Slovaks still express a desire for their countries to leave NATO -- much higher than in the other countries -- potentially reflecting decades of anti-Western and even Russia-friendly sentiments.

Forty-one percent of Slovaks see the United States as a threat, as do 33 percent of Bulgarians; some 44 of Slovaks and 32 percent of Bulgarians see "Western society and their way of living" as a threat.

What about the Russia of today, then? Again, the opinion of the trio sticks out. Twenty-seven percent of Slovaks see Russia as a strategic partner, as do 23 percent of Bulgarians and 22 percent of Hungarians; however, the numbers in all three countries have decreased considerably compared to 2021, when it was close to half. By contrast, only 3 percent of Poles and 2 percent of Lithuanians see Russia in a similarly positive light.

Thirty-four percent of Hungarians see China as a strategic partner, with Slovakia a distant second at 16 percent -- surely reflecting Budapest's open courtship of Beijing in recent years. (Chinese President Xi is making Hungary one of his three stops this week on his first European trip in five years.)

In seven out of the nine countries polled, Germany was seen as the most important strategic partner, probably reflecting the economic clout of Berlin in the region. Only in Poland and Romania was the United States considered a bigger partner -- which comes as no surprise considering general pro-American sentiments and considerable U.S. military presences in the two countries.

Relations with Ukraine and opinions on the war there also reflect Bulgaria's, Slovakia's, and to a lesser extent Hungary's alternative views. In the former two, fewer than half of the respondents viewed Russia as the main perpetrator of war. Thirty-four percent of Bulgarians instead thought that the West provoked Russia into conflict, and 31 percent of Slovaks were of the same opinion.

Interestingly, in the entire region there is no country where the absolute majority of respondents envision Ukraine as a member of both the EU and NATO -- the stated geopolitical goal of Kyiv and something that is backed by most Ukrainians.

Forty-nine percent of Latvians and Lithuanians think Ukraine should be members of both organizations. In Estonia, 48 percent backed this, as did 40 percent of Poles and Romanians.

More worryingly for Ukraine, a full 57 percent of Hungarians think theirs should be a neutral country, as do 49 percent of Slovaks. Surprisingly, 36 percent of Czechs held the same view, with only 35 percent wanting it to be a member of both main Western alliances.

Considering that the decisions to accept members to both the EU and NATO require unanimity, the relatively low support for Ukraine among some of its neighbors can spell problems for the country's political future.

Looking Ahead

It's a short week in Brussels, as institutions are closed on May 9-10 due to the Ascension holidays. But look out for the meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels on May 8. They are expected to finally agree on sending the profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine and, for the first time, discuss another round of sanctions on Russia and Belarus.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/wider-europe-briefing-rikard-jozwiak- ukraine-eu-enlargement-moldova/32934952.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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IDF Calling on Palestinians to Evacuate Eastern Rafah Ahead of Offensive - Reports

Sputnik News

20240506

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has started calling on Palestinians to leave the eastern part of the Gazan city of Rafah ahead of the planned military operation, The Times of Israel newspaper reported on Monday.

The report added that the Israeli military advises the local population to move to humanitarian zones in the Al Mawasi and Khan Younis areas.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Sunday that IDF were getting ready for a ground operation in Rafah.

Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that an Israeli operation in Rafah would be an "unbearable escalation" that would kill thousands of civilians and force hundreds of thousands of others to flee. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also urged Israel not to launch an offensive in Rafah.

On October 7, 2023, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel and breached the border, attacking both civilian neighborhoods and military bases. Nearly 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 240 others abducted during the attack. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, and started a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 34,500 people have been killed so far by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to local authorities. More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.

 Sputnik

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Congratulations to Panama's President-Elect Mulino

US Department of State

Press Statement

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

May 6, 2024

Congratulations to Jose Raul Mulino on his victory as President-elect of the Republic of Panama. I look forward to continuing our strategic partnership and advancing our shared goals of democratic governance and inclusive economic prosperity.

The United States commends the people of Panama who exercised their free will and voice, as well as the work of the Organization of American States' electoral observers. The United States deeply values its relationship with the Republic of Panama, which has flourished for over 100 years, underpinned by strong economic, educational, and familial ties.

Looking ahead, the United States will continue to work with Panama on our common goals of inclusive, sustainable economic growth, bolstering citizen security, and cooperatively curbing irregular migration through the Darien.

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"I call on all Western actors to put pressure on the Israeli administration"

Presidency Of The Republic Of Turkey

06.05.2024

Delivering remarks following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting, President Erdogan said: "We welcome Hamas' announcement that it has agreed to the ceasefire. Now the same step should be taken by Israel. I call on all Western actors to put pressure on the Israeli administration."

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a press conference following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting at the Presidential Complex.

"TANZANIA IS A PARTNER OF TURKIYE IN EAST AFRICA"

President Erdogan said: "We have focused our energy on the foreign visits and meetings which we had to postpone because of the elections since the last meeting. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan's visit to Turkiye was the first-ever presidential visit from this country to Turkiye after a 14-year hiatus. Tanzania is one of our country's trade and investment partners in East Africa. Turkish companies have thus far undertaken 14 projects worth nearly 6.5 billion dollars in Tanzania. A major part of the Standard Gauge Railway, which will traverse the entire country, is being built by a Turkish company. During our talks, we have agreed to raise our bilateral trade, which has increased from 11 million dollars to 345 million dollars over the past 21 years, to 1 billion dollars swiftly."

"WE HAVE RE-INTENSIFIED OUR RELATIONS WITH AFRICA SINCE 2005"

Drawing attention to Turkiye's historical ties with Africa, President Erdogan noted that Ankara has re-intensified its relations with the African continent since 2005, and added: "We have boosted the number of our diplomatic missions from 12 to 44. The number of African embassies in Ankara has increased from 10 in 2008 to 38 at the present. Our trade volume has jumped from 5.4 billion dollars to 37 billion dollars in 2023. Turkish investments in Africa have surpassed 10 billion dollars in market value. Our contracting companies have assumed 1885 projects worth nearly 87 billion dollars across the continent. I have paid more than 50 visits to the continent to date, and we have hosted African leaders in Turkiye on numerous occasions."

Turkiye and Africa have recently achieved a new momentum particularly in defense and security cooperation, President Erdogan pointed out, stressing that Turkiye is one of the countries lending the strongest support to its African brothers in their fight against terrorist organizations such as DAESH and Al-Shabaab.

President Erdogan continued his remarks as follows: "We have enhancen our cooperation with the continent in the areas of culture and education as well. Turkish universities are increasingly becoming an education hub for foreign students. During our visits to Africa, we meet with ministers, business people, academics and politicians who graduated in Turkiye and speak Turkish, acting as our nation's voluntary envoys. No doubt that this situation annoys imperial powers that have exploited Africa's resources for years. This is one of the reasons why anti-Turkiye reports are on the rise in international media."

VISIT TO IRAQ

Noting that his visit to Iraq after 13 years was of historic importance in terms of its outcomes, President Erdogan said: "With the President and Prime Minister of Iraq, we addressed in detail the issues that are on our shared agenda, particularly security, transportation, energy and water. We have surpassed a critical threshold with the quadrilateral memorandum signed regarding the Development Road Project, which will shape the future of our region. We want to further increase our trade volume, which currently stands at some 20 billion dollars."

President Erdogan further stressed: "The Iraqi Government's declaration of the PKK as a banned organization is an important step in the fight against terror. We conveyed our expectation that the PKK should also be declared as a terrorist organization."

President Erdogan added: "We came together with our Iraqi Turkmen brothers, as well, expressing our solidarity with them. We had very fruitful, favorable and sincere talks in Erbil following our visit to Baghdad. I once again offered my gratitude to our Iraqi brothers, who welcomed us with affection."

"WE WILL DEFINITELY COMPLETE OUR WORK IN SYRIA"

Underscoring that regardless of whether it is DAESH or PKK, the scourge of terrorism is as significant a threat to Iraq as it is to Turkiye, President Erdogan said: "Only after the elimination of the terror threat can our region achieve economic development or political peace and stability. We will patiently continue our struggle until we completely drain the terrorism swamp in Northern Iraq. When the time comes, we will definitely complete our work in Syria, which was left incomplete due to pledges made and broken by our allies."

"THE EU SHOULD STOP ISOLATING TURKIYE"

Pointing out that economic relations with the European Union, restrictions in defense industry, and the rising xenophobia were reviewed during German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's visit to Turkiye, President Erdogan said: "Mr. Steinmeier's visit was also meaningful in that it coincided with the centenary of the Turkiye-Germany friendship treaty. We openly told them that the defense restrictions, which do not befit two allies, should be lifted. We also conveyed our expectations for racist attacks, which lastly cost the lives of our four brothers and sisters, to be prevented and the perpetrators to be punished. We stressed the importance of the fight against terrorist organizations, particularly the PKK/YPG and FETO, which attack our people and missions. We aim to increase our bilateral trade from 50 billion dollars to 60 billion dollars in a balanced manner. Turkiye is willing to enhance its relations with the EU and its members so long as justice and the principle of pacta sunt servanda are upheld. However, the EU should first get rid of strategic blindness and stop isolating Turkiye. Turkiye is the only way out of the predicament the EU finds itself in because of the competition between the powers in its east and west. The sooner the European leaders see and accept this fact, the better for them."

"WE WELCOME HAMAS' ANNOUNCEMENT THAT IT HAS AGREED TO THE CEASEFIRE"

Stressing that Turkiye welcomes Hamas' announcing that it has agreed to the ceasefire after Ankara's calls, President Erdogan said: "Now the same step should be taken by Israel. I call on all Western actors to put pressure on the Israeli administration. As I have repeatedly said in the past, we seek to increase the number of our friends. We have no insurmountable problem with any country in the region. We believe that there is no door that cannot be unlocked through dialogue and negotiations. We solely need goodwill and diplomacy. The rest will surely be achieved with some efforts and some sacrifices."

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There is 'nowhere safe to go' for the 600,000 children of Rafah, warns UNICEF

UNICEF

With hundreds of thousands of children in Rafah injured, sick, malnourished, traumatized or living with a disability, UNICEF calls for children to not be forcibly relocated, and the vital infrastructure on which children rely to be protected

06 May 2024

NEW YORK, 06 MAY 2024 - With the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip continuing to deteriorate, UNICEF is warning that a military besiegement and ground incursion in Rafah would pose catastrophic risks to the 600,000 children currently taking shelter in the enclave.

Following October evacuation orders to move to the south, it is estimated that there are now about 1.2 million people sheltering in Rafah, once home to about 250,000 people. As a result, Rafah (20,000 people per km2) is almost twice as densely populated as New York City (11,300 people per km2), and about half the population is children, many of whom have been displaced multiple times and are sheltering in tents or informal and unstable housing.

Given the high concentration of children in Rafah - including many who are highly vulnerable and at the edge of survival - as well as the likely intensity of the violence, with potential evacuation corridors likely mined or littered with unexploded ordnance; and shelter and services in areas for relocation very likely to be limited - UNICEF is warning of a further catastrophe for children, with military operations resulting in very high civilian casualties and the few remaining basic services and infrastructure they need to survive being totally destroyed.

"More than 200 days of war have taken an unimaginable toll on the lives of children," said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director. "Rafah is now a city of children, who have nowhere safe to go in Gaza. If large scale military operations start, not only will children be at risk from the violence, but also from chaos and panic, and at a time where their physical and mental states are already weakened."

Compared to adults, children are especially vulnerable to the devastating impacts of the war in the Gaza Strip. They are being disproportionately killed and injured, and suffering more acutely from disruptions to healthcare and education and a lack of access to sufficient food and water. Already, more than 14,000 children have been reportedly killed in this current conflict, according to the latest estimate by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of children in Rafah are estimated to have a disability, medical condition or other vulnerability that puts them in even greater jeopardy from the looming military operations in the city:

about 65,000 children are estimated to have a pre-existing disability, including difficulties seeing, hearing, walking, understanding, and learning.

about 78,000 children are infants under 2 years of age;

almost 8,000 children under 2 years of age are acutely malnourished;

about 175,000 children under 5 years of age - or 9 in 10 - are affected by one or more infectious diseases;

almost all children are already in need of mental health and psychosocial support.

Many of these vulnerabilities are not mutually exclusive, meaning that the same child could be both injured and sick, or malnourished and an infant.

"Hundreds of thousands of children who are now cramped into Rafah are injured, sick, malnourished, traumatized, or living with disabilities," said Russell. "Many have been displaced multiple times, and have lost homes, parents and loved ones. They need to be protected along with the remaining services that they rely on, including medical facilities and shelter."

UNICEF reiterates the call of the Interagency Standing Committee for Israel 'to fulfil its legal obligation, under international humanitarian and human rights law, to provide food and medical supplies and facilitate aid operations, and on the world's leaders to prevent an even worse catastrophe from happening.'

Underscoring the special vulnerabilities of children, UNICEF is also calling for:

An immediate and long-lasting humanitarian ceasefire. The immediate release of hostages, and an end to any grave violations against all children.

The protection of civilians and the infrastructure that supports their basic needs, such as hospitals and shelters, from attack and military use;

Continued protection of children and their families if they are unable or unwilling to move following an evacuation order - people should be allowed to move freely to safer areas, but they should never be forced to do so.

Safe and consistent access for humanitarian organisations and personnel to reach children and their families with life-saving aid, wherever they are in the Gaza Strip.

###

Note to editor:

The data point on children with disabilities is based on results from the 2019-2020 Palestinian Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). This is the latest available MICS survey for the Gaza Strip and does not reflect any changes of this indicator that might have occurred since; nevertheless it represents a valid lower bound of the incidence of children with disability.

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UN pledges to stand with Gazans in Rafah; Guterres says ceasefire opportunity 'cannot be missed'

6 May 2024 - UPDATED: Amid reports that 100,000 Palestinians have been told to leave Rafah ahead of an anticipated Israeli military operation there and that Hamas has accepted the latest Israeli ceasefire proposal, UN humanitarians on Monday insisted that they had no intention of quitting the vital aid hub.

Multiple news outlets have reported that Hamas's supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had confirmed the militant group's acceptance of what it stated were Israel's ceasefire terms in a phone call with Qatar's Prime Minister and a senior Egyptian minister. The two countries have been leading negotiations between the warring parties.

However, the Israeli leadership has reportedly indicated that the deal indicated by Hamas falls far short of its demands to end the fighting. Israel said it would send a delegation to continue ceasefire talks and also continue its Rafah operation in the meantime.

'Make an agreement': Guterres

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his pressing call to both sides "to go the extra mile needed to make an agreement come true and stop the present suffering", his Spokesperson said in a statement.

The Secretary-General also voiced deep concern over indications that a large-scale military operation in Rafah may be imminent.

"We are already seeing movements of people - many of these are in desperate humanitarian condition and have been repeatedly displaced," the statement continued.

The Secretary-General also reminded the parties that the protection of civilians is paramount in international humanitarian law.

Opportunity 'cannot be missed'

Speaking later in the evening New York time, Mr. Guterres told reporters at a press encounter alongside the President of Italy that he had made "a very strong appeal to the government of Israel and to the leadership of the Hamas in order to go an extra mile to materialize an agreement that is absolutely vital.

"This is an opportunity that cannot be missed", the UN chief stressed.

"A ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences and because of its destabilizing impact in the region."

No UNRWA evacuation

Earlier in the morning following news of the Israeli evacuation order, the UN agency for Palestine refugees UNRWA said in a post on X that "an Israeli offensive in Rafah would mean more civilian suffering and deaths. The consequences would be devastating for 1.4 million people".

"UNRWA is not evacuating: the agency will maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible and will continue providing lifesaving aid to people."

Children on 'edge of survival'

Echoing that alert, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that "a military besiegement and ground incursion in Rafah would pose catastrophic risks to the 600,000 children" sheltering there.

Many "are highly vulnerable and at the edge of survival", the UN agency said in a statement, highlighting increased violence in Rafah and the fact that potential evacuation corridors were "likely mined or littered with unexploded ordnance".

Any military move on Rafah will likely result in very high civilian casualties while also destroying "the few remaining basic services and infrastructure" that people need to survive, UNICEF insisted.

"Hundreds of thousands of children who are now cramped into Rafah are injured, sick, malnourished, traumatised or living with disabilities," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Many have been displaced multiple times and have lost homes, parents and loved ones. They need to be protected along with the remaining services that they rely on, including medical facilities and shelter."

Full-blown famine call

In a related development, the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that northern Gaza is now experiencing "full-blown famine...and it's moving its way south".

Cindy McCain's remarks on Sunday echoed serious and repeated concerns from other senior UN officials and the international community about aid restrictions and delays imposed by Israeli authorities.

"The Israeli authorities continue to deny humanitarian access to the United Nations," insisted UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini. "Only in the past two weeks, we have recorded 10 incidents involving shooting at convoys, arrests of UN staff including bullying, stripping them naked, threats with arms and long delays at checkpoints forcing convoys to move during the dark or abort," he said in a post on X on Sunday.

The UNRWA Commissioner-General also condemned rocket attacks on the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza which reportedly killed three Israeli soldiers, leading to its closure. The crossing is a key humanitarian relief entry point.

'Al Mawasi is not safe'

According to media reports, leaflet drops by the Israeli military above eastern Rafah advised communities to move to the so-called safe zone of Al Mawasi, to the west of Rafah, by the Mediterranean Sea.

UN humanitarians have previously rejected similar evacuation initiatives by the Israeli military on the grounds that they represent forced displacement.

"In Al Mawasi, there is a severe lack of sufficient infrastructure, including water available, and it is not feasible to support tens of thousands of displaced people there," UNRWA spokesperson in Gaza Louise Wateridge told UN News.

More than 400,000 people already shelter in the coastal location, according to the UN agency's latest assessment, which reported an influx of displaced persons from the nearby city of Khan Younis. To help them, UNRWA has two temporary health centres in Al Mawasi, along with other newly established medical points in the area.

"Unlike claims [to the contrary], it is far from safe because nowhere is safe in Gaza," insisted UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma.

Since 7 October, when Hamas-led terror attacks on southern Israel prompted massive Israeli bombardment and a ground offensive, at least 34,680 Palestinians have been killed, including over 14,000 children, and over 78,000 wounded, according to the Gazan health authorities. Some 1,250 people were killed in southern Israeli communities and more than 250 were taken hostage.

'Inhumane' order to evacuate: Rights chief

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Monday warned that civilian deaths, suffering and destruction were set to increase beyond already unbearable levels following the eastern Rafah evacuation order.

"This is inhumane. It runs contrary to the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights laws, which have the effective protection of civilians as their overriding concern.

"Forcibly relocating hundreds of thousands from Rafah to areas which have already been flattened and where there is little shelter and virtually no access to humanitarian assistance necessary for their survival is inconceivable. It will only expose them to more danger and misery."

"More attacks on what is now the primary humanitarian hub in the Gaza Strip are not the answer," Mr. Turk added.

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Joint Statement by 190 Humanitarian Organisations in Yemen: Humanitarian partners urge donors to remain committed to the millions in need in Yemen

UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

6 May 2024 -- Ahead of the Sixth Senior Officials Meeting on 7 May in Brussels, the United Nations, international NGOs and Yemeni Civil Society Organisations urgently appeal for sustained support for the 18.2 million people in need in Yemen. Five months into 2024, just US $0.4 billion of the 2024 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan requirement of $2.7 billion has been received.

After nine years of conflict, over half the population in Yemen18.2 million people, including 14 million women and childrenrequires humanitarian assistance and protection services.

The humanitarian community in Yemen, committed to serving populations in a principled manner, continues to deliver one of the world's largest humanitarian responses in a challenging and complex operational environment. In 2023, 229 humanitarian actorsthe majority of whom were local partnerssupported an average of 8.4 million people each month with life-saving protection and humanitarian assistance. Aid is reaching those in need, despite constraints of access and funding.

Today, Yemen is at a crossroads. The country witnessed slight improvements in humanitarian conditions following the UN-brokered truce and its de facto continuation. With these gains, partners have moved towards resilience-building programming, promoting sustainable solutions by addressing the drivers of needs. However, we cannot ignore the significant humanitarian needs that remain and that cannot be addressed without adequate funding to respond.

Economic decline, deteriorating public services and infrastructure and displacement induced by conflict and climate-related disasters continue to drive the humanitarian crisis. Rising food insecurity, the risk of increasing malnutrition rates - particularly among pregnant and lactating women, older people and children - and the spread of cholera during the current rainy season, pose threats to communities across the country. Violations of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law continue, and the presence of explosive remnants of war results in death, injury and displacement, restricts access to agricultural land and resettlement and hinders post-conflict reconstruction and development efforts.

Funding for a focused and well-prioritized 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan must be ensured to sustain the gains made and prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian situation. To date, only $435 million of Yemen's 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan requirement of $2.7 billion has been funded-leaving unmet requirements of $2.3 billion. Underfunding poses a challenge to the continuity of humanitarian programming, causing delays, reductions and suspensions of lifesaving assistance programmes. These challenges directly affect the lives of millions who depend on humanitarian assistance and protection services for survival.

Humanitarian partners are committed to transforming the response in Yemen and reducing humanitarian needs. As partners, together, we will continue to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance and maximize impact with targeted, quality programming based on need. Partners will expand collaboration with development actors and promote more Yemeni leadership for a locally-led and locally informed response, to help Yemenis rebuild their futures. To do so, however, humanitarian partners' sustained support is required.

Inaction would have catastrophic consequences for the lives of Yemeni women, children and men. The Sixth Senior Officials Meeting is a critical moment to galvanize support and collective action to address the deteriorating crisis. The humanitarian community appeals to donors to urgently address existing funding gaps, and provide sustainable support to enhance resilience and reduce aid dependency.

6 May 2024

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U.S. Navy Hosts Australian Navy, Holds Bilateral Strategic Dialogue

US Navy

06 May 2024

From OPNAV N3/N5 Public Affairs

WASHINGTON -- Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy, Vice Adm. Gene Black, hosted Rear Adm. Jonathan Earley, Deputy Chief of the Royal Australian Navy, for a bilateral strategic dialogue at the Pentagon, Apr. 9, 2024.

The dialogue was an opportunity to expand upon The Royal Australian Navy and the United States Navy Strategic Dialogue Framework for Engagement signed by both navies Dec. 15, 2020.

"This meeting furthers our unwavering commitment to increasing interoperability across warfare domains. Australia is a critical partner in the region and vital to maritime security and stability," said Black. "Our dialogue reaffirms our shared values in an increasingly challenging security environment."

During the strategic dialogue, the delegations discussed increasing joint capabilities, information and technology sharing, as well as developing high end warfighting capabilities.

"Only through a collective response can the challenges of the changing strategic environment be met," said Earley. "Engagement with our US partners through the bilateral strategic dialogue enables us to focus on ensuring developments across warfighting, science and technology and the capability domains are closely aligned."

The U.S. and Australia recently operated together in February during a trilateral exercise in the South China Sea. The operations reinforced international maritime law, freedom of the seas, and safety and security in the Indo-Pacific.

Additionally in February, over three dozen Royal Australian Navy (RAN) sailors and officers reported aboard the submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) as part of the ship's crew under the Personnel Exchange Program (PEP) effort. This PEP is in support of the Australia, United Kingdom, United States (AUKUS) Pillar I effort to deliver a sovereign conventionally armed SSN fleet to Australia.

These recent joint programs and exercises reinforce the ironclad partnership between Australia and the United States. Professional engagement and interoperability with allies and partners is the cornerstone of regional stability and fosters peace and prosperity for all nations.

The Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy (N3/N5) is the principal advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) on Navy strategies, plans and policies, including planning and coordinating the global employment of naval forces.



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USS Hershel "Woody" Williams arrives in Libreville, Gabon to commence Exercise Obangame Express 2024

US Navy

06 May 2024

From Courtesy Story

LIBREVILLE, Gabon -- The Gold military crew (MILCREW) of the Lewis B. Puller-class expeditionary sea base USS Hershel "Woody" Williams (ESB 4) and the ship's Military Sealift Command Civilian Mariners (CIVMARs) arrived in Libreville, Gabon for a scheduled port visit to begin the multinational naval exercise, Obangame Express 2024, May 5, 2024.

This port visit, as part of the exercise, strengthens the U.S.-Gabonese partnership as the two nations work together for a stable, secure, and prosperous Gulf of Guinea and West Africa region. The ship will also host a reception for distinguished visitors to kick off the exercise. These events allow the Sailors and CIVMARs of Hershel "Woody" Williams a chance to experience Gabon's rich culture, history and hospitality as a critical regional partner.

Following the scheduled port visit to Libreville, Gabon, Hershel "Woody" Williams will join the at-sea portion of Obangame Express with more than 30 countries slated to participate. The exercise will include Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS), Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV's) launches and recoveries, and personnel exchange training evolutions.

"The port visit is the perfect opportunity to strengthen relationships with our partners," said CAPT Lenard Mitchell, commanding officer of USS Hershel "Woody" Williams Gold MILCREW. "The US Navy's support for Obangame Express demonstrates our commitment to the region, and these types of engagements underscore the potential for future interoperability."

After Exercise Obangame Express 2024, Hershel "Woody" Williams will continue its deployment along the African continent, leveraging opportunities to work alongside regional allies and partners in a variety of exercises and operations to improve maritime security, and highlight our shared commitment to fostering regional security and stability.

USS Hershel "Woody" Williams is forward deployed to Souda Bay, Greece and serves as the first U.S. Navy ship permanently assigned to the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) area of responsibility. The ship is capable of conducting expeditionary missions, counter piracy, maritime security, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. The ship operates with blue and gold crews, allowing it to remain continually deployed throughout AFRICOM.

For over 80 years, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-U.S. Naval Forces Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF) has forged strategic relationships with allies and partners, leveraging a foundation of shared values to preserve security and stability.

Headquartered in Naples, Italy, NAVEUR-NAVAF operates U.S. naval forces in the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) areas of responsibility. U.S. Sixth Fleet is permanently assigned to NAVEUR-NAVAF, and employs maritime forces through the full spectrum of joint and naval operations.





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Nigerian coalition warns against possible defense pacts with US, France

By Timothy Obiezu May 06, 2024

The warning notice, signed by five civil society groups and a former chairman of Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission, came in an open letter Friday to Nigeria's president and the National Assembly

The coalition, without providing evidence, accused the United States and France of lobbying authorities in the Gulf of Guinea countries, especially Nigeria, to redeploy troops expelled from the Sahel states.

It said the alleged move could have "wide ranging implications for defense and internal security" and that hosting a military base in Nigeria could potentially divert state funds and resources away from important local projects like education, health care and infrastructure development.

Kabiru Adamu, founder of Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited, said the letter has a political undertone.

"It looked like it was just based on the desire to create a political outcome," Adamu said. "There's no fact supporting the allegation that either the U.S. or France has approached Nigeria for the establishment of a base anywhere in Nigeria, even though that is likely to happen. Of course, because we've seen the influence of both countries reducing in the Sahel region, Nigeria will offer a likely fallback option for both countries, especially the U.S."

The coalition also said the alleged plan to set up a U.S. military base in northern Nigeria could aggravate regional tensions with neighbors, cause a notable environmental impact and worsen the high cost of living for the local population.

Nigerian authorities have yet to respond to the letter.

Political affairs analyst, Ahmed Buhari, said authorities must heed the caution.

"It's what I call interfering in people's spaces. As it is right now, we need our neighbors more than we need any foreigner whatsoever from any part of the world," Buhari said. "I rather we live side by side with our neighbors more peacefully and with trust than for us to be frolicking at this moment with the United States or France for that matter. All the places you will find the United States military base  you can do your findings  there's no peace around the region."

The U.S and French militaries have been operating in Africa's Sahel for many years, helping the region in its fight against terrorism.

But a wave of coups in recent years has strained that relationship, with military juntas accusing foreign powers of being overbearing without significant progress against jihadist militants.

Some juntas have instead turned toward Russia for help fighting the armed groups.

Adamu cautions the letter might be an example of Russian propaganda.

"There's also the possibility that we're seeing the propaganda mercenaries by Russia and Niger playing out in this regard," Adamu said. "We know that since the coup in Niger, the putschists and Russia have been engaged in massive propaganda and they have used the prominent individuals from the Nigerien and Northern Nigeria extraction to achieve political objectives."

Despite counterterrorism interventions in Africa, a 2023 Global Terrorism Index report shows deaths from terrorism in the Sahel increased by an alarming 2,000% over the last 15 years.

Burkina Faso ranked first among countries most impacted by terrorism, Mali was third, Nigeria eighth and Niger was 10th.

Last month, African leaders met in Nigeria and pledged to collaborate against terrorism. But experts say with troops leaving the region, armed groups could intensify attacks on targets.

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Biden hosts Jordan's King Abdullah for White House talks

By VOA News May 06, 2024

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Monday urged President Joe Biden to "take urgent action to prevent a new catastrophe" as Israel prepares a ground operation on the Gaza city of Rafah.

The two leaders met privately over lunch at the White House as tensions rose in the Palestinian exclave under the shadow of a threatened Israeli ground assault. Hamas accepted a deal to end the fighting, but Israel had concerns, dashing hopes that the conflict would end before it hits the seven-month mark, on Tuesday.

Enter the Oxford-educated king, whose domain of 11 million people holds 2.3 million Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations. There are even more Jordanians of Palestinian descent in the Hashemite Kingdom, including its queen, Rania.

Abdullah, according to a statement from the The Royal Hashemite Court, "warned that the Israeli attack on Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians are internally displaced as a result of the war on Gaza threatens to lead to a new massacre. The King warned of the repercussions of the Israeli ground offensive on Rafah, which could cause a regional spillover of the conflict. His Majesty stressed the importance of all efforts that seek an immediate cease-fire in Gaza."

White House spokesman John Kirby offered fewer details, saying only that the two leaders "spoke about the situation in Gaza, of course, including efforts to secure the hostage deal and to get more humanitarian assistance in to the civilians of Gaza."

In a readout issued late Monday, the White House said the two leaders "affirmed their commitment to work together towards an enduring end to the crisis. They further underscored the need for an immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas and a sustainable ceasefire that allows for a surge of the urgently needed humanitarian assistance to be delivered safely through Gaza. Both remain committed to achieving a durable, lasting peace to include a pathway to a Palestinian state, with security guarantees for Israel."

Abdullah met last week with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman, where they discussed efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, as well as Jordanian efforts to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza and to find long-term peace in the region with a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Biden and Abdullah covered similar ground in a February meeting at the White House.

Nearly a month ago, Biden and Abdullah consulted by telephone following Iran's massive aerial attack targeting Israel, which the White House said, "also threatened Jordan and the Jordanian people."

The Israel-Hamas war was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials. About 100 of the hostages were freed in a weeklong truce in late November.

Israel's ensuing counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

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Israel carries out strikes in Rafah, vows to continue hostage talks

By VOA News May 06, 2024

Israel's military said Monday that it was carrying out strikes in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, shortly after Hamas announced it had accepted a cease-fire proposal to halt its war with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Monday that the cease-fire proposal was "far from Israel's essential demands," but that Israel would send negotiators to Cairo to continue talks for a cease-fire.

Meanwhile in Washington, the White House urged all sides to make a deal. Negotiators in Egypt have been trying to bring about a temporary halt in the fighting and the release of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

"We want to get these hostages out," said John Kirby, White House national security spokesperson. "We want to get a cease-fire in place for six weeks. We want to increase humanitarian assistance and the last thing that I want to do is say anything at this podium that's going to put that process at risk. Regardless, as we've said before, we still believe that reaching an agreement is the absolute best outcome, not just for the hostages, but for the Palestinian people."

Israel Defense Forces on Monday evening posted on the social media platform X that it was "currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah."

Netanyahu's office said in a statement, "The war cabinet unanimously decided that Israel continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war."

On this, too, the White House expressed a strong stance, with President Joe Biden speaking to Netanyahu in a Monday morning phone call.

"It doesn't matter whether it's missiles or rockets; things that kill innocent people, that's not okay," Kirby said. "And again, the president made it clear that we don't want to see operations in Rafah that put at risk those million and a half people that are there."

A White House statement said Biden "reiterated his clear position on Rafah" during his call with the Israeli leader. It also said that Netanyahu agreed "to ensure the Kerem Shalom crossing is open for humanitarian assistance for those in need."

Biden also hosted Jordan's king at the White House, where they spoke about the situation in Gaza.

Earlier Monday, Israel said about 100,000 people in eastern parts of Rafah should evacuate their homes and go to an expanded humanitarian area that now includes Khan Younis.

An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, posting on social media in Arabic, said the Israeli military will act forcefully against terrorist organizations in Rafah, and that anyone who is in the area will be putting their lives at risk.

Israel is preparing a "limited scope operation" in Rafah, a military spokesperson said.

Israel has previously issued such warnings amid its campaign to eliminate the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip. Many of the Palestinians in Rafah traveled there seeking shelter after Israel warned them to flee other parts of Gaza.

Maps provided by the Israeli military previously showed a humanitarian zone along the Gaza coast west of Khan Younis. Monday's announcement expanded that area both to the north along the coast, as well as east to include Khan Younis.

Israel has said an offensive in Rafah is necessary to defeat Hamas, while the United States, United Nations and others have warned of a potential humanitarian catastrophe if Israel carries out a large-scale attack in the area where more than half of Gaza's population is sheltering.

President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

A White House statement said Biden "reiterated his clear position on Rafah." It also said that Netanyahu agreed "to ensure the Kerem Shalom crossing is open for humanitarian assistance for those in need."

In a statement Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply concerned by the indications that a large-scale military operation in Rafah may be imminent. We are already seeing movements of people  many of these are in desperate humanitarian condition and have been repeatedly displaced."

He also called on both Israel and Hamas to "go the extra mile needed to make an agreement come true."

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted Monday on the social media platform X, "A full military incursion into Rafah will plunge the crisis into unprecedented levels of humanitarian need. A ceasefire is urgently needed for the sake of humanity."

Reuters quoted a senior Hamas official calling the evacuation order for Rafah a "dangerous escalation that will have consequences."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin highlighted the issue again in a Sunday phone call with Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

A Pentagon statement said Austin "reaffirmed his commitment to the unconditional return of all hostages and stressed the need for any potential Israeli military operation in Rafah to include a credible plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians and maintain the flow of humanitarian aid."

Israel's Defense Ministry said Gallant emphasized to Austin that military action was required in Rafah, and that there was no alternative.

The U.N. relief agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said on social media Monday that an Israeli operation in Rafah would bring "more civilian suffering and deaths," and "devastating" consequences for more than 1 million people sheltering there.

UNRWA said it would "maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible and will continue providing lifesaving aid to people."

The Israel-Hamas war was triggered by the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials. About 100 of the hostages were freed in a weeklong truce in late November.

Israel's ensuing counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Cease-fire negotiations

Negotiators have been trying to find a breakthrough in cease-fire talks aimed at bringing a temporary halt in fighting and the release of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

After no apparent progress was reported Sunday in talks with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, the Hamas delegation left Cairo to consult with its leadership and said it planned to return to Cairo on Tuesday.

Israeli officials did not send negotiators to Cairo to take part in indirect diplomacy.

After Hamas issued its statement Monday saying leader Ismail Haniyeh accepted a cease-fire proposal in a phone call with Qatar's prime minister and Egypt's intelligence minister, Israeli officials told media outlets that the plan approved by Hamas was not what Israel had agreed to.

The U.S. State Department and the White House said they were reviewing the Hamas response.

Kirby told reporters Monday that CIA Director Williams Burns was in the region having discussions on the Hamas response.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday that CIA Director Williams Burns was in the region having discussions on the Hamas response.

"We want to get these hostages out, we want to get a cease-fire in place for six weeks, we want to increase humanitarian assistance," he said.

Haniyeh said Sunday that the group wants a comprehensive cease-fire that would end Israeli "aggression" and guarantee Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, while Hamas frees about 100 hostages in exchange for hundreds of prisoners jailed by Israel.

Sunday in Jerusalem, Netanyahu rejected any end to the fighting that would leave Hamas in control of Gaza, the narrow territory along the Mediterranean Sea, and pose a continuing threat to the Jewish state.

The United States  which, like other Western powers and Israel, brands Hamas a terrorist group  has urged Hamas to enter a deal.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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UNICEF: 'Nowhere safe to go' for 600,000 children in Rafah

By VOA News May 06, 2024

A ground incursion by Israeli forces would pose 'catastrophic risks' to hundreds of thousands of children taking shelter in Rafah, the head of the United Nations Children's Fund warned Monday.

The U.N. agency issued the statement after Israel ordered an evacuation of some neighborhoods in Rafah ahead of a possible ground invasion.

"Rafah is now a city of children, who have nowhere safe to go in Gaza," said Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director.

"If large scale military operations start, not only will children be at risk from the violence, but also from chaos and panic, and at a time where their physical and mental states are already weakened," she added.

UNICEF said children in Rafah should not be forcibly relocated, and the infrastructure and aid they rely on should be protected. Most children in Rafah are injured, sick, malnourished, traumatized or living with a disability.

Following October evacuation orders to move south, an estimated 1.2 million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah, which was once home to about 250,000 people. About half of the population is children, many of whom have been repeatedly displaced and forced to shelter in tents and unstable housing.

Children are more vulnerable to the impacts of the war in the Gaza Strip, compared to adults. UNICEF says they are disproportionately killed and injured and suffer more acutely from disruptions to health care, education and access to food and water.

Israel declared war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas after its October 7 terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages.

More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's counteroffensive, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. At least 14,000 of those deaths are children.

UNICEF reiterated a February statement by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee calling on Israel to facilitate aid operations to Gaza.

"We are calling on Israel to fulfill its legal obligation, under international humanitarian and human rights law, to provide food and medical supplies and facilitate aid operations, and on the world's leaders to prevent an even worse catastrophe from happening," the committee said.

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Georgia poised to adopt 'foreign influence transparency' law akin to Russia's

By Ekaterine Maghaldadze May 06, 2024

Independent journalists in Georgia are speaking out against a proposed "foreign influence transparency" law that closely mimics Russian legislation and, they fear, will be used to limit press freedom in the country.

Tens of thousands of Georgians  many of them young  have taken to the streets to protest the legislation, which they believe will undermine Georgia's bid for Euro-Atlantic integration.

Police have cracked down on demonstrators, using water cannons, pepper spray, tear gas and sometimes rubber bullets. Several journalists have been injured during the protests.

Parliament, controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party, has approved the second reading of the bill. If passed, the law will require any media organization, and any nongovernmental organization or other nonprofit, that receives more than 20% of its funding from abroad, to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" and provide financial statements. Failure to do so would result in fines.

Nino Zuriashvilli, a 25-year veteran investigative journalist and editor who worked for the "60 Minutes" program on Georgia's Rustavi 2 television channel as well as other media projects, now leads Studio Monitori, an award-winning independent investigative media group.

She told VOA's Georgian Service that more than 250 journalistic investigations and other, smaller projects were made possible thanks to foreign funding, mostly from the United States through the National Endowment for Democracy and U.S. Embassy as well as European and Open Society Foundations.

Over the past three decades, the United States has provided approximately $6 billion in assistance to Georgia, including $1.9 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, to strengthen the country's security and democratic institutions.

Zuriashvilli said foreign funding allows her to serve the Georgian people's interests, not those of foreign governments or Georgian politicians.

"How can we be serving foreign interests when we tell Georgian people the truth about the quality of the air they breathe? [We tell] about the Georgian rivers, forests, Georgian lands, truth about the Georgian judges and the corruption or nepotism in the judiciary, in other Georgian public offices, spending of people's money. ...

"When we provide them with the truth that is hard to find and hard to prove about what is going on in their country, for their own informed decisions, how shall this be considered pursuing the interests of foreign powers?"

International press freedom and human rights groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists, Amnesty International and Freedom House, believe the law is aimed at limiting press freedom and freedom of expression.

"The aim of this legislation is not to increase transparency, but to pressure the media and attack its independence," Ricardo Gutierrez, a former journalist who is general secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, told VOA's Georgian Service. "It's clear to me that the aim is to impose self-censorship, to make it difficult for journalists to fully fulfill their role as watchdogs."

The Georgian government's aim, he added, is to portray "journalists as if they could be spies working in the interest of foreign powers ... and, in a way, to criminalize journalism."

Officials of the European Union, which in December 2023 granted Georgia membership candidate status, have said the bill could derail Tbilisi's hopes for European integration. Likewise, the U.S. Department of State said the "Kremlin-inspired" measure puts Georgia's Western trajectory at risk.

Officials in the Georgian Dream party claim that the law would actually "Europeanize" Georgian NGOs and help donors. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has accused foreign diplomats and Western officials of baseless and humiliating criticism and "speaking the language of blackmail."

Kobakhidze accused foreign-funded NGOs and media organizations of exacerbating "radicalism and polarization, supporting the revolutionary processes, war propaganda, pseudo-liberal ideology and actions against the national and religious identity of Georgia."

Copied from Russia?

Press freedom defenders say the proposed law dangerously resembles Russia's foreign agent law, which has been used to jail or intimidate international reporters who refused to register as foreign agents.

"This law is totally against the European legal standards on freedom of association and expression, against EU legal standards, or any country in the EU, there is no example. The countries where these type of laws are long enacted are Russia and Belarus," said the European Federation of Journalists' Ricardo Gutierrez.

"We have a concrete example from Russia where this foreign agent law exists and we know how journalists are silenced because of this law and the pressure put on them."

In an April 29 speech supporting the proposed law, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire Georgian Dream party founder who is often called Georgia's "shadow ruler," told supporters that foreign-funded NGOs threaten Georgian sovereignty.

"The financing of NGOs, which presents itself as help for us, is in reality for strengthening [foreign] intelligence agencies, and for bringing them to power," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.

Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, told VOA's Georgian Service that such rhetoric echoes that of Russian government officials and "autocrats."

The proposed law is "against any democratic principles," she said, adding that it is "very similar to the Russian foreign agent law" and "seems to be not just Kremlin-inspired, but maybe even supported and lobbied by the Kremlin."

If enacted by the end of this spring, the law will be in effect during most of the campaign leading up to Georgia's parliamentary elections scheduled for October 26.

'Autocratizing hybrid'

International human rights groups have described Georgia as a "hybrid democracy" and Freedom House recently downgraded it to a "autocratizing hybrid," in no small part because of the proposed bill.

Georgia dropped from 77th place to 103rd place out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders' 2024 Press Freedom Index. According to the press freedom watchdog, Georgia's ruling party continues to polarize society, cultivate rapprochement with Moscow and conduct a policy that is increasingly hostile to press freedom.

It cited Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan as countries where media censorship has intensified in an "astonishing mimicry of Russian repressive methods."

Polls by the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute have consistently found that an overwhelming majority of Georgians support the country joining the EU and believe its future lies with the West. Russia currently illegally occupies up to 20% of Georgia's sovereign territory.

Some Georgian journalists say the law on "foreign influence transparency" is just the latest step that the current Georgian government has taken to silence dissent and limit freedom of information.

"This law is only the culmination of what we've experienced for the last couple of years," said Studio Monitori investigative reporter Tskriala Shermadini. "We have taken several agencies to court for not providing the public information in response of our official, lawful requests."

Lika Zakashvili, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Publika, an online Georgian media outlet, was among the journalists hit with pepper spray and tear gas during the recent protests in Tbilisi.

She says her organization will never register as a "foreign agent" and that she remains hopeful.

"They will have to take back this bill again," Zakashvili said. "We work in service of the Georgian people, not foreign powers."

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Chad's presidential elections underway in peace, but with tension

By Moki Edwin Kindzeka May 06, 2024

Chad's presidential election concludes Monday with civilians going to the polls, a day after members of the military cast their ballots. Transitional President General Mahamat Idriss Deby is facing nine challengers, including his current prime minister. The election, designed to end three years of a military government, has been peaceful so far. However, there is tension over a ban on taking pictures of election result sheets at polling stations.

Hundreds of people started arriving at polling stations in Chad's capital N'djamena as early as 5:30 am local time.

Among the voters at the University of N'djamena was 29-year-old student Abdel Koura. He says he came out early to vote because he wants a president that will bring peace and provide jobs for youths who are unemployed after completing their education.

Koura says voting is his civic right. He says he is calling on all civilians, especially youths, to come out in huge numbers and vote for their leader in peace. He says he is also pleading with Chad's transitional government to avoid chaos by ensuring that the elections are transparent and free and the winner would be who civilians have voted for.

Early voting was peaceful. However, Chad's National Election Management Agency, known as ANGE, said that several thousand polling stations opened late due to what they call logistical difficulties.

Chad's transitional president General Mahamat Idriss Deby voted in N'djamena's second district and pleaded with civilians to go out en masse and perform their civic duty of voting for the person who will manage Chad's affairs for the next five years.

ANGE says 8.2 million people are registered to vote. It says Chad's military has been deployed to protect voters' safety in over 26,500 polling stations.

Chad says over 2,500 national and international observers from 120 groups are accredited to monitor the elections. It says applications from another 60 groups were rejected for not respecting the country's laws.

Cyrille Nguiegang Ntchassep is the spokesperson for observers from the six-nation Central African Economic and Monetary Commission. He has concerns that peace will not hold.

He says perceivable tensions over a ban on filming or taking photos of result sheets in polling stations and publishing them on social media and radio and television are likely to degenerate into violent clashes because civilians think that the central African state's elections management body is controlled by Deby who created it. Ntchassep says he does not understand why Chad is reluctant to proclaim election results in a day or two as was the case in Senegal's March 24 presidential polls.

Opposition and civil society groups, including the Transformers Party of Deby's main challenger Succces Masra, said they planned to photograph the election result sheets and distribute them to the international community. They say the move is to prevent ANGE from rigging the elections in favor of Deby.

Tahir Oloy Hassan is ANGE's spokesperson. Hassan says ANGE is a permanent, independent and impartial body that does not receive orders from any state authority including Deby.

He says the ban on filming and taking photos of result sheets and prohibition of media organs from having access to some polling stations and sensitive areas is to reduce tensions that may arise from misinformation and manipulation by people who want to see Chad in chaos.

He said claims by opposition candidates that Chad's military was instructed to vote for Deby when they went to the polls on Sunday are unfounded.

ANGE says it has up to May 21 to publish provisional results and only Chad's Constitutional Council has the powers to proclaim definitive results.

The elections are design to end three years of transition that followed the death of Idriss Deby Itno in 2021.

Chad's opposition and civil society says the younger Deby's rule was marked by political tensions including October 2022 pro-democracy protests during which the central African state's security forces killed at least 50 people, injured 300 and arrested several hundred others.

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DFA Statement Further to the DFA Statement issued on 5 May 2024

Republic of the Philippines - Department of Foreign Affairs

DFA Statement

07 May 2024 - Further to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Statement issued on 5 May 2024, the DFA wishes to emphasize that only the President of the Republic of the Philippines can approve or authorize agreements entered into by the Philippine Government on matters pertaining to the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea.

In this respect, the DFA can confirm that no cabinet-level official of the Marcos Administration has agreed to any Chinese proposal pertaining to the Ayungin Shoal.

As far as the Philippine Government is concerned, no such document, record or deal exists, as purported by the Chinese Embassy. END

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Canada stands with Germany to condemn malicious cyber campaign

Global Affairs Canada

Statement

May 6, 2024 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

The Honourable MAlanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs of Canada and the Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence, issued the following statement:

"Canada stands in solidarity with Germany, Czechia and other allies as they condemn the malicious cyber campaign against the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

"On May 3, Germany issued a statement to announce that Russian cyber threat actors were behind this incident. Canada is concerned with the increased pattern of cyber threats directed at democratic institutions and condemns these malicious activities.

"Canada works with allies and partners, including NATO, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, to continue to advance a stable cyberspace that is built on respect for international law and the norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace."

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The detonation of even a single nuclear weapon in space could destroy a significant proportion of satellites in orbit around Earth: UK statement at the UN General Assembly

Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN General Assembly debate on the Outer Space Treaty.

6 May 2024

On 24 April, the Security Council voted on a resolution tabled by the United States and Japan, which reaffirmed our commitment to the Outer Space Treaty. Thirteen Member States voted in favour. One, the Russian Federation, used its veto.

Outer space belongs to all humankind and space technologies are critical to our daily lives. From using maps and checking the weather on our phones, to international shipping and large-scale disaster risk reduction programmes, the far-reaching applications of space technologies are embedded in all of our economies.

For this reason, we need to protect and regulate the safe use of space, while taking appropriate steps to prevent it becoming the backdrop of the next arms race.

To that end, this draft resolution would have reaffirmed the existing obligation not to place nuclear weapons in orbit around the Earth. It also called on states not to develop nuclear weapons specifically designed for such purposes. After all, if states intend, as they must, to comply with the Outer Space Treaty, they shouldn't be preparing to breach it.

The detonation of even a single nuclear weapon in space could destroy or permanently damage a significant proportion of satellites in orbit around Earth. The resultant radiation and debris would render many orbits unusable for a very long time. There would be highly disruptive and possibly life-threatening consequences for those essential applications, maps, weather, risk-monitoring, which would affect all states, not least developing nations.

The UK therefore voted in favour of this resolution.

There was nothing in this resolution that any law-abiding state committed to peace and the prevention of an arms race in outer space could reasonably object to.

And yet Russia did.

This is not the first, but the second draft Council resolution on nuclear non-proliferation which Russia has vetoed in just one month.

Russia vetoed the DPRK Panel of Experts' mandate - despite, or rather, because of the Panel's proven track record of exposing DPRK's dangerous nuclear and missile programmes, in violation of Security Council resolutions.

Russia's actions cannot be interpreted any other way. They are seeking to undermine the global non-proliferation architecture, and this should be of grave concern to us all.

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Press statement by President von der Leyen following the trilateral meeting with French President Macron and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping

European Commission

Statement

6 May 2024

Paris



Good afternoon,

Today was the third time I met President Xi in just over one year, and I think this reflects the importance we both attribute to EU-China relations. Once again, we had an open and honest exchange and discussion on points where we see eye to eye and on points where we have differences. Our topics range from geopolitical issues to climate change and of course our economic relations.

Together with President Macron, the first topic where we exchanged views on was the geopolitical situation. We especially discussed Ukraine and the conflicts in the Middle East. We agree that Europe and China have a shared interest in peace and security. We count on China to use all its influence on Russia to end Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. President Xi has played an important role in de-escalating Russia's irresponsible nuclear threats, and I am confident that President Xi will continue to do so against the backdrop of the ongoing nuclear threats by Russia. We have also discussed China's commitment not to provide any lethal equipment to Russia. More effort is needed to curtail delivery of dual-use goods to Russia that find their way to the battlefield. And given the existential nature of the threats stemming from this war for both Ukraine and Europe, this does affect the EU-China relations.

Finally, we discussed the situation in the Middle East, which is of great concern for both of us. No effort can be spared in de-escalating tensions and preventing a wider conflict in the region. Once again, we call for a ceasefire and for the release of all hostages, and we continue to work to provide all humanitarian support possible while working for a two-state solution. We also made clear our concern on Iran's direct threat to stability in the region, and we believe that China can play an important role in limiting the irresponsible proliferation of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones.

We also discussed our economic and trade relationship. It is one of the most important in the world. I am convinced that if the competition is fair, we in Europe will have thriving, durable economies that will support more good jobs. But of course, today we also discussed the imbalances that remain significant, and this is a matter of great concern. As we have shown, we will defend our companies; we will defend our economies. We will never hesitate to do so if this is required. Let me focus on three topics.

The first topic: Chinese subsidised products. These subsidised products - such as the electric vehicles or, for example, steel - are flooding the European market. At the same time, China continues to massively support its manufacturing sector. Combined with a domestic demand that is not increasing, the world cannot absorb China's surplus production. Therefore, I have encouraged the Chinese government to address these structural overcapacities. At the same time, we will closely coordinate with G7 countries and emerging economies that are also increasingly affected by China's market distortions.

My second topic: For trade to be fair, access to each other's market also needs to be reciprocal. We discussed how to make real progress on market access. I remain confident that more progress can be achieved. At the same time, we stand ready to make full use of our trade defence instruments if this is necessary. For example, a couple of weeks ago, we launched our first investigation under the International Procurement Instrument. Europe cannot accept market-distorting practices that could lead to deindustrialisation here at home.

My third point: We need to improve the resilience of our supply chains. For example, we tackle excessive dependencies by diversifying sources of critical raw materials. This is why we have negotiated several agreements to widen the number of countries from which we obtain critical raw materials. This is basically de-risking in practice. Our market is and remains open to fair competition and to investments, but it is not good for Europe if it harms our security and makes us vulnerable. And this is why we act.

To conclude: The EU-China relation is a complex relationship. We approach it clear-eyed, constructively and responsibly. Because a China that plays fair is good for all of us. At the same time, Europe will not waver from making tough decisions needed to protect its economy and its security. So, with that, we are looking forward to celebrating next year the 50th anniversary of the EU-China relations. I thank you for your attention.

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Opening statement by President von der Leyen ahead of the trilateral meeting with French President Macron and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping

European Commission

Statement

6 May 2024

Paris



Merci beaucoup PrAsident Macron, dear Emmanuel, thank you for convening us again here in ElysAe and many thanks for inviting me to a part of this state visit.

Dear President Xi - I am pleased to see you again. I visited your great country twice last year and I remember very well our lunch in the Four Seasons Hall during our most recent meeting last December. The European Union and China want good relations. Given the global weight of China, our engagement is key to ensure mutual respect, avoid misunderstanding and find joint solutions to global challenges. This is especially important as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of EU-China relations next year. So we have an interest to show that our engagement delivers. China is important for the European Union to tackle the major global challenges. For example, our joint fight against climate change and our determination to protect biodiversity and implement ocean governance. Here I want to commend you on the outcome of Kunming. In addition, both China and the European Union have a shared interest in peace and security and in the effective functioning of the rules-based international order. Especially against a backdrop of a very turbulent environment, be it in Europe, in the Middle East or in East Asia. We are determined to stop the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and establish a just and lasting peace. And finally, we have a substantial EU-China economic relationship. Our daily trade volume is around EUR 2.3 billion a day. But this relationship is also challenged, for example through state-induced overcapacity, unequal market access and overdependencies. These are all issues that we will address today. In December, I remember that you told us, President Xi: 'EU-China relations are essential to global peace, security and prosperity'. This remains true today. That is why it is so important that we speak here today on how to cooperate where our interests align as well as how to address responsibly the issues on which we have concerns.

Thank you.

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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian's Regular Press Conference on May 6, 2024

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China

2024-05-06 22:07

Xinhua News Agency: From May 4 to 5, President Xi Jinping's Special Representative and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zheng Jianbang attended the 15th Islamic Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Banjul, the capital of the Gambia. Could you share more information with us?

Lin Jian: At the invitation of Gambian President Adama Barrow, from May 4 to 5, President Xi Jinping's Special Representative and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zheng Jianbang attended the 15th Islamic Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, and read the congratulatory message from President Xi at the opening ceremony.

China noted that the Final CommuniquA adopted at the conference said the Conference welcomed the visit by a delegation from the OIC to the People's Republic of China including the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in response to an official invitation from China. It also welcomed the participation of the special representative of the Chinese President in the 15th Islamic Summit Conference and anticipates further cooperation between the OIC and the People's Republic of China. This is highly appreciated by China.

On May 5, President Adama Barrow met with Vice Chairman Zheng Jianbang who conveyed President Xi's warm greetings to President Barrow and congratulated the Gambia on hosting the conference. President Barrow asked Vice Chairman Zheng Jianbang to convey his hearty greetings to President Xi and sincerely thanked President Xi for sending a special representative to the conference. He stressed that the Gambia values its friendship with China, firmly supports the one-China principle, and stands ready to work with China to deepen cooperation in various fields and achieve greater progress in bilateral relations.

The fact that President Xi Jinping sent a special representative to the summit and that the conference adopted a Final CommuniquA containing the aforementioned positive wording on China fully demonstrates the common aspiration of China and Islamic states to work together, carry forward traditional friendship, and advance the relations between China and Islamic states. China will continue working with Islamic states to strengthen political mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation, advance exchanges among civilizations, implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind.aa

CCTV: At a seminar held by a US think tank, Mark Lambert, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and China Coordinator said that Resolution 2758 does not endorse, equate to, or reflect an international consensus on the one-China principle and has absolutely no bearing on countries' sovereignty choices with respect to their relationships with Taiwan. He said the resolution did not preclude Taiwan's meaningful participation in the UN system and other multilateral fora and did not constitute a UN institutional position on the political status of Taiwan. What's your comment?

Lin Jian: Mark Lambert's remarks are a total distortion of the resolution and facts. They misrepresent the history, and tread upon the international law and basic norms of international relations. It is shocking and outrageous that a US State Department official overseeing China-US relations would speak so irresponsibly and brazenly tell and spread lies. The Chinese side has strongly protested to the US side on those remarks.

There is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. The Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. This is an undeniable fact, a universal consensus of the international community and a basic norm in international relations. One hundred and eighty-three countries in the world, including the US, have established and are advancing diplomatic relations with China on the basis of the one-China principle.

Resolution 2758 adopted at the 26th Session of the UN General Assembly in 1971 stated in black and white that it "decides to restore all its rights to the People's Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations, and to expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it." The resolution made it clear that the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, including Taiwan, at the UN; Taiwan is not a country but a part of China's territory. It makes clear Taiwan's status as a non-sovereign entity. UNGA Resolution 2758 resolved once and for all politically, legally and procedurally the issue of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, at the UN. The resolution also made clear that there can only be one seat representing China at the UN and precluded the possibility of "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan."

Since the adoption of the resolution, the one-China principle has been observed by the UN and its specialized agencies on the Taiwan question. Taiwan is referred to as "Taiwan, province of China" in all UN's official documents. It was clearly stated in the official legal opinions of the Office of Legal Affairs of the UN Secretariat that "the United Nations considers 'Taiwan' as a province of China with no separate status," and the "'authorities' in 'Taipei' are not considered to... enjoy any form of government status."

The Taiwan region's participation in the activities of international organizations must and can only be handled in accordance with the one-China principle. The United Nations is an intergovernmental international organization composed of sovereign states. Taiwan, a province of China, has no basis, reason or right to join the UN or its relevant agencies. This is stipulated in the UN Charter and is the principle that all UN member states must follow and an obligation that they should fulfill.

As a major country and permanent member of the UN Security Council, the US is supposed to take the lead in observing the UNGA resolutions and abiding by international law and basic norms in international relations, but it does just the opposite. The US deliberately distorted UNGA's Resolution 2758 and propagated the narrative of so-called "Taiwan's meaningful participation in the UN system" to hollow out the one-China principle, embolden and support "Taiwan independence" separatist activities, and serve its pernicious aim of suppressing China. Such an attempt to turn back the wheel of history and ignore global opinion will only be resisted and opposed by the international force for justice and will not succeed.

UNGA Resolution 2758 brooks no challenge, and the one-China principle is unshakable. To play the "Taiwan card" is to drive oneself into the wall. Supporting Taiwan will inevitably backfire. We urge the US to stand on the side of the majority of countries in the world, stand on the right side of history, follow the solemn decision made by the UNGA, abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiquAs, act on the US leader's commitment of not supporting "Taiwan independence," "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan," and stop stepping on China's baseline and red line on the Taiwan question in any way.

CCTV: Philippine National Security Advisor Eduardo AAo, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and the Department of Foreign Affairs recently issued separate statements and denied the existence of any arrangements between China and the Philippines on the Ren'ai Jiao issue, including "new model" arrangement. What's your comment?

Lin Jian: China has all along been committed to managing maritime disputes, including the Ren'ai Jiao issue, with the Philippines through dialogue and consultation. The "gentlemen's agreement", internal understandings and the agreed "new model" all reflect China's effort and sincerity to that end. Let me once again outline the basic facts here.

First, at the end of 2021, after intensive communication and consultation, China and the Philippines reached the "gentlemen's agreement." During the first few months of the current Philippine administration, both sides continued to implement the "gentlemen's agreement" until the Philippines stopped honoring it in February 2023.

Second, last September, the Chinese side invited the Envoy of the President to China for Special Concerns of the Philippines to Beijing to discuss how toaproperly manageathe situation at Ren'ai Jiao, which resulted in an internal understanding. The understanding was approved by the Philippine leadership. One resupply mission was carried out within the realm of the understanding before it was abandoned by the Philippines.

Third, early this year, the Chinese side and the Philippine side agreed on a "new model" for resupply missions concerning Ren'ai Jiao after multiple rounds of discussions through the diplomatic channel and AFP WESCOM. The Philippine military has made repeated confirmation that the "new model" has been approved by all key officials in the Philippine chain of command, including the Secretary of National Defense and the National Security Advisor. On February 2, the Philippines carried out one resupply mission under this "new model" before abandoning it as well.

Whatever the Philippines says, it will not erase the fact that it did reach the "gentlemen's agreement," internal understandings and the "new model" with China. Let me stress that those understandings and arrangements are aimed to manage differences, prevent conflict and build trust so that the waters of Ren'ai Jiao can remain peaceful and stable. China urges the Philippines to adhere to the basic norms on international exchanges, respect facts, honor its commitments, stop infringement and provocations and take concrete steps to come back to the right path of properly handling differences with China through dialogue and consultation.

Rudaw Media Network: How do you see the improvement of relations between Kurdistan Region and Iran through the visit of Nechirvan Barzani, the President of Kurdistan Region, to Iran?

Lin Jian: Iraq and Iran are both important countries in the Middle East. China welcomes countries in the region, including Iraq and Iran, to develop friendly relations and jointly contribute to security, stability and development of the region.

China News Service: Solomon Islands Governor General David Vunagi announced on May 2 that former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele won the prime minister vote of the parliament in a 31-18 count. What's China's comment?

Lin Jian: China congratulates former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele on being elected as the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands. We believe under his leadership, Solomon Islands will continue to achieve new progress in socioeconomic development.

Over the past five years since China and Solomon Islands established diplomatic ties, the bilateral relationship has maintained a sound momentum of growth with fruitful exchanges and cooperation in various fields that benefited the two countries and two peoples. The Chinese government attaches high importance to China-Solomon Islands relations and stands ready to work with the new government led by Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele to further elevate China-Solomon Islands comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era to a new level.

DPA: Germany's Foreign Minister said last weekend that she did not rule out the possibility of the German frigate Baden-WArttemberg crossing the Taiwan Strait during its mission starting from tomorrow. What is the Foreign Ministry's comment?

Lin Jian: Let me stress that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. China will not waver in its resolve to safeguard the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity. China respects countries' right to navigation in accordance with international law, but firmly opposes any country making provocations and threatening China's sovereignty and security in the name of freedom of navigation. The Asia-Pacific is a pacesetter of global peace and development. We hope countries outside the region will do more things that are conducive to peace, stability and prosperity and join the effort to safeguard the development of the region, instead of making provocations and creating trouble for the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Reuters: Philippine President Marcos today described the use of water cannons in the South China Sea as weapons used in attacks, and said that the Philippines will not follow the Chinese coast guard down that road. What "weapons" does China have in defense of its territorial claims in the South China Sea then?

Lin Jian: If the Philippines truly wants to lower tensions in the South China Sea, they should immediately stop intruding into the waters adjacent to China's Nansha Qundao and Huangyan Dao, stop sending construction materials to the warship illegally "grounded" at Ren'ai Jiao and building permanent facilities, and stop illegal landing activities on relevant uninhabited islands and reefs. They also need to stop bringing countries into their scheme, flexing muscles, spreading disinformation and misleading the international community.

China Daily: The Commissioner of Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions of Canada issued the Initial Report on May 3, saying that "China currently stands out as the most persistent and sophisticated foreign interference threat to Canada." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asserted previously that China tried to interfere in the election but failed. The report echoed Trudeau's assertions. What's your comment?

Lin Jian: We've repeatedly stressed China's commitment to the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs. China has never and will never have any interest in interfering in Canada's internal affairs. The so-called "China's foreign interference" is nothing but a lie to serve political purposes.

China strongly deplores and opposes this so-called "Initial Report." We reject its groundless accusations and vilification, and have lodged serious protests to Canada.

The so-called Report is riddled with speculative wording such as "possible", "may" and "potential." It says its arguments are mainly supported by "intelligence", but adds that "intelligence is not proven fact" and provides no real evidence. Such ideologically driven reports are the product of some self-serving Canadian politicians, who deliberately seek to confuse and mislead the public with false accusations and self-contradictory allegations. This is extremely irresponsible.

Canada has long had a record of grossly interfering in China's domestic affairs onaissues concerning our core interests such as Taiwan, Xinjiang, Xizang, and Hong Kong. Canada is the one that actually needs to stop foreign interference activities.

China urges Canada to respect and face up to the facts, ditch its ideological bias and immediately stop groundless attacks and smears against China.

AFP: Thousands of troops from the Philippines and the United States are conducting annual military drills today involving land, sea and air maneuvers against hypothetical invasion of the Philippines. Given that this comes after weeks of increased tension in the region due to competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, how does China view the drills taking place today?

Lin Jian: China has repeatedly made its position clear on US-Philippines military cooperation. Let me stress again that no military drill should target or harm the interests of any third party, nor should it undermine the trust between countries and affect peace and stability in the region. Countries in the region are clear-eyed about who is stoking military confrontation and ratcheting up tensions in this part of the world.

Relevant country needs to know that the only effective way to protect one's own security and keep the region peaceful and stable is to nurture good-neighborliness, return to dialogue and consultation and uphold strategic independence.aa

Reuters: The death toll from flooding in Kenya has risen to 228, according to Kenya's interior ministry. Are there any casualties of Chinese nationals that you are aware of? How many and in what locations?

Lin Jian: China expresses sincere sympathies over the fatalities and devastation caused by recent flooding in Kenya. We are ready to help Kenya as much as we can with the relief and reconstruction efforts in light of the extent of the disaster and Kenya's needs. We hope and believe that the people of Kenya will pull through this difficult time and rebuild their homeland soon. No Chinese deaths or injuries have been reported so far.

Shenzhen TV: It's reported that the UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures, Alena Douhan, will visit China soon. Do you have more to share on that?a

Lin Jian: At the invitation of the Chinese side, the UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Alena Douhan, will visit China from May 6 to 17. She will have exchanges with relevant government departments, companies, industry associations, social organizations and so on in China. China stands ready to have constructive engagement and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect with UN human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, to contribute to the healthy development of the global human rights cause.

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China recruits Mandarin-speaking teachers to move to Inner Mongolia

The move comes as schools phase out instruction in the Mongolian language.

By Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin 2024.05.06 -- Chinese authorities in the northern part of Inner Mongolia are hiring teachers from across China, offering attractive packages to encourage fresh graduates who are native Mandarin speakers to settle in the region, according to recent recruitment notices.

The move appears to be part of a nationwide move to eradicate the use of Mongolian in primary and secondary education, overseas activists said.

Primary and secondary schools across the region were ordered to end Mongolian-medium instruction and to offer only Chinese-medium teaching from Sept. 1, 2023.

Authorities in Otog Front Banner, a county-like administrative division outside Ordos city, are looking to recruit 40 high-school teachers of Chinese, math, science, English as well teachers of history, geography and "ideology and politics," according to a recruitment ad dated April 25 posted to the Gaoxiaojob.com jobs board.

They are also looking for 30 primary school teachers, nine to teach Chinese, with other vacancies available for teachers of math, English, science and other subjects, the notice said.

It added that successful applicants from top-tier universities can expect to receive a "resettlement allowance," with accommodation provided. Applicants must be under 30 years of age, according to the ad.

Similar advertisements have also been posted by authorities looking for 70 primary and secondary teachers to fill posts in Ordos city, and 20 people to teach preschool in Shilingol Banner, near the border with the independent country of Mongolia.

The recruitment drive comes as Inner Mongolia Vice Gov. Bao Xianhua called in a signed opinion article in the ruling Chinese Communist Party's official mouthpiece, the People's Daily, for "a team of teachers with excellent skills, providing a strong guarantee for the building of a strong regional education system, who will write the next chapter of the modernization of Inner Mongolia, Chinese-style."

Phasing out Mongolian

Activists said the move is part of the government's bid to erase Mongolian language and culture from the region's schools.

It comes as schools complete the phasing out of Mongolian in favor of Mandarin as a medium of instruction for non-language classes including history, math and science a a policy that sparked mass protests by parents and students followed by a regionwide crackdown when it was announced in September 2020.

An ethnic Mongolian teacher from Shilingol League who gave only one name, Tana, said that ethnic Mongolian teachers in the region's primary and secondary have been left out in the cold by the switch to Mandarin across the board, and are struggling with delivering class in their second language.

"It's a bit easier in primary schools, but junior high school teachers who used to teach in Mongolian are suddenly having to teach in Mandarin," Tana said. "This generation of teachers finds it very hard to teach certain subjects now that they suddenly have to teach in Chinese."

Tana said her school had informed teachers who are unable to make the transition to Mandarin would need to retire early or be redeployed in the pastoral team.

"They called a meeting of ethnic Mongolian teachers and said that either we have to teach in Chinese, or take jobs in the dormitories or the canteen," she said.

Nearly impossible expectation

Ordos-born Yang Haiying, a professor at Japan's Shizuoka University who has written a history of the "genocide" of ethnic Mongolians during the political violence of the Chinese Communist Party's 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, said it's almost impossible for many native speakers of Mongolian to suddenly switch to teaching their subjects in Mandarin.

"They are expected to teach chemistry in Chinese. Equations, physics, theory, etc.," he said. "This is tantamount to forced layoffs, because [the government] knows very well that the ethnic Mongolians won't be able to do this."

The fact that authorities in the region are recruiting heavily for the next academic year suggests that many ethnic Mongolians have either left, or are on their way out of, the workforce.

"They're recruiting from the rest of China for young people to bring their families, which is a disguised settlement program," Yang said.

Japan-based ethnic Mongolian activist Haas, who goes by a single name, said the aim is to marginalize ethnic Mongolians, who were trained in their native language to teach in that language.

"The Chinese Communist Party's policy is not to allow them to stay on [in their posts]," Haas said. "They want to separate them from mainstream society, because the authorities fear they will obstruct the policy when it comes to be implemented."

"So they're trying to kick all of the ethnic Mongolian teachers out."

'Colonial policy'

Authorities began merging Chinese-medium and Mongolian-medium schools across the region, forcing around 1 million ethnic Mongolian children from rural areas into more than 2,000 boarding schools, according to a Feb. 21, 2024, report by the head of the New York-based Southern Mongolia Human Rights and Information Center, Enghebatu Togochog.

"[The] boarding school system ... is an integral part of China's overall colonial policy of wiping out the language, culture and identity of the entire Southern Mongolian population as a whole," the report said, adding that it had gone hand-in-hand with government policies aimed at ending Mongolian herders' nomadic way of life.

"Now the Chinese government is targeting the Southern Mongolians' last defense of national identity that is the language," Enghebatu Togochog wrote. "From kindergartners to college students, from teachers to professors, from ordinary herders to party members, the entire [ethnic] Mongolian population is subjected to [a] massive training program."

During the "training" sessions, ethnic Mongolians are condemned for expressing their ethnic identity, for singing Mongolian songs and wearing Mongolian clothes, as well as for not having enough Han Chinese friends or being nice to Chinese people, he said.

Instead, they are expected to embrace Han Chinese language, culture and traditions.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. 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 May 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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Belgrade Lays Out Welcome For Xi Visit Aimed At Raising Economic, Political Ties

By RFE/RL's Balkan Service May 06, 2024

BELGRADE -- The Serbian capital has been adorned with Chinese flags and banners ahead of President Xi Jinping's May 7-8 visit to the country, as the Chinese leader seeks to gain economic and political influence during a rare European trip.

Xi, who is meeting with French leaders in Paris on May 6, is scheduled to hold talks with nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic, who has kept close ties to Beijing and Moscow while also seeking to maintain relations with the West amid the country's hopes of eventual EU membership.

Xi is later scheduled to travel to Budapest to meet with right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who also has kept close ties with Russia and China despite the being an EU member nation.

A focus of Xi's European trip will be on China's economic ties to Europe and escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Brussels. But China's position on Russia's war in Ukraine will also take center stage.

China has sought to carve out a larger diplomatic role around the Ukraine war, although EU officials have expressed doubts about the role Beijing can play in any future peace process given its close ties to Russia.

Serbia and Hungary have both pushed back on sanctions against Russia and have stood against weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

The date chosen for Xi's visit to Serbia is symbolic, as it marks the 25th anniversary of the destruction of the Chinese Embassy building during the 1999 NATO bombing campaign.

A large Chinese cultural center has been built at the former site of the embassy, and Xi is expected to visit a memorial there in honor of Chinese diplomats killed during the accidental strike.

Xi and Vucic are expected to discuss a wide range of topics, from political, economic, and technological issues to cooperation in the field of culture.

The Chinese president is coming to Belgrade six months after Vucic visited Beijing, during which Serbia and Chinese officials signed a free-trade agreement in the presence of the two leaders at the international "Belt and Road" forum.

The free-trade agreement between Serbia and China is set to enter into force in July, although it has been under scrutiny in Brussels.

Ahead of Xi's visit, Vucic said Serbia will accelerate projects in several spheres, including "robotics, satellite technology, flying cars, among many other things."

Xi previously traveled to Serbia in June 2016, which marked the first visit of a Chinese president to Belgrade in 30 years.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/serbia-china-xi-vucic-trade- russia-ukraine/32935464.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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China's President Xi begins state visit to France

By VOA News May 06, 2024

China's President Xi Jinping is on a rare state visit to France, which started with trilateral talks with French President Emanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Ahead of Xi's visit, both von der Leyen and Macron indicated the meetings would focus on establishing fair trade between the European Union and China. Both leaders have complained of overproduction by China's subsidized industries, allowing them to flood European markets with cheap goods.

France currently holds the revolving presidency of the European Council, defined as the EU institution that defines the general political direction and priorities of the EU.

Speaking to reporters following the talks, von der Leyen said a China that plays fair is good for everyone. "For trade to be fair, access to each other's market also needs to be reciprocal. And we discussed how to make real progress on market access," von der Leyen said.

The European Commission president expressed confidence the two sides could make progress but, at the same time, said the EU would not waver from taking steps to protect its economy and security and "stands ready to make full use of our trade defense instruments if this is necessary."

Von der Leyen said they also discussed Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. She gave credit to China for playing an "important role" in de-escalating Russia's "irresponsible nuclear threats."

Additionally, she sought continued assurances from China that it would not provide any weapons to Russia, as well as dual-use goods, such as technology that could have weapons applications.

"Given the existential nature of the threats stemming from this war for both Ukraine and Europe, this does affect the EU-China relations," von der Leyen said.

Following the trilateral meeting, Macron and Xi held bilateral talks.

The Chinese president and his wife, Peng Liyuan, arrived Sunday at Orly airport outside Paris, where they were greeted by French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

During Xi's two-day stay in France, Macron will take him to the Pyrenees, a mountainous region dear to the French president as the birthplace of his maternal grandmother, on Tuesday before Xi heads to Russia-friendly Serbia and Hungary.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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Gallup report: US ahead of China in global leadership approval

By Samuel Weinmann May 06, 2024

Global approval of U.S. leadership is higher than China's, according to a Gallup analysis Monday. The report says that although more countries have a higher net support for U.S. leadership, global support for both the U.S. and China decreased in 2023.

The report also specifies that while the U.S. beats China in global leadership approval, support fluctuates depending on who's leading. Gallup data over nearly 20 years shows that Democratic leadership tends to yield higher global support than Republican leadership.

Out of 133 countries surveyed in 2023, the U.S. maintained an advantage in 81 of them, and China in 52. The U.S. held the biggest advantage in Kosovo while China enjoyed the largest advantage in Russia.

Having an advantage in approval for leadership is important for a country's ability to exert influence, Gallup says in the report. "Holding other factors constant, the great power that has a net approval advantage in a country of interest may have a better chance to realize its objectives."

The report also says that the net approval score "offers a useful proxy for an important component of soft power at the population level."

Despite the U.S. holding a clear advantage, support for both China and the U.S. have decreased, and Gallup says in the report that this "suggests a growing lack of enthusiasm for these two global powers."

Despite the overall decline in support for both countries' leadership, the U.S. and China have made respective long-term gains in certain parts of the world. China has made gains in African countries like Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa and Malawi. The U.S. has made gains in Asian countries like India, the Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam.

According to the report, "China's muscular activities in its neighborhood appear to have elicited a threat response that pushes these countries toward the U.S. orbit," likely referencing China's ongoing aggression in the South China Sea.

Net support this year could be contingent on a variety of factors, such as changes in leadership or the development of major global conflicts. This year is the largest election year in recorded history with more than half the world's population in more than 50 countries heading to the polls.

Julie Ray, who co-authored the Gallup report, said the impact of this year's elections will be hard to predict, but that "the stakes are definitely high this year."

Support for U.S. leadership could be in question as U.S. President Joe Biden has received criticism domestically and abroad for continued support for Israel during its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians. Israel began its military campaign against Hamas after Hamas fighters crossed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 people hostage.

The impact of U.S. support for Israel "really remains to be seen," said Ray, who added that "when we analyzed the countries surveyed in 2023 with fieldwork before and after October 7, we didn't see any major uniform differences in approval ratings."

Ray added that U.S. support for Israel did have a notable impact on support for U.S. leadership within Israel, saying that ratings soared "to record heights."

The Gallup survey calculates relative net approval, which is the difference between the percentage who approve and the percentage who disapprove of a country's leadership.

For any country, net approval of the U.S. minus net approval of China results in a score that ranges from +200 to -200.

A score of +200 indicates total support for U.S. leadership and total disapproval of Chinese leadership. A score of -200 indicates the opposite, and a score of zero indicates total parity in support.

Kosovo, the largest supporter of U.S. leadership, had a score of +154 points, while Russia, the biggest supporter of Chinese leadership, had a score of -132 points.

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Xi attends closing ceremony of the sixth meeting of China-France Business Council with Macron

Global Times

(Xinhua) 08:34, May 07, 2024

China and France should uphold mutual benefits, jointly oppose acts of "decoupling" and disrupting industrial and supply chains, and say no together to building barriers, President Xi Jinping made the remarks on Monday when holding talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

China and France should uphold independence and jointly fend off a "new Cold War" or bloc confrontation, Xi said, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Xi also attended a welcome ceremony held by Macron on Monday.

Earlier on the day, Xi attended a China-France-EU trilateral meeting with President Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Elysee Palace.

In a signed article published Sunday in French media Le Figaro, Xi said we live in a world that is far from being tranquil and is once again facing a multitude of risks. China is ready to work with France in the spirit that guided the establishment of our diplomatic ties to forge a stronger comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries and make new contributions to stronger cooperation of the global community.

Strategic guidance

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Monday that Xi's visit to France marks the climax of China's diplomacy toward Europe this year. And EU is crucial in the process of promoting political multipolarity and economic globalization.

On Tuesday, Macron will take Xi to the Pyrenees, a mountainous region dear to the French President as the birthplace of his maternal grandmother, according to Reuters.

Such a special arrangement by Macron has the meaning of courtesy and shows the special relationship between the two heads of state, as well as a kind of frankness, analysts said.

Tian Dewen, deputy director of the Institute of European Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that in the past five years, China-EU relations have encountered difficulties, but China-France relations have been relatively stable. This is directly related to the Macron government's implementation of positive and pragmatic relations with China.

China is a very important external force for France and Europe to realize strategic autonomy, and it can certainly consolidate France's leading position in Europe if it can maintain a communicative and interactive relationship with China, experts said.

Seeking consensus

China regards Europe as a priority of its major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, and an important partner in achieving Chinese modernization, Xi said at China-France-EU trilateral meeting held earlier on Monday.

As the world enters a new period of turbulence and transformation, China and the EU, as two major forces in the world, should continue to see each other as partners, stay committed to dialogue and cooperation, deepen strategic communication, enhance strategic mutual trust, build strategic consensus, carry out strategic coordination, work for steady and sound growth of China-EU ties, and continue making new contributions to world peace and development, Xi said.

According to AFP, Macron told Xi that coordination with Beijing on "major crises" including Ukraine and the Middle East was "absolutely decisive" and essential.

He Zhigao, a research fellow with the Institute of European Studies from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said that the trilateral meeting highlights an important opportunity for China and Europe to strengthen high-level exchanges, communicate on major issues, and enhance strategic consensus.

"By talking about some of the current challenges facing China-Europe relations and the demands of both sides, they can continue the stability and cooperation space of the current relations, so that the relations will not slide into a new Cold War led by the US. China-Europe relations now play a more important role in shaping global order than ever," He told the Global Times.

Von der Leyen said that it is important that the EU maintains good relations with China, and this will determine whether global challenges such as climate change and the Ukraine crisis can be better addressed.

Xi urged the two sides to properly address economic and trade frictions through dialogue and consultation, and accommodate each other's legitimate concerns.

Whether viewed from the perspective of comparative advantage or global market demand, there is no such thing as "China's overcapacity problem," Xi said.

Sense of autonomy

Sun Keqin, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times that the US has very deep involvement in European affairs.

"US interference remains, but Europe has kept a certain degree of autonomy and is able to cooperate with China, especially the French leadership which has always had a strong sense of strategic autonomy in a pragmatic manner," said Sun.

Through the visit of the Chinese top leader, Europeans will also have the opportunity to think about how to handle its relations with China, whether to follow the US to engage in confrontation and lose their own interests, or to jointly develop mutual benefits and get win-win results, the expert said.

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Xi elaborates on China's position on Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Ukraine crisis

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 08:29, May 07, 2024

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping outlined China's principled position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Ukraine crisis when he jointly met the press with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron here on Monday.

The prolonged tragedy of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a test for human conscience, and the international community must act, Xi said.

China calls on all parties to work for an immediate, comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, he said, adding China supports the full membership of Palestine in the United Nations, and supports restoring to Palestine its legitimate national rights and restarting the two-State solution, so as to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East.

Xi stressed that China has stated its position on the Ukraine crisis on many occasions.

China did not start the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to or a participant in it, Xi said, noting that instead of being an onlooker, China has been playing an important role for peace.

The special representative of the Chinese government on Eurasian affairs is on his third round of shuttle diplomacy, he added.

At the same time, China opposes attempts to use the Ukraine crisis to scapegoat or smear a third country or to stoke a "new Cold War," he said.

Noting that history has proven time and again that at the end of the day, conflicts can only be resolved through negotiation, Xi said that China calls on all parties to resume engagement and dialogue to build mutual trust.

China supports holding at a proper time an international peace conference that is recognized by both Russia and Ukraine and ensures the equal participation of all parties and fair discussions on all peace plans, Xi said.

China supports a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe, he said.

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French firms urged to seize opportunities from China's development

People's Daily Online

By Mo Jingxi (Chinadaily.com.cn) 08:05, May 07, 2024

President Xi Jinping said on Monday that entrepreneurs in France are welcome to participate in China's modernization efforts, and to seize opportunities arising from China's development as the country mulls significant moves to further deepen reform across various sectors.

Xi made the remarks while attending the closing ceremony of the sixth meeting of the China-France Business Council together with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Theatre Marigny in Paris.

Xi told delegates to the meeting that China is working to steadily expand institutional opening-up, ease market access and shorten the negative list for foreign investment. This will help provide a broader market and more win-win cooperation opportunities for countries including France, he said.

Since China and France established diplomatic ties 60 years ago, the two countries have developed a closely intertwined relationship between their economies, with bilateral trade increasing 800-fold to reach $78.9 billion last year.

Based on past and present experiences, Xi emphasized that there are no justifiable reasons for failures in maximizing the potential of the China-France relationship, and vowed to further enhance its productivity.

The Chinese president announced that China welcomes more imports of quality agricultural products from France, and will extend visa exemption entry for citizens from France and another 11 countries on short-term visits to China until the end of 2025.

"Deeper friendship calls for frequent exchanges and closer cooperation. We always view France as a priority and trustworthy partner of cooperation," he said.

Noting that China and Europe are two major markets promoting globalization, Xi said China will work with France to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides.

He called on the two sides to continue to enhance political mutual trust, remove various distractions, and jointly oppose attempts to turn business relations into political, ideological or security issues.

"We should turn China and Europe into each other's key partners for business cooperation, priority partners for cooperation in science and technology, and trustworthy partners for cooperation in industrial and supply chains," he said, adding that China will open its market wider to create more opportunities for companies from France, Europe and beyond.

Danone's CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique, who attended the meeting on Monday, said that as China advances its high-quality development agenda and nurtures new quality productive forces in recent years, French enterprises like Danone have found fertile ground for growth. Around 200 government officials and entrepreneurs from both countries participated in the meeting.

"The high-level exchanges have painted a promising blueprint for the future development of China-France relations, which is truly inspiring," he said, adding that he expects the two countries' partnership to generate new opportunities in the future.

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IRGC's warship sails into Southern Hemisphere

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sun / 5 May 2024 / 11:46

A domestically-developed oceangoing warship operated by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy has crossed the line of zero degrees latitude, the Equator, and sailed into the Southern Hemisphere.

Tehran-ISNA- The Shahid Mahdavi, which is a multipurpose vessel designed for long-range operations, registered the achievement on Friday as Iran's naval forces are expanding their presence in the international waters and high seas.

The 2,100-tonne vessel, which is 240 meters in length and 27 meters in width, joined the IRGC's naval fleet in March 2023.

The oceangoing warship is equipped with a three-dimensional phased array radar, sea-to-sea and sea-to-air missiles, and sophisticated telecommunication systems for electronic warfare.

The Shahid Mahdavi is capable of carrying various types of attack helicopters, combat drones as well as fast attack craft.

In February 2024, the IRGC Navy launched two ballistic missiles from inside two containers on board the warship.

Iranian military experts and engineers have in recent years made remarkable breakthroughs in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient.

Iranian officials say the Islamic Republic will not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, including its missile power, which are entirely meant for defense.

Iran has made it clear that its defense capabilities are not subject to negotiation. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has repeatedly called for efforts to maintain and boost Iran's defense capabilities.

End Item



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Grossi says proposed 'concrete practical measures' to boost Iran-IAEA cooperation

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 6:43 PM

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi says he has put forth a series of proposals to senior Iranian officials aimed at enhancing cooperation between Iran and the agency and resolving safeguards issues.

Grossi made the announcement in a post on his X social media on Monday after meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani in the capital, Tehran.

"I proposed a set of concrete practical measures for the revitalization of the 4 March 2023 Joint Statement with [the] aim of restoring process of confidence building and increasing transparency," the IAEA chief said.

He, however, did not provide any details of the proposals.

At the end of a two-day visit in March 2023, Grossi and Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), issued a joint statement in which the two sides agreed to take steps aimed at facilitating enhanced cooperation and expediting the resolution of outstanding safeguards issues.

Both sides also agreed that bilateral interaction will be carried out in a spirit of collaboration, and in full conformity with the competencies of the IAEA and the rights and obligations of Iran based on the comprehensive Safeguards Agreement.

Moreover, Iran expressed in the statement its readiness to "allow the IAEA to implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities" on a voluntary basis.

Earlier on Monday, Grossi arrived in Tehran to attend an international nuclear conference and hold high-level talks with the country's senior nuclear and political officials.

Grossi is scheduled to meet with the AEOI chief, during the visit and also to participate in the International Conference on Nuclear Sciences and Technologies (ICNST) in the central province of Isfahan.

Iran and the IAEA are in a dispute triggered by the agency's Israeli-influenced accusations against Tehran's peaceful nuclear activities, with the UN atomic agency insisting on investigating what it claims to be "uranium traces" found at "undeclared nuclear sites" in Iran.

The row turned into a sticking point in the talks aimed at reviving the 2018 US-abandoned nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In 2019, Iran started to roll back the limits it had accepted under the landmark nuclear deal with world powers that had been signed in 2015. The decision came a year after the US withdrew from the agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.

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IAEA chief arrives in Iran for high-level talks, international nuclear conference

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 2:37 PM

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi has arrived in Iran to attend an international nuclear conference and hold high-level talks with senior nuclear and political officials.

Grossi was welcomed by Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), upon his arrival in the capital Tehran on Monday.

Grossi is scheduled to meet with the Iranian officials and the AEOI chief, Mohammad Eslami, during his visit to Tehran and also to participate in the International Conference on Nuclear Sciences and Technologies (ICNST), which is underway in the central province of Isfahan.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ICNST's opening ceremony, Eslami said the international conference was warmly received despite pressures from hegemonic powers to prevent the realization of Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

"Well-experienced figures have participated in this summit despite acts of obstructionism, and good articles have been presented. Our goal is that these articles and achievements showcase the level of Iran's science and technology to the world," Eslami said.

"We are ready to share these technologies with other countries to fight the dominance of arrogant countries so that [existing] barriers are broken and a different scientific order can emerge," he added.

Iran and the IAEA are in a dispute triggered by the agency's Israeli-influenced accusations against Tehran's peaceful nuclear activities, with the UN atomic agency insisting on investigating what it claims to be "uranium traces" found at "undeclared nuclear sites" in Iran.

The row turned into a sticking point in the talks aimed at reviving the 2018 US-abandoned nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In 2019, Iran started to roll back the limits it had accepted under the landmark nuclear deal with world powers that had been signed in 2015. The decision came a year after the US withdrew from the agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.

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Iran nuclear conference: Tehran ready to fight arrogant countries' dominance in nuclear field

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 11:18 AM

Iran's nuclear chief says the country is prepared to confront arrogant countries' dominance in the field of nuclear energy.

Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), made the remarks on the sidelines of an exhibition displaying the country's nuclear achievements on Monday.

"We are prepared to fight arrogant countries' dominance [and] transfer our technologies to other countries," he said.

Doing so, Eslami added, would help "break down [existing] barriers and [contribute to] emergence of a new scientific order."

The comments came amid some Western countries and their allies' allegations against the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear energy program as they claim it has deviated toward "military purposes."

The Islamic Republic has rejected the allegations, underlining that its nuclear doctrine disallows weaponization of its nuclear activities in line with religious and moral concerns.

Non-diversion of the program has been verified by countless reports produced by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with which the country enjoys favorable levels of cooperation.

Adding to his remarks, Eslami praised an international nuclear conference that went underway alongside the exhibition.

He said international conference was well received despite "pressure [being applied] by the imperialist establishment [that is] is geared towards preventing the realization of the peaceful goal of Iran's nuclear energy program."

Some large numbers of seasoned personalities took part in the conference, despite obstacles and obstructionist efforts, and presented high-quality scientific articles, Eslami stated.

"Our goal is to show Iran's scientific and technological level to the world through these articles and achievements," the top nuclear official concluded.

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Iranian Cyberpolice To Ratchet Up Crackdown On Social Media Critics

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda May 06, 2024

Iran's cyberpolice are launching a plan to combat "moral and social crimes that violate Islamic, social, and cultural norms in cyberspace," in another sign of the curbing of freedoms by authorities following a renewed crackdown on the wearing of head scarves and the blocking of several social media sites.

According to the semiofficial ISNA news agency, cyberpolice chief Vahid Majid outlined the new measures targeting online activities, including "obscene live streaming, vulgar content production, and modeling."

"In a proactive strategy, we have identified and taken legal and operational actions against the operators, managers, and members of 10 active cybersites," Majid added.

The cyberpolice recently blocked several popular social media pages -- including Instagram, as well as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Telegram, and WhatsApp -- while the judiciary has pursued cases involving social media commentary, summoning individuals and pressing charges for various offenses.

At the same time, the Islamic republic's authorities have resumed the deployment of the morality police on Iran's streets, aggressively targeting citizens, particularly women, in an effort to enforce strict dress codes.

This has led to the documentation by activists and victims of what they say are several incidents of violence against women challenging the compulsory hijab.

It has also led to widespread usage of the Internet by social network users and civil activists to complain about the situation.

A recent survey by ISPA, the Student Opinion Polling Center of Iran, revealed that a significant portion of the population continues to access the blocked platforms, with 46.5 percent using Instagram, 35.3 percent on WhatsApp, and 34.6 percent on Telegram as of February 2024.

The hijab became compulsory for women and girls over the age of 9 in 1981, two years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, triggering protests that were swiftly crushed by the new authorities.

Many women have flouted the rule over the years and pushed the boundaries of what officials say is acceptable clothing.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-cyberpolice-crackdown- social-media/32935276.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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UN atomic watchdog chief seeks tougher nuclear checks in Iran

By VOA News May 06, 2024

The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi flew to Iran on Monday to improve his agency's oversight of the Islamic Republic's rapidly advancing nuclear program.

Grossi warned that Iran has amassed enough highly enriched uranium for "several" nuclear bombs if it chooses to build them.

Iranian officials have threatened they could pursue atomic weapons.

"For us, making the atomic bomb is easier than not building [an] atomic bomb," said Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri, chancellor of Shahid Beheshti University and a specialist in nuclear physics.

Grossi acknowledged the agency cannot guarantee whether Iran's centrifuges are being used for secret enrichment.

"The level of inspection [in Iran] is not at the level we should have," he told Sky News last month.

Iranian media said Grossi will meet Monday afternoon with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.

Analysts and diplomats say Grossi has limited leverage and must be wary of empty promises.

Grossi is also expected to attend an Iranian nuclear conference Tuesday in the city of Isfahan while on his two-day trip. Isfahan came under Israeli fire in recent weeks despite it being surrounded by sensitive nuclear sites.

Tehran launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel in April. The strike followed Israel's apparent attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria which killed two Iranian generals and others.

Israel's nuclear weapons program did not dissuade Iran's assault. Experts suggest Iran could pursue the bomb itself after a major attack on it.

"With a tiny open attack on Iranian soil by the U.S. and Israel, I believe Iran will conduct its first atomic test," analyst Saeed Leilaz said in April.

Problems "will only get worse," Grossi said at an International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors' meeting in March. "So, we need to address this in a serious way."

Tensions have heightened between the IAEA and Iran, and since former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Iran has since abandoned the deal's limits on its nuclear program.

IAEA surveillance cameras have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the agency's most experienced inspectors from its nuclear facilities.

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Analysts assess implications of Iran-Israel tensions

By Dale Gavlak May 06, 2024

Despite an unprecedented direct attack on Israel last month, Iran has been careful not to engage in an all-out war with Israel at this time. But analysts say other radical elements in Iran might be willing to take more risk in the future.

Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told a recent online seminar that Iran has decided to take a slower approach toward Israel for a number of reasons.

Sadjadpour sees Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who turns 85 later this year, as "committed to preserving the regime." But he questions Khamanei's ability to rein in all its forces.

"One potential explanation for what was really an unprecedented Iranian attack April 13th from Iranian soil onto Israel is Khamenei is now no longer able to micromanage things perhaps as he was five, 10 years ago," Sadjadpour said. "And he's appointed all of these very firebrand, hardline Revolutionary Guard commanders. They may be much less adverse than he is."

Nicholas Heras of the Washington-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy told VOA that neither Iran nor Israel wants a military conflict to expand at this time.

"It's very clear that Iran wanted to send a global message that it is prepared to meet Israel fire to fire, so to speak," Heras said. "However, the current Iranian leadership is not in a position or mindset to escalate into a full-out war with Israel that it knows will involve the United States. The Biden administration has made it very clear that when it comes to a potential war between Iran and Israel, the U.S. will side with Israel."

In April, Israel carried out airstrikes on a major air base and nuclear site in central Iran in retaliation for Iran's unprecedented direct missile barrage on Israel that month.

Iran said it conducted the attack in response to an alleged Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Damascus, Syria on April 1 that killed two top Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders, thought to be involved in planning the Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7.

Researchers Hamidreza Azizi and Erwin van Veen of the Clingendael Institute in The Hague wrote in a recent article that the Islamic Republic is trying to "avoid having to fight a domestic and foreign 'war' at the same time."

They point to Iran's violent crackdown on women and girls openly defying the country's strict headscarf laws as well as on the men who support them, following the death of Mahsa Amini and other activists, as part of the domestic turmoil. Amini died in 2022 in police custody following her arrest for alleged violations of the dress code laws.

Azizi and van Veen said the dress code violations symbolize broader social disobedience against Iran's ruling conservative elites.

"Simply put, by cracking down on dissent at home, Iran's ruling elites aim to avoid domestic unrest while facing the threat of war abroad. Similarly, by threatening war abroad, Iran's ruling elites aim to avoid deterioration of their credibility and deterrence at home as well as in the region," they wrote in the institute's paper titled Tehran's perpetual motion: The threat of war abroad and contested legitimacy at home.

Observers describe the recent attacks by Iran and Israel as limited, stopping short of eliciting an all-out war, with negligible damage caused on either side.

Still, Amos Harel, a defense analyst for Israel's Haaretz newspaper, said that despite the limited nature of the recent direct attacks between Iran and Israel, "the balance of deterrence between the two countries [is] unsettled."

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PM Netanyahu's Address to the Opening Ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day

Israel - Prime Minister's Office

Events and Speeches

The 37th Government

06.05.2024

Following is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address, this evening, at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, to the opening ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day [translated from Hebrew except where noted:

"The Honorable President Herzog and Mrs. Herzog,

I will follow your lead and greet our most esteemed guests. First and foremost, the Holocaust survivors, who greatly inspire us all, including during this difficult war. You are living proof of the resurrection of the Jewish people after the destruction of our communities. You are true heroes.

Major Moshe Yedidyah Leiter, an admired officer in the Shaldag unit, went to battle in the Gaza Strip with the legacy of the Holocaust on his shoulders. This is not merely poetic words; it is reality. During his military service, when his father, Yechiel, would ask him: 'How do you bear such a heavy burden?' Moshe used to say, 'It is the burden of generations. A burden of responsibility that gives meaning to my service in the Israel Defense Forces.'

Moshe Leiter was named after his great-grandfather. He was born in Galicia, moved to Vienna, escaped from Vienna to Switzerland, from Switzerland to France, and ended up in New York. Many of his relatives were mercilessly slaughtered in the extermination camps. He, along with his wife and children, managed to escape Austria in the week of the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938. Moshe and his family never forgot the sound of the Nazi soldiers' boots in the streets of Vienna.

Major Moshe Leiter, the great-grandson of Moshe Leiter, led his soldiers in the war in Gaza, knowing that he was fighting for his great-grandfather as well, and for the six million Jews, our brothers and sisters. Moshe, one of our best fighters and commanders, a father of six, fell while serving in reserve duty in Beit Hanoun.

During the Shiva, his father Yechiel said: 'If the State of Israel were not established after the Holocaust, the image that would have been engraved in us is the photograph of the little boy in the Warsaw Ghetto with his hands up in the air, against the Nazi soldiers' rifles. But the State of Israel exists, and puts weapons in our sons' hands. We did that so that we could defend ourselves against those who seek our destruction.'

Tomorrow, Yechiel Leiter, the bereaved father, will attend the March of the Living in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The message that he will send from there, Never Again, is also our message here today, from the hills of Jerusalem.

I wish to clarify: Never again is now!

Because eighty years after the Holocaust, after the unspeakable genocide of six million Jews, a third of our people, the forces of evil rose up against us once again, driven by pure evil. They slaughtered, abused, raped, kidnapped.

I say this clearly: the horrific terrorist attack of October 7th was not a Holocaust. Not because they lacked the intent of genocide, but because they lack the ability to carry it out. The intention is the same; the Nazis acted in order to completely destroy the Jewish people. The Hamas murderers are instructed to do the exact same thing. They murder babies, children, women, men, the young and the elderly. They do so without batting an eye. They kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and half of them are still held hostage, underground, in the dark.

We are determined to release them all - all of them - from this dark inferno, those who are still alive and the dead. We are obligated to bring them home, to their families, and end this ongoing nightmare. Our hearts are with them.

We will fight the monsters of Hamas and destroy them for good. I say 'monsters' not only because of the horrors they committed, but because of the fact that they take pride in them. They broadcast their murders live.

In a nursery in Gaza, which was used as a terror base of operation by Hamas, our soldiers found a copy of Hitler's slanderous book, Mein Kampf, translated into Arabic. In another house, they found a girl's tablet with a picture of Adolf Hitler as the wallpaper.

A straight line, as sinister as can be, connects the murderers of old to the murderers of today. But right here lies the difference between the Holocaust and the resurrection. But unlike in the Holocaust, when we were helpless against our enemies, today we have our own defensive might.

After the October 7th massacre, we initiated a war against our assailants. A war that, by the help of God, will end in our absolute victory.

Our enemies made a big mistake. They thought we were weak, divided, devoid of roots and perseverance. They were wrong.

In the moment of truth, we stood together, shoulder to shoulder, full of resilience, determination and strength.

My friends, the people of Israel, our test is to continue to stand together, all the way to victory in the crucial days ahead of us. This is the only way to ensure our existence and our future.

We are fighting on two fronts: The first, the fanatical regime in Iran and its terror proxies, who act with the clear intention to destroy us; the second, the antisemitic volcano eruption that spits burning lava of lies against us, all around the world.

I say this simply: The suppressed antisemitism in the West, that bubbled under the surface ever since the Holocaust, is now rearing its ugly head.

Previous generations spread lies of how Jews poisoned wells, used the blood of children to make matza, and spread disease. Today, they spread new lies, that we are committing genocide and causing famine in Gaza. This could not be further from the truth.

What genocide are they talking about? We do everything we can to avoid harming citizens. We take precautions that no army in history ever took.

What starvation? From the beginning of this war, we let into the Gaza Strip countless trucks filled with food and medicine, to prevent exactly that. To prevent a humanitarian crisis.

Just as they were in the past, these false accusations are not levelled against us because of the things we do, but because of the simple fact that we exist. Sadly, many people believe these blatant lies, and they believe them for one reason and one reason only: because we are Jews.

What moral bankruptcy.

The lie has become truth, truth turned into lies. As the prophet Isaiah said: 'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that change darkness into light, and light into darkness.'

This madness has reached the most prestigious campuses in the West. Jewish students, supporters of Israel, are facing threats, slander and harassment. They are scared to be seen with any Jewish symbols: their yarmulkes, prayer shawls, Stars of David. Jewish professors and academics are beaten up and humiliated. Brainwashed bullies break into classrooms and break the windows.

This is reminiscent of things that happened in German universities in the 1930s. Yes, they broke windows too. Only this time, it is happening in America in 2024.

Our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, we stand with you against the hatred here, and against the hatred there.

No less scandalous is what might happen in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

This court, which was established in response to the Holocaust and other horrors, to ensure that Never Again, is considering issuing warrants against Israel's leaders and commanders.

If such a step is taken, its intent will be to tie our hands and undermine our basic right to self-defense.

How absurd!

How justice and history are being distorted!

This step would put an indelible stain on the very idea of justice and international law.

The attempt to tie our hands originates from various parties in the international community.

From here, from Jerusalem, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, I send a message, loud and clear: 'You will not tie our hands.'

If Israel is forced to stand alone, we will stand alone, and will continue to smite our enemies until we achieve victory. Even if we must stand alone, we will continue fighting human evil.

As the prime minister of Israel, the country of a proud nation that has been around for millennia, I pledge that no pressure and no resolutions from any international forum will prevent us from defending ourselves from those who want to destroy us.

Major Moshe Leiter and all our fallen soldiers died for that purpose.

There death was not in vain.

From here, at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, I will address the whole world with a few short sentences in English:

[English]

Eighty years ago, in the Holocaust, the Jewish people were totally defenseless against those who sought our destruction.

No nation came to our aid.

Today, we again confront enemies bent on our destruction.

I say to the leaders of the world, no amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum, will stop Israel from defending itself.

As the Prime Minister of Israel - the one and only Jewish state - I pledge here today from Jerusalem on this Holocaust Remembrance Day:

If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone. But we know we are not alone because countless decent people around the world support our just cause. And I say to you, we will defeat our genocidal enemies.

Never again is now!

[Hebrew]

Distinguished guests,

During the Holocaust, we had no voice, we had no protection. Our cries were not heard, our torment ignored.

We will not return to those dark days.

The State of Israel will not kowtow to the murderers and instigators of antisemitism.

Our voice will be heard.

We will protect our country and establish the eternal future of our people."

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Readout of President Joe Biden's Call with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel

May 06, 2024

President Biden spoke this morning with Prime Minister Netanyahu. The President reaffirmed his message on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The two leaders discussed the shared commitment of Israel and the United States to remember the six million Jews who were systematically targeted and murdered in the Holocaust, one of the darkest chapters in human history, and to forcefully act against antisemitism and all forms of hate-fueled violence. President Biden updated the Prime Minister on efforts to secure a hostage deal, including through ongoing talks today in Doha, Qatar. The Prime Minister agreed to ensure the Kerem Shalom crossing is open for humanitarian assistance for those in need. The President reiterated his clear position on Rafah.

###

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INTERVIEW: Ex-UN rights rapporteur on Argentina's Rohingya genocide case

'All these legal cases help to reinforce the universal idea that we should not accept genocide.'

By RFA Burmese 2024.05.06 -- In an interview with Radio Free Asia's Ye Kaung Myint Maung, international human rights attorney Tomas Ojea Quintana spoke about a case filed in a court in Argentina in 2019 that alleges genocide and crimes against humanity committed by senior Myanmar officials against Rohingya Muslims.

The complaint was filed under the principle of "universal jurisdiction" enshrined in Argentina's constitution, which holds that some crimes are so heinous that alleged perpetrators thousands of miles away can be tried.

The 46-page criminal complaint centers on violence in 2012 and 2018 that drove about 1 million Rohingyas from Myanmar, mostly to neighboring Bangladesh, where many live in squalid refugee camps to this day.

The document describes rapes, beheadings and the slaughter of Rohingya civilians committed by Myanmar's military and their civilian supporters. It includes detailed information collected by a 2017-2019 UN-backed Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar, which interviewed hundreds of witnesses in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Quintana served as United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar between 2008 and 2014. He served in a similar role for the U.N. in reporting on the situation of human rights in North Korea between 2016 and 2022.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

RFA: Mr. Quintana, welcome to RFA. I'd like to start the interview by asking if there's been any improvement in the case? How far along is the case?

Quintana: I would say that the case is moving forward. The Argentinian prosecutor has been producing important evidence. The file now has a number of testimonies from survivors - Rohingya survivors from Cox's Bazar [in Bangladesh].

Actually, they travel all over the world and have visited Argentina and given in-person testimonies to the Argentinian court. This is something very important for a universal jurisdiction case because the victims now had a chance to tell their stories to the court. At the same time, the Argentinian court was having contact with real victims from Myanmar.

So I would say now we are in the investigative stage, and at some point we believe that the court will make a substantive decision regarding accused persons.

RFA: Do you have a timetable for any decisions in the case?

Quintana: Actually, in December last year, the Burmese Rohingya Organization U.K., which is a plaintiff in this criminal investigation, submitted a request to the court. An international arrest warrant request. Now, that request is under consideration by the court.

At some point, we hope that, during this year, the court in Argentina will make a decision whether or not the conditions are there for international arrest warrants to be issued.

RFA: What can you tell us about the alleged perpetrators?

Quintana: Well, the file is confidential. What I can tell you is that the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK included a list of seven perpetrators that goes from the top military authorities to two individuals who participated directly in the atrocities. That's all I can tell you.

As I say, we hope that during this year, at some point, the court will issue a resolution on this very important aspect, and that it will be very important for the Rohingya community to continue to build on their hope for justice. It will also be an important message to the Myanmar military about accountability.

It will also be important for the overall international community that action needs to be taken with regards to this very dramatic international crime, which was genocide against the Rohingya.

RFA: We see, since the military coup in 2021, the situation of Rohingya refugees have deteriorated. Some of the refugee witnesses in your case come from the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar. Have conditions improved for women in those camps?

Quintana: Well, that's something that is not directly related to the case itself in Argentina. The court is basically investigating the genocide committed in August 2017.

But the court pays attention to the protection situation of the witnesses who give testimony in the file. And the court of Argentina is following up on that, trying to check whether or not these witnesses that returned to Cox's Bazar are in adequate conditions in terms of protection and the overall situation in the camp.

There are almost 1 million people leaving the largest refugee camp in the world where, you know, the living conditions are not adequate. So, that's an issue that the international community needs to pay more attention to.

RFA: For now, the world's focus has been, far away from Myanmar because of the other international issues. What would it take to get the spotlight back on Rohingya issues?

Quintana: It is time for the international community to take action. The Security Council of the United Nations has been dealing with the Myanmar situation, but it's been more of a reaction.

The truth is that the Myanmar military committed the first genocide of the 21st century. We hope that this case in Argentina will contribute to raise awareness around the world about the need to not recreate the conditions that led to the genocide.

RFA: We see other legal proceedings on the Rohingya case at the International Criminal Court and at the International Court of Justice. But it's extremely rare to see a case filed under universal jurisdiction and to get proper punishment. Look at the case against Chilean President Augusto Pinochet. How much can we expect from this case?

Quintana: The case of Pinochet was very important for the sake of justice all over the world. He was detained in London based on a universal jurisdiction case in Spain. It was very important for the Chilean victims of his dictatorship.

The instrument of an international arrest warrant is also important. We will reach out to all those who are committed to preventing international crimes, such as ASEAN, the UN and of course the case at The Hague - the International Court of Justice.

All these legal cases help to reinforce the universal idea that we should not accept genocide, wherever that genocide takes place. So, if the Argentinian court issues these warrants, we will reach out to everyone, including the media, to let everybody know that those perpetrators who committed the crime are being summoned by a court of law.

Edited by Matt Reed 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 May 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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Hundreds of Myanmar junta troops surrender near Bangladesh border

The soldiers are from five battalions in one western Myanmar township, the Arakan Army insurgent group said.

By RFA Burmese 2024.05.06 -- At least 200 Myanmar junta troops have surrendered after an ethnic minority army captured their headquarters in Rakhine State, near the Bangladesh border, the anti-junta organization said on Monday.

The Arakan Army, which has been fighting the military regime for territory since a year-long ceasefire ended in November 2023, captured a junta camp in western Myanmar's Rakhine State, near the Bangladesh border, last Thursday.

The No.15 Operation Command Headquarters fell to the Arakan Army after a 12-day battle, the latest in a series of setbacks for the junta that seized power in a coup in 2021.

The insurgent force released video footage of hundreds of soldiers and others surrendering.

Some of the 200 soldiers pictured in the videos were captured from five battalions in late March and April, the Arakan Army said in a statement, identifying the battalions as the 552, 564, 565 and 551.

"All of these battalions were captured by a heavy offensive attack between March 25 and May 3," the group said.

Junta soldiers as well as some Rohingya Muslims could also be seen in the video footage released by the Arakan Army. Some Rohingya have complained of being forced into the junta's army.

The Arakan insurgent group did not say how many junta troops it held but said they had surrendered because of its blockade of their Operation Command Headquarters.

Rakhine State's junta spokesperson, Hla Thein, did not answer his telephone when RFA tried to contact him for comment by the time of publication.

Of the 12 military council battalions in Buthidaung township under the No.15 Operation Command Headquarters, five, including the No.15 Operation Command Headquarters, have been captured.

Since November, the Arakan Army has captured nine townships across Rakhine State. Fighting continues in Ann, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and Kyaukpyu townships.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and 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 May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview with Bosnian Serb television network ATV, Moscow, May 5, 2024

5 May 2024 21:20

837-05-05-2024



Question: I would like to start with a topic which has been dominating the global agenda since 2022 and touched not only every Russian household, but all people in general. People have been calling it various names, be it the special military operation, the Ukraine conflict or a war. What we hear today, including in the Western media, is that Russia is winning on the front. In your opinion, what has changed since 2022 against the backdrop of the Ukraine conflict?

Sergey Lavrov: As far as terminology is concerned, stopping the war the West had already unleashed at that time against us by the hands of the Nazi regime in Kiev was precisely our objective when we launched the special military operation.

We were honest in what we did, and expected the other side to demonstrate the same kind of dignity when in February 2014 the West, represented by France, Germany and Poland, helped broker a deal between the then-President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, and the opposition for calling a snap election and forming a national unity government. European Union representatives signed this deal, but the very next morning the opposition decided that it could not care less about the deal or the EU in general and went on to perpetrate a government coup. They announced a government of the victors instead of forming a national unity government. Their first initiative was to terminate the official status of the Russian language in Ukraine. However, at least 80 percent of Ukrainians think, live and communicate in Russian.

This is how the war started. The republics that refused to accept the government coup were labelled as terrorists. Crimea peacefully returned to its home port, to use President Vladimir Putin's words. Meanwhile, the Donbass republics had to experience a real war, artillery strikes, with air forces bombing peaceful cities. You know how it happens. Singing the Minsk Agreements took a whole year with Germany and France, represented by Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francois Hollande, acting as guarantors. The UN Security Council approved the Minsk Agreements too. There was a sincere belief among us that having these agreements implemented would serve our interests. But the West has recently acknowledged that their only objective when signing the Minsk Agreements was supplying more weapons to Ukraine.

The war was quite long in the making, and has been waged for a long time too. The West has introduced its usual tools into the mix, including sanctions, blackmail and threats. We did not have any other choice. In late 2021 and early 2022, the Kiev regime clearly opted for settling what it called as the Donbass issue by force. We decided to defend our own security, since NATO has been trying to draw Ukraine into its ranks and had already plans to set up military bases on its territory, including on the Sea of Azov, which is on Russia's doorstep. We launched the special military operation to protect Russians who have been living on this land for centuries since Cathrine the Great added them to the Russian crown. Russian military commanders and manufacturers defended and developed this territory, while the Kiev regime outlawed these people by banning the Russian language across the board, be it in education, media, culture, or even everyday communications. This is what the special military operation is all about.

Today, we can hear Western leaders recognising that Ukraine has been facing an increasingly challenging situation. This is quite an elaborate way of saying that their idea of inflicting what they call a strategic defeat on us is doomed to fail. The most farsighted and simply smart, serious Western politicians understand this. Still, the West has been searching for the weapons it delivers to Ukraine across the world. Over 50 countries have been contributing to these efforts.

At first, the Americans led the charge. Today, they designated NATO as the focal point. It holds its Ramstein-format meetings. Several days ago, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said at a meeting of this kind that they would never lose. This means that instead of talking about inflicting a defeat on Russia, they are now focusing on not suffering a defeat themselves. This can be viewed as a Freudian slip on Lloyd Austin's behalf since he basically recognised that the Ukrainians are not the ones doing the fighting. They are just tools and their bodies have very little value. The West keeps saying that it would not let its people die in Donbass. So they pretend that they care about having fewer Ukrainian killed there, too. This is a racist logic that I do not want to discuss.

As for what to do next - there is much debate now about the planned conference in Switzerland, a meeting where Bern intends to bring together representatives of the West and the Global South. However, despite the loud declarations that this new initiative is aimed at developing generally acceptable approaches, this is not true. I spoke with Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis at the end of January in New York, when we both participated in the UN Security Council meetings. He told me about "the plan." I immediately tried to bring him down to earth and make him see that they would not be allowed to deviate from Vladimir Zelensky's formula, which involves Russia's eventual capitulation, the payment of reparations, a tribunal for the Russian leadership, and more of the same. Ignazio Cassis assured me that we were wrong. He said that Switzerland, as a neutral country, would make every effort to ensure a realistic framework for discussion. But the Swiss Confederation is no longer a neutral state. The country is now at the forefront of supporting and arming the Kiev regime. This state takes the toughest stance against Russia, consistently joining the ever-new sanctions.

The concept behind the Swiss conference is showing through already, and it is nothing short of Vladimir Zelensky's peace formula all over again. Admittedly, they tried to underscore Switzerland's independence by focusing on three tracks: nuclear safety, food security in the context of see shipments, and humanitarian issues.

This doesn't change anything. Vladimir Zelensky's formula also includes these three issues as something to disguise its openly illusory and Russophobic nature. Vladimir Zelensky and his team insisted that Russia should not be invited to this conference under any circumstances. That was because he needed space to woo the countries of the Global South and sign them up to the common platform, which will be subsequently presented to Russia as an ultimatum.

When our Swiss colleagues say they want to invite Russia to the first conference, they are not telling the truth. We will not participate in any events that promote Vladimir Zelensky's peace formula in one way or another. This much has been clear to everyone for a long time. We are serious about being open to negotiations based on the reality. Everyone knows this, too - from experience.

We have discussed China's twelve-point initiative. In 2023, we met twice with the leaders of seven African states, led by President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa. They put forth their ideas. Following the second meeting between Russia and the African Union, a document was approved that outlined specific humanitarian steps to be taken.

We spoke with President of Brazil Lula da Silva who has his own view of things. I was in Brazil recently and participated in BRICS and G20 events. I had a lengthy conversation with President Lula and his advisers to discuss any ideas they had.

We hear statements about Russia refusing to negotiate almost daily. They say they want to, but Russia is refusing. That is not true either, but we no longer expect honesty or decency from our Western partners.

We will continue accomplishing the objectives of the special military operation. The demilitarisation of Ukraine is a necessary step. This is clear to everyone, considering the militant clique that is now in charge in Kiev. Denazification, too, is inevitable - and this is also clear to everyone. Kiev's racist laws legislate the concepts that are part of Nazi ideology and glorify individuals who were convicted by the Nuremberg Tribunal. This is unacceptable in today's Europe.

When High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and other EU and NATO leaders say that they are supporting Ukraine and defending European values, for which Ukrainian citizens are dying, they expose themselves. This happened in Europe in the past when Napoleon and Hitler used the countries that they occupied in their wars against Russia and the Soviet Union.

At a fundamental level, this has remained part on their mentality. President of France Emmanuel Macron has recently said in an interview with The Economist that Russia has always been a threat for all Europeans and particularly for Germany and France. The ambitions of Napoleon and Hitler were based on their views of Russia as a threat. I am not going to comment on the French president's views. He is obviously acting from fiercely anti-Russia positions. I am aware of the system of power in France and the French' claim to a role in Europe and the world. It cannot be ruled out that Macron needs this "caveman Russophobia" to become Europe's leader, using a subject which the West has made the main issue on the international stage.

When we look at what the West did in other parts of the world, including the Balkans, it is clear that the focus on this subject rests on hyped-up information wars. We will see where this leads. The West is lying. There is no doubt of this.

Speaking about threats to Europe, when the special military operation began, and for some time before it, they called for admitting Ukraine to NATO to prevent Russia from attacking a member of the alliance. Now they say that if Ukraine loses, Russia will attack NATO. Where is the logic? There is none. There is only a desire to justify the policy that the US has forced Europe to adopt. For me, this happened in a strange way. Europe has naively agreed to do a job forced on it by Washington, which does not want to be criticised by its own people ahead of the election.

Question: Speaking about the European leaders who openly made unflattering remarks about Russia, I would like to mention your British colleague, David Cameron, who first said, and then presumably regretted his words, that the Ukrainians can use British weapons to strike targets on Russian territory. How is this possible?

Sergey Lavrov: Yes, use them to strike any targets inside Russia. David Cameron does not regret his words. People like him have no regrets; they don't know what regret is.

It has been reported that Reuters, which interviewed him, has suspended the version you mentioned and announced that a new text would soon be posted. But they ultimately posted the same text.

David Cameron has reaffirmed his view that Ukrainians can use British arms to strike targets in any part of Russia. This is the British. Their reputation is well known.

Question: I know that you are not paid to be optimistic, but what if Ukrainians and your Western partners proposed ceasing fire and sitting down to negotiate an agreement? Who would you agree to speak with, and what would you tell them?

Sergey Lavrov: I do not see anyone we can talk with. I have cited the statements made by the Ukrainian, American and European leaders and politicians. None of them are ready for a serious conversation. They are playing with negotiations in the form of a conference in Switzerland. The Copenhagen format has no future. The West is using any trick in the book, including blackmail and lies, to involve as many developing and Global South countries in these get-togethers. Some countries agree to attend, telling us later that they only do so to explain the pointlessness of such events without Russia or based on ultimatums. Some of them have become disappointed and stopped attending such events.

Question: The Balkans are also a major global hotspot, and it has been this way for quite some time now. Everyone knows how the West has been pressuring the Serbs, the Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Republika Srpska, and the West has substantially increased this pressure in recent months. We can all see today what is going on within the UN General Assembly with Germany and Rwanda trying to push through a draft UNGA resolution on Srebrenica laying all the blame on a single nation. In your opinion, what is the purpose of this draft resolution on Srebrenica and why they chose to submit it at this juncture?

Sergey Lavrov: What they want is to subdue the Serbs. This is what they had on their minds all along and stay focused on this objective. Thet have already tried to make the UN Security Council adopt a resolution of this kind ten years ago. We used our veto power at that time. I find it hard to explain what guides the Europeans, from a practical perspective, in their efforts to promote this idea, except for one possible explanation. They believe that the Serbs are too restive and independent in their actions since they refused to join the sanctions against Russia. The Serbs do not want to recognise Kosovo's independence and do not want Kosovo to join international organisations. The West is basically offering Belgrade an ultimatum. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik has been cast as the main villain who allegedly seeks to dismantle the Dayton Accords, while in reality he and his team are the only ones in Bosnia who are fighting for the Dayton Principles.

They keep telling Belgrade: do you want to join the European Union? Considering that President Aleksandar Vucic reaffirmed his European-centred policy vision, go ahead and recognise Kosovo and join the sanctions against Russia, since being part of the EU entails fighting Russia by default. How can you tell the Serbs anything of this kind, while turning a blind eye to the history of our friendship, the way we fought for freedom, independence, and even the Orthodox faith? The West could not care less about all of this. I would even go as far as saying that this is precisely what they are after. They want to destroy the relations we have forged between us, and have been quite successful in this regard.

What the Council of Europe did recently was a shame. PACE voted to accept Kosovo as a full member, and the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers is scheduled to take up this item on its agenda in a couple of weeks. There is no doubt that they will be able to have this decision approved. They have already sought to justify what they do with Kosovo in the Council of Europe by saying that Kosovo has made great strides in its anti-corruption efforts and building an effective judiciary. But everyone knows about the total chaos reigning in Kosovo. Still, our Western colleagues have no qualms casting Kosovo nothing short of a beacon of democracy. Democracy was something alien for this territory at all times. This is a land of organised crime and ethnic cleansings targeting ethnic Serbs.

I heard that Serbs have been leaving this region since 2003, and this outflow carries on. In January 2003, about 15 percent of those who identified as Serbs at that moment had already left. They are also seeking to eradicate the Orthodox faith. This is an obvious fact. And the West likes it this way. The West wants to damage the Orthodox faith beyond repair in order to place the Orthodoxy under the leadership of the Patriarch of Constantinople who, in turn, takes his orders from the United States, depends on it from a financial standpoint and is ready to satisfy every whim it has.

The same goes for the way they treat Republika Srpska. Today, there is a self-appointed high representative from Germany, who does not have any legitimate status, since the UN Security Council has not approved his candidacy according to the rules, but this representative is doing everything to discredit Republika Srpska and promote a unitary structure for Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has been seeking to approach certain political forces within the Bosnian Croat community. However, they do have a vision on ways to assert their identity and the Dayton principles dealing with the equality of the three state-forming nations. How sad. And all this comes from people who often accuse us and other countries of violating the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions. What they present as their agenda for Bosnia and Herzegovina today amounts to an outright effort to derail a UN Security Council resolution.

This may well explain why the United States Permanent Representative at the Unite Nations in New York Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, after the council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for the month of Ramadan, that even if the resolution was adopted, and the United States did not prevent this from happening by abstaining during the vote, everyone knows that this is a non-binding resolution. However, the UN Charter stipulates that all Security Council resolutions are binding documents. However, when it comes to resolutions on Palestine or the Balkans, the United States denies them their binding nature if they reflect the interests of others, in this case, the people of Serbia. This is what we must understand to begin with.

Question: What is the role of international organisations, when they work the way you have explained and as things are in fact? Must we continue to believe in these principles?

Sergey Lavrov: We should believe in them, of course, if only because all current problems stem from the fact that the UN Charter is grossly violated. It fully retains its relevance if used in an honest way in the entirety of its principles and with account taken of the close interconnection between these principles. If this had been so, many of the West's actions would have been illegitimate. Specifically, the West has never been guided by the key principle of the UN Charter that the United Nations is based on the sovereign equality of states. Name at least one instance where the West talked to whoever it may be as an equal.

China is a great power, the world's fastest growing economy, and number one economy in PPP terms. The US Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of State travel to China to harangue their hosts and publicly demand that they stop cooperating with the Russian Federation. PRC President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi replied that China made its own decisions on who to cooperate and have relations of any kind with. The Chinese said they never cooperated with anyone against anyone else, and we are also committed to this position. The West, in the meantime, is doing precisely the opposite, trying to create an anti-Russia and an anti-China coalition. An anti-Russia coalition is their immediate goal, while an anti-China one is being knocked together in anticipation of the moment when China emerges as the main threat (that's how they call it) and the main adversary. They are beginning to introduce sanctions against China.

Where international organisations are concerned, everyone must follow the principles of the UN Charter in their entirety. They are just paying lip service to territorial integrity with regard to Ukraine, the same as in 2014, when people in Crimea voted in a referendum for a return to the Russian Federation. There followed an immediate demand to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity.

In 2008, when Kosovo suddenly proclaimed independence in a situation where there were no military hostilities and negotiations were in progress between Belgrade and Pristina, the West said that this was fully in keeping with the self-determination principle enshrined in the UN Charter. No one is concerned with the logic. They said this and their entire propaganda machine intended to brainwash the man in the street is up and running at full capacity. There is no leaving this path any longer.

Yet another worrisome point is that the West has put the secretariats of international organisations under its control. The UN, for example, has a category of employees with "permanent contracts." We were against this arrangement back in the 20th century and were fighting it in the 1970s and 1980s. But later the General Assembly voted for contracts, including permanent ones. People with these contracts dominate the UN Secretariat. Just imagine: a person comes to work in New York, knowing that he or she will live there until retirement. They get residence permits and subsequently are naturalised. Their children go to school and to university. All their money, naturally, is deposited in US banks.

There is a report entitled Composition of the Secretariat. It lists many names from other civilisations (Indian, Pakistani, African, etc.), with "Senegal-US" or other identity in the parenthesis. Practically everyone there has dual citizenship. It is clear, therefore, that if the United States decides to use those people in its interests (and it uses them regularly), it has all the necessary leverage for this purpose. This is why we need to reform the UN, including its Secretariat, to remove the existing slant in favour of the Western countries. The same goes for the UN Security Council, where it is necessary to do away with the historical injustice expressed in the over-representation of the West and under-representation of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The same kind of action is needed inside the Secretariat.

This is difficult because many people have become "welded" to their jobs. To some degree, they are united by corporate solidarity. But look at its leadership: all the key posts - Secretary-General, his deputies for politics, for peacekeeping, for humanitarian matters, security department, etc. - are filled by representatives of NATO countries. Russia heads the counterterrorism directorate and China - that dealing with economic and social issues. These are important areas, but all the administrative leverage is in the hands of NATO members.

Question: You have been serving as Foreign Minister for a very long time, 20 years. You interacted with representatives and leaders of the United States early on, and you did so more recently. What has changed? What kind of people are sitting in Washington now, and why are they impossible to talk to?

Sergey Lavrov: These individuals are captive to centuries of Western hegemony on the global stage. They are hostage to colonial and neo-colonial policies and they still want to continue to live at the expense of others.

They created globalisation and strengthened the US dollar, hailing it as the world's main currency, not the property of the United States, but the property of global society, the backbone of world trade and investment. They also hailed the World Trade Organisation, fair competition, the presumption of innocence, and market mechanisms. But as soon as China took advantage of that globalised system imposed by the Americans and began to outplay the United States, they immediately blocked the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. Once China filed complaints at DSB over US discrimination, they just shut it down. The DSB is inactive now; what methods they have used to do it is beside the point. In much the same way, when they decided to punish Russia, they shrugged off the inviolability of property and stole our state reserves, a national asset essentially contributed by Russian taxpayers.

It is worth negotiating when the other party embraces the need to find a balance of interests, not when they use any means to try and impose their will, to force the other party to obey. So far, this is what we have seen them do; the only dialogue they agree to is one between the hegemon and the rest of the world. They do not seem ready for a fair dialogue, as required by the UN Charter.

There has been much debate. The 2024 United States elections are scheduled to be held soon. There is no split between Democrats and Republicans on Russia or China. Some may take a tougher stance, others may use an even tougher rhetoric than that, but we do not see any difference in principle. Both parties (whichever of them wins the election), by and large, see Russia as their enemy. An opponent, or an adversary - these are technicalities. The American establishment sees what they describe as a "strategic defeat" of Russia as their goal anyway.

As President of Russia Vladimir Putin said in response to a similar question, we are ready to work with any leader of the United States who has the trust of the American people, if they are ready. Well, as we Russians say, love cannot be forced.

Question: While Russia's relations with the West have soured, its relationship with China is flourishing. What are China and Russia's strategies for the future with regard to the new world order? What is your and your Chinese partners' vision of the world? Will our future be based on the principle of a balance of forces or the concept of collective security?

Sergey Lavrov: Russia-China relations are now better and more effective than ever, in keeping with international law and key principles of the UN Charter. They have never been better in our history, and this is above all thanks to President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping.

We have developed a system of relations in all spheres, including the economy, investment, trade, science, high technology, space exploration, nuclear generation, culture, sport and arts. Active events are held in absolutely all spheres of human activity at the level of multifaceted Russia-China partnership and strategic cooperation, just as this is stipulated in our documents. They also say that relations between Russia and China are much firmer, stronger and more reliable than the military alliances of the past century. This is true. Russia and China have formed a duo that is having a strong positive influence on the international situation.

Without this Russia-China link, the situation on the international stage would have been much worse, first of all because the West would have thought that it can act with impunity and immunity. We are relying on the structures we are creating or have created with the People's Republic of China. Their effectiveness is growing, because of the growing interest in them. For example, BRICS has doubled the number of its members. This year, Russia is chairing this association, which already has 10 members. Interest in the SCO is growing as well. Like in the case of BRICS, countries are "standing in line" to join it.

Russia and China are actively working in Southeast Asia jointly with ASEAN nations. We have our supporters in the G20, first of all the BRICS countries and those who share our views. There are many multilateral platforms where we are working together and venues that are becoming regional development centres.

In Eurasia, we have the EAEU, the SCO, ASEAN, the Gulf Cooperation Council and a number of other associations, including in South Asia. Now that Eurasia is becoming the driver of global economic growth, it is only fitting for these regional associations to strengthen their role in the development of this geopolitical and geoeconomic trend. This process has already begun. Contacts are being developed between the SCO and ASEAN, and between the EAEU and the SCO and ASEAN. Taken together, as President Putin said, this is absolutely naturally developing into a Greater Eurasian Partnership, which we see as a structure that is open to all Eurasian countries, including those on the European part of the continent.

So far, Europe is trying to block out and isolate Russia. There is no need to say that this is unwise. It only shows the standards of the decisions made by politicians in Western Europe. Doors should be left open. Nature, history and the Lord have given us a common and very rich continent. If you want to live better, you should make use of these advantages.

But those across the sea tell the European part of the continent that they should buy expensive gas to punish Russia. Europe is struggling with tremendous economic problems because the United States is using it above all to support Ukraine and wage a war against Russia. Everyone is predicting the demise of Germany as an industrial miracle. That miracle rested on the cheap and reliable Russian pipeline gas. Where are the Nord Stream pipes? They have been blown up. We have no doubt that it was done at the very least with the Americans' support. This can be concluded from the fact that they have been refusing to provide any information about investigation at the UN Security Council. Likewise, they have not made any, even the smallest move to prove their accusations against Russia. You remember how dead bodies were demonstrated in Bucha in early April 2022, and new sanctions were immediately adopted against us. To this day, we have not received the lists of people whose dead bodies allegedly lay in that street.

Speaking about Russia-China relations, they are a flexible junction in many organisations, including the UN, the SCO and BRICS. The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has an agreement with China on the parallel promotion of the EAEU's integration processes within the framework of China's Belt and Road initiative.

I mentioned the role of regional organisations in Eurasia. Increasingly more countries in Africa no longer rely on the globalisation mechanisms, which worked well until the Americans discredited them and proved their own unreliability, but on the mechanisms that are developed within the framework of the African Union and subregional African associations.

The same is taking place in Latin America. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is increasingly more relying on itself. President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called for working towards replacing the US dollar with their own currencies. This process is also underway in BRICS, where alternative payment systems are a goal formulated during last year's summit.

The growth of the economy and the development of such trends make nations look at the organisations that are responsibly for security. The North Atlantic bloc was established after WWII, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe was established in 1975. Both NATO and the OSCE were built on the principle of Euro-Atlantic solidarity. In other words, the United States is using NATO and the OSCE to control its allies.

We have long become disillusioned in these Euro-Atlantic principles, in particular, because the Americans have destroyed the system of arms control and are unable to work honestly in the humanitarian and economic spheres. We believe that the Euro-Atlantic security model has discredited itself and failed. We are now speaking about creating a Eurasian system of security. When countries that respect their history and traditions want to chart their own course and independently determine their future, they can also come to an agreement in the sphere of security.

We are working on this at the SCO, fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and organised crime. These efforts are also being taken at the CSTO and the CIS. A forward-looking conversation is only possible if the countries located in the western part of the continent see the futility of their colonial policies aimed at subjugating others and interfering in the affairs of other regions, like the South Caucasus or Central Asia, and when they are ready to develop cooperation not on the balance of forces, which you mentioned, but on the balance of legitimate interests. So far, there are no preconditions for this.

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Russia announces drills involving nuclear weapons after West's 'provocative' threats

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 2:33 PM

Russia has announced military exercises involving tactical nuclear weapons after top European leaders made "provocative" threats against Moscow.

On May 2, France's President Emanuel Macron and Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron threatened direct intervention in the Ukraine war.

The Kremlin responded. It said the top European officials' remarks posed "dangerous" threats to Europe's security.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Monday the drills, ordered by President Vladimir Putin, were to "increase the readiness ... to fulfill combat tasks" after "provocative statements and threats of certain Western officials."

The ministry said missile formations in the Southern Military District and naval forces will take part in the exercises involving tactical nuclear weapons and would take place "in the near future."

The Russian ministry's strategic nuclear forces regularly hold exercises but the statement marked the first public announcement of drills involving the tactical nuclear weapons which are smaller and with a shorter range and would be more useful for military commanders in "tactical" situations.

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Six More Years For Putin. Five Things To Watch For.

By Mike Eckel

March 15, 2024

Updated May 06, 2024

After being declared the victor of a presidential election in March, an outcome that was never in doubt, Vladimir Putin starts a new six-year term with an inauguration ceremony in the Kremlin on May 7.

There's less certainty about what comes next, but there are strong clues: more men for the Ukraine war, new taxes to fund the war, new personnel shuffling within the Kremlin, new threats for NATO, and new suppression of dissent.

The clearest indications came in Putin's state-of-the-nation speech in February. Most notable, said Tatyana Stanovaya, a veteran expert of Russian politics, was how confident Putin and the Kremlin seem about Russia's geopolitical position.

"This is not empty propaganda, but a reflection of plans for ideological expansion, the export of 'Putinism' to Western countries, and active work with potential 'friends,'" she wrote in an analysis for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace at the time. "In other words, the geopolitical battlefield for values is once again moving to Western territory, and Putin feels more confident than ever."

"The horizons of this 'holy war' have now expanded," she said.

War Is (Not) Over

More than two years into the mass invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces currently have the momentum, building on the symbolic victory of capturing the industrial city of Avdiyivka in February and advancing further against Ukrainian forces.

The cost, in terms of Russian soldiers and equipment, is on a scale not seen since World War II, with upward of 320,000 soldiers killed or wounded and thousands of weapons, tanks, vehicles, and weapons systems destroyed, according to Western estimates.

The country's industrial base has kicked into higher gear, churning out an increasing number of weapons and equipment.

Sourcing personnel has been more problematic. Putin ordered a mobilization of around 300,000 men seven months after the start of the full-scale invasion, an acknowledgment that the war was not going to be a cakewalk. The order reverberated through Russian society, prompting an exodus of people fleeing abroad.

Military planners induced thousands of "kontraktniki" into volunteer service, using above-average wages and other lucrative compensation, such as death payments for widows and survivors.

Signing bonuses for new contracts are up to 700,000 rubles ($7,600), according to research by the Bank of Finland's Institute for Emerging Economies -- a sum greater than the annual average salary as of 2022. In Russia's poorer regions, where average wages are even lower, the financial incentives for volunteering to fight are even greater.

Planners have tapped the vast prison population, offering inmates pardon or amnesty for crimes committed in exchange for military service. By some estimates, up to 100,000 prisoners may have ended up fighting in a force whose casualty rates are also believed to be well above that of regular units.

Military commanders also have tweaked and fudged contractual obligations. Some inmate soldiers have reportedly been refused promised discharge after short-term service and instead told they'll be released only when the war ends. Commanders have cut back furloughs and rest-and-relaxation holidays for some units, angering relatives and fueling a grassroots movement called The Way Home, which challenged officials, advocating for troop rotations.

Another round of mobilization does not appear imminent, experts say. Despite enormous losses -- Russia has lost more troops since February 2022 than the Soviet Union did in an entire decade fighting in Afghanistan -- commanders appear intent to continue the patchwork system of recruitment.

"In 2024, the Kremlin will need to decide: If the number of losses remains high as it is today, as it was during the last several months...the Kremlin will need to find more soldiers," said Pavel Luzin, an expert on Russia's military-industrial sector and researcher at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

The Kremlin will either have to do another mobilization "by force, by coercion," Luzin said during a March 14 forum organized by the Center for European Policy Analysis, or it will have to send a greater number of conscripts to fight in Ukraine. Both options would be highly unpopular.

Currently, all Russian men between 18 and 30 are required by law to serve 12 months in the armed forces, but those conscripts aren't allowed to be sent abroad or into combat.

More Guns, Less Butter

Russia's economy has been transformed and put onto war footing. The country's vast industrial base has been tooled to churn out the weaponry needed to keep pace with Ukraine's destruction of it.

In the first two years, the Kremlin earmarked more than 30 trillion rubles ($325 billion) for the war effort, and experts estimate the share of gross domestic product taken up by military and security spending will exceed 8 percent this year.

That government spending has helped the economy defy Western sanctions, with predictions of 2.6 percent or more growth this year.

Money for the war effort has come in large part from government coffers filled with petroleum dollars. The Finance Ministry said in January that it expects to bring in 11.5 trillion rubles ($125 billion) in revenues from oil and gas sales this year, with China and India being the main buyers.

But the government has also burned through its rainy-day savings, and government data show nearly half of the national wealth fund had been depleted as of the end of 2023.

During his February state-of-the-nation speech, Putin signaled the Kremlin was looking to tweak the Tax Code to raise more revenues and shift the tax burden onto higher earners.

The government is considering raising the personal income tax from 15 percent for those earning more than 5 million rubles to 20 percent and hiking corporate tax rates from 20 percent to 25 percent, according to the Russian news site Important Stories and Bloomberg.

That would help plug a 1.6 trillion-ruble ($17 billion) hole that the Finance Ministry has forecast for 2024.

Changing Of The Guard

During the speech, Putin also mentioned the creation of a new national elite, emphasizing that those who fought in the war or otherwise gave full-throated support for the war effort should be afforded privileged positions, either in society or in the government itself.

Among the current "elite" are Putin's advisers -- his inner-circle confidants, the powerful Presidential Administration, the wider government headed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin -- a group that has been relatively stable in recent years.

Some of his confidants are aging. General Valery Gerasimov, the 68-year-old chief of the Russian General Staff and overall commander of the Ukraine war, for example, is beyond the mandatory military retirement age. The head of the powerful Federal Security Service, Aleksandr Bortnikov, is 72, a year older than Putin, and rumored to be ailing.

"What is inevitable is that the Russian military will get more prominent in Russian politics," Andrei Soldatov, an author and expert on Russia's security services, said during the March 14 forum. "And every war in Russia -- it doesn't matter how disastrous it was -- nevertheless produced very popular generals who played a really significant part of Russian politics."

Some of the proposals Putin laid out in his speech included the establishment of five new "national projects" focusing on major social policies will require substantial new funding and likely the creation of a new deputy prime minister.

"For many years now, Putin has avoided a major reshuffle among Russia's top officials in order to head off any speculation about power transitions or successors. Now, however, he has little choice but to empower a major new political player," political commentator Andrei Pertsev wrote.

If major shuffling does take place, one name to watch is Sergei Kiriyenko, who is an influential behind-the-scenes player in the Presidential Administration, an entity responsible for engineering all aspects of the presidential election. He's also been the Kremlin's point man on the occupied Ukrainian territories of which Moscow has illegally claimed ownership.

Kiriyenko was the "viceroy of the Donbas" who could "keep moving up through the ranks," one former government official told the Russian news site Meduza.

Another is Aleksei Dyumin, a former Putin bodyguard who is now governor of the Tula region.

"It's not a question of legitimacy. It's a question of demonstrating control of the system and sufficient loyalty among the elites to produce a result that the Kremlin wants," said Thomas Graham, who served as senior director for Russia on the White House National Security Council from 2004 to 2007.

"Beyond that -- and I don't think the Kremlin thinks in terms of democratic legitimacy the way we might mean in the West -- that is not something that's top of mind," he said in March.

'Destruction of Civilization'

Putin's domestic popularity has been undergirded by the prosperity that a growing middle class enjoyed beginning in the 2000s, as well as his image as an even-keeled leader following a turbulent decade under his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin.

His popularity is also propelled by a strongman persona, committed to bringing back the global might that many Russians recall from the Soviet period. That includes standing up to the West, NATO, and in particular the United States, which the Kremlin perceives to be an existential threat.

Putin's bellicose rhetoric, which stretches at least as far back as 2007 when he began likening the United States to the Nazi Third Reich, has worsened since his last election in 2018 -- and further in the run-up to the Ukraine invasion in February 2022.

During his speech before parliament, Putin bragged about Russia's nuclear arsenal and threatened to use it against Western nations if they intervened more directly in the Ukraine war.

That would result in "a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and therefore the destruction of civilization," Putin said.

"They must ultimately understand that we also have weapons...that can hit targets on their territory," he said.

In a signal on the eve of Putin's inauguration, the Defense Ministry announced plans for exercises simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons, calling the drills a response to what it said were "provocative statements and threats" by Western officials.

Putin's legacy is consumed by the outcome of Russia's war on Ukraine conflict, analysts say: if not outright victory, he wants some other result that would allow him to claim victory. That, plus the efforts by the West to prevent the subjugation of Ukraine, means the belligerent rhetoric will continue.

Additionally, other experts warn, the Kremlin and military commanders may be emboldened to challenge NATO and the United States in other places or in other ways, depending on the course of the war and how much Western nations waver in their support for Ukraine.

Some European leaders have suggested the Kremlin might be confident enough to test NATO directly, to see how and if the alliance would actually respond to Russian hostility.

Dissent Will Not Be Tolerated

Since at least 2012, when Putin returned to the presidency after a four-year stint as prime minister, the government has squeezed civil society, NGOs, rights groups, independent media, and others. Scores of people and organizations have been blacklisted, threatened with prosecution, bankrupted, or driven out of the country.

The war in Ukraine further accelerated the move toward police-state policies, with lawmakers criminalizing anyone who questions the war or voices opposition.

A former lawmaker named Boris Nadezhdin who espoused an anti-war stance was embraced by many Russians opposed to Putin and the conflict. But he was blocked from running in the presidential election by the authorities on a technicality.

In February, the beleaguered opposition suffered another blow when Aleksei Navalny, the anti-corruption crusader who was increasingly hailed as a figurehead leader, died in an Arctic prison. Some who turned out to pay their respects during Navalny's funeral are now being targeted by police.

By all estimates, the repression of dissenting voices will only increase in Putin's fifth term. The Kremlin's hope is that society will be cowed into acquiescence, or apathy.

"It's true that the Kremlin does not like widespread public unrest. They are concerned about what that means for the stability of the regime," Graham said. "To a certain extent they're paranoid about that, because I think they exaggerate the destabilizing aspects of public protests. But they are concerned about that and have been concerned about that for decades."

"They are concerned about anything that demonstrates initiative, or spontaneity on the part of the population, and much prefer political apathy and people who don't engage in politics," Graham said. "The stability of the system is actually based on apathy."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-putin-election- what-to-watch-for/32863511.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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Russia Detains U.S. Soldier In Far East On Criminal

By RFE/RL May 06, 2024

A U.S. soldier has been arrested in Russia and accused of stealing after traveling there without informing his superiors, adding to a list of Americans being detained by Moscow amid deteriorating relations with Washington.

U.S. Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith confirmed in a statement on May 6 that the soldier, who was not identified, was detained four days earlier in Vladivostok, a military and commercial port in Russia's Far East, on charges of criminal misconduct.

She said Russia notified the U.S. and the Army told the soldier's family. She gave no further details in the statement due to "the sensitivity of this matter."

Russian officials have yet to comment publicly on the matter, which was first reported by NBC News in the United States.

The soldier's detention adds to a list of U.S. citizens being held in Russia under various circumstances and comes as tensions between Moscow and Washington are at the highest levels since the Cold War.

Among those being held are journalists Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL and Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal, who have been detained on charges they, their employers, and their supporters reject as politically motivated.

Also being held is Paul Whelan, who in 2020 was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges that he and the U.S. government have repeatedly rejected.

It wasn't immediately clear if the detained soldier was being considered as absent without leave (AWOL) by the U.S. military.

Details of the incident remain sketchy, with one report saying the soldier had been arrested in Vladivostok for allegedly stealing from a woman there.

"The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations," Smith said in the statement.

"The Army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia."

Officials said the soldier had been stationed in South Korea - where the U.S. military has about 28,500 troops based -- and was in the process of returning home to the United States.

U.S. officials said the soldier traveled instead to Russia.

"I am deeply concerned by reports that a U.S. Army officer has been detained in Russia. Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage," Congressman Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Committee, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The State Department in September 2023 issued a "Do Not Travel" warning to U.S. citizens in the background of American support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion of that country. The note cited "the singling out of U.S. citizens for detention by Russian government security officials" in its warning.

Asked about the incident, a State Department spokesperson would only confirm that "a U.S. citizen has been detained in Russia."

"We reiterate our strong warnings about the danger posed to U.S. citizens inside the Russian Federation. U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately, as stated in our Travel Advisory for Russia," the spokesperson said.

The incident comes less than a year after U.S. soldier Travis King, also stationed in South Korea at the time, slipped into North Korea across the heavily fortified demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.

North Korea later expelled King, who was returned to the United States and eventually charged with desertion.

With reporting by AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-russia-vladivostok-soldier- detained/32935533.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 the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in connection with the holding of exercises by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to develop skills in the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons

6 May 2024 17:44

840-06-05-2024

In connection with the upcoming Russian military exercise to develop skills in the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, we note that this event should be considered in the context of recent bellicose statements by Western officials and sharply destabilizing actions taken by a number of NATO countries aimed at building forceful pressure on the Russian Federation and creating additional threats to the security of our country in connection with the conflict in and around Ukraine .

We are talking primarily about openly declared support and direct assistance to terrorist actions against Russia carried out by the Kyiv regime using increasingly advanced weapons transferred from the West. Since the deliberate target of such strikes is often civilian objects, this leads to numerous casualties among the civilian population. However, this does not bother the sponsors of the clique entrenched in Kyiv, who are pushing it to commit new crimes. Thus, British Foreign Minister D. Cameron and representatives of some other NATO capitals directly state that Ukraine has the right to attack Russian territory with weapons supplied to it.

In addition to the British and French long-range missile systems, which have long been spotted in Ukraine, against this background we especially highlight those versions of the American missiles of the ATACMS family, which have recently been supplied to Kyiv and are also capable of hitting targets deep in Russian territory.

At the same time, in an effort to increase multifaceted missile threats to our country, the United States has openly and clearly taken the path of deploying ground-based systems with intermediate- and shorter-range missiles (INF), which were previously prohibited under the INF Treaty, in various regions of the world. By torpedoing Russian initiatives to maintain the viability of this agreement, which involved eliminating counter-concerns on the basis of mutual verification measures, Washington deliberately destroyed this Treaty, which for many years served as one of the pillars of international security and strategic stability. After this, the United States immediately intensified the development and testing of missile systems of this class, and also began to form specialized military units with regional reference and study the issue of creating the necessary infrastructure. Now the United States has begun to import the corresponding missile systems to Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, allegedly for the duration of exercises with allies, which indicates that the production and "testing" of these weapons is in full swing.

We expressly declare that whenever and wherever American-made ground-based INF missiles appear, we reserve the right to respond in a mirror manner, which will mean the termination of the unilateral Russian moratorium on the deployment of these weapons systems. In response to US actions, Russia is intensifying its development and starting production of similar missile systems. Moreover, taking into account the previously announced R&D and the accumulated developments of the Russian military-industrial complex, this process will not take much time. When making potential decisions on the deployment of such weapons, we leave the geography of their deployment at our discretion.

In the near future, multifunctional American-made F-16 aircraft are expected to appear on the Ukrainian theater of operations. As the Russian side has repeatedly pointed out, we cannot ignore the fact that these aircraft belong to dual-equipped platforms - non-nuclear and nuclear. For many years, aircraft of this particular type formed the basis of the aircraft fleet, which is used in the so-called "joint nuclear missions" of NATO. Regardless of what specific modification these aircraft will be supplied in, we will perceive them as carriers of nuclear weapons and consider this step by the United States and NATO as a targeted provocation.

In this regard, we pay special attention to the statements of the Polish leadership that the question of the need to place American nuclear weapons on Polish territory was directly raised by Warsaw to Washington, and on a practical level.

The statements of French President E. Macron about the possibility of sending French and other NATO contingents to Ukraine cannot but amaze with their irresponsibility and thoughtlessness . Moreover, information has appeared in the Western media that a number of mercenaries from the French Foreign Legion are already in Ukraine. It is difficult to perceive this other than as a manifestation of readiness and intention to enter into direct armed confrontation with Russia, which would mean a head-on military clash of nuclear powers. We have also recorded a series of steps from the French side, including military exercises and other events, which, apparently, should support E. Macron's statements by demonstrating the nuclear capabilities of Paris.

These and some other actions of the member states of the North Atlantic bloc actually indicate that they are deliberately leading the matter towards a further escalation of the Ukrainian crisis towards an open military clash between NATO countries and Russia as part of the implementation of a hostile course to inflict "strategic defeat" on our country.

We note that the aggressive desire of NATO countries to undermine the security of the Russian Federation is gaining momentum. In this regard, we would like to remind you that the guaranteed protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country is the highest priority of Russian policy in the field of military security, including the aspect of nuclear deterrence.

The regime in Kyiv and its Western inspirers should finally realize that their reckless steps are bringing the situation ever closer to the accumulation of an explosive "critical mass." The military dangers created in this way and the resulting threats to our country are clearly outlined in the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation and the Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear deterrence.

The assessments outlined above formed the basis for the decision to conduct Russian military exercises involving part of the forces and means of nuclear deterrence, which are intended to become a sobering signal to the West and its puppets in Kyiv.

We hope that this event will cool down the "hot heads" in Western capitals, will help them realize the possible catastrophic consequences of the strategic risks they generate and will keep them from both assisting the Kyiv regime in its terrorist actions and from being drawn into direct armed confrontation with Russia.

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Russian Missile Drills Linked to NATO Threat of Troop Deployment to Ukraine - Kremlin

Sputnik News

20240506

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Statements by the French President, UK officials and a representative of the US Senate about their readiness and intention to send military personnel to Ukraine require special attention and special measures, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, commenting on military drills announced by the Russian Defense Ministry.

"Actually, this is stated exhaustively in the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. There is nothing to add there. If you ask me what statements of Western representatives we are talking about, it is obvious that we are talking about the statement of Mr Macron and the statement of the British representatives. You you know, they also added a representative of the US Senate, if I'm not mistaken, who spoke of readiness and even intention to send armed contingents to Ukraine, that is, to actually expose NATO soldiers to the Russian military," Peskov said in response to a question on whether the announced exercises were connected to the threats.

"They require special attention and special measures," he added.

Earlier in the day, the ministry said that the General Staff of the Russian armed forces had started preparations for holding exercises in the near future with missile units of the Southern Military District, involving aviation, as well as naval forces, in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions. During the exercises, the Russian armed forces will practice a set of activities for the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, the ministry said.

At the same time, the Kremlin spokesman noted that information that France will allegedly send soldiers to Ukraine requires verification.

Stephen Bryan, the former assistant to the US deputy secretary of defense, said in an interview with foreign media earlier this month that France had sent soldiers of the Foreign Legion to Ukraine.

The rhetoric of Paris and London regarding the possibility of sending soldiers to Ukraine is dangerous, the official added.

Speaking about the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)'s report that the US takes measures to replace Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, Peskov said it is to early to comment on them.

"Now, it is premature to talk about this, at this stage I suggest contacting our colleagues from the Foreign Intelligence Service for clarification," Peskov told reporters.

Earlier in the say, the SVR said that Washington had activated efforts to search for an alternative to Zelenskyy.

A Sputnik

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Russia's General Staff Preparing for Drills to Practice Use of Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons

Sputnik News

20240506

The training exercises for Russian Southern Military District missile units will be held in response to "provocative threats by Western nations against Russia," Moscow underscored.

The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces is preparing for drills to practice the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.

The forthcoming exercises involving missile units of the Southern Military District will feature aviation as well as naval forces, and are to be held on instructions from Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

The drills are aimed at increasing "the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions," the ministry said in a statement.

"The exercise aims at maintaining the readiness of personnel and equipment of units for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons to respond and in order to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Russia in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against Russia," the ministry statement added.

The West has been escalating the bellicose theme of a Russian "strategic defeat" in Ukraine, while also concocting accusations of hybrid attacks by Moscow on the alliance as part of the overall anti-Russian hysteria.

NATO's large-scale Steadfast Defender drills are a clear indication that the alliance is preparing for a "potential conflict" with Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.

"Right now, NATO is conducting its largest drills since the Cold War, Steadfast Defender, near the Russian border. According to the scenario, using all tools, including hybrid ones and conventional weapons, they are exercising coalition actions against Russia. We have to admit that NATO states are seriously preparing for a 'potential conflict' with us, about which, by the way, high-ranking NATO representatives are openly talking," Zakharova said in a statement published by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Furthermore, the North Atlantic Council adopted a statement on May 2 accusing Russia of hybrid attacks against the alliance's member states. In response, Zakharova said the bloc and "the leadership of some individual member states are doing what they are best at - spreading disinformation, increasing the degree of anti-Russian hysteria in order to justify unprecedented levels of militarization in Europe."

A Sputnik

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Russia announces nuclear drills in response to perceived Western threats

By VOA News May 06, 2024

Russia plans to perform drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, in response to what it called "provocative statements and threats from France, Britain and the United States regarding the Russian Federation," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, a warning that tensions with the West are deepening over the war in Ukraine.

The statement Monday was in response to recent remarks by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and French President Emmanuel Macron as well as the delivery of U.S. long-range ATACMS, or Army Tactical Missile Systems, to Ukraine.

"They are deliberately leading the situation towards a further escalation of the Ukrainian crisis towards an open military clash between NATO countries and Russia," the Russian foreign ministry said, and added, "we hope that this event will cool down the 'hotheads' in Western capitals."

Macron repeated last week that he doesn't rule out sending troops to Ukraine, while Cameron said Kyiv's forces will be able to use British long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia. "Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it's defending itself," Cameron said in an interview with Reuters last week.

France on Monday dismissed ongoing Russian reports as a "disinformation campaign," denying sending troops to Ukraine.

"No, France did not send troops to Ukraine," the foreign ministry said in a post on X, replying to recent reports about the deployment of the French Foreign Legion to Ukraine.

This was the first time that Russia has announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons include air bombs, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery munitions and are meant for use on a battlefield. They are less powerful than the massive warheads that arm intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are intended to obliterate entire cities.

Russia also lashed out at NATO's four-month-long military exercises, known as "Steadfast Defender."

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement Saturday that NATO's expansive military exercises close to Russia's borders are proof that the Western alliance is preparing for a potential conflict with Russia.

NATO is currently holding the "Steadfast Defender" exercise a the largest demonstration of military power the transatlantic alliance has performed in the North Atlantic, Arctic seas and across Europe since the end of the Cold War.

President Vladimir Putin warned the West last March that a direct conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance would mean the planet was one step away from World War Three, adding hardly anyone wanted such a scenario.

The Russian president has faced pressure from some hardliners inside Russia to reword Russia's nuclear doctrine, changing the conditions under which Russia would use a nuclear weapon, though Putin said last year he saw no need for change.

"We do not see anything new here," said Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence. "Nuclear blackmail is a constant practice of Putin's regime," he said, reiterating what Ukrainian officials and some Western officials have said in the past that Russia is bluffing over nuclear weapons to scare the West.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has repeatedly warned that the United States and its European allies are pushing the world to the brink of nuclear confrontation by supporting Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars of weapons, some of which are being used against Russian territory.

U.S. President Joe Biden said last year that he felt there was no real prospect of Russia using nuclear weapons, but CNN reported that in interviews top U.S. officials, who wanted to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the U.S. prepared "rigorously" for a potential Russian nuclear strike in Ukraine in late 2022.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia's war in Ukraine is an imperial-style land grab by a corrupt dictatorship. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly warned that Russia's expansionist goals won't end in Ukraine.

Western leaders have vowed to support a defeat of Russian forces in Ukraine, while ruling out any deployment of NATO personnel there.

Russia and the United States are the world's biggest nuclear powers, possessing more than 10,600 of the world's 12,100 nuclear warheads. China has the third-largest nuclear arsenal, followed by France and Britain.

Russia has about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists, though there is uncertainty about exact figures for such weapons due to a lack of transparency.

No power has used nuclear weapons in war since the United States unleashed the first atomic bomb attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

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3 Taiwanese found guilty of illegally working for Chinese firm

ROC Central News Agency

05/06/2024 08:59 PM

Taipei, May 6 (CNA) Three Taiwan nationals have been found guilty of engaging in business with a Chinese firm not permitted by the competent authority in Taiwan, according to the Hsinchu District Court which handed down its verdict in late April.

The three violated the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area by hiring Taiwanese to engage in unauthorized work for Beijing Tienmi Technology, a subsidiary of Beijing-based Xiaomi Corp., according to the verdict.

The verdict said the Taiwan office of the subsidiary was illegally operating businesses that are not permitted by the Taiwanese authorities, such as developing mobile phone chips.

To avoid Taiwan's investigation into the company's operations, Lin Bin (), a co-founder of the Xiaomi Group, set up Yishing Technology Limited via one of the defendants, surnamed Yu (, a former Xiaomi CFO), in 2019.

Another defendant surnamed Pan (, the CTO of Tienmi's Taiwan office) then transferred 24 research and developing staff from Tienmi's Taiwan office to Yishing, where they worked for Tienmi.

On finding that Yishing faced an investigation, Yu told Lin that he would dissolve the company. Lin subsequently transferred the R&D staff to Altek Semiconductor Corp. to continue the illegal work.

Altek's acting general manager surnamed Hsia () helped Pan set up an office in Taipei for the staff to work in, aware that the business conducted by the company was unlawful.

Hsia was sentenced to six months, Yu to five months, and Pan to four months. All three sentences will be suspended for two years and can be commuted to a fine. However, Hsia is still required to pay NT$200,000 (US$6,181) to the treasury while Yu and Pan have to pay NT$150,000 each, within one year.

An investigation into Lin by the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau is ongoing, the court said.

The verdict can be appealed.

(By Kuo Hsuan-wen and Wu Kuan-hsien)

Enditem/AW

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China ramps up pressure on Taiwan ahead of presidential inauguration

By William Yang May 06, 2024

China has initiated a series of influence campaigns against Taiwan ahead of the island's inauguration of president-elect Lai Ching-te on May 20. Beijing has increased the scale and frequency of military activities near Taiwan while partially relaxing travel and import restrictions.

Some analysts say Beijing is trying to test how the incoming Taiwanese government will respond to the increased pressure from Beijing while further eroding the longstanding status quo across the Taiwan Strait at a time when Taiwan is preparing for a transition of power.

"In the short term, Beijing is trying to see how the new Taiwanese government under Lai may respond to its pressure campaign," said Chen Fang-yu, a political scientist at Soochow University in Taiwan.

"At the same time, the Chinese government is attempting to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait when Taipei is focusing on the inauguration," he told VOA by phone.

Taiwan's defense ministry detected 26 Chinese military aircraft and five Chinese naval vessels near the island between May 2 and May 3, including 17 Chinese military aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait. Some Chinese aircraft got as close as about 76 kilometers from Taiwan's northern port city of Keelung, which hosts an important naval base.

Meanwhile, the director general of Taiwan's National Security Bureau, Tsai Ming-yen, told Taiwanese lawmakers on May 1 that the Chinese military had incorporated new tactics into its joint combat readiness patrol near the island, including staging night-time combat patrols and using landing ships and minesweepers during these exercises.

Additionally, he said Taiwanese authorities are tracking the increased patrols carried out by the Chinese coast guard near Taiwan's outlying island, Kinmen. On April 29, Beijing said the Fujian Coast Guard had organized a fleet of ships to increase the frequency of patrols in waters near Kinmen since April.

Beijing also announced plans to allow residents from its southern province of Fujian to travel to Taiwan's outlying island of Matsu while lifting import restrictions on Taiwanese pomelos and two types of seafood late last month.

The news came after a group of lawmakers from Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang, which advocates closer ties between Taipei and Beijing, visited China.

Some experts say the measures rolled out by Beijing in recent weeks are all part of its influence operation against Taipei, which involves using disinformation campaigns, economic coercion, and gray zone operations to impose pressure on Taiwan.

"China's overall strategy is still to increase pressure on Taiwan but they are also offering some small favors to Taiwan's opposition parties," said Su Tzu-yun, a military expert at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research.

While recent developments should be viewed as part of China's overall influence operation against Taiwan, Su said part of Beijing's long-term goal is to increase its control over the Taiwan Strait.

"By increasing the frequency of deploying Chinese coast guard vessels to restricted waters near Kinmen and flying Chinese military aircraft closer to Taiwan's main island, Beijing is hoping to eventually turn the Taiwan Strait into its territorial water," he told VOA by phone.

Beijing has repeatedly threatened to achieve reunification with Taiwan through force in recent years, and the Chinese government views Taiwan's president-elect Lai as an advocate of Taiwan independence.

Since the Chinese military usually concentrates military exercises between June and November, Su said the incoming Taiwanese government needs to closely monitor any increase in Chinese military activities around the island after May 20.

In addition to threats posed by a possible buildup of Chinese military activities, some security analysts say Taiwan should also be mindful of Beijing's efforts to create division in Taiwan's domestic politics.

"There is every reason to believe that [the Chinese Communist Party] is ramping up efforts to use Taiwan's democracy against itself," J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based security analyst, told VOA in a written response.

He said China will rely on China-friendly political forces in Taiwan to "sabotage the Lai administration" and these efforts will have "serious ramifications for Taiwan's ability to counter Chinese infiltration and the Taiwan government's ability to function."

Prioritizing policy continuity

In light of the increasing Chinese pressure, Lai has appointed some current cabinet members to key positions in charge of national security, foreign policy, and cross-strait relations in his cabinet.

Taiwan's current foreign minister Joseph Wu will be the secretary general of the National Security Council. The current head of the council, Wellington Koo, will be the new defense minister in the Lai administration.

On the foreign policy front, the current secretary general of Taiwan's presidential office Lin Chia-lung will be the new foreign minister, and Chiu Chui-cheng, a former deputy political minister for Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which handles cross-strait relations, will be the new head of the council.

Cole said Lai's personnel picks for national security and foreign policy reflect his intention to continue the policy agenda of the outgoing administration under President Tsai Ing-wen, who has focused on strengthening Taiwan's relations with like-minded democracies including the United States and Japan.

The decision "will play a major role in reassuring allies and partners around the world that Taiwan will remain committed to the kind of responsible foreign policy that existed under the Tsai administration," he told VOA.

Chen at Soochow University said the incoming Taiwanese government's cabinet lineup will benefit the U.S.-led efforts to strengthen security-related cooperation among democratic countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

"Since some of his cabinet members are holdovers from the current administration, they have already established relationships with officials in other countries, and some of the existing cooperations can continue," he told VOA.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau

May 6, 2024

Ottawa, Ontario

Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Prime Minister expressed his best wishes on behalf of all Canadians to President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.

Prime Minister Trudeau and President Zelenskyy discussed the situation on the ground and ways to continue supporting Ukraine, particularly following Russia's repeated and indiscriminate attacks on critical energy and civilian infrastructure.

The leaders discussed Canada's unwavering support to Ukraine, including implementation of a new, historic agreement on security co-operation between Canada and Ukraine, which was signed in Kyiv in February.

Prime Minister Trudeau reaffirmed Canada's support for Ukraine and for President Zelenskyy's ongoing diplomatic efforts toward a just and sustainable peace, including through Canada's co-leadership of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. The leaders exchanged views on next steps, including the upcoming Summit on Peace in Ukraine, to be held in Switzerland, and engagement with developing and emerging countries that are also facing the impact of Russia's brutal and illegal war of aggression.

Prime Minister Trudeau and President Zelenskyy reaffirmed their intention to remain in close and regular contact.

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Ukraine: EU-Ukraine Defence Industries Forum bolsters cooperation between Ukrainian and European defence industries

European External Action Service (EEAS)

06.05.2024

EEAS Press Team

Today, the EU-Ukraine Defence industries Forum took place in Brussels.

The event, the first organised by the European Union (EU), was hosted by High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP) Josep Borrell and European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton, together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, and Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine Oleksandr Kamyshin, with support from the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD).

The Forum focused on strengthening defence industrial cooperation between the EU and Ukraine, in view of providing sustained military support to Ukraine, also over the long term, and better addressing Ukrainian defence and industrial needs. It gathered over 400 representatives from governments, EU and Ukrainian defence industries, industry associations and key partner countries and organisations as well as EU institutions. It included a High-Level Conference and a business matchmaking segment, which offered a platform for concrete business-to-business cooperation, in particular for Small and Medium sized Enterprises.

The EU-Ukraine Defence Industries Forum is a first, concrete step in the implementation of the European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS) , launched in March 2024. The Forum opens the way to identify concrete cooperation initiatives, arrangements and flagship projects between the EU and Ukraine defence industries, through e.g., joint ventures. This will promote closer cooperation between defence companies and the progressive integration of the Ukrainian industry in the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), also in view of Ukraine's accession process to the EU.

As Russia continues to wage its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU stands firm in its determination and steadfast commitment to support Ukraine with whatever it takes to prevail, in the short-term as well as for the long run. This Forum testifies to this commitment.

The EU will continue to encourage Member States to deliver more and faster military assistance to Ukraine and provide support via European Peace Facility. The EU has proposed to support joint procurement from the European defence industry (and Norway) and encourages procurement through joint ventures between the European and Ukrainian defence industry. The EU is also working towards the set-up of an EU innovation office in Kyiv.

Background

The Forum is the third multilateral edition of a series of international defence industries events launched by the Ukrainian government in Kyiv in September 2023 - the first one organised by the EU.

The EU-Ukraine Defence Industries Forum was proposed by the European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS) , presented on 5 March 2024 by the European Commission and the High Representative, in coordination with the European Defence Agency. Developed against the backdrop of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the objective of EDIS is to strengthen the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) and achieve defence industrial readiness, in order to better protect EU citizens and support partners. Developing closer ties with Ukraine through its participation in Union's initiatives in support of defence industry and stimulating cooperation between the EU and Ukrainian defence industries are among the set of actions presented in EDIS.

In line with the Conclusions of the European Council, the EU and Member States committed to continue addressing Ukraine's pressing military and defence needs. The EU and Member States have delivered a32 billion military assistance to Ukraine. On 18 March 2024, the Council of the European Union adopted the Ukraine Assistance Fund providing additional a5 billion of support, to be implemented under the European Peace Facility. Under this instrument, the EU has provided lethal and non-lethal military equipment to Ukraine, including ammunition, as well as covered common costs for the training of the 47,000 Ukrainian soldiers trained so far by the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM). The target is to have trained 60,000 Ukrainian troops by summer 2024.

On 15 March 2024, the European Commission selected 31 potential projects with a total funding of a500 million under the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) to assist European industry in increasing its ammunition and missiles production and readiness. On the same day, the European Commission adopted the instrument for the reinforcement of the European defence industry through common procurement (EDIRPA) Work Programme, and launched the respective calls for proposal with a total budget of a310 million.

Quotes

High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell said: "Today's Forum is a key step to bolster cooperation between Ukrainian and EU defence industries. It is crucial now but also for our future needs. I am convinced it will bring our defence industries closer, allow us to learn from each other, and help Ukraine to defend itself from Russia's war of aggression. This may prove to be a game changer for the long term."

Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said "Our commitment towards Ukraine and our joint ambition to mobilise the European industry to deliver what is needed, are as solid as ever. The European defence industries must move into a war economy mode. The objective is to produce faster, more and together, to continue supporting Ukraine, now and on the long term."

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, said: "If we are to maintain peace in Europe, we must transition to a wartime European economy and industry, as paradoxical as this may sound. What we can do is deter aggressive Russia by demonstrating that Europe has the means to defend itself. A common defense industrial space would help overcome existing problems. No country can help Ukraine and protect Europe on its own. Only a collective effort can."

Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kamyshin, said: "Ukraine is forever grateful for all the assistance the EU and its Member States have delivered and continue to provide. Over the last year, we have also been ramping up our own capabilities significantly a and we aim to build them in cooperation with our allies. We see our defence industry as part of the EU's defence industrial base, contributing to the collective security of the EU's Member States."

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Ukraine: Press remarks by High Representative upon arrival at the EU-Ukraine Defence Industries Forum

European External Action Service (EEAS)

06.05.2024

EEAS Press Team

Check against delivery!

Good morning.

Well, here we are, the defence industries of the European Union and the defence industries from Ukraine, gathering together.

There are more than 140 firms coming from 25 different countries, and the purpose is to match the capacities of the Ukrainian's industry with the European's industry, and to see what are the opportunities to use European funding, in order to produce more and quicker - if possible, directly in Ukraine.

It is important that the production could be done in Ukraine by Ukrainian firms, supported by EU firms. We save transportation costs, and we produce immediately right where the production is needed.

This is the third time this meeting takes place. It was first in Ukraine, second in the United States, [and] now here in Europe. And the result should be engaging and integrating the Ukrainian defence industry inside the ecosystem of the European defence capacities.

We have to produce more. We have to produce quicker. We have the funding of the European Peace Facility, and inside the European Peace Facility we have [the] Ukrainian [Assistance] Fund. So, let's see what they can do together, how they can integrate their capacities, how we can increase the capacities of the Ukrainian industry.

This is the purpose.

Q&A

Q. Taking into account that Russia is targeting the defence industry. How is it possible to protect those production sites and do you see any fears going around among European producers to go to Ukraine?

Well, that is why we called them to come, I cannot tell you before the conference takes place. But there are 140 companies coming so they see an opportunity. Certainly, Ukraine is a country at war and Russia is targeting the industrial capacities. We have to provide capacities to defend and capacities to increase production. Here we are talking about the second part: who is going to produce more in Ukraine, linking the Ukrainian defence industry with the European defence industry. More than 140 firms are here, I suppose they came because they are interested in that.

Q. What are the main challenges for you in terms of looking for funding for those projects?

The challenges are not for me. The challenges are for the industry themselves. We have industrial capacity in Europe, we have funding, we have opportunities to look for partners in Ukraine. And this is what the conference is about, and you will have to wait for the end, in order to know which are the deliveries.

The difficulties are clear. Ukraine is a country at war. It is not just producing in normal conditions. That is why the industry has to understand that, first, there is an opportunity; second, there is a risk; third, there is funding. Putting the three things together, to share technology. For example, you are very good at producing drones, maybe we have to learn from you. But we have capacities that could be implemented in Ukraine. We produce in Europe, but we should be able to produce in your territory - as I said - in order to save costs, to reduce delivery times and to be closer to your needs. That is why we called 140 firms to come and discuss.

Thank you.

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-256905

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Ukraine: Opening remarks by High Representative at the EU-Ukraine Defence Industries Forum

European External Action Service (EEAS)

06.05.2024

EEAS Press Team

Check against delivery!

Good morning to everybody,

A warm welcome to all of you and, in particular, to our Ukrainian guests. Minister [for Strategic Industries of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kamyshin], and all of you, thank you for being here. I know how difficult it is and dangerous it is for you to travel, especially these days when the attacks of Russia against Ukraine continue.

Russia's forces are putting a lot of pressure on the Ukrainian lines in the Donbas, bringing destruction, escalating its attacks against railway infrastructure, energy grids. They are targeting mainly energy systems, dams and now also gas storages. All of that is critical to Ukrainian defence.

Cities like Kharkiv and Odesa - beautiful cities that I visited a few months ago - are constantly shelled [with] ballistic missiles and drones. Putin wants to bomb the inhabitants in order to [drive] them out. And, as you know, every day, civilians die or get injured in Ukraine.

It happens because Ukraine lacks air defence and artillery ammunition. We have to increase our capacities to deliver the military aid that we promised.

The decisions to support Ukraine, as much as the postponement of the implementation of these decisions, have consequences - now and tomorrow, for Ukraine and for us.

This should guide our strategic thinking. We should be strategic in thinking [about] what are the challenges that Ukraine is facing. It is a matter of responsibility for the Europeans.

Our ability to deliver - more and quicker - missiles, artillery ammunition and [anti-]aircraft systems more massively and quickly to Ukraine is a matter of life and death for thousands of Ukrainian civilians and their military personnel.

It is [also] our security which is at stake.

Yes, the military aid passed by the US Congress is much needed. That is positive news, but we have to do our part. We have to do our part.

I know that several initiatives by EU Member States are underway. The US military assistance will come - they have lost six months - but we have to do our part.

This war, with the groundbreaking role of 21st century technology like drones - drones destroying the most advanced tanks - is revolutionising the warfare. And we have learned a lot from the Ukrainians in this regard.

I was in Ukraine last February and I visited one of the more than 200 Ukrainian drone producers. I saw how "necessity powers innovation". Drones and electronic warfare "Made in Ukraine" could become world leaders. They have been reacting because they have their needs there. So, yes, necessity powers innovation. Ukraine is a clear example of that.

We've gathered [at] this Forum, and we should leave this Forum with concrete proposals to support these Ukrainian producers and innovators.

The cooperation we want to inspire today must indeed go both ways. Europe's defence ecosystem has a lot to offer, but also, has a lot to learn from Ukraine.

We need to step up structurally our industrial defence capacities. This is key in a long war of attrition like this one.

This is why, when presenting recently the first European Defence Industrial Strategy, we proposed to start immediately working on the integration of Ukrainian defence companies into the European Union's defence industrial ecosystem.

We have to integrate the Ukrainian defence capacity, from the industrial point of view, with ours.

In concrete terms, this means particularly to promote joint procurement between European and Ukrainian defence industries.

There is a lot of capacity in Ukraine, [but] they need funding.

That is why this Forum gathers us today. It should serve to identify concrete opportunities for joint initiatives between Ukrainian and European companies, boosting Ukrainian industrial production, helping Ukraine to rearm, and funding it.

We do not start from zero. A lot of cooperation is already happening. Several European companies recently entered into [joint] ventures in Ukraine. Often to move repair and maintenance closer to the front, but also to produce artillery ammunition.

Yes, some things have been done already. We do not start from scratch, but we need to go further.

We [will] open a new EU Innovation Office in Kyiv later this year to facilitate matchmaking between Ukrainian start-ups and [European Union] defence companies.

We associated the European Defence Agency to this Hub in the field of autonomous systems for military logistics.

But I repeat: financing is key in all these efforts.

We just established a new Ukraine Assistance Fund - with an envelope of a5 billion within the European Peace Facility.

And once EU Member States have agreed on using the revenues stemming from Russia's immobilised assets, these resources will be channelled towards Ukraine, to address their pressing military needs and directly to the Ukrainian defence industry.

This is my firm intention. This money has to be channelled to Ukraine in order to make the Ukrainians able to produce by themselves, in their territory, close to their needs - saving transportation costs and [avoiding] delays.

We have to be more creative in exploring new ways of delivering military assistance to Ukraine.

Denmark has shown the example, starting the path of directly investing in the Ukrainian defence industry. This is the way to go. Purchasing equipment from Ukrainian companies or from European and Ukrainian joint ventures established in Ukraine, is an option that we will explore together with the Member States.

Yes, like nearly everything else in this war, innovation and audacity are essential to prevail. If the military equipment that Ukraine needs can be rapidly produced by the Ukrainian defence industry, I say let's buy from them. Let's help them produce at home. And let's provide the financial capacity to buy this production.

This is a common endeavour. Our industrial cooperation should be a core element of our cooperation. So, let's work together today. You are more than 140 firms, coming from 25 different states.

Everybody here knows what is at stake. Let's not lose time, and get out of here with concrete proposals, concrete matching between one side and the other, the big alliance between the Europeans and Ukrainians.

The purpose is to make Ukraine able to resist the invasion by boosting their industrial capacity, using what they already have, increasing it by funding it and by buying their production. Technology on one side, and financial capabilities on the other side have to be together, in order to make Ukrainians able to have the military capacities to resist.

It is their existence [which is at stake], but it is also ours.

So, use this opportunity, dear friends. I repeat: 140 firms coming from 25 states. Use this opportunity to link your capacities with Ukrainian capacities, and we will provide funding for you to work together.

Thank you.

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-256900

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Prime ministers of Finland and Denmark call for more arms assistance to Ukraine and highlight importance of strengthening European defence industry

Finnish Government

Government Communications Department

6.5.2024

Press release

Support for Ukraine and the threat posed by Russia were the main topics of discussion when Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen met in Copenhagen on Monday 6 May.

Support for Ukraine and the threat posed by Russia were the main topics of discussion when Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen met in Copenhagen on Monday 6 May.

"Our discussion showed once again how like-minded our countries are. We both underlined the need to provide more weapons to Ukraine and to do so quickly. We both consider it very important to strengthen the European defence industry and speed up the production of ammunition," Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Frederiksen after the meeting.

One of the key themes of the discussions was security in the Baltic Sea region and Nordic defence and security cooperation, including defence industry cooperation.

"The security situation in the Baltic Sea has changed significantly since Russia launched its war of aggression in Ukraine. Cooperation between Finland and Denmark is very important in preparing for different scenarios and strengthening our resilience, especially when it comes to ensuring security of supply and safeguarding critical infrastructure," said Prime Minister Orpo.

The prime ministers also discussed topical EU issues, such as the programme for the next European Commission and the themes of the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU, which will begin in July 2025.

After the bilateral meeting, the prime ministers took part in an event celebrating the reopening of the Embassy of Finland in Copenhagen after two years of renovation.

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Gitanas NausAda spoke by telephone with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy

President of the Republic of Lithuania

May 06, 2024

On Monday afternoon, President Gitanas NausAda spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Lithuanian and Ukrainian leaders discussed Ukraine's Peace Formula summit, the situation on the front line, and military support for Ukraine.

The President of Lithuania is the first Head of State to confirm his participation in Ukraine's Peace Formula summit to be held in Switzerland in June. Gitanas NausAda stressed that Lithuania supports and will support Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Peace Formula, and during a telephone conversation the Lithuanian and Ukrainian leaders discussed the preparations for the Summit.

The two leaders also discussed both the situation on the frontline and military support for Ukraine. "We are committed to continue our support for Ukraine and to allocate part of our GDP to support Ukraine's defense and security," President Gitanas NausAda said. Lithuania's assistance to Ukraine totals over a1 billion, about half of which is military aid, and this year alone Lithuania has already allocated almost a80 million to Ukraine.

Gitanas NausAda also underlined that Lithuania appreciates Germany's initiative to take an immediate action on Ukraine's air defense and welcomes the decision to send an additional Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. "Lithuania will also join this initiative," the Head of State pointed out.

Lithuania leads the demining coalition of Ukraine, which aims to pool and coordinate the existing and future demining support for Ukraine from donor countries. "Today, in the meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, I invited Germany to support this coalition with a financial contribution for the purchase of equipment needed by Ukraine," the President said in a telephone conversation.



The President's Communication Group

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Report: US has intensified efforts to find replacement for Ukraine's Zelensky

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 1:08 PM

The United States has ramped up its search for an alternative to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR).

Sputnik news agency reported on Monday that the SVR had received information that the West was actively engaged in discussions to find a substitute for Zelensky due to Kiev's failures both on the battlefield against Russia and on the home front.

"Zelensky is clearly beginning to lose the fight for the 'minds and hearts' of the people of Ukraine, especially since his legitimacy as president will be completely lost after the expiry of his five-year term on May 20," the report cited SVR.

SVR said it had received reports that Petro Poroshenko, Vitali Klitschko, Andriy Yermak, Valery Zaluzhny, and former speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament Dmytro Razumkov had been approached by the West as possible substitutes.

The report said Washington believed a quick substitute could be needed in the event of a sudden deterioration on the battlefield that would necessitate an urgent change in leadership.

Washington believes, in the current situation, the main objective is to prevent Ukrainians' further disappointment with Kiev's failures in its pursuit of pro-Western policies, SVR said.

The American and European warmongers would "prefer to keep Zelensky in office for now," SVR said, since the "schemes for financing the war" have been built around him, and are "bringing in enormous profits for both representatives of the Kiev regime, and Western arms manufacturers."

The report said a surge in desertion cases among the military of the armed forces of Ukraine was another source of concern for the US-led alliance backing the Kiev regime.

There have been numerous reports of more and more Ukrainian forces refusing to carry out combat missions and even risking being shot in the back by units stationed behind them in an effort to prevent them from retreating from the battlefield.

In February 2022, Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine to "de-Nazify" and "de-militarize" the country seeking NATO membership.

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Ukraine kills six in drone attack on Russia's Belgorod

Iran Press TV

Monday, 06 May 2024 10:37 AM

Ukraine has killed six people and injured 35 others in a drone attack on vehicles carrying workers in Russia's border region of Belgorod.

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the attack targeted two buses taking employees of a nearby factory to work as well as a passenger vehicle near the village of Berezovka on Monday.

"Unfortunately, as a result of an explosion, six people died at the scene from their wounds," Gladkov said.

He added that "35 people were wounded" in the attack, including two children.

According to his statements, one of the injured was in "serious condition" and undergoing surgery.

The governor published a picture of a bus with its windows blown out and roof damaged.

Ukraine has repeatedly been fatally attacking Belgorod in recent months, and Monday's attack is the deadliest in weeks.

Russia launched the military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Western countries have responded to the Russian military operation by backing Ukraine with cash and heavy weaponry while imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russian officials and entities.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that such a flow of weapons to Kiev will only prolong the conflict.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the US, alone, has pledged more than $44 billion in security aid to Ukraine.

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Rhetoric Heats Up Between Russia, West Over Ukraine Involvement

By RFE/RL's Russian Service May 06, 2024

Russia, angered over what it says are "unprecedented" and "provocative" statements from the West, threatened retaliatory moves "inside Ukraine and beyond," as well as plans to conduct military exercises with tactical nuclear weapons that the European Union called "irresponsible."

Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War, with Kyiv's Western allies throwing their support behind Ukraine's struggle to repel overwhelmingly superior Russian forces.

In the latest moves, Moscow on May 6 blasted remarks by U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who said Ukraine "has the right" to launch attacks inside Russia with British-made weapons, and it called remarks by President Emmanuel Macron suggesting that Paris could eventually send troops to Ukraine to assist Kyiv in its battle against Russia's full-scale invasion "irresponsible and mindless."

The Western allies "are deliberately leading the situation toward a further escalation of the Ukrainian crisis toward an open military clash between NATO countries and Russia," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said it summoned British Ambassador Nigel Casey over Cameron's remarks, "firmly pointing out that Cameron's hostile move directly contradicts the previously sounded assurances of the British side while transferring long-range cruise missiles to the Kyiv regime, that under no circumstances would they be used on the Russian territory."

It said Cameron's remarks meant he was "de facto recognizing his country as a party in the conflict" and that any use of British weapons on Russian territory could make targets of "any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond."

In a separate statement, the ministry blasted remarks by Macron on potential use of French troops inside Ukraine, saying it found them "amusing for their irresponsibility and thoughtlessness."

"It is difficult to perceive all this other than as a statement about the readiness and intention to enter into direct armed confrontation with Russia, which would mean a head-on military clash of nuclear powers," it added.

Hours earlier, Russia announced plans to conduct military exercises to ensure its readiness to use tactical nuclear weapons.

The announcement by the Defense Ministry is the first time Russia has publicly announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons.

A European Commission spokesman assailed the Russian announcement, labeling it "saber-rattling" and a "continuation of Russia's irresponsible behavior."

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the move was further "proof that the Kremlin is only interested in further escalating the situation which was caused by its illegal aggression against Ukraine."

Washington called the nuclear remarks "irresponsible rhetoric."

"This is an example of the kind of irresponsible rhetoric we've seen from Russia in the past. It's completely inappropriate given the current security situation," Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said.

"We've not seen any change in their strategic force posture.... Obviously, we'll continue to monitor," he added.

The role of strategic nuclear weapons is to strike enemy targets far from the front line, while tactical nuclear weapons are designed to be used on battlefields.

The exercise is meant to increase the ability of Russia's military to "ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against the Russian Federation," the statement said, without elaborating.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked by journalists what had prompted the announcement on nuclear readiness, said, "It's obvious we are talking about statements from Mr. Macron and statements from British representatives,"

"This is a completely new round of escalating tensions. It is unprecedented and requires special measures," Peskov said.

Separately, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region bordering Ukraine said on Telegram that seven people were killed and 42 wounded by Ukrainian drones near Berezovka, in the Borisov district close to the Ukrainian frontier, when two buses carrying workers to a pig farm were struck by Ukrainian drones.

Ukraine has not commented on the claim, which could not be independently confirmed.

Ukraine has been subjected to almost daily Russian missile and drone strikes that have caused huge damage to its civilian and energy infrastructure and killed and wounded numerous civilians, including children.

In response, Kyiv has targeted energy infrastructure inside Russia, especially oil refining installations.

Russia on May 6 said its forces had taken control of the settlements of Solovyove in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region and Kotlyarivka in the Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian authorities did not acknowledge the potential loss of the settlements, but many Ukrainian bloggers appeared to confirm that both had been taken by Russia.

Earlier the Ukrainian Air Force said it had downed 12 out of 13 drones launched by Russia at energy infrastructure targets in the Sumy region. The regional administration said the electricity supply was temporarily cut in Sumy, Romniy, and Okhtyrka.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-nuclear-exercise-north- caucasus/32934886.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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Press release on summoning French Ambassador Pierre Levy to the Foreign Ministry

6 May 2024 18:50

842-06-05-2024

Due to the French leadership's increasingly bellicose statements and incoming information about France's growing involvement in the conflict around Ukraine, on May 6, French Ambassador to Russia Pierre Levy was summoned to the Foreign Ministry.

The Russian side gave its fundamental assessments of Paris's destructive and provocative line, leading to further escalation of the conflict. It was emphasised that the attempts of the French authorities to create some strategic uncertainty for Russia with their irresponsible statements about a possible dispatch of Western military contingents to Ukraine are doomed to failure. The goals and objectives of the special military operation will be achieved.

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Press release on summoning UK Ambassador to the Foreign Ministry

6 May 2024 16:23

839-06-05-2024

On May 6, UK Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to be delivered a strong protest against the recent statement by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in an interview with the Reuters news agency regarding Ukraine's right to strike Russian territory using British weapons. The Ministry firmly pointed out to Ambassador Casey that Cameron's hostile outburst directly contradicts the British side's earlier assurances during the transfer of long-range cruise missiles to the Kiev regime that they would under no circumstances be used to strike Russia's territory. By doing so, the head of the Foreign Office disavowed this position and admitted his country was a de facto party to the conflict.

The ambassador was told that the Russian side considered Cameron's words as evidence of a serious escalation and confirmation of London's growing involvement in combat actions on Kiev's side. Nigel Casey was warned that any UK military facilities and equipment on Ukrainian territory and beyond could be hit as a response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with British weapons. The ambassador was urged to consider the inevitable disastrous repercussions of such hostile steps by London and to urgently refute in the strongest and most unequivocal manner the bellicose provocative statements by the head of the Foreign Office.

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State Dept. on Congressman Jeffries' Comment: US Will Not Send Troops to Fight in Ukraine

Sputnik News

20240506

WASHINGTON (Sputnik ) - The United States will not send any troops to fight in Ukraine, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Monday.

US House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Sunday that there is a significant likelihood the United States will have to send troops to the conflict zone if Ukraine falls, adding that Washington must continue supporting Kiev in order to prevent a broader war.

"The president [Joe Biden] has made clear that he will not send US troops to fight in Ukraine," Miller said in a press briefing.

No Reason to Adjust US Nuclear Posture in Response to Russia Drills

The United States sees no reason to change its nuclear stance in response to Russia's planned drills on tactical nuclear weapons nor does it see signs that Moscow is preparing to use nuclear arms in Ukraine, the spokesperson noted.

"Russia's rhetoric has been reckless and irresponsible throughout this conflict. That said, we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture and, in response, to these announcements nor any indications that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine," Miller said during the briefing.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the General Staff of the Russian armed forces had started preparations for exercises involving missile units of the Southern Military District, aviation, as well as naval forces, in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions.

During the exercises, the Russian armed forces will practice a set of activities for the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, the ministry said.

The drills should be perceived in the context of NATO's recent destabilizing actions as well as the latest bellicose statements made by Western officials, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with The Economist that he did not exclude the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine should Kiev send a request. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron rejected the idea but said that Kiev had the right to use the weapons provided by London to attack Russian territory.

On Sunday, US House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CBS that "there's a significant likelihood" that America will have to send its troops to the conflict zone if Ukraine falls. He claimed that the US must continue supporting Kiev to "prevent a broader war."

Rafah Operation Would Jeopardize Delivery of Humanitarian Assistance

"Certainly, a Rafah operation would make it incredibly difficult to sustain the increases in humanitarian assistance that we have been able to deliver over the past few weeks since the president's call with Prime Minister Netanyahu on April 4, you have seen an increase in the number of trucks going in through Kerem Shalom, you have seen an increase in the distribution inside of Gaza, including inside southern Gaza. All of that would be put in jeopardy by Rafah's offensive," Miller told a press briefing.

The US has proposed to the Israeli government targeted and effective strategies to address legitimate military objectives against Hamas battalions in Rafah, Miller added.

US Will Not Have Representative at Putin's Inauguration

The United States will not have any representative attending the inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Miller noted.

"We will not have a representative at his inauguration," he said.

Miller said that the US "certainly did not consider" Russia's March presidential election free and fair but Putin is "the President of Russia and is going to continue in that capacity."

A Sputnik

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'Russia's Not Bluffing': Tactical Nuke Drills are Deafening Warning to NATO to Stay Out of Ukraine

Sputnik News

20240506

Ilya Tuskanov

Russia's military has parried bellicose statements by officials and lawmakers in Washington, Paris and London about deploying troops in Ukraine by announcing drills involving battlefield nuclear weapons. Sputnik asked Earl Rasmussen, a 20-year veteran of the US Army-turned independent military and foreign affairs observer, what it all means.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has characterized Russia's upcoming tactical nuclear missile drills as a bid by Moscow to "cool down the 'hot heads' in Western capitals" threatening to deploy ground troops in Ukraine, and take other aggressive steps which threaten to escalate the proxy war in Ukraine into a full-blown Russia-NATO conflagration.

The exercises "must be considered in the context of recent bellicose statements by Western officials and the sharply destabilizing actions taken by a number of NATO countries to pressure Russia with force, and to create additional threats to the security of our country in connection with the conflict in and around Ukraine," the ministry said in a press statement on Monday.

This includes threats to provide new forms of "direct assistance" to Kiev, including the transfer of increasingly advanced weapons to the Zelensky regime, as well as the US decision to tear up arms control agreements with Russia in a bid to militarize both Europe and Asia, Moscow said.

The drills should "help [NATO] realize the possible catastrophic consequences of the strategic risks they generate, and keep them from both assisting the Kiev regime in its terrorist actions, and from being drawn into a direct armed confrontation with Russia," the Ministry said.

Moscow also warned that it will treat any F-16 fighter jets that NATO plans to deliver to Ukraine as potential carriers of nuclear weapons, and that it considers the decision to supply them as "a deliberate provocation." Combined with Poland's talk of willingness to deploy US nuclear weapons on its soil, reports of French mercs already fighting in Ukraine, and other provocations, the Foreign Ministry emphasized that the Western bloc's efforts signal a deliberate push "toward a further escalation of the Ukrainian crisis toward an open military clash between NATO and Russia as part of the implementation of the hostile course of inflicting a 'strategic defeat' on our country."

"The regime in Kiev and its Western abettors should finally realize that their reckless steps are bringing the situation ever closer to the accumulation of an explosive 'critical mass'," Moscow warned, urging the other side to rethink its positions.

Separately on Monday, the Ministry summoned British Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey to warn him over the implications of Foreign Minister David Cameron's comments during his May 2 visit to Kiev about the admissibility using British weaponry to carry out strikes on Russian territory, stressing that the comments signal London's admission of its role as a direct party to the Ukrainian crisis, and that Moscow will treat it accordingly.

"The ambassador was told that the Russian side views D. Cameron's words as evidence of a serious escalation, and confirmation of London's growing involvement in military operations on the side of Kiev. N. Casey was warned that the response to Ukrainian strikes using British weapons on Russian territory could include any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond," the ministry said.

Moscow separately summoned French Ambassador to Russia Pierre Levy "in connection with...bellicose statements by the French leadership," and France's growing involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

Reading Russia's Signals

"This is a signal to the Western leaders that they are serious. They are not bluffing," retired US Army Lt. Col. Earl Rasmussen told Sputnik, commenting on the flurry of statements by the Russian military, the Kremlin and the Foreign Ministry about Russia missile forces' plans to hold tactical nuclear weapons drills in the Southern Military District amid NATO threats in Ukraine.

"If the Western leaders escalate this further with direct engagement, Russia will directly engage them: and they'll destroy their forces, and potentially to protect the Russian state will, may result in tactical nuclear weapons [being used]. This is not good: this would force an escalation and eventually lead to a total nuclear war," Rasmussen warned.

"I don't believe that Russia wants to do this. I believe they're trying to send a signal to caution the Western leaders from escalating further," the 20-year US Army veteran-turned international and military affairs commentator added.

Unfortunately, Rasmussen warned, the hostile statements coming out of Western capitals about "getting engaged" in Ukraine if the Ukrainian front collapses serve to increase the risks of a direct clash. "This is a very, very dangerous provocation, a very dangerous escalation. I would caution Western leaders not to do that," he urged.

"Ukraine is not a NATO ally," Rasmussen stressed, pointing out that Kiev at best is a kind of "pseudo" ally, having received years of funding and training from NATO countries, but having no obligation from the bloc to come to its aid, much less perish in a potential flashpoint with Russia.

"But this is, very, very, dangerous escalation from the verbal rhetoric and threats from the West. And Russia's acting accordingly, basically sending a clear signal that they will be prepared, they'll be trained, they will be ready, if necessary. They don't not want to, but they will protect the Russian state," Rasmussen summed up.

A Sputnik

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Russian Envoy on Jeffries Remarks: Deployment of US Troops Won't Turn Tide in Ukraine Conflict

Sputnik News

20240506

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States will not be able to turn the tide in the Ukraine conflict even if it sends troops there, Russian Ambassador in Washington Anatoly Antonov said on Monday.

On Sunday, US House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in an interview with CBS that "there's a significant likelihood" that America will have to send its troops to the conflict zone if Ukraine falls. He claimed that the US must continue supporting Kiev to "prevent a broader war."

"Calls to increase the supply of weapons and ammunition [to Ukraine] only bolster the hateful policy of the [American] elite toward our country. It will not help turn the tide on the battlefield in their favor. Even if some crazy person decides to send their troops to our land," Antonov told reporters.

The ambassador warned that a direct clash between two nuclear powers will lead to unpredictable consequences.

A Sputnik

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Poland Not Preparing, Will Not Send Troops to Ukraine a Defense Minister

Sputnik News

20240506

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Poland is not preparing to send troops to Ukraine and will not do so, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz insisted on Monday.

"This concept [of sending troops to Ukraine] was presented by [French] President Emmanuel Macron several months ago. Poland is not preparing and will not send Polish troops to Ukraine," Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters.

But he said Poland would continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine, in particular by training Ukrainian army personnel and supplying weapons.

"We will help Ukraine by training Ukrainian soldiers in our country, supplying equipment, participating in coalitions to help Ukraine," the Polish minister said.

On Sunday, US House of Representaives Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told CBS News that the United States would have to send troops to the Ukraine conflict zone if Kiev faces defeat.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with The Economist that he did not exclude the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine should Kiev make such a request. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron rejected the idea, but said that Kiev had the right to use long-range missiles provided by the UK to attack Russian territory.

In February, Macron revealed that Western leaders were discussing the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine. He admitted that a consensus has not yet been reached, but "nothing can be ruled out."

The Kremlin later stated it noted Macron's comments and that his position on inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia in Ukraine is also well known to Moscow.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned his French colleague Sebastien Lecornu in a telephone conversation that sending French troops to Ukraine would create problems for France itself.

The press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, quoting the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin, stated that any French military unit in Ukraine would become a legitimate priority target for the Russian armed forces.

A Sputnik

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Russian Armed Forces Liberate Solovyovo in DPR and Kotlyarovka in Kharkov Region

Sputnik News

20240506

Ilya Tsukanov

Russian troops' surprise spring breakthrough in Donbass and slow, steady push through the Kharkov region have sparked fears in Kiev and Washington that Ukraine's NATO-armed and trained forces won't be able to stop the front from crumbling before new arms aid arrives.

Russian forces are continuing to advance through Ukrainian-occupied areas of the Donetsk People's Republic, and have made new gains in the neighboring Kharkov region, Russia's Defense Ministry has announced.

"Units of Battlegroup Tsentr liberated the village of Solovyevo in the Donetsk People's Republic and struck a blow against the manpower and equipment of the 92nd Assault, 31st, 100th, and 115th Mechanized Brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the 109th Territorial Defense Brigade and 2nd National Guard Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Novgorodskoye, Rozovka, Kalinovo, Umanskoye, and Progress in the Donetsk People's Republic," the MoD said in a statement Monday.

Battlegroup Tsentr's troops were said to have engaged and repelled seven Ukrainian counterattacks in the areas of the settlements of Novokalinovo, Ocheretino, Netailovo and Berdychi in the DPR, in the course of which up to 370 Ukrainian troops, an armored combat vehicle, 20 other vehicles, and a D-30 howitzer were destroyed.

Elsewhere on the front, "as a result of dynamic actions, units of Battlegroup Zapad liberated the village of Kotlyarovka in Kharkov region," the Defense Ministry said.

"Having improved their position along the front line, [Russian forces] struck a blow to the manpower and equipment of the 14th, 44th, and 66th Mechanized Brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the 119th Territorial Defense Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Kupyansk, Kharkov region, Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People's Republic, and Novosadovoe in the Donetsk People's Republic," the MoD said.

Russian forces were also said to have repelled three counterattacks by Ukrainian assault groups in Sinkovka and Krakhmalnoye in the Kharkov region, and Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People's Republic, in the course of which Ukrainian forces lost up to 120 troops, two tanks, including a German-made Leopard, two US-made 155 mm M777 howitzers, a 152 mm Msta-B howitzer, and three 122 mm Gvozdika artillery pieces.

Units from Battlegroup Yug Group engaged in combat with Ukrainian formations in the settlements of Andreevka, Belogorovka, Kurakhovo, Kurdyumovka, Ostroye, Konstantinovka, and Spornoe in the DPR, causing up to 275 personnel losses, six vehicles, and an armored personnel carrier.

Elswhere in the DPR, forces from Battlegroup Vostok engaged Ukrainian forces in Vodyanoye, Makarovka, Prechistovka, and Urozhaynoye. Enemy losses were said to have amounted to 160 troops, two tanks, three vehicles, an M198 howitzer, and three D-30 guns.

In the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, units from Battlegroup Dnepr reported engagments with Ukrainian forces in and around the settlements of Stepnoe and Rabotino in Zaporozhye, and Tokarevka in Kherson. Enemy losses were said to include 40 troops, four M777 howitzers, a D-20 and D-30 howitzer, and a Nota electronic warfare station.

The MoD also indicated that forces from the Russian Black Sea Fleet had destroyed five Ukrainian unmanned drone boats off the coast of Crimea.

Tactical aviation units as well as missile and artillery forces reported the destruction of two Ukrainian enterprises engaged in the production of drones, and to have struck positions across 122 separate areas. A Ukrainian Su-27 jet was destroyed, along with 23 drones, as were seven HIMARS missiles launched toward Russian positions.

In addition, the military reported the destruction of an array of Ukrainian artillery in counter-battery fire, including an M109 Paladin, three M777 howitzers, a 105 mm M119 gun, two Polish-made Krab self-propelled howitzers, a 122 mm D-30 howitzer, three Enklav and Bukovel-AD electronic warfare stations, and a US-made counter-battery AN/TPQ-50 radar.

A Sputnik

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Six People Killed, 40 Injured in Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russia's Belgorod Region

Sputnik News

20240506

Six people were killed and 40 more were injured as a result of Ukrainian drones attacks on vehicles in the Borisovsky district of Russia's Belgorod Region, local authorities said.

"According to operational data ... 40 people, including three children, were injured. Thirty of them, including children, were hospitalized, 10 received outpatient medical care. Unfortunately, six people died," Assistant to the Russian Health Minister Alexei Kuznetsov told reporters.

Earlier, Governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov briefed the media on the aftermath of the Ukrainian attack.

Meanwhile, the Agro-Belogorye company that owns the attacked vehicles said that the number of people killed in the attack has increased to seven.

"Currently, there is information about seven dead employees of the Grayvoronsky and Borisov pig farms. Fifteen workers received injuries of varying degrees of severity. Information on the dead and wounded will be clarified," the company said.

Two people are in serious condition, the interlocutor added.

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Brussels, Belgium (PANA)  The European Council has adopted the first-ever law to combat violence against women, giving the green light to an EU directive to stop violence against women and domestic violence
Andriy Yermak Held the Fourth Round of Talks with the U.S. on Bilateral Security Agreement

President of Ukraine

6 May 2024 - 22:19

In preparation for the conclusion of a bilateral security agreement, the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak held the fourth round of talks with the United States.

"I am grateful to the negotiating teams for the job they have already done - there has been tangible progress in agreeing on the text of the document. We need to speed up the process to finalize the bilateral security agreement this month," emphasized Andriy Yermak.

The parties discussed the most fundamental provisions of the agreement, the wording of a number of issues, and set the date for the next round of negotiations.

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We Are Now Working Very Actively to Prepare the Inaugural Peace Summit in Switzerland - The President in His Evening Address

President of Ukraine

6 May 2024 - 21:28

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had phone conversations with Presidents of Lithuania and Poland Gitanas NausAda and Andrzej Duda and Prime Ministers of Estonia and Canada Kaja Kallas and Justin Trudeau.

"We are now working very actively to prepare the inaugural Summit - the Peace Summit in Switzerland. It is important that as many states as possible, as many actors as possible who are interested in the full force of the UN Charter and international law, demonstrate their leadership at the Summit," the Head of State noted in his evening address.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that he had personally invited the interlocutors to the event and thanked them for their support of the Ukrainian Peace Formula.

"Such peace and the true restoration of tranquility in international relations are possible only if the world majority joins in the establishment of peace and forces Russia into peace, forces it to adhere to the basic rules of normal coexistence of nations," the President emphasized.

The Head of State thanked every leader who encourages others to attend the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland. He also noted that tomorrow and in the coming weeks work with countries and leaders would continue to ensure that international law is backed by international solidarity.

During the phone conversations, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also informed the leaders about the situation on the frontline and the needs of our country in bolstering air defense. He discussed the signing of bilateral security agreements with President of Lithuania Gitanas NausAda and Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas.

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It Is Always Primarily the Infantry Troops Who Determine Who Controls the Ground - On Infantry Day, the President Congratulated the Defenders Who Are the Backbone of the Ukrainian Army

President of Ukraine

6 May 2024 - 18:35

On Infantry Day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with infantrymen, relatives of fallen Heroes and unit commanders, and presented state awards, battle flags and honorary awards.

The Head of State emphasized that infantrymen are the backbone of our army, the most numerous and determinative component of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, the foundation of the Armed Forces.

"Our Ukrainian control is precisely where our infantry positions and the strength of our infantry troops - infantry, motorized infantry, mechanized, assault, mountain assault, and jaeger military units - are," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

On behalf of all Ukrainians, the President thanked the infantry warriors for their strength, courage and resilience. He emphasized: we are all proud of the Ukrainian infantry.

"I thank all our warriors for the fact that Ukraine has managed to withstand this war and retains the ability to achieve its goals. And every Ukrainian - all our people - must always remember what our warriors are going through, how much pain and loss they are facing," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The memory of the fallen defenders was honored with a moment of silence.

The Head of State handed the Order of the Golden Star to the families of the fallen Heroes of Ukraine. The following warriors were awarded the highest state award:

Junior Sergeant Anton Kovalenko. In June 2023, the unit under his leadership cleared a platoon stronghold and took up a perimeter defense. Thanks to a radio station he found on the spot, he intercepted information about the plans and movements of the Russian occupiers and transmitted their coordinates. Anton Kovalenko was killed at a firing position. More than 30 dead Russian soldiers were found in front of it.

Soldier Danylo Podybailo. He was a senior pilot of a UAV crew. His crew detected five self-propelled howitzers, two MT-12 Rapira anti-tank guns, a tripod-mounted automatic grenade launcher and two mortars. After adjusting the artillery fire, everything was destroyed. Danylo Podybailo was killed on June 1 last year as a shell directly hit his dugout.

Three warriors were awarded the Presidential Cross of Military Merit:

Captain Roman Yeskov. During the battle, he pulled out a wounded brother-in-arms, provided assistance and organized evacuation. In October last year, the personnel under his leadership repelled enemy attacks, retained our positions, killed about 13 Russian soldiers and wounded 10 more.

Major Valeriy Lobov. In June last year, he personally led the company's personnel in an assault. He was wounded, but despite this, he organized the evacuation of one part of the unit and led the other to the enemy positions. After that, he lost consciousness. Valeriy Lobov was evacuated from the battlefield in serious condition. Two months later, he continued to perform combat missions near Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia region.

Junior Sergeant Pavlo Svyrydiuk. He repeatedly covered the withdrawal of his brothers-in-arms from positions that were densely attacked by the Russian occupiers. This allowed them to regroup, take up defense in more favorable positions and stop the enemy. Using a drone, he detected enemy subversive reconnaissance groups and destroyed them with grenades.

The President also presented one serviceman with the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky of the second class, and three with the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky of the second class.

Three warriors received the Order "For Courage" of the second class, and five received the Order "For Courage" of the third class.

The Head of State presented battle flags to the 22nd, 31st, 32nd and 65th separate mechanized brigades.

The 47th and 66th separate mechanized brigades were awarded the honorary award "For Courage and Bravery."

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Russia says Ukrainian drone attack killed 6 in Belgorod

By VOA News May 06, 2024

Officials in western Russia said a Ukrainian drone attack killed at least six people Monday in the Belgorod region near the Russia-Ukraine border.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor in Belgorod, said on Telegram the drone struck several vehicles and that the attack injured more than 30 people.

Ukraine's military said Monday the country's air defenses shot down 12 of 13 drones launched by Russian forces in overnight attacks.

The Ukrainian air force said the drones were intercepted over the Sumy region, located in northeastern Ukraine along the border with Russia.

Sumy's regional military administration reported on Telegram a Russian airstrike on an energy facility. There was no immediate information about any damage or casualties, with the agency saying the result of the attack was being clarified.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an Easter message Sunday from Kyiv, called on Ukrainians to unite in prayer for each other and soldiers on the front line, saying God has a "Ukrainian flag on his shoulder."

"Let's pray for each other. When we all came closer to each other, we were no longer strangers to each other," he said in a video posted on Telegram. Standing in front of the 1,000-year-old Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine has now been fighting for 802 days against Russia.

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin attended an Easter service led by the head of Russia's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, a staunch supporter of the Russian leader and Russia's war in Ukraine.

Eastern Orthodox Christians usually celebrate Easter later than Catholic and Protestant churches, because they use a different calendar and methodology for calculating the anniversary of what they believe is Christ's resurrection.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

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Chicago, May 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Automotive Turbocharger market is estimated to grow from USD 15.2 billion in 2024 to USD 22.9 billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 7.1% over the forecast period, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets.

Browse and in-depth TOC on "Automotive Turbocharger Market"

362  Tables

64  Figures

330  Pages

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Report Attributes Details Market size value in 2024: USD 15.2 billion Projected to reach 2030: USD 22.9 billion CAGR: 7.1% Base Year Considered: 2023 Forecast Period: 2024-2030 Largest Market: Asia Pacific Region Covered: Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Rest of the World Segments Covered: Diesel & Gasoline Turbo (VGT, Wastegate, e-Turbo), Component (Turbine Wheel, Compressor Wheel, Housing), Material, Off-Highway Equipment, Vehicle Type, Fuel Type, Aftermarket and Region Companies Covered: BorgWarner Inc. (US), Garrett Motion Inc. (Switzerland), Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Ltd. (Japan), IHI Corporation (Japan), and Cummins Inc. (US).

The automotive turbocharger industry growth is attributed to the growing demand for fuel-efficient engines without compromising performance. Stringent emission standards worldwide are pushing automakers to adopt turbocharging technology. The demand for E-turbochargers will also grow as they offer a solution to eliminating turbo lag while providing additional performance advantages. When applied to diesel engines, these E-turbos could reduce NOx emissions by up to 20%. Also, an increase in the stringency of emission limits in gasoline-powered vehicles will fuel the demand for gasoline turbochargers in the coming years.

VGT Turbochargers are predicted to be the largest segment during the forecast period.

The VGT turbochargers offer several advantages, such as enhanced low-end torque, minimized turbo lag, and precise boost control for varied engine load and speed. Due to this, it is widely used across the globe to improve engine performance, increase fuel efficiency, and meet stringent emission regulations. Due to its versatility, the VGT turbochargers have widespread adoption across all vehicle types, from passenger and commercial vehicles to heavy-duty trucks and buses. Major players such as BorgWarner Inc., Garrett Motion Inc., and Cummins Turbo Technologies are investing in enhancing the performance of VGT technology by integrating sophisticated electronic control units (ECUs) for improved performance, efficiency, and reliability.

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The passenger car segment is projected as the largest automotive turbocharger market.

Passenger cars hold the maximum market among all vehicle types for automotive turbocharges. The dominance is mainly due to the highest share of passenger cars globally, which was >70% in 2023, as per OICA statistics. Further, according to the Economic and Market Report (ACEA), global car production surged to 76 million units in 2023, marking a notable 10.2% rise compared to the previous year. Within this, the EU contributed 12.1 million units, reflecting an 11% rise, while the US production exceeded 7.6 million units, contributing to an 8.5% increase. China produced 25.3 million cars, a robust 9% growth, and Japan also witnessed significant growth, producing over 7.7 million cars, a substantial 17.4% increase compared to last year. Moreover, many OEMs have shifted from diesel to gasoline vehicles due to various factors, including stringent emissions regulations targeting diesel, elevated taxes on diesel fuel and vehicles to restrict demand, and the narrowing disparity in fuel efficiency and performance between gasoline and diesel models. Additionally, gasoline vehicles now commonly feature Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) systems, enhancing fuel efficiency by up to 20% compared to traditional gasoline engines while delivering higher power and torque figures. Additionally, GDI technology has contributed to reducing emissions of pollutants like nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). The growing adoption of GDI engines has also led to increased usage of turbochargers. The integration of GDI and turbocharger technologies enables automakers to develop more efficient and powerful engines, consequently boosting the demand for gasoline engines. Europe leads the demand for gasoline cars in terms of higher adoption rate for turbocharged passenger cars, with over 50% of all passenger vehicles sold in Europe in 2022 featuring.

Asia Pacific is estimated to be the dominant region in the automotive turbocharger market.

Asia Pacific is the largest automotive market, and China, Japan, and India contribute >85% of the overall vehicle production in the region. The region also has a higher demand for smaller and compact cars, with more than 80% of the passenger cars running on gasoline. Further, the automotive turbocharger market expansion in countries like China, India, South Korea, and Japan is primarily driven by growing demand for gasoline engines incorporating turbocharged gasoline direct injection (TGDI) technology. Among these, China has become a key market for automotive turbochargers in the Asia Pacific region, with TGDI engines followed by Japan, South Korea, and India. The stricter vehicle emission norms are driving the automakers in this region to adopt more fuel-efficient technologies. The Governments of major countries, India and China have made it mandatory for all automakers to comply with the BS6 Phase 2 and China 6 emission norms respectively. Under the China 6 standards, the PM emissions limit for gasoline-powered vehicles is 4.5 mg/km, while diesel vehicles must emit no more than 0.5 mg/km. In India, the diesel vehicle emission limits are lowered by 68% and the gasoline vehicle emissions are lowered by 25%. Thereby, the demand for GDI engines will be growing in this region which will drive the automotive turbocharger market.

Key Market Players:

The Automotive Turbocharger Companies are BorgWarner Inc. (US), Garrett Motion Inc. (Switzerland), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (Japan), IHI Corporation (Japan), and Cummins Inc. (US)

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Browse Adjacent Market: Automotive and Transportation Market Research Reports & Consulting

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Dallas, Texas, May 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Parker University Board of Trustees is proud to announce that its president, Dr. William E. Morgan, has signed a contract extending his current leadership position until 2030. This contract aligns with the approval of Parker Universitys new Strategic Plan, which was recently approved by the Board of Trustees and will be launched on September 1, 2024.

Dr. Morgans contributions and his selfless service have been highly regarded at Parker University. His direction was critical in making Parker Seminars Las Vegas 2024 Invictus event the largest chiropractic seminar available to the public and in growing Parker University into one of the largest chiropractic schools in the world.

Dr. Steven W. Brooks, the Parker University Board of Trustees Chairman, shares, I am honored, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, to make this announcement. Under the leadership of Dr. Morgan and his team, Parker University has reached remarkable heights. We are eager to witness the accomplishments that the leadership team will bring over the next six years. Dr. Morgan has been instrumental in fulfilling Dr. James W. Parkers vision of making our institution a global leader in healthcare education. As a 1999 Parker University graduate, it gives me great pleasure to officially share this news.

Accomplishments and Accolades

One of Dr. Morgans most showcased accomplishments includes his demonstrated ability to organize and delegate to get Parker University up and running within one week of the 2019 tornado that directly hit and destroyed much of the Dallas, Texas, campus. Soon after, when the COVID-19 pandemic transpired, Dr. Morgan immediately distinguished innovative solutions to continue growing the universitys student population. He spearheaded campus restoration during the south building reconstruction and the highly anticipated opening of ParkerFit.

Dr. Morgan is widely recognized beyond the Parker University campus in the chiropractic world. He has notably served as a Chiropractor to Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House, as well as Parker Universitys seventh president. He is an active Texas Chiropractic Association member and proud Texan. Read his complete biography here.

Dr. Morgan is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the American Chiropractic Association Chairmans Award of Valor (2003), Chiropractor of the Year from the American Chiropractic Association (2003), Doctor of Laws, L.L.D. (honoris causa) National University of Health Sciences (2004), the Master Clinician Award from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (2015), The Keeler Plaque: Chiropractor of the Year awarded by the Texas Chiropractic Association (2018), the Texas Chiropractic Association Presidents Award (2019-2020), and the 2022 Congressional Veteran Commendation for the Twenty-Fourth Congressional District of Texas.

Throughout his time at Parker University, Dr. Morgan has exemplified Dr. Parkers foundational mission of service to others and promoted the traits of professional mastery, loving service, personal responsibility, passion, and self-actualization, just as he hopes for students.

About Parker University

Parker University, the fourth-fastest growing college in Texas and the fastest-growing college in Dallas, was founded in 1982 by Dr. James William Parker (formerly Parker College of Chiropractic). Today, Parker University has more than 2,100 students and more than 35 academic programs, including its famed chiropractic program, as well as masters degrees in clinical neuroscience, strength and human performance, and functional nutrition. Currently, Parker Universitys chiropractic cohort is the second largest of any campus in the world. Parker University has been recognized as an Honor Roll Institution by Great Colleges to Work For, one of the 25 Fastest-Growing Colleges in the U.S., as a recipient of the FutureEdge 50 Awards, and as a Best Texas Online College by Forbes.

Attachment
Chicago, May 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global gas sensors market stands at the forefront of technological innovation, addressing critical concerns in diverse industries related to safety, environmental monitoring, and regulatory compliance.

Gas Sensors Market Size and Share:

The gas sensors market has witnessed a significant expansion, underscoring its pivotal role in ensuring safety and compliance across various sectors. According to MarketsandMarkets latest market research report, The global gas sensor market size is projected to grow from USD 1.5 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach USD 2.3 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 9.7% from 2023 to 2028.

Gas sensor industry in the Asia Pacific estimated to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period.

The rapid industrialization and urbanization in the Asia Pacific region are leading to increased demand for gas sensors in various industries, including chemical, energy, and environmental monitoring. As industries expand and production levels rise, the demand for gas sensors for monitoring and controlling industrial processes also increases.

Gas sensors are crucial for ensuring safety, preventing hazardous gas leaks, and optimizing industrial operations. Moreover, Increasing urbanization and income levels and ongoing construction activities for the development of residential and commercial infrastructure in Asia Pacific are expected to lead to demand for HVAC systems equipped with gas sensors in the region, thereby fueling the growth of the gas sensor market growth in the region.

Top Companies in the Gas Sensors Industry

A closer look at the report reveals the prominence of key players shaping the gas sensors market. Leading companies invest heavily in research and development to introduce cutting-edge technologies, enhancing the precision and efficiency of gas detection systems.

Distinguished entities in this sector include Honeywell International Inc. (US), MSA Safety Incorporated (US), Amphenol Corporation (US), Figaro Engineering Inc. (Japan), Alphasense (UK), Sensirion AG (Switzerland), Process Sensing Technologies (UK), ams-OSRAM AG (Austria), MEMBRAPOR (Switzerland), Senseair AB (US)., each contributing uniquely to the market's vibrancy and innovation.

Gas Sensors Market Growth Drivers:

The smart cities and building automation segment in the gas sensor market for application is expected to hold the largest market size during the forecast period in the gas sensor market. Gas sensors are installed in buildings to measure indoor air quality levels, ensuring a healthy and comfortable environment for occupants. They monitor for pollutants like carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and formaldehyde, providing real-time data to optimize ventilation systems and improve indoor air quality.

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Gas Sensors Market Statistics

The gas sensors market has demonstrated impressive statistics, underscoring its pivotal role in various industries. With a diverse range of types such as Oxygen, Carbon Monoxide, and Volatile Organic Compounds, the market showcases a robust industry size and share. The adoption of both analog and digital output types, coupled with advancements in technologies like electrochemical and infrared sensors, contributes to the market's dynamic growth.

These statistics not only reflect the industry's current strength but also anticipate continued growth, driven by increasing applications across sectors and the integration of gas sensors into the ever-expanding Internet of Things (IoT) landscape.
COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT

7 MAY 2024

RICHEMONT ACQUIRES VHERNIER

Richemont is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement to acquire 100% of Vhernier S.p.A. ("Vhernier"), the distinctive Italian jewellery Maison, in a private transaction.

Founded in Valenza, Italy in 1984 and headquartered in Milan, Vhernier was acquired by the Traglio family in 2001.

Vhernier is renowned for the distinctive modern aesthetic of its design jewellery, inspired by the curves of the human body and the essential forms of modern sculpture to create bold sculptural and ergonomic shapes, as well as for the unusual combination of traditional precious metals and gems with unconventional materials such as titanium, bronze and ebony. These characteristics, brought to life by innovative craftsmanship, can be seen throughout the Maisons collections, amongst them Calla and Palloncino.

All jewellery pieces are handcrafted in Valenza, recognised for its jewellery manufacturing excellence, ensuring the highest level of craftsmanship and quality. They are sold through a highly selective network of mono-brand boutiques and prestigious multi-brand stores, predominantly in Europe and the United States.

Vhernier also operates De Vecchi Milano 1935, an Italian heritage silverware home decor brand, recognised for its timeless contemporary design, with whom it shares the same passion for design, quality and Made in Italy craftsmanship.

Johann Rupert, Chairman of Richemont, commented:

Maison Vhernier brings a distinguished and distinctive design that beautifully blends modern, sleek and elegant shapes with unconventional materials, magnified by exceptional craftsmanship. This unique aesthetic perfectly complements our existing collection of renowned jewellery Maisons.

We are delighted to welcome Vherniers talented team into the Richemont family. We very much look forward to working together to realise the full potential of this exceptional Maison within the thriving branded jewellery market.

Carlo Traglio, Chairman, and Maurizio Traglio, CEO of Vhernier, commented:

We are pleased for Maison Vhernier to join Richemont, the undisputed leader in design jewellery. We firmly believe that our distinctive jewellery Maison will flourish under Richemonts stewardship, expertise and careful nurturing.

The transaction will have no material financial impact on Richemont's consolidated net assets or operating result for the year ending 31 March 2025. The results of Vhernier will be reported under the Jewellery Maisons business area. Completion remains subject to certain customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

About Richemont

At Richemont, we craft the future. Our unique portfolio includes prestigious Maisons distinguished by their craftsmanship and creativity. Richemonts ambition is to nurture its Maisons and businesses and enable them to grow and prosper in a responsible, sustainable manner over the long term.

Richemont operates in three business areas: Jewellery Maisons with Buccellati, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels; Specialist Watchmakers with A. Lange & Sohne, Baume & Mercier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Piaget, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin; and Other, primarily Fashion & Accessories Maisons with Alaia, AZ Factory, Chloe, Delvaux, dunhill, Gianvito Rossi, Montblanc, Peter Millar including G/FORE, Purdey, Serapian as well as Watchfinder & Co. In addition, Richemont operates NET-A-PORTER, MR PORTER, THE OUTNET, YOOX and the OFS division. Find out more at https://www.richemont.com/

Richemont A shares are listed and traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange, Richemonts primary listing, and are included in the Swiss Market Index ('SMI') of leading stocks. The A shares are also traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Richemonts secondary listing.

About Vhernier

Vhernier is a House of creation sculpting entirely by hand, in Italy, innovative design jewellery in pure Milanese elegance. Since its earliest prototypes, imagined in the mid-1980s, Vhernier has been designing jewellery with an unmistakable style, whose beauty and value are rooted in innovative design and enhanced by passionate craftsmanship using only the finest materials. To give body to its aesthetic vision, Vhernier creates new forms, uses unusual materials, and develops innovative crafting techniques. The creations are born out of extensive research into design, which aims to solve the complexities of construction.

Investor/analyst and media enquiries

Investor and Media: Sophie Cagnard, Group Investor Relations Director; James Fraser, Investor Relations Executive; Edward Walsh, Group Corporate Communications Director.

+41 22 721 30 03; investor.relations@cfrinfo.net (investor enquiries)

+41 22 721 35 07; pressoffice@cfrinfo.net; richemont@teneo.com (press enquiries)

Disclaimer

The financial information contained in this announcement is unaudited.

This document contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Richemonts forward-looking statements are based on managements current expectations and assumptions regarding the Companys business and performance, the economy and other future conditions and forecasts of future events, circumstances and results. Our retail stores are heavily dependent on the ability and desire of consumers to travel and shop and a decline in consumer traffic could have a negative effect on our comparable store sales and/or average sales per square foot and store profitability resulting in impairment charges, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Reduced travel resulting from economic conditions, retail store closure orders of civil authorities, travel restrictions, travel concerns and other circumstances, including disease epidemics and other health-related concerns, could have a material adverse effect on us, particularly if such events impact our customers desire to travel to our retail stores. International conflicts or wars, including resulting sanctions and restrictions on importation and exportation of finished products and/or raw materials, whether self-imposed or imposed by international countries, non-state entities or others, may also impact these forward-looking statements. As with any projection or forecast, forward-looking statements are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the Groups control. Richemont does not undertake to update, nor does it have any obligation to provide updates of, or to revise, any forward-looking statements.

 Richemont 2024

To read the full announcement click here: Richemont Company Announcement
- The new practice will support companies across all healthcare corporate affairs requirements and communicate with investor, industry, media and political stakeholders

- 5654 Health & Life Sciences will work with companies to communicate and attract sustainable growth capital in the long-term

LONDON, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 5654 & Company, a leading independent corporate affairs consultancy with a track-record of delivering industry leading work and results, today announces the launch of 5654 Health & Life Sciences, a new practice that will support companies across all healthcare corporate affairs requirements. This new practice has been established to help health and life sciences companies grow and communicate with key investor, industry, media and political stakeholders. Matthew Neal, previously of ICR Consilium, has joined the Company as Partner and Head of 5654 Health & Life Sciences, to lead the growth of the practice.



The Rt Hon Michelle Donelan MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology commented: As we know from our experience during COVID, the UK life sciences sector is at the forefront of global medical innovation that is developing world leading treatments and technologies that save lives and improve our health. The government is committed to supporting the sector with hundreds of millions of pounds to drive innovation and grow the economy. We welcome the launch of this new offering from 5654 & Company as the life sciences sector is so key to the UK economy and to creating more skilled jobs.

In partnership with its clients, 5654 & Company creates insight-led communications campaigns, designed to support commercial, investor and political objectives. Drawing on the expertise across the team at the Company, 5654 Health & Life Sciences immediately offers a broad range of capabilities and services including strategic healthcare communications, capital markets communications and investor relations, M&A and activism advice, crisis communications, public affairs, development communications and digital marketing communications. The 5654 & Companys single structure incentivises it to create bespoke integrated teams for every client, matching the skill and talent across the firm to clients needs.

Ben Thornton, Founding Partner of 5654 & Company, said: The innovation and talent the UK life sciences sector produces is enviable on a global scale. However, the current investor climate for growing businesses is holding the sector back. This is why we are launching our new practice, 5654 Health & Life Sciences. Our ambition is to support the UK in becoming a health and life sciences superpower and help deliver a vibrant life sciences eco system that will foster innovation, employment and drive the UK economy forward. I am delighted to welcome Matthew to lead the practice and share his passion for the sectors success. He joins a team with the expertise to bring a new differentiated offer to the market and I am confident that we will rapidly grow into a leader in healthcare corporate affairs.

5654 Health & Life Sciences works with companies and organisations at varying stages of maturity that are fostering innovation and developing treatments, technologies and ways of working that will lead to better outcomes for patients, investors, healthcare systems and payors. This will include biotech and pharma, medtech, healthtech and diagnostic companies; hospitals, care providers, healthcare services and consumer pharma companies; property and lab developers; global tech; investors, government, industry and public bodies. The practice will work with companies on their communications across the investment and growth cycle including venture funding, institutional and government investment, strategic partnerships, licensing, leadership and Board development, IPOs and M&A.

Matthew Neal, Partner and Head of 5654 Health & Life Sciences, said: The UK life sciences sector is a global leader in innovation and R&D, but there is a funding gap for companies as they mature between venture rounds through to IPOs and exits. It is time to act and challenge the status quo by helping companies remove the barriers to investment and changing how fundraising is approached. I am excited to be launching the 5654 Health & Life Sciences offer alongside Ben and the team. This new practice will support companies to grow and communicate with those that will provide them with access to sustainable growth capital and liquidity in the long-term - investors, industry and political stakeholders.

NOTES TO EDITORS

5654 & Company was founded in 2020 to help companies act to earn reputation and advocacy. 5654 is an independent, mid-sized corporate affairs consultancy. Our experienced consultancy teams work with clients to shape opinion across their audiences by communicating with evidence and emotion. 5654 works with some of the worlds best-known companies and brands.

5654 & Company is a proud supporter of the Biotech Industry Association. To find out more, please follow this link. It is also a member of the PRCA, a signatory to the Public Affairs Code and registered on the statutory Register of Consultant Lobbyists.

For more information on 5654 & Company, please visit www.5654.co.uk

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/087449d3-d816-411f-bd70-4fa5adebc6a5
Dublin, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "United States Alcoholic Beverages Market Report by Type, Packaging, Distribution Channel, States and Company Analysis 2024-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The United States alcoholic beverages market was valued at US$ 519.89 Billion in 2023. The analyst predicts a growth rate of 4.47% from 2024 to 2032. The market is expected to be valued at US$ 770.61 Billion during this period.



Alcoholic beverages contain ethanol from fermentation or distillation. This includes beer, wine, and spirits. They hold significant cultural and economic importance in the US, with a wide variety available from craft breweries, wineries, and distilleries. They are integral to social gatherings and events. The 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) states that 221.3 Million people aged 12 and older, representing 78.5% of this group, have consumed alcohol at some point. Issues like alcohol abuse, however, highlight the challenges associated with their prevalence.





Robust Economic Framework



A sturdy economic system spurs higher disposable earnings levels. This propels spending on discretionary items like alcoholic beverages. In December, personal income surged by US$ 60.0 Billion (0.3% monthly), per the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Consumer spending rose by US$ 133.9 Billion, driven by increased services and goods. With more money for non-necessities, people indulge in beer, wine, and spirits. This fuels demand in the United States alcoholic beverages market.



Millennials constitute a Significant segment of Consumers



Millennials wield extensive impact and diverge from previous generations in alcoholic beverage choices. They favor exploration and premium alternatives. This trend has notably influenced the United States alcoholic beverage market's boom and diversification. According to Penn State Extension, a higher percentage of millennials consume spirits (47%), beer (45%), wine (45%), hard seltzer (39%), craft beer (37%), and canned cocktails (29%) compared to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. Their demand for novelty and quality drives producers to adapt, shaping an evolving industry landscape.



Increasing Interest in Top-tier and Luxury Beverages



The alcoholic beverages market sees rising demand for premium and super-premium beverages as customers increasingly seek higher-premium products with natural and valuable ingredients. This trend fuels marketplace expansion, prompting producers to innovate in reaction to evolving patron choices for healthier and more sophisticated alternatives, propelling a dynamic market. For instance, in January 2024, Absolut and Ocean Spray introduced the Absolut and Ocean Spray Vodka Cranberry cocktail in a convenient RTD layout, reflecting this trend. Crafted from premium elements, such as Absolut Vodka and real Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice, the Vodka CranT RTD variety gives natural flavors and sparkling water, catering to various consumer preferences.



California Alcoholic Beverages Market



California may command a leading role in the United States alcoholic beverages market. This is mainly attributed to its thriving wine industry. Benefitting from the Mediterranean weather, California is the nation's essential wine-producing area. The Wine Institute states that the state accounts for approximately 80% of the nation's wine production, positioning itself as the world's fourth-biggest wine production area. Moreover, more than 80% of California wine is crafted in Certified Sustainable California Wineries, and over half of the state's about 615,000 vineyard acres are certified to one of California's sustainability packages, including Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing, Fish Friendly Farming, LODI RULES, Napa Green, and SIP Certified. This wealth of production guarantees a wide array of wines tailored to various tastes and budgets.



The prominence of California extends to its position as a hub for craft breweries. This nurtures an inventive craft beer scene that entices clients seeking different and flavorful options. It remains the American craft brewing movement's epicenter, boasting more breweries than any other nation. As of January 2023, California hosts over 1,100 craft breweries, surpassing all other states. The California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA), its brewery members, and craft beer fans are pivotal in bolstering the country's economic vitality. In 2021, craft breweries alone contributed a significant US$ 9.03 Billion to California's economic scheme.



The manufacturing process in California encompasses more than just wine and beer. It also yields an excellent output of distilled spirits and other alcoholic drinks, addressing various client choices. The country's significant and prosperous population and thriving tourism enterprise force enormous demand. This is reinforced by a lifestyle that values outdoor pursuits and social gatherings and is superior through the pleasant weather conducive to outdoor beverage enjoyment.

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 120 Forecast Period 2023 - 2032 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $519.89 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2032 $770.61 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 4.4% Regions Covered United States

United States Alcoholic Beverages Company News

In March 2024 - Boston Beer introduced Truly Tequila Soda nationwide, the latest addition to the hard seltzer brand's product range. The company states that the beverage is crafted to meet consumer preferences and features premium Blanco tequila, authentic fruit juice, and sparkling water.

In March 2023 - Diageo finished the acquisition of Don Papa Rum.

In May 2023 - The American division of Anheuser-Busch InBev divested Appalachian Mountain Brewery back to its original owners, the US craft brewer. Anheuser-Busch acquired the North Carolina-based company in 2020 as part of its complete acquisition of Craft Brew Alliance.

In July 2023 - The renowned premium tequila brand Tequila CAZADORES unveiled a new addition to its lineup of 100% agave tequilas: CAZADORES Cafe. This flavorful and velvety coffee liqueur, crafted with boldness and smoothness, is now accessible throughout the United States.

In August 2023, Molson Coors Beverage Company finalized an agreement to purchase Blue Run Spirits ('Blue Run'), a renowned producer of meticulously crafted bourbon and rye whiskies known for its innovation and accolades. This acquisition marks another milestone in Molson Coors' transformation into a comprehensive beverage enterprise, empowering Blue Run with the necessary resources to expand its presence in the market further.

In December 2023 - Eggo and Doritos introduced alcoholic beverages with food flavors, garring mixed reactions. Kentucky Fried Chicken debuted a rum drink to complement its wings in a somewhat expected yet surprising move. These are just a handful of household brands venturing into boozy beverages.

All the key players have been covered from 3 viewpoints:

Company Analysis: Overview, Recent Developments, Revenue Analysis

Anheuser-Busch

Altria

Boston Beer

Constellation Brands Inc.

Diageo

Molson Coors

Pernod Ricard SA

Type - United States Alcoholic Beverages Market breakup in 4 viewpoints:

Beer

Distilled Spirits

Wine

Others

Packaging - United States Alcoholic Beverages Market breakup in 3 viewpoints:

Glass Bottle

Tin

Plastic Bottle

Distribution Channel - United States Alcoholic Beverages Market breakup in 6 viewpoints:

Convenience Stores

On Premises

Liquor Stores

Grocery Shops

Internet Retailing

Supermarkets

States - United States Alcoholic Beverages Market breakup of 29 States:

California

Texas

New York

Florida

Illinois

Pennsylvania

Ohio

Georgia

New Jersey

Washington

North Carolina

Massachusetts

Virginia

Michigan

Maryland

Colorado

Tennessee

Indiana

Arizona

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Missouri

Connecticut

South Carolina

Oregon

Louisiana

Alabama

Kentucky

Rest of United States

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/t2qzdu

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.

Attachment
New York, US (PANA) - The UN Secretary-General on Tuesday reiterated his appeal to Israel to stop any escalation in Gaza, amid reports that its forces have taken over key border crossings in Rafah
Wilmington, Delaware , May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Steel Powder for 3D printing Market by Material (Stainless Steel, Nickel, Titanium, and Maraging) and Application (Aerospace, Automotive, Medical, Tooling, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2024-2033". According to the report, the "steel powder for 3d printing market" was valued at $0.7 billion in 2023, and is estimated to reach $5.9 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 23.2% from 2024 to 2033.



Prime determinants of steel powder for 3D printing market growth

The global steel powder for 3D printing market has experienced growth due to several factors such as advancements in additive manufacturing, properties of steel powder, and demand for customization. However, the high cost, technical challenges, and regulatory hurdles hinder market growth. Moreover, the expansion of healthcare applications, integration with industry 4.0, and geographical expansion provide opportunities for expanding the steel powder for 3D printing market.

Download Sample Pages of Research Overview: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/A323016

Report coverage & details:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 20242033 Base Year 2023 Market Size in 2023 $0.7 billion Market Size in 2033 $5.9 billion CAGR 23.2% No. of Pages in Report 291 Segments Covered Material, Application, and Region Region Scope North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA Country Scope U.S., Canada, Mexico; Germany; UK; France; Italy; Spain; China; Japan; India; South Korea; Australia; Brazil; Saudi Arabia; South Africa. Drivers Advancements in additive manufacturing Demand for customization Opportunity Expansion in healthcare applications Restraints High investment costs Technical hurdles





The maraging segment is expected to grow faster throughout the forecast period.

By material, the titanium segment held the highest market share in 2023, accounting for more than two-thirds of steel powder for 3D printing market revenue. Titanium material powder is highly demanded in the steel powder for 3D printing market due to its superior strength-to-weight ratio, excellent corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. These properties make it ideal for critical applications in aerospace, medical implants, and automotive industries, driving its premium status and widespread adoption. However, the maraging segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 24.2% from 2024 to 2033. Maraging steel is witnessing the highest growth rate in the steel powder for 3D printing market due to its superior strength, exceptional toughness, and excellent machinability. It enables the production of complex, high-performance parts crucial for aerospace and tooling industries, driving its demand and adoption in advanced manufacturing.

Procure Complete Report (291 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, and Figures) @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout-final/steel-powder-for-3d-printing-market

The aerospace segment is expected to grow faster throughout the forecast period.

By application, the automotive segment held the highest market share in 2023, accounting for more than one-fourth of steel powder for 3D printing market revenue. The automotive sector holds the highest demand in the steel powder for 3D printing market due to its drive towards lighter, more efficient vehicles. Utilizing steel powder allows for the production of complex, lightweight components that enhance fuel efficiency and performance while significantly reducing manufacturing waste and time. However, the aerospace is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 24.2% from 2024 to 2033. The aerospace sector exhibits the highest growth rate in the steel powder for 3D printing market due to stringent demands for lightweight, strong, and complex components. 3D printing with steel powder meets these criteria, offering significant weight reduction and cost efficiency, critical for enhancing fuel efficiency and performance in aerospace applications.

The North America segment dominates the market by 2033

By region, North America held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than one-third of the steel powder for 3D printing market revenue, and is estimated to dominate during the forecast period. North America leads in the steel powder for 3D printing market due to its strong aerospace, automotive, and healthcare industries, which extensively use 3D printing for complex, customized parts. The region's advanced manufacturing infrastructure and significant investments in technology innovation further drive this high demand. However, the Asia-Pacific segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 23.7% from 2024 to 2033. The Asia-Pacific region exhibits the highest growth rate in the steel powder for 3D printing market due to rapid industrialization, substantial investments in R&D, increasing adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies, and supportive government policies aimed at enhancing the manufacturing capabilities of high-performance industries like automotive and aerospace.

Want to Access the Statistical Data and Graphs, Key Players' Strategies: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/steel-powder-for-3d-printing-market/purchase-options

Leading Market Players: -

Daido Steel Co., Ltd.

Toray Precision Co., Ltd.

Fushun Special Steel Co., Ltd.

U.S. Research Nanomaterials, Inc.

Luoyang Tongrun Nano Technology Co., Ltd.

CNPC Powder

American Elements Corporation

Hoganas AB

EOS GmbH

Markforged, Inc.

Want to Access the Statistical Data and Graphs, Key Players' Strategies: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/steel-powder-for-3d-printing-market/purchase-options

The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players in the steel powder for 3D printing market. These players have adopted different strategies such as new product launches, collaborations, expansion, joint ventures, agreements, and others to increase their market share and maintain dominant shares in different regions. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario.



About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

Pawan Kumar, the CEO of Allied Market Research, is leading the organization toward providing high-quality data and insights. 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. 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:

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- Earnings Call Scheduled for 8:00 a.m. ET on May 21, 2024 -



GUANGZHOU, China, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- XPeng Inc. (XPENG or the Company, NYSE: XPEV and HKEX: 9868), a leading Chinese smart electric vehicle (Smart EV) company, today announced that it will report its first quarter 2024 unaudited financial results on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, before the open of U.S. markets.

The Companys management will host an earnings conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on May 21, 2024 (8:00 PM Beijing/Hong Kong Time on May 21, 2024).

For participants who wish to join the call by phone, please access the link provided below to complete the pre-registration and dial in 5 minutes prior to the scheduled call start time. Upon registration, each participant will receive dial-in details to join the conference call.

Event Title: XPENG First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call Pre-registration link: https://s1.c-conf.com/diamondpass/10038698-t61b9s.html



Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Companys investor relations website at http://ir.xiaopeng.com.

A replay of the conference call will be accessible approximately an hour after the conclusion of the call until May 28, 2024, by dialing the following telephone numbers:

United States: +1-855-883-1031 International: +61-7-3107-6325 Hong Kong, China: 800-930-639 China Mainland: 400-120-9216 Replay PIN: 10038698



About XPENG

XPENG is a leading Chinese Smart EV company that designs, develops, manufactures, and markets Smart EVs that appeal to the large and growing base of technology-savvy middle-class consumers. Its mission is to drive Smart EV transformation with technology, shaping the mobility experience of the future. In order to optimize its customers mobility experience, XPENG develops in-house its full-stack advanced driver-assistance system technology and in-car intelligent operating system, as well as core vehicle systems including powertrain and the electrical/electronic architecture. XPENG is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, with main offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, San Diego and Amsterdam. The Companys Smart EVs are mainly manufactured at its plants in Zhaoqing and Guangzhou, Guangdong province. For more information, please visit https://www.xpeng.com/.

For Investor Enquiries:

IR Department

XPeng Inc.

E-mail: ir@xiaopeng.com

Jenny Cai

Piacente Financial Communications

Tel: +1-212-481-2050 or +86-10-6508-0677

E-mail: xpeng@tpg-ir.com

For Media Enquiries:

PR Department

XPeng Inc.

E-mail: pr@xiaopeng.com

Source: XPeng Inc.
Dublin, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Disposable Protective Clothing Market Report by Material Type, Application, End Use Industry, and Region 2024-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global disposable protective clothing market has achieved a significant milestone, reaching a market size of US$ 3.9 Billion in 2023. With a continual surge in demand for personal protective equipment (PPE), the market is anticipated to exhibit robust growth, projecting to reach a valuation of US$ 7.3 Billion by the year 2032. The market is set to expand at a commendable compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.21% over the forecast period from 2023 to 2032.







Disposable protective clothing, an integral component of personal safety equipment, is becoming increasingly indispensable across various industries for shielding personnel from hazardous environments and contaminants. With a diverse array of applications including lab coats, ballistic vests, and comprehensive body protection, the market is witnessing growth driven by modern advancements in material technology and stringent regulatory standards. The noteworthy materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyester, continue to be adopted broadly due to their protective features and cost-effectiveness.



Market Dynamics in the Wake of a Global Health Crisis



The recent global health crisis underscored the critical role of disposable protective clothing, particularly within healthcare settings, to curb the spread of infections. This segment has seen exponential growth with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in heightened usage in not only healthcare but also other industries such as food service for maximum health and safety adherence. In addition, the escalation of workplace injuries and chemical hazards in industries like oil and gas and manufacturing has propelled the enforcement of safety regulations, further impelling the market's growth trajectory.



Technological Innovations and Sector-Wide Applications



Continuous technological advancements and collaborative initiatives among industry leaders are introducing state-of-the-art disposable coveralls equipped with microporous films. These innovative materials are gaining traction owing to their superior virus and microorganism barrier properties, which are instrumental in disease prevention. The market sees diverse applications spanning manufacturing, oil and gas, healthcare, defense, and other sectors, indicating a well-established demand across an extensive industrial spectrum.



Geographical Outlook and Market Segmentation



On the geographical front, the market analysis encompasses various regions with North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa being the focal points. The comprehensive market study evaluates various segments based on material type, application, and end-use industry, providing critical insights into the market's multifaceted nature.



Competitive Scenario



The competitive analysis reveals the landscape of the industry, featuring prominent players who are substantially contributing to market growth and innovation. These key players have been instrumental in shaping the market dynamics through product development, international presence, and the continuous introduction of protective solutions in alignment with global safety standards.



The significant growth prospects of the disposable protective clothing market are indicative of the continuous efforts and responsiveness to safety needs at a global scale, ensuring protection and peace of mind for workers across various industries.



Key Attributes:





Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 135 Forecast Period 2023 - 2032 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $3.9 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2032 $7.3 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 7.2% Regions Covered Global





Companies Featured

3M Company

Ansell Ltd.

Asatex AG

Derekduck Industry Corp.

Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA

DuPont de Nemours Inc.

Honeywell International Inc.

International Enviroguard

Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Inc. (Kimberly-Clark Corporation)

Lakeland Industries Inc.

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Uvex Winter Holding Gmbh & Co. Kg

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/2n9qg8

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.

Attachment
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stallion Uranium Corp. (the "Company" or "Stallion") (TSX-V: STUD; OTCQB: STLNF; FSE: HM40) is proud to announce the successful completion of their inaugural winter 2024 diamond drilling program on its 100% owned Coffer Project situated in the prolific Southwestern Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada. This milestone initiative was successful in encountering anomalous radioactivity in all three drill holes and culminated with the discovery of a large, deep-rooted conductive structure intersected on the final drill hole CF24-003 giving the target area the characteristics needed to host a large uranium deposit.



Highlights

Three diamond drill holes totaling 2,798.2m were completed at the Appaloosa target area (Figure 4).

Hole CF24-003 intersected the unconformity at 720 m and was completed at a depth of 1055 m.

CF24-003 is located 700 m west along strike from CF24-002, and 1.4km west of CF24-001.

Anomalous radioactivity was encountered at the unconformity in all three holes.

A total of 282 whole rock samples were obtained for assay, including interval and selective samples.

A deep-rooted conductive structure, spanning 94.7 meters in down-hole thickness, was encountered in hole CF24-003 highlighting the significant size of the structure.

Strong clay and chlorite alteration which is known be is associated with uranium mineralization was encountered.

Stallion holds a 100% ownership of the project.

Stallions winter 2024 drilling program at the Coffer project has yielded remarkable results, identifying a large conductive structure and 1.4 km of anomalous radioactivity at the unconformity across all three drill holes. The third hole intersected significant alteration and structure, and given the size of those intersections, indicate that the Appaloosa target possesses the characteristics capable of hosting a substantial uranium deposit. Further processing and modeling of the data collected will provide enhanced targeting capabilities, greatly increasing the probability for discovery on a future program, commented Darren Slugoski, Vice President Exploration, Canada.

Winter Drill Program Summary

Stallions maiden drill program commenced on March 6, 2024, to drill test geophysical targets derived from both regional and advanced ground surveys. A total 2,798.2m of diamond drilling was completed over 3 holes, all of which were successful in encountering anomalous radioactivity at or above the unconformity. The final hole targeted and intersected the conductive structure, with an intercept of over 94m, highlighting the size and ability of the structure in transporting uranium bearing fluids. The significant size of the structure adds to Stallions view that not only is the structure fertile for a uranium deposit but has the potential to host a large deposit.

The drill program successfully identified the key characteristics of a uranium bearing system and the promising findings validate Stallions geological model, allowing for building confidence in the target area. The structural elements and scale encountered, along with anomalous radioactivity throughout, are strong indicators the Appaloosa target has the potential to host a significant uranium discovery. The winter drill program only tested 1.4km of the extensive 3.5-kilometre-long conductive zone, giving the target area further size and exploration potential.

The company is currently in the process of compiling and analyzing all data acquired during the drilling program. Stallion will leverage this comprehensive analysis to inform future exploration efforts and guide the development of an optimized exploration strategy for the target area moving forward.

Our maiden drill program was a game-changing moment for Stallion, as we not only uncovered radioactivity in every hole, but also struck a massive conductor that unveiled the size of the structure at Appaloosa. Our confidence in the Appaloosa target's potential continues to grow given the results of the drill program, providing us with the information needed to vector towards a discovery," declared Drew Zimmerman, CEO. "Our drill program proved to be a resounding success, showcasing our ability to swiftly navigate from greenfield to drill testing in just 14 months. This achievement highlights our strategic approach to uncovering the next major uranium discovery. By systematically uncovering high-potential targets within our extensive portfolio of conductive corridors, we are maximizing the probability of success in all future exploration endeavors.

Technical Summary for CF24-003

(Zone 12 V 598215 Easting, 6456999 Northing, 0000 Azimuth / Dip -800)

CF24-003 is located 700 metres west of CF24-002 (Figure 4) and targeted an EM conductor that was located within a coincident gravity low. CF24-003 was successful in explaining the conductive anomaly as well as intersecting a substantial deep-rooted structure. Two anomalous radioactive intervals were encountered in the Athabasca Sandstone above the unconformity with radioactivity of 356 cps over 0.5 m with a radioactive peak of 590 cps and 336 cps over 1.3 m with a radioactive peak of 616 cps (Table 1). A RS-230 BGO Super-SPEC Handheld Gamma-Ray Spectrometer measured a radioactive peak of 110 counts per second ("cps") and a Mount Sopris 2PGA-1000 downhole gamma probe measured a radiometric peak of 616 cps at 718.3m depth. The unconformity was intersected at 720.0 m followed by the discovery of intensity silicified rock at 876.1 m at the upper contact of the deep-rooted structure. The graphitic structure begins at 880.6 and hosts brittle and ductile shear intervals as well as strongly clay and chlorite altered minerals known to be associated with uranium mineralization.

Table 1: Downhole Total Gamma Results from CF24-003

Hole Number From (m) To (m) Width (m) Avg. cps Peak cps Rock Type CF24-003 715.3 715.8 0.5 356 590 Sandstone And 717.3 717.6 1.3 336 616 Sandstone





CF24-003 (Figures 1 to 3)







Figure 1 Example of graphitic structure with associated clay alteration from 973.7 to 990.8m.

Blue Square: Brittle and ductile graphitic shear zone. Green Square: Strong chlorite alteration.











Figure 2  Close up graphitic structure at 969.9m.











Figure 3  Example of strong clay chlorite alteration from 933.8 to 940.7m.

Diamond Drilling

Three holes were completed at the Appaloosa target for a total of 2798.2 m (Figure 1), less meterage than planned given the unconformity was shallower than anticipated. Drilling was successful in intersecting a significant conductive structure, along with significant clay alteration and anomalous radioactivity. The company has sent a total of 282 samples from the 3 holes to be assayed at the SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The company will release assays and geological models when available.

Appaloosa Target

The Appaloosa target is located at the north end of the 100% owned Coffer project and was first identified from the regional VTEM survey conducted in early 2023. The survey data when compiled and modeled with all available historical data showed the key characteristics for potential uranium mineralization. To best refine drill targets Stallion utilized the latest technology to complete an advanced ground TDEM survey over the target area. Further bolstering confidence in the target, the Shea Creek deposit (Orano/UEC) of over 93M lbs. is only 13km west of the target area highlighting the uranium endowment in the area. The company has completed a 3-hole, 2798.2 meter drill program at Appaloosa marking the companies first drilling campaign in its efforts to discover the next significant uranium deposit in the Athabasca Basin.

The Coffer Project is located 224 km north of the community of La Loche and is accessible via highway 955. The accommodations are located 15 km away from the drill site and is accessible by drill trails. The Company has secured all necessary permits and approvals for the Program.

Gamma Logging and Geochemical Assaying

All core radioactivity was measured using a RS-230 BGO Super-SPEC Handheld Gamma-Ray Spectrometer. Down hole probing radiometric surveying was conducted with a Mount Sopris 2PGA-1000 downhole total gamma probe. The total gamma results provided in Table 1 were selected using a cut-off of 300 cps over a 0.3 metre downhole width.

All drill core samples from the 2024 program will be shipped to the Saskatchewan Research Council Geoanalytical Laboratories ("SRC") in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, an ISO/IEC 17025/2005 and Standards Council of Canada certified analytical laboratory. Stallion Uranium requests multi-element analysis by ICP-MS and ICP-OES using total (HF:NHO3:HClO4) and partial digestion (HNO3:HCl), boron by fusion. One half of the split core samples are retained and the other half cores are sent to the SRC for analyses. Blanks, standard reference materials, and repeats are inserted into the sample stream at regular intervals by Stallion Uranium geologists and SRC in accordance with industry-standard quality assurance/quality control ("QA/QC") procedures.

All reported depths and intervals are drill hole depths and intervals, unless otherwise noted, and do not represent true thicknesses, which have yet to be determined. The reader is cautioned that gamma probe readings are not directly or uniformly related to uranium grades of the rock sample measured and should be used only as a preliminary indication of the presence of radioactive materials.

Figure 4. Drill Hole Location Map

Qualifying Statement

The foregoing scientific and technical disclosures for Stallion Uranium have been reviewed by Darren Slugoski, P.Geo., VP Exploration, a registered member of the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan. Mr. Slugoski is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Stallion Uranium

Stallion Uranium is working to Fuel the Future with Uranium through the exploration of over 3,000 sq/km in the Athabasca Basin, home to the largest high-grade uranium deposits in the world. The company, with JV partner Atha Energy (CSE:SASK), holds the largest contiguous project in the Western Athabasca Basin adjacent to multiple high-grade discovery zones.

Our leadership and advisory teams are comprised of uranium and precious metals exploration experts with the capital markets experience and the technical talent for acquiring and exploring early-stage properties.

Stallion offers optionality with two gold projects in Idaho and Nevada that neighbour world class gold deposits offering exposure to upside potential from district advancement with limited capital expenditures.

For more information visit stallionuranium.com or contact:

Drew Zimmerman

Chief Executive Officer

778-686-0973

info@stallionuranium.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.

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, forward-looking statements) that relate to the Companys current expectations and views of future events. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as will likely result, are expected to, expects, will continue, is anticipated, anticipates, believes, estimated, intends, plans, forecast, projection, strategy, objective and outlook) are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this material change report should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date they are made.

Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Companys control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of them, or assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2494afdb-fafb-4ddb-8a91-f1e508184e6d

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9a7a019f-9500-49cc-9315-d5779133f840

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f2d03060-83ac-46ad-919d-e0e61188a49e

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/76f7772c-981a-4e02-9122-38b7ecc35a2e
ROUYN-NORANDA, Quebec, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Radisson Mining Resources Inc. (TSX-V: RDS, OTCQB: RMRDF) (Radisson or the Company) is pleased to announce drill results and the acceleration of the ongoing drill program, with the mobilization of a second drill rig, to its 100%-owned OBrien Gold Project located along the Larder-Lake-Cadillac Break (see location map 1 and location map 2), halfway between Rouyn-Noranda and Val-dOr in Quebec, Canada.



Highlights:

Drill program well underway with 22 drill holes (11,808 metres) completed, to date

5,165 metres of assays still pending from 9 drill holes on Trends 2 and 3

Several broader intervals of gold mineralization intersected in Pontiac Sediments coupled with multiple historical diamond drill hole intervals open up new opportunity

Radisson well-funded to expand drill program with more than $ 7.0 million in treasury 1

Key High-Grade Highlights:

OB-23-286 intersected 9.70 g/t Au over 4.00 m 2

OB-23-289 intersected 6.54 g/t Au over 4.50 m, including 10.02 g/t Au over 2.20 m

OB-24-305 intersected 6.40 g/t Au over 4.00 m



Key Bulk Intersection Highlights:

OB-24-306 intersected 0.84 g/t Au over 49.70 m, including 3.97 g/t Au over 8.20 m

OB 23-288 intersected 0.70 g/t Au over 28.90 m, including 3.96g/t Au over 4.50 m

1) Estimated as of April 30, 2024

2) g/t=grams per tonne; Au=gold; m=metres

We are pleased that our resource expansion drilling announced today at OBrien in Trend 4, which is located approximately 1,200 m to the east of the old OBrien mine, continues to yield high-grade results. In addition, we are quite intrigued by the discovery of much broader intervals of mineralization between 20 m and 50 m wide in the Pontiac Sediments in Trend 4 as highlighted by hole OB-24-306, which intersected 49.70 m grading 0.84 g/t Au. These results coupled with other historical intervals of broader mineralization in Trend 4 come as a positive surprise for us and merit additional work and investigation to better understand the potential of this largely untested dimension of the deposit, commented Chairman of the Board of Directors and Interim President & CEO, Denis Lachance.

Lachance continued: With our strong financial position, we were able to ramp up exploration work during Q1, including refining additional drill targets. We are excited to be able to further accelerate this ongoing drill program with the addition of a second drill rig and look forward to sharing further details about the drill program expansion in coming weeks. We remain focused on creating value for our shareholders through resource expansion, additional discoveries, and project derisking with several ongoing studies in preparation for future phases of project development at OBrien.

Results published today are from nine drill holes completed on Trend 4, a sector where current resources are limited to the first 400 vertical metres from surface. New and previously released drill holes demonstrate continuity of high-grade mineralization down to a vertical depth of 550 m in this area, which remains open for expansion over 750 m, both laterally and at depth.

In addition to the high-grade mineralization targeted in the Piche Group, which comprises most of the mineral resource estimate, several broad intervals of gold mineralization were obtained in the Pontiac Sediments to the south, which were not previously known to host such mineralization. Based on these results, the Radisson team reviewed drill holes from previous campaigns and was able to identify several other additional broad intervals of mineralization in the Pontiac Sediments. (see Table 2). To further support the interpretation of the findings, samples from twelve additional intervals from historical drill holes where similar veining was observed yet never assayed, will also be collected and assayed.

Table 1: Trend 4 Drill Results Summary

Drill Hole

Zone From (m) To

(m) Core Length (m) Au (g/t) -

Uncut Comments OB-23-286 Trend # 4 291.00 337.70 45.70 1.11 Pontiac Sediments*VG Including 291.00 295.00 4.00 9.70 Pontiac Sediments*VG Which includes 292.00 293.00 1.00 37.70 Pontiac Sediments*VG 332.10 334.50 2.40 3.32 OB-23-287 Trend # 4 56.30 59.00 2.70 4.73 Piche Group OB-23-288 Trend # 4 331.10 360.00 28.90 0.70 Pontiac Sediments and 628.20 632.70 4.50 3.96 Piche Group Including 628.20 629.70 1.50 9.85 Piche Group OB-23-289 Trend # 4 364.50 369.00 4.50 6.54 Piche Group Including 364.50 366.70 2.20 10.02 Piche Group OB-24-305 Trend # 4 135.50 139.50 4.00 6.40 Pontiac Sediments*VG Including 135.50 136.50 1.00 20.40 Pontiac Sediments*VG OB-24-306 Trend # 4 67.80 117.50 49.70 0.84 Pontiac Sediments*VG Including 67.80 76.00 8.20 3.97 Pontiac Sediments*VG Which includes 67.80 71.00 3.20 7.97 Pontiac Sediments*VG

VG denotes the presence of visible gold. True widths estimated at 70% to 80% of core length. Assay grades shown uncapped. A capping factor of 40 g/t Au was used in the 2023 resource estimate.





Table 2: Trend 4 Broader Intervals from Historical Holes Summary

Drill Hole

Zone From (m) To

(m) Core Length (m) Au (g/t) -

Uncut Comments RM-11-01 Trend # 4 57.50 97.00 39.50 1.21 Pontiac Sediments OB-21-228 Trend # 4 160.00 197.10 37.10 1.08 Pontiac Sediments OB-21-229 Trend # 4 140.20 165.00 24.80 1.04 Pontiac Sediments OB-17-057 Trend # 4 147.50 166.00 18.50 0.92 Pontiac Sediments OB-17-061 Trend # 4 163.60 194.90 31.30 0.52 Pontiac Sediments OB-17-060 Trend # 4 195.60 206.00 10.40 0.68 Pontiac Sediments OB-20-144 Trend # 4 30.30 45.00 14.70 0.53 Pontiac Sediments









Image 1. Second Drill Rig Mobilized at the OBrien Gold Project

Targeting Completed During Phase 1

Phase 1 of the drill program was designed to grow Inferred resources in areas with strongest veining and grade continuity within the first 500 m below surface, between Trends 0 and Trend 4.

Radisson has completed 11,808 m since the commencement of the program in September 2023 and expects to provide further details about the expansion of the drill program while reporting additional results in the coming weeks.

With the resource modeling and the compilation of historical gold values from the historic OBrien mine, the veins behaviour and gold distribution along each vein are well understood, allowing for efficient targeting of high-grade vectors that extend for over 400 m vertically in some cases. The intercepts published today, in combination with previous results from this program (see Radisson Intersects 81.83 g/t Gold Over 3.00 m) support this concept in areas targeted for resource growth.





Figure 1. Phase I Drill Program Plan Map





Figure 2. Pontiac Sediments Trend #4 Section

QA/QC

All drill cores in this campaign are NQ in size. Assays were completed on sawn half-cores, with the second half kept for future reference. The samples were analyzed using standard fire assay procedures with Atomic Absorption (AA) finish at ALS Laboratory Ltd, in Val-dOr, Quebec. Samples yielding a grade higher than 5 g/t Au were analyzed a second time by fire assay with gravimetric finish at the same laboratory. Mineralized zones containing visible gold were analyzed with metallic sieve procedure. Standard reference materials, blank samples and duplicates were inserted prior to shipment for quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program.

Qualified Person

Richard Nieminen, P.Geo, Geological advisor for Radisson is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. The Company's Qualified Person has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

Radisson Mining Resources Inc.

Radisson is a gold exploration company focused on its 100% owned OBrien project, located in the Bousquet-Cadillac mining camp along the world-renowned Larder-Lake-Cadillac Break in Abitibi, Quebec. The Bousquet-Cadillac mining camp has produced over 25,000,000 ounces of gold over the last 100 years. The project hosts the former OBrien Mine, considered to have been Quebecs highest-grade gold producer during its production.

For more information on Radisson, visit our website at www.radissonmining.com or contact:

Denis V. Lachance

Chairman, Interim President and CEO

819-806-3340

dlachance@radissonmining.com

Kristina Pillon

Manager, Investor Relations

604.908.1695

kpillon@radissonmining.com

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release including, but not limited to, those relating to the intended use of proceeds of the Offering, the development of the OBrien project and generally, the above About Radisson Mining Resources Inc. paragraph which essentially describes the Corporations outlook, constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the time of this press release. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Corporation as of the time of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. These estimates and assumptions may prove to be incorrect. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can directly or indirectly affect, and could cause, actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements and future events, could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward looking information can be found in Radissons disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com .

By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that estimates, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions do not reflect future experience. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about managements endeavours to develop the OBrien project and, more generally, its expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of important risk factors and future events could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, assumptions and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators of Canada. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (West Red Lake Gold or WRLG or the Company) (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQB: WRLGF) is pleased to report drill results from its 100% owned Madsen Mine located in the Red Lake Gold District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada.



The drill results featured in this news release are focused on the high-grade South Austin Zone. The South Austin zone currently contains an Indicated mineral resource of 474,600 ounces (oz) grading 8.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au), with an additional Inferred resource of 31,800 oz grading 8.7 g/t Au.

The purpose of the drilling reported in this news release is definition within South Austin to continue building an inventory of high-confidence ounces for eventual restart of the Madsen mill.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Hole MM24D-07-4198-012 Intersected 3.1m @ 21.33 g/t Au , from 83.9m to 87.0m, Including 0.5m @ 32.74 g/t Au , from 85.50m to 86.00m; also Including 1.0m @ 28.78 g/t Au , from 86.00 to 87.00m; And 1.0m @ 16.97 g/t Au , from 9.00m to 10.00m.



Intersected , from 83.9m to 87.0m, Including , from 85.50m to 86.00m; also Including , from 86.00 to 87.00m; And , from 9.00m to 10.00m. Hole MM24D-07-4198-009 Intersected 9.0m @ 6.75 g/t Au , from 103.0m to 112.0m, Including 0.9m @ 27.91 g/t Au , from 104.0m to 104.9m; also Including 1.0m @ 23.47 g/t Au , from 111.00m t0 112.00m.



Intersected , from 103.0m to 112.0m, Including , from 104.0m to 104.9m; also Including , from 111.00m t0 112.00m. Hole MM24D-07-4198-010 Intersected 2.55m @ 6.08 g/t Au , from 75.45m to 78.00m, Including 1.0m @ 11.08 g/t Au , from 76.0m to 77.0m.



Intersected , from 75.45m to 78.00m, Including , from 76.0m to 77.0m. The high-grade mineralization encountered near the collar (top of hole) in Hole MM24D-07-4198-012 is believed to be the down-dip continuation of a mineralized domain defined further up in the system.



Shane Williams, President & CEO, stated, We are happy to report more encouraging results out from the South Austin definition program. De-risking this high-priority area of the Madsen deposit will be a key component for the mine restart plan, and the team continues to execute the drill program safely and efficiently.

Plan maps and section for the South Austin drilling outlined in this release are provided in Figures 2 through 5.

TABLE 1. Significant intercepts (>3 g/t Au) from drilling at South Austin Zone.

Hole ID Target From (m) To (m) Thick (m)* Au (g/t) MM24D-07-4198-007 South Austin No Assays > 3 g/t Au MM24D-07-4198-008 South Austin 98.50 101.00 2.50 4.69 MM24D-07-4198-009 South Austin

103.00 112.00 9.00 6.75 Incl. 104.00 104.90 0.90 27.91 Also Incl. 111.00 112.00 1.00 23.47 MM24D-07-4198-010 South Austin

75.45 78.00 2.55 6.08 Incl. 76.00 77.00 1.00 11.08 MM24D-07-4198-011 South Austin No Assays > 3 g/t Au MM24D-07-4198-012 South Austin

8.00 10.00 2.00 8.70 Incl. 9.00 10.00 1.00 16.97 AND 83.90 87.00 3.10 21.33 Incl. 85.50 86.00 0.50 32.74 Also Incl. 86.00 87.00 1.00 28.78

*The From-To intervals in Table 1 are denoting overall downhole length of the intercept. True thickness has not been calculated for these intercepts but is expected to be  70% of downhole thickness based on intercept angles observed in the drill core.





FIGURE 1. Deposit-scale plan map of Madsen Mine highlighting South Austin Zone.

TABLE 2: Drill collar summary for holes reported in this News Release.

Hole ID Target Easting Northing Elev

(m) Length

(m) Azimuth Dip MM24D-07-4198-007 South Austin 435390 5646225 22 222 154 -21 MM24D-07-4198-008 South Austin 435390 5646225 22 165 157 -22 MM24D-07-4198-009 South Austin 435390 5646225 22 162 166 -16 MM24D-07-4198-010 South Austin 435390 5646225 22 180 116 -17 MM24D-07-4198-011 South Austin 435390 5646225 22 183 120 -19 MM24D-07-4198-012 South Austin 435390 5646225 22 195 124 -23



DISCUSSION

Accessed through the Madsen Mine West Portal, the South Austin Zone sits south in the hanging wall of the main Austin Zone. Like the other mineralized domains that comprise the Madsen Mine, the South Austin structure is hosted within broad, kilometer-scale planar alteration and deformation corridors that have been repeatedly reactivated during gold mineralization and subsequent deformation and metamorphism.

At the deposit-scale the Austin, South Austin, North Austin, and McVeigh Zones are locally folded and structurally dismembered by transposition and rotation into the penetrative S2 Foliation. In addition to this intense deformation overprint, the mineralized veins and alteration have been subjected to the relatively high temperatures of amphibolite facies metamorphism, which led to extensive recrystallization and growth of the skarn-like replacement mineral assemblage of diopside-amphibole-quartz-biotite.

All significant gold mineralization on the mine property is demonstrably early relative to the most significant, penetrative deformation (D2) and metamorphic events. The North Austin Zone displays mine-style alteration and mineralization and consists of multiple mineralized domains defined over a strike length of 0.5km. Mineralization remains open at depth and along strike to the northeast.

In drill core, or at underground face exposures, gold-bearing zones at the Madsen Mine are best identified visually by fine (sub-millimetre) grains of free gold within strong alteration and veining. All high-grade intervals generally contain visible gold on drill core exteriors, although numerous examples exist of high-grade assays where visible gold was only identified within the interior (cut surface) of the core samples. Apart from the presence of free gold, pervasive silicification (locally accompanied by discrete quartz veining) and quartz-carbonate or diopside veining are the best indicators that a given interval is within a high-grade zone along/within the mineralized structure.

The current underground drilling program at the Madsen Mine is focused on further definition of near-term mining inventory, as well as growth of the current mineral resource. Drilling has been focused on the more continuous and higher-grade portions of the Austin, South Austin, and North Austin Zones. This will continue to be the strategy through 2024.

High resolution versions of all the figures contained in this press release can be found at the following web address: https://westredlakegold.com/may-7th-news-release-maps/





FIGURE 2. Madsen Mine long section showing location of 07-4198 Drill Bay in South Austin Zone.[1]

[1] Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US1,800/oz. Please refer to the technical report entitled Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and dated June 16, 2023, and amended April 24, 2024. A full copy of the SRK report is available on the Companys website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.







FIGURE 3. South Austin plan view drill section showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-07-4198-007 through -012.[1]

[1] Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US1,800/oz. Please refer to the technical report entitled Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and dated June 16, 2023, and amended April 24, 2024. A full copy of the SRK report is available on the Companys website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.





FIGURE 4. South Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-07-4198-010 through -012.[1]

[1] Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US1,800/oz. Please refer to the technical report entitled Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and dated June 16, 2023, and amended April 24, 2024. A full copy of the SRK report is available on the Companys website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.





FIGURE 5. South Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-07-4198-008 and -009.[1]

[1] Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US1,800/oz. Please refer to the technical report entitled Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and dated June 16, 2023, and amended April 24, 2024. A full copy of the SRK report is available on the Companys website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL

Drilling completed underground at the Madsen Mine consists of BQ-sized diamond drill core for definition drill programs and oriented NQ-sized diamond drill core for exploration focused drilling. All drill holes are systematically logged, photographed, and sampled by a trained geologist at the Madsen Mine core processing facility. Minimum allowable sample length is 0.5m. Maximum allowable sample length is 1.5m. Control samples (certified standards and uncertified blanks), along duplicates, are inserted at a target 5% insertion rate. Results are assessed for accuracy, precision, and contamination on an ongoing basis. The BQ-sized drill core is whole core sampled. The NQ-sized drill core is then cut lengthwise utilizing a diamond blade core saw along a line pre-selected by the geologist. To reduce sampling bias, the same side of drill core is sampled consistently utilizing the orientation line as reference. For those samples containing visible gold (VG), a trained geologist supervises the cutting/bagging of those samples, and ensures the core saw blade is cleaned with a dressing stone following the VG sample interval. Bagged samples are then sealed with zip ties and transported by Madsen Mine personnel directly to SGS Natural Resources Facility in Red Lake, Ontario for assay.

Samples are then prepped by SGS, which consists of drying at 105C and crushing to 75% passing 2mm. A riffle splitter is then utilized to produce a 500g course reject for archive. The remainder of the sample is then pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns from which 50g is analyzed by fire assay and an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish (SGS Code GO-FAA50V10). Samples returning gold values > 100 g/t Au are reanalyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 50g sample (SGS Code GO_FAG50V). Samples with visible gold are also analyzed via metallic screen analysis (SGS code: GO_FAS50M). For multi-element analysis, samples are sent to SGSs facility in Burnaby, British Columbia and analyzed via four-acid digest with an atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish for 33-element analysis on 0.25g sample pulps (SGS code: GE_ICP40Q12). SGS Natural Resources analytical laboratories operates under a Quality Management System that complies with ISO/IEC 17025.

The Madsen Mine deposit presently hosts a National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) Indicated resource of 1.65 million ounces (Moz) of gold grading 7.4 g/t Au and an Inferred resource of 0.37 Moz of gold grading 6.3 g/t Au. Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US1,800/oz. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Please refer to the technical report entitled Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and dated June 16, 2023, and amended April 24, 2024 (the Madsen Report). The Madsen Resource Estimate has an effective date of December 31, 2021 and excludes depletion of mining activity during the period from January 1, 2022 to the mine closure on October 24, 2022 as it has been deemed immaterial and not relevant for the purpose of the Madsen Report. A full copy of the Madsen Report is available on the Companys website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Will Robinson, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for West Red Lake Gold and the Qualified Person for exploration at the West Red Lake Project, as defined by NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

ABOUT WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES

West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. is a mineral exploration company that is publicly traded and focused on advancing and developing its flagship Madsen Gold Mine and the associated 47 km2 highly prospective land package in the Red Lake district of Ontario. The highly productive Red Lake Gold District of Northwest Ontario, Canada has yielded over 30 million ounces of gold from high-grade zones and hosts some of the world's richest gold deposits. WRLG also holds the wholly owned Rowan Property in Red Lake, with an expansive property position covering 31 km2 including three past producing gold mines - Rowan, Mount Jamie, and Red Summit.





ON BEHALF OF WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES LTD.

Shane Williams

Shane Williams

President & Chief Executive Officer

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Freddie Leigh

Tel: (604) 609-6132

Email: investors@westredlakegold.com or visit the Companys website at https://www.westredlakegold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by words such as "anticipate", "expect", "estimate", "forecast", "planned", and similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking information is based on current expectations of management; however, it is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this news release and include without limitation, statements relating to the potential of the Madsen Mine and Rowan; any untapped growth potential in the Madsen deposit or the Rowan deposit; the results of further cleanup and recovery at the Madsen Mine; the Companys intention to establish additional drilling platforms; and the Companys future objectives and plans. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Forwardlooking information involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market volatility; the state of the financial markets for the Companys securities; fluctuations in commodity prices; timing and results of the cleanup and recovery at the Madsen Mine; and changes in the Companys business plans. Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions, including without limitation, that the Company will continue with its stated business objectives and its ability to raise additional capital to proceed. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Additional information about risks and uncertainties is contained in the Companys managements discussion and analysis for the year ended November 30, 2023, and the Companys annual information form for the year ended November 30, 2023, copies of which are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

The forward-looking information contained herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to the Company. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this news release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by applicable law.

For more information on the Company, investors should review the Companys continuous disclosure filings that are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/475afb0d-3923-4eb1-a994-509e9f52e692

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/71b88e0c-763c-44c8-a30a-1d3ea2fb0568

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fc2a47e6-3679-4e40-ae9e-c6ba27190a83

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/53e151bf-2fdf-43b6-93a3-f0d994a0871c

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/878219d9-6851-4e2d-8893-275c3cc209df

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b1b7c8c9-f015-4461-a0aa-1cac1a184d03
Dublin, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Artificial Intelligence (AI) Collaboration and Licensing Deals 2016-2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Artificial Intelligence (AI) Collaboration and Licensing Deals provides a comprehensive understanding and unprecedented access to the artificial intelligence deals entered into by the world's leading biopharma companies. Fully revised and updated, the report provides details of artificial intelligence deals from 2016 to 2024.



The report provides a detailed understanding and analysis of how and why companies enter artificial intelligence deals. These deals tend to be multicomponent, starting with collaborative R&D, and commercialization of outcomes. The report includes collaboration, development, research and licensing deals.



This report contains a comprehensive listing of 965 artificial intelligence deals announced since 2016 including financial terms where available including links to online deal records of actual artificial intelligence partnering deals as disclosed by the deal parties. In addition, where available, records include contract documents as submitted to the Securities Exchange Commission by companies and their partners.



The report also includes numerous table and figures that illustrate the trends and activities in artificial intelligence deal making since 2016. In addition, a comprehensive deal directory is provided organized by company A-Z, deal type and therapeutic target. Each deal title links via Weblink to an online version of the deal record and where available, the contract document, providing easy access to each contract document on demand.



Key Benefits

Understand deal trends since 2016

Browse artificial intelligence collaboration and licensing deals

Benchmark analysis - identify market value of transactions

Financials terms - upfront, milestone, royalties

Directory of deals by company A-Z, deal type and therapy area

Leading deals by value

Most active dealmakers

Identify assets and deal terms for each transaction

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Analyzing contract agreements allows due diligence of:

What are the precise rights granted or optioned?

What is actually granted by the agreement to the partner company?

What exclusivity is granted?

What is the payment structure for the deal?

How are sales and payments audited?

What is the deal term?

How are the key terms of the agreement defined?

How are IPRs handled and owned?

Who is responsible for commercialization?

Who is responsible for development, supply, and manufacture?

How is confidentiality and publication managed?

How are disputes to be resolved?

Under what conditions can the deal be terminated?

What happens when there is a change of ownership?

What sublicensing and subcontracting provisions have been agreed?

Which boilerplate clauses does the company insist upon?

Which boilerplate clauses appear to differ from partner to partner or deal type to deal type?

Which jurisdiction does the company insist upon for agreement law?

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1 - Introduction



Chapter 2 - Trends in artificial intelligence dealmaking

2.1. Introduction

2.2. Artificial intelligence deals over the years

2.3. Most active artificial intelligence dealmakers

2.4. Artificial intelligence deals by deal type

2.5. Artificial intelligence deals by therapy area

2.6. Artificial intelligence deals by industry sector

2.7. Deal terms for artificial intelligence deals

2.7.1 Artificial intelligence deals headline values

2.7.2 Artificial intelligence deal upfront payments

2.7.3 Artificial intelligence deal milestone payments

2.7.4 Artificial intelligence royalty rates



Chapter 3 - Leading artificial intelligence deals

3.1. Introduction

3.2. Top artificial intelligence deals by value



Chapter 4 - Most active artificial intelligence dealmakers

4.1. Introduction

4.2. Most active artificial intelligence dealmakers

4.3. Most active artificial intelligence deals company profiles



Chapter 5 - Artificial intelligence contracts dealmaking directory

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Artificial intelligence contracts dealmaking directory



Chapter 6 - Artificial intelligence dealmaking by technology type



Deal directory

Deal directory - Artificial intelligence deals by company A-Z

Deal directory - Artificial intelligence deals by deal type

Deal directory - Artificial intelligence deals by therapy area

Deal type definitions

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COSTA MESA, Calif., May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rodedawg Ind. Intl., Inc. (OTC: RWGI), a leading company in the cannabis industry, is excited to announce the expansion of its Tree Moguls brand into retail cannabis dispensaries and cannabis delivery services. This expansion marks a significant milestone in the company's growth strategy, further solidifying its position in the market.

The expansion of Tree Moguls premium cannabis flower includes sales into Long Beach, Lake Elsinore, Costa Mesa, and Los Angeles, with delivery service extending into Orange County, CA. This strategic move not only broadens Tree Moguls' reach but also enhances accessibility for consumers seeking top-quality cannabis products.

"We are thrilled to announce the expansion of our Tree Moguls brand into retail dispensaries and delivery services," said Chris Swartz, CEO of Rodedawg Ind. Intl, Inc. "This milestone represents our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of consumers and further establishes Tree Moguls as a trusted name in the cannabis industry."





The addition of retail dispensaries and delivery services aligns with Rodedawg's 2024 Corporate Roadmap, demonstrating the company's dedication to delivering on its strategic objectives. With a focus on quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction, Rodedawg continues to position itself as a leader in the rapidly growing cannabis market.

About Rodedawg International Industries, Inc.

Rodedawg International Industries, Inc. (OTC: RWGI) is focused on providing management services, acquisitions and restructuring resources throughout the regulated California cannabis market. We are a trusted partner and asset to licensed cultivation, distributors, manufacturers, and retail dispensaries.

Please note the company's Twitter address is https://twitter.com/RWGImerger for regular updates.

About Budding Horizon, LLC

Budding Horizon, LLC is a California Limited Liability Company with offices in Orange County, California. The company is focused to providing management services for the licensed cannabis industry and seeks to leverage its expertise in the real estate acquisitions to acquire and develop a portfolio of assets.

The company website is https://buddinghorizon.com/

About Brother Buds

Brother Buds is a cannabis delivery service based in Costa Mesa, California. During the month of July 2023, Rodedawg will operate Brother Buds under a non-storefront cannabis delivery license. The cannabis delivery service will focus on Los Angeles County, Orange County, and northern San Diego County in the demographic area of 23.86 million in 2019. The company is focused to providing management services for the licensed cannabis industry and seeks to leverage its expertise in the real estate acquisitions to acquire and develop a portfolio of assets.

The company website is https://BrotherBuds.com

Make sure to follow us at: https://twitter.com/BrotherBudsOC

About Elixicure

Elixicure is a leading provider of manufacturing and capsule encapsulation services. We offer a wide range of services to meet the diverse needs of our clients, including capsule encapsulation, formulation, manufacturing, labeling and bottle filling. Our state-of-the-art facilities and experienced team of professionals allow us to deliver high-quality products and exceptional customer service. Whether you are looking for small-scale or large-scale production, we have the expertise and capabilities to meet your needs. Contact us today to learn more about how we can support your manufacturing and encapsulation needs.

The company website is: https://elixicure.com/

Make sure to follow us at: https://twitter.com/Elixicure

Contact Information:

Rodedawg International Industries, Inc.

1-800-793-0355

ir@buddinghorizon.com

Safe Harbor Statement: In addition to historical information, this press release may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include the intent, belief, or expectations of the Company and members of its management team with respect to the Company's future business operations and the assumptions upon which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to, failure to complete anticipated sales under negotiations, lack of revenue growth, client discontinuances, failure to realize improvements in performance, efficiency and profitability, and adverse developments with respect to litigation or increased litigation costs, the operation or performance of the Company's business units or the market price of its common stock. Additional factors that would cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated within this press release can also be found on the Company's website. The Company disclaims any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Rodedawg International Industries, Inc.
BOSTON, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New research published today by Arcadia (arcadia.io), a leading data platform for healthcare, found that although four out of five healthcare leaders believe most of their data is accurate, 47% of healthcare data, on average, is underutilized when making clinical and business decisions.1 The research highlights a pressing challenge within the healthcare industry: despite the proliferation of AI, a vast amount of data remains untapped, resulting in missed opportunities to enhance patient outcomes, improve productivity, and reduce costs.

The research demonstrates technologys potential to breathe new life into healthcare organizations underutilized data, said Dr. Kate Behan, MD, FACP, Chief Medical Officer at Arcadia. Data analytics platforms are necessary tools and essential enablers for healthcare organizations to turn dormant data into actionable insights that address workforce challenges, reduced revenues, and complex market dynamics.

The study , conducted by Arcadia in partnership with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), examines how hospitals of various types and sizes use the 137 terabytes of data they produce every day.2 Key findings include:

Data Supports High-Quality Care

More than half of healthcare leaders view data as crucial for improving care quality, and one in four said data is necessary to power care management and patient engagement strategies.1 28% of healthcare leaders said data platforms enable their organizations to enhance health outcomes and patient satisfaction.1 The findings reinforce the criticality of data to accelerate the transition to value-based care and achieve The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services goal to transition all traditional Medicare beneficiaries into a value-based care arrangement by 2030.

Actional Information Improves Productivity and Efficiency

95% of healthcare leaders grasp the opportunity for data and analytics to enable clinicians to improve their productivity, 30% said data platforms lead to cost savings through better resource allocation and workforce management, and 25% said they enable better decision-making.1 Healthcare organizations navigating workforce shortages, care team burnout, and higher operating expenses can leverage data to create strategies to do more with fewer resources while still delivering quality patient care and supporting their staff.3

AI Fuels Innovation

84% of leaders have plans to integrate artificial intelligence, machine learning, or large language models with their data platform, and 55% plan to aggregate unstructured data, such as images, audio, or PDFs, to reduce time-consuming manual review and unlock insights, like an undocumented condition, to better inform care delivery.1 One healthcare organization used Arcadia's clinical co-pilot, Arcadia SageAI, to reduce the time needed to prepare for a patient visit by more than 20%.4

Technology Makes Data More Useable

Healthcare leaders named enhancing data literacy (58%), using AI (47%), and addressing productivity challenges (34%) as key priorities to make data more usable.1 Moreover, 76% of large organizations (those with 15,000+ employees) said implementing a comprehensive enterprise data solution is essential.1 Larger organizations have the greatest need to connect disparate data sources to derive comprehensive insights and actions across the enterprise.5

Accelerating Data Recency Remains an Opportunity

61% of organizations refresh their data at least daily for business intelligence analytics, but when building and running artificial intelligence models, that number drops to 32%.1 Only 47% of organizations leverage daily refreshed data for generating lists of care gaps and just 39% for patient stratification and building cohorts.1 Activating data in real-time provides care teams with immediate access to the most current patient information, which ensures providers make decisions using the freshest insights.6

Our findings show that healthcare leaders view data analytics platforms as critical tools to confront growing workforce shortages, financial pressures, and the shift towards value-based care, said Michael Meucci, President and CEO of Arcadia. Investing in a strong data analytics platform can further transform these challenges into opportunities and progress towards a more efficient and effective healthcare system.

Download the report to discover how healthcare leaders plan to deploy a data analytics platform to power future innovations within their organizations.

____

1 HIMSS Market Insights Survey, Data Analytics Platforms, 2024

2 4 ways data is improving healthcare, World Economic Forum, 2019

3 The use of Big Data Analytics in healthcare, Journal of Big Data, 2022

4 Arcadia product performance measured in Q1 2024

5 Sharing Data, Saving Lives: The Hospital Agenda for Interoperability, American Hospital Association, 2019

6 How Healthcare is Leveraging Real-World Data to Improve Outcomes, Health IT Analytics, 2020

About Arcadia

Arcadia transforms data into powerful insights and actions that accelerate healthcare transformation. Our data platform, analytics tools, and services are used by the nations leading healthcare providers and payers to make informed decisions, improve patient outcomes, and optimize operations. Were on a mission to create a unified fabric for health and dedicated to happier, healthier days for all. For more information, visit arcadia.io.
Netanya, Israel, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Silynxcom Ltd. (NYSE American: SYNX) (Silynxcom or the Company), a manufacturer and developer of ruggedized tactical communication headset devices as well as other communication accessories, announced the expansion of its ongoing collaboration with 3M PELTOR ("Peltor").



Peltor is recognized as a global leading manufacturer of over-the-ear headsets. Known for its commitment to innovation and quality, Peltor's products are designed to meet the rigorous demands of various environments, ensuring reliability and performance.

Peltor and Silynxcom have agreed to expand their mutual convertion distributor agreement to include Peltor's latest innovative product  the Peltor ComTac VIII Headset. The ComTac VIII Headset offers improved sound protection, hardware design and user application. The ComTac VIII Headset represents the pinnacle of Peltor's engineering excellence. Engineered for both communication and protection, the ComTac VIII Headset features advanced technology to enhance auditory situational awareness in noise-intense environments.

This expansion, first announced on April 1, 2024, underscores the commitment of both companies to providing cutting-edge communication solutions for tactical and operational environments.

Silynxcom has been adapting Peltors over-ear headsets to integrate with its advanced tactical systems, including push-to-talk control boxes. This collaboration has enabled the seamless integration of Silynxcom's sophisticated communication systems with Peltor's headsets, offering users a wide choice of operational solutions and improved effectiveness.

About Silynxcom Ltd.

For over a decade, the Company been developing, manufacturing, marketing, and selling ruggedized tactical communication headset devices as well as other communication accessories, all of which have been field-tested and combat proven. The Companys in-ear headset devices, or In-Ear Headsets, are used in combat, the battlefield, riot control, demonstrations and weapons training courses. The In-Ear Headsets seamlessly integrate with third party manufacturers of professional-grade ruggedized radios that are used by soldiers in combat or by police officers. The Companys In-Ear Headsets also fit tightly into the protective gear to enable users to speak and hear clearly and precisely while they are protected from the hazardous sounds of combat, riots or dangerous situations. The sleek, lightweight, In-Ear Headsets include active sound protection to eliminate unsafe sounds, while maintaining ambient environmental awareness, giving their customers 360 situational awareness. The Company works closely with its customers and seek to improve the functionality and quality of the Companys products based on actual feedback from soldiers and police officers in the field. The Companys headset devices are compatible and easily integrate with various communication equipment devices currently being used by tens of thousands of military and law enforcement personnel in leading military and law enforcement units around the globe. The Company sells its In-Ear Headsets and communication accessories directly to military forces, police and other law enforcement units around the world. The Company also deals with specialized networks of local distributors in each locale in which it operates and has developed key strategic partnerships with radio equipment manufacturers.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, contemplate, could, estimate, expect, intend, seek, may, might, plan, potential, predict, project, target, aim, should, "will would, or the negative of these words or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. For example, the Company uses forward-looking statements when it discusses the commitment of Silynxcom and Peltor to provide cutting-edge communication solutions. Forward-looking statements are based on Silynxcoms current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the section titled Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on April 30, 2024, and other documents filed with or furnished to the SEC which are available on the SECs website, www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law.

Investor Relations Contact:

Silynxcom Ltd.

ir@silynxcom.com
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libya's Minister of State for Communication and Political Affairs in the Government of National Unity Walid Ellafi Tuesday discussed a number of programmes relating to the ICT industry with Directors of the Technology Development and Communications Policy Departments of the US Department of Commerce
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cannabix Technologies Inc. (CSE: BLO) (OTC PINK: BLOZF) (Frankfurt: 8CT) (the Company or Cannabix) developer of alcohol and marijuana breathalyzer screening devices announces the launch of its new Breath Logix Workplace Series -Alcohol breath detection device. The Workplace Series is an autonomous compact wall mounted unit that is designed for indoor facilities and offices (Figure 1). The Breath Logix Workplace Series is the newest device within the Breath Logix series of autonomous alcohol screen devices. Compared to the Breath Logix Industrial Series, the Workplace Series provides a smaller, lighter design that is suitable for a range of workplace and commercial environments. The Company also reports that it has commenced discussions with Run Rite Electronics Pty Ltd of Durban, South Africa for the potential sales distribution of the Companys new Breath Logix Workplace Series. The Company expects to deliver its device for evaluation, preliminary marketing and business development purposes in May.



Justin Goldblatt, Managing Director of Run Rite Electronics stated, We really like the compact size of the Breath Logix Workplace Series for existing and new customers in our market. A smaller, elegant wall mounted alcohol breathalyzer with integration capabilities is of particular interest to us. Based in South Africa, we have business relationships across the continent.





Figure 1. New Breath Logix Workplace Series device (left), compared to the Breath Logix Industrial Series (right).

Breath Logix Workplace Series Features

The Breath Logix Workplace Series has a sleek, compact design with a host of features including patent pending pre-calibrated cartridge technology which will allow site safety administrators to easily maintain their devices, and eliminate the need for costly calibration equipment and time-consuming site visits from technicians for maintenance. This device can be used for pre-access alcohol testing, random testing, start-of-shift testing, pre-employment testing, return-to-work testing and post-incident testing. The technology promotes organizational safety and works to reduce accidents linked to alcohol consumption.

The Breath Logix Alcohol device automatically checks the sobriety of a user and can take a picture to confirm and record identity while a breath sample is being delivered. Upon detection of positive breath alcohol result, the device will deliver a precise Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) level on the screen, and send a real-time alert via text message, e-mail and to a dedicated web portal. Furthermore, the system logs user BAC for incident reporting and historical investigations. The Breath Logix helps organizations save money by deploying an autonomous alcohol screening device which eliminates the need for dedicated alcohol screening administrators using conventional handheld devices. There is no assurance that evaluators of the Companys breathalyzer technology will come to terms on distribution or enter into a sales agreement with the Company.

About Cannabix Technologies Inc.

Cannabix Technologies Inc. is a developer of marijuana and alcohol breathalyzer technologies for law enforcement, workplaces and laboratories. Cannabix is developing delta-9 THC and alcohol screening devices. Delta-9 THC is the psychoactive component of marijuana that causes impairment. Breath testing for delta-9 THC would allow employers and law enforcement to identify recent marijuana use. Cannabix is the developer of Breath Logix Series of autonomous breath alcohol detection devices for employers and a range of other settings.

We seek Safe Harbor.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Rav Mlait

CEO

Cannabix Technologies Inc.

For further information, contact the Company at info@cannabixtechnologies.com

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance of the Company, such as final development of a commercial or prototype product(s), successful trial or pilot of company technologies, no assurance that commercial sales of any kind actually materialize; no assurance the Company will have sufficient funds to complete product development. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and the Companys plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information, including: (i) adverse market conditions; (ii) risks regarding protection of proprietary technology; (iii) the ability of the Company to complete financings; (iv) the ability of the Company to develop and market its future product; and (v) risks regarding government regulation, managing and maintaining growth, the effect of adverse publicity, litigation, competition and other factors which may be identified from time to time in the Company's public announcements and filings. There is no assurance that its development of breathalyzer technology will provide any benefit to the Company, and no assurance that any proposed new products will be built, will be successful in beta testing or clinical trials. There is no assurance that evaluators of the Companys breathalyzer technology will agree or come to terms on distribution or enter into a sales agreement, of any kind. There is no assurance that existing patent pending technologies licensed by the Company will receive patent status by regulatory authorities. The Company is not currently selling commercial breathalyzers. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3abe2a1a-db95-411b-95fc-643746c2d93b
ORLANDO, Fla., May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo 2024 -- Craft.co ( www.craft.co ), the supply chain resilience company, today announced the launch of its next-generation supplier risk management solution, setting a new standard for data quality, usability, supplier risk and compliance monitoring, and proactive risk mitigation capabilities. The platform is powered by an expansive data fabric and a powerful risk engine enhanced by AI-driven intelligence. With comprehensive 360o supplier visibility, hyper-relevant risk signals, and the industrys most user-friendly collaboration workspace, Craft makes it easy for organizations to stay in compliance while minimizing supply chain disruptions.



Craft gives us a comprehensive view of risk across our entire supplier network without having to wade through a lot of disparate data and noisy alerts. The platform makes it easy to pinpoint potential relevant risk and share information across teams to proactively manage issues before they cause major disruption, says Ingmar Mester, Director Supplier Management, Sustainability & Regulatory at Hapag-Lloyd AG.

Better, more comprehensive data fabric for smarter supplier decisions

Craft simplifies the complexity of managing a global supplier network by providing a single platform powered by a comprehensive data fabric with:

1,300+ data streams covering all major risk categories: financial, compliance, cybersecurity, geopolitical, ESG, and forced labor

Third-party data verification for quality and consistency

Best-in-class foreign influence data provided by Strider, Pitchbook, and Bluefoot

Configurable portfolios for supplier grouping

N-tier mapping connecting across multiple locations

Intentional, use-case driven integration with operational data such as locations, product codes, etc. for easy search, export, and anchored risk evidence

A highly-configurable platform for risk prioritization and continuous monitoring

Crafts powerful Risk Hub provides a simple view of risk across your entire portfolio of suppliers so you can quickly identify who needs further attention and then drill down for details.

Where traditional risk monitoring systems produce a lot of irrelevant noise, causing important signals to be overlooked, Craft cuts through the noise to enable you to proactively anticipate risk and be ready when it happens with:

Highly-configurable, user-friendly capabilities with risk monitoring and alerts

Signal and event tracking with AI-driven alerts by commodity, location, and keyword

Weighting based on risk thresholds and critical priorities

40 risk alert types backed by event timelines and score trending

Automated risk checks to speed discovery

Proactive insight on impacts of new regulation and geopolitical issues on supply chains

Collaboration-centered design for enterprise-wide impact analysis

Crafts user-friendly workspace centralizes data to improve visibility, communication, and risk mitigation to:

Capture and display data documenting due diligence and compliance activity

Automate actions based on risk type and business rules

Centralize compliance requirements management with auditable reporting

Share enterprise-wide views on supplier risk and performance

Elevate response and follow-through with state-of-the-art case management, tracking, and analytics with anchor points and trending

Track communications internally and externally when collaborating with suppliers for risk mitigation

Some of the largest government organizations and commercial enterprises including the U.S. Department of Defense, Hapag-Lloyd, 3VRM, and others trust the Craft platform to provide reliable data and actionable insights to manage risk to their operations, said Mimi Spier, Chief Marketing Officer for Craft.

The industrys most flexible, scalable platform designed to grow with you

Craft is designed from the ground up to enable Supplier Intelligence for Due Diligence, Supplier Risk Management, and Supply Chain Risk Management. The Craft platform consists of four modules and offers flexible pricing based on your data priorities, required functionality, and number of suppliers.

Craft Sense provides reliable intelligence across all risk domains and is configurable to meet a companys specific risk concerns. Craft offers a complete view of your suppliers with holistic company profiles, advanced search capabilities, and value stream data about your most lucrative product lines and SKUs. Large-scale, repeatable due diligence efforts are simplified with portfolio-level management.





provides reliable intelligence across all risk domains and is configurable to meet a companys specific risk concerns. Craft offers a complete view of your suppliers with holistic company profiles, advanced search capabilities, and value stream data about your most lucrative product lines and SKUs. Large-scale, repeatable due diligence efforts are simplified with portfolio-level management. Craft Protect helps minimize disruption with on-going monitoring to anticipate the most critical risks impacting your suppliers. Its powerful, centralized Risk Hub, timelines, configurable alerts, and insights based on AI and machine learning, can help connect the dots, understand impact, and proactively mitigate disruption.





helps minimize disruption with on-going monitoring to anticipate the most critical risks impacting your suppliers. Its powerful, centralized Risk Hub, timelines, configurable alerts, and insights based on AI and machine learning, can help connect the dots, understand impact, and proactively mitigate disruption. Craft Operate provides a central hub for communicating and tracking supplier risk across Procurement, Supply Chain, IT, Finance, Sustainability, Legal, and Risk Management teams. With collaborative workflows, private and group sharing of activities and conversations, case management and case analytics, you can efficiently manage risk, increase productivity, improve transparency, and ensure compliance.





provides a central hub for communicating and tracking supplier risk across Procurement, Supply Chain, IT, Finance, Sustainability, Legal, and Risk Management teams. With collaborative workflows, private and group sharing of activities and conversations, case management and case analytics, you can efficiently manage risk, increase productivity, improve transparency, and ensure compliance. Craft Impact brings your supply chain operations together with 3rd party supplier intelligence and n-tier mapping so you can quickly anticipate disruption, understand impact, and optimize supply chain strategies in one central place.



All Craft modules are easily configured to align with the risk priorities of your business now and in the future as you scale your supplier network.

About Craft.co

Craft illuminates the path to global supply chain resilience. It empowers businesses to strengthen their supplier networks and supply chains with the industry's most reliable and comprehensive data fabric and advanced risk mitigation engine. Craft's user-friendly platform offers 360o visibility to explore and evaluate supplier networks, AI-driven insights to detect and mitigate disruptions, and collaborative tools to enhance supply chain strategies. Procurement and supply chain professionals can confidently navigate regulatory environments, adhere to ethical standards, and ensure business continuity. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Craft assists commercial and governmental organizations worldwide in creating more resilient supply chains. For more information about Craft, visit www.craft.co .

Contact: press@craft.co

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0b28289a-6e32-45aa-b51e-6a7ac15a8798
COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ODW Logistics, a fast-growing national third-party (3PL) specializing in integrated logistics solutions, today announced the addition of Rick Smith as Vice President of Strategic Implementations. Smith will lead the newly formed New Business Implementation Division at ODW, which will be instrumental in uniting experienced professionals and innovative viewpoints to launch new client start-ups successfully and strategically.



Ricks experience in the logistics field comes from fellow industry leaders that have truly set a precedent within the supply chain overall, and were pleased to have him on the team, said Gary Meador, Chief Operating Officer. He most recently served as the senior vice president of distribution and transportation for American Wholesale Book Company (AWBC), a subsidiary of Books-A-Million. In his new role, he will work with ODW operations leaders to design this new business initiative. We believe that his leadership and collaborative approach, combined with our existing talent, will lead to a synergistic environment to create strategic implementations.

Prior to joining AWBC, Smith held progressively senior operating positions with Essendant and School Specialty in Operations, Ops Excellence and Quality. In his roles, he managed over 800 associates, 22 operations and 16 facilities. In addition, his 18 years of experience at industry leaders such as UPS, UPS Airlines, and UPS Supply Chain Solutions has helped to establish him as the best executive for this new ODW role.

As we continue to grow and expand our client portfolio, I am thrilled to be leading this new division and streamlining our new customer implementations, said Smith. I am thrilled to return to the Buckeye State, and add value to ODW partners, my new colleagues and the industry.

ABOUT ODW LOGISTICS

ODW Logistics is a 3PL provider specializing in integrated logistics solutions. We help companies make smarter choices about warehousing, e-commerce fulfillment, and transportation decisions so they can streamline costs and operate more efficiently. We take a strategic approach to logistics planning and find solutions to control costs and get your product to your customers as efficiently as possible. Our commitment to partnership and combination of technology, team, and process allows us to deliver on our promises. Gain visibility into your supply chain and realize the operational efficiencies that will help your company grow. See how we Deliver the Difference and help you reimagine your supply chain. www.odwlogistics.com

Media Contact

Amber Good

LeadCoverage

amber@leadcoverage.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5018cb91-b95b-430e-9af8-e61cc9811137
Dublin, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Lactic Acid - Global Strategic Business Report" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Global Lactic Acid Market to Reach $8.6 Billion by 2030



The global market for Lactic Acid estimated at US$6 Billion in the year 2023, is projected to reach a revised size of US$8.6 Billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 5.2% over the analysis period 2023-2030.

The lactic acid market is positioned for remarkable growth, with PLA manufacture emerging as the largest end-use market for lactic acid. The food and beverage sector also stands out as a major consumer. The competitive landscape reveals key players' market shares in 2024, alongside their market presence classifications.

Sugarcane-based Lactic Acid, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is expected to record a 6.1% CAGR and reach US$3.7 Billion by the end of the analysis period. Growth in the Corn-based Lactic Acid segment is estimated at 4.9% CAGR for the next 7-year period.



The U.S. Market is Estimated at $1.6 Billion, While China is Forecast to Grow at 8.8% CAGR

Notably, the EU's permit for lactic acid decontaminant in bovine carcasses opens opportunities for US meat exporters. There's a growing imperative to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, driving demand for PLA resins due to their green image and strong chemical properties. Despite this, the PLA market remains relatively consolidated, while bioplastics producers face criticism for potentially undermining food production.



The Lactic Acid market in the U.S. is estimated at US$1.6 Billion in the year 2023. China, the world's second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$1.9 Billion by the year 2030 trailing a CAGR of 8.8% over the analysis period 2023 to 2030. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 1.6% and 5.6% respectively over the 2023-2030 period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 2.7% CAGR. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$1.2 Billion by the year 2030.

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 264 Forecast Period 2023 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $6 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $8.6 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 5.2% Regions Covered Global





MARKET OVERVIEW

Influencer Market Insights

World Market Trajectories

Global Economic Update

A Primer

Recent Market Activity

Lactic Acid Market Poised for Phenomenal Growth

PLA Manufacture: The Largest End-use Market of Lactic Acid

Food & Beverage: A Major Consumer of Lactic Acid

Competitive Landscape

Lactic Acid - Global Key Competitors Percentage Market Share in 2024 (E)

Competitive Market Presence - Strong/Active/Niche/Trivial for Players Worldwide in 2024 (E)

MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS

EU Permit for Lactic Acid Decontaminant in Bovine Carcasses Opens Doors for US Meat Exporters

Need to Reduce Dependence on Fossil Fuel: A Major Influencing Factor

Green Image and Strong Chemical Properties Fuels Demand for PLA Resins

PLA Market Remains Relatively Consolidated

Bioplastics Producers Come Under Fire for Undermining Food Production

Manufacturers Strive to Overcome Shortcomings of PLA Resins

Trend towards Green Packaging: Opportunities for Lactic Acid Market

Technological Developments Create Opportunities for Market Growth

Efforts Underway to Develop End-Life Solution for PLA Products

Increasing Demand for Greener Cosmetic Chemicals Favors Lactic Acid Market

Lactic Acid Derivatives Gain Traction in Booming Green Solvents Market

Fermentation Remains Primary Production Process

New Raw Materials Being Explored for Production of Lactic Acid

FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS(Total 23 Featured)

BASF SE

Corbion

CSM N.V.

Futerro

Galactic

Henan Jindan Lactic Acid Technology Co., Ltd.

Meredian Holdings Group, Inc.

Musashino Chemical (China) Co., Ltd.

NatureWorks LLC

Synbra Technology BV

Teijin Ltd

The Dow Chemical Company

Thyssenkrupp AG

Vaishnavi Bio-Tech Ltd.

WEI MON Industry Co., Ltd.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/caixsm

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.

Attachment
Denver, Colorado, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



Prime Plumbing & Heating, a leading family-owned and operated company, is proud to announce its emergence as one of the top heating and plumbing service providers in Denver, Colorado, and surrounding areas. With a steadfast commitment to professionalism, reliability, and customer satisfaction, Prime Plumbing & Heating has swiftly garnered recognition for its exceptional services, setting a new standard in the industry.

Prime Plumbing & Heating specializes in a comprehensive range of plumbing and HVAC services tailored to meet the diverse needs of homeowners and businesses alike. Whether it's a routine plumbing and heating maintenance or an emergency plumbing or HVAC situation, the company's team of skilled technicians is equipped to deliver prompt and effective solutions, 24/7.

With a focus on excellence, Prime Plumbing & Heating offers a wide array of plumbing services, including drain cleaning, sewer line repairs or replacements, water heater repairs or replacements, and other emergency-related plumbing services. Recognizing the critical importance of a functional plumbing system, the company ensures that clients receive timely assistance, resolving issues with efficiency and precision.

Moreover, Prime Plumbing & Heating extends its expertise to HVAC services, addressing the cooling and heating needs of residential and commercial properties. From AC repair or installation to furnace repair or installation, boiler repairs or replacements, the company's certified technicians possess the knowledge and experience to optimize indoor comfort and energy efficiency year round.

"At Prime Plumbing & Heating, our mission is to provide our clients with unparalleled service and peace of mind," said Nathan Padilla, Owner, and Founder of Prime Plumbing & Heating. "We understand the importance of a well-maintained plumbing and HVAC system, and we are committed to delivering prompt, reliable solutions that exceed expectations."

What sets Prime Plumbing & Heating apart is its unwavering dedication to customer satisfaction. The company prioritizes responsiveness and transparency, ensuring clear communication throughout every step of the service process. By prioritizing the needs of clients and delivering exceptional results consistently, Prime Plumbing & Heating has earned a reputation as the premier choice for plumbing and HVAC services in Denver, CO. Check out customer reviews on their Google business listing here: https://www.google.com/maps?cid=15194597577883425120

Clients have lauded Prime Plumbing & Heating for its professionalism, reliability, and attention to detail. With a commitment to same-day professional service, the company remains steadfast in its mission to provide unparalleled support to the local community. When homeowners or business are in need of plumbing and heating services, they can rely on the expert team at Prime Plumbing & Heating to take care of the problem.

For homeowners and businesses seeking reliable plumbing and heating / HVAC services in Denver, CO, Prime Plumbing & Heating stands ready to assist. Contact Prime Plumbing & Heating today to experience top-tier service and expertise. Visit their website at https://www.primeplumbingheating.com or give them a call for service or free estimate on installation at (720) 542-8153.

About Prime Plumbing & Heating:

Prime Plumbing & Heating is a family-owned and operated company specializing in professional plumbing and HVAC services in Denver, Colorado, and surrounding areas. With a commitment to excellence, reliability, and customer satisfaction, Prime Plumbing & Heating has emerged as a premier choice for residential and commercial clients seeking prompt and effective solutions to their plumbing and heating / HVAC needs.

Prime Plumbing & Heating

7000 Broadway Suite 205

Denver, CO 80221





(720) 542-8153

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For more information about Prime Plumbing and Heating Denver, contact the company here:



Prime Plumbing and Heating Denver

Nathan Padilla

(720) 542-8153

info@primeplumbingheating.com

7000 Broadway Suite 205

Denver, CO 80221
Washington, DC, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the country celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week, UNCF (United Negro College Fund) released a groundbreaking study that provides invaluable insights into the perspectives of African American parents on key issues in education and highlights the importance of Black teachers to Black families.

The report, titled "Hear Us, Believe Us: Centering African American Parent Voices in

K-12 Education offers a comprehensive analysis of the experiences, challenges and aspirations of African American parents in relation to race, college readiness, parental engagement and more.

Among the findings, more than 90% of Black parents surveyed said they want more opportunities to be involved in their childrens education and more input into education laws. UNCF conducted focus groups and implemented a national survey of 500 low- to moderate-income Black parents. Additionally, a subset of 1,200 Black parents were surveyed in Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Houston, Memphis and New Orleans to assess some city-level trends.

During this Teacher Appreciation Week, UNCF seeks to underscore the significant, positive influence that Black teachers have on students, families and communities.

Across several indicators in the study, Black parents reported better experiences when their child attended schools with more Black teachers. While the research abounds on the positive effects of Black teachers on students, this report emphasizes the parent voice in this important scholarship. This report substantiates what we have known for decades: Black teachers matter, said Dr. Anderson.

The report, based on extensive national quantitative research and focus groups highlights the crucial role that African American parents play in their children's education. It underscores the importance of understanding their unique perspectives and incorporating them into education policies and practices.

Key findings from the report include:

Black parents report higher college aspirations for their child and lower instances of school suspensions when there are more Black teachers at their childs school.

For Black parents and caregivers whose children attended schools where many or most teachers were Black, the probability that their child received exclusionary discipline is almost three times lower than when their child attended schools with fewer Black teachers.

Black parents also felt more respected at school when their child attended schools with more Black teachers.

Black parents greatly value higher education and are deeply engaged and invested in their childs education.

84% of Black parents believe it is important for their child to attend and graduate college and over 80% check their childs homework and speak to their childs teacher on a regular basis.

93% of Black parents say they want more opportunities to be involved in their childs education and input into education laws.

3. Black parents want to see more Black leaders in education.

70% of African American parents and caregivers believe the involvement of African American leaders and organizations will make school improvement efforts more effective.

4. School safety is a key concern for Black parents and caregivers.



80 % of African American parents and caregivers rank safety as the most important factor for school selection.

What we have known at UNCF for decades is that Black parents are deeply engaged in the educational lives of their children, yet far too often they are denigrated and deemed disengaged about their childrens learning environment, said Dr. Meredith Anderson, director, K-12 Research, UNCF, and author of the report. Black parents are concerned about opportunity gaps and want better resources for their children. They want to see more Black education leaders and organizations in education; and they want more opportunities to be involved and have their voices heard.

The report concludes with a series of recommendations aimed at addressing the concerns and aspirations of African American parents. These recommendations include a call to action:

Recommendations for the K-12 Sector

- Invest unapologetically in Black teachers.

- Create more intentional opportunities for parent involvement.

- Create a learning environment that reflects African American history and culture.

- Partner with local organizations to provide resources and services for families.

- Value and prioritize support staff in school budgets.

- Prioritize student safety.

Recommendations for Higher Education

- Make intentional efforts to expose students and families to college opportunities.

- Create intentional pipelines with districts and charter management organizations for increasing educator diversity.

- Ensure teacher training programs include anti-racist, culturally relevant teaching practices.

- Partner with K-12 schools and districts to provide financial and literacy to students and families.

UNCF is committed to utilizing the findings of this report to drive positive change in education. Through its programs, scholarships and advocacy efforts, UNCF will continue to work towards a future where every African American student has access to a quality education that prepares them for success.

Click here to access the full report.

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About UNCF

UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is the nations largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students education and development through scholarships and other programs, supports and strengthens its 37 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education and college readiness. While totaling only 3% of all colleges and universities, UNCF institutions and other historically Black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding 15% of bachelors degrees, 5% of masters degrees, 10% of doctoral degrees and 19% of all STEM degrees earned by Black students in higher education. UNCF administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 50,000 students at over 1,100 colleges and universities across the country. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized trademark, A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Learn more at UNCF.org or for continuous updates and news, follow UNCF on X (formerly Twitter) at @UNCF.

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Charleston, SC, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vivian Avraamidou Ploumbis announces her most recent release: a collection of 73 short stories directly inspired by the tragedy and destruction in her hometown in Famagusta, Cyprus.

As a child, Avraamidou Ploumbis witnessed the devastation in Varosha, once considered a Forbidden Zone because of the Turkish armys involvement. As of 2020, a small portion has openedbut the area remains largely captured and destroyed.

My short stories are inspired by photographs that either depict details of the debris that one sees in the ghost town or awaken memories of my early years. I want [readers] to see where nationalism can bring us, said the author.

In her short stories, Avraamidou Ploumbis reveals the stark realities of conflict; especially how it affects generations of people in the most devastating ways. Haunting Voices will appeal to any sensitive, democratic, and just person who believes in brotherhood between nations. They will find resonating values and deep meaning in the stories Avraamidou Ploumbis writes.

Haunting Voices: The Mediterranean Jewel Speaks is available for purchase online at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. For more information about the author, please visit any of her social media platforms

Facebook: Vivian Avraamidou Ploumbis

Instagram: Vivian Avraamidou Ploumbis

About the Author:

Award-winning author Vivian Avraamidou Ploumbis remains a passionate fighter for the rights of the weak, individual freedom, and freedom of speech. Born in 1958, the center of Varosha was her neighborhood. Her family emigrated to Athens after the Turkish invasion in 1974. Following college, Avraamidou Ploumbis began work in a private company  which she maintains with her husband today. Literature has always been her great love. Her first novel received the National Prize award by the Republic of Cyprus. Two others were awarded by the Panhellenic Association of Writers. Most of her works were shortlisted for Cyprus National Prize.

Media Contact: Vivian Avraamidou Ploumbis, vivavrp@gmail.com

Available for interviews: Author, Vivian Avraamidou Ploumbis

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Ramsey, NJ, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta) today announced the Executive Leadership Team that will set the direction for the companys new fiscal year 2024 (FY24) and beyond.

Michael Mathe has been named Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and will serve on the U.S. Board of Directors. With 30 years of industry experience, he has a proven track record in global business performance, acquisitions, expansion and accelerating sustainable revenue growth utilizing sound turnaround leadership. Mathe started his career with Konica Minolta in 2012 as Senior Vice President, International Sales and was promoted to President in March of 2021. Most recently, he served as Chief of Operations and Sales Enablement. His new responsibilities will include oversight of Konica Minoltas U.S. and Canadian operations.

William Troxil will take on a new, expanded role as Advisor to the CEO. His career at Konica Minolta started with fourteen years in leadership positions as the Corporate Vice President of National Accounts and GSA for the U.S. Troxil went on to become President and Officer of Danka Office Imaging, and upon its acquisition by Konica Minolta, held the position of President and COO of the Direct Channel. Most recently, he has been responsible for leading the companys Industrial Print Channel, which encompasses Konica Minoltas high-speed inkjet, labeling and embellishment businesses, adding value beyond traditional print.

Konica Minolta recently welcomed Frank Mallozzi as President, IPP to oversee the companys industry leading high-speed inkjet, labeling and embellishment businesses. An experienced executive in the imaging technology industry, Mallozzi has a diverse background with proven expertise in all aspects of product development, global sales and revenue operations and marketing strategies. He recently founded the Center Reach Group, a consultancy focused on helping companies design and develop go-to-market growth strategies, execute on strategic plans and optimize marketing efficiencies for direct sales and channel optimization while increasing sales productivity.

Mark Simons has moved into a new role as President, U.S. Sales for Konica Minoltas Direct Channel. He will now lead the direct sales organization for the U.S. market with a focus on delivering a multitude of managed services to clients. Mark joined Konica Minolta in 2018 as Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, bringing with him more than 40 years of experience within the technology industry. He has been instrumental in forging alliances with some of the companys largest technology partners. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President, North America, Service.

I couldnt be more excited to announce this elite leadership team that will chart our path forward for the new fiscal year and lead us into a bright future, said Sam Errigo, President and CEO, Konica Minolta. I have a great sense of optimism as we continue to transform key elements of our business operations that will pay long-term dividends for our customers and employees.

Konica Minolta continues to invest in strategic growth areas that will deliver a competitive advantage and align with the future needs of its customers. As the company begins its FY24, the following executives have been placed at its helm to drive success.

Toshi Takagi, Executive Vice President, Strategic Business Planning and Development

Michael Mathe, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer

Holly DeSantis, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Cathleen C. Lilli, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer

Steve Herbes, Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Vicky Ringwood, Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer

Mark Simons, President, U.S. Direct Sales

Laura Blackmer, President, Dealer Sales

Todd Croteau, President, Information Technology Services (ITS)

Frank Mallozzi, President, Industrial and Production Print

William Troxil, Advisor to the CEO

Leeann Hines, Senior Vice President, Sales Administration

Steve Rhorer, Vice President, Dealer and Direct Service

Visit Konica Minolta online for more information on its leadership team.

About Konica Minolta

Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.'s (Konica Minolta) journey started 150 years ago, with a vision to see and do things differently. The company innovates for the good of society and the world. The same purpose that kept it moving then, keeps it moving now. Konica Minolta aims to partner with clients to Give Shape to Ideas by supporting their digital transformation through its expansive Intelligent Connected Workplace portfolio. Its business technology offerings include IT Services, intelligent information management, video security solutions and managed print services, as well as office technology and industrial and commercial print solutions. Through its ongoing work, the company is fortunate to be continuously recognized for its products and services. This includes, but is not limited to being included on CRNs MSP 500 list numerous times; named a finalist in the IT Software Category by The World Technology Awards; recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys and presented with Keypoint Intelligences BLI 2021 A3 Line of The Year and BLI 2021-2023 Most Color Consistent A3 Brand Awards for its bizhub i-Series. For more information, please visit Konica Minolta online and follow its accounts on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter.

# # # # #

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MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Canada) Ltd. (Konica Minolta) today announced the Executive Leadership Team that will set the direction for the companys new fiscal year 2024 (FY24) and beyond.



Michael Mathe has been named Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and will serve on the U.S. Board of Directors. With 30 years of industry experience, he has a proven track record in global business performance, acquisitions, expansion and accelerating sustainable revenue growth utilizing sound turnaround leadership. Mathe started his career with Konica Minolta in 2012 as Senior Vice President, International Sales and was promoted to President in March of 2021. Most recently, he served as Chief of Operations and Sales Enablement. His new responsibilities will include oversight of Konica Minoltas U.S. and Canadian operations.

William Troxil will take on a new, expanded role as Advisor to the CEO. His career at Konica Minolta started with fourteen years in leadership positions as the Corporate Vice President of National Accounts and GSA for the U.S. Troxil went on to become President and Officer of Danka Office Imaging, and upon its acquisition by Konica Minolta, held the position of President and COO of the Direct Channel. Most recently, he has been responsible for leading the companys Industrial Print Channel, which encompasses Konica Minoltas high-speed inkjet, labeling and embellishment businesses, adding value beyond traditional print.

Konica Minolta recently welcomed Frank Mallozzi as President, IPP to oversee the companys industry leading high-speed inkjet, labeling and embellishment businesses. An experienced executive in the imaging technology industry, Mallozzi has a diverse background with proven expertise in all aspects of product development, global sales and revenue operations and marketing strategies. He recently founded the Center Reach Group, a consultancy focused on helping companies design and develop go-to-market growth strategies, execute on strategic plans and optimize marketing efficiencies for direct sales and channel optimization while increasing sales productivity.

Mark Simons has moved into a new role as President, U.S. Sales for Konica Minoltas Direct Channel. He will now lead the direct sales organization for the U.S. market with a focus on delivering a multitude of managed services to clients. Mark joined Konica Minolta in 2018 as Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, bringing with him more than 40 years of experience within the technology industry. He has been instrumental in forging alliances with some of the companys largest technology partners. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President, North America, Service.

I couldnt be more excited to announce this elite leadership team that will chart our path forward for the new fiscal year and lead us into a bright future, said Sam Errigo, President and CEO, Konica Minolta. I have a great sense of optimism as we continue to transform key elements of our business operations that will pay long-term dividends for our customers and employees.

Konica Minolta continues to invest in strategic growth areas that will deliver a competitive advantage and align with the future needs of its customers. As the company begins its FY24, the following executives have been placed at its helm to drive success.

Toshi Takagi, Executive Vice President, Strategic Business Planning and Development

Michael Mathe, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer

Holly DeSantis, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Cathleen C. Lilli, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer

Steve Herbes, Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Vicky Ringwood, Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer

Mark Simons, President, U.S. Direct Sales

Laura Blackmer, President, Dealer Sales

Todd Croteau, President, Information Technology Services (ITS)

Frank Mallozzi, President, Industrial and Production Print



William Troxil, Advisor to the CEO

Leeann Hines, Senior Vice President, Sales Administration

Steve Rhorer, Vice President, Dealer and Direct Service



Visit Konica Minolta online for more information on its leadership team.

About Konica Minolta

Konica Minoltas journey started 150 years ago, with a vision to see and do things differently. We innovate for the good of society and the world. The same purpose that kept us moving then, keeps us moving now. Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Canada) Ltd. is reshaping and revolutionizing the workplace to achieve true connectivity through the Intelligent Connected Workplace portfolio. Its business technology offerings include IT Services, intelligent information management, video security solutions and managed print services, as well as office technology and industrial and commercial print solutions. Through its ongoing work, the company is fortunate to be continuously recognized for its products and services. This includes, but is not limited to being included on CRNs MSP 500 list numerous times; named a finalist in the IT Software Category by The World Technology Awards; recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys and presented with Keypoint Intelligences BLI 2021 A3 Line of The Year and BLI 2021-2023 Most Colour Consistent A3 Brand Awards for its bizhub i-Series .

For more information, please visit Konica Minolta online and follow its accounts on LinkedIn , YouTube , Facebook , Twitter (@KonicaMinoltaCA) , and Instagram !

Konica Minolta Contact

Konica Minolta Media Relations  Canada

Marketing Department, Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Canada) Ltd.

info@bt.konicaminolta.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6d8ea10d-2227-4c37-8b0f-56ce9c6203cc
Miami, Florida, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- What: Many people may not be aware of the various challenges military personnel face when they transition from active service to civilian life. These challenges include reconnecting with family members, entering the workforce, and relating to those who may not understand the experiences veterans have endured during their active duty. Additionally, adjusting to a different pace of life and work can significantly take a toll. In this Town Hall, we will speak with military leaders and advocates to explore how we can support these heroes in transitioning back home as smoothly and supportively as possible.

When: Wednesday, May 15th at 7:00 PM EST

Where: LIVE on Health Channel, AllhealthGos Facebook and YouTube pages, and streamed at AllHealthTV.com/TownHall .

Who: Moderated by Health Channel host Olga Villaverde and Dr. Michael Zinner, CEO and Executive Medical Director at Miami Cancer Institute, the outstanding panel of experts includes:

Montel Williams  Television Personality and Advocate for Veterans Loree Sutton, MD  Psychiatrist Richard Peate, PSY. D  West Palm Beach VA Health System Myrian Glemaud, PSY.D  West Palm Beach VA Health System Bianca Oberhelman  Spouse of Retired Navy SEAL



Special thanks to the Eunice Joyce Gardiner Foundation for their generous philanthropy.

For media coverage and simulcasting on your digital platforms, please contact: amoncada@southfloridapbs.org

About South Florida PBS:

SOUTH FLORIDA PBS is Floridas largest public media company, including Public Broadcasting stations WXEL-TV, serving the Palm Beaches and the Treasure Coast and WPBT2, serving Miami-Dade and Broward counties, and the Health Channel, the only 24/7 channel dedicated to health in the nation. SOUTH FLORIDA PBS connects organizations and institutions across our region and preserves South Florida's history. Leading the way in this global society, SOUTH FLORIDA PBS serves diverse communities from Key West to the Sebastian Inlet and from the Atlantic Ocean west to Lake Okeechobee. SOUTH FLORIDA PBS is committed to creating and presenting unique arts, education, and cultural heritage programming, and tells different local stories across a variety of digital media platforms. Some of our award-winning productions include James Pattersons Kid Stew, Changing Seas, Art Loft, and Your South Florida. For more information, visit https://www.southfloridapbs.org

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Targeted shooting leaves man seriously injured in Australia's Melbourne

Xinhua) 14:48, May 07, 2024

SYDNEY, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Australian police have commenced investigations over a non-fatal shooting after a man was seriously injured in Melbourne's north on Tuesday.

At about 12.10 p.m. local time, Victoria Police received calls of an injured man on the M80 Ring Road near Pascoe Vale Road in Jacana.

While the responding officers didn't locate the injured man at the scene, authorities were later notified that a man had presented himself to a hospital in Parkville, sustaining gunshot wounds.

Victoria Police confirmed in a statement that the 50-year-old male victim is now being treated for life-threatening injuries.

"Investigations into the incident remain ongoing but at this time it is believed to be a targeted attack," the police said, also appealing for information from the public.

With around 2,187 residents living in the suburb, Jacana is located approximately 15 km north of Melbourne's central business district.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
Windhoek, Namibia (PANA) - Namibia has become the first country in Africa and the first high-burden country in the world to reach a key milestone in eliminating mother-to-child transmission of both HIV and hepatitis B, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Monday
NEW YORK, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Levi & Korsinsky notifies investors that it has commenced an investigation of Canada Goose Holdings Inc. ("Canada Goose") (NYSE: GOOS) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws.



On March 26, 2024, Canada Goose issued a press release announcing the "reduction of approximately 17% of corporate roles" as part of a transformation program, including, among other things, the departure of the Company's Chief Operating Officer. On this news, Canada Goose's stock price fell $0.81 per share, or 6.79%, to close at $11.12 per share on March 26, 2024.. To obtain additional information, go to:

https://zlk.com/pslra-1/canada-goose-lawsuit-submission-form?prid=78323&wire=3

or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500.

WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States.

CONTACT:

Levi & Korsinsky, LLP

Joseph E. Levi, Esq.

Ed Korsinsky, Esq.

33 Whitehall Street, 17th Floor

New York, NY 10004

jlevi@levikorsinsky.com

Tel: (212) 363-7500

Fax: (212) 363-7171

www.zlk.com
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wake Radiology UNC REX Healthcare, the oldest and largest outpatient imaging provider in the Triangle, contributed $11,100 to breast cancer research as a Gold Sponsor of the 2024 Komen Triangle Race for the Cure, held Saturday, May 4, at Boxyard RTP in Research Triangle Park.

This year, more than 50 members of the Wake Radiology team participated in the 5K race, two of whom are breast cancer survivors. Since the event fell on Star Wars Day, the team cleverly leveraged the popular pun, May the fourth be with you, and named itself the Mammdalorians. The Mammdalorians were the third largest team registered for the event.

We love how the community came together to support life-saving breast cancer research and raise critical funds for the care of patients fighting this deadly disease, said Dr. Brent Townsend, president and managing partner, Wake Radiology. Were proud that since we started participating more than 10 years ago, weve raised more than $135,000 and signed up countless patients for our 3D mammograms. 3D mammography offers greater visualization of breast tissue than traditional 2D screening exams, improving the accuracy of early detection when cancer is most treatable.

As an official sponsor of the race, Wake Radiology had a tent where team members encouraged attendees to schedule their annual mammograms. One way to do so was through Wake Radiologys text to schedule technology, a convenient option always available to patients as they schedule their mammograms.

As an added incentive to schedule an exam, Wake Radiology offered race participants and spectators a chance to enter to win four on-site giveaways. The Trendy Basket featured a lululemon Everywhere Belt Bag and $100 gift card, the Sporty Basket included a pink pickleball set and $100 Dicks Sporting Goods gift card, and for the food lover, a basket with Angus Barn steak sauce, seasoning and a $100 gift card. Breast cancer survivors were exclusively invited to enter to win the Spa Basket, which included a $200 Umstead Spa gift card. The Umstead Hotel and Spa generously donated body polish, a candle and bubble bath to accompany the gift card.

This year in North Carolina, an estimated 11,190 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 1,450 will die of the disease. For more information, or to make a gift in support of breast cancer research and patients, please visit https://www.komen.org/how-to-help/attend-events/race-for-the-cure/ .

About Wake Radiology UNC REX Healthcare

Founded in 1953, Wake Radiology UNC REX Healthcare is proud to be the oldest and largest outpatient imaging provider in the Triangle. Since then, Wake Radiology UNC REX has expanded to include more than 50 subspecialty radiologists at more than a dozen locations in Wake County and throughout the greater Triangle. 3D mammography is offered at multiple locations throughout the communities they serve. Wake Radiology UNC REX has been first to introduce numerous methods of imaging, including AI technology, and subspecialized radiology to Wake County. To learn more, visit www.WakeRad.com .

About Susan G. Komen

In 1980, Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became the Susan G. Komen organization and the beginning of a global movement. What was started with $200 and a shoebox full of potential donor names has now grown into the worlds largest nonprofit source of funding for the fight against breast cancer. To date, weve invested nearly $3.6 billion in groundbreaking research, community health outreach, advocacy and programs in more than 60 countries. Our efforts helped reduce deaths from breast cancer by 43% since 1989 and we wont stop until our promise is fulfilled.

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NEW YORK, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verita (Verita CSG, Inc.), a Managing General Underwriting (MGU) company, today announced the introduction of a new Workers Compensation offering for clients. This new WC solution complements Veritas comprehensive casualty offering which already includes General Liability, Auto, and Umbrella/Excess Liability coverages.



Verita is reshaping the landscape by bringing a robust, technical approach to underwriting, risk advisory services, and claims management. For mid-sized and larger companies throughout the U.S., Veritas technical expertise brings retail brokers and independent agents a new Workers Compensation solution, along with products from Veritas suite of casualty solutions.

The expansive casualty coverage solutions now available to clients are structured and targeted to serve particular industries including Real Estate, Hospitality, Financial Institutions, and Professional Services companies. The new WC solution from Verita completes the comprehensive casualty offering for clients, aligning the deep technical expertise and industry-specific knowledge for the underwriting process to deliver optimal casualty risk transfer options to clients.

Neal Enriquez, Chief Underwriting Officer, Verita, commented: The Verita team is excited to round out our casualty offering with the launch of our new Workers Compensation product. The addition of a Workers Compensation product to Veritas suite of casualty solutions allows us to provide a holistic casualty solution to our broker partners and insureds.

Edward Chiang, CEO, Verita, added: The launch of our new Workers Compensation capabilities represents a significant milestone for us. We are now providing a full suite of Casualty insurance solutions to our insureds and broker partners. I am also incredibly pleased with the new partnerships we have developed, setting the foundation for long-term success. Verita is poised to continue developing new products, along with strengthening its strategic partnerships across the platform.

To learn more, please visit: www.veritainc.com

About Verita

Verita CSG, Inc. (d/b/a Verita CSG Insurance Services, Inc. in the States of California and New York) (Verita) is a general agent with its principal place of business in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (CA license #: 0660690). Verita underwrites insurance business on behalf of certain non-affiliated insurance companies subject to pre-approved underwriting guidelines. Verita is licensed as a property casualty insurance agency in all states in which products are offered. Availability and qualification for coverage, terms, rates and discounts may vary by jurisdiction. Policy obligations are the sole responsibility of the issuing insurance carrier. Coverage under any insurance policy is subject to the terms and conditions of that policy and is ultimately the decision of the buyer. Verita receives commission and/or additional compensation from its insurance company partners in connection with its sale of insurance to you. WTW is an investor in Verita.

Media Contacts

Douglas Menelly

Douglas.Menelly@wtwco.com +1 (516) 972 0380

Arnelle Sullivan

Arnelle.Sullivan@wtwco.com +1 (718) 208-0474
RENO, Nev., May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GlobalTech Corporation (OTC: GLTK), is pleased to announce the trading of its common stock on the Over-the-Counter Market



It is a major milestone for GlobalTech Corporation (GlobalTech) after its registration statement became effective and FINRA assigned GLTK as its symbol. The trading of its common stock will enable GlobalTech to embark on a path of business growth.

GlobalTech is a fully SEC reporting company. Its annual financial statements for last two years were audited by auditors registered with PCAOB. All its interim accounts are prepared in accordance with US GAAP. FINRA approved GlobalTech for trading after the GlobalTech reached a No Comment position with the SEC. Links to all GlobalTech SEC filings are available on GlobalTech website and interested entities can also sign-up for alerts on the website (www.globaltechcorporation.com).

About GlobalTech Corporation

GlobalTech is a publicly traded company with its office in Reno, Nevada and with operations in the technology sector. It plans to grow its business operations through investments in telecom, media and technology sectors. GlobalTech is holding company of WorldCall Telecom Limited (Pakistan Stock Exchange: WTL).

About Worldcall Telecom Limited (www.worldcall.net.pk)

Worldcall Telecom Limited (PSX:WTL) is a public listed telecom and media operator in Pakistan. Worldcall has substantial deployments in Long Distance and International (LDI), broadband, metro fiber optic networks and media playout facilities for its cable operations. Worldcall services over 750,000 subscribers and has deployed approximately 1,100 miles of metro fiber in 20 cities across Pakistan to provide its customers with internet and television service.

info@globaltechcorporation.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the GlobalTech Corporations beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited to, (i) growth of the telecommunications market and broadband market, (ii) capital and credit market volatility, (iii) local and global economic conditions, (iv) our anticipated growth strategies, (v) telecommunications authority and other governmental approvals and regulations, and (vi) our future business development, results of operations and financial condition. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as may, will, expect, anticipate, target, aim, estimate, intend, plan, believe, potential, continue, is/are likely to or other similar expressions. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and GlobalTech Corporation undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.
Suffern, NY, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Suffern, NY - May 7, 2024 - Castle Lanterra (CL) , a leading New York-based national real estate investment firm, has awarded four new scholarships to residents at its properties across the country that are enrolling in undergraduate or graduate programs. 2024 marks the eighth consecutive year of the scholarship program, which assists current residents and their dependent children enrolling to an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school in the upcoming school year.

Through its scholarship program, CL has awarded 32 residents with scholarships totaling $68,000. Awards are granted without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, or national origin.

We are thrilled to once again award these much-needed scholarships to our residents as part of our ongoing effort to create tangible quality of life initiatives for our communities, said Elie Rieder, CEO and Founder of CL. We are proud of our most recent recipients and wish them the best as they take the next steps in their education.

The recipients included Brien Maney (Hofstra University) from Metro 303 in Hempstead, NY; Tamika McReynolds (Fairleigh Dickinson University) from Harbor Pointe in Bayonne, NJ; and Victoria Edison (University of Delaware) and Carolyn Klepper (University of Texas at Austin) from The Residences at Triangle in Austin, TX.

About Castle Lanterra

Formed in 2009 by Elie Rieder, Castle Lanterra (CL) is a privately held real estate investment company focused on repositioning multifamily communities, acquiring quality, new-construction properties and pursuing emerging investment opportunities in strategic growth markets throughout the United States. Through its CL Credit Opportunities platform, headed by industry veteran James Glasgow, the firm is focusing on the origination and acquisition of mezzanine and preferred equity. Mr. Rieder has bought and sold tens of thousands of residential units throughout the United States and is also responsible for managing his family office, which is diversified across asset classes. With an emphasis on intrinsic value and downside protection and a focus on achieving stable cash flows by implementing physical and operational enhancements, CL aims to maximize NOI and provide attractive risk-adjusted returns for its investment partners. Since inception, CL has completed over $3 billion of transaction volume across 12,000 multifamily units and over 890,000 square feet of commercial space.

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OAKVILLE, Ontario, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MADD Canada commends the New Brunswick Government for taking steps to enhance road safety and combat impaired driving by introducing legislation to strengthen its administrative penalties and implement an Immediate Roadside Suspension (IRS) program.



MADD Canada National President, Tanya Hansen Pratt, lost her mother Beryl in 1999. MADD Canada applauds the Government for making these changes. British Columbia pioneered IRS over a decade ago and they saw significant reductions in deaths and injuries caused by impaired drivers.

IRS programs allow police to process some impaired drivers through an administrative regime as opposed to the criminal process. An effective IRS program provides cost savings and a reduction in the amount of time police spend doing paperwork as opposed to being back on the street proactively enforcing road safety laws and responding to other calls.

MADD Canada CEO, Steve Sullivan, joined Minister Kris Austin, and police leaders for the announcement. This legislation will help alleviate court backlogs and provide savings in police and prosecution costs, most importantly, can reduce impairment-related crash deaths and injuries. IRS programs provide immediate sanctions that hold impaired drivers accountable, including license suspensions, vehicle impoundments, remedial programs and ignition interlocks.

Hansen Pratt said, Despite the progress that has been made, impaired driving is still one of the leading causes of criminal death in Canada. Hundreds of Canadians are killed every year and thousands more are injured. MADD Canada believes IRP is an effective tool to combat impaired driving and reduce the tragedies on our roads. We also encourage the public to plan ahead for a safe ride home if they know they will be consuming alcohol and/or drugs and call 911 if they suspect someone is driving impaired.

About MADD Canada

MADD Canada is a national, charitable organization that is committed to stopping impaired driving and supporting the victims of this violent crime. With volunteer-driven groups in more than 100 communities across Canada, MADD Canada aims to offer support services to victims, heighten awareness of the dangers of impaired driving, and save lives and prevent injuries on our roads. To learn more, visit www.madd.ca.

For more information, contact:

Eric Dumschat, MADD Canada Legal Director, 1-800-665-6233 ext. 229, EDumschat@madd.ca

Steve Sullivan, MADD Canada Chief Executive Officer, 1-800-665-6233 ext. 224, ssullivan@madd.ca
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Sonny Rubin, a distinguished Medical Director and Spine and Orthopedic Interventionalist, is proud to announce the establishment of the Dr. Sonny Rubin Scholarship for Excellence in Medicine. This prestigious scholarship, aimed at supporting the next generation of medical professionals, is now open for applications from aspiring undergraduate students nationwide.



The Dr. Sonny Rubin Scholarship for Excellence in Medicine stands as a beacon of recognition and support for those who exhibit remarkable potential within the realm of medicine. It is meticulously designed to identify and assist students who display exceptional dedication and promise in their pursuit of excellence in this esteemed field. With a generous one-time award of $1,000, this scholarship endeavors to lighten the financial load that often accompanies the journey towards a career in medicine. By providing this financial support, the scholarship aims to afford recipients the opportunity to channel their energies into their education and professional growth, nurturing the development of the next generation of healthcare leaders.

In recognizing the financial challenges that aspiring medical professionals often face, the Dr. Sonny Rubin Scholarship for Excellence in Medicine endeavors to serve as a catalyst for transformative change. By alleviating the financial burdens associated with pursuing higher education in medicine, this scholarship enables recipients to fully immerse themselves in their academic pursuits and professional aspirations. With a firm belief in the power of education and mentorship, Dr. Sonny Rubin aims to empower deserving individuals to realize their potential and contribute meaningfully to the advancement of healthcare, shaping a brighter future for the field and the communities it serves.

Applicants for the scholarship must meet stringent criteria set by Dr. Sonny Rubin, including current enrollment in a medical program or a strong commitment to pursuing a career in medicine. Additionally, applicants must articulate a compelling vision for the future of healthcare and demonstrate a clear passion for achieving excellence in the field. The submission requirements include a 500-800 word essay detailing the applicant's personal journey in medicine and their aspirations for making a positive impact as a future doctor.

The deadline for scholarship applications is October 15, 2024, with the winner set to be announced on November 15, 2024. To apply, interested students are required to submit their essay, along with their full name, contact information, and the name of their current educational institution, to apply@drsonnyrubinscholarship.com.

Dr. Sonny Rubin's dedication to healthcare excellence is reflected not only in his distinguished career but also in his commitment to mentorship and education. As the Founder of the Dr. Sonny Rubin Scholarship for Excellence in Medicine, Dr. Rubin aims to empower aspiring medical professionals to achieve their full potential and make meaningful contributions to the field of medicine.

For more information about the scholarship and Dr. Sonny Rubin's impactful career, please visit https://drsonnyrubinscholarship.com/.

[About]

Dr. Sonny Rubin is a highly respected Medical Director and Spine and Orthopedic Interventionalist with offices in Newport Beach, CA, and Las Vegas, NV. A graduate of Saint Georges University School of Medicine, Dr. Rubin has dedicated his career to advancing pain management and anesthesiology. His numerous professional affiliations include the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, International Spine Intervention Society, American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Pain Society. Dr. Rubin's passion for education and mentorship has led him to establish the Dr. Sonny Rubin Scholarship for Excellence in Medicine, a testament to his belief in nurturing the next generation of medical professionals.

Dr. Sonny Rubin

Contact:

apply@drsonnyrubinscholarship.com
SCHAUMBURG, Ill., May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vermont children will now be able to possess and utilize sunscreen on school property and at school-sponsored events or activities with the written permission of a parent or guardian. Because of this act, students will no longer need a medical providers note, a prescription or be required to store sunscreen in a specific location to use it. Governor Phil Scott signed into law a version of ASDSAs SUNucate model legislation, making Vermont the 28th state (29th including the District of Columbia) to be SUNucated.

The SUNucate initiative was developed by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association (ASDSA) to address barriers to sunscreen use at schools and school-sponsored events and to promote sun-safe behaviors. The law becomes effective July 1 in Vermont.

I congratulate Vermont on passing this important public health law for their students. Creating sun-safe behaviors early in life, like sunscreen use, is essential to preventing skin cancer, said ASDSA President Seth L. Matarasso, MD. ASDSA looks forward to continuing to collaborate with its partners across the nation to advocate for SUNucate legislation. We hope this model bill is adopted by all states.

The need for SUNucate arose after concerns were raised by ASDSA members (board certified dermatologists) that schools were not allowing sunscreen to be brought to school. Sunscreens are regulated as over-the-counter drugs under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, making them subject to school bans. To find more information on SUNucate visit asds.net/SUNucate .

# # #

About the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association (ASDSA)

With a membership of 6,400+ physicians, ASDSA is a 501(c)(6) association, dedicated to patient safety and advocacy on behalf of dermatologic surgeons and their patients. For more information, visit asds.net/ASDSA.

Follow @ASDSAdvocacy on Facebook , X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Threads !

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Eagan, MA, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As a leader in employment law compliance, GovDocs is excited to announce significant enhancements to its paid leave software solution. These upgrades aim to simplify the tracking, monitoring, and education of paid leave laws for multi-jurisdiction employers.

With paid leave laws increasing in numbers and complexity, having access to accurate information and an efficient solution is paramount for maintaining compliance. GovDocs Paid Leave is a cloud-based software that helps employers track and apply paid leave laws specific to each employer's locations.

Were excited to see the first of many enhancements coming to our paid leave software this year, says GovDocs Founder and CEO, Zach Stabenow, The addition of voting, jury duty, and bereavement requirements further helps our paid leave customers make sense of the ever increasing complexity of leave laws.

GovDocs Paid Leave now includes state-specific requirements for the following:

Voting-Leave Requirements: With election season approaching, navigating voting leave policies is crucial. GovDocs Paid Leave provides comprehensive resources to aid employers in complying with voting leave laws across all states. This empowers organizations to support civic engagement while ensuring operational efficiency, with detailed information on:

Leave Required

Covered Employee

Covered Elections

Required Notice

Limits on Voting Leave

Posting Requirements

Jury Duty-Leave Requirements: Jury duty is both a legal obligation and a civic duty, yet the federal law does not mandate time off. Many states have passed their own laws, and GovDocs Paid Leave assists employers in understanding requirements such as:

Paid or Unpaid

Employee Protections

Who is an Eligible Employee

Leave Requirements

Bereavement-Leave Requirements: At a time of loss, employees need support from their place of work. GovDocs Paid Leave offers resources to navigate the complexities that come into play during the grieving process in the absence of federal regulation. Many states are adopting their own bereavement laws, creating questions related to:

Paid or unpaid bereavement

Eligible reasons for leave

Covered family members

Notice Requirements

GovDocs Paid Leave provides employers with access to complex data through an intuitive and easy-to-use interface. Along with rooftop accuracy technology that pinpoints exact jurisdictional locations, users can quickly locate paid leave information using an interactive map that highlights applicable laws and the number of locations covered in each state. Additionally, paid leave summaries offer a comprehensive overview of laws by type, facilitating quick comparisons. Employers can research paid leave specifics at the individual location level, including current laws and notifications of future updates.

To learn more about GovDocs Paid Leave, visit govdocs.com

About GovDocs

GovDocs simplifies employment law compliance for large employers in the U.S. and Canada. The GovDocs software platform integrates three solutions in one convenient place to help businesses master the employment laws impacting their locations. Whether those businesses manage labor law posters, minimum wage, or paid leave programs, GovDocs products cut through research time, provide proactive insights into the ever changing landscape of employment laws, and reduce the risk of noncompliance. The company is headquartered in Eagan, Minn.

GovDocs Employment Law News is intended for market awareness only, it is not to be used for legal advice or counsel.

Media Contact:

Company Name: GovDocs

Contact Person: Patrick Schaber

Phone: (888) 273-3274

Address: 1305 Corporate Center Dr Suite 400

City: Eagan

State: MN

Postal Code: 55121

Country: United States

Website: http://govdocs.com/


Greenville, S.C., May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Bob Jones University Board of Trustees today announced the election of Dr. Joshua Crockett as the sixth president of the University.

Dr. Sam Dawson, chair of the Board, informed the university community on Tuesday in Founders Memorial Amphitorium.

As we considered the institutional profile which was informed by feedback from our constituents, we concluded that Dr. Crockett was the individual best equipped to lead Bob Jones University at this time. As a graduate with deep ties to the University who has been away for two decades, he has keen insight into our history, provides a fresh perspective for our future and is deeply committed to our mission, said Dawson. His pastoral experience and heart for young adults are evidenced in his thriving church ministry. We trust God will give him wisdom as he leads us into BJUs next century.

Dr. Crockett holds a BA in Rhetoric & Public Address and an MS in Counseling from BJU. He earned an MDiv from BJU Seminary. In 2020, he completed a DMin with an emphasis on expository preaching from Liberty University.

Prior to being elected as BJUs president, he served as senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church and head of Indiana Christian Academy in Anderson, Indiana. In that role, he shepherded the school through the 2008 recession, gained accreditation and oversaw significant growth in both organizations. Since 2015, he has served as senior pastor of Morningside Baptist Church in Greenville where he leads a multigenerational, multiethnic, and multicultural congregation that includes hundreds of BJU students, faculty, and staff.

He previously served as vice president for Indiana Fundamental Baptist Fellowship and as a member of the Board of the Indiana Association of Christian Schools. He serves on the Boards of Open Door Baptist Missions (chair), Majesty Music and Elijahs Harbor, a Christian retreat center.

As he assumes the presidency, Crocketts initial goals are to support faculty and staff, increase enrollment, continue the emphasis on a biblical worldview, and formulate the next strategic plan.

Crockett will succeed Dr. Alan Benson who served as interim CEO since May 17, 2023.

I am grateful to the Board of Trustees for giving me this opportunity to lead Bob Jones University and excited to work with our incredible students, faculty and staff as we move toward our 100th year in 2027, said Crockett. Im committed to BJUs mission and to giving students the best possible spiritual and academic training to prepare them to fulfill Gods calling on their lives.

Crockett is married to the former Karie Therit (03) and they have four children.

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Monrovia, Liberia (PANA) - Social registries, defined as information systems that support intake, registration, and eligibility assessment processes for social protection programmes, are being developed and expanded in sub-Saharan Africa
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In recognition of Mothers Day on May 12th, Dennys Canada is delighted to announce that they have partnered with Womens Health Collective Canada (WHCC) to host a special fundraiser. From May 7th to 12th, in participating stores across Canada, $2 from each Berry Stuffed French Toast Slam order will be donated to help shape a more inclusive future for womens health.







Founded in 2021, Womens Health Collective Canada (WHCC) is a strategic alliance of three of Canadas leading womens health and hospital foundations, the Alberta Womens Health Foundation (AWHF), BC Womens Health Foundation, and Womens College Hospital Foundation. The purpose of the WHCC is to raise awareness for equity in womens health research.



Through intentional collaboration and unified advocacy, WHCC brings resources together to address the legacy of inequity through the following;



Supporting medical research that addresses the unique needs of women

Raising awareness of the gender health gap, dispelling misconceptions about womens health, and highlighting how healthy women create a healthier Canada

Broadening the scope and reach of world-class womens health programs to connect with every woman

Creating higher standards of care for all women

"WHCC is pleased to partner with Denny's for their Mother's Day campaign, which celebrates mothers across the country and supports the work of WHCC to advance women's health research, says Sharlene Rutherford, President & CEO, of Alberta Womens Health Foundation. We are grateful for Dennys commitment to making a difference in the lives of women, their families, and all Canadians as a result."







For over 70 years, Dennys has been a place where everyone is welcome to sit down and connect. The renowned restaurant brand prides itself on working and actively engaging with their guests to make a positive impact through collaboration with meaningful organizations. They believe that local businesses and communities grow together when there is partnership and support.



For the full list of participating locations and more details about the WHCC, please visit https://www.dennys.ca/promotions/mothers-day/.



ABOUT DENNYS CANADA



Dencan Restaurants Inc., headquartered in Vancouver and owned by Northland Properties Corporation, currently operates and franchises 74 Dennys restaurants across Canada. Part of the highly regarded worldwide Dennys organization, Dencan Restaurants Inc. has a well-deserved reputation for high-quality food and guest satisfaction. From fluffy pancakes to crispy bacon, to juicy burgers, to something from the Fit Fare Menu, guests will always find delicious value and variety.



More information can be found at www.dennys.ca or on social @dennyscanada.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cce4f48b-e00d-45e1-a065-8d69c62dbe3a

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9a2e2339-0c01-4453-9e3d-05a2781a9a56
VANCOUVER, BC, and HOUSTON, May 6, 2024 /CNW/ - International Battery Metals Ltd. (the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced non- brokered private placement financing (the "Private Placement"). Pursuant to the Private Placement, the Company issued 18,642,134 units (each a "Unit"), with each Unit being issued at a deemed price of CAD$0.76632, for aggregate proceeds of USD$10,436,000 (approximately CAD$14,285,840).

Each Unit consists of one common share ("Common Share") of the Company, and one Common Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"), each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share for a period of two years from the date of issuance for an exercise price of CAD$0.9579 per Common Share. In connection with the Private Placement, the Company extended the expiry of 6,396,999 previously issued Common Share purchase warrants from April 21, 2025, to May 3, 2026. In addition, the Company has agreed to pay EV Metals VI LLC, a private company controlled by Jacob Warnock, a director of the Company, ("EV Metals"), a structuring fee in connection with the Private Placement, in the amount of USD$321,800 (approximately CAD$440,512), payable through the issuance of 574,840 Common Shares with each Common Share having a deemed issuance price of CAD$0.76632.

The proceeds of the Private Placement will used by the Company to meet current obligations for the deployment of its modular direct lithium extraction plant (the "DLE Plant") in the western United States as previously announced on January 11, 2024, and for general working capital purposes.

The Company further intends to complete additional private placement financings of up to USD$13,564,000 million on similar terms of the Private Placement. The securities issued under the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period of four months from the date of issuance under Canadian Securities laws and will be restricted securities under the United States Securities Act of 1933.

MI 61-101 Disclosure

In connection with the Private Placement, EV Metals acquired 7,924,157 Units for gross proceeds of USD$4,436,000 (approximately CAD$6,072,440), representing approximately 42.51% of the aggregate proceeds raised by the Company in the Private Placement. In addition, the Company will pay to EV Metals the structuring fee. The participation of EV Metals in the Private Placement constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is relying upon exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(a), respectively - Fair Market Value Not More Than 25 Per Cent of Market Capitalization, on the basis that at the time the Private Placement was agreed to, neither the fair market value of the Units to be distributed pursuant to the Private Placement to EV Metals, nor the consideration to be received for those Units, will exceed 25 per cent of the Company's market capitalization. The terms of the Private Placement were negotiated with a special committee of directors of the Company, all of whom are independent for the purposes of MI 61-101. The Board of Directors of the Company has unanimously approved the Private Placement and Structuring Fee (with Jacob Warnock abstaining) and no materially contrary view or abstention was expressed or made by any director in relation to the Private Placement. The Company did not file a material change report in respect of the participation of EV Metals in the Private Placement at least 21 days before closing of the Offering as the participation of EV Metals was not determined at that time.

About the Company

The Company is an advanced technology company focused on the development of environmentally responsible methods of extracting lithium compounds from brine. The Company has developed a patented modular direct lithium extraction ("DLE") plant which allows for rapid deployment to a resource holders production site. The Company is working with resource holders of oilfield brines, brine aquifers, and industrial customers with brine by-products. The Company believes the modular design of its DLE plant provides significant initial costs savings to customers and the proprietary DLE technology lowers operating costs by selectively extracting lithium from the brine while efficiently removing contaminants.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"William Webster"

William Webster, Chair of the Board

Neither Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forwardlooking and cautionary statements

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This release may contain statements within the meaning of safe harbour provisions as defined under securities laws and regulations.

This release contains certain forwardlooking statements with respect to, among other things, the anticipated use of proceeds from the Private Placement and the Company's expectation that it may complete future private placements with the Private Placement investors, on similar terms, for up to an additional USD$13,564,000. By their nature, forwardlooking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forwardlooking statements.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/international-battery-metals-ltd-announces-closing-of-strategic-private-placement-302137407.html

SOURCE International Battery Metals Ltd.
TORONTO, May 6, 2024 - The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting") of Aclara Resources Inc. ("Aclara" or the "Company") (TSX: ARA) was held today in Toronto, Ontario. Each of the matters voted upon at the Meeting is discussed in detail in the Company's management information circular dated April 5, 2024 (the "Circular"), which can be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

The total number of votes cast by shareholders of the Company in person and by proxy at the Meeting was 104,205,909 votes, representing 62.62%. Each of the matters put forward before shareholders for consideration and approval at the Meeting, as described in the Circular, was duly approved by the requisite number of votes. These matters included the election of directors and the appointment of the auditor. The voting results are detailed below:

1. Election of Directors

Name of Nominee

Votes FOR

%

Votes WITHHELD

% Eduardo Hochschild

92,464,826

94.14

5,754,485

5.86

Ramon Barua

92,872,513

94.56

5,346,798

5.44

Paul Adams

94,030,588

95.74

4,188,723

4.26

Eduardo Landin

92,538,800

94.22

5,680,511

5.78

Catharine Farrow

97,933,632

99.71

285,679

0.29

Maria Recart

98,131,039

99.91

88,272

0.09

Sanjay Sarma

97,905,072

99.68

314,239

0.32

Nicolas Hochschild

92,593,016

94.27

5,626,295

5.73

Joao Miranda

95,554,235

97.29

2,665,076

2.71

Jorge Born

92,589,487

94.27

5,629,824

5.73



2. Appointment of Auditor

Name of Auditor

Votes FOR

%

Votes WITHHELD

% EY Servicios Profesionales

de Auditoria y Asesorias SpA

104,188,072

99.98

17,837

0.02

The Company has filed a report of voting results on all resolutions voted on at the Meeting under its profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

About Aclara

Aclara Resources Inc. (TSX: ARA) is a development-stage company that is focused on heavy rare earth mineral resources hosted in Ion-Adsorption Clay deposits. The Company's rare earth mineral resource development projects include the Penco Module in the Bio-Bio Region of Chile and the Carina Module in the State of Goias, Brazil.

Aclara's rare earth extraction process offers several environmentally attractive features. Circular mineral harvesting does not involve blasting, crushing, or milling, and therefore does not generate tailings and eliminates the need for a tailing's storage facility. The extraction process developed by Aclara minimizes water consumption through high levels of water recirculation made possible by the inclusion of a water treatment facility within its patented process design. The ionic clay feedstock is amenable to leaching with a common fertilizer main reagent, ammonium sulfate. Further, harmful levels of radionuclides, typical of hard rock rare earth deposits, are not concentrated within the Aclara's processing flowsheet. In addition to the development of the Penco Module and the Carina Module, the Company will continue to identify and evaluate opportunities to increase future production of heavy rare earths through greenfield exploration programs and the development of additional projects within the Company's concessions in Brazil, Chile, and Peru.

SOURCE Aclara Resources Inc.
TORONTO, May 7, 2024 - Rock Tech Lithium Inc. (TSXV: RCK) (OTCQX: RCKTF) (FWB: RJIB) (WKN: A1XF0V) issues update on outstanding German subsidy application. Subsidy applications will shift to state-level. Rock Tech will not receive funds from federal TCTF-subsidies programme. Instead, negotiations continue to finalize financing programmes with the state of Brandenburg.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) has informed Rock Tech Lithium that it will not grant funding under the 'Resilience and Sustainability of the Battery Cell Manufacturing Ecosystem' (TCTF) program for the planned lithium refinery in Brandenburg. The reason being federal budget constraints. At the same time, the state of Brandenburg has promised its full support and is working hard to examine how the plant in Guben can be financially supported at state level. The applications for further federal funding, e.g. for governmental guarantees, are still open. Rock Tech regrets the federal ministry's decision and is examining all available options going forward. Priority is being given to realising the plant with the support of the state of Brandenburg. The project is unique in Germany in terms of size, project maturity and strategic importance.

Dirk Harbecke, CEO & Chairman, comments: 'The length of the TCTF application process and the associated lack of clarity has led to frustration among many involved parties. We are confident that the continuation of subsidy talks at state level can happen at an accelerated pace so that we can make a final investment decision as quickly as possible. Of course, we feel bound to Brandenburg and especially to the city of Guben and want to build our first lithium converter here. We are a key building block for the developing battery cluster in Brandenburg state. Minister President Woidke, Economics Minister Steinbach and Guben's Mayor Mahro have supported us intensively and in partnership right from the start. We really appreciate that. However, at the same time, the international markets, especially North America and the Gulf States, are highly competitive when it comes to attracting future technologies."

Rock Tech Lithium has achieved considerable project maturity in Guben.

Mercedes Benz AG ('MBAG') is Rock Tech's main customer. The two companies have concluded a binding purchase agreement in 2023 for the supply of 10,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide per year.





The supply of raw materials for the converter is also secured. The company recently announced a binding feedstock supply agreement with C&D Logistics, one of the world's leading lithium traders. Until now, C&D's focus has been on supplying the Chinese market. With this agreement, C&D Logistics will also supply Europe with ESG-compliant spodumene concentrate from Australia, Brazil and Africa. Rock Tech plans to use up to 50% recycled feedstock from 2030 onwards for its Guben plant.





Planning and basic engineering of the refinery have been finalised with upfront investments of over 40 million euros. The final approval for the construction and operation of the converter is imminent and the construction partners have been secured.





The concept for the utilisation of by-products has been developed in cooperation with the partners of ITEL (Lithium Institute of the University of Halle), GP Gunter Papenburg AG, Schwenk Zement GmbH & Co. KG and Knauf Gips KG. The aim is, among other things, to use aluminosilicate from lithium processing in a resource-efficient manner in the building materials industry.

Kerstin Wedemann, Chief Legal & Operations Officer, adds: "With receipt of the final permit in May, Rock Tech will hold the blueprint for the most modern lithium converter in Europe in its hands. The German permit to build and operate such a plant is of significant value. Few other countries apply such strict guidelines for technical and emissions approvals. This will mean that our concept is validated and can be transferred to other markets. This is already happening at our site in Canada, where we want to build Ontario's first Lithium converter. We have already secured the first partnerships in Ontario, approval planning has begun and subsidy applications are underway there. "

ABOUT ROCK TECH

Rock Tech is a cleantech company with operations in Canada and Germany on a mission to produce lithium hydroxide for electric vehicle batteries. The Company plans to build lithium converters at the doorstep of its customers, to guarantee supply-chain transparency and just-in-time delivery, beginning with the Company's proposed lithium hydroxide merchant converter and refinery facility in Guben, Germany. The second Lithium converter is planned to be built in Red Rock, Ontario, Canada. Rock Tech plans to source raw material from its wholly-owned Georgia Lake spodumene project located in the Thunder Bay Mining District of Ontario, Canada, as well as procuring it from other responsibly producing mines. In the years to come, the Company expects to also source raw material from discarded batteries. To close the most pressing gap in the clean mobility story, Rock Tech has gathered one of the strongest teams in the industry. The Company has adopted strict environmental, social and governance standards and is developing a proprietary refining process aimed at further increasing efficiency and sustainability. Rock Tech's goal: to create a closed-loop lithium production system.

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.

CAUTIONARY NOTE CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws and are referred to herein as "forward-looking statements". All statements, other than statements of historical fact, which address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur are forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, words such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "predicts", "believes", "estimates", "intends", "targets", "projects", "forecasts", "may", "will", "should", "would", "could" or negative versions thereof and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in the Company's most recent management's discussion and analysis and annual information form filed with the applicable securities regulators, or known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may the Company's ability to access the funding via the German state of Brandenburg and/or any additional funding required to invest in available opportunities and projects (including the Company's converter projects and the Georgia Lake project).

No assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, and the Company cautions the reader not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, nor does it assume any obligation to update or revise any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, changes in assumptions, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

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SOURCE Rock Tech Lithium Inc.
RENO, May 7, 2024 - i-80 Gold Corp. (TSX: IAU) (NYSE: IAUX) ("i-80", or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on planned programs at the Company's Granite Creek Property ("Granite Creek" or "the Property") located in Humboldt County, Nevada. This work being conducted in 2024 is expected to include definition and expansion drilling, underground development and test mining of the South Pacific Zone, and a Feasibility Study.

The primary focus is bringing the South Pacific Zone ("SPZ") into the long-term mine plan. The SPZ is expected to become the primary horizon for mining once initial development has been extended to provide access. As part of the 2024 program, definition drilling to support increasing Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources will be accelerated in advance of the completion of a Feasibility Study for the Granite Creek Underground mining operation. Additionally, expansion and exploration drilling will also be completed.

The 2024 drilling program will follow-up on the successful 2023 "Phase 1" drilling completed from underground and surface (see Figure 1). Drilling from underground was completed in the upper portion of the SPZ, where initial stoping is expected, and surface drilling was completed in the northern portion of the deposit. Both programs returned exceptional high-grade results including:

Highlight results from 2023 underground drilling in the South Pacific Zone (core width)

16.9 g/t Au over 5.7 m (0.49 oz/ton Au over 18.8 feet) in hole GCPU23-19*

37.7 g/t Au over 7.6 m (1.10 oz/ton Au over 25.0 feet) in hole GCPU23-20*

19.2 g/t Au over 4.3 m (0.56 oz/ton Au over 14.0 feet) in hole GCPU23-21*

31.1 g/t Au over 21.9 m (0.91 oz/ton Au over 72.0 feet) in hole GCPU23-22*

27.3 g/t Au over 4.0 m (0.80 oz/ton Au over 13.0 feet) in hole GCPU23-25*

19.5 g/t Au over 4.1 m (0.57 oz/ton Au over 13.5 feet) in hole GCPU23-26*

28.7 g/t Au over 16.5 m (0.84 oz/ton Au over 54.0 feet) and 11.9 g/t Au over 21.6 m (0.35 oz/ton Au over 71.0 feet) in hole GCPU23-30*

20.6 g/t Au over 6.1 m (0.60 oz/ton Au over 20.0 feet) in hole GCPU23-31*

15.4 g/t Au over 7.9 m (0.45 oz/ton Au over 26.0 feet) and 31.0 g/t Au over 2.4 m (0.90 oz/ton Au over 8.0 feet) in hole GCPU23-32*

Highlight results from 2023 surface drilling in the South Pacific Zone (core width)

26.1 g/t Au over 5.7 m (0.76 oz/ton Au over 18.7 feet) in hole iGS23-01*

10.6 g/t Au over 9.4 m (0.31 oz/ton Au over 30.8 feet) in hole iGS23-02*

25.6 g/t Au over 5.5 m (0.75 oz/ton Au over 18.2 feet) in hole iGS23-03*

28.1 g/t Au over 4.4 m (0.82 oz/ton Au over 14.5 feet) in hole iGS23-04*

15.5 g/t Au over 19.7 m (0.45 oz/ton Au over 64.7 feet) in hole iGS23-05*

27.0 g/t Au over 2.1 m (0.79 oz/ton Au over 6.9 feet) in hole iGS23-09*

13.6 g/t Au over 5.2 m (0.40 oz/ton Au over 17.2 feet) in hole iGS23-10*

* Previously released, see original press releases for true width, collar, and survey data

With improved definition drilling, initial development, and test mining of the SPZ, the Company will plan to complete an updated resource estimate and Feasibility Study. The SPZ remains open for expansion at depth and along strike to the north towards Nevada Gold Mines' Turquoise Ridge Mine (see Figure 2).

"The recently completed financing significantly bolsters the Company's balance sheet and we are now in a position to accelerate the advancement of i-80's portfolio of high-grade projects.", stated Ewan Downie, Chief Executive Officer of i-80. "Drilling continues to demonstrate excellent continuity of high-grade gold mineralization in the South Pacific Zone, confirming Granite Creek as a significant deposit located on strike from one of North America's largest gold mining operations".

High-grade mineralization at Granite Creek occurs in a near-identical geological setting as that at the multimillion-ounce Turquoise Ridge Mine located immediately to the north (see Figure 2); hosted within Comus limestone rock units and proximal to a major regional fault (the Getchell or Range Front fault) on the eastern edge of the large Osgood Mountains intrusive complex. The Granite Creek deposit remains open at depth and along strike from the existing underground workings.

Please click here for further information on abbreviations and conversions referenced in this press release.

QAQC Procedures

All samples were submitted to ALS Minerals (ALS) of Sparks, NV, which is an ISO 9001 and 17025 certified and accredited laboratory, independent of the Company. Samples submitted through ALS are run through standard prep methods and analysed using Au-AA23 (ALS) (Au; 30g fire assay) and ME-ICP41 (36 element suite; 0.5g Aqua Regia/ICP-AES). ALS also undertakes their own internal coarse and pulp duplicate analysis to ensure proper sample preparation and equipment calibration. i-80 Gold Corp.'s QA/QC program includes regular insertion of CRM standards, duplicates, and blanks into the sample stream with a stringent review of all results.

Qualified Person

Tyler Hill, CPG-12146, Chief Geologist, reviewed the technical and scientific information contained in this press release and is a Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101.

i-80 Gold Corp. is a Nevada-focused, mining company with a goal of achieving mid-tier gold producer status through the development of multiple deposits within the Company's advanced-stage property portfolio with processing at i-80's centralized milling facilities. i-80 Gold's common shares are listed on the TSX and the NYSE American under the trading symbol IAU:TSX and IAUX:NYSE. Further information about i-80 Gold's portfolio of assets and long-term growth strategy is available at www.i80gold.com or by email at info@i80gold.com.

Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including but not limited to, the expansion or mineral resources at Granite Creek and the potential of the Granite Creek project. Such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, its projects, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict" and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this release.

Forward-looking statements and information involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indicators of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or information, including, but not limited to: material adverse changes, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with the company to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; and the failure of exploration programs or studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued exploration, studies, development or operations.

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SOURCE i-80 Gold Corp.
CALGARY, May 07, 2024 - Decklar Resources Inc. (TSX-V: DKL) (OTC: DKLRF) (FSE: A1U1) (the "Company" or "Decklar") announces herewith a second revised default announcement from its initial announcement dated April 16, 2024. The Company has applied to the Alberta Securities Commission, (the "ASC"), under National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203") requesting that a temporary management cease trade order ("MCTO") be granted in respect of the late filing of specified requirements as per NP12-203, within the time period prescribed by securities legislation of one or more of the following: (a) annual financial statements; (b) annual MD&A; (c) an annual information form; (d) a certification of filings under National Instrument 52-109 Certification of Disclosure in Issuers' Annual Filings (the "Annual Filings"). The Annual Filings are required to be filed on or before April 29, 2024. There is no guarantee that an MCTO will be granted.



The Company, its auditor and its independent reserves engineer require more time to complete the preparation, reviews and audit of the Annual Filings. The delay has been caused due to the Company's constrained cash flow as a result of operational difficulties in selling its crude oil in Nigeria and the inability to satisfy its accounts payable.

The remediation plan will include Decklar providing its auditor with all relevant documents relating to the Corporation's draft financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023, the related draft management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and draft results of operations for those periods. The auditors work program, to meet their responsibilities in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards and to review and express an opinion on Decklar's December 31, 2023 financial statements will include (but not limited to) the following:

Obtaining an understanding of Decklar's financial reporting framework and internal controls and assessing key controls on a test basis; Assessing the systems used to ensure compliance with applicable legislative and related authorities pertaining to financial reporting and other financial functions; Examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements; Assessing the appropriateness and consistency of accounting principles used and their application; Assessing the significant estimates used by management; and Assessing the entity's use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the consolidated financial statements.

In addition, the remediation plan that will be implemented between the Company and reporting reserve engineers, to provide the reserves estimates and future net revenue forecasts, prepared and presented in accordance with the Canadian standards set out in the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook ("COGEH") and national Instrument 51-101 ("NI 51-101") will include (but not be limited) to the following:

Kickoff meeting between the Company and the reporting reserve engineering company ("reporting engineers") to update and provide production data including production volumes produced since the December 31, 2022 reporting period as well as an update on work program activities, costs and schedule; Reports will include; A reserves and contingent resources evaluation for the Oza Field as of December 31, 2023 A reserves evaluation for the Asaramatoru Field as of December 31, 2023 A contingent resources evaluation for the Emohua Field as of December 31, 2023 Future production and revenue forecasts will be prepared for the proved producing, proved developed, total proved, proved + probable and the proved + probable + possible reserves cases and for the low, best and high estimate contingent resources cases. One price case will be prepared based on the latest reporting engineers price forecast; All the data for the evaluation is expected to be provided to reporting engineers in Calgary thus no travel to Nigeria is anticipated as part of their work scope; The results of the evaluation will be presented in a detailed property report and will include discussions of the geological interpretations, geological mapping, a discussion of the methodology for estimating the reserves and resources and revenue forecasts and tabulations of the economic parameters for the evaluation. The reporting engineers will also prepare sub-reports for each of the three fields.

The Company will work closely with its auditor and independent reserve engineer to complete the Annual Filings and expects to file the Annual Filings on or about June 20, 2024.

If an MCTO is granted, the Company's directors and senior officers and other insiders will not be able to trade the Company's securities while the MCTO is in effect. The Company confirms that it will comply with the provisions of the alternative information guidelines as set out in NP 12-203 for so long as the default remains in effect, including the issuance of bi-weekly default status reports by way of news release.

The Company confirms, as of the date hereof, that: (i) it is not subject to any insolvency proceeding; and (ii) except as set forth below, there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed.

Decklar also announces the immediate resignation of its Chief Financial Officer, David Halpin. David will continue to support and assist Decklar as a consultant in the preparation of the Annual Filings. The Company would like to thank David for his contribution and wish him well in all his future endeavors. The Company intends to seek a replacement Chief Financial Officer on an interim basis while it searches for a new full-time permanent Chief Financial Officer.

For further information about Decklar, see its disclosure documents on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca or visit the company's website at https://www.decklarresources.com/

For further information:

Sanmi Famuyide

Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: +234 703 332 2265

Email: sanmi@decklarresources.com

Investor Relations: info@decklarresources.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.

Cautionary Language

Certain statements made and information contained herein constitute "forward-looking information" (within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation), including, but not limited to, statements regarding: disclosure regarding possible events, that are based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action, obtaining necessary approvals from regulatory authorities, availability of services and personnel necessary to complete required tasks in order to fulfill regulatory requirements in a timely manner, permits and agreements to allow access and production into pipelines and deliveries of crude oil by truck, the timing for payment of crude oil sales, the final execution of necessary agreements to sell additional crude oil, the maintaining of stable crude oil production, the ability to transport crude oil by pipeline or truck, the continued access to functioning pipelines and the availability of export vessels. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Such statements and information (together, "forward looking statements") relate to future events or the Company's future performance, business prospects or opportunities. There is no certainty that definitive agreements in respect of the Transaction will be entered into, or that any conditions precedent contained therein will be satisfied on terms satisfactory to the parties or at all.

All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect, "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe" and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties relating to, among other things, changes in oil prices, results of exploration and development activities, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of materials and equipment, timeliness of government or other regulatory approvals, actual performance of facilities, availability of financing on reasonable terms, availability of third party service providers, equipment and processes relative to specifications and expectations and unanticipated environmental impacts on operations. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

The Company provides 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 does not assume the obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date of this document or to revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
The campaign to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for his anti-union initiatives was the most talked-about issue on the state labor front this spring. Walker, who sponsored legislation banning collective bargaining for most public workers, survived his recall election on June 5, emboldening fellow Republicans who remain eager to do battle with unions.But while the Wisconsin campaign was attracting national attention, important developments for state workers were proceeding with less fanfare elsewhere in the country. Most notably, Arizona, Colorado and Tennessee passed sweeping overhauls of their civil service systems, which govern hiring and firing practices and offer the only avenue for grievances to be resolved in states where collective bargaining is banned.These were moves of major proportions. State civil service systems were designed to ensure that employees would be hired based on their merits, rather than political affiliations, and would be shielded from political influence. Due process and grievance and appeal procedures were put into place to guarantee that rank-and-file employees wouldn't be fired every time there was a shift in party control.Supporters of civil service change argued, however, that state personnel codes have been riddled with archaic and cumbersome rules that make it difficult to hire and retain a talented workforce. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said the existing system served to benefit the least productive employees while failing to reward and incentivize the best. She said the existing grievance system was so cumbersome that agency managers were keeping problem employees around just so that they didnt have to deal with it.Brewer made civil service changes her top priority in the 2012 legislative session, and she succeeded in getting them enacted. The changes will gradually transition the state away from a traditional civil service structure towards an at will system that mirrors private sector companies. Agency managers will have flexibility to hire and fire employees as they choose, and reward star employees with bonuses and pay increases without legislative approval.The legislation will automatically eliminate civil service protections  including the ability to file a grievance or appeal disciplinary actions  for new hires and some current employees. Anyone who accepts a raise, a promotion or a transfer to another position in state government will convert to at will status. This means that state workers, whose salaries have been frozen since 2008, will have a difficult decision to make in October about whether to accept a scheduled 3.75 percent bonus. If they accept this one-time bonus, they will go to at will and permanently give up their current job protections. The governor's office expects that, under the new law, 82 percent of the workforce would become at will within the next four years, compared to 26 percent currently.Matthew Benson, director of communications for Brewer, says the governor is confident that the 35,000 workers who make up the states bureaucracy will remain isolated from politics. These are the people who, administration through administration, keep state government operating, he says. We don't see that changing. These positions by and large have nothing to do with politics. We don't see a future administration coming in and clearing out the state workforce by bringing in their friends.Changes to the personnel systems in Colorado and Tennessee will end, or at least minimize, a practice known as "bumping." Bumping allows employees whose positions are being eliminated to force others with less seniority into lower positions, or even out of the workforce altogether. The resulting chain reaction can undo years of training and push employees into positions that are a poor fit for their skills.A major focus of Tennessees civil service legislation was bringing more flexibility to the way the state recruits and hires workers, in preparation for an influx of new employees. Almost 40 percent of Tennessees workforce will become eligible for retirement in the next five years. The legislation also streamlines the appeals process and overhauls the performance evaluation system for employees. Performance evaluations will be tied to pay and used as the primary consideration in layoffs.For decades, employment decisions in state government have been based solely on seniority with job performance never being considered, and employees have either received modest, across the board pay increases or nothing at all, Republican Governor Bill Haslam said when he signed the bill in April. No one has been able to convince me that is a good way to manage our employees or serve our taxpayers.Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is pursuing additional civil service changes, but they will require a vote of the people because many of the existing civil service rules are part of the states constitution. The legislature voted to put a package of changes on the ballot in November that would give the state more flexibility in how it evaluates and hires job applicants. State agencies are currently required to choose from among the top three scorers on a competitive test; the new system would permit a more analytical approach under which the state could pick from the top six finalists.Meanwhile, Indiana was enacting a controversial right-to-work law aimed at curtailing the influence of unions in private sector employment. The law makes it illegal for businesses and unions to negotiate contracts that require all employees  including those who do not wish to be union members  to pay union fees as a condition of their employment.As pro-union protesters from around the state descended upon the Indiana Capitol, Democrats stalled the right-to-work bill for a few weeks by denying the House the quorum necessary to conduct business. Ultimately the legislation passed by a comfortable margin, making Indiana the 23rd state to enact such a law and the first to do so in the industrial Midwest. To date this year, legislators in 19 other states have introduced some form of right-to-work legislation, but Indiana has been the only state to enact it. New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, a Democrat, has vetoed a similar right-to-work bill.States continued to make changes to the retirement and health care benefits that they have historically provided to their workforces. There has been a lot of uncertainty among employees as pension legislation has been making its way through state legislatures, says Leslie Scott, director of the National Association of State Personnel Executives. There's a little more stability this year as far as maintaining employment, but changes in benefits are now the major issue.Pension legislation asking workers to chip in more toward their retirement income was enacted in states controlled by Democrats as well as those dominated by Republicans. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a popular Democrat, shepherded legislation that asks new workers to contribute more toward their pensions and to work longer before retiring.States continued to experiment with cash balance and hybrid retirement plans that function more like a 401(k) than a traditional pension. The plans transfer some of the risk to workers when pension investments dont make money, but allow more portability if workers choose not to spend their entire careers in state government. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, signed legislation last week that creates a mandatory cash balance plan for new employees. Virginia and Kansas passed similar overhauls of their pension systems earlier this spring.The most intriguing questions following Walkers recall survival in Wisconsin may play out in states with powerful public sector unions and strong collective bargaining rights. Now that the recall election is over and Walker has kept his job, many expect a heightened level of activity in state legislatures around labor issues. Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University, says he expects to see a slew of bills that would have the cumulative effect of severely weakening unions by eroding their infrastructure and limiting the scope of bargaining negotiations.I think state legislatures are going to be tremendously emboldened, he says. Most state legislatures now are sitting on a bill that would limit [union] dues payments. Most state legislatures are just waiting to bring that out. They can always tell their unions, You may not like it, but it could be a lot worse.In Michigan, however, voters this fall will consider a ballot measure that fights back against recent legislative challenges to union power by putting public sector collective bargaining rights in the states constitution. It is designed to void anti-collective bargaining bills already enacted by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by Republican Governor Rick Snyder. One of the laws in question, which passed earlier this spring, makes it illegal for school districts to collect union dues. It is also a preemptive strike against future legislation, including a right-to-work bill that has some support in the legislature but is opposed by the governor.California voters will consider a ballot measure in November that would prohibit governments from deducting union dues from workers paychecks if the money will be used for political purposes.Labor relations in Maine have proven to be particularly thorny under Republican Governor Paul LePage, and the legislature has shown some interest in limiting current collective bargaining rights. This spring the legislature ended collective bargaining for family childcare providers paid by the state who are currently represented by the Maine State Employees Association. The LePage administration has been unable to reach an agreement with that union, the largest representing state workers, since its previous contracts expired in July 2011. The union has three pending complaints before Maines state labor board.The governor stirred up controversy by calling the middle tier of state employees about as corrupt as you can be in an April 26 town hall meeting. A follow-up letter he sent to state employees didnt do much to help smooth things over. After acknowledging that many state workers are doing great things for the people of Maine, the governor wrote that other employees, for whatever reason, have not come on board. Roadblocks have been put up, hurdles have been thrown in the way, and information has not been passed along to senior management  In my opinion it shows that they have been corrupted by the bureaucracy.
Verstappen dangerous for F1, Canada GP boss warns

Max Verstappen's dominance of Formula 1 at the moment is "a bit dangerous" for the sport.

Max Verstappen, Miami GP 2024

 Red Bull

That's the concern of Francois Dumontier, the promoter of the annual Canadian GP in Montreal.

McLaren's Lando Norris may have won in Miami, but even during that same race weekend, triple consecutive world champion Verstappen won the sprint race as well as both qualifying sessions.

In the long term, for the average racing fan, there is a disinterest coming in now unless you are a die-hard Verstappen fan, Dumontier told Le Journal de Montreal on a visit to the Miami GP.

How many fans are now saying they watched the start and then went to mow the lawn before returning to the television for the end of the race? he added.

For the sport, that's a bit dangerous.

However, Dumontier insisted that even with the current predictability, the Canadian GP continues to thrive.
Penny is a worthwhile addition to the citys ever-growing collection of wine bars. Photo: Hugo Yu

Last week, I reviewed Penny and Demo. By name, they are each a wine bar, although the cooking is ambitious enough to think of them as wine restaurants. Whatever phrase is preferred, this style has become the dominant genre of restaurant in the city: casual, dark, shareable plates, and lots to drink. In reviewing these two newcomers, it seemed like it would also be a useful exercise to assemble a (non-exhaustive) hit list of the best and most interesting wine bars/restaurants Ive encountered in my own travels. Ive tried to account for a variety of moods, tastes, and vintages (the bars, not the wines).

The promising newcomers: Early days are looking good at With Others in Williamsburg, with Scandi-Japanese interiors and a blackboard menu: Get some lemony crab toast with a glass of Mathieu Apffels Savoyard Avant la Tempete Jacquere, Alpine zip. The food is less ambitious at the new Whoopsie Daisy in Crown Heights, from the people behind the nearby wine store Fiasco!, but they do have salumi from the excellent upstate producer La Salumina and better-than-the-usual drafts of red, white, and rose, available by the glass, half-bottle, or liter.

The tried-and-trueables: Recent and recentish arrivals now settled into the landscape include La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels, which is soon expanding to Flatiron; Place des Fetes, where on a recent Friday night I was able to sneak in without a reservation for lamb with roti and and a Kool-Aid-pink bottle of light-extraction Syrah from Lolita Sene in the Rhone; Chambers, whose kitchen is now firmly under the control of Jonathan Karis, but whose wine list remains in the award-winning hands of Pascaline Lepeltier; and Gem Wine, which is humming along after the few different iterations of Flynn McGarrys Gemiverse that preceded it.

The Establishmentarians: I can confirm, after a recent revisit, that the Four Horsemen is still operating at a very high level. An insider whispered to me that its worth dropping by for lunch, when chef Nick Curtola plays around with new ideas and smaller-batch ingredients that wouldnt stretch through a whole dinner service. In midtown, Aldo Sohm Wine Bar is the passion project of Le Bernardins longtime somm (and author of a very good beginners guide to wine) with a living-room vibe and a thoroughly decent duck confit. It gets busy around happy hour, but if you happen to be in the area later  say, post-theater, in whats otherwise a pretty dead zone for elevated boozing  Sohms somms start doing special pours from the cellar at 9 p.m.

Okay, but what if Im looking for 

Natural wine: Try Skin Contact on Orchard Street, a bar with pedigree: Eben Lillie, one of its founders and directors, is also a partner at Chambers Street Wines, one of the citys best wine shops and a pioneer in biodynamic, organic, and so-called natural wines. (Hes also the son of its founder, David Lillie.) I never leave without a few lacy kerchiefs of Tete de Moine (monks head), a spiral-sliced cows-milk cheese from the Swiss Jura.

Spanish wine: Head to Park Slopes Bar Vinazo for tapas and Tempranillo (and much else). An all-Spanish by-the-glass list, including some more expensive options dispensed by Coravin (the vacuum-pump system that allows semi-open bottles to stay fresher much longer)  I loved the very Burgundian Arroyo del Tortolas from Bernabeleva, just outside Madrid.

Italian wine: Dont laugh, but Im going to suggest Eatalys flagship Flatiron location. While chaotic (watch out for tourists bumbling toward gelato), the grocery emporium hosts several restaurants and counter bars, each with individual wine lists, pairings, and producer spotlights; try Bar Milano, whose selection covers both up-and-comers like Chiara Condello in Emilia-Romagna and established giants, plus ten Baroli by the glass and by the flight. Bonus points for the Eataly Vino wine shop next door, one of the citys better selections of Italian wine.

Alsatian wine: A little French, a little German, more than usually good  we should all be drinking more Alsatian wine. Alsace-hailing Michelin chef Gabriel Kreuther has several by the glass at his namesake restaurant, and many more by the bottle.

Austrian wine: The proper restaurant Wallse gets more credit, even after all these years, but Kurt Gutenbrunners wine bar next door (formerly called the Upholstery Shop, now simply Wallse Next Door) is a good pit stop for a quick schnitzel and Gruner.

German wine: Riesling  the king of German wines  has long had an evangelist in Paul Grieco of Terroir, who offers not only over a dozen by the glass and by the flight, but also a full manifesto on the subject for interested (and maybe slightly terrified) would-be converts.

Greek wine: An often underrated wine region! Perhaps Stafili Wine Cafe, which has locations in Tribeca and the West Village, can change everyones mind. You probably know Assyrtiko, the razor-sharp white from Santorini, but do you know Malagouzia, Xinomavro, and Agiorgitiko?

Balkan wine: Another underrated region, and one of special note for the orange-wine fans out there. (Lots of maceration and amphora aging in these parts.) Ruffian is doing its bit to raise awareness: Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia by the glass. Really, who else outside of Ljubljana is offering a three-wine flight of Wines of Eastern Slovenia?

South African wine: There is something for everyone at Kaia Wine Bar on the Upper East Side: bottomless brunch, elk carpaccio, and the most extensive by-the-glass South African wine selection Ive ever seen.

Australian wine: Tip from a former consultant to the Australian wine industry: Its all by the glass at Sonnyboy, as is good stuff from nearby New Zealand (which isnt all lawn-grassy Sauvignon Blanc, despite what many would have you believe).

Champagne: Champagne is everywhere, but Champagne with ambience is not, which is why I like La Merceries recently opened Guild Bar: a bare handful of seats, a very judicious eye for grower Champagne (rather than the name-brand, youre-buying-the-label stuff), poured into the most exquisite, handblown Japanese and Austrian artisan glassware you cant afford (but that the Guild store sells if perchance you can).

Sweet and fortified wine: Eleven Madison Parks wine list is justly famous for many reasons, but you rarely see so many sweet and fortified wines by the glass  available at the bar, space permitting, whether or not youve ponied up for the $195 bar tasting menu. Id cruise past the decades-old collectors stuff (2000 Chateau dYquem, Port and Madeira from the 50s and 60s) and treat myself to a 2011 late-harvest Pinot Gris from Alsace or a 30-year-old Chenin from the Loire for $25.

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The iQOO Z9x introduced in China last month will launch in India on May 16. We don't have its Indian pricing yet, but the brand announced the Z9x will be sold through its official Indian website and Amazon.in in the country.

The iQOO Z9x's images shared by iQOO India reveal the smartphone will sport a dual camera setup on the rear headlined by a 50MP unit, just like the Chinese model. If the iQOO Z9x launching in India is the same as the one launched in China (the Z9 in both countries is different), it will come with the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip, a 6.72" 120Hz FullHD+ LCD, and a 6,000 mAh battery with 44W charging.

The Indian iQOO Z9x will feature a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and three cameras - 50MP primary, 2MP depth, and 8MP selfie. It will also have an IP64 rating, but instead of OriginOS, it will run Funtouch OS out of the box since the former is China-exclusive.



iQOO Z9x Chinese model

If all this sounds familiar, it's because the iQOO Z9x is a version of the vivo T3x already available in India. However, the iQOO Z9x's target audience and pricing could be different. We'll find that out next Thursday. In the meantime, you can read our iQOO Z9 Indian model's first impressions to learn more about it.
Apple is hosting its "Let Loose" event today to unveil new products. It will begin at 2 PM UTC, and you can watch it on Apple.com or the Apple TV app or follow it with us by tuning to the stream below.

Apple is said to unveil new iPad Pro models that pack OLED panels, which are "expected to be the best OLED tablet panels on the market." These panels are rumored to come with "LTPO, 120Hz refresh, a tandem stack and glass thinning resulting in ultra-thin and light displays with high brightness, extended battery life and long lifetime.

Rumors claim the new iPad Pro will come in 11.1" and 12.9" sizes with smaller bezels and have the M4 chip at the helm. The Cupertino-based tech giant is also said to introduce the next-gen iPad Air in two sizes. Alongside, it will unveil a new Apple Pencil said to come with squeeze detection and in-built haptic feedback.

Apple's Japanese website suggests this new Apple Pencil will be called the Apple Pencil Pro. We'll know for sure once the event begins.
The Guam Waterworks Authority is trying to spare ratepayers pocketbooks with a new plan to finance $898 million in water and wastewater system upgrades over the next five years.

Water rates will have to go up no matter what, GWA said.

However, if GWA gets approval to seek an alternate financing scheme for the upgrades, customers could see a 50% hike in non-lifeline water rates, as opposed to a 70% increase by 2029, according to GWA General Manager Miguel Bordallo.

That could save customers that use between 3,000 and 7,000 gallons a month some $13 to $23 in water costs, based on figures that Bordallo shared. Thats a difference of hundreds of dollars a year.

GWA is seeking approval from the Public Utilities Commission for significant increases to water rates over the next five years, with a decision expected by September.

If customers get the full water rate increase, a household using 3,000 gallons a month and spending $81.47 will see their monthly bill gradually climb to $116.84 by 2029.

Customers using 7,000 gallons a month who now pay $111.74 will see their bills go up to $174.92.

For the smaller increase, customers using 3,000 gallons a month will see their bills go up to $103.28 by 2029, while customers using 7,000 gallons will get a bill for $151.49.

Bordallo spoke at a Friday hearing on Sen. Sabina Perez Bill 274-37, which will allow GWA to go after so-called tax-exempt commercial paper to fund major system upgrades through 2029.

GWA needs to raise rates so it can afford to overhaul the sewer system and address toxic chemicals found in Guam drinking water by 2029, both of which are required by the federal government.

It also plans to spend a large amount fixing water leaks, which account for up to 58% of water in some areas being lost.

The utility will borrow about $780 million to pay for those upgrades, and will need cash from water revenue to cover debt payments.

If the Legislature approves the utility to use tax exempt commercial paper, TECP, to pay for upgrades, it will save the utility and ratepayers an estimated $84 million through 2029, according to Bordallo.

TECPs are short-term loans, and GWA will only have to pay down the interest over the course of the TECP, saving money.

GWA will then convert to a long term bond, with a higher rate, to be paid down over a longer term.

Perez Bill 274-37 would allow GWA to borrow up to $560 million over a 40-year term, and use either TECPs or low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund the upgrades.

Bordallo told Perez that GWA is also going after federal grants to fund upgrades, and any grant awards will be used to offset rate hikes.

Written testimony from PUC Chairman Jeffrey Johnson stated that its indisputable that a TECP will save ratepayers money over the next five years. Johnson stated the PUC is in full support of the bill.

PUC Administrative Law Judge Fred Horecky said PUCs consultants believe the TECP could save even more than the $84 million GWA projectspotentially up to $130 million.

The Guam Economic Development Authority likewise supports the bill, according to written testimony from GEDA Administrator Melanie Mendiola. GEDA was awaiting more information from GWA about the financing, so it could help the utility borrow, Mendiola stated.

Sen. Telo Taitague expressed concern about how water bills would be, even with the savings from the TECP borrowing.

Taitague said GWAs new rates would have the monthly water bills looking almost as high as Guams power bills, and asked that GWA consider spreading out the projects over time.

The Consolidated Commission on Utilities has asked GWA to analyze what would happen if fixes to water leaks around the island were delayed.

Treatment of chemicals in drinking water, and sewer systems, on the other hand, are both required by federal regulators.
A man accused of making threats and driving erratically was charged in Superior Court on Monday, according to a magistrates complaint.

Timothy Joseph Junior Cruz, 26, was charged with two counts of terrorizing as a third-degree felony and reckless driving as a petty misdemeanor.

At 10:35 a.m. Sunday, police were called to Wonderful Apartments in Dededo, where a man reported that Cruz had threatened him. He told police that Cruz, whom he knew, showed up unexpectedly, and he asked Cruz to leave.

He said Cruz was peering into his car and other cars. Then, Cruz threatened to return and shoot him, according to the complaint.

The man said he didnt see a firearm, but he was afraid Cruz might carry out the threat.

Just after noon the same day, a resident and construction workers in Mangilao said they saw Cruz driving at excessive speeds for the conditions of the road, braking hard for no reason and peeling out, both of which were accompanied by loud screeching of tires, and almost hitting a parked car, the complaint stated.

One of the men said he confronted Cruz, and Cruz threatened to shoot him in the face, according to the complaint.

The man said he saw no weapon, but he was afraid that Cruz might confront him with a gun.

If found guilty of the charges, Cruz could spend six years in prison, according to documents provided by the Office of the Attorney General.
The new head of the military in the region says the U.S. must prepare to respond to Chinas buildup of forces and attempts to expand across the Pacific.

Adm. Samuel Paparo took the lead of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command over the weekend, replacing outgoing Adm. John Aquilino, who is retiring after 40 years in the Navy.

The change of command ceremony in Hawaii was attended by top military brass, to include U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Gen. Charles Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and civilian leadership from across Micronesia.

Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands Gov. Arnold Palacios, Federated States of Micronesia President Wesley Simina and Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. were also in the crowd for the ceremony.

Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the Peoples Republic of China and its rapid buildup of forces, Paparo said, upon taking the podium. We must be ready to answer the PRCs increasingly intrusive and expansionist claims in the Indo-Pacific region.

Paparo referenced the grey-zone activity Chinese forces have taken in the region, military activity that stops short of acts of war.

Some call it the grey zone. My friend Gen. (Romeo) Brawner from the Republic of the Philippines has a phrase called ICAD and he has renamed grey zone, which sounds otherwise benign and dull into ICAD which is Illegal, Coercive, Aggressive, and Deceptive, Paparo said.

Indo-Pacom and allies in the region needed to continue to maintain a strategic advantage over China, North Korea, Russia, and extremist organizations, the admiral said.

Well strive for the peaceful resolution of any crisis or conflict. But make no mistake...we will be ready to fight any adversary that threatens the peace, security, stability and well being of the nation and of our allies and partners, he said.

The U.S. Secretary of Defense likewise pointed to the increasingly coercive behavior of China.

We can see that across the Taiwan Strait in the East and South China Seas, among the Pacific island countries, along the line of actual control with India, and more, Austin said.

The importance of Guam and Micronesia in regional defense was highlighted at points during the ceremony.

Austin, listing outgoing commander Aquilinos achievements, pointed to the push for the Guam Defense System.

Your tenure has been a decisive time for our defense strategy in the Indo Pacific. Youve been a leading voice for major investments and critical munitions, Austin said to Aquilino.

The retiring admiral has been a major proponent of increasing missile defense capabilities for Guam, as China and North Korea both move to grow stockpiles of next-generation missile tech.

Aquilino last May told Congress that missile defense for Guam was Indo-Pacoms top homeland defense priority.

At one point during the ceremony, Aquilino addressed Guams Leon Guerrero personally.

Good to see you my friend, you are a patriot. And I am indebted to you for my entire life. Thank you for your service, the admiral said to the governor.

Austin referred to the Indo-Pacific as a priority theater of operations for the U.S. military.
University of Guam: Para Todu Hit  For all of Us

OPINION Enriquez: UOG's historic doctoral program takes flight
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Do opposites still attract?

Apparently not in Florida, where residents are more likely to end a relationship over political differences than anywhere else in the country.

With Election Day 2024 just months away, a new study from The Matchmaking Co., suggests that if you and your partner dont plan on voting the same way, the relationship could be doomed especially in Florida.

According to the data, 28% of Florida residents said they would break up with a mate who didnt agree with their political views the highest percentage in the U.S. Further, nearly one in three Floridians said they would not go on a date with someone who isnt planning to vote in the 2024 presidential election.

But there is some leeway for compromise, with one in six Florida residents who said they would consider changing their political beliefs for a partner.

After years of collectively divisive events in the U.S. from the 2016 election, to the #MeToo movement and the debate over masking in 2020  are people really still attracted to a partner whose beliefs differ from their own?

Nope. Not according to researchers at the University of Boulder in Colorado.

After looking at more than 130 traits from millions of couples, for more than a century, they found between 82% to 89% partners tended to be similar.
The University of Mississippi student who was seen taunting and making monkey noises at a Black pro-Palestinian protester has been kicked out of his fraternity, according to a statement from Phi Delta Theta. However, the organization now seems unsure if its willing to label the students actions as racist, after editing the original statement.

On Thursday, May 2, videos from the Ole Miss campus showed heated confrontations between pro-Palestinian protesters and a much larger group of counterprotesters.

One viral video shows a Black woman walking toward a group of white male counterprotesters. In it, a man directs an imitation of the sounds and movements of an ape toward the woman, while others in the crowd point their fingers and chant, Lock her up!

@thenoisyimmigrant This is the University of Mississippi. What you're seeing in this video is a bunch of Frat boys (counter protesters) jeering an African American woman who was part of the pro-palestinian encampment. You can see these boys dancing like monkeys and making monkey sounds at this lady, who obviously doesn't appreciate their very racist behavior. You will also notice that the police don't take any action against these racist students. They ask the lady to get out of the way. This video makes me sick to my stomach, but I am not looking away. It is times like these that brings out the worst in people. I am very aware of this as I have experienced it in Aotearoa New Zealand too. In my comments sections and face to face. This is white privilege. This is racism. These are hate crimes. #thenoisyimmigrant #unitedstates #mississippi #CapCut  original sound - The Noisy Immigrant

On Sunday, May 5, Phi Delta Theta released a statement announcing that the student in question had been removed from their organization:

The racist actions in the video were those of an individual and are antithetical to the values of Phi Delta Theta and the Mississippi Alpha chapter. The responsible individual was removed from membership on Friday, May 3.

Less than 24 hours later, on Monday, May 6, at 1:04 p.m. CT, the fraternity updated the statement to no longer include the word racist. The new statement now reads, in part:

After reviewing the incident, it was determined that the individuals behavior was unacceptable. The action in question was offensive, outside the bounds of this discourse, and contradictory to our values. In partnership with local alumni, undergraduate leadership, and the university, disciplinary due process was initiated which resulted in the removal of membership.

Its not immediately clear why the organization chose to edit the language.

Outside of the fraternity, University of Mississippi officials have opened a conduct investigation into the students behavior.

Chancellor Glenn Boyce addressed a letter to students and faculty on Friday in which he acknowledged hostility and racist overtones, writing: To be clear, people who say horrible things to people because of who they are will not find shelter or comfort on this campus.

University of Mississippi students hoist a Confederate flag in the air in September 1962. The admittance of the university's first Black student, James Meredith, led to a deadly riot known as the "Battle of Oxford" in which two people were killed.Bettmann Archive

Boyce also vaguely alluded to the universitys ties to the Confederacy: While we are a modern university with a vibrant community of more than 25,000 people, it is important to acknowledge our challenging history, and incidents like this can set us back, he wrote.

While the unnamed student may not find shelter on campus, as Boyce said, he might find comfort in the approval of elected officials. U.S. Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia posted a video of the incident on X with the caption, Ole Miss taking care of business.

Ole Miss taking care of business. pic.twitter.com/JiL9hs2pHz  Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) May 3, 2024

As for the woman in the video, identified by CNN as Jaylin Smith, 24, she says she is doing fine. Smith told the outlet that she is disappointed that the confrontation is now the focus of the conversation, rather than a ceasefire in Gaza.

The monkey gestures  and people calling me fat or Lizzo  didnt hurt my feelings, because I know what I am. I am so confident in my Blackness. I am so confident in my size, in the way that I wear my hair, and who I am, Smith said to CNN. If anything, I felt pity for them for how stupidly they acted.




Haiti - Port-de-Paix : Prison escape, official PNH version





Inspector Leonel Joseph, Spokesperson for the Haitian National Police (PNH) of the North-West Department, explained at a press conference that on the evening of Friday May 3rd, 2024, 8 detainees from cell #2 who had 37 prisoners, escaped from Port-de-Paix prison and 4 others were fatally injured in their escape attempt.



He clarified that the escape had been planned and said that one of the prisoners feigned discomfort. Prison staff went to get the inmate to treat him. After treatment, he refused to return to the cell, triggering a fight. Causing confusion, inmates of cell #2 forced the door to their cell and 8 prisoners had time to escape, 4 were fatally injured in their escape attempt and 25 others remained in the cell.



Inspector Leonel Joseph confirmed that 6 escapees had already been recaptured and were back behind bars. 2 escapees remain on the run and are actively sought...



A version different from that of Me Jeir Pierre Substitute for the Government Commissioner, Jeir Pierre who affirms that the prison manager told him that one of the detainees had felt unwell. According to the procedure, he had to call the health official and then reinforcements to ensure the safety of the health official. But he went to the cell alone to open it. One of the prisoners with a pickaxe allegedly threatened him, then the other prisoners took the opportunity to escape. For Me Jei Pierre, "professional negligence" would be at the origin of this escape https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42268-haiti-flash-bloody-escape-of-violent-and-dangerous-criminals-in-port-de-paix.html



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Leaders of the Finns Party said the 54-year-old lawmaker had lost the confidence of the group over his suspected involvement in a shooting outside a nightclub in Helsinki on 26 April.

TIMO VORNANEN , a first-term Member of Parliament from Joensuu, has announced his intention to set up his own parliamentary group following his expulsion from the Finns Party Parliamentary Group on Thursday, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

Vornanen is believed to have fired a small-calibre handgun at the ground after brandishing and pointing it at two people outside Bar Ihku.

If a Finns Party representative is carrying a firearm while intoxicated in a nightclub in Helsinki, theres plenty to there to damage confidence, commented Riikka Purra, the chairperson of the Finns Party.

Veli-Pekka Viljanen, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Turku, stated to STT last week that the expulsion will severely limit the possibilities of Vornanen to serve as a Member of Parliament. The resources of one-member parliamentary groups are limited particularly if the group was established in the middle of an electoral term, he reminded.

Vornanen on Thursday argued in a press release that, with the pre-trial investigation into the incident still ongoing, there are no legal grounds for his expulsion or resignation from the Finnish Parliament. He added, though, that he would submit his letter of resignation if a court ruling established such grounds.

The 54-year-old lawmaker, who is on leave from his civilian occupation as senior constable at Eastern Finland Police Department, also apologised to voters for the regret and uncertainty caused by the situation.

Due to the reputational harm, I want to express my sincerest apology to the Finns Party, MPs and the entire Parliament, he said.

Vornanen also apologised to the media for his scarce communication, saying his hands are tied until the pre-trial investigation has been wrapped up.

I cant shed more light on it at this point because the pre-trial investigation is still ongoing. The justification for my communication strategy is a force majeure reason that I cant affect, he explained.

He concluded the press release by commending the media for engaging on societally valuable work on a daily basis, a statement that marks a departure from the tone he had taken earlier.

On 30 April, Vornanen expressed his frustration with the expert analyses published by media, saying the media should tone down expert analyses and let authorities perform their duties. Things will clear up in time, he stated.

He also made a pointed response to Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (PS), who had commented on the shooting incident in her speech on May Day.

The list of stone throwers and judges is getting pretty long even though the pre-trial investigation into my case hasnt yet been completed, he lamented. Wouldnt it be reasonable that we conduct a proper pre-trial investigation and that [the findings] are evaluated by a court before a public lynching like this? I think it would.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
Xis agenda for the visit includes discussions on enhancing China-France and China-Europe relations in light of new global circumstances. He plans to engage in talks covering major international and regional issues, aiming to align strategies and further diplomatic and economic cooperation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping , on a state visit to France at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron , expressed his hope for China and France to illuminate a brighter future together, marking a significant moment in diplomatic relations between the two countries.

France was the first major Western nation to establish formal diplomatic relations in 1964, create a comprehensive strategic partnership, and engage in air transportation and civil nuclear energy projects with China.

An article by Chinese President Xi Jinping titled "Carrying Forward the Spirit that Guided the Establishment of China-France Diplomatic Relations, Working Together for Global Peace and Development" was published Sunday in French media Le Figaro.

In this article, pointed out that amidst skepticism from some Western policymakers advocating for "de-risking" from China, the longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship between France and China continues to thrive, effectively countering protectionist sentiments. Over the last six decades, the bilateral trade has flourished, experiencing an 800-fold increase to an impressive 78.9 billion U.S. dollars in the previous year, with a consistent annual growth of 5.9 percent from 2019 to 2023.

In his article Xi Jinping emphasised his intention to strengthen the long-standing friendship and deepen exchanges in various fields including politics and culture. In his text Xi outlines three pivotal messages during his state visit to France, reflecting on the historical and evolving relationship between the two nations. Firstly, Xi emphasises the intention to enhance the spirit of the longstanding diplomatic ties initiated by Charles de Gaulle 60 years ago, aiming to foster new developments and deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and France. This includes spearheading cooperation in various sectors like aviation, nuclear energy, and cultural exchanges. Secondly, marking the 75th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, Xi announces plans to expand China's open economic policies, inviting more French agricultural and cosmetic products into China, and encouraging Chinese investments abroad to promote mutual growth and innovation, particularly in green technologies. Lastly, Xi reaffirms China's commitment to global peace and stability, underlining the importance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and expressing readiness to collaborate with France to address international conflicts and challenges, such as the Ukraine crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

During his two-day state visit to France, Xi Jinping was met with pressing appeals from Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen to address trade tensions and the war in Ukraine. Macron emphasised the need for "fair rules for all" and a balanced relationship, asserting, "The future of our continent depends very clearly on our capacity to continue to develop a balanced relationship with China." He also expressed support for the EU's investigations into China's trade practices in sectors like electric vehicles and medical devices. In response, China has launched an anti-dumping probe into European wine-based liquors, primarily affecting French cognac producers. Despite this, Xi urged for continued partnership and deeper strategic communication without indicating any concessions. Von der Leyen criticised China for creating "unsustainable unbalances" through overcapacity and warned, "Europe will not waver from making tough decisions needed to protect its economies and security." Additionally, Macron plans to discuss Xi's ties with Russia, highlighting the strategic implications of their "no-limits partnership" as Russia depends increasingly on China amidst heavy sanctions from the West.

Xi Jinping dismissed concerns about "China's overcapacity problem," asserting that from perspectives of comparative advantage or global market demand, "there is no such thing as 'China's overcapacity problem'." Xi emphasised the strategic and long-term perspective China holds towards its relationship with the EU, highlighting Europe as a crucial partner in China's diplomacy and modernisation path. He advocated for enhanced mutual trust, strategic communication, and cooperation between China and the EU, urging that the relationship should "not target any third party, nor should it be dependent on or dictated by any third party." Xi also highlighted the importance of people-to-people exchanges and the upcoming China-EU Summit to foster a stable partnership on industrial and supply chains.

Xi has also addressed pressing global issues such as the Ukraine crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, advocating for peaceful solutions and the role of multilateralism in resolving international disputes. He expressed Chinas readiness to work with France and other global actors to pursue peaceful solutions to ongoing crisis.

Von der Leyen and Macron acknowledged the critical role of cooperation with China in addressing global challenges like climate change and the Ukraine crisis. Von der Leyen emphasised the importance of a sound relationship with China for addressing global issues like climate change and recognised China's efforts in green transition. She also underscored the need for mutual respect and trust to enhance the EU-China relationship.

The discussions and agreements during Xis visit are expected to span a broad range of areas including trade, investment, innovation, and cultural exchange. This reflects the comprehensive nature of the bilateral relationship which extends beyond mere diplomacy to encompass multilateral cooperation on global challenges.

Xi highlighted the mutual benefits derived from the growing relationship, citing advancements in cooperation on aviation, aerospace, nuclear energy, agrifood, and green development. The visit is also a showcase for the unfolding activities of the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, an initiative that underscores the thriving cultural exchange between the two nations.

During his speech at the Sixth Meeting of the China-France Business Council, Xi outlined the economic interdependence of the two nations and proposed future collaborations, particularly in green and digital transitions. He also reiterated Chinas commitment to a wide-ranging opening-up policy that would bring mutual benefits, including easier access for French agricultural products and other goods to the Chinese market.

In his speech at the closing ceremony of the Sixth Meeting of the China-France Business Council, Xi Jinping articulated a vision for a deeper, multifaceted partnership. Highlighting the profound economic interconnections, Xi noted, "Our trade has expanded by nearly 800 times since the establishment of diplomatic relations, reaching 78.9 billion U.S. dollars." He underscored the commitment to expanding this relationship further, stating, "China is ready to enhance all-round exchanges and cooperation with France, bring the China-France relationship to a new stage and make it even more productive." Xi emphasised future cooperation in economic, technological, and global governance arenas, promoting a vision of shared progress and addressing global challenges through a strengthened China-France and China-Europe strategic partnership.

This state visit not only commemorates a historic milestone in China-France relations but also occurs at a time of significant global change and uncertainty. The outcomes of Xis discussions with Macron and other European leaders are anticipated to have wider implications for international relations, particularly in terms of how major powers interact on the world stage.

HT


ED seizes over Rs 35 cr, arrests Jharkhand Minister's personal secretary & servant After recovering over Rs 35 crore in cash, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Sanjeev Kumar Lal, the personal secretary (PS) of Jharkhand Minister Alamgir Alam and his servant Jahangir Alam on Tuesday morning, an official said. Meanwhile, sources said that the financial probe agency is preparing to question Congress Minister Alamgir Alam about this. He will soon be summoned by the agency.



On Monday, the ED conducted a raid at the residences of Alamgir Alam's PS and other close associates. The counting of seized currency notes continued late at night and a total of Rs 35.23 cr has been recovered so far.



According to officials, Jahangir Alam admitted in preliminary questioning that he was a caretaker of "commission and bribe-acquired money", for which he received a salary of around Rs 15,000 per month.



It was Minister Alamgir who had employed Jahangir as a servant at his PS Sanjeev Kumar Lal's residence. Before this, for a few days, he had also worked at the minister's residence, said the sources.



Sanjeev Kumar Lal had rented a flat in Sir Syed Residence Apartments in Ranchi for him. Sanjeev used to give him a bag or a bundle of money every one or two days, which he used to keep in the cupboards of this flat, said the sources.



The ED has also seized Rs 10 lakh from Sanjeev's residence and Rs 2.93 crore from the residence of his wife's construction company partner builder Munna Singh.



However, Sanjeev initially denied that the money received from Jahangir's flat belonged to him, but after solid evidence and Jahangir's statement, the agency arrested him.



During the raid on Monday, the ED also seized several documents, including records related to the transfer-posting of bureaucrats.



These documents also mention the recommendation made by Jharkhand Pradesh Congress President Rajesh Thakur for the posting of bureaucrats. In addition, a letter written by the state's Chief Secretary to register an FIR regarding irregularities in the Rural Development Department, received by the ED, was also there.



It is believed that instead of taking action on the ED's letter, the government leaked it to the department's officials.




Xi hails ever-growing ironclad China-Serbia friendship

Xinhua) 16:52, May 07, 2024

BELGRADE, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Whatever changes in the international landscape, China and Serbia remain true friends and good partners, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his signed article published in Serbian media on Tuesday.

"Our ironclad friendship is ever-growing, setting a model for state-to-state and people-to-people interactions," Xi said in the article.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)


In MPaPrime Minister Narendra Modi poll rally, PM Modi assails Congress for 'demeaning' armed forces, slams its 'dangerous intentions' Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the campaign trail to Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday tore into the Congress party and accused it of hatching dangerous conspiracies to harm the nation. Addressing a public rally in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone, PM Modi said that the terrible intentions of the Congress party are clear from the statements made by those quitting the party, after two to three decades of association.



"A woman leader who went to Ram Mandir was tortured so much that she had to leave the Congress. Another leader who quit the party said that the Congress has been taken over by Muslim Leaguers and Maoists," he said.



He further told the crowd, "Congress' Shehzada (referring to Rahul Gandhi) is planning to change the Supreme Court's decision on Ram Temple. And, I am not saying this, but leaders who were with the party for several years, are saying this."



PM Modi also slammed the grand old party and the leaders of INDI alliance for their "new-found love" for Pakistan in election season.



PM Modi cited instances of objectionable and detestable statements of Congress leaders on the valour of armed forces and urged the voters to give them befitting replies for their shameless remarks.



"A Congress leader (Charanjit Singh Channi) gives clean chit to Pakistan and blamed our forces for (Poonch) terror attack, a leader of the alliance party says 'Pakistan is not wearing bangles'," Prime Minister told the gathering.



The election in Khargone along with seven other constituencies, including Indore and Ujjain, will be held in the fourth phase on May 13 while the third phase voting in nine parliamentary seats - Bhopal, Vidisha, Guna, Gwalior, Bhind, Morena, Sagar and Betul is underway.




WASHINGTON  Following a meeting of the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, the U.S. Department of the Treasuryjoined by Departments of Health and Human Services and Labor, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Social Security Administration released the annual Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports.

Social Security and Medicare are vital programs, providing security to retirees and their families, Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen said. Seniors spent a lifetime working to earn the benefits they receive, and the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to oppose cuts to either program. We are committed to steps that would protect and strengthen these programs that Americans rely on for a secure retirement.

The Biden-Harris administration has promised to build an economy from the middle out and the bottom upthat includes ensuring that workers and their families can count on the Social Security and Medicare benefits they have earned throughout their lives, said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. Over the last three years, near-record job growth has created the economic conditions to strengthen the Trust Funds -- proof positive that were delivering on our commitment to retirees.

The Biden-Harris Administration has left no stone unturned in our efforts to strengthen and preserve Medicare, not just for our parents and grandparents but for our children and generations to come, said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. We will continue this work by negotiating the cost of prescription drugs, ensuring no one with Medicare goes bankrupt paying for lifesaving prescription drugs.

This years report is a measure of good news for the millions of Americans who depend on Social Security, including the roughly 50 percent of seniors for whom Social Security is the difference between poverty and living in dignity -- any potential benefit reduction event has been pushed off from 2034 to 2035. More people are contributing to Social Security, thanks to strong economic policies that have yielded impressive wage growth, historic job creation, and a steady, low unemployment rate. So long as Americans across our country continue to work, Social Security can  and will  continue to pay benefits, said Martin OMalley, Commissioner of Social Security. Congress can and should take action to extend the financial health of the Trust Fund into the foreseeable future, just as it did in the past on a bipartisan basis. Eliminating the shortfall will bring peace of mind to Social Securitys 70 million-plus beneficiaries, the 180 million workers and their families who contribute to Social Security, and the entire nation.

Medicare provides a crucial lifeline for over 65 million Americans who depend on this vital program for their health care needs, said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken action to reinforce the program and propose enhancements that would extend its solvency while strengthening benefits. We are committed to protecting Medicare now and for future generations.

The Social Security Report is available here, and the Medicare Trustees Report is available here. A fact sheet summarizing the reports can be viewed here.


Tuesday May 7, 2024

Fourteen children killed and 17 civilians injured in strikes in March

Families of victims should receive reparations

Indiscriminate attacks may amount to war crimes



Getty Images



Two strikes that killed 23 civilians during Somali military operations supported by Turkish drones must be investigated as war crimes, Amnesty International said today.



Civilians killed in the strikes on 18 March 2024 included 14 children, five women and four men. Another 17 civilians were injured in the strikes: 11 children, two women and four men. All are from the marginalized Gorgaarte clan.





"The Somali and Turkish governments must investigate these deadly strikes as a war crime," Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty Internationals Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.

The Somali and Turkish governments must investigate these deadly strikes as a war crime, and put an end to reckless attacks on civilians, said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty Internationals Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.



In Somalia, civilians have borne the brunt of suffering in war far too often. These horrific deaths must not be overlooked. The devastated survivors and their families deserve truth, justice and reparations.



Amnesty International remotely interviewed 12 people, including four victims and eyewitnesses, and four family members of victims. Researchers also reviewed satellite imagery and medical reports, analyzed photos of victims and weapons fragments, and geolocated videos from the scene of the attacks and of Turkish drone operations at Mogadishu International Airport.



Based on the photos of the munitions scrap metal, Amnesty Internationals weapons investigator was able to confirm that the strike was conducted with MAM-L glide bombs, which are dropped from TB-2 drones. Both are manufactured by Turkiye. Attacks that fail to differentiate between military objectives and civilian objects are indiscriminate and may amount to war crimes.



Satellite imagery from 12 September 2022 shows a Turkish built, Bayraktar TB2 drone at the Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, Somalia.



Deadly strikes

According to an eyewitness interviewed by Amnesty International, Al-Shabaab fighters were present in Bagdad during clashes on 18 March. An initial drone strike hit a mosque in the eastern side of Bagdad at around 7.30pm, destroying the building and damaging nearby houses. Amnesty International was not able to independently verify who was targeted in the mosque, or if there were any casualties.



Following that attack, eyewitnesses said many civilians fled to the Jaffey farm to seek refuge. The first strike on the farm killed and injured several civilians. A second attack, approximately 30 minutes later, killed and injured more civilians who had arrived from the neighbouring villages of Alifow and Gaalgube to rescue survivors following the first strike.



On 19 March, Somalias Ministry of Information issued a statement saying that they had killed over 30 Al-Shabaab militants in the villages of Bagdad and Baldooska in coordination with international partners. The statement added: The operation was launched in response to intelligence reports indicating that Al-Shabaab fighters were gathering in these areas and planning an assault against the Somali people 15 Al-Shabaab members were killed in an airstrike in Bagdad.



It is unclear whether Turkish or Somali forces were in control of the TB-2 drone at the time of the strikes on Jaffey farm. One source in the Somali government told Amnesty International that members of the National Intelligence and Security Agency fly the TB-2s during combat operations against Al-Shabaab. However, in 2022, the UN Panel of Experts for Somalia reported that, according to the Turkish government, Turkiye did not transfer the drones to Somalia in violation of the UN arms embargo, but rather operates the drones themselves in the fight against terrorism. Also in 2022, Ahmed Malim Fiqi, Somalias then Interior Minister who is now Foreign Minister, was reported to have said that while Turkish forces operate the drones, Somali commanders provide the targets.



In recent years, Turkiye has provided military equipment and support to Somalia. Satellite imagery and videos geolocated by Amnesty Internationals Crisis Evidence Lab show Turkish TB-2 drones on the runway at Mogadishu International Airport as early as 12 September 2022. After years of training the Gorgor unit of the Somali armed forces at Turkiyes Camp Turksom in Mogadishu, the two countries signed a Defense and Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in February 2024.



On 5 April, Amnesty International sent letters to the governments of Somalia and Turkiye, asking for details on the 18 March operation, including which militarys forces were controlling the drone at the time of the strikes. At the time of publication, neither government had replied.

There were screams, blood, and bodies all over the ground

Amnesty International established that a total of five families belonging to the Gorgaarte clan were impacted by the two strikes on the Jaffey farm.



Maalim Adan Hussein Hassan Adow, a 49-year-old farmer, lost his wife, Asli Buule Hassan, 40; his son Dahir Maalim Adan, 14; and his two daughters Ishwaq Maalim Adan, seven, and Asma Maalim Adan, six. His two nephews Abdi Ibrahim Duqow, seven, and Salah Ibrahim Duqow, nine, were also killed. His 30-year-old sister Fadumo Hussein Hassan Adow suffered a head injury and later died in Digfeer Hospital in Mogadishu.



Maalim Adan Hussein Hassan Adow said he could not understand why his family was targeted. He told Amnesty International: My wife, my three children and two nephews were all killed in the first strike that hit the farm. I was in Afgoye at the time. I immediately received a phone call from my relatives. It was not possible to travel at night for security reasons. I travelled to Bagdad the morning of the following day.



I identified the bodies of my wife and children at the scene. My wife and children were buried in one mass grave in Gaalgube village, while my nephews were buried in Alifow village. I dont know why my family was targeted during the holy month of Ramadan. I am heartbroken.



"I dont know why my family was targeted during the holy month of Ramadan. I am heartbroken," Maalim Adan Hussein Hassan Adow, whose wife and three children were killed.

Ismail Ali Deerey, a 37-year-old farmer, and his son Sadam Ismail Ali Deerey, aged nine, were also killed. His wife, two daughters, two sons and nephew were injured, and received care at hospitals in Mogadishu.



Mohamed Ali Deerey, Ismails elder brother, told Amnesty International: I was in Alifow village. We heard a deafening blast. Soon after, I received news that my brother Ismail had been struck by a drone attack. My son and I hurried to the farm. Upon reaching the farm, another [blast] targeted us covering the area in a cloud of dust.



The scene was chaotic. There were screams, blood, and bodies all over the ground. I luckily survived but my 22-year-old son, Ali Mohamed Ali Deerey, who was with me was seriously injured in his back My brother Ismail and his son were brutally killed.



A relative of another family who lost six people, including three children, said: I am horrified by what happened to my relatives. This is inhumane. This is a massacre.



The Somali government has a history of not providing reparations for civilian casualties of military actions, or seeking reparations from foreign actors when they are involved in unlawful attacks. It also has a history of ignoring violations against marginalized communities, such as the Gorgaarte clan.



An elder from the Gorgaarte clan said: We feel neglected and unheard, with no one advocating for us or engaging in dialogue with us. There has been no explanation provided for the actions taken against my people, no follow-up investigations, and no offer of sympathy. Our priority is to receive information about why this tragic event occurred. We also need compensation for the losses we have suffered.



Background

The armed conflict between the government of Somalia and Al-Shabaab continues to have a devastating impact on the countrys civilian population, with all parties to the conflict committing serious violations of international humanitarian law.



Amnesty International has documented a series of air strikes by the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) that have killed and injured Somali civilians, including many as a result of apparent violations of international humanitarian law. On 5 April, Amnesty International wrote to AFRICOM, asking if US forces were involved in the 18 March operation against Al-Shabaab, but they did not reply by the time of publication.




Tuesday May 7, 2024

HE Chairman of Qatar Tourism Saad bin Ali Al Kharji met with HE Minister of Commerce and Tourism of the Republic of Djibouti Mohamed Warsama Dirieh, who is visiting the country.

The meeting discussed ways to enhance collaborations within the tourism sectors of both countries.

Commenting on the meeting, HE Saad bin Ali Al Kharji said, "Qatar Tourism continues to expand collaborations with international tourism governing bodies. Our meeting with HE Minister of Commerce and Tourism of the Republic of Djibouti reflects Qatar Tourisms dedication to bolstering ties in the international market and fostering international collaboration for growth in line with the tourism strategy 2030."


Stock market today: Sensex and Nifty 50 extended losses today (May 7) amid selling pressure across sectoral indices as well as in the broader market. Except Nifty FMCG, all major sectoral indices were in the red. Nifty Metal index fell 2.7 percent as it was dragged down by Tata Steel and Hindalco. Sensex fell more than 500 points at 73,367.39 and Nifty 50 was down 178 points at 22,264.50. About 821 shares advanced, 2,333 shares declined, and 88 shares remained unchanged today. Stock market today: A man looks at a screen across a road displaying the Sensex on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai.(Reuters)

The shares gave up early gains as a rise in consumer companies was offset by a fall in financials and auto stocks. The stock market volatility rose to its highest in fifteen months as markets surrendered early gains for a second straight day despite rally in global markets. The Nifty Volatility Index rose to 17.29, the highest since January 30, 2023.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said as per news agency Reuters, "The more significant factor might be the apprehensions emanating from the unexpectedly low turnout in the elections so far.

Voter turnout of 66.14% and 66.71% respectively in the first two phases has been lower than corresponding phases five years back.

Meanwhile, Samrat Dasgupta, chief executive officer of Esquire Capital Investment Advisors said that hopes around improvement in rural demand and expectations of a good monsoon are driving consumer stocks.
* Louis Dreyfus raises Namoi Cotton offer to $92 mln valuation, tops Olam Agri's bid

LDC increases offer to A$0.67 apiece

*

LDC offer 1 cent above Olam Agri's bid

*

Namoi Cotton shares rise as much as 2.8%

May 7 - Dutch global commodity merchant Louis Dreyfus Company has raised the ante on an international bidding war for Australia's Namoi Cotton by sweetening its offer price marginally above that of rival suitor Olam Agri .

Namoi's second-biggest shareholder with around 17% control, LDC has proposed to buy the rest of the Australian cotton producer for A$0.67 per share, valuing the company at A$138.6 million , Namoi said on Tuesday.

That is just a hair above Olam Agri's latest A$0.66 per-share offer, which values Namoi at A$136.6 million.

Shares of the Australian cotton ginning company rose as much as 2.8% to A$0.74, their highest since November 1999.

Namoi is Australia's largest cotton producer, while Olam Agri already owns rival Queensland Cotton. Both LDC and Olam Agri have been bidding back and forth to gain control of Namoi since January this year.

Gaining full control of Namoi would help the acquirer expand its presence in Australia, giving it access to Namoi's ginning network and warehouses in New South Wales and Queensland.

Both the offers are subject to the bidders acquiring a 50.1% stake in Namoi. LDC has already rejected Olam Agri's latest offer, while Namoi's top shareholder Samuel Terry Asset Management has so far backed both the offers.

Singapore-based Olam Agri did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment, while STAM declined to comment.

Just minutes after the new takeover offer was announced, an exchange filing issued on behalf of LDC showed the Dutch firm had raised its stake in Namoi to 16.99% from 16.40%.

LDC had made an offer of A$0.60 per share in late April, which was outbid by Olam Agri. The Singapore-based firm had said last week its latest A$0.66 per-share offer would be hiked to A$0.70 if it obtained at least 90% stake in Namoi.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
UBS Group AG returned to profit after two loss-making quarters, with both wealth management and the investment bank adding to sustained progress in the integration of Credit Suisse after its emergency rescue last year. UBS Returns to Profit as Wealth, Investment Bank Drive Beat

The Zurich-based bank said net income in the first quarter was $1.8 billion, compared with analysts estimates of $598 million. The key wealth management unit saw net new assets come in better than expected at $27 billion, while the combined investment bank reported an upbeat performance in the US that helped return the first profit since the takeover.

With the bank targeting the completion of the legal merger with Credit Suisse by May 31, a robust set of results will buttress UBS Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti as he grapples with a tightening regulatory outlook. The Swiss government said last month that UBS should maintain substantially higher capital levels going forward, a development that has weighed on the lenders share price.

A little over a year ago we were asked to play a critical role in stabilizing the Swiss and global financial systems through the acquisition of Credit Suisse and we are delivering on our commitments, Ermotti said in the earnings release on Tuesday.

Read More: UBS Chairman Says Swiss Capital Plan Is Wrong Remedy

In its outlook, UBS however signaled that the turning central-bank rate environment is beginning to impact earnings from lending. The bank expects a low to mid single-digit decline in net interest income in the wealth management unit and a high single-digit decrease in interest income in the personal and corporate banking unit.

On the integration, UBS said it had realized about $1 billion in cost savings in the first quarter and was targeting another $1.5 billion by the end of 2024.

Revenue in the wealth management unit rose to a reported $6.1 billion in the quarter, from $5.6 billion at the end of December. The bank said that the Americas, Switzerland and Asia-Pacific in particular drove the result.

UBSs investment bank posted before-tax profit of about $555 million, compared with analyst estimates for $398 million. In asset management, before-tax profit came in at $111 million, below estimates.

Capital Plans

The Swiss Federal Council wants systemically-important banks to hold significantly more capital against their foreign units to protect against future risks. UBS faces a capital hit that could reach about $20 billion if the reforms come into effect. The proposals are designed to make the countrys banking sector safer and address a weakness that helped accelerate Credit Suisses demise last year.

UBS executives have spoken out again the need for more capital. UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher said last month that the proposal is the wrong remedy to the failure of Credit Suisse, adding the lender is seriously concerned about some of the discussions around additional buffers.

The bank said its CET1 ratio, a measure of capital strength, was 14.8% at the end of the quarter, which it says allows execution of its existing plans to return funds to shareholders. The bank said it cant yet fully assess the impact from the new rules. The Swiss government is likely to implement the new ordinance in 2026 at the earliest.

In March UBS said it would buy back up to $2 billion of its shares over the next two years. The bank said its ambition is for share repurchases to exceed its pre-acquisition level by 2026.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
National Stock Exchange MD & CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan said that market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) rejected the exchange's proposal to increase trading time during an analyst call. It was earlier reported in February this year that there was a proposal to extend trading hours for index futures which received in-principle approval from the Association of National Exchange Members of India (ANMI). It was then reported that the Brokers Industry Standards Forum (ISF) sent a formal letter to Sebi as well. People look at a screen displaying the Sensex results on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai.(Reuters)

It was earlier reported in September last year that Sebi is considering extending trading hours for the cash market.

What was proposed for stock market hours?

The proposal- a phased plan- was aimed at gradually extending trading hours. In the first phase, the proposal was to extend trading hours for index F&O from 6pm to 9pm. The second phase would extended the index F&O trading till 11:30pm while in the third phase, the plan is to extend cash market trading hours until 5pm.

What NSE CEO said on stock market trading hours?

NSE CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan said, So as of now, extended timeframe for trading, is shelved.
Lake Oroville, seen here at Lime Saddle Marina in June 2023, is at capacity. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

UPDATE: Here are California reservoir levels following steady winter storms

Lake Oroville, the second-largest reservoir in California, reached capacity on Monday for a second straight year after another relatively wet winter.

The rising waters come as state reservoir managers have been reducing outflows from the lake in recent weeks  as winter inflows tailed off and the threat of downstream flooding waned  allowing the reservoir to slowly fill to its current 899-foot elevation, or 3.52-million acre-feet of water.

Reservoir levels: Charts show water supply levels across California

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This is great news for ensuring adequate water supply for millions of Californians & environmental needs, the state Department of Water Resources posted Monday afternoon on X, formerly Twitter.

The agency warned visitors to Lake Oroville of the possibility of waves splashing from the swollen reservoir into the emergency spillway, the chute where excess water can be let out. State officials also said the spillway may discharge small amounts of water from drains built into the structure. They said this was normal operations.

Lake Oroville contains 28% more water than it historically has on this date. While the lake also filled to the brim last year, three years ago water levels sank to their lowest point ever, a testament to Californias increasingly variable climate.

This year, snowpack in the northern Sierra measured 123% at its peak, according to state data, helping boost flows in the Feather River, which feeds Lake Oroville.

Federally managed Shasta Lake, which is Californias largest reservoir, was 97% full on Monday, or about 115% of average.

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Even with Lake Oroville at capacity, and other reservoirs above average, state water officials have said they expect to provide only 40% of the water requested by communities and irrigation districts in the coming year. Several Bay Area cities are among those that get water from the State Water Project, the vast network of reservoirs (including Lake Oroville) and canals that supply water across California.

One of the reasons for the limited deliveries, state officials say, is an ongoing issue with the pumps that move the water. The State Water Project pumping facility in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta often draws in fish and kills them, including delta smelt, chinook salmon and steelhead trout. In response, the state reduces how much water is pumped.

This year highlights the challenges of moving water in wet periods with the current pumping infrastructure in the south delta, said Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth in a statement. We had both record low pumping for a wet year and high fish salvage at the pumps.

Nemeth said the state needs to continue updating its water infrastructure, to improve water delivery, including building the contentious 45-mile tunnel across the delta.
In an innovative bid to entice voters to exercise their democratic right, the Shimoga Zilla Panchayat in Karnataka has unveiled a polling booth that has majestic thrones reserved for voters. Lok Sabha elections: Royal polling booth with king, queen thrones set up in Shimoga Zilla Panchayat.

Mooting the idea that in a democracy citizens are the lords, the unique polling station has put up thrones for voters depicting them as Kings and Queens.

The exercise seemed to be a hit with voters who posed for pictures on the 'thrones' with crowns on their heads after casting their votes at the polling booth.

READ | Lok Sabha Polls: Ex-Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa casts his vote in Shivamogga, predicts 25 seats to BJP in state

Earlier, CEC Rajiv Kumar urged people to participate in the general elections in maximum number.

In an interview with ANI, Rajiv Kumar said that the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections started two years ago.

"From preparing the border list to preparing polling stations, finding their routes, deployment of forces, finding out vulnerable booths, creating amenities at the booths--light, shade, ramps, minimum facilities...it's a tremendous exercise that started over two years ago."

READ | Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 3: Karnataka sees 9.45% voter turnout at 9:30am

Kumar said that it is essential for voters including women and youth to take part in the elections.

Speaking on the ways to ensure the maximum participation of specially-abled and elderly people in the Lok Sabha election, the CEC said there is a facility for them to cast a vote from the comfort of their home.

"We have earmarked in our electoral rolls persons with disabilities, 40 per cent and above. There is a facility for them to cast a vote from the comfort of their home, if they so desire. But our experience is that many of them want to come to the polling station. And we provide them a volunteer, we provide them with wheelchairs, and it's not a question of physical comfort that we provide, it's a question of giving them the due respect and empowerment," he said.

The polling started for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the general election on Tuesday.

READ | Fourteen Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka set to go for polls today. Key fights and contenders list

The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.'

Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats and elections in the state are being held in two phases. Voting for 14 seats concluded on April 26 and the voting in the remaining 14 seats began this morning.
The Special Investigation Team constituted to investigate the allegations of sexual harassment against Hassan JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna will conduct an independent and impartial investigation in which the state government will not interfere, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Monday. SIT working independently and impartially, says Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

In a statement, the chief minister rejected BJP leader and lawyer G Devaraje Gowda's allegation that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is being controlled by the state government.

Also Read - 'It's Siddaramaiah investigation team': HD Kumaraswamy criticises SIT probe into obscene videos case

"BJP leader Devaraje Gowda's allegation that the SIT is working on remote control and that it is a rubber stamp of the government is completely untrue. It is a ploy to avoid investigation with malicious intent to protect criminals," Siddaramaiah said in a statement.

The SIT was formed after allegations of sexual exploitation of a large number of women, captured in nearly 3,000 video clips, emerged against Prajwal Revanna, who is seeking re-election from Hassan.

A blue corner notice has been issued against Prajwal Revanna, who is abroad, according to Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara.

Prajwal Revanna is wanted in connection with the alleged sexual harassment cases against him.

His father HD Revanna, the Holenarasipura JD(S) MLA, has been arrested on molestation and kidnapping charges.

Siddaramaiah stressed that the SIT is working in a transparent manner.

"The government is bound to prosecute the culprits, no matter how influential they are. It is with this objective in mind that the SIT has been formed by including selected efficient officers," the chief minister underlined.

He also took a dig at the BJP for crying foul.

"There is no point in BJP leaders shouting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name is being tarnished because of this case. The BJP should have thought this before forming an alliance with JD(S)," Siddaramaiah said.

The JD(S) is contesting the Lok Sabha elections as part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Karnataka.

The chief minister said the success of the SIT investigation is now entirely dependent on the Centre' cooperation.

"The central government should cooperate in bringing the accused Prajwal Revanna, who is said to be abroad, to India. The BJP, which still has a political alliance with the JD(S), needs to clarify its stand," Siddaramaiah said.
Bhopal/Khargone: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday sharpened his attack on the Congress, asserting that India was at a turning point in history and the people have to choose in the ongoing elections if Vote Jihad or Ram Rajya should determine the path the country will take. Khargone: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting for Lok Sabha polls in Khargone. (PTI)

In Pakistan, terrorists are threatening to do jihad against India. And Congress leaders have declared to carry out vote jihad against Modi. That is, people of a certain religion are being told to vote against Modi. To what level has the Congress stooped... Is vote jihad acceptable? Can this be allowed in a democracy?... PM Modi told an election meeting in Khargone, a reference to remarks by Maria Alam, Samajwadi Party candidate and Congress leader Salman Khurshids niece.

Alam, a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, had called for a vote jihad in favour of the INDIA opposition bloc candidate from the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradeshs Kayamganj on April 30.

At the election rally in Khargone on Tuesday, PM Modi asked people if they were fine with vote jihad. Can such a thing prevail in a democracy? Does the Indian Constitution allow such jihad? he asked

The prime minister said the Congress and the INDIA bloc partners were only fighting the elections to save their legacy, underscoring they were not bothered about the fate of the masses.

PM Modi also reiterated his accusation, first levelled last week, that sought to link the Congress to Pakistan. At the two election rallies in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, PM Modi said the Congress love for Pakistan was reaching a new peak after every phase of voting.

A former CM of Congress said it is our army, which carries out terrorist attacks, Pakistan is innocent. Can people of our country think like this... Isnt this an insult to our army or not I would ask shehzada (a reference to Rahul Gandhi) Where did these voices start coming from . So much love for Pakistan and so much hatred for our army, PM Modi said.

The PMs remarks were seen to refer to former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channis comments that the terror attack on an Indian Air Force (IAF) convoy in Jammu & Kashmir last week was an election stunt by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Channi said he was proud of the countrys soldiers but questioned the Centre over the probe into the 2019 terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

PM Modi said the Congresss intentions were very dangerous and asked people to listen to the statements made by Congress leaders who had quit the party after spending 20-25 years.A woman Congress leader said that when she went to Ram Mandir, she was tortured so much that she had to leave Congress. Another leader said that Muslim League and Maoists have taken over Congress. One said that the shehzada of Congress intends to overturn the Supreme Courts decision on Ram Mandir just like shehzadas father overturned the Supreme Courts decision in the Shahbano case, in the same way Congress is thinking of changing the Supreme Courts decision on Ram Mandir.

PM Modi also repeated his claim that the Congress would snatch reservation benefits of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes to appease a community. They issued such a law that all the Muslims in Karnataka were made OBC. They want to implement this model in the whole country, he added.
The residents of Dhandari Khurd decried the choked sewerage, hampering their living conditions. The locals have allegedly filed numerous complaints over the years, but the municipal corporation (MC) took no concrete action. Sewage overflow coming out on a street of Dhandari Khurd area in Ludhiana on Tuesday. (HT photo)

Dhandari Khurd residents claimed that the overflowing of sewage on roads has become a common problem, and the administration has done little to resolve the issue.

According to the residents, Dharamshala road in ward number 25 is often flooded with sewage water. The road becomes unusable on Sundays due to discharge of sewage water, which forces the commuters to find alternative routes, the residents added.

The choked sewerage system has caused various issues, including foul odour and the risk of waterborne diseases. A Dhandari Khurd resident, Sukh said, We have been facing this problem for past 10 years. Despite several visits from leaders and officials, the situation remains unchanged.

Another resident Harman expressed his frustration over the lack of action from the municipal authorities. He said, We have been raising this issue for years, but our pleas are being ignored.

Sub divisional officer Kamal Singh assured the residents. Singh said the municipal corporation is working efficiently to clean the streets and sewerage pipes to prevent further inconvenience to the residents.

The locals shared that a cycle of temporary fixes is followed by the problem resurfacing time and again. Recently, three streets in the area were flooded with sewage water. The situation remained the same for two days. Although, the municipal corporation sent a team to clear the sewage, but some roads are still left as it is, the residents added.
Police arrested a Bassian resident accused of duping at least 250 people on the pretext of sending them abroad. The accused, who has been identified as Hardeep Singh of Bassian village, Raikot, had earlier been declared a proclaimed offender by the court. (HT File)

The accused, who has been identified as Hardeep Singh of Bassian village, Raikot, had earlier been declared a proclaimed offender by the court.

At least four cases of fraud were lodged against him at the Division number 2 police station. Cases against him had also been registered at police stations in other parts of Punjab.

Sharing details, Janakpuri police post in-charge assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Kapil Kumar said the police arrested the accused from Bassian following a tip-off on Monday. The accused and his three aides, Kunal Gill, Pankaj Khokhar and Ashish Kumar, had set up an immigration office and duped around 250 people in two years.

The ASI added that some of the victims had approached police and lodged four separate FIRs against the accused between 2022 and 2023. The accused has been avoiding police for the past two years.

Two of his aides, Kunal Gill and Pankaj Khokhar, who are facing multiple cases, were arrested from other parts of Punjab and were lodged in jail. Ashish Kumar is yet to be arrested.

Further, the ASI added that the accused have not obtained a valid licence to practise as immigration agent. He set up the immigration office with the intention to dupe people looking to settle abroad. More important information is expected from the accused during questioning.
The 15-year-old allegedly abducted from a train in Bihar, was rescued at a rented accommodation near Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Gill road. The Bihar based family reached Ludhiana to bring back their 15-year-old daughter, who was allegedly abducted by a woman. (HT File)

The Bihar based family reached Ludhiana to bring back their 15-year-old daughter, who was allegedly abducted by a woman.

The accused had confined the minor girl in a rented accommodation, the complainant added.

The locals found it suspicious and alerted the police on Monday, who later informed the family members in Bihar.

The uncle of the girl, Mohammad Jamal said that on Friday, his niece was returning from the institute in a passenger train, where she met a woman who allegedly brought her to Ludhiana.

Jamal said he received a phone call from police on Monday and learnt that his niece was confined in rented an accommodation. Post which, he along with the other family members reached the spot and rescued the girl.

Marado police post in-charge assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Iqbal Singh said the family have taken the girl back. They will pursue a complaint in Bihar, the ASI added.
An inquiry by the local health department has shown that the Sarabha Nagar police had registered an attempt to murder case based on fraudulent medical information, without any medico-legal report (MLR), to prove that the injuries incurred by the victim were fatal in nature. The inquiry found that the police had not received any medical report to support the claim that the injuries were dangerous to life in nature. (HT File)

Civil surgeon Dr Jasbir Singh Aulakh has sent the report to the commissioner of police Kuldeep Chahal and sought action against the doctor who issued the information.

The first information report registered on April 11 charges the accused with sections 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.

However, the inquiry found that the police had not received any medical report to support the claim that the injuries were dangerous to life in nature.

Also the investigating officer from Sarabha Nagar Police Station during his appearance before the inquiry panel failed to produce any medical record which can prove that any injury on the person of Daljit Singh was dangerous to life in nature, the inquiry report read.

According to a government doctor who did not wish to be named, it was incumbent upon the police to approach a doctor and take their opinion to ascertain the nature of the injuries.

When approached for a comment, the investigating officer could not be reached.

The inquiry also reveals that the accused doctor neither provided the police with an MLR nor was he asked by the police to give the same.

The doctor in his statement and cross-examination admitted that he did not prepare the MLR of the Patient, he just sent the ruka (information) and nor was he given any request by the police for issuing the MLR of the patient, read the report.

The doctor, according to the inquiry report, also acknowledged that he did not know what was the difference between a serious and grievous injury.

The commissioner of police, meanwhile, said the medical record was not required if the investigating officer saw enough grounds for the charges.
Days after residents of Eldeco Estates, a posh locality, near Jalandhar Bypass, staged a protest and forced the police to halt the construction, another group of people including residents of nearby villages staged a protest demanding a police post outside the Eldeco Estates. An NHAI team removing the police post structure set up on the highway near the Eldeco Estate amid protests from the colonys residents amid concerns of road safety. (HT Photo)

Meanwhile, National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) has issued a notice to the police department asking them to submit a reply within 14 days if they have a permission on establish a police post there.

The colony residents alleged that police officials and the people spending money on the police post building, have turned the issue into a battle of egos and orchestrated the protest. They said that when the NHAI on Monday started removing the structure from the roadside, they were deterred by the police and a politician, alleging that the residents of nearby villages then initiated a counter protest seeking establishment of the police post.

The protesters, meanwhile, said that they are forced to travel several miles to seek police assistance and would benefit greatly from a police post being set up in the area.

Rana Partap Singh Sodhi, an advisory committee member of Eldeco Estate, said they had made a makeshift halting point for the police control rooms (PCR) motorcycle squad and ambulance Service. Later, the police established a structure overnight for construction of a police post. After they staged a protest, the police halted the construction work.

He added that the police post was encroaching the highway and will increase the risk of road mishaps. The colony residents asked the police department to shift the post elsewhere, as it was narrowing the passage for them.

Colony residents including Jatinder Adya, Rakesh Kapoor, Rajnish Kumar, Munish Jain, Abhay Tandon, Jagjit Singh, Sonal Arora and Dushyant Kumar said they will meet commissioner of police Kuldeep Singh Chahal to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, assistant commissioner of police (ACP, North) Jayant Puri said a section of residents were against the establishment of the police post while others favoured it. He added that the police have already vacated the contentious construction and shifted the police post to Salem Tabri police station building.
The Army on Monday released sketches of two Pakistan terrorists suspected to have been involved in Saturdays ambush on an Indian Air Force (IAF) convoy in Poonch in which one soldier was killed and four others were injured. A security personnel during a search operation following Saturday's terror attack in Poonch. (PTI)

Security forces joined by elite para commandos of the special forces, the special operations group of Jammu and Kashmir Police and the CRPF continued searches in the jungles of Shahsitar ridge in Poonchs Surankote sub-division. Posters promising a reward of 20 lakh for information on the two suspects were also put up.

IAF soldier Vikky Pahade was killed and four others injured after terrorists ambushed their convoy on Saturday at Sanai Top in Shahsitar, Surankote. On Monday, security forces picked up a man named Mohammad Razak for having provided food to the attackers at his house.

The terrorists, who attacked the IAF convoy on Saturday evening, had food at the house of Mohammad Razak, aged around 42 years. The individual is being questioned, said an official.

The number of locals detained by security forces for questioning has gone up to 16. Officials privy to the investigation said the attack was engineered by Lashkar-e-Taibas Habibullah Malik, alias Sajid Jutt. A native of Kasur district in Pakistans Punjab province, Sajid Jutt is wanted by the National Investigation Agency for orchestrating terror attacks in Rajouri and Poonch.

Though the attackers tried to replicate a Dhatyar Morh-like ambush of December 21 last year, this time they didnt succeed because of retaliation by the soldiers, said another official.

The first vehicle that came under brief fire sped away and stopped at a distance before soldiers from it retaliated against the attackers. The tailing vehicle, however, bore the brunt of fire. Before the attackers could cause more damage, they were unnerved by the swift retaliation by the soldiers in the first vehicle, the official added.

Investigators found 7.62mm steel core bullets and 5.56mm bullets from the spot. The terrorists, believed to be three to four in number, used steel core bullets to inflict maximum damage.

Former DGP Dr SP Vaid said, Since the Pakistani establishments deep state wants to disturb the Jammu region, the best place is Rajouri-Poonch, south of Pir Panjal, because of its topography and proximity to the Line of Control, which is easy to operate in because of its difficult terrain.

Pakistan only needs to try to infiltrate a group of terrorists. While 99 times the Army may avert their attempts, in the 100th attempt they may succeed and once a group is in, it would be on suicide mission. It will try to cause mayhem and that is what they are doing, he added.

To check frequent attacks in the twin border districts, the former DGP suggested improved human intelligence, a re-look at SOPs and engaging local youth as SPOs (special police officers) in the police force.

We need to improve human intelligence, review our tactics and improve SOPs. See, where are we lagging and what steps can be initiated to avert such attacks, he said.

We can make use of local boys, who know the terrain. Around 500 to 1,000 local youth can be recruited as SPOs. They know the jungles, caves, routes and every inch of the land. They can be utilised for countering terrorism. They have played a significant role in counter-insurgency operations in the past as well, he said.

The modus operandi of the terrorists remains the same. With logistical support from sleeper cells, the terrorists first recce the target area and note the timings of convoys that usually move there for operational duties before finally carrying out the attack. The terrorists usually ambush convoys in the evening hours just before dusk.

Saturdays ambush at Sanai Top was around 30km from the Dhatyar Morh ambush site of December 21 last year, which had left five soldiers dead , said a senior police officer, who did not wish to be named.

Now, these terrorists are using Chinese-made steel core bullets and US-made M4 rifles with the sole purpose of inflicting huge damage on the forces, said Vaid.

An Army officer, who requested anonymity, said, Security forces have contained terrorist activity in Kashmir and brought it to almost zero, especially after the revocation of Article 370 but at the same time the area south of the Pir Panjal has been witnessing a spike in terrorism.

Rajouri and Poonch have hilly terrain spread over 4,304sq km with the Line of Control meandering along the two border districts. Saturdays attack happened days before Poonch goes to the polls on May 25 as part of the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency. The polling for the constituency was rescheduled by the Election Commission on April 30 after leaders across the political spectrum sought a change in dates due to adverse weather conditions.
There are irregularities in the utilising of funds issued to Satish Chandra Dhawan Government College under National Higher Education Mission or Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) by the central government has come to fore, the response to an RTI filed by city-based educator has revealed. Satish Chandra Dhawan Government College had received  3.16 crore under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan. (HT photo)

Tarun Ghai, a whistleblower, had lodged a complaint to the director of RUSA in New Delhi, urging for a thorough investigation into the alleged violation in utilising the funds..

Copies of the records were also sent to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, UGC chairperson, secretary of higher education, Government of India, and the vigilance director of Punjab, alleging misappropriation of funds amounting to over 3.16 crore at the college.

Ghai said a panel comprising Government College Malerkotla and Science College, Jagraon, principles formed by RUSA authorities, in November 2022, revealed that more than the notified 35% allocated funds were spent on a new construction in violation of RUSA guidelines.

After the finding, a follow-up examination was scheduled, prompting questions regarding the necessity of repeated investigation and the absence of strict action against the college principal for non-cooperation.

To unearth further details, Ghai sought information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act regarding the funds received and their utilisation at the college. The response revealed that of the total allocation of 3.16 crore, a substantial portion had been spent contrary to RUSA guidelines.

The panel in the report mentioned that nearly 68% of the received fund was spent on a new construction, way higher than the 35% cap.

The RUSA guideline states that 35% of the fund assigned to a college can be spent on new construction, another 35% on the renovation and 30% on the equipment.

Funds spent as per guidelines: Principal

When contacted, SCD Government College Ludhiana principal Dr Tanveer Likhari maintained that the funds were utilised according to the guidelines and with permission from RUSA. They have all valid permissions obtained from RUSA.

RUSA ADP Ashwani Bhalla said the estimate of the new construction was made in 2012-13, while the construction was initiated by the public works department in 2021. Meanwhile, the construction cost increased. He also added that the college was not directly involved in the construction and all required permissions were obtained from the authorities concerned.
Jamila Buckner (center), the mother of Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner is embraced as she leaves her daughters memorial service at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland on Nov. 8, 2023. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle A booking photo of Joseph Roberts, left, who was charged in September 2023 with the murder of his girlfriend Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner. Alameda County booking photo, left, and photo provided by Buckner family

How Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner was killed is unclear, but what is certain is her live-in boyfriend killed her, then sawed off her head, hands and feet to conceal her identity and cover his tracks, a prosecutor said Monday.

Joseph Roberts then carried on with his life, Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Colleen Clark said during her closing arguments in Roberts' trial, pushing for a jury to convict Roberts of second-degree murder.

But defense attorney Annie Beles told the jury the prosecution failed to prove Roberts killed Buckner, who was 27.

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Theres nothing that shows he acted to kill her, Beles said in her closing arguments, which are set to continue Tuesday at Oaklands Rene C. Davidson Courthouse.

Roberts, 43, sat next to Beles in a black suit in the courtroom, which was packed with Buckners family and friends.

Clark pushed for the jury to convict Roberts of second-degree murder, conceding theres no evidence of premeditation on Roberts part, a prerequisite for first-degree murder. If he is convicted of second-degree murder, Roberts could face at least 15 years in state prison.

Buckners dismembered body was found in black garbage bags wrapped in duct tape along an Alameda waterfront trail last July. The case drew widespread attention because of the grisly nature of the crime and Roberts past spotlight. In 2017, the Trump administration held him up as a victim of an overzealous #MeToo movement after he claimed he was falsely accused of sexual harassment in college.

Prosecutors allege Roberts dumped Buckners body near Harbor Bay Club on July 19, six days after the couple last communicated over the phone. A dog walker testified that she unknowingly discovered Buckners body on July 19  she said the body looked like chopped-up parts of an animal.

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The dog walker didnt call police. A passerby did the next day.

DNA helped investigators identify the body as Buckners.

DNA on some of the garbage bags Buckners body was in and a piece of duct tape pointed to Roberts, Clark said. Cellphone records placed him at the scene the day the dog walker found Buckners body.

Clark said the cause of Buckners death was likely trauma to her head and neck, but theres no proof because her severed head was not found. Her hands and feet also were cut off.

Clark alleged Roberts dismembered Buckners body in their apartment in Pleasanton with a jigsaw, then tried to cover up the deed. She said Roberts removed carpet in the apartment, and that carpet fibers were found along with other debris in a drain, Buckners vehicle, which he drove, and the duct tape used to wrap the bags in which her body was found.

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Also in the drain was a bone fragment that DNA linked to Buckner. A red stain on a piece of carpet padding also contained Buckners DNA, Clark said.

Roberts didnt report Buckner missing. Instead he carried on with his life, Clark said. He even joined a dating app.

Thats the conduct and actions of a murderer, the prosecutor said. Roberts, she said, dumped Buckners body like a piece of trash and moved on with his life like nothing happened.

She claimed Roberts even used Buckners bank cards, which were in his wallet the day he was arrested.

During opening statements, defense attorney Charles Woodson pushed back on the notion that Roberts completely moved on with his life. Woodson also noted Roberts didnt destroy Buckners belongings.

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Clark outlined a history of domestic violence she claimed Buckner suffered at the hands of Roberts, offering the details as evidence of Roberts motive.

Buckner was six months pregnant when she met Roberts at San Franciscos Golden Gate University School of Law in 2019. She later gave up custody of her daughter, who was then cared for by Buckners mother.

A Navy veteran, Roberts first attracted widespread attention after he was expelled from Savannah State University in Georgia in 2013 and claimed he was falsely accused of sexual harassment. The Trump administration touted him as a victim of the #MeToo movement when the administration rolled back reforms to Title IX, a law that prohibits sexual discrimination at universities that receive federal funds.

Beles is expected to cast doubt on the prosecutions case when she resumes her closing arguments Tuesday. The closing arguments got underway after a month of testimony.
An Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper on Tuesday resumed its operation on the second day to douse the forest fire near Adwani village in Uttarakhands Pauri Garhwal district. An Mi-17 IAF helicopter engaging in aerial firefighting operation in Uttarakhands Pauri Garhwal on Tuesday.

Thick smoke from intense forest fires engulfed Srinagar town in Pauri Garhwal earlier in the day, causing a delay in the resumption of the aerial firefighting operation by the IAF helicopter.

The Mi-17 helicopter, which was scheduled to start water spraying operation in the morning, remained grounded till afternoon, when it restarted after the visibility improved.

On the first day of its operation on Monday, the IAF chopper carried out two sorties to douse forest fires near Dobh Srikot village by collecting over 4,500 litres of water from Alaknanda River in Srinagar.

Garhwal divisional forest officer (DFO) Swapnil Anirudh said, The IAF chopper resumed its operation to douse the forest fires near Adwani and nearby areas in the afternoon on the second day. The thick smoke in the morning didnt allow the chopper to begin its operation. It carried out five sorties. We will continue the operation to douse the forest fires using the chopper.

In response to the raging forest fires at Pauri Garhwal sector in Uttarakhand, IAF provided much-needed relief by undertaking Bambi Bucket ops by its Mi17 V5 helicopters. Over 4,500 litres of water was used to douse the fires in close coordination with the Uttarakhand government. The swift action by #IAF enabled the fire fighting crew on the ground to penetrate and douse fires in a more efficient manner, the IAF said on X on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, the Congress party attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government saying chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was busy in election campaigns outside the state even as fire raged in the forests of the state, gutting hundreds of hectares of forest land

Suryakant Dhasmana, state Congress vice president, said, The situation of forest fires continues to deteriorate in the state with each passing day, but CM Dhami is busy in the election campaign for his party outside the state. It seems there is no disaster management department in the state. When the government is failing to execute its duties in such an emergency situation, I urge the governor to intervene and pass instructions to the government for required action.

The economic lifeline Char Dham yatra is scheduled to begin on May 10 and tourist season has already kicked off, but there is no district where forests are not burning in the state. It is not just causing an adverse impact to the atmosphere but could also have a negative impact on the Char Dham yatra, he said.

The action which should have been taken in October last year is being taken now. The accountability of disaster management and forest officials should be fixed, Dhasmana added.

The BJP on the other hand said the Congress was doing politics on the issue despite its government taking all possible steps to prevent and control the forest fires.

Mahendra Bhatt, state BJP vice president and Rajya Sabha MP, said, To prevent the forest fires, the Dhami government is working at a war footing. The Congress and other opposition parties shouldnt do politics over the natural disaster. It is a well-known fact that the BJP government has effectively handled the disasters in the previous years. The people of the state appreciate the BJP government for the courageous work.

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, who arrived in Dehradun on Tuesday, will take a review meeting on the forest fires in the state.

Dhami while speaking to media persons said, It is a big challenge for us. We have been working on all options...whether to take help from the Army, deploying other agencies...or strict action against those involved in setting fires in forest. Our aim is to control the fire.

Postponing his previously scheduled programmes, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami is reaching Dehradun today. On Wednesday, he will review the efforts being made for effective prevention of forest fires in various areas of the state. The Chief Minister will also review the proper arrangements for drinking water in view of the summer season and the preparations being made for the upcoming monsoon season. The CM will also review the preparations for the Char Dham Yatra and various arrangements being made on the yatra routes. After the meeting, the CM will go to Rudraprayag and review the various arrangements being made at Shri Kedarnath Dham and on the walking routes as well as the preparations being made for traffic management, an official release stated.
In his 70s, he is frail, he walks with caution, and his advanced years has taken a toll on his hearing. And he flits around the capital in public buses. This elderly man single-handedly sustains a piece of heritage literature. Abu Noman is the editor-publisher of the literary minded Rehnuma-e-Taleem Jadeed. (HT Photo)

Abu Noman is the editor-publisher of the literary minded Rehnuma-e-Taleem Jadeed. The monthly risala (journal) in Urdu was founded by Master Jagat Singh in 1905 in Lahore, eventually moving base to Delhi following the partition.

This afternoon, the venerable gent in white kurta-pajama is walking in the hostile May heat, on way to meet one of the magazines contributors. He pauses under a shade for gupshup, informing that he used to be full-time calligrapher in a series of Urdu dailies. Those newspapers shut down one after another, he says. Now Maktaba Jamia too has shut down, he says, referring to a bookstore in Old Delhis Urdu Bazar.

Abu Nomans present-day journal was similarly shutting down back in 2006. The founders descendants blamed its non-profitability. But I couldnt have let this chirag (lamp) be extinguished I had a long association with the risala as a freelancer, I convinced the owners to hand it to me. He relaunched the magazine, amending the name from Rehnuma-e-Taleem to Rehnuma-e-Taleem Jadeed.

Each month, the magazine receives about 20 contributions from writers through email. Not proficient in online correspondence, Abu Noman routinely walks over to a computer operator, a kilometre away from his home in north-east Delhis West Gondha. The operator hands him the prints over every successive visit. He spends the next few days closely reading these contributions at home, after which he returns with the edited content to the operator, who arranges it in the magazines formatted design, emailing the computer file to a printer in Daryaganj. 400 copies are produced, priced at 25 rupees each. Abu Noman then walks to the nearby post office in Maujpur to personally parcel the journal to subscribers, spread across 19 soobe (states).

Fluent in Urdu and Punjabi, he discloses that the magazine does not yield profit, even though the writers arent paid any remuneration. It is all about Urdu ki khidmat (sevice). The latest issue has ghazals by poets Mohsin Azim Ansari, Kanwar Mahinder Singh Bedi Sehar, Noor Hasan Noor Nawabi and Aslam Hanif. There is also an essay on the poets of Tonk town by Shaheen Afroz, and a satire on writing life by Narang Saki, the magazines principal advertiser.

Abu Noman will soon start preparing the next issue. The risala will continue as long as I am.
The pink building bears the shade of twilight. The purpose for which it was built is long gone, but the structure continues to exist, here in Paharganj, the backpackers district reeling with Covid-era closures of cafes and bookstores. The Imperial Cinema in Paharganj closed in 2015. (HT Photo)

In a locality overwhelmed with disappeared landmarks, Imperial Cinema sits on one side of Brijmohan Sethi Chowk. It sits confidently, as if the hollow hulk were to outlast us all. The cinema closed in 2015. During its final years, it used to screen action movies from the 1990s; the morning shows were reserved for A-rated English films. The cinema hall was originally a colonial-era theatre and hosted balls for British officers, according to the book Delhi 4 Shows: Talkies Of Yesteryear. It is believed to be the first theatre in the city to have been turned into a cinema. The earliest movie screened was Alam Ara, Indias first sound film.

This afternoon, the current booking window, in the cinemas road-facing corridor, is covered with a delicate film of cobweb. Directly above the window, painted in blood red, are the theatres vital stats 189 seats in the balcony, 381 seats in the rear stall. A large poster, probably of the last movie screened, is so faded and tattered that it is impossible to identify the actors, though one of the faces hints to Mithun Chakraborty. An adjacent column is plastered with pink fliers advertising Maths and Reasoning Special Classes by Kishen Sir.

Directly across the road stands a spiffy building speckled with curtained windows. It is the appropriately named Hotel Imperial View.

Meanwhile, the other side of the theatreon Lakshmi Narayan Streethas become literally wild. Wayward tree leaves are growing atop the theatres roof. Roots of that tree have set into the derelict brick wall, clearly visible through the peeling pink. The facade overlooks a landmark about to vanish. An aged mansionbeautiful arched doorways, etc has lately been bounded up with blue metal barricades, a sure sign of looming demolition.

Some distance away, towards the south, lies the derelict remains of the Khanna Cinema building. Some distance away, towards the north, lies the well-preserved remains of the Sheila Cinema building.

Slowly-slowly, the evening sets in, the departing sun smears the western sky (not seen in the photo) with tints of pink, soon to be swallowed by the night. The Imperials pink is more lasting.
May 7, 2024 2:49 PM IST

People from Vittalapur village near Tavaragera in Koppal district of Karnataka reportedly boycotted polling in their village. The villagers decided to highlight their protest against the district administration for not providing proper health care to the villagers.

A report in The Hindu said that a pregnant woman had died at Tavaragera Community Health Centre a few days ago and villagers blamed Dr. Kaveri Shavis for her negligence. The demand is to take action against the doctor and provide good health care for them.

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Police officials entered the campus of Greater Noida's Gautam Buddha University after the body of a woman was found in the water tank of the institute's staff quarters building on Monday. As per the preliminary probe, the deceased woman lived there with her husband and her mother-in-law. A woman's body was found in the water tank of a university in Noida (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The husband of the woman is currently on the run, and police suspect that he, along with his mother, murdered his wife and fled. The deceased's husband worked in the JIMS Hospital in Greater Noida.

During the investigation, residents told the police that the couple would often quarrel. There was a fight between the two on Sunday night as well, and the police suspect that it ended with the woman's murder. The cops are now looking for her husband and mother-in-law.

The woman's relatives registered a complaint, and the police have now formed teams to look for the missing accused. The woman's body was discovered in the cemented water tank on Monday, and has since been recovered by the police.

Senior police officer Shivhari Meena told NDTV that the body has been sent for an autopsy. He said, We have registered a case and a team has been formed to search for the absconding accused. All aspects are being probed and the matter will be unearthed soon.

Read more: Victim injured in sword attack is also wanted in attempt to murder case

In February this year, a 20-year-old man was murdered by his friends in Gautam Buddha Nagar and then buried six feet deep by the accused. The man was strangled to death by his four friends, and buried in a farmland in Amroha.

The man was reportedly killed on February 27, but the accused kept sending ransom messages to his acquaintances in order to mislead his family and the police.
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Programme Overview:

The MBA programme from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) has been designed by its acclaimed faculty and stands out as a beacon for working professionals who are keen on accelerating their careers. Whats more is that it is an affordable course coming from a top-notch institute, in 2023, VIT stood at 8th position in NIRF University Rankings of India.

This programme will train you in critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities. At INR 1,60,000, it is an affordable MBA programme. What's more is that there is a facility to make payment via easy instalments. There are various options for loans and EMI options as well. This 24-month course comes to you in a mixed mode (recorded and live sessions by VIT faculty). You will also have sessions with subject matter experts. This comprehensive curriculum is divided into four semesters with a choice of 10+ electives in the second year. It is an application-based learning experience with real-world case studies.

Programme Details:

Starts on: August 14, 2024

Duration: 24 Months

Faculty: VIT faculty

Learning Mode: Live Online + Recorded Sessions by VIT faculty; Live session 1hr/week/subject

Programme/Course Leaders: Subject Matter Experts/ Mid Industry Practitioners/Mid Industry Practitioners

Programme Fee: 1,60,000 (Easy Instalment and Loan EMI Options Available)

Eligibility: Passed Bachelors degree of minimum three years duration with at least 50% (45% in the case of candidates belonging to a reserved category

Key Takeaways:

 This is an online MBA programme that is easily accessible and simple to apply

 You get access to pre-recorded, high-definition videos for self-paced learning from top VIT faculty.

 Get alumni status from VIT and avail all its benefits

 You earn an MBA degree from a renowned university in India

 This is a UGC/AICTE-approved MBA degree from VIT

 This is a 100% online learning experience (study while you continue to work)

 Comprehensive curriculum with a choice of electives to blend knowledge from different domains

Who is the programme for?

Aspiring for career advancement: Young professionals keen on securing a higher-paying position should opt for this programme from VIT. The course will help in unlocking new career opportunities and fostering significant career growth. It has been designed to equip individuals with strategic and managerial expertise.

Cross-industry appeal: VITs MBA programme has been conceived to bring together professionals from diverse backgrounds. Candidates from all industries who aspire to upskill and transition into managerial roles, elevate their positions, and accelerate their career growth can benefit from it.

Conclusion

Choosing to be part of the two-year online MBA programme from VIT is sure to be a transformative educational experience for you. It will empower you to excel in your professional journey. This programme will take you back to the fundamental functions of management to help you unlock your real value and utilise your full potential in the future. To apply, click here

About Vellore Institute of Technology

VIT Online Learning began with the objective of offering online education to aspiring learners around the globe. This institute will cater to the needs of students and working professionals interested in pursuing higher education at their own pace, and it provides flexibility in learning. The development in information and communication technologies paves the way for taking education to the doorstep of learners. It aims at creating and offering programmes and courses in emerging areas with a focus on quality and adhering to the regulations of statutory bodies. It has state-of-the-art facilities for the development and delivery of online programmes. It uses experienced faculty members from academia and industry to offer the programmes. It is a new flagship offering that draws from the strength of VITs rich academic history and experience. In terms of achievements and accolades, VIT stands as follows:
The Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBOSE) has released the Class 10 board exam results on May 7, 2024. Students who appeared in the examination can check their results by visiting the official website of the board at hpbose.org. Officials from HPBOSE released the results at a press conference held today. Other details such as pass percentage, toppers list and gender-wise percentage was also shared at the press conference.(ANI)

Himachal Pradesh Class 10 results LIVE updates

This year, more than 90,000 students appeared for the Class 10 board examination across the state. The HP 10th results were announced via press conference. The press conference was conducted by the Board officials, and pass percentage, gender-wise pass percentage, toppers and other details were shared.

Heres how to check Himachal Pradesh Class 10 scores:

 Go to the HPBOSE official website at hpbose.org.

 On the homepage, click on the results page.

 Click the Class 10 final examination result link.

 Enter the credentials and log in.

 Check your result displayed on the screen.

 Download and take a printout for future reference.

The HPBOSE Class 10 and 12 board examination was conducted from March 2 to 21, 2024. The examination was conducted across the state at various exam centres. The papers were held from 8:45 am to 12 pm.
As Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Arshad Warsi get busy with the shoot of their upcoming film, Jolly LLB 3 in Ajmer, the comedy project has gotten into legal soup. A complaint alleging that the film disrespects the judiciary system has been filed against the films team in a court in Ajmer. (Huma Qureshi joins Jolly LLB 3 cast, reunites with Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi) At the moment, Akshay Kumar and Arshad Warsi are shooting for Jolly LLB 3 in Ajmer.

According to a report by NBT, Ajmer District Bar Association President, Chandrabhan Singh Rathod has lodged a complaint against the makers of the film, claiming that the franchise makes fun of the Indian judiciary system, tarnishing its image as a consequence.

Know more about the complaint

Chandrabhan reportedly filed the complaint against the producer, director and actors for making fun of lawyers and judges. In the complaint, Chandrabhan apparently claimed that the film presents lawyers and judges in an inappropriate way which, he termed, is humorous and indecent.

This decision has been taken considering the first and second parts of Jolly LLB. It seems that the filmmakers, directors and actors do not respect the dignity and prestige of the judiciary of the countrys Constitution at all. The shooting of Jolly LLB 3 is going on in the surrounding villages and areas including the DRM office of Ajmer, which will continue for several days. Even during the shooting of this film, the actors of the film do not seem to be at all serious about the image, prestige and dignity of the judiciary including the judges, the report quoted Chandrabhan as saying.

He further added that the scenes of kicking a lawyer, chasing him with a stick, the judge eating gutkha, and money transactions dont depict the reality of the legal system, and are not in accordance with the dignity of the judiciary system. (Read: Exclusive: Here's when Akshay Kumar starts shooting Jolly LLB 3 in Ajmer)

In fact, Ajmer District Bar Association has filed an application in the court of Civil Judge Ajmer North to stop the shooting of Jolly LLB 3. They have requested the court to issue a notice. As per the report, the hearing of the case will take place today (Tuesday).

What we know about Jolly LLB 3

Akshay and Arshad are reprising their roles as lawyers, with Subhash Kapoor on board to direct the project. They started shooting for the film in Ajmer on April 29. They also shared a funny video when they began shooting the film.

Sharing the video, Akshay wrote, Ab original kaun aur duplicate kaun, yeh toh pata nahi. But this sure is going to be a jolly good ride !! Stay with us. Jai Mahakaal.

The first Jolly LLB film was released in 2013 and its sequel in 2017. In the third installment, it is believed that Akshay and Arshad will be seen at loggerheads, with Saurabh Shukla reprising his role as a judge. (Also read: 10 years of Jolly LLB: Saurabh Shukla recalls how Jolly LLB helped him interested in acting again)
During an interaction with Pinkvilla, Anupam, who also runs his own acting school, spoke about Ratnas comment, saying he doesnt feel the need to justify anything to her.

Anupam's reaction to Ratna's comment

When asked about Ratna's comment, Anupam said, I dont have to react. It's her point of view. Main Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah) ka bhi ek interview dekh raha tha. Woh bhi bol rahe the ki..." [I was watching an interview of Naseeruddin Shah, he was also saying that]. He went on to question, "I think both of them are from National School of Drama, will they call National School of Drama a shop?" Read: Ratna Pathak Shah on male actors romancing betiyon ki umar ki ladkiyan onscreen: It is an embarrassment

Anupam wondered if the comment was made out of bitterness. "So kabhi kabhi aadmi bitterness se kuch baatein bolta hai. Kabhi kabhi aadmi philosophy mein bhi kuch baatein bolta hai. Kabhi kabhi aap isliye bhi baat bolte hain, taaki woh savaal ban sake koi [Sometimes people say something out of bitterness. Sometimes they say it philosophically. Sometimes you also say something so that it can become a question], Anupam said, adding, But it is not important for me to sort of justify. What they think, they think. It's a shop. It's perfectly alright."

Despite the differences in opinions. Anupam asserted that there is no bitter feeling towards each other.

I look at the goodness in people. Even the worst person will have a good side. I remember when I took my first car out for a drive, Naseer saw me and showed so much warmth," he recalled.

The actor continued, He said, Wow, Anupam you finally bought a car. I cant forget the warmth he showed towards me. For me, the gesture is important. He may say anything against me. But that is his genuine reaction which i will always think of and remember.

What did Ratna Pathak say

In an interview back in 2022, Ratna, who has been an actor for over five decades, opened up about her love for acting, and her disappointment on how there are trainers for actors in the country.

You know actors getting ready, going from place to place, going into the wings, waiting for their entry, technical crew moving around - I loved all that. So I used to be very happy backstage. But when I actually started acting myself, I realised I dont know how to do it at all. I mean I was okayish, but I was certainly no good. I didnt know how to act, quite honestly. I was doing what I had seen my mum do, and what I had seen other people do, the Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai actor told Pinkvilla, adding, But that wasnt good enough. So that's one of the reasons I went to the NSD, because I wanted to train and learn how to become a better actor. Unfortunately, there were no acting teachers in the National School of Drama (NSD).

Talking about the present state, the actor shared, Thats one of the big tragedies in India. We have created no trainers for actors. Almost everyone who is running a shop just now, and I used the word shop. Its not an acting training institute, they are shops. Those guys are making money, cheating young people. I mean, the kind of stuff that goes on in these acting shops is appalling, and kids are paying lakhs for that. But NSD was not like that. So we got trained in theatre and I learnt a lot, but about acting I didn't learn much at all.

Anupams busy work schedule

The actor, who will complete his 40th year in the Hindi film industry this year, was last seen in Kaagaz 2. He will be next seen in Anurag Basu's Metro... In Dino alongside Sara Ali Khan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Ali Fazal, Konkona Sen Sharma, Pankaj Tripathi, and Neena Gupta.
Priyanka Chopra made a successful switch from Bollywood to Hollywood, and went on to star as a lead in the show Quantico, and in last year's Citadel. However, the actor says she did not know she had the power to ask for pay parity in the first place. In an interview with India Today during the promotional rounds for WOMB, the actor shared how she was surprised when her agents made the call around pay parity. (Also read: Priyanka Chopra says she had pay parity with her male co-star only in Citadel: 'First time I got equal pay in 22 years') Priyanka Chopra talked about pay parity in a recent interview.

What Priyanka said

During the interview, Priyanka recalled the conversation and added, When my agents told me that we were going to ask for pay parity, even I was surprised. I was like, 'What? No, that doesn't happen in our industry.' And they were like, 'Let's just ask the question.' So, I didn't even know that I had that power. I did not know I could aspire for more, because I was desensitised. I was told this is normal.

More details

This is not the first time that Priyanka has shed light on the topic of pay parity. "I've never had pay parity in Bollywood. I would get paid about 10% of the salary of my male co-actor. It's (the pay gap) large, substantially large. And so many women still deal with that. I'm sure I will too if I worked with a male co-actor now in Bollywood," she had said in an interview with BBC 100 Women in 2022. She also mentioned that it was in Citadel, co-starring Richard Madden, where she had pay parity with her male co-star for the first time.

Priyanka is currently shooting for Heads of State. It also features Idris Elba, John Cena, and Jack Quaid in key roles under the direction of Ilya Naishuller. She will also be seen in The Bluff, directed by Frank E Flowers.
Supervisor Hillary Ronen listens to a sexual assault survivor speak about her experience reporting the incident at a 2018 hearing. The hearing led to the creation of a new office to reform the citys response to sexual assault allegations, but it has done little since. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle Representatives of the San Francisco Police Department attend a Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee hearing held by Supervisor Hillary Ronen related to the alleged mishandling of sexual assault cases by the city in 2018. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

When allegations of sexual abuse against rising San Francisco political star Jon Jacobo surfaced in April, the reports contained a familiar refrain: The three women said police had failed to sensitively and thoroughly investigate their cases.

In 2018, when a dozen women and advocates had voiced similar complaints about reporting sex crimes, city officials created a new office to fix the system that had let down so many survivors.

The Office of Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention, or SHARP, promised to process victims complaints about city departments handling of their cases and to help them access services. It would notify departments if one of their employees was accused of breaking the law or failed to follow policy for reporting sex crimes, and it could require city employees to meet with the survivor to hear out their concerns. Ultimately, SHARPs staff would distill what it learned into policy proposals to help reform a process widely seen as broken.

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But six years after the office was created, theres little evidence it has met its goals, according to more than a dozen interviews and a Chronicle review of thousands of pages of public records.

SHARP has proposed no official policies to improve how the San Francisco Police Department treats those who come forward. The office has also not suggested policy changes to the district attorneys office or the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, which provides services to sexual assault survivors and is run by the Department of Public Health. The three city agencies are the largest that work directly and extensively with survivors.

SHARP officials could identify only one instance, in 2021, in which the office required a city employee to meet with a person who filed a complaint. Officials did not provide details on the nature of the complaint, but said the meeting included the SFPD and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and the police investigation is continuing.

Neither the police department nor the district attorneys office has changed any policies related to their work with sex crime accusers since SHARPs creation, officials from both departments said. Officials with the Department of Public Health said SHARP had never contacted them to share a complaint.

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Representatives from two city agencies that oversee police  the Department of Police Accountability and the Police Commission  said they had no record of SHARP contacting them since at least 2021. Ive never heard of SHARP before, said Police Commission Vice President Max Carter-Oberstone.

SFPDs special victims unit, which handles sex crimes, told the Chronicle that it had no record of communications with SHARP until two weeks ago, when SHARP leaders requested a meeting  days after Chronicle reporters sent the office a detailed list of questions about its activities.

In interviews and statements, officials with SHARP and the Human Rights Commission, the city agency that oversees SHARP, said its employees attend team meetings that include the special victims unit. SHARP has brought three issues to the attention of the SFPD command staff directly: an issue of interpersonal violence, an issue related to an overdose and an alleged violation of consent, SHARP Director KellyLou Densmore said in an email.

She did not respond to requests for more information about these complaints. Evan Sernoffsky, a police spokesperson, said the meetings involved criminal cases that were already under investigation. Sernoffsky said he was not sure what role SHARP played in these meetings.

Sheryl Evans Davis, executive director of the Human Rights Commission, acknowledged SHARPs shortcomings but said it has done important work to help individuals in vulnerable communities and to raise awareness about sexual violence.

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Davis said SHARP helped domestic violence survivors secure housing during the pandemic, created policy recommendations to protect students from sexual assault in schools and has helped find community resources for people who didnt want to report a crime. This was particularly important for communities who are distrustful of police, she said, including people of color and undocumented immigrants.

Davis said that, over time, SHARPs focus shifted from helping alleged sex crime victims who felt let down by the justice system to those who chose to avoid it altogether. She said the change was based on the needs of the community, but conceded that the department had lost sight of its intended purpose: to reform existing departments and remove roadblocks for those seeking justice.

I think that, if were going to make the system better, we cant just avoid the system, Davis said. We actually have to talk to them (city agencies) about what they need to do to improve.

For instance, Davis said, SHARP could have provided referral cards to police and asked officers to hand them out to people who reported a sex crime. Currently there is no formal channel for police to make referrals to SHARP.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who proposed the legislation that created SHARP, said she has been really underwhelmed by the departments performance. Ronen is holding a hearing Thursday to probe SHARP and the broader city response to sexual assault in response to the Jacobo allegations.

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When asked about concerns that SHARP wasnt functioning as intended, Jeff Cretan, a spokesperson for Mayor London Breed, told the Chronicle that the department will dissolve into a new office city voters authorized in 2022.

The Office of Victim and Witness Rights is intended to streamline services for victims of crime, including sexual assault, into one central office. Cretan could not provide a date when the new office would open, but said Breed plans to announce its leadership soon.

Davis said that SHARP never intended to neglect the people who tried to work with the official criminal justice system.

It has been a challenge to find the balance, she said. And we are committed to working to address the systemic problems that impact everyone  those who report and those who do not.

New case, same concerns

Last months bombshell allegations against Jacobo shook the citys political world, and the fallout was swift.

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Jacobo, a well-known figure in local progressive politics involved in many community organizations, was widely viewed as a potential successor to Ronen, whose district includes the Mission, before a previous sexual assault allegation surfaced in 2021.

But after the womens reports surfaced in April, he resigned from his leadership position at the powerful housing nonprofit TODCO, as well as his position on the board of directors at the Mission District nonprofit Calle 24.

But while Jacobos political career has stalled, it remains less clear whats to come of the three womens other troubling allegations: that San Francisco police failed to thoroughly investigate their reports of abuse, as the San Francisco Standard first reported.

One of Jacobos accusers said her calls to police went unreturned; the other two said they felt discouraged by their interactions with investigators.

San Francisco police have denied that they mishandled or dropped the cases and said investigations are pending.

The issues Jacobos accusers allegedly faced in reporting their allegations to police echoed those raised in a 2018 hearing that led to the creation of SHARP, suggesting little progress in the citys handling of such sensitive cases.

During the hearing six years ago, speakers said they felt blamed by officers who took their reports, and said investigators failed to promptly collect evidence or interview witnesses. Some said they had to wait hours at S.F. General to have blood and urine samples tested, while others said police did not reach out to key witnesses. One woman said a police officer told her the case would come down to her state of mind during her alleged rape; another said that when she told hospital employees about her assault, they said she needed to continue on with her life.

Two of Jacobos accusers told the Chronicle that they did not recall police referring them to SHARP when they reported the alleged crimes. The Chronicle was unable to reach the third woman in the Standards reporting.

Interviews with city officials and domestic violence advocates paint a picture of a department that was well-meaning but lacked resources, focus and oversight. For instance, the $400,000 department was expected to hire three full-time employees, but instead has two people on staff.

Since its creation, SHARP has received 67 complaints about city departments response to sex assault reports or other requests for help from its website, Densmore said in a statement. The office has received another 185 community informed complaints from town halls, private conversations with SHARP staff and other channels.

Densmore said her office investigated all of these complaints, and has worked with 33 people who requested advocacy help from SHARP. This often involved connecting them to legal services or community groups because their cases werent related to a city agency, Densmore said.

In an interview, Ronen blamed the mayors office for failing to ensure that SHARP fulfilled its intended mission. Legislators are not supposed to implement the legislation. Thats the job of the executive branch of government, she said.

Without directly addressing Ronens criticisms, Cretan said SHARP was well-intentioned but an example of piecemeal, inefficient systems that dont deliver their intended outcomes. He said that because SHARP was a government agency, it couldnt keep survivors experiences confidential, which limited its ability to build trust.

Under the new victims services agency set to absorb SHARP, however, employees may still be unable to offer confidentiality to survivors who file complaints. Cretan said the city is considering making it possible for victims to report confidentially by partnering with law enforcement  although some of the complaints could be about police.

Lost in the system

One city employee who reported to police last year that she may have been the victim of a sexual crime said the creation of SHARP typifies a fundamental flaw in the citys lawmaking: When San Francisco leaders identify a problem in one department, they tend to create a new city office rather than fix the issue through existing channels.

In addition to SHARP, the city has at least five other departments that offer services to crime victims, not including the new Office of Victim and Witness Rights.

Last year, the city employee, who asked not to be identified, came across an article about an employee at an alterations business who had been accused of secretly recording women in the business changing room. In horror, the woman realized that she had undressed in that changing room on several occasions.

I basically freaked out, the woman said. It wasnt clear to me, like, how long (the recordings had been happening); am I on that video?

In search of answers, the woman called the SFPD investigator handling the case. But, she said, the detective refused to talk about any details, or to even confirm or deny any video existed, saying divulging that information could compromise the investigation.

The detective told the woman that police would reach out to her with any developments, and that she could contact the district attorneys office if she wanted to press charges, she recalled.

Im like, Am I only allowed to get answers to these questions or be notified if this person is going to be back in the neighborhood if I press charges? And what exactly am I pressing charges on?  the woman said.

Sernoffsky, the SFPD spokesperson, said he could not comment on the womans case without knowing her identity. (The Chronicle does not identify alleged victims of sex crimes without their consent.) In general, he said, SFPD does not publicly discuss evidence in open investigations because it could compromise the case and potential prosecution.

The suspect, Andrew Hong, pleaded not guilty to six counts of misdemeanor invasion of privacy and has since been released from jail while awaiting trial. The woman said she has not been contacted by police since her frustrating conversation with the detective over a year ago.

The woman said she did not know what further steps she could take with the case and was never directed to SHARP.

We have a district attorneys office who offers victim services, we have the (pending) Office of Victim Services, we have the SFPDs special victims unit, the woman said. Im a city employee, and I understand how these systems work and what resources are available and even I find it confusing.
Actor Shekhar Suman has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the party headquarters in Delhi. Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, news agency ANI shared a video. (Also Read | Shekhar Suman compares himself with Dilip Kumar and Aamir Khan) Shekhar Suman at the BJP headquarters in Delhi.

Shekhar Suman joins BJP

In the clip, Shekhar Suman was welcomed to the party with a flower bouquet. He also posed for photos with other BJP members. The actor joined the BJP amid the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections. However, it is not yet clear if he will contest the elections.

Shekhar Suman talks about joining BJP

After joining the party, the actor said, "Till yesterday, I did not know that I would be sitting here today because many things in life happen knowingly or unknowingly. I have come here with very positive thinking, and I would like to thank God that he ordered me to come here." He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders.

Shekhar Suman on positive thinking

He also said, "When you start with positive thinking, then everything goes well. I don't have any negative thoughts in my mind. I'm just thinking about the country. I think people depend a lot on words, but there's no value in words after a point in time. There is a difference in saying and doing. If I want, I can sit here all day and give a long speech and even better than many. I can give it for a long time but it has no value. There will be value when I do something and show you all."

Shekhar Suman's recent project

The actor was recently seen portraying the character of Zulfiqar Ahmed in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial web series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. Set against the backdrop of the Indian freedom struggle of the 1940s, the project promises to be an epic saga of love, power, revenge, and freedom. It also stars Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Sharmin Segal, Taha Shah Badussha and Adhyayan Suman. Heeramandi is streaming on May 1 on Netflix.
Kristen Stewart, the Charlies Angels star, recently stated that Hollywood does the bare minimum to support female filmmakers. Except for four of them. Kristen Stewart calls out Hollywood for being 'phony.'(Getty Images)

Stewart, who will make her directorial debut with an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch's novel The Chronology of Water, told Porter magazine that there is a "phony" performative structure that women directors use to achieve success in the film industry.

[Theres a] thinking that we can check these little boxes, and then do away with the patriarchy, and how were all made of it, Stewart said. Its easy for them to be like, Look what were doing. Were making Maggie Gyllenhaals movie! Were making Margot Robbies movie! And youre like, OK, cool. Youve chosen four.

Stewart added, And Im in awe of those women, I love those women [but] it feels phony. If were congratulating each other for broadening perspective, when we havent really done enough, then we stop broadening."

The Oscar-nominated actress compared present gender discrimination to the past, describing it as a more "passive aggressive" approach that can go unnoticed.

Even if were still emotionally violent towards women right now, its so much more passive aggressive, Stewart said. [Before] it was just so f*cking straight up.

Stewart opens up about her directorial debut

Stewart has been open about her difficulties in obtaining funding for "The Chronology of Water". Stewart and Andy Mingo co-wrote the script, and Stewart has been attached to direct the movie since 2018.

Its kind of a self-conscious thing to talk about, because its hard to get anything made, she said speaking about her directorial debut. You know, [a film] thats not regurgitating something thats pretty standardized. My movie is about incest and periods and a woman violently repossessing her voice and body, and it is, at times, hard to watchbut its gonna be a fucking thrill ride.

However, she does not mean that "The Chronology of Water" is too narrow to attract an audience.

I think thats commercial, Stewart said, but I dont think that I have any gauge on what that means. I think people would want to see that, but thenI think maybe people wanna watch movies about, like, Jesus and dogs.
Drake's Toronto mansion is at the centre of a police investigation following a shooting early Tuesday morning. The shooting took place outside the Canadian rapper's property in Bridle Path at around 2:10 am local time, according to CBS News. Authorities confirmed the shooting that left one person injured in an X, formerly Twitter post. The victim was transported to a hospital with serious injuries while the suspect fled the scene in a vehicle, the Toronto Police said. Drake's Toronto house was taped off by cops after shooting outside rapper's mansion left one person gravely injured(AFP)

Police investigation shooting outside Drake's Toronto mansion

Following the shooting at Bayview Ave & Lawrence Ave E, police confirmed to CityNews that the injured person was not Drake. While authorities did not immediately reveal the identity of the person injured, TMZ confirmed that the victim was a member of Drake's security personnel. The police added that the man suffered a gunshot wound to the upper chest, per the outlet. It appears that the shooting was a drive-by incident.

As the incident comes amid the recent feud between Drake and fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar, cops are yet to confirm whether the shooting was related to the same. Tammie Sutherland, a CityNews Toronto anchor, shared pictures of the scene on X, formerly Twitter, along with the message- A look at the scene surrounding the home of rapper Drake as police investigate a shooting in the upscale area. Police confirm to@CityNewsTO that Drake was NOT the man injured.

The God's Plan hitmaker has recently been in the limelight due to his weeks-long feud with Lamar. At the centre of the feud between the two hip-hop stars is Lamar's diss track, in which he claimed that Drake has a secret daughter. The track also refers to him as a gambling and drug addict, per USA Today. The shooting also comes as a cause for concern over Drake's mansion being a hot topic of discussion lately. The lavish property is also featured on the cover of Lamar's track Not Like Us.
Lovely Runner has indeed mapped out a lovely journey. The tvN time-travel romance is not only winning hearts, but also clinching breaking its personal best heights to go further up the success ladder. New still from the Episode 9-10 broadcast of Lovely Runner on tvN.(tvN)

According to Nielsen Korea, the Monday-Tuesday show, starring Byeon Woo Seok and Kim Hye Yoon, broke its previous all-time high record of average nationwide viewership ratings set at 4.459% on April 29, with Episode 7. Soaring higher, the May 6 entry of Episode 9 broke that barrier and claimed a nationwide rating of approximately 4.8%, with viewership ratings in Seoul standing further up at 5.638%.

Also read | 2024 Baeksang Arts Awards winners: Kim Soo Hyun and IVE's Yujin are Popular choices, Lee Do Hyun crowned Best New Actor

Episode 10 will have aired today, May 7, by the time this article goes live. Lovely Runner Episode 11 is set to release on Monday, May 13, 2024, on tvN. The series is also streaming on Viki and Viu for international audiences. Tune in to find out how Im Sol's final ride back in time will change the future and character dynamics between everyone.

Other weekday drama ratings

The other two ongoing Monday-Tuesday K-dramas sharing the same timeslot as Lovely Runner maintained their mild and steady ride.

KBS2 Nothing Uncovered's Monday ratings dipped to a score of 2.7%. Episode 14, airing on April 30, previously secured an average nationwide viewership of 3.1%. The melodrama starring Kim Ha Neul, Yeon Woo Jin and Jang Seung Jo will wrap up its storyline today, May 7, with the Episode 16 finale.

Also read | Cha Eun Woo, Seventeen, Park Bo Young and others dominate at 2024 Brand Customer Loyalty Awards. Winners list out!

Thus far, the thriller romance's highest nationwide ratings peaked at 3.8% on April 23, with the Episode 12 broadcast.

Meanwhile, the heartwarming story of ENA's The Midnight Studio embarked on an equally underrated route. The Joo Won and Kwon Nara-starrer fantasy series concluded its 16-episode run on May 6 with a nationwide rating of approximately 2%, a steady constant reading throughout the series' broadcast.

Nielsen Korea recorded the cumulative average nationwide audience share of all 16 episodes of The Midnight Studio as 2.090%.
MADISON, Wis.  A federal appeals court has cleared the way for utilities to finish building a high-voltage power line across a Mississippi River refuge. HT Image

American Transmission Company, ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative are in the final stages of constructing a 102-mile transmission line linking Iowas Dubuque County and Wisconsins Dane County. About a mile of the line would cross the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge near Cassville, Wisconsin.

A coalition of conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit in March in hopes of stopping the crossing. The groups allege the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved the crossing in February without adequate public comment. They also maintain that the agency and the utilities improperly reached a deal calling for the utilities to transfer land to the refuge in exchange for land within the refuge for the power line.

U.S. District Judge William Conley issued a preliminary injunction blocking the land swap while he weighs the merits of the case. A three-judge panel from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the injunction on Thursday. The panel ruled that Conley didn't find that the conservationists were likely to win the case, a mandatory determination to win a preliminary injunction.

Online court records show Conley has set a briefing schedule on the merits of the case that extends through late July, with a hearing set for Aug. 8.

It's unclear when the utilities might close the land deal and begin construction. The Associated Press sent emails seeking comment from the fish and wildlife service, Dairyland Power and ITC Midwest on Tuesday.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
May 7 - A young patient died due to cardiac arrest after receiving Pfizer's experimental gene therapy being tested in a mid-stage trial for a muscle-wasting disorder called Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the drugmaker told Reuters on Tuesday. HT Image

"A fatal serious adverse event was reported as cardiac arrest for a participant in the Phase 2 DAYLIGHT study," a company spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed response.

The trial is testing boys 2 to three years of age with DMD, a genetic muscle wasting disorder in which most patients lack the protein dystrophin which keeps muscles intact. The disorder affects an estimated one-in-3,500 male births worldwide.

"The patient received the investigational gene therapy, fordadistrogene movaparvovec, in early 2023," as per a statement from a community letter attributed to the drugmaker's DMD gene therapy team and posted by a nonprofit advocacy group.

Pfizer did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking confirmation on the community letter attributed to the company.

All participants will be followed in the study, for five years after treatment with gene therapy, initiated in August 2022 and estimated to complete in early 2029, as per information updated by the company on a registry of clinical trials.

The company said, together with the independent external data monitoring committee, it is in the process of reviewing the data to understand the potential cause.

The gene therapy candidate is also being tested in the another late-stage DMD study, called CIFFREO, in patients in boys 4 to less than 8 years of age, as per pipeline updates on the drugmaker's website.

There is not an impact to our expectation of having late-stage results, the company told Reuters in its email.

"We anticipate potentially beginning the primary analysis of the Phase 3 CIFFREO trial of fordadistrogene movaparvovec at the end of this month and sharing top-line results relatively soon", it added.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Remember Preity Zinta as CBI officer Reet Oberoi in the 1999 psychological horror thriller, Sangharsh? If given a chance, the actor expresses she would love to see its part two being made. While the films director Tanuja Chandra clarifies that a sequel is not on cards anytime soon, she does find the idea interesting if a possibility arises in the near future. Preity Zinta

I am so glad that the film is so well remembered after all these years, Tanuja continues, It would be wonderful to see Reet Oberoi again in an older avatar, but still as courageous and cool as she always was.

It was after a long time that Zinta did an #AskPZ session on X, and her fans flooded her with questions about films, IPL, her famous paranthas and her personal life, too. One of the users asked the actor to pick any one film from her career for which shed like a sequel to be made, and she replied, Sangharsh for sure. Rest cant think of any right now.

Zintas role as a CBI office battling her own fears yet showing exemplary courage made it one of the most memorable roles in her career.

The film also starred Akshay Kumar as professor Aman Verma, a convict but a genius, who develops a soft corner for Reet. Akshay played the part to the hilt, as the sharp professor. However, his back story was not explored in detail.

When asked if Akshays character deserves a stand-alone spin off, Chandra says, Well, I cannot really show him as a young man now so well have to let that one go.

During the same #AskPZ session, another follower also asked Zinta about her experience of working with Ashutosh Rana, who played the spine chilling villain Lajja Shankar Pandey.

To this, the actor replied, I broke my leg, chipped my teeth and cut my lip during that Shoot, so it was definitely a tough shoot, and it terrified me with so many hospital visits. Ashutosh was definitely mind blowing in the film.
A 19-year-old engineering student at National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut, allegedly died by suicide in wee hours on Monday, police said. The 19-year-old student, a resident of Mumbai, was enrolled in mechanical engineering course of NIT Calicut. (Getty Images)

The student, a resident of Mumbai, was enrolled in institutes mechanical engineering course, they said.

The 19-year-old jumped off from the sixth floor of the hostel building inside the campus at around 6 am on Monday. He was rushed to the Kozhikode Medical College hospital, but doctors declared him dead. No suicide note has been recovered as of now, an officer at the Kunnamangalam police station said.

According to police, the reason behind the student taking the extreme step is yet to be ascertained. However, it was learnt that he had informed his family about his intentions prior to his death on a phone call.

The initial proceedings have been completed and an autopsy will be done today before handing the body to the family members. A case of unnatural death has been registered, said the officer.

There has been no statement from the students parents or the college authorities as of now.

On February 15, 2023, a second-year B Tech student from Bardhaman in West Bengal also died by suicide after jumping from the hostel building inside the NIT campus in Kozhikode.
New Delhi: Roughly 111 million people on Tuesday voted to elect their Lok Sabha representatives in 93 constituencies across 11 states and Union territories, marking the end of the high-stakes third phase of polling that saw citizens from Assam to Gujarat and Karnataka to western Uttar Pradesh exercise their franchise. A polling official checks the name of a woman before allowing her to cast her vote during the third round of voting in the six-week-long general election in Agra on Tuesday. (AP)

Full coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024

With this, 283 seats  or more than half of the Lok Sabhas strength of 543  have gone to the polls since the general elections began last month.

The provisional turnout stood at 64.37% at 11pm, said the Election Commission of India (ECI), adding that it was expected to rise once the final numbers are tallied by the poll watchdog.

In 2019, the turnout in these seats (excluding the four in Assam, which are not comparable to 2019 because of delimitation) stood at 65.9%.

Though polling was till 6pm, voters were seen in the queue at many polling stations. Voters from across 11 states/UTs participated enthusiastically to cast their vote at their polling stations, braving hot weather conditions in some areas, ECI said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the voters who exercised their franchise in Gujarat, where all Lok Sabha seats went to the polls. Today is the day of celebrations of democracy. I will congratulate the Election Commission, security forces and officials involved in conducting the first two phases of polls almost violence-free. In the past, violence during elections was very common, he said.

Voting is now complete in 20 states and Union territories. On April 19, 102 seats went to polls in the first phase and on April 26, 88 constituencies exercised their franchise.

The turnout was in sharp focus because the first phase voting percentage of 66.14% and the second phase figure of 66.71% were both lower than the 2019 numbers of about 69.4% and 69.6%, respectively. Of particular concern were rising temperatures across vast swathes of the heartland and eastern India, which are gripped by heatwaves.

A total of 1,331 candidates  including six Union ministers and four former chief ministers  were in the fray. This included Union home minister Amit Shah and Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The polling was held smoothly and peacefully in all states/UTs stringent security measures were in place creating a conducive environment for voters to cast their vote without fear or intimidation, ECI said.

The highest turnout was recorded from Dhubri in Assam at 86.8% as of 11pm, where the contest is between Zabed Islam of the Asom Gana Parishad (part of the NDA alliance), Rakibul Hassan of the Congress, and Badruddin Ajmal of the AIUDF. The lowest turnout was reported from Amreli in Gujarat at 49.22% as of 11pm. The BJPs Bharatbhai Manubhai Sutariya and Congresss Jenny Thummar are in battle in the segment.

Overall, across the 93 seats going to the polls on Tuesday, the 2019 outcome is not possible to be calculated for the four seats in Assam that underwent delimitation. Of the remaining 89 seats, 70 were won by the BJP and three by the Congress in 2019. The Janata Dal (United)  which is part of the National Democratic Alliance  won three seats; while Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party  part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance  won two each. The Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party, and the Lok Janshakti Party won four, three, and one seat respectively. All three parties have undergone a split since 2019. One seat in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu UT was won by an independent candidate.

The next four phases will take place over the next month, with the results on June 4. Modi is seeking a historic third consecutive term, hoping to become only the second PM after Jawaharlal Nehru to achieve this feat. The Opposition is aiming to use a mix of economic agenda and social redistribution promise to damage the BJPs electoral coalition.

The Congress and INDIA alliance is dedicated to protecting the Constitution and democracy. Vote for Congress for a bright future for all and together let us build a strong and united India, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said in a message.

The third phase of the polling saw fierce campaigning by both sides. Modi led the charge for the BJP, alleging that Pakistan wanted the Congress to win and for its prince  a reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi  to become prime minister. He also blamed the Congress of blocking the development of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, saying that the party wanted to give SC/ST reservations to Muslims.

The Opposition rebuffed the charges and accused the BJP of running a communal campaign to divide the electorate. It focussed on the allegation that the BJP wanted to change the Constitution if it won 400 seats and cast itself as the protector of the Constitution and reservation.

Of the 26 seats in Gujarat, voting took place for 25 as BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal won unopposed from Surat. The state recorded a turnout of 58.9%, compared to 64.4% in 2019.

In Maharashtra, all eyes were on the high-profile contest in Baramati, where two factions of the NCP were in direct contest. The Ajit Pawar faction nominated the deputy CMs wife Sunetra Pawar, who was taking on sitting MP, Supriya Sule, also the daughter of party patriarch Sharad Pawar. Baramati recorded a low turnout of 56.07% till 11pm, compared to 61.7% in 2019.

The state recorded a turnout of 61.44%, compared to 63.8% in 2019.

A prestige battle also ensued in Uttar Pradesh, where the Yadav family bastion of Mainpuri was among the 10 seats in the fray. In this seat, once held by five-time UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav, his daughter-in-law and party chief Akhilesh Yadavs wife Dimple Yadav was aiming to consolidate the partys hold over its pocket borough.

The state recorded a turnout of 57.34%, compared to 68.6% in 2019.

Voting also took place for remaining 14 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, coming just days after rape and mass sexual assault allegations surfaced against Janata Dal (Secular) Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, also the grandson of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.

The state recorded a turnout of 70.41%, compared to 70.41% in 2019.

Among other constituencies voting were four in Assam, five in Bihar, seven in Chhattisgarh, eight in Madhya Pradesh, and four in West Bengal.

In Bengal, the Congresss Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will hope to defend his seat of Murshidabad for a sixth time. The state recorded a turnout of 75.83%, compared to 81.7% in 2019.
At least 29 schools in Gujarat have received bomb threats via emails on Monday, police said, adding that the threats were a hoax and nothing was found. 29 schools receive bomb threat in Guj: Police

Joint commissioner of police (crime branch) Sharad Singhal confirmed the development. At least 29 schools, 12 in Ahmedabad city and 17 in rural areas, received email threats on Monday morning, said Singhal.

The threats were a hoax, and nothing was found during searches at the premises, he added.Notably, 11 of the 12 city schools that got threats are polling centres for Tuesdays Lok Sabha elections, said a police official familiar with the matter.

The development comes a few days after more than 200 schools in Delhi-NCR received threat e-mails on May 1, which also turned out to be hoax later.

Deputy commissioner of police (cyber crime) Ahmedabad, Lavina Sinha said that the preliminary investigations suggest the emails likely originated from Russia, mirroring the pattern observed in the Delhi cases.

We are treating these threats with the utmost seriousness, said DCP Sinha. Cybercrime experts are working closely with the affected schools to analyse the emails and trace their origins. At this stage, we believe the emails are part of the same campaign targeting educational institutions in Delhi, Sinha said.

The schools that received the threat messages include Asia School in Gurukul, Anand Niketan in Thaltej, Delhi Public School (DPS) Bopal, HBK School in Memnagar, Zebar School in Thaltej, Cosmos Castle International School on SG Road, and two Kendriya Vidyalayas in Chandkheda and Shahibaug Cantonment.

The schools have implemented stringent security protocols, with some opting for temporary closures until further information is received from the authorities.
Sacramento County prosecutors announced Monday that a man who was previously employed in Sonoma County as a mental health worker was convicted of stabbing and strangling his wife to death. Seng Kui Lim/Getty Images

Sacramento County prosecutors announced Monday that a man who was previously employed in Sonoma County as a mental health worker was convicted of stabbing and strangling his wife to death in 2020.

The Sacramento County District Attorneys Office said a jury found Asghar Ehsan guilty of first degree murder on April 26. He was accused of killing his wife, Assmaa Ehsan Ashooqullah, while she was sleeping next to their 7-month-old son.

Ehsan pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, prosecutors said. A jury found he was legally sane when he killed his wife.

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After the killing, Ehsan confided to a friend that he killed his wife because Allah instructed him to do so, according to a statement from Sacramento County prosecutors. Ehsan refused the friends advice to turn himself in to law enforcement and left his son with the friend before fleeing, prosecutors said.

Ehsan was later arrested located by Placer County law enforcement officials. After a standoff with police in Roseville, he was arrested following a high-speed chase, prosecutors said.

As they investigated Ehsan, officials discovered that he attempted to kill a roommate in Santa Rosa in 2000. In that case, Ehsan reported he had been commanded by Allah to start a holy war and needed to kill someone close to him, prosecutors said. Ehsan was found to be legally insane by officials in Sonoma County Superior Court, officials said. He was released from a state hospital with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in 2002.

According to prosecutors, Ehsan later earned a degree in psychology and was hired by Sonoma County as a mental health worker, where he also served on the Sonoma County Mental Health Panel. At one point he gave a presentation on training for law enforcement on how to handle mentally ill suspects, prosecutors said.

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Arvind Kejriwal News Highlights: The Supreme Court is hearing Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal's bail petition on Tuesday after the court expressed that it is open to consider interim bail for AAP supremo owing to the polls. The top court urged the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to come prepared for the hearing noting that We may grant or we may not grant. But we must be open to you as neither side should be taken by surprise."...Read More

Kejriwal has been in judicial custody in Tihar Jail since his arrest on March 21. The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on April 15 concerning Kejriwal's plea and sought their response. On April 9, the high court upheld his arrest, citing his repeated refusal to join the investigation and attend summonses.

The matter pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's now-scrapped liquor excise policy for 2021-22.
The Supreme Court, hearing Arvind Kejriwal's petition against his arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case on Tuesday, questioned the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over the delay in the agency's probe. The agency, meanwhile, argued against the court's suggestion of the possibility of granting the Delhi chief minister an interim bail, saying it would set a wrong precedent. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED in March (File Photo)

"We can't ignore there are general elections being conducted. It's an extraordinary situation," the court observed.

The agency replied that there were 5000 cases involving members of parliament across the country. "Will all of them be released on bail?" it added.

The Enforcement Directorate further said releasing Arvind Kejriwal on interim bail will set a wrong precedent. It argued that a politician had no better right than an ordinary citizen in matters of criminal prosecution.

After the ED's argument, the Supreme Court told Arvind Kejriwals lawyer that if it gives interim bail to the Delhi chief minister, he would not be allowed to interfere in the working of the government. The court said it would not have considered interim relief if the Lok Sabha elections were not underway.

Arvind Kejriwal's lawyer assured the Supreme Court that he would not deal with any excise policy scam-related files.

Earlier, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta asked the agency to produce case files before and after the arrest of former Delhi minister Manish Sisodia, who has been in jail since February 2023.

The Supreme Court noted that the Enforcement Directorate had taken two years to unearth something. It also asked the agency why certain relevant questions were not put before witnesses and accused in the Delhi liquor policy case.

Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED, said in his reply that Arvind Kejriwal was not the prime focus of the investigation. However, he said, his role became clearer as the probe progressed.

Also read: 'Arvind Kejriwal stayed in 7-star Goa hotel on accused's expense': ED tells Supreme Court

He said Kejriwal had stayed in a seven-star hotel during the 2022 Goa assembly polls and part of the bills were allegedly paid by the Delhi government's general administration department.

Follow Live Updates on Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on March 21. He is currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail, under judicial custody.

Arvind Kejriwal had moved the Supreme Court after the Delhi high court upheld his arrest, saying the ED was left with little option but to arrest him.

With inputs from PTI, ANI
New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Uttar Pradesh government a rap on the knuckles for approving a peculiar regulation mandating that the wife of the district magistrate (DM) of Bulandshahr should serve as president of registered societies in the district, calling the norm atrocious and humiliating for all women in the state. Questioning the regulation, a bench of justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan slammed the odd requirement, questioning its relevance and practicality in todays day and age. The counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government said that the endeavour of the state was to protect the nazul lands (ANI)

Be it the Red Cross Society or a child welfare society, everywhere wife of the officiating DM is the president. Why does this have to be done? It appears to us that the state is trying to monopolise everything, the bench remarked.

It questioned the state government over the rationale behind making a person head a society not on leadership skills or community spirit, but rather by marital association. What happens when the DM is a woman? The regulation seems to assume that a DM will always be man and the state approves of it, the court wondered.

Where the DM does not have a wife, the court pointed out, the regulation gave the officer the authority to make any other woman the president. We will write something harsh about it. Its absolutely atrocious. How can you have something like this? And how can the state approve of it? it asked.

Responding, the counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government said that the endeavour of the state was to protect the nazul lands (government land) given on lease to societies from getting grabbed for private interests. But the argument failed to cut the ice with the court.

There will be hundreds of ways to protect the interest of the government in so far as nazul land is concerned. You can put strict conditions and can have a regular check. But to say that DMs wife has to act as the president of a society to protect the interest of the state is not acceptable to us. You are nominating someone just because that person happens to be the wife of a DM, the bench retorted.

Rejecting the idea of spousal proxy-presidents, the court put the states women and child development on notice, directing the state to submit an affidavit within two weeks to justify propriety and legality of the impugned regulation. Additional district magistrate (finance and revenue) of Bulandshahar Vivek Kumar Mishra said that the arrangement of appointing district magistrates wife as officiate presidents in societies exists since 1950. He said that its objective was to protect nazul land alloted to societies for work by the governor.

The officials of the society then filed a case against the verdict of deputy registrar ( societies) in Allahabad high court and lost.They appealed in a double bench of the high court, which was also rejected and thereafter the case was filed in the Supreme Court.

Women and Child Development department deputy director Punit Mishra said that the department had no regulation constituting such samitis anywhere in the state. He said, The samiti might have been formed locally in Bulandshahr. He said the department was also not aware of the SC order.

The bench was hearing a dispute relating to Bulandshahrs Zila Mahila Samiti. Functioning since 1957, the Samiti was given nazul land by the district administration to work in the welfare of widows, orphans and other marginalised sections of women. While the original bye-laws required the wife of the officiating DM of Bulandshahr to act as the president, the Samiti tried to amend the bye-laws in 2022, making DMs wife a patron to the society instead of its president. The deputy registrar, however, annulled the amendments on several grounds, which was challenged before the Allahabad high court. After the Samiti failed to persuade the high court, it came in appeal to the Supreme Court, which on Monday grappled with the absurdity of the regulation that had approval of the state government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)-led government in Odisha will cease to exist on June 4, the day the results for the assembly elections will be announced, a claim chief minister Naveen Patnaik dismissed as a daydream. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Odishas Nabarangpur on Monday. (PTI)

Modi, who was addressing his first set of rallies in Odisha for this years elections, also took a dig at Patnaik over his presumptive successor VK Pandian, saying the eastern state needs a chief minister who understands the Odia language and culture. He further called himself the son of Lord Jagannath and urged voters to give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a chance to form a double engine government in the state.

Polling for 147 assembly seats and 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha will be held simultaneously across four phases, starting May 13. The results for both the polls will be declared on June 4.

Holding rallies in Berhampur and Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seats, Modi said he is visiting the state to invite the people for the swearing-in ceremony of a BJP chief minister in Bhubaneswar, which, he claimed, would be held on June 10.

The expiry date of the BJD government is June 4. On June 6, the BJP will finalise its chief minister for Odisha and on June 10, a BJP leader will take oath. I strongly believe that the people will accept Modis invitation and will not decline like those who refuted the invitation for the consecration ceremony at the Ram Temple, he said.

The BJP will form a double-engine government here after the ongoing elections, he added, referring to BJP governments in the state and at the Centre.

Modi also took a swipe at Patnaik over his trusted aide and presumptive successor Pandian, saying only a person, who lives, understands and takes pride in Odia culture and tradition, can help resolve the problems of Odisha at a faster pace.

The one who respects the soil of Odisha and its culture, knows the problems and solutions and has connections with the people will become BJPs chief minister. This is Modi Ki Guarantee. I pray to the people to bless the BJP so that it wins all the 21 Lok Sabha seats and bumper seats in the assembly polls so that Odisha can get new energy and a new leadership, he said, adding that he will write letters to people of Odisha in Odia language.

I am not like your chief minister (Patnaik), he said.

Pandian, a former Tamil Nadu-born private secretary and a trusted lieutenant of Patnaik for more than a decade, joined the BJD on November 27, a little more than a month after he resigned from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). The move came amid speculation that the influential former bureaucrat could emerge as the second most powerful leader within the party, and perhaps even Patnaiks successor as party chief in the future.

Modi alleged that Odisha lags behind in terms of development despite the availability of water, fertile land, rich mineral resources, a vast coastline and a trade centre like Berhampur, which is also known as the Silk City of the state.

The UPA government, which was remotely run by (Congress leader) Sonia Gandhi, gave only 1 lakh crore in 10 years to Odisha, while the funds allotted to the state during the last 10 years of the BJP regime was more than 3.5 lakh crore. Why are the people of resource-rich Odisha still poor? The answer is rampant looting by the Congress, which ruled the state for 50 years, and then the BJD for the next 25 years. Small-time BJD netas now own big buildings. The BJD is sinking while the Congress is a spent force and the BJP is the only ray of hope for the people, he said.

Modi also accused the state government of not allowing implementation of welfare schemes introduced by the Centre. Calling himself the son of Lord Jagannath, he assured that the BJP will implement all its promises made in its manifesto for the state polls that was released on Sunday.

Modi also praised President Droupadi Murmu, saying the BJP has proudly given the highest post of the country to the daughter of Odisha. You have seen Modis 10-year term and the work done, including hiking the budget for tribal welfare. We also gave the country its first tribal President who is a daughter of Odisha. It is my good fortune that President Droupadi Murmu Ji advises me minutely for the development of Odisha. I feel that I will be able to do a lot for the state under her guidance, he said.

Responding to Modis claim that the BJP will form the next government in Odisha, Patnaik said the party has been daydreaming of coming to power for a long time.

BJP has been daydreaming for many days, he said while he on his way to an election meeting in Kalahandi district.

Pandian also responded to Modis claims, saying Naveen Patnaik will take oath as the chief minister of Odisha for the sixth consecutive time between 11.30am to 1.30pm on June 9.
The 2024 Lok Sabha election is the first major electoral exercise in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) since the region was stripped of its semi-autonomous status with the nullification of the Constitutions Article 370 in 2019. The assembly election in the region, which has been without an elected government since 2018, is also expected to be held as per the Supreme Courts directions this year. On the campaign trail, former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, 54, who is the National Conference (NC) Lok Sabha candidate from the Baramulla constituency, spoke to HT about the elections, the nullification of Article 370, etc. Edited excerpts: Former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah. (X)

The Lok Sabha election, the first since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, appears to be normal in Kashmir with no looming militant threats and poll boycott calls. How do you look at this?

In the past, the normal aspect of Kashmir elections did not get the focus it should have. In 2013, the panchayat elections we held, the turnouts in many parts were as high as 80%. But mainstream media has been happier focussing on areas with low voting such as downtown Srinagar or Sopore. Otherwise, in terms of party workers enthusiasm, it is not a new thing for us. ...people across the Valley...have not had a chance to be heard and express a view on anything, particularly what was done to them on August 5, 2019 [nullification of Article 370). What you see is angst related to that which is now boiling over on the surface.

The Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government attributes this change to the nullification of Article 370...

If that is true, where are the BJP candidates in Kashmir? Why have they chosen not to contest any of the three Lok Sabha seats here? If all this change is because of what the BJP did, then why are they not able to sell it to the people? Why does the BJP even now say that we are in no hurry to fight elections, that we will first win the hearts of the people?... That means you have not won the hearts of people yet. That is why the mood you see here is not attributable to the steps the BJP has taken. This is despite what the BJP did, not because of what it did.

What do you make of the BJPs decision to not contest in Kashmir?

It is surprising. I can understand if they had not contested in the Valley before. But, they contested all three seats in 2019. Then, why not in 2024? The reason is much deeper than what it looks. One part is the absence of any support for them on the ground here. It is also the fact that putting up Muslim candidates here will make their anti-Muslim stance in the rest of the country a little difficult to sell. And, you cannot put non-Muslim candidates in the overwhelmingly Muslim majority seats in Kashmir. Also, if my information is correct, there is not a single Muslim candidate fighting on the BJP tickets anywhere in the country today.

You are hinting in your election rallies that the BJP is supporting candidates of other parties in Kashmir...

I am categorical in my assertion that the BJP may not have a symbol in this election, but make no mistake they are very much part of the election process just from behind the scenes. They are propping up their proxies wherever they can. Otherwise, where was the need for the BJPs J&K president to come to north Kashmir and tell his workers that we will let you know in a few days as to whom to support. In the south Kashmir seat, influential Pahari leaders from Poonch have announced the BJP support to Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This election has been good because it has unmasked all the BJP proxies.

Who are these proxies?

They are the parties fighting against the NC and its ally, the Congress. In the Udhampur seat, Ghulam Nabi Azad put up a candidate to divide the votes in the Chenab Valley region, the benefit of which will go to the BJP. Similarly, this whole move to forge an artificial alliance between the Peoples Conference of Sajjad Lone and the Apni Party led by Altaf Bukhari. Look at the disdain they have for each other. No lesser a person than the general secretary of the Peoples Conference, Imran Ansari, had called Altaf a seller of fake pesticides and that ye do number ka aadmi hai. This is on record. Why is now Imran looking for Altafs support for Sajjads victory against me from the Baramulla seat? This is at the behest of the establishment and the BJP. Everyone who has some connection to the intelligence agencies, the army or the home ministry is aligned today to defeat the NC.

But Lone categorically says he has nothing to do with the BJP...

Then why did the BJP try to make him chief minister of J&K in 2018 after calling off its alliance with PDP? He has not disowned the BJPs letter of support. It is a matter of public record. I have the courage of conviction to say that I was part of the National Democratic Alliance government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Why is Sajjad fighting shy of admitting what we know as a fact?

What is your sense of the overall electoral landscape?

We are fighting this election, perhaps not blind, but with a slightly hazy view. That is on account of the delimitation. There is not a single assembly constituency that has not been tinkered with. A sort of gerrymandering was done to benefit the BJP and its allies including Sajjad Lone.

Both NC and PDP are in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) but are pitted against each other in Kashmir and are supporting the Congress in Jammu and Udhampur seats. How do explain this?

As far as NC is concerned, the INDIA grouping is intact. It is the PDP that moved away out of self-interest. This is not a situation of our making. PDP decided to field their candidates, and so be it. What can we do?

But Mehbooba Mufti blames you, saying your ambition and arrogance stalled the NC-PDP seat-sharing pact...

That is very easy to say. NC has been at the front and center of relentless attacks from the stage of PDP. Her [Mufti] daughter who doubles up as her social media manager has been vitriolic. Why did not she put a stop to that? She [Mufti] said at the INDIA bloc meeting in Mumbai that whatever decision Farooq Abdullah takes on seat sharing will be acceptable to PDP. ...taking the 2019 parliamentary elections as the yardstick, he decided three seats for NC and an equal number for other INDIA bloc members. And if Congress was unable to accommodate PDP in its share, how is that my arrogance? But, PDP wanted to have the cake and eat too.

What is your main poll plan?

It is largely centered around what happened on August 5, 2019, and how the state was cheated and disempowered. Identity is an important issue...what people here are going through. There is a genuine worry that over time, characteristics of J&K will be altered.

That has not happened in the last four years...

How can you say that? Look at the number of voters from outside who have been added. For the first time, we have a candidate from mainland India contesting Lok Sabha elections in J&K. This is only the beginning. Look at the prolonged agitation over fear of losing identity, land, and jobs in Ladakh. Ultimately, J&K and Ladakh were born as UTs [Union territories] from the same womb on the same day. We have as much fear as they do.

Is Article 370 still a poll issue after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of its abrogation? Are not you flogging a dead horse?

When the Supreme Court upheld Article 370 in three previous judgments, was the BJP flogging a dead horse?

But Kashmir seems to have moved on...

If it has, then all three NC candidates deserve to lose this election. Let us see.

Why should the people of J&K vote for NC?

Because not voting for NC has cost J&K dearly. Had the NC not been voted out of power in 2014, or 2019 (nullification of Article 370) would not have happened. We would not have surrendered the interests of J&K. People have realised all that and will favour us. This election is a semi-final before the assembly polls months later.

After three phases of polling, what is your reading of the national election scene?

One thing is certain it is pretty much a waveless election. There is no wave either for the government or against it. There does not seem to be any great enthusiasm, particularly among the BJP cadres. You do not see as much of the sort of hardcore jubilation that was seen in Prime Ministers rallies in 2014 and even 2019. You see the turnouts... they are lower across the board. That also reflects that there is nothing a big factor pushing the people to polling booths.

After the Congress loss in the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh in December, you said that all is not well with the INDIA bloc. What has changed since then?

I did not expect the bloc to firm up the seat-sharing pacts that they were eventually able to. I was extremely sceptical about whether we will have anything meaningful on the ground in UP [Uttar Pradesh]. But, UP worked out. So did the Congress-AAP [Aam Aadmi Party] deal in Delhi though they could not manage Punjab. The only state where they could not forge seat sharing is West Bengal. If Mamata [Banerjee] is confident that she fight the BJP on her own, that is fine. At the end of the day, it is the seats that matter.

The BJP has called it a Modi versus who contest as the INDIA bloc has not projected a Prime Ministerial face...

We have seen this before. Hubris among politicians is dangerous. If arrogance of power seeps into the BJP to such a great extent, they will only have themselves to blame for any reversal or setback.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly targeted the dynastic parties of J&K including NC, blaming them for misrule of the past...

The BJP is as guilty of dynastic politics as any other party. If I am not mistaken, one-fifth of tickets the BJPs mandates in this election have gone to family members of its leaders. Look at how they dropped the tainted [former] Wrestling Federation of India fellow Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh but gave the ticket to his son. Their problem is with only those dynastic parties who oppose the BJP.

How do you respond to Modis key poll narrative of accusing the Congress of Muslim appeasement, saying it plans to divert the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota to Muslims?

I am the last person to support the politics of appeasement. But, the problem with the BJP is that to show that they are not appeasing the Muslims, they are going the other way. They are victimising the community. They are denying the community its rightful claim. Is it not a matter of significant shame that 14% of the countrys population is represented by the ruling party neither in the Lok Sabha nor in the Rajya Sabha? The Modi Cabinet did not have a Muslim face all these years. Look at the Sachar Committee report or any assessment of the economic plight of Muslims, where have they got more than their fair share? Show me how you can claim that the Muslims have been appeased at the cost of any other community. We [Muslims] are possibly the most downtrodden and economically disadvantaged community in the country.

As a prominent leader from the countrys only Muslim-majority region, do you see a case for a Muslim quota?

There is a case for a quota for the economically disadvantaged within the Muslim community. I am against a blanket quota for all. But poor Muslims need to be uplifted.

How is this Lok Sabha election important given the J&K assembly polls expected to be held later this year?

This is the first election after the delimitation of constituencies. We do not know what the voting patterns are going to be like. To that extent, these elections are a test for our organisation, and a learning process for political parties and workers.

You have said that you will not contest the assembly polls until the statehood is restored...

I stand by that. I am not here to make a fool of the people of Baramulla. I look forward to representing them in the Parliament for the foreseeable future. The assembly polls here are likely two months after the Lok Sabha elections. I do not expect the statehood to be restored before the assembly elections

What role do you see for your father Farooq Abdullah?

He is the glue that binds us together. He is the force that keeps us going. His role remains vital to NC and the wider politics of J&K.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is set to complete the construction of two key roads in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to boost connectivity to forward areas near the China border even as it prepares to begin work on the Shinku La tunnel (the worlds highest) to provide all-weather connectivity from Manali to Leh via the Nimmu-Padam-Darcha axis, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday. The two roads are among the 61 strategic roads assigned to BRO near the Chinese border. (File photo)

The developments come at a time when the military standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh has entered its fifth year, with no indication of a resolution to the outstanding problems along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) although India is hoping ongoing negotiations will help restore the status quo ante of April 2020.

The Banga-Janga-GompaLJG Road in Arunachal Pradesh will be ready to support military movement by the year-end while connectivity between Munsiyari and Milam in Uttarakhand will be achieved by July 2024, the officials said.

The two roads, expected to be fully blacktopped in a year, are among the 61 strategic roads assigned to BRO near the Chinese border in Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Most of these roads have been completed, HT has learnt.

BRO has completed 330 projects at a cost of 8,737 crore in the last three years, and significantly improved the strategic mobility of the Indian armed forces along the border.

BRO will soon commence the construction of the 4.1-km long Shinku La tunnel. Once completed, this tunnel will become the worlds highest tunnel at 15,800 ft, surpassing Mila tunnel in China at 15,590 ft, the defence ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, which marked BROs 65th raising day.

The Centre has given the Forest (Conservation) Act clearance for construction of the strategic tunnel, one that will bypass the 16,615-ft high pass, Shinku La, connecting Ladakh to Himachal.

The route via Nimmu-Padam-Darcha axis will provide the third connectivity option to Ladakh. The tunnel will cut the distance between Manali and Leh by 60 km, bringing it down from 355 to 295 km. It is an alternative to the Manali-Leh-Kargil route. Leh can also be accessed from the traditional Srinagar route.

Racing to reshape the strategic landscape of Ladakh, where Chinas predatory conduct and military ambitions have led to the lingering border spat, India is also on the verge of completing an ambitious project to provide much-needed alternative connectivity to Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO), Indias northernmost military base near LAC.

Also Read: Manali-Leh all-weather road: Shinku La tunnel gets forest clearance

The construction of the 130-km road from Sasoma in the Nubra Valley to DBO near the Karakoram Pass is now in its final phase.

The existing 255-km Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DS-DBO) road runs close to LAC. Sasoma and Darbuk can be reached from Leh via two different road axes.

At a function organised to mark BROs raising day, defence secretary Giridhar Aramane lauded the organisation for fulfilling its responsibilities in inhospitable terrain and tough weather conditions.

He called BRO an extremely crucial organisation which, through its infrastructure projects in border areas, is playing a major role in the security of the country, besides ensuring the socio-economic progress of far-flung areas.

BRO chief Lieutenant General Raghu Srinivasan the organisations pan-India presence reflected its commitment to national security, connectivity and development.

Since its inception, BRO has constructed 62,214 km of roads, 1,005 bridges, seven tunnels and 21 airfields along Indias borders as well as in friendly countries, including Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and contributed to the nations strategic objectives, the ministry statement said.

In 2023-24, BRO completed 125 infrastructure projects worth 3,611 crore, including the Sela tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh.

In March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the Sela tunnel project to the country, with the infrastructure upgrade putting in the fast lane military mobility and logistics support for deployed forces in the strategic Tawang sector, where Indian soldiers hold posts close to the contested border with China.

Over the few years, BRO has witnessed an exponential surge in budgetary expenditure, marking a remarkable leap forward in capabilities and impact. This increased budgetary support has empowered the organisation to undertake crucial projects, accelerate critical infrastructure development, and enhance its operational readiness, the statement added.

BRO is set to complete by October 2024 the construction of a 2.7-km runway at the Nyoma airbase in Ladakh, a milestone in one of the most important ongoing projects near the China border.

Allied infrastructure at the Nyoma airbase, including hangars, the air traffic control building and hard standing (hard-surfaced areas for parking vehicles and aircraft) will be ready by the end of next year.

The 218-crore project, whose foundation stone was laid by defence minister Rajnath Singh last September, is spearheaded by a crew of BRO women officers.

Indias border infrastructure push has been propelled by speedy execution of strategic projects to support military operations, increased spending, and focussed adoption of technology and techniques.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said celebrities and influencers are equally liable for action as those who advertise a product or service in a misleading manner, and ordered all advertisers to give undertakings before issuing commercials or ads in print that theirs are not misleading advertisements. Additional solicitor general KM Nataraj presented separate action taken reports by ministries of consumer affairs, health, information and broadcasting, and Ayush (HT)

The court made the remarks while hearing a petition by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) challenging misleading advertisements by Patanjali Ayurved endorsed by Yoga exponent and entrepreneur Ramdev.

It is imperative for celebrities and public figures to act responsibly while endorsing a consumer product as advertisers and endorsers are equally responsible for issuing misleading advertisements, said the bench, comprising justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah.

We are of the opinion that advertisers, advertising agencies and endorsers are equally responsible for issuing false and misleading advertisements, the judges said, adding that endorsements by celebrities, influencers and public figures go a long way in promoting products and it is imperative for them to act with responsibility while endorsing any product in the course of advertisement and taking responsibility for the same, the bench observed.

Rules are meant to serve the consumers and to ensure they are made aware of products purchased in market. We are aware that the central government ministries need to set out a procedure that will encourage consumers to lodge a complaint, the order said.

Additional solicitor general (ASG) KM Nataraj, who was asked by the court on April 23 to explain what steps had been taken to curb misleading advertisements, presented separate action-taken reports by ministries of consumer affairs, health, information & broadcasting and Ayush to show that the Centre was vigilant towards curbing such misleading commercials.

Regarding ads shown on television, he pointed out that TV networks have their self-regulatory bodies. Under the recent amendments to Cable TV regulations, ASG added that besides self-regulation, there is an oversight committee for monitoring content and complaints and an inter-department committee above it.

It is said that the consumer is the king. There has to be some answerability from some agency, the bench said. We are looking at the issue from the point of view of consumers. If there is a system in place, that should work.

The court observed that approaching state consumer commissions is the only remedy available to the public and directed all advertisers in print and electronic media to give self-declaration to the concerned broadcaster, printer, or publisher for their records.

Additional solicitor general KM Nataraj presented separate action taken reports by ministries of consumer affairs, health, information and broadcasting, and Ayush to show that the Centre is vigilant towards curbing misleading commercials.

The court took objection to a letter written by the Ayush ministry on August 29, 2023, to all states and Union territories putting on hold Rule 170 of the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules, which prohibited advertisement of Ayush drugs for diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of any disease, disorder or syndrome. Nataraj agreed to withdraw the letter.

The bench noted that the central consumer protection authority (CCPA) was constituted in June 2022 to receive complaints from consumers on misleading advertisements. The court called for a comprehensive status report on action taken on consumer complaints regarding food and health products.

The court also pulled up the Uttarakhand government for failing to enforce its April 15 order suspending production of 14 Patanjali products with immediate effect. You have to ask them to withdraw. Not that every time we are prodding you, that you will act. We are running out of patience, the bench said.

The matter was posted for May 14, and the court agreed to take up an application by Patanjali MD Balkrishna against the IMA president for an objectionable interview given to media on April 29 on the pending case.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi has urged people to reject the proponents of lies, hatred and vote for the Congress to secure a brighter future. In a video message uploaded by the official X account of Congress, Gandhi asked voters to support the party. (Congress | Official X account)

In a video message uploaded by the official X (formerly Twitter) account of Congress, Gandhi asked voters to support the party.

She also raised questions on the niyat (intention) and niti (policy) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

My dear brothers and sisters. Youth unemployment, crimes against women, and discrimination against Dalits, Adivasis, and minorities have reached unprecedented levels. These challenges stem from the niyat and niti of PM Modi and the BJP which aim for power rejecting inclusivity and dialogue, she said.

Also Read: Amethi candidate Kishori Lal Sharma thanks Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi for fielding small worker

While Gandhi is unlikely to participate in public rallies of Congress, a senior Congress leader aware of the details, added that she will do more such online campaigning.

Gandhi, who spearheaded the Congress campaign in 2004, also highlighted the contents of the Congress comprehensive manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections Nyay Patra which aims to unite the nation and work for the poor.

The sight of our Constitution and democracy being under threat, our poor being left behind, and the fact that the fabric of our society is being torn apart fills me with anguish. Today, I ask for your support once again. Our Nyay Patra and guarantees aim to unite our nation and work for the poor, youth, women, farmers, workers, and the disadvantaged communities of India, she added.

Gandhi said both Congress and the INDIA bloc parties are committed to defend the Constitution.

The Congress and the INDIA parties are committed to defend our Constitution and democracy. Reject the proponents of lies and hatred and vote for the Congress for a brighter and more equal future for all. Press the hand button and together, let us build a stronger, more united India with peace and harmony for all, she said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Haryana plunged into a crisis on Tuesday after three independent lawmakers withdrew support and said they would campaign for the opposition Congress in the ongoing general elections, leaving the chief minister Nayab Singh Saini-led administration tottering on the brink of collapse merely two months after being sworn in. Three independent MLAs Sombir Sangwan, Randhir Golan and Dharampal Gondar withdraw support from the BJP government in Rohtak on Tuesday. (ANI)

The three lawmakers  Randhir Golan from Pundri, Dharmpal Gonder from Nilokheri and Sombir Singh Sangwan from Dadri  said they had decided to back former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress and have written to governor Bandaru Dattatreya, pulling their support from the Saini government.

We are withdrawing support to the government. We are extending our support to the Congress, Gonder said.

Assembly elections are scheduled in the state in October-November this year. All 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state go to the polls on May 25.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the three independent lawmakers decided to withdraw support because of huge anger against the state administration.

Chief minister Nayab Singh Saini should resign from his post because he has lost the mandate and we demand imposition of Presidents Rule in the state. The BJP government had already lost the publics mandate and now Sainis government is in danger. First we will defeat them in the Lok Sabha polls and then Congress will form the government in Haryana, Hooda added.

Saini blamed the Congress.

I have received this information. Maybe Congress is engaged in fulfilling some peoples wishes now. Congress has nothing to do with the wishes of the public, he told news agency ANI.

In the 90-member assembly, two seats are vacant, of which Karnal is going for by-elections on May 25.

The BJP has 40 members, and has the support of two independents  Nayan Pal Rawat from Prithla and Rakesh Daulatabad from Badshahpur  and Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party. That takes it to 43, two short of the majority mark of 45 in assembly that currently has a strength of 88.

The Congress has 30 lawmakers, the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) has 10, and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has one. In addition, one independent legislator  Balraj Kundu from Meham  has not made his position clear.

If they all oppose the government, there will have 45 votes against the state government.

All eyes will be on the JJP, a former ally of the BJP which pulled support from the erstwhile Manohar Lal Khattar government in a dramatic move in March, prompting the BJP to appoint Saini as the chief minister.

JJP leader Digvijay Singh Chautala said that Hooda should meet the governor and claim that the government was in a minority. Now, we are in Opposition and the JJP will work to topple this government. Hooda should talk to JJP and independents and stake claim to form new government, he added.

Family members of two JJP legislators  Ram Karan Kala and Ishwar Singh  have joined the Congress while a third, Jogi Ram Sihag, has announced that he would campaign for the BJP. If the JJP abstains, it will help the ruling party.

Saini won the trust vote in a special session of the assembly on March 13, a day after being appointed in place of his mentor Manohar Lal Khattar. The maximum period between two sessions of the assembly cannot exceed six months, which means that the governor will have to summon the House before September 13. At that time, Saini could face a floor test  just weeks before assembly elections are scheduled in the state. To be sure, if the BJP wins the assembly by-election on May 25, then his government will gain a majority of one in the 90-member House.

But Sangwan said that another independent, Rakesh Daultabad from Badshahpur, will join the dissidents soon.

Gonder said that the five independents had made a commitment to Khattar, not Saini.

 As our commander was ousted from power, we have nothing to do with Nayab Singh Saini. We have decided to support the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls and assembly elections too. The farmers and sarpanches [village chiefs] were mounting pressure on us to support the Congress, he added.

Sangwan said that he supported the Congresss non-confidence motion against the Khattar government during the farmers stir and backed Saini in the trust vote as he made a promise to Khattar.

On some occasions, we backed both the Congress and the BJP inside and outside the assembly, according to prevailing situations. Now, we will support Hooda sahab and more independent MLAs will join them soon, he added.

Daultabad could not be reached for comment.

Haryana BJP leader, Jawahar Yadav said that there was no danger to the BJP government.  The government has the numbers. The Nayab Saini government won a vote of confidence on March 13. If a situation arises where the government has to prove its majority, we will do it emphatically on the floor of the House, Yadav said.

CM Nayab Saini said that these MLAs have decided to support Congress by assuming that their personal aspirations will be fulfilled there.

Golan said that anger against the BJP government was simmering and they have decided to back Congress on the advice given by public. Every section of the society is upset from BJP rule. We want Hooda led Congress government in Haryana, he added.

The Congress remained tight-lipped over the issue, with functionaries suggesting that the party leadership was focusing on the Lok Sabha campaign.
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India on Tuesday ordered the Telangana government to stop the disbursement of cash assistance under the Rythu Bharosa scheme for farmers in the state, saying the chief minister violated the model code of conduct by speaking about ensuring the cash transfer by May 9. Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy waves to the supporters during a roadshow for the Lok Sabha polls at Uppal in Hyderabad on Monday. (ANI)

ECI said the state government can resume disbursement of the assistance under the scheme, formerly called the Rythu Bandhu scheme, after the completion of polling in the state on May 13.

The order was issued a day after a complaint was filed to Telanganas chief electoral office, about chief minister A Revanth Reddys statement. The states election officer also sent a report to the EC.

Reddy, who is also president of the Telangana Congress unit, is accused of having spoken about the disbursement under the scheme on or before May 9, during a road show on May 4 in Telanganas Kothakota, which was a violation of the model code of conduct.

Under the scheme, the Telangana government disburses 5,000 per acre for the winter sowing season.

The ECI previously allowed the state government to make the payments provided Telangana adheres to the five conditions listed by the election watchdog.

Reddy has violated the MCC conditions laid down in this regard for ongoing scheme by publicly speaking about ensuing disbursement under Rythu Bharosa (erstwhile Rythu Bandhu) scheme on or before 9th May, 2024, which has also been reported in media, the ECI communication said.

This decision comes in response to an inexplicable and abnormal delay in the disbursement process which usually happens in the months of November and December, coupled with concerns over attempts to politicise the ongoing scheme during the General Elections. Such actions are deemed as attempts to influence voters and disturb the level playing field, an EC official said on the condition of anonymity.

During the assembly elections in November 2023, ECI had also withdrawn permission for disbursement under the scheme due to MCC violations by the then Telangana finance minister, T Harish Rao (BRS), who had similarly spoken of the impending disbursement at the election rallies. At that time, the Congress had complained to the EC about MCC violation by Rao.
Restaurant Jeanne dArc in San Francisco commits to its aesthetic theme. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

Whats more depressing than walking into a cafe in Istanbul and thinking, This looks like a coffee shop in L.A. that Ive seen on Instagram? (Obviously plenty, excuse the rhetorical device.) Edison bulbs, communal tables made of reclaimed wood, subway tile, those skinny battery-powered table lamps  restaurant trends come and go. But generally what makes a trend a trend is its placelessness. Dine at an airy, macrame-drenched Mexican restaurant in Oakland and you might find it reminiscent not of Mexico itself, but of another airy, macrame-drenched Mexican restaurant you visited in Miami.

Its rare that a restaurants design attempts to recreate a highly specific time and place, rarer still that it nails it. But when it does? I am extremely here for it. Blame it on too many pre-prom dinners at the Old Spaghetti Factory, where dark wood and stained glass chandeliers transported me to a 19th century bordello, albeit one where mizithra cheese was unusually popular. I am willing to commit to a theme, and Ive done so recently at two San Francisco restaurants that go all in on different eras of French history.

Which is not to say Boulevard is a theme restaurant. But designer Ken Fulks 2021 lush refresh of the space quadruples down on Art Nouveau details, from the glass pendant lamps to the sinuous bend of the wrought iron that divides the dining room. Stepping off Steuart Street into the warm glow of the restaurant is like finding yourself hot-tub-time-machined to Paris circa 1900, and what a belle epoque it is indeed. Very romantic, very nymphcore.

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Boulevard was revamped by renowned designer Ken Fulk in 2021. Nick Otto/Special to The Chronicle

With the precision of the decor, you might expect the menu from chef-owner Nancy Oakes and executive chef Dana Younkin to showcase traditional brasserie fare. While French technique and ingredients make appearances  a souffle with tarragon, a pomegranate beurre fondu  the cuisine feels rooted in California, with some side trips to Asia. You dont have to do the full $119 three-course menu to audit Fulks course in decorative arts; an a la carte menu is offered at the bar, which is anchored by a curving slab of blue onyx.

If your taste in restaurants veer more towards Medieval Times, have I got the spot for you. Jonathan Kauffman wrote about Jeanne dArc for the Chronicle in 2018. At the time, it was the fifth highest-ranked restaurant in San Francisco on TripAdvisor, and Kauffman set out to answer the question, Who are all these people giddily dining in a basement at a hotel on Bush Street? Joan of Arc-heads, thats who.

This place has everything  medieval weaponry, walls as ornate as any illuminated manuscript, metal grates over fake windows (again, youre in a basement) to simulate the experience of being imprisoned for your religious fervor, a life size statue of Saint Joan. Prices here rival those of Boulevard  think entrees in the $50s  but do not feel justified, I regret to report. Otherwise I would say its the ideal place to go on a triple date in all your finery, pre-prom style.

Boulevard, 1 Mission St, San Francisco. boulevardrestaurant.com

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The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana faces a fresh challenge as three Independent MLAs withdrew their support from the Nayab Singh Saini-led government. The announcement, made during a press conference in Rohtak, dealt a blow to the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government in Haryana won the confidence motion in the assembly in March with the support of Independent MLAs. (HT file photo)

The three MLAs, Sombir Sangwan, Randhir Gollen, and Dharampal Gonder, announced their decision to withdraw support at a press conference in Rohtak.

"We are withdrawing support to the government. We are extending our support to the Congress," Gonder said.

"We have taken this decision on various issues including those related to farmers," he said.

Read: Haryana: Another JJP MLA revolts, says hes backing Khattar

They made the announcement in the presence of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state Congress chief Udai Bhan.

Pointing at the dwindling strength of the ruling government, Udai Bhan said, "I also want to say that present strength of (90-member) Haryana Assembly is 88, of which the BJP has 40 members. The BJP government earlier had support of JJP MLAs and Independents, but JJP had also withdrawn support and now Independents are also leaving.

"Nayab Singh Saini government is now a minority government. Saini should tender his resignation as he does not have right to stay even for a minute," said Bhan.

Read: Denied ticket, Ajay Singh Yadav backs Raj Babbar in Gurugram

Talking over the phone, Digvijay Singh Chautala of Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which recently pulled the plug on the Manohar Lal Khattar government, called on Hooda to stake claim to form the new government and said his party will work to topple the BJP government.

Now we are in opposition and JJP will work to topple this government. (Bhupinder) Hooda should talk to JJP and independents and stake claim to form the new government, Chautala, Secretary General of JJP, said.

AAP leader Sushil Gupta appealed to the Haryana governor to dismiss the BJP government.

The BJP-led government is in minority in Haryana now, and they should morally resign. I appeal to the Haryana Governor (Bandaru Dattatreya) to dismiss this government, and elections should be held immediately, Gupta said.

The three Independent MLAs have written to the Haryana governor informing him about the withdrawal of support from the BJP government. The BJP has 40 MLAs and has the support of two Independent MLAs - Nayan Pal Rawat of Prithla and Rakesh Daultabad of Badshahpur  and Gopal Kanda of Haryana Lokhit Party in the 88-member House, leaving the government in the minority.

(With inputs from Sunil Rahar)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Jharkhand rural development minister Alamgir Alams personal secretary, Sanjiv Lal, and a domestic help after allegedly recovering over 35 crore cash during raids in connection with a money laundering probe, people aware with the matter said on Tuesday. Paramilitary and ED personnel during a raid in Ranchi on Monday. (ANI)

The two were arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after their questioning overnight about the cash and its beneficiaries.

ED launched raids at separate premises in Ranchi including that of Alam on Monday. It said it recovered 32 crore and 3 crore cash at separate places. Eight counting machines and bank staff were brought in to count the cash, all in the denomination of 500.

In February 2023, Virendra Ram, a former Jharkhand rural development department chief engineer, was arrested for allegedly amassing wealth worth 100 crore. ED informed a court in Ranchi that a percentage of the commission he allegedly collected was distributed among senior bureaucrats and politicians.

Ram played a pivotal role in managing tenders and allocation of work to private entities and the percentage of commission is distributed in a mechanised manner to higher-ups of government, including highly placed bureaucrats and politicians. Further, during [the] investigation, names of senior bureaucrats and politicians have emerged which is being investigated by ED, the agency said in its remand note in February 2023. HT has seen a copy of the note.

Pratul Shahdeo, Bharatiya Janata Partys Jharkhand spokesperson, on Monday said the recovery of cash was not new. Earlier 350 crore was recovered from Congresss Rajya Sabha member Dheeraj Sahay, 20 crore from the mines secretary. Now recovery of 25 crore has been made from the servant of the ministers OSD [officer on special duty]. It is a matter of probe from where the servant, who hardly gets 30000 monthly, got such a huge amount. I think it was black money kept to spend during the election.

He asked ED and the Election Commission of India to properly probe into the matter. Jharkhand has become synonymous with corruption. Former chief minister [Hemant Soren] is in jail on the allegations of corruption.

Alam said Lal, a government employee, has been a personal secretary of two former ministers. There are several government employees and we usually appoint personal secretaries based on experience. It is not right to comment on the raids before EDs investigation is completed.
A 38-year-old farmer allegedly died by suicide in Chikkannanahalli village, Tumkur district, allegedly due to growing debt that he took to develop his one-acre areca nut farm, according to police officials familiar with the matter. Due to acute drought, the farmer took several loans to save his one-acre areca nut farm. (File Photo)

The police said that the deceased was identified as a farmer in Chikkannana Halli, under the jurisdiction of Tovinakere Gram Panchayat in Koratagere police station limits in Tumkur district.

The police said that the deceased had allegedly taken a loan of more than 3 lakh from private finance institutions and banks several times in past six years to develop his one-acre areca nut estate. However, due to acute drought, the plants started drying up. In a bid to save the plants, he took more loans to dig a tube well on April 22, which failed. On May 2, he dug up another tube well, but this also failed. Unable to bear the disappointment and growing debt and interest, he died by suicide on Sunday night.

The police quoted the family members as stating that the deceased had left home for his farm on Sunday night and they came to know of his absence only in the morning. Upon searching, his body was found in the farmland, they said.

Veerabhadrappa, a farmer residing near his farm, said: The deceased was a hard worker and has been working on his one-acre land from morning to evening, growing multiple vegetables for a decade. In past six years, he dug up seven bore wells, but all failed. He went into depression as creditors pressured him to repay the loan. Unable to bear the financial loss, he ended his life. He spent more than 3 lakh for digging tube wells.

Koratagere police inspector Manjunath said: The deceased is survived by two sons and a wife. We found that the deceased owed lakhs of rupees in loans that he took from money lenders. We have registered a case and are ascertaining the exact loan amount by collecting details from financial institutions. We are yet to know the exact timing of his death. His postmortem was conducted at Koratagere government hospital and the body was handed over to the family on Monday.
Mumbai, The Mumbai crime branch has arrested a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang from Rajasthan for allegedly providing financial help to the shooters involved in firing outside Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's house, officials said on Tuesday. The accused, Mohammed Rafique Chowdhary , said in a meeting with shooters that Anmol Bishnoi, the younger brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, had given him a "bigger task" than them, the official said. Choudhary was arrested from Bansi village of Nagaur district in Rajasthan, he said. Two motorcycle-borne persons opened fire outside Khan's residence at the Galaxy Apartment in Mumbai's Bandra area on April 14 and fled the spot. Choudhary, the fifth person to be arrested in the firing case, was produced before a Mumbai court which sent him in police custody, the official said. His name cropped up during the interrogation of the other accused persons and also during technical analysis of their mobile phones, he said. Chowdhary's family members stay in Mumbai and run a dairy business. Chowdhary, who has studied up to Class 12, was in direct contact with Anmol Bishnoi and another gang leader, Rohit Gadara, he said. He used to work in the dairy business of his family in South Mumbai. However, during the pandemic, the dairy business shut down, following which he came into contact with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, the official said. He was recruited into the gang by Anmol Bishnoi. After joining the gang, he used to remain mostly in his hometown, the official said. When alleged shooters Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta came to Mumbai, Anmol Bishnoi instructed them to meet Chowdhary. The trio met at Kurla on April 8, a week before shooting outside Khan's house, the official said. During the meeting, Chowdhary told the shooters to complete the task given to them and leave the metropolis. Anmol Bishnoi told Chowdhary he had been given a "bigger task" than the shooters, he said. The Mumbai police are now investigating what kind of task Chowdhary was assigned by Anmol Bishnoi, he said. According to another official, Chowdhary has surveyed Khan's residence several times. As Chowdhary was in direct contact with Anmol Bishnoi and Rohit Gudara, the crime branch suspects that the two gangsters are together, he said. Earlier, Gudara was traced in the UK and he may be now with Anmol Bishnoi in the USA, he said. Choudhary allegedly provided financial support to Pal and Gupta to purchase a motorcycle and rent a house, he said. The shooters had received money from various persons connected with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, including Chowdhary, who had provided over 1 lakh in cash for the purchase of a motorbike, renting a house in Panvel near Mumbai, and other expenses, said the official. Chowdhary also received money from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, the official said. One of the arrested persons, Anuj Thapan, who was accused of supplying weapons to the shooters, allegedly hanged himself in a police lock-up here on May 1. Lawrence Bishnoi, currently lodged in the Sabarmati central prison in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, and his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi, who is believed to be in the US or Canada, have been named in the firing case.

Firing outside Salman home: Lawrence Bishnoi gang member held for funding shooters
Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra is set visit to Bangladesh this week to take stock of bilateral ties and prepare the grounds for a trip to New Delhi by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra. (PTI File Photo)

Kwatra was earlier expected to visit Dhaka on April 20, but the trip was called off at the last moment due to unspecified reasons. He is now expected to go to Dhaka on Wednesday and hold several meetings the following day, the people said on condition of anonymity.

Besides holding talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Masud Bin Momen, Kwatra is expected to meet foreign minister Hasan Mahmud and Prime Minister Hasina to reiterate the invitation for her to visit India, the people said.

Hasina could become the first foreign leader to make a bilateral visit to India following the conclusion of the election process in early June. It is understood that she will come to India before travelling to China by July.

However, it is not yet clear whether the Bangladesh premier will travel to New Delhi by June or early July. The Indian premier is expected to make a brief visit to Italy for the outreach session of the G7 Summit around June 14, while Hasina is unlikely to travel out of Bangladesh during the Eid-ul-Azha holidays, which are expected to begin on June 17.

Kwatra will be the second senior Indian official to visit Bangladesh since Hasina returned to power for a record fifth term after the general election in early January. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval made an unannounced visit to Dhaka in early February, followed closely by a trip to India by the Bangladesh foreign minister.

There is a standing invitation for the Bangladesh prime minister to visit India and the foreign secretarys visit to Dhaka will help firm up plans for the visit, one of the people cited above said.

Besides bilateral relations and development cooperation, Kwatras meetings in Dhaka are expected to take in the rapidly deteriorating situation in Myanmar, where the junta has suffered a string of defeats at the hands of resistance forces.

There is growing concern in Dhaka about the situation along Bangladeshs border with Myanmars Rakhine state, where resistance forces have made numerous gains. The Arakan Army overran the headquarters of security forces at Maungdaw town in Rakhine state on May 3 and nearly 200 Myanmarese border guards crossed over to Bangladesh over the weekend.

The situation in Myanmar has thrown up shared security challenges for India and Bangladesh, and the two countries recently coordinated in pulling their diplomats out of Sittwe town.

The resistance forces have captured key border trade and crossing points on the frontiers with India and Bangladesh, and they have also overrun military bases in many areas along the borders with both countries, which are now dealing with Myanmarese troops entering their territories to escape the fighting.
Google Doodle on Tuesday commemorated the continuation of India's monumental democratic exercise with a symbolic gesture of an index finger marked with ink, marking the third phase of voting of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. On Tuesday, Google launched a Doodle on its homepage(Google)

Follow Phase 3 polling LIVE Updates

Google launched the doodle on its homepage, replacing its iconic logo with an image depicting an uplifted index finger marked with ink - a symbol synonymous with the democratic process of Indian elections.

By clicking on the Doodle, users are directed to the search results related to the latest updates on the elections in India.

What are Google Doodles?

Google Doodles are brief and temporary changes made to the Google logo, crafted to pay tribute to a range of local and global themes, including holidays, important dates, and impactful figures who have made notable contributions to society.

Also Read: Amit Shah to Dimple Yadav, meet key candidates in phase 3

Lok Sabha elections phase 3:

Voting for the third of seven-phase India's 18th general elections began at 7 am on Tuesday in 93 constituencies across 11 states and Union Territories. Some high-profile names in the fray in this phase include union home minister Amit Shah, who is eyeing a second term from Gujarat's Gandhinagar, union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna, Madhya Pradesh), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar, Gujarat) and Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad, Karnataka).

Overall, as many as 1351 candidates are in the fray from these 93 constituencies, with 17.24 crore people, including 8.39 crore females, eligible to vote.

The states and union territories where the elections will be held in the phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.

Also Read: How cohesive are NDA, INDIA blocs in third phase of Lok Sabha elections?

Who are the key candidates?

From Union ministers Amit Shah, Pralhad Joshi, and Jyotiraditya Scindia to Congress stalwart Digvijaya Singh, to NCPs (Sharad Pawar faction) Supriya Sule and Samajwadi Partys Dimple Yadav, the third of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Tuesday will see these key candidates lock horns with their opponents.
The Union government on Monday defended in the Supreme Court its August 2023 missive to states and Union territories asking authorities not to initiate action against any entity for violating Rule 170 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, which dealt with controlling inappropriate advertisements of Ayurvedic, Siddha or Unani drugs. The matter pertains to a contempt case against Ramdev and Patanjali over misleading advertisements. (ANI)

Submitting its affidavit in connection with a contempt case against yoga guru and entrepreneur Ramdev and Patanjalis managing director Balkrishna over misleading advertisements, the Centre maintained that the August 2023 letter was sent to states and UTs to avert confusion and unnecessary litigation.

It is respectfully submitted that as the process of final gazette notification will take further time, in order to avoid confusion among the various State/UT SLAs (state licensing authorities) and to prevent avoidable litigations, Ministry of Ayush vide letter dated 29.08.2023 directed all state/UTs licensing authorities not to take any action under Rule 170 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 1945 as the final notification is under process, the affidavit said a day ahead of the hearing in the top court.

Citing a plethora of petitions against the impugned provision in the high courts of Delhi, Bombay and Kerala, the Centre said that it stands by the decision to do away with Rule 170 and that actions for misleading advertisements could be rather considered under the Drugs & Magic Remedies Act.

A bench of justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah will on Tuesday take up the issues regarding regulatory framework to prevent misleading advertisements and unethical medical practices.

In a series of previous hearings on a petition moved by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) complaining against Ramdevs contentious comments about modern medicine and allegedly misleading advertisements about Patanjali products, the Supreme Court had initiated contempt proceedings against the yoga guru and Balkrishna, berating Patanjali for spreading misinformation that could undermine public trust in the health care system.

On April 30, the court directed Ramdev and Balkrishna to submit copies of newspaper pages that show the actual size of their published apologies for misleading previous advertisements and a press conference that went against the courts order, seeking to verify the sincerity and visibility of the unqualified apology issued by the two in the contempt case.

A day before the hearing in the court, Balkrishna also moved an application, seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against RV Asokan, IMA president, about an interview given to news agency PTI in the wake of the April 23 order of the top court broadening its judicial scrutiny into deceptive advertisements to include alleged unethical practices among doctors practising modern medicine.

In the interview, Asokan criticised the top court for its approach towards practitioners of modern medicine, asserting that scrutiny does not behove the Supreme Court to take a broadside against the medical profession of the country, especially considering the sacrifices made during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Balkrishna contended that Asokans statements are scadalous in nature and a clear attempt to interfere with the course of justice, requiring the court to take a judicial note of the episode.

During a previous hearing on April 23, the court had asked additional solicitor general KM Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, to submit an explanation regarding a recommendation made by the Ayurvedic Siddha and Unani Drugs Technical Advisory Board (ASUBTAB) for the omission of Rule 170 that dealt with controlling inappropriate advertisements and was previously brought into the central government notified amendment of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 1945, in December 2018.

On one hand, your minister says on the floor of the House that you will be taking effective steps against misleading ads. On the other hand, you are amending the regulation in this regard...Can you issue a rule in violation of a statute? Is it not arbitrary or a colourable exercise of power? Will it not amount to abetting something wrong? the bench asked the Centre on the day, clarifying the proceedings were not limited to just one FMCG or a drug company and that the court was going to look at the larger picture.
The Czech Republic's highest court has halted the lower courts' rulings that allowed the extradition of Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national indicted by the United States for allegedly planning the assassination of Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday. The decision comes after considering potential harm to public interest in delaying the extradition, the newspaper added. Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun(HT_PRINT)

Spokesperson of the Czech ministry of justice Marketa Androva told IE that the interim decision means the Minister of Justice cannot decide on extradition or refusal until the Constitutional Court decides on the merits of the complaint filed by Nikhil Gupta.

Also Read | Have independent judicial system to decide extradition of Nikhil Gupta accused: Czech foreign minister

In the interim ruling on January 30, 2024, the Constitutional Court in Prague stated that extraditing Nikhil Gupta to the US for prosecution would cause him significantly more harm than anyone else. It underscored the irreversible nature of this action, even if Nikhil Gupta's challenge is upheld.

The ministry of justice representative also said there is no fixed timeframe by when the Constitutional Court will give its verdict on the merit of the extradition.

Nikhil Gupta is currently in custody and has been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Czech authorities had arrested and detained Nikhil Gupta on June 30, pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and the Czech Republic.

Following this, the ministry of external affairs said a case filed against an individual in a US court and allegedly linking him to an Indian official is a "matter of concern" and is contrary to government policy. India has also set up a high-level committee to probe the matter.

Also Read | Pannun 'murder' plot: Czech court rules Indian man Nikhil Gupta can be extradited to US. What next?

Reacting to the US Justice Department's indictment in November 2023, the MEA spokesperson had said, "We cannot share any further information on such security matters. As regards the case against an individual that has been filed in a US court allegedly linking him to an Indian official, this is a matter of concern. We have said and let me reiterate that this is contrary to government policy."

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is an India-designated terrorist who holds American and Canadian citizenship. Earlier in November, the US Justice Department unsealed an indictment against Nikhil Gupta for his alleged involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate Pannun.
The US said India should take allegations associated with the case of the Indian government's alleged involvement in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar very seriously and investigate. The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus allegations in September of a potential involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Nijjar outside a gurdwara in Surrey city

Also Read: Arrest of 3 Indian nationals in Canada thickens the Nijjar plot and deepens diplomatic mistrust

Responding to a query on the arrest of three persons linked with the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, "I would refer you to the Canadian authorities to speak to the details of the investigation there."

"With respect to the indictment that was returned in the United States, I'll let the Department of Justice speak on behalf of that in detail. And then the only thing further I'd say: When it comes to the State Department, we made clear when these allegations were first made public that it's something we think India should take very seriously and investigate," news agency ANI quoted the official as saying.

Miller further asserted that the United States would be waiting for the investigation results after a committee was formed to look into the matter. "They opened a committee of inquiry to look into the matter, and that work is ongoing, and we'll wait to see the results. But we made very clear that it's something that we take seriously and we think it's something they should take seriously as well,' he added.

The remarks came days after three Indian nationals were charged first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the Nijjar murder case. Those arrested by the Canadian police have been identified as Karanpreet Singh (28), Kamalpreet Singh (22) and Karan Brar (22). The trio were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta. The police also released the photographs of the three accused along with the photograph of a Toyota Corolla car, which it claims was used by the suspects in the time leading up to the murder of Nijjar.

Also Read: PM Trudeau touts Canada as a 'rule-of-law country' after arrest of three Indians in Nijjar murder case

Later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada is a "rule-of-law country" with a strong and independent justice system and a fundamental commitment to protect its citizens. External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said what is happening in election-bound Canada over the killing of Nijjar is mostly due to their internal politics and has nothing to do with India. S Jaishankar contended that Canada accuses India of wrongdoing without substantiating its claims.

The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Trudeau's allegations in September last year of the "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of 45-year-old Nijjar, a Khalistan separatist. He was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023. New Delhi has dismissed Trudeau's charges as "absurd" and "motivated."

Also Read: S Jaishankar nails Justin Trudeau lies over Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing

The presence of Sikh separatist groups in Canada has long frustrated India, which had designated Nijjar a "terrorist."
The Delhi high court on Monday ordered the release of NewsClick human resources (HR) department head Amit Chakraborty, eight months after he was arrested by the Delhi police in a case registered under stringent provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on charges of receiving foreign funds for pro-China propaganda. HC orders release of Newsclicks HR dept head who turned approver

Chakrabortys release was granted after considering the fact that he had recently become an approver in the case. The bench of justice Swarna Kanta Sharma passed the order.

In its 18-page verdict, the court took note of Chakrabortys medical condition and observed that the same not only warranted special consideration but also called for a humane and understanding approach to his situation.

The petitioners medical condition warrants special consideration and calls for a humane and understanding approach to his situation. In cases where an individuals physical disability significantly affects his well-being and daily functioning, the court must acknowledge its responsibility to intervene judiciously and consider the possibility of relief or release from custody if the same is permissible under law, justice Sharma noted.

The court directed Chakraborty to furnish a personal bond of 25,000 with one surety and further restrained him from leaving the country without city courts permission.

Chakraborty had approached the Delhi high court seeking release from custody asserting that the city court in January had allowed him to turn an approver in the case and had granted him pardon.

Prabir Purkayastha, founder and editor-in-chief of NewsClick, along with Chakraborty, were arrested in the case on October 3, 2023.

Both were arrested under stringent provisions of the UAPA under sections 13, 16, 17, 18 and 22 of the UAPA, along with Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153A and 120B.
A wild coyote was found wandering around a San Francisco residence in 2023. San Francisco Animal Care and Control 2023

Regarding Move S.F. coyotes out of the city before its too late  for them and humans (Letters to the Editor, SFChronicle.com, May 5): Coyotes were here before we were. If you remove them from San Francisco, theyll just come back.

What is needed are more mountain lions in Marin County and on the Peninsula to control the coyote population.

Pending that unlikely development, responsible guardians know to keep their cats inside, and experienced residents know to tread carefully in coyote habitats. These predatory canines do have a right to be here.

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That the Chronicle gave such a prominent position to this letter proves that anti-coyote sentiment is significant in San Francisco and is as wily as its antagonist.

Kecia Talbot, San Rafael

Sunol school in chaos

Regarding Bay Area school board still reeling from Pride flag ban grapples with contentious recall (Bay Area, SFChronicle.com, April 28): Sunol, population 900, has one kindergarten through eighth-grade public school, led by a principal/superintendent. All was well until last fall when a flag issue came before the school board.

In a 2-to-1 vote, the board decided flag flying at the school would be limited to the U.S. and California flags. Issue resolved? Not for those who live by the my way or the highway crowd.

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The quiet school district is now in turmoil. The two board members who voted for the flag limitations are now the subject of a recall vote on the July 2 ballot. Allegations of homophobia, ethical violations and racism dominate school board meetings.

As a result of these issues, the long-serving principal resigned effective at the end of this school year. Students and other employees of the school have left.

Nice going, Sunol. Good luck finding a new principal/superintendent willing to deal with the mess. If I had children in your district, I would be looking for a change.

Sid Whiting, Fairfield

Preach nonviolence

Regarding Police break up UCLAs pro-Palestinian encampment, arrest more than 200 protesters (California, SFChronicle.com, May 2): As you start each day, ask yourself, will you write a chapter of violence or peaceful protest?

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If you write a chapter of violence, the ripples will blind the world because an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, as Mohandas Gandhi said.

If you write a chapter of peace, the ripples will open the eyes of the world.

As you walk through your day, if you encounter monsters, take care you do not thereby become a monster, as Friedrich Nietzsche said.

Henry David Thoreau wrote the book about civil disobedience, and Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote their own chapters. With the emphasis on the word civil to mean, lawful, peaceful and nonviolent protest to unjust actions.

Now is the time for our generation to write an equally powerful and moving chapter of peaceful and nonviolent protest.

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Curtis Panasuk, San Francisco

Protests are misdirected

The college campus protests about the dire situation in Gaza are missing the point in their call for economic divestment from Israel.

There is a more direct and effective approach to take. Current federal law (including the Leahy Law) prohibits U.S. security assistance when there is credible evidence that they have committed gross violations of human rights.

Protesters should be calling on the U.S. government to enforce existing law and suspend arms shipments to units of Israels military for violating the human rights of civilians in Gaza. Hamas terrorists are also guilty of violating the human rights of civilians in Israel, so munitions should also not be sent to Hamas or any Hamas allies, either.

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Gary Kitahata, San Francisco

State could use help

Regarding 2024 billionaires list: Here are the top 20 richest Californians, according to Forbes (California, SFChronicle.com, May 2): Just think, if each of the California billionaires cited contributed $1 billion to the state to improve our overall quality of life, what a difference that would make. And, none of these individuals would be less well off.

About Opinion Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership. Read more about our transparency and ethics policies

Imagine: solutions for homelessness and climate change, high-speed trains, infrastructure improvements, free college, safe streets, health care for all. The list goes on.

Imagine.
India and the European Union (EU) reiterated their commitment to a free and rules-based maritime order in the Indo-Pacific at their second security and defence consultations, which also focused on enhancing security cooperation. Security cooperation between the EU and India in recent years has encompassed counter-terrorism and cyber and maritime security. (Representative Image)

The consultations were held in New Delhi on Monday against the backdrop of Chinas increasingly assertive actions across the Indo-Pacific. The EU has taken several steps in recent years to enhance its profile in the region and to forge a stronger security partnership with India, including the posting of a defence attache to India late last year.

During the security and defence consultations, co-chaired by joint secretary (international cooperation) Vishvesh Negi of the defence ministry and Joanneke Balfoort, director for security and defence policy with the European External Action Service, there was agreement on deepening security and defence cooperation, according to a readout from the EU.

Both sides reiterated their commitment to a free, open, inclusive and rules-based maritime order in the Indo-Pacific, underpinned by respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, democracy, rule of law and freedom of navigation and overflight. They also supported unimpeded lawful commerce and peaceful resolution of disputes in line with international law, especially the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Both the EU and Indo-Pacific countries have a stake in each others prosperity and security, and the European bloc, with its Indo-Pacific strategy and Global Gateway initiative, aims to contribute to stability, security, prosperity and sustainable development in the region, the readout said.

The EU also aims to foster democracy, rule of law, human rights and international law as an intelligent facilitator for peace and security in non-traditional security domains, while acting in partnership with the other actors in the region  mainly India, the readout added.

Security cooperation between the EU and India in recent years has encompassed counter-terrorism and cyber and maritime security. The EU also believes the Indo-Pacific, and the Indian Ocean in particular, are key areas where such cooperation can be enhanced.

On Monday, the EU delegation in India also organised a seminar with the theme of The security environment in the Indo-Pacific region and the EUs role as security actor in partnership/cooperation with India, ahead of the second edition of the Schuman Security and Defence Forum to be held in Brussels during May 28-29.

The seminar, attended by security and defence experts, think tank representatives, diplomats, Indian officials and EU member state representatives, provided a platform for exchange of views on regional security challenges, the maritime security environment, and policy developments linked to the EU strategy the Indo-Pacific and Indias Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative.

During her address, Balfoort said, In this interconnected world, mutually beneficial peace, security and defence partnerships are more needed than ever. We see India, a country with considerable strategic weight on the global security balance, as a key partner for the EU in the Indo-Pacific.

EU ambassador Herve Delphin said the global environment had become more volatile and unstable with war and growing security threats. The EU is adapting to this new reality by enhancing its own security and defence but also by working together with international partners to address common security challenges to promote peace and stability, he said.

Growing inter-connectedness between Europe and the Indo-Pacific means cooperation with Asian partners and most notably with India has become more important than ever, he added.

While the EU has stepped up cooperation with India in maritime security, counter-terrorism, cyber-security, non-proliferation and disarmament, Delphin listed other areas such as space, hybrid and cyber threats and the security dimensions of artificial intelligence as possible areas for cooperation.
The Enforcement Directorate arrested Sanjeev Lal, the personal secretary to Jharkhand rural development minister Alamgir Alam, and his domestic help Jahangir Alam late on Monday night after recovery of 35.23 crore cash from house in Ranchi. ED officials during the raid in Ranchi on Monday. (ANI)(HT_PRINT)

Sanjeev Lal and Jahangir Alam were taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following their overnight questioning, unnamed sources told news agency PTI.

On Monday, the ED had raided a 2BHK flat in Ranchi that is allegedly occupied by Jahangir Alam, as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the state rural development department.

The sleuths of ED had recovered over 32 crore cash apart from 3 crore from some other premises that were searched by the central agency. The total cash recovery stands at 35.23 crore, the sources said.

Alamgir Alam, meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing on his part.

Cash recovery by ED

Steel trunks filled with recovered cash were taken away from the residence by ED officials on Monday night. tHE recovery is in connection with the ongoing investigation into the case of Virendra K Ram, the chief engineer at the Jharkhand rural development department.

Videos and photos shared on social media showed officials of the agency emptying wads of currency notes from large bags in a 2BHK flat located at Gadikhana Chowk.

As many as eight note-counting machines were deployed by the agency apart from bank staff to ascertain the exact amount of currency that was majorly in the 500 denomination. Personnel of central paramilitary forces stood guard at the building where the flat is located.

In 2019, a massive amount of cash was recovered from one of his subordinates. Later, the ED took over the case under the PMLA. The ED arrested Virendra K Ram in February 2023 in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the implementation of some schemes.

Virendra K Ram was nabbed after it launched multiple searches on February 21, 2023, in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and a few other places in Jharkhand, Bihar and Delhi.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha on Tuesday criticised investigation agencies, saying they are not taking any action against people like Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna but have arrested her. Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha leaves Rouse Avenue Court after the hearing in connection with Delhi excise policy case, in New Delhi.(ANI )

"Investigation agencies are leaving people like Prajwal Revanna and arresting people like us," Kavitha told media persons while leaving the Rouse Avenue court in New Delhi.

Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, is wanted in connection with the alleged sexual harassment cases against him.

Thousands of pen drives allegedly containing his sexual assault videos were circulated last month in Hassan , the Lok Sabha constituency from where he is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-JD (S) candidate.

Also Read | Prajwal Revanna unlikely to appear on polling day: BJP

Revanna claims that the videos were doctored, and left for Frankfurt on the day the Karnataka Police constituted the SIT. He is said to be travelling abroad on his diplomatic passport.

K Kavitha's judicial custody extended



A Delhi court on Tuesday extended Kavitha's judicial custody in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam till May 14.

Special judge for CBI and ED matters Kaveri Baweja extended the custody of the Telangana MLC after she was produced before the court on the expiry of her remand, according to PTI.

During the proceedings, the Enforcement Directorate told the court the investigation was at a crucial stage, and that it may file a charge sheet against Kavitha within a week.

On Monday, the court rejected Kavitha's bail plea in the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the alleged irregularities in the Delhi liquor excise policy 2021-22 case.

Special judge Kaveri Baweja dismissed the two bail applications moved by the 46-year-old MLC from Nizamabad. Kavitha had filed the bail application in the ED case on March 23 and in the CBI case on April 15.

The BRS legislator had approached the court seeking relief on the grounds that all the rules and principles of natural justice were violated when she was arrested by the CBI.
A vigilance court in Kerala on Monday dismissed a petition filed by Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan seeking a court-monitored probe into the alleged suspicious financial transactions between a minerals manufacturer and a software firm owned by the daughter of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan (Wikimedia commons)

The first-time Congress MLA, in his petition before the court of the enquiry commissioner and special judge, Thiruvananthapuram, had alleged that chief minister Vijayan had enriched himself unlawfully by giving undue favours to Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) after he came to power and that the company returned the favour by giving monthly payments to Veena T, the daughter of the chief minister, and the now-defunct software consultancy firm she operated in Bengaluru.

The Congress MLA pointed to the ruling of the income-tax interim settlement board last year that confirmed that CMRL gave 1.72 crore to Exalogic, the firm owned by Veena, in a three-year period even though the latter had not rendered any services to the mining firm. The MLA also submitted several documents before the vigilance court as alleged evidence of corruption involving the chief minister, his daughter and officials of CMRL.

However, the vigilance court said the records submitted by the complainant do not point to any offence of corruption against the accused.

Referring to the documents submitted by the Congress MLA, special judge Rajakumara MV noted, I am not able to find that they constitute an offence under section 13 (1)(b) of the PC Act or section 120(B) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In other words, necessary facts constituting corruption are absent in the complaint. Even if facts stated in the complaint are accepted on its face value, they do not constitute the offence alleged.

The court underlined that it could not find even a single scrap of paper supporting the contentions of the complainant that the money paid to Veena and Exalogic were bribes in exchange for undue favours given to CMRL by the state government.

The court also wondered why the complainant had no grievance about the payments made by CMRL to political parties, media houses and police officers as per the extra judicial confession of the companys chief financial officer.

He has no case that all those who alleged to have received payments have favoured the CMRL in any manner. He has not voiced any grievance as to other payments. He is also not seeking any investigation or enquiry against them. A question would naturally arise why investigation or enquiry against A1, A6 and A7 alone is sought. This would strengthen the argument that the complaint is politically motivated, the court said. A1 is CM Vijayan, A6 Exalogic and A7 Veena T in the complaint filed before the court.

Congress MLA Kuzhalnadan, responding to the court verdict, admitted that it was a legal setback. However, he added that he will not run away from the allegations he made in the case.

I will read the court order carefully and respond in a detailed manner as to how the court perceived the documents that I submitted. Legally, it is a setback, I admit. But I will not run away from the allegations I made about the case, he told reporters.

While chief minister Vijayan is out of the country on a personal visit, he has not responded to the court verdict.

However, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] state secretariat welcomed the court order and stated that there was no evidence of any undue favours being given to CMRL by the state government.

Through this verdict of the vigilance court, scripts that were made with the aim of defaming the chief minister by dragging him into what was a legal transaction between two firms have now been exposed. This story was brought forward with the help of the central government and supported by legal petitions and news platforms at a time when there was nothing bad to say about the state government and the CPI(M), the party said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday wrote a letter to the INDIA allies expressing concerns over alleged delay in the publishing of electoral data and urged the parties to work collectively and unitedly to ensure the independence of the Election Commission of India (ECI). Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. (PTI File Photo)

Kharge said the delay in publishing the final voting percentages for the first and second phases raises serious doubts on the quality of data and it is extremely disconcerting to know, through various media reports, that even the final registered voters list from the third phase onwards is also not released.

It is in public domain on how the ECI, perhaps for the first time in history, delayed the release of the final voting percentages of the First and Second phase of the Lok Sabha elections...On earlier occasions the Commission has published voter turnout data within 24 hours of polling. What has changed this time? Why has the Commission failed to issue any clarification to justify the delay, despite being repeatedly questioned by political parties as well as political activists? Is there an issue with the EVMs? Kharge said.

He also said that in his electoral life of 52 years, he has never witnessed such a high increment of voting percentages in the final published data.

He pointed out that in the first phase the EC said that as on 7pm on 19.04.2024, the estimated voter turnout was around 60%, while similarly for the Second Phase (88 Seats), the estimated voter turnout was around 60.96 %. Why is it that on 20.04.2024, the Commissions projected voter turnout for the First Phase was increased to 65.5% and on 27.04.2024, for the Second Phase the voter turnout data increased to 66.7%. Finally on 30.04.2024, the figures were confirmed at 66.14% for the First Phase and 66.71% for the Second Phase?

We ask the Commission - For First Phase, why is there a near increase of ~5.5% in the final voter turnout from date of conclusion of voting (at 7pm on 19.04.2024) to the delayed release of voter turnout data (On 30.04.2024)? For Second Phase, there is a near increase of more than ~5.74% in the final voter turnout from the date of conclusion of voting (at 7pm on 26.04.2024) to the delayed release of data (On 30.04.2024)? he said.

He also pointed out that apart from the delay, the voter turnout data released by the Commission does not mention crucial figures such as the votes polled in each Parliamentary Constituency and in the respective Assembly Constituencies. If the voter turnout data was published within 24 hours of voting along with the crucial figures, then we would have known if the increase (of ~5%) had been witnessed across constituencies? Or only in constituencies where the ruling regime had not performed well in the 2019 elections? he wrote.

Kharge demanded that the EC should have not only released the data per Parliamentary Constituency (and respective Assembly Constituencies) but it should have also released the voter turnout data in each polling station. In fact, with each polling station, Assembly Constituency and Parliamentary, should also mention/publish the complaints which may have been filed by the Political Party? he added.

As per the ECI, the Polling Agents of the Candidates have the exact voter turnout data of each polling station. It means that the Commission also has the requisite data of the voter turnout for each polling station; now our question to them is what exactly is precluding the Commission from publishing the same for the people? he said in the letter.

There was no immediate reaction from the ECI to Kharges charges.

Kharge further said, All these developments cast a dark shadow on the functioning of the Election Commission of India  an institution built with the collective efforts of the Indian State and its people, he said.

All the aforementioned facts force us to ask a question - could this be an attempt to doctor the final results? he added.

He said with recent developments, the credibility of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is at an all-time low and urged the INDIA allies to collectively question the Election Commission on Why did the Commission delay the release of voter turnout data?

He maintained that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is the fight to save democracy and the Constitution and reminded the leaders about the alliances collective endeavour to safeguard democracy and protect the independent functioning of the Election Commission.

I would urge all of you that we must collectively, unitedly and unequivocally raise our voice against such discrepancies, for our only objective is to protect the culture of a vibrant Democracy and the Constitution. Let us ensure the independence of the Election Commission of India and make it accountable, he said.
Former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav rebuffed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's allegations that the INDIA bloc aimed to shift reservation from backward communities to Muslims and asserted that quota in jobs and education is granted based on social backwardness, not religion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav (right). (File Photo)

He also claimed that he was the one who implemented the recommendations of the Mandal Commission, also known as the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC) responsible for identifying such classes and recommending steps for their advancement.

I implemented the 'Mandal Commission'. Reservation samajik adhar par hota hai dharmik aadhar par nahi hota hai (it is based on social backwardness and not based on religion). Atal Bihari Vajpayee constituted the Constitution Review Commission, Yadav said speaking to ANI.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi attacked Lalu Prasad after the RJD leader said that Muslims should get a reservation in full.

At a rally in Madhya Pradesh, Modi said, The person, a key ally of INDIA bloc, who is convicted in fodder scam and out on bail, has today said Muslims should get a reservation. That is not all. He has said Muslims should get reservations in full. It only means they (INDIA bloc) want to snatch the reservation of SC/ST and OBCs for giving reservation to Muslims.

Modi said he had only alleged that the Opposition was planning to take away a part of the reservation, but their conspiracy is even bigger, they want to take away the whole reservation.

Speaking to ANI, Lalu said that after three phases of the Lok Sabha elections, the momentum appeared to be in favour of the INDIA bloc. He predicted that the BJP would struggle to secure even 200 seats.

We are getting reports in our favour after the third phase. They are saying 400-plus to induce psychological pressure, they won't even cross 200.

They (BJP) want to end reservation, they are against backwards and Dalits, Lalu said.

Voting in Bihar, which contributes 40 Lok Sabha members, will be held across all seven phases, with vote counting scheduled for June 4.

Today, as part of the third phase, polling was held for five Lok Sabha seats: Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, Madhepura, and Khagaria.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP-led NDA secured a near-clean sweep in the state, clinching 39 out of the 40 seats.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday said Muslims should get reservation in full, evoking a sharp reaction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who asserted that it only means INDIA bloc wants to snatch quota of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes for giving it to Muslims. Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav (right). (File Photo)

Lau said Muslims should get reservation in full when asked by reporters to comment on Modis allegations that INDIA bloc wants to give reservation to Muslims based on religious grounds in violation of the Constitution.

The RJD chief was speaking to reporters at the swearing in ceremony of 11 newly elected MLCs, including chief minister Nitish Kumar and former CM Rabri Devi, at the Bihar legislative council.

Reacting to Lalus statement, Modi at an election rally in Madhya Pradesh in the afternoon, said, The person, a key ally of INDIA bloc, who is convicted in fodder scam and out on bail, has today said Muslims should get reservation. That is not all. He has said Muslims should get reservation in full. It only means, they (INDIA bloc) want to snatch the reservation of SC/ST and OBCs for giving reservation to Muslims.

Lalu told reporters that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling coalition was keen to change the Constitution and wondered whether they support the reservation system in the country. They (BJP) want to amend the Constitution and end democracy. This has gone deep into the minds of people in the country, he said.

Later, speaking to news agency ANI, Lalu said the basis of reservation is always social and not religion. The reservation to various castes as per the Mandal Commission was based on social conditions. Religion cannot be a basis for reservation, he said.

He said he was the one who had steered the implementation of the Mandal Commission report for reservation in jobs and educational institutions for OBCs. It was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had formed a national commission to review the working of the Constitution. They (BJP) want to amend the Constitution, he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Modi at an election meeting in Bihars Darbhanga had said the framers of Indian Constitution led by Dr B R Ambedhkar had deliberated long on the pros and cons of giving reservation based on religion and had concluded it should not be provisioned. Even Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed reservation based on religion, he said

He said the Congress, after losing its support among OBCs and marginalised sections, is making a sinister plan to reduce the quota limit of backward classes and scheduled castes for giving more reservation to Muslims.

In other rallies, Modi had also referred to how the Karnataka government led by Congress had put the Muslims in the southern state in the OBC list.

I am challenging the Congress and its allies to give in writing that they would not snatch the reservation of backward classes/ scheduled castes / tribe on basis of religion to give reservation to Muslims. They should write that INDIA bloc would not play with Constitution by giving reservation based on religion. Such a move would only deprive the quota for backward community and scheduled caste/ tribe. But as long as I am alive, I would not allow any tinkering with reservation for OBCs/ SC and STs, Modi had said.

Modi had also accused the RJD chief of advocating for separate quota for Muslims in railways in 2007 when he was the Union railway minister in the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Lalu on Tuesday told reporters that the BJP was only provoking people by making statements such as Jungle Raj to refer to the RJD rule in Bihar. They are provoking people. They are scared now and making all sorts of statements, he said.

On the BJPs campaign tagline 400 paar (crossing 400 seats), Lalu said, There is no 400, it is only  paar (gone to the pavilion).

The RJD chief, whose party is contesting 23 seats in alliance with five other parties including left parties and Congress as part of the Mahagatbandhan (Grand Alliance) in Bihar and the INDIA bloc at the national level, also claimed people have extended full support to the opposition alliance in the five seats where voting took place during the third phase on Tuesday.

Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, Madhepura, Khagaria were the constituencies where voting took place on Tuesday.
Eleven states and territories including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat voted on Tuesday in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections amid searing temperatures. May 7 polling covered 93 Lok Sabha seats as BJP bagged Surat unopposed after the nomination papers of the Congress candidate were rejected and the others withdrew from the race. With this, polling is over in 20 states and UTs covering 283 Lok Sabha seats. Manusha, a voter from the Hakki Pikki tribal community displays his inked finger after casting his ballot at a polling station during the third phase of voting for the India's general election, at Sadashivapura village of Shimoga district in Karnataka, on May 7, 2024.(AFP)

A provisional voter turnout of around 61.5% has been recorded so far, as per EC data, with the highest polling witnessed in BJP-ruled Assam (75.30%) despite overcast skies and light rainfall in most areas. While the official time for voting to end is 6 pm, it can go beyond fixed polling hours to enable voters in the queue who have come well in time to exercise their franchise.

Among the four Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam that went to the polls today, Dhubri recorded the highest voter turnout at 79.7%, followed by Barpeta at 76.73%, Kokrajhar at 74.24% and Guwahati at 68.93%.

West Bengal registered around 73.9% voter turnout, with largely peaceful polling in four constituencies of two Muslim-majority districts.

In Chhattisgarh, seven of the 11 Lok Sabha seats that voted on Tuesday, a voter turnout of 66.99% was recorded. Polling was held in Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Korba, Janjgir-Champa, Surguja and Raigarh parliamentary constituencies.

Read: PM Narendra Modi reveals why he wants 400-paar seats in Lok Sabha polls 2024

A voter turnout of 63.19% was recorded across nine constituencies in Madhya Pradesh that went to the polls in the third phase. The highest turnout was in Rajgarh with 73.63%, followed by Vidisha (70.48%) and Guna (69.72%). Madhya Pradesh had recorded 58.59% and 67.75% polling in the first and second phases, respectively. Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh are being conducted in four phases. The fourth, which is the last phase of Lok Sabha polls in the state, will be held on May 13.

11 out of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra witnessed a voter turnout of 54.98% in the third phase, according to election authorities. Among these, Kolhapur recorded the highest turnout at 63.71%, followed by Hatkanangale (62.18%), Latur (55.38%), Satara (54.11%), Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg (53.75%), Osmanabad (52.78%), Sangli (52.56%), Raigad (50.31%), Madha (50%), Solapur (49.17%), and Baramati (45.68%).

Read: Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Gautam Adani casts vote with family. Watch video

In Gujarat, a voter turnout of 56.83% was recorded across 25 constituencies, as per EC data. The tribal-reserved Valsad constituency reported the highest turnout at 68.66%, while Amreli saw the lowest at 46.11%.

A voter turnout of around 56% was recorded across five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar -- Araria, Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Madhepura, and Khagaria -- all currently held by the ruling NDA. Supaul witnessed the highest turnout at 58.91%, followed by Araria (58.57%), Madhepura (54.92%), Khagaria (54.35%), and Jhanjharpur (53.29%) by 5 pm.

In Uttar Pradesh, Agra witnessed 51.53 per cent polling, Aonla 54.73 per cent, Budaun 52.77 per cent, Bareilly 54.21 per cent, Etah 57.07 per cent, Fatehpur Sikri 54.93 per cent, Firozabad 56.27 per cent, Hathras 53.54 per cent, Mainpuri 55.88 per cent and Sambhal 61.10 per cent, the Election Commission (EC) said.

Voter turnout of 66.14% and 66.71% respectively in the first two phases has been marginally lower than corresponding phases five years back, with analysts blaming the summer heat and the lack of a single strong issue to motivate voters.
Pune, Nonagenarian Baburao Akhade was among 41 eligible voters from the remote hamlet Burudmal under Baramati Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra who for the first time didn't have to trek 12 km to cast their votes, which was the case until 2019 elections. Maharashtra: Remote hamlet gets polling station for first time, registers 95 pc turnout

Voting was held for 11 of 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state in the third phase on Tuesday.

This is the first time that officials established a polling station in a nearby school for eligible electors enabling us to take part in the festival of democracy- elections, in our hamlet.

Located 35 km away from Bhor town in Velhe tehsil of Pune district, Burudmal is the smallest polling station with 41 eligible voters under the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency.

By 3 pm on Tuesday, 39 voters, including a first-timer, had exercised their franchise, registering a 95 per cent turnout.

"This has happened for the first time in our lifetime that a polling station has been set up near our houses here in Burudmal. Till the last elections, we all had to go on foot to Sangvi Velvade Khore to cast votes, which is almost 12 km from here," said 90-year-old Akhade, the senior-most voter among the flock.

But this time, a polling station was set up in a school, located just next to our houses, giving us much-required comfort in the scorching summer heat, he said.

A youngster, Mahesh Gore claimed this is for the first time after Independence that a polling station was established in the hamlet.

"Earlier, we used to trek and cross two rivers on a boat to reach the polling station, which was 12-km away. Voters, including senior citizens and women, used to find it difficult to get there.

"Considering all these hardships, we had appealed to the Sub-Divisional Officer, Bhor division, to set up a polling station. The administration acted swiftly. Today, 40 of the 41 voters exercised their franchise here," he said.

According to villagers, the population of Burudmal is 150 and most of the young residents work in Mumbai.

"But more than 20 voters hired a bus from Maharashtra's capital city and reached Burudmal just to cast their votes," they said.

Priyanka Akhade, who works in Mumbai was part of the group.

"I am voting for the first time. I am very fortunate that I could vote in the polling station in my village," she said.

Another voter, Laxman Akhade, said he was feeling very happy for his 90-year-old father who got the chance to cast his vote in his hamlet.

"Since the government provided us the polling station, we showed our commitment by doing 100 per cent voting," he said.

Bhausaheb Turkunde, a lone teacher who works at the Zilla Parishad primary school in Burudmal, said the terrain is difficult.

"Most of the times, people living here had to trek to nearby villages to bring goods but a motorable road has been built now," he said.

Rajendra Kachare, sub-divisional officer, said they were moved by the determination of villagers to participate in the voting process.

"As per the guidance from our returning officer Kavita Dwivedi, a polling station was set up here. 95 per cent of voters cast their franchise at the polling station," he said.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
NEW DELHI: Maldivian foreign minister Moosa Zameer will visit India this week, becoming the first leader from the Indian Ocean archipelago to travel to New Delhi amid a dramatic downturn in relations between the two sides. Maldivian foreign minister Moosa Zameer will meet his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar for discussions on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest (X.MoosaZameer)

Zameers trip to India on May 9 will come a day before India is expected to complete the process of withdrawing more than 80 military personnel stationed in the Maldives to operate three aircraft mainly used for humanitarian relief operations and replacing them with civilian experts.

During his official visit to New Delhi, Zameer will meet his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar for discussions on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest, the external affairs ministry said in a brief statement.

Maldives is Indias key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and Foreign Minister Zameers visit is expected to lend further momentum to the bilateral cooperation between the two countries, the statement said.

Bilateral ties have been hit since Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu took a range of steps since coming to power late last year to move his country closer to China and to reduce dependence on India in areas ranging from healthcare to food security and defence cooperation.

Muizzu, who ran on an India Out campaign in the presidential election, scrapped a 2019 agreement with India on conducting hydrographic surveys and inked pacts with Turkiye for acquiring drones for maritime surveillance and food items such as wheat.

He also signed an agreement with China for military equipment and training. He demanded that India withdraw more than 80 military personnel deployed in the Maldives to operate two helicopters and an aircraft. Two batches of military personnel were pulled out in March and April and the final batch is expected to be withdrawn by May 10.
Unplugging from the endless scroll of social media and seeking genuine human connection can help ease anxiety. Ruth Asawas Wall of Masks at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, 1966-2000. Artwork  2024 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle

The day I deactivated all my social media accounts is a day I will never forget. The turning point came one fateful morning when the weight of despair threatened to crush my spirit entirely. In the depths of depression, I grappled with thoughts of escape, a longing for the oblivion of eternal sleep. It was a moment of reckoning, a stark reminder of the preciousness of life and the perils of losing oneself in the darkness.

The irony is that as a psychotherapist, I have worked with numerous cases of people who struggle with the same thing. They read the news and felt helpless and hopeless, and I was able to use effective interventions with them to help them practice self-compassion and care by taking pauses or decreasing their use.

Yet, I could not do the same for myself.

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As a human rights activist, I felt the burden of the world on my shoulders since August 2021, when U.S. troops left Afghanistan. Especially since the turn that the world has taken since last Oct. 7, I realized that I knew how to talk about mental health and how to help others, but I could not do much for myself.

My journey with depression and anxiety intertwines closely with my consumption of news through social media platforms. Since August 2021, my soul has been weighed down by the tumultuous events unfolding in Afghanistan, a place forever etched in my identity as an Afghan woman. The fear and uncertainty surrounding the peace talks and the return of the Taliban cast a long shadow over my hopes for the future of Afghan women. When the U.S. abruptly withdrew from Afghanistan, it felt as though all my aspirations were dashed in a single night. Consumed by despair, I turned to Twitter, seeking solace in the echo chambers of social media.

Obsessively following the news, I felt a sense of helplessness and hopelessness engulfing me with each passing day. Despite my efforts to raise awareness on Facebook and Instagram, I was met with criticism and even death threats, condemning my activism as futile or blasphemous. As a psychotherapist, guiding others through compassion fatigue, I found myself unable to heed my own advice, trapped in a cycle of anxiety and despair.

Seeking help, I embarked on a journey of self-discovery and healing. With the support of psychiatric treatment and therapy, I found the courage to deactivate my social media accounts, reclaiming control over my mental and emotional well-being. The decision to step back from the relentless cycle of news consumption was a liberation, a release from the shackles of despair.

Today, as I navigate the complexities of a world in turmoil, I do so with newfound clarity and resilience. While the scars of compassion fatigue may linger, I am no longer defined by them. Instead, I am empowered by the realization that I can still make a difference, not through the endless scroll of social media, but through meaningful action and genuine human connection.

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My journey underscores the importance of recognizing the impact of news consumption on mental health and taking proactive steps to safeguard it. While staying informed is crucial, it is equally vital to prioritize self-care and establish healthy boundaries. This might involve taking regular breaks from social media, engaging in mindfulness practices or seeking professional support when needed.

In a world where the news cycle never sleeps and information is readily accessible at our fingertips, it is easy to succumb to the pressure of staying constantly plugged in. However, we must remember that our mental health is non-negotiable and deserves the same level of attention and care as our physical well-being. By taking time off from social media and prioritizing self-care, we can cultivate a greater sense of resilience and well-being in the face of adversity.

So, I urge you to join me in embracing the power of pause. Step away from the digital noise, reconnect with yourselves and your loved ones, and nurture your mental health with the same diligence and compassion that we afford to our physical health. In doing so, we honor our own well-being and contribute to creating a more compassionate and resilient society for all.

About Opinion Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership. Read more about our transparency and ethics policies

Remember, reaching out for help is a sign of strength, and there are people ready to support you through difficult times.

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You are not alone.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said she has removed nephew Akash Anand as her successor and as national coordinator of the party till he becomes politically mature. BSP chief Mayawati with nephew Akash Anand (middle). (Photo @samajwadiparty)

In a series of social media posts on X, Mayawati reaffirmed the party's commitment to the ideals of Dr BR Ambedkar and the ongoing movement for social change. She said Akash Anand was appointed as BSP's national coordinator and was declared her successor for providing momentum to this movement.

But in the larger interest of the party and the movement, he is being removed from both these important responsibilities until he attains full maturity, she said.

She said her brother and Akash's father Anand Kumar will continue to fulfil his responsibilities as before.

The surprise decision comes on the day voting was held for the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls in the country.

Akash Anand was made national coordinator of the BSP in 2019 when Mayawati rejigged the party organisation after severing ties with the Samajwadi Party. Akash was named Mayawati's successor in December last year at a crucial party meeting in Lucknow. He was also tasked to manage the party affairs in the states where the organisation was weak.

It is unclear what prompted the BSP supremo to remove her nephew from key party posts and drop him as successor.

Akash was booked late last month for the violation of the Model Code of Conduct after he allegedly used objectionable language at an election rally in Sitapur.

"This government is a bulldozer government and a government of traitors. The party that leaves its youth hungry and enslaves its elderly is a terrorist government. Taliban runs such a government in Afghanistan," the BSP leader said.

In his address, Anand also cited a National Crime Records Bureau report of 16,000 kidnapping incidents in the state and accused the government of failing to provide safety to women and children.

The BJP is a party of thieves who took 16,000 crores through electoral bonds, he further alleged.

The case was registered against Anand, the BSP's national coordinator, party candidates Mahendra Yadav, Shyam Awasthi and Akshay Kalra and rally organiser Vikas Rajvanshi, Superintendent of Police (Sitapur) Chakresh Mishra said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) wave is sweeping across the country, and asserted that the NDA would emerge victorious in the next weeks Vidhan Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh to herald a Viksit Andhra (developed Andhra) on the lines of Viksit Bharat (developed India). Prime Minister Narendra Modi with JanaSena Party chief and NDA candidate Pawan Kalyan, BJP Rajahmundry candidate Daggubati Purandeswari and others greet the gathering during a NDA election rally in Rajahmundry on Monday. (ANI)

Addressing a rally at Vemagiri near Rajahmundry of Andra Pradeshs East Godavari district, Modi launched his first ever direct attack on the YSR Congress Party-led by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The Prime Minister said the people of Andhra Pradesh have completely rejected the YSRCP, alleging that the Jagan government had not only wasted its mandate in the last five years but also let the states potential go to waste.

When Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president Chandrababu Naidu was in power, this state was at the peak of its league. But the YSRCP government derailed all that progress. Instead of working for the welfare of the people, the YSRCP drowned the state in debt, he said.

He said there was a huge population of young talent in Andhra Pradesh, whose mettle had been recognised worldwide. But under the YSRCP regime, it is just a dream, as the government had done zero in development, but promoted 100% corruption. The projects sanctioned by the central government have been delayed multiple times, only further derailing the welfare of the people, he said, and assured that with the double engine government of the NDA, all projects which had been left incomplete, shall be completed.

Modi further asked people to be wary of the Congress. He said the country under its (Congress) regime 10 years ago was associated with scams. The Congress and INDIA bloc leaders often fume at the Enforcement Directorate (ED). You know why? In Jharkhand, mountains of currency bundles have been recovered from the servant of the personal secretary of one of the Congress leaders, he pointed out.

He said the Congress had turned the homes of servants into an abode of black money so much that even cash counting machines got tired of counting the notes. All those who were caught with unaccounted for cash were close to the first family of Congress, he alleged. When Modi holds them accountable for their crimes, they hurl abuses at him. But Modi doesnt care about these bad words, he only cares about the poor, he said.

The PM said as of now, the ED had caught hold of only 1.15 lakh crore worth property but it would be much more and he was consulting experts to unearth them. Modi has already returned 17 lakh crore which was stolen from the poor in the past. No poor individual shall be left cheated. That is Modis guarantee, he said.

Modi alleged that in Andhra Pradesh, too, the YSRCP was running in full speed towards corruption. These people came into power making false promises of a ban on liquor and the same people in the government are today actively involved in the liquor business. Andhra Pradesh today finds itself in the middle of a very big alcohol syndicate and the state is being governed by the sand and liquor mafia, he said.

Taking a dig at Jagans ambitious plan of creating three capitals for the state, Modi said in the last five years, they couldnt come up even with one capital. The idea of three capitals was only to mask their plans of big corruption. The YSRCP government is only capable of managing corruption, not a states finances, he said.

He found fault with the YSRCP government for neglecting the Polavaram project, the lifeline of the state, though the Centre had allotted 15,000 crore for the same. The farmers are suffering due to lack of proper irrigation and are not getting remunerative prices for their agriculture produce, he said.

Modi explained how the Centre had launched various initiatives to develop Andhra like Amaravati-Vijayawada road project, Visakhapatnam-Chennai industrial corridor, expansion of Rajahmundry airport and a south coast railway zone Visakhapatnam, among others.

Reacting to Modis speech, the YSRCP raised five points and demanded that the NDA allies in Andhra Pradesh should ask Modi to clarify whether they would be fulfilled if the NDA comes to power in the state.

YSRCP leader and Vishakapatnam MP candidate Botsa Jhansi sought to know whether Modi would guarantee that the NDA alliance would not remove the 4% reservation for Muslims under the OBC quota. Will Modi also give an assurance that the NDA will not privatise the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant? she asked.

It also wanted the PM to give an assurance that the NDA would not implement the CAA and NRC in their current form and Muslims will be included in them. Will Modi grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh and will the NDA government in the state will repeal the Land Titling Act in the state, by directly disregarding the Centres guidelines that led to formation of this Act, the YSRCP leader asked.

Congress is anti-Ram, says Nadda

Meanwhile, addressing an election rally at Peddapalli in Telangana, BJP national president JP Nadda alleged that the Congress had joined hands with anti-national forces and was opposing Sanatana Dharma and Lord Ram.

He pointed out that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had remained silent when Udayanidhi Stalin, leader of their alliance partner DMK, compared Sanatana Dharma with HIV, dengue and malaria. The Congress leaders did not even attend the ceremony of consecration of Ram temple at Ayodhya, he said.

Taking a dig at ABC  Asaduddin Owaisi of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Congress, Nadda alleged that they were following the agenda of Muslim League. AIMIM, BRS and Congress are the ABC of appeasement in Telangana. They function on the agenda of the Muslim League and support the ideologies of Tablighi Jamaat and Razakars, he said.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhis allegations that the BJP if voted to power again, would end reservations, Nadda said it was like a thief pulling up a policeman. It was the Congress who robbed Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs of their reservations and gave them to Muslims, he said.

Nadda pointed out that the PM had openly dared the Congress to give it in writing that it would never meddle with SC, ST, OBC reservations, but the grand old party did not accept the challenge. For their political benefit, they are conspiring to take the country towards a new division, he added.

There was no immediate reaction from the AIMIM, BRS or Congress.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will not even get 150 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Monday, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made up his mind to change the Constitution, something that will deprive tribals and other sections of their rights. NDA wont even get 150 seats in polls: Rahul Gandhi

Addressing two poll rallies in Madhya Pradesh  at Jobat in Alirajpur district which comes under the Ratlam Lok Sabha seat and Segaon under the Khargone constituency  Gandhi reiterated that the Opposition INDIA bloc will ensure the 50% cap on reservation is removed in the interest of the people if voted to power at the Centre.

These Lok Sabha elections are for saving the Constitution which the BJP and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) want to scrap, change and throw away, Gandhi, who was carrying a copy of the Constitution in his hand, alleged at Jobat. BJP leaders have clearly said they will change the book (Constitution). They have given the slogan of abki baar, 400 paar. Leave aside 400, they wont even get 150 seats.

The former Congress chief stressed that his party and other Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc partners were protecting the Constitution.

Both Ratlam and Khargone seats, which are reserved for scheduled tribes (ST), will go to polls on May 13 in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

It is due to it (Constitution) that the tribals, Dalits and OBCs are getting benefits. The tribals have the right over water, land and jungles due to the Constitution, Gandhi said, adding Modi wants to snatch the peoples rights. Their leaders have said that they will snatch away reservation given to tribals, Dalits and OBCsWe want to stop that.

The Congress leader reiterated that if voted to power, INDIA bloc will raise the 50% cap on reservation.

I want to tell you from this stage that leave aside (talk of) snatching reservation, we are going to raise it above 50%. The court has contained the reservation limit at 50%, he said.

At Khargone rally, Gandhi promised to waive loans of farmers and raise the daily allowance under the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) scheme from 250 to 400 if voted to power. After coming to power, INDIA bloc will enact a law to ensure that farmers get the minimum support price (MSP) for their produce, he added.

Attacking the BJP, Gandhi claimed that Modi has made 22 people multi-billionaires in the country. Modi has failed to provide employment in the last 10 years. Tribals are migrating to other states for jobs. While your loans are not written off, loans worth 16 lakh crore of 22 rich people have been waived, he alleged.
The Union environment ministry has written to Assam government seeking a factual report on the alleged illegal diversion in 2022 of 28 hectares of the Geleky reserve forest on the Assam-Nagaland border for a police battalion camp. Notice to Assam over police camp in reserve

In its letter sent last month, the environment ministry referred to a report published by HT titled:  A second commando battalion in Assam established without FC nod.

The letter is addressed to additional chief secretary (forests), Assam, a colleague of MK Yadava, the former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests who approved the diversion, and who was reappointed as special secretary (forests) by Assam government following his retirement in February.

This is appropos with the above stated news report in Hindustan Times dated April 25 it is reported that Sh MK Yadava, who was also the head of forest force, approved the diversion of another 28 ha at the Assam-Nagaland border in Geleky Reserve Forest in 2022 for a police battalion camp, said the letter, a copy of which has been seen by HT.

In view of the aforesaid, it is required to furnish a detailed factual report vis a vis the captioned media report to this Ministry for further necessary action, added the letter, signed by Suneet Bhardwaj, assistant inspector general of forests.

The ministry of environment forests and climate change (MoEFCC) copied its regional office in Shillong and sub-office in Guwahati with directions coordinate with the state government and provide requisite information with comments at the earliest.

A senior ministry official confirmed on Tuesday that the letter was sent to Assam forest department last month.

MK Yadavaresponded to HTs queryon the MoEFCC letter with the message: To protect our forests is what kind of violation? Ask MoEFCC. When asked whether the department will be applying for a proper forest clearance for the diversions, he responded: That is immaterial actually.

He directed HT to his post on X: Of 324K Ha #TreeCoverLoss in Assam in 23 yrs, only 98205 Ha in General Areas, of which 50009 Ha in our border RFs. Our border RFs in #BarakValley have suffered most in last 4 yrs. We need more Battalions on border to protect our Forests 

HT reported on April 25 that Yadava, who made the news for approving the construction of a commando battalion unit on the Assam-Mizoram border through the diversion of around 44 ha of forests in 2023, a decision criticised by the Union environment ministry, also approved at least one more project of this nature, referencing documents seen by it.

The documents showed that on November 15, 2022, Yadava wrote to the officer in charge, Eastern Assam Circle stating that the construction of a police battalion covering around 28 ha can be approved in the interest of conservation and protection of forest land at Geleky.

On April 10, HT reported that the same official allowed construction by a commando battalion unit in a protected forest in Hailakandi in Assam, ostensibly to stop encroachments by Mizo people from neighbouring Mizoram, creating a furore among local conservationists, compelling the Union environment ministry to take notice and direct the state government, in March this year, to immediately halt construction.

Following several complaints by environmentalists and a report by the regional office of MoEFCC , the Union environment ministry held that the construction was in contravention of statutory provisions and rules under law.

The report of the Regional Office has been examined in the Ministry and prima facie it has been observed that the use of forest land for non forestry activities has been allowed without prior approval of the Central Government which is in contravention of the statutory provisions and rules under Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980, the ministry said in a letter dated March 18. Taking into account the aforesaid, the State Government is urged to stop all construction activities in the aforementioned area/ land in question, with immediate effect, till further orders or decision in the matter.

It is pertinent to mention here that continuation of construction activities as above will amount to violation of Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 and attract penal provisions, said the letter, a copy of which has been seen by HT.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he does not oppose Islam or Muslims and wants the community to think about their future growth as they vote in an ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024 that completes its third phase on Tuesday, May 7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives to cast his vote for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, May 7,(PTI)

PM Narendra Modi's statement, which he made in an interview with Times Now, comes as the Opposition accused him and the Bharatiya Janata Party of targeting Muslims for electoral gains and the allegations grew after Modi allegedly referred to Muslims in a recent speech as "infiltrators" who have more children. Follow Live Updates on Lok Sabha poll 2024

He denied discriminating against Muslims and has linked his recent comment to what he described as the opposition Congress party's election plan to redistribute the wealth of majority Hindus among Muslims. The Congress denies making any such promise.

"We are not opposed to Islam and Muslims," Modi said in the interview aired on Monday.

This is not our domain. When it is about their abuses, they have been spinning this narrative since Nehru era. They have always been abusing us as anti-Muslim. Secondly, they used to abuse us because by putting in very little work, they would yield dividends. So, they would vilify us as anti-Muslim and then would claim they are friends of Muslims. They gained through this. That is why they created this atmosphere of fear. They were reaping benefits by fearmongering. But the Muslim community is aware now. When I abolished triple talaq and ended that practice, Muslim sisters feel that I am genuine about their concerns. When I give Ayushman cards, they say I am a genuine man. When I give Covid vaccines, they say I am a genuine man. They realise I am not discriminating against anyone. The Opposition's problem is this that their lies have been caught. That is why to mislead, they have to keep saying all kinds of lies, Modi said when asked about being branded as Anti-Muslim.

Watch the video here:

Also Read | Asaduddin Owaisi counters PM Modi's Rajasthan speech: That is a lie What about you?

Modi is seeking a rare third straight term in the seven-phase election that began on April 19 and ends on June 1. Eleven states and union territories are voting in the third phase on Tuesday, and surveys suggest Modi will win comfortably when results are declared on June 4.

"I want to say to the Muslim community: introspect, think. The country's progressing, if you feel any shortcomings in your community, what is the reason behind it? Why didn't you get government benefits in the time when Congress was in power?" Modi said.

Also Read | PM Modis Rajasthan rally remarks spark political firestorm

"Think of your children and your own future," Modi said, referring to Muslims and the elections. "I don't want any community to live like labourers because someone is scaring them," he added.

In the interview, the prime minister also said the poor in the country include all Hindus, Christians, and Parsis and all should get the benefits of reservations.

"I have never said that Muslims won't get reservations. All I'm saying is that religion cannot be the base of providing reservation. Poor in the country include all Hindus, Christians, and Parsis; all should get the benefits of reservations. Dalits and tribals for long have faced injustice for thousands of years, and there is a special reason that the makers of our constitution have taken the right decision, and we are grateful for that. No political party opposes this," Modi said.
The second and last phase of Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, that covered the states Lingayat heartland, concluded with the 14 parliamentary constituencies reporting a voter turnout of 70.41%, according to the data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the Voter Turnout app at 12 am. People wait in queues to cast their votes at a polling station during the 3rd phase of Lok Sabha polls, in Karnataka, Tuesday. (PTI)

In the previous 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured victories across all 14 seats now in focus, defeating the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) coalition that then governed the state. However, having scored a thumping victory in the assembly elections last year, in this region, the Congress now appears determined to put up a strong show.

The highest voter turnout in this phase was recorded in the Chikkodi seat (76.99%). In the Davangere seat (which recorded a turnout of 76.23%), it was an electoral battle between two political families of former minister and Lingayat leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa and incumbent MP GM Siddeshwar.

However, this time their wives assumed the forefront. Instead of Siddeshwar, who served as a minister under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has nominated Gayatri Siddeshwar, his wife, as their candidate. Challenging her is Prabha Mallikarjun, wife of district in-charge Minister Mallikarjun.

The second highest voter turnout was reported in Haveri, at 76.78%. In Shimoga seat (which recorded a turnout of 76.05%), former chief minister BS Yediyurappas son, BY Raghavendra, is contesting. Suspended BJP leader KS Eshwarappa and a member of Rajkumar family, Usha Shivakumar, are contesting against him.

While the majority of the election proceedings remained peaceful, a few incidents of violence and controversy were reported. In Yaragatti, tensions flared at a polling station on Tuesday when clashes erupted between workers from the Congress and BJP. The altercation, involving approximately 50 individuals from both parties, resulted in injuries to Hanumantappa Bhimappa Arabhavi, a 48-year-old Congress polling station agent.

Meanwhile, a polling centre in Manvi taluk, Raichur district, was embroiled in controversy over religious attire. Initially, several people wearing saffron shawls were denied entry to vote, leading to objections as women wearing black Hijabs were allowed to cast their ballots. Following consultation with higher authorities, the Returning Officer inspected the shawls and after finding no political affiliations, permitted the youths to vote. In response to their demands, the officer requested Hijab-clad women to reveal their faces to party agents and polling officials, attempting to resolve the issue.

Voters in rural areas of Raichur and Koppal districts boycotted voting, citing the governments failure to address their grievances. In Vittalapur village, residents protested the negligence of Dr Kaveri Shavi, blaming her for the death of a pregnant woman. Despite having 862 voters, polling station No. 142 saw zero turnout till 12 pm due to the boycott.

After police and election staff persuaded voters in Tammapu village in Manvi taluk, the voter turnout reached 5% by 3pm. The reason for the low turnout was migration for jobs and lack of political engagement.

In another instance, Ward No.18 in Tavaragera initially saw zero votes, but after officials appeals, 40 votes were cast.

With the elections over, Karnataka now awaits the results as the victory is crucial for both parties. The BJPs election campaign in north Karnataka has placed significant emphasis on the tragic murder of Neha Hiremath, a Hindu girl allegedly killed by her Muslim classmate in Hubballi. PM Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, among other high-profile BJP figures, have criticised the Congress during the campaign. The campaign around the murder case gave the BJP a chance to appeal to the Lingayat vote bank in the region and also amplify the communal politics in the region.

In response, the Congress has mounted a strong challenge to the BJP across various constituencies by highlighting the effective implementation of its promised five guarantees, first outlined before the 2023 Assembly elections. This approach has served as a counter-narrative to the BJPs Hindutva agenda and the perceived Modi effect,.

However, the alleged sexual exploitation case involving JD(S) Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna has become a significant focus midway through the campaign. This development has sparked a statewide narrative against the BJPs alliance with the JD(S), putting both parties on the defensive.

Observers suggest that the case has strategically benefited the Congress by mitigating the potential polarisation of votes in favour of the BJP, particularly following Neha Hiremaths tragic death.
The CBI on Tuesday arrested two people for allegedly being involved in the human trafficking network that pushed Indians into the Russia-Ukraine war zone, officials said. The CBI on Tuesday arrested two people for allegedly being involved in the human trafficking network that pushed Indians into the Russia-Ukraine war zone, officials said.(File photo)

They were arrested from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala but the agency has not disclosed their identities yet.

The officials said that it is likely that some more arrests could be made.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had busted a major racket of travel agents that was luring Indian youths with opportunities in Russia but pushed them in the Russia-Ukraine war zone after confiscating their passports, they said.

The central probe agency's FIR has listed 17 visa consultancy companies, their owners and agents spread across India, they said.

ALSO READ| CBI nabs FSSAI officer accepting 1.2L bribe from pvt firm

The agency has booked them under Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy, cheating and human trafficking.

The CBI has alleged that the accused persons through their agents trafficked Indian nationals to Russia on the pretext of getting them jobs related to the Russian army, security guards and helpers, for a better life and education, and a huge amount was charged from them.

The agents also duped students by providing them admission to dubious private universities in Russia instead of government or public universities by offering discounted fees, and visa extensions. The students were ultimately left "at the mercy" of local agents, it said.

Once these aspirants reached Russia their passports were seized by the agents there and they were forced to join the armed forces after combat role training.

The CBI has found 35 instances in which youngsters were taken to Russia after being lured with false promises of high-paying jobs via social media channels and local contacts and agents.
The Mumbai Crime Branch on Tuesday made its fifth arrest in the case regarding firing at Bollywood actor Salman Khan's residence in Bandra. The fifth accused in the case was arrested by the cops from Rajasthan, and has been identified as Mohammad Chaudhary, reported ANI. Bollywood actor Salman Khan.(PTI)

According to the investigation, Mohammad Chaudhary helped the two shooters, now apprehended, in carrying out the firing incident at Galaxy Apartments on Sunday, April 14. Chaudhary allegedly helped the two shooters do recce of the scene of the crime, and provided them with money.

The Mumbai Crime Branch said in a statement, Chaudhary is being brought to Mumbai today where he will be produced in the court and a demand for custody will be made.

The arrest of Chaudhary comes amidst the ongoing investigation into the firing incident that rattled the Bandra area of Mumbai. This arrest adds another layer to the complex web of individuals linked to the attack on Salman Khan's residence.

The incident took place on April 14, when two assailants on a bike opened fire outside Galaxy Apartments, where Salman Khan lives. The two also fired shots towards Khan's apartment before fleeting the scene. The two shooters were apprehended by the police, and connections to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang were revealed.

Tragically, the case took a grim turn with the demise of Anuj Thapan, one of the arms suppliers involved. Thapan was found dead in his cell on May 1, reportedly by suicide. Mumbai Police disclosed that Thapan had attempted to take his own life while in custody and was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital.

Anuj Thapan's arrest on April 26 marked a significant breakthrough in the investigation, shedding light on the network responsible for providing weapons to the perpetrators of the attack.

(With inputs from ANI)
The Supreme Court on Monday expressed displeasure at a Kerala government regulation that imposes an additional fee for the disposal of sanitary waste, lamenting that the states stance comes as a contradiction to the courts consistent advocacy for menstrual hygiene and accessibility to sanitary products. The petitioner challenged the validity of the fees. (ANI)

On one hand, we have been issuing directions for ensuring menstrual hygiene by providing sanitary napkins in schools and other institutions, and on the other hand, the state is charging for the disposal of sanitary waste. How can it be? You justify this, a bench of justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan asked the state government.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) moved by Indu Varma, who pressed for a stay on the southern states regulation that permits an additional fee to be collected from residents for disposing of used sanitary pads and diapers.

How can [the] state allow an extra charge from the residents on the collection of sanitary waste when no such provision exists in the solid waste management rules? People have been asked to pay extra for the collection of sanitary napkins, baby and adult diapers by the agencies assigned by the department concerned, Varma, appearing in person, argued.

Varma added that her petition has also challenged the validity of the provision levying user fees for waste collection, adding there must be a definition of such levy and regulations to limit it. Kochi was specifically cited during the hearing as one of the cities in Kerala where the additional charge was levied.

Responding, the bench agreed with Varma, raising concerns about the possible impact of the additional fee for the disposal of sanitary waste on menstrual hygiene practices and access to essential sanitation facilities.

It asked the state government: Why should you charge extra for sanitary waste? This will run contrary to the objective of our directions regarding menstrual hygiene. You will have to justify this.

Informed by Varma that she has made all states and Union territories parties to the petition, the court said that it would issue comprehensive directions for all states to follow.

In separate proceedings, the Supreme Court has emphasised the need for proactive measures to address menstrual health challenges and ensure the well-being of women and girls while imploring governments to align their policies accordingly.

While hearing a PIL for providing free sanitary napkins to girls studying in classes 6 to 12 in all government, aided, and residential schools and pre-university colleges across the country, the court pushed for national guidelines on menstrual hygiene management. By order in November, the central government was directed to finalise the policy on the availability of low-cost sanitary pads, vending machines, and their safe disposal in educational institutions. The Centre had backed the petition, saying it was dedicated to enhancing young and adolescent girls menstrual hygiene, with over 97% of government schools having separate restrooms for girls and states providing affordable sanitary napkins through financial aid under the National Health Mission. This case is likely to be heard later this month.
New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to Umar Ansari, son of late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari in a case in which he is accused of being part of a conspiracy to promote enmity and obstruct public servants during the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. The court had issued notice on Ansaris plea in January this year and had protected him from arrest in the case lodged in March 2022 (ANI)

The court had issued notice on Ansaris plea in January this year and had protected him from arrest in the case lodged in March 2022.

Having regard to the circumstances, more particularly, the offending statements not being attributable to the petitioner but his brother...we direct that in case the petitioner is arrested, he shall be released on furnishing a bail bond of the sum of 20,000, a bench of justices Hrishikesh Roy and PK Mishra said on Monday, directing Ansari to participate in the trial.

The case pertains to a speech, given during the elections in 2022 by his brother Abbas Ansari, that led to registration of first information report (FIR) over alleged violation of the model code of conduct and under Sections 171-F (causing undue influence at an election), 186 (obstructing public servant), 189 (causing injury to public servant), 153-A (promoting enmity prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian penal code (IPC).

UPs additional advocate general (AAG) Garima Prasad told the court during the hearing that Umar Ansari was present on the stage when the alleged utterances were made with the intention of inciting the masses.

But senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Ansari along with advocate Nizam Pasha, said that it was a case in which the other accused were already out on bail. He was on the stage and has never uttered anything. There is no case against me. I have even appeared before the trial court and they have never called me, Sibal argued.

Ansari approached the court after his plea to quash the FIR against him was rejected by the Allahabad high court on December 19, 2023. The UP government submitted that it was always open for the petitioner to approach the high court for anticipatory bail. However, the court said, We deem it appropriate to grant relief.

Sibal submitted that the high court refused to grant bail citing past antecedents of the petitioner. He said out of the five cases against Ansari, bail was granted by the court in two of the cases, in two other cases orders for no coercive steps were passed, and the fifth case was quashed by the high court.

Ansari filed an anticipatory bail plea before the Allahabad high court in September 2022 but withdrew the plea to pursue the other matter to quash the case against him.

The order has come at a time when Umar Ansaris uncle, Afzal Ansari, sitting MP from Ghazipur, is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the same seat on Samajwadi Party ticket. The election for the seat is scheduled to take place in the last phase on June 1. Don-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari had died of cardiac arrest on March 28 at a hospital in Banda while in custody of the UP police.
Demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on April 25, when the justices heard oral arguments in the Trump v. United States, a case about presidential immunity from prosecution on obstruction and conspiracy charges. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Fifty-five years ago, I was a junior high social studies teacher in Philadelphia, focusing on the history, economics and the rights and obligations of citizens of America. Whether or not my students came in passionate about these issues, as an educator, it was my goal that they leave my classroom with a better understanding of the background of their country and their responsibilities as Americans. This was particularly true when it came to understanding our democracy. They learned the basic truth that our country does not work without a fully informed citizenry and that the most important contribution any one of those citizens can make is to vote.

Today, our highest court may be impeding that basic democratic principle.

On April 25, the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution over election interference. Though many of the justices did not seem to agree with Trumps claim of absolute immunity, several conservative justices indicated immunity for a president may be justified in certain instances. This could mean that the Supreme Court sends the issue back to the lower courts, rather than permitting the Special Counsel Jack Smiths Jan. 6 federal election-related indictment to go forward.

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A delay may mean the country will not have an answer on whether the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee is guilty of election-related criminal charges until after the November election.

That is unacceptable.



Of the four criminal indictments against the former president, the most important is the special counsels indictment. Last August, a grand jury indicted Trump because it determined there was sufficient evidence to suggest that he had committed felonies by planning to overthrow the 2020 election results and remain in power.

Without clarity on whether Trump is guilty of that charge, how can any voter make a fully informed decision on who to vote for?

There is a history of the Supreme Court acting quickly when legal matters involve the presidency. It took the justices a little over two weeks in 1974 to decide that President Richard Nixon had to hand over the Oval Office audio recordings. They took just one day after oral arguments in 2000 to make a decision that decided the outcome of the Al Gore versus George W. Bush election. It took them 3 weeks earlier this year to decide that Trumps name could remain on state primary ballots, ending efforts in Colorado, Illinois, Maine and elsewhere to kick him off.

It is within the power of the Supreme Court to ensure that the American public hears all the evidence against a candidate for the highest office in the country and finds out whether a jury of his peers determines if he is guilty or not. The Supreme Court can make this happen by settling the immunity case quickly and announcing its decision this month. Provided the court determines he does not have absolute immunity, which is likely given the justices comments during oral arguments last month, some version of the indictment can move forward and have a chance of being resolved before the presidential election.

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Despite Trump doing everything in his power to delay the cases against him from being heard, the Sixth Amendment states that when it comes to criminal prosecutions, every American has a right to a speedy and fair trial. Should the Supreme Court delay announcing its immunity decision until the end of its term in late June, some could argue that it is effectively doing what courts are forbidden to do  favoring one side in an upcoming election. At the very least, to many Americans, the justices would certainly give off the appearance of favoring one side. That would be dangerous as well.

For one of the foundational institutions of our democracy to take yet another hit to its reputation when the American publics faith in it and many governmental institutions has been waning would only further threaten our democracy. As Tufts University international relations professor Daniel Drezner said in an interview with FiveThirtyEight in 2022, as distrust increases, so does the likelihood that people will act in disruptive or even violent ways  like the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Ensuring that the indictment trial proceeds quickly and comes to a resolution is key to preventing that.

About Opinion Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership. Read more about our transparency and ethics policies

I spent my career as an educator. For decades, I had the honor of working with young people, opening their minds to the strengths and weaknesses of our society and our democracy. Nothing is more foundational to our countrys democracy than a fully informed voting public.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated willingness to grant interim bail to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case amid the ongoing general elections but expressed reservations about allowing him to discharge his official functions as the CM during the period of interim bail, saying it will lead to conflict and may have a cascading effect. A protest against the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal at Connaught Place in New Delhi, India, on April 30. (Hindustan Times)

While the Enforcement Directorate (ED) urged the court not to release Kejriwal on bail by treating politicians as a class different from ordinary citizens, the court acknowledged Kejriwals unique position as both the CM and the convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during the ongoing polls, describing it as an extraordinary situation warranting consideration for interim bail.

However, the bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta raised concerns about the potential ramifications of allowing Kejriwal to sign off on official files while on interim bail.

We dont want you to be performing your official duties. It would lead to conflict. You have continued (as the CM) and thats your choice. We are not dealing with that issue. But today, its not a question of legality but propriety... We dont want any interference in the working of the government. It will have a cascading effect, the bench told senior counsel Abhishek Singhvi, who appeared for Kejriwal in the case.

At first, Singhvi objected to the proposed condition citing some judicial precedents and his clients democratic and political rights and added that it would be very embarrassing for him to be a CM without the power to run government. But after the court stressed that the temporary arrangement with a balance of convenience was considered only due to the Lok Sabha polls and not on the merits of the arguments in the case that may go on until July, Singhvi agreed that Kejriwal will not sign off on any official file. However, there must be a fair arrangement that the lieutenant governor (LG) will not stall any proposal of the cabinet on this ground alone that the CM has not signed a file, he added.

Responding, the bench told Singhvi that it was not for Kejriwals legal team to put conditions and that the larger public interest may require him to refrain from performing any official duties as CM.

Even as the court did not indicate any date for delivering the order on the interim bail, it turned down EDs plea to defer consideration of the issue until the arguments in the case are complete. ED was on May 3 told by the bench that it is contemplating interim bail for Kejriwal, asking the agency to come back with potential bail conditions on Monday (May 6).

Arguing through solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta and additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju, the agency opposed the plea for interim bail, cautioning against creating a separate class for political leaders who want to campaign during elections while a common man like a farmer or a small store owner remains incarcerated for want of extraordinary consideration.

Mehta underlined that Kejriwal skipped nine ED summonses in a period of six months before he was finally arrested on March 21, and therefore he cannot argue that the timing of his arrest was to disable him from campaigning for his party during the elections. This would send a very wrong message and demoralise a common man. If you are holding a high position, you will get bail for the luxury of campaigning whereas a farmer for whom harvesting is a matter of livelihood will not get the same liberty, the SG added.

Responding to Mehtas arguments, the bench tried to clarify that the court does not want to create a separate standard for politicians, but then it cannot lose sight of the fact that general elections happen once every five years and that Kejriwal was not a habitual offender or had other criminal antecedents.

We are not going by whether he is a politician or not. Every individual involved will have some peculiar case or exceptional circumstances. We are only considering whether this person falls under exceptional circumstance since elections are there. We are not saying there is a different law for politicians, the bench told Mehta.

The bench reserved its order on interim bail, saying it needs to formulate an opinion on the issue, adding that it also needs to go through the case files that contain pertinent entries by ED officers before Kejriwal and former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia were arrested. Sisodia was arrested in the same case on February 23, 2023.

The bench also indicated that it would continue hearing EDs submissions opposing Kejriwals plea to declare his arrest and remand as illegal on May 9.

The polling in Delhi is scheduled for May 25 while voting in Punjab, where AAP is in power in the state assembly, will be conducted on June 1. The results for the general elections will be announced on June 4.

During the hearing on Tuesday, ASG Raju disclosed that Kejriwal was not initially under scrutiny when the investigation commenced, adding the CMs involvement surfaced during the investigation following the statements of some key witnesses.

As the bench questioned the EDs delay in investigating Kejriwal after CBI registered the case in 2022, Raju expressed concerns over the perception of malafides if Kejriwal was arrested at an early investigative stage. At this point, the court demanded to review the case files before and after the arrest of Kejriwal, Sisodia and P Sarath Reddy (the person whose statement linked Kejriwal with the alleged crime of money laundering).

The court emphasised that it would scrutinise EDs compliance with Section 19 of PMLA during Kejriwals arrest, observing the provision required the agency to have adequate grounds of arrest and reasons to believe that the CM was guilty of the offence of money laundering.

Legislature says arresting officer can arrest when he has material and we have to read the legislative mandate in a way to promote liberty. Materials for arrest in PMLA cases is much higher than normal cases, said the court.

Pressing for interim bail, Singhvi cited Kejriwals track record. Kejriwals case is distinct. Hes not steeped in crime...He responded to EDs summons, he asserted.

The case stems from allegations of irregularities in Delhis excise policy, which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) began probing following a recommendation by Delhis LG in July 2022. Kejriwal, whop is in judicial custody, is the third AAP leader arrested in this connection. Sisodia has been behind bars since February 2023, and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was granted bail by the top court on April 2.

The Delhi CM had hurried to the Supreme Court on April 10, less than 24 hours after the Delhi high court rejected his plea against ED arrest on March 21 while holding that the agency possesses adequate evidence at this stage to suggest Kejriwals involvement in money laundering related to the excise policy case. The question of interim bail was raised in the previous hearing by the top court itself.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday alleged that hundreds of women were tortured by Trinamool Congress (TMC) goons in West Bengals Sandeshkhali on the basis of religion, evoking a sharp reaction from chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of conspiring against the ruling party. Shah, Mamata trade barbs as Sandeshkhali row intensifies

Addressing an election rally in Burdwan-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency in West Burdwan district, Shah said: The TMCs goons tortured our sisters at Sandeshkhali on the basis of religion. Mamata Banerjee did not want a probe but the (Calcutta) high court has ordered an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

He added: Whoever has committed atrocities in Sandeshkhali, even if he hides in the underworld, we will find him and put him behind prison bars.

The Union ministers remarks came amid political tensions over a purported video of a BJP worker claiming that leader of opposition Suvendhu Adhikari had hatched the Sandeshkhali conspiracy. The area, in North 24 Parganas, was on the boil in February following allegations of sexual abuse of women and land grabbing by local TMC leaders. The area saw protests by local women, demanding action against party strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides.

While Banerjee has accused the BJP of orchestrating the incidents and trying to malign the states image, the BJP insisted the video, released by the TMC on Saturday, was doctored and said it would have no impact on the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

Continuing his attack on Banerjee, Shah said: Mamata didi, you are a woman and chief minister and yet hundreds of women were tortured right under your nose. You took no action to save your vote bank. Those who tortured our sisters will be thrown behind bars. They cant be saved even if Mamata didi hides them under the ground.

Banerjee, however, accused the BJP of preparing a blueprint to win the elections. They (BJP) insulted the women in Sandeshkhali. This was their blueprint. They dont know that the honour of our mothers is more valuable than money. They conspired without realising that everything gets exposed some day or the other, the TMC chairperson said during a rally in Birbhum.

Do not disrespect the mothers of Bengal; do not insult them. I am warning you, she added.
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced appointment of Sanjaya Kumar Mishra as the president of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) and called it as one of the two significant milestones in the larger GST architecture. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. (ANI)

The second, according to her was crossing the 2 lakh crore monthly revenue collection benchmark for the first time since the indirect tax reform was launched by the Modi government on July 1, 2017. FM said the growing GST collections is testimony of heightened economic activities in India, worlds fastest growing major economy. Indias monthly GST collections soared past the 2 lakh crore mark for the first time to 2,10,267 crore, while collections in FY24 surpassed the 20 lakh crore, reflecting a buoyant economy and better compliance,

According to FM, the tax reform augmented revenues of both the Centre and states. GST has improved tax buoyancy from 0.72 (pre-GST) to 1.22 (2018-23). Despite compensation ending, state revenues remain buoyant at 1.15. Without GST, states revenue from subsumed taxes from FY 18-19 to 2023-24 would have been 37.5 lakh crore. With GST, states actual revenue amounted to 46.56 lakh crore, she said.

Experts said the appointment of justice (retd) Mishra as head of GSTAT would take the indirect tax reform to yet another level as it would expeditiously resolve pending litigations. GSTATs first president is the former chief justice of the Jharkhand high court, who has been selected by a search-cum-selection committee headed by the honble Chief Justice of India.

GSTAT could not be set up earlier due to technical reasons and political oppositions by a few states. Even as the Union cabinet on January 23, 2019 approved the creation of a national bench of the GSTAT, the matter was pending because of various differences among members such as how to maintain a right federal balance and other technical issues. As approved by the GST Council, the government has notified the principal bench, to be located at New Delhi, and 31 state benches at various locations across the country.

Sitharaman took this opportunity to recall the near seven-year tax reform journey in three parts that unified the domestic markets. The first part explores the origins of GST and its role in streamlining the Indirect tax system. The second part discusses how GST has benefitted people through a pro-poor approach. The third part underscores GSTs role in promoting cooperative and fiscal federalism, she said in a post on X (formally twitter).

According to her, the idea of GST was first mooted during the former PM Atal Ji-led NDA government. In 10 years, UPA was unable to achieve political consensus on GST. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi, the necessary consensus was carefully built, and GST Acts were passed by Parliament in 2016, she said.

Before GST, Indias indirect tax system was fragmented and complicated, and every state was practically a distinct market in itself with different rules and tax rates. Inputs for central excise duty, etc, could not be availed, leading to an increased tax burden for the common people, she said.

GST streamlined 17 taxes and 13 cesses into a five-tier structure, simplifying the tax regime. The turnover threshold for registration rose to 40 lakh for goods and 20 Lakh for services (from 5 lakh on average under VAT). GST also reduced 495 different submissions (challan, forms, declarations, etc) across states to just 12, she added.

Number of registered taxpayers under GST grew to over 14 million in about seven years from about 6.5 million in 2017. The E-way bill system removed inter-state checkpoints, reducing logistics costs. Trucks travelled 44% more daily, and corruption at tax nakas decreased. Consequently, domestic goods inter-state trade surged to 35% of GDP in FY22, up from 23.5% in FY18, she said.

The second part of the note focused on impact of the indirect tax on people and ease of total tax burden. Reflecting a pro-poor approach, the effective weighted average GST rate has consistently fallen since 2017. The Revenue Neutral Rate was suggested to be 15.3% but was lower at 14.4% in 2017, and it has come down to 11.6% in 2019, she said.

Sitharaman said GST lowered taxes on many essential items compared to pre-GST rates. Common items like hair oil and soaps saw tax cut from 28% to 18%. Electrical appliances taxed at 12% v/s 31.5% before. Movie tickets were taxed lower, too. Further tax rate rationalization has been done since 2017. National Anti-profiteering Authority ensured that companies passed the benefits to the consumers.

GST has exempted many essential items and services, such as unbranded food items, certain life-saving drugs, healthcare, education, public transport, sanitary napkins, hearing aid parts, agricultural services, etc, she added.

In the third part of her write-up, Union finance minister underscored impact of GST on strengthening Indian federal structure. GST exemplifies Cooperative Federalism in India, empowering states. The

@GST_Council, with a 75% majority vote requirement, assigns one-third voting power to the Centre & two-thirds to states. Out of 52 meetings, all decisions but one was reached through consensus. As Chairperson of @GST_Council, I have ensured all states voices are equally heard without bias, she said in another post in X.

Sitharaman said that the benefit of higher revenue duly shared with states as per the agreed formula even as some opposition-ruled states try to politicise the revenue-sharing mechanism. It is a myth that all GST collections are pocketed by the Centre. GST contributes significantly to state revenues  States receive 100% of SGST collected in that state, approx. 50% of IGST (i.e. on inter-state trade). A significant portion of CGST, i.e., 42%, is devolved to the states based on the Finance Commissions recommendations, she said.

GST is an expression of Modi Govts commitment toSabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayaas. Our continuous efforts are towards ensuring that new heights are scaled through better taxpayer services and increased efficiencies instead of increased taxes, she said.
Voters in Wayanad, Congress party workers, and its allies in the INDIA alliance, are feeling shortchanged about Rahul Gandhis decision to contest in Raebareli .

Having handed Gandhi a victory by over four lakh votes in the 2019 election, the electorate now fears being deserted. District functionaries and members of the legislative assembly from the Congress have expressed their disappointment to the state leadership about being kept in the dark over the plausible choice of a seat in the Hindi heartland, a party leader who did not wish to be named said.

While the CPM has raised the issue of Rahuls seriousness and commitment to Wayanad, the most backward district in Kerala, local Congress party workers fear giving up Wayanad may have adverse implications on the 2026 assembly elections in Kerala.

CPM leader and former Congressman KV Thomas, special representative of the government of Kerala to New Delhi, said: We expect more from a leader of his stature. He has to look after his constituency and respect the people. He could have taken them into confidence and stated that he was considering another option. If he chooses Uttar Pradesh over Kerala, his decision signals that the Hindi heartland is more important than the south.

This unwanted perception has led many in civil society to inevitably question Gandhis contribution to Wayanad in the last five years.

Why voters think Wayanad is neglected

In 2019, when Wayanad was finalised among the many shortlisted "safe seats" for Gandhi, it was probably because of the Congress' hold over Kerala and more importantly, because the minority population almost equals the Hindu numbers that seemingly would guarantee a win. The 2011 census informs us that Hindus constitute 49%, with Muslims and Christian populations summing up to 29% and 21% respectively. Of the Hindus, the scheduled tribes account for 18%, and the scheduled castes about 4%.

It is the unimpressive human development indices of the tribes and SCs as compared to the other dominant castes that gives Wayanad the tag of the most backward district of the state.

What's worse is that of the 115 backward districts in India, Wayanad is the only district from Kerala to make it to this list. The district's health rank is 114, and education rank is 112, according to the NITI Aayogs data on the Aspirational Districts Programme, an initiative to transform the most under-developed districts of the country.

A coffee estate owner from Wayanad who lives in Calicut described Wayanads land holding saying, It is a very fragmented land holding pattern in Wayanad. With coffee, tea, and spices cultivation dominating the landscape, more than 80% of the population owns less than one acre of land. Wayanad has also faced severe droughts and failed to live up to its name of Vayala Nadu - a land of rich paddy fields.

Barring one polytechnic college and one state government engineering college, there is precious little in Wayanad. Oommen Chandy, Congress leader, and former chief minister inaugurated a medical college during his chief ministership. We have not seen much development in the education sector post his regime between 2011 - 2012, a senior politician who asked not to be named said.

Wayanad accounts for 38% of the states tribal population and the Paniyan community remains backward in many aspects. According to a report published in 2020 by the Kerala Institute for Research, Training, and Developmental Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Kozhikode, the community is found to be backward in education.

Infrastructure, inefficient policy implementation, early marriage, and poor health conditions were found to be some of the major reasons for their backwardness. PV Mini, the institutes deputy director, called for immediate action and said, All these problems have to be solved simultaneously. If there is no effective policy intervention, this situation will not change, and the community cannot break the vicious circle of socio-economic backwardness they have been stuck in for years.

A promise in 2019

A high-profile candidate's entry in 2019 came with a promise of reversing some of these unlikable statistics. But that Wayanad didn't feature even once in Gandhi's speeches in Parliament between 2019 and 2024 is worrisome, the locals said.

The quaint hill town made headlines in February this year for its escalation in the number of human lives lost due to man-animal conflict. Gandhi visited Wayanad after much pressure from local groups when three people lost their lives in less than 10 days due to elephants running amok. More than 40 people lost their lives to human-animal conflict in 2022 - 2023, according to Economic Review.

Over a lakh of estate labourers, plantation owners said were unsure of getting back to work, rattled by the violent deaths. This also triggered another conflict between local Malayalis and labourers from Bihar and Bengal because the former felt outnumbered by the Hindi speakers.

Given this background, political analysts say Wayanad could do with five more years of Rahuls influential presence. Prof Damodar Prasad from Calicut University, a specialist in minority politics said, Poverty, plantation issues, and man-animal conflict need immediate redressal. Nobody expected Rahul Gandhi to contest from Rae Bareilly. If he wins, he should depute someone responsible from the party to tend to these carefully deftly.

Political implications: Now and in 2026

Following the announcement of Gandhi fighting for a second seat local party workers convened a meeting, seemingly to discuss the post-poll scenario given the poor voter turnout.

In fact, during the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee meeting on May 4, we spoke to Deepa Dasmunsi, Congress leader and state in-charge, and KC Venugopal, the All-India Congress Committee general secretary, and asked if Priyanka Gandhi could be fielded from Wayanad in case Rahul wins from Rae Bareilly as well, said a party worker who asked not to be named.

Annie Raja, the CPM candidate fighting against Rahul Gandhi, was quick to react.

It poses a question of their morality. Even if they had not taken the final call [at the time of the Kerala election], they should have informed the people of Wayanad that Raebareli was also in consideration. Suppose he wins from both the seats, he will have to resign from one. It will be an injustice to the people. And they have always taken Wayanad for granted," she said.

However, a Congress leader from Tamil Nadu came out with Gandhis support. Manickam Tagore said the party would take a call on the seat to be foregone later. State Congress leaders worry that giving up Wayanad may hurt the partys performance in the 2026 assembly elections.

The campaign narrative of the candidates in the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies had more than a fair share of references for 2026 where the leaders were urging the electorate to vote for the party that would be in power in 2026. 'Vote in 2024 for 2026' was a popular refrain in high-profile constituencies in Kerala.

A CPM leader and current minister summed up the mood in Kerala. As members of the same alliance, we could have done with prior intimation. If Rahul Gandhi decided earlier, we could have avoided fighting each other in Kerala and Wayanad, ensuring we do not eat into each others vote margins.

The other partner, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) put forward an alternate viewpoint.

CK Subair, IUML general secretary, said: A lot has to be done for Wayanad, but it is also important that Rahul Gandhi represents INDIA everywhere in the country. At least he will dismiss the BJPs taunt that Rahul is running southward for protection.

The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency is comparatively young. It was formed after the delimitation exercise in 2008. It has seven assembly constituencies from three districts: Mananthavady, Sulthan Bathery, and Kalpetta assembly constituencies in Wayanad district; Eranad, Nilambur, and Wandoor in Malappuram district; Thiruvambady seat in Kozhikode district.

Deepika Amirapu is a freelance journalist based in Hyderabad. Each week, Southern Lights examines the big story from one of the five states of South India.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Calcutta high court's order to terminate 25,000 teaching and non-teaching posts in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal. The decision came as a relief to thousands of individuals whose jobs were in jeopardy following the high court's ruling on April 22 that invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal. The apex court, however, refused to stay the CBI probe into the alleged school recruitment scam. (ANI/File)

The apex court, however, refused to stay the CBI probe into the alleged school recruitment scam.

Hearing a series of petitions challenging the high court's decision, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said that if the taint against nearly 8,000 teachers investigated by CBI is finally proved, the order of the high court will apply to the affected staff and they will have to refund their salaries.

"The public job is so scarce.... Nothing remains if the faith of the public goes. This is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are looked at for social mobility. What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith, how do you countenance this?" the CJI asked the lawyers representing the state government.

Read: Kunal Ghosh claims TMC was aware of school recruitment scam even before 2021 Bengal poll

The bench said the state government has nothing to show that the data was maintained by its authorities and asked about its availability.

"Either you have the data or you do not have itYou were duty-bound to maintain the documents in digitised form. Now, it is obvious that there is no data. You are unaware of the fact that your service provider has engaged another agency. You had to maintain supervisory control," the bench told the state government's lawyers.

The West Bengal government had challenged the Calcutta high court order, saying it cancelled the appointments "arbitrarily".

The state in its appeal filed through advocate Astha Sharma said: The high court has proceeded in a cursory manner to cancel all appointments of teachers and non-teaching staff, in utter disregard to the fact that the same will lead to a huge vacuum in the state schools, unless new selection process is completed by the SSC, especially when the new academic sessions is on its brim, leading to the students being adversely impacted.
Baramati, political veteran Sharad Pawars home turf, is among the most high-profile of Maharashtras 48 constituencies. Given that it will be an intra-family fight, this election is also turning out to be one of the most bitterly fought electoral battles in the state.

The stage is set for a tough fight between Supriya Sule, the incumbent MP from the constituency, and her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-AP) as the Baramati seat is going for polls on Tuesday (May 7.)

The battle for Baramati will not only decide the real political heir to the Pawar empire but also his political legacy, which he built over six decades.

The bitter family feud

The fight started over taking control of the NCP with a split in the party in July last year. Ajit Pawar took over the party with the help of a majority of MLAs. He won the claim to the partys name and election symbol before the Election Commission of India (ECI) and subsequently before the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar.

As part of the seat-sharing pact with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), NCP-AP is contesting four Lok Sabha seats and one of them is Baramati. It was subsequently decided that only Ajit's wife Sunetra could take on Supriya Sule in Baramati.

The decision has broadened the crack within the family to a full-fledged split with members taking clear, and evidently bitter, sides against each other. Even Shrinivas Pawar, Ajits elder brother has called his brother (Ajit Pawar) nalayak (unworthy) and disrespectful towards senior Pawar. His actions have been ungrateful, he commented recently. It pained me to see how for short-term gains, a senior person is being treated like this. I dont think theres such a useless person like him.

The damaging remarks are expected to cast a shadow over Sunetras election results. Shrinivas is not alone; his wife Sharmila and son Yugendra are also conducting village meetings in Baramati for Sule. Towards the end of the campaign, the senior Pawars wife Pratibha also hit the streets seeking votes for her daughter.

The electoral math

Baramati consists of six assembly constituencies  Khadakwasla, Bhor, Daund, Purandar, Baramati, and Indapur. The BJP represents Khadakwasla and Daund, while the Congress has MLAs in Bhor and Purandar. The NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar, has its MLAs in Baramati and Indapur. Khadakwasla is an urban constituency, a part of which falls under the Pune municipality. Others are semi-urban or rural constituencies.

Sule has won the seat thrice since 2009 and is seeking a fourth term taking over from her father who had won the seat for six terms; Ajit too won from the seat in 1991 but vacated it for his uncle within months. Since Sules entry into the political arena, the clear arrangement within the family was that she would be the partys face in national politics and Ajit would look after the partys interest in Maharashtra. With Sunetras candidature, the undeclared arrangement has been broken, leaving the voters divided.

A large number of people don't want to change this pattern. It also means they are not taking any sides and will vote for Supriya in Lok Sabha polls. But the younger generation is giving preference to Ajit as they see him as a future leader because age is on his side if compared to senior Pawar, said a political analyst who did not want to be named.

The fight

Sunetra Pawar is no greenhorn in politics. She has been looking after the constituency in the absence of her husband who is the deputy chief minister. She also managed her husbands campaigns and has canvassed door-to-door in the past for Sule in previous elections, and hence has a good connection with many families in the constituency.

Whoever loses on June 4 will be a Pawar still, and thats saddening for us, says Amar Mahadik, a lawyer associated with NCP for several years but now finds himself, like thousands of other loyalists, having to pick sides; He said he has chosen Ajit over Pawar

The fight in Baramati is a tough one but Supriya has an edge over Sunetra. It is because the people are not in a mood to change their pattern, which is to vote for Supriya for Lok Sabha polls and Ajit Pawar for assembly elections, said political analyst Abhay Deshpande.

Moreover, many in the Khadakwasla assembly constituency, which seemingly will not be influenced by the split in the Pawar family, and are traditional BJP voters did not support the partys alliance with Ajit. It has not gone down well in Khadakwasla as they have been voting against the Pawar family for years, a local BJP leader who did not wish to be named said.

Emotional appeal

On the last day of the election campaign ahead of Tuesdays vote, Sharad Pawar made an emotional appeal in the family bastion saying that he would always stand by them even as his rebel nephew and deputy chief minister left no stone unturned to target him politically.

On the other hand, Ajit urged voters not to fall for all the emotional drama.

This isnt a family battle; it is about the future of the country. Dont get caught up in the emotional drama. Baramati voters prefer development over drama. They want progress, especially for the younger generation, he said.

Promises made from both sides

The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) in its manifesto has promised a caste census, a separate commission for farmers welfare, the right to apprenticeship and 50% reservation for women in jobs. Titled Shapatnama, it also promised to review and propose changes to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the National Register for Citizens (NRC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other laws conflicting with constitutional principles.

The Ajit Pawar-led NCP also declared its support for the demand for a caste-based census. The party in its election manifesto also promised several schemes for the minority community. It includes setting up Maulana Azad Research and Training Institute to provide minority communities opportunities for higher education, entrepreneurship and employment, giving semi-English status to Urdu medium schools, service and facility-centric policy for Haj pilgrims, education and employment opportunities for girls from the minority community among others. It also demanded Bharat Ratna for the first chief minister of Maharashtra Yashwantrao Chavan.
With voting in phase 3 of the general elections concluding today, the fate of Satara in western Maharashtra, which is witnessing a heated contest between the Bhartiya Janata Partys (BJP) Udayanraje Bhosale and Shashikant Shinde from Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), hangs in the balance.

The tussle between the Bhosale, the 13th direct descendent of the Maratha warrior king Shivaji Mathadi and Shinde, a union leader of the mathadis (load carriers) will be a decisive outcome of the contest between the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance and the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition.

Since 1999, Satara has remained an NCP stronghold, with the party securing victory in the constituency six times. The seat is a bastion for the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, given its influence in the area.

For the BJP, Satara is important because of two factors, political analysts said. "Considering political equations in western Maharashtra, Satara is strategically important for the BJP. In the history of the Satara general elections, the BJP has not won this seat on even a single occasion. Historically, Satara was once the capital of the Maratha empire, hence the BJP wants to secure the seat to send a message that descendants of Shivaji and the people of Satara are standing with them," said Abhay Deshpande, a political analyst.

Heavyweight candidates going head to head in Pawar stronghold

Bhosale, alias maharaj (king), as he is commonly referred to in Satara and adjoining areas, is known for his bindhast (bold) attitude. Bhosale, who is banking on his Maratha heritage to rally voters, was elected as MP from Satara in 2009, 2014 and 2019.

In the 1990s, Bhosale served as minister of state for revenue in the BJP government before joining the Congress and subsequently switching to the NCP. In 2019, Bhosale rejoined the BJP to fight the Lok Sabha polls but lost to NCPs Shriniwas Patil.

Meanwhile, Shinde, a staunch Sharad Pawar loyalist, is a former Agricultural Produce and Livestock Market Committee director and working president of the Maharashtra Rajya Mathadi Transport and General Workers' Union. He was elected MLA four times, twice each from Jaoli (1999, 2009) and Koregaon (2009, 2019) assembly constituencies in Satara district. He lost the 2019 assembly polls to Mahesh Shinde from the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) but was nominated to the legislative council by the party in 2020.

As the seat became prestigious for both the NCP factions after the split in the party, Sharad Pawar searched for the right Satara candidate and eventually chose Shinde.

However, Shinde faces several challenges, including an investigation over allegations of misappropriation of 62 crore floor space index (FSI) in the Vashi market committee. A case was registered against Shinde and 29 other directors on April 26 by the Navi Mumbai police.

The police said that in this case, spice traders favoured getting a 600 per square feet rate approved by the committee members as against the market rate of 3,066 per square feet. Shinde claimed that the cases against him were a tactic to exert pressure and that the BJP anticipated a loss in Satara. These allegations are timed to harm my electoral chances, Shinde said.

Voters are divided over leading candidates as water scarcity and other issues loom

Water scarcity is a pressing issue in Satara. In response to the drought in April, Section 144 was enforced in the region with district administrations issuing orders prohibiting water theft from canals and restricting the transportation of cattle fodder outside the area to address the shortage.

Shinde criticised Bhosale for his alleged inaction in Satara even after he had been elected as an MP from the seat three times. Satara is known for its history, culture and nature. But nothing was done on the tourism front. People are not getting water, and youths in the district are leaving for metros, Shinde said while assuring that issues of water scarcity and industrial development will be tackled on priority.

However, Bhosale argued that for the overall development of the Satara district, there is a need for a strong and stable government at the Centre.

The Congress did nothing in the last 50 years. Under PM Modis leadership crores of people benefited from various central schemes. Under their leadership, I am committed to providing funds for various developmental projects, irrigation projects, roads, industry and many more for the overall development of the Satara district.

During his poll campaign, Bhosale promised to set up new industrial units, and IT parks in Satara, to ensure youth employment.

Unemployment, lack of tourism and development and the lingering tensions between communities due to last years communal riots are the prevalent electoral issues on voters minds.

Reflecting the sense of loyalty that a certain section of the population in the Maratha-dominated community holds towards Bhosale, Nilesh Phatagde, a 22-year-old college student told HT, I am supporting Raje because it is our duty to stand firmly behind our raja (king) and defend him from criticism.

Countering allegations that Bhoshale neglects the constituency, Sunil Katkar, Satara Lok Sabha constituency co-ordinator and former Zilla Parishad chairman informed HT that Bhosale regularly conducts janata darbar (peoples court) to address peoples issues.

Meanwhile, Ajit Bhosale, who handles Shindes campaigns said, When we approach people, it is observed that people are angry at the BJP for engineering splits in the NCP and Shiv Sena. There is sympathy for Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray. Satara is already our bastion. Hence, we are confident about our win from Satara seat.

How the battle in Satara is shaping up

The battle for Satara may seem one-sided on paper as the Mahayuti holds four out of six assembly constituencies in the district  Wai (Makarand Patil of the NCP), Koregaon (Mahesh Shinde of the Shiv Sena), Karad North (Balasaheb Patil of the NCP SP), Karad South (Prithviraj Chavan-Congress), and Patan (Shambhuraj Desa-Shiv Sena).

However, it may not turn out so easy for the BJP. A BJP leader from Satara district, on condition of anonymity, expressed concerns about voting from Wai, Patan and Koregaon due to local politics. Bhosale might face difficulties in Wai, as the NCPs Nitin Patil, brother of MLA Makrand Patil from Wai, wanted to contest on the Satara Lok Sabha ticket. Hence, we have organised Ajit Pawars rally in Wai on May 5, where he announced that Patil will be nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP from the NCPs quota in July. We are hoping things are settled after Ajit Pawars announcement," he said.

Koregaon constituency, where Shinde lost the assembly election in 2019 by a margin of just 6,000 votes, also poses a risk for the NCP.

In addition to that, there is a rivalry between Bhosale and Shambhuraj Desai, an MLA from the Shinde faction. Local BJP leaders said that considering all these local factors, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis monitored the constituency, frequently asked for feedback from each MLA and encouraged them to support Bhosale.

The Satara constituency has more than 18.84 lakh voters including 9,28,310 female, 9,56,502 male and 13 transgender voters. Following the dominant Maratha community, the Other Backward Class (OBC), Scheduled Caste (SC), Buddhists, Muslims and other communities populate the state.

There seems to be a lingering sympathy for Sharad Pawar in Satara after Ajit Pawars defection. In the by-poll held in 2019, the people of Satara had already voted against Bhosale as he had left the NCP and joined the BJP. Now with the backdrop of the split in NCP, it wont be easy for him to regain his lost glory.
NEW DELHI: A UK court on Tuesday rejected diamantaire Nirav Modis bail plea, saying he presented a real, substantial risk of absconding justice, people familiar with the development said. Judge John Zani took up Nirav Modis fresh bail plea on the grounds that the long passage of time since the last bail application three and a half years ago constituted a change in circumstances (FILE PHOTO: MINT)

Modi, who is accused of cheating Punjab National Bank of 6,498 crore, has been lodged at Wandsworth prison on the outskirts of London after his arrest on March 19, 2019, based on Indias extradition request to British authorities. Modi left India on January 1, 2018, before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case.

UK courts have previously refused bail to Nirav Modi because he was considered a flight risk and had the means to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence despite an offer of a bail package in October 2020, which included 4 million pounds as security and house arrest.

Judge John Zani took up Nirav Modis fresh bail plea on the grounds that the long passage of time since the last bail application three and a half years ago constituted a change in circumstances to allow the hearing to go ahead.

However, I am satisfied that there remain substantial grounds against bail. There continues to be a real, substantial risk that the applicant [Nirav Modi] would fail to attend court or interfere with witnesses, concluded Judge Zani in his judgment after a short hearing on Tuesday, according to the news agency PTI.

This case involves, by any footing, a very substantial fraud allegation... not one where bail can be granted and the application is refused, the judge noted.

People familiar with the development said a joint team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was in London for the court hearing.

The diamond merchant has lost the extradition case at Westminsters court and the UK high court and has not been granted permission to go into appeal in the Supreme Court.

On February 25, 2021, district judge Sam Goozee at the Westminster Magistrates Court ruled that there were no bars on the extradition of Nirav Modi. Then UK home secretary Priti Patel, on April 15, 2021, ordered his extradition to India after which he filed an application before the high court of justice, London seeking permission to appeal on multiple grounds.

On August 9, 2021, the high court allowed his appeal on two grounds  that his extradition would be incompatible with his convention rights under Article 3 of European Convention on Human Rights; and that it would be unjust or oppressive within the meaning of Section 91 of UK Extradition Act 2003 to extradite him by virtue of his physical and mental condition.

The UK high court eventually dismissed his appeal against extradition on November 9, 2022.
NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday reacted strongly to pro-Khalistan activists in Canada displaying an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in chains at a parade, and called on the Justin Trudeau government to stop providing safe haven and political space to criminal and secessionist elements. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civilised society. (Screengrab/Representative Image)

The Indian side reiterated its concerns for the security of Indian diplomats in Canada and said it expects Ottawa to ensure they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear. The developments marked another downturn in bilateral ties that have been in freefall since Prime Minister Trudeau accused Indian government agents of being linked to the killing of a Khalistani leader last year.

Pro-Khalistan elements in Canada had taken up their anti-India provocation a notch on Sunday by including a float with an effigy of Modi in chains and within a cage in a Khalsa Day parade at Malton town in the Greater Toronto Area. The parade was joined by men holding Khalistan pennants and shouting separatist slogans.

Responding to a question about the float in the parade at Malton, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India has repeatedly raised its strong concerns about the violent imagery used by extremist elements in Canada against the countrys political leadership.

We again call upon the government of Canada to stop providing criminal and secessionist elements a safe haven and political space in Canada, he said.

Jaiswal recalled that a float depicting the assassination of former premier Indira Gandhi was part of another procession organised by Khalistani activists in Canada in June last year. Posters featuring Indian diplomats and threatening violence against them have been put up across Canada, he said.

We continue to remain concerned about the security of our diplomatic representatives in Canada and expect the government of Canada to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear, he added.

Jaiswal further said: Celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civilised society. Democratic countries which respect the rule of law should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression.

In response to Indias repeated calls for action against pro-Khalistan elements holding out threats against Indian diplomats or depicting Indian leaders in a poor light at public events, Canadian officials have said that such activities are covered by freedom of expression and that they cannot act as no laws have been broken.

Indian officials have also contended that authorities in the US and Australia have responded with greater alacrity to complaints about similar activities by pro-Khalistan elements in those countries.

The float at the parade in Malton was promoted by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), already declared a terrorist entity by India. SFJ linked the display to a recent comment by Trudeau that Canada is a rule-of-law country with a strong and independent justice system, as well as a fundamental commitment to protecting all its citizens.

Trudeau made those remarks after three Indian nationals were arrested last week in connection with the killing of pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey town in June last year. Nijjar too was declared a terrorist by the Indian government.

The parade in Malton was organised a week after Trudeau addressed a similar celebration in Toronto, amid pro-Khalistan and anti-India slogans and signage. SFJ has said it will convene a Citizens Court of Canada in Vancouver on June 18, the first anniversary of Nijjars death, that will focus on the charges of ordering, abetting, conspiring and facilitating the killing of the Khalistani activist.
It has been the nature of the Waqf Board to encroach upon any property and declare it as its asset, the Hindu side in the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah case claimed before the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday, reported PTI. A view of Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple and Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura.(ANI)

Rina N Singh, the counsel for the Hindu side, submitted that this "practice" of the Waqf Board cannot be permitted.

The argument was made during the hearing of a plea challenging the suit seeking "removal" of the Shahi Idgah mosque adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura.

The matter is being heard by Justice Mayank Kumar Jain on applications moved by the Muslim side challenging the maintainability of 18 consolidated suits.

Also Read | Supreme Court extends stay on survey in Mathura mosque case

On May 2, the Hindu side told the Allahabad High Court that the temple is a protected monument and it should be governed under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.

On Tuesday, Singh, appearing on behalf of the Hindu side, said the Muslim side claimed that the said property became a waqf property through a compromise entered in 1968 between the two sides, but argued that the deity, who is the owner of the property, was not a party to it, reported PTI.

She also argued that provisions of the Places of Worship Act and the Waqf Act are not applicable in the case.

At the previous hearing in the case, the Hindu side had submitted that Krishna Janmabhoomi is a protected monument and is also a monument of national importance and same shall be governed by the provisions of The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. and the provisions of the Places of Worship Act will not apply.

Advocate Hari Shankar Jain appearing for the Hindu side had argued that worshipping at the Krishna Janmabhoomi is the fundamental right of Hindus.

Prior to that, Advocate Rahul Sahai, appearing for the plaintiff in one of the suits had submitted that religious character had not been defined in the 1991 Act. The religious character of place/structure could only be decided by evidence, which could only be decided by the civil court, he said. Sahai had also placed a judgment passed in the Gyanvapi case which had held that religious character could only be decided by a civil court.

The Muslim side in this case would present its arguments after the completion of the arguments of the Hindu side.

The matter will be heard next on May 15.

(Inputs from PTI)
A measure that would make it much harder to pass tax increases would also invalidate existing taxes passed since 2022. The California Supreme Court will decide whether to pull it from the November ballot. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

San Franciscos Empty Homes Tax, a $38 million-a-year levy on owners of vacant property to fund new affordable housing in the city, was narrowly approved by city voters in November 2022  but could be at risk again if a business-backed initiative is approved for the November ballot by the state Supreme Court, and passed by voters.

Thats also true of a parcel tax passed by Oakland voters to improve conditions at the city zoo, and many other local revenue-increasing measures around the state that have been in effect since the start of 2022.

The initiative, a proposed state constitutional amendment, would require any increase in state or local taxes or fees to be approved by the voters  and by two-thirds of the voters if the funds are for a specific purpose, like housing or zoo maintenance, rather than general government revenue.

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Perhaps the most far-reaching feature of the measure is that it would apply retroactively to taxes and fees passed since the start of 2022. They would be rescinded unless voters gave approval by the required majority no later than a year after the initiative took effect.

Overall, state officials say the retroactivity standard would affect 15 bills signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that could affect statewide fees or taxes, and at least 131 such measures passed by local governments since the start of 2022. Those measures could be repealed if the proposed tax-cut initiative wins voter approval and the measures fail to gain the required majorities in future votes. Sponsors of the measure say it would not require refunds of taxes already paid but would halt collection of the taxes if local voters had not approved them by the required majorities within 12 months. Opponents warn of serious losses in revenues and program funding.

Sponsors of the state ballot measure have disputed those figures and say they have found only 26 local tax increases in the last two years that would need new votes if their initiative passed.

One local measure cited by both sides is the Empty Homes Tax, Proposition M, approved by 54% of San Franciscos voters in November 2022. Intended to make apartments available to would-be renters while raising funds for city housing construction, it is scheduled to impose new taxes, starting in April 2025, on owners of buildings with three or more units that have been vacant for at least half the previous year.

Mayor London Breed did not support the measure, and real estate groups have challenged it in court, arguing that they have a right to keep their buildings vacant and that Prop. M is an unconstitutional confiscation of their property. If the suit fails, the November ballot measure would require another citywide vote, and an end to the tax unless the measure gained a two-thirds majority within a year.

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A similar tax on vacant homes in Berkeley, which could also be subject to the state ballot measure, took effect this year after winning 65% voter approval in November 2022, just short of a two-thirds majority.

Also in November 2022, 63% of Oakland voters approved Measure Y, a $68-per-year parcel tax for the next 20 years to raise $12 million a year for the citys hillside zoo, paying for maintenance, staff salaries, safety measures and education programs for youngsters. Some low-income homeowners are exempted from the tax, which took effect last July.

Other November 2022 local ballot measures that could require new votes under the proposed state initiative include:

A real estate transfer tax in Santa Monica, with higher rates for more expensive properties, to raise $50 million a year for homeless prevention, housing projects and schools. It was approved by 53.5% of the voters.

A so-called mansion tax on sales of expensive residential and commercial properties in Los Angeles, approved by 58% of the citys voters. Sponsors said it would raise at least $670 million a year to finance affordable housing, but the revenue has been much lower so far.

A 1% sales tax in Elk Grove (Sacramento County) to raise $21 million a year for city services, approved by 54% of the votes.

Taxes on cannabis businesses in Woodland (Yolo County) and in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County to raise funds for city programs. The Woodland measure was approved by 66% of the voters, and the Los Angeles County measure by 60%.

The future of those measures and others will be on the line Wednesday when the California Supreme Court hears arguments in a case brought by Newsom and Democratic legislators seeking to remove the state tax-cut measure from the November ballot.

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The suit argues that the measure would so severely weaken the historic powers of the states elected leaders that it is not merely an amendment but a revision of the state Constitution. A revision would require approval from two-thirds of each chamber of the Legislature before being placed on the ballot.

The court usually waits until after voters approve a measure before deciding on its validity, but in 2018 the justices removed an initiative that sought to divide California into three states.

Omar Rodriguez, a spokesperson for Newsom, called the tax measure a radical effort led by wealthy business interests seeking to completely restructure our system of government in a way that will hobble the states ability to respond to future crises.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown supported Newsoms position in a brief to the court, saying the ballot measure would deprive the Legislature of its power to tax by requiring a majority of voters to approve any tax increase.

In reply, Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, said in a statement joined by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and allied groups that the court challenge threatens the voters constitutional right to act as a check and a balance for the governor and Legislature.

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A ruling is due within three months under state law, but sponsors of the ballot measure have asked the court for a decision in June.

The case is Legislature v. Weber, No. S281977.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged the voters to exercise their 'matdaan' (voting rights), comparing it with the importance of daan (donation) in Indian tradition, saying that the countrymen should vote as much as possible. Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows his ink-marked finger after casting his vote for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections, in Ahmedabad, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (PTI Photo) (PTI05_07_2024_000042B)(PTI)

Follow Phase 3 polling LIVE Updates

PM Narendra Modi, who voted at Nishan Higher Secondary School in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, said, "Today is the third phase of voting. There is great importance of 'Daan' in our country and in the same spirit, the countrymen should vote as much as possible. 4 rounds of voting are still ahead. As a voter in Gujarat, this is the only place where I vote regularly and Amit Bhai is contesting from here as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate..."

After coming out of the polling booth, Modi waved to the crowd and showed his inked finger. He also greeted the people and signed autographs. He was also seen sharing a light-hearted moment with a child in the crowd outside the polling booth.

Also Read: Lok Sabha polls 2024: Amit Shah to Dimple Yadav, meet key candidates in phase 3

Modi bowed down to his elder brother Somabhai Patel before entering the polling booth. Union minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah, who is contesting to retain the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, was present when PM Modi reached the polling booth.

Modi is a registered voter from Ranip area. Somabhai Patel lives near Nishan School, which falls under Sabarmati assembly segment of Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

Lok Sabha elections phase 3:

Voting for the third of seven-phase India's 18th general elections began at 7 am on Tuesday in 93 constituencies across 11 states and Union Territories. Some high-profile names in the fray in this phase include union home minister Amit Shah, who is eyeing a second term from Gujarat's Gandhinagar, union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna, Madhya Pradesh), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar, Gujarat) and Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad, Karnataka).

Overall, as many as 1351 candidates are in the fray from these 93 constituencies, with 17.24 crore people, including 8.39 crore females, eligible to vote.

Also Read: Lok Sabha election: Stakes high for BJP in 3rd phase

The states and union territories where the elections will be held in the phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.

(With inputs from agencies)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed Indian Medical Association (IMA) president RV Asokan for his adverse remarks against the court in the Patanjali misleading advertisements case. The Supreme Court of India (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times)

During the hearing today, the Supreme Court questioned senior advocate PS Patwalia about Asokan's comments. Patwalia appeared for the doctors' body.

The lawyer said his client's remarks were rather not fortunate. "You are very mild with your words," the Supreme Court replied.

The Supreme Court asked why did the IMA chief give the interview on the eve of the Patanjali case hearing last month.

IMA's lawyer said his client was called for an interview by PTI. He said the doctor fell into what he called a "leading question".

"A doctor falling?" Justice Amanullah said.

The court today pointed out that it was the doctors' body that had approached it against Acharya Balkrishna-led company for publishing misleading advertisements detrimental to modern medicine.

"You are the one coming to the court and saying that the other side are the ones misleading the public by advertisements, running your system of medicine down. What are you doing?" the bench said.

When RV Asokan's lawyer said the IMA president was praising the court, the bench said it didn't want any pat on "our back from anybody".

The court said the IMA chief's remarks were "very, very unacceptable".

Meanwhile, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Patanjali, told the bench that they have filed an application urging the court to take judicial notice of the "wanton and unwarranted comments" made by the IMA president.

Also read: Patanjali ads case: Supreme Court calls out IMA over 'unethical conduct', says put house in order

What did RV Asokan say?

On April 23, the Supreme Court, while hearing the Patanjali misleading advertisements case, had called out certain unethical practices by doctors.

In the interview later, Asokan said the "vague and generalised statements" had demoralised private doctors.

"We sincerely believe they need to look at what was the material before them. They perhaps did not consider that this was not the issue that was before them in the court. You can say anything but still a majority of doctors are conscientious... practising according to ethics and principles. It does not behove the Supreme Court to take a broadside against the medical profession of the country which, after all, sacrificed so many lives for the Covid war," he had said.

With inputs from PTI
MET Gala 2024: Alia Bhatt's gorgeous traditional look for the Met Gala is finally out of the box! Earlier today, the actor shared a photo that featured her silhouette and gave a sneak peek of her red carpet-look. Now, as Alia finally arrived at the star-studded ball in New York, the internet could not take their eyes off her exquisite look. The actor chose a hand-embroidered saree by ace Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee for fashion's biggest night. She transformed into a breathtaking Fairy in the traditional look featuring a massive train. Check out what she wore inside. Met Gala 2024: Alia Bhatt transforms into a fairy dressed in a Sabyasachi saree for the Met Gala. (Instagram)

Alia Bhatt's saree look by Sabyasachi for the Met Gala transforms her into a Fairy

Alia Bhatt made her second appearance today at the Met Gala. Though the actor debuted at the fashion extravaganza in 2023, this is her first time wearing a saree on the iconic stairs of The Metropolitan Museum Of Art. Styled by Anaita Shroff Adjania, the Sabyasachi saree features a 23-foot-long embroidered train and took approximately 1965 hours to make, according to Vogue. It comes hand-embroidered with silk floss, glass beading and gemstones. Additionally, the hand-embroidered delicate floral in pink and green hues, beaded tassels in the borders, and a ruffled pleat on the front added to the dreamy charm of the ensemble.

Alia wore the saree with a bustier blouse featuring a plunging sweetheart neckline, ruffled sleeves, intricate embroidery and gemstone embellishments, and a tulle bow detail on the back. For the accessories, the actor chose jewels by Sabyasachi, including a mang tika, an ornate band adorned on her hairdo, hair baubles, statement earrings, stunning rings, and high heels.

Lastly, subtle gold eye shadow, rouge on the cheeks, fuchsia pink lips, beaming highlighter, mascara on the lashes, and feathered brows completed the glam picks complementing Alia's Fairy look for the Met Gala. Meanwhile, a messy updo with loose strands of hair sculpting her face gave the finishing touch.
Met Gala 2024: The glittering lights of New York City were outshone once again as the iconic Metropolitan Museum of Art played host to the Met Gala on the first Monday of May (early Tuesday in India). This year's gala promised a dazzling spectacle as it returned to its traditional slot on the fashion calendar. One name that stole the limelight at the event is none other than Jennifer Lopez. The ageless beauty co-hosted the gala and sent shockwaves through the fashion world with her daring choice of attire. Jennifer Lopez attends the Met Gala 2024 in a nearly-naked Schiaparelli bodycon dress. (Instagram)

Jennifer Lopez wears a custom Schiaparelli Haute Couture gown

The 'Marry Me' star left little to the imagination in a custom Schiaparelli Haute Couture gown, adorned with sparkling crystals that accentuated her enviable figure, including her derriere, according to People magazine.

Paired with sky-high platform heels and jewels from Tiffany & Co., Jennifer Lopez's ensemble is a testament to timeless elegance and boldness. What truly set Lopez's gown apart was the meticulous craftsmanship behind it.

According to People magazine, the custom creation took a staggering 800 hours to make, with every silver pearl and rhinestone meticulously embroidered by hand. Speaking on the intricacy of the design, a representative from Schiaparelli Haute Couture revealed to People magazine, "The gown features over 2,500,000 silver foil bugles and beads, making it a true labour of love."

This year's Met Gala promised to be a celebration of fashion's rich tapestry, with the theme 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion' taking centre stage.

Departing from previous themes, the focus this year was on reviving unique garments from various centuries, offering a fresh perspective on fashion history.

The Costume Institute's new exhibition, 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,' will be the highlight of the evening, showcasing significant pieces spanning over 400 years.

From the timeless creations of Elsa Schiaparelli to the iconic designs of Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and Hubert de Givenchy, attendees will be treated to a visual feast of sartorial splendour.

Joining Jennifer Lopez as co-chairs for the evening are Zendaya, Chris Hemsworth, and Bad Bunny, promising a star-studded affair.
World Red Cross Day 2024: Thousands of people across the world suffer from natural calamities, armed conflicts and other crises. They need to be cared for, supported and tended to. They lose their homes, families and their loved ones. Unfortunate incidents can change their lives in a split second. World Red Cross Day is dedicated to the challenges and the struggles of those people who suffer from such crises. The day also serves as a reminder of the humanitarian values upheld by the Red Cross and the Red Crescent movement. As we gear up to celebrate the special day, here are a few things that we must keep in mind. The ICRC flag is seen on the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva, Switzerland.(REUTERS)

ALSO READ: Denial of humanitarian aid in conflict zones exposes weak commitment to humanity

Date:

Every year, World Red Cross Day is observed on May 8. This year, World Red Cross Day falls on a Wednesday.

History:

During the aftermath of World War I, Red Cros made significant efforts in fostering peace. In 1934, at the 15th International Conference in Tokyo, the Red Cross Truce report was presented outlining the principles needed to protect wounded soldiers during the war. The proposal was later put into effect during World War II in 1946. In 1948, the Board of Governors of the League of the Red Cross Societies proposed to celebrate the birth anniversary of Henry Dunant  the founder of the Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Since then, World Red Cross Day is celebrated every year on May 8.

Significance:

The theme of this year's World Red Cross Day is - I give with joy, and the joy I give is a reward. The day serves as a reminder to people about the importance of compassion, love, affection, support and treatment. It also upholds the organisation's principles, mission, values and activities. The best way to celebrate the day is by raising funds for the Red Cross and volunteering to promote humanitarianism. Be it blood donation drives, or public awareness programs or first aid learning sessions, we can actively take part in such events to learn how to support people in need.
The ongoing heatwave conditions in the country can spell bad news for asthma patients who could experience exacerbation in their symptoms. Extreme weather including severe heat is linked with irritated and inflamed airways and narrowing of bronchial tubes. Scorching heat also affects air quality which could increase ozone pollution and particulate pollution. All these factors can lead to asthma attacks or worsen the disease. It's thus important for asthma patients to prevent heat exposure, stay hydrated and follow their prescribed medications religiously. (Also read | World Asthma Day 2024: Date, history, significance and everything that you need to know) World Asthma Day is celebrated every year on the first Tuesday of May to spread awareness around the respiratory disease and how to manage it to reduce mortality and improve quality of life.(Freepik)

What is asthma and why World Asthma Day is celebrated?

Asthma, a common respiratory disease that causes inflammation and narrowing of the small airways in the lungs can lead to worrying symptoms like cough, wheeze, shortness of breath and chest tightness. World Asthma Day is celebrated every year on the first Tuesday of May to spread awareness around the respiratory disease and how to manage it to reduce mortality and improve quality of life. This year World Asthma Day is being celebrated on May 7, Tuesday.

Challenges of tackling asthma in hot and humid conditions

"In hot and humid conditions, managing asthma becomes particularly challenging due to several factors that exacerbate symptoms. These conditions can trigger airway inflammation, bronchoconstriction, and increase exposure to air pollutants, all of which can worsen asthma symptoms. One of the primary challenges for asthma patients during heatwaves is increased airway inflammation. High temperatures and humidity levels can lead to the release of pro-inflammatory mediators in the airways, causing swelling and narrowing of the bronchial tubes. This inflammation makes it harder for individuals with asthma to breathe, leading to symptoms such as wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing, and chest tightness," says Dr RK Chopra, MD (medicine), MD (Respiratory medicine), Senior Consultant Respiratory Medicine Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune.

Pollution can be an additional trigger

Dr Chopra says hot and humid conditions can result in increased levels of air pollutants such as ozone.

"Ozone is a powerful respiratory irritant that can trigger asthma symptoms and exacerbate airway inflammation. Exposure to high levels of ozone can lead to more frequent and severe asthma attacks, especially in individuals with pre-existing respiratory conditions," he says.

Preventive tips to manage asthma attack during heatwaves

To manage asthma during heatwaves, it's essential for patients to take proactive measures to minimize exposure to triggers and alleviate symptoms. Dr Chopra suggests the following tips:

Staying indoors: Avoiding outdoor activities during the hottest parts of the day when air quality is typically the poorest.

Using air conditioning: Keeping indoor environments cool and well-ventilated can help reduce exposure to heat and humidity, as well as filter out indoor air pollutants.

Staying hydrated: Drinking plenty of fluids helps keep airways moist and can prevent dehydration, which can worsen asthma symptoms.

Taking prescribed medications: Following the asthma action plan provided by a healthcare provider is crucial. This may involve using quick-relief inhalers (bronchodilators) to alleviate acute symptoms and controller medications (such as corticosteroids) to manage underlying inflammation.

Monitoring symptoms: Being vigilant about changes in asthma symptoms and seeking medical attention promptly if symptoms worsen despite medication use.

Overall, managing asthma during heatwaves requires a combination of preventive measures, medication management, and proactive monitoring to ensure optimal respiratory health and minimize the risk of asthma exacerbations
A new spacecraft, Boeing Starliner, scheduled for its first crewed launch for International Space Station on Tuesday with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts Butch Wilmore and Indian-origin Sunita Williams, was postponed due to a technical glitch encountered by its rocket, Atlas V. Boeing Crew Flight Test crew members Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore work in the Boeing Starliner simulator at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Nov. 3, 2022. The first flight of Boeings Starliner capsule with a crew on board is scheduled for Monday, May 6, 2024. (NASA/Robert Markowitz/PTI)(AP05_06_2024_000070A)(AP)

United Launch Alliance launch director Tom Heter III has made the decision to the launch team that launch operations will not continue tonight for Atlas V and Starliner, an official statement said.

ALSO READ-

What is Boeing Starliner launch mission?

Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were poised to become the first crew aboard Boeing's Starliner as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Programme. Their mission entailed docking with the at the space station on Wednesday.

After a week the crew capsule's was planned for descent, assisted by parachutes and airbags, in the southwestern United States.

Upon the conclusion of the flight test, NASA will start the final steps to certify Starliner and its systems for regular human spaceflight launches.

ALSO READ- Scientists find evidence of hidden water ice on Moon: About 5-8 times larger

What went wrong?

Starliner launch has been postponed as teams assess an oxygen relief valve on the Centaur Stage of the Atlas V rocket. The astronauts have left the Starliner spacecraft and will go back to their crew quarters.

In a situation like this, if we see any data signature is not something that we have seen before, then we are just simply not willing to take any chances with what is our most precious payload, said Dillon Rice, an engineer from United Launch Alliance.

ALSO READ- NASA's Voyager 1 sending useable data back to Earth for first time in months

Boeing's streak of failure continues

NASA enlisted Boeing and SpaceX ten years ago to transport astronauts to and from the space station post the shuttle programme's closure, investing billions in the private enterprises. SpaceX has been operating in the orbital taxi sphere since 2020.

However, Boeing faced setbacks with its Starliner spacecraft. Its first unmanned test flight in 2019 failed to reach the space station, prompting Boeing to conduct another trial. The company also grappled with parachute problems and issues related to flammable tape.

(Inputs from AP)
Savannah Kriger, 32, from Texas, USA, asked her three-year-old to say "goodbye" to his father before she shot him and herself dead. As per reports, authorities have been piecing together the last hours of Kriger and her son Kaiden, who were found dead on March 19 from gunshot wounds to the head in a San Antonio park. The investigation into the murder-suicide has taken weeks. The woman shot her child and then herself.

Authorities concluded that in the hours preceding the killings, Kriger had damaged her ex-husband's house, shot at her old wedding pictures, and threatened him with several FaceTime videos and texts, reported the New York Post.

Bexar County Sheriff's Office told the outlet that on March 18, Kriger went to her ex-husband's home when he left for work. After damaging a few of his furniture and personal items, she went home and shot her wedding pictures. Later, she picked up her son from daycare and sent texts to her ex-husband. (Also Read: Police saves woman from the brink of death, prevent her from jumping off a 54-storey building. Watch)

"You don't have anything to go home to now. You really don't. You won't have anything at all at the end of the day," Kriger apparently said, as per the New York Post. A final text from her read, "Say goodbye to your son."

Kriger and her ex were due for a hearing in the court on March 19, the day the bodies were discovered. (Also Read: Victim injured in sword attack is also wanted in attempt to murder case)
An HR recruiter from Gujarat has been facing backlash on social media after she shared a job posting for a graphic designer in Mumbai. Janvi Sarna, in a now-deleted LinkedIn post, outlined the job requirements for the position, including salary and skills required. Along with this, she also shared that the company doesnt welcome Marathi people. The discriminatory job posting by a Gujarat HR recruiter was for the role of graphic designer in Mumbai. (Representative image)

X user Sukta Bombil shared a screenshot of Sarnas post and wrote, Discrimination alert. This is Janvi Sarna from Surat. HR recruiter in ITCODE Infotech. In one of her LinkedIn posts, she mentioned a very discriminatory condition - Marathi people are not welcome here. He also tagged Mumbai police and Maharashtra Cyber crime branch and urged them to take action against her.

The post soon caught the attention of social media users and triggered a wave of reactions. Following this, Sarna deleted her post and issued a public apology. The company ITCODE Infotech also issued a clarification.

I really apologise, wrote Sarna in a LinkedIn post.

She added, A few days back, I posted a graphic designer job opening post, and because of a single objectionable sentence, many people's sentiments got hurt. This is to inform you that I don't endorse comments that discriminate against anyone. It was due to my oversight that I posted this job opening here.

In another LinkedIn post, Sarna said that the post that blew up was not for ITCODE Infotech. Since I am working as a freelancer and working with lots of companies, ITCODE Infotech firm was one of them & that post was not related to ITCODE Infotech. It was due to my oversight that I posted that job opening, said Sarna.

ITCODE Infotech also issued a statement regarding the discriminatory post that Sarna shared on LinkedIn. The company said, We strongly condemn the recent hateful post directed towards Marathi people by Janvi Sarna. It's important to clarify that she is not affiliated with our company in any capacity; she simply utilised our company name on LinkedIn, a platform open to anyone. We have reached out to her for clarification, and she has since apologised and updated her current employment details, which you can verify. Additionally, we want to reiterate that we have not posted any job requirements recently. Please take note of this and refer to our previous hiring posts for verification.

Balkrushn Koladiya, founder and CEO of ITCODE Infotech - an IT company, also shared his stance on the matter. He reshared a LinkedIn post by his company on the matter. It reads, I emphasised our stance against any form of hatred towards communities. We want to say that we bear no responsibility in this matter.

Upon contacting the individual responsible for the post, we discovered it was for one of her freelance projects, unrelated to our company. She clarified this in her response, the statement reads further.

The company also said, We are fully committed to supporting the authorities in Gujarat and Maharashtra if legal actions are being initiated. Our company shares every job requirement through official channels, and we have had positive experiences collaborating with Marathi individuals, who have been incredibly kind and cooperative.

Following the incident, Sarna removed her profile picture from her LinkedIn account and the names of the companies she has worked for in the past, including her present one, from the work experience list. According to her LinkedIn profile, she is a freelancer HR recruiter & consultant, pan India and has 7-8 years of experience in the field.
A video shared on the official Instagram page of The Metropolitan Museum of Art showing Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo has left people pleasantly surprised. Captured at the museums annual event, Met Gala, the video shows the co-stars sharing a special moment. There is a chance that the clip will leave you saying Aww, The image shows Ariana Grande posing for the cameras with her co-star Cynthia Erivo. (Instagram/@metmuseum)

A wickedly fun moment on the #MetGala red carpet with co-stars, reads the caption posted along with the video. In the video, the stars rush towards each other and share a warm hug. The video also shows the duo posing for the cameras.

Grande was seen wearing a cream-coloured ethereal gown by Loewe, complete with feathery appliques on her face. Cynthia Erivo, on the other hand, wore a deconstructed tuxedo covered with pink-coloured flower petals and mini insects.

Take a look at this video from Met Gala:

The video was shared a little over an hour ago. Since then, it has collected more than 3.7 lakh views - and the numbers are still increasing. The share has further accumulated nearly 20,000 likes. People posted varied comments while reacting to the video. A few also showed their reactions using heart emoticons.

What did Instagram users say about this Met Gala video?

She is too cute, wrote an Instagram user.

Best look of the night, added another.

I love them, joined a third.

The film's first part featuring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, called Wicked, is slated to hit the theatres on November 27. The second part of the film will be released a year later, on November 26.

What are your thoughts on this video showing a sweet moment between Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo?
Xi calls for further unleashing China-Serbia mutually beneficial cooperation potential

Xinhua) 17:05, May 07, 2024

BELGRADE, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China and Serbia should further unleash the potential of their mutually beneficial cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a signed article published in Serbian media on Tuesday.

"We should deliver on the midterm action plan for Belt and Road cooperation, and build more flagship projects. We should expand cooperation in technological innovation, advanced manufacturing, green energy, digital economy, artificial intelligence and other emerging areas. We should share development opportunities and create a better future together," Xi said in the article.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
A man who was sentenced to death for a 1986 murder has challenged his conviction and sentence because the prosecutor removed both prospective jurors who were Jewish. Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images

A man who was sentenced to death for a 1986 murder near BARTs Hayward Station has challenged his conviction and sentence because the prosecutor removed both prospective jurors who were Jewish  the first case to reach court since revelations that Alameda County prosecutors had regularly removed Jewish and Black jurors from capital cases.

Mark Schmeck, now 67, claims he was framed for the murder of Lorin Germaine of Fremont, who was shot inside his mobile home parked outside the station. The state Supreme Court unanimously upheld Schmecks conviction and sentence in 2005, but the case gained life last month when District Attorney Pamela Price announced she was reviewing all 35 death penalty appeals in the county because of possibly discriminatory challenges to prospective jurors.

Price said she was ordered by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria to reconsider the cases after prosecutors notes from the trial of Ernest Dykes of Oakland, sentenced to death in 1993 for murdering his landladys 9-year-old grandson, showed that they had removed all Black and Jewish jurors because they were considered unlikely to vote for a death sentence.

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Price said there was evidence that the same thing happened in other cases and was not limited to one or two prosecutors. The former civil rights attorney was elected district attorney in 2022 after a campaign in which she promised not to seek the death penalty or other sentences she considered excessive. Price faces a recall election this year, backed by opponents who accuse her of being soft on crime.

Prosecutors said Schmeck killed Germaine in order to steal and sell his mobile home. Schmeck blamed his girlfriend, Jamie Gronley, who at one point confessed but later recanted and said Schmeck had admitted being the killer.

Schmecks lawyer at his 1989 trial also challenged prosecutors removal of two Jewish jurors, but the trial judge, William McGuiness, accepted prosecutors explanation that they had dismissed the jurors for other reasons, including their reluctance to support a death sentence.

That may have been due to the failure of Schmecks trial attorney to inform McGuiness that Schmeck was Jewish, his current lawyer, Brian Pomerantz, said in Fridays filing in Alameda County Superior Court. Pomeranz also said that Schmecks prosecutor, the late Theodore Landswick, not only removed both Jewish people from the jury pool but also brazenly boasted that he would strike the third and only other known Jew if she made it to the box.

This exhibited bias or animus against Mr. Schmeck, who is Jewish, Pomerantz wrote. He said there were also no Jewish jurors in four more capital cases prosecuted by Landswick. .

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And a review of 24 Alameda County death penalty cases from 1984 to 1994, Pomerantz said, showed that prosecutors used their allotted challenges to remove all 11 prospective jurors who identified as Jewish, and 17 of 19 others with apparently Jewish names.

The stunning discovery released by the district attorney (last month) raises questions as to the integrity of the entire justice system in Alameda County at the time of these cases, Pomerantz said in a filing seeking to overturn Schmecks conviction and death sentence.
Miss USA Noelia Voigt, 24, who was crowned on September 29, 2023, announced that she will be stepping down from her role due to her "physical and mental well-being". Voigt took to Instagram to share the shocking news. After she made the post, it gained tons of reactions, with many people praying for her well being and recovery. Noelia Voigt when she was crowned Miss USA.

"I realise this may come as a large shock to many. Never compromise your physical and mental well-being. Our health is our wealth. A million thank yous to all of you for your constant and unwavering support. Time to write the next chapter. I hope you'll stick around to see what's next," wrote Voigt in her post.

She also shared about her experiences as Miss USA and talked about the moments she loved. Voigt also thanked a ton of people who have helped her in her journey. At the end of the post, she wrote, "Deep down, I know that this is just the beginning of a new chapter for me, and my hope is that I continue to inspire others to remain steadfast, prioritize your mental health, advocate for yourself and others by using your voice, and never be afraid of what the future holds, even if it feels uncertain. How I wish I could hug all of you. I love you all with all of my heart and always will. Peace and love, always." (Also Read: Miss Japan winner gives up crown, apologises following affair)

Take a look at her post here:

This post was shared on March 6. Since being posted, it has garnered more than 15,000 likes. Many people flocked to the comments section of the post and shared their reactions.

Here's how people reacted:

An individual wrote, "God bless. I was a mental health nurse for over three decades. Your mental health is even more important than your physical health in many aspects. I commend you for your actions. I can't wait for your next journey. I am sure it will be amazing. Please seek out help for yourself. Lord, please look after this beautiful woman and help her through her journeys."

A second said, "Much Love and Kindness from a pageant mom. Please allow your spiritual belief to lead, guide, and direct you into the next chapter of your life. Be strong, steadfast, and unmovable."

"I wish you all the best and hope you feel much better and recovery soon," commented a third.
Bisma Rehman, a Pakistani-origin woman who claimed she lost her job amid the ongoing worldwide layoffs at Tesla, was featured in an ad for the company two months ago. The woman was fired, along with her team of over 500 people, after CEO Elon Musk announced that the company would reduce its workforce by 10% globally. The image shows a recently fired Pakistani-origin Tesla engineer appearing in an old EV ad for the company. (LinkedIn/Tesla Energy)

Two months ago, Rehman reshared a video of her ad on LinkedIn and wrote, Starting today, Ford drivers have access to the majority of the Tesla Supercharger network via a NACS DC adapter. Big milestone achieved in creating a charging network for ALL. And Ford is just the automaker. More automakers are coming soon. In the ad, she demonstrates how one can use the EV charges seamlessly without any hassle. The clip was officially posted on the Tesla LinkedIn page.

Take a look at the entire post by the woman here:

Tesla's layoffs have stretched into its fourth week, with many taking to LinkedIn to share how they lost their jobs at the company. A former Meta intern also claimed that Elon Musk's company had revoked her job offer just 72 hours before she was supposed to join. She shared that after being fired from her last job, she spent gruelling months filled with interviews and finally landed a job at Tesla. She claimed to have given up another opportunity to work at the company. She added that the whole experience left her frustrated and heartbroken.

Email received by a laid-off employee at Tesla:

As per The Verge, one of the laid-off employees showed the outlet the "chilling" email they received while being fired from their job at Tesla.

"I am reaching out to let you know that after a careful review of your permanent work restrictions and your role, it was determined that there was no reasonable accommodation that would enable you to perform the essential functions of your position in your role. The next step in the interactive process is the Alternative Job Search (AJS process), which consists of reviewing Teslas internal and external job board to identify potential positions. This is to inform you that we have not identified any openings for which you appear qualified. Given recent changes in the business, we also do not currently anticipate any such openings in the near term. As such, we are advising that we intend to conclude the AJS process at this time. As we have not identified an alternative available position, we will begin processing your separation from employment with Tesla, effective May 3rd, 2024, it reads.

Also Read - Indian engineer laid off by Tesla faces H-1B visa deadline: Feels like a bad dream
A scary footage shows the moment when New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers climbed over a glass wall to save a terrified woman standing on the ledge of a 54-storey rooftop in Manhattan. As per reports, the 33-year-old lady was rescued last Wednesday at a Midtown building on East 29th Street. Around 3:10 pm, NYPD's emergency service unit (ESU) team received a call regarding the woman who was about to jump from the building, as per reports. Snapshot of the police officers rescuing the woman.

When members of the NYPD's emergency service unit (ESU) arrived, they were separated from the woman by a glass barrier, prompting cops to use a rope to reach the victim. Once they secured her, they helped her get on top of the glass barrier. After the rescue operation, she was taken to Bellevue Hospital. (Also Read: 19-year-old engineering student dies by suicide in Kerala)

"When the public needs help, they call the police. When the police need help, they call ESU. @NYPDSpecialops ESU detectives recently saved a distraught woman on a rooftop 54 stories up using their rope rescue skills," wrote NYPD News as they shared the video.

Watch the clip here:

Earlier, a 40-year-old man was saved by police in Kolkata after he tried to attempt suicide by climbing a bridge. The police promised the frightened man a packet of biryani and a job. According to a police officer from Karaya station, the event caused a 30-minute traffic delay on one of the city's busiest routes. The individual took this drastic move as a result of emotional turmoil caused by his separation from his wife and financial troubles caused by business losses.

Police from the neighbouring station, as well as members of the Kolkata Police Disaster Management Group (DMG) and the fire department, rushed to the scene and began speaking with him. Following offers of biryani and a job, the man accepted to descend.
SYDNEY, - Australia's biggest wine producer Treasury Wine Estates will build its workforce and marketing budget in China this year as it navigates a reentry to a market where it was effectively locked out by tariffs, CEO Tim Ford said on Tuesday. Australia's Treasury Wine building staff, marketing in China after tariffs lifted

Treasury, maker of the Penfolds, Wolf Blass and 19 Crimes labels, temporarily lost its biggest market starting in 2020, when China slapped massive tariffs on a host of Australian exports during a wide-ranging diplomatic dispute.

That ended in March when China said it was axing the tariffs as relations between the countries thawed.

Treasury started holding back wine shipments to other markets six months ago in anticipation of a China reopening, but would need time to rebuild its distribution network there, Ford said.

The Australian company had maintained a China team of about 120 people during the dispute but "we expect to get to somewhere around a 200-person team in China, probably by July-August", Ford told the Macquarie Australia Conference.

"There will be a step up in China particularly over the next 12 months to really build the presence of the brand again," he added.

Ford noted that the value of China's wine market was down about 25% on 2019 levels, partly due to the loss of Australian products.

"The reality is, when you've got zero share of what is 75% of what was a big market, that still is a significant opportunity," he added.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Canadian minister Marc Miller rejected External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's criticism of Ottawa's immigration policies but said he is entitled to his opinion. Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller (Reuters/File)

Jaishankar had criticised the Canadian immigration policy after three Indian nationals allegedly linked to the killing of pro-Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar were arrested last week.

A number of people with organised crime links from Punjab have been made welcome in Canada. We have been telling Canada saying, look these are wanted criminals from India, you have given them visas. But the Canadian government has not done anything, Jaishankar said.

Read Here: S Jaishankar nails Justin Trudeau lies over Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing

When asked for a response to Jaishankar's remarks, Miller said, About what the Indian Foreign Minister said? Let him speak his mind. It's just not accurate.

We're not lax. And the Indian foreign minister is entitled to his opinion. I'm going to let him speak his mind. It's just not accurate.

Miller said Canada conducts a criminal record check on individuals entering the country on student visas adding that the process was elaborate. You check them in if they have a criminal record; they don't come in.

Canada takes such reports very seriously, he added.

Jaishankar said that India had sought the extradition of 25 people, most pro-Khalistani members, however, Canada did not pay any heed to it.

Canadian news channel Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) quoted Miller refusing to reveal details of the police enquiry or confirm whether the three Indians arrested were on student visas.

He said, Such enquiries should be directed to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Following the charges laid by Canadian authorities against three Indian nationals, it was reported that they had entered Canada on student visas.

On June 18, 2023, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist in India, was fatally shot outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. Karan Brar (22), Kamalpreet Singh (22), and Karanpreet Singh (28), all Indian nationals who were residing in Edmonton, were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder on Friday.

Jaishankar said that the Trudeau government was allowing the occurrence of extremism, separatism, and advocates of violence under the banner of free speech.

He accused Canadian authorities of using the Nijjar issue for internal vote-bank politics and of harbouring some people with pro-Pakistan leanings.
By Nate Raymond and Karen Sloan Columbia Law voices confidence in grads in face of conservative judges' boycott

- The head of Columbia Law School backed its graduates on Tuesday, saying they were "consistently sought out" as it responded to an announcement by 13 conservative federal judges that they would not hire students from the Ivy League university.

The judges announced the boycott on Monday, citing the university's handling of pro-Palestinian protests and calling the Manhattan campus an "incubator of bigotry" in a letter to Columbia President Minouche Shafik and Law Dean Gillian Lester.

Lester said in a statement on Tuesday that Columbia Law graduates were "consistently sought out by leading employers in the private and public sectors, including the judiciary."

The lead signatories on Monday's letter, who were all appointees of Republican former President Donald Trump, included U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Elizabeth Branch of the 11th Circuit, who previously urged judges to similarly boycott hiring clerks from Yale and Stanford following disruptions of events at those law schools with conservative speakers.

But figures suggest the boycott will have limited real world impact.

Columbia Law School is not a major feeder into federal clerkships, with the vast majority of its graduates going into associate jobs at large law firms. Just 21 of the Manhattan law school's 427 juris doctor graduates in 2023 went into federal clerkships  about 5%  according to the latest employment data from the American Bar Association.

By contrast, the University of Chicago Law School, Yale Law School, and Stanford Law School each sent 20% or more of their 2023 graduates into federal clerkships. Columbia was 39th out of 195 U.S. law schools for the percentage of the graduating class that went into federal clerkships.

A law school spokesperson did not provide comment on Tuesday on whether any of the 13 boycotting judges had ever hired a Columbia Law grad as a federal clerk.

Federal judges hire two or three law grads annually for year-long clerkships that can lead to prestigious and high-paying legal jobs. Fewer than 4% of law graduates nationwide get those jobs, the ABA data show.

'SEE NO REASON TO PUNISH THEM'

There was little sign of the boycott gathering significant steam on Tuesday.

U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith, a colleague of Ho's on the 5th Circuit appointed by Republican former President Ronald Reagan, noted that so far only two of the approximately 170 active federal appeals court judges had announced plans to join the boycott.

"I have had many outstanding law clerks from Columbia," Smith said. "I do not boycott any law school or its students."

Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane of the Southern District of Texas said he would not hire a student who participated in "antisemitic or pro-Hamas protests" but that he would also not support a blanket boycott of the school.

"Some of those law students are likely Jewish and have been the subject of threats and harassment," said Crane, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush. "I see no reason to punish them."

However, U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky, a Trump appointee in Little Rock, Arkansas, who recently traveled with a group of U.S. judges to Israel, said in an email on Tuesday that he was considering joining the Columbia boycott.

Judges need to "step up to the plate as leaders of the bar to help stop the spread of the virulent Jew hatred that is being normalized on college campuses and elsewhere across the country," Rudofsky said.

Retired federal judge Jeremy Fogel, who heads the Berkeley Judicial Institute at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law said on Tuesday that federal judges have "wide latitude" in clerk hiring and that the judges' boycott letter does not violate their code of conduct.

"That said, reasonable minds may differ as to whether statements of this nature are consistent with the dignity of the judges' office and the obligation of judges to be impartial," Fogel said.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Four Chinese coastguard ships briefly sailed through Taiwan's "prohibited" waters, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that "endanger" navigation safety. This handout picture taken on May 6, 2024 and released on May 7, 2024 by the Taiwan Coast Guard shows a Chinese Coast Guard ship sailing into the Kinmen waters. Four Chinese coastguard ships briefly sailed through Taiwan's "prohibited" waters, Taipei said.(AFP)

China claims self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, and has said it will not rule out using force to bring the island under Beijing's control.

The Chinese ships entered waters south of Taiwan's outlying island of Kinmen, five kilometres (three miles) from the Chinese city of Xiamen, around 3:30 pm (0730 GMT) on Monday, Taiwan's coastguard said in a statement later the same day.

The ships "sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters" about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop "behaviour that endangers navigation safety".

ALSO READ| US claims China, Russia militaries working together to likely invade Taiwan

The sorties come weeks before the May 20 inauguration of new Taiwan president Lai Ching-te, who China regards as a dangerous separatist.

Like outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen, Lai rejects China's claim on Taiwan.

Beijing had also vowed to step up patrols around Kinmen, which is administered by Taipei, after a series of deadly fishing accidents earlier this year.

A Chinese speedboat carrying four people capsized near Kinmen on February 14 while Taiwan's coastguard was pursuing it, leaving two dead.

Another Chinese boat capsized in the area in March, also resulting in the death of two crew members.

Taiwan's coastguard had defended its actions, saying the boat was within "prohibited waters" and was zigzagging before it capsized, but Beijing accused Taipei of "hiding the truth" about the incident.

Defence ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang told reporters Tuesday during a flag-raising rehearsal for the May 20 inauguration that Taiwan would boost support to the coastguard in the form of surveillance and reconnaissance.

When asked if the presence of Chinese ships would disrupt the shipping of supplies to Taiwan's offshore islands, he said "overall we are very well prepared and have full confidence in ensuring regional security".

He added that "there is no abnormality in the Taiwan Strait at the moment".

"We have made the most complete preparations taking into account the enemy's threats and can cope with any unexpected situation," Sun said.

Given the heightened tensions, Taiwanese authorities said they were on alert for potential military exercises by Beijing after May 20.
The Israeli military seized control of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Tuesday, May 7, and its tanks pushed into the southern Gazan town of Rafah after a night of airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave. The Israeli offensive took place as mediators struggled to secure a ceasefire agreement between Israel and its Hamas foes and as the conflict entered its eighth month.

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.(REUTERS)
Three Indian Naval Ships have arrived in Singapore for a three-day visit as part of the operational deployment of the Navy's Eastern Fleet to the South China Sea, underscoring the strong linkages between both navies. Three Indian Naval Ships have arrived in Singapore for a three-day visit as part of the operational deployment of the Navy's Eastern Fleet to the South China Sea, underscoring the strong linkages between both navies.(PTI)

Led by Rear Admiral (RAdm) Rajesh Dhankhar, Indian Naval Ships Delhi, Shakti, and Kiltan reached the Changi naval base in the city-state on Monday, the Indian Navy spokesperson said in a post on X.

The three ships will leave for Malaysia on Thursday and then visit the Philippines.

The visit is part of the "Op Deployment of #IndianNavy's @IN_EasternFleet to the #SouthChinaSea," it said, amidst China flexing its muscles in the South China Sea.

ALSO READ| Philippines, US fire at 'invasion' force in South China Sea war games

Currently, the Chinese navy is involved in a standoff with the US-backed Philippines naval ships in the South China Sea.

The Philippines is trying to assert its claim over the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, which is strongly resisted by China.

China claims most of the South China Sea. The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims.

The three Indian naval ships were welcomed by personnel of the Singapore Navy and the High Commissioner of India in Singapore.

On Tuesday, RAdm Dhankhar and the Indian High Commissioner hosted a reception onboard INS Shakti for 150 guests and missions heads.

The "visit is poised to further strengthen the longstanding friendship and cooperation between the two maritime nations through a series of engagements and activities," the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi said in a statement.

During the ships' stay in the harbour, various activities are planned. These include "interactions with the High Commission of India, professional interactions with the Republic of Singapore Navy as also academia and community outreach amongst other activities, reflecting the shared values of both navies," it said.

The two countries' navies have had robust relations spanning three decades of cooperation, coordination and collaboration with regular visits, exchange of best practices, and reciprocal training arrangements.

"The current deployment underscores the strong linkages between both the navies," the statement said.
Israel carried out strikes on the Gazan city of Rafah overnight as it sought to put "pressure" on Hamas ahead of talks in Egypt on Tuesday aimed at sealing a truce proposal endorsed by the militants. Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike east of Rafah, Gaza Strip(AP)

After having vowed for weeks to push into the southern border town, Israel called on Monday for Palestinians in eastern Rafah to leave for an "expanded humanitarian area" ahead of a ground incursion.

An AFP correspondent in the city reported heavy bombardment throughout the night, while the Kuwaiti hospital there said early Tuesday that five people had been killed and several others injured in Israeli strikes.

After talks earlier in the day failed to produce an agreement, Hamas said Monday evening that it had informed mediators Egypt and Qatar of its "approval of their proposal regarding a ceasefire" in the seven-month-old war, prompting cheering crowds to take to the streets of Rafah.

w, but the government would send negotiators for talks "to exhaust the potential for arriving at an agreement".

In the meantime, it added, "Israel is continuing the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages and the other objectives of the war".

Close Israeli ally the United States said it was "reviewing" the Hamas response.

Hamas member Khalil al-Hayya told the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel that the proposal agreed to by Hamas involved a three-phase truce.

He said it includes a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the return of Palestinians displaced by the war and a hostage-prisoner exchange, with the goal of a "permanent ceasefire".

Qatar said that it was sending a delegation to Cairo on Tuesday morning to resume negotiations in the "hope that the talks will culminate in reaching an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza strip".

A senior Hamas official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Israel must now decide whether it accepts or "obstructs" a truce.

- 'Intolerable' invasion -

Renewing the call for people to leave Rafah late Monday, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said "aircraft targeted more than 50 terror targets in the Rafah area" throughout the day.

Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said Monday night that it had fired rockets from Gaza towards southern Israel in response.

International alarm has been steadily building about the consequences of an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah, situated on the border with Egypt.

An incursion into the city would be "intolerable", UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday, calling on Israel and Hamas "to go an extra mile" to reach a ceasefire deal.

"This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and a ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences, and because of its destabilising impact in the region," Guterres said.

Egypt's foreign ministry warned of "grave humanitarian risks" for the more than one million Gazans sheltering there and urged Israel to "exercise the utmost restraint".

Jordanian King Abdullah II asked US President Joe Biden in talks Monday to intervene to stop a "new massacre" in Rafah.

In a conversation with Netanyahu on Monday, Biden restated "his clear position" opposing an invasion of the city, the White House said.

Netanyahu has vowed to eventually send ground troops into Rafah regardless of any truce, saying it needs to root out Hamas's remaining forces to prevent a repeat of the bloody October 7 attacks that sparked the war in Gaza.

- 'Thousands' leaving -

Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a retaliatory offensive that has killed at least 34,735 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Militants also abducted 250 hostages on October 7, of whom Israel estimates 128 remain in Gaza, including 35 whom the military says are dead.

The Hostage Families and Missing Families Forum said in a statement after Hamas's announcement Monday that "now is the time for all that are involved to fulfil their commitment and turn this opportunity into a deal for the return of all the hostages".

About 1.2 million people are sheltering in Rafah, the World Health Organization says.

Hamas said Israel was planning a large-scale offensive "without regard for the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe" in the besieged Gaza Strip or for the fate of hostages held there.

Israel said its "limited" and temporary Rafah evacuation order aimed "to get people out of harm's way".

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported "thousands" of Gazans leaving the city's east.

- 'Where can we go?' -

Israel's military in a statement urged those in eastern Rafah to head for the "expanded humanitarian area" at Al-Mawasi on the coast.

But aid groups said Al-Mawasi was not ready for such an influx.

Asked how many people should move, an Israeli military spokesman said: "The estimate is around 100,000 people."

The Red Crescent said the designated evacuation zone hosts around 250,000 people, many of them already uprooted from elsewhere.

Palestinian Abdul Rahman Abu Jazar, 36, said the area "does not have enough room for us to make tents" because it is already full.

"Where can we go?" he asked.

UNICEF warned that around 600,000 children packed into Rafah face "further catastrophe".

The main aid group in Gaza, UNRWA, said an Israeli Rafah offensive would mean "more civilian suffering and deaths", adding it was "not evacuating".

burs-gl-smw/ser
The building at 33 New Montgomery St. is expected to sell at a pronounced discount. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

Two downtown San Francisco office towers located on opposite sides of Market Street are on the verge of selling to new owners lured by hefty discounts.

San Franciscos Rubicon Point Partners has been selected as the buyer of 33 New Montgomery St., a 20-story building that sits across from the luxurious Palace Hotel near Market Street, according to multiple real estate market participants. While the deal has yet to close, Rubicon is expected to purchase the property for roughly half of what it was worth pre-pandemic.

More real estate news: Google will exit prominent S.F. waterfront office tower

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Those individuals also confirmed that Southern California-based LBA Realty is closing in on a deal to purchase 255 California St., which rises 14 stories at the corner of Battery and California streets in the citys Financial District. The building is expected to trade for one-third of what it was worth five years ago.

The office building at 33 New Montgomery St. has been occupied by tech tenants like Bitly, Shopify and Stackla. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

In a market where office properties have seen dramatic drops in value due to unprecedented occupancy losses spurred by the rise of remote work, coupled with challenging economic conditions, Rubicon and LBA are among a limited number of investors who have been buying in.

In October, LBA closed on its bid to purchase a four-story building in San Franciscos Showplace Square neighborhood. Once leased to tech giant Salesforce, and most recently to Airbnb, the 83,000-square-foot building was worth about $50 million when it was sold to Blackstone Group in 2017. Last year LBA paid just over $25 million for it.

If its pending deal at 255 California closes, LBA is expected to pay just $290 per square foot, or about $52 million, for the building, individuals with insight into the deal say. This pricing represents about one-third of what Rockpoint Group, the seller, paid for 255 California in 2019.

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LBA did not respond to messages seeking comment Monday, and Rockpoint declined comment on the deal.

In October, Rubicon paid $73 million for a six-story historic building leased by PayPal at 123 Townsend St. While that pricing was considered to be high compared to other recent sales in the wake of the pandemic, which have mostly involved properties struggling with high vacancy rates, the building was worth much more in 2020, when it sold for $140 million.

The office building at 255 California St. is expected to sell for a discounted price. Google Street View

Rubicon did not respond to inquiries regarding its bid to buy 33 New Montgomery St.  the company is expected to pay $77 million for the 240,000-square-foot building thats about 70% occupied by tech tenants like Bitly, Shopify and Stackla.

Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors, now a Barings company, paid just under $148 million for the property in 2014. That acquisition was supported by a $75 million mortgage, which the sale to Rubicon would cover. The capital markets team at real estate firm Newmark is brokering the transaction, but did not respond to inquiries from the Chronicle on Monday.

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As Prince Archie, the son of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, has celebrated his fifth birthday on May 6, King Charles III, Archies grandfather, reportedly felt uncomfortable about making a video call to greet the young prince. Britain's King Charles III leaves The London Clinic in central London, Jan. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)(AP)

According to royal author Tom Quinn, King Charles harbors a discomfort with modern communication technologies, preferring traditional methods such as letters.

Despite this, the kings desire to maintain a connection with his grandchildren, who reside in Montecito, California, compels him to overcome his reluctance.

King Charles dislikes new technology, Quinn revealed to The Mirror. Nonetheless, he is desperate to keep in touch with his grandchildren on the other side of the Atlantic, so he will certainly call Harry and wish Archie [a] happy birthday.

Quinn elaborates, If he makes an ordinary telephone call to Harry, it means he can have a quick word with Archie without the need to talk to Meghan, a prospect that fills him with dread.

ALSO READ| Queen Camilla has set the rules for Prince Harrys meet with King Charles, he can't...

Archies birthday was bittersweet for Charles

The significance of May 6 is twofold for King Charles, marking not only Archies birthday but also the anniversary of his own coronation in 2023. Royal author Phil Dampier describes the day as bittersweet for the king, who feels a sense of heartache over his limited relationship with his grandchildren.

Im sure it breaks Charless heart that his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet are growing up on the West Coast with American accents, and yet he hardly knows them, Dampier told The Sun.

Harry and Meghan may arrange occasional Zoom calls, but its not the same as seeing them in person.

The royal author notes the contrast between King Charless close bond with Prince William and Kate Middletons childrenPrince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louisand the distance with Archie and Lilibet. Im sure hed love to have the same relationship with his other two. Its a very difficult situation.

ALSO READ| Prince Harry against Prince Charles' 18,000 birthday gift to Archie? Report denies claims

Charles probably compensates for not seeing them by showering love on George, Charlotte, and Louis, he added.

But obviously, it would be better for all concerned if the rifts were healed and some kind of normal family relations resumed.

The last in-person meeting between King Charles and Prince Archie and Lilibet was in June 2022. Since then, the relationship has been maintained through occasional Zoom calls.
Two people were killed and 21 others were injured in a knife attack at a hospital in Zhenxiong county of China's Yunnan province on Tuesday. Man in CCTV footage seen holding knife in hospital lobby (Image published by The Paper)

According to state news agency Xinhua, the attack took place at around 11:37 am when a man assaulted people with a knife at a local hospital in the county.

It is not yet known whether police have subdued the suspect, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

Initially, the state media did not specify the nature of the attack, but the CCTV camera footage released on social media shows a person wielding a knife inside the premises of the hospital.



State run news site The Paper published images of a man holding a knife towards another man holding a stick in the hospital lobby, as well as police officers arriving at the scene.

"It happened around 11 in the morning... it's still a bit chaotic, they're still determining the numbers," a local resident told The Paper.

A witness told Red Star News, an online outlet, that he narrowly escaped the attack and that a doctor or doctors were among the injured. Video from the witness showed people who were bleeding and had fallen to the ground, and one older person trying to help another, Red Star social media post said.

Violent crimes of such nature, especially in public places, are extremely rare in China due to their strict firearms policy. While the law strictly prohibits citizens from owning firearms, there have been a rise in the number of stabbings in the past few years.

Last August in Yunnan, two people died and seven others were wounded after a man with a history of mental illness attacked people with a knife. The month before that, six people were killed and one wounded in a kindergarten stabbing in southern China's Guangdong province.

(With inputs from Xinhua AP, AFP)
A team of mid-ranking Israeli officials will travel to Cairo in coming hours to assess whether Hamas can be persuaded to shift on its latest ceasefire offer, a senior Israeli official said, reiterating the current proposal was unacceptable to Israel. Smoke rises after an Israeli strike as Israeli forces launch a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah. (Reuters)

"This delegation is made up of mid-level envoys. Were there a credible deal in the offing, the principals would be heading the delegation," the official told Reuters, referring to the senior officials from the intelligence services Mossad and Shin Bet who are leading the Israeli side.

The visit to the Egyptian capital will take place hours after Israeli tanks took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

Israeli jets have carried out repeated strikes on eastern Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than 1 million Palestinians displaced by the seven-month war have been sheltering.

Egypt's state-aligned Al Qahera News TV reported that there were still efforts to contain the escalation between the two sides and said Egyptian officials had asked Israel to stop the Rafah operation immediately.

Hamas issued a statement saying the operation was designed to undermine ceasefire efforts.

The Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel's demonstrated determination to move against Rafah had pushed Hamas into putting out its latest proposal hastily.

The proposal took the basic framework of a proposal from April 27, based around a halt in fighting and a return of some of the more than 130 Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and stretched it to "unacceptable extremes", the official said.

However, another official said Hamas had agreed to the phased ceasefire and hostage release deal Israel proposed on April 27 with only minor changes that did not affect the main parts of the proposal.

The new demand would not allow Israel to veto the release of specific Palestinian prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, a leader from the Fatah faction currently serving a life sentence for his role in mounting deadly attacks against Israelis.

"Hamas wants them all to be eligible and for Israel to have no say in the matter," the official said.

It would also lift restrictions on the import into Gaza of so-called dual use materials that can be used for both civilian and military purposes. "Hamas says these should be allowed in for the rehabilitation of Gaza, but we know that their intention is to manufacture munitions."

In addition, Hamas was now offering to release only 18 hostages in the first phase of a truce, instead of the 33 who would have been released under previous proposals, with the remainder to come in a subsequent phase.

"That means Israel would get only 18 hostages if it sticks to its refusal to call off the offensive," the official said.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's approach with their son, Prince Archie, has been criticised by ex-BBC Royal Correspondent Michael Cole. The child recently celebrated his fifth birthday. A royal expert has criticised Prince Harry, Meghan Markle's approach with their son Archie(AP)

While the royal family always wishes their children on social media, like on Prince Louis and Princess Charlottes birthdays, no one wished Archie. Archie was born in the UK before Harry and Meghan moved to California.

Cole said on GB News that Archie has always faced "strange behaviour, and spoke about the "controversial" photo call chosen by his parents. Cole recalled when Archie was born, saying, "They had the rather controversial photo call at Windsor, where the couple, having brought their pride and joy to see the world's press, then went out of their way to hide him from them.

"He was in swaddling clothes with a hat on, and nobody really saw him. And that followed rather strange behaviour, he added.

It was rather strange behaviour from the very beginning

Cole went on to say that Meghan and Harry "wouldn't confirm where the birth had been"  which was actually Portland Hospital in central London. He added that the Sussexes have "never, ever confirmed the four godparents. However, their identities were later revealed.

Cole noted that the public hardly saw Archie after they moved to Canada and then America. "It was rather strange behaviour from the very beginning. And since they went into self-imposed exile, first in Canada and then Montecito, which may have been Meghan's intention all along, we've seen very little Archie, Cole told hosts Ben Leo and Bev Turner.

"We've seen him with some rescue chickens and we've heard that he talks American now, and says to people who come to stay with them 'drive safe' when they leave, very nice and American, Cole said.

I think it's a real shame

Reacting to Coles comments, Ben went on to discuss the impact of Meghan and Harry moving to America on their children. "I think it's a real shame, he said. "The King hasn't really seen Archie, and yet we've got a Prince of the Realm in California."

Bev agreed, saying, "The decisions that they've made, meant that boy has not grown up with his cousins at all. Not seeing his grandparents, his aunties and his uncles because of that family feud, makes us reflect really on what's happened there to the Royal Family."

Noting the conflict between Prince William and Harry, Cole said, I can't disagree with what you said, it is so sad that the King sees so little of his grandchild, Archie and his sister, Princess Lilibet. Very sad indeed.

"And to see these two brothers, William and Harry, who were once so close. I'll tell you what, their mother would be so upset because she always thought they would be there for each other, he added. "In fact, when they were small, she made them vow, made them promise, always to support love each other. So that's very sad."
Sign up here to receive The US in brief as a newsletter, each weekday, in your inbox. FILE PHOTO: Police stand guard near an encampment of protesters supporting Palestinians on the grounds of Columbia University, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York City, U.S., April 30, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo(REUTERS)

Pro-Palestinian protesters took over a building at Columbia University on Tuesday morning, hours after the institution began suspending students who defied orders to dismantle their 80-tent protest encampment. On Monday Minouche Shafik, Columbias president, said negotiations to clear the site had failed and rejected protesters demand that the university divest from Israel. Demonstrations at campuses across the country have sprung up since police arrested more than 100 students at Columbia for trespassing on April 18th.

Gregg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, instructed the states education agency to ignore the Biden administrations decision to include transgender students in revisions to Title IX, a law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools. Several red states have contested the changes, which go into effect on August 1st. Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana have filed a joint lawsuit against the federal department of education.

Californias population grew by nearly 0.2%, or around 67,000 residents, in 2023, according to figures released by the states Department of Finance on Tuesday. The growth might not match that of Florida or Texas, but it is still welcome news for the Golden State, which in 2020 saw its population shrink for the first time since 1850.

Americas drug-enforcement agency will reportedly recommend that the Biden administration re-classify marijuana as a so-called Schedule III substance. The move would still impose regulations on weed, but recognise thatunlike other Schedule I drugs such as heroin it has medical uses. Pot is legal in many American states but remains federally criminalised.

Echoes of 68

The Democratic Partys convention in Chicago in 1968 was held as Americans protested against the Vietnam War and mourned the loss of Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy to assassins bullets. It will inevitably be a touchpoint when the party returns to the Windy City for its confab this year. Yet it is only one of several relevant touchstones for the tumult surrounding this years gathering, writes our Lexington columnist in the latest introduction to Checks and Balance, our weekly newsletter about American politics.

Trump trial: day nine

The judge overseeing Donald Trumps hush-money trial fined the former president $9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order. Juan Merchan warned Mr Trump that he could face jail time if he continued to post insults about potential witnesses and the jury. Testimony continued on Tuesday in the New York trial, which is expected to last for at least another month.

A view from elsewhere

The protests that have engulfed university campuses are bad news for Joe Biden, who is already fast losing support from Arab-American and Muslim voters, wrote Yusef Ziya Durmus in the Daily Sabah , a Turkish newspaper, on April 26th. The protests, and the polls, show that the tide is turning when it comes to the presidents seemingly unopposed support for Israels war crimes, he argued.

Figure of the day

270, the number of days that Congress gave TikToks Chinese owners on April 23rd to sell up or see their app banned. Regardless of who wins in November, the Sino-American tech war is likely to heat up. But the approach that Messrs Biden and Trump take may vary. Read our story to find out how.

Todays polls

The race between the two candidates remains stubbornly stable. Judging from our poll tracker, which is updated daily and shows an average of the latest polls, the race between Mr Biden and Mr Trump is shaping up to be a dead heat.

Daily quiz

Tuesday: What was the name of the island in New York Harbour where many immigrants were processed?

Monday: Who wrote the sonnet inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty?

See how to take part in the quiz at the bottom of this page.

If you enjoyed this weeks questions, play Dateline, The Economists new history game.

Jon Fetterman, Democratic senator for Pennsylvania, offers a low opinion of the campus protests over Israels war in Gaza on April 28th.

How to take part in the quiz: From Monday to Thursday well quiz you on American politics. Email all your answers with your name and where you are from to usib@economist.com before 5pm New York time (10pm London time) on a Thursday. The weekly winner, chosen at random from those who give all the right answers, will be announced on this page on Fridays.

Read all of our recent coverage of the 2024 election. Confused about a term? Check out our A-Z of American politics.

What do you think of The US in brief? Send us feedback at usib@economist.com. And sign up here to receive it as a newsletter, each weekday, in your inbox.

 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
Pakistans military on Tuesday said a suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in March was planned in neighboring Afghanistan and that the bomber was an Afghan citizen. Pakistans military on Tuesday said a suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in March was planned in neighboring Afghanistan and that the bomber was an Afghan citizen.(AP)

At a news conference, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Ahmad Sharif said four men behind the March 26 attack in Bisham, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had been arrested.

Sharif said the attack that killed the Chinese engineers, who were working on Pakistans biggest Dasu Dam, was an attempt to harm the friendship between Pakistan and China. Thousands of Chinese are working on projects relating to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

ALSO READ| IMF says its mission will visit Pakistan this month to discuss new loan

Sharif also said Pakistani Taliban who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan were behind a surge in attacks inside Pakistan since January that killed 62 security forces nationwide, and that Pakistan had solid evidence of the group's involvement in the rising violence.

The attacks have prompted several foreign embassies to take extra security measures, asking diplomatic staff and nationals in Pakistan to remain vigilant.

In a statement on Tuesday, the U.S. consulate said it was aware of a threat of a terrorist attack at Karachi Port, and asked its citizens and embassy staff to stay away from the area. It also advised them to keep a low profile and stay alert in places frequented by tourists.

Karachi  Pakistans largest city  has witnessed several militant attacks on Chinese and Pakistanis in recent years. Last month, five Japanese workers narrowly escaped a suicide blast that targeted their van and killed a Pakistani bystander.

Sharif said the Afghan Taliban had failed to honor promises they made to the international community before coming to power, vowing no one would be allowed to use Afghan soil for attacks against any country.

The Pakistani Taliban  a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban which seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021  had denied being behind the March attack, saying in a statement at the time that our sole targets are security forces (and their agents) imposed upon us. We are in no way involved in this attack.

On Tuesday, Mohammad Khurasani, spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban  known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP  repudiated using Afghan soil for attacks on security forces inside Pakistan. He said in a statement Tuesday the group's militants, who were present across the country, targeted security forces and military personnel.

Additionally, the army spokesman vowed not to allow any undocumented foreigners to remain in the country. He said Pakistan's military had completed 98% of a fence being constructed along the border with Afghanistan and 91% of a fence along the Iranian border had also been completed to check illegal movement, curb smuggling and prevent cross-border militant attacks.

Since last year, nearly 563,639 Afghans living illegally have gone back to Afghanistan after Islamabad launched a crackdown on illegal migrants, drawing widespread criticism from international and domestic human rights groups.

Afghanistan has never recognized the porous border that runs through the heartland of the Pashtun, Afghanistans largest ethnic group.

Sharif also dismissed media reports about the possibility of any deal or talks with the country's imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan or his party. Khan is serving multiple prison sentences on charges of corruption, revealing official secrets and marriage law violations.

Khan was ousted by a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022. He accused the military, his rival, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and the United States of being behind his ouster. All three have denied the accusation.
By James Pearson and Sachin Ravikumar UK and allies unmask and sanction Russian leader of LockBit cybercrime gang

LONDON -Britain, the U.S. and Australia have sanctioned and unmasked a senior Russian leader of the notorious cybercrime gang LockBit, the British government said on Tuesday.

Dmitry Khoroshev will face asset freezes and travel bans after being identified as one of the leaders of LockBit, the ransomware group which has digitally extorted over $1 billion from victims worldwide, it said.

"These sanctions are hugely significant and show that there is no hiding place for cyber criminals like Dmitry Khoroshev, who wreak havoc across the globe. He was certain he could remain anonymous, but he was wrong," Graeme Biggar, Director General of Britain's National Crime Agency, said in a statement.

LockBit was first disrupted by the NCA, U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and Europol in February, in an unprecedented campaign that saw the gang's darkweb site hijacked by police and used to leak internal information about the group and the people behind it.

"In sanctioning one of the leaders of LockBit we are taking direct action against those who continue to threaten global security, while simultaneously exposing the malicious cyber-criminal activity emanating from Russia," Britain's Sanctions Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said in a statement.

Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts data; Lockbit and its affiliates make money by coercing its targets into paying ransom to decrypt or unlock that data with a digital key. The gang's digital extortion tools have been used against some of the worlds largest organisations.

CRIMINAL GROUPS

Its affiliates are like-minded criminal groups that Lockbit recruits to wage attacks using those tools. Those affiliates carry out the attacks, and provide Lockbit a cut of the ransom, which is usually demanded in the form of cryptocurrency, making it harder to trace.

In February, the U.S. announced it had charged two Russian nationals with deploying Lockbit ransomware against companies and groups around the world. Both men were also sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury.

Before it was seized by law enforcement, Lockbit's website displayed an ever-growing gallery of victim organisations that was updated nearly daily. Next to their names were digital clocks that showed the number of days left to the deadline given to each organisation to provide ransom payment.

On Tuesday, international police agencies once again turned that platform against the gang itself to unmask Khoroshev and published a wanted poster promising a $10 million award for information that would lead to Khoroshev's arrest.

According to a 26-count U.S. indictment unsealed on Tuesday, Khoroshev received at least $100 million in Bitcoin payments from LockBit's activity. Reuters was unable to find contact information for Khoroshev or his lawyer.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
An Arizona State University senior choked up over missing graduation after being arrested and suspended for trespassing during an anti-Israel protest. Im being restricted from a lot of things right now that I didnt expect to be for standing up for something I believe in, Breanna Brocker told ABC15 in tears. ASU anti-Isarel protester Breanna Brocker cries over missing graduation after being suspended (@bdbrown473/X)

You know I have family coming in who I have to let them know not come to my graduation ceremonies, she added. Im just disappointed. Im a 2020 high school grad, so I wasnt able to walk then. So, you know, here it is. Im not able to walk now.

Brocker said she will be handed a degree and will be allowed to finish classes. It is unclear under what circumstances she will graduate. Several students at ASU have been arrested over pro-Palestinian protests.

Brocker said that despite everything, she will not stop taking part in such protests. I was doing what I believed was right and I still believe it to be right. I would stand up for the cause again, even if it means something negative for me, she said.

So much harm has been done to all of those people already. I am safe, I am fine. I may not [walk at graduation] and that might harm future job prospects and stuff like that, but Im not in physical danger. I am not constantly worried about being hurt or being forced from my home or anything like that, she added.

The video of Brokers interview was shared on X by ABC15 reporter Ben Brown.

For the first time, she's actually learning something from college

Many users flocked to the comment section to blast Brocker, with one user saying, This is the first time in her life that her actions had consequences. Her suspension didn't cause her to miss her final, her atrocious BEHAVIOR did, one user said, while another wrote, The school warned them all what would happen. They just chose not to listen.

Always whining about their free speech being violated or "just standing up for something" when in fact these students' encampment went far beyond a protest violating university policy. The university stated they warned the students over 20 times, one user wrote. Its real fun to be all caught up in the cause du jour, feeling enlightened and important, but sure does suck to suffer the consequences of your actions. Boo hoo, said one user, while another wrote, and for the first time, she's actually learning something from college.
A grim face of the US employment industry has been unveiled as tech giants continue to roll out their cost-cutting plans, followed by a slew of layoffs. Essential alternatives you can look out for if your employment is terminated as an H1B visa holder.

In January itself, Google laid off hundreds of its employees, following up on its 2023 move of letting go of thousands of workers. Similarly, over a hundred Discord employees suffered the devastating blow earlier this year. More heart-breaking headlines of the same nature followed suit earlier this year as workers at Microsoft, eBay, investment management company BlackRock, video game software company Unity, Amazon-owned company live-streaming company Twitch, and many other giants witnessed threads of the dreadful-themed e-mails pouring in.

Over time, several laid-off employees experiencing the dismayed course of trajectory on their professional paths came out with survival tips and their side of the story on online platforms like LinkedIn. While the thought of losing one's job is already one that quickly swells up the heart with trepidation, the upsetting revelation particularly hits a surge of anxiety in the hearts of H1B employees, who then have a short window of time to make any proactive move and secure their professional future.

Also read | Prince Harry-King Charles reunion not likely; monarch's official commitments call off father-son moment

An immigration consultant gave free advice on X/Twitter for those witnessing a similar predicament.

What are your options if you're an H1B employee facing layoffs?

A representative from New York City-based immigration law firm Gehi & Associates explained, You have sixty days to find another employer who can file an H1B petition for you.

The consultation firm also lays down a second relevant option. If you're facing any hindrances in finding a new employer who can facilitate that process for you, then you can file a change of status to a B2 visa. It will allow you a couple of months to find another employer who can file an H1B petition for you.

Gehi & Associates said these two options have effectively worked out for so many of their clients.

Olender, a San Jose-based certified specialist in immigration law, also informs that after the sixty-day grace period of employment termination, H1B workers must depart the US immediately. If they fail to follow the protocols, H1B visa holders may even face deportation, steep fines and penalties.

Also read | Mark Zuckerberg censoring Palestine support? Meta employees pen letter to CEO

The firm further explains that when the worker is removed from the payroll, the H-1B worker is out of status starting 60 days after the last day of work unless the worker has some other concurrent status, for example, a pending I-485 application.

As unfortunate as it may be, the employer is legally bound to notify USCIS upon the H1B worker's employment termination.

Agreeing with Gehi & Associates' Option B, Olender advises the workers to apply for a status change to another temporary category. However, the application to change status must be received by USCIS before the H1B visa holder's current status expires. An H1B worker may switch to F1 status to study if admitted to an F-1 approved program.

On the other hand, applying to change status to B2 is also an option. This visitor visa is a nonimmigrant visa that will temporarily allow the concerned person to travel in the US as a tourist.
Joe Biden condemned the ferocious surge of antisemitism following the Hamas terror attack on Israel Tuesday. The US president delivered an emotional yet powerful keynote address at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual Days of Remembrance ceremony. In his sombre speech, Biden urged Americans to uphold the rule of law, referring to the recent antisemitism on college campuses nationwide. President Joe Biden, left, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., stand to honor the memory of the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust during the annual Days of Remembrance ceremony, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)(AP)

Biden decries growing antisemitism

Biden reflected on the terror attack inflicted by Hamas on Israel, saying, That hatred is brought to life on October 7th, in 2023, on a sacred Jewish holiday. The terrorist group Hamas unleashed the deadliest day of the Jewish people since the Holocaust, he added.

He went on to liken the Hamas attack to the Holocaust, when 6 million Jewish people were murdered by Nazis during World War II. This ancient hatred of Jews didnt begin with the Holocaust. It didnt end with the Holocaust, either, or even after our victory in World War II. This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness, Biden said.

Now, here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror. It was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten, nor have you. And we will not forget, the POTUS added, per CNN.

Biden's staunch support for Jews amid antisemitism

Biden went on to add, As Jews around the world still cope with the atrocities and trauma of that day and its aftermath. We've seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world. Vicious propaganda on social media.

He further said that he stands in solidarity with them, urging the US citizens to rise against hate. Biden also called out the recent attacks on Jews across college campuses nationwide, saying, It's against the law. And we are not a lawless country. We're a civil society. We uphold the rule of law. And no one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves, he added.

To the Jewish community, I want you to know I see your fear, your hurt and your pain. Let me reassure you as your president, you're not alone. You belong, Biden said. You always have. And you always will.
City leaders are proposing a change to the citys business tax structure, which, they say, will make San Francisco a more competitive corporate destination. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

San Francisco voters will likely consider a sweeping business tax overhaul in November that advocates say is critical to make the city a competitive corporate destination and aid struggling small businesses as it continues to grapple with the fallout from remote work.

The proposed measure, filed on Monday by two business leaders, would cut taxes and fees for small companies and shift the citys main business tax away from payroll expenses and toward sales, which backers say would encourage job creation and even encourage employers to have more workers in the office.

Supporters hope the city will become less reliant on its biggest employers, with the five biggest currently paying nearly a quarter of all business taxes. But some sectors such as retailers and biotech could see their taxes rise.

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Business leaders say the changes are critical as San Francisco has both the highest taxes of any California city and one of the slowest pandemic recoveries. Remote work cost the city $484 million in lost tax revenue in 2021, and a record-high office vacancy rate is expected to hurt property tax revenue further, raising fears of a doom loop and budget deficit that could swell to $1 billion. The urgency has united two of the major mayoral candidates in support of the measure, incumbent London Breed and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin.

San Francisco District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin said the citys new tax proposal wouldnt hurt the city in the long term. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

Companies are expected to receive tax cuts in the short term, resulting in the city losing $50 to $60 million in tax revenue by the 2026-2027 fiscal year, but those will be offset by tax increases of 4% in 2027 and 3% in 2028, resulting in flat tax revenue compared with today, barring major changes in the economy. If the measure doesnt pass, business taxes will increase next year because of a different measure voters approved in 2020.

Supporters of the measure will gather signatures to place it on the Nov. 5, ballot. Theyll need to get about 10,000 registered voters to sign a petition in order for the measure to qualify.

Under the proposal, small businesses with $5 million or less in total annual revenue, known as gross receipts, would be exempt from business taxes, up from the current limit of $2 million. A city analysis estimates that 88% of restaurants will qualify for exemption, along with half of retailers who currently pay a tax. But retailers are expected to see an estimated tax increase of 16% compared with 2022, according to the analysis.

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The tax hike for retailers stems from another major change: Gross receipts would be calculated based on 75% of a companys sales and 25% of payroll based in San Francisco rather than the 50% or 100% of payroll currently used, aside for real estate businesses.

City officials, businesses and union leaders have been negotiating the tax proposal since last summer, when Breed, Peskin and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman asked stakeholders to craft such a measure to improve San Franciscos post-pandemic recovery.



San Francisco is a center of innovation and opportunity, but the world has changed after COVID, Breed said in a statement Tuesday. We need a business tax structure that reflects our new reality, and that supports and encourages businesses large and small to thrive.



Peskin told the Chronicle that the proposal wouldnt hurt city revenue in the long term but is much less vulnerable than the citys current business tax system and spreads the tax burden out more.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed believes the citys new tax proposal could entice businesses to bring more workers back to offices. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

As with all tax packages, there are winners and losers, so there are some folks, like small businesses, that will be paying less taxes, or in some cases will be totally exempt from the business tax, and there are organizations that will be paying more, Peskin said.

The reform proposal further delays the expiration of small-business tax relief previously approved by voters under 2020s Proposition F, which also eliminated the citys tax on payroll expenses and gradually raised gross receipts rates across most industries.

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If this does not pass, everyones taxes are going to go up Jan. 1. That will put more stress on an already stressed small-business ecosystem, Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, told reporters on Tuesday.

Thomas and Masood Samereie, president of the San Francisco Council of District Merchants Associations, filed the measure on Monday.

The proposal is super critical for the survival of the restaurant, bar and business community, Thomas said. Its been a very uneven recovery for San Francisco; 2023 still was a very rough year for certain folks, even in the neighborhoods.

Alex Bastian, CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco, which represents hotel owners, also supports the measure and said helping small businesses would promote entrepreneurship and also assist the citys crucial hospitality sector.

Both restaurants and hotels are probably in the worst shape theyve been in recent memory. This help at this pivotal moment would go a long way, he said.

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The citys leading public-sector labor groups, which had representatives at the negotiating table for the tax reform package, plan to support the measure. Rudy Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, said unions wanted to make sure the tax overhaul wouldnt lead to huge public revenue reductions that could put funding for city programs  and jobs  on the line.

Primarily, our interest is making sure that city services are preserved so that we can have the most robust economic recovery possible, Gonzalez said. We think that this plan is going to maintain a level of revenue that can accomplish that.

Of particular importance to labor groups was that the tax measure did not entirely eliminate the citys overpaid executive tax, which Gonzalez said was a core principle for unions. Ultimately, the parties agreed to cut that tax by 80%.

We think that fundamentally, when billionaires dont pay their fair share, the rest of us  the lower end of the economic spectrum  end up having to subsidize poor labor practices, Gonzalez said.

Wade Rose, president of Advance SF, a business advocacy organization made up of some of the citys biggest employers, said the group supports the proposal, which represents the largest business tax rate reductions in the citys history.

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But, he said, it doesnt go far enough.

Its just a down payment. More has to be done in order to make San Francisco more amenable for investment, Rose said, adding that city stakeholders pushed for the proposed reform to be budget neutral.

Our position was no  the issue of the citys uncompetitiveness and unattractiveness for businesses was too big, and the reforms actually had to represent a material decrease in the taxes on businesses, he said.

However, some of Advance SFs members will see their rates increase as the tax burden is shifted on them  particularly retailers and middle-sized companies.

Rose acknowledged that the proposal, as is, puts them at risk.

There are sectors, like law firms and consulting and architectural firms, that will take the biggest hit, Rose said. Our perspective is that its a better long term strategy to bring the taxes down for all the businesses. Thats not what they did.

Bastian called the proposal a compromise that really took a lot of work.
Bill Maher, comedian and writer, insisted he "won't go f---ing nuts again" if former President Donald Trump is re-elected.Maher is one of Trump's most vocal critics in Hollywood. He was famously upfront in predicting that Trump would refuse to leave office readily before the 2020 presidential election. Comedian Bill Maher pledges not to get anxious if Trump is re-elected, discusses potential election impact of Trump's criminal conviction.(Bill Maher)

In a recent conversation on his "Club Random" podcast with comic Jerry Seinfeld, Maher spoke on how "we live in the most amazing f---ing times" despite all the "bulls---" the country faces.

Maher then recalled a dinner with a group when they discussed "the world's ending."

"Look around you, you f---! You dumbass!" Maher told them. "We're at this f---ing awesome restaurant; they're bringing you this food; this dinner is going to cost $700. You're not even gonna f---ing blink at paying the check. Shut the f--- up about how terrible things [are]."

"I'm not gonna lose my nervous system about Trump again," he continued. "If he ends the world, he's gonna end the world. I'm not gonna f---ing go nuts again if he wins another term. I just can't."

"I hope you have that wherewithal," Seinfeld responded.

Also Read: Bill Maher lambasts Nickelodeon's Kid TV series claiming Hollywood is full of paedophiles

Impact on elections if Trump's found guilty

For months, Maher has been warning about Trump's chances of winning the forthcoming election, and he has repeatedly pushed President Biden to step aside so that another Democrat can become the nominee.

However, his stance has recently evolved during Trump's ongoing trial in New York City, implying that the political winds may shift if he is found guilty.

"This one, I got to say I was always against [it] because I thought of all the ones you're bringing; this is the least serious.  Now I think Trump could lose," Maher stated last month. "And by the way, if this goes that way and Trump loses, it's going to change the whole election. A number of independents, a significant number, and Republicans say their vote will change if he is a convicted criminal."
Several anti-Israel protesters vandalised a World War I memorial in Central Park on Monday, May 6. Many burned an American flag. This happened after a group of over 1,000 marchers were blocked by police from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the Met Gala was taking place. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators attend a protest near the Met Gala, an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institut in New York City, New York, U.S., May 6, 2024 (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)(REUTERS)

Some protesters lit the flag at the site of the One Hundred Seventh Infantry Memorial. The memorial was also vandalised with black graffiti reading Gaza.

Protesters were seen plastering the statues soldiers with stickers of the Palestinian flag that read Stop the Genocide. End the apartheid. Free Palestine. Some of them climbed on top of the infantrymen, draping Palestinian flags over the figures, or waving the flags.

Several arrests made

More than two dozen protesters were arrested near Madison Ave and East 83rd Street earlier the same evening. Many of these demonstrators were marching from Hunter College toward the Met. Trekking north on Fifth Avenue, the crowd blocked traffic. Police eventually stopped them at the East 79th Street Transverse in Central Park.

Hunter College is where the Palestinian activist group Within Our Lifetime called for a Day of Rage protest to march towards the Met. Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest, the group chanted while waving Palestinian flags. They were seen wearing keffiyeh face coverings. Although the demonstrators were believed to have targeted the star-studded event, they were unable to reach the destination.

The crowd was diverted into Central Park, after which police blocked the exits. This is an exercise in futility at this point. Theres nowhere for them to go, a cop was heard telling his partner, according to New York Post.

Is that the Met? one protester asked another. Oh no, we were so close.

The group tried to reach the museum via other routes, but were stopped by cops every time. As dozens of arrests were made, protesters yelled, Who do you serve? Who do you protect?
Legal expert Neama Rahmani has stated that former President Donald Trump could be sent to Rikers Island, the largest jail in New York City, if he violates another gag order. Legal expert Neama Rahmani warns that former President Donald Trump could face jail time if he violates another gag order, potentially inciting mass protests and "civil unrest." (AP Photo/Mike Roemer, File)(AP)

Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, warned that it could likely incite mass protests and civil unrest, per Daily Express US.

The warning comes in the wake of Trumps New York hush money trial, where he was fined $1,000 for a second violation of the gag order, which restricts inflammatory comments about jurors and others involved in the case. Earlier, Trump was slapped with a $9,000 fine for nine separate violations.

ALSO READ| Judge warns Trump of potential jail time for violating gag order

Trump again threatened with jail time, could he really go to jail?

Judge Juan M. Merchan stated, It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction.

[Trump's statements] threaten to interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue.

Rahmani speculated on the complications of incarcerating Trump, considering his Secret Service protection. Thats the most likely. Obviously, youre talking about Trump having Secret Service protection, even in jail. So logistically, it would be a nightmareI dont know if Rikers could accommodate that, he said.

He also highlighted, We've never had a situation where there's been an inmate that had protection like that...but Rikers would be the most likely given the proximity to the courthouse.

Rahmani noted, It may lead to mass protests and civil unrest. [Trump] would rail out on Truth Social. And the thought of Trump being jailed for any period of time is problematic from a public policy perspective.

ALSO READ| Lara Trump sparks fury after sharing RNC's plans to prevent Nevada from counting mail-in ballots

The country is already so divided. And there are a significant percentage of American people that believe that Trump is being treated unfairly and railroaded by our criminal justice system...But just the images or videos of him in custody, I mean that would really be something else.

Despite Judge Merchans stern warning and consideration of jail time, he expressed reluctance, calling, The last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well. There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me. To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings.

Trumps popularity has paradoxically increased with legal challenges

A Morning Consult poll showed a nine percent increase in his electability after his Georgia arrest.

Rahmani suggested that imprisonment might further boost Trumps poll numbers, stating, Its never happened, you know, a former president, and maybe the next president, being jailed.

ALSO READ| Donald Trump compares Biden administration to Gestapo: Grossly incompetent

But Trump is an enigma every time hes indicted. When he faces some sort of civil or criminal legal problem, his poll numbers seem to bounce, he remarked.

He will take advantage of it financially and politically. He's always come out ahead.
Donald Trump, facing with a gag order aimed at curbing his public commentary on his ongoing trial has brazenly asserted his constitutional rights. Frankly, our Constitution is much more important than jail, Trump proclaimed to the press(AFP)

"Frankly, our Constitution is much more important than jail," Trump proclaimed to the press, his voice echoing through the courthouse corridors. "It's not even close. I'll make that sacrifice any day."

The gag order, imposed in March, aimed to silence Trump's public statements concerning witnesses, prosecutors, and court proceedings. However, Trump's helplessness to keep quiet soon clashed with judicial directives. Judge Juan Merchan, irked by repeated violations, slapped Trump with fines and issued a stern warning of potential incarceration.

"Your continued violations threaten the administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law," Judge Merchan admonished Trump.

It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction, Judge Merchan continued.

Despite the judicial rebuke, Trump's resolve remains unshaken. Faced with a $9,000 fine for lambasting witnesses in social media posts, Trump's defense attorney attempted to justify his client's actions, however, the judge remained unmoved. "It appears that fines are not serving as a deterrent. This court may consider a jail sanction," Judge Merchan cautioned.

The gag order became a rallying cry for his supporters. Leveraging the restrictions to fuel his political agenda, Trump launched a fundraising blitz, decrying what he portrayed as a biased and unfair judicial system.

Gag order suting Trump's poll narrative

"The liberal judge in New York just threatened to THROW ME IN JAIL," a fundraising email screamed, igniting fervor among supporters.

The message resonated, prompting an outpouring of donations to Trump's campaign coffers. On the day of Trump's mugshot in Fulton County, Georgia, campaign contributions soared, marking a watershed moment in his electoral pursuits.

"Do it... and watch those poll numbers go through the roof," urged Ryan Fournier, Chair of Students for Trump, as supporters rallied behind their embattled leader.
CONCORD, N.H.  Duped. Devastated. Sickened. Thats how a jury foreperson felt after learning that the amount awarded in a landmark lawsuit over abuse at New Hampshires youth detention center could be slashed by nearly 99%. Here's why the verdict in New Hampshire's landmark trial over youth center abuse is being disputed

A jury on Friday awarded $38 million to David Meehan, who alleged that the states negligence allowed him to be repeatedly raped, beaten and held in solitary confinement as a teenager at the Youth Development Center. But the attorney generals office is seeking to reduce the award under a state law that allows claimants against the state to recover a maximum of $475,000 per incident.

Several distraught jurors have since contacted Meehans attorneys, including one who said the state is misinterpreting the verdict. The lawyers have requested an emergency hearing to address what they characterized as confusion over the verdict form.

No hearing has been scheduled, but here are some things to know about how the dispute unfolded.

THE TRIAL

Meehan, 42, went to police in 2017 and sued the state three years later. Since then, 11 former state workers have been arrested and more than 1,100 other former residents of what is now called the Sununu Youth Services Center have filed lawsuits alleging physical, sexual and emotional abuse spanning six decades.

Meehans lawsuit was the first to go to trial. Over four weeks, his attorneys contended that the state encouraged a culture of abuse marked by pervasive brutality, corruption and a code of silence.

The state portrayed Meehan as a violent child, troublemaking teenager and delusional adult lying to get money. Defense attorneys also said the state was not liable for the conduct of rogue employees and that Meehan waited too long to sue.

THE VERDICT

Jurors unanimously agreed that Meehan filed his lawsuit in a timely fashion, that he was injured at the facility and that the states negligence caused his injuries. They awarded him $18 million in compensatory damages and an additional $20 million in enhanced damages after finding the state acted with reckless indifference or abused its power.

Jurors were unaware of the state law that caps damages at $475,000 per incident. When asked on the verdict form how many incidents they found Meehan had proven, they wrote one.

WHAT COUNTS AS AN INCIDENT?

Thats where it gets tricky.

In pre-verdict discussions without the jury present, lawyers for the state argued that all of Meehans claims arose out of a single incident of alleged negligence. Meehans lawyers insisted that each act of physical or sexual abuse be counted as a separate incident, even those that happened simultaneously.

Merely raping a kid is bad enough, but its even worse, and a separate incident, if it also involves hitting him in the head or kicking him in the ribs or other things to get him to comply, Meehan's attorney David Vicinanzo said.

At one point, the judge considered including a list of the type of abuse alleged on each date on the verdict form and asking jurors to determine whether an injury occurred and whether the state was liable. But the state argued that providing such a list would be prejudicial to Meehans side.

Judge Andrew Schulman said he disagreed with both parties and if forced to define incident, he would consider all the acts that happened in a given episode to be one incident. That put him closer to the plaintiffs view, but in the end, he said he would leave it up to the state Supreme Court to settle.

Why go out and define something that theres a 50% chance of being wrong if it doesnt need to be defined in the first place? he said. They can deal with it, but I don't think I have to.

Attorney Martha Gaythwaite, representing the state, did not address the issue in her closing statement to jurors. Vicinanzo told the jury that Meehan was raped an estimated 200 times, beaten 200 times and held in unjustified solitary confinement for roughly 100 days.

I want to emphasize to you that the numbers are very important, he said.

In his verbal instructions to the jury, Schulman said that rather than asking jurors to list incident by incident decisions, he asked for just the number of incidents for which you find liability based on timely claims. The verdict form itself defined incident as a  single episode during which the plaintiff was injured; for which injuries the jury has found DHHS liable in response to previous questions; on claims the jury found to be timely claims in response to question 1.

In response to that question, the jury wrote one.

BUT WHAT DID THEY MEAN?

One juror explained it like this: We wrote on our verdict form that there was 1 incident/injury, being complex PTSD, from the result of 100 injuries , the juror wrote in an email to Meehans attorneys. We were never informed of a cap being placed per incident of abuse and that is wrong how the question was worded to us.

The state is making their own interpretation of the ruling that we made, and that is not right for them to assume our position, the juror wrote. David should be entitled to what we awarded him, which was $38 million.

In separate emails to the attorneys, the jury foreperson described a sleepless night of crying after learning about the cap.

We had no idea, the jury foreperson wrote. Had we known that the settlement amount was to be on a per incident basis, I assure you, our outcome would have reflected it. I pray that Mr. Meehan realizes this and is made as whole as he can possibly be within a proper amount of time.

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Ahead of Prince Harry's anticipated return to his home country for the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, King Charles has arrived in London from Windsor. Per media reports, the King is likely to sit in with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tomorrow, which also opens up the roads for his reconnection with his son. FILE - Britain's King Charles III makes his way to Westminster Abbey prior to his coronation ceremony in London Saturday, May 6, 2023. King Charles IIIs decision to be open about his cancer diagnosis has helped the new monarch connect with the people of Britain and strengthened the monarchy in the year since his dazzling coronation at Westminster Abbey. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)(AP)

According to The Mirror, the monarch was spotted at Clarence House earlier today. His arrival has set the mood for his expected reunion with his estranged son, whom he last met briefly in February. Harry's former quick visit to the UK followed right after the news of the king's cancer diagnosis made headlines. In the coming hours, his arrival will pave the way for his first appearance at a major event in Britain for some time.

Coincidentally, it also marks his first homecoming since the Princess of Wales came out with an update on her cancer diagnosis and that she was undergoing preventive chemotherapy in March.

As expected to address the thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral, honouring the decade-long-journey of the Invictus Games inaugurated in London in 2024, Prince Harry stepping up to the occasion is being deemed the highlight of his latest UK trip. This ceremony will follow just two days after the celebrations of Harry's son Prince Archie's fifth day, and coincidentally, the first anniversary of the King's coronation. On top of that, all eyes are on the estranged royal father-son duo's expected meeting.

Also read | Prince Harry against Prince Charles' 18,000 birthday gift to Archie? Report denies claims

Will Meghan Markle accompany Prince Harry to the UK?

Although there is no official confirmation of Meghan's status during this UK trip, it's quite likely that the Duke will be flying alone. He is later expected to join the Duchess of Sussex in Nigeria. Current reports have also stayed mum on the royal couple's children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, attending the UK event.

Prince Harry's UK stay, expected reunions and more

Per The Mirror, Harry's expected choice of lodging will once again be at a hotel since his renunciation of the Frogmore Cottage in Windsor upon his departure to California in 2020.

As far as his reunion with the other members of the Royal Family is concerned, there's no confirmation on whom he'll meet during his trip. The chances of Harry seeing his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Kate Middleton are also rather slim. The Mirror stated that the former won't be in the capital on Thursday or Friday. As for Middleton, her cancer treatment continues behind closed doors.

Also read | Met Gala throwback: Princess Diana's liberated 10,000 nightdress fashion statement that broke all traditions

Royal experts weighing in on the possibility of their meet-up also denied any chances of their reconciliation. Royal author Tom Bower told MailOnline that he was sure about Harry not meeting Kate Middleton. Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams also chimed in, claiming that Middleton's preventive chemotherapy treatment acts as an additional hindrance, but even then, their deep rift leaves no room for the possibility of them reconnecting during Harry's trip.

See pictures of King Charles' London arrival here.
DETROIT  A man who dropped a Detroit-area teenagers body in a dumpster left behind a trail of digital evidence implicating him in her death, despite a fruitless, extraordinary search to find the remains in a landfill, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday. Murder trial opens in death of Detroit-area teen whose disappearance led to grueling landfill search

Jaylin Brazier, 25, is on trial for second-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Zion Foster, whose body hasn't been found.

Detroit police in 2022 raked through tons of rotting trash at a suburban landfill to try to find any trace, a rare step by a law enforcement agency. The search, sometimes in 90-degree heat and humidity, was called off after five months.

Was she choked? Was she raped? Did she die somehow of some inexplicable natural cause? assistant prosecutor Ryan Elsey said in his opening remarks to a jury. The search for Zions body became paramount to the investigation.

Brazier and Foster were cousins. He has denied killing her and insists Foster suddenly died while they were using marijuana at his Detroit home.

Brazier told police that he panicked, stashed the body in a car trunk and drove it to a dumpster after midnight, disclosures that led to the landfill search, according to investigators.

Defense attorney Brian Brown said it's a case of fear and bad decisions."

Jaylin was scared, Brown said. He might have not made the right decision, but at the end of the day that does not make him a murderer."

Elsey told jurors that experts would rule out the possibility of a marijuana-related death. He said Brazier left behind a trail of digital evidence that is damning.

Brazier searched the internet for information about whether garbage trucks crush trash and the possibility of criminal charges when a body can't be found, the prosecutor said.

While in prison for lying to police, Brazier told a girlfriend there was nothing to worry about, Elsey said. He was wrong. You don't get away with murder just by getting rid of the body.

Follow Ed White at https://twitter.com/edwritez

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
A tornado destroyed homes, forced the evacuation of a nursing home and toppled trees and power lines when it roared through a small Oklahoma town, one of several twisters that erupted in the central United States amid a series of powerful storms that stretched into Tuesday. At least one death was reported. An Oklahoma State Highway Patrol trooper searches storm damage Tuesday, May 7, 2024 in Barnsdall, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)(AP)

The tornado ripped through the 1,000-person town of Barnsdall, about a 40-minute drive north of Tulsa, on Monday night. It was the second tornado to hit the town in five weeks  a twister on April 1 with maximum wind speeds of 90 to 100 mph (145 to 161 kph) damaged homes and blew down trees and power poles in Barnsdall.

The National Weather Services Storm Prediction Center cited 17 reports of tornadoes from Monday evening through early Tuesday in the central part of the United States. Eight of the twisters were in Oklahoma, two each in Kansas, South Dakota and Iowa, and one each in Nebraska, Missouri and Tennessee.

At least 30 to 40 homes in the Barnsdall area were damaged Monday night, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported, and a nursing home said it evacuated residents because a gas leak could not be turned off due to storm damage. Numerous road closings due to debris also were reported, according to Osage County Emergency Management.

One person died in Barnsdall and at least one is missing, Barnsdall Mayor Johnny Kelley said.

There are several homes destroyed, completely leveled, he said. The toughest thing on me as the mayor is this is a small community. I know 75 to 80% of the people in this town.

First responders rescued about 25 people, including children, from heavily damaged homes where buildings had collapsed on or around them, Kelley said. About a half dozen people suffered injuries, including a firefighter who was taken to a hospital with chest pains, he said.

Authorities launched a secondary search Tuesday morning to find one or two people who were still missing, Kelley said.

The Barnsdall Nursing Home posted online that all residents were accounted for with no injuries. They were being taken to other facilities. It asked families to bear with them as it is chaos in town ... Please pray for us.

Aerial videos from Barnsdall showed several well-built homes reduced to piles of rubble and others with roofs torn off and damaged walls still standing. The powerful twister tossed vehicles, downed power lines and stripped limbs and bark from trees across the town. A 160-acre wax manufacturing facility in the community also sustained heavy damage, Kelley said.

Damage also was reported in Bartlesville, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast.

We did take a direct hit from a tornado" in the city, said Kary Fox of the Washington County Emergency Management.

At the Hampton Inn in Bartlesville, several splintered 2x4s were driven into the south side of the building. Chunks of insulation, twisted metal and other debris was scattered over the hotels lawn, and vehicles in the parking lot were heavily damaged with smashed-out windows.

A survey team planned to head out Tuesday to evaluate damage in Barnsdall and Bartlesville, and in Arkansas, according to Joe Sellers, a meteorologist with the weather services office in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The storm prediction center warned of an enhanced risk of severe thunderstorms across the Ohio Valley on Tuesday with a possibility of few, potentially strong, tornadoes, hail and severe, damaging winds.

The main threat was shifting east Tuesday, said Roger Edwards, lead forecaster with the center, though it is not as intense a threat as on Monday.

The weather service in Tulsa had warned Monday evening that a large and life-threatening tornado was headed toward Barnsdall, with wind gusts up to 70 mph (112 kph). Meteorologist Brad McGavock said information on the tornados size and how far it traveled wasnt immediately available Monday night.

The storms began earlier Monday with gusty winds and rain. But after dark, tornadoes were spotted skirting northern Oklahoma. At one point in the evening, a storm in the small town of Covington had produced tornadoes off and on for over an hour, the National Weather Service said. Throughout the area, wind farm turbines spun rapidly in the wind and blinding rain.

In Kansas, some areas were pelted by apple-sized hail 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) in diameter.

The storms tore through Oklahoma as areas, including Sulphur and Holdenville, were still recovering from a tornado that killed four and left thousands without power late last month. Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

Oklahomas State Emergency Operations Center, which coordinates storm response from a bunker near the state Capitol, remains activated from last weekends deadly storms.

Oklahoma and Kansas had been under a high-risk weather warning Monday. The last time such a warning was issued was March 31, 2023, when a massive storm system tore through parts of the South and Midwest including Arkansas, Illinois and rural Indiana.

The entire week is looking stormy across the U.S. The eastern U.S. and the South are expected to get the brunt of the bad weather through the rest of the week, including in Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati, cities where more than 21 million people live. It should be clear over the weekend.

Meanwhile, floodwaters in the Houston area began receding Monday after days of heavy rain in southeastern Texas left neighborhoods flooded and led to hundreds of high-water rescues.
Microsoft is shutting down multiple Bethesda studios, including Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks. In an official email obtained by IGN, sent to the affected employees Tuesday, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft, blamed it on reprioritization of titles and resource. Other studios being sacked by the tech giant include Arkane Austin, the developer of Redfall, and Mighty Doom maker Alpha Dog Games. Meanwhile, Roundhouse Games will join ZeniMax Online Studios. Microsoft is shutting down multiple Bethesda studios, including Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks

Microsoft's Xbox sacks multiple studios

Matt announced the closures in the email, citing, These changes are grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesdas portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades.

To double down on these franchises and invest to build new ones requires us to look across the business to identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success. This reprioritization of titles and resources means a few teams will be realigned to others and that some of our colleagues will be leaving us, he added.

While the company has not revealed details about the employees affected yet, considering the size of the studios, a significant layoff is inevitable. Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified today, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with respect and compassion, Matt added.

We will provide our full support to those who are impacted in todays notifications and through their transitions, including severance benefits informed by local laws, the email further notes.

Outrage as Microsoft shuts down fan-favourite studios

The news did not sit well with fans of popular games Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall, who flocked to social media to express their disappointment. One fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter, The teams behind Hi-Fi Rush and Ghostwire: Tokyo put so much thought and care into even the smallest details in their games. Tango Gameworks, and all affected developers, deserve better.

Another said, Hi-Fi Rush won a Game Award, a BAFTA and many more. One of the most critically acclaimed Xbox games in years. Awesome, unique and original game from Japan! Microsoft: Lets close down Tango Gameworks.
US Rep. Shri Thanedar has issued a statement after his Detroit community centre was vandalised. He took to X to condemn the act. Photos shared by Thanedar show a red X drawn over his face, with the words racist," "ceasefire and "Free Palestine" painted across the building. A spokesperson from Thanedar's office said a police report has been filed, according to CBS News. Shri Thanedar condemns vandalism of his Detroit community centre (PTI Photo, @ShriThanedar/X)

Shri Thanedars statement

Taking to X, Thanedar wrote, As a member of Congress, I am always open to dialogue and debate. Unfortunately, this vandalism of the community center is not an isolated incident, nor is it a productive form of communication. These acts create nothing but fear and division during a time that depends on open conversation and discourse.

"In the past, I have dealt with other unproductive forms of protest. One that turned violent at a holiday party last December and another consisting of individuals demonstrating at my home at 3 in the morning. These incidents ended with people in the hospital and my loved ones feeling unsafe in their own bedrooms, Thanedar continued. "In this case, a place designed to bring our community together was vandalized in a way that seeks to drive it apart."

He concluded by saying, I have had meetings about this with everyone that requested a meeting on my website. I have hosted town halls, held Zoom meetings, and spoken face-to-face with my constituents about this issue to make their voices heard in an appropriate and effective capacity. I am always open to productive and respectful dialogue, but this kind of vandalism is simply unacceptable.

Thanedar said in December last year that one of his social media accounts was hacked in connection to anti-Israel posts. The hacker made a post, which has now been deleted.

After the hacking, the Congressman shared a statement in which he said the United States' "unwavering commitment to Israel's security is grounded in shared values and a longstanding partnership. He also said he hoped the conflict would end at the earliest.
Bikers make their way through Valencia Streets center bicycle lane in San Francisco. Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle Art covers a parklet made by Yasmin and Rossi business owner Eiad Eltawil during his hunger strike in April over a controversial bike lane on Valencia Street and its impact on local businesses. He has called the hunger strike his last resort after the bike lane has hurt his business and put him in severe debt. Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle

The Valencia Street center bikeways potential redesign to protected side-running bike lanes received a key endorsement from the San Francisco corridors merchants, who want the change to happen fast.

The Valencia Corridor Merchants Association listed side-running protected bike lanes at the top of a list of suggestions sent to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency on Monday.

We all agree that the current solution is not working, needs to change, and needs to change quickly, the merchants groups letter reads.

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Valencia merchants backing of side-running protected lanes on the busy corridor adds momentum for the likely redesign of a project thats garnered widespread criticism from both cyclists and merchants.

SFMTA officials announced in January that they are considering whether to change the controversial center-running bike lane that spans eight blocks from 15th to 23rd streets to side-running lanes. The agency said it would take months of public feedback, engineering and construction to make the change to side-running lanes, assuming it receives the required backing of the SFMTA board.

The transportation agency said early performance data shows the center bike lanes have, in fact, made it safer for cyclists to ride on Valencia, despite intense public criticism of the project. The center-running configuration has mostly eliminated accidents involving cyclists getting hit by motorists doors, according to the agency.

But merchants blame the center bikeway for deterring shoppers from their storefronts and complicating their operations with the removal of parking spots. A group of Valencia merchants have filed claims against the city to remove the center-running bike lanes, and a restaurant owner went on a monthlong hunger strike in protest of the project.

Switching to side-running lanes on the Valencia commercial corridor could involve a floating parklet design like Oaklands Telegraph Avenue, where bike lanes run between parklets and the sidewalk.

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That redesign could require some businesses to move, tear down or rebuild the dozens of parklets adorning Valencia Street  changes that merchants want the city to reimburse them for.

The merchants association also called for restoring the left and right turns that were banned as part of the center bikeway project, maintaining as much customer parking as possible, and temporarily reducing metered parking costs on Valencia.

While, as merchants, we have specific needs and wants to encourage commerce, these considerations have been made in discussion and partnership with community stakeholders, and we believe represent smart compromises to make Valencia both safe and sustainable, the merchants association said.
As the bloodbath continues at world's one of richest man, Elon Musk's company Tesla, his former employees are now sharing experiences of how their association with the company was snapped with a single mail. Viral image of Tesla's separation letter as Elon Musk's company announces another round of layoffs

In the latest round of layoff workers from the companys software, services, and engineering departments say theyve been laid off. Business Insider reported at least seven employees posted about being laid off on Sunday.

This is the fourth week of brutal layoffs being witnessed in the company with more employees posting on LinkedIn and elsewhere about receiving notice that their time at the company has come to an end. Many of the laid off employees had their log-ins frozen, access to the company offices halted, so emails were sent to personal email addresses rather than work emails.

Elon Musk's termination mail

According to a viral image reportedly sent to employees who were laid off address the person with Hello employee instead of naming the person they intend to end an association with.

It goes on to say - "As you know, we recently announced a significant decision that impacts the entire organization, and you directly.

As part of our effort to reduce costs and headcount globally, your position has unfortunately been eliminated."

Alisha Ferenczi, Tesla's Ex Senior Service Advisor shared her ordeal and termination letter that stated, Your last working day will be today, May 5, 2024, unless already communicated by your manager. You will not need to perform any further work and therefore will no longer have access to Tesla systems and physical locations.

Alisha Ferenczi, Tesla's Ex Senior Service Advisor shared her termination letter

Outrage over Elon Musk's termination process

Delonte Harrison, Tesla's Operations Advisor wrote, " It's been a heavy few weeks, and my heart goes out to everyone who unexpectedly found themselves without a job after dedicating years of hard work. While positions may be filled again, the impact of individuals is irreplaceable.

The passion, talent, and ingenuity Ive seen displayed in Tesla employees are unlike any other. To many of us, its more than a job; its a lifestylea drive to improve the future, no matter how small our part may seem. Whether you worked at Tesla for 10 years or 10 months, your contributions mattered.

The most recent layoffs, which were first reported by Electrek and Business Insider, appear to be hitting different segments of the company, including software, services, and engineering. Employees said they received layoff notices over the weekend and on Monday.
TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance sued in U.S. federal court on Tuesday seeking to block a law signed by President Joe Biden that would force the divestiture of the short video app used by 170 million Americans or ban its use. FILE - The TikTok logo is displayed on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. On Tuesday, May 7, 2024, TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance filed suit against the U.S. federal government to challenge a law that would force the sale of ByteDance's stake or face a ban, saying that the law is unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)(AP)

The companies filed their lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, arguing that the law violates the U.S. Constitution on a number of grounds including running afoul of First Amendment free speech protections. The law, signed by Biden on April 24, gives ByteDance until Jan. 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban.

"For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban," the companies said in the lawsuit.

The White House and U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit said the divestiture "is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally. ... There is no question: the Act (law) will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere."

The lawsuit is the latest move by TikTok to keep ahead of efforts to shut it down in the United States as companies such as Snap and Meta look to capitalize on TikTok's political uncertainty to take away advertising dollars from their rival.

Driven by worries among U.S. lawmakers that China could access data on Americans or spy on them with the app, the measure was passed overwhelmingly in Congress just weeks after being introduced. TikTok has denied that it has or ever would share U.S. user data, accusing American lawmakers in the lawsuit of advancing "speculative" concerns

The law prohibits app stores from offering TikTok and bars internet hosting services from supporting TikTok unless ByteDance divests TikTok by Jan. 19.

The suit said the Chinese government "has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States." The companies asked the D.C. Circuit to block U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing the law and says "prospective injunctive relief" is warranted.

TikTok has spent $2 billion to implement measures to protect the data of U.S. users and made additional commitments in a 90-page draft National Security Agreement developed through negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), according to the lawsuit.

That pact included TikTok agreeing to a "shut-down option" that would give the U.S. government the authority to suspend TikTok in the United States if it violates some obligations, according to the suit.

In August 2022, according to the lawsuit, CFIUS stopped engaging in meaningful discussions about the agreement, and in March 2023 CFIUS "insisted that ByteDance would be required to divest the U.S. TikTok business." CFIUS is an interagency committee, chaired by the U.S. Treasury Department, that reviews foreign investments in American businesses and real estate that implicate national security concerns.

Biden could extend the Jan. 19 deadline by three months if he determines ByteDance is making progress.

In 2020, then-President Donald Trump was blocked by the courts in his bid to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat, a unit of Tencent, in the United States. Trump, the Republican candidate challenging the Democrat Biden in the Nov. 5 U.S. election, has since reversed course, saying he does not support a ban but that security concerns need to be addressed.

Many experts have questioned whether any potential buyer possesses the financial resources to buy TikTok and if China and U.S. government agencies would approve a sale.

To move the TikTok source code to the United States "would take years for an entirely new set of engineers to gain sufficient familiarity," according to the lawsuit.

The four-year battle over TikTok is a significant front in the ongoing conflict over the internet and technology between the United States and China. In April, Apple said China had ordered it to remove Meta Platforms' WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China over Chinese national security concerns.
A US soldier has been arrested and is being held in Russia on charges of stealing, US officials have confirmed. Staff Sgt. Gordon D. Black was reportedly arrested on May 2 in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok. This is located near Russias borders with North Korea and China. US soldier detained in Russia on charges of stealing (Pixabay - representational image)

Who is Gordon D. Black?

Black is said to have travelled to Russia not on official business but on his own account. NBC News reported that he had been stationed in South Korea. He was in the process of changing duty stations back to Fort Cavazos in Texas.

It was reported that Black travelled to Russia without permission from his superiors. He is now being held in pretrial confinement. His mother Melody Jones claimed he was in Russia to visit his girlfriend. Please do not torture or hurt him, she pleaded.

US Army officials told The Mirror, "On May, 2, 2024, Russian authorities in Vladivostok, Russia, detained an American Soldier on charges of criminal misconduct. The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the Soldier in Russia."

They added, "Given the sensitivity of this matter, we are unable to provide additional details at this time.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has confirmed that the Biden administration is aware of the incident. I cant really say much about this right now, Kirby told reporters during a White House briefing.

Other similar cases

This incident comes a month after American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was charged with espionage. He was arrested in March 2023 and is being detained in Russia.

Back in 2018, Paul Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison after being accused of lying by the Russian state. The US government and his family have dismissed the claims.

WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia after being accused of carrying a cannabis oil cartridge in her luggage. Ksenia Karelina, a former ballerina, was arrested while going to Russia from Los Angeles for allegedly having given $51 to a charity that helps Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin was sworn in for a new six-year term on Tuesday at a Kremlin ceremony that was boycotted by the United States and a number of other Western countries due to Russia's war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin takes the oath during an inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia May 7, 2024, in this still image taken from live broadcast video. (via REUTERS)

Putin, in power as president or prime minister since 1999, begins his new mandate more than two years after he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, where Russian forces have regained the initiative after a series of reversals and are seeking to advance further in the east.

At 71, Putin dominates the domestic political landscape. On the international stage, he is locked in a confrontation with Western countries he accuses of using Ukraine as a vehicle to try to defeat and dismember Russia.

"For Russia, this is the continuation of our path, this is stability  you can ask any citizen on the street," Sergei Chemezov, a close Putin ally, told Reuters before the ceremony.

"President Putin was re-elected and will continue the path, although the West probably doesnt like it. But they will understand that Putin is stability for Russia rather than some sort of new person who came with new policies  either cooperation or confrontation even," he said.

ALSO READ| Russia's Vladimir Putin orders nuclear drills amid Ukraine war

Putin in March won a landslide victory in a tightly controlled election from which two anti-war candidates were barred on technical grounds.

His best known opponent, Alexei Navalny, died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony a month earlier, and other leading critics are in jail or have been forced to flee abroad.

The United States and other Western countries stayed away from Tuesday's inauguration ceremony.

"No, we will not have a representative at his inauguration," Matthew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, said on Monday.

"We certainly did not consider that election free and fair but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity."

Britain, Canada and most European Union nations also decided to boycott the swearing-in, but France said it would send its ambassador.

Ukraine said the event sought to create "the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship."
King Charles III was angry when Kate Middleton and Prince William arrived late to his coronation last year, royal biographer Robert Hardmans book, The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, has revealed. According to PEOPLE, Hardman claimed that Charles and Queen Camilla arrived at the coronation at Westminster Abbey in London, England, early. It was held on May 6, 2023. What angry King Charles told Kate Middleton, Prince William for arriving late to coronation (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP, AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

Kate and William should have reached the venue eight minutes before the king and queen. However, they reportedly arrived a minute and a half late, accompanied by Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, their two children.

The situation was described by Hardman as an awkward scene. As per the author, this delay created an added layer of stress for Charles and Camilla.

What did an angry King Charles say?

A lip reader translated what Charles said to William and his wife in a video captured by Sky News. We can never be on time  Theres always something  This is boring,' the lip reader said the monarch remarked, according to Hardman.

Sources told Hardman and the Prince and Princess of Wales may have been late because they created a coronation video that morning. The couples staff told Hardman that the car they were travelling in got caught behind Charles and Camillas cavalcade. This happened because the king arrived early.

It is unusual for the two most important arrivals at such a significant event, and over such a well-trodden route, to be so unpunctual, Hardman wrote in his book. The result is some frantic rewriting of the running order. There isnt time for the Waleses and their two younger children to enter ahead of the King and Queen. They must now follow behind and bring up the rear.

However, the coronation happened smoothly and Charles became king. I come not to be served but to serve, he said at the ceremony.
Dec. 26, 1941: John Tee-Van unloads two pandas in the Hotel St. Francis after their arrival by ship in San Francisco. Days later they made a trip to a more permanent home at the New York Zoo. The Chronicle 1941

The first giant pandas arrived in the United States in the 1930s and early 40s, costing more than $10,000 each and settling in zoos in Chicago and New York.

But before that happened they were San Francisco tourists, arriving by plane and ocean liner, with several staying in Union Square at the Hotel St. Francis on the way to their new homes.

When San Francisco Mayor London Breed returned from China two weeks ago with an agreement to send pandas to the San Francisco Zoo, the news broke with the background that pandas lived here only once previously: in 1984 and 1985, when a full-grown male and female stayed at the San Francisco Zoo for two three-month visits as part of a global tour.

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Thats technically true. But theres a panda loophole. When the very first bears started traveling to the U.S. from China from 1936 to 1941, almost all touched down in San Francisco. They usually stayed a night or two  often in a special panda room at the Hotel St. Francis.

The very first panda to visit the United States, Su-lin, arrived by cargo ship on Dec. 18, 1936.

June 10, 1938: A baby panda arrives by ship to San Francisco before finding a permanent home in New York. The Chronicle 1938

San Francisco saw its first panda yesterday, the Chronicle reported, underneath a photo of a 20-pound cub drinking from a bottle. Just in case you are not up on your zoology, a panda is a small half-pint animal that looks like a cross between a runt bear and an overgrown raccoon.

Su-lin left the next day by plane for the Chicago Zoo. But he was followed by three pandas in 1938 and two more in 1941, all but one of which stayed in Union Square.

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Mei-mei, baby giant panda, arrived by United Air Lines from Portland last night, the Chronicle reported on Feb. 15, 1938. She was established comfortably for the night in a nice bathtub at the Hotel St. Francis.

Feb. 15, 1938: Baby panda Mei-Mei arrives in San Francisco for a short stay at the Hotel St. Francis, where the animal slept in a bathtub. The Chronicle 1938

It seems unfathomable today that the prized animals would crash in human quarters. But a recent trip to the Chronicle archive revealed 1938 photos of a small panda sleeping comfortably near a blanket in the bathtub, and two more pandas being unboxed from wooden crates in what looks like a plush hotel room.

The first two pandas in the country, Su-lin and Mei-Mei, were brought by Ruth Harkness, the widow of an oil magnate, who switched careers from fashion design to panda poaching. When she started her expeditions deep into the Tibetan mountains, the only pandas displayed outside of China were killed and stuffed.

Dec. 22, 1936: Baby panda Su-Lin, still drinking from a bottle, stayed at the Hotel St. Francis in San Francisco before continuing on to the Chicago Zoo. The Chronicle 1936

After Su-lins San Francisco visit, the panda lived for months in Harkness New York apartment before being sold for $14,000 to the Chicago Zoo, which turned out to be a bargain. Record crowds visited, and Mei-Mei arrived in Chicago more than a year later.

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But Su-lin lived for less than a year before dying of pneumonia. Mei-Mei lasted four years. (Most pandas in captivity now live for more than 20 years.)

Starting in 1941, the Chinese government took control of panda exports, and panda diplomacy was born. With fewer bears arriving, and the advent of jet air travel in the 1950s (allowing planes to fly longer distances), pandas stopped coming through San Francisco.

Nov. 2, 1984: Giant panda Ying Xin gets settled in at the San Francisco Zoo during the pandas stay of several months with female panda Yun-Yun. Chris Stewart/The Chronicle 1984

The last Union Square pandas passed through in 1941. The two then-unnamed 100-pound bears, a gift from Soong Mei-ling, first lady of the Republic of China, arrived by ocean liner and stayed one night before flying to their permanent home at the New York Zoo.

Zoo director Allyn Jennings traveled to San Francisco for the occasion, meeting the pandas as their boat arrived.

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His first contribution was a suite at the Hotel St. Francis, which was especially prepared for the pandas, the Chronicle reported. The animals, although captured in the wilds, seemed perfectly tame and walked about the rooms of the hotel suite.
On Monday evening, the launch of Boeing's Starliner capsule to the International Space Station was postponed due to a malfunctioning valve on the Atlas V rocket that would blast it into space.

The launch was canceled two hours before the planned liftoff on Monday and almost one hour after the two NASA astronauts were strapped into the spacecraft.

The postponement, blamed on a problem with a valve in the Atlas V rocket, was disclosed during a live NASA webcast.

"Standing down on tonight's attempt to launch," NASA chief Bill Nelson wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"As I've said before, @NASA's priority is safety. We go when we're ready."

The problem's duration was not clear immediately, although the launch's next possible windows are Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were scheduled to be transported by Starliner to the International Space Station (ISS), where they were to spend a week before returning to Earth.

Many people have been watching the Starliner's first trip to the International Space Station (ISS) to see if Boeing can compete with SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, for NASA contracts.

NASA gave Boeing and SpaceX multibillion-dollar contracts in 2014 to create space capsules that the agency would use to launch astronauts and cargo into space.

Furthermore, NASA began to move toward public-private partnerships by signing these contracts with the end of the space shuttle program.

After a failed attempt three years earlier, Starliner made its first uncrewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2022.

The cancellation of Monday's launch is challenging for Boeing as it faces multiple investigations into alleged safety violations at its aviation division.
The Ukrainian government blocked a Russian conspiracy to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the embattled country's government announced on Tuesday.

Two Ukrainian colonels in the country's state guard - which provides security for top government officials - were allegedly recruited by Russia's Federal Security Service prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Ukrainian State Security Service, alleged that the plot was scheduled to coincide with Russian President Vladimir Putin's Tuesday inauguration, the Associated Press reported.

Ukrainian officials believe that three Russian spies were the masterminds behind plans to recruit members of Zelenskyy's security detail to first hold the president hostage and then to kill him. The Ukrainian government further alleged that the individuals involved in the plot were seeking to target other Ukrainian officials with rockets, drones and missiles, according to the Associated Press.

The Ukrainian colonels involved in the plot were arrested on suspicion of treason. If convicted they could face life in prison.
In what's become one of the biggest cases in the history of the UCLA Police Department, investigators are now identifying the dozens of people who attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment on school grounds last week by scanning hundreds of images from live video feeds.

The technology UCLA detectives are using is the same technology that police use to find suspects in retail burglaries and was particularly helpful in assisting the FBI when assailants stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The method led federal prosecutors to charge more than 1,300 people after January 6.

"Technology has made the entire community into the eyes of law enforcement," said retired Los Angeles police Capt. Paul Vernon.

"Photo recognition has gotten a lot easier," he added.

Retrieving cellphone data from the immediate area helps place an individual at the scene during the time of the incident.

The attackers are likely to have used vehicles, allowing police to examine license plate readers for movements made near campus early Wednesday.

However, as advanced as the technology may seem, it does face a number of challenges.

Some of the assailants wore masks to help conceal their identities, meaning detectives will have to thoroughly scan split moments from footage either before or after the attacks to catch the suspects without disguise, according to The Los Angeles Times.

While it took three hours for authorities to break up the scene, those who were involved fled, and no arrests were made.

Anger and resentment have spread far and wide among protestors in the camp as well as supporters who watched the videos, due to the length of time police took to stop the attack.

Students who were injured and hospitalized with their wounds have turned to organizations like the Council on American Islamic Relations for Southern California.

The UCLA Police Department has said it is contacting other agencies as well as private entities in the hope of accessing the technology needed for the investigation.

Many of the arrests made following the Jan. 6 attack were also based on information given by relatives, colleagues, friends, and ex-significant others after the FBI released photographs of the suspects.

Snapshots from the ambush are popping up on social media platforms, such as Instagram.

In one post, a man can allegedly be seen using a plank to hit a pro-Palestinian protester and then punching and kicking others. His bearded face could easily be seen, as it was not hidden behind a mask.

UCLA has yet to announce a public appeal seeking information on specific suspects.

Pro-Palestinian encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the nation, calling for schools to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
Pastor Glenn Germany, a Pennsylvania pastor who found himself staring down the barrel of a gun during a live sermon, is crediting divine intervention with saving his life.

"He pulled the gun; it clicked. You heard him shoot it," Germany told WPXI-TV. "God jammed the gun so the bullet didn't come out."

The video below plays back a livestream of the service while Germany was delivering a sermon when suddenly a gunman walks toward the front of the church and points a pistol directly at the pastor.

Police identified the attempted shooter as Bernard Junior Polite, who allegedly told the authorities that the voices in his head told him to do it.

Allegheny County Police officers also discovered a man's body who was shot dead inside Polite's home on Sunday night.

It remains unclear if Polite, 26, is connected to the fatal shooting.

The suspect was not a member of the church.
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance are suing the federal government, arguing that a ban recently signed into law by President Joe Biden is "obviously unconstitutional," in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday afternoon.

Biden's decision to sign the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) was met with bipartisan support in Congress, but fervently opposed by many younger Americans. Forty-six percent of adults under the age of 29 opposed a ban, while 29% supported it.

Under the current law, ByteDance has just 270 days from the law's enactment to sell the app - otherwise it will be banned in the United States.

"Banning TikTok is so obviously unconstitutional, in fact, that even the Act's sponsors recognized that reality, and therefore have tried mightily to depict the law not as a ban at all, but merely a regulation of TikTok's ownership," the company wrote in its lawsuit - before emphasizing that the ByteDance does not believe it has any real choice in the matter.

"The 'qualified divestiture' demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally. And certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act."

Members of Congress advocated for the bill on the grounds that the Chinese-owned social media platform presented a significant data security risk to Americans. For many individuals, however, banning the app could lead to a loss of revenue or community.

"Almost every small business right now is on TikTok Shop," Massachusetts resident Michelle Silva told WBZ. Silva's clothing shop, Kali Rose Boutique, has grown from her garage to a 30,000 square foot warehouse - largely due to TikTok.

"[The ban is] very nerve-wracking, not just for myself. It would have a detrimental effect on not only myself, my family, all of my employees that are treated like family."

In their lawsuit, ByteDance and TikTok argue that the ban is unconstitutional on multiple grounds - pointing not just to the First Amendment but also the Fifth Amendment.

"Congress has never before crafted a two-tiered speech regime with one set of rules for one named platform, and another set of rules for everyone else," the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit was filed in the Washington, D.C. circuit court - a frequent sparring ground for federal legal disputes. United States Attorney General Merrick Garland is named as the respondent.
The best friend of a missing Florida woman said she is pleased with the arrest of the victim's estranged husband, three months after she mysteriously vanished from her apartment overseas.

David Knezevich, 36, has been charged with the kidnapping of his wife, 40-year-old Ana Knezevich, according to the Associated Press. He was arrested by FBI agents Saturday at Miami International Airport.

"I am very happy this investigation has led to an arrest and I am so grateful for the hard work of the FBI and Spanish police," Ana's best friend, Sanna Rameau, told HNGN on Tuesday. "They have done an amazing job to bring us to where we are today. I am hoping that justice will be served and that we are getting all the answers that we are looking for."

Ana had been living in Madrid, Spain, amid her 2023 separation from Knezevich, following a 13-year marriage. Loved ones last heard from her on Feb. 2 after a suspicious text was sent from her phone  the same day she was last captured on surveillance footage entering her apartment.

"The way they were written, it was strange  that's not how she writes," Rameau told WPLG, earlier this year. "Also, there's false information in there because it said she met a man the day before, referring to that Friday. She hadn't mentioned to anyone that she met anyone that day."

At the time of Ana's disappearance, investigators discovered someone resembling her husband gained access to her Madrid apartment building while other individuals were leaving. He then spray-painted a security camera, NBC News reported, citing the criminal complaint. About an hour later, the same man was seen leaving the building with a suitcase.

"I'm absolutely devastated," Rameay told WPLG, at the time. "I think about Ana every minute of the day. I couldn't imagine anyone that would want to hurt her. She's the sweetest person."

Investigators described the separation between Ana and Knezevich as "contentious" due to a substantial amount of marital assets that he allegedly did not want to split "evenly with the victim."

"The victim was very fearful of Knezevich and believed that he was surreptitiously monitoring her whereabouts," the complaint stated, according to NBC.

Knezevich made a brief court appearance Monday. It's unclear if he entered a plea. His defense attorney, Ken Padowitz, did not immediately respond to HNGN's request for comment.
A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot in the head in broad daylight Tuesday in Manhattan's trendy SoHo neighborhood.

The shooting happened just before 2:30 p.m. outside the high-end Dominick Hotel on Spring Street, across from the Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School.

A suspect fled the scene on a Citibike after the shooting.

Law enforcement officials told The Daily Mail that the New York City shooting may have been "school-related."

The teen was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead

In addition to the gunshot to the head, the student also suffered a wound to his thigh, said NYPD officials.

No arrests have yet been made and the police are currently looking for two suspects, according to The Independent.

This is a developing story. Please check back here for updates.
Actor Steven Seagal was among the hand-picked guests Tuesday at the fifth inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who predicted victory in his war against Ukraine and defiantly said that "only" Russia would determine its destiny.

Seagal, 72, was photographed wearing what appeared to be a black martial arts uniform and a beaded necklace as he arrived for the ceremony at Moscow's Grand Kremlin Palace.

"He's the greatest world leader. He's the greatest," Seagal told reporters about Putin, according to Newsweek.

Seagal also reportedly said he was "looking forward" to Putin's next six-year term, which ends in 2030.

The portly star of the late '80s and early '90s action movies "Above the Law" and "Under Siege" has reportedly been living in Moscow for several years.

He became a Russian citizen in 2016 and was personally awarded a passport by Putin, with whom he reportedly bonded over their shared love of martial arts.

Last year, Putin also gave Seagal an Order of Friendship and he was named a humanitarian envoy to the U.S. and Japan by Russia's Foreign Ministry in 2018.

During Putin's inauguration ceremony, he placed his hand on the Russian Constitution and vowed to defend it as a select crowd of dignitaries watched, the Associated Press reported.

During a speech afterward, Putin, 71, thanked the Russian forces fighting in what he called the "special military operation" in Ukraine and declared, "The destiny of Russia will be determined by ourselves only," Sky News reported.

"We will go through this difficult time and will be successful," he added.
A Florida judge has indefinitely postponed former President Donald Trump's classified documents trial, according to CNN.

Citing issues with classified evidence and the case's timeline Tuesday, Judge Aileen Cannon canceled Trump's trial date later this month, without providing a new date.

The date had been widely expected to move as the result of a number of pretrial conflicts between special counsel Jack Smith and Trump's attorneys. Smith had urged Judge Cannon to reschedule the trial to begin on July 8, but an order from the judge on Tuesday afternoon suggested that she is unlikely to even decide on a new trial date before late July, according to Politico.

"The Court...determines that finalization of a trial date at this juncture  before resolution of the myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA issues remaining and forthcoming  would be imprudent and inconsistent with the Court's duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court, critical CIPA issues, and additional pretrial and trial preparations necessary to present this case to a jury," Cannon wrote Tuesday, according to NBC News.

"The Court therefore vacates the current May 20, 2024, trial date (and associated calendar call), to be reset by separate order following resolution of the matters before the Court, consistent with Defendants' right to due process and the public's interest in the fair and efficient administration of justice," she continued.

Trump, 77, is facing 37 charges, including willful retention of national defense information and false statements and representations, among others. He pleaded not guilty in connection to his alleged removal of classified documents from the White House at the end of his term to Mar-a-Lago. He kept them in his personal office at Mar-a-Lago, a storage area near a pool accessible to all members of the club and their guests, stacked up in a bathroom and on a stage in an event room, according to federal investigators.
New York City is ready to lock up former President Donald Trump if the judge in his historic "hush money" trial orders him jailed for contempt of court, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday.

Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie "is prepared for whatever comes on Rikers Island," Adams said during an unrelated news conference, according to the New York Times.

"I'm pretty sure she would be prepared to manage and deal with the situation," he said.

Adams added, "As you see what's happening with Harvey Weinstein, we have to just, you know, in this business, particularly around law enforcement, we have to adjust whatever comes our way," Fox News reported.

"We don't want to deal with a hypothetical, but they're professionals that will be ready," he said.

On Monday, Justice Juan Merchan found Trump, 77, in contempt of court and fined him $1,000 for the tenth time over repeated violations of a gag order.

"I do not want to impose a jail sanction and have done everything I can to avoid doing so. But I will if necessary," Merchan told the first ex-U.S. president to face criminal charges.

The gag order bars Trump from criticizing witnesses, jurors and others connected to the case in which he's accused of directing $130,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels silence her allegations they had an affair in 2006.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee denies having sex with Daniels and has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Weinstein, who's awaiting a retrial of his 2020 rape conviction in Manhattan, was sent back to Rikers after the City website reported Monday that he was staying in a private room in Bellevue Hospital's intensive care unit instead of the hospital's prison ward.

The disgraced movie mogul, 72, was transferred to Bellevue from Rikers on April 26 for what his lawyer said were "all kinds of tests" because Weinstein was "somewhat of a train wreck, health-wise."
Foley Wines Limited [NZX: FWL ] CEO Mark Turnbull today announced that the company has completed its harvest for the 2024 vintage. The harvest totalled 6,404 tonnes across the Grove Mill and Vavasour wineries in Marlborough, Te Kairanga and Martinborough Vineyard wineries in Martinborough and Mt Difficulty winery in Central Otago, an overall decrease of 21% on last years harvest of 8,137 tonnes.

Marlborough and Martinborough experienced disruptive weather and cooler spring growing conditions resulting in a region-wide reduction in yield for the 2023/2024 growing season. The lower yields and the warm and dry summer resulted in an earlier harvest than usual in Marlborough.

Our winemakers are delighted with the quality of the vintage and are looking forward to producing world class wines. said Mr Turnbull.

Authorised for public release.

For further information please contact:

Mark Turnbull

CEO, Foley Wines Limited

PO Box 67, Renwick, 7243, Marlborough

Tel: +64 21 714 885

Email: mark@foleywines.co.nz

- NOTES TO EDITORS 

About Foley Wines

Foley Wines is a collection of iconic wineries and brands from New Zealands most acclaimed wine regions. Each with a unique story of New Zealand to tell, our wineries are linked by a common unrelenting purpose; to make great wine that people love to drink around the world  Made by Land & Hand.

Foley Wines is proud custodian of Martinborough Vineyard, Te Kairanga, Grove Mill, Vavasour, Mt Difficulty and Lighthouse Gin.

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May 7, 2024: In April Israel initially considered a major counterattack on Iran after a major attack on Israeli failed, with nearly all the hundreds of cruise and ballistic missiles as well as slower armed UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) being destroyed. All Iran achieved was some minor damage on the runway of an Israel air base where some of Israels new American made F-35 fighters were based. Another Israeli air base had a C-130 transport suffer some minor damage.

Iran was dismayed at the extent of their failure and announced that their war with Israel was concluded. Israel did not agree but did not want to start a war with Iran that could drag on for months or years and cost both sides a lot of money and a few Iranian casualties. So, Israel attacked an air defense system guarding the Natanz nuclear weapons research facility. Israeli aircraft launched two missiles at the target but after the first one hit the target, Israel ordered the second missile to self-destruct in the air.

This demonstrated that Israel could attack any Iranian targets without risk because Israel used missiles launched from their aircraft flying outside Iranian airspace. The missiles were designed to fly low and avoid detection by ground radar. The only possible way to detect such attacks is to have AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft that can detect aircraft or missiles traveling close to the ground, usually to avoid detection by enemy air defense radars. Iran does not have any AWACS aircraft. Most of the recently designed and built AWACS aircraft have their equipment mounted in a twin-engine business jet. Because of numerous trade and military sanctions imposed on Iran, none of these new AWACS aircraft are available to Iran.

The original Israeli counterattack plan included attacking numerous targets in Iran, including many air defense systems, including those around Tehran, the Iranian capital. Israel realized that plan would probably result in a prolonged war with Iran. Israels main ally, the United States, agreed with Israel that a prolonged war with Iran was counterproductive, especially since the major Iranian attack on Israel was such a total failure.
May 7, 2024: Ukraine has been carrying out long range attacks into Russia against economic targets. It uses locally built UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) to carry out these attacks, which have done considerable damage to Russian petroleum and natural gas supply sites. The losses have been so heavy that the U.S. government has given Russia relief from economic sanctions on its oil exports, the same as it has done for Iran. Currently worldwide oil production is 83 million barrels a day. The United States produces 13.3 billion barrels, followed by Russia with 10 million and Saudi Arabia with 9 million. The United States is also the largest consumer of oil, requiring 19 million barrels a day, followed by China at 14.3 million, India at 5.2 million, Saudi Arabia at 3.8 million and Russia at 3.6 million.

The destruction of Russian oil supplies is a major problem for Russia, although a minor one for American consumers. For the Ukrainians it is an example of how they are inflicting major damage on the Russian economy. Russia is also suffering from economic sanctions imposed by NATO nations. Russia is very dependent on technology and specialized equipment available only from NATO nations. Most of those items are no longer available to Russia, although Russia can arrange to smuggle in some items at great cost. China has reversed an earlier policy and is now supplying Russia with high tech equipment it can no longer obtain from NATO countries because of sanctions.

Russian leaders are dismayed at how effective the Ukrainians have been at destroying valuable Russian economic assets with long range UAVs attacks. Not only do most of the Ukrainian UAVs manage to evade Russian air defense systems, but the attacks on petroleum storage sites usually result in spectacular, difficult to extinguish and long lasting fires. These fires are visible to many Russian civilians who no longer accept the government explanation that the fires were the result of accidents. Sometimes the Russian oil storage sites are near factories that use that fuel for their operations. When the factories go up in flames along with the oil supplies, many Russians become unemployed. The damage is even more widespread because the large oil losses have caused shortages for Russian consumers. The Ukrainian attacks have reduced oil production and refining in Russia by twelve percent. Russia has banned Russian oil exports until the internal supplies of oil return to normal levels.
IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the world's leading hotel companies with more than 6,300 hotels worldwide across 19 brands, announces the opening of voco Jim Corbett - India's first voco hotel. This also marks the introduction of the 7th brand from IHG's global portfolio to the Indian market.

Spread across 13.5 acres of lush greenery along the majestic Kosi Riverside, the resort in Dhilkuli region of Jim Corbett emerges as a sanctuary of tranquility and serenity, amidst dense forests and a symphony of foliage. Nestled on the foothills of the Mailani range, the hotel immerses guests in the captivating natural beauty and wildlife of the Kumaon region.

Offering an all-day dining experience, banquet halls, an alfresco lounge bar, a refreshing pool, rejuvenating spa, meticulously manicured lawns, an amphitheater, and a fully equipped fitness center, the hotel stands as an ideal destination for all occasions, particularly a dreamy destination wedding in the enchanting realm of Jim Corbett.

voco Jim Corbett features

70 well-appointed modern, spacious rooms adorned with elegant decor that reflects the true essence of voco hotels. The rooms are thoughtfully designed to provide utmost comfort with plush bedding and all the amenities, allowing guests to indulge in moments of relaxation with breathtaking views.

The resort invites guests to enjoy the riverside view and dine under the open sky with the alfresco seating at Kosi Bar & Kitchen, serving delectable cuisines and artisanal cocktails, leaving you spoilt for choice.

The Tattva spa in the resort presents a range of treatments and therapies that draw inspiration from ancient healing techniques and modern wellness practices. From blissful massages to treatments - the tranquil spa facility offers holistic massages that allows guests to relax and rejuvenate.

voco Jim Corbett's indoor and outdoor banqueting spaces will cater to the demand from corporate and leisure guests, owing to the area's excellent road connectivity with major cities in North India to host MICE, including weddings and other occasions.

The hotel features the brand's three hallmarks - 'come on in,' 'me time,' and 'voco life' - woven into its DNA with a simple check-in process, fast Wi-fi service, premium amenities and relaxed settings allowing guests to indulge in time with themselves and others, from AM to PM.

Hotel website
Capella Hotel Group is delighted to announce the appointment of Ivy Kwan as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Joining the group on 1 April 2024, Kwan brings with her a distinguished track record of success in the luxury hospitality industry.

Having honed a dynamic career spanning over 30 years, Kwan's expertise is marked by leadership roles in award-winning hotels across Asia. She joins Capella Hotel Group from Urban Resort Concepts (URC), where she served as Senior Vice President of Commercial Strategy and Business Development since 2021. Prior to her tenure at URC, Kwan was with Kerzner International for seven years as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Asia Pacific. She played a pivotal role in positioning the ultra-luxury One&Only and Atlantis brands in the Asia-Pacific region, including the re-branding and openings of One&Only resorts in Australia, Malaysia, and The Atlantis, Sanya.

Before joining Kerzner, Kwan spent a decade with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company at The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai, and The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, where she spearheaded the opening of what was then the world's highest hotel in 2011. She gained her initial experience at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort, Malaysia, followed by Shangri-La's China World Hotel, Beijing.

Kwan's extensive background has equipped her with a profound understanding of luxury hospitality intricacies, commercial strategies, and guest engagement. In her new role at Capella Hotel Group, Kwan will champion the strategic positioning of the company, further solidifying the group's standing as one of the world's leading ultra-luxury hospitality companies. She will build upon the legacy of service excellence integral to the group's brand ethos, oversee the development and implementation of innovative commercial strategies, and consolidate the unique positioning of Capella Hotels & Resorts and Patina Hotels & Resorts within the competitive luxury market.
ATLANTA-Hospitality Ventures Management Group (HVMG), an Atlanta-based third-party hotel operator and investor, today announced that the company has named Linda Philp, CPA, senior vice president & chief financial officer. In her role, she will be responsible for the company's accounting, financial reporting, tax, systems optimization/technology and risk management functions.

Most recently, Philp was CFO of Universal Turbine Parts, LLC. Prior service-industry CFO roles include Lodgian, Inc. and The Krystal Company. Additionally, Philp previously worked for large consumer products brands including PepsiCo, Kraft General Foods, Pizza Hut and Campbell Soup. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Philp also received her MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Accor is taking part in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), a leading international travel and tourism event attracting a global community of travel professionals and is taking this opportunity to introduce HERA, Accor Travel Advisor Program. Pascal Visintainer, Accors Senior Vice President Global Sales, Luxury & Lifestyle, sat down with us to discuss about this program bringing together Accors Sales and Luxury expertise. Providing access to 270+ Accor and Ennismore hotels and resorts across 11 remarkable luxury and lifestyle brands including Orient Express, Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, SLS, Delano, HERA is a new worldwide B2B loyalty and rewards program exclusively for travel advisors.

Our aim with HERA is to inspire loyalty among leading travel professionals, by equipping them with all the resources they need to seamlessly create bespoke luxury travel experiences for their clients and granting them valuable Reward Points to use freely on their own time. With easy-to-use tools for travel planning, an efficient booking system, and plentiful rewards, we are confident that HERA will be the top choice of travel advisors around the globe. Pascal Visintainer, SVP Global Sales, Luxury & Lifestyle Division, Accor

Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour - Australia  Photo by Accor

Raffles Dubai - UAE  Photo by Accor

Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan - Egypt  Photo by Accor

Fairmont Le Montreux Palace - Switzerland  Photo by Accor

Banyan Tree Dongguan Songshan Lake - China  Photo by Accor

The launch of HERA marks a strong commitment in Accors Luxury & Lifestyle Sales approach. How does the program fit into the Groups overall strategy?

Pascal Visintainer: At Accor, we continuously enhance our services and launch new initiatives to meet and anticipate evolving trends and client demands. Our organizational transformation into Premium, Midscale & Economy (PM&E) and Lifestyle & Luxury (L&L) divisions reflects of our unwavering ambition and commitment to strengthening the quality of our service to better address the needs and leverage the potential of each segment. Accors sales expertise is fundamental to the Groups position as a favored partner for travel agencies.

HERA is perfectly aligned with the Groups innovative and forward-thinking spirit. We are also a global leader in the high potential and high value luxury segment, and, as such, we are strongly focused on strengthening our leadership and the excellence of service we bring to our luxury owners, partners, and guests.

HERAs launch is testament to this ambition. The program is the result of extensive research carried out on what travel advisors and agencies need to best serve their high-end clientele. It turns out, they needed extensive hotel content, and a premium online workspace with an integrated online booking system. We are confident HERA will more than meet these needs, while simultaneously rewarding travel professionals for their continued loyalty to our luxury & lifestyle brands and hotels.

What specific features make HERA such an outstanding loyalty program?

PV: The new platform HERA.Accor.com includes more brands, capabilities, and features, from in-depth hotel descriptions to customized booking confirmations, and much more. It is a unique and personalized online workspace for travel advisors, where they can easily book at participating Accor and Ennismore hotels and resorts, maintain and view a complete booking history of all the reservations made.

Travel professionals who serve a luxury travelers clientele require more tools, resources, and opportunities to easily customize a clients itinerary. HERA is much more than a loyalty program: it is a loyalty ecosystem that gives travel advisors who specialize in luxury and lifestyle a tailor-made, highly personalized, seamless experience, and that helps boost their productivity and client satisfaction, while generously rewarding them for their bookings.

Why is HERA focused on our Luxury & Lifestyle Division?

PV: Travel advisors who specialize in luxury and lifestyle cater to clients with very specific needs and high expectations. High-end travel booking tools are tailored to meet these clients specific requests.

To help deliver the promise of a customized and flexible rewards and loyalty ecosystem, we have launched HERA with a focus on our Luxury & Lifestyle brands. HERA becomes a one-stop-shop for our B2B clients where they can find what they need to give their clients the best service and travel experience possible.

And this is why we designed HERA: to support advisors in seamlessly creating unique and highly personalized luxury travel experiences.

Could you say a little bit more about what it means for Accor to be partner-centric?

PV: Our sales ecosystem is a key growth driver for the Group, with our Luxury & Lifestyle sales team enhancing value for all stakeholders. HERA has been co-constructed with some of our partners travel agencies and their feedback, ideas and enthusiasm. We are partner-centric, and definitely client-centric. The excellence of our people combined with our powerful tools, holistic approach, innovative services and hotel network are what make us stand out. Commitment, trust, generosity are the key drivers behind HERA. We provide comprehensive expertise and services and build solid long-lasting relationships with our business partners to drive revenue, performance, and growth  all of which contribute to making the Group a preferred partner for hotel owners around the world, as well as allowing us to meet and anticipate our B2B client needs in a personalized way.

And having a partner-centric mindset also works internally: we have implemented new ways of working internally as well, by collaborating closely with a wide range of expertise (including the brands, digital teams, etc), which enabled us to turn this program into a success by leveraging these complementary skills.

Is there anything else you might like to add?

PV: Yes, I would like to say a few words about why we are calling this new program HERA. HERA is the name of the Greek goddess for marriage and family. She protects commitment and ensures fidelity, which keeps the ties that sustain us strong. This is also HERAs mission: to cultivate enduring loyalty from our valued travel advisors and agency partners. Of course, trust and loyalty are earned  we cannot take them for granted. But we believe that HERA loyalty ecosystem is proof that we are committed to reinforcing that trust, and inspire our valued B2B customers to take full advantage of the programs efficiency and abundant rewards.

About Accor, a world-leading hospitality group

Accor is a world leading hospitality group offering experiences across more than 110 countries in 5,700 properties, 10,000 food & beverage venues, wellness facilities or flexible workspaces. The Group has one of the industry's most diverse hospitality ecosystems, encompassing more than 45 hotel brands from luxury to economy, as well as Lifestyle with Ennismore. Accor is committed to taking positive action in terms of business ethics & integrity, responsible tourism, sustainable development, community outreach, and diversity & inclusion. Founded in 1967, Accor SA is headquartered in France and publicly listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN code: FR0000120404) and on the OTC Market (Ticker: ACCYY) in the United States. For more information visit group.accor.com or follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.
Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) today announced the signing of a new hotel in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The brownfield project will be branded a Vivanta.

Speaking on the occasion, Suma Venkatesh, Executive Vice President - Real Estate & Development, IHCL said, "This signing is in line with IHCL's vision to expand its footprint in leading commercial cities. Indore, the financial capital of Madhya Pradesh is located near large industrial hubs as well as important pilgrimage spots. With this addition, the company will step into new micro markets in the city. We are delighted to partner with Amaltas Palace Private Limited for this hotel."

The 180 keys Vivanta Indore, spread over 2.3 acres is strategically located at a short driving distance from the Devi Ahilyabai Holkar International Airport and the central business district. The hotel will feature an all-day diner, a rooftop restaurant, and a bar. The recreation facilities will include a swimming pool and a fitness centre. It will also offer over 10,000 square feet of banqueting space for elegant social as well as corporate events.

Mr. Suresh Singh Bhadauria, Director, Amaltas Palace Private Limited said, "We are pleased to collaborate with IHCL, the leaders in India's hospitality industry. This hotel will provide guests with the distinctive experiences of the Vivanta brand in Indore."

Indore, lying on the banks of Kanh and Saraswati rivers is a thriving city in Madhya Pradesh. It has been consistently declared as India's cleanest city. It is a major transit point for pilgrimage to Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain.

With the addition of this hotel, IHCL will have 12 hotels in Madhya Pradesh including 4 under development.
Rotana to Open It's First Hotel in Pakistan



Rotana announced today the signing of a franchise agreement with Signature Complex LLP Islamabad for the opening of its first property in Pakistan.

The agreement will see the development of Signature Rotana in the city under the group's upscale Rotana Hotels & Resorts brand. Located atop a bustling commercial hub in Islamabad, Pakistan's vibrant capital city, the hotel will add a total of 522 keys to Rotana's global portfolio once completed.

Consisting of 378 hotel rooms and 144 branded residential apartments, the property will also offer a state-of-the-art business centre with six meeting rooms, a banquet hall, and a multipurpose space. The hotel will also boast two specialty restaurants and a cafe. To enhance the guest experience, the hotel will provide several wellness and relaxation amenities and will include an indoor swimming pool and gymnasium, as well as an exclusive spa, thermal facilities, and other self-care lounges.

Commenting on the announcement, Makram El Zyr, Vice President Development at Rotana, said: "We are extremely excited to enter this dynamic market and introduce travellers to Rotana's unique blend of world-class standards, genuine hospitality, and treasured experiences. Signature Rotana Islamabad forms part of Rotana's robust global expansion plans, including entry into several new markets and the opening of 30 new properties by 2026. We are confident that Signature Rotana will appeal to a varied group of global leisure and business travellers looking to doing business or to discover Pakistan's diverse cultural and natural wonders."

Recognised globally as the world's second-most beautiful capital city and the ninth-most populous, Islamabad commands attention for its scenic splendour and cultural significance. Notably, it is home to the iconic Faisal Mosque, ranked as the fifth-largest mosque worldwide. In 2023, Islamabad experienced a notable 15% increase in foreign arrivals. Positioned as the focal point of tourist fascination and business vitality, Islamabad has consistently captivated both leisure travellers and business alike.

Speaking about the partnership, Shaheer Ahmed, Director Business Strategist at Signature Complex LLP, stated: "We are extremely delighted and pleased to announce our mega collaboration with Rotana as they make their grand entrance into Islamabad, Pakistan. We extend a warm welcome to Rotana, a brand synonymous with luxury and excellence, as they join us in this exciting venture. At Signature Rotana Islamabad, we are committed to delivering the best, and we are confident in our ability to uphold and exceed the high standards set by Rotana. Together, we aim to elevate the hospitality landscape in Pakistan and set new benchmarks for excellence. We have meticulously planned for this collaboration and are dedicated to making it a resounding success. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Makram El Zyr, Corporate Vice President Development at Rotana, for his unwavering support throughout this journey. Together with Rotana, we look forward to writing a new chapter of success and prosperity in Islamabad, Pakistan."

As the recipient of prestigious accolades, including the "Best Performing Destination" award bestowed by the World Tourism Organization of the United Nations in 2023 and the esteemed "Best In-Show - International Tourism Development" recognition at the Travel and Adventure Show 2024, Islamabad stands as a testament to unparalleled tourism allure and burgeoning business potential. The capital city's dynamic landscape serves as a beacon for global travellers and business industry offering abundant opportunities for growth and expansion within the hospitality sector.

Rotana currently operates 76 hotels in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkiye, serving more than six million guests per year. Rotana's overall pipeline currently spans 10,420 keys across six superlative brands, including an impressive 40 international hotels and seven new properties in the UAE alone.
Rendering of the Anantara Sharjah Resort and Anantara Sharjah Residences

Minor Hotels has announced a strategic addition to its pipeline in the UAE  a new resort and residences in Sharjah. Positioned along the picturesque coastline of the Arabian Gulf and just a 30-minute drive from Dubai International Airport, the Anantara Sharjah Resort and Anantara Sharjah Residences are set to open in late 2027.

Owned and being developed by Arada, the new-build resort and residence complex is located on the north-eastern edge of Sharjahs Al Heerah Beach, a popular tourist destination with 3.5 kilometres of beachfront. With striking architecture, including a signature gateway designed to show the path of the sun, the property will feature 110 generously-sized guest rooms and suites, ranging from 45 to 120 square metres, with expansive penthouse suites finished in luxury materials on higher floors.

In response to the burgeoning demand for branded residences, the development will also include 128 one- to four-bedroom residential units for sale, the four-bedroom penthouses complete with rooftop pools, and all with private balconies and furnishings marked by high-end design, signature touches and finishes in line with the Anantara brand.

In addition to enjoying a sandy beach, guests will be able to find solace in the expansive infinity pool, rejuvenate at the Anantara Spa, and charge up their fitness routine at the state-of-the-art gym. The propertys collection of five distinctive restaurants will include a cafe lounge situated in a soaring atrium lobby, a laid-back poolside eatery, an al fresco beachfront dining venue, pan Asian fine dining at Anantaras signature Mekong restaurant, and a specialty restaurant focused on local flavours. For business gatherings, the property will offer a flexible 400-square-metre meeting space, as well as outdoor venues for memorable social celebrations.

In recent years, Sharjah has blossomed into a cultural hub, drawing both vacationers and business visitors with its coastal charm and making it an optimal destination for our latest venture in the Middle East. The expansion of the luxury Anantara brand into Sharjah is an opportunity to deliver our unmatched lifestyle offerings to a new audience. We look forward to working with Arada to bring this new resort and residences to market and ensuring its leadership position as one of Sharjahs finest addresses. Dillip Rajakarier, CEO of Minor Hotels and Group CEO of parent company Minor International

Anantara is one of the most distinguished luxury hotel brands in the world and it is a privilege to bring this brand to Sharjah for the first time. Our partnership with Minor Hotels will provide buyers with the quality and delivery associated with Arada, combined with the harmony, culture, heritage and services they have come to expect from the Anantara brand. HRH Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal, Vice Chairman of Arada

The emirate of Sharjah, recognised by UNESCO as the Cultural Capital of the Arab World, is rapidly emerging as a sought-after vacation spot thanks to a harmonious blend of modern architecture and museums alongside the traditional heritage of the UAE. The emirates diverse offerings, including prominent museums, art galleries, archaeological sites, and attractions tailored for families such as a vast desert park, render it an appealing destination for visitors with young children and those with an appreciation for culture.

The upcoming Anantara Sharjah Resort will join an expanding collection of Anantara properties in the Middle East, with two resorts having been launched in the UAE to date this year  Anantara Mina Al Arab Ras Al Khaimah Resort and Anantara Santorini Abu Dhabi Retreat  bringing the total in the country to ten, in addition to two resorts in Oman and one in Qatar.
Chicago, IL (60637)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms this evening with a few showers possible late. Low 57F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms this evening with a few showers possible late. Low 57F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Hancock Town Meeting Votes to Strike Meme Some Found 'Divisive'



Hancock town meeting members Monday vote on a routine item early in the meeting. HANCOCK, Mass.  By the narrowest of margins Monday, the annual town meeting voted to strike from the town report messaging that some residents described as, "inflammatory," "divisive" and unwelcoming to new residents.

On a vote of 50-48, the meeting voted to remove the inside cover of the report as it appeared on the town website and in printed versions distributed prior to the meeting and at the elementary school on Monday night.

The text, which appeared to be a reprinted version of an Internet meme, read, "You came here from there because you didn't like it there, and now you want to change here to be like there. You are welcome here, only don't try to make here like there. If you want to make here like there, you shouldn't have left there in the first place."

After the meeting breezed through the first 18 articles on the town meeting warrant agenda with hardly a dissenting vote, a member rose to ask if it would be unreasonable for the meeting to vote to remove the meme under Article 19, the "other business" article.

"No, you cannot remove it," Board of Selectmen Chair Sherman Derby answered immediately.

After it became clear that Moderator Brian Fairbank would entertain discussion about the meme, Derby took the floor to address the issue that has been discussed in town circles since the report was printed earlier this spring.

"Let me tell you about something that happened this year," Derby said. "The School Department got rid of Christmas. And they got rid of Columbus Day. Now it's Indigenous People's Day.

"And they tried to get rid of the Community Christmas.

"[The meme] isn't directed at any specific person. If the shoe fits, wear it."

Hancock's Community Christmas, a town celebration held at the elementary school, is funded, in part, by an allocation of town funds. Monday's meeting approved a $500 allotment for the December event on Monday as part of Article 10 on the warrant.

Resident Bruce Weiner rose on the floor of the meeting to respond to Derby's statement.

"I recommended to the School Committee that they call their event a Holiday Concert," Weiner said. "It's a very personal thing for me. I'm Jewish."

Weiner said his own children who went through Hancock Elementary School were uncomfortable participating in a school Christmas concert and that a holiday event would be more inclusive.

"It's the same with Columbus Day," Weiner said. "There are folks who don't feel comfortable with Columbus Day, like Native Americans. We want to be more inclusive."

Derby told the meeting that members of the three-person Board of Selectmen attended the School Committee meeting where the holiday names were discussed and told the School Committee that it could not change the name "Community Christmas" because it was a town event, not a school event.

School Committee Chair Alex Kastrinakas took the floor to tell the meeting that, in fact, it was the School Committee itself that made the point at its meeting that it had no authority over Community Christmas and changing its name was never a consideration.

Mustafa Deen moved to strike the "you shouldn't have left there" meme from the town report, saying at one point that it was "offensive to so many people unnecessarily."

Another member speaking in support of the motion said those who defend the meme might feel differently some day if a different Board of Selectmen inserted political statements they do not agree with into the town report.

A couple of residents spoke in opposition to the motion, one indicating that it would be "facist" for the meeting to squelch the First Amendment rights of the Board of Selectmen to include any language they want in the town report.

Town Clerk Linda Burdick, who said she moved to Hancock "from there" for its "caring people" and low taxes, pointed out that there was nothing illegal about including the meme in the report.

"Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should," another resident retorted from the floor.

In response to a question from the floor, the Board of Selectmen, seated on the stage at the front of the auditorium, confirmed that the entire body had approved the contents of the town report, including the meme.

Don Leab asked from the floor whether a motion to amend the town report as suggested was legal because it was not specifically called out in the meeting warrant. Fairbank said that, in his opinion, the issue was a valid question for the meeting.

About 15 minutes into the meeting, Selectman Don Rancatti interrupted a speaker in support of the motion to ask Fairbank to call the question. And Fairbank called for a vote to close debate, which passed overwhelmingly.

It took two rounds of votes by a show of hands to verify the vote totals, but, in the end, Burdick confirmed a 50-48 vote in favor of removing the meme.

The meeting was attended by 115 of 572 registered voters in the town, about 20 percent.

After the decision was made, Burdick said in answer to questions from members that the meme would be removed from the PDF version of the report on the town's website and pulled from the official copy that is sent to the State Library in Boston.

The only other article on the warrant to generate significant discussion on Monday was Article 18, a home rule petition to exempt Hancock from a state law forcing districts, like Hancock, without a secondary school to be financially responsible for the middle and high school education of pupils who attend the district's elementary school under the state's School Choice program.

Hancock Superintendent Rebecca Phillips explained the issue to the meeting and said there are encouraging signs that the petition could succeed on Beacon Hill.

"We have a lot of support from our legislators but, also, the Department of Education is comfortable with this exemption," Phillips told the meeting.
Town Clerk Christine Emerson, right, gets a hug from an election worker after Monday's town election that marked her retirement after 30 years in office. Emerson with Whitney Flynn, who will take on her duties after winning a write-in for town clerk with 55 votes. PreviousNext

Hugs & Cheers as Cheshire Town Clerk Closes Out 30-Year Career



Town Clerk Christine Emerson gave the results of the town clerk election at the last to announce Whitney Flynn, right, as her replacement. Flynn says the town put her forward for the vacant seat. CHESHIRE, Mass.  Town Clerk Christine Emerson called out the final results of Monday's annual town election, purposely leaving the town clerk results to last.

That's because she would be announcing the results of a write-in campaign for the person who would fill her vacancy at Town Hall  Whitney Flynn.

"I just want to just tell you all that it's been wonderful," Emerson told her longtime election workers, her voice breaking. "I hope you will continue with Whitney. ... That's it, thank you all."

That wasn't all, of course, as she was applauded for her 30 years overseeing the town's elections and vital records. There were plenty of hugs and some tears for a closing out of her long career.

Emerson said her decision to retire was largely prompted by two things  family and the looming presidential election.

"Number one, my kids said it's time," she said. "The other thing was that I didn't really want to get back into the political aspect. The last presidential election drove a lot of clerks out, if you look at Massachusetts, there are an awful lot of clerks that left and I had sworn to myself that I am not going to do another presidential ... it just got to me."

Emerson's tenure began in 1993 when she was recruited by then Town Clerk Ruth Andrew, who asked if she could put Emerson's name forward to replace her on her retirement.

"I thought about it and I called her back and said, 'yes, I can," she said. "I was appointed in August to shadow her for a month. Then I took office in September. And then I ran for the office in '94. And so I've been running since '94."

During that time, she's seen her own children grow up and her grandchildren be born  along with a generation of Cheshire residents. She's recorded their births, their marriages and their children's births.

"The best part of the job is I love the people. I do, I just I like being in service to the people," Emerson said. "Every day is different in that office because you wear so many hats. I never liked the political end of it, the town politic part of it.

"But the people keep you going. The people that you see once a year for their dog license and you have a chat. And you ask them how their grandchild is doing or their child's doing in college, that kind of thing."

There have been some wonderful moments, she said, and projects within the office she's been able to get done. A major accomplishment was a capital program to restore the town's books, but a codebook she'd worked on for several years and hoped to complete is still waiting on the Attorney General's Office.

Flynn, the assistant treasurer/collector, said she was recruited "by the town" to fill in as interim town clerk. She polled 55 write-in votes on Monday.

She's been assisting Emerson the last few weeks to get an idea of her responsibilities and where things are situated in the office.

"I'm interested in helping the town in whatever capacity that means," said Flynn. "I currently serve as the municipal clerk/assistant treasurer collector in a full-time capacity; in the coming year I will be serving as the assistant treasurer collector part time, and then this would be in addition to that."

She's lived in Cheshire for five years and will start her family here. This is another journey, Flynn said. "[Emerson] has said that she will assist me going forward if this was to be what the town wanted for me. So I'm grateful for her."

Emerson feels confident she's leaving the town in good hands, saying her election team "works like crazy."

"I know that they know their jobs. So I'm walking out knowing that," she said.

"I've done the best I can and I have enjoyed it."
Plateau farming fieldwork bears fruits for students, herders

Xinhua) 17:13, May 07, 2024

LANZHOU, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Riding a motorcycle, Zhao Zhiwei, 30, skillfully drove some 30 yaks back to the shed, where his classmate Cao Ze was waiting to hang a feeding bag onto each yak's horns.

After appeasing a yak by touching its head, Cao grabbed the horns tight, leaned his upper body to push down the cattle, and quickly put on the bag. Inside the bag, forage made of straw, wheat bran, and bean pulp was to provide nutrition that the cattle need.

"It takes skills to catch a yak smoothly. I learned them from local herders," said Cao, 26.

Being doctoral candidates at Lanzhou University's College of Ecology in northwest China's Gansu Province, Zhao and Cao are stationed in Maqu County at an average altitude of over 3,700 meters, conducting research and providing technology services to local herders.

A total of 18 young researchers and postgraduate students led by their professor, Long Ruijun, have carried out fieldwork on ranges, herding bases, and agricultural enterprises on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Through field investigations, experimental research and technical training, they have aimed to bring more benefits to the animal husbandry industry while balancing ecological protection and improving the livelihoods of local herders.

The young team has overcome unimaginable difficulties to conduct research on the plateau. For Zhao, the hardest part was purchasing yaks and sheep for the research.

"For the purpose of research, we only accepted yaks weighing 145 kg to 155 kg. So we had to choose ideal cattle door to door," Zhao said, adding that sometimes they walked into the wetland barefoot, carrying a huge weigh scale, only to reach the herders' homes.

The team converted a vacant 40-year-old cottage with three rooms into their dormitory and "lab." In the house, Dong Youhan, 25, weighed grass samples with her classmate.

Dong said they fed the yaks in the morning, cut grass in the afternoon, and then conducted vegetation research, with the plateau constantly providing research subjects.

Despite hardships during the dull days of endless research, they also find joy.

"We really enjoy breathing the fresh air, strolling and lying idly on the grassland," said the second-grade postgraduate.

Their professor, Long, said that doing fieldwork in areas with harsh conditions would not only help young people with their studies but also cultivate their spirit of hard work and contribute to society.

According to Tenzin Gurmey, head of a local breeding base, the optimized forage and breeding techniques taught by the team have lowered the herding cost while maintaining meat quality and promoted the high-quality and sustainable development of the animal husbandry industry.

"I hope the scientific technologies that we are working on will someday be further promoted to the plateau area in Asia and even the alpine areas in the world," Cao said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
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Emily Blunt has looked back at her on-screen kisses and revealed that filming some of them made her want to throw up.

I have had chemistry with people who...I have not had a good time working with them, she told Howard Stern during a radio interview on Sirius 100 XM. I wouldnt say its sort of extreme loathing, but I have definitely not enjoyed some of it.

Asked if shed ever wanted to throw up after kissing an actor, she replied, Absolutely. Absolutely.

Blunt declined to reveal which intimate scenes  and which actors  she had found nauseating, but added that she had enjoyed working with Dwayne Johnson, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Cruise, Matt Damon and Cillian Murphy.

The Mary Poppins actor, 41, spoke about how shes learned to create chemistry with people she doesnt like.

Sometimes its a strange thing. Sometimes you could have a rapport thats really effortless, but it doesnt translate on screen, she said.

Chemistry is this strange thing. Its an ethereal thing that you cant really bottle up and buy or sell. Its like there or its not.

Its just easier when you have a natural rapport with someone.

open image in gallery Emily Blunt with Ryan Gosling at the special screening of the film 'The Fall Guy' in London on 22 April 2024 ( Invision )

Speaking about the techniques she uses to find chemistry with a castmate, she said she tries to find something I love.

I have to find something...Even if its one thing," she told Stern.

It might be that they have a nice laugh or I like how they speak to people. Theyre polite. I mean, it might be something random, she continued.

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But find something you love about that person or something you love about them as the character and then kind of lean into that.

Blunt, who stars with Ryan Gosling in action-comedy The Fall Guy, only had good things to say about her latest co-star.

I love his wife, Eva. I love their children and I feel like Im very lucky to be friends with a gem of a person like him, she said of Gosling.

Blunts comments came shortly after her The Devil Wears Prada co-star Anne Hathaway opened up about a gross time in her career when casting agents expected her to make out with a series of men who were all auditioning to star opposite her.

open image in gallery Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada ( 20th Century Fox )

Speaking to V Magazine, Hathaway recalled how awkward these auditions could be in her early years.

Back in the 2000s  and this did happen to me  it was considered normal to ask an actor to make out with other actors to test for chemistry. Which is actually the worst way to do it, she said.

I was told, We have 10 guys coming today and youre cast. Arent you excited to make out with all of them? And I thought, Is there something wrong with me? Because I wasnt excited. I thought it sounded gross.

And I was so young and terribly aware how easy it was to lose everything by being labelled difficult, so I just pretended I was excited and got on with it. It wasnt a power play, no one was trying to be awful or hurt me. It was just a very different time and now we know better, she said.
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Hugh Grant almost died while filming Four Weddings and a Funeral, the films director has revealed.

Following fierce competition from other British stars, including Jim Broadbent and Alan Rickman, Grant was ultimately cast in the romantic comedys lead role of Charles, which was written by Richard Curtis.

However, very soon after filming started, disaster almost struck in a near-fatal incident involving Grant, then aged 34, and Charlotte Coleman, who played Charles's best friend Scarlett.

The dangerous moment occurred while filming the opening scene, which sees Charles and Scarlett racing to a wedding in their Mini and reversing after missing their exit. Director Mike Newell has revealed that Grant was actually behind the wheel of the car on the motorway, and that the moment happened for real.

That scene on the motorway, for some reason, Hugh was actually driving  he shouldnt have been but he was, Newell said as part of a retrospective of the film, celebrating its 30th anniversary.

They were within inches of backing at full speed into a truck that was coming at them, the director told The Guardian.

I suddenly saw the whole film collapsing in front of me, and what I had done was engineer the death of the leading man on the motorway.

open image in gallery Four Weddings and a Funeral' ( Rank Film Distributors )

Now 64, Grants appearence in the film launched him to Hollywood stardom. Simon Callow, who appeared in the film as Gareth, told the outlet how he felt at the time that Grant was underplaying his role, but was proved wrong.

He said: As we were filming, I kept thinking: Well, Hugh is great and fantastically well-cast but I think hes underplaying it. That shows how little I know, because the performance is an absolute masterclass in light comedy.

One person who was not initially sure about Grants casting was the films writer, Curtis, who told The Times in a separate retrospective: I argued hard against Hugh Grant. I had in my mind a less glamorous person because Im a very unglamorous person. So I was thinking Jim Broadbent, Robbie Coltrane, John Gordon Sinclair. I argued for Alan Rickman.

open image in gallery Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral ( Rank Film Distributors )

But we interviewed about 70 other people and it turned out that the combination you need of charm and wit to make it funny was very hard to find. And Hugh had it instantly. He gives the impression of being feckless and that he cant act, but he worked so hard on every line.

Grants co-star, Coleman, died in November 2001.
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A new horror film is making waves for completely flipping the slasher genre on its head.

The first trailer for the film  titled In a Violent Nature  was released last month, proving why exactly the film received a rapturous response at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024. Now, those who have watched the film at the Chicago Critics Film Fest are expressing agreement that horror fans are in for a treat.

In a Violent Nature screened as part of US festivals SundanceMidnight strand, which is where films including The Blair Witch Project, Hereditary and the controversial Dashcam, first premiered  and early word-of-mouth has branded the film as fascinating and impressive.

The detail that is exciting horror fans is the fact the film is a slasher told through the killers eyes. The synopsis of the In a Violent Nature reads: Delve into the wilderness where an undead horror awakens. In a Violent Nature flips the script on traditional slashers, inviting you to witness the rampage from the monsters eyes.

At the time of writing, the film has a score of 93 per cent on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes after 28 reviews.

Bloody Disgusting called the film a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim, gory twist, with Polygon adding: Its a rare treat and a fantastic exercise in taking a genre in the opposite direction that everyone else has tried.

However, its worth noting that those who enjoy faster-paced filmmaking might be left somewhat frustrated: those who saw the film at Sundance have said the film is inspired by slow cinema, and features longer takes and has no musical score.

open image in gallery In a Violent Nature is told from the killers perspective ( Shudder )

Those who have watcheds the film are also casting aspersions on the claim, made on social media, that one audience member vomited while watching the film, claiming that this was a tired marketing ploy.

Canadian writer-director Chris Nash, who named Tree of Life director Terence Malick as an inspiration, described this as a slower, more methodical, more deliberate way to follow characters through a scene.

In a Violent Nature will be released in the US by IFC Films on 31 May before being added to horror streaming service Shudder later this year. No UK date has been announced.
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Keanu Reeves has voiced his desire to act in a third Speed film alongside Sandra Bullock.

The actor, 59, starred in the original 1994 action movie as Jack Traven, an officer in the Los Angeles Police Departments Swat team who has to prevent a bomb exploding on a city bus by keeping its speed above 50mph.

Although Bullock returned to star in a sequel in 1997, Speed 2: Cruise Control, Reeves turned the project down and was replaced by Jason Patric.

Speaking on the 50 MPH podcast in a joint interview with Bullock, Reeves said he is confident they could pull off a Speed sequel now.

I mean, you know wed freakin knock it out of the park, the actor said.

Reeves added there is a siren call pulling him to a Speed sequel and he would love to work with Bullock again before our eyes close.

Bullock and Reeves last reunited on screen in 2006 for the romance film The Lake House.

open image in gallery Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in 'Speed' ( 20th Century Fox )

The Proposal actor, 59, was similarly enthusiastic about working with Reeves again.

Before I die, before I leave this planet, I do think that Keanu and I need to do something in front of the camera, Bullock said.

Are we in wheelchairs or with walkers? Maybe, she joked.

Reeves explained his decision to turn down a role in Speed 2: Cruise Control , where the action takes place on a luxury cruise ship, back in 2021.

At the time I didnt respond to the script, he said on The Graham Norton Show. I really wanted to work with Sandra Bullock, I loved playing Jack Traven, and I loved Speed, but an ocean liner?

I had nothing against the artists involved, but at the time I had the feeling it just wasnt right, he added.

open image in gallery Bullock and Reeves in The Lake House in 2006 ( Warner Bros. )

Critics praised Reeves and Bullock for their on screen chemistry when Speed was released in 1994 and fans have long requested a reunion .

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Bullock previously confessed to Ellen DeGeneres it was hard for her to really be serious on set with Reeves because she was attracted to him.

Theres just something about me he didnt like, she said when asked why they didnt get together.

However, Reeves told DeGeneres in a subsequent interview Bullock obviously didnt know I had a crush on her too.

It was nice to go to work, shes such a wonderful person and a wonderful actress, he said.
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Kendrick Lamar has released yet another diss track in his ongoing feud with Drake, marking his third song in 36 hours.

The beef began when Lamar hit out at the Canadian rapper and J Cole in his song First Person Shooter.

While Cole bowed out of the battle early, Drake has continued to escalate hostilities and the pair have been back and forth with insults all week. In the tracks, Drake has accused the rapper of domestic violence and Lamar has alleged that Drake is harbouring a secret daughter.

In his new song, Not Like Us, the Humble rapper called Drake a certified paedophile as he made multiple references to his alleged interactions with younger women.

Say, Drake, I hear you like em young, the 36-year-old rapper began, adding that he would struggle in jail on account of his interest. You better not ever go to cell block one.

Lamar went on to warn any women interested in Drake to just make sure you hide your lil sister from him.

He went on to mock the Gods Plan artists studio album Certified Lover Boy as he taunted, Certified Lover Boy? Certified paedophiles.

The song was released on YouTube in the early hours of Sunday morning (5 May). The artwork features an aerial shot of Drakes mansion with sex offender targets overlaid.

open image in gallery Kendrick Lamar and Drake have been embroiled in an ongoing feud ( Getty )

His alleged interactions with much younger women were evidently the focus of the relentless attack as he added, Aint you tired? / Tryna strike a chord and its probably A-Minor.

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It comes after Drake released Family Matters on Saturday (4 May), made up of three parts, in which he accused Lamar of hypocrisy in his pro-Black activism. In the track he also accuses him of domestic violence, and of begging the Tupac estate to sue Drake for his use of AI versions of the late rapper in a diss track.

open image in gallery ( Kendrick Lamar/YouTube )

He didnt stop there as he went on to diss A$AP Rocky, Rick Ross, Future, and Metro Boomin.

But Lamar hit back within minutes, releasing Meet The Grahams his third diss track this week, in which he accused the rapper of harbouring a secret daughter, and of having a series of addictions to gambling, alcohol, drugs, sex, and spending.
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Baby Reindeer star Richard Gadd has been questioned  and cleared  by producers over a controversy related to the show.

The biographical series, written by and starring comedian Gadd, follows struggling comic Donny Dunn as he is relentlessly harassed and stalked by Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning) for more than four years.

Since the seven-episode shows release on 11 April, it has become a word-of-mouth sensation, shooting to the top of the streaming services most-watched charts with very little promotion.

However, as the real-life element of the story piqued the interest of viewers, the unprecedented success came with a caveat: as more people viewed the show, more people attempted to discover the real-life inspirations behind the shows characters, including Martha, in a move that Gadd himself has criticised.

Before that, though, a post on X/Twitter, shared by an actor who was in the running to play a role in the series, placed Gadds alleged behaviour in the spotlight. Reece Lyons said she was left feeling hurt after a romance with Gadd, whom she said conflated a work opportunity with a dating dynamic.

Lyons said that, after meeting Gadd, who has since been cleared of any wrongdoing: He began to tell me about his upcoming Netflix show that he had written. The role in question was that of his ex-girlfriend, a trans woman. I told him I was interested in auditioning and asked him to get in touch with my agent.

As the audition process continued, Lyons cooled things off with Gadd, who she said text her two weeks later to see if she wanted to resume their romance. Lyons said she felt conflicted about this development as she was concerned it would affect her chances of being in the show.

The role ultimately went to Generation actor Nava Mau, with Gadd tellying Lyons that producers wanted a more established star to play the role of Teri. When Lyons asked Gadd where they stood personally, she claims Gadd told her: Its not going to work. Youre too confrontational for me.

In the post, Lyons did not name Gadd, but heavily suggested he was the person she was referring to  something Deadline claims to have verified.

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Its now been reported by the outlet that Clerkenwell Films, the production company behind the show, investigated Gadds professional conduct after Lyonss post went viral on social media in April, and found that the comedian did not act unprofessionally.

open image in gallery Richard Gadd in Baby Reindeer ( Netflix )

A source for Clerkenwell Films, which also produced The End of the F***ing World, said the account of Lyons, who was not interviewed as part of the investigation, as well as other evidence, cleared Gadd of any misconduct.

Furthermore, it was found that the casting decisions for the show were not affected.

Gadd has declined to comment.
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Grand Designs has played host to many brilliant ideas that have dramatically failed to come to fruition.

In some cases, the would-be dream properties showcased have ruined marriages, caused heart attacks, left their owners in financial ruin and, in one instance, even washed up on a beach.

Following the news that Edward Shorts dream lighthouse mansion has once again hit the market for a knock-down price of 5.5m, we are looking back at the shows five biggest costly renovations that went sour.

1. The lighthouse that broke a marriage and a man

One of the most famous disasters ever featured by Grand Designs is Shorts mansion, which starred in what viewers dubbed the saddest ever episode of the show in 2019.

What began as a grand plan to allow the Short family a slower pace of life in North Devon than in London ultimately broke up Edward and his wife Hollys decades-long marriage, leaving him an estimated 7m in debt.

The ambitious project, which was located in a tricky coastal location, was deemed a dangerous lesson in overreaching by host Kevin McCloud, who admitted that he doubted it would be possible to complete the home in its planned timeframe of just 18 months.

Instead, the home took over 12 years to build and it still remains incomplete, with areas such as the kitchen reportedly still requiring work.

open image in gallery The saddest ever Grand Designs home is currently up for sale for a knock-down price ( Tom Wren SWNS )

While it has had some interested buyers including Michael Jacksons former bodyguard and Harry Styles, Chesil Cliff House remains on the market, with its previous asking price of 10m ultimately deemed too high.

However, it is worth noting that it was only recently relisted, so it may well find a new owner soon.

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Edward told Devon Live: I have got used to being a millionaire in debt. Ive been doing this build for more than 10 years  so have gone past headaches now and built a lot of resilience.

I can not make any plans of what I do next until it is sold  but I would be very surprised if they involved any more big build projects. I think I need a physiatrist and help with PTSD.

open image in gallery The house is pile-driven to save it from falling into the sea when the cliffs erode ( Knight Frank )

2. The Eco Barge

The Eco Barge began as a brilliant idea  a floating home made entirely from recycled materials that would provide a London dwelling for a fraction of the price of just about anywhere else.

However, as Chris Miller and his wife Sze Liu Lai began the project without a plan, it quickly went awry and resulted in many angry builders and dock owners.

One builder said in the memorable 2007 episode said the barge looks s*** while McCloud couldnt help but dub the home a floating scrapheap challenge.

open image in gallery The Eco Barge was described as a floating scrapheap challenge ( BBC )

The barge seemingly met its end on the banks of the River Thames in 2011, windows broken after being looted and used as a brief party spot by squatters.

However, in 2021, it was reported that it had been purchased by new owners, Sarah and Rob Burch, who planned to finally make a success of the project, beginning with a solid plan for the former Thames barge.

But at the time of writing, there are no further updates on the barges fate.

3. The converted church

Another failed Grand Designs home that led to a divorce was the 18th century St Martins Church in West Yorkshire, which Dean Marks, his wife Hilary and their daughter hoped would become their dream home.

The 2007 conversion suffered from various setbacks including struggles to obtain planning permission and vandals  all of which took a toll on the couples marriage.

I admit I worked hard on it, Marks told the MailOnline. I did not have a large amount of quality time with Hilary but that was a small price to pay.

open image in gallery The church conversion cost its owner a lot more than just money ( Channel 4 )

But if a divorce wasnt already a big enough price to pay for a house, Marks also suffered two heart attacks because of the stress of the build and, later, went on to develop testicular cancer.

open image in gallery Mark ended up losing his wife and having two heart attacks because of the stress of his Grand Designs home ( Channel 4 )

4. The Hux Shard

Grand Designs has proven time and time again that properties often go over budget, but one of the shows most disastrous examples was The Hux Shard in Devon, which cost 199 percent more than planned.

Initially planned to cost a total of 835,000, the unusual-looking property cost 2.5m to build.

McCloud couldnt help but admit that it was an example of Joe and Claire Pridays arguably having more money than sense when they spent 125,000 on just the kitchen.

open image in gallery The Hux Shard went 199 percent over budget ( Channel 4 )

The home, which was made from giant zinc shards, was not well received by viewers of the 2021 episode either.

In all seriousness, that was one sickening Grand Design. Everything about it highlighted the gulf between the haves and have-nots. What he spent on just a kitchen??! And what about the environmental cost? slammed one viewer.

5. The Thunderbirds Home

Taking inspiration from the Thunderbirds, this home, in theory, was a sci-fi fans dream, but the reality ended up being more than a little lacklustre.

open image in gallery The Thunderbirds-style home was described as the ugliest house one viewer ever had ever seen ( Channel 4 )

The property, while beloved by its owners, whose only critique was that it wobbled in stormy weather, was slammed by viewers for its appearance in 2021.

One called the converted steel-clad water tower the ugliest house Ive ever seen.

Its owners, Dennis Pedersen and Misa Godebska, however, likened the Norfolk property to a Bond lair.

Pedersen admitted: I did watch a lot of Thunderbirds.
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Denise Welch and Coleen Nolan had a difficult on-air exchange on Loose Women following a guests declaration about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

On Mondays episode (6 May) of the daytime ITV programme, royal expert Dickie Arbiter joined the panel to provide some commentary on the monarchys recent developments, including the Kings return to work after his cancer diagnosis, as well as the Princess of Waless cancer announcement.

When asked his thoughts on whether the family could reconcile with Harry in light of his public estrangement from them, Arbiter, 83, was doubtful.

Harry has been rubbishing the family since he walked out in 2020, he said, before noting the Duke of Sussexs various TV interviews and best-selling memoir, detailing his issues with the family. We had in 2021, Oprah; we had at the end of 22, six hours of Netflix, and then we had at the beginning of 23, 600 pages of Spare.

However, Welch, 65, was defensive of the Duke and Duchess, who have lived in California since 2020.

We did, Dickie, but I may say, as well, do you not think there is a reason why Harry did such a thing? Welch began, before noting her sympathies for the difficult life events he has experienced, including the death of his mother and the introduction of Queen Camilla to his family.

Addressing Arbiter, Welch said: This young boy, who witnesses the death of his mother, who is forced to walk publicly, in front of the world, behind his dead mothers coffin, and accept this woman that he doesnt like as his stepmother  then he has a wife who is continually trashed by the media, including your good self, if I may say  when she is on a world stage, doing a lot of good for a lot of people, before she met this guy.

open image in gallery Dickie Arbiter and Denise Welch on Loose Women ( ITV / screengrab )

And I am just sick to death of the bashing that this woman gets, she continued. Everybodys happy to say the bashing that the other royal family members get, hardly any of you mention Andrew. And yet we continually, every day, berate this woman. And I think when her children grow up and see what she goes through, I think Harry had a bloody good reason to write that book in my opinion.

As the studio audience applauded Welchs speech, Arbiter replied that he was not going to argue with her, and suggested that the panellist had read too many tabloid stories.

No, I havent, and dont disrespect me for saying that, Welch shot back. Because I have read a lot about Meghan before, as well, and I think its a disgrace, the way shes treated.

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In an attempt to end Welch and Arbiters exchange, Nolan jumped in to redirect the conversation.

open image in gallery Coleen Nolan and Denise Welch on Loose Women ( ITV / screengrab )

Well listen, we dont want to come on here and have a debate, really. We want to know how is Charles doing now, what is the future for Charles. Its not a debate.

However, Welch was quick to disagree with Nolan, and noted that it was her right to voice her opinions.

Dont have a guest on... I can say what I like, Coleen!

Im not saying you cant! Nolan replied.

The conversation soon concluded with Arbiter stating his belief that the Sussexes would need to make a public apology for reconciliation to take place, with Welch noting that the couple may not feel the need to say sorry for publicly expressing their discontent.

open image in gallery Denise Welch on Loose Women ( ITV / screengrab )

On social media, fans shared their mixed opinions on the tense moment. For some, the exchange between panellists was an uncomfortable watch, with one viewer writing: Just watching Loose Women, Denise Welch, no professionalism shown towards Coleen Nolan, no need for rudeness!

However, others were thrilled by the debate. One viewer wrote on X/Twitter: That was probably the best five minutes of Loose Women Ive seen in a long time. More of Denise. Less of Coleen mediating.

Loose Women airs weekdays on ITV1 at 12.30pm.
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Bear Grylls has confirmed he stood by Russell Brands side when the comedian was baptised in the River Thames last week.

Brand shared a video to social media detailing how Grylls was one of two men who flanked him during the ceremony where he lives in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

The 48-year-old comedian had previously called baptism an opportunity to leave the past behind, less than a year after a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary exposed allegations of sexual assault against him.

Week one as a Christian has been amazing, Brand said in the video.

The ceremony itself was incredible. I want to thank Bear Grylls and my mate Joe, the two men that stood either side of me and flanked me for the baptism itself.

Grylls confirmed his attendance to the Daily Mail and described assisting in Brands baptism as a privilege after the comedians tough time.

Faith and spiritual moments in our lives are really personal, he told the publication. But it is a privilege to stand beside anyone when they express a humble need for forgiveness and strength from above.

Friendships when we go through tough times are worth so much, he added.

open image in gallery Russell Brand revealed on social media Bear Grylls helped to baptise him in the River Thames last week ( Russell Brand )

In a previous Instagram video, Brand told his followers he felt incredibly blessed after his baptism in the River Thames. I got baptised and it was an incredible, profound experience, he said. Im so grateful to be surrendered in Christ.

In September last year, a Channel 4 Dispatches and Sunday Times investigation revealed accusations by four women of rape, sexual assault and abuse at the height of Brands fame between 2006 and 2013.

Brand, who the Metropolitan Police have questioned, has strongly denied all accusations and recently told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a YouTube video that the claims were very, very hurtful.

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Channel 4 has since been forced to question how much its bosses were aware of as the presenter worked on the broadcasters programmes Big Brothers Big Mouth and Kings Of Comedy between 2004 and 2007.

Publishing its findings from an internal investigation in March, the channel found no evidence that its bosses knew about the allegations against Brand.

According to the Dispatches investigation published in September, Brand allegedly entered a relationship with one of the women when he was 31 and she was aged 16. On their first date, she claims he asked her to confirm if she was 16 and said: I dont give a f*** if youre 12 ... I need to know where I stand legally.

She claims that he sexually assaulted her at his home just before their relationship ended.

In his interview with Carlson, Brand said his infant son was undergoing heart surgery at the time the allegations were exposed.

open image in gallery Grylls confirmed his attendance at Brands ceremony and said it was a privilege to attend ( Getty Images )

I suppose what that did is it revealed that what we were experiencing was a public concoction, said the Get Him To The Greek actor. I am aware that I put myself in an extremely vulnerable position by being very, very promiscuous. That is not the kind of conduct that I endorse, and its certainly not how I would live now.

Ive been shown a good many things, as a result of these events  the value of my family, the value of friendship, the value of being able to speak publicly.

I mentioned my son because throughout it I was able to maintain what is really important in life ... hurtful as it is to be accused of what I consider to be the most appalling crimes, to be accused of this is very, very painful, and very hurtful.

He added: But I am being shown that there are consequences for the rather foolish way that I lived in the past  although of course again to reiterate, due to the nature of the world we live, of course I deny any allegations of the kind that have been advanced.

Brand and Grylls previously spent time together in 2023 when the comedian appeared on Running Wild with Bear Grylls and the pair hiked across the Hebrides together.

The TV survivalist is an advocate for Christianity and has appeared in promotional videos for the Alpha course, which claims to have recruited 29 million people to the faith.

Alpha course was created by the Anglican priest Nicky Gumbel at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) in Knightsbridge in 1991.

open image in gallery Brand and Grylls previously spent time together in 2023 when the comedian appeared on Running Wild with Bear Grylls ( Apple TV+ )

As well as Grylls, former cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken, former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair and Spice Girl Geri Halliwell have all attended the organisations gatherings.

Writing for GQ in 2017, Grylls said he believes theres a difference between faith and religion and described Jesus as a party lover.

I meet so many people who dont want religion as such, the Chief Scout said. I get it. I feel the same. And, in fact, so did Jesus, the heart of all Christian faith. Faith and religion are not the same thing.

The Jesus I read about in the Bible was fun, free and wild, he continued.

He loved a party and he always hung out with the non-religious folk. The only people he ever got angry with were the overly religious types.

Grylls has been contacted by The Independent for comment.
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At least two people were killed and several injured after a suspected knife attack at a hospital in China.

State media reported that the attack happened at the Zhenxiong County Peoples Hospital in Zhaotong city, in the south-west of the country.

The official Xinhua News Agency said there were more than 10 casualties in what it called a "vicious assault" on Tuesday in Yunnan province.

An online post from Guizhou province television, citing unnamed authorities, said two had died and 23 people were injured.

A suspect has been arrested, the Guizhou TV post said.

A witness told online publication Red Star Newsn that he narrowly escaped the attack and that a doctor or doctors were among the injured.

Video from the witness showed people who were bleeding and had fallen to the ground, and one older person trying to help another, according to a social media post by the outlet.

A man with a knife killed six people and wounded one other last July at a kindergarten in southeastern Chinas Guangdong province.

open image in gallery Crime scene following knife attack in Chinas Guangdong province last year ( Reuters )

A teacher, two parents and three students were identified as the victims of the attack.

That attack came just a week after the Chinese education ministry released a notice to local authorities urging them to ensure student safety during the summer holidays.

There has been a spate of knife attacks at schools in China  where access to firearms is tightly regulated by the government  in recent years.

Violent crime in China has been on the rise as the economy has grown in recent decades, widening the gap between the rich and poor.

The Chinese government has largely attributed attacks to people bearing grudges against society with an aim to wreak revenge.

State officials have also suggested poor mental health of people suffering to adapt to a changing society and social stressors such as unemployment as reasons behind the killings.

However mental health resources in China remain limited, with the topic still stigmatised by communities.
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Indian prime minister Narendra Modi led the voting in the third phase of the countrys election which has been marred by inflammatory campaign speeches attacking the Muslim minority and growing acrimony among rival parties.

As many as 93 constituencies went to the polls across 11 states, including Mr Modis home state Gujarat as well as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Modi, who has been in power for a decade, is seeking a third straight term and faces a weakended coalition of the main opposition Congress party and its powerful regional allies.

The election, which sees seven phases of voting spread over six weeks, is meant to elect 543 members of the lower house of Indias parliament called the Lok Sabha. A party or coalition needs a simple majority of 272 seats to form the government. In the prevous election in 2019, Mr Modis Bharatiya Janata Party took 303 seats and the Congress just 52.

Nearly a billion people are eligible to vote in this election. And hundreds of thousands of them queued up at polling stations across the country on Tuesday despite temperatures soaring above 42C in some regions.

Mr Modi cast his vote in the morning at a polling station in Gujarats Gandhinagar constituency, where his chief lieutenant, home minister Amit Shah, is standing for re-election.

As the prime minister appeared outside the polling station clad in a saffron vest, the signature hue of his Hindu nationalist party, he was greeted by a crowd of supporters who cheered and raised slogans in his favour.

Mr Modi encouraged the public to vote in substantial numbers and reminded them to stay hydrated during the day.

Gautam Adani, the Gujarati billionaire with close ties to Mr Modi, also voted in Ahmedabad. Speaking to local reporters afterwards, he expressed confidence that "India is moving forward and will keep advancing.

open image in gallery Narendra Modi leaves after casting his vote at a polling booth in Gujarat ( AFP via Getty )

In West Bengal, the eastern state where the Trinamool Congress is in power, politicians lodged complaints of voter intimidation and assaults on polling agents.

The Election Commission of India said it had received 182 complaints by 9am from West Bengal and some from Uttar Pradesh as well.

Almost 50 per cent of the registered voters had turned out to cast their ballots until 3pm, the commission said.

Meanwhile, opposition parties questioned the delay in releasing polling data of the first two phases and alleged discrepancies.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge questioned whether the delay was an attempt to doctor the final results in a letter to INDIA bloc, the opposistion coalition that his party leads.

He called on the bloc to collectively, unitedly and unequivocally raise our voice against such discrepancies, for our only objective is to protect the culture of a vibrant Democracy and the Constitution.

open image in gallery Indian voters wait outside a polling station during the third phase of the election in Ahmedabad, Gujarat ( EPA )

The commission released the data 11 days after the first phase of polling on 19 April and four days after the second phase on 26 April.

Mr Kharge said the credibility of the Election Commission of India is at an all time low.

The latest round of polling was held after Mr Modi and top members of his party drew criticism for ramping up sectarian rhetoric against Muslims on the campaign trail.

Mr Modi has been accused of changing his campaign strategy to make more fiery and polarising speeches after the first phase of voting record a lower turnout than in 2009.

open image in gallery Indians stand in a queue to cast their ballots at a polling station during the third phase of polling in India's general election in Bhopal ( AFP via Getty )

Analysts have said the change in tone suggests the ruling partys goal of winning a supermajority, or two-thirds of the 543 seats in the lower house of Parliament, by consolidating votes among the majority Hindu population, is going to plan.

The election commission has confirmed it is investigating whether comments made by the prime minister at a campaign about infiltrators and those who have many children constitute hate speech towards Muslims.

It is also alleged that Mr Modis party is ratcheting up polarising speeches to distract voters from larger issues, like unemployment and economic distress, that the opposition has focused on.

"The mask has dropped, and I think it is political compulsions that have made them do this," Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a political science professor at New Delhis Ashoka University told Associated Press.

Changes in the BJPs campaign may also be a sign of anxiety around low voter turnout it had not anticipated, Mr Mahmudabad added.

The next phase of voting is on 13 May.
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Toto Wolff refused to rule out a meeting with Max Verstappen as the Mercedes boss revealed he is in observation mode as he waits to sign a replacement for Lewis Hamilton.

Wolff is looking for a new team-mate for George Russell next year with seven-time world champion Hamilton leaving for Ferrari.

The Mercedes team principal is keen to land Verstappen, who has a contract with Red Bull until 2028 and insists he is happy at the world champions at the moment. He is on course for a fourth-straight drivers title this year.

While Wolff dismissed speculation that he was set to meet with Verstappens representatives in Miami on Monday, he admitted that talks could take place in the future as he continues to bide his time ahead of finding a second driver for 2025.

Theres always plenty of meetings, I cant really say about the second driver, Wolff said.

I think weve talked about the possibilities. I want to be fair to these guys and not make it look like we are playing chess with humans because we are not doing that.

I think we want to take our time, see where Maxs thinking goes, and at the same time monitor the other drivers.

Carlos [Sainz] was very strong in Miami again and thats why we are a little bit in an observation mode at the moment.

Sainz, who will make way for Hamilton at Ferrari, is currently without a drive for 2025 but has been linked with the Mercedes seat. Red Bull and Sauber are the Spaniards other possibilities.

open image in gallery Toto Wolff is in observation mode ahead of picking a driver for 2025 ( Getty Images )

open image in gallery Max Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until 2028 ( AP )

Yet Wolff could also look to promote highly-rated Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli from Formula 2. The 17-year-old could even replace Logan Sargeant at Williams at some point during the current season.

Wolff added that, in his view, Verstappen holds the key to the driver market.

If I was him [Verstappen], I wouldnt leave  at least for 2025, he said.

But hes the leading driver, hes the top guy at the moment and thats why its for him to take those decisions.

There may not be any decisions to take, maybe everything continues like it is, but that is then also guidance for us.
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Kate* loves teaching. She loves going to her primary school every day, standing up in front of her class, watching the children learn. Its the job shes always dreamed about having. Despite all this, she says that choosing the career is one of her biggest regrets. The prospect of work has started giving her panic attacks. She has so much paperwork to do that, outside of school, shes hardly left the house for weeks. And now shes desperate to quit. Where did it all go wrong?

Being in the class is absolutely perfect, she says. But its everything else that takes over teaching, everything else on top of it, thats made me hate it. Whether its the mountain of admin on her desk, the torrent of emails, or all the meetings and worries for childrens care, its become too much. Kate is not alone. Teaching has always been one of the most rewarding professions, but its also one of the toughest. And its getting worse. A November study by the mental health charity Education Support found that teacher wellbeing is at a five-year low, with stress, insomnia and burnout all rising. In 2017, 67 per cent of schoolteachers were reporting feelings of stress  by 2023, that figure had risen starkly to 78 per cent.

The figures get worse everywhere you turn. This year, a workforce survey of members of the NASUWT union found that some teachers had been driven to the point of suicide by the stress of the job. Among 12,000 teachers, 23 per cent reported drinking more alcohol, 12 per cent the use of or increased use of antidepressants, and 3 per cent said they had self-harmed as a result of their work. These findings prompted members to back a suicide prevention strategy for teachers at the unions annual conference in March.

And teachers are  unsurprisingly  leaving the profession in record numbers, too. The latest workforce survey by the Department for Education found that 40,000 teachers resigned from state schools in 2021/22  almost 9 per cent of the teaching workforce, and the highest number since it began publishing the data in 2011. If theyre not actually quitting, lots of them are considering it. There is a Facebook group called Life After Teaching  Exit the Classroom and Thrive, which currently has 159,000 members and is filled with despairing posts.

Sinead Mc Brearty, the head of Education Support, is not surprised. Mc Brearty has seen schoolteachers in floods of tears over not being able to budget for the schools heating bill after energy prices soared following Russias invasion of Ukraine. Shes also spoken to numerous suicidal teachers and more than one who has admitted to fantasising about purposely crashing their car on the way to work, so they wouldnt have to go in. There are a lot of people who really are just broken by this career, she says. And its such a terribly sad thing. Because they go into this job with such a clear sense of purpose, and they really are wanting to make the world a better place. Theyre full of vim and vigour, and theyre broken by the experience of working in schools and the demand thats there. Its a tragedy, really, that we cant get that right.

Last years teacher strikes were the biggest in a decade  and were eventually called off after members of four education unions voted to accept the governments 6.5 per cent pay rise offer. It was a huge misconception, though, that the strikes were just about money. Yes, teacher pay is low for the work they do (salaries start at 30,000), but the strikes were also over workload, staff shortages and funding for basic resources like pencils and textbooks.

Mc Brearty says that one of the key drivers of poor mental health among teachers is work-life balance. The school day may end at about 3pm, but the working day doesnt. Teachers still have reams of paperwork to do  including form-filling for safeguarding issues or students with special needs  on top of lesson planning and marking. We have to get a grip on workload, Mc Brearty says. The World Health Organisation has been really clear that working more than 55 hours a week is seriously damaging to your health. But many teachers are doing that  thats normal for them. Kate is contracted to work 35 hours a week at her school, but estimates that she usually ends up clocking in as many as 60. She works every night after the school day finishes and all day on Sundays. Saturdays are her one sacred day off.

Kate has started having panic attacks about her workload and drinking more than usual to cope. Its when Im trying to relax, she says. When I come home from school each night, at four or five oclock, I will automatically go straight to get a glass of wine as soon as I walk in the door, and I will spend an hour having two or three. When I have Sunday anxiety, I will drink a full bottle while Im doing work. Its quite embarrassing.

open image in gallery Behaviour and behaviour management are key contributors to mental health issues among teachers ( Getty )

Michael*, who recently left teaching for a different role in education outside of the classroom, can relate to the loss of work-life balance. Im really glad I was a teacher  I learned so much and the students were remarkable, he says. But it just felt untenable, and I couldnt do it anymore. I couldnt really have a personal life. The job took an emotional toll on him, too. I found the mental load of it really difficult, he says. A massive factor was that I was taking my work home with me, and not even in a physical sense. Even when I didnt have any marking to do, Id be worrying about this student or that student, or how I was going to make something work the next day in relation to a lesson.

It got to the stage where he would arrive at work, sit in his car and just freeze. I understand now, through therapy, that it was a fight or flight sort of response that happens when you feel like youre in danger. One day, when he received some difficult personal news while at work, it all became too much. I was in the middle of showing the students a film and I went up to the staff room and had a panic attack. I blacked out. I felt like I couldnt breathe. I went to see a colleague and I had tears down my face, and she told me to go home and just deal with the situation. I never actually went back. That was my last day, and I ended up getting signed off by my GP.

A lot of the tasks that teachers have to do outside of school hours are what Mc Brearty calls empty work. Teachers never complain about time with the kids or doing the stuff that they are in the job to do, she says. The issue is the empty work  producing data for some things that seem pointless. And that problem sits at the door of government because there are government requests from schools that create workload. And its also linked to the accountability system. When people are afraid that an inspector is going to come in and look for the evidence that particular pieces of work have been done, they want everything documented. So theres a very high compliance culture in a lot of schools.

I started to panic a bit because I thought, I feel like Im banging my head against a brick wall here Michael

Ofsted inspections put schools and teachers under acute stress. Last year, headteacher Ruth Perry took her own life after she received news of a low Ofsted rating for her school in Reading. Her death led to an outcry against the punitive inspection process, with headteachers across the country saying they were considering refusing entry to Ofsted until the inspectorate committed to significant change. It was reported last month that single-phrase Ofsted judgments such as inadequate would be scrapped for more nuanced descriptors  but the Department for Education has denied this.

Michael, who taught at A-level, felt a huge pressure to ensure his students achieved good grades after the Covid pandemic. He had joined his school at a time when Ofsted was breathing down their neck quite heavily, and they had built the college back up from inadequate to good. But then, during the lockdowns, a system of teacher-assessed grades was introduced to replace the cancelled formal exams. In the later lockdowns, Michael found himself teaching A-level students whose GCSEs had also been disrupted, and he saw a sharp drop in their results compared to previous cohorts. I started to panic a bit because I thought, I feel like Im banging my head against a brick wall here. Im not able, in the same way, to affect these peoples lives and steer them in a better direction.

Attendance had also plummeted. My college, due to financial issues, was more reluctant to kick students out, says Michael. The problem then becomes that, if someones just not attending, then it has a knock-on effect on the other learners. I started to see attendance as a whole dip, because the learners see others getting away with it.

The Covid pandemic had a devastating impact on British schools. There have been accounts of young infants, whose early years were spent in lockdown, reaching school age still in nappies, and unable to use a knife and fork, due to lockdowns impact on early years development. Falling school attendance and deteriorating behaviour are issues for older students, thanks to the breakdown in the relationship and trust between schools and parents. Covid also contributed to rising levels of poverty in the UK, in large part due to a loss of earnings for many families. About 4.2 million children are in relative poverty in the country, while the number of young people in extreme poverty  meaning their families cannot afford to clothe them, clean them or keep them warm  has tripled over the past three years.

open image in gallery Some schools are offering teachers one day off a fortnight in a bid to improve wellbeing and attract new people to the profession ( Getty/iStock )

The impact of poverty in the classroom is not just the lack of material goods, says Mc Brearty. Its everything that goes with that  so you have kids that arent sleeping, might not have a bed, arent eating. Children living in these conditions become agitated, exhausted and unable to concentrate. If youve gone into the teaching profession because youre motivated by wanting to help children and young people learn, or be the best they can be, or fall head over heels in love with art, you cant do any of that if kids are hungry and not safe and not well looked after. Thats what sits behind the poverty numbers.

Another key issue taking teachers away from their main job  to educate  is the poor state of the countrys wider public services. If you cant safely refer a child to mental health services, if social care is not able to deal with a case that is serious, if you cannot get appropriate support for the special needs that exist in the cohort that youre teaching  this is really, really problematic stuff, says Mc Brearty. If youve got a child who is disclosing suicidal ideation, you wont necessarily get any mental health support for that. Its a real emotional burden on people in the job, and is not what they signed up to do.

Kate describes herself as more than just a teacher for her children, saying that, a lot of the time, she is effectively their social worker, carer, and safeguarder. I also have a lot of children with special needs in my class, but lots of them are on the waiting list for a support plan. It can take up to a year and a half for the funding to come through, and in the meantime, the teachers dealing with this massive issue, without any support.

Behaviour and behaviour management are also key contributors to mental health issues among teachers. Last year, there was a little boy in my class who was very violent, says Kate. He was hitting me, biting me, punching the other children. He didnt get excluded until it got severe, until somebody had a severely black eye, probably after about eight months of violent incidents, and that is simply because theres no money. The school lost control over being able to manage that behaviour. They didnt have behaviour teams coming in to manage it. And they didnt have a pupil referral unit that the child could go straight into because they are absolutely overloaded. They are full.

Issues such as behaviour tend to worsen when children are distracted, or have low attention spans. The level of digital engagement by children and young people is changing attention spans and their ability to concentrate, says Mc Brearty, who argues that childrens phone use and online activity also brings other issues into the classroom that make teachers jobs harder. The amount of information  good and bad, true and false, reliable and not reliable  that the kids can access is off the charts, she says. I was sitting on the bus with my sons friends the other day, 10-year-olds, and taking them to a party. One kid was on his phone, and he was just scrolling through horrible images of decomposing bodies. I was like, youre 10. How are you looking at this? What kids have access to is gobsmacking, and that does bring into the classroom a whole array of often unexpected issues. At the charity, weve been asked, How do I talk to kids about the Israel-Palestine conflict? So we run webinars for how to discuss difficult topics as safely as possible.

So what are the solutions for how to improve teachers mental health? Some schools are offering teachers one day off a fortnight in a bid to improve wellbeing and attract new people to the profession. Many schools around the country are already prohibiting mobile phone use, with the government launching a crackdown in February. Education Support, meanwhile, provides a free counselling helpline for struggling teachers, and the charity Mental Health UK offers advice on coping with stress, getting a good nights sleep, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance on its site.

But Mc Brearty says a lot of the necessary changes need to come from government. They need to address the funding for wider services. Special educational needs funding is a car crash and needs to be resolved. We need a strategy around children in poverty that befits a country as wealthy as we are. Teacher pay has fallen in real terms since 2010  pay matters, because its a statement of value, and at the moment, the message is that society doesnt really value education. They have to rescope what theyre asking schools to do and ask them to do a lot less, or put a load more money in to allow them to resource the gazillion things theyve asked them to do. Thats it. Thats the choice.

And everything else, for me, is moving deck chairs around on the top of the Titanic.

*Names have been changed in this article

All teachers and education staff can call Education Supports free and confidential helpline 24/7. When you call youll talk to a qualified counsellor for immediate, confidential emotional support: 08000 562 561.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
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Authorities were searching the European parliament office of a prominent German far-right lawmaker in Brussels on Tuesday, Germanys top prosecutors office said.

Maximilian Krah, the Alternative for Germany partys top candidate in the upcoming European Parliament elections, has been under scrutiny after an assistant of his was arrested last month on suspicion of spying for China.

Jian Guo  a German national who had worked for Krah since his election to the European Union legislature in 2019  has been accused of of working for a Chinese intelligence service and of repeatedly passing on information on negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament in January. Prosecutors allege that he was also spying on Chinese dissidents in Germany.

The arrest cast an unflattering light on the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which already faced criticism for having Russia-friendly positions. The European Parliament elections will take place June 9 in Germany.

The federal public prosecutors office said in Tuesday's statement that the European Parliament has consented to enter the premises.

An apartment of Guo in Brussels had already been searched last month, the prosecutors statement said.

Prosecutors said that on Tuesday both the offices of Krah and Guo in Brussels were searched on the basis of orders issued by the investigating German judge and a European investigation order.

Krah had dismissed his assistant last month after he was arrested, but both the German government and opposition lawmakers have sharply assailed the Alternative for Germany for its alleged closeness to China and also Russia.

Despite the allegations, Krah remains the AfD's top candidate for the European Parliament election.

News magazine Der Spiegel and public broadcaster ZDF reported last month that Krah was questioned by the FBI at the end of a visit to the United States in December about possible payments from pro-Russian sources.

Krah has denied receiving any such payments. He wrote on the social platform X that the preliminary investigation was expected but added that we are still in the area of suppositions and insinuations.

Separately, the no. 2 on the AfDs list for the European Parliament election, Petr Bystron, last month denied allegations in a Czech daily that he may have received money from a pro-Russian network.

Also last month, German authorities also arrested three other people suspected of spying for China and arranging to transfer information on technology with potential military uses.

Prosecutors said the three German citizens are accused of having acted for Chinese intelligence since before June 2022. They are also suspected of violating German export laws by exporting a special laser without permission.
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Watch again as Grant Shapps updated MPs on Tuesday 7 May after a Ministry of Defence data breach.

Mr Shapps speec came after reports revealed that the Ministry of Defence was targeted in a cyberattack on a third party payroll system including the details of tens of thousands of British armed forces and veterans.

Senior Tory Tobias Ellwood said the targeting of a payroll system points to China and could be part of strategy to see who might be coerced. China said it firmly opposes and fights all forms of cyberattacks.

Downing Street refused to accuse a specific state for the cyberattack.
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Spains Catalonia region will ease restrictions on water use for a wide area including Barcelona after recent rainfall palliated a prolonged drought, regional authorities said Tuesday.

Catalonia declared a drought emergency in February when its reservoirs fell under 16% capacity after nearly three years of below-average rainfall. But steady rain in recent weeks has boosted reserves to nearly 25%. Spain's reservoirs overall are at 66% full.

The loosened restrictions mean that some 6 million people will now see individual use limits increased from 200 to 230 liters per day (53 to 61 gallons). Catalonias water agency says the average resident uses 116 liters (30 gallons) per day at home.

Famers will only have to reduce their average uses by 40%, instead of 80%, while industrial users will only have to save 15% compared to 25%.

David Mascort, who heads Catalonia's environmental authority, said that plans were still intact to install a floating desalination plant off Barcelonas coast in October. He said that Catalonias reserves for the areas fed by the Ter and Llobregat rivers were now near the same level as the previous year.

We are in the same situation as last year, but this time, we are better prepared. If in May 2023 some 65% of our water came from our reservoirs, now it is only 50% thanks to an expansion in Catalonias water reuse and desalination infrastructure, Mascort said.

However, Catalonias government spokeswoman, Patricia Plaja, warned that the drought is not over.
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Gunshots have been fired at a house in Greater Manchester in what police believe was a targeted attack.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) launched an investigation after confirming a gun was fired at an address in Prince Edward Avenue, Oldham, at around 1am on Tuesday morning.

The force confirmed no one was injured in the attack.

Detective inspector Clare Harrison, from GMPs Oldham district, described the incident as shocking but said police do believe that this is a targeted attack, with no wider risk posed to the community.

She said: We are working at pace to find out the exact circumstances of last nights events and understanding the timeline. We are utilising all the necessary resources available as we investigate the incident, and are working hard to ensure those responsible are brought into custody.

Any report of a firearms discharge is always shocking and I know that people within the local area will be concerned and worried following this news.

However, I want to tell the public that we do believe that this is a targeted attack with no wider threat to the public.

Greater Manchester Police believe the incident was a targeted attack ( Getty Images/iStockphoto )

She said extra officers will be deployed in the areas to reassure people.

I would recommend chatting to them if you have any concerns  they are there for you and will be able to assist with any queries, DI Harrison added.

"We've continued to tackle gun crime to keep streets safer across Greater Manchester, with 78 firearms recovered in the last year alone.

The number of shootings has continued to reduce and our specialist teams continue to remove these weapons from the hands of criminals. However, when incidents do occur, we act quickly and thoroughly to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.

If you have information that you believe is important, please do get in touch with us via 101, quoting log number 122 of 07/05/24. You can also call the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

In particular, officers are asking anyone with any relevant dashcam, CCTV, or doorbell footage, to get in touch.
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A British woman has pleaded guilty to uploading content of monkeys being tortured to a global network of online chat groups.

Holly LeGresley, 37, from Kidderminster, was charged following an investigation by the BBC into torture of monkeys overseas.

She uploaded 22 images and 132 videos of the animal cruelty to online chat groups.

The 37-year-old covered her face with a surgical mask as she left Worcester Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

She was told that all options will be available at her sentencing hearing next month after she pleaded guilty to separate charges of publishing obscene articles and intentionally encouraging animal cruelty.

Holly LeGresley, 37, leaving Worcester Magistrates' Court where she admitted uploading 22 images and 132 videos of monkeys being tortured to online chat groups ( Matthew Cooper/PA Wire )

The court was told that the case against LeGresley, of Baldwin Road, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, should be transferred to Worcester Crown Court because magistrates powers of punishment were insufficient.

Prosecutor Angla Hallan told the court: The Crown submit that due to the unusual legal, procedural and factual complexity of this particular case, that the matter would not be suitable to be dealt with in these courts.

Although she did not open detailed facts of the case, Ms Hallan said it fell into the category of sadism and high harm.

West Mercia Police charged LeGresley, the court heard, after being informed by the national wildlife crime unit.

A second defendant, Adriana Orme, 55, of The Beeches, Ryall, near Upton-upon Severn, also Worcestershire, did not indicate any plea to similar charges.

The court was told the women had not carried out monkey torture themselves.

Adriana Orme leaving Worcester Magistrates' Court ( Matthew Cooper/PA Wire )

Ms Hallan told the court both women had been charged after being identified as having been part of online chat groups, after the BBC had been involved in exposing the trade.

Orme is alleged to have published an obscene article by uploading one image and 26 videos of monkey torture between April 14 and the June 16 2022, and to have encouraged or assisted the commission of unnecessary suffering by making a 10 payment to a PayPal account on April 26 2022.

LeGresley, who left court without comment, admitted uploading images of monkey torture between March 25 and May 8 2022, and made a payment of 17.24 to a PayPal account to encourage cruelty on April 25 of the same year.

Although details of the BBCs undercover investigation were not given in court, a BBC Eye inquiry led to at least 20 people being placed under investigation globally last year.

LeGresley, 37 was charged following an investigation by the BBC ( Matthew Cooper/PA Wire )

The investigation exposed a global monkey torture network involving a private online group paying people in Indonesia to kill and torture baby monkeys on video.

The BBC reported that LeGresley used the username The Immolator and ran a poll for members of the group on which method of torture should be inflicted upon an infant monkey.

The case against Orme was transferred to the Crown Court, where she was ordered to appear on June 5.

LeGresley will face sentence at the higher court on June 7.

Both defendants were granted conditional bail and ordered not to have unsupervised contact with any animal or child.
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A wealthy heiress was killed by her husband in a plot to claim 3.5m in secret life insurance policies planned almost the minute they met, a court heard.

Convicted fraudster Donald McPherson, 50, was found not guilty of the murder of his wife Paula Leeson, 47, on a judges direction to the jury halfway through his trial in 2021.

Ms Leeson, who was set to inherit her fathers ground working business with her brother, drowned in a swimming pool while staying at a holiday cottage with McPherson in remote western Denmark.

McPherson had told police he awoke to find Ms Leeson face down in the shallow pool.

The judge in the trial ruled that despite circumstantial evidence, a jury could not be sure to the criminal standard  beyond reasonable doubt  that he had killed her.

But since then, Ms Leesons family has brought civil legal proceedings, asking a judge to rule he unlawfully killed her so he forfeits any legal entitlement to benefiting from his late wifes will and estate, worth 4.4m.

Donald McPherson was found not guilty of the murder of his wife Paula Leeson in 2021, but now faces civil action from her family ( MEN Media )

McPherson had taken out multiple secret life insurance policies on his wife before her death, worth 3.5 million.

The defendant is a morally corrupt individual and that dishonesty permeates every aspect of this case, Lesley Anderson KC, representing the Leeson family, said in her closing speech following a four-week hearing Ms Leesons family at Manchester Civil Courts of Justice.

In our case, this was a plan almost the minute he met Paula. The defendant went about setting up policies with indecent haste.

He killed her because of the significant motive of the insurance policies.

This case is extra-ordinary because the defendant lies to almost everybody in this case.

All of the facts, taken together, make it substantially more likely that he killed Paula.

Ms Anderson said McPherson, despite running out of money, was paying around 500 a month on insurance policies.

Ms Leeson, who was 5ft 5in tall, drowned in the pool that was less than 4ft deep, though she could swim and was an otherwise healthy mother-of-one.

Lawyers for the Leeson family argue to save herself from drowning she could simply have stood up, so must have been choked before being put into the water unconscious.

The couple wed at a no-expense-spared ceremony at a Cheshire castle in 2014 after a whirlwind romance.

Born Alexander James Lang and originally from New Zealand, McPherson met Ms Leeson in 2013, using a cover story of being an orphan to hide his past after serving jail time for an 11 million bank fraud in Germany, the court heard.

He claimed to be a property developer and Ms Leeson oversaw the skip hire part of her familys successful ground-working business her father Willy, 80, had built up in Sale, Greater Manchester, after emigrating from County Wicklow, Ireland, in the 1960s.

Ms Leeson and her brother Neville stood to inherit the business.

The court has heard McPherson being described as a Walter Mitty who had changed his name multiple times, had 32 convictions spanning 15 years in three countries, and whose previous wife and their child died in a house fire.

McPherson told police he awoke to find Ms Leeson face down in the shallow swimming pool at a holiday cottage in remote western Denmark he had booked for the couple, on June 6 2017.

Her death was initially treated as a tragic accident by the Danish authorities  though she had suffered 13 separate external injuries.

Within hours he was transferring thousands of pounds from her accounts to cover his debts, the court heard.

Soon after, McPherson cleared their home in Sale of his late wifes possessions and joined a bereavement group, Widowed And Young  that he called Tinder for widows.

He was later arrested in the UK as police looked into his financial background.

McPherson has always denied any involvement in his wifes death and after he was acquitted of murder, in a statement through his solicitors, described it as a tragic accident.

His lawyers had argued Ms Leesons injuries could be a result of her rescue from the pool and resuscitation attempts and pathologists could not rule out that she could have fainted or accidentally fallen into the pool and drowned.

McPherson contests the Leesons court application but is not present or legally represented at the hearing, and is believed to be living somewhere in the South Pacific.

Mr Justice Richard Smith is expected to rule on the Leesons application later this year.
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A road rage driver who went viral for screaming abuse at a woman after she beeped at him for cutting her up is facing jail.

Peter Abbott got out of his car and approached terrified Samantha Isaacss vehicle on August 25 last year following the minor incident outside a Tesco petrol station in Bournemouth, Dorset, just before lunchtime.

Mrs Isaacs, who runs a TV production company and has worked with Prince William and Alan Titchmarsh, locked her doors and began filming irate Abbott.

The 60-year-old of Bournemouth banged on her windscreen with his fists before unleashing the foul-mouthed tirade.

He shouted at her, Can you f**king see me you f**king tart? He then called her a sl** and a wh*** and put his head up against the windscreen.

Peter Abbott, 60, pictured outside of court ( BNPS )

Another motorist went to intervene and called Abbott a bully. The Good Samaritan told him, What is wrong with you, its a woman on her own, to which Abbott replied, Shes a f**king bloody annoying woman.

The footage was shown at Poole Magistrates Court in Dorset where Abbott went on trial for using threatening words or behaviour to cause alarm, distress or fear of violence.

He denied the offence, saying its not against the law to be angry but was found guilty of the offence.

Sentencing was adjourned for reports but a district judge warned Abbott that he may go to jail as it was the most serious of this type of offence.

Mrs Isaacs, who is aged in her late fifties, said afterwards: Hes a horrible man and a bully. I didnt want it to go this far, I just dont want him to do it to anyone else.

She explained how Abbott pulled out in front of the mother of three and she honked her horn, prompting Abbott to make rude gestures at her before stopping his Toyota car and getting out.

Poole Magistrates Court (Andrew Matthews/PA) ( PA Archive )

He was banging with both his fists on the windscreen and my door, she told the court, I was frightened so I started videoing it.

I didnt think he was going to kill me or anything but this was escalating and I wanted to have it on camera. I would have thought after it being such a long time ago I would be okay, but its still not very nice to watch [the video].

Mrs Isaacs said she felt unsafe and the incident has left her checking shes locked her doors and using a dashcam.

The court heard Abbott was identified as the registered keeper of the Toyota involved in the road rage and was interviewed by police in October.

He claimed he was in fact the victim of road rage as Mrs Isaacs had sounded her horn several times, flashed her lights at him and made a rude gesture.

He told the court: The origin of this incident was the behaviour of the witness. Despite what she has said on oath in this court, she didnt just sound her horn once, she sounded it several times and flashed her lights, which I deem road rage.

Rightly or wrongly I am the type of person if someone behaves like that to me I will want to say something, I will call them out on it. I will do it with anyone, whatever gender, size or age they are.

The altercation took place outside a Tesco in Bournemouth ( Getty Images )

I do not like people filming other people without their permission, I think its a violation of their privacy.

He added: Anger is not a rational function. I regret my behaviour but theres a number of statements I contest.

Judge Orla Austin said she found Mrs Isaacs an entirely credible witness and found Abbott guilty.

She said: It is very clear to me from the footage that he was banging on her car. The level of anger was extremely high.

I dont believe you, I find you did all those things and were entirely threatening. The anger was out of all proportion to the incident.

Your intention was to cause her harassment, alarm and distress. She was on her own, you repeatedly targeted her, it was sustained abuse and had a significant effect on her.
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The massive cyberattack targeting the UKs Ministry of Defence is the latest in a long line of hacks forming a frontline of modern warfare.

The MoD attack, believed to have been carried out by China, was on a third-party payroll system including the details of tens of thousands of British armed forces and veterans, Sky News reported.

But cabinet minister Mel Stride said the government was not yet pinning the blame on Beijing despite a long history of the West blaming both China and Russia for previous attacks.

He told Sky News: That is an assumption. Where we are not saying that at this precise moment.

Here, The Independent looks at other recent cases of government departments, contractors and MPs being hacked.

Attendees at a Chinese internet safety conference walk past an electronic display showing recent cyberattacks in China ( AP )

Electoral Commission - March 2024

China state-affiliated cyber actors were behind the malicious targeting of parliamentarians and a cyber attack on the Electoral Commission, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said back in March.

The UKs cyber security agency said it believes a China-backed group known as APT31 was responsible for a campaign of online spying against the email accounts of a group of MPs and peers critical of China.

When the attack was made public it was confirmed the hackers had been able to access reference copies of the electoral registers, held by the commission for research purposes and to enable permissibility checks on political donations.

The registers held at the time of the cyber attack include the name and address of anyone in the UK who was registered to vote between 2014 and 2022, as well as the names of those registered as overseas voters.

The Electoral Commission said the attack did not have an impact on the security of UK elections, and resilience has been strengthened since the attack.

Star Blizzard - December 2023

Russias intelligence services targeted high-profile British politicians, civil servants and journalists with cyberespionage and malicious cyberactivity as part of sustained attempts to interfere in political processes.

The Foreign Office said Russias FSB agency was responsible for a range of cyberespionage operations including targeting British parliamentarians from multiple parties from at least 2015 and selectively leaking and amplifying sensitive information to serve Russian interests.

Foreign Office minister Leo Docherty told lawmakers that a cybergroup known as Star Blizzard or Callisto Group, which British cybersecurity officials believe to be almost certainly subordinate to an FSB unit, created false identities to impersonate legitimate contacts and then delivered malicious links to victims.

Army hacked to promote NFTs - July 2022

The British Army confirmed a breach of its Twitter and YouTube accounts when the channel featured videos promoting cyptocurrency and images of billionaire businessman Elon Musk.

The official Twitter account had retweeted a number of posts appearing to relate to NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

The British Armys account was taken over by hackers ( PA )

At one stage, the account name was changed to Bapesclan and the profile picture was an ape-like cartoon figure in clownish make-up.

A tweet posted afterwards read: Apologies for the temporary interruption to our feed. We will conduct a full investigation and learn from this incident. Thanks for following us and normal service will now resume.

Microsoft Exchange - July 2021

Britain previously accused China of carrying out systematic cyber sabotage after an attack on Microsoft Exchange email services affected a quarter of a million servers worldwide.

US and other Nato member states, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand and Japan decided to pool resources after accusing China of being behind criminal hacking groups who targeted Microsoft Exchange servers in early 2021.

The state-sponsored blackmail means that the Chinese government is complicit in demanding millions of dollars from private companies in exchange for digital keys that allow victims to regain access to their computer networks, say western security officials.

Their wide-ranging and expanding activities include not just espionage, but extortion by spreading ransomware and cryptojacking.

Russia and China have been accused of being behind some cyber attacks ( Sputnik )

SolarWinds hack April 2021

Britain accused Russias foreign intelligence service of being behind what is believed to be one of the most serious cyber espionage attacks to have faced the US.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) had assessed that it was highly likely Moscow was behind the SolarWinds hack, which saw hackers infiltrate government agencies and corporate secrets of the likes of Microsoft in early 2020.

Russian hackers are believed to have infected the IT service firms widely used Orion software with a malicious code enabling them to access the systems of at least nine US agencies and 18,000 organisations worldwide, including Nato and the European Parliament.

The impact of the hack in the UK was assessed to be low, according to the findings of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) shared by the FCDO, with a low single digit number of public sector bodies having been targeted.

Coronavirus - July 2020

Britain, the United States and Canada all accused Russian spies of targeting scientists seeking to develop a coronavirus vaccine.

The three allies said hackers linked to Russian intelligence were seeking to steal the secrets of research bodies around the world, including in the UK.

In a coordinated announcement with security agencies in the US and Canada, the NCSC pointed the finger at an established hacker group known as APT29, Cozy Bear or The Dukes.

It is believed that vaccine research facilities at Oxford University and Imperial College London are among the institutions targeted by the hackers, who are thought to operate by exploiting weaknesses in VPN and external mail services used by researchers.
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Students at Oxford and Cambridge have set up camps on their university campuses to protest Israels war on Gaza, mirroring similar protests across American universities and Frances prestigious Sciences Po University in Paris.

The Pitts River Museum lawns were occupied by demonstrators from Oxford Action for Palestine early Monday morning while Cambridge saw a Liberated Zone encampment erected outside Kings College.

The Oxford students, joined by staff members, set up Gaza Solidarity Encampment tents and put up posters reading All eyes on Gaza.

A joint statement issued by Oxford Action for Palestine and Cambridge for Palestine said they refuse to accept our universities complicity in Israels war crimes against the Palestinian people.

Oxbridges profits cannot continue to climb at the expense of Palestinian lives, and their reputations must no longer be built on the whitewashing of Israeli crimes, they said. Today we join the university students, faculty and staff across the globe who refuse to continue business as usual while our institutions profit from genocide.

People walk past a pro-Palestine encampment set up by students at Oxford University ( Getty )

The students also listed their demands on a poster stating they wanted the universities to divest from Israeli genocide apartheid and occupation, overhaul their investment policies and support Palestinian-led rebuilding of education in Gaza.

Poster lists the demands of students protesters at a pro-Palestine encampment at Oxford University ( Getty )

Oxford Action for Palestine said they wanted members of the university to join the encampment and for Oxford to sever institutional relationships that facilitate the genocide and occupation of the Palestinian people.

Oxfords faculty and staff members issued a statement backing the students, seeking an unconditional and immediate ceasefire and demanding that the university divest from Israeli institutions.

Oxford should condemn the destruction of all of Gazas universities by Israels bombardment in the last six months and commit concrete resources both to support Palestinian scholars education and to rebuild Gazas destroyed institutions of higher education, the statement read.

An Oxford University spokesperson said they respected the right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests.

We ask everyone who is taking part to do so with respect, courtesy and empathy, the spokesperson said.

People hold placards and wave Palestinian flags as they take part in a demonstration in support to Palestinian people at University College London ( AFP via Getty )

Students and staff at the University of London have set up a Liberated Zone for Gaza on campus stating that the institution was deeply tied to Israeli settler colonialism through investments in various companies.

Similar pro-Palestine encampments have been set up at universities in Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle as well.

Students from the Cambridge Jews for Justice in Palestine group said they refuse to sit by while our university is complicit in, and profits from, the genocide of Palestinians and we refuse to accept its commitment to murder and bloodshed as the status quo.

The groups spokesperson said they were joining students across the world in refusing the weaponised conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

The protests at British universities mirror pro-Palestine demonstrations across the US.

Columbia University on Monday cancelled its main graduation ceremony after weeks of pro-Palestinian protests on the Ivy League colleges campus.

Holding a large commencement ceremony on our campus presented security concerns that unfortunately proved insurmountable, Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang said. Like our students, we are deeply disappointed with this outcome.

The ceremony was scheduled for 15 May.

Mr Chang said the university had sought an alternative venue but couldnt find one to accommodate the nearly 50,000 students, families and guests.

The protests at Columbia have drawn national attention and inspired similar demonstrations at dozens of universities around the country. The protesting students have been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and have demanded their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel.

But the protests on several campuses, including Columbia, have attracted sometimes violent police action.
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Campaigners are calling for tighter restrictions on the sale of toxic skin-lightening products as an eBay seller received a suspended sentence for selling more than 20,000 bottles of the illegal goods.

South London resident Musiliu Olatunji Badejo, 56, pleaded guilty to selling the banned cosmetics in April following a four-year investigation by Southwark Councils Trading Standards team.

Recent research has found that skin lightening is common among people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, while many remain unaware of the health risks including increased chances of skin cancer, plus liver and kidney damage.

Colourism, a system of inequality that views fairer hues as more beautiful than darker skin complexions, is often the reason behind skin lightening, studies have highlighted. Skin lightening is common in the UK, as well as the US, plus parts of the Caribbean, Africa and beyond.

Labour MP Kim Johnson is calling for tougher government restrictions on the sale of these items.

Illegal skin lightening products are incredibly dangerous, not just because of the physical harm they can do but also because they reinforce Eurocentric beauty standards and valorise fair skin at the expense of darker complexions, she told The Independent.

That this legacy of colonialist attitudes is still so prevalent and these products are still widely available in 2024 is a stain on our society, and must be stamped out. These attitudes stretch far beyond the realm of beauty standards and are reflected in the economic and structural oppression of people with darker skin.

Badejo received a six-week prison sentence suspended for 15 months and was ordered to pay 4,750 in fines ( Southwark Council )

Ms Johnson, who is a part of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Race, added: While Im pleased that this eBay seller has been brought to justice, the government must take action to strengthen guidelines, tighten regulations, and increase deterrents to put an end to the distribution and sale of these dangerous and toxic products.

Level Up, a campaigning group, has been calling for the removal of toxic cosmetics from shop shelves for years, urging manufacturers to stop making them.

Seyi Falodun-Liburd, the groups co-director, told The Independent: Products like these, made to align with dangerous and racist hierarchies of beauty, have always been lucrative and often at the expense of Black and global majority womens health.

It's encouraging to see courts taking this issue seriously; retailers who risk the lives of their consumers for profit should be held accountable.

More needs to be done to make these products less accessible for everyone, consumers and retailers alike.

Badejo, whose goods were valued at over a quarter of a million pounds, received a six-week prison sentence suspended for 15 months and was ordered to pay 4,750 in fines.

During his hearing at Inner London Crown Court, it was revealed that between March 2020 and January 2023 he had used multiple eBay accounts to sell more than 20,000 cosmetic products to UK customers, earning 340,000.

The seller sold more than 20,000 products, earning 340,000 ( Southwark Council )

Badejo said he imported most of the products from Ghana, Nigeria and Thailand to his home in London.

Southwark Trading Standards had detected two of his accounts and made seven test purchases, carrying out tests which showed that five of the items contained either hydroquinone or corticosteroids, which are both banned and dangerous chemicals.

One bottle, Pure White Dark Spot Corrector Serum, contained both but did not list them as ingredients.

The serum contained 10 per cent hydroquinone, which is five times the limit that was allowed in cosmetics before a complete European ban in 2001 and an American ban in 2020.

In October 2022, the Trading Standards team raided Badejos flat and seized just under 2,000 products, while he was out of country.

Around this time, two of his accounts were suspended by eBay.

Further tests confirmed that many of the seized products contained hydroquinone and corticosteroids, but these were not included on the ingredients labelling, a legal and safety requirement.

Trading Standards then served a notice on Badejo, cautioning him to stop selling these illegal cosmetics. However, when more eBay checks were made they found Badejo was using two other accounts, which were eventually closed by eBay.

One of the seized products ( Southwark Council )

Prospective sellers who want to import cosmetics into the UK have to carry out a safety assessment and keep detailed records about the produrcts, according to the law.

However, during an interview under caution, the former vendor admitted he had not carried out any of the checks required, explaining that he didnt know this was necessary.

Councillor Natasha Ennin, cabinet member for Community Safety at Southwark Council, said: The sale of illegal and dangerous skin lighteners is abhorrent. Southwark Council is committed to keep people safe and our Trading Standards team is one of the most proactive in the country in tackling this toxic trade.

We will not hesitate to take action against irresponsible traders who put profit over the health of their customers.

People cannot hide away selling illegal goods from home online. I hope this court outcome serves as a deterrent to others who think they can import cosmetics without any regard to the vital safety laws that protect people from harm.

An eBay spokesperson told The Independent: We take the safety of our users very seriously. We work closely with authorities such as Trading Standards and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to keep our platform safe.

Our regulatory portal also enables authorities to report listings of unsafe products to us for swift removal.

Any items found in breach of our safety policies will be removed immediately and action taken against sellers, which could include suspending seller accounts.

The governments Department for Business and Trade has been approached for comment.
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Universities must take robust action to ensure Jewish students are not harassed, Downing Street has urged amid ongoing protests on campuses against the war in Gaza.

The prime minister has summoned university leaders to a meeting this week to discuss antisemitism on campuses and ensure Jewish students are safe.

It comes as students at Cambridge and Oxford universities are among the latest protesters to set up encampments to demonstrate against the war in Gaza on campuses.

Rishi Sunak opened Tuesdays cabinet meeting by saying there had been an unacceptable rise in antisemitism on our university campuses ( Getty )

Rishi Sunak opened Tuesdays Cabinet meeting by saying there had been an unacceptable rise in antisemitism on our university campuses and vice-chancellors would be meeting to discuss the need for our universities to be safe for our Jewish students, the prime ministers official spokesperson said.

He said: Our university campuses should be places of rigorous debate, but they should also be tolerant places where people of all communities, particularly Jewish students at this time, are treated with respect.

Protesters have set up tents outside universities across the UK, including Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle, after unrest at similar sites in the US.

Asked what the prime ministers message was to students involved in the protests, the spokesperson said: The right to free speech does not include the right to harass people or incite violence.

Students march to deliver their demands to Cambridge University as they protest against the war in Gaza ( Joe Giddens/PA )

We expect university leaders to take robust action in dealing with that kind of behaviour and that will be the subject of the conversation in No 10 later this week to ensure a zero-tolerance approach to this sort of behaviour is adopted on all campuses.

Pressed on whether police should be called in to clear protest camps, the spokesperson said: We want to see university leaders taking a robust approach to unacceptable behaviour.

More than 100 people attended a demonstration outside Kings College, Cambridge, on Tuesday  where a protester with a megaphone by the encampment led a chant of From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

Protesters with Palestine flags and placards marched from the encampment to deliver their demands to the University of Cambridge.

A person works on a laptop computer as they sit by tents during a protest in support of Palestinian people, at Kings College at Cambridge ( AFP via Getty )

A Cambridge student, who did not wish to be named, described herself as part of a global collective which is a struggle for Palestinian liberation.

The student said the protesters were demanding that the university disclose all of its research collaborations and financial ties with companies and institutions complicit in Israels genocide and then to divest from these.

We will be staying here until our demands are met, she said.

Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Chicago on Tuesday amid tensions on US campuses over the war in Gaza.

Demonstrators clash at an encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, earlier in May ( AP )

A University and College Union (UCU) spokesperson said: It has been shocking to witness militarised police forces invited onto campuses in the United States to violently shut down peaceful dissent.

As peaceful encampments and occupations spread across Britain, we call on vice-chancellors to take a different approach.

We are clear that antisemitism and Islamophobia have no place on our campuses or in our society, but freedom of speech and freedom of assembly within the law are fundamental human rights and civil liberties which must be upheld.

A University of Cambridge spokesperson said: The university is fully committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law and we acknowledge the right to protest.

We ask everyone in our community to treat each other with understanding and empathy. Our priority is the safety of all staff and students.

We will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia and any other form of racial or religious hatred, or other unlawful activity.
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The government has been accused of neglecting the needs of homeless women by dramatically undercounting the numbers sleeping rough.

The first national census of women sleeping rough, shared exclusively with The Independent, found there are 43 per cent more women living on the streets in England than the official government data suggests.

Researchers counted 815 women sleeping rough in 41 local authorities across England - substantially higher than the government figure of 568 from last year.

Campaigners warn of a gender bias in government figures due to data teams only counting those who are bedded down or about to bed down as sleeping rough - saying many homeless women avoid sleeping in public spaces due to the risk of sexual violence.

The first-of-its-kind research, by a coalition of prominent womens and homelessness organisations, counted women sleeping rough in hidden places that women report sleeping in, with this including buses and trains, A&E waiting rooms, squats, walking around all night, and sofa-surfing with strangers.

However, researchers say the figures may still not capture the true numbers.

A former rough sleeper told The Independent: You have to be visible to get the help but you also need to be invisible to keep safe.

I always remember a woman once said: Id rather be raped by the same person every night than by a different person every night. Lucy Campbell

Researchers found sharp discrepancies in some areas - counting 188 women sleeping rough in Greater Manchester while government data recorded only five women being street homeless there.

The study, by Solace and Single Homeless Project among others, found the number of women sleeping rough in London was more than twice as high as the government figures - with researchers counting 391 female rough sleepers and the government data recording 159.

Lucy Campbell, of Single Homeless Project, said women often struggle to get help from frontline services or receive accommodation referrals due to sleeping in hidden spots or not sleeping at all due to being too scared.

What we see is a massive prevalence of domestic abuse within the couples who are experiencing street homelessness, she added. I always remember a woman once said: Id rather be raped by the same person every night than by a different person every night.

Ms Campbell argued there is no safe way for women to rough sleep but doing so alone in an exposed way is likely to be the most dangerous.

She noted female rough sleepers die even younger than men on the streets, adding the average age to die is 43 - around half the age of a woman in the wider population.

Eleanor Greenhalgh, of Solace, said female rough sleepers they interviewed say they often got into relationships with men on the streets to stay safe, as well as accepting accommodation from strangers who it later transpires are abusive and exploitative.

Researchers are calling for the government to urgently overhaul the way female rough sleepers are counted in data and tackle the barriers to support homeless women face.

Maxine Brown told The Independent she was first pushed into sleeping rough for a few months after running away at the age of 14 because her mother was attacking her.

I just ran and I ran and I ran, the now 55-year-old, from London, recalled. I was just overwhelmed with being scared of people. I just had the clothes that I had on.

She walked around during the day and went to the top floor of a tower block at night but barely slept due to remaining hyper-vigilant at all times, she added.

Maxine Brown ( Maxine Brown )

You try not to be visible, she said. But yet you want to be visible because you want somebody to notice you so that you can get some kind of help. But you dont know what kind of help you need.

Ms Brown recalled a man offering to give her 5 if she were to lift up her skirt. Being vulnerable and scared, people saw that in me, she added.

The mother-of-two estimated she was street homeless for around six months of her life - explaining she became homeless again at 37 due to an addiction to crack cocaine which went on for 23 years.

Ms Brown explained she was placed in supported accommodation before being properly housed in 2006 and then getting clean from the drug crack in 2010. She now juggles helping other women in similar situations to her own with a part-time job.

Instead of buying crack cocaine on a Monday, I bought flowers for myself and I learnt to shop instead of shoplifting, she said.

A spokesperson for the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities department said: We are working closely with the group behind the Womens Rough Sleeping Census and have promoted the census to all local authorities.

We know that women sleeping rough need specific support, which is why we are working with charities on the census to give better information to help women off the streets.
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A senior EU politician who survived a shocking assassination attempt last year has asked parliamentarians to tell foreign secretary Lord Cameron to end Britains appeasement of Iran.

Spanish politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras, the former first vice president of the European Parliament, was in London today to talk to MPs and peers about the need to proscribe Irans Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).

But attempts for him to meet a minister fell on deaf ears.

Professor Vidal-Quadras describes himself as lucky after surviving an assassination attempt on 9 November last year which saw a bullet miss his jugular and pass through his jaw.

He was in London with a simple message to end the appeasement of the regime in Iran and call on the UK to join the US in proscribing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras was shot in an assassination attempt ( AP )

Prof Vidal-Quadras is the first European politician to be targeted in Europe with the FBI also preventing an attack in the US on former national secity adviser Jon Bolton.

He said he believes the attack on him is due to his longstanding support for National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) led by Maryam Rajavi.

The veteran Spanish politician told The Independent that the attempt on his life proves that Irans war is now in Europe.

But according to MPs Home Office ministers were unable to meet with the former head of the Peoples Party in Spain following requests.

Tory former cabinet minister David Jones, who chairs the British Committee for Free Iran, said: I think it is a shame that they [ministers] did not meet him. This is a brave man who is a substantial political figure as well as an academic. He has an important story to tell.

Given that we know the that the IRGC is operating on British streets there is a serious security issue and Professor Vidal-Quadras could have provided useful information.

MPs believes that a meeting was not arranged because of the Foreign Offices opposition to following the US lead in proscribing the IRGC as terrorists.

It has been claimed that the IRGC has been responsible for at least 15 attacks on British streets.

Speaking to The Independent, Prof Vidal-Quadras described the drama of the assassination attempt for which five people have now been arrested with two more, including the assailant, on the run.

The 78-year-old was returning home in Madrid after his daily morning healthy walk and a man in a motorcycle helmet greeted him. As he turned the man shot him in the face, jumped on a motorbike and fled for the Portuguese border.

He said: I was lucky because I turned my head. Normally they aim for the head or neck. Instead the bullet went into my jaw and out the other side.

The attacker was unable to get a shot in because the street was crowded on a public holiday and in the hours which followed Mr Vidal-Quadras was rushed to hospital, passing out and regaining consciousness on a number of ocassions.

At one point he asked for his phone and typed the word Iran on it for the police.

Police work at the site where Alejo Vidal-Quadras, former head of Spain's People's Party in the Catalonia region, was shot in the face ( REUTERS )

Prof Vidal-Quadras believes he was targeted after championing the cause of Iranian opposition groups and freedom from its fundamentalist regime for 20 years.

He said: I could not speak but I wanted them to know who it was so another group of terrorists were not blamed.

The attacker was linked to a mafia group which is hired for assassinations.

Mr Vidal-Quadras today addressed the cross party group of parliamentarians the British Committee for Iranian Freedom.

Before the meeting he told The Independent, that he has a message for Lord Cameron and the British government.

He said: My main message is fairly simple. Everybody can understand it.

We have been trying a policy for 40 years of appeasement, negotiation, concessions and distinction between moderates and hawks, which which is something ridiculous.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras had a message for Lord Cameron (Thomas Peter/PA) ( PA Wire )

In the Iranian regime, there are no moderates. It is a regime that last year executed 840 people, political opponents, young people for minor crimes, that beats young girls to death because they have the veil not well placed.

If a policy does not work then change the policy. Because with more concessions and more appeasement they are more aggressive.

So for God's sake, this government, the EU and its allies need to recognise reality. The policy should be the only one they understand which is a policy of strength, political pressure, international isolation, cancellation of all diplomatic and trade relations, economic sanctions, support to the Iranian opposition and to the Iranian people in their struggle against this criminal regime.

He added that those who claim that proscribing the IRGC is futile and would not work are wrong.

At the least we would make it difficult for them. We can seize their assets and prevent their supply of money.
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The Prime Minister has declined to identify the malign actor behind a cyber attack on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) amid speculation China carried out the hack.

The Government has confirmed that a third-party payroll system was hacked, potentially compromising the bank details of service personnel and veterans. A very small number of addresses may also have been accessed.

Speaking to broadcasters in south-east London, Rishi Sunak said there were indications that a malign actor had compromised the database, but declined to attribute the attack to a specific state or actor.

Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, will update MPs on the cyber attack later on Tuesday, but is also not expected to say who was behind it.

Pressed on his stance on China, Mr Sunak said he had set out a very robust policy towards Beijing, taking the powers necessary to protect ourselves against the risk that China and other countries pose to us.

He added that Britain was facing an axis of authoritarian states, including Russia, Iran, North Korea and China that pose a risk to our values, our interests and, indeed, our country.

Mr Sunak sought to reassure the public that the MoD had already acted by taking the relevant network offline and offering support to personnel affected by the incident.

Downing Street said the Government had also launched a security review of the contractors operations.

The Governments refreshed review of foreign and defence policy had cybersecurity right at the heart of that, exactly these kinds of risks, particularly when it comes to state actors.

It is understood that initial investigations have found no evidence that data has been removed.

But affected service personnel will be alerted as a precaution and provided with specialist advice. They will be able to use a personal data protection service to check whether their information is being used or an attempt is being made to use it.

This is yet another example of why the UK Government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that Sir Iain Duncan Smith

All salaries were paid at the last payday, with no issues expected at the next one at the end of this month, although there may be a slight delay in the payment of expenses in a small number of cases.

The MoD confirmed Mr Shapps will make a planned statement to the House of Commons this afternoon setting out the multi-point plan to support and protect personnel.

Ministers will blame hostile and malign actors, but will not name the country behind the hacking.

The MoD has been working at speed to uncover the scale of the attack since it was discovered several days ago.

Labours shadow defence secretary John Healey said: So many serious questions for the Defence Secretary on this, especially from forces personnel whose details were targeted.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said claims Beijing was behind the attack were completely fabricated and malicious slanders.

They said: China has always firmly fought all forms of cyber attacks according to law.

China does not encourage, support or condone cyber attacks. At the same time, we oppose the politicisation of cybersecurity issues and the baseless denigration of other countries without factual evidence.

China has always upheld the principle of non-interference in each others internal affairs. China has neither the interest nor the need to meddle in the internal affairs of the UK.

We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop spreading false information, stop fabricating so-called China threat narratives, and stop their anti-China political farce.

Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnels bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced Tobias Ellwood

The revelation comes after the UK and the US in March accused China of a global campaign of malicious cyber attacks in an unprecedented joint operation to reveal Beijings espionage.

Britain blamed Beijing for targeting the Electoral Commission watchdog in 2021 and for being behind a campaign of online reconnaissance aimed at the email accounts of MPs and peers.

In response to the Beijing-linked hacks on the Electoral Commission and 43 individuals, a front company, Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, and two people linked to the APT31 hacking group were sanctioned.

But some of the MPs targeted by the Chinese state said the response did not go far enough, urging the Government to toughen its stance on China by labelling it a threat to national security rather than an epoch-defining challenge.

Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith repeated those calls, telling Sky News: This is yet another example of why the UK Government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that.

No more pretence, it is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states.

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told the BBCs Radio 4 Today programme: Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnels bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced.
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Grant Shapps has said that state involvement in the large-scale cyber attack on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) cannot be ruled out amid speculation China carried out the hack.

The Defence Secretary said there is evidence of potential failings of the contractor operating the payroll system that was hacked, which may have made it easier for the malign actor to gain access to the bank details of service personnel and veterans.

Labours shadow defence secretary John Healey named the contractor as SSCL.

The firm says it provides business process services to 22 government departments and agencies and is responsible for paying 550,000 public servants.

Confirming the contractor was SSCL, Mr Shapps said he had asked for a review of the companys work across government.

Up to 272,000 service personnel may have been hit by the data breach, Mr Shapps told MPs.

He set out an eight-point plan to support and protect those potentially affected.

The Cabinet minister declined to identify the culprit, telling the Commons: For reasons of national security, we cant release further details of the suspected cyber activity behind this incident.

However, I can confirm to the House that we do have indications that this was the suspected work of a malign actor and we cannot rule out state involvement.

He also said: Weve launched a full investigation, drawing on Cabinet Office support and specialist external expertise to examine the potential failings of the contractor and to minimise the risk of similar incidents in the future.

Initial investigations have found no evidence that any data has been removed, but affected armed forces personnel have been alerted as a precaution.

The payment network is an external system completely separate to the MoDs core network, Mr Shapps stressed.

The system holds personal data  including names, bank details and some addresses  of regular reserve personnel and some recently retired veterans.

Changes are being made to the system to ensure it is secure before payments are recommenced, the Defence Secretary said.

The senior Tory apologised to the men and women who are affected by this, adding it should not have happened.

SSCL says on its website that it plays a central role in delivering the MoDs vision to transform core payroll, HR and pension services for 230,000 military personnel and reservists and two million veterans.

The firm, a subsidiary of the Paris-based tech company Sopra Steria, says it processes more than 363 billion in payments each year, 6.77 million transactions and 1.5 million invoices.

The company, which says its vision is to empower the UK public sector with digital solutions and innovative services, also processes 1.2 million recruitment applications a year.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier also declined to say who was behind the cyber attack, but said the UK is taking the powers necessary to protect ourselves against the risk that China and other countries pose to us.

Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said he was concerned the Government was not able to point the finger at China.

I think the Government is a bit conflicted about this, he told Sky News, claiming the Foreign Office did not want to upset China.

The truth is we know that China is the malign actor theyre referring to.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said claims Beijing was behind the attack were completely fabricated and malicious slanders.

They said: China has neither the interest nor the need to meddle in the internal affairs of the UK.

We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop spreading false information, stop fabricating so-called China threat narratives, and stop their anti-China political farce.

Labours Mr Healey said: The MoDs data security record is getting worse while threats against the UK rise  with a three-fold increase in MoD data breaches over the last five years.

Such flaws in our cybersecurity must be fixed.

The revelation of the MoD data breach comes after the UK and the US in March accused China of a global campaign of malicious cyber attacks in an unprecedented joint operation to reveal Beijings espionage.

Britain blamed Beijing for targeting the Electoral Commission watchdog in 2021 and for being behind a campaign of online reconnaissance aimed at the email accounts of MPs and peers.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) also uses SSCL as payroll network provider.

The Met said: There is currently no evidence to suggest that there has been any compromise of the MPS payroll service.
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David Lammy moved Labour closer to calling for an outright ban on arms sales to Israel as the row over the Middle East crisis exploded in the House of Commons.

With Labour under pressure from its own MPs and activists to take a harder line against Israel on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Mr Lammy used an urgent question to ratchet up his partys position.

It follows concerns in the party leadership that Muslims and others are not voting Labour because of its position on the conflict.

But with Israeli tanks moving on Rafah, Mr Lammy made it clear to Tory deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell that banning arms sales to Israel should now be on the table.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy ( PA )

He said: The French government said the forced displacement of any civilian population is a war crime. Does the minister agree?

Hamas is a terrorist organisation, its cowardly tactics are reprehensible but that does not stop Israels obligation to follow the rules of war or the governments obligation on arms exports.

Can the minister say why he thinks than attack on Rafah does not present a clear risk of a serious breach of international humanitarian law?

Can he confirm whether he has received any assessment that the threshold has already been met.

The shadow foreign secretary had condemned Hamass terrorism as well as the military action of Israel, including bombing tightly populated areas.

But an intense session in the Commons saw anger on both sides with the left of the Labour Party pressurising for a ban on arms sales but the right of the Tories demanding that the government supports Israels attempts to eliminate Hamas.

Andrew Mitchell voiced concerns about the current situation in Gaza ( PA )

Rightwing former home secretary Suella Braverman drew cries of anger when she intervened demanding full support for Israels hardline actions.

She said: Yesterday I met with survivors of the Nova festival massacre. I met with people who fought single handedly for hours against brutal Hamas terrorists.

We all want peace but sometimes countries must fight for peace. Israel has a right to defend herself and a duty to protect her people from the brutal terrorism cult of Hamas.

Will you confirm that the British government will maintain its steadfast and resolute support for Israel as she finishes the job to eliminate Hamas from Gaza?

The Conservative MP for Bracknell James Sunderland said: Given the increasing compression of that population in Rafah in a much, much smaller geographical area, the need for precision, restraint and proportionality from the Israelis is ever more acute.

He added that everything possible to convince the Israelis of the need to preserve the sanctity of human life should be done.

Rochdale MP George Galloway, who recently won a by-election on the Gaza issue, said the government is not doing all it can over the Gaza conflict, and called for an export ban on weapons to Israel.

The Workers Party of Britain MP said: The situation has escalated, but the governments response remains the same.

An Israeli tank near the Gaza border ( AP )

He continued: There are 600,000 child hostages in Rafah alone. There is no proof of life from them, but millions of our people are watching on their phone today the proof of death and mutilation of many of them.

The government say they are doing everything they can, but they are not, because you could now stop sending weapons to the people who are raining down this death and misery. And the Labour Party could actually ask you too, but didnt.

Mr Mitchell said: The policies we are pursuing are long term and they are designed to tackle the evils that have been so clearly set out this afternoon in the House.

He added that the UK has been helping children in Gaza through medical aid, including through its field hospital near the city.

Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham, Yardley, told the Commons: What he is saying, between the lines, is that Israel has currently breached the rule that the UK has set.

And I dont think he wants to say it here, but that is what I am hearing, so if there is no credible plan to move those people, and attack is ongoing, when can we expect if not today an update on the UKs position towards Israel, arms sales, and other things that have been mentioned today from this despatch box?

Mr Mitchell replied: I have given her the update from the despatch box insofar as there is an update to give.

He added: We have not seen a credible plan for military action in Rafah so far, and therefore we are not able to judge whether or not it will be in accordance with international humanitarian law.
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A Muslim campaign group has issued Sir Keir Starmer with 18 demands in order to win back support lost due to his stance on Israels war in Gaza.

The Muslim Vote, which aims to organise voters against MPs who did not back a ceasefire in the conflict, has called for the Labour leader to apologise for his early stance on Israels campaign against Hamas.

And it has urged Sir Keir to promise to cut military ties with Israel and let Muslims pray in schools and for Labour figures to return zionist money.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has lost voters over his stance on Gaza (Peter Byrne/PA) ( PA Wire )

Days after the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) hailed the local election results as a wake-up call over politicians response to the atrocities in Gaza, The Muslim Vote reissued its list of demands.

Labours campaign chief Pat McFadden has admitted the partys stance on the war cost it support in the local elections. He said it was a factor in some places which he was not surprised by.

On Tuesday Rachel Reeves became the latest senior figure to acknowledge the difficulty posed by Labours stance on the conflict, saying she regrets whenever someone decides that they cannot bring themselves to vote for the Labour Party.

She said: Anybody who sees the scenes unfolding on our television screens, including this weekend in Rafah and people being displaced multiple times but also people that have seen the taking of hostages at a music festival in Israel cant be help but be moved by those scenes.

And thats why we have called for an immediate ceasefire to allow aid into Gaza unimpeded, but also the release of hostages that are still in underground tunnels in Gaza. They must be freed as well. Now, I recognise that there are some people who didnt vote for Labour last week because they did have concerns.

But left-wing campaign group Momentum called on Labour to do more to pressure Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Lord Cameron into suspending arms sales to Israel. As Israel launched an attack on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the group said: Plainly, Israel is acting like a rogue state - the UK Government must now suspend arms sales to prevent further UK complicity, and Labour should be pressuring Sunak and Cameron accordingly.

Labour lost its majority of 13 years in Oldham, which had already been whittled down due to defections last month over the partys approach on Gaza. And sources from Labours West Midlands team have claimed some Muslim voters stayed home, while many backed independent pro-Gaza candidate Akhmed Yakoob.

MCB secretary general Zara Mohammed said: The dissatisfaction with politicians is palpable, and the response to the atrocities in Gaza is only the tip of the iceberg.

Labours West Midlands mayor Richard Parker narrowly beat Conservative incumbent Andy Street, with independent pro-Palestine candidate Akhmed Yakoob hoovering up votes ( Getty Images )

These election results are a wake-up call to all parties: every vote counts. Politicians cant take anyone for granted, especially not British Muslims.

A key demand of The Muslim Vote is for Sir Keir to apologise for greenlighting a genocide and for not supporting an SNP-led ceasefire vote last November.

The demand relates to Sir Keirs apparent initial support for Israel withholding humanitarian aid from Gaza.

Asked on LBC on October 11 if cutting off power and water was an appropriate response, Sir Keir replied: "I think that Israel does have that right. It is an ongoing situation.

"Obviously everything should be done within international law, but I dont want to step away from the core principles that Israel has a right to defend herself and Hamas bears responsibility for the terrorist acts."

But he later rowed back the remarks amid concerns within the party that it has angered voters, particularly those in Muslim communities.

Despite his attempts to clarify the remarks, the clip of Sir Keir on LBC is still widely shared by those attacking the partys approach to the Middle East.

Other demands include a promise to sanction companies operating in occupied Palestinian territories, place a travel ban on Israeli politicians who have prosecuted this war and to ensure insurance quotes are not higher for people named Muhammad.

The Muslim Vote group describes itself as a broad collective with the support of a huge portion of the Muslim community. It is supported by 24 groups, including some which Michael Gove has said in parliament might fall foul of his departments new definition of extremism.

Groups he named that give rise to concern for their Islamist orientation and views were Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend) and the Muslim Association of Britain.

Both groups, which back The Muslim Vote, have rejected Mr Goves characterisation.

Its website displays a list of all the constituencies with at least 10 per cent Muslim voters, which lets users see how they have voted on past ceasefire motions.

It is then planning to add an advisory name in each seat of who supporters should vote for, who it says will be backed by local civil society organisations.

The seats which look the most perilous belong to Birmingham Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood, who it says abstained on the vote, as well as Bethan Green and Stepneys Rushanara Ali. Both have more than 40 per cent Muslim electorates.

But the group appears to ignore a ceasefire motion passed by the Labour Party on a chaotic night in the House of Commons in February.

The groups website states: Muslims and all people who stand for justice agree that the current political class does not represent us. Peacefully, politically, and persistently we will vote them out.

Regarding its demands, it said: There is more but thatll do for starters. Our asks are sophisticated and weve built consensus around them.

Labour was asked to comment.

The Muslim Votes list of demands is below:

1. Apologise for your comments greenlighting a genocide and for not backing the ceasefire in Oct/Nov 2023

2. Sanctions on companies operating in occupied territories. Sanctions on settlers

3. Recognise Palestine as a state

4. Travel ban on all Israeli politicians that prosecuted this war and support the illegal occupation

5. End military ties with Israel

6. Issue guidance that Muslims are allowed to pray at school

7. Implement findings of peoples review of Prevent  not Shawcross

8. Remove the extremism definition that [Michael] Gove introduced

9. Commit to full implementation of Royal Charter re media regulation

10. Adopt the APPG definition of Islamophobia

11. Commit to a review of public sector equality duty

12. Increase council and public health funding for the 10 per cent most deprived areas in the country to finally address systemic and chronic health inequities as detailed in the Marmot Review and revisited by the Health Foundation 10 years later

13. Deliver alternative student finance

14. Ensure Sharia-compliant pensions are available at every workplace, so the one-third of Muslims without a pension get one

15. Ensure insurance quotes dont cost more for someone called Muhammad

16. Commit 7 per cent of the local government pension scheme/public sector pensions to ethical and Islamic funds

17. Oppose Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) bill. Kick it out of law

18. Remove the archaic spiritual influence offence from statute
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Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will update MPs on a cyber attack on a database containing details of armed forces personnel amid reports China was behind the hack.

A third-party payroll system has been hacked, potentially compromising the bank details of all serving personnel and some veterans. A very small number of addresses may also have been accessed.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) took immediate action when it discovered the breach, taking the external network  operated by a contractor  offline.

Downing Street said the Government had also launched a security review of the contractors operations.

But the Prime Ministers official spokesman declined to comment on speculation about the origin of the attack ahead of a planned statement to the Commons on the incident by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, saying only that the MoD had acted immediately to isolate the relevant network and support personnel affected by the incident.

Mr Shapps is not expected to attribute the attack to a specific state or actor when he addresses MPs on Tuesday afternoon.

Cabinet minister Mel Stride said the Government takes cybersecurity extremely seriously but also declined to place the blame on Beijing.

He told Sky News, which first claimed China was behind the hack: That is an assumption. We are not saying that at this precise moment.

But Mr Stride said the Government viewed Beijings government as an epoch-defining challenge and our eyes are wide open when it comes to China.

Mr Stride confirmed the attack was on a third-party system rather than a MoD database but nonetheless thats still a very significant matter.

The Ministry of Defence acted very swiftly to take the database offline, he added.

We take cybersecurity extremely seriously. Our intelligence services do, our military does as well.

The Governments refreshed review of foreign and defence policy had cybersecurity right at the heart of that, exactly these kinds of risks, particularly when it comes to state actors.

It is understood that initial investigations have found no evidence that data has been removed.

But affected service personnel will be alerted as a precaution and provided with specialist advice. They will be able to use a personal data protection service to check whether their information is being used or an attempt is being made to use it.

This is yet another example of why the UK Government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that Sir Iain Duncan Smith

All salaries were paid at the last payday, with no issues expected at the next one at the end of this month, although there may be a slight delay in the payment of expenses in a small number of cases.

The MoD confirmed Mr Shapps will make a planned statement to the House of Commons this afternoon setting out the multi-point plan to support and protect personnel.

Ministers will blame hostile and malign actors, but will not name the country behind the hacking.

The MoD has been working at speed to uncover the scale of the attack since it was discovered several days ago.

Labours shadow defence secretary John Healey said: So many serious questions for the Defence Secretary on this, especially from Forces personnel whose details were targeted.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said claims Beijing was behind the attack were completely fabricated and malicious slanders.

Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnels bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced Tobias Ellwood

They said: China has always firmly fought all forms of cyber attacks according to law.

China does not encourage, support or condone cyber attacks. At the same time, we oppose the politicisation of cybersecurity issues and the baseless denigration of other countries without factual evidence.

China has always upheld the principle of non-interference in each others internal affairs. China has neither the interest nor the need to meddle in the internal affairs of the UK.

We urge the relevant parties in the UK to stop spreading false information, stop fabricating so-called China threat narratives, and stop their anti-China political farce.

The revelation comes after the UK and the US in March accused China of a global campaign of malicious cyber attacks in an unprecedented joint operation to reveal Beijings espionage.

Britain blamed Beijing for targeting the Electoral Commission watchdog in 2021 and for being behind a campaign of online reconnaissance aimed at the email accounts of MPs and peers.

China has always upheld the principle of non-interference in each others internal affairs. China has neither the interest nor the need to meddle in the internal affairs of the UK Chinese embassy spokesperson

In response to the Beijing-linked hacks on the Electoral Commission and 43 individuals, a front company, Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, and two people linked to the APT31 hacking group were sanctioned.

But some of the MPs targeted by the Chinese state said the response did not go far enough, urging the Government to toughen its stance on China by labelling it a threat to national security rather than an epoch-defining challenge.

Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith repeated those calls, telling Sky News: This is yet another example of why the UK Government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the UK and change the integrated review to reflect that.

No more pretence, it is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states.

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told the BBCs Radio 4 Today programme: Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnels bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced.
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Voters in Northern Macedonia go to the polls Wednesday for a double election  parliamentary and presidential  following a campaign in which the country's aspirations to join the European Union have played a central role.

The office of prime minister wields the real power, and the president is largely ceremonial, so the parliamentary election is the more important of the two contests. The opposition center-right coalition, which is pushing back against neighboring Bulgaria's conditions for the country's EU candidacy, is favored to win both elections.

The election for the unicameral parliament takes place in a single round, while the presidential election is the runoff of a two-round contest that began in April with the center-right candidate scoring a large lead over the center-left incumbent.

More than 1,700 candidates are competing for the unicameral parliaments 120 seats. There are also three seats reserved for expatriates, but in the last election, in 2020, turnout was too low to fill those seats.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

The month-long campaign has focused on fighting corruption, improving the slugging economy and alleviating poverty, but the main hot-button issue has been over North Macedonias struggle to join the European Union.

Demands by neighboring Bulgaria that North Macedonias Bulgarian minority be official recognized in the countrys constitution have been supported by the ruling center-left, but blasted by the center-right opposition as capitulation to Bulgaria.

Only a tiny fraction of the countrys 1.84 million people  just over 3,500  described themselves as Bulgarians in the last census in 2021.

North Macedonia has been a candidate to join the European bloc since 2005, but was blocked for years by a dispute with neighboring Greece, which objected to the country calling itself Macedonia, arguing that it conflicted with Greeces region of Macedonia.

That dispute was resolved in 2018 with the country calling itself North Macedonia. But Bulgaria has since been blocking the countrys EU bid, saying it will lift its veto only when North Macedonia amends its constitution.

Formal EU membership negotiations with North Macedonia  and fellow-candidate Albania  began in 2022 and the process is expected to take years.

VMRO-DPMNE, the party the leads the center-right opposition, had once threatened to scupper the agreement with Greece over using the Macedonia name, but it has since toned down its rhetoric. Observers point to its membership in the European Peoples Party and its friendly relations with the German Christian Democrats as evidence that the party will not seek to back out of the agreement.

CORRUPTION

North Macedonia has been cited by both the European Commission and the U.S. government as having a corruption problem, and the opposition has seized on the issue during the campaign.

VMRO-DPMNE leader and election favorite Hristijan Mickoski has accused the ruling center-left coalition of presiding over a pandemic of corruption, though his own partys record is far from clean. The VMRO-DPMNEs last prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, is a fugitive from justice in Hungary.

Dimitar Kovachevski, leader of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, or SDSM, party that heads the ruling coalition, said he is aware that people are dissatisfied and has acknowledged that more could have been done to fight corruption. He has backed measures to confiscate illegally acquired property from corrupt officials.

A 2023 European Commission report said corruption remains prevalent in many areas of North Macedonia. In December, the U.S. Ambassador to North Macedonia, Angela Aggeler, said there was an epidemic of corruption in this country that has affected every sector, every organization, and only by exposing the corrupt actors can we begin to help the country address these issues.

WHO IS RUNNING

The main two blocs are multi-party coalitions: The center-left coalition led by the SDSM, "For a European Future, consists of 14 parties. The center-right opposition led by VMRO-DPMNE, Your Macedonia, has 22.

For the presidency, incumbent Stevo Pendarovski of the SDSM is the clear underdog to Gordana Siljanovska Davkova of VMRO-DPMNE, who won 41.2% of the vote in the first round on April 24 to Pendarovskis 20.5%.

The two had also squared off in the last presidential election in 2019, with Pendarovski winning 53.8% to 46.2% in the runoff.

Both big coalitions represent mostly ethnic Macedonians and other, small minorities. Two separate coalitions, European Front and VLEN (Worth) are contesting to represent the countrys largest minority, the Albanians, who represent about a quarter of the 1.84 million population.

The European Front, a coalition of nine parties, is dominated by the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI). DUI, founded by people who took part in the 2001 secessionist rebellion, has been the coalition partner of every government for the past two decades.

However, the VMRO-DPMNE leader Mickoski has declared he would prefer to form a government with VLEN, itself a coalition of four parties, which has positioned itself to the right of DUI.

Polling has consistently been showing Mickoski's coalition ahead of the SDSM-led coalition by a double-digit margin.

A splinter Social Democrat Party, ZNAM (For Our Macedonia) whose leader, Maksim Dimitriavski, won 9.5% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election, could play kingmaker.
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has caused a bit of a stir by accusing the government of gaslighting Britain over the economy. She told an audience in the City: They say weve turned a corner. But try telling that to the 6.4 million households across England and Wales that last year saw their rent increase or had to remortgage. Or the 950,000 families whose mortgage deal is due to expire between now and January. They say the plan is working. Is this the same plan that has meant this is forecast to be the first parliament on record with living standards actually lower at its end than at the start?

In fairness, much of her speech was the usual knocking copy on the governments record, as opposed to a detailed plan for a parliamentary term, let alone the decade of renewal she and Keir Starmer are hoping for.

Is Rachel Reeves right about the economy?

Broadly, yes. One of the many presentational weaknesses of recent Conservative administrations has been to overstate Britains economic success, and in such a way that it creates unhelpful dissonance between peoples day-to-day experiences and whatever the government fancifully claims on social media and in speeches and interviews. At least Sunak isnt as mindlessly boosterish as Boris Johnson.

The difference between a country in mild recession, crawling out of such a recession, or experiencing minimal, anaemic growth is imperceptible to the average person, so claims about growth are bound to be viewed sceptically.

Perhaps the most glaring is inflation, where ministers sometimes seem to suggest prices are actually falling, whereas they are still going up albeit at a slower rate. Or the continual boasts about tax cuts (ie reductions in national insurance), which are starkly at odds with what people see in their pay packets given the long-term freeze on tax thresholds, and substantial hikes in council tax and poor public services. As Reeves says: I love a graph as much as the next person, I spent the early part of my career looking at them obsessively. But in the end, what success looks like is how people feel.

That said, a professional economist such as Reeves would have to concede that sometimes economies can be quietly improving their underlying health, for example by diverting consumption into investment, keeping taxes high to pay off debt, or with high mortgage rates to choke off inflation, even though households feel worse off in the short term.

Will she strike a chord with voters with this line of attack?

One suspects nothing Labour says or does hasnt somehow been tested for how it will resonate with the public, and voters tend to like politicians who appear to be in touch with them and understand how pricey their car insurance is these days and who know how much a loaf of bread costs. That goes a long way to enhance credibility, and having a cabinet of millionaires and a prime minister whose family are near enough billionaires doesnt help to convince voters they understand the problems of people like me as market researchers put it. Reeves sounds more like shes on their level, at least.

What difference would Rachel Reeves make in government?

In macroeconomic terms, not very much  and voters probably sense this by now. All the talk about iron clad discipline, ditching the infamous 28bn green energy scheme, the caution about plans having to be fully costed and fully funded none of it suggests the next Labour government will be profligate, or hard-left maniacs as Suella Braverman recently claimed. Reeves has committed to abide by existing fiscal rules, and to reinforce them by strengthening the Office for Budget Responsibility (to avoid more disastrous Truss-style experiments). The fact that Jeremy Hunts projections for debt are based on wildly unrealistic plans for public spending seems not to trouble Reeves or her colleagues.

Shadow ministers for major spending departments such as health (Wes Streeting), work and pensions (Liz Kendall) and education (Bridget Phillipson) stress reform and limit their pledges to relatively modest specific projects linked to specific tax measures or (though yet to be defined) savings elsewhere. Of course, monetary policy and control of inflation will remain firmly with the Bank of England. An aversion to re-opening Brexit also means that that particular brake on trade, investment and labour supply will remain a drag on growth. The constraints on the putative new chancellor will be familiar.

So how will they achieve growth?

There will apparently be some borrowing to invest but because it will have to be within an overall fiscal envelope, it might amount to very little. The solution is to try to leverage private money and relax planning rules to get things moving. As with the present government, there will be schemes to boost AI and similar techniques. It wont be transformative, though; big improvements in wages will deliver higher productivity and that depends on commensurately higher levels of investment, both public and private.

Will Labour raise taxes?

We wont really know much more until the manifesto comes out, and the full story wont emerge until the first budget. Despite all the complaints about this government, Reeves doesnt seem in a hurry to raise income tax thresholds or reverse national insurance cuts.

She has stated an ambition to reduce taxes for those in work, and to abolish most of the non-dom tax perks but the rest is frankly vague. The assumption must be that shell find a way to trim the few remaining middle class tax perks, raise capital gains tax, and impose more taxes on unearned income  landlords can expect to be clobbered. One particular problem is how shell manage local authorities struggling with their rising debt and facing bankruptcy.

Are workers going to be better off?

Probably, but by how much more is difficult to say. Aside from trends in real wages, which will not see spectacular growth, there are rumours that Labours New Deal for Workers will be subject to consultations. This New Deal was Angela Rayners signature political achievement but this, too, seems to be subject to the approval of the shadow chancellor. This may or may not be good news for business investment and economic growth, but in the short term it will mean the planned expansion of collective bargaining rights, reversal of Tory laws on minimum service obligations, reform of zero-hours contracts, and other similar measures will be less ambitious than previously expected. To take a small example, Reeves has already suggested some zero-hours contracts may remain.

Making public sector strikes easier and more damaging would prove a bit of a vote-loser at the election, so expect some hedging on those workers rights too (indeed, given Streetings aggressive talk of reform, we might even see more strikes in the NHS). What might be more useful would be if an incoming government implemented the Taylor review of employment status and clarified the present tangle of differential treatment for employees, workers and freelance or self-employed people, both for tax and employment law purposes.

Can Labour achieve its mission of a decade of renewal?

For the majority of the population, the Britain of Starmer and Reeves wont feel that different to that promised by Sunak and Hunt. Even if Labour had more radical plans, it would take years for them to work through the system; but some critics do yearn for something more substantial and rapid to show for a term of Labour government than simply SIR  Stability, Investment and Reform.

Reevess present emphasis on those basics and general caution will make it easier for Labour to win an election, and will give her chancellorship some principles to guide her work; but whether it will help the party win the following election, due in about 2028, is uncertain. Instead, Labour may have to fall back on exaggerating a somewhat mediocre performance. Therefore, we shall soon enough see whether Labour in power is more or less inclined to gaslight Britain than the present Conservatives.
 Close Starmer welcomes Natalie Elphicke after Labour MP defects from Conservatives

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Ms Elphicke has defected hitting out at the broken promises of Rishi Sunaks tired and chaotic Government.

The Dover MP astonishingly crossed the floor in the Commons just moments before Prime Ministers Questions.

She said in a statement: I have carefully considered this decision. The change has been dramatic and cannot be ignored.

For me key deciding factors have been housing and the safety and security of our borders.

The move has been hit at from all sides, with MPs slamming Sir Keir Starmer for welcoming the right wing politician with open arms and Tory members branding the decision idiotic.

Despite ferocious criticism, Labour has defended Ms Elphicke and said it is happy to have the Tory MP on board.

In a new humiliating blow for Rishi, Ms Elphickle joins Dr Dan Poulter and Christian Wakeford in joining the opposition.

The walk-out was took place during the first face off since last weeks local election results, where Sir Keir Starmer hit out at the Conservatives for losing nearly 500 council seats in last weeks elections.
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An American in Russia on a tourist visa has been arrested in Moscow after he allegedly broke into a childrens library while intoxicated.

The man, identified by news reports and Moscows court service as William Russell Nycum, was arrested on petty hooliganism charges and sentenced to 10 days in jail, according to Reuters.

Reports claim that Mr Nycum, an English language tutor, broke a window to gain entry to the library. Russias RENTV said, according to CBS, that after the man had climbed through the window of a childrens library in Moscow, he fell asleep.

Video footage aired by the Russian network showed a person, partially clothed, in what appeared to be a courtyard of the building, according to CBS.

Mr Nycum is in Russia on a six-month tourist visa and was staying with acquaintances, reports said. It is unclear when he first arrived in the country, The Associated Press reports.

William Russell Nycum, pictured on his Russian tourist visa. He reportedly fell asleep while intoxicated in a childrens library in Moscow, where he was later detained ( Ren TV )

Moscows court service said on Tuesday that he had been found naked in the outside courtyard after drinking alcohol. The court service described the incident as one which "expressed obvious disrespect to society, citizens and public order, Reuters reported.

There has been no immediate confirmation of Mr Nycums arrest from US authorities. The Independent has contacted the Department of the State for comment.

The news of the Americans arrest in Russia comes hours after confirmation that another US citizen was arrested and will be held in custody for at least two months over an alleged theft.

US soldier Gordon Black, 34, was arrested, according to Russian court spokesperson Elena Oleneva, and will be held in jail until at least 2 July.

The US Army said on Monday it had been informed about the detention. The soldier was detained in the Russian port city of Vladivostok.

Mr Black was charged with secretly stealing property from a woman he had met in South Korea, according to Russias interior ministry. The pair reportedly started a relationship and when the woman returned to Vladivostok, Mr Black travelled to Russia to visit her.

Mr Black is being held in pre-trial detention, the court said in a separate statement, referring only to US citizen B.

When asked by Reuters about the detention of the two US nationals, a spokesperson for the US embassy in Moscow said that they are aware of the reports of US citizens being arrested inside of Russia.

Consular officers from the embassy always seek to aid citizens with appropriate assistance, but due to privacy concerns, we arent able to comment further, the spokesperson added.

The Russian Foreign Ministrys office in Vladivostok has claimed that Mr Blacks arrest has nothing to do with politics or espionage, according to state news agency TASS.

Tensions between the US and Russia have remained at high levels ever since Russias invasion of Ukraine in February in 2022. Arrests of US citizens in Russia have reached levels equivalent to the Cold War, AP said.

Among the Americans jailed are Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned since last March, and former US marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018. The US government has said both are wrongfully detained.

WNBA player Brittney Griner was also detained by Russia in early 2022 on drug-related charges and sentenced to nine years before being later released as part of a prisoner exchange between the US and Russia.
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Prince Harry arrived in London on Tuesday to mark the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games but wont see his father during the visit, a spokesperson said.

King Charles III, who returned to his official duties last week after being sidelined for three months with cancer, is too busy to meet up with his youngest son, the spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex said.

The duke of course is understanding of his fathers ... commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon, a statement said.

Harry, who has a strained relationship with his family, rushed to London in February for a very brief visit after his father was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer.

Harry, 39, has seen his father infrequently since the prince quit royal duties in 2020 and moved to California with his wife, Meghan, citing what they said were unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media. He has since detailed his rocky relationship with his family in TV interviews, a documentary and a memoir, Spare.

Shortly after his last quick trip to London, Harry told Good Morning America" that he thought his father's illness could help bring his family closer.

Harry was in London for events commemorating the tournament he founded for wounded troops and veterans.

___

Find more of APs coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/royalty
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Beleaguered airline manufacturer Boeing faces at least ten more safe and sound whistleblowers after two men who had publicly spoken out against the troubled aerospace company died in recent weeks.

Joshua Dean, who worked as a quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, died last week, according to his family. The 45-year-old who had an active lifestyle and was believed to be in good health, passed away in the hospital following the onset of a fast-moving infection. He suffered from Influenza B and MRSA, and developed pneumonia, according to Fox59.

John Barnett, 62, a quality control engineer at Boeing for 32 years, was found dead at a hotel in March, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

There remain at least ten other Boeing whistleblowers out there, both former and current employees, who are safe and sound lawyers for both Dean and Barnett told The Independent.

Attorney Brian Knowles described the two men as heroes who wanted to help the company do better.

He told The Independent: What I dont want to see is, these two unfortunate circumstances, what happened with Josh or John, is to make them fearful to speak up. [But] there are other people out there... there are others.

In January, a door plug of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 travelling for Alaska Airlines blew off in mid-air, leading to the grounding of all 171 MAX 9 jets by the FAA and instigating an investigation ( AP )

He added that he would not speculate on the multiple conspiracy theories being spread online surrounding the two mens deaths.

These men were heroes. So are all the whistleblowers. They loved the company and wanted to help the company do better, Mr Knowles previously told The New York Post. They didnt speak out to be aggravating or for fame. Theyre raising concerns because peoples lives are at stake.

It comes after a string of incidents related to Boeing over the past year. In January, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9s door plug blew off in mid-air, leading to the grounding of all 171 MAX 9 jets by the FAA and instigating an investigation.

On Monday the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) announced it had launched a new investigation into Boeing after the manufacturer voluntarily informed it that inspections of a number of its 787 Dreamliner models may not have been completed.

In a statement to NPR, the FAA said its also investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records. The agency also said Boeing is re-inspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet.

Mondays announcement comes in the wake of several previous Boeing controversies.

Four people came forward  including Dean and Barnett, alleged that corner-cutting in the manufacturing process of the MAX 9 was causing safety risks.

The death of Joshua Dean, 45, was announced last week. A former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, he previously went public with claims that the companys leadership ignored manufacturing defects in Boeings 737 MAX ( Supplied )

Dave Calhoun, Boeing CEO, announced in March that he would step down at the end of the year while the company reported a $355m net loss for the first quarter of 2024.

Meanwhile, Deans family posted moving tributes to him on social media.

My handsome brother Joshua passed away this morning and is with our baby brother. I dont know how much more my family can take. I dont know how much more I can take honestly, his sister, Taylor Rae Roberts, wrote in a Facebook post.

He had gone public with claims that Spirits leadership ignored manufacturing defects in Boeings 737 MAX, in a complaint to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in December 2023, as part of a lawsuit filed against the company by shareholders in December 2023.

He told The Wall Street Journal in January that he had been fired in April 2023 for pointing out that holes in jet fuselages had been drilled incorrectly.

Barnett was found dead at a hotel in March in Charleston, South Carolina.

The former Boeing worker had alleged that the company intentionally used defective parts in its planes and warned that passengers on its 787 Dreamliner might face a lack of oxygen if a sudden decompression occurred.

John Barnett, 62, was found dead in a hotel room in March from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after beginning testimony in a lawsuit against Boeing ( @Megatron_ron/Twitter )

He was found dead just days after beginning testimony into another lawsuit against Boeing.

Mr Knowles said Barnett had developed PTSD through working for the company, having faced push back against issues he had raised to his superiours.

That stuff weighed on him, Mr Knowles told The Independent.

When youre complaining up the chain about serious quality and safety issues you should be taken seriously, you dhouldnt be harassed for doing that. And he faced that constantly.

Thats a pretty heavy load to take on and then to raise issues and be told not to worry about it, to work in the grey area... there is no grey area.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
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The Gaza campus protests on Brown University will come to an end, at least through the end of the school year, but not because police stormed student encampments and hauled out demonstrators in zip ties.

Brown has instead successfully negotiated an end to the protests by agreeing to hold a vote on a key issue driving the protests: divestment.

The university's corporate board agreed on Tuesday that it will hold a vote on whether or not it will divest its interest from Israel, a major victory for students protesting the ongoing war in Gaza.

In return, protesters will tear down their encampment, and have agreed not to restart protests during the school year.

The devastation and loss of life in the Middle East has prompted many to call for meaningful change, while also raising real issues about how best to accomplish this, Christina Paxson, the university's president, wrote in a statement. Brown has always prided itself on resolving differences through dialog, debate and listening to each other.

While the broader point of the protests has been to call attention to Israel's treatment of Palestinians since the 7 October Hamas terror attack, the more direct  and actionable  issue at the heart of the campus demonstrations has been a demand for colleges to stop spending money in ways that benefit Israel.

A student at the University of Oregon sets up a sign that reads Divest from death as students set up a tent encampment at the university to protest the Israel-Hamas war on Monday, April 29, 2024 ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

Divestment

Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest, has been an oft repeated chant on the campus of Columbia University, where the latest round of student protests began in mid April.

Disclosure is obvious  the protesters want to know how the universities are spending their money, specifically with regard to money that benefits Israel.

Divestment is, essentially, the opposite of an investment. The students want their schools to stop pouring money into Israel, which they argue makes them complicit in the ongoing violence in Gaza.

Palestinian advocacy groups have called for divestment since at least 2005. Since then, BDS  boycott, divest, sanction  has been a common demand from advocates for Palestine.

Universities maintain endowments, which are funds they use to invest in stocks, bonds, and companies to help generate revenue.

Different student groups have different demands when it comes to divestment. At Brown, students agreed to end their protest so long as the university at least holds a vote on the matter. At Yale and Cornell, students have asked that their schools specifically divest any money that aids in weapon manufacturing.

At Columbia, students have made a more substantial ask; they want the school to stop using its $13.6bn endowment to invest in any company that does business with Israel. That includes major international powerhouses like Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon, according to CNN.

Pro-Palestianian protesters gather near a main gate at Columbia University in New York, Tuesday, April 30, 2024 ( Copyright The Associated Press 2024 )

What does divestment look like?

Columbia has actually divested in the interest of civil rights in the past; in the 1980s, students protesting apartheid South Africa successfully convinced the school to sell the majority of its stocks in companies connected to South Africa. That divestment included selling stock in Ford and Coca-Cola.

Nicholas Dirks, a former chancellor of the University of California, spoke with CNN and argued that university investments were more complicated today than in the 1980s, making divestment a tricky road to travel.

The economy is so global now that even if a university decided that they were going to instruct their dominant management groups to divest from Israel, it would be almost impossible to disentangle, he told CNN. Its not clear to me that its really possible to fully divest from companies that touch in some way a country with such close political and trade ties to the US."

Professor Todd Ely from the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado, Denver, said that divestments don't typically work to shift a company's behaviour, but it can work to draw significant attention to a cause.

"Divestment itself doesn't really influence the companies or the industries being targeted directly," he told NPR. "It's more the stigma created and drawing attention to the issue more broadly."

Columbia University has divested in the past, so why not now?

He agreed with the statement that modern university endowments are complex, and make divestment a complicated  though not impossible  endeavour. He pointed out that investments made through endowments are intended to go back to supporting students and providing financial aid.

"So it's a complex situation where calls to change the way these funds are invested by students and other interested parties do end up kind of in a circular way going back to support the students themselves," he said.

Chris Marsicano, an assistant professor of education studies at Davidson College, told PBS that the divestment movement against apartheid South Africa did not greatly affect its economy, but the "slow drip" of headlines about colleges dropping their support did put political pressure on the nation.

"So we're pretty sure that  from research, that divestment in South Africa didn't make a big economic impact, which shouldn't be a surprise, as universities weren't heavily invested in South Africa during the apartheid era," he said. "But the political pressure, the slow drip of headline after headline after headline announcing different colleges and universities divesting certainly put political pressure on the apartheid regime."

He said it appears that the Columbia protests have been successful in putting political pressure on Israel, pointing to the fact that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu felt the need to denounce the demonstrations.

"When we hear last week that Prime Minister Netanyahu specifically mentions campus protests in the United States, that lets us know that college students have captured the attention of key stakeholders for peace," he said.

US Police officers stand guard after clashes errupted on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) ( AFP via Getty Images )

What are universities saying about divestment?

On 29 April, Columbia University president Nemat Minouche Shafik, said the school would not divest from Israel, and they are not the only school to balk at the students' demands.

The University of California also said it would not divest, claiming doing so "impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses," according to a statement.

American University in Washington DC also rejected divestment calls.

Such actions threaten academic freedom, the respectful free expression of ideas and views, and the values of inclusion and belonging that are central to our community, Sylvia Burwell, the president of American University, said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

At Yale, University President Peter Salovey said in a message that the school's Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility recommended against divestment, including divestment from certain military weapons manufacturers.

The University of Michigan rejected calls for divestment, noting that it has no direct investment with Israeli companies, and that only a fraction of a per cent of the universitys $18bn endowment was indirectly invested. The college justified its decision by referring to a 20-year-old policy that "shields the university's investments from political pressures."

Some colleges have been more amenable to discussing divestment.

Like Brown, protests at Northwestern Univeristy ended after the school agreed late on Monday to create an advisory committee on university investments.

Portland State University took a step toward divestment when it announced on 29 April that it would pause its gifts and grants from Boeing in response to protesters demands.

UC Riverside also agreed to examine its endowment fund.

The UC Riverside campus agreed to form a taskforce to examine whether the colleges endowment fund should be removed from the wider UC investment office in order to divest.

The University of Texas, Dallas, said it would also welcome the opportunity for open, respectful dialogue with student protesters on the issue, KERA reports.

According to US Department of Education data, approximately 100 US colleges have reported either gifts or contracts from Israel that total $375m over the last 20 years.
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Mexican authorities are looking for more suspects in connection with the killings of three surfers.

Three tourists  Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Carter Rhoad  were reported missing in Baja California on Saturday 27 April.

The three men, who were on a surfing trip together, are believed to have been caught in a carjacking-turned-violent, that resulted in them being shot in the head. Three suspects have already been arrested and charged in relation to their disappearance  now there could be more.

On Tuesday, the Baja California attorney general Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez withheld the exact number of additional suspects, but told Mexican newspaper Milenio that law enforcement is looking into others potentially linked to the tragic case.

The news comes after the prosecutor announced that three Mexican citizens had been detained in connection to the trios deaths, naming Jesus Gerardo N, aka El Kekas, as one of the people charged.

The three bodies were found covered by boards in a 50ft-deep well in a rugged area in the southern part of Ensenada.

It was literally almost impossible to find it, the prosecutor said, adding that there is a high degree of probability that the recovered bodies belong to the missing tourists.

Their car was found burned out, and their three tents were left abandoned.

Investigators believe that the tourists were approached by a group of thieves, who were trying to take their white pickup truck. When they resisted, they were met with bullets in the head.

During their investigation, authorities recovered a fourth body in the well that is not believed to be linked to the case, police said.

Dozens of mourners, surfers and demonstrators gathered in a main plaza in Ensenada over the weekend to mourn the deaths of the surfers and express sadness that similar killings happen all too frequently in the area.

Ensenada is a mass grave, one sign carried by protesters read.

Rhoad was just months away from marrying his fiancee, Natalie Wiertz, when he joined the two Australian brothers for the surfing trip.
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A jury in Senator Bob Menendezs bribery trial will hear about cash and gold that was found stuffed in pockets, in a safe, in jackets at his home, a judge ruled on Monday.

The decision was made on Monday at a final pretrial conference in the bribery and conspiracy case against the New Jersey Democrat, according to Law360.

Mr Menendez, 70, and his wife, Nadine, were charged last September over allegedly accepting gifts including cash, gold bars and a luxury car in exchange for the senators influence to enrich three New Jersey businessmen and benefit the Egyptian government.

The couple, who are being tried separately, have both pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The bribery trial of Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey is set to begin on 13 May ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

Authorities seized $100,000 in gold bars and more than $480,000 cash, mostly stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe at their home, according to a federal indictment. Photographs in the indictment reveal jackets, bearing Mr Menendezs name and government seals, stuffed with bills.

His trial is scheduled to begin on 13 May in Manhattan while his wifes trial was postponed until July for health reasons.

Prosecutors say businessman Wael Hana had arranged meetings between Mr Menendez and Egyptian officials, who pressed the senator to sign off on military aid. In return, Mr Hana put Ms Menendez on the payroll of a company he controlled, prosecutors alleged.

This image shows two of the gold bars found during a search by federal agents of Senator Bob Menendez's home and safe deposit box ( (U.S. Attorney's Office via AP) )

Mr Menendez, who has been a senator since 2006, chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2013 to 2015, and from 2021 until September 2023 when he was forced to step down. He is still a sitting senator but is not running for re-election in New Jersey.

The senator and his wife are also accused of attempting to cover-up the bribery scheme by using some of the money to pay for a Mercedes-Benz and home mortgage payments.

Following the criminal charges related to Egypt, the couple was slapped with two superseding indictments in October relating to an alleged scheme involving Qatar.

A jacket bearing Senator Menendez's name, along with cash found inside the jacket during a search by federal agents ( (U.S. Attorney's Office via AP) )

Last month, Judge Sidney Stein ordered separate trials for Mr and Ms Menendez following news that she had fallen ill, would require surgery and then weeks of recovery.

Court documents revealed that lawyers for Mr Menendez also asked that the senator and his wife be tried separately because he intends to present a defence arguing (in part) that he lacked the requisite knowledge of much of the conduct and statements of his wife, Nadine.

By this defense, Senator Menendezs legal team may have to argue, in effect, that any unlawful conduct  and we are aware of none involved the actions of others (including Nadine), not the Senator, his lawyers wrote.

Senator Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, arrive at the federal courthouse in New York on 27 September. He will be tried in May and she will be put on trial in July ( The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

His legal team argued that the senator would face a Catch-22 situation if he is tried alongside his wife. According to the lawyers, a joint trial would force Senator Menendez to make an impossible and prejudicial choice between testifying on his own behalf and exercising his spousal privilege to avoid being converted through cross-examination into a witness against his spouse.

In a separate motion, lawyers for Ms Menendez made a similar argument.

Her lawyers argued a joint trial would likely demonstrate an irreconcilable conflict between husband and wife and that it would be unfair to require either spouse to sacrifice the right to testify fully in ones own defence or the ability to maintain the confidentiality of privileged marital communications.
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A globe-trotting jewelry thief has been arrested after an Oceans-11 style diamond ring heist in New York City.

Yaorong Wan, 49, was arrested in Queens on Friday after he allegedly stole $300,000 worth of rings from Cartier and Tiffany stores in Manhattan.

The arrest ended Wans years-long criminal career, which took him half way around the globe, from South Korea to Beverly Hills, according to The New York Post.

His string of thefts began in September 2018 when he stole a $330,000 diamond ring from a Tiffanys store in Seoul, the criminal complaint stated. Last December he allegedly stole a $48,000 diamond ring and a $10,000 watch from a Cartier store in Beverly Hills, the New York Post said.

Wan struck again in New York this March, stealing a $255,000 diamond ring from Tiffanys. Court documents allege that he managed to switch the diamond ring with another band without the shop assistant noticing after he entered the store at 3pm on 4 March, and asked the woman behind the counter about several pieces of jewellery.

The assistant laid out some pieces of jewelry, and Wan allegedly picked up the $255,000 ring, and looked it over before leaving the store, a criminal complaint said. Only the ring he had handed back to the assistant was not the same one that the employee handed him, the store later discovered.

Wan had replaced the diamond ring with a counterfeit cubic zirconia stone mounted on 18-carat white gold, the complaint said.

Yaorong Wan, 49, of Queens, was arrested in Manhattan after a string of jewelry thefts ( Manhattan District Attorneys Office )

When investigators watched surveillance footage from that day, they saw the defendant examine the original ring - a natural diamond mounted on engraved platinum - then allegedly slip it into his palm in a sleight-of-hand, before offloading the fake.

Store workers said they photographed the fake the following day and noticed it did not have any of the engravings or hallmarks on it.

Wan allegedly pulled off a similar trick at a Cartier store in New York eight days later. Wan allegedly walked in about 1:30 pm and asked to look at two engagement rings and two watches, investigators said. The employee handed him the diamond rings, then got distracted, according to the complaint.

Wan allegedly handed back one of the rings, but slipped the other, valued at about $25,000, into his pocket before leaving. He then went to Miami, the New York Post reported, where he allegedly stole a $16,000 watch from a Cartier store on 24 March.

The criminal complaint alleges that Wan also stole two watches, worth a combined $17,000, from the Hermes store at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, as well as a watch from London Jewelers in Manhasset, Long Island last month.

In the Long Island case, investigators say Wan was browsing the watches when he slid a Chopard watch into his left jacket pocket. He then strolled past the registers and out the door, according to the complaint.

When he was arrested, Wan allegedly had three watches that he stole in Manhasset and New Jersey, as well as the fake stones he used to swap with the legitimate pieces, according to police.

He pleaded not guilty at his Saturday arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, according to online court records.
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The notorious Delphi murders case has taken several shocking twists over the years, like when accused killer Richard Allen made a bombshell claim about the killings of teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams.

In court documents released last year, the then-50-year-old local man maintained his innocence of the 2017 killings and instead claimed that the murders were carried out by a pagan cult hijacked by white nationalists.

Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German, his attorneys wrote in the documents seen by The Independent.

Allens attorneys said that possible Odinism signatures were left behind by the killers at the crime scene, with the victims bodies staged by trees with branches and sticks laid across their bodies in the shape of pagan symbols.

While Allen has no known connection to any pagan cult, his defence attorneys also took the extraordinary step of naming four individuals they say are involved in Odinism as potential suspects. None of these individuals have ever been named by law enforcement as suspects or persons of interest in the case.

However, Allens attorneys are banned from bringing up the names or anything to do with the Odinism cult theory.

Special Judge Frances Gull issued the ruling in September, just weeks before the trial is set to start on October 14.

However, the defense will still have a chance to convince the judge that there is a link between Odinism and other suspects with the hope of presenting that argument to a jury.

What is Odinism?

Odinism is a pagan Norse religion with origins in ancient Viking and Nordic beliefs and pre-Christian European culture.

Sometimes referred to as Wotanism, it is seen as a racist variant of the pagan religious sect Asatru, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

While Asatru itself is not racist, over the years Odinism has become increasingly tied to white supremacist and neo-Nazi beliefs in the US.

Many followers  known as Odinites  are now said to exist among the white supremacist prison population.

The religion, which revives a pre-Christian pantheon of Norse gods, is appealing to white supremacists because it mythologises the virtues of early northern European whites  seen as wandering barbarians, deeply involved in a mystical relationship with nature, struggling heroically against the elements, the Southern Poverty Law Center explains.

It sings the virtues of the tribe, or folk, strongly emphasizing genetic closeness. And it credits whites with building civilisation and an ethic of individual responsibility, even as they boldly slew wild boars, fought for their tribes and explored the far reaches of the known world.

Were Libby and Abby killed by Odinites?

The murders of Libby and Abby have never been publicly linked to Odinism before now.

But, according to Allens attorneys, law enforcement officials did explore the cults possible involvement early on in the investigation  as far back as February 2018.

On February 13, 2017, Libby and Abby disappeared after setting off on a walk along the Monon High Bridge Trail in their hometown of Delphi.

During the walk, Libby posted a photo of her best friend on Snapchat as they walked along the Monon High Bridge.

Minutes later, Libby captured a video of a man  known as bridge guy  dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and a cap walking along the abandoned railroad bridge. In the footage  found on Libbys phone following their murders  the man tells the two girls: Guys, down the hill.

Libby German on Monon High Bridge ( Snapchat )

The next day  Valentines Day 2017  the girls bodies were discovered in a wooded area less than half a mile off the trail along the side of Deer Creek.

In the court documents, Allens attorneys claim that there were possible Odinism signatures left behind at the crime scene including the staging of the bodies and branches displayed on the victims to create pagan symbols and shapes.

Describing the scene as ghoulish, the documents also reveal never-before-known details about how Libby and Abby died.

The teenage best friends both had their necks slashed, the documents reveal.

Libby was found at the base of a tree with four tree branches of varying sizes intentionally placed in a very specific and arranged pattern on her naked body and blood spots and drippings all over her body.

Abby, meanwhile, was fully clothed, including in Libbys sweatshirt and jeans, the documents state.

There was no blood on her clothing, indicating that she was likely murdered while naked and then dressed after she was killed. Tree branches and sticks had also been arranged on her body, the documents state.

Richard Allen at court hearing in November 2022 ( AP )

Both victims appeared to have been moved after they were murdered and positioned.

According to Allens attorneys, police on the case did investigate a link to Odinism but, after speaking to an expert, the theory was quickly abandoned.

Several officials continued to believe an Odinist cult was behind the murders but the information was withheld from the defence, his attorneys claim.
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The trial for Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen has been delayed until October.

The decision was made at a hearing on Tuesday, a week before his trial was supposed to begin for the 2017 murders of the two girls.

Allen confessed to the killings of Abby Williams, 13, and 14-year-old Libby German in 2022. Their bodies were discovered on 14 February 2017, a day after they had gone for a walk on abandoned train tracks near their homes in Delphi, Indiana.

At Tuesdays hearing, Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull was expected to hear concerns from Allens defense team about the timeline of the trial and the prosecutions motion seeking to prohibit the defense from bringing up its alternative murder theory in court.

Richard Allen, pictured on 6 May 2024, has had his trial rescheduled for the fall. He has been charged with the murders of Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14 ( Allen County Jail )

Allens attorneys have previously claimed that details from the crime scene pointed to a possible Odinist religious cult killing, with symbols painted in blood of one victims discovered, according to court filings obtained by The Independent last year.

However, there were no discussions about evidence on Tuesday. Attorneys will return to court between May 21 and May 23 in Carroll County to discuss further motions.

Prosecutors said they was looking at 40-45 witnesses for the trial and that they were satisfied with the May date for the trial.

However, the defense told the judge that they wanted a 15-day guarantee to present their side of the case, which the judge did not grant.

Libby German (left) and Abby Williams (right) were killed in 2017 after going for a walk in the woods in Delphi, Indiana ( Facebook )

Brad Rozzi, one of Allens attorneys, said that it was not practical for the trial to take place during the dates in May, and said no end date should be set in the trial.

If you cant try this case in one month, theres something wrong, Judge Gull told Allens defense team.

Mr Rozzi replied: You dont know anything about this case.

The judge decided that the trial should take place from 14 October until 15 November. Both sides said they were satisfied with the new trial date.
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Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has shaved several more months off her jail time, prison records show.

Holmes, 40, was convicted in January 2022 on four counts of fraud and conspiracy for lying about the capabilities of her biotech companys blood testing technology, and conning investors out of millions of dollars.

She was sentenced to 11 years and is being housed at minimum security federal prison, Camp Bryan, in Texas.

In July 2023, The Independent reported that Holmess prison sentence had been shortened by nearly two years, making her projected release date December 29, 2032.

Now, according to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) database, Holmess projected release date has been shortened by more than four months and is listed as August 16, 2032.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is currently serving out her sentence in the minimum security federal prison, Camp Bryan, in Texas ( Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

According to the BOP, prisoners can be granted early release for good behaviour, completion of substance abuse programmes or receive credit for productive activities.

A BOP spokesperson previously told The Independent that every inmate earns a sentence discount of 54 days, per year, for every year they are deemed to have met good conduct requirements under the First Step Act.

In addition, inmates can have more time taken off their sentences by earning time credits that accrue when they complete certain prison and work programmes, part of the federal governments way to reduce recidivism and ease the prison population.

It is unclear what Holmes has done to earn more time off her sentence.The Independent contacted Holmess representatives for more information about her reduced sentence on Monday.

As well as prison time, Holmes and her former partner and Theranos COO Ramesh Sunny Balwani, who was convicted at a separate trial of 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy, were also ordered to repay victims $452m.

Holmes, right, was originally convicted on four counts of fraud and conspiracy in July 2022, and sentenced to 11 years behind bars ( AP )

Holmes claimed to have developed medical devices that could diagnose hundreds of diseases and medical conditions with just a pinprick of blood.

But when it emerged that the blood testing technology didnt do what she claimed it did, the company imploded and she was charged with fraud and conspiracy in 2018.

During her time at Camp Bryan, Holmes has reportedly struck up a close friendship with ex-Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah, who is also serving time at the institution.

An earlier version of this article, published on 6 May, 2024, stated that Holmes previous projected release date was December 29, 2023, and that her new projected release date was August 16, 3032. These errors have been corrected
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Three years ago, a North Carolina State University student was found dead in her home. Just last month, her killer was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

That man was her partner. Erick Gael Hernandez-Mendez was someone Christina Matos trusted and loved, shed even been helping with his citizenship application.

Five days after he became a US citizen, he killed Christina.

She wanted to help him because he was a kind man  well, thats the facade he put up for her, her brother Abraham Matos told The Independent.

After he got what he wanted  after only five days  he stabs her to death over 16 times.

Mr Matos and their mother Yolanda Matos are still reeling from the loss of Christina and have since become aware of the growing epidemic across North Carolina and the rest of the country: femicide.

Christina Matos, 20, was killed by her partner in April 2021 just five days after he helped him get his citizenship ( Provided by her family )

Femicide is the gender-related killing of women and girls, usually by a current or former romantic partner. The terms femicide and homicide both describe the intentional killing of another person, but they are not synonymous.

In 2023, El Centro Hispano conducted research that found 51 North Carolina women were victims of femicide that year alone.

Femicide ... is the most severe and extreme manifestation of the continued attacks on women and girls, because of gender roles, inequity between men and women, discrimination and the existence of harmful social norms, said Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, the executive director of El Centro Hispano, a local organization in North Carolina helping the Latino community across Durham, Wake, Orange, and neighboring counties.

We can never know who is going to kill who. If I knew, I obviously wouldve warned her, Mr Mato said about his sister. You gotta look for the signs. Its always the ones you trust, its always the ones close to you. Its the ones you think would never hurt you.

Now 2024 is expected to surpass last year  with 13 homicides of women in North Carolina by partners during January and February alone. Between 1 March and 16 April, the most recent data available, another 13 women were killed, according to the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

El Centro Hispano is trying to change this.

Gender-based violence is a longstanding issue in Latin America. Chile and Brazil classify femicide as a crime, while people in other countries across Latin America and Europe have protested to demand laws to establish it as an offense, according to El Centro Hispano.

On 8 March  International Womens Day, the group called on Governor Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein to support making femicide a crime separate from homicide.

This would make the killing of women in North Carolina a specific criminal offense with more severe sentences.

Sadly, we are seeing more and more cases every day, said Ms Rocha-Goldberg from El Centro Hispano. Some of these cases are close to our heart.

Earlier this year, North Carolina real estate agent Liliana Concha Perez, 55, was found dead in her Durham office. Shed been killed by her former boyfriend, who was described by her brother as jealous, possessive and obsessive. After hed killed Concha Perez, he died by suicide next to her.

Within a few weeks, at least five more domestic-related murders  leaving five more women and one girl dead  followed, according to research by El Centro Hispano.

Earlier this year, North Carolina real estate agent Liliana Concha Perez, 55, was found dead in her Durham office. Shed been killed by her former boyfriend ( El Centro Hispano )

On 15 January 2024, Gabrielle Raymond, 37, and Nancy Taylor, 69, were allegedly shot to death along with their dog in Apex, by their neighbor, a former Army captain.

A week later, Kaylinn Cave, a 12-year-old girl, was allegedly murdered by her father in Yadkin County.

On 24 January, Maria Teresa Meraz-Cruz was killed allegedly by her boyfriend, Miguel Angel Ventura, in Benson, North Carolina, in a murder-suicide following an argument.

On 1 February, Nataly Martinez, 20, a single mother of two girls, died at the hands of her partner in Charlotte.

On 7 February, police arrested Tammy Lynn Hodgess husband after she was found dead inside her home.

When does it end? We want us alive. asked Ms Rocha-Goldberg, who knew Liliana and her partner who killed her. Both were members of the groups board.

Liliana was well-known in the community as someone who helped countless Latinx immigrants navigate the path to homeownership.

There is a lot of hurt in our community after Lilianas death, Ms Rocha-Goldberg said. We need to make sure this doesnt keep happening.

She helped him get his citizenship. Five days later, he killed her

On 3 April 2021, Christina Matos was murdered in her apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina. She had just turned 20 years old a few days earlier.

Her body was discovered inside her locked bedroom after her mother and brother went to check on her. An autopsy revealed she had been stabbed at least 16 times. A trail of blood led from her room to her former partners room.

Christinas former partner, Erick Gael Hernandez-Mendez, who was born in Mexico, testified at his trial earlier this year that their marriage was a sham to obtain his U.S. citizenship and that he had agreed to pay her $15,000 for the favour.

Hernandez-Mendez told jurors that he witnessed her roommate, Kailey Lynch-Firicano, stab Christina to death, claiming the women had a fight over the temperature in the apartment days earlier.

They were on their knees like this, he described to the courtroom. She was coughing and gurgling with blood coming out ... I stayed with her til her last breath, and I said I will go get help ... and Christina said no, let me die.

Prosecutors argued that Hernandez-Mendez placed the blame on Ms Lynch-Firicano only after she was arrested and charged with felony accessory after the fact to murder and obstructing justice  which was two years after the murder.

Prosecutors also said that Hernandez-Mendez had not paid Christina in full, and was annoyed that she had moved on to be with other men, leading him to not trust her, and ultimately led to a motive.

They also argued that Hernandez-Mendez had conducted an Internet search asking What happens if my U.S. citizen wife dies?

In the end, after only three hours of deliberation, a jury found Hernandez-Mendez guilty of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.

You are a wolf in sheeps clothing, Christinas brother Abraham told the defendant in a victim impact statement, You are the worst person to encounter, to use people like tools and throw them out when you break them.

Christinas mom read her statement through her tears.

I cannot call you animal, because sometimes an animal has compassion, Ms Matos told Hernandez-Mendez. Look at what you did to her! Look at what you did to my family! Look at what you did to me!

Ms Lynch-Firicano, the other former roommate, will face trial next month.

Christinas family says they plan on being there for further justice, despite knowing that nothing will bring back Christina.

Its hard, very hard, her heartbroken mother told The Independent through her tears. He stole her life, for what? She no deserve, no woman deserve this.

Ms Matos said its time for the government to step in.

Everyday cry, everyday suffer. Its not fair, she said. I know other mothers do the same. So what now? We can help this not happen again. So other mothers no feel the pain. The pain I feel Its hard. It never goes away.

Women are dying of femicide at a startling rate  what can be done?

In April, the Population Institute, a nonprofit which advocates for gender equality and sexual and reproductive health, released a report on widespread harmful gender-based practices in the US, including female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), child marriage, and femicide.

According to the new report, the US has one of the highest rates of femicide among high-income countries, 2.2 per 100,000 women. Women in the US are 28 times more likely to be intentionally murdered by guns than women in peer countries.

The lack of a legal differentiation between femicide and homicide makes it very difficult to gather accurate data about femicide, according to El Centro Hispano.

The group says they are doing all they can, but do not have the adequate funding and have started a petition calling on Governor Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein, and other lawmakers to pursue classifying femicide as a crime in North Carolina.

Classifying femicide as its own crime could encourage government funding toward such programs, they said.

However, classifying femicide as a crime does little good if those who are most at risk have difficulty accessing the legal protections a separate classification would provide.

Joanna Kelley, an attorney who has represented the families of female homicide victims, including the family of Liliana, told The Independent thatassault on a female is already a specific charge in NC General Statutes, and that North Carolina could be the first state in the US to make femicide a crime.

Designating such killings as a specific crime in the state means we understand that our society is changing; there are new needs and therefore, we must adapt, Ms Kelley said.

But Ms Kelley added that one of the roadblocks they face is that the issue has become political, instead about the victims and their families.

This is not about being Democrat orRrepublican - this is not about being a feminist, we care about men too, and domestic violence happens to both, she said. We care about the people. Thats who the focus should be on. And thats why a change needs to happen.

The Independent has reached out to local lawmakers, including Senator Thom Tillis for comment. Mr Tillis office had previously promised to pay for the transport of Lilianas mother from Colombia to the United States for her funeral.

Ms Kelley confirmed to The Independent that Lilianas mother was able to travel to the US and attend her daughters funeral.

Lilianas friend and colleague at El Centro Hispano, Ms Rocha-Goldberg, said she believes the recent murders, including Lilianas, highlight the pressing need for legislative action.

In the petition, the organization lays out compelling reasons to establish femicide as a crime, including recognizing the gendered nature of violence, providing justice for victims and their families, enabling accurate data collection and research, and serving as a deterrent.

Proclamation of femicide ( El Centro Hispano )

But as of May, the government has not taken any steps to address femicides.

We wont give up. Well continue to raise our voices, Ms Rocha-Goldberg said. How many more women will be hurt, how many killed, before something is done? It needs to end now.

Meanwhile, Mr Matos hopes by sharing his sisters story, it will help other women.

I refer to him as the boogeyman under my bed, Mr Matos said about the man their family trusted because he was someone Christina trusted.

And Im keeping him under my bed. Im moving forward. Im keeping Christina in my heart. My mom and I are moving forward  and what better way than to share Christinas story to help spread awareness.

If you or someone you know is in danger of intimate partner violence, reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
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A Missouri man has confessed that he strangled his wife as she lay in her hospital bed because he couldnt afford to pay her medical bills any longer, court documents revealed.

Ronnie Wiggs has been charged with second-degree murder after allegedly killing his wife last Friday while she was in hospital in Independence having a dialysis port changed.

Mr Wiggs was reportedly heard by medical staff saying, I did it, I killed her, I choked her, according to court documents in Jackson County.

Prosecutors allege that Wiggs choked her unconscious, covering her mouth to keep her from screaming and then left the hospital.

Before her death, the victim, who was not named but identified as the suspects wife, was alert and oriented.

At around 8.30pm, hospital staff found the victim unresponsive with no pulse and attempted lifesaving measures. While staff were able to get a pulse, authorities said that she died the following day at 8.28am, after being found to have no brain function.

Her injuries included redness to the left and right side of her neck and a fresh wound in the middle of her throat, court documents say.

At around 11.22pm, an off-duty officer responded to the ICU after the woman was reported to be a victim of assault.

While they were in the hospital room, Mr Wiggs announced that he had choked and killed his wife, the documents state. At the hospital, Wiggs was placed under arrest for first-degree domestic assault.

In a police interview Mr Wiggs claimed that he was depressed and could not afford to pay the medical bills and take care of his wife, documents show.

He is in custody and being held on a $250,000 bond.
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A San Antonio mother fired a gun at her wedding photos and made her son say goodbye to daddy before fatally shooting the child and turning the weapon on herself.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said that when officers responded to the womans house during the March incident they found her wedding dresses laid out on the bed and bullet holes in her wedding portraits.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner ruled the deaths of Savannah Kriger, 32, and her son Kaiden, three, a suicide and homicide.

Savannah Kriger, 32, shot her son Kaiden, 3, before ultimately turning a gun on herself in a murder-suicide that happened in San Antonio, Texas in March ( Bexar County Sheriffs Office )

The sheriffs office says that the woman left her job around 1pm CT on 18 March in a 2023 Lincoln Navigator and went to her ex-husbands residence in southeast San Antonio. Sheriff Salazar said that the woman entered the home and damaged various items of personal clothing, furniture items and miscellaneous items inside the residence.

The ex-husband, who was not identified by officials, was believed to be at his place of employment at the time of the incident. The woman then left the mans residence and went to her home.

The couple were in the process of getting divorced and a custody hearing was scheduled for the day the mother and son died. The woman later left that residence to pick up her child from daycare.

She then FaceTimed her ex-husband around 2.46pm CT and told him You dont have anything to go home to now. You really dont.. and you wont have anything at all at the end of the day. The man then contacted the sheriffs office to make a criminal mischief report.

Investigators say that the woman then took her son to the Tom Slick Park in San Antonio.

Kriger then attempted to FaceTime her ex-husband again. She then sent a text message stating Say goodbye to your son, according to the sheriffs office.

Kriger made another attempt to call her ex-husband minutes later. When the man did not pick up the phone, she recorded a video from a drainage ditch with her son in which she told the child to say goodbye to daddy and apologised to the child for his father not being there.

Authorities found the bodies of both Kriger and her child 19 hours later at the drainage ditch.

Both of the bodies had gunshot wounds. Sheriff Salazar said he could not speculate on what he thought the outcome of the custody hearing would be but noted that the mother couldve lost custody of the child.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
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Harvey Weinstein was transferred to Rikers Island jail after corrections officials learned that he had been allowed to stay in a private room while he got medical treatment at a New York City hospital.

Weinstein, 72, was given special treatment and amenities that other inmates never receive during a medical stay at Bellevue Hospital, such as phone use, a private bathroom, and access to a television, The City reports.

The disgraced producer's 2020 rape conviction was overturned last month and he was returned to New York from an upstate prison to appear in court, where prosecutors told a judge they intended to retry him.

On Monday he was transferred from the Manhattan hospital, where he had been kept on a floor separate from other detainees, according to a source who spoke with the outlet.

During his time at the hospital, Weinstein reportedly watched CNN and had discussions with his attorney via the phone he was permitted to access.

After The City published its story, the city corrections officials reportedly scrambled to try and rectify the situation.

Sources close to Weinstein told The New York Post that within an hour or two of that being printed it started [corrections officials] contemplating how to move him and when to move him quickly.

Weinstein began complaining about chest pains shortly after he was moved to Rikers Island on 27 April.

Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein reportedly received special treatment while he was receiving medical treatment at Bellevue Hospital in New York City ( REUTERS )

Hes a sick man, Weinstein's attorney Donna Rotunno told The City. Harvey has multiple health issues and hes never gotten the level of care that he received prior to going into custody.

The sources speaking to the New York Post corroborated the claim that Weinstein is ill, saying he's actually not doing well. He has real medical issues. The care is much better at Bellevue than Rikers.

Weinstein was diagnosed with pneumonia and is dealing with numerous other medical issues, according to his legal team, including chest and abdominal pains.

Even still, a technician who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The City said Weinstein was able to shave, shower, and move in and out of bed on his own. The tech questioned why he was allowed to remain in an ICU for that long, and called it preferential treatment.

Hes not supposed to be there, the tech reportedly told the outlet. Its special treatment.

Weinstein has been returned to Rikers since the story was published.

The disgraced producer's 2020 rape conviction was overturned on 25 April after the New York Court of Appeals found that a judge had made a series of questionable decisions during the trial.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office indicated at the trial that it planned to retry Weinstein in the fall.

We believe in this case and we will be retrying the case, stated DA Alvin Bragg, while requesting a fall 2024 trial from Manhattan Supreme Justice Curtis Farber.

The District Attorney asked for proceedings to begin as early as September 2024. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said her office is confident that Weinstein will be convicted again.

Justice Curtis Farber asked the parties to return to court on 29 May, when a new trial date might be set for September.
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A security guard has been injured in a drive-by shooting at Drakes mansion in Toronto just days after Kendrick Lamar used an image of the lavish property in cover art for his new diss track against the rapper.

The shooting unfolded at around 2am ET on Tuesday morning at the rappers lavish Park Lane Circle residence in the citys prominent Bridle Path neighborhood of Canada.

Toronto police said that the security guard was standing outside of the gates in front of the property when he was shot by an unknown assailant.

One suspect fled the scene in a vehicle, according to information posted by the Toronto Police Service on X.

The security guard, who has not been named, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was not conscious when officers arrived at the home, police said. He was transported to a hospital with serious injuries.

It is not clear if Drake was home at the time but his team is said to be cooperating with investigators.

Law enforcement tape off Drakes Toronto mansion after the shooting on Tuesday morning ( AFP via Getty Images )

Toronto Police investigate a shooting outside the mansion of rapper Drake in Torontos Bridle Path neighborhood ( AP )

The shooting came just days after rival Lamar doxxed Drakes home in a diss track against him amid an ongoing feud between the two rappers. Lamar created three similar diss songs about Drake in just 36 hours.

Following the diss tracks release, Lamar fans took to Google Maps to rename parts of Drakes neighborhood after Lamar.

On one pin, fans wrote kendrickownsdrake meanwhile other nearby homes were renamed CertifiedKidLover, Kendricks Pool, and ChildMOE-lester.

The feud between the two stars began a month ago when Lamar hit out at the Canadian rapper and J Cole in his song First Person Shooter.

Drake has responded with a diss track accusing Lamar of domestic violence. Lamar in turn has accused Drake of having a secret daughter.

In another song titled, Not Like Us, the Humble rapper calls Drake a certified paedophile and makes multiple references to alleged interactions with younger women.

Drake poses at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 1 2019 ( Invision )

Say, Drake, I hear you like em young, Lamar starts, stating that Drake would struggle because of his alleged interests. You better not ever go to cell block one.

Paul Krawczyk of the police services Integrated Gun and Gang Task Force said that the motive behind the shooting at Drakes home remains under investigation.

The Independent has emailed a representative for Google for comment.
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Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered and marched near the Met Gala in New York City on Monday night, with several arrested by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

Amid a heavy police presence, protesters marched down Madison Avenue one block east of the gala venue, carrying Palestinian flags, banging drums, and chanting free, free Palestine!

Videos and photos from the scene also showed protesters walking through Central Park and being arrested by police officers, as well as filling the street and blocking traffic on nearby Park Avenue.

The NYPD confirmed to The Independent that it had arrested multiple people, but did not provide additional details.

Pro-Palestine protesters rally outside of 2024 Met Gala event

According to The New York Post, which put the numbers at more than a thousand, protesters were stopped at the East 79th St Transverse in Central Park by a double line of police officers in riot gear.

The protest occurred despite a heavy police presence outside of the event this year, including steel barricades and street closures. NYPD deputies were also spotted near the event with masks and zip tie handcuffs.

Police watch pro-Palestinian demonstrators near the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024 in New York ( AFP via Getty Images )

In recent years Protesters have frequently used the glittering event, in which celebrities don surreal and extravagant gowns to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as a platform for social causes.

In 2021, nine Black Lives Matter demonstrators were arrested outside of the event while calling on officials to defund and abolish the NYPD and taking apart barricades set up by police.

This year, numerous protests relating to the Israel-Hamas War were scheduled throughout New York City on Monday, with demonstrations taking place at Columbia and New York University in whats been dubbed a Citywide Day of Rage for Gaza.

New York mayor Eric Adams, along with other NYC officials, has blamed outside agitators for the protests at Columbia University in Manhattan, but academics and journalists have questioned his evidence for those claims.
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The woman who fell to her death during a graduation ceremony at Ohio State University has been identified.

Larissa Brady, 53, was identified by her fingerprints following the tragic incident, according to the Franklin County Coroners Office.

The incident happened at around 12.25pm on Sunday as students arrived for the ceremony in Columbus, Ohio. Brady was declared dead by medics who arrived on the scene, 10WBNS reported. The ceremony carried on as planned following the fatality.

Ohio State University Police Department told The Independent that officers do not suspect foul play or an accidental fall.

Ohio State is grieving the death of Larissa Brady, a family member of one of our graduates, a spokesperson said in a statement. Our hearts go out to her family and friends during this exceptionally difficult time.

Around 12,500 students were in the stadium at the time. A reporter for The Columbus Dispatch, who was at the event, said some students were visibly upset.

Ohio State Universitys graduation ceremonies took place after weeks of Gaza protests on campus, part of a wave of demonstrations sweeping colleges across the US. In Indiana, some students walked out of their graduation ceremony on Saturday, while pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan interrupted the event there.

In Columbus, Melissa Shivers, Ohio States senior vice president of student life, called for a day without interruptions on Sunday. "Today is a day for focusing on and celebrating our graduates, she said, according to the Dispatch.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
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Panera Bread will stop selling its Charged Lemonade, a highly caffeinated drink that has been blamed for deaths in at least two lawsuits.

In October, the family of Sarah Katz, a 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania student with a heart condition, filed a lawsuit claiming the woman died after consuming the beverage.

A second lawsuit was filed in December by the family of Dennis Brown of Florida. He had a chromosomal deficiency disorder and a developmental delay. He also died after drinking a Charged Lemonade, the lawsuit claimed.

Lauren Skerrit, a 28-year-old woman in Rhode Island, has also sued the company over the drink, saying it left her with "permanent cardiac injuries."

A Panera spokesperson announced on Tuesday that the drink would be discontinued as part of a "recent menu transformation."

We listened to more than 30,000 guests about what they wanted from Panera, and are focusing next on the broad array of beverages we know our guests desire  ranging from exciting, on-trend flavors, to low sugar and low-caffeine options, the spokesperson said, according to NBC News.

A label added to Paneras Charged Lemonade drinks warning consumers that it contains caffeine ( Panera Bread / screengrab )

The drink was advertised as Plant-based and Clean with as much caffeine as our Dark Roast coffee.

However, a large-size version of the drink has more caffeine  390mg  than any size of dark roast coffee on the menu.

For comparison, a can of Coke has 34mg of caffeine, an 8.4 oz Red Bull energy drink contains 77mg of caffeine, and a 20oz Cafe Blend Dark Roast Coffee from Panera has 268mg of caffeine.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, healthy adults can generally safely consume 400mg of caffeine a day.

Katz's friend, Victoria Rose Conroy, told NBC News that she probably had no idea the lemonade contained nearly an entire day's worth of caffeine when she ordered the drink. She said Katz was "vigilant" about what she consumed because of her heart condition.

I guarantee if Sarah had known how much caffeine this was, she never would have touched it with a 10-foot pole, Ms Conroy told the broadcaster.

Sarah Katz, 21, went into cardiac arrest hours after buying charged lemonade' drink, which contains more caffeine than cans of Red Bull and Monster Energy combined, the lawsuit states. ( SADS Foundation )

A Panera spokesperson told NBC News that following Katzs death, disclosures about the drink were added in every restaurant.

We were saddened to learn this week about the tragic passing of Sarah Katz. While our investigation is ongoing, out of an abundance of caution, we have enhanced our existing caffeine disclosure for these beverages at our bakery-cafes, on our website and on the Panera app, a Panera spokesperson said in 2023.

While the company has expressed sympathy for the deaths associated with the lawsuits, the company maintains that their "unfortunate passing was not caused by one of the company's products."

It said it stood by the safety of the drinks. It has not commented on the third lawsuit from Ms Skerrit.

A pair of Panera employees who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity shared memos from their managers stating that the drink would be phased out over the next two weeks.

Elizabeth Crawford, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuits, praised the move as a "good step" for Panera.

This is exactly what we set out to do, to some extent, is to make sure that this poison is taken off the shelves, she told NBC News.

She said that while the move won't bring back the dead, it will "prevent this from happening to someone else".
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The winners of the Pulitzer Prizes were announced at the Columbia University, which included The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Pro Publica in the journalism categories, and Jayne Anne Phillips, Tyshawn Sorey, and Eboni Booth in the arts categories.

The Pulitzers honoured the best in journalism from 2023, and also in arts categories focused on books, music and theatre. All winners, barring the public service winner who receives a gold medal, will receive $15,000.

Jayne Anne Phillips' Night Watch, a mother-daughter saga set in a West Virginia asylum after the Civil War, has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

The cover of Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips ( AP )

The drama prize was awarded to Eboni Booths Primary Trust, about a bookstore worker's unexpected journey after he loses his job.

Nathan Thrall's A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy won for general nonfiction, and Jacqueline Jones received the history prize for No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Bostons Black Workers in the Civil War Era.

Two winners were announced Monday in the biography category: Jonathan Eig for his Martin Luther King biography King and Ilyon Woo's Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom. Cristina Rivera Garza's investigation into the murder of her sister, Lilianas Invincible Summer, won for memoir-autobiography, while Brandon Som's Tripas received the poetry prize.

Tyshawn Sorey's saxophone concerto Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith)" was the winner for music.

The Associated Press won the feature photography prize for its coverage of global migration through Latin America to the US.

Migrants cross the Rio Bravo on an inflatable mattress into the United States from Matamoros, Mexico, on May 9, 2023 ( AP )

The prestigious public service award went to ProPublica reporters Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski and Kirsten Berg, for their work that pierced the thick wall of secrecy around the US supreme court showing how billionaires won judges favours with gifts and travel, and prompted the Supreme Court to adopt its first code of conduct.

Late hiphop critic Greg Tate, along with several other journalists and writers covering the war in Gaza, received special citations.

The New York Times won a Pulitzer for its wide-ranging and revelatory coverage of Hamass 7 October attack on Israel, the intelligence failures that led to the attack, and Israels response in Gaza.

The award comes despite major criticism and controversy over NYTs coverage of the war in Gaza.The Intercept reported in April that an internal memo instructed journalists covering Israels war in Gaza to restrict the use of the terms genocide and ethnic cleansing and to avoid using the phrase occupied territory when describing Palestinian land.

Also in March, a group of nearly 60 journalism professors called on NYT to address questions on a story  that was not submitted for Pulitzer consideration  that alleged Hamas carried out a pattern of rape, mutilation and extreme brutality against women on the 7 October attack.

Issuing guidance like this to ensure accuracy, consistency and nuance in how we cover the news is standard practice, said Charlie Stadtlander, an NYT spokesperson. Across all our reporting, including complex events like this, we take care to ensure our language choices are sensitive, current and clear to our audiences.

In addition, NYTs Hannah Dreier won the prize in investigative reporting for her coverage of migrant child labour across the US.

Hannah Dreier (second from right) reacts as colleagues applaud during a Pulitzer Prize gathering in the newsroom of The New York Times in New York City ( via REUTERS )

Contributing writer Katie Engelhart won the third Pulitzer for NYT, in feature writing, for her portrait of a family struggling with a matriarchs dementia.

The Washington Post staff won the prize for national reporting for its sobering examination of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. WaPos David E Hoffman won in editorial writing for a compelling and well-researched series on authoritarian regimes suppressing dissent in the digital era. Its third award went to contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza for commentaries written from a Russian prison cell.

The second national reporting award went to the Reutersstaff for an eye-opening series that looked into tech mogul Elon Musks automobile and aerospace businesses.

Reutersalso won the prize for for Breaking News Photography, for raw and urgent photographs documenting the 7 October deadly attack in Israel by Hamas and the first weeks of Israel's devastating assault on Gaza.

The New Yorker magazine won two Pulitzers  Sarah Stillman in explanatory reporting for her coverage of the legal systems reliance on felony murder charges, and contributor Medar de la Cruz won in illustrated reporting and commentary for his story on the inmates in New York Citys Rikers Island jail.

The prize for criticism went to The Los Angeles Timess Justin Chang for his richly evocative and genre-spanning work that reflects on the contemporary moviegoing experience.
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TikTok is suing the US government and says that a potential ban of the social media platformwould violate the First Amendment.

The Chinese-owned company filed the lawsuit after President Joe Biden signed legislation in April meaning that TikTok must be sold, or face being banned in the US. The new law - Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act - gives the company 270 days to do so.

TikTok, and parent company ByteDance, says that the law is unconstitutional, according to the suit filed in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Tuesday.

TikToks lawsuit also argues that the law does not state any specific threats posed by TikTok in the US, and that Congress did not consider alternative measures before the legislation was signed, even though such measures were offered to other companies.

The plaintiffs also claim that the law violates the Fifth Amendment which relates to freedom of expression and due process.

The lawsuit claims that selling short-form video platform is not technologically, commercially or legally possible in the 270-day timeline.

TikTok , a short-form social media platform, is suing the US government claiming that a potential ban of the site would violate the First Amendment ( Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere, the suit states.

The company wants the court to issue an order barring the US attorney general, Merrick B Garland, from enforcing the law, and granting appropriate relief.

The January 19 deadline could be extended by the new litigation, meaning that it could take years for the app to be banned in the US, if at all.

ByteDance previously told Congress that it is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government. Still, the company is required to establish a Communist Party committee made up of employees who are party members.

Speaking to NBC News in March, Illinois Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, who introduced the bill, said the law is not a ban.

The president wants authority to be able to balance the legitimate concerns of people on the platform who should continue to enjoy the platform with the legitimate security concerns that have to do with our adversaries, he said.

The new law makes it unlawful for a data broker to sell, license, rent, trade, transfer, release or disclose sensitive data of US residents to the governments of North Korea, China, Russia, Iran or companies controlled by those countries.
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Donald Trump has said he would rather face jail time than comply with a gag order imposed on him.

Frankly our Constitution is much more important than jail, Trump said to press in the hallway of the Manhattan courthouse where he is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records in an alleged bid to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Its not even close. Ill do that sacrifice any day.

Trump was hit with a gag order in March, preventing him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his hush money trial, in which he is charged with 34 felony counts - all of which he denies.

Since then, Trump has been accused of breaking the gag order several times during his trial, with Judge Juan Merchan on Monday imposing a $1,000 fine on Mr Trump and holding him in contempt for a second time.

Your continued violations  threaten to interfere with the administration of justice, and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law, Judge Merchan told Trump.

He also warned the former president Trump that he could face jail time if he breaks the gag order again.

Donald Trump outside court in New York ( AP )

It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction, Judge Merchan said.

Trump was hit with a $9,000 fine last week for nine offending Truth Social posts where he attacked witnesses in the case.

In his written order, the judge warned that Trump could face an incarceratory punishment if he continues his wilful violations of the courts order, if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances.

Trumps defence attorney Todd Blanche argued that the former presidents posts were responding to political attacks but failed to offer up any examples of what, exactly, Trump was responding to.

Since the gag order was imposed on him, Trump has sought to use the ruling to raise money for his political campaign by criticising the criminal justice system, which he has previously baselessly asserted is unfair and biased against him.

The liberal judge in New York just threatened to THROW ME IN JAIL a fundraising email sent before this Mondays ruling read, with emphasised red lettering and the subject line, They want me in HANDCUFFS.

The email encouraged supporters to Stand with Trump and directed donations to a joint-fundraising committee launched this spring, Trump National Committee JFC.

On the day that Mr Trump took a mugshot in Fulton County, Georgia, he raised more than $7 million dollars, making it his campaigns single biggest fundraising day of the cycle.

Do it... and watch those poll numbers go through the roof, Students for Trump Chair Ryan Fournier said on X on Monday after Judge Merchan threatened Trump with jail time.
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On Tuesday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet once again as Johnson seeks to talk down Greenes plans to remove Johnson from his job. Greene would do that by triggering a motion to vacate, effectively turfing him out of the speakership if she can get enough votes in support. How did it come to this?

On the surface, the two should be natural allies. Both are hardline conservatives and ardent supporters of former president Donald Trump. Both voted to object to the 2020 presidential election results after January 6 and both have made a point of criticizing President Joe Biden on immigration policy.

But prior to his ascent as speaker, few people had heard of Johnson  whereas Greene was one of the most visible faces of the pro-MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

How it all began

After Republicans took back the House of Representatives in 2022, Greene closely aligned herself with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the grounds that Republicans needed to be unified to investigate Bidens administration. As a junior member of House leadership, Johnson also voted for McCarthy all 15 rounds it took before McCarthy ultimately earned the gavel.

In addition, Greene emerged as the loudest opponent in the GOP of providing aid to Ukraine. In the previous Congress, Johnson also voted against providing aid to Ukraine.

In September of last year, after protracted negotiations with hardline conservatives, McCarthy put a stopgap spending bill to the floor to keep the government open  but without providing aid to Ukraine.

That triggered Representative Matt Gaetz to file a motion to vacate against McCarthy, which both Johnson and Greene opposed. The three-week search for a replacement began. Johnson, who first won election in 2016 and served as vice chairman of the House Republican conference, emerged as the consensus choice. All House Republicans  Greene included  voted for him.

How the split happened

Initially, Greene and Johnson were unified in opposing aid to Ukraine. Johnson later killed a bipartisan deal in the Senate that would have provided aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan in exchange for restrictions to immigration and additional security measures at the US-Mexico border. After the Senate passed a standalone bill, Johnson refused to put the bill to the floor.

Republicans only have 217 members compared to Democrats 213, giving Johnson an incredibly thin majority. Given that a handful of hardliners will oppose almost any piece of legislation put to the floor, that gives Johnson an even slimmer majority to navigate.

Greene had initially said she would file a motion to vacate against Johnson if he put aid to Ukraine on the floor. But even before then, Greene had expressed dissatisfaction in Johnson when he worked with Democrats to pass the 12 spending bills to keep the government open for the rest of the fiscal year.

Were breaking all the rules, she told The Independent in March. Remember the precious rules of the Republican Conference?

The day of the vote for the second batch of spending bills, Greene had clearly had enough  and she filed her motion to vacate.

What is the motion to vacate  and why is Greenes different from Gaetzs?

The motion to vacate the chair at its core triggers a no-confidence vote in the speaker of the House of Representatives. Since the Tea Party era, conservatives have used the motion to vacate as a threat against Republican speakers. But in the past, conservatives did not make the resolution privileged, which triggers a vote within two legislative days.

As part of McCarthys deal with hardline conservatives to vote to make him speaker, he allowed for one member to file a motion to vacate. In October, Gaetz filed his motion to vacate the chair, and he made it privileged. Eight Republicans and every Democrat present voted to oust McCarthy, so he was out.

Conversely, Greene has not made her motion privileged, saying rather that she hopes Johnson will change his behavior in reaction and that the party can consider replacing him on a slower timeframe.

I filed the motion to vacate today, but its more of a warning than a pink slip, she told reporters. Its time for us to go through the process, take our time and find a new speaker of the House that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats.

What role do Democrats have?

Last week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar announced they would support a motion to table Greenes motion.

That infuriated Greene, which led her and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky to say last week that they would force a vote.

What does Greene want?

As she heads to meet with Johnson, PunchBowl News reported Greenes demands: no additional US aid to Ukraine; a plan to defund Special Counsel Jack Smiths investigations into former president Donald Trump; and a demand that Johnson only put forward legislation that has a support from a majority of Republicans. This latter demand is commonly known as the Hastert Rule.

Its unclear whether Johnson will support any of these after their meeting. But doing so would make it much more difficult for him to pass spending bills, given a handful of conservatives often oppose them and Democrats would consider defunding investigations a non-starter.
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House Democrats dont like the fact that they might have to save House Speaker Mike Johnson. But they are coming to accept they will do it, if it means stopping Johnson from cutting a deal with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

On Tuesday, Greene met for more than an hour with the speaker in his office, even as votes began on the House floor and Johnson was set to meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Afterwards, Greene told reporters the outcome lay with the speaker.

We will see, she said. It is up to Mike Johnson.

Marjorie Taylor Greene (right) speaks to reporters in the US Capitol before her second meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson on 7 May 2024. Democrats say they will vote to table her motion to vacate if she brings it forward ( Getty Images )

Greene filed a motion to vacate the chair, which would trigger a no-confidence vote in Johnson, back in March. Last week, Greene (and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky) said that she would trigger a vote to oust the speaker after House Democratic leadership said they would consider tabling Greenes motion to vacate.

But that does not mean Democrats will relish doing so.

I thought they fell in love again, Representative Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the Rules Committees, told The Independent, after the meeting between Johnson and Greene, and I wouldnt have to hold my nose and vote not to vacate the chair.

Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell of California criticised Greene for seeming wobbly on pushing Johnson out.

I can just speak for our side  were gonna be the side that wants to get s**t done, well be united, well deliver the votes, he told The Independent. And as I said, it looks more like a motion to vacillate than a motion to vacate because she cant decide what she wants to do other than try and be famous.

Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell, pictured in the US Capitol, told The Independent his party wants to get s*** done.' ( Getty Images )

Meanwhile, some GOP members are brushing off Greenes fight with the speaker.

Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, said Greene wont succeed.

We need to get our act together and come together for the betterment of our country... I dont know why shes doing this because the votes arent there, Mace said of her colleague on Monday morning.

Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York who represents a district that voted for President Joe Biden, laughed off the motion to vacate as a stunt.

I just dont care, its so stupid, he told The Independent.

Rep. Nancy Mace condemns Marjorie Taylor Greene's efforts to oust Speaker Johnson

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina called Greene uninformed and a waste of time last month when she called to oust Johnson the first time.

But some fellow far-right representatives are happy to see Greene standing up to the speaker.

Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas and member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, said on Tuesday that he broadly agrees with Marjorie Taylor Greenes call for change.

I dont know her exact laundry list, but in broad terms, yes, Roy told The Independent just outside the US House chambers. The American people are not happy.

Greene has demanded that Johnson not provide any more aid to Ukraine; that the House defund Special Counsel Jack Smiths investigations into former president Donald Trump; and that only legislation that has a support of the majority of the House Republican conference receive a vote. The latter demand is commonly known as the Hastert rule.

Greene told The Independent she wants Speaker Mike Johnson gone because he is not honoring voters wishes.

[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what hes delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda, Greene told The Independent on Tuesday. This is not what Americans voted for  they gave us the majority because they want a Republican agenda. Thats what were here to work on.

Marjorie Taylor Greene exits second meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday afternoon

Johnson enraged many Republicans after he brokered a bipartisan agreement with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to pass legislation to keep the government open until the end of the current fiscal year.

He further enraged Ms Greene and other Republicans when he passed a massive spending package that provided aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
 Close Marjorie Taylor Greene exits second meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson

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Marjorie Taylor Greene said on Tuesday the outcome of her call to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is now in his hands.

This development comes after the speaker, Ms Greene and her ally Representative Thomas Massie met for some 90 minutes on Tuesday afternoon. They previously met on Monday for over an hour.

After the second meeting, Ms Greene told reporters the ball is in Mr Johnsons court.

We will see, she told reporters. It is up to Mike Johnson.

The GOP duo want Mr Johnson to block future Ukraine aid. They also want him to defund Special Counsel Jack Smiths probes into Donald Trump. Mr Smith is investigating the classified documents case and the 6 January riots. These asks are largely symbolic because the US Senate and President Joe Biden would likely block them.

Before Tuesdays meeting, Ms Greene told The Independent the speaker has been working with Democrats the entire time.

[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what hes delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda, Ms Greene told The Independent.
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A Republican congressman who praised a University of Mississippi student for making monkey noises at a Black woman during a Gaza solidarity protest has finally changed his tune on the matter.

Shocking video footage captured a white student, who was among a group of counter-protesters at the demonstration at Ole Miss, jumping up and down and making ape noises toward the Black protester.

The woman livestreamed the incident on her phone and it was shared online.

While the video prompted widespread outrage, Georgia Republican Mike Collins sided with the white counterprotester using the racist trope.

Ole Miss taking care of business, he commented on the now-viral clip in a post on X on May 3.

After facing backlash, Mr Collins walked back his statement, writing on X on Monday that if the counter-protester is found to have treated another human being improperly because of their race, they should be punished appropriately, and will hopefully seek forgiveness.

He continued: Frankly, I did not believe that to be the focal point of the video shared at the time, but I recognize that there certainly seems to be some potentially inappropriate behavior that none of us should seek to glorify.

The Georgia Republican clarified that he does not tolerate any form of discrimination racism or otherwise.

Screengrab shows Ole Miss protester (left) and the counter-protester (right) who made monkey noises at her during a Gaza solidarity protest ( Stacey Spiehler via YouTube )

Mississippi Republican Governor Tate Reeves also posted a video of the counter-protesters singing the Star Spangled Banner as they taunted demonstrators who were waving the flags of Palestine. Mr Reeves wrote: Warms my heart. I love Mississippi!

The Independent has contacted the governors office for comment.

Phi Delta Theta has since ousted the white student from his fraternity  who has not been publicly identified  calling the incident offensive, outside the bounds of this discourse, and contradictory to our values.

The Independent has contacted Ole Miss for comment as to whether the student has also been expelled from the school.

A spokesperson for Ole Miss told The Independent in a Friday statement: Statements were made at the demonstration on our campus Thursday that were offensive and inappropriate.

We cannot comment specifically about that video, but the university is looking into reports about specific actions. Any actions that violate university policy will be met with appropriate action.
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Rikers Island jail is prepared to deal with the situation, should Donald Trump be given prison time over continued violations of his gag order, the New York City mayor has insisted.

Eric Adams was quizzed about the unprecedented situation on Tuesday, but told reporters that the prison would adjust to whatever comes our way.

The former president has been threatened with time behind bars multiple times by presiding judge Juan Merchan, as his historic criminal hush money trial in Manhattan continues in its third week of testimony.

Mr Trump has already been fined a total of $10,000 for violating a gag order that prohibited him from attacking key witnesses in the trial on his social media platform, Truth Social.

On Monday, Justice Merchan warned Mr Trump that jail remains truly a last resort that would disrupt the proceedings, court staff and law enforcement. The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me, the judge said.

Rikers Island jail in New York would be prepared to house former president Donald Trump, the NYC mayor has said ( AP )

But at the end of the day I have a job to do, and part of that job is to protect the dignity of the justice system, he said. Your continued violations threaten to interfere with the administration of justice, and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law.

Mayor Adams was asked about the possibility of having the former president put behind bars at a press conference on Tuesday.

"Our amazing commissioner is prepared for whatever comes on Rikers Island," Mr Adams said. "Im pretty sure [the Department of Corrections commissioner] would be prepared to manage and deal with the situation.

It comes as disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was transferred back to Rikers on Monday following a short stay at a New York hospital for medical treatment. The City reported that he was returned to the jail after corrections officials learned that he had been allowed to stay in a private room and received special treatment during his stay.

The former president has already been fined a total of $10,000 by presiding judge Juan Merchan for violating his gag order

Weinstein, 72, received amenities that other inmates never receive during a medical stay at Bellevue Hospital, such as phone use, a private bathroom, and access to a television, the outlet reported.

At Tuesdays media conference, Mayor Adams continued: As you see whats happening with Harvey Weinstein, we have to just you know, in this business, particularly around law enforcement, we have to adjust whatever comes our way.

"We dont want to deal with a hypothetical, but theyre professionals that will be ready."

At trial on Tuesday, the court heard from adult film actress Stormy Daniels  a key witness in the historic trial.
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New unsealed court documents in the Florida case against Donald Trumpthis week reveal the extent of the involvement of Walt Nauta, Trumps valet, in the storage and handling of classified documents found at the Mar-a-Lago resort and estate in Palm Beach.

The new documents reveal some of Nautas answers to questions from FBI agents investigating the case.

Referring to the effort by the National Archives to obtain some classified documents during Trumps chaotic move-out process after January 6th, Nauta told investigators: What I recall is every time he would leave for the evening, they would come up, and they would collect all the papers that he threw on the floor; or that  at the time  we understood that he didnt need any more.

Valet Walt Nauta hands former Donald Trump an umbrella before he speaks at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in 2023 ( AP )

Nauta provides a rare look into the jumbled and hasty exit Trump made from the White House in 2021, after weeks and even months of partial and sometimes outright refusal to work with the Biden transition team.

As Trump was consumed by his efforts to overturn the election based on false conspiracy theories, Nautas testimony makes clear that the former presidents aides and departing staff were left with little oversight or support for their work to complete transition duties.

As a former Navy cook working as a valet at a resort, Nauta is an unusual person to have become central to an investigation into a president.

The filings also hint at the turbulent mindset of the former president during those days, which may be used by prosecutors to explain why he allegedly retained classified materials for his personal collection instead of turning them over to federal authorities.

It remains unclear when Trumps trial in Florida will actually begin. In New York, however, his hush money trial has continued apace.

On Tuesday, the trial is set to reach a new milestone with the expected testimony of Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who alleges that she had an affair with the former president, which he denies.

Meanwhile, in Florida, the judge overseeing the case handed the former presidents team more time on Monday. Judge Aileen Cannon just removed a deadline for his team to submit a key filing, which was originally set for this coming Thursday. That key filing was a list of classified materials they plan to present as evidence at trial.

This is a win for Trump in the political sense, as it makes it unlikely that he will go on trial for mishandling classified materials before the November presidential election.

Trumps team has pursued a strategy of pushing back deadlines and slow-walking the various legal cases he finds himself involved in. Every delay should be an advantage to the former president.

Yet at the same time, Trump continues to complain publicly about being tied up in court in order to fire up his base. The four criminal prosecutions he currently faces feed into a victimhood mentality that helped him steamroll his opponents in the 2024 Republican primary, as Republican voters bought into his claims of being unfairly targeted by the legal system.
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Jurors in Donald Trumps hush money trial finally got to see the paper trail for payments to Michael Cohen for buying the silence of adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose story about a sexual encounter with Mr Trump allegedly threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.

Those payments included checks bearing the former presidents Sharpie-inked signature, according to documents shown in a Manhattan courtroom on Monday.

A bulk of those monthly $35,000 checks  sent to Cohen during Mr Trumps first year as president  came out of Mr Trumps own personal checking account.

After two weeks of witness testimony that exposed the inner workings of tabloid publishing and behind-the-scenes damage control around Mr Trumps 2016 campaign, Manhattan prosecutors gave jurors a detailed view of the allegedly falsified business records that are at the heart of the case.

Two longtime Trump Organization employees  including one of Mr Trumps co-defendants in his sprawling civil fraud case  testified for nearly six hours on Monday, providing an exhaustive overview of the Trump Organizations accounting for Cohens payments.

Mr Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records by disguising payments to his former attorney as legal expenses across Trump Organization records. Those checks  sent in $35,000 increments over 12 months  included an additional bonus and other funds, including money intended to reimburse his $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels in 2016, according to prosecutors.

Donald Trump appears inside a criminal courtroom in Manhattan on 6 May. ( POOL/AFP/Getty )

On the bottom of a bank statement that notes the withdrawal of $130,000 to Ms Daniels attorney in October 2016, then-Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg scribbled the rough math for Cohens reimbursements, according to documents shown in court.

Now-former Trump Organization executive Jeffrey McConney wrote his own notes on a notepad with Trump Organization letterhead, writing that Cohen will receive $35,000 per month beginning 1 February, 2017. The bottom of the note adds Mike to invoice us.

"[Weisselberg] said, we have to get some money to Michael, Mr McConney said on Monday. I started taking notes on what Allen said.

Throughout 2017, Cohen would email his invoice monthly to Weisselberg, who forwarded the message to Mr McConney, who would forward the invoice to accounts payable supervisor Deb Tarasoff.

She would then cut the checks, staple them to the original invoice, and walk them over to Mr Trumps executive assistant for his signature, or mail them to the White House.

After Mr Trumps inauguration in January 2017, the checks would be mailed to Mr Trump by FedEx, and he would sign them from Washington DC.

Mr Trump or his sons were the only people allowed to approve paying invoices of more than $10,000, and Mr Trump was the only person who authorized checks from his personal account, according to Ms Tarasoff.

In the trials opening statements, defence attorney Todd Blanche claimed that those payments were merely for legal services rendered. The invoices were processed, somebody at Trump Tower signed off on them, and they were recorded as such in a ledger, he argued.

What on earth is a crime? What is a crime about what I just described? Mr Blanche said last month. The 34 counts  are really just 34 pieces of paper.

Those 34 counts include not just the checks but the ledger entries and invoices that created them.

Cohen submitted each invoice pursuant to the retainer agreement. Pay stubs to Cohen described each check as payments for his retainer. Invoices entered into the companys accounting software list each payment as a legal expense.

Ledgers from Mr Trumps personal checking account and the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust  which handled the former presidents assets while he was in office  recorded the payments to Cohen as legal expense, according to documents shown in court.

Cohens first check, which encompassed January and February 2017, totalled $70,000.

That check, which came out of the trusts checking account, was signed by Weisselberg and Eric Trump.

A courtroom sketch depicts former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney testifying before Manhattan prosecutor Matthew Colangelo before Justice Juan Merchan during Donald Trump's criminal trial on 6 May. ( REUTERS )

In a remarkable moment at the end of his testimony, Mr McConney agreed with prosecutors that he was in the dark about arrangements between Trump, Cohen and Weisselberg, who was allegedly looped into the scheme.

This was all happening above your head? Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo asked him. You were told to do something and you did it?

McConney said yes to both.

The paper trail of Cohens payments was previously used as evidence of federal campaign finance violations as part of his plea agreement with federal prosecutors in 2018. In that case, Cohen agreed that he sent monthly invoices as part of a retainer agreement that didnt exist, and the monthly invoices [he] submitted were not in connection with any legal services he had provided in 2017.
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After Fridays emotional testimony of Hope Hicks, the former aide to Donald Trump, the fourth week of the historic criminal hush money trial of the former president got underway on Monday (6 May) with a dramatic warning from the judge.

Justice Juan Merchan ruled on the next set of gag order violations having already fined Mr Trump $9,000 for previous breaches of the rules he set out for Mr Trump and his legal team.

The former president is now under the threat of jail if he continues to post social media comments on witnesses and jurors.

That aside, while there was much anticipation about who might take the stand next  as court watchers eagerly await testimony from Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, or Karen McDougal  the case turned toward the underlying transactions and bookkeeping procedures that form the basis of the criminal charges with testimony from Trump Organization administrators.

Heres what we learned today in court:

Trump could go to jail if he keeps violating the gag order

Financial penalties may not be enough to keep the former president from violating a trial gag order intended to protect jurors, witnesses, court staff and their families, according to Judge Merchan.

Prosecutors have accused Mr Trump of violating the gag order at least 14 times, and the judge has agreed with them in 10 of those instances, issuing a total of $10,000 in fines.

Donald Trump sits in court on 6 May 2024

In a written order on Monday, the judge noted that because Mr Trump made the latest gag-violating comments before the last decision on 30 April, he will only face a monetary fine.

But it could be his last.

However, because this is now the [10th] time that this Court has found Defendant in criminal contempt, spanning three separate motions, it is apparent that monetary fines have not, and will not, suffice to deter Defendant from violating this Courts lawful orders, the judge wrote.

Future violations of the courts lawful orders could be punishable by incarceration, he wrote.

The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me, the judge told Mr Trump from the bench on Monday.

But at the end of the day I have a job to do, and part of that job is to protect the dignity of the justice system, he said. Your continued violations  threaten to interfere with the administration of justice, and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law.

As he left court shortly after 4pm, Mr Trump told reporters when asked about the prospect of jail time: Ill do that sacrifice any day.

Trumps comments about the jury raised the spectre of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones

In an April 22 interview with Real Americas Voice, Mr Trump claimed that the judge is rushing the trial like crazy and nobodys ever seen a thing go like this.

That jury was picked so fast  95 per cent Democrats. The areas mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a  just a purely Democrat area. Its a very unfair situation that I can tell you.

Mr Trump made those remarks even after the judge admonished him for audibly commenting and gesticulating toward jurors on the trials second day.

His remarks to Real Americas Voice not only called into question the integrity and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones, the judge wrote in his decision on gag order violations on Monday.

Last week, when questioned about Mr Trumps statements about the jury, defence attorney Todd Blanche argued that Mr Trump believes that the trial is political persecution and a political trial,

The judge cut him off.

Did he violate the gag order? Thats what I want to know, Judge Merchan said last Thursday. He spoke about the jury, right? And he said the jury was 95 per cent Democrats and the jury had been rushed through, and the implication that this was not a fair jury?

On Monday, he stressed the courts fundamental responsibility to protect the decency of the criminal process and to control disruptive influences in the courtroom, he wrote.

Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney is questioned by prosecutor Matthew Colangelo before Justice Juan Merchan during former President Donald Trump's criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records ( REUTERS )

A trial about falsified business records finally gets into the thick of the falsified business records

Two key Trump Organization employees  including a former executive who was a co-defendant in Mr Trumps civil fraud trial, and a longtime accounts payable supervisor who is still working for the company after two decades  gave jurors a detailed, if tedious, look into the allegedly falsified business records that are at the heard of the case.

The trial has heard plenty of salacious details about the workings of the tabloid business, but inevitably, prosecutors would be scrutinising the documents that are central to the allegations against the former president.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Trumps reimbursements to Cohen for his $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016 were disguised as legal expenses across 34 business records the following year  11 invoices, 11 cheques, and 12 ledger entries for every month of 2017.

Testimony from Trump comptroller Jeffrey McConney and longtime employee Deb Tarasoff walked the court through Cohens invoices, how they were forwarded to then-CFO Allen Weisselberg, and how they were paperclipped together with checks and sent to Mr Trump, who signed them in black Sharpie. The bulk of the checks came from Mr Trumps personal checking account.

Jurors were shown emails for each invoice, their entries in the companys accounting system, and pay stubs and paychecks, among other documents, that showed them listed as legal expense or for a legal retainer.

Donald Trump speaks outside the courtroom at his hush money trial on 6 May 2024

Prosecutors say they need another two weeks to lay out their case

After Ms Tarasoffs testimony concluded on Monday, Judge Merchan dismissed the jury slightly early before asking prosecutors how much more time they would take to lay out the case against Mr Trump.

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said they would likely need another two weeks from Tuesday to question all of the necessary witnesses in the case.

That may sound like a long time but with three days of trial left this week, and with the court only being in session for three days of the following week, it is at most six or seven days of testimony. Much of that is expected to be taken up by the appearance of Michael Cohen on the witness stand  an eagerly anticipated moment in the case.

Despite much media speculation about when Mr Trumps former lawyer and fixer would testify, Mr Trump claimed as he left court on Monday that he thought the prosecution would wrap up their case today implying that they are moving too slowly.

Just a week prior he complained that the case was moving too quickly and that Judge Merchan was rushing it.

The trial continues.
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Donald Trump is planning to headline a political fundraiser on the day he demanded a break in his hush money trial so that he could attend his youngest son Barrons high school graduation.

The Minnesota Republican Party has announced that the former president will headline its annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner event on Friday 17 May, the same day that Barron Trump graduates from Oxbridge Academy in the Sunshine State.

We are thrilled to welcome President Trump back to Minnesota, state GOP chairman David Hann said in a statement. I can think of no one more fitting to join us this year than President Trump.

The fundraiser will be held in St Paul, Minnesota, a roughly three hour and 45 minute flight from West Palm Beach, where Barrons graduation ceremony will take place.

The high school event starts from 10am ET. It is not clear what time the Republican fundraiser gets under way.

However, Mr Trumps busy schedule that day comes after he falsely claimed the judge in his hush money trial wouldnt give him a day off to attend his sons graduation from Oxbridge.

At the start of the trial in April, Mr Trumps legal team asked the judge to allow the criminal defendant the day off.

Judge Juan Merchan told the former president he was not going to make a decision until the trial was underway, saying that he would not be able to grant the request if the trial was running behind schedule.

Donald Trump with then-first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron as the former delivered his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination on the South Lawn of the White House on 27 August 2020 ( AP )

Mr Trump hit out at the judge saying that he was blocking him from attending the special moment.

Who will explain for me, to my wonderful son, Barron, who is a GREAT Student at a fantastic School, that his Dad will likely not be allowed to attend his Graduation Ceremony, something that we have been talking about for years, because a seriously Conflicted and Corrupt New York State Judge wants me in Criminal Court on a bogus 'Biden Case' which, according to virtually all Legal Scholars and Pundits, has no merit, and should NEVER have been brought, he wrote on Truth Social on 15 April.

Mr Trump's other sons and allies got in on the outrage as well.

Donald Trump Jr reposted a video compilation made by right-wing online personality Jack Posobiec calling Judge Merchans non-existent decision pure evil.

Judge Merchan is truly heartless in not letting a father attend his sons graduation, Eric Trump also chimed in.

Senate candidate Kari Lake called the judge corrupt, heartless and cruel, while Utah senator Mike Lee wrote that it was deliberately cruel.

Despite all the complaining, Judge Merchan ultimately granted the request  saying on 30 April that it was not a problem for Mr Trump to take the day off for the ceremony because the trial is currently running to schedule.

His appearance in Minnesota on 17 May will also come after Mr Trump once vowed never to visit the state again if President Joe Biden won it in the 2020 election.

First lady Melania Trump with her son Barron at the White House on 27 August 2020 ( Getty )

What we've done for Minnesota, if I lose Minnesota, I'm never coming back, he said during his 2020 presidential campaign. I don't care. I'm never coming back!

Apparently that promise didn't stick.

The Independent has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

Unlike his siblings, Barron has largely been kept out of the spotlight.

After the end of Mr Trump's presidency, his youngest son left Washington and enrolled at the school from which he will now graduate near the familys Mar-a-Lago home and is next expected to enrol in college.

A source close to the Trump family told People in March that if Barron goes away to college, there is a chance that his mother will follow him.

Melanias main job is taking care of Barron, the source said.

I think its possible that she will follow him wherever he goes to school.
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Former president Donald Trump fumed that there was no time for lawyers to prepare for Stormy Daniels testimony in his hush money trial, as the adult film star at the centre of the case prepared to take the stand.

I have just recently been told who the witness is today, Mr Trump wrote on Tuesday morning in a now-deleted Truth Social post.

This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare. No Judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way.

Although he didnt identify the witness in the post, his comment arrived moments before a lawyer for Ms Daniels announced that she would testify on Tuesday.

The adult film star, who alleges she had a 2006 affair with Mr Trump and was then paid $130,000 for her silence, took the stand at around 10.30am ET.

Judge Juan Merchan has allowed Manhattan prosecutors to keep the witness list a secret due to the former presidents online attacks against some of them, including Ms Daniels and his former fixer Michael Cohen.

The judge has also imposed a gag order on Mr Trump, barring him from lashing out at potential witnesses.

But the gag order hasnt totally reigned him in. He has so far been fined $10,000 for repeated violations of the order.

Ms Daniels testimony has been highly-anticipated as she is expected to hit at the heart of the case.

Former US President Donald Trump in court for his hush money trial on 7 May 2024 ( POOL/AFP via Getty Images )

Just before the 2016 presidential election, Cohen paid Ms Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence over her alleged affair with Mr Trump back in 2006. Mr Trump has repeatedly denied the affair ever happened.

He has been accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the so-called hush money payments. Prosecutors allege that Mr Trump gave Cohen the payments, labeling them as a legal retainer, when in actuality they were meant to hide the affair with Ms Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

On Monday, jurors were shown the paper trail in court, including the former presidents signature written in Sharpie. The bulk of the monthly checks sent to Cohen came out of Mr Trumps own personal checking account. Prosecutors said Mr Trump later reimbursed Cohen.
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Australia has protested a Chinese warplanes unprofessional and unacceptable use of flares near one of its helicopters flying a United Nations mission to enforce sanctions against North Korea in international waters.

The countrys Defence Department said the pilot of the MH-60R Seahawk was forced to take evasive action after a Peoples Liberation Army fighter jet ejected flares in its flight path over the Yellow Sea on Saturday.

Anthony Albanese said he made "very strong representations at every level to China" about the incident amid pressure to address the matter directly with Chinese president Xi Jinping.

"Weve just made it very clear to China that this is unprofessional and that its unacceptable," the Australian prime minister told Nine Network television.

Canberra said the navy helicopter, launched from the naval ship HMAS Hobart, was on a mission to enforce UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea when a Chinese jet detonated flares along its flight path.

"This was an unsafe manoeuvre which posed a risk to the aircraft and personnel. While there were no injuries sustained by ADF personnel or damage caused to the MH-60R helicopter, the safety and wellbeing of our ADF personnel continues to be our utmost priority," the Defence Department said.

The Chengdu J-10 fighter jet dropped flares about 300 metres in front of the helicopter and about 60 metres above it, forcing it to take evasive action in order to not be hit by those flares, defence minister Richard Marles said.

"The consequence of being hit by the flares would have been significant, he added. "This is a very serious incident. It was unsafe and it is completely unacceptable."

China hasnt commented on Australias allegations so far.

Canberra is expected to raise the matter when Chinese premier Li Qiang visits Australia in June. "One of the things that had broken down over a period of time was any dialogue. Dialogue is important. Its always, always important to have avenues of communication," Mr Albanese said.

He was referring to the period since 2020 when China ended ministerial discussions with Australias previous government which lost power in 2022.

While visiting China in November, Mr Albanese invited Mr Xi to visit Australia for the first time in a decade, citing the recent improvement in bilateral relations from historic lows. However, he announced on Tuesday that Mr Xi would not be visiting the country this year.

Mr Albanese said he anticipated some face-to-face engagement with the Chinese leader when they attend the G20 and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summits later this year.
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An Australian woman charged with killing her in-laws with a poisonous mushroom dish during a family lunch has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Erin Patterson, 49, a mother of two, was charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder after the parents and one other relative of her ex-husband died after eating a beef Wellington in July last year.

She was also charged with three counts of attempted murder of her estranged husband Simon Patterson.

Ms Patterson appeared in the courtroom via a video link from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, in Deer Park, Victoria, where she is being held on remand on Tuesday.

Not guilty your honour, she repeated eight times as the magistrate read the charges in a brief hearing in the Latrobe Valley magistrates court in Morwell.

The court also heard that Ms Patterson had elected to fast-track her case which means that it would be directly heard in the Supreme Court, skipping a committal hearing in the magistrates court.

The evidence against her would be seen by the Supreme Court where a jury will test them for the first time and decide her fate.

Sarah Lenthall, the prosecutor, told the court that three of the attempted murder charges against Ms Patterson concerning her former husband had been updated to specify the locations where the alleged incidents took place.

Erin Patterson sobs in an interview ( News International )

On 29 July 2023, Ms Patterson hosted a lunch for her estranged in-laws and another couple at her home in the small, rural town of Leongatha in Victoria, about 85 miles southeast of Melbourne.

She invited Don and Gail Patterson  her ex-husbands parents  and Gails sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian Wilkinson.

For the meal arranged as a reconciliation gesture for the sake of their two children, Ms Patterson cooked a beef Wellington dish, which incorporated the mushrooms.

The next day all four of the guests at the lunch fell ill and were taken to hospital with symptoms similar to food poisoning.

In a few days, her in-laws, both 70, and Heather Wilkinson, 66, died while Mr Wilkinson, 68, survived after treatment in hospital for three months.

Don and Gail Patterson died after eating mushrooms at Erin Pattersons home in Victoria, Australia, on 29 July ( Supplied )

Their deaths were linked to the death cap mushrooms which grow in the Leongatha area, are highly toxic and account for about 90 per cent of mushroom-related fatalities globally.

Ms Patterson, who remained unharmed following the incident, was named as a suspect in the deaths.

On 2 November, Ms Patterson was arrested in connection with the deaths and charged. After months of investigations, it was also alleged that Ms Patterson attempted the murder of her husband on three occasions between 2021 and 2022.
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German politicians are calling for a price cap on the doner kebab, with chancellor Olaf Scholz admitting that the question of what has been dubbed donerflation is one he gets asked wherever I go.

The far-left Die Linke party has put forward a proposal for the introduction of a doner kebab price cap similar to that introduced in some parts of the country to high rents.

Millions of kebabs are consumed in Germany every day  including 400,00 daily doners in Berlin  in an industry that is estimated to be worth more than 7bn (6bn).

But faced with a cost of living crisis, Germans are being forced to pay up to 10 for a kebab that cost just 4 two years ago.

Die Linke has proposed installing a 4.90 price cap for the kebab, as well as 2.90 cap for young people, especially those from lower-income backgrounds, for whom it claims the dish is a daily staple.

Donerflation, or the rapidly rising cost of doner kebabs, has become one of Germanys most arresting problems  and it is one that has incensed the younger members of the country.

The dish, which is made up of a folded flatbread stuffed with thinly-sliced meat topped with vegetables and garlic or chili sauce, was introduced to Germany by Turkish immigrants, who adapted it for local tastes.

After Mr Scholz posted on social media to explain that donerflation was due to rising wage and energy costs, a result of weaning off Russian gas following Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine, a young German Turk responded by demanding Mr Scholz speak to Putin [because] I want to pay 4.

Mr Scholz said it was quite striking that everywhere he went, he was being asked about a price brake for the doner.

Even Hanna Steinmuller, an MP for the Greens, a party that usually appeals to people to give up meat, felt the need to address this issue in parliament.

For young people right now it is an issue as important as where they will move when they leave home, she said.

I know its not an everyday issue for many people here and that  its also something that might be ridiculed, but I think as voter representatives we are obliged to highlight these different perspectives.

Some young people have called for the return of Angela Merkel, the former chancellor of Germany, arguing that Mr Scholzs predecessor had the doner under control.

But doner sellers remain sceptical that prices could ever be fixed. Deniz, a seller at a kiosk near Berlins Friedrichstrasse station, told The Guardian: People talk to us all the time about donerflation, as if we were diddling them, but its completely out of our control.
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The UK, US and most European Union nations boycotted the inauguration ceremony of Vladimir Putins fifth term as Russias president following an election that they rejected for allegedly lacking legitimacy.

Mr Putin walked down the red carpet at Moscows Kremlin Palace, the seat of the Russian government, in a choreographed ceremony that marked the beginning of another six years in power. The Russian leader, who has been in power for 25 years, won the last election riding on popular support for his prosecution of Moscows ongoing war in Ukraine.

The US denounced Mr Putins re-election as undemocratic and boycotted the inauguration. "No, we will not have a representative at his inauguration," Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said. "We certainly did not consider that election free and fair, but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity."

Mr Putin won a landslide victory in the 15 March election in which he did not face a serious challenger. He took more than 87 per cent of the vote, but the result was widely rejected in the West with the European parliament passing a resolution in April to denounce the election as a sham.

The British foreign ministry also did not send a representative to Mr Putins inauguration. Russias assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack against a sovereign democratic state," a ministry spokesperson said. "The UK condemns the Russian governments reprehensible actions which are an egregious violation of international law and the UN Charter."

Canada stayed away as well.

Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow ( EPA )

The EU said its ambassador to Russia would not attend the ceremony in keeping with the stance of most of its member states.

A European diplomat said 20 EU member states would boycott the inauguration, but seven were expected to send a representative, including France, Hungary and Slovakia.

While the Western powers have sought to isolate Moscow since it invaded Ukraine over two years ago, they have seen an internal rift develop over their divergent approaches to dealing with the Russian leader.

French ambassador Pierre Levy is expected to attend the ceremony after president Emmanuel Macron held talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping where the European leader said that we are not at war with Russia.

However, Frances relations with Russia have deteriorated over the war in Ukraine. Just last week, Mr Macron hinted at the possibility of sending French troops to Ukraine. He said if Russian forces broke through Ukrainian frontlines it would be legitimate to consider a likely request by Kyiv to send support.

The Baltic states, which no longer have envoys in Moscow, ruled out the possibility of attending the ceremony.

We believe that the isolation of Russia, and especially of its criminal leader, must be continued, Lithuanias foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said. Participation in Putins inauguration is not acceptable for Lithuania. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people fighting against Russian aggression.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said the ceremony was designed to create the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship.

Ukraine sees no legal grounds for recognising him as the democratically elected and legitimate president of the Russian Federation, the ministry said in a statement.
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Yulia Navalnaya branded Vladimir Putin a liar, a thief and a murderer just hours before the Russian president was sworn in for his fifth term in office following sham elections.

Ms Navalnaya, the wife of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, urged her supporters to continue the fight against Putins corrupt regime.

The Russian president was inaugurated for a fresh six-year stint in office on Tuesday morning at a Kremlin ceremony boycotted by several Western states  including the UK.

With each of his terms, everything only gets worse, and its frightening to imagine what else will happen while Putin remains in power, Ms Navalnaya, now the opposition leader who is exiled from Russia in an unknown location, told her supporters in a video message before the ceremony.

File photo: Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, poses with the Media Freedom Prize ( Reuters )

The foundation of the Putin regime is lies and corruption.

Ms Navalnayas husband Alexei, who was poisoned with novichok in a suspected assassination attempt by Russia, died in an Arctic prison in February after he was jailed for several offences including terrorism, which his supporters said were politically motivated.

Huge sums of money are stolen from us every day to fund bombings of peaceful cities, riot police beating people with batons, propagandists spreading lies, his widower added.

And also for their own palaces, yachts and private jets. And as long as this continues, we cant stop the fight.

Putin, in power as either president or prime minister since 1999, begins his new mandate more than two years after he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, where Russian forces have regained the initiative after a series of reversals and are seeking to advance further in the east.

Putin after being sworn in as Russias president on Tuesday ( Getty )

At 71, Putin dominates the domestic political landscape. On the international stage, he is locked in a confrontation with Western countries he accuses of using Ukraine as a vehicle to try to defeat and dismember Russia.

He won a landslide victory in a tightly controlled election from which two anti-war candidates were barred on technical grounds.

Britain, Canada and most European Union nations also decided to boycott the swearing-in, but France said it would send its ambassador.

Ukraine said the event sought to create "the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship."

Russias assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack against a sovereign democratic state, a UK Foreign Office spokesperson said.

The UK condemns the Russian governments reprehensible actions which are an egregious violation of international law and the UN Charter.
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Watch as an inauguration ceremony is held for Russian president Vladimir Putin on Tuesday 7 May, after he claimed a landslide victory in sham elections, extending his rule for another six years.

Already in office for nearly a quarter-century and the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Joseph Stalin, Mr Putins new term doesnt expire until 2030, when he is constitutionally eligible to run for another six years.

Britain did not send a representative to the Russian presidents swearing-in ceremony over the war in Ukraine, much like most of the European Union states.

Russias assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated, and barbaric attack against a sovereign democratic state, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry said on Monday.

The UK condemns the Russian governments reprehensible actions, which are an egregious violation of international law and the UN Charter.

In a speech in February, Mr Putin vowed to fulfil Moscows goals in Ukraine, and do what is needed to defend our sovereignty and security of our citizens.

Shortly after his orchestrated re-election in March, the president suggested that a confrontation between Nato and Russia is possible, and he declared he wanted to carve out a buffer zone in Ukraine to protect his country from cross-border attacks.
The Kremlin has responded with predictable theatre to comments from foreign secretary David Cameron after he said Ukraine is free to use weapons supplied by Britain to launch strikes inside Russia.

That theatre was both diplomatic, with the British ambassador summoned to the foreign ministry in Russia on Monday to warn of retaliation, and nuclear, as Moscow announced it would be holding exercises involving tactical nuclear weapons in the near future in order to remind the world yet again that it has them.

During his recent visit to Kyiv, the foreign secretary stated clearly that it was Ukraines decision how to use British weapons, and said Kyiv absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia.

Thats in sharp contrast to the position taken by the United States, which has consistently forbidden Ukraine from using the weapons it supplies to hit targets in Russia itself, and even discouraged Kyiv from doing so using its own home-grown capabilities.

Lord Camerons comments last week follow Britain repeatedly taking the lead in supplying weapons systems such as long-range missiles or main battle tanks, and showing that the fear of escalation that so constrains Washington and Berlin stems from a highly successful Russian con trick.

But that moral authority has been shaken over recent months by Britains reluctance to re-equip its own armed forces in the way it is urging other European states to do  and the way grand announcements of defence investment turn out on closer inspection to be both inadequate and deceptive.

This limits the direct military aid the UK can provide. Cameron suggested Britains long-term commitment to supporting Ukraine would now be largely financial, since weve just really emptied all we can in terms of giving equipment. And sadly, he immediately undermined the effect even of that commitment by once again ruling out the presence of Western troops in Ukraine.

French president Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly warned that European troops could be forced to intervene if Ukraine alone is unable to halt Russias aggression. Its vital that Russia understands that, since the last thing Moscow wants is to be involved in a direct military clash with Nato countries.

And yet, other European leaders have reacted with horror to the suggestion. I dont think it is right to have Nato soldiers killing Russian soldiers, Cameron said at the end of his visit to Ukraine. That may be true today, but its good to remember that the whole purpose of Nato is to stop Russian soldiers being where they have no right to be  if necessary, through the use of armed force.

In any case, publicly ruling out a Western troop presence in Ukraine makes no more sense now than it has ever done. Whether or not its a realistic proposition for individual Nato countries, just the possibility is one of the Kremlins greatest fears. So when Cameron and others publicly bar that option, all it does is reassure Putin that his worst case scenario is off the table; that way, he can continue the war with much less concern for the possible consequences.

Its like facing a bruiser in a boxing ring and reassuring him that youre going to fight with one hand behind your back. Instead, more European leaders  and the UK  should follow Macrons lead, and preserve what defence analysts call strategic ambiguity (to the rest of us, simply not telling your adversary what youre not going to do).

British planners will have given careful thought to whether Camerons go ahead for Ukraine might bring reprisals against the UK, over and above the inevitable threats and rhetorical froth from the Kremlins blow-hard mouthpieces.

Over the course of the last two weeks, Europe as a whole has woken up to the campaign of sabotage and disruption that Russia has been waging across the continent. Theres no doubt Russia could step this up still further. Moscows war on the West is now barely hidden, and for as long as the West does not respond, there are few downsides for Russia in waging it.

Using an extended network of proxies means the Kremlins intelligence chiefs wont be too concerned if they are caught in the act; since the crooks and patsies it recruits abroad will be considered even more disposable than its own personnel. And since Russia is already overtly acting as a rogue state, theres no damage to reputation or relationships to be concerned about.

We should expect proxy attacks against the UK and across Europe to continue. As well as their direct effect on hampering support to Ukraine, they have another useful purpose for Moscow: whether or not they succeed, theyre useful for gathering information on a countrys will and capacity to prevent more serious sabotage and respond to it.

Theres one traditional way of hurting the West that Russia may not yet have employed. Throughout the Cold War and even beforehand in tsarist times, Moscow poured effort and resources into sponsoring and equipping terrorist groups to carry out attacks against European cities. That would be a more random campaign of violence than the targeting of European logistics and supporters of Ukraine that we see now, and have much greater impact.

And the fragmented and diverse societies in todays European cities, with both substantial immigrant populations and widespread sympathy for anti-Western causes, would provide far more fertile ground for recruitment than Moscow found during the Cold War.

But Europe need not be just a passive victim. At the beginning of this year, I wrote about the Wests under-used ability to influence Russias choices. The UK had made its deliveries of Storm Shadow an explicit consequence of specific Russian actions; now, it seems, the US has done the same with its long-awaited supply of longer-range ATACMs missiles. And to nobodys surprise except perhaps in the White House, the sky has not fallen.

Britains explicit endorsement of strikes into Russia could also have been presented as a consequence for Russias attacks against Europe, and with a promise that more would follow. Whats more, explicitly allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with British weapons as well as its own opens up other possibilities for targeting Russias ability to wage war.

Ukraine has already carried out strikes at Russian locations that build and store the drones and missiles used to kill its innocent civilians, and at the energy infrastructure that helps Moscow pay for them. This limited number of pinpoint strikes is in stark contrast to Russias lengthy campaign of indiscriminate bombardment of Ukrainian cities, where hospitals, schools and apartment blocks are all valid targets for Moscow.

But further attacks could see Ukraine helping Europe, instead of the other way round. European countries can do little about the Russian electronic warfare installations that have been sowing havoc with European air and maritime traffic. But for Ukraine, no holds should be barred and its in everybodys interest that the jamming should be deterred or disrupted.

When considering how far the West should go in working with Kyiv, the fundamental question is still the same: whether Europe wishes to stop Russia in Ukraine, or allow Moscows war of reconquest to claim more victims further West. Both simple morality and practical common sense have always argued for the maximum possible support for Ukraine so it can continue to form the front line of Europes defence. Britains endorsement of Ukraines right to defend itself is a long overdue step in the right direction.

Keir Giles works with the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House. His next book will be Who Will Defend Europe? (October 2024)
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Ukrainian intelligence agents say they have foiled a Russian plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraines SBU State Security Service said it had caught Russian agents within the Ukrainian state guard plotting the kidnap and assassination of the president and other senior governmental officials.

The head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk said the failed assassination was supposed to be a gift to Vladimir Putin ahead of his inauguration on Tuesday.

The force said they arrested the two suspected moles who they believe had been recruited by Russia before its invasion.

Russian saboteurs are confronted in the woods by the Ukrainian SBU ( SBU )

The SBU claimed on Telegram that a Russian secret agent had passed on coordinates of a safe house ahead of a planned rocket attack. The force added Russia had planned to destroy all traces of the drone used to target the president with another missile.

Without providing evidence, they wrote: The enemy was actively developing plans to eliminate President Volodymyr Zelensky.

One of the tasks of the FSB intelligence network was to search for executors among the military close to the protection of the president, who could take the head of state hostage and later kill him.

The Ukrainians parade one of the suspected moles ( SBU )

In addition to Volodymyr Zelensky, the enemy planned to eliminate the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the state administration of Ukraine, Kyryll Budanov and other high-ranking officials.

Mr Zelensky was the primary target ( AP )

Mr Malyuk said: A limited number of people knew about our special operation, and I personally monitored its progress.

The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin before the inauguration, was actually a failure of the Russian special services.

But we must not forget, the enemy is strong and experienced, he cannot be underestimated. We will continue to work ahead of time, so that every traitor receives the well-deserved court sentences.

Arrests made by SBU ( SBU )

The SBU claimed a search of the intruders found the relevant means of destruction and other evidence of criminal activity.

They said the two officers were arrested on suspicion of treason committed under martial law and preparation for a terrorist act. Both offences carry a life sentence, the statement read.

Russias defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ukrainian claims of Russian efforts to kill Mr Zelensky are not new. Mr Zelensky said in 2022 there had been at least 10 attempts to assassinate him.

Also, prosecutors in Poland said last month a Polish man had been arrested on allegations of being ready to spy on behalf of Russias military intelligence in an alleged plot to assassinate Mr Zelensky.
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Ukraines security services (SBU) have foiled another assassination attempt on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The SBU said they had arrested two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine who had reportedly been recruited before Vladimir Putins full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russias security services, the FSB, to kill Mr Zelensky. The State Guard is usually charged with protectecting the countrys top officials.

The suspects were arrested on suspicion of enacting a plan drawn up by the FSB, according to a statement by the SBU.

Head of the SBU Vasyl Malyuk said the assassination was supposed to be a gift from the FSB to Vladimir Putin ahead of his inauguration on Tuesday following a sham election.

But it is not the first time that the Kremlin has tried to assassinate Mr Zelensky. It is likely not to be the last, either.

In an interview last year, Mr Zelensky said he was aware of at least five or six attempts on his life, though aides claimed in March that the Ukrainian leader had been targeted dozens of times. They said that he had survived three attempts in one week.

It has also been claimed that more than 400 mercenaries from Russias Wagner Group were reported to have been in Kyiv in February 2022, when Putin launched his invasion, with orders to kill Mr Zelensky as part of a decapitation strategy.

Two Russian spies were arrested by the SBU after plotting to kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ( SBU )

While the exact number of assassination attempts is unknown, The Independent has compiled everything we know about the attempts that have been made public.

Prior to the foiled attempt reported on Tuesday, the last failed assassination plot was publicised by the SBU in April.

Together with Polish law enforcement officers, the SBU exposed a Russian agent who was planning to collect and transfer information about the security of the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport in Poland, from where Mr Zelensky flies during international trips.

In a statement on 18 April, the SBU wrote: SBU employees and Ukrainian prosecutors informed their Polish colleagues about a possible assassination attempt and handed them key evidence in this case.

Thanks to successful actions and prompt exchange of information between the countries, it was possible to identify and detain a recruited agent of the Russian special services on the territory of Poland.

In August last year, the SBU detained another Russian informant who was gathering details of Mr Zelenskys planned trip to Mykolaiv, a city in southern Ukraine.

The SBU said they caught the female suspect red-handed preparing to hand over details of the trip so that Russia could carry out an airstrike against the Ukrainian president.

The SBU said the suspect was a salesperson in a military store in nearby city of Ochakov, who travelled around the territory of the district to film the locations of Ukrainian military objects.

The suspect faces up to 12 years in prison.

On the first day of the war, on 24 February 2022, Russian special forces parachuted into Kyiv. At that time, Ukraines western allies were urging Mr Zelensky to leave the capital and set up a base outside the country. London was among the cities offered as a new base for the Ukrainian administration.

But the Ukrainian leader stayed in the capital. Mr Zelenskys bodyguards sealed off his office with makeshift barricades and bits of plywood, and his decision to stay came to typify Ukrainian resistance to Russia.
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Hamas has accepted the a proposed ceasefire deal over the war in Gaza  but Israel, who have just launched attacks on Rafah  the last remaining area of the Gaza Strip yet to be invaded  has rejected it. Talks over a truce are said to be continuing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the proposal, which was agreed over the weekend and calls for the eventual complete withdrawal of Israels military from the Gaza Strip, would leave Hamas intact.

Surrendering to the demands of Hamas would be a terrible defeat for the State of Israel," he said in a video statement.

Here we look at exactly what was included in the proposal.

The proposed plan is broken down into three 42-day stages, with the majority of requirements of both sides taking place during the first stage.

In the first 42 days, there would be a temporary cessation of military operations between the two parties, followed by a withdrawal of Israeli forces eastward and away from densely populated areas.

That withdrawal will happen in three stages. The first, after three days, should see Israel withdraw from strongholds in the northern half of the enclave and dismantle military sites and installations in this area.

Israeli military vehicles operate in the Gazan side of the Rafah Crossing ( via REUTERS )

The second stage, after 22 days of the ceasefire, which is when half the living civilian captives in Gaza, including female soldiers, should have been released, the Israeli military should withdraw from areas in central Gaza.

At the end of the first 42-day stage, Israel should be prepared to withdraw entirely from the Gaza Strip.

Internally displaced civilians in Gaza should be permitted to return to their homes as the Israeli military withdraws from the affected area.

The proposal, which Al Jazeera has seen, adds that Israels warplanes should cease flying over Gaza for 10 hours a day and 12 hours when Israeli hostages are being swapped for Palestinian prisoners.

Meanwhile, 600 trucks of humanitarian aid are due to be delivered on a daily basis, starting from the first day of the ceasefire.

The proposal reads: Humanitarian aid, relief materials and fuel (600 trucks a day, including 50 fuel trucks, and 300 trucks for the north) shall be allowed into Gaza in an intensive manner and in sufficient quantities from the first day. This is to include the fuel needed to operate the power station, restart trade, rehabilitate and operate hospitals, health centres and bakeries in all parts of the Gaza Strip, and operate equipment needed to remove rubble. This shall continue throughout all stages.

Infrastructure, including electricity, water, sewage, communications and roads, will be rebuilt and all equipment needed for reconstruction, as well as the removal of rubble and debris, should be allowed into Gaza.

A minimum of 60,000 caravans and 200,000 tents will also be allowed into the enclave to house those whose homes have been destroyed.

Regarding hostages, the text reads: During the first phase, Hamas shall release 33 Israeli captives (alive or dead), including women (civilians and soldiers), children (under the age of 19 who are not soldiers), those over the age of 50, and the sick, in exchange for a number of prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centres.

The ratio of swaps would be one Israeli hostage for 30 Palestinian prisoners, and the swaps will be direct, namely one female soldier for one female prisoner.

The prisoners will be those being held in Israeli prisons and named on the release list by Hamas, a list that will also be approved by Israel.

The first three Israeli hostages will be released on the third day of the agreement, after which Hamas should release three additional hostages every seven days, starting with women, including female soldiers.

In the sixth week of exchanges, Hamas should release all remaining civilian detainees.

The second and third stages relate to Israels complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the subsequent reconstruction of the enclave.

The proposal says the second stage concerns a return to sustainable calm, including a permanent cessation of military operations and the final exchanges of captives and prisoners, which should include all remaining living Israeli men, both civilian and military.

The third and final stage should involve the exchange of the bodies and remains of the dead on both sides after they have been retrieved and identified.

A reconstruction plan over a period of three to five years will then commence, including the rebuilding of homes, civilian facilities and infrastructure, under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
Speaking recently in Tel Aviv, a close ally of Benjamin Netanyahu declared it would be unthinkable not to carry out a military offensive in Rafah to crush Hamas even if further hostage releases take place. This is what appears to be unfolding on the ground now.

An imperative for moving into Rafah, said the very senior official, was the suspicion that Hamas was using tunnels in the area to smuggle weapons into Gaza with senior commanders directing the conflict from the city.

On Tuesday morning, 12 hours after sealing off the border to Egypt with an armoured column, the Israeli military announced that it had already located three such tunnels, and expected to find more of them. A hunt, they continued, was underway to track down Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, the two Hamas chiefs who are yet to be killed or captured seven months into the war.

Israel has faced insistent demands from the US and other Western countries including the UK, Sunni Arab states with which it wants to build relations, as well as the UN and aid agencies to stop an offensive into Rafah  an attack which could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe to add to the terrible suffering in Gaza, where the death toll has risen to almost 35,000.

Netanyahus government has steadfastly rejected the calls to desist. It has, at the same time, attended the interminable ceasefire negotiations in Doha and now Cairo. Time has been an important factor in this. The latest round, in the Egyptian capital, was expected to go on for some while, scope enough for the Rafah mission to get underway.

Netanyahus announcement that the Rafah offensive would go ahead even if there was a truce made the chances of an agreement seem distant, as did a rocket attack on Rafah on the same day by Hamas which killed four Israeli soldiers, followed by Israeli air strikes in which 19 Palestinians died.

Hamas, it was believed, would be unable to agree to the terms on offer. All this was turned on its head on Monday when Hamas announced that it had accepted the deal and the ball was now very much in Israels court. There was an immediate call from Arab states for Israel to follow suit. The Biden administration expressed cautious approval, saying it was waiting for further details.

The devil was in the detail, and the details themselves were uncertain. What exactly had Hamas agreed to?

Israel is set to launch an offensive on the city of Rafah which has already suffered significant destruction ( AP )

According to one account, the militant group accepted an initial month-long ceasefire during which 33 Israeli hostages in Gaza would be freed in return for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including those serving life sentences after being convicted of terrorism and murder. A second phase in which talks would focus on ending the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza; and a final one where the subjects would be reconstruction and return of civilians to their home areas.

The reaction by the Israeli government showed it was unprepared for the Hamas statement. One senior official said it was being scrutinised to see if Hamas  was serious about a deal. But this was followed by a statement from Netanyahu saying it did nothing to address core Israeli concerns.

He went on to state later that, ending the war and leaving Hamas intact  the State of Israel cannot accept that. We are not prepared to accept a situation in which the Hamas brigades come out of their bunkers, take control of Gaza again, rebuild their military infrastructure, and return to threatening the citizens of Israel.

The Netanyahu government is sending a delegation to the talks in Cairo. But, as an Israeli official told Reuters this delegation is made up of mid-level envoys. Were there a credible deal in the offing, the principals would be heading the delegation.

Hard-right ministers in Netanyahus right-wing governing coalition condemned the despatch to the talks. Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, said: Sending the delegation to Cairo is a mistake and falls into the manipulative trap set by Hamas together with Qatar and Egypt. This is the time to press more and more on the neck of Yahya Sinwar and Hamas until they are destroyed. You must not give in to international pressure and you must not stop until victory and the submission of the enemy.

Netanyahu, as has been mentioned often, depends on the support of people like Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the security minister, for his governments survival. But how far does he go to placate them?

Dennis Ross, a former US Middle East envoy, pointed out that others in the government may leave if Netanyahu continues to block a deal. That doesnt bring the government down the way Smotrich and Ben-Gvir would, but it may set in motion a set of events in Israel that I think could put the government at risk. At a certain point, he needs to choose Biden over Ben-Gvir, he needs to choose the hostages over Smotrich, he said.

Some Israeli officials hold that the US was aware of the proposals that Egypt and Qatar had put forward to Hamas, but had failed to brief Israel before the Palestinian group accepted them. They further claim that the Americans had encouraged Hamas to believe that a hostage deal will lead to the end of the war.

The State Department denied this. It said in a statement: We continue to believe that a hostage deal is in the best interest of the Israeli and the Palestinian people; it would bring an immediate ceasefire and allow increased humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

Families of hostages have been holding protest marches and pressing the government to accept a ceasefire in return for the captives being freed.

Sharone Lifschitz, whose 83-year-old father Oded is among those being held, said: If it doesnt happen now, it is going to take very long. We know some of them are dead, we know that they are in harms way every day and every hour. We need to find a way to negotiate long-term deals to provide the security of citizens of Israel and Palestine. I urge the government to do all it can to bring back our people.

It seems unlikely for now that pressure, external or internal, will stop Benjamin Netanyahus government from embarking on the Rafah offensive unless there is a sudden breakthrough in the talks. But, as the last 24 hours have shown, hopes of peace breaking out can be dashed just as suddenly.
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Gaza has entered the darkest days of a seven-month nightmare United Nations officials have said, warning that vital aid is being choked off after Israeli forces and tanks seized control of the main aid crossing in Rafah.

Civilians in the border city, which is sheltering over 1.4 million mostly displaced families, likened the bombardment to the fire of hell as missiles fell like rain while they scrambled to evacuate following orders from the Israeli military.

Despite pleas from its closest allies to hold off, Israel moved its tanks into east Rafah and captured the border crossing overnight on Tuesday, in what it called a limited operation meant to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas militants. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it an important step toward dismantling Hamas.

It came hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated ceasefire and hostage proposal. Mr Netanyahu said that the proposal fell far short of Israels essential demands. Negotiations for a truce in Cairo are ongoing  with Israel saying it had sent officials to the Egyptian capital  but on a knife edge.

In Gaza, the UN warned that a full-scale assault on the area and continued closure of Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings would have a catastrophic impact on hundreds of thousands of people mostly living in the tents there.

The UNs Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, warned it had less than a days worth of fuel, needed to power trucks, the remaining hospitals, as well as water and sewage pumps.

Jens Laerke, the spokesperson for the UNs humanitarian office, said the closures were the most effective way to put the aid response in its grave.

A Palestinian family, including several young children, are seen fleeing Rafah this morning ( AFP via Getty Images )

Rafah and Kerem Shalom are main arteries of the humanitarian operation for not only Rafah but the entire Gaza strip, and have been currently choked off completely. That is catastrophic, he told The Independent.

There are very little in terms of stockpiles inside Gaza. There were still vastly inadequate amounts of aid coming into Gaza. The aid comes in and is distributed pretty much immediately.

He said the start of the ground assault in Rafah was devastating for civilians who had nowhere to go as most of the strip had been bombed into moonscapes and was littered with unexploded weaponry.

This is one of the worst mornings of this seven-month nightmare. Yesterday, we saw pictures of people celebrating [and] dancing in the streets. There was a glimmer of hope that finally we have a ceasefire, then just a few hours later, no.

Its soul-crushing. These are very dark days.

Civilians in Rafah told The Independent they experienced the most difficult night of bombing since the war erupted seven months ago.

It was like the fire of hell. I saw missiles fall like rain. Rockets with a very terrifying sound. Their bodies were still lying in the streets. There was continuous artillery shelling and airstrikes, said Abu Yahya Zoroub, 37, who was near the crossing when Israel forces pushed in.

He said people were calling for help but it was near impossible for ambulances and first responders to reach the areas.

It was like the fire of hell. I saw missiles fall like rain Abu Yahya, in eastern Rafah

Food prices, meanwhile, have more than doubled, and families scrambled to evacuate  some walking, some using donkey carts and some in the backs of trucks.

There will be a famine here, Mr Zoroub added.

Israel has launched its most ferocious ever bombardment of Gaza and imposed a crippling siege in retaliation for Hamass bloody 7 October attack on southern Israel. Around 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack, while another 250 were taken hostage, including toddlers.

The Palestinian health ministry says Israels bombing has killed nearly 35,000 people, the majority of them women and children. The UN says restrictions on aid have created a man-made famine with half the 2.3 million strong population of the strip at catastrophic levels of hunger.

That is only expected to worsen if Israel escalates its ground offensive in Rafah, which Mr Netanyahu said is the last holdout for Hamas militants and an essential part of their battle for victory.

The Israeli military said its ground troops on Monday night began a precise counterterrorism operation based on intelligence that indicated Hamas was using Rafah for terrorist purposes.

Palestinians inspect the damage following Israeli bombardment of Rafah's Tal al-Sultan district in the southern Gaza Strip ( AFP/Getty )

The UNs secretary general, Antonio Guterres, appealed to Israel and Hamas to spare no effort to get a truce deal and warned Israel that a full assault on Rafah would "be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare."

It would be tragic if weeks of intense diplomatic activity for peace in Gaza, yield no ceasefire. No release of hostages. And a devastating offensive in Rafah, he said.

On Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority called on the United States to intervene immediately to prevent Israel from invading Rafah, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency said.

Talks were also continuing in Cairo for a ceasefire and hostage deal that could see in the first phase at least 33 Israeli hostages released in exchange for the release of hundreds Palestinian prisoners.

Sources close to the negotiations told The Independent that they had cautious optimism that a deal would eventually be signed, as the current proposal Hamas agreed to on Monday was based on a previous proposal drafted by Israel in late April.

Some sticking points including the use of the word ceasefire in the document had been resolved.

But others were still being battled out in the Egyptian capital  including the duration of the first phase and the fact that the deal would see female soldiers released too late in the process. Pressure is mounting from Israels closest ally, the US. The Independent understands that president Joe Biden had a tough call with Mr Netanyahu where Washington made it clear the Rafah offensive had to end and a hostage deal be signed.

We are talking about aid into Gaza being strangled Tamara Al-Rifae/UNRWA

A State Department spokesperson said in an email on Tuesday: We continue to believe that a hostage deal is in the best interest of the Israeli and the Palestinian people; it would bring an immediate ceasefire and allow increased humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

In the interim, Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings remain closed, crippling the humanitarian response.

Tamara al-Rifae, spokesperson for UNRWA, said that the agencys most immediate concern was fuel for the delivery of aid, for hospitals, and for the water supply.

As of yesterday, we had one days worth of operations with the fuel that we had. Because of the scarcity, the trickle of aid that's been going in, we do not have stockpiles of emergency aid supplies ready to be deployed as a contingency. She added: We are talking about aid into Gaza being strangled.

A World Health Organization spokesperson said that the Rafah border crossing was also closed for the evacuation of sick and injured patients. Palestinian health officials said Tuesday that 140 wounded and sick people were supposed to cross from Gaza into Egypt today but were barred from doing so.

Mahmoud Gaith, 50, who fled eastern Rafah overnight, said there were intense belts of fire  when multiple bombs are dropped at the same time  as well as hundreds of artillery and air raids.

At Begin Gate in Tel Aviv: Decision time  life or death' ( Ronit Ben David )

Last night was one of the most difficult nights we have had since 7 October. They did not give people a chance to evacuate, he said as he fled northwest.

Now I do not know where my family will go. There is no safe place to move to. All areas are vulnerable to danger; even safe places do not have the necessities to live in; otherwise, they are full of displaced people.

There is also growing concern among the families of the remaining 130 hostages, who are still believed to be in the besieged strip.

On Monday night, families of the hostages gathered outside the Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv demanding a ceasefire and the immediate return of their loved ones.

This is the time to exert your influence on the Israeli government and all other parties concerned to ensure that the agreement comes through which will finally bring all our loved ones home, they said in a statement.

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel, 39, is among the dozens of hostages still held in Gaza, told The Independent that families were sending a clear message to the Israeli war cabinet.

The ball is in your court. Sign the deal and bring them home now, he said.
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Israel has ordered the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from the city of Rafah in Gaza, as fears of a ground invasion become urgent.

About 1.4 million Palestinians  more than half of Gazas population  are packed into the city and its surroundings, living in densely packed tent camps, shelters or overcrowded apartments after fleeing to Rafah in hope of escaping Israels attacks.

Leaflets in Rafah telling people to move to nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi ( Supplied )

On Monday, people received flyers in Arabic ordering people to move to nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. The flyers detailed which neighborhood blocks needed to leave and where humanitarian zones had expanded to.

They also said aid services would spread from Deir al Balah in the north to the center of Khan Younis city in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

Anyone found near (militant) organisations endangers themselves and their family members. For your safety, the (army) urges you to evacuate immediately to the expanded humanitarian area, it read.

But where is Rafah, and why is Israel targeting the city now? The Independent has put together answers and a map below.

View more

Where is Rafah?

Rafah is a city in the south of Gaza near the border of Egypt. When Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982, now part of Egypt, it was split into a Gazan and Egyptian part.

It was initially a safe haven for people fleeing northern Gaza in the early stages of the most recent Israel-Gaza conflict, when Palestinians were ordered to evacuate ahead of heavy Israeli bombardment.

But the city is now home to around 1.4 million people - more than half of Gazas population - and Mr Netanyahu has ordered a ground invasion of the area, where he believes Hamas operatives are hiding.

Most residents of Rafah are living in temporary structures such as tents and aid organisations have warned of a dire humanitarian situation.

A child looks at rubble after Israeli airstrikes targeted Rafah, Gaza, overnight ( EPA )

Why is Israel targeting Rafah now?

Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said the invasion is necessary to defeat the Islamic militant group.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said Israel was preparing a limited scope operation and would not say whether this was the beginning of a broader invasion of the city.

But after 7 October and the unprecedented attack on southern Israel by Hamas, Israel did not formally announce the launch of a ground invasion that continues to this day.

Defence minister Yoav Gallant told US secretary of defense Lloyd Austin overnight that Israel had no choice but to act in Rafah. On Sunday, Hamas carried out a deadly rocket attack from the Rafah area that killed four Israeli soldiers.

Earlier this year, Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said the operation in Rafah was very complex, adding: We have been working a long time on this operation. We were waiting for the right conditions.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, another IDF spokesperson, called it a complex rescue operation under fire in the heart of Rafah, based on highly sensitive and valuable intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate and the Israel Security Agency.

What has reaction been?

The international community has warned against Israel taking action in Rafah, with renewed calls for a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict.

An Israeli offensive in Rafah would mean more civilian suffering & deaths, a spokesperson for UNRWA said. The consequences would be devastating for 1.4 million people. @UNRWA is not evacuating: the Agency will maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible & will continue providing lifesaving aid to people.

European Union chief diplomat Josep Borrel addedl: Israels evacuation orders to civilians in Rafah portend the worst: more war and famine. It is unacceptable. Israel must renounce to a ground offensive and implement (U.N. Security Council Resolution) UNSCR 2728.

The EU, with the International Community, can and must act to prevent such scenario.

Politicians in the UK have also condemned the move.

Labours shadow foreign secretary David Lammy tweeted on Monday:An Israeli offensive in Rafah would be catastrophic. It must not go ahead.

We need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of hostages, and immediate unimpeded aid to Gaza.

And a spokesperson for the French foreign ministry agreed: France also recalls that the forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes a war crime under international law.

Charities have warned of the lack of safe places for Palestinians to go to even if they did evacuate.

Forcing over a million displaced Palestinians from Rafah to evacuate without a safe destination is not only unlawful but would lead to catastrophic consequences, Action Aid said. Our aid workers are reporting some of the most severe conditions in recent memory with widespread disease, starvation and chaos. Let us be clear, there are no safe zones in Gaza.

The international community must act swiftly to prevent further atrocities and hold themselves as well as the Israeli government to account - if an invasion of Rafah is your red line will you do everything possible to stop this imminent attack?
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David Cameron says he is not really interested in halting the UKs weapons shipments to Israel despite the US suspension earlier this week.

His comments came as his US counterpart, Anthony Blinken, said Israel lacked a credible plan to protect some 1.4 million Palestinian civilians trapped in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, ahead of an imminent Israeli ground offensive.

Mr Blinken also warned an Israeli attack could create an insurgency by failing to kill all Hamas fighters in the southern Gazan city.

Ahead of the offensive - Israeli tanks have already entered through the nearest crossings into Rafah, where they have now split the city into sections ready to invade - both the US and UK have faced calls to cease arming Israel.

The US announced it had suspended at least one shipment of weapons to Israel, including 1,800 900 kg bombs, earlier this week, before US President Joe Biden said he would halt further shipments if Israel proceeded with its plan to attack Rafah.

But Lord Cameron, speaking on Sunday morning, remained firm that the UK would not follow the US lead.

An Israeli tank moves near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

Though he said the UK does not support an Israeli offensive in Rafah, because he has not seen a plan from the Israelis concerning how to protect people, Lord Cameron insisted that halting weapons shipments was a needless political exercise.

Just to simply announce today that we will change our approach on arms exports, it would make Hamas stronger and it would make a hostage deal less likely, he said, adding that he was not really interested in message sending through political moves like ending weapons sales.

He pointed to the fact that the UKs weapons shipments to Israel account for just one per cent of their total military support, compared to 68 per cent for the US.

He said he wanted instead to focus on hammering away every day on getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The United Nations human rights chief warned on Sunday that many of those residing in Rafah have nowhere to go as he emphasised the worsening humanitarian situation in the Strip.

Israel has ordered those remaining in the area to move away but Volker Turk said there was no safe place left in Gaza.

More than 300,000 Palestinians in Rafah have already fled to camps in central and western Gaza, but those areas have been hit by airstrikes since the evacuation notices were given.

A boy looks on as Palestinians prepare to flee Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the southern Gaza city ( REUTERS )

The latest evacuation orders affect close to a million people in Rafah, he said in a statement. So where should they go now? There is no safe place in Gaza!

These exhausted, famished people, many of whom have been displaced many times already, have no good options.

He said a full-scale offensive could have a catastrophic impact  including the possibility of further atrocity crimes.

I can see no way that the latest evacuation orders, much less a full assault, in an area with an extremely dense presence of civilians, can be reconciled with the binding requirements of international humanitarian law and with the two sets of binding provisional measures ordered by the international court of justice, he said.

The UN warned just yesterday that much of the food supplies for southern Gaza would run out by the end of the weekend while Israel keeps the two border crossings in the region closed.

Both the Rafah and the Kerem Shalom crossings, the former from Egypt and the latter from Israel into Gaza, have been vital conduits for humanitarian aid.

But after Israeli tanks rolled through the crossings at the start of the week, they have been closed, meaning those in Gaza have been left to survive on what had already been delivered to the Strip.

The Israeli military announced on Sunday it had opened a new humanitarian aid crossing in coordination with the United States.

The crossing, called Western Erez, was opened in the northern Gaza Strip in order to transfer humanitarian aid, the military said in a statement.

But it is unclear when the crossing will become fully operational and how much aid will be delivered through the crossing.
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A Russian court confirmed on Tuesday that a US solider would be held in custody for at least two months after their arrest on theft charges.

Gordon Black, 34, was arrested under the theft article of Russias criminal code, court spokesperson Elena Oleneva said in a statement, and will be held until at least 2 July.

The American staff sergeant was detained in Russia on Thursday while travelling from where he was stationed in South Korea to the Russian port city of Vladivostok. He was on his way home to Texas and stopped in Russia to meet a woman he was romantically involved with, officials said.

He was charged with secretly stealing property of a person referred to as citizen T, Pervomaisky District Court in Vladivostok said, after a 32-year-old woman, whom he had met in South Korea where she was working at the time, filed a complaint against him, according to Russias interior ministry.

The two began a relationship, and after the woman returned to Vladivostok the man came to visit her, arriving on April 10, the statement said, saying the couple later had an argument.

After the man left, the woman discovered an undisclosed sum of money was missing and filed a police report. The statement said the man had been arrested at a local hotel and purchased airline tickets, intending to flee to his home country. The Russian daily newspaper Izvestia, quoting an unnamed source, said the soldier had stolen 200,000 roubles ($2,196) from her.

Sgt Black is being held in pre-trial detention, the court said in a separate statement, referring only to US citizen B.

His detention was to prevent him from evading charges, the court added.

The court came to the conclusion that US citizen B, under the weight of the charges, in order to avoid responsibility, could hide from the preliminary investigation authorities and the court, thereby preventing the proceedings in the case, the statement said.

The Russian Foreign Ministrys office in Vladivostok has claimed his arrest has nothing to do with politics, according to state news agency TASS.

This case has no relation to politics or espionage. As far as we understand, a household crime [is suspected] in this case. That is why the Russian Foreign Ministrys mission in Vladivostok is not following the case of the US citizen closely, the mission said.

The White House and the US embassy in Russia have confirmed that they are aware of Sgt Blacks arrest. We are aware of reports of US citizens being arrested inside of Russia... Consular officers from the embassy always seek to aid citizens with appropriate assistance, but due to privacy concerns we arent able to comment further, the embassy said in a statement.

White House National Security communications advisor, John Kirby, also told Politico he could not comment further. Sgt Black has not been named by the US Army.

Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, said on Monday that he was deeply concerned by the news, adding that Sgt Blacks arrest is a warning to all Americans that it is not safe to travel to Russia.

Current travel guidance from the US State Department advises against all travel to Russia.

Sgt Blacks arrest comes after another US citizen was arrested and detained in Russia last week. The man, named as Russell William, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for petty hooliganism, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on its Telegram channel.

Citing a report from Ren TV, RIA said the American got drunk, climbed through the window into a childrens library and fell asleep there.

Several Americans are currently being held in Russian prisons, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was jailed last March, and former marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018. The US government has said both are wrongfully detained.

In late April, Mr Gershkovich was told he would remain in a Russian jail until at least the end of June. He is accused of espionage. Meanwhile, LA woman Ksenia Karelin was arrested on charges of treason in February while visiting family in Russia, after allegedly sending $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity.

WNBA player Brittney Griner was also detained by Russia in early 2022 on drug-related charges. She was released as part of a prisoner swap in December 2022 and has written a book, Coming Home, about her harrowing experiences.

The arrest of US citizens in Russia has reached Cold War levels, according to The Associated Press.

Tensions have remained high between the US and Russia following the countrys invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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Boeing has called off the highly-anticipated first launch of its Starliner rocket carrying astronauts to the International Space Station due to a valve problem on the spacecraft.

The Boeing spacecraft was scheduled to lift off from Floridas Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:34pm ET, carrying astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams on its first attempt at a crewed test flight.

But the launch was cancelled about two hours ahead of the planned liftoff.

Mission control called for a scrub of the launch attempt after an anomaly was detected on an oxygen valve on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

The issue involved an oxygen relief valve on the upper stage of the companys rocket, the Associated Press reported citing an engineer at ULA.

ULA Launch Director Tom Heter III has made the decision to the launch team that launch operations will not continue tonight for AtlasV and Starliner, United Launch Alliance posted on its official X account.

In a situation like this, if we see any data signature is not something that we have seen before, then we are just simply not willing to take any chances with what is our most precious payload, the ULA engineer said.

Second Boeing whistleblower dies suddenly from severe infection

Within minutes of calling off the launch, Boeings new astrovan was at the launch pad to ferry back Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams.

It remains unclear when the team would try again to launch the test pilots.

Nasa had hired both Boeing and SpaceX over a decade ago to carry astronauts to and from the ISS , paying both companies billions of dollars.

While SpaceX has been shuttling crew and cargo to the ISS since 2020, Starliner needs to complete a key final test before Nasa can authorise Boeing.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk took a dig at Boeing in an X post on Monday, saying SpaceX finished 4 years sooner.

Although Boeing got $4.2 billion to develop an astronaut capsule and SpaceX only got $2.6 billion, SpaceX finished 4 years sooner...Too many non-technical managers at Boeing, Mr Musk said.

Boeings first test flight sans a crew in 2019 failed to reach the space station.

Later when Boeing repeated the flight, it encountered capsule problems, parachute issues, and flammable tape.

The latest scrub is another setback for Boeing as it has already experienced years of delays and budget overshoots with its Starliner programme.
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Security experts have warned that the UK government is relying on good will when it comes to cyber defence, following a massive hack on the Ministry of Defence reportedly carried out by China.

The names and bank details of tens of thousands of British armed forces personnel and veterans were compromised after a third-party payroll system was breached, in what some industry figures have labelled a totally avoidable attack.

Experts point to out-of-date security systems and inadequate funding for public sector cyber defence. Shortly after reports of the attack emerged, a job posting for a position as Head of Cyber Security within a government department was widely shared online, revealing an annual salary of 50,550 - 57,500  well below salary levels of equivalent roles in the private sector.

These roles fundamentally offer much lower salaries as there simply isnt the money available and therefore the government tend to rely on peoples good will in the hope that the job satisfaction compensates the lower pay brackets, Jake Moore, a global cyber security advisor for malware protection firm ESET, told The Independent.

Protecting our digital landscape is just as critical as safeguarding the physical realm and this latest data breach highlights yet again the importance for increased investment in defence and security measures.

Martin Riley, director of security services at cyber security firm Bridewell, echoed this call for greater investment.

If this is clearly identified as a nation state attack, then cyber warfare continues to grow in its use internationally and the government needs to seek to build an investment plan that builds up the UKs Cyber Defences alongside its recent commitment to physical defences, he said.

The defence of both central and local governments are underfunded for cyber defence and under prepared.

China has denied that it was involved in the cyber attack, with a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the UK labelling reports as false information on Tuesday.

The so-called cyberattacks by China against the UK are completely fabricated and malicious slanders, the spokesperson said. We strongly oppose such accusations. China has always firmly fought all forms of cyberattacks according to law.

Downing Street is yet to attribute the cyber attack to a specific state actor.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday morning: The defence secretary is going to give an update to parliament on this this afternoon. You will appreciate Im obviously limited in what I can say until then, other than the Ministry of Defence has already taken immediate action, isolating the network and supporting personnel affected.

I cant get into any further speculation around the origination of the attack.
China, France to enhance global governance cooperation on artificial intelligence

Xinhua) 17:16, May 07, 2024

A forum on the development of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and France is held in Paris, France, May 4, 2024. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei)

China and France pledged Monday to take effective measures to address the potential and actual risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and to strengthen global governance of AI to promote development and use for the common good.

PARIS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China and France pledged Monday to take effective measures to address the potential and actual risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and to strengthen global governance of AI to promote development and use for the common good.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to France at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, the two heads of state reached a series of consensus on bilateral and multilateral cooperation to properly utilize and regulate the technology.

Recognizing the key role of AI in development and innovation, while taking into account the range of challenges that may arise from the development and use of AI, China and France agree on the importance of promoting the development and security of AI and promoting appropriate international governance to achieve this goal, said a joint statement on AI and global governance issued by the two countries.

France and China agree that global governance of AI should allow for flexibility to facilitate the development of a constantly and rapidly evolving technology, with the necessary protection of personal data and the rights of users mobilizing AI or whose productions are mobilized by AI.

The two countries are fully committed to promoting safe, secure, and reliable AI systems based on the principle of AI for the common good, through a comprehensive and inclusive dialogue, and through promoting international cooperation and interoperability among AI governance frameworks and initiatives, building on work done at the UN level.

Both countries recognize that the opportunities, risks and challenges associated with AI are global in nature, said the joint statement, underlining the importance of strengthening international cooperation in the context of rapid technological development to ensure international security, stability, and respect for sovereignty and fundamental rights.

France and China also agree to contribute to the strengthening of the cyber capabilities of states, particularly developing countries, to deal with all types of cyber threats, including those related to AI.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Xian Jiangnan)
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Scientists have made astonishingly pure silicon  a new breakthrough material that could finally make quantum computers possible.

A new technique allows engineers to make highly purified silicon that is the perefect material to build large quantum computers, the scientists behind it say. Those quantum computers could eventually be transformative for humankind, solving problems that might take centuries with todays technology.

The breakthrough material will help overcome a problem that plagues attempts to build such computers, which is known as fragile quantum coherence. That refers to the fact that quantum computers tend to accumulate errors very quickly, which means that they can soon become unreliable.

Quantum bits or qubits are the building blocks of quantum computers, just like bits in a classical computer. But they can be affected by tiny variations in their environment, including changes in the temperature  so that even the quantum computers we have today, which are put into fridges that keep them at almost absolute zero, can only run without errors for a fraction of a second.

The creation of the new material could help overcome those problems. It uses qubits made out of phosphorous atoms that are then put into crystals of pure stable silicon, which makes them much more robust.

The process shoots a focused beam of pure silicon at a silicon chip, removing the unwanted atoms and replacing them with pure silicon. It reduced the amount of the unwanted atoms from 4.5 per cent to 0.0002 per cent.

The great news is to purify silicon to this level, we can now use a standard machine  an ion implanter  that you would find in any semiconductor fabrication lab, tuned to a specific configuration that we designed, said David Jamieson, from the University of Melbourne, who co-supervised the project.

The breakthrough may have sped up the work to build a useful quantum computer significantly, said Richard Curry, professor of advanced electronic materials at The University of Manchester, where much of the work was done. What might previously have been ten years away may now be done in five years or less, he said.

Scientists have used silicon to make the chips that power classical computers for decades. But natural silicon comes with small impurities that can cause qubits to lose information and make any quantum computer running on them unreliable.

The breakthrough from the University of Manchester removes those impurities, however, making the worlds purest silicon. That could eventually allow for a scaled-up quantum computer that could provide vast power in a small package.

Researchers pointed to a host of potential breakthroughs that would be enabled with practical quantum computers: new powers for artificial intelligence, communications, the creation of new drugs and new ways of using energy.

But first researchers must show that the pure silicon can be used to create a computer with many qubits that can keep their coherence all at the same time.
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The Home Office confirmed that it has resolved a nationwide issue with Border Force passport e-gates after an outage caused chaos at airports across Britain.

It also clarified that the glitch in the border control systems was not a cyber attack.

Airports on Tuesday saw long queues and delays after the countrys Border Force passport e-gates were hit by a nationwide glitch. eGates at UK airports came back online shortly after midnight, a Home Office spokesperson said in a statement early on Wednesday.

As soon as engineers detected a wider system network issue at 7.44pm last night, a large scale contingency response was activated within six minutes.

At no point was border security compromised, and there is no indication of malicious cyber activity.

Pictures on social media showed enormous queues in front of the gates at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Edinburgh and Manchester as thousands waited for their passports to be checked.

The Home Office spokesperson also apologised to travellers caught up in disruption and thanked partners, including airlines for their cooperation and support during the outage.

Paul Curievici, a traveller from Surrey, experienced delays at the Gatwick Airport after landing from Lyon on Tuesday. He waited in line for almost an hour at passport control though he found the prioritization of fast-track passengers frustrating.

There was an awkward moment  half of us had been funnelled into the all passports queue. When the system came back online they reopened almost all the UK/EU gates without opening any for us  I actually raised it with a member of staff and they finally opened one, He told the PA news agency.

Earlier, passenger Harmeet Singh, who arrived at Stansted on Tuesday evening, described the delays as complete madness with no one in charge.

He told The Independent: We noticed huge lawless queues with no one in charge. My wife has a back muscle injury and I asked staff three times for a chair but they were unhelpful.

Have you been affected? Email alexander.butler@independent.co.uk with stories and pictures

More and more passengers arrived, the walkways to the toilets were blocked, 10-15 disabled passengers were waiting and unhappy. It was complete madness.

Another passenger said he landed at Manchester Airport and faced huge queues for passport control and was told the terminals e-gates were down.

Mariella, a British Airways passenger from Athens, touched down on BA637 at 8.30pm. She eventually emerged from International Arrivals at Heathrow Terminal 5 shortly before 11pm, and told The Independent: They announced that everything was shut down, all the passports, whilst we were on the plane.

The told us the transit [which shuttles passengers from remote satellites to the main building] was also not working.Everything was just stuck. We were snailing like a helix. They were just sending us all the way back, and all the way back, and it was just crazy for two-and-a-half hours.

When Mariella, who has an EU passport, reached the officer, she was asked the purpose of her visit.

That felt quite strange because its normally something that you are asked at the US border so thats a first. Everybody queueing up was in good spirits, though, because we knew we were stuck. They were handing water to people.

People lost their connection flights and had to go to the hotels to sleep for the night.

Simon Calder, The Independents travel correspondent, said: The e-gates are a critical component of the UK Border Force operation at London Heathrow and all major airports  as well as the Eurostar terminal at Paris Gare du Nord.

A large majority of inbound passengers are able to use them: adults from the UK, the European Union, North America, Australasia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.

Because most arriving travellers are processed automatically, it allows officers to focus on individuals from other parts of the world who need visas.

All the staffing arrangements are made on the assumption that e-gates will be taking care of most passengers. As we saw almost a year ago  over the late May bank holiday weekend in 2023  when they fail nationwide things unravel very quickly.

Shenaz, a Londoner, arrived from Lisbon ahead of schedule at 9.10pm. At 11.15pm she spoke to The Independent.

We were told were 25 minutes early, and then we were asked to sit in the plane because it was chaos, she said.

We were not allowed to leave the plane till approximately 9.30pm. And weve been in the queue since. Weve just come out.

At this time of the day, you want to get home and get into your bed, not queue up for a couple of hours.

She said that fellow passengers were very disciplined in the queue. I think everybody just took it in their own stride and just carried on.It is tiring, but I suppose the staff can cannot be blamed. One of those things - you just stay calm and carry on.

British Airways staff were very good. The airport staff were good. So you cant blame anyone. Its a computer glitch. You blame the the higher authorities.

The Home Office spokesperson confirmed in an email statement to Reuters early on Wednesday that at no point was border security compromised and there is no indication of malicious cyber activity.

A London Gatwick spokesperson said: Some passengers may experience delays at immigration due to a nationwide issue with UK Border Force e-gates.

Our staff are working with UK Border Force  who operate passport control including the e-gates  to provide assistance to passengers where necessary.

A Heathrow spokesperson said: Border Force is currently experiencing a nationwide issue which is impacting passengers being processed through the border.

Our teams are supporting Border Force with their contingency plans to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible and are on hand to provide passenger welfare. We apologise for any impact this is having to passenger journeys.

Manchester Airports statement read: We are aware of an issue with UK Border Forces systems across the country, affecting a significant number of airports.

Our resilience team and customer services colleagues are supporting passengers while UK Border Force and the Home Office fix the issue.

London Stansted and Edinburgh airports also said they had been affected by the issue, with UK Border Force working on fixing the glitch.

A Home Office spokesperson said: We are aware of a technical issue affecting e-gates across the country. We are working closely with Border Force and affected airports to resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused.
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Drivers are being warned that they will be subject to Londons ultra low emission zone (Ulez) rules if they move off official diversion routes during this weekends M25 closure.

National Highways said anyone ignoring diversion signs in an attempt to find shorter alternative routes will be liable for the 12.50 daily Ulez fee if their vehicle does not meet minimum emissions standards.

Failure to pay the charge when required can result in a 180 fine, reduced to 90 if paid within 14 days.

The M25 will be closed in both directions between Junctions 9 and 10 in Surrey from 9pm on Friday until 6am on Monday while concrete beams for a new bridge and a gantry are lifted into place. Drivers are being advised to avoid the area if possible.

Diversion routes will take cars on a 19-mile journey on A roads, crossing from Surrey into Londons Ulez area.

National Highways senior project manager Jonathan Wade told the PA news agency: Although the (Ulez) cameras will be active, no enforcement action will be taken.

However, if you ignore the diversion signs and do your own thing, then if your vehicles not compliant you do run the risk of getting caught.

Youll be perfectly safe as long as you follow the diversion routes.

There are concerns sat navs could direct some drivers on to minor roads after leaving the M25, meaning they could be detected by other Ulez cameras as well as risk creating gridlock in residential areas.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan expanded Ulez to cover the whole of the capital on August 29 last year.

This weekend will see the second of five planned closures of the M25  which encircles London  on sections connecting with Junction 10 as part of a 317 million improvement project.

Fears that diversion routes would become overwhelmed during the first planned closure  between Junctions 10 and 11  in March proved unfounded as traffic levels were more than two-thirds lower than normal after a widespread awareness campaign.

Mr Wade said there is a very real risk that the lack of disruption then means some motorists will not heed warnings to replan journeys this weekend.

Weve upped the amount of correspondence that weve been sending out to try and counter that but it remains an issue, he said.

Other stretches of the M25 will also be disrupted this weekend due to ongoing work to retrofit additional emergency stopping areas on smart motorway sections.

Mr Wade explained that the Junction 10 work can be halted at various points throughout the weekend if it runs behind schedule, as we wouldnt jeopardise opening the M25 on Monday morning.

RAC spokesperson Alice Simpson said drivers could face up to six days of disrupted travel as the M25 closure follows national rail strikes which are expected to spark increased traffic levels.

She went on: While the general advice is to avoid driving if possible, people will still need to make essential journeys for work, to access medical care and to reach Gatwick and Heathrow airports.

Planning ahead is absolutely vital. Rather than relying on a sat nav, check the planned diversion routes ahead of time and be prepared for long delays. Its also a really good idea to check your vehicles oil and coolant levels, tyre pressure and tread depth all before setting off to reduce the chances of a very unwelcome breakdown.

Three more weekend closures of the M25 will take place between August and the end of the year.

The project, due to be completed in summer 2025, will increase the number of lanes and make it easier to enter and exit the M25 at Junction 10, which is one of the UKs busiest and most dangerous motorway junctions.
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As a third summer of walk-outs by train drivers begins, the union boss has hinted that a settlement could be in sight.

A series of three days of rolling rail strikes is under way, with thousands of trains cancelled in London and south east England. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, all 14 train operators that are contracted by the UK government will cancel most or all of their services.

Members of the Aslef union have stopped work intermittently since July 2022 in their long and bitter dispute over pay and working arrangements.

No talks have taken place since April 2023, when a pay offer contingent on wide-ranging changes was flatly rejected by union negotiators.

But ahead of the latest strike, the Rail Delivery Group  which represents the rail firms  said: We want to see an end to this dispute and in that spirit, we have written to the Aslef leadership to try and find areas of common ground that will allow us to move to formal negotiations.

At London Waterloo station, Aslefs general secretary, Mick Whelan, told The Independent: We responded, Yes, were willing to talk.

We now await dates and times and the stuff that comes with it.

Many train drivers have not had a pay rise since 2019. His union is demanding a no-strings pay rise, followed by talks with individual rail firms on changes to working practices.

Mr Whelan said: After 22 months and after the previous bad faith driven by this government, we need a relatively clean deal to get out of this.

The term relatively indicates for the first time that their may be some room to manoeuvre.

The Independent has asked the Rail Delivery Group when talks could begin. But there seems no prospect that the three days of strikes  as well as a six-day overtime ban  could be called off.

London commuter operators are targeted on Tuesday, with South Western Railway, Thameslink, Greater Anglia, Great Northern, C2C, Southeastern and Southern all hit.

On Wednesday, intercity rail firms are cancelling all or most trains, as are West Midlands Railway and Chiltern.

By Thursday, the north of England will be hit, with TransPennine Express and Northern cancelling all trains. LNER will run a skeleton service on its core line linking Edinburgh, Newcastle and York with London Kings Cross.

A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group, said: We can only apologise to our customers for this wholly unnecessary strike action called by the Aslef leadership which will sadly disrupt journeys once again.

It will also inflict further damage on an industry that is receiving up to an additional 54m a week in taxpayer cash to keep services running, following the Covid downturn.

The current tranche of industrial action continues until Saturday 11 May, the last day of the overtime ban by train drivers.
An IDF reserve captain has spoken out as Israeli forces have taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.

Humanitarian organisations, led by the United Nations, warned that such an offensive would lead to a bloodbath as roughly 1.4 million civilians are currently displaced in Rafah.

The IDF has told roughly 100,000 civilians to evacuate parts of the territory.

Speaking to LBC on Tuesday morning (7 May), IDF soldier Eyal Birham said there are five sites outside of Rafah for people to flee.

Nick Ferrari then questioned Mr Birham on why he thinks it is right for Israel to continue amid condemnation from the US and European countries.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride was put on the spot about NHS waiting lists as he was grilled on changes to benefits in the UK.

The Tory minister was grilled on the governments WorkWell scheme, which includes a review of payments to people with mental health conditions, when he appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday (7 May).

Presenter Susana grilled Mr Stride after a woman was forced to pay for her own hip replacement as she could not wait 18 months for surgery and could not work because of the pain.

Mr Stride replied: I cant comment on the specific example.
**_If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offer support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch._**

A team of New York police officers scaled the side of a skyscraper to rescue a woman 54-stories in the air, this heart-stopping video shows.

NYPD officers were called to the incident in Manhattan on 1 May, with the rescue captured on an officers bodyworn camera.

The officers explained how the woman was hoisted to safety after she was found on a ledge outside protective glass meant to keep spectators safe.

Sharing the footage on social media, the NYPD said: When the public needs help, they call the police. When the police need help, they call ESU. 
On Monday, the Israeli military ordered 100,000 people in Eastern areas of Rafah to evacuate to areas adjacent to the already overcrowded coast, where there is not enough shelter to receive them, nor humanitarian supplies to sustain them. Israeli forces have since intensified their airstrikes on the city and taken control of the Rafah crossing on the Palestinian side. A disastrous military invasion of Rafah appears to have begun.

When I was in Gaza last month, I witnessed hell on earth. More than two million people trapped in a tiny piece of land, bombed continuously for more than 200 days and starved at the fastest rate the world has ever known while the fabric of life around them is destroyed: homes, hospitals, schools, universities and mosques obliterated.

Almost 35,000 people have been killed and 76,000 injured. Near the Rafah crossing, I saw the travesty of piles of desperately needed medical aid denied entry to Gaza: crutches, wheelchairs, anesthetic equipment, X-ray machines and more.

Words simply cannot convey the sheer scale of suffering and unmet humanitarian need that people in Gaza are experiencing.

Aid workers in Gaza have been working tirelessly to provide aid and medical support to those who need it, despite themselves being displaced from their homes. Their lives are also in pieces. Some in the north are eating birdseed to survive.

Over the past seven months, they have witnessed the Israeli military systematically dismantling the healthcare system that they have worked for many years to support and improve. Only 12 out of 36 hospitals are still even partially functional. In Rafah, there are only three hospitals which collectively have a limited number of beds to serve over one million people. One doctor told me that they only have 18 incubators for 58 babies. They cannot cope with the constant stream of injured people, a struggle compounded by the increase in acute malnutrition caused by Israels denial of adequate aid.

Once again, Israels evacuation orders in Rafah have sown fear and confusion among civilians who are already enduring terrible conditions inside the city. More than two thirds of Gazas 2.3 million population, including more than 600,000 children, have sought shelter in Rafah.

Untreated human waste sits breeding disease, in lakes right beside the tents where these children and their families are trying to survive. These flimsy, haphazard tents stretch all the way up the coast, trapped between the sea and a hostile army which stands accused of genocide at the worlds highest court. Rafahs main hospital, the Abu Yousuf Najjar Hospital, currently only partially functioning, is also in the area ordered to evacuate. It will be impossible to transport seriously ill patients safely.

There is no feasible evacuation plan for Rafah that will protect civilians from the onslaught. From north to south, there is no safe place in Gaza  not even in so-called safe zones. Our own MAP-IRC Emergency Medical Team was targeted by an Israeli military airstrike in January, despite being in a deconflicted building in a safe zone at the time. Gaza remains the most dangerous place on earth to be a healthcare worker, an aid worker, a child or a civilian.

Israels latest offensive has now already put the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings out of action, further strangulating the limited aid that was being allowed into Gaza. This comes just days after the head of the World Food Programme assessed that northern Gaza is experiencing "full blown famine" that is "moving its way south".

Even if these crossings were to reopen soon, no plan has been presented to explain how aid can be safely distributed to those who need it with the Israeli military launching an offensive in these areas  and certainly not at the levels needed.

If Israels Rafah offensive is allowed to continue further, the killing of civilians will inevitably accelerate and much more of Gazas remaining infrastructure will be destroyed.

In one of Gazas main hospitals, a mother approached me to ask me to tell the world what was happening in Gaza. She assumed the world did not know; for if we knew what was being done then surely action would be taken to stop it. How do you tell a desperate mother that the world is indifferent to the suffering of her children, and that some, including our own country, continue to provide the weapons to facilitate it?

History will judge all who are complicit in what is being done to Palestinians in Gaza. It is an outrage that the UK government continues arms sales to Israel. We need an immediate and permanent ceasefire now. World leaders must prevent the invasion of Rafah going any further and avert a health and humanitarian disaster on a whole new scale.

Melanie Ward is CEO Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). Melanie was in Gaza from 8-10 April 2024
Lawsuit brought over sale of tickets for flights that had been cancelled

Australias Qantas Airways has agreed to pay A$120m (74m) to settle a regulator lawsuit over the sale of thousands of tickets on already cancelled flights, in an attempt to end a reputational crisis that has engulfed the airline.

The scandal effectively brought an end to the 15-year tenure of Alan Joyce as CEO of Qantas. The Dublin native stepped down last September, two months earlier than planned, due to the furore in Australia over the ticket scandal.

Qantas will now split A$20m among more than 86,000 customers who booked tickets on the so-called ghost flights and pay a A$100m fine, instead of defending the lawsuit it had previously vowed to fight, the airline and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced yesterday.

The fine is the biggest for an Australian airline and among the largest globally in the sector, although some Australian banks and casino operators have faced higher penalties for breaches of the law.

We recognise Qantas let down customers and fell short of our own standards, CEO Vanessa Hudson said in a statement. Ms Hudson became the first woman to lead the airline when she succeeded Mr Joyce last year.

The settlement means we can compensate affected customers much sooner than if the case had continued in the Federal Court, added Ms Hudson.

If the court approves it, the settlement will resolve a dispute that had featured prominently at a time when Qantass brand value tanked in consumer surveys amid a spike in complaints about cancellations.

After the ACCC filed its lawsuit last August, Mr Joyce brought forward his retirement. He had led the airline through the 2008 financial crisis and the pandemic.

This penalty... will send a strong deterrence message to other companies, said ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

The payout, however, would pale against the A$1.47bn net profit that analysts on average forecast Qantas to report in the year to end-June, according to LSEG data. People who bought tickets on non-existent domestic flights would get A$225 and people with international fares would get A$450, on top of a refund, the airline and regulator said.

Qantas shares were flat in late trading, against a 0.6pc gain in the broader Australian market.

We see todays outcome as incremental positive, removing another post-Covid brand and valuation overhang from the stock, RBC Capital Markets analyst Owen Birrell said in a client note.

Qantas is waiting to learn how much it must pay nearly 1,700 ground handling staff it sacked in 2020 after a court found the job cuts were illegal since they were intended to stop industrial action.

The ACCC lawsuit centred on the months after Australias border reopened in 2022 following two years of Covid restrictions, and airline cancellations and lost-luggage complaints spiked globally amid staffing shortages.

Qantas had argued it faced similar challenges to airlines around the world, but the ACCC said its actions broke consumer law.
Crown the witch: Brilliant Bambie into the final of Eurovision

Its like an out of body experience  Bambie Thug

Ireland qualified for the Eurovision Grand Final for the first time since 2018 in Malmo last night.

Non-binary act Bambie Thug and their song Doomsday Blue was one of the 10 acts selected to make it through to the Saturday night show.

The last time Ireland qualified from the semi-finals was in 2018 with Ryan OShaughnessy and his song Together.

Speaking at a press conference after securing a place in the final, Bambie Thug said: "I am completely dissociated and right now am having an out of body experience. I am super proud."

"Our team is very small, and I am an independent artist and it is incredible we have reached here. Our country hasn't been here since 2018, and I am the first non-binary artist to qualify."

In recent weeks there have been ongoing calls for Bambie Thug to boycott the contest.

Asked if they would definitely perform at the Grand Final they said; "See you Saturday."

Irish fans were overjoyed with the outcome, and praised the performance.

Erin Russell and Michael Foley had travelled from Bambie Thugs hometown in Macroom, Co Cork, and were dressed like the star.

They killed it, Mr Foley said. They absolutely represented.

Bambie Thug, sitting in front of a tricolour with their catchphrase Crown The Witch written on it, celebrated with the jubilant Irish team when the result was announced.

Their performance of Doomsday Blue was met with huge applause last night, as they performed in a candlelit spell circle before pretending to exorcise a demon.

They also performed a costume change to reveal a bespoke ensemble in the colours of the trans flag.

The singer said they did this as they intended to shout from the rooftops about trans rights for ever.

Bambie Thug performs the song Doomsday Blue during the first semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

A total of 15 acts competed in the first of the Eurovision semi-finals last night in Malmo, Sweden, for 10 slots in Saturdays grand final.

The first semi-final included Swedens answer to Jedward; some dancing boxers; faux exorcisms; latex bodysuits; a black and white witch; and a pair of pyrotechnic hotpants.

It was by far the most ambitious and creative staging Ireland has sent to the contest in recent years.

The favourite to win the overall contest is Croatian act Baby Lasagna, with the song Rim Tim Tagi Dim and they qualified last night.

The song is a commentary on economic stagnation in Croatia and how many young people are being forced to leave the country.

Despite the serious underlying message, the stage show was spectacularly vibrant and involved pyrotechnics, projections of neon farm animals and musicians in knitted balaclavas thrashing about.

Dubbed the Swedish Jedward, twin brothers Marcus and Martinus performed their song Unforgettable representing the host country. It was a slick 90s-inspired pop song with s headache-inducing flashing light show.

The Finnish act, Windows95Man, commenced the performance with a man hatching out of a giant denim egg before dancing about the stage in naked trousers, while the Polish act climbed to the top of a giant tower after two costume changes.

An estimated 100,000 people arrived in Malmo for the contest.

This years song contest has become highly political due to the involvement of Israel.

Bambie Thug performs the song Doomsday Blue during the first semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

There have been calls for the organisers of Eurovision, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), to expel the country.

In 2022, the EBU suspended Russia from the contest. That suspension was as a result of consistent breaches of membership obligations and the violation of public service media values. Shortly after, Russia withdrew from the EBU.

There are large organised protests due to take part across Europe this week.

There have also been calls for individual artists to boycott the event.

Some of the acts spoke about the tense political climate at the opening ceremony on Sunday night.

Albanian entrant Besa Kokedhima said: I wish there would be no war ever, while non-binary Swiss act Nemo said they thought it was really important the protests are happening and there is room for them.

Ukraine also took to the stage last night. The song contest has taken on huge importance for the country in recent years.

In 2022, Ukraine won the contest following the invasion by Russia. It was a clear message of support from the rest of the countries involved in the contest.

Ukrainian duo Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heils song this year, Teresa & Maria, is about female resilience in their home country.

The song has been staged by Tanu Muino, who has worked with Cardi B and Dua Lipa, and involves the artists scaling mountains and a projection of bombs falling from the sky.

UK act Olly Alexander gave audiences one of the most sophisticated performances of the night and received a huge reaction from the crowd.

During the performance of his single Dizzy, Alexander and male dancers dressed as boxers appeared to defy gravity as they hung upside down and sideways from the walls of a shower room.

Throughout the performance, the camera angles changed so it appeared the room was rotating.

Many excited Irish fans had travelled to Sweden for the performance, including former contestants Jedward, who are friends with Bambie Thug.

Bambie was phenomenal. Absolutely amazing  they rocked Europe and it is what Ireland needed at the Eurovision, they said.

When Bambie came out the atmosphere was electric.

The looks they are serving are amazing, they are rocking it.

Dylan Colley from Dublin attended the dress rehearsal on Monday night with his friends Naoimh Ni Mhaolagain and Ronan Watson.

It is the best we have sent in years This is what we have wanted for years, he said.

Mother and daughter Orla and Angela Reilly had travelled from Kildare to attend Eurovision for the first time ever and had secured tickets for both semi-finals and the grand final on Saturday night.

We have watched Eurovision religiously and this has been on the bucket list for years so we are delighted to be here, Orla said. Bambie is a breath of fresh air.

Bambie Thug representing Ireland performs on stage during the first semi-final of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, in Malmo, Sweden, May 7, 2024. TT News Agency/Jessica Gow/via REUTERS

Stephen Carlisle is from Co Down and works for Eurovision fan channel Eurovision 365. He believes 31-year-old Bambie will change Irish attitudes to Eurovision.

I think they could change perceptions of Eurovision he said.

In Ireland some artists are scared off Eurovision because it was seen as a career killer whereas they have shown it is something to actively embrace.

They could do to Irish Eurovision what Sam Ryder did for the UK.

In 2022, Sam Ryder came second in the Eurovision.

He was the most successful UK entrant in years and helped to dispel theories that the UKs lack of success was down to external factors such as Brexit or political voting rather than the quality of song.

Last night, Irish fans were delighted when Eurovision King Johnny Logan performed Loreens 2012 winning Eurovision song Euphoria accompanied by a string orchestra.

Both Loreen and Logan are the only people in the history of Eurovision to win the competition twice.

Logan won with Whats Another Year?, which was written by Shay Healy, in 1980 and won again in 1987 with Hold Me Now, which he wrote himself.

For the first time ever, two of the Big Five countries, the United Kingdom and Germany, also performed during a semi-final.

All big five countries automatically go through to the grand final.
The comic duo land themselves in a spot of bother at a Colombian airport and are sadly separated for much of the new season  which gives the ensemble cast a chance to shine

AS far back as autumn of last year, Chris Walley, one of the stars of The Young Offenders, which returns to BBC1 on Friday (May 10), teased that the fourth season  which RTE wont be showing until 2025 in order to save money  would be a challenging one for his character, the endearing eejit Jock.

He wasnt kidding. As the new six-part run begins, a Trainspotting-style monologue from Jocks best pal and fellow loveable gobshite Conor (Alex Murphy) fills us in on whats been happening while our hapless heroes were off screen.

The Young Offenders - Season 4 trailer

Jock picked up some work for the pair of them from a Spanish-speaking bloke he met on the internet. All they had to do to earn some easy money was bring some heavy coats into Ireland from Colombia.

Cue a riotously funny scene of Jock and Conor struggling to walk through a Colombian airport clad in ridiculously oversized parka jackets stuffed with cocaine.

In a moment that recalls the original film, the lining of Jocks coat springs a leak, leaving a trail of Colombian marching powder behind him and attracting the attention of a sniffer dog. Its fabric softener! he protests as the cops drag him away.

Conor makes it as far as Cork Airport, where hes also nicked. Jock is sentenced to eight years in a Colombian prison and Conor is banged up for six-stretch in a Cork nick. At least its nearer to Mayfield than Bogota.

Three shitty years later, Conor is out, his early release due to some string-pulling by his former nemesis Garda sergeant Tony Healy (Dominic MacHale), whos now married to Conors feisty mother Mairead (Hilary Rose).

Conor wont be seeing much of Jock for a while. Alas, neither will viewers. Chris Walleys busy schedule over the last couple of years, which included roles in the horror film The Voyage of the Demeter, the BBC crime series Bloodlands and Netflixs new Irish-set black comedy thriller Bodkin, which lands this Thursday (May 9), meant season four had to be effectively written around him.

He appears only briefly in the first episode, in the airport scene, and not at all in the following three episodes. For a comedy so heavily dependent on the Laurel and Hardy-ish vibe between Jock and Conor, having half the double act go missing for a long stretch could easily have been a disastrous blow for the series.

While theres no doubt that the chemistry between Walley and Murphy, who click together as perfectly as Lego bricks, is missed, the series creator and writer Peter Foott has done a wonderful job of recalibrating the new episodes to take account of the actors absence.

Billy Murphy (Shane Casey) and Conor MacSweeney (Alex Murphy), Photo: BBC/Vico Films, Miki Barlok

Over the course of the previous three seasons, The Young Offenders has evolved into more of an ensemble drama. The warm, often unapologetically sentimental interplay between the various characters is as integral to the series as the chaotic comic capers of the two leads. The necessary tweaking Foott has had to do gives the rest of the cast more room to shine.

Conor emerges from the hotel for dickheads, as he calls it, to find the Jock-shaped hole in his life isnt the only big change hes going to have to adjust to.

This is a slightly different Young Offenders, but the winning formula of raucous laughs and big-hearted sentiment remains joyfully intact

Now that Mairead and Healy are married, theyve moved into his Healys house, meaning Conor has to share his new bedroom with a pile of cardboard storage boxes.

With no Jock to spark off, Conor has become friends with their former nemesis, local nutjob Billy Murphy (the excellent Shane Casey). Billy is still prone to regularly deliver numbing punches to Conors arm, but now its done with manly affection rather than malice.

Frankly, Conor is going to need all the affection he can get now that his beloved Linda (Demi Isaac Oviawe) is engaged to an old adversary: the loathsome weasel Gavin Madigan (Daniel Power), who tried to split Conor and Jock up when they were in school and is now a teacher, as well as the owner of the weediest moustache this side of James Joyce.

Meanwhile, Lindas dad, school principal Barry (PJ Gallagher), has been turfed out by wife Orla (Orla Fitzgerald) and has become even more demented  although circumstances later make him and Conor allies.

This is a slightly different Young Offenders, but the winning formula of raucous laughs and big-hearted sentiment remains joyfully intact.
New Rabobank reports results sobering reading for Irish industry

The region is declining due to an extended period of weakened profitability, environmental limitations, labour constraints and more extreme weather conditions. Photo: Sina Schuldt via Getty Images

The dairy sector in north-western Europe is showing signs of structural decline, a new Rabobank report has suggested, with Irish farm leaders describing its contents as sobering reading.

The bank highlights that the region, which has been an engine of European milk-production growth in the last decade, is declining due to an extended period of weakened profitability, environmental limitations, labour constraints (due to succession and availability) and more extreme weather conditions.
Two Roscommon transition year students are hoping to shake up the cattle handling equipment market with their innovative anti-backing bar design.

Gavin Moran and Michael Hanley, both from farming backgrounds, were inspired to develop the product as part of the Enterprise module at Roscommon Community College after Gavin had been involved in several painful incidents while working with cattle in a crush.

"The plan was devised to develop a product that would create a safer working environment, reduce the risk of injury to the handler, and reduce stress to the animal in the crush.

"Although there are products on the market. Some are cheap, lightweight and brake easily, the stronger alternatives are heavy and permanently mounted to the crush," Gavin said.

After much research and several design trials, the students settled on a design that ticked all the boxes.

They believe its L-shaped design with a rubber pad that prevents it from slipping along the bar is safe, affordable, portable, durable, and adaptable to most crushes.

"We have received very positive feedback from farmers and agri suppliers throughout the country.

"Farmers are reporting that they feel much safer while using this product when handling livestock; its portability, anti-slipping ability, its ability to be used on different-sized crushes," Michael said.

To market their product, the students created a small business called GM Engineering Ros to enter the Student Enterprise Awards programme, which the Local Enterprise Offices around the country run.

The anti-backing bar costs 150, excluding shipping, and can be purchased via the company's website or social media outlets.

"We are inundated with orders, and at the moment, we have a waiting list. However, we inform our customers of the wait, and they are happy to wait for the product to be manufactured," Michael said, adding that they are currently in talks with our local agri merchants and veterinary suppliers to stock the product.

The students are also representing County Roscommon at the All-Ireland Student Enterprise Awards, which will take place on May 9th in Mullingar.
The Irish Cattle Breeding Federations (ICBF) income surged to 23.8m for 2023, up from 15.3m in 2022, due an increase in income from Brexit Adjustment Reserve funding received as part of the National Genotyping Programme.

As a not-for-profit entity, ICBFs goal annually is to break even as it aims for a 2pc margin of income to ensure this. In 2023, this margin was 1.7pc (428,000).
Bertie Ahern speaking at an event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement last year. Photo: PA

A united Ireland would be the most desirable outcome for people and communities across Ireland, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said.

Mr Ahern, who played a significant role in enabling the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, said unity is not a short-term goal.

He also challenged those who backed a united Ireland to be prepared to put in the hard yards.

Mr Ahern is due to take part in a New Ireland Commission event at Leinster House today. The discussion is expected to focus on the SDLPs mission to build a detailed prospectus for Irish unity, building on the experience of leaders across Ireland who spilled their sweat for peace.

Speaking ahead of the event, Mr Ahern said: I fundamentally believe that the vision for a new Ireland based on the consent of the people who share this island, as set out in the Good Friday Agreement, is not just possible but it is the most desirable outcome for people and communities across Ireland.

It is not a short-term goal.

All of those who believe in change must be committed to putting in the hard yards to build a prospectus that reaches across traditional divides and demonstrates to our unionist neighbours that they will be respected, their traditions will be cherished and their children will be at home in the new Ireland we build together.

This commission is a serious political project and I look forward to contributing my own experiences of working towards a common goal with communities across Ireland.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: We are delighted that former taoiseach Bertie Ahern will provide his insights into the campaign to build a new Ireland.

Berties long association with peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland and his commitment, in particular, to meaningful engagement with those from a unionist background provide important lessons for those of us who believe in a new future for everyone who shares our island.

This is the latest in a series of engagement events that the New Ireland Commission has held in Belfast, Derry, London, Bellaghy and Dublin.

We are committed to engaging with people and communities across these islands to build a prospectus for change. Indeed, we believe we are best placed to bridge the gaps between our communities.

I look forward to hearing from Bertie and to building on the work of creating a new Ireland for everyone.
Former newspaper social columnist Gayle Killilea has been at the sharp end of litigation for 12 years and should not have to meet a 2014 Irish case brought against her by the trustee of the bankruptcy of her Celtic Tiger-era developer ex-husband, Sean Dunne, the High Court has been told.

The issues in the Irish proceedings against her, concerning alleged fraudulent transfer of assets between the former spouses, was or should have been decided in a separate case taken in the United States, said her lawyer as he opened an application seeking a strike-out of the case.
Rogue landlord Marc Godart has apologised to the High Court for failing to disclose details of all criminal prosecutions brought against his companies.

The apology came after a judge last month ordered the Luxembourg national, who has substantial property interests in Ireland, to explain why he failed to comply with court directions to fully disclose his directorships and criminal proceedings against his firms.
LATEST | Gardai raid several homes in Joshua Itseli murder probe as three arrested are released without charge

Garda also appeal over black motorbike linked to murder of Joshua Itseli in Drimnagh

Joshua Itseli

Robin Schiller and Conor Feehan Wed 8 May 2024 at 11:25







Gardai have raided several homes as part of the investigation into the murder of Joshua Itseli in Dublin on Monday.
A new taskforce will deal with safety, public transport, anti-social behaviour and litter in Dublin city.

It will be aimed at rejuvenating the capitals city centre to make it a thriving, attractive and safe cityscape.

Taoiseach Simon Harris will bring plans for the taskforce to the Cabinet today.

The taskforce will have an independent chair and will include representatives from An Garda Siochana, Dublin City Council and the National Transport Authority.

It will bring forward recommendations to improve safety and the experience of the city centre to make it a desirable location to live, work, do business and visit as well as a destination for retail, hospitality and cultural experiences.

The taskforce will also look at the use of cultural spaces, the public transport network and issues around anti-social behaviour and litter.

It will report back with recommendations to Mr Harris and the Government in 12 weeks after it begins work.

These recommendations will then form part of a new Dublin city action plan.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet will agree to extend free schoolbooks for the next academic year. The initiative from Education Minister Norma Foley provides free schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks for all children in recognised primary and special schools.

The measure is part of the Governments efforts to tackle the cost of living for parents and reduce the cost of education and healthcare.

More than 563,000 children and young people are expected to benefit from this scheme in the next school year.

Separately, free period products will be provided to students in colleges and further education institutions under government funding of 500,000.

Further Education Minister Patrick ODonovan is allocating 250,000 to Education and Training Boards and 250,000 to publicly funded universities.

Under the Programme for Government, the Coalition promised to provide a range of free, adequate, safe and suitable period products in all publicly funded education settings.

This initiative promotes equality and respect across our educational sector and the funding will allow my department to further enhance work in this important area, Mr ODonovan said.

It will also allow us to build on previous initiatives to ensure that no students are disadvantaged in their education by period indignity.

The Department of Further and Higher Education previously had a pilot scheme that was rolled out to nine further education and training colleges. It delivered free, sustainable period products and dispensers for students.

Free period products are already available in a number of other universities, including Munster Technological University, University of Limerick and the National College of Ireland. University College Dublin has its own period poverty campaign and Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University (DCU) and Mary Immaculate College in Limerick also have similar initiatives.

Meanwhile, the Government is expected to spend around 100m on Ireland hosting the presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2026. Tanaiste Micheal Martin will update his cabinet colleagues on the work being done in preparation for the presidency.
Fianna Fail TD Paul McAuliffe believes communities should have more of a say in what goes on in their area. Photo: Frank McGrath

Politicians from across the political spectrum are alarmed at the number of middle Ireland voters now using anti-immigration rhetoric.

Canvassing for the upcoming local and European elections, they have noticed the topic of migration come up more often in recent weeks.

Many TDs have said they steer away from publicly talking about accommodation in their constituencies being designated for housing because of the sheer volume of abuse they receive in return.

And a government party senator has told how he was encircled by angry protesters at a site of proposed asylum-seeker accommodation in their constituency.

The senator said he felt vulnerable  and wondered how am I going to get out of here?.

The protesters filmed the politician with their phones, called him a traitor and the crowd was riled up.

It was scary. It was the first time I feared for my life, he said.

Today's News in 90 Seconds - May 7th

The politician is reluctant to speak on the record because he says public comments would be just a lightning rod for further abuse, adding: I dont want to put my head above the parapet.

It is a sentiment that is increasingly being shared by politicians in Leinster House, both in opposition and in the Government.

When I spoke up previously, I got absolutely torched, said one TD.

There also has been a sizeable increase in the number of voters voicing concerns about the Governments immigration policies.

Fianna Fail TD Paul McAuliffe said he had seen voters who would normally be middle-ground repeat concerns straight off social media.

There has been a political reluctance to talk about our refugee system on social media, he said. That has left a real void on social media platforms. You instantly become involved in a pile-on with extreme accounts that would never have voted for you and are often from other parts of the world.

So most politicians havent said much publicly on this. Thats coming through on the doors. Ive heard people repeat stuff thats wrong, but its straight off social media [videos].

Politicians also feared being viewed as racist if they voiced any concerns, the Dublin TD said.

Lets not kid ourselves, there is a small number of people who arent raising genuine concerns. Ive been shocked by people using the N-word on doors, he said.

Mr McAuliffe said Fianna Fail voters were from every walk of life and warned that politicians couldnt sit on the sideline for this, we need to get stuck in and have the debate.

He believes the use of emergency planning laws in turning hotels into migrant housing should end.

Communities have a right to make observations on development in their area. They dont have a veto but if we give people no process to participate in, its another reason for them to listen to the extremes of the debate, he said.

However, Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty said he had knocked on about 10,000 doors while canvassing but migration was rarely coming up.

He told how he met one headcase who was racist and Islamophobic.

Thats one experience in 10,000 doors  so, overwhelmingly, its housing, how were going to get people housed, he said.

Sinn Fein has considerably upped its canvassing in recent months. Since September, one source in the party estimates activists have knocked on up to 25,000 doors in one Dublin Dail constituency.

Migration comes up on around 10pc of doors, with a very, very small number of people being vehemently against it.

These are usually [people] not registered to vote or non-voters, a source said.

Sinn Fein believes migration is not an issue that will solely dictate peoples votes, but that it is an issue of public concern. It comes up at every canvass, absolutely, said one TD.

Politically, immigration has become a hot topic in Leinster House. The mood at last weeks Fianna Fail parliamentary party meeting was said to be very downbeat. Migration was a main talking point.

Everyone was expressing deep reservations and worry that it is out of control, said one politician present at the meeting.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin is believed to have told colleagues that the party will face significant challenges on migration going forward. He said more should have been done to support communities.

One minister told how a Nigerian woman, who has lived in Ireland for many years and holds an Irish passport, came to one of his constituency clinics in a local hall. When she was leaving, the minister noticed how people in the queue were eyeing her up and down.

I could see the look of faces of regular punters when she walked out. I told them she had been living here a long time and holds an Irish passport, said the minister. But you can see how people are taking it all. Its a big challenge for the Government.
Hard copy of barter transactions for the period of 2017-2019 lost during an office move.Figures show more than 400,000 spent on client entertainment between 2017 and 2022, 230,760 in talent agency payments and flights and hotels cost 222,283.Receipts show more than 25,000 spent on a client entertainment at a Jenny Greene concert in the 3Arena Mazers report found there wasnt adequate usage of Londons exclusive Soho House which cost 5,375 in membership fees Media Minister Catherine Martin in favour of scrapping the licence fee Government decision on the future funding model for RTE will be made before the summer recess

Reports into governance and accounting practices at the national broadcaster RTE were published this afternoon

Payments made to former RTE presenter Ryan Tubridy had no valid basis to be paid through the barter accounts, Mazars has found.

The Mazars report into RTE accounts is one of the three major damning reports published by Government today into the national broadcaster.

The Mazars report has flagged a number of barter purchase transactions which it deemed have no valid basis for these transactions to have been paid through the barter account.

This is because the transactions were not suitable for the barter account and for the purposes which it was used.

The transactions deemed as unsuitable for the barter account include the 150,000 payment to Tubridy  which Mazars calls payments to talent  and 44,000 worth of Renault payments.

Two payments of 75,000 totalling 150,000 were described as consultancy fees and were listed as promotion costs in RTE accounts.

More mystery payments from RTE 'barter account' uncovered

However, this was not consistent with the basis for the payments, the report states.

Some of the Renault payments, which totalled 44,000, were classified as audience research, which also was not consistent with the basis for the payments.

Mazars also identified a payment to a cancelled executive board meeting which cost 2,510 and a payment of 8,054 which relates to spending on office purchases.

A total of 5,375 was spent on the membership of Soho House, an exclusive club in London, for four years.

Mazars said it did not see evidence which would show there was adequate usage of the club over the four years, which included lockdowns due to the pandemic.

The review shows how the barter account was used for hundreds of thousands of euro worth of client hospitality, including concerts, restaurants and gifts.

It also found that some barter purchases amounting to 654,000 euro were incorrectly omitted from reports to the minister.

The review also states that a hard copy of barter transactions for the period of 2017-2019 was lost during an office move.

Figures complied as part of the Mazers report show more than 400,000 spent on client entertainment between 2017 and 2022, 230,760 in talent agency payments and flights and hotels cost 222,283.

Receipts for the account also show more than 25,000 spent on a client entertainment at a Jenny Greene concert in the 3Arena. Ms Greene is a presenter with the broadcaster.

Over 18,000 was spent in the Fade Street Social restaurant over the five years alone.

Over 25,000 was also spent in Croke Park on concerts during that time.

In 2019, a total of 138,456 was spent on IRFU rugby tickets. 30,354 was also spent on Rugby World Cup tickets.

RTE also spent 222,283 on flights and hotels during that period, including flights for New York, London, Vienna, and Madrid. Hotels including The Dean and Hayfield Manor were also booked.

Some 160,413 was spent on RTE 'events and societies' during the five years and a further 41,271 on charity events and donations. 56,159 was spent on training and conferences.

The Mazars report concludes that the barter account was used because there was no alternative budget available.

It comes as Media Minister Catherine Martin said she is still in favour of scrapping the contentious 160 licence fee.

She said the Government will sign off on plans to overhaul the TV licence before the Dail recess on July 11.

However, the Coalition will be under pressure to pass the relevant laws to give effect to the new system before the next general election.

Reforming the TV licence and providing a top-up from the taxpayer for public service media is being viewed as the most likely outcome by the Coalition.

Minister Martin said this is not a recommendation she has received from any group tasked with looking at TV licence overhaul.

Minister Martin said any future funding model needs to be sustainable.

She said there is a variety of opinions at the table on TV licence discussions.

She said the revamped TV licence should be free of political influence.

She was speaking as the Government released three long-awaited reports into the broadcasters culture, governance and accounts today, which include 116 recommendations. RTE now has six weeks to come back to Government with an implementation plan.

Media Minister Catherine Martin said her department will withhold a second round of funding to RTE pending its implementation of recommendations contained in a series of reports.

She also said that she understands the salary cap for RTE employees will remain at 250,000.

She added that following the implementation of recommendations, she intends to release the first tranche of 40 million in additional Exchequer resources allocated to RTE this year.

The dispersal of the final tranche later this year will be subject to a satisfactory assessment of RTEs updates on the implementation of the plan by my Department and the further agreement of the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, she said.

RTE told Mazars that the money in the barter account was under the control of the Commercial Director and they had "discretion of how these balances could be utilised".

A review into the culture and governance of RTE has also revealed how RTE management didnt trust the board of the broadcaster because sensitive information has repeatedly been leaked.

The review says board members felt the management believed they were accountable to the board. The report goes through a series of leaks of information over recent years, up to late last year

A lack of trust between the board and former executive board. Some board members told us that they did not believe executives considered they were accountable to the board.

In contrast, some of executives we spoke to, perhaps unfairly, thought the board a possible source of previous leaks of confidential information, the report says.

The perceived threat of leaks may have contributed to the lack of transparency in RTE executives dealings with the Board. The report says research shows that this lack of transparency is a more widespread issue, with less than 20pc of those surveyed believing RTEs management had been fair and open about decisions made.

Media Minister Catherine Martin has published reports into governance and accounting practices at the national broadcaster RTE this afternoon.

The long-awaited reports were published alongside a separate examination on the organisations use of off-balance-sheet accounts which was commissioned by RTE itself.

RTE was plunged into crisis in June last year after it admitted understating the fees for its star presenter and previous top earner Ryan Tubridy.

A series of probing Dail committee hearings also uncovered other concerns about culture, governance and financial management at RTE and there have been several high profile resignations from the board and executive of the station.

In a statement, RTE director-general, Kevin Bakhurst said: We welcome the publication of the three reports by the minister and accept in principle the recommendations included in both Expert Advisory Committees.

We have worked closely with both committees and with Mazars since last year to provide all information available and enable the completion of the reports.

We understand the need to restore trust in RTE following a succession of revelations last year and I hope it is clear that we take the issues which have emerged very seriously.

The events of last year are a source of deep frustration and disappointment to all of us in RTE and those connected to this organisation.

We have already undertaken major reform of RTE and addressed many of the recommendations included in the reports and we are committed to continuing on this process of reform, now with the benefit of recommendations set out in the reports today.

We will respond formally and in full when we have taken time to give the reports full consideration.

The Department of Media will draw up its own implementation plan also within six weeks and both of these will be signed off by Cabinet.

Plans to overhaul the TV licence are expected to be signed off by senior ministers shortly after, before TDs break for the summer recess.

Hospitality, travel and subsistence expenses within RTE which were reported to Media Ministers between 2017 and 2022, will also be reviewed by the RTE Board Chair.

Laws will also be changed to make the States public spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General, RTEs auditor.

RTE will also now be accountable to the Dails public spending watchdog, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Further laws will also strengthen the authority of the RTE board and make director generals accountable to the board.

Minister Martin said the more than 100 recommendations chart a path forward for the public service broadcaster.

"These are root and branch examinations that were needed because of the governance and other failings that we saw  from organisational to cultural to financial failings in the past. So with these recommendations, we now see the blueprint for going forward, she told RTEs Six One News.

Minister Martin added it was essential that RTE accepted these principles.
Trinity College in Dublin remained closed to the public yesterday as protests continue against the university over its ties to Israel. The entrance from Nassau Street was locked, and at the main entrance from College Green signs were erected to tell the public that the college was closed for reasons out of its control, and that people who had pre-booked visits to the Book of Kells would get a full refund. Students defended barricading the Book of Kells exhibition indefinitely, saying it was the only way to get a reaction from the college
The encampment set up by Trinity students this past weekend. Photo: Laszlo Molnarfi/X

Trinity College will set up a task force to consider engagements with Israeli institutions and will work to divest from investments in companies with activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, university management has said.

It comes as Trinity closed to the public in recent days amid protests over its ties to Israel, which included the barricading of the Book of Kells exhibition and a full-time occupation on the front lawn of the campus.

Trinity management met with student representatives this afternoon to discuss the issues raised by protesters on campus and how to facilitate the return to normal university services, a spokesperson confirmed.

They also set out the universitys position on issues relating to Gaza, divestment, links to universities in Israel and supporting Palestinian scholars.

A spokesperson welcomed reports of a ceasefire and said the university fully understands the driving force behind the encampment and it is in full solidarity with the students in our horror at what is happening in Gaza.

They also said the university management continues to engage with Jewish staff and students who are impacted.

The university will set up a task force to consider its links to Israeli universities and will work to divest from investments in companies with activities in Occupied Palestinian territories.

It will also work to ensure more places at Trinity are available to students fleeing Gaza.

Trinity has initiated a process to divest from investments in companies that have activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN Blacklist in this regard, they said.

The process is expected to be completed by June and follows the government decision in relation to the Irish Strategic Investment Fund.

They confirmed the university will continue to work with stakeholders to provide further places for students from Gaza, following six Palestinian postgraduate and two undergraduate students who are continuing their education at Trinity.

Their fees have been waived and the Sanctuary Fund will provide them with accommodation.

Trinity will also set up a task force, including student representatives and an external chair, to discuss how the university can continue to preserve academic freedom while understanding better how we engage - or not - with states that are in contravention of human rights.

"Some in our community argue that Trinity should ensure all ties with Israeli institutions are cut. Such decisions rest with individual academics, they added.

"Some colleagues will see value in maintaining a free exchange of ideas; others will feel deeply uncomfortable having any relationship at all. These conflicting perspectives must be explored in a formal setting.

A further meeting between representatives has been scheduled for tomorrow.

In view of the disproportionate response we have seen at some institutions overseas, Trinity is committed to addressing the issue of the encampment as an internal process.

"We wish for a return to normal services for our students, staff, and the public as soon as possible.
Lobbying by large airlines is blamed for lack of tax on kerosene for planes

Heavy aviation fuel is exempt from the carbon tax and excise duty

Heavy aviation fuel is exempt from the carbon tax and excise duty

Persistent and well-organised lobbying by airlines has been blamed for the situation where households and motorists in this country are hit hard by carbon taxes but people flying off on holiday to Spain or Australia escape the tax.

It was unfair that a family in the midlands using kerosene to heat their home was subject to the tax, but carbon tax does not apply to kerosene used to fuel aeroplanes, said energy scientist Paul Deane, of University College Cork (UCC).

Dr Deanes comments came days after householders were told this months carbon tax rises would mean they would have to pay more for their home-heating oil, coal and gas.

The May 1 rise in carbon tax will add 17 to the annual cost of an average bill for the 600,000 households that use natural gas. The average gas customer will now be paying around 122 a year in total in carbon tax.

Today's News in 90 Seconds - May 7th

The increase in the carbon tax will add around 19 to the fill of a 900-litre home-heating oil tank.

It means filling a 900-litre tank will now cost households around 140 in carbon tax in total, calculations by price-comparison site Bonkers.ie show.

The carbon tax on coal and briquettes went up this month, also.

Carbon tax hikes on petrol and diesel were imposed just after Octobers Budget.

The tax adds 1.04 to the cost of 60 litres of petrol and 1.20 to 60 litres of diesel, according to calculations by the Dails Parliamentary Budget Office.

But heavy aviation fuel is exempt from the carbon tax and from excise duty.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has calculated that the excise duty exemption alone amounted to 273m in 2021, at a time of heavy restrictions on movements due to Covid.

In 2019, before the pandemic, the CSO said the revenue foregone to the State amounted to 634m.

Dr Deane said the fact that households and motorists were hit with carbon tax when airline fuel was exempt was really unfair.

It is testament to the power of the well-organised aviation industry lobby, not just in Europe, but across the globe, he said.

Over the last 10 years, the aviation industry has vehemently resisted carbon taxes, with pressure coming in particular from India, China and the USA.

Last week it emerged that sales of jet fuel in this country grew to record levels last year, wiping out some of the progress made in weaning the country off fossil fuels.

Overall greenhouse gas emissions from oil, gas and other fossil fuels were at their lowest in Ireland for 30 years.

But they still did not fall fast enough to meet climate targets.

Efforts on emissions were stymied partly by an increase in Irish people taking to the skies.

Dr Deane said the kerosene used by aeroplanes was similar to the kerosene used in home-heating oil systems.

We use kerosene for heating our homes. If a family in Mullingar put on their oil-fired heating, they pay excise duty and carbon tax on that, he said.

Similar fuel is used on flights but there is no excise duty or carbon tax on that.

However, there is a small levy on light oil used for commercial air navigation.

A Department of Finance spokesperson confirmed that there is no mineral oil tax on jet kerosene. This is because it is exempt from tax as per the European Union Energy Tax Directive.

She said this is the case for all EU member states.

In July 2021 the EU Commission published a proposal to revise the Energy Tax Directive. The taxation of intra-community flights forms part of this proposal.

Ireland has been actively engaged in negotiations of this proposal, which are ongoing, the department said.
The tents used by asylum-seekers near the Office of International Protection on Mount Street which were recently removed. Photo: PA

In 2017, when Britain began its disengagement talks with the EU, Ireland laid down two inviolable principles. First, no Border: not so much as a matchstick to mark where the EUs customs territory began. Second, no direct talks between London and Dublin. If the Brits had anything to say, they should talk to Michel Barnier.
Tents outside the international protection office on Dublin's Mount Street were recently cleared away, but Kerry has done itself proud with its response to refugees. Photo: Frank McGrath

It is heartening to see the cead mile failte out in force in Kerry and that the Kingdom has the highest number of documented Ukrainian refugees and international protection applicants in the country, at just over 7,000 people (Breakdown of refugee figures shows west is taking in more than its fair share  Irish Independent, May 6).

It is also interesting to note that Aontu has dropped support in the latest Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent opinion poll, down one percentage point to 3pc (Sinn Fein support rises as party hardens stance on immigration  May 4).

So much for all the recent right-wing rhetoric on immigration. The reality is always different and far from being scared, as one Independent Ireland TD from Limerick put it in Dail Eireann last week, the people of Kerry have opened their hearts and minds to Ukraine and those fleeing persecution. Hear, hear.

Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry

Immigrants can bring so much to our society, if we only give them the chance

Thousands of people pass over our Border daily and weekly to work in the Republic and, as a result, this is one island open to movement of people from the UK.

The claims that 80pc or 90pc of immigrants are coming into the Republic via Northern Ireland are unsubstantiated. The furore which has followed has played into the hands of the anti-immigrant factions, the concerned residents faction, the racist faction, and has widened the gap of understanding regarding our open border with the UK.

In the run-up to the local and European elections, our Government, the political parties of which it consists and the politicians appear to be blaming the refugees, asylum-seekers and others for their own incompetence in dealing with accommodation.

Instead of the short-sightedness which exists at present, we need to recognise that this country needs immigrants to sustain and promote its economy for future generations.

We have thousands of skilled, professional and educated refugees and asylum-seekers in our country, with more arriving. Is it beyond the imagination of our Government, NGOs, businesses and civil servants to match these people with work which uses their skills and enhances our society?

Rather than letting these, our brothers and sisters, languish for months and years without purpose, respect and dignity, should we not welcome them and treat them with the respect they deserve?

Hugh McDermott

Dromohair, Co Leitrim

Bank holiday sunshine was a real treat for those who enjoy their sundaes

Lovely picture of ladies enjoying ice-cream in Kinsale. (Ice-cream weather is on the way, with temperatures expected to hit 20C  Irish Independent, May 6).

I wonder if they were awafer the long weekend?

Noel Kelly, Doonbeg, Co Clare

Abandoning commitment to the triple lock would be a serious betrayal of trust

Irelands support for the UN Charter, UN peacekeeping and active Irish neutrality has been steadfast since 1955. The present Irish Government is committed to removing the triple lock, which will undermine our support for the UN and allow large numbers of Irish soldiers to serve with very questionable Nato missions.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin got government approval to draft legislation to get rid of the triple lock, on April 30. Taoiseach Simon Harris has said he hopes to get rid of the triple lock for Irish military involvement in operations abroad in the lifetime of this Government.

The abandonment of the solemn, binding commitments of this triple lock would involve a serious betrayal of trust by the Irish Government towards the Irish people, as well as the effective ending of genuine active Irish neutrality.

Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick

Recognition of Palestine would reward Hamas for its brutality on October 7

Simon Harris is in Spain, seeking support to have the state of Palestine recognised. I wonder if it has crossed his mind that if he is successful, the people of Ireland will be rewarding a terrorist organisation for the atrocity it carried out on October 7.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of what is happening in Gaza, it is not disputed that Hamas raped and murdered more than a thousand young men, women and children, and paraded 200 hostages through the streets of Gaza to cheering people.

Mr Harris is living in the clouds if he thinks Hamas will relinquish control of Gaza when a ceasefire is established. Hamas will not be destroyed, and will still retain a capability to carry out strikes into Israel, resulting in the same atrocities as on October 7  and this country will be recognising it as a legal entity.

Anthony McGeough, Dublin 24

Swifties seeking hotel rooms for Dublin gigs are in for a cruel summer

The upcoming visit of Taylor Swift seems to have encouraged some hotels to move swiftly, and up their prices.

Would it be too much to suggest that it is hard to see any rooms going for a song?

Tom Gilsenan, Dublin 9

Government must act now to ensure the old Irish goat doesnt disappear for good

Irelands wildlife protection laws, or lack of them, are often slated by conservationists and animal protection groups. But the failure to protect the old Irish goat, our only native breed of the animal, is a national disgrace.

The animal is a priceless part of our wildlife heritage, having come to Ireland with the Neolithic settlers aeons ago. It now teeters on the verge of extinction, with only an estimated 170 of the creatures left. Its even more imperilled ecologically than the curlew or the corncrake. Yet, incredibly, not only is it still legal to hunt them  you dont even need a licence to shoot this majestic animal.

The failure of successive governments to safeguard the goats survival has resulted in hunters jetting to Ireland to kill the goats. Their horns can fetch a high price.

Despite being critically endangered, it can be blasted off the mountainsides by blood-sport fans.

Theres no time to lose: urgent legislation is required to protect the old Irish goat. Otherwise, well lose yet another endangered and loved species to mans greed and inhumanity.

John Fitzgerald, Callan, Co Kilkenny
Last summer a seemingly ordinary lunch gathering turned into a nightmare for an Australian family. Little did they realise that the food they were eating was laced with poisonous death cap mushrooms that would leave three dead and one fighting for their life in intensive care.

Soon authorities became involved and the person at the centre of their investigation was the cook  Erin Patterson, and the victims - they were her ex-husbands parents and aunt.

As millions of eyes watch the resulting case in Australia, a web of intrigue and suspicion surrounds the events leading up to that fateful lunch.

Fionnan Sheahan is joined on the Indo Daily podcast by Brooke Grebert-Craig, journalist with the Herald Sun in Melbourne and host of the true-crime podcast series, The Mushroom Cook, to look at the story of Erin Patterson that is gripping Australia.

You can listen to The Mushroom Cook podcast series from Brooke Grebert-Craig using the below link.

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-mushroom-cook/id1737055254
Dubliners who started successful businesses from their kitchen now in top retailer

Three Dubliners who started successful businesses, in some cases from their own kitchen, are now having their products stocked in Aldi stores nationwide.

Nicola Kerins, founder of Nics Tea, started her business 12 years ago when there was very little quality Irish leaf tea blends available to buy locally or online.

I was very interested in classic and healthy herbals, but I found that I couldnt really find an Irish brand and there wasnt a big range, Nicola told the Irish Independent.

Nicola Kerins, founder of Nics Tea, started her business 12 years ago

I started it from my kitchen table 12 years ago and it developed. We make everything ourselves in a big production facility in Rathcoole.

It just started off as my interest and my love of tea. We tested the waters at local farmers markets and food events, and we found tea drinkers who loved our teas.

Nicola is taking the current trends of tea and coffee drinkers and has created two new products especially for Aldi.

Weve been successful in our application to participate in Grow with Aldi this year. We developed two new products for it, she said.

Its iced tea. Weve an iced cherry which is organic, and a mango flavoured one too. Theyre really cool flavours.

Iced tea and coffee have really taken off, so we thought itd be good to introduce it, give people the opportunity to try something new and explore new products.

Conor Bacon created the Too Savage range from his own kitchen

Meanwhile, Conor Bacon is the founder of Too Savage, Irelands first premium mayo brand that is also 100pc plant-based.

Ive always been involved with food and cooking. I was managing coffee shops but, on the side, I liked to create things, he said.

I was cooking plant-based food for years when I was working in the coffee industry. I came up with the products at home just three years ago.

Our first product, the spicy mayo, my brother tasted it at home before it had the label and he said: Thats savage. Thats where we came up with the name Too Savage, its a real Dublin thing.

We make the products as healthy as possible too, we dont add any sugar to the recipe, just good quality ingredients, no funny business.

A third Dublin entrepreneur, Gerrard O Farrell, has decided to give fans of his Smokin Bones restaurants the experience of eating his food at home with the help of Aldi.

Over Covid, the restaurant owner had to do takeaway options which inspired his new product. His new microwavable pulled pork is perfect for anyone who doesnt have time to cook.

Smokin Bones is a restaurant chain we started 10 years ago. Weve five different outlets and weve a production unit in Stoneybatter. Weve 80 employees in total, he said.

Our new product is very versatile, you open the pouch, put it in the microwave for two and a half minutes, its exactly what its like in the restaurant.

We do the hard work; we cook it for 12 hours and we sauce it afterwards. Its bringing restaurant quality food into your home, but its actually coming straight from our restaurant.

The 27 food and drink entrepreneurs, finalists for this year's Grow With Aldi campaign

Following a nationwide search for Irelands most talented and innovative suppliers in the food and drink industry, these ambitious suppliers will have their products in Aldi stores nationwide.

From May 23, for a limited period, Irish shoppers will have the chance to buy the products. Then Aldi will award contracts to a select few finalists following this trial sales period.

Cassie Stokes, Grow With Aldi ambassador, said: We are so lucky to live on an Island that is so rich in food and drink culture, and I cant wait for the nation to celebrate the Grow With Aldi finalists with us.

Fiona Twomey, Global Retail Specialist with Bord Bia, added: The programme continues to champion Irish suppliers, helping them on their journey to success in the competitive Irish retail and food sector.

The standard of products on offer among the finalists is, as ever, extremely high, and I wish each of them the very best of luck in their trial period across Aldi stores.
Sandymount Strand will remain closed to swimmers for the summer season. Pic: Arthur Carron

Sea swimmers are being urged to avoid Sandymount Strand as it smells of sewage, theres algae and dog poo in there.

Dublin City Council has already closed the southside beach to swimmers for the entire summer as the water could cause illnesses.

Green Party Councillor Hazel Chu says the situation is ridiculous.

I love how we warn people about poor bathing water quality, but we havent done anything about it, she told the Irish Independent.

We should be aiming to control the water pollution instead. This is something weve been long saying to Irish Water and to others.

Its ridiculous because weve a great amenity there but were not allowed to swim in it. It smells as well, it smells of sewage, theres algae in there, dog poo was one of the big polluters.

Its a combination of things like drainage infrastructure too. Itd be good to make progress on this, but instead we are going backwards.

The beach was classified as having poor water quality in 2023 and now, a bathing prohibition will apply for the entire 2024 bathing season.

Fine Gael councillor James Geoghegan said its disappointing that once again Sandymount Strand has been identified as having poor water quality.

Residents have complained about smells around the area for months, he said.

We are constantly told by Irish Water, and others, that it is caused by a rotting form of seaweed, rather than something that might be polluting the sea.

Sandymount Strand has had ongoing issues with water quality. Pic: Frank McGrath

The bathing water ban proves there is a clear connection between the release of untreated sewage into the sea by the wastewater plant. These releases increase the nutrients that accelerate the growth of this foul-smelling seaweed.

The swimming ban proves that the cause of all this is how and when untreated sewage is released into the sea from the plant.

The main sources of pollution are said to be contaminated streams, misconnections, sewage discharges and faeces from dogs and birds.

Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said its such a pity because it should be a major amenity coming into the summer months.

The water will be unsuitable, its polluted at the Strand area, he said.

It seems the main cause is dog turd, there is also issues of the overflowing of the plant and theres still some sewage coming in from an unidentified source, its from the northern part of Merrion Strand.

It highlights the need for one body to be responsible for Dublin Bay. Its a problem when dealing with issues.

DCC is partly responsible, DLR is partly responsible and Fingal County Council too, the Port Authority and various Government departments.

They all have a bit of responsibility, so were looking for a Fingal-Dublin Bay authority to be responsible for the bay. We should be treating it better.

Swimming is totally possible up around the Half Moon Swimming Club. Thats a designated clean water space, he added.

Dublin City Council confirmed that, based on the EPA assessment of results from 2020-2023, the waters at Sandymount Strand will be classified as Poor in 2024.

With Sandymount Strand now classified as poor, this requires the Local Authority to undertake certain beach management measures, including the raising of a season long prohibition, a spokesperson said.

The warning will be widely disseminated to the public, including a hardcopy at bathing water cabinets at entrances to Sandymount Strand (an A3 size notice), online on Dublin City Councils website and social media and also on the national bathing water website, www.beaches.ie.

These notices will be in place in advance of the forthcoming bathing season, commencing on June 1.

This regulatory requirement is disappointing, as on a year to year basis (from 2021), we are recording incremental improvements in bathing water quality at Sandymount Strand (i.e. 2023 recorded Sandymount as the best bathing water quality in Dublin City).

"A review of the 2023 bathing season found 100pc of scheduled samples taken at Sandymount Strand met the required standard of Sufficient or better.

That is in comparison to 90pc of water samples assessed in 2022 and 75pc in 2021. Sandymount Strand was the only bathing water (in Dublin City) which reported no Poor water quality results during the 2023 season.

The taskforce seeks to protect and enhance water quality in Dublin Bay through collaboration and coordination of various agencies responsible for identified pressures.

In relation to bathing water quality at Sandymount, Dublin Bay bathing waters are impacted by nearshore pressures, including, but is not limited to, domestic drainage misconnections, dog fouling, urban waste water and urban runoff.

To protect and improve water quality at Sandymount Strand, Dublin City Council (DCC) prepared a management plan which identified pressures and associated actions to mitigate/eliminate their impact on waters.

In particular, a targeted campaign ahead of the 2023 bathing season to address dog fouling on Sandymount Strand has made the substantial contribution to water quality results all being at sufficient or better.
Their father Andrew Foley and his two friends have conquered The 4 Peaks Challenge in just 23 hours to raise 51,000 for Need for Neuro

The Need for Neuro Spinathon which was hosted by Killorglin Fire Service on Saturday last. Pictured at Killorglin Fire Station were (back row from left): Shane Ahern, Mike McCafferty, Damian Quigg, Anthony O'Carroll and Paul Sheehan. Front (from left): Geraldine Dunleavy, Adam Foley, Alannah Foley and Andrew Foley .4 Peaks Challenge Both Alannah and Adam were diagnosed with and undergoing continuous treatment for Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1). Photography By Michael G Kenny

Killorglin's Fire and Rescue's Damian Quigg and Anthony O'Carroll give Alannah and Adam a brief demo on the jaws of life cutting equipment during their tour of Killorglin Fire Station on Saturday morning.

Alannah and Adam check out the controls of the chopper that transported the Four Peak Challenge participants around the country during a period of 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday.

All systems go.....Killorglin Fire and Rescue Station welcomed two of their newest recruits on Saturday Adam and Alannah Foley got the VIP treatment prior to the Station's sponsored Spinathon Fundraiser in aid of Need for Neuro.

Touch down in Cromane....after completing the Four Peaks Challenge Andrew Foley, along with TJ OConnor and Padraig McGillicuddy touched down in style in Jacks Cromane. The fundraiser was to raise funds for the ongoing care of Alannah and Adam Foley who have a rare condition.

Alannah and Adam Foley from Killorglin are two little troopers who despite their daily battles against a rare condition are happy smiling children and their courageous battle inspired their Dad Andrew and his friends take on a challenge to help raise funds for the ongoing care.

Andrew and TJ O'Connor, a lecturer at Munster Technological University in Tralee, and Padraig McGillicuddy, Proprietor of Ballygarry Estate Hotel & Spa in Tralee scaled he highest peaks in each of Ireland's four provinces: Carrauntoohil (1040m) in Co. Kerry, Mweelrea (841m) in Co. Mayo, Slieve Donard (840m) in Co. Down, and Lugnaquilla (925m) in Co. Wicklow over the Bank Holiday Weekend.

While typically spread over a few days, the trio conquered 12,000 feet (3,300 meters) within a remarkable 23-hour timeframe finishing on Sunday evening.

Alannah and Adam check out the controls of the chopper that transported the Four Peak Challenge participants around the country during a period of 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday.

The remarkable achievement and the funds raised the Need for Neuro challenge will help pay the cost of ongoing care for Alannah (7) and Adam (4) have both been diagnosed with and undergoing continuous treatment for Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1)  a rare condition that comes with a myriad of complications.

Alannah has just recovered from surgery after a shunt failure for hydrocephalus which can cause a build up of fluid in her brain. She was rushed to Temple Street Hospital just over two weeks ago for emergency surgery and has this week returned to school at Glounaguillagh NS in Caragh Lake. She has also faced 70 weeks of chemotherapy for a tumour and several surgeries in her short life.

All systems go.....Killorglin Fire and Rescue Station welcomed two of their newest recruits on Saturday Adam and Alannah Foley got the VIP treatment prior to the Station's sponsored Spinathon Fundraiser in aid of Need for Neuro.

Her brother Adam, meanwhile, is wearing a brace as he has scoliosis and may in the future have to face further surgery. A special brace he named 'Bob had to be made in Germany for him which he has to wear 23 hours a day.

Despite all the challenges their Dad Andrew said they are two little troopers that are always happy and smiling and would put anyone to shame.

He and Geraldine have been 'overwhelmed by the funds raised to date that was everything they could have hoped for and more.

The Need for Neuro Spinathon which was hosted by Killorglin Fire Service on Saturday last. Pictured at Killorglin Fire Station were (back row from left): Shane Ahern, Mike McCafferty, Damian Quigg, Anthony O'Carroll and Paul Sheehan. Front (from left): Geraldine Dunleavy, Adam Foley, Alannah Foley and Andrew Foley .4 Peaks Challenge Both Alannah and Adam were diagnosed with and undergoing continuous treatment for Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1). Photography By Michael G Kenny

Funds raised will assist the family in accessing necessary services, alleviating the burden of accommodation and travel expenses for numerous hospital appointments. This support allows parents Geraldine and Andrew to avoid working excessively, providing stability in the face of the unpredictable challenges that arise when one of the children falls ill.

"We are are overwhelmed .. The show of support form the community has been unbelievable. We are so lucky where we live. .. We are so grateful for every single thing they have done for us.

This fundraiser along with a Spinathon at Killorglin Fire Station and a host of other events are a huge help to the family and Andrew said they are grateful to every single fundraiser .

The GoFundMe can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/need-for-neuro-4-peaks-challenge
Its another busy week in Sligo with lots of events taking place to suit all interests.

Have a look at our pick of the top ten events taking place in Sligo this week, there might be something that tickles your fancy.

ROAMER

The Model presents a very special live Late Night event with Roamer on Saturday May 11. Tickets are limited  get yours online at www.themodel.ie for 15. Roamer brings together four of Irelands most internationally active improvising musicians. Currently based in London, Cologne, Berlin and Dublin, all four musicians reunite regularly to compose and perform original music celebrating poetry and improvisation.

SLIGO ACADEMY OF MUSIC GALA CONCERT

The Sligo Academy of Music orchestras and teachers present a special evening of music on Thursday May 9 at 8pm featuring the Sinfonietta, Jazz Orchestra, Junior Orchestra, Perfect Harmonies Choir, SAM Harp Ensemble, Duly Noted, Sligo Community Orchestra and performances by the SAM Tutors.

SLIGO RECORD FAIR

The first Sligo Record Fair of the year takes place on Sunday, May 12. There will be lots of new stock on vinyl and CD. BUY - SELL - EXCHANGE and entry is free. The event, taking place at the Yeats Society, begins at 11 and continues until 5pm.

TEENAGE THEME NIGHTS

Teenage Theme Nights has been providing a platform for older teenagers to perform with their peers in a professional, safe and friendly environment for over 10 years. This May, join organisers for the 32nd show in the ever-popular series - celebrating the class of 2024 in showcasing their final Teenage Theme Nights performance, taking place at Hawks Well on May 11 and 12.

POETRY WORKSHOP

Join Maeve McKenna at Sligo County Library on Friday, May 10 for a very special poetry workshop on the theme of Music of Our Generations where participants discuss songs from their younger years and from that, explore how to put these memories into a brief memoir which will then be shaped into a poem. Contact 0719111675 or email sligolib@sligococo.ie to reserve your place.

BEAT IT!

Sarah Middletons Beat It dance school of Strandhill, Sligo, is coming back to Hawks Well this year with a bang from May 13-15. Beat It dance school will be performing a mixture of dance with dancers aged 3-18 yrs, they will include a variety of Lyrical, Hip Hop, Musical Theatre, Jazz and Breakdancing.

MARK MAKING

Mark Making a two person exhibition by artists Tom Callery and Crona Gallagher is now open at the Hyde Bridge Gallery, Sligo. This exhibition is part of the Bealtaine Festival Sligo programme of events 2024.

VULGARIS

Vulgaris is a minimal multimedia meditation on the flower, fire, fox and other symbolism associated with Brid and Bealtaine and the personification of Ireland as a female entity. By artist Sarah Ellen Lundy, this exhibition takes place at Abhainn Studio Enniscrone on May 10.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Two solo exhibitions are now open at the Hamilton Gallery, Sligo. AREA C by artist Eileen Ferguson and HEADSPACE by artist Neal Greig were officially opened last weekend with an opening address by Eoin Mc Namee, novelist and screenwriter.

TRAD@LUNCH

Step into Hawks Well and treat yourself every Wednesday from May 8 to August 28 to a delightful array of culture. Enjoy drama, comedy, poetry, and musicall served up in special lunchtime shows designed to captivate and entertain. This Wednesday, May 8, sees Niamh and Sean Farrell perform as part of Trad@lunch in a free gig.
Canadian Ambassador Nancy Smyth signs the distinguished visitors' book at County Hall in the presence of Cathaoirleach Gerard Mullaney.

Cathaoirleach, Councillor Gerard Mullaney, welcomed the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland, Her Excellency Ambassador Nancy Smyth, to County Hall last Thursday

Cathaoirleach Mullaney expressed the significance of this visit and the shared heritage between Sligo and Canada.

He emphasised the historical connection, with many citizens of Sligo having ancestors who sought better opportunities in Canada, and acknowledged the ongoing contributions of their descendants in Canadian society. Cllr Mullaney, acknowledged the recent visit of the Tanaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Minister for Defence, Micheal Martin TD, to Canada.

This visit, coinciding with the 85th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Canada, underscored the enduring strength of the partnership and the immense potential for increased collaboration across various sectors.

The establishment of Consulates General in Vancouver and Toronto, as part of the Global Ireland 2025 programme, has played a vital role in further deepening the relations between Ireland and Canada.

The presence of organisations such as Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, and Tourism Ireland in the region has facilitated increased trade, educational exchanges, and cultural ties.

Looking towards the future, the Cathaoirleach expressed the commitment of Sligo County Council to deepen connections, explore new avenues of collaboration, and create a prosperous future together with Canada.

Ambassador Smyth expressed her gratitude for the warm welcome and acknowledged the shared values and aspirations that underpin the strong relationship between Ireland and Canada.

She reiterated Canadas commitment to fostering collaboration in various sectors and looked forward to deepening ties with Sligo County Council.
A former Irish U-18 rugby international, who broke the jaw of another young man at a music festival has had sentencing adjourned for a probation report.

Ambrose Bamber, (19) of Calry Rectory, The Mall, Sligo appeared before Sligo District Court where he admitted assaulting Shane Harte at a music festival in Ballygawley on July 15 last year.

The victim was punched to the ground was unconscious and suffered a fractured jaw.

Today's News in 90 Seconds - May 7th

Garda Gerard Dillon told the court that gardai were called to the festival where they learned that the defendant had assaulted the victim.

Shane Harte was taken from the scene by ambulance and Bamber was arrested under the Public Order Act.

Mr Hartes memory of the incident was not good and was unable to identify his attacker.

It was a third party who had witnessed the assault.He told gardai that Bamber punched Mr Harte and he was knocked to the ground.

A medical report stated that the victim had a cut to the scalp that required three staples, a cut above the eye and a fractured jaw.

The defendant had no previous convictions.

Mr Keith OGrady B.L defending, instructed by Callan Tansey Solicitors, said there was a full acceptance of wrong- doing from the defendant.

Mr OGrady added that had the matter gone to trial it would have been a difficult to case for the prosecution to prove and this was accepted by the prosecution.

The statement of the eye- witness who was a security man said a few males were coming out of the marquee and man A pushed man B and man B gave man A four thumps to the head.

There were others at the scene, but they would not make any statements.

Mr OGrady added that when the defendant who was very drunk, had realised what happened, he had called out for CPR for the victim.

There was no pre-meditation, the parties were not known to each other and it was an alcohol fuelled incident at a music festival.

The defendant was offering 7,500 as a gesture or remorse without prejudice to any other matters.

Judge Ciaran Liddy asked Garda Dillon if the injured party had pushed the defendant.

The garda said he did not know the cause of the attack, but it was unprovoked.

The garda said the incident happened at a marquee towards the end of the festival and it was around 1.30 am in the morning.

In a Victim Impact Statement which he read to the court, Shane Harte said he had gone out to the festival to enjoy the evening.

He said that he and a few friends were leaving the marquee when he suffered an unprovoked assault.

I never met him before, and we were minding our own business, and I was knocked to the ground and was unconscious.

The statement added that when he revived there was a big cut to the back of his head which needed stitches, cuts to his eye and his jaw was fractured.

He was barely able to see out of his swollen eye and was in severe pain.

Since the incident, he had severe migraine headaches and had to take days off work, and this had greatly impacted on his source of income.

It had also affected his social life as anxiety made it difficulty and he rarely went out and did not go to any festivals since.

It had also affected his trust in people and to this day he did not know why I was targeted.

Ambrose Bamber took the stand and said he had heard about the effect of his assault had on the injured party.

He apologised for the damage I caused you and I hope you can forgive me.

The defendant said he had been drinking and his memory of the incident was not great.

Mr OGrady handed in references to the court.

He said the incident was not pre-meditated-there was no weapon involved and the defendant showed immediate remorse, concern and empathy for the injured party.

He was a rugby player who had played for his country and this incident was totally and utterly out of character and it was a drink-fuelled incident.

He was a productive young man, and his family were supporting him in court and were dreadfully embarrassed and concerned for him.

Mr OGrady said the offer of compensation was nowhere near what the complainant would expect but the latter could go to another forum.

The defendant planned to travel abroad but a criminal conviction would negate this and the defence were seeking the Probation Act which he understood was a big ask.

Judge Liddy invited the victim back up to the stand.

He told the victim that the 7,500 offered by the defendant was not a get out of jail card that it was a gesture of remorse.

The judge said the maximum sentence he could impose was one year in jail and the court was being asked to look at the case in a certain way to leave the defendant without a criminal conviction.

The judge said if the court imposed a criminal conviction, the defendant would not be able to travel abroad.

Shane Harte said he was happy enough to settle the matter and was willing to accept the offer of compensation.

But he added if the incident had gone on for another few minutes I could have been fighting for my life.

Judge Liddy told Mr OGrady that he did not get the sense from his client that he appreciated what he did or its effects.

The judge said he would prefer for the defendant to have some insight and understanding of the effects of his actions on his victim.

The case was adjourned for a probation report to July 4 and would be finalised in September.
The Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) has released two new traditional music compositions written by Michael Flatley as part of the monthly Saothar series.

The two compositions, titled The Fighter and The Dreamer were written and performed to honour the memory and legacy of Princess Grace of Monaco (1929-82).

Michael Flatley: In Profile

Growing up in Chicago, Michael was exposed to the rich tradition of Irish music through his family and through his engagement with musicians. His father, Michael James Flatley was from Gurteen, Co. Sligo, Coleman Country, an area steeped in fiddle and flute music.

He fondly remembers his father who was always whistling the old Irish tunes  he seemed to know every single one. This early exposure laid the foundation for Flatleys deep connection to Irish music and his desire to master the art of flute playing.

Michaels flute playing demonstrates not only his technical skill as a player but also his passion, understanding and commitment to Irish traditional music, said ITMA Director Liam OConnor.

We are delighted with the ambition and quality of his compositions.

Founded in 1987, ITMA is home to the largest, most comprehensive collection of Irish traditional music, song, and dance in the world. ITMA digitises, preserves and offers free universal access to valuable recordings, photographs, manuscripts, and other archived materials that would otherwise be lost. In doing this, ITMA also commits to connecting contemporary artists with archived materials in order to inspire new art, helping to build the living archive of the future.

Started in 2021, ITMAs Saothar series is a monthly online showcase of new tune compositions by contemporary composers in the traditional idiom.

Saothar provides traditional artists a platform for new compositions, while also providing tools to help musicians learn and play along to the compositions.
A large number of members and supporters of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign participated in last Saturdays Palestine Solidarity Vigil outside Sligo G.P.O

Among the participants were public representatives including Sligos Mayor Cllr Declan Bree, Cllr Arthur Gibbons and Cllr Gino OBoyle

The protesters displayed Palestinian Flags and carried placards which read: End the Siege of Gaza, Boycott Israeli Goods, Saoirse don Phalaistin, 13,000 + Children Murdered Permanent Ceasefire Now, Free Palestine.

Speaking to The Sligo Champion Cllr Declan Bree said Today, after months of constant bombardment, the heart-wrenching toll of Israeli genocide and atrocities in Gaza continues to rise.

For the past six months Palestinian mothers and fathers have been bidding tearful farewells to their beloved children, broken hearted with the weight of unspeakable loss. Forced to say goodbye to loved ones taken too soon, they endure the anguish of countless farewells, their resilience tested beyond measure.

Yet, through it all, the spirit of resistance has endured. Today Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank continue to defy oppression, steadfast in their belief that one day they will seize the freedom they have long been denied. he said

Israels genocidal war in Gaza has now entered its sixth month with over 35,000 dead, the majority of them women and children. said Cllr Arthur Gibbons.

This is not a war of defence. It is being executed as a war of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people; not only in Gaza, but across the West Bank.

Palestinians in Gaza have been enduring unimaginable suffering, grappling with hunger and fear, on a desperate quest in search of a safe haven. Yet even amid this harrowing reality, their spirit remains unbroken.

We now need to see a permanent unconditional ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from both Gaza and the West Bank. he said.

Cllr Gino OBoyle said The humanitarian situation in Gaza has become catastrophic since Israel blocked supplies of food, water, fuel and electricity.

In addition, the U.N tells us that with the continuing heavy Israeli bombardment only 12 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza and 22 of the enclaves 88 primary health care facilities are partially functional and nearly all of the 600,000 children now sheltering Rafah are injured, sick or malnourished.

Entire families have been wiped off the face of the earth as a result of the constant bombing.

What is happening in Gaza in full view of the world is a humanitarian disaster. The bombardment, the massacre of civilians and children, and mass displacement of an entire population simply cannot be allowed to continue. It is barbaric and a clear violation of international humanitarian law, it is a genocide. said Cllr OBoyle.
Ireland South MEP candidate Cynthia Ni Mhurchu says the South East needs its regional airport reopened

Ireland South MEP candidate Cynthia Ni Mhurchu has said the South East needs its regional airport reopened and has called on her Green Party colleagues in Government to stop standing in the way of an operational Waterford airport.

Ms Ni Mhurchu has written to Michael OLeary of Ryanair urging the airline boss to sit down with management of Waterford airport. According to Ms Ni Mhurchu, small and regional airports like Waterford take the pressure off the larger hub airports like Dublin.

A functioning airport in Waterford would drive tourism and foreign direct investment into the South East and increase general connectivity, she said.

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Waterford airport should be a pillar of the EUs growth and jobs strategy. The EU Commission has approved the Governments regional airports programme which has seen recent funding announcements for airports like Kerry and Donegal but nothing for Waterford as of yet. I am concerned that Waterford airport is being ignored on ideological grounds.

Some will make the argument that Waterford airport is loss making. To them, I say that 44pc of Europe's Airports are loss making whilst 75pc of airports with less than one million passengers per year are loss making. We must not allow them to wither as they are significant pieces of infrastructure that create jobs, increase connectivity and drive investment

Ms Ni Mhurchu pointed to the fact that in the US, the airport industry benefits from more than $3 billion of direct public funding every year. In addition, security costs are publicly financed. She described the potential economic benefits of an airport in Waterford to the South East,

"For every 10,000 passengers that are brought through an airport, it has been shown to create 12 full time local jobs and numerous other indirect jobs.

It is time to step up and fight for the reopening of Waterford airport. If people and goods are travelling by road to fly from Dublin anyways, it makes little sense allowing the grass to grow on Waterford airport whilst we await a decision from a Green Party leader who is ideologically opposed to the idea of an airport in the South East.

Ms Ni Mhurchu also recently raised the fact that Waterford Airport could be the location for Irelands National Aerospace Academy. Waterford airport has potential to become a University Airport on the basis of a draft report carried out by the engineering department of the South East Technological University which showed Waterford Airport has more than suitable air space and technologies for flight testing unmanned air vehicles, and has a suitable runway for the take-off and landing of small aircraft and unmanned air vehicles.

Connecting a University with an airport of this size is similar to approaches taken in Europe, for example, Hans Christen Andersen Airport and the Danish flight test facility for UAS, added Ms Ni Mhurchu.
Former member of An Garda Siochana sent bullets in the post threatening to kill solicitor and his family

Judge Sarah Berkeley said: For someone to behave in this fashion as an ex-member of An Garda Siochana, having an unblemished history, is quite incredible. Stock image

A retired garda who falsely accused his ex-wife's solicitor of genocide before sending the solicitor's wife bullets and threatening to kill their children has been jailed for two years.

Maurice O'Carroll (63), with an address in Co Wexford, was found guilty by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of two counts of harassment and two counts of threatening to kill the solicitor and his wife on dates between December 2019 and September 2020 following a trial last November.

Detective Garda Barry Brennan told Kieran Kelly BL, prosecuting, that O'Carroll harassed and threatened to kill the family of the solicitor who represented his wife in divorce proceedings.

The court heard O'Carroll developed an animosity towards the solicitor, and he sent five letters to the man's home address where he lived with his family.

The first letter was addressed to the solicitor's wife and alleged that her husband was a gambler, a cheater and was involved in genocide, gun-running, and arms dealing.

The letter said: Your world, and that of especially your children, is about to come crumbling down and that the children would be targeted and a tremendous amount of pain and suffering will befall them.

Another letter asked the solicitor's wife to pick one of (her) children to die, while another alleged that her husband was involved with a lowkey, private prostitute in Wexford.

The final letter the wife received contained a live and a spent bullet, and said: You won't even see it coming. That's a promise.

Sentencing O'Carroll on Tuesday, Judge Sarah Berkeley said: For someone to behave in this fashion as an ex-member of An Garda Siochana, having an unblemished history, is quite incredible.

She noted O'Carroll made things extremely difficult for his victims, who knew he was a former garda and that he knew their address. The effects were extremely profound, and O'Carroll took away their sense of security and imposed fear.

The judge noted that O'Carroll, who represented himself at trial, presented as a pleasant man and was not difficult to deal with. The court heard O'Carroll had written a letter of apology and had 20,000 for his victims, which they declined to accept.

The judge noted O'Carroll was assessed as being at a low risk of re-offending. She handed down a sentence of three years and suspended the final year on a number of conditions, including that he refrain from contacting his victims for a period of five years.

In a victim impact statement handed into the court and read out on his behalf, the solicitor described O'Carroll as a country charlatan involved in a relentless campaign of harassment and vilification against me for no reason that I can discern.

The man said he did not think O'Carroll genuinely believed he was ever involved in what was alleged, but that it merely served his purpose.

He described how the harassment and threats were a huge concern for him, leading him to install security cameras at his home and take great care going about his daily business.

The solicitor said O'Carroll has never shown any remorse and expressed apprehension that he would continue his campaign against him.

His wife also handed in a victim impact statement to the court. I was scared stiff of the threats O'Carroll made, she said.

I really feared that he was capable of violence. I still do not feel safe, she added.

Before the letter came, I used to feel safe, secure and comfortable in my home. That was taken from me, she wrote. My husband never did anything against him except to represent his former wife to the best of his abilities, she said.

John Griffin BL, defending, said his client had a long and unblemished work history as a member of An Garda Siochana. He had 30 years of exemplary service before he retired in 2013, the court heard. He has no prior convictions and has been in custody since last November.

Mr Griffin submitted his client was remorseful but agreed with Judge Sarah Berkeley that it was worrying that a Probation Services report before the court asserted that while O'Carroll is remorseful for the hurt he caused the solicitor's wife, he still has anger issues against the solicitor.
Greystones has been praised for being among the some 5,400 clean-up events nationally  including over 100 in County Wicklow  as the National Spring Clean 2024 completed its milestone 25th anniversary spring clean.

Every April, the National Spring Clean, led by An Taisce, encourages communities from across Ireland to roll up their sleeves and tackle the problem of litter in local areas and to see the benefits of a litter-free environment.

This year, 5,430 groups registered to carry out clean-ups throughout the country, with over 500,000 volunteers participating in organised clean-ups, collecting an estimated 2,725 tonnes of litter. This brings the total amount of rubbish collected over the past 25 years of the campaign to more than 50,200 tonnes.

In County Wicklow, over 100 clean-ups were registered to take place, with almost 2,000 volunteers joining the campaign.

Among them, volunteers from Greystones, led by Cathaoirleach Councillor Stephen Stokes, hosted their National Spring Clean event on Sunday, April 7 at the Dr Ryan Park, where an estimated 300 kilogrammes of assorted rubbish was collected. In addition to common litter items, a wardrobe door, chairs and even a mattress were found.

The 2024 National Spring Clean campaign focused on how adopting a circular economy model will reduce our litter and climate impact, by highlighting how the transition to a more circular economy will see less waste, less litter, and lower emissions, and thus, a cleaner planet. And this year, some 35pc of all waste collected was recycled, thanks to recyclable waste bags provided to groups and individuals who registered.

Commenting after the efforts of the team of volunteers in Greystones had put in a great shift, Cllr Stokes said: It was a super turnout. Attendees came from Churchlands, Eastmount, Kenmare Heights, Kindlestown Park and across Greystones. We put a real shift in. Every bit of effort is appreciated. Even when someone comes for 30 minutes it makes a difference. This is the third clean-up that we have held over the last year. It was the biggest one yet.

However, he added that it was a pity that we are having to carry out this service in the first place.

One can was dated from 2010, he said. But some of the waste was more recent, with the deposit return logo present on some bottles and cans.

"I would ask the minority of people who dump waste in a community park to re-consider their disposal methods. As a community we want to build an inclusive family friendly environment.
Aldi Ireland is calling on Wicklow charities and community organisations to nominate themselves for its 2024 Community Grants programme, which this year features an expanded offering marking the 25th anniversary of the discount supermarket chains presence in Ireland.

By nominating themselves, local charities and organisations will be in with a chance of being awarded with 500 Aldi gift cards. Staff from each of Aldis 161 stores, its two distribution centres and corporate offices will then vote for a charity or community organisation in its local area to make the award to, enabling Aldis staff to help the most worthy and impactful causes they care most about in their local communities.

Last year Wicklow Animal Welfare, Irish Men's Shed Association, Blessington Men's Shed, Five Loaves Bray and Greystones Charity Support were all awarded 500 grants.

For 2024, to coincide with Aldi Irelands 25th anniversary, the retailer will also be selecting 26 charities or community groups, one per county, to receive an additional support of 2,000 worth of Aldi gift cards. To date, Aldis Community Grants programme has donated 620,500 to over 1,000 local charity branches and community groups across Ireland since its inception in 2016. Receiving charities and organisations have ranged from rescue teams to animal sanctuaries, disability support to mental health support, and everything in between.

Launching the campaign, Rachel Nugent, National Sustainability Manager, Aldi Ireland said: It is with great pride that we announce the return of our Community Grants programme for 2024, which has to date seen us distribute over 620,500 to worthy charities and community groups in every county in Ireland. Giving back to the communities we serve has always been hugely important to Aldi.

Every year, we continue to be amazed by the fantastic work carried out by charities and community organisations and we again look forward to supporting their work. 2024 is a special year for Aldi as we mark 25 years of operating in Ireland. To mark that milestone moment, we are expanding our Community Grants programme this year. On top of our 500 donations to all chosen charities, 26 selected charities will receive an additional 2,000 worth of Aldi gift cards, meaning in total we will be supporting worthy organisations right across Ireland to the tune of 137,500 worth of donations.

Aldi has stores in five Co Wicklow locations at Bray, Blessington, Rathnew, Arklow and Greystones.

In order to nominate a club or organisation just visit www.aldi.ie/love-ireland/community.
West Wicklow

Gaelgeoir and historian John Glennon on life in Hollywood

Hes Mister Hollywood  though he is far too modest a person to trumpet such a brash title. Yet it is to the 70 year old that the BBC and Dutch TV have turned whenever they wanted an insight into what makes his parish in West Wicklow tick. No 
The Eurovision Song Contest final in 2023 in Liverpool remains the only year  to date  with no key changes in any of the songs (Peter Byrne/PA)

Eurovision fans hoping for a festival of bright and cheery pop tunes at this weeks contest are likely to be disappointed, as the line-up features the fewest songs in a major key in the events 68-year history.

Almost every country has submitted a song that is based on a minor scale, be it a mournful ballad, aggressive rock track or pounding dance anthem.

Just two entries out of a total of 37 are in a major key, the lowest number since the contest began in 1956, according to analysis by the PA news agency.

These are Scared Of Heights, performed by Hera Bjork representing Iceland, and The Tower, which is sung by Luna for Poland.

If neither of these countries makes it through the semi-finals, which begin tonight in Malmo in Sweden, there will be no songs in a major key in Saturdays final: another first.

The UK is represented at this years contest by Olly Alexander and the song Dizzy: a mid-tempo track with a dance beat that is rooted  like so many others at the contest  in a minor scale.

Olly Alexander rehearsing his performance of Dizzy at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden (Corinne Cumming/EBU/PA)

Songs in minor keys were scarce in the early years of Eurovision.

There were none at all in the contests in 1957-59 or in 1964, though 1961 saw the first minor-key winner (Nous Les Amoureux by Jean-Claude Pascal for Luxembourg).

The proportion of songs in a minor key topped a quarter for the first time in 1965 but did not pass a third until 1979, and it took until 2002 to pass 50%.

Since 2005, more than half of the songs in the final have been in a minor key save for one year (2013), with the proportion passing three quarters last year.

Another musical characteristic that has become increasingly ubiquitous at Eurovision is four beats in a bar.

There was a greater diversity of time signatures in the early decades of the contest, with songs in 3/4 or even 5/4, before rhythms started to become standardised in the 1970s and 80s.

This year will be the sixth instance since 2000 of every song in the final being in 4/4 time.

Two musical staples of Eurovision that looked in danger of extinction make a welcome return in 2024, however.

The key change is back, after having disappeared entirely  for the first time in the events history  in last years contest.

It makes a solitary appearance this year, in the song No Rules! by Finland.

And la la la is back, a phrase cemented in Eurovision folklore when Spain won in 1968 with a song titled precisely that: La La La.

Eurovision runner-up Cliff Richard congratulates winner Massiel at the 1968 contest (PA)

In both of the following years, 1969 and 1970, 25% of entries boasted la la la in their lyrics.

The popularity of the phrase waned slightly in the 1970s, but la la la was still turning up in 17% of entries as late as 1982.

Since then, the la has more or less much vanished and has been absent in almost every contest since 2000.

But this year it makes a rare appearance, decorating the chorus of the song Jako, by Armenia.
An exterior view of the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)

The Swedish Police Authority has said that Eurovision Song Contest fans should not be worried amid tensions being high following the outbreak of war in the Gaza strip.

The event is being held in Malmo Arena as the threat level in the country remains just below the highest level.

Jimmy Modin, press officer for the Swedish police, told the PA news agency: The threat assessments are primarily for the security service, but we can state that Sweden as a country is on a four on a five-point terror threat level scale.

And of course, we include this in our planning work with the security measures that were taking for the Eurovision Song Contest but its important note that theres no direct threat to Eurovision.

He also confirmed that there will be pro-Palestinian march on Thursday, when Israels Eden Golan competes in the second semi-final with Hurricane.

The demonstrators are going to march from one square to another square in Malmo, Mr Modin added.

We anticipate that theres going to be a lot of people joining this demonstration so there might be disturbance to traffic.

He rejected reports that there had been applications to burn the Koran on the streets of Malmo during the contest, and would not give a figure of the number of police in the city for Eurovision.

Olly Alexander of United Kingdom performs the song Dizzy (Martin Meissner/AP)

Mr Modin said that heavy numbers of officers, including from fellow Nordic countries Denmark and Norway that had been assigned to Malmo to support the Swedish police, would be outside Malmo Arena and the Eurovision Village along with other crowded areas in the city.

We cant rule out something could happen, he also said. We are very well prepared for this event.

I dont think (people) have to be worried to go to Malmo.

Mr Modin also advised UK travellers that there would be traffic around the airports, bags are banned at public events due to Swedish law and there will be vigorous security checks.

He also said that only the police can fly drones during the contest.
Nicola Hanney on surviving ex-garda Paul Moodys four-year campaign of abuse: The way he saw it, I was pregnant with his child, so I was his property now
Putin orders tactical nuke drills to send a warning to the West

Kremlin says move is in response to threats from US, UK and France

Soldiers of the 126th Territorial Defence Brigade, who are fighting on the southern front of Ukraine, deliver an Easter cake by FPV drone for soldiers who hold positions on the left bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson region, Ukraine. Orthodox Easter falls on May 5 in Ukraine. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)

Guy Faulconbridge Tue 7 May 2024 at 03:30







Russia said yesterday it would practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in September, 2015 in Yalta, Crimea. Photo: Getty

Russian president Vladimir Putin shot dead a deer on a hunting trip, cut out its heart and offered it to Silvio Berlusconi, a political ally of the late Italian prime minister claims.

Mr Berlusconi, who died last year, was so shocked by the incident that he stepped behind a tree and vomited, according to the account.
South Dakotas governor Kristi Noem has confirmed her new memoir will be adjusted to remove a claim that she once met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

In No Going Back: The Truth on Whats Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, Ms Noem  who has been discussed as a potential running mate for former president Donald Trump  claimed she met Kim when she was a member of Congress.
Investing in Hyderabad: Indias Hub for IT, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

India Briefing profiles the city of Hyderabad, capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana and a leading destination for service exports, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and aerospace tech R&D.

Telanganas capital, Hyderabad, is well-known for having robust IT, pharmaceutical, life sciences, and real estate industries. Known as Cyberabad, the area has the potential to become the most significant IT hub in India over the next decade.

The city is known for its rich historical and cultural landscape, largely shaped by pre-independence rulers like the Qutub Shahis, Mughals, and Nizams. According to Indias Ministry of Tourism, in December 2023, Hyderabad accounted for 6.2 percent of Indias foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs). Hyderabad is home to renowned historical sites such as Chowmahalla Palace (a UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage site) and the Salar Jung Museum. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) attracted 200,000 tourists in Hyderabad in FY 2022-2023 with an estimated revenue of INR 260 million (US$3.11 million).

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Economic activity

Telanganas agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors altogether contribute 17.4 percent of the states GDP. Manufacturing, construction, pharmaceuticals, and other industrial activity contribute approximately 21.5 percent. Key sectors driving growth are IT, tourism, and education, which account for 61.1 percent.

The Telangana state government has also undertaken massive infrastructure development projects in an effort to compete internationally and draw investment. During the April-December 2023 period, the state attracted US$2.40 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), of which a significant portion is expected to have been directed towards Hyderabad.

Area 217 sq. kms. Population 3943323 Population density 18161 per sq. kms Literacy rate 83.23 percent Road length 119 kms

Pharmaceutical industry

Hyderabad is a key player in the pharmaceutical business, ranking first in bulk drug manufacturing in India. The city accounts for about 40 percent of the countrys bulk medicine production, earning the title of Bulk Medicine Capital of India. With over half of all vaccines produced worldwide expected to be produced in Hyderabad by 2024, the region is also regarded as the Vaccine Hub of India and is home to prominent vaccine manufacturers such as Bharat Biotech.

Leading Pharmaceutical Companies in Hyderabad Aurobindo Pharma Bharat Biotech Natco, Suven Pharma Dr. Reddys Laboratories United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Sanofi Aventis DuPont Laurus Labs Curia Global Nektar Therapeutics

With a market of US$1.6 billion and exports exceeding US$500 million, Hyderabad is an important player in the global pharmaceutical industry. Hyderabad also accounts for almost 20 percent of Indias total pharmaceutical exports. According to forecasts in the Telangana governments Life Sciences industry report, Hyderabad is on track to become a US$100 billion business generator by 2030, up from US$13 billion in 2020.

Life sciences sector

Hyderabad has become a premier life sciences hub in Asia, with over 200 companies and 20,000 sectoral professionals. As of 2024, the sector has attracted approximately 900 greenfield investment projects, totaling around US$2 billion.

Genome Valley: Indias top life sciences hub, Genome Valley is a 2,000-acre high-tech business district. The location features leading infrastructure for research, development, and manufacturing. Hosting major vaccine manufacturers and European giants like Novartis and GSK, it offers over 2.5 million sq. ft. of lab space, with ongoing expansion. Ranked #1 in India among organized clusters for life sciences R&D activities, the location makes it an attractive destination for global life sciences ventures.

Medical Device Park: In 2017, the state government established Indias largest Medical Device Park , spanning across 302 acres. It has attracted over 50 companies that have committed an investment of INR 14.24 billion (US$170 million) and created around 7,000 direct jobs.

Hyderabad Pharma City (HPC): It is the worlds largest pharmaceutical cluster, dedicated to research and manufacturing. Recognized as a National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) by the central government, it is located 25 kilometers from Shamshabad airport. Covering 19,000 acres, HPC employs over 560,000 professionals and offers a streamlined infrastructure, reducing setup times and costs. Expected to attract US$ 9.7 billion in investments, the cluster accelerates growth for life sciences companies and enhances Hyderabads global pharmaceutical prominence.

IT sector

Hyderabad is recognized as the software training capital of India, playing a pivotal role in training software professionals. The state of Telangana stands out with 31 percent of software exports, mainly centered in Hyderabad. As of 2023, Hyderabad has over 9,05,715 people working in the IT/ITES sector across 1500 companies. In the FY 2022-23, Hyderabads IT exports reached INR 2.41 trillion (US$32 billion), making it the second-largest IT exporter in India. This has led to the establishment of prominent IT parks like HITEC City and Mindspace Cyberabad. The city hosts various types of IT companies, including IT, ITES, and computer hardware manufacturers, with major players, such as Google, IBM, Microsoft, Infosys, and TCS.

To further bolster the IT sectors expansion, the state government has enacted various initiatives and policies. It has set up entities like the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) and the Telangana State Information Technology and Communications Department (T-IT&C) to encourage investments, provide infrastructural support, and streamline administrative procedures, contributing to the industrys growth and success.

Key sites

MNCs Area

HITEC City Microsoft Corporation, Meta, Google LLC and Amazon Inc. 200 acres Financial District Microsoft India Development Centre 250 acres Cyberabad Development Area Deloitte, Accenture, TCS, Infosys, and Wipro 200 square kilometers Gachibowli IT Microsoft India Development Centre, Dell Technologies 290,000 sq. ft. Raheja Mindspace IT park Hyundai Mobis, IBM, Accenture, CSC, Bank of America, Facebook and Novartis 4,000,000 sq. ft. HITEC Exhibition Centre Dubai World Trade Centre 100 acres Lakshmi Cybercity HSBC GLT, EY, Inventive and ADP 200,000 sq. ft. Cyber Pearl Sitel India Ltd., GE, Innopark, UMC, NTT Data, Tech Mahindra 5,000,000 sq. ft.

Transport infrastructure

Hyderabads transport infrastructure features a well-connected road network and efficient public transportation options. The citys roads, comprising national and state highways along with the Outer Ring Road (ORR), ensure seamless connectivity to major destinations. Under the Strategic Road Development Program (SRDP), the government focuses on enhancing road infrastructure to ease congestion, employing measures like road widening and constructing flyovers.

The Hyderabad Metro Rail, launched in 2017, stands as the largest public-private partnership (PPP) project in the metro rail sector worldwide. It serves as a crucial mode of transportation, with three operational lines spanning approximately 69 kilometers.

The Nehru Outer Ring Road is an 8-lane freeway spanning 158 kilometers that connects Hyderabads main industrial clusters to the citys international airport and residential areas. The project, which commenced in 2022, has improved connectivity between the airport, the city, and the suburbs in the city.

The largest public-private metro rail project in the world, the Hyderabad Metro Rail Network, spans three corridors and is around 72 kilometers in total length. As of January 2024, the state government has finalised and approved the new routes for the proposed Phase II expansion of HMRL to cover a distance of 70 km.

In terms of air connectivity, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) serves as the citys primary gateway, located about 24 kilometers from the center. Around 61,058 MT of freight passed through Hyderabad airport in FY 23, according to data from the Airports Authority of India.

Rail connectivity is also robust, with Secunderabad Railway Station and Hyderabad Deccan Railway Station (Nampally Railway Station) serving as major hubs. These stations connect Hyderabad to various cities and towns across India, facilitating both passenger and freight services.

Overall, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) oversee the infrastructure of the city.

Real estate

According to a 2022 Knight Franks Wealth report, 467 ultra-high-net-worth persons reside in Hyderabad. With a 21 percent share and an absorption of 4.03 million square feet, the city also placed second in terms of net office absorption in 2023. More than 8.2 million square feet of new office space have been added to the site as of 2023; this is 34 percent of all new office space created in Indias seven major marketplaces.

FDI opportunities in Hyderabad

Hyderabad has emerged as a leading investment destination, attracting a cumulative US$21 billion in FDI since 2014. In 2022 alone, the state of Telangana secured 160 greenfield FDI projects, with Hyderabad accounting for 91.8 percent of the total FDI received.

Amazon Web Services (Asia Pacific Region-Hyderabad) made an announcement in 2023 committing to boost its investment from INR 200.96 billion (US$2.4 billion) in 2020 to INR 363 billion (US$4.34 billion) by 2030, making it one of the largest FDI sources in Telangana.

Proactive investment promotion tactics employed by the city have resulted in significant investments, particularly in critical industries, such as biotechnology, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Earlier in 2024, it was reported that the state of Telangana had secured over INR 365 billion (US$4.37 billion) in investments from both domestic and foreign parties at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. Businesses including Iron Mountain and Web Werks signed a memorandum of understanding to invest INR 52 billion (US$622 million) in building data centers, with INR 12 billion (US$ 143 million) going toward a 10MW data center project in Hyderabad with extensive networking.

Hyderabad has received substantial funding from major corporations, further strengthening its position as an investment hotspot. For instance, Microsoft announced a staggering US$1.93 billion investment over the next 15 years to build the Indias largest data center. Similarly, US-based manufacturer Biliti Electric pledged US$150 million to establish the worlds largest electric three-wheeler plant in Hyderabad, a move expected to create 3,000 new jobs. Additionally, the large Swiss pharmaceutical company Ferring Pharmaceuticals invested approximately US$31.3 million to open a state-of-the-art production plant in Hyderabads Genome Valley.

Hyderabad is well-positioned to maintain its standing as a major participant in the global economy, drawing more interest from foreign investors and enhancing its reputation as a top location for corporate expansion and growth.

Ease of doing business

In the latest edition of the countrys Ease of Doing Business rankings (2020), the state of Telangana was included in the Top Achievers category. Moreover, in the Export Preparedness Index 2021, Telangana scored a perfect 100 in the Business Environment indicator.

Hyderabad is the city with the highest ranking for ease of doing business, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the industry group Retailers Association of India (RAI), Kumar Rajagopalan, in 2022. Growing per capita income is positive for the retail industry.

Telanganas proactive approach to industrial development is evident through initiatives like the Telangana State Industrial Project Approval and Self-certification System (TS-iPASS) Act. This Act ensures speedy clearances for mega projects within 15 days, the shortest timeframe in the country. In FY 23, TS-iPASS sanctioned 2518 units, attracting new investments totaling INR 202.37 billion (US$2.42 billion). Telangana is the only state in India to introduce the Right to Clearance, guaranteeing industrialists swift access to necessary clearances.

Conclusion

Hyderabad has emerged as a key player in the global pharmaceutical sector, with ongoing investments and infrastructure developments positioning it as a potential global hub. The citys IT sector is similarly robust, contributing significantly to Indias software exports, aided by infrastructure projects like HITEC City and Mindspace Cyberabad, which attract leading technology companies and MNCs. Strong transport infrastructure, including road networks, the Hyderabad Metro Rail, and an international airport, ensures seamless connectivity with the rest of the country and global markets. Proactive investment promotion strategies, a conducive business environment, and growing affluent population make Hyderabad a top investment destination in India.
Photo courtesy: Facebook/Mamata Banerjee

New Delhi/Kolkata/IBNS: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has requested the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to provide the voter turnout report for phase 1 and 2 in the Lok Sabha elections, media reports said.

The ruling party of West Bengal has also requested the CEC to provide a clarification over the delay in publishing the report.

In its letter to CEC, the party claimed the report provided by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on April 30 had neither the information about the total number of eligible electors and the actual number of votes cast.

The TMC, which is led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleged the percentage of voting in the first phase reported by the ECI on April 30 was 66.14%, which is higher than what was reported on the polling day (April 19), i.e. 60 percent.

Reacting to the Opposition's allegations, the poll body said as quoted by Hindustan Times, "disclosure and transparency are standard practices in the ECs work and booth-wise data of actual number of votes polled is available with the candidates soon after the voting ends."

Raising concerns, Mamata Banerjee said, "I request all the opposition parties to take care of the EVM machines and please take care of your counting centres."
MBABANE  Some University of Eswatini (UNESWA) students did not get their results because they fell victim to an elaborate syndicate that cheated them of their tuition money.

Some employees, who operate as a syndicate, are alleged to have made the students pay, but kept the money for themselves. This led to some confused students blaming the institution for withholding their results. It was alleged that the culprits were able to facilitate the registration of owing students, much against the university rules. Some of the university officers are believed to have entered into illegal agreements with the owing students, and made them pay varying amounts duping them to believe they were clearing their debts for outstanding fees.

Fraudulent

It was alleged that the institution lost millions of Emalangeni through the fraudulent activities, over the years. An investigation carried out by the institution regarding the allegations has allegedly exposed the escapades of the syndicate. As a result of the thriving fraud, some students cannot access their results because they reflect as owing tuition fees. They were informed to settle their outstanding fees first.

According to sources, students are made to pay half of the outstanding fees directly to the perpetrators, instead of the universitys bank account. Regardless of the amount owed, it was said members of the syndicate demanded half of the owed amount ,in exchange for being cleared. It is not clear how these students, together with the syndicate, committed the corruption.

Sources said the enabler of the fraud was a specialist in information technology (IT) who found it easy to navigate the varsity system. A source told this publication that some of the students failed to raise 20 per cent as upfront payment, in order to register for the new semester and thus were forced to fall for the scheme. According to the source, some students with outstanding fees amounting to E15 000 were purportedly asked by members of the syndicate to pay at least E7 500 directly to the syndicate and not the university account.

Fees

He further said about three weeks ago, a certain student who was failing to register for the new semester, because she owed E1 800, ended up getting assistance from the syndicate. The source further said another student was asked by the syndicate to pay only E800, instead of the E1 800 owed to the university, in order to register for the current semester.He said soon after the student made the payment, she was able to login to the university portal and register for the new semester. Not only that, some graduates, with the help of the syndicate, got their qualifications after their outstanding fees had been cleared.

One of the graduates who benefited from the syndicate said he only paid E1 000 to get the certificate after failing to raise a sum of E11 000. The university is in a serious financial crisis because certain individuals are stealing the money that was intended to run the institution. A serious investigation needs to be carried out within the university to apprehend such culprits, said the source. Shockingly, the syndicate is able to clear the debt, even if the registration process has been closed, said the source.

Meanwhile, UNESWA Student Representative Council (SRC) President Bongmenzi Dlamini informed this publication that some affected students approached the SRC during the registration period, reporting the difficulties in getting registered. He said the students found themselves owing a huge amount in tuition fees. He said this was despite the fact that the syndicate had taken a certain amount of money from the students, with the aim of clearing the debt on their behalf.

Owing

Let me say someone was owing E14 000, then university staff demanded only E8 000 to clear off the debt.These people were not telling the students that they only cleared them for that semester, said Dlamini. The SRC president said some of the affected students reported their issues directly to the electoral officer (EO). He further stated that the students also reported their issues to the Dean of Students Affairs (DSA). According to him, some of students had been attending lectures, writing tests and assignment for nothing, simply because they had not been registered for that particular semester.

Some of the students had their results floating, because they are not registered. This then forced some of the students to repeat all the courses, he said. The SRC president said he also reported the suspicions to the DSAs Office, who promised to probe the matter.

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Photo Courtesy: Maldives President website

The Maldives government on Monday said 51 Indian soldiers have been repatriated as the deadline set by the Island Nation to New Delhi to remove its army men is scheduled to end on Friday.

The Chief Spokesperson of the President's Office Heena Waleed, in response to media questions regarding the issue, said a total of 51 Indian soldiers have been repatriated so far, Maldives' Sun news portal reported.

She did not reveal the exact number of Indian soldiers currently stationed in Maldives.

Diplomatic tensions reached a flashpoint in recent times between the two countries over remarks made by some Maldives ministers against Indian PM Narendra Modi's visit to Lakshadweep, to promote the Indian Union Territory having the potential to compete with tourism major Maldives.

Last month, pro-China Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu's Peoples National Congress (PNC) took control of the Parliament by winning the election clinching over 60 of the total 93 seats, highlighting the Island Nation's further tilt towards India's hostile rival China.

The Maldives, which comprises some 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered across 800 kilometres (500 miles) on the equator, is considered as one of the top beach destinations in the world.

Apart from its scenic beauty, the country is known for its luxury hotels and water villas.

The pro-China Maldivian President faced massive domestic criticism for his anti-India stance as the main opposition parties of the country, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the Democrats, slammed Muizzu for distancing from India, the island nation's "most long-standing ally " and source of tourists.

Besides expressing concern over the new foreign policy of Muizzu-led government in Maldives, the opposition parties took to the street in January in protest.

After Muizzu set a March 15 deadline for Indian military personnel to withdraw from the islands, India has begun pulling out.

Muizzu has spelt out that no Indian military personnel, not even those in civilian clothing, would be allowed inside his country after May 10. Muizzu asked India to withdraw 90-odd military personnel from the Maldives.

India has agreed to replace the military personnel with civilians and to continue the operations of two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft provided to the country for humanitarian and medical evacuation services, media reports said.

Indian military personnel were sent to the Maldives at various times for training Maldivian troops, in both combat and reconnaissance and rescue-aid operations.

Muizzu alleged that his predecessor had compromised on national sovereignty by allowing Indian troops in the Maldivian islands.

However, the pro-China Maldives President has recently struck a reconciliatory tone and said India will continue to remain his country's closest ally as he had to urge New Delhi to provide debt relief to the country.
Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday put a stay on Calcutta High Courts order, which cancelled the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in West Bengal's government-run and government-aided schools, media reports said.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra gave relief to thousands of teachers whose jobs were in jeopardy following the order given by the High Court on April 22.

However, the apex court bench added that if the allegations against nearly 8,000 teachers investigated by CBI is proved, the order of the high court will apply to the affected staff and they will have to refund their salaries along with an annualised interest of 12 percent, reported India Today.

Calling the recruitment procedure a "systemic fraud", the Supreme Court said it would be unwise to set aside the appointments in their entirety, reported India Today.

"The public job is so scarce.... Nothing remains if the faith of the public goes. This is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are looked at for social mobility. What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith, how do you countenance this?" the CJI asked the lawyers representing the state government, reported the Hindustan Times.

The apex court, however, allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to continue its probe into the alleged scam.

The court issued the order while hearing petitions challenging the Calcutta High Court's order cancelling the jobs of over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching employees in West Bengals government-aided and government-owned school.

The West Bengal government had moved the Supreme Court, challenging the Calcutta High Courts order, stating it cancelled the appointments "arbitrarily".

In its direction, the court said there was a need to segregate valid and invalid recruitment and asked the West Bengal government to decide the modalities.

The bench called for an expedited hearing in the case and listed the matter for hearing on July 16, reported India Today.

After the Supreme Court ruling, Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee said truth had finally won.

"The honourable Supreme Court has defused the BJP's 'explosive' hurled last week to malign Bengal's image and destabilise the government. We will continue to defy all odds and stand shoulder to shoulder with the people until our last breath," he tweeted.
Photo Courtesy: PIB

New Delhi: The third phase of polling took place on Tuesday amid peaceful conditions, concluding with a voter turnout of 61.08 percent.

Among the 11 states, exercising their franchise in this phase, Assam, Goa, and West Bengal, saw the highest voter turnout percentages, reaching 75.01%, 74.22%, and 73.93% respectively.

Voters proudly showcasing their inked finger after casting their vote in early morning at Mango theme based model polling station at 51 - English Bazar AC of Malda district, West Bengal.#ChunavKaParv #DeskKaGarv #Election2024 #IVote4Sure@ECISVEEP@SpokespersonECI pic.twitter.com/SZAdj748lw  CEO West Bengal (@CEOWestBengal) May 7, 2024

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged instances of booth capturing by BJP workers in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency.

He further accused them of detaining opposition party members in police stations.

Yadav, who cast his vote in Saifai (Etawah) for the Mainpuri constituency where his wife, Dimple Yadav, is contesting, reported incidents of vote tampering in certain areas.

Voters showing indelible ink mark after casting their votes at a polling booth during the 3rd Phase of General Elections-2024 at Guwahati, in Assam. (Image credit: PIB)

In today's voting, 93 constituencies across 11 states and union territories  Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadar&Nagar Haveli and Daman&Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal  participateed in the third phase of the world's largest elections.

Voters displaying identity cards as they queue up to cast votes at polling booth during the 3rd Phase of General Elections-2024 at Maharashtra's Sangli. (Image courtesy: PIB)

In Gujarat's Surat, BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal has already secured victory uncontested after all other nominations were either rejected or withdrawn.

The stakes are notably high for the ruling BJP, which clinched a significant majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Photo courtesy: IBNS File

New Delhi/IBNS: The Election Commission has ordered microblogging website X to remove an objectionable post by the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which the party did not remove even after orders from the state chief electoral officer to do so earlier.

A first information report (FIR) has been filed over the objectionable post.

"An FIR has already been registered in the matter... However, the post has not been taken down yet," the Election Commission (EC) said in a statement.

The Congress had registered a complaint to the EC against Karnataka BJP chief BY Vijayendra for posting "derogatory" content having the potential to lead to law and order issues.

The video took a swipe at Congress alleging the Opposition party favours Muslims over backward classes in reservation and fund allocation.

The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee approached the police and EC alleging a violation of the model code of conduct in the video.

In its complaint to the EC, Congress alleged that the BJP wants to "provoke rioting and promote enmity".

The Bengaluru police took cognizance of the petition and filed a case against BJP national president JP Nadda, information technology cell head Amit Malviya, and state president BY Vijayendra.

Voting in the second and last phase of the Lok Sabha elections for 14 seats in Karnataka, which sends 28 MPs to parliament, was held earlier in the day. The rest of the 14 seats voted on April 26. Counting of all phases will be held on June 4.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP almost swept the state by winning 25 out of 28 seats. The Congress and Janata Dal (Secular), who were in coalition in the state government then, won only one seat each.
In images Narendra Modi (X/BJP4India) & Sonia Gandhi (X/INCIndia)

New Delhi/IBNS: Accusing opposition leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of practicing appeasement politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said that the Congress matriarch shed tears for terrorists who were killed in the Batla House encounter of 2008.

The PM's attack referred to a statement by Congress leader Salman Khurshid from 2012 that Sonia Gandhi, who was at the helm of the party at the time, had "wept bitterly" when she was shown images of the Batla House encounter.

PM Modi's statements came on a day when voting was completed in more than half of the Lok Sabha seats and hours after Sonia Gandhi accused him as well as the BJP of promoting hatred for political gain.

The PM also took a dig at a claim by Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar that one of the heroes of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, former Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, was not by killed Ajmal Kasab - the lone terrorist was caught alive - but a policeman affiliated to the RSS.

Addressing a rally in Maharashtra's Beed on Tuesday, Modi said the Maharashtra Congress is giving a clean chit to terrorists involved in the attacks.

"It seems the Congress is supporting all 10 terrorists, including Kasab, who came from Pakistan. The nation wants to ask what the relationship between Congress and terrorists is called. The country has not forgotten when terrorists were welcomed into the Prime Minister's residence during the Congress' rule," he said.

Without taking Sonia's name, he said, "The country also saw the day when the party's biggest leader wept for terrorists killed during the Batla House encounter in Delhi. The INDI alliance, which wants to bring such days back to the country, should remember that Modi is standing in front of you like a rock."

PM Modi claimed the INDIA alliance plans to put "mission cancel" in motion if it comes to power and will bring back Article 370, roll back the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Triple Talaq law and even stop the distribution of free ration to the poor.

The Prime Minister said in order to continue appeasement politics, the chief opposition party had another big agenda was the "cancellation of" the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"A veteran Congress leader, who was with the party for 20-25 years and joined the BJP recently, has made a shocking revelation. He said that when the court had ruled in favour of the construction of the Ram temple (in 2019), the 'shahzada' (Rahul Gandhi) organised a meeting of his key people, where he said that the Congress would overturn the Supreme Court order when it forms the government," he claimed.

He said Rahul Gandhi's father, Rajiv Gandhi, had also overturned the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case in 1985 in keeping with the appeasement politics followed by the Congress.

Earlier in the day, Sonia Gandhi issued a video message in which she said that the BJP's only goal was to gain power at any cost and that it has promoted hatred for political gain.

"In every part of the country, the youth are facing unemployment, women are enduring atrocities, and Dalit, adivasis and the backward castes are suffering intense discrimination. This environment is because of the intentions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, who want to win power at any cost. They are promoting hatred for political gain," she said.

"The Congress Party and I have always fought to strengthen the country and ensure the progress of all as well as justice for the deprived. Today, I am seeking your support once again. Our Nyay Patra (manifesto) and our guarantees are aimed at keeping the country united and giving strength to the poor, women, farmers, workers and deprived communities," she said.
Israel and Palestine are engaged in a conflict since late 2023. Photo Courtesy: UNRWA

Hamas has said it has informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that it has accepted the proposal for the implementation of a new Gaza ceasefire.

Hamas said a hostage release deal has also been reached.

"The ball is now in Israel's court," an official in the Palestinian group told BBC.

However, Israel said the terms that Hamas claimed to have accepted did not match with it.

Israel, earlier, carried out airstrikes on Rafah.

Tens of thousands of residents are believed to be affected by the operation and many were seen cramming into vehicles or onto donkey carts on Monday, reported BBC.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has welcomed the efforts by Egypt and Qatar to mediate a ceasefire agreement for the Gaza Strip.

In a statement published by the Palestinian news agency (WAFA) as quoted by Xinhua, Abbas expressed hope for Israel's commitment to "ceasefire and complete withdrawal from the Strip".

The conflict began last year after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, leaving 1,200 people dead and taking away 250 people as hostages.

The Israeli military began its Gaza campaign after the attack.

Following the deal in November, Hamas released 105 hostages during the week-long ceasefire.

During the period, 240 Palestinian prisoners were also released from Israeli prisons.

Israel said 128 hostages remain unaccounted for in Gaza, at least 34 of whom are presumed dead, reports BBC.

Children on edge of survival

Echoing that alert, the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) warned that a military besiegement and ground incursion in Rafah would pose catastrophic risks to the 600,000 children sheltering there.

Many are highly vulnerable and at the edge of survival, the UN agency said in a statement, highlighting increased violence in Rafah and the fact that potential evacuation corridors were likely mined or littered with unexploded ordnance.

Any military move on Rafah will likely result in very high civilian casualties while also destroying the few remaining basic services and infrastructure that people need to survive, UNICEF insisted.

Hundreds of thousands of children who are now cramped into Rafah are injured, sick, malnourished, traumatised or living with disabilities, said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. Many have been displaced multiple times and have lost homes, parents and loved ones. They need to be protected along with the remaining services that they rely on, including medical facilities and shelter.
Photo Courtesy: IDF X page

Israel on Tuesday said its troops captured the Palestinian side of the Rafah Crossing on the Egypt border, a crucial gateway between Egypt and Gaza for humanitarian aid.

The Israeli Defense Forces posted on X: " A precise counterterrorism operation to eliminate Hamas terrorists and infrastructure within specific areas of eastern Rafah began overnight, based on intelligence."

A precise counterterrorism operation to eliminate Hamas terrorists and infrastructure within specific areas of eastern Rafah began overnight, based on intelligence. pic.twitter.com/L2uVEdCVv9  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 7, 2024

" Residents in the area of eastern Rafah were encouraged to temporarily evacuate to the expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi prior to the operation. The IDF has facilitated the expansion of field hospitals, tents, and an increase in water, food and medical supplies in the area," IDF said.

"IDF troops managed to establish operational control of the Gazan side of the crossing following intelligence that the Rafah Crossing in eastern Rafah was being used for terrorist purposes. This is after mortars were fired from the area of the Rafah Crossing toward the area of the Kerem Shalom Crossing which killed 4 IDF soldiers and injured several others," the post further said.

An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that it was a limited operation aimed at pressuring Hamas to accept a deal.

Hamas accepts new Gaza ceasefire proposal

Hamas has said it has informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that it has accepted the proposal for the implementation of a new Gaza ceasefire.

Hamas said a hostage release deal has also been reached.

"The ball is now in Israel's court," an official in the Palestinian group told BBC.

However, Israel said the terms that Hamas claimed to have accepted did not match with it.

Israel, earlier, carried out airstrikes on Rafah.

Tens of thousands of residents are believed to be affected by the operation and many were seen cramming into vehicles or onto donkey carts on Monday, reported BBC.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has welcomed the efforts by Egypt and Qatar to mediate a ceasefire agreement for the Gaza Strip.

In a statement published by the Palestinian news agency (WAFA) as quoted by Xinhua, Abbas expressed hope for Israel's commitment to "ceasefire and complete withdrawal from the Strip".

The conflict began last year after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, leaving 1,200 people dead and taking away 250 people as hostages.

The Israeli military began its Gaza campaign after the attack.

Following the deal in November, Hamas released 105 hostages during the week-long ceasefire.

During the period, 240 Palestinian prisoners were also released from Israeli prisons.

Israel said 128 hostages remain unaccounted for in Gaza, at least 34 of whom are presumed dead, reports BBC.

Amid ongoing uncertainty about a ceasefire in Gaza and an escalation of the military operation in Rafah, UN aid agencies expressed deep concerns on Tuesday that the two main access points into the enclave remained closed, while families are scared and hanging on psychologically and physically by a thread.

In its latest warning to the Israeli authorities not to pursue mass evacuation orders from eastern Rafah, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, insisted that a mass evacuation on such a scale would be impossible to carry out safely.

There are nine sites sheltering displaced people in the area. It is also home to three clinics and six warehouses, OCHA said in its latest update on the emergency, which noted that more than three quarters of the Gaza Strip is under evacuation orders.

Any escalation of hostilities resulting from a full-scale incursion into Rafah will push residents and displaced people currently living there past their breaking point.

The warning relating to Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings followed an urgent appeal from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres late Monday to both sides to go the extra mile and make an agreement to end seven months of devastating conflict, his spokesperson said in a statement.
Photo Courtesy: Unsplash

At least 10 people were killed or injured in a knife attack in a hospital in China's Yunnan Province on Tuesday.

The attack took place at around 11:37 a.m. on Tuesday when a man assaulted people with a knife at a local hospital in the county, according to the county's public security bureau, reported Xinhua news agency.

The injured people are undergoing treatment in the hospital.

Police have launched an investigation into the incident.

The identity of the suspect has not been revealed by the police so far.
Photo Courtesy: Unsplash

Baloch Voice Association (BVA) president Munier Mengal has expressed concern over the growing intervention of Chinese authorities in Balochistan.

Mengal made the comment during his meeting with French Senator Herve Reynaud.

During the meeting, both dignitaries discussed a comprehensive dossier highlighting the deep concerns of the Baloch people regarding Chinese involvement and projects in Balochistan, reported ANI news agency.

The meeting between the Baloch leader and French politician was held amid Chinese president Xi Jinping's official visit to Europe.

Balochistan, currently under occupation by Pakistan, has faced challenges stemming from the implementation of various projects and agreements that adversely affect the Baloch people and their rights, Mengal was quoted as saying by ANI.

Mengal further in his statement stated that greater scrutiny and accountability is needed in ventures related to Chinese involvement in Balochistan.

He said there is an urgent need for international attention on the plight of Baloch people.

During the meeting, Reynaud acknowledged the gravity of the concerns raised by the Baloch activist and assured him of his commitment to advocate for a deeper examination of these issues within the French legislative framework.
Photo Courtesy: Unsplash

At least two people died and 21 others were injured in a knife attack in a hospital in China's Yunnan Province, media reports said on Tuesday.

The attack took place at around 11:37 a.m. on Tuesday when a man assaulted people with a knife at a local hospital in the county, according to the county's public security bureau as quoted by Xinhua news agency.

An investigation into the incident is currently going on.

Details about the attacker have not been revealed so far.

It is still not clear whether the attacker has been arrested.

Earlier media reports claimed 10 people were injured or killed in the attack.

Owning a private gun is illegal in China.

The country has witnessed several mass stabbing incidents in recent times.

A knife attack outside a kindergarten school in southern Chinas Guangdong region last year left at least six people dead and one injured.
MBABANE  The Office of the Prevention of People Trafficking and People Smuggling has warned members of the public to be on the lookout for a syndicate harvesting human body parts and trafficking of same.

This warning follows revelations by some victims who said they survived the trap by a certain woman who had lured them after running an advert in this publication, purporting to be looking for a helper. Interested persons were told to contact 7639428#. A post was also run on the social media pages attracting attention from desperate job seekers.

Head of Secretariat- Prevention of People Trafficking and People Smuggling at the Prime Ministers Office Nompumelelo Lukhele, urged the nation to carefully study details on adverts and social media posts regarding job opportunities. Lukhele said the location was important to get an idea of who the people offering the jobs were and where they came from. In the process, Lukhele said the job seekers should get clear particulars of the advertisers.

Location

According to Lukhele, it was difficult for the job seekers to know who the people were, hence it was safer to avoid going to the location sent by those offering the jobs alone. She said the companion should wait until the interview was over in either the office or home, where it was taking place, in the case where helpers were being sought. The head of secretariat added that in the event the job seeker had suspicions about the offer not being authentic, they should go with their instinct and not show up.

Trust your instinct and whenever given a certain route, which is later changed, never hesitate to go back and not honour that appointment, said Lukhele. She said the job seekers should also inform the police after realising that they have been duped, in order to save the next person who might fall victim. Lukhele said in the case of foreign job opportunities, the ministries of Labour and Social Security and Foreign Affairs were also there to assist. Lukhele said usually in such cases, it could be closely linked with body parts harvesting or trafficking related to body organs. Narrating how they almost fell for the trap, the job seekers said following a social media post, which was sent by friends, they were tempted to call the numbers posted for job seekers.

Offline

They stated that the number was first offline and they kept trying until a womans voice responded and seemed to be an old person. This was after the number seemed to be busy and shortly thereafter, the woman called with a different number and requested that they make a call back to her. We related our story that we had seen a post on social media and were interested in the offer. They said the woman said they were not the first callers, but she was noting them down. According to the survivors, the woman posed questions including whether they had worked before, their names and surnames and who they lived with.

They said they were told by the woman that they had found the ideal person for the post. However, they said the woman said the job was available as the person who they had initially offered the jobs to had challenges. Furthermore, they said the woman stated that they should report for the interview, which would be in Siteki and should board a specific bus and drop at Lonhlupheko. They said they were given orders not to sit next to anyone and place a bag on the seat next to her. A message sent by the woman to the job seekers was also sent, where they were insisting that no one should sit next to them or reveal their cell number and details.
Photo Courtesy: Emmanuel Macron Instagram page

Campaigners for Tibet and Xinjiang recently demonstrated in Paris to voice their concern over human rights violations in these regions.

They demonstrated in Paris at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting France.

During his visit to France, Xi Jinping told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron that their nations should uphold independence and jointly prevent a "new Cold War" or bloc confrontation.

The two sides should stay committed to the spirit that guided the establishment of their diplomatic ties, namely, independence, mutual understanding, long-term vision and mutual benefit, and enrich it with new features of the new era, Xi was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

China is willing to deepen cooperation with France in climate change, biodiversity and other fields, support France in hosting a successful UN Ocean Conference, and encourage the pairing of relevant national parks and nature reserves of the two countries, Xi said.

Xis visit on May 6-7, 2024 is marking the 60 years of diplomatic relations between France and the Peoples Republic of China

Human Rights Watch reacts to Xi's visit to France

French President Emmanuel Macron should lay out consequences for the Chinese governments crimes against humanity and deepening repression during Chinese President Xi Jinpings visit to Paris, Human Rights Watch said on May 3.

President Macron should make it clear to Xi Jinping that Beijings crimes against humanity come with consequences for Chinas relations with France, said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch. Frances silence and inaction on human rights would only embolden the Chinese governments sense of impunity for its abuses, further fueling repression at home and abroad.
Videograb of Pro-Palestinian protests at NYC's Central Park/ courtesy: X

New York/IBNS: Anti-Israel protesters Monday vandalized a World War I memorial in New York's Central Park and burned an American flag after a mob of more than 1,000 marchers was stopped by cops from reaching the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is hosting the star-studded Met Gala event.

At least one America-hating vandal torched Old Glory at the site of the 107th Infantry Memorial, the base of which was defaced with graffiti reading 'Gaza' in large black letters, according to the New York Post.

The protesters also plastered the statues bronze soldiers with stickers of the Palestinian flag that read 'Stop the Genocide. End the apartheid. Free Palestine.'

Some of them even climbed atop the infantrymen and waved Palestinian flags or draped them over the figures.

The protests even rocked the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 67th with no cops in sight as large police enforcement was handling the situation about 15 blocks north at the Met to ensure one of the biggest nights in fashion wasnt crashed by any anti-Israel protesters.

Another Central Park monument, the Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman bronze statue in Grand Army Plaza, was also vandalized Monday night.

'Free Gaza' was graffitied in red letters on the base of the memorial and a Palestinian flag was affixed to its front.

#BREAKING MASS ARRESTS outside #MetGala during Pro-palestine protest 'DAY OF RAGE' as they marched from Hunter College for Rafah



Video by @yyeeaahhhboiii2Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/neJQcf8TnY  Oliya Scootercaster  (@ScooterCasterNY) May 6, 2024

Earlier in the evening, about two dozen anti-Israel protesters were arrested near Madison Ave and East 83rd Street as a sea of demonstrators marched from Hunter College toward the Met, according to reports.

The crowd, part of a 'Day of Rage' protest organized by the Palestinian activist group Within Our Lifetime, had trekked north on Fifth Avenue, blocking traffic along the way, before cops stopped them at the East 79th Street Transverse in Central Park.

'Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest,' the group chanted as they waved Palestinian flags and wore keffiyeh face coverings.

Earlier several US universities have been witnessing pro-Palestinian protests and hundreds of arrestes over the same.
Met Gala 2024: While Indian celebrities like Alia Bhatt and Sudha Reddy left a lasting impression at the Met Gala 2024, fans have noticed the absence of some of their favorite actresses on the red carpet. Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, known for their iconic Met Gala looks in previous years, opted out of this year's event. Their absence disappointed fans, who are curious about the reasons behind their decision not to attend this year's Fashions Biggest Night.

Why Didnt Deepika Padukone Attend Met Gala 2024?

Recent announcements from Deepika Padukone reveal that she and Ranveer Singh are anticipating their first child together. Speculation suggests that her absence from the event may not only be due to her pregnancy but also her commitments to filming "Singham Again." According to reports from News18, she has allocated her schedule to the film's production, prioritizing her work commitments.



X

Why Didnt Priyanka Chopra Attend Met Gala 2024?

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are familiar faces on the Met Gala red carpet. They debuted as a duo in 2017, before confirming their relationship, both dressed in Ralph Lauren.



Also read: Met Gala 2024: Indian Billionaire Sudha Reddy Wore More Than 200-Carats Of Diamonds To Red Carpet

Back in 2019, Chopra wowed in a whimsical silver Dior gown, complete with a cape and vibrant feather embellishments, paired with an extravagant crown headpiece.



During an interview with Access Hollywood, Priyanka, who is promoting the new documentary Tiger, was asked about this year's Met Gala and who she is looking forward to seeing in particular.



Also read: Met Gala 2024: Fans Upset As Rihanna Skips Event, Here's Why She Did Not Attend Fashion's Biggest Night

I don't even know who's going this year. Im definitely not attending this year because Im filming, but I think I really do enjoy watching people's creativity during the Met Gala and I am really excited to see how it will turn out. I actually have not read anything about who all is going this year.



For the unversed, Alia Bhatt representing India at the Met Gala 2024 wearing a Sabyasachi saree.

For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.


Sudha Reddy, a philanthropist and business leader from India, made an appearance at this year's Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute Benefit, widely known as the Met Gala. She wore a collection of jewellery that included more than 200 carats of diamonds at the event, famous for its showcase of celebrities and bold fashion. Reports noted that Sudha, who directs Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited and is known for her charitable work, was dressed in a stunning white gown.

Sudha Reddy Wore More Than 200-Carats Of Diamonds To Met Gala

Sudha Reddy Wore More Than 200-Carats Of Diamonds/Pagesix.com

Her look was highlighted by the "Amore Eterno" necklace, featuring a remarkable 180 carats, a 25-carat heart-shaped diamond at the centre, and three additional 20-carat heart-shaped diamonds. She also wore two impressive diamond solitaire rings, one at 23 carats and another at 20 carats, together worth about $20 million.

Screenshots From Sudha's Instagram Stories

This year was Sudha Reddys second time attending the gala, emphasising her continuous support for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's efforts to promote and maintain the arts. Her commitment goes beyond the glitz of the Met Gala; she actively supports various causes through partnerships with organisations like UNICEF and the Global Gift Foundation, and she focuses on health and hunger relief.

Also Read: Met Gala 2024: From Doja Cat's Towel Arrival To Cardi B Halting Red Carpet, This Years Viral Moments

At a special cocktail party thrown by The Mets Andrew Bolton, Sudha was one of the honoured guests recognised for their contributions. This moment underscored her dedication to both high fashion and impactful philanthropy.

Her passionate and lavish approach to fashion at such events as the Met Gala mirrors her broader values. In a previous interview with Hello! India, she expressed her love for over-the-top and high-end couture, highlighting the significant role of jewellery in many South Indian households.

Sudha Reddy's presence at the 2024 Met Gala not only showcased her flair for exquisite fashion but also her significant philanthropic efforts, making her a prominent figure in both the worlds of fashion and global charity.

For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.


Akshaya Tritiya 2024: Akshaya Tritiya, also called 'Akti' or 'Akha Teej,' is a special Hindu and Jain festival. Akshaya Tritiya is seen as an auspicious time for fresh starts and endeavours. It's common for people to launch new ventures, plan weddings, or make investments in gold, property, and other valuable items. The belief is that starting something new on this day brings lasting success and prosperity. It falls on the third day of the bright half of the month of Vaishakha, according to the lunar calendar. People believe this day is very lucky because the sun and moon are in important positions in the sky.



When is Akshaya Tritiya in 2024?

Hindus think of Akshaya Tritiya as an auspicious day because they believe Lord Parasurama was born then. He's seen as the sixth form of Lord Vishnu. Hinduism has lots of festivals, but Akshaya Tritiya is one of the most important. This year, the auspicious day will celebrated on Friday, May 10.

For Hindus, it's also about celebrating when Lord Ganesha started writing the Mahabharata. According to legend, he took three years to complete. Jains see it as the birthday of Rishabhadeva, the first spiritual leader. They think doing good things on this day brings lasting happiness and success.

Buying gold, starting new projects, or giving to charity are seen as good things to do on Akshaya Tritiya. People worship Lord Vishnu, who protects the universe, and goddess Lakshmi, who brings wealth and luck.

Here are the important timings for Akshaya Tritiya 2024:

Puja Muhurat: The auspicious time for performing Akshaya Tritiya Puja is from 05:33 AM to 12:18 PM on May 10, 2024.

The auspicious time for performing Akshaya Tritiya Puja is from 05:33 AM to 12:18 PM on May 10, 2024. Tritiya Tithi Duration: The Tritiya Tithi starts at 04:17 AM on May 10 and ends at 02:50 AM on May 11.

The Tritiya Tithi starts at 04:17 AM on May 10 and ends at 02:50 AM on May 11. Gold Purchasing Window: The best time for buying gold starts at 04:17 AM on May 9 and lasts until the end of Tritiya Tithi on May 11.

History & Significance

Akshaya Tritiya is a day associated with Lord Vishnu, the preserver in Hinduism. According to Hindu mythology, it marks the beginning of Treta Yuga, the second age. It's also celebrated as the birth anniversary of Lord Parshuram, Vishnu's sixth incarnation. Parshuram, meaning "Rama with an axe," came to earth to protect it from the cruelty of the Kshatriyas. This day is known as Parshuram Jayanti in many parts of India.

Legend has it that Sage Vyasa started narrating the Mahabharata to Lord Ganesha on Akshaya Tritiya. Some also believe that the Ganges River descended to earth on this day.

Another story involves Sudama, a friend of Lord Krishna, who visited him in Dwarka on this day. Though Sudama didn't ask for help, he brought a small bag of rice as a gift. In return, Krishna blessed him with endless prosperity. There are also tales from the Mahabharata where the Pandavas received the Akshaya Patra and Kubera was appointed as the custodian of wealth.

In Jainism, the day marks the completion of the first Tirthankara's year-long austerity. It's celebrated by drinking sugarcane juice and observing fasts.

Akshaya Tritiya is believed to bring good luck and success. Additionally, people purchase gold on Akshaya Tritiya because they believe it symbolises continuous growth and prosperity, never diminishing.

Akshaya Tritiya celebration

On Akshaya Tritiya, people engage in various activities to seek blessings and ensure prosperity. They offer prayers to God and extend help to the less fortunate by donating food, clothes, and money. Besides, many choose to invest in gold and other valuable items like property, vehicles, books, electronics, jewelry, and agricultural equipment. It's considered an auspicious time for new beginnings and investments, symbolising growth and abundance.

Here's the Akshaya Tritiya Vrat and Puja Vidhi shared by Gurudev Shrie Kashyap:

Those fasting for the day should wear yellow clothing early in the morning.

At home, bathe the idol of Vishnu with Gangajal and offer Tulsi leaves, a garland of yellow flowers, or just yellow flowers.

Light a ghee lamp and incense, and sit on a yellow seat.

Recite texts related to Vishnu, such as Vishnu Sahasranama and Vishnu Chalisa.

Conclude with singing Vishnu Ji's Aarti.

Additionally, providing food or donations to the less fortunate will yield excellent results.

Things to Do on Akshaya Tritiya:

Purchase Gold: Many people buy gold on Akshaya Tritiya to symbolize wealth and prosperity. You can choose from gold coins, jewelry, or other gold items as an investment or token of good fortune.

Initiate New Ventures: It is considered auspicious to start new ventures, businesses, or investments on Akshaya Tritiya. The day is believed to bring success and abundance to new beginnings.

Practice Charity: Giving food, clothing, or money to the less fortunate is considered a virtuous act on Akshaya Tritiya. It is believed to bring blessings and positive karma.

Offer Prayers: Devotees offer prayers to Lord Vishnu or Goddess Lakshmi at home or in temples to seek blessings for prosperity, happiness, and success in endeavors.

Plant Trees: Planting trees is seen as a noble deed on Akshaya Tritiya. It not only contributes to environmental conservation but also brings positive energy and good karma.

Things to Avoid on Akshaya Tritiya:

Abstain from Non-vegetarian Food: Many people avoid consuming non-vegetarian food on Akshaya Tritiya as it is believed to bring inauspiciousness.

Refrain from Cutting Nails or Hair: Cutting nails or hair on this day is considered unlucky and may invite negative energy.

Avoid Borrowing or Lending Money: It is believed to be unfavorable to borrow or lend money on Akshaya Tritiya, as it may lead to financial difficulties.

Stay Positive: It is essential to maintain a positive attitude on Akshaya Tritiya to attract good luck and prosperity.

Avoid Arguments: Engaging in arguments or conflicts on this day is discouraged as it may disrupt the positive energy and harmony.

Check City-wise Akshaya Tritiya Shubh Muhurat

Hyderabad: 05:46 AM to 12:13 PM

Kolkata: 04:59 AM to 11:33 AM

Noida: 05:33 AM to 12:17 PM

Jaipur: 05:42 AM to 12:23 PM

Pune: 06:03 AM to 12:31 PM

Bengaluru: 05:56 AM to 12:16 PM

Ahmedabad: 06:01 AM to 12:36 PM

New Delhi: 05:33 AM to 12:18 PM

Chennai: 05:45 AM to 12:06 PM

Gurgaon: 05:34 AM to 12:18 PM

Chandigarh: 05:31 AM to 12:20 PM

Mumbai: 06:06 AM to 12:35 PM

Happy Akshaya Tritiya Wishes, Quotes And WhatsApp status

Wishing everyone luck and peace on this joyous occasion!

May the lord shower blessings on us all today!

"Akshaya Tritiya chya haardik shubhechha! Aajcha din tumhala navi udyogik avasar, samruddhi ani khushi deto."

May this Akshaya Tritiya fill your heart with hope for joyful times and dreams for a year full of smiles! Have a very Happy Akshaya Tritiya.

May abundance of wealth and enduring good health be yours forever. Warm greetings on Akshaya Tritiya.

May you thrive in both your personal and professional pursuits. Happy Akshaya Tritiya.

May this Akshaya Tritiya bring boundless joy, prosperity, and success to you and your loved ones. Happy Akshaya Tritiya!

As you celebrate Akshaya Tritiya, may you remember that life is full of opportunities and blessings

On this blessed Akshaya Tritiya, may Lord Vishnu grant you health, wealth, and happiness. Happy Akshaya Tritiya!

"Akshaya Tritiya ki shubhkamnayein! Is din aapko dhan aur khushiyan prapt ho, aur aapka jeevan sundar aur sampann rahe."

May this Akshaya Tritiya mark the beginning of a fruitful and prosperous year for you. Happy Akshaya Tritiya!

May the divine blessings of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi be with you this Akshaya Tritiya. Happy Akshaya Tritiya!

May this Akshaya Tritiya bestow upon you endless wealth, prosperity, and success. Happy Akshaya Tritiya!

May this Akshaya Tritiya bring you all the happiness and prosperity you deserve. Happy Akshaya Tritiya!

Akshaya Tritiya 2024: FAQs

When is Akshaya Tritiya 2024?

This year, Akshaya Tritiya falls on Friday, May 10th, 2024. The Tritiya Tithi (lunar day) begins at 4:17 AM on May 10th and ends at 2:50 AM on May 11th.

What is Akshaya Tritiya and why is it celebrated?

Akshaya Tritiya symbolises eternal prosperity and abundance. It is believed that any auspicious activity performed on this day ensures everlasting success and fortune. The term 'Akshaya' signifies eternal, while 'Tritiya' denotes the third day of the bright fortnight.

What to buy on Akshaya Tritiya?

Akshaya Tritiya, which is on May 10, has always seen fervent gold purchases stemming from the belief that investments made on this day would never diminish, thus bringing everlasting prosperity.

Which God got married on Akshaya Tritiya?

As per a South Indian legend, Goddess Madhura married God Sundaresha, an incarnation of Lord Shiva, on the day of Akshaya Tritiya.

What is the significance of Akshaya Tritiya?

Akshaya Tritiya, also known as Akha Teej, is considered one of the most auspicious days in the Hindu calendar. "Akshaya" means "eternal" and "Tritiya" refers to the third lunar day. It's believed that anything started on this day will bring everlasting prosperity. Here are some reasons why it's significant:

Marks the beginning of Satya Yuga: According to mythology, this day marks the start of the Satya Yuga, the first and golden age of humanity.

Birth of Lord Parasurama: It is believed to be the birthday of Lord Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

Descent of the Ganges: The holy river Ganges is said to have descended from heaven on this day.

What are the puja timings for Akshaya Tritiya 2024?

The ideal puja muhurat (auspicious time) for Akshaya Tritiya 2024 varies depending on location. In major Indian cities, it falls between:

New Delhi: 5:33 AM to 12:18 PM

Mumbai: 6:06 AM to 12:35 PM

Kolkata: 4:59 AM to 11:33 AM

For more informative articles on historical and upcoming events from around the world, please visit Indiatimes Events.


Happy Mothers Day 2024 speech ideas in English: Mother's Day is a global celebration that gives us a chance to honour mothers and motherly figures and recognise the sacrifices they make for their families. Activist Anna Jarvis, inspired by her own mother's dedication to humanitarian work, established Mother's Day in the US in 1908. In 1914, then US President Woodrow Wilson officially declared the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day, a day dedicated to showing gratitude and appreciation for mothers everywhere. This year, Mother's Day falls on May 12.



Mother's Day holds great significance as it allows us to acknowledge and celebrate the invaluable contributions of mothers to society. Mothers play a crucial role in shaping the lives of their children, imparting values, providing support, and nurturing growth. Their selfless love and unwavering dedication are the foundation of family life, creating bonds that last through generations.

Mother's Day serves as a reminder to express gratitude for the countless sacrifices mothers make, often behind the scenes, to ensure the well-being and happiness of their families. It's a time to reflect on their tireless efforts and show them the appreciation they truly deserve.

Happy Mother's Day

As Mother's Day 2024 approaches, many events will be organised worldwide to celebrate this special occasion. Educational institutions will host a variety of activities such as quiz contests, campaigns, rallies, poster-making, and speeches to honour mothers and their contributions. Students play a significant role in these events, often participating in speech competitions in their schools and colleges. Here are some Mother's Day speech ideas for students in English:



How to Write an Impressive Speech for Mother's Day 2024?

Start with a heartfelt introduction, acknowledging the significance of Mother's Day as a special occasion to honour and appreciate mothers everywhere.

Share personal anecdotes or stories about your own mother or the mothers in your life to connect with your audience emotionally.

Express gratitude and appreciation for all the love, sacrifices, and hard work that mothers put into raising their children and managing their families.

Highlight the importance of showing love and appreciation to mothers not just on Mother's Day, but every day of the year.

Incorporate quotes, poems, or songs about mothers to add depth and inspiration to your speech.

Discuss the global significance of Mother's Day and how it is celebrated in different cultures and countries around the world.

Encourage the audience to take action by expressing their love and appreciation to their mothers through heartfelt gestures, such as spending quality time together, writing letters or cards, or giving thoughtful gifts.

End the speech with a heartfelt conclusion, reiterating the importance of cherishing and honouring mothers every day.

Optionally, invite the audience to share their own stories or reflections about their mothers, creating a sense of community and connection.

Practice delivering your speech with confidence and sincerity to ensure that it resonates with your audience and leaves a lasting impression.

Mother's Day Short speech in English

Good morning/afternoon everyone,

On Mother's Day, we celebrate the incredible love and sacrifice of mothers everywhere. A mother's love knows no bounds, and her selflessness is truly inspiring. She dedicates her life to her children, nurturing and supporting them every step of the way.

As we honour mothers on this special day, let us remember the profound impact they have on our lives. They teach us valuable lessons, guide us through challenges, and fill our hearts with boundless love.

May this Mother's Day bring joy and appreciation to all mothers around the world. Let us express our gratitude for their unwavering support and unconditional love. Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing mothers out there!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Mother's Day Long Speech

Respected Sir/Madam, esteemed guests, and my fellow students,

Mother's Day is a beautiful celebration of motherhood, a time when we express our love and gratitude to the special women in our lives. A mother's love is pure and selfless, and she serves as the backbone of the family, sacrificing everything to keep everyone happy.

For me, my mother is my greatest teacher and supporter. She has always been there for me, guiding me through life's challenges and teaching me valuable lessons along the way. Her sacrifices for my happiness and success are endless, and I am forever grateful for her love and care.

Mother's Day is celebrated differently around the world, but its essence remains the same  to honour and appreciate mothers for their unconditional love and selfless contributions to their families and society. However, in recent times, the true meaning of Mother's Day has been overshadowed by commercialization.

Mothers are the heart and soul of the family, binding everyone together with their love and care. They possess an unmatched strength and resilience, always putting their children's needs before their own. A mother's love is a powerful force that can weather any storm and overcome any obstacle.

Every day should be Mother's Day, as we should always cherish and appreciate the love and sacrifices of our mothers. Let us take this opportunity to honour and celebrate all the beautiful mothers around the world, thanking them for their unwavering love and support.

In closing, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my mother for everything she has done for me. I also want to thank each and every one of you for being here today to celebrate the incredible women who have shaped our lives. Happy Mother's Day to all!

Happy Mothers Day 2024: 10 Lines speech on Mother's Day

Mother's Day honours the invaluable role of mothers in our lives. It's a day to express gratitude for their tireless dedication to their families. Mother's Day reminds us to show respect and obedience to our mothers. Many countries worldwide celebrate Mother's Day. Typically, it's observed on the second Sunday of May in most countries. France and Sweden celebrate Mother's Day on the last Sunday of May. In Mexico, Mother's Day falls on May 10th each year. Thailand commemorates its queen's birthday as Mother's Day on August 12th. The United Kingdom celebrates Mother's Day as Motherhood Day three weeks before Easter. In India, Mother's Day involves giving greeting cards, flowers, and gifts to mothers, and many institutions organise speeches or essay contests to honour mothers

For more informative articles on historical and upcoming events from around the world, please visit Indiatimes Events.


Anamta Ahmed, a resident of Mumbais Goregaon West, endured a life-altering accident in Class 9, resulting in the loss of her right arm. Since that challenging day to the present moment, where she has achieved an outstanding 92% in the ICSE Class 10 Boards, her journey has been nothing less than extraordinary, marked by perseverance and resilience.

A fateful day in 2022

Anamta Ahmed/ BCCL

In 2022, Anamta Ahmed was a young, carefree 13-year-old.



During a visit to her aunts house in Aligarh with her father, she was playing with her cousins on the terrace.

Little did she know that on that fateful day, October 30, 2022, her life would change drastically.

She accidentally touched a high-tension overhead wire, resulting in severe third-degree burns. Due to her critical condition, her family decided to fly her to Mumbais National Burns Center (NBC) the following day.

There, her right arm (below the elbow) was amputated on November 3, and her left arm was left with only about 20% functionality.

She spent over 50 days bedridden, enduring extreme trauma. Despite the challenges, she eventually recovered and began rebuilding her life.

Anamta scores an impressive 92%

Results

On May 6, 2024, the CICSE results were announced, revealing Anamta's outstanding achievement. She secured an impressive 92% in her Class 10 exams, making her school proud by also attaining the highest score in Hindi with a remarkable 98%.



Principal Mansi Deepak Gupta praised Anamta's remarkable resilience, saying : "She was always a bright student but with what she had gone through, anyone could have slid into severe depression. Despite her bodily pain, it was her positivity that pulled her through."

But, how did she go about achieving this at all?

Also read: Chandigarh Girl Who Lost Her Sight In Acid Attack Becomes School Topper In CBSE Class 10 Exam

How did Anamta raise above the odds and achieve success in ICSE Class 10?

After the accident, Anamtas doctors suggested she take a break from her studies but she adamantly refused, fueled by her desire to keep moving forward. Supported by her school's encouragement, she embarked on a remarkable journey of overcoming obstacles.

Speaking to TOI, Anamta recounts her journey.

Anamta Ahmed/ BCCL

Upon returning from the hospital, her first priority was to regain full functionality in her left arm. With determination and the guidance of doctors and online resources, she diligently worked on exercises to strengthen it.

However, mastering writing with her non-dominant hand presented a daunting challenge. Despite initial difficulties, she persevered, spending months honing her skills until she could manage.

Also read: '10-15 Hours Self-Study Every Day': JEE Main 2024 Topper Nilkrishna Gajare's Preparation Strategy

Even then, her teachers insisted on providing a writer during exams to ensure she didn't compromise on speed.

Unsplash

But the physical aspect was just one part of it - the mental aspect was equally challenging, if not more. Anamta says, "I had to come out of the trauma as Im an only child, and had made up my mind to not allow this tragedy to overpower me."



Witnessing other patients' severe injuries during her hospital stay gave her perspective, reminding her of the preciousness of life.

"In hospital, I saw terrible burn injury cases and I consider myself lucky that I am alive," Anamta says.

Refusing to succumb to self-pity, she made a conscious decision not to let the tragedy define her. "After coming home, I pasted a note on my door: Caution  No sympathy," she added.

Throughout her journey, Anamta's father, Aqeel Ahmed, stood by her side, offering unwavering support.

"...Anamta is my life and no one can imagine what I went through, watching my only child writhing in pain on a hospital bed where doctors gave up hope of recovery. She is a gifted girl who has shown she has nerves of steel," says Aqeel.

For more information on exams, results and careers, please visit Indiatimes Education.
Voting got underway in 93 seats across 12 states and Union Territories on Tuesday in the third phase of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations. With the third phase on Friday, the Lok Sabha Elections also crossed the halfway mark with voting in 284 out of the 545 seats in the Lower House of the Indian Parliament.

PTI

No voting in Anantnag

Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat which was originally scheduled to vote in the third phase will not go to the polling booths on Tuesday as the Election Commission of India (ECI) postponed the polling to the sixth phase to be held on May 25.

Also read: Meet Santrupt Misra, Ex-HR Head Of Aditya Birla Group, Richest Candidate In Odisha

However, voting for the Betul Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh which was originally scheduled in the second phase will be held on Tuesday due to the death of the BSP candidate.

Voting in Gujarat except Surat

Surat Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat which was also scheduled to vote on Tuesday in the third phase will not see voting as the BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal has already been declared the winner unopposed.

PTI

Voting will be held in all the other 25 seats in Gujarat in the third phase, while Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will vote for seven Lok Sabha seats each.

Seats voting in third phase

In the southern state of Karnataka, 14 seats in the north and central regions of the state will go to the polls on Tuesday.

PTI

Ten constituencies in UP - Sambhal, Hathras, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Badaun, Aonla and Bareilly - will go to the polls on Tuesday.

Also read: Telangana Congress Candidate Jeevan Reddy Slaps Woman

Voting will also be held in four seats of Assam, five seats in Bihar, six seats in Maharashtra, four seats in West Bengal two sets in Goa and one in Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
A man of Indian-origin, who is currently a New York-based entrepreneur, talked about how Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, made a big difference in his life when he was feeling unsure about things.

Brilliant, successful & a good man

Sahil Bloom recently had dinner with Tim Cook, who he considers both a friend and mentor.

He shared a photo of their meeting on X, saying, "I had the great joy of catching up for dinner in Omaha with a friend and mentor."

X

Sahil also shares that a few years ago, he was feeling confused or unsure about his path in life.



At that time, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, encouraged him to change his perspective and focus on what truly energized them.

This advice had a significant impact on Sahils life and helped him find direction or purpose.

Sahil ended up saying, "He is brilliant and successfulbut more importantly, a good man."

Check out the post here:

I had the great joy of catching up for dinner in Omaha with a friend and mentor.



A few years ago, when I was feeling lost, @tim_cook pushed me to think differently and follow my energy. It changed my life.



He is brilliant and successfulbut more importantly, a good man. pic.twitter.com/YLk9QK8sUw  Sahil Bloom (@SahilBloom) May 4, 2024

Half the battle won, say netizens

The post also sparked inspiration among many individuals.

One person commented, "Surrounding yourself with the smartest people is more than half battle won," emphasising the importance of surrounding oneself with intelligent people.

Tim Cook/ X

Similarly, another individual expressed, "Wow, what an incredible opportunity to catch up with such an influential figure like @tim_cook. Your network is insane @SahilBloom. It's amazing how connections like that can shape our lives in such profound ways."



Adding a touch of humor, someone quipped, "Love him to bits but 50% is too high for App Store."

Another commenter remarked on Cook's smile during the discussion saying, "That 'biggest buyback in history' smile."

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Optical illusions are created when our brains deceive us into perceiving non-existent objects. And evolution has everything to do with this phenomenon. But why does this deception occur? Rapid responses are essential for survival, urging the brain to swiftly analyze incoming data and assemble fragmented information. Remarkably, the brain employs colour, patterns, and the interplay of light and shadow to pull this off. Why not challenge your eyesight with this tricky brain teaser and discover just how keen your vision truly is?

Optical illusions: a brief, brief history...

What are optical illusions? | Image: Unsplash

Also read: Skull, Snail Or Map? What You See First In This Optical Illusion Reveals Your Dream Job



Optical illusions go as far as ancient Greece, and they played an important role in shaping history, quite literally. The ancient Greeks, obsessed with symmetry and straight lines, used this technique on temple rooftops. They made use of slanted angles to create the illusion of curved surfaces. But this visual trickery goes further back.



In 5 B.C., Greek philosopher Epicharmus proposed that our senses, not our minds, are responsible for misinterpreting optical illusions. Meanwhile, Protagoras argued that the environment plays a significant role in how our physical senses interpret information. Plato had a different take. He believed that our minds and our eyes work together to perceive the world. This theory is widely accepted even today, suggesting that optical illusions occur when our brains trick us into seeing things that aren't really there.

Can you spot the letter 'W' in six seconds?

Time to put your eyesight to the test | Image: Brightside

Today's optical illusion is another exercise in the unmatchable coordination between the brain and the eyes. There's an ingeniously hidden letter in the image. We can tell you it's the letter 'W'. The answer is right in front of you. Be patient, pace yourself and set the time to six seconds. All the best!

Here's the answer

Do you see it now? | Image: Brighside

Also read: Optical Illusion: Find The Cute Polar Bear Hiding Among The Scary Ghosts In 13 Seconds

How long did it take you? Hit us up in the comments section below and let us know. Meanwhile, here's another optical illusion for you to try your hand at.



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MANZINI  A businesswoman is wanted by the police to assist them with information on the death of a 19-month-old toddler who died after eating a yoghurt laced with poison.

The businesswoman, 32, who operated a hairdressing salon in Mankayane, has become a person of interest following the demise of the minor.

Philile Msibi, according to the Deputy Chief Police Information and Communications Officer, Assistant Superintendent Nosipho Mnguni, is wanted to assist them with information on the yoghurt that was consumed by the toddler and two adults. Mnguni said: We appeal to the public to assist us in locating the suspect as she can share information that may solve the investigation. According to sources, a relative was said to have bought the yoghurt and requested someone to take it home, where it was consumed by the trio. It is alleged that traces of a poisonous substance were found in the yoghurt during investigations.

Demise

The insiders claimed that following the demise of the toddler and the pair being treated and discharged in hospital, the businessman closed her business and left the area. They claimed that the woman also took her children to their fathers before disappearing. The sources claimed that the businesswoman was suspected to have fled to South Africa. Meanwhile, Msibi is being sought by police following an investigation which ensued a fortnight ago.

At the time when the investigation was initiated, Mnguni said they did not have a suspect; but what they knew was that the people who ate the yoghurt were suspected to have been poisoned. She said the yoghurts were supposed to be delivered at home. She said the police were still investigating the matter, to identify the suspect and further understand, who the yoghurts were meant for.

Mnguni said the businesswoman could assist in solving a case of murder and two cases of attempted murder. This follows that apart from the demise of the 19-month toddler, two other relatives aged 28 and 50 years, who also ate the yoghurt, survived, after they were quickly rushed to Mankayane Government Hospital. Meanwhile, the demise of minors through consuming food laced with poison happened at KaPhunga recently, where two children died after eating sour milk (emasi) laced with a poisonous substance.

Another similar incident happened at Nsingweni in January, where three children, aged two, five and nine, were allegedly forced to ingest a poisonous substance by their mother. In the Nsingweni incident, the children, according to a relative, were found in their parents bedroom. The mother is said to have not shared or given a valid explanation to the family for her actions. Instead, she profusely apologised for the incident, claiming she had also ingested the substance.

From hearsay, we gathered that she had informed other people she would engage in such an act as they purportedly had an argument with my brother, the relative said.
Opposition PASOK-Movement for Change leader Nikos Androulakis who is visiting on Tuesday the island of Serifos stated after his meeting with the island's mayor Konstantinos Revinthis.

"The prosperity of the permanent populations of the smaller islands of our country is a top priority for us and that's why we propose strong tax

incentives for productive investments in manufacturing and the primary sector along with the strenthgening of the infrastructure and strong social state with focus on education and health".

Androulakis and Revinthis also discussed the problems of the islanders, the degradation of social state infrastructure and services as well as the effects of the golden visa on the residential development of small islands with less than 3,000 inhabitants.

"There is also the issue that has arisen with the golden visa" Androulakis said to the may adding that " I find it inconceivable that the government - after PASOK's pressure - raised the golden visa limit to 800,000 euros in Crete and other large islands, but here in the smaller islands of the Cyclades and the rest of Greece the limit remains at 400,000 euros as a result of which great pressure is caused and inequalities are created", he added.

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Charles Oputa, alias Charly Boy, a controversial artist, has raised concern about President Bola Tinubus health following his recent unexpected travel to London.

It should be noted that President Tinubu reportedly left Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for London, England, after attending the World Economic Forum in the Gulf nation.

Tinubu has been in transit since leaving Nigeria for the Netherlands on April 23.

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The Presidencys silence on Tinubus unexpected journey to London has sparked reactions.

Charly Boy responded, wondering if everything was fine with the President.

He charged the Presidency with overheating the country with very fake and twisted lies.

According to him, Tinubu is unsuitable to lead Nigeria and should quit.

READ MORE: When Will It Be Your Turn To Receive Sense?  Adekunle Gold Reacts After Samklef Called Out His Wife, Simi

On his X handle on Monday, Charly Boy wrote: Come oooo. Wey una President? Is all well with him?

Tinubus propaganda machine has been over heating the country with very fake and twisted lies, but propaganda cannot substitute for economic policies.

Come ooooo, na Peter Obi make Nigerians dey suffer like dis? Na Peter Obi show APC how empty dey are?

Has fake propaganda become the tactic deployed by APC in all political strata, to continue disparaging and attacking any perceived opposition with all ethnic and religious spears by their cronies. Obi has continued to bore the brunt of these malicious individuals.

Nigeria has failed. Tinubu pls resign, this work pass you.

SEE POST:


Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has slammed former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State for condemning the deportation of Osun indigenes from Lagos State.

At the weekend, there were reports that the Lagos government implemented the deportation, of which Police officers allegedly picked them up from various parts of Ajah, Tafawa Balewa Square and Lagos Island.

Reacting to the development, Obi described the deportation as a violation of citizens rights.

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I am deeply saddened and shocked by the recent reports of the deportation of citizens mostly of Osun State origin by Lagos State authorities. This is not merely a concern for Osun State but for all Nigerians who uphold the principles of unity, fairness, and justice.

I find this action very distasteful because of the far-reaching effects it will have on our National cohesion and development. As a pan-Nigerian advocate, I vehemently oppose any form of discrimination, injustice, or violation of our citizens rights, Obi had said.

READ ALSO: Gov. Adeleke To Investigate Deportation Of Osun Youths From Lagos

Onanuga however fired Obi via X on Tuesday, saying he has displayed his incurable hypocrisy over the decision of Lagos State to send some Osun citizens back home.

He further recalled that Obi began deportation of citizens in 2011, which Governor Fashola copied in August 2013 by deporting some destitute from Anambra back home.

According to him, Obi not only criticised the former Lagos Governor, but doubled down by writing a protest letter to then President Goodluck Jonathan.

Some 11 years after, the deporter -in-chief is playing hypocrite again, he posted.

He also quoted a 2011 report where the Anambra state government issued a warning to all street beggars, especially children used by their parents to beg for alms, to vacate the streets or be arrested.

The affected ones at the time, were arrested in Awka and Onitsha, and repatriated to their home states; Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom states.

Meanwhile, Osun Governor, Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, ordered an immediate probe into the situation.


Ola Olukoyede, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday, urged Nigerian leaders to study and emulate the leadership qualities of former President of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yaradua.

He made the call in Abuja at the maiden President Umaru Musa Yaradua International Leadership Conference and Awards.

Drawing inspiration from Yaradua, the EFCC Chair said he displayed qualities of integrity and transparency, which he noted were key tools in making a good leader.

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Speaking on Moral and Ethical Leadership; Antidote to National Development, Olukoyede, who spoke through the Director of Public Affairs of the Commission, Wilson Uwujaren, noted that though there were rules and laws across the country to enthrone integrity.

He opined that poor enforcement of the laws were responsible for low integrity quotients among many Nigerians.

According to him, The EFCC as a Commission identifies with the legacy Yaradua left behind because that is what the Commission stands for, which is integrity and transparency.

READ ALSO: Edo Assembly Suspends Three Members Loyal To Shaibu Over Alleged Plot To Impeach Speaker

If you look at the theme of this event, it borders on moral and ethical leadership and that is what he stood for both as Katsina Governor and as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Also, former President of Nigeria, Yakubu Gowon, praised the late President for imbibing the true spirit of patriotism as he is still being remembered for his love for Nigeria.

He said, I know him from as far back as when he was governor, I visited the state at a time when the guinea worm was affecting the people of Katsina state.

He was concerned about the rural areas, the welfare of the people, I saw how passionate he was about the people. He was a man of honesty, he has to be remembered by that.

Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, on his part, thanked the organizers for preserving the legacy of the late president, encouraging Nigerian leaders to be steadfast in delivering on the mandate given to them to move Nigeria forward.

We should learn to believe and accept the challenges before us so that we can move from one point to the other towards a better Nigeria.

We must remain very hopeful because Nigeria holds a great dream for all of us as the man we are celebrating today is an example of that. This day is for all of us. Lets continue to believe that we shall overcome, he stated.

Yaradua became President in 2007, but in 2010, he died as a result of ill-health.


The Federal Government, on Monday, disclosed that it is not true that there are discussions between Nigeria and some foreign countries on the siting of foreign military bases in the country.

Recently, some northern leaders cautioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu against allowing the United States (US) and French governments to relocate their military bases from the Sahel to Nigeria.

In a letter addressed to Tinubu and the National Assembly, they posited that accepting such a proposal would pose dangers to the country.

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The northern leaders said the US and French governments have allegedly been lobbying Nigeria and other countries in the region to sign a new defence pact allowing them to redeploy their expelled troops.

READ ALSO: VP Shettima Forced To Stop US-Africa Summit Over Faulty Aircraft

Mohammed Idris, Minister of information and National Orientation, in a statement however urged Nigerians to disregard the falsehood.

According to him, the Federal Government has neither received nor considered any proposal for the establishment of foreign military bases in the country.

The Nigerian government already enjoys foreign cooperation in tackling ongoing security challenges.

The President remains committed to deepening these partnerships, with the goal of achieving the national security objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda, he said.
As part of efforts to protect customers against fraudsters, the Corporate Affairs Commission has set a two-month deadline for Point of Sale operators in the country to register their agents, merchants and individuals.

Disclosing this to the public on Monday, Registrar-General/Chief Executive Officer, CAC, Hussaini Magaji, during a meeting with some PoS agents in Abuja, set July 7, 2024, as deadline date.

Magaji, via the commissions X page, stated that the measure aims at safeguarding the businesses of fintech customers and strengthening the economy, the commission.

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He added that the move is in accordance with Section 863, Subsection 1 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA 2020 as well as the 2013 Central Bank of Nigerias guidelines on agent banking.

The tweets partly reads: Hussaini Magaji, therefore, said that the timeline for the registration, which will expire on July 7, 2024, was not targeted at any groups or individuals but genuinely aimed at protecting businesses.

Several speakers from the fintech industry pledged to collaborate with the Commission to ensure hitch-free implementation of the directive.

READ MORE: Social Media Influencers, Content Creators Must Register, Pay Taxes  CAC

Some of them, however, stressed the need for adequate and collective sensitisation to ensure that the exercise achieved the desired results.

Also, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on ICT Development and Innovation, pledged to ensure the smooth facilitation of the process in line with the Renewed Hope Initiative of the present administration.
Veteran musician Charles Oputa, also known as Charly Boy, has chastised Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubus Special Adviser on Information and Strategy.

This is coming after Onanuga called the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last election, Peter Obi as bitter.

Onanuga had referred to Peter Obi as Bitter Obi while quoting a tweet mocking the former Anambra State governors recent outing in Canada.

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In response, Charly Boy voiced his displeasure with Onanugas behaviour, claiming that Obi never sponsored any form of violence against the state or government and that such disgusting name-calling was inappropriate.

He advised the presidential adviser to concentrate on addressing the depreciating value of the Naira in the foreign exchange market, as well as the instability, starvation, poverty, and corruption that are destroying his bosss administration.

READ MORE: Charly Boy Pays Tribute To Late Father Justice Oputa, Terms Him Socrates Of Nigerian Supreme Court

On his X handle on Monday, Charly Boy wrote: We are saddened and disappointed at Mr. Bayo Onanuga for addressing HE Peter Obi as Bitter Obi such disgusting name-calling on an active and dedicated citizen like HE Peter Obi who has never sponsored any form of violence against the State or the government is uncalled-for.

As loyal supporters of HE Peter Obi, any form of attack on HE Peter Obi is an absolute attack on well-meaning Nigerians. Mr. Bayo must refrain from attacking Obi as such will not give Nigerians the needed good governance rather.

Mr. Bayo Must focus on the fall of Naira, insecurity, hunger, poverty, corruption ravaging the incompetent government of Tinubu.

SEE POST:
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, has ordered an immediate probe into the alleged deportation of Osun youths from Lagos State.

At the weekend, reports filled the media that the Lagos Government implemented the deportation of Osun indigenes from the State.

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Police officers had allegedly picked up Osun indigenes from various parts of Ajah, Tafawa Balewa Square and Lagos Island, according to the reports.

Reacting in a Monday statement via Olawale Rasheed, spokesperson to Adeleke, the Governor expressed shock over the incident.

The State, he said, has set up an investigative team and was interfacing with the Lagos government.

The report was confirmed by an investigation team set up to confirm the veracity of the story by the Osun state government.

The state team reported that eyewitness accounts confirmed the dropping of the youths in several luxurious buses by a team suspected to be from Lagos State.

READ ALSO: NERC To Cut Back Power Sale To Togo, Benin, Niger At 6%

The states report showed that the youths were systematically dropped at Ilesa-Akure express junction, Breweries; Ilesa  Ibodi  Iginla to Ife express junction, Osun Ankara express junction, Imelu express junction and Iperindo express junction, the statement read.

Adeleke added that he engaged Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwowho also expressed shock over the development and promised to take urgent action.

I spoke with my brother, governor Sanwo-Olu on the matter. He too was surprised and he denied ever authorising any such action.

Governor Sanwo-Olu has promised immediate investigation to unravel the facts of the situation. The Lagos team will update us as quickly as possible.

I am subsequently directing our security agencies in Osun to mount surveillance in and around Ilesa to track the deported youths and their destinations.

I will update our people on this development. I urge residents to be calm while the security agencies carry out surveillance, he added.


The Presidency, has reacted to the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his claim of conflict of interest in the award of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project by the Federal Government.

Atiku had in a statement on Sunday, claimed that the road project was awarded to Hitech Construction Company because the owner of the firm, Gilbert Chagoury, had business ties with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party also alleged that Tinubus son, Seyi, sits on the board of a company owned by Chagoury.

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He also faulted the massive demolition of buildings to pave the way for the highway, saying it had the potential to discourage foreign investors.

Reacting to this in a Monday statement titled Atiku Abubakars penchant for distorting facts, Tinubus Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said that the former VP lacked the moral right to raise the question of conflict of interests.

We found it strange that Alhaji Atiku could accuse President Tinubu of conflict of interest in the award of Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway to Hitech Construction Company, which he claimed is owned by Chagoury family because the Presidents son, Seyi Tinubu, sits on the board of CDK, a tiles manufacturing company, based in Sagamu, Ogun State, he said.

The Presidency further queried that should Atiku, who formed Intels Nigeria with an Italian businessman when he served in the Nigeria Customs Service, a clear breach of extant public service regulationsbe the one accusing someone else of conflict of interest?

It said as Vice President of Nigeria between 1999 and 2007, Atiku maintained his business links with Intels, which won major port concession deals.

Was this not an abuse of office, a flagrant violation of his oath, that a company where he was a co-owner won major government contracts and concessions when he was vice president? the Presidency queried.

READ ALSO: Charly Boy Queries Tinubus Unannounced London Visit, Demands Transparency

It also accused the former VP of approving sales of over 145 state-owned enterprises to his known friends and associates as Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation.

The Presidency, therefore, stated that Seyi Tinubu, a 38-year-old adult who joined the Board of CDK in 2018, has a right to do business and pursue his business interests in Nigeria and anywhere in the world within the limits of the law.

The fact that his father is now the President of Nigeria does not disqualify Seyi from pursuing legitimate business interests, it asserted, stating that the Chagourys are minority shareholders in the company, and only one member of the clan is on its five-man board.

It added, We wonder how Seyis membership of the board of CDK conflicts with Hitech Construction Companys work on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal superhighway.

How can an elder statesman be waging a campaign of calumny against the economic fortunes and prosperity of a country he wishes to govern or trying to scuttle a project that will bring prosperity to nine coastal states and the nation in general?

Onanuga also countered Atikus claim demolition of buildings for the Lagos-Calabar highway would discourage investors.

He asserted, various sectors of Nigerias economy, such as telecoms, manufacturing, solid minerals, oil and gas, e-commerce, and fintech, are attracting new Foreign Direct Investments from discerning investors who know Nigeria is a good market for bountiful returns.

It argued that contrary to Atikus claim, the Tinubu administration has attracted over $20bn into the economy within its first year.

He cited President Tinubus trip to India for the G20 summit last September, saying a substantial part of the $14bn in new investments that investors promised is already in the country.

Foreign investment in Nigerias stock market has ballooned, from N18.12bn in Q1 2023 to N93.37bn in Q1 2024, an increase of 415 per cent.

The last time Nigeria saw such a level of investment was in the first quarter of 2019 when N97.6 billion was invested.

The market, since Tinubu came to power, has broken records and created more wealth for the investors, the statement read.


Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has weighed in on the role the immediate past Governor of the State, Nyesom Wike, played in his emergence as the State Governor.

However, he said he would not worship Wike simply because he contributed to his emergence as Governor.

According to him, the Federal Capital Territory Minister is not God.

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He made this known when he received a Bayelsa State delegation of political and traditional leaders, led by former Governor of the State, Henry Seriake Dickson, at Government House in Port Harcourt on Monday.

READ ALSO: Our Leaders Not Interested In Solving Nigerias Problems  Moghalu

Fubara added that there was nothing wrong in helping another person but that does not mean the helper should take the place of God.

God can do anything He wants to do when He wants to do it. It is only for us to realise that. God will not come down from Heaven but will pass through one man or woman to achieve His purpose.

So, for that reason, when we act, we act as humans; human vessels that God has used, and not seeing yourself as God.

I want to say this clearly that we appreciate the role our leaders, most especially the immediate past governor, played. But that is not enough for me to worship a human being. I cant do that, he said
MANZINI  The two South African nationals who supposedly had a hand in the murder of Kiernan AKA Forbes want to be furnished with full details of the docket of the investigations that were carried out by SAPS in their matter.

Through their attorney Sivesonkhe Ngwenya, the two suspects; Siyabonga Gezani Ndimande (Nxele) and Malusi Dave Demand (Mjay) Ndimande have caused to be issued a correspondence directed to the prosecution, wherein they are demanding further particulars. Further particulars refer to additional information required to provide sufficient accuracy with respect to a set of pleaded facts in an earlier document. They contend that they would not be in a position to file their papers in the extradition application without being provided with the full docket of investigations that were carried by the South African Police Service (SAPS).

Prosecution

According to the accused persons, the copy of the extradition application that was provided to them by the prosecution did not have sufficient information that could assist them to file their responding papers. They made the request for further particulars in terms of Rule 21 of the High Court Rules. Rule 21 provides that the court may order a party to deliver to any other party further particulars of any claim, or other matter stated in the pleadings. In the correspondence their duo stated that in the absence of the details, they would not be in a position to file their papers or make a proper decision whether to oppose the application for extradition or not.

As I indicated, kindly provide us with further particulars so that we can indicate our position in response to the extradition application. The further particulars we are requesting is that we are facing multiple counts of murder inclusive of attempted murder and possession of firearms, which were never found in our possession when we were arrested in the Kingdom of Eswatini, reads part of the correspondence. The pair stated that they needed to properly advise and accordingly advise. The accused persons from Durban were arrested by members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), while hiding in a flat they rented at Zone 4 in Mbabane.

Extradited

It was previously reported that the suspects stated that they had no qualms with being extradited to South Africa to face their charges, but asked that the process should be done within the confines of the law to ensure their safety. The Ndimande brothers are said to have made it clear to their legal representatives that in the whole process, they wanted to be assured that their safety would be prioritised. It is said that they further stated that they wanted to be handed over to prison authorities, not to members of the SAPS.

As part of the conditions, they are said to have also stated that during their handover to the prison authorities, they wanted their South Africa-based attorney to be present. Another condition they put forward, according to the source, was that they wanted to be escorted by the local police in the presence of their Eswatini attorney and handed over to the prison authorities of their home country. The accused persons made it clear that they wanted the whole process to be done under the watchful eye of their lawyers. They further highlighted that they had strong reservations about being handed over to members of SAPS.

Expected

The siblings are expected to make their sixth court appearance at the Manzini Magistrates Court this month, where the issue of their extradition would be among the issues to be presented before court. They are currently detained in that country on the basis of the provisional arrest that was filed by the National Prosecutions Authority. AKA and his friend, Tebello Tibz Motsoane were fatally shot on February 10, 2023, outside a popular restaurant in Durbans Florida Road. The killings attracted international attention and the police brass had allocated top detectives to trace down the killers and bring them to book.

In their home country, the two Ndimane brothers, who are currently detained in Eswatini, are expected to answer on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime 21 of 1998, unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition and money laundering.

The two are also wanted for murders emanating from taxi wars.
Lawrence Oluwaseyitan Aletile, known as SeyiLaw, a well-known comedian, has expressed his displeasure with the Nigerian governments proposal to place a 0.5% cybersecurity fee on all transactions.

The comedian used the X platform to criticise government organisations for failing to educate citizens and combat misinformation before implementing policies.

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He contended that placing a 0.5% charge on Nigerians is unduly harsh, particularly given the countrys current economic woes.

Seyi Law highlighted worries about the governments intention to discourage financial transactions, effectively encouraging individuals to rely on cash instead.

READ MORE: Sylvester Oromonis Father Rejects Coroners Verdict, Claims Cover-Up

He tweeted: I hate when government agencies dont speak up to the understanding of the citizens and allow wrong narratives to fester before tackling it. Cybersecurity level, according to the act, is 0.005%, and different figures from 0.5% to 3% are being thrown around.

A 0.5% charge in the Nigeria of today is in itself too much punishment on Nigerians. Are we trying to discourage banking transactions again and encourage cash keeping? @cenbank should revisit this abeg.

Stamp duty is something, and now this. It is unacceptable. @NGRPresident @officialABAT, let the poor breathe. When will the new minimum wage be announced and implemented? Some of your ministers need to look for another job. One year is here and we are counting.

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Seven people have been arrested and charged for their alleged involvement in a gun and drug trafficking ring, law enforcement officials in Montgomery County announced Monday.

Officials say the group bought and sold 19 guns, skewed their serial numbers, and sold them to people prohibited from owning firearms  an illegal practice also known as straw purchasing. In addition, officials say the group sold multiple illegal substances, including methamphetamine.

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Christopher McNelly, 26, of Norristown, along with Philadelphia residents Scott Grondin, 42; Bella Kenna, 21; Anthony Figueroa-Marko, 34; Emanuel Torres, 32; Asad Sayed, 27; and Felicia McKinnell, 28, were arrested and charged over the last two weeks, according to a news release from the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office and the Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Investigative Division.

The charges against each member of the group vary, but officials say offenses include corrupt organizations, conspiracy, making false statements, possession with intent to deliver, and firearms charges. Officials say Grondin was the organizations leader. He faces 216 charges.

Kennas attorney, Anthony F. Godshall, said his client is innocent and that much of the case is based on circumstantial evidence at best or mere conjecture, while Michael A. Walker, lawyer for Sayed, vowed to fight the charges in court and said the case will not be tried in the media.

Attorneys for McKinnell and Figueroa-Marko declined to comment, and lawyers for Grondin and Torres did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

According to the news release, the Montgomery County Detective Bureaus Violent Crime Unit launched an investigation into Grondin, Figueroa-Marko, and Kennas suspected involvement with straw gun purchases and illegal firearm transfers in December 2023 after the three exhibited suspicious behavior while buying multiple firearms at the Oaks Gun Show.

The investigation  which used methods including surveillance, controlled drug buys and captured text messages  revealed that seven people were involved in a group that illegally bought and sold firearms in addition to illegal drugs, officials said. The group operated out of a home along the 2300 block of North Ninth Street in North Philadelphia, where Grondin, Kenna and Figueroa-Marko lived, officials said.

The firearms were purchased from gun shops, and shows in Philadelphia, Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery Counties, officials said, bought by the others on behalf of Grondin, who was not allowed to legally own a gun. According to the criminal complaint, the group allegedly obliterated serial numbers  a practice where straw-purchased firearms have their identifying numbers removed or scratched off to protect the items paper trail as it moves from owner to owner. Possessing a firearm with an altered serial number is considered illegal. Grondin, Kenna, and others would then sell the altered guns to others who were not permitted to own firearms, officials said.

In one text exchange from September 2023 captured by investigators, Grondin expressed the urgent need of a Dremel tool to remove serial numbers from four firearms. I cant sell any of these things until we have that, he texted in another exchange, according to the criminal complaint.

Last month, investigators raided Torres apartment, where officers said they found him with a loaded pistol at his feet, a suspected bag of cocaine in a bag labeled coke, and multiple containers next to the toilet.

It was apparent they were destroying evidence by flushing it down the toilet before we made entry into the residence, the criminal complaint said.

None of the illegally purchased or sold firearms have been recovered by law enforcement, according to the criminal complaint.

Preliminary hearings for Grondin, Kenna, Sayed, Figueroa-Marko, Torres, and McKinnell are expected to take place this week and next in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. A preliminary hearing for McNelly has not yet been scheduled.
In 2022, these East Stroudsburg students worked at Pleasant Valley Elementary, from left: Nani Dickerson, Jasmine Rivera, Keidy Majia, Hailee Reinhardt, and Felicia Miller. Read more

Just 20 minutes after applications opened for Pennsylvanias new program offering stipends to student teachers, Hannah Buckley logged on and submitted hers. But she isnt sure whether that was fast enough.

Within two hours last month, officials say more than 3,500 people applied for the new program, which provides student teachers $10,000 stipends. The program offers an additional $5,000 for placements in schools that attract few student teachers or have high vacancy rates.

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But theres only enough funding for 600 to 700 people, said Bethany Coleman, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. As of Monday, more than 3,900 people had applied for the awards, which will be given out first come, first served, Coleman said.

Advocates say Pennsylvania should expand funding for the program to meet the demand  and to combat a shrinking supply of new teachers. On Tuesday, theyll be lobbying lawmakers to increase funding for the stipend program from $10 million to $75 million, and to add $10 million for school grow-your-own programs that train high schoolers to become teachers.

Without a stipend, Buckley, 21, an aspiring educator who graduated Monday from Shippensburg University, will 100% have to dip into savings when she begins 16 weeks of student teaching this fall  fulfilling a requirement to become a teacher in Pennsylvania. Its a full-time job with no pay, she said.

Thats a barrier to entry that advocates say shouldnt exist at a time when Pennsylvania is battling a shortage of qualified teachers.

We are still in the midst of a pretty dire crisis, said Laura Boyce, Pennsylvania executive director of Teach Plus, a nonprofit that recently released an analysis finding Pennsylvania needs at least 15,000 more teachers to fill vacant positions and replace those who are leaving the profession or dont have proper certifications. Thats more than double the number of new teachers being certified in the state each year.

To help create that pool of new educators, Pennsylvania needs to make really dedicated investments in the teacher pipeline, including fully meeting demand for the stipend program, said Boyce, who will be among those lobbying for an increase Tuesday.

Leaders of Pennsylvanias colleges of education have thrown their support behind the lobbying efforts.

Student teachers should be remunerated for their work, as a matter of fairness and as a signal that we respect and value their contributions, said Katharine Strunk, dean of the University of Pennsylvanias Graduate School of Education and an expert on teacher labor markets, who noted the backdrop of Pennsylvanias crippling teacher shortages.

Beth Rementer, a spokesperson for House Democrats, said they were seriously considering the advocates recommendations, given the demand for the stipends and the need to grow the teaching workforce. A spokesperson for Senate Republicans, who control that chamber, did not respond to a request for comment.

While demand for the stipend program has outstripped available funding, the application window is still open. Some education colleges have told student teachers they should still apply to be in line if funding is increased. Boyce said additional money secured during budget negotiations could go toward existing stipend applications.

Some students are still debating whether to apply because the program requires them to commit to teaching for three years in Pennsylvania. Its definitely appealing, said Zoe Boynton, a 21-year-old Drexel University junior who will be student teaching in Philadelphia in August.

Because Boynton is considering going to graduate school elsewhere, shes undecided on applying for the stipend  describing the commitment to teaching in Pennsylvania as a big decision.

Boynton is passionate about teaching and not considering another career path, she said. But she noted the burden of teaching without pay, while dealing with the anxiety of being assessed by supervisors.

Like other teachers, student teachers often buy supplies lacking from their classrooms, Boynton said.

Its a lot of effort for little reward, Boynton said.

Buckley, the Shippensburg graduate, is also determined to become a teacher. But she worries society doesnt place enough value on the profession.

I feel like part of the reason for the teacher shortages is the lack of money in the job for the amount of stuff we actually do, and honestly, the lack of respect people have for teachers, said Buckley, who will move home to Quakertown this month to work full-time as a lead teacher in a day care before returning to the Shippensburg area this fall to student teach.

Buckley has worked throughout college  including day-care roles and at Chick-fil-A  and has also received scholarship money, which she wont be able to renew while student teaching.

Even if she doesnt get a stipend, she hopes the state increases the funding for the sake of future teachers. Theyll be more passionate, because theyll be less stressed, she said.
Adaeze Enekwechi is the new CEO of Cayaba Care, a maternal care start-up that aims to improve outcomes for underserved and high-risk populations. Read more

Adaeze Enekwechi recently became CEO of Cayaba Care, whose aim is to improve pregnancy outcomes for underrepresented and high-risk individuals.

An executive with experience in government and in the private sector, Enekwechi leads the venture-capital-backed Philadelphia company that has supported nearly 2,000 births in the city since 2021. Cayaba has cut costs for health insurers by 20%, it says, because clients went to the emergency department less often and had fewer preterm births.

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Maternal healthcare in America is broken: people who have the highest risk for complications rarely have access to the best care, Enekwechi said.

Cayaba provides what it calls maternity navigators to people with private and Medicaid insurance with Independence Blue Cross companies. The navigators, who are certified as doulas, check in with their clients between OB/GYN visits to provide support that continues after the birth. Cayaba employs 35, including six maternity navigators and two nurse practitioners.

The Inquirer spoke with Enekwechi about Cayaba Cares approach, its expansion ambitions, and the role of private capital in solving problems in health care. Questions and answers have been lighted edited for brevity and clarity.

What problem is Cayaba Care trying to solve?

Maternal health outcomes in this country are pretty abysmal.

Women who are giving birth in this country are more likely to give birth to preterm babies, low birth-weight babies. Maternal death is extremely high. We are competing with developing countries on some of these measures. And when you think about how much we spend on health care, to do so poorly in this area is really unacceptable.

Who suffers the most from this performance?

When we unpack that performance and look at who is most adversely affected, we find that it is people who are Black, brown, and moderate-to-high risk. That can encapsulate people with diabetes, hypertension, people from underserved communities. Not only are the results or performance much, much worse [for people in these groups] than if you were to look at the aggregate, it is really at catastrophic levels.

How does Cayaba Care work?

We want to arm and equip our members with the right questions, the right supports in the community, the right relationship with someone to hold their hand as they go through this pregnancy journey. So we go from pregnancy into postpartum, where we know a breakdown often occurs in our medical system.

How do you measure Cayaba Cares results?

We are literally measuring this as we go. How are we doing on the reduction of C-section rates? How are we doing on preterm deliveries? How are we doing on low-weight delivery? Those numbers have been going down pretty consistently since we started.

Maternal mortality, of course, is also on the list as well. Were also measuring patient satisfaction.

Why did you take the job at Cayaba Care?

Its a pretty treacherous experience for a lot of women to have children. And thats from the perspective of someone with resources, with educated parents, pretty advantaged in many ways. When you add on layers of disadvantage, displacement, behavioral health issues, seriously comorbid conditions, if youre diabetic, if youre hypertensive, it only gets worse.

Health care, as I tell people, you get it right when you have a heavy dose of empathy as part of the on-the-ground delivery of the service. Thats why the maternity navigators are so powerful. They understand the people they are serving.

Why did Cayaba Care start in Philadelphia?

There is no better place to get this right. We dont have a homogenous group of people. Even if you just look at Black women, you have a very diverse group of Black women. You have a West African population, some of whom are Anglophone, many are Francophone. How do you reach them? The outcomes are just as bad.

We need to make sure that were reaching everyone that we can reach. Thats what IBC expects us to do, because again, the payers are the ones on the hook. When things go awry and youre spending $40,000 on a NICU visit that you could have avoided if you had done just a couple other things that were drastically less expensive, it seems useful to really try to over-index on some of those social supports, the nonclinical stuff.

Cayaba Care is backed by venture capital firms. What do you see as the role of private capital in heath care?

There is no way we can solve everything in health care through federal and state dollars only. If there is a market solution, venture capital can come in and say, Lets fund the innovation and make sure its a scalable asset, a scalable company. That, to me, is a healthy equilibrium, because then it can augment the investment of Medicaid with its meager state resources.
The 3100 block of Kensington Avenue, part of the city enforcement target area, was crowded with people on Monday. Read more

At the Savage Sisters drop-in center on Kensington Avenue, a woman who gave her name only as Chrissy teared up as she waited for medical care for the oozing lesions that had devoured her hands and arms.

Four years ago, she became homeless in Kensington after a series of deaths in her family. And now, the animal sedative xylazine contaminating the drug supply is wreaking havoc on her body.

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On top of those problems, her boyfriend had been picked up by police and she hadnt seen him in days. A police officer had attempted to detain her, too  but upon seeing her scabbed wounds, she said, the officer called her a dirty junkie and let her go.

Im trying to get my life together, she said one day in March. My boyfriend said we could get out of here and get a place to live.

Kensington drug users and service providers say an informal enforcement initiative has been underway for months  well ahead of Mayor Cherelle L. Parkers planned crackdown this week on the citys internationally notorious open-air drug market.

 READ MORE: All eyes are on Kensington as Parker administration plans to clear homeless from a main corridor

They described it as pervasive harassment by police, initiating stops for previously overlooked offenses in Kensington, such as loitering and possession of drugs or paraphernalia.

That trend is not represented in city narcotics arrest data, which plummeted during the pandemic and remain near the lowest level in 15 years, the District Attorneys Office data dashboard shows.

While the department says officers are to remain respectful of all members of the public, including people in addiction, Deputy Commissioner Pedro Rosario, whom Parker tapped to lead the Kensington strategy, confirmed an effort to ramp up policing of drug-related offenses that long went unenforced.

There is political will for a reset in Kensington, whereas it hasnt been before this, he said Monday. The same laws that we enforce downtown, in the Northeast, in South Philly, well enforce in Kensington.

 READ MORE: Philly City Council criticizes Parker administration for lack of details about Kensington plan

More than 20 drug users who spoke with The Inquirer  most of them on condition that only their first names be used because they were discussing illegal activities  said that the frequency and tenor of law enforcement encounters has been intensifying since January when Parker took office.

Theres nowhere for us to even be, said Gary Kidd, 46, whos from Sellersville but has been in Kensington on and off for the past couple of years. Theres nowhere for us to sit down.

He said hes been sleeping under an overpass in recent months. Almost every morning, police come by and clear everyone out, he said  sometimes forcing them into pouring rain. Some officers are polite, he said. Others show disrespect, and seize his few possessions.

Thats a drastic change from just four months ago, when his only police contact would occur if he happened to wander into a Narcotics Strike Force surveillance to buy drugs, and was arrested.

Rumors have been flying about a surge in arrests for possession of drug paraphernalia  a misdemeanor that has rarely been used as a stand-alone charge in Philadelphia given the city has for decades sanctioned and funded syringe-exchange programs.

Police data show an uptick in such arrests, which went from near zero in 2023 to 50 cases in the first three months of 2024.

Those numbers do not account for what some drug users in Kensington said are informal interactions in which police ordered them to destroy paraphernalia or drugs, but didnt arrest them. The impact has amounted to an abrupt cultural shift in Kensington  and led some users to voluntarily limit their time in the neighborhood.

The city estimates that 675 people are homeless in Kensington. But in recent months, people like Chrissy said theyve begun sleeping in other neighborhoods like Center City where they say they feel safer and police bother them less.

People are going further from [Kensington] Ave: indoors, West Philly, Tioga, the counties, said Tori McDowell, a staffer at Savage Sisters who is in recovery.

 READ MORE: How Kensington Avenues open-air drug market went international  and the citys fight to take back the neighborhood

Parkers public-safety plan started with an outreach phase last month, when bright orange notices went up on a two-block stretch of Kensington Avenue, warning of an encampment clearing of the handful of tents that remain there.

Outreach workers have flooded the area in recent weeks. As of Monday, 20 people had accepted housing, according to a city spokesperson. The Parker administration has proposed a $100 million investment in housing and intake centers where drug users can be connected with treatment and other services.

Wednesdays encampment clearing will, within weeks, lead into a law-enforcement-led approach, which Parker said will include heavy police presence, drug busts, warrant sweeps, and arrests for drug possession, prostitution and other quality of life crimes.

She pledged to take control of one to two blocks at a time and then hold those blocks  while monitoring for the displacement of problems to surrounding areas.

Erosion of safe spaces

Savage Sisters drop-in center is one of a handful of indoor spaces in Kensington where drug users can get showers, snacks, wound care, and connection to treatment programs  and can hang out for a few hours without fear of aggravating nearby residents, business owners, or police.

But amid complaints from City Council members, the landlord Shift Capital said it would not renew the nonprofits lease this fall.

Just down the street, Stop the Risk, a meal program and DIY shelter run by neighborhood resident Patrice Rogers on a lot shed filled with sheds and an RV, also shut down  a result, Rogers said, of city pressure.

At McPherson Square, a Kensington park once crowded with drug users, the few people sitting on benches said police have made clear the lawn is now off-limits to them.

Janine, 39, said she was killing time in the park before a volunteer shift at Prevention Point.

She said shes been on edge because police interactions had become a daily occurrence for her since the start of the Parker administration. She said she hadnt been arrested, but had been threatened with arrest and issued numerous citations, including two $25 tickets for paraphernalia.

Before, theyd be like, Hey! You OK? You need help? Now, they kick you and say, Get up!

Chris, who is from Northeast Philadelphia and declined to provide his last name, said police encounters  some of which started with him shoplifting a coffee or a bag of chips  have grown more routinely violent.

They beat me up, threw my book bag in the street, grabbed me by the neck, and threw me in the street, he said. They feel emboldened. They know they can get away with it. This is an opportunity to take whatever their feelings and thoughts are about us, and to act on it.

Police spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp said he could not comment on specific cases, but any allegations of abusive language or other misconduct should be reported to police supervisors or submitted as an official complaint. Its completely and totally unacceptable and thats not how our officers are expected to behave, and if thats going on, of course we want to know about it, Gripp said.

The displacement effect

At neighborhood meetings, residents of nearby communities have warned that theyre already seeing more people sleeping on the street  raising fears that the city is shifting the problems plaguing Kensington onto them.

They have started moving into the neighborhood, said Shannon Farrell-Pakstis, who heads the Harrowgate Civic Association.

That aligned with what some unhoused people who spoke with The Inquirer described as a scattering  into transitional housing or shelters, under bridges or onto SEPTA lines. Some said theyve given up finding one regular place to stay, but move someplace new each night.

Zack, 40, whos from Northeast Philadelphia but has been in Kensington about four years, said hes been there through one encampment shutdown after another  from the train tracks to the underpasses.

The current climate, he said, is the most hostile hes experienced. Safer drug supplies are more difficult to obtain, and tents are taken down right away.

You get kicked out of everywhere you go, he said.

Leo Beletsky, a professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University, said the crackdown may solve an optics problem, but it comes at a high cost.

Research has shown more aggressive enforcement contributes to riskier behavior, greater risk of death by overdose, and greater challenges in providing mediation and services to people in addiction, he said.

Dispersing these encampments simply disperses the problem. It doesnt solve it, he said. But the pressure is on police and politicians to make the problem go away  or to make it less visible at least.
The Inquirer Editorial Board recommends Assemblywoman Carol Murphy in the Democratic primary for New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District. Read more

New Jersey Rep. Andy Kims decision to run for indicted U.S. Sen. Bob Menendezs seat created a scramble to take Kims place.

Kims 3rd Congressional District mainly covers Burlington County, as well as some parts of Mercer County near Trenton and scattered towns in Monmouth County. The district backed President Joe Biden by 14 points in 2020, so the winner of the Democratic primary on June 4 will likely be elected to Congress in November.

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Kim has served the district well and leaves big shoes to fill. Five candidates are running in the Democratic primary. They include New Jersey General Assembly members Herb Conaway Jr. (D., Delran) and Carol Murphy (D., Mount Laurel). The three other Democratic candidates are attorney Joseph Cohn, teacher Brian Schkeeper, and small-business owner Sarah Schoengood.

Conaway and Murphy are the two front-runners in the race, according to a recent poll, though many voters are still undecided. Both have extensive government experience and name recognition. But Murphy is the best choice to represent the 3rd Congressional District.

Murphy, 61, trained as a paralegal and worked as a community relations manager for the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, the state agency that oversees the construction and renovations of school facilities. From there she served as the chief of staff to State Sen. Linda Greenstein before becoming the policy director for Assemblywoman Gabriela Mosquera.

Murphy was elected to the General Assembly in 2018. Her experience in Trenton enabled her to hit the ground running. She soon became the majority whip and a prolific legislator, introducing roughly 300 bills.

If elected to Congress, Murphy would become the first woman to serve New Jerseys 3rd District  a historical anachronism in need of change. She said her top priorities would focus on protecting womens reproductive rights, in particular codifying Roe v. Wade nationwide and ensuring access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.

Murphy also discussed the need to protect voters rights and defend democracy, which remain under threat from Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans. To that end, Murphy said she would work to bring back trust in government by collaborating with lawmakers from both parties where possible. Murphy also committed to hold monthly town hall meetings with voters, which Kim does.

Like Kim, Murphy has an independent streak even within her own party. She told the Editorial Board she did not seek permission to run for Congress from the influential but unelected South Jersey power broker George E. Norcross III.

Murphy has an independent streak even within her own party.

That was especially refreshing given that when it comes to politics in South Jersey, all roads usually lead through Norcross (even though he claims to be stepping back from politics). The same could not be said for Conaway, a physician and attorney by training who has been in the General Assembly since 1998.

Conaway, 61, said hes had a couple of conversations with Norcross, and asked for his support. How can you not ask? Conaway told the Editorial Board. Im asking everybody for help.

Like Murphy, Conaway said preserving democracy and abortion rights would be his top priorities, followed by creating jobs and combating climate change. Both Conaway and Murphy said they supported wind farms off the Jersey Shore.

Among the other three candidates, Cohn, a civil rights attorney who has worked for the American Civil Liberties Union, the AIDS Law Project, and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, seemed the strongest. He was measured and focused on trying to find common ground with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

But in a crowded field, Murphy had the best mix of experience, independence, and temperament needed to meet the high bar set by Kim. The Inquirer endorses Assemblywoman Carol Murphy in the Democratic primary for New Jerseys 3rd Congressional District.
CO2 Coalition display at the PA Leadership Conference in Camp Hill last month. Read more

Carbon dioxide is a miracle molecule that fuels all life on Earth. Thats the message a group downplaying the threat of climate change has been spreading to Pennsylvania conservatives.

I love CO2, Gregory Wrightstone, executive director of the CO2 Coalition, told the conservative Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in Camp Hill last month, and so should you.

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Wrightstone will make the same widely contested pitch Thursday when he addresses the Lehigh Valley Tea Party in Allentown.

Climate scientists warn Wrightstones CO2 Coalition is a fount of misinformation that promotes doubt about the effects of climate change, and serves as a mouthpiece for the oil and gas industry. A United Nations report calls climate change the single biggest health threat facing humanity.

A former geologist who worked in Pittsburgh for two decades in the fossil fuel industry, Wrightstone acknowledges that the burning of coal, natural gas, and oil has increased the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

But such activity merely warms the planet, he said in an interview, extending the crop-growing season and thus feeding the world. It has no chance of kicking off climate catastrophe as others predict, he contended.

Evidence shows, however, that the growing accumulation of greenhouse gases  primarily carbon dioxide  is already fueling extreme weather events, including deadly wildfires in Hawaii and calamitous floods in Vermont in 2023, the worlds hottest year on record, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Who funds the CO2 Coalition?

Created in 2015, the coalition is a nonprofit based in Arlington, Va., with a revenue of $1.06 million in 2022, the latest data available from public documents. The coalition doesnt list many of its donors.

It is a front-group tied to the fossil fuel industry and conservative funders. Theyre shills, promoting untruthful or misleading claims, said Michael Mann, a climatologist at the University of Pennsylvania.

Manns work was included in a report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore. The coalition isnt a legitimate source of science, he said.

Coalition funders have included the conservative Mercer Family Foundation, a major Trump donor, according to Grantmakers.io, a public IRS data site; the Charles Koch Foundation, connected to Koch Industries, which has owned oil refineries and pipelines, and has conducted a climate change disinformation campaign, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit that studies climate change; and the Thomas W. Smith Foundation Inc., which supports groups that fight critical race theory, according to SourceWatch, part of the progressive Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit watchdog organization.

Coalition spokespeople describe the organization as a whos who of eminent scientists who amplify the importance of carbon dioxide, which helps the Earth trap heat from the sun.

The group was cofounded by William Happer, a professor emeritus of physics from Princeton University who has attempted to dispute climate science for years, according to Politicos E&E News, which covers energy and environment policy. Happer, a senior director with the White House National Security Council in the Trump administration, has called carbon emissions a boon to the environment.

A former CEO of the coalition, William OKeefe, was a COO of the American Petroleum Institute, the largest U.S. trade association for the oil and natural gas industry.

Wrightstone is the author of Inconvenient Facts: The Science That Al Gore Doesnt Want You to Know. He often appears on conservative media outlets such as Fox News, NewsMax, Breitbart, the Daily Signal (part of the Heritage Foundation), as well as on Christian radio networks.

How is the group spreading its message?

The CO2 Coalitions position is exemplified by a slogan it featured on billboards along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in New Stanton and Bedford last year: Sleep well. Theres no climate crisis.

We are speaking to people who love America, said coalition marketing vice president Angela Wheeler in a brief interview. They believe that truth matters.

This approach to climate change has been labeled the new denial  forsaking the hard-to-defend argument that warming is a hoax (the old denial) for one that downplays the perils of a heated-up planet.

The coalitions use of hard-to-parse jargon makes it appear that its arguments hew to scientific principles. But, said University of California, Berkley, researcher Amber Kerr, the coalition will use technical details to distract and confuse rather than to educate the public.

In testimony before the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee in 2022, Wrightstone claimed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency falsely determined that carbon dioxide was a pollutant 15 years ago.

Wrightstones allegation has been debunked by numerous climate scientists, who say that while carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring gas, human CO2 emissions are over-warming the planet.

CO2 fits perfectly EPAs definition of a chemical substance that presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, climate scientist James Hansen wrote in 2022. Hansen, credited with alerting Congress to global warming in the 1980s, is director of the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

The nonprofits message that predictions of impending climate crises are overblown dovetails with Republican thinking: Just 23% of Republicans believe climate change is a major threat to U.S. well-being, vs. nearly 80% of Democrats, according to a 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center.

In a widely reported incident last year, representatives of the group were kicked out of the National Science Teaching Association convention in Atlanta for distributing 700 comic books that played up the benefits of carbon dioxide without discussing its detriments.

The comic book depicts a character named Mr. Gordon who tells a child that carbon dioxide is paramount for sustaining all life on earth without noting the dangers of accumulated CO2 in the atmosphere, raising the ire of science teachers at the convention.

Teaching children that CO2 is life-sustaining without discussing the buildup of greenhouse gases is like telling a drowning person they need water to survive, Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, told the Washington Post. Its not helpful.

What does the science say?

Many of the CO2 Coalitions findings have been contradicted by Scientific American, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, among others.

David Robinson, the New Jersey State Climatologist and a professor in the department of geography at Rutgers University, said that the coalitions message has no basis in fact even if its members are earnest in believing in it.

What they put out is misinformation, placing a shine on a seriously negative situation, which is that the planet is warming at an unprecedented pace, he said.

Wrightstone disputed that, saying the coalitions work is accurate and science-based.

But Mann said the coalitions work is built on a foundational myth that the world isnt at risk from accelerating carbon dioxide.

Every authoritative scientific society in the world concludes the opposite, Mann said.

Staff writer Ryan Briggs contributed to this article.
David Holloman, the interim executive director of the Office of Homeless Services, is likely to be replaced as Mayor Cherelle L. Parker's administration seeks to revamp the office following years of fiscal mismanagement. Read more

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker will replace David Holloman, the current head of the citys Office of Homeless Services, following revelations about financial mismanagement in the office, a top city official said Monday.

With Holloman sitting next to him, Managing Director Adam Thiel announced during a City Council budget hearing that the city is currently in search of new leadership for the Office of Homeless Services. It was confirmation that Holloman  who has been serving in an interim capacity  wont lead the office moving forward.

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Mr. Holloman has provided dedicated service to this agency for a long time. He continues to do so, Thiel said. And we certainly expect to continue to have his expertise going forward, albeit not in his current role as the director.

Holloman, the offices former chief of staff, has led the office since former executive director Liz Hersh left last year to take a job at a national nonprofit. Following Hershs departure, news emerged that the office overspent its budget by nearly $15 million over four years under her leadership.

Councils microscope on the office has made for multiple tense hearings during what has otherwise been a largely cordial budget season in City Hall. Lawmakers are negotiating with Parkers administration over the mayors $6.29 billion spending and revenue plan, and the sides must come to an agreement by the end of June.

The Office of Homeless Services is requesting an additional $16 million in funding, an amount Holloman said would allow it to continue offering shelter to the citys homeless as its costs rise. Without the money, the city could lose as many as 500 beds at short-term shelters, he said.

The request comes at the same time that several investigations into the offices fiscal practices are underway, including by the city controller and an outside accounting firm.

The citys inspector general Alexander DeSantis released preliminary findings of his own probe last month and said the offices leadership knowingly entered into contracts with service providers that it did not have enough money to pay for. Officials in some cases underestimated costs, then delayed paying contractors until a new city budget was approved.

Under questioning by Council members Monday, Thiel  whose office oversees the Office of Homeless Services  said the Parker administration has taken a variety of steps to reform the office, including hiring independent consultants to review its fiscal practices and fortifying oversight by other agencies.

We are changing essentially everything about how OHS does business, except for its vital mission, he said.

 READ MORE: Investigation finds deliberate overspending in Phillys Office of Homeless Services

Some Council members expressed continued reservations about the agency.

Katherine Gilmore Richardson, the Democratic majority leader who has been reviewing the Office of Homeless Services for more than a year, peppered its leadership with in-the-weeds questions about specific budget items, unpaid bills, and existing contracts, some of which they couldnt immediately answer.

And she chided them for not sending a breakdown of how the $16 million budget request would be spent until just 40 minutes before the hearing was scheduled to start.

Other members indicated theyre concerned that if the city does not agree to the Office of Homeless Services budget request, it could negatively impact vulnerable populations.

Despite the recent controversies that were noted, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who represents West Philadelphia, said, we cannot deny the fact that the Office of Homeless Services fulfills a critical need in the city.
In his new role, Faulkner will be tasked with overseeing the management and development of strategic relationships with brokers based in Australia and the Pacific region. He will report to Brannigan and will also collaborate with the firms strategy and distribution team in London, which is headed by chief strategy and distribution officer Simon Williams.
Following the acquisition, the founding members of HICA, Suzanne Still and Jethro Still, along with their team, will continue operating out of their current premises. They will now report to Graham Campbell, who is at the helm of Gallagher's employee benefits and HR consulting operations in the region.
So our Australian book over the last 12 months has grown 25% which is really strong growth in that market, said Holmes. If we can do that from 10,000 miles away, what can we really do when were actually in the cities where our brokers are able to talk, in time zone, and build those closer personal relationships?
Established in 2014, the Mozo Experts Choice Awards assess a variety of financial products to spotlight those offering exceptional value or benefits to consumers every year. The evaluation process for income protection insurance includes a detailed analysis of plan costs across various professions, focusing on policies with one- and three-month waiting periods and one- and two-year benefit periods.
Xavier is eager to leverage his expertise and established relationships within the broker community, Stiller said. He is committed to building upon BenefitMalls reputation for excellence, providing brokers and their clients with a faster and easier sales experience.
Carlyle also argues that several insurers have publicly acknowledged their reserves, which they claim are insufficient to cover the billions of dollars in outstanding claims. They warn that this under-reservation poses serious solvency and systemic concerns not only for the aviation insurance sector but for the broader insurance industry.
Ricky was in my religious school class at Holy Blossom Temple and in my Hebrew class starting at age nine, May said in a social media post. Seventy years have passed and those memories are with me still. I recall we were expelled from class as we broke down giggling about the torn seam in the teachers pants. I missed reconnecting with Rick at many of the UTS reunions. His smile and laughter will reverberate in me for as many years as I have left.
Feature: Chinese cultural performances, language-learning stories amaze U.S. youth

Xinhua) 17:52, May 07, 2024

NEW YORK, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Cultural performances by artists from southeast China's Fujian Province and stories of Chinese-speaking Americans on learning the language impressed around 100 U.S. students here at an event on Monday.

Big drums and parasols were featured in a dance named "Golden Drums," the first performance at the open day event hosted by the Consulate General of China in New York.

Artists from Zhangzhou City in Fujian presented two well-known musical pieces, "Catching Butterflies While Picking Tea Leaves" and "Hard Workers, True Winner."

Masters of glove puppetry, an intangible cultural heritage from Zhangzhou, performed captivating stories from the Water Margin, one of China's most beloved classic novels.

They also demonstrated how to play with the puppets and invited attendees to try it out themselves.

Students had the opportunity to taste Chinese tea and appreciate Chinese calligraphy.

Several speakers shared their stories and thoughts on how to master the Chinese language.

Alexander Given, a graduating senior at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, said he had been fascinated by the story of the Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, as a young boy.

"Even then as a young child, I knew that I wanted to visit China no matter what. I was determined to see the diverse landscapes, vast cities, and historical landmarks for myself," Given said.

Given started to learn Mandarin in high school and pursued a degree in international relations and Asian studies as an undergraduate student.

"What I remember most during my time as a student learning about China is not necessarily the lessons in all of the homework, but the experiences I had and the people I met. It is these interactions at the personal level that are most important," he said.

These experiences helped shape his views on international relations and the world, he said.

"There are many doors open to me now. And after looking into different opportunities, I hope that I might be able to attend graduate school in China or perhaps even work there," Given said.

James B. Heimowitz, honorary chair of the China Institute in America, said his journey to understanding China started in Fujian decades ago.

Heimowitz said he can't think of a better way for American youth to gain better insights into the way in which Chinese people are thinking about the future than being able to access China through its language.

"I hope each of you will take the time to create your own journey and your own experiences in China. That's truly what it means to be a part of our future," he said, noting that China is very much a part of this planet's future.

Heimowitz also presided at a fireside discussion with educators of the Chinese language and young adults who have mastered the language.

The American students present said the stories were encouraging to them.

"I think that seeing people that aren't Chinese being able to speak Chinese so well was very encouraging ... Seeing an American person speaking Chinese so well is encouraging for me because I want to be able to get to that level," said Teyo Agoyo, a senior from Friends Select School in Philadelphia.

He hoped the Chinese language would help him make a lot of connections in his future career.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
Leger pointed to several factors that will drive this growth: Chinas aging population is likely to increase the demand for life and health insurance products; the expanding industrial sector may require more property coverage; and the effects of climate change are expected to boost the need for natural disaster insurance.
Theres a bit of bad news in the sense that climate change is already locked in, so we will have to expect bigger losses, higher losses, he said. But there is also an element of good news. There have been previous studies by Swiss Re suggesting that in various jurisdictions and locations, up to 65% of these future losses can be averted cost effectively, which means that the benefit of the avoided damage in the future outweighs the investment required today.
JM Wilson Hires Kemp as Transportation Renewal Underwriter

JM Wilson, headquartered in Portage, Michigan, hired Corey Kemp as transportation renewal underwriter. Kemp is responsible for underwriting renewal commercial transportation accounts, corresponding with carrier underwriters and maintaining relationships with independent agents in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the eastern U.S.

Kemp has over eight years of experience in auto underwriting. Before joining JM Wilson, he worked as a consumer loan underwriter at Wells Fargo.

Vermont Mutual Names Gilbert Senior Vice President

Vermont Mutual Insurance Group, headquartered in Montpelier, Vermont, promoted Brody N. Gilbert to senior vice president of finance & operations and treasurer.

Gilbert joined Vermont Mutual in 2017 as the companys controller and was promoted to vice president and chief financial officer in 2021. Gilbert started his career at PwC, spending 13 years in various posts within PwCs National Insurance Practice. After PwC, Gilbert worked as director of finance at Bluestone Life Insurance Company, and as director of accounting and controller at Arbella Insurance Group.

Topics Vermont
Massachusettss highest court on Monday weighed whether ballot proposals that would redefine the relationship between app-based companies like Uber Technologies and Lyft and their drivers should be allowed to go before voters in November.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court justices expressed concern, during oral arguments in Boston, over parts of an industry-supported groups proposal to ask voters to affirm that under state law, drivers are independent contractors with some new benefits but cannot be considered company employees.

But the six justices appeared unlikely to fully embrace a labor-backed coalitions argument that the proposal runs afoul of the states constitution by broadly carving out the drivers from a laundry list of unrelated worker protection laws.

Jennifer Grace Miller, a lawyer for the measures opponents, said voters would be asked to weigh in on not one policy question but a series of separate areas of employment law that could not legally be bundled together for their consideration.

However, Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt asked whether the measure could be viewed as addressing a single policy proposal, that app drivers arent the employees of the companies that match them up with rides.

The justices appeared likely to reject a conservative groups argument that the state attorney general wrongly certified a competing measure for inclusion on the ballot. That measure, backed by the Service Employees International Unions Local 32BJ, would ask voters to allow Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize under state oversight.

Justice Scott Kafker envisioned a world where voters sided with the industry yet deemed the drivers as contractors with the right to engage in collective bargaining.

This seems to be whats good for the goose is good for the gander, Kafker said.

A May 13 trial is due in a 2020 lawsuit by the states attorney general accusing Uber and Lyft of misclassifying their drivers as contractors, not employees, for years.

Should the industry fail in court and at the ballot box, Uber and Lyft could face a sweeping overhaul of their business model. Ubers lawyers have said in court papers such a change could force it to cut or end service in Massachusetts.

Uber and Lyft, along with app-based delivery services Instacart and DoorDash, have spent millions of dollars to support the ballot proposal that would cement the status of their drivers as contractors under state law.

Using contractors can cost companies as much as 30% less than hiring employees, various studies showed.

Flexibility and Benefits for Massachusetts Drivers, a ballot measure committee whose contributors include the four ride-share companies, is also proposing setting an earnings floor for app-based drivers and providing them healthcare stipends, occupational accident insurance and paid sick time.

Thaddeus Heuer, a lawyer for the measures proponents, said his clients had a common purpose of defining that relationship as not employer-employee.

The state high court in 2022 blocked a similar industry-backed ballot measure over a provision it deemed unrelated to the proposal.

To hedge its bets this time, the group is gathering signatures for five versions of the ballot question, only one of which it would have put before voters on Nov. 5.

Kafker, in his argument on Monday, questioned a provision tucked into the broadest of those five versions that would require drivers claiming they were fired for discriminatory reasons to appeal to the employer.

Generally dont have the person whos accused of discrimination decide whether they discriminated, he urged.

A ruling is expected ahead of a July 3 deadline for the ballot measures proponents to submit signatures to the secretary of state.

Topics Massachusetts
HSB announced the opening of a new office location in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, on May 6.

One of our strategic priorities is to increase accessibility to HSBs inspection and engineering services, particularly in growing markets such as Saudi Arabia, said Mark Masters, senior vice president, Eurasia, for HSBs Global Inspection and Engineering Services division.

With the new office location, HSB will improve our responsiveness to local manufacturers and asset owners, and reduce costs. We will deploy the same highly qualified staff and technical support, including the development of local talent, Masters said.

HSB, a subsidiary of Munich Re, is a multi-line specialty insurer and provider of inspection, risk management and IoT technology services. The company has more than 450 engineers, inspectors, and auditors around the world with over 150 years of engineering experience and is qualified to help clients meet local and international code requirements. HSB is the largest Authorized Inspection Agency (AIA) accredited by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

The Hartford Steam Boiler International GmbH Company branch is located at:

Sahara Offices Center

3937 King Faisal Street-North

Office No.6

Jubail 35514-8960

Saudi Arabia

Phone: +966 13 844 5552

Email: office@hsb.com

Source: HSB
Australias Qantas Airways agreed to pay A$120 million ($79 million) to settle a regulator lawsuit over the sale of thousands of tickets on already canceled flights, in an attempt to end a reputational crisis that has engulfed the airline.

The company will split A$20 million between more than 86,000 customers who booked tickets on the so-called ghost flights and pay a A$100 million fine instead of defending the lawsuit that it had previously vowed to fight, Qantas and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said on Monday.

The fine is the biggest ever for an Australian airline and among the largest globally in the sector, although some Australian banks and casino operators have faced higher penalties for breaches of the law.

We recognize Qantas let down customers and fell short of our own standards, CEO Vanessa Hudson said in a statement.

The settlement means we can compensate affected customers much sooner than if the case had continued in the Federal Court, added Hudson, who started her role in September, noting the court still must sign off on the settlement.

If the court approves, the settlement will resolve a dispute that had featured prominently at a time when Qantass brand value tanked in consumer surveys amid a spike in complaints about cancellations. After the ACCC filed its lawsuit last August, Hudsons long-serving predecessor, Alan Joyce, brought forward his retirement.

This penalty  will send a strong deterrence message to other companies, ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement.

The payout, however, would pale against the A$1.47 billion net profit that analysts on average forecast Qantas to report in the year to end-June, according to LSEG data. People who bought tickets on non-existent domestic flights would get A$225 and people with international fares would get A$450, on top of a refund, the airline and regulator said.

Qantas shares were flat in late trading, against a 0.6% gain in the broader Australian market.

We see todays outcome as incremental positive, removing another post-COVID brand and valuation overhang from the stock, RBC Capital Markets analyst Owen Birrell said in a client note.

Qantas is still waiting to learn how much it must pay nearly 1,700 ground handling staff it sacked in 2020 after a court found the job cuts were illegal since they were intended to stop industrial action.

The ACCC lawsuit centered on the months after Australias border reopened in 2022 following two years of COVID restrictions, and airline cancellations and lost luggage complaints spiked globally amid staffing shortages.

Qantas had argued that it faced similar challenges to airlines around the world, but the ACCC said its actions broke consumer law. It had said the airline sometimes sold tickets to flights weeks after they were canceled.

The ACCCs Cass-Gottlieb noted that the settlement included a promise from Qantas not to repeat the conduct.

($1 = 1.5124 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Byron Kaye in Sydney and Poonam Behura in Bengaluru; editing by Jamie Freed)

Topics Aviation Australia
Acrisure, the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based insurance broker and fintech specialist, announced it has completed two acquisitions, expanding its southern England region, which is managed by Sutton Winson, Acrisures largest UK acquisition to date.

Financial details of the two deals were not disclosed.

Financial and Credit Insurance Services Ltd. (FinCred) is a Sevenoaks, Kent-based specialist credit insurance broker and surety bond expert with a worldwide book of business. Acrisure said the acquisition will further enhance Acrisure and Sutton Winsons collective capabilities across the United Kingdom. Hannah Lyon-Wall, managing director of Fincred, spent more than six years at Markel International prior to taking over the family-owned business in 2016.

Acrisure also purchased Global Broking Solutions (GBS) in a deal that saw the company acquire a client base spanning all parts of Kent and East Sussex. The strategic move compliments the acquisition of FinCred as Acrisure and Sutton Winson look to form three established office locations in London, East Sussex and now Kent, Acrisure said.

We are excited to continue our expansion in southern England with these two acquisitions, led by the world-class Sutton Winson team. Hannah is a proven leader with a phenomenal track record and a huge future in the industry. We are genuinely delighted to welcome her and the rest of the team onboard, commented Mark McIlquham, president, Acrisure UK Retail.

We are thrilled with the acquisitions of FinCred and GBS, and this is the beginning of something special we are building with Acrisure in the south. Acrisure will continue to support us in acquiring businesses with whom we can culturally align, according to Gareth Roberts, managing director, Sutton Winson. We now control close to 70 million GWP and expect that figure to surpass 100 million within the next two years through a combination of organic and inorganic growth.

My family and I have known Sutton Winson for years, and when we decided the time was right to sell and become part of a larger organisation, there was only one business we even considered partnering with, said Lyon-Wall. We are incredibly specialist in our field and know that Acrisures global presence will have a massively beneficial impact on our future growth trajectory.

In the last nine years, Acrisure has grown in revenue from $38 million to $4.4 billion and today employs over 17,000 colleagues in over 20 countries.

Source: Acrisure
The African Unions climate insurance agency will pay out at least $60 million to four southern African nations to help them offset the impact of a drought thats been driven by the El Nino weather pattern, its director general said.

Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique will receive payments at the end of the harvesting season in a few weeks time, Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, who leads the African Risk Capacity agency, said in an interview in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

The drought has reduced the corn crop by at least three-fifths in Zimbabwe alone, and the insurance payouts will equate to a fraction of what it needed to alleviate the impact. Still, Diong said, the money will be dispersed way before support is forthcoming from the World Bank and other sources, and provide immediate relief while governments mobilize more resources from their own budgets and from donors.

In the business of disasters every second counts, Diong said. If your money comes too late, it may be too late.

El Nino is caused by ocean currents that bring dry and hot weather to Southern Africa. Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia have declared national state of disasters.

Diong said the amount that each country will receive from the AU agency is yet to be determined and will depend on the premiums they paid. African Risk Capacity operates a parametric insurance model, which triggers drought compensation payments according to the impact of timing, amount and distribution of rainfall. It also provides cover for cyclones and river floods.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Tuesday said it is seeking $228.3 million to help Zambia from the impact of the drought, which is experiencing its driest farming season in 40 years.

Zimbabwe took out partial drought cover with the AU and its payout will be insufficient to cater for nearly 3 million people affected in the country who are at risk of hunger, its Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, told lawmakers on Monday.

We easily need seven to eight times what the insurance amount will be, he said, without specifying how much it expects to get. We are thinking of broadening the insurance. That will help reduce the fiscal impact.

Photo credit: Drought leads to failed corn crops at a farm in Glendale, Zimbabwe. Photo credit: Cynthia R Matonhodze/Bloomberg

Copyright 2024 Bloomberg.
The number of wildfires per year is going down, but the increasing size and intensity of the fires is creating more property damage than ever before  in fact, the average fire size has tripled over the past 30 years, a new analysis shows.

Wildfire activity is cyclical and doesnt follow a uniform pattern form season to season. In 2023, when an El Nino weather pattern brought increased moisture to the West and South, the U.S. experienced a 25-year low in total area burned. Reports showed 2.7 million acres (4,209 square miles) burned that year from wildfires. In 2022, nearly triple that area burned, with fires touching 7.57 million acres (11,839 square miles).

In the first four months of 2024, 1.75 million acres have burned in the U.S. This is primarily due to the largest fire recorded in Texas history, which scorched more 1 million acres. States lawmakers have faulted a power pole for starting the massive blaze.

While the number of fires per year is in decline, the increasing size and intensity of those fires is creating more property damage than ever before, wrote Tom Jeffery, Ph.D., author of the report out from CoreLogic.

CoreLogic conducts an annual analysis of the wildfire hazard by calculating the residential exposure to higher categories of wildfire risk and the reconstruction cost of properties to produce the top 15 core-based statistical areas in the U.S. for wildfire exposure. All the metro areas on the list are in the West, six of which are in California.

Los Angeles tops the list with 185,763 properties at a higher risk and at a reconstruction value of $143.3 billion. The rest of the top five are Riverside (166,372 at $86.6 billion), San Diego (123,060 at $75.6 billion), Sacramento (91,475 at $53.2 billion) and San Francisco (56,985 at $40.2 billion).

The report also notes that many of the high-extreme wildfire risk areas are in states that lead the nation in housing shortages, which means many homes will be built in the wildland-urban interface, raising risks for properties and people alike.

Therefore, the report calls out the need for wildfire education, thoughtful urban planning and development, and wildfire insurance coverage that supports risk mitigation.

Theres also an elevated wildfire risk outside the WUI.

Even when the division between high-risk areas and development is clearly defined, embers blown from burning vegetation onto and into homes can stretch a fires threat farther into the urban zone, the report states. Embers are responsible for an estimated 90% of home ignitions caused by wildfire. There have been instances of embers igniting residences up to a half mile or more from an actual fire.

Photo: Photographer: Kathryn Elsesser/AFP/Getty Images

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters USA Wildfire
ATLANTA (AP)  Georgias governor on Thursday signed a bill putting new regulations on the production and sale of products containing kratom, a plant-based supplement.

The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, prohibits the sale of kratom to anyone under 21 and says it must be kept behind a counter or in a display area that is only accessible to store employees. It also limits the concentration of kratoms main chemical components in products sold in Georgia, imposes new labeling requirements and adds penalties for violations.

Extracted from the leaves of a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia, kratom is used to make capsules, powders and liquids. Its often sold in gas stations or smoke shops, marketed as an aid for pain, anxiety and drug dependence.

Proponents of kratom say its a safe, natural herbal supplement that can help manage pain and ease the effects of opioid withdrawal. An estimated 1.7 million Americans used kratom in 2021, according to a national survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

It acts as a stimulant in low doses and a sedative at high doses, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says kratom can be addictive and can cause hallucinations, delusions and confusion. The DEA considers kratom a drug and chemical of concern, but it is not a controlled substance. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasnt approved any drug products containing kratom or its main chemical components.

State Rep. Rick Townsend, a Republican from coastal Brunswick, sponsored the legislation after he was contacted by Anne and Larry Rogers, a couple in his district whose son Wes died after using kratom.

It shook me pretty hard, he said of that phone call, which prompted him to do research on kratom. His initial plan was to try to ban it, he said, but he eventually settled on adding regulations.

This is a joyous day, but its not a joyous day because weve lost loved ones because of it. But at least right now we can try to save some others in the process, Townsend said at a news conference after the governor signed the bill. He was joined by the Rogers and two other families who say they lost loved ones who used kratom.

U.S. health officials said in a report released in 2019 that kratom was a cause in 91 overdose deaths in 27 states. While most of those who died had also taken heroin, fentanyl or other drugs, kratom was the only substance detected in seven of the deaths.

Dana and John Pope, whose son Ethan died after using kratom have filed a lawsuit against people, companies and organizations connected to the manufacturing, marketing and sale of kratom. Dana Pope said at the news conference that the product her son took would be illegal under the new law, so were really hoping that his death prevents other families from having to endure the pain and the loss that we have.

The American Kratom Association, a trade organization and advocacy group, had urged people to contact Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to ask him to veto the bill, saying it adds criminalization penalties for vendors, complicates product configurations, and will limit kratom availability for consumers in Georgia.

Mac Haddow, a senior fellow on public policy for the association, said Thursday that the organization supports regulations to protect consumers. But he said theyre disappointed this law doesnt designate any state agency to make sure that kratom products are properly formulated and labeled. That could make retailers hesitant to sell kratom products if theyre not sure they comply with the law, he said.

The association hopes to work with Georgia lawmakers during the next legislative session, which starts in January, to quickly address those issues, Haddow said.

The Georgia legislation raises the age to purchase kratom from 18 to 21. It also prohibits the use of kratom with any sort of vaping device or the sale of kratom intended for use in a vaping device.

The law clarifies the definition of kratom and caps the levels of the two main chemical components in kratom, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, allowed in a serving of a kratom product. It also requires labels to include the recommended serving size and a time frame for safe consumption and limits the claims about benefits that can be made on labeling.

Violations of some parts of the law, including selling kratom to an underage person, will be a misdemeanor and carry a fine of up to $250 for a first offense, up to $500 for a second offense and up to $1,000 for each subsequent offense.

Processors and retailers who knowingly or with criminal negligence violate other sections of the law having to do with the production or labeling of kratom products can be charged with a felony punishable by one to 15 years in prison, a fine of up to $100,000 or both.

Photo: Dana Pope, with her husband John by her side, at a news conference at the Georgia Capitol after Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill to regulate kratom. (AP Photo/Kate Brumback)

Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Georgia
Four dead in gas tank blast in Russia's Chechnya 12 Oct 2024 | 10:34 PM Moscow, Oct 12 (UNI)Four people, including two children, were killed on Saturday in a gas tank explosion at a gas station in the city of Grozny in Russia's Chechnya, the local office of the Russian Emergencies Ministry said. see more..

Iran ready to launch air bridge to bring relief aid to Lebanon - Speaker 12 Oct 2024 | 10:30 PM Tehran, Oct 12 (UNI) Iran is ready to launch an air bridge to deliver humanitarian aid to Beirut amid Israeli bombardment, Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Saturday. see more..

Helicopter crash in Brazil kills 6 12 Oct 2024 | 10:23 PM Rio De Janeiro, Oct 12 (UNI) Six people have been confirmed dead after a firefighting helicopter crashed in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, local authorities said Saturday. see more..

Egypt supports Palestinian Authority, rejects plans to displace Palestinians: FM 12 Oct 2024 | 8:14 PM Cairo, Oct 12 (UNI) Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Saturday reiterated "Egypt's firm support for the Palestinian Authority and rejection of any plans to displace the Palestinians from their land."

Abdelatty made the remarks during his meeting with a visiting delegation of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), according to a statement from his ministry. see more..
Bayer AGs Monsanto unit persuaded an appeals court in Washington state to throw out a $185 million jury award to three former teachers at a Seattle-area school who blamed exposure to the firms toxic chemicals for their brain injuries.

A three-judge panel last Wednesday found flaws in the 2021 trial over claims that Monsantos polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, caused the illnesses. The teachers said the chemicals leaked from lights in the school. The 2-1 ruling by the states intermediate appellate court sets up a possible retrial.

Shares of Bayer, which have fallen more than 70% since it acquired Monsanto in 2018, rose as much as 5.4% in early Frankfurt trading.

The case is the first of more than half a dozen verdicts with combined damages of more than $1.5 billion to reach the appeals court over alleged PCB exposure at the Sky Valley Education Center. Jefferies analysts said its one of a number of categories of litigation Bayer faces regarding PCBs and arguably the one with the greatest risk of swelling to a multiple billion dollar figure.

Monsanto called the ruling very significant because it may have implications for other verdicts.

The company will consider its legal options regarding the application of this ruling to other SVEC verdicts that are in conflict with it, as well as how this ruling could affect any future trials, the chemical maker said in an emailed statement.

Rick Friedman, a Seattle lawyer that represented the teachers, said he plans to appeal the decision. We always knew this case was headed for the state Supreme Court. We believe we will ultimately prevail there, but even if we dont, we will still win these cases at the trial level, following the rules laid out by the Court of Appeals.

Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018 for $63 billion, has been dealing with multiple costly legal fights it inherited from the US maker of seeds and herbicides, including thousands of lawsuits alleging that its Roundup weed killer causes cancer.

Bayers top-end exposure in PCB contamination claims from US states and individuals could exceed $2.5 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. The company has already paid out more than $650 million in settlements of lawsuits filed by US cities and counties over pollution of waterways.

The ruling Wednesday follows a judges decision last week to cut in half a $784 million punitive-damage award to seven other women who contend they were sickened by PCB exposure at the school.

The case is Erickson v. Pharmacia, No. 83287-5-1, Division One, Court of Appeals for the State of Washington (Seattle).

(Updates with Bayer share reaction in third paragraph, Jefferies comments in fourth)

Copyright 2024 Bloomberg.

Topics Washington
One child was killed and another injured when a bounce house was swept up by wind in Casa Grande, Arizona, in what local authorities called a tragic accident.

Saturdays fatality occurred after a strong gust sent the inflatable toy house airborne into the neighboring lot with several children playing inside, according to a statement from the Pinal County Sheriffs Office.

A two-year-old was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The second child was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Authorities didnt publicly identify the victims.

Experts say unsafe wind conditions can trigger such accidents frequently, especially in the southwestern U.S. However, the sheriffs office said it was not aware of any similar events in Pinal County.

Few states in the U.S. have explicit guidelines or regulations for setting up bounce houses, despite the weather-related risks.

One study of wind-related bounce house accidents found that most happened due to a few meteorological causes. Dust devils and distant thunderstorms are two common precursors.

Dust devils stem from a difference in heating that causes an updraft in one area and a downdraft in another, said Jeff Masters, founder of Weather Underground and now with Yale Climate Connections.

All you would need is a little bit of a wind gust from the side to cause that to spin, and it creates a vortex, he said.

The result can be winds of 50 to 60 miles per hour.

Cold fronts, or conditions after one, can cause falling temperatures, atmospheric pressure changes and gusty winds.

All it takes is a minute of wind to loft one of those things, Masters said of bounce houses. And if you have your bounce house up, then youre at risk. ___

Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter.

Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Norways state-owned utility Statkraft, which has a significant presence in Irelands renewable energy sector, announced a review of its activities as it reported a 23% drop in first quarter operating profit driven by sharply lower power prices.

Underlying earnings before interest and tax fell to 13.5bn Norwegian crowns (1.1bn) in the first three months of the year from 17.5bn Norwegian crowns in the same period of 2023.

It is a good result, although the quarter is somewhat down from what we have seen in the record years of 2022 and 2023, when prices were extremely high, chief executive Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal said.

Lower gas prices, a mild winter and reduced demand were behind the drop in power prices, Statkraft said.

The companys net profit declined to 6.8bn Norwegian crowns (580m) from 10.2bn crowns a year earlier.

Statkraft is planning record investments of 32bn crowns in 2024, but changing geopolitics, market conditions and rising costs for technology and capital are affecting profitability, she said.

To free up capital for new investments, Statkraft is looking to sell its district heating operations and find new investors for its biofuel and electric vehicle charging businesses.

Meanwhile, European wind turbine manufacturer Vestas posted earnings last week which put the company back in the black after the company lost more than $1bn (928m) in 2022.

The industry is still developing into a maturing industry, said its chief executive Henrik Andersen.

We are building scale and as long as there is not that maturity then you always will fight around the next project.

BloombergNEF estimates investments hit a record $217bn last year, up nearly 50% from five years prior.

In Germany, Europes biggest power market, the lifetime cost of a new onshore wind farm is lower than a gas plant, according to BNEF data. Its a similar picture for onshore wind power across Europe and even in markets as different as Brazil, India, and the US.

Pricier offshore wind farms off the German coast can also be cheaper than the gas alternative. While it might be cheaper to build and run a new wind farm than a new gas plant, it may still be more expensive when compared with existing fossil fuel-based generation.

Reporting by Reuters and Bloomberg
Things are beginning to feel back to normal again on the farm; that feeling of anxiety opening the curtains each morning is beginning to ease.

We finally had some headspace to do some calf vaccinating this week. We are a little later than we would have liked, but this spring ripped up the rulebook in so many ways.

Clostridial vaccination is so important for all young stock over eight weeks old as their maternally derived antibodies from colostrum will have waned, leaving animals naive to this deadly bacteria.

Clostridia is an anaerobic bacteria, which means it can survive without the need for oxygen, which is why soil is a common location to find the bacteria.

There are many species of clostridial, and the vaccine that we most commonly use covers eight or ten of the subspecies. One of the most common clostridial diseases in Ireland is Blackleg, caused by Clostridial Chauveoi that lives in soil and infects muscles via a wound and causes fatal toxic shock.

Vaccinating for Blackleg

The vaccine is a two-shot dose, four weeks apart, and the full course must be given. It is a dead or killed vaccine, and with these types of vaccines, they always need a booster dose to reach their full immune protection potential.

The first dose primes the immune system; it is like a bell curve - the first dose will reach the bell's peak with antibodies and then fall rapidly. It is the second dose that extends the bell curve to last for the year.

With any vaccine, it is important to store it correctly in a working fridge and always use it within the short window of a few hours once opened. My husband is sick of finding cattle vaccines in the door of our new fridge, but he will have to get used to my ways and the importance of working vaccines.

I have seen it all over the years: the vaccine left in the hot May sun for hours, Sellotape covering a month-old opened bottle, and sell-by dates older than me (and thats old).

Correct administration under the skin, two shots, four to six weeks apart could save a valuable animal's life very easily. The extra time is well worth the effort. I would also never give this vaccine with any other as there are a lot of strains in the one shot, adding another vaccine could overwhelm the immune system.

The difference between the 10-in-one and the eight-in-one vaccines is the addition of an extra two protective strains of clostridial disease in the 10-in-one.

Clostridium Sordellii, which causes Malignant oedema like Blackleg, causes toxic shock via entry through a wound, and Clostridium Perfringens type A, which causes a fatal, haemorrhagic diarrhoea in calves.

Talk to your vet about the clostridial risks on your farm and which vaccine would be preferable.

Unfortunately, our farm has a chequered history of Blackleg over the years. It is one of the most common causes of sudden death in cattle, with little or no warning you can find an otherwise perfectly healthy animal dead in the field.

We lost two 18-month-old bullocks in one week about three years ago due to a simple Blackleg infection. Bullocks are more predisposed to the disease as they like to rub against mounds of earth with their heads.

I know that we are not the only farm that needs to do this yearly booster in older cattle, always seek veterinary advice for this booster protocol.

Due to our history on the farm, we not only vaccinate the young calves for clostridial disease but also all the weanlings. My dad recalls that the field where the bullocks died has a history of mysterious sudden deaths in bullocks which leads us to believe that this field must be a reservoir for infection.

Another risk for blackleg entry into muscle is injection sites; they can predispose the muscle underneath to allow entry of spores. Good needle hygiene and proper restraint of the animal are key when injecting.

When I castrate bulls, I always make it my priority to ask, "Are they all fully vaccinated?" as the burdizzo can cause micro-abrasions on the skin, allowing entry of the spores. I have heard of a farm losing numerous freshly castrated bulls to clostridial disease during my time in practice, I have been so cautious ever since.

Higher risk

Due to the wet weather of late, which we all know far too well at this stage in the year, a lot of soil has moved into fields, which can be an added risk for clostridial disease this year.

Any field that has had any sort of excavation work of late is also a risk area and should be fenced off from cattle. General fence management can prevent areas of destruction that, particularly male animals, are prone to making.

Unfortunately, with Blackleg, alongside most clostridial diseases, there is no cure, and it is usually rapidly fatal. The textbooks describe how if the animal is found during the very early stages, which may appear as an animal with a still walk, with high doses of penicillin and supportive therapy, it may be possible to save the animal.

The blackened and necrotic muscle of the infected area on post-mortem is the classic sign of Blackleg. It is important not to release the spores back onto the soil on the farm, hence why a post-mortem in a controlled environment like your local RVL is essential.

It is always advisable to ring your vet with any sudden death to discuss causes and if there is any risk to human health.

I will be back in Mitchelstown after my little break for spring calving. I cannot wait to catch up with the team, meet the farmers, and be reunited with my beloved Galtee Mountains.
Island City is a trail of five artworks installed on the island of Cork city centre between June and December 2023. The project was funded by Bord Failte under the Urban Animation Scheme, and commissioned by Cork City Council Arts Office, with support from the National Sculpture Factory.

With a budget of 670,000, it was the single biggest investment in public artwork in the history of Cork city. Four of the artworks were commissioned via a closed competition. This involved a number of artists being paid a fee for their proposal, one of which was then commissioned for each site. Their pieces will be in situ until at least 2028. The film projection at Triskel Christchurch was an open call, and will be replaced each year.

Reaction to the project has been mixed, ranging from appreciation and approval to indifference and disdain. Cork City Council arts officer Michelle Carew told us about the project.

Valerie Byrne and Michelle Carew were involved in developing the Island City project.

Marc OSullivan Vallig: The Island City project had a budget of 670,000. Has the city of Cork got good value for that investment?

Michelle Carew: Absolutely yes, I think. You're looking at five artworks, or six actually, as weve already commissioned two for Triskel Christchurch. I think when you break that down, that actually does represent a very, very good investment.

But even to move away from monetary terms, I think the quality of the work that has been created, the artists that we've been able to engage, and the way in which we have been able to really forefront contemporary arts practice in Cork city centre, I think that's all excellent value.

We're really pleased to have been 100% funded by Failte Ireland. That's a real mark of innovation on their part. I think they're recognising the benefits of cultural tourism, that people want to visit cities that have something unique about them.

Public art projects often divide opinion. Was that something you bore in mind, that the new artworks might be contentious?

The nature of public art is that its in the public realm. People will have very strong opinions on it, and so they should. I suppose thats always a consideration when it comes to commissioning, particularly as a public body, and being the local authority as well.

It's very important that you have a very robust process in how you commission. You can go through the same process ten times over and come out with different results every time. You will never commission a work that everybody will agree on. But ultimately, I think that's a positive thing. The worst outcome would be if nobody had an opinion at all, because then you haven't made an impact.

Was there a particular theme for each brief?

For each brief we started with the site, and we provided some research on its cultural heritage. So, for example, with the site at Princes Street, on the Exchange Building, you had the culinary heritage of the street, but also the really interesting history of the Exchange Building itself, which was a theatre at one point. So all of that would have been in that brief.

Similarly, we looked at the heritage of the Coal Quay as a market and a meeting point. Each brief had very specific references to the heritage of that site. And then, of course, the submitting artists were also free to go off and do further research as well.

So, for example, with the Urban Mirror on the Coal Quay, it's a meeting place. The work is designed to reflect that and be a place where people come together. The Face Cup on the Exchange Building; these were Bronze Age eating vessels along a street known for its dining, but also the resulting mask-like piece is a reference to the idea of drama and the masks of theatre and comedy as well.

So you can see in each artwork those hints of the reference. It was never intended to be a descriptive or educational interpretive piece about heritage. It was intended that they would be, first and foremost, original creative artworks, but that they would provide the public with a jumping-off point into the heritage of the area as well.

Fiona Mullholland puts the finishing touches to Face Cup, her sculpture for Princes Street, Cork. Picture: Clare Keogh

Did you consider commissioning one big statement artwork, instead of five?

I would say that this was always intended as a trail, a project that would animate the city centre and serve as a visitor attraction.

The idea of dispersing the work, and bringing somebody on a journey, is really, really important. I'm not convinced that one single experience would have quite the same outcome, or whether that would even be the right thing for the city centre, in terms of a built-up area like that.

Also I think it was nice to be able to work with a wide range of artists, to support a number of different visions and help bring a range of ideas to fruition.

Was the artists fee similar in each case?

We subscribe to the Arts Council's Paying the Artists policy. There are guidelines in terms of the percentage of the overall budget allocated to the artists fee. It's very important that the artist is paying themselves, and they would all have ensured that there was an appropriate percentage kept for that.

What has the feedback been from the arts community in Cork?

The impression I have is that artists are very pleased to see that scale of commissioning happening in the city. The presence of contemporary art can only be a positive thing for the creative energy of the city. Theres a sense of Cork as a place to come to for contemporary art.

What is the logic of the works being on site for a period of five years?

That wasn't initially a curatorial decision. It was a condition of the funding that the works had to last for five years, so we then put that into the brief. But then, as we realised in the process, it actually ended up being a really interesting model for a public art commission, because by putting a time limit on it, it changes the context. The idea of permanency is a very overwhelming thing, both for audience and artist. You're saying that whatever you make is going to be there forever, or, for the audience, that you're going to live with it forever, regardless of how you feel about it.

By saying the works would be in place for a five year period, I think it encouraged the artists to be really ambitious and to take risks. It also allows for a changing landscape in the city, and it doesn't commit anything to perpetuity. And who knows, maybe the plan is that the artworks will be decommissioned, or maybe it will make sense for some of them to stay, depending on how the city evolves with them and what the response is.

ISLAND CITY: The story behind each piece

Valerie Byrne is Public Art Manager for Cork City Council. In her previous role as director of the National Sculpture Factory, she was deeply involved in the commissioning of the Island City artworks.

Niamh McCann, Sentinels (flew through the ages in the shape of birds), Careys Lane

It was always intended that the work in Careys Lane would be suspended overhead, and Niamh had this notion of taking a line for a walk, and drawing in the free air. She was looking at things like migration, the movement of people within cities, and the maritime history of Cork.

Sentinels, by Niamh McCann on Careys Lane, Cork. Picture: Clare Keogh

The seagull featured in Sentinels is a recurring motif in Niamhs work. She often plays with the notion that birds and animals are carriers of messages from other realms.

Sentinels is monumental. If it were vertical rather than horizontal, it would be the same height as the Spire in Dublin. How often do we get to walk the full length of a street, under a sculpture of that scale?

Forerunner, Boom Nouveau, Cook Street

Forerunner artists Tom Watt, Tanad Aaron and Andreas Kindler von Knobloch speaking with members of the public at the unveiling of Boom Nouveau on Cook Street, Cork. Picture: Clare Keogh

Forerunner are a collective of three youngish artists (Andreas Kindler von Knobloch, Tom Watt and Tanad Aaron) based in Dublin. Their interest is in making art that has a function and encourages people to interact with it in some way, without being intimidated by the fact that its a piece of artwork.

Boom Nouveau is a working light, and was always intended as such. But it's a working light that's been handmade by these three artists, utilising off-the-shelf materials, such as the girders and the cast bronze elements holding the glass. Its showing us that objects we encounter every day on the streets can have a handmade quality and be beautiful.

I love seeing that it's already become a meeting point for people.

Fiona Mulholland, The Face Cup, The Exchange Building, Princes Street

The installation of The Face Cup by artist Fiona Mulholland . Picture: Clare Keogh

Fiona was working with the idea of a museum for everybody. An outdoor museum.

The Exchange Building is very old, and it's a protected structure, so there were lots of concerns and considerations around not causing damage to it. Fionas piece is made of a resin fibreglass, and it's hollow, so its very light. There's a steel frame behind it holding it up.

The work on based on the Bronze Age face cup and its attendant bowl and spoon that were found in an archaeological dig in Mitchelstown. The cup has a human face on it. The cup and the bowl have ears, but they're facing in opposite directions. North, south, east, west. They were placed in a pit, so they may have had some ritualistic purpose. There's nothing else like them in Ireland or Europe.

Plattenbaustudio, Urban Mirror, Cornmarket St

The unveiling of Urban Mirror, on Cornmarket Street. Picture: Clare Keogh

The brief for this site was for the artist to consider a pavilion, or a meeting space. Plattenbaustudio (Jennifer ODonnell and Jonathan Janssens) are Irish, but their studio and practice is in Berlin. When they came to Cork, their overwhelming impression was that the Coal Quay itself, with its beautiful bowl shape, and the buildings all kind of circling the plaza, was the pavilion. All it was missing was the gathering space in the middle, a place to sit.

Coming out of COVID, what we'd all noticed was that a lot of the street - and the pavement, with the outdoor cafes and so on - was very monetized. You had to be able to buy a cup of tea or a coffee to be able to sit at those spaces. So Urban Mirror was an offering to the city, a place where anybody and everybody can sit.

The globe light is like one of those old-fashioned pins youd stick in a map, as if to say, we are here. By night it illuminates, so you can see it from all around.

Brian Kenny, Tempus Futurum, Triskel Christchurch (view from South Main Street)

A still from the light installation, Tempus Futurum on Triskel Christchurch. Picture: Clare Keogh

Valerie Byrne: We put out an open call for a projection onto Triskel Christchurch, and Brian Kenny was the first artist chosen. His work is really about climate change and climate action He invited the pupils at St Marys of the Isles to get involved, imagining a future for Cork and what that might look like.

Brian also worked with the technology of the smart bikes close by. As people use them, that feeds into the work.

Brians projection will end at the end of April, as the days get too bright for a projection over the summer. Elinor ODonovans Winter Sun will then be installed in September or October, and that will run until April 2025.

The future of Island City

Valerie Byrne: We want people to engage with this project over five years. We want it to continue to be something that might attract people to visit Cork, something to engage with while theyre here.

Were working on an app, and an engagement plan. A really important part of that is working with Arts and Disability Ireland; we're looking at partnering with them to create an accessibility trail. So were working with specialists, developing QR codes for people who are visually impaired, with audio descriptions of each of the artworks. This is the first public art trail in Ireland that will be really considered through accessibility. It's quite a complex plan, but we'll have that by the summer."
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of people detained in custody before a trial, new research shows.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) published a new research report into the use of pre-trial detention and the denial of bail in Ireland.

The report, titled Improving Judicial Assessment Of Flight Risk, found that in general the operation of the rules surrounding bail applications respects peoples right to liberty and the presumption of innocence.

However, it did raise a number of concerns relating to bail and pre-trial detention in the country.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) published a new research report into the use of pre-trial detention and the denial of bail in Ireland (Archive/PA)

The research shows there has been a 21% increase in the daily average number of people held in pre-trial detention since 2017.

In 2020, the average number of pre-detention prisoners was 738, a 4.4% increase on 2019.

Figures show that 884 prisoners were being held on remand or at trial on 4 April 2022. On 1st April 2021 the number was almost half that at 428.

In February 2022, 835 prisoners were being held in remand or at trial, up from 712 in February 2021.

There is also an increase of those remanded in pre-trial custody for less serious crime.

Since 2016, there has been a 56% increase in the number of people imprisoned while awaiting trial or sentencing for public order offences and other social code offences.

The research also found that foreign nationals, including those from other EU countries, are less likely to be granted bail by judge in Ireland.

The report finds that judges lean heavily on the presumption that foreign nationals with no links to the State present a greater flight risk than Irish nationals.

This is despite a 2022 recommendation from the European Commission that a suspect being a foreign national with no links to a state is not on its own a reason to conclude that there is a flight risk.

Legal practitioners interviewed as part of the research highlighted the lack of suitable facilities available for proper consultation with their clients.

They also pointed to long delays in the criminal justice system, as contributing to longer periods of pre-trial detention.

The research finds that the wide discretion afforded to judges in making decisions on bail can lead to inconsistent application of the rules and presents a risk that inherent bias could affect the outcome of bail proceedings.

The report makes 15 recommendations to legislators, prosecutors, judges and practitioners.

It calls for comprehensive data to be compiled relating to the granting of bail and the use of pre-trial detention and for the Bail Act 1997 to be independently reviewed to assess its compatibility with Irelands international human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The report also says that measures should be taken to increase the number of judges to address the long periods of delay in the criminal justice system and that training should be provided to gardai, prosecutors and lawyers on European Supervision Orders and alternatives to pre-trial detention.

It further recommended that the judiciary should stop the practice of refusing bail for non-serious offences, particularly where the time spent in pre-trial detention is likely to be longer than any potential sentence on conviction.

Niamh McCormack, criminal justice policy officer at the ICCL, said: At a time when prison overcrowding is again presenting a real crisis in our justice system, this report demonstrates that there are significant challenges at the point of adjudication on bail.

A shortage of judicial resources and an over reliance on pre-trial detention, especially for foreign accused persons, is contributing to Irelands excessive use of detention.

Dr Helen Kehoe, legal and public affairs manager at the Irish Penal Reform Trust, said: At a time when we have almost 1,000 people in pre-trial detention, often for longer periods of time, we should be looking to bail as a way to take pressure off the system.

This research demonstrates that there has been a dramatic increase in pre-trial detention figures in Ireland

IPRT agrees with the reports recommendation to stop the practice of refusing bail for non-serious offences.

We are concerned that pre-trial detention can undermine the presumption of innocence as well as having a severe psychological impact on the person detained.

Professor Mary Rogan, associate professor in law at Trinity College Dublin, said: I welcome this opportunity to focus attention on the worrying increase in the numbers of people in pre-trial detention in Ireland.

I am concerned that we are moving away from our position as having comparatively lower rates of pre-trial detention in the European context.

Increased use of pre-trial detention places many rights at risk and, when accompanied with an already overcrowded prison population, a strategy is needed to reverse this trend.

Damien Coffey, partner in Sheehan and Partners LLP, said: This research demonstrates that there has been a dramatic increase in pre-trial detention figures in Ireland.

The rise is particularly worrying when considered alongside the significant delays in processing matters through the criminal justice system and the level of overcrowding in our prisons.

Additional judges have been appointed and new prisons mooted, but neither will obviate the need for a review of the concerning trend of increased use of pre-trial detention.
Students at the Queens University Belfast have staged a sit-in protest on campus calling for the removal of Hillary Clinton as chancellor.

In a statement the QUB Palestine Assembly said they want to see a democratic election process for the next chancellor.

The group is also calling for Queens to end all ties with universities in Israel, to issue a statement condemning Israels mass killing of Palestinians and deliberate destruction of Gazas educational infrastructure and offer sanctuary status to Palestinian academics and students.

They have also condemned terminology and some content used in the universitys deeply divided societies course around Palestine.

The group said further action will be discussed among members.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll attended the sit-in.

I think its very, very important that theyve done this, he said.

Hopefully the students can force management to act. This place, as many universities do, has a history of people standing up against oppression and these students are following their friends and fellow students in America and at Trinity [College, Dublin]. I want to commend them and extend whatever solidarity I can to them.

Responding, a Queens University spokesperson said they recognise and defend the right to protest, but said it is essential that those who want to go about their business on campus can do so.

Members of the Queens University Belfast (QUB) Palestine Assembly hold a sit in in the main Lanyon building of the campus (Niall Carson/PA)

Queens University Belfast is committed to freedom of expression, the right to hold a range of views, and the promotion and protection of the right to protest, they said.

This applies to our students, academics and professional staff, and indeed the wider public.

During recent months, we have met individuals and representatives of many organisations, including trade unions, students union and many other interest groups.

We have had constructive discussions, listened to concerns and ideas, and exchanged views in an atmosphere of mutual respect, with a genuine desire to find solutions and common ground on a range of issues, and we will continue to do so.

We accept there are different views on the Middle East. Queens University is committed to freedom of thought and expression for students and staff within a framework of respect for the rights of other persons.

While we will recognise and defend the right to protest and have voices heard, in a respectful and legal way, it is essential that those who want to go about their normal business on campus can freely and safely do so without interference.
An Post chief executive David McRedmond has been appointed to lead the Government's new Dublin taskforce aimed at rejuvenating the city centre.

Cabinet has approved the taskforce, which will focus on curbing antisocial behaviour and improving safety and public transport, but will also look at arts, culture, and business within the "inner cordon" of the capital.

It is understood that Mr McRedmond, who was previously in the running to take over as RTE director general in 2023, will be announced as chair of the taskforce by Taoiseach Simon Harris at the official launch on Thursday.

Mr McRedmond also held the position of chief executive in TV3 and before that was the commercial director of Eircom and the managing director of Eircom Enterprises.

In his early career, he was a retail industry executive in the UK and US, where he held senior roles such as operations director of Waterstones, and chief executive of WH Smith.

Mr Harris has made the taskforce a priority since his election, announcing at the Fine Gael ard fheis in April that he would be working to immediately convene the body.

The aim of the taskforce is to bring forward concrete recommendations to improve the public realm, safety, and experience in the city centre and make it a "more thriving, attractive and safe cityscape" as well as improving its desirability as a location to live, work, do business and visit.

It will look at the use of cultural spaces, the public transport network, and issues around antisocial behaviour and litter, and will be led by an independent chair and will include representatives from An Garda Siochana, Dublin City Council, and the National Transport Authority, among others.

The taskforce will deliver its recommendations to the Taoiseach and the Government for consideration within 12 weeks.

This article was modified on May 8, at 9am
The 43-year-old Carrigaline man accused of murdering his brother and attempting to murder his father who was found not guilty by reason of insanity was remanded in custody to the Central Mental Hospital today for continuation of his in-patient care.

John Murphy Jnr of Seaview Avenue, Carrigaline, County Cork, was found not guilty by reason of insanity on April 24 on charges of murdering his 27-year-old brother, Shane Murphy, and attempting to murder his father, John Aloysius Weeshie Murphy Snr, then aged 75, at the family home on March 26, 2022, contrary to Common Law. He was also found not guilty by reason of insanity on two related charges of producing a knife during the crimes.

Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford said after reading the report of Dr Patrick McLoughlin, consultant psychiatrist, agreed by both prosecution and defence: It is appropriate the court would make an order returning him to the Central Mental Hospital, thereafter to take whatever therapeutic course is ordered.

Prosecution senior counsel Jane Hyland said Dr McLoughlins report stated that John Murphy Jnr continues to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia and has significant treatment needs that can only be provided by the Central Mental Hospital. The law provides for reviews every six months of his detention for in-patient treatment but the matter does not have to be brought back before the Central Criminal Court.

Clinical psychiatrists, Dr Stephen Monks and Dr Jamie Walsh, for the defence and prosecution respectively, testified a fortnight ago that the accused man was in an acute psychotic state as a result of schizophrenic illness at the time, that his judgement was significantly impaired, he was suffering delusions and hallucinations, and had lost touch with reality.

In effect, there was agreement between the prosecution and defence about the psychiatric evidence in the case.

Detective Garda Ian Breen outlined the background to the events in the early hours of that morning when the accused man stabbed his brother nine times causing his death and stabbed his father multiple times too in attempted murder.

He made a series of allegations against several members of his family, all of which gardai believed were without any basis. These included allegations that his life was being threatened.

Det Garda Breen said that the late Shane Murphy had acted in a selfless manner to protect his father from a knife attack by his brother, John, and that in so acting he was himself stabbed nine times, one of those wounds  a stab to the heart  being fatal on its own.

Det Garda Breen said it was believed that Shane Murphy died in his bedroom while on a phone call to the emergency services.
A 35-year-old woman facing the prospect of a trial by judge and jury on a charge of robbing a 15-year-old girl of a 300 confirmation necklace at the skate park in the Mardyke has confessed to the crime.

She will be sentenced on June 5. Michelle Harrington was arraigned at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on that count of robbery and two related charges and she pleaded guilty to all three.
Defence Secretary lauds BRO for playing major role in countrys security

New Delhi, May 7 (UNI) Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane on Tuesday termed the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) as an extremely crucial organisation, which, through its infrastructure projects in border areas, is playing a major role in the security of the country, besides ensuring the socio-economic progress of far-flung areas.

Addressing an event to mark the 65th Raising Day of the BRO here, Aramane lauded the organisation for fulfilling its responsibilities successfully in inhospitable terrain and tough weather conditions, an official statement said.

He commended the BRO for completing the projects in a time-bound manner, exuding confidence that the Karmayogis will continue to ensure border infrastructure development in record time.
University College Cork (UCC) Students Union has issued a public letter addressed to the university president, in the hopes that it will encourage the college to take action and break its silence on the genocide occurring in Gaza.

The letter, issued to UCC President John OHalloran on Tuesday morning, asks the university to condemn the genocide in Gaza and call for a permanent ceasefire, while offering support to Palestinian students affected by the war.

The message also asked Mr OHalloran to assess any potential adverse impacts on human rights with which they might be involved.

The letter comes in the wake of ongoing protests in Trinity College Dublin, which has now been closed to the public since members of the Students Union (TCDSU) and Trinity Boycott Divestment and Sanctions set up an encampment in the campus on Friday.

We stand with Trinity College Dublin Students Union as they fight against their universitys complicity in genocide, a statement from UCCs Student Union read.

In the letter, the union said the actions taken by the State of Israel has left the Palestinian people in a state of poverty, terror and fatal vulnerability.

They also addressed the efforts made to bring the presidents attention to the issue, including a number of rallies and student walk-outs. We saw over 400 UCC staff and 1,000 students and alumni sign a letter demanding the university take action, the letter read.

Among the ideas set out in the letter were the establishment of a Palestine Emergency Response Working Group within the college, to enable Palestinian students and academics to apply within the University of Sanctuary and Scholars at Risk schemes. Picture: Erin O'Riordan

However, the student union say the actions have been met with silence on account of the university wishing to remain politically neutral.

We believe that silence in the face of injustice is siding with the oppressor; thus, we call on UCC as a leading global changemaker to use its voice to call for an end to this injustice, the letter included.

One of the asks included in the letter was a commitment from the college to not host or assist in the visits of government officials until the Government commits to putting sanctions on Israel. This includes photo opportunities, keynote speeches, ceremonies and awards, the letter read.

Among the ideas set out in the letter were the establishment of a Palestine Emergency Response Working Group within the college, to enable Palestinian students and academics to apply within the University of Sanctuary and Scholars at Risk schemes.

This in turn would encourage a commitment for UCC to fund Palestinian research and studies within the university and research centres.

The letter outlines if a satisfactory response is not received by close of business this Friday, we will have no choice but to escalate to further action.

Hayley OConnell Vaughan, Communications & Engagement Officer in UCC Students Union, said the union is not in a position to disclose what our ideas are in terms of an escalation.

We are giving the university these few days to reflect on student demands and to answer accordingly. We stand in unwavering support of TCDSUs encampment and their protest against their universitys ties to Israel and welcome the news that broke yesterday regarding TCDs commitment to reviewing these links, they added.

We are assessing the situation as it may progress and planning accordingly for each potential response. We urge UCC to use its voice to call for a ceasefire and to work with us to better the lives of those, particularly students, affected by this genocide, they said.

The VP for Campaigns for the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), Zaid Albarghouthi, said; The student body in Ireland is compelled by a sense of moral duty and solidarity to our brothers and sisters on the receiving end of Israel's genocide and to those brave enough to stand up to the Biden Administration from their campuses.

Mr Albarghouthi described the demands in the letter as simple and of a humanitarian nature, adding we see no reason for them not to be acted upon, and we reject any arguments premised on a false framing of academic freedom.

A Spokesperson for the college said: "UCC confirms that the university received the letter from the UCC Students Union yesterday and the university is giving the letter its considered attention".
A new taskforce aimed at improving Dublin city will get Government approval today.

Taoiseach Simon Harris has made the taskforce a priority since his election. It is understood that the group will focus on the "inner cordon" of the capital.

The aim of the taskforce is to bring forward concrete recommendations to improve the public realm, safety, and experience in the city centre and make it a "more thriving, attractive and safe cityscape" as well as improving its desirability as a location to live, work, do business and visit.

It will look at the use of cultural spaces, the public transport network, and issues around anti-social behaviour and litter, and will be led by an independent chair and will include representatives from An Garda Siochana, Dublin City Council, and the National Transport Authority, among others.

The taskforce will deliver its recommendations to the Taoiseach and the Government for consideration within 12 weeks.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

Also at Cabinet, Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin will say Ireland is "accelerating preparations" to host the Irish Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2026.

The presidency, currently held by Belgium, will require the hosting of between 16 and 20 informal ministerial meetings in Ireland, including hosting an informal European Council meeting and potentially a meeting of the European Political Community.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is in the midst of planning the costs of the presidency which cost France 148m, Czech Republic 100m, Sweden 121m, and Spain 170m.

Preliminary work will commence in the coming weeks on developing a presidency logo, a cultural programme, and a sustainability policy.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will update Cabinet on the delivery of the elective hospitals and surgical hubs, telling colleagues that the HSE has now appointed a health planning team for the Cork and Galway elective hospitals.

Tender documents have issued to shortlisted candidates for detailed design projects, with final teams to be appointed over the summer.

A two-site solution for Dublin is the preferred plan at Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, and at the current Childrens Hospital site, Crumlin.

The HSE is also developing new "surgical hubs" in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford, Mr Donnelly will tell ministers.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Norma Foley will seek approval for the Primary Schoolbooks Scheme for the 2024/25 school year.

It is expected that over 563,000 children and young people in 3,227 primary and special schools will benefit from the scheme in the coming school year.

The scheme provides free schoolbooks, workbooks, and copybooks for all children in recognised primary and special schools.

Separately, Media Minister Catherine Martin will bring three long-awaited reports into RTEs governance, which will recommend changes to employee contracts, allowances, and oversight.

Among the recommendations of one report will be major changes to how salaries are structured at RTE, going beyond a 250,000 pay cap suggested by the broadcasters director general Kevin Bakhurst last year.
Gardai, the Electoral Commission and the countrys 28 returning officers know that the political landscape has changed dramatically since the last elections four years ago.

In addition to arson attacks on asylum centres, intimidation outside the homes of politicians, violence directed at gardai at protests, the widespread disorder at the Dublin riots last November, election authorities are conscious of harassment of public workers in libraries from far-right individuals.

The issue for the integrity of the local and European Parliament elections on June 7 is whether or not that will spill over onto the electoral system itself, including the staff that run it and the voters that make it work.

It is definitely on our radar  the possibility of a physical threat and intimidation to the elections, both at polling stations and count centres, one security source said. Protecting the electoral system is fundamental to the security of the State.

A second security source commented: These groups and individuals dont play by any rule. So, it would be foolish not to expect they will continue during the elections. Gardai and returning officers are responsible for physical security at polling stations and count centres.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, Garda HQ said: The protection of the electoral process is central to democracy and a priority for An Garda Siochana.

As a security service, An Garda Siochana is prioritising resources, in this critical area, as we face into an 18-month period when Ireland will hold all possible electoral events (local, European, General, Presidential and a referendum).

It said assessments will be shared with relevant State agencies in identifying and combating activities that pose a threat to electoral events. It said these agencies include An Coimisiun Toghchain (Electoral Commission); the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Coimisiun na Mean (Media Commission).

The statement said An Garda Siochana worked closely with international partners as part of its intelligence-gathering operations.

An Garda Siochana, as the Security Service of the Irish State, engages in proactively gathering (domestically and internationally) relevant information to inform collaborative actions to mitigate emergent risk in this regard. It said it was standard that policing plans, based upon assessed threat, are put in place for all electoral events.

The statement pointed out that electoral legislation provides for offences in proximity to polling stations and count centres. It said incitement to hatred was a criminal offence and will be investigated.

Additionally, any threat of physical harm is a criminal matter and will be investigated where identified or reported, it said. It pointed out that the running of election centres and count centres are a matter for returning officers, with whom they engaged with.

Art O'Leary, CEO of the Electoral Commission, said returning officers have an 'oversight role' in relation to physical threats to elections. Photo: Moya Nolan

Art OLeary, chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said they have an oversight role in relation to physical threats to elections.

We need to be assured that the integrity of the electoral process is maintained, he said. So, this is one of the things that we will be holding returning officers to account. They will need to be able to demonstrate the security of polling stations.

But the actual responsibility remains with each returning officer in each local authority area. On whether or not there is an increased threat from the far-right in these elections, he said: Its a risk that has to be managed. There is no evidence yet of any interference in the electoral process, but its a possibility that shouldnt be discounted.

He added: We are conscious it could become a difficulty. If there are difficulties on the day it becomes something for the returning officer and the gardai, rather than ourselves. We will in our post-election review look at it if there are any particular difficulties.

Inside polling stations

Every candidate in the elections is entitled to have an agent in every polling station. The behaviour of such agents, including new candidates from the far-right, is one thing security sources see as a potential source of concern.

Could any of these agents engage in intimidation inside polling stations or at the entrances, or in the foyers of the buildings? one security source asked. Who is going to monitor them? Not only that, but count centres could also be a source of potential intimidation of staff counting the votes.

One security source said: Tally men and women are very close to the staff counting. They provide a key function, but what if people acting as tally men for a far-right candidate starts interfering with staff, telling them they put that vote in the wrong place or it was spoiled or not spoiled and generally harassing people. That is a possibility.

A second security source added: The tally people are literally hanging over the barrier looking at the staff allocating the votes, so someone could start intimidating them. It could get hot and heavy.

Outside polling stations

Outside polling stations and count centres, sources said it was possible there could be individuals or protest groups aggressively calling on prospective voters to vote for certain candidates  although canvassing inside 50 metres of a polling station is illegal.

Mr OLeary said the Electoral Commission was plugged into a large number of EU election networks, as well as Hybrid CoE, an expert centre that works with the EU and Nato on countering hybrid threats.

Last March, Hybrid CoE published a research paper, Countering Hybrid Threats to Elections, focusing on physical attacks, disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks that threatened the integrity of the democratic process.

It said that since the 2020 US Presidential election there have been numerous reports of poll workers being threatened, harassed and assaulted. It urged authorities to take steps to mitigate the effects of threats and harassment of election workers.

Security measures

The 28 Returning Officers work for their local authority and operate independently, though they do meet as a group with the Electoral Commission and the Department of Housing. Of six returning officers contacted by the Irish Examiner two responded.

Fergus Gallagher, the Dublin County Returning Officer said it would be inappropriate to comment on specific matters relating to the security and integrity of the electoral system.

He added: In more general terms, you may take it that all necessary steps are taken to ensure the preservation of the integrity of the ballot and the safety of all polling and count staff. This is done in consultation with the Gardai, with whom there is liaison prior to every electoral event.

Martin Harvey, Constituency Returning Officer South/Local Returning Officer Cork City, said it would not be appropriate to comment as the information was security sensitive.

The Department of Housing said physical security was a matter for returning officers as they were independent.

It did point out that there are a range of offences in relation to elections and that there were further offences in relation to European Parliament elections including for interference with, obstruction of or impediment of a voter going to, coming from or in the vicinity of a polling station.

It said the department issued guidance to returning officers and presiding officers in advance of elections, outlining the legislation in relation to offences and powers available to them.

The four regional garda assistant commissioners and their divisional officers liaise with the various returning officers to ensure effective management, co-ordination and oversight of policing functions and security requirements. In Dublin, the detective chief superintendent of the Special Detective Unit (SDU) is also involved.

Gardai accompany presiding officers to collect votes from external venues. On polling day gardai conduct patrols and some visits to polling stations. This is to maintain a presence and deter any behaviour that could interrupt the constitutional rights of voters and enforce electoral legislation, garda sources said.

A research paper from Hybrid CoE said that since the 2020 US Presidential election there have been numerous reports of poll workers being threatened, harassed and assaulted. File photo: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Gardai point out that a significant security operation is put in place once polling is concluded to ensure the security and integrity of ballot boxes and their subsequent transport, including armed escort, to respective count centres.

Mr OLeary points out there are 6,500 polling stations in the country and that it was not possible to have gardai stationed at the vast bulk of them.

Garda sources said a Risk Assessment, drafted by the Security & Intelligence Section forms the basis for the National Policing Plan, which the Deputy Commissioner Policing and Security sends down to the assistant commissioners, who devise regional and divisional plans.

Local gardai have contact numbers of returning officers and, in Dublin, the SDU also carries out patrols.

If there is intelligence indicating a threat to a particular polling station you could have physical presence, but generally is by patrols, one security source said. Obviously we cant be everywhere, but presiding officers can ring as soon as they fear there is any intimidation or interference.
There's a truly remarkable thing happening in Britain right now. Its largely unnoticed and its largely unreported. Social democracy is marching to power.

The next government in Britain will be social democratic and it will have a thumping majority. Its opposition will be motley and divided. Its opportunity to do big things, to make big changes, will be immense.

Its clear from the local election results in Britain that massive change is afoot. The Tories have been thrown out of office, and have been replaced, in the main, by social democrats.

Maybe its a slight exaggeration to claim that that social democracy is marching towards Downing Street. Its actually inching, as carefully as it can, into power.

We may end up welcoming a social democratic leader into 10 Downing Street in the next few months without knowing explicitly what he stands for, or what his plan is. And thats ok for now.

Because, of course, its not labelled social democracy, its called the British Labour Party.

Interestingly, you can search the entire Labour Party website, and its current rule book, without finding the words social democracy anywhere. You wont find the word socialism anywhere either, by the way.

Rishi Sunak: The Tories are licking their wounds after the local elections.

But there is no doubt that Keir Starmer, who was described this weekend by Suella Braverman as having the charisma of a peanut, has doggedly built a party that is largely united around a social democrat course of action.

One of the ways it stays united is by not using the term social democracy. And thats ok too.

Right now Starmer is following whats been called a Ming Vase strategy.

He sees himself as carrying a highly valuable object across a very slippery surface. He is determined not to do or say anything that will give the Tories, and more importantly the Tory press, any opportunity to undermine or attack him.

Even following that strategy, the Tory press is relentless. One can imagine what theyd be like if he allowed them to brand him. Tax and spend Starmer. Open border Starmer. If they could, theyd grind him into the dust.

So hes been boring, cautious, ultra-careful. Not just him. Look at the very first Labour mission on its website (and Ive abbreviated it). For Labour, sound finances and economic stability are non-negotiable. We will never play fast and loose with the economy. Labour will: Stick to tough fiscal rules with economic stability at their heart.

A 'secret' social democracy

Thats not wild, woolly or radical. Those are the things they are determined not to be accused of. So its a form of secret social democracy that will arrive there. And it wont happen because of an exciting campaign, awash with Labour promises and vision.

It will happen because, after 14 years of incompetence, corruption, and betrayal, the people of Britain hate the Tories.

This will be an election where the people see it as their first task to get them out. And thats ok too. For now.

But then there has to be a plan. It will have to be tough, single-minded, and determined.

If Starmer has to raise taxes to rebuild, he must. A penny in the pound, ring-fenced for the NHS, would be a start. Punitive taxes on excessive wealth might have to follow. Rejoin the single market to stimulate trade.

Hes got a broken country to rebuild, and he will have to do it brick by brick.

Socialists tend to impose radical solutions on people, never seeking to build consensus around their ideas.

Social democrats strive for reform built on consensus and respect for the rule of law and core principles of equality and justice. Socialists promise equality, social democrats work hard to reduce inequality. Thats why theyre boring. Its a slower way to go, but the roots of change become deep.

The greatest social democrat of all was a man called Willi Brandt, chancellor of Germany in the late 1960s. He is remembered throughout the world as an architect of foreign policy. But in Germany, his legacy is one of enormous social change.

If you Google him youll find lengthy lists of things he did. The sum of them was to leave Germany as a place where people valued education, had a right to decent healthcare, and were respected in older age. And a lot more besides.

Brandt had astonishing charisma, which he never misused. The greatest social democrat in Britain was probably Clement Attlee, who was also routinely described as having the charisma of a peanut. He led a government that transformed his country, by consent and with the support of the people.

Some of the changes his government made will last forever, although the nationalisation programme he undertook was unravelled in the Thatcher years, sometimes with catastrophic results. Look at the railways. Smell the sewage in the lakes.

Just like Starmer, Brandt and Attlee inherited badly damaged economies  in Attlees case the British economy had been almost destroyed by the Second World War. Both men, despite that, transformed their countries. So it can be done, by radical and new social democratic thinking.

The people of Britain will turn to social democracy. And they will give it an almost unique mandate.

Why is that so remarkable? Because its the only country in the world where that is visibly, palpably happening. In every other part of the world, social democratic visions, aspirations, and methods are being attacked. Because even when they dont carry the label of social democracy its the way that modern government throughout Europe works.

We may not have a social democratic government in Ireland, but we are a social democratic country.

I would contend that thats a Labour Party achievement of the last 30 years, but it would take me more space than I have here to prove it. But you cant look at our country objectively without concluding that it is run according to core social democratic principles.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer during a campaign visit to Teesport, in Middlesbrough, in the North East of England. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA

All over Europe, there are two issues where social democracy is struggling to find answers, and as a result is threatened by right-ring, sometimes times far right-wing, parties and ideologies. Those issues are housing and homelessness, and immigration.

Simon Harris would struggle to describe himself as a social democrat. Give him a quiz about issues though, and youll find that at heart thats what he is.

Next week Im going to write him an open letter about how to address those huge issues and bring the people with him.

And theres another paradox. If you look at modern Europe, its pretty clear that social democracy won. Its equally clear that social democrat approaches are no longer seen as solving problems.

So social democracy is seen as irrelevant. And thats why the world faces a burgeoning threat of right-wing, inegalitarian, and ugly governments. And why social democracy is seen as dying.

Britain is, perhaps even unknowingly, looking to social democracy now. Because theyve had time to see the other way. And to see how ugly it is. Social democratic politics is going to get its chance.

And it must be ready to throw off the cloak of being boring, so it can make a profound difference.
The head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) says northern Gaza has entered full-blown famine after nearly seven months of war between Israel and Hamas.

But a formal, and highly sensitive, famine declaration faces the complications of politics and of confirming how many people have died.

Cindy McCain said in an interview severe Israeli restrictions on humanitarian deliveries to the territory that has long relied on outside food assistance have pushed civilians in the most isolated, devastated part of Gaza over the brink. Famine was now moving south in Gaza, she said.

A WFP spokesman later said one of the three benchmarks for a formal famine declaration has already been met in northern Gaza and another is nearly met  important details on how far the effort to document deadly hunger has progressed.

Israel faces mounting pressure from top ally the US and others to let more aid into Gaza, notably by opening more land crossings for the most efficient delivery by truck.

Aid groups say deliveries by air and sea by the US and other countries cannot meet the needs of Gazas 2.3 million people, a growing number of them reaching the stage of malnutrition where a childs growth is stunted and deaths occur.

Famine had been projected in parts of Gaza this month in a March report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global initiative that includes WFP as a partner.

It said nearly a third of Gazas population was experiencing the highest level of catastrophic hunger, and that could rise to nearly half by July.

The next IPC report is expected in July.

Israel strongly rejects any claims of famine in Gaza, and its humanitarian agency called McCains assertion incorrect.

A formal declaration could be used as evidence at the International Criminal Court as well as at the International Court of Justice, where Israel faces allegations of genocide in a case brought by South Africa.

Heres what we know about famine and the hunger crisis in Gaza.

According to the IPC, an area is considered to be in famine when three things occur: 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, or are essentially starving; at least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning theyre too thin for their height; and two adults or four children per every 10,000 people are dying daily of hunger and its complications.

Deaths data

In northern Gaza, the first condition of extreme lack of food has been met, senior WFP spokesman Steve Taravella said. The second condition of child acute malnutrition is nearly met, he said. However, the death rate could not be verified.

Doing so is difficult. Aid groups note that Israeli airstrikes and raids have devastated medical facilities in northern Gaza and displaced much of the population. Along with restrictions on access, they complicate the ability to formally collect data on deaths.

A document explaining famine published in March by the IPC noted, however, that an area can be classified as famine with reasonable evidence if two of the three thresholds have been reached and analysts believe from available evidence that the third likely has been reached.

The bottom line is that people are practically dying from a lack of food, water, and medicines. If we are waiting for the moment when all the facts are in hand to verify the final conditions to scientifically declare a famine, it would be after thousands of people have perished, Taravella said.

Shortly after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Israel sealed its borders with Gaza and for weeks prevented aid from entering.

Aid groups have said assistance since then has been restricted to a trickle far below the 500 trucks of aid that entered before the war. Since March, as Israel has pointed to progress, an average of 171 trucks per day have entered Gaza, according to the US-established Famine Early Warning Systems Network.

Once inside Gaza, food and other aid dont always reach the most vulnerable. Aid groups say access is limited, particularly in the north, due to ongoing fighting and a chaotic security situation.

Northern Gaza, including Gaza City, was the first target of Israels invasion and became the epicentre of the hunger crisis, with many residents reduced to eating animal feed and foraging for weeds. The IPC report in March said around 210,000 people in the north were in catastrophic levels of hunger.

The very young, the very old and those with health problems are the most affected.

On Sunday, a six-year-old from northern Gaza with cystic fibrosis was taken to the US on a humanitarian flight after his mother made a video pleading for help. Fadi Al-Zants jutting ribs and thin arms showed advanced malnutrition.

Humanitarian groups say it will be difficult to deliver life-saving aid without a ceasefire. Even with a pause in fighting, some experts say the situation in northern Gaza will have life-lasting consequences, especially for newborns and pregnant women.

While Israel has allowed more aid in recent weeks under international pressure, a humanitarian official for the US Agency for International Development said that since March, northern Gaza has not received anything like the aid needed to stave off famine. USAID made the official available on condition of the officials anonymity, citing security concerns over his work in conflict.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has welcomed Israels recent steps to increase deliveries but stressed such moves must be sustained.

Thats not easy. Israel on Sunday closed its main crossing point for delivering aid after a Hamas attack killed soldiers.

Some Palestinians say the increase in aid has eased things slightly, especially by lowering the cost of food.

Gaza City resident Said Siam said prices have dropped in recent weeks.

Still, the 18-year-old said he and family members have each lost at least 10 kilograms (22 pounds) since the start of the war, mostly eating one meal of pumpkin soup each day. Fruits, vegetables, and fresh meat are still scarce.

Associated Press
Permission has been granted for the development of a multi-storey residential accommodation and artisan food market at the long-vacant site of the former Dennehy's Cross Garage in Cork city.

The site is located close to the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at the junction of Magazine Road, Wilton Road, Victoria Cross Road and Model Farm Road and is to be redeveloped into a four-storey complex with a cafe restaurant proposed for the ground floor.

The plans were lodged by Galway firm, Dennehys Cross Construction Ltd which is headed by Brian McHugh, Finian Hanley and Finn Hill.

The development consists of a partial change of use from commercial to residential and the demolition of the former garage structure while preserving the existing 20th-century structure of the former butcher's site for use as an artisan market food store.

The company was also given the green light for the construction of a four-storey residential development comprising 30 apartments. No parking was proposed but the site will provide 49 bicycle spaces.

Permission for the development was lodged in May last year after the firm revised the size of its plan following concerns raised in pre-planning meetings with Cork City Council.

In 2020, the company was refused planning permission for the development of 45 apartments on the same site.

In a statement prepared by planning consultants Butler O'Neill, the company said the "underutilised site" was an opportunity to deliver "high quality appropriately scaled quality residential development in an area of high demand."

"There is no doubt that the proposed scheme offers planning gain through the preservation and restoration of the 20th-century building and is a high-quality scheme which will enable future tenants to enjoy a high quality of life."

The report added that the development will "act as an exemplar of the slightly different approach to planning decisions which needs to be adopted if Cork city is to grow in tandem with National, Regional and Local level aspirations for growth."
Israels military says it is launching targeted strikes against Hamas in the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the countrys war cabinet approved a military operation there, officials said late on Monday.

Hours earlier, the Hamas militant group announced it had accepted a ceasefire proposal brought forward by mediators Egypt and Qatar.

A ceasefire could end seven months of war in Gaza  however, it is uncertain whether a deal will be sealed, as Israel responded by saying the proposal did not meet its core demands.

A Palestinian security official and an Egyptian official said Israeli tanks entered the southern Gaza town of Rafah, reaching as close as 200 metres from its crossing with neighbouring Egypt.

An Israeli defence force tank drives away from the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Tsafrir Abayov/AP)

The Egyptian official said the operation appeared to be limited in scope. He and Hamas Al-Aqsa TV said Israeli officials informed the Egyptians that the troops would withdraw after completing the operation.

The Israeli military declined to comment. On Sunday, Hamas fighters near the Rafah crossing fired mortars into southern Israel, killing four Israeli soldiers.

The Egyptian official, located on the Egyptian side of Rafah, and the Palestinian security official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the press.

It comes as the officials from the US Biden administration on Monday continued to express concerns to Israel that a major military operation into Rafahs densely populated areas could be catastrophic.

White House officials on Monday also were privately concerned about the latest strikes on Rafah  although the strikes did not appear to be the widescale attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening, according to a person familiar with the Biden administration who was not authorised to comment publicly.

More than a million people are huddled in tents and overcrowded apartments in Rafah after fleeing Israels military offensive in other parts of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians flee from the eastern side of the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the Israeli army orders them to evacuate ahead of a military operation on Monday (Ismael Abu Dayyah/AP)

Israel says Rafah is Hamas last stronghold. Still, the United States opposes a full-scale invasion of the city bordering Egypt unless Israel provides a credible plan for protecting civilians there.

The war in Gaza has driven around 80% of the territorys population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, mosques and schools across several cities. The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials.

The war began on October 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others.

Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
Frances president hosted Chinas leader at a remote mountain pass in the Pyrenees on Tuesday for private meetings after a high-stakes state visit in Paris dominated by trade disputes and Russias war in Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron made a point of inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Tourmalet Pass near the Spanish border, where Mr Macron spent time as a child visiting his grandmother.

It is meant to be a reciprocal gesture after Mr Xi took Mr Macron to the residence of the governor of Guangdong province last year, where the Chinese presidents father once lived.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte at the Tourmalet pass in the Pyrenees mountains (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Snow coated nearby slopes after new snowfall overnight, and security was tightened around the area.

The winding roads up to the pass were blocked by authorities Tuesday for dozens of kilometres.

Foggy weather, falling snow and brisk winds obscured the view of the dramatic Tourmalet Pass.

Mr Macron and Mr Xi  together with their wives, Brigitte Macron and Peng Liyuan  visited a mountain restaurant.

Before lunch, protected from the elements by umbrellas, they watched a traditional folk dance performance on the terrace.

The leaders could be seen eating ham and blueberry pie, among other local specialities.

The French and Chinese leaders watched folklore dancers at the Tourmalet pass, in the Pyrenees mountains (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)

Mr Macron presented Mr Xi with a yellow Tour de France jersey  with the Tourmalet Pass one of the most famous climbs of the race  a woollen blanket made in the Pyrenees and a bottle of Armagnac, French broadcaster BFMTV said.

The mountain meetings come after a grandiose state visit by Mr Xi on Monday that included a ceremonial welcome at the monument housing Napoleons tomb and a state dinner at the Elysee Palace with celebrities and magnates.

Mr Xi is on a trip to Europe aimed at reinvigorating relations at a time of global tensions.

He heads next to Serbia and Hungary.
New Delhi, May 7 (UNI) Delhi Police on Tuesday launched a WhatsApp channel for the residents of the national capital to keep them updated with safety alerts, community outreach initiatives, important news and instant updates from the Delhi Police Department.

We believe that this will enhance our engagement with the community and improve our ability to share important information in a timely and efficient manner. The WhatsApp channel will provide a direct line of communication between the police department and public, allowing for real-time updates on incidents, advisories, and safety tips, an official statement said.

People can subscribe to the official New Delhi Police WhatsApp channel by following the same on WhatsApp or by visiting the link: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaZR3YK4inoxg9jP7I2H.
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.
CAQM empowers 5 States/UTs to prosecute officials over inaction on stubble burning 12 Oct 2024 | 6:15 PM New Delhi, Oct 12 (UNI) The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Saturday authorised the district authorities in Punjab, Haryana, NCR areas of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi to file complaints or prosecute officials for inaction on stubble burning enforcement. see more..

India asks Bangladesh to ensure safety, security of Hindus amid reports of attacks 12 Oct 2024 | 5:47 PM New Delhi, Oct 12 (UNI) Amid reports of a petrol bomb attack on a Durga Puja pandal in Dhaka and theft of the gold-plated crown of Goddess Kali gifted by PM Modi at a temple in Satkhira, the Indian government on Saturday termed the incidents deplorable and called upon the Bangladesh government to ensure the safety and security of the minority Hindu community and their places of worship. see more..

Rajnath performs Shastra Pooja in Bengal on Dussehra 12 Oct 2024 | 5:23 PM New Delhi, Oct 12 (UNI) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday performed the traditional Shastra Pooja at the Sukna Military Station in West Bengal on the auspicious occasion of Dussehra. see more..

PM GatiShakti has reduced logistics cost, says Piyush Goyal 12 Oct 2024 | 5:06 PM New Delhi, Oct 12 (UNI) Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said that PM GatiShakti has brought about a paradigm shift in planning and execution of infrastructure projects over the last three years and helped reduce logistics cost. see more..
Washington/New Delhi, May 7 (UNI) The US State Department has said that it takes very seriously allegations of a plot to eliminate Khalistani separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US and that it is waiting to see the results of a probe panel set up by India to look into the allegations.

State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller, answering a question on the issue, told reporters:

When it comes to the State Department, we made clear when these allegations were first made public that its something we think India should take very seriously and investigate.
Adam Frank in Aeon:

Suddenly, everyone is talking about aliens. After decades on the cultural margins, the question of life in the Universe beyond Earth is having its day in the sun. The next big multibillion-dollar space telescope (the successor to the James Webb) will be tuned to search for signatures of alien life on alien planets and NASA has a robust, well-funded programme in astrobiology. Meanwhile, from breathless newspaper articles about unexplained navy pilot sightings to United States congressional testimony with wild claims of government programmes hiding crashed saucers, UFOs and UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) seem to be making their own journey from the fringes.

What are we to make of these twin movements, the scientific search for life on one hand, and the endlessly murky waters of UFO/UAP claims on the other? Looking at history shows that these two very different approaches to the question of extraterrestrial life are, in fact, linked, but not in a good way.

More here.
Antony Spawforth at Literary Review:

Religion reinforced Ptolemaic queenship. The influential Egyptian priesthood and the Ptolemaic court were politically co-dependent. In discussing this relationship, the author makes skilful use of the art and hieroglyphs found in Egypts temples. These showcased favourably the role of the Ptolemaic queen, hedging it with a prestigious divinity. How much this propaganda rubbed off on ordinary Egyptians is debatable. Llewellyn-Jones also highlights the colonialist and racist character of the Graeco-Macedonian occupation of Egypt and describes the so-called Great Revolt of around 199 BC. Setting southern Egypt alight, it was put down by Alexandria only after a real show of force.

By the time he gets to her, in chapter fifteen, Llewellyn-Jones has established that the famous Cleopatra, the seventh of that name, certainly had family history on her side  not all of it edifying  in gauging how to play the part of Ptolemaic queen regnant.

more here.
By Danielle K. Brown, Michigan State University | 

Protest movements can look very different depending on where you stand, both literally and figuratively.

For protesters, demonstrations are usually the result of meticulous planning by advocacy groups and leaders aimed at getting a message out to a wider world or to specific institutional targets. To outside onlookers, however, protests can seem disorganized and disruptive, and it can be difficult to see the depth of the effort or their aims.

Take the pro-Palestinian protests that have sprung up at campuses across the United States in recent weeks. To the students taking part they are, in the words of one protester, uplifting the voices of Gazans, of Palestinians facing genocide. But to many people outside the universities, the focus has been on confrontations and arrests.

Where does this disconnect come from? Most people dont participate in on-the-streets protests or experience any of the disruption that they cause. Rather they rely on the media to give a full picture of the protests.

For over a decade, my research has extensively explored trends in how the media shapes narratives around different kinds of demonstrations. Reporting on the campus encampments by large parts of the media fits a general pattern of protest coverage that focuses more on the drama of the disruption rather than the underlying reasons behind it  and that can leave audiences uninformed about the nuances of the protests and the movements behind them.

Covering drama over demands

Protests  from small silent sit-ins and mass marches to the current student-led encampments  share similar components.

They require a degree of planning, focus on a perceived injustice and seek reforms or solutions. Protests also, by their very nature, engage in varying degrees of disruptive actions that exist in confrontation with something or someone, and utilize strategies that attract the attention of news media and others.

These core elements  grievances, demands, disruption, confrontation and spectacle  are present in nearly all protests.

But to the media, some elements are more newsworthy than others, with confrontation and spectacle often topping the list. As a result, these elements tend to be covered more often than others.

Democracy Now! Revolt on Campus: Protests over Gaza Disrupt Graduation Ceremonies; Police Crack Down on Encampments

In research focusing on social movements like Black Lives Matter, the 2017 Womens March and others, I have found that time

and again, coverage tends to headline the parts of the protest that are sensational and disruptive.

And this neglects the political substance of the protests. The grievances, demands and agendas are often left in the shadows. For example, analysis of the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd conducted by myself and colleague Rachel Mourao found the Associated Press and cable news headlines were more likely to focus on disruption and chaos than police violence or protester demands.

This pattern is referred to as the protest paradigm. While there are many factors that can make this paradigm fluctuate, like the timing of stories and the location of a news organization, movements that seek to disrupt the status quo are the most likely to receive initial coverage that frames protesters as criminal, irrelevant, trivial or illegitimate components of the political system.

When the media takes notice

This pattern can be seen in the initial coverage of protests against the war in Gaza at U.S.-based universities. These protests began in 2023 and only escalated into the campus encampments seen today after months of campaigning.

In the months leading up to the encampments, many students who were engaged in advocacy efforts over the Israeli campaign in Gaza demanded, among other things, that their universities divest from businesses connected to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Students at Brown University participated in a hunger strike in February. Also in February, a coalition of students across several historically Black colleges crafted a joint call to action across university systems. Students at my university  Michigan State  rallied support through an online petition and then lobbied at board of trustee meetings. When the board of trustees issued a statement refusing divestment of any kind, students continued to march to the steps of the main administration building where they continued to protest, all before planning the encampment protests.

Little of this made it into mainstream news reports compared to late April, when an uptick in coverage corresponded with students organizing encampments at universities and university official began to respond. Those universities that asked police to enforce the dispersion of protesters amplified the intensity of confrontation, and, in turn, amplified the news coverage.

And rather than focusing on the grievance of protesters  that is, concerns about the deaths, injuries and looming famine affecting Palestinians  in reports of the campus encampments it has been the confrontations between protesters and police that have become central to the news media coverage.

As with all trends, there are always deviations and outliers. Not all reported pieces align with the protest paradigm. In the research examining news coverage after the murder of George Floyd, we found that when reports in major news outlets deviate from the protest paradigm, it was often in work produced by journalists who have engaged deeply and frequently with a community.

In the current campus protests, it is student journalism that has emerged as an outlier in this respect. Take, for example, an article from the Indiana Daily Student published during the peak of the unrest, which explains the lesser-known last-minute administrative policy changes that ultimately disrupted protest planning logic and contributed to the arrests and temporary bans of faculty and student protesters.

Who gets quoted, who doesnt

There are commercial reasons why some newsrooms focus on the spectacle and confrontation  the old journalism adage of if it bleeds, it leads still prevails in many newsroom decisions. For the initial weeks of the campus protests, this penchant for sensationalism has shown up in the focus on chaos, clashes and arrests.

But it is a decision that delegitimizes protest aims.

This delegitimization is aided by the sourcing routines journalists often fall back on to tell stories quickly and without legal consequence. In breaking news situations, journalists tend to gravitate toward  and directly quote  sources that hold status, like government and university officials. This is because reporters may already have an established relationship with such officials, who often have dedicated media relations teams. And in the case of campus protests, in particular, reporters have faced difficulty connecting with protest participants directly.

As a result, official narratives may dominate news coverage. So when officials like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott equate protesters to criminals with antisemitic intentions, that typically gets covered  certainly more than any rebuttal from protest participants.

And because readers and viewers are unlikely to be on the ground to gauge Abbotts characterizations of protesters for themselves, the coverage can shape how a protest movement and the politics around it are understood.

The media shapes the way most people understand them. But as coverage of the protests across universities has shown, often the focus is on the spectacle rather than the substance.

Danielle K. Brown, Professor of Journalism, Michigan State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
A conversation between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Republican senator offered an incredible historical document showing how the U.S. views its role in the Middle East.

By Julia Conley

( Commondreams.org )  A discussion between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Sen. Mitt Romney over the weekend included what one critic called an incredible mask-off moment, with the two officials speaking openly about the U.S. governments long-term attempts to provide public relations work for Israel in defense of its policies in the occupied Palestinian territoriesand its push to ban TikTok in order to shut down Americans access to unfiltered news about the Israeli assault on Gaza.

At the Sedona Forum in Sedona, Arizona on Friday, the Utah Republican asked Blinken at the McCain Institute events keynote conversation why Israels PR been so awful as its bombarded Gaza since October in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack, killing at least 34,735 Palestiniansthe majority women and childrenand pushing parts of the enclave into a famine that is expected to spread due to Israels blockade.

The world is screaming about Israel, why arent they screaming about Hamas? asked Romney. Accept a cease-fire, bring home the hostages. Instead its the other way around, I mean, typically the Israelis are good at PR. Whats happened here? How have they, and we, been so ineffective at communicating the realities there?

Blinken replied that Americans, two-thirds of whom want the Biden administration to push for a permanent cease-fire and 57% of whom disapprove of President Joe Bidens approach to the war, are on an intravenous feed of information with new impulses, inputs every millisecond.

And of course the way this has played out on social media has dominated the narrative, said the secretary of state. We cant discount that, but I think it also has a very, very challenging effect on the narrative.

Romney suggested that banning TikTok would quiet the growing outrage over Israeli atrocities in the United States.

Some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down, potentially, TikTok or other entities of that nature, said Romney. If you look at the postings on TikTok and the number of mentions of Palestinians relative to other social media sites, its overwhelmingly so among TikTok broadcasts.

The interview took place amid a growing anti-war movement on college campuses across the U.S. and around the world, with American police forces responding aggressively to protests at which students have demanded higher education institutions divest from companies that contract with Israel and that the U.S. stop funding the Israel Defense Forces.

Right-wing lawmakers and commentators have suggested students have been indoctrinated by content shared on social media platforms including TikTok and Instagram, and wouldnt be protesting otherwise.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who co-sponsored a recent bill to ban TikTokincluded in a foreign aid package that Biden signed late last monthsaid last week that there has been a coordinated effort off these college campuses, and that you have outside paid agitators and activists.

It also highlights exactly why we included the TikTok bill in the foreign supplemental aid package because youre seeing how these kids are being manipulated by certain groups or entities or countries to foment hate on their behalf and really create a hostile environment here in the U.S., said Lawler.

Social media has provided the public with an unvarnished look at the scale of Israels attack, with users learning the stories of Gaza residents including six-year-old Hind Rajab, 10-year-old Yazan Kafarneh, and victims who have been found in mass graves and seeing the destruction of hospitals, universities, and other civilian infrastructure.

U.S. college students, however, are far from the only people who have expressed strong opposition to Israels slaughter of Palestinian civilians and large-scale destruction of Gaza as it claims to be targeting Hamas.

Human rights groups across the globe have demanded an end to the Biden administrations support for Israels military and called on the U.S. president to use his leverage to end the war. Josep Borrell, the European Unions high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, in February lambasted Biden and other Western leaders for claiming concern about the safety of Palestinians while continuing to arm Israel, and leaders in Spain and Ireland have led calls for an arms embargo on the country. The United Nations top expert on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories said in March that there are reasonable grounds to conclude Israel has committed genocidal acts, two months after the International Court of Justice made a similar statement in an interim ruling.

US Department of State Video: Secretary Blinken participates in a keynote conversation at the McCain Institute

Romney and Blinken didnt mention in their talk whether they believe social media and bad PR have pushed international leaders and experts to make similar demands to those of college students.

The conversation, said Intercept journalist Ryan Grim, was an incredible historical document showing how the U.S. government views its role in the Middle Eastas a government that should mediate between Israel and the public to keep people from having a direct look at whats happening.

Romneys comments betray a general bipartisan disinterest in engaging Israels conduct in Gaza on its own terms, preferring instead to complain about protesters, interrogate university presidents, and, apparently, muse about social medias role in boosting pro-Palestinian activism, wrote Ben Metzner at The New Republic. As Israel moves closer to a catastrophic invasion of Rafah, having already banned Al Jazeera in the country, Romney and Blinken would be wise to consider whether TikTok is the real problem.

Enterpreneur James Rosen-Birch added that Mitt Romney flat-out asking Antony Blinken, in public, why the United States is not doing a better job manufacturing consent, is wild.
Visible Gold Zone Intercept Returns 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq From 53.3m Depth

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Meridian Mining UK. S (TSX:MNO),(Frankfurt/Tradegate:2MM) (OTCQX:MRRDF) ("Meridian" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on its drilling and exploration activities at its advanced Cabacal copper-gold-silver VMS project ("Cabacal") in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Drill hole CD-470 has returned a zone of high-grade mineralization grading 16.0m @ 12.5g/t AuEq[1]Meridian Mining UK S (12.1g/t Au, 0.3% Cu & 0.6g/t Ag) including a high-grade zone hosting visible gold grading 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq (29.9g/t Au, 0.5% Cu & 1.0g/t Ag) from 53.3m ("Figure 1"), within the Cabacal Mine's Southern Copper Zone ("SCZ"). CD-470 is part of an ongoing program[2] aimed at testing visible gold-rich areas within historical drilling records but with incomplete assay data, which were not incorporated into the Cabacal Mineral Resource Estimate[3]. Importantly, CD-470 is located below a mining void, confirming that zones of significant mineralization remain. Results are progressively being returned from the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study's[4] ("PFS") infill drill program. Further results are pending.

Highlights Reported Today

Meridian drills strongest gold-dominant zone of mineralization within the Cabacal Mine area to date;

Drilling continues to support resource conversion, with high-grade gold & copper mineralization intersected at Cabacal; CD-470 returns 16.0m @ 12.5g/t AuEq (12.1g/t Au, 0.3% Cu & 0.6g/t Ag) from 53.3m; including: 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq (29.9g/t Au, 0.5% Cu & 1.0g/t Ag) from 53.3m;

Cabacal PFS drill program continues to deliver robust grades and widths of gold-copper mineralization;

The Cabacal metallurgical program continues to show the potential for optimised and improved recoveries of the copper concentrate; and

The Santa Helena metallurgical program will shortly be launched to expedite Santa Helena towards an Initial Mineral Resource Estimate in Q4 2024.

Mr. Gilbert Clark, CEO, comments: "Today's remarkable drill results, under the skilled technical guidance of our team, demonstrate Cabacal's potential to capitalize on the current gold and copper price surge. High-grade results, such as 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq, emphasize the deposit's capacity to deliver value for shareholders. Within the historical mine records, there are various holes referencing visible gold where assay records were lost in whole or in part, for some of which only graphical estimates were available from bar charts. CD-470 is the first result of an ongoing program to test such areas and future results will be included in Cabacal's resource update. Importantly, the high-grade mineralization extends past the underground mining voids and shows that Meridian's drill program is highly efficient in targeting this missed upside. The result illustrates well the broad zones of gold-copper mineralization that are found at the Cabacal mine."

Figure 1: Overview of core tray beneath mining void intersected in CD-470, with detail of sample CBDS65674 (53.3 - 54.0m).

Cabacal Deposit Drill Program Update

The Cabacal drill program ("Figure 2") continues, with today's reported results bringing a new interval returned under the accelerated drilling program [5] . Results reported include intervals from the peripheral areas of the resource where drilling has been sparse, and from select areas of the Cabacal mine zone where several results from the last phase of BP drilling have been lost. The first of these results from CD-470 has encouraging mineralization. Results emphasise that the previous room and pillar underground mining method left behind significant high-grade mineralization due to the structural variability and grade variances in the deposit.

The CD-470 hole commenced with a shallow copper-dominant interval, including a zone of 2.2m @ 1.1% Cu & 6.4g/t Ag from 16.1m. The hole passed through a mining void from 48.7 - 53.3m. Data compiled by the Cabacal project vendors indicates that 3.8m @ 90.0g/t Au, 0.4% Cu & 20.6g/t Ag from 48.8m were intersected in this mining void position. The source data for these analyses were subsequently lost, and to date, Meridian has not been able to locate an alternative archival copy. Encouragingly, the interval below the void in Meridian's drilling has returned mineralization at grades significantly higher than the historical underground mining cut-off grade of 3.0g/t Au. CD-470 has returned 16.0m @ 12.5g/t AuEq (12.1g/t Au, 0.3% Cu & 0.6g/t Ag) from 53.3m, including 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq (29.9g/t Au, 0.5% Cu & 1.0g/t Ag) from 53.3m.

Figure 2: Cabacal Mine drill results

CD-470 is one of several planned verification holes that will contribute to the PFS database. The initial verification program of 2021-2022 targeted areas where comparative historical assay data existed for twin drilling. The current holes are designed to better understand grade distribution where data has been lost or was only partially digitized by the project vendors. The information gaps for certain historical results were more prevalent in the SCZ where the later generation of BP Minerals infill holes were drilled, although a number of infill holes were also missing from the Central Copper Zone and the Eastern Copper Zone. Amongst this lost data are holes which are recorded to have intersected visible gold. For some of these, graphic assay bar charts on old cross sections denote high grades as >5 g/t Au, but the true grades are unknown.

The Company remains grateful to past professionals who have contributed material. In particular, the Company is currently working to incorporate assays from recently retrieved underground grade control data, amongst which are historical gold assay records (Figure 3). Examples of results include:

CH17: 2.04m @ 142.3g/t Au (RI1936 NE Wall)

CH10: 2.18 m @ 21.7g/t Au (RI1936 SW Wall)

CH11: 2.23 m @ 84.1g/t Au (RI1936 SW Wall)

CH14: 1.86 m @ 76.1g/t Au (RI1936 SW Wall)

CH6: 2.96 m @ 31.6 g/t Au (RI1938 SW Wall)

CH3: 2.87 m @ 54.9 g/t Au (SN1943 Nth Wall)

CH1: 3.25 m @ 85.5 g/t Au (SN1943 Sth Wall)

The results provide an indication of mineralization that we expect to encounter in pillars, and projecting between levels, as shown by the CD-470 intersection.

Figure 3: Example of historical underground grade control data for gold in channel sampling.

The current phase of drilling and field activities in the mine area will focus on assessing areas where data has been partially lost in the mine sphere, and refining the void model through additional survey programs, with some ongoing drilling in the peripheral areas of the resource. Future drilling may also target the corridor extending from the southern limits of Cabacal towards the C4-A gold-silver discovery area [6] where drilling is sparse and some areas may be considered for site infrastructure. Additional results from the infill program have included:

Eastern Copper Zone:

CD442: 39.9m @ 0.5g/t AuEq from 8.1m; 29.3m @ 0.6g/t AuEq from 60.8m;



Including:

6.9m @ 1.1g/t AuEq from 80.0m;

Cabacal Northwest Extension:

CD441: 21.4m @ 0.5g/t AuEq from 48.7m;

Including:

5.0m @ 1.2g/t AuEq from 60.5m;

Southern Copper Zone:

CD440: 7.9m @ 1.1g/t AuEq from 131.1m; 16.4m @ 0.4g/t AuEq from 144.1m; and 8.0m @ 0.4 AuEq from 167.3m.



Update on Cabacal Metallurgical Program

The metallurgical and engineering aspects of the PFS preparations are ongoing. Testwork on Cabacal samples is in progress using a combined collector (3418A and Aero208). Initial results suggest this combination has potential to improve copper recoveries and concentrate grades compared to the initial phase of testwork, with further results pending.

Initiation of Santa Helena Metallurgical Program

The Company's metallurgical advisors are currently reviewing available drilling data and processing data to define Santa Helena's first round of metallurgical testwork to determine the metal recoveries and associated flow sheet. Historic operations data and testwork indicates the potential to produce up to four products: gold dore from gravity concentration, copper concentrates with high gold & silver credits, zinc concentrates, and a silver-gold rich lead concentrate.

About Meridian

Meridian Mining UK S is focused on:

The development and exploration of the advanced stage Cabacal VMS goldcopper project;

Regional scale exploration of the Cabacal VMS belt; and

Exploration in the Jauru & Araputanga Greenstone belts (the above all located in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil).

Cabacal is a gold-copper-silver rich VMS deposit with the potential to be a standalone mine within the 50km VMS belt. Cabacal's base and precious metal-rich mineralization is hosted by volcanogenic type, massive, semi-massive, stringer, and disseminated sulphides within deformed metavolcanic-sedimentary rocks. A later-stage gold overprint event has emplaced high-grade gold mineralization.

The Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report (the "PEA Technical Report") dated March 30, 2023, entitled: "Cabacal Gold-Copper Project NI 43-101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment, Mato Grosso, Brazil" outlines a base case after-tax NPV5 of USD 573 million and 58.4% IRR from a pre-production capital cost of USD 180 million, leading to capital repayment in 10.6 months (assuming metals price scenario of USD 1,650 per ounces of gold, USD 3.59 per pound of copper, and USD 21.35 per ounce of silver). Cabacal has a low All-in-Sustaining-Cost of USD 671 per ounce gold equivalent for the first five years, driven by high metallurgical recovery, a low life-of-mine strip ratio of 2.1:1, and the low operating cost environment of Brazil (see press release dated March 6, 2023).

The Cabacal Mineral Resource estimate consists of Indicated resources of 52.9 million tonnes at 0.6g/t gold, 0.3% copper and 1.4g/t silver and Inferred resources of 10.3 million tonnes at 0.7g/t gold, 0.2% copper & 1.1g/t silver (at a 0.3 g/t gold equivalent cut-off grade), including a higher-grade near-surface zone supporting a starter pit.

Readers are encouraged to read the PEA Technical Report in its entirety. The PEA Technical Report may be found on the Company's website at www.meridianmining.co and under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca .

The qualified persons for the PEA Technical Report are: Robert Raponi (P. Eng), Principal Metallurgist with Ausenco Engineering), Scott Elfen (P. E.), Global Lead Geotechnical and Civil Services with Ausenco Engineering), Simon Tear (PGeo, EurGeol), Principal Geological Consultant of H&SC, Marcelo Batelochi, (MAusIMM, CP Geo), Geological Consultant of MB Geologia Ltda, Joseph Keane (Mineral Processing Engineer; P.E), of SGS, and Guilherme Gomides Ferreira (Mine Engineer MAIG) of GE21 Consultoria Mineral.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Meridian Mining UK S

Mr. Gilbert Clark - CEO and Director

Meridian Mining UK S

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ph: +1 778 715-6410 (PST)

Stay up to date by subscribing for news alerts here: https://meridianmining.co/contact/

Follow Meridian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeridianMining

Further information can be found at: www.meridianmining.co

Technical Notes



Samples have been analysed at SGS laboratory in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and ALS laboratory in Lima, Peru. At SGS, samples are dried, crushed with 75% passing <3 mm, split to give a mass of 250-300g, pulverized with 95% passing 150#. Gold analyses are conducted by FAA505 (fire assay of a 50g charge), and base metal analysis by methods ICP40B and ICP40B_S (four acid digest with ICP-OES finish). Visible gold intervals are sampled by metallic screen fire assay method MET150-FAASCR. At ALS, Samples are dried, crushed with 70% passing <2mm, split off to give a mass of approximately 250g, and pulverized to >85% passing 200#. Routine gold analyses have been conducted by Au-AA23 (fire assay of a 30g charge with AAS finish). High-grade samples (>10g/t Au) are repeated with a gravimetric finish (Au-GRA21). Samples are held in the Company's secure facilities until dispatched and delivered by staff and commercial couriers to the laboratory. Pulps and coarse rejects are retained and returned to the Company for storage. The Company submits a range of quality control samples, including blanks and gold and polymetallic standards supplied by Rocklabs, ITAK and OREAS, supplementing laboratory quality control procedures. Approximately 5% of archived samples are sent for umpire laboratory analysis, including any lots exhibiting QAQC outliers after discussion with the laboratory. In BP Minerals sampling, gold was analysed historically by fire assay and base metals by three acid digest and ICP finish at the Nomos laboratory in Rio de Janeiro. Silver was analysed by aqua regia digest with an atomic absorption finish. True width is considered to be 80-90% of intersection width (except for some scissor holes in the CNWE: CD-443, CD-447, CD-450, CD-452, where widths may be 10-20% of intersection widths). Assay figures and intervals are rounded to 1 decimal place. Gold equivalents for Cabacal are calculated as: AuEq(g/t) = (Au(g/t) * %Recovery) + (1.492*(Cu% * %Recovery)) + (0.013*(Ag(g/t) * %Recovery)), where:

Au_recovery_ppm = 5.4368ln(Au_Grade_ppm)+88.856

Cu_recovery_pct = 2.0006ln(Cu_Grade_pct)+94.686

Ag_recovery_ppm = 13.342ln(Ag_Grade_ppm)+71.037

Recoveries based on 2022 metallurgical testwork on core submitted to SGS Lakefield

Qualified Person

Mr. Erich Marques, B.Sc., MAIG, Chief Geologist of Meridian Mining and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed, and verified the technical information in this news release.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information or forward-looking statements for the purposes of applicable securities laws. These statements address future events and conditions and so involve inherent risks and uncertainties, as disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Meridian's most recent Annual Information Form filed on www.sedarplus.ca . While these factors and assumptions are considered reasonable by Meridian, in light of management's experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, Meridian can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Meridian disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or results or otherwise.

Table 1: Assay results reported in this release.

Hole-id Dip Azi EOH (m) Zone Int (m) AuEq (g/t) CuEq (%) Au (g/t) Cu (%) Ag (g/t) From (m) CD-470 -90 000 104.0 SCZ 6.6 0.8 0.6 0.0 0.6 3.0 15.1 Including 2.2 1.8 1.2 0.1 1.1 6.4 16.1 16.0 12.5 8.4 12.1 0.3 0.6 53.3 Including 6.4 30.6 20.5 29.9 0.5 1.0 53.3 Including 2.1 90.4 60.6 88.7 1.2 2.2 53.3 14.0 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.6 75.4 CD-457 -45 059 183.6 CWNE 2.2 0.4 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.2 126.0 4.8 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.5 147.0 9.5 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.4 157.0 CD-456 -43 061 150.7 CWNE 3.5 0.6 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.7 120.3 CD-455 -65 055 163.5 CWNE 3.1 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.2 96.8 3.3 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.3 125.3 CD-454 -21 054 150.2 CWNE 2.2 0.4 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.2 15.3 7.0 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.9 114.5 CD-453 -45 057 132.8 CWNE 0.8 0.9 0.6 0.6 0.3 0.7 112.8 CD-452 -46 237 228.7 CWNE Subparallel hole 4.0 0.4 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.4 37.0 3.1 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.7 51.0 3.0 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.9 72.0 1.6 1.2 0.8 0.1 0.8 1.0 181.9 CD-451 -76 237 82.6 CWNE 2.6 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.7 29.8 1.4 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.6 45.4 1.1 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.9 51.6 CD-450 -50 243 253.0 CWNE Subparallel hole 3.2 0.6 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.4 45.5 7.4 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.3 54.5 3.5 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.9 111.2 7.0 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.2 1.0 125.0 22.0 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.3 1.2 138.0 Including 2.0 2.6 1.7 1.5 0.8 4.2 158.0 2.5 3.1 2.0 0.6 1.6 13.7 200.5

Hole-id Dip Azi EOH (m) Zone Int (m) AuEq (g/t) CuEq (%) Au (g/t) Cu (%) Ag (g/t) From (m) CD-449 -80 245 87.2 CWNE 3.3 0.7 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.6 25.4 1.4 0.9 0.6 0.1 0.6 1.5 44.0 1.0 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.7 51.0 1.7 0.7 0.5 0.3 0.3 2.3 61.7 CD-447 -45 239 206.2 CWNE Subparallel hole 5.6 0.7 0.5 0.2 0.4 2.5 23.8 31.0 0.8 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.7 43.9 Including 16.6 1.0 0.7 0.2 0.6 0.8 46.7 14.7 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.6 86.8 Including 1.7 3.0 2.0 0.8 1.5 3.0 95.1 0.5 6.9 4.6 6.7 0.2 0.6 118.9 1.9 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.5 147.4 11.7 1.6 1.1 1.4 0.2 0.6 167.0 Including 4.6 3.6 2.4 3.3 0.2 1.0 170.6 CD-446 -21 060 159.3 CWNE 1.0 0.9 0.6 1.0 0.0 0.1 97.2 1.5 1.2 0.8 0.6 0.4 1.7 122.8 CD-445 -54 051 98.5 CSTH 1.4 0.6 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.7 66.3 9.7 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.7 74.0 CD-444 -89 000 98.8 CSTH 0.5 2.9 2.0 3.1 0.0 0.2 44.1 1.0 0.5 0.4 0.1 0.3 2.0 74.0 1.3 1.8 1.2 0.4 0.9 6.2 80.8 CD-443 -64 253 139.3 CWNE Subparallel hole 3.0 1.0 0.7 0.4 0.5 1.2 99.5 6.9 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.6 95.6 3.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.1 2.4 118.7 CD-442 -21 045 104 ECZ 39.9 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.9 8.1 29.3 0.6 0.4 0.1 0.4 1.9 60.8 CD-441 -52 312 106.4 CWNE 21.4 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.3 48.7 Including 5.0 1.2 0.8 1.1 0.1 0.3 60.5 2.9 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.3 2.3 81.6 CD-440 -44 046 195.8 CSTH 7.9 1.1 0.7 0.0 0.7 1.0 131.1 Including 1.9 3.9 2.6 0.2 2.6 3.5 131.8 16.4 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.6 144.1 8.0 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 1.0 167.3

Hole-id Dip Azi EOH (m) Zone Int (m) AuEq (g/t) CuEq (%) Au (g/t) Cu (%) Ag (g/t) From (m) CD-438 -67 048 170.3 CSTH 5.7 0.6 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.8 94.9 15.8 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.4 116.7 13.7 0.9 0.6 0.6 0.2 0.8 140.7 Including 2.5 2.9 2.0 2.4 0.5 2.2 141.6
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2024 / Gold Mountain Mining Corp. ("Gold Mountain" or the "Company") (TSX:GMTN) (OTCQB:GMTNF) (FRA:5XFA) is pleased to announce that Nadine Hoehne has been appointed to its Board of Directors (the "Board") effective immediately.

Ms. Hoehne is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, with a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations. Ms. Hoehne is a relationship builder with over 20 years experience in advancing major projects in a variety of industries including the forestry, mining, energy, and transportation sectors.

Ms. Hoehne has a rare and important skill set that allows collaboration between Indigenous leadership, communities, senior levels of provincial and federal government, and industry proponents to develop relationships that not only respect Indigenous title and rights, but also find creative solutions that produce positive outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike.

Ms. Hoehne experience in major projects ranges from large electrical generation, transmission and distribution, major mine expansions, oil and gas development, and more recently renewable energy, including BC's first photovoltaic solar facility to be located on reclaimed tailings within Teck's HVC mine site. Ms. Hoehne is an Indigenous Title Implementation Specialist and is currently employed with the Nlaka'pamux Nation Tribal Council (NNTC) based in Lytton, BC. Ms. Hoehne will join Gold Mountain as an independent director and member of the audit committee, while also overseeing the build out of strategic planning, recovery and expansion.

Gold Mountain also wishes to announce that Keith Minty has resigned from the Company's Board of Directors. The company would like to thank Mr. Minty for his time with the company and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.

About Gold Mountain

Gold Mountain is a British Columbia based gold and silver production, exploration and development company focused on the development of the Elk Gold Mine, a producing mine located 57 kilometers from Merritt in South Central British Columbia. Additional information is available at www.sedar.com or on the Company's new website at www.gold-mountain.ca.

For more information, please contact:

Gold Mountain Mining Corp.

Ronald Woo, CEO

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.gold-mountain.ca

Twitter: www.twitter.com/goldmtnmine_

Forward Looking Statements

This includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward- looking statements include statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release and are not purely historical including any information relating to statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future and often, but not always, use words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of 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 board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; the price of gold; and the results of current exploration. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Gold Mountain 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.

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this News Release.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2024) - York Harbour Metals Inc. (TSXV: YORK) (OTCQB: YORKF) (FSE: 5DE) (the "Company" or "York") is pleased to announce positive results from channel sampling at its Rare Earth Elements Bottom Brook projects' newly discovered "Bottom Bank REE Prospect"; Newfoundland and Labrador.

Bottom Bank Prospect Channel Sampling Program

The Company is pleased to report assay results from its late summer 2023 channel sampling program. The Company previously reported (July 31st, 2023, Press Release) high-grade grab sample values from the newly discovered Bottom Bank showings ("BB showings"), which are situated over 750 metres to the south-southwest of the U3 showings on its Bottom Brook project. A total of 17 channel samples of 0.2-1.5 metres in length were collected for a total of 16.9 metres of channel sampling from two separate trenches. Samples were sent to Activation Laboratories Ltd. (Actlabs) for Rare Earth Elements-Niobium-Zirconium-Yttrium-Tantalum-Uranium-Thorium-Beryllium-Phosphate-Tin Assay ICP-OES and ICP-MS package.

Highlights Include:

Samples 116676-116678: 3m at 1.38% TREO ("Total Rare Earth Oxide"), (including 1m at 2.28% TREO).

Samples 116679-116682: 4m at 0.87% TREO.

Sample 116686: 1.5m at 1.07% TREO.

Sample Number Channel Length (m) TREO % 116670 1 0.44 116671 1 0.27 116672 1 0.11 116673 1.5 0.06 116674 1 0.13 116675 1 0.05 116676 1 1.07 116677 1 2.28 116678 1 0.79 116679 1 0.92 116680 1 0.93 116681 1 0.44 116682 1 1.19 116683 1 0.09 116684 0.7 0.21 116685 0.2 0.66 116686 1.5 1.07

Table 1: York Harbour's Channel Sampling Assay Results from its Bottom Brook Project, Newfoundland & Labrador

Conducting Channel Sampling Program at York Harbour's Bottom Brook Rare Earth Elements Project, Newfoundland

York Harbour's CEO & President, Blair Naughty, comments, "We are encouraged by these promising results from our recent channel sampling at the Bottom Bank Rare Earth Elements Prospect. These outcomes not only affirm the potential of our Bottom Brook Project but also start a new chapter under my leadership. I recognize the challenges our shareholders have navigated through, and while acknowledging areas for improvement, I remain optimistic as many of you about our future. As the largest shareholder, deeply committed to our collective success, I am focused on steering York Harbour towards sustained growth and value creation. Our commitment is to leverage the strengths of our core projects and enhance shareholder value through meticulous exploration and strategic planning. With additional technical expertise now on board and a renewed understanding of our key projects, we are poised to aggressively pursue development. Thank you for your continued trust and support as we advance our promising projects and build a robust future together."

Bottom Brook Rare Earth Elements (REE) 2023 Sampling Program

Diamond drilling at the 100%-owned Bottom Brook Rare Earth Elements ("REE") ("Bottom Brook") project in Newfoundland was concluded in early December 2023. A total of 1,701 metres of drilling was completed over 10 drill hole locations.

The drill program aimed to test the depth and strike extent of the high-grade mineralization identified by the Company's spring/summer 2023 trenching, geological mapping, and channel sampling program.

The 2024 York Harbour Metals geological team has recently completed a review and re-examination of the Bottom Brook REE diamond drill program data and drill core. The review determined that additional sampling was warranted, resulting in an extra 120 samples being identified and cut from the drill core, in addition to the 447 previously cut core samples. Samples have been sent to Actlabs for REE-Niobium-Zirconium-Yttrium-Tantalum-Uranium-Thorium-Beryllium-Phosphate-Tin Assay ICP-OES and ICP-MS package. Assays are pending.

Update from the York Harbour Copper/Zinc/Silver VMS Project

York Harbour Metals' Copper/Zinc/Silver Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") Project technical team has been actively assessing and re-interpreting the York Harbour project. The team has compiled, digitized, and re-modelled the historical and recent project data collected to date. The team is currently consulting and collaborating with geological and other professionals from other disciplines to assess the project and determine the best way forward to unlock the projects value for the Company's shareholders.

Qualified Person

Bruce Durham, P. Geo., a Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this press release.

About York Harbour Metals

York Harbour Metals Inc. (TSXV: YORK) (OTCQB: YORKF) (FSE: 5DE) is an exploration and development company focused on two high-grade projects in Newfoundland. The York Harbour Copper-Zinc-Silver Project is located approximately 27 km from Corner Brook in Newfoundland. The Company intends to continue drilling the 11 known mineralized zones and explore new massive sulphide targets.

The Bottom Brook Critical Metals Project, covering 15,150 hectares, is located next to the Trans Canada Highway and is just 27 km from the deep-water port at Turf Point.

For further details on York Harbour Metals, please reach out via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call +1-236-513-4653. You may also visit the Company's website at www.yorkharbourmetals.com for past news releases, media interviews and opinion-editorial pieces by management.

On Behalf of The Board of Directors,

"Signed"

Blair Naughty

CEO, President and Director

Telephone: 604-346-7613 | Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.yorkharbourmetals.com

1518 - 800 Pender Street W, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 2V6

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 may contain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements herein include but are not limited to statements relating to the prospects for the development of the Company's mineral properties, and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
Israel's order for Palestinians to evacuate from eastern Rafah in Gaza is "inhumane", the UN rights chief said Monday, warning that suffering and destruction would soar beyond already "unbearable" levels.

Volker Turk said forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee to areas with almost no access to aid for survival was "inconceivable".

"Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine," the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights said in a statement.

"And today, they have been told that they must relocate yet again as Israeli military operations into Rafah scale up.

"This is inhumane. It runs contrary to the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights laws, which have the effective protection of civilians as their overriding concern."

Israel's military on Monday called for the evacuation of Palestinians from eastern Rafah, ahead of a long-threatened ground invasion of the southern Gaza city, the prospect of which has triggered widespread global alarm.

"Forcibly relocating hundreds of thousands from Rafah to areas which have already been flattened and where there is little shelter and virtually no access to humanitarian assistance necessary for their survival is inconceivable. It will only expose them to more danger and misery," said Turk.

Gaza's bloodiest-ever war began following Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel estimates that 128 of the hostages abducted by militants on October 7 remain in Gaza, including 35 who the military says are dead.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has conducted a retaliatory offensive that has killed more than 34,700 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

- 'Enough of the killing' -

"More attacks on what is now the primary humanitarian hub in the Gaza strip are not the answer," said Turk, adding: "Enough of the killing."

"There must be a ceasefire. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow freely and at scale. And the hostages and those arbitrarily detained must be released at once."

Turk said two crossings into Rafah had been shut on Monday, halting the inflow of "meagre" levels of humanitarian aid.

He said there was no location outside of Rafah able to cope with the mass displacement of more than a million people.

"The experience of the past seven months shows Palestinians who remain in Rafah will continue to be at risk of death and injury, whether by indiscriminate bombing, unlawful killing, or loss of access to food, water and healthcare. This must not be allowed to happen," said Turk.

His statement said international humanitarian law prohibited ordering the displacement of civilians for reasons related to a conflict, unless the security of civilians involved or imperative military reasons require it -- and even then it is subject to strict legal requirements.

"Failure to meet these obligations may amount to forced displacement, which is a war crime," the statement said.
Israel's order for Palestinians to evacuate from eastern Rafah in Gaza is "inhumane", the UN rights chief said Monday, with Israel widely expected to push ahead with an offensive into the city.

Volker Turk said forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee to areas with almost no access to aid for survival was "inconceivable" and warned that the offensive would push suffering and destruction beyond already "unbearable" levels.

"Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine," the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights said in a statement.

"And today, they have been told that they must relocate yet again as Israeli military operations into Rafah scale up.

"This is inhumane. It runs contrary to the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights laws, which have the effective protection of civilians as their overriding concern."

The statement said that "civilian deaths, suffering and destruction were set to increase beyond already unbearable levels".

Israel's military on Monday called for the evacuation of Palestinians from eastern Rafah, ahead of a long-threatened ground invasion of the southern Gaza city, the prospect of which has triggered widespread international alarm.

"Forcibly relocating hundreds of thousands from Rafah to areas which have already been flattened and where there is little shelter and virtually no access to humanitarian assistance necessary for their survival is inconceivable. It will only expose them to more danger and misery," said Turk.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said the evacuation order would exacerbate the suffering of people living in already precarious conditions.

"The military incursion will plunge this crisis into unprecedented levels of humanitarian need," the WHO said.

"It also poses a risk to the only crossing for fuel into Gaza, which could halt the delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid and services, including the few partially-functional health facilities," the UN health agency said.

It said there was "no safe and functional place" in Gaza for people to move to.

- 'Enough of the killing' -

Gaza's bloodiest-ever war began following Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has conducted a retaliatory offensive that has killed more than 34,700 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

"More attacks on what is now the primary humanitarian hub in the Gaza strip are not the answer," said Turk, adding: "Enough of the killing."

He, too, said there was no location outside of Rafah able to cope with the mass displacement of more than a million people.

"The experience of the past seven months shows Palestinians who remain in Rafah will continue to be at risk of death and injury, whether by indiscriminate bombing, unlawful killing, or loss of access to food, water and healthcare. This must not be allowed to happen," said Turk.

His statement warned that failure to meet the obligations of international humanitarian law on the displacement of civilians "may amount to forced displacement, which is a war crime".
Human Rights Watch said Tuesday an Israeli strike in Lebanon that killed seven first responders was "an unlawful attack on civilians", and urged Washington to suspend weapons sales to Israel.

The Israel-Lebanon border area has witnessed near-daily exchanges between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7 sparking war in Gaza.

"An Israeli strike on an emergency and relief centre" in the southern village of Habariyeh on March 27 "killed seven emergency and relief volunteers" and constituted an "unlawful attack on civilians that failed to take all necessary precautions", HRW said in a statement.

"If the attack on civilians was carried out intentionally or recklessly, it should be investigated as an apparent war crime," it added.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment when contacted by AFP.

But at the time the military said the target was "a military compound" and that the strike killed a "significant terrorist operative" from Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese group close to Hamas, and other "terrorists".

HRW said in the statement that it found "no evidence of a military target at the site", and said the Israeli strike "targeted a residential structure that housed the Emergency and Relief Corps of the Lebanese Succour Association, a non-governmental humanitarian organisation".

Jamaa Islamiya later denied it was connected to the emergency responders, and the association told AFP it had no affiliation with any Lebanese political organisation.

HRW said "the Israeli military's admission" it had targeted the centre in Habariyeh indicated a "failure to take all feasible precautions to verify that the target was military and avoid loss of civilian life... making the strike unlawful".

The rights group said those killed were volunteers, adding that 18-year-old twin brothers were among the dead.

"Family members... the Lebanese Succour Association, and the civil defence all said that the seven men were civilians and not affiliated with any armed group," it added.

However, it noted that social media content suggested at least two of those killed "may have been supporters" of Jamaa Islamiya.

HRW said images of weapons parts found at the site included the remains of an Israeli bomb and remnants of a "guidance kit produced by the US-based Boeing Company".

"Israeli forces used a US weapon to conduct a strike that killed seven civilian relief workers in Lebanon who were merely doing their jobs," HRW's Lebanon researcher, Ramzi Kaiss, said.

The rights group urged the United States to "immediately suspend arms sales and military assistance to Israel given evidence that the Israeli military is using US weapons unlawfully".

lg/aya/srm/jd/kir

BOEING
Alex Jovanovich at Artforum:

THE MARQUIS DE SADE rained hell upon his Justine, a fictional naif whose virtuousness was relentlessly tested by every stripe of abuse and sexual atrocity the malveillante French author could dream up. Since her appearance more than two centuries ago, the character has spawned countless progeny. Among them is Amy, a young and voluptuous glutton for punishment invented by painter and comics artist Vanessa Conte, whose work for the past decade has been examining the role of the female figure within the realm of sadomasochistic fantasy. Amy: Thrill to Live, a black-and-white zine (with four-color cover) released by Random Man Editions in 2023, is the first collection of the titular underdogs harrowing adventures.
In the Hague, the city of international law, in a room with beautiful 18th-century high stucco ceilings, surrounded by gilt mirrors and tall windows, a group of three berobed judges take their places on a dais and listen while a registrar also in court robes calls the case against Vladimir Putin for aggression against Ukraine.

Geoffrey Nice KC is best known as the prosecutor of former president of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He tells Justice Info how he was gradually convinced by the concept of peoples tribunals. You just have a right to do it as a citizen of the world. Nation states and international obligations leave undone many, many things that the ordinary public probably think should be done, says Nice. We can do that which the international community is not doing.

The list of judgments of the Permanent Peoples Tribunal which has been going for more than 40 years, spans several continents and all the major hot-button issues including liberation struggles, environmental crimes and human rights violations.

A kangaroo court?

The choice for peoples tribunal is a little bit controversial, recognises Jasmijn de Zeeuw, a legal advisor at the Dutch NGO Free Press Unlimited. Her organisation was one of those behind the creation of the Peoples Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists, held in The Hague in 2021-2022. She was at first hesitant because it could be criticised as lacking legitimacy and seen as a kangaroo court. But to her it was the right choice because it is a way of calling for action in cases where so little was being done, that it was kind of a last resort.

Shadi Sadr, an Iranian human rights lawyer and a PhD candidate at Leiden University, has been involved in several peoples tribunals. The Iranian human rights activist has seen how the ones that discussed rights violations in her country - the Iran Tribunal and the Aban Tribunal enabled NGOs, survivors, victims to shake off the easily-applied label by the regime in Tehran of opposition and having a political agenda and instead, their cases are strengthened by engaging with a group of internationally renowned lawyers who have nothing to do with the case of Iran. They are neutral, independent, impartial, she says of the judges. That makes discrediting their judgement difficult, she says. Then the credibility of the judgement can help NGOs or survivors or victims community to push the international community to take meaningful steps and measures, like justice and accountability.

But do they achieve that larger goal? De Zeeuw says the journalists tribunal has led to further positive outcomes: For example, the evidence that was collected in the Sri Lanka case was requested by the UN Human Rights Office. In Mexico, were really hoping that the evidence of the tribunal and the testimonies that were deposited will actually be used by the federal prosecutor to start cases and we are currently working with a collective of family members to continue these efforts. Syria is, of course, a bit of a harder case but the evidence, collected by the SCMP [the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, lead by Mazen Darwish] continues to be brought to the attention of relevant bodies.

To show that the problem is political will

But what makes a peoples tribunal a peoples tribunal? The classic definition by academics who took a close look at the ones from the middle of the 20th century onwards is: A civil society initiative establishing a forum for a body of eminent persons and/or experts to consider allegations of violations of specific standards of international law in the light of documentary and other forms of evidence presented to them in formal proceedings.

They can be diverse, not only focusing on human rights but also issues such as environmental problems and the role of international organisations. States generally have the monopoly on prosecuting serious human rights violations - unless they delegate that to an international court such as the International Criminal Court (ICC). Sovereignty though can act as a shield preventing victims access to justice or trying to mould a set of events to fit the official narrative.

We thought the form of a peoples tribunal is very interesting, because often in these cases, states use the argument that its not possible to organise a hearing or to collect the evidence, says de Zeeuw. We wanted to show actually, by doing it ourselves, that the problem is political will and not the fact that this evidence isnt available.

More than 50 judgments

The fact that there are so many - the Permanent Peoples Tribunal lists more than 50 judgments, and its not exhaustive - shows that NGOs and activists perceive a real need and that there is a gap in the current, less than perfect system of international justice.



And then theres the copycat effect: To some extent they breed others, suggests Nice, People hear about them and think, well, thats a good idea. Indeed, Sadr was so inspired by the experience and also the evidence in the Iran Tribunal that she helped set up another in its wake - the Aban Tribunal.

For legitimacy, the detail of how the tribunals are both set up and run matters. Who sets them up - are they self-appointed single-issue, undemocratic zealots who are determined to have one result only from their Peoples Tribunal, to wave at the media as evidence of wrongdoing by the powerful? Or are they accountable also for their actions?

At the Aban Tribunal, Sadr says they were especially careful of creating a Chinese Wall between the organisers and the judges so that the judges opinions would not be influenced by the activists. We looked for evidence favourable to the other side. So that it wasnt a sort of show trial. We applied the absolutely strict standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt, says Nice of the China and Uyghur Tribunals which he chaired.

For the journalists tribunal, de Zeeuw says they worked hard at finding a good balance between using the kind of legitimacy that comes with organising it as a court and at the same time building in the safeguards that make sure that you dont make a mockery of the judicial process. One thing was having an independent body selecting the judges. Another choice that we made was not to indict individuals, but instead indict states. That way you also avoid this kind of farce of having a defence counsel defending individuals that cannot actually consult with them. We also invited the states to defend themselves if they wanted to, she says. Even then, respondents rarely - if ever - appear at any of these tribunals which does leave them exposed to a critique of perceived bias and politicisation.

They are not courts, they are people

To counter that, De Zeeuw thinks transparency is the key. We did everything in public," echoes Nice of the very high-profile people's tribunals he has worked with. All the written materials are available. In addition, among the members of the tribunal, everyone was unpaid, he said. But the balance, says De Zeeuw is keeping it both legitimate, but also within the boundaries of whats acceptable if youre not an official court.

Nice says they shied away of being overly legalistic. The only legal word we tended to use is the word Judgment. There is an important reason for using the word judgment. Its the same form of the word that is in a judicial judgement. But this is the judgment of human beings. And he is especially critical of tribunals that have the external trappings of a court.

There are still tribunals of the kind that turn up wearing robes. And calling themselves judges and all that sort of thing. Theyre not real courts. They are people. Thats whats in the title. It may seem trivial, but its actually very, very important conceptually. A robe suggests that youre carrying the authority of a state or of a body like the UN which have powers to imprison people or apply other sanctions once they reach judgments, he says.

I am not concerned with success

Its difficult to assess the real legacy of peoples tribunals. Nice disavows any concern with legacy on the part of the judges. Rather, he says, the legacy is the legacy of those whove used the evidence and the judgment to have an effect.

For De Zeeuw, it was important to show that it is possible to gather evidence of responsibility for journalists murders if you just put the political will and the capacity and the energy behind it. In fact, in the part of that tribunal devoted to the death of a Mexican journalist a lot of witnesses, including the family who were speaking out for the first time, hadnt even given evidence to the federal prosecutor yet on the case, because on the lack of trust in these state institutions, she says. But because they did it, a lot of other families in Veracruz organised afterwards in a collective to together speak out about these cases, also realising that they were much stronger if they do it together.

Im not concerned with success because that would make me an activist, wouldnt it? Assessing success lies with what activists may achieve by use of the judgment, Nice says. And as for what happens to mountains of evidence? Its there in the public sphere. It is for others to make use of. Were in this great universe and were simply pressing a start button, by making these findings and its up to other people whether they will pick up on that.
Amidst swirling controversies and contract speculations, South Korean broadcasting network JTBC finds itself embroiled in a dilemma over its hit drama "Snowdrop."

The online community, theqoo, erupted with discussions following a post titled "The reason why JTBC will not be able to abolish 'Snowdrop'.jpg," shedding light on intricate details surrounding the fate of the drama.

Contract Speculations and Financial Entanglements

The post, authored by an anonymous writer, speculated on the reasons why JTBC might be hesitant to let go of "Snowdrop," despite mounting criticisms.

"'Snowdrop' has already signed a streaming contract with Disney Plus. As K-drama 'Snowdrop' has been released with the global market as it target at the same time it airs in Korea, with no VOD replay or any other OTT service apart from the real-time broadcast on TV, its contract amount with Disney Plus won't be small at all."

Additionally, the writer pointed out a substantial investment.

"The drama has received 100 billion won in investment from Chinese IT company 'Tencent'."

This financial entanglement with influential stakeholders from both within and outside Korea adds layers of complexity to JTBC's decision-making process.

Controversy Surrounding Source Material

However, the plot thickens with the revelation of another potential motive behind JTBC's reluctance to relinquish "Snowdrop."

The network's upcoming drama, "When The Day Breaks," starring a stellar cast including Han Seok-kyu and Jung Yoo-mi, is currently in limbo due to filming suspensions.

List of Unreleased kdrama (one movie sneak) that im so looking forward to (some might not gonna see the light):



1.. When The Day Breaks (stopped filming and hasnt start again since December 2021 probably it got cancelled since Korea hate the novel adaptation (Chinese novel) pic.twitter.com/ovNWAK5NKV  may (@gongjicheoIs) November 13, 2023

The anonymous writer delved into the controversial origins of "When The Day Breaks," alleging its source material, a novel by Chinese writer Zi Jin-chen, harbors contentious viewpoints.

With his inflammatory social media posts, have ignited a firestorm of criticism. With filming halted and the script under scrutiny, JTBC finds itself navigating a minefield of public perception and political sensitivities.

Balancing Act for JTBC

"With 'When The Day Breaks' already facing scrutiny over its source material and production delays, JTBC's decision to hold onto 'Snowdrop' becomes more understandable," the post speculated.

jtbc be keeping our hopes high by putting to be continued... on snowdrop's latest making film and now they've decided to abandon us here???  pic.twitter.com/8URKYt5JP4  shai  (@peekabboing) February 8, 2022

The potential fallout from abandoning "Snowdrop" could set a precedent, exacerbating the challenges surrounding future productions embroiled in controversy.

JTBC aint just abandoning snowdrop after all the free food and the amount of money they saved because of the trucks we sent   JISOOS CHRIST  (@KCunt22) March 30, 2021

As "When The Day Breaks" remains in hiatus, JTBC finds itself at a crossroads, balancing financial imperatives, contractual obligations, and ethical considerations.

The fate of both "Snowdrop" and future productions hangs in the balance, as the network treads carefully amidst the storm of public opinion.

I say we attack pic.twitter.com/MXD50vcTa3   (@pantheresoo) February 8, 2022

JTBC has yet to release an official statement regarding the allegations and speculations surrounding "Snowdrop" and its upcoming projects, leaving fans and industry insiders eagerly awaiting clarity on the network's stance in these tumultuous times.

KDramaStars owns this article

Written by Joan Cabigas
Lee Yoo Bi surprised fans with her amazing transformation. On April 29, "The Escape of the Seven" star was spotted sporting a new 'do.

Lee Yoo Bi Makes Heads Turn With Her New Haircut

On the 29th, the actress was seen arriving at Incheon Airport as she headed to a photo shoot in Phuket, Thailand. The 33-year-old beauty looked unrecognizable with her amazing hairstyle.

Lee Yoo Bi went for a girly hairs, switching from straight hair, to messy waves. She also opted for pink-based makeup, which gave her a young and fresh vibe.

READ MORE : Lee Yoo Bi Hit With Bizarre Accusation About Illegal Filming, Hacking

Interestingly, Lee Yoo Bi's transformation caught the attention of K-pop fans, with some pointing out the similarities between the actress and IVE's Jang Wonyoung.

One detail that netizens noticed was her big, bright eyes and pouty lips.

In a post through an online community, netizens mentioned that Lee Yoo Bi has the same vibes and kind of resembles IVE's Jang Wonyoung.

On the other hand, some disagreed and said that they "don't look alike at all."

What's Next for Lee Yoo Bi?

Lee Yoo Bi is currently starring in "The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection," reprising her role as actress Han Mo Ne.

In a previous interview, she revealed why she accepted the offer and expressed her excitement to join the series.

"I'm a fan of the writer, so I was excited when I received the offer."

Writer Kim Soon Ok is also the screenwriter of "The Penthouse: War in Life," where Lee Yoo Bi also made a cameo.

As for her role in "The Escape of the Seven'' series, she described her character as someone who is "immensely loved" but harbors a "dark inner side." According to her, it's a character "very different" from her.

The SBS series is the sequel to the hit 2023 drama "The Escape of the Seven: War for Survival," which depicts the story of revenge of the seven individuals against the powerful villain Matthew Lee, played by Uhm Ki Joon.

Joining Lee Yoo Bi and Uhm Ki Joon in "The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection" are Lee Joon, Hwang Jung Eum, Yoon Jong Hoon, Shin Eun Kyung, CNBLUE's Lee Jung Shin, and more.

After the revenge K-drama, the 33-year-old is in talks to return to the big screen.

Lee Yoo Bi is slated to join the romance film "Love Affair," a melodramatic movie that focuses on the couple's journey to New York in hopes of recreating the memories of their past.

This will be her return to the big screen in the 2020 comedy movie "Best Friend" with Jung Woo, Kim Hee Won, and more.

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article

Written by Geca Flores
Baeksang Arts Awards 2024 is among the trending topics on X, formerly Twitter, as netizens tuned in to the much-anticipated ceremony. Interestingly, among the scenes that struck the attention of fans was the interaction between top stars Song Joong Ki and Kim Seon Ho.

Various celebrities decorated the 2024 Baeksang Arts Awards red carpet with their dashing and glam looks. But the public was, as expected, delighted to see an unexpected action between two South Korean hearthrobs.

Before the start of the ceremony's main event, Song Joong Ki, clad in his black tuxedo, was spotted having a delightful moment with fellow heartthrob Kim Seon Ho, who was in a white and black ensemble.

At one point, the "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" star greeted Song Joong Ki with a hug, while the "Vincenzo" star tapped him on his back.

This precious moment was caught on camera and caused a frenzy among K-drama fans.

On social media, fans couldn't help but gush over the duo's interaction, with some suggesting that Song Joong Ki and Kim Seon Ho deserve to headline a K-drama together.

Meanwhile, others seemed curious about the two actors' friendship.

I wanna know the story behind this surprise bromance https://t.co/D4ra6BiN3h  V (@vvcrz) May 7, 2024

They're back and we still don't know why they're this close haha https://t.co/3yjEXwGtZB  ann (@anythingkworthy) May 7, 2024

This is not the first time that the two top stars were spotted having a warm exchange at a ceremony.

During the 44th Blue Dragon Film Awards, Kim Seon Ho and Song Joong Ki shared the stage together as they accepted an award.

Hosted by Kim Hye Soo and Yoo Yeon Seok, they joined fellow winners on stage to accept the Chung Jung Won Popular Star Award along with Park Bo Young ("Concrete Utopia") and Jo In Sung ("Smugglers").

At the time, Song Joong Ki represented the movie "Hopeless," while Kim Seon Ho was nominated for his big screen debut, "The Childe."

2024 Baeksang Arts Awards Winners, Hosts, More

Hosted by the trio, comedian Shin Dong Yup and actors Bae Suzy and Park Bo Gum, stars gathered on May 7 for the 60th Baeksang Arts Awards.

Broadcast live simultaneously on JTBC, JTBC2, and JTBC4, as well as the streaming platforms Tving and Prizm, a slew of stars were spotted looking dashing and sleek on the red carpet.

"My Dearest" stars Namgoong Min and Ahn Eun Jin attended the ceremony, as did the cast of "A Bloody Lucky Day," featuring Yoo Yeon Seok and Lee Jung Eun.

Namgoong Min won the Best Actor for TV, while Honey Lee snagged the Best Actress trophy for the same category.

In addition, Uhm Jung Hwa, Lee Jong Won, Lim Ji Yeon, and more were spotted on the red carpet.

"Queen of Tears" star Kim Soo Hyun also thrilled the fans with his presence at the 60th Baeksang Arts Awards.

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article

Written by Geca Flores




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Six Cabinet Secretaries are under fire from the opposition, Parliament, and Kenyans over the manner in which they have handled their dockets in the past 18 months.

Mithika Linturi (Agriculture), Susan Nakhumicha (Health), Ezekiel Machogu (Education), Moses Kuria (Public Service), Davies Chirchir (Energy), and Kipchumba Murkomen are among CSs facing the wrath of Kenyans.

Azimio Leader Raila Odinga on Friday launched a verbal attack on Machogu, Nakhumicha, and Kuria over the manner they have handled their dockets, which he said raised questions as to whether they understand the heavy responsibility bestowed upon them.

Linturis fate hangs in the balance due to an impeachment motion hanging over his head in the National Assembly over the fake fertilizer scandal.

The scandal has left the Kenya Kwanza administration hard-pressed to explain how a sector said to be close to its heart could have been riddled with sleaze.

The motion to impeach Linturi was tabled by Bumula MP Jack Wamboka after collecting 110 signatures from MPs.

On the floor of the House, 149 MPs voted in support of the impeachment with 36 MPs voting against the motion.

Nakhumicha faces criticism for the manner in which she has handled the medics strike, which has left services paralyzed.

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, last month, filed a motion in the National Assembly seeking to have Nakhumicha impeached over gross violation of the constitution and incompetence.

Machogu received criticism majorly because of the recent flip-flop on school reopening for the second term.

Hours before the re-opening last Monday he sent a statement in the dead of the night postponing reopening which inconvenienced students who had already travelled to school.

Kurias proposal to have all public servants put on contract has been received with anger.

The opposition and workers unions have sworn not to allow such an unpopular decision that will claw back the gains made in the job market.

On the other hand, Chirchir has received backlash from Kenyans following frequent power outages in the country.

Murkomen has been on the receiving end over increased accidents and some shameful occurrences, like the leaking roof at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Kisii County was plunged into darkness early Tuesday morning after a gang reportedly attacked the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) power station in Kegati and vandalized key equipment.

Kenya Power Regional Manager Dan Obiero confirmed the incident and said the 3 AM attack also left security guards injured.



This is to notify you that last night criminals/vandals went to our main Kegati 33/11kv Substation and vandalized major equipment.



"This being our main biggest and main substation we have therefore lost power supply to the whole of Kisii County, Kenya Power said in a message to customers.



While efforts to restore power were underway, Kenya Power cautioned that the process would take longer, given the extent of the damage caused by the attackers.



See photos of the main substation which was vandalized by the gang.




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Business was almost brought to a standstill along Luthuli Avenue after tensions escalated between electronic traders and Anti-Counterfeit Officers, leading to a physical confrontation.

The officers from Anti-Counterfeit Squad raided several shops mostly belonging to Kikuyu traders in search of specific electronic brands, including JBL, Nexo, and Electro-Voice speakers.

The scene quickly turned chaotic and necessitated police intervention to restore order.

During the previous regime, Ruto and UDA leaders from Mt. Kenya region used such raids to incite Kikuyu traders against Uhuru.

They would accuse Uhuru of targeting businesses belonging to members of the Kikuyu community.

The propaganda by Ruto and his men made Uhuru lose popularity in the Mt. Kenya region.

Watch videos of the raid.

Chaos Erupts on Luthuli Avenue as Electronics Traders Clash with Anti-Counterfeit Officers



Earlier today, chaos erupted along Luthuli Avenue as tensions escalated between electronics traders and Anti-Counterfeit Officers.



The scene quickly turned chaotic and necessitated pic.twitter.com/8920VSRWHR  Cyprian, Is Nyakundi (@C_NyaKundiH) May 7, 2024

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Rogue traffic police officers from Buru Buru Police Station have been exposed after they were captured on camera collecting bribes from motorists near the junction of Jogoo Road and Buru Buru.

According to a concerned Kenyan, the cops camp at the location between 7 am and 11 am and return in the evening at around 3 PM to 5 PM to collect money from matatus and trucks.

Every matatu and truck driver is forced to dish out a bribe to the cops.

The cops were captured on camera by a motorist collecting the bribes as usual.

Hello, Cyprian. Every morning between 7 am and 11 am, around 3 to 5 traffic officers from Buru Buru police station collect money from almost every matatu and truck near the junction of Jogoo Road and Buru Buru, the concerned motorist wrote to Nyakundi.

Buru Buru police station is one of the stations in Nairobi that has the most corrupt traffic police officers.

EACC officers have in the recent past conducted raids and arrested traffic cops from the station collecting bribes from motorists.

Watch the videos.

Hello Cyprian. Every morning between 7 am and 11 am, around 3 to 5 traffic officers from Buru Buru police station collect money from almost every matatu and truck near the junction of Jogoo Road and Buru Buru. pic.twitter.com/vb4YvT2XNA  Cyprian, Is Nyakundi (@C_NyaKundiH) May 7, 2024

The Kenyan DAILY POST.
A building witnesses the ironclad friendship between China and Serbia

(People's Daily App) 18:50, May 07, 2024

In May, the Serbian capital of Belgrade, located more than 7,000 kilometers from Beijing, is full of vibrance.

Walking through the streets, there is a unique modern building that attracts people's attention. Based on ancient Chinese landscape paintings, the exterior walls of the building present the perfect combination of the art of painting and modern architecture. The road where the edifice is located is called "Confucius Boulevard," while the square where the edifice is located is called "China- Serbia Friendship Square." This edifice is the China Cultural Center in Belgrade.

The China Cultural Center in Belgrade. (Photo: Wang Wei)

Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to the Republic of Serbia on June 17, 2016. During the visit, President Xi and the leaders of Serbia attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the China Cultural Center together. The two heads of state laid the foundation and exchanged sincere messages.

The building, which is like a beautiful ancient Chinese landscape painting drawn on the bank of the Danube River, is not only an important bridge and bond for cultural exchanges between the two countries, but also a witness to the ironclad friendship between China and Serbia during the development of the times.

China and the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia formally established diplomatic relations in the early 1950s, ushering in a new page of friendship and cooperation between people in China and Serbia. For decades, the profound friendship and special bond between our peoples have withstood the passage of time and the long distance and become even stronger.

Cultural exchanges are an important part of China-Serbia relations and an inexhaustible driving force for the deepening development of bilateral relations.

At one time, famous films such as Walter defends Sarajevo, Most and so on inspired the patriotic enthusiasm of countless Chinese people, and the song of "Bella ciao" is still prevalent in China now.

At present, "Chinese fever" continues to heat up in Serbia. Many universities have set up Chinese departments, a Chinese popularization project was officially launched in 2012 in primary and secondary schools nationwide, and more and more Serbs have joined Confucius Institutes and Chinese teaching centers.

A variety of cultural courses are being taught at the China Cultural Center in Belgrade, such as Tai Chi, calligraphy, Chinese language, guzheng (Chinese zither). These activities enable Serbian people to have an immersive experience of Chinese culture.

Tai Chi class at the China Cultural Center in Belgrade. (Photo: Shen Xiaoxiao/ People's Daily

Dubonjac Jovana, a 29-year-old girl who was born and raised in Serbia, is studying for a PhD in Chinese culture. She is also a volunteer teaching Chinese at the China Cultural Center in Belgrade. Learning Chinese not only creates more opportunities for her, but also provides many Serbs a window to take a look at the world, she said. "Although China and Serbia are far away, the long history of China and Chinese culture is very attractive to many Serbs."

In recent years, the cooperation between China and Serbia in culture and tourism, and economy and trade has yielded fruitful results, while people between the two countries have become closer. In 2017, a mutual visa-free agreement between the two countries came into effect. In 2019, China became the country with the largest number of tourists to Serbia. Since China and Serbia signed an agreement recognizing the validity of driving licenses issued by each other and opened direct flights, personnel exchanges between the two countries have continued to increase. In 2023, China and Serbia signed a free trade agreement, injecting new momentum into bilateral relations.

Serbia is China's first comprehensive strategic partner in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and the two countries have nurtured an ironclad friendship. President Xi Jinping has remarked on bilateral relations many times on different occasions, "China and Serbia are 'ironclad friends' having stood together through thick and thin," "The two countries enjoy high-level political mutual trust, and bilateral relations have withstood tests and become even stronger, setting a model for international relations," "The ironclad China-Serbia friendship is most valuable and deserves to be firmly upheld and carried forward from generation to generation."

In May 2008, after an earthquake hit Wenchuan, China's Sichuan Province, Serbia mobilized a batch of tents from its military reserves to aid China's disaster areas and printed "To the People of China" on the outer package.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic greeted the Chinese medical expert team that arrived in Serbia to assist in combating the outbreak, kissing the Chinese flag to express his gratitude for the country's timely support. This scene deeply moved many Chinese people.

"Serbia is proud of its ironclad friendship with China." When meeting with President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing last October, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that China has always respected and treated Serbia equally, and provided appreciated support to the country in times of difficulties. China's assistance and cooperation have helped Serbia maintain sound economic development and brought huge benefits to the Serbian people.

Yesterday's seeds, today's harvest. Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, China and Serbia have forged a stronger bond. Cooperation projects between the two countries like the Hungary-Serbia railway, the Pupin Bridge on the Danube river in Belgrade, the E-763 highway, the Kostolac Power Plant, and HBIS Smederevo Steel Plant, have not only transformed the bilateral traditional friendship into practical cooperation results, but also brought more benefits to the two peoples.

"China attaches great importance to its relations with Serbia and values the profound tradition of China-Serbia friendship. China is ready to tap the potential of win-win cooperation by utilizing our complementarity so as to achieve steady and sustained growth of our relations," Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a signed article in the leading Serbian newspaper Politika under the title of "Enduring Friendship and True Partnership" in June, 2016.

A Serbian proverb goes, "Prijatelj je plod vremena" (friends are the fruits of time). With the joint efforts of the two countries, the seeds of friendship are being planted one after another, yielding fruitful fruits for China-Serbia friendship.

(Translated by Xu Zheqi, Meng Jiahui and Liu Lifeng)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)






Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - A judge in New York has warned Donald Trump that he could be placed in jail if he continues to violate a gag order during his trial over alleged hush money payments.

Justice Juan Merchan handed a written order to the former president telling him the court will consider a jail sanction if he does not keep to the terms of the order.

The judge said: It is important that you understand that the last thing I want to do is put you in jail.

However, he added that the violations were a direct attack on the rule of law and that his job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system.

It is the most serious rebuke of Trump so far in his criminal trial, the first to ever be held for an ex-US president.

Trump is accused of working with a tabloid publisher to prevent lurid stories about his sex life becoming public during his 2016 presidential run.

Since the trial began on April 15, Mr Trump has been subject to a gag order telling him not to make public statements about people involved in the case.

Last week, he was fined $9,000 by the court for violating the terms of the order.

But he made further comments on a right-wing TV network suggesting the jury is 95% Democratic and saying the judge is rushing the trial like crazy.

He had been fined a further $1,000 as a result, and given the letter raising the possibility of incarceration.

In his ruling, Judge Merchan writes that Mr Trump violated the Order by making public statements about the jury and how it was selected.

In doing so, Defendant not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones.




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Kileleshwa Member of County Assembly Robert Alai is facing the wrath of Raila Odingas Azimio Coalition for allegedly working with the 'enemy'

Alai is facing disciplinary action from the Azimio Coalition after he attended a meeting organized by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

Already, Azimio asked Alai to show cause why he shouldnt be disciplined after he allegedly defied the partys directive to abscond the meeting.

According to the Majority Chief Whip of the Nairobi County Assembly, Moses Ogeto, Alai defied orders issued to Azimio members on April 22.

Ogeto further detailed that Alais attendance was in contravention of Azimios policies and depicted support of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.

Further, the Chief Whip stated that Alai openly supported Kenya Kwanzas directives in public, a move that hasnt augured well with the rival Azimio Coalition.

Your unethical dalliance and open affection towards our rival coalition, KENYA KWANZA as evidenced by your speech during the meeting, is treated as serious misconduct from your side towards the Leadership of the House and the leadership of AZIMIO ONE KENYA COALITION in general, stated Ogeto.

However, Alai has defended himself, stating that his attendance was in the interest of the electorate as the meeting was meant to discuss matters of interest to Nairobi residents.

Alai also explained that the opposition's failure to attend such meetings would present adverse outcomes for Nairobians as crucial policies were discussed in such forums.

Further, Alai rebutted that failure to heed to such invitations was a failure to Nairobians who elected the Azimio leaders.

The meeting in question was held on April 24, at Gachaguas Karen residence. Its agenda focused on the Nairobi Rivers Action Plan implementation.

The Kenyan DAILY POST




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai is in deep trouble for leaning toward President William Rutos government.

This is after he received a show cause notice from Raila Odingas ODM, through Nairobi County Assembly Majority Whip Moses Ogeto, after attending Deputy President Rigathi Gachaguas meeting at his Karen residence.

However, Alai has defended himself saying he was just doing his job.

In a letter to Ogeto, Alai said he had no prior communication against attending the event at Deputy President Rigathi Gachaguas residence.

I must clarify that I received no prior formal or informal communication advising against participation in the referenced meeting. It is crucial to specify how this directive was communicated to ensure that no such oversight occurs in the future, read the letter in part.

The ODM MCA questioned the rationale behind restricting Azimio MCAs from attending government functions in official capacities.

Alai pointed out that elected leaders are representatives of the people and not mere followers of directives that do not serve their constituents' best interests.

How can we prevent adverse outcomes for those we represent by being barred from such critical discussions?

"The recent developments affecting those we represent in Mathare, Embakasi, and Langata are direct results of policies made without input.

"By side-lining Azimio One Kenya Coalition Party elected leaders from contributing to policy discussions, aren't we failing the very people who depend on us to safeguard their interests? he posed.

Alai argued that Azimio holds the Majority side in the Nairobi County Assembly and chairs the crucial sectoral committee of Environment and Natural Resources together with that of Planning and Housing hence is required to implement policies adopted from engagements.

At the same time, he noted that the Speaker of the Nairobi County Assembly Kennedy Ngodi who is nominated under the Azimio wing requested the attendance of MCA in the meeting at Gachaguas residence.

The meeting was held at the Deputy President's official residence, which also serves as his other office for functions with larger attendees.

"I wonder how attending and engaging stakeholders, including the Deputy President, in such a setting qualifies as an unethical dalliance, Alai added.

The Kenyan DAILY POST




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom have sent an urgent message to President William Ruto.

In their urgent message, the king and his wife comforted and sympathized with Ruto amid the ongoing floods experienced across the country.

In a statement, the King expressed sorrow over the rise in fatalities and disruption of livelihoods caused by the effects of climate change.

While differing with Raila Odingas Azimio who have been criticizing Rutos sluggish response to the flood disaster, King Charles acknowledged the government's efforts in mitigating the situation and called for extra support to be accorded to Kenya.

"Mr. President, it was with great concern that my wife and I learnt recently of the terrible flooding that has ravaged Kenya and the region, and which continues to impact so many of your people.

"We can only begin to imagine the anguish of those who have lost loved ones and seen their livelihoods devastated," he noted.

"Our thoughts are also with those emergency workers and others who are working long hours to support those who have been so dreadfully affected."

"The increased unpredictability and violence of weather systems remind us of how utterly vital it is that the world act together and with all despatch to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

While having fond memories of his visit to Kenya, the king noted how vital the world needs to unite to mitigate such effects.

"As we discussed during our visit to Kenya last year, the challenge of climate change and biodiversity loss falls to all of us to address: at stake is our very quality of life and survival as a world," he added.

"Remembering with great fondness the welcome we received on my visit last year, and the friendship between our two countries we wanted to send our deepest sympathy and affection to the people of Kenya.

The ongoing heavy rains have disrupted normal day-to-day activities, affected people's sources of income, and resulted in loss of lives.

The Kenyan DAILY POST




Tuesday, May 7, 2024  Defiant Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has announced plans to establish a unified Return to Work Formula (RTWF) within the next 48 hours.

This comes amid a looming ultimatum from the Employment and Labour Relations Court.

This decision follows a series of failed negotiations and escalating tensions between the union and government officials.

In a statement yesterday, the KMPDU addressed the pressing challenge posed by the court's ultimatum, citing the importance of sincere commitment from both parties in resolving the ongoing dispute.

"While this directive presents a pressing challenge, it is not insurmountable if both parties demonstrate sincere commitment to the process," the statement from KMPDU chair Abidan Mwachi read.

The impasse between the doctors' union and the government reached a critical point last Friday when the KMPDU withdrew from the 'Whole of Nation Approach' talks.

Controversy erupted as national and county governments, which stated that they had reached agreements on 17 of 19 issues raised by the doctors, signed a return-to-work formula without the involvement of the doctors' union, further exacerbating tensions.

Expectations that a return-to-work formula would be reached and deposited in court by Monday morning were not met, prompting the Labour court to issue a caution to the parties involved.

Justice Ongaya of the Labour Court warned that if a return-to-work formula is not agreed upon, the court will intervene and make a decision.

"Parties at liberty to file and serve soft and hard copy submissions by noon 08.05.2024," Justice Ongaya stated.

The Kenyan DAILY POST




Tuesday, May 7, 2024  Even before we finish with the ongoing heavy rainfall that has caused floods, landslides, destruction of properties, and even death, the weatherman has warned Kenyans to prepare for another extreme weather phenomenon.

In an advisory yesterday, the Kenya Meteorological Department warned of cold nights in parts of the country amidst the ongoing heavy rains.

The weatherman noted that the most affected areas would be the Mt Kenya counties and parts of the Rift Valley.

As per the projections, the counties that will be extremely cold include parts of Nyeri, Muranga, Kirinyaga, and Laikipia.

The temperatures in some of these areas are expected to drop to 8 to 10 Degrees Celcius.

On the other hand, areas where the temperatures will range between 10 to 15 Degrees Celcius include parts of Nairobi County, Kiambu, Narok, Machakis, Nakuru, Nyandarua, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Uasin Gishu and Makueni.

Trans Nzioia, West Pokot, Kakamega, Samburu, Meru, and Tharaka Nithi counties will also have cold nights.

Therefore, residents of the affected areas were advised to keep warm during the night and opt for warm clothes.

"Average night-time (minimum) temperatures will be low (less than 10C) over some parts of the Highlands East of the Rift Valley," read the advisory in part.

The Kenyan DAILY POST




Tuesday, May 7,2024 - Controversial Kenyan lawyer and barrister, Miguna Miguna, has explained why he constantly blocks some people on his social media platforms, especially on X ( formerly Twitter).

In an exclusive interview with Internet personality Oga Obinna on Monday, Miguna, who is also a barrister based in Toronto, Canada, said he usually blocks some people because they engage him without facts and also insults him.

"People who are interested in discussing ideas, interrogating my ideas, or sharing ideas come and disrupt. Engaging such a person is an insult.

"Anytime I see negativity and lack of ideas I block," Miguna explained.

A while back, Miguna claimed that his candid truth is the reason why he gets blocked by politicians including Azimio One Kenya Alliance leader Raila Odinga, former president Uhuru Kenyatta, and current President William Ruto

"I have not blocked you anyone. Ruto blocked me. Raila blocked me.

"I block those who come to my handle to abuse me. I simply speak my mind uncompromisingly," Miguna said.

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Monday, May 6, 2024 - A Texas mom told her 3-year-old son to say goodbye to Daddy on camera just moments before she shot the boy in a ditch and then killed herself a day before she was due in court for a custody hearing with her ex-husband, cops said.

Savannah Kriger, 32, and her son Kaiden were found dead with gunshot wounds to their heads at a San Antonio park back on March 19.

Authorities have spent weeks piecing together their harrowing final hours as they probed the murder-suicide.

In the hours before the killings, authorities said Kriger shot at her old wedding photos, trashed her ex-husbands home and taunted him with a slew of FaceTime videos and texts warning him, You wont have anything at all by the end of the day.





The grim ordeal started to unfold when Kriger left work the afternoon of March 18 and headed straight to her exs home while he was at work, the Bexar County Sheriffs Office said.

After damaging the exs furniture and some personal items, the mother drove to her own home, where cops later found her wedding dress and portraits laid out on the bed.

We believe that she fired two shots into her wedding portraits, Sheriff Javier Salazar said.

Kriger subsequently picked her son up from daycare and then started inundating Kaidens father with the harrowing messages, authorities said.

You dont have anything to go home to now. You really dont, Kriger said on one FaceTime call.



You wont have anything at all at the end of the day.

The final text to her ex read, Say goodbye to your son.

A 21-second video recovered from her phone showed Kriger and her son sitting in the ditch in the park where their bodies would later be discovered.

In the clip, authorities said the mom told her son to say goodbye to Daddy before she apologized to the boy that his father wasnt there and then kissed him.





Her phone records show she then looked up videos of childrens cartoons on her phone while they were still sitting in the ditch, according to authorities.

Kriger had filed for a divorce and a temporary restraining order against her ex on March 7, MySA reported.

The former couple were due in court on March 19  the day the bodies were discovered  for a custody hearing.




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Nairobi city residents have called for the arrest of Ruchu Ward MCA, Naomi Maina, for neglecting roads in her area.

Despite the Murang'a county government allocating millions of shillings to repair roads in her region, the useless MCA has been using the money to enrich herself.

On Saturday, Nairobi residents who visited the Gacharage sub-location for a goat-eating ceremony were shocked to learn that KangunuNgoe Road was impassable due to MCAs ignorance, mediocrity, and greediness.

This is an embarrassment to Muranga. How can MCA neglect this road, Samson Otieno from Kayole was overheard saying.

This MCA doesnt deserve to be elected. She should be arrested for not serving the electorate as enshrined in the constitution, said Peter Thethe who is also a Nairobi resident.

The road is like a cattle dip. Ruchu people deserve better than this, Paul Mutie stated.

Residents who spoke on anonymity also stated that the MCA, who runs a poultry-keeping business, has been diverting money to her own companies and they requested the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to probe her and serve justice to Ruchu residents.

The Kenyan DAILY POST




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - A young Kalenjin man identified as Paul Kipkemei, a cousin to prominent lawyer Kipchumba Karori, has gone missing after he was abducted by mysterious men in Ngong on Saturday.

The kidnapping incident took place next to Delta petrol station.

Three men reportedly pulled up in a cream Prado J120 Series and a Toyota Fiedler and kidnapped Kipkemei.

His whereabouts remain unknown even as police launch investigations.

Kipkemeis photos have been circulated on social media as the search continues.

Cases of young Kalenjin men being abducted have been on the rise, despite President William Ruto's promise to end abduction of Kenyans by suspected police officers and state agents.

It is not clear whether Kipkemei was involved in criminal activities.

































The Kenyan DAILY POST.






Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Pro-Palestinian demonstrations broke out near the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday night, May 6 as celebrities gathered for the annual Met Gala event.

The New York Police Department confirmed multiple people were arrested in the protests, though did not specify a number. Footage on social media showed groups of people marching near the Met Gala, shouting free Palestine and banging drums.

In some videos, traffic on Park Avenue appeared at a standstill as protestors flooded the streets. Some protestors set off smoke bombs and flares





According to reports, the protesters were rallying across the city in a citywide day of rage, marching from Hunter College and through Central Park to attempt to disrupt the fundraising event. The NYPD set up various blockades in the area surrounding the Met Gala to prevent protestors from getting close to the gala and instructed protestors to leave the roadways.

The demonstration comes as pro-Palestinian protests roil college campuses across the country, prompting the arrests of hundreds of students and faculty over the past three weeks. Demonstrators are calling for universities and the U.S. to sever ties with Israel over the countrys war with Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians since early October.

Watch videos below

BREAKING: Over 1,000 pro-Palestine protesters are attempting to disrupt the Met Gala in New York City.



The group reportedly met at Hunter College and then marched towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art.



The NYPD initially intercepted the group however protesters are trying to pic.twitter.com/kyJRWQWJgE  Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 6, 2024

#NYC MASS ARRESTS, Pro-palestine protesters dragged on the ground outside #MetGala2024 during protest 'DAY OF RAGE' for Rafah. #HappeningNow



Video by @yyeeaahhhboiii2 Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/2nZ9KaTgD8  Oliya Scootercaster  (@ScooterCasterNY) May 6, 2024

#NYC A counter protester with an Israeli keffiyeh got punched in the face during 'DAY OF RAGE' protest.



As the crowd chased after him, a man from "NYPD Intelligence Unit" attempted to stop everyone, turning into confrontation. pic.twitter.com/lCdakrlyal  Oliya Scootercaster  (@ScooterCasterNY) May 7, 2024






Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian forces to rehearse deploying tactical nuclear weapons, as part of military drills to respond to what he called threats by the West.

Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Putin has repeatedly made threats to use tactical nuclear weapons against the West, but Monday marked the first time Russia has publicly announced drills.

During the exercises, a set of measures will be carried out to practice the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, Russias defense ministry said.

Non-strategic, or tactical, nuclear weapons can be used in battlefield situations, carrying less power than strategic nuclear weapons, which have the potential to level entire cities.

Russias defense ministry said the drills were ordered after provocative statements and threats by Western officials against Russia, which Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said had reached unprecedented levels.

French President Emmanuel Macron last week reaffirmed that he would not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine, as he warned of the risks Russia poses to European security.

Im not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out, Macron told The Economist magazine. I have a clear strategic objective: Russia cannot win in Ukraine. If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe. Who can pretend that Russia will stop there?

And during a visit to Ukraine last week, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that Ukraine could use British-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia.

In terms of what the Ukrainians do, in our view it is their decision about how to use these weapons. They are defending their country. They were illegally invaded by Putin and they must take those steps, Cameron told reporters after the United Kingdom pledged continued financial and military support for Ukraine.

The drills announcement also comes shortly after the United States last month passed a long-delayed aid package for Kyiv, which will allow desperately needed military equipment and ammunition to flow to Ukraine as it tries to shore up its frontlines in the face of a renewed Russian onslaughts.

Russia has raised the nuclear specter when its invasion of Ukraine has hit obstacles or when other countries make new pledges of support for Ukraine. After Ukraine liberated large swathes of its territory in late 2022, Putin conceded that the war is going to take a while and warned of the increasing threat of nuclear war.

In February last year, Putin announced that Russia would suspend participation in the New START treaty, a key nuclear arms reduction agreement with the United States, the last remaining pact that regulates the worlds two largest nuclear arsenals. Putin said Russia would not be the first to test nuclear weapons, but would do so in the event of a US test.




Tuesday, May 7, 2024  Firebrand Lawyer Miguna Miguna has recalled the day he swore in former Prime Minister Raila Odinga as the Peoples President in 2018 after winning the 2017 Presidential election but his victory was stolen by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Speaking during an interview, Miguna faulted Raila for betraying his supporters by recognizing Uhuru as the duly elected president after the handshake.

"I swore in Raila Odinga. I gave him the power, which he deserved because he won an election, but the cowardly greedy man ran away from it and recognized an illegitimate imposter.

"That is the tragedy of Africa," Miguna stated.

According to the Canadian-based barrister, had Raila done what he advised him to do after swearing him in, things would be different for him now, and would not be crying in the streets like he is doing.

He vowed never to show any mercy to Raila because he is the architect of his own failure.

"Had Raila refused to surrender, we would have complete democracy in Kenya.

"Elections would never be questioned.

"We would have put an end to it. If Raila Odinga had done what I told him, he would not be crying in the streets today.

"Let him cry very loudly," he stated.

The Kenyan DAILY POST






Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - A Ugandan Senator took to X to proudly show off the bridge he repaired for his constituents.

People in Ndorwa East can now use the Rubira bridge which I recently repaired, Hon. Protazio Begumisa, the MP Ndorwa East wrote on X as he proudly posed on a wooden bridge.

Unimpressed X users called him out and told him he should be ashamed.

See below.


Monday, May 6, 2024 - A video has gone viral showing the moment students arrived in style for their senior prom.

The video recorded at Elite High School in Entebbe, Uganda, showed students dressed to the nines in expensive couture, well-laid hair, and flawless make-up.

Many of them arrived in expensive cars like Mercedes G-wagons.

One student arrived with her date in a helicopter.

Watch a video below.




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Nairobi County Senator, Edwin Sifuna, has disappointed many Nairobians after he treated Nairobi County Governor, Johnson Sakaja, with kid gloves when he appeared before the Senate Accounts Committee.

Sakaja, who was in his usual calm demeanor, took control of the senate committee and according to controversial lawyer Miguna Miguna, Sifuna disappointed many by asking ineffective questions.

Miguna said despite Sakaja looting billions, Sifuna, who is also the Orange Democratic Movement secretary general, refused to confront him by calling him a thief, a looter, and an unfit leader.

Looter Johnson Sakajas appearance at the Senate left a lot to be desired.

"Why did @edwinsifuna fail to properly interrogate Sakaja, tell him that he has failed, is unfit, is a thief, and that he has hired individuals who have no ability to deliver and must be brought to account?

"Why the tepid, meandering questions? Enough is Enough!, Miguna wrote on his X on Tuesday.

The Kenyan DAILY POST




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - A Mzungu man who once held a lucrative job in Russia where he was a medical practitioner is living in abject poverty in Kenya after he divorced his Russian wife and married a Kikuyu lady.

Narrating his emotional story to Afrimax English, the poverty-stricken man, identified as Alexander, disclosed that he previously served as a childrens doctor in Russia, earning a monthly income ranging between $3000 to $4500 over a span of 23 years.

My life was thriving, and I had all the trappings of success, but I felt a void until I met my first wife, who was Russian. We tied the knot and enjoyed a blissful union, he said.

However, discord emerged between Alexander and his wife, culminating in their separation.

In an attempt to combat the depression stemming from the divorce, he embarked on a journey across various regions of the globe in search of solace.

His travels eventually led him to numerous parts of Africa.

While in Kenya, I met a girl there, and I fell in love with her right away, he said.

As their love blossomed, Alexander realized that the lady could emerge as the perfect wife, and they eventually wedded and had their first child while in Russia.

Over time, Alexander decided to sell his belongings in Russia and embark on a tour to Kenya to begin a new life.

We sold all our possessions and moved to Kenya. The money we got from selling everything was so substantial that we didnt have to worry about financial problems, Alexander said.

As they embarked on their journey to start a fresh life in Kenya, his wife had a different idea of investing all the money they had amassed in Russia.

We bought 500 chickens, 20 pigs, and 20 goats. I felt secure because I had left my previous job to start this business, Alexander claimed.

He alleges that things quickly deteriorated after they set up the business which failed terribly.

We also bought a large plot where we built a big house. When I saw all the losses we were accumulating, I started to blame myself intensely, he continued.

He says he regretted all the decisions he had made as his situation worsened when his wife started acting negatively.

The man claims he divorced his wife but later realized that she had deceived him and sold all his belongings.

He now works at a mjengo site for survival as he navigates life in poverty.

Life has taken a toll on him and at times, he sleeps hungry.

























Listen to his story.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's chances of clinching the African Union Chairperson seat are slimming day by day following the endorsement of Somalia's candidate Fawzia Yusuf Adam by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

On Monday, Somalia Foreign Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi, disclosed OIC, with close to 30 African member States, will rally behind the Somalia candidate for the position of chairperson of AUC for the 20252028 term.

This is a big blow to Raila Odinga who was hoping to replace Mousa Faki who retires in 2025.

Reacting to this sudden move, Professor Fred Ogola, the leader of Operation Linda Jamii, said some heads of state might be supporting Fawzia because they believe Railas strong personality is unfit to hold the AUC chairmanship.

You know the African Union Council chairman is the CEO of African Presidents. Remember he will be in charge of peacekeeping and development there

"For instance in DR Congo which is having issues with Rwanda will Kagame be comfortable with Raila in charge or being the key person for Africas peace where even budgets for peace negotiations might go to his office, Ogola reckons.

Ogola is of the view that Railas character as a leader who is pushy based on his record of organizing demonstrations in Kenya could scare other leaders and deny him the chance of ascending to the helm of AUC.

The persona of Raila can also be his own weakness in the race for the post because he has been known as a very strong Opposition leader. In fact, he looks like the strongest Opposition leader in Africa.

"Tell me which country has a stronger Opposition leader than Raila. (Julius) Malema is trying in South Africa but he doesnt reach him.

"If you are the Head of State of Rwanda and Rwanda has a conflict with DRC, do you want Raila to be key in that conversation? posed Ogola.

The Kenyan DAILY POST
There are few things in a doctors life more exciting and overwhelming at the same time than finding your first job out of training and *gulp* negotiating your first employment contract. For many people, not just doctors, talking about how much money youll make can feel incredibly uncomfortable. You might feel overwhelmed or anxious about the process, making you want to sign the first contract thats put in front of you as quickly as you can. During the job search, you must challenge yourself to lean into the discomfort of contract negotiation with the same courage, despite the uncertainty, that led you through medical school and residency.

Heres what doctors dont talk about enough  youre not the only doctor feeling this way. Its natural for doctors to be stressed, overwhelmed, and avoidant when searching for a job and negotiating your first contract. During training, you were never taught how to find the best jobs or what the right salary is for your specialty, geography, and care setting. Its only human to feel uncertain through this process  even experienced doctors get butterflies negotiating their contracts. This blog will give you the only tips youll ever need to negotiate the best contract for you out of training.

Tip #1: Be willing to walk away

First and foremost, because of doctors financial value to hospitals and practices, you do have the power to ask for what is important to you in your practice and lifestyle in your contract. Doctors superpower in contract discussions is your ability to walk away from the offer. Heres how to put yourself into the strongest position. During your job search, dont put all your eggs in one basket. Its a common misconception that first-time attendees do not have the power or leverage to make changes to a job offer. This causes doctors to leave hundreds of thousands of dollars on the negotiating table, causing you to trail behind your peers, financially. To have true power and influence in a contract negotiation, you must get more than one job offer. Having multiple, strong job offers will give you the confidence you need to negotiate the best deal for you rather than being underpaid for your skills, training, and contributions to the practice.

Pro tip: Its important, but challenging, to sync up the timing of the offers so that you can negotiate multiple offers at the same time. When employers pressure you to sign a contract quickly, its completely appropriate to ask for more time (5 days  6 weeks).

Tip #2: Do your homework

There are plenty of resources available to help you understand what salary range you should expect based on your geographic region, specialty, sub-specialty, care setting, employment/ownership status, and leadership responsibilities. We rely on the usual suspects like the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), Medscape, Doximity, Physicians Thrive, and Merritt Hawkins. Beware: While MGMA is the gold standard and used by many health care systems across the country, its not free.

Pro tip: Many doctors make the mistake of asking their doctor friends or attendings how much they should be paid. This strategy is ill-advised and results in doctors leaving a ton of money on the table. Let the data be your guide.

Tip #3: Pay the debt down STAT

Who could forget about the mountain of medical education loan debt bogging you down? In 2019, the Association of American Medical Colleges reported that physicians finish training with $200,000, on average, in medical education loan debt. This debt can be a barrier to living the doctor lifestyle that youve worked so hard for. Dont drag this chain of debt any longer than you need to. Here are three strategies we use to help doctors pay down their 6-figure student loan debt balance.

Government pays: Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Enroll in the PSLF program to have your student loan balance erased after ten years of payments (120 on-time payments). This applies to doctors who work for organizations classified as 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. This doesnt mean that you need to take a vow of poverty to enroll in PSLF. Many faith-based, academic, and community hospitals are non-profits, making them eligible for PSLF enrollment.

Employer pays: education loan debt assistance. Employers can provide financial support, up to $100K$300K, for physicians to pay down their medical education loan debt. Doctors must ask for education loan debt assistance, as its not usually offered upfront. This contribution from your employer could cut years off your paydown timeline.

Doctor pays: Increase the base salary. If all else fails, negotiate for an increase in your base salary guarantee and direct that income toward paying down your debt. Physicians must be proactive in the negotiation of your first employment contract, especially the base salary. Dont be afraid to speak up and advocate for your value.

Pro tip: These three strategies can be used together to pay off your debt balance and get you to live the doctors lifestyle as quickly as possible.

You got this.

Negotiating your contract will be stressful, but it will be worth it. Lean into the discomfort, uncertainty, and maybe even a bit of fear. First-time attendings must understand your value to hospitals and practices. Medicine is a business, and its now your responsibility to proactively negotiate your employment contracts, making sure you get the pay you deserve so that youre focused on taking the best care of your patients and arent being underpaid compared to your partners and peers.

Ethan A. Nkana is an attorney.
By Moses Ndhaye

The government has issued yet another warning to the people living along the shores of Lake Victoria as water levels continue to rise.

The latest warning is issued by the Assistant Commissioner in Charge of Forestry in the Ministry of Water and Environment Issa Katwesige, the law has been very clear in terms of close the we should be and i am sorry to be carrier of bad news actually it is just the beginning for the lake level to rise because it will continue to rainKatwesige said.

He made the remarks in Kampala on Tuesday morning, while officiating at the signing of a memorandum of understanding which will see the NCBA Bank and the National Forestry Authority partner to plant 30 hectares of trees at Jubiya Forest Reserve in Masaka, under the initiative code-named Change the Story initiative.

This comes as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ) estimates that close to 750,000 East Africans have been affected by the rains and floods, with 234,000 displaced.

According to UN News, the UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, told reporters in New York on Monday that hundreds of thousands of lives have been impacted by recent heavy rainfall and massive floods in parts of Eastern Africa as the UN continues to offer support to governments across the region.

He added that the UN and its partners continue to support these Eastern African countries through flood response plans, evacuation efforts and healthcare, including psychosocial support.

Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said he was deeply distressed over the loss of life due to heavy flooding in Burundi, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and other parts of East Africa.

In Kenya, local authorities warned that over 285,000 lives have been affected so far, with more than 200 reported deaths.

In Burundi, more than 180,000 people were impacted. Additionally, dozens of Rwandans have been killed or injured due to the rains and floods.
Nine of the candidates who are running in Ireland South for the European Parliament will attend the IFA election debate in Gowran Park Racecourse, Kilkenny this evening at 8pm.

The are: Christopher Doyle (Ind); Niamh Hourigan (Lab); Billy Kelleher MEP (FF); Sean Kelly MEP (FG); Michael McNamara TD (Ind); Patrick Murphy (Aontu); Cynthia ni Mhurchu (FF); Grace OSullivan MEP (Green Party); and Eddie Punch (Independent Ireland).

IFA South Leinster regional chair Paul OBrien encouraged farmers to attend and put the candidates policy positions under scrutiny ahead of polling day on June 7th.

It is time for the political system to stand up for farming and food production. As farmers, we are proud of what we do and how we do it. Farmers are sick of being over-regulated and underpaid. Enough is enough, he said.

The IFA Manifesto has identified four key EU issues using the acronym CORE.

The CORE EU issues are: CAP, Over Regulation, Retain the Nitrates Derogation and Environmental fairness.

Farmers are frustrated with how they have been treated by the political system in recent years. There has been a complete focus on environmental sustainability, but insufficient consideration for economic and social sustainability, he said.

Candidates who want an understanding of what matters to farmers can find our issues in the manifesto that we have produced. It reflects the discussions that happen at our County Executives, our National Committees and National Council, which is made up of our democratically-elected farmer officers, he said.

The final meeting for MEP candidates in Midlands-North West will take place in the Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar tomorrow, Wednesday, evening.
The 'Use Your Vote' campaign to encourage Irish voter turnout in the European elections on Friday, June 7 , including in the Ireland South constituency which Kilkenny is in, was officially launched on Tuesday, April 30 by the European Parliament Liaison Office in Ireland.

The campaign is bringing a European Elections 2024 Roadshow to the Ireland South consitiuency and the countrys two other European Parliament constituencies.

Meanwhile, findings of new research into Irish sentiment towards the EU, carried out among the public by Red C found that a majority of the population recognises the large contribution EU membership has had on Ireland, including in relation to freedom of travel (87%), the availability of workers (83%), foreign direct investment (77%), human rights (71%), transport infrastructure (65%), and income levels (61%).

The findings also show a strong majority of the population are aware of the benefits of EU membership relating to travelling within the EU, including free movement (90%); the European Health Insurance Card (86%), which provides basic healthcare to EU citizens when travelling in member states; the Erasmus programme (76%), which enables EU students to study in another EU country; abolished roaming charges (76%); and compensation for delayed, cancelled or overbooked flights, and lost luggage (62%). 54% of people are aware of the European Pet Passport (54%), which allows people to freely travel with their cat or dog within the EU.
A man with a terrible history of offending has been jailed for an attempted robbery of a security guard at a cash-in-transit van.

Dwayne Stacey (36) came forward from the District Court on a signed guilty plea to a count of attempted robbery on November 18, 2023, on Thomas Street, Dublin 8.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that gardai were called after a man on an e-scooter, later identified as Stacey, approached a Brinks van and attempted to take a cash box.

A security guard was walking towards the Centra on Thomas Street carrying a cash box when he said Stacey shouted stop or I'll blow your fucking head off.

The court heard the security guard locked himself inside the back of the van and hit the panic alarm.

Stacey banged on the side of the van with a hammer.

As part of the investigation, gardai obtained CCTV footage showing Stacey entering a nearby apartment complex. Gardai seized a hammer after searching two addresses several days later.

Stacey of Windmill Park, Crumlin, Dublin 12, has 17 previous convictions, including for assault, robbery and burglary. He has been in custody since his arrest on November 28.

The investigating garda agreed with defence counsel that this was an opportunistic crime and that no firearm was used.

It was also accepted that no other parties were involved in this incident and that Stacey was identifiable from CCTV.

Defence counsel said her client is aware he is at the end of the road and must take steps to rehabilitate himself upon his release from custody. She outlined her client's difficult upbringing and that he developed addiction issues at a young age.

Stacey has some work history and experienced a period of homelessness in recent years. A letter of apology was also handed to the court.

Judge Martin Nolan said Stacey has a terrible history of offending but added while there was a threat of violence during the attempted robbery, no actual violence was used.

He handed Stacey a 32-month sentence, backdated to the date when he went into custody.
The Conversation in 2019 reported:

Former federal trade minister Andrew Robb says he has quit his A$880,000-a-year consultancy job with Chinese-owned Landbridge Group because it didnt have anything for him to do.

Former Victorian premier John Brumby says he has quit as a director of Chinese tech giant Huawei in Australia because he has too much else to do.

Former federal foreign minister and ex-NSW premier Bob Carr has quit his job as director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, an organisation bankrolled by a Chinese billionairewith a history of using donations to cosy up to politicians.

It might be just a coincidence that these decisions have come just days before new foreign influence transparency laws come into effect on March 1.
On Wednesday last week Maori Party MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi gave a general debate speech in the House with this opening sentence, No matter my words today, the Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Maori.



She went on to say, The theory of the Minister is that  Winston Peters (@winstonpeters) May 6, 2024

Read the whole tweet. A Member of Parliament got up in the House and said the Government (which has a Cabinet which is 35% Maori) wants to exterminate Maori. Has the media reported this, with the editorials decrying such nonsensical and abusive language?

Imagine if an ACT MP said in the House that a Labour-led Government was trying to exterminate Europeans? It would be the major story in every news medium, with cries for them to resign.

This is why trust in media keeps falling. The blatant double standards.

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Superintendents from seven school districts that would be impacted by a charter school provision in Senate Bill 727 sent an opposition letter to Gov. Mike Parson on Friday, calling on him to veto the bill.

Superintendents for Columbia Public Schools, Fayette R-III School District, Hallsville R-IV School District, North Callaway R-I School District, Sturgeon R-V School District, Southern Boone School District, and Harrisburg R-VIII School are among those who signed the letter.

SB 727 was approved by the Senate in March and by the House in April. It includes major pieces of statewide education reform, including raising teacher baseline pay to $40,000 and a section that would provide state funding to expand charter schools into Boone County.

Charter schools are free, independent public schools that operates outside of a school district, according to the Missouri Charter Public School Commission. Charter schools are granted greater flexibility in return for greater accountability and are governed by independent boards and are nonprofit organizations.

There are currently no charter schools in Boone County, as the majority of them are located in Kansas City and the City of St. Louis.

Even though some of the school districts that signed the letter aren't in Boone County, their school boundaries cross into the county, therefore, according to the letter, they would be impacted.

The superintendents said they have many concerns about the bill, but their letter focuses on the "unconstitutional attempt to expand charter schools into Boone County."

"By proposing a new classification for where charter schools are permitted to operate, Senate Bill 727 expressly and impermissibly targets Boone County without explanation, justification, or rational basis," the letter states.

"Senate Bill 727 expands where charter schools may operate. But, because of a noticeable lack of political support, the Legislature did not attempt to expand the operations of charter schools throughout the entire state. Instead, Senate Bill 727 chooses a particular location for charter expansion," the letter continues.

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Columbia School Board Vice President John Lyman said Columbia Public Schools is hopeful for Parson's support.

"Since (Parson) came into office, he's done a lot to support public schools across the state of Missouri, and we're hopeful that that support continues with a veto of [SB] 727," Lyman said.

Lyman said charter schools aren't the only concerning part of the bill.

"There are a handful of things that sound really, really good. Anything that would increase teacher pay would be awesome. The problem though, is where is that money going to come from?" Lyman said.

"If there's no way to pay for that, our rural public school districts are going to suffer," he said.

The superintendents believe there are better counties in the state to expand charter schools.

"As the eighth most populated county in the state, targeting Boone County for more charter schools skips over and ignores other counties with higher population and higher density," the letter states. "Also targeting Boone County for more charter schools affects a perplexing and arbitrary collection of eight different school districts, ranging in size from 600 to 19,000 students in both urban and rural settings."

The superintendents also claimed the bill will not survive legal challenges brought before Missouri courts.

Since the bill was delivered to Parson on April 24, during the legislative session, he has 15 days to sign the bill, which would be Thursday, May 9.
Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. Low 53F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. Low 53F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
IVE Rei, who was rumored to be the daughter of a conglomerate in Japan, revealed the truth about her family background.

On May 6, the idol appeared as a guest on the YouTube channel, "My Neighborhood Friend Kangnami," featuring MC Kangnam and Rei's Korean language battle as fellow Japanese idols.

During the conversation, Rei also addressed the rumor that she came from a wealthy family, which sparked earlier after Kangnam's remark.

IVE Rei Speculated of Being Rich Due to Family Surname, Idol Clarifies Rumor

Earlier in March, Kangnam and Rei first met through the latter's personal YouTube channel, "Follow Rei."

At the time, Kangnam asked which city Rei came from in Japan and after hearing that she was from Nagoya, he immediately concluded that she was from a rich background.

He also claimed that given her surname, Naoi, which is highly uncommon in Japan, she's probably an elite. Normally, those families in Japan with rare surnames were descendants of nobles and these types of names were granted by Japan's Emperor.

ALSO READ: IVE Rei Garners Explosive Reactions From Chinese Netizens  Here's Why

When viewers saw the video, Japanese fans also agreed with this assumption, explaining that people from Nagoya were mostly families of CEOs and business owners.

Those who were avid supporters of Rei's vlog can also attest that with the kinds of cars, house, and even the school that she attended could be deduced that she's rich.

Rei Briefly Mentions Speculations That She's From Affluent Family

In the recent reunion of the two, Kangnam once again asked Rei's last name and when Rei replied, "Naoi," she complained:

"I'm Rei, Naoi. You kept saying that it was a rich family name."

Perplexed, Kangnam clarified:

"Why is that going around so much? [Joked about her being rich and it's spreading like wildfire in reels]. Why are there so many reels, I was joking around. But my friends ask me, 'Is Rei rich?' I don't know either."

After saying all this, he made Rei laugh when he asked seriously:

"So, are you rich?"

Explaining the rumor, Rei briefly answered:

"I'm working diligently right now."

IVE, to which Rei belongs, released its second EP album, "IVE SWITCH" on the 29th of last month and achieved the feat of entering 3rd place on the "Worldwide iTunes Album Chart."

"IVE SWITCH" is an album that signals the team's expansion of showing "another me." It is comprised of double title tracks, "HEYA" and "Accendio" which tell the group's stories in their color and style.

The album also consists of "Blue Heart," a song written by Jang Wonyoung and other b-sidetracks including "Ice Queen," "WOW," and RESET."

READ MORE: IVE Rei Becomes Hot Topic for Speculated Plastic Surgery  DIVEs Defend Idol

For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Eunice Dela Cruz
(G)I-DLE member Yuqi showed her love for fans with an exceptional gift!

It is not uncommon for idols to give their fans gifts. Oftentimes, idols will prepare special gifts for fans and hand them out during events to show how grateful they are for their support. They will also give food, drinks, and other handmade items.

However, Yuqi stands out with her expensive gift!

(G)I-DLE Yuqi Splurges on THIS Unique Gift For Fans

On May 6, 2024, a post titled "Yuqi who gave out 11 million won worth of Hai Di Lao tribute to fans" was shared with the well-known South Korean online community forum Nate Pann.

In the post, the original poster (OP) noted that during Yuqi's last day of promotions for her Korean solo debut, she gave every fan a present of 100,000 KRW worth of Hai Di Lao gift to fans!

??????

     

 ...... https://t.co/11cfGTXdVn pic.twitter.com/qWYuZXgT7i   (@with_lion_) May 5, 2024

There were 110 people present during the recording, meaning the idol spent a whopping 11 million KRW in Hai Di Lao gift cards. In US dollars, the (G)I-DLE member spent approximately $8,096.

        pic.twitter.com/Lk9Ed9rQx1   (@euldong_2) May 5, 2024

Fans of the idol revealed that during the fan sign, Yuqi joked that she would bring the fans to Hai Di Lao, a popular hot pot chain, as a joke. However, it appears she kept to her word and treated fans to some free hotpot with the gift cards!

  

         ...... pic.twitter.com/pfaOOFhemD April 26, 2024

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: (G)I-DLE Yuqi Reacts to Price of Her Photo Cards: 'Is This Real?!'

It was also noted by fans that Yuqi has dreamt of sharing a meal with Neverlands, (G)I-DLE's fan base, but since she couldn't, she opted to give out Hai Di Lao gift cards instead. The OP claimed this shows how much she loves her fans. This is notably not the only gift Yuqi gave fans during her solo promotions.

She also gave fans a "YUQ1" embroidered rabbit doll, which comes with an identification card. The bunny is Yuqi's favorite plushie, and she bought 250 toys from the brand Jellycat to give out to fans. The rabbit is named Gigi.

She also gave the fans sandwiches, iced coffee, and lip tints.

      pic.twitter.com/4UEpclgRn8   (@with_lion_) April 27, 2024

K-Netz React to (G)I-DLE Yuqi's Extravagant Hai Di Lao Gift

Korean netizens who saw the post noted how nice the idol is, and how it properly shows how genuine the (G)I-DLE member is. Others noted how female idols never fail to splurge just to show fans how much they appreciate their support, while male idols do not have such stories.

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN: Will (G)I-DLE Renew Contract With Cube? Yuqi Shares Thoughts: 'Our Boss Got Upset'

Some comments read,

"Female idols always go out of their way and spend their money for fans. Meanwhile, male idols... They earn way more than female idols, but they are so cheap."

"Yuqi also gave another gift to fans as a tribute. She gave them a YUQ1 embroidered rabbit doll. She said it was her favorite plushie and bought 250 pieces from Jellycat to give out to fans."

"Yuqi is so genuine."

"Fans have a collection of gifts from just one solo promotion."

"Wow, it must be nice to be her fan... 100K KRW per person."

What do you think of the situation? Tell us in the comments below!

CHECK THIS OUT: 4 Female K-Pop Idols Who Are Prettier Than AI: aespa Karina, IVE Jang Wonyoung, MORE!

KpopStarz Owns This

Written by Alexa Lopez
The members of Stray Kids are drawing attention to their skin during the 2024 Met Gala.

While idols are known for their rigorous skincare routine to ensure the best skin on stage, some Korean media outlets have taken the liberty of editing the skin of idols to look as smooth and flawless as possible. Fansite masters do the same, with some even going as far as to whiten their idols.

However, the same cannot be said for Western journalists and paparazzi.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: BLACKPINK Jennie x Stray Kids Interaction at Met Gala Earns Thunderous Reactions from BLINKs, STAYs

On May 7, 2024, a post titled "Wow, it looks like foreigners really don't touch up the skin at all" was shared with the well-known South Korean online community forum Instiz. Additionally, another post titled "Stray Kids' skin under Getty's naked eye" was shared to the same platform.

On both posts, the original poster shared unedited photos of each Stray Kid member. Unlike Korean media outlets, that will edit people's skin to look as good as possible, the texture of each member's skin was clearly visible in their photos from the 2024 Met Gala.

Stray Kids at the Met Gala via Getty Images



STRAY KIDS REAWAKENS MET GALA#StrayKids_MetGala #__ @Stray_Kids pic.twitter.com/oECSNwiRNV   (@8KIZS) May 7, 2024

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN: Stray Kids Disrespected By Paparazzi At Met Gala 2024 - And STAYs Are Enraged

Their pores were visible, and the make-up they were wearing was obviously packed on their skin. Additionally, Felix's freckles were on full display in his photos. Despite that, however, the members did not have a single blemish or pimple, showcasing how good their skin naturally is.

Many commented that even though the photos are unedited, their skin is considered good. Many confessed that they were jealous of how good their skin condition was, and praised the eight members for looking handsome during the event.

WOW!!! Seungmin is so beautiful !! A real prince pic.twitter.com/rL33YZMEEU May 6, 2024

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Stray Kids Leaves STAYs Breathless At Met Gala 2024 + Becomes 1st K-pop Group In History To Attend Event

Out of all the members, it was Lee Know, Felix, and Bang Chan that stood out the most among K-netizens, with many commenting on how handsome they are.

BANG CHANS FACE CARD DO NOT DECLINE pic.twitter.com/v1AHkX0MC2  y (@beyondyasmin) May 6, 2024

LEEKNOW LOOKS LIKE A WHOLE PRINCE pic.twitter.com/fx5YrVKDnV   (@eternallino) May 6, 2024

Some comments read,

"This is unedited, but their skin still looks good."

"Wow, but isn't this considered good?"

"Lee Know is so handsome..."

"This is good... I like how it looks natural."

"So idols do have pores LOL!"

"Everyone has good skin, I am so jealous."

"Wow, Lee Know and Felix are really handsome."

"Wow, even in such high quality, their skin is good. I am jealous."

"As someone who has bad skin, I envy them so much. Everyone's face is working hard."

"Wow, Bang Chan stood out today."

"Wow, their skin is good even though they have make-up on all the time."

"Wow, they are really eight visuals."

"Lee Know and Felix are so handsome."

What do you think of the situation? Tell us in the comments below!

FOR YOU: Stray Kids' Bang Chan's Sister Speaks Out Against 'Inappropriate' Comments On Family: 'It's Gross'

KpopStarz Owns This

Written by Alexa Lopez
China congratulates Mulino on election as president of Panama

Xinhua) 18:59, May 07, 2024

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China congratulates Jose Raul Mulino on being elected as the new president of Panama, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Tuesday at a regular press briefing.

According to reports, Panama's Electoral Tribunal on Sunday declared Jose Raul Mulino, the candidate of the opposition alliance comprised of the Realizing Goals party and Alianza movement, as the winner of the presidential elections after a preliminary count of more than 85 percent of voting stations.

"China has noted that Panama's Electoral Tribunal has declared Mr. Mulino as the new president of Panama and would like to congratulate Mr. Mulino," Lin said.

He said that China attaches great importance to China-Panama relations and is willing to work with Panama to enhance political mutual trust, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the sustained and in-depth development of bilateral relations.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on Monday said 92 Chinese nationals suspected of telecom and online fraud have been transferred from Myanmar to China.

Since last year, the MPS has deepened law enforcement cooperation with Myanmar police to combat telecom and online fraud crimes, with a total of 49,000 Chinese suspects handed over to the Chinese side, according to the MPS.

Currently, this batch of 92 suspects along with the relevant evidence and items have been repatriated back to China.

The MPS has pledged more efforts to enhance international and border law enforcement cooperation to intensify the fight against such crimes.

Zarazeno ut 07.05.2024 06:05:11 Vydano Zdroj scio.gov.cn Original english.scio.gov.cn/pressroom/2024-05/07/content_117170861.htm lang en
A medical worker (1st R) conducts medical examination for a senior resident at a nursing home in Anxiang County of Changde City, central China's Hunan Province, June 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

China has issued a new set of regulations to standardize the management of designated institutions for evaluating the level of incapability of self-care in long-term care insurance schemes.

The regulations, issued by the National Healthcare Security Administration, stipulate the basic criteria, running requirements, and supervisory requirements for such institutions.

Relevant institutions can apply to regional healthcare security authorities and become designated evaluation institutions after passing through comprehensive review and public notice.

China launched the pilot of the long-term care insurance schemes in 2016, and 49 cities and 180 million people have been covered now. The new regulations will help ensure the fairness and timeliness of the schemes.

Zarazeno ut 07.05.2024 06:05:31 Vydano Zdroj scio.gov.cn Original english.scio.gov.cn/pressroom/2024-05/07/content_117170622.htm lang en
On 6 May Argentinas Presidentaddressed the Global Conference of the US think tank Milken Institute, alongside a meeting with US billionaire, while trade unions flexed their muscles at home.

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On 5 May the faction of Bolivias ruling left-wing Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) that is loyal to Presidentconcluded a disputed party congress by removing former president(2006-2019) as MAS leader, a position he has held since 1997.

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Panama has found its next president, and he is last-minute replacement candidate Jose Raul Mulino, a staunch ally of convicted former president Ricardo Martinelli. His election is seen to have a massive effect on the immigration crisis, as Panama is one of the biggest transit countries for people who want to get to Mexico and head to the US-Mexico border.

According to the Associated Press, Jose Raul Mulino has previously admitted that he was practically retired from politics just over six months ago. However, when Ricardo Martinelli was disqualified from holding office due to his money laundering conviction, he was forced to be the last-minute replacement.

"I never imagined this," the new Panama president-elect told supporters. Despite being a replacement, he won thanks to the overwhelming support of Martinelli, who was the clear frontrunner before he was disqualified.

Despite lacking Martinelli's charisma, Mulino coasted by the campaign period by constantly mentioning the former president and riding on his popularity. On the other hand, Martinelli, who is hiding inside the Nicaraguan Embassy, has constantly campaigned for his replacement online.

The 64-year-old lawyer made a name for himself under Martinelli's administration, serving as his Minister of Security. He was then tapped to become his running mate after Martinelli's wife declined the position. As the running mate, he instantly became the former president's replacement after Martinelli was legally disqualified.

Ricardo Martinelli Constantly Campaigned for Jose Raul Mulino During the Panama Elections

Martinelli was given political asylum by Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega. However, Panama refused to give him safe passage. He is now stuck inside the Nicaraguan Embassy and cannot leave; otherwise, he will be arrested for various crimes.

READ MORE: Panama Slams Nicaragua Over Ricardo Martinelli Asylum, Claims Neighbor Is Meddling in Internal Affairs

"Mulino seems a little tough, but he is a good guy, serious, and is the only one prepared to take on this great challenge and knows how the economy works to lift the country," Martinelli told supporters in a video to his supporters. The former president did not skip a beat to campaign for his replacement and constantly showered his former minister with praise.

Martinelli was convicted to 10 years in prison for money laundering. He was previously arrested in Miami and was sent back to Panama. The US has included his name in its Latin American corruption list and has previously sanctioned him after his arrest. He constantly tried to have his conviction repealed, but after all his appeals were used up, he fled to the Nicaraguan Embassy.

New Panama President-Elect Jose Raul Mulino Promised To Close the Darien Gap

As for how he might affect the immigration crisis, Mulino previously promised as a candidate that he plans to stop the flow of migrants going through the country by completely closing the Panama side of the deadly stretch of jungle between Panama and Colombia known as the Darien Gap.

"The border of the United States, instead of being in Texas, moved to Panama," said Mulino in a campaign speech, lamenting the thousands of migrants passing through the Darien Gap from Colombia. "We're going to close the Darien and we're going to repatriate all these people."

However, experts raised their eyebrows over this campaign promise as the Darien Gap remains one of the most dangerous stretches of jungle in the world and has been described to be almost impossible to tame, let alone police, to stop the flow of migrants.

READ MORE: Panama: 5 Dead, 1 Missing After Migrant Smuggling Boat Capsizes

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Panama's new president-elect Mulino and his supporters celebrate victory - Associated Press
An American soldier, identified as Gordon Black by sources, was detained in Vladivostok, Russia, under suspicion of theft last Thursday, according to US officials.

Black, a staff sergeant stationed in South Korea, was apprehended by Russian authorities on May 2.

His trip to Russia was reportedly self-initiated, and he was not absent without leave from his station in South Korea at the time of his travel.

Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith confirmed the soldier's detention, stating that the Russian Federation notified the US Department of State in compliance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

Smith emphasized the sensitivity of the matter and refrained from divulging further details.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Moscow is actively seeking consular access to Black, Fox News reports.

Black's arrest adds to a concerning trend of Americans being held in Russian detention facilities.

Notable cases include corporate security executive Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, both designated by the US government as wrongfully detained.

Tensions between the US and Russia, particularly amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, exacerbate concerns regarding the safety of American citizens in Russia.

Black's detention echoes a similar incident involving US Army private Travis King, who voluntarily crossed into North Korea last July.

King's actions led to his detention in North Korea and subsequent diplomatic efforts to secure his release.

Upon his return to the US, King faced charges of desertion.

READ NEXT: Ex-NSA Agent Faces 21 Years for Selling US Secrets to Russia

Pretrial Detention and Diplomatic Response

Following the publication of initial reports, Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith officially confirmed Black's detention, reiterating the American soldier's notification of his family and the State Department's provision of consular support.

White House spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged awareness of the case but refrained from elaborating further, according to BBC.

Rep. Michael McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed deep concern over Black's detention, highlighting Russian President Vladimir Putin's history of holding American citizens hostage.

McCaul reiterated the State Department's warning against travel to Russia, emphasizing the risks faced by Americans in the country.

Legal Proceedings

Black is currently held in pretrial detention in Russia, with a court date set for July 1.

The specific charges against him remain undisclosed, pending further developments in the case.

The State Department continues to engage with Russian authorities to ensure Black's access to consular services and legal representation.

The incident underscores the importance of heeding travel advisories issued by the US government regarding destinations with heightened security risks.

Recent events, including Black's detention and previous cases of Americans detained in Russia and North Korea, serve as cautionary tales for US citizens considering travel to these regions, CNN noted.

The detention of American soldier Gordon Black in Russia highlights ongoing tensions between the US and Russia, as well as the risks faced by American citizens abroad.

As diplomatic efforts unfold and legal proceedings progress, the safety and security of Black and other detained Americans remain paramount concerns for both the US government and the international community.

READ MORE: Haiti Transition Council Revokes PM Nomination Amid Gang Attacks

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Written by: Ross Key

WATCH: American soldier detained in Russia; U.S. officials say - From NBC News
A Missing New Mexico infant girl, Eleia Maria Torres, abducted from a park near Clovis, Mexico, has been located unharmed, announced the FBI in Albuquerque on Monday.

Clovis police stated, "Baby Eleia has been taken to a local area hospital as a precautionary measure."

The suspect, Alek Isaiah Collins, 26, is in custody, according to CBS News.

Clovis police reported that Eleia has been admitted to a local hospital for precautionary measures.

New Mexico State Police had issued an Amber Alert for Eleia after the abduction, along with the discovery of two deceased women and a critically injured 5-year-old girl in the park.

Authorities are still probing the deaths of Samantha Cisneros and Taryn Allen, both 23 years old and from Texico, New Mexico, whose bodies were found at the park.

Cisneros, identified as Eleia's mother, and Allen were fatally shot.

The 5-year-old girl, whose name has not been released, sustained a gunshot wound to the head and remains hospitalized.

A witness reported hearing gunshots in the park, though it was not immediately communicated to law enforcement.

Officers discovered the victims with their purses and belongings nearby, along with a silver Dodge minivan belonging to one of the women.

"Officers immediately began searching the area for the infant," police stated.

Infant-related items, including a car seat, stroller, and baby bottle, were also found at the scene.

READ NEXT: New Mexico Mother, Another Woman Fatally Shot; 5-Year-Old Injured Following Abduction of 10-Month-Old Baby

Capture in Abilene

Collins, the alleged perpetrator, was apprehended in Abilene, Texas, approximately 260 miles away from Clovis.

Acting on a tip, law enforcement, including the FBI, raided a house where Collins was staying.

He faces charges of double homicide, one count of kidnapping, and two counts of child abuse.

Police assert that Collins murdered Samantha Cisneros and Taryn Allen at Ned Houk Park on Friday, in addition to shooting Cisneros's 5-year-old daughter and abducting Eleia.

Authorities have ruled out any familial ties between Collins and the victims, ABC 7 reports.

Safety of Missing New Mexico infant

The safe recovery of Eleia Maria Torres brings relief amid the tragedy.

Though details regarding her ordeal remain undisclosed, Clovis police confirm her physical safety.

Meanwhile, her 5-year-old sibling continues to receive medical care in a Lubbock hospital.

While Collins is in custody, investigations persist into the circumstances surrounding the abductions and murders, People noted.

Authorities urge anyone with information to come forward, emphasizing the urgency of locating Eleia and ensuring justice for the victims.

The swift arrest of Alek Isaiah Collins and the safe recovery of Missing New Mexico infant Eleia Maria Torres mark crucial steps in resolving the harrowing incident near Clovis.

As law enforcement continues its inquiry, the community awaits answers and seeks solace amid the grief and uncertainty that have gripped the region.

READ MORE: Missouri: Effort to Overturn Abortion Ban Submits Over 380K Signatures

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Written by: Ross Key

WATCH: Missing 10-month-old girl found alive, suspect in custody, FBI says - From @katvchannel7
US House Speaker Mike Johnson's job is in danger as Marjorie Taylor Greene's plans to force a vote on the matter is expected to happen this week, even though there is a massive backlash from the far right, with Donald Trump expressing his support for Johnson and Fox News Calling Greene an "idiot" on air.

However, as The Guardian pointed out, the Georgia Republican's effort to put her fellow MAGA Republican colleague from the speakership "faces virtually no chance of success." This may be because Johnson still has many loyalists, even among other far-right Republicans, as well as Democrats possibly coming to the speaker's aid to prevent further chaos.

Despite this possibility of her move to oust Johnson from the US House speakership, Greene remains determined and continued blasting the speaker for "abandoning his Republican principles in favor of Democratic priorities, such as Ukraine funding."

"Mike Johnson is giving [Democrats] everything they want," Greene told reporters. "I think every member of Congress needs to take that vote and let the chips fall where they may. And so next week, I am going to be calling this motion to vacate."

The Democratic leadership has been loud in criticizing Greene's "pro-Putin Republican obstruction," while Republicans have largely ignored her grandstanding, with only two Republicans, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona, supporting her motion.

Marjorie Taylor Greene Slams Fox News After Anchor Called Her an 'Idiot'

The move is not very popular with conservatives outside the US House either, as FoxNews.com contributor Liz Peek called her an "idiot" in an op-ed and accused her of "bombastic self-serving showmanship" in her efforts to oust Mike Johnson,

However, Greene pushed back last weekend during her appearance on Steve Bannon's podcast, complaining to Bannon, "Fox News called me an idiot. That was literally their headline. They called me an idiot."

READ MORE: Kevin McCarthy Says He Is Not Speaker of the House Anymore Because Matt Gaetz 'Slept With a 17-Year-Old'

"The beautiful thing about it is Democrats have to come clean; they were controlling Mike Johnson anyway," she claimed without any proof. This is despite many of her fellow Republicans calling her not to go through with the vote.

"The internal squabbles of the party need to stop. If Marjorie Taylor Greene and others want to oppose aid to Ukraine or the FISA bill, they can vote against it. That's how democracy works," the op-ed said. "My message for MTG? Borrowing from Hillary Clinton: Get over yourself. The mission today is to elect Donald Trump."

Marjorie Taylor Greene Also Feuding with Jimmy Kimmel

Despite her faltering standing in the Republican Party, Greene has recently turned her focus on her ongoing feud with comedian Jimmy Kimmel, claiming on X that she reported the late-night TV host to Capitol Police after a joke he made about her in one of his opening monologues.

"Wow, where is Will Smith when you really need him," joked Kimmel on his show.

Greene, who got triggered by the joke, responded, "This threat of violence against me by @jimmykimmel has been filed with the @CapitolPolice."

Kimmel also shot back with his usual joking ways, tweeting, "Officer? I would like to report a joke."

Kimmel often relishes getting attacked by Republican politicians as he often points out the absurdities and hypocrisies in their behavior, with his latest one also being his feud with Donald Trump.

READ MORE: Republican Infighting Continues as House GOP Blames Marjorie Taylor Greene for Lack of Border Wins, Call Her an 'Idiot'

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Tapper presses Gaetz about MTG's push to oust Speaker Johnson - CNN
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged Congress to acknowledge a state of calamity in Rio Grande do Sul following devastating Brazil floods that claimed at least 85 lives.

The Brazil floods, triggered by heavy rains, have left more than 130 individuals missing and displaced approximately 150,000 residents across nearly 500 municipalities in the state.

The deluge has wrought havoc, destroying infrastructure, including roads and bridges, and precipitating landslides, Reuters reports.

Rio Grande do Sul's civil defense authority reports that over two-thirds of the state's cities have been adversely affected by the flooding, underscoring the scale of the catastrophe.

Lula da Silva's proposal to Congress seeks authorization for additional government spending without adhering to fiscal constraints established last year.

This measure aims to expedite the state's recovery efforts and alleviate the plight of affected residents.

Planning Minister Simone Tebet emphasized the need for a comprehensive assessment of the post-water recession to ascertain the full extent of the damage.

Amid the chaos, the death toll continues to mount, with the state's civil defense unit confirming at least 85 fatalities.

Authorities are currently conducting inquiries to ascertain the details surrounding an additional four deaths potentially linked to the storms.

Moreover, over 276 individuals are reported injured, and approximately 111 remain missing, heightening concerns about the disaster's human toll.

READ NEXT: Death Toll Climbs to 78 in Brazil Floods, Over 100 Still Missing

Rescue and Recovery Operations Intensify

Approximately 1,000 firefighters are engaged in rescue operations, striving to save as many lives as possible.

Rescue teams navigate treacherous waters, employing inflatable rafts to evacuate residents, including pets, from inundated areas.

Despite challenges, responders persevere, conducting short-term operations during lulls in rainfall to maximize their impact, according to CNN.

Rio Grande do Sul has witnessed an escalation in extreme weather phenomena with devastating consequences.

Last September, the state endured a sub-tropical cyclone that claimed the lives of 54 individuals.

The escalating intensity and frequency of such events underscore the compounding impact of the climate crisis, exacerbated by human activities.

While weather conditions temporarily improved, forecasts indicate the likelihood of renewed rainfall in the coming days.

The looming threat of further inundation exacerbates the urgency of rescue and relief efforts.

Governor Eduardo Leite warns of a potentially substantial increase in the death toll as responders gain access to more isolated regions.

Presidential Commitment Amid Tragedy

President Lula da Silva, accompanied by key officials, including most of his cabinet, visited Rio Grande do Sul to survey the devastation firsthand.

Lula pledged unwavering governmental support, vowing to surmount bureaucratic hurdles hindering the state's reconstruction efforts.

The president's presence underscores the gravity of the situation and the nation's solidarity in times of crisis, CBC News noted.

As Rio Grande do Sul grapples with the aftermath of catastrophic Brazil floods, concerted rescue and recovery efforts are underway to mitigate the humanitarian and economic fallout.

The declaration of a state of calamity underscores the severity of the situation, necessitating swift and decisive action from both federal and state authorities.

Amid the tragedy, the resilience of affected communities and the unwavering commitment of responders offer glimmers of hope amid the devastation.

READ MORE: Brazil's Deadly Floods Claim Minimum of 39 Lives

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Ross Key

WATCH: Brazil battles nature as 'largest ever' floods submerge whole cities - From Channel 4 News
Noelia Voigt, the reigning Miss USA 2023, announced her resignation from the coveted title, citing concerns for her mental health.

The decision, revealed via an Instagram post, marks the end of Voigt's journey as the 2023 Miss USA, a role she assumed after clinching the Miss Utah USA 2023 crown last April.

In her heartfelt statement, Voigt expressed gratitude for the opportunity to represent Utah and later the United States at the Miss Universe pageant, Good Morning America reports.

Despite the significance of her role, she acknowledged the importance of prioritizing mental well-being and making decisions aligned with personal health.

Voigt reminisced about her journey in pageantry, highlighting her commitment to various causes such as anti-bullying, dating violence awareness, immigration rights, and her identity as the first Venezuelan American woman to win Miss USA.

She emphasized the transformative power of advocacy and encouraged others to remain resilient in the face of uncertainty.

Following Voigt's announcement, the Miss USA Organization expressed its support for her decision and emphasized the well-being of titleholders as a top priority.

Plans for the transition of responsibilities to Voigt's successor are underway, with an official announcement regarding the new Miss USA expected soon.

READ NEXT: Active Service Member Madison Marsh Wins Miss America 2024

Reflections on a Reign Cut Short

Noelia Voigt's journey from Miss Utah USA to Miss USA represented the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

Her dedication and perseverance propelled her to the pinnacle of pageantry, where she served as a beacon of inspiration for aspiring beauty queens everywhere.

While stepping down from her role as Miss USA 2023 may come as a shock to many, Voigt's decision underscores the importance of self-care and mental health awareness.

Her courage in prioritizing personal well-being sets a powerful example for others facing similar challenges, according to USA Today.

Throughout her reign, Voigt used her using her platform to champion causes dear to her heart, she made a significant mark on the pageant community and beyond.

Her advocacy for social issues resonated with audiences worldwide, solidifying her legacy as a compassionate and dedicated representative.

As Voigt embarks on a new chapter in her life, she remains grateful for the unwavering support of her fans, family, and mentors.

While her tenure as Miss USA may have come to an end, her journey of self-discovery and advocacy continues, promising new opportunities for growth and inspiration.

A New Era

As the Miss USA Organization prepares to crown a new titleholder, the pageant community eagerly anticipates the dawn of a new era.

Noelia Voigt's resignation marks the beginning of a transformative period for the organization, characterized by resilience, adaptability, and a renewed focus on holistic well-being.

Voigt's decision to prioritize mental health reflects increasing recognition of the difficulties encountered by individuals in prominent positions.

By openly addressing her struggles, she encourages others to seek support and prioritize self-care, fostering a culture of resilience and compassion within the pageant community and beyond.

As Voigt bids farewell to her reign as Miss USA 2023, she leaves behind a legacy of courage, compassion, and advocacy.

Her impact extends far beyond the stage, inspiring countless individuals to pursue their dreams, prioritize mental health, and use their voices for positive change, Fox News noted.

Throughout her tenure, Voigt celebrated diversity and inclusion, championing causes that promote empowerment and equality for all.

Her commitment to social justice and cultural awareness serves as a reminder of the significance of embracing diversity and cultivating a society that is more inclusive.

READ MORE: Miss USA 2022 R'Bonney Gabriel Steps Down Amid Rigging Allegations

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Written by: Ross Key

WATCH: Miss USA resigns, citing her mental health - From ABC 7 Chicago
Pennsylvania State Police announced a DUI checkpoint for this weekend in Northampton County.

The state police Troop M Belfast barracks will run the checkpoint sometime between Friday and Sunday within the county, state police said in a news release.

A sobriety checkpoint is a traffic safety checkpoint wherein troopers systematically stop vehicles at selected locations to briefly observe drivers for articulable facts and/or behaviors normally associated with alcohol or drug impairment, the release said.

The news release also warns drivers who may choose not to stop for a checkpoint that fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer is a third-degree felony in the state, with a maximum sentence of seven years in jail and a $15,000 fine.

At a Troop M DUI checkpoint last month, troopers reported making five DUI arrests and issuing 21 traffic citations and 24 warnings. That checkpoint, with roving patrol, was conducted from 10 p.m. Saturday, April 6 to 3 the following morning on Route 512 in the area of Short Lane in East Allen Township, according to a news release.

MORE: State police honor 104 fallen troopers on 119th anniversary of founding

Mail carriers annual food drive this Saturday

The National Association of Letter Carriers will hold its annual national food drive on Saturday, May 11.

Locally, the drive will support Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania and its partner agencies.

Letter carriers will collect donations in Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, a news release said. Residents are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable food items such as canned soup, vegetables, meats and fish, pasta, rice, or cereal next to their mailboxes before the regular mail delivery on Saturday.

Additional information can be found here for the NALC Community Service Food Drive, or by contacting Second Harvest Food Bank directly.

MORE: Pay-what-you-can cafe welcomed with open arms and bellies in West Bethlehem

More local headlines

Lehighvalleynews.com reports Jimmys Hot Dogs at the 25th Street Shopping Center in Palmer Township has been sold to Raj and Priya Muddu, who say they have no plans to change the name of the business or the hot dogs.

MORE: Read the full lehighvalleynews.com story here.

Mcall.com reports a fire early Tuesday morning at a Weisenberg Township home displaced eight people and damaged the homes attic. All occupants were out of the home by the time firefighters arrived.

MORE: Read the full mcall.com story here.

WFMZ.com reports the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners is considering Mark Bilder, the township fire departments current deputy fire marshal, as its next fire chief.

MORE: Read the full wfmz.com story here.
Legal action launched by the Irish government against a contentious UK law aimed at dealing with the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles has been branded unnecessary and unhelpful by a British minister.

Speaking in Parliament, Lord Caine repeated that the Government profoundly regret the decision by Dublin to challenge the legislation in the European Court of Human Rights.

The Tory frontbencher argued the Irish governments stance was hard to reconcile given previous positions it had taken and its own record of dealing with Troubles-related cases.

The criticism by the Northern Ireland Office minister came after the new body responsible for investigating unresolved deaths from the turbulent period became operational.

The Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) was created by the Governments legacy legislation, which was introduced in the face of widespread opposition from political parties, victims organisations in Northern Ireland and the Irish government.

A key part of the Act, a provision for conditional immunity from prosecution for Troubles offences, was ruled unlawful by the High Court in Belfast earlier this year and struck out.

Separately, the Irish Government brought an interstate legal case against the UK, claiming the new law breached the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). That case is still to be heard.

Raising the issue in Parliament, Tory peer Lord Lexden, who worked as a political adviser to Airey Neave until the MPs murder by Republican terrorists in 1979, argued the UK Government should be entitled to take strong exception to the move by Dublin.

Responding, Lord Caine said: On the interstate case, the Government profoundly regret the decision of the Irish government to bring this unnecessary and unhelpful case against the UK, particularly when these matters are likely to be dealt with by the domestic courts long before the case ever reaches Strasbourg.

Highlighting the strong opposition to the controversial legislation, Labour former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Murphy of Torfaen said: The minister knows that you can move in Northern Ireland, eventually, only by consensus.

But Lord Caine argued the opposition had no coherent plan for dealing with legacy matters whatever, other than taking us back to square one.

The minister told peers: It is worth recalling that both the UK and Irish Governments have previously decided to make compromises on established criminal justice processes in the hope of moving the process forward, including decommissioning, prisoner releases and the search for the location of victims remains.

He added: The Irish Governments position is hard to reconcile in relation to the positions they have adopted on these matters in the past and, indeed, their own record of dealing with Troubles-related cases within their own jurisdiction, where, to the best of my knowledge, there has not been a single prosecution since April 1998.
The death has occurred of Aine Keely (nee Tierney)

Coill Dubh, Kildare.

May 5, 2024, peacefully at Naas Hospital, beloved wife of the late Sean and mother of the late Sean, Seamus, Brian and Noel.

Deeply regretted by her loving daughter Ann, son Padraig, son-in-law daughters-in-law, grandchildren, great grandchildren, brother, sisters, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives, neighbours and friends.

Rest In Peace.

Reposing at Oliver Reilly's Funeral Home, Prosperous (W91T62P) on Wednesday from 4pm to 8pm, with prayers at 7pm.

Removal from Oliver Reilly's Funeral Home, Prosperous on Thursday morning at 10.30am, going via Coill Dubh Village, to arrive at Christ The King Church, Cooleragh for 11am funeral mass, followed by burial in St Benignus Cemetery, Staplestown.

Aine's funeral mass can be viewed live on Thursday at 11am here: https://cooleraghstaplestownparish.com/webcam/

Oliver Reilly Funeral Directors accept no responsibility for any live webcam interruptions or issues.

For all enquiries, please contact Oliver Reilly Ltd. Funeral Directors on (045) 868230.

The death has occurred of Susan (Sue) McArdle (nee Ennis)

Courtown Road, Kilcock, Kildare.

(Peacefully), in her 90th year, after a short illness, at St Jamess Hospital, Dublin. Susan (Sue).

Predeceased by her beloved husband Joseph, brother Brendan and beloved friend Alice.

Dear mother of Bernadine, Ray, Veronica and Derek.

Sadly missed by her loving children, sons-in-law and daughters- in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, brother-in-law and sisters-in-law, relatives and friends, with special mention for her devoted friend of seventy years, Ina.

May she Rest In Peace.

Reposing at the home of her son Derek (W23 EPY9) on Wednesday from 4pm to 7pm.

Funeral Mass at 12 noon on Thursday in St Coca's Church Kilcock followed by burial in St Joseph's cemetery in Kilcock.

Funeral service: https://www.kilcockandnewtownparish.ie/webcam/

The death has occurred of Patrick (Pat) McDonald

Straffan, Kildare / Ballyfermot, Dublin.

May 5, 2024, peacefully at Naas Hospital, beloved husband of the late Patty.

Deeply regretted by his loving sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, great grandchildren, brother, sister, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.

Rest In Peace.

Reposing at his residence on Tuesday from 5pm to 8pm.

Removal on Wednesday at 12.30pm to arrive at St. Brigid's Church, Straffan for 1pm Funeral Mass, followed by burial in Straffan Cemetery.

Patrick's Funeral Mass can be viewed live on Wednesday at 1pm: https://celstra.ie/st-brigids-webcam/

Oliver Reilly Funeral Directors accept no responsibility for any live webcam interruptions or issues.

For all enquiries, please contact Oliver Reilly Ltd. Funeral Directors on (045) 868230.

The death has occurred of Paddy Pender

Ticknevin, Carbury, Kildare, W91 FW63.

Paddy passed away peacefully, at home, surrounded by his loving family.

Predeceased by his loving wife Ellen and daughter Mary.

Deeply regretted by his adored family, Jim, Catherina, Sandra, Paddy-Joe, Madeline, Elaine, Josephine, Deirdre and Nicola, brother John, sisters Bernadette, Mary-Ellen and Bridget, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.

May Paddy Rest in Peace.

Paddy will repose at his home this Tuesday and Wednesday with a Rosary each day at 7pm.

A Funeral Mass will take place on Thursday at 1.30pm in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Derrinturn, followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery.

You can also take part in Paddy's Funeral Mass here: https://www.carburyparish.ie/our-parish/webcam-derrinturn/

The family would like to thank you for your kindness and support at this sad and difficult time.
Try to get across Europe using only cans of Red Bull? Challenge accepted!

Three friends from Newbridge are going to participate in Red Bull's 'Can You Make It?' challenge later this month.

Going under the team name 'The Gents', the group consists of 22-year-old Daniel Joyce, 22-year-old Gavin Mitten and 20-year-old Tadhg Sharkey.

Daniel has just finished his Final Year of studying Theoretical Physics at Trinity College Dublin, Gavin is in his Final Year of studying International Business with French and Spanish at TU Dublin, and Tadhg is currently in First Year of studying Engineering at the University of Limerick.

Explaining how they heard about the challenge, Gavin told the Leinster Leader: "As only university students could apply, Red Bull came into TU Dublin for an event during RAG week in February to hand out boarding passes for 'The Adventure

of a Lifetime.'

"I rang the two lads straight away, knowing that theyd be up for the challenge."

He continued: "As part of the application, we got to make a one-minute video to show why we would be a good fit for the event.

"I had seen a few groups recording their videos in college, talking into the camera for a minute with a Red Bull can in their hands, but I wanted to do something fun and a bit different. You can check out the video we made on our Instagram!"

Answering as a group, 'The Gents' explained what inspired them to take part in the challenge: "When we heard what the challenge involved, we knew straight away that we wanted to take part; the thought of all our friends and family watching us struggling through Europe with no money or phones seemed hilarious!"

"It seemed like the perfect adventure to finish college to give us memories and fun stories to tell people for years to come... 'I travelled across Europe using only Red Bull cans as currency' is a good answer to almost any ice-breaker imaginable!

"Overall, we just wanted to have a laugh together as a group."

They further said: "Throughout the week, well have to make our way to at least five checkpoints to take part in various 'adventure challenges' against other teams.

"We have no clue what these challenges will involve but seeing as Red Bull sponsor the event were excited to find out!

"There are around 300 teams taking part from 60 countries worldwide, and each team starts in one of five starting locations around Europe in a race to Berlin!

"We havent been told the prize yet, but it has been described as 'grand'. Well be told at the start line for some extra motivation."

When asked if any of them have ever gone a bit too hard on energy drinks in the past, Daniel had this to say: "One time, I went way too crazy on the Red Bulls in Dublin and woke up in Belfast... The other contents of the drink I had are irrelevant!"

As for the country they are most looking forward to visiting: "None of us have ever been to Denmark before, so when we were told that we were starting in Copenhagen we were really excited.

"Weve heard a lot about the city from family and friends and we met quite a few Danish people when we went inter-railing two years ago and theyve always been great craic.

"Its an amazing opportunity to be able to experience Danish culture."

'The Gents' also said that, initially, the team consisted of Gavin, Daniel and their other friend Connall: "Unfortunately, after being selected by Red Bull, Connall was unable to take part and decided to pass on this unique opportunity to his brother Tadhg.

"We have known Tadhg for years and are delighted that he is now part of 'The Gents'."

Conall Sharkey, Tadhg's brother, with Gavin and Daniel. Photograph: www.redbull.com.

The trio will be starting the challenge in in Copenhagen with approximately 60 other teams.

The rest of the teams will be starting in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Budapest and Milan.

"We will be provided with an event phone in order to vlog our experience across Europe," they explained: "We will be uploading daily to Instagram and Tiktok.

"You can keep up with our adventure and suggest any ideas you have for our trip by following our Instagram account at gentsireland_redbull."

"The challenge begins on Tuesday, May 21, and we should arrive in Berlin a week later on Tuesday, May 28," they concluded.
Five men charged in connection with the biggest drug seizure in the history of the State will be tried at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.

This was confirmed at Mallow District Court this Tuesday, as Garda Inspector Tony O'Sullivan said the Director of Public Prosecutions had instructed that the men go forward for trial on indictment to the Special Criminal Court.

All five men have been charged in relation to the seizure of more than 2.2 tonnes of cocaine, with an estimated value of over 157m, that was discovered aboard the MV Matthew off the Cork coast last September.

A new charge was preferred this Tuesday against four of the men - Dutch national Cumali Ozgen, 49, Iranian Saeid Hassani, 38, and Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk, 31, and Vitaliy Vlosoi, 31.

All were charged that they had participated in, or contributed to, activity intending to facilitate a serious offence by a criminal organisation on 24 September 2023.

Inspector O'Sullivan said the State's application was to remand all four in custody until Tuesday 14 May and on the other charges until May 21, when the book of evidence is due be ready.

The fifth crew member, 30-year-old Filippino national, Harold Estoesta, is remanded in custody and due to appear again before the district court via video link next Tuesday, May 14.
A 'vulnerable' taxi driver took possession of a loaded handgun that was handed over to him by a criminal in a 'moment of madness', the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Anthony Walker (53), with an address at Marrowbone Lane, Dublin 8, admitted at the three-judge court to possessing a .38" special calibre Smith & Wesson revolver at Tallaght Road, Templeogue, Dublin 6W, on November 23, 2021.

At the non-jury court, Walker further admitted to possessing five rounds of .38" special calibre ammunition in such circumstances as to give rise to a reasonable inference that he had not got it in his possession for a lawful purpose on the same occasion.

Detective Garda John Rourke told Caroline Cummings BL, prosecuting, that gardai were in receipt of information in November 2021 that a crime organisation had possession of a firearm and that they may intend to cause harm to an unknown person.

Gardai then put in place surveillance on the address of Ryan Kelly (25) of Captains Road in Crumlin, Dublin 24.

Kelly was jailed at the Special Criminal Court in January for his involvement in what Mr Justice Paul Burns described as a sophisticated enterprise.

Kelly was intercepted on the night in a separate car with three other men who were wearing rubber gloves and carrying burner phones. He was jailed for six years after he pleaded guilty to possessing the firearm and the five rounds of the ammunition that were in the gun.

This Tuesday, Detective Garda Rourke said Walker arrived at Kellys address on Captains Avenue in a black Prius taxi at around 8.45pm on the night and that Kelly was observed passing over an item, which later turned out to be the revolver, wrapped in a blue tea towel.

Detective Garda Rourke said armed gardai stopped the Prius close to the M50 roundabout at 8.55pm. Ten minutes later gardai stopped a Volvo estate taking exactly the same route as the taxi and discovered four occupants, all of whom were in possession of burner phones, while three were wearing rubber gloves and two were wearing snoods.

Kelly was one of the four men and was arrested.

Walker was interviewed five times by gardai and acknowledged his contact with Kelly had taken place over 18 months. However, he said he only realised during the trip that what he was carrying was a gun, which was found in the passenger seat footwell.

Walker told gardai that he had previously dropped cash and what he suspected was marijuana for Kelly but had no idea he was carrying a gun when it was handed to him.

Michael Bowman SC, for Walker, said his client had been a taxi driver his whole life and started picking up and dropping off Kelly during Covid when his taxi business was suffering.

Counsel said it had not been the States case against Walker that he had organised the delivery of the weapon or that he even knew what was going on when the package was handed to him.

Mr Bowman said that while Walker held a significant role in the enterprise he was hermetically kept from the decision-making process and only became suspicious of the package handed to him when he felt the weight of the revolver therein.

Mr Bowman said his client apologised to gardai and was remorseful for a moment of madness. Mr Bowman said Walker told gardai: All I can think about are my kids  it was a moment of madness. I really am remorseful, for whatever good that will do me.

Counsel said his client had complied with all terms and conditions of his bail since the incident but had reported to gardai that windows of his car and house had been smashed in the interim, which he [Walker] says is directly related to this.

Mr Bowman said his client had told gardai that if he knew it was a gun he was being asked to transport he would have never gotten into his car that night.

Counsel said his client was a vulnerable individual who suffered from Tourette's syndrome, ADHD and OCD. Counsel also said a probation report found Walker to be of low risk of reoffending and that a guilty plea was manifestly clear from the outset.

Mr Bowman said the court had the ability to depart from the presumptive mandatory minimum jail-term of five years for the offence, which carries a 14-year maximum sentence.

Mr Justice Burns adjourned the matter for sentencing to May 29 and remanded Walker in custody to that date.

A decision not to prosecute Walker with a charge that he did with knowledge of the existence of a criminal organisation, participate in, or contribute to, activity intending to, or being reckless as to whether such participation or contribution could, facilitate the commission of a serious offence by that criminal organisation or any of its members is to be entered on May 29.
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Government introduces legislation to counter foreign interference





OTTAWA, ON, May 6, 2024 /CNW/ - Today, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, and the Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, announced the introduction Bill C-70, An Act respecting countering foreign interference.

Bill C-70 proposes to update existing laws to better equip the government to detect, disrupt, and protect against foreign interference threats against all people in Canada, including members of diaspora, marginalized or otherwise vulnerable communities. This includes proposed changes to the Security of Information Act, the modernization of the 40-year-old Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, and the sabotage offence in the Criminal Code. It also proposes amendments to the Canada Evidence Act to establish a standardized and streamlined regime for handling sensitive information in administrative proceedings in the Federal Court of Canada.

The CSIS Act is old and predates the modern internet. Amendments would address growing gaps caused by evolving threats and technological advancements Safeguards have been built in and are strong ? the legislation was developed to ensure that CSIS activities comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Proposed warrant powers, while new to the CSIS Act, are not new tools; they are modelled on powers routinely relied on by Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies in other democracies. The threshold for accessing these tools is still high.

This bill also introduces the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act (FITAA), which creates a Foreign Influence Transparency Registry. Overseen by an independent Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, the Registry would promote transparency from people who advocate on behalf of a foreign principal (including a foreign state or state-owned business) and accountability from those who would do so in non-transparent ways. Under this proposed framework, individuals or entities who enter into an arrangement with a foreign principal and undertake activities to influence a government or political process in Canada would be required to publicly register these activities.

This legislation has been informed by the input received during the public consultations on foreign interference to ensure that it aligns with our national values, captures a wide range of expertise, perspectives, views and opinions, and respects Canadian fundamental rights and freedoms, including those protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Government of Canada is committed to protecting Canada and its residents from the threat of foreign interference, and to enhancing our collective resilience against malign foreign influence. This is an issue that impacts all aspects of society ? and the government will continue to work with all partners, including provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous governments and partners, affected communities, academia and civil society, to collectively address foreign interference. This legislation will better enable the Government to detect, investigate, provide advice and get at the root source of foreign interference by enabling stronger enforcement.

Together, we can better protect Canadian values, principles, rights and freedoms from those who seek to harm them.

Quote

"Our government has been clear ? we will not tolerate any form of malign foreign influence on Canadian soil. An Act Respecting Countering Foreign Interference will modernize our toolbox to protect our citizens and democracy while upholding Canadian values and principles."

- The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions, and Intergovernmental Affairs

"Our government is taking action to protect all people in Canada, our institutions and our democracy from foreign interference. These reforms to criminal and national security laws are carefully crafted to tackle these threats in an appropriate, balanced, and fair manner."

- The Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Quick Facts

Foreign interference includes harmful activities undertaken by foreign states, or those acting on its behalf, that are clandestine, deceptive, or involve a threat to any person to advance the strategic objectives of those states to the detriment of Canada's national interests. Foreign interference poses a threat to all levels of government, the private sector, academia, diaspora communities and the general public.

national interests. Foreign interference poses a threat to all levels of government, the private sector, academia, diaspora communities and the general public. In 2019, the Government of Canada announced the Plan to Protect Canada's Democracy. Measures introduced as part of the Plan include the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol (CEIPP), the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, the Digital Citizen Initiative, the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism and the Canada Declaration on Election Integrity Online. The Government is committed to continuously improving its defenses, including elements of the Plan, to ensure Canada remains best protected.

announced the Plan to Protect Canada's Democracy. Measures introduced as part of the Plan include the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol (CEIPP), the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, the Digital Citizen Initiative, the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism and the Canada Declaration on Election Integrity Online. The Government is committed to continuously improving its defenses, including elements of the Plan, to ensure remains best protected. On March 6, 2023 , the Government of Canada announced a series of measures to take further action on foreign interference and strengthen the public's confidence in our democracy.

, the Government of announced a series of measures to take further action on foreign interference and strengthen the public's confidence in our democracy. From March 10 to May 9, 2023 , the Government held public consultations to guide the creation of a Foreign Influence Transparency Registry in Canada .

, the Government held public consultations to guide the creation of a Foreign Influence Transparency Registry in . On September 7, 2023 , the Government of Canada launched the Foreign Interference Commission to respond to concerns about foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. The Commission is also examining the flow of information within the federal government in relation to these issues, evaluating the actions taken in response, assessing the federal government's capacity to detect, deter, and counter foreign interference, and will make recommendations on these issues. The Commission released its initial report on May 3, 2024 , and will deliver its final report by December 31, 2024 .

, the Government of launched the Foreign Interference Commission to respond to concerns about foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. The Commission is also examining the flow of information within the federal government in relation to these issues, evaluating the actions taken in response, assessing the federal government's capacity to detect, deter, and counter foreign interference, and will make recommendations on these issues. The Commission released its initial report on , and will deliver its final report by . From November 24, 2023 to February 2, 2024 , the Government of Canada held additional public consultations that focused on potential legislative amendments to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act , the Criminal Code , the Security of Information Act and the Canada Evidence Act .

to , the Government of held additional public consultations that focused on potential legislative amendments to the , the , the and the . Budget 2023 provides $48.9 million over three years starting in 2023-24 to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to protect people in Canada from harassment and intimidation, increase its investigative capacity, and more proactively engage with communities at greater risk of being targeted, as well as $13.5 million over five years, starting in 2023-24, and $3.1 million ongoing to Public Safety Canada to establish a National Counter-Foreign Interference Office.

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SOURCE Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada

6 may 2024 at 19:01

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BitVM-Based Bitlayer's $50M Developer Incentive Airdrop Program Brings in Over 800 Projects





SINGAPORE, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitlayer, the first Bitcoin Layer 2 based on the BitVM paradigm, is currently working on building the largest Bitcoin Layer 2 ecosystem.

According to official data, the $50 million developer incentive airdrop program launched by Bitlayer has already attracted more than 800 projects to sign up. These projects encompass a variety of categories, including infrastructure, DeFi, NFTs, memes, SocialFi, cross-chain bridges, and wallets.

Additionally, Bitlayer has launched a popularity ranking list for projects during the preparatory phase in order to visualize the community activity of the project parties. Before voting ends on May 10th, users can actively participate in voting to earn Ready Player One Campaign Points. Concurrently, the project team can build up popularity points, which will contribute to an advantageous position in the official Bitlayer leaderboard rankings. As of now, the event has attracted over 5 million votes.

What is Ready Player One?

Ready Player One is an open incentive program designed to distribute token rewards valued at over $50M to protocols and teams that stand out for their deployment on the Bitlayer mainnet, helping them gain industry exposure, funding, and acceleration of community and business growth.

The Ready Player One developer incentive airdrop program is divided into four phases:

Registration Epoch: March 29th to May 10th .

Projects will complete their event registration and join the Bitlayer builder group.

Preparation Epoch: April 23rd to May 10th .

Community members can accumulate Ready Player One points and have a chance to gain a Bitlayer Lucky Helmet NFT. Project teams are encouraged to gather community resources through voting to increase their awareness and support.

Competition Epoch: Estimated Duration from May 11th to July 11th

Project teams will participate in leaderboard competitions as well as an accelerator program to compete for developer airdrop rewards and grants.

Reward Settlement and Issuance Epoch: Starting May 11th

Based on the competition's outcome, Bitlayer will tally points and distribute rewards following the end of the competition.

In addition to generous token rewards, Bitlayer commits to providing comprehensive ecosystem support for all projects, offering the following resources to builders:

Potential investment from the foundation and institutions

Initial liquidity support

Comprehensive product development resources

Mentorship and pitch opportunities from top-tier incubators

Support from the Bitcoin community and OGs

community and OGs Ecosystem collaboration and co-creation

All teams participating in Ready Player One are eligible to apply for these resources. Bitlayer will regularly announce a list of projects receiving Bitlayer's support, ensuring that their innovations receive the growth and resources they deserve.

How are Airdrop Rewards Distributed?

Bitlayer developer airdrop rewards will be distributed through a combination of leaderboard competitions and an accelerator program.

Leaderboard competition

Based on the principles of fairness, openness, and transparency, Bitlayer will establish a leaderboard for all successfully registered projects. Bitlayer Dapp Points will be calculated and updated daily based on a variety of metrics, including Total Value Locked (TVL), trading volume, number of transactions, product strength, number of active users, retention rate, activity level, and popularity.

The more Bitlayer Dapp Points a project accumulates, the higher its ranking will be. Bitlayer will distribute the rewards uniformly at the end of the competition.

Accelerator program

To provide more targeted support for crypto entrepreneurs, we will launch the Bitlayer Accelerator Program concurrently with the start of the Bitlayer Ecosystem Leaderboard Competition. This program is open to all participants of the developer incentive airdrop program, and successful registration will automatically place you on the shortlist for the accelerator, eliminating the need for a separate application.

To ensure a higher level of transparency and fairness in the selection process, Bitlayer plans to establish a jury comprising organizations such as the Bitlayer Foundation team and many leading web3 VCs such as ABCDE Capital. The jury will professionally assess and vote based on various dimensions including project category, team background, and community engagement.

Bitlayer intends to hold monthly selections, with projects that secure the most votes receiving token airdrop rewards of up to $3 million. The distribution of all rewards will cease once they have been fully disbursed.

The Leaderboard Competition and Accelerator Program will not only bring outstanding teams to the forefront but also provide a differentiated incentive mechanism to help startups achieve a successful launch and secure growth within the Bitlayer ecosystem.

About Bitlayer

Bitlayer is the first Bitcoin Layer 2 solution based on the BitVM paradigm. Bitlayer's core objective is to address the trade-off between security (trustlessness) and Turing-completeness in BTC layer 2 through cryptographic innovations and blockchain protocol engineering.

Bitlayer is committed to becoming the computation layer for Bitcoin, aiming to introduce ultra-scalability to Bitcoin while inheriting its security, providing users with a high-throughput, low-cost transaction experience.

Follow Bitlayer to stay updated on everything:

Website | Twitter | Discord | Medium | Github | Youtube

SOURCE Bitlayer

7 may 2024 at 01:53

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Miles&Smiles, frequent flyer program of Turkish Airlines joins forces with utu to boost bigger VAT refunds for members on tax-free shopping





SINGAPORE, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles has joined the growing roster of international airline loyalty programs taking advantage of travel tech company utu's 40% tax refund boost for travellers.

Sanjay Chinchwade, Chief Commercial Officer, Partnerships, said, "Our goal is to transform tax free shopping by providing travellers with the best value for their overseas purchases. This partnership not only allows Turkish Airlines' Miles&Smiles members to earn 40% more on their VAT refunds but to enjoy their travel more as well, as they collect bonus Miles from their tax-free Shopping."

Turkish Airlines Director of Marketing Arif Ali Gezmi?o?lu stated: "At Turkish Airlines, we continuously strive to enhance our passengers' travel experience. This partnership with utu allows us to offer our Miles&Smiles members even more value on their journeys, transforming their tax-free shopping into rewarding travel benefits. It's another step in our commitment to making every trip with Turkish Airlines a truly rewarding experience."

From today, members of Miles&Smiles can use their utu Tax Free Card to receive an upsized value of USD 125 (4,167) worth of air Miles for every USD 100 in tax-free refunds claimed while shopping overseas - allowing travellers to earn and grow their Miles as they shop.

For Turkish Airlines' Classic Plus, Elite and Elite Plus Miles&Smiles members the enhancement is even greater. utu is extending an automatic 'status match' to Turkish Airlines' premium members, matching their status with Miles&Smiles and offering up to 40% increase in air Miles without needing to qualify separately or pay for a subscription.

To start claiming more Miles, travellers just download the utu Tax Free app, available on both Google Play and the App Store. After registering for the utu Tax Free Card, they simply choose Miles&Smiles as their preferred Rewards Program. Members of Miles&Smiles will be receiving an exclusive invitation to accept the status match.

At a store, when choosing how to receive their tax refund, utu members fill in their utu Tax Free Card number on any provided tax-free form and complete the standard Tax Refund Validation Process at the airport before departure. Once completed, the upsized value of the refund in Miles&Smiles is credited to their Miles&Smiles account.

The latest addition to utu's tax-refund revolution takes the total number of partners to fourteen, with more partners in aviation and hospitality to be announced soon. Follow utu Instagram or visit utu.global for the latest news and benefit announcements.

About utu

utu (pronounced "you-too") is transforming tax-free shopping worldwide by empowering travellers with the freedom to obtain a higher VAT refund by going beyond digitising refunds to re-engineer the tax-free shopping value chain to benefit travellers. The utu management team has deep domain knowledge in tax-free shopping developed over 25 years of refunding VAT and GST worldwide. By bringing the worlds of refunds and rewards together, utu unlocks new value in rewards from retailers, airlines, hotels, and others. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Singapore, utu's products can be used in over 50 countries.

For more information, visit www.utu.global or download the utu app at https://utu.global/get-the-app/ .

About Turkish Airlines:

Established in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft, Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines has a fleet of 440 (passenger and cargo) aircraft flying to 345 worldwide destinations as 292 international and 53 domestics in 129 countries. More information about Turkish Airlines can be found on its official website www.turkishairlines.com or its social media accounts on veya Facebook , X , Youtube , Linkedin ve Instagram .

7 may 2024 at 02:00

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Canadabis Capital Expands into European Market with EU-GMP Partners





CALGARY, AB, May 7, 2024 /CNW/ - Canadabis Capital (TSXV: CANB) with Sub Stigma Grow, a leading Canadian cannabis company, is pleased to announce its strategic expansion into the European market through a significant distribution agreement. This marks a pivotal moment in Stigma Grows history, as the company's innovative products will now be introduced to international markets.

Under this new agreement, Stigma Grow will be distributing its high-quality cannabis products in several key European countries, including Portugal, Germany, and Israel, among others. This move represents a significant milestone for Stigma Grow as it continues to grow its global presence and deliver its cutting edge products to new audiences.

"We are thrilled to announce our entry into the European market through this EU-GMP agreement," said Travis McIntyre, CEO of Canadabis Capital. "This expansion represents a major step forward for our company and underscores our commitment to bringing our cutting-edge products to consumers worldwide."

With a reputation for excellence and a track record of innovation, Stigma Grow is well-positioned to make a significant impact in the European cannabis market. The company's products are known for their quality, consistency, and effectiveness, and have garnered a loyal following in Canada and beyond.

"We believe that our products have the potential to transform the cannabis industry in Europe," added Mcintyre. "We are excited to work with our partners to bring Stigma Grow's unique offerings to customers in Portugal, Germany, Israel, and other European markets. This agreement comes at a time when the world is opening up to Cannabis and we are just getting started."

ABOUT CANADABIS CAPITAL INC.

CanadaBis Capital Inc. (TSXV:CANB) is a vertically integrated Canadian cannabis company focused on achieving large-scale growth, from cultivation to retail, in the fast-emerging global cannabis market. By targeting organic growth opportunities alongside the right-fit partners, we remain focused on finding and capitalizing on chances to grow, diversify and continue to lead our industry.

Our integrated subsidiaries:

Stigma Pharmaceuticals Inc. ? 100% held

? 100% held 1998643 Alberta Ltd. (operating as " Stigma Grow ") - 100% held; www.stigmagrow.ca

") - 100% held; www.stigmagrow.ca Full Spectrum Labs Ltd. (operating as " Stigma Roots ") - 100% held

") - 100% held 2103157 Alberta Ltd. -100% held

Goldstream Cannabis Inc. - 95% held

ABOUT STIGMA GROW

Stigma Grow is a cutting-edge cannabis cultivation and extraction company positioned advantageously to meet the unmet market demands and stigmas within the legal cannabis industry head on, with products designed to disturb the status quo and dramatically shift the conversation surrounding Canada's legal cannabis industry.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS

Regarding Forward-Looking Information

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 our business and operations; the focus of our 2024 activities, our continued cost saving initiatives, our outlook and the plan to seek further growth initiatives. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions including: the ability of the Company's products to compete with the pricing and product availability; the market demand for the Company's products; and assumptions concerning the Company's competitive advantages. These assumptions, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause 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: compliance with extensive government regulation, the general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; ability to sustain or create a demand for a product; requirement for further capital; delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; the results of operations and such other matters as set out in the Company's continuous disclosure on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflects management's expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have a material adverse effect on our future results, performance or achievements.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law.

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 CanadaBis Capital Inc.

7 may 2024 at 06:30

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CRR announces appointment of energy industry veteran Tim Kitchen as Chairman of its Board of Directors





CALGARY, AB, May 7, 2024 /CNW/ - CRR Inc., the general partner of Canadian Resource Roadways LP ("CRR"), is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Tim Kitchen as Chair of its Board of Directors.

Mr. Kitchen brings over 30 years of experience in the energy and investment banking industry, having led Barclay Capital's investment banking operations in Canada for the past 15 years. He has served on the Board of Barclay Capital Canada, Chaired the Foundation Board for the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and currently serves as a director on the Board of Irving Oil.

Mr. Kitchen holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Chemical Engineering from Queen's University, a Master of Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University and holds an ICD.D Designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

CRR is an infrastructure business focused on owning and operating industrial access roads in Canada's resource sectors. By partnering with CRR, resource companies can monetize their non-core road assets to redeploy capital into their core business and simplify their operations by relying on CRR's leading road maintenance and administration capabilities. Headquartered in Calgary, CRR is owned by funds managed by CBRE Investment Management, a leading global real assets manager, and its management team. More information on CRR can be found at www.crrgroup.ca.

CRR is excited to have Mr. Kitchen lead its Board of Directors and looks forward to his contributions in driving CRR's continued growth and success.

SOURCE Canadian Resource Roadways LP

7 may 2024 at 06:45

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Aston Bay and American West Metals Announce New Copper Targets at the Storm Copper Project, Canada





New step-out targets identified from high-powered electromagnetic surveys

Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSXV:BAY)(OTCQB:ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to present the preliminary interpretation of the initial results from geophysical activities currently underway at the Storm Copper Project ("Storm" or the "Project") on Somerset Island, Nunavut. The program is being conducted by American West Metals Limited ("American West"), who is the operator of the Project. American West has completed the required expenditures to earn an undivided 80% interest in the Project. American West will be solely responsible for funding the program.

Highlights

Preliminary interpretation of the initial Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) survey results has identified several new exploration targets highlighting excellent potential to discover additional copper mineralization

The initial MLEM data indicates that the high-grade copper mineralization at the Cyclone Zone likely extends in most directions

New EM anomalies have also been identified over 1,000 metres ("m") along strike from the Chinook Zone as well as in the areas of the 2023 discoveries at the Thunder, Lightning Ridge and Gap Prospects, indicating strong potential for extensions to known high-grade copper mineralization

The MLEM surveys continue in the Storm area, and will then move south toward the Blizzard and Tornado Prospects

Deeper-looking MLEM surveys are also planned between the North and South Graben Faults in the Storm area

Track-mounted Reverse-Circulation (RC) drilling is underway and will test these new targets as well as several historical EM anomalies and other high-priority targets for near-surface high-grade copper mineralization

A second RC drill rig is currently being mobilised to site, which will join the first RC and two diamond rigs currently onsite

The 2024 high-powered Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) survey has already successfully identified numerous conductive anomalies throughout the Storm area, including multiple anomalies that are adjacent to known copper mineralization and are untested by drilling.

"It is very encouraging to see geophysics identify new targets at Storm," stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay. "Moving Loop EM anomalies have demonstrated a very strong correlation with high-grade copper mineralization, so these are high-priority drill targets. This initial phase of geophysics is designed to be effective in the shallow subsurface, less than 200 metres depth, well within reach of the RC drill rigs on site. The ongoing drilling will aim to test these targets in the coming weeks and over the summer program.

"The upcoming deep-penetrating, wider-spaced MLEM survey is designed to explore the Storm central graben area below the known mineralization with a targeted search space of 200-500m depth. This opens a whole new space for potential discovery. In the 2024 season we intersected copper mineralization at these depths with the same mineralogy as seen at the surface. We anticipate these deeper-looking surveys will enhance our drill targeting for potentially thicker and more laterally extensive zones of mineralization in this very prospective but underexplored zone."

Figure 1: High-powered Electromagnetic (EM) surveys continue to generate new targets at the Storm Project, Nunavut, Canada.

PHASE 1 MOVING LOOP ELECTROMAGNETICS (MLEM)

The high-powered MLEM survey is advancing rapidly and is initially being used to highlight the priority areas within the Storm area for expansion of the near-surface zones of higher-grade copper mineralization and to identify new targets for drilling (Figure 2).

The copper mineralization at Storm is dominantly chalcocite (a copper sulfide mineral with 79.8% Cu content), occurring as massive sulfides in breccias and veinlets. Minor chalcopyrite (copper sulfide with 34.5% Cu content) is present on the margins of the mineralized profiles. The contrast in conductivity between chalcocite and the highly resistive dolomite host rocks makes EM an effective targeting tool in this area.

The initial MLEM surveys at Storm have used 200m N-S line spacings, 100m sensor stations, and 200m x 200m loops. This configuration provides rapid coverage and is effective in defining the known near-surface high-grade copper mineralization at Storm.

Figure 2: Recently completed MLEM survey image (Ch18Z) and remaining proposed lines in the Storm area, overlaying drilling, and aerial photography. Hotter colours (red/green) indicate higher conductivity. Gaps in this survey were completed in 2023 and will be integrated into the final modeling and interpretation.

Approximately 22.7 line-kilometres ("km") of the proposed >50 line-km MLEM survey have been completed within the Storm area (Figure 2). The initial survey lines broadly cover the southern graben area and around the Cyclone Zone, with the geophysical team working west along the major trend of the graben. Once the western portion of the survey is complete, the team will then work east, from the Chinook Zone, toward the Blizzard and Tornado Prospect areas.

The initial survey data from the Cyclone area shows clear EM anomalies outside of the current copper resource envelope (Figure 2). This data strongly suggests that the higher-grade copper mineralization is open and continues into these conductive areas. This interpretation is supported by drilling on the margins of the Cyclone Zone, which include intersections including 16m @ 3.07% Cu from 93m downhole (drillhole SROR1601D) and 10.2m @ 2.1% Cu from 17.3m and 5.8m @ 3.6% Cu from 38.6m downhole (drillhole ST99-53).

Figure 3: Recently completed MLEM survey image (Ch18Z) of the Cyclone Zone overlaying drilling, major faults, and aerial photography. Hotter colours (red/green) indicate higher conductivity. Gaps in this survey were completed in 2023 and will be integrated into the final modeling and interpretation.

The survey data from the current coverage over the Southern Graben area, including around the Thunder Prospect (where drilling has intersected 48.6m @ 3% Cu from 35m downhole in drill hole ST23-03), has clearly defined conductive features along the strike of the fault network in the area (Figure 4). Weakly conductive cover is present in the area of the Thunder Prospect (most likely a thin overlap of the Allen Bay and Cape Storm formations), slightly masking the full EM response of the bedrock anomalies.

The correlation with the graben faults and orientation of the EM conductors suggests the potential for further discoveries of high-grade copper sulfides in a similar setting to the Thunder, Lightning Ridge, Chinook, and Corona zones. Approximately 10km of the graben faults remain underexplored in the southern Storm area alone, underscoring the very significant exploration potential.

All of the conductive features defined to date are located proximal to high-grade copper intersected in drilling, making them compelling targets for the discovery of further copper sulfides and extensions to the known zones of copper mineralization. The MLEM surveys will continue to screen the broader Storm area, with follow-up surveys over some of the preliminary conductors to help better constrain the modeling for drill testing.

Figure 4: Recently completed MLEM survey image (Ch18Z) of the South Graben area, overlaying drilling, major faults, and aerial photography. Hotter colours (red/green) indicate higher conductivity. Gaps in this survey were completed in 2023 and will be integrated into the final modeling and interpretation.

PLANNED PROGRAM

RC drilling is in progress in the Storm area testing geophysical and resource targets. The second RC drill rig is currently being mobilized to site.

EM surveys are continuing at near-surface and deeper areas of interest within the Storm area. The surveys will then move to the Tornado and Blizzard copper prospect areas.

Planning is complete and preparations are underway for a broad range of environmental monitoring and survey activities during 2024.

Studies are progressing on a range of beneficiation processing methods on a variety of mineralized material from the Cyclone and Chinook Deposits.

Project development studies are continuing.

About the Storm Copper and Seal Zinc-Silver Projects, Nunavut

The Nunavut property consists of 173 contiguous mining claims covering an area of approximately 219,257 hectares on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada. The Storm Project comprises both the Storm Copper Project, a high-grade sediment-hosted copper discovery (intersections including 110m* @ 2.5% Cu from surface and 56.3m* @ 3.1% Cu from 12.2m) as well as the Seal Zinc Deposit (intersections including 14.4m* @ 10.6% Zn, 28.7g/t Ag from 51.8m and 22.3m* @ 23.0% Zn, 5.1g/t Ag from 101.5m). Additionally, there are numerous underexplored and undrilled targets within the 120-kilometre strike length of the mineralized trend, including the Tornado copper prospect where 10 grab samples yielded >1% Cu up to 32% Cu in gossans. The Nunavut property is now the subject of an 80/20 unincorporated joint venture with American West (see "Agreement with American West" below for more details).

Storm Discovery and Historical Work

High-grade copper mineralization was discovered at Storm in the mid-1990s by Cominco geologists conducting regional zinc exploration around their then-producing Polaris lead-zinc mine. A massive chalcocite boulder found in a tributary of the Aston River in 1996 was traced to impressive surface exposures of broken chalcocite mineralization for hundreds of metres of surface strike length at what became named the 2750N, 2200N, and 3500N zones. Subsequent seasons of prospecting, geophysics and over 9,000 m of drilling into the early 2000s confirmed a significant amount of copper mineralization below the surface exposures as well as making the blind discovery of the 4100N Zone, a large area of copper mineralization with no surface exposure.

Following the merger of Cominco with Teck in 2001 and the closure of the Polaris Mine, the Storm claims were allowed to lapse in 2007. Commander Resources staked the property in 2008 and flew a helicopter-borne VTEM survey in 2011 but conducted no additional drilling. Aston Bay subsequently entered into an earn-in agreement with Commander and consolidated 100% ownership in 2015. Commander retained a 0.875% Gross Overriding Royalty in the area of the original Storm claims which was purchased by Taurus Mining Royalty Fund L.P. in January 2024.

In 2016 Aston Bay entered into an earn-in agreement with BHP, who conducted a 2,000-station soil sampling program and drilled 1,951m of core in 12 diamond drill holes, yielding up to 16m* @ 3.1% Cu. BHP exited the agreement in 2017 and retains no residual interest in the project. Aston Bay conducted a property-wide airborne gravity gradiometry survey in 2017 and drilled 2,913m in nine core holes in the Storm area in 2018 yielding a best intercept of 1.5m* @ 4.4% Cu and 20.5m* @ 0.6% Cu.

Agreement with American West

As previously disclosed, Aston Bay entered into an Option Agreement dated March 9, 2021 (the "Option Agreement") with American West Metals Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tornado Metals Ltd. (collectively, "American West") pursuant to which American West was granted an option (the "Option") to earn an 80% undivided interest in the Project by spending a minimum of CAD$10 million on qualifying exploration expenditures ("Expenditures"). The parties amended and restated the Option Agreement as of February 27, 2023 to facilitate American West potentially financing the Expenditures through flow-through shares but did not change the commercial agreement between the parties.

The Expenditures were completed during the 2023 drilling program and American West exercised the Option in accordance with the terms of the Option Agreement, as amended. American West and Aston Bay will form an 80/20 unincorporated joint venture and enter into a joint venture agreement. Under such agreement, Aston Bay shall have a free carried interest until American West has made a decision to mine upon completion of a bankable feasibility study, meaning American West will be solely responsible for funding the joint venture until such decision is made. After such decision is made, Aston Bay will be diluted in the event it does not elect to contribute its proportionate share and its interest in the Project will be converted into a 2% net smelter returns royalty if its interest is diluted to below 10%.

Recent Work

American West completed a fixed loop electromagnetic (FLEM) ground geophysical survey in 2021 that yielded several new subsurface conductive anomalies. A total of 1,534m were drilled in 10 diamond drill holes in the 2022 season, yielding several impressive near-surface intercepts including 41m* @ 4.1% Cu as well as 68m of sulfide mineralization associated with a deeper conductive anomaly.

In April 2022, results of beneficiation studies demonstrated that a mineralized intercept grading 4% Cu from the 4100N area could be upgraded to a 54% Cu direct ship product using standard sorting technology. Further beneficiation studies are ongoing.

In April 2023, American West embarked on a spring delineation drilling program using a helicopter-portable RC drill rig as well as conducting gravity and moving loop electromagnetic (MLEM) ground geophysical programs.

The summer 2023 program conducted further delineation drilling of the near-surface high-grade copper zones to advance them toward maiden resource estimates by late 2023 or early 2024. Diamond drilling tested new high-priority gravity targets and environmental baseline studies will be initiated.

*Stated drill hole intersections are all core length, and true width is expected to be 60% to 100% of core length.

QA/QC Protocols

The analytical work reported on herein was performed by ALS Global ("ALS"), Vancouver Canada. ALS is an ISO-IEC 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:2015 accredited geoanalytical laboratory and is independent of Aston Bay Holdings Ltd., American West Metals Limited, and the QP. Drill core and hand samples were subject to crushing at a minimum of 70% passing 2 mm, followed by pulverizing of a 250-gram split to 85% passing 75 microns. Samples were subject to 33 element geochemistry by four-acid digestion and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) to determine concentrations of copper, silver, lead, zinc, and other elements (ALS Method ME-ICP61a). Overlimit values for copper (>10%) and were analyzed via four-acid digestion and ICP-AES (ALS Method Cu-OG62).

Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. and American West Metals Limited followed industry standard procedures for the work carried out on the Storm Project, incorporating a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program. Blank, duplicate, and standard samples were inserted into the sample sequence and sent to the laboratory for analysis. No significant QA/QC issues were detected during review of the data. Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. and American West Metals Limited are not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data referred to herein.

Qualified Person

Michael Dufresne, M.Sc., P.Geol., P.Geo., is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.

About Aston Bay Holdings

Aston Bay is a publicly traded mineral exploration company exploring for high-grade copper and gold deposits in Virginia, USA, and Nunavut, Canada. The Company is led by CEO Thomas Ullrich with exploration in Virginia directed by the Company's advisor, Don Taylor, the 2018 Thayer Lindsley Award winner for his discovery of the Taylor Pb-Zn-Ag Deposit in Arizona. The Company is currently exploring the high-grade Buckingham Gold Vein in central Virginia and is in advanced stages of negotiation on other lands with high-grade copper potential in the area.

The Company and its joint venture partners, American West Metals Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tornado Metals Ltd. (collectively, " American West ") have agreed to form a 20/80 unincorporated joint venture and enter into a joint venture agreement in respect of the Storm Project property, which hosts the Storm Copper Project and the Seal Zinc Deposit. Under such agreement, Aston Bay shall have a free carried interest until American West has made a decision to mine upon completion of a bankable feasibility study, meaning American West will be solely responsible for funding the joint venture until such decision is made. After such decision is made, Aston Bay will be diluted in the event it does not elect to contribute its proportionate share and its interest in the Storm Project property will be converted into a 2% net smelter returns royalty if its interest is diluted to below 10%.

About American West Metals Limited

AMERICAN WEST METALS LIMITED (ASX: AW1) is an Australian clean energy mining company focused on growth through the discovery and development of major base metal mineral deposits in Tier 1 jurisdictions of North America. Our strategy is focused on developing mines that have a low-footprint and support the global energy transformation. Our portfolio of copper and zinc projects in Utah and Canada include significant existing resource inventories and high-grade mineralization that can generate robust mining proposals. Core to our approach is our commitment to the ethical extraction and processing of minerals and making a meaningful contribution to the communities where our projects are located.

Led by a highly experienced leadership team, our strategic initiatives lay the foundation for a sustainable business which aims to deliver high-multiplier returns on shareholder investment and economic benefits to all stakeholders.

For further information on American West, visit: www.americanwestmetals.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements made in this news release, including those regarding entering into the joint venture and each party's interest in the Project pursuant to the agreement in respect of the joint venture, management objectives, forecasts, estimates, expectations, or predictions of the future may constitute "forward-looking statement", which can be identified by the use of conditional or future tenses or by the use of such verbs as "believe", "expect", "may", "will", "should", "estimate", "anticipate", "project", "plan", and words of similar import, including variations thereof and negative forms. This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect, as of the date of this press release, Aston Bay's expectations, estimates and projections about its operations, the mining industry and the economic environment in which it operates. Statements in this press release that are not supported by historical fact are forward-looking statements, meaning they involve risk, uncertainty and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although Aston Bay believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which apply only at the time of writing of this press release. Aston Bay disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by securities legislation.

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 news release.

For more information contact:

Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

(416) 456-3516

SOURCE: Aston Bay Holdings Ltd

7 may 2024 at 07:00

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Lantern Energy Celebrates 15-Years of Improving Energy Efficiency





Leading energy service company continues to expand space, headcount and services as it reaches major milestone

GLASTONBURY, Conn., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Lantern Energy announced today that it has achieved 15 years of successful business operations. One of the state's most seasoned efficiency and alternative service companies, serving residential and business customers in Connecticut and southern Massachusetts, Lantern Energy has helped improve the energy efficiency of more than 35,000 Connecticut homes, apartments and businesses in the past decade and a half.

In the face of climate change and rising costs of energy, we are proud to be the boots on the ground making a difference for homeowners and businesses, large and small.

The Glastonbury-based firm already had been providing insulation, electrical services, commercial energy assessments, solar installation, smart building technology and electric vehicle charging stations over the first 10 years. Services added since then include air sealing and advanced duct sealing, two of the most effective ways to reduce energy costs.

The company also moved its headquarters from Norwich to Glastonbury, doubling its space to 10,000 square feet with a newly designed, modern office and adjacent warehouse. The new, more centralized location allows for Lantern Energy to better serve the entire state of Connecticut and parts of Massachusetts and paved the way for significant expansion of its electrical and residential services, with headcount rising by 30 percent in the last five years.

"This company's strength and longevity is thanks to an impressive team, from the office to the field crews, which is committed to the highest standards for our customers and ourselves," said Peter Callan, Principal of Lantern Energy. "In the face of climate change and rising costs of energy, we are proud to be the boots on the ground making a difference for homeowners and businesses, large and small, who care about the environment and need to save money. We continue to seek new and expanded ways to deliver on both counts."

Milestones at the 15-year mark:

2021 - Partner Craig Frenkel retired. Peter Callan became sole proprietor

became sole proprietor 2022 - Relocated headquarters from Norwich to Glastonbury

to 2022 - Brandon Hicks became Co-Owner of Lantern Electrical division

became Co-Owner of Lantern Electrical division 2022 - Introduced ground screw installment capabilities

2023 - Launched advanced duct sealing services

Lantern's momentum and growth is continuing in its 15th year, recently fueled by strong organic demand from its strategic partnerships around solar foundations. The company uniquely offers all-in-one site work with in-house resources that include its own backhoes and trailers, enabling Lantern to prepare sites and pour concrete pads in advance of the energy efficiency services it also provides.

"Happy 15th anniversary to Peter Callan's Lantern Energy," said Bryan Garcia, president and chief executive officer of Connecticut Green Bank. "Having worked with Peter on the Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge years ago, it is great to see his company doing well by helping families access clean energy."

About Lantern Energy

For 15 years, Lantern Energy has been helping homeowners and businesses to save money on energy costs and to limit their impact on the environment. One of the only multistate companies providing both residential and commercial energy efficiency services, Lantern Energy has developed a transformative brand not seen in the industry. Ranked as an A+ business by the Better Business Bureau and a Building Performance Goldstar Contractor, the company's success is driven by a commitment to a seamless assessment and installation experience for all their customers, including small and large businesses, and single and multifamily homeowners. Lantern has been an approved contractor and energy efficiency partner to Eversource and United Illuminating for 15 years.

Lantern Energy is based in Glastonbury, CT and has improved the energy efficiency of more than 35,000 homes, apartments and businesses in Connecticut and Massachusetts. For more information, visit [email protected].

Media contact:

Jeanne Yurman

Lantern Energy

[email protected]

Media Contact

Jeanne Yurman, Lantern Energy, 1 917-656-3333, [email protected], https://www.lanternenergy.com/

SOURCE Lantern Energy

7 may 2024 at 08:00

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Dragos Announces New Integration with CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM for Enhanced Threat Detection in OT Networks





Dragos Inc., the global leader in cybersecurity for operational technology (OT) environments, today announced an expanded partnership with CrowdStrike to integrate OT threat intelligence from the Dragos Platform into the CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM. The integration enables SOC analysts to quickly pinpoint malicious behavior on OT networks and have the context they need to reduce false positives, prioritize mitigations, and achieve faster response times. CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM unifies first and third-party data, native threat intelligence, AI, and workflow automation to drive Security Operations Center (SOC) transformation.

In the face of escalating threats to OT environments, including a 50% rise in reported ransomware attacks, many industrial organizations lack visibility across OT networks. The Dragos Platform offers critical enhancements to cybersecurity defenses through its OT-native network visibility and monitoring capabilities. The Dragos Platform integration with Falcon Next Gen SIEM enhances detection and response, providing SOC analysts with in-depth context for alerts and reducing the frequency of false positives through intelligence driven threat detections. This allows for rapid identification of malicious activity in OT environments, ensuring that industrial organizations can more effectively prioritize and mitigate real-world threats, ultimately maximizing their cybersecurity investments and improving operational efficiencies.

According to CrowdStrike, Falcon Next-Gen SIEM delivers more capabilities and up to 150x faster search performance than legacy SIEMs and solutions positioned as SIEM alternatives, at an 80% lower total cost of ownership. With this expanded partnership, organizations will be able to:

Find and investigate evasive threats with AI-powered detections supported by Dragos's rich contextual threat behavior analytics with actionable insights;

Accelerate deployment with streamlined Dragos Platform data onboarding and third-party automated response actions;

Unify SOC data and workflows to deliver superior security outcomes at lower total cost;

Perform more thorough investigations and root cause analysis across IT and OT to reduce mean time to respond and recover (MTTR).

"The number and sophistication of cyber threats to Industrial systems is on the rise, and SOCs are increasingly charged with protecting operational technology in addition to IT," said Matt Cowell, Global VP of Business Development, Dragos. "Our expanded partnership with CrowdStrike will give SOC analysts the OT technology and insights they need to defend their entire organization.

For additional information, join our upcoming CrowdStrike and Dragos webinar on June 27, 2024: "Unified SOC: Centralized Security Data with OT Visibility for Intelligence Driven Investigations."

The Dragos Platform integration is available today in the CrowdStrike Marketplace, a one-stop destination for the world-class ecosystem of third-party security products. To learn more about the Dragos and CrowdStrike partnership, visit https://www.dragos.com/partner/crowdstrike/.

About Dragos, Inc.

Dragos has a global mission to safeguard civilization from those trying to disrupt the industrial infrastructure we depend on every day. The Dragos Platform offers the most effective industrial cybersecurity technology, giving customers visibility into their ICS/OT assets, vulnerabilities, threats, and response actions. The strength behind the Dragos Platform comes from our ability to codify Dragos's industry-leading OT threat intelligence, and insights from the Dragos services team, into the software. Our community-focused approach gives you access to the largest array of industrial organizations participating in collective defense, with the broadest visibility available.

Our solutions protect organizations across a range of industries, including electric, oil & gas, manufacturing, building automation systems, chemical, government, water, food & beverage, mining, transportation, and pharmaceutical. Dragos is privately held and headquartered in the Washington, DC area with regional presence around the world, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the Middle East.

7 may 2024 at 08:05

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Advance Auto Parts Announces Date for Its First Quarter 2024 Earnings Release and Conference Call





Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE: AAP), a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America that serves both professional installer and do-it-yourself customers, will report its first quarter results before the market opens on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. Interested parties can listen to the event via a webcast scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. The webcast will be accessible via the company's Investor Relations website (ir.AdvanceAutoParts.com).

To join by phone, please pre-register online for dial-in and passcode information. Upon registering, participants will receive a confirmation with call details and a registrant ID. While registration is open through the live call, the company suggests registering a day in advance or at minimum 10 minutes before the start of the call. A replay of the conference call will be available on the company's Investor Relations website for one year.

About Advance Auto Parts

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. is a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider that serves both professional installer and do-it-yourself customers. As of December 30, 2023, Advance operated 4,786 stores and 321 Worldpac branches primarily within the United States, with additional locations in Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company also served 1,245 independently owned Carquest branded stores across these locations in addition to Mexico and various Caribbean islands. Additional information about Advance, including employment opportunities, customer services, and online shopping for parts, accessories and other offerings can be found at www.AdvanceAutoParts.com.

7 may 2024 at 16:40

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Oasis Calls for CEO Dismissal, Submits Shareholder Proposals for New Directors at Hokuetsu AGM (Securities Code: 3865 JT)





Oasis Management Company Ltd. ("Oasis") is the manager to funds that beneficially own approximately 18% of Japanese paper manufacturer Hokuetsu Corporation (3865 JT) ("Hokuetsu" or the "Company"). Oasis has adopted the Japan FSA's "Principles of Responsible Institutional Investors" (a/k/a the Japan Stewardship Code) and in line with those principles, Oasis monitors and engages with its investee companies.

Oasis has been engaging with Hokuetsu since 2019 in an effort to help improve the Company's corporate governance and corporate value. However, Oasis firmly believes that CEO & President Sekio Kishimoto's poor leadership and a lack of oversight by the Company's current independent directors are holding Hokuetsu back from achieving its full potential.

Mr. Kishimoto and Hokuetsu's independent directors have a long track record of governance and business management missteps, including:

A long history of failure to realize synergies with Daio Paper Corp. ("Daio") and refusal to sell Hokuetsu's strategic shareholdings, incurring significant economic loss;

Announcing a Strategic Alliance with Daio, of which the economic benefits to the Company are only nominal due to regulatory constraints and the inherent conflict of interests between the two parties;

Overseeing subpar Company performance during extremely long tenures; and

Failure to implement effective and meaningful corporate governance, as demonstrated in the reinstatement of a poison pill to protect their vested interests.

Therefore, we urge fellow shareholders to act now to hold management accountable, improve corporate governance, and help build a better Hokuetsu by voting FOR Oasis's proposals at the upcoming AGM:

Dismissal of Mr. Kishimoto as a director

Dismissal of Mr. Iwata, Mr. Nakase, Mr. Kuramoto and Ms. Nihei as independent directors

Election of five highly qualified, truly independent, and diverse independent director candidates (Ms. Shiba, Mr. Nysten, Mr. Nakajima, Mr. Baisley and Mr. Watanabe)

Introduction of a new compensation plan for the independent directors:

Determination of individual base remuneration for independent directors

Determination of remuneration for granting restricted stock to independent directors

Background ? Corporate Governance Failures at Hokuetsu

We believe the Company's corporate governance framework has been rendered ineffective by Mr. Kishimoto's effective control over the board. The independent directors have failed to provide appropriate oversight, and thus have failed in their duty to hold him accountable for his track record of shortcomings during his 16-year tenure as CEO and President.

These governance shortcomings are perhaps best exemplified by the Company's December 2023 reinstatement of a poison pill aimed at preventing Daio Kaiun from increasing its stake. Hokuetsu had previously abolished its poison pill in June 2022.

Based upon publicly available information, there is no reason to believe that Daio Kaiun was accumulating its equity stake with an intention to acquire managerial control. In the absence of such an attempt to acquire managerial control, we can hardly believe that the poison pill was justifiable as a means to protect the Company's stakeholders. Instead, Oasis believes that the poison pill was used by Mr. Kishimoto and his Hokuetsu directors to preserve their managerial positions against Daio Kaiun's plan to vote against their nomination as directors.

We note this is in direct contradiction to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Guidelines for Corporate Takeovers:

"[T]akeover response policies should not be intended to protect or entrench management from ?parties who are undesirable to the incumbent management'."1

As noted, Oasis has been engaging closely with the Company, both privately and publicly, over the span of several years, addressing a host of operational and governance improvements. Regrettably, the Company has consistently failed to respond to our efforts for change. Despite Oasis's repeated requests, and notwithstanding our status as the Company's largest shareholder for years, and current status as the Company's second-largest shareholder, we have been granted an audience with Mr. Kishimoto just once, in December 2023, after five years of engagement.

Engaging with shareholders is a fundamental duty of management under the Corporate Governance Code. We see this reluctance alone, over the past five years, as a serious breach of governance.

In what appears to be management's latest attempt to protect its own interests and positions at the Company from facing accountability, in its announcement published on April 23, Hokuetsu has publicly called into question the accuracy of Oasis's large shareholder reports with respect to Oasis's holdings in the Company. This statement by the Company is not only inaccurate and baseless, but also defamatory and extremely reckless, and demonstrates the failures of corporate governance plaguing the Company that must be remedied through the appointment of truly independent directors at the upcoming AGM.

Finally, in a recent correspondence, the Company charged that, should Oasis's proposals succeed at the AGM, Oasis would, through the independent directors, effectively gain control over the Company. We are shocked and deeply dismayed by this gross misunderstanding and misinterpretation of both our intentions and the fundamental principles of corporate governance. We categorically state that our director candidates are truly independent and have been selected based on their expertise, integrity, and commitment to upholding the highest standards of corporate governance. Their role is to serve the best interests of all shareholders, and not to advance any particular agenda.

We firmly believe that our proposals for a change at the board level will lay a crucial foundation for Hokuetsu to enhance its corporate governance and embark on a trajectory of improving corporate value for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Seth Fischer, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Oasis, said:

"Mr. Kishimoto and Hokuetsu's independent directors have acted against shareholder interests by reintroducing a poison pill. This Company deserves new independent directors to help guide Hokuetsu to overcome its challenges, like navigating the shrinking paper products market, pursuing decarbonization and logistics reforms, and fostering sustainable growth. We urge all shareholders to vote to remove Mr. Kishimoto and all four incumbent independent directors to restore appropriate governance and empower Hokuetsu to realize its full potential."

We call on all shareholders who care about improving Hokuetsu's governance and corporate value to vote FOR Oasis's proposal to dismiss Mr. Kishimoto as President and Representative Director, dismiss all four incumbent independent directors, and to elect the five highly qualified, independent, and diverse director candidates nominated by Oasis as independent directors at Hokuetsu's AGM.

To learn more about Oasis's proposals, please visit www.hokuetsucorpgov.com. We welcome all stakeholders to contact Oasis at [email protected] to help improve Hokuetsu's Corp Gov through accountability now.

***

Oasis Management Company Ltd. manages private investment funds focused on opportunities in a wide array of asset classes across countries and sectors. Oasis was founded in 2002 by Seth H. Fischer, who leads the firm as its Chief Investment Officer. More information about Oasis is available at https://oasiscm.com. Oasis has adopted the Japan FSA's "Principles of Responsible Institutional Investors" (a/k/a Japan Stewardship Code) and in line with those principles, Oasis monitors and engages with our investee companies.

The information contained in this press release (referred to as the "Document") is an information resource for shareholders in Hokuetsu offered by Oasis, the investment manager to funds that are shareholders of Hokuetsu (the "Oasis Funds"). The Document is not intended to solicit or seek shareholders' agreements to jointly exercise any voting rights with Oasis. Shareholders that have an agreement to jointly exercise their voting rights are regarded as Joint Holders under the Japanese large shareholding disclosure rules and they must file notification of their aggregate share ownership with the relevant Japanese authority for public disclosure under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. Oasis does not intend to be subjected to such notification requirement. The Document exclusively represents the opinions, interpretations, and estimates of Oasis in relation to the upcoming 186th Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of the Company. Oasis is expressing those opinions solely in its capacity as an investment advisor to the Oasis Funds.

_____________________ 1 Guideline for Corporate Takeovers. Section 5.1, Approach on Takeover Response Policies and Countermeasures. METI.

7 may 2024 at 19:05

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AN EMPLOYEE of Plassey engineering firm H&MV has received a prize at the annual Business and Finance ESG awards.

Kate Kerrane was named as a future leader in the field of environmental, social and governance excellence, or ESG.

She joined a number of other winners at the awards ceremony which took place in Dublin.

Sponsored by Grant Thornton, the Business and Finance ESG Awards celebrate the accomplishments of businesses committed to environmental, social and governance excellence.

READ MORE: Limerick accordion player Derek Hickey to be awarded highest accolade in Traditional Irish Music

Congratulating all the winners, Grant Thornton Ireland partner and head of consulting Amanda Ward said: "The European Environment Agency most recent climate risk assessment highlights the major challenges we face as a society as a result of climate change. Todays winners embody the leadership and innovation required in order to deliver a better, greener tomorrow alongside a just transition. These champions of sustainability, highlight how the challenges we currently face can also be seen as an opportunity and will serve as an inspiration for others to follow in their footsteps."

Judge Lisa-Nicole Dunne, managing director, Mantra Strategy said of the entries: "This year, we saw increasing numbers and standards across the award categories. It is encouraging to see the level of innovation being embraced by businesses of all sizes in how they govern, lead, drive change across a range of activities, initiatives, and practices."

H&MV's success comes hot on the heels of another win.

The firm took home a Horizon award from Amazon at a ceremony in Dublin.

The company, which last year pledged to create 700 new jobs at its headquarters in the Plassey Business Park, was recognised for its design and construction solutions across data centres, wind farms and solar and battery projects.
STUDENTS at a Limerick secondary school are celebrating this week after winning a national debating competition.

Classmates at Hazelwood College in Dromcollogher, Aisling O'Connor, Amy O'Gorman, Regina Burke and Lucy O'Gorman travelled to the Helix Theatre in Dublin.

It came after they qualified for the final of an all-island debating competition organised by the Concern charity, which helps some of the poorest and neediest people in the world.

The foursome became Ireland's new school debating champions, beating 177 other teams, by successfully arguing that world peace is the defining task of the 21st century.

They defeated Ursuline Secondary School from Thurles in Tipperary.

READ MORE: Limerick accordion player Derek Hickey to be awarded highest accolade in Traditional Irish Music

"We are absolutely delighted and so proud of our team. It means the world to them  there were tears of joy here this evening, said Hazelwoods team mentor and school teacher Catherine Shanahan.

Now, the team from Hazelwood will travel to Brussels and The Hague to visit the European Parliament and The International Criminal Court as part of their prize.

Both teams were applauded by President Michael D Higgins who sent them a message before the final in which he stated that it is critically important that young citizens engaged with issues of importance.

Yours is the generation on which so much hope rests, said President Higgins, who also praised the Concern Debates itself which was created in 1984 to encourage further debating about global issues among young people.

"The schools debates programme has been an important and formative one engaging as it does with more than 60,000 people across the island of Ireland, he added.

Well-known past participants of the competition include Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe and television broadcasters Claire Byrne and Karen Koster.

Concerns Head of Global Citizenship, Lauren Wright, praised the hundreds of students who took part in the 40th year of the competition.

"We are very proud of the hundreds of students who took part in Concern Debates this year and we also applaud the volunteers who judge each debate in their local communities," she said. "Debating gives young people a chance to develop critical thinking, research and communication skills, all of which are vital for becoming active citizens both locally and globally.

"Learning how to debate can help people to learn about one another's perspectives and give them the skills to have healthy discussions about important social issues, which is so important in the world we live in today.

Concern said anyone would like to volunteer as Concern Debates adjudicator or who would like their school to take part in next years competition to ring 01-4177733 or email debates@concern.net.
A LIMERICK city man dying in a road traffic collision in Canada last week is a tragedy beyond belief said his relative, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae.

John Lyne, aged 38, from Woodlawn Park, Ballysimon. died in a two-vehicle collision in Canada, which claimed the lives of two people. The only son of Pat and Theresa Lyne is deeply missed by his parents, sister Claire, extended family and wide circle of friends on both sides of the Atlantic.

Countless tributes have been paid to John, affectionately known as Johnny, who has been described as a genuinely nice guy who was full of adventure.

What a guy. A huge loss. I can't believe it. A gent, a gifted player and great fella to be around, reads one message of condolence which recalls John lining out with Fairview Rangers.

A spokesperson for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told the Limerick Leader that officers attended the scene of the collision on Tuesday, April 30 at around 6pm.

Mr Lyne was travelling on Highway 22 in the Municipal District of Ranchland, which is in southwest Alberta. Police said road and weather conditions at the time may have been a factor amid reports of an unexpected downpour of snow.

The driver of the southbound vehicle, a 38-year-old male resident of Calgary, was declared deceased at the scene. Two occupants of the northbound vehicle were transported to a Calgary hospital in serious condition.

The female passenger, a 72-year-old resident of Calgary, succumbed to her injuries in hospital. The male driver was seriously injured, said the RCMP spokesperson, who expressed their condolences to the family and friends of both deceased and the injured male.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance.

READ MORE: Landmark Limerick pub Bobby Byrne's to change hands

No funeral details have been announced to date as the Lyne family arrange for the repatriation of their beloved son.

Mr Healy-Rae, whoe wife Eileen is a sister of Pat Lyne, said he has known John since he was a child.

"He was very hard-working, very determined young man and had done great things abroad in his line of work. He was highly regarded and had an army of friends on both sides of the Atlantic in Canada and in Ireland, said Mr Healy-Rae.

The Kerry TD said it is a tragedy beyond belief.

Everybody is just trying to rally around the family and help them through these dark days, said Mr Healy-Rae.

John was a skilled carpenter who had moved to Canada over 10 years ago after travelling the world. However, Limerick remained home and he was a frequent visitor to see his beloved family and friends.

In his death notice, the Lyne family wishes to express their deep gratitude for all who are supporting them at this tragic time, especially The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust who are working on bringing John home to his family.

"John's loss has also deeply affected his large network of very close friends both here in Limerick, Canada and all across the world. We also remember his friend's and colleagues in PCL Construction, Sparwood, Canada," reads the death notice.

May he rest in peace.
SINGAPOREWhen Elon Musk made a surprise visit last month to Beijing, the Tesla chief executive brought along a trusted lieutenant: Tom Zhu, the companys former China head who had skyrocketed through the ranks as a turnaround guru.

Now, Zhuone of just three senior executives including Musk currently named on Teslas websiteis getting deployed from Teslas Texas headquarters back to China at a vulnerable time for the worlds most valuable automaker, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Zhu, who was born in China and educated in the U.S. and New Zealand, had last year been promoted to Teslas global leadership team in Austin, where he shouldered some CEO duties as Musk split his time elsewhere. Zhu is credited with turning Teslas Shanghai factory into one of the companys standout performers. Some employees refer to Zhu internally as the fireman" due to his ability to troubleshoot issues and hit high targets.

Zhus move comes as the carmaker is trying to fix its struggling business in the worlds biggest electric-vehicle market. China is expected to play an essential role as Musk seeks to reignite Teslas sagging growth globally.

In China, where many carmakers including Teslas rival BYD are fighting fiercely for share in the highly competitive EV market, overall sales of electric cars grew 15% in the first quarter from a year ago. Teslas sales slipped 4%.

Tesla and Zhu didnt immediately reply to requests for comment. EV industry news website Electrek previously reported Zhus new role.

Zhu joined Tesla in 2014 and nine months later started taking leadership roles for the companys China operations. He threaded a needle with Chinese officials and helped Tesla quickly build up its Shanghai plant.

Staff in China describe Zhu as a workaholic and said he gives feedback instantly. When Shanghai went through Covid lockdowns in early 2022, Zhu was sleeping at the factory there with Tesla workers and suppliers to keep the operation running. Zhu has also shepherded important projects including the Cybertruck and helped ramp up capacity and smooth manufacturing processes at Teslas plants in Austin and Fremont, Calif.

Last month, Zhu and Musk met Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other top government officials. The two won Beijings blessings on launching in the country its Full Self-Driving," or FSD, software feature, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Tesla is set to implement its new partnership with Chinese tech company Baidu to deploy its FSD features that build on Baidus mapping and navigation functions. Musk is seeking to expand the use of the technology, an anchor to rekindle Teslas growth.

The EV maker is also trying to push ahead with the discussions with Chinese authorities about transferring data that Teslas cars gathered in China to the U.S. The company would need to convince Beijing that the practice wouldnt undermine Chinas national security.

Teslas losing ground in China has been unsettling for investors. Many local competitors already offer similar but lower-cost autopilot features as well as multiple car models and have deeply cut prices, eating into Teslas market share. Meanwhile, Tesla is largely stuck with two aging vehiclesthe locally-produced Model 3 and the Model Y.

Tesla is cutting more than 10% of its global workforce. Over the past few weeks, the company has lost several senior executives including Drew Baglino, the head of powertrain and energy engineering, and Rohan Patel, who oversaw policy and business development. It also axed almost its entire Supercharger team.

In China, Tesla has let go of employees in the marketing and sales teams, production workers as well as interns and fresh graduates who were expected to join the company this summer, said people familiar with the matter and those who were laid off.
Mysuru: Come election time, employees at Mysore Paints & Varnish Ltd (MPVL), a public sector undertaking owned by the Karnataka government, try to steer clear of their colleague K. Vishalakshi. With good reason, for the assistant works manager is always on the hunt for clean fingers to test the efficacy of the companys flagship product: the ink used to mark voters in Indias elections. My hand will almost be black during those times," she tells Mint with a rueful smile.

She may be playing a huge role behind the scenes of Indias national election, the largest democratic exercise in the world, but for all that, 42-year-old Vishalakshi is a simple, unassuming person. The post-graduate in organic chemistry, who also heads the quality department of the company, is responsible for ensuring that the ink leaves an indelible mark on the voter, one that will remain for at least 72 hours.

A voters finger is marked with indelible ink in the polling booth to prevent bogus votingthe casting of multiple votes. It was introduced in 1962 after rising instances of voting fraud in the first two general elections (1951-52 and 1957). Back then, indelible ink was the single most important instrument to prevent the malaisevoter identity cards were introduced only in 1993. MPVL has been the sole supplier of the indelible ink to the Election Commission ever since it was first used. The company was founded in 1937 by Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, maharaja of the kingdom of Mysore. The ink remains its flagship product and accounts for the bulk of its revenue even today.

MPVL has been the sole supplier of the indelible ink to the Election Commission ever since it was first used

It is not just the Indian elections that MPVL supplies and protects. The state public sector unit exports its indelible ink to over 30 democracies around the world, including Malaysia, Cambodia, Mongolia, South Africa, Nepal, Ghana and Denmark. It even supplied the ink to Pakistan and Afghanistan back in 2004-05.

But the winds of change are now blowing across the company. It is modernizing operations and entering newer product segments to reduce its lopsided dependence on indelible ink for revenue.

Modest operations

While it plays an outsized role in Indias national and state elections, MPVL is actually a small-scale operation comprising a few small buildings on a seven-acre property nestling among the large green trees in Mysurus Bannimantap locality. The first product it made was sealing wax, which is still used by India Post. It was also used by the Election Commission to seal ballot boxes.

View Full Image A photo of MPVL's facility in Mysurus Bannimantap locality. (N. Madhavan/Mint)

The company became a Karnataka state public sector unit after Independence. Its chairman is generally the industry minister or industry secretary. Currently, M.B. Patil of the Congress party, who is Karnatakas minister for commerce, industries and infrastructure, is the chairman of the board. Apart from indelible ink and sealing wax, MPVL, which has a workforce of 100 people, manufactures paints, enamels, primers, polyurethane paints, epoxy coatings, and anti-corrosive paints, which are predominantly meant for industrial use. But the ink accounts for three quarters of its revenue.

We want to reduce our dependence on indelible ink and make our business more sustainable," says K. Mohammed Irfan, managing director and board member of MPVL. Funding is not an issue. MPVL is sitting on reserves to the tune of 73.59 crore (2022-23). The challenge is to undertake this process without compromising its cherished record, and unbroken profitability.

MPVL has always been a profitable and dividend-paying company. Its annual revenue in a non-Lok Sabha election year is around 30 crore (see chart).

This includes 10 crore from paints and related products and 20 crore from indelible ink sales, both domestic (for state assembly elections) and exports (which stood at 8.15 crore in 2022-23).

MPVLs profit after tax stood at 4 crore during the year. In years when Lok Sabha polls are held, its revenue and profit spikes. In 2019, MPVLs revenue rose to 61 crore and profit touched 13.4 crore. In 2023-24, the revenue figure is estimated to surge to the 80 crore level. Revenue from supply to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections alone is projected to touch 55 crore.

Periodic frenzy

The otherwise routine pace of work at MPVL gets disrupted every five years, when Lok Sabha polls are announced. The Election Commission gives an early indication of the quantity of indelible ink that will be needed months in advance, and the company accordingly plans production. It typically takes about three months to manufacture the ink and that period is extremely busy as our resources are fully stretched," says Vishalakshi. Leaves are cancelled and 50 more workers are hired.

For the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission ordered 2.656 million phials or small cylindrical bottles. Production began on 25 December, with about 60,000 phials, each carrying 10 cc of ink. By 22 March, MPVL wrapped up production and delivery of all the phials.

View Full Image Workers at MVPLs indelible ink filling and packing section.

We shipped (batches of) the product as and when we completed production. The consignment is sent to the headquarters of the Election Commission in each state," explains Ashwath Appanna, the marketing manager, a 26-year veteran of MPVL. The farthest places, such as the north-east, are serviced first as it takes more time for the consignment to reach them, he adds.

The formula for the indelible ink is the brainchild of three scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL)B.G. Mathur, V.D. Puri and M.L. Goelwho hold the patent for it along with NPL.

Vishalakshi is among the few people in the country privy to the formula. It is a big responsibility," she says, adding, We take great care to ensure that the ink we manufacture works without fail for a free and fair election."

Before they are shipped, the products go through multiple layers of quality checks. Quality checks happen at the raw material stage itself," explains Vishalakshi.

Each batch of silver nitrate, the main raw material and a host of solvents are checked before being used in production. The mixing of the ingredients, as per the formula, happens in a dark room as the process is photosensitive. The final product is then tested thrice, as per NPL norms: after production, while filling in the phials, and before dispatch," she explains.

We have not faced a single rejection since 1962 and no documented case of a quality issue has come up K. Mohammed Irfan

Attempts are made to remove the applied ink using a variety of fluids such as lemon juice, papaya juice, shampoo, nail polish remover, dye remover or a combination of these. Newspaper reports and social media posts are scoured for details of indelible ink vanishing and the ink is tested under the same conditions.

The ink, once exposed to sunlight, will leave an indelible mark that will remain for anywhere between 72 hours and three months. How long it stays depends on the nature of the skin. It cannot be removed without damaging the skin," claims Irfan.

There are scattered reports about issues with the ink in every election, but the MPVL brass say no evidence has been presented of any defect. We have not faced a single rejection since 1962 and no documented case of a quality issue has come up so far," claims Irfan. Quality apart, quantity is also critical. Each phial contains 10 cc of ink, which is enough to mark 700 voters. Each booth gets two phials as the average voter count for each booth is roughly 1,400 voters. We take abundant care to ensure phials have the right quantity of ink. Otherwise, the booth runs the risk of running out of ink mid-way during the polls," says Vishalakshi. The quality check does not end at MPVL; after the consignment is received at the state headquarters of the Election Commission, random samples are taken and sent to NPL for testing. Only after receipt of the results are the phials shipped to various polling booths.

Lopsided dependence

Despite being in business for nearly nine decades MPVL has not really tried to venture beyond its core business. The revenue from paints and related products is just under 25% of its topline. Multiple factors have kept the paint business small. Firstly, the company is only in the industrial paints segment, which accounts for just 20% of Indias overall paint business. That apart, such is MPVLs cost of operations that it is nowhere close to competing with the likes of Asian Paints, Berger Paints and other large private players. The salary we pay to our workers is twice what a large paints company pays," says Irfan.

The manufacturing plant is old and not as efficient as new ones. This is perhaps not surprising, considering that it still operates some machinery brought in from Bristol, England, way back in 1937. Finally, it does not have the scale to lower the cost of production. MPVL is pretty much a small-scale operation.

Considering these factors we chose to focus on business-to-government (B2G) and business-to-business sales for select products," explains Appanna.

Retail sales make up less than 5% of the total revenue. In other words, MPVL is playing in segments the private sector paint behemoths typically avoid. Its competitors are the 1,300odd small-scale paint units around the country and its customers are state public sector transport undertakings, central public sector units, state power corporations and so on.

We sell paints and other products for a marginal profit. They help cover our costs. The indelible ink business delivers the bulk of the profits," explains Appanna.

Eye on the future

But the MPVL management has started to think of a future when the indelible ink business may drop sharply or completely disappear. There is a talk of one nation, one election. If that is implemented, demand for indelible ink will drop by almost half," says Irfan.

That apart, not all countries use indelible ink in elections. Many countries use biometric verification. It may be a challenge in India considering the huge voter base. What if a new technology comes that makes it possible and ends the use of indelible ink? We have to be prepared for that and that is why we are trying to reduce our dependence on it," he adds. Irfan, who was previously in charge of industrial development of Karnatakas districts, understands the importance of evolving with time. We have been in a status quo for far too long," he says. It is time to change."

View Full Image Company executives K. Vishalakshi (left), Mohammed Irfan (centre), and Ashwath Appanna.

As part of its diversification plan, MPVL is entering the decorative paints business and Irfan plans to set up a separate plant. But the decorative paints segment has just become more competitive with the entry of Grasim Industries and JSW group. Fresh capacity to the tune of 25% of existing output is being added and this has put the margins of market leader Asian Paints and other major companies under pressure. The market is expecting a price war. Given this backdrop, can MPVL survive in the space?

Here, too, we will play in the B2G space, where there is good demand for decorative paints," says Irfan.

The company is also embarking on a modernization drive. Old machinery will be replaced with modern units and investments will be made in information technology lead process improvements. The modernization will help us embrace lean manufacturing, improve efficiency, and reduce the cost of production, thereby improving margins," says Appanna. It will help the company target a wider market.

In order to do all this, however, MPVL will need to become more agile. In the last six decades, not much has changed about the way MPVL goes about its business. It still operates out of the seven-acre property from which it started out. Its brandsMylac, Brindavan and Mysolac, to name a fewhave not been refurbished, and its formulations have not changed. No new products have been added and no major investment has been made in people.

The MPVL management has belatedly understood the need for change and has taken the initial steps to modernize and de-risk its business

The only change that the company has managed in recent times is the different packaging of the indelible ink. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) containers have replaced glass bottles. Some countries have sought larger containers, and a few have opted for marker pens. For India, too, we have developed a marker pen and given it to the Election Commission to validate it," says Irfan.

Is the slow pace of change tenable? Not really, says Harish Bijoor, business and brand strategy expert. A company like MPVL, which is a monopoly (in the indelible ink business) tends to get lazy. They typically focus on the B2G business as it is less challenging compared to B2B or even B2C. To that extent it is in a trap," he says.

According to Bijoor, the only way to escape this trap is to change its very DNA. It needs to think big and think differently to bring about a quantum change in approach. The MPVL management has belatedly understood the need for change and has taken the initial steps to modernize and de-risk its business. How it paces this transformation will determine whether the mark it has made on India will remain indelible.
Apple has been working on its own chip designed to run artificial intelligence software in data center servers, a move that has the potential to provide the company with a key advantage in the AI Apple AAPL -0.91%decrease; red down pointing triangle has been working on its own chip designed to run artificial intelligence software in data center servers, a move that has the potential to give the company an advantage in the AI arms race.

Over the past decade, Apple has emerged as a leading player designing chips for iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch and Mac computers. The server project, which is internally code-named Project ACDCfor Apple Chips in Data Centerwill bring this talent to bear for the companys servers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Project ACDC has been in the works for several years and it is uncertain when the new chip will be unveiled, if ever. Apple has promised many new AI products and announcements at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Apple has been closely working with its chip-making partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. 2330 1.15%increase; green up pointing triangle to design and initiate production of such chips, yet it remains uncertain whether they have yielded a definitive result, some of the people said.

For Apples server chip, the component will likely be focused on running AI modelswhats known as inferencerather than on training AI models, where chip maker Nvidia will likely continue to dominate, according to some of the people.

An Apple server chip could come at an opportune time as rivals such as Microsoft and Meta have spent billions and moved quickly to reorient their businesses around so-called generative AI after the explosive emergence of OpenAIs ChatGPT service.

Apple investors have grown impatient over the companys perceived lack of progress in AI. Tech rivals have seen their share prices jump with splashy AI announcements. Microsoft has enjoyed the biggest bump thanks to the companys close and early partnership with OpenAI. Earlier this year, Microsoft overtook Apple as the worlds most valuable company, and its lead has only grown.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has sought to assure investors that it is investing in the technology and that it will have major AI announcements soon.

We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI, and we believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era, including Apples unique combination of seamless hardware, software and services integration," Cook said on a conference call for the companys recent quarterly earnings.

Generative AI systems, such as large language models that power ChatGPT, often crunch immense amounts of data using computer servers hosted in data centers. For that computing power, most large tech companies rely heavily on servers full of chips from Nvidia, which has found itself in the middle of an AI gold rush.

Most of the largest tech companies have developed their own AI server chips or are exploring the possibility, to untether themselves from Nvidia, which has a market share estimated at over 80% in such chips. Google has perhaps the most mature internal AI server chip product, with its tensor processing units, having started on the project in 2013. OpenAI is also in discussions to fund an ambitious internal chip project, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Apples existing chip prowess might be one avenue where the company can find a critical advantage over other tech giants in AI. Among its rivals, Apple has had the longest history and most success in designing custom silicon. The company first began incorporating its own processing chips into iPhones and iPads in 2010.

In 2017, Apple began incorporating AI-focused processors into its mobile chips. In 2020, it started replacing Intel chips in its Macs with its own custom silicon. These chip efforts have helped differentiate Apples products from its rivals. It is possible that advanced versions of Apples M-series chips, which are currently planned for its consumer products, could be capable of performing certain AI functions, such as inference in servers, one source said.

On Tuesday, Apple is expected to unveil a new iPad with potentially a new M-Series processor.

While Apple has succeeded in developing processing chips for its devices and is now seeking to do so with servers, the company has been struggling to develop a cellular wireless chip to replace mobile chip leader Qualcomm. The launch of an internal Apple cellular modem continues to miss deadlines and get pushed out, the Journal reported last year.

Apple prefers that most uses of AI happen on an iPhone or Apple Watch, but it still needs to run some processes on remote servers accessed over the internet, which is when the Apple server chip would take over. By handling more of those tasks itself, even with the chips in the data center, Apple can have more control of its AI destiny.

Asa Fitch contributed to this article.

Write to Aaron Tilley at aaron.tilley@wsj.com and Yang Jie at jie.yang@wsj.com
NEW DELHI : Indias drug regulator is gradually overhauling the approvals process for pharmaceutical exports following concerns by global authorities over the quality and safety of medicines shipped from the country.

The latest decision involves upgrading Indias Certificate of the Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP) to be at par with the World Health Organizations good manufacturing practices certification, according to two officials familiar with the developments.

The CoPP and the WHOs certificate are the preliminary documents required for obtaining product approval and market authorisation for exporting pharmaceutical items from India.

The plan is to put these certificates on the website of the CDSCO so that importing countries or regulators can check whether these certificates are issued by CDSCO or not," said an official familiar with the developments, declining to be identified.

The idea behind the regulatory overhaul for pharma exports is to bring in transparency in the system, including greater oversight over the number of products shipped by Indian companies and their quality, this official said.

Indias Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation is the apex regulatory authority for the pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and cosmetics industries, similar to the USs Food and Drug Administration. The Drugs Controller General of India, or the DCGI, operates under the CDSCO.

Under the new guidelines, state governments can issue CoPP certificates to pharmaceutical companies only if CDSCO officials are involved in joint inspections.

To ensure that Indian pharmaceutical companies are manufacturing quality products, the DCGI has strictly directed companies to adhere to the WHOs good manufacturing practices guidelines at their production facilities.

As part of the overhaul, the Union government recently also wrested authority from states to become the sole entity responsible for issuing manufacturing licenses for drugs meant for exports.

The health ministrys spokesperson did not immediately reply to Mints queries on the developments.

Safety and quality concerns

India is the largest exporter of generic medicines, which are authorised copies of patented drugs. In the 2022-23 financial year, India exported pharmaceutical products worth $25.4 billion to about 210 countries. Around 60% of the countrys pharmaceutical exports are to highly regulated markets such as Europe and the US, Indias largest market.

But drugs manufactured in India have regularly been seized by global regulators primarily over safety and quality concerns.

In August last year, the WHO raised an alert over a batch of contaminated cough syrup found in Iraq and manufactured by Fourrts (India) Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. WHO said both the manufacturer and the marketer, Dabilife Pharma Pvt. Ltd, India, had failed to provide guarantees on the safety and quality of the product.

Also read: Mint Explainer: The trigger for DCGI alert on Abbotts Digene, Takeda cancer jab

Cough syrups made in India have been linked to the deaths of dozens of children in Uzbekistan and Gambia, which prompted the Indian government last year to make it mandatory for these medicines to be tested before exporting them.

Before the WHOs warning, in April last year, the DCGI cancelled or suspended the licences of 18 pharmaceutical companies for allegedly producing spurious or substandard drugs.

The move to bring uniformity in the CoPP and the WHO's certificates iswelcome as it will bring confidence to exporters and overseas regulatory bodies that exports from India are of high quality and under the supervision of the Central government, said Sudarshan Jain, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance.

Strengthening exports

Amid heightened global concerns about pharmaceuticals made in India, the governments efforts, along with Indias Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council, or Pharmexcil, are also directed at strengthening the countrys drug exports.

Because of a lack of uniformity in the CoPP and the WHOs good manufacturing practices certificate format, foreign drug regulatory agencies find it difficult to validate the authenticity of Indian pharmaceutical companies, said a second person familiar with the recent developments.

Overseas regulators such as the Drug Administration of Vietnam are writing to their embassies to verify these companies. The plan now is to unify and centralise issuance of the certificate, this official said, declining to be identified.

Another issue under consideration is on whether to allow manufacturers to supply and divert un-exported quantities of pharmaceutical items to other countries with the approval of the CDSCO and subsequent licences from overseas regulators.

There are a few issues which need to be resolved to strengthen the pharma exports," said the official.

For example, if permission has been given for an export of 1,000 kg of pharma items to a party importing from some country, and if the importer cancels the order or if he consumes only 500 kg, the remaining 500 kg we need to destroy," said the official.

Now, the plan is that this exporter can supply the remaining pharmaceutical goods to some other party with prior approval from DCGI and regulatory authorities of the other country. Therefore, a provision is being made to amend the (no-objection certificate) conditions of physical destruction of all un-exported quantity of the drugs."

A recent communication from Pharmexcil to CDSCO that Mint has seen addresses this issue.

The excess quantity manufactured under Test License and un-exported, needs to be destroyed by the manufacturer as per NOC conditions, which leads to great economic loss to the industry. This is mostly happening in potent molecules and high value products such as anti-cancers and biotech derived products etc," states the communication.

It is requested that necessary changes and amendments in the conditions of NOC may be made, permitting the manufacturer to supply or divert the un-exported goods to another importer with the prior approval from CDSCO and subsequent license from concerned FDA," it added.

Wastage in pharma exports is a huge loss to the country as well as the exporters, said Daara B. Patel, secretary general at the Indian Drugs Manufacturers Association. We don't have any problem in exporting remaining pharma products to another party."
Hinduja Groups IndusInd International Holdings Ltd has proposed changes to the corporate structure for implementing its resolution plan for Reliance Capital, which experts say could end up being a setback to the bankrupt firms lenders.

IndusInd has written to the Reserve Bank proposing the names of new companies to implement its 9,661-crore resolution plan for Reliance Capital, said two people aware of the development.

The new proposal comes just 20 days ahead of the deadline to implement its resolution plan under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

The National Company Law Tribunal had approved the resolution plan on 27 February, leaving IndusInd 90 daysuntil May 27to implement it, as per the bankruptcy code. NCLT had asked IndusInd to implement the resolution plan by 31 March but the company had said that was untenable.

RBI approved IndusInds takeover of Reliance Capital in November.

Also read: Reliance Capital lenders ask Hinduja Group arm IIHL to stick to resolution plan deadline, seek 9,650 crore

To include new companies in the deal, new applications for approvals from the (insurance regulator), Sebi, CCI (Competition Commission of India), and other regulatory agencies will need to be filed," said a lawyer aware of the matter.

This is a setback for Reliance Capitals lenders, who are represented by EPFO, LIC, and provident funds. They have been pressing IIHL to close the resolution plan by May 27 and to pay them a total of 9,661 crore."

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) last month expressed reservations over IndusInds Reliance Capital acquisition, saying it was not in line with insurance regulations.

Four new companies

When seeking its approval for the resolution plan, the Hinduja Group company had proposed implementing the transaction through two companies it ownsIIHL BFSI (India) Ltd and Aasia Enterprises. All shares of Reliance Capital were to be transferred to IIHL BFSI and certain other assets to Aasia Enterprises.

In its proposed changes, IndusInd has included four new companies in the transactionCyqure India Pvt Ltd, Ecopolis Properties Pvt Ltd, Cyqurex Technologies Pvt Ltd, and IIHL BFSI Holding Ltd.

While filing the application, Aasia had submitted detailed information about its partners and their profit-sharing ratios. However, now there has again been a proposal for change in the partners of Aasia and their profit-sharing ratio," said one of the people cited above, declining to be identified.

After the proposed changes, Aasia will have four partners whose profit-sharing will be in proportion to the fixed capital contribution, in line with the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, at the end of each financial year, this person added.

Per IndusInds revised proposal, Cyqure India will hold a majority stake in Aasia Enterprises and act as its holding company. Its shareholdersAshok Hinduja, Harsha Hinduja and Shom Hindujawill be partners of Aasia.

Cyqurex Technologies and Ecopolis Properties will be 100% subsidiaries of Aasia Enterprises, while IIHL BFSI will be 100% owned by IndusInd.
MUMBAI : The Securities and Exchange Board of India is looking into allegations that employees of ICICI Bank Ltd had reached out to shareholders of ICICI Securities Ltd to try and influence them ahead of a crucial shareholder vote in March.

At the meeting it was decided to delist ICICI Securities and merge it with its parent firm. More than 500 shareholders of ICICI Securities coordinated on WhatsApp and social-media platforms to lodge around 70 complaints with Sebi, according to a person in the know.

Sebi is currently examining multiple complaints. Once there is proper evidence, the regulator will initiate an investigation. What action Sebi will take is difficult to say," the person added.

Manu Rishi Guptha, a Bangalore-based fund manager and a minority shareholder in ICICI Securities said, Investors have filed 60-70 complaints with Sebi and also complained on the SCORES platform." He added that the key allegations in these complaints are the violation of data privacy of its shareholders by ICICI Securities and the valuation at which the company is being delisted.

Guptha is leading a group of over 100 shareholders of ICICI Securities who last month filed a class action suit with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against ICICI Bank Ltds proposal to delist ICICI Securities from the stock exchanges.

Mint reported earlier that employees of ICICI Bank had reached out to shareholders of ICICI Securities in the days leading up to the crucial shareholder meeting on 27 March, where it was decided to delist the company and merge it with ICICI Bank.

Both BSE and NSE subsequently sought a clarification from ICICI Bank and ICICI Securities, while experts raised concerns about data-privacy and corporate-governance violations.

In their identical responses to the exchanges, the two firms said they were reaching out to shareholders "to explain the proposed scheme and the e-voting process with the primary objective of maximising participation in the vote". There was an overlap between shareholders and retail customers of the two entities, they said, without elaborating further on how ICICI Bank employees got the personal information of ICICI Securities shareholders.

A spokesperson for ICICI Bank directed Mint to this response when contacted, while Sebi and ICICI Securities did not respond to queries.

Also read: Whats vexing ICICI Securities minority shareholders?

Five shareholders previously told Mint that the banks employees had phoned and visited ICICI Securities shareholders at their homes to persuade them to vote in favour of the delisting. Some of the employees even asked for screenshots of their votes as proof, the shareholders said.

One shareholder we spoke to said they were perplexed about how ICICI Bank employees got their contact details as they had never dealt with ICICI Bank as a customer or shareholder, and were not a customer of ICICI Securities either. Mint could not independently verify if the banks employees had attempted to influence the votes of shareholders.

The vote to delist

Minority shareholders voted to delist ICICI Securities and make it a 100% subsidiary of ICICI Bank on 27 March. The bank holds a 74.73% stake in the brokerage firm, with the rest being held by public shareholders.

However, many retail shareholders, who collectively hold about 6% of the company, disagreed with the valuation at which it was being delisted. Shareholders of ICICI Securities will get 67 shares of ICICI Bank for every 100 shares they own of the brokerage firm.

Also read: Quantum MF cries foul on ICICI Securities delisting, complains to Sebi

ICICI Bank and ICICI Securities have said the valuation was arrived at by independent valuers and vetted by independent experts for both the bank and the brokerage business. ICICI Securities was the first company to use a new Sebi rule that grants an exemption from the reverse book-building process for price discovery when delisting a listed subsidiary engaged in a similar business as the parent.

However, some shareholders pointed out that ICICI Securities was listed at a price-to-earnings multiple of around 32x but was being delisted at around 15x. After the delisting vote, these shareholders lodged complaints through Sebis online SCORES platform.

Also read: ICICI Securities delisting gets nod from institutional investors despite retail resistance
Three years since a worldwide race to the cloud boosted India's IT services sector, there are signs of a re-run.

Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud clocked record new business in the January-March period, a development which could help India's largest technology services firms grow faster in the current financial year than last, company executives and analysts said.

The three cloud giants together added $2 billion in sequential incremental revenue in the March quarter, a Mint analysis showed, translating into a 36.5% jump from the $1.49 billion they did in new business in the first quarter of 2021.

In 2021, the covid pandemic had forced businesses worldwide to lease computing power offered by these Silicon Valley firms, triggering their strongest growth at the start of the year.

Also read: The good, bad and ugly: Decoding the IT packs Q4 show

New cloud business

Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud also recorded new business in the October-December period of last year, reflecting a pick-up in growth after two years of tepid cloud growth.

There is merit in this argument (whether more growth for cloud computing firms should translate to a corresponding growth for IT services firms) especially because we have seen this play out in the past," said Arvind Ramnani, analyst at investment firm Piper Sandler & Co.

In calendar year 2021, global cloud computing firms saw record revenue and profit, powered by the twin engines of digitization and cloud migration by companies, across industries. Among the beneficiaries were homegrown IT firms such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Infosys Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd and Wipro Ltd, which help move technology work from standalone data centres to those owned by cloud computing firms. In 2021-22, TCS, Infosys, HCL and Wipro reported 16%, 20%, 13% and 27%, dollar revenue growth, respectively.

However, conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia and accompanying economic uncertainties led to a slowdown for cloud computing firms. Consequently, growth for Indian IT giants slumped: TCS, Infosys and HCL reported 4.1%, 2% and 5.5% growth, while Wipro saw a 4% decline in revenue last year.

Also read: India a vital cloud market for Google besides the US

Inter-linked fortunes

As businesses across industries increasingly embrace cloud computing platforms, the fortunes of homegrown IT firms have come to be linked to that of cloud computing firms. For now, none of the large technology services firms quantify revenue from cloud computing. But at various points in the past, top executives of Wipro and TCS have said that the cloud ecosystem accounted for 25-35% of overall revenue.

A pick-up in cloud demand is good news for Indian IT firms as the performance of cloud computing firms has increasingly become a leading indicator for IT services firms," said a Bengaluru-based partner at a venture capital firm. At some point during the year, Indian IT firms should stand to benefit from record growth witnessed at these hyperscalers."

We believe as the macro economy improves, discretionary tech spends will bounce back as the digital transformation journey still has legs despite the over-investments seen over CY20-22. Cloud migration journey is still not over while automation, AI and analytics will likely continue to be drivers of growth," JPMorgan analysts Ankur Rudra and Bhavik Mehta wrote in a note dated 3 January.

Also read: AWS commits $12.7 billion investment in Indian Cloud Infrastructure, plans to create over 130,000 jobs

Company-specific challenges

But the rise of AI and company-specific challenges, including new CEOs at TCS and Wipro, imply that not all companies would stand to benefit.

Please bear in mind that we could be seeing an AI refresh by the companies leading to more business for hyperscalers but not corresponding growth for IT services firms as there could be some revenue cannibalization or crowding out of traditional services spending," said Ramnani of Piper Sandler & Co.

For now, IT services companies remain sanguine on the cloud journey.

While there was good growth in different parts of our digital business, the ones that stood out are cloud transformation and cyber security, both of them had impressive growth along with growth in our SaaS portfolio," HCL Technologies CEO C. Vijayakumar told analysts in a post-earnings interaction on 26 April.

I think any Generative AI program brings a lot of surround spend to the higher priority levels; so, I think it will cannibalize some discretionary spend, but it also paves the way to some newer areas where the client should put more emphasis on. Both data and cloud migration are getting a little more attention due to Gen-AI," said Vijayakumar.

Also read: Technology and cloud to build a better India

Our cloud work is growing well," Infosys CEO Salil Parekh told analysts on 18 April. We continue to work closely with the major public cloud providers and on private cloud programs for clients. Cloud with data is the foundation for AI and Generative AI and Cobalt encompasses all of our cloud capabilities."

AWS, Azure and Google Cloud together, cornered 66% of the $78.1 billion cloud spending in the October-December quarter of last year, according to estimates by research firm Canalys. The three companies had a share of 56% of the $30.2 billion spent in the October-December quarter of 2019.
Then the demand wasnt so overwhelming anymore.

According to research company Statista, the global hand-sanitizer market boomed by 500% in 2020 to $6.3 billion in revenue from $1.03 billion in 2019. But as the pandemic subsided, so did sales: $3.5 billion in 2021, and hovering around $3 billion for the next couple of years.

So, what happened to all those startups? Heres a look at three of them.

Easing parental concerns

Amy Welsman was inspired to rework sanitizer before the pandemic hitwhen she became a new mom in 2019. Welsman, who previously handled an array of jobs for womens intimates brand Knix, found the sanitizers on the market harsh and off-putting, and she didnt want it on her hands when she changed her baby. Her idea: sanitizer with a better scent and ingredients that nourished the skin, sold in more environmentally friendly packages.

By the time she launched her startup, Paume, in 2021, the pandemic was at its height. I was planning to make utilitarian hand sanitizer a luxurious beauty productsomething totally new," she says. As I was developing the product, the pandemic hit, and the sanitizer category changed overnight."

With demand for sanitizer soaring, she decided to reach out to a wider base of customers than just new moms.

The company garnered some attention in the media and attracted a loyal following, Welsman says. But overall marketing to a broad market was tough in the early days," she says. There was a backlash in the hand-sanitizer industry, where people would say, I never want to see it again. "

So, Welsman decided to focus her efforts on the group that originally inspired Paumenew moms. They care about hand hygiene and minimizing the spread of germs in their families. They also want products to make you feel good," she says.

The strategy worked. Paumes revenue grew 40% in 2022 to $570,000 as the company expanded beyond sanitizer into the hand-care category. Revenue reached over $1.5 million in 2023 and is on track to double again this year, Welsman says, and the company has launched six new products, including a nail and cuticle cream. The company also secured retail partnerships with stores including Holt Renfrew and Bluemercury.

Despite what most people would assume, we have seen our most significant growth in the last year," she says.

Dealing out sanitizer on cards

Charles Robinson was a philosophy student at University College Londonand not enjoying it," he sayswhen the pandemic hit. The situation led him down an improbable new path: the sanitizer business.

It was primarily born out of a personal necessity to do something meaningful with my life in the first lockdown," says Robinson. There wasnt a business plan or any market research, nor am I passionate about hand sanitizer. I just loved the idea of doing something better, both for myself and the people who needed help."

His idea was inspired by products like scented cards designed to freshen up vehicles. He started asking himself, Could you put hand sanitizer in a card like this? Who would buy them? Could you custom brand them?"

Robinson launched Gelcard in April 2020, using part of his student loan to get the company rolling. He says the products, which people can snap in half to release sanitizer, were profitable right away, netting $250,000 from summer 2020 to summer 2022, selling to businesses that could put their brands on the products.

Logistics was a problem at the start: Factories were closing in Europe during the pandemic, but Robinson found a manufacturer in Milan. I saw a similar technology on the market and wanted to replicate it by putting hand sanitizer inside, so I found the supplier and called them up," he says. It was as simple as a few Google searches and a phone call. I didnt even fly as it was during Covid."

But as the pandemic wound down, he faced a more serious challenge: His market was drying up.

2022 was tough in Europelook around any public place, the social architecture is virtually identical to 2019 with no face masks, no hand-sanitizer stations, no social distancing," he says.

So Robinson looked beyond Europe to Japan and markets in the Middle East. Those cultures are much more conscious about self-hygieneeven before Covid, some people were wearing masks, and there were sanitizers in restaurants," he says. He opened an office in Tokyo in September 2022 and one in Kuwait the following year.

Robinson has signed renowned restaurants in Tokyo and Kuwait to provide the cards at the table as part of a place setting. Over 50% of revenue in the past 12 months has come from Japan and the Middle East, with 40% from the U.K. and 10% from the rest of Europe. The cards also sell to businesses that can put their logos on the product to give away to clients, for instance.

Robinson plans to launch Gelcard2made entirely of paperthis year. He says he makes a good but modest living," while reinvesting most of his profit back into Gelcard and his other business, a water-filter startup.

Pivoting intoand out ofsanitizer

Dawn Andrews says she was making ends meet" with her cosmetics, bath and body business, garb2ART, in early 2020. But when the pandemic hit, the Columbus, Ind., companys sales representatives started asking if she could deliver a different kind of product that was heavily in demandsanitizer.

After the third conversation, I knew I needed to at least try," she says. I had made hand sanitizer before on a small level for a local hospital gift shop, so I was familiar with the process."

The decision meant investing the last $5,000 I had" in isopropyl alcohol, bottles, sprayers, labels and aloe water, Andrews says. But the prospects for her regular business didnt look good: The demand for her normal products was drying up quickly, and my business would have never survived without taking the chance I did. I had no investor, no cash other than thatzero."

Within days, Andrews says, things got crazy. I went from $400 of orders per day to $40,000 and two employees to 50," she says. We had people and businesses begging us for hand sanitizers."

The boom lasted from March to mid-May of 2020. By then, she says, demand for her sanitizer waned as store shelves started to fill up with competing products, and she was facing fees of $25,000 to formally register her business as a sanitizer manufacturer.

We just werent getting the sales anymore to go to that level long term," Andrews says. We would have stayed if we were busy, but that wasnt the case."

All told, she says, the sales increase brought in about $150,000 in profit, and helped her business stay afloat until gift stores were ordering her old products again. So far, Andrews says, sales for her traditional products in 2024 are about $5,000 a day10 times what they were in January 2020thanks to an increase in wholesale orders. And she anticipates more growth in the year ahead.

Also important, she got a big boost in reputation. At the January 2020 gift trade shows, no one really knew who I was. I had been in business for seven years, but we werent a big player at all," Andrews says, adding, Stepping up and making hand sanitizer during a time of need just let everyone know we are here."

Barbara Haislip is a writer in Chatham, N.J. She can be reached at reports@wsj.com.
AP EAMCET 2024 Hall Ticket: The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education is set to release the Andhra Pradesh Engineering, Agriculture and Pharmacy Common Entrance Test (AP EAMCET) hall ticket on May 7, Tuesday.

Candidates who have registered for AP EAMCET can download the admit card through the official website at cets.apsche.ap.gov.in.

Also read: TS EAMCET Hall Ticket 2024: TSCHE releases EAPCET admit cards. How to download and other details Step-by-step guide to download admit card Follow the below mentioned steps to download AP EAMCET 2024 Hall Ticket:

Step 1: Visit the official website at cets.apsche.ap.gov.in

Step 2: Click on AP EAPCET 2023 admit card link on the homepage

Step 3: Enter your login details

Step 4: Take a printout for future reference.

Also read: CUET UG 2024: NTA releases exam city slip on cuetug.ntaonline.in. Check steps to download The Andhra Pradesh State Council will administer the entrance exam between May 16 and 23. The 3-hour long entrance exam with all questions having equal weightage will consist of 160 questions in total comprising of 40 questions in Physics, 40 questions in Chemistry and 80 questions in Mathematics. It isimportant to note that the entrance exam will be conducted in English and Telugu medium only.

On May 16 and 17, the examination for Agriculture and Pharmacy courses will be conducted. From May 18 to May 23, the entrance exam for Engineering courses will be conducted.

Once the hall ticket are released, all candidates must check the information mentioned on the admit card carefully including Name, Date of Birth, Test Centre Name, Date, Time of examination, Gender and Category.

Also read: HPBOSE 10th Result 2024 Live Updates: HP board result to be OUT soon at hpbose.org; how to check, direct link here Items prohibited inside the exam hall except the Hall Ticket include any textual material, Calculators, DocuPen, Electronic Watches with facilities of calculator, Log Tables, Slide Rules, printed or written material,mobile phone, bits of papers, pager or any other device.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused the Congress party of calling for vote jihad against him. To what level has the Congress stooped? Is vote jihad acceptable? Can this be allowed in a democracy? Modi asked, addressing a public rally in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone.

In Pakistan, terrorists are threatening to do Jihad against India. Congress is also asking certain people to vote jihad against Modi. They are asking the people of a certain religion to vote against Modi. Their intent is very dangerous, the Prime Minister said addressing the Lok Sabha election campaign rally.

Here are the top 5 quotes from PM Modi's Khargone speech 1) Congress and INDI alliance are not concerned about our faith or national interest. There is competition amongst them to make anti-national statements. After every phase, Congress' love for Pakistan is increasing... 

2) A former Congress CM said that our army does terror attacks and Pakistan is innocent... Another Congress leader said that Pakistan was not behind the Mumbai terror attacks... Another leader of the alliance said that Pakistan is not wearing any bangles

3) I want to ask Shehzade (Rahul Gandhi) what is the intention of his partners who are making these statements... So much love for Pakistan and so much hatred for our army?

4) To understand how dangerous the intentions of the Congress are, one must listen to those who had been in Congress for 20-25 years but now, have left it. These people who are leaving Congress are breathing fresh air and saying 'enough is enough'.

5) one woman said that she was tortured so much for going to the Ram Temple, that she had to leave Congress. Another said that the Congress is hijacked by Muslim league and Maoists. Another one revealed a huge plan. He said that Congress Shehzada wants to reverse the Supreme Court's decision on Ram Temple just like his father reversed the SC's decision in the Shah Bano case...
As polling for phase 3 Lok Sabha elections begins on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for active participation of voters to make the polls more vibrant today, May 7.

Urging all those who are voting in todays phase to vote in record numbers. Their active participation will certainly make the elections more vibrant, PM Modi wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Bollywood actor Siddharth Malhotra on Monday posted a video appealing to people to vote in the third phase of elections. Now that we have your attention, please go and #VoteWhereItMatters, he said.

To this, PM Modi replied, Absolutely! Do go out and vote.

Polling is underway in 93 Lok Sabha constituencies across 11 states and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in the third phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 today. As many as 1,331 candidates are in the fray.

Elections in 283 Lok Sabha seats would be over after today's phase 3 voting. This means elections to more than half of the 543 Lok Sabha seats will be over in the first three phases.

Also Read | Live updates on Lok Sabha Elections 2024 phase 3

Voting began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm. The polling will be completed in Gujarat and Goa and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on Tuesday. Also with 14 seats voting in this phase, voting for all 28 seats of Karnataka will also be over today. With seven seats voting today, the Lok Sabha polls for 11 seats of Chhattisgarh will also be over.

Among the other seats in third phase are four in Assam, five in Bihar, seven in Chhattisgarh, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, 10 in Uttar Pradesh and four in West Bengal.

Among the key candidates whose fate will be sealed today include Union Home Minister Amit Shah who is contesting from Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Vidisha (MP), Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna (MP) and Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri (UP).

As many as 17.24 crore voters are eligible to vote in the third phase. Around 18.5 lakh polling officials have been deployed across 1.85 lakh polling stations. There are over 14.04 lakh registered 85+ year-old voters. Another 39,599 voters are above 100 years of age in phase 3 polling.
Bengaluru: Flexible workspace providers plan to expand their footprint in top cities and enter new tier 2 markets this year, as demand from homegrown and global firms for modern office solutions grows.

WeWork India, Awfis, Indiqube, IWG, 315Work Avenue among others, that offer co-working spaces and managed offices, or customized workspaces, are looking at opportunistic ways to expand as more organizations opt for hybrid work.

Leading operators IndiQube and WeWork India both plan to add 1.5 million sq ft of workspace each in 2024-25.

Managed office provider IndiQube said it will take up new space and expand in new micro-markets in the cities it operates in, and add more smaller cities to its portfolio.

The Bengaluru-based firm has around 7 million sq ft of space under management, across 13 cities. It entered Vijayawada and Kochi last year, and is exploring an entry into Guwahati, Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar going forward.

FY24 had its challenges, with startups not doing well along with a funding slump, and a hiring freeze in the IT sector. We expect demand to be better this year, and are aiming at a 50% jump in our FY25 revenue, said Rishi Das, co-founder and chairman of IndiQube.

WeWork India is looking to add 18 more buildings, across 1.5 million sq ft, this year. It plans to include more managed offices as well, said CEO Karan Virwani.

WeWork Indias member base grew 18% in the last one year, and its average occupancy stands at 82%. It has over 90,000 desks, across 8 million sq ft, in seven cities.

We are scheduled to open our first building in Chennai, in early June, and will continue to strengthen our presence across the seven cities we are already operational in. We will continue to invest in our digital products, strengthening our position as a full-stack flex space operator, Virwani said.

Also Read: IPOs by flexible workspace firms: Sharing to grow The share of flex workspaces in the overall commercial office market is only growing. From 7% in 2023, the share is expected to scale up to around 12% by 2028, as per investment banking firm Avendus Capitals estimates.

315Work Avenue, which manages 2 million sq ft space in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune, plans to double its portfolio in 18 months.

It is in advanced discussions to expand its footprint to Delhi-National Capital Region and Hyderabad, a company spokesperson said.

Similarly, International Workplace Group (IWG), which operates brands such as Spaces and Regus in India, is eyeing a wider network in the country and plans to enter newer cities.

We are the only global player which is present in smaller cities, where we have got good response from local and larger companies. We want to add more new cities like Bhopal, Trivandrum and Kochi. The demand for organized, flexible workspaces is going up in such cities and we want to launch at a fast pace, said Harsh Lambah, country manager India and vice-president sales - south Asia, IWG.

IWG recently signed an agreement with HQ, a US-based brand, to open centres in India. It opened two centres under HQ in Bengaluru, and plans to open more in tier 2 and 3 cities, as well as suburban areas in large cities.

As these companies mature and move into the next phase of growth, they are expected to raise institutional funding or look at public listings.
Donald Trumps prized Manhattan office tower at 40 Wall St. is getting swept up by the worst storm to hit the office market since the global financial crisis.

His investment in the landmark 63-story tower, less than a block away from the New York Stock Exchange, has long been considered one of his shrewdest deals. Trump paid less than $5 million for a long-term lease on the tower in 1995, when New Yorks commercial-property market was struggling. Within a few years, the property soared many times in value as the market rebounded. It is possibly his most valuable single piece of property.

But like thousands of other U.S. office buildings, 40 Wall is now under duress because of weakening office demand. The towers vacancy rate has risen to 21%, compared with about 5% in 2015. Drugstore chain Duane Reade, one of 40 Walls largest tenants, recently vacated its office and retail space in the building, leaving 23,000 square feet empty on the ground floor.

Trump faces a bigger reckoning for the building next year, when its $120.5 million mortgage matures in July. He may well have to refinance it at considerably more than what he is paying now. If the mortgage were refinanced today, real-estate finance analysts say, the rate would likely be above 7%. That would be roughly double the 3.7% rate Trump pays today.

Bond-ratings firms have taken notice. Fitch Ratings last month downgraded four tranches of a commercial-mortgage-backed-securities issue that includes the debt on 40 Wall. The firm has expressed concern about the buildings declining performance at a time that it will likely face higher debt service.

The downgrade incorporates a higher probability of default" of 40 Wall, Fitch said.

Trump Organization executives have said that 40 Wall isnt in financial peril, noting that it is current on its mortgage payments. Its a great building," the former president said in a deposition last year for the civil fraud lawsuit brought against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Comparing the building to the Mona Lisa, Trump said the towers value is enhanced because there are people that would do anything" to own it.

Trump maintained in the deposition that 40 Wall was worth more than $530 million. He added that because of the smaller sizes of its floors, it would be a good candidate to convert from office use into apartments.

But there is little Trump can do to stem the mounting distress in the U.S. office market, which has been intensifying as more companies accept hybrid work and reduce their demand for office space.

The office meltdown is reaching new heights as defaults and other signs of distress reach historic levels. With vacancy rates at record highs and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of debt coming due in the coming years, the prospect of significant losses is sending tremors throughout the financial system.

A slowdown in New Yorks financial district also doesnt bode well. The downtown Manhattan availability ratewhich includes vacancy and space coming on the market in the next 12 monthsincreased to 21.3% in the first quarter, compared with 10.3% in early 2020, according to Colliers. Average asking rents have fallen to about $57 a square foot from more than $65.

Even Trump acknowledged in his deposition last year that the New York office market has unfortunately gone to hell."

40 Wall faces challenges because of the Trump brand, too. The former presidents popularity is low in New York and some tenants might not want to locate in one of his properties for fear of alienating employees or customers.

Some people dont want to deal with the [Trump] baggage," said Michael Thom, a partner at Obermayer, a law firm with a large real-estate practice. At a time like this, when the office market is struggling, it doesnt help."

The art deco skyscraper with French gothic features has had a colorful history since it was developed in the late 1920s. At the time, both 40 Wall and the Chrysler Building were under construction and vying to be the worlds tallest building. The Chrysler Building won that competitionafter it hoisted a 185-foot spire that the owners had kept hidden inside until the last moment.

In the 1980s, 40 Wall made headlines again when a congressional investigation revealed that it was one of four Manhattan properties that were secretly acquired by then Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos. After Marcos was deposed and he lost his rights to the properties, numerous New York developers battled over who would take them over.

Trump purchased the ground lease to 40 Wall, which allows him to control the property for more than a century, as he was emerging from his own financial crisis of the early 1990s. He was forced to sell major assets such as New Yorks Plaza Hotel and put some casinos into bankruptcy proceedings. His success at attracting a large number of tenants to 40 Wall provided an enormous boost as he rebuilt his real-estate empire.

But the magnitude of the propertys success remains unclear. In her lawsuit against Trump, Attorney General James alleged that 40 Wall St. was among the properties that Trump fraudulently overvalued in an effort to obtain larger mortgages than he would have been able to get with more accurate valuations.

New York Judge Arthur Engoron agreed. In his rulings he has cited evidence of numerous inaccuracies and manipulations involving 40 Walls income and value by the Trump Organization to obtain the debt that is currently on the building.

Trump faces a $454 million judgment against him in the lawsuit as well as an order that he be barred for three years from running any business in New York, including the one that owns 40 Wall. For now, he continues to operate the building as he appeals the verdict.

The building is home to scores of companies, mostly small firms in finance or professional services taking less than 10,000 square feet. Tenants include Country-Wide Insurance and the Girl Scouts of Greater New York.

The New York Girl Scouts organization signed a lease in 2014, before Trump articulated many of his controversial views and policies. Now, the groups chief executive says she isnt happy about being associated with Trump, whose name is on the building in big gold letters, and his disruptive" news conferences held in the lobby after nearby court appearances.

Theres a lot of disalignment between what we stand for and the brand on the building," said Meridith Maskara, CEO of the New York branch.

The value of 40 Wall is critical to Trumps ability to refinance its $120 million in debt next year. In an interview Monday, Eric Trump, a Trump Organization executive vice president and son of the former president, said that replacing the tower today would cost many, many multiples of that amount. Just about any real-estate developer in New York would love to be in the position were in," he said.

But some commercial property appraisers rely more on the income of properties when determining a value. Using this approach, they say 40 Wall is worth between $120 million and $200 million, depending on whether a bullish or bearish multiple is applied to its annual operating income of about $12.8 million.

The few lenders willing to make office loans today typically require that a buildings value be roughly double the amount of the loan.

We are seeing office loans that are performing much better than 40 Wall having trouble getting refinanced," said Melissa Che, a Fitch senior director.

Write to Peter Grant at peter.grant@wsj.com
The rally in Coal India Ltds (CIL) stock exemplifies the resurgence of value investing over growth investing.

Over the past year, the state-owned coal miners shares have risen as much as 95% despite a not-so-impressive financial performance in FY24. The subdued results were primarily the result of a sharp 37% fall in price realization of coal sold through e-auction even as volumes rose 13%.

However, this was mitigated by an 8% increase in the volume of coal sold through fuel supply agreements (FSA), where the prices also saw a 4% increase.

Note that e-auction sales are typically more profitable than FSA, with the formers price realizations much higher. For perspective, even as average e-auction realization fell year-on-year in FY24, it was still almost twice that of FSA realization of about 1,540. Overall, this meant consolidated revenue growth stood at just 2% in FY24.

Nonetheless, the factors working in favour of CILs valuation are its net debt-free balance sheet and healthy cash generation every year. Going forward, the cash accumulation in books is expected to stay robust even after capital expenditure (capex) and a high dividend payout ratio. This will likely make the EV/Ebitda multiple increasingly attractive. EV is enterprise value; it is market capitalization plus net debt of a company.

While it is difficult to judge how much of Ebitda results into cash conversion, FY23 showed promising results for CIL, with both metrics aligning closely. The variance in FY24 was primarily due to payment of the liabilities, including retrospective wage increases totalling 8,153 crore.

However, it is safe to assume that there is a high probability of cash generation matching Ebitda, though sometimes with a lag as CILs operations are not working capital intensive (like receivable/debtor heavy infrastructure company or a retail company that has to invest in growing inventory base).

As such, CILs prospects for FY25 look reasonable, with e-auction volumes expected to grow about 30% year-on-year to around 90 million tonnes. In FY24, CILs total production stood at 774 million tonnes, marginally missing its target. For FY25, it is aiming for 838 million tonnes in production.

Now, assuming that the sales volume to production ratio remains at FY24 level, it should help in about 9% revenue growth even if the blended price realization remains stagnant.

Further, if Ebitda per tonne of 636 for FY24 is maintained, then Ebitda for FY25 could turn out to be nearly 52,000 crore. After accounting for capex of about 18,000 crore and dividend at 30 per share, there will still be some surplus net cash in the books, which should have a favourable impact on the EV/Ebitda multiple.

In general, it helps that the limitations of renewable energy have led to a renewed focus on thermal power generation. Coal-based power generation capacity is currently at 211 GW at FY24-end. The government proposes to set up an additional minimum 80 GW coal-based capacity by 2032.

Assuming the consumption ratio of about 3.5 million tonnes per GW and incremental plant load factor of 85%, it should result into additional demand of about 238 million tonnes.

For perspective, CIL supplied 670 million tonnes for power generation in FY24 and even if it gets to supply 75% of the incremental demand, it will still be nearly 35% higher than its current FSA sales.

While these figures may not seem high from an annual growth standpoint, but they have made investors realize that fossil fuel cannot be ignored, at least in the foreseeable future

Small wonder then, the CIL stock has nearly doubled over the last one year. Despite that, it is still offering a dividend yield of almost 5%.
Shares of CG Power and Industrial Solutions, part of Murugappa Group, jumped 6.50% in today's intraday trade, reaching a new all-time high of 582.80 apiece after the company posted in-line performance for the March-ending quarter.

The company's order inflow showed robust growth, increasing by 45% year-on-year to 6,276 crore, contributing significantly to the sharp rise in share prices today.

The company reported a 15% year-on-year growth in revenue in Q4, in line with expectations set by Kotak Institutional, despite a modest 3% year-on-year growth in EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) and a 4% growth in PBT (Profit Before Tax) excluding other income.

The PBT remained consistent with expectations, experiencing 7% year-on-year growth due to unexpectedly high levels of other income. Full-year revenue, EBITDA, PBT and PAT grew 15%, 13%, 16% and 14%, respectively.

Analysis from Kotak Institutional Equities indicates that while the power systems segment exhibited high margins, this was offset by weaker profitability in industrial systems. However, the industrial systems segment contributed significantly to the strong order inflows, particularly driven by the railway business.

The company anticipates 40% growth in its railway business, which currently contributes 15% to its overall revenues, in the upcoming year. Additionally, it foresees growth in the power systems business, which constitutes 30% of revenues, as it aligns with its existing capacity constraints, which are expected to be resolved by FY2026.

On the power systems business, it shared the prospects of doubling the existing scale just by serving domestic demand. It is less certain of the growth in the low voltage motor business (33% of business), where market growth has stalled, competition has intensified, and CG Power already has a large market share.

Furthermore, the brokerage noted that the consumer products portfolio, which represents 6% of sales, is experiencing the impact of a stagnant to declining market.

The brokerage noted that the company is unlikely to increase exports in FY2025 but anticipates beginning of this expansion in FY2026, following the commissioning of its new motor capacity. However, the company has not yet finalised its strategy for the drives business in India, contemplating between domestic manufacturing and importing from its European subsidiary.

There is potential for significant progress in the EV motors and controllers business, as an OEM is currently testing CG Power's product and the company is in discussions with several other customers. However, the company did not provide any new insights regarding potential partnerships in the railway propulsion sector.

Good time to buy? Following the company's financial performance, the brokerage has revised its estimates downward by 46% for the fiscal years 20252027.

It has raised the fair value (FV) to 400, up from 370, due to the increased value of the ATMP business, higher medium-term projections, and the transition to the June 2025 estimated discounted cash flow-based fair value.

Maintaining its 'Sell' rating on the stock, the brokerage highlights the stock's high valuation at 75 times the one-year forward earnings, excluding the value of the ATMP business.
National Stock Exchange, on May 7, announced that it will be conducting a special live trading session on Saturday, May 18, 2024. This session will feature an intra-day switch from the Primary site to the Disaster Recovery site across equity and equity derivative segments.

"Members are requested to note that exchange shall be conducting special live trading session with intra-day switch over from primary site to disaster recovery site on Saturday, May 18, 2024, in equity and equity derivatives segments," NSE said.

The purpose of this exercise is to assess their readiness in managing significant disruptions or failures at the primary site, thereby ensuring robust contingency measures are in place.

During the special live trading session, there will be an intra-day transition from the Primary Site (PR) to the Disaster Recovery (DR) site. A Disaster Recovery site is indispensable for all vital institutions such as exchanges, ensuring operational continuity in the event of any unforeseen circumstances impacting the main trading center in Mumbai, thereby facilitating seamless and uninterrupted operations.

The session will be conducted in two segments. The initial phase will consist of a 45-minute session, beginning at 9:15 am. Following this, a special live trading session will commence at 11:45 am and come to an end at 12:40 pm.

In the special session, all securities, including those associated with derivative products, will be subject to a maximum price band of 5 per cent.

Securities currently trading within the 2 percent or lower price band will remain within their respective bands. This initiative aims to curb excessive volatility and uphold market stability throughout the trading session.

The special live trading session adheres to Sebi guidelines, which require testing preparedness for managing unforeseen disasters from Mumbai's main trading center.
The Indian market rose 1.24 percent in the month of April as strong buying by local fund continued. In March, domestic funds used the correction to deploy excess cash and the buying continued in April as well, absorbing all the selling of foreign institutional investors (FIIs), noted a report by domestic brokerage house Nirmal Bang.

However, the brokerage pointed out initial quarterly results for Q4FY24 are a mixed bag where FMCG, IT and cement are showing weaker numbers as banks and chemical companies are showing stability in earnings. Capital goods continue to outperform the expectations.

It further highlighted that the Indian market is also looking at the General Election outcome expected in June's first week which may keep the market a bit volatile in the near term. Looking at the initial signs of a slowdown in the US, mixed results from corporate India, election outcome expectation, and recent bounce-back due to domestic fund support, Nirmal Bang expects the market to remain in a range.

Read here: Stocks to buy: These 9 stocks can rise 6-15% in next 3-4 weeks; do you own any? The brokerage predicts Nifty to trade in the range of 22,000-23,000 for the May Series.

Amid this backdrop, the brokerage has come out with 2 fundamental picks for the current month (May). Let's take a look. Epigral: The brokerage has a buy call on the stock with a target of 1,690, implying a 31 percent potential upside. The stock has risen over 34 percent in the last 1 year and 31.6 percent in 2024 YTD.

"The company's Revenue grew at 33.3% CAGR and PAT grew by 15% CAGR between FY20-24 despite challenges prevailing in the industry due to geopolitical situations and a weak macro environment. The initiation of new projects and volatility in RM prices have led to a decline in overall operating margins; i.e. from 32% in FY20 to 25% in FY24. New project commissioning and a strategic shift towards specialty products is expected to improve the companys overall margins going forward. The management ensures normalized level of EBITDA should be maintained in the range of 24-26% in the near term on a conservative basis," said the brokerage.

Read here: Stock to buy: Anand Rathi recommends NHPC as its special pick; sees 22% upside Furthermore, the management has guided for 15% volume growth in FY25E based on expanded capacity. Also, it aims to achieve ROCE in the range of 24-25%. The management is focusing on strengthening its position in the specialty segment where revenue contribution has improved to 45% in FY24 from 38% in FY23. It aims to increase its share up to 70% over the next 2-2.5 years. In FY25, the same is expected to be in the range of 50-55% of revenue.

Suryoday Small Finance Bank: The brokerage has a buy rating on this stock with a target price of 280, indicating a potential upside of 37.5 percent. The stock has risen over 74 percent in the last 1 year and 25 percent in 2024 YTD.

Read here: Stocks to buy: Axis Securities lists 16 top picks to buy in May "Like all other MFIs and SFBs, Suryoday also bore the brunt of high defaults owing to Covid. However, the banks peak GNPA was at 12%, much higher compared to a range of 6-8% for SFBs like Jana, Utkarsh and Ujjivan. Thus it took a longer period to provide for the bad book compared to peers, which led to depressed return ratios as well as sluggish stock price performance during FY23. However, credit costs are now expected to normalise to 2.2% from 4.4% in FY23," noted the brokerage.

However, post the comprehensive restructuring exercise done by Suryoday with respect to its asset quality over FY20-23, the brokerage expects the bank to shift its focus on growth. It sees advances growing at 31% CAGR over FY24-26E driven by faster growth in secured books at 35% CAGR led by affordable housing, CV and small business; while microloans shall grow at 29% CAGR. Nirmal Bang also expects the gap in ROA between Suryoday and peers to close down from 160 bps in FY23 to just 15 bps by FY26E. Accordingly, it believes the current valuation gap of 35% is unwarranted and expects it to narrow down to 25%.
A rally fuelled by robust fundamentals has led to a re-rating in the infrastructure and capital-goods sectors, pushing several stocks into what seems like overvalued territory.

Several infrastructure and capital-goods stocks are trading above their 10-year average price-to-earnings (P-E) ratio. The P-E ratio compares a company's stock price to its earnings per share, so a high number means the company's stock could be overvalued or that investors are anticipating significant growth.

Despite the premium valuations, most fund managers are comfortable investing in these stocks because of the underlying growth prospects in these sectors.

Agreed valuations are at a premium, but I do believe in looking at the right businesses and investing rather than waiting for the markets to consolidate," said Shreyash Devalkar, head of equity at Axis Mutual Fund.

Priyankar Biswas, an analyst at BNP Paribas India, said the common theme among industrial firms such as Larsen & Toubro, Cummins India, Siemens India and ABB India has been strong growth in the topline and order inflows.

The delivered numbers largely exceeded street estimates and earnings have been revised upwards. Thus, multiples and its re-rating is driven by delivery on earnings and outlook," he said.

Also read: Supreme Courts Delhi Metro verdict opens a Pandoras box for PPP infra projects

Currently, there is a widespread revival in capital expenditure (capex) across sectors, not just roads and railways, Biswas said. The enhanced outlook, coupled with the expectation of policy continuity, augurs well for a robust growth trajectory, he added.

However, Ajay Argal, SVP & portfolio manager, emerging markets equity - India, at Franklin Templeton said the fund house assesses whether the growth implied by the current price of a stock is reasonable and leaves room for positive surprises.

Long-term trend?

India is among the world's fastest-growing economies and requires sustained investment and capacity expansion to support its growth. This isnt just a short-term trend but a prolonged capex cycle which will affect several ancillary sectors, said market experts.

Many sectors, including infrastructure and capital goods, have thus undergone a re-rating owing to increased growth visibility, they added.

Also read: JSW Infrastructure plans 2,500 crore capex for FY25

Amit Anwani, analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher, said he sees growth in these sectors after the elections despite most stocks trading at irrationally high valuations. He added that the consistent delivery of earnings growth by these companies is reassuring.

Fund managers are now factoring in the growth potential of these companies rather than relying solely on historical trends to determine if they qualify for an investment.

According to Amit Nigam, fund manager at Invesco Mutual Fund, Historical valuation serves as an anchor point, but the focus is on growth prospects and visibility to determine if a particular company makes a good investment bet, especially when the stocks look pricey."

Other than simply looking at the PE ratio, Nigam suggests monitoring parameters such as order books, working-capital management, return on capital employed, free cash flows, and operating margins.

Investors have been increasingly enthusiastic about infrastructure and capital-goods stocks, going by the 35% increase in the Nifty Infrastructure Index in just six months, compared to the Nifty 50's 16% gain. The Nifty Infrastructure Index has surged 164% since 2019 general elections, while the S&P BSE Capital Goods Index has shot up 229% over this period.

Also read: Road construction to clock 16-21% rise in FY24 ahead of general elections: Icra
Across the street from Fort Kochis historic parade ground is a whitewashed gate engraved with a monograma large V carrying a smaller O and C on its two arms. It stands for Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or the Dutch East India Trading Company. Between the Portuguese, who arrived in Kochi (then Cochin), in 1500, to trade in spices, and eventually occupied it, and the British, who took control of Fort Kochi in 1795, it was the Dutch that ruled the Queen of the Arabian Sea for 132 years. Fort Kochi, a palimpsest of colonial memories, is strewn with remnants of its Dutch pastDutch-era buildings with clay-tiled gable roof, street names like Burgher Street and Rose Street (Rozenstraat) and Peter Celli Street and the now elusive breudher , a ceremonial, nutmeg-scented sweet bread-meets-cake that traces its lineage to the Dutch. Once, a culinary highlight of Fort Kochi the breudher , also called Dutch cake, is hard to come by. A couple of old bakeries still bake it but locals will tell you that they are only a shadow of the original.

But Kochi now has a quaint little bakery rolling out Dutch treats - an array of brood and banket (Dutch for bread and pastries). Theres everything from slof which is an open-faced cookie-cake filled with almond paste, and layered with homemade pastry cream, fresh strawberries and a vanilla glaze made with vanilla bean, to lattice-top appeltaart.

Christened Zera Noya, which means new beginnings, the quaint cafe and bakery occupies a ground-floor spot at the Croft, a lifestyle destination in Kochis Ernakulam area. The cafe wraps around the glass-walled show kitchen, where the owner, 31-year-old Dutch expat baker Sarah Lisa, drums up her array of goodies along with her team.

Also read: The mystique of saffron in a summer lunch

Born and brought up in the Netherlands, Sarah started baking early. For her eighth birthday party she baked cookies with all her friends. Her parents, both chefs who worked in restaurants in the Netherlands, only encouraged her. At 16 she enrolled into a bread and pastry baking school. Later she went on to work as the head baker aboard the cruise ship Logos Hope for several years before moving on to volunteer at Himalayan Cafe in China, which worked with local communities near the Tibetan border financially empowering them by training them in various skills, like coffee making, baking and management, among others.

It was during her stint on the cruise that Sarah met Vibin Varghese, a Malayali boy who travelled the world as a marine engineer. Eventually they fell in love and got married. The couple was at Vibins familys home in Kochi, planning their next move when Covid-19 struck putting a spanner in their plans. It was during this time that Sarah started baking for friends and family. Soon, her Dutch-style baked goodsa far cry from what was locally availablebecame a rage in her circle. This prompted the couple to start a cloud-bakery from their home. While I took care of the baking, Vibin spent his time on logistics, building a network of vendors," says Sarah.

Encouraged by the success of their home-based enterprise the couple contemplated opening a physical bakery and cafe in 2021. But I got pregnant so we had to postpone our plans. However, last year on Valentines day they soft launched their bakerya labour of love. A grand opening followed in October. But months later, tragedy struck. Vibin was diagnosed with cancer, and he succumbed to it in December. I had lost the love of my life, I had a little daughter and a new bakery, our lifes investment, to run alone," says Sarah. She exudes strength as she speaks even though her voice falters once in a while. She tells us more about her bakery.

Dutch confections are usually quite simple. They often have quirky names," says Sarah. Her menu features a few of these curiously christened sweet treats. There is, for instance, the bokkenpootjes that translate to goats feet cookies. These are almond meringue cookies made with chocolate-sheathed ends. Or, theres the mergpijp , marzipan-coated cake layered with raspberry jam and filled with vanilla butter, that literally means marrow bones. When you cut a mergpijp the layers inside resemble those of a bone filled with marrow. Another typical Dutch pastry on offer is the rondo, little roundels of cookie-cake filled with luscious caramel sauce and topped with caramel cream.

View Full Image Sarah Lisa with her daughter (left); and the interiors of the cafe.

In addition to sweet bakes, the menu has savoury items including puffs and stuffed croissants. There are buttery puffs or pastry parcels filled with minced beef subtly flavoured with a Dutch-style mix of spices and herbs and chicken laced with satesaus or satay sauce that entered the Dutch kitchen during Netherland's colonial occupation of Indonesia. Puffs, or rather the local variant, are big in Kerala and people are used to a version with spicy stuffing. The local ones also come cheap. I face a lot of questions and some criticism for my puffs that are a far cry from the ones people are used to," says Sarah. She is not quite ready to Indianise her offerings. But sometimes she has had to make a few compromises. Take for instance, the cinnamon braids (or rolls) here. The Dutch version of the cinnamon rolls or Zeeuwse Bolussenmade by rolling rich yeast dough in cinnamon-sugar and drizzled with citron and syrupare believed to have been born in the Jewish kitchens of Dutch Zeeland. But most people found the original recipe too doughy and chewy. So said it was too sticky, or even raw," she says. So Sarah replaced the original recipe for the Zeeuwse Bolussen dough with a brioche dough.

Zera Noya also offers an array of artisanal breads. These are baked by Tsarina Abrao Vacha, an architect and a fifth-generation baker whose great great grandfather started what was perhaps the oldest bakery in Kochi in 1852, called Rozarios, in Ernakulam, under the patronage of the Cochin Maharaja. Her sourdoughs are particularly popular.

Sarah is still reeling from her loss. But she is determined to keep the bakery running. She even has a few exciting plans for her cafe. She wants to expand the seating area by adding a section at the back and expand her menu, starting off with a few deep-fried snacks like cheese and meat bitterballen (crumb-fried cheeseballs and meatballs) and old-fashioned Dutch doughnuts, oliebollen. But right now, my child is my priority. So, I am taking things slow," she signs off.

Also read: Enjoy tea like the Bridgertons
Seeding and nurturing a business with ones entrepreneurial acumen, skills, hard work, perseverance and capital to grow it into a big fruit-bearing tree is the hallmark of a successful businessman. But equally important is ensuring that the said tree (business) continues to grow and bear fruits for the future generations to come, without there being any feuds and disputes among the different branches.

A family arrangement is an agreement between members of the same family, intended to be generally and reasonably for the benefit of the family either by compromising doubtful or disputed rights or by preserving the family property or the peace and security of the family by avoiding litigation or by saving its honour.

For a family arrangement to have a legal binding effect on the parties to the settlement, it should be bonafide, voluntary and aimed at resolving family disputes and rival claims. It may be oral, and registration is not required even if the terms and recitals of the family arrangement are spelled out in a memorandum prepared for the purpose of record or mutation in court, after the oral family arrangement had already been effected. The members of the family arrangement should ideally have some antecedent title, claim or interest in the property or even a possible claim in the property acknowledged by the parties to the settlement. Fair and equitable family arrangement, even in the absence of any legal claims, is final and binding on the parties to the settlement.



The very recent Family Settlement Agreement (FSA) entered into on April 30, by members of the extended Godrej family is one of the finest examples of a meticulously planned and effectively executed family arrangement, aimed at ownership realignment of the respective shareholdings of the family members in the Godrej companies, to maintain harmony and to better align ownership in acknowledgement of the differing visions of the Godrej family members.

According to the FSA, the first branch of the family tree, represented by Adi Godrej and Nadir Godrej, will gain complete ownership over the Godrej Industries Group, which includes the five listed companies.

The second branch of the family tree, represented by Jamshyd Godrej and his sister Smita Crishna, will gain complete ownership over the Godrej Enterprises Group of companies- including the unlisted entity Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company, along with the prime land bank of 3,000 acres in Mumbai.

The two groups have held shares and Boards representation, across the group. But now after the FSA, Adi Godrej and Nadir Godrej will divest their respective shareholdings in the Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company to Jamshyd Godrej and Smita Crishna. Similarly, Jamshyd Godrej and Smita Crishna will divest their respective shareholdings in Godrej Consumer Products and Godrej Properties to Adi Godrej and Nadir Godrej.

Tax Implications: The divestment of any property, movable (say shares) or immovable (say land and building), by the individual parties to the family arrangement, in favour of the other parties to the said settlement, as per the terms of a bonafide family arrangement is not considered as transfer in the Income Tax Act, and so, is not assessable to tax as capital gain.

The regular exemption from capital gains in the case of gifts, is applicable only in the hands of blood relatives. However, the parties to a family arrangement can be the members of the extended family also including cousins. Thus, exemption from capital gains tax liability, will equally apply to all the members of the family arrangement, and not just lineal ascendants and descendants.

For academic demonstration, in the above Godrej group FSA, the divesture of their respective shareholdings by Adi Godrej and Nadir Godrej in the Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company in favour of Jamshyd Godrej and Smita Crishna, and vice-versa will not to be considered as transfer, and as such no capital gain will arise in their hands, out of such divesture.

However, the divestment of any movable or immovable property by corporate parties to the family arrangement, in favour of other parties to the settlement, is considered as transfer" and is assessable to tax as capital gains. The fair market valuation/ circle rate provisions of sections 50C/ 50CA/56(2)(x), are also not applicable in the hands of individuals parties to the family arrangement.

Thus, a carefully planned and meticulously drafted family settlement agreement, just like the recent Godrej Group FSA, can go a very long way in ensuring the fair, equitable and dispute-free distribution of the family business legacy, property and succession, and simultaneously, it can also save some big-big taxes.

Mayank Mohanka is the founder of TaxAaram India and a partner at S.M. Mohanka & Associates.
Q. I am a small business owner running my business out of Indore, my wife is a doctor running her own clinic. We have been investing in large cap mutual funds since the past 8 years, we now want to diversify our investment and invest in index funds. Many of our acquaintances have suggested investing in the Nifty India Manufacturing Index, can you please elaborate on it, its pros and cons and how investments in index funds tracking Nifty India Manufacturing Index are taxed? Omkar Khandelwal, Chakala, Andher, Mumbai

The Nifty India Manufacturing Index is a pivotal index that reflects the performance of the manufacturing sector in India's economy. It is designed to track the behaviour of companies selected from a combined universe of Nifty 100, Nifty Midcap 150, and Nifty Smallcap 50 indices based on a six-month average free-float market capitalization within the eligible basic industries that broadly represent the manufacturing sector.

Established with a base date of April 01, 2005, and a base value of 1000, the index has been a barometer for the manufacturing industry's health and growth. The weight of each stock in the index is determined by its free float market capitalization, ensuring a fair representation of the industry's actual market scenario.

The Nifty India Manufacturing Index is reconstituted and rebalanced semi-annually, aligning with the Nifty broad-based indices. This periodic rebalancing ensures that the index remains up-to-date with the changing market dynamics and continues to reflect the true state of the manufacturing sector.



Also Read: What is Nifty MidSmall Healthcare Index and how is it different from Nifty Healthcare Index?

Eligibility criterion to be part of Nifty Manufacturing Index Listing on the National Stock Exchange (NSE): First and foremost, to be considered for the Nifty India Manufacturing Index, a company must be listed on the NSE. This ensures that only officially recognized and regulated entities are part of the index.

Part of the combined universe: The company should be a constituent of the combined universe comprising Nifty 100, Nifty Midcap 150, and Nifty Smallcap 50. This combined universe serves as the pool from which potential candidates for the index are chosen.

Free-float market capitalization: A pivotal factor in the selection process is the six-month average free-float market capitalization. The index aims to provide around 75% coverage of the free-float market cap of eligible stocks within each eligible basic industry of the combined universe.

Basic industry classification: Companies that form part of the 'basic industry' based on the Asset Management Company (AMC) classification are eligible for inclusion. This classification ensures that the index accurately represents the manufacturing sector.

Weightage caps: Each stock's weight in the index is based on its free-float market capitalization, subject to a maximum weight cap of 5%. Additionally, there is a minimum weight requirement of 20% for certain manufacturing sectors to ensure adequate representation.

Semi-annual review and rebalancing: The index is reconstituted and rebalanced semi-annually, aligning with the Nifty broad-based indices. This periodic review ensures that the index remains up-to-date with the current market scenario.

Variable number of constituents: The number of stocks in the index is variable, allowing for flexibility and adaptability in representing the manufacturing sector's breadth.



Also Read: Your Questions Answered: How is the Nifty 500 Index different from Nifty 50? Please elaborate

Top constituents of Nifty Manufacturing Index The top constituents of the Nifty Manufacturing Index as of March 28, 2024, along with their weightage are:

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.: 5.02%. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.: 5.02%. Reliance Industries Ltd.: 5.01%. Tata Motors Ltd.: 4.98%. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.: 4.95%. Tata Steel Ltd.: 4.11%. Bajaj Auto Ltd.: 3.32%. Bharat Electronics Ltd.: 2.66%. Hindalco Industries Ltd.: 2.62%. JSW Steel Ltd.: 2.54%. Performance In recent times, the Nifty India Manufacturing Index has shown remarkable performance, outpacing the Nifty 50. The one-year total return of Nifty Manufacturing Index as on March 28, 2024, is 55.04%, in comparison the Nifty 50 as on 28 March 2024 had a total return of 30.08%. This indicates a strong growth trajectory for India's manufacturing sector, highlighting the potential for investors and the economy.

The index's composition is a testament to the diverse nature of India's manufacturing capabilities. It includes companies from various sub-sectors such as chemicals, infrastructure, auto ancillaries, steel, and more.

The Nifty India Manufacturing Index not only serves as a benchmark for investors but also acts as a guide for policymakers and industry stakeholders. It provides insights into which sectors are thriving and which may need more support, thereby helping to shape industrial policies and investment strategies.

As India continues to position itself as a global manufacturing hub, the Nifty India Manufacturing Index will play a crucial role in monitoring the progress and identifying growth opportunities. It stands as a powerful indicator of India's industrial might and the promising future that lies ahead for the nation's manufacturing landscape.



Also Read: Your Questions Answered: Should I invest in single stocks or index funds? Please elaborate

Pros Diversification: These funds offer investors exposure to a diversified portfolio of manufacturing companies, which can help spread risk. The Nifty India Manufacturing Index includes companies from various sub-sectors within manufacturing, providing a broad market representation.

Cost-effectiveness: Index funds typically have lower expense ratios compared to actively managed funds. This is because they are designed to replicate the performance of an index, thereby requiring less research and active management.

Transparency: The holdings of index mutual funds are a reflection of the index they track, making it easy for investors to understand where their money is being invested. The Nifty India Manufacturing Index's constituents are publicly available, allowing for clear visibility into the fund's investments.

Performance tracking: Investors can easily track the performance of their investments against the Nifty India Manufacturing Index. This index is reconstituted and rebalanced semi-annually, providing a consistent benchmark for performance comparison.

Cons Market cap bias: The weightage of companies in the Nifty India Manufacturing Index is based on free-float market capitalization. This can lead to a concentration of larger companies within the fund, potentially overlooking smaller companies that might offer higher growth potential.

Sector-specific risks: Investing in a sector-specific index fund like one tracking the Nifty India Manufacturing Index exposes investors to sector-specific risks. Any downturn in the manufacturing sector could negatively impact the fund's performance.



Also Read: Your Questions Answered: I am working with an MNC and want to invest in passive mutual funds. Please elaborate on it

Taxation Mutual funds tracking an index are typically classified as equity funds for tax purposes if they invest at least 65% of their assets in equities. This classification has significant tax implications for the unitholders. For instance, equity index funds, such as those tracking the Nifty India Manufacturing Index, are subject to capital gains tax, which varies depending on the holding period of the investment.

Short-Term Capital Gains (STCG): If the units of the mutual fund are sold within one year of purchase, any profit realised is considered a short-term capital gain. These gains are taxed at a flat rate of 15%, irrespective of the investor's income tax bracket.

Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG): For units held for more than one year, the profit upon sale qualifies as a long-term capital gain. Long-term capital gains exceeding 1 lakh are taxed at a rate of 10%, without the benefit of indexation.

Dividend taxation: The Finance Act 2020 brought significant changes to the taxation of dividends from mutual funds. Dividends are now taxed in the hands of the investor, and mutual fund schemes are required to withhold tax on dividends at the applicable rate. This means that any dividends received from mutual funds tracking the Nifty India Manufacturing Index will be taxable for the investor according to their income tax slab.

In conclusion, investing in index mutual funds tracking the Nifty India Manufacturing Index can be a strategic move for those looking to invest in the manufacturing sector of India. However, it's important for investors to consider the pros and cons, and to align their investment with their financial goals, risk tolerance, and investment horizon.

As with any investment, it's advisable to consult with a financial advisor to ensure that it fits within your overall investment strategy. The Nifty India Manufacturing Index is more than just a set of numbers; it is a reflection of India's industrial ambitions and achievements. It encapsulates the spirit of innovation, resilience, and growth that characterises the nation's manufacturing sector.

Disclaimer: Investing in mutual funds involves risks, including potential loss of principal. Please consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
(Bloomberg) -- Three US regulators took an initial step toward imposing long-delayed rules that would force lenders to claw back some pay from executives who take on too much risk.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency proposed mandatory clawbacks for certain incentive-based pay for bank executives. The Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission and National Credit Union Administration must also propose and finalize the plans for them to become effective.

The plan goes further than a 2016 version that would have left clawbacks to the discretion of the banks. The industry resisted that effort and an earlier one in 2011. The rules are mandated under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which was passed to prevent some of the excesses that led to the 2008 financial crisis.

The proposal, along with proposed alternatives and questions in the preamble, seeks to align employee incentives with the long-term interests and safety and soundness of covered financial institutions, FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in a statement on Monday.

Last years banking turmoil, which felled several regional lenders, reignited debate about holding executives accountable for bad decisions. In the proposal, the agencies also pointed to flawed incentive-based compensation practices at Wells Fargo in the last decade that contributed to misconduct that resulted in harm to customers and fines, penalties and enormous reputation damage to the financial institution.

Read more: Banker Bonus Clawbacks Are Poised for Vote, With Outcome Murky

The proposed rules are meant to curb risky behavior by forcing executives and other prominent employees to wait longer to cash out their vested bonuses until the results of their decisions are clear.

Under Mondays plan, senior executives at big banks would have to defer a minimum amount of their incentive-based compensation for a set period of time. Some executives at large lenders could have between 40% and 60% of that pay delayed for periods of as long as four years, according to Gruenberg.

The agencies also proposed broadening who could be affected by a clawback.

The industry was quick to criticize the plan, with the Bank Policy Institute calling the effort purely political. BPI President Greg Baer said it is inconsistent with the statute they purport to be implementing, and an attempt to govern how financial services sector employees are paid.

But this is a mandate from Congress, and the final rule is long overdue, said Todd Phillips, a former FDIC attorney who is now a law professor on financial regulation at Georgia State University.

He applauded the agencies that announced the proposal Monday but said he was disappointed that the Fed and SEC didnt join.

--With assistance from Lydia Beyoud.

(Updates with background starting in sixth paragraph.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on May 7, blamed Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena for the deteriorating law and order situation in Delhi. The party, led by Arvind Kejriwal, has accused LG Saxena of ruining the police force in the capital.

AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj launched a direct attack on the Delhi Lieutenant Governor. During a press conference, he spoke about a number of incidents to highlight his claims about the citys worsening law administration.

Also Read: 'Take decisions, don't blame others': Delhi LG VK Saxena writes to CM Arvind Kejriwal over AAP water scheme Bharadwaj spoke about a murder in Jaffrabad, where a man had been killed in broad daylight in front of other people. The AAP leader said that the man, who had been stabbed multiple times, was a murder witness.

He spoke about a firing incident outside a car showroom in Tilak Nagar. The AAP leader also spoke about the murder of a BSF soldier.

"The law-and-order situation has deteriorated in the last few months. The National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) data shows that Delhi has the highest crime rate (in the country). For a one-lakh population, 1,832 crimes were reported, seven times higher than the national average, PTI quoted Bhardwaj as saying.

Also Read: Delhi LG removes 223 DCW employees over alleged irregularities, ex-chief Swati Maliwal reacts Hes unable to do what hes supposed to. Instead, hes pointing fingers at others, he said.

"This shows LG V K Saxena's inefficiency. He has two things to take care of -- police and the DDA (Delhi Development Authority). But under him, the police force has been completely ruined," The Health Minister of Delhi said.

According to the MLA from Greater Kailash, LG Saxena is unable to oversee police. He asked the Lieutenant Governor to do his own work and stop interfering in the work of the Delhi government".

There was no immediate reaction from the LG's office.

AAP accused of being funded by Khalistani groups LG Saxena, on May 6, recommended a fresh investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against CM Kejriwal and his party. He, In a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs, accused AAP of receiving a "staggering amount of $16 million in funding from Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022", ANI reported.
India on Tuesday hit out at Canada after Khalistan floats were seen in Malton, saying that democratic countries "should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression".

In an official statement, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said, Celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civilized society. Democratic countries which respect the rule of law should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression.

He also added that India has repeatedly raised strong concerns about violent imagery being used by extremist elements in Canada against the Modi government.

Also read: Jaishankar entitled to his opinion': Canadian minister slams EAM's remark over Hardeep Singh Nijjar row Last year, a float depicting the assassination of India's Prime Minister was used in a procession, Jaiswal said adding that the display of posters of Indian diplomats have also been put out across Canada threatening violence against them.

At the Nagar Kirtan parade in Malton last year, floats of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were floated by Sikh extremists, demonstrating to sentence him for the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Also read: Justin Trudeau says rule-of-law after 3 arrested for Nijjar killing, Jaishankar says internal politics Inflammatory speeches were delivered by Dal Khalsa's Paramjit Mand and Avtar Singh Pannu, declared a terrorist by the Indian security agencies, at the six-km Nagar Kirtan. One of the floats displayed a map of Khalistan.

We continue to remain concerned about the security of our diplomatic representatives in Canada and expect the Government of Canada to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear, the statement read.

Also read: India-Canada FTA talks unlikely to resume soon India again called upon the Government of Canada to stop providing criminal and secessionist elements a safe haven and political space in Canada.
Days after reiterating its stance on seeking accountability from the Indian government, the United States on Monday said that they will wait for results of the Indian investigations in connection with a plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.

They (Indian government) opened a committee of inquiry to look into the matter, and that work is ongoing; we'll wait to see the results," US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said, responding to a question on the allegations that Indian government officials were involved in a plot to assassinate Pannun.

Miller said that the US made it very clear that it's something the country is taking seriously. "We think they, too, should take this seriously," reported PTI quoting Miller.

"I would refer you to the Canadian authorities to speak to the details of the investigation there. With respect to the indictment that was returned in the United States, I will let the Department of Justice speak on behalf of that in detail," he told reporters.

"When it comes to the State Department, we had made it clear right when these allegations were first made public that it's something we think India should take very seriously and investigate," Miller added.

Recently, a report in The Washington Post had named Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officials' alleged involvement in the plot to kill Pannun.

However, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal rejected the claims made in the report and termed it an "unwarranted and unsubstantiated" imputation on a "serious matter" that is under investigation. Jaiswal termed the report "speculative and irresponsible".

Jaiswal said a high-level inquiry committee set up by New Delhi to look into inputs provided by the US on the alleged plot was still probing the case.
Security forces on Tuesday killed two terrorists, including a top commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba offshoot The Resistance Front (TRF), in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district, some 70 kilometers from Srinagar.

Police said the slain terrorists were involved in several cases, including the killings of policemen and civilians.

One of the slain terrorists has been identified as Basit Dar, an "A" category terrorist who belonged to The Resistance Front, VK Birdhi, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, said.

Birdhi said that security forces got inputs about the movement of terrorists in Redwani village, following which a cordon and search operation was launched on Monday night.

The operation was jointly launched by the Indian Army and the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police on the intervening night of May 6-7.

On specific intelligence input regarding the presence of terrorists, a Joint operation was launched by #Indian Army & @JmuKmrPolice on the intervening night of 06-07 May in general area Redwani Payeen, Kulgam, resulting in an intense firefight, Indian Army's Chinar Corps said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Birdhi said that the terrorists were given an opportunity to surrender, but they continued firing on the security personnel. Two terrorists have been killed in this operation, and their bodies have been retrieved, but the search operation is going on.

Images from the area showed smoke billowing from a house after it caught fire during the gunfight.

According to the senior police official, Basit Dar was involved in 18 cases, including in the capital city, Srinagar.

He was involved in the killing of police personnel and innocent civilians. He was involved in planning and carrying out attacks, including on minority community members, the IGP said.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- As Indias six-week-long general election grinds past the halfway mark, Prime Minister Narendra Modis messaging has shifted from confident to shrill. After the first couple of phases of polling showed a 3-percentage-point drop in turnout, both Modi and his party leaders have largely stopped promoting their accomplishments of the past 10 years, or, for that matter, the Modi guarantees offered in the Bharatiya Janata Partys manifesto for the next five.

Instead, making the majority Hindu population fear and loathe Muslims seems to be the BJPs preferred talking point. Modi went on the offensive in an April 21 speech where he suggested that Rahul Gandhis Congress Party, if elected, would calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, and redistribute it among those who have more children... among infiltrators, tropes that his supporters routinely use to refer to Muslims, the largest religious minority.

The third of seven rounds ended Tuesday amid a deadly heat wave that is gripping much of South Asia and keeping voters from queuing up to cast their ballots. The Election Commission, which is meant to ensure that campaign publicity doesnt end up accentuating communal fault lines, would have sanctioned any other political figure for the kind of comments that the prime minister is making. But the watchdog is so reluctant to take on Modi, it sent a code-of-conduct violation notice to his party chief.

A record turnout in 2019 had helped Modis BJP tremendously, and the party was hoping that its star campaigners popularity and his consecration of a Hindu temple at a disputed site earlier this year  would lead to a repeat. That doesnt seem to be happening, and people have already voted (or chosen not to) for a little more than half of the 543 parliamentary seats that have gone to the polls. While the BJP is still the pollsters favorite to win, the party and its leaders appear to be oddly nervous, and are ramping up the fear-mongering accordingly. If you have two buffaloes, the Congress will take one, Modi said at a rally in Gujarat, his home state.

The Congress Party hasnt said anything about wealth redistribution. It has, however, promised an expansion of affirmative action. This is where the BJP sees an opportunity to pit Muslims against other disenfranchised groups. If you are a non-Muslim, says a now-deleted video, posted under the partys Instagram handle, Congress will snatch your wealth and distribute it to Muslims. Narendra Modi knows of this evil plan. Only he has the strength to stop it.

Next came a 17-second cartoon clip, in which Gandhi is shown hatching just such a plan of favoring Muslims at the expense of marginalized Hindu groups. But is that what Gandhi is really proposing? Muslims cant anyway be given religion-based reservation in higher education and government jobs. To do so would run afoul of Indias secular constitution. What the main opposition grouping has vowed in its manifesto is that it will increase the overall 50% limit on affirmative action, after first doing a caste census.

The last such exercise, which divided the population into roughly 4,000 groups and sub-groups, was under British rule in 1931. After independence in 1947, the government gave itself constitutional powers to make special provisions for the advancement of any deprived classes, castes and tribes. Indias affirmative action program, which predates the US Civil Rights Act of 1964, began with the most marginalized castes, often referred to as Dalits (broken people) and Adivasis (aboriginals). They are counted every 10 years, but other underprivileged groups are not. The caste data from a 2011 socioeconomic survey wasnt made public.

To refuse to gauge the extent of a malaise wont make it go away. Although the over-representation of disadvantaged castes in certain industries such as leather and waste handling has reduced sharply, it hasnt ended even after eight decades of affirmative action.

In the 1980s, more than 80% of casual-wage workers sons were also in irregular employment. That figure has come down to 53% for higher castes, but is still stuck at 76% for Dalits, according to last years State of Working India report by the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru. Female participation in the economy is abysmal: Every second young woman is neither working, nor studying. Separate data shows that when it comes to education, Indias Muslim youths are faring worse than Dalits.

Can some Muslim communities be given quotas, not because of their religion but because of their socioeconomic deprivation? Creating any new entitlement wont be politically easy. When I was at Delhi University in 1990, massive protests broke out over a 27% quota in federal jobs for so-called other backward classes. The policy survived, though not the government that had introduced it.

Muslims in Karnataka and Kerala are already eligible for state-level quotas. Tamil Nadu offers them to 95% of Muslim communities. Andhra Pradesh, too, reserves jobs and educational seats for some Islamic sects. These states happen to be in the countrys more prosperous south. Its time to begin a mature conversation on how to create more opportunities for Muslims in a rapidly modernizing economy. Demonizing them, as the BJP is doing with its animated videos, is hardly a way to go about such a dialogue.

Even as a pliant Election Commission looks the other way, Modi must weigh the consequences of his dog whistles. The Indian prime ministers desperation for a third term is putting a target on the back of a vulnerable minority  and placing millions of lives at risk.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services in Asia. Previously, he worked for Reuters, the Straits Times and Bloomberg News.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion
Canada's Immigration Minister, Marc Miller, said on Tuesday that India's External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, was entitled to his opinion in reaction to the criticism of the Justin Trudeau-led government following the arrest of three people linked to the killing of India-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Reacting to a query about Jaishankar's remarks, Miler said, "We're not lax. And the Indian foreign minister is entitled to his opinion. I'm going to let him speak his mind. It's just not accurate."

The minister refrained from providing specifics, citing the ongoing police investigation. Miler said that such inquiries should be directed to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), ANI reported.

On May 1, the Canadian Police arrested three people  Karanpreet Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, and Karan Brar  in Edmonton, Alberta, in connection with Nijjar's killing in June 2023.

Following that, on May 5, during an interaction discussing his book 'Why Bharat Matters', Jaishankar asserted, A number of people with organised crime links from Punjab have been made welcome in Canada. We have been telling Canada saying, look these are wanted criminals from India, you have given them visas.

Jaishankar also said some people in Canada, with 'pro-Pakistan leanings', have organised themselves politically and taken the shape of an influential political lobby, reported ANI.

"Often, when I see for example these kinds of attacks, threats to our embassies, because they concern me very deeply and I tell the foreign minister, suppose if (they) happened to you, if it was your embassy, your diplomat, your flag, how would you react. We have to keep our position strong on this particular report which has come," Jaishankar said.

Nijjar was shot and killed after he had stepped out of a gurdwara in Surrey in June 2023.

The killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly linked to Indian intelligence, ignited a diplomatic firestorm between the two countries.
In a major development, the Mumbai Crime Branch, on Tuesday, May 7, arrested a fifth accused in connection with the firing outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan's house in Bandra on April 14. The accused, identified as Mohammad Chaudhary, was arrested in Rajasthan.

Chaudhary is being brought to Mumbai today, where officials stated he will be produced in court, and a demand for custody will be made. Choudhary provided financial assistance for the alleged shooters, Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta, reported ANI, quoting the Mumbai Crime branch officials.

The firing incident occurred on April 14, when two motorbike-borne shooters opened fire outside The Galaxy apartments, Salman Khan's residence in Bandra.

Following the incident, four persons  Anuj Thapan, Sonu Bishnoi, alleged shooters Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta  were arrested.

Thapan and Sonu Kumar Bishnoi (32) were held from Fazilka in Punjab on April 26. The two had allegedly supplied weapons for the shooting at Salman Khan's residence.

However, on May 1, accused Anuj Thapan died by suicide, allegedly hanging himself with a bedsheet in the toilet of the first-floor lock-up inside the police commissioner's office compound in south Mumbai.

When Thapan did not come out of the toilet after being inside for a long time, cops forced the door and found him hanging. He was rushed to state-run Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital, where he was declared dead.

Following Thapan's death, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anand Dubey raised suspicions of foul play, questioning the involvement of some politicians or high-ranking officers.

There are CCTV cameras, there are so many officers...This is a big conspiracy, Dubey claimed.

Meanwhile, the Thapan's family has moved the Bombay High Court seeking a CBI probe into his death.

In her petition, his mother, Rita Devi, alleged foul play and claimed he was killed.

The petition alleged Thapan was physically assaulted and tortured by police in custody, reported PTI.
In a shocking incident, a man was arrested for demanding 2.5 crore from senior Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balsaheb Thackeray) leader Ambadas Danve, claiming that he could hack all the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the Sambhajinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

The arrested accused has been identified as Maruti Dhakne, a native of Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district.

Dhakne had dialled Shiv Sena leader Ambadas Danve, the leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative council, saying he could hack all the EVMs in the Sambhajinagar Lok Sabha constituency to get the desired result the party wanted. For this, he demanded 2.5 crore from the Sena leader.

Danave immediately lodged a complaint with the police. Following that, the police set a trap and gave money to Ambadas Danve. Later, Dhakne was caught red-handed while accepting 1 lakh from a hotel in Pune, reported ABP Majha.

Dhakne has been taken into custody by the Economic Offence Wing of the police.

Voting in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar constituency, which was earlier known as Aurangabad, is scheduled to take place on May 13, in phase 4 of Lok Sabha elections.

Also Read: Sanjay Nirupam returns to Shiv Sena after being expelled from Congress

The seat was one of the bastions of the undivided Shiv Sena after Mumbai and Thane. However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Chandrakant Khaire of undivided Shiv Sena was defeated by Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM's candidate Imtiaz Jaleel. Khaire lost the seat by a narrow margin of less than 4,500 votes.

This year, Ambadas Danve wanted to contest Lok Sabha polls from the seat. However, Sena (UBT) gave the ticket to Khaire. The AIMIM has renominated journalist-turned-politician Jaleel to fight against Khaire.

Khaire has won the seat four times in a row in 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it did not want Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to perform official duties if he was granted interim bail in connection with the excise policy-linked money laundering case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) contended that a narrative was being built successfully that Kejriwal had not done anything wrong but was arrested just before the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

The apex court, however, questioned the ED over the 'delay' in its probe, and asked the agency to produce case files before the arrest of the AAP leader.

Also Read: Arvind Kejriwal News Live Updates

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta is hearing arguments on Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest by the ED in the case.

Kejriwal was arrested on March 21. Currently, he is lodged in Tihar Jail and is under judicial custody.

Key developments 1) The ED alleged that Arvind Kejriwal had stayed in a seven-star hotel during the 2022 Goa assembly polls. Part of the bills were allegedly paid by the Delhi government's general administration department.

2) The Central probe agency said that Arvind Kejriwal would not have been arrested had he cooperated in the investigation. Kejriwal evaded nine summonses.

3) The apex court has said that it is an extraordinary situation as Arvind Kejriwal is the Delhi chief minister, and his interim bail plea needs to be considered.

4) However, the ED opposed the SC's view, saying that the court may not create a separate class for politicians.

5) The Supreme Court told Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal that it did not want him to perform official duties if he was granted interim bail. If he performs official duties, then it will be a conflict of interest, and the court doesn't want that.

6) Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal tells the SC that he will not deal with any excise policy scam-related files if granted interim bail.

7) The ED said that it can show that Kejriwal demanded 100 crore. "At the nascent stage, Kejriwal was not the focus and the investigating agency was not looking at that. The role became clearer only when the investigation progressed," reported Bar and Bench, quoting Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED.

8) Following Raju's comment, the SC said the only issue that arises is why the investigation took so long and why the questions were not asked.

9) The ED also claimed that once the witness said that he met Kejriwal for a land deal, then they came to know that it was all bogus and it was for 100 crore.

10) SG Tushar Mehta said that releasing him (Kejriwal) because he is a politician is not a correct precedent. "He chose to be a CM without a portfolio, and it is done to accommodate some people," Mehta argued.

Kejriwal also told the apex court that he won't sign files, but Delhi LG Vinai Kumar Saxena should not reject decisions just because he has not signed the files.

However, the apex court did not pronounce any order on the interim bail on Tuesday. The matter is likely to be taken up again next week for a hearing.
(Adds Q1 profit in paragraphs 2 and 12; updates share movement in paragraph 2)

By Yuvraj Malik

May 7 (Reuters) - Ride-hailing company Lyft projected higher-than-expected gross bookings and core profit for the current quarter on Tuesday, driven by robust demand for its services and benefits from new user and driver features.

It also reported first-quarter revenue and profit above expectations, sending its share up 5% in extended trading.

Lyft has been luring consumers with shortened wait times for some pre-scheduled rides and drivers with minimum wage guarantees while trimming costs to boost profitability.

Since CEO David Risher took charge last April, the company has cut hundreds of jobs, reduced the firm's losses, and managed to keep fare increases in check.

Lyft slashed costs by 13% and narrowed its net loss by 78% in 2023.

The company's shares rose 36% over the last year.

Lyft is benefiting from the industry-wide trend of a pickup in ride-hailing demand and its strong execution of new functionalities, Risher told Reuters in an interview.

"Our pickup times now are better than they've been in four years," he said.

The company estimated gross bookings, representing the total value of transactions on its platform, to range from $4.0 billion to $4.1 billion in the current quarter ending June, compared to estimates of $3.96 billion, per LSEG data.

Lyft forecast adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) between $95 million and $100 million, surpassing analysts' average expectations of $81.1 million.

Lyft's primary competitor, Uber Technologies, is scheduled to release its quarterly earnings before the market opens on Wednesday.

For the quarter ending March 31, Lyft's revenue increased 28% to $1.28 billion, outperforming analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. It earned 15 cents per share on an adjusted basis, higher than a 3 cent per share estimate.

The San Francisco, California-based firm said it had benefited from heightened demand during morning work commutes and weekend evening trips. It also gained from further expanding its service in Canada and growth in its advertising business.

Lyft will host its first-ever investor day event on June 6.
CHICAGO (AP)  A nonprofit Chicago journalism production company dedicated to holding public institutions accountable won two Pulitzer Prizes for local and audio reporting on Monday.

Based on the city's South Side, the Invisible Institute and its reporter Trina Reynolds-Tyler, along with Sarah Conway of journalism laboratory City Bureau, won a Pulitzer for a seven-part investigative series on missing Black girls and women in Chicago and how racism and the police response contributed to the problem.

The reporters questioned the Chicago Police Department's categorization of 99.8% of missing person cases from 2000 to 2021 as not criminal in nature. Reporters identified 11 cases that were wrongly categorized as closed non-criminal in the missing persons data despite being likely homicides.

I am hopeful that journalists are more critical of data and commit to telling full stories of people, not just in the worst moments of their lives, but the moments before and after it, Reynolds-Tyler said. I want to uplift the loved ones of the missing people profiled in this story."

Mayor Brandon Johnson filed a resolution last month calling for a hearing about missing person cases and the creation of a dedicated task force.

The Invisible Institute also won a Pulitzer for audio reporting with podcast producer USG Audio for the series You Didn't See Nothin."

The series follows host Yohance Lacour, an ex-con, as he revisits a 1997 hate crime on the South Side that introduced him to the world of investigative journalism, examining how its ripple effects have shaped his own life over the past quarter-century.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has shut down domestic dissent and ramped up confrontation with the West over nearly a quarter century in power, officially begins his fifth term on Tuesday.

Ever since the previously little-known KGB agent became president on New Year's Eve 1999, he has consolidated power by bringing oligarchs to heel, banning any real opposition and turning Russia into an authoritarian state.

Also read: Russians Are Coming to Terms With Putins War in Ukraine The Kremlin leader is due to be inaugurated for a fifth term on Tuesday after winning his largest-ever election victory in March in a vote condemned by the West as a sham.

The election was overshadowed by the death of Putin's main rival Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison in mysterious circumstances.

Other opponents are serving lengthy jail sentences or have fled into exile.

Abroad, 71-year-old Putin has spearheaded efforts to challenge the dominance of the West.

His grip on power tightened further after he invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with public dissent against the war effectively silenced through court proceedings and imprisonment.

His rule risks being defined by the war in Ukraine, which has cost many thousands of lives and sparked unprecedented Western sanctions that have created major tensions in the Russian economy.

Also read: How Western Sanctions Are Strangling Putins Arctic Gas Ambitions - Quashed mutiny -

There were large anti-war protests in the days after he ordered troops into Ukraine in the early hours of February 24, 2022. They were quickly quashed.

But there were more demonstrations months later when the government was forced to announce a partial mobilisation, after Russia failed to topple Ukraine's government in the opening offensive of the war.

The most serious challenge to Putin's long rule came in June 2023, when Yevgeny Prigozhin, a long-time ally and head of the Wagner mercenary group, announced a mutiny to unseat Russia's military leadership.

The bloody uprising threatened to tarnish Putin's self-created image of a strategic genius -- uncomfortable for a ruler who likes to compare himself to Peter the Great, the reform-minded emperor who expanded Russia's borders.

But in recent months, Putin has demonstrated his lasting power.

Domestic opposition has been silenced, the economy is growing again, the Russian military has gained ground in east Ukraine, and he has resumed foreign travel.

- Early reform hopes -

Putin started out as an intelligence officer before embarking on a political career in the mayor's office in his native Saint Petersburg in 1991, as the Soviet Union was falling apart.

Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first president, appointed him as head of the FSB security service in 1998 and as prime minister the following year.

It was a carefully planned strategy, culminating in his nomination as acting president when Yeltsin resigned.

Putin won his first presidential election in March 2000 and a second term in 2004.

His rise initially spurred hopes that Russia would reform and become a predictable, democratic partner to the West on the global stage.

Putin gained popularity by promising stability to a country still reeling from a decade of humiliation and economic chaos following the Soviet collapse.

After two stints as president, he switched back to being prime minister in 2008 to circumvent a constitutional ban on holding more than two consecutive terms as head of state.

But he kept the reins of power firmly in hand and returned to the presidency in 2012 despite pro-democracy protests in Moscow, winning a fourth term in 2018.

He jailed his loudest rival, Navalny, in 2021.

The clampdown on opposition movements ramped up after the launch of hostilities in Ukraine.

Thousands of Russians were handed long prison sentences using newly reinforced censorship laws.

The West imposed sanctions that effectively cut off Russia from the global banking system, adding to the Russian leadership's siege mentality.

- 'New Iron Curtain' -

In October 2023, Putin accused Europe of creating a "new Iron Curtain" and said Russia was building "a new world" order that would not be based on Western hegemony.

He has also increasingly pushed a domestic agenda of nationalism and social conservatism, including most recently laws against Russia's LGBTQ community.

Persona non grata among Western leaders after the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian strongman has sought to pivot east, wooing India and China with increased energy exports.

At the same time, he has drastically boosted defence spending, creating a new war economy in an effort to prevail in Ukraine.

The war failed in its initial aims to topple Ukraine's government and Russia was forced into a series of humiliating setbacks by the determined defence of the much smaller Ukrainian army.

But, with the conflict now in its third year, Putin has been speaking with increased confidence about Russia's prospects on the battlefield -- a topic he avoided for many months.

Russian forces successfully held off a much-hyped Ukrainian counter-offensive last year and have made significant advances in 2024 following delays to much-needed Western military supplies.

Wrangling in Washington held up $61 billion in military aid for Ukraine, which was finally approved last month.
Google Doodle Today: Elections in one of the world's biggest democracies have got Google's attention as the globally popular search engine has dedicated the May 7th doodle to the third phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 set to begin on Tuesday.

Google Doodle Today: Google dedicated May 7 doodle to the third phase of voting in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024

Today's Google Doodle on the third phase of voting in General Elections will be visible only to people living in India. The addition of an inked finger icon on the logo was also done in the earlier phases of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 held on April 19 and April 26.

Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 3 A total of 93 Lok Sabha constituencies will go to polls in the third phase of general elections on Tuesday. These 93 Lok Sabha seats are located in eleven states and Union Territories. All eyes will be on key contestants like Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Sharad Pawars daughter Supriya Sule, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, etc.

The third phase will mark elections to more than half of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country. Voting in all the said constituencies will begin at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.

People from Gujarat, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Karnataka, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, etc will cast their votes today.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is contesting elections from Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Whereas, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is contesting the election from Vidisha, Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna (MP) and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule is contesting elections from the Baramati seat in Maharashtra.
A man facing the charges of murdering his hospitalised wife in the United States has confessed that he "choked her" because couldn't afford her medical bills and had failed to look after her, court records revealed on Monday.

The Kansas man, Ronnie Wiggs, first appeared in court for a second-degree murder charge. He was then referred to the public defenders office.

Wiggs' next court hearing is scheduled for Thursday (May 9) to review his $250,000 bond.

Also read: Indian couple, grandchild killed in multi-vehicle accident in Canada's Toronto; Indian consulate share condolences What did Ronnie Wiggs say in his confession to the police? Ronnie Wiggs' wife was getting a new port for her dialysis when the staff at Centrepoint Medical Centre called a "code blue" on May 3.

Following the resuscitation procedure, the hospital staff found that she was brain dead. They then prepared her for organ harvesting, and she was declared dead on May 4, according to the probable cause statement.

Also read: Four children, driver killed as tractor-trolley overturns in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district As per the statement, Wiggs ran away from the hospital after killing the woman and was brought back by her son when he confessed: "I did it, I killed her, I choked her, hospital staff members heard him say. He was then arrested.

Wiggs told a detective that he first covered his wifes nose and mouth to stop her from screaming.

According to the statement, he was depressed and was not able to handle the caregiving and bills.

Also read: Was Navjeet Sandhu killed by fellow Indians in Australia? His relative reveals details He also accepted that he had tried to kill his wife before too  when she was admitted to a rehabilitation facility. However, he said, she woke up and asked him not to do that again, as per the statement.

Wiggs, according to the statement, said that he made another attempt to kill his wife when she was hospitalised but failed to grab a chance because she was hooked up to several monitors.
Say goodbye to Daddy, she said. Her 3-year-old son faced his father on a mobile camera. Then, the mother shot the child in a ditch before killing herself.

It happened in Texas, US. it was one day before 32-year-old Savannah Kriger was supposed to appear in court for a custody battle with her ex-husband over their son Kaiden. Before the murder-suicide, Kriger told her ex-husband on FaceTime that he would not have anything at all by the end of the day.

Also Read: Mother shares video of baby daughter's cancer battle; netizens call her 'brave little warrior' The revelation comes from police as the mother and son were discovered with gunshot wounds in their heads. The incident took place on March 19. It took many weeks for the officers to determine the final hours of the murder-suicide, the New York Post reported.

A video found on her phone, lasting 21 seconds, showed Kriger and her son sitting in a park ditch. In the video, the woman asked the son to say goodbye to his father.

Also Read: Mother throws 6-year-old son into crocodile-infested river; child found with missing hand Then, she apologised to him as his father wasnt there for him. She kissed the child after that. As per authorities, the mother looked for cartoon videos while sitting in the ditch, where they were later found dead.

What happened? The situation started on March 18 when Kriger left her job in the afternoon and went to her ex-partner's house while he was at work, according to the Bexar County Sheriffs Office. She reportedly damaged his furniture and some personal belongings before going back to her house.

Also Read: Parents demanding 65% of salary sparks online debate, netizens say unreasonable, learn to say NO There, police later discovered her wedding dress and pictures on the bed. Sheriff Javier Salazar reported that she had shot her wedding pictures twice. After this, Kriger picked up her son from daycare and began sending disturbing messages to the boy's father, the authorities noted.
On This Day: There is a rich history behind every day. From Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary to Border Roads Organisation (BRO) raising day, several incidents are celebrated on May 7, every year. The day also marked a phenomenal development in geopolitics as Vladimir Putin became the President of Russia for the first time on May 7, 2000. Take a look at the key events that were held today in past.

Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary Popular as the Bard of Bengal for his exceptional contribution to Indian literature, Rabindranath Tagore was born on 7 May 1861. Apart from his exceptional literature work, Tagore also contributed to the composition of Jana Gana Mana, which was adopted as India's National Anthem on 24 January 1950. To honour his birth anniversary, this day is also celebrated as Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti every year.

BRO raising day The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) was formed on May 7, 1960. The organisation is responsible for the daunting task of road construction on India's tough terrains and remote locations in the north and the northeast region near the borders.

Vladimir Putin elected as President of Russia for the first time One of the most influential leaders across the globe, Vladimir Putin was elected as the Russian President for the first time on March 26, 2000 and was inaugurated on May 7, 2000.

Putin won the 2000 elections with about 53 per cent of the vote. As president, he sought to end corruption and create a strongly regulated market economy.
With corporates always looking to make work culture a little more fun, an Indian firm has just introduced Wrinkled Monday to support the environment. It's like casual Fridays but for a cause  it wants employees to embrace sustainable fashion and positively impact the environment.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India's premier research organisation, has asked its staff to wear wrinkled clothes on Monday in its recent 'Wrinkles Acche Hai' (WAH) initiative.

CSIR officials confirmed to India Today that the WAH initiative has been introduced and the the staff have been asked to wear non-ironed clothes.

Also read: Investments in India have benefitted climate change, housing projects: IFC Here is why CSIR began Wrinkles Acche Hai: CSIR's WAH initiative is a symbolic fight against climate change; to contribute to saving energy.

CSIR officials told India Today that the initiative is about making people aware of climate change and how the tiniest things can contribute in the global fight against it.

Also read: Climate Change: 89% of glacial lakes in Indian Himalayas expanding at unprecedented rate, says ISRO. What are the risks? The 'Wrinkles Acche Hai' campaign was launched as part of CSIR's 'Swachhata Pakhwada' from 1-15 May. These SOPs will be implemented during June-August 2024 as a pilot trial.

The 'Swachhata Pakhwada' initiative aims to reduce electricity consumption in CSIR laboratories nationwide and trim workplace electricity expenses by 10 per cent.

Also read: Through heat waves and rain fury, businesses navigate climate change Dr N Kalaiselvi, secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the first woman director general of CSIR, said the campaign is a part of CSIR's broader endeavour to conserve energy.

Dr Kalaiselvi said ironing each set of clothes emits nearly 200g of carbon dioxide, and therefore, the objective of WAH is to cut down on it for a day each week.
(Adds details, background)

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) -

U.S. House and Senate negotiators have agreed to revise language in an aviation reform bill to ensure quick refunds for airline passengers whose flights are canceled and who are not seeking alternative flights.

On April 24, the U.S. Transportation Department finalized new rules that will later this year require automatic cash refunds for canceled flights when passengers choose not to take a new flight. A bipartisan proposal in Congress released last week said passengers must request the refunds. This raised concerns the law could undercut USDOT rule that would ensure people who bought non-refundable tickets got reimbursed for canceled flights.

Instead, refunds would be automatic in many instances under revised language seen by Reuters. But the automatic refunds would not apply if passengers rebooked and accepted a new flight.

U.S. senators hope the revised bill will win approval before a Friday deadline to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for five years.

An aide to Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell said the new language "reaffirms a passengers right to a refund in law, provides additional clarity for consumers, while maintaining strong bipartisan support needed for the legislation."

An spokesperson for Senator Ted Cruz, the panel's top Republican, said he and Cantwell had agreed to add a "clarifying point affirming the right of consumers to get a refund if that is their preference."

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley had proposed an amendment to make the refunds automatic and "crack down on burdensome corporate processes put in place to maximize airlines profits." The new provision is similar to what Warren and Hawley had sought in their amendment.

Neither the rule nor the legislation mandates compensation for delays -- as is required for some lengthy waits in the European Union. President Joe Biden said last May that the Transportation Department would propose new rules requiring airlines to compensate passengers with cash for significant controllable flight delays or cancellations.

The nearly 1,100-page $105 billion bill would also boost air traffic controller staffing and hike funding to avert runway close-call incidents. But it does not include a House-passed provision to raise the airline pilot retirement age to 67 from 65.

The bill prohibits airlines from charging fees for families to sit together, adds five daily roundtrip flights at busy Washington National Airport and requires airlines to accept vouchers and credits for at least five years.
Apple Inc. illegally interrogated staff at its World Trade Center store in New York City, the US labor board ruled Monday, marking the latest rebuke of the iPhone makers labor practices.

A trio of Democratic-appointed labor board members ruled against the company, affirming the findings last year of an administrative law judge. In that decision, the judge concluded that the company violated federal law in 2022 by confiscating union flyers, prohibiting workers from placing them on a table in the break room and coercively interrogating employees.

Mondays ruling is the first decision against Apple by the NLRBs members, agency spokesperson Kayla Blado said. The Cupertino, California-based company, which didnt have an immediate comment, has previously denied wrongdoing.

Apple has faced a wave of organizing efforts over the past couple years, with employees at stores in Maryland and Oklahoma voting to unionize in 2022. Some other unionization petitions were withdrawn prior to voting, and other efforts  like the World Trade Center one  never got far along enough to seek a vote. The Maryland and Oklahoma stores havent yet reached collective bargaining agreements with the company.

Other cases are still pending, including one in which an NLRB regional director accused Apple of illegally excluding unionized workers from certain benefits. Rulings by NLRB members can be appealed to federal court. The agency lacks authority to impose punitive damages or hold executives personally liable for violations.

Employees at an Apple Store in Short Hills, New Jersey, are slated to vote Friday and Saturday on whether to become the third unionized site among the companys roughly 270 US stores.
Chinas President Xi Jinping arrived in Serbia on the second leg of his European tour as he sought to tighten Beijings embrace of the Balkan nation in contrast with a more difficult relationship with most of Europe.

The Chinese leader landed in Belgrade Tuesday night and was greeted by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and most of the government ministers. Xi completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with President Emmanuel Macron as the European Union takes a tougher stance on trade with China.

But in Serbia, Xi will aim to bolster economic and political ties with a country thats thrown open its arms to Chinese trade and investment. The president will finish up his five-day trip with a stop in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban stands nearly alone among EU leaders in drawing closer to China.

Xis visit also coincides with the 25th anniversary of the deadly US bombing of the Chinese embassy during the 1999 NATO operation aimed at pushing Yugoslav troops out of Kosovo. That event, which the White House later called a mistake and blamed on faulty maps, triggered widespread protests in China and cemented a more tense relationship with Washington.

He vowed to never forget the bombing in a Tuesday article published in Politika, Serbias oldest daily newspaper. Twenty-five years ago today, NATO flagrantly bombed the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, killing three Chinese journalists, Xi said.

Chinese and Serbian flags fluttered along the highway leading to the city center, ahead of the meetings on Wednesday, when the two sides are expected to sign as many as 30 agreements, the government in Belgrade said without elaborating.

Meeting with Vucic, Xis trip will highlight projects such as the new high-speed railway linking Belgrade to Budapest. Direct Chinese investment in Hungary and Serbia exceeds $15 billion with more coming, ranging from car battery plants in Hungary to copper mining in Serbia.

We are completely open to Chinese investment, Serbias Deputy Premier Sinisa Mali told state broadcaster RTS shortly before Xis arrival. China is one of the two biggest powers in the world and Xi is the most important statesman coming to Serbia in the last several years.

Read More: Chinas Billions Help Xi Make Useful Friends in Eastern Europe

Xi on Monday also met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who told him that the EU is prepared to deploy all tools available to defend its economies if China fails to offer fair access to its markets. She drove home the EUs position that heavily subsidized Chinese products such as electric vehicles and steel are flooding Europe.
The Israeli army has taken operational control of the Palestinian side of Rafah border crossing between Gaza Strip and Egypt on Tuesday, the military said, adding that they are scanning the area.

Last night, IDF (army) troops managed to establish operational control of the Gazan side of (Rafah) crossing. We have special forces scanning the area to find additional terror infrastructure or terrorists. We are only talking about the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing," the military said as quoted by AP.

Currently, the military is engaged in a "very targeted operation and a very limited scope against very specific targets" in eastern Rafah. Many organisations and people living in the area have moved to a safer zone. So far, 20 militants have been killed since the beginning of Israeli strikes in Rafah on Monday.

Israeli military launched targeted strikes against the Hamas militant group in the southern Gaza city of Rafah following the country's war cabinet approval on it, said officials late Monday. This came hours after Hamas accepted the Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal.

Israel stated that the deal did not meet its core demands", so the country will continue negotiations and strikes in Rafah. Following this, Qatar's foreign ministry said its delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the truce proposal fell short of Israel's demands but Israel would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement. He added that his war cabinet approved continuing an operation in Rafah.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.
Prominent business leaders, including Darcy Penick of Bergdorf Goodman Inc., former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, are among those hosting political fundraisers for President Joe Biden as the campaign taps Democratic-donor rich Silicon Valley and Chicago for cash.

Tickets to the fundraisers, slated for May and June, go for as much as $250,000 for some events, according to invitations obtained by Bloomberg News.

Biden has intensified his fundraising in recent weeks, seeking to build up his already formidable money advantage over presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. The president plans to visit Chicago on Wednesday following an official visit to Wisconsin, and on Friday, hell hold three high-dollar fundraisers in one day  two in Northern California and a third in Seattle. Later in the month, hell add an Atlanta fundraiser to his planned trip to the city to deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College.

An April Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll shows Trump leading Biden in several swing states that will be critical to the outcome of their November rematch, but the president has been outraising his rival in the money race.

Biden and the Democratic Party raised more than $90 million in March. They ended the month with $192 million cash on hand, roughly $100 million more than Trump and the Republican National Committees $93.1 million. Trump and the RNC said they raised $76 million in April, while Bidens campaign has yet to report its tally.

The Biden campaign declined to comment. A representative for Khosla confirmed his involvement in the fundraiser. Penick is hosting the fundraiser in her personal capacity and the event is not associated with Bergdorf Goodman, according to a person familiar with the matter. Representatives for Mayer and Blank did not immediately return requests for comment.

Blank is a prominent Democratic donor, having given $400,000 to the Biden Victory Fund and the maximum $6,600 to Biden for President in 2023, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Khosla donated to Democrats senatorial and House campaign committees in 2023 and last year also gave more than $100,000 to Bidens reelection efforts.

Biden has sought to ramp up his campaign appearances as Trump has been sidelined by a Manhattan trial over charges involving hush-money payments to an adult film star. The former presidents legal woes, including multiple civil and criminal cases, have been a drag on his campaign, restricting his campaigning and draining his finances.

Trump is trying to step up his own fundraising with events coming up in New York, Kentucky and Las Vegas, Nevada.
Columbia University hosted the 108th Pulitzer Prize ceremony on May 7, honouring excellence in American journalism, literature, drama, and music. Widely regarded as the highest honour in their respective fields nationwide, this year's awards took place against extraordinary circumstances.

Among this year's recipients, The New York Times earned one of its three Pulitzer Prizes for its reporting on the Gaza conflict.

Here's a list of journalists or publications that received the Pulitzer Award 2024.

1) Staff of Reuters: This year, the national reporting category saw two prizes  Reuters' team clinched the win for their "eye-opening series of accountability stories," which delved into the automobile and aerospace ventures led by billionaire Elon Musk.

2) Staff of The Washington Post: The staff members of The Washington Post won Pulitzer Prize 2024 for its sobering examination of the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

3) Staff of The New York Times: The New York Times was honoured for its comprehensive and enlightening reporting on Hamas' lethal attack in southern Israel on October 7, Israel's intelligence lapses, and the sweeping, lethal retaliation by the Israeli military in Gaza, the Pulitzer committee said.

4) Photography Staff of The Associated Press: The AP journalists were recognized for their moving photographs documenting the unprecedented influx of migrants and their challenging journey north from Colombia to the United States border.

5) Staffs of the Invisible Institute and USG Audio: These two newsrooms were awarded for their impactful series, which revisited a hate crime in Chicago from the 1990s, blending memoir, community history, and journalism into a compelling narrative.

6) Photography Staff of Reuters: The photography staff was awarded for their unfiltered and urgent photographs capturing the deadly attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7, as well as the initial weeks of Israel's devastating offensive on Gaza.

7) Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times: The committee commended Chang's film criticism for reflecting on the modern movie-watching experience, hailing it as richly evocative and spanning various genres.

8) Katie Engelhart, contributing writer, The New York Times: Engelhart was honoured for her impartial depiction of a family's legal and emotional challenges amid a matriarch's progressive dementia. According to the committee, her article sensitively delves into the enigma of a person's core identity.

9) Vladimir Kara-Murza, contributor, The Washington Post: The committee emphasized Kara-Murza's impassioned columns, penned at considerable personal risk from his prison cell. These columns serve as a warning about the repercussions of dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia while advocating for a democratic future for his nation.

10) David E. Hoffman of The Washington Post: Hoffman was recognized for his compelling and thoroughly researched series on emerging technologies and the methods employed by authoritarian regimes to suppress dissent in the digital era, as well as strategies for countering them.

11) Sarah Conway of City Bureau and Trina Reynolds-Tyler of the Invisible Institute: Conway and Reynolds-Tyler were commended for their investigative series shedding light on the plight of missing Black girls and women in Chicago. Their work exposed the role of systemic racism and neglect within the police department, contributing to a deeper understanding of the crisis.
Romania will consider sending one of its Patriot air defense systems to neighboring Ukraine to help the war-torn country fend off Russian aerial attacks, President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday.

Speaking after a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington, Iohannis said the eventual decision cant jeopardize his countrys security. A NATO member for two decades, Romania shares the longest border with Ukraine among the European Unions member states.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called on the members of the alliance to boost air defense support for Ukraine at a key moment in the conflict as Russia has intensified its bombing campaign against energy infrastructure and cities.

Stoltenberg said last month that allies have identified additional air defense equipment for Ukraine, including Patriot and SAMP/T systems.

President Biden raised the topic of Patriots and I told him that Im open to discussing it, Iohannis told reporters. Well need to discuss it domestically, to see whether we can offer one system and of course what we can get in return, because its unacceptable that Romania is left without air defenses.

Romania has one Patriot system that is already operational and another three that are in the process of being set up. It could consider transferring one of them to Ukraine, he said.

Iohannis also said that he discussed with Biden his bid to become the next NATO chief after Stoltenbergs term ends this year. They agreed to continue the dialog, even as the US and most other members of the alliance have thrown their support behind outgoing Dutch Premier Mark Rutte.
A US soldier was detained in eastern Russia on charges of criminal misconduct, the US Army said Monday, a potential new flashpoint in relations between the nations already at a low since Russias February invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

The soldier, who wasnt identified, was detained by Russian authorities in Vladivostok on May 2, US Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said in a statement, which didnt specify the nature of the charges. The State Department has notified the soldiers family and is offering consular support, she said.

Given the sensitivity of this matter, we are unable to provide additional details at this time, Smith said.

The soldier, a 34-year-old infantryman stationed in South Korea, traveled to Russia on his own, according to a person familiar with the situation who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. He was scheduled to change duty stations from South Korea to Texas, according to the person.

A State Department spokesperson confirmed the detention of an American citizen, repeated department warnings against travel to Russia and urged any US citizens inside Russia to depart immediately.

The spokesperson declined to address the specifics of the soldiers case, citing privacy and other considerations.

The detention, which US authorities thus far have not characterized as unlawful or illegitimate, adds to the tally of Americans held in Russia. The Biden administration classifies businessman Paul Whelan and journalist Evan Gershkovich, held in Russia since December 2018 and March 2023, respectively, as wrongfully detained. Both have been charged with, and Whelan convicted of, espionage charges that they and the US government dismiss as false.

Other Americans held in Russia include Marc Fogel, a former US diplomat and teacher convicted on drug charges, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, accused of failing to register as a foreign agent. Ksenia Karelina, a dual US-Russian national, has been detained on treason charges, reportedly tied to a charitable donation to benefit Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby earlier told reporters at the White House that the administration was aware of the soldiers detention. The Army didnt respond to questions about the nature of the soldiers travels to Russia or the unit he was assigned to.

The Russian Embassy in Washington didnt immediately respond to a request for comment on the nature of the charges or the soldiers whereabouts or condition.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)  Chinese leader Xi Jinping's visit to European ally Serbia on Tuesday falls on a symbolic date: the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during NATO's air war over Kosovo.

U.S. jets dropped five bombs on the Chinese Embassy compound in the Serbian capital on May 7, 1999, setting it ablaze and killing three Chinese nationals. Twenty other people were injured in the bombing, which has burdened relations between the two powers ever since.

Xi referred to the bombing in an op-ed published in Serbias Politika newspaper on Tuesday, saying that we must not forget that 25 years ago today, NATO brazenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, according to translations carried by Chinese state media.

The Chinese people value peace but will never allow historical tragedies to happen again," Xi added.

The Western military alliance had launched the air war in March that year to force then Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to end a brutal onslaught against ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo.

The U.S. at the time apologized and said the embassy bombing was a mistake that happened due to faulty intelligence. The intended target, Washington said, was the headquarters of a Serbian state arms exporter located on the same street, a few blocks away.

Imagine that somebody would, even by accident, strike an American Embassy somewhere around the world. The reaction would be immediate, said Sven Biscop, a professor of European foreign and security policy at the Ghent University and Egmont Institute.

So for a country like China, it is also clear that this is a big thing," he added. "And, of course, it has not been forgotten.

Angry protesters in China stormed U.S. diplomatic installations as the bombing fueled anti-American sentiments and speculation that the attack was intentional rather than accidental. Mistrust over the incident has endured to this day.

We will probably never really conclusively know either way," Biscop said. But one thing is sure. In war, incidents like that do happen, and I usually tend to go for the most simple explanation rather than try to invent complicated theories.

While straining Beijing's relations with the U.S., the embassy bombing brought China and Serbia closer together. China has emerged as Serbias largest provider of foreign direct investment and its second-largest trading partner after the European Union.

Beijing opposed the NATO bombing campaign and has since backed Belgrade's bid to counter the Western-backed push for independence in Kosovo, a former Serbian province. In return, Serbia has been a loyal ally to Beijing and has opened its doors without restraint to billions of dollars of Chinese investment, even as it formally seeks EU membership.

"The friendship forged in blood between the peoples of China and Serbia has become the common memory of the two peoples and will inspire both sides to move forward together, Xi wrote. We are willing to work with our Serbian friends to stay true to our original aspirations, join hands in progress, write a new chapter in national development and revitalization, and build a China-Serbia community with a shared future for mankind in the new era.

Signs of pro-China sentiments were clearly visible ahead of Xi's visit on Tuesday and Wednesday. In Belgrade, a huge Chinese flag was placed on a skyscraper along a roadway leading into the city from the airport. Smaller Chinese and Serbian flags could be seen downtown and along a highway.

Serbia's air force MiG-29 jets escorted Xi's presidential plane to the Belgrade airport.

Xi arrived from France and will later travel to Hungary as part of his first European tour in five years.

He is expected to visit the site of the former embassy and pay his respects to the bombing victims. A Chinese cultural center now stands at the spot where the embassy was once located.

The sprawling complex reportedly includes a Confucius Institute, workshops, exhibitions, offices, residential space and a hotel. It is seen as a symbol of China's growing influence in Serbia and across Europe.

Near the institute, a group of visitors from China last weekend bowed in front of a simple black-marble monument and laid flowers in honor of the victims of the 1999 bombing. An inscription on the monument in both Chinese and English reads: Honor Martyrs, Cherish Peace.

___
China makes headway in enhancing grassroots medical services

Xinhua) 19:38, May 07, 2024

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China has worked to bolster its public health care services at various levels, aiming to improve its people's well-being, a senior National Health Commission (NHC) official said on Tuesday.

At a press conference held in Beijing, NHC official Zhu Hongbiao highlighted China's efforts to channel medical resources, including personnel, technology, services and management, into community-level health care institutions, ensuring the public has access to quality medical services on their doorsteps.

Currently, over 70 percent of medical institutions at the grassroots level have met basic or recommended standards in terms of service capabilities, Zhu said.

Zhu also noted measures that have been taken to build a capable workforce for community-level health care institutions. These measures include programs that provide free medical education to rural students who commit to serving their local areas, as well as subsidies for those working at village clinics.

Additionally, Zhu emphasized efforts to improve the services of city and county-level medical institutions, such as the establishment of partnerships between China's top-tier hospitals and county-level hospitals to provide assistance and support.

In 2023, the proportion of visits to community-level health care institutions climbed to 52 percent, demonstrating the increasing appeal of grassroots health care institutions among the public, Zhu said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
India is in the midst of conducting its 18th Lok Sabha elections. In the first eight of these Parliamentary polls held after independence, the winning party had more than the required majority of seats to form a government, ranging from a high of 143 more for Rajiv Gandhi of the Congress in 1984 to a low of just 22 over the majority-mark for his predecessor Indira Gandhi in 1967. The reason to look at it this way is that the number of Lok Sabha seats has varied over time, from a low of 489 for the first elections held in 1951 to the current 543, so using a benchmark of the majoritys size allows direct comparison.

From the ninth through the 15th general elections in 2009, the winning party was short of a majority, with the deficit ranging from 127 in the 2004 Congress victory for Manmohan Singh to 24 in the same partys 1991 win that saw P.V. Narasimha Rao become prime minister. Negative majority margins necessitate coalition governments. The pattern changed in the elections of 2014 and 2019, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 10 and 31 seats over majority- mark, respectively.

Will the BJP or Congress maintain the trend of a single party returning more than the required majority to Parliament in 2024? It can only be either of these parties, as they are the only two contesting more than the majority number of 272 seats; BJP candidates have registered in 446 constituencies and Congress leaders in 327. Statistically speaking, the probability of the Congress achieving the halfway mark alone, with an 82% success rate required on contested seats, is very low. In terms of candidates, the third largest party at the moment is the Samajwadi Party (SP), with 62 constituencies. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has not yet announced its full list of candidates, as Indias multi-phase elections allow later declarations.

There are various types of voting systems around the world, too numerous and too arcane to review here. Suffice it to say that they attempt to balance proportionality, voter choice and local representation. Like the UK, India uses a first-past-the-post system (FPTP). This term is a reference to horse racing, where the first horse to cross the post is the sole winner, whether it leads by just a nose or a whole mile. The candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins, even if the persons vote share is less than half the total votes cast, as often happens when there are more than two contestants in the fray.

In the 2019 elections, BJP candidates in as many as 224 Parliamentary constituencies won with a voter share greater than 50%, implying that they would have won those seats under any electoral system. An excellent analysis on Print.in puts paid to the unexamined notion that those 224 seats came exclusively from BJP strongholds in five states, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, which together account for 200 Lok Sabha seats.

Instead, it is less concentrated than expected in those states (except Gujarat) and reasonably well spread across other states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Haryana. In 2019, counter-intuitively, non-BJP parties secured over half the votes cast in 117 constituencies in states as diverse as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, but also including Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, among others.

One way to predict the outcome of these elections is to notionally award those 224 safe seats to the BJP and the 117 others to non-BJP parties (with some adjustments to be made for differences in who is with the BJP this time versus the last), with the remaining 202 constituencies counted as swing seats for analysis. But this could yield erroneous results for two reasons.

One, the past is not necessarily prologue; and two, the nature (in a structural sense that matters to the FPTP system) of the BJPs opposition at the state level has changed. For instance, in Uttar Pradesh, the mahagatbandhan (grand coalition) between the SP and BSP of the last election has broken down since then, and the SP has allied itself with the Congress in the INDIA bloc, even as the BSP fades.

In Bihar, Nitish Kumars Janata Dal (United) has been allocated 16 seats in the NDA bloc, and it is hard to tell what his constant flip-flops will imply for results. In Maharashtra, there are now two Shiv Senas and two Nationalist Congress Parties (NCPs). There is heated debate about whether citizens would prefer the original versions of these parties under Uddhav Thackery and Sharad Pawar, respectively, or the newer splinters that have been awarded the original party symbols.

Even though each seat counts as one and it matters not from which state it comes, in the 17 states with more than 10 seats each (that together make up 502), six states count as swing states. These are Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Haryana. You could add Bihar to this list for 2024. These battle-ground states form a sort of cummerbund around Indias heartland.

These arent swing states in the American sense, as the whole state isnt awarded to a sole winner, but because the FPTP winner in each constituency will likely be determined by a small margin and will be deeply influenced by the number of candidates, as well as local factors. There are a total of 152 seats in these six states (192 if you add Bihar). By my estimate, about half of these will be too close to call and will thus determine whether the recent trend of non-coalition governments is maintained or reversed.

P.S. With the slightest pushin just the right placeit can be tipped," said Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point.
The European Court of Human Rights recently ruled in favour of KlimaSeniorinnen (Senior Women for Climate Protection), an association of more than 2,000 Swiss women, all above the age of 64, who had filed a case against the Swiss government for its failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which has put them at a greater risk of dying during heatwaves because of their age and gender.

The ruling made the Swiss government accountable for violating its citizens Right to Life and Health, and created a binding legal precedent for all 46 countries that are part of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Swiss government, however, argued that decisions on climate policy should be taken by democratically-elected lawmakers, not by courts.

The world has been warming up at an average rate of about 0.2 Celsius per decade since the late 1970s. Europe has emerged as a major climatic hotspot, almost 1 Celsius worse off than the corresponding global increase. A study in Europe that assessed the sex-and age-specific mortality burden during a period of record-breaking temperatures from 30 May to 4 September 2022 found a spike in heat-related deaths in older age groups, especially of women.

A 2014 study in India revealed that more women than men died during a 2010 heat wave in Ahmedabad, when temperatures reached 47.8 Celsius and heat-related hospital admissions of newborns went up by 43%. Arsht-Rock research work in India, Nigeria and the US has forecast that heat could claim the lives of 204,000 women annually across these three countries alone by 2050. In India, in an extremely hot year, the toll may go up to 131,000, which would be about 1.1% of total deaths.

The Swiss ethnologist Elisabeth Stern, an active member of the KlimaSeniorinnen, has urged further research to ascertain the reasons for womens greater vulnerability to heat waves. A 2018 study in 272 cities in China attributed it to physiological causes, like greater cardiovascular strain on women" caused by heat. Hein Daanen, a physiology researcher at Free University, Amsterdam, has observed that sweating is a particularly effective method of cooling, and, women, who have a lower capacity to perspire and evaporate sweat, are at a disadvantage."

After a 2003 heatwave killed thousands in France, it emerged that many of the victims were elderly women living alone in top-floor apartments, which led some scientists to ask if elderly women may be at higher risk of dying because of social factors like a greater propensity to live in seclusion. Another study on Ahmedabads 2010 deadly heatwave (by Rand Corp) pointed out that lack of access to toilets compelled many women to drink less water to avoid relieving themselves outdoors, noting that women didnt have the agency to cool themselves down."

As rising temperatures reduce the quality and length of peoples lives, they cast a shadow on our economic health too. Projections based on a global temperature rise of 1.5 Celsius by the end of this century show that in 2030, 2.2% of the worlds total working hours will be lost to heat.

In situations of extreme heat in countries like the US, India and Nigeria, where unpaid work done by women varies between 40% and 70% of all working hours, and that too mostly in heat-exposed areas, the time taken by such work is likely to get stretched much longer. It could be a whole extra working day per month in the US, 90 more minutes per day in India and 150 additional minutes a day in Nigeria.

Women in these three countries earn at least 24-45% less than men and heat-related income losses will worsen that disparity. Heat-related labour productivity losses are a key reason that average wages in Nigeria have fallen below the minimum wage in women-dominated sectors, affecting 22 million women. In India, where heat-exposed labour accounts for a vast share of the workforce, it is estimated that by 2030, there will be 34 million job losses from productivity declines caused by heat-stress, a large share of a projected 80 million such job losses globally.

As a World Bank report shows, South Asian countries are expected to bear the brunt of the heat-exposure impact. As for India, women are estimated to be at risk of losing 19% of their paid working hours, costing the Indian economy 0.8% of its annual GDP, a loss that could go up to a level which costs the country 1% of its GDP by 2050. A 2023 Cambridge University study showed that since April 2022, almost the entire country had been exposed to increased risks stemming from hunger, loss of income or premature death during heat waves, and 43% of women reported an increase in caregiving work (HomeNet South Asia).

Our climate crisis is now visible in extreme heat, apart from more intense and frequent natural disasters. Life, livelihood and productivity losses are in evidence too. As it always happens, women are at the receiving end of the misery. As nations review the Gender Action Plan this year under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, they must ensure that future climate adaptation strategies have an inclusive agenda. We need gender-just action plans for a sustainable and more equal future.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is currently undertaking a diplomatic tour across Europe, including stops in France, Serbia, and Hungary. This visit follows German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's recent trip to China. Similar to Scholz's visit, trade tensions and the Russia-Ukraine conflict are expected to dominate the agenda during Xi's meetings.

European companies have for long voiced concerns over China's unfair trade practices, while their governments have become increasingly worried about Beijing's wolf warrior diplomacy, influence operations, espionage activities, and support for non-democratic regimes worldwide, including within Europe.

However, the convergence of these concerns hasn't translated into a unified China policy among European capitals. For Germany, as evidenced by Scholz's second visit since assuming office, economic interests remain paramount, whereas French President Emmanuel Macron aims to strike a balance between the US and China.

Matters clearly reached a head with the implementation of the European Union's Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) in mid-2023, leading to targeted actions against Chinese companies. In the latest instance, in April, authorities conducted simultaneous raids on the offices of a Chinese company manufacturing airport scanning machines in Warsaw and Rotterdam.

These actions, considered drastic for a bureaucracy often criticized for its sluggishness, caught Chinese companies and their political masters in Beijing off guard.

Despite China's rhetoric, its companies operating abroad prioritize adherence to Chinese law. Indeed, for China, trade is a mercantilist enterprise that involves undercutting competition, establishing dominance in foreign markets through fair means and foul. It should not be surprising, therefore, that Chinese enterprises abroad are supported by subsidies that the European Union (EU) has finally decided to target.

And, of course, China's support for Russia in the Ukraine conflict has further strained relations with most of Europe.

This then brings us to the zero-sum approach China employs in its international political affairs  once again, in sharp contrast to its rhetoric of win-win.

Xi's upcoming visit to Belgrade coincides with the anniversary of NATO's 1999 bombing of China's embassy there. Even though the Americans apologised for what they said was a mistake, Beijing has continued to view the incident as a deliberate US action. China is, therefore, clearly signalling its continuing rivalry with the US.

Meanwhile, Xis third and final visit to Budapest should be seen as a sign of approval for the authoritarian politics at home of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as well as for the latters foreign policy choices that have frequently undermined European unity. Once again, Beijing is clearly signalling its anathema for liberal democratic models of politics.

There are two implications for India from the current EU-China dynamic.

One is in the economic realm. The EUs actions vis-a-vis Chinese companies also raise the bar in terms of compliances and related costs for Indian companies. But Indian companies are also not usually running second to the Chinese in many sectors, especially in cutting-edge technology domains. The pressures on or exit of Chinese companies under Europes new laws, thus, might not necessarily create openings for Indian companies to take advantage of.

What is, therefore, likely to happen, is similar to what has happened with Indian expectations of friend-shoring. Foreign multinationals did not actually leave China in such large numbers following the beginning of the US-China trade war or supply chain disruptions in the wake of the Covid pandemic. And when they did leave, they did not necessarily move to India.

The second implication lies within the political and diplomatic spheres. India stands out from China due to its democratic system and reputation for upholding international law and treaty obligations. However, amid a growing rightward shift in domestic politics across various parts of Europe and the shockwaves from the conflict in its neighbouring region, there might be limited acceptance for India if European capitals and the public fail to positively identify with it.

So far, there has been grudging respect in Europe for Indias tough negotiating positions in multilateral forums and for its stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, as concerns grow about Indias democratic backsliding and if Indian foreign policy is going to be used for domestic signalling in India  external affairs minister S. Jaishankars brand of wolf warrior diplomacy is a case in point  European goodwill for India is likely to dissipate and New Delhi is likely to be seen in the same category with Beijing as a potential challenger to European interests.

India will have made the mistake of overestimating its strengths and seeing itself as an indispensable alternative to China when it has neither the market capacities nor the political weight just yet to be one.
Alex Garlands box office hit, Civil War, which is set in a future America at war with itself, has drawn criticism for not telling audiences what caused the conflictand for its refusal to more realistically portray the battle lines that divide Red and Blue America. That critique not only gets the movie wrong, but its also blinding people to the films potential to positively influence the US political landscape, including the presidential poll.

The power of Civil War lies in the question it forces us to ask: How could this have happened here?" In a recent column calling Garlands evasion of that question a total cop-out," New York Times columnist Ross Douthat offered several possibilities: defeat in a war with China that causes an economic crisis, a pandemic that leads states to close borders, new technology like AI that fuels desperation or a climate catastrophe.

I was astonished that Douthat, who frequently writes about religion, did not mention another dangerous force: Christian nationalism. But nor did he do so in a 2022 column throwing cold water on Barbara F. Walters outstanding book, How Civil Wars Start. Douthat is hardly the only conservative who seems to be in denial about the threat that Christian nationalism poses to US democracy. The danger of that denialism is powerfully brought home in Bad Faith, an excellent new documentary now streaming on Apple TV.

Like the Rob Reiner-produced film God and Country, which came out earlier this year, Bad Faith draws on Katherine Stewarts 2019 book, The Power Worshippers, which pulls the curtain back on evangelical efforts to erase the line between church and state in legislative bodies, public schools and courtroomsand to turn America into a theocracy, by any means necessary.

The films and book sound the alarm that some of Garlands critics wish Civil War had incorporated, and understandably so. As Bad Faith makes clear, theocrats were in the vanguard of the 6 January attempted coup. Today, as some evangelical pastors speak of a coming civil war, religiosity is increasingly at the centre of former US president Donald Trumps campaign. Some of his rallies end with a prayer that mimics evangelical altar calls, when congregants approach the altar and commit themselves to Jesus.

Trump-branded Bibles seem like an attempt to blur the line between Donald and deityand to tie his political trials to the persecution of Jesus. Recently, Trump shared an article headlined, The Crucifixion of Donald Trump. And he has not ruled out more violence potentially much worse violenceshould he lose again this year.

In this sense, critics of Civil War have a valid point. It is almost impossible to talk about an American civil war without talking about Christian nationalisms theocratic goals and violent tendencies.

Nevertheless, its also almost impossible for Democrats to engage conservatives on the topic of political violence by harping on Christian nationalism. Like Douthat, many conservatives just do not seeor do not want to believethe connection. And that is precisely what makes the political neutrality of Civil War a virtue.

Had Garlands plot mirrored current politics, conservatives might have shunned the movie as another example of Hollywoods liberal bias. Instead, he helped open a door for Trumps opponents, giving them a chance to extend the discussion of political violenceand the ruinous, horrifying consequences it could bringto the very people who will probably decide the November election.

Or, in other words: Garland has done what Democrats have spent more than three years trying to do with little success: inviting more Republicans and independents into the most important conversation in America.

The question is: What are Democrats doing to capitalize on it?

Liberal complaints about Civil War, like complaints about the bad faith of evangelicals, wont move any votes. Encouraging Republicans to watch Bad Faith probably wont be any more successful, unfortunately.

For Civil War to be a vehicle for bipartisan dialogue on political violence, Democratic leaders need to show themselves capable of engaging in some good faith reckoning of their own. This is also part of the films power: Garland wisely does not foreclose the idea that many of his liberal critics seem disinclined to entertain, that democracy could be threatened from the left as well.

What shape that threat could take, and what we can do about it, is a question Ill explore later in a column. But suffice it to say: In leaving important questions [about democracy and peace] open to viewers, Garland got it right. bloomberg
Proposed legislation in New York could make the state in the nation the first to block gun makers from selling pistols if they dont take measures to prevent them from being able to be converted to fire like machine guns.

The bill is set to be introduced Tuesday. It was drafted in response to the growing use of the attachments, called pistol converters" or Glock switches," that are placed on popular semiautomatic pistols such as those made by Glock, said the bills sponsor, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat who represents a Brooklyn district.

The devices, about the size of a thumbnail, allow shooters to fire all the rounds in a magazine by just holding down the trigger, similar to a machine gun. The New York legislation highlights growing concern by police over the increased use of Glock switches in shootingsand killingsacross the U.S.

Democrats have controlled both houses of the New York Legislature since 2019, and have approved several gun-control laws, some of which were also sponsored by Myrie. They include a red-flag law, which prevents the purchase or possession of firearms by people who might hurt themselves or others; statutes to criminalize ghost guns, which are firearms made with 3-D printers; and a ban on bump stocks, which allow semiautomatic rifles to fire like machine guns. Lawmakers returned Monday to the state Capitol in Albany for the five remaining weeks of their annual session.

Any new legislation would likely face legal challenges from gun-rights groups and gun companies arguing that such a law would impose an undue burden on gun makers because of the misuse of their product.

Myrie said the legislation doesnt name Glock, but he wrote the bill to address Glock pistols because they are easily convertible for machine gun-like fire. The converted guns increasingly have been used in crimes, he said.

This is an attempt by New York to protect our constituents," he said. Other gun makers do not have this problem. This is a refusal-to-address-an-issue problem."

A spokeswoman for Glock, which has U.S. headquarters in Georgia, didnt respond to requests for comment.

Under the bill, Any person, dealer, firm, partnership, or corporation" that sells, transports, or ships as merchandise a convertible pistol" would be committing a felony.

The legislation would exempt the sale of such guns to law enforcement or the military. Current Glock handgun owners wouldnt be affected.

Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, a pro-Second Amendment group, said such legislative proposals show that many politicians dont understand how guns operate. Many Glocks are already in civilian hands across the country, he said. If Glock did modify its gun to prohibit the switches, I guarantee you theres an engineer out there or a self-taught gunsmith out there who is going to work a way around it," he said.

The legislation is trying to punish a company for someone misusing its product and it is a step more and more down the road to complete banning of Glock firearms," he said.

The bill would be the first of its kind in the nation, according to the group Everytown for Gun Safety. Officials at the group, which helped draft the legislation, said Glock switches were a national problem contributing to gun violence.

Glocks handguns are uniquely susceptible to being easily converted into illegal machine guns, making them a weapon of choice for criminals seeking to spray hundreds of bullets and inflict maximum damage," said Nick Suplina, senior vice president for Law and Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. This legislation is about putting Glock on notice."

Glock switches are easy to install and have sold for between $50 and $100. They also can be manufactured on 3-D printers. Many Glock switches have been imported to the U.S. from other countries.

A lawsuit was filed in March by the City of Chicago, Everytown for Gun Safetys legal arm, and others against Glock, which alleged that Glock unreasonably endangers Chicagoans" by making a gun that can be easily converted to fire like a machine gun.

Jimmy Vielkind contributed to this article.

Write to Cameron McWhirter at Cameron.McWhirter@wsj.com
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Haryana government faced a major setback with three Independent MLAs withdrawing their support from the ruling party. With three MLAs not supporting the Nayab Singh Saini-led government, the BJP in the state now has the support of at least three Independent MLAs, down from six earlier.

The three MLAs  Sombir Sangwan (Charkhi Dadri), Randhir Golan (Pundri),and Dharampal Gondar (Nilokheri)  said on Tuesday they have decided to withdraw the support from the Saini government. They have now extended their support to the Congress amid the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

The development came amid the Lok Sabha polls and within two months of Nayab Singh Saini taking over as Chief Minister of Haryana after replacing Manohar Lal Khattar.

Is the Haryana government under threat now? Will the Congress be able to topple the BJP government in Haryana? What happens next? Here's a deep dive into Haryana's political situation:

How numbers stack up in Haryana Assembly? There are 90 MLAs in the Haryana assembly. Here's what the current party position in the state assembly is like:

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): 40 MLAs (after Manohar Lal Khattar had resigned as MLA and CM in March 2024)

Independent: 7 MLAs

Jannayak Janta Party (JJP): 10 MLAs

Congress: 30 MLAs

Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP): 1 MLA

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD): 1 MLA

Is the BJP-led Haryana government in crisis? The Haryana assembly has 90 members. A political party needs the support of 46 MLAs to cross the halfway mark in the Haryana assembly and form a government in the state.

Now, the current party position in the assembly shows that the BJP has 40 MLAs. The Haryana BJP has the support of the lone Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) MLA and at least three independent MLAs (earlier, it had six independent MLAs in support).

In total, the ruling BJP has the support of 44 MLAs  just two short of crossing the halfway mark. Even with one less MLA, the BJP won't be able to form government in the state.

Can the Congress oust BJP to form Haryana govt? The Congress has 30 MLAs in the Haryana Assembly. With the support of three MLAs, its tally touches 33. This is 13 MLAs short of the majority mark.

So, neither the Congress nor the BJP will be able to form a government in Haryana in this scenario.

What happens next? Haryana may now witness a hung assembly  where no party has the majority's support to form the government.

If a state sees a hung assembly, then the Governor invites the leaders of the single largest party  in this case BJP  to form a temporary government for 10 days. The governor also gives that political party 10 days to gather support from other parties and prove the majority.
Voting is being held at 93 Lok Sabha constituencies across 11 states and Union Territories in today's third phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024. At least 1,331 candidates are in the fray in this phase, which will complete voting at about half of 543 Lok Sabha seats.

With this phase, voting will be completed in Gujarat, Goa and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on Tuesday. Also, with polling underway in 14 seats today in this phase, elections for all 28 seats of Karnataka will also be over today. With seven seats voting today, the Lok Sabha Election for 11 seats of Chhattisgarh will also be over.

Among the other seats in the third phase are four in Assam, five in Bihar, seven in Chhattisgarh, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, 10 in Uttar Pradesh and four in West Bengal.

BJP+ won 75 seats in 2019 In the 2019 Lok Sabha Election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)and its allies bad won 75 of the 93 seats going to polls on Tuesday. Of these 71 where by the BJP alone. The INDIA bloc parties had won only 8 seats. The Congress had won just four seats. Four seats were bagged the undivided Shiv Sena, three by undivided NCP, two by independents, and one by the AIUDF. In 2014, the NDA had won 68 of the seats voting today in third phase. INDIA bloc parties had won 15 seats. Eleven seats had gone to other parties

In 2019, of the 71 seats that the BJP won alone in the third phase, 25 had come from Gujarat, 9 from Madhya Pradesh and 14 from Karnataka.

In Chhattisgarh, the BJP won 6 of the 7 seats where polls are being held today while the saffron party had won 8 of the ten seats voting today in Uttar Pradesh. In Maharashtra, the BJP won 4 of the 11 seats where voting is underway today. In Assam, the BJP could win one of the four seats while in Bihar the saffron party had won one of the five seats where voting is on today. The BJP could win none of the four seats in West Bengal voting today, as per the 2019 Election Results.

The Daman and Diu UT election was won by BJP in 2019. The BJP had won one seat while the Congress won one seat in Goa in 2019.

BJP strongholds Elections are also being held in BJP strongholds of Gujarat and Karnataka in the third phase today. Of the 47 strongholds among these seats  constituencies won by the same party in the last three general elections  the BJP won 42 seats in 2019, especially in Gujarat and Karnataka, according to an analysis by India Today. The Congress won just one, and the other parties four such seats in 2019.

The first two phases of elections were held on April 19 and 26. The remaining phases will be held on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. Counting votes for all seven phases of Lok Sabha Elections will take place on June 4.
Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru could never have imagined that a government would be installed in the country that would call them "deshdrohi (traitors)", Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Monday.

She also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his language on the campaign trail.

Addressing party workers in the Rae Bareli constituency, the Congress general secretary said, "Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru undertook movements so that the people's rights could be strengthened. They could never have imagined that a government would come that would call them traitors and say (to people) 'if you give us 400 seats, we will change the Constitution'."

"They could not even have imagined that the government itself would try to weaken our people," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi also referred to farmers' protests during the British Raj.

She said, "The farmers' protests during the time of Motilal Nehru and Jawaharlal Nehru -- the first time when Motilal Nehru and Jawaharlal Nehru were arrested, it was in Rae Bareli when they had come to participate."

"Since then, during all the fights and elections in Rae Bareli, there was democracy and truth on one side while on the other side it was terror and a (kind of) politics that never considered the people 'sarvopari (above everything)'. In this fight, you always ensured victory for truth and the principles of democracy," Priyanka Gandhi said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting the elections from Rae Bareli, a constituency held by his mother Sonia Gandhi for the last two decades.

Priyanka Gandhi also claimed that Indira Gandhi was not angry when she lost the elections from Rae Bareli.

"She learnt from that defeat  She deliberated, took another path, and won the next elections," she said.

During her speech, the Congress leader also tried to strike a chord with the audience.

"This is the soil with which the blood of my family is mixed. This is the sacred land for which your ancestors sacrificed their lives. Today, we are fighting for the self-respect of the people and their rights. We will have to fight this battle with strength. This is the most pious soil of the country and we are fighting for everything that our ancestors fought for," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi also credited the Congress' Amethi candidate Kishori Lal Sharma for teaching her how to conduct elections.

"Kishori Lal Sharma ji, our candidate from Amethi, is present on the stage. I have learnt how to conduct elections from Kishori Lal Sharma ji," she said.

"This time, I told him 'I will make you contest the elections and you will win'. That is why I have come here, to make my elder brother (Rahul Gandhi) and Kishori Lal ji contest the elections."
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) chief Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday blamed politicians, like him, for what he called the hatred spreading in the country.

Will all this hatred strengthen India? Are Hindu and Muslim different in any way?... We are responsible for this hatred. Politicians are responsible for giving rise to this hatred, Abdullah, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir was heard speaking in a video during election campaigning in Budgam area of the Union Territory.

"We had acceded to Gandhi's India and not Modi's. We want to bring Gandhi's India back," Abdullah, who is also a former Union Minister, said referring to October, 1947, when Maharaja Hari Singh signed off the Instrument of Accession, in which Jammu and Kashmir joined the Dominion of India.

Three Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir division of Jammu and Kashmir  Srinagar, Anantnag-Rajouri and Baramulla are yet to vote. Polling for Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat was scheduled to place in the third phase on May 7 but was deferred to sixth phase on May 25. Srinagar seat will go to polls in the fourth phase on May 13.

Baramulla seat will vote in the fourth phase on May 20, according to the Election Commission of India schedule. The NC had won all three seats of Kashmir division in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 is the first parliamentary election being held in the Jammu and Kashmir UT since the abrogation of Article 370 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government in August 2019.

Overall, voting for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases. The first two phases of elections were held on April 19 and 26. The remaining phases will be held on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes for all seven phases of Lok Sabha Elections will take place on June 4.
Amid the ongoing political slugfest, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the Muslim community to introspect and think about the future, saying he was neither against Muslims nor Islam.

The Prime Minister made the comments while speaking to Times Now amid a war-of-words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition leaders over his infiltrators remark that he made at an election rally in Rajasthan on April 22, allegedly referring to the Muslim community.

Modi shared clippings of his TV interviews on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Tuesday, May 7, in which he commented on various issues.

"Neither we are against Muslim nor Islam. This is not our work. Muslim community understands everything. When I end the tradition of triple-talaq, when I give Ayushman card or when I give Covid vaccine, Muslim sisters feels I am genuine man who does not discriminate," said Modi, accusing Congress of thriving on creating a feeling of persistent fear and insecurity among the minorities in India.

On a question about the accusation of Modi being against Muslims and Hindu-Muslims being done during the election, Modi said, When there was the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, our manifesto mentioned Ram Mandir, Article 370. When you speak about 100 percent, every community is included. There is a guarantee of social justice, secularism. Modi ensures that everyone gets everything.

Further, Modi also asked the Muslim samaj (community) and their educated members to introspect. The country is moving forward. If your community is lagging, then what is the reason? Did you receive the benefit of government schemes during Congress' rule?

If you keep thinking about who to put in power and who to remove, you will only ruin the future of your children. The Muslim community is changing across the world, added Modi.

Think about your future. I dont want any community to live the life of bonded labour due to an atmosphere of fear, the Prime Minister urged the Muslim community.

The Prime Minister also attacked Congress, accusing them of not respecting the Constitution, stating that those who disrespect it have no right to say anything.
What lessons is China learning from Russias war on Ukraine?" is a question that preoccupies many senior policymakers in Washington and other Western capitals. The hope is that Russias experience in Ukraine will deter Beijing from invading Taiwan. But Beijing may be drawing different conclusions in the third year of this grueling war than it did in the first. And the lessons Chinas leaders are learning may be the opposite of those the White House wants them to learn.

Two years ago, Russia suffered a humiliating defeat in the battle for Kyiv. Vladimir Putins generals had promised their boss a swift operation. It turned out to be a drawn-out and bloody fightlargely due to many years of corruption and complacency among Russias top brass. Xi Jinping took swift action to identify the weak and rotten spots in Chinas military machine. In September 2023, Chinas newly appointed defense minister, Li Shangfu, disappeared as the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) launched a corruption investigation of the procurement system hed led. Beijings expansion of its military-industrial complex suggests Chinese leaders are also heeding other lessons of the Ukraine war, including the need to prepare for a lengthy campaign that will require a colossal stockpile of munitions, missiles and drones and the ability to produce them at scale.

Drones have revolutionized the battlefield in Ukraine. For now, the Russian and Ukrainian militaries are the only armies in the world learning how to operate thousands of surveillance and attack drones every day in real combat conditions. Through joint training operations with Russia, the PLA hopes to integrate those lessons into its own combat doctrine.

In early 2022, the West expected far-reaching sanctions against the Kremlin to spark protests among the Russian elite and public. But Moscows leverage over global energy markets, combined with limited pre-war financial decoupling from the West and industrial import substitution, helped Russia to pass the stress test. The economy is growing, fueled by orders for military supplies and lavish payments to soldiers and their families. Mr. Putins war chest is full. He is well-positioned to pay for at least another two years of war.

The Chinese have spent decades trying to shockproof their economy. With Mr. Xi at the helm, Beijing has put security front and center of its economic policy. Recent moves include giving trade partners incentives to settle transactions in yuan and expanding land-based infrastructure along the border with Russia. The latter would allow Moscow to supply Beijing with hydrocarbons and food in the event of a U.S.-led naval blockade. And China is much more integrated than Russia into the global economy. This makes Beijing more vulnerable than Moscow to potential Western restrictions, but also more capable of retaliation.

Chinese leaders have used Russias experience in Ukraine to refine their strategy for managing the home front. An all-out assault on Ukraine was unimaginable to most Russians before the invasion. Western observers presumed that Russias elite prized access to London, Paris and New York above anything else. Yet in the third year of hostilities, the Kremlin enjoys solid domestic support for its attempt to destroy Ukraine. Chinese leaders have cultivated the idea of Taiwan as an indispensable part of the homeland for decades. Beijing has every reason to believe that a war framed as a defensive effort to prevent the split of the motherland will be met with at least similar support. And the tools available to Beijing for suppressing dissenting views far exceed those available to the Kremlin.

Finally, China has been scrutinizing the Wests evolving commitment to Ukraine. Two years ago, a U.S.-led team of European and Asian democracies surprised the worldand themselveswith a swift reaction to Mr. Putins aggression. In year three, the fracturing of Western support is plain to see. It took Congress six months to approve the latest U.S. military support package for Ukraine amid political divisions, and the possibility of agreement on new rounds of far-reaching sanctions seems remote. The Wests ability to up the stakes in the confrontation with a rogue player doesnt look as solid as it did in 2022and Beijing is taking note.

The Chinese system sets a high value on historys lessons. More than three decades after the Soviet Union crumbled, its collapse is still being studied in Beijing. For Mr. Xi, the event was a formative experience, just as it was for Mr. Putin. Beijing is studying Russias moves againthis time, in Ukraine.

Mr. Gabuev is the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre in Berlin.
Vladimir Putin was inaugurated as Russias president for another six-year term in lavish style at the Kremlin after sidelining or eliminating his rivals, and is now focused squarely on the war in Ukraineand the alliances he needs to secure a victory.

Since the invasion two years ago, Putin has nurtured close relationships with a host of countries who share his wariness of the U.S. and the West. Iran has provided missiles and drones. North Korea has sent ammunition and other weapons. In Africa, Putins efforts to cast himself as a defender of traditional religious values have won him admirers across a slice of nations that used to look to the West, while the Russian leaders media handlers played up the positive response he received during a tour to the Middle East in December, where he tried to drive a wedge between Arab nations and the U.S. over the war in Gaza.

None are closer than China, however. There are signs that their interests will align more tightly in the months and years to come after Chinas President Xi Jinping earlier declared that their relationship would have no limits."

In his inauguration address at the Grand Kremlin Palace Tuesday, Putin returned to his familiar theme of creating what he called a multipolar world order, which could challenge the influence of the West.

We have been and will be open to strengthening good relations with all countries that see Russia as a reliable and honest partner. And this is truly the global majority," he told the 2,600 or so guests gathered in the hall.

We do not refuse dialogue with Western states," he continued. The choice is theirs: Do they intend to continue trying to restrain the development of Russia, continue the policy of aggression, continuous pressure on our country for years, or look for a path to cooperation and peace."

Putin obviously values the China relationship above all and the Chinese seem to be tilting toward Russia now more than ever before," said Donald Jensen, a senior advisor for Russia and Europe at the Washington-based United States Institute of Peace.

Beijing played a crucial role in the early days of the war by providing a destination for Russian oil and gas after Western sanctions closed off markets in Europe and much of the rest of the world, giving Russia time to put its economy on a war footing. While China has refrained from supplying weapons and ammunition, it does provide crucial microelectronic components and other materials from routers to ball bearings that the U.S. says can be used to support Russias war effort. Putin has said he plans to visit China later this month, when he and Xi are expected to deepen their political and economic ties, countering what they have said are U.S. attempts to dominate the world order.

Xi is visiting Europe this week, where, among other things, he will visit Serbia to mark the 25th anniversary of NATOs bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, which killed three people and badly rattled China-U.S. relations. The U.S. apologized for the bombing, which it blamed on outdated maps, but China has persistently used the incident as an argument against NATOs expansion and widening reach.

The Chinese leader is also traveling to Hungary to meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has forged close economic ties with Beijing and has consistently pushed back against EU initiatives to help Ukraine.

China is a lifeline" for Russia, said Leon Aron, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. But while there is no love for Iran or North Korea," Putin needs those countries, too, he added

Besides its drones, U.S. officials have warned that Iran might soon send ballistic missiles to Moscow. After North Korea provided materiel, Russia blocked the United Nations from monitoring international sanctions against Pyongyang, questioning their value and proposed a time limit be imposed on them. Washington and its allies have said they believe Moscows move is aimed at preventing scrutiny of the growing arms pipeline between Pyongyang and Moscow, a claim Russian officials have dismissed.

What you have is those four countries forming, indeed, an axis," Jensen said. Its a partnership of convenience and it serves Moscows interests at the moment to keep them more or less together, despite their differences," he added.

Putin also plans to hold talks with the leaders of Cuba, Laos and Guinea-Bissau after the inauguration, in another indication of his focus on deepening Russias overseas relationships.

Putin can afford to place nearly all his attention on the war and these foreign alliances because there is very little in the way of domestic opposition anymore. An escalating wave of repression has silenced nearly all his critics. The best known, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison camp in February in circumstances that still havent been fully explained. Others have fled into exile or, like Vladimir Kara-Murza, are serving long prison terms.

Aron described Tuesdays inauguration, which took place nearly two months after Putins win in a carefully choreographed election, as far removed from a democratically structured process. Rather, its the final phase in self-coronation," he said.

Political analysts expect Putins domestic concerns to center solely on perpetuating his increasingly centralized command. There is growing anticipation that an expected cabinet reshuffle will see some prominent figures edged out with die-hard loyalists moved closer to Putins inner circle. On Thursday, the country will commemorate Victory Day, Russias most important civic holiday, which commemorates the Soviet Unions victory over Nazi Germany, where observers expect Putin to make hayof Moscows recent battlefield gains after months of fighting.

His longer-term focus, though, will likely be on maintaining and building the relationships that have put Russia on the cusp of achieving a decisive edge in the war while undermining the U.S., which has its own presidential election due later this year.

Putin will be spending most of his time thinking about the war and that includes thinking about foreign relations because Russia is not in a position economically to take on the entire West by itself," said Brian Taylor, a professor of political science at Syracuse Universitys Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Kate Vtorygina contributed to this article.

Write to Ann M. Simmons at ann.simmons@wsj.com
Washington: The Biden administrations intensive public and private campaign to forestall Israels assault on Rafah has become its toughest test to date with its Middle East ally.

Hours after President Biden on Monday warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against a full-scale assault on Rafah, Israels military conducted what it called targeted airstrikes in the eastern part of the city.

The Israeli attack signaled the wide gulf between Biden and Netanyahu over a strategy for securing the release of hostages held by Hamas and ultimately bringing the fighting to an end.

So far the White House has neither achieved a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel nor persuaded Netanyahu to defer the Rafah offensive.

Hamas said Monday that it had accepted a temporary cease-fire. The U.S. said it was reviewing the Hamas response while Israel complained the group had introduced new conditions.

Since his wartime trip to Israel following Hamass Oct. 7 surprise attack, President Biden has emerged as one of the countrys strongest supporters.

Billions of dollars in American weaponry have flowed to Israel, and the U.S. has repeatedly defended Israels right to defend itselfa bear hug" strategy that U.S. officials hoped would enable Washington to work behind the scenes to influence Israeli leaders calculations.

For the past several weeks, the Biden administration has progressively stepped up pressure on Israel and Hamas to try to secure a six-week cease-fire, which U.S. officials hoped they might find a way to extend through further diplomacy.

A pause, U.S. officials say, is needed to secure the release of hostages, including American citizens, and provide an opportunity for diplomatic efforts to encourage the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

If were able to get the deal, get the cease-fire, get the hostages out, well look for ways to build on that and have something thats sustainable over time," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday following a meeting earlier in the day in Jerusalem with Netanyahu.

Netanyahu, in contrast, has emphasized the imperative of taking the fight to the four Hamas battalions and the groups leadership that are ensconced in Rafah, even if that operation needs to await the conclusion of a yet-to-be-negotiated cease-fire.

The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question," Netanyahu said last week, according to a statement from his office. He added that Israel would go into Rafah to destroy the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal."

Even if a cease-fire proves elusive, the U.S. has said for weeks that it wouldnt support a major Israeli ground incursion on Rafah unless Israel presented an effective plan to ensure that more than one million Palestinians who have taken shelter in the city arent in harms way or cut off from humanitarian assistancea goal that some U.S. officials say might not be feasible.

The U.S. will not support the Rafah offensive currently envisioned by Israel," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday. Such an offensive would dramatically increase the suffering of the Palestinian people."

On Monday, the Israelis dropped leaflets telling 100,000 people to evacuate eastern Rafah for the coastal area of al-Mawasi and warned it would use extreme force against the terrorist organizations in the areas where you live."

That Israeli move had spurred speculation that Israels plan might be to avoid the major ground assault the U.S. has warned against, at least for now, by conducting a series of more limited operations while establishing control over the border between Gaza and Egypt.

It looks like they plan to do it incrementally. It is not going to be what the Biden administration has railed against," said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. peace negotiator who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Netanyahus calculation is much more focused on maintaining his coalition than he is on keeping Joe Biden happy."

Netanyahus popularity is beginning to recover after it plunged following Israels worst-ever security failure on Oct. 7, when lapses allowed Hamas to attack southern Israel and kill 1,200 people. But his survival as prime minister depends on keeping his narrow parliamentary majority intact and on not alienating far-right members of his government who oppose halting the war until Hamass last bastion in Rafah is taken.

In Bidens 30-minute call Monday with Netanyahu, the president discussed negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage deal. The White House said Israel agreed to reopen the Kerem Shalom border crossing that is used to funnel aid to Gaza, which was closed after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers in the area on Sunday.

A worry for the Biden administration is that even a limited operation might spur hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee, overwhelming the shelter, food and medical care that could be mustered for the displaced Rafah population.

With the two sides at odds over the potential Rafah operation, the Biden administration has delayed the sale of thousands of precision weapons to Israel, marking at least the second time in recent months the U.S. has held up an arms deal to its closest Middle East ally amid the war in Gaza.

The move affects up to 6,500 Joint Direct Attack Munitionskits that enable unguided bombs to be directed to a target using satellite guidance.

The White House neither confirmed nor denied the move, but the timing suggested it was part of its strategy for pressuring Israel not to rush ahead with an assault on Rafah.

Write to Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com
When China launched the Yaogan-41 satellite into space late last year, it travelled further than most such objects. Reconnaissance satellites tend to sit in low-Earth orbit (LEO), whizzing around the planet between 11 and 16 times a day (see chart 1). But Yaogan-41 headed for higher ground, some 36,000km from the Earth. There, in geostationary orbit (GEO), the point at which a satellite circles the planet slowly enough to remain above the same point, it began watching.

View Full Image Graphic: The Economist

China says Yaogan-41 will be used for benign activities, such as estimating crop yields and meteorological forecasting. But it is positioned over an area that includes Taiwan, the South China Sea and other potential flashpoints. Pairing its sharp eyes with artificial intelligence (AI) and information from other satellites could give China a unique ability to keep tabs on vehicles and vessels in the region. That would come in handy in the event of war, suggests a new analysis by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

The launch of the Yaogan-41 is part of a larger Chinese push into the cosmos. China spends more on its space programme than any country bar America. In 2019 China landed a rover on the far side of the moon. Two years later it deployed one on Mars. Those efforts seem innocuous enough, but much of its activity has potential strategic value. An area of particular concern is satellites.

View Full Image Graphic: The Economist

Over the past decade China has massively increased the number of satellites it has in operation, to a total of over 600 today (see chart 2). Of those, more than 360 are intelligence, surveillance or reconnaissance (ISR) satellites, which observe the Earth using sunlight, infrared waves or reflections from radar pulses. Chinas ISR fleet is second in size only to Americas, and its capabilities are finding appeal in the global marketplace. America recently sanctioned two Chinese firms for allegedly giving satellite images of Ukraine to the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary outfit.

Most of Chinas satellites are of the LEO variety. Being closer to Earth, they tend to produce images with a higher resolution than those captured by GEO satellites. In terms of coverage, Chinas growing constellation of LEO satellites has gaps of less than 30 minutes between images of any one spot, says Juliana Suess of the Royal United Services Institute, a think-tank in London. GEO satellites have no gaps at all. Yaogan-41, for example, can watch over Asia without interruption. When used with other technologies, it could give China an unprecedented ability to identify and track car-sized objects throughout the entire Indo-Pacific region," writes Clayton Swope, a former CIA analyst now at CSIS.

When covering such a large area, it is often difficult to know where to look. Modern software may help. In a paper published in Fire Control and Command Control, a journal linked to Chinas state defence industry, researchers noted that AI technology applied to images from the countrys Jilin-1 satellite, in low-Earth orbit, had achieved a 95% success rate in identifying small objects, including those that are moving. Such claims ought to be viewed with some scepticism. How the technology performs when objects are camouflaged or hidden is an open question. Optical satellites such as Yaogan-41, which sense visible light, can also be defeated by clouds.

Still, as AI technology matures, it could give the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) the ability to quickly find American targets, such as warships at sea or bombers on runways, that are beyond the range of coastal radar. The concept is nothing new: the Soviet Union used both radar and radio-frequency satellites to track NATO ships and American aircraft-carriers, which sought to hide themselves physically and electronically. But it poses a serious challenge to American military planners. China has optical, multispectral, radar and radio-frequency sensors," says Jason Schramm, the deputy commander of Americas space forces in the Indo-Pacific. Those increase its ability to detect US aircraft-carriers."

Mr Swope points out that optical satellites can even spot stealthy objects that are designed to deflect radar waves. In time, the combination of space-based sensors and advanced software might even allow the PLA to find and target small units of soldiers dispersed over a wide area, of the sort that America hopes to deploy in countries such as Japan and the Philippines. America should be under no illusions about the potential for China to detect and locate" most of their forward-deployed forces, in peacetime or in war, writes Russell Hoole, a Marine Corps intelligence analyst.

But this is all harder in practice than in theory. Even America is struggling to build a battle network which can shunt data seamlessly from satellites to ships to guns. On the Chinese side, satellites like Yaogan-41 would probably still find it hard to locate and track a warship in the middle of the ocean with enough precision to enable a strike. And there is a lack of agility in the chain of command, meaning good intelligence may not get to the right people at the right time. Add in American countermeasures and the result is a lot of misses. This could potentially exhaust" Chinas arsenal if the PLA were to target a large number of American ships, said the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think-tank in London, in a recent report.

China, though, is moving forward. In the past it invested heavily in counter-space weapons which could blind or destroy the satellites that Americas armed forces depend on to see, communicate and fight. Now it is on a path to recreating Americas vast and sophisticated network of capabilities in the cosmos. As it catches up, it will become increasingly exposed to the same sort of satellite-killing strategies with which the PLA has long threatened America. The result might be an era of mutually assured vulnerability in space.

Subscribers can sign up to Drum Tower, our new weekly newsletter, to understand what the world makes of Chinaand what China makes of the world.

 2024, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
Wiz said the funding round, which brings the companys total funding to $1.9 billion, was led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Thrive Capital. Greylock Partners, Wellington Management and existing investors Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, Index Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital and former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz also participated.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Assaf Rappaport said Wiz expects 2024 to be a year of consolidation in cybersecurity and the company would use the round to fund acquisitions as well as for product and talent development.

Last month, Wiz said it acquired Gem Security, a cloud detection and response company. The company signed a letter of intent to acquire cybersecurity startup Lacework about a month ago, but after a period of due diligence it is reconsidering the value of its offer, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Wiz said it hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue after 18 months, and achieved $350 million in annual recurring revenue in 2023. The company has the wherewithal to go public at a time when the window for initial public offerings remains closed to most startups.

Regarding a potential IPO, we are not rushing into itwe have previously indicated that we would move ahead once we reach $1 billion ARR. For now, we intend to continue innovating and providing maximum value to our customers," Rappaport said.

Wiz said it has hundreds of organizations worldwide using its technology and is working with more than 40 of the Fortune 100 companies.

The companys founders sold their first startup, Adallom, to Microsoft in 2015. They left Microsoft and in 2020 launched Wiz. Early on, investors helped the company incorporate the needs of customers into its development, according to co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Ami Luttwak.

Wiz, based in New York with additional offices in the U.S. and Israel, is building a platform designed to meet an array of cybersecurity challenges in a cloud environment. That includes the security of a customers code base, as well as its engineering department, and functions such as identity management, artificial intelligence and data clouds and more, according to Luttwak.

If you start breaking it out, you understand that in order to provide a platform that provides security for the cloud, you actually cover the entire supply chain of building this up," Luttwak said.

The idea is to provide customers with enough context to understand which problems and vulnerabilities to address and when, Luttwak said.

Wiz planned on becoming a large company from day one, according to Rappaport. To that end, it focused on making sure gross margins, sales efficiency and R&D efforts were best in class, so it could concentrate on driving innovation and growth, he said.

Our primary goal remains expanding our market share and expanding into new territories, as theres a huge market opportunity awaitingand the time for seizing this opportunity is now," Rappaport said.

Write to Steven Rosenbush at steven.rosenbush@wsj.com
People living outside city limits anywhere in Idaho who plan to burn for any reason, including yard waste and crop residue, must obtain a burn permit, the Idaho Department of Lands announced Monday.

Idaho burn permits are required each year between May 10 and Oct. 20 to comply with state law. Recreational campfires do not require a burn permit.

Permits are available at: burnpermits.idaho.gov seven days a week and are immediately issued and valid. Permits also may be issued by any Idaho Department of Lands office. They are free and good for 10 days.

People planning to burn must have the permit with them when burning, the department said. The website also offers safe burning practices tips.
Most people dont know what its like to be in tense situations that law enforcement deals with on a regular basis. But Deputy Chief Kyle Sumpter does.

Hes seen officers make good decisions and bad decisions. So he put his experience together to give law enforcement officers the training to better protect the people they serve.

Sumpter gave an eight-hour training course on deadly force, de-escalation and resolving lethal situations Monday for local law enforcement at the Clearwater River Casino east of Lewiston. The lessons continue today.

Sumpter has more than 30 years of law enforcement experience, including in patrol, training coordination, crime detection, firearms instruction and SWAT work and command.

He was also on two seasons of Top Shot, a reality shooting competition show. He was brought to the area by Nez Perce Tribal Police Chief Mark Bensen.

Bensen worked with Sumpter for 25 years in Federal Way, Wash. His goal is to have tribal police training every year on topics important to law enforcement.

Bensen said Sumpter will give the same training both days to accommodate staffing and get as many people as possible to attend. Between the two days, 83 members from 14 agencies will attend.

Sumpter has been doing the training for 15 years, mostly in Washington, but has also taught in Oregon, Texas and Idaho.

Theres always been positive feedback, Sumpter said.

He decided to develop his own training after seeing law enforcement officers make mistakes that are life-changing.

Sumpter highlighted several incidents in which personnel injured or sometimes killed other officers because they didnt follow training and safety.

He said officers cant be expected to keep the community safe when there is a lack of safety from within our house. He said those situations dont come from ignorance of the rules, but arrogance in regard to following the rules.

Arrogance leads to complacency, Sumpter said.

He also saw a lack of training in areas like active shooter situations.
The Whitman County Coroners Office confirmed the death of a Pullman woman in March was a homicide.

Jamie Wilson-Spray, 25, died March 26 from asphyxia due to compression of the neck, according to a news release from the Whitman County Coroner delivered Saturday.

Her husband, 36-year-old Jacob Spray, was arrested on March 27 for the alleged murder.

The case began when a dispatching agency in Spokane alerted Whitcom 911, a local dispatching agency, that an assault may have been witnessed over the phone. A woman in Spokane had been interviewing Wilson-Spray for a job when the call ended abruptly, according to court documents.

Pullman police were called to Svedys Modern View Mobile Court on Fisk Street that evening, and officers found intense heat exiting the home.
Delmar L. Burley Poe, of Genesee, passed away peacefully Thursday, May 2, 2024, at age 91 at Valley Vista Care Center in Sandpoint.

Burley was born June 8, 1932, at Auburn, Wash., to Claude F. and Cora L. (Qualey) Poe. They ranched near Joseph, Idaho. As his birth approached, Cora and toddler Marv took the mail boat to Lewiston to stay with her sister, Ing, at Auburn. There was no hospital or doctor near Joseph. When it was time for Marv and Burley to start school, the family moved to Slate Creek. They owned and operated the Slate Creek store until they moved to Lewiston so the two sons could go to high school. Poe Creek on the Salmon River is where his paternal grandparents, George and Katherine Poe, ranched. His maternal grandparents, Knut and Mary Qualey, farmed on Thorn Creek at Genesee before moving to Joseph to ranch.

Burley joined the U.S. Army in 1952, serving 13 months in a tent in Korea 1952-53. Sgt. Poe returned to marry his sweetheart, Patricia A. Parks, and go to Fort Sill, Okla., where he served as a drill sergeant until his discharge in March 1955. For fun, they chased buffalo with other soldiers on their Harleys. They moved to Grangeville, where they had three children, Anna, Mark and Robert. They divorced in 1966.

Burley married Loretta Nutterville Haynes in 1968 at Lewiston. They moved from Pullman to Genesee in 1969, when they bought Aurora School House on Cow Creek. Together they raised their blended family, Anna Poe and Gregory and Bruce Haynes. They spent most of the rest of their days at Genesee until moving to long-term care in 2021.

Burleys dream was to go to Alaska. In 1982, he loaded all his tools, hooked the camper on his pickup and headed north with his favorite nephew, Ed Poe. He worked in Alaska as a heavy equipment mechanic until he retired in 1994 from the Operators and Teamsters unions. Burley was joined by Loretta and they lived at Fairbanks or Wasilla, Alaska. The last summer he worked, 1993, he camped at the job site at Nabesna Cutoff. They explored Alaska and spoiled their grandchildren with her fresh cookies and his great sense of humor.
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Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: May 07 2024

I was happy to work with Supervisor Dan Panico and the entire Town Board to show our support and appreciation for our men and women in armed services," said Town Clerk Kevin LaValle.

The Town of Brookhaven announces its commitment to supporting members of the Armed Forces of the United States on active duty by waiving fees associated with marriage licenses and marriage certificates.

The decision comes following the passage of Bill 3756 by the New York State Senate on June 5, 2019, and Bill A55 by the New York State Assembly on June 18, 2019. Subsequently, the bill was signed into law, amending the Domestic Relations Law to allow for the waiver of fees when either party applying for a marriage license is an active-duty member of the Armed Forces. In alignment with this legislation, the Town of Brookhaven passed Resolution 2024-324, with a unanimous vote of 7-0 by the Town Board.

Town Clerk, Kevin LaValle said, I was happy to work with Supervisor Dan Panico and the entire Town Board to bring this legislation forward and show our support and appreciation for our men and women in armed services.

"As a small gesture of gratitude and support for our brave servicemen and women, the Town of Brookhaven is proud to waive fees associated with marriage licenses and certificates for active-duty members of the Armed Forces," stated Supervisor Dan Panico. "This resolution reflects our commitment to honoring their dedication and sacrifice."
Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: May 07 2024

Randheer Shewprashad Pleaded Guilty in January.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Randheer Shewprashad, 25, of Patchogue, was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by eight years of post-release supervision after pleading guilty in January to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, for selling fentanyl to an undercover officer and illegally possessing a gun.

This defendant was already pending sentence for selling deadly fentanyl and illegal gun possession, but that did not deter him from continuing to commit these same crimes, said District Attorney Tierney. This 10-year prison sentence will ensure that he no longer will be able to push poisonous drugs into our community.

According to court documents and the defendants admissions during his guilty plea allocution, on two separate dates between March and April 2023, undercover officers purchased cocaine and fentanyl from Shewprashad. On May 4, 2023, Shewprashad was arrested after the Suffolk County Police Department executed a search warrant at his Patchogue residence. During the search of the home, police recovered cocaine, fentanyl, and two semi-automatic handguns.

On June 22, 2023, Shewprashad pleaded guilty on that case to Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, before Supreme Court Justice Timothy A. Mazzei.

While Shewprashad was out on bail and awaiting sentencing for that case, members of the Suffolk County Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), purchased cocaine and fentanyl from Shewprashad on three separate dates between October and November 2023. On November 21, 2023, Shewprashad was arrested again after police executed a search warrant at his Mastic residence. During the search of that residence, police recovered another semi-automatic firearm. Law enforcement also executed another search warrant at Shewprashads Patchogue residence, where they recovered cocaine and fentanyl mixed with xylazine.

Xylazine, also known as Tranq, is a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer not approved for human use. Xylazine is increasingly being found in the illegal drug supply, particularly mixed with fentanyl, and is linked to numerous overdose deaths. Currently in New York State, xylazine is neither restricted, nor illegal. District Attorney Tierney continues to advocate for lawmakers to pass legislation that will make xylazine illegal.

On January 18, 2024, Shewprashad pleaded guilty before Justice Mazzei to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, a Class A-II felony. On May 2, 2024, Justice Mazzei sentenced Shewprashad to 10 years in prison followed by eight years of post-release supervision. He was represented by Matthew Rosenblum, Esq.

Both cases were prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Maggio of the Narcotics Bureau with investigative assistance from the Suffolk County Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Today we honor and remember the law enforcement members who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our communities safe, said Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado. Their bravery, courage, and commitment to New York will never be forgotten.

Our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every time they put on their uniforms in service to their communities  today we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, Governor Hochul said. We honor 68 policy officers who paid the ultimate price to keep us safe. Our hearts are with their loved ones as we remember them and their unwavering commitment to serve the State of New York.

Governor Kathy Hochul today honored 68 police officers from seven departments who sacrificed their lives in service to their fellow New Yorkers. The officers names have been added to the New York State Police Officers Memorial at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, and Governor Hochul spoke this afternoon at the Remembrance Ceremony. The black granite walls of the memorial now include the names of 1,840 police officers from 152 agencies across the state, and six federal agencies. The Governor also issued a proclamation designating May 7 as Police Memorial Day and directed state landmarks to be illuminated blue tonight to remember the fallen and recognize the service of police officers across the state.

More than 300 law enforcement professionals, family members and friends attended the ceremony, during which Governor Hochul offered remarks. This is the first year that the names of fire marshals from the Fire Department of the City of New York have been added to the memorial; state law defines FDNY fire marshals as police officers.

Line of Duty Deaths

New York City Police Department

Detective Lawrence J. Bromm was shot on December 21, 1977, and paralyzed from the waist down while investigating a minor traffic accident in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He died nearly 45 years later from complications related to his spinal cord injury (Feb. 13, 2022).

Detective Troy D. Patterson was shot in the head on January 16, 1990, as he attempted to confront three men who tried to rob him. He died 33 years after being injured (April 29, 2023).

East Fishkill Town Police Department

Sergeant Daniel P. DiDato was responding to Westchester Medical Center to continue an investigation when he was involved in a single vehicle crash on the Taconic State Parkway. He died from the injuries he sustained in the crash (December 18, 2023).

Fire Department of the City of New York

Fire Marshall Ronald P. Bucca responded to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, arriving just as the second plane hit the South Tower. He ascended to the towers 8th floor and died as a result of injuries he sustained while operating at Manhattan Box 5-5-8087 (September 11, 2001).

Ground Zero-Related Illness Deaths

The names of officers who died from Ground Zero-related illnesses were first added to the Memorial in 2008. With the addition of 64 names this year, those deaths now total 444.

New York State Police

Investigator Anthony B. Ashe (November 4, 2020)

Trooper Robert M. Burney (December 9, 2023)

Deputy Superintendent William J. DeBlock (October 20, 2020)

Captain Christopher J. Garrow (June 12, 2023)

Senior Investigator Nicholas A. Georgeadis (April 28, 2023)

Investigator Patrick J. Hogan (April 13, 2023)

Trooper Edward T. Kiluk (April 4, 2021)

Trooper Lawrence W. Lakeman (August 7, 2007)

Technical Sergeant Scott C. Norcutt (June 20, 2023)

Technical Sergeant Christopher P. Rock (December 3, 2023)

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department

Police Officer David J. Lee (July 29, 2022)

Police Captain Richard L. Ruiz Sr. (November 18, 2023)

New York City Police Department

Police Officer William Anthony Jr. (March 1, 2021)

Police Officer Michael E. Barnes (June 19, 2021)

Police Officer Mark N. Bressack (September 22, 2022)

Detective Eric Calleja (August 8, 2022)

Police Officer Donald E. Cossean (May 17, 2022)

Lieutenant Timothy E. Coyne (August 12, 2021)

Police Officer Stephen A. Darby (December 15, 2022)

Detective Francisco F. DeCastro Jr. (January 24, 2022)

Detective Angel F. Esquerete (August 2, 2022)

Detective George A. Flores (August 28, 2022)

Lieutenant Anthony J. Garvey (May 20, 2022)

Police Officer Francis A. Gaynor (January 18, 2023)

Sergeant James A. Geraghty (March 2, 2021)

Lieutenant Maureen Gill-Donohue (December 7, 2022)

Lieutenant Ivan Gonzalez (May 17, 2022)

Deputy Chief Thomas J. Graham (June 7, 2022)

Detective Ronald E. Higgins (June 11, 2022)

Detective Nicholas M. Holovinsky (July 26, 2022)

Detective William J. Keating (June 8, 2022)

Detective Thomas M. Lilly (September 26, 2022)

Sergeant James A. Mastricovo (July 28, 2022)

Lieutenant John F. McArdle (February. 22, 2023)

Detective James S. McCormick (December 24, 2022)

Police Officer Robert J. Mouradian (August 18, 2020)

Detective Alberto Nieves (August 9, 2019)

Detective Maureen M. OFlaherty (November 28, 2019)

Police Officer Martin M. Podolski (March 9, 2022)

Lieutenant Michael G. Prettitore (January 31, 2023)

Police Officer Andrew L. Quinlan (April 6, 2020)

Detective Marcos Quinones (February 7, 2021)

Detective Frank D. Randall Jr. (January 28, 2022)

Sergeant Thomas F. Roche (May 29, 2022)

Detective John C. Ryan (May 19, 2017)

Captain Janelle Sanders (September 11, 2022)

Police Officer Jordan Silver (December 9, 2022)

Lieutenant Zachary A. Slavin (June 14, 2022)

Detective Harry Stafilias (April 1, 2023)

Detective Victor Vargas (August 23, 2022)

Detective John J. Walker III (May 8, 2022)

Assistant Chief James L. Ward (October 10, 2021)

Nassau County Police Department

Detective Erick W. Contreras (January 15, 2021)

Detective Michael J. Kearns (June 8, 2014)

Suffolk County Police Department

Chief of Patrol Thomas P. Compitello (December 16, 2022)

Police Officer Robert J. Kirwan (September 9, 2023)

Fire Department of the City of New York

Fire Marshal Michael J. Federowski (November 8, 2021)

Supervising Fire Marshal Emil K. Harnischfeger (May 6, 2013)

Fire Marshal Robert J. Kelly (December 20, 2020)

Supervising Fire Marshal John J. McCauley (May 28, 2022)

Fire Marshal Gregorio Morales (July 30, 2016)

Fire Marshal Steven C. Mosiello (July 15, 2011)

Fire Marshal Karl J. Sederholt (May 22, 2023)

Fire Marshal William Wilson Jr. (July 15, 2006)

The state Division of Criminal Justice Services coordinates the ceremony and the work of the Police Officers Memorial Advisory Committee. The state Office of General Services maintains the memorial and its commissioner also serves on the Committee.

Division of Criminal Justice Commissioner Rossana Rosado said, "We deeply appreciate and honor the sacrifices of these brave police officers and keep their loved one and friends in our hearts. We are thankful for their selfless public service and will always remember their dedication to the safety of all New Yorkers.

Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy said, Today, we solemnly pay tribute to the dedication and heroism of police officers who made the ultimate sacrifice while in the line of duty. OGS is proud to maintain the State of New York Police Officers Memorial at the Empire State Plaza, providing a space for solitude and reflection for the family, friends, and colleagues of those who have given their lives in service to others.

The memorial is based on a design concept suggested by Colleen Dillon Bergman, the daughter of Emerson J. Dillon Jr., a 16-year veteran of the New York State Police who was killed in the line of duty in 1974. Bergman also suggested that the names of police officers be placed on the memorial without regard to rank. In a letter to the committee established to oversee the memorials creation, she explained: It doesnt matter from which department they came, the feeling of loss is experienced the same. Those words are engraved on the memorial.

Memorial Inclusion Criteria

To be included on the memorial, an individual must have been a police officer, as defined in the States Criminal Procedure Law, or employed as a federal law enforcement officer and performed the same or essentially similar duties as defined in that law. Applications to DCJS for inclusion on the memorial must be made by agencies that employed the officers.

In addition to Commissioners Rosado and Moy, the following individuals serve on the Memorial Advisory Committee: New York State Troopers PBA President Charles Murphy, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Benevolent Associations President Michael OMeara, New York State Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Director Patrick Phelan, New York State Sheriffs Association Executive Director Peter R. Kehoe, Patrolmens Benevolent Association of the City of New York President Patrick Hendry, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Chapter President Andrew Rakowsky, and the Police Conference of New York President Richard Wells.

The Division of Criminal Justice Services provides critical support to all facets of the states criminal justice system, including, but not limited to: training law enforcement and other criminal justice professionals; overseeing a law enforcement accreditation program; ensuring Breathalyzer and speed enforcement equipment used by local law enforcement operate correctly; managing criminal justice grant funding; analyzing statewide crime and program data; providing research support; overseeing county probation departments and alternatives to incarceration programs; and coordinating youth justice policy. Follow DCJS on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).
LIVONIA, MICH.  Madonna University will host Michigan's 14th annual Missing Persons Day on Thursday, May 23rd, 2024. The event will be held at the Franciscan Center from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm.

This public event aims to raise awareness about missing persons in Michigan. Local law enforcement will be present to answer questions regarding missing persons cases and accept tips on both new and old investigations.

Family members of missing individuals are encouraged to pre-register to ensure their loved one is commemorated during the event. A private session specifically for families with missing loved ones will be held at 9:00 am.

To register or for more information, email MissingInMichigan@gmail.com or visit the event page at Michigan.gov.
Ed Sheeran, Tyler Childers and The Killers will headline Boston Calling this year, but they are not the only notable acts taking the stage at the 3-day festival.

The headliners will be joined by more than 50 artists, including more than 20 acts from the Northeast.

To highlight these incredible local artists, MassLive will publish profiles on the acts leading up to the festivals start date on May 24.

JVK

Boston-based band JVK is one of more than 20 local acts performing at Boston Calling 2024.Photo Courtesy of JVK

With the energy and chaos of old-school rock n roll and a modern touch of sympathy and empowerment, Boston-based JVK was founded by lead vocalist Jo Krieger, the bands website reads.

Krieger told MassLive that she had wanted to start a new band after being in another local band while she was a teenager.

To find his new bandmates, Kreiger put up flyers around Fenway and Back Bay in hopes of recruiting some musicians from the Berklee College of Music scene.

From there Krieger found the rest of JVK: Atticus Crowley and Kay Kwiatek. The group has been together for more than two years and couldnt be more excited to be playing Boston Calling for the first time this year.

It is such an incredible honor. Ill never forget looking at my email to see the BC offer and I was over the moon excited, Krieger said. I am the most excited to be able to get into rehearsals and put our hearts and souls into making this the most amazing performance possible. Its only up from here.

Krieger was supposed to go to all three days of Boston Calling in 2020, but missed out because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, she is excited to see all of the local and national acts namely Tysk Tysk Task, Justin Clancy and Megan Thee Stallion.

You can keep up with JVK by following the band on Instagram and TikTok.

Boston Calling will take place Memorial Day Weekend from Friday, May 24 until Sunday, May 26 at the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston.

Fans looking to purchase tickets for Boston Calling can visit StubHub and VividSeats. More information about this years lineup and how to purchase tickets can be found here.
You wont need to say alohomora to unlock yourself into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Instead, you can get tickets when a behind-the-scenes exhibition comes to Boston for the first time this fall.

Harry Potter: The Exhibition, which has already mesmerized over 2 million fans worldwide, will make its Boston debut at CambridgeSide on Sept. 13 as part of its upcoming tour around the United States.

Eager wizards and witches looking to get their portkey can join the waitlist for early access to tickets, which formally go on sale Thursday, May 16.

Those who join the waitlist will have access to a presale starting Tuesday, May 14. Those who buy tickets within that timeframe will get a commemorative Harry Potter: The Exhibition tote bag.

The exhibition will let fans become fully enveloped with the iconic moments, characters, settings and beasts from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films.

Guests will have access to a boatload of spellbinding experiences like learning their Hogwarts House by taking a photo with the iconic Sorting Hat, having a lecture in a Hogwarts classrooms or uncovering iconic creatures on Hagrids Hut through The Forbidden Forest.

Stepping outside of the movie series, people can also see original costumes, props and imagery from the Tony Award-winning Broadway production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

The exhibition will also come with a retail shop selling exclusive merchandise including apparel, jewelry, and edible treats like Chocolate Frogs and bottled Butterbeer.

Harry Potter: The Exhibition has opened in several cities around the world following the world premiere in Philadelphia in February 2022. The exhibition is currently showing in New York City and Macao, China. It opens in May in Munich, Germany and in August in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Tickets, which start at $25 for adults and $19 for children, can be purchased online. People can follow Harry Potter: The Exhibition on Facebook, Instagram and X for updates.
Last months Great North American Total Solar Eclipse may be behind us, but its memory lives on.

Coming just seven years after North Americas previous total solar eclipse, this may be the greatest one yet. My wife and I were among those lucky enough this time to see the moon completely block the sun, and like so many others, we have stories to tell.

Three times now, Ive witnessed totality. In each case, I got there by car. In 1963, my father drove me and family to Maine. In August 2017, I drove myself to North Carolina. On April 8, Clara and I burned the midnight oil on the highways to northern Vermont. Each trip was unique, but none were easy.

The April 2024 eclipse traced a path from Texas to Maine casting a shadow 108 to 122 miles wide  considerably more than the 62- to 71-mile wide shadow seven years ago. Totality reached 4 minutes, 26 seconds in southern Texas, but diminished to about 3 1/2 minutes across northern Vermont.

Not only was this eclipses shadow larger, it also crossed more densely populated areas, putting an estimated 31.6 million people in the path of totality  nearly 20 million more than in 2017. Additionally, 150 million people lived within 200 miles of totality  almost exactly the distance my wife and I had to drive.

We didnt want to miss this one, but ambiguous forecasts for northwest Vermont complicated our decision to go. Furthermore, friends in the eclipse path shared unsettling visions of impending chaos with cars everywhere and the hazards of people making do without appropriate facilities. The dire warnings had us worried we wouldnt be able to just pull off the road anywhere we wanted.

That concern vanished in the final days when Jenny Powers, the director of the Springfield Science Museum, invited us to view the eclipse along with her, members of the Springfield STARS Club, and others. She had procured a hilltop site in Fairfax  deep in the path of totality  featuring a magnificent view of Mt. Mansfield, Vermonts highest peak.

All we had to do was get there. We thought of driving up the morning of the eclipse, but decided to leave the night before, hoping for a few hours sleep after arriving. So, at 11 p.m. we got in the car and headed up Interstate 91 and across Vermont on Interstate 89. The roads were so empty, I doubt we encountered more than 100 vehicles the entire way. By 3 a.m. we were there.

The author's view south on Route 89 an hour after viewing totality in Fairfax, Vermont. (Patrick Rowan)Patrick Rowan / Special to The Republican

After a few fitful hours of rest in the car, we dragged our bodies out under a blue sky. A man called through the woods from next door, inviting us to come see his sugar house. Later, I overheard him talking about the lack of anticipated visitors.

We joined Jenny and crew setting up telescopes and cameras on the lawn as everyone kept a leery eye on the increasing high clouds in the west. I took a quick ride to the convenience store we had passed at the highway exit coming in, and saw kids in front of houses with signs offering parking spots for a few dollars, but no obvious eclipse traffic. The store was not especially busy.

The lack of crowds here reminded me of my trip to Andrews, North Carolina in 2017, where an expected onslaught didnt materialize, despite it being on the centerline of totality. (Check out my story at https://www.masslive.com/living/2017/09/a_smokey_mountain_eclipse_road_trip.html)

Back at our viewing spot, a ring formed in the high clouds around the sun and intensified as the moon started across the suns face. It had snowed in southern New England the week before, so the T-shirt temperatures were a delight. The air cooled as expected in response to the diminished sunlight, but the mosquitoes surprised us all.

When the last direct rays of sunlight blinked out behind the moons limb, the high clouds were too thin to ruin our views, and may even have enhanced totality. In 2017, I squandered my precious moments in totality trying to do everything at once. So this time, I set my camera up so it could shoot video while I enjoyed the eclipse with my own eyes. (Heres a link to my video: https://youtu.be/OdF6MdiNB6A)

I had time to examine details of the corona and the vivid red prominences peering over the moons edge that no photograph could capture. I noticed STARs Club president Richard Sanderson adjusting his equipment, and urged him to do the same. Totality revealed an eerie magnificence, a crystalline display of nuance and depth on a planetary scale  a truly transcendent sight.

After totality, Clara and I imagined we could get home before dark if we left right away, and that our cats would be happy to see us. At 4:30 p.m., the convenience store was no busier than before, and we hopped onto Interstate 89 south without a second thought. About 15 minutes down the road, traffic slowed to a crawl. Its just a bottleneck around Burlington I said, only slightly worried.

A group of sky watchers prepares for the total solar eclipse at The Inn at Grace Farm in Fairfax, Vermont. Mt. Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak, is in the distance. (Patrick Rowan)Patrick Rowan / Special to The Republican

An hour later, I yelled to a cop sitting in his cruiser on the median as we inched along the interstate. How far does this go? I inquired. Far, he yelled back through his open window. Later, I talked about the eclipse with passengers stuck in cars alongside us. It was dark when we took a chance, and exited the highway at Montpelier. We found downtown packed with cars and people as music from venues spilled onto the street.

To avoid the gridlock on the highway, we decided to follow Route 12 south out of town, but first Clara had to wait half an hour in line for the restroom in Cumberland Farms, so I talked with a few people pumping gas. Several told me they didnt make it into totality even though they started north early that morning. A few women scowled and men laughed when asked if it had been worth it.

We had already spent hours on back roads when we got turned around at a roadblock just a few miles from Interstate 91 around midnight. Now, we found ourselves following a stream of cars through the twists and turns of a poorly maintained dirt road up and over steep hills.

All those strangers in other cars had to be struggling like us, and I sensed an odd kinship with these people I couldnt even see. Aloud, I declared that this whole scene  this exodus  was epic! Clara objected to that word, but I think she was just tired.

Somewhere south of White River Junction, we finally found Interstate 91 and almost reached highway speed before hitting more stop-and-go traffic. The cars casually pulling over for unofficial highway rest stops seemed to care less about discretion than when this all began.

About 2:30 a.m., we got home.

Jenny Powers, director of the Springfield Science Museum, tests her equipment for the eclipse. (Patrick Rowan / Special to The Republican)Patrick Rowan / Special to The Republican

The next day, I was checking the focus on some pictures I had taken of Mt. Mansfield from our spot in Fairfax 15 miles to its northwest. Zooming in, dozens of multi-colored dots popped into view along the snow-covered ridge. Switching between images taken a minute or so apart, these dots rearranged themselves.

These were obviously people, and a quick internet search for pictures of people on Mt. Mansfield during the eclipse proved it. Our little observing party had a direct line of sight connection with theirs during the eclipse, a discovery I found quite satisfying.

Find rise and set times for the sun and moon, and follow ever-changing celestial highlights in the Skywatch section of the Weather Almanac in The Republican and Sunday Republican.

Patrick Rowan has written Skywatch for The Republican since 1987 and has been a Weather Almanac contributor since the mid 1990s. A native of Long Island, Rowan graduated from Northampton High School, studied astronomy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the 1970s and was a research assistant for the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory. From 1981 to 1994, Rowan worked at the Springfield Science Museums Seymour Planetarium, most of that time as planetarium manager. Rowan lives in the Florence section of Northampton with his wife, Clara, and their cats, Eli and Milo.
A Bristol County judge sentenced a Fall River man to life in prison for murdering a convenience store owner in 2021, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn IIIs office announced.

Nelson Coelho, 40, was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery and carrying an illegal firearm in connection with the death of Lal Kishor Mahaseth, Quinns office said in a statement released Tuesday.

Judge Raffi Yessayan sentenced Coelho to life in prison with no possibility of parole, Quinns office said.

During a five-day trial, evidence was presented that Coelho waited before entering a Stop N Save on Rock Street while carrying a handgun, Quinns office said. He shot Mahaseth once in the chest before he ran off.

Coelho was also convicted of committing an armed robbery at the 7Days Food Mart in Fall River the night before, Quinns office said. Evidence presented showed that he used the stolen money to buy crack cocaine with his friends.

Yessayan also sentenced Coelho to eight to 10 years in state prison for the robbery.

In his statement, Quinn said he was pleased by the verdict.

The victim was just trying to make a living to support his family, who had come over from Nepal, Quinn continued. The facts of this case, once again, highlight the very damaging effects drug abuse has on our society. I commend the family for their patience and dignity during the most difficult circumstances of hearing about and watching their fathers murder. I am sure the victim would be very proud of his childrens success, which I am sure is owed in large part to the example he set for them. I want to thank the prosecution team for their efforts in this most serious case.
Editors note: This story was updated at 3:17 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 to add a statement from an attorney representing Study Across the Pond

The U.S. Attorneys office for Massachusetts on Tuesday sued Study Across the Pond, a Beverly-based company that prosecutors say convinced foreign colleges and universities to enter arrangements that violated a federal ban on incentive-based payments for recruiting students.

The suit, filed in federal court, names the company and its principal, John Borhaug, as defendants.

Prosecutors say the company paid its employees to recruit American students to attend foreign schools in the United Kingdom like Aberystwyth University, University of Kent, and University of Winchester, among others, and then required the schools pay a commission when students enrolled. The company and Borhaug are accused of then causing the schools to submit false claims to the U.S. Department of Education to cover up the payments, acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua S. Levys office said in a statement.

Title IV of the Higher Education Act bars any higher education institution from receiving federal student aid from giving a commission, bonus or other incentive payment to recruiters based directly or indirectly on their success getting students to enroll, according to the statement. The rule, known as the Incentive Compensation Ban, protects students from aggressive recruitment practices that serve the financial interests of the recruiter and not the educational needs of the student.

Prosecutors say the company knowingly collaborated with at least 28 schools in the United Kingdom to violate the ban while the schools were participating in federal student aid programs.

An attorney representing the company and Borhaug said the complaint is baseless in both law and fact and called it irresponsible.

Study Across the Pond has enriched the lives of thousands of American college students seeking placement in UK colleges and universities, the attorney, Joseph L. Demeo, said. The governments threadbare claims likely derive from years-old allegations of a disgruntled former employee who also sued multiple universities looking for a quick payday. Study Across The Pond complied with government regulations and will prove as much in court.

The commission paid to the recruiters was a share of the money schools received through federal student financial aid programs for the benefit of American students, according to prosecutors. The company and Borhaug are accused of creating sham records to conceal the arrangements and causing foreign schools to submit false claims to the Department of Education.

With todays action, my office demonstrates its commitment to upholding the ban on incentive compensation, rooting out undue financial influence in student recruitment, and protecting the integrity of federal student financial aid programs, Levy said in the statement.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, who heads the Justice Departments Civil Division, said recruiters who seek an illegal financial incentive undermine the integrity of our system of higher education.

Prospective students are entitled to make their enrollment decisions without the improper influence of recruiters who pursue their own financial gain at the expense of students best interests, Boynton said in the statement.
Defense attorneys for Karen Read, the Mansfield woman charged with killing her Boston police officer boyfriend, repeatedly attempted to poke holes in the police investigation of his death as Reads trial continued Tuesday.

A Canton police lieutenant who initially investigated the death of Boston police officer John OKeefe testified for more than two hours Tuesday, facing questions on his relationship with key witnesses and tactics police used to gather evidence  including collecting blood in plastic red Solo cups.

Tuesday marked the sixth day of the high-profile trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, in which prosecutors contend that Read backed her car into OKeefe after the two left a bar following a night of heavy drinking.

OKeefes unresponsive body was found the following morning on the lawn outside the Canton home of fellow Boston police officer Brian Albert. He was covered in snow from a severe winter storm that rolled in overnight.

Read, 44, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing death.

2002 fight sparks police bias claims

Much of Tuesdays testimony came from Canton Police Lt. Michael Lank, who was called to 34 Fairview Road in Canton after Read and two friends discovered OKeefes body there on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.

Lank, then a detective sergeant, said three other police officers were already at the home when he arrived there around 6:30 a.m.

The defense team contends that Read never hit OKeefe with her car. Instead, theyve said he was beaten inside the home and attacked by the Albert family dog before his body was dumped in the snow outside.

Reads defense attorneys drew continued attention Tuesday to Lanks connections to the Alberts.

Lank said he was raised in Canton and knew members of the Albert family, including Brians brother Chris, who Lank was friendly with growing up. Kevin Albert, another brother, is also a member of the Canton Police.

Defense attorney Alan Jackson asked Lank if he knew the Canton Police were ultimately recused from the OKeefe investigation because of a perceived bias or conflict of interest between the department and Albert family.

Sergeant Michael Lank, of the Canton Police Dept. during cross examination at the murder trial of Karen Read at Dedham Superior Court on May 7. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald) BH

Yes, there was a perceived bias, Lank responded.

In questioning, Jackson focused on a 2002 incident in which Lank was involved in a fight after he intervened in a fight between Chris Albert, Brians brother, and several others.

Jackson argued that Lank used his position as a police officer to protect a member of the Albert family, implying he may have done the same after OKeefes body was found on Brian Alberts lawn.

But Lank said he stepped between Chris Albert and his would-be attackers to aid a citizen who was in fear and in need.

On the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, Lank said he told Jennifer McCabe, one of the women who found OKeefes body on Brian Alberts lawn, that he would need to speak with the homeowners.

Lank described his relationship with Brian Albert as civil and said they were not friends.

When he entered the Alberts home, everything appeared in order, Lank said.

He spoke with McCabe, her husband and the Alberts, but did not search the home.

I wouldnt have had a probable cause, Lank said, as Jackson questioned why he did not search for evidence that OKeefe had been attacked inside the home, mirroring questions he asked another police officer on Monday.

Presiding Judge Beverly Cannone told jurors they may consider Lanks relationship with the Albert family in weighing his testimony.

You may use this evidence to the extent that you find it credible in deciding whether there was any bias or favoritism on the part of the police in their investigation of this case, she said.

Defense pokes at police investigation, use of Solo cups

On Monday, Canton Police Lt. Paul Gallagher said officers noticed what appeared to be red drops of blood in the snow where OKeefes body was found. The officers placed the snow into Solo cups, which they stored in a brown Stop & Shop paper bag.

We did the best that we could with the weather and with the deteriorating situation, Lank explained Tuesday.

The cups were brought to the police department to be turned over to Massachusetts State Police detectives, who handle all death investigations, he said.

A photograph shown during the Karen Read trial in Norfolk County Superior Court on Monday, May 6, 2024. The photograph is of blood samples taken by Canton police and placed into Solo cups inside a brown paper bag. (Pool camera)Law & Crime/pool camera

Reads defense lawyers repeatedly questioned why police used Solo cups and a Stop & Shop bag to collect and transport evidence.

Thats a grocery bag, Jackson said. It doesnt say anything about evidence on it. It says Stop & Shop.

The paper grocery bag was the same type police use to store evidence, Lank said.

Jackson questioned whether the cups or bag were sterile, as he did with Gallagher on Monday.

Do you think its standard practice for a police department to borrow red Solo cups from a neighbor to gather evidence? Jackson had asked Gallagher.

Canton Police Lt. Michael Lank examines evidence during the trial of Karen Read, a Mansfield woman charged with killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, in January 2022.Law&Crime live stream

Norfolk prosecutor Adam Lally objected, but Cannone allowed Gallagher to answer.

Of course not, Gallagher said. Nothing about this scene was standard.

Whats next

Tuesdays proceedings began with testimony from Canton Police Sgt. Sean Goode, who also faced questions from the defense on how police conducted their investigation.

Jurors also heard brief testimony from Canton Police Lt. Charles Rae, a shift commander who was on duty on Jan. 29, 2022.

He said he visited OKeefes home to check on the officers niece and nephew, whom OKeefe cared for. Rae will return to the stand Wednesday.

During a moment of confusion surrounding the introduction of evidence during Goodes testimony, Cannone excused jurors. She later urged the attorneys to be more efficient with their questioning.

Its not just the defense. Its not just the prosecution. But were taking an awful lot of these jurors time. Were taking days and weeks, Cannone said. Lets not squander it by repetitive evidence or taking time like this that we shouldnt need to take. Lets move this case along.

The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.

It has garnered remarkable media and public attention amid allegations from Reads team that police covered up the nature of OKeefes death.

Tens of thousands of viewers tuned into online streams of the trial on Tuesday for the sixth day of testimony. Some livestream feeds have gathered audiences of more than 100,000.
A 28-year-old man was arrested Monday and is facing an assault and battery charge in connection with a shooting in Roxbury last month that left a man with life-threatening injuries, Boston Police said.

Ahmad Lewis, of Boston, is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, assault and battery with a firearm, and destruction of property over $1,200, Boston Police said in a statement on the departments website.

At around 3:47 p.m. on April 13, police went to the area of 16 Seaver St. for a report of a person shot. Police were alerted to gunshots in the area by a gunshot detection system before they arrived. When officers arrived, they found an adult man had been shot and had life-threatening injuries, according to the statement.

Lewis is set to be arraigned in Roxbury District Court.
On Monday, a Quincy man pleaded guilty to hiding over $10 million in corporate income by filing fake tax returns for his company, Acting United States Attorney Joshua Levys office announced.

Su Nguyen, 60, pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns to U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young, Levys office announced Tuesday. Young scheduled Nguyens sentencing for Sept. 5. In October 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Nguyen.

Between 2016 and 2020, Nguyen was the owner and operator of General Employment Services, a temporary employment agency operating in Massachusetts, Levy said. He paid the company by check for the work performed by its employees, but Nguyen deposited a small number of client checks in a bank account he used for his companys business and reported that income to the IRS.

Nguyen cashed most of the checks at a check casher in Worcester before he used the cash himself to pay some employees wages, Levys office said.

He cashed over $10 million in client checks and did not report the income or wages paid in cash to the IRS, Levys office said. Nguyen and his company failed to pay over $2 million in taxes.

Each count of aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
(*This story was updated at 3:17 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, to include comments from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.)

Democrats who control the Massachusetts Senate finally joined the states annual budget derby on Tuesday, unveiling a $57.9 billion spending plan that pumps more money into schools, transit, and local assistance  without raising taxes.

Democratic leaders have been dribbling out sneak previews of their fiscal blueprint for the new fiscal year that starts July 1. On Monday, they were in Lowell, where they unveiled a $75.5 million expansion of the states existing free community college program, extending it to all students.

The plan represents the Senates vision for an affordable, equitable and competitive commonwealth, Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, said during a mid-morning briefing.

The budget welcomes the very youngest residents to child care facilities so they can learn, and their parents can go back to work, Spilka said. It welcomes young adults who thought they would never have a chance for a college education.

The Senates blueprint, which is about $5 million less than the nearly $58 billion budget the majority-Democrat House approved last month, also provides the commonwealths 351 cities and towns with the funding they need for their communities to thrive, Spilka said.

Here are the big things to know about the spending plan, which the Senate plans to debate starting May 20.

The bottom line:

The Senates $57.9 billion budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1, and runs until June 30, 2025, represents a $1.8 billion, or 3.3% increase, over current, approved spending, Senate Ways & Means Committee Chairperson Michael Rodriques, D-1st Bristol/Plymouth, said Tuesday.

The Senates proposal is about $5 million less than the plan approved by the House last month  but less than the $58 billion budget proposal that Democratic Gov. Maura Healey unveiled earlier this year.

Like the House and Healey, the Senates plan calls for spending $1.3 billion in anticipated revenue from the states so-called Millionaires Tax, an extra 4% levy on anyone earning $1 million a year or more.

But each chamber and the administration break up that spending in different ways.

Healeys budget calls for spending $750 million in so-called Fair Share revenue on education, with $550 million earmarked for transportation-related projects.

The Houses budget splits that money, with $695 million going to education spending and $605 million for transportation. The Senate earmarks $735 million for education and $565 million for transportation under its proposal.

A screen grab from the Super Bowl ad by the Massachusetts State Lottery. Photo by Massachusetts State LotteryMassachusetts State Lottery

Taxes, revenue and lottery:

None of the spending plans the Legislature and Healey advanced call for broad-based tax increases.

Healey, however, has proposed giving cash-strapped municipal governments the option of raising local taxes on restaurant meals, hotel stays and cars.

The Senates version of the budget notably does not include those so-called local option taxes, Rodriques said Tuesday.

Like the House and Healey, the Senates spending plan also calls for new and one-time revenue sources, with the upper chamber allocating $1.15 billion from those sources. Unlike the House and Healey, however, the Senates bill does not authorize online Lottery sales, which would have garnered $100 million.

But, in a dose of good news for Lottery players, the Senates spending proposal does call for allowing people to use their debit cards, instead of just cash, to purchase tickets. Rodriques pegged the increased revenue from that change at around $25 million.

Asked why the Senate had decided against online sales, Rodriques said the state wouldnt see the revenue from the authorization for 14 months. He also pointed to concerns from brick-and-mortar retailers, who have said it could eat into their sales.

Families sleeping at Boston's Logan Airport on Monday, March 11, 2024.Luis Fieldman

The migrant crisis and emergency shelter:

The Democrats spending plan calls for $325.3 million for the states stretched emergency shelter system.

Coupled with the $175 million approved in a supplemental budget, that brings the total spend to $500 million, which is less than the $915 million in need thats been estimated by Healeys office.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Rodriques said that money should fund the shelter program into the next calendar year, adding that he anticipates lawmakers will have to revisit the funding question in 2025.

We want to keep the pressure on the administration to make [the system] more efficient and more affordable, the Senates chief budget writer said. Were saying Make it work. If they cant make it work, they need to come back to us and justify why they cant make it work.

Like Healey and House Democrats, Rodriques said policymakers in Washington need to step up to help states such as Massachusetts, which are dealing with an influx of new arrivals.

There is an election in November, he said. Were hoping that, post-election, the federal government will come to its senses. Immigration is controlled by the federal government ... all these legal migrants came to Massachusetts as a result of federal policy and the feds need to step up and support the policies they have implemented.

The Senates spending plan calls for $1.58 billion to expand access and affordability for child care.Getty Images

Child care, pre-K, K12, and higher education:

The Senates spending plan calls for $1.58 billion to expand access and affordability for child care, including $475 million for the Commonwealth Cares for Children grant program, which assists providers with workforce and operational needs.

It also calls for $80 million to expand income-eligible child care to families who make up to 85% of the states median income of $94,488, according to Census data.

The spending plan also rolls in $18.5 million in grants to Head Start programs and $5 million for childhood mental health programs, according to a summary provided by Rodriques office.

For K-12 students, the Democrats budget proposal would spend $6.9 billion dedicated to so-called Chapter 70 funding, which is the main way Massachusetts pays for public education.

It also calls for fully funding the fourth year of the states Student Opportunity Act, which requires the state to equitably fund its public schools over seven years.

The spending proposal also sets aside, among other things, $15 million in state aid to Massachusetts rural school districts and $13.1 million for dual-enrollment programs, which allow high school students to earn college credit as they attend their regular classes.

The Democrats spending plan calls for spending a total of $117.5 million on free community college for all state residents; $105 million on financial aid expansion, and $10 million on college and university wraparound supports. All those initiatives would be funded through Millionaires Tax revenue.

The Senate budget also provides a $760.5 million appropriation for the University of Massachusetts system; $380.7 million for the states 15 community colleges, and $366.7 million for the commonwealths nine state universities, according to the summary provided by Rodriques office.

A red line MBTA subway train in Alewife station in Cambridge, Mass.Nicole Simmons/MassLive

MBTA and regional transit:

The Senate Democrats plan would take $127 million in Millionaires Tax revenue to double state support for the MBTA.

It also calls for $66 million for direct operating support to regional transit agencies; $23 million for means-tested fares at the MBTA; $40 million for free fares for the regional transit agencies, and $24.5 million for Commuter Rail capital improvements, according to the analysis provided by Rodriques office.

Were making great strides, Rodriques said of the funding challenges facing the T. The gap is vast.

Speaking to MassLive after an appearance on WGBH radio on Tuesday, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said she welcomed lawmakers discussions on funding for the MBTA and the prospect of reduced fares for riders.

Its such a different policy discussion now than when I first started talking about free fares and [was] getting surprised and confused looks in response, Wu told MassLive. The fact that there is now a commitment at the state level to move forward with means-tested fares is a huge first step.

The funding increases included in Healeys and the Legislatures respective budget plans are dramatically important in terms of the continued improvements and digging out from decades of underfunding and disinvestment, Wu said.

And while she remains a full-throated supporter of the T, the Democratic mayor said the funding increases for regional transit agencies were equally important because the accessibility on our [regional transit agencies] affects Boston and vice versa.
With graduation season in full swing across the commonwealth, Gov. Maura Healey framed her sweeping economic development bill Tuesday as an essential tool to keep tens of thousands of young adults here, while also spurring a trend of in-migration to Massachusetts.

Dubbed the Mass Leads Act, Healeys roughly $3.5 billion proposal invests heavily in workforce development, including a $10 million-per-year pilot program to launch a statewide internship tax credit that would benefit companies recruiting from Massachusetts-based colleges.

During a committee hearing, Healey acknowledged that driving down housing prices and improving the states transportation systems are also crucial as companies struggle to retain talent, especially among the young adult demographic -- ages 26 to 34 -- leaving Massachusetts at an alarming rate due to soaring costs of living.

Weve got those half a million undergraduate and graduate students are graduating from schools across this great state this month and next month, Healey told the Legislatures Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. We want them to stay here.

The University of Massachusetts Lowell is about to graduate 4,500 students, with about half studying in STEM fields, Chancellor Julie Chen said. Across the UMass system, there will be 20,000 graduates this spring, she told lawmakers.

How do we keep more of those students here in the commonwealth? Ill give you an example, Chen said. About a month ago, the governor, lieutenant governor, members of the Lowell delegation and the city of Lowell announced the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor. The idea there: Bringing companies together with our talent and creating housing for recent graduates.

The corridor is anchored by Draper Laboratory, which Chen said chose to stay and grow in Massachusetts even as it attracted interest from other states.

This Mass Leads Act is what keeps that draw for companies and therefore keeps the draw for our new graduates who want to stay here in Massachusetts, the chancellor said.

Hallmark proposals in Healeys bill call for reauthorizing the life sciences initiative at $1 billion for another decade, as well as making a parallel major investment in climate technology that includes a new tax incentive program worth up to $30 million annually.

Healey also recommends funding an Applied AI Hub at $100 million and a Massachusetts TechHub at $75 million, in addition to injecting $400 million into the MassWorks Infrastructure Program, $100 million into the Rural Development Fund, $100 million into the Seaport Economic Council and $99 million for advanced manufacturing, among other big-dollar commitment.

The Legislature is expected to pass some version of Healeys legislation by the end of formal sessions this July, and Tuesdays hearing comes during an increasingly busy stretch on Beacon Hill.
Matt Barnes was looking to show he still had it. However, his time with the Washington Nationals has come to an end after 14 games this season.

The Nationals announced Tuesday that they have designated the 34-year-old former Boston Red Sox reliever for assignment, removing him from the 40-man roster.

Barnes had signed a minor-league deal with the Nationals earlier this year. He posted a 6.75 ERA in 14 appearances this season.

Barnes spent nine seasons with the Boston Red Sox, first appearing in 2014. He was a part of the teams 2018 World Series team and eventually took on the closer role in 2021, earning his lone career All-Star nod that year.

However, Barnes effectiveness tailed off during the end of his run in Boston, with injuries playing a significant factor.

The Red Sox opted to DFA and eventually trade Barnes ahead of the 2023 season. Barnes said he was stunned by the move, saying at the time that it was a complete blindside.

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There was a popular belief that Barnes may have been a victim of being run into the ground by the Red Sox, with Barnes retweeting a social media post suggesting that was the case.

Barnes never used those words, but did reference that he had shouldered a heavy workload out of the bullpen in 2021 and 2022.

Heading into 2023, Barnes was traded to the Miami Marlins in exchange for Richard Bleier, who himself was DFAd months later. However, Barnes 2023 season was cut short after undergoing surgery for a hip impingement.

Working his way back from shoulder and hip issues, Barnes arrival in Washington was billed as a comeback of sorts as the veteran worked to prove he still had it.

First and foremost, (I want to show) that Im healthy and feeling good, Barnes said in February, via MLB.com. I feel like Ive got things to still offer this game and offer this organization and team, and that Im back to being who I was.

As a result of the DFA decision, the Nationals have five days to try and trade Barnes before he is released outright.
Rain is headed to Massachusetts for the later half of the week, including some thunderstorms.

Thunderstorms are expected in the Berkshires Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service predicted.

A few thunderstorms may be capable of producing damaging wind gusts and hail, the weather service stated.

A hazardous weather outlook was issued for the area as flooding could also be a problem due to the rain.

Rain could start by 4 a.m. on Wednesday. It is expected to last through Monday.

The rest of the state can also expect a rainy week.

There is a chance of rain, including some thunderstorms, starting Wednesday and lasting until Monday.

The rain could start as early as 6 a.m. on Wednesday in Springfield. Although it is most likely the rain will start around 9 a.m.

In Worcester and Boston, the National Weather Service predicts rain could start around 6 a.m. but is most likely around 10 a.m.

And on Cape Cod, rain could start around 11 a.m. But it is most likely going to start around 5 p.m., the weather service stated.
A bear was observed making contact with a man who was killed in a crash on Interstate 91 in Hatfield and the animal was later euthanized, state officials said Tuesday, confirming a report from Massachusetts State Police.

The bear was euthanized by MassWildlife and the Massachusetts Environmental Police at the scene out of an abundance of caution, according to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

Daniel Ducharme, 31, of South Hadley, was killed in the crash after he lost control of the car while driving south on Interstate 91, according to the State Police. After losing control of the car, Ducharme hit the guardrail multiple times and veered off the roadway. The car traveled down an embankment, entered the woods, and hit several trees, according to police.
SPRINGFIELD  A few years back when the Latino Counseling Center was still small, it was asked if it could work with city students in need of help.

We were asked, Can you handle the schools? and I said, I dont know but lets go, said Maria Silva, chief operating officer for the center.
A water main break at the intersection of Grafton and Maranda streets in Worcester on Tuesday turned some residents tap water brown.

Residents who live near the intersection and by Grafton Street posted to Reddit Tuesday afternoon that their tap water had turned brown, with some asking whether the water was safe to drink.

Thomas Matthews, a spokesman for Worcester City Manager Eric Batista, told MassLive the reason for the brown water was a 16-inch water main break at 725 Grafton St. that happened at 2 a.m. Tuesday. According to Matthews, the water main break resulted in some nearby residents having rusty water, giving it a brown color.

Residents are advised that the water is not harmful and encouraged to run their cold water in a tub for about 10 minutes to help clear it up as crews work to make a repair, Matthews said.

The water main break closed both sides of Grafton Street at Valmor Street, according to the Worcester Police Department. In a post on X, the department advised drivers to find another route.

Matthews told MassLive that the pipe had been turned off since it was broken and repairs to the main were underway as of Tuesday afternoon.

According to a document created by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the main reason for tap water having a brown, yellow, orange or red color is because of rust.

Rusty water occurs from sediment in the pipes or rust from the inside walls of the water mains, the document reads. The rust can be disturbed and temporarily suspended in water with unusual water flows from water main breaks or maintenance or by flushing of a hydrant.

Even though the color of the water may look different, the MassDEP states that having rusty water is not dangerous to drink compared to water filled with bacteria or lead.

Water main breaks in Worcester have happened before. On Feb. 4, 2023, water from a broken pipe flooded into an apartment building on 425 Pleasant St. The owner of the apartment, the Worcester Housing Authority, said the flooding resulted in catastrophic damage to the buildings electrical, fire alarm and sprinkler systems. Nearly 250 residents were evacuated from the building and found shelter in hotels during the three-month repair process.
The heads of anti-corruption agencies from 21 African member states of the Commonwealth will convene in Accra, Ghana, from 6 May to 11 May 2024, for a significant conference aimed at enhancing regional anti-corruption efforts.

The 14th Annual Conference of Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa commences today, focusing on the theme Strengthening Institutions and Promoting Transparency: A Means of Fighting Corruption in Commonwealth Africa.

Organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the Government of Ghana, the conference will bring together members of the Association of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa, senior government officials, relevant international organisations, civil society, policymakers, and development partners. The aim is to address key priorities for achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16, share knowledge and good practices, discuss the impacts of corruption on sustainable development in Africa, and explore innovative approaches in the fight against corruption.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, said:

The global cost of corruption exceeds $3.5 trillion dollars each year. In developing countries, funds lost to corruption are around 10 times the amount of official development assistance. Africa loses more than $50 billion a year to illicit financial flows. Indeed, over the past 50 years, Africas loss to corruption has exceeded the total of all the official development assistance received during the same period.

What we lose to corruption is more than enough to lift everybody out of poverty and deliver the SDGs. Tackling corruption is a priority of the highest order for the Commonwealth Secretariat because we are serious about implementing the SDGs.

SG 2  Heads of Anti Corruption Agencies Accra2

Secretary-General Scotland delivering her video message to the heads of anti-corruption agencies.

Dr Roger Koranteng, the Commonwealth Secretariats Head of Public Sector Governance, said:

This annual gathering of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa provides a vital opportunity for collaboration and mutual support within the Commonwealth. Tackling corruption reduces poverty, enhances economic stability and growth, and improves standards of living.

This years theme  Strengthening Institutions and Promoting Transparency,  is a timely and important topic. Transparency is crucial for accountability, which ultimately lays the foundation for corruption-free institutions and systems. By sharing successful practices, and understanding what hasnt worked, we can collectively work towards practical and effective action.

Since its inception in 2011, the Conference has been held annually. It is an integral part of the Secretariats mission to assist governments, judges, the police, and other public institutions in combating systemic corruption. This is achieved through the sharing of best practices, training, and policy research.

The Association of Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa is composed of Anti-Corruption Agencies from the following 21 African countries: Botswana, Cameroon, Eswatini, Ghana, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.
REOPENING the railway line between Mayo and Sligo could deliver major growth for small towns in Mayo and open up the whole northern part of Connacht.

A 216-page report, edited by former ESRI professor Dr John Bradley, has made the case for the full reopening of the currently disused railway line from Athenry in Galway to Collooney in Sligo, via Mayo.

The Government has already committed to reopening the line between Claremorris and Athenry. A reopening of the Claremorris-Collooney section has so far been ruled out.

The new report, entitled Atlantic Railway Corridor  The Mayo-Sligo Rail Link: An Appraisal, estimates that the reopening of the northern section of the line would cost 411.72 million. This would include track replacement and the reopening of stations in Charlestown, Swinford, Kiltimagh with modern parking facilities.

The costs, which were calculated based on the cost of reopening the Athenry-Ennis railway line, amount to roughly 5.5 million per kilometre of track. However, according to the reports cost-benefit analysis, this investment would be richly rewarded by multiple benefits.

BENEFITS

IF REOPENED, the railway station at Charlestown would offer easy access to Ireland West Airport Knock, which would be a mere seven-minute bus journey away.

Passengers could potentially travel from Claremorris to Sligo in approximately 70 minutes on the restored line. A journey from Sligo to Galway, accounting for a 120km/h line speed and one-minute stops at all stations, would take around two hours and ten minutes.

The potential benefits listed in the report include increased passenger revenue for Iarnrod Eireann and reduced CO2 emissions due to less car use and more freight being transported by rail, which would also benefit large employers such as Baxter, Coillte and Coca-Cola. The report also highlighted how reopening the line would provide connectivity between three Atlantic Technological University campuses in Galway, Castlebar and Sligo.

The rail routes potential benefits to job creation and the regions tourism industry has also been much discussed.

Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday (Monday), Dr Bradley, said the full reopening of the Western Rail Corridor would address the growth imbalance between railway towns and those not served by rail.

He said that investing in the northern half of the Western Rail Corridor would prevent lobsided development within County Mayo, where the middle and the south will be booming and the north will be shrivelling.

SHOVEL READY

Dr Bradley described the Iarnrod Eireann-owned infrastructure north of Claremorris as shovel ready. The line from Ennis to Collooney is still owned by Iarnrod Eireann, he pointed out. Unlike the Westport to Achill line, the track has not been pulled up. Indeed, according to Dr Bradley, a train is run from Ennis to Collooney once a year, for legal reasons.

The report indicates that reopening the line from Claremorris to Collooney would help address economic imbalance within the region.

If you look at Claremorris, Castlebar, Westport, Ballyhaunis, between say the census of 1991 and the most recent census of 2022, those towns have been growing at well over 100 percent. They are growing phenomenally fast, said Dr Bradley. If you go north of the east-west line, and you have Charlestown, Swinford, Foxford, Ballina, Tubbercurry, even Sligo  they are growing much, much more slowly, Dr Bradley explained.

The report also criticises the omission of the Claremorris-Collooney section from the All-Ireland Rail Review, which recommended the reopening of the Claremorris-Athenry section.

Last May, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan was heavily criticised by elected representatives in Mayo after he told members of Sligo County Council that the Claremorris to Collooney line would not be reopened. Those criticisms have been echoed by Dr Bradley.

This is not about 100 million here or 100 million there for a railway line, its about the whole development of the northwest region, he said.

The whole northwest region is in serious trouble and many of the political parties dont want to do anything about it. They want to focus on the east coast and the south coast.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

A SPOKESPERSON for lobby group West on Track welcomed the report, describing the logic of reopening the line as inescapable.

The Claremorris-Athenry section of the Western Rail Corridor has been included in the EUs revised TEN-T network, making it eligible for funding under the Connecting Europe Facility.

Sinn Fein MEP for the Midlands North-West, Chris McManus, voted for the new TEN-T regulation but described the omission of the Claremorris-Collooney section as a missed opportunity.

The rail line is vital to the future of our region in terms of connectivity and economic development, and it is critical that the entire line is reopened, Mr McManus said.
MAYO has recorded a fall in the number of Ukrainians living in state-provided accommodation but has seen a rise in the number of international protection applicants living in the county.

MAYO has recorded a fall in the number of Ukrainians living in state-provided accommodation but has seen a rise in the number of international protection applicants.

New figures show that there are 2,342 Ukrainian refugees and 1,396 international protection applicants living in state accommodation in Mayo - 3,738 in total.

The county now accommodates the fifth-highest number of international protection applicants of any local authority area, behind only Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council and Donegal County Council.

Plans are currently under way to accommodate 120 more international protection applicants at the Twin Trees Hotel in Ballina  which has been the subject of public demonstrations.

The total number of international protection applicants in the county has risen by 144, up from a figure of 1,252 in January.

In the same period, the number of Ukrainian refugees living in the state accommodation in Mayo has dropped by more than 500.

In January, Mayo was accommodating 2,916 Ukrainians, 574 more than the current figure of 2,342.

According to the latest CSO data, over 4,600 PPS numbers have been issued Ukrainians with addresses in Mayo.

None of the above figures reflect the actual number of Ukrainians living in Mayo at present, some of whom have left state accommodation but still reside in the county, or who have left the county altogether.

Despite recent cuts to welfare entitlements for Ukrainian refugees, Mayo is still accommodating the sixth-highest total number of any local authority area.

Ukrainians may only reside in state accommodation for 90 days, where they are entitled to a payment of 38.80 per adult and 29.80 per child.

Peadar Toibin TD, a candidate for the EU parliament in the Midlands North-West constituency, said the latest figures indicated a significant regional imbalance in the distribution of immigrants into the country.

We need a strict system based on compassion and common sense, but the latter is missing completely from the Governments approach, the Aontu leader added.

It is not engaging with communities, leading to a vacuum of information which is a petri dish for rumour. Government ineptitude is eroding confidence. It needs to get a grip of the situation.

Elsewhere, Fianna Fail Senator Lisa Chambers has called on Minister for Integration, Roderic OGorman, to ensure a balanced allocation of asylum seekers in different regions.

The Mayo woman was speaking following the launch of a national strategy which will see the government rent or purchase properties to use for international protection applicants.

The Department of Integration has issued a call for expressions of interest from property owners, with a closing deadline set for the end of next April.

Acknowledging the ongoing shortage of accommodation for asylum seekers, Senator Chambers called for an approach which addresses the immediate housing needs but also promotes sustainable integration strategies that enhance community relations and economic stability across all regions.

While the intent of the governments strategy is commendable as it seeks to provide urgent housing to those in need, it is imperative that the execution of this plan does not inadvertently skew the demographic and economic balance of certain regions, remarked Senator Chambers, who is standing in the Midlands North-West constituency in the upcoming European elections.

It is crucial that there is a balanced allocation that does not disproportionately impact any single region but instead contributes to the overall social fabric of the country. Ensuring fair distribution and transparency in how these properties are allocated will help maintain social cohesion and support the integration of asylum seekers into communities in a dignified and respectful manner.
Senator Lisa Chambers has urged Northern Ireland first Minister, Michelle ONeill to address immigration concerns in urgent correspondence.

The European election candidate for the Midlands Northwest constituency has written to Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill, regarding the alarming numbers of immigrants entering the Republic of Ireland from Britain through Northern Ireland.

In her correspondence, Senator Chambers has directly queried First Minister O'Neill on how she plans to address this issue, as it is a shared challenge.

Expressing profound concern over the implications of this situation, the Fianna Fail Senator emphasised the necessity for collaborative action to tackle the shared challenge.

There were comments in the House of Commons this week which said that Northern Ireland should not become a dumping ground for the UKs problems.

Senator Chambers commented that by extension, Ireland should not become such a dumping ground also.

She added: "It is not acceptable that Britain's migration policy seems to be to Rwanda or to Ireland - this is not how neighbours should interact with each other."

The Mayo woman has already called on Minister for Integration, Roderic OGorman, to ensure a balanced allocation of asylum seekers in different regions.

Drawing attention to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's comments on RTE Radio earlier this week referencing legislation that grants powers to monitor entry points into Northern Ireland, at ports or airports, Senator Chambers sought clarity on whether these powers are being considered or looked at by First Minister O'Neill.

Given the gravity of the issue for the entire island, Senator Chambers underscored the urgency of addressing this matter comprehensively.

She stated, "The influx of immigrants from the UK through Northern Ireland and into Ireland is a pressing concern that demands immediate attention and collaborative action. It is imperative that we work together to find equitable solutions that uphold the integrity of our borders and ensure fair treatment for both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland."

Senator Chambers concluded by urging First Minister O'Neill to engage in transparent dialogue and proactive measures to address the shared immigration challenges facing both jurisdictions.
Stella Maris Shore House welcomed the Ballycastle community with a local art exhibition and open house event.

Rolf Siegrist, a passionate Swiss native and the visionary owner of the newly reopened Stella Maris Shore House in Ballycaslte, extended the invitation to locals and visitors alike to rediscover the timeless charm of this historic property.

Mr Siegrist welcomed the community, embracing his vision of inclusivity. He described the event as a lovely opportunity to toast to new beginnings and celebrate the support and camaraderie that have made this journey possible.

At the heart of Stella Maris lies a dedication to preserving its rich heritage, inviting guests to step back in time and experience the allure of the mid-1800s.

Mr Sigerst with Cllr Mark Duffy celebrating the opening, showcasing the work of local artist Emmanuel Matt

The hotel currently hosts an exclusive exhibition showcasing the exquisite paintings of renowned Swiss artist Emmanuel Matt, who also attended the official opening.

Housed within the conservatory, Mr Matts masterpieces captivate visitors with their beauty and depth. Additionally, his intricate drawings adorn the walls of the bar and lounge, creating a captivating ambiance for patrons to indulge in.

Mr Matt, who resides and creates in the scenic surroundings of Doonfeeney, Co Mayo near Ballycastle, infuses his art with a profound connection to nature and culture, reflecting the essence of Irelands rugged landscape.

Mairead Melody Carr from Mayo North Tourism highlighted that while accommodation is Mr Siegrist's primary focus, he's eager for Stella Maris to integrate into the local community.

She continued: The vision is for it to serve as a hub where locals can drop by to enjoy art exhibitions, yoga sessions, or simply relax with tea and scones in the conservatory. It's not just a hotel; it's about fully immersing the business within the community, which is lovely for the community of Ballycastle and beyond.

For those seeking a blend of history, art, and hospitality, Stella Maris Shore House promises an unforgettable experience.

For more information about Stella Maris Shore House and Emmanuel Matts exhibition, see the Stella Maris Ireland website.
A local election candidate in Castlebar has hit out at the government for hiking taxes on fuel.

Donal Geraghty, who is running for Independent Ireland, said families will be forced to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table because of the latest hikes in heating oil and solid fuels.

The latest carbon tax hikes, which came into effect last Wednesday (May 1), increased the price of coal, peat, motor fuel and home-heating oil.

The increase in the carbon tax will add around 19 to a 900-litre fill of home-heating oil, around 75c to a bag of coal and 17c to the cost of briquettes.

The tax adds 1.04 to the cost of 60 litres of petrol and 1.20 to 60 litres of diesel, according to the Dails Parliamentary Budget Office.

Mr Geraghty, who supplies smokeless coal in the Castlebar area, said the tax increases would put serious financial strain on working people who receive no state subsidies.

The carbon tax increases were agreed in October following the adoption of the annual budget.

The repercussions of this tax hike extend beyond mere numbers on a bill. It means sacrifices for families already stretched thin, forced to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table. It means added pressure on vulnerable communities, particularly the elderly and the struggling squeezed middle-income households, who I will fight tooth and nail for if elected, said Mr Geraghty, who works in Mayo University Hospital. He has called for freezing and reforming the carbon tax, recognising the need for balanced climate policies that don't place undue hardship on the most vulnerable.

Mr Geraghty also described the raising of the carbon tax as yet another blow inflicted by an elitist Green Party.

The tax is currently set at 56 per tonne of CO2 and is due to rise to 100 per tonne by 2030. The governments relentless pursuit of carbon taxes disproportionately burdens those least able to afford it, he added.

Its a stark reminder of the growing disconnect between our leaders and the everyday realities faced by ordinary honest working people.
by Ray Schultz , May 6, 2024

Pennsylvania is the latest state that could stop jurisdictions from paying newspapers for publishing their legal notices.

The State Senate whip, Sen. Ryan Aument (R), is calling for a study to assess the cost of paid public notices. This would include all locales statewide.

That study, he wrote, will go a long way to helping the Legislature decide if continued advertising in print newspapers is still the best method to ensure this important information reaches the public.

Ending that plan would deprive struggling newspapers of badly needed revenue and remove a layer of transparency in government.

Right now, the states Sunshine Act requires public entities to publish notices of meetings, contract proposals and other official business in zoning hearings with newspapers of general circulation, Lancaster Online reports.

That would accord with the wishes of the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs and the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors.

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Another possible option would be to do what Virginia has done.

There, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (D) has signed bills stating that when ordnances and notices are required by law to be published in a newspaper, they instead may be published in an online-only news publication, which would preserve that revenue stream for publishers moving toward digital.
by Fern Siegel , May 7, 2024



The Terri & Sandy agency have a new president: Peyton Sutton.

Sutton replaces co-founder Terri Meyer, who has retired after 14 years at the helm.

Additionally, Tony Scopellito, former Terri & Sandy managing director, will move into a strategic growth advisory position for the agency.

Sutton will work with co-founder-CEO Sandy Greenberg to craft the award-winning agency's future. Terri & Sandys roster includes Princess Cruises, The Walt Disney Company, Freshpet, Nutella and BJs Wholesale Club.

Previously, Sutton was executive vice president, client partnerships at Curiosity. Her client list included Native, Brooks Running and Holland America Line. Before that, she spent 10 years as director of marketing for Subaru.

Meyer ad tenure is notable on various fronts.

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She headed several iconic ad campaigns, including Oreos Milks Favorite Cookie, Disney's Dream Big Princess and Gerbers Anything for Baby. She met Sandy Greenberg at DArcy Masius Benton & Bowles, St Louis, and together, they created a decades-long successful partnership, which included crafting landmark ads for Clairol and Kodak.

In 2010, they launched their own agency.

Ive long admired Terri & Sandy for its heritage of building highly effective, impactful creative work that moves the needle for brands. Equally, I admire Terri Meyer and Sandy Greenberg as trailblazers in the advertising industry, said Sutton. They have paved the way for female leaders, and Im honored to have the opportunity to help carry the torch.
by Ed DeNicola , Op-Ed Contributor, May 6, 2024

The presidential election is six months away, which is well beyond the 100-day mark when predictive analytics start to have meaningful rates of accuracy. But thats not going to deter MediaPost from publishing a regular series of prediction data each month leading up to the election to see how it nets out.

Most are familiar with polling methods but many believe prediction markets may be a better method for predicting actual outcomes.

In addition to prediction markets, well be monitoring the "13 Keys."

They are votes up or down on the strength of the performance of the White House party, American University Professor Allan Lichtman explained recently during an interview on CNN.

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Lichtman is the author of 13 criteria for predicting presidential elections and he has found that if six or more of the variables go against the incumbent White House party, the partys candidate he or she will lose. If fewer than six are negative, the candidate will win.

Lichtmans 13 criteria:

Party mandate

Contest

Incumbency

Third Party

Short-term economy

Long-term economy

Policy change

Social unrest

Scandal

Foreign/military failure

Foreign/military success

Incumbent charisma

Challenger charisma

Lichtmans method is important to include, because he has accurately predicted nine of the last 10 presidential elections. He was wrong in 2000, but claims that he was right because Al Gore won the popular vote even though George W. Bush won the presidency based on the Electoral College outcome.

If you know anything about predictive analytics, any success rate above 80% is beyond spectacular. Lichtmans track record is outstanding with or without getting it right in 2000.

Lichtman even got the 2016 election right, which is amazing considering I checked the polls and prediction markets before and after that election and they were pretty much wrong across the board. Even the most famous predictive analytics person of our time -- Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight -- missed that one.

Right now, the polls are leaning towards a Trump win in 2024. The average of the polls as reported by FiveThirtyEight have Trump ahead by less than one percentage point (0.7). Theyre reporting Trump at 41.6 and Biden at 40.9. Keep in mind that this difference falls well within the range of error as reported by FiveThirtyEight  40.3 to 42.8 and 39.4 to 42.2, respectively.

Its also important to note that FiveThirtyEights averages are based on publicly reported polls that meet their quality requirements. Theyre not straight averages. Theyre weighted averages based on a couple of factors including a pollsters empirical record and methodological transparency.

Another thing worth mentioning is that these numbers are being reported as polling averages not to be confused with election forecasts, which FiveThirtyEight promises to make available in a couple of months. Its forecasts will include additional inputs.

While polls are favoring a Trump victory, prediction markets currently favor a Biden win.

The Iowa Electronic Markets (IEM) winner-take-all market favors a Democratic win by a large amount. Share prices for a democratic win are 0.92 vs. 0.18 for a Republican one. Its important to note that IEM has a great track record, better than the polls, particularly when predicting more than 100 days in advance of an election.

PredictIt, another prediction market were tracking, also favors the Democratic party. It has Biden trading at 50 cents vs. Trump at 47 cents.

Professor Lichtman, is predicting Biden to have an advantage.

Based on his 13 factors, Lichtman predicts Biden currently has the advantage, because as the incumbent, six or more would have to go against him to predict his loss. Currently, Licthman sees only two criteria failing:

Party mandate, based on House elections in 2022.

Incumbent charisma (see mainstream media coverage).

Though there are additional ones that could be problematic:

Third-party, depending on whether RFK Jr. emerges as a viable candidate.

Social unrest (see recent protests on college campuses).

Biden could lose the Foreign/Military Failure and Foreign/Millitary success criteria, depending on what happens in Israel and Ukraine.

If you only focus your attention on polls, Trump currently has a marginal advantage. But if you analyze prediction markets and Lichtman's keys, which have been proven to be more accurate predictors, Biden is in better shape.

Stay tuned to see how the methods trend in the months ahead.
by Teresa Buyikian , May 6, 2024

The hunt for Pizza Huts new president, which began in March, has come to an end. Today the pizza chain announced the appointment of Juan Carlos Carl Loredo as president of Pizza Hut U.S. Beginning June 3, Loredo will report to Pizza Hut Division Chief Executive Officer Aaron Powell and will be responsible for driving U.S. business performance.

Loredo joins Pizza Hut after serving as global CMO for the Wendys Company. During his eight years there, he oversaw digital sales growth, new activations and marketing and content campaigns. He joined Wendys in 2016 as vice president of brand marketing, directing brand strategy and product development. His responsibilities grew to include overseeing creative development and advertising, media buying and social programming.

I love a good story, and Pizza Huts journey from one restaurant in Wichita, Kansas, to global cultural icon status is tremendously inspiring, said Loredo in a release. It is an honor to lead Pizza Huts U.S. business and be a part of taking this brand forward for the next generation of customers.

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Prior to Wendys Loredo was vice president of account service at The Marketing Arm, where he was in charge of the agencys multicultural practice and focused on digital and shopper marketing strategies. Earlier in his career he spent time at Craftmade and PepsiCo.

Loredo replaces David Graves, who left the company in March.

Wendys also announced today that the companys U.S CMO, Lindsay Radkoski, will fill Loredos shoes on the global senior leadership team, adding responsibilities for culinary innovation, digital marketing, customer experience, creative strategy and storytelling as well as partnerships and social marketing to her duties.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, May 7, 2024

TikTok sued Tuesday to invalidate a new law that will ban the app nationwide unless it's sold within one year by China-based parent company ByteDance.

For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide, TikTok and its parent company say in a petition filed with the Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

TikTok and ByteDance are seeking a declaratory judgment that the law is unconstitutional on several grounds, including that it violates the First Amendment right to freedom of expression and the Fifth Amendment right to due process of law.

The suit comes two weeks after President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which prohibits web hosting services and app marketplaces from distributing TikTok, unless it's sold within one year by ByteDance.

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Lawmakers who supported the measure expressed concerns that the Chinese government would be able to obtain data from TikTok about Americans, and that Chinese Communist Party would use the app to spread propaganda. Some lawmakers also suggested that information received through classified briefings justified the ban.

Immediately after Biden signed the law, TikTok CEO Shou Chew vowed to challenge it in court.

TikTok and ByteDance say in the petition that unless the law is blocked, it will inevitably result in a ban because divestment is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible.

A substantial part of TikToks appeal is the richness of the international content available on the platform -- from global sporting events like the Olympics to international K-pop stars from South Korea, as well as videos created by U.S. creators and enjoyed by audiences worldwide, the companies argue.

They add that divestment would preclude the interoperability necessary to make international content seamlessly available in the U.S. market and vice versa.

The companies argue that allowing the new law to go into effect would violate TikTok's rights to free speech, as well as the rights of its users.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies say. Unlike broadcast television and radio stations, which require government licenses to operate because they use the public airwaves, the government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

They also claim that Congress passed the law based on speculative concerns.

Congress itself has offered nothing to suggest that the TikTok platform poses the types of risks to data security or the spread of foreign propaganda that could conceivably justify the Act, the companies write.

Digital rights advocates opposed the new law, arguing that banning a communications platform is unconstitutional.

Users of TikTok in the United States have a First Amendment right to receive information, including videos, art and news items posted by other TikTok users, Kate Ruane, director of the Center for Democracy & Technology's Free Expression Project, told MediaPost last month.

That right cannot be restricted on the basis of speculative risks, she added.

Last year, TikTok successfully challenged a Montana law that would have banned the app in that state.

U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula said in that matter that the law likely violated the First Amendment, writing that the statute wasn't narrowly tailored to preventing China from obtaining data about Americans.

Montana is currently appealing that ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
  Trusted Source

Multiracial Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (MRMET): An inclusive version of an influential measure



Go to source Trusted Source

Did You Know?

Research suggests humans begin to develop the ability to understand others' minds, known as "theory of mind," as early as age 2 or 3. #mindreading #mentalhealth #braintest

Research suggests humans begin to develop the ability to understand others' minds, known as "theory of mind," as early as age 2 or 3. #mindreading #mentalhealth #braintest

Multiracial Test Redefining Mindreading

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Multiracial Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (MRMET): An inclusive version of an influential measure - (https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13428-023-02323-x)

Multiracial Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (MRMET), developed by Wellesley Colleges Jeremy Wilmer and team, represents a breakthrough in creating an accurate and inclusive assessment of mindreading skills, as published in the journal).For the past two decades, the most common scientific test of mindreading has a person guess what other people are thinking by just looking at their eyes.As of February 2024, this testcalled the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, or RMEThad been cited over 7,500 times, making it one of the most influential scientific tools in all of social sciences.But unfortunately, says Wilmer, the RMET had major issues with inclusivity. The eyes in the test were all cut out of British tabloids circa 1995, he explains.So the eyes are the eyes of white celebrities, and the words available to describe their expressions are deeply gender stereotyped. (For example, the correct answers for female eyes are disproportionately sexual, he notes, e.g., "fantasizing," and those for male eyes are disproportionately assertive, e.g., "insisting").The limitations of this influential test were obviousand frustrating to people asked to participate in research using the standard RMET. Wilmers coauthor, Laura Germine, explains, In our mental health studies, many participants from communities of color told us that taking this test, as a measure of their social abilities, was offensivethe original test overtly centers the emotional experiences and expressions of White people as the standard.We wanted to address this, both to advance science and to improve equity in mental health research.So the research team developed a new testfor the existing standard.The new MRMET test was created in collaboration with a diverse community of Boston actors, recruited through @company_one, a theater organization devoted to justice, equity & social change.The paper establishes the high quality of the new MRMET test via a massive study of 60,000 participants, recruited via TestMyBrain.org, a citizen-science project where people contribute to science by testing themselves.The study found that the researchers inclusive new MRMET was as good or better than the existing RMET across a wide array of quality metrics. For example, the MRMET more accurately predicted autism spectrum symptoms than the RMET.According to Wilmer, the original RMET creators had good intentions. They likely never expected the test to be used as widely as it has, even 20 years later.For their original purposes (testing in Cambridge, UK in the 90s), it was reasonable. But, says Wilmer, for a test with such widespread use, we can do better!The science of how we perceive faces has long operated on the implicit assumption that an effective way to achieve scientific control is to study homogeneous faces, Wilmer says.But our work clearly shows that there is no necessary value to such homogeneity. In fact, our work shows that one can simultaneously achieve both inclusion and scientific excellence.Two of Wilmers former students at Wellesley were co-authors of the study. This project would not have been possible without the vision and insight of Jasmine Kaduthodil and Ally Kim, Wilmer says.The researchers thus present the MRMET as aand as a case-in-point that inclusivity in psychological tests is an achievable aim.Wilmer hopes, too, that this new test can provide a model for inclusivity in other scientific domains. Through this work, we provide a case study of how a sustained, careful scientific effort can tear down a barrier to inclusion that existed within science itself.Source-Newswise
Highlights: AI and neuroimaging reveal brain regions linked to psychosis

Anterior insula and ventral striatum play key roles in attention and perception

Potential for targeted therapies to mitigate psychosis onset

  Trusted Source

Artificial intelligence-assisted psychosis risk screening in adolescents: Practices and challenges



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Did You Know?

Over 900 individuals studied; AI identifies crucial brain areas for psychosis onset. #mentalhealth #ai #medindia

Over 900 individuals studied; AI identifies crucial brain areas for psychosis onset. #mentalhealth #ai #medindia

Deciphering the Brain's Role in Psychosis

Targeted Therapies: A New Frontier in Mental Health Treatment

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Artificial intelligence-assisted psychosis risk screening in adolescents: Practices and challenges - (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9641379/)

Researchers have figured out more about why some people experience things that aren't real, like seeing or hearing things that aren't there. This helps us understand conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder better. It's like solving a puzzle to help find better ways to help people with these conditions feel better ().When people have severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia , they might have trouble knowing what's real and what's not. Scientists have been trying to understand why this happens for a long time. But it's been hard because many people with these conditions take medications that can change how their brains work.To make things clearer, scientists used special machines and artificial intelligence (AI) to take pictures of people's brains while they were doing different tasks.By using AI, scientists could see patterns in the brain pictures that showed up in people with psychosis (a term for when people lose touch with reality). They found that two parts of the brain, the anterior insula and ventral striatum, were especially important in causing these experiences.Think of the brain like a control center that decides what's important for us to pay attention to. The anterior insula helps filter out what's not important, like background noise. Meanwhile, the ventral striatum helps us decide what's really important or interesting. When these parts of the brain don't work right, people might start seeing or believing things that aren't true.Understanding how these parts of the brain work when people have psychosis is a big step forward. It can help scientists come up with new ways to treat these conditions. Maybe one day, they'll be able to use things like special brain treatments or medicines that target these specific areas to help people feel better.Overall, this discovery is like a flashlight in the dark, helping us see a little more clearly into the mysteries of mental illness. And as we keep learning more, we're getting closer to finding better ways to help people who are struggling with these challenges.Source-Medindia
Understanding the Neurological Impact of Asthma

by Colleen Fleiss on May 8 2024 12:05 AM
2 killed, 21 injured in southwest China attack

Xinhua) 20:03, May 07, 2024

KUNMING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and 21 others injured in a hospital attack in Zhenxiong County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said Tuesday.

The attack took place at around 11:37 a.m. on Tuesday when a man assaulted people with a knife at a local hospital in the county, according to the county's public security bureau.

The injured are being treated in hospital, and the case is under investigation.

The suspect, identified as a male local villager, was captured on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
The ballots have been cast, the votes have been counted, and we are delighted to announce the winners of the MHM Book Awards.

We carefully curated a list of 2023s best military-history titles and asked you, our readers, to vote for your favourite. Our selection included some of the best-researched, most-insightful, and most-readable titles reviewed and featured in the magazine over the last year.

You can read reviews of all 12 nominated books here.

MHM BOOKS OF THE YEAR

WINNER  GOLD AWARD

The Savage Storm: the battle for Italy, 1943

James Holland

Bantam Press

James Holland seeks to explore the campaign to seize Italy from the build-up of the landings at Salerno in September 1943 through to the Battle of Ortona in December the same year. The significance of the Italian campaign is deeply illustrated for a new audience through a compelling narrative, making The Savage Storm a remarkable achievement by a historian at the height of his powers.

Click here to read the full review

WINNER  SILVER AWARD

Women in Intelligence: the hidden history of two world wars

Helen Fry

Yale Books

Helen Frys latest book explores the lives of the many hundreds of women who worked in intelligence-gathering in Britain and abroad over 30 years, as intelligencers, codebreakers, spies, secret operatives, handlers, and double agents. The detail of this book demonstrates not only the thoroughness of Frys research, but also that, without the contribution of women during the two world wars, the outcome of both of them would have been very different.

Click here to read the full review

WINNER  BRONZE AWARD

Footsloggers: an infantry battalion at war 1939-45

Peter Hart

Profile Books

Britains poor bloody infantry did most of her fighting and dying during World War II. Peter Hart has assembled a portrait of one of these units, the 16th Durham Light Infantry (DLI), chronicling all the boredom, horror, and humour of their war. Footsloggers is an authentic account, whose universal truths about frontline soldiering will resonate with readers of every generation.

Click here to read the full review

Thank you to everyone who took part in voting this year. To find out more about the magazine and how to subscribe, click here.
The Coast Guard relieved its top enlisted reserve service member Friday, citing "loss of confidence" in his judgment and "ability to fulfill his assigned duties."

Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Reserve Timothy Beard has been temporarily reassigned following an administration investigation, the service reported in a press release Friday.

Coast Guard officials said the investigation looked into allegations of "inappropriate misconduct."

Read Next: Special Forces Training Shuts Down After Soldier Accidentally Shot by Live Ammo in Machine Gun

"Leaders must lead by example and uphold the highest standards," officials said in a statement to Military.com. "If unsatisfactory conduct is substantiated, the Coast Guard will take appropriate action, including removal from leadership positions, to ensure that those who violate our values are held accountable for their actions.

The relief is the second of a high-ranking Coast Guard member in the past three weeks. The Chaplain of the Coast Guard, Navy Capt. Daniel Mode, was removed from his post April 24 for "loss of confidence" in his judgment, according to the service.

Officials said Mode failed to take action when he was made aware of sexual misconduct by another chaplain that had taken place before the chaplain joined the Navy.

Last week, the Archdiocese of the Armed Forces defended Mode, calling him "an accomplished and highly respected U.S. Navy chaplain" who remains in good standing with its organization as well as the U.S. Navy.

"Archbishop [for the Armed Forces] Timothy Broglio takes sexual misconduct and the reporting of sexual misconduct seriously, and he is confident that, within hours of receiving documentation of the 2011 incident of sexual misconduct, Father Mode ensured and directed that key Coast Guard personnel and chaplains responsible for advising and briefing their commanders were emailed all of the detailed and pertinent documents," the archdiocese said in a statement April 30.

The Coast Guard has been under scrutiny since last year following reports that senior officials covered up an extensive investigation into cases of sexual assault and harassment at the Coast Guard Academy dating back decades.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan told a House Appropriations subcommittee May 1 that the service is taking action to build a safe environment after a review of the incidents that sparked the investigation, dubbed Operation Fouled Anchor.

"Why is this different from other times that we've been held accountable as an organization for failing with regard to sexual assault, harassment, bullying, retaliation, retribution? What's different this time is an acknowledgment that these behaviors are not appropriate in our service and we're going to move to eradicate them," Fagan told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee during a hearing on the service's fiscal 2025 proposed budget.

Beard was named the eighth master chief petty officer of the Coast Guard Reserve in 2022, a position that entails advising the commandant on enlisted reserve personnel issues.

Before joining the Coast Guard, Beard served in the U.S. Army, where he was assigned to the 133th Ordnance Detachment; the 703rd Support Battalion; and the Ordnance Missile and Munitions Center and School.

Beard enlisted in the Coast Guard Reserve in 1998. His awards include a Meritorious Service Medal, four Coast Guard Commendation Medals, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and three Army Achievement Medals.

Related: Coast Guard Relieves Commander Following Deadly Collision
Officials in the Pentagon say that they hope to have the USS Boxer -- the amphibious assault ship forced back to port due to a major breakdown just days after starting her deployment -- repaired and back out to sea by this summer.

"We're working to see if it can resume its deployment as soon as the summer," a defense official told Military.com Monday. However, that official also noted that the goal is being regularly evaluated.

The ship deployed at the start of April for a deployment that was set to start late last year after suffering months of maintenance delays but was forced to return to port just 10 days later after suffering a then-undisclosed maintenance issue. Navy leaders publicly acknowledged the ship developed an issue with her rudder late last week.

Read Next: Army Says US Soldier Being Held by Russia over Allegations of Criminal Misconduct

"We are investigating the reason why the bearing failed on the rudder," Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told reporters Thursday.

"We don't know yet the exact answer of why it failed," Del Toro said, noting that the current plan is to have divers conduct the repairs while the ship remains in the water.

USNI News was the first to report the rudder issue last Tuesday.

The Boxer's issues have resulted in the USS Somerset and the USS Harpers Ferry, both of which are part of the amphibious ready group that the Boxer commands, as well as parts of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed anyway but lacking all of the aircraft and other equipment the ship would have carried.

Del Toro said the Navy is still trying to figure out how the rudder failed but did say that the service is "fully understanding that sometimes we have material deficiencies that take place in the construction process."

The rudder issue is just the latest in a long series of mishaps and engineering issues that the ship had been dealing with despite having recently undergone a lengthy $200 million overhaul that ended in 2022.

However, a pair of command investigations into engineering issues on the Boxer revealed that since early 2023 the Navy continued to deal with headaches aboard the aging ship, and her engineering department was poorly led and had problems that ranged from inexperience to allegations of assault among the crew.

Despite those issues, Navy officials were publicly adamant that the ship was getting ready to deploy.

When the Boxer made it out to sea in August 2023, web cameras in the San Diego Harbor caught smoke billowing from the ship as it moved across the water just outside the harbor.

Despite local observers recording radio traffic describing the event as an "engineering casualty," Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson, a spokesman for the Naval Surface Force, at the time said that the incident was connected to system tests and argued that there was "no current impact to the mission, and Boxer remains focused on executing its sea trials."

When Del Toro was confronted by members of the House Armed Services Committee last week about issues with the ship, the top Navy leader conceded that "since [2017-2018], we unquestionably have been challenged by maintenance problems with our amphibious ships."

"The age of our amphibious fleet is excessively high," Del Toro said. "We need to continue to invest in new ships to replace these old ships."

-- Drew Lawrence contributed to this report,

Related: At Least 3 Engineering Incidents and Poor Leadership Kept USS Boxer from Deploying, Investigations Reveal
All live weapon training for the Army's Special Forces units, and most of the elements that support them, will be shut down for much of this week due to a safety stand-down -- after a soldier was accidentally shot during a training event, the service confirmed to Military.com.

A 7th Infantry Division soldier at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state was accidentally shot April 25 by another soldier with an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, or SAW, light machine gun, according to one source with direct knowledge of the situation. The injured soldier was in stable condition and recovering at Madigan Army Medical Center.

Starting Tuesday, all Special Forces, civil affairs and psychological operations units will have a three-day safety stand-down. The pause includes all scheduled live weapons training being canceled, according to Maj. Russell Gordon, a spokesperson for 1st Special Forces Command. It was unclear which unit the shooter is assigned to. The base is home to the 1st Special Forces Group.

Read Next: Meet the First 'Space Cowboys': 3 Guardians Complete Arduous Army Cavalry Spur Ride

The incident occurred during force-on-force training when live ammunition was accidentally mixed in with blanks. Blank ammo is commonly used in training and acts in all the same ways as live ammunition does in real weapons, except there is no projectile.

The Army typically takes great care to keep blank and live ammunition separate, and contaminating one set of the ammunition with the other is considered among the most damning safety mishaps possible.

"It is prudent of us to take immediate actions now to do an internal assessment as part of a safety stand-down," Gordon said in a statement to Military.com.

It's unclear how live ammunition made its way into blank fire training. Service officials are still investigating the incident.

The two types of ammunition are visually very distinct. It's unclear whether the SAW was loaded with a belt of live ammunition. That weapon, which uses 5.56mm rounds, can also be fired using a rifle magazine, in which a small number of live rounds could have been more easily mixed in, though that would still be an egregious error.

All units were ordered to conduct an inventory of all of their arms rooms and ensure that the ammunition storage is in compliance with Army regulations. Team rooms, where Special Forces soldiers often store gear, will be inspected by senior leadership. Units will also have an amnesty period for soldiers to turn in ammunition that may not be currently stored properly.

Noncommissioned officers will also receive additional training related to ammunition handling and conducting safe firearms training.

This Special Forces safety stand-down follows an unrelated stand-down in February, when the Army National Guard grounded its helicopters after back-to-back AH-64 Apache crashes. Two Mississippi Guardsmen died in one incident, and two Utah Guardsmen were injured in a separate crash.

Editor's note: This story has been edited to clarify that it's unclear to what unit the soldier who shot the weapon is assigned.

Related: National Guard Grounds All of Its Helicopters Following Apache Crash in Mississippi that Killed 2 Soldiers
A special operations airman died after being shot by police near an Air Force base in the Florida panhandle Friday, and a deputy has been placed on leave as the local sheriff's office investigates the circumstances of the incident.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, which flies AC-130J Ghostrider gunships, and was killed after "an incident at his off-base residence" led to gunfire, according to a press release from the base.

The shooting happened after "a deputy made contact with an armed individual at an apartment" located nearly 10 miles outside of Hurlburt Field on Friday afternoon following a call of a "disturbance in progress," the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Read Next: Russia Detains US Soldier over Alleged Criminal Misconduct

"Hearing sounds of a disturbance, [the deputy] reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun and after the deputy had identified himself as law enforcement," around 4:30 p.m. local time, the sheriff's office said.

No other details, including the circumstances of the disturbance that prompted the local deputies to visit the apartment building, were released. Fortson was taken to an area hospital where he later died. No officers were harmed in the incident.

The deputy involved was not identified in the news release and was "placed on paid administrative leave" pending the outcome of an investigation and administrative review, the sheriff's office said.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office recently came under scrutiny after one of its deputies resigned following an internal investigation last year of an incident in which he fired his weapon multiple times at a detained suspect after mistaking the sound of an acorn hitting the roof of his patrol vehicle as a gunshot, GulfLive.com reported.

Fortson joined the Air Force on Nov. 19, 2019, according to a copy of his service record provided to Military.com. He joined as an AC-130J gunner.

"To protect the integrity of the investigation, no other information will be released at this time," Hurlburt Field said in the press release. "The 1st Special Operations Wing's priorities are providing casualty affairs service to the family, supporting the squadron during this tragic time, and ensuring resources are available for all who are impacted." The wing is the 4th Special Operations Squadron's parent unit.

The incident in Florida follows the shooting death of another service member in Alaska on Saturday -- making two service members killed within a day of each other in unrelated events.

First Lt. Brandon Keyon Moultrie of Columbia, South Carolina, a soldier stationed at Fort Wainwright, was identified as the man who was killed after a fight happened outside a bar in Fairbanks, Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Moultrie, a bystander, was shot in the head and did not appear to be involved in the incident, the newspaper reported. Two men were arrested in connection with the incident.

Related: A North Dakota National Guard Airman Was Shot and Killed in His Home on Christmas Eve
U.S. Marines joined Filipino counterparts on May 5, 2024, for a mock battle at a telling location: a small, remote territory just 100 miles off the southern tip of the contested island of Taiwan.

The combat drill is part of the weekslong Exercise Balikatan that has brought together naval, air and ground forces of the Philippines and the United States, with Australia and France also joining some maneuvers.

With a planned maritime strike on May 8 in which a decommissioned ship will be sunk and exercises at repelling an advancing foreign army, the aim is to display a united front against China, which Washington and Manila perceive as a threat to the region. Balikatan is Tagalog for shoulder to shoulder.

Joint Philippines-U.S. naval drills have become an annual event. But as an expert in international relations, I believe this years drills mark an inflection point in the regional politics of the South China Sea.

For the first time, warships taking part in the exercise ventured outside the 12-mile boundary that demarcates the territorial waters of the Philippines. This extends military operations into the gray area where the Philippines exclusive economic zone rubs up against the territory claimed by China and designated by its nine-dash line.

Also for the first time, the U.S. deployed an advanced mobile launcher for medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles of a type that had been banned under the now-defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. In addition, the Philippine navy is showing off its newest acquisition, a South Korean-built missile frigate.

The South China Sea has long been the source of maritime disputes between China, which claims the vast majority of its waters, and nations including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. In addition, heightened tensions over the status of Taiwan  a territory that the Biden administration has pledged to defend militarily in the event of a Chinese invasion  have made the South China Sea even more strategically important.

U.S. troopers prepare to board a U.S. Army CH-47s at Paredes Air Station at Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte province as it carries U.S. and Philippine troops during a joint military exercise in northern Philippines on Monday, May 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Containment at sea

The latest joint maneuvers come amid two developments that could go some way to influence the future trajectory of tensions in the South China Sea. First, the Philippines has grown increasingly assertive in countering Chinas claims in the region; and second, the U.S. is increasingly intent on building up regional alliances as part of a strategy to contain China.

The Philippines-U.S. alignment is more robust than ever. After a brief interval during the 2016-22 presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, U.S. warships and military aircraft once again operate out of bases in the Philippines.

Joint naval patrols resumed in early 2023. At the same time, Manila granted U.S. troops unprecedented access to facilities on the northern Batanes islands, which have become the focus of current joint operations.

Meanwhile, Washington has become more vocal in condemning challenges to the Philippines from China.

U.S. officials had carefully avoided promising to protect the far-flung islands, atolls and reefs claimed by Manila for seven decades following the signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines in 1951.

Only in March 2019 did then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assert that the treaty covers all of the geographical area over which the Philippines asserts sovereignty.

In February 2023, Presidents Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Joe Biden doubled the number of bases in the Philippines open to the U.S. military. That May, the two leaders affirmed that the Mutual Defense Treaty applies to armed attacks that take place anywhere in the South China Sea.

Causing waves, rocking the boat

Firmer ties to the U.S. have been accompanied by more combative behavior on the part of the Philippines. In May 2023, the Philippines coast guard introduced demarcation buoys around Whitsun Reef  the site of an intense confrontation with Chinas maritime militia a year earlier.

Reports circulated three months later that Philippine marines planned to construct permanent outposts in the vicinity of the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal. And a Philippine coast guard ship, with the commander of the countrys armed forces aboard, approached Scarborough Shoal in November, before being forced to retreat by Chinese maritime militia vessels.

Then in January 2024, the Philippines broke with its adherence to a prohibition on erecting structures on disputed territory, which was part of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, by installing electronic surveillance equipment on Thitu Island, which sits beyond Scarborough Shoal in the heart of a cluster of disputed formations. This was followed by announced plans to put water desalination plants on Thitu, Nanshan Island and Second Thomas Shoal, making it possible to maintain permanent garrisons on these isolated outposts.

Manila has continued to assert its maritime rights by announcing that armed forces would escort exploration and mining activities in the exclusive economic zone.

Further acts that could be seen as provocative in Beijing followed, including the stationing of a Philippine navy corvette at nearby Palawan Island and a joint flyover by Philippine warplanes and a U.S. Air Force B-52 heavy bomber.

A raft of Chinese responses

It is clear that the deepening of Philippines-U.S. ties has given Manila the confidence to undertake a variety of combative acts toward China. The question is, to what ends?

A more assertive Philippines may end up contributing to the U.S. strategy to deter Beijing from extending its presence in the South China Sea and launching what many in Washington fear: an invasion of Taiwan.

But it is possible that heightened truculence on the part of the Philippines will goad Beijing into being more aggressive, diminishing the prospects for regional stability.

As the Philippines-U.S. alignment has strengthened, Beijing has boosted the number of warships it deploys in the South China Sea and escalated maritime operations around Thitu Island, Second Thomas Shoal and Iroquois Reef  all of which the Philippines considers its sovereign territory.

In early March 2024, two Chinese research ships moved into Benham Rise, a resource-rich shelf situated on the eastern coast of the Philippines, outside the South China Sea. Weeks later, a Philippines coast guard cutter surveying a sandbar near Thitu was harassed not only by Chinese coast guard and maritime militia ships but also by a missile frigate of the Peoples Liberation Army Navy, which for the first time launched a helicopter to shadow the cutter.

Washington has taken no public steps to dampen tensions between Manila and Beijing. Rather, Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed full-throated support for our ironclad defense commitments during a mid-March 2024 stopover in Manila.

Reassured of U.S. backing, Marcos has amped up the rhetoric, proclaiming that Manila would respond to any troublemaking on Beijings part by implementing a countermeasure package that is proportionate, deliberate and reasonable. Filipinos, he added, do not yield.

Such an approach, according to Marcos, was now feasible due to the U.S. and its regional allies offering to help us on what the Philippines requires to protect and secure our sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction.

The danger is that as the Philippines grows more assured by U.S. support, it may grow reckless in dealing with China.

Rather than deterring China from further expansion, the deepening Philippines-U.S. alignment and associated Filipino assertiveness may only ramp up Beijings apprehensiveness over its continued access to the South China Sea  through which virtually all of its energy imports and most of its exports flow.

And there is little reason to expect that Washington will be able to prevent an emboldened Manila from continuing down the path of confronting China in the South China Sea.

To Beijing, the prospect of an emboldened Philippines forging active strategic partnerships with Australia, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and  most troublesome of all  Taiwan makes the situation all the more perilous.

Fred H. Lawson is Professor of Government Emeritus at Northeastern University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Col. Ralph Puckett, the last living Medal of Honor recipient of the Korean War, died in his sleep on April 8, 2024, at age 97. On April 29, his urn was lain in honor in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

Puckett wasnt the first prominent American to lie in honor in the Rotunda and likely wont be the last. Others, such as former U.S. presidents and longtime senators, have lain in state. So whats the difference between the two?

Read: Army Ranger Legend and Last Living Korean War Medal of Honor Recipient Ralph Puckett Dies at 97

The Architect of the Capitol, the office that coordinates such ceremonies, calls the Rotunda the most suitable place for the nation to pay final tribute to its most eminent citizens. The difference between lying in state and lying in honor is really just dependent on who is being honored, and there are no hard, fast rules or regulations governing who gets the distinction.

Its determined by Congress on a case-by-case basis, the Architects office told Military.com.

Lying in State vs. Lying in Honor

The Capitols website says lying in state is typically used for U.S. government officials and military officers, while lying in honor is for private citizens, but the Architect of the Capitol reiterates that either honor is bestowed only by Congress. Although any person who has rendered distinguished service to the nation may lie in state if the family so wishes and Congress approves, custom dictates lying in state is an honor reserved for ex-presidents, members of Congress and high-ranking military officials.

When in the Rotunda, remains lying in state are guarded by one member of each branch of the U.S. armed forces facing the casket or coffin, rifles in their right hand and the butt of the rifle on the floor. The remains are placed on a catafalque, a wooden platform designed explicitly for the ceremony. The Capitol usually uses the Lincoln catafalque, the same one used to support President Abraham Lincolns casket after his assassination in 1865.

George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, lies in state at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on December 4, 2018. (DoD/Spc. Joseph Friend)

The primary difference between lying in state and lying in honor is the honor guard watching the deceaseds remains. When someone lies in honor, the U.S. Capitol Police serves as a civilian honor guard, as it did in the case of Puckett.

Lying in Repose

While lying in state or honor is just a more formal way for the United States to honor those who have made some kind of distinguished service to the country, lying in repose is an honor anyone can achieve. It just means making a prominent figure available for public viewing -- just not in the Capitol Rotunda.

There are those who were eligible to lie in state but opted not to, such as former President Richard Nixon and Sen. Ted Kennedy. Rather than lay in state, Nixon lay in repose at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. Kennedy lay in repose at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. Deceased Supreme Court justices usually lay in repose in the Supreme Courts Great Hall.

No matter how they lie, the ceremonial public viewing is usually the last stop for the deceased before making their way to their final resting place. The last American who lay in honor was Hershel Woody Williams, the last living Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, on July 14, 2022.

The first American to lie in state was former Speaker of the House, Senator and Secretary of State Henry Clay in 1852. Since then, 45 prominent men and women have received the honor.

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The first astronauts to fly into space in a Boeing Starliner capsule anticipate joining an exclusive cohort of military test pilots.

Since the advent of human spaceflight, U.S. military service members or veterans have flown the inaugural crewed missions for all the nation's spaceflight programs, from Mercury in 1961 through the Space Shuttle era and including SpaceX's Crew Dragon in 2020.

Climbing aboard the Boeing capsule for their forthcoming liftoff -- delayed from the scheduled May 6 launch time because of a problem with an Atlas 5 rocket valve -- are commander Barry E. "Butch" Wilmore and mission pilot Sunita L. "Suni" Williams. Both are retired Navy captains and test pilots. The mission represents each of their third trips to the International Space Station, and the two have flown on different spacecraft each time. As of May 8, the launch was planned for no earlier than May 17.

During his Navy career, Wilmore flew A-7E Corsair IIs and F/A-18 Hornets, including 21 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm. His first time flying in space was a space shuttle mission to the ISS in 2009 for an 11-day stay. He returned to the ISS in a Russian Soyuz capsule in 2014 for a long-duration mission.

Williams flew H-46 Sea Knight helicopters in support of Operations Desert Shield and Provide Comfort and later served in the Rotary Wing Aircraft Test Directorate and as an instructor at Navy Test Pilot School. She first visited the ISS via space shuttle as a member of the space station's first crewed expedition in 2000-2001. She also returned in a Soyuz in 2012, when she commanded ISS Expedition 33.

A two-stage United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will launch the first Starliner crew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Atlas 5s started flying in 2002, and even with the design's track record of 99 successful launches, this Starliner mission will be the first time the rocket type has flown with a crew.

Boeing's Crew Space Transportation-100 Starliner capsule first flew, uncrewed, in 2019, when the capsule failed to reach the ISS. Engineers lost control due to software issues, but eventually regained control and brought the capsule back to Earth. The second uncrewed test flight did make it to the ISS and back, but NASA and Boeing discovered safety issues afterward, including weak parachute cables and tape used in the construction that turned out to be flammable.

Should Starliner successfully complete its voyage to and from the ISS, the mission would mark a major milestone in the history of human spaceflight. Here are the U.S. astronaut crews that, like Wilmore and Williams are poised to do, climbed on top of a rocket to ride on a brand-new U.S. spacecraft for the first time:

A closeup of astronaut Alan Shepard in his space suit seated inside the Mercury capsule. He is undergoing a flight simulation test with the capsule mated to the Redstone booster. (Bill Taub/NASA)

Mercury (1961)

Alan B. Shepard Jr.

Project Mercury needed to figure out first things first: Could the United States send a person to space, then bring that person safely home?

The crew: Navy test pilot Alan B. Shepard Jr. answered that question after beating out his six colleagues who made up the remainder of the original seven Mercury astronauts. In the Navy, Shepard had served in a squadron of F2H-3 Banshee fighters and as a test pilot.

The flight: North American Aviation adapted the motor for the single-stage, Chrysler-made Redstone rocket from that of the SM-64 Navaho cruise missile. Meanwhile, McDonnell Aircraft built Shepard's single-seater Mercury capsule. The combination of rocket and capsule had flown twice prior to Shepard's suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 flight May 5, 1961, once crewless and once with a chimpanzee named Ham inside.

A little more than 2 minutes after launching from then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the capsule separated from the rocket, and Shepard -- having become the first American human being to experience microgravity -- took the controls. His capsule flew to an altitude of 101.2 nautical miles, or just shy of 116.5 regular miles. A screen showed him his view through a periscope.

"I made this manipulation one axis at a time, switching to pitch, yaw and roll in that order until I had full control of the craft," Shepard recalled, according to NASA. After about five minutes in microgravity, man and capsule reentered Earth's atmosphere and, slowed by parachutes, splashed down in the Atlantic.

The astronauts selected for the first crewed flight of NASA's Project Gemini undergo a flight test profile in a mockup Gemini spacecraft. Visible in the photo are Astronauts Virgil I. Gus Grissom (left) and John W. Young. (NASA)

Gemini (1965)

Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and John W. Young

Often described as a "bridge" from Project Mercury to the Apollo moon program, Project Gemini introduced a two-person capsule and, in its first crewed flight, gave astronauts a to-do list of tests to perform and procedures to rehearse "in a complete end-to-end test of the Gemini spacecraft."

The crew: Another of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Air Force test pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Gemini 3 commander, had flown 100 combat missions in F-86 Sabres during the Korean War. He'd already gone to space as the pilot of Project Mercury's second single-seat suborbital flight, the one after Shepard's. (After Grissom's Mercury capsule splashed down in the ocean, its door had mysteriously blown off, and he'd waited in the waves for a rescue. Later, while practicing for his role as the commander of Apollo 1 in 1967, he and the two other crew members died in a cabin fire on the launch pad.)

John W. Young had flown F-8 Crusaders and F-9 Cougars among other aircraft, including helicopters, in his career as a naval aviator and test pilot. The Gemini 3 pilot would become the first American to operate a computer on a crewed spacecraft during the flight. The computer was for guidance.

The flight: The Martin Co.'s two-stage Titan 2 rocket, derived from the intercontinental ballistic missile of the same name, launched the McDonnell-built Gemini capsule from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, another of the numerous names given to Cape Canaveral over the years.

Perhaps most significantly, the Gemini 3 crew proved that by firing the capsule's thrusters, they could manually maneuver it to entirely different orbits. They orbited Earth three times and, manually once again, piloted the first controlled reentry.

The crew of the first crewed Apollo space mission, Apollo, left to right, are astronauts Donn F. Eisele, command module pilot; Walter M. Schirra Jr., commander; and Walter Cunningham, lunar module pilot. (NASA)

Apollo (1968)

Walter M. "Wally" Schirra, Walter Cunningham and Donn F. Eisele

The Apollo Program's three-seater capsules would eventually fly six crews of U.S. moonwalkers to lunar orbit starting in 1969. But before that could happen, numerous flight tests laid the groundwork in a multitude of configurations of different rocket types, with and without capsules, and with and without crews.

The crew: Yet another member of the original "Mercury 7," Navy pilot Walter M. "Wally" Schirra had flown F-84E Thunderjets on 90 combat missions in the Korean War. By the time of Apollo 7, he'd flown alone on a six-orbit Mercury flight, and he'd commanded Gemini 6 when it docked in space with Gemini 7 to complete the first crewed docking of two maneuverable spacecraft.

Walter Cunningham joined the Marine Corps after Navy flight training because he knew he'd get to fly fighters that way. He'd served in a night fighter squadron during the Korean War and in a later oral history interview said that after 54 missions, he'd never fired a shot. He was a Marine reservist while working for NASA, and Apollo 7 would be his first trip to space.

Also on his first spaceflight was Air Force engineer and experimental test pilot Donn F. Eisele, who'd flown more than 3,600 hours in jets.

The flight: North American Aviation built Apollo's three-seater command modules, while expatriate German engineer Wernher von Braun and his colleagues designed the Saturn 1 rocket, which was modified for later phases of the program. Chrysler built the first stage of Apollo 7's Saturn 1B rocket, and Douglas Aircraft Co. made its second stage. More powerful than a Saturn 1 but still shy of what would be required of the Saturn 5 moon rockets, Saturn 1Bs had previously launched two uncrewed missions.

Taking off from Cape Kennedy, the Apollo 7 crew performed all their maneuvers and equipment tests, and with a "101%" success rate, the astronauts talked NASA into extending their mission to 11 days, ultimately splashing down in the Atlantic.

The astronauts broadcast their activities on live TV for the first time, only possible while within range of ground stations in Texas and Florida that could receive and convert the signals. They ate the United States first rehydrated hot food in space and "gave the nation confidence," according to NASA, "to be able to meet President Kennedy's commitment" of a moon landing by the end of the 1960s.

Astronauts John W. Young, left, commander, and Robert L. Crippen, pilot, crewed the space shuttle Columbia for the space shuttles first orbital flight test. (NASA)

Space Shuttle (1981)

John W. Young and Robert L. Crippen

With the arrival of the space shuttle, military test pilots would finally fly a spacecraft into orbit and then return home to land on a runway instead of in the ocean.

The crew: Navy pilot and Gemini 3 test pilot John W. Young returned for another first crewed test flight, having gone to space three more times in the interim, including the time he walked on the moon as commander of Apollo 16.

Robert L. Crippen had served as a Navy attack pilot in an A-4 Skyhawk squadron and studied, then instructed, at the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School before joining NASA.

The flight: Young and Crippen knew the space shuttle could land. A series of test flights of the prototype space shuttle Enterprise had culminated in five free flights during which Enterprise detached from its Shuttle Carrier Aircraft with a two-person crew and landed.

Ultimately lifted off the planet by NASA's first-ever, solid-propellant boosters, built by a subsidiary of Pratt & Whitney, Rockwell International's space shuttle Columbia orbited Earth for two days. The mission demonstrated that tiles on the outside of the orbiter were subject to loss or damage, a situation mitigated for later flights.

NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley, left, and Robert Bob Behnken, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are pictured during a dress rehearsal prior to the Demo-2 mission launch, May 23, 2020, at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Bill Ingalls/NASA)

Crew Dragon (2020)

Douglas Hurley and Robert "Bob" Behnken

After nine years of relying on Russia to fly U.S. astronauts to the ISS, Crew Dragon entered the chat, debuting not only the crewed version of the company's cargo capsule but also extending NASA's new commercial-transportation paradigm to human spaceflight.

SpaceX didn't build the capsule and hand it over to NASA: Instead, NASA bought tickets for its astronauts to fly in the privately owned capsule. The same is true for Starliner, as both capsules came about under NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

The crew: An F/A-18 Hornet pilot who became the first Marine to fly Super Hornets, Douglas Hurley commanded the first Crew Dragon crew. It would be his third spaceflight after a space shuttle ISS assembly mission in 2009 and the final space shuttle flight in 2011.

Air Force test pilot and flight test engineer Robert "Bob" Behnken had served on space shuttle missions in 2008 and 2010. He'd worked on developing new weapon systems in his military career and served on the F-22 Combined Test Force.

The flight: SpaceX had plenty of experience flying to the ISS by the time Hurley and Behnken donned their SpaceX flight suits on May 30, 2020; the Dragon design had originated as a cargo capsule to resupply the space station. Crew Dragons launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which also carried its first human passengers that day. The capsule docked with the ISS autonomously and after 62 days returned to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, officially bringing human spaceflight back to the United States.

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Motley Crue kicked off their tour in Atlantic City on Friday night with frontman Vince Neil taking a fall onstage.

The 80s rock icons were only a few songs into their set and performing the song Wild Side when Neil, 63, began skipping back and forth from one side of the stage to the other until he tripped, sending him face first on the stages floor.

Several videos shared by fans on Facebook and YouTube show the moment the fall happened.

Fortunately, he wasnt seriously injured. He got back up quickly and began singing to Wild Side as soon as he was back up.

Neil is no stranger to onstage accidents. Back in 2021, on his solo tour, he fell off stage. The show was cut short and Neil was rushed to the hospital where he reportedly suffered a few broken ribs.

The fall comes weeks after Neil did press ahead of the tour in which he did interviews where he expressed his thoughts on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and how he thinks the band will probably be dead before they get inducted as well as how he still hates the bands 1997 album Generation Swine two decades later.

Neil also wasnt the only rock star to face-plant onstage this weekend. During Pearl Jams tour opener in Vancouver over the weekend, guitarist Mike McCready fell off the stage during the performance of Porches though he was not seriously injured and was able to play the rest of the night.
UPDATE: Missing man, 25, found dead in Leelanau County

LEELANAU COUNTY, MI  Police are asking for public help to find a 25-year-old man who has been missing for several days.

The Leelanau County Sheriffs Office said Nicholas Wiesen Bentzien of Empire was last seen leaving his job early and briefly stopping at his house on Lake Street on the afternoon of May 3.

He left home in a dark green 1997 Nissan Pathfinder with Michigan registration DDW244. Deputies shared photos of the vehicle on Facebook.

The vehicle also has an older invalid Oregon plate on the front of the vehicle of 708 FZK and has weathered and peeling paint on the hood, police said.

Anyone with information about Bentzien or his vehicle is asked to contact Leelanau County Dispatch at 231-256-8800.
A Royal Caribbean cruise to Alaska was scrapped after guests had already boarded the ship.

The ship, Radiance of the Seas, had been experiencing some propulsion issues, causing the cruise liner to shorten and eventually cancel the weeklong itinerary through Alaska.

The cruise was initially planned to set sail from Vancouver, but the cruise liner announced it would remain in port for two days before setting sail. But then, the captain announced Saturday afternoon that guests would need to disembark the ship by Sunday at 4 p.m.

Due to a technical issue, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the April 26 sailing, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Guests will receive a full refund and 100% future cruise credit, and have been notified directly.

Guests on board the cruise had mixed reactions.

While Im still very sad I didnt get to see Alaska this year, I believe Ill have another opportunity to go, and this cancellation provided an additional opportunity to get to know Vancouver, which is truly a very cool city, one passenger wrote on the Royal Caribbean blog.

Another passenger, however, said she doesnt think shell use Royal Caribbean the next time she goes to Alaska.

I would like to go to Alaska, passenger Charlene Chong told USA Today. Im not sure if I want to go with them.

This isnt the first time a Royal Caribbean cruise has had to change its itinerary recently.

The cruise liner stopped ships from docking at a private island port in Haiti due to ongoing violence in the region.

This decision by Royal Caribbean to change the itinerary on that cruise came after the U.S. issued a warning to tourists to avoid traveling to Haiti at this time due to an increase in gang-related violence.
CHARLESTON, W.V. -- A Detroit man was sentenced to 80 years in prison Monday in connection with the 2021 murders of two women in West Virginia, according to the Associated Press. In February, Marquis Goodman, 24, pleaded guilty to count of second-degree murder for the fatal shootings of Bria White, 26, and Kytiana Belcher, 22, in Charleston, West Virginia.

Despite pleas from Goodmans attorney asking for a lighter sentence, Judge Ken Ballard issued the maximum of 40 years per charge, citing Goodmans lengthy criminal record. Goodmans attorney argued that his client was still young enough to be reformed, however Ballard said Goodman has been given numerous chances and clearly they did not work.
SPRINGPORT, MI  Police found an all-terrain vehicle reported stolen a week ago following a joint investigation by local and county law enforcement.

On Monday, May 6, police investigating a string of burglaries searched an abandoned residence in the 5000 block of Grand River Road and located the ATV, reported stolen from a Springport Township home repeatedly burglarized since late April, according to the Springport Township Police Department.

The stolen ATV, after being checked for any additional evidence, was returned to its rightful owner, police said.

The investigation and recovery began April 15, when officers were called to a home in the 13000 block of Town Road for a for a reported break-in, police said.

Officers discovered several suspects drove on to the property and stole more than $12,000 worth of tools and hunting equipment. Investigators discovered one suspect got a vehicle stuck in a nearby field and had to have another vehicle pull it free, police said.

Days later, on April 30, police believe the same suspects snuck onto the property again, loaded up the ATV on a vehicle and fled the area. Since the prior break-in, the homeowner set up security cameras, which allowed police to get images of the suspects and the vehicle, police said.

Authorities found the getaway vehicle recorded by the homeowners cameras abandoned May 1 at a car wash in Blackman Township. It was impounded while investigators searched for fingerprints, police said.

With the assistance of the Jackson County Sheriffs Office, police identified a person of interest and found the person during a May 3 traffic stop, police said.

The suspect admitted to knowing the ATV was in Thompkins Township days earlier, but did not know if it was still there, police said.

Officers secured a search warrant for a property in the 5000 block of Grand River Road and did not find the ATV, but did find a trailer used to take it as well as suspected methamphetamine, police said.

Three days later police later searched the abandoned house down the street, where they found the ATV, police said.

The case remains under investigation pending further analysis of evidence sent to the Michigan State Police crime lab.

The Springport Township Police Department thanks the Jackson County Sheriffs office, as well as all the local citizens who assisted in calling in tips.

Want more Jackson-area news? Bookmark the local Jackson news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Jackson daily newsletter.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Deputies were justified in shooting a man 18 times, killing him, following a double homicide and a high-speed chase in Southwest Michigan in August 2023.

On Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023, David Algarin Jr. was shot and killed after a pursuit that began in St. Joseph County and ended with a crash in a Branch County field, according to the Branch County Prosecutors Office.

During the chase, Algarin was a suspect in a double homicide that occurred the day before, the prosecutors office said. He crashed into a wheat field after a high-speed pursuit before he was shot by police, shown in a video released by the sheriffs office.

After Algarin crashed, deputies shot and killed Algarin when he refused to put his hands up and raised a handgun toward officers, Branch County Prosecutor Zachary Stempien said in a news release.

Algarin was observed after the shooting holding the gun in his right hand in the direction of deputies, the release said.

The prosecutors office issued an opinion on Tuesday, May 7, that Algarins death was the result of justified deadly force by deputies.

7 1 / 7 Police identify 2 people killed and the suspect, killed by police

An autopsy was performed by Corewell Health Laboratory Services on Aug. 7, 2023, and determined Algarin died from 18 gunshot wounds to his head, neck and torso. The manner of death was homicide, officials said.

A suspect in a double homicide

On Aug. 5, 2023, Stacy Mae Ramsey, 38, and Jerry Odell Longacre, 61, were killed and found in separate locations in St. Joseph County.

The Sturgis Police Department determined David Algarin Jr. was the main suspect in the deaths, the prosecutors office said.

On Aug. 6, 2023, investigators received a notification that Algarins vehicle was going east on Fawn River Road, tracked by license plate readers.

Officers began to canvas the area and located the suspect vehicle eastbound on U.S. 12, near Big Hill Road. They attempted a traffic stop, but the driver did not stop.

Stop sticks were unsuccessfully deployed, and the vehicle reached speeds over 90 mph and repeatedly went into the lane for oncoming traffic, police said.

Algarin was on the phone with 911 dispatch and family members advising others he was not going to stop and police were going to have to make him stop, officials said.

Algarins mother told police she was on the phone with him during the chase and up until his death.

His mom told police her son admitted to killing two people the night prior, although he did not mean to kill the victims. He lost it after he was told one of his victims died.

As Algarin headed toward Colon, which was hosting its annual Magic Fest, a patrol vehicles maneuver sent Algarins vehicle spinning out into a wheat field.

As Algarin was raising a gun, two deputies discharged numerous rounds at Algarin.

The deputies were removed from the scene and the Michigan State Police was requested to conduct an independent investigation.

Algarin had THC and methamphetamine within his blood, officials said.

Investigators made no definite conclusion regarding which officers shot the fatal rounds.

It is clear that the deputies involved had a reasonable and honest belief that Algarin posed a significant and immediate threat of death or serious injuries to the deputies and any citizen near Algarin, the prosecutors office said.

Law enforcement officers faced a tense, uncertain, rapidly evolving circumstance, Stempien said. They had an honest belief that deadly force was immediately necessary, Stempien said.

The actions and conduct by the deputies involved in this situation likely saved the lives of other deputies and the lives of others within our community, the prosecutor said, announcing no charges would be filed.

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CALHOUN COUNTY, MI -- A man stabbed himself at a car dealership, the Calhoun County Sheriffs Office reports.

At 3:11 p.m. Monday, May 6, Calhoun County Sheriffs deputies were called to a car dealership on Dickman Road in the city of Springfield for a report of a stabbing victim.

A 48-year-old Battle Creek man entered the dealership and asked about a vehicle donation. The man became confrontational and the conversation escalated, police said.

The man then presented an X-Acto knife and stabbed himself in the abdomen several times, the sheriffs office said.

Staff immediately called 911 and nearby deputies responded.

Police secured the knife and the man was treated for the self-inflicted stab wounds. No one else was injured, police said.

The man was taken to the hospital and listed in stable condition. Officials are seeking mental health treatment for the man.

Springfield Fire Department, Battle Creek Fire Department and LifeCare Ambulance paramedics assisted the sheriffs office.

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LANSING, MI  Kalamazoo, Flint, and Holland will get special or enhanced air quality monitoring next year as part of the states plans to track airborne pollution across Michigan.

Officials with the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy are seeking public comments about their plans to change elements of the Michigan ambient air monitoring network. The system includes 45 spots across the state with more than 100 monitors collecting data about pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, and fine particulate matter in the air.
Investigation Discoverys hit show Crimes Gone Viral explores the riveting stories behind shocking crimes that were caught on camera and went viral. Watch a new season starting Tuesday, May 7, at 9 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery.

Catch tonights two new episodes for free with trials on Philo or DIRECTV Stream, or watch with Sling.

About the show:

Tonights season 5 premiere brings two half-hour episodes to viral crime fame. In the first episode, Mama Bears Dont Play, a good Samaritan defends a stranger, an elderly woman does the unexpected, a mail carrier fights for his life, and a frightening mom is caught on camera in a precarious situation.

The next episode, Hazards on the Clock, features criminals who target fast food restaurants. A drive-thru employee takes things too far, a disgruntled customer tries to burn down a bodega, and a judge and defendant face off.

Stream both episodes tonight, May 7, at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.

Where to watch Investigation Discovery:
Food Network is looking for the next American baking master, but theyll have to prove themselves in Paris. The networks new competition series Next Baking Master: Paris premieres Monday, May 6, at 9 p.m. ET.

Watch the new series for free with a trial from Philo or DIRECTV Stream, or watch it with Sling.

About the show:

Internationally acclaimed pastry chef Stephanie Boswell and French chef Ludo Lefebvre are teaming up to host Food Networks new show Next Baking Master: Paris. Theyve invited 10 of Americas up-and-coming bakers to travel to Paris, the epicenter of the sweets universe. There, they will be challenged to become this generations next great baking master. As they have access to some of the most iconic pastry shops and pastry experts in the world, the contestants will test their skills in all things pastry. Watch as they pass or fail technique, artistry, innovation and flavor. Each week, the lowest ranked baker will be sent home. The last one left, in addition to enjoying the longest Paris adventure, will be coined the Next Baking Master.

In tonights series premiere, Cream Rises to the Top, Boswell and Lefebvre welcome the bakers to Paris with the first challenge  make a dessert that represents their culinary point of view and shows they know their French techniques. The contestants will meet pastry chef Quentin Lechat at the luxurious Royal Monceau Hotel and sample his delicious creations. Theyll also learn about Frances iconic pastry ingredient: cream. The episodes final competition will challenge the bakers to demonstrate technique and innovation as they create an impressive cake that features two uses of cream. Watch the all new series Next Baking Master: Paris tonight, May 6, at 9/8c on Food Network.

Where to watch Food Network:
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Feature: "French farm to Chinese dining table" -- a culinary journey strengthening bonds across continents

Xinhua) 20:08, May 07, 2024

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China and France, two countries with rich gastronomic histories at the two ends of the Eurasian continent, find their bonds via food have grown even stronger.

Thanks to integrated logistics and simplified customs procedures, French ingredients can now travel more smoothly and swiftly from "French farm to Chinese dining table."

FARM TO FORK IN 36 HOURS

In the southern Chinese culinary haven of Guangzhou, a city enamored by freshly sourced ingredients, fresh seafood from the Atlantic can now easily reach local dining tables.

Jacques Cocollos, an oyster farmer from the French province of Charente-Maritime, a major oyster production region, said it takes less than 36 hours for freshly fished oysters to arrive in China.

"Almost as fast as sending oysters to Nice," he said.

Cocollos is among the French aquaculture producers who are benefiting from the "French farm to Chinese dining table" whole-chain rapid coordination mechanism, jointly promoted by the leaders of both countries.

For Cocollos and his colleagues, China is one of the largest and most appealing global markets.

Huitres Lambert, a French oyster exporter from Charente-Maritime, said in an interview with French television that the company's exports to China have more than quadrupled between 2016 and 2023.

Laurent Bonduelle, vice president of SAS HYS, a seafood supplier in France's northwestern region Brittany, said their specialties find a strong demand and enormous potential in the Chinese market.

Upon recommendation from the Paris branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, SAS HYS also participated in the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai.

GOUT DE FRANCE

Maxim's de Paris, an authentic French restaurant, is located on Five Great Avenues, Wu Da Dao in Chinese, in the coastal city of Tianjin in northern China.

Alain Le Meur, the French head chef of the restaurant, said many Chinese are attracted to French cuisine and come to enjoy its renowned dishes.

With increasingly convenient trade between China and France, the chef is now able to obtain ingredients necessary for "that authentic taste of France."

In a supermarket in Nankai District, Tianjin, a vast variety of French food products are now available.

"My children love French cheeses, and we are also fond of French red wine. There are now many import channels, and according to our needs, we can buy French red wine at different prices," said Liu Yang, a local resident.

Fanye Meng, China representative of INAPORC, France's national pig industry association, said China is currently the largest export market for French pork outside the European Union.

Maxence Bigard, president of the foreign trade commission of INTERBEV, France's national livestock and meat industry association, said that the Chinese market is full of potential as China is committed to developing the "French farm to Chinese dining table" mechanism, which brings more high-quality French meat products to the Chinese market.

WIN-WIN PARTNERSHIP

Over the past few years, agri-food trade between China and France has continued to expand. According to China Customs statistics, France is the largest exporter of agricultural products from the European Union to China and the second largest trading partner in this field.

By mid-2023, over 200 types of French agricultural products have been authorized to enter China, and nearly 7,000 French agricultural enterprises are registered in China.

In April 2023, through joint promotion by the leaders of both countries, France and China created the "French farm to Chinese dining table" mechanism, thereby accelerating the entry of French agricultural products into Chinese households.

In November of the same year, over 40 French agricultural companies participated in the sixth CIIE in Shanghai to present their products to Chinese clients. Freshippo, Alibaba Group's proprietary retail chain for groceries and fresh goods, for example, signed agreements with seven French companies on site to import agricultural products worth 3 billion yuan (420 million U.S. dollars) over the next three years.

In addition to trade, France and China continue to expand their agricultural cooperation in agri-technology, rural policy best practices, and joint training initiatives with efforts underway to bolster interpersonal, institutional and business ties.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
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.
House Speaker Mike Johnson View Photo

Speaker Mike Johnson was joined by House Republican leadership and Committee Chairs to announce a new House-wide effort to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses and hold universities accountable for failing to protect Jewish students.

Johnson was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day.

As part of the effort to crack down on antisemitism, the House will be looking into federal funding universities receive, the foreign student visa program that has allowed students sympathetic to terrorist groups to attend our schools, and the generous tax benefits universities enjoy.

The effort will be led by the Education and Workforce Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Oversight Committee, and the Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Antisemitism is a virus and because the administration and woke university presidents arent stepping in, were seeing it spread, said Speaker Johnson. We must act, and House Republicans will speak to this fateful moment with moral clarity and thats why today were here to announce a House-wide effort to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses. Nearly every committee here has a role to play in these efforts to stop the madness that has ensued. The federal government plays a critical role in higher education, and we will use all the tools available to us to address this scourge.

Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx: No stone must go unturned while buildings are being defaced. Campus greens are being captured, or graduations are being ruined. College is not a park for play acting juveniles or a battleground for radical activist. Everyone affiliated with these universities will receive a healthy dose of reality. Actions have consequences.

Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Frank Lucas: Universities that cant protect their students are not in compliance with their funding obligations through the National Science Foundation As a part of the conditions of receiving taxpayer dollars through the NSF, universities must comply with Title Six of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national originIts time we review whether universities that allow the harassment, assault or intimidation, other Jewish students are in compliance with their federal obligations.

Energy and Commerce Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers: The Energy and Commerce Committee oversees agencies that dole out massive amounts of taxpayer funded research grants We will be increasing our oversight of institutions that have received public funding and cracking down on those who are in violation of the Civil Rights Act.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan: On September 30, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas issued his guidelines for immigration enforcement. He said that national security threats are a reason to remove people from this country. The overriding question is simple: Are individuals advocating for the destruction of our dearest and closest ally, the State of Israel, engaged in this anti-Semitic behavior? And is that a national security threat? We think it is and we think the American people deserve answers.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith: At the Ways and Means Committee, we have been investigating the issue for months in a hearing last November, we examined the nexus between antisemitism tax exempt universities and terror financing networksWeve sent letters to university leaders demanding information on what disciplinary action, if any, that they have taken against those whose antisemitic activity violates campus policy. Weve called on them to disclose any donations or funding they have received from foreign governments as well. Our investigation has already produced more than 1,500 pages of documents that we are now actively reviewing.

Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer: These radical protests threatening violence against Jews are anything but organic. It appears global elites are funding these hateful protests and pop-up tent cities. These are the same groups that fund other radical agendas, including diminishing Americas energy production and pushing soft on crime policies that harm the American people. The House Oversight Committee will follow the money trail, expose it to the American people and seek to hold bad actors funding hate accountable.

The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 FM.
Calaveras, CA Calaveras County high schools Bret Harte and Calaveras High recently hosted Caseys Pledge inviting students to commit to sobriety or abstaining from drinking and driving ahead of their prom that was held on April 27th. The initiative, part of the statewide prevention program Caseys Pledge, encourages youth to play an active role in curbing the negative impacts of underage alcohol use and drunk driving.

Named in memory of Casey Goodwin, a fervent advocate for alcohol-free lifestyles, Caseys Pledge honors her legacy after she lost her life in a collision involving an underage drinking driver in March 2003. Goodwin, returning home from college in San Luis Obispo to celebrate her mothers birthday in Exeter, California, inspired friends to create the pledge in recognition of her tireless efforts to combat alcohol-related risks.

Students at both Bret Harte and Calaveras High signed pledge cards shaped like stars, which were then affixed to banners displayed at their respective schools in the week leading up to prom. Additionally, each participating student received a wristband to wear during prom and future events.
The world has changed. The age of unfettered globalisation, systemic convergence and increasing cultural understanding is over and is probably not coming back in the foreseeable future. Instead, multiple fault lines are opening up (Campos et al. 2023, Aiyar and Ilyina 2023).

The role the EU played in the last few decades  building bridges, promoting increasing interdependence, supporting multilateral rules and institutions  seems to be out of date in a world of large-scale shocks, polarisation and power play. First, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent supply chain congestion highlighted the vulnerabilities of Europes supply chains. Then, the Russian aggression against Ukraine served as a wake-up call over Europes dependency Europe on energy. Finally, economic coercion by China against Australia and Lithuania and the increasingly adversarial tone of the US-China relationship have underscored the need for a comprehensive reassessment of the EUs economic security strategy. For a while, Europe nurtured the hope that it could avoid being engulfed in the US-China confrontation and could maintain good relations with the countries of the Global South. It gradually discovered the extent of the mistrust it elicited in many developing countries.

How should Europe respond? The second Paris Report (Pisani-Ferry et al. 2023) focuses on one of the major policy issues currently facing Europe: economic security challenges in the face of supply chain vulnerabilities and geopolitical shocks.

This report forms the first output from a new joint initiative between CEPR and Bruegel: Important Topics of Common European Interest (ITCEI). It comprises five papers that examine where Europe is vulnerable and where and how it should de-risk, taking into account history, trade dependencies and policy instruments. Morgan Kelly and Kevin ORourke examine the history of industrial policy in the shadow of conflict. Isabelle Mejean and Pierre Rousseaux identify trade dependencies that may expose the EU to trade disruptions using a novel methodology that considers the possibility of substitution away from disrupted input sources. David Baqaee, Julian Hinz, Benjamin Moll, Moritz Schularick, Feodora Teti, Joschka Wanner and Sihwan Yang quantify the short- and long-run effects on the economies involved of a hard decoupling between China and Russia on the one hand and the EU the G7 on the other, focusing on Germany. Chad Bown analyses the economic security of the EU from a trade policy perspective, while Conor McCaffrey and Niclas Poitiers discuss instruments of economic security.

How Europe Should Respond to the New Challenges

Europe retains an underexploited asset: the size of its market. This is why the right response must be more EU integration. Its still considerable economic weight should help buttress common defence against aggression and acts of economic coercion.

In addition, economic security objectives could justify policies that reduce the vulnerability to external disruptions through trade of financial channels. While firms have incentives to reduce risks to economic security with respect to trade by diversifying their suppliers and broadening their customer bases, they may overlook aggregate vulnerabilities across the supply chain. Moreover, they might fail to consider the broader societal costs of dependency and coercion, which can outweigh the private costs to individual firms.

At the same time, policy intervention must be mindful of costs to the gains from trade, multilateral cooperation and cohesion within the EU. Economic security should not become the entry point for wholesale protectionism, and it should not serve as an instrument to protect inefficient producers with powerful backing. Vulnerabilities also exist in closed economies, and openness is often the best insurance against them. The challenge lies in balancing the benefits of international trade with the need for de-risking.

Our analysis leads to four main conclusions.

First, the identification of critical import dependencies is important but also extremely difficult. Progress has been made, with Mejean and Rousseaux going further than all previous attempts. But while there is consensus on a small list of products that should be de-risked  semiconductors, critical raw materials and some pharmaceuticals  this list is clearly incomplete (for example, by missing upstream products that enter many value chains). At the same time, it is hard to go much further without worrying about going too far. Improving analysis of vulnerabilities would require (1) more work on determining which imports are critical in the sense that an import disruption would have large costs; and (2) better data on indirect rather than just direct trade dependencies.

Second, while the European Commission has done commendable work in beginning to address import dependencies and establishing the legal basis for responding effectively to economic coercion, its economic security strategy has some notable blind spots. While import vulnerabilities have received much attention, vulnerabilities via concentrated exports, which can make firms and entire sectors vulnerable to coercion, have received much less attention. Addressing these vulnerabilities may require instruments that incentivise firms to diversify exports, such as compulsory insurance against concentrated risks or export taxes. This will need to be complemented by a strategy to address exposures through local production rather than trade, making firms vulnerable to expropriation risk. Another major blind spot is the lack of instruments to address coercion through financial channels, such as interfering with payments. While European firms are not currently on the receiving end of such coercion, this may change if Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Third, EU economic security requires a major reinvigoration of the Single Market agenda, as part of a general resilience strategy that complements the attempt to de-risk individual import and export dependencies. Unlike the latter, this does not involve trade-offs between security and growth, and it is not sensitive to assumptions about where the next shock will come from and which dependencies are particularly critical. It would help the EU resist external shocks and coercion  whatever the source and the channel  by allowing faster re-direction of trade and supply and by improving automatic risk-sharing. Better risk sharing, in turn, would make the EU more cohesive and would make it harder to exploit internal divisions. The speed of the EU response and its ability to deter coercion could also be improved by activating the retaliatory powers given to the Commission by the EUs Anti-Coercion Instrument, without requiring confirmation from a majority of member states.

Fourth, there is an open question about whether in a world of heightened geopolitical risks, the EU is too trade-integrated with both China and the US, exposing itself to major economic disruption in case it is drawn into a trade conflict between or with these countries. With respect to the US, the probability of an all-out embargo seems sufficiently low to answer the question in the negative. Instead, the EU may need to prepare (mainly politically) to fight a trade war with the US if President Trump returns and reinstates tariffs on the EU. With respect to China, the answer is less obvious. Baqaee et al. show that the cost of reducing trade integration slowly is much lower than that of sudden decoupling. Whether the EU should purse broader de-risking thus depends on the likelihood of a sudden, embargo-like collapse in trade, compared to the benefits of maintaining integration. Whatever action the EU takes should remain within WTO rules, and it should preserve the ability to collaborate with China in areas such as climate change and WTO reform.

The new global geoeconomic map may necessitate an EU pivot towards economic security, even beyond the pivot that has already happened. But economic security must not become an excuse for protectionism, and it must preserve international cooperation. This requires innovative policy instruments, joint preparedness, contingency planning and stronger governance mechanisms at both the EU and the international level.
How rental libraries of things have become the new way to save money Guardian

New form of bond emerges from Sri Lankas $13bn restructuring talks FT

A bodybrain circuit that regulates body inflammatory responses Nature. We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. From the Abstract: The brain-evoked transformation of the course of an immune response offers new possibilities in the modulation of a wide range of immune disorders, from autoimmune diseases to cytokine storm and shock.

Climate

Pandemics

China?

Myanmar

Myanmar ethnic armed group says it captured hundreds of junta personnel Channel News Asia

Syraqistan

New Not-So-Cold War

South of the Border

Walking Buenos Aires (excerpt) Chris Arnade Walks the World

Global Elections

Biden Administration

The Supremes

Blockbuster cases abound as Supreme Court enters opinion season Courthouse News

2024

MMT

There are six reasons why we need taxes Funding the Future Meanwhile, bogus posturing: Medicare is stronger and Social Security remains strong. My economic plan has helped extend Medicare solvency by a decade. And I am committed to extending Social Security solvency by making the rich pay their fair share.  President Biden (@POTUS) May 7, 2024 Since Federal taxes dont pay for Federal funding.

Digital Watch

Our Famously Free Press

Groves of Academe

Encampment in Harvard Yard Harvard Office of the President. Its not clear to me why an anti-genocide encampment is not part of Harvards academic mission, whereas a commencement ceremony, heart-warming though the presentation of credentials may be, is. When the hammer came down at U.V.A. The Racket

Boeing

Realignment and Legitimacy

Gunz

Thanks, guys: OMFG.

I don't think I understood Gen Z until this very moment. pic.twitter.com/NMpWVzCvgj  Ex-Evangelical Janeway (@XianJaneway) May 6, 2024

Guillotine Watch

Class Warfare

The End of Lean Production and Whats Ahead Kim Moody, Labor Notes

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Yves here. I have to confess to not previously having heard of the Eisenhower wetback deportation scheme, which I find an interested bit of media-promoted amnesia. Since the 1960s press did give some attention to Cesar Chavezs boycotts to get better labor conditions and pay for farmworkers, who were often seasonal migrants (the post mentions the Bracero program to regularize migrant farm workers with a sub-minimum wage but also called for decent working conditions, and hence regularized their status; it ended in 1964 and Chavez increasingly opposed illegal immigration). Irrespective of the history, illegal immigrants have become a hot button, with opponents (either to them at all or their current numbers) extending beyond the hard core right wing. So Gordian-knot-cutting scheme has voter appeal despite its practical failings.

By Katrina Burgess, Professor of Political Economy, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Originally published at The Conversation

While campaigning in Iowa last September, former President Donald Trump made a promise to voters if he were elected again: Following the Eisenhower model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history, he said. Trump, who made a similar pledge during his first presidential campaign, has recently repeated this promise at rallies across the country.

Trump was referring to Operation Wetback, a military-style campaign launched by the Eisenhower administration in the summer of 1954 to end undocumented immigration by deporting hundreds of thousands of Mexicans. Wetback was a widely used ethnic slur for Mexicans who illegally crossed the Rio Grande, the river dividing Mexico and the U.S.

Trump says that he can replicate Operation Wetback on a much grander scale by setting up temporary immigration detention centers and relying on local, state and federal authorities, including National Guard troops, to remove the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in the U.S.

As a migration scholar, I find Trumps proposal to be both disturbing and misleading. Besides playing to unfounded and dehumanizing fears of an immigrant invasion, it misrepresents the context and impact of Eisenhowers policy while ignoring the vastly changed landscape of U.S. immigration today.

Operation Wetback

In May 1954, U.S. Attorney General Harold Brownell appointed Joseph Swing, a retired general, to lead the Immigration and Naturalization Service, or INS, in a special program to apprehend and deport aliens illegally in this country from areas along the southern border. Until 2003, the INS was responsible for immigration and border control, now handled by multiple federal agencies, including Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Swing ramped up a decade-long practice of using special task forces composed of INS agents who could be rapidly deployed where needed in order to locate and deport undocumented workers. The operation began in California and then spread to Arizona and Texas. INS agents set up roadblocks and raided fields, factories, neighborhoods and saloons where immigrants were working or socializing. The INS also built a vast wire-fenced security camp, according to the Los Angeles Times, in order to detain apprehended immigrants in Los Angeles before sending them to the border.

Captured immigrants were put on hot, overcrowded buses or rickety boats and sent to designated border crossings in Arizona and Texas, where they were forced to cross back into Mexico. Some found themselves stranded in the Mexican desert just over the border. In one incident, 88 migrants died of sunstroke before the Red Cross arrived with water and medical attention. Others were delivered to Mexican authorities, who loaded them onto trains headed deeper into Mexico.

By mid-August, INS agents had deported more than 100,000 immigrants across the U.S. Southwest. Fearing apprehension, thousands more reportedly fled back to Mexico on their own. Most of these immigrants were young Mexican men, but the INS also targeted families, removing nearly 9,000 family members, including children, from the Rio Grande Valley in August. There is also evidence of U.S. citizens getting caught up in the INS sweeps.

Operation Wetback wound down its operations a few months later, and Swing declared in January 1955 that the day of the wetback is over. The INS disbanded its special mobile task forces, and the deportation of undocumented immigrants plummeted over the next decade.

Not Just About Deportation

Operation Wetback made the headlines and disrupted countless lives, but it was more show than substance when it came to deportation.

The governments claim to have deported more than 1 million Mexicans during the summer of 1954 does not stand up to scrutiny. The 1.1 million figure was for the entire fiscal year, which ended in June 1954, and a sizable share of these apprehensions were repeat arrests, sometimes in a single day. Moreover, over 97% of these deportations occurred without a formal order of removal. Instead, migrants agreed, or were coerced, to leave the country after being apprehended.

Despite Trump-like rhetoric decrying a wetback invasion across the U.S.-Mexico border, Operation Wetbacks main objective was not to remove Mexican immigrants but rather to frighten U.S. farmers, especially in Texas, into hiring them legally.

This tactic largely worked. A crucial but often overlooked detail about Operation Wetback is that it happened at the same time as the Bracero Program, a massive guest-worker program between the U.S. and Mexico. Between 1942 and 1964, U.S. employers issued over 4.6 million short-term contracts to more than 400,000 Mexican farm workers. Nearly three-quarters of these contracts were issued between 1955 and 1964  after the INS carried out Operation Wetback.

Operation Wetback is unlikely to have led to a dramatic decline in undocumented immigration had Mexican workers not had a legal option for entering the United States. As one immigrant caught up in Operation Wetback commented, I will come back  legally, if possible. If not, Ill just walk across again.

The INS explicitly recognized the connection between the Bracero Program and the decline in undocumented immigration in a 1958 report, stating that should  a restriction be placed on the number of braceros allowed to enter the United States, we can look forward to a large increase in the number of illegal alien entrants into the United States.

It is no coincidence that the lull in migrants illegally crossing the U.S-Mexico border after Operation Wetback did not last once the Bracero Program ended in 1964. Mexicans still had strong incentives to migrate, but now they had to do so without visas or work contracts, contributing to a steady increase in border arrests after 1965 that surpassed 1 million in 1976 and reached nearly 2 million in 2000.

Real Lessons

If he were to win the presidency again, Trump would have the legal authority to deport undocumented immigrants, but the logistical, political and legal obstacles to doing so quickly and massively are even greater today than they were in the 1950s.

First, most undocumented immigrants now live in cities, where immigrant sweeps are more difficult to carry out. The INS learned this lesson when Operation Wetback shifted from the largely rural Southwest to urban areas in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest in September 1954. Despite transferring hundreds of agents to these locations and using similar tactics, INS agents produced far fewer apprehensions as they struggled to find and detain immigrants.

Second, the U.S. undocumented population is much more dispersed and diverse than in the 1950s. Today, Mexicans are no longer in the majority, and nearly half of undocumented immigrants live outside the six major hubs for immigrants  California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.

Third, most undocumented immigrants in the U.S. did not sneak across the border. An estimated 42% entered the country legally but overstayed a visa illegally. Another 17% requested and received a short-term legal status that protects them from immediate deportation.

Finally, mass deportations are likely to spark a more broad-based resistance today than happened in the 1950s. Once staunchly opposed to undocumented immigration, most labor unions and Mexican-American organizations are now in the pro-immigrant camp. Likewise, the Mexican government, which helped with Operation Wetback, is unlikely to allow massive numbers of non-Mexicans to be deported to its territory without the proper documentation.

Trump has not supported a way to provide undocumented immigrants with a legal alternative, which means that migrants will keep finding ways to cross illegally.
Liaoning promotes development of software industry

Xinhua) 20:18, May 07, 2024

A staff member shows a three dimensional demonstration of teaching material at Sunflower Digital Technology in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, May 7, 2024. In recent years, Liaoning Province has actively fostered an environment conducive to the development of the software industry and nurtured clusters of software enterprises. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

A staff member demonstrates a course recording via simulation virtual studio at Sunflower Digital Technology in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, May 7, 2024. In recent years, Liaoning Province has actively fostered an environment conducive to the development of the software industry and nurtured clusters of software enterprises. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

A staff member works on a three-dimensional modeling at Yueneng Technology in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, May 7, 2024. In recent years, Liaoning Province has actively fostered an environment conducive to the development of the software industry and nurtured clusters of software enterprises. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

A staff member demonstrates an interactive teaching system at Sunflower Digital Technology in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, May 7, 2024. In recent years, Liaoning Province has actively fostered an environment conducive to the development of the software industry and nurtured clusters of software enterprises. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

Staff members show a three dimensional demonstration of teaching material at Sunflower Digital Technology in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, May 7, 2024. In recent years, Liaoning Province has actively fostered an environment conducive to the development of the software industry and nurtured clusters of software enterprises. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

A software engineer works at DHC, an IT company to provide application software products, in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, April 25, 2024. In recent years, Liaoning Province has actively fostered an environment conducive to the development of the software industry and nurtured clusters of software enterprises. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

Staff members monitor the operation of photovoltaic system at Yueneng Technology in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, May 7, 2024. In recent years, Liaoning Province has actively fostered an environment conducive to the development of the software industry and nurtured clusters of software enterprises. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

Staff members demonstrate a course recording via simulation virtual studio at Sunflower Digital Technology in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, May 7, 2024. In recent years, Liaoning Province has actively fostered an environment conducive to the development of the software industry and nurtured clusters of software enterprises. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

An engineer demonstrates a remote communication via VR glasses at DHC, an IT company to provide application software products, in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, April 25, 2024. In recent years, Liaoning Province has actively fostered an environment conducive to the development of the software industry and nurtured clusters of software enterprises. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
Yves here. Richard Murphy has issued a dire warming on the impact of climate-change-induced flooding on UK housing and hence the mortgages on those houses. I went to the Oxford environs about a decade ago and my host Richard Smith graciously drove me around. He pointed out the high water mark of recent floods and how the entire area was historically subject to frequent flooding. These low lying areas, and the UK has lots of them, will only become more vulnerable.

We are also including a comment on Murphys post on the failure to properly implement existing protective/mitigation measures.

By Richard Murphy, part-time Professor of Accounting Practice at Sheffield University Management School, director of the Corporate Accountability Network, member of Finance for the Future LLP, and director of Tax Research LLP. Originally published at Fund the Future.

I posted this video on YouTube this morning:

The transcript dealing with this pretty big, and vital claim is:

UK banks are going to go bust because of climate change. Now, thats a big claim to make, but I think its right. And let me explain.

When you borrow money from a bank, at least when you borrow a lot of money from a bank, the bank will normally want what they call security from you. In other words, they want some form of guarantee that you can repay.

Well, you dont wholly blame them, do you? But lets explain the most common form of security that they ask for. Its your house, or if youre a business, its your business property. In fact, 85 per cent of all loans made by UK banks are for the purchase of houses or business properties, or are at the very least secured on the value of houses and properties.

So why are banks going to go bust because of climate change? Well, because as a very senior risk officer of a very large UK bank explained to me not so very long ago, the vast majority of the properties that they are using for the purposes of security could be underwater in the next 30 years.

They know, for example, that the Thames barrier is not going to protect London from flooding. Its just not tall enough.

They also know that if you live in the area of the country where I do, which is in the Fens, just south of the Wash in Norfolk, theres a real risk that you will be flooded at some time over the next 30 years. Well, unless you happen to live in the Isle of Ely, as I do, which is a hundred feet above sea level  in which case, youll just be back on an island again.

They know that means that Cambridge will be underwater.

It means that Bedford will be underwater.

No, not all the time. But enough of the time that those properties will not only be uninsurable, but they will also be subject to such frequent damage that their value will be impaired and they will be no use as security for repaying the loans that the banks have lent out. on the basis of those properties.

Now, if the banks know that, why are they still lending? Well, they all pretend that theyll be able to shove their loan books  secured against the value of these properties which they know are going to flood, unless we take action to prevent it  onto some other bank in the next few years, and therefore they wont be on their books when it comes to the glorious day when the waters have risen and these properties are underwater.

But that doesnt work. Theyre all making that assumption. And of course, if they all make that assumption, they wont be able to pass on the loans to somebody else because that somebody else wont take them because theyll know that the property is at risk of flooding just as the ones already on their books are.

So were heading for a banking crisis unless we deal with the risk of flooding in the UK.

Oh, by the way, this is also true of much of the USA as well, and large parts of Europe, and other places. But, lets just worry about the UK for now.

Unless we take action to control flooding in the UK, our banks will fail because the debts that are owing to them, secured on property, will not be worth the value that they have, because those properties cannot be sold. And, therefore, the banks will go bust. In which case, the most important thing we need to do to preserve UK banking from failing completely and utterly, in a way that will make 2008 and the Global Financial Crisis look a mere picnic, is to build flood defences.

But nobodys talking about doing it. And that is an act of gross irresponsibility. Not just by our government, but by the banks who are not demanding it, because they know they need it, just as much as you and I do, because its our houses that could be flooded.

* * *

Richard Murphys reader tony added:

I wouldnt use insurance companies as a goto for advice or analysis on applied hydrology.

It is perfectly possible for 100 year floods to occur in consecutive years anyway.

The periodicity of flooding is changing quite rapidly, as the frequency of high precipitation events of short duration increases, and river regime is thus altered, as is flood risk.

In England the EA [Environment Authority] has seen cuts of 70% under austerity.

Apart from devastating its regulatory functions it has also hollowed out the ability of this dedicated government agency to monitor and plan for the impacts of climate change, managing floods being just one. Recovery from this low base will take some time.

Meanwhile, almost 25% of existing flood management infrastructure is below acceptable maintenance standards.

The absence of an integrated upper catchment management programme on English and Welsh river basins, aiming to slow flow peaks, is a national disgrace, as the prescriptions are known and relatively cheap to implement, with rewooding and re-establishing sphagnum bog being the most obvious. But the ownership pattern of upland estates militates against the Tories doing anything much about that, and the SNP have fudged the same issue here.

Of course the costs of climate change  both insurance and equity losses for banks and insurance companies will be socialised, just as they were in the GFC.

Ignoring the externalities in their business models is typical of these financial institutions.

Even when I studied Applied Hydrology in the 70s there were Fight Rising Damp stickers in 4th floor windows of medium rise blocks at Thamesmead, and Harlow had no proper flood drainage system. Yet it seems little has improved since then with short termism dominating, and the sectional interests in satisfying the property developer caucus in the Tory party prevailing.

The Thames Barrier is already operating well beyond its expected operational frequency at 50 times in 2014. The barrier was closed four times in the 1980s, 35 times in the 1990s, 75 times in the 2000s and 74 times in the 2010s.

The continuation of flood plain building, especially in the south, and the short termism of Reeves wishing to reduce planning controls for new builds under a potential Labour government is a particular triumph of stupidity. SNAFU
Bill McKibben, a giant of the environmental movement, will join regional climate organizations as a featured speaker at the Rally for the Valley at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Centennial Park, where clean-energy advocates will take aim at the Tennessee Valley Authority.

As TVA phases out coal-generated power, the federal agency has provoked a national backlash for replacing its power supply with natural gas rather than solar or wind. Critics have also attacked the agencys plans to extend pipelines across Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee and seized on a recent report detailing $89.7 million in recent executive pay, including bonuses tied to gas production. A president-appointed board governs the public utility, and just last month Tennessee's U.S. Reps. Tim Burchett and Steve Cohen passed bipartisan legislation compelling TVA to regularly provide more detailed information on executive pay and management structure. Rather than lead on a national transition to clean energy amid dire reports of carbon-fueled climate catastrophe, TVA has been pilloried as an example of fossil fuel corruption and a liability for the Biden administration, whose carbon reduction goals the agency openly ignores.

McKibben spoke with the Scene a few days before his trip to Centennial Park. Third Act, his environmental group aimed at climate activists over 60, is helping organize Wednesdays event.

Why come down to Nashville, specifically, for this rally?

Im going to speak briefly  only for a few minutes, I think  to make the point that its a bad idea for TVA to lock in gas power for decades. Fifteen years ago, people said gas would be a bridge fuel from coal to the renewable era. That seemed like a reasonable argument at the time, because it releases less carbon dioxide than when you burn coal, but two things have happened since. We learned that a lot of gas escapes into the atmosphere during the fracking process, and it traps way more heat than carbon dioxide by about 80 times more heat. A leak rate of more than 2 percent makes it worse than coal; were finding 5 percent leaking at fracking fields. Second, the price of renewable energy  sun, wind and batteries to store that power  has dropped by 90 percent. We live on a planet where the cheapest way to produce energy is to point a sheet of glass at the sun. The combination of those two things means that fracked natural gas is not a bridge after all, and we dont even need a bridge, because were already across to where we need to be. The only reason for using gas is to benefit the people who own the supplies of gas.

The Green Issue 2024: Federal Government Challenging Executives Over TVAs Future Regional utility giant dodges members of Congress, the EPA, legal fights and advocacy organizations in quest for more natural gas

The Tennessee Valley Authority has already clearly signaled its plans to expand gas capacity rather than invest, at scale, in renewables. Can those decisions be changed at this point?

Yes. They havent built the pipelines yet, right? They havent built the new gas infrastructure. We have a whole new set of facts on the table, and sometimes, when new facts come out, people pay attention. The Biden administration decided last fall to pause permits for [liquefied natural gas] export facilities  that was a big deal that Big Oil has not taken kindly to. California, the fifth-largest economy in the world, has been producing more than 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy for substantial parts of every day since November: sun, wind and hydro. When science and economics change, its smart to change with them.

Yet TVA has chosen a massive gas buildout to replace coal capacity. If the environmental logic and economics are so obvious, whats acting on the other side of these decisions?

You have to win both the argument and the fight. The argument is about data, reason and evidence. Im confident weve won the argument. The fight is usually about money and power  in this case, the power of the fossil fuel industry. This is a battle for power, and thats why we do things like build movements. The fossil fuel industrys power comes from money. They have an unlimited amount to spend, and they do, on lobbyists by the bushel and endless ads. The way to stand up to that is a movement, and sometimes that works. We beat the Keystone Pipeline. Weve gotten $40 trillion in endowments and portfolios to divest from fossil fuels. We won this pause on LNG terminals last fall. These were all hard fights against big money. We won because people showed up to demand them.
Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana underlined the importance of NATOs southern neighbourhood at an event hosted by the German Marshall Fund in Brussels on Tuesday (7 May 2024). What happens in the region directly affects the security of the Euro-Atlantic region, he stressed.

At the event an independent group of experts appointed to support NATOs reflection on its southern neighbourhood published its final report and key findings, marking the end of its work. The report contains several recommendations to shape NATOs approach in areas including the Middle East, North Africa and the Sahel.

The report can be accessed here.



The group of eleven experts, chaired by Professor Ana Santos Pinto, presented its findings to the North Atlantic Council in March and NATO Foreign Ministers provided feedback during their meeting in April. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has now presented concrete proposals to Allies, with the aim to agree a set of measures to strengthen the Alliances approach to its southern neighbourhood in time for the NATO Summit in Washington in July.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya of Belarus to NATO HQ on Tuesday (7 May 2024) for an exchange of views. Ms Tsikhanouskaya also addressed the North Atlantic Council.

Mr Stoltenberg commended Ms Tsikhanouskayas courage and leadership in standing up for democracy and human rights in Belarus. He expressed concern about the renewed crackdown by President Lukashenkas regime on the opposition and on civil society. The Secretary General reiterated that the people of Belarus have the right to live in freedom and democracy.

The Secretary General also discussed Ms Tsikhanouskayas opposition to the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Minsks support has been instrumental to Russia, providing territory and infrastructure for Russian forces to attack Ukraine and sustain the war of aggression, he said. NATO Allies have called on Belarus to end its complicity in Russias war and to comply with international law. Allies have also condemned Russias announced intention to deploy nuclear weapons and nuclear capable systems on Belarusian territory.
Biden regime considers resettling some Gaza refugees in the USA

To help Israel clear out and ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip more quickly, President Joe Biden and his regime are drawing up plans to relocate Palestinian refugees to cities and towns near you.

CBS News' Collin Rugg wrote in an article that numerous federal agencies are trying to hatch plans for bringing Palestinian refugees to the United States. One idea involves using the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to bring in "Palestinians with U.S. ties who may have escaped into Egypt."

"Those who pass the eligibility requirements would then fly into the United States with refugee status, receive housing assistance and have a path towards citizenship," Rugg explained.

"The Biden administration is considering bringing certain Palestinians to the U.S. as refugees, a move that would offer a permanent safe haven to some of those fleeing war-torn Gaza, according to internal federal government documents obtained by CBS News."

?#BREAKING: The Biden administration at the White House is reportedly considering bringing some refugees from Gaza into the united states, according to CBS pic.twitter.com/dpMTssubTy  R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) April 30, 2024

(Related: Did you know that Biden is waging an unwinnable trade war with China that is only adding to the destabilization and chaos?)

Gaza refugees to receive U.S. welfare assistance, path to citizenship

As long as a refugee has American relatives, he or she could become eligible for relocation out of the Middle East and into America to become one of your neighbors. All they have to do is pass a series of eligibility, medical, and security screenings in order to qualify.

Just like with all the illegal aliens the Biden regime is flooding the nation with, Gaza refugees who qualify for resettlement here in the states will be offered resettlement benefits including housing assistance and a path to citizenship.

We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance.

"While the eligible population is expected to be relatively small, the plans being discussed by U.S. officials could offer a lifeline to some Palestinians fleeing the Israel-Hamas war, which local public health authorities say has claimed the lives of more than 34,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza," reports explain.

"The Israeli government launched a military offensive and aerial bombardment of Gaza after Hamas staged an unprecedented attack across Israel on Oct. 7, killing roughly 1,200 people, most of them civilians. Hamas militants also abducted more than 200 people, many of whom continue to be in captivity."

Several Zionists in the U.S. Congress are thrilled about the plan. One of them, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), says he "fully supports" resettling Gaza refugees in the United States, as well as the Biden plan to offer "amnesty" to not just them but also the millions of unvetted illegal aliens who are also flooding into the country.

Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman says he "fully support[s]" resettling Gaza refugees in the United States  along with "amnesty" for the millions of unvetted illegal aliens already in the country pic.twitter.com/wr7ObNndnV  RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 29, 2024

We could be just days away from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulling the trigger on a full-scale incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah. This is the place where most remaining Gaza residents now live, many of them in makeshift tent cities, like sitting ducks awaiting Israel's next move.

"We will enter Rafah because we have no other choice," Netanyahu declared in a statement. "We will eliminate Hamas' battalions and complete all the goals of the war, including bringing all the hostages back."

Netanyahu just gave a statement: ?? Rafah: "We will enter Rafah, because we have no other choice. We will eliminate Hamas' battalions and complete all the goals of the war, including bringing all the hostages back." ?? ICC: Court has "no jurisdiction" over Israel, possibility pic.twitter.com/9C6oe2t9dX  Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) April 30, 2024

Will the Zionist puppet masters who control Biden and Congress ever be dethroned? Find out more at Prophecy.news.

Sources for this article include:

100percentfedup.com

NaturalNews.com
Colombia breaks diplomatic ties with Israel over GENOCIDE in Gaza

During the annual Labor Day celebrations in the capital of Bogota, Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared that the government would sever diplomatic ties with Israel over concerns regarding the genocide in Gaza and the "extermination" of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.

In his address, Petro emphasized that the re-establishment of policies associated with genocide cannot be tolerated. The decision entails the expulsion of Israel's ambassador to Colombia, Gali Dagan, and his diplomatic staff, who have been given 72 hours to leave the country upon receiving formal notification from the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

All of humanity in the streets agrees with us: The era of genocide, of the extermination of an entire people before our eyes, before our humanity, cannot return. If Palestine dies, humanity dies, said Petro. (Related: Colombia threatening to cut diplomatic ties with Israel over neo-Nazi GENOCIDE in Gaza.)

As of now, there has been no immediate response from the Israeli ambassador regarding the president's announcement.

Petro has consistently condemned Israel's military actions in Gaza, accusing the country and its military of perpetrating genocide in the region, a claim he has reiterated multiple times since the onset of Israel's offensive, which has resulted in the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians, including around 14,000 children.

Furthermore, Colombia had previously recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv and suspended arms purchases in response to the ongoing conflict.

Human knowledge is under attack! Governments and powerful corporations are using censorship to wipe out humanity's knowledge base about nutrition, herbs, self-reliance, natural immunity, food production, preparedness and much more. We are preserving human knowledge using AI technology while building the infrastructure of human freedom. Speak freely without censorship at the new decentralized, blockchain-power Brighteon.io. Explore our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Support our efforts to build the infrastructure of human freedom by shopping at HealthRangerStore.com, featuring lab-tested, certified organic, non-GMO foods and nutritional solutions.

Colombia's military heavily reliant on Israeli arms purchases

Colombia has joined the ranks of a handful of other nations who have severed diplomatic ties with Israel or lodged other kinds of diplomatic protests due to its military campaign in Gaza, but the ramifications for Colombia may be more complex than for others, given longstanding bilateral agreements, especially in security matters.

The implications for Colombia's military, which relies heavily on Israeli-built weaponry to combat drug cartels and rebel factions, remain unclear.

The country also maintains a free trade agreement with Israel, effective since 2020, adding another layer of complexity to the situation.

Military ties between Colombia and Israel run deep, with numerous agreements spanning education, trade, and defense since they established diplomatic relations in 1957.

Israeli-built fighter jets, including the aging Kfir fleet, have played a crucial role in Colombia's fight against guerrilla groups. However, the maintenance of these aircraft necessitates collaboration with Israeli firms, presenting a challenge to Colombia's defense strategy amid diplomatic tensions.

Additionally, Colombia utilizes Israeli-designed Galil rifles, with plans for diversification of suppliers currently under consideration.

Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez indicated that existing contracts with Israel will be honored, but no new agreements will be pursued. This transition could have significant implications for Colombia's military capabilities, as well as its defense industry.

Security cooperation between the two nations has been strained, with Israel halting security exports to Colombia after Petro refused to condemn Hamas' actions and subsequent comparisons of Israel's actions to those of Nazi Germany. The suspension of arms purchases from Israel further underscores the diplomatic friction.

In terms of trade, Colombia's exports to Israel totaled $499 million last year, predominantly comprising coal, coffee and flowers. However, this represents a significant drop from previous years, possibly influenced by political tensions. The fate of the trade agreement between the two nations remains uncertain, pending further diplomatic developments.

Watch this episode of the "Health Ranger Report" as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, expresses his dismay over the Republican Party's abandonment of the principles of free speech to defend Israel's genocide.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

ALONE IN THE DESERT: South Africa, Chad join DIPLOMATIC BOYCOTT of Israel, adding to the growing list of countries protesting against Israel's genocide in Gaza.

U.S.-based rights group calls on ICC to investigate Israeli commanders WAR CRIMES

World reacts to Israeli attack on Jabalia refugee camp, many calling it "inhumane" or "war crimes."

Sources include:

ColombiaReports.com

ABCNews.go.com

Brighteon.com
DeSantis declares Florida WILL NOT COMPLY with new Biden rule forcing schools to recognize LGBTQ-identifying students

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared that the Sunshine State will not comply with the White House's new rules that provide protections to LGBTQ-identifying students in schools

In April, the administration of President Joe Biden finalized the enforcement of new Title IX rules. The rule change acts on 2021 guidance from the Department of Education, expanding the definition of discrimination in schools to include sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics. The rule change is set to take effect on Aug. 1.

The guidance is a reversal of a policy set during the administration of former President Donald Trump, which itself is a rule change from those enforced during former President Barack Obama's term that directs schools to allow transgender-identifying students to use school facilities that align with their chosen gender identities.

But DeSantis has taken a firm stance against the new rule. In a letter from Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. to superintendents, DeSantis declared that no educational institution in Florida should begin implementing any changes as mandated by the federal government.

"Instead of implementing Congress' clear directive to prevent discrimination based on biological sex, the Biden administration maims the statute beyond recognition in an attempt to gaslight the country into believing that biological sex no longer has any meaning. In doing so, it seeks to commandeer Florida's educational institutions and force them to violate various federal and state laws, including the First Amendment and Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, as well as statutes to protect students' privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms," Diaz wrote.

Human knowledge is under attack! Governments and powerful corporations are using censorship to wipe out humanity's knowledge base about nutrition, herbs, self-reliance, natural immunity, food production, preparedness and much more. We are preserving human knowledge using AI technology while building the infrastructure of human freedom. Speak freely without censorship at the new decentralized, blockchain-power Brighteon.io. Explore our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Support our efforts to build the infrastructure of human freedom by shopping at HealthRangerStore.com, featuring lab-tested, certified organic, non-GMO foods and nutritional solutions.

"In Florida, we respect parents' rights to direct their childrens education. We protect our students safety and privacy. And we make sure every student is given the chance to thrive on and off campus. We will keep pressing to accomplish these goals." (Related: Parents blast woke private school in Maryland over invasive GENDER IDENTITY survey.)

Furthermore, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has announced plans to challenge the new rule in court.

"Biden's new Title IX rules shred protections for women  that so many fought for over decades. The idea that young girls can now legally be forced to undress in the same room with males in what is supposed to be a safe space like a locker room, that a young woman could be randomly assigned a roommate that is a biological male with little-to-no-say over the matter, or that biological men would be eligible for women's scholarships is ludicrous. We absolutely plan to challenge this betrayal of women in court," Moody wrote on X.

Other Republican-led states ignoring Biden rule change

At least six other states led by Republicans have expressed their opposition to Biden's Title IX rule change, some of which have already filed lawsuits to prevent the rule change from coming into effect.

In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately sued the Biden administration in an attempt to block the implementation of the new Title IX rules. In a statement, Paxton said the new rules mandate "compliance with radical gender ideology."

The Republican attorneys general of Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana filed a separate lawsuit against the Title IX changes, arguing that they exceed the Education Department's authority in part because the rule change redefines the legal definition of sex to include gender identity.

"This is all for a political agenda, ignoring significant safety concerns for young women students in pre-schools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across Louisiana and the entire country," said Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill in a statement.

In Oklahoma, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said that the state is "pursuing all actions to oppose this illegal and unconstitutional move by the Biden administration."

All aforementioned states have also pushed through with instructing respective officers and agencies to not comply with the rule change.

Visit GenderConfused.com to read more stories about the Democrats' pro-LGBTQ push.

Watch a mother of six destroy gender activists in a speech at One Million March for Children.

This video is from the Pool Pharmacy channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Court blocks school district from enforcing ludicrous gender identity policies.

Minnesotas new gender identity law strips Christian schools, churches of exemption from hiring LGBTs.

Scottish parents face SEVEN YEARS in prison for refusing to affirm childrens gender identity.

GROOMER teacher tells 10-year-old to delete private email communications about young students gender identity.

STUDY: Gender identity is NOT the primary factor contributing to performance disparities in athletics  BIOLOGICAL SEX IS.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

NBCNews.com

Twitter.com

Brighteon.com
Just four types of cancer made up half of the 1.96 million cancer cases in the U.S. in 2023

Half of the 1.96 million cancer cases diagnosed in the United States in 2023 were just four different types of cancer  breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung and bronchus cancer and colorectal cancer.

According to the nonprofit organization USAFacts, 15 percent each of cancer cases are breast cancer and prostate cancer. Another 12 percent of cases are lung or bronchus cancer, while eight percent are colorectal cancers.

Cancer deaths also rose to 609,820 in 2023. Lung and bronchus cancer cases alone made up 21 percent of all cancer-related deaths. Nine percent of cancer deaths were from colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer made up eight percent and breast cancer seven percent.

The rise of colorectal cancer has been especially concerning, given that the number of colorectal cancer cases has risen by a whopping 15 percent over the past decade, theorized to be due to increasingly unhealthy lifestyles of Americans impacting gut health.

Data from USAFacts indicates that colorectal cancer cases account for eight percent of all cancer cases in the United States. Studies also show that around four percent of all men and women in the U.S. will develop colon cancer in their lifetime.

In younger demographics  ages 15 to 39  the most common types of new cancers are breast cancer (15 percent), thyroid (15 percent), testis (eight percent) and melanoma of the skin (seven percent). (Related: Big Medicine pushing women to start getting risky mammograms at age 40, subjecting them to MORE cancer-causing radiation.)

Estimates predict two million new cancer cases and 611,000 cancer-related deaths in 2024

The new analysis shows the extent of America's cancer crisis, with annual diagnoses having risen by 37 percent since 2019.

Human knowledge is under attack! Governments and powerful corporations are using censorship to wipe out humanity's knowledge base about nutrition, herbs, self-reliance, natural immunity, food production, preparedness and much more. We are preserving human knowledge using AI technology while building the infrastructure of human freedom. Speak freely without censorship at the new decentralized, blockchain-power Brighteon.io. Explore our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Support our efforts to build the infrastructure of human freedom by shopping at HealthRangerStore.com, featuring lab-tested, certified organic, non-GMO foods and nutritional solutions.

The situation is expected to get worse this year, with the nonprofit American Cancer Society predicting that an unprecedented two million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2024.

Cancer-related deaths are expected to increase by over 1,000 with the Cancer Society predicting more than 611,000 cancer-related deaths this year  or more than 1,600 cancer deaths each day.

The Cancer Society's prediction suggests that six out of the 10 most common cancers  breast, prostate, endometrial, pancreatic, kidney and melanoma  will surge in diagnoses this year. The society recommends early screening, which could support early detection and prevention.

The Cancer Society also found that for some cancers, overall incidence appeared to remain stable but were increasing for certain subgroups. For example, incidences were increasing for cervical cancer in women ages 30 to 44, oral cancers associated with human papillomavirus infections, liver cancer in women and colorectal cancer in people younger than 55.

The Cancer Society is similarly very concerned about the rise in colorectal cancer rates, with its data warning that colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer deaths in men younger than 50 and the second highest cause of cancer deaths in women younger than 50  right behind breast cancer.

The percentage of people younger than 50 getting diagnosed with cancer is also rising. In 1995, people aged 65 and older made up 61 percent of all new cancer diagnoses. By 2019 to 2020, that number had decreased to 58 percent even though people 65 and older increased from 13 percent to 17 percent of the total U.S. population.

Learn more about why more and more Americans are getting cancer at CancerCauses.news.

Watch this episode of "World Alternative Media" as host Josh Sigurdson warns about how the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) mRNA vaccines are causing "turbo cancer."

This video is from the Dianne Sosen channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Cancer cases are increasing due to COVID vaccines, but Big Government and Big Pharma want you to look the other way.

Cancer detection pen spots cancer chemicals in seconds.

Cancer drug Avastin leaves 12 diabetic patients BLIND, prompting government to launch investigation.

Colorectal cancer is ON THE RISE in people younger than 50, experts warn.

Sweet and deadly: Heres how SUGAR fuels CANCER in the body.

Sources include:

Dailymail.co.uk

Voice.ONS.org

Cancer.org

Brighteon.com
Mark Levin of Fox News calls for Gaza solidarity protesters to be rounded up and deported, Holocaust style

In case you forgot who owns this country,host Mark Levin blasted a reminder on X that it is he and other Zionists who call the shots 

Responding to the outpouring of solidarity for the people of Gaza at college and university campuses across America, Levin wrote on Elon Musk's social media platform that he wants a Stasi-style roundup of all protesters.

"Round them up, deport those who are here on student visas, arrest all others, and put out their names and photos so everyone knows who never to hire," Levin angrily and nastily wrote about the type of police state fascism he wants to see unleashed on those exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.

"Make sure they receive no student loan forgiveness or any other federal funds of any kind."

Like his fellow Zionist crusaders routinely do, Levin attempted to justify his Jewish supremacist call for persecution against Palestinians and those who support Palestinians by stating that they "might be Hamas."

"We are red-blooded Americans," Levin concluded. "We own this country. They don't."

(Related: Last fall not long after the October 7 incident, Levin was encouraging Israel to nuke its neighbors.)

Trump advisor says protests are about "hatred of Jews"

Just like what happened after 9/11 when much of the U.S. Constitution was thrown out the window because of "terrorists," Levin and others post-October 7 are attempting to do away with the rest of the Constitution that remains by labeling everyone they hate and disagree with as "Hamas" in order to dehumanize them.

We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance.

We have seen this tired playbook before, and this is not 2001 anymore. The internet has blossomed, as have smartphones and the powerful communication tools they offer that allow everyday folks an opportunity to break the matrix. This, of course, is why the Zionists also want to do away with platforms like TikTok that function as a public square where ordinary Americans can have a voice.

In 2001, we mostly just had the television telling us what was "true," and it took years for a viable enough contingent of the country to poke holes in the 9/11 narrative. However, with October 7, more people than ever before are seeing right through the deception and are thus protesting publicly against genocide.

The movement, like all others, is being coopted as we speak by these same Zionists who are trying to make it a left-versus-right fight, but don't let them. Genocide is genocide, and whoever is doing it must be stopped or at least called out publicly via protests.

Robert O'Brien, the former national security advisor to President Trump, agrees with Levin. He stated on Levin's show that the student protests, in his opinion, are "not about Israeli policy" but about "pure hatred of Jews." Levin responded to this in agreement, calling the people who are standing against Israel's genocide in Gaza part of the "Hitler Youth."

Robert O'Brien, Trump's National Security Advisor who will likely return to the next Administration, says the student protests are "not about Israel policy," but pure "hatred of Jews." Mark Levin agrees, calls them "Hitler Youth" The amount of sheer lying is just off-the-charts pic.twitter.com/r3cYF6ifzg  Michael Tracey (@mtracey) April 30, 2024

Following President Biden's recent decision to forgive billions of dollars in student loans, Levin went back on X to complain about that, too, stating that Biden "unconstitutionally gives billions to the Hitler youth in student loan forgiveness."

The hatred that Levin and other Zionists harbor towards especially younger Americans is so palpable that it just about leaps off the screen. He can call himself a "red-blooded American" all day long but that will never make it true.

Zionists everywhere are going out of their minds concerning the Gaza solidarity protests. Learn more at Censorship.news.

Sources for this article include:

InformationLiberation.com

NaturalNews.com
Netanyahu: Israel WILL INVADE Rafah with or without ceasefire and agreement to release hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel will send troops into the southern Gazan city of Rafah whether or not it reaches a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement with Hamas

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz earlier said the country would "suspend the operation" if Hamas agreed to release the estimated 130 remaining Israeli hostages still in captivity in Gaza. His prime minister's latest words now contradict this. "We will do everything possible to return the abductees, without harming the achievements of the war for which soldiers fell."

"The release of the hostages is the top priority for us. If there will be a deal, we will suspend the operation," said Katz emphasizing that growing military pressure on Hamas increases the prospects of an agreement.

Rafah is presently home to an estimated 1.4 million people, over a million of whom are internally displaced Palestinians who fled from more northern parts of the Strip due to Israeli bombing.

Since October, Israel has conducted usual airstrikes in Rafah against what it claims are Hamas targets, and Netanyahu has threatened for months to begin a ground invasion of the city, in spite of objections from the United States and the United Nations.

"The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate Hamas' battalions there  with or without a deal, to achieve total victory," Netanyahu said in a statement. (Related: Benjamin Netanyahu sets date for invasion of Rafah amid pressure over mounting civilian casualties.)

We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance.

Hamas accepts latest ceasefire proposal, but Israel still plans to invade Rafah

On Monday, May 6, Hamas announced its acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal. However, Israel said the deal did not meet its "core demands" and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Hamas' abrupt acceptance of the cease-fire deal came hours after Israel ordered an evacuation of some 100,000 Palestinians from eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, signaling an invasion was imminent.

The group has earlier rejected Israel's terms, asserting that any agreement must involve a path to a lasting truce and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier called on Hamas to accept the newest proposal, calling it "extraordinarily generous" on Israel's part  and to "decide quickly."

"We are determined to achieve a ceasefire that will bring the abductees home, and to achieve it now," said Blinken during a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. "The only reason a deal will not be reached is because of Hamas. There is an offer on the table, and as we said, no delays, no excuses."

For its part, Hamas demanded guarantees that the release of all hostages will bring a total cessation to Israel's assault on Gaza and genocide of Palestinians, including the withdrawal of all remaining Israeli troops from the territory.

Israel has already killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

Follow IsraelCollapse.com for more news about Israel's ongoing war in Gaza.

Watch the video below about Israel amassing dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in what appears to be preparations for an invasion of Rafah.

This video is from the Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Netanyahu forgets Israel fostered the rise of Hamas.

U.S. begins construction of humanitarian aid port off Gaza as Israeli invasion of Rafah looms.

Biden to Netanyahu: Agree to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza or lose U.S. support.

Sources include:

RT.com

TheJC.com

APNews.com

CBSNews.com

Brighteon.com
Controversial Ukraine-Israel aid bill provides $3.5 billion to support mass migration to America from the Middle East

Much of the criticism of the controversial $95 billion military aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan has rightfully been focused on the huge sum of money the U.S. is giving away for other countries' war efforts while failing to secure our own borders, but theres another aspect of the package that makes it even worse: $3.5 billion was slipped into the bill to support mass migration from the Middle East

The $3.5 billion sum has been granted to the U.S. Department of State for its work with international groups that help migrants in their journey to the U.S. These funds will be used to expand the migration routes from many Muslim and African countries. One report shows that these programs brought more than 12,000 individuals to the U.S. from the Congo, as well as upwards of 16,000 migrants from Muslim countries such as Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Pakistan.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Securitys visa-granting division, announced that it will be opening international field offices in Ankara, Turkey and Doha, Qatar, to raise its capacity for processing refugees. The former will be located at the American embassy in Ankara, while the Doha office will be situated at the American embassy facility at Camp As Sayliyah.

The influx of migrants from Muslim countries began during the Obama administration and has helped to radicalize the Democratic Party.

Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) tweeted: "Not only did the Foreign Aid package do nothing to secure our own border, it included $3.5 Billion to supercharge mass migration from the Middle East.

Human knowledge is under attack! Governments and powerful corporations are using censorship to wipe out humanity's knowledge base about nutrition, herbs, self-reliance, natural immunity, food production, preparedness and much more. We are preserving human knowledge using AI technology while building the infrastructure of human freedom. Use our decentralized, blockchain-based, uncensorable free speech platform at Brighteon.io. Explore our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Support our efforts to build the infrastructure of human freedom by shopping at HealthRangerStore.com, featuring lab-tested, certified organic, non-GMO foods and nutritional solutions.

A release from the USCIS indicated that the Biden administration has set a refugee admissions ceiling for the year of 125,000 refugees.

The statement noted: Opening these field offices establishes a USCIS presence and expertise in critical locations in the Middle East and is part of our commitment to the Biden-Harris administrations efforts to facilitate safe, lawful and orderly migration and family reunification.

It also claimed opening the new offices strengthens the integrity of the U.S. immigration system.

The bill also includes $481 million to help settle migrants in American cities. As part of the $95 billion in military aid, it delivers $60.8 billion in aid to Ukraine, along with $15 billion in military aid to Israel plus a further $9 billion for humanitarian aid. It also contains $8 billion for Taiwan and measures aimed at pressuring China and Iran.

It also contains a controversial provision that could force TikToks China-based parent company to sell the platform or face a ban from operating in the U.S.

Biden is losing voter support over his poor record on border security

President Biden praised the passage of the bill, saying: Its going to make America safer. Its going to make the world safer. And it continues Americas leadership in the world.

Its not surprising that he is such a fan of the bill given his willingness to let migrants continue to flood the country, but the good news is that Americans are getting tired of his lack of action when it comes to border security.

An April 2024 Gallup poll found that the top concern among American voters is immigration and people are fed up as illegal immigration surges at the nations southern border.

This could help explain why Biden is the least popular president at this point in his presidency in the last seven decades, with a job approval rating of just 38.7% during the first quarter of the year. At the same point in his presidency, Trump's approval rating was 46.8%.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

Breitbart.com

USCIS.gov

DailyMail.co.uk

NYPost.com
US forming anti-China squad with Japan, Philippines, and Australia

The US has been working to increase military cooperation with the Philippines, Japan, and Australia as part of its strategy against China in the Asia Pacific, a grouping Pentagon officials privately call the Squad, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

(Article by Dave DeCamp republished from News.Antiwar.com)

The defense chiefs of the US, the Philippines, Japan, and Australia met in Hawaii on May 2 and issued a joint readout that used harsh rhetoric against Chinas claims to the South China Sea and the East China Sea, two areas where the US has vowed to intervene if the maritime disputes turn into shooting wars.

The Ministers and Secretaries expressed serious concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas, the readout said. They strongly objected to the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea. They reiterated serious concern over the PRCs (Peoples Republic of China) repeated obstruction of Philippine vessels exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and the disruption of supply lines to Second Thomas Shoal, which constitute dangerous and destabilizing conduct.

They also vowed to increase military cooperation, including in the South China Sea. The Ministers and Secretaries discussed opportunities to further advance defense cooperation, including through continued maritime cooperation in the South China Sea, enhanced procedures to enable coordination and information sharing arrangements, as well as strengthening capacity building, the readout said.

The four nations conducted their first quadrilateral military exercise in the South China Sea in April. The waters have been a major source of tensions between Manila and Beijing, as Chinese and Philippine vessels often have tense encounters that sometimes end in collision near disputed rocks and reefs.

The US has repeatedly vowed that the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty applies to attacks on Philippine vessels in the South China Sea. Similarly, the US has affirmed that the mutual defense portion of the US-Japan Security Treaty would apply to the Senkaku Islands, Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea that are also claimed by China.

Boosting regional partnerships and forming new alliances is a key part of the US military buildup in the region, and the Squad is just one iteration. The US has also been looking to strengthen the Quad, which includes the US, India, Japan, and Australia. The US also formed the AUKUS security pact in 2021 with the UK and Australia, which focuses on technology sharing, including nuclear-powered submarines that Canberra will obtain.

Read more at: News.Antiwar.com
Zelensky: Ukraine MUST WIN against Russia to join NATO

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thinks Kyiv must win against Russia in its ongoing conflict in order to be admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

"I believe that we will be in NATO only if we win," he told military officers during an April 30 meeting in the Ukrainian capital. "I don't think that we will be admitted during the war.

According to Zelensky, full NATO accession would require unanimous approval from the bloc's 32 members. But the group has made it clear that Kyiv cannot become a member while fighting is ongoing.

The comedian-turned-chief executive remarked that some NATO member nations are reluctant to admit Ukraine in the midst of its ongoing war with Russia because "they feel the risks." Others, meanwhile, are "simply skeptical of the measure."

"Therefore, for Ukraine to be accepted into the alliance, we need victory," Zelensky said, adding that eventual membership into NATO would secure Ukraine's independence.

The beleaguered nation formally applied to join the organization in September 2022. While NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and individual members agree that Ukraine should someday become part of the group, Kyiv has not been presented with a specific timetable. "It is widely understood that the country will not be admitted until the conflict with Russia is resolved," Russia Today (RT) wrote. (Related: WW3 GUARANTEED: NATO summit unveils plan to accelerate Ukraine membership.)

But according to Moscow, NATO's eastward expansion and its military cooperation with Ukraine are among the root causes of the conflict. Russia considers NATO a threat to its national security and insists that Ukraine must become a neutral country.

We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance.

Meanwhile, Stoltenberg told Reuters during an April 29 visit to Kyiv that the delays in weapons deliveries had "put a dent into the trust" between Ukraine and its foreign backers. Officials in Kyiv have blamed the slowdown of deliveries for the failed counteroffensive last year and the recent losses of eastern Ukrainian cities to the Russian Armed Forces.

"While the EU is struggling to find enough arms and ammunition for Ukraine's wartime needs, the latest aid package from the U.S. had been stuck for months in [the U.S.] Congress due to political wrangling," RT continued. "The delays sparked worries in Kyiv, with Zelensky warning that Ukraine would lose if ammunition shortages were not remedied."

Blinken: Ukraine WILL become a member of NATO

Back in April, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that Ukraine will become a member of NATO  amid threats of World War III from Russia should Kyiv join the group.

"Ukraine, the determination of every country represented here at NATO remains rock solid," he told journalists in the Belgian capital Brussels. "We will do everything we can, allies will do everything they can, to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to continue to deal with Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine  an aggression that gets worse with every passing day. Ukraine will become a member of NATO."

According to Blinken, one important agenda in NATO's annual summit for this year is to "help build a bridge to that membership and to create a clear pathway for Ukraine moving forward." Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba concurred, remarking: "Of course, we believe that Ukraine deserves to be a member of NATO. This should happen sooner rather than later."

But many are raising red flags on NATO's Article Five, which binds all of the group's member nations. Under this provision, an armed attack against one NATO ally is considered an attack against all members  with the rest of the bloc's members required to aid the besieged member country. "Making Ukraine a member of NATO means that the U.S. will be going to war against Russia as mandated by Article Five," InfoWars stated.

Watch this video about Russian military forces erasing NATO's efforts in Ukraine.

This video is from the Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Blinken pushing Ukraine into NATO to start WWIII.

Blinken says Ukraine "will become a member of NATO."

Top NATO official warns of ALL-OUT WAR with Russia within 20 years.

Ukraine will JOIN NATO, Blinken announces, signaling imminent WWIII with Russia.

Russian warnings of nuclear escalation deter NATO members from sending troops to Ukraine.

Sources include:

RT.com

InfoWars.com

Brighteon.com
The First Amendment must be scrapped to protect Israel, says ADL

Israel and its supporters are frightened by the public outpouring of support for and solidarity towards the Palestinian people living in Gaza at American college and university campuses  so much so that they just sent a letter to the United States Congress demanding the passage of a new censorship law

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in coordination with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is demanding that Congress renew special provisions in the controversial FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) to allow for the silencing of anyone who in any way criticizes Israel's genocide in Gaza.

Infamously described as "the biggest expansion of domestic surveillance since the Patriot Act," the new FISA bill being pushed by the Jewish lobby contains added language that would basically criminalize free speech that upsets Zionists. It also compels "an enormous range" of U.S. businesses to start acting as NSA (National Security Agency) spies on behalf of Israel.

Many Americans have no idea that the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations even sent the letter, nor are they aware of the legislation being pushed. Once word gets out, there is likely to be a major outpouring of opposition to it  so do your part to spread the word in defense of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which is under attack by the Jewish lobby.

(Related: Zionist neocon and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is doing his part to support Israel by deploying troops to Texas schools to silence Gaza solidarity free speech.)

We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance.

According to reports, many Americans have been speaking out against the legislation, but to no avail as both chambers of Congress passed it with flying colors in a show of bipartisan support.

Republicans rarely agree with Democrats, and vice versa, except when it comes to matters relating to Israel. Both major political parties have been bought by Israel, which is why they are mostly all Israel first as opposed to America first.

In order to protect "the safety and security of Israel," as well as "to protect Jews in the U.S.," the Jewish lobby wants Section 702 of FISA to be renewed immediately, thus prohibiting "antisemitism" at college and university campuses.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly passed anti-antisemitism legislation in the Sunshine State while Americans were distracted by the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). One can only imagine what that Wailing Wall-kisser has planned for Floridians who are caught opposing Israel's genocide.

"In the U.S., indications of foreign involvement in domestic antisemitic events in the wake of October 7 highlight the need for the Executive Branch to retain this vital tool," the Jewish lobby argues, using October 7 in the same way as 9/11 before it to trample Americans' constitutional rights.

Furthermore, the Jewish lobby says it is "deeply concerned" by all the free speech happening in support of the Palestinian people, and that "information previously obtained through the use of Section 702," which is currently expired, is once again needed to protect Jews from having their feelings hurt.

To not renew Section 702 will "hobble vital intelligence and law enforcement authorities," the Jewish lobby maintains.

According to ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, protesting in solidarity with the people of Gaza means you are an "accomplice" in the Hamas false flag attack. This is how the entire Jewish lobby thinks of you if you do not support Israel's genocide, by the way.

Greenblatt is leading the charge to create an entire legal framework that will allow for pro-Palestine protesters to be charged with providing material support to "terrorists," allowing them to be jailed despite the existence of the First Amendment  watch below:

WATCH: ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt threatens pro-Palestine protesters in NYC, claims they're "accomplices" in Hamas' attacks. "These people will end where evil always does, on the ashes of history." pic.twitter.com/soSS2SyhRH  Chris Menahan ?? (@infolibnews) October 10, 2023

Will Americans roll over and let Israel destroy their constitutional right to free speech? Find out more at Prophecy.news.

Sources include:

InformationLiberation.com

NaturalNews.com
Every GOP senator just signed a letter to Biden telling him to WITHDRAW from the WHO pandemic treaty

On May Day, every Republican member of the United States Senate signed their names to a letter calling on President Biden to end all cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and its ongoing pandemic treaty negotiations.

Over the next several weeks, the Biden regime will be expected to commit the U.S. to two international agreements that would strengthen the WHO's authority to declare public health emergencies of international concern. In short, the WHO would be allowed to supersede Congress in how such emergencies are handled.

Calling the arrangement "unacceptable," the GOP senators highlighted the WHO's "failure" during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "pandemic" to properly handle the crisis, leaving in its wake "lasting harm to our country."

"The United States cannot afford to ignore this latest WHO inability to perform its most basic function and must insist on comprehensive WHO reforms before even considering amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) or any new pandemic related treaty that would increase WHO authority," the letter reads.

"We are deeply concerned that your administration continues to support these initiatives and strongly urge you to change course."

(Related: Back in April, the WHO backed off somewhat from its earlier Pandemic Treaty agenda, making substantive changes to address tyranny concerns.)

WHO violating its own requirements with IHR amendments

It turns out that before any proposed IHR amendments can even be considered by member states like the U.S., their text must first be provided at least four months before the World Health Assembly (WHR) at which they are to be considered. This reportedly never happened.

Human knowledge is under attack! Governments and powerful corporations are using censorship to wipe out humanity's knowledge base about nutrition, herbs, self-reliance, natural immunity, food production, preparedness and much more. We are preserving human knowledge using AI technology while building the infrastructure of human freedom. Speak freely without censorship at the new decentralized, blockchain-power Brighteon.io. Explore our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Support our efforts to build the infrastructure of human freedom by shopping at HealthRangerStore.com, featuring lab-tested, certified organic, non-GMO foods and nutritional solutions.

"Article 55 of the IHR requires the text of any IHR amendment to be communicated to member states at least four months before the WHA at which they are to be considered," the letter explains.

"As the WHO has still not provided final amendment text to member states, we submit that IHR amendments may not be considered at next month's WHA."

Beyond this, the IHR amendments as they currently exist are major ones that the GOP senators warn "would substantially increase the WHO's health emergency powers and constitute intolerable infringements upon U.S. sovereignty."

"As such, it was essential that the WHO abide by the four-month notice period to allow member states time to ensure that no traces of such proposals were included in a final amendment package for consideration by the WHA," the letter continues.

"Having failed to do so, amendments are not in order."

There have been numerous iterations of the proposed amendments over the past several years. The latest versions are "dead on arrival," the GOP senators insist, because they all center around expanding WHO power and control at the expense of member state sovereignty.

With the world still uncertain about where COVID-19 even came from due to a continued block on a proper investigation, now is not the time for the WHO to be assuming any more power than it already had during the last public health "emergency."

"We strongly urge you not to join any pandemic related treaty, convention, or agreement being considered at the Seventy-seventh WHA," the GOP senators urge. "Should you ignore this advice, we state in the strongest possible terms that we consider any such agreement to be a treaty requiring the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate under Article II Section 2 of the Constitution."

"In light of the high stakes for our country and our constitutional duty, we call upon you to (1) withdraw your administration's support for the current IHR amendments and pandemic treaty negotiations, (2) shift your administration's focus to comprehensive WHO reforms that address its persistent failures without expanding its authority, and (3) should you ignore these calls, submit any pandemic related agreement to the Senate for its advice and consent."

The latest news about the fight for health freedom can be found at HealthFreedom.news.

Sources for this article include:

SovereigntyCoalition.org

NaturalNews.com
Hungarian foreign minister warns that Frances Macron is pushing the world toward global nuclear war

Could French President Emmanuel Macron be pushing the world toward a global nuclear war? This is the assertion of the foreign minister of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, who believes that Macron's recent comments about sending French troops to Ukraine could spark a third world war.

Macron's controversial comments came in an interview with The Economist that was published last week. During the interview, he reaffirmed statements he has made in the past about potentially deploying troops to back up Kiev. When asked if he stood behind those words, he said: "I'm not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out."

He added that the original remarks were a strategic wake-up call for my counterparts and said that if the Russians were to break through the front lines and Ukraine asked for help, France might consider deploying troops there.

When asked for his opinion about Macrons recently renewed threat to deploy French troops to back up Ukraine, Szijjarto told a French broadcaster that the president's comments are only serving to escalate the situation.

He said: If a NATO member commits ground troops, it will be a direct NATO-Russia confrontation and it will then be World War Three.

He also took issue with Macrons claim that nuclear weapons from France could form part of a credible European defense," warning that such a scenario had the potential to escalate into a global nuclear war.

In peacetime it would be different, but in wartime such statements can be misinterpreted and have serious consequences, he said, cautioning that if that happens, it will be over for everyone.

We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance.

Szijjarto said: "Instead of supplying Ukraine with new weapons, sending troops there or using nuclear weapons, it is necessary to end this war, cease fire and start peace talks."

He also told Hungarian broadcaster M1 that he is opposed to a proposed NATO five-year plan for a $100 billion war chest to support Ukraine. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has floated the idea, which Szijjarto described as madness.

"In the coming weeks during negotiations we will fight for Hungarys right to stay away from this madness, from collecting these 100 billion and siphoning them out of Europe.

Hungary has been against the involvement of the EU and NATO in the Ukrainian conflict and has resisted sending Ukraine support in the form of weapons or helping to train troops, so it is not surprising that Szijjarto is coming down so hard on Macron for expressing an interest in offering military support to Kiev.

Macron says there will be no security in Europe if Russia wins in Ukraine

Macron gave the interview not long after a keynote speech in which he said that Europe is mortal and could die as a result of the threat of Russian aggression following its invasion of Ukraine. He said the country was a power of regional destabilization and a threat to Europeans security.

He said that as far he is concerned, Russia cannot win in Ukraine.

"If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe. Who can pretend that Russia will stop there? What security will there be for the other neighboring countries, Moldova, Romania, Poland, Lithuania and the others?"

Sources for this article include:

RT.com

France24.com
Israel carpet bombs Rafah after Hamas accepts ceasefire proposal

Israels military intensified carpet-bombing of Rafah on Monday night accompanied with reported ground advances shortly after Hamas agreed to a US-mediated ceasefire proposal.

(Article republished from MiddleEastEye.net)

The small town home to 1.5 million displaced Palestinians was struck with air strikes and artillery shelling, accroding to Palestinian news outlets. Several people have been reported killed and wounded.

A Palestinian journalist reported flares in the night sky and locals reported dozens of reconnaissance drones flying overhead.

Wafa news agency and Egyptian media said Israeli military vehicles advanced towards the the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, as well as the Karem Shalom crossing with Israel.

Middle East Eye could not be independently verify the reports.

The Israeli military announced it was conducting targeted strikes against Hamas in eastern Rafah.

The military strikes on Rafah come after Hamas announced it accepted a ceasefire proposal from Qatar and Egypt.

The proposal involves three phases, with the first phase calling for a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim corridor and the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes. The second phase involves an announcement of a permanent cessation of military operations. In the last phase, there would be a complete end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

In exchange, Israel would be expected to release an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners, withdraw its troops from certain regions of the Gaza Strip, and allow Palestinians to travel from the south of the territory to the north.

While countries in the region, including Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, welcomed Hamas's acceptance of the proposal, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was moving ahead with its invasion of Rafah.

The statement said the invasion of Rafah needed to take place "in order to apply military pressure on Hamas, with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims".

Israel for months has said that it plans to invade Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, where more than one million Palestinians have fled since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza in October.

Israel has said the invasion would help complete its goal of eliminating Hamas, as Israel claims there are four Hamas battalions in the city.

The Biden administration had publicly been calling on Israel not to launch an assault on the city, raising concerns about Israel's ability to "evacuate" the area's civilian population.

Earlier on Monday, Israel ordered 250,000 Palestinians to leave Rafah, as it began to heavily bombard the eastern part of the border city.

Palestinians currently in Rafah have told MEE that the people sheltering there are in a state of panic, and are concerned that they will not be safe even if they leave, given their experiences in Gaza over the past seven months.

The UN's top human rights chief, Volker Turk, on Monday slammed what he called an "inhumane" Israeli order for Palestinians to leave Rafah, forcibly displacing them, and said the plan was inconceivable, warning an attack on the city would bring suffering in Gaza tounbearable levels.

Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famineToday, they have been told that they must relocate yet again as Israeli military operations into Rafah scale up.

Aid groups have repeatedly warned that an attack on Rafah would not only be catastrophic for civilians in the area, but will also have a major impact on their ability to get food to northern Gaza where a "full-blown famine" is now underway, according to the World Food Programme.

The increased bombardment of Rafah also comes as a Middle East Eye report on Monday revealed that Egypts military intelligence held meetings with Sinai tribes in recent weeks to discuss their potential role in the event of an Israeli invasion.

At those meetings, Egyptian intelligence officers said they estimated a Palestinian influx of between 50,000 and 250,000 people towards Sinai if Israel carried such a ground invasion.

Read more at: MiddleEastEye.net
Israel shuts down all Al Jazeera news operations, demonstrating the tyranny of Zionism and abandonment of democratic principles

Israel has taken the shocking step of shutting down all of Al Jazeeras news operations in the country in a move that is being condemned as a dark day for democracy.

The news network, which is based in Qatar, has been known for hard-hitting, on-the-ground coverage of the war in Gaza and reporting from its offices in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. It has often been critical of the IDFs military operations and the horrifying effects they are having on civilians in Gaza.

The Israeli Ministry of Communications announced they have now closed Al Jazeeras offices in Jerusalem and confiscated their communications equipment. They have also stopped their broadcasts via satellite and cable and blocked access to their websites.

Cable providers in the Jewish state have stopped carrying Al Jazeera networks, and viewers are met with a message when they try to tune in that says: In accordance with the governments decision, Al Jazeera channel broadcasts were stopped in Israel.

The appalling shutdown came as negotiations for a ceasefire and potential hostage release continue and the death toll keeps climbing as Gazans grapple with a mounting humanitarian crisis.

Netanyahu wrote on X: The government headed by me unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel.

His government has expressed hostility toward Al Jazeeras coverage in the past, accusing them of displaying bias against Israel and serving as a mouthpiece for Hamas. They have also accused the network of compromising Israels security and inciting violence against Israeli soldiers. Last month, the Israeli parliament passed a law that would permit foreign broadcasters to be temporarily closed if they are deemed a threat to national security during the ongoing war.

We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance.

Israel draws immediate international criticism for shutting down news outlet

Not surprisingly, the move attracted an immediate slew of criticism, with Human Rights Watch calling it an assault on freedom of the press.

Rather than trying to silence reporting on its atrocities in Gaza, the Israeli government should stop committing them, their statement added.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said the closure sets an extremely alarming precedent for restricting international media outlets working in Israel, while the Foreign Press Association said it was a dark day for democracy.

UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated: As we have said before, we stand firmly against any decision to roll back freedom of the press. A free press provides an invaluable service to ensure that the public is informed and engaged.

Al Jazeera didnt mince any words when reacting the news, calling the decision a criminal act and accusing Israel of contravention of international and humanitarian law.

They said in a statement that they reject Israeli authorities claims that they are violating professional media standards. The network said that some of the broadcasting equipment Israeli authorities seized from them include cameras, servers, laptops, cell phones, wireless transmission equipment, routing and editing equipment, and microphones.

The move could raise tensions between Israel and Qatar, which provides funding for the network, just as Doha is playing a central role in negotiations to bring the war to a close.

Al Jazeera is one of just a handful of international media outlets that has been reporting from the ground in Gaza despite the violence, ensuring that the world is aware of the peoples suffering, the hospital conditions, the relentless attacks from Israel and the devastation of the enclave.

International Federation of Journalists Deputy General Secretary Tim Dawson said: Israel makes much of being a democracy and the idea that it can simply close down an international broadcaster of considerable reputation and history is atrocious.

Media outlets around the world should be very worried as its just a matter of time before Israel starts shutting down any news organization that dares to be critical of Israel or exposes their actions in Gaza.

Sources for this article include:

AlJazeera.com

RT.com

CNN.com
Far-left and conservative protesters at University of Alabama UNITE in chanting F**k Joe Biden

Far-left protesters and their conservative counterparts at the University of Alabama (UA) found common ground in their dislike of President Joe Biden

The moment of unity reportedly happened during a May 1 protest on UA campus grounds. At around 5:30 p.m. on that day, far-left protesters backing Palestine gathered at the institution's Student Center Plaza. Soon after, counter-protesters supporting Israel showed up, according to footage shared by an editor at the university's paper.

"F**k Joe Biden," the far-left protesters chanted as Palestinian flags waved in the air. In response, the pro-Israel protesters chanted back: "F**k Joe Biden." The footage of the exchange showing both sides uniting in their mutual disdain for the chief executive went viral on social media.

But the brief moment of anti-Biden unity quickly fizzled out, with the two sides returning to their respective messages against each other. The pro-Palestine protesters doubled down on their anti-Biden chants. Among their chants were: "Hey Israel, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today? Hey Biden, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today."

The pro-Palestine group also chanted: "Hey hey, ho ho, Lockheed Martin has got to go," "Ceasefire now" and "Free Palestine." Meanwhile, the pro-Israel group sang the U.S. national anthem. Jewish UA students also joined the pro-Palestine demonstration, holding up "Jews Against Genocide" signs and joining calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

"Biden has received criticism from supporters of both Palestine and Israel," Mediaite pointed out.

Human knowledge is under attack! Governments and powerful corporations are using censorship to wipe out humanity's knowledge base about nutrition, herbs, self-reliance, natural immunity, food production, preparedness and much more. We are preserving human knowledge using AI technology while building the infrastructure of human freedom. Speak freely without censorship at the new decentralized, blockchain-power Brighteon.io. Explore our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Support our efforts to build the infrastructure of human freedom by shopping at HealthRangerStore.com, featuring lab-tested, certified organic, non-GMO foods and nutritional solutions.

"Those in support of Palestine [accuse] the president of aiding Israel's military offensive in Gaza, which has resulted in at least 35,000 deaths. Those in support of Israel, meanwhile, have accused Biden of not providing sufficient support to Israel's offensive."

Pro-Palestine demonstrators at UA want university to cut ties with Lockheed

According to WVTM 13, the May 1 pro-Palestine demonstration was organized by students with the UA Leftist Collective. The channel added that UA's alleged ties to defense contractor Lockheed Martin and the Department of Defense (DoD) were the focus of the protest.

"As students of UA, we can no longer stand by in silent complicity as our institution funds a state-sponsored massacre of Palestinians," the group said in a press release.

The press release added that UA's board received $10.4 million in funding for the year 2022 from the DoD, per an audit from that year. It also alleged that the university has a "very close relationship" with Lockheed Martin. The Maryland-based defense contractor has reportedly supplied Israel with "fighter jets, Hellfire missiles and other weapons that are currently being used to slaughter Palestinians."

Moreover, the press release also noted that in 2018, UA received $15 million in stock from then Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson. The university is listed as a partner institution of the company, and in turn allows the defense contractor to hold recruiting events on campus.

UA officials acknowledged the May 1 protest, releasing their own statement on the matter. "Protests were held on campus today by groups with opposing viewpoints. [UA] appreciates that attendees peacefully exercised their free speech rights with no disruptions, violence, vandalism or arrests," they said in the statement. (Related: Videos show brazen police brutality across U.S. universities at the demand of Israel.)

"University staff and [the UA Police Department] were on-site and shared expectations for a responsible, peaceful event along with clear guidance consistent with the law and university policy. The university maintains the authority to promptly address any violations. Enhanced security and other resources have been made available to students and groups who have expressed concern, and those resources remain available."

Head over to JoeBiden.news for more stories like this.

Watch this footage of pro-Israel and pro-Palestine protesters at UA chanting "f**k Joe Biden" during the May 1 rally.

This video is from the Justin Trouble channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Police use taser, tear gas to disperse pro-Palestinian activists at Emory University.

Thousands protest across Middle East in support of Palestinians amid ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

Former free speech proponent Sen. Hawley is now calling for the national guard to suppress anti-Israel protests.

Snipers seen on rooftops overlooking university protests, raising fears of harsh punishments for pro-Palestine students.

Sources include:

ThePostMillennial.com

Mediaite.com

WTVM13.com

Brighteon.com
Explosion of MEDICAL MURDER cases in America is part of the globalist DEPOPULATION plan

The sudden rise of "medical murder" cases in the U.S. is part of the globalist agenda to cull the world's population

Stefan Stanford of All News Pipeline elaborated on this in an April 18 piece. He cited an April 11 article on American Greatness written by Scott Schara, a staunch advocate against hospital homicide. According to Schara's article, "medical murder" is the no. 1 cause of death in the United States.

Schara mentioned that long before the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) entered the scene, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already recognized "medical malpractice" as the third leading cause of deaths annually in the U.S.  with heart disease taking the top spot and cancer landing in second place.

But during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. became No. 1 in "hospital deaths" with more than 1.2 million "hospital murders" in only 39 months. In contrast, India  which has quadruple the population of America  only recorded a mere 530,00 deaths during that period. For Schara, there is a sinister purpose behind this.

According to the piece, a whopping 135 million Americans are either on Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. Those costs make up over half of of the U.S. budget and, when divided by that number, it would equate to an average annual cost of over $35,000 per person.

"Think about it. People are too expensive; the planet doesn't have enough resources," Schara continued. "If Satan is successful at selling these lies, what we see happening in real-time fits like a glove."

Stanford agreed with the advocate, writing: "We've reported  that the U.S. [government[ and the globalists believe that the planet is hugely overpopulated. They believe they must 'do something about it,' and one could argue that's exactly what we're now watching playing out before our eyes." (Related: MEDICAL MURDER whistleblower: NHS ordered EUTHANASIA to inflate COVID-19 deaths in hospitals.)

Human knowledge is under attack! Governments and powerful corporations are using censorship to wipe out humanity's knowledge base about nutrition, herbs, self-reliance, natural immunity, food production, preparedness and much more. We are preserving human knowledge using AI technology while building the infrastructure of human freedom. Speak freely without censorship at the new decentralized, blockchain-power Brighteon.io. Explore our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Support our efforts to build the infrastructure of human freedom by shopping at HealthRangerStore.com, featuring lab-tested, certified organic, non-GMO foods and nutritional solutions.

Bioweapon disguised as a VACCINE played a big role in this mass murder

Schara also mentioned that "the plot thickens" when the relaxation of Medicare and Medicaid rules are observed  adding 38 million Americans to this bureaucracy.

"Following the pattern set by the Rockefellers  the government behind COVID-19  wanted its citizens to have 'free' medical coverage to give the impression of helping. The reality is beginning to hit us now," Schara wrote.

"Most of these individuals got the bioweapon disguised as a vaccine. There is currently a 24 percent increase in all-cause mortality in the jabbed, [and] cancer rates are skyrocketing. What do you think the 'free' medical coverage will do to these people next?"

Bioethicist Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a prime architect of Obamacare, wrote back in 1996 that when it comes to health care, services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed.

"The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determines the standards of 'care' for the entire country. Doctors and nurses hide behind 'standards of care' as their excuse to kill us while being paid to do so. To be fair, some have little idea they are doing the dirty work, blinded by medical programming," Schara wrote.

"State statutes written long before COVID-19 give legal immunity for following 'standards of care.' I want to be blunt. Standards of care are designed to hasten death, and hastening death is murder."

Watch Scott Schara explaining how the practice of medical murder is intentional and by design below.

This video is from the Celestial Report  Celeste Solum channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

MEDICAL MURDER: Hospitals are killing health freedom advocates by denying them life-saving treatments.

Scott Schara: Hospital homicide via COVID treatments part of a GENOCIDAL agenda.

Hospitals became DEATH and MURDER facilities during covid, facts show.

Scott Schara: Medical system didnt value peoples lives during COVID-19 pandemic  Brighteon.TV.

Mainstream scientists now embracing vaccine depopulation explanation for why the vaccines are killing so many people.

Sources include:

AllNewsPipeline.com

AmGreateness.com

Brighteon.com
Russia strikes Ukraines military headquarters in Odessa

Russian forces have launched a major assault on Ukraine's military headquarters in the southern region, a strategic move aimed at gaining control over vital command structures.

The attack targeted Ukraines Operational Command South headquarters, located in the heart of Odessa, a significant port city in the region known for its economic and military importance. The assault coincided with intensified operations around Odessa, raising fears of further destabilization in the area.

Reports confirm a ballistic missile strike on Odessa, resulting in three explosions and claiming three lives, underscoring the severity of the attack and its devastating impact on the civilian population. The precision and scale of the assault highlight Russia's determination to assert dominance in the region and quash resistance from Ukrainian forces. (Related: Russia claims to have seized the initiative in Ukraine with significant territorial gains.)

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu's recent pledge to increase attacks on warehouses and logistics hubs with Western-supplied weaponry underscores Moscow's aggressive military strategy. The move aims to disrupt Ukrainian supply lines and weaken their defensive capabilities, signaling Russia's intent to escalate the conflict to achieve its objectives.

Moscow's decision to push the front lines deeper into Ukrainian territory, particularly targeting Odessa, suggests a strategic shift aimed at consolidating control over key areas in the south. The capture of Odessa would not only bolster Russia's military presence but also severely undermine Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Human knowledge is under attack! Governments and powerful corporations are using censorship to wipe out humanity's knowledge base about nutrition, herbs, self-reliance, natural immunity, food production, preparedness and much more. We are preserving human knowledge using AI technology while building the infrastructure of human freedom. Use our decentralized, blockchain-based, uncensorable free speech platform at Brighteon.io. Explore our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Support our efforts to build the infrastructure of human freedom by shopping at HealthRangerStore.com, featuring lab-tested, certified organic, non-GMO foods and nutritional solutions.

However, Russia's actions may also be prompted by heightened attacks on Crimea, the disputed peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. Russian officials revealed that Crimea came under attack with U.S.-provided Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), indicating Ukraine's efforts to challenge Russian control in the region.

Crimea Gov. Sergey Aksyonov's report of the successful interception of inbound ATACMS missiles by Russian air defenses highlights Moscow's commitment to defending its territory. Additionally, interceptions of French-made projectiles elsewhere in Ukraine demonstrate the effectiveness of Russian air defense systems in neutralizing threats to its sovereignty.

Ukraine's vulnerability in the air underscores the urgent need for enhanced defense systems. President Zelensky's appeal for more Patriot anti-air defense systems from the U.S. and Europe, as well as expediting the F-16 program, reflects the gravity of the situation. While Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Ilya Evlash suggests the possibility of F-16 jets arriving soon after Orthodox Easter, skepticism remains regarding the feasibility of this timeline, given the complexities of procurement and deployment in the midst of conflict.

Russia showcases NATO military hardware captured in Ukraine

In Moscow, a captivating exhibition showcasing NATO military hardware captured by Russian forces in Ukraine has drawn significant attention from Russian citizens.

The exhibition, held at a prestigious museum, offers a close look at a diverse range of "trophies" seized during the conflict.

Among the exhibits are armored fighting vehicles of U.S. origin, cutting-edge tanks and advanced European armored personnel carriers.

Notably, the exhibition features items from 12 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, South Africa, Turkey, Australia and Germany.

Meanwhile, Russia appears to be intensifying its preparations for a potential new large-scale offensive, expected to commence in mid-May or early June.

Shoigu highlighted the importance of bolstering the combat strength and weapons supplies of Russian forces to sustain current offensive operations and prepare for future actions. This development signals the continuation of tensions and instability in the region.

On Wednesday, May 1, the city of Hirnyk experienced a devastating attack, resulting in the loss of two lives and injuries to six others due to Russian shelling. Vadym Filashkin, the head of Donetsk's regional state administration, conveyed this distressing news via Telegram.

While details regarding the extent of the casualties and damage are still forthcoming, the incident serves as a somber reminder of the ongoing violence in the area.

Watch this video about Russia striking Ukraine's decision-making center.

This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Russia warns: Fresh aid package for Ukraine will lead to more Ukrainian casualties.

Russia, China discussing plans to "double counteract" U.S.-led alliance of Western nations.

Russia warns of expanding military buffer zone if Ukraine acquires U.S. long-range missiles.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

CNBC.com

Brighteon.com
ANOTHER ONE? Second Boeing whistleblower dies following struggle with sudden, fast-spreading infection

A whistleblower at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems died following a struggle with a "sudden, fast-spreading infection." This is the second Boeing-linked whistleblower to die under suspicious circumstances.

Joshua Dean, a 45-year-old former mechanical engineer and quality auditor from Wichita, Kansas, became a whistleblower when he alleged that Spirit AeroSystems' leadership ignored manufacturing defects with Boeing's notorious passenger airplane the 737 MAX. These alleged defects included "mechanics improperly drilling holes in the aft pressure bulkhead of the MAX." (Related: TERRIFYING: Mid-air blowout leaves gaping hole on the side of Boeing 737 MAX 9.)

When he brought his concerns up with Spirit AeroSystems management, he alleged that nothing was done about it. This forced him to become a whistleblower by filing a safety complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Dean alleged that Spirit AeroSystems retaliated by turning him into a scapegoat and lying to the FAA regarding the alleged defects.

"After I was fired, Spirit AeroSystems [initially] did nothing to inform the FAA, and the public" regarding the bulkhead defects, said Dean in his complaint.

In November, the FAA suggested to Dean in a letter that his claims had merit. "The investigation determined that your allegations were appropriately addressed under an FAA-approved safety program," the FAA told Dean. "However, due to the privacy provisions of those programs, specific details cannot be released."

Dean also gave a deposition in a shareholder lawsuit with Spirit AeroSystems. The lawsuit alleges that Spirit AeroSystems executives withheld information on the quality flaws of their products that harmed stockholders. Supporting the suit, Dean provided a deposition detailing his allegations.

Human knowledge is under attack! Governments and powerful corporations are using censorship to wipe out humanity's knowledge base about nutrition, herbs, self-reliance, natural immunity, food production, preparedness and much more. We are preserving human knowledge using AI technology while building the infrastructure of human freedom. Speak freely without censorship at the new decentralized, blockchain-power Brighteon.io. Explore our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Support our efforts to build the infrastructure of human freedom by shopping at HealthRangerStore.com, featuring lab-tested, certified organic, non-GMO foods and nutritional solutions.

New attention was placed on the allegations of quality lapses in Spirit AeroSystems after a panel blew off a Boeing 737 MAX plane in January mid-flight, with at least one of Dean's former colleagues coming forward to confirm some of Dean's allegations against the company.

Dean in good health, lived a healthy lifestyle before his sudden death

Dean's aunt, Carol Parsons, noted that Dean became ill and went to the hospital just over two weeks before his sudden passing.

Before he went to the hospital, he was noted as having been in very good health and "having a healthy lifestyle."

Dean went to the hospital because of serious difficulty breathing. He was intubated and then developed pneumonia and afterwards was infected with MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

Dean's condition deteriorated rapidly following his hospitalization, so much so that he had to be airlifted from his hospital in Wichita to a hospital in Oklahoma City 160 miles south.

Parsons relayed to news outlets that after his admission to the hospital in Oklahoma, he was put on an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine, which circulates and oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body, taking over the functions of the heart and lungs when they don't work on their own.

He had been in good health, and was noted for having a healthy lifestyle, according to the report. He had been in critical condition for two weeks, according to his aunt Carol Parsons.

Dean was also heavily sedated and put on dialysis. A CT scan indicated he had suffered a stroke. Right near the end of his life, desperate doctors were considering amputating both his hands and both feet.

"It was brutal what he went through," said Parsons. "Heartbreaking."

Spirit AeroSystems Joe Buccino said in a statement that the company's "thoughts are with Josh Dean's family. This sudden loss is stunning news here and for his loved ones."

Watch this news clip from Fox News discussing the mysterious and suspicious death of a second Boeing whistleblower.

This video is from the channel Son of the Republic on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

First Southwest, now American: U.S. airlines seeing massive SPIKE in safety problems as planes fall apart in the skies.

Boeing whistleblower found dead in a truck from "self-inflicted gunshot wound."

Boeing 737 MAX 8 skids off runway as gear collapses after landing in Houston.

United Airlines flight returns to airport following midair fire incident.

Boeing's nosedive: How greed ruined a great American company.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

SeattleTimes.com

Brighteon.com
More than 2,100 people arrested during Gaza solidarity protests at universities and colleges nationwide

An encampment of approximately 50 tents formed on Columbia University 's campus on April 17 kickstarted Gaza solidarity protests in universities and colleges nationwide. To date, over 2,100 have been arrested in the past two weeks, including students, faculty and allegedly "outside agitators" as the police force ramped up the crackdown on said rallies.

The uprising is in response to Israel's genocidal offensive in Gaza which has killed over 35,000 Palestinians, including around 14,000 children. The majority of demonstrations have called for the divestment from companies that support Israel and the war in Gaza.

One day after the protests began, the university authorized the New York Police Department (NYPD) and more than 100 of the protesters were arrested right away. Said nabbing triggered a movement on college campuses across the country, including at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the University of California, Los Angeles. On April 30, about 300 student protesters were arrested in a raid in Columbia and the City College of New York. The next day, law enforcement apprehended at least a dozen people at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

As final exams and graduation approaches, school administrators are pressured to return order in schools. Police are all out in the arrests. According to the Washington Post, police have dispersed campus rallies with tear gas in Florida. In Wisconsin, photos showed officers detaining a Madison professor with blood smeared on his forehead. In California, masked men attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment on a Los Angeles campus and students criticized police for not intervening sooner. Fifteen injuries, including a hospitalization, were reported after officers quelled the violence.

We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance.

One student group involved in the demonstrations posted on social media that NYPD had injured "multiple" students, who went to the hospital with "swollen faces from being kicked repeatedly." But at a news conference, Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard claimed that the "overwhelming majority" of arrests involved "no injuries, no real scuffles with police."

Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tried to downplay the nationwide protests. "We are talking about a small group of students who are disrupting that ability for students to have that academic experience," she said. "That is incredibly important. And we also have to condemn hate.  That is something that this president believes."

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned pro-Palestinian protests at American universities and called them "horrific." He calls for them to "stop" the protests and he called the students involved as antisemitic.

"What's happening in America's college campuses is horrific," Netanyahu said in a statement. "Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities. They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty. It's unconscionable. It has to be stopped." (Related: Israel wants U.S. National Guard deployed against anti-Israel protesters at American universities.)

Shafik calls last two weeks "the most difficult" in Columbia University's history

In a video released online, Columbia President Minouche Shafik expressed how the last two weeks were "among the most difficult in Columbia's history," in connection to the Gaza solidarity protests happening in the university that has led to arrests and some, violent interactions between the demonstrators and law enforcement.

Shafik added that the turmoil, tension, division and disruption have impacted the entire community. She put it out there that the students have "paid an especially high price" by losing out on the final days of the year in classrooms and residence halls.

"For those of you who are seniors, you're finishing college the same way you started: online," she stated. "We tried very hard to resolve the issue of the encampment through dialogue. Many of the people who gathered there were largely peaceful and cared deeply about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

According to Shafik, the issues that are currently challenging the public, such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, antisemitism, anti-Arab and Islamophobic bias, have existed for a long time. She called on everybody's cooperation as "Columbia cannot solve these issues single-handedly."

Head over to IsraelCollapse.com for more news related to the ongoing war in Gaza.

Watch the video below that talks about President Joe Biden's "mum response" to the university protests crisis.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Police use taser, tear gas to disperse pro-Palestinian activists at Emory University.

Former free speech proponent Sen. Hawley is now calling for the national guard to suppress anti-Israel protests.

Snipers seen on rooftops overlooking university protests, raising fears of harsh punishments for pro-Palestine students.

Videos show brazen police brutality across U.S. universities at the demand of Israel.

Google employees stage sit-in at offices in Seattle, New York City, California to protest company's GENOCIDAL contracts with Israel.

Sources include:

FoxNews.com

MSN.com

TheGuardian.com

Brighteon.com
Check out the top U.S. cities and towns where Biden is sending hundreds of thousands of paroled migrants  is YOURS on the list?

Between January and August of 2023, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent more than 200,000 migrants from a controversial parole program to 45 municipalities across the country 

Atlanta

Dallas

Ft. Lauderdale

Houston

Los Angeles

Miami

Orlando

New York

San Francisco

Tampa

More than 80 percent of the migrants ended up in Florida with Miami receiving more than any other city at 91,821 of them.

Reports indicate that the program was enacted in October 2022, allowing a limited number of migrants who had not entered the U.S. illegally to fly directly into the country and land in one of 45 locales.

All qualifying migrants had to already have a sponsor in the U.S., and they all had to pass various vetting tests before being allowed entry.

The program was initially announced specifically for fleeing Venezuelans, but was later expanded to include Haitians, Nicaraguans and Cubans.

"It is a key element of our efforts to address the unprecedented level of migration throughout our hemisphere, and other countries around the world see it as a model to tackle the challenge of increased irregular migration that they too are experiencing," said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

(Related: To help them along their journey from Central and South America to a neighborhood near you, the Biden regime is providing taxpayer-funded travel "loans" to migrants.)

Another 1.6 million migrants waiting to enter America

The scheme is only just the beginning as there are another 1.6 million migrants at least who are hoping to get the same red-carpet treatment. Florida and several other states are suing to try to stop the program, but the litigation is so far going nowhere.

We are building the infrastructure of human freedom and empowering people to be informed, healthy and aware. Explore our decentralized, peer-to-peer, uncensorable Brighteon.io free speech platform here. Learn about our free, downloadable generative AI tools at Brighteon.AI. Every purchase at HealthRangerStore.com helps fund our efforts to build and share more tools for empowering humanity with knowledge and abundance.

"Biden's parole program is unlawful, and constitutes an abuse of constitutional authority," said Jeremy Redfern, Gov. Ron DeSantis' press secretary. "Florida is currently suing Biden to shut it down, and we believe that we will prevail."

The U.S. has seen a record-high number of illegal border crossings ever since Joe Biden took office. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has apprehended an astounding 7.6 million of them trying to illegally hop the border, most of the offenders hailing from Central and South America.

President Donald Trump says he will fix the problem quickly if reelected this November, having told TIME magazine in a recent interview what his plan entails, i.e., using detention camps and mass deportation.

Trump also hinted that he might even deploy the military on top of law enforcement and the National Guard to round up illegals, of which there are now said to be around 11.35 million in the U.S. as of January 2022.

The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the deployment of the military against civilians, but Trump says illegals don't count as civilians because "these are people that aren't legally in our country."

"This is an invasion of our country  an invasion like probably no country has ever seen before," Trump contended.

"They're coming in by the millions. I believe we have 15 million now. And I think you'll have 20 million by the time this ends. And that's bigger than almost every state."

Though Trump plans to immediately start deporting illegals on day one of his hypothetical second term, he did indicate that he is not against potentially building more detention centers if needed as part of his deportation operation.

"No, I would not rule out anything," Trump said. "But there wouldn't be that much of a need for them [detention camps], because of the fact that we're going to be moving them out. We're going to bring them back from where they came."

The latest news about the ongoing invasion of America can be found at InvasionUSA.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
Southern Brazil experienced deadly flooding, resulting in mudslides and flash floods, according to a report. The poor weather conditions resulted in 55 casualties, while over 70,000 were forced to evacuate.

Brazil is vulnerable to weather threats, from drought, flooding, hurricanes, and wildfires. Climate change is also a main contributor to the changing weather conditions in the region.

In a recent Nature World News (NWN) report, the country's savanna-like biome showed weakening resistance to climate change-driven drought and wildfires, impacting the human population and animal kingdoms.

Devastating Flooding in Brazil: Latest Reports

According to a weather report, Brazil experienced raging flooding, causing the latest death toll to reach 55. Some areas also suffered from mudslides. Flooding could be more dangerous for low-lying or flood-prone areas.

Due to the flooding rainfall, about 70,000 people were forced to evacuate, while 74 became injured. Emergency personnel were also deployed to help locate over 67 missing people.

However, immediate evacuations took work due to challenging situations, particularly in flooded areas. The flooding made it difficult for vehicles to navigate the affected areas, and access to flood waters was challenging.

In addition, significant disruption occurred due to the flooding and rainfall. Reports showed that Porto Alegre airports canceled flights due to the weather outlook. In the Rio de Grande do Sul, 300 municipalities were affected.

In a February Nature World News (NWN) report, the stormy conditions killed about 20 people in the region, while 270 homes were impacted, and 4,400 people were evacuated.

Keeping Safe From Flooding in Southern Brazil

Flooding can occur in low-lying or flood-prone areas in southern Brazil. Heavy rains can trigger flooding, leading to mudslides and flash floods.

Additionally, homeowners should keep updated with weather reports or the latest forecasts. When the weather brings flooding rain, it is best to stay home until the outlook improves.

Homeowners can store emergency supplies at homes, which they could bring to shelters or during evacuations.

Also Read: Indonesia Deadly Flooding, Landslide: 9 People Die, Over 200 People Evacuated

Amazon Forest and Ecosystem Collapse

Amazon forests play a crucial role in biodiversity and ecosystems. However, the habitats have suffered from massive deforestation, global warming, wildfires, and climate change.

The research was published in Nature Journal. Researchers warned that the Amazon forest could lead to a large-scale ecosystem collapse by 2050 due to frequent drought and wildfires.

In addition, climate change could lead to a lack of annual rainfall, prolonging the drought concerns in the Amazon. The low water levels helped to reveal the ancient rock formations and carvings. But, the drought significantly affected the region's livelihood and economy.

As a result, urgent conservation efforts are crucial to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the Amazon forests.

Related Article: Deadly Flooding in Brazil: Severe Storm Kills 20 People, Forces Thousands to Evacuate

For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
In a world where the green movement is gaining momentum, market-based schemes have been touted as the saviors of our forests and the answer to poverty alleviation.

However, a recent comprehensive study by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) has cast a long shadow of doubt on these claims.

The Illusion of Progress

The report, which compiled years of academic and field work, presents a grim picture: market-based approaches like carbon offsets and deforestation-free certification schemes have made "limited" progress in halting deforestation.

In some cases, they have even exacerbated economic inequality. The study's lead author, Constance McDermott from the University of Oxford, pointed out that while not all individual projects have failed, the overall impact has been underwhelming.

One of the highlighted examples is a $120 million project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which, instead of empowering local communities, "reinforced entrenched interests" by restricting access to forests without curbing logging by powerful extractive businesses.

Similarly, in Malaysia, indigenous groups saw no benefits from a plantation venture promised to improve their livelihoods.

The Unseen Costs

The study urges a "radical rethink" of these market-based approaches, which are often promoted as win-win solutions for the environment, economy, and local communities.

Maria Brockhaus, a contributing author from the University of Helsinki, emphasizes that the evidence does not support the optimistic claims often made for market mechanisms as a policy response to environmental problems.

In Ghana, for instance, deforestation rates have risen despite numerous sustainable cocoa standards and corporate pledges.

The farmers, who were supposed to benefit from these initiatives, are earning less today than they did decades ago.

The report also criticizes green trade policies imposed by wealthy countries, such as the EU's ban on imports linked to deforestation, which may have unintended consequences for the developing nations they aim to help.

Also Read: Forest Management Entails More Than Planting Trees

What are some alternative approaches to forest conservation?

Forest conservation is a critical endeavor, and there are several alternative approaches that can contribute to preserving these vital ecosystems. Let's explore some practical ways:

Sustainable Landscape Approach

This approach recognizes that landscapes are interconnected systems where people's livelihoods, culture, and identity are intertwined with natural resources.

It emphasizes collaboration among stakeholders to achieve sustainable land management policies and objectives.

By integrating ecosystems into large-scale land-use strategies, countries can balance agricultural and forest production, conserve natural capital, and improve human well-being.

Tree Planting Campaigns

Organizing or participating in tree planting initiatives directly contributes to forest restoration. Identifying suitable areas, selecting native species, and ensuring proper maintenance are essential steps for successful reforestation projects.

Collaborating with local authorities or environmental organizations amplifies the impact of such campaigns.

Agroforestry Practices

Encouraging and adopting agroforestry methods benefits both sustainable agriculture and forest restoration.

Integrating trees into agricultural landscapes enhances soil health, crop diversity, and helps reestablish forested areas and corridors.

Promoting Sustainable Forest Management

Advocating for responsible forestry practices is crucial for preserving existing forests.

Supporting certifications like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) ensures that timber and other forest products come from responsibly managed sources, reducing pressure on natural habitats.

Education and Awareness

Raising awareness about the importance of forests and biodiversity is fundamental.

Engaging in educational programs, workshops, or public campaigns fosters a deeper understanding of forest value and inspires action within communities.

Participation in Restoration Projects

Joining local or international restoration projects allows individuals to contribute hands-on to forest rehabilitation efforts.

Volunteering time, expertise, or resources can make a substantial difference in restoring degraded forest areas.

Advocacy for Policy Change

Advocating for policies that support forest conservation and restoration is crucial. Encouraging policymakers to enact and enforce legislation protecting forests, biodiversity, and indigenous rights can have far-reaching effects.

Citizen Science Initiatives

Participating in citizen science programs enables individuals to contribute valuable data for monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem health.

Involvement can range from bird-watching programs to monitoring tree growth and wildlife populations.

By embracing these alternative approaches, we can collectively work toward safeguarding our forests and the myriad benefits they provide to our planet and its inhabitants

Related article: World's Forest Are Getting 'Weaker' Due To Unstable Conditions Caused by Human Interactions
The annual Boca Bash, a boating party that draws thousands to the waters of South Florida, became the backdrop for a viral video that has since sparked outrage and a statewide conversation on environmental responsibility.

The Boca Bash Blunder: A Viral Wake-Up Call

The video, captured by Wavy Boats, a boat filming company, shows two teenagers from Palm Beach County-16 and 15 years old-celebrating as they dump a large amount of trash into the Atlantic Ocean.

This flagrant act of pollution occurred not far from the shores of Boca Raton, during an event known for its lively atmosphere.

The drone footage shows one of the teens holding a basket of trash over his head, pumping it up and down in a disturbing display of triumph as the refuse spills into the water.

The items discarded included plastic water bottles, cans, food bags, plastic cups, and other debris, posing a significant threat to marine life and the ocean's ecological balance.

The community's response was immediate and fierce. Boca Bash organizers took to Facebook to express their anger, stating that the actions of these individuals do not represent the spirit of the event.

They urged boaters to maintain cleanliness and follow state laws while on the water. The incident has become a rallying cry for environmentalists and concerned citizens alike, calling for greater awareness and stricter enforcement of anti-pollution laws.

Also Read: Christmas Weather Forecast: Central, South Florida To Contend With Multiple Days Of Periodic Rains

Legal Repercussions and Community Backlash

Following the incident, the two teenagers faced third-degree felony charges for causing pollution that could harm human health, animal and plant life, or property.

The charges highlight the severity of their actions and the legal consequences of environmental disregard. The potential penalties include a fine of up to $50,000 or up to five years in jail, or both.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Chairman Rodney Barreto emphasized the seriousness of the crime and the importance of the moment as a lesson for all.

The FWC, along with the Coast Guard and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, is involved in the investigation, demonstrating the collaborative effort to address such environmental crimes.

In addition to legal action, the incident has led to a broader discussion about the role of community and individual responsibility in protecting the environment.

The FWC made 16 arrests during the event for unrelated charges, ranging from boating under the influence to possession of a controlled substance, further highlighting the need for better regulation and oversight at such gatherings

What are the long-term effects of ocean pollution?

Ocean pollution, particularly from plastics, has long-term effects that are deeply concerning for the health of marine ecosystems and the organisms that inhabit them.

The most visible impact is the physical harm to marine life; creatures can become entangled in larger pieces of plastic waste, leading to injuries or death.

Smaller pieces, known as microplastics, are often ingested by marine animals, which can cause internal blockages, starvation, and exposure to toxic chemicals.

These microplastics can absorb harmful pollutants like PCBs and DDT, which may then accumulate in the tissues of marine organisms, including those consumed by humans, thus entering the food chain and potentially impacting human health.

The chemical effects of ocean pollution are also significant. Plastics can act as carriers for invasive species and pollutants, transporting them from polluted rivers to remote areas of the ocean, further spreading contamination.

Economically, the presence of plastic waste in the ocean can damage fisheries, affect shipping routes, and deter tourism, all of which have substantial financial implications for coastal communities.

Moreover, the degradation of plastic debris consumes oxygen, leading to the depletion of this vital element in seawater, which affects all marine life.

The persistence of plastic in the ocean is a testament to its durability, taking hundreds to thousands of years to degrade, and even then, only breaking down into smaller particles rather than fully decomposing.

This longevity means that the plastic we produce today will continue to affect marine environments for generations to come.

Addressing this issue requires a concerted effort to reduce plastic use, improve waste management, and clean up existing pollution to protect the health of our oceans.

Related article: South Florida Experiences Large Cloud of Dust That Could Likely Cause Reduced Air Quality
Having spent two decades listening to their unique calls and songs, Australian scientists and their worldwide partners have discovered that Antarctic blue whales, the largest mammals to have ever lived, are increasingly regularly crossing across the Southern Ocean.

Audio Recorded

The largest mammal on Earth is the blue whale, which can grow to a length of 30 meters and a weight of 200 tons, which is equivalent to a Boeing 787. However, their position is revealed by the sound they emit rather than by their size.

According to senior research scientist Brian Miller of the Australian Antarctic Division, an analysis of thousands of hours of audio recorded using underwater microphones and repurposed military-issued submarine listening devices indicates that whale populations are either stable or increasing.

"We can tell you where they're frequenting; we can tell you that we're hearing them more often. So that's progress," he added.

A recent report that compiled the results of seven cruises conducted by Australian and foreign researchers during that time found that whale sounds were becoming more frequent in the Southern Ocean between 2006 and 2021.

The team has been at sea for more than eight months, covering over 145,510 kilometers on seven missions, and has collected around 3,900 hours of sound data from listening stations located throughout Antarctica.

They are assembling information about the distribution, abundance, and behavior of the animals using this data in conjunction with other research techniques like artificial intelligence, drones, photography, video tracking, satellite tracking, and DNA samples.

Sonobuoys are among the most economical methods for researching blue whales, according to Dr. Miller, yet listening alone cannot teach us anything.

Every sonobuoy is equipped with a hydrophone that uses a VHF radio link to send real-time sound waves back to the ship.

The team can lead the whales and then use other instruments to pinpoint their exact location once they have been alerted to their cries.

The study, which was just published, concentrated on recordings of loud, low-frequency "songs" that were unique to Antarctic blue whales, namely the "Z-call" and a variant of the Z-call called "Unit-A."

The non-song "D-call," which is produced by all blue whale populations, was also examined in the study.

While song calls are only made by male whales, D-calls are assumed to be social cries made by both male and female whales on feeding grounds.

Read Also: Bomb Detectors Pick Up Sounds From Pygmy Blue Whales Thriving in the Indian Ocean

Passive Acoustic Monitoring

In light of climatic change and growing pressure from krill fishing, the researchers stated that further research is necessary to fully comprehend the interaction between whales and krill, their primary food supply.

This would entail a variety of novel research techniques, such as deploying a fleet of unmanned vehicles fitted with hydrophones to locate whales and other equipment to observe their prey.

Hydrophone accelerometry tags, which record calls and monitor swim speeds, are another tool that scientists can use to study the relationship between foraging rates and vocalization type and quantity in whales.

"Passive acoustic monitoring is poised to play a crucial role in future research addressing knowledge gaps about Antarctic blue whales," Dr. Miller said.

Although whales migrate all over the world, they spend half of their year in the Antarctic Sea. They also go north, toward Australia, South Africa, South America, and even across the equator.

Because of their dispersion, experts from all over the world have been interested in the research, which Miller believes will advance the conservation efforts of the International Whaling Commission.

Related Article: Blue Whales of Antarctica Seen Again in South Georgia After Near Extinction




The Baltic Sea, once a pristine haven for marine life, now faces an insidious threat: scrubber water. These seemingly innocuous systems, designed to clean ship exhaust gases, have become a double-edged sword.

While they reduce sulfur emissions, they also unleash a torrent of hazardous substances into the fragile marine ecosystem.

In this investigative report, we delve into the murky waters of scrubbers, revealing their true impact and the economic interests that perpetuate their use.

Scrubbers Unleashed: A Billion-Euro Industry with Hidden Costs



The Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden recently conducted a groundbreaking study that sheds light on the environmental toll of scrubbers.

Between 2014 and 2022, these exhaust gas cleaning systems discharged over 200 million cubic meters of environmentally hazardous scrubber water into the Baltic Sea.

This seemingly innocuous wash water, however, carries a heavy burden: it accounts for up to 9% of certain cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) released into the Baltic Sea.

The socioeconomic costs of this pollution exceed 680 million (approximately $730 million), a staggering price for cleaner air aboard ships.

But here's the twist: while the marine environment suffers, shipping companies reap profits.

Scrubber investments have already been recouped for most ships, allowing them to run on cheap heavy fuel oil instead of cleaner alternatives.

It's a clear conflict of interest-private gains at the expense of one of the world's most sensitive seas. As the International Maritime Organization (IMO) grapples with the issue, the Baltic Sea remains caught in the crossfire.

Copper-Bottomed Conundrum: Antifouling Paints and the Unseen Culprit

Beyond scrubbers, another silent menace lurks beneath the waves: copper-based antifouling paints. These coatings, used to prevent marine organisms from clinging to ship hulls, contribute significantly to the Baltic Sea's copper load.

In fact, ships painted with copper-based antifouling paints account for a third of the total copper supply to the sea. The metal persists, unable to degrade, contaminating water, sediment, and soil.

As the world grapples with environmental challenges, the Baltic Sea serves as a microcosm of our choices. Scrubbers promise cleaner air, but at what cost?

And how much copper can the sea bear?

The answers lie in the depths, where ecosystems struggle against invisible foes. It's time to weigh the scales-economic gains versus ecological losses-and decide the fate of our fragile seas.

Also Read: Thallium Threat: Baltic Sea Faces Toxic Challenge from Human Sources

Danish Shipping Recognizes the Ban: A Step Towards Cleaner Waters

In a significant move, a broad political majority in Denmark has reached an agreement to ban the discharge of scrubber water in Danish waters.

This decision comes after years of debate and growing concern about the environmental impact of scrubbers. Let's dive deeper into the details:

The Scrubber Dilemma

Scrubbers, hailed as a solution to reduce sulfur emissions from ships, have become a common sight in maritime traffic.

However, their environmental consequences extend beyond the visible reduction in air pollution.

When exhaust gases are "washed" using seawater, contaminants are trapped, leading to the release of hazardous substances into the marine environment.

The Baltic Sea, already burdened by pollution, bears the brunt of this hidden cost.

A Sensible Phase-In Period

The ban on ships' discharge of scrubber water will apply in the Danish territorial sea, 12 nautical miles (about 22 km) from the coast.

Shipping companies that have invested in complying with the rules and reducing their sulfur emissions with scrubbers will have time to adapt to a new reality.

Nina Porst, Director of Climate, Environment, and Safety at Danish Shipping, emphasizes the need for robust enforcement to ensure a level playing field for Danish shipping companies.

Looking Ahead: Regional and Global Impact

Denmark aims to work for a similar ban in the Baltic Sea and North Sea through the regional sea conventions HELCOM and OSPAR, with a view to regulation under IMO auspices.

As the ban takes effect, the marine environment breathes a sigh of relief.

But the battle against scrubbers and copper paints continues, echoing across the waves-a call to protect our seas for generations to come.

Conclusion

The Baltic Sea's battle against scrubbers and copper paints is far from over. As authorities deliberate, the marine environment hangs in the balance.

Will we prioritize profits or protect our seas? The choice is ours, and the consequences ripple far beyond the horizon

.

Related article: Scientists Accidentally Discovered A Stone Age Wall At The Bottom Of Baltic Sea, Might Be The Oldest Known Megastructure Built By Human
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New AI support is built into HPE Aruba Networking Central, which uses machine learning models to analyze dynamic device attributes, including traffic patterns and behavioral characteristics such as connection state and network residency, to accurately categorize and identify IoT and traditional devices, Green stated.

HPE Aruba Networking Central AIOps has a long history of building automated network activity baselines for troubleshooting and remediation, and now we are using AI to extend that capability to individual devices, Green stated. This enables not only more precise, automated fingerprinting to support Zero Trust Security, but also the ability to use behavior baselines to spot anomalies that can indicate compromise and attack.

In addition to the AI-powered profiling, HPE Aruba is adding other AI-driven capabilities to improve security. For example, HPE Aruba Networking uses AIOps and machine learning models to intelligently hibernate APs during periods of low activity, eliminating potential entry points for malicious activity and reducing attack surface, Green noted.

On the SSE front, Aruba is integrating technology from its 2023 purchase of Axis Security into its SSE, SD-WAN and SASE offerings. According to Gartner, SSE combines several key security functions  including a cloud-access security broker (CASB), secure web gateway, zero-trust network access (ZTNA), and a next-generation firewall  into a cloud-based service to streamline management.

The new Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) fills out HPE Arubas SSE package, which already includes ZTNA, CASB and other key SEE components. The FWaaS is tied to a variety of components within the HPE Networking SSE service so security teams can secure and manage networked resources from a single UI and set global policies. centrally, Green stated.

In addition to the FWaaS, Aruba added dashboards within HPE Aruba Networking SSE to enhance visibility into an organizations security status. Dashboards include views into applications in use, user activity, security events, and ZTNA adoption. Security personnel can use this information to identify shadow IT applications and reduce the associated risk of unauthorized access.
Preity Zinta calls 'Dil Se' co-star Shah Rukh Khan 'powerhouse of talent', shares plan to reunite with him

P

reity Zinta took some time out from her busy schedule to interact with her fans on social media on Monday and followers flooded her X feed with questions regarding the reunion with Shah Rukh Khan.

Preity surprised fans by conducting a #Q&A session on X (formerly known as Twitter) where she answered several fans' questions related to her upcoming film, co-stars among others.

During the session, a user asked to say few words about SRK.

https://twitter.com/realpreityzinta/status/1787395462162510139?

Praising her co-star, Preity said "Srk is a powerhouse of talent, and one of the most generous & fun actors to work with. He always keeps his co-star on their toes & is very entertaining & competitive. I learned a lot from him in Dil Se."

Preity and Shah Rukh have worked in many films including 'Kal Ho Naa Ho', 'Veer-Zaara', 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna', and 'Dil Se'.

Another user asked Preity Zinta, "Mam when will you and SRK do a film together? #pzchat."

She responded, "When we get a mind blowing script together that only him and I can do. Till then gotta wait."

https://twitter.com/realpreityzinta/status/1787387305717547061?

Meanwhile, on the work front, Preity Zinta is gearing up for her upcoming film 'Lahore 1947' alongside veteran actor Sunny Deol.

Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, this project marks a significant milestone for Preity as she returns to the silver screen after a hiatus.

'Lahore 1947', produced under Aamir Khan's banner, marks a significant collaboration between Sunny Deol and Aamir Khan's Productions.

The film was officially announced last October, garnering attention for its star-studded cast and promising storyline.

Adding to the anticipation, veteran actor Shabana Azmi, Ali Fazal has also joined the cast of 'Lahore 1947' in a pivotal role.

The movie will also feature Sunny Deol sharing screen space with his elder son Karan Deol.

 Preity Zinta calls 'Dil Se' co-star Shah Rukh Khan 'powerhouse of talent', shares plan to reunite with him

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Preity Zinta expresses her wish for 'Sangharsh' sequel

P

reity Zinta recalled the grueling experience of shooting for the 1999 psychological thriller film 'Sangharsh' and expressed her wish for its sequel.

While interacting with her fans during a #Q&A session on X, a fan asked her, "Life mein apni career k konsi Film ka Part 2 banana chahti ho?#PZchat"

To this Preity responded, "Shangharsh for sure..rest can't think of any right now."

https://x.com/realpreityzinta/status/1787398512679764360

She also reminisced about the tough shooting days for the film, when a fan asked her, "Did Ashutosh Rana's convincing act in Sangharsh opposite you left you terrified as well?"

Preity replied while praising her co-star, "I broke my leg, chipped my teeth and cut my lip during that Shoot, so it was definitely a tough shoot, and it terrified me with so many hospital visits. Ashutosh was definitely mind blowing in the film ."

https://x.com/realpreityzinta/status/1787407083282813177

'Sangharsh' is a 1999 psychological thriller film directed by Tanuja Chandra. It stars Akshay Kumar, Preity Zinta, and Ashutosh Rana.

Preity Zinta is gearing up for her upcoming film 'Lahore 1947' alongside veteran actor Sunny Deol.

Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, this project marks a significant milestone for Preity as she returns to the silver screen after a hiatus.

'Lahore 1947', produced under Aamir Khan's banner, marks a significant collaboration between Sunny Deol and Aamir Khan's Productions.

The film was officially announced last October, garnering attention for its star-studded cast and promising storyline.

Adding to the anticipation, veteran actor Shabana Azmi, Ali Fazal has also joined the cast of 'Lahore 1947' in a pivotal role.

The movie will also feature Sunny Deol sharing screen space with his elder son Karan Deol.

 Preity Zinta expresses her wish for 'Sangharsh' sequel

 Post your comments

 Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us!
A new imaging technique tested in patients could improve the evaluation of cardiac conditions and undiagnosed chest pain.

Researchers from Imperial College London's Department of Bioengineering and Faculty of Medicine worked alongside academics from UCL to produce sub-millimeter resolution images of cardiac micro-vessels. The non-invasive new imaging technique was tested on four human patients.



Existing imaging technologies can visualize large vessels on the heart's surface. However, this new technique could allow scientists to study the physiology of the heart in more detail by imaging smaller micro-vessels within the heart muscle.



This research, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, could help clinicians better understand the role such vessels play in cardiovascular diseases such as microvascular coronary disease and cardiomyopathies, as well as undiagnosed chest pains.

Visualizing cardiac vessels is crucial for managing cardiovascular diseases, but there is a lack of understanding of how the blood ows within the small vessels of the heart. Our study images these vessels non-invasively in the highest resolution yet which, following further research, could help clinicians to manage these diseases." Professor Mengxing Tang, from the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London, and the corresponding author of the research

Visualizing microscopic vessels

The heart relies on efcient blood ow to be able to pump blood around the body, supplying tissues with oxygen while removing carbon dioxide and waste. However, damaged heart vessels can result in abnormal blood ow, potentially causing tissue injury leading to heart failure.



The scientists tested the imaging technique on four patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a condition that makes the walls of the heart chamber thicker with abnormal tissue and reduces the amount of blood pumped in and out. They used ultrasounds and microbubbles (small, gas-lled bubbles used to differentiate between internal structures in medical imaging) to image the microvascular structure and ow dynamics of the patients' hearts in super-resolution. The data was collected at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London.



The size of the micro-vessels, combined with the fast movements of the heart, made imaging them challenging, especially at resolutions under a millimeter.



The researcher's technique could potentially help to evaluate different cardiac conditions. For example, clinicians could use the technique to visualize structural abnormalities in patients with microvascular coronary disease and cardiomyopathies, making it easier to diagnose and treat, thus improving health outcomes.



Professor Tang said: "This is the first time we demonstrated it is possible to image these vessels in such resolution, which has never been done before in humans. This has opened up a wide range of opportunities to study heart physiology and observe different diseases and conditions non-invasively and safely."



Co-author and cardiologist Professor Roxy Senior, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, said, "For the first time this technique allows direct visualization of the very small heart muscle vessels which when diseased give rise to chest pain which can be not only debilitating but may also lead to death. Because at present these vessels can be assessed only by indirect means the condition can be misdiagnosed."

Future applications and further research

The research is still in its early stages, despite initial success, so more studies will be needed on more patients to better understand the clinical and research value of the technique. Further research may also lead to improvements in image quality.



Professor Tang said: "We are optimistic about what our new technique could bring to cardiovascular patient healthcare."



Professor Tang is also exploring the potential use of super-resolution ultrasound technologies for evaluating a range of other diseases, working with oncologists, cardiologists, radiologists, breast surgeons and other clinicians.



He said: "This far-reaching research would never happen without collaboration between interdisciplinary teams of engineering and clinical sciences researchers."
In a recent study published in the journal Nature, researchers clarified how the body-brain axis, via specific neural circuits, senses and regulates inflammatory responses, possibly providing new approaches to treating immune disorders.

Study: A bodybrain circuit that regulates body inflammatory responses. Image Credit: Kampan / Shutterstock

Background

Maintaining a balanced immune response is vital for an organism's health and survival. Excessive pro-inflammatory activity can lead to immune dysregulation and a spectrum of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Understanding immune modulation can improve strategies for treating immune disorders. While innate and adaptive immunity are well-studied, the brain's regulatory role remains unclear. Research shows infections activate neural circuits affecting fever and appetite, and vagal nerve stimulation may offer anti-inflammatory benefits. Further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms through which the body-brain axis influences immune responses, potentially unlocking novel therapeutic approaches for managing a wide array of immune-related disorders.

About the study

In the present study, all the experimental procedures involving animals adhered to the United States (U.S.) National Institutes of Health guidelines. The study used various strains of male and female mice, aged at least 7 weeks, obtained from the Jackson Laboratory and other sources. Key procedures included intraperitoneal injections of various agents like lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and cytokines, followed by detailed brain tissue analysis through staining and histology to observe inflammatory responses.

To assess brain responses, the mice underwent stereotaxic surgeries where they were anesthetized and placed on a stereotaxic frame for precise injections into specific brain areas. The surgeries involved both chemogenetic techniques to activate or inhibit neurons and fiber photometry to record neural activity in response to inflammatory stimuli. Techniques such as single-cell Ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequencing were employed to dissect the molecular intricacies of neural-immune communication, further elaborating on the interaction between the brain and peripheral immune responses.

Study results

In the experiments, mice were exposed to LPS, a component from the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria known to trigger immune responses. Upon intraperitoneal injection of LPS, significant changes in both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines were detected in the mice's blood, peaking two hours post-injection. Brain scans for the immediate early gene Fos, indicative of neural activity, revealed activation primarily in the Area Postrema (AP) and the caudal Nucleus of the Solitary Tract (cNST) within the brainstem, the latter being a critical relay in the body-brain communication axis.

Further investigations showed that LPS's effect on cNST neurons depended on its action on immune cells rather than direct influence, as Myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (Myd88) knockout mice that lacked a key component of the LPS receptor pathway showed no cNST neuron activation. This pointed to a precise immune-to-brain signaling rather than a generalized inflammatory response.

To better understand this signaling, the study employed techniques such as fiber photometry to observe real-time neural activity in the cNST following peripheral LPS application. When the vagus nerve, the principal route for peripheral signals to reach the brain, was cut, the LPS-induced neural activity ceased, highlighting the nerve's essential role in conveying immune signals to the brain.

Exploring further, the study utilized a genetic approach to silence neurons in the cNST that responded to LPS. This silencing dramatically altered the body's immune response, causing an unchecked increase in pro-inflammatory signals and a significant drop in anti-inflammatory signals. Conversely, artificially activating these neurons suppressed the inflammatory response and boosted anti-inflammatory signals, confirming the cNST's capacity to modulate peripheral inflammation.

Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed that neurons activated by LPS primarily belonged to specific glutamatergic and one GABAergic viz neurons or receptors that use Gamma-AminoButyric Acid (GABA) as their neurotransmitter, cluster within the cNST, indicating a selective neuronal pathway involved in processing these immune signals. Activation of these neurons suppressed LPS-induced inflammation, confirming their regulatory role.

Additionally, in vivo calcium imaging showed that cytokines triggered distinct populations of sensory neurons in the nodose ganglia, part of the vagal sensory system, suggesting a sophisticated mechanism where specific sensory neurons detect and relay peripheral immune statuses to the brain.

Conclusions

To summarize, the brain modulates innate immune responses, a role highlighted by research on the vagus nerve's involvement in regulating inflammation. Over two decades ago, Kevin Tracey's work showed that vagal nerve stimulation could reduce inflammatory shock by reducing Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) levels. Recent advancements reveal that cytokines activate a vagal-brain axis, identifying specific neuronal pathways that modulate both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses. Specific vagal neurons respond to distinct inflammatory signals, maintaining homeostatic balance. Disrupting this circuit leads to uncontrolled inflammation, while its activation promotes anti-inflammatory states, offering therapeutic potential for various immune disorders.
Qi "Tony" Zhou, a researcher in Purdue University's College of Pharmacy has received a $2.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to fight lung infections that have established a resistance to antimicrobial drugs.

Zhou is an associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Molecular Pharmaceutics, a Faculty Scholar and a faculty member of the Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery and the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease. He leads a team of multinational experts from Australia, Thailand and the United States in developing novel, patent-pending inhalation therapeutics for lung infections.

We are providing a promising option to fight the global crisis of antimicrobial resistance. The successful development of our invention could save tens of thousands of lives from a variety of deadly lung infections, including cystic fibrosis and ventilator-assisted pneumonia." Qi "Tony" Zhou, researcher in Purdue University's College of Pharmacy

Zhou's research in antimicrobial resistance has yielded two U.S. patents, four patent applications and more than 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals. The most recent peer-reviewed journal publications were in Pharmaceutics in March 2024 and Pharmaceutical Research in August 2022.

With the latest NIH grant, Zhou has now received six federal grants totaling $10 million, including three NIH R01 grants in the past eight years to support the inhalation therapeutics research.

The threat of antimicrobial resistance

Thomas Sors, director of scientific strategy and relations at the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease, said antimicrobial resistance represents a severe global health threat as pathogens increasingly evade traditional treatments.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that each year in the U.S., drug-resistant infections affect over 2.8 million individuals and result in more than 35,000 deaths, highlighting the urgent need for innovative strategies to address this crisis." Thomas Sors, director of scientific strategy and relations, Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease

"According to the NIH, CDC and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, gram-negative 'superbugs' such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii rank among the most dangerous multidrug-resistant microorganisms. Regrettably, the development of new antibiotics is lagging, and lung infections triggered by these resistant pathogens can be fatal."

Developing inhalation therapeutics for the lungs

Zhou said oral or intravenous administrations of many antibiotics are often not effective for treatment of lung infections in many patients due to very limited drug exposure at the infection site and systemic toxicity.

"This makes lung infections caused by resistant bacteria extremely difficult to treat, reflected by the fact that lung infections are the fourth leading cause of death in the world," Zhou said.

Zhou's inhalation therapeutics help antibiotics directly reach the infection site in the lungs to better kill the bacteria. Inhaled medicines also can avoid systemic toxicity because much fewer drugs are absorbed into the bloodstream.

"We also use the innovative manufacturing techniques of advanced spray drying to incorporate two or more synergistic antibiotics into a single particle so they can deposit at the same site of infection and achieve the maximum bacterial killing synergy," he said.

Next development steps

Preliminary animal studies showed superior bacterial killing capability and reduced toxicity of the new inhalation medicines.

Zhou said the team's goal is to develop viable pharmaceutical products to effectively treat resistant bacterial lung infections. The NIH funding will be utilized to optimize the formulation and generate preclinical data for potential filing of a New Drug Application.

"Zhou's cutting-edge research is a true breakthrough and perfectly exemplifies Purdue's commitment to fight the global crisis of antimicrobial resistance," said Eric Barker, the Jeannie and Jim Chaney Dean of Purdue's College of Pharmacy.

Zhou disclosed the inventions of inhalation medicines to the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization, which has applied for patents to protect the intellectual property. Industry partners interested in developing or commercializing the work should contact Joe Kasper, assistant director of business development and licensing -; life sciences, at [email protected].
In research that may be a step forward toward finding personalized treatments for Tourette disorder, scientists at Rutgers UniversityNew Brunswick have bred mice that exhibit some of the same behaviors and brain abnormalities seen in humans with the disorder.

As reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers, using a technique known as CRISPR/Cas9 DNA editing that selectively modifies the DNA of living organisms, inserted the same genetic mutations found in humans with Tourette disorder into the corresponding genes in mouse embryos. After the mice were born, the scientists observed their behavior compared with littermates without the gene mutation insertion. The mutations that were inserted were discovered by some members of the same research team who have spent more than a decade focused on investigating genetic factors in Tourette disorder.

The researchers said the findings indicate that these mice are a highly useful "model" to study the neurobiology of Tourette disorder and to test new medications.

There are no medicines specifically developed for Tourette's disorder and repurposing other drugs has worked poorly, with too many side effects. Until now, the problem has been a lack of an animal model by which to test new or existing medications." Jay Tischfield, co-senior author, the Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Distinguished Professor of Genetics in the Department of Genetics in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and a pioneer in the study of Tourette disorder

Tourette disorder is a disorder of the nervous system that affects children, adolescents and adults. The condition is characterized by sudden, involuntary movements or sounds called tics. Tics can be mild, moderate or severe, and are disabling in some cases.

Tourette disorder doesn't affect lifespan, but it often adversely impacts the experience of people with the disorder and the people with whom they interact. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that one of every 162 children have the disorder, though the number may be higher.

Using cameras that recorded the mice's actions and employing a form of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, the researchers found the genetically engineered mice exhibited two key characteristics seen in humans with Tourette disorder: They engaged in repetitive motor behaviors or tics, and they exhibited what neuroscientists call "sensorimotor gating deficits," a neural process whereby the brain filters out redundant or irrelevant stimuli.

Cara Nasello, a research associate in the Departments of Genetics and Cell Biology and Neuroscience and the first author of the study, said gating deficits in people with Tourette syndrome can be viewed as a difficulty in processing sensory information. A person without the disorder who listens to a series of sounds such as a beeping car horn wouldn't be startled after the first honk because that person's brain can link the second and subsequent sounds to the first one. A person with Tourette disorder might be startled by each separate sound, especially if it increases in volume.

The genetically engineered mice reacted the same way humans with the disorder would react to individual sounds that were part of a pattern  they showed a startle response to each tone, Nasello said.

In collaboration with Miriam Bocarsly from the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, the team found evidence that the gene mutations altered the levels of a brain chemical known as dopamine. As with humans with Tourette disorder who are treated with a drug that alters the levels of dopamine, the processing deficits and repetitive behaviors seen in the mice decreased in intensity when they were administered the same drug.

"An easy way to think about this is that we have inserted a gene mutation and it's changed the neural circuitry of the mice's brains," said Max Tischfield, an assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, and the senior corresponding author of the study. "And those changes are altering how a brain chemical like dopamine, which in humans is important for cognition and motor behavior, allows the mice brain cells to communicate."

The researchers credited much of the success of their work to the contributions of families with Tourette disorder who over the past 15 years donated genetic samples to the research group.

"These families did this out of the goodness of their hearts with the idea of moving the field forward," said Gary Heiman, a co-senior author of the study and a professor in the Department of Genetics who recruited families of members with Tourette disorder throughout the world and organized blood collection and genetic repositories. "They want to have a better understanding of this mysterious disorder and for us to come up with better treatments, not only for the people who are currently suffering with the disorder but also for future generations."

The scientists said the techniques they employed in their research are applicable to researchers studying other complex disorders caused by multiple genes, including autism and schizophrenia.

They also hope this advance will attract more researchers to study Tourette disorder.

"So why would a researcher jump into something if there's little known and they're left wondering, 'How do I even start? What do I have at my disposal that would allow me to even scratch the surface of this very complex disorder?'" Max Tischfield said. "And with these mice, not only can we scratch the surface, but we can dig underneath."

Other Rutgers scientists involved with the study include Lauren Poppi, Joshua Thackray, Riley Wang, Rodna Spaseka, C.K. Johnson and Derek Gordon, all from the Department of Genetics; Junbing Wu, Tess Kowalski, and Angelina Persaud, from the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience; and Miriam Mahboob from the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar also contributed to the study.
Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder and Princeton University have, for the first time, employed a tool often used in geology to detect the atomic fingerprints of cancer.

In a case of medicine meets earth science, the researchers discovered that cancer cells may be made from a different assortment of hydrogen atoms than healthy tissue. The findings could give doctors new strategies for studying how cancer grows and spreads-;and may even, one day, lead to new ways to spot cancer early on in the body.

The team, led by CU Boulder geochemist Ashley Maloney, will publish its findings this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This study adds a whole new layer to medicine, giving us the chance to look at cancer at the atomic level," said Maloney, a research associate in the Department of Geological Sciences.

She explained that in nature, hydrogen comes in two main flavors, or isotopes. Some hydrogen atoms, called deuterium, are a little heavier, while others, usually just known as hydrogen, are a little lighter. On Earth, hydrogen atoms outnumber deuterium atoms by a ratio of about 6,420 to one.

For decades, scientists from a number of fields have turned to the natural distribution of these atoms to reveal clues about the history of our planet. Climate scientists, for example, examine the hydrogen atoms trapped in the ice on Antarctica to infer how hot or cool Earth was hundreds of thousands of years ago.

In the new study, Maloney and her colleagues wondered: Could those same, tiny atoms provide hints about the lives of complex biological organisms?

To find out, the team grew cultures of yeast and mouse liver cells in the lab, then analyzed their hydrogen atoms. The team found that cells that are growing really fast, such as cancer cells, contain a much different ratio of hydrogen versus deuterium atoms. Think of it like cancer leaving a fingerprint on the doorknob of a crime scene.

The research is still in its early stages, and the team isn't sure how this signal might appear, or not, in the bodies of real cancer patients. But the potential could be big, said Sebastian Kopf, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor in geological sciences.

"Your chances of survival are so much higher if you catch cancer early on," Kopf said. "If this isotopic signal is strong enough that you could detect it through something like a blood test, that could give you an important hint that something is off."

The metabolism of cancer

The study centers around a concept that has intrigued cancer researchers for years: metabolism.

Under normal conditions, the cells of organisms like yeast and animals generate energy through a process called respiration, in which they take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. But that's not the only way to get a sugar high. Colonies of baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), for example, can produce energy via fermentation, in which organisms break down sugars without help from oxygen and produce alcohol. It's the same process that gives you beer.

In humans, if an athlete performs beyond their aerobic limit, their muscles will also start fermenting, which doesn't use oxygen. That gives you a quick energy boost." Sebastian Kopf, co-author of the study

As it turns out, many cancer cells also fuel their growth through a similar get-rich-quick strategy.

Scientists have long searched for more ways to track these metabolic changes in cancer cells. Maloney, who led the new study as a Harry Hess Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton, and her advisor Xinning Zhang developed an idea: Track hydrogen.

Inside the cell

Today, Maloney manages CU Boulder's Earth Systems Stable Isotope Lab, one of more than 20 Core Facilities on campus. As a graduate student, she explored hydrogen atoms in algae from tropical islands. Her current work was inspired by an unlikely source: her father, a dermatologist.

"He takes skin cancer cells off people all the time," Maloney said. "I wondered how the metabolism of those cells might be different from the cells growing next to them."

To understand that question, it helps to know how hydrogen winds up in cells in the first place. In some cases, those atoms come from a hard-to-pronounce, but critically important, enzyme known as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH). Among its many roles in cells, NADPH collects hydrogen atoms then passes them to other molecules in the process of making fatty acids, an important building block for life.

NADPH, however, doesn't always draw from the same pool of hydrogen. Previous research led by Zhang and focusingg on bacteria suggested that, depending on what other enzymes in a cell are doing, NADPH may sometimes use different hydrogen isotopes more or less often.

Which raised the question: If cancer rewires a cell's metabolism, could it also alter how NADPH gets its hydrogen, ultimately altering the atomic makeup of a cell?

Window into cancer

To begin to find out, the researchers set up jars filled with flourishing colonies of yeast in labs at Princeton and CU Boulder. Separately, biologists at Princeton conducted an experiment with colonies of healthy and cancerous mouse liver cells. The researchers then pulled the fatty acids from the cells and used a machine called a mass spectrometer to identify the ratio of hydrogen atoms within.

"When we started the study, I thought, 'Ooh, we have a chance to see something cool," Maloney said. "It ended up creating a huge signal, which I didn't expect."

Fermenting yeast cells, the kind that resemble cancer, contained roughly 50 percent fewer deuterium atoms on average than the normal yeast cells, a startling change. Cancerous cells exhibited a similar but not quite as strong shortage in deuterium.

Zhang, the study's senior author and an assistant professor of geosciences at Princeton, is hopeful that the research could one day help families around the world.

"Cancer, and other illnesses, are unfortunately a huge theme in many people's lives. Seeing Ashley's data was special, profound moment," Zhang said. "It meant that a tool used to track planetary health might also be applied to track health and disease in lifeforms, hopefully one day in humans. Growing up in a family challenged by cancer, I hope to see this area expand."
Fighting cancer with artificial cells that are capable of detecting and treating it. This is the dual objective of a research team of the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology - Cibio of UniTrento, which has recently started two European projects funded by the Horizon Europe - EIC Pathfinder Open program.

Both studies are coordinated by Martin Hanczyc, professor of Biochemistry and head of the Artificial biology laboratory at Cibio, and include other European academic institutions and industrial partners. Professor Hanczyc's laboratory has been working for some time on the development of new artificial cellular technologies and bio-inspired materials. This expertise will be key in carrying out the two new projects.

The two studies have a similar goal: to equip the artificial cells with certain elements that will precisely target the sick cells in the human body.

The European funding amounts to 6.5 million euros. At the moment, the research group is made up of Silvia Holler (postdoc researcher), Luca Tiberi (head of the Laboratory of Brain disorders and cancer), and Vito D'Agostino (head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and nanomedicine), but they will be joined by more scientists in the upcoming months.

About the two research projects

The purpose of Bio-HhOST - Bio-hybrid Hierarchical organoid-synthetic tissue, is to create bio-hybrid tissues where artificial cells interact with living carcinogenic cells. By doing so, the artificial cells influence the development of cancer cells and their function, proliferation and differentiation.

The artificial cells will interact with organoids, three-dimensional aggregates of cells normally used in research to replicate human tissues and organs as miniaturized and simplified models, which are created from stem cells.

These artificial cells contain specific elements, such as growth factors or anticancer drugs that are capable of responding to chemical stimuli in the environment and targeting only living cancer cells. Their goal is to stop their growth and defeat cancer.

These new, chemically programmable materials will make it possible to reduce the use of animals in scientific studies and to support the development and study of drugs on systems that are more similar to human beings.

The research work will be carried out by an interdisciplinary team with skills in biology, bioengineering, microfluidics, mathematics, and computer programming. The University of Cardiff, the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and MIC, a Paris-based company, participate in the project together with the University of Trento.

The second project that Martin Hanczyc will coordinate is OMICSENS. Researchers will build the first nano-photonic integrated biomolecular sensor, which will revolutionize the diagnosis and prognosis of lung cancer. The research will focus specifically on non-small cell lung cancer, a particularly aggressive type of lung cancer that is difficult to detect and treat.

The sensor will be equipped with a microchip containing a few drops of blood, a sample of tissue or some extracellular vesicles of a patient. This material interacts with artificial particles that bind with cancer cells, if any. At this point a detector, made of synthetic metamaterials, analyses the chemical reactions in the sample using artificial intelligence algorithms.

Thanks to the biosensor, a doctor will be able to quickly check if there is a tumor and immediately start treatment.

The chip will be designed to be user ready and also reusable. The researchers aim to make it available for use in patients with other types of tumors as well.

The partners in this project are the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm and several European companies (Multiwave Imaging, 4K-MEMS SA and Quaisr). The academic and industrial partners of this project have expertise in oncology, bioengineering, microfluidics, biochemistry, microelectromechanical systems, nano-photonics, computational physics and artificial intelligence.
Profit booking continued at the bourses on Tuesday as investors sold stocks across sectors. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 384 points, or 0.52 per cent, to end at 73,512 levels. It hit an intraday low of 73,259.

The Nifty50, on the other hand, ended near the 22,300 at 22,303, down 140 points or 0.62 per cent. The index slipped to a low of 22,232 during the day.

Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, HCL Tech, NTPC, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, M&M, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, and Ultratech Cement were the top laggards on the 30-stock index, sliding between 1 per cent and 4 per cent.

HUL, Tech M, Nestle India, TCS, ITC, Kotak Bank, and Infosys, on the other hand, lent some support with up to 5.6 per cent gain.

The broader markets, too, bled heavily with the BSE MidCap, and SmallCap indices dipping up to 3 per cent intraday. They ended 1.9 per cent, and 1.65 per cent lower, respectively.

Among sectors, the Nifty FMCG index advanced 2 per cent, while the Nifty IT added around 1 per cent. All other sectoral indices ended in the negative zone led by the Nifty Realty index (down around 3.5 per cent).

Why are Indian markets underperforming?

A significant near-term trend in the market is the underperformance of the Indian market despite positive global cues. The Dow has been trending up for four consecutive trading sessions, but the Nifty has turned highly volatile and apprehensive. What might be the reasons for this?

One is the selling by FIIs which touched Rs 5525 crores in the three trading sessions in May so far. But there is nothing unusual about this since FIIs sell when the US bond yields are attractive. Perhaps, the more significant factor might be the apprehensions emanating from the unexpectedly low turnout in the elections, so far. One view is that the definite and smooth victory of the ruling dispensation is a bit uncertain now. The market which has already discounted a BJP/NDA victory is a bit unsure now. Perhaps, this can be the reason for the apprehension in the market and the bulls shedding their aggressive stance. In the last one month the VIX has spiked by 46% and is hovering around 16.6 now. This means volatility and uncertainty will continue for some time.

 Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services

India VIX hit 17 today  What does this volatility index indicate and what should investors do in such a situation?

Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd, explained that the India VIX, a volatility gauge often nicknamed the fear index, has surged over 70% since its April 23rd low of 10. This rise aligns with historical trends, as the VIX typically climbs before major events like general elections. In 2019, it saw a 150% jump (from 12 to 30), and in 2014, it spiked 212% (from 12.5 to 39). Based on this historical context, a further increase in the VIX is likely, with a potential move towards 25 before the election results.

Two key factors are driving the VIXs rise. First, portfolio investors are buying protective put options to hedge their holdings. Second, traders are speculating on significant price movements post-election by purchasing both calls and put options, Meena added.

Global Cues

Asian shares made 15-month highs on Tuesday on renewed confidence of US interest rate cuts, while traders waited on a policy meeting in Australia later in the day and had a close eye on a falling yen.

US stock indexes closed higher on Monday, their third straight session of advances, as investors continued to gain hope that there was a greater chance of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates this year.
In a case of modern-day academic cheating, students who took the Class 12 board examinations for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDB) are said to have memorised their Maths question papers and posted them on social media, perhaps helping students who were taking the tests at a location in a different time zone. The IB board administers its annual assessments in three time zones Zone A, Asia and Australia; Zone B, Europe and Africa; Zone C, Americas. Notably, students are not authorised to take the IBDP question papers home, leaving no scope for paper leaks. In the more than 55-year existence of the Switzerland-based board, this is the first case of a question paper leak, reported Times of India.

The two-hour Maths test took place on May 1 and 2, with the alleged paper leak coming to light on May 3. Although the board acknowledged the matter, it did not identify the country from where the paper leak originated. However, the report hinted that principals in Mumbai suspect the questions to be leaked from Turkey.

According to TOI, The variation in time zones meant that while students in Hong Kong, Singapore, Europe, and the Americas would have benefited, Indian students were less likely to gain from the paper leak.

Amid requests for exam cancellation by some parents and students, the board maintains confidence in the general integrity of the IB exams and believes that there is no proof of large scale cheating.

In its report, the IB stated that just a small portion of students had engaged in time zone cheating, and that there was no evidence that this conduct was widespread. According to the report, the IB stated, We have identified the source of this activity and are taking appropriate steps to hold those responsible accountable.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a globally recognised educational system that strives to create well-rounded individuals with a comprehensive grasp of a range of disciplines. Established in 1968, the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) provides a rigorous education for students in grades 3 through 19, with a focus on critical thinking, intercultural comprehension, and students social and emotional development.

The International Baccalaureate has four programmes to offer for students which are as follows

 Primary Years Programme (PYP)  Students aged 3-12

 Middle Years Programme (MYP)  Students aged 11-16

 Diploma Programme (DP)  Students aged 16-19

 Career-Related Programme (CP)  Students aged 16-19

Stay Informed With Live Updates On HPBOSE 10th Results. Check Official Website , Passing Marks , Pass Percentages & Direct Link . Stay ahead with all the exam results updates on News18 Website.
Supriya Sule, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Baramati constituency in Pune district of Maharashtra, on Tuesday met Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawars mother by visiting the latters house after casting her vote.

Sule, who is seeking a fourth term in the Lower House of Parliament from Pawar familys home turf Baramati, is pitted against her cousin Ajit Pawars wife Sunetra Pawar.

Polling for the Baramati seat is undergoing on Tuesday. This is for the first time that two members of the influential Pawar family are fighting an election against each other. This is Sunetra Pawars first Lok Sabha election.

Deputy Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis dubbed Sules meeting with Ajit Pawars mother an emotional tactic.Sule, after exercising her franchise, reached Ajit Pawars house at Katewadi in Baramati and met his mother Ashatai Pawar.

Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Sule said she had come to meet and seek her aunt Ashakakis blessings. It is my kakis house and I came here to meet her and seek her blessings, the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader said.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Mumbai, deputy CM Fadnavis said Sules visit to Ajit Pawars house is an emotional tactic. After all they are political opponents and not enemies. She (Sule) is his (Ajit Pawars) sister. Lets see how this emotional tactic plays out, he said in response to a question.
A day after the Election Commission of India directed political parties for the responsible and ethical use of social media, it asked social media platform X to remove an allegedly objectionable post from the Karnataka BJP account after the party failed to do so.

The saffron party as well as the social media platform failed to take down the post despite a legally valid letter through the Karnataka chief electoral officer (CEO), including an FIR. In a letter to the nodal officer of X, the poll body said an FIR has already been registered in the matter and the site, through Bengalurus cyber crime division, was directed to take down the post on May 5. But, the post remained as part of the timeline, it said.

I am directed to inform that post of BJP4Karnataka (as mentioned below) is violative of extant legal framework Therefore, X is directed to take down the post immediately. This is issued with the approval of the competent authority, read the letter signed by Anuj Chandak, joint director and nodal officer.

The post has now been removed. It included an animated video related to Muslim reservation in Kannada language and was posted by the Karnataka unit of the BJP on May 4. The Congress wrote to the EC against the video.

The ECs action has come after the elections are almost over in Karnataka. The state had polling polls in two phases  14 seats each in the second phase on April 26 and third phase on May 7.

According to sources, the EC wrote to X after both the social media platform and the party unit failed to remove the post despite the issue being raised by the poll body. It is also important to note that on Monday (May 6), the EC had written to all the national and state-recognised parties asking them for responsible and ethical use of social media to ensure a level-playing field for all stakeholders.

In a communication to the president, general secretary and chairperson of all political parties, the poll body reminded them that it has repeatedly given directions to maintain decorum and utmost restraint during public campaigning.

The EC also warned the parties against misuse of AI-based tools to create deepfakes that distort information or propagate misinformation, stressing on the need to uphold the integrity of the electoral process.

Stay updated with live coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 3 Voting In Karnataka And Gujarat on our website. Get the latest updates, polling trends, result dates and more.
CLAIM

The viral image shows Amuls ad campaign on polling. An X user @SHEKARSUSHEEL posted the viral image and wrote, Very topical , as always Jiyo Amul. The true taste of India. (Archive Link)

FACT

An investigation shows us that Amul disowned the advertisement and called it Fake on May 6, 2024. Taking their X handle Indias largest dairy products manufacturing company issued a notice and wrote, We wish to inform you a fake message featuring the Amul Girl is being shared on WhatsApp and social media. This advertisement has not been created by Amul. In the said post, the name of the creator of this fake advertisement is mentioned as p k anil, against whom Amul will take legal action. Amul strongly urges all voters to vote in the ongoing elections and strengthen our democracy. We also request you to kindly share this fake advertisement alert with those who have shared the fake message with you..

Issued in Public Interest by Amul pic.twitter.com/fZTgLySyZq Amul.coop (@Amul_Coop) May 6, 2024

CONCLUSION

Thus it is clear that the advertisement spread on social media purportedly in the name of Amul is Fake.

RESULT: False

SOURCE: X post by Amul, dated May 6, 2024

(This story was originally published by Newschecker, and republished by News18 as part of the Shakti Collective)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast his vote in Gujarats Ahmedabad during the third of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday and appealing to voters to exercise their adult franchise and celebrate the festival of democracy.

Showing his inked finger after voting at a polling booth in Ahmedabads Nishan Higher Secondary School, the Prime Minister said, Today is the third phase of voting. There is great importance of Daan in our country and in the same spirit, the countrymen should vote as much as possible. 4 rounds of voting are still ahead.

He said that as a voter from the state of Gujarat, this is the only place where I vote regularly and Amit Bhai is contesting from here as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate

Taking to microblogging site X, the Prime Minister said, Voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections! Urging everyone to do so as well and strengthen our democracy.

Voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections! Urging everyone to do so as well and strengthen our democracy. pic.twitter.com/PlLCw7Fwe3 Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 7, 2024

PM Modi hailed the nations election process and said that this election management is an example for the worlds democracies to learn from. He pressed on the need for the worlds biggest universities to do a case study on Indias elections.

Noting that elections will take place in around 64 countries, the Prime Minister said that there should be a comparison of all them. This year is like a celebration of democracy I again tell the countrymen to vote in large numbers and celebrate the festival of democracy, PM Modi added.

The Prime Minister extended his greetings to the Election Commission and congratulated the poll governing body for conducting the first two phases of elections almost violence-free.

I congratulate the Election Commission for conducting the first two phases of elections almost violence-free. I also congratulate the Election Commission for conducting the polls in a voter-friendly manner, he said.

Not only this, the Prime Minister also interacted with the public who had gathered outside the polling booth to catch a glimpse of the leader. He signed memorabilia, posters and sketches. He warmly shook hands with the people in the crowd and snapped selfies with them.

In a light-hearted moment, he also played with a child, taking it in his arms and interacting with the it.

PM Modi plays with a child as he greets people after casting his vote at a polling booth in Ahmedabad, GujaratLive Updates: https://t.co/WMMijhrfxW #LokSabhaElections2024 #June4WithCNNNews18 #ElectionsWithNews18 #PMModi pic.twitter.com/alyYPuyRlP  News18 (@CNNnews18) May 7, 2024

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is contesting from Gandhinagar, a parliamentary constituency which has been a BJP bastion since 1989. The constituency went to the saffron camp and Shankersinh Vaghela in 1989 and has never voted for any other party since.

All seven Assembly segments in Gandhinagar LS constituency are held by the BJP. Not only is the seat represented in Parliament by Amit Shah, current Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel represents the Ghatlodia assembly constituency, which is also part of this LS seat.

Shah is highly popular, and unlike his predecessor, a highly visible MP. Ground reports suggest that voters have noted his active presence and interventions. There is hardly any month or festival where Shah has not come to his constituency and not inaugurated an event or laid the foundation stone for some project.

Voting is underway in 94 constituencies across 10 states and 1 Union territory in the third phase of the 18th Lok Sabha elections. The first two phases of the polls saw a voter turnout of 66.14 per cent in Phase 1 (April 19) and 66.71 per cent in Phase 2 (April 26).

ALSO TRACK | Karnataka Elections 2024 LIVE Updates

Notably, polling in Anantnag-Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir was earlier scheduled for Phase 3, however, it has been moved to Phase 6. Polling in Madhya Pradeshs Betul which was previously scheduled in Phase 2 is now voting in Phase 3.

(With PTI inputs)

Stay updated with live coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 3 Voting In Karnataka And Gujarat on our website. Get the latest updates, polling trends, result dates and more.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharpened his attack on the Congress on Tuesday, a day after an expelled leader of the opposition party claimed that Rahul Gandhi had plans to overturn the Supreme Courts decision on the Ram Mandir. During a speech in Madhya Pradeshs Dhar, PM Modi said he wants the BJP-led NDA to win 400 seats just to ensure the Congress does not bring back Article 370 in Kashmir and put a Babri lock on the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

It is important for the countrys people to know the BJP-led NDA already has 400-plus seats in Parliament. We used this number to scrap Article 370, the PM said.

Modi wants 400 seats so that Congress wont bring back Article 370 to spoil the game, Modi wants 400 seats so that the Congress wont put a Babri lock on the Ram temple in Ayodhya, he added.

The PM said that about 14 days back, he challenged the Congress to give in writing to the countrys 140 crore people that it will not give reservation on the basis of religion.

In another rally in Madhya Pradeshs Khargone, PM Modi said that the Congresss intentions were dangerous.

How terrible are the intentions of Congress, how dangerous are its conspiracies. To understand this, you have to listen to the people who have been Congress workers and leaders for 20-20, 25-25 years and now these people are suddenly leaving the Congress. A woman said that when she went to Ram Mandir, she was tortured so much that she had to leave the Congress. Another person said that Congress has been taken over by Muslim Leaguers and Maoists. The third one revealed another deep conspiracy, saying that the Congress prince intends to overturn the Supreme Courts decision on Ram temple, PM Modi said.

     ,               ,  20-20, 25-25                     ,         ,  pic.twitter.com/PCLddP3Rqe  BJP (@BJP4India) May 7, 2024

On Monday, former Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam had claimed that shortly after the Supreme Courts verdict on the Ramjanmabhoomi case, Rahul Gandhi had suggested that his party would overturn the directive regarding the Ram temple once the Congress government comes into power.

I have spent more than 32 years in the Congress and when the Ram Mandir decision came, Rahul Gandhi in a meeting with his close aides said that after the Congress govt is formed, they will form a superpower commission and will overturn the Ram Mandir decision just like Rajiv Gandhi overturned the Shah Bano decision Pramod Krishnam said.

He also referred to Radhika Khera, who quit the Congress party, claiming that people in the party started hating her after her visit to Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

Why Does Congress Love Pakistan?

The Prime Minister also came down heavily on the Congress for love for Pakistan. He said there was a competition within the Congress for making anti-national statements.

Referring to former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channis remark on Poonch terror attack, PM Modi said. After every phase of voting, Congresss love for Pakistan is reaching its peak. A former Congress CM said that our army carries out terror attacks, Pakistan is innocent.

These are all stunts and not terrorist attacks. These are nothing but BJPs pre-poll stunt. There is no truth in it. BJP is playing with peoples lives and bodies, Channi had said on Sunday after the recent terror attack on an Indian Air Force (IAF) convoy in Poonch.

Look at the shamelessness of another big Congress leader, he said that Pakistan had no role in the Mumbai terror attack, PM Modi added.

This came a day after Congress leader Vijay Varithawar claimed that the bullet that killed IBS officer Hemant Karkare during the Mumbai 26/11 attack was not fired by Pakistani terrorists, but by a police officer associated with the RSS. He accused Ujjwal Nikam, the special public prosecutor in the case and now BJP Lok Sabha candidate, of suppressing this information.

PM Modi also hit out at Farooq Abdullah saying, Another leader of Congresss ally party threatens Indiasays Pakistan is not wearing bangles.

Responding to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singhs remark, PoK will be merged with India, Abdullah had said, Pakistan is not wearing bangles and also has atom bombs that will fall on India.

Stay updated with live coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 3 Voting In Karnataka And Gujarat on our website. Get the latest updates, polling trends, result dates and more.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday called Shiv Sena UBT Chief and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackerays silence over the recent remarks made by Congresss Vijay Wadettiwar on the martyred policemen in the 26/11 attacks pseudo Hindutva. Thackerays Sena UBT is in an alliance with the Congress, while Shinde, the head of other faction of the Sena, is in an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Speaking in Thane, Shinde said: The statement by Wadettiwar regarding the martyred policemen and innocent Mumbaikars who lost their lives in the 26/11 attacks is infuriating. Wadettiwar seems to be following the slogan of Rahul Gandhi, who is conducting not Bharat Jodo but Bharat todo yatra.

He further emphasised the longstanding commitment of organisations like the BJP fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to nationalistic values, invoking the memory of lawyer and BJPs Mumbai North-Central candidate Ujjwal Nikams pursuit of justice against traitors.

Wadettiwar, leader of opposition, recently alleged that an RSS-affiliated cop, and not terrorist Ajmal Kasab, killed former state anti-terrorism squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Shinde called the alignment of a Congress leaders statements with those of Pakistan unfortunate and cited a historical pattern of prioritising political gains over national interests.

Nobody can become a Hindu by merely saying I am a Hindu. If Hindu Hridya Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray were here today, he would have been deeply offended. People will not rest without seeking revenge for this insult, Shinde said.

Shinde underscored the resilience of India under the leadership of Prime Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi. He praised Modis decisive actions, exemplified by the Balakot surgical strikes, as evidence of Indias resolve against external threats. It will not be out of place to say that Congress ka Haath Pakistan ke Saath. When the Congress wins an election, there are fireworks in Pakistan. When India loses a match, firecrackers are burst in Pakistan. Even when the Congress was in power for so many years, it maintained a tight-lipped policy towards Kashmir. While the heads of our jawans were being cut off and taken to Pakistan, the Congress government remained silent. Now Narendra Modi has warned Pakistan, he said.
Arti Singhs dreamy wedding with Mumbai-based businessman Dipak Chauhan made headlines last month. The couple tied the knot at the ISKCON Temple in Mumbai. The cute couples photos from different ceremonies captivated Internet users with some admiring the stunning bridal appearance of Arti and others voicing opinions on the familys endearing moments. Now, a video of Artis grand welcome at Dipaks residence has surfaced online. The touching video showcases the Bigg Boss fame beaming with joy upon being showered with love by her in-laws.

The video begins with the newly wedded couple arriving at the residence in their swanky car. Arti appears completely surprised to see the lavish preparations as she gets out of the car. The television stars fairytale-like welcome at her husband Dipaks home leaves her joyous, happy, and emotional. As displayed in the clip, her in-laws decked up the house with lights and decorations. It was further enhanced by fireworks, creating a magical moment upon the couples arrival at home.

Offering a glimpse of the heartwarming gesture by Dipaks family, Arti wrote, A girl has so many dreams but for me, I had never dreamt of a welcome like this! The giggle, the smile, the child-like excitement in my eyes tell you that I never knew that this is how loved I would be  .A bigger family and one that makes me realize that Im so lucky Dipak Ki Arti.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Arti singh sharma (@artisingh5)

Dressed in a mesmerising white lehenga skirt paired with a matching embellished blouse, Arti exuded elegance and beauty in every frame. Her husband Dipal complemented her well in a light pink kurta which he teamed up with white trousers. The couple, together, radiated joy and togetherness in the clip.

Not only fans but Artis friends from the industry were also seemingly enthralled to see the video. Popular actor Jay Bhanushali reacted to the video saying, Princess treatment. Joining him to shower love on the new bride was Yuvika Chaudhary who dropped heart emojis on the picture. Additionally, Dalljiet Kaur, Rashami Desai, and Bigg Boss fame Tina Dutta also blessed the couple for their marital journey.

Arti and Dipak also ended the feud between her brother Krushna Abhishek and uncle Govinda. The Bollywood star, despite his strained relationship with his nephew, attended the wedding and also blessed Krushnas kids. In an interview with a leading media outlet, Krushnas wife and actress Kashmera Shah expressed her delight in Govinda attending the wedding with his presence. She said, Chi Chi mama blessing my kids without any malice marks a new beginning of our relationship with him. Woh mere mama-sasur hain, and now, my sons will also be able to know their granddad. I can now proudly sit and show them all his movies and songs. My kids were happy to finally meet him.
Chinas President Xi Jinpings call to his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to pre-empt a new Cold War during the formers visit to Europe points to the geopolitical faultlines of 2024.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Xi told Macron that the two leaders should uphold mutual benefits, and jointly oppose decoupling and the disruption of supply chains.

Xi and Macron have called for worldwide ceasefire during the Olympic Games that start in Paris in late July.

We are at a historical turning point where threats are at an unprecedented level and the risks of global fragmentation are considerable, Macron said, sitting alongside his Chinese counterpart at a business conference in Paris, as quoted by Bloomberg.

Why are EU, China At Odds with Each Other?

The mistrust between European Union and China started growing after the onset of the Ukraine-Russia war. Although China never understood Russias annexation of Crimea, it also never blamed Russia for its military actions.

While Europe has considered Chinas attitude towards the Ukraine-Russia war ambiguous, they interpreted it as Chinas passive support to Russia, as per Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Moreover, European public opinion has called every declaration about the war by the Chinese government as unfair for not blaming Russia.

The paper in Carnegie Endowment for International Peace also mentions US and China as two rival groups. In between these two groups is Europe, which China puts in the Western basket, hinting that it cannot be trusted.

Distrust towards Beijing in Brussels is also growing, shown by a recent flurry of arrests of alleged Chinese spies and a salvo of trade probes, as reported by Bloomberg.

China also launched an anti-dumping investigation into liquor products, a move that could hurt Frances cognac producers. More broadly, China has denied generating overcapacity and accuses the EU of protectionism, Bloomberg said.

What is the New Cold War?

The Cold War, as defined by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1946, may have ended three decades ago, but another one has sort of begun, and is going global.

Unlike the US-Soviet Cold War, this one has multidimensional relationship where China and the West trade and invest with one another, and China and Russia maintain their anti-American and authoritarianism by supplying oil, gas and grain to the world, though with sanctions.

And now with Israel-Iran missile attacks, as a fallout of the Israel-Gaza war, there is a clear schism  with US-led West on one hand and the China-Russia axis on the other. The anti-US character of Shia fundamentalism and the pro-Assad stand of Iran in Syria have pushed Iran closer to Russia and China.

White House is concerned over the fallout of Israeli action in Gaza that had killed more than 30,000 civilians in Palestine  pro-Muslim demonstrations in the US and outside might be weakening the US position in the Middle East and providing a certain advantage to Russia and China, according to an article written by a former director of Intelligence Bureau in IANS.

The expansion of NATO beyond Europe has been happening for some timefirst in the Middle East and then in Afghanistan, where the US orchestrated withdrawal. But now, NATO is crossing a Rubicon in Asia, according to Foreign Policy.

Where Does India Stand?

Today, India can be called the one of the most important emerging powers of the world. Its relations with the US have gotten stronger, considering that Washington has reconciled itself to New Delhi despite its relations with Russia, likely because India has aligned itself closer to the US on China.

Non-alignment has been a cornerstone of Indias foreign policy since the Cold War began. Former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru articulated that great powers should never define Indias interests or policies as mentioned in Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Ukraine-Russia War: In 2022, India imported over 1 million barrels per day. By the end of the year, India was importing 33 times the amount of Russian crude than it had a year before.

Though several western countries were unhappy with India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar pointed out, I have a country that has a per capita income of two thousand dollars. These are not people who can afford higher energy prices, he said.

India also stayed neutral in the war in Ukraine, choosing to abstain on every UN resolution since March 2022, including Russias withdrawal or condemning the war. But this does not mean that India is indifferent to violence in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G7 Summit in May 2023 assured Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky that India would do everything it can to help bring peace in Ukraine. Modi in fact gently nudged Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine war, which many world leaders thought make New Delhi as a viable option for mediation between Russia, Ukraine and the West.

From 2017 to 2022, India bought more Russian weapons than any other country, as per Reuters news agency. It is also procuring Russian S-400 air defense systems, stealth frigates, and nuclear submarines.

Although Russias share of Indias arsenal has fallen as India has increased arms trade with France and the US, the war in Ukraine has prompted India to diversify its sources of weapons as Russia struggles to meet deliveries.

Approach to China: India cooperates increasingly with the US on defence and considers its membership in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) comprising Australia, Japan, India and US pivotal to maintain regional balance with China.

During Modis US state visit in June 2023, Joe Biden announced that the US and India would co-produce jet engines for fighter aircraft, marking a historic development in technology sharing. India also became the first non-ally to receive armed US Predator dronesa deal negotiated under former president Donald Trumps administration.

The Biden administration has invested in its partnership with New Delhi, with American and Indian armies holding regular military exercises and defence dialogues. Both countries have also cooperated on the development of semiconductors, telecommunications, technology and artificial intelligence.

According to a CNBC article, India stands to benefit from plans to de-risk from Chinese supply chains if it can realize its potential as a manufacturing powerhouse and build out value chains that can rival Chinas.

Indias security concerns about China has not prevented it from cooperating with China through BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). But India continues as the Voice of Global South and advocate for a more inclusive system where developing countries have more representation, as per the Ministry of External Affairs.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has aptly defined Indias perspective on US-China strategic competition: What I would not like to be defined as is standing against something or somebody, because that diminishes me. That makes it out as though some other people are the center of the world and Im only there to be for them or against them.

Israel-Gaza War: In October last year, India abstained at United Nations General Assembly on a resolution that called for an immediate humanitarian truce. But in December, two months after the war began on October 7, India voted for a draft resolution on Gaza ceasefire. Amid Iran-Israel escalation, the MEA said, We call for immediate de-escalation, exercise of restraint, stepping back from violence and return to the path of diplomacy. We are closely monitoring the evolving situation It is vital that security and stability are maintained in the region.

Indias strategic ties with Israel encompasses cooperation in multiple fields from defence to technology. PM Modi has visited Israel in 2018 and his personal chemistry with PM Benjamin Netanyahu is very cordial. Israel is one of Indias biggest defence supplies along with the US, UK, France and Russia. Iran, on the other hand, is Indias one of prime oil suppliers. After the sanctions, India has not been able to buy oil from Iran. Early this year, S Jaishankar visited Iran, where India is invested in building the Chabahar port.
It took almost 12 hours and six counting machines as the Enforcement Directorate recovered a stash of cash worth Rs 35.23 crore from the residence of a domestic help, allegedly associated with a senior minister of Jharkhand, Alamgir Alam on Monday. However, the most interesting part was not the recovery of cash, but the presence of an official communication between the ED and the state government, with the stash of the cash.

The official letter was sensitive in nature and supposed to be confidential, said a senior officer of the directorate, hinting at a serious leak of sensitive documents at the state governments level in favour of the accused person.

Exactly a year ago, on May 5, 2023, the directorate wrote to the chief secretary of the government of Jharkhand sharing information under the provision of Section 66(2) of PML Act, 2002 regarding Veerendra Kumar Ram, the erstwhile Chief Engineer, Rural Development Special Zone and in an additional charge of Rural Works Department. In the letter, the ED informed the state government about the malpractices in the department and requested the state to take appropriate action under the IPC and prevention of corruption act.

#WATCH | The Enforcement Directorate is conducting raids at multiple locations in Ranchi. Huge amount of cash recovered from household help of Sanjiv Lal  PS to Jharkhand Rural Development minister Alamgir Alam, in Virendra Ram case.ED arrested Virendra K. Ram, the chief pic.twitter.com/VTpUKBOPE7  ANI (@ANI) May 6, 2024

However, the team of investigators that raided the premises of an associate of the arrested chief engineer, stumbled upon the confidential communication. A copy of the letter was found in the same premise owned by one of the accused persons. According to the sources in the directorate, the presence of the letter at the residence of an accused person shows that the letter was leaked by the state government to help the accused.

Letter Deliberately Leaked to the Accused

In the letter, the ED stated, This office is conducting an investigation against Veerendra Kumar Ram and others under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The subject investigation was initiated on the basis of a case FIR No. 13/19, dated November 13, 2019 registered under section 7(a) of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 2018 by Anti-Corruption Bureau, Jamshedpur and the Final Report No. 01/2020 dated January 11, 2020 submitted by ACB, Jamshedpur.

The ED further stated that during the course of PMLA investigation, searches were conducted at 30 locations in February 2023 and the central agency recovered vehicles, cash, jewellery and other incriminating documents, believed to be acquired or obtained by Veerendra Kumar Ram out of proceeds of crime, generated out of act of corruption and other criminal activities.

The said properties were seized/ frozen under provisions of PMLA, 2002. During the course of search at the residential premises of Veerendra Kumar Ram, cash amounting to Rs 7,82,500 (Rupees Seven Lakh Eighty Two Thousand and five hundred only) was recovered and seized, and when Veerendra Kumar Ram was questioned about source of the said cash, he stated that the said cash was the commission received by him in lieu of allotment of tenders. Apart from the above, seven high value luxurious vehicles have also been found and seized from the residential premises of Veerendra Kumar Ram, the ED added in the letter.

Explaining the case and the further scope of investigation, the directorate requested the state government to initiate inquiry against the allegedly tainted officers. A senior officer of the directorate said that the letter was deliberately leaked to the accused persons to help them escape the legal proceedings and tampering important evidences. Appropriate action will be taken in this regard as well, said the officer.

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Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Monday recommended a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe against jailed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly receiving political funding from banned separatist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). Now CNN-News18 has accessed NIAs possible probe angles on claims allegedly made by SFJ founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Pannun had earlier purportedly alleged in a video that Khalistani groups gave USD 16 million (approximately Rs 133.54 crore) to Kejriwals Aam Aadmi Party to fund elections between 2014 and 2022. He further claimed that the Delhi CM made a shocking proposition in 2014 to release convicted terrorist Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar in exchange for financial support. Bhullar was involved in the 1993 Delhi bomb blast that killed nine people and injured 31 others.

Sources told CNN-News18 that according to Pannun, Kejriwal used to run three teams and was the kingpin of the funding exercise.

Team 1 purportedly comprised Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and erstwhile AAP leader Gurpreet Ghuggi.

Ghuggi allegedly met Babbar Khalsa International operative Rajinder Singh who was a close associate of the outfits head Wadhawa Singh Babbar.

They discussed financial support in lieu of foreign BKI operatives being helped to go back to India, according to Pannun.

Bhagwant Mann was an MP and at the time and AAP leader Sanjay Singh was incharge of Punjab. Singh was also brought on the phone to assure support, says Pannun.

Sources said that Sanjay Singh in the phone conversation in 2016 stated that Kejriwal would be the next Prime Minister and then allegedly laughed and added Kejriwal will be PM of Khalistan.

Money (over $3 million from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington) was allegedly transferred through hawala by Bhagwant Manns contact and associated comedian Jagtar Jaggi (who is now a host on JusPunjabi , a US platform).

Team 2 allegedly comprised Mann and erstwhile AAP leader Sukhpal Khaira. Khaira stated that his father was the first to give a call for Khalistan and AAP and Kejriwal personally assured support, said the sources.

This team purportedly led the US West Coast funding through meetings of pro-Khalistan Sikhs at Stockton Gurdwara Sahib in California and USD 2.5 to 4 million was transferred by hawala trader Hardip Singh.

This was done allegedly with the help of then senior superintendent of police in Punjab Rajvinder Sohal, who in turn used other police connections of ADGP Paramraj Umranangal, according to information from Pannun.

Team 3 allegedly had Bhagwant Mann, AAP Rajya Sabha member Sandeep Pathak, erstwhile AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, as well as IIT alumni contacts of Kejriwal.

Mann purportedly called all contacts to donate money, which was collected at pro-Khalistan Gurdwara Sahib of Fremont. Sources say so far there is no information on how they transferred this money to India.

We are aware of this and this needs proper investigation, said a source. We need to explore if Kejriwal was playing deliberately or unknowingly in the hands of Pannun.

According to top intelligence sources, the NIA will be asked to probe all these angles.

This is too early to conclude the role of individuals but these are serious allegations and proper investigation is important, a source said.

According to sources, the NIA will soon file an FIR in the matter after receiving a reference from the Centre.

In a letter to the ministry of home affairs this week, the principal secretary to Delhi L-G Saxena said he had received a complaint that the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP received a staggering amount of $16 million in funding from Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022. He said the complaint was submitted by one Ashoo Mongia.

Reacting to the letter, Delhi minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said the L-G is an agent of the BJP.

This is another big conspiracy against CM Kejriwal by them at the behest of the BJP. The BJP is losing all seven (Lok Sabha) seats in Delhi and hence is upset. The BJP had hatched this conspiracy even before the Punjab Assembly elections, he was quoted by ANI as saying.

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Residents of Bengaluru may soon be on the verge of facing beer shortage as pubs and breweries struggle to keep up with its increasing demand in the scorching summers.

Media reports suggest that as beer sales skyrocketed in the last few months, the continuous production led to breweries facing limited availability. As a result, retail stores are now facing delays in restocking.

Many manufacturers have also credited the fruit season and multiple long weekends, apart from the summer season, to the escalating demand of the drink.

In a conversation with The New Indian Express, a representative from a major brewery in Marathahalli said this years supply and consumption have gone beyond their expectations, something that they were not prepared for.

He further said, Typically during the summer season, we introduce fruit-flavoured beer, with sales heavily reliant on fruits such as mangoes and pineapples. This year, sales of fruit beer dipped due to suboptimal mangoes, prompting people to opt for regular beer.

The representative also said that the the heat, IPL season and the people coming in during long weekends was also a major reason behind the rising sales. He also mentioned that around 30,000 litres have already been sold this year, in comparison to around 9,000 litres that was sold the previous year.

Sales have surged by 40% with nearly all customers choosing multiple beer orders over any other beverage. Managing the sales has become challenging due to delays in orders from breweries, the operational head of Gillys Restobar said.

He also said that they might have to temporarily suspend weekend offers, including buy 2 get 1 on all beer brands, if this pattern continues.

According to the operational head of another brewery located in the citys Residency Road, the current temperatures, often makes it difficult to maintain cool fermentation temperatures and adequately cool the wort, which is the liquid solution of extracted grains and a sugar source that brewers create and ultimately feed to beer yeasts, after the boil.

She also said, We havent encountered such weather consequences, so it is taking time to adapt to new measures that can offer a temporary solution.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday concluded hearing in the interim bail plea of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. The apex court told the AAP chief that if it grants him interim bail, then he wont be allowed to perform his CM duties.

If we grant you interim bail, we are clear that we wont let you perform your duties as Chief Minister, the SC bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said.

The Aam Aadmi Party national convenor was arrested by the anti-corruption agency on March 21, in connection with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

Rs 100 crore cash transferred by Hawala routes: ED Tells SC

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for anti-corruption agency, told the court that 176 phones have been destroyed and cash has been sent to Hawala operators.

Cash transactions for Rs 100 crores were transferred by hawala routes and spent in other states, ASG Raju said.

Justice Khanna said Rs 100 crore was proceeds of crime, asking how it became Rs 1,100 crores in two or three years. That will be a phenomenal rate of return! Justice Khanna said.

ASG Raju specified that the wholesaler profit is Rs 590 crore. The top court responded saying that the difference was of about Rs 338 crores, adding that the entire amount cannot be proceeds of crime.

The time when we began investigation, it was not directed towards him (Kejriwal), in later stages, when we got evidence, then only the probe shifted in that direction, ASG Raju told the SC.

The federal agencys representative presented statements of several approvers before the top court.

The apex court bench asked the ED to produce case files before. The first two volumeswe want to see officer notings one before Sarath Reddys arrest and one till his statement under CrPC Section 164. And one before Manish Sisodia was arrested and the one after, Justice Khanna said.

The top court bench told the anti-corruption agency that it needs to see what happened to the investigation from one stage to the other. The issue before us is very limited and it is compliance of Section 19, we need to see what is the nature of enquiry, it said.

ASG Raju, clarifying the agencys stance, said, It is not as if the case is politically motivated, ED is not concerned with politics.

ASG Raju said that there is proof of Kejriwal staying at a 7-star hotel in Goa during election, adding that the bill was accounted for by Charanpreet Singh of Chariot Enterprises. Notably, Singh has also been arrested.

The top court asked the ED on why it took so much time for the investigation. ASG Raju responded saying, Its prerogative of the investigation agency.

If I start asking about Kejriwal at the outset, it would have been called malafide. It takes time to understand. we cant put it overnight. Things have to be confirmed, ASG Raju said.

The ASG specified that Kejriwals name was first mentioned in Buchibabus statement in February, 2023.

Raju told the top court that an impression is being created that C Arvind  former PS to Manish Sisodia  named Kejriwal. He had just said that a meeting took place in the Delhi CMs presence, Raju added.

Justice Khanna responded saying, Let me put it this way, in this case, you have to be front-footed, because you are the one who has passed under Section 19.

Your defense is non-reference to this earlier statement which is of no consequence in my grounds to believe because, those statements are not relevant so far as petitioner is concerned, Justice Khanna said.

Considering If Exception If Required: SC

Justice Khanna said that the SC is not going by whether Kejriwal is a politician or not. Every individual would have some special or exceptional circumstances. We are considering whether exception is required in view of elections, he said.

At the time of remand, the onus is on you: SC tells ED

The EDs counsel, ASG Raju, presented before the court, the statements of Manguta S Reddy.

The ED told the court that one need not assume whatever witness tells IO is, he may mislead the investigating agency. Therefore, ASG Raju said, investigation need not go in a way that we go to accused first, there could be many hurdles before that.

The top court asked the ED whether it wants to go through Buchibabus statement. Asking He was arrested by you? ASG responded saying that he was not arrested.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta noted that Buchibabu had to show in bail, adding that he is putting it on the ED.

At the time of remand, onus is on you. At the time of bail, its on him. He says you have not discharged burden, Justice Khanna responded.

Justice Khanna said that the legislature assumed that somebody may violate Section 19.

Responding to the apex court, ASG Raju said, It isnt necessary for me to say in reasons to believe that I have considered all material. In this case, I have considered everything.

The EDs counsel specified what Section 19 contemplates, saying that the material must show person guilty of offense. That is the only material required to be reflected in reasons to believe, he added.

Kejriwal chooses to not cooperate: SG Mehta

ASG Raju told the top court that there is no distinction between an offence punishable over 7 years and PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act).

Justice Khanna said, They can certainly apply for bail, that right is there with them, but they will have to satisfy Section 45.

SG Tushar Mehta said, There cannot be any deviation because he is a chief minister, there cannot be an exemption that can be carved out for him.

Mehta argued that Kejriwal was called by the ED six months ago, however, he went for meditation, then made some other excuse. He wasted six months, Mehta said, adding that he might not have been arrested.

He chooses not to cooperate, SG Mehta added.

SG Mehta asked the apex court to consider that the situation here, pertains to the national capital, whose chief minister has been evading arrest for six months and now comes and says he wants to campaign.

This would send a very wrong message and demoralise the common people that if you are powerful, you will enjoy the luxury, Mehta said.

Only Kejriwal Is CM Without Portfolios, Says SG Tushar Mehta

SG Tushar Mehta said that even in the absence of CM Arvind Kejriwal, the administration is going on. CM of Delhi is the only CM who does not hold the portfolio, he does not sign any file.

Even the Prime Minister signs files and this includes the ministries, the Solicitor General noted.

Justice Khanna questioned the ED, how do you carve out an exception for your case? The top court bench asked the federal agency to not go on merits now.

You are not granting bail to a CM: Abhishek Singhvi

Representing the AAP chief, Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the SC, you are not granting bail to a CM, this is the caricature of my argument. He is not a habitual offender.

Democracy is a part of basic structure, free and fair elections is a part of democracyis the person a threat to the society, Singhvi said.

Wont let you perform CM duties if we grant interim bail: SC

Suppose we release you and you are allowed to participate in elections, you will be performing official duties, it can have cascading efforts, the top court told Kejriwals counsel.

If we grant you interim bail, we are clear that we wont let you perform your duties as Chief Minister, the SC bench said.

The top court told Singhvi that it thought of releasing Kejriwal on interim bail on the elections issue, else there wouldnt have been a question.

SG Mehta requested the top court to not earmark political leaders as exceptional class. The Balloon that is created is that I am being picked up before the election, Kejriwals counsel said.

What happened in the previous hearing?

Earlier on May 3, the apex court hinted at the possibility of it considering the question of interim bail for Kejriwal because of the elections.

Justice Khanna had asked the Enforcement Directorate to be ready for the possibility of interim bail for the Delhi Chief Minister.

However, it cautioned the lawyers that the Court is just being open about it.

Do not assume anything. Do not read anything into it. We are not saying anything either wayThe Court is just being open about what is in its mind. It does not want to catch the parties by surprise. It may or may not grant interim bail, but is ready to consider the possibility, Justice Khanna had said.

Polling for the national capitals seven Lok Sabha seats is scheduled for May 25.

When Was Arvind Kejriwal Arrested?

The federal agency arrested the Delhi CM on March 21 in the excise policy scam. He faces allegations of direct involvement in a conspiracy related to the formulation of excise policy favouring specific individuals.

He is also accused of soliciting kickbacks from liquor businessmen in exchange for favours, as claimed by the probe agency.

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Family members P V Narasimha Rao met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Tuesday and thanked him for honouring the former PM with Bharat Ratna. They met Modi at Raj Bhavan here Tuesday evening and the meeting lasted for about 30 minutes.

Narasimha Raos son P V Prabhakar Rao, daughter and BRS MLC Vani Devi, Narasimha Raos son-in-law K R Nandan, a retired IPS officer, and the former PMs grandson N V Subhash, also a BJP leader, were part of the meeting.

Sharing pictures of the meeting in a post on X, Modi said, Upon reaching Hyderabad, had an excellent meeting with the family of our former PM, the respected scholar and statesman, Shri PV Narasimha Rao Garu. They thanked the Government of India for conferring the Bharat Ratna on Shri Narasimha Rao Garu.

Our interaction was extensive and we talked about several subjects. The family members expressed joy on Indias progress in the recent years. We also spoke about the richness of Indian culture and traditions, the prime minister said.

Subhash said it was a gesture of thanks from Raos family members to Modi for honouring him with the highest civilian award of the country.

Modi discussed various subjects, including travel, education, science and technology, finance, Sanatan Dharma and todays politics, said Subhash, a spokesperson of BJP in Telangana.

It was a great feeling for all of us as we felt that we were interacting with our family member, Subhash added.

Modi arrived here Tuesday evening. and he will address election rallies in Telangana on Wednesday.

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Thailand, a popular tourist destination among Indians, announced extending its visa exemption program for visitors from India and Taiwan for another six months.

Under this programme, the Indian tourists will be permitted the visit the country without the need for a visa until November 11, 2024, a Bloomberg report stated.

The decision to extend the program was taken in an effort to boost Thailands tourism industry, which is a major contributor to the countrys economy and the move is expected to attract more foreign tourists to Thailand.

The extension was announced by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, adding that travelers from India and Taiwan can stay for a maximum of 30 days without a visa.

This comes after the success of the initial waiver implemented last November. Previously, tourists from India and Taiwan were allowed to stay in Thailand for only 15 days under a visa-on-arrival scheme.

Earlier in the day, Sri Lankan government also announced that Indian visitors will continue to receive tourist visas free of charge. This decision comes amidst a controversy surrounding increased fees for on-arrival visas, which were being handled by a foreign company.

The excemption was also announced for China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia nationals.

A statement issued by the office of President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday said, It was decided today to maintain the existing USD 50 fee for a 30-day visa for foreigners visiting the country and the free visa service currently offered to citizens of seven countries  India, China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

The governments decision to retain the existing visa fees and free visa service follows days of stiff criticism directed at the new on-arrival visa system, which was being handled by a foreign company at the Bandaranaike International Airport.

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In a shocking incident, a married woman from Rajasthans Churu district has accused her husband of allegedly getting her father-in-law and brother-in-law to rape her. Following the womans complaint, the police registered a case against the accused and started probing the matter.

As of now the police have filed an FIR in connection to the matter and have named eight people, including the womans father-in-law and brother-in-law, accusing them of rape.

According to the information received from the police, a married woman from a village in the Sandwa police station area has reported that her husband has been continuously feeding her intoxicants for the last 15-20 years and forcing her to have physical relations with other people. The woman further alleged that whenever she refused, her husband beat her brutally.

According to a report published in NDTV Rajasthan, the woman alleged that her husband used to mix intoxicants in tea and make her drink it and then get her raped. The woman later informed that once her husband ran with a sharp weapon to slit her throat after she protested against the incident. However, she saved her life by running away.

The woman revealed that she is a mother of three sons and a daughter.

The woman in the FIR also stated that the accused are threatening her to kill her brother as her three children are living with him. The incident came to light on Saturday, May 4. The police have acted on the womans complaint and have assured that strict action will be taken against the accused.

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Police have arrested a 26-year-old man after mephedrone or MD drug worth more than Rs 41.65 lakh was recovered from his possession in Mumbai suburb of Kurla, an official said on Monday.

According to the Kurla police station official, the accused was identified as Fareed Rehmatullah Sheikh, who recently came out on bail in a separate case registered against him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Acting on a tip-off, the police laid a trap in Kurla and nabbed the accused on Sunday while he was delivering a consignment of mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant drug, said the official. Sheikh was arrested under relevant sections of the NDPS Act and further investigation was underway, he added.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Calcutta High Courts April 22 order invalidating the appointments of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal. A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said since the tainted appointment can be segregated, it would be unwise to set aside the appointments in entirety.

The apex court, however, directed that the salaries of the illegal appointees would have to be refunded. It also allowed the CBI to continue the investigation into the case as per directions of the High Court order. However, the court told the probe agency that no precipitation action could be taken against the accused.

We are of the view that an expeditious disposal of the matter will be in the interest of Justice, we continue the ad interim protection given, subject to the express stipulation that any person found to have been appointed illegally and continued as a consequence of the present order shall refund the salary .this would cover the 4 categories of individuals, it said.

Passing the order, the court referred to CBIs report dated 5 February 2024 and said that the probe agency found manipulation on the account OMR sheets.

Apart from the above report of CBI, the impugned judgement of the High Court contained in para 240 that the SSC report tabulated the alleged irregularities, it added.

The court said that figures submitted by the SSC indicate that the number of appointments exceeded that told by the assessee.

The court noted that the West Bengal government had also accepted that there were widespread illegalities in the selection process.

Noting the contentions of appellants, the order said that cancellation of the entirety of the select list should be a matter of last recourse and where a segregation of the tainted candidates is possible only such names should be cancelled, and the petitions were filed 3 years after appointments were made for employees serving the State.

That it is manifestly unjust for the HC to set aside the entire process when identification of tainted candidates is possible, the court said.

We are of the view that submissions canvassed by the petitioners merit further consideration. The certificate under S 65B of the Evidence Act was issued by Pankaj Bansal, who is a former employee of NYSA communications. The legitimacy of the certificate obtained from the above individual would prima facie lie at the root of the data that forms the basis of the HC judgment to set aside the entirety of the appointments, the court added.

The court further said that apart, based on material, it would appear that the appointments so tainted can be segregated, so it would be unwise to set aside the appointments in entirety. The court cannot be unmindful of the teachers appointed in large numbers and the consequence of upholding the impugned judgment. The modalities would then need to be developed for the same, it said.

On 19 May 2022 the govt of WB in the school education department issued an order creating 6861 supernumerary posts for absorbing staff from waitlisted candidates and directed an appointment letter to such candidates should be issued in terms of the SSC subject to the outcome in the HC case, it said.

Earlier, terming the alleged recruitment scam in West Bengal systemic fraud, the Supreme Court said authorities were duty-bound to maintain the digitised records pertaining to the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff.

The public job is so scarce Nothing remains if the faith of the public goes. This is systemic fraud. Public jobs are extremely scarce today and are looked at for social mobility. What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith, how do you countenance this? the CJI asked the lawyers representing the state government.

The bench said the state government has nothing to show that the data was maintained by its authorities and asked about its availability.

Either you have the data or you do not have it. You were duty-bound to maintain the documents in digitised form. Now, it is obvious that there is no data. You are unaware of the fact that your service provider has engaged another agency. You had to maintain supervisory control, the bench told the state governments lawyers.

The court is likely to schedule the matter for further hearing in July.

Earlier, the state government had challenged the Calcutta High Court order, saying it cancelled the appointments arbitrarily.

(With PTI Inputs)

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The Supreme Court, while hearing a batch of pleas, challenging the Calcutta High Courts April 22 decision that invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal on Tuesday, said it would be unwise to set aside appointments altogether as the tainted ones could be segregated.

Terming the alleged recruitment scam in West Bengal systemic fraud, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said authorities were duty-bound to maintain the digitised records about the appointment of the teachers and non-teaching staff.

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra passed a story order staying the Calcutta High Courts April 22 order.

The Calcutta had asked the CBI to investigate further into the irregularities in the recruitment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff by the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) and also ordered fresh appointments within 15 days.

The top court, however, directed that the salaries of the illegal appointees would have to be refunded. It also allowed the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) to continue the probe into the case as per directions of the high court order. However, the court told the probe agency that no coercive action could be taken against the officials or appointees.

The court made strong remarks during the hearing. Here are the top quotes.

During the hearing, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, However sensitive or politically flawed the matter is, we should be concerned with the legality of the issues. Levelling allegations against HC judges will not lead us anywhere. He added, We all may have different political ideologies, but we should abide by the law. The court said, It further emerged during investigation that the company which was awarded the contract had further assigned the work to a company called Data Scan-Tech. As the tainted appointments can be segregated, it would be unwise to set aside the appointments in entirety, the CJI said. We are inclined to continue the interim protection subject to the express stipulation that any person found to have been appointed illegally and has continued as a consequence of the present order shall undertake to refund the salary drawn, he said.

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A woman in Uttar Pradeshs Bijnor allegedly tortured her husband by tying him up and burning his body parts with a cigarette. A complaint was lodged by the husband, following which the accused woman was arrested by Seohara district police on May 5.

The woman, identified as Mehar Jahan drugged her husband and tied his hands and legs before burning his body parts with a cigarette, the victim Manan Zaidi alleged.

The CCTV footage of the incident was also provided to the police and it shows Mehar Jahan physically torturing him and trying to strangle him while sitting on his chest.

The video also shows the woman burning her husbands body parts with a cigarette.

Based on the complaint, the police have registered a report against the accused woman under relevant sections and arrested her. Further action is being taken, Superintendent of Police Dharampal Singh told India Today.

According to Zaidi, he had filed a police complaint earlier as well where he accused his wife of torturing him by giving intoxicants and by subjecting him to abuse.

A case was registered against the accused woman under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which included attempt to murder, assault, and torture. She has currently been taken into custody.

According to a Times Now report, the couple got married nearly a year ago. After their marriage, she allegedly forced him to leave his family and live separately with her.

Reports claim that the woman would often beat him and torture him every single day.

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Umami is often described as the fifth taste, alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. It represents a savory, rich, and full-bodied flavor that enhances foods depth and complexity. In Japanese cuisine, umami is fundamental and is derived from specific ingredients like dashi (a broth made from kombu seaweed and bonito flakes), soy sauce, miso paste, and certain mushrooms like shiitake. These ingredients contain natural compounds such as glutamate and inosinate, which stimulate umami receptors on the tongue, imparting a satisfying and lingering taste. Umami is integral to creating balance and harmony in Japanese dishes, showcasing the art of flavor in culinary traditions.

Vladimir Villarba, Chef De Cuisine, Adrift Kaya, JW Marriot, New Delhi Aerocity, At ADRIFT Kaya, a modern Japanese Izakaya nestled within the JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity, we take pride in offering a transformative and fun culinary experience. We believe the heart of Japanese cuisine lies in its unique depth of flavor, and a significant part of this magic comes from a concept often overlooked in the West: umami.

Umami, translating to pleasant savory taste, is the fifth taste alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Its a rich, brothy essence found in cooked meats, aged cheeses, and certain vegetables. In Japanese cuisine, umami forms the very foundation of flavor, creating a satisfying and complex taste profile.

Our menu, meticulously crafted by Michelin-rated Chef David Myers, celebrates the symphony of umami. We source the freshest ingredients, many directly from Japans renowned Tsukiji fish market. Hokkaido scallops, a natural umami powerhouse, might grace your plate alongside miso-marinated black cod, where the fermented miso paste adds its own layer of savory depth, adds Chef Villarba.

The cornerstone of umami in Japanese cuisine lies in specific ingredients:
Days after Akshay Kumar and Arshad Warsi began shooting for Jolly LLB 3, it has now been reported that their movie has landed in legal trouble. As reported by NBT, Ajmer District Bar Association President, Chandrabhan has filed a complaint against the makers of the film alleging the franchise disrespects the Indian judiciary system.

Reportedly, a complaint has been filed against the actors, director and the producers of the film. In his complaint, Chandrabhan claimed that the film presents lawyers and judges in an inappropriate way which, he termed, is humorous and indecent. Chandrabhan has also urged the court to stop the Jolly LLB 3 shooting. His plea will be heard later today.

This decision has been taken considering the first and second parts of Jolly LLB. It seems that the filmmakers, directors and actors do not respect the dignity and prestige of the judiciary of the countrys Constitution at all. The shooting of Jolly LLB 3 is going on in the surrounding villages and areas including the DRM office of Ajmer, which will continue for several days. Even during the shooting of this film, the actors of the film do not seem to be at all serious about the image, prestige and dignity of the judiciary including the judges, Chandrabhan said as quoted by NBT.

The first Jolly LLB film was released in 2013. Its sequel hit theatres in 2017. The first film featured Arshad Warsi and Saurabh Shukla in the lead roles. In the sequel, Akshay Kumar replaced Arshad Warsi. He was also joined by Huma Qureshi.

Earlier, in an interview with the Hindustan Times, Arshad explained the reason behind going MIA in Jolly LLB 2. I have no idea. I have a feeling the makers wanted to upscale the film. I remember I told Subhash (Kapoor, director) also, You should do it with Akshay. If you want to show a crowd in a courtroom, with me it will be 500; with Akshay, you will get 5000. Somewhere, the production people realized, Lets get a bigger star. People liked to see me, so I am back. People will enjoy seeing me and Akshay, he said.

Reportedly, in the third instalment, Akshay Kumar and Arshad Warsi will be seen at loggerheads whereas, Saurabh Shukla will reprise his role as a judge. Recently, Akshay also dropped a fun video from the sets of Jolly LLB 3. In the clip, Akshay and Arshad were seen dressed in black robes. It began with Arshad warning everyone to beware of Jagdish Tyagi aka Jolly BA LLB Duplicate. Following this, Arshad was seen introducing himself as the original Jolly. The video ended with a glimpse of Saurabh Shukla.

Jolly LLB 3s release date has not been announced as of now.
Ananya Panday is all set to make her Ott debut with the web series Call Me Bae. She has already started shooting and often shares glimpses from the set. Today also it was no different day as Ananya shared another photo from the set. In the comedy series, Varun Dhawan will also be seen. This is for the first time they will be working together.

Taking to her Instagram stories, Ananya shared a photo of her vanity with Bae written on it. Look whos back, Cant wait to show you guys, read the caption. For her OTT debut, Ananya Panday will be seen essaying the role of a fashionista. The storyline revolves around a billionaire fashionista who, following a scandalous controversy, is disowned by her ultra-rich family and navigates life independently. Last year, in March the first poster of the same was shared. Prime Video revealed that the actress has kick-started the shoot of the series. The caption read, Hey, hey baes, theres a new fashionista in town who is here to stay and definitely slay all the way. Call Me Bae New Series, Now Filming.

Take a look here:

Before the poster of the upcoming series was unveiled, Prime Video shared the first glimpse of the show in a hilarious video featuring Ananya and Varun Dhawan. The caption read, Pakki khabar hai guys, Ananya Panday is the new fashionista in the primeverse! Watch this first glimpse and stay tuned. Call Me Bae New Series, Now Filming! The video opens with Varun greeting the viewers by introducing himself as Prime Bae. He continues by saying, Today Im going to reveal Amazon Primes new show, Call Me Bae! Next, we see Ananya in the background talking to the stylist and claiming that Call Me Bae is her show, where I play a total fashion expert just like moi.

Apart from this, Ananya is currently in the news for her rumoured breakup with Aditya Roy Kapur. A close friend of the two actors told the Bombay Times that, That they broke up almost a month ago. They were going quite well, and the breakup came as a shock to all of us. They are cordial with each other. Ananya is trying to move on; of course, theres hurt. She is spending time with her new furry friend. Aditya is also trying to deal with the situation maturely.
Aryan Khan is all set to make his directorial debut with a web series titled Stardom. He has been shooting for a long time and now there is a report coming in that he may complete the shoot by May end. Recently, Aryan Khans selfie with Mona Singh also went viral on social media.

Mid-Day in its report mentioned that Aryan Khan has been busy shooting for Stardom for the whole of April at locations like a studio in Andheri East to Madh Island. Last week, he took over the sprawling Royal Palms in Goregaon for a five-day shoot of the series. The shooting has been going on swiftly and the current schedule will wrap by the end of this week. If all goes well, Aryan and the team will complete the web series by the end of May.

According to a report by the Hindustan Times sources, Mona Singh is currently shooting for Stardom in Goa. The report mentioned a source as saying, Its a very interesting project, and she is getting to do something really different. The series will present her in a very different avatar. She is really enjoying her time working on set with Aryan. At the moment, Singh is busy shooting for the project in Goa, and its a long shoot schedule. Earlier, she shot for the project in Mumbai and Delhi. When it comes to her role, everything is being kept under wraps.

The source further mentioned, Aryan is keeping an eye on things to make sure no footage from the shoot goes online. He knows just how to explain scenes, which makes the work much easier. His vision is quite clear. He employs words to describe the scene in detail, which allows actors to perform to their full potential.

It was earlier reported that Bobby Deol has finished shooting for his role in Aryan Khans Stardom. A report in IndiaToday.in had mentioned, Bobby sir wrapped the shoot last month (March). The last schedule took place at YRF studio and Chitrakoot ground (Mumbai) where a set was built. He was a thorough professional and very dedicated to this project. The whole unit was very happy with his work. Bobby will soon begin dubbing for his role, as per the report.

Stardom will be a six-episode web show where each episode will witness a cameo by a Bollywood A-lister who will play themselves.
Bollywoods power couple Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone had fans worried after the Simmba star removed their wedding pictures from his Instagram grid. The actor is said to have archived all the posts that he shared before 2013. These include his and Deepikas wedding pictures. The social media move grabbed eyeballs, with many wondering if all is okay with them, especially since they are expecting their first baby together.

A source close to them has now revealed that Ranveer and Deepika are going strong, and that they are excited to welcome their first child together. The insider also confirmed that DeepVeer are on a vacation. The confirmation came a few hours after a picture of Deepika getting off an airplane had surfaced online.

There is no truth to any claim about their marriage hitting a rough patch. Its baseless. They are happy together, and constantly try to find a way out of their busy schedules, so that they can spend some quality time together, a source told Hindustan Times.

They are really excited to welcome their first child to the world, and are cherishing every moment of this phase of their life. In fact, Deepika and Ranveer are enjoying some quality time together on a quiet getaway in India, the grapevine added.

Addressing the missing wedding pictures, the insider said, Well, he has deleted all his pictures from the year before 2022-2023. It is not just about his wedding pictures. In fact, all his recent pictures with Deepika are still on his handles. So, it is really baffling as to how people can assume that there is any trouble in paradise.

Meanwhile, Ranveer and Deepika are yet to issue an official statement regarding the actors social media activity.

Deepika and Ranveer announced the actress pregnancy in February this year. They revealed that she is due in September this year. Ranveer had also said in one of his recent interviews that he is excited to take on his new role of a father.
Seouls COEX in Samsung-dong was overtaken by the glitz and glamour of the 60th Baeksang Arts Awards. The occasion honours the best achievements in domestic motion pictures and theatrical productions as well as broadcast, cable, and streaming TV content of that year. Fans were enthralled by the unexpected exchanges that transpired during the glamorous occasion. Among the events highlights was a fascinating interaction between two K-drama celebrities, Kim Seon-ho and Song Joong-ki, which had viewers wondering about the basis of their newfound bond.

The idols hugged each other and caught up, demonstrating their close bond. The fact that Kim Seon-ho and Song Joong-ki had not engaged in any public interactions before this awards event only served to pique viewers interest. Their impromptu and joyous meeting suggested a potential secret connection that had stayed hidden until that moment.

With this gesture, both celebrities attracted attention, but Song Joong-ki even sparked a bit of controversy. The Descendants of the Sun star seemed good-looking, radiant, and amiable in front of photographers. He finished off his look by giving a charming little heart-shaped gesture on his cheek.

Its worth remembering that Song Joong-ki previously declined to do heart signs at events because he thought they were dull.

As per Kbizoom, he even admitted during a press conference for the K-drama Reborn Rich that he found this common gesture boring.

Consequently, Song Joong-ki caused a stir when he did the same thing at the 60th Baeksang Awards that went against his earlier remarks.

In recognition of their achievements on the silver screen, Kim Seon-ho and Song Joong-ki were awarded prizes for Hopeless and The Childe, respectively.

Song Joong-ki will star in the Netflix film My Name is Loh Kiwan, which tells the story of North Korean defector Loh Kiwans meeting, breakup and love with a lady who has lost her reason to live.

Meanwhile, Kim Seon-ho is preparing for the mystery drama Mangnaein, in which Park Gyu-young is in talks to join the cast.

He is also negotiating to be the lead in the Hong Sisters next drama Can This Love Be Interpreted? where he could work with Han So-hee once more.

An additional proposal has been made for Kim Seon-ho to have a cameo in the drama You Have Done Well, starring Park Bo-gum and IU.
The Met Gala 2024 was held at the historic Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, New York City on May 6. Celebrities, dressed to the nines, walked down the red carpet in gorgeous ensembles. From Zendaya to Camilla Cabello, Alia Bhatt to Isha Ambani  the whos who of Hollywood and Bollywood dished out major sartorial goals at the gala night. But there were also a few celebs who skipped the fashion extravaganza for personal or professional reasons. One among them was Lilly Collins. Dropping a slew of pictures from her last years Met Gala appearance on Instagram, the actress expressed her sadness for skipping the annual affair.

Happy first Monday in May! Looking back on last years Met Gala and looking forward to seeing all the gorgeous looks tonight from afar. Sad to miss it this year, but always cheering on my dream team. All the looks youll see tonight are the result of creative genius and collaboration, and I cant wait to see their visions come to life, captioned Lilly Collins.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lily Collins (@lilyjcollins)

The photographs took fans of Lilly Collins on a nostalgic ride to last year. The Emily In Paris star wore a custom-made Vera Wang gown, exuding old Hollywood glamour. The ivory-white strapless bodice featured a corset detailing. The plunging and structured neckline cascaded down into a dual tapered hem, adorned with trapunto stitch elements. Complimenting the long-flowy train. The word KARL, emblazoned in silvery letters, paid tribute to last years theme  Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.

Lilly Collins accessorised her pretty-as-a-belle look with diamond jewellery. A retro hairstyle rounded off her Met Gala 2023 OOTD. In the snaps, Collins posed for the camera and admired the work-of-an-art ensemble.

Reactions were quick to flow in as the post surfaced on the internet. Lily Hepburn or Audrey Collins? complimented a person. Another called her the queen of outfits. So sad you wont be there but still so obsessed with this look, noted a third individual.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Lilly Collins is ready for the release of Emily In Paris 4. The first part of the comedy-drama will premiere on August 15, followed by the second on September 12.
Former China Unicom general manager jailed for 16 years for bribery, power abuse

Xinhua) 20:53, May 07, 2024

QINGDAO, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Li Guohua, former general manager of China Unicom, was on Tuesday sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of taking bribes and abuse of power.

Li was also fined 6 million yuan (about 845,000 U.S. dollars) and had his illegal gains confiscated and turned over to the state treasury, according to the sentence delivered by a court in the eastern city of Qingdao, Shandong Province.

The court found that between 1998 and 2022, Li had taken advantage of his various former positions in the post and telecommunications sector, as well as postal services, to offer assistance to others concerning project contracting, business operations and personal promotions.

Li accepted money and property worth more than 66.45 million yuan, and his illegal acts led to the loss of 49.96 million yuan worth of state-owned assets, the verdict read.

Li was given a lenient sentence given that he confessed his crimes, reported some of his crimes that supervisory organs had not yet resolved, showed remorse, and actively returned his illicit gains, according to the court.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
In a recent podcast, Rana Daggubati said that his character in the web series Rana Naidu appeared decent when Animal was released. He recollected how the audience initially disliked Rana Naidu, but after Animal, he seemed more acceptable to them. In a podcast called Rawtalks, Rana Daggubat said, Everyone was freaking the hell out. Then Animal released. Then I was like, Hey, now I look like a decent guy. Whats wrong with you?

During a roundtable discussion, Rana Daggubati mentioned that his popularity decreased after the release of Rana Naidu. He explained why he joined the web series, saying that he has always been interested in addressing taboo topics in society through mainstream storytelling. I was always interested in topics that are taboo to society that you can tell in a very mainstream form. Because at some point, we try to tell it in cinema and it becomes very arthouse, it becomes a sub-genre in some ways. But this had child abuse in a gangster drama set inside of a family. To me, that was very interesting. Its family drama that everyone gets. It has topics that you dont want to talk about or spoken very boldly and harshly so that was the first reason I got onto it, he had said.

While the debut season of Rana Naidu received praise from audiences, it also faced controversy due to strong language and intimate scenes. Rana Daggubati and Venkatesh have returned to the spotlight as they kick-start the shooting for the second season of Rana Naidu. The action-packed Netflix series follows Rana, called the fixer of the stars, as he solves the complex cases of famous personalities. Season one saw Rana involved in chaos when his father was released from prison. Meanwhile, the original cast left audiences impressed with their performance and the makers are leaving no stones unturned to ensure the new seasons success. To add more excitement, Dino Morea has joined the cast for a major role. Sources reveal that the Raaz star will play the character of a cop and Pinkvilla reports indicate that filming for his part has already begun.

Rana Naidu, an official remake of the American series Ray Donovan, is directed by Karan Anshuman and Suparn Varma. Other than Venkatesh Daggubati, Rana Daggubati and Dino Morea, the cast includes Suchitra Pillai, Gaurav Chopra and Surveen Chawla.
Malayalam movie icon Fahadh Faasil has heaped praise on Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor. In a new interview, Fahadh dubbed Ranbir as the best actor in the country. Fahadh also shared his views on being called a pan-India star, saying that he is just an actor who is interested in doing movies that he likes.

Fahadh, who has been receiving widespread acclaim for his performance in recently released Aavesham, also revealed that he finds Vicky Kaushal and Rajkummar Rao extremely talented. When asked about the impact of his films and his image as an actor, Fahadh told Film Companion, I dont have to hide anything, I have to be honest. I am doing my stuff here. No disrespect to anything. I dont think people expect magic from me, from Pushpa. Its a pure collaboration, love for Suku [Sukumar] Sir. My stuff is here. Very clearly. It doesnt get to me because I and a lot of my friends here think and believe that Vicky Kaushal is the find of the decade. Rajkummar Rao is one of the finest actors India has ever produced. Ranbir [Kapoor], I mean, the best actor in the country. So, I dont know what they see in me.

Fahadh also shared his thoughts on him being considered as a pan-India star. No, I am just an actor. I have nothing to do with pan-India. I just do my stuff. And I do what I believe and the idea is never that films do business. Thats secondary. But the films I do here, I dont I can ever do it anywhere else.

When asked if Pushpa: The Rise helped him become a pan-Indian star, the actor said, No, I dont think Pushpa did anything for me. I tell Sukumar sir that. I dont have to hide it. I have to be honest. I am doing my stuff here. No disrespect to anything. People expect magic from me after Pushpa no. Its pure collaboration and love for Sukumar Sir. My stuff is here (Malayalam cinema). Very clearly, my stuff is here. Thats one.
Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested the fifth accused from Rajasthan in the Salman Khan housing firing case. The accused, identified as Mohammad Chaudhary, provided money to the two shooters, Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta and helped them with recce of the actors residence in Mumbais Bandra.

Chaudhary is being brought to Mumbai today where he will be produced in the court and a demand for custody will be made, said Mumbai Crime Branch.

On April 14, two motorbike-borne persons opened fire outside Salman Khans residence in Bandra area of Mumbai. Four people, including shooters Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta, were arrested earlier in connection with the firing incident. Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his brother Anmol Bishnoi have also been shown as wanted accused, as per police.

One of the arrested accused, Anuj Thapan died in Mumbai Police custody. Thapan, accused of supplying firearms and bullets for the firing incident, was arrested on April 26 from Punjab along with Sonu Bishnoi and was remanded to police custody till April 30. The police have invoked provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) in the case.

On April 29, the police produced all the four accused, including Thapan, before a special court which remanded them to police custody till May 8. Thapan was found dead in the toilet of lock-up of the crime branch in the commissionerate complex at Crawford Market on May 1.

The family of Anuj Thapan has moved the Bombay High Court seeking a CBI probe into his death. While the police claim Thapan killed himself in the lock-up, his mother Rita Devi in her petition filed in the HC on Friday alleged foul play and claimed he was killed.

The petition alleged Thapan was physically assaulted and tortured by police in custody. It also sought the high court to direct the police to hand over CCTV footage of the police station and the lock-up where Thapan was held. The petitioner requested for the preservation of call data records (CDR) of police officials, who are probing the firing incident, from April 24 to May 2. It also sought directions for a fresh post-mortem in Thapans death.

(With PTI inputs)

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Telugu star Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who is currently gearing up for the release of Citadel: Honey Bunny along with Varun Dhawan, on Tuesday made her first public appearance after her fake nude photo went viral on the internet. Samantha avoided posing for the paparazzi as she stepped out of Mumbai airport.

In a video, shared by Snehkumar Zala on Instagram, the actress was seen wearing black sunglasses. She kept it casual for her airport look in black tank top and white joggers. She was also carrying a large tote bag from Louis Vuitton and covered her face with white mask.

Meanwhile, Samantha fell prey to the misuse of deepfake technology after Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif and Rashmika Mandanna. Seemingly reacting to the unfortunate incident, the actress shared a cryptic post on her Instagram handle.

Samantha simply reposted a quote from an Instagram page called conscious_collective that read: The real flex is simply allowing yourself to exist with no need to justify or prove yourself.

On Sunday, Samantha took to her Instagram stories to share a photo of herself from her therapy session which included far-infrared sauna. For the unversed, Samantha has been battling an auto-immune disease called myositis. Sharing the pic, she wrote in the caption, Continuously seeking out alternative approaches to healing and recovery. Along with the update, she listed the benefits of the sauna. Improved circulation to the muscles, boost metabolism, reduces body fat, increased energy, detoxify the body, reduced cellulite, rejuvenates skin, increased strength, enhanced sweating, lessens joint and muscle pain, and increases flexibility, she wrote with the picture. However, soon her deepfake began circulating widely alongside this photo, with some netizens even claiming that the actress posted both the images on her Instagram account but deleted them later.

Last week, Samantha Ruth Prabhu announced her new film titled Bangaram on the occasion of her 37th birthday. The update came months after The Family Man 2 star said she would return to work after a seven-month hiatus following her myositis diagnosis in 2022.
Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty visited Assam to offer her prayers at Kamakya Temple. Her visit to the temple comes a few days after Enforcement Directorate seized Shilpa and Raj Kundras assets worth Rs 98 crore in a crypto assets ponzi scheme case. The photos of her visit have now surfaced online and it showed the actress was joined by her mother.

In one of the photos, Shilpa was seen performing a special puja in the temple. She also posed with the authorities of the temple. Meanwhile, her husband, businessman Raj Kundra was not seen at the temple. See the photos below:

Last month, ED seized Rajs properties worth Rs 97.79 crore. The attached properties include a residential flat in Mumbais Juhu, in the name of Shilpa. Another property is a residential bungalow in Pune and Equity shares in the name of Raj Kundra, the ED said.

The Mumbai zonal office of ED has provisionally attached immovable and movable properties of Raj under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. It has been alleged that Kundra along with others collected huge amounts of funds in the form of bitcoins (worth Rs 6,600 crore in 2017) from the gullible public with the false promises of 10 per cent per month return in the form of bitcoins.

The couple issued a statement via their lawyer. They said they will cooperate with the concerned authorities. They hoped for fair investigation and stated that they had full faith in the Indian judiciary system.

We shall follow the due process of law and take necessary steps as prescribed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to protect the liberty and property of my clients. On the face of it, there is no prima facie case made out against my clients Mr Raj Kundra and Mrs Shilpa Shetty Kundra, their statement read.

We have complete faith in the Honourable Judiciary. I believe when we make our fair representation before the Honourable Enforcement Directorate, even the investigation agencies may grant justice to us. We have faith in the fair investigation. We stand committed to cooperating with the authorities as and when required, it added.

It was also reported that ED will call Shilpa for questioning.
This was supposed to be the review of a new book Nastik: Why I am not an Atheist by Kushal Mehra. But somehow, when I reflected upon the book launch in Mumbai with brilliant young intellectuals like Harsh Madhusudan, Abhijit Iyer Mitra, and Ami Ganatra, I went on a tangent even as I reviewed this book.

The last few years have been quite satisfying when one sees more and more young thinkers rooted in Bharatiya philosophy or Hindu ethos putting their pens to paper, or fingers on the keyboard. The spark was lit long back by Ram Swaroop and Sitaram Goel who questioned the Western leftist models and put Abrahamic ideologies and Marxist history under their microscopes. First-generation RSS pracharak Babasaheb Apte started the movement for rewriting Bharatiya itihas in the 1960s with his interpretation of Dashaavataar and the initiation of the search for the Saraswati river.

Dharampal, the veteran Gandhian came up with books written on the basis of British documents that demolished the British contention that India had nothing to offer except poverty, dogmatism, casteism, and ignorance. Unfortunately, his books vanished from bookshops and libraries never got a chance to buy them. I was lucky to get PDF files from the net before they were reprinted recently.

RSS pracharak Deendayal Upadhyay, the founding general secretary of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, presented a purely Bharatiya model of political economy  Ekatma Manav Darshan  Integral Humanism (though it is not an ism, it is darshan or philosophy). Dattopant Thengadi, one of the best intellectuals of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), elaborated this philosophy. He also created labour organisations like ABVP and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh that were inspired by Bharatiya culture and shunned the established leftist model of destructive student and labour unionism.

All this happened during the Nehruvian era. Those were still the days of Marxist monopoly that had distorted Bharatiya history and intellectualism beyond recognition, copy-pasting Western arguments with hardly any original work. So, these powerful decolonising efforts did not become mainstream. The scene changed dramatically with the rise of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir movement.

We saw some of the most brilliant minds coming out openly in support of a national narrative of Bharat. Girilal Jain, Arun Shourie, Meenakshi Jain, Koenraad Elst, Swapan Dasgupta et al created a new kind of intellectual capital in the times when it was a crime to identify oneself with Hindutva and Bharatiya culture.

On the other side of the planet, Rajiv Malhotra launched an intellectual war against the most powerful Left, anti-Hindu academic centres in the USA. Many academicians like SN Gangadhara joined the growing ranks of Indic intellectuals who refused to accept the Western worldview. These scholars took the battle into the Left fortresses. The Left academia tried to swat Rajiv like an irritating fly, but his intellectual rigour and countering of the Left anti-Hindu lobby made them sit up and begin responding to him. This was also the time when there was a frontal assault on Hindu dharma with terms like saffron terror and Hindu terror.

This upset many Hindus. This is when younger Bharatiya intellectuals began taking note of this strange aversion to anything Hindu and Bharatiya.

Researchers like Sanjeev Sanyal rewrote Indian history with a different perspective with academic rigour. Writers like Amish Tripathi and Ashwin Sanghi used the magical world of ancient Bharatiya literature to weave together fiction that echoed with the young.

Then came 2014. It can be called the year when Bharatiya intellectuals rooted in Bharat felt liberated. We began seeing a number of writers rise. Finally, publishers began to see some value in publishing them and enjoyed a huge upsurge in sales of books based on Hindu dharma and sanskriti. The challenge to the Western, Marxist narrative began taking shape in the true sense. Left intolerance became an important reason for an immaculate researcher like Vikram Sampath to pen landmark books. Hindol Sengupta, another young intellectual, added his own weight to this rising intellectual capital. We had Aravindan Nilakandan and RSS pracharaks like Sunil Ambekar and Nandakumar presenting Hindutva in contemporary terms.

There are scholars like Sandeep Balakrishna and Sandeep Singh who talk about the Dharmic framework for our history and public policies. Sandeep Balakrishna has revived the works of great historians who were banished from library shelves and wrote books that strengthened the Bharatiya narrative. Aabhas Maldahiyar and many other bright young researchers have begun writing history books with deep research. We have Sahana Singh and Bhaskar Kamble bringing to us the glory of our education and knowledge systems and have scholars like Ami Ganatra presenting old wisdom of our itihas of Ramayana and Mahabharata in new ways that tune well with the current generation.

There are many secular writers too who milked the Bharatiya itihas and stories like Ramayana to make money. I began reading a best-seller retelling of Ramayana, where the writer in his preface wrote, With this book, I have snatched Ram away from the communal forces. Naturally, I dropped it.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, just a representative list in view of limited column space. I have not touched the genre of political writing. Nearly all these books are an outstanding addition to the knowledge banks of our young citizens. They present objective, well-researched history, challenge the Western Left narrative, present the Indian knowledge system, or defend the Bharatiya worldview against aggressive Left attacks.

However, very few Indic writers presented new models for our Dharmic society and our nation based on the foundation of Dharma. I can talk about MR Venkatesh whose Retaining Balance argued for a new Bharatiya economic model based on family as the basic unit of any economic policy. He talked of purely Bharatiya framework for the rule of law in Bharat. And then Kushal Mehra, a well-read intellectual but a greenhorn in writing, hits the scene.

For a person who began writing very late in life with an urge to present Hindutva and RSS to a wider audience and bring its ideas to the mainstream literature when the non-Left and Right-wingers were still shunned and seen as untouchables of the intellectual world; it has been an exhilarating experience.

So far, predominant writings from non-Left schools have been within the framework of Western challenge. However, Kushal has presented his own framework for one of the most contentious issues of human society  atheist vs nastik, or atheism vs nastikata. He has set the terms of engagement in the Eastern worlds framework; choosing not to make the Western worldview as a benchmark to respond to. This is the importance of Kushals work.

While pointing out the follies of religion, he asserts that it is necessary for human society. He is not ready to throw the baby out with the bath water. A vacuum created due to the strong atheist movement in the Christian world has led to the rise of a dangerous infection called Wokeism. Nature abhors vacuum, he reminds us. His confidence and comfort in his Hindu skin and readiness to engage the West through our own construct is the most remarkable part of Kushal Mehras Nastik: Why I am not an Atheist.

Kushal doesnt argue to win an argument. He just puts forth the viewpoints of the Western world, the analysis of the Abrahamic religion vs the Dharmic worldview. He dispassionately criticises both Abrahamic and Sanatani religious practices. He then goes on to show the distinction between a nastik and an atheist objectively and asserts that one can be a nastik but still be dharmic and a Hindu; while one cannot be atheist and still be a follower of any Abrahamic religion. A Hindu can be a nastik but he can still be calm and accepted equally calmly by his society.

This book must be read by the young followers of different branches of Sanatana Dharma and various sampradayas, who are sceptical about their own religions and who think it is cool to say I am an atheist or I am spiritual but not religious, etc, without actually understanding his/her own religion. After reading this book, he/she will get a new insight into his/her own religion and dharma, and still have an open mind to be an astik or a nastik. It should also be read by Abrahamics who have turned ex-Muslims and ex-Christians to understand that being angry with ones own religion and turning woke only takes you down a blind alley and into another cult that is anti-society. You cannot build a good society based on hate or negativity.

Kushals book, to me, signifies the rise of the young Bharatiya thinkers in a true sense who are now confident in arguing with the world on their own terms from a dharmic perspective and creating their own paradigms.

Go ahead and read Nastik: Why I am not an Atheist to feel confident about our philosophies and your beliefs, and then follow the path that would make you a better human being who feels connected to his/her society and family.

The writer is a well-known author and political commentator. He has written several books on RSS like RSS 360, Sangh & Swaraj, RSS: Evolution from an Organisation to a Movement, Conflict Resolution: The RSS Way, and done a PhD on RSS. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.
Discrimination on the basis of region, religion, caste and gender is an offence in India. Almost all companies are aware that they can not select or reject a candidate solely on the basis of their home state. Therefore, it came as a shocker for many when a recruitment call on LinkedIn mentioned Marathi people not welcome" while inviting applications for a Graphic Designer. What is even more surprising is that the location for the job was listed as Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra. An X user shared a screenshot of this post which got over two lakh views since it was posted on May 5.

As per the post, the ideal candidate must know how to use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Nowhere does the jobs specifications indicate that it is fit for a person from a certain state, which makes the condition Marathi people not welcome" even more senseless. The job was for ITCODE Infotech, an IT Solutions company. This recruitment call has sparked much outrage against the recruiter and the company with many demanding legal action against them.

DISCRIMINATION ALERT  Hi @MumbaiPolice @MahaCyber1This is Janvi Sarna from Surat. HR recruiter in IT CODE INFOTECH. In one of her linkedIn post she mentioned a very discriminatory condition #Marathi People are not welcome here".Please take action.1/#StopHatingMarathis pic.twitter.com/Gm3GZ0G4ca    (@suktabombil) May 4, 2024

Commenting on this, an X user wrote, I have seen only a certain business community do this kind of discrimination for basic job roles in Bengal, Andhra, Orissa and now Maharashtra."

I have seen only a certain business community do this kind of discrimination for basic job roles in Bengal, Andhra, Orissa and now Maharashtra. https://t.co/ejNlmJ50Wi Saurav (@sauravbas) May 5, 2024

Another person remarked, Pathetic! I do agree that this kind of community bias & unnecessary hatred needs to stop. However, this looks like a post published solely to create unrest among people, and further, more controversy. Cant rule out a fake/troll profile or even a political stunt."

Pathetic! I do agree that this kind of community bias & unnecessary hatred needs to stop. However, this looks like a post published solely to create unrest among people, and further, more controversy. Cant rule out a fake / troll profile or even a political stunt. https://t.co/iASbPtpPsR Priya Adivarekar (@priyaadivarekar) May 5, 2024

In response to the outrage, ITCODE Infotech released a statement and said that the person who put out the post is not affiliated with them. The statement said, We strongly condemn the recent hateful post directed towards Marathi people by JANVI SARNA. Its important to clarify that she is not affiliated with our company in any capacity; she simply utilised our company name on LinkedIn, a platform open to anyone." The company added that they do not have any job openings as of now.

The HR personnel, who works as a freelancer, also apologised for her mistake in a number of LinkedIn posts. She wrote, I really apologise. A few days back I posted a graphic designer job opening post and because of a single objectionable sentence, many peoples sentiments got hurt. This is to inform you that I dont endorse such comments which discriminate against anyone. It was due to my oversight, I posted this job opening here."

However, it looks like there are rarely any takers for her apology as most of the replies to her posts were still negative. Additionally, she did not mention what prompted her to write Marathi people not welcome" in the first place.
In recent months, Bengaluru has been making headlines for several reasons. From facing a severe water crisis last month to scorching heat and traffic congestion is a daily struggle for its residents. However, the recent rain brought little relief but it left many angered as many roads were blocked due to waterlogging. Despite numerous attempts by business personalities and citizens to offer solutions to these issues, city officials remain unbothered. Anant Sharma, co-founder of a Bengaluru-based company, recently started the debate on X after he criticized the citys infrastructure, weather and water quality. He even questioned whether it was wise to consider relocating to cities like Mumbai or Pune, or even leaving the country.

The entrepreneurs genuine concern garnered mixed responses from his followers. Some advised him to relocate if he can afford it and has reliable options, while others remained confident that Bengaluru will transform in the coming years. On the other hand, some individuals claimed that every city has their own set of problems and encouraged him to find solutions rather than run away. Sharma wrote, Bangalore looks like its gonna go to the dogs in another 5 years with bad infra, bad weather and bad water. Is Mumbai or Pune worth shifting to or should I just leave India?

Bangalore looks like it's gonna go to the dogs in another 5 years with bad infra bad weather and bad water. Is Mumbai or Pune worth shifting to or should I just leave India? Anant (@AnantNoFilter) May 3, 2024

One user suggested that if Anant Sharma is not from Karnataka, Mumbai could be a great alternative, as the city has a mixed population, and people of different backgrounds and languages are welcomed. The user even mentioned that transportation and access to beaches is easy in Mumbai.

If not a kannadiga .. Yes Mumbai is great choice ..1) More diversified crowd .. Not just Techies 2) Hindi or any language is welcomed 3) Better service from service providers like auto , maid etc .. less tanturms 4) Beaches .. I did not like  Shailesh Naik (@scode_snn) May 4, 2024

Another highlighted that every city has its own challenges and encourages to face the problem rather than flee and work towards finding solutions.

every cities have issues , stop running away and start owning the city  Mukesh (@mikejava85) May 4, 2024

An individual believed that leaving Bengaluru might be a straightforward decision due to various challenges other than weather and water. The user suggested that if he can afford to leave, he can relocate.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but it's pretty straightforward now. It's not just about weather and water. There are many other indicators. If you can afford, leave. Period. Satyajeet (@HeySisyphus) May 4, 2024

Another predicted Bengalurus future, claiming that itll become even bigger and better in five years, with improved infrastructure like the metro and rail systems.

So here's my prediction, Bangalore will be bigger and better in 5 years attracting even more engineering talent, better metro + Suburban rail, while people keep ranting about how it's going to go to dogs 5 years after that Naveen Kumar Battula (@kaizoku156) May 4, 2024

One more added, Leave India. All the cities are going through the same.

Leave India. All the cities are going through the same observer (@cluelesstechie) May 4, 2024

Since Anant Sharma shared his opinion on X, it has gone viral and garnered over 3 lakh views.
Having a mentor or friend who inspires and pushes you to do good is a true blessing. Their encouragement and belief in you can boost your confidence and keep you motivated, especially when facing challenges. Experiencing something similar, Indian-origin entrepreneur Sahil Bloom from New York recently took to social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) and shared how his life changed because of his friend, aka mentor, Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook. The entrepreneur dubbed the Apple CEO as brilliant, successful, and a good man, expressing that his assistance came at a time when he was feeling lost.

Taking to the micro-blogging site X, Sahil Bloom shared a picture of him and the Apple CEO on May 4, I had the great joy of catching up for dinner in Omaha with a friend and mentor. A few years ago, when I was feeling lost, Tim Cook pushed me to think differently and follow my energy. It changed my life, he wrote.

He is brilliant and successful, but more importantly, a good man, the entrepreneur added.

Have a look at the post below:

I had the great joy of catching up for dinner in Omaha with a friend and mentor.A few years ago, when I was feeling lost, @tim_cook pushed me to think differently and follow my energy. It changed my life. He is brilliant and successfulbut more importantly, a good man. pic.twitter.com/YLk9QK8sUw  Sahil Bloom (@SahilBloom) May 4, 2024

Since being shared, the post has grabbed the attention of many social media users. They couldnt help but chime into the comment section to share their views. While the majority of the people expressed how important it is to have a mentor or friend who helps guide you through tough times and change your life for the better, some were curious to know the advice or insight Tim Cook gave him.

Having a mentor and a circle of good friends can change your life for good, a user wrote.

Having a mentor and a circle or good friends can change your life for good @SahilBloom Foundation  (@FoundationIncCo) May 4, 2024

Another person said, Everyone needs such kind mentor.

everyone need such kind mentor Ishtiyaq Ahmed (@Istu786) May 4, 2024

Its amazing how a few words can ignite a whole new path, commented another user.

It's amazing how a few words can ignite a whole new path. Tomer Rozenberg (@RozenbergTomer) May 4, 2024

An individual added, Having such inspiring figures in our lives is truly a blessing.

Having such inspiring figures in our lives is truly a blessing. Dinesh Puppala (@dineshxr) May 4, 2024

So important to have mentors along the way to help guide you through tough times. Enjoy your time in Omaha! posted another.

So important to have mentors along the way to help guide you through tough times. Enjoy your time in Omaha! Viv | Intentional Living (@Intentional_Liv) May 4, 2024

An account remarked, Everyone should make friends with people that force them to level up.

Everyone should make friends with people that force them to level up. George  (@GeorgeNoble07) May 4, 2024

Till now, more than 321,800 viewers have viewed the post, and the share is still counting more.
The Earths magnetic field serves as the planets primary shield, protecting it from the Suns strong cosmic radiation. However, recent research claims that the Earths magnetic field dissipated some 590 million years ago, creating ideal circumstances for early life to thrive. In their recent research, University of Rochester, US, Earth scientist Wentao Huang and colleagues write that Earths magnetic field was in a highly unusual state when macroscopic animals of the Ediacara fauna diversified and thrived.

Previous research has proven that multicellular life first appeared on Earth around 565 million years ago (the Ediacaran epoch). This phase happens to coincide with the time when our planets magnetic field collapsed to its lowest point. However, we know that the magnetic field is there to shield humans from solar winds. So, how did its absence promote life on Earth?

Scientists found crystals in igneous rocks from South Africa that formed billions of years ago, as well as additional 591-million-year-old rocks from Brazil. It is important because as these rocks form, they retain the intensity of the Earths magnetic field.

The researchers discovered that the magnetic field reached its lowest point 500 million years ago when it was 30 times weaker than it is today. The low magnetic field period lasted roughly 26 million years, during which time our planet experienced a surge in species. The new data confirming and extending the UL-TAFI strengthen a potential linkage with the Ediacaran evolution of macroscopic animals, Earth scientist Huang and colleagues wrote in the research paper.

The reduced magnetic field, the scientists suggest, may have allowed more hydrogen ions to escape from Earths atmosphere into space, potentially resulting in higher oxygen levels in the oceans and skies. According to the researchers, higher oxygen levels led to an explosion in biodiversity.

A complex animal ecosystem involving long food chains and predators requires still greater amounts of oxygen, as indicated by the exclusion of such complex ecosystems from the modern oxygen minimum zone, the research paper added.

Still, how did the organisms manage to avoid the solar winds fury? Scientists believe that the Earths atmosphere and oceans may have operated as a barrier for early life forms. Those huge animals that walked on land, without the protective protection of seas, may have reached an evolutionary dead end during this stage.
With the advent of social media, there is no dearth of new images and videos that take the internet by storm. Some interesting pictures keep emerging regularly, leaving viewers stunned, and this time an old image of Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai from his graduation days is going viral. Recently, an X user named Ananya Lohani shared a picture on the micro-blogging site from his fathers convocation day at IIT Kharagpur in 1993. The picture showed his father with Sundar Pichai, who was in the same batch at IIT Kharagpur.

Hold on to your horses. The viral post circulating online not only featured the Google and Alphabet CEO but also featured Sundar Pichais only female classmate, Sharmistha Dubey. She was the former CEO of an American IT company, Match Group, which owns several dating apps such as OkCupid and Tinder.

Sharing the picture on the microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter) on May 6, Ananya Lohani wrote, My dad just shared this picture of his IIT KGP convocation (1993) with him, Sundar Pichai, and Sharmistha Dubey in the same frame. This is absolutely insane

My dad just shared this picture of his IIT KGP convocation (1993) with him, Sundar Pichai and Sharmistha Dubey in the same frame.This is absolutely insane pic.twitter.com/v9Hup5xhh1  Ananya Lohani (@ananyalohani_) May 6, 2024

Since being shared, the post has gone crazy viral, leaving viewers in awe. Social media users filled the comment section with an influx of comments, with many calling it a brag-worthy IITian post. Others were curious to know what the users father was doing, his profession, and whether they were in touch with each other or not. Till now, the share has amassed more than 595,000 views, and the numbers are still increasing.

No way. You might have the most supreme referral Google has ever seen, commented a user.

An individual posted, This is absolutely epic.

This is absolutely epic . Pahadi  | (@bkabduwal) May 6, 2024

Thats a powerful picture. Greatness frozen in time, wrote another.

Thats a powerful picture. Greatness frozen in time. Prasad (@GoddamGeek) May 7, 2024

An account remarked, Nowww, finally, this is a brag-worthy IITIAN post.

Nowww finally this is a brag worthy IITIAN post. Ankit (@AnkitPahuja_) May 6, 2024

Did they all have a batch reunion? Another photo of today vs 93 would be nice, queried a user.

Did they all have a batch reunion? Another photo of today vs 93 would be nice  vijay (@Vic_Vij) May 6, 2024

Sundar Pichai and Sharmistha Dubey were part of IIT Kharagpurs BTech in Metallurgy batch in 1993. While Pichais meteoric success in Silicon Valley serves as an example for Indian immigrants, Sharmistha Dubey is hailed for revolutionising the online dating game. She is the creative force behind the Likes You feature for Tinder, which was unveiled in 2017.
Birthday celebrations are full of fun, excitement, gifting, eating cake and spending lots of time with family and friends. Generally, in Indian culture, elders apply tilak to the birthday person. After all, birthdays are a special occasion. In Jharkhands Koderma, a pet dog named Rockys birthday was celebrated with utmost pomp and joy. Just like a little child, Rockys birthday did not lack anything- from balloons, cakes, friends and family gathered and food.

On May 5, in Koderma, pet dog Rockys birthday was hosted which included a cake cutting, the house was decorated and people from his neighbourhood were also invited. After the cake was cut, there was a bash. Kaushalesh Kumar, a resident of Gaushala Road in Shiv Shakti Nagar, Jharkhand went out of the way to make sure their fur baby got the best birthday party ever.

The family began preparing for their pets birthday a week early. They placed an online order for a body belt, locket, special shampoo and conditioner and other things as his birthday gift. On May 5, the hall of the house was decorated with balloons and birthday ribbons.

On the birthday evening, Rocky was made to sit on the sofa adorning a cute birthday cap. Then the family members applied a red tilak on his furry forehead. Only after this, he got to cut the cake. They made sure their fur baby got the first slice and later the cake was distributed among the guests. After his cake cutting, Rocky was also given chive bones as gifts.

In an interview with Local18, Kaushalesh Kumar shared, Rocky was brought from Dhanbad in the year 2018. He was quite small then. He further added, Over these last six years, Rocky has become an integral part of the family. He added that the dog is like a child and before they leave for work in the morning, he plays with the family and even after returning from work in the evening. Kaushalesh further believes that Rocky kicks away stress from their household. He said that many times people keep dogs at home, so it is important to take care of their health as well.
For the longest time, science enthusiasts and space scientists have hoped to receive some type of communication from aliens. The existence of aliens has inspired a number of science fiction books and movies. One of the pioneering institutes that work to explore the existence of extraterrestrial life is the SETI Institute in California, USA. It was formed in 1984 to explain the origin and nature of life in the universe. For the past 50 years, the space research organisation has been trying to make contact with aliens in a number of ways such as reading for any signals being emitted from the galaxy.

Seth Shostak, senior astronomer for the SETI Institute, is one of the optimists who thinks that humans might get a signal or some form of communication from aliens in the next 10 to 15 years. Many scientists believe that aliens living in other galaxies can establish contact with the blue planet by reading signals transmitted by man-made satellites.

A few years ago, Shostak participated in an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit where he took questions on space research. One person asked him, Hello Seth, do you think we will still find intelligent aliens before 2036 as you had predicted before? In response, the 80-year-old astronomer said, I do! The trend of improving hardware  mostly computers  has proceeded unabated. Im still betting on a signal by 2036.

In 2023, a study by the University of Manchester also hinted at this possibility. The study concluded that the thousands of satellites circulating around the Earth throw heightened radio signals that can be picked up by the aliens.

Professor Mike Garrett, Team Leader of the project and Director of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, told Daily Mail, Although its true we have fewer powerful TV and radio transmitters today, the proliferation of mobile communication systems around the world is profound.

He added, Current estimates suggest we will have more than one hundred thousand satellites in low Earth orbit and beyond before the end of the decade. The Earth is already anomalously bright in the radio part of the spectrum; if the trend continues, we could become readily detectable by any advanced civilization with the right technology.

Only time will tell if these predictions and prophecies come true and if scientists manage to find concrete evidence about the existence of aliens.
The United Kingdom Space Agency is set to send spacecraft to Mars in search of water and possible life. NASA and other countries have initiated multiple Mars missions. They have sent rovers and landers to the far-red planet. Among 21 lander missions and 8 sub-lander missions, the Curiosity rover, Perseverance rover, and Tianwen-1 are currently in operation on Mars. They are helping the scientists find possible traces of life on the planet. SpaceX also has the Mars Colonisation Program.

The United Kingdom is not far behind. They have built a baffling Mars environment on the face of the Earth itself. The setup is made in Stevenage. The French aerospace company Airbus used red sand and rocks to recreate the surface of the planet that is circling the sun 140 million miles away. The objective is to test the ExoMars rover that will be used in the 2028 Mars mission by the UK.

In 2028, the craft will blast off on a mission to find signs of water on the red planet. According to scientists, Mars holds the potential to support life forms. Airbus, with the help of 3,500 employees, built the rover in Stevenage. In the year 2028, the aircraft will set out for the journey.

The company was supposed to make a deal with the European Space Agency for the thrusters for the landing module. However, it got delayed due to the delay in supply over the Ukraine war. An excited Chris Draper, exploration rovers program manager for Airbus, said, Having built the rover at Stevenage, well now be a big part of designing the lander to make sure she gets down safely. According to him, the space operation had been a real success story for the UK.

The thriving space project in the United Kingdom contributes 17.5 billion (Rs 183 crore) a year to the economy without any rockets launched by the nation itself. However, Britain has received around 17 per cent of the worlds private investments in the space research sector since the year 2015.

Talking about the importance of space research in Britain, Space Minister Andrew Griffith said, I see no reason why British firms should not be right at the forefront of efforts to build a new space-based economy.

As part of the major project, Space Forge, the semiconductor maker based in Cardiff, Wales, is working to put a miniature factory in orbit very soon. The company is aiming to produce ultra-pure crystals to use on high-performance computer chips.

The Skyrora from Glasgow is preparing to launch similar craft from the SaxaVord spaceport in the Shetlands later this year. US aircraft giant Lockheed Martin will also take part in it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday cast his vote at a polling booth in Ahmedabad in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024. When the Prime Minister stepped outside the booth, he was greeted by a sea of supporters. Among them was a visually impaired girl. A video of the interaction between the girl and PM Modi has been shared on social media. In the short clip, he is seen walking towards her and initiating a conversation.

After their short chat, the PM went ahead with his walk. When PM Modi approached the crowd, the SPG (Special Protection Group) commandos followed him. As people clung to PM Modis hand, a commando stepped in to tell people to maintain their distance. However, PM Modi gestured that he was okay and the commando stepped back.

A user, on X (formerly Twitter) shared this clip and wrote, The PM saw a visually challenged girl, went to her & talked with her. He even asked the SPG guy to relax Such a heartwarming video.

The PM saw a visually challenged girl, went to her & talked with her.. He even asked the SPG guy to relax.Such a heartwarming video  pic.twitter.com/kwnyJY9ExA  Mr Sinha (Modi's family) (@MrSinha_) May 7, 2024

This clip has gathered over 4.6 lakh views so far. An X user commented, Look at the girl and feel her happiness. A heart-touching moment.

Look at girl and feel her happiness,Heart touching moment.Only our PM can do it   (  ) (@Ramesh00323016) May 7, 2024

Another person wrote, Acts of kindness and empathy, especially from those in positions of power, can have a profound impact.

Acts of kindness and empathy, especially from those in positions of power, can have a profound impact. SANATAN (@Eternaldharma_) May 7, 2024

Someone observed the dilemma of the SPG officials who often have to step in between the Prime Minister and his fans for security reasons.

SPG ka fault nahi hai yaar. They have to protect the most important person for India  Kartikeya Tanna (@KartikeyaTanna) May 7, 2024

PM Modi cast his vote at the Nishan Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad. After voting, he showed his inked finger and said, Today is the third phase of voting. There is great importance of Daan in our country and in the same spirit, the countrymen should vote as much as possible. 4 rounds of voting are still ahead.

He also shared a post on X which read, Voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections! Urging everyone to do so as well and strengthen our democracy.

Voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections! Urging everyone to do so as well and strengthen our democracy. pic.twitter.com/PlLCw7Fwe3 Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 7, 2024

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is contesting from Gandhinagar, a parliamentary constituency which has been a BJP bastion since 1989.
Jason Holton, known as Britains heaviest man, passed away last Saturday at the age of 33, just a few days before his 34th birthday. His grieving mother, Leisa Holton is worried that they may not be able to find a chamber big enough to cremate him. Jason was a resident of Camberley, in Surrey who weighed 317 kg at the time of his death. The cause of his death is being reported as organ failure and obesity. His mother Leisa wishes to give him a proper send off, but is unable to find a place big enough to accommodate him.

Talking to the Sun, Leisa said, Jason wanted to be cremated but there are concerns he might be too wide for the chamber. She added that his weight is not the concern but believes that he may be too wide to fit in a hearse. Sharing her financial concerns of the funeral she stated that they cannot afford the needed burial for him. She spoke further, We need to give him a proper send off. I miss him a hell of a lot. I loved him very much.

After his death, Jason was transferred to the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, his mother staying close to him. He was carried in a special ambulance and with the help of six firefighters, he was transferred to the hospital.

As per reports, the death of Jasons father played a big role in his obesity and weight gain. In an earlier interview, Jason himself talked about how his fathers death, when he was just three, impacted his life. He also had to deal with bullying at school, while going through mental health issues, which became major reasons for his weight gain.

He told a media portal, Maybe if I had my father around, maybe there would be rules set to what Im eating and stuff to stop me putting things and stuff in my mouth. Leisa acknowledged that it was hard for her to control him without her partner.
Anti-Israel protesters burned an American flag and vandalised a World War I memorial in Central Park on Monday as they were stopped by police from disrupting the star-studded Met Gala.

A 1000-strong mob was blocked by New York City police from reaching the Metropolitan Museum of Art which holds the annual event.

Multiple arrests of pro-Palestine protesters near the Met Gala, where protests at NYU and Hunter College converged. SRG is now marching down the street threatening arrest of anyone in the roadway. pic.twitter.com/VOdd52odeQ  Isabelle (@isabelle_leyva) May 6, 2024

The incident happened near the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 67th which is very close to the Metropolitan Museum of Art but there was a large police presence near the venue to ensure that the fashion event was not crashed by anti-Israel protesters.

#BREAKING: MASS ARRESTS AT DAY OF RAGE PROTESTS OUTSIDE MET GALA IN NYCIts still early, so this could get UGLY pic.twitter.com/IeitSr0eMR  Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 6, 2024

The protesters clashed with police in several locations near the Met Gala and several arrests were made, videos shared on social media show.

(NYC) H@mas has just entered our beloved Central Park. This is my threshold  time for the National Gaurd! Where is the mayor? Why are our local politicians walking the red carpet of the MET Gala while our city is being completely taken over ?!? pic.twitter.com/9RsGGvHZoT Manhattan Mingle (@ManhattanMingle) May 6, 2024

A report by the New York Post said that protesters vandalised the General William Tecumseh Sherman bronze statue in Grand Army Plaza and painted Free Gaza graffiti in red letter on the base of the statue as they fixed a Palestinian flag to its front.

Police officers arrested about two dozen anti-Israel protesters near Madison Avenue and East 83rd Street as the protesters marched from Hunter college towards Met, according to a report by The New York Post.

Videos on social media that captured the protests showed New York Police Department (NYPD) officers telling protesters that their protests are affecting vehicular traffic and that they should limit themselves to the sidewalk.

The protesters said that they were a part of a Day of Rage protest organised by the Palestinian activist group Within Our Lifetime. The group was stopped by police in New Yorks Central Park amid chants of Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.
Australian Erin Patterson who allegedly murdered three people by serving them a poisonous mushroom lunch pleaded not guilty to murder. The case has garnered international attention and captured the attention of Australians as well.

The 49-year-old is facing three murder charges and two counts of attempted murder. She is accused of serving a fatal beef Wellington meal in July 2023 that killed her parents-in-law and another guest.

Cops in the Australian province of Victoria who are probing the case have also alleged that she tried to kill her estranged husband on three other occasions. She continues to maintain her innocence.

She says that she did not intentionally poison her guests. Not guilty your honour, she said, appearing at the court proceedings via a video link.

The Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court told Patterson to formally enter pleas to the charges against her.

Court officials said the case would now be fast-tracked for trial at the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Patterson allegedly served the beef Wellington to her estranged parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, as well as local Baptist pastor Ian Wilkinson, 69, and his wife Heather Wilkinson, 66.

Three of the lunch guests  Don and Gail Patterson, and Heather Wilkinson  died in the days following the meal.

Ian Wilkinson recovered after spending nearly two months in hospital.

Police suggested that the meal she served included lethal death cap mushrooms.

Death cap mushrooms, scientifically Amanita phalloides, are highly toxic fungi responsible for severe poisonings and fatalities worldwide due to their potent amatoxins, causing liver and kidney failure.

Despite their deadly nature, death cap mushrooms can be mistaken for edible mushrooms, leading to accidental poisonings.

Detectives mentioned that Simon Patterson, the husband, fell ill after eating meals prepared by his estranged wife on four occasions in 2021 and 2022. Erin Patterson is also being charged with attempting to murder him.

When police started probing the case, Erin told them that she did not know that the mushrooms were poisonous. I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones, the 48-year old said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said the terms of the ceasefire that Hamas accepted is far from meeting Israels demands and the operation in Rafah will proceed as planned even though Hamas accepted a proposal for a truce.

Netanyahus office said that the proposal is far from Israels essential demands but it will send negotiators for talks to exhaust the potential for arriving at an agreement to Cairo to attend talks that will begin on Tuesday with the aim for arriving at a deal.

People familiar with the developments told US broadcaster CNN that a limited incursion into Rafah was intended to keep Hamas leaders under pressure to agree to a deal that would bring about a ceasefire and hostage release.

Israeli forces said that they have taken control of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing. They said that the Kerem Shalom crossing is also currently closed and will reopen once the security situation allows.

The announcements were met with cheers from crowds who took the street amid tears of happiness, chants of Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) and celebratory shooting in the air. In Israel, hostage families and their supporters urged the Israeli government to accept the deal.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said that it was conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel is continuing the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages and the other objectives of the war, the IDF said in a statement.

Israel followed through by carrying out strikes on the Gazan city of Rafah overnight. A report by AFP said that there was heavy bombardment throughout the night and the Kuwaiti hospital there said early Tuesday that five people had been killed and several others injured in Israeli strikes.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said aircraft targeted more than 50 terror targets in the Rafah area throughout the day. Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said Monday night that it had fired rockets from Gaza towards southern Israel in response.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against invading Rafah as his administration said that it is reviewing a response from Hamas.

Hamas member Khalil al-Hayya told the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel that the proposal agreed to by Hamas involved a three-phase truce.

He said it includes a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the return of Palestinians displaced by the war and a hostage-prisoner exchange, with the goal of a permanent ceasefire.

International alarm has been steadily building about the consequences of an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah, situated on the border with Egypt. An incursion into the city would be intolerable, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday, calling on Israel and Hamas to go an extra mile to reach a ceasefire deal.

This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and a ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences, and because of its destabilising impact in the region, Guterres said. Egypts foreign ministry warned of grave humanitarian risks for the more than one million Gazans sheltering there and urged Israel to exercise the utmost restraint. Jordanian King Abdullah II asked US President Joe Biden in talks Monday to intervene to stop a new massacre in Rafah.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday levelled an accusation against Australia adding that its navy helicopter deliberately flew within close range of Chinese airspace, which the ministry deemed a provocative move.

An Australian military shipboard helicopter deliberately flew close to Chinas airspace in the name of enforcing UNSC resolutionsa provocative move that threatened Chinas maritime and air security, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

This comes after Australia protested to Beijing through multiple channels that a Chinese fighter jet endangered an Australian navy helicopter with flares over international waters, the prime minister said.

The incident occurred on Saturday as the Australian air warfare destroyer HMAS Hobart was enforcing United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea in international waters in the Yellow Sea, the Defense Department said in a statement.

A Chinese Chengdu J-10 fighter jet released flares in the flight path of an Australian Navy Seahawk deployed from the Hobart 300 metres (986 feet) in front of the helicopter and 60 metres (197 feet) above, Defense Minister Richard Marles said.

The helicopter pilot had to take evasive action not to be hit by those flares, Marles said in a statement.

It was the most serious encounter between the two nations forces since Australia accused the Chinese destroyer CNS Ningbo of injuring Australian navy divers with sonar pulses in Japanese waters in November last year. Australia said China disregarded a safety warning to keep away from the Australian frigate HMAS Toowoomba.

China maintains that the encounter happened outside Japanese territorial waters and that the Chinese warship caused no harm.

Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to visit Australia this year for the first time in a decade as bilateral relations have improved in recent years from unprecedented lows.

(With PTI inputs)
The Duke of Sussex Prince Harry is set to visit Britain for the inauguration ceremony of the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games on May 8.

As part of the commemoration, Prince Harry will attend a service at St. Pauls Cathedral in London, which is located barely three and a half kilometers from his father, King Charles III, who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer.

While it hasnt been officially confirmed whether he will meet his ailing father, some reports suggest that the Duke of Sussex is very keen to see him during his visit.

However, amid these, Queen Camilla reportedly does not want Prince Harry to be alone with his father, as per a royal expert.

According to Angela Levin, Prince Harry has now lost the Queens trust, and as a result, she is not willing to allow him to speak to his father alone.

Queen Camilla will not let Harry talk alone to his father, Angela Levin told British broadcaster GB News.

He cant be trusted. I think King Charles is vulnerable. He might say something about his health, Levin added.

The royal expert also revealed that Harrys visit this time is expected to be brief, saying she anticipates him to be in and out.

Nobody really wants to see him, said Levin, adding, King Charles will, because hes his father, and fathers love their children even if they go off and behave badly.

The last time the Duke of Sussex visited the country was to meet with his father King Charles after his cancer diagnosis in February. However, Harry wifes Meghan Markle stayed in California with their two children.

The Princes visit coincides with a challenging period for the Royal Family, as both King Charles and Harrys sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, have been diagnosed with cancer.
David Azadi Scott is a long-time storyteller and theater enthusiast. He was born right here in the beautiful Black Hills but has also spent time living in Utah and Missouri. In his spare time he enjoys writing, exploring the hills, and letting his nerd flag fly with a game of D&D.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping will spend most of his five-day tour in Europe this week in two small countries in the continent's eastern half, a region that Beijing has used as a foothold for its expanding economic ambitions in Europe. Following his stop in Paris on Monday to kick off his first European trip in five years, Xi will travel to Hungary and Serbia, two nations with autocratic leaders considered friendly to China and close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the AP reports. As other European leaders have pursued protectionist policies to limit Beijing and Moscow's reach, nationalist conservative leaders Viktor Orban of Hungary and Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia have courted economic ties with China, inviting major investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, and technology.

Hungary: As the first European Union country to participate in Xi's Belt and Road Initiative, Hungary has straddled a middle ground with its membership in the EU and NATO and an openness to diplomatic and trade relationships with eastern autocracies. Tamas Matura, a China expert at Corvinus University in Budapest, said Hungary's hosting of major Chinese investments and production sitesand its agnosticism on doing business with countries with spotty democratic and human rights recordshas opened a door to China within the EU. "The Hungarian government is the last true friend of China in the whole EU," Matura said. "It is very important now to the Chinese to settle down in a country that is within the boundaries of the EU ... and is friendly to the Chinese political system."

Serbia: To Hungary's south, China runs mines and factories across the Balkan country, where billions in infrastructure loans has funded roads, bridges, and new facilities. Vucic has said he is "honored" that Xiwhom he often describes as a "friend"is visiting on Tuesday. He has said that Serbia would seek further Chinese investment, particularly involving advanced technologies. Like Hungary and even France, Serbia considers China as welcome counterweight to US influence, per the New York Times, and wants to increase economic ties. International relations scholar Shen Dingli said Xi's visit will be a reminder that Serbia wants closer cooperation "to overcome the security threats from the US and NATO."

(More Xi Jinping stories.)
After his trial finished for the day on Monday, Donald Trump said he was willing to go to jail over gag order violations. Earlier Monday, Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for another violation of the gag order and warned that while jail time is a "last resort," it is a possibility if Trump continues to violate the order. "Our Constitution is much more important than jail," Trump said, per Politico. "It's not even close. I'll give that sacrifice any day." In other developments:

Jurors get first look at records. The New York Times reports that jurors saw the 34 records at the heart of the case for the first time on Monday. Trump is accused of falsifying the records11 checks to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, 11 invoices from Cohen, and 12 ledger entriesto cover up a $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
A strange incident in southern California: Two men were found dead Sunday morning in what authorities described as a "human-dug cave/excavation" in Northridge, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of north Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times describes the "makeshift cave" as a "hollowed-out space" around 2- to 3-feet high and set into an embankment or hillside. CBS News , which has a photo, says the "makeshift encampment" was near train tracks and surrounded by debris and trash.

An unknown white powder was found near their bodies, causing a hazardous materials team to be called out; authorities later said the substance contained traces of fentanyl, ABC 7 reports. An LAPD spokesperson said no foul play was suspected in the deaths of the two men, who were transients, per KTLA. Their deaths are believed to have been drug-related, but autopsies will be carried out. (More California stories.)
There will be consequences for the University of Mississippi student accused of taunting a Black student who was participating in a pro-Palestinian protest by mimicking a monkey or ape last week. The Phi Delta Theta fraternity says the man seen making monkey-like noises on video of the incident was previously a member, but was kicked out on Friday, the Hill reports. Ole Miss also launched its own investigation into the incident; the university's chancellor said the actions of counter-protesters, who outnumbered pro-Palestinian protesters, included "hostility and racist overtones." Meanwhile, the far-right congressman from Georgia who originally seemed to endorse the racist jeers heard at the demonstration is backtracking a bit, the AP reports.

In a statement Monday, Rep. Mike Collins defended his posting of video that included the racist jeers (he said he "did not believe that to be the focal point of the video shared at the time") but acknowledged that he has since realized "that there certainly seems to be some potentially inappropriate behavior that none of us should seek to glorify" in the video. He said that he believes any schools "that [do] not allow the occupiers to run roughshod over the 99% of students who are there to learn and enjoy college are taking care of business," but that he denounces racism or discrimination. (More 2024 campus protests stories.)
Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and their American friend, Jack Carter Rhoad, met a horrifying death each shot dead in an apparent car-jacking before their bodies were dumped in a well. But in one sense, the tourists were lucky. "The robust operation to quickly find the remains of three foreigners ... felt like a rare exception" in a country where more than 100,000 people are missing, the New York Times reports. "It is very difficult, except for high-profile cases like the one that just happened, for the authorities to immediately trigger the search," says Adriana Jaen, a sociologist based in Ensenada who supports families of missing people. "The message those of us who work on these issues get is that there are lives that matter and there are others that don't."

There are more than 17,300 active disappearance investigations in Baja California, considered one of Mexico's most violent states, where the three tourists were killed, according to government data. "This is an ongoing phenomenon, and it's increasing exponentially," driven by drug trafficking, internal displacement, migration and gender violence, says Renata Demichelis, the Mexico director of Elementa DDHH, a human rights group that studies disappearances in the state. "Some cases even lack even basic information for beginning a search," per the Times.

Mexico's government recently faced accusations that it was wiping names from the official record of missing people ahead of national elections in June. Authorities said they were clearing false entries, duplicates, and the names of individuals who'd resurfaced. But families say the names of loved ones still missing have been erased, per the Los Angeles Times. At a weekend news conference, a reporter asked Baja California Attorney General Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez whether a missing person had to be a foreigner to get the attention of state authorities. "Every investigation has its own process," she replied. The mother of a man who vanished in Coahuila state in 2009 has a different take. "They make me feel like missing people come in levels of importance," she tells the Times. (More Mexico stories.)
A Swiss Army Knife without the knife? That's what's coming down the pike, per Victorinox, the company that makes the iconic multitool gadget. Victorinox CEO Carl Elsener told a local newspaper on Monday that a new version of the Swiss Army Knife is being designed sans blade, instead souped up with additional tools and extras for cyclists, among others, per Bloomberg . The Guardian notes that the company's response comes amid what a judge recently called a "plague of knife crime" around the world, with nations getting stricter on what kind of knives are permissible to carry in public.

"We're concerned about the increasing regulation of knives due to the violence in the world," Elsener said of his company, which churns out about 10 million samples of the Swiss Army Knife annually. There are currently 400 or so versions, including one tool that has more than six dozen functions. Victorinox had to make similar safety adjustments after Sept. 11, when it saw its sales fall by 30%. "9/11 painfully showed us that we must not become dependent on a single business area," Elsener said in a recent interview. (More Swiss Army knives stories.)
Police arrested about 125 activists as they broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam early Tuesday, as protests that have roiled campuses in the United States spread into Europe. Police in the Dutch capital said in a statement on the social media platform X that their action was "necessary to restore order" after protests turned violent. There were no immediate reports of injuries, per the AP . Video from the scene aired by national broadcaster NOS showed police using a mechanical digger to push down barricades and officers wielding batons and shields moving in to end the demonstration, beating some of the protesters and pulling down tents. Protesters formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, NOS reported.

Scores of demonstrators occupied a small island at the university on Monday, urging Amsterdam universities to break academic ties with Israel because of its offensive in Gaza. There have also been demonstrations in recent days at campuses in France and the United Kingdom. Photos from the Amsterdam campus Tuesday morning showed tents, banners, and food, along with piles of cobblestones that had been pulled up from the street. Before police moved in, scuffles broke out Monday night between two rival groups of activists. Police said in a statement that they cleared the makeshift camp after the protesters refused repeated orders to leave.

"The protest in this form created a very unsafe situation, partly due to the barricades that prevented emergency services from entering the site. In the event of a disaster, the activists themselves could possibly become stuck on the site," police said. They said the campus was calm Tuesday morning, but officers remained present in the area. There's been no comment so far from the university. Meanwhile, in Finland, dozens of protesters from the Students for Palestine group set up an encampment outside the main building at the University of Helsinki; in Denmark, students set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen; and French police on Friday peacefully removed dozens of students from a building at the Paris Institute of Political Studies in support of Palestinians. More here.

(More 2024 campus protests stories.)
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Two of Volodymyr Zelensky's own colonels are accused of joining a Russian plot to assassinate him. Multiple assassination plots have surfaced previously, but the BBC notes this one stands apart because of the military officers involved. They were allegedly working with Russia's FSBsuccessor to the KGBand had been recruited before the war began, per the New York Times. The colonels worked in the Ukraine agency responsible for keeping top officials safe.
UPDATE

May 9, 2024 8:21 AM CDT

A man was arrested Wednesday in the second incident in two days outside Drake's Toronto mansion. Police said a "person in crisis" was taken into custody after he tried to gain access to the property through a service entrance gate, the Toronto Sun reports. "The person was apprehended under the Mental Health Act, and they were taken to receive medical attention," police said in a statement, per the Guardian. Police said there was no apparent connection to a drive-by shooting that injured a security guard early Tuesday. CTV News reports that police initially said the man's injuries were serious but later said they were life-threatening. He has undergone surgery and remains hospitalized.

May 7, 2024 1:15 PM CDT

Police descended on Drake's ritzy Toronto mansion after a security guard was seriously injured in a drive-by shooting early Tuesday, according to local media outlets. Police said they responded to a shooting at the corner of Bayview Avenue and Lawrence Avenue East around 2:10am Tuesday. They said a suspect fled the scene in a vehicle and a man was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, per USA Today. The CBC describes "a heavy police presence" at Drake's mansion on Park Lane Circle in the Bridle Path neighborhood, home to various multimillion-dollar homes. Sources tell the outlet that a security guard was shot in the chest and was unconscious when police arrived.
President Biden on Tuesday condemned what he called "a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world." His speech at a DC ceremony remembered victims of the Holocaust and referenced the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses:

Ancient hatred: "We're at risk of people not knowing the truth," Biden said of the Holocaust, per the AP. "This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world." He asked Americans to push back against an "ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the Earth."

Hamas: "People are already forgetting, are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror," Biden said of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. "It was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas that took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten."

"We're at risk of people not knowing the truth," Biden said of the Holocaust, per the AP. "This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world." He asked Americans to push back against an "ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the Earth." "People are already forgetting, are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror," Biden said of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. "It was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas that took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten." Campuses: "On college campuses, Jewish students [have been] blocked, harassed, attacked, while walking to class," Biden said, per Politico. "Antisemitism, antisemitic posters, slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world's only Jewish state. Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7. ... It is absolutely despicable, and it must stop."
He added that a 2023 report by CCNNZ found the number of call centre staff working from home is declining with only 10 percent working remotely full-time.

The same report found 86 percent of contact centre staff work from home at least one day a week.

"This trend is diminishing. Frontline employees, who constitute a significant portion of the workforce, are now spending more time in the office."

Kanaris said management is also increasingly working from the office and the data suggests a hybrid approach is becoming the norm.

"This model supports not only productivity but also ensures staff have access to direct support and team interaction, which is less feasible remotely."

Unite Union national secretary John Crocker said while there is some sense to a hybrid work approach, simply getting call centre workers back into the office doesn't solve issues around the abuse they face.

"It makes sense in theory but we're not sure that is the reality. For years we have been campaigning for improved health and safety around mental health from abusive customers because we've needed to because the support has been insufficient," Crocker said.

"To suggest that it's magically perfect now and people are much safer in the office, we don't really buy that enough has been done in that space to actually hold up that argument."

He said it's also missing the other side of things and actually workers with good home environments might be better supported.

"Just to say it's better this way is not necessarily the case. Also, a lot of those support services can be done remotely. Rather than sitting in an office and talking to a supervisor about a difficult call they have had, they might want to go on their porch and call their supervisor."

Crocker said if call centres really want to improve workers' mental health they need to stop expecting them to put up with abuse in the first place.

"It should be much easier for call centre workers to end a call earlier with a customer who is causing them harm. We think the dial is too far towards keeping the person on the line and call centre worker absorbing it."

Crocker said he can understand why support is necessary for call centre workers but feels the release is lacking nuance and feels like a convenient excuse to force workers back into the office.
He told council that it had a responsibility to the Palestinian and Israeli families living Whanganui to make its voice heard.

"A community which upholds international law and human rights is a safer community for all," he said.

"Speaking up has moral and political weight."

The motion also called for the New Zealand government to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

"This motion is about us calling on our government to do its bit as part of the international community to stand up for human rights, to stand up for peace and to say that a ceasefire an immediate and permanent ceasefire should be called for in the region and implemented in the region without any caveats attached to it.

"So that then negotiations for a two-state solution and for peace can be achieved."

Chandulal-Mackay said throughout history collective pressure had always driven social change, pointing to the end of apartheid in South Africa as an example.

Earlier, councillor Rob Vinsen had been at pains to ensure the immediate return of hostages was included in the motion.

"I know an Israeli in this community whose family, two of them were murdered during the 7 October attack into Israel. Four of his family were taken hostage. Two still are hostages and that's why I was motivated to put this clause on here about calling for the release of hostages."

Mayor Andrew Tripe spoke in support of the motion.

"We have 101 different nationalities in Whanganui. We live in a global society basically here in Whanganui and my rhetoric is all about peace and unity here in Whanganui and if we can promote that message for Whanganui but also for the rest of the world that's something I hold strong to."

All but one councillor - who abstained - voted in favour of the motion.

Earlier, council received two petitions - signed by more than 2000 people - organised by the Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa.

One called for a ceasefire and the other for the Whanganui council not to do business with companies identified by the United Nations as being involved in the building or maintenance of illegal Israeli settlements.

PSNA spokesperson Sophie Reinhold told council that criticising Israel did not amount to anti-semitism.

"We want to see all the hostages brought home. We want to see an end to the mass slaughter. In 215 days over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed over two thirds of them women and children with thousands more still unaccounted for under the rubble.

"Nothing justifies this. Nothing. Not self-defence, not human shields. Nothing."

She urged council "to give a voice to the call for a ceasefire" in a similar fashion as it had done when it condemned Russia's invasion of the Ukraine in 2022.

The council received the petitions.

RNZ
To use it, you have to be logged into a Booking.com account and have the language settings set to English.

It offers real-time chat functionality to help refine travel searches and, if you like, will also send you personalised recommendations. Users can transition between their conversation with the AI Trip Planner and the booking options it suggests to make purchases as they plan out a trip.

As a competitor with the likes of Expedia and Kayak, Booking.com is a reservation service for accommodation, flights, car hire and select attractions.

AI Trip Planner will likely improve considerably beyond the beta currently available over time.

Todd Lacey, regional manager of Booking.com in Oceania, said the tool is the latest advancement on algorithms the company has spent years refining.

"Developments with generative AI are accelerating the work we've been doing for years with machine learning to enhance and improve every aspect of the customer experience on our platform, whether it's optimising the right order to display hotel or holiday home content to surfacing the most relevant reviews or attractions," he said.

"Our AI Trip Planner is another step in our ongoing journey to explore how we bring even more value, and hopefully enjoyment, to travellers from Australia and New Zealand."

AI Trip Planner was added as an update to the Booking.com app in New Zealand on Monday.
Ukraine has detained two security officials allegedly involved in a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky, which Kyivs state security service (SBU) said it foiled.

Two colonels in Ukraines government protection unit were accused of carrying out subversive activities against Ukraine in exchange for financial compensation, Ukraines Prosecutor Generals office said Tuesday.

Both colonels were charged with treason; one was also charged with preparing a terrorist act.

The prosecutors office said one of the suspects received two drones and ammunition from Russias state security service (FSB), which they intended to transfer to another accomplice to carry out an explosion.

The SBU said it had foiled the actively developing plans to assassinate Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials, including the head of the SBU, Vasyl Maliuk, and the head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov.

One of the tasks of the FSBs agent network was to find perpetrators among the military close to the Presidents security who could take the Head of State hostage and then kill him, the SBU said.

Zelensky has reportedly faced several attempts on his life since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A woman from the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv was arrested in August 2023 in connection to a plot to assassinate Zelensky. She was accused of gathering intelligence about Zelenskys planned visit to Mykolaiv in order to plan a Russian airstrike to kill him. The SBU said it caught the woman red-handed as she tried to pass intelligence to the invaders.

In April, a Polish man was accused of assisting another alleged Russian assassination plot against Zelensky. He was charged with readiness to act for foreign intelligence against the Republic of Poland, an offense which carries up to eight years in prison.

Prosecutors said the man agreed to provide information to Russian spies about security at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, which Zelensky is known to use when leaving on foreign trips. The plot was uncovered by Ukrainian authorities and the man was later detained and charged in Poland.
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TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Losing jobs can indeed be a daunting experience for anyone, amidst economic challenges. However, its during these challenging times that new opportunities often emerge, waiting to be discovered. This sentiment is echoed in the Kingdom, where Minister of Labour, Jameel Humaidan, is spearheading efforts to tackle this issue.

The ministry has disclosed the formation of a committee tasked with studying layoffs, aiming to avoid job losses by exploring all possible alternatives.

The committee, as explained by the minister, will delve into the reasons behind workforce reductions, including partial or complete closures.

Their approach involves engaging with company owners to identify and implement alternatives to job cuts or closures.

These solutions may range from offering voluntary retirement to providing wage subsidies aimed at retaining Bahraini employees.

The ministers responses came during a parliamentary inquiry by Shura Council member Khalid Al Maskati, highlighting the ministrys commitment to finding solutions beneficial to both employees and employers alike.

How it works?

First, the committee will study the requests received for workforce reductions, which may arise due to reasons including partial or complete closures.

Next, they will convene meetings with company owners to explore all possible alternatives to avoid job cuts or closures.

Potential solutions will be thoroughly explored at this stage, taking into account the nature of the company.

These solutions may entail offering laid-off employees positions in other departments or branches within the same company, or facilitating their transfer to similar businesses.

The solutions

Offering early retirement to eligible Bahraini employees as an alternative to layoffs, along with providing wage subsidies to companies to retain national workers, are some of the suggestions that will be put forward.

Its worth noting that the ministry has previously succeeded in preventing or reducing layoffs through these measures.

It was accomplished without compromising the interests of the businesses involved, the minister explained.

What if unavoidable?

However, if layoffs become unavoidable, Humaidan assured that Bahraini workers will be ensured all rights and necessary compensation as per Articles 110 and 111 of the Labour Law in the Private Sector.

Furthermore, the ministry will guarantee the payment of unemployment benefits at a rate of 60% of the insured workers salary for a period of nine months, with a maximum of 1,000 Bahraini dinars.

Priority for reintegration

The minister revealed the existence of a specialised employment team dedicated to monitoring the reemployment of laid-off Bahraini workers.

Humaidan emphasised that this team would play a pivotal role in facilitating the reintegration of these workers into the labour market.

Their duties will include recommending suitable job opportunities based on the workers experience, as well as referring them to training courses aimed at enhancing their skill sets and improving their chances of securing new employment opportunities.
Alberta and British Columbia personal property customers to benefit from enhanced wildfire loss prevention and suppression services and peace of mind

First of its kind residential service in Canada to help reduce risk and damage to homes caused by wildfire

to help reduce risk and damage to homes caused by wildfire Automatically included at no additional cost for eligible Intact Insurance, belairdirect, and Intact Prestige personal property customers

Pilot project to help people and communities adapt to the impacts of climate change

TORONTO, May 7, 2024 /CNW/ - Intact Financial Corporation (TSX: IFC) is pleased to announce it has engaged with Wildfire Defense Systems (WDS) to launch a pilot project providing eligible customers in Alberta and British Columbia wildfire loss prevention and suppression services for their homes when threatened by active wildfires.

As part of this pilot, Intact has contracted with WDS to deploy loss prevention and suppression services to customers when their property is threatened by a wildfire that is less than 5 kilometers away. Services may include but are not limited to:

Copyright Wildfire Defense Systems (CNW Group/Intact Financial Corporation)

Removing materials from around the property that may fuel a fire, including firewood, propane tanks, furniture, and grass clippings.

Covering exterior vents and closing exterior doors, windows, and garage doors to prevent embers from entering the home and igniting the interior.

Setting up temporary sprinkler systems to increase humidity and lower temperatures.

Once the threat of wildfire is gone, WDS will attempt to return to the property to check that there is no continuing threat, place items back that may have been moved away from structures and remove any temporary sprinkler systems or coverings.

"In 2023, Albertans and British Columbians experienced a wildfire season of unprecedented scale. We saw firsthand the hardship and challenges they faced while we worked together to get them back on track. As we get ready for another challenging wildfire season, the Wildfire Defense Systems service will provide eligible customers added protection and peace of mind," said Luisa Currie, Senior Vice President West, Intact Financial Corporation.

The Wildfire Defense Systems service is automatically included with eligible Intact Insurance, belairdirect, and Intact Prestige home insurance policies at no additional cost for the 2024 wildfire season.

"As the largest private sector wildfire service provider and the leading provider of insurer wildfire loss prevention services in North America, WDS has the experience and capabilities to reduce the insured-loss risk posed by increasing wildfire threat, including access coordination, pre-fire front mitigation, structure protection, and post-fire front mitigation," explained Nick Lauria, Chief of Fire Operations, Wildfire Defense Systems".

WDS is an experienced world leader in wildfire loss prevention and suppression services and has been providing services to insurance policyholders for 16 years. It has responded to over 1,300 fires across its 22-U.S. state service area. WDS is supplemental to all other public wildfire responders and works with local authorities in the threatened area to safely access insured properties to limit impacts. While best efforts will be made, wildfires are unpredictable and WDS cannot guarantee that homes will be serviced or that their actions can fully prevent homes from being damaged by wildfire.

"Intact exists to help people, businesses and society prosper in good times and be resilient in bad times. Our climate is changing, and we see the risks and devastation of extreme weather and natural disasters up close," added Ms. Currie. "Our partnership with WDS is an example of how Intact is doubling down on building resilient communities and helping our customers adapt to the impacts of wildfires and other severe weather events."

About Intact Financial Corporation

Intact Financial Corporation (TSX: IFC) is the largest provider of property and casualty (P&C) insurance in Canada, a leading provider of global specialty insurance, and, with RSA, a leader in the U.K. and Ireland. Our business has grown organically and through acquisitions to over $22 billion of total annual premiums.

In Canada, Intact distributes insurance under the Intact Insurance brand through a wide network of brokers, including its wholly owned subsidiary BrokerLink, and directly to consumers through belairdirect. Intact also provides affinity insurance solutions through our affinity groups, travel insurance, as well as exclusive and tailored offerings through Intact Prestige.

In the U.S., Intact Insurance Specialty Solutions provides a range of specialty insurance products and services through independent agencies, regional and national brokers, and wholesalers and managing general agencies.

In the U.K., Ireland, and Europe, Intact provides personal, commercial and specialty insurance solutions through the RSA brands.

About Wildfire Defense Systems (WDS)

WDS, headquartered in Bozeman Montana, is a Qualified Insurance Resource (QIR) and is the largest provider of wildfire loss intervention services to insured properties in North America. WDS clients are limited to insurance companies. Through their Emergency Coordination Center, WDS monitors wildfire threats to client properties and dispatches field personnel and wildland engines and tenders to threatened properties. These field personnel are trained to National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) standards and engines and tenders they operate are built and maintained to NWCG specifications.

SOURCE Intact Financial Corporation

Media Inquiries: David Barrett, Director, Media, Social and Owned Channels, 416 227-7905 / 514 985-7165, [email protected]; Investor Inquiries: Shubha Khan, Vice President, Investor Relations, 416 341-1464 x41004, [email protected]
An 87-year-old man was killed and his 83-year-old passenger seriously injured in a two-vehicle overnight crash Monday in Egg Harbor Township.

The crash took place at about 2:40 a.m. at the intersection of Delaware and Fernwood avenues, Egg Harbor Township police said.

Jovita Catalan stopped at a stop sign while traveling along Fernwood Avenue moments before the crash. As he began to enter the intersection his car was struck on the driver side by an SUV headed west on Delaware Avenue causing both vehicles to spin off the road, officials said.

Catalan, of Egg Harbor Township, died of his injuries at an area hospital. The woman in the front passenger seat was hospitalized with serious injuries. Police didnt disclose her relationship to Catalan.

The 19-year-old Egg Harbor Township man driving the SUV declined medical treatment. The crash remains under investigation.

Anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to call Egg Harbor Township police at 609-926-2641.

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Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com.
Rutgers University president Jonathan Holloway has been called to testify before a Congressional committee  along with the presidents of Northwestern University and University of California, Los Angeles  about how he handled a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, announced Monday she postponed appearances by the presidents of Yale University and the University of Michigan and scheduled Holloway and Northwestern President Michael Schill to speak on May 23.
The chief engineer of a Greek oil ship has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to unlawfully discharging chemicals into the water off the coast of New Jersey.

Konstantinos Atsalis, 57, the chief engineer of the Motor Tanker Kriti Ruby vessel, was accused of discharging oily waste into the waters near a petroleum terminal in the Sewaren section of Woodbridge. Federal prosecutors also alleged he conspired with another engineer, 54-year-old Sonny Bosito, to falsify records in an attempt to cover up unlawful release of the chemicals.

Atsalis, a Greek national, pleaded guilty in Newark federal court this week to two counts of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. Bosito pleaded guilty to one count of the same charge.

The Motor Tanker Kriti Ruby, which is owned by a Greek shipping company, transported petroleum products to ports in the United States, Europe and Africa. The vessel, which measured 29,832 gross tons, was registered in Greece.

As the ships chief engineer, Atsalis was in charge of the engine department.

In September 2022, Atsalis instructed lower-level engine crew members to discharge the contents of the vessels Sewage Holding Tank overboard without the proper equipment, according to federal authorities.

The tanks contents were discharged into the sea about 12 miles off the coast of New Jersey, according to court documents.

Inspectors with the U.S. Coast Guard later reviewed the ships oil record book and determined that Atsalis and Bosito falsified records to try to cover up the unlawful dumping, officials said.

Both men will be sentenced on Oct. 24.

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Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com.
Adam Clark | Reporting

Adam Clark is a nationally acclaimed enterprise reporter covering everything New Jersey for NJ Advance Media. His 10 years covering education led to a new state law mandating stronger background checks for school employees and the resignation or termination of multiple educators who hid improper conduct. He currently specializes in reporting on mental health. His influential storytelling about teen suicide resulted in $6 million in new state funding to combat depression. Prior to joining NJ Advance Media in 2014, he worked at The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. While there he led an investigation into a 30-year-old cold case that spurred a fresh look by prosecutors and culminated in an indictment for murder. He also contributed to the papers award-winning coverage of the Jerry Sandusky trial. His work has been recognized by the New Jersey Press Association, Online News Association, Education Writers Association and Society of Features Journalism. His topics of focus have included school funding, higher education, COVID-19, politics, buried treasure and seagulls. He graduated from Penn State University with a degree in journalism.
Kristi Noem appeared to have made up a fictional feud between her and Nikki Haley in her new book where, among other things, she talks about shooting her 14-month-old puppy.

And Haleys son, who campaigned with his mom on the 2024 GOP primary trail and has been a vocal supporter of her on social media, is having none of it.

She called once in 2020 saying she supported u and ur Covid policies. Never offered to be a mentor and never threatened u. Shes always offered support to republican women. Ur book is filled with inaccuracies so not only are you a psycho puppy killer but a pathological liar, Nalin Haley posted to X.

After her retelling of a supposed meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was debunked, POLITICO reported on her recounting of a conversation with Haley:

Hi, Governor, this is Ambassador Nikki Haley, and I just wanted to introduce myself and have a conversation. I just wanted to let you know that I follow you quite a bit. I have heard quite a bit about you, and you are doing a good job there in South Dakota. I was thinking that maybe you might like a mentor, and maybe I could be someone who could do that for you. Because youre a governor, youve gone through some challenging things that I did as well. I would be more than willing to be a mentor, because youve never been in this type of role before.

"She went on to tell me about her life story, her resume, and some of the challenges she faced in her legislature as governor and as ambassador to the United Nations reading daily talking points from the State Department. Once again, I recall, she offered to mentor me, as she was sure I was facing some decisions and situations Id never seen before. 

After what seemed to me a bit of an awkward pause, she added, I  just  also want you to know one more thing  Ive heard a lot of really good things about you. But I also want you to know that if I hear something bad  I will be sure to let you know.

There was a long pause.

Um, well, thanks for that, Ambassador.

Let me be clear, she added. Ive heard many good things about you. But when I do hear bad things, I will make sure that you know. Ive enjoyed talking to you. We will visit soon. Goodbye. Click.

Noem described the interaction as a threat from Haley.

From POLITICO: Contacted for comment, Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton was befuddled. She said the two women did talk, but  looking back at Haleys calendar  found that it was in 2020, not 2021.

Denton told the site: Nikki has long called and written notes supporting other women when they go through challenging times. ... She called Governor Noem in 2020 to encourage her when she was criticized for keeping her state open during Covid. How she would twist that into a threat is just plain weird.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
Not every detail of their encounter is on the table for discussion.

Thats the ruling from the judge in Donald Trumps criminal trial where porn actor Stormy Daniels is set to take the witness stand Tuesday and be asked about her sexual encounter with Trump before he was president.

NEW: Manhattan DAs office wins right to have Stormy Daniels testify about her sexual encounter with Trump and how she felt about it, so long as details are minimal. The prosecutor clarified, without embarrassment, that Daniels will not testify about genitalia. Yikes, attorney and legal correspondent Lisa Rubin posted to X.

NEW: Manhattan DAs office wins right to have Stormy Daniels testify about her sexual encounter with Trump and how she felt about it, so long as details are minimal. The prosecutor clarified, without embarrassment, that Daniels will not testify about genitalia. Yikes.  Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) May 7, 2024

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged effort to keep salacious  and, he says, bogus  stories about his sex life from emerging during his 2016 campaign. On Monday, Trump called the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg a scam and witch hunt.

The charges center on $130,000 in payments that Trumps company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. He paid that sum on Trumps behalf to keep Daniels from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the sexual encounter ever happened.

Prosecutors say the payments to Cohen were falsely logged as legal fees. Prosecutors have described it as part of a scheme to bury damaging stories Trump feared could help his opponent in the 2016 race, particularly as Trumps reputation was suffering at the time from comments he had made about women.

Trump has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment and that it was designed to stop Daniels from going public about the alleged encounter. But Trump has previously said it had nothing to do with the campaign.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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8th China-Russia Expo in Harbin to showcase trade, investment opportunities

Xinhua) 23:04, May 06, 2024

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The eighth China-Russia Expo is set to take place from May 16 to 21 in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on Monday.

The event is part of the celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia this year.

It will feature a significant lineup of Russian enterprises organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. Additionally, 16 Russian federal entities will present their businesses at the event, Chinese commerce ministry official Liu Xuesong said at a news conference.

The expo will also serve as a platform to highlight Russia's socio-economic development, investment opportunities, cooperative projects, quality products and distinctive cultural elements. It aims to foster extensive discussions and negotiations between the two countries in various sectors.

In recent years, the volume of trade between China and Russia has been expanding, and commodity structure optimization is ongoing. In 2023, bilateral trade between the two nations reached 240.1 billion U.S. dollars, achieving an established trade target of 200 billion U.S. dollars ahead of schedule.

The first quarter of 2024 saw that positive trend continue, with bilateral trade amounting to 56.68 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 5.2 percent.

The upcoming expo is expected to attract over 5,000 professional buyers from more than 120 delegations representing 44 countries and regions.

Its exhibition area will span 388,000 square meters, showcasing more than 5,000 products in over 20 major categories from 10 sectors.

This year's event will see Zhejiang act as its Chinese guest province of honor, Moscow as its Russian guest city of honor, and Harbin as its thematic host city.

The host city of the China-Russia Expo alternates between the two countries. Since its inception in 2014, the expo has attracted more than 7,200 Chinese and Russian enterprises, as well as over 1.05 million merchants, facilitating contracts totaling 446.8 billion yuan (about 63 billion U.S. dollars) in value.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Zhong Wenxing)
Tibetan antelopes start annual migration to give birth

Xinhua) 21:01, May 07, 2024

XINING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Pregnant Tibetan antelopes have begun their annual migration to the heart of northwest China's Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve to give birth, the reserve's management bureau said Tuesday.

At 10:17 a.m. on Tuesday, the first group of 47 Tibetan antelopes passed the Qinghai-Xizang Highway en route to Zonag Lake, which is at the heart of Hoh Xil.

Protection stations along the migration route will take measures such as temporary traffic control, prohibition on honking and patrolling to ensure the animals reach their breeding spots undisturbed. The reserve's management bureau will also monitor the time, quantity and related conditions of the migration.

Every year, tens of thousands of pregnant Tibetan antelopes start to migrate to Hoh Xil in May to give birth, after mating in November or December, and leave with their offspring around August.

Under first-class state protection in China, the once-endangered species is mostly found in Xizang Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Wu Xiaomin, a Chinese expert on Tibetan antelope protection, attributed the effective protection of wild animals such as Tibetan antelopes and the optimization of Tibetan antelope migration routes to the construction of national parks in recent years.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
Students protesting the war in Gaza have sprung up on college campuses around the country and the world, and have been leading news headlines on a daily basis.

That has many pundits questioning how it could play out in the presidential matchup between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and whether enough younger voters, furious over Bidens handling of the war, will sit on the sidelines in November and give Trump a boost by default.

The conflict in the Middle East ranks low on the list of issues college students say are most important to them, according to a new Generation Lab survey shared exclusively with Axios.

Only 13% said it was an important issue, compared to 40% who said health care reform; 38% educational funding and access; 37% economic fairness and opportunity; 36% racial justice and civil rights; 35% climate change; 32% gun control/safety; 21% immigration policies; and 15% national security/terrorism.

From Axios: Why it matters: The poll hints that the war  and the accompanying protests  might not hurt President Bidens election prospects among young voters as much as previously thought.

The survey showed only 8% of the 1,250 college students polled participated in a protest on either side of the war.

The Associated Press has tallied about 2,500 people arrested at about 50 campuses since April 18, based on its reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement.

The movement began April 17 at Columbia, where student protesters built an encampment to call for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

More than 100 people were arrested late Tuesday when police broke up the Columbia encampment. One officer accidentally discharged his gun inside Hamilton Hall during that operation, but no one was injured, the NYPD said late Thursday.

Over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there. Israel launched its offensive after Oct. 7, when Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages in an attack on southern Israel.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
A roundup of conversations we're having daily on the site. Subscribe to the Reckon Daily for stories centering marginalized communities and speaking to the under-covered issues of the moment.

Missouri and South Dakota are the latest Republican-controlled states with strict abortion restrictions that could allow residents to vote this November to enshrine reproductive rights.

Pro-choice advocates in both states recently announced that they collected enough signatures  more than 380,000 in Missouri  to ensure residents can vote to amend their constitutions to include the right to obtain an abortion and other essential care.

They signed away our rights to our bodies and they continue to legislate against our democracy, (but) we take back that right through the initiative petition process with the thousands of pages of petition sheets we have just turned into the Secretary of State, Kennedy Moore, the digital organizing manager at Abortion Action Missouri, said in a statement on social media.

Across the state, nearly 2,000 volunteers collected signatures across 114 counties, amassing more than double the number needed to get on the ballot.

Dakotans for Health, the group leading the ballot initiative in South Dakota, announced late last week that they had collected 55,000 signatures  about 20,000 more than the minimum requirement  to allow residents to vote on abortion access in the state. The measure would prohibit interference with a womans reproductive rights in the first trimester of pregnancy, a significant change from the states total ban except if the pregnant persons life is endangered.

The women of South Dakota get the job done, Dakotans4Health said in a Facebook post. Our freedom amendment (will) overturn the extreme South Dakota abortion ban and reinstate the essential protections of Roe v. Wade.

Twenty-two states have abortion bans or restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. At least 10 other states have pushed to make abortion a voting issue on the ballot, and are expected to increase Democratic voter turnout in this presidential election.

Its unclear how many states will vote on abortion rights this November, with some states further along in the process than others, according to the Associated Press. California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont have already voted to protect reproductive rights.

The signatures to put the abortion question on the Missouri ballot were collected in less than three months, according to Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri. The petition also called for access to miscarriage care, in vitro fertilization and birth control.

Missourians are responding with historic enthusiasm to our effort to put a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom on the ballot and end the states total abortion, said Rachel Sweet, the campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, in a statement after the group collected 19,000 signatures in one day, shattering a state record.

Missourians of all backgrounds and political persuasions are joining us  because the vast majority of Missourians agree that we should trust patients and their doctors to decide whats right for their unique situation, not politicians.

Other states have also made recent efforts to protect abortion and reproductive rights.

In Florida, the coalition Floridians Protecting Freedom collected more than 1 million signatures  upwards of 300,000 more than the requirement  to place a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Nevada reproductive rights advocates received the go-ahead in late January to circulate a petition to ensure residents have the right to vote on the issue.

Arkansas, Maryland, Montana, and Nebraska are among other states that have kicked off campaigns or started gathering signatures for proposed constitutional amendments that would protect access to abortion and reproductive care.
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Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 40F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 40F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
WASHINGTON  Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry asked the panel of three federal judges trying to settle on maps for this falls congressional elections to make up their minds by the middle of next week to meet the May 15 deadline she says her office must meet to properly stage the Nov. 4 election.

Such a hard deadline would force the panel  and other actors in the process  to act quickly. Multiple parties already have filed appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court, the next rung up in the appellate process.

A couple of big questions are at issue: First, will the new maps favor the election of two Black candidates and four White ones, like the map the Legislature drew up in January? Or will they revert to something closer to the maps the Legislature drew two years earlier, which tilted toward a delegation with five White members and one Black one who now represent Louisiana?
Great Western Railway (GWR) commuters are in for another day of disruption as strike action continues, with the company warning of an extremely limited train service on Wednesday, May 8.

The strike, announced by the Aslef union, will not only affect GWR but also other operators including Chiltern Railways and CrossCountry.

GWR has issued a cautionary notice, stating that no long-distance services will be operational, and several key routes will experience a complete shutdown.

Passengers travelling between London Paddington and Reading, among other routes, will face significant disruptions as the strike action unfolds.

A revised timetable will be in effect, with only a handful of services running on selected routes between 7am and approximately 7pm.

Among the severely affected routes are those connecting Reading to Oxford, Basingstoke, Redhill, Newbury, Swindon, Cardiff, Bristol, Barnstaple, Exmouth, St Ives, and Gunnislake.

Additionally, due to ongoing engineering works, there will be no GWR trains operating between London Paddington and Reading.

The strike action is part of wider industrial action that could potentially disrupt services from Monday, May 6, to Saturday, May 11.

Passengers are advised to anticipate short-notice alterations and cancellations, particularly during weekends and late-night travel.

To mitigate inconvenience, GWR is offering full refunds or ticket amendments for passengers who choose not to travel.

Those who experience delays exceeding 15 minutes may be eligible for Delay Repay compensation.

However, for passengers still intending to travel, GWR advises checking both outward and return journeys for any changes.

With the limited services expected to be heavily congested, bus replacement services will not be available.

In a gesture to accommodate affected passengers, tickets for strike days will be valid for travel on alternative dates within a specified period.

Tickets originally intended for May 7 to May 9 can be used from the day before, May 6, up to and including Monday, May 13.
Dogs Trust Ilfracombe is rallying local dog enthusiasts to contribute to the nations most comprehensive dog census, the National Dog Survey.

As the rate of people owning dogs continues to soar across the UK, the dog welfare charity is seeking insights from owners on a spectrum of topics including breed preferences, preferred walking spots, welfare concerns, and behavioural patterns.

The survey, running until June 14, is inviting dog guardians to share their experiences and perspectives through an accessible online platform at www.dogstrust.org.uk/dog-survey-24

Data from the National Dog Survey 2024 will play a pivotal role in shaping Dogs Trusts initiatives and support systems tailored for the nations dog-owning community.

Building upon insights garnered from previous surveys, such as the launch of the Behaviour Support Line in 2023 and the establishment of pet food banks, Dogs Trust aims to enhance its services in alignment with evolving needs.

Last years survey, which drew participation from 244,478 owners contributing insights on 348,533 dogs.

Notably, Labradors emerged as the UKs most beloved pedigree, with Cocker Spaniels closely trailing behind.

Despite not cracking the top ten most popular breeds, Miniature Smooth Haired Dachshunds witnessed an 85 percent surge in popularity.

Furthermore, the survey illuminated trends in dog ownership behaviours, revealing that 7 percent of UK dogs now accompany their owners to work, despite the majority of workplaces prohibiting pets.

Additionally, over two-thirds of dog owners have opted to bring their furry companions along on domestic holidays.

Poppy and Alfie clinched the title as the nations favourite dog names, closely followed by Bella and Charlie.

Moreover, last years survey affirmed the unprecedented surge in puppy acquisitions during the pandemic era, evidenced by a notable rise in the population of one and two-year-old dogs compared to pre-pandemic years.

Dogs Trust Ilfracombe has encouraged local dog lovers to lend their voices to this influential initiative, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the evolving landscape of canine companionship in the UK.
The Hammond Optimist Club raised $20,000 at its annual Smelt Fry fundraiser to benefit children in Hammond and greater Northwest Indiana.

The service organization, part of the century-old Optimist International organization with more than 3,000 clubs worldwide, served about 290 pounds of fried smelt, the bait fish that's caught in pails in Lake Michigan and is savored in some ethnic cuisines, at the Lotus Grand Hall in Hammond.

It seemed to be pretty successful, Optimist Secretary and event committee Chairman Doyle Godbolt said. The crowd was pretty good, about the same as each year.

The Smelt Fry is the Hammond Optimist Club's signature annual fundraiser. More than 40 members volunteered to put it together this year.

One of the key points to any successful fundraiser is committed volunteers, said Godbolt. We did a good job of having a lot of members step up to the plate. Everyone was on time, everyone completed their shifts, and in the process, everyone had a great time.

It took weeks of work to put it all together.

During the week we gathered gift cards and any items that members have donated from businesses, he said. We then got together and put them on tip boards. That way, everything was already pre-organized for the event. Saturday went smoothly because I think we were all organized before it. Then there are months of prep to it. Preselling your raffle tickets to guests, advertising the event to places. It all takes time.

Lencionis Pub and Banquets supplied the smelt dinners.

The businesses in our community are always willing to support that event, he said. I believe that is because the Optimist Club has a long history of success in giving away money to children in the community. I dont have many businesses that are not familiar with who we are.

In addition to charging for the smelt dinners, the Hammond Optimist Club also raised funds by selling raffle tickets for a chance to win a $10,000 prize.

We may not beat last years numbers, but I still thought it was a great success. said Optimist President Jim Zima. We all had a great turnout from the community and involvement of all the members.

For more information, visit www.hammondoptimistclub.org.
The Kankakee Valley Historical Society and the University of Notre Dame are planning another archaeological dig at its Collier Lodge site in southern Porter County this summer and they need help.

Mark Schurr, a Notre Dame professor, has been leading the dig of the Collier Lodge site at Baum's Bridge along the Kankakee River, which was a hub of prehistoric and historic human activity. Notre Dame students and local volunteers help out.

"Its surprising the number of budding Indiana Jones are living in the area looking for the chance to work an actual archaeological dig," Kankakee Valley Historical Society President John P. Hodson said. "A number of our volunteers took anthropological/archaeological classes in college but never worked an actual dig."

No experience is necessary to take part.

The dig will take place from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday from June 3rd through June 20th. More than 60 volunteers took part last year.

"When the first white men began settling this area they noted the density of Native-American artifacts found. When farming expanded so did the amount of artifacts found. I've been told by old timers that arrowheads were found by the bucket loads. So common were artifacts that they were mostly ignored," Schurr said. "The Collier Lodge site was active because it was at a strategically important crossing place through the marsh. It's earliest name was Pottawatomi Ford, then Eaton's Ferry and then Baum's Bridge."

A Native American burial site was discovered after Jim Collier returned from his service during World War I and decided to replace the wood pylons with a cinderblock foundation. Workers found the remains of a woman who was likely around 40 and the more than 300 freshwater pearls she was buried with.

"Collier called in amateur archaeologist Carl Black and gave him the find," Hodson said. "Black had the skeleton and pearls displayed at Valparaiso University. Over time. the whereabouts of the skeleton has been lost along with Black's extensive 8,000-piece collection."

The Northwest Indiana Archaeological Association dug up the site in the 1970s until stricter laws barred avocational archaeology for anyone without a doctorate in archaeology or anthropology.

The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places due to the high density of artifacts found there. Schurr has been excavating the site every summer since 2002.

"During the 10 years that digs were worked at the Collier Lodge site approximately 90,000 artifacts were uncovered ranging from 9,000 B.C. up to a 2002 quarter," Hodson said. "The oldest item was an 11,000 year old, previously unknown type of knife blade or spear point. Another very interesting find was the 1836 Eaton ferry cabin. Numerous coins, chinaware and personal items from the 1840s were found there."

For more information or to sign up, visit http://kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org.
Jerry Davich Metro columnist Follow Jerry Davich 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

Think B.I.G.

This was the message that Gary Mayor Eddie Melton told me before he took office late last year.

We have to change the narrative, he said. But I cant do it alone.

This past Saturday, Melton and his supporters, along with a team of volunteers, continued their efforts to change the narrative by cleaning up the city as they shared the same message of transformation: Think Beauty In Gary. It echoes Meltons original B.I.G. message: Believe In Gary.

"Coming into the mayors office, I quickly realized the city of Gary didnt have the staffing capacity to address all of the blighted issues throughout the citys 52 square miles," Melton said. "My administration came up with the Think B.I.G. initiative to help increase the publics engagement in keeping our city clean and allowing our staff the ability to cover more ground with the help of residents, churches and the community at large.

On Saturday morning, they converged at Gleason Park and its surrounding area to pick up litter, remove unsightly items and illustrate that true change takes action, not only words.

Every Saturday were at different locations cleaning up the city, said Markael Watkins, of Gary, whos been spearheading the citywide project. Weve been driving around the city targeting specific neighborhoods that could really use some help.

The cleanup project began earlier this year when dozens of homes were demolished in the Aetna neighborhood, just off U.S. 12/20 on the east side of the city.

After demolition was finished, we started cleaning up that neighborhood and weve been doing it every week since then in different districts, Watkins said.

A few weeks ago, roughly 300 people met at City Hall to clean up every block along Broadway, all the way to 15th Avenue. This ongoing project is part of the administrations Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative.

I appreciate Markael Watkins and my entire leadership team for taking on this initiative. With their commitment and tireless work each weekend, we are slowly bringing back the beauty in Gary, Melton said.

Volunteers keep showing up each week, Watkins said.

There are people whove wanted to help in the past but just needed a little inspiration and organization," he said.

Watkins, who has worked at U.S. Steel for 28 years, has been spearheading smaller cleanup efforts in the city so he had a deep passion for this larger project. He first met Melton 11 years ago during a previous cleanup project at Hatcher Park.

He brought gloves for us to use, recalled Watkins, who is now a senior advisor for the mayor.

At 51, hes the only sibling in his family who has remained in the Steel City.

I just never wanted to leave. My heart and soul has always been in Gary, Watkins said. People just need to believe in it again. Think B.I.G. is all part of it.

After we spoke, I did a quick Google search typing in the words Think BIG Gary Indiana.

The first link that pulled up was the citys website for residents and volunteers to register for the program, at www.gary.gov/volunteer. We are beautifying our neighborhoods to show our fellow residents and visitors that we love our city and believe in its future, it states.

But lower on my Google search webpage were several negative descriptors of the city that only perpetuate its worst reputation and decades-old stereotypes.

The way social media algorithms are set up, this is the attention that Gary gets, Melton told me before he took office. (Read this column at NWI.com under a search for his name.)

His administration and its supporters are trying to change that negative narrative by also changing the mental algorithms of citizens, Region residents and outsiders who repeatedly dump on Gary. They wrongly dump trash. They illegally dump junk. And they repeatedly dump their negativity on the city's efforts to change the narrative.

Were trying to change all that, one section of the city at a time, Watkins said. The key is to maintain things after it gets cleaned up and to think twice before littering. (Connect with him or watch videos of their weekly efforts on his social media sites.)

On Saturdays, volunteers put the trash in bags and stack them up for city workers to remove on Mondays. Gary, a city of 52 square miles, is twice the size of Hammond yet has roughly one-fifth of the workers for its general services department.

Its just another challenge for the city, Watkins said.

He has witnessed most of challenges for the city over the past 50 years. As a boy, he was raised in the same neighborhood as me, Glen Ryan Subdivision, across the South Shore railroad tracks from Aetna. We also attended the same three schools  Marquette Elementary, Kennedy-King Middle, and Wirt High School. (Watkins can still sing the Marquette School fight song.)

Like everyone who comes out for these community cleanups, I care about this city and were hoping other people do too, Watkins said. We need more volunteers to Think B.I.G.
A new book came across my desk recently, with an irresistible title: The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly: Life Wisdom from Someone Who Will (Probably) Die Before You. I was already familiar with the astringent humor of the author, Margareta Magnusson, having read her previous book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning  a surprise international best seller and a call to, as she put it, not leave a mountain of crap behind for our loved ones to clean up after we die.

I phoned Magnusson, who was an artist before becoming a published author and is now 86 years old, in Stockholm, to get some of her best advice on how to make life worth living, no matter your age.

Magnusson acknowledged that aging is hard. You cannot stop the passing of time and how it affects your body, but you can work to keep a clear and positive mind, she said. You can be young upstairs in your head even if your joints creak. Here are her top three tips.

Embrace kart besvar

This Swedish phrase blends kart, meaning dear or cherished, and besvar, which means pain. So, one kart besvar might be paying your bills  an annoying obligation, but youre still grateful that you have the money to pay. Or, it could be taking care of someone who is sick, which Ive been doing this week with my flu-addled daughter. When Im frazzled by her endless requests for streaming service passwords and mugs of tea, delivered via text message, I remind myself that Im glad Im strong enough to take care of her.
The actor Owen Wilson chatted with the artist Ed Ruscha. The artist Kara Walker spoke of art and activism. k.d. lang brought the house down singing Hallelujah.

It was Ann Philbins final gala as she prepared to step down after 25 years as the director of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, an institution she transformed into a contemporary art destination, helping reshape the citys art scene. The crowd that toasted her accomplishments Saturday night was a testament to the strength of that scene: major artists, Hollywood royalty, well-heeled collectors and fellow museum directors.

Even the celebrity roast was A-list. I know we are all gathered here to sing the praises of Annie Philbin, the actor Will Ferrell said during dinner. I, for one, am not. I hate the fact that Im here  cant stand this place.
Over the course of a few hours, the news from the Middle East came into the White House Situation Room fast and furious.

Israel orders 100,000 civilians out of Rafah in prelude to invasion.

Hamas accepts cease-fire deal, potentially precluding invasion.

Israel conducts strikes against Rafah, possibly opening invasion.

The war-is-on-off-on-again developments on Monday left White House officials scrambling to track what was happening and what it all meant. At the end of the day, they came to believe, each of the moves signaled less than originally met the eye, but reflected efforts to gain leverage at the negotiating table with a clear resolution not yet in sight.

In fact, Hamas did not accept a cease-fire deal so much as make a counteroffer to the proposal on the table previously blessed by the United States and Israel  a counteroffer that was not itself deemed acceptable but a sign of progress. At the same time, Israels strikes in Rafah evidently were not the start of the long-threatened major operation but targeted retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks that killed four Israeli soldiers over the weekend  and along with the warning to civilians, a way to increase pressure on Hamas negotiators.
American and Chinese diplomats plan to meet later this month to begin what amounts to the first, tentative arms control talks over the use of artificial intelligence.

A year in the making, the talks in Geneva are an attempt to find some common ground on how A.I. will be used and in which situations it could be banned  for example, in the command and control of each countrys nuclear arsenals.

The fact that Beijing agreed to the discussion at all was something of a surprise, since it has refused any discussion of limiting the size of nuclear arsenals themselves.
The proposal for a hostage-prisoner exchange and cease-fire that Hamas said on Monday that it could accept has minor wording changes from the one that Israel and the United States had presented to the group recently, according to two officials familiar with the revised proposal.

The officials said that the changes were made by Arab mediators in consultation with William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, and that the new version keeps a key phrase, the eventual enactment of a sustainable calm, wording that all sides had said earlier they could accept.

The two officials said the response from Hamas was a serious one, and that it was now up to Israel to decide whether to enter into an agreement. The proposal, they said, calls for Hamas to free hostages  women, the elderly and those in need of medical treatment  in return for a 42-day cease-fire and the release of a much larger number of Palestinian prisoners. Israel had sought 33 hostages, but it is not clear how many women and elderly are still alive, and the first tranche could end up including remains.

That would be the first of three phases of reciprocal actions from each side. In the second phase, the two sides would work toward reaching a sustainable calm, which would involve the release of more hostages, the officials said. Both officials acknowledged that the warring parties would likely clash over the definition of sustainable calm.

One of the officials, in the Middle East, said that Hamas viewed the term as an end to the war, with Israel halting its military actions and withdrawing troops from Gaza. The officials said that Israels prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was expected to push back against that definition.

One official said that the negotiating parties agreed to the term sustainable calm weeks ago, after Israel objected to any reference to a permanent cease-fire. Israeli officials have consistently said they oppose any agreement that explicitly calls for that or for an end to the war.
Within the course of days, hopes for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip have been raised, dashed and raised again, with no clear explanation.

The confusion was evident on Monday, when Hamas claimed to have accepted the terms of a truce deal even as Israel  a week after making concessions in the hope of an agreement  was ordering civilians in the southern Gazan city of Rafah to evacuate and escalating its airstrikes there. Then on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had sent tanks into Rafah and taken over the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt, halting the flow of aid into the enclave.

Here is a look at the recent dizzying turns of events:

Monday, April 29

Israeli officials, offering a hint of hope for a deal, said that their negotiators had reduced the number of hostages they wanted Hamas to release during the first phase of a truce.

Thursday, May 2

A Hamas leader said that the group would soon send a delegation to Cairo to complete ongoing discussions on a cease-fire deal.

Saturday, May 4

With talks underway, a senior Hamas official said in a text message that the groups representatives had arrived in Cairo for the talks, with great positivity toward the latest proposal.

Sunday, May 5

The talks  which are held indirectly, through mediators  hit an impasse, and Hamas said its delegation had left Cairo. An Israeli official described the negotiations as in crisis.

Late in the day, Hamas launched rockets at a border crossing between Gaza and Israel, killing four Israeli soldiers. Israel stepped up its attacks in Gaza.

Monday, May 6

Hamas said it accepted the terms of a cease-fire  not as laid out in Israels proposal, but drawn from one put forth by Egypt and Qatar. The announcement came hours after Israel had ordered people to evacuate from some areas in Rafah, a sign that its forces might be close to launching a long-anticipated invasion of the crowded city. Then, the Israeli military said it was carrying out targeted strikes in eastern Rafah.

Late in the day, in keeping with a week of contradictory signals, the Israeli prime ministers office said that Hamass latest cease-fire proposal was unsatisfactory. But it said would send a working-level delegation back to the talks in Cairo anyway.

Tuesday, May 7

Israeli tanks crossed into Rafah and established control over the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt in what it called a limited operation aimed at destroying Hamas targets used to attack Israeli soldiers. Analysts said it was unclear whether the Israeli action in Rafah would ratchet up the pressure on Hamas negotiators to make a deal, or would sabotage the talks.
In 1974, Florence Ludins-Katz and Elias Katz  she an artist, he a psychologist  turned the garage of their Berkeley home into an art studio for adults with developmental disabilities. Across California at that time, people with a range of disabilities were being deinstitutionalized, with little provision made for them after their release. The Katzes viewed art-making as a pathway not only to personal fulfillment for disabled people, but also to their integration into a society that valued their work.

Half a century on, Creative Growth  as the iconoclastic and influential studio in Oakland was named  is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an exhibition, Creative Growth: The House That Art Built, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The exhibition draws from SFMOMAs half-million-dollar acquisition of more than 100 Creative Growth artworks, the largest purchase by any American museum of the work of disabled artists. The museum acquired 43 more pieces from Creative Growths sister organizations in California, also founded by the Katzes: Creativity Explored in San Francisco and NIAD (Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development) in Richmond.
A man identified as a security guard for Drake was wounded in a shooting outside of the rappers Toronto mansion around 2 a.m. on Tuesday, the police said.

The man was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound, Inspector Paul Krawczyk, a member of the gun and gang task force, said at a news conference at the scene on Tuesday morning. The suspects fled in a vehicle and remain at large; the police did not offer a description but said the shooting had been captured on video.

The shooting occurred outside the gates in front of Drakes 50,000-square-foot mansion on Park Lane Circle in the North York neighborhood known as Bridle Path in Toronto, but did not involve the rapper, the authorities said. Drake was previously permitted to build fences twice as high as allowed by city law, citing a need for increased security.

The shooting followed a weekend of increasingly personal diss tracks traded between Drake and the Compton, Calif., rapper Kendrick Lamar, whose long-simmering musical rivalry resulted in the release of six songs in 72 hours, including detailed attacks involving family members and claims of abuse against women on both sides.
TikTok sued the federal government on Tuesday over a new law that would force its Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the popular social media app or face a ban in the United States, stoking a battle over national security and free speech that is likely to end up in the Supreme Court.

TikTok said the law violated the First Amendment by effectively removing an app that millions of Americans use to share their views and communicate freely. It also argued that a divestiture was simply not possible, especially within the laws 270-day timeline, pointing to difficulties such as Beijings refusal to sell a key feature that powers TikTok in the United States.

For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than one billion people worldwide, the company said in the 67-page petition, which initiated the lawsuit. There is no question: The act will force a shutdown of TikTok by Jan. 19, 2025.

TikTok is battling for its survival in the United States, with the fight set to play out primarily in courts over the next few months. The battle pits Congresss national security concerns about the social media apps ties to China against TikToks argument that a sale or ban would violate the First Amendment free-speech rights of its users and hurt small businesses that owe their livelihood to the platform. The case is expected to reach the Supreme Court.
A day after the judge presiding over Donald J. Trumps trial said he would consider jailing the former president should he continue to violate court orders, Mayor Eric Adams said the citys lockups stand ready.

Our amazing commissioner, she is prepared for whatever comes on Rikers Island, said the mayor at an unrelated news conference, apparently referring to Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, the commissioner of the Department of Correction. Im pretty sure she would be prepared to manage and deal with the situation.

Justice Juan M. Merchan, the judge presiding over Mr. Trumps criminal trial in Lower Manhattan, on Monday warned the former president that should he continue to defy a gag order, he might end up on Rikers, because fines are not serving as a deterrent.

Going forward, this court will have to consider jail, Justice Merchan said.

The judge has prohibited the former president from making attacks on witnesses, jurors and court staff, an order Mr. Trump has repeatedly violated.
Pinned

The people call Stormy Daniels.

So began the intense and often uncomfortable testimony of Ms. Daniels, who spent almost five hours in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday recounting her story of a 2006 encounter with Donald J. Trump and the ensuing hush-money cover-up that has become the bedrock of the prosecutions case.

Ms. Daniels spoke quickly and at length about her first meeting with Mr. Trump at a celebrity golf tournament near Lake Tahoe in Nevada.

After the lunch break, Mr. Trumps lawyer Todd Blanche moved for a mistrial, arguing that the prosecutions questions had been designed to embarrass Mr. Trump and prejudice the jury.

The judge, Justice Juan M. Merchan of State Supreme Court, agreed that some of Ms. Danielss testimony might have been better left unsaid, but he denied a mistrial.

The former president is accused of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Ms. Daniels just before the 2016 election. Mr. Trump, 77, has denied the charges and says he did not have sex with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he could face prison time or probation.

Here are six takeaways from Mr. Trumps 13th day on trial.

Prosecutors took a risk with their witness.

Jurors heard a vivid account of the Lake Tahoe encounter and met the woman who had received the hush-money payment. This could have presented a risk for prosecutors, depending on whether the jury viewed Ms. Danielss story as prurient or powerful.

Ms. Daniels described meeting Mr. Trump at the golf event and accepting his dinner invitation after her publicist said, What could possibly go wrong?

She recalled that Mr. Trump had been wearing pajamas when she met him at his hotel suite and that she asked him to change. They discussed the porn industry, and he asked about residuals, unions and testing for sexually transmitted diseases, she said.

She said they had talked about his family, including his daughter, whom he likened to Ms. Daniels  People underestimate her as well, Ms. Daniels recalled him as saying. They also discussed his wife; Mr. Trump said they did not even sleep in the same room. He suggested that Ms. Daniels might appear on The Apprentice.

When she later emerged from the bathroom, Ms. Daniels found Mr. Trump partially undressed, she said. The sex was consensual, she said, but there was a power imbalance.

Trump received another warning.

Justice Merchan has already held the former president in contempt 10 times, fined him $10,000 and twice threatened to send him to jail. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump again drew the judges ire after Justice Merchan said he had been cursing audibly and shaking his head.

The judge asked Mr. Trumps lawyers privately to talk to their client, saying Mr. Trumps actions might intimidate the witness, Ms. Daniels.

You need to speak to him, the judge said. I wont tolerate that.

The motive for the payoff is a point of contention.

Prosecutors asked Ms. Daniels about a 2018 statement in which she denied the sexual encounter. Ms. Daniels said she had not wanted to sign it and that it was not true.

Image Before court started on Monday morning, former President Donald J. Trump telegraphed his frustration with Ms. Daniels by posting on Truth Social. Credit... Pool photo by Win Macnamee

Defense lawyers, capitalizing on what they seem to perceive as Ms. Danielss shortcomings as a witness, came out blazing. One of them, Susan Necheles, implied in her cross-examination that Ms. Daniels was trying to extort money from Mr. Trump.

Ms. Daniels replied sharply, False.

Danielss story bothers Trump.

Before court even started Tuesday morning, Trump telegraphed his frustration with Ms. Daniels in an angry post on Truth Social, saying he had just learned about a coming witness and that his lawyers had no time to prepare. The post was removed shortly thereafter, possibly because of concerns over violating the gag order.

Mr. Trump, who has spent much of the trial with his eyes closed, remained attentive for part of the day, often with a sour expression on his face. He continually whispered to his lawyers and at one point mouthed an expletive.

But by the afternoon, he had returned to his habit of closing his eyes, even during a combative cross-examination.

Danielss credibility is a hurdle for prosecutors.

Ms. Danielss motivations are a major focus of the defense. In a sharp moment, Ms. Necheles confronted her about what Ms. Necheles described as her hatred of the former president and asked whether she wanted him to go to jail. Ms. Daniels responded, I want him to be held accountable.

Ms. Necheles also asked Ms. Daniels about making money by claiming to have had sex with Mr. Trump. Ms. Daniels responded, I have been making money by telling my story, and later added, It has also cost me a lot of money.

Trumps words haunt him.

Prosecutors have tried several times to use Mr. Trumps prior statements against him.

Before Ms. Daniels testified Tuesday, a witness read aloud passages from books by Mr. Trump. Some spoke to his frugality. Others spoke to his penchant for revenge.

For many years Ive said that if someone screws you, screw them back, the witness read. The passage continued, When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can.

Not long after, one of his enemies  Ms. Daniels  took the stand. Her cross-examination resumes on Thursday.
Several police officers forcibly arrested an anti-Trump demonstrator on Tuesday in a park outside the Lower Manhattan courthouse where Donald J. Trump is on trial.

The encounter happened after the demonstrator, Payne Daniel, 70, had chanted into a microphone attached to a speaker hanging from a shoulder strap. Mr. Payne has protested in Collect Pond Park outside the New York County Criminal Courthouse for several days, but on Tuesday, two officers told him the speaker was prohibited.

One chased Mr. Daniel into the northern section of the park, and with another officer, threw Mr. Daniel onto the stone ground and cuffed his hands behind his back.
Europe is awash with worry. Ahead of parliamentary elections widely expected to deliver gains to the hard right, European leaders can barely conceal their anxiety. In a speech in late April, President Emmanuel Macron of France captured the prevailing mood. After eloquently warning of threats to the continent, he pronounced the need for a newly powerful Europe, a Europe puissance.

As I watched the speech, I was reminded of Niccolo Machiavellis comments in the opening pages of The Prince, his seminal 16th-century treatise on political power. In a dedication to Lorenzo de Medici, the ruler of the Florentine Republic, Machiavelli suggested that politics is in many ways like art. Just as landscape painters imaginatively place themselves in the plains to examine the mountains and on top of mountains to study the plains, so too should rulers inhabit their domains. To know the nature of the people well, one must be a prince, Machiavelli wrote, and to know the nature of princes well, one must be of the people.

Here was a politician grappling with the first part of Machiavellis sentence, an officeholder trying to comprehend the lay of the land. What is power in contemporary Europe, and how should it be exercised by the European Union? Mr. Macron answered in princely fashion, showing awareness of both the finite nature of every political community  Europe is mortal, he said  and its cyclical vulnerability to crisis. He concluded with a passionate defense of European civilization and urged the creation of a paradigm to revive it.

Yet for all his aspirations, Mr. Macron neglected the second half of Machiavellis sentence: that people also form views on their rulers, which rulers ignore at their peril. Mr. Macron brushed aside the many Europeans who feel the bloc is aloof and inaccessible, describing their disenchantment as a result of false arguments. The dismissal was no aberration. For decades, the leaders of the European Union have overlooked the people in the plains, shutting out the continents citizens from any meaningful political participation. This exclusion has changed the contours of the European landscape, paving the way for the radical right.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein

From New York Times Opinion, this is The Ezra Klein Show. Ive been watching, as I imagine so many of you have, as the campus protests over Israel over whats happening in Gaza have exploded across the news.

archived recording 1 Clashes and arrests at colleges across the country. Demonstrations are now coming to a head. archived recording 2 Tonight, at University of Texas, Austin, police, one by one, detaining pro-Palestinian protesters. archived recording 3 In Oregon at Portland State University archived recording 4 Atlantas Emory University archived recording 5 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill archived recording 6 The Fordham Universitys Manhattan campus archived recording 7 Texas State University and the University of Washington archived recording 8 And on Long Island, students and police clashed at a protest at Stony Brook University today. An encampment was set up

ezra klein

Ive been watching police go in and clear encampments in the place I went to college at UCLA. Im here in New York. What is happening at Columbia has been all over the news.

archived recording 9 More than 100 people were arrested after the school asked police to remove student protesters.

ezra klein

And I found it hard myself to know what to think. One reason is that protests of this size are never one thing. On the one hand, you really do hear at them people just shouting antisemitic poison.

archived recording 10 Go back to Poland!

ezra klein

And on the other hand, you can go to one of them and attend a beautiful Passover seder inside the Columbian encampment.

archived recording 11 [SINGING IN HEBREW]

ezra klein

And trying to think about what to make of it, whether this is a thing to cover, whether it is a distraction from the thing to cover, and I think the place I came to is that I wanted to keep an eye on power here. Who has the power to change the reality in Israel and in Gaza right now? I think theres an implicit default in peoples thinking to some deus ex machina, some outside player, maybe America or the U.N., who can come impose some new reality. Thats not how this works, though. Really, its Israel and its Hamas. Hamas could release the hostages. Israel could end its war or change its policies. And I think if you are listening to the protesters, the students, the idea that they really have is theyre going to influence Israel. They want their universities to divest from Israel. Theyre using media coverage to try to push Joe Biden to change his policies towards Israel. But what that means, then, is that the effectiveness of these protests in the end relies on some engagement, some sense of Israeli politics and culture. And so I wondered, how are these campus protests being received in Israel? What are Israelis seeing? What do they make of it? When I think about Israel, I always think about this book written in 2013 by Ari Shavit, whos a longtime political reporter there, called My Promised Land. And I recommend this book to everybody. I think it is the single best book on what Israel is because it is a book that is better able than any other to hold both the idealism and violence at its heart, to take seriously both the way it was a miracle for some and a tragedy for others, to make you feel the work that went into it this was not just given to the Israelis and on the other hand, the dispossession that was required by it. Its a book that does something that not that much on this subject does, which is hold contradiction without trying to resolve it. And so I wanted to talk to Shavit, as somebody who understands Israel very deeply, about the protest movement, about the increasing tensions with Jews in the diaspora and Jews in Israel, and about Israeli politics itself, and where it goes from here, and what happens if it actually doesnt really go anywhere from here. As always, my email, ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. [MUSIC PLAYING] Ari Shavit, welcome to the show.

ari shavit

So good to be with you. Thank you.

ezra klein

So when you look at the campus protests sweeping America about Israel, what do you see?

ari shavit

I am deeply saddened. Ill tell you what I dont see. I dont see Gandhi-like marches. I dont see Martin Luther King kind of demonstrations. I dont see an understanding of the profound tragedy that we are trapped in. So if people were there marching, talking about the hostages, and talking about the 1,200 people who were slaughtered on Oct. 7, then I would deeply, deeply respect their anger, but when you see that its all one-sided, and when you see that it goes from legitimate criticism of Israel to a kind of obsession with hating it, then I wonder. It makes me  beyond the sadness, it scares me. I think there is justified criticism. There is understandable criticism. And then there is vicious criticism bordering on anti-Semitism. When America was in Vietnam, there were justified anti-war marches all over. They never doubted the legitimacy of America, of the United States of America. When France was in Algeria, in Indochina, there was criticism of the entire global left. No one said that the French Republic is illegitimate.

ezra klein

In a way, Im glad you brought up the Vietnam marches because I think the thing you just said there is flatly wrong. The Vietnam marches, which were right in their moral direction, were full of people who questioned the fundamental legitimacy of America, full of people who were calling for victory over and the deaths of our soldiers, full of people who did not march with love, who were not Gandhi, who were not Martin Luther King Jr. Of course, they also had marches where there literally was Martin Luther King Jr. One of the difficult things about reading a mass protest movement is that it is never one thing. It is never, or very rarely, perfectly on message, perfectly respectable, perfectly managed. If it were, it often would not get very much coverage. And so let me agree with you that there are things at these marches that are repugnant. And I, frankly, have very little patience myself for the way this conversation ends up endlessly circling this question of, does Israel have the right to exist? Israel exists, but many of the people at these marches do not hate Israel for being Israel. They certainly do not hate Jewish people for being Jewish. These Jewish students, as I understand them and Ive spoken to some of them they feel they have to choose between their political values and any kind of solidarity with the state of Israel. What do you say to them?

ari shavit

I would ask them, and ask even you, to make a distinction between the Israeli government, between the Israeli prime minister, and between the Israeli people and the Israeli project. I am as angry at Prime Minister Netanyahu as you are or as the young demonstrators are because Mr. Netanyahu is endangering the lives of my children. Im angry at the Israeli extreme right, just as you are or the young demonstrators are, because they are tainting and threatening the dream that my grand-grandparents dreamt and my grandparents and parents fulfilled in the most miraculous way. But there is a distinction between that and the Israeli project, the Israeli state, because at the end, look, when I listened to some of this discourse, people are talking that Israel is a colonizing nation. We have been the ultimate other of white Europe for 1,500 years. We never knew where well sleep next year. We will never know what will happen to us. And then we became white Europes ultimate victim. So we ran away from white Europe. We were not sent by white Europe. How can you totally attack the right of a homeless people to have a home? We are not part of imperialism. We are a small persecuted people that somehow saved itself at the last moment. And in order to prevent the death of a people, they transferred them from one continent and several continents. They revived the language. They built a society, created a state, a nation. Its an incredible, incredible human endeavor. You dont have to be Jewish or pro-Israeli to see that. And when I look around, where are we compared to Australia, Canada, New Zealand  or you folks? When I see that distortion, I find it difficult to deal with, difficult, because the distortion is so extreme. So, true and I wrote about it, and Im willing to talk about it we have sinned. We made mistakes. We are in a tragedy. But to totally overlook the justice at the heart of this project and to just see the flaws and the problems, I find that a distortion.

ezra klein

It was interesting to me that you kept coming back to the word distortion here, because the word you used in your book is contradiction. I was looking at my notes from My Promised Land. I have and you should take this as a compliment 188 highlights in that book. Its a lot of highlights.

ari shavit

Thank you very much.

ezra klein

I want to read you one of them, and I want to hear how it sounds to you right now. You write, Zionism skated on thin ice. On the one hand, it was a national liberation movement, but on the other, it was a colonialist enterprise. It intended to save the lives of one people by the dispossession of another. In its first 50 years, Zionism was aware of this complexity and acted accordingly. It was very careful not to be associated with colonialism and tried not to cause unnecessary hardship. It made sure it was a democratic, progressive, and enlightened movement, collaborating with the worlds forces of progress. With great sophistication, Zionism handled the contradiction at its core. Im curious how that paragraph that you wrote sounds to you now because the thing that people are picking up on, what youre calling the distortion, is theyre seeing one side of it has now taken over. And maybe theyre right.

ari shavit

Its a wonderful question. When my great-grandparents came to Palestine, to Eretz Yisrael, they understood that we have to make it clear to ourselves and to others that we are not another colonial project, that we are not like others. And they understood that while they have a particular mission, saving the Jewish people from death, not just oppression, they have a universal mission. The idea of the kibbutz, for example, was this combination, that on the one hand, you want to settle the land. You want to build a national project, but simultaneously, you want to contribute to the world. You have a message. By the way, thats my understanding of Judaism. Its not just about national entity and national existence and definitely not about power. You need the inspirational part. You need the moral dimension. David Ben-Gurion and these people understood that. Now, we had the right to try to throw a nuclear bomb over Germany. We did exactly opposite. We signed agreements with Germany in 1952 to help us build the country. They were so much into this balance that we experienced what we experienced, but we will build. Our revenge will be to live, to bring children, to bring life. We came to death, we are surrounded by death, but we choose life. Thats the Israel I love and admire. Sadly, decades later, we surrendered to the victimhood ethos, and we used the Holocaust, which is a horrible event, and we became more and more we lost that balance of fighting for ourselves while seeing the others. And then we find ourselves in a place where extreme right-wing Israelis help extreme left people in America lead us all into this kind of distortion.

ezra klein

There is a separation that gets made there in your answer, but here, constantly, when I heard Senate majority leader Chuck Schumers speech about Israel, he was making the separation between the government and the people. And I wonder about this, because Netanyahu has won again and again and again and again. If you are 18 and you are in college right now, he has been prime minister of Israel for almost your entire life, the vast majority of it. He has been chosen. His coalitions have been chosen. The movement right has been chosen. And so I wonder whether there is this separation. Because when I even think of Donald Trump, he represents something. He did not just take over in a hostile boardroom maneuver. He appealed to people, and they wanted him, and they want him again, many of them. And there is something in Netanyahu that is wanted. Now, maybe he is seen as incompetent. Maybe he is seen as a failure. But it is not clear that what has turned Israelis against him is the right-wing project so much and the callousness of it, so much as the fact that he did a terrible job managing security. Defend this cut to me.

ari shavit

So lets make a distinction here, if I may, between previous years and Oct. 7 and afterwards. So if you look at the last few years or the Netanyahu decade, what youve seen is a terrible failure of the center left and by the way, of the international community as well. Because basically what happened, we asked our people I as an active in the peace movement at the time, we asked our people to accept the two-state solution idea, the peace idea. Time after time, they voted for it. They voted for Rabin. They voted for Barack. We went to the Camp David Peace Summit in 2000 it failed. We went to the Annapolis summit in 2007 it failed. We even had a process under President Barack and John Kerry in 2014, and it failed. We never came back to our people, saying, true, the old peace process failed. Weve learned from the mistakes, and therefore, we offer something new and realistic that addresses the harsh realities of the Middle East. Ill say here in brackets, my life has been my public life has been about the struggle between liberal and moral values and the brutality of the historic reality I live in. So the center-left and the international community have not delivered anything to deal with the legitimate fears and concerns of Israelis, who tried the two-state solution so many times, and it failed. It caused terrible suffering for the Palestinians, it caused terrible suffering for Israelis. And then comes Netanyahu and uses these fears. So historically, in a sense, I would say, Netanyahu is not only the sin, hes the punishment, for the failure of the center-left to bring a realistic vision. Israelis have not become evil and crazy and racist. We have that minority in us, but its not the majority. The main problem is fear that was not addressed and the failure of the old peace process. Now lets talk about after Oct. 7. I want you to understand and I think its so important Israelis are seeing a different war than the one that Americans see. You see one war film, horror film, and we see, at home, another war film, horror film. Israelis are stuck in Oct. 7 while the world has forgot Oct. 7, nearly forgot Oct. 7. So Israelis are totally traumatized, are totally traumatized. Each one of us knows someone who was murdered, who was kidnapped, who was terribly wounded. My wife sees terrorists coming into our garden, and its all over. We experienced real fear. Now, its not just Jewish neurosis. Its not just in our minds. I want to compare it to 9/11. What we experienced, number wise, its like 10 times or 15 times worse than 9/11. But its an ongoing 9/11. Imagine a 9/11 where, afterwards, Al Qaeda keeps 133 250 at the beginning hostages, a bit combined the Iran hostage crisis of 79 with Al Qaeda of 2001. And think of the fact that the ongoing 9/11, you would have had Al Qaeda in Mexico and Iran in Canada. Its a nightmare. Its surreal. So if you want Israelis to replace Netanyahu, to move away from the extreme right, you have to address their fears and their legitimate fears. Once we address this, we can demand of Israelis to have much more empathy and generosity and really try peace in a new way, in a realistic way, to stop this terrible tragedy.

ezra klein

Let me say first that I agree with everything you just said about both the psychology and the geography of this. I often try to say to people who see it as obvious that Israels response has gone way too far, which I do believe, by the way, it has gone way too far, I do say, look, imagine that 9/11 was conducted by an Al Qaeda that ruled Canada and what we would have done in response. I said this over and over and over again in the podcast I did after 10/7 there is no country that would permit that kind of incursion and massacre and not respond with overwhelming force. At the same time, I want to connect this back to what you were just saying about the peace process because one thing that I think Israelis completely disregard now is that in the background, long before 10/7, they had let themselves become the villains. When you say that Israelis feel we tried peace, and it was not responded to, I think theres a lot of truth to that. How much everybody tried, that there are contested narratives of these peace processes, thats all true as well. But I do think that there were honest attempts to try to find some equilibrium that was not this. I would say that went until about 2008. And then what happened and I think this is the much more dominant narrative for people who have followed this and are younger here is peace was abandoned, and the settlements kept getting built. And so it wasnt just that the peace process failed, and then went into a state of dormancy it was that the peace process failed, and then it was made more and more impossible year by year, that there was an active effort, the laying down of concrete, the paving of roads, the erection of buildings, to make it impossible to imagine that trade of land. And so theres both the genuine problem you are pointing to, the question of how can anyone in Israel feel safe if Hamas exists in Gaza, but theres also this other question, which is, how can Israel be safe? How can it exist? How can people here support it if it allows itself to settle into this role as the occupier?

ari shavit

So first of all, the short answer is, if you want the Israelis to change and I think they should or we should the first thing is not to hold maps of the entire land between the river and the sea, all Palestinian, and basically say that I and my daughter and my wife and my two sons have to leave and go back to Poland because this is right now what is said in campuses. So if you want Israelis to take the risk again and I think we must and Ill get into that the international community, led by America, has to hug and support democratic Israel. Beyond that, I agree. I wouldnt use the word villain the way you use. But with everything else you said, I agree. So I wouldnt say Israel is a villain, but obviously, there are Israeli villains. Just like there are American villains and European villains, there are Israeli villains.

ezra klein

I think it is too complex I just want to say that I think this is a way too complex to say anybody is a villain. Im saying that for many people, Israel came to appear the villain.

ari shavit

Oh, OK.

ezra klein

They were the stronger player.

ari shavit

Oh, well. The strong, well get into the strong. So you know what? Lets get to the stronger. First of all, talking of distortions, one of the great distortions here that its not only about Israel, is that you assume that the weak is just, and the strong is wrong. Thats a profoundly morally flawed statement because if Ill parachute to you into Europe of 1944 and early 1945, the Germans were very weak, and the Allies were bombing them in Dresden and other places. So if you follow that logic, that distorted logic, youll be pro-Nazi. So I ask everybody to get out of this. This is something that happened in our intellectual world in the last 20, 30 years. And its a distortion not only regarding Israel. Point number two, Israel is not that strong. The flaw of Israel itself, they became arrogant and cocky. People did not understand how vulnerable Israel is. Regarding the Palestinians, we are stronger. But there is a larger context here. What is threatened now is the entire free world and world order. You have a Chinese, Russian, Iranian axis attacking everything we believe in, everything we believe in. We have to see the larger context. We cannot be blind. Ezra, this is the most intimidating Jewish moment in our lifetime. Its one of the most painful Palestinian moments in our lifetime. And its one of the most dangerous global moments in our lifetime. We have to wake up. This is a mega, mega, mega event. What happened on Oct. 7 was an attack on the Jewish state and the democratic state, on the Jewish people, and in many ways, on the postwar world order. [MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein

There is much, I think, that people outside Israel do not see clearly about Israel. There are things people inside Israel, I think, do not see clearly about Israel, and one of them is strength. And so one of the things that I see again and again is this effort to, then, create a much larger set of enemies to justify a deep and very understandable I come from Jewish history, too a deep and understandable feeling of vulnerability, of weakness, of always being on the precipice. But Im in America, and so what I understand, I think, better than Israelis do is what the American politics are at least right now. Iran was never going to be a threat to Israel in this war, because as soon as it began, America moved battleships into place to make very clear that if Iran joined, it would be annihilated. When there was an attack that led to the killing of a major Iranian commander, Iran launched a drone strike that it understood everybody understood back and forth, this was well calibrated to be shot down. Israel did a calibrated response. Israel and Iran have been in a very calibrated series of just enough in a way to maintain their domestic politics on both sides. The danger for Israel, which is much stronger than I think you give it credit for, in part because it is backed by the strongest military the world has ever known it is using American bombs now. It is backed by American warships now. And when you say that the world needs to hug Israel, it is true that protesters on college campuses are unfurling maps in which Israel does not exist. It is also true the actual president of the United States of America has wrapped Israel in a very, very, very tight hug. He has then been spat on again and again and again by Benjamin Netanyahu, which I think we probably share a view on how thats gone. But what would make Israel weak is the loss of that support. What would make Israel actually vulnerable is if the politics that is emerging now among young Americans becomes a dominant politics of America when they move into power, which is how things typically work. There is this paradoxical way in which the insistence upon vulnerability and what vulnerability makes possible practical or necessary is, in the long run, it seems to me, the thing that could create real vulnerability, a sort of unwillingness to recognize how much support for Israel in the long run and the strength will depend on whether it is seen as a moral nation by the generation that is going to take power here, and that when they look at it, do not see that anymore and also do not see anybody trying to prove that to them.

ari shavit

So youre preaching to the converted, but let me try to explain. First of all, lets begin with President Biden because not enough Israelis express enough gratitude to the United States generally and specifically to President Biden. So let me try to do my bit. I think that what President Biden did in the first three days, in the first three weeks, in the first three months of this war, was incredible. It was a heroic, realistic act of leadership, not in spite of his age, but because of his age, because he has the World War II at his background and he has the Cold War in his bones. Now, I totally agree. And look, Ezra, Ive been reading you. Youve been reading me, Ive been reading you. What you write about the three generations and their attitude to Israel is totally, totally true. I was speaking to some, in some lecture I gave in Cambridge, to some young students who were confused about Israel and the conflict. And the older one among them came to me, and she said to me, Ari, listen, I had Rabin. I had the Oslo process. I had an Israel I could identify with and look up to. What the younger Jewish kids in the diaspora have been experiencing in the last 20 years that they are asked to defend a nation with whose values they cannot identify. Im not one whos using the external threats, the Chinese, Russian and Iranian dimension, in order to run away from the Palestinian issue, not at all. Israel has to deal in a much more courageous and generous way with the Palestinian issue. And Israel is guilty of the fact that in the last 15 years, we ignored it, and it became like the elephant in the room. And then we saw what happened. But while our commitment, our responsibility, our mission is to deal with the Palestinian issue, you have to remember that Israel is not France, not America, and not China. Israel is a small, intimidated nation. So I ask all people of good faith and decency to look at the larger picture. Im not asking it as an excuse to ignore the Palestinian issue, in no way.

ezra klein

Theres this language you hear that youre using Im certain Ive used it. Its not a criticism of the Palestinian issue. But I want to make this more direct. Palestinians, right? I mean, we talk about a battle for Israels soul, but the battle happening right now is in Gaza. The question right now is whether or not Israel will enter Rafah. And one of the things that makes it hard to support what Israel is doing for me, is, I dont believe the war aims. If you could prove to me that if you went into Rafah, this place where more than half of Gazans are now huddled, you would somehow, with the same intelligence community that could not predict 10/7, figure out exactly who is a Hamas fighter and who is a Hamas commander, and remove them, kill them, imprison them, whatever it is. And as such, then, Hamas or something like it could not reconstitute itself, and some other more moderate leadership would emerge, and negotiations for some kind of stabilization could begin fine. But I genuinely do not understand what the theory of this is. You talked about how traumatized Israelis are. And they are. And every single person here who forgets that or does not take it seriously has walled themselves off from understanding the issue. Everything you say about that is right, and it actually infuriates me. But do Palestinians not feel this grief? Are they not being traumatized right now? Not just the loss of life and the loss of children in particular, but the loss of homes of livelihoods. How do Israelis imagine a people as traumatized now as the Palestinians are, not them as an issue, but them as people? What security emerges from this?

ari shavit

So, again, whether its good or bad, I actually agree with you. Mr. Sinwar is an evil genius. And Israel walked right into his trap.

ezra klein

The head of Hamas.

ari shavit

Exactly. Whats the Sinwar genius? He put Israel in a kind of lose-lose situation. Mr. Sinwar is not only willing, but he wants to sacrifice the civilian population of Gaza in order to change the minds of the hearts of the civilian population of the United States of America and turn it against Israel. And hes using the hostages in order to break the spirit of Israeli society. So Mr. Sinwar understands what, sadly, our generals did not understand, which is war is not only a military operation, its not only about tanks and planes, that if you win the war in Khan Younis, but you lose it in Harvard Square, you lost the war. You lost the war. This is exactly what Sinwar wanted. And sadly, the way the war was waged on our side and I think we had to do it, and we had to defend ourselves, and we had the right to defend ourselves. But we should have been much more sophisticated. It should have been clear to any person watching television or TikTok or whatever in the United States that we are fighting Hamas, we are not fighting the Palestinians. And right now, the opposite has happened. So definitely, I oppose the Rafah. Going into Rafah is exactly what Sinwar wants. If Israel will make that mistake, it will be a decisive, tragic mistake. Mr. Netanyahu, all his life, was a Churchill wannabe. He wanted to be Churchill. Here, he has an amazing tragic opportunity to be Churchill. But what did Churchill do? Basically, two things. One, national unity, and two, he went to America. He went to Washington. He talked to F.D.R. He convinced F.D.R. to stand by Britain. This is what we should have done. So Im totally with you. We should not go into Rafah. We should find a way to end the Gaza war once all the hostages are back. We have to prevent a regional war, and we have to understand what kind of danger we all face.

ezra klein

Here, Im going to ask you not to speak as you, but as a reporter and as somebody who knows the Israeli political and military establishments, because this is a place where putting it all on Netanyahu is simply not true. Benny Gantz, who is the likeliest next leader of Israel, he agrees that somehow, this war is going to achieve the goals. He agrees that they should go into Rafah. If you look at the interview that Yair Lapid, the opposition leader, just gave to one of my colleagues, he agrees this war needs to be continued. Benny Morris, the revisionist historian who has done so much to increase our understanding of the expulsion of Arabs during Israels war that created the state, he agrees they need to go into Rafah. So there is a wide agreement over anything you might call, from the right to the center-left, that they need to go in Rafah, that somehow this will make Israel safer, that Hamas can be sufficiently degraded. Why do they think something so many of us seem to think is not true, which is that what Hamas is, is not an idea, not an expression of rage that will find its way out, but a military unit?

ari shavit

So the good news is that quite a number of leading Israeli strategists, ex-generals, serious people have been saying in the last week or two what I just told you. They said going into Rafah would be to walk into a Sinwar trap. Its a strategic trap, and we should not go into it. So on this issue, Im not totally lonely. I think there are other people who think look, dont get me wrong. I think that eventually, Hamas has to be crushed. Look, Hamas is threatening the lives of Israelis and the liberty of Palestinians. And we all have to unite in eradicating Hamas and liberate the Palestinians. I want Gaza to be Dubai by 2040, 2050. Thats the future of Gaza. We need to bring in a coalition of moderate Arabs and moderate Palestinians. We need a Marshall Plan for Gaza. We need to turn it to something that every young person in Gaza who is suffering so much today will have a future, will have hope, definitely food and water. But much more than that, Gaza has to be an amazing project of the international community led by the moderate and rich Arabs, who have the resources, the capability, and who know how to deal with radical religious sentiments. So we have to do that. But well have to defeat Hamas. But Im saying right now, this thing went so wrong. There is so much suffering. There is no hope. There is no breakthrough. We have to find a way to stop the fighting, again, once all the hostages are back. All the hostages have to be back. I want every Palestinian to feel that he has more freedom, more prosperity, more hope every year while Israels security is not in danger.

ezra klein

But this gets to something that you said a few minutes ago, which is the world cannot understand what Israel will or will not do. It cannot influence what Israel will or will not do until the trauma and the fear and the grief of Israelis is taken seriously, and that if you want to be a protest movement, if you want to be a politician, if you want to be a stakeholder that is somehow influencing Israel, you have to start there. And I believe you are right, but that is also true for Palestinians. And what I hear is this sort of jumping, right, to this sort of world where theres nothing like Hamas. Theres an international coalition. Somehow, so much money has been poured into Gaza that maybe Israel allowed this, which seems unlikely to me, but that it now looks like Dubai. But before you get to any of that, you have somehow done something to take seriously the trauma, the grief, the anger, the fury, the loss of Palestinians. I mean, one thing your book does very well, is, I think force people to reckon, not with 1967 and the Six-Day War, but 1948 and the violence and the loss and the expulsions of that war, how they still shape the region, how they still shape how everybody sees each other. This one is fresher, right? This is happening right now. You are right to demand the world take your grief seriously. You are right to demand they take your fear seriously. But what does it mean to take the grief and fear of Palestinians seriously? Because that is not something not just something I dont see Israelis doing, but I dont see anybody even discussing that it needs to happen. And if it doesnt happen, then I dont understand how you think you will ever live in peace or even live in security.

ari shavit

Once again, I totally agree. And I really sorry for using psychological terms or emotional terms

ezra klein

No, I think we need those here.

ari shavit

I think the conflict, this conflict, is about history, identity, and soul and feelings and humiliation and anger and fear. This is about if you and again, part of the failure of previous peace processes, that they had an economic dimension, strategic dimension they never dealt with the deeper identity issues, and you have to deal with them. Look, I understand why Palestinians would hate me because of the conflict, the tragedy of the conflict. But Palestinian leadership, Yasir Arafat, and such people, the moderates, did not care enough about Palestinians. There was the old, almost ancient stink song, I hope the Russians love their children, too. And the Russians did love their children, too. And thats why the first Cold War ended the way it ended. But the problem that we dont have enough constructive forces in the Palestinian leadership who would care about their own people. There are two terrible metaphors in the tragedy of the conflict in recent years. One was suicide bombing. What was suicide bombing, which were horrible 20 years ago, 25 years ago? Suicide bombing is when your hate for your enemy is stronger than your love for yourself. And now we have the tunnels. Now we have the tunnels. Rather than build skyscrapers of hope in Gaza, everything went into these dark, evil tunnels. Each one of us has to cure his own society from the poison and all the toxic materials of the conflict that had poisoned all of us. Were all poisoned, OK? Were all poisoned. We need now a process of detox that helps both Israelis and Palestinians at the same time to move forward to something that is more constructive, which you now see in the Middle East, which was not the case before. My Palestinian hero is Salam Fayyad. Salam Fayyad is the one Palestinian leader who really tried to do nation building. So, obviously, had his grievances regarding us, and I understand it, but he tried to build something. We need out of this chaos and mess and tragedy. We need Salam Fayyad attitude combined with an MBZ attitude. Look, the good news in the Middle East is that the first time in a century, we have Arab modernity that works and is successful. And the Emirates are like the symbol and the example for that. Because what the United Emirates are all about, its about moving forward, solution, not going back to the past, not getting into victimhood, but building things. So if we will have M.B.Z.-like forces, supporting Salam Fayyad-like Palestinians, I think we can begin to move forward from the agony and suffering into something that is more promising.

ezra klein

You say if there was something like Salam Fayyad, who was a former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, you would see a willing Israeli partner, but I had Salam Fayyad on this show a couple of months back, and people should go listen to it. And here was somebody who was doing everything youre saying should be done, and frankly, at a better time in Israeli politics than this one. And he had built up a lot more economic capacity within the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, where he was governing. He had built up profound security cooperation. He had exiled and expelled much of Hamas. He had made the West Bank far safer. And what he says happened is he could not get the Israelis to work with him, that they would not stop their incursions. They would not loosen the restrictions. They would not make it easier for him to build. Salam Fayyad had all kinds of problems, but he will tell you he told me that, really, his biggest one was that Israel wouldnt hold up its end of the bargain. And so there is this truth that at many points, Israel has not had a partner who could deliver peace or even maybe wanted to deliver peace. It is also true that there have been points when the Palestinians, or at least some Palestinians, have not had an Israeli partner to deliver peace because some Israelis dont want it. Because they want the West Bank. Because they want control. Because they want Hamas and the Palestinian Authority split because they dont want international support shifting to the Palestinians. So there is this tension between the call for someone like Salam Fayyad and then the actual historical experience of the actual living Salam Fayyad.

ari shavit

So after expressing my admiration for Salam Fayyad, I dont want to do polemics regarding him. I really admire him, and I really want him back. I really think that he and people like him are an essential part of the solution, but Ill say two things. One, Salam Fayyad had terrible problems with corruption in the Palestinian Authority, including by Mr. Abbas, whos leading it. They wanted him out. The second element that I want to remind you that while Salam Fayyad was in power, we had the prime minister in Israel by the name of Ehud Olmert, who went to the Annapolis Peace Summit with George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice and offered 100% of the territory back with some territorial exchange. Ehud Olmert made the most generous, some Israelis feel, reckless offer to the Palestinians, and it was rejected. So after it was rejected, Netanyahu was elected. Israelis became again, they are not profoundly more right-wing, but they are more skeptical, more fearful, more its more difficult to bring them. We need to find a way to get out of this vicious circle. And again, dont get me wrong in the last 10 years, extreme right-wing Israeli governments and with a lot of influence of the settler parties and the extreme right, Israel was not there. But the reason they were elected was the failure of over 15 years, we tried the old peace, and it failed.

ezra klein

One thing threaded through your book is an appreciation of tragedy and a willingness to cede your own story, Israels story, the story of the Palestinians is a story of tragedy. And part of tragedy is timing, that there are moments where an opening exists for something else, and theyre missed. And then theres a moment on the other side, and its missed. And something I think that that history should teach us, or force us to reckon with, is that theres not going to be perfection here. There are not going to be perfect leaders on either side. Theres not a Palestinian Authority free of corruption. Frankly, theres not even right now a Palestinian Authority with legitimacy. There is not going to be an Israeli polity that moves from where it is now all the way to where you are or farther than that. And so there is this question to me of what happens if this is where we are, if the Palestinians hate Israelis even more than ever after this, whenever the after this is, if Israelis are even more terrified of the security risk of what would happen to them if you had a Palestinian state that had sufficient self-determination to become strong, because a stronger and richer and freer such a state became, the more could one day exact revenge. I think that is how a lot of people think. So what if we dont get perfect leaders? What if we dont even get very good leaders, which is, I think, the recent history of this conflict? What then?

ari shavit

Look, we are all fearful now. The worst can happen. Ezra, remember my words. The worst may happen. What Oct. 7 and whatever happened since taught us is that its a make or break moment. If we will let things just deteriorated, horrible, horrible, horrible things might happen in the Middle East within a few years. So its a moral responsibility upon all of us to get to work and to create a different path and find a different path, so we can prevent catastrophe and actually bring back some hope. Look, human life is a tragedy. We all die. We all die. We forget that some of the time, but we all die. And you make the most of the path of the road that you have on this good Earth. So we have to take this tragedy and act in a sensible, rational, pragmatic manner in order to bring it to a better place. [MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein

Theres this 1948 essay by the philosopher Hannah Arendt called To Save the Jewish Homeland. And the thing shes describing  Ive been thinking about this essay, which people can and should read online. And theres a lot in here. But the thing shes discussing is that there had been a cacophony of views about Israel, about Zionism, in the Jewish community. And then came the war, the fighting, the founding. And that collapsed into unanimity. And she thought that the unanimity was very dangerous because what was needed at the founding of Israel was to take seriously the insights of the people who thought this could go very, very badly. And she says later in that essay that if you get the Israel of pure Zionism, the Israel pure confidence, that what you will end up getting is an Israel that ends up diverging from the interests of the Jewish diaspora. The Jewish diaspora is deeply liberal. The Jewish diaspora is exilic Judaism, as people say it. It is the Judaism of being the stranger, the Judaism of being a refugee. My friend, Spencer Ackerman, the national security reporter, said at the beginning of this war something that I keep thinking about, that he cannot think of a less Jewish thing than to make another person a refugee. And then there is what Israel is as a state, which it has made many people refugees, but it also has the interests of a state, and states change everybody, not just Jewish people. They make you very quickly forget the lessons of being a refugee. And that wedge of values, that is the thing that I think people are beginning to recognize and people in Israel are underemphasizing how dangerous it is for them.

ari shavit

I couldnt agree more. So if I may, Ill tell you, when I wrote My Promised Land, the chapter I loved writing most was the chapter about the 1950s because what Israel did in its first decade of existence is the most heroic and breathtaking enterprise one can imagine. 650,000 Jews absorbed one million refugees no, one million immigrants, of which half were, or many of them were, Holocaust survivors and other refugees from the Arab world. Its as if America today would absorb 500 million immigrants. I understand you have a slight problem with 7 million. So it was an incredible, incredible achievement, but whats so impressive about it that those people who came out of Auschwitz with numbers on their arms, with nightmares at night, they never surrendered to victimhood. They never saw themselves as victims. They didnt hate. And for me, the beauty of being Jewish, of the Jewish tradition Im a non-observant Jew, but Im a very passionate Jew. The beauty is that we are a universal tribe. We are a tribe, but with a universal mission and universal commitment. And what happened in recent decades that Israel went into the tribal, the particular, while diaspora Jews, non-orthodox, went into the universal. And again, I think we should meet again at this universal tribalism, at this beauty of a tribe being proud of our heritage, of who we are. We have rights like any others, and we should not be ashamed of ourselves. We should be proud of ourselves, but at the same time, having universal values at the core of our existence, whether in Israel or in the diaspora.

ezra klein

But do people in the other political movements in Israel I understand that they think that outside Israel, were naive; that outside Israel, we dont understand and this is probably true what it feels like to live inside this kind of danger. But do they actually understand that if they demand that the price of supporting Israel is to give up on universalism, to give up on all these other commitments that are core to the values of at least most Western Jews I mean, you can see what our politics are. Some people will choose Israel. I mean, there is some evidence in fact. Post 10/7 and I understand this myself like, it has forced me to deeply reengage with Israel. There is some people who will choose Israel. They will say, push comes to shove, the particularism is dominant in me. There are many who wont. And you can say a lot about what is happening on campuses, and you can say a lot about what is happening at the protests. I got an email the other day from a grad student at Columbia, and he said something to me that Ive been hearing from a lot of students, which is that he doesnt feel the protests are antisemitic, though they do attract anti-Semites. What he does feel is that he is being asked to choose between a kind of thoroughgoing anti-Zionism, right? A Zionism that believes Israel to be a stain that must be erased, and being a sort of social progressive on his campus in good standing. And I dont know what choice hell make. I dont know what choice a lot of people make. But do people in Israel this is my question as a Jew living in America. Do people in Israel, the kind of people in leadership in Israel, the Benny Gantzs of the world, do they understand that if that is the choice ultimately, that a lot of people are going to choose their politics over a country they dont live in? That they dont have this memory of it as a refuge or a miracle they have a memory of it as something that makes their day-to-day defense of who they are difficult. Because that seems to me to be whats happening to a lot of college students right now. I dont know what they will choose, but it appears to me to be a more significant threat to the relationship between the diaspora and Israel than people in Israel really seem to realize.

ari shavit

I said before, and Ill repeat it for once, you have justified criticism of Israel because there is wrongdoing. You have understandable criticism of Israel because some things that are actually justified, but its difficult to understand when you dont get the complexity. There is the vicious criticism of Israel, and theres anti-Semitism. And Ill tell you where I see the line crossed. When people deny the Jewish peoples right for self-determination and when people deny the Jewish peoples right for self-defense, thats when vicious criticism becomes anti-Semitism. Thats the new anti-Semitism. Just the way that my great, great, great grandfather was treated in his shtetl in Eastern Europe as the odd person, as the other, as the one who is not like the others, this is the way the Jewish people is treated now by many not all, but was treated by many. And I say no. When you come to judge Israel, you should criticize many things, but take a universal standard. You want to criticize the way we wage war? Compare it to the way America waged war in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other places.

ezra klein

Look, I want to say I agree with you. I agree with you. And I think this point is fair. But the wedge being driven, the thing I want to push you to answer to, or at least think about here, the wedge being driven between Jewish students in Israel is not should Israel exist, do the Jewish people have a right to self-determination, but if Israel exists like this, if it is this Israel, if it keeps going down this path, is it really consistent with who you believe yourself to be to support it? That there could be a self-determining Israel that you could support, yes, absolutely, but for a lot of us, frankly, for me, thats not been around for 15 years. Its easy to rebut the anti-Semite, but thats not the thing that is going to wedge these Jews, these young Jews from Israel. The thing that is going to wedge them from Israel is actual things happening in Israel, the things that Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, and, frankly, Netanyahu actually say. And so I dont know. I worry sometimes people are they have managed to convince themselves that if they can argue down the anti-Semites, they have solved the problem. But I think they are distracting themselves from the problem with the anti-Semites.

ari shavit

I dont want this situation where it seems that Israel is in conflict with liberal America. This is unbearable for me. This is unbearable. So I think that the extreme right in Israel that speaks in the names of nationalism is destroying the nation state of the Jewish people. I think that some in the extreme right who speak in the name of Zionism endanger the Zionist project. And some in the extreme right who speak in the name of Judaism are betraying half the Jewish people. How can extreme right and extreme Orthodox people speak in the name of Judaism and actually send away half or more than half of the Jewish people? We live in a free world, thank God. Still, I cannot expect any Jewish youngster, any young man or young girl, to stick to their Judaism and stick to their commitment to a Jewish state when that state turns its back on their values altogether. That doesnt fly. It doesnt work. And I say its not only non-democratic and non-liberal its non-Jewish. Look, talking about the Jewish mission of this time, we need to build a non-extremist Jewish coalition in the diaspora and Israel to fight the dark forces. Look, we are having a fight for its a battle for Israels soul. Its a real battle for Israels soul. We have dark forces. They are not the majority. They took over the government. They are not the majority, but they are there. And in order to fight them, we all have to be much better than we were. We have to be much more courageous and smart politically. But we need a kind of great Jewish coalition for that. So lets take this grave danger that we are now all aware of and deal with it. Again, in my admiration to the Herzls and the Weizmanns and the Ben-Gurions, is, when they thought a terrible threat, they rose to the challenge. And they changed reality in an amazing way. Chaim Weizmann, one of the Zionist leaders, used to say, you dont have to be crazy to be a Zionist, but it helps. They were a bunch of dreamers. They dealt with an impossible reality. Today, there is so much more that we have in Israel, and you have in the diaspora. We still have more resources, more power, more energy. But we have to address this danger. And its a double danger. Its a danger from without, the attacks of the anti-Semites in America and Europe and elsewhere, and the dangers of the radicals in the Middle East, and the danger from within, of losing our soul. We must not lose our soul. We have to win the battle for Israels soul.

ezra klein

I think thats the place to end. Always our final question what are three books you would recommend to the audience?

ari shavit

One of the things we need today is not only victims, but heroes, democratic heroes. So the three books about heroes that I appreciate, one is about Rosalind Franklin. And Rosalind Franklin was a scientist, happened to be a Jewish British scientist. She contributed dramatically to the discovery of the D.N.A. code. And she was intellectually dispossessed. They took away her lifes work, and she died brokenhearted at the age of 38. And what I see in her is scientific heroism, feminist heroism. She is also family. She was my mothers second cousin. And then a book, a biography, actually brought her resurrection, in a way. And today, she is so appreciated. So I find an element of hope in that. The second book that I really have been reading in the year before Oct. 7 when we had all this internal struggle in Israel was Taylor Branchs Parting the Waters about Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement. The book is beautifully written and very comprehensive, but what Martin Luther King brings us is the best of what happened in the postwar era. I think that all oppressed people in the Middle East or elsewhere, I think its an inspiration to fight for their rights, but within the context of universal values and the peaceful struggle. And my third one is Truman. Truman is so dear to my heart because first of all, he was like the unlikely hero, the surprising hero. The fact that you come from the people and you serve the people, and you dont forget that you are one of them, I find endearing. He enabled the world of Rosalind Franklin and the world of Martin Luther King because he created the postwar, World War II order, that gave humanity its best 70, 80 years. And I really, really hope we will find the Harry Truman of our time who will deal with the amazing challenges we will face and lead us to a hopeful future.

ezra klein

Ari Shavit, thank you very much.

ari shavit

Thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein
The Israeli governments decision to kick Al Jazeera out of Israel says more about the government than the TV network. The Arabic programming on Al Jazeera may often be tendentious and anti-Israeli, but shutting it down further erodes Israels proud image as a democracy in a neighborhood populated largely by authoritarian or hereditary rulers. And it may well be counterproductive.

Silencing a news outlet, however divisive or hostile it may be, is the trademark of strongman rule. It is a way of declaring that information is the monopoly of the ruler, and its a favored populist tactic for channeling public anger at moments of national crisis. Al Jazeera has often come under attack from Arab countries, including Egypt and the Gulf States, whose leaders bridled at its reporting  especially during the Arab Spring, when it gave extensive coverage to opposition movements.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel accused Al Jazeera of being a security threat by serving as a megaphone for Hamas. But if the network was hostile to the messaging of Netanyahus right-wing government, it was also one of the very few international networks reporting from within the Gaza Strip, from which foreign media has been barred by Israel. One of the many Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza was Hamza al-Dahdouh, a son of Al Jazeeras Gaza bureau chief, Wael al-Dahdouh, who earlier in the war lost another son and his wife, daughter and infant grandson.

Founded in 1996, Al Jazeera is the most popular source of news for much of the Arab world. (A separate English-language service was founded in 2003.) From a purely tactical point of view, having an Al Jazeera bureau in Israel gave Israelis a better shot at getting their message to the Arab world than shutting it down. Over the years, many Israeli officials have been interviewed on Al Jazeera, and the Israeli Armys Arabic spokesman has appeared on the network during the current war.
When the filmmaker Shuli Huang made the diarylike documentary above, he was struggling to find his place in the world. As his life and study in New York City were put on pause during the pandemic, Shuli returned to his hometown Wenzhou, China. He bought a Super 8 mm camera and started filming his loved ones without a precise intention.

Back home with his parents, Shuli found himself confronted by the past and lingering tensions with his mother. As his need to discuss his truth became overwhelming, Shuli turned the camera on himself and his family.

The distanced gaze of the lens seemed to provide the courage and justification he needed to have the difficult conversations with his mother that hed been putting off. The making of the film, which Shuli titled Will You Look at Me, offered a way for mother and son, who love each other but struggle to set aside personal and cultural expectations, to see each other.

Shuli Huang is a Chinese writer, director and cinematographer based in New York. Will You Look at Me won the 2022 Golden Horse Award for best documentary short film, the Queer Palm for best short film at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and the 2023 Sundance Film Festivals nonfiction short award.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters@nytimes.com.
Ever since the discovery of whale songs almost 60 years ago, scientists have been trying to decipher their lyrics. Are the animals producing complex messages akin to human language? Or sharing simpler pieces of information, like dancing bees do? Or are they communicating something else we dont yet understand?

In 2020, a team of marine biologists and computer scientists joined forces to analyze the click-clacking songs of sperm whales, the gray, block-shaped leviathans that swim in most of the worlds oceans. On Tuesday, the scientists reported that the whales use a much richer set of sounds than previously known, which they called a sperm whale phonetic alphabet.

People have a pho-ne-tic alphabet too, which we use to produce a practically infinite supply of words. But Shane Gero, a marine biologist at Carleton University in Ottawa and an author of the study, said its unclear whether sperm whales similarly turn their phonetic sounds into a language.

The fundamental similarities that we do find are really fascinating, Dr. Gero said. Its totally changed the way we have to do work going forward.

Since 2005, Dr. Gero and his colleagues have followed a clan of 400 sperm whales around Dominica, an island nation in the eastern Caribbean, eavesdropping on the whales with underwater microphones and tagging some of the animals with sensors.
At the Met Gala on Monday, a throng of photographers fought to capture Zendaya and Kim Kardashian parading couture gowns down the red (technically, mouthwash-green) carpet.

Not pictured: dollar signs. A lot of them.

This years event raised about $26 million for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute, according to a spokeswoman. Thats a $4 million increase over last years total, and more than double what the event raised a decade ago, in 2014.

The total pummels the philanthropic events thrown to support many of the citys other cultural institutions. The most recent fall gala for the New York City Ballet raised just short of $4 million, and the American Museum of Natural Historys gala brought in $2.5 million. Even The Mets other events do not compare: Its Art & Artists Gala raised $4.4 million last year.

There are very few other events that raise this kind of money, said Rachel Feinberg, a fund-raising consultant who has worked on galas in New York City including a benefit last year for the Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. The Met has found this formula that is fantastic for them.
The controversy began with a walkout.

On Oct. 18, hundreds of Berkeley High School students, with the blessing of some of their teachers, left their classrooms in the middle of the day and gathered at a nearby park.

Free Palestine! they chanted. Stop bombing Gaza!

From the river to the sea!

One of their teachers, Becky Villagran, thanked the crowd of roughly 150, telling them not to forget that the toll of the victims of the war in Gaza was more than a number.

Just as on the nearby campus of the University of California  famed since the 1960s for its marches, sit-ins and progressive ideals  students at Berkeley High have a long history of hitting the streets in dissent. In the 1960s, they walked out to oppose the Vietnam War. In the 1990s, they pushed to create ethnic studies courses. More recently, they have shown up in droves to advocate for Black Lives Matter, immigration reform, reproductive rights and L.G.B.T.Q. rights.

But this walkout reverberated in unexpected ways through the Berkeley public school system and the citys ordinarily tight-knit community.
In countries across Europe, students have staged their own pro-Palestinian sit-ins and protests on the lawns of their universities. And in several instances, the authorities are taking a similar approach to their U.S. counterparts: shutting them down.

At the University of Amsterdam on Tuesday, the police arrested about 125 students who had fortified their protest camp with wooden barricades. And in Berlin, the German police cleared a similar encampment at the citys Free University, which included several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters. Both demonstrations had begun on Monday, days after mass arrests swept through protests at U.S. campuses.

In Amsterdam, university officials said the demonstration had begun peacefully, but devolved into an unsafe and grim situation overnight, when fireworks were launched, physical attacks took place and an Israeli flag was burned. The citys public prosecutor and mayor made the decision to deploy the police, university executives said in a statement. We deeply regret that it had to turn out this way, they said.

Many demands coming out of European universities reflect common cause with protesting students in the United States. Among them: for universities to disclose their investment streams and divest from those that support Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
School district officials have faced off with students, parents, school board members and teachers about issues related to the Israel-Hamas war  but until now, not members of Congress.

On Wednesday, leaders from three public school districts  New York City; Berkeley, Calif.; and Montgomery County in Maryland  will be questioned by members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which has grilled four college presidents on accusations of campus antisemitism, helping to topple two of them.

For the three public school leaders, who are likely to face a similarly tense environment, its hard to imagine a less welcome invitation, said Justin Driver, a professor at Yale Law School who is an expert on how constitutional law applies to schools.

The three school districts, all diverse, have robust American Jewish communities. They are also in staunchly liberal areas, making them ripe targets for the Republicans who run the committee. And they have had their share of controversies.
Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in September, said on Monday that she was stepping down from the role to prioritize her mental health.

Ms. Voigt, who represented Utah in the 2023 pageant in Reno, Nev., said in a statement on Instagram that resigning was a tough decision.

In life, I strongly value the importance of making decisions that feel best for you and your mental health, she said.

Ms. Voigt, who was born in Florida, said that she was the first Venezuelan-American woman to win Miss USA, which started in 1952. As the winner, Ms. Voigt went on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador in November. She placed in the top 20, and for the costume competition, she wore an outfit that featured small models of landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument and the White House.
Panera Bread will stop selling its highly caffeinated fruit-flavored drinks, which were the subject of lawsuits by people who said the drinks had caused health problems, including two deaths.

The drinks, known as Charged Lemonade and Charged Sips, will be removed from the menu, a source familiar with the decision said on Tuesday.

A regular size of the Charged drinks, which come in three flavors, has at least 155 milligrams of caffeine, while the large sizes have at least 233 milligrams, according to Paneras website.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, most healthy adults can safely consume up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, or about four or five cups of regular coffee, depending on the brand and roast.
The vow was unequivocal: The city of Philadelphia was finally going to root out the drug trade that has long monopolized the streets of Kensington.

Around the neighborhood, where scores of people languish in the shadows of the elevated train, injecting, smoking and nodding in and out of consciousness, the expectations were far more tempered.

Antonio Alvarez, 58, surrounded by grandchildren on his porch, believed the drug market would go quiet, temporarily, and then return as it always had. Harris Steinberg, 57, standing at the counter of his auto parts shop, said that everything along Kensington Avenue  the tents, dealers and stray needles  was already moving to the neighborhoods back streets. Elizabeth, 29, who was sitting on a mattress on the sidewalk  and, like many of those using drugs on the street, declined to give her last name  heard that mass arrests were coming for those like her. But, she said, she was stuck on a waiting list for a shelter bed.

No one except the drug dealers said that they were happy with how things were in Kensington, one of the most sprawling areas of open drug use and dealing on the East Coast. And almost no one expected things to really change.
The Biden administration has repatriated a family of 10 American citizens who had been stranded for years in desert camps and detention centers in Syria run by a Kurdish-led militia that battled the Islamic State, according to officials.

The government also brought to the United States a pair of half brothers  only one of whom, said to be 7, is an American citizen. The resettlement of the other boy, who is said to be 9, is the first time the United States has taken in someone from the war zone who is not an American national.

The government announced the early Tuesday transfer in a statement from Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who said there had been a complex repatriation and resettlement involving 11 American citizens, five of whom were minors, and the 9-year-old non-U.S.-citizen sibling of one of the U.S. citizen minors.

He added, This is the largest single repatriation of U.S. citizens from northeast Syria to date.

The statement announcing the transfer did not identify the 12 people. But two officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details, said 10 were a family The New York Times had reported on in September, consisting of a woman named Brandy Salman and her nine American-born children, ranging from about 6 to about 25.
President Biden on Tuesday condemned a ferocious surge of antisemitism in the United States following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel and said people were already forgetting the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museums Days of Remembrance, Mr. Biden tied the anti-Jewish sentiment that led to the Nazi effort to exterminate Jews directly to Oct. 7.

This ancient hatred of Jews didnt begin with the Holocaust, he said. It didnt end with the Holocaust, either.

For Mr. Biden, a self-described Zionist, the speech was a clear assertion of his support for Jewish Americans as he struggles to balance his support for Israel with increasingly forceful calls for the protection of civilians in Gaza.
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday compared the protests unfolding on American university campuses to what happened at institutions of higher learning in Germany before World War II.

It was the same elite centers of learning from which Jewish faculty and students were suddenly expelled in Germany, Mr. Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said in pointed remarks at a Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony at the Capitol. Today, he said, American universities have become hostile places for Jewish students and faculty.

The very campuses which were once the envy of the international academy have succumbed to an antisemitic virus, he added. Students who were known for producing academic papers are now known for stabbing their Jewish peers in the eyes with Palestinian flags.
In February of last year, President Biden changed the U.S. standard for cutting off weapons deliveries to foreign militaries that harm civilians during wartime.

Under the new arms transfer policy, Mr. Biden said countries that were more likely than not to violate international law or human rights with American weapons should not receive them. Previously, U.S. officials were required to show actual knowledge of such violations, a higher bar to clear.

A few months later, in August, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken issued a directive instructing State Department officials overseas to investigate incidents of civilian harm by foreign militaries using American weapons and recommend responses that could include halting arms deliveries.

Hamas attacked Israel two months later, triggering the war in Gaza and plunging Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken into an intense global debate about how Israel is using U.S. arms. To Mr. Bidens critics, his steadfast refusal to limit arms deliveries to Israel runs counter to those initiatives and badly undermines his goal of positioning the United States as a protector of civilians in wartime.
Hamas informed negotiators on Monday that not all of the 33 hostages who would be freed in the first phase of a possible cease-fire deal with Israel are still living and that the remains of those who have died would be among the initial releases, according to two people familiar with the talks.

The disclosure came as part of Hamass counteroffer to Israels latest proposal, which envisions a first-phase, six-week cease-fire in exchange for the return of some of the hostages taken during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. It was not clear whether Hamas revealed how many of the 33 are still alive and how many are dead.

The first group of hostages meant to be freed in the initial phase of the proposed agreement is supposed to include women, older men and the sick and wounded who are among the more than 100 believed still to be held captive. The Israelis initially wanted 40 to be released in the first phase but came to understand that Hamas did not hold that many who fit the criteria. Israeli and American officials have long assumed that some of the hostages may be dead.

The news that the first group of hostages to be released would include the remains of some taken seven months ago will surely upset families who have been pressing the Israeli government to do more to free their loved ones. The fate of the hostages has become a major issue with the Israeli public as thousands of demonstrators have poured into the streets to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government to make a deal. Protesters blocked major roads in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv late Monday after Hamass counteroffer.
U.S. military planes filled with civilian contractors and supplies have begun landing in Haiti, paving the way for a seven-nation security mission, led by Kenya, to deploy to the troubled Caribbean nation in the coming weeks, American officials say.

But even as the security situation worsens and millions of Haitians go hungry, a military-style deployment that is estimated to cost $600 million has just a fraction of the funding required.

Biden administration officials would not say whether a precise date for the deployment date had been set. The Kenyan government did not respond to requests for comment.

Several military flights, including at least seven from Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, have landed at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, the capital, in the past week, according to the U.S. Southern Command.
At least two people were killed and 21 others injured in a knife attack at a hospital in China on Tuesday, the authorities said.

The stabbing took place in the southwestern province of Yunnan at about 11:30 a.m., the police in Zhenxiong County said in a statement. The police added that they had arrested a man.

The attack happened at Zhenxiong Peoples Hospital, an employee at Zhenxiong County Health Bureau said by phone on Tuesday. She did not give her name or confirm any other details.

Victims were hospitalized, the police said. No motive was given.

Knife attacks are not uncommon in China, where guns are tightly regulated, and some stabbing rampages have occurred in hospitals.
Negotiators arrived in Cairo after Israeli tanks entered Rafah

Israel sent tanks into Rafah yesterday and seized control of the border crossing with Egypt, halting the flow of aid. Delegations from Israel and Hamas also arrived in Cairo to resume talks on a proposed deal for a cease-fire.

Heres the latest.

Israels operation did not appear to be the long-threatened full ground invasion. The Israeli military called it a very precise counterterrorism operation. It said it had gone into the city to destroy Hamas infrastructure used in an attack that killed four Israeli soldiers over the weekend near another border crossing, this one from Israel into Gaza.

The head of a hospital in Rafah said that 27 bodies and 150 wounded people had been brought to his facility since the start of the incursion.

Rafahs so-called safe zone: The area Israel has designated as a safe zone for Gazans fleeing the city is neither safe nor equipped to receive them, U.N. and European officials said yesterday. The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council said in a statement that the area was already overstretched and devoid of vital services.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, who believes that a personal touch is the key to diplomacy, lured President Xi Jinping of China to a 7,000-foot pass in the Pyrenees on Tuesday, expecting to show off the sweeping views that had stamped his childhood, but instead finding dense fog and wild snow flurries.

It was a long, slippery road up the mountain, under torrential rain, but that didnt stop crowds of Chinese admirers with red flags and pennants from gathering in almost every village along the way, miraculously transposed to a remote area of southwestern France and seemingly uniform in their enthusiasm.

Undeterred, but running two hours late, Mr. Macron greeted Mr. Xi under an umbrella at one of his favorite restaurants, LEtape du Berger, or the Shepherds Stop, where dancers in colorful local dress twirled and jigged to the sounds of a flute, an accordion and a tom-tom.

Mr. Xi was impassive, but his wife, Peng Liyuan, smiled broadly and applauded.

Using the familiar tu form to address Mr. Xi, 70, rather than the formal vous that would have been more customary between heads of state, Mr. Macron, 46, offered the Chinese leader a yellow jersey signed by last years Tour de France winner, Jonas Vingegaard, a Danish cyclist.
Israel stepped up attacks on Rafah

In targeted retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks over the weekend, Israeli forces pounded sites in Rafah yesterday after ordering about 110,000 Gazans to evacuate the city. The action came after Hamas had offered to accept a temporary cease-fire proposal. Israeli officials plan to review the deal, which experts said has minor wording changes from the one recently presented by Israel and the U.S.

The developments have left White House officials scrambling to broker a deal, as Israels closest allies, including the U.S., urge it against staging a large ground operation in Rafah, saying that would take a heavy toll on civilians who are sheltering there.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office has rejected those calls, saying that the war cabinet had decided unanimously to continue with its action in Rafah. Analysts say invading Rafah would be a necessary step toward the total victory over Hamas that Netanyahu has pledged  however elusive that may prove  and would mollify his hard-line coalition partners. See the latest updates.

Education: Most of Gazas schools, including all of its universities, have severe damage that make them unusable, which could harm an entire generation, aid organizations said.
The personal information of British army, navy and air force members has been hacked in a significant data breach, raising alarm over a growing threat from cyberattacks by hostile states, Britains defense secretary said on Tuesday.

The attack targeted a third-party payroll system used by Britains Ministry of Defense, exposing the names and bank details of serving members of the armed forces and some veterans, as well as a small number of addresses.

The payroll system, which is not connected to the defense ministrys own internal network, has been taken offline and the government did not publicly blame anyone for the data breach, or confirm claims by some lawmakers who pointed the finger at China.

We do have indications that this was the suspected work of a malign actor and we cannot rule out state involvement, Grant Shapps, the defense secretary, said in a statement to Parliament. This incident is further proof that the UK is facing rising and evolving threats, he said, adding, The world is, Im afraid, becoming somewhat more dangerous.
Ukraines security services said on Tuesday that they had foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top military and political figures. Two Ukrainian colonels accused of participating in the plot have been arrested on suspicion of treason.

The Ukrainian domestic intelligence agency, the S.B.U., said in a statement that the plot had involved a network of agents  including the two colonels  that was run by Russias Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., the main successor to the K.G.B. According to the S.B.U., the agents working at Russias direction were tasked with identifying people close to Mr. Zelenskys security detail who could take him hostage and later kill him.

The agencys statement said the other top Ukrainian officials targeted in the plot included Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the S.B.U., and Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraines military intelligence agency. The Ukrainian claims could not be independently verified.

It is not the first time that Ukraine has reported a potential assassination attempt aimed at its top leaders. Mr. Zelensky said in an interview with an Italian television channel earlier this year that his security services had told him of more than 10 such efforts.
A man who has been identified by American officials as an Army sergeant was detained in Russia last week after a local woman reported him on allegations of theft, the Russian authorities said on Tuesday. He will remain in jail until at least July, they said.

The detention of the soldier, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, came to light on Monday, when the U.S. State and Defense Departments said that he was being held. He was detained in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok while he was in the process of returning home to Texas, after being stationed in South Korea.

Instead of returning directly to the United States, Sergeant Black traveled through China to Vladivostok for personal reasons, according to Cynthia O. Smith, a U.S. Army spokeswoman. She said that he did not request official clearance and that the Defense Department did not authorize his travel to China and Russia.

An official with the Russian Ministry of Interior informed the U.S. Embassy in Moscow last week that he had been arrested for theft of personal property, and the embassy and army notified his family soon after, according to a statement from Ms. Smith.
When Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, last visited Europes formerly Communist east in 2016, the president of the Czech Republic hosted him for a flag-bedecked, three-day state visit and offered his country as an unsinkable aircraft carrier for Chinese investment.

That vessel has since sunk, scuppered by Chinas support for Russia in the war in Ukraine and bitter disappointment over projects that never materialized. Also capsized are many of the high hopes that took hold across Eastern and Central Europe for a bonanza of Chinese money.

So when Mr. Xi returned to the region this week, after a visit to France, he headed for Serbia, arriving there late Tuesday before moving on later in the week to Hungary  two countries whose long-serving authoritarian leaders still offer a haven for China in increasingly turbulent political and economic waters.

The Czechs, the Poles and nearly everyone else are really pissed at China because of the war, said Tamas Matura, a foreign relations scholar at Corvinus University of Budapest. But in Hungary that is not a problem, at least not for the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Mr. Matura said.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that its tanks had entered Rafah in southern Gaza and had seized control of the citys critical border crossing with Egypt in what it called a limited operation to eliminate Hamas fighters and infrastructure that had been used to attack and kill four Israeli soldiers on Sunday.

The incursion did not appear to be the long-anticipated full-scale invasion of Rafah, a city crowded with about a million Palestinians, which Israels allies have been working to avert by pushing for a cease-fire deal.

International humanitarian officials said the military operation had halted the flow of aid from Egypt into Gaza, exacerbating extreme hunger and privation in the besieged territory.

The situation is catastrophic in every sense of the word, said Dr. Suhaib Hems, the head of Kuwait Hospital in Rafah, adding that 27 bodies and 150 wounded people had been brought to his facility since Israeli tanks entered the city.

The Israeli military said it had killed about 20 people in Rafah, describing the dead as Hamas militants.

Hamas said it had fired on Israeli soldiers on Tuesday at another vital aid crossing, near Kerem Shalom, along Gazas southern border with Israel. The Israeli military said that four mortar shells and two rockets had been launched toward Kerem Shalom from Rafah but that no injuries or damage were reported.
A Palestinian doctor at a medical center in Rafah said on Tuesday that 27 bodies had been brought there since the start of Israels incursion, in which ground troops entered the southeast corner of Gaza and took control of the Gazan side of a border crossing with Egypt.

Dr. Suhaib Hems, the head of Kuwait Hospital in Rafah, said that his facility had also received 150 injured people, many of whom suffered from shattered bones, serious head injuries or severe burns.

The situation is catastrophic in every sense of the word, Dr. Hems said.

The Israeli military said it had killed about 20 people in Rafah, describing the dead as Hamas fighters. It said that ground troops are continuing to operate against Hamas terrorist operatives and infrastructure in the area of the Rafah crossing. Israel has called the incursion into Rafah  where more than a million people have sought refuge from the war  a limited operation.

It was not clear whether there was an overlap in the number of dead, and the two claims could not be independently confirmed.

Dr. Hem said that his hospital lacked the capacity to properly treat the wounded because of a shortage of equipment and medical staff.

If the situation persists, we are only days away from complete service shutdown, he said. The health care system has completely collapsed.

Before the war, he said, about 270 people worked at Kuwait Hospital, but that number had dwindled to just a few dozen. He said the war had left him with a feeling of helplessness and betrayal and a sense of despair.

According to a statement from the Gazan health ministry on Tuesday, at least 54 people had been killed across the Gaza Strip in the previous 24 hours. It said dozens more were treated for injuries at medical facilities in the territory.

A number of victims are still under rubble and on the streets and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them, the ministry said. The circumstances of the deaths could not be confirmed independently.

Israeli forces seized control of the Rafah border crossing during the incursion and shut it down. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian side of the crossing, said the closure had prevented 46 injured and sick people from leaving Gaza for treatment in Egypt.

The patients included people with breast cancer, lymphoma and other ailments, the health ministry said.
Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity Theyre delivering solar power after dark in California and helping to stabilize grids in other states. And the technology is expanding rapidly.

How California powered itself in April 2021  and in April 2024. Peak demand average daily generation, by fuel type Peak demand 25k 25k megawatts megawatts Imports 20k 20k 15k 15k Gas Solar power Batteries Solar power 10k 10k Wind 5k 5k Hydro Nuclear 0 0 12a.m. 5a.m. 10a.m. 3p.m. 8p.m. 12a.m. 5a.m. 10a.m. 3p.m. 8p.m. How California powered itself in April 2021  and in April 2024. average daily generation, by fuel type Peak demand Peak demand 25k 25k megawatts megawatts Imports 20k 20k 15k 15k Gas Solar power Batteries Solar power 10k 10k Wind 5k 5k Hydro Nuclear 0 0 12a.m. 5a.m. 10a.m. 3p.m. 8p.m. 12a.m. 5a.m. 10a.m. 3p.m. 8p.m. How California powered itself in April 2021  average daily generation, by fuel type Peak demand 25k megawatts Imports 20k 15k Gas Solar power 10k Wind 5k Hydro Nuclear 0 12a.m. 5a.m. 10a.m. 3p.m. 8p.m. and in April 2024. 25k megawatts 20k 15k Solar power Batteries 10k 5k 0 12a.m. 5a.m. 10a.m. 3p.m. 8p.m. How California powered itself in April 2021  average daily generation, by fuel type Peak demand 25k megawatts Imports 20k 15k Gas Solar power 10k Wind 5k Hydro Nuclear 0 12a.m. 5a.m. 10a.m. 3p.m. 8p.m. and in April 2024. 25k megawatts 20k 15k Solar power Batteries 10k 5k 0 12a.m. 5a.m. 10a.m. 3p.m. 8p.m. How California powered itself in April 2021  and in April 2024. Peak demand average daily generation, by fuel type Peak demand 25k 25k megawatts megawatts Imports 20k 20k 15k 15k Gas Solar power Batteries Solar power 10k 10k Wind 5k 5k Hydro Nuclear 0 0 12a.m. 5a.m. 10a.m. 3p.m. 8p.m. 12a.m. 5a.m. 10a.m. 3p.m. 8p.m. Source: California Independent System Operator via Grid Status Please see the bottom of this page for notes. By The New York Times

California draws more electricity from the sun than any other state. It also has a timing problem: Solar power is plentiful during the day but disappears by evening, just as people get home from work and electricity demand spikes. To fill the gap, power companies typically burn more fossil fuels like natural gas.

Thats now changing. Since 2020, California has installed more giant batteries than anywhere in the world apart from China. They can soak up excess solar power during the day and store it for use when it gets dark.

Those batteries play a pivotal role in Californias electric grid, partially replacing fossil fuels in the evening. Between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on April 30, for example, batteries supplied more than one-fifth of Californias electricity and, for a few minutes, pumped out 7,046 megawatts of electricity, akin to the output from seven large nuclear reactors.

Across the country, power companies are increasingly using giant batteries the size of shipping containers to address renewable energys biggest weakness: the fact that the wind and sun arent always available.

Whats happening in California is a glimpse of what could happen to other grids in the future, said Helen Kou, head of U.S. power analysis at BloombergNEF, a research firm. Batteries are quickly moving from these niche applications to shifting large amounts of renewable energy toward peak demand periods.

Over the past three years, battery storage capacity on the nations grids has grown tenfold, to 16,000 megawatts. This year, it is expected to nearly double again, with the biggest growth in Texas, California and Arizona.

Battery Storage Plants Across the United States U.S. Wash. Maine Mont. N.D. Minn. Ore. Vt. N.H. N.Y. Mass. Wis. Idaho S.D. Mich. Wyo. R.I. Conn. Pa. Iowa Neb. N.J. Ohio Nev. Ind. Del. Utah Ill. Calif. Md. Colo. W.Va. Va. Mo. Kan. Ky. N.C. Tenn. Ariz. Okla. N.M. Ark. S.C. California has more grid-scale battery storage than any other state. Net summer operating capacity Ala. Miss. Ga. 10 MW Texas La. 100 Fla. 300 Alaska Texas is quickly adding new battery capacity. Hawaii Net summer operating capacity Net summer operating capacity 10 10 100 100 300 MW 300 MW Wash. Wash. Maine Maine Mont. Mont. N.D. N.D. Minn. Minn. Ore. Ore. Vt. Vt. N.H. N.H. N.Y. N.Y. Mass. Mass. Wis. Wis. Idaho Idaho S.D. S.D. Mich. Mich. Wyo. Wyo. R.I. R.I. Conn. Conn. Pa. Pa. Iowa Iowa Neb. Neb. N.J. N.J. Ohio Ohio Nev. Nev. Ind. Ind. Del. Del. Utah Utah Ill. Ill. Calif. Calif. Md. Md. Colo. Colo. W.Va. W.Va. Va. Va. Mo. Mo. Kan. Kan. Ky. Ky. N.C. N.C. Tenn. Tenn. Ariz. Ariz. Okla. Okla. N.M. N.M. Ark. Ark. S.C. S.C. Ala. Ala. Miss. Miss. Ga. Ga. Texas Texas La. La. Fla. Fla. Alaska Alaska Hawaii Hawaii California has more grid-scale battery storage than any other state. Net summer operating capacity Texas is quickly adding new battery capacity. 10 100 300 MW Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Note: Each circle represents a facility that has at least one battery as of March 2024. By The New York Times

Most grid batteries use lithium-ion technology, similar to batteries in smartphones or electric cars. As the electric vehicle industry has expanded over the past decade, battery costs have fallen by 80 percent, making them competitive for large-scale power storage. Federal subsidies have also spurred growth.

As batteries have proliferated, power companies are using them in novel ways, such as handling big swings in electricity generation from solar and wind farms, reducing congestion on transmission lines and helping to prevent blackouts during scorching heat waves.

In California, which has set ambitious goals for fighting climate change, policymakers hope grid batteries can help the state get 100 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045. While the state remains heavily dependent on natural gas, a significant contributor to global warming, batteries are starting to eat into the market for fossil fuels. State regulators plan to nearly triple battery capacity by 2035.

The future is bright for energy storage, said Andres Gluski, chief executive of AES Corporation, one of the worlds largest power companies. If you want more renewables on the grid, you need more batteries. Its not going to work otherwise.

How Batteries Work on the Grid Today

A battery storage facility under construction in Menifee, Calif., in March. The site, at 43 acres, is expected to be the largest in the state when completed. Mike Blake/Reuters

When power companies first began connecting batteries to the grid in the 2010s, they mainly used them to smooth out small disruptions in the flow of electricity, say, if a power plant unexpectedly tripped offline. Many battery operators still earn most of their revenue by providing these ancillary services.

But power companies also use batteries to engage in a type of trading: charging up when electricity is plentiful and cheap and then selling power to the grid when electricity supplies are tighter and more expensive.

In California power prices often crash around midday, when the state produces more solar power than it needs, especially in the spring when air-conditioning use is low. Prices then soar in the evening when solar disappears and grid operators have to increase output from gas plants or hydroelectric dams to compensate.

California How Batteries Operated on the Grid in April 2024 April 30: Peak battery output Batteries mostly charge during the middle of the day, when cheap solar power is abundant. +6,000 megawatts +4,000 Each line is a day in April +2,000 April 8: Solar eclipse Discharge 0 12 a.m. 5 a.m. 10 a.m. 3 p.m. 8 p.m. 2,000 Charge And discharge when the sun goes down, sending power back to the grid. 4,000 How batteries operated on the grid in California in April 2024 April 30: Peak battery output Batteries mostly charge during the middle of the day, when cheap solar power is abundant. +6,000 megawatts +4,000 April 8: Solar eclipse +2,000 Discharge 0 12 a.m. 5 a.m. 10 a.m. 3 p.m. 8 p.m. 2,000 Charge Each line is a day in April 4,000 And discharge when the sun goes down, sending power back to the grid. Sources: California Independent System Operator via Grid Status By The New York Times

California now has 10,000 megawatts of battery power capacity on the grid, enough to power 10 million homes for a few hours. Those batteries are able to very effectively manage that evening ramp where solar is going down and customer demand is increasing, said John Phipps, executive director of grid operations for the California Independent System Operator, which oversees the states grid.

Batteries can also help Californias grid handle stresses from heat waves and wildfires, Mr. Phipps said. It made some differences last summer, he said. We were able to meet high load days and wildfire days when we might lose some power lines.

In Texas, batteries are still largely used to provide ancillary services, stabilizing the grid against unexpected disruptions. Texas is also more reliant than California on wind energy, which fluctuates in less predictable patterns.

But Texas is quickly catching up to California in solar power, and batteries increasingly help with evening peaks. On April 28, the sun was setting just as wind power was unexpectedly low and many coal and gas plants were offline for repairs. Batteries jumped in, supplying 4 percent of Texas electricity at one point, enough to power a million homes. Last summer, batteries helped avert evening blackouts by providing additional power during record heat.

Texas How Batteries Operated on the Grid in April 2024 Discharge April 28: Peak battery output +2,000 megawatts Each line is a day in April April 8: Solar eclipse 0 12 a.m. 5 a.m. 10 a.m. 3 p.m. 8 p.m. 2,000 Charge How batteries operated on the grid in Texas in April 2024 April 28: Peak battery output Discharge +2,000 megawatts April 8: Solar eclipse 0 12 a.m. 5 a.m. 10 a.m. 3 p.m. 8 p.m. Each line is a day in April 2,000 Charge Sources: Electric Reliability Council of Texas via Grid Status By The New York Times

The two states built their battery fleets in distinct ways. In California, regulatory mandates were a key impetus: In 2019, officials worried that too many older gas plants were closing, risking blackouts, and ordered utilities to quickly install thousands of megawatts of storage.

In Texas, market forces dominate. The states deregulated electricity system allows prices to fluctuate sharply, rising as high as $5,000 per megawatt-hour during acute shortages. That makes it lucrative for battery developers to take advantage of spikes, such as in locations where power lines periodically get clogged.

Anywhere we think the market is going to get tight, you can put batteries in and even things out, said Stephanie Smith, chief operating officer of Eolian, a battery developer. Then, were making bets all day about when to charge and discharge.

One battery, for instance, sits near Fort Worth, absorbing excess wind power from West Texas during the nighttime, when no one needs it, and feeding it into the grid when demand surges.

Other states are following. In Arizona and Georgia, utilities plan to install thousands of megawatts of battery capacity to help manage rising demand from data centers and factories. It helps that batteries can be deployed quickly, said Aaron Mitchell, vice president of planning and pricing at Georgia Power.

The industry still faces obstacles, however. Lithium-ion batteries are flammable, and while operators have taken steps to reduce fire risk, some communities oppose projects in their backyards. Most batteries still come from China, making them vulnerable to trade disputes. In Texas, a state fund to subsidize gas plants could undercut the battery boom. In other states, complex regulations sometimes prevent utilities from adding energy storage.

Because these storage resources are so new, the rules are still catching up, said Natalie McIntire, who works on grid issues for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

Can Grid Batteries Help Fight Climate Change?

Wind turbines near Sweetwater, Texas. Nationwide, battery storage is being used to address renewable energys biggest weakness: the fact that the wind and sun arent always available. Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times

Grid batteries could be a useful tool to slash planet-warming emissions, experts say, though they still need further advances in terms of costs, technologies and how they are used.

In Texas, many batteries today are actually increasing carbon-dioxide emissions, according to one analysis. Thats because operators focus on maximizing revenue and sometimes charge with coal or gas power.

These batteries have an immense capability to abate carbon, but they need the right incentives to do so, said Emma Konet, co-founder of Tierra Climate, a startup working to help batteries earn money for reducing emissions.

In California, by contrast, batteries appear to be cutting emissions from fossil fuels. The states gas use in April fell to a seven-year low. We have reached the conclusion that batteries are displacing natural gas when solar generation is ramping up and down each day, said Max Kanter, chief executive of Grid Status, an electricity data tracking firm.

Yet California still gets roughly 40 percent of its electricity from natural gas, and it could be difficult for current battery technology to replace all of that. One analysis from BloombergNEF found that solar and batteries can be a cost-effective alternative to smaller gas peaker plants that only switch on when demand spikes. But batteries remain too costly to replace many of the larger gas-burning plants that provide steadier power day and night.

You dont want to necessarily build a system where youve got batteries to suck up every last megawatt-hour, because thats a pretty expensive system, said Meredith Fowlie, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

Todays lithium-ion batteries typically only deliver power for two to four hours before needing to recharge. If costs keep falling, battery companies might be able to extend that to eight or ten hours (its a matter of adding more battery packs) but it may not be economical to go far beyond that, said Nate Blair, an energy storage expert at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

That means additional long-duration storage technologies could be needed. If California wants to rely largely on renewable energy, it will have to handle weeklong periods where theres no wind and little sun. Another challenge: Theres far more solar power available in summer than in winter, and no battery today can store electricity for months to manage those seasonal disparities.

Some companies are exploring solutions. In Sacramento, a start-up called ESS is building flow batteries that store energy in liquid electrolytes and can last 12 hours or longer. Another start-up, Form Energy, is building a 100-hour iron-air battery. These ideas will have to compete against alternatives like nuclear power, advanced geothermal or even using green hydrogen to store electricity.

Californias regulators say they may need five times as much storage capacity by midcentury, even if its unclear which technologies will prevail.

Were just at the beginning of this, said Mr. Phipps of the California Independent System Operator.

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press
Rich Levin

Finn Partners has recruited cardiologist and noted patient care advocate Richard Levin as chief health affairs counselor, a newly created position.

He joins the independent firm from the presidency of the Arthur P. Gold Foundation, which champions humanism in healthcare.

Prior to his 11 years of service at the Gold Foundation, Levin was dean of the faculty of medicine at McGill University, and cardiology professor and vice dean for education, faculty & academic affairs at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Langone Health.

Levin served two terms as president of the NYC affiliate of the American Heart Assn., and was co-founder of Qmed Inc., developer of a device that detects inadequacies in blood supply to the heart in real-time.

At Finn, Levin reports to Gil Bashe, global health and purpose chair.

He called Levin one of the nations top voices for humanism in patient carethe synergistic mixture of scientific excellence, compassion and collaboration.

Levin told O'Dwyer's the healthcare sector in the US has never been in so much turmoil, while the opportunities for improving the publics health have never been greater. "Joining Finn Partners at this time is an exceptional chance for me to contribute in a new sector, he added.

Finn ranks as ODwyers No. 8 healthcare firm with $52M in 2023 fee income.


Las Cruces Plans to Hire Travel PR Partner Wed., Oct. 9, 2024 Visit Las Cruces, which is the convention and visitors bureau of New Mexicos second largest city, wants a PR firm to help position it as a premiere tourism destination.
Register now for the free Caru Regional Networking Event in the Bridgehouse Hotel, Tullamore on the May 9 at 9am.

Caru is a continuous learning programme developed by Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) and the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC) in collaboration with the HSE.

Launched in 2022, Caru is a free programme available to staff of all levels from public, private and voluntary nursing homes across Ireland.

Our mission is to deliver a nationally recognised programme that supports and improves the delivery of compassionate, person-centred, palliative, end-of-life, and bereavement care to residents and family members in nursing homes.

The programme consists of five training and educational elements:

Network Events

Quality Improvement Workshops

Project Echo Networks

National Virtual Networks and

Webinars

Each element is designed to give staff the tools they need to enhance their end-of-life care knowledge and present opportunities to learn from each other in a peer-to-peer environment.

Each CHO (Community Health Organisation) is appointed a dedicated Regional Lead who will host a series of in-person Regional Networks annually. The purpose of these Networks is to provide ongoing support and education, providing a platform for staff to share learnings, offer peer support, and network and engage with specialists in the field of palliative and end-of-life care.

The first Network of 2024 was held in Naas, Kildare last month, with sixty-nine attendees joining us at Lawlors Hotel. Participants experienced educational presentations on topics such as end-of-life resources, holistic therapy, bereavement support for families, as well as a fascinating presentation from Simi Chacko, Director of Nursing of Community Response Team CHO7, on her role supporting nursing homes in the face of infection disease outbreaks.

Caru were also pleased to invite the Caru Leads from Baltinglass Hospital, Co Wicklow, to present on their progress with the Caru Programme. The team had previously completed the Caru QI Workshops in 2023 under the guidance of Caru Regional Lead, Ann-Marie Murphy, and were able to share their success in embedding the programme in their nursing home.

now when you see that something needs to be changed you no longer just complain about it. Caru has given you the confidence, language, and tools to take on projects and make changes in a very structured way.

To date, 189 nursing homes have participated in the Caru Programme. Here is some of their fantastic feedback

The programme line-up was fabulous - the speakers and content were excellent - a great opportunity to Network.

It was incredible learning from other services and networking with both new and familiar colleagues. It was a super enlightening day.

There is so much I loved about this Caru regional network, the speakers were so different and interesting, and I feel so energised - thank you.

Our next series of Networking events will take place on May 9 in Bridge House Hotel, Offaly, and May 15 in Woodlands Hotel, Waterford. Staff of all levels are welcome to attend any Network in the location of their choosing.

If you are interested in registering your nursing home for Caru, you can do so on Caru.ie. You can also find contact information for the Regional Lead in your CHO area.
Hong Kong holds talent-themed forum in global talent drive

Xinhua) 21:30, May 07, 2024

HONG KONG, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The inaugural Global Talent Summit opened Tuesday in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the first talent-themed international forum and exhibition organized by the current HKSAR government in its drive to attract global talent.

Addressing the two-day summit, HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee said that talent gets to thrive and grow in Hong Kong, a world-class economy. Under "one country, two systems", Hong Kong is bestowed with institutional strengths including a world-class business environment, a simple and low tax system, a highly open and internationalized market, and the free flow of information, capital, goods and people, he said.

"All these are key factors that attract talent to get both world-class work opportunities and a satisfying life in Hong Kong," Lee said.

In her keynote address, China's Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Wang Xiaoping said that she looks forward to seeing more talent across sectors as well as friends from the industrial and commercial sectors and academia at home and abroad coming to China, especially its HKSAR.

"They shall seize and make full use of the opportunities brought about by the high level of opening up of the Chinese mainland and HKSAR's prosperity and stability, and develop their careers, start their businesses and fulfill their dreams, making new contributions for the common development of China and the world as well as a community with a shared future for mankind," she said.

The two-day summit, together with a talent-themed exhibition, is expected to attract over 7,000 participants, the HKSAR government said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
The First Inaugural Address of President Jefferson Davis Hague

December 25, 2004

Mr. President, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Speaker, my fellow Amer i cans under God. I stand here before you today, on the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, in all humility awaiting my time to do His bidding. And I can tell you that his bidding now is to fight the good fight, for the Lord, and for you the American people under God.

For there is a religious war going on in this country. And we, the Americans of God, must win it. We must take back our cities, and take back our culture, and take back our country [Buchanan]. To do this, we must return to our Christian roots. If we do not, we will continue to legalize sodomy, slaughter innocent babies, destroy the minds of our children, squander our resources, and yes, sink into oblivion [Robertson].

We are in an eternal battle. The battle is between right and wrong, be tween truth and lies, between life and death. And if we ever forget what it is about, if we think we are in a battle for electing people to hold office, simply controlling political parties, then we will not accomplish what we are to achieve. We need to hold to our principles, and stick to them regardless.

The real enemy is the secular humanist mindset which seeks to destroy everything that is good in this society. The fight that we are fighting, the battle we have joined, is one that encompasses our entire life span. Remember, you have God. You have your families; you have your community, your church community, your neighborhood, and all the things you are concerned about. They have only power. That's all that matters to them. They will fight with everything that's in them to keep that power [Weyrich].

Today we face what I believe is an even greater threat to our lives. The enemy is more insidious, more chameleon"'like than a Hitler. And this enemy is even more deadly. The enemy is lethal and must be stopped [Fournier].

So far from having ended, the cold war has increased in in ten si ty, as sec tor after sector of American life has been ruthlessly corrupt ed by the liberal ethos. Now that the other 'Cold War' is over, the real cold war has begun [Kristol, quoted in Starr].

Yes, we are engaged in a social, political, and cultural civil war. There is a lot of talk in America about pluralism. But you can't have a society whose highest value is merely live and let live. The bottom line is somebody's values will prevail. Some body is going to win this civil war. And the winner gets the right to teach our children what to believe about things like life and death, love and sex, and freedom and slavery.

As I have traveled the length and breadth of this great God"'given land of ours, I have often run into skeptics. They say, "Well, J.D., if there is a civil war going on, where are the two sides?" And my explanation is that on one side there are men and women like Americans under God. People who believe that God is. And believing that God is, they are required, they are obligated to take the positions they take on a whole host of issues. And on the other side of this great conflict there are people at very significant positions in our culture who begin their thinking with the belief that God isn't. They are our enemy [Bauer].

Yes, it is time to take America back, from the liberal politicians who are attempting to erase every evidence of God from public life, from government officials who hide their radical, anti-Christian bigot ry behind a twist ed view of "the separation of church and state," from gay and lesbian radicals who not only claim the right to lead their Godless lifestyle, but demand that we support this abominable behavior, from the radical feminists whose "right to choose" has caused the murder of mil lions of innocent unborn little babies, from the militant left which is the fount of all evil-- take her back from every group or individual that refuses to recognize our beloved nation for what it truly is-- a nation under God! [Falwell]

We are the only society in history that says that power comes from God to you . . . and if you don't tell the truth about the role of God and the centrality of God in America, you can't explain the rest of our civilization. I look forward to the day when a be lief in God is once more at the center of the definition of being an American [Gingrich, 1].

As to the future, if you think about the notion that the great challenge of our lifetime is first to imagine a future that is worth spending our lives getting to, and then, because of the technologies and the capabilities we have today, to get it up to sort of a virtual state, al though that's done in terms of actual levels of sophistication, all that's done in your mind.

And that takes leadership. Most studies of leadership argue that lead ers actually are acting out past decisions. The problem when you get certainty with great leaders is that they have already thoroughly envisioned the achievement, and now it is just a matter of implementation. And so it is very different. And so in a sense, virtuality [sic] at the mental level is some thing I think you find in leadership over historical periods. But in addition, we are not in a new place; it is just becoming harder and hard er to avoid the place where we are [Gingrich, 2].

In fighting this fight to avoid this place, we face an increasingly militant, radical, socialist left. And this is how we are going to win the war against this left. We will use the same strategy General Douglas MacArthur employed against the Japanese in the Pacific in World War II: bypass their strongholds, then surround them, isolate them, bombard them, then blast the individuals out of their power bunkers with hand"'to"'hand com bat. The battle for Iwo Jima [2] was not pleasant, but our troops won it. The battle to regain the soul of America won't be pleasant either, but we will win it [Robertson].

Yes, with your help and God's blessing we will win it. Thank you and good night.

A Connie Conroy Note (December 27, 2004)

We did it! We pulled it off! We got the Prez a good speech, a great speech, if I may say so myself. And after all those drafts he didn't like at all, too. Trying, honestly, honest ly, to come up with a new way to say the same old thing he had been saying over and over in the campaign. And so what did we do? We went back to some tried and true stuff from our "Patron Saints," (if I may say so, revealing my Catholic background -- don't let any of the true Fundy Ministers hear me saying anything like that!): Pat Buchanan, Pat Robert son, Gary Bauer, Jerry Falwell, the Newt Man. [3]

Just took some of their best stuff, threw it together, nobody was the wiser, especially the Prez, and presto! The best speech money could n't begin to buy. And I'll tell you, after old Carney, I think that this young guy is going to be fun!

Author's Commentary

The Hague Heritage

On Tuesday, November 2, 2004, Jefferson Davis (J.D.) Hague was elected as the 45th President of the old United States. He was a great-grandnephew of the pre-World War II Mayor of Jersey City, NJ, Frank Hague, a man who once said (Peter):

"You hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear these words I say to myself, 'That man is a Red, that man is a Communist!' You never hear a real American talk like that."

J.D.'s father, "Big Daddy Hague," was a truck driver who sported the old Confederate States of America flag on the radiator of his 22 wheeler's tractor, and carried a loaded sawed"'off double"'barreled shot gun underneath the passenger seat. It was there, Big Daddy would confide in friends, "to protect myself from the niggers." His choice of name for his second"'born son came as no surprise to his friends, especially since his first-born son "Nat" had been named after Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest. This man's principal claim to fame was that a year after the end of the First Civil War he had founded the virulently anti"'black terrorist organization known as the Ku Klux Klan.

Big Daddy happened to be a passionate reader. His taste in books ranged from those carried in the Paladin Press catalog (1991, focusing on guns, explosives, and survivalism) to those carried in the National Vanguard Books catalog (1993, featuring anti-Semitism, racism, glorification of Hitler's Germany, and children's books).

J.D.'s mother had been an active and vocal member of the movement to harass and assault elective pregnancy termination clinics, their staffs and patients. She had joined the first Northern New Jersey chapter of the militant, violence"'inducing anti"'freedom"'of"'choice organization called "Operation Rescue" when it was founded in the mid-1980s. She had been arrested many times for screaming at staff and patients alike "up close and personal," attempting to physically block clinic en trances, and on suspicion of participation in anti"'clinic vandalism.

One of President Pine's first acts in 2001 had been to order the end to enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a Federal law passed by the 103rd Congress that had offered some protection to the clinics. (In ordering the non"'enforcement of existing legislation that he didn't like, Pine was following a well-known Right-Wing pattern. For example, former 1996 Republican Presidential candidate Phil Gramm had declared that if he were elected President, one of his first acts would be to end enforcement, on his own authority, of Federal affirmative action (equal rights in employment) law [Page].)

J.D.'s mother was one of the first in the nation to publicly take advantage of the new Pine policy. She went on to become a national leader of the violence-centered movement spawned by Operation Rescue and its many mutations. Aided by Pine's Executive Order and the subsequent repeal of the FACE Act by the 107th Congress, by the middle of the Pine Presidency, the movement had succeeded in driving out of business most of the open elective pregnancy"'termination centers around the country, even though the procedure was technically still legal.

The Development of the Republican"'Christian Alliance

Hague was the candidate of the newly-formed Republican-Christian Alliance (R-CA). The R-CA had been created at the quadrennial Republican National Convention held in Indianapolis, IN in the second week of August, 2004. It was the final recognition of a reality that had been developing since the Republican National Convention held in Houston, TX August 16"'20, 1992 had adopted a platform largely written by representatives of the Christian Coalition (RNC). Over the intervening 12 years, the dominant and driving force in the Republican Party had become ever"'increasingly the Religious Right, led by its dominant political arm, the Christian Coalition.

It is interesting to note briefly the parallels between the development of the Republican Party in the last decade before the First Civil War and of the Republican"'Christian Alliance in the second decade before the Second (Marsden). In the 1850s, the "Anti-Masons," an evangelical political party opposed to "free thinking" as well as slavery, lead the movement which divided the old Whig Party into two. Subsequently, the Anti-Masons/"Northern Whigs" evolved into the new Republican Party.

In the case of both the latter and the R-CA, a movement that began with moral preaching eventually married itself to political power. It was ironic, of course, that the Republican Party of the Transition Era, the R-CA, and their successor, the American Christian Nation Party (ACNP), would eventually undo much of what the original Republican Party had accomplished when under President Abraham Lincoln it had lead the nation into war over the twin issues of pre serving the Union and ending Negro slavery.

The ACNP would, by creating the New American Republics in 2011, break up the Union, and institute enforced, absolute, racial segregation that to some represented a form of slavery. Prior to the formation of the NAR, although the action had no practical application, it happened that they had, for the symbolic reason of adhering to the "Doctrine of Original Intent" concerning the Constitution, in 2010 among other things repealed the XIIIth Amendment (which had abolished slavery).

It was at the 13th annual "Road-to-Victory" national meeting of the Christian Coalition held at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA in November, 2003 that Jefferson Davis Hague had gained the Coalition's "highest moral evaluation." (Right up to the adoption of the Supremacy Amendment in 2007, the Coalition was always careful to do nothing to jeopardize its tax"'exempt standing. The adoption of the Amendment had, among other things, lead to the passage of Federal legislation guaranteeing "approved" churches tax-exemption regardless of what activities they undertook. Before that time, however, the Coalition never "endorsed" candidates [Freedom Writer]. It simply "recognized their moral value.") Once having achieved the Coalition's top rating, Hague had the Republican-Christian Alliance Presidential nomination well in hand.

The Political Background of Jefferson Davis Hague

Given Jefferson Davis Hague's background, it would come as no surprise that as President, he would live up to the heritage implied by both his given and surnames, and then some. At age 34 in 1994, Hague had been elect ed to the House of Representatives from a district in Northern New Jersey. He thus be came a member of that year's so"'called "Freshman Class" of Right-Wing Reactionary Republicans. A salesman of heavy-duty truck rigs of the type his father drove, typical of many in the "Freshman Class" before his election he had had no experience in government at any level. He saw government in general and the Federal government in particular as enemies to be subdued, not as a set of institutions there to be made to work for the benefit of all the people, operating under a Constitution that gave the Federal government a broad mandate and responsibility to work on behalf of the public good.

He was from the beginning vocal and vigorous in promoting the whole Right-Wing Reactionary agenda: end welfare, cut taxes, emasculate government regulation and "interference in the free market" with a special emphasis on gutting environmental regulation, significantly reduce legal protections and recourse for both consumers and organized labor, introduce Congressional term limits, and so forth. (That he was especially vocal on the term limits issue is highly ironic in the light of his own later history.) He was also at the cut ting edge of developing the new political racism that began with the Republican anti"'affirmative action campaign first featured in the 1996 elections.

He finely honed the line of assaulting "preferences, quotas, and special privileges for special interests," while proclaiming all the while that he was "no racist," and simply wanted a "color"'blind society" (Wilkins). He also was one of the first to develop the strategy by which the Republicans were able to maintain support for affirmative action programs benefiting (white) women while at tacking those benefiting all persons of color. This tack proved very useful electorally for the Re publicans.

Like many of his Right-Wing Reactionary cohorts supported by the Christian Coalition he had never been particularly religious himself. For example, he had never attended church on a regular basis. (That inconsistency was nothing new for Right"'Wing Reaction. Its patron saint, Ronald Reagan, himself attended church infrequently). It is not even clear that Hague believed in a God conscious of his own person, a key tenet of the New American Religion (Bloom). Nevertheless, throughout his tenure in the House he spent an in creasing amount of time developing his "pro-Christian" position and allegiances. As indicated, this proved very useful to him in the Presidential primaries of 2004.

From 1995 on, he attached himself closely, both physically and ideologically, to Newton Gingrich, the Right"'Wing Reactionary Speaker of the House. And Hague quickly rose through the ranks of the House leader ship, despite his young age. By the time the 108th Congress convened on Monday, January 3, 2003, he had become Chairman of the increasingly powerful House American Morality Committee (HAMC). It was created at the behest of the Religious Right by the 106th Congress. The HAMC had been formed to investigate the "moral decline" of America and propose ways and means to deal with it.

The HAMC

In many ways, the HAMC (House American Morality Committee) was like its ideological predecessor, the old House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC, 1938-1975). The HAMC spent a great deal of time defining groups that supposedly consist ed of "moral enemies of the American Way of Life." It then spent a great deal of time "investigating" supposed members of these supposed groups. A major means for doing this was to conduct highly publicized hearings into the private lives of American citizens, especially prominent ones, who did not buy into the ideology the HAMC represented.

Unlike the HUAC, which focused on political issues, as its name indicated the HAMC focused on "moral" ones. It was especially inter est ed in "sexual morality," sex and sexual identity being almost a matter of obsession for many a Right-Wing Reactionary. Also unlike the HUAC, which never in its entire tenure proposed even one piece of legislation, much less secured its passage, the House American Morality Committee was very busy in both regards.

The HAMC became the most public proponent of the position that private morality should be the subject of the public law, especially the criminal law, the position held so strongly by the Religious Right during the Transition Era (see Appendix IV for a theoretical discussion on this subject by Dino Louis).

The HAMC held the legislating of "moral behavior" to be its highest responsibility. Hague's vigorous and very public efforts in leading this crusade were central in getting him the 2004 Re publican Presidential nomination. He in turn, publicly at least, held the passage of the 31st and 33rd Amendments to the Constitution, (the Morality and Supremacy Amendments respectively [see Chapters seven and nine]), to be the most important achievements of his first term.

The Elections of 2004

By 2004, "The 15% Solution" was in full operation for the electoral benefit of Right-Wing Reaction. The Democratic Party had still not recovered from its Transition Era, Democratic Leadership Council-inspired, "me-too" stupor. The left, such as it was, was never able to develop a solidly American ideology and program that went beyond a Christmas-tree ornament package with individual proposed solutions to individual problems, having nothing to tie anything together into a consistent, politically salable, comprehensive philosophical and programmatic pack age.

Thus, with no viable alternatives to the continuation of Right-Wing Reactionary policies offered by the R-CA, voter turnout remained abysmally low. Hague waltzed in with 55% of the vote, and the Republican Party gained solid two"'thirds"'plus, "Amendment"'guarantee," majorities in both Houses of Congress. As had been the case from 1994 onwards, even though the number of voters choosing the Republicans hovered around 15% of the total number eligible to vote (thus "The 15% Solution"), the victory was hailed by the media as a "landslide."

The First Hague Inaugural

President Hague's First Inaugural Address was delivered from the National Cathedral on Christ mas Day, 2004. Under President Pine, Inauguration Day had been moved from January 20th to that date. The move accomplished the dual purpose of having the new President in place before the new Congress would convene on Monday January 3, 2005, and making a strong Republican nod in the direction of the Religious Right, even before the formalization of the R-CA. The National Cathedral had been taken over several years earlier by the New American Religion (Bloom), the rapidly growing religious arm of the political Religious Right.

The text of the Hague speech contained a peculiar amalgam of styles. On occasion it was quite explicit but in one place it was quite opaque. For a speech that definitively announced to the world that the new U.S. President fully intended to carry out his campaign promises, it had a somewhat jumbled nature and was quite short. However, the latter characteristic was quite common in Hague addresses (and quite the opposite of the usual style of dictators from Mussolini and Hitler through Stalin to Castro, a role Hague would later fill).

Historians of our time generally consider Hague's trade"'mark brevity to be a nod, conscious or unconscious, in the direction of recognizing that a short attention span was characteristic of most of his followers. For many years, historians have been split on what, even in the context of understandable brevity, accounted for the strange nature of the text of his first Inaugural. Indeed, the controversy of the "why and how" raged hot and heavy in certain quarters until it was settled by the recent discovery of the "Connie Conroy Note" which answered the question (see above): the speech was a cut"'and"'past job using various Right"'Wing Reactionary texts from the late Transition Era.

An Alex Poughton letter

December 31, 2004

Dear Karl,

I am writing you on this last day on this dismal year before I dismally go into my cups and hopefully pass out before the cheers of the faithful echo around Washington welcoming in what they expect to be a glorious New Year. Glorious for the faithful, perhaps. But for this increasingly benighted country, I don't think so.

What a speech! First, my suspicion is that few of its words were original. I know I heard several of the most famous 90s quotes from Buchanan and Robertson, without attribution, of course. And towards the end there was something that sounded just like Gingrich. But plagiarism is a detail in the context of the politics of the thing. Hague and his new "Republican"'Christian Alliance" are just ever"'more deeply into the "Politics of Mythology."

You will recall that that strategy was introduced first in the 1980s by Reagan with the use of, for example, mythical "Welfare Queens" and fake quotes from Lincoln (Mitgang). But it was really developed intensively in the 1990s by such people as the Republican ideologue Bill Kristol and the controllers of Rush Limbaugh: inventing some thing, some force, some trend in soci ety, some supposed social policy that really doesn't exist, then getting people to believe that it does, and finally making it into "The Enemy." [4]

The latter was crystallized in this speech by the short section re fer ring to the "enemy's" "insidious, chameleon"'like" nature. That "enemy" is never clearly identified, but presumably the faithful know precisely to whom the reference is being made.

In the 90s, for example, Kristol and his ilk constantly harped on the "Counter-Culture" of the 60s and its impact on American values, in the 90s. They conveniently neglected to define it, of course-- its major social features happened to have been the pro motion of peace, love, and community (Vitello). (They liked to focus on the "sexual revolution" which supposedly accompanied it, but then these guys are all sex"'obsessed anyway.)

They conveniently neglected to point out that there never was a national political leader who ever came close to adopting the "Counter-Culture" as representing his basic values, so it never received that kind of imprimatur. But for the Right-Wing Reactionaries, that lacuna in their logic was just an inconvenient detail.

They also conveniently ignored the fact that the "Counter-Culture" was marginal to most of the lives of many Americans even when it was a some what prominent feature of American life back in the 1960s. And they most conveniently ignored the impact on American life of the Reaganite ideology of "every man for him self and the devil take the hindmost" [5].

That ideology, of course, was very influential in the historical period just prior to Kristol's first rise to prominence in the mid-Transition Era. And because it was associated with a very popular national lead er, and was backed up by his social, political, and economic policies, it happened to have had a much more widespread and extremely deleterious impact on American life than did the "counter"'culture." The Reaganite ideology of the 80s was also the centerpiece of the Limbaugh ideology of the 90s, disguised as "self-responsibility" (both harking back to Herbert Hoover's pre-Great Depression "rugged individual ism"). But Kristol and Limbaugh, and the other promoters of the Politics of Mythology just ignored the historical facts.

Proceeding along these historical lines, in March, 1994, for example, Kristol's ideological soul-mates at the old Wall Street Journal wrote an editorial that actually blamed the murder that month of Dr. David Gunn, the first victim of the violent wing of the forced birthing movement, on the "permissiveness" of the 1960s! Talk of "The Pol tics of Mythology!"

Then there was Limbaugh himself continuing in the spring of 1995 to rail against the Congress as the fount of all evil. He did this was even after Congress had come under Right-Wing Republican control. Back then, despite the power of Bob Dole and Newton Gingrich and the success of Right-Wing Republicanism in the Congress, Limbaugh was already be ginning to call for the election of a "strong leader in the White House," to solve the country's problems, because "Congress couldn't do it." The Politics of Mythology again.

Or take the Religious Right and the Politics of Mythology. For years they regularly railed against the "secular humanists" as the most dangerous enemy of everything that was right about America. In the mid-90s, I know for sure, the leading organization so-labeled by the Religious Right, the American Humanist Association, had all of 5400 full members. Hague took pains to single out the "secular humanists" in his speech, and no one has heard of the American Humanist Association for quite some time now.

In that tradition of creating supposedly powerful enemies where there are none, in his speech Hague talked about:

" A "militant left" when no active left, militant or otherwise, exists in this country-- and hasn't for decades -- proposing to "bombard" and "blast" them, to boot.

" "Radical feminism," when it had been marginalized long before 2004.

" The "promotion of homosexuality by homosexuals," never a feature of the Gay culture, a culture that has for the most part tucked itself well"'back"'into"'the closet in the face o-filled ho mo phobic public atmosphere of 2004.

" The claimed "anti-Christian bigotry" of anyone who dares to simply disagree with so-called "Christian" policies.

" And so on and so forth.

But those who rise to power by generating an ever-rising tide of hate and fear need to keep the supposed enemies front and center. And just as in the 90s, if they aren't here in fact, they have to be invented.

As usual, thanks for bearing with me. You are familiar with the nice things I must say about this place in my regular columns. You are my only outlet for what I know to be the truth.

All the best,

Sincerely, Alex

A Parthenon Pomeroy Diary Entry, December 26, 2004

We did it, we did it. We've finally got the President we need. Wow! 15 years of hard work to get someone who is on our side. He's going to save our country, our freedom, our American way of life. I can't believe it. But I'd better believe it. I do believe it.

This is going to fix things up all right. Jobs for everyone. Cut taxes to the bone. And we can get the coons out of the schools, get sex out of the schools, get those f*ggots out of the schools, get prayer back in, where it belongs. Really keep those damned foreners (sic) out. This is what we need to get America to where it ought to be, to what it can be, to what it always was and always will be. Thanks, God, and thanks Pat, too.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References:

Bauer, G., "Speech," Christian Coalition Road"'to"'Victory Conference, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, 1991.

Bloom, H., "New Heyday of Gnostic Heresies," New York Times, April 26, 1992, p. 19 (see also Bloom's The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation).

Buchanan, P., "Speech," Republican National Convention, 1992.

Falwell, J., Fundraising letter, May, 1993.

Fournier, K., Fund"'raising letter, American Center for Law and Jus tice (Virginia Beach, VA), April, 1995.

Freedom Writer, "Stealth? Deception? You decide," April, 1994, p. 7.

Gingrich, N., 1, quoted in a fund-raising letter, American Humanist Association (Amherst, NY), Summer, 1995.

Gingrich, N., 2, quoted in Kelly, M., "Rip It Up," The New Yorker, Jan. 23, 1995.

Marsden, G., "The Religious Right: A Historical Overview," Chap. 1 in Cromartie, M., Ed., No Longer Exiles, Washington, DC: Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1993, p. 4.

Mitgang, H., "Reagan's 'Lincoln Quotation' Disputed," New York Times, August 19, 1992.

National Vanguard Books, Catalog No. 15, PO Box 330, Hillsboro, WV 24946, 1993.

Paladin Press, Catalog Vol. 21, No. 2, PO Box 1307, Boulder, CO 80306, 1991.

Page, S., "His Stetson's in the Ring," Newsday, Feb. 25, 1995.

Peter, L.J., Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time, New York: Morrow, 1977, p. 46.

RNC: Republican National Committee, The Republican Plat form: 1992, Washington, DC: August 17, 1992.

Robertson, P., quoted in fund"'raising letter of the ACLU, 1993, Freedom Watch, March/April, 1994, Vol. 3, No. 2, and Right"'Wing Watch, Vol. 2, No. 11, Sept., 1992.

Starr, P., "Nothing Neo: Neo-conservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea by Irving Kristol," The New Republic, December 4, 1995, 35.

Vitello, P., "No Sign of Counterculture," Newsday, December 6, 1994, p. A8.

Weyrich, P., quoted in "The rights and wrongs of the religious right," The Freedom Writer, Oct. 6, 1995, p. 6.

Wilkins, R., "The Case for Affirmative Action," The Nation, March 27, 1995, p. 409.

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Author's Notes:

[1] There is no indication or evidence that any of the historical figures quoted in the Hague First Inaugural Address or elsewhere in this chapter, among whom are Patrick Buchanan, M.G. Robertson, Paul Weyrich, Keith Fournier, Gary Bauer, Jerry Falwell, and Newton Gingrich, would have supported or associated themselves in any way with any of the actual positions or actions that Jefferson Davis Hague or any members of his government or political parties took, at that time or in the future.

[2] Named for the island on which it took place, "Iwo Jima" marked the penultimate major battle of the Pacific War in 1945.

[3] In her Note Conroy did not identify which sections of the speech were based on the words of which of the "patron saints." But with some detective work and using the process of elimination, it has been possible to determine with a fair degree of certainty just who was responsible for what. The putative sub"'authors are named in the text in [ ], and the putative sources are listed under their names in the reference list at the end of the chapter.

[4] Poughton could also have referred to the use, starting in the 1980s, by Right"'Wing Reaction with help from the Right"'Wing Democrats, of the Immigration (see Chapter 4) and Welfare (see Chapter 7) issues as if they were truly significant causes of the major problems facing the country, which they were not, to promote distraction and hate.

[5] See also the quote from Michael Levin that appears in Chapter seven (below), p. 88





(Article changed on May 06, 2024 at 7:02 PM EDT)

(Article changed on May 06, 2024 at 9:22 PM EDT)

(Article changed on May 07, 2024 at 8:12 AM EDT)
It just could have been like attending a 34th high school reunion. After over three decades, an on-line meeting, scheduled on April 25, would bring five former senior staffers of the House Select Committee on Aging (HSCoA) and House Rules Committee back together to provide firsthand accounts to Maia Leeds, legislative Assistant, for Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) as to why the New Jersey Congressman, co-chair of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus, should call on his bipartisan caucus to endorse H. Res. 1029, reestablishing the House Select Committee on Aging.

Washington, DC-based groups, including the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), Social Security Works and the Alliance for Retired Americans, including this writer, along with key staff of Congressman Seth Magaziner (D-RI), the primary sponsor of the resolution participated in the discussion of how the Rhode Island Congressman could attract more cosponsors, especially House Republican lawmakers.

Throughout the half-hour meeting, Leeds and others stressed the importance recruiting Republican lawmakers, calling for bipartisan support of H. Res. 1029. According to an article, "Votes in Congress published in the New York Times on Oct. 13, 1974, even with the Democrats controlling the House in 1974, the HSCoA was established by a huge bipartisan vote of 299 to 74. In 1993, House Democratic belt-tightening efforts to save $ 1.5 million funding the operations of HSCoA would force it to close its door

The House Aging Committee was not charged with drafting legislation. Its mission was to conduct investigations and hold hearing to put the spotlight on aging issues that would ultimately lead standing committees with aging jurisdiction to craft legislation to address these issues...

From the 114th Congress until he retired during the 117th Congress, in each Congressional session, former Congressman David Cicilline had introduced a resolution to bring back the HSCoA. The resolution failed gain traction and get support from either House Republic Leader Paul Ryan or Democratic House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. Magaziner would ultimately pick up the baton and introduce H. Res. 1029, on Feb. 23, 2024. This resolution was referred to the House Committee on Rules for mark-up, and if passed will be considered by the full House. At press time, there are only 26 Democratic cosponsors, no cosponsors from the other side of the aisle.

Simply Put"

Magaziner's 213-word resolution simply amends the Rules of the House to establish a HSCoA, without legislative jurisdiction, to conduct a continuing comprehensive study and review an array of aging issues, including income maintenance, poverty, housing, health (including medical research), welfare, employment, education, and long-term care.

H. Res. 1029 also calls for the reestablished HSCoA to study ways that would encourage the development of public and private sector programs and policies that would keep older Americans active in their community.

The resolution would also allow the HSCoA to develop policies that would encourage the coordination of both government and private programs designed to deal with problems of aging -and to review any recommendations made by the President or White House Conference on Aging in relations to programs and policies impacting seniors.

According to EveryCRS Report, the House can easily establish an ad hoc (temporary) select committee just by approving a simple resolution with no Senate or Presidential approval. It contains language establishing the committee, detailing a purpose, defining membership. Salaries and expenses of standing committees, special and select, are authorized through the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill.

Magaziner, currently out on parental leave, couldn't make the online meeting, but Chief of Staff Clayton Schroers and Kyra Whitelaw, Legislative Assistant, came to monitor the gathering to gain insight from former staffers of HSCoA's impact on the development of aging policy.

According to Magaziner, his staff are working hard to speak to other congressional offices about the benefits of the proposed committee and who will continue to work to raise the profile of this resolution to encourage other members to become cosponsors. "I was grateful for the opportunity to present to the Leadership Council on Aging, a national coalition of national nonprofit organizations that works on policy issues related to the well-being of America's seniors," says Magaziner, noting that his resolution has the support of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) and Meals on Wheels America."

As Magaziner works to increase the number of cosponsors for H. Res. 1029, he says: "The support of advocates is important to encouraging Congressional representatives to cosponsor this resolution."

"I'm ready to work with anyone, from either party, to deliver results for Rhode Island-- and that includes finding common ground on important legislation like H. Res. 1029," says Magaziner. "I believe there's still room for bipartisanship, and ensuring we address issues for seniors across the country should be an area where we can all agree. I will continue to urge my Republican colleagues to work together with Democrats to move our country forward," he says.

Former Congressional Staffers Call for Passage of H. Res. 1029

"A House Aging Committee would centralize Congress's consideration of older American issues and could be of assistance to authorizing committees with legislative jurisdiction over agencies and programs important to seniors," says Max Richtman, NCPSSM's President and CEO, explaining why NCPSSM will directly encourage House members to cosponsor H. Res. 1029.

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.People Could Have Died.: Police Raid UCLA Gaza Protest After Pro-Israel Mob Attacked Encampment Support our work: ...

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When they call their enemies Nazis, this is what they mean.

"Every accusation is a confession." T C Gibians (and many others)

What's happening here? Speaking in his perfectly American-accented English, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said "Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty. This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s."

CNN host Dana Bash went further, comparing campus pro-Palestine protesters to "Nazi brown shirts." Promoting her show, Bash tweeted "Destruction, violence and hate overtake college campuses across the country with Jewish students feeling unsafe at their own schools. It is unacceptable, harkening back to the 1930s in Europe."

Anyone who has visited or seen the student encampments knows there is no violence there. Neither Jewish students nor any others are being threatened. Sometimes Israel supporters show up and try to start trouble. They make up stories about being kept out of class or feeling scared, but video clearly shows that violence only happens when Israel-supporting thugs or police assault protestors. You have only to watch a few short videos to see where the violence comes from, and it's not from the pro-Palestinian side.

Hopefully, you know all this, but my point is to understand why these claims are made and what they tell us about the future. Writer T C Gibians said, "Every accusation is a confession." Psychologists call this "projection," a defense mechanism people use when their own thoughts or actions are too troubling. They attribute the negatives to someone else.

Projection can also be a political strategy, sometimes called accusation in a mirror (AIM.) Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels said, "Always accuse your enemies of your own sins." We see this over and over again in political discourse, as with Israel accusing Palestinians of 'wanting to drive us into the sea,' while working full time to drive Arabs into the desert.

According to propaganda expert Susan Benesch, AIM has the weakness of telling the world your plans, but it has the advantage of appealing to people's deepest fears. "A false accusation of planned genocide," she wrote, is an "almost invariable harbinger of actual genocide. One of the most famous examples is the Nazi assertion, before the Holocaust began, that Jews were planning to wipe out the German people." Hutu leaders did the same thing in Rwanda before the genocide of the Tutsis.

So, looking at people's accusations is a window into the accusers' own minds. What would lead a Netanyahu or a Bash to call the extraordinarily peaceful campus protesters Nazis? They're camping out, doing seminars, reading poetry, making signs. The comparison with 1930s Germany is over the top, even for propaganda.

Israel supporters, including the whole political class of the USA, make these comparisons because they themselves want a movement to suppress dissent. It's what they're actually doing, creating a public/private partnership to enforce ever-greater dominance by the national security state and the 1%. Such a system is usually called fascism. Israel is already there, and they are pulling the US and much of Europe with them.

A history minute - who were the Brown Shirts Bash mentioned? Known as the SA, they were militant, mostly young supporters of Adolf Hitler who acted as Nazi bodyguards, fought against communist and socialist groups in the streets and attacked labor unions, Jews and Romani people. They wore brown clothes as a uniform and are credited with a major role in the Nazis' rise to power. They would disrupt meetings and beat people up, then leave them for the government to deal with. Eventually, they were eclipsed by the even more violent and racist SS.

Campus pro-Palestinian demonstrators don't go around attacking people, but their Israel-inspired attackers do. At UCLA, dozens of masked thugs showed up at an encampment, shot fireworks and teargas into it, pulled down the fence surrounding it and beat protestors with long sticks and wooden pallets. Campus and state police stood by and did nothing. Then, citing violence at the camp (all of which had come from the pro-Israel mob,) the university called in the LAPD to clear out the pro-Palestinian protesters, arresting over 100 of them, while doing nothing to their pro-Israel attackers.

Law enforcement, university admins, and corporate media create narrative to justify such scenarios. The demonstrators are "pro-Hamas" or "trained by terrorists." Jewish students are "frightened" by the protests, even though many of the protesters are Jewish themselves. Politicians call for shutting down the campuses or using more violence against them. US Rep Tom Cotton called for sending in the National Guard to stop the protests.

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By Bob Gaydos

Poor Kristi Noem. All she wanted to do was please The Leader and spend four years by his side eagerly dismantling American democracy and maybe making a few bucks on the side. Not an unreasonable dream for a simple farm girl from South Dakota.

Then she went and shot and killed a puppy. On purpose. For good measure, she also knocked off a goat, reloading her shotgun after initially wounding the animal, which apparently had the annoying habit of acting like, well, a goat.

And of course, to make sure the world, and especially Donald Trump, knew that she was a no-nonsense woman and politician who could handle difficult situations, such as might be delegated to a vice president, she wrote about it in a memoir.

When the manuscript of the not-yet published book was leaked, to Noem's surprise, the world was pretty much shocked that someone would kill a puppy because she couldn't train him and not simply give him to someone else who could.

Worse for Noem, The Leader, learning of the shooting, book, etc., reportedly was disgusted and said, "Why would she do that?" Meaning, write all about it. In true Trump fashion, he observed that the South Dakota governor obviously has a poor sense of "public relations."

In her attempt to out-Trump Trump, she actually bragged about her evil side. Perhaps she hadn't been paying attention to the trials, the lies, the stream of victimhood pouring from Trump's mouth daily. Do it, yes. Then deny, deny, deny. It's on tape? Deny. Fake news. There were witnesses? Deny.

Kill a puppy? It would have to have been viciously attacking, at your throat, no choice but to defend yourself. He killed a chicken? Umm " have Michael Cohen kill the story. Get a non-disclosure agreement from the farmer.

Noem also admitted to one slight "error" in her memoir -- she never actually met North Korea President Kim Jung Il in her wanderings. Somehow he wound up on a list of political figures with whom she had, um, some kind of personal connection. Vice presidential bona fides.

Noem's bloodthirsty naked ambition is yet another example of the depths of desperate ignorance and immorality to which much of today's Republican Party has succumbed. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also ran afoul of the out-Trump Trump strategy in his brief, unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, especially by being tough on the issue of abortion. Can't be done. Trump both criticized DeSantis' strict policies and took credit for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

If anything positive emerged from Noem's dog story, it showed that there were actually still some in her party with a heart. No one, even Republicans, seemed to like the thought of shooting a perhaps difficult dog rather than re-homing him to someone who would train and love him.

Now, immigrants seeking asylum by crossing the border with Mexico, or students demonstrating on college campuses are still different stories. We might need the Army or National Guard to, you know, protect us.

Anyway, after the dog story went viral, Noem was disinvited from a big Republican Party event and removed from any Trump vice presidential running mate list, if one exists.

Maybe she can chalk this political misstep up to being from South Dakota, which is in the middle of nowhere and has fewer than a million residents and only three votes in the outdated Electoral College.

I've heard rumors that there are so few people in South Dakota who are politically inclined that the residents take turns at being governor and Noem got the job because the guy ahead of her moved to Florida to sell t-shirts with a "100 percent genuine" photo of Trump and Kim embracing in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Now that sounds like a good political move for a Republican.

rjgaydos|AT|gmail.comEmail address
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One man is dead in Southeast Portland after a police shooting Monday, officials with the Portland Police Bureau said.

Police officials have released few other details.

The shooting happened around 6:30 p.m. in the Hazelwood neighborhood after an unidentified man fired on officers and they returned fire, killing the man. Police found a firearm next to the mans body, Police Bureau spokesperson Mike Benner said at a 10:15 p.m. press conference near the scene.

Detectives with the bureaus Major Crimes Team and members of the Special Emergency Reaction Team had been serving a search warrant in the 100 block of Southeast 124th Avenue when the events unfolded.

[T]here was an encounter between an adult male and officers, police wrote in an initial press release. The encounter resulted in an officer-involved shooting. The adult male is deceased. No officers were injured.

Police Chief Bob Day visited the scene shortly after the shooting and told gathered reporters he would release as much information about the killing as possible as quickly as possible. He said shootings by police are always a tragedy and also a reminder of the risks officers take when they perform their jobs. Were fortunate our officers are going home safely to their families, he said.

Several streets were closed around the area. Police ask that anyone with information about the shooting contact Detective William Winters at william.winters@police.portlandoregon.gov (503) 823-0466 or Detective Stephen Gandy at stephen.gandy@police.portlandoregon.gov (503) 823-0449 and reference case number 24-111902.

 Carlos Fuentes covers state politics and government. Reach him at 503-221-5386 or cfuentes@oregonian.com. Beth Slovic is a deputy editor on the public safety and breaking news team. Reach her at 503-221-8551 or bslovic@oregonian.com.

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Quentin Blackmon killed a stranger for his car on a side street outside The Grotto in Northeast Portland four years ago, a jury found last week.

The Multnomah County Circuit Court jury convicted Blackmon, 33, of first-degree manslaughter, robbery and unlawful use of a vehicle for shooting 66-year-old Thomas Hammond and taking his car during an altercation about 4 p.m. Aug. 20, 2020, on Northeast 90th Avenue.

Witnesses to the shooting referred to Blackmon as a pimp and said he tailed Hammond as Hammond arranged to have sex with a woman in his car, according to court records filed by defense attorneys and prosecutor Christopher Shull.

The woman testified during the trial and wasnt charged in relation to the killing. Blackmon fatally shot Hammond in the chest, drove off in his car and later sold it.

Prosecutors charged Blackmon with murder, but the jury opted to convict him of the lesser crime of manslaughter after deliberating for more than three days.

Blackmon will remain in the Inverness Jail in North Portland while awaiting trial in the killing of Michael Epps, 38, in October 2020. The case has already produced two mistrials, once because prosecutors wrongly introduced evidence of Blackmons criminal record and then because the jury deadlocked.

Judge Kelly Skye has set Blackmons sentencing hearing in Hammonds death for May 23.

Zane Sparling covers breaking news and courts for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-319-7083, zsparling@oregonian.com or @pdxzane.

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Officials at the University of Oregon say they are negotiating with the pro-Palestinian leaders of a student encampment that has grown to about 140 tents over the last week, in hopes of reaching a peaceful resolution.

But students and university leaders are still far apart, according to some faculty observers and students who said they were involved in negotiations. And in a Sunday email to students and their families, the university pointedly noted that the encampment in front of the Knight Library is unauthorized and said that protesters have been advised that they are in violation of university policies.

A rally in support of the protests drew about 1,000 people on Tuesday. University officials confirmed that theyd told protesters to come up with a plan for winding down the encampment by noon on Tuesday or face the loss of academic amnesty. Protesters, though, said they would not leave and that the university had not come close to meeting their demands.

As of mid-afternoon on Tuesday, there had been no effort by the university to remove the encampment, and just minimal law enforcement presence at the days rally.

About 100 faculty members and university staff have signed an open letter in support of the student protesters. They wrote that they have significant concerns about potential escalation at the hands of the UO administration, and said that the student protesters have already experienced harassment and potential violence by counter protesters.

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters gather at an encampment in front of the Knight Library on the University of Oregon campus.James Crepea/The Oregonian

University President John Karl Scholz has made it clear that he will not agree to protesters demands that he explore divestment from and a boycott of a host of companies that have business interests with Israel, a strategy that has led to agreements at a handful of universities, including Brown, Rutgers and Evergreen State College.

Boycotts could allow any single viewpoint to unilaterally limit scholarly collaboration and understanding across countries, limit research cooperation and industry partnership [and] limit the ability of students to pursue study, Scholz told the faculty senate last week. Divestments, like academic boycotts, run counter to our obligations to our students, our state and to some degree, our country.

Students protesters, via social media, have called a boycott, divestment and sanctions approach the bare minimum asks of the University to show their good faith in working with us.

Seydel said the school had received reports from students and some faculty that other professors and instructors were holding classes or office hours at the encampment, prompting a warning to faculty that went out over the weekend. In a follow-up email to students and parents, Kris Winter, the schools interim vice president for student life wrote, no student should be encouraged or compelled by UO employees to be exposed to the protest or encampment.

But Joseph Lowndes, the chair of the political science department, questioned how widespread that practice actually was. He said he had gone down to the encampment by invitation to give a short talk on the history of student protests and the dangers of antisemitism, he said, adding that hed seen no sign of anti-Jewish sentiment among protesters, though anti-Israel signage is present.

The next day, he said, he received an email from a dean in the college of social sciences.

They had heard that I had taught or was going to teach a class in the encampment, and that students were very uncomfortable, that they would be forced to be in what they consider a hostile environment, Lowndes said. It was presented like true information, but it was a lie that they had accepted at face value. I am not teaching a class this quarter.

By Monday afternoon, as first reported by The Daily Emerald, the universitys student newspaper, a coalition of groups representing Jewish students released a statement calling on the university to dismantle the encampment, criticizing both the universitys move to close the Knight Library and the student union early for safety reasons during midterms and the decision by some professors to cancel or end classes early.

We are aware that some students participating in the encampment identify as Jewish, and may feel that the language used by the encampment is not antisemitic, the statement, signed by Ducks for Israel, Oregon Hillel, Eugene Chabad, and the Jewish Federations of both Portland and Eugene read. However, many in our community have made clear they feel differently.

Seydel said it was her understanding that most of those at the encampment are students, which emerged as a point of contention at Portland State University, where demonstrators took over the schools library last week and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damages to the library.

Police eventually cleared the library and arrested 31 people, only six of whom were currently enrolled Portland State students. About 50 more students had left the library the previous night after negotiations with PSU president Ann Cudd, while several dozen more streamed out of the library and ran away before police could reach them.

On Tuesday, the University of Oregons student government was scheduled to use the space where the encampment is for a street fair, but student leaders have said they can share the area with the protesters.

 Julia Silverman covers schools and education policy for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her at jsilverman@oregonian.com or 503-221-4305. Follow her on X.com at @jrlsilverman.
A handful of teens rushed around Beavertons Westview High Schools cafeteria on a Friday in late April, unfolding clothes, laying out chairs and escorting guests to their seats. Over a hundred spectators crowded in, as they waited for a fashion show to begin.

Gimme More by Britney Spears blasted over the speakers. The words countdown to change flashed across a screen in bold white letters. A model emerged from the curtains  wearing ripped denim and a blue cardigan  and walked down the runway.

This was not an ordinary fashion show: Every outfit worn was secondhand. Westview students hosted the fashion show and thrift swap with the hopes of promoting sustainability in fashion. With the support of youth models, cosmeticians and environmentalists, Westviews Climate Change Club, in collaboration with four other high schools, sought a unique way to contribute to the fight against climate change.

Seniors Alanya Abou-Elmajd and Nick Wright co-founded the club two years ago. Since January, students have worked around five to seven hours a week to plan for the fashion show, recruiting models, promoting the show through their social media accounts and sorting the clothes, which were donated by families in the area.

Every week we would get five bags of clothes just stored in our garage. It was nice to see people give, said Tanya Abou-Elmajd, the club presidents mother.

Abou-Elmajd felt inspired to host an event focused on fast fashion after learning about the environmental impact of the industry. Fast fashion refers to cheap, short-term clothing churned out quickly by corporations. This can lead to textile waste when clothes are thrown away, instead of worn for long periods of time. The fashion industry is one of the worlds leading polluters, damaging the environment by emitting greenhouse gases and generating millions of tons of wasted garments each year, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental nonprofit.

5 1 / 5 Westview High Fashion Show

Young people seem to be more interested in their ecological footprint than previous generations, said Kenneth Pucker, a professor of practice at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

However, there is a gap between intention and action, he said.

Although surveys indicate Gen Z shows more interest in sustainable fashion and secondhand clothing, he said, it can be difficult to tell if this generations actions align with their values partly due to the prevalence of greenwashing, where companies distort their practices to seem more environmentally friendly than they actually are.

Britta Cabanos, a fashion consultant who focuses on ethical fashion and founded the website Inside Fashion Design, believes Gen Z tends to follow brands with more sustainable values, such as Outdoor Voices, that are really resonating with this generation. But the price tag to buy sustainably can be high.

At the same time, due to the rise of mass production and developments in mobile commerce, cheap and environmentally damaging garments are more accessible.

A big part of the struggle is its so easy to go to H&M or Forever 21 and get a cute outfit to go out to a party, you know, for 20, 30 bucks, Cabanos said. If youre trying to buy a sustainable dress to go out for your party, it might be $100 or more.

Cabanos argues that changing issues in the fashion industry is like steering the Titanic. Due to the complexity of the industry, it can take a long time to adjust to more environmentally friendly practices. For example, if a large company wants to use a fabric that is ethically produced, its difficult to replace a textile that may have been selected years before.

To shift and move things, it takes a very long time to make a turn. Even small changes along the way start shifting you in the right direction, Cabanos said.

Student organizers hope that Westviews fashion show is one step forward. Students wanted to promote the idea that reusing clothes, instead of throwing them away, can be trendy and fashionable, Abou-Elamjd said.

Abou-Elamjd believes that young people are more eco-conscious than previous generations due to positive social media influences; however, she cautioned about the use of fashion apps she considers exploitative.

Temu and Shein are both huge contributors to fast fashion, and they seem nice on the outside because the clothes come fairly quick, and for cheaper price, but the price comes at a cost at hurting the environment, and increasing everyones fashion footprint, Abou-Elamjd said.

Students showcased everything from thrifted low-rise jeans to formal dresses and baggy T-shirts during the April show. Westview student Maddoc Evans modeled for the event wearing tan pants and a black shirt.

It was super fun, said Evans, who also participates in Westviews theater program. Evans said he believes everyone needs to do their part to stop climate change and purchasing secondhand clothes is one way to help.

Noor Aeich, a Westview senior who modeled, also encouraged people to shop sustainability.

People should be more mindful of their choices and actions, Aeich said, Especially Gen Z. We dont really think about that any more with trends.

Westviews climate club considered the show a success. With over 160 people in attendance, it was like our dreams came to life, said Khevna Purushothaman, the events coordinator manager for Westviews climate club.

My favorite part was seeing it all come together. The realization that this is possible, Abou-Elamjd said.

Youth Voices contributor Charlie Bloomer is a junior at Sandy High School, and an alum of the Asian American Journalists Associations JCAMP. Theyre an editor for Sandy Highs newspaper, The Pioneer Press and an active participant on the speech team. They also serve on Next Ups board of directors. After high school, they hope to do communications work for social-justice oriented organizations.
Motley Crue kicked off their tour in Atlantic City on Friday night with frontman Vince Neil taking a fall onstage.

The 80s rock icons were only a few songs into their set and performing the song Wild Side when Neil, 63, began skipping back and forth from one side of the stage to the other until he tripped, sending him face first on the stages floor.

Several videos shared by fans on Facebook and YouTube show the moment the fall happened.

Fortunately, he wasnt seriously injured. He got back up quickly and began singing to Wild Side as soon as he was back up.

Neil is no stranger to onstage accidents. Back in 2021, on his solo tour, he fell off stage. The show was cut short and Neil was rushed to the hospital where he reportedly suffered a few broken ribs.

The fall comes weeks after Neil did press ahead of the tour in which he did interviews where he expressed his thoughts on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and how he thinks the band will probably be dead before they get inducted as well as how he still hates the bands 1997 album Generation Swine two decades later.

Neil also wasnt the only rock star to face-plant onstage this weekend. During Pearl Jams tour opener in Vancouver over the weekend, guitarist Mike McCready fell off the stage during the performance of Porches though he was not seriously injured and was able to play the rest of the night.

More music coverage

Saleah Blancaflor may be reached at sblancaflor@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @saleyley and Instagram.
The six super-smart players competing in the 2024 Jeopardy Masters tournament met again for a pair of games on Monday, May 6. This time, Vancouvers Yogesh Raut faced off against Victoria Groce and Amy Schneider for the second game in the episode.

(No cable or satellite? You can stream Jeopardy Masters via Fubo, which offers a free trial.)

That combination saw Raut and Groce, who both won in their first appearances in Jeopardy Masters, competing against each other. The third player in their round, Amy Schneider, also competed against Raut in the previous episode, though Schneider finished third in that game, behind Raut and James Holzhauer, who came in second.

The Jeopardy Masters format features six contestants, who compete in a series of hour-long episodes, which include two games, with three masters competing in each game. The winner of each game scores three points; the second-place finisher earns one point; and the third-place player gets zero points.

Mondays installment began with Game 3, which saw Holzhauer, described as the final boss of Jeopardy!, playing against Mattea Roach, a writer and podcast host from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Matt Amodio, a quantitative researcher from New York.

It was an entertaining game, with Amodio doing well, and Holzhauer securing the lead, thanks in part to Daily Double wins. When Final Jeopardy arrived, Holzhauer was in first place, with 45,200; Amodio was in second, with 19,200; and Roach was in third, with 5,600.

The category was 20th Century Leaders, and the clue was: One of the Big Four at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and a former journalist, hed supported the Impressionists and Alfred Dreyfus.

All three players had the correct response, guessing, Who is (Georges) Clemenceau? Roach bet 158, bringing their total to 5,758; Amodio bet zero, leaving his total at 19,200; and Holzhauer wagered 908, raising his total to a whopping 46,108.

That left Holzhauer with three points for the win; Amodio with one point for placing second; and Roach with zero, for a third-place finish.

The players who accumulate the most match points over the three-week Jeopardy Masters tournament will advance to the finals. The ultimate winner of Jeopardy Masters will take home a grand prize of $500,000.

Game 4 came up next. Raut, a cognitive and behavioral scientist who won the 2024 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions and the $250,000 grand prize, competed against Groce, a writer and television personality from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Schneider, a writer from Oakland, California.

Groce again showed her strength as a player, and she also got a boost from Daily Double wins. When it was time for Final Jeopardy, Groce was in the lead, with 41,000; Raut was in second, with 11,800; and Schneider was in third, with 10,200.

The Final Jeopardy category was 20th Century Writers, and the clue was: Becoming British subject in 1927, he described himself as a classicist in literature, Royalist in politics and Anglo-Catholic in religion.

Schneider had the correct answer with, Who is T.S. Eliot? She wagered 1,601, raising her total to 11,801. Raut also had the right answer, and his wager of 8,601 raised his total to 20,401. Groce had an incorrect response, guessing Who is Tolkien? Groce wagered 9,000, which dropped her total to 32,000, but that was still enough to secure a win for Groce.

The Jeopardy Masters leaderboard, as of Mondays results, shows Groce at the top, with her two 3-point wins; Holzhauer is in second, with 4 points; Raut is in third, also with 4 points (Holzhauer is ahead of Raut because of a tiebreaker rule, which takes into account the number of correct answers a contestant offers); Amodio is in fourth place, with one match point; Roach is in fifth place, with one point; and Schneider is in sixth place, with zero points.

Jeopardy Masters will continue Wednesday, May 8.

 Kristi Turnquist covers features and entertainment. Reach her at 503-221-8227, kturnquist@oregonian.com or @Kristiturnquist

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In his first appearance in the 2024 Jeopardy Masters primetime event, Vancouvers Yogesh Raut scored a victory. Monday, May 6, the competition continues, with Raut this time competing against Victoria Groce and Amy Schneider.

(No cable or satellite? You can stream Jeopardy Masters via Fubo, which offers a free trial.)

Jeopardy Masters features the six highest-ranked current Jeopardy! contestants. The players compete in a series of hour-long episodes, which include two games, with three masters competing in each game. The winner of each game scores three points; the second-place finisher earns one point; and the third-place player gets zero points.

In the first installment, Raut, a cognitive and behavioral scientist who won a $250,000 grand prize and the victory in the 2024 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, played against James Holzhauer, the self-described final boss of Jeopardy!; and Schneider, a writer from Oakland, California.

Holzhauer is a smart, aggressive player who won the last Jeopardy Masters, and finished second to Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings in the primetime Jeopardy: Greatest of All Time event. But Raut emerged from his first Jeopardy Masters game as the winner, earning him 3 points. Holzhauer finished second, earning him one point so far. And Schneider, in third place, received zero points.

Game on  Which matchup are you excited to see? The newest season of #JeopardyMasters premieres TONIGHT at 8/7c on ABC and Stream on Hulu. pic.twitter.com/q4VrWj5fgs  Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) May 1, 2024

Mondays round will begin with Game 3, pitting Holzhauer against Mattea Roach, a writer and podcast host from Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Matt Amodio, a quantitative researcher from New York.

Game 4, which follows, will find Raut trying for a second win, as he competes with Groce, a writer and television personality from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and again with Schneider.

The players who accumulate the most match points over the three-week Jeopardy Masters tournament will advance to the finals. The ultimate winner of Jeopardy Masters will take home a grand prize of $500,000.

Jeopardy Masters Games 3 and 4 air at 8 p.m. Monday, May 6, on ABC. The tournament continues through May 22, when the final games air.

 Kristi Turnquist covers features and entertainment. Reach her at 503-221-8227, kturnquist@oregonian.com or @Kristiturnquist

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Paint Your Wagon may not be considered a classic movie musical, but if nothing else, the big-budget 1969 film spotlighted some beautiful Eastern Oregon scenery. The movie, which filmed on location in Oregon and starred Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood and Jean Seberg, has also now inspired the newest addition to the Oregon Film Trail.

The 42nd sign on the Oregon Film Trail is displayed on the north exterior wall of the Geiser Grand Hotel, a historic structure in Baker City.

The Oregon Film Trail is the name given to a series of signs and markers placed around the state at locations associated with the filming of memorable films. The initial idea for the trail came from the Oregon Film office, which partnered with the Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of Commerce and the Oregon Film Museum to identify significant filming locations in the Astoria area.

The trail has grown to include other regional partners and locations, with markers around the state commemorating the filming of such projects as One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Stand By Me, Twilight, Sometimes a Great Notion, Wild, and more.

Related: What should be the official movie of Oregon?

The newest Oregon Film Trail sign represents a collaboration with the Geiser Grand Hotel, Travel Baker County, Baker County Economic Development, the Eastern Oregon Visitors Association, and the OregonMade Creative Foundation.

Related: Oregon film tourism trend brings visitors to communities where movies and TV shows filmed

According to the press release, during the filming of Paint Your Wagon, many members of the cast and crew stayed in the Geiser Grand Hotel, and enjoyed the hotel and saloon during their time off from filming in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. After filming, the Geiser Grand Hotel was judged unsafe and the City issued a demolition order in 1993, but the community saved the building from the wrecking ball with a full restoration. Many locals were hired to work as crew and background actors.

Want to watch Paint Your Wagon and see its Oregon locations? The movie is available to rent or purchase on platforms including Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

 Kristi Turnquist covers features and entertainment. Reach her at 503-221-8227, kturnquist@oregonian.com or @Kristiturnquist

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This May, voters have an opportunity to boost our local economy, and they can do so by approving the Oregon Zoo bond, (Voters will decide whether to fund improvements to Oregon Zoo, April 25).

The Oregon Zoo is well known as a fun and educational place for kids, families, and seniors, and rightfully so. There is a lesser known but remarkably important fact about the zoo: It propels significant economic activity throughout our region.
Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt received $213,000 worth of in-kind contributions linked to billionaire progressive philanthropist George Soros late last month, campaign finance records show.

The flyers and advertising provided by the Working Families Party of Oregon represented the largest contribution from a single individual or entity in the increasingly bitter race, campaign finance records show.

The contributions bring Schmidts fundraising haul to about $800,000 compared to the more than $1 million his challenger, Nathan Vasquez, has raised so far.

The election is May 21.

An examination of Federal Election Commission filings shows the donations from the Working Families Party of Oregon can be linked back to Soros, the investor and mega-donor to Democratic candidates and causes from New York who has a long record of supporting elected district attorneys with change-oriented agendas, like Schmidt.

Two days before the Working Families Party of Oregon donated to Schmidts campaign, it received $340,000 from the Working Families Party National PAC, records show.

In March, the national PAC recorded a $1 million contribution from Democracy PAC, federal records show. In January, Soros Fund for Policy Reform gave $60 million to Democracy PAC, representing more than 99% of Democracy PACs receipts for the first quarter of 2024.

Vanessa Clifford, Pacific Northwest regional director for the national Working Families Party, said the organization supports Schmidts vision for a more just and equitable Multnomah County but did not acknowledge the organizations financial support from Soros.

Andrew Rogers, Schmidts campaign manager, said Schmidt appreciates the groups support, referring to it as a grassroots party led by labor and community leaders throughout the country.

In a July 31, 2022, commentary in the Wall Street Journal, Soros said prosecutors advocating for change have coalesced around an agenda that promises to be more effective and just, treats addiction as a disease not a crime and seeks to end the criminalization of poverty and mental illness.

This is why I have supported the election (and more recently the re-election) of prosecutors who support reform, he wrote. I have done it transparently, and I have no intention of stopping.

Oregon filings show the money from the Working Families Party went toward campaign flyers attacking Vasquez for his voting record; Multnomah County elections records show Vasquez did not cast a vote in the 2016 presidential election.

Vasquez was a registered Republican until 2017, when he changed his registration to the Independent Party. Last fall, county records show, he changed his registration to unaffiliated. The DAs post is nonpartisan.

The flyer said: In 2016, Republican Nathan Vasquez didnt vote to stop Donald Trump. It includes photos of Vasquez, Trump and Rudy Guiliani, Trumps former lawyer.

Vasquez said Monday he did not focus on politics then and like many Americans, at various points I have been disillusioned and disappointed in the negative nature of politics. He said he was offended by Trumps election in 2016.

I was disaffected from national politics, he said. He voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and plans to vote for him again this fall, he said.

Vasquez said he doubts the out-of-state dollars will reflect anything that people who actually live and work here want to see.

Oregonian politics editor Jamie Goldberg contributed to this report.

-- Noelle Crombie is an enterprise reporter with a focus on the justice system. Reach her at 503-276-7184; ncrombie@oregonian.

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A brand new political action group whose donors have yet to be disclosed has spent more than $1 million to oppose Portland Democrat Susheela Jayapal in her bid for Oregons 3rd Congressional District, according to federal disclosures filed Friday and Saturday.

In flyers and television ads, Voters for Responsive Government took aim at Jayapals record as a Multnomah County Commissioner. The group bashed Jayapal by pointing out multiple Multnomah County missteps on addressing homelessness, including leaving tens of millions of dollars aimed at the problem unspent.

Homelessness is a serious problem, reads one flyer mailed to Portland area voters. Why wasnt Commissioner Susheela Jayapal serious about fixing it?

Jayapal has said that she had limited ability over Multnomah County decisions on homelessness and other matters, given County Chair Jessica Vega Pedersons overwhelming power over the countys agenda. Jayapal wrote on social media Friday, I am and will remain unabashedly progressive. Not a single outside dollar is going to intimidate us or detract from our goal of winning this primary.

Voters for Responsive Government was registered as a federal political action committee in early April and has not yet had to disclose its donors, making it difficult to discern who is funding the attack ads. The next Federal Election Commission disclosure deadline for it and other groups spending for or against federal candidates is May 20, the day before Oregon ballots will be tallied.

Last week, Jayapal and a competitor for the 3rd Congressional District took the unusual step of holding a joint press conference condemning the enormous outside spending in the race. Their shared competitor, doctor and state Rep. Maxine Dexter, has benefited from $1.7 million in independent expenditure support from the 314 Action Fund, a group that supports liberal doctors and scientists running for office and is not affiliated with Voters for Responsive Government. Jayapal and candidate Eddy Morales called on Dexter to demand that the 314 Action Fund reveal who is funding its efforts to support Dexter now, rather than wait until May 20.

At a time when MAGA Republican mega-donors are interfering in Democratic primaries across the country, particularly against qualified candidates of color, voters deserve to know who is trying to buy this seat, the pair said in a joint statement.

When pressed by journalists at a press conference last week about what evidence they have tying the 314 Action Fund to Republican mega-donors, Jayapal and Morales couldnt provide any. No major donors that the liberal-leaning pro-science political committee has disclosed have given to Donald Trump-aligned Republican campaigns or causes.

All of 314 Action Funds advertisements and texts have been limited to positive messaging about Dexter.

Dexter has defended her support from 314 Action Fund. The group, founded in 2016, has disclosed all its donors through March 31 of this year, as required.

Dexter took to social media Friday to condemn the campaign by Voters for Responsive Government. She wrote that the newly founded dark money group is an example of a broken campaign finance system that she hopes to fix if elected to Congress. Voters for Responsive Government is not in fact a dark money group. It is a federally registered Super PAC, which must disclose its donors by Federal Election Committee deadlines.

A  group has recently attacked my opponent and I want to be clear, I dont think a negative discourse has any place in this race, Dexter wrote in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter. I do not condone or support these negative ads in any way and remain committed to a positive conversation.

The 314 Action Fund and Voters for Responsive Government are spending substantially more on the race than any individual candidate had reported raising through March 31. Jayapal had raised the most, at $611,000.

The only other outside spending thats been reported in the race is $59,000 from the National Association of Relators going to support Morales.

Jayapal said at a press conference Thursday that she has known for some time that groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee were planning to insert themselves in the race to oppose her. Nonprofit news organization The Intercept reported late last week that unnamed congressional insiders have said AIPAC-aligned donors are supporting 314s efforts to back Dexter in a move to oppose Jayapal.

In a social media post this weekend, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley raised concerns about the negative advertising by Voters for Responsive Government, given that it has not yet disclosed its donors.

I strongly condemn the dark money campaign underway to smear Susheela Jayapal in OR CD3 and any other dark money campaigns that are underway or planned, he wrote. They are despicable and damaging to our democracy.

Sami Edge covers higher education and politics for The Oregonian. You can reach her at sedge@oregonian.com or (503) 260-3430.
Portland area voters hold dismal views  or worse  of every top elected official in the area, from county commission chairs to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and the Portland City Council, a new poll shows.

And by a 5 to 1 margin or higher, they disapprove of the way their cities and counties are managing homelessness, drug addiction and housing, according to an Oregon Insight poll commissioned by The Oregonian/OregonLive. At least two-thirds gave a thumbs down to local governments handling of crime, the economy, road conditions and litter.

Theres no doubt that if you walk or drive around Portland, youll be assaulted by evidence of city and county failures. Tents, garbage, potholes, traffic, said Jack Miller, a political science professor at Portland State University. As voters, were highly reactive to our immediate visual surroundings.

Survey participants also showed profound dissatisfaction with their local elected leaders. Fewer than one-in-four Portland voters said they approved of Wheelers job performance as mayor.

The Portland City Council had the worst net negative ratings, defined as the percent who disapprove minus the percent who approve, at 54%. Of the five elected officials the poll asked about by name, the net negatives were highest for Wheeler (46%), Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson (31%), Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt (28%) and Washington County Chair Kathryn Harrington (10%).

Only Clackamas County Chair Tootie Smith managed to keep her net negative rating in single digits, at 8%.

Our biggest problem is that they dont seem interested in actually solving issues, said poll taker Caleb Powell, 22, who lives in Portlands Boise neighborhood. They just want to talk about them.

The antipathy voters harbor toward most local officials is not directed to anywhere the same degree toward Oregons top elected leader. Among those surveyed, Gov. Tina Kotek had equal approval and disapproval ratings of 45%, with about 11% uncertain of her job performance.

The poll, carried out on landlines and cell phones, including by texts, reached 600 people chosen to match the demographics of the three-county metro area.

The poll was conducted April 25 to April 30 by Portland-based DHM Research. For metrowide results, the margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Ratings of individual elected officials by only voters in their county had wider error bands of up to 8.5 percentage points for Smith in Clackamas County.

Portland area voters continue to name homelessness, crime and drug use as their top concerns for Oregons largest city and the metro region. And just 22% of Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington County voters said the region is heading in the right direction while 66% said it is on the wrong track.

Ninety-one percent of metro region voters said they disapprove of local governments ability to manage homelessness. For drug addiction and crime, the disapproval figures were 89% and 78%, respectively.

Cities and counties did only slightly better when it came to litter (73% disapproval), road conditions (72% disapproval) and the economy (66% disapproval).

Voters were least troubled by local governments handling of K-12 education, with a net 39% disapproval rate, and the local economy, with a net 37% negative.

The pessimism runs particularly deep in Oregons most populous county.

Only 24% of Portland voters approved of Wheelers job as mayor, a position hes held since 2017, while a staggering 70% said they disapproved of his handling of the city.

Portlands five-member City Council as a whole, meanwhile, mustered a mere 16% approval rating and also had 70% of voters polled give them a thumbs down.

Mayor Wheeler agrees with public sentiment that the status quo is not working, spokesperson Cody Bowman told The Oregonian/OregonLive. He is continuing to work closely with his colleagues on the City Council to deliver change for our community  and we are seeing progress.

Vega Pederson, who took the reins at Multnomah County last year, had a 15% approval rating and 46% disapproval rating.

Nearly 40% of Multnomah voters surveyed had no opinion of her at all, despite the fact that the county plays a leading role on policies related to homelessness, addiction and mental health.

Vega Pederson declined to comment through her spokesperson Tuesday.

Her counterparts in Clackamas and Washington Counties  Tootie Smith and Kathryn Harrington  fared better, though not by much.

Smith, who is running for reelection this month, had a 31% approval rating, while 39% of voters disapproved of her job and 30% said they didnt know. For Harrington, those figures were 21%, 40% and 40%, respectively.

Multnomah County, like Clackamas, has several contested races this month, including district attorney and four commission seats. In November, Portland voters will have the opportunity to choose a new mayor and an entire new City Council.

Despite the prospect of a significant change in leadership, survey participant Connie Maplethorpe, 61, of the St. Johns neighborhood in North Portland, said she was not looking forward to casting her ballots this year like she had in elections past.

Ive seen Portland change dramatically in the last six or seven years and I hate to say its not been for the better, said Maplethorpe, adding that a drive-by shooting had occurred on her street just a few weeks ago.

Im very dissatisfied with our government, our local government. I dont think theyre doing their job at all, she said. I will vote this time because I like to complain. But Im not even sure it matters at this point.

This article is part of The Oregonian/OregonLives new Oregon Insight project. We are committed to exploring current affairs through trusted local reporting on data, polling and research. Watch for more original polling from our partner DHM Research as our journalists explore our most pressing local issues throughout 2024. Read more at oregonlive.com/oregoninsight.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh covers Portland city government and politics, with a focus on accountability and watchdog reporting.

Reach him at 503-294-7632

Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe.
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Following the recent enforcement of Florida's six-week abortion ban, clinics in several other Southern and mid-Atlantic states mobilized, recognizing that women would turn to them for services due to the restrictions in their states.

States Adopting Laws Limiting or Prohibiting Abortions

In North Carolina, situated three states to the north, medical professionals are swiftly working to expand services and shorten wait times.

"We already have appointments scheduled," Katherine Farris, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, noted. "Patients who couldn't access services in Florida at the end of April are now booking with us."

This response mirrors a nationwide trend since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision reversal, with over 20 states adopting laws limiting or prohibiting abortions.

States with more permissive regulations are embracing women seeking pregnancy terminations.

Since June 2022, some Democratic-led states have eased access to abortions for out-of-state individuals, implementing laws safeguarding local healthcare workers providing abortions to women from states with restrictions. Measures include permitting providers to prescribe abortion pills via telehealth.

California, New Mexico, Oregon, among others, have allocated public funds to enhance abortion accessibility.

Florida Reported Alomost 15,000 Abortions

In 2023, Florida recorded over 84,000 abortions, slightly up from the previous year. As of April 1 this year, around 14,700 abortions had been reported, suggesting many women consider out-of-state choices.

"People will travel when they're desperate," remarked Mara Buchbinder, a social medicine professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Florida was once a destination for women from neighboring states with restrictions, such as Georgia and South Carolina, both banning abortions at approximately six weeks of gestation.

However, access in Florida has been shrinking steadily. In April 2022, a 15-week ban was passed, followed by a six-week abortion ban in 2023, contingent on the earlier ban's legal affirmation. The state Supreme Court upheld the ban last month, leading to its swift implementation.

A November referendum could reverse the ban, but until then, advocacy groups must organize numerous out-of-state trips.

For women more than six weeks pregnant, South Florida is now the farthest from a legal provider in any densely populated U.S. area.

Consequently, the average abortion cost is expected to surge from $600-$700 to over $1,800, Daniela Martins of the Women's Emergency Network stated.

Martins anticipates aiding women in traveling to Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., although funding remains a challenge.

The Brigid Alliance, supporting women seeking abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, is bracing for increased demand. The alliance is expanding its team and partnering with a clinic in Puerto Rico, particularly for Spanish speakers.

North Carolina Foresees a Notable Rise in Women Patients

North Carolina expects a significant influx of patients. Before Florida's ban, 32% of abortions at the state's Planned Parenthood clinics were for out-of-state individuals.

Despite being a convenient option for Florida women, North Carolina has its obstacles. The state's 2023 law allows abortions up to 12 weeks but mandates two in-person provider visits 72 hours apart, potentially prolonging the process.

Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler of the Carolina Abortion Fund noted concerns about increased wait times for abortions, currently ranging from five to 20 days. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic is extending services and adjusting schedules to meet demand.

"We're committed to the work," Farris affirmed, acknowledging the operational challenges in managing the chaotic system.

Farris, providing abortions in North Carolina, sometimes has to redirect patients over 12 weeks to Virginia or other states with lenient laws.

Despite limited resources, Carolina Abortion Fund strives to assist every caller, functioning as a lifeline for many in need. A Preferred Women's Health Center in North Carolina receives around 4,000 calls weekly, predominantly from Southern states. Since Roe was overturned, about 70% of their yearly abortions have been for out-of-state patients.

Volunteers sometimes work late into the night to assist with emergency abortion coordination, and the organization has experienced months with as many as 1,000 calls, a 400% increase after the Roe v. Wade overturns.

This surge in demand is evident as the center received 650 calls in April alone. Despite financial constraints, staff are committed to answering every call for assistance.

At A Preferred Women's Health Center in North Carolina, receiving about 4,000 calls weekly, the majority are from women in Southern states. Since Roe was overturned, approximately 70% of the center's yearly 13,000 abortions have been for out-of-state patients.

Operating two clinics in Georgia under a similar ban, the experience there may foreshadow challenges anticipated in Florida, as expressed by Executive Director Calla Hales. She remarked, "As soon as they see a positive pregnancy test, they're reaching out for help."
A deadly circumstance occurred in Buffalo, New York, as a 14-year-old girl passed away and five other teens sustained wounds during a shooting that happened outside a house party on Saturday night.

Buffalo Shooting Claims Life of 14-Year-Old Girl

The circumstances took place in the East Side neighborhood, just a few blocks away from the site of a mass firing in 2022.

According to Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, who spoke on his weekly radio show, the casualties, aged between 14 and 16 years old, were shot following an event of "several hundred" teens. While a 15-year-old boy remains in a crucial situation, the other wounded teens are anticipated to recuperate.

As of Sunday afternoon, no arrests have been made, and the Buffalo Police Department is yearning for anyone with data about the firing to come forward.

Chief of Detectives William Craig Macy highlights the significance of responsibility, yearning for the assassins to submit themselves in light of the disaster.

Investigators are looking into the probability of numerous shooters, with proof recommending that at least three shotguns were present at the party. Before the shooting, police had answered reports of commotion in the area, including fights involving a large group of teens.

Despite efforts to diffuse the crowd, shooting flared up shortly after officers left the scene. The casualties were discovered outside the house party, with the badly injured girl declared dead upon arrival at the hospital.

The motive behind the firing is still under investigation, but authorities suspect it may have stemmed from a previous brawl at the party.

Investigators are appealing to witnesses who attended the gathering for information. Despite the large turnout, few persons have come forward to help with the investigation.

The firing happened near a supermarket where a racially motivated mass firing happened in 2022, further emphasizing the continuous difficulties facing the community.

Individuals Affected by the Buffalo Shooting Incident

According to the Buffalo Police Department, the circumstances happened in a parking lot behind the Neighborhood Housing Services of South Buffalo on Alexander Place.

Police were initially called to the area of 1500 Jefferson Avenue at around 10:20 p.m. after noise accusations and reports of a fight at a large house party attended by multiple hundred people.

Afterward, officers answered a shots fired call in the same area at 11:10 p.m., followed by reports of a person shot roughly eight minutes later.

The woman casualty was transferred to Oishei Children's Hospital, where she later passed away from her wounds. Described as an outgoing and lively person, she was a student at a Buffalo charter school.

Of the injured, a 15-year-old boy is listed in a crucial situation at ECMC, while a 16-year-old boy sustained minor wounds and refused medication in the area.

As of Sunday afternoon, the assassin (s) of the firing remain at large, yearning Mayor Byron Brown and the Buffalo Police to urge them to submit. Deputy Police Commissioner Al Wright emphasized the relentless pursuit of justice for the senseless tragedy.

Reportedly, some residents in the neighborhood expressed their condolences for the victim's family but declined to speak on camera, citing concerns for their safety with the shooter still on the loose.
Doctors estimate the chances of having identical quadruplets at around one in 15 million, underscoring the remarkable nature of Mercedes and Jonathan Sandhu's situation. The couple welcomed four identical girls on May 1 in Texas.

Texas Couple Welcomes Four Identical Quadruplet Daughters

Hannah Grace, Lucy Marie, Rebecca Claire, and Petra Anne were born via cesarean section at 29 weeks of gestation. Petra weighed the least at 2 pounds, 7 ounces, while Hannah was the heaviest at 2 pounds, 13 ounces.

Mercedes, 34, and Jonathan, 37, both engineers, are also parents to Luke, 3, and Aaron, 18 months. This unexpected third pregnancy brought great surprise and joy.

"Although we weren't actively trying, we were thrilled. Adding another sibling for our boys was exciting," Mercedes shares. "But discovering we were expecting four... Holy moly!" Jonathan adds in agreement.

Spontaneous identical quadruplets are incredibly rare, with approximately 72 documented cases in medical history. DNA testing confirmed the Sandhu sisters' identical status, though the family awaits final confirmation through placenta examination.

During an ultrasound at seven weeks, Mercedes was stunned to see four distinct sacs, initially laughing then crying at the revelation. Jonathan, initially skeptical, realized the gravity of the news when Mercedes' doctor explained the risks associated with carrying quadruplets.

Read Also : Moms with Double Uteruses Give Birth to 2 Sets of Twins at Same Hospital

Despite the difficulties, the couple prefers to focus on the positivity. Jonathan remarks on the astounding odds of conceiving identical quadruplets, instilling confidence in their daughters' resilience. The birth of Hannah, Lucy, Rebecca, and Petra on May 1 brought immense relief and joy, especially considering the high-risk nature of the pregnancy.

The quadruplets are currently in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Texas Children's Hospital, receiving care through CPAP machines and feeding tubes. Doctors anticipate their homecoming by July, with updates available on the Sandhus' Instagram page.

Mercedes and Jonathan are set to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary on May 18, with Mercedes humorously declaring the babies as her anniversary gift to Jonathan, a gesture impossible to surpass.

Couple Had Hoped for Twins but Unexpectedly Blessed with Quadruplets

Michael and Hannah Carmack of Alabama had initially hoped for a second child but were surprised with quadruplets instead. Born on March 14 at the UAB Women and Infants Center in Birmingham, the quadruplets comprise two sets of identical twins: Evelyn and Adeline, and David and Daniel, delivered via Cesarean section at 27 weeks gestation.

Hannah's astonishment grew during her initial ultrasound when she discovered four sacs instead of the expected two. Despite the unexpected news, Michael expressed joy, stating his desire for a large family. They attribute their situation to a higher purpose, strengthened by their faith. The quadruplets will remain in hospital care until their due date in June.

The couple is renovating their home with the help of a GoFundMe campaign, while Hannah, a veterinary technician, balances work with bonding time with the babies.

Michael commended his wife's efforts, emphasizing her dedication. The uncommonness of spontaneous quadruplets, especially with two sets of identical twins, highlights the amazing nature of their circumstances, according to maternal-fetal medicine specialist Dr. Meghana Limaye.
A New Mexico infant has been found after a successful Amber Alert release. A 10-month-old infant who had been kidnapped in Clovis, New Mexico, was located on Monday, May 4. Subsequently, a suspect was apprehended, authorities confirmed.

Successful Infant Abduction Rescue

The infant, identified as Eleia Maria Torres, underwent evaluation at a local medical facility, following protocols set by the Clovis Police Department, as stated in an official statement.

The suspect, Alek Isaiah Collins, aged 26 and hailing from Manvel, Texas, was taken into custody in Abilene, Texas, on Monday. Law enforcement officials have placed him under arrest on charges related to aggravated robbery and assault on a peace officer, with additional charges pending review by the Abilene Police.

Police teams tracked down the suspect to a residence in North Abilene, where surveillance was established by narcotics agents early Monday morning. The operation concluded with the subject's arrest without any untoward incident, as detailed by law enforcement sources.

Following the rescue, the infant was placed under protective care and received medical attention, as per law enforcement protocols. The successful recovery of the infant was a result of an Amber Alert issued in response to a tragic incident.

The Amber Alert for Eleia Maria Torres was issued by the Clovis Police Department, prompted by a distress call reporting the discovery of the deceased women at Ned Houk Park near Clovis.

A park visitor reported hearing gunshots but did not immediately inform authorities, according to police statements. Upon discovery of the crime scene, law enforcement recovered an infant car seat, an infant stroller, and a small baby bottle, prompting an immediate search for the missing infant, as per official reports.

Additionally, a 5-year-old girl sustained a gunshot wound to her head, as per statements from Clovis police and state police. She was subsequently transported to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, approximately 100 miles southeast of Clovis.

At the park scene, authorities found an infant car seat, an infant stroller, and a small baby bottle, providing critical context to the tragic series of events.

The New Mexico State Police confirmed that the fathers of the girls are cooperating with the investigation and are not considered suspects in the double homicide.

New Mexico Infant Recovering

Authorities are investigating Alek Isaiah Collins for his alleged involvement in a double murder and the shooting of a 5-year-old girl in New Mexico last week, in addition to the reported abduction.

Collins is currently subject to a United States Marshal hold related to these charges, as confirmed by officials.

Among the victims were Samantha Cisneros, the mother of the abducted infant, and the injured 5-year-old, along with Taryn Allen, both 23 years old and from Texico, New Mexico.

Deputy Chief Trevor Thron of the Clovis Police expressed solidarity with the victims and their families, particularly the 5-year-old child recovering from a head injury at a local hospital. Thron emphasized the community's heartfelt wishes for the child's swift and complete recovery during this challenging period.

Thron added, "Our hearts are with the victim and her family during this incredibly difficult time," And we fervently hope for swift and complete recovery."
A new self-published book advocating a novel theory for the origin of the Book of Mormon has recently appeared  the previous theories having, umm, not exactly swept the field before them. It claims to have found the sources that were used to create the text of the Book of Mormon. Alas, though, this new theory seems itself to be meeting with an unenthusiastic reception, thus far. And the doubts and criticisms arent coming from believing Latter-day Saints, who dont yet seem to be paying it any attention (if, indeed, they ever will). On the contrary: In my limited sampling, anyway, the book appears to be failing among disaffected former believers and those who hang out with them. Some critics of the Church, of course, will accept it uncritically simply because it appears at first glance to cast doubt upon the claims of the Restoration. The more thoughtful critics in my sample, though, have been making substantive arguments against it and are clearly unimpressed with it.

As of now, Im disinclined to give the book any publicity here; I dont think that it deserves attention. Perhaps Ill change my mind, but thats where I currently come down.

I was struck, though, in reading some responses to the book to see one critic who said, in effect, Theres no need for such elaborate theories as this one. Joseph Smith wrote the book. Period. End of story.

Now, that is certainly a position that can be argued. And, over the past several decades, it has been argued. What strikes me about this critics declaration, however, is not its content but, rather, the confident assurance with which he announces it  as if his position isnt itself highly problematic and debatable, as if his decisive fiat actually accounted for all of the relevant historical data.

I wont get into all of the evidences of genuine Semitic and pre-Columbian antiquity that many of us see in the Book of Mormon, and for which there exist literally thousands of pages of argumentation that have been generated since at least the 1950s. I realize that those can be debated back and forth, or, as in the case of this particular critic, summarily dismissed by mere inattention.

I wont mention here the amazing and multi-layered complexity of the Book of Mormon, which seems to evince a sophistication beyond the reach of the barely educated Joseph Smith in the latter half of the 1820s. I wont even mention the strong evidence for Josephs religious sincerity.

My focus here will simply be on the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, including not only the official Three Witnesses and the official Eight Witnesses but a handful of unofficial or informal witnesses who also offer powerful support to the narrative of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon given by Joseph Smith and taught since 1830 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

These witnesses to the Book of Mormon take that narrative out the realm of pure subjectivity  limited to Josephs creative imagination or his possibly insane fantasy  and indicate that at least something objective seems to have occurred in connection with the emergence of the book.

Within the past week or two, I read an article about the origins of Mormonism in a British newspaper that confidently informed its readers that Joseph Smith was commanded to show his plates to absolutely nobody  the obvious insinuation being that such plates just never existed. We are left to assume that they were figments of his imagination or the deliverance of hallucination, and very possibly part of a deliberate scam.

But this simply wont do.

Its flatly and lazily false that Joseph was commanded not to show his plates to anybody. Here, for example, is a passage from the Book of Mormon itself:

12 Wherefore, at that day when the book shall be delivered unto the man of whom I have spoken, the book shall be hid from the eyes of the world, that the eyes of none shall behold it save it be that three witnesses shall behold it, by the power of God, besides him to whom the book shall be delivered; and they shall testify to the truth of the book and the things therein. 13 And there is none other which shall view it, save it be a few according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto the children of men; for the Lord God hath said that the words of the faithful should speak as if it were from the dead. 14 Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to bring forth the words of the book; and in the mouth of as many witnesses as seemeth him good will he establish his word; and wo be unto him that rejecteth the word of God! (2 Nephi 27)

And here is a passage from a revelation that was given through Joseph Smith in Fayette, New York, sometime in June 1829:

1 Behold, I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word, which if you do with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also of the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the brother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face to face, and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness, on the borders of the Red Sea. 2 And it is by your faith that you shall obtain a view of them, even by that faith which was had by the prophets of old. 3 And after that you have obtained faith, and have seen them with your eyes, you shall testify of them, by the power of God; 4 And this you shall do that my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., may not be destroyed, that I may bring about my righteous purposes unto the children of men in this work. 5 And ye shall testify that you have seen them, even as my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., has seen them; for it is by my power that he has seen them, and it is because he had faith. (Doctrine and Covenants 17)

Moreover, as anybody who writes about this topic should know, Three Witnesses and an additional Eight Witnesses did indeed claim to have seen and/or to have hefted the plates of the Book of Mormon (and, in the case of the Three, to have seen each and every one of the objects enumerated above). See here and here.

To write about the emergence of the Restoration while unaware of the claims of the Witnesses  and Ive said nothing about the informal or unofficial additional witnesses, who are powerful and interesting in their own right  is, it seems to me, equivalent to dismissing early Christianitys claim of Jesus resurrection from the dead on the grounds that nobody ever claimed to have seen him alive after his crucifixion, or to acknowledge that, yes, Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor while expressing satisfaction that, fortunately, nobody was hurt during that attack.

And claiming that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon goes absolutely no distance toward explaining the fact that nearly twenty other people claimed to have seen the angel Moroni, seen the golden plates and other related artifacts, and/or heard the literal voice of God declaring it to be true.

Critics are certainly welcome to try to explain such claims away. But to pretend that such claims were never made is surely either a gross offense against intellectual honesty or an illustration of disqualifying ignorance and incompetence.

The creation of the films Witnesses and Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon and of the accompanying flotilla of short Insights videos was intended to make it more difficult for irresponsible writers and disingenuous critics to ignore the historical facts of the case. We continue to hope that an ever-larger audience of Latter-day Saints and, yes, even of nonmembers of the Church will become familiar with these materials. But we cant do that by ourselves, so we welcome your help. The films can be shown to family gatherings, neighborhood groups, and Church fireside audiences, used in classes, If you enjoyed them, please share them. And a whole new generation is arising that needs to see them, too.

P.S. Another recent critic suggests that Joseph Smith depended heavily upon Adam Clarkes biblical commentary. Before buying into this idea, please see Some Notes on Joseph Smith and Adam Clarke, written by Kent P. Jackson and published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 40 (2020): 15-60.
Nyogen Senzaki died on the 7th of May, 1958, in Los Angeles, California.

He was a central figure introducing Zen to North America.

Not much is known about Senzakis early years. He was born sometime in the late nineteenth century in Siberia. His mother was Japanese, his father either Chinese or Russian. Orphaned early on, he was taken in by a Japanese priest and adopted by a shipwright named Senzaki.

He was later taken under wing by a Soto priest who provided him with an education and, it appears, ordained him an unsui. In later years he would speak of himself as a mushroomhaving no deep root, no branches, no flowers, and probably no seeds.

In 1896 he went to Engakuji and became Soyen Shakus student. This crossing over of sect, which is fairly unusual today, was at that time virtually unheard of. In those days just to transfer from one teacher to another in the same school led some to cut off a finger as a sign of regret.

He studied with Soyen Shaku for five years, after which he left the monastery to found a nursery school, inspired by the German innovation of kindergartens. Determining to live simply as a celibate, he tried hard to live as a monk rather than follow the increasingly normative priestly model of Japanese temple life.

When Soyen Shaku Roshi made his second visit to America in 1905, he was accompanied by the young Nyogen Senzaki. It seems he first came to America with the idea of raising funds for his nursery school. But he ended up staying on, first as a houseboy at the home of Alexander and Ida Russell, early supporters of Soen RoshiIda being possibly the first Westerner to formally practice koan introspection.

He later continued doing domestic work for others and, for a while, taught Enghsh andJapanese. He then began working in hotels, first as a porter andeventually making his way up to manager. He briefly ownedahotel, but when that failed, he became a cook.

In 1922, Nyogen Senzaki hired a hall and gave his first lecture on Zen. This was the beginning of his floating Zendo, which he recreated wherever he could hire a hall or cajole a friend or acquaintance into letting him use her or his living room. He led the itinerant group that gathered around him in various places from San Francisco to Los Angeles for the next thirty yearsexcepting only the war years following 1942, when he was interned with 10,000 other Japanese nationals at Heart Mountain in the Wyoming desert.

Many Californians and others had their first taste of Zen practice and thought under Senzaki Senseis tutelage. This number included the young Robert Aitken, who would go on to be one of the most respected Zen teachers in the West. A close friend of the great Soen Nakagawa, Senzaki also became a mentor to Eido Shimano, who would go on to become master of the Zen Studies Society in New York City and Dai Bosatsu Zendo in upstate New York.

As I noted at the beginning Nyogen Senzaki died in 1958. Knowing that he was dying, he recorded a message to be played at his funeral. In it he said: Friends in Dhamma, be satisfied with your own heads. Do not put any false heads above your own. Then minute after minute, watch your steps closely. Always keep your head cold and your feet warm. These are my last words to you.

But in fact they werent.

He then added:Thank you very much, everybody, for taking such good care of me for so long. Bye-bye.

Aitken Roshi, who was there, says that at the tail end of the tape the last thing one could hear was a small laugh.

In one sense Nyogen Senzaki was a mushroom: he left no Dharma heirs. (Well, there are some who say they were. As he had no formal authorization himself and there are no written records that Im aware of where he says he gave his authorization to others, its all a bit cloudy)

Thanks to his early books on Zen, and all those halls he hired, and his floating Zendomuch of Zen on the West coast of North America got its start.

So, incense, candles, and many bows for this wonderful teacher.

(This essay is largely adapted from my chapter on Senzaki Sensei in Zen Master Who: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen.)
Im kind of obsessed with my desktop PC setup, since its where I do almost all of my work and a good chunk of my relaxation. There are a lot of us out there  just check out Reddits battlestation sub if you doubt me. And while Ive recommended a bunch of small upgrades before, like a headset holder or power cable trays, the thing I use most often is a humble carabiner.

See, no matter how much of your system is fixed in place, eventually you just need a USB cable. As a huge fan of wireless gizmos I need to charge my keyboard, mouse, headset, gaming keypad thingie, and various other gadgets on a pretty regular basis, to say nothing of just transferring data or plugging in a microphone. Theres no such thing as a cable-free desktop, not even if youve spent literally hours on cable management like I have.

Michael Crider/Foundry Michael Crider/Foundry Michael Crider/Foundry

My solution is to make a sort of key ring for my most often-used external cables. I take my must-have data and charging cables, loop them loosely, then tie them in a knot so they cant tangle with each other. And then I stick the top loop through a carabiner. I added a basic household hook to one of the legs of my standing desk to make sure theyre always in reach.

best usb-c cable for transferring data Price When Reviewed: 15,99

At the moment my key ring has four cables on it, plus a flash drive, though Ive added and subtracted over the years as needed. I have a MicroUSB-to-USB-A cable with Razers proprietary head, for infrequent charging of my Razer Naga Pro mouse and my customized keypad. Ive got two USB-C-to-USB-A cables for various recharges and data transfers, most notably phones and tablets. And finally I have USB-C-to-USB-C for the occasional super-fast data from my camera connected via the front port on my desktop, or programming my Keychron keyboard with VIA.

I used to have an even older cable on there, MiniUSB-to-USB-A, to connect with my old Yeti microphone for meetings. But I equipped that sucker with a little adapter thats permanently in place to cut down even more.

Michael Crider/Foundry Michael Crider/Foundry Michael Crider/Foundry

With the addition of a camera card reader, this covers my connection needs about 99 percent of the time, saving me from needing to dive into multiple drawers full of cable rat nests to hunt down something specific. All these are within reach in a few seconds, easy to remove via the carabiner loop, and often dont even need me to untie them to accomplish my goal.

I should say that Ive been told looping and tying these cables is bad for them, and will wear them out faster. That may or may not be true  in more than two decades working with computers professionally, Ive only seen a cable wear out from overuse three or four times. And its not like these are hard to replace, and none of them are carrying dangerous amounts of electricity.

So yeah, Id suggest this method for anybody who uses a desktop PC in conjunction with lots of wireless gadgets. You probably have a cheap carabiner lying around somewhere (I like Nite-Ize if you want to go fancy), and you can get a sturdy hook for just a few bucks. Give it a try, and I promise youll save yourself some time digging around for cables.
The Windows system consists of thousands of files. Many of them have strange names, others have extensions that most users have never seen before. Normally you do not need to worry about these files.

Windows is designed to configure, optimize, and in many cases even repair itself. It is neither intended nor desired that the user intervenes in the system, deletes, or modifies files.

However, if you would like to know more about how Windows works internally, what tasks the individual components have, and how they work together, this is the right article for you.

We will highlight the files that stand out from the mass of files due to their name, size, or function.

Further reading: 13 important Windows settings to adjust immediately

Huge files in the system folder: Hibernation & Co.

Windows is normally installed on the C: drive in the Windows folder. However, the system folder, often also called the root directory, already contains various files created by the operating system. Some of these can grow to a considerable size.

However, you can only see these files if you have deactivated the setting Hide protected system files (recommended) in the Folder options of the Explorer in the View tab.

To see the system files, you need to uncheck a box in the Windows Explorer view options. To see the system files, you need to uncheck a box in the Windows Explorer view options. Foundry To see the system files, you need to uncheck a box in the Windows Explorer view options. Foundry Foundry

Most space is taken up by hiberfil.sys, which can be several gigabytes in size. The name is a short form of hibernate file, which means hibernation file. If you select hibernate mode when shutting down the PC, Windows saves the current contents of the RAM in this file, including all active applications and open documents.

As soon as you switch the computer back on, you can immediately continue working from where you left off. The more RAM you have, the larger hiberfil.sys will be.

The file cannot be deleted via Explorer, but it can be deleted via the command prompt: To do this, type cmd in the search field of the taskbar and click on Run as administrator. Now enter the command

powercfg /h off

followed by the Enter key. Windows deletes the file without prompting you and deactivates hibernation. If desired, you can restore hibernation at any time with the command

powercfg /h on

at any time.

The operating system creates two swap files

The second conspicuously large file in the system folder is called pagefile.sys. This is the swap file that Windows always uses when there is not enough memory for the loaded programs and files. The operating system dynamically adjusts the size of pagefile.sys to the required memory.

You can use the SwapFileControl entry in the Windows registry to delete the swap file in the system directory and, if desired, create it again later. You can use the SwapFileControl entry in the Windows registry to delete the swap file in the system directory and, if desired, create it again later. IDG You can use the SwapFileControl entry in the Windows registry to delete the swap file in the system directory and, if desired, create it again later. IDG IDG

If there is sufficient RAM in the PC, you could consider deactivating pagefile.sys (deletion does not work). Although this is possible, it is not recommended. This is because the internal memory management accesses the file from time to time, even if there is space in the RAM. If the file is no longer available, error messages, including possible system crashes, will be displayed.

Thirdly, swapfile.sys appears in the main folder. This is also a swap file, but it is used exclusively for Windows apps. So that the RAM is not burdened by dormant or sleeping apps, they are moved to the file on the hard drive/SSD.

Windows adjusts the size of swapfile.sys as required: If no apps are active, it is usually 16MB in size. If several apps are running, it can grow up to 256MB.

You can remove the file via the registry: To do this, open the path

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

and create a new DWORD value called SwapfileControl after right-clicking in the right half of the window. Double-click on this and make sure that 0 is entered as the value.

This will cause swapfile.sys to disappear the next time you restart. Bear in mind that Windows apps may start more slowly as a result. To restore the file, delete the registry entry.

Windows with crash log and hard disk test

You will also find a file called DumpStack.log.tmp on C:. Windows logs system crashes in this file. In some cases, it slows down the start of the TOR network for anonymous surfing; without this file, the TOR browser sometimes connects much faster.

The DumpStack.log.tmp cannot simply be deleted as access is blocked. However, you can remove the block via the registry: To do this, go to the folder

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl

and set the value of the Enable- LogFile key to 0. After a restart, you can delete the DumpStack.log.tmp with the Explorer. There are no negative side effects to be feared; however, some crash logs can be helpful for support staff.

Sometimes you will also find the small file bootTel.dat in the system directory. Windows creates these files when you check the hard disk/SSD for errors. If you want to start an error search, type with administrator rights

chkdsk

in the command prompt.

Huge folders and whats behind them According to Explorer or tools such as Treesize Free, WinSxS under C:\Windows is one of the largest Windows folders of all: It often takes up several gigabytes of storage space. But this information is misleading. WinSxS collects thousands of hard links that refer to programs and system components on the hard drive. The total size of all linked files and programs appears as the folder size. The WinSxS folder is the largest Windows folder on this computer. However, the impression is deceptive, because storage space is actually counted twice here. The WinSxS folder is the largest Windows folder on this computer. However, the impression is deceptive, because storage space is actually counted twice here. IDG The WinSxS folder is the largest Windows folder on this computer. However, the impression is deceptive, because storage space is actually counted twice here. IDG IDG Under no circumstances should you reduce the size of WinSxS by deleting subfolders and files. The folder contains, among other things, downloaded Windows updates and system files that Windows restores from here in the event of system errors. If you remove these files, you can render your system unusable. You should therefore use Windows Disk Cleanup, which you can start by entering cleanmgr in the search field of the taskbar. Click on Clean up system files, place a tick in front of each option and confirm with OK. The SysWOW64 folder is also often quite large. It contains the WOW64 subsystem (Windows on Windows 64-bit), which is required to run 32-bit programs in a 64-bit Windows. You must not change this folder.

Mysterious processes in the Windows task manager

You can use the SwapFileControl entry in the Windows registry to delete the swap file in the system directory and create it again later if you wish. You can use the SwapFileControl entry in the Windows registry to delete the swap file in the system directory and create it again later if you wish. IDG You can use the SwapFileControl entry in the Windows registry to delete the swap file in the system directory and create it again later if you wish. IDG IDG

If you open the Task Manager, you will find the entry with the name AggregatorHost.exe or Microsoft (R) Aggregator Host in the processes. The process belongs to a file that was still located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder in Windows 10. Windows 11 stores it in a subfolder of C:\Windows\WinSxS.

What this process does is unclear. Microsoft does not provide any information. Since Aggregator stands for collect, it seems plausible that the process connects various system components with elements such as notifications and preview images in the taskbar. In any case, this is not malware. As the file hardly takes up any memory, ignore it.

The case is clearer with taskhostw.exe: It is also a process; it is responsible for starting Windows services that are based on DLLs. It normally works unnoticed in the background. Users repeatedly report error messages in connection with this file, and the process also causes a CPU load that is stretched to the limit.

The Windows tools sfc.exe and DISM can help against this. Open the command prompt with administrator rights, type

sfc /scannow

and run the test. Then enter the three commands

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /Check-Health

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /Restore-Health

one after the other. This often solves the problems.

Explained: What are the hosts file and the MUI and PF files for?

The hosts file in the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc folder is characterized by the fact that it has no extension. This has to do with the fact that this file originally comes from the Unix world. Today, hosts exists not only on Windows computers, but also on Macintosh computers, Linux computers, and smartphones and tablets with the Android and iOS mobile operating systems.

The file dates back to the early days of the internet. Back then, it was needed to translate entries such as www.microsoft.com into addresses such as 20.231.239.246. Back then, the hosts files contained long tables with address assignments. Today, this file is probably empty on your system; URLs are now resolved via the DNS system.

Nevertheless, hosts still has a practical use: You can use it to prevent access to certain websites such as advertising servers. If you enter 0.0.0.0 www.werbeserver.com in the hosts file, the entry of www.werbeserver.com will be redirected to the non-existent address 0.0.0.0.

The process ends with an error message. To edit the file, simply use the Editor app or the Hosts file editor from the Microsoft Powertoys (Microsoft Store).

Files with the extension MUI (Multilingual User Interface) are frequently encountered on Windows PCs. These are files for switching the operating system from, say, German to another language.

Instead of deleting such files, however, it is advisable to uninstall entire language packs. To do this, click on the Time and language > Language and region button in the Settings app.

Then click on the three dots to the right of the language you no longer need and press the Remove button.

PF files, i.e. files with the extension PF, only exist in the folder C:\Windows\Prefetch. When an application is opened for the first time, Windows automatically creates a suitable PF file. It is used to speed up the startup process of the program. If you delete the files, the operating system automatically creates the files again the next time you start the associated application.

Useful: The small freeware tool Winprefetchview lists the PF files on the computer and displays a range of file information.

Three copies of the msedge.dll file? The Everything search tool reports three identical msedge.dll files. However, it is actually one and the same file that is referenced via hard links. The Everything search tool reports three identical msedge.dll files. However, it is actually one and the same file that is referenced via hard links. IDG The Everything search tool reports three identical msedge.dll files. However, it is actually one and the same file that is referenced via hard links. IDG IDG If you search for the msedge.dll file with a tool like Everything, three copies of it appear: one under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application[version number], one under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeCore[version number], and a third one under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeWebView\Application[version number]. However, the file actually only exists once, namely in the path C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\[version number]. The other two locations are hard links to the original. These also have the property of displaying the size of the original file, although it is only saved once in a different location.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.
Ghanas leading hygiene brand, Dettol, has announced the launch of its latest innovation: Dettol Cool Soap with a 5 C cooling sensation designed to keep Ghanaians cool and fresh, even in the hottest of climates.



Maintaining such a sense of coolness and freshness is crucial for personal comfort and overall health. Recognizing this need, Dettol developed Dettol Cool Soap with menthol fragrance that provides an invigorating cooling sensation while effectively cleansing the skin to give a feeling of icy freshness.

The new Dettol Cool soap comes with anti-bacteria properties, odour protection and a 5C instant cooling sensation that will help protect Ghanaians and households against 99.9% odour causing germs.



Commenting on the launch, Ali Tariq, Country Manager, Ghana at Reckitt, the manufacturers of Dettol range of products said: we are constantly striving to innovate and provide solutions that meet the evolving needs of our consumers. With the introduction of Dettol Cool Soap, we are proud to offer Ghanaians a product that not only keeps them protected against odor causing germs but also helps them stay cool and fresh, no matter the weather. Dettol Cool Soap comes with triple benefit in one product: protects, cools, refreshes".



The newly reformulated Dettol Cool Soap is enriched with menthol to protect and refresh. It gently cleanses and cools your skin that leaves you feeling healthy and refreshed. We are confident that the introduction of this product to the market will emphasize the importance of maintaining healthy personal hygiene, particularly after engaging in vigorous or mild activities throughout the day.



Also speaking about the product, Zara Adoki, Category Manager Dettol, Sub-Saharan Africa stated At Dettol, we exist to ensure that lives are protected and people are inspired to live healthy lifestyles. We want to ensure that, we help our customers protect themselves from harmful germs and bacteria, and we never compromise on delivering maximum quality products that enrich their lives. In addition to its cooling properties, Dettol Cool Soap also embodies Dettol's longstanding commitment to Ghanaians and protecting families and communities from germs and infections.



Now available at leading retail shops nationwide, Dettol Cool Soap invites Ghanaians to experience unparalleled freshness and cleanliness.













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 interim Management Committee (IMC) which was formed by the Accra High Court of Justice (Commercial Division 7), on March 1, 2024, to direct the Management of Adamus Resources Limited has for the third time been prevented from executing its mandate as per the court ruling.



This was after the High Court (Commercial Division 7) on July 27, 2023, earlier constituted the Interim Management Committee to take over the operations of the company but Angela List fragrantly disregarded that order.



On Friday, April 26, 2024, the Committee as per the court order visited the companys Head Office at Airport Residential to enable it discharge its mandate.



However, the Interim Management Committee which was led by some officers from the Ghana Police Service initially gained access to the premises but had to withdraw after the accompanying police officers received instructions to pull back.



This followed a similar event which saw the Interim Management Committee prevented by the companys Security personnel with the aid of some police officers at the entrance of their operational headquarters in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.



The Interim Management Committee had earlier been prevented from entering the Accra Head Office on March 25, in an attempt to carry out their mandate.



Adamus Mining, a company 90% owned by Adamus Australia, was purportedly purchased by Nguvu Mining Limited, a company registered in Mauritius, which sparked a chain of legal battles after the defendants (Adamus Mining) argued that Moses Kobina Bosompem had never lawfully been a director or officer of Adamus Australia at the time he purported to have signed that November 7, 2022, share transfer agreement, done two weeks before the Supreme Court of Western Australia delivered its judgment against Angela List, a 90% shareholder in Nguvu Mining Limited).



Due to these legal battles, the Court ordered a five-member Interim Management Committee (IMC) to direct the Management staff of the company.



The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources complied with the orders of the Court and subsequently appointed Juliet Osei-Wusu (Mrs) as its representative to the IMC on October 5, 2023. Mr. Morrison and Adamus Australia followed suit through a resolution dated July 27, 2023, and duly appointed David Abini and Isaac Ackun as its representatives to the IMC.



Nguvu Mining, however, has not made their two appointments to the IMC and resorted to challenge meetings called either by the government representative or the Defendant's representatives.



Following another ruling of the High Court, Commercial Division 7, on February 19, 2024, Nguvu Mining Limited forfeited its rights to appoint a member to the IMC when it failed to duly appoint a representative on February 29, 2024, and to have its appointees name filed with the Registrar on March 4, 2024, as ordered by the Court.















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 Institute of Public Relations, Ghana (IPR) has elected Esther Amba NumabaCobbah, a Fellow of IPR and a seasoned multiple award-winning communications professional, as its President. The elections took place during the Institutes 30th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 3rd May 2024, at Rock City Hotel, Kwahu in the Eastern Region of Ghana.



The AGM, which was preceded on 2nd May 2024 by the Institutes Annual National Communications Summit, also saw the following executives of the Institute being elected: Donald Gwira, a private Communication consultant, as Vice President, Solace A. M. Akomeah, of Ghana Water Limited, as Honorary Secretary, Abraham Otabil of Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, as Deputy Honorary Secretary, and Gabriel Nii Otu Ankrah of Methodist Health Trust, as Treasurer.



In her acceptance speech, Ms. Cobbah articulated her vision of working with all members to grow IPR, Ghana as a strong professional community of excellence, with an enduring and impactful voice nationally, as well as continentally and globally.



She said, I thank you all who have participated in this election and selected me to lead this great Institute. I am here to serve. By Gods grace, it will be my privilege to provide a leadership that pays close attention to your needs, your aspirations and your concerns. I offer not only a pair of listening ears but also a heart that beats for PR and cares about you, hands that will work and legs that will walk with you and on your behalf. You have agreed to come with me and make it happen. Lets make it happen.



Ms. Cobbah stated, I want to thank God for all His blessings to me, including this honour of being elected today as President of IPR, Ghana. I can say in the words of the prophet Isaiah to the Almighty:  all that we have accomplished you have done for us... your name alone do we honour. (Isaiah 26:12b and 13b).



Mr. Mawuko Afadzinu, who handed over as President to Ms. Cobbah, said he has confidence in the ability of the new executives to continue to grow the institute.



Gathering Public Relations practitioners from across the nation, the Summit and AGM, with the theme "PR Excellence in the Age of Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Overload", provided a platform for the communication professionals to network, exchange ideas on innovative practices, and deliberate on issues central to the profession and the Institute.



After successfully completing their professional accreditation processes, the Institute also inducted forty-seven practitioners as Associate and Accredited Members.







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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An Economist and Professor of finance at the University of Ghana, Professor Godfred Bokpin has expressed concern about the exit of some multinational companies from the country.



The Associate Professor of finance at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) lamented that the exits of multinational companies from Ghana will potentially affect other investors who will be looking at coming to do business here.



Ghanas economy has forced some multinational brands to announce a cessation of their operations in the country.



After nearly 20 years of operations in Ghana, French bank Societe Generale has decided to withdraw from Ghana and Glovo, a prominent food delivery platform also announced its decision to end operations in Ghana this month despite significant investment in the last two years to expand its services.



Prof. Bokpin in an interview with Nana Yaa Konadu on Peace FM's Midday news bulettin, observed that the trend should be a worry for all Ghanaians, as the departure of these companies will largely have an effect that leads to job losses.



According to him, the recent exit from Ghana by these companies must be a worry for all Ghanaians because the environment is hostile and unsupportive of businesses because of taxes and unreliable power supply.



Additionally, Prof. Bokpin said this is the right time for policy makers to sit up and analyze tax regimes, most importantly the local businesses, but unfortunately those in charge are thinking of winning the next elections.

Source: Prince Baffour Asamoah/Peace FM Newsroom









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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Some trader associations in Kumasi have cautioned the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to complete all abandoned markets in the region or they will ensure the party's defeat in the region.



The group in a statement said, the Ashanti Region, a stronghold of the NPP, rightfully expects swift development, especially in Kumasi. However, the lack of progress on these crucial projects has left us deeply disappointed.



A portion of the statement added, if our demand did not yield any result, we the aforementioned traders together with Asanteman Youth Union will join the five days demonstrations by our brothers and sisters of Central Market and second-hand cloth sellers to demonstrate against the government.



Below is the full press release.



PRESS RELEASE BY ALL TRADERS GROUPS IN THE ASHANTI REGION IN COLLABORATION WITH THE GREAT ASANTE MAN YOUTH UNION.



6th May, 2024



Good morning esteemed members of the media,



We, the entirety of traders in the Kumasi and its environs, including the Second-hand Cloth Sellers Association, Santasi Traders Union, Suame Magazine Workers Union, Mamponteng Traders Association, Central Market Traders Association, Kumasi Lotto Sellers Association, have jointly decided to initiate a campaign against the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the upcoming 2024 general election if the government fails to complete all the abandoned markets in the Ashanti Region, including the much-awaited Phase Two of the Kejetia Market.



Over the past one year, six months, progress on these projects has come to a halt due to the renegotiation of a loan agreement following the countrys decision to opt for a financial bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) while other markets including Mamponteng market, Krofrom market and Santasi market has been abandoned since former President Kufuor era.



Presently, we have four major markets left abandoned by the NPP government:



1. Krofrom Market

2. Mamponteng Market

3. Santasi Market

4. Phase Two of the Kejetia Market.



We, the aforementioned traders unions within the Ashanti Region, have continuously voiced our concerns regarding the challenges we face in conducting business at our current locations.



The governments failure to meet completion targets has left us disheartened and frustrated. We fail to comprehend why a project would be initiated only to be abandoned, leaving our fellow traders to sell their goods in unsuitable conditions.



Our livelihoods are greatly affected by adverse weather conditions; each rainfall turns our marketplaces into muddy quagmires, while the scorching sun blankets the area in dust, making it difficult for us to operate effectively.



The Ashanti Region, a stronghold of the NPP, rightfully expects swift development, especially in Kumasi. However, the lack of progress on these crucial projects has left us deeply disappointed.



We, the aforementioned traders union, earnestly appeal to His Majesty, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, once more to intervene on our behalf.



We humbly implore Asantehene to lend his support and influence towards the restoration and completion of all abandoned markets in the region.



Furthermore, we extend our plea to the Ashanti Queen Mother, Nana Konadu Yiadom, who holds jurisdiction over all markets in the Ashanti Kingdom.



We believe that her background as a former trader will foster a deeper understanding of our plight and inspire her to champion our cause.



If our demand did not yield any result, we the aforementioned traders together with Asanteman Youth Union will joined the five days demonstration by our brothers and sisters of Central Market and second hand cloth sellers to demonstrate against the government.



We on this press release urging the contracta company to remove all the barricades from the Kejetia second phase projects before we do it by ourselves because we will not think twice to take it off to do our businesses there if our demand did not heard.



Thank you, Asanteman.

Thank you, Ghana.



Together, let us strive for a better future for all traders and citizens alike.







Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/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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A spokesperson for the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dennis Miracles Aboagye says the criteria needed for Bawumia's tertiary scholarships for all persons with disabilities will be flexible for all regardless of their background or political affiliation.



According to him, any disabled person who gains admission to a tertiary school will automatically benefit from the policy.



Miracles Aboagye told NEAT FM's morning show, Ghana Montie that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia's vision and policies if elected as president will make Ghana a better place for all.



No one will be left out of Bawumia's government, he said.



Persons with disabilities will have free tertiary education in the next New Patriotic Party (NPP) government - the party's flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia announced recently.



He told the clergy in the West Region during his Bold Solution tour ahead of the December 7 presidential election.



I am very clear on the way forward. I believe that for persons with disabilities, we are going to support them a bit more." Dr Bawumia assured.





Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/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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Tamale North Member of Parliament, Alhassan Suhuyini, has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of attempting to suppress votes as part of a grand but misguided scheme to rig the 2024 December 7 Elections.



Mr Suhuyini claims that the EC suppressed around 50,000 votes, which amounts to roughly 250 votes per constituency.



His concerns are expressed through a post on his social media pages, where he urges political parties to stay vigilant and not allow the EC's alleged move to go unchallenged.



Mr Suhuyini is critical of the EC's failure to conduct last year's Limited Voter Registration exercise across all polling centers, opting instead for registration only at its district offices.



He argues that this decision prevented many potential registrants from participating, ultimately disenfranchising them for the upcoming December 2024 general elections.



The lawmaker's accusation comes amidst growing tension surrounding the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.



According to him, this revelation for vigilance underscores the importance of ensuring that all eligible voters have the opportunity to register and cast their votes without hindrance or suppression.



In his statement, Mr Suhuyini highlights the responsibility of political parties to safeguard the democratic process and ensure that every vote counts. He views the EC's alleged actions as a threat to the integrity of the electoral system and calls for collective action to address these concerns.



Among others, the Electoral Commission is working to suppress votes as part of its misguided aim of rigging the December polls.

The EC will start a limited registration exercise tomorrow, 7th May 2024.



Last September 2023, after many years of no registration, they conducted a similar exercise. For the first time, the registration was conducted at their District Offices across the country, instead of electoral areas and polling stations as it then was.



Despite the difficulties, potential voters traveled longer, sometimes uncomfortable distances and sometimes slept in the open for days before their data got captured and in most cases, the political parties at high cost facilitated and helped to ease the burdens of these potential voters, an excerpt of his post said.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The IMANI Center for Policy and Education accused the country's electoral body, Electoral Commission (EC) of misappropriation, wastage, and misuse of scarce resources.



IMANI has thetefore petitioned the chairperson of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) asking her to investigate the Electoral Commissions decision to retire and dispose some BVDs.



In the same letter, IMANI also referred to the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate a specialised corruption risk assessment suited to the unique capabilities of the electoral commission.



IMANIs petition to CHRAJ follows the Electoral Commissions decision to auction old and obsolete elecotrla equipmets.



Announcing the filing of the petition on, May 6, the Executive Director at IMANI, Franklin Cudjoe, said he together with other fellows at IMANI Ghana were deeply concerned by the mannere with which the EC handled the nations scarce resources in the discharge of its duties.



At a time when the nation cannot service its debts and is in the midst of a tight IMF-supervised fiscal regime, such egregious conduct cannot be tolerated, portions of the petition read.



Excerpts of the letter read, We write to invoke the jurisdictions, powers, mandates, and duties under chapters 18 and 24 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, which entrust the care of national resources and the charge of ensuring sound conduct among public officers to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ/ the Commission). We also refer to section 7 of Act 456 in this same regard.



Franklin Cudjoe explained, IMANI rejected the obsolescence claim because it had come by information to show that the EC had, until 2020, operated a policy of buying new devices to replace faulty or degraded ones, and thus the portfolio of BVMS components dated from different points of time. Most critically, there were many BVDs and BVRs that had been bought after 2011, some as late as 2018 and 2019. The entire ECs portfolio of BVDs and BVRs could not be truthfully said to date from 2011, and therefore obsolete.



Mr. Cudjoe, in the petition, lamented that the ECs conduct in the premature retirement and eventual disposal of tens of thousands of laptops, digital cameras, printers, scanners, and fingerprint verifiers, has been motivated by a conflict between its duties under various laws to judiciously apply the resources of the country for the good of the citizenry, on the one hand, and its tendency to take decisions favourable to various commercial vendors and transactors, on the other hand.



Furthermore, we stated our belief that the ECs most recent conduct has been necessitated by a need to curtail transparency and accountability, and thus was motivated by a collective conflict of interest and potential corruption. By its actions, it is attempting to erase inventory records and physical evidence of the blatant falsehoods it has told over the last four years regarding the purchase history of expensive electoral equipment.



We asserted our longstanding claim that the ECs electoral equipment is a portfolio of multiple items, bought and refurbished at different intervals between 2011 and 2019. That portfolio does not uniformly date to 2011 or 2012 as the EC has falsely and persistently claimed, and could thus not be so uniformly obsolete as to warrant a firesale to mysterious bidders, who have kept the prime portions for themselves and discarded the rest to be used as scrap. Ghana cannot continue to be milked in this fashion, he further stated.



Referring to the prices of some of the devices, Franklin Cudjoe added that some of the devices cost more than $3000 each, and together are worth tens of millions of dollars.



He added, At worst, they should have been donated to other government agencies that routinely buy similar machines at great cost to the state or transparently sold through a properly regulated public tender under the strict rules of the Public Procurement Act to ensure strict value for money.



We do not believe that the EC and its commercial counterparties in these transactions complied with the highest standards of data handling and protection required in the transfer and/or disposal of such sensitive equipment. At any rate, none of them had the requisite certifications to be trusted with such a task, he stressed.





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Source: Kobina Darlington/peacefmonline.com









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The Economic Fighters League (EFL) has thrown its weight behind Nana Kwame Bediako's advocacy for a single African currency, a proposal he made during his appearance on Starr Chat with Bola Ray on April 19, 2024.



According to the Economic Fighters League, Kwame Bediako, a presidential aspirant in the upcoming general elections and a leader of New Force, is the only candidate to present a clear Pan-African objective and a viable solution to the nation's long-standing currency crisis.



The EFL, a pan-Africanist movement, in a statement copied to Peacefmonline.com by Fighter Amodani Gariba from the Office of Fighter-General of Economic Fighters League, recognized the significance of Bediako's proposal, particularly given the disparity between currencies serving small populations and those utilized by larger populations.



A single African currency, backed by the continent's abundant mineral resources, represents a crucial step towards achieving economic freedom and liberation from Western imperialism. The EFL has long championed economic freedoms for all Ghanaians, but as a pan-Africanist movement, it extends this aspiration to encompass all Africans, recognizing the common challenges faced across the continent.



The organization, however, condemned neo-colonialism and the perpetuation of economic instability and dependency by international monopoly capitalism and local political elites.



The EFL, therefore, commended the recent decisions by Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to abandon the French-controlled CFA franc, a relic of colonialism that has long hindered economic progress.



To the Economic Fighters League, achieving a single African currency requires a fundamental shift in leadership and mindset across the continent.



In Ghana, the upcoming December 2024 elections present a pivotal opportunity for transformation. The EFL urges all Ghanaians to reject the dominance of the NPP and NDC, the gatekeepers of foreign economic exploitation, and embrace alternative parties committed to economic liberation and sovereignty.



The statement added By doing so, Ghanaians can reclaim their dignity and usher in a future where pride in their heritage and identity abounds. The EFL believes that Bediako's proposal holds immense significance and deserves commendation. A single African currency represents a crucial step towards genuine economic emancipation and a brighter future for Africa.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Campaign Team of NPP Flagbearer, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, has urged Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, NDC Running Mate, to be objective and truthful about the Akufo-Addo government's Free SHS policy.



It would be recalled that in her speech last Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at UPSA, Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang fired salvoes at the NPP flagship programme, the Free SHS, describing it as being at war over food, space, calendar, materials, textbooks, hence creating an atmosphere that suppresses learning.



But in a sharp rebuttal, team DMB accused Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang of engaging in propaganda and a biased assessment of the Free SHS.



A statement signed by Nana Akomea, Deputy National Chairman of Bawumia 2024 campaign team said the policy has resulted in over 60% enrollment in secondary school for Ghanaian children between 2016 and 2023 which is a significant impact.



It asserted that the Free SHS beneficiaries have chalked the most remarkable results at the WASSCE.



Nana Akomea added that the WASSCE results from 2020 till date compared to 2015 and 2016 show a remarkable improvement in the performance of the students.



Additionally, this year saw the Free SHS beneficiaries sweep the top three International Excellence Awards instituted by WAEC.



The statement also established that Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang, if she would be honest, would admit the challenges with feeding and other educational materials have bedeviled secondary education in Ghana even during her time as Education Minster, therefore not peculiar to this current administration.



In Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemangs own handing over notes, she outlined arrears in feeding grant even for special schools, capitation grant for primary schools, among others including what the statement calls the "so-called progressive free policy of the NDC" being in huge arrears and "all these difficulties persisted in a time when there was no Free SHS".



The Bawumia campaign team asserts that Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemangs observation of Ghana's education system today as an atmosphere that suppresses learning is a "laughable observation looking at the remarkable results of free SHS graduates".



"It is an observation that can only come from her self-serving ambition", they concluded.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Suspended member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Hopeson Yaovi Adorye says he can single-handedly bring down the ruling party if its communicators do not desist from tarnishing his personality.



Mr Adorye said the circumstance leading to his suspension from the party has hurt him and maintained the NPP fraternity has been ungrateful to him.



I have so much bitterness in me but decided not to talk yet these people [NPP communicators] are going around insulting me and accusing me wrongly, He said.



Hopeson Yaovi Adorye further gave an insight into how he was sacked from his position at the Kotoka International Airport.



My job was given to Nana Asante Bediatu's wife, they planned to remove me from the office, he alleged.



Mr Adorye in an interview with NEAT FM's afternoon show, Me Man Nti said I am not a fool to be treated that way in a party I have served.



He added: NPP should be very careful because if I start exposing what the leaders are doing, there will be in trouble. It's a warning.



Listen to full interview below





Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com









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Social media witnessed a heated clash between two of Nigerias music titans, Wizkid and Davido, igniting a fervent debate among fans across the nation.



The rivalry between these Afrobeat superstars, each commanding a massive global following, has polarized Nigerian music enthusiasts into dedicated camps: Team Wizkid or Team Davido.



The latest confrontation erupted on Monday night when fans on the social media platform X urged Wizkid to release a new track. In a bold response, Wizkid posted a viral video allegedly depicting Davido pleading on his knees for a favour, challenging his fans to replicate the same level of pleading if they desired the release of the new song.



Davido retaliated to Wizkids provocation, asserting on Monday night that he refuses to squander his influence on someone whose career was revived only to fade away again.



The social media feud has not only captured online attention but has also sparked lively debates among fans on various platforms and offline interactions.



In response to the escalating tensions, popular music channel Hip TV has launched a poll on X to determine the victor of this verbal showdown.



Wizkid and Davido stand as two of Africas most celebrated music icons, boasting numerous accolades including multiple MTV and BET awards, and collaborations with international stars like Drake, Chris Brown, and Nicki Minaj.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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View this post on Instagram A post shared by   (@utvghana)



The team at United Showbiz will be present at this year's Ghana Music Awards USA to telecast the event live to its audience and the Ghanaian public.



On United Showbiz last Saturday, the Board Chairman of Ghana Music Awards USA, Arnold Asamoah Baidoo stated that the team has signed a contract with U2 Company Limited, the mother company of UTV Ghana to telecast this year's event live on their TV channel and also promote the event prior, during and after the main event.



He said UTV in the past have partnered with other award schemes to bridge the gap between the Ghanaian in the diaspora and those back home.



Ghana Music Awards USA is a people's choice awards program aimed at celebrating Ghanaian musicians both in Ghana and in the diaspora. This year's main event is scheduled to take place in New Jersey on August 17.



Log on to www.gmausa.org to vote for your favorite artiste starting May 15 through to June 30.

Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









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A former Pennsylvania attorney could spend up to a year in prison for lying to his clients and forging judges signatures on corresponding documents.

James Conaboy, 52, of Clarks Summit, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of forgery and tampering with records and asked a Luzerne County judge to sentence him the same day.

The result? A year in prison  although he could get out on parole after 30 days.
Story by Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PA

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters.

HARRISBURG  For the first time in at least 16 years, the Democratic and Republican parties in Pennsylvania are within half a million registered voters of one another.

Since 2008, Democrats registration edge over Republicans has steadily shrunk  from a 12% advantage in April 2008 to about a 4% advantage in April 2024, according to a Spotlight PA analysis of Department of State data.

The number of people registered as independents or under a third party has also grown, from 11% of total registered voters in 2008 to 15% this year.

Political consultants who spoke with Spotlight PA said that while registration trends can signal an electorates moods, they cant tell you everything about how a closely divided state like Pennsylvania will vote.

Stephen Medvic, a government professor at Franklin & Marshall College, said 2010 was a high water mark for Democratic registration in recent Pennsylvania history and that there was nowhere to go but down from there in terms of registration numbers.

The partys relatively lower registration rate is not good [for Democrats], but Im not sure it spells doom, said Medvic.

Beyond that, consultants say Pennsylvania has undergone a political realignment in the last decade and a half. Anne Wakabayashi, a Democratic political consultant with public relations firm BerlinRosen, said registration is catching up more with the behavior of the electorate.

That behavior, she said, includes working-class voters in Western Pennsylvania who have historically been part of labor unions changing their registration to Republican in recent years, coupled with an influx of highly educated and wealthy transplants establishing themselves in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Sam Chen, a GOP political consultant based in the Lehigh Valley, pointed to the same dynamic and noted that it can be seen in the commonwealths changing registration geography. Democrats used to dominate counties in the industrial and rural parts of the state, particularly in the southwest and northeast. Now those areas are redder, while Democrats have consolidated support in suburbs, particularly in the populous southeast.

The Republican Party has shifted away from traditional conservativism into a more populist version of it, which speaks to traditional Democratic values like made-in-America union labor, Chen said. On the Democratic side, I think you see that shift away from traditional liberalism over to a little bit more of a progressivism.

Wakabayashi noted that registration doesnt always keep pace with quickly shifting political preferences.

In her experience, voters can be slow to change registration even as their political opinions change. Sometimes they vote across party lines, opt to split their ticket and vote for candidates in both parties, or just dont turn out to cast a ballot.

For example, despite a dwindling advantage in the partys number of registered voters in Pennsylvania, Democrats won top-of-ticket races for president in 2020, and U.S. Senate and governor in 2022.

However, in the latter year, Republicans Stacey Garrity and Tim DeFoor won statewide races for state treasurer and auditor general  flipping those offices.

Political consultants and academics also say the increase in independent and third-party voters is significant and could indicate a growing disdain for the major political parties and a wider apathy that results in low voter turnout, such as during the 2024 primary election.

This is particularly notable as Pennsylvania is one of 10 states with a closed primary system, which excludes independent and third-party voters from choosing which major party candidates will end up on the November general election ballot.

Some experts noted that this system could lead to fewer voters who consider themselves politically independent registering as such. Plus, voters can switch their party registration up to 10 days before the election, which they may do close to a primary so that they can participate in choosing a major party candidate, before switching back.

As our partisans are getting increasingly more partisan, there are a lot of people that are heading to either third parties or the middle of the road, said Wakabayashi. Some of that is disillusionment with the parties on both sides.

BEFORE YOU GO If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.
The time is finally here - country music superstar Morgan Wallen will perform in Hershey on Thursday.

Wallen kicks off Hersheypark Stadiums longest summer concert season to date this week, a historic feat for the venue celebrating its 85th anniversary in 2024. Hersheypark Stadium was built in 1939 and will feature a record-breaking number of shows this summer, with something for every concert fan.

Wallens concert here is at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 9. Two days later, on Saturday, May 11, he will perform at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Both concerts are rescheduled from May 2023 when Wallen had to postpone appearances because of vocal strain. He resumed that tour in June 2023 but had to reschedule some concerts.

While some fans may be wondering if the tour is still on after Wallens April 7 arrest in Nashville - it is. On X, Wallen said, Regarding my tour, there will be no change.

Here is where you can still find tickets (prices are as of the time of this post):

Thursday, May 9, Hersheypark Stadium

Saturday, May 11, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

Hersheypark Stadium has a blockbuster schedule of concerts coming up, including these:
By Michael Klein, The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

Whaddaya having?

Pats King of Steaks, having completed a kitchen makeover that turned its iconic South Philadelphia corner into a construction zone for nearly four months, will begin serving again round the clock from its windows this week.

Chicken cheesesteaks and breakfast sandwiches will join the menu  a first for Pats, credited with originating the steak sandwich in 1930. Owner Frank Olivieri Jr., a nephew of the founder, said the renovations include not only a dedicated grill for chicken but a new takeout window exclusively for delivery drivers.

During the repairs, which yielded a new kitchen, facade and sidewalks, Pats maintained its 24/7 presence on the corner of Ninth and Passyunk with a 22-foot truck outfitted with a kitchen similar to the one inside.

The truck opened Jan. 10 on the Pats side of East Passyunk Avenue. Shortly after, the city Department of Licenses & Inspections, fearing danger from the propane tanks, ordered Olivieri to move it across the street, adjacent to Capitolo Playground. Olivieri said the short move confounded customers.

They walk right by it, he said last week, wincing as a gaggle of customers did just that. They dont even see the food truck with the 30-foot cheesesteak on it. Business dropped off until he hired a worker to stand in front of the shop and redirect customers.

The truck will move to an off-street parking space across the street and will be used for mobile catering.

A chicken cheesesteak at Pat's King of Steaks, the first time it has been offered there. (Heather Khalifa, The Philadelphia Inquirer, TNS)TNS

Chicken cheesesteak controversy

The 1990s saw the rise of the chicken cheesesteak based on the idea that chicken breast is lower in fat than the usual rib-eye. The idea caught on among many pizzerias and sandwich shops, including two of the citys most popular outlets, Johns Roast Pork in South Philadelphia and Dalessandros in Roxborough.

Like everything that goes down in South Philly, there are differing opinions on the chicken cheesesteak. Purists will shudder at anything non-beef  chicken, salmon, veggies  being called a cheesesteak.

Pats never offered them. Genos Steaks, the neon-ringed competitor across the street, doesnt. Neither does Jims South Street Steaks.

Why?

When youre slinging hundreds of sandwiches a day, speed is critical. Chicken, with its trickier handling requirements and longer cooking time, gums up the works, especially at a shop with one grill.

Genos owner Geno Vento had the same reaction: We have no reason to sell them.

John Bucci, who said chicken is about 10% of his cheesesteak business at Johns Roast Pork, acknowledged the aggravation, but said: We do it because people ask for it.

Menu changes at Pats

Olivieri will start the new menu at 6 a.m. Wednesday. Besides the chicken cheesesteaks, breakfast will be available from 6 to 11 a.m. with egg sandwiches on the same Aversa Bakery rolls used for cheesesteaks. Meats include bacon, pork roll, sausage, and steak, and the sandwiches (mostly $13) can be topped wit or witout onions, cheese (American, provolone or Cheez Whiz), and $1 hash browns.

Steaks will continue to be offered during breakfast, but no one knows if the morning crowd will give them up in favor of a more typical BEC, or a new sandwich that Olivieri calls the widow maker: egg, cheese, bacon, sausage and pork roll, with a hash brown stuffed into the roll for 20 bucks. Onions are optional.

Pats has cycled in other foods over the years. You can still get a hot dog, like Uncle Pat offered 94 years ago, and fish cakes. I deep-fry a hot dog and fish cake and put fried onions on it and mustard, Olivieri said. Thats heaven. Or a trip to the cardiologist.

Last year, Olivieri tried chicken Parmesan, meatballs and hamburgers. My father would always say, Youre going to eat more than you sell, Olivieri said. That proved prescient. My nephews came around and I think they ate more chicken Parms than we sold.

Frank Olivieri Jr., owner of Pat's King of Steaks, sampling a chicken cheesesteak inside the truck parked outside of the shop at Ninth Street and Passyunk Avenue. (Heather Khalifa, The Philadelphia Inquirer, TNS)TNS

A really quick history of Pats

In 1930, the story goes, South Philadelphia hot dog vendor Pat Olivieri wanted variety and tossed beef scraps and onions on the grill, slapped everything on a roll, caught the nose of a hungry taxi driver and birthed the steak sandwich. Olivieri later moved across the street, into the current building on the triangle of Ninth, Passyunk and Wharton, where it housed a bar, restaurant and produce stand.

The cheesesteak didnt come along till the late 1940s, Frank Jr. said, when a similarly bored grill man named Cocky Joe Lorenzo added sliced cheese to the steak and watched it melt into nirvana.

Frank Olivieri Jr. said the 100-year-old building was last renovated about 30 years ago when the aluminum siding was removed. Other repairs had been done piecemeal. Once we revealed everything underneath of it, it was kind of a mismatch of things that were done over the years, Olivieri said. His family had a 99-year lease and only bought the building in the 1990s, he said.

My dad was reluctant to do anything because he never wanted to close, he said. But you know, in order to get big things done, you have to.

More:

Italian restaurant opening in former Cafe Magnolia in Cumberland County

Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs and 146 other restaurants we want to see at Harrisburg Mall site

Philadelphia-style hoagie shop announces its closing one unit in Cumberland County
Story by Marley Parish of Spotlight PA State College

This story first appeared in The Investigator, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA featuring the best investigative and accountability journalism from across Pennsylvania. Sign up for free here.

ST. MARYS  Despite grassroots efforts to prevent Elk County from becoming the latest rural Pennsylvania community to lose labor and delivery services, its hospital shuttered the maternity unit last week.

Penn Highlands Healthcare, a nonprofit with hospitals statewide, has said money did not factor into its decision to discontinue birth services at Penn Highlands Elk in St. Marys. Officials say Penn Highlands DuBois, where Elk patients will be redirected, will offer a higher level of care.

As rural areas are set to lose population, officials worry the loss will deter people from moving to the region in north-central Pennsylvania, which now includes six counties without a hospital or another facility that delivers babies.

Spotlight PA recently reported on the decision to close the maternity unit at Penn Highlands Elk and Pennsylvanias widening rural services gap, which Elk County residents hope to fill another way.

When Penn Highlands announced the planned closure in February, a coalition of business owners and local elected officials started pushing lawmakers and hospital leadership to find alternatives. However, several meetings with hospital administrators were unsuccessful.

Business owners pitched various solutions to Penn Highlands. To address staffing challenges, they offered to help with recruitment efforts. To minimize deductible fees, they proposed working with health insurance providers to drive down costs.

The group also asked the health system to delay closing birth services at Penn Highlands Elk until at least November to give patients and emergency staff more time to plan for the change and explore other options, such as working with other providers or finding grants to support birth services.

Corinne Laboon, a spokesperson for Penn Highlands, said leadership appreciates the feedback shared by community members and reiterated that patients can still receive prenatal and postpartum exams, testing, and ultrasounds at Penn Highlands Elk.

The thoughtful concern expressed to us reflects the true caring nature of the residents of Elk County and surrounding areas, Laboon told Spotlight PA in an email.

Laboon did not answer whether Penn Highlands considered local offers to alleviate challenges or address community concerns about staffing and space at the DuBois hospital.

U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson (R., Pa.) and members of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiros administration met privately with Penn Highlands to discuss the shutdown, according to spokespeople. Discussions about care are ongoing, but the officials representatives did not provide specifics.

While local efforts to convince Penn Highlands to stop or delay the closure of birth services in Elk County failed, community members are still looking to find a way to bring labor and delivery back to the area.

We really expect services to not only be maintained but to be added, Zack Pontious, a Ridgway Borough Council member, said.

Pontious met with Penn Highlands leadership in mid-April. He didnt expect to change their minds but told Spotlight PA that he wanted to express how much residents care about the kinds of care available locally.

SUPPORT THIS JOURNALISM and help us reinvigorate local news in north-central Pennsylvania at spotlightpa.org/donate/statecollege. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability and public-service journalism that gets results.
Two children were on their way home from school when an SUV came barreling into them Monday afternoon, leaving one boy dead and the other injured.

The incident occurred shortly after 4 p.m. near the intersection of Faukland and Centerville roads in New Castle County, Delaware, when paramedics and police were called for a collision involving pedestrians.
An Essex County man was found floating face down in the water at a beach in Spring Lake Saturday, according to police.

The 23-year-old victim, who was from Belleville, was found shortly after 2 p.m. at the St. Clair Avenue beachfront in Monmouth County, according to the Spring Lake Police Department.

Cops were called to the area after a report of a swimmer in distress, police said in a statement.

The first officers arriving on scene located a (man) floating face down in the surf and pulled him out to initiate life-saving measures, the statement said.

First responders treated the man at the scene and transported him to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he was pronounced dead, according to police.

The mans name was withheld pending notification of family members, police said.

The police statement said lifeguards are not on duty for several more weeks, and asked the public not to swim at unguarded beaches.

Rip currents and dangerous conditions are always a possibility and the conditions change daily, police said.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @TonyAttrino.
The words never again is heard frequently during annual observances of the Holocaust Remembrance Day  and it was said several times during Mondays well-attended Civic Commemoration of the Holocaust at the Pennsylvania Capitol.

But given the rise of anti-semitism across the nation and unrest on college campuses since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, those who spoke at the ceremony in the Governors Reception room impressed on the crowd that a reminder of the more than 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II is needed now more than ever.

Right now there are forces of hate and evil that are trying to grip our society trying to cultivate bigotry and hatred, said Gov. Josh Shapiro to those in attendance, including family members of Holocaust survivors, Republican and Democratic lawmakers, Attorney General Michelle Henry and Treasurer Stacy Garrity, among others.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, there has been nearly a 150% rise in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. He said that rate is even higher in Pennsylvania, which experienced the deadliest anti-semitic attack in U.S. in 2018 at the Tree of Life synagogue at Pittsburgh that claimed the lives of 11 people.

Far too many people in the world today, even with that piece of history, even what is playing out every single minute of every single day right now in this nation and across the globe, you see far too many people in todays world not only dont remember the atrocities of the past, they seem hellbent on repeating them, Shapiro said.

Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny County, was one of several lawmakers who spoke during the event. He cited recent examples of precursors to violence happening today that are reminiscent of the treatment Jews received when the Holocaust started, including a Nazi slogan being spray painted on a Jewish familys property, fake blood smeared and tires punctured at Jewish homes and businesses and the daily cruelty and harassment Jewish students experience on college campuses.

Most survivors of the Holocaust have passed away, Frankel said. If they were here, they would tell us about the windows smashed 85 years ago. They would tell you about the escalating cruelties suffered by children walking through their business districts in the 1930s. And they would warn those who oppose diversity and tolerance will take any opportunity to spread hatred. We observe Yom HaShoah every year for exactly this reason. Because the Holocaust did not start with violence. It ended with violence. It started with dehumanization. That is what we must never forget.

Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York County, after sharing a story about a Holocaust survivor who helped educate Dallastown Area School District students about the atrocities he experienced, said, May todays commemoration be yet another small act to repair our world and ensure that every Pennsylvanian, their children, their childrens children never forget.

Crossroads Middle School student Chloe Bourassa read her essay explaining how she finds it confusing that people would deny the Holocaust existed when there are historical artifacts, writings, photographs and survivor stories  evidence it did.

As someone who was Jewish and is living in the United States, I can easily understand why people deny the Holocaust, she said. Its because they have never been educated properly about it.

Shapiro said the Holocausts scale of horror can be hard to comprehend.

For some it may be easier to simply look away, to question whether it happened as its written in the history books or whether it happened at all, he said. Some say that is happened a long time ago. the world has changed. Remembering ensures that we do our part to prevent an atrocity like this from every happening again. And it ensures that we are reminded of our individual and our collective duty to combat hatred and antisemitism wherever it rears its ugly head.

To that end, Shapiro said the Pennsylvania Department of Education ls updating its Holocaust, genocide and human rights violations toolkit with tools that allow students to hear directly the stories of Holocaust survivors and witnesses. The department also is working with the Anti-Defamation League to make professional development training materials available to assist teachers with lessons about this chapter of history.

Additionally, he said a survey will be going out to schools to learn how they approach Holocaust education and the department will offer individualized support to districts.

This has been a priority for me and for Pennsylvanias first lady, Shapiro said. We believe that remembrance must be active. It must be engaging and that it must be empowering.

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on X at @JanMurphy.
Pennsylvanias student financial aid agency is being fined $1.7 million for mishandling thousands of student loan borrowers requests for payment relief from their loan obligations between 2015 and 2021.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent financial watchdog agency, filed an enforcement action in U.S. Middle District Court against the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency and the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts, alleging they violated the consumer financial protection laws, including engaging in unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices.

The bureau accuses the organizations of denying, ignoring or otherwise mishandling borrower requests for forbearance extensions, deferment, co-signer release and more. Many of the requests occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic when individuals and families were facing financial difficulties.

The agreed-to resolution to this complaint would require PHEAA to pay $1.75 million and the National Collegiate Trusts to pay $400,000 in penalties to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for its victims relief fund. According to the bureau, the fund provides money to people who have been harmed by companies that break federal consumer financial protection laws.

PHEAA and the trusts also would pay nearly $3 million in redress divvied out in $200 payments to borrowers who didnt receive timely responses to exception requests as well as the reimbursement or refund of borrower or co-signer payments and reimbursement or waiver of fees to be calculated after a review of affected borrowers requests.

Additionally, it would require PHEAA and the trusts to grant pending requests for co-signer release, Servicemember Civil Relief Act benefits, correct credit reporting errors and cease debt collection activities for certain borrowers whose loans went into default. They also would be required to waive late fees for requests that should have been granted.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, PHEAA, commonly known as American Education Services, serviced a portfolio of student loans worth roughly $17.8 billion held by the National College Trusts, a collection of 15 securitization trusts that acquire, pool and securitize student loans. PHEAA was the primary servicer of the National College Trusts since at least 2006.

In the complaint, it maintains borrowers, particularly during the early months of the pandemic, were denied critical information they needed to manage their finances.

Many of these borrowers were denied even the most basic information when they sought help from PHEAA and the Trusts: a simple yes or no response to requests for relief, it said. For years, the Trusts failed to respond to borrowers requests for payment relief and PHEAA failed to give accurate and useable information to borrowers seeking help.

At times, it said PHEAA would refer borrowers to the trusts, despite knowing that the trusts were non-responsive and this would be a futile waste of time for borrowers.

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau director Rohit Chopra said the bureaus enforcement action makes clear that investors cannot sidestep accountability by playing games of corporate musical chairs.

PHEAA maintains it had no authority to make decisions on borrowers requests without instruction from 2016 to 2021. Still, the agencys spokeswoman Bethany Coleman said PHEAA is pleased to bring this multi-year review by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau to a resolution.

The parties have come together to finalize a plan for the impacted borrowers and have agreed upon procedures for addressing similar borrower requests in the future, Coleman said in an email. PHEAA will continue to work cooperatively with the CFPB and trust parties to ensure the best outcomes for borrowers.

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on X at @JanMurphy.
Pennsylvania House Republicans are accusing Philadelphias district attorney of potential election interference for his handling of the warrant filed against an incumbent state lawmaker in the days before the April 23 primary.

They sent a letter to state Attorney General Michelle Henry calling on her to investigate whether District Attorney Larry Krasner violated election laws that may have affected incumbent Philadelphia Rep. Kevin Boyles re-election bid in a contested Democratic primary for the 172nd state House District seat.
TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are suing the U.S. over a law that would ban the popular video-sharing app unless its sold to another company.

The lawsuit filed on Tuesday may be setting up what could be a protracted legal fight over TikToks future in the United States.
Strength of China-Malaysia ties built on common values: Malaysian official

Xinhua) 21:54, May 07, 2024

KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The strong ties between China and Malaysia rest on the common values of both countries, including the desire for shared prosperity and environmental sustainability, a Malaysian official said on Tuesday.

Citing China's emphasis of building a community with a shared future for mankind and realizing this through green energy initiatives, Malaysia seeks to implement similar initiatives through close cooperation with the Asian economic powerhouse, Energy Transition and Water Transformation deputy minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir told the Malaysia-China Commemorative Forum here.

"In partnership with China, Malaysia is leading the way in promoting renewable energy. Both countries are heavily investing in clean technologies including solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. Our joint efforts aim to lead the global transition to sustainable energy," he said.

The forum brings together government, business, academic and think tank leaders to exchange views and discuss how to further deepen the bilateral partnership and is co-organized by China Daily, the KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific and the Malaysia-China Business Council.

KSI president Michael Yeoh said that 2024, marking the 50th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Malaysia, is an opportunity to not only reflect on the progress that has been made but to ponder on what more can be done for the future.

"Our relations have grown from strength to strength over these past 50 years in not just covering diplomatic and political ties but also business partnerships, tourism, education and cultural ties and exchanges," he said.

"Going forward we believe the bilateral relations will continue to strengthen and include new areas like green growth and digital technology," he said.

For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing said the comprehensive and practical cooperation is the essential driving force upgrading China-Malaysia relations in all fields.

"China is now focusing on developing new quality productive forces which will provide Malaysia more cooperation opportunities in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, digital economy, green development, new energy vehicles and other newly emerging industries. Fruits from the above cooperation will surely bring benefits to both peoples in a profound way," he said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
Aleksey Savenkov Claims Victory in the $1,100 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty

Tyler Foran Live Reporter Copy link

The final day of the $1,100 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty, running at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Casino in Northern Cyprus as part of the 2024 Mediterranean Poker Party, has now concluded. It took more than 18 hours of grinding on Day 2 for Aleksey Savenkov to emerge as the winner, taking home the grand prize of $85,000 plus bounties.

A total of 1,207 entries were made to the event throughout five flights, to create a prize pool of $1,207,000, surpassing the $1,000,0000 guarantee. 181 players returned for the final day of action, and the bustouts came fast and furious, losing losing almost half of the field by the third level of the day.

$1,100 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize (USD) 1 Aleksey Savenkov Russian Federation $85,000 2 Kirill Burtin Russian Federation $57,800 3 Konstantin Generalov Russian Federation $41,200 4 Vadzim Godzdanker Belarus $28,400 5 Tamazi Skhirtladze Georgia $21,200 6 Ebrahim Ehghaghi Iran $17,100 7 Damir Gabdullin Russian Federation $14,300 8 David Boyaciyan Netherlands $11,300

Final Table Action

Savenkov dominated the entire final table, single handedly eliminating six of the final nine. Maxim Brovko was first to bust after the final table commenced when he jammed jack-ten suited but couldnt defeat the ace-queen of Tamazi Skhirtladze despite flopping a straight a flush draw.

Although Aleksandr Kirichenko was unable to make it to the final table, he managed to pull the largest bounty worth $70,000 early in the day.

Mystery Bounty Prizes

Bounty Prize Count Total Value $70,000 1 $70,000 $40,000 2 $80,000 $25,000 3 $75,000 $15,000 4 $60,000 $10,000 6 $60,000 $5,000 7 $35,000 $3,000 12 $36,000 $2,000 20 $40,000 $1,500 43 $64,500 $1,000 83 $83,000

Action continued to be rapid, with only about 20 minutes passing before David Boyaciyan felt the wrath of Savenkov as well, finisihing in 8th place as he couldnt win the race with ace-king against pocket sixes.

With seven left, action came to a halt, with nobody exiting the tournament for a little over two hours. Eventually, another victim of Savenkov fell as Damir Gabdullin who had just doubled up, immediately got his stack in the middle with pocket jacks, but ran into pocket queens.

It was deja vu as Ebrahim Ehghaghi had gotten his stack in the middle before the flop with pocket jacks once again, against Savenkov. This time he was up against five-three suited, and despite make a set of jacks, he still was forced to leave the tournament as Savenkov made a flush.

Falling next in fifth-place was Tamazi Skhirtladze who had gotten all of the chips in the middle before the flop with ace-jack, but ultimately couldn't hold against the ace-nine of Vadzim Godzdanker.

Kirill Burtin

It didn't take long from here as Godzdanker fell short-stacked, and got the last few chips in with nine-seven, and couldn't defeat the ace-three of Savenkov.

Konstantin Generalov had quite the short-stack battle, doubling up several times but ultimately couldn't survive to the finish as his final blow came when he jammed king-eight suited on the button, and was called by Savenkov with ace-six in the blinds.

With Generalov eliminated, the heads-up battle began, with many back-and-forth pots, but the ultimate downswing for Kirill Burtin came after becoming short-stacked after running a bluff, and getting caught by Savenkov's trip eights.

Burtin continued to battle, until all of the chips went in the middle before the flop, and he was ahead with ace-high. However, Savenkov smashed the flop, with his king-queen suited, flopping a full house.

This concludes the $1,100 Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty coverage, stay tuned to PokerNews for more action from the 2024 Mediterranean Poker Party.

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Chris Johnson Becomes a Two-Time GUKPT Main Event Champion

Matthew Pitt Senior Editor Copy link

Lightening has struck twice for Chris Johnson, who can now call himself a two-time Grosvenor UK poker Tour (GUKPT) Main Event champion. Johnson triumphed in the GUKPT Leeds Main Event in September 2022, taking home a career-best 73,070. Fas-forward to May 2024, and Johnson was the last player standing in the GUKPT Luton Main Event, a result that adds 48,570 to his live winnings total, which now stands at more than $750,000.

The 1,250 GUKPT Luton Main Event attracted 212 entrants who created a 218,870 prize pool that the top 29 finishers shared. Reigning champion Stuart Rutter, who became a two-time GUKPT champion at this stop in 2023, could not successfully defend his title, busting in 23rd.

Sinead Priestley, a rising star in UK poker circles, finished in 22nd, only a couple of days after finishing third in the 200 Opener. Cassandra Yong was eliminated in 17th place before entering the 330 Pot-Limit Omaha bounty event and taking it down for 2,600.

Will the GUKPT Goliath Continue Breaking Records in 2024? Full Schedule Released Read more

1,250 GUKPT Luton Main Event Final Table Results

Rank Player Prize 1 Christ Johnson 48,570 2 Kevin Allen 36,340 3 Robert Boon 25,170 4 Trevor Reardon 16,850 5 Keith Johnson 11,820 6 Glen Gaines 8,750 7 Sebastian Crane 7,010 8 Matthew Davenport 5,950 9 Paul McAulay 5,250

Johnson sat down at the GUKPT Luton final table with a commanding chip lead over his eight opponents. He used his big stack with devastating effect.

Paul McAulay was the first of Johnson's victims, committing his last 14 big blinds with ace-king only to lose a coinflip against Johnson's pocket tens. McAulay has been in impressive form during 2024, and won the recent GUKPT Edinburgh Main Event.

Eighth place went to Matthew Davenport, who was making his 13th GUKPT final table appearance, and his third consecutive Main Event final table, a record for the long-running tour. Davenport found himself down to a solitary big blind, which went into the middle with ace-deuce, losing to the ace-nine of Kevin Allen.

Johnson returned to his role as a one-man wrecking ball and sent Sebastian Crane home in seventh for a career-best prize worth 7,010. Crane, a relative newcomer to the live poker scene, moved all-in for five big blinds with pocket kings. Johnson looked him up with king-queen, flopped trip queens, and that was the end of Crane.

Glen Gaines' latest deep run ended in the space of a couple of hands, both of which he got his chips in good. After Gaines' ace-six lost to king-nine, the rest of his stack went into the middle with ace-jack against king-queen. The luckless grinder lost the all-important all-in and had to settle for sixth place.

Keith Johnson finished third in this event in 2010 but had to make do with a fifth-place finish this time around. He came unstuck when his last 15 big blinds went into the middle with ace-five, only to run into Chris Johnson's pocket kings. The cowboys held, and the GUKPT Luton Main Event was down to only four players.

Those four became three with the untimely demise of the 2022 GUKPT Manchester Main Event champion, Trevor Reardon. Reardon pinned his hopes and last 23 big blinds on ace-queen, which found itself up against Johnson's king-jack. Johnson's sun-run continued with a jack on the flop, leaving Reardon to bank a 16,850 score.

Heads-up was set when Robert Boon bowed out in third. Boon had laddered from being ninth from nine to being in with a shot of the title. However, he got his stack in with second-pair in a pot when Johnson held top pair, and that was the end of Boon's impressive comeback story.

Allen found himself needing some good fortune to reel Johnson in, but it never arrived. Allen, the 2013 GUKPT Grand Final champion, finished third in this event in 2023 and now has a second-place finish on his CV. Allen's last nine big blinds went into the pot holding king-four, but it could not hold against Johnson's queen-jack. Game over for Allen, who collected 36,340.

Other GUKPT Luton Results

Paul Haycock

A special mention must go to Paul Haycock, who took down not one but two GUKPT Luton side events. Haycock came out on top in the 250 Pot-Limit Omaha for 4,520 before ending the festival with a victory in the 200 Closer for an additional 3,620.

The anonymous "J.C." won the 1,650 High Roller for 31,840, Min Ji will forever be known as the 2024 GUKPT Luton Midi Main champion, while Reon Staples managed something few players have recently; he defeated Calogero Morreale heads-up in the 200 Opener.

Event Entrants Champion Prize 1,650 High Roller 67 J.C. 31,840 560 Midi Main 159 Min Ji 16,110 200 Opener 369 Reon Staples 13,395 250 Mini Main 484 Wenbo Xie 13,057 550 GUKPT Luton Cup 94 Robert Douras 10,960 250 PLO 84 Paul Haycock 4,520 200 Closer 84 Paul Haycock 3,620 200 Turbo 83 D.T. 3,150 330 PLO Bounty 55 Cassandra Yong 2,600 150 Seniors 74 Steven Goose 2,000

Next Up for the GUKPT

The next leg of the 2024 GUKPT is only a week away, with GUKPT London taking place at The Vic from May 15-28. The schedule includes a 1,250 buy-in Main Event, and it will be the last series taking place at the iconic casino before it undergoes a major refurbishment. Although cash games will still occur during the refurbishment, all tournaments and festivals have been rescheduled.

If you don't fancy the journey south to London, you can still get in on the GUKPT action in May because GUKPT Leeds runs from May 30 to June 9 at the Grosvenor Casino Westgate. As always, you can win your way into these events online at Grosvenor Poker.

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Xixiang Luo Captures APT Jeju Main Event Title, Korea's Largest-Ever Poker Tournament

Matthew Pitt Senior Editor Copy link

The Asian Poker Tour (APT) Jeju 2024 Main Event was a tournament to remember, breaking the record for the largest-ever poker tournament held in South Korea. By the time late registration closed on the last flight, some 1,083 players had bought in, creating a KRW 2,376,742,500 ($1,726,493) prize pool and a massive KRW 429,292,500 ($311,843) top prize.

The last player standing was Xixiang Luo, whose impressive victory propelled him into the top ten of China's all-time money list with $3,100,778 in career earnings. Luo cashed in eight APT Jeju 24 tournaments, never finishing lower than fourth, but his historic Main Event win stands out, not least because it earned him a career-best score.

APT 2024 Jeju Main Event Final Table Results

Rank Player Country Prize (KRW) Prize (USD) 1 Xixiang Luo China KRW 492,292,500 $311,843 2 Jianfeng Sun China KRW 257,800,000 $187,327 3 Jason Wong United Kingdom KRW 181,580,000 $131,902 4 Jian Han China KRW 136,430,000 $99,104 5 Sergey Kim Russia KRW 104,340,000 $75,794 6 Mingchen Zhang China KRW 76,290,000 $55,418 7 Feng Chen China KRW 57,280,000 $41,609 8 Shih-Kai Lo Taiwan KRW 41,000,000 $29,783 9 Erdun Xu China KRW 31,970,000 $23,223

The final day's play began with 15 players in the hunt for the title. The nine-handed final table was set when Kyung Min Lee's pocket nines lost a coinflip against the queen-ten of spades in the hand of Mingchen Zhang, busting Lee in tenth place.

Sergei Kim held a commanding lead going into the final table action, his 11,520,000 stack containing over 4 million more chips than the aforementioned Zhang.

The first finalist bowed out on the 18th hand of final table action. Erdun Xu open-shoved for 5.5 big blinds from late position with queen-ten and found himself against Luo and his pocket. Luo turned a seven-high straight to reduce the player count early into proceedings.

A battle of the short-stacks resulted in Shih-Kai Lo busting in eighth place. Jason Wong committed his last seven big blinds from the button with ace-ten of clubs, and Shih-Kai Lo called off a shorter stack in the big blind with king-nine of clubs. The board double paired, meaning Wong's ace-kicker played, and Lo was eliminated.

A few hands later, Feng Chen saw empty space where his chips once stood. Chen had lost all but two big blinds when his ace-king lost to Jianfeng Sun's pocket jacks, but had started to climb back up the chip counts with a couple of timely doubles. However, his comeback was cut short when his last four big blinds went into the middle with king-queen, and Sergei Kim called with ace-seven of hearts. Seven on the turn proved more than enough to send Chen home in seventh.

APT Jeju 2024 trophies

The final six became five when Zhang clashed with Sun in a battle of the blinds. With blinds now costing 200,000/400,000/400,000a, Sun moved all-in for 8,400,000 from the small blind, and Zhang called off his 5,200,000 stack from the big blind. It was king-four for Sun, king-nine of hearts for Zhang, but the former flopped two pair, which held to leave Zhang with no chips.

Start-of-the-final-table chip leader Kim was the next to fall but not until the blinds had again increased. Kim's final hand saw Luo min-raise to 1,000,000 with pocket jacks before calling the 7,100,000 jam from Kim, which he made with ace-eight. A king-high board failed to come to Kim's rescue, and he made his way out of the tournament area.

That hand gifted Luo the chip lead, but the 123rd hand of the final table all but handed him the title. With blinds now 300,000/600,000/600,000a, Jian Han moved all-in for 6,000,000 from the cutoff with ace-eight, Wong re-shoved for 9,500,000 fro the small blind with pocket queens, and Luo looked down at pocket tens in the big blind and made the call.

The deuce-four-three flop kept Wong's queens in front, with another four on the turn not altering the hand's course. The ten of clubs on the river improved Luo to a full house, busting Han in fourth and Wong in third during the same hand! Luo now held 33.8 million chips to Sun's 9.4 million stack.

Fifteen hands into heads-up play, it was all over. Luo shoved with ace-five, and Sun called off his 11.5 big blinds with the superior ace-nine. Luo spiked a five on the flop before the turn and river bricked to eliminate Sun in second place and leave Luo as the sole survivor and recipient of a KRW 429,292,500 ($311,735) prize and one of the coolest trophies in poker.

Breaking Down South Korea's Largest and Richest Poker Festival in APT History

Eric Tsai won the APT High Roller

The APT Jeju 2024 festival was the biggest and richest in South Korea in the tour's rich and storied history. The Landing Hotel & Casino, located in the luxurious Jeju Shinhwa Resort, was packed to the rafters throughout the festival as 954 unique players from 32 regions and countries generated a staggering 8,626 total entries. Tot up all those buy-ins, and you arrive at total prize pools worth KRW 12,331,911,624 or $9,098,270, which is quite phenomenal.

Although the Main Event accounted for almost 20% of the total festival prize money, several other tournaments enjoyed bumper crowds, with some setting new APT records.

The KRW 13,500,000 Super High Roller had KRW 500,000,000 guaranteed but ended up paying out KRW 831,872,000 ($604,694), while the KRW 7,000,000 APT High Roller was guaranteed to award KRW 650,000,000 but paid out KRW 1,204,255,000 ($886,596). Both prize pools set new records for similar APT events held in South Korea.

Other record-breaking events for APT tournaments in South Korea included the Natural8-sponsored Mystery Bounty Hunter, the Double Stack, the Sunday Super Stack, Korea National Cup, and the Mini Main Event. All in all, the APT Jeju 2024 festival was an incredible success, and will live long in the memories of everyone who attended.

What's Next for the Asian Poker Tour?

APT Jeju 2024 was the final stop of the current season, so the APT is heading on a short hiatus before embarking on a thrilling new season. Keep your calendars free between September 27 and October 7, 2024, because those are the dates that the Taipei Poker Classic 2024 takes place.

PokerNews will bring you more on the Taipei Poker Classic 2024 schedule closer to the festival.

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Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said that he disagrees with Biden on policy, but he is voting for the president because he is decent.

In a piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Duncan suggested that Republicans vote for a GOP Congress and a Democratic president to provide the government with checks and balances. Duncan also pointed out that the polling shows that Trump could win the election.

The former Lt. Governor made a strong moral argument for why Republicans should vote for Joe Biden:

The healing of the Republican Party cannot begin with Trump as president (and thats aside from the untold damage that potentially awaits our country). A forthcoming Time magazine cover story lays out in stark terms the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world.

Unlike Trump, Ive belonged to the GOP my entire life. This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.

Duncan was right. The Republican Party will never recover until it kicks Trump to the curb, and goes from being a cult of personality to finding its conservative, pro-America roots again.

Democrats may disagree with much of what Duncan says, but his vote for Biden shows that there are more important matters than partisan politics. Protecting American democracy requires many people who may disagree on policies to come together to save the country by electing a decent person who will safeguard the nations values and political system.

After Trump is dealt with, we can go back to arguing about the issues, but the main issue in the 2024 election is the question of whether we will vote for decency or a potential convicted felon who dreams of being a dictator.

A Special Message From PoliticusUSA



If you are in a position to donate purely to help us keep the doors open on PoliticusUSA during what is a critical election year, please do so here.

We have been honored to be able to put your interests first for 14 years as we only answer to our readers and we will not compromise on that fundamental, core PoliticusUSA value.

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Rachel Maddow showed that by refusing to accept election results Republicans have already harmed democracy.

Maddow said:

Democracy is mortal, it can be killed. It doesnt go away by someone, you know, one day proclaiming we are no longer here by a democracy. It goes away when there stops being an expectation that we are governed by democratic means. When there stops being an expectation that elections are how we decide whos in power, right? The way you lose your democracy is by losing the expectation that we are participating in an election. Because all sides in that election plan to accept the result, right? To go home if they lose and to go into office, if they win. Once we no longer expect that we are no longer in a democratic system of government in many important respects.

Once one of the two major governing parties no longer believes elections are binding then in many important ways, the democracy ship has sailed because they are no longer competing on democratic grounds, right? Once one of the two major parties is no longer pledging that they will abide by the election results. Whether they win or lose the democratic system of government is not threatened with harm, it is wounded already.

And so what do we do about that. One way to start dealing with that is to stop pretending that its not happening. Threats to the rule of law are not a theoretical prospect looming sometime in the future. They are here, prosecutors and judges and jurors and witnesses need defending right now right now because theyre being threatened right now. Who for example, who is defending Fannie Willis in Georgia right now, the Republican led legislature in Georgia is trying to destroy her and remove her in order to stop her from prosecuting the alleged crimes of former president Donald Trump.

Who is defending her?

Threats to a democracy are not a theoretical prospect that looms sometime in the future, just like threats to the rule of law, threats to democracy are also here. Now, poll workers and election workers have been chased out of those jobs by the thousands.

Video:

Rachel #Maddow Once one of the two major parties is no longer pledging that they will abide by the election results whether they win or lose, the democratic system of government is not threatened with harm, it is wounded already. pic.twitter.com/Wr6jnAxxuO  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) May 7, 2024

Republicans have already wounded American democracy by opting out of the agreement to honor the will of the people as rendered at the ballot box as legitimate. Once one party stops respecting the legitimacy of elections, democracy in a two party system has a big problem.

Under Donald Trump, Republicans have already harmed democracy, and it is up to the voters not to allow them to kill the worlds greatest democratic experiment in November.

A Special Message From PoliticusUSA



If you are in a position to donate purely to help us keep the doors open on PoliticusUSA during what is a critical election year, please do so here.

We have been honored to be able to put your interests first for 14 years as we only answer to our readers and we will not compromise on that fundamental, core PoliticusUSA value.

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Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 57F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 57F. Winds light and variable.
An incident that shut down the runway at Savannah/Hilton Head International on May 6 caused several commercial flights to be diverted up the coast to Charleston.

An F-22 Raptor fighter jet participating in an exercise called "Sentry Savannah" was involved in an "aircraft mishap" at about 11:30 a.m. Monday, according to the Air National Guard 165th Airlift Wing.

The runway was closed temporarily, forcing three flights to be redirected to Charleston International, where officials said the planes taxied until they were cleared to return to the Savannah airport.

None of the aircraft deplaned while at CHS or affected other flights.

The F-22 incident remains under investigation. The pilot was not injured, the Air National Guard said in a statement.

Editor's note: The story has been updated to replace an erroneous photograph.
GREENVILLE  In 1995, Maya Angelou spoke at Furman University. A 30-year-old Upstate native and aspiring poet named Glenis Redmond watched from the crowd, weeping.

Afterward, Redmond stopped Angelou in the lobby, stumbling over her words as she told the famous writer that she named her daughter after Angelou.

"Bless you, child," Angelou responded in a deep voice.

"And I'm like genuflecting like she's some kind of holy person," Redmond said three decades later during an interview at Coffee Underground. "To me, she was. If I can return that favor to anyone."

It's a moment that Redmond talks about, writes about and inspires her today. It's part of the reason that Redmond  the first poet laureate in Greenville  will bring world-renowned poets to the Upstate this month.

On May 10, the Peace Center will present "Verse and Voices," a convening of the prestigious poet laureates in Greenville.

It will be headlined by Joy Harjo, the 23rd U.S. poet laureate, the first Native American honoree and one of the most accomplished poets alive.

Other speakers include Redmond, North Carolina poet laureate Jaki Shelton Green, former Kentucky poet laureate Crystal Wilkinson and former Columbia poet laureate Ed Madden.

People need the arts like they need bread and water, Redmond said. It defines us.

The event will be broken into two sessions. A discussion panel and Q&A centered on craft will take place at 3 p.m. The writers will return to the Peace Center for a reading at 7:30 p.m.

Its one of the final events Redmond will put on as the citys inaugural poet laureate, an honorary position that is appointed by a governing bodies across the country.
MYRTLE BEACH  Details continue to emerge after the sudden death of a Myrtle Beach pastor's wife in a rural North Carolina state park.

Mica Miller, 30, was found dead April 27 at Lumber River State Park, a little over an hour's drive north of Myrtle Beach.

She was the wife of pastor John-Paul Miller, who founded and leads Solid Rock, a church in The Market Common community.

The Robeson County, N.C., medical examiner said May 6 that Mica Miller died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a report from a local TV station.

Additional details on what led up to Miller's death are expected to be released later May 7 by the Robeson County Sheriff.

The death drew widespread attention and speculation on social media after #JusticeForMica went viral along with calls from friends and family for a deeper investigation into her death.

Who was Mica and her husband, John-Paul?

John-Paul Miller is the head of Solid Rock at Market Common, a nondenominational church.

He started the first iteration of Solid Rock in the Socastee Library in 2006, according to an archived version of the church's website. The church's site has since been taken offline.

Mica Miller was involved in leading the church with her husband, the website said. She led youth groups at Solid Rock, designed graphics and sang on the praise team.
It may not change the world, but it would mean a lot to this city and it would mean a lot to all of the lives lost and everyone we are still fighting for that is still alive, said Dooley, his shoulders draped with a black and white keffiyeh, a woven scarf that has become synonymous with Palestinians.

After months of mostly silence from city officials, representatives from the group recently met with Mayor William Cogswell, who said he would not support a cease-fire resolution. But their consistent pressure on officials spurred the creation of a working group for members of the Human Affairs and Racial Conciliation Commission to brainstorm ways to engage and support the communities most impacted by the war, which is heading into its eighth month.

Brandon Fish, director of Community Relations for the Charleston Jewish Federation, opposes the resolution saying he believes it would offend the Jewish community. Appointed to HARC in the midst of the conflict, Fish proposed the working group in the hopes that Charleston can do something more constructive than join a growing list of cities whose resolutions both Israel and Hamas will ignore.

We have the opportunity to model the kind of peace and civil discourse that wed want for our loved ones in Israel or Gaza, Fish said.

The effort

A diverse coalition of predominantly college students and young professionals, Free Palestine Charleston has organized a handful of protests in Charleston and Columbia, and it has coordinated efforts to address local policymakers through social media. Speakers at City Council meetings have identified themselves as Black, White, Christian, Jewish, Arab and Palestinian. They include teachers, doctors, historic preservationists and parents.

Not all of them feel safe enough to come to public spaces to be heard, according to Sakura. Thats why the group is pushing so hard for a cease-fire, their ultimate stated goal, she said. It would send a message to minority communities in Charleston that they are safe here, and it would express more broadly a desire for peace.
You know how Charlestonians get when they see snow falling? That was Pickens Rep. Neal Collins the morning Tropical Storm Helene arrived at his Easley home. He stood in his garage and shot video of the rain. I woke up before my 5am alarm with unexpected excitement, he posted on social medi Read moreScoppe: 'We are being manipulated by people who don't have our best interests at heart'
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 08:01:24

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DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Agronomics Limited (AIM:ANIC), the leading listed company focused on the field of cellular agriculture, announces that its unaudited Net Asset Valuation ("NAV") per share calculation as at closing on 31 March 2024 was 16.98 pence per share, a 0.5% increase from 16.90 pence per share at 31 December 2023. Net Assets were 171 million, including investments of 153 million and uninvested cash and short-term deposits of 19 million.The share price of 8.80 pence at the 31 March 2024 close represented a discount of 48% to the 31 March 2024 NAV per share. The average discount to the prevailing NAV per share over the last 12-month period was 38%. Under IFRS, the Company's unquoted investments are generally carried at cost or the most recent priced funding round.Jim Mellon, Chair of Agronomics, commented:"We are delighted by the significant progress made by our portfolio during the quarter, successfully closing a number of funding rounds at a time when wider venture capital funding is challenging as the result of macro-economic uncertainty.Highlights included a 30 million funding round for cultivated meat company Meatable, led by Agronomics alongside a new investor, Invest-NL. UK-based Clean Food Group also completed a 2.5 million funding round to commercialise its fermentation-derived palm oil. In addition, Liberation Labs is also making significant progress in securing the further US$ 55 million fundraise as announced on 5 April 2024 to help construct its facility, enabling precision fermentation at a commercial scale.These successes highlight the industry-leading quality of the companies within our portfolio, and we look forward to their continued growth and commercial development.Agronomics continues to have a strong cash balance and has no intention to raise capital, while trading at a discount to NAV." FinancingDuring the period, 1,659 new ordinary shares were issued following the exercise of warrants. Gross proceeds of 498 were received by the Company.During the period, no fees were payable or accrued relating to the Shellbay Investments Limited Agreement.Investment reviewDuring the 3-month period, the Company had two positive revaluations and saw the portfolio companies receive government support and form new strategic partnerships:6 February 2024 - Bond Pet Foods, the US-based company that produces animal proteins through precision fermentation, delivered two metric tons of animal protein to one of the most popular pet food providers in the US, Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc - a division of the Colgate-Palmolive Company.14 February 2024 - California Cultured Inc. reached a partnership agreement with the Japanese company Meiji Co., Ltd, Japan's largest chocolate manufacturer, involving a 10-year-long arrangement for the supply and integration of California Cultured's cell-cultured flavanol cocoa powder into an array of products tailored for both the US and Japanese markets.13 March 2024 - Shiok Meats Pte. Ltd. was acquired by UMAMI Bioworks Pte. Ltd. in a share-for-share transaction, and subject to audit, this position will be carried forward at a book value of 0.378 million.18 March 2024 - Good Dog Food Ltd created the world's first cans of pet food that use cultivated chicken as a protein source.20 March 2024 - Formo Bio GmbH partnered with Those Vegan Cowboys, a Belgium-based company focusing on precision fermentation-derived caseins.21 March 2024 - SuperMeat The Essence of Meat Ltd announced the conclusions from a Life Cycle Assessment, projecting a carbon footprint 47% lower when compared to conventional chicken.26 March 2024 - Clean Food Group Ltd received a further 2.5 million in funding from Clean Growth Fund Management LLP.27 March 2024 - Onego Bio Ltd completed a Series A financing round, successfully raising 27 million and led by NordicNinja VC, a Japanese-Nordic VC backing companies in climate and deep tech. In addition, Onego Bio secured a further 9.5 million in non-dilutive funding from Business Finland, a government organisation offering grant funding for innovative Finnish companies that address significant global needs and challenges. Subject to audit, Agronomics' position in Onego Bio, including the Subscription, will be carried at 11.1 million (12.9 million), including an unrealised gain of 3.8 million.The Board notes that VitroLabs Inc, currently held at 7.6 million, is now undertaking a substantial restructuring and fund raising. Whilst the outcome of this is uncertain at the moment, pursuant to AIM Rule 11, we consider that it is probable that the holding in VitroLabs Inc will require a significant write-down and we will inform shareholders in due course once this is quantified. Meanwhile, a number of the Company's other holdings have experienced positive gains post-period, and it is therefore unlikely that the overall NAV will decline materially.Unaudited to 31 March 2024Current AssetsInvestments 153,061,704Uninvested cash and deposits 19,685,863Trade and other receivables 125,116Current LiabilitiesTrade and other creditors (1,475,919)Net Assets171,396,764Capital and ReservesShare capital 1,009Share premium 136,168,841Retained earnings 35,226,914Net assets171,396,764Shares in Issue1,009,409,750Net Asset Value per share16.98 penceThe quoted investments within the portfolio are valued under IFRS at bid price.This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014, as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.For further information please contact:Agronomics LimitedBeaumont Cornish LimitedCanaccord Genuity LimitedCavendish Securities PlcPeterhouse Capital LimitedSEC NewgateThe CompanyNomadJoint BrokerJoint BrokerJoint BrokerPublic RelationsJim MellonDenham EkeRoland CornishJames BiddleAndrew PottsHarry PardoeAlex Aylen (Head of Equities)Giles BallenyMichael JohnsonLucy WilliamsCharles GoodfellowBob HuxfordAnthony Hughes+44 (0) 1624 639396 info@ agronomics.im +44 (0) 207 628 3396+44 (0) 207 523 8000+44 (0) 207 397 8900+44 (0) 207 469 0936agronomics@ secnewgate.co.uk ENDSThis information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to t
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / The Home DepotOriginally published on Built From ScratchLast October, Hurricane Otis made landfall in Acapulco, Mexico, as a Category 5 with sustained winds of 165 miles per hour. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), "Otis was the strongest hurricane in the Eastern Pacific to make landfall in the satellite era." The storm left a trail of destruction, impacting more than 30,000 families and destroying over 4,000 buildings, including residences, hospitals and clinics. Additionally, the hurricane toppled critical utility poles and severed vital communication lines.The Home Depot has two stores in the city. While the store near Acapulco Bay suffered less damage, the Diamante store was closed for more than three months and has recently reopened, signaling a significant step towards recovery.Homer Fund and Fondo Naranja, The Home Depot Foundation Mexico's associate assistance program, joined forces and provided more than $480,000 to support the 178 associates affected and displaced by the disaster. In addition, associates at the store support center donated food, water and other essentials.In a display of solidarity with the broader community, The Home Depot Foundation (US) has granted $500,000 to TECHO, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing poverty in Latin America and a long-time key partner of The Home Depot Foundation Mexico. These funds will help construct 64 houses in areas devastated by Hurricane Otis.Additionally, The Home Depot Mexico launched a special fundraising campaign, matching every peso donated by its vendors. The funds will be donated to TECHO and Construyendo AC to help construct over 40 additional houses. In the end, more than 100 new houses will be built.The Home Depot Foundation's collaboration with TECHO represents a continuation of their shared commitment to creating sustainable solutions in disadvantaged communities. Through fundraising campaigns, disaster response programs and local volunteerism, both organizations are dedicated to fostering resilient communities that can withstand and recover from adversity.The Home Depot Foundation is committed to short-term response and long-term recovery in communities impacted by natural disasters. To learn more, visit HomeDepotFoundation.org Keep up with all the latest Home Depot news! Subscribe to our bi-weekly news update and get the top Built from Scratch stories delivered straight to your inbox.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from The Home Depot on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info: Spokesperson: The Home DepotWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/home-depot Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: The Home Depot
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New step-out targets identified from high-powered electromagnetic surveysTORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSXV:BAY)(OTCQB:ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to present the preliminary interpretation of the initial results from geophysical activities currently underway at the Storm Copper Project ("Storm" or the "Project") on Somerset Island, Nunavut. The program is being conducted by American West Metals Limited ("American West"), who is the operator of the Project. American West has completed the required expenditures to earn an undivided 80% interest in the Project. American West will be solely responsible for funding the program.HighlightsPreliminary interpretation of the initial Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) survey results has identified several new exploration targets highlighting excellent potential to discover additional copper mineralization The initial MLEM data indicates that the high-grade copper mineralization at the Cyclone Zone likely extends in most directions New EM anomalies have also been identified over 1,000 metres ("m") along strike from the Chinook Zone as well as in the areas of the 2023 discoveries at the Thunder, Lightning Ridge and Gap Prospects, indicating strong potential for extensions to known high-grade copper mineralization The MLEM surveys continue in the Storm area, and will then move south toward the Blizzard and Tornado Prospects Deeper-looking MLEM surveys are also planned between the North and South Graben Faults in the Storm area Track-mounted Reverse-Circulation (RC) drilling is underway and will test these new targets as well as several historical EM anomalies and other high-priority targets for near-surface high-grade copper mineralization A second RC drill rig is currently being mobilised to site, which will join the first RC and two diamond rigs currently onsite The 2024 high-powered Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) survey has already successfully identified numerous conductive anomalies throughout the Storm area, including multiple anomalies that are adjacent to known copper mineralization and are untested by drilling."It is very encouraging to see geophysics identify new targets at Storm," stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay. "Moving Loop EM anomalies have demonstrated a very strong correlation with high-grade copper mineralization, so these are high-priority drill targets. This initial phase of geophysics is designed to be effective in the shallow subsurface, less than 200 metres depth, well within reach of the RC drill rigs on site. The ongoing drilling will aim to test these targets in the coming weeks and over the summer program."The upcoming deep-penetrating, wider-spaced MLEM survey is designed to explore the Storm central graben area below the known mineralization with a targeted search space of 200-500m depth. This opens a whole new space for potential discovery. In the 2024 season we intersected copper mineralization at these depths with the same mineralogy as seen at the surface. We anticipate these deeper-looking surveys will enhance our drill targeting for potentially thicker and more laterally extensive zones of mineralization in this very prospective but underexplored zone." Figure 1: High-powered Electromagnetic (EM) surveys continue to generate new targets at the Storm Project, Nunavut, Canada.PHASE 1 MOVING LOOP ELECTROMAGNETICS (MLEM)The high-powered MLEM survey is advancing rapidly and is initially being used to highlight the priority areas within the Storm area for expansion of the near-surface zones of higher-grade copper mineralization and to identify new targets for drilling (Figure 2).The copper mineralization at Storm is dominantly chalcocite (a copper sulfide mineral with 79.8% Cu content), occurring as massive sulfides in breccias and veinlets. Minor chalcopyrite (copper sulfide with 34.5% Cu content) is present on the margins of the mineralized profiles. The contrast in conductivity between chalcocite and the highly resistive dolomite host rocks makes EM an effective targeting tool in this area.The initial MLEM surveys at Storm have used 200m N-S line spacings, 100m sensor stations, and 200m x 200m loops. This configuration provides rapid coverage and is effective in defining the known near-surface high-grade copper mineralization at Storm.Figure 2: Recently completed MLEM survey image (Ch18Z) and remaining proposed lines in the Storm area, overlaying drilling, and aerial photography. Hotter colours (red/green) indicate higher conductivity. Gaps in this survey were completed in 2023 and will be integrated into the final modeling and interpretation.Approximately 22.7 line-kilometres ("km") of the proposed >50 line-km MLEM survey have been completed within the Storm area (Figure 2). The initial survey lines broadly cover the southern graben area and around the Cyclone Zone, with the geophysical team working west along the major trend of the graben. Once the western portion of the survey is complete, the team will then work east, from the Chinook Zone, toward the Blizzard and Tornado Prospect areas.The initial survey data from the Cyclone area shows clear EM anomalies outside of the current copper resource envelope (Figure 2). This data strongly suggests that the higher-grade copper mineralization is open and continues into these conductive areas. This interpretation is supported by drilling on the margins of the Cyclone Zone, which include intersections including 16m @ 3.07% Cu from 93m downhole (drillhole SROR1601D) and 10.2m @ 2.1% Cu from 17.3m and 5.8m @ 3.6% Cu from 38.6m downhole (drillhole ST99-53).Figure 3: Recently completed MLEM survey image (Ch18Z) of the Cyclone Zone overlaying drilling, major faults, and aerial photography. Hotter colours (red/green) indicate higher conductivity. Gaps in this survey were completed in 2023 and will be integrated into the final modeling and interpretation.The survey data from the current coverage over the Southern Graben area, including around the Thunder Prospect (where drilling has intersected 48.6m @ 3% Cu from 35m downhole in drill hole ST23-03), has clearly defined conductive features along the strike of the fault network in the area (Figure 4). Weakly conductive cover is present in the area of the Thunder Prospect (most likely a thin overlap of the Allen Bay and Cape Storm formations), slightly masking the full EM response of the bedrock anomalies.The correlation with the graben faults and orientation of the EM conductors suggests the potential for further discoveries of high-grade copper sulfides in a similar setting to the Thunder, Lightning Ridge, Chinook, and Corona zones. Approximately 10km of the graben faults remain underexplored in the southern Storm area alone, underscoring the very
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Volunteers worked together to build and unveil the new playground in Paulsboro, N.J. in just one dayMAYS LANDING, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Volunteers from Atlantic City Electric, KABOOM!, Gateway Community Action Partnership, the Borough of Paulsboro and community members came together to bring a children-designed and community-built playground to life at the West Buck Street Park in Paulsboro, N.J. Hundreds of local volunteers came together on April 10 for this one-day, community-driven playground build. This project represents progress in ensuring every child has a place to play, providing a state-of-the-art playground for children to enjoy each year."I am truly proud to work for a company that focuses so much on our communities where we not only serve, but where many of us live and work," said Doug Mokoid, Region President, Atlantic City Electric. "The work we do day in and day out is important, but we must also remember that helping our communities grow and flourish is also vital. Seeing our employees come together outside of their daily work, side-by-side with the community, is a prime example of the company's core principles- putting to action that we are more than energy." More than 100 volunteers from Atlantic City Electric, which included members from IBEW Local 210, took part in the day-long build, which brought to life the design concepts inspired by local children. The "Design Day" held in January 2024 kicked off the planning process and brought community members together to intricately compose their designs into what is now seen today at West Buck Street Park."The West Buck Street Playground has always been an integral part of the immediate neighborhood it serves and to the residents of Paulsboro," said Borough of Paulsboro Mayor John Giovannitti. "The Borough of Paulsboro is excited to partner with KABOOM!, Gateway CAP and Atlantic City Electric to create, design and build a new' West Buck Street Playground. We believe this will help unite our community and create a fun and safe place for our families to meet and play." The project is part of a nationwide effort led by KABOOM! to end playspace inequity - the reality that far too many children - especially children of color - do not get the chance to play on a playground, something that should be part of every child's life. Their work is to ensure every child can experience the numerous physical, social and mental health benefits of play regardless of background or where they live."Playgrounds are an iconic part of childhood where kids collect some of their best memories and experience the countless physical and mental health benefits of play," said Lysa Ratliff, Chief Executive Officer of KABOOM!. "KABOOM! is thrilled to work with Atlantic City Electric, Gateway Community Action Partnership, and the Borough of Paulsboro to build the new playspace on West Buck Street and ensure that generations of kids can grow up happy and healthy through access to playspaces where they feel they are valued and belong." This playground build is also the starting point of a longer-term revitalization plan for the Paulsboro community. It is a launching pad to Gateway Community Action Partnership's initiative through the Neighborhood Revitalization Planning Grant, which they received in December 2023. It focuses on community-driven projects, like the playground build, to support comprehensive equity focused community development plans."This represents more than just an investment in swings and slides; it symbolizes a dedication to the well-being, joy and unity of our local community. It reflects our profound commitment to fostering secure, welcoming and interactive spaces that support the growth of our children, strengthen family bonds and promote neighborly connections," said Edward Bethea, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Gateway Community Action Partnership. "We must also emphasize that this new playground will act as a key catalyst for the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative process in the Paulsboro area." Atlantic City Electric is committed to ensuring the communities it serves and where its employees live and work, thrive. Events like this further strengthen the company's commitment to powering a cleaner and brighter future for its customers and communities.About KABOOM! KABOOM! is the national nonprofit committed to ending playspace inequity - the reality that quality places to play are not available to every child, especially in communities of color. Since 1996, KABOOM! has partnered with kids and communities to build or improve 17,000+ playspaces and ensure that nearly 12 million kids have equitable access to the crucial benefits and opportunities that playspaces offer. In 2022, KABOOM! launched the 25 in 5 Initiative to End Playspace Inequity to accelerate its mission in 25 high-priority locations over five years. Learn more at kaboom.org or join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.About Gateway Community Action Partnership Gateway Community Action Partnership is the designated Community Action Program (CAP) for Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties in Southern New Jersey and also provides services in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May and Mercer counties, as well as Philadelphia. As a CAP, Gateway Community Action Partnership helps low- and moderate-income residents identify and overcome barriers to self-sufficiency. The agency's more than 650 employees form a network of professional teachers, social workers, counselors, nutritionists and program planners, all dedicated to making our communities better places to live and work for all residents. Gateway CAP is a private, non-profit, community-based organization with a federal 501-C-3 designation by the IRS.About the Borough of Paulsboro Paulsboro Borough is robust diverse municipality located in Southern New Jersey. Founded the 17th. Century and incorporated as" Paulsboro" in 1904, it is the home to Fort Billingsport, the first land purchase made by the United States, acquired on July 5, 1776, the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.To learn more about Atlantic City Electric, visit The Source, Atlantic City Electric's online newsroom. Find additional information by visiting atlanticcityelectric.com , on Facebook at facebook.com/AtlanticCityElectric , and on X, formerly known as Twitter, at twitter.com/AcEleCconnect . Atlantic City Electric's mobile app is available at atlanticcityelectric.com/MobileApp View original content here.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Atlantic City Electric on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info: Spokesperson: Atlantic City ElectricWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/atl
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New solution enables investors to screen portfolios, funds, and indices against their own set of sustainability criteriaNORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / BloombergOriginally published on bloomberg.com Bloomberg today announced the launch of a new tool that helps investors assess portfolios, funds and indices based on sustainability criteria and thresholds customized by the user. Available on the Bloomberg Terminal, the solution facilitates a transparent screening process and can be used both for making investment decisions and to help clients with regulatory compliance.With the diversification of sustainable investment strategies, investors are looking for easy and reliable ways to understand if investment products align with specific sustainability criteria. Regulators across the globe also increasingly set baselines for companies to be considered as sustainable, and require investors to assess if the companies they invest in are meeting these thresholds. Bloomberg's new tool provides an easy and transparent way for investors to understand to what extent a portfolio, fund or index meets their expectations and sustainability criteria predetermined by them.Patricia Torres, Global Head of Sustainable Finance Solutions at Bloomberg, said: "Sustainability objectives vary from investor to investor, and from product to product. It can be difficult to fully understand whether a portfolio, fund or index meets your own definition of a sustainable investment. This new Bloomberg tool provides clarity and empowers the user to customize sustainable investment criteria to determine if portfolios, funds, or indices meet their requirements with confidence. Based on Bloomberg's extensive range of company ESG data, proprietary metrics and scores, the tool enables investors to assess investments in a comparable and scalable way." The screening process is entirely customized by users, who input their investment preferences by selecting from a wide range of criteria and calibrating precise thresholds for the three following categories: sustainability targets, exclusion or "no harm" criteria, and good governance requirements. The solution then calculates a percentage figure that reveals how much of the portfolio, fund or index is aligned with the user's criteria, and provides a detailed list view of all holdings to quickly detect any outliers.In addition to using the solution for investment purposes, investors can also use it to check, based on their own definitions, if funds align with regulatory obligations, including the EU's MiFID II suitability rules and Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), the United Arab Emirates' new sustainable finance framework, the UK FCA's forthcoming sustainability disclosure requirements, and future SEC guidance on ESG disclosures and fund labelling.The solution could also be used by investors to help assess whether a fund meets classification under the SFDR framework, and the percentage of sustainable investment reported by the fund itself. Bloomberg streamlines the screening process for Article 8 and 9 funds by providing access to SFDR fund-reported data for 26,000 funds captured within the European ESG Template (EET), covering more than 345 data points including a fund's minimum EU Taxonomy alignment.Bloomberg's Sustainable Finance Data License offering provides enterprise-wide access to the underlying data feeding this new tool, for investors to use in their sustainable investment construction. Via Data License, clients can access a company's potential Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) impact and SFDR Principal Adverse Impact sector percentile performance, alongside both positive and negative revenue-based screening.To access Bloomberg's new ESG fund screening tool, type SUST on the Bloomberg Terminal or visit data.Bloomberg.com to access via Data License. For more information on Bloomberg's sustainable finance solutions, visit our website here.Media Contacts Anna Schoeffler, aschoeffler1@ bloomberg.net , +33 6 75 54 70 92About Bloomberg Bloomberg is a global leader in business and financial information, delivering trusted data, news, and insights that bring transparency, efficiency, and fairness to markets. The company helps connect influential communities across the global financial ecosystem via reliable technology solutions that enable our customers to make more informed decisions and foster better collaboration. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.Leverage agile frameworks to provide a robust synopsis for high level overviews. Iterative approaches to corporate strategy foster collaborative thinking to further the overall value proposition. Organically grow the holistic world view of disruptive innovation via workplace diversity and empowerment.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Bloomberg on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info: Spokesperson: BloombergWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/bloomberg Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Bloomberg
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see attachedFORT MILL, SC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 /Catheter Precision, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE American:VTAK), a US based innovative medical device company focused on electrophysiology products, announced the receipt of a purchase order for LockeT, the company's newest product, from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) health system. This initial purchase order from UCSD enables product evaluations at the hospital to begin."Many hospitals require an evaluation of products before a commitment to long-term purchase," stated David Jenkins, CEO of Catheter Precision. "Obtaining this purchase order requires buy-in from the physician, hospital staff, and purchasing departments before it can be issued. This purchase order indicates that the hospital and its staff see the value and benefits that LockeT can bring not just to their hospital, but to their patients." Robert Locke, Catheter Precision's VP of Product Development for LockeT stated, "I have worked with the UCSD Health System for many years. This hospital is often one of the earliest adopters of new technologies and a leader in the electrophysiology field. I am delighted that they are one of the first users of LockeT as we start our nation-wide product launch." About LockeTCatheter Precision's LockeT is a suture retention device intended to assist in hemostasis after percutaneous venous punctures. LockeT is a Class 1 device registered with the FDA.About Catheter PrecisionCatheter Precision is an innovative U.S.-based medical device company bringing new solutions to market to improve the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. It is focused on developing groundbreaking technology for electrophysiology procedures by collaborating with physicians and continuously advancing its products. Reincorporated as Ra Medical Systems, Inc. in Delaware in 2018, the Company changed its name to Catheter Precision, Inc. on August 17, 2023.Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsStatements in this press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to substantial risk and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "anticipate," "may," "might," "can," "could," "continue," "depends," "expect," "expand," "forecast," "intend," "predict," "plan," "rely," "should," "will," "may," "seek," or the negative of these terms and other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding product evaluations at the hospital, and that the purchase order indicates that the hospital and its staff see the value and benefits that LockeT can bring. The Company's expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements as a result of uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances, including but not limited to risks and uncertainties included under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 10-K filed with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov . These risks and uncertainties include, but aren't limited to, that we do not have sufficient liquidity to fund our operations through May 2024 unless we are able to obtain additional financing or enter into a strategic transaction that would provide additional liquidity, we will not be able to reach profitability unless we are able to achieve our product expansion and growth goals, our research and development and commercialization efforts may depend on entering into agreements with corporate collaborators, we have entered into joint marketing agreements with respect to our products, and may enter into additional joint marketing agreements, that will reduce our revenues from product sales, royalty agreements with respect to our LockeT device will reduce any future profits from this product, if we experience significant disruptions in our information technology systems, our business may be adversely affected, litigation and other legal proceedings may adversely affect our business, if we make acquisitions or divestitures, we could encounter difficulties that harm our business, failure to attract and retain sufficient qualified personnel could also impede our growth, failure to maintain effective internal controls could cause our investors to lose confidence in us and adversely affect the market price of our common stock, we have determined that our internal controls and disclosure controls were not effective as of December 31, 2023 and March 31, 2024, and as a result, without effective remediation of the material weaknesses that we have identified, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud, our revenues may depend on our customers' receipt of adequate reimbursement from private insurers and government sponsored healthcare programs, we may be unable to compete successfully with companies in our highly competitive industry, many of whom have substantially greater resources than we do, our future operating results depend upon our ability to obtain components in sufficient quantities on commercially reasonable terms or according to schedules, prices, quality and volumes that are acceptable to us, and suppliers may fail to deliver components, or we may be unable to manage these components effectively or obtain these components on such terms, if hospitals, physicians and patients do not accept our current and future products or if the market for indications for which any product candidate is approved is smaller than expected, we may be unable to generate significant revenue, if any, our medical device operations are subject to pervasive and continuing FDA regulatory requirements, our products may be subject to additional recalls, revocations or suspensions after receiving FDA or foreign approval or clearance, which could divert managerial and financial resources, harm our reputation, and adversely affect our business, changes in trade policies among the U.S. and other countries, in particular the imposition of new or higher tariffs, could place pressure on our average selling prices as our customers seek to offset the impact of increased tariffs on their own products, increased tariffs or the imposition of other barriers to international trade could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and operating results. The risks and uncertainties described above may be amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused significant economic uncertainty, or other pandem
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CITGO Allegedly Imposed "Marriage Penalty" on Joint and Survivor Annuity Recipients in Its Pension PlansCHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2024 / Today, a federal judge wholly denied CITGO's motion for summary judgment on three of four counts, and also partially denied the motion on the fourth count, allowing a proposed class action lawsuit regarding CITGO's pension benefits to move forward to trial. The lawsuit alleges that that the company violated the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA") by failing to properly calculate joint and survivor annuity ("JSA") benefits for retired employees and imposing a "marriage penalty" that reduced their monthly pension payments.Specifically, plaintiffs claim that prior to 2018, two CITGO pension plans utilized inaccurate mortality tables (from the 1970s) to determine the value of JSAs, resulting in married retirees consistently receiving less than the actuarial equivalent of a single-life annuity ("SLA") as required under ERISA. The lawsuit seeks to recover the underpayments, and to reform the CITGO Plans to fully comply with protections afforded by ERISA to pension plan participants and their beneficiaries.With more than 1,700 participants and beneficiaries in the proposed class receiving JSAs, the estimated financial exposure to CITGO could well exceed $30 million."We are very pleased by the judge's ruling that our clients' claims against CITGO may proceed to trial," said Michelle C. Yau, chair of Cohen Milstein's Employee Benefits/ERISA practice. "Married retirees and their beneficiaries deserve to receive accurate pension payments after years of hard work and should not be shortchanged or subjected to a marriage penalty.'" In its ruling, the court rejected CITGO's arguments that the lawsuit should be dismissed on the basis of the statute of limitations, finding that all three plaintiffs could proceed with their actuarial equivalence claims in Counts 1 through 3, and that two of the three plaintiffs could proceed with their breach of fiduciary duty claim in Count 4. Further, the court rejected CITGO's argument that the Plaintiffs should have exhausted administrative remedies rather than filing suit in federal court, stating that it was "not persuaded that requiring exhaustion would serve any useful purpose in this case." Finally, the court also held that Plaintiffs' claims were sufficiently meritorious to proceed to trial and supported by expert testimony.The lawsuit is brought on behalf a proposed class of retirees in the CITGO Petroleum Corporation Salaried Employees Pension Plan and the CITGO Petroleum Corporation Hourly Employees Pension Plan who are receiving a joint and survivor annuity. Class certification is currently pending.The case,Urlaub et al v. Citgo Petroleum Corporation et al.(N.D . Ill.), was filed on August 3, 2021 in the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois.This is one of six such cases the firm has recently filed against the largest companies in the U.S., addressing similar claims, including against AT&T, IBM, Intel, Luxottica, and Southern Company.###About Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, a premier U.S. plaintiffs' law firm, with over 100 attorneys across eight offices, champions the causes of real people - workers, consumers, small business owners, investors, and whistleblowers - working to deliver corporate reforms and fair markets for the common good. For more information visit https://www.cohenmilstein.com Contact: cohenmilstein@ berlinrosen.com SOURCE: Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
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This agreement is the 4th Provincial Health Authority contract for Cloud DX remote patient monitoring (RPM) services, alongside Alberta, the Yukon and Prince Edward Island.News in Summary After a successful competitive RFP process, on April 23, 2024 the Company executed a Province-wide contract for Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) products and services. The contract has a term of 36 months with 2 extensions of 12 months each. The average contract value of each individual subscription is expected to be approximately $1,520 CAD per year which covers the cost of the Connected Health Kit prescribed to patients, software and connectivity. The Company now supplies Connected Health remote patient monitoring products and services across Canada with 4 Provincial-level contracts including Alberta, Yukon, PEI and a Master Services Agreement with Mohawk Medbuy, the country's largest hospital procurement agency. In the 4 months to April 30, 2024 Cloud DX has announced 26 new contracts with hospitals, paramedic services, US clinics and now 2 Canadian Provinces indicating an inflection point in the company's growth.KITCHENER, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Cloud DX (TSXV:CDX)(OTCQB:CDXFF), a leading North American provider of virtual care and remote patient monitoring platforms is pleased to announce the execution on April 23, 2024 of a Remote Patient Monitoring Agreement for Cloud DX RPM Services with a Canadian Provincial Health Authority.The contract has a term of 36 months with 2 extensions of 12 months each for a total of 60 months. The average contract value of each individual patient subscription is expected to be approximately $1,520 CAD per year which covers the cost of the Connected Health Kit prescribed to each patient, software, and connectivity. Certain additional fees, including customizations and integrations can be added on an as-needed basis. In the most recent financial statements Cloud DX reported a gross margin of 71%.In addition to contracts at the clinic, hospital, institute and municipal government level, Cloud DX has now secured 4 Provincial level contracts for RPM including Alberta Health Services, Yukon Health and Health PEI. The Company also announced a contract with Alberta Primary Care Networks, and on June 21, 2023 it announced a Master Services Agreement to supply members of the Mohawk Medbuy shared services organization, which manages procurement for over 100 Hospital Systems and provincial authorities across Canada. In addition to these large contracts the Company supplies RPM to 11 Ontario Community Paramedic Services and hospital systems including Hamilton Health Sciences, The Ottawa Hospital, the Ottawa Heart Center, Kingston Health Sciences and several more. Further details of this agreement will be released by the client upon publication of the contract award as per provincial regulations.Cloud DX has now announced 26 new contracts and/or contract renewals so far in 2024. Notable announcements include new contracts with Ontario Paramedics, Ottawa University Research Institute, VHA Home HealthCare and Health PEI.Cloud DX Founder and CEO Robert Kaul stated: "This new Provincial-level agreement cements Cloud DX as the most trusted supplier of remote patient monitoring services in Canada. Connected Health RPM will now become available to many more Canadians for critical conditions including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, post-surgical monitoring, and even palliative care. Published studies have demonstrated that Cloud DX RPM improves health outcomes, reduces the average length of stay in hospital, and drives high levels of both patient and provider satisfaction. These benefits are now available to Canadians from coast-to-coast, and even as far north as the Yukon, delivering much needed efficiency to the whole Canadian healthcare system." About Cloud DXAccelerating digital healthcare, Cloud DX is on a mission to make healthcare better for everyone. Our Connected Health remote patient monitoring platform is used by healthcare enterprises and care teams across North America to virtually manage chronic disease, enable aging in place, and deliver hospital-quality post-surgical care in the home. Our partners achieve better healthcare and patient outcomes, reduce the need for hospitalization or re-admission, and reduce healthcare delivery costs through more efficient use of resources. Cloud DX is the co-winner of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, winner of "2022 Top Innovator" from Canadian Business, a 2021 "Edison Award" winner, a Fast Company "World Changing Idea" finalist, and one of "Canada's Ten Most Prominent Telehealth Providers." Cloud DX is an exclusive partner to Medtronic Canada and Teladoc Health Canada.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.Cloud DX Investor Site https://ir.clouddx.com/overview/default.aspx Social LinksTwitter https://twitter.com/CloudDX Facebook https://www.facebook.com/clouddxinc/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloud-dx/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cloud.dx/ For media inquiries please contact: Marketing Enquiries Phone 888-543-0944 marketing@ clouddx.com For investor inquiries please contact: Jay Bedard Cloud DX Investor Relations Phone 647-881-8418 investors@ clouddx.com Officer responsible for this Press Release: Robert Kaul Chief Executive Officer Phone 888-543-0944 ceo@ clouddx.com Forward Looking StatementsThis news release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release. In particular, this news release includes certain forward-looking statements c
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 13:01:18

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Construction Startup Competition 2024 searches for the brightest startups from around the world to disrupt the industry and make construction more sustainable, efficient, and on time. Venture Capital and Construction companies Cemex Ventures, Caterpillar, Dysruptek by Haskell, Ferrovial, Hilti, VINCI Group's Leonard, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Trimble, and Zacua Ventures are hosting the biggest competition for startups in the construction industry. Startups can apply to the Competition from May 7- June 30, 2024. MADRID, SPAIN / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Today marks the start of Construction Startup Competition 2024, the biggest competition, network, and platform for startups in the construction and cleantech industries. Prominent industry players and venture capital firms Cemex Ventures, Caterpillar, Dysruptek by Haskell, Ferrovial, Hilti, VINCI Group's Leonard, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Trimble, and Zacua Ventures are launching the open call for innovative startups worldwide as hosts of the 8th edition of Construction Startup Competition.CSC_2024_logo Construction Startup Competition 2024 logo Construction Startup Competition promotes innovation, collaboration, and technology adoption with solutions that fall under the competition's 4 focus areas: Green Construction (sustainability), Enhanced Productivity (efficiency), Construction Supply Chain (on time), Future of Construction (disruptive). It is also an invaluable tool for startups to network with potential clients and partners, earn capital, pilot in global markets, and pitch to active industry investors and potential business partners. This year, 3 winners will receive cash prizes at Pitch Day, the final competition milestone, held at Trimble Dimensions User Conference on November 11-13, 2024.Over the last 7 years, Construction Startup Competition has been a launching pad for almost 3,000 startups to facilitate fundraising and gain recognition. The competition has named 36 winners, which have collectively raised more than US$396M in financing. More than one third of winners have received investment from and/or are working with one or more of the competition hosts, and 3 Contech acceleration programs use the competition as a qualified pipeline to build their cohorts."Every year we receive hundreds of applications from Contech and Cleantech startups, some of which have gone on to become big names in the industry, receive hundreds of million dollars in investment, and commercialize and expand their companies," said Gonzalo Galindo, Head of Cemex Ventures.As the construction sector demands change, the biggest innovators are saying to startups, "Let's build something bigger together!" Contech & Cleantech startups looking to showcase their solution can take the next step and apply today: https://www.cemexventures.com/constructionstartupcompetition Contact InformationMari GherardiCommunication & Marketingmari.gherardi@cemexventures.com SOURCE: Cemex VenturesView the original press release on newswire.com
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 21:45:12

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Jacob & Co Partners with Exquisite Timepieces, becoming its first authorized dealer in Florida, offering exclusive access to luxury collections.NAPLES, FL / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Jacob & Co, the esteemed luxury watch brand renowned for its innovation and exceptional craftsmanship, proudly announces its partnership withExquisite Timepiecesas the first authorized dealer for Jacob & Co timepieces in the state of Florida.Recognized globally for pushing the boundaries of traditional watchmaking and creating extraordinary timepieces that captivate enthusiasts worldwide, Jacob & Co is synonymous with innovation, creativity, and uncompromising quality.Through this exclusive partnership, customers in Florida will have unparalleled access to Jacob & Co's iconic collectionsAs the premier destination for luxury timepieces in Florida, Exquisite Timepieces embodies a commitment to excellence and a passion for horology that aligns seamlessly with Jacob & Co's values. Through this exclusive partnership, customers in Florida will have unparalleled access to Jacob & Co's iconic collections, including the groundbreaking Astronomia, Epic X, and Palatial Classic lines."We are thrilled to partner with Jacob & Co and bring their exceptional timepieces to our enthusiastic clientele in Florida," said Tim Richardson, Founder and CEO of Exquisite Timepieces. "Jacob & Co's commitment to innovation and craftsmanship aligns perfectly with our own values, and we are excited to showcase their extraordinary creations in our showroom." This partnership marks a significant milestone for both Jacob & Co and Exquisite Timepieces, as they continue to redefine the luxury watch landscape with uncompromising quality, innovation, and sophistication.For more information about Exquisite Timepieces and its collection of luxury timepieces, visitexquisitetimepieces.com About Exquisite TimepiecesExquisite Timepieces is a leading retailer of luxury watches, offering an extensive selection of timepieces from the world's most prestigious brands. With a commitment to excellence and a passion for horology, Exquisite Timepieces provides customers with unparalleled service and expertise, ensuring an exceptional shopping experience.Media Contact:Tim RichardsonExquisite Timepieces239-227-2932 https://www.exquisitetimepieces.com/team@exquisitetimepieces.com SOURCE: Exquisite Timepieces
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 13:05:46

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CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. ("FLYHT" or the "Company") (TSX-V:FLY)(OTCQX:FLYLF) today announced that it will participate in the Rivemont Investments MicroCap Technology Special taking place in Montreal on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Kent Jacobs, President and Interim CEO is scheduled to host a presentation followed by a Q&A session. Details for the live public presentation are below.DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 2024TIME: 4:35 PM MT (6:35 PM ET)LOCATION: L'Espace 914, 914 Notre-Dame Quest, Montreal, H3C 1J9REGISTRATION: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/billets-cocktail-5a7-rivemont-microcap-special-technologie-883787079947 All existing and prospective shareholders are invited to attend the conference to learn more about the Company. For more information, please email investors@ flyht.com or flyht@ fnkir.com About FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.FLYHT provides airlines with Actionable Intelligence to transform operational insight into immediate, quantifiable action, and delivers industry leading solutions to improve aviation safety, efficiency, and profitability. This unique capability is driven by a suite of patented aircraft certified hardware products, AFIRS. Solutions include an aircraft satcom/interface device that enables cockpit voice communications, transmission of aircraft data both while inflight via satellite and post-flight via 5G, real-time aircraft state and fleet status analysis, and preventative maintenance solutions. FLYHT's hardware products can also be interfaced with FLYHT's proprietary relative humidity sensors to deliver airborne weather and humidity data in real-time.FLYHT is headquartered in Calgary, Canada, and is an AS9100 Quality registered company. For more information, visit www.flyht.com Contact Information:FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.FNK IR LLCAlana ForbesMatt Chesler, CFAChief Financial OfficerInvestor Relations403.291.7437646.809.2183investors@ flyht.com mchesler@ flyht.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: FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 16:40:36

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Changes in the Chinese auto market's competitive landscape are forcing foreign carmakers to reevaluate their electric vehicle strategies, with firms such as Volkswagen and Audi debuted 30 new global models at the Beijing Auto Show last week.One of them is the ID.UNYX , an all-electric coupe sport utility vehicle and the very first model by Volkswagen Anhui, a majority-controlled joint venture of Volkswagen Group China. Overseas auto giants such as Audi and Mercedes-Benz also unveiled pure-electric models at the motor show.The biennial event, which opened on April 25, is a key showcase for new energy vehicles, with 117 models made their worldwide debuts. This year's exhibition features a total of 41 concept cars and 278 NEV models.In China, the world's biggest auto market, joint venture carmakers once held seven of the 10 top spots for annual sales in excess of one million units. But as NEVs rapidly take market share, hitting a 50 percent penetration rate in the first two weeks of last month, foreign automakers have seen theirs shrink fast.Chinese producers had an 86 percent share of the domestic NEV market last year, according to a recent report by Gast-auto.com . Foreign carmakers had just over 14 percent, with Tesla alone accounting for almost 8 percent of that.The report also noted that top-tier Chinese auto manufacturers have surpassed second-tier overseas makers for brand strength in China and are even challenging the top-tier foreign producers.More importantly, Chinese consumer perceptions have undergone significant changes, with blind admiration for foreign brands becoming a thing of the past. Foreign and JV manufacturers are stepping up their research and development spending in China to cope with the market's dynamic shift.Foreign carmakers are bolstering their competitiveness in smart EVs by strengthening cooperation with Chinese players and doubling down on localizing R&D. This collaboration also includes buying production platforms, jointly developing products, and procuring components. Volkswagen, for example, is working with Xpeng, Audi with SAIC Motor, and Toyota Motor with BYD on new EVs.As the technical barriers for fuel-powered vehicles fall and the technical capabilities, product strength, and brand recognition of JVs in the EV field have yet to emerge, they have three possible routes to take, according to a report by China International Capital Corporation: complete localization of their businesses, taking Chinese partners to make up for their shortcomings, or exiting the market entirely.About Yicai GlobalLaunched in August 2016, Yicai Global is the English-language news service of Yicai Media Group, the financial news arm of Shanghai Media Group, which is one of China's largest state-owned media conglomerates. Focused primarily on China's business world, Yicai Global is dedicated to provide reliable and insightful information and analysis of the economy, finance, tech, startups, and entrepreneurs.Media Contact:Contact person: Zhu LimingEmail: yicaiglobal@ yicaiglobal.com SOURCE: Yicai Media Group
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi's China sales soared 6.2 percent in the first three months from a year ago, driven by an uptick in sales of its drugs, and in particular Dupixent, a treatment for dermatitis.Sanofi, which gained approvals for 12 products and indications in China last year, raked in revenue of EUR757 million (USD810 million) in the three months ended March 31 in the country, accounting for over 7 percent of global sales, according to its latest financial report.Dupixent, which has been approved for the treatment of five indications in the dermatology field as well as for asthma, logged sales of EUR2.8 billion (USD3 billion) in the first quarter, accounting for 27.1 percent of all product sales."We achieved our five-year plan ahead of schedule last year, largely thanks to the favorable policy environment in China," Shi Wang, president of Sanofi China, told Yicai on April 24.Sanofi is considering how to expedite the inclusion of approved products into China's vast medical insurance scheme, Shi said. It is also exploring ways to bring medicines that have gained regulatory approval abroad into China faster.For example, the firm has applied for Dupixent to go to market with the indication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease simultaneously in the US and China. Shi said he expects this to be approved in China by June, which would open up a market of around 100 million patients.Sanofi, which is engaged in the fields of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and consumer healthcare, entered China in 1982 and currently has 12 offices, three production sites, four research and development centers, and one digital innovation center in the country.The Paris-based firm's rapid expansion in China is also thanks to the continuous optimization of the business environment for foreign companies by the Chinese government.Chemically synthesized drugs by foreign drug makers that are produced in China will be prioritized for review by the healthcare authority for inclusion in its medical bulkbuy scheme, the National Medical Products Administration said April 23.This is a very positive step by the Chinese government and will greatly improve business, Shi said. Shortening the approval process will assist overseas firms in their operations and manufacturing in China.Shi said he hoped there would be more clarification of policies as this would allow better communication with the company headquarters which would allow for more informed decisions to be made, thereby further increasing investment in China.About Yicai GlobalLaunched in August 2016, Yicai Global is the English-language news service of Yicai Media Group, the financial news arm of Shanghai Media Group, which is one of China's largest state-owned media conglomerates. Focused primarily on China's business world, Yicai Global is dedicated to provide reliable and insightful information and analysis of the economy, finance, tech, startups, and entrepreneurs.Media Contact:Contact person: Zhu LimingEmail: yicaiglobal@ yicaiglobal.com SOURCE: Yicai Media Group
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Petrena Saunders, Grady's First Chief Nursing Informatics Officer (CNIO)ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 /Vizzia Technologies, an industry leading software and managed service provider of real-time location systems (RTLS) for healthcare organizations, has appointed national healthcare executive and consultant Petrena U. Saunders to the company's Board of Advisors.Petrena Saunders Ms. Saunders, MSHI, BSN, RN, LSSGB, CPHIMS, is Founder and Managing Principal of Anertep. She has held a progressive series of clinical and informatics leadership roles for prestigious healthcare institutions, including:VP and Chief Health Informatics Officer (CHIO) at Trinity Health of New England & NY, one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the nation with 100+ hospitals. VP of Nursing Quality Excellence and the first Chief Nursing Informatics Officer (CNIO) at Grady Health System, one of the country's largest safety-net health systems. Director and RN positions at Carilion Clinic (250+ sites), Ardent Health Services (30 hospitals), and Northside Hospital (delivers more babies than any other U.S. hospital)."Vizzia provides clinicians with real-time data analytics, which produces meaningful results for prominent health systems nationwide," said Petrena Saunders. "I look forward to advising Vizzia as they continue to develop innovative data solutions to improve patient care and healthcare efficiency." Petrena earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from Austin Peay State University and a master's in Health Informatics from the University of Illinois. Her certifications include a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB) and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS)."We are honored to have Petrena's thought leadership on health informatics trends," said Andrew L. Halasz, CEO of Vizzia Technologies. "Her extensive clinical experience and valuable insights are a welcomed addition to our distinguished Board of Advisors, which includes the CIO of Piedmont Healthcare, former CEO of GE Healthcare and other senior leaders from respected global organizations." About Vizzia TechnologiesVizzia Technologies delivers real-time location systems (RTLS) and advanced process improvement solutions for several of the largest hospitals and health systems in America. Its innovative InVIEW software platform provides real-time, actionable data and process visibility, empowering hospitals to enhance efficiencies and patient care. Visit the Website and follow on LinkedIn for more information.Contact InformationJim ForbesChief Strategy Officerjim.forbes@vizziatech.com +1-855-849-9421Related FilesVizzia Fact Sheet (May 2024)Nurse-Tech White Paper (April 2024)SOURCE: Vizzia TechnologiesView the original press release on newswire.com
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 14:00:41

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Backed by Zeev Ventures, the fast-growing digital landlord insurance provider will use funding to expand into additional insurance markets and accelerate innovation of AI-powered insurance solutionsCHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 /Honeycomb, a leading, fast-growing digital insurer, announced today that it has raised $36 million in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Zeev Ventures, with the participation of new investors Arkin Holdings and Launchbay Capital. Existing investors Ibex Investors, Phoenix Insurance and IT-Farm also took part in the round.Honeycomb's co-founders From left to right - Itai Ben Zaken, CEO; Nimrod Sadot, CTO. Credit - Yossi ZeligerIn 2024, finding landlord insurance remains an increasingly challenging task due to the ongoing narrowing appetite among traditional insurers using a "broad brush" approach for underwriting. For example, when a major California insurer incurred losses in the state recently, it decided to completely pull out of the region and leave it to landlords and homeowners to find a solution. In other states, carriers who haven't completely pulled out of the landlord insurance market have imposed new limitations, rendering their coverage non-viable or unavailable. Some will only insure properties built after 2004, despite more than 80% of U.S. residential properties being built prior to 2004.Honeycomb's proprietary AI-driven technology enables granular risk management, underwriting "at the individual building level," and providing consistent coverage at a better price for well-maintained properties. In a market estimated at over $34 billion in the U.S., Honeycomb is the first landlord insurer to simultaneously streamline the customer and broker experience, leverage unique proprietary underwriting technology, and offer bespoke insurance coverage that adapts to ever-changing client needs. Given its tech advantage, Honeycomb does not need to impose "blanket limitations" on the age of the properties it insures or similar categorical restrictions.The company sells its policies directly via its platform and through a growing group of best-in-class insurance brokers, who can virtually "bulk-quote" an endless number of submissions in real time; significantly improving a process that used to take weeks to complete, and translating into greater profitability for brokers and meaningful value for customers."The new funding will be used to further improve the end-user experience, driving enhanced profitability to our broker partners, and broadening the type and size of policies offered," said Itai Ben-Zakan, co-founder and CEO of Honeycomb. "We plan to deepen our technological advantage with proprietary AI models leveraging unique first-party data and expand into new insurance markets, turning Honeycomb into a one-stop shop for everything related to commercial real-estate insurance in the U.S."Honeycomb now operates in sixteen of the largest states in the U.S., covering approximately 60% of the U.S market. It insures more than $21 billion worth of real estate assets and expects to triple that number in the next 12 months. To achieve these goals, Honeycomb plans to double its staff from the current headcount of 90 employees to 180 within the next 18 months."Honeycomb is an example of an Insurtech company that solves a major problem in a huge market, thus allowing it to increase ARR at a fast pace and progress to operational profitability in a short time," said Oren Zeev, the Founding Partner at Zeev Ventures, which has invested in category-defining companies such as Navan, Houzz, Next Insurance, Tipalti, and Sunbit, among others. "I am happy with this opportunity to lead the current round, as the company's unique technological advantage positions it well to become the market leader in their space." About Honeycomb Honeycomb is a deep-tech powered P&C insurer covering landlords and condo associations in the U.S. By integrating aerial imagery and street-level photography with cutting-edge technologies including computer vision and artificial intelligence, Honeycomb can underwrite risks more accurately and in real time, delivering significant value to its customers and agents, and growing at a pace of 200-300% year over year. Honeycomb is headquartered in Chicago, IL with offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, and in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia.Contact InformationYuval Porat Tell NYyuval@ tellny.com SOURCE: HoneycombView the original press release on newswire.com
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BIRMINGHAM, AL / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Dr. Gary Edwards, a luminary in the healthcare industry, is proud to announce the launch of the Dr. Gary Edwards Scholarship for Healthcare Students, a prestigious initiative poised to redefine the future of healthcare education. With a commitment to fostering academic dedication, innovative thinking, and a passion for healthcare, this scholarship represents a beacon of opportunity for aspiring healthcare professionals nationwide.The Dr. Gary Edwards Scholarship stands as a testament to Dr. Gary Edwards' lifelong dedication to advancing healthcare practices and empowering the next generation of industry leaders. As the founder of this transformative scholarship, Dr. Edwards brings a wealth of expertise and mentorship, spanning over three decades in the healthcare field.Open to undergraduate students, this one-time award of $1,000 seeks to recognize and support individuals who demonstrate a strong commitment to academic excellence in healthcare-related studies. Applicants are encouraged to showcase their passion for the healthcare field, along with innovative thinking and a visionary approach to advancing healthcare practices. Community involvement and extracurricular activities related to healthcare are also key criteria for eligibility.At the heart of the scholarship application process lies the essay contest, a platform for applicants to delve into the pressing issues facing the healthcare industry. The essay prompt challenges participants to explore the role of innovative approaches in healthcare education and their potential impact on patient care and the overall effectiveness of the healthcare system. Dr. Gary Edwards emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and a forward-looking mindset in shaping the future of healthcare.The deadline to apply for the Dr. Gary Edwards Scholarship is October 15, 2024, with the winner set to be announced on November 15, 2024. Interested students are encouraged to visit [ https://drgaryedwardsscholarship.com/] for more information and to submit their applications.About Dr. Gary Edwards: Dr. Gary Edwards, D.C., D.A.B.C.O., is a distinguished chiropractor with a Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic. With numerous postgraduate certifications and affiliations with esteemed professional organizations, Dr. Edwards is a guiding force in the field of healthcare. His vision for a healthcare landscape driven by innovation and compassion is at the heart of the Dr. Gary Edwards Scholarship initiative.AboutThe Dr. Gary Edwards Scholarship for Healthcare Students is a prestigious award founded with the vision of nurturing future leaders in the healthcare industry. With a commitment to academic excellence and innovative thinking, this scholarship aims to support aspiring healthcare professionals on their journey to making a positive impact in patient care and healthcare practices. For more information, visit [ https://drgaryedwardsscholarship.com/about/] Contact Info:Spokesperson: Dr. Gary Edwards Organization: Dr. Gary Edwards ScholarshipWebsite: https://drgaryedwardsscholarship.com Email: apply@ drgaryedwardsscholarship.com SOURCE: Dr. Gary Edwards Scholarship
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Office opening signifies a substantial expansion into Southeast AsiaTAGUIG, PHILIPPINES / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 /IT By Design (ITBD), a master managed services provider (MMSP) and a leader in business process outsourcing (BPO) talent and training solutions, today announced the opening of its new Philippines headquarters in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), in Metro Manila. The new headquarters represents a substantial expansion of IT By Design's Philippines operations, taking advantage of the strong demand for talent from the Southeast Asian country.The new office space will create more than 250 new roles within IT By Design, a direct response to the MSP industry's demand for top-end talent in low-cost markets. This demand has helped the company grow from its first employee in the Philippines in 2020 to its new state-of-the-art headquarters today.A ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Sunny Kaila, ITBD founder and CEO; Ceferino S. Rodolfo, trade undersecretary and BOI managing head; and Leslie Vanessa C. Lim, Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs (OSAPIEA) Director."ITBD's new Philippines operations will help MSPs improve net growth and EBITDA by providing access to a new low-cost talent market," said Sunny Kaila, CEO, ITBD. "We started with 15 team members and are now scaling to 250. Filipinos possess a high level of communication and technical expertise and strong cultural alignment with North America. The potential talent pool is unlimited. We're also bringing in our cloud, cybersecurity, and AI experts from the US to build the capability of Filipino engineers and make them even more competitive as demands for IT jobs continue to grow." ITBD is actively recruiting for a variety of in-demand roles including computer engineers, network engineers, system administrators, technology solution architects, software development engineers, business analysts, business development representatives, and other essential roles to support its operations in the Philippines.OSAPIEA Chief of Staff Leslie Lim congratulated ITBD stating: "Your investment is making a real impact-creating jobs and boosting our industry. The government will continue to support projects such as these, because when your business succeeds, so does our talented workforce." About IT By DesignIT By Design specializes in custom talent solutions for managed service providers (MSPs). With over 20 years in the industry, IT By Design leverages its expertise in the managed services industry to build a team of highly trained technical resources to meet the demands of the North American technology staffing requirements. IT By Design's team of highly trained technical talent can support any MSP at a moment's notice. The company has also launched Performance Management and Employee Engagement software (Team GPS) which is an all-in-one software solution that helps MSPs manage staff, keep objectives on target, and establish a strong and happy company culture. Along with this initiative, the company will be launching dedicated HR professionals for the MSP industry to support building winning teams.Contact: Josh OakesEmail: marketing@ itbd.net SOURCE: IT By Design
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-08 00:00:23

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Latasha Mitchell Empowers Businesses with Advanced Digital Marketing Techniques, Elevating Client Engagement and Boosting Sales through Customized StrategiesVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Renowned marketing expert Latasha Mitchell , the visionary behind Conic360, continues to set unparalleled standards in the marketing industry through her innovative approach and steadfast commitment to excellence. With a personal brand built on notoriety and a proven track record of collaborating with well-known companies and top-tier entrepreneurs globally, Latasha has become synonymous with transformative success and strategic insight.Under Mitchell's leadership, Conic360 has emerged as a leader in digital marketing, crafting unique strategies that not only enhance sales but also strengthen long-term client relationships. Her approach focuses on personalized solutions that address the specific challenges and opportunities of each client, emphasizing growth through innovation and creative problem-solving.A respected figure in the marketing community, Mitchell is frequently invited to speak at prominent industry events where she discusses current digital marketing trends and entrepreneurial resilience. Her talks provide invaluable insights, drawing from her extensive experience and successful collaborations with globally recognized companies and top-tier entrepreneurs.As a sought-after speaker and consultant, Latasha frequently shares her insights at major industry events, imparting wisdom on topics ranging from digital marketing trends to entrepreneurial resilience. Her leadership style is characterized by a blend of passion, knowledge, and an unyielding dedication to her clients' successes."Marketing is not just a business function; it is the heart of communication in our digital age," said Latasha Mitchell. "At Conic360, we strive to bridge the gap between businesses and consumers with solutions that are not only effective but also integrative and dynamic." For additional information or to schedule an interview with Latasha Mitchell,please visit her site here.About Latasha Mitchell:Latasha Mitchell is a marketing expert and the founder of Conic360, a full-service marketing agency renowned for its innovative approach to helping businesses grow. Known for her personal brand of excellence, Latasha continues to influence the marketing landscape and inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs.Contact Information:Latasha Mitchell, CEO and Founder latashabmitchell.comlatasha@conic360.com (604) 670-4451SOURCE: Latasha Mitchell
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 16:39:54

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NEW ORLEANS, LA / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2024 / Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until June 24, 2024to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC), if they purchased or otherwise acquired the Company's securities between November 4, 2020 and November 2, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.What You May DoIf you purchased securities of Lincoln National and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this 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-lnc/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court byJune 24, 2024 .About the LawsuitLincoln National and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.On November 2, 2022, post-market, the Company released its 3Q 2022 financial results, disclosing a net loss of $2.6 billion for the quarter, compared to a net income of $318 million for the third quarter of 2021 the previous year, due to "net unfavorable notable items of $2.0 billion, or $11.62 per share, related to the company's annual review of DAC and reserve assumptions," and that the Company "incurred a $634 million goodwill impairment to the life insurance business." On this news, the price of Lincoln's shares fell by $17.27, or 33.2%, to close at $34.83 per share on November 3, 2022, on unusually heavy trading volume.The case is Meade v. Lincoln National Corporation, et al., No. 24-cv-01704.About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCKSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, Delaware, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com Contact:Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCLewis Kahn, Managing Partner lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com 1-877-515-18501100 Poydras St., Suite 960New Orleans, LA 70163SOURCE: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC
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"Nando", a leading Lithuanian-owned biotechnology company known for its groundbreaking work in developing microbiological products for agriculture, that helped to save up to 50M on fertilisers, announces a significant bolstering of its management team and an ambitious expansion of its biotechnological production line. This move is set to position "Nando" not just as a leader in Lithuania but as a formidable player on the international stage.KAUNAS, LITHUANIA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / In a strategic enhancement of its management team, "Nando" welcomes four seasoned professionals, each bringing a wealth of experience from reputable organizations. Gytis Kubilius, with a solid background in management at "SEB" and "Citadele" banks; Mindaugas Navickas, previously International Sales Manager at "Teltonika Networks"; Arunas Jusas, former General Manager at "Timac AGRO"; and Giedre Mockiene, who served as HR Manager at UAB "Yara", are now integral parts of "Nando's" leadership, aiming to spearhead ambitious development projects.To cater to the surging demand for microbiological alternatives to mineral fertilizers and plant protection products, "Nando" has invested about 3 million in a unique biotechnology line. This investment boosts production volume, enhances productivity, and ensures competitive pricing to meet the escalating market demand. With a technology that is currently patent-pending, "Nando" exports to over 20 countries, including Great Britain, Ukraine, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Poland, Romania and beyond.Justinas Taruska, CEO of "Nando", stated, "Our main goal is to feature a highly automated biotechnological production line. This will not only elevate the agro-biotechnology sector's value in Lithuania but also accelerate sustainable and economically viable agricultural technologies across Europe and other continents." The new production line is renowned for its unique microorganism purification technology, a rarity in the entire Baltic region. It promises an efficient production of stable, high-yield microbiological products in powder form, a technology with limited competition.The inclusion of new management members, with their extensive international experience, underscores "Nando's" commitment to employee development and its focus on penetrating foreign markets, including Europe, North and South America, Asian and Africa countries. This strategic move coincides with the launch of the new production line for microbiological products.Founded in 2007, "Nando" stands at the forefront of the biotech industry, developing and manufacturing microbiological products and chemical additives for agriculture. With one of Northern Europe's leading R&D centers and partnerships with global research institutions, "Nando" has introduced over 50 innovative products, vital to the agro, livestock. Currently, the company is intensifying its export activities, with operations spanning over 20 countries in Europe, North and South America, Asian and Africa. The "Nando Group" proudly employs more than 50 professionals dedicated to advancing global biotechnology solutions.Contact Information:Milda GaulieneMarketing specialistmilda@ nando.lt +37066475297SOURCE: NandoView the original press release on newswire.com
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Lumu Wins Cutting Edge Network Analysis and Visibility and Cutting Edge Network Detection and Response in 12th Annual Global InfoSec Awards at #RSAC 2024SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 /Lumu , the creators of the Continuous Compromise Assessment cybersecurity model that enables organizations to operate cybersecurity proficiently, is proud to announce it has won the following awards from Cyber Defense Magazine (CDM), the industry's leading electronic information security magazine: Cutting Edge Network Analysis and Visibility and Cutting Edge Network Detection and Response."We're thrilled to receive one of the most prestigious and coveted cybersecurity awards from Cyber Defense Magazine, during their 12th anniversary as an independent cybersecurity news and information provider. We knew the competition would be tough and with top judges who are leading infosec experts from around the globe, we couldn't be more pleased," said Ricardo Villadiego, CEO of Lumu. "It's an honor to be recognized for our work for the cybersecurity community, especially as we unveiled Lumu Autopilot at the RSA Conference 2024."Lumu Autopilot  is a patent-pending technology built to help organizations manage security incidents detected by Lumu. Through continuous operation and investigation, it takes action according to its assessment of each incident. The tool monitors, mutes, closes or escalates security attacks autonomously and in real time which is of utmost importance as the malicious exploitation of AI has led to a substantial increase in both frequency and severity of cyber attacks."Lumu embodies three major features we judges look for to become winners: understanding tomorrow's threats, today, providing a cost-effective solution and innovating in unexpected ways that can help mitigate cyber risk and get one step ahead of the next breach," said Gary S. Miliefsky, Publisher of Cyber Defense Magazine.Lumu is thrilled to be a member of this coveted group of winners, located here: http://www.cyberdefenseawards.com/ To learn more about Lumu and Lumu Autopilot, please visitwww.lumu.ioor visit us at the RSA Conference, booth #4355, for a demo.About LumuHeadquartered in Miami, Florida, Lumu is a cybersecurity company focused on helping enterprise organizations illuminate threats and isolate confirmed instances of compromise. Applying principles of Continuous Compromise Assessment, Lumu has built a powerful closed-loop, self-learning solution that helps security teams accelerate compromise detection, gain real-time visibility across their infrastructure, and close the breach detection gap from months to minutes. Learn more about how Lumu illuminates network blind spots at lumu.io About CDM InfoSec AwardsThis is Cyber Defense Magazine's twelfth year of honoring InfoSec innovators from around the Globe. Our submission requirements are for any startup, early stage, later stage, or public companies in the INFORMATION SECURITY (INFOSEC) space who believe they have a unique and compelling value proposition for their product or service. Learn more at www.cyberdefenseawards.com About the JudgingThe judges are CISSP, FMDHS, CEH, certified security professionals who voted based on their independent review of the company submitted materials on the website of each submission including but not limited to data sheets, white papers, product literature and other market variables. CDM has a flexible philosophy to find more innovative players with new and unique technologies, than the one with the most customers or money in the bank. CDM is always asking "What's Next?" so we are looking for best of breed, next generation InfoSec solutions.About Cyber Defense MagazineCyber Defense Magazine is the premier source of cyber security news and information for InfoSec professions in business and government. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products, and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and special editions exclusively for the RSA Conferences. CDM is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group. Learn more about us at https://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com and visit https://www.cyberdefensetv.com and https://www.cyberdefenseradio.com to see and hear some of the most informative interviews of many of these winning company executives. Join a webinar at https://www.cyberdefensewebinars.com and realize that infosec knowledge is power.###Lumu Media Inquiries:Contact: Ciara DiVita, 5WPREmail: lumu@5 wpr.com CDM Media Inquiries:Contact: Irene Noser, Marketing ExecutiveEmail: marketing@ cyberdefensemagazine.com Toll Free (USA): 1-833-844-9468International: 1-646-586-9545Website: www.cyberdefensemagazine.com SOURCE: Lumu
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2024 / Levi & Korsinsky notifies investors that it has commenced an investigation of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. ("Lamb Weston Holdings") (NYSE:LW) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws.Lamb Weston announced on April 4, 2024, its results for the third quarter of fiscal 2024. The Company missed analyst earnings projections; The Company reported that an implementation of a new ERP system brought about a temporary decrease in the visibility of finished goods inventories housed at their distribution centers. This significantly hampered capacity to fulfill customer orders in a timely and efficient manner. As a direct consequence of the disruption, the Company experienced a substantial decline in sales volume as well as margin performance. Following this news, Lamb Weston stock dropped over 7%. To obtain additional information, go to:or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@ levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212)363-7500.WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, Levi & Korsinsky LLP has established itself as a nationally-recognized securities litigation firm that has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. The firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.CONTACT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLPJoseph E. Levi, Esq.Ed Korsinsky, Esq.33 Whitehall Street, 17th FloorNew York, NY 10004 jlevi@ levikorsinsky.com Tel: (212)363-7500 Fax: (212)363-7171 https://zlk.com/ SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
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Boasting a seamless online real estate platform, backed by innovative tools like Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence, MetaHomes sets new standards for excellenceDUBAI, ARAB EMIRATES / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2024 / The global real estate landscape is on the cusp of revolution, driven by artificial intelligence (AI). While headlines often focus on booming markets like Dubai (and for good reason), a quieter storm is brewing, poised to transform how we buy, sell, rent and manage property, ushering in an era of unprecedented efficiency and personalization.MetaHomes Mastering the AI Revolution: MetaHomes Ushers Intelligent AI Features into Real Estate Amidst Dubai's Booming MarketIt is no doubt that Dubai's real estate market has become a global phenomenon. Visionary infrastructure development projects like Palm Jumeirah, the Dubai Museum of the Future, Palm Jebel Ali and the iconic Burj Khalifa stand as testaments to the city's commitment to progress. This, coupled with a robust economy and a safe bubble index (according to Statista), has attracted investors, fueling a vibrant real estate ecosystem.The city's relentless growth, with a staggering 19.3% property value increase in Q1 2024 compared to the same period last year, presents a unique opportunity for innovation and sustained growth. Developers are responding by launching new projects at an unprecedented pace, with a new one hitting the market every 17 hours according to Allsop & Allsop. As the city continues to solidify its position as a global hub for real estate expansion, investment and innovation, the spotlight shines brightly on MetaHomes, a prominent online real estate marketplace that offers a comprehensive suite of services for all, including real estate investors, developers, and agents.The platform uses advanced algorithms and machine learning to analyze millions of data points from various sources, such as property listings, images, videos, and customer feedback. Based on these analyses, MetaHomes provides valuable insights and recommendations that help customers make informed decisions, optimize their strategies, and maximize returns. Luxury apartments and villas for rent, including furnished apartments, and commercial properties like retail and offices for rent are some of the properties available on MetaHomes.In a statement, MetaHomes' CEO, Jerry Wu, said: "We believe that AI is the future and we are committed to providing our clients with the best-in-class technology that can help them achieve their goals. Our platform is designed to be user-friendly, flexible, and scalable, so that it can adapt to any market conditions and customer needs. We are confident that our platform will revolutionize the real estate industry and set new standards for excellence." The global real estate market presents a complex picture, with investors hungry for data insights. Navigating this dynamic terrain requires the need for innovative tools such as virtual reality facilities. With a rising tide of a tech-driven future championed by MetaHomes, the stage is set for an era of unprecedented growth and innovation in the real estate market.Zohaib Pervaiz zohaib@ metahomes.net Contact InformationZohaib PervaizPR Specialistzohaib@ metahomes.net 00971529326142SOURCE: MetaHomes (Metaworld Technology FZ LLC)View the original press release on newswire.com
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Leading ecommerce and online marketplace firm adds experienced leader to their Executive teamVIENNA, VA. / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / McFadyen Digital, a global leader in digital commerce and online marketplace solutions, is excited to announce the appointment of Jon Reily as the new President of the company. In the role, Mr. Reily will help lead McFadyen Digital's expanded business offerings as they help B2B and Retail clients orchestrate and monetize an increasingly diverse commerce channel mix.New McFadyen Digital President Jon Reily Jon Reily is a 25-year ecommerce veteran and Global Top 100 Retail Expert who founded and sold two successful eCommerce companies in the first dotcom boom of the 1990s. Before joining McFadyen Digital, Reily held senior executive roles at global digital marketing powerhouses Bounteous, Dentsu International, and Publicis Groupe where he worked with world-wide retailers and brands to advise and counsel how best to transform themselves digitally to stay competitive in the increasingly technology focused marketplace."I am thrilled to join the talented team at McFadyen Digital and contribute to the company's continued success and growth," remarked Mr Reily. He continued, "McFadyen's reputation in the market for strategic and technical excellence was a major factor in this decision. I look forward to working our clients to expand their digital channels setting them up for continued success." Company CEO and Founder Tom McFadyen added, "Jon Reily is one of the most tested and respected leaders in the digital commerce space. The knowledge and experience he brings to McFadyen Digital will help take both our operations and the services we offer our clients to the next level." With the continued addition of talent to its executive team and beyond, McFadyen Digital demonstrates an obsession with client success. As commerce continues to evolve with an ever-increasing mix of diverse digital channels, McFadyen Digital remains committed to staying on the forefront of commerce innovations to help their clients to drive profit and scale their business.Visit mcfadyen.com or write to info@ mcfadyen.com to learn more.Contact InformationThomas GaydosChief Marketing Officerinfo@ mcfadyen.com Related VideoSOURCE: McFadyen DigitalView the original press release on newswire.com
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Visible Gold Zone Intercept Returns 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq From 53.3m DepthLONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Meridian Mining UK. S (TSX:MNO),(Frankfurt/Tradegate:2MM)(OTCQX:MRRDF) ("Meridian" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on its drilling and exploration activities at its advanced Cabacal copper-gold-silver VMS project ("Cabacal") in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Drill hole CD-470 has returned a zone of high-grade mineralization grading 16.0m @ 12.5g/t AuEq[1]Meridian Mining UK S (12.1g/t Au, 0.3% Cu & 0.6g/t Ag) including a high-grade zone hosting visible gold grading 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq (29.9g/t Au, 0.5% Cu & 1.0g/t Ag) from 53.3m ("Figure 1"), within the Cabacal Mine's Southern Copper Zone ("SCZ"). CD-470 is part of an ongoing program[2] aimed at testing visible gold-rich areas within historical drilling records but with incomplete assay data, which were not incorporated into the Cabacal Mineral Resource Estimate[3]. Importantly, CD-470 is located below a mining void, confirming that zones of significant mineralization remain. Results are progressively being returned from the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study's[4] ("PFS") infill drill program. Further results are pending.Highlights Reported TodayMeridian drills strongest gold-dominant zone of mineralization within the Cabacal Mine area to date; Drilling continues to support resource conversion, with high-grade gold & copper mineralization intersected at Cabacal; CD-470 returns 16.0m @ 12.5g/t AuEq (12.1g/t Au, 0.3% Cu & 0.6g/t Ag) from 53.3m; including:6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq (29.9g/t Au, 0.5% Cu & 1.0g/t Ag) from 53.3m; Cabacal PFS drill program continues to deliver robust grades and widths of gold-copper mineralization; The Cabacal metallurgical program continues to show the potential for optimised and improved recoveries of the copper concentrate; and The Santa Helena metallurgical program will shortly be launched to expedite Santa Helena towards an Initial Mineral Resource Estimate in Q4 2024.Mr. Gilbert Clark, CEO, comments: "Today's remarkable drill results, under the skilled technical guidance of our team, demonstrate Cabacal's potential to capitalize on the current gold and copper price surge. High-grade results, such as 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq, emphasize the deposit's capacity to deliver value for shareholders. Within the historical mine records, there are various holes referencing visible gold where assay records were lost in whole or in part, for some of which only graphical estimates were available from bar charts. CD-470 is the first result of an ongoing program to test such areas and future results will be included in Cabacal's resource update. Importantly, the high-grade mineralization extends past the underground mining voids and shows that Meridian's drill program is highly efficient in targeting this missed upside. The result illustrates well the broad zones of gold-copper mineralization that are found at the Cabacal mine." Figure 1: Overview of core tray beneath mining void intersected in CD-470, with detail of sample CBDS65674 (53.3 - 54.0m).Cabacal Deposit Drill Program UpdateThe Cabacal drill program ("Figure 2") continues, with today's reported results bringing a new interval returned under the accelerated drilling program [5] . Results reported include intervals from the peripheral areas of the resource where drilling has been sparse, and from select areas of the Cabacal mine zone where several results from the last phase of BP drilling have been lost. The first of these results from CD-470 has encouraging mineralization. Results emphasise that the previous room and pillar underground mining method left behind significant high-grade mineralization due to the structural variability and grade variances in the deposit.The CD-470 hole commenced with a shallow copper-dominant interval, including a zone of 2.2m @ 1.1% Cu & 6.4g/t Ag from 16.1m. The hole passed through a mining void from 48.7 - 53.3m. Data compiled by the Cabacal project vendors indicates that 3.8m @ 90.0g/t Au, 0.4% Cu & 20.6g/t Ag from 48.8m were intersected in this mining void position. The source data for these analyses were subsequently lost, and to date, Meridian has not been able to locate an alternative archival copy. Encouragingly, the interval below the void in Meridian's drilling has returned mineralization at grades significantly higher than the historical underground mining cut-off grade of 3.0g/t Au. CD-470 has returned 16.0m @ 12.5g/t AuEq (12.1g/t Au, 0.3% Cu & 0.6g/t Ag) from 53.3m, including 6.4m @ 30.6g/t AuEq (29.9g/t Au, 0.5% Cu & 1.0g/t Ag) from 53.3m.Figure 2: Cabacal Mine drill resultsCD-470 is one of several planned verification holes that will contribute to the PFS database. The initial verification program of 2021-2022 targeted areas where comparative historical assay data existed for twin drilling. The current holes are designed to better understand grade distribution where data has been lost or was only partially digitized by the project vendors. The information gaps for certain historical results were more prevalent in the SCZ where the later generation of BP Minerals infill holes were drilled, although a number of infill holes were also missing from the Central Copper Zone and the Eastern Copper Zone. Amongst this lost data are holes which are recorded to have intersected visible gold. For some of these, graphic assay bar charts on old cross sections denote high grades as >5 g/t Au, but the true grades are unknown.The Company remains grateful to past professionals who have contributed material. In particular, the Company is currently working to incorporate assays from recently retrieved underground grade control data, amongst which are historical gold assay records (Figure 3). Examples of results include:CH17: 2.04m @ 142.3g/t Au (RI1936 NE Wall) CH10: 2.18 m @ 21.7g/t Au (RI1936 SW Wall) CH11: 2.23 m @ 84.1g/t Au (RI1936 SW Wall) CH14: 1.86 m @ 76.1g/t Au (RI1936 SW Wall) CH6: 2.96 m @ 31.6 g/t Au (RI1938 SW Wall) CH3: 2.87 m @ 54.9 g/t Au (SN1943 Nth Wall) CH1: 3.25 m @ 85.5 g/t Au (SN1943 Sth Wall)The results provide an indication of mineralization that we expect to encounter in pillars, and projecting between levels, as shown by the CD-470 intersection.Figure 3: Example of historical underground grade control data for gold in channel sampling.The current phase of drilling and field activities in the mine area will focus on assessing areas where data has been partially lost in the mine sphere, and refining the void model through additional survey pro
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Antea GroupWhen the majority, if not all, of the industrial activities for a business are performed inside or in states without much precipitation, it isn't always obvious that a stormwater permit would be necessary. Yet, if a business operates under a Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code that requires stormwater permitting, they have a duty to comply. Not doing so can have both criminal and civil implications, not to mention financial penalties. A common industry the misses this compliance requirement is manufacturing. If you own a manufacturing facility, this blog will help you understand if stormwater permit coverage is required for your facility and how to get support.Why Stormwater Permits MatterIndustrial activities, such as material handling and storage, fueling, and equipment maintenance and cleaning, are often exposed to the weather. When runoff from rainfall and snowmelt comes into contact with these activities/materials, it can pick up pollutants which are then transported into nearby water ways or storm sewers, thus degrading water quality. In compliance with the Clean Water Act, and to control discharges associated with industrial activities, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) developed permitting requirements under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). As a result, 11 distinct categories of industrial activities were defined and are required to obtain coverage under a stormwater permit issued either by the EPA or a state environmental agency. Of these 11 defined industrial activities, two pertain to manufacturing.What Facilities are Required to Obtain a Stormwater Permit?The U.S. classifies businesses according to industrial activities using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. Based on the 11 defined industrial categories, the EPA has identified 29 industrial sectors that require stormwater permitting coverage. Of those 29 sectors, about half are associated with manufacturing. SIC and NAICS codes can therefore be used to determine if coverage is required for any business.This is especially important for businesses that would not otherwise know they need stormwater permit coverage. For example, many manufacturing businesses operate indoors, away from direct exposure to stormwater and snowmelt. However, they often forget about activities such as:Material loading/unloading that happens at a loading dock which is not fully enclosed and briefly exposes raw materials to precipitation; Equipment/vehicle maintenance and repair which occurs in the parking lot and is exposed to precipitation; Stockpiling in the yard which can include empty totes, wood pallets, metal scraps, waste oil drums, miscellaneous construction materials for facility improvement, or relics of past industrial activities that are exposed to precipitation; Air emissions of solvents, chemicals, or particulate matter through roof stacks or baghouses that encounter stormwater. Think Your Facility Doesn't Need a Stormwater Permit? Think Again.As mentioned above, when most or all of a company's industrial activities take place indoors or in areas with little precipitation, it may not seem apparent that a stormwater permit is needed. However, if a company falls under a SIC or NAICS code that mandates stormwater permitting, they must comply, whether or not the need is immediately clear. Failing to do so could lead to criminal and civil consequences, as well as financial penalties.Federal Requirements for PermitsThe EPA has authorized many states to administer the NPDES stormwater permitting program. Most industrial facilities will need to obtain permit coverage though their state, but the EPA remains the permitting authority for a few states, most territories, and most Native American country. Compliance starts with identifying if the EPA or the state is the permitting authority for industrial activities in your case. It is up to you to check your state's requirements and understand who the permitting authority is in your area.State RequirementsThe next step is to check if your SIC or NAICS code is included as a permit-required sector in your state. The EPA defines the 29 sectors that are federally required to have stormwater permit coverage, but some states require more businesses to obtain coverage than the EPA. If required to obtain coverage, you will then need to apply.Application processes and permitting requirements may vary by state, but all must maintain the minimum criteria as required by the EPA. In any case, a Notice of Intent (NOI) will need to be submitted to the permitting authority. This NOI will include information about the facility and the potential stormwater exposure pathways. Based on the information provided and any state-specific requirements, the permitting authority will issue an Industrial Stormwater Permit. Compliance with these permits usually includes, but is not limited to, the development and maintenance of a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP), employee training, stormwater sampling, routine site inspections, and compliance reporting.If a facility's SIC or NAICS code dictates that they need to obtain coverage, but a facility is certain that the industrial activities associated with their business do not and will not be exposed to stormwater, they can apply for a no exposure exemption with their NOI application (the specific process for pursuing a no exposure exemption varies by state). No exposure exemption requirements vary by permitting authority but generally require proof that a condition of no exposure exists at an industrial facility. For example, when all industrial materials and activities are protected by a storm-resistant shelter to prevent exposure to rain, snow, snowmelt, and/or runoff.In Summary - Check Your ComplianceIt does not matter if it doesn't rain in your area or if your industrial activities are not exposed to stormwater. Any industrial facility operating under a SIC or NAICS code included within one of the 29 industrial sectors defined by the EPA must obtain NPDES permit coverage from an authorized entity. In some states, the list of businesses included in each sector is more extensive than the EPA. With manufacturing operations making up about half of the 29 sectors, the odds are high that if you own a manufacturing facility, you are required to obtain stormwater permit coverage - albeit in the form of the Industrial Stormwater Permit or a no exposure exemption. It is up to you to understand if you are in compliance with stormwater permitting regulations. Ignorance of the regulation is not an exemption for
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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Newport Gold Inc. (OTC PINK:NWPG) ("near me Technologies Inc." or the "Company") is pleased to announce the following update on the company's completed business milestones as well as the key objectives for the next 120 days and beyond. In conjunction with its strategic partner, platformOS, the Company is focused on the continued re-design and development of the near me website and app, the flagship assets of the company.Key developments include:The Company completed the initial phase of development on the near me search and discovery platform including the completion of the integrated Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for building Local Business Websites. This will provide significant value to potential Business partners at a competitive rate. Our near me Website Builder will allow local business owners to create their own hosted website to sell food, products, and services and will be directly integrated into the near me search and discovery platform, which will also facilitate instant discount/deal promotions and GEO centric marketing/advertising opportunities for location-specific browsing by mobile customers.The company is also pleased to announce the uplisting from OTC Pink Limited to OTC Pink Current status. The Company believes the OTC Pink Current status holds immense significance for its ability to operate in the over-the-counter market. This status is a testament to a Company's commitment to transparency, compliance, and timely reporting.Anthony McCabe, Interim CEO said: "We are very pleased with the development progress that has been made on the near me platform. This is a complex build based on proprietary AI/machine learning technical requirements for the near me platform, plus the results our partners at platformOS have delivered are exceeding expectations, we look forward to full beta testing soon. Our team is focused on building something that does not currently exist, a location based digital advertising/marketplace platform. Additionally, we believe our uplisting to OTC Current Status will increase our visibility and credibility with strategic investors, partners and potential targets as well as improving our access to capital markets and financing." Additional milestones that the Company is targeting to complete in 2024 include:On-going development, completion and launch of re-designed near me search and discovery platform.Development of a mobile app to allow near me to be added to the Google Play and Apple App stores.The Company continues to work with the appropriate regulatory bodies to facilitate the corporate action of a name and ticker change. The corporate action was approved by a majority shareholder vote.About near me Technologies Inc.:near me pioneers a GPS/GEO targeting platform, seamlessly linking local brick-and-mortar businesses with mobile consumers instantly. Leveraging our extensive experience in forming strategic partnerships and pursuing acquisitions within the technology sector, near me aims to revolutionize the digital landscape of local search, discovery, and marketplaces. Our mission is to enhance the way individuals connect with nearby businesses, delivering exceptional value to our shareholders.For further information, please contact:Investor RelationsEmail: ir@ nearme.cool Twitter: @nearme_cool Phone: +14169006972near me WebsiteDISCLAIMER ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:Statements contained herein that are not based upon current or historical facts are forward-looking in nature. Such forward-looking statements reflect the company's expectations about its future operating results, performance, and opportunities that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. When used herein, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "plan", "intend", and "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to Newport Gold Inc. DBA "near Me Technologies Inc. or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the company and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the company's actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. The company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or for any other reason.SOURCE: Newport Gold, Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 15:01:55

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Norsemont Mining Inc. (CSE:NOM)(OTC PINK:NRRSF)(FRA:LXZ1) ("Norsemont" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Sergei Diakov to the Company's Board of Directors effective immediately.Dr. Diakov, a geologist based in the USA, has over 30 years of experience in the mining industry. His expertise lies in building successful teams to deliver challenging tasks of discovering significant mineral deposits, providing their economic evaluation and assessment, and securing necessary funding with a final goal of bringing exploration discoveries into production, thereby enhancing shareholder value.With extensive experience in diverse cultural environments, Dr. Diakov excels in cultivating high-performing exploration and development teams. His expertise spans various mineral commodities, such as copper, gold, nickel, uranium, base metals, potash, and metallurgical coal. Notably, he led BHP to the original discovery of the world-renowned Oyu Tolgoi porphyry copper-gold deposit in Mongolia and AngloGold Ashanti's discovery of Nuevo Chaquiro, a significant porphyry copper-gold deposit in Colombia. Revered for his professionalism, profound technical knowledge, exemplary safety record and strong leadership, Dr. Diakov meticulously plans and executes exploration and development programs while upholding the highest global standards for environmental and social responsibility.Marc Levy, CEO of Norsemont said, "As we continue to build a world-class mining team with significant experience on large scale porphyry copper and gold projects, Sergei's insights, experience, and knowledge will be invaluable to our forthcoming exploration campaigns and pave the way for significant advancements at Choquelimpie. We are thrilled to have Sergei on board and look forward to the achievements that lie ahead." About Norsemont Mining Inc. Norsemont comprises experienced natural resource professionals focused on growing shareholder value and developing its flagship project through to bankable feasibility. Norsemont Mining owns a 100-percent interest in the Choquelimpie gold-silver-copper project in northern Chile, a previously permitted gold and silver mine. Choquelimpie has over 1,710 drill holes, with significant existing infrastructure, including roads, power, water, camp and a 3,000-tonne-per-day mill.On behalf of the Board of Directors,NORSEMONT MINING INC. Marc LevyCEO & ChairmanInvestor Relations:Paul Searle (778) 240-7724Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.Forward-Looking StatementsCertain 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", "speculates", "could" or "would".All of the forward-looking statements made in this document are qualified by these cautionary statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, forecast or intended and readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which may have been used. 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 information. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate and forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance. Readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein speaks only as of the date of this document. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information or to explain any material difference between such and subsequent actual events, except as required by applicable law.SOURCE: Norsemont Mining Inc
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 22:56:11

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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Northern Superior Resources Inc. (" Northern Superior ") (TSXV:SUP)(OTCQB:NSUPF) and ONGold Resources Ltd. (the " Company " or " ONGold ") are pleased to announce that further to the press releases dated April 2, 2024 and April 30, 2024 regarding receipt of conditional approval to list on the TSX Venture Exchange (the " Exchange " or " TSXV ") following the Company's transaction with Northern Superior which closed on April 26, 2024 (the " Transaction "), the Company has received final approval to list the Company's common shares (" Common Shares ") on the Exchange. Under the policies of the Exchange, the Company will be classified as a Tier 2 Mining Issuer.The Company expects that the Common Shares will commence trading on the Exchange at the opening of the market on May 8, 2024 under the symbol "ONAU".Appointment of Kyle Stanfield to Board of Directors and as CEOThe Company is also pleased to announce that Mr. Kyle Stanfield has been appointed as a new member of the Company's board of directors, as well as the Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.Rodney Barber, President of ONGold, stated: "We are pleased to have Kyle join us as CEO and director as we commence trading on the TSXV. Kyle brings over 25 years of experience in the mining sector that includes working with several publicly listed junior mining and exploration companies." Mr. Stanfield, ONGold CEO, commented: "I am thrilled to join ONGold as Chief Executive Officer and to serve on the board of directors as we launch this new Ontario-focused exploration company. Having spent over two decades in the mining sector, particularly in roles that enhanced collaboration with indigenous communities and fostered sustainable project development, I am eager to leverage this experience at ONGold. My experiences successfully collaborating with numerous First Nations and Metis communities have profoundly shaped my approach to sustainable exploration and mining practices, and I am eager to apply this perspective to maximize the potential of ONGold's impressive portfolio in Northern Ontario. Together with the board and our dedicated team, I look forward to steering our projects through successful and responsible exploration phases." Kyle StanfieldMr. Stanfield brings over 25 years of extensive experience in mineral exploration and project development with a particularly strong focus on project planning, indigenous consultation and agreements, as well as regulatory engagement. Mr. Stanfield has worked collaboratively with over 30 First Nations and Metis communities in Ontario and British Columbia in support of mineral resource exploration and project development. Earlier in his career, he played a pivotal role at the Musselwhite gold mine in Northern Ontario, currently operated by Newmont Corporation, consulting with the five Musselwhite Agreement signatory First Nations. In British Columbia, he was instrumental in leading the operational launch of the Tahltan First Nation environmental joint venture including facilitating an environmental training program for Tahltan elders and youth at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, his alma mater. In recent years, Mr. Stanfield spearheaded environmental assessments, indigenous consultation and permitting programs for both the Rainy River mine, located in Ontario and operated by New Gold Inc., as well as Argonaut Gold Inc.'s Magino mine, which recently achieved commercial production, also in Ontario.About ONGold Resources Ltd.ONGold Resources Ltd. (formerly 1348515 B.C. Ltd.) is a reporting issuer in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta with no current activities or operations. ONGold owns significant exploration assets in Northern Ontario, highlighted by the district-scale TPK Project and October Gold Project. These projects represent a strategic footprint in one of Canada's most prolific gold-producing regions.The TPK Project, known for its extensive gold mineralization, covers 47,976 of hectares in a highly favourable geological setting, and has shown promising exploration results from historical drilling and recent surveys. The project area is situated in a region renowned for its mineral potential.Similarly, the October Gold Project, consisting of 1,281 claims covering an area of 265km 2 , holds substantial promise with its favorable geological setting for large-scale gold deposits and is located approximately 35 km along strike from the Cote Lake Mine. The project has undergone preliminary exploration activities, which have indicated the presence of mineralized zones with significant gold anomalies. ONGold also holds a 100% interest in additional Properties in northwestern Ontario, known as Rapson Bay, Thorne-Ellard and Meston Lake. Together, these comprise 2,334 cell claims, covering 43,791 ha.ONGold is committed to responsible exploration practices and sustainable development, emphasizing strong partnerships with local communities and stakeholders. By adhering to high standards of environmental stewardship and community engagement, ONGold aims to not only explore and develop its assets but also contribute positively to the regions in which it operates.ONGold received final approval to list the Company's Common Shares on the TSXV and trading will commence under the symbol "ONAU" on May 8, 2024. With a seasoned management team led by industry veterans and a strategic focus on high-potential mining assets, ONGold Resources Ltd. is well-positioned to become a leader in the development of next-generation mines in Canada's prolific mining sectors.Contact InformationRodney BarberPresidentTelephone: 1 (855) 525-0992Email: info@ ongoldresources.com About Northern Superior Resources Inc.Northern Superior is a gold exploration company focused on the Chibougamau Camp in Quebec, Canada. The Company has consolidated the largest land package in the region, with total land holdings currently exceeding 62,000 hectares. The main properties include Philibert, Lac Surprise, Chevrier and Croteau.The Philibert Project is located 9 km from IAMGOLD Corporation's Nelligan Gold project which was awarded the " Discovery of the Year " by the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association (AEMQ) in 2019. Philibert host a new maiden 43-101 inferred resource of 1,708,800 ounces Au and an indicated resource of 278,900 ounces of Au 1 . Northern Superior holds a majority stake of 75% in the Philibert Project, with the remaining 25% owned by SOQUEM, and retains an option to acquire the full 100% ownership of the project. Chevrier hosts an inferred mineral resource of 652,000 ounces Au (underground and open pit) and an indicated mineral resource of 260,000 ounces Au. 2 Croteau hos
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 12:00:48

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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / PJX Resources Inc. ("PJX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce Charles Fipke, Margot Naudie, and Brian Abraham have joined PJX as advisors to the Company.Charles "Chuck" Fipke is a renowned geologist and prospector who has been at the forefront of heavy mineral exploration projects for over 40 years. He and his team are credited with the discovery of North America's first commercial diamond pipes, what is now the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories, as well as base and precious metals worldwide. He is also well-known for his philanthropic support for health care initiatives at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Mr. Fipke received an honours degree in Geology from the University of British Columbia in 1970 and was awarded an honourary Doctorate of Technology from Okanagan University College. He has worked with Kennicott Copper, Cominco, and others. He founded Cantex Mine Development, Metalex Ventures, and CF Mineral Research, which is one of the leading heavy mineral research laboratories in the world.Margot Naudie has more than 25 years of capital markets experience with expertise as a Senior Portfolio Manager for North American and global natural resource portfolios. She has held senior roles at leading asset management firms including TD Asset Management, Marret Asset Management Inc. and CPP Investment Board. She was cited as a Brendan Wood TopGun Investment Mind (Platinum) for five consecutive years. Margot has a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Economics from McGill University, an MBA from Richard Ivey School of Business, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder.Brian Abraham KC, PGeo, is a member of Engineers and Geoscientists of BC and a retired member of the Law Societies of BC and Yukon. He recently retired from the law firm of Dentons Canada where he acted for clients involved in Environment and Natural Resources; Securities and Corporate Finance; Energy; and Mining in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Brian remains active in mining industry matters with involvement in organizations such as PDAC, MABC, NI 43-101 Committee, Geoscience BC, and other industry organizations. Brian was a Director of the former Aboriginal Mine Training Association that trained almost 2000 First Nations people for employment in the mining industry. He was also past National Chair of the Natural Resources Section of the Canadian Bar Association and past adjunct professor of mining law at the UBC Law School.Shareholder Rights PlanTo protect its shareholders on a go-forward basis, the Company intends to seek the approval of its shareholders to the implementation of a Shareholder Rights Plan at it's upcoming Annual and Special Meeting to be held on June 18, 2024.Grant of Stock OptionsThe Company also announces that, pursuant to the Company's Share Incentive Plan, 12,200,000 stock options have been granted to certain directors, employees, and consultants of the Company. The stock options are exercisable at a price of $0.30 per share for a period of 5 years, expiring May 2, 2029. The grant is subject to regulatory approval.John Keating, President of PJX commented: "We would like to thank and welcome Charles, Margot, and Brian for agreeing to join the PJX team as advisors. Their tremendous wealth of expertise and experience will help support and benefit the company as we move forward and drill what may become a significant new discovery this Summer." He adds, "PJX's team have discovered Sullivan deposit style and grade mineralization at surface that we plan to drill as soon as the snow melts and a permit amendment is received. This is the first time in 130 years that this style and grade of mineralization has been discovered outside of the Sullivan deposit area. This option grant is an incentive and sign of appreciation to the great team of consultants that have worked with the company for many years, and compensation to our dedicated and experienced Board of Director's in lieu of monetary compensation." PJX's New Discovery Potential BackgroundPJX owns 100% of the mineral rights to multiple properties totaling over 680 km of mineral claims in the Sullivan Mining District of Southeastern British Columbia, Canada. Exploration in late 2023 discovered boulders and outcrop of Sullivan deposit style and grade mineralization on PJX's Dewdney Trail Property that is over 150 km in size. The zinc, lead, silver, and other critical metal mineralization discovered at surface on the Dewdney Trail Property is magnetic and appears to be associated with a strong to moderate magnetic airborne geophysical anomaly that can be traced for approximately 1.6 km. The mineralization and geophysical anomaly have never been drilled. The area is accessible by a historical mine road.About PJX Resources Inc.PJX is a mineral exploration company focused on building shareholder value and community opportunity through the exploration and development of mineral resources with a focus on gold, silver and base metals (zinc, lead, copper, nickel). PJX's properties are located in the historical Sullivan Mine District and Vulcan Gold Belt near Cranbrook and Kimberley, British Columbia.Please refer to our web site http://www.pjxresources.com for additional information.FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:Linda Brennan, Chief Financial Officer(416) 799-9205 info@ pjxresources.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking InformationThe information in this news release has been prepared as at the date noted above. Certain statements in this news release, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements", constitute "forward-looking statements" under the provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws. These statements can be identified by the use of words such as "expected", "may", "will" or similar terms.Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by PJX ResourcesInc. as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, known and unknown, could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise requiredby law, PJX Resources Inc. expressly disclaimsany obligation or undertaking to release publiclyany updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in PJX Resources Inc.'s expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any suc
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 13:50:14

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POMPANO BEACH, FL / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 /RANAEX, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced a groundbreaking development in the realm of digital finance: the introduction of the RANAEX VISA Debit Card. This innovative card is set to transform the way users engage with cryptocurrencies and traditional financial systems.Similar to the Crypto.com Visa Card, the RANAEX VISA Debit Card operates as a prepaid card, offering users the flexibility and convenience of traditional debit cards with added benefits tailored to the crypto community. While debit cards are typically linked to bank accounts, prepaid cards like the RANAEX VISA Debit Card require users to top up their balance manually.Users can fund their RANAEX VISA Debit Card through various methods, including bank account transfers, credit/debit card transfers, or even cryptocurrency deposits. This multi-faceted approach ensures seamless integration with users' existing financial accounts and crypto holdings.The first round of applications for the RANAEX debit card is scheduled to commence in September, marking a significant milestone for the platform and its users. Interested individuals will have the opportunity to apply for this revolutionary debit card, unlocking a new era of accessibility and utility in the world of cryptocurrencies."We're thrilled to unveil the RANAEX VISA Debit Card, offering our users unprecedented convenience and flexibility in managing their crypto assets," said Ethan Carter, CEO of RANAEX. "With the ability to seamlessly convert between cryptocurrencies and traditional currencies, our debit card empowers users to embrace the future of finance." The initial application round for the RANAEX VISA Debit Card is slated to conclude by the end of September, with plans for subsequent rounds to follow. Stay tuned for further updates and announcements as we continue to innovate and redefine the landscape of digital finance.For more information and updates on the RANAEX VISA Debit Card, visitwww.ranaex.com Media InformationFor additional information and media inquiries, please contact:Name: Ethan CarterOrganization: RANAEXWebsite: https://ranaex.com Website: https://h5.ranaex.com/ Email: support@ ranaex.com Address: 817 West Sample Road, Pompano Beach, FLORIDA 33064IG https://www.instagram.com/ranaex_official/ Twitter https://twitter.com/RANAEX_Official DisclaimerAs a committed entity in the cryptocurrency trading space, RANAEX underscores the importance of a secure and decentralized trading environment. Nonetheless, it's crucial for investors to recognize that digital currency trading is not devoid of risks, including potential market volatility and losses. RANAEX encourages all users to undertake comprehensive research and possibly seek financial advice before engaging in investment decisions, acknowledging and understanding the inherent risks involved.SOURCE: RANAEX
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 03:01:52

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SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2024 /Park Mental Health's comprehensive, individualized treatment plans help its clients return to or create productive, content and healthy lives by offering a range of treatment services to those struggling with OCD, anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions. By the time individuals arrive for mental health treatment at Park Mental Health in San Diego, they are often defeated. Without a sense of control, it's easy to get lost.Its staff often discusses with patients the difference between internal versus external loss of control. This provides an opportunity to empower individuals to find control within themselves so they can move forward in certain areas of their lives.Often times, clients end up at Park Mental Health due to a boundary a parent has set that they are no longer able to live at home, leaving treatment as the only option."In this sense, they often feel out of control of their lives so the team helps clients see where they have control within their lack of control," said Park Mental Health Program Director Mikayla Weathers.She said the ultimate goal is to build motivation for care and choice in their recovery and Iives."Some things are truly out of their control, such as biological illnesses, but what is inside our control is the choice to get help and follow recommendations towards healing. Better treatment outcomes come from clients willing to accept their way has not worked thus far and therefore are willing to follow recommendations from medical professionals." Control plays a significant role in mental health and its recovery. Substance use and addiction can contribute to the development of mental illness."Lack of control or power is the reason addiction exists and the solution to gain control is to work a program of recovery through the 12 steps, including therapy, psychiatry and more," Weathers said.Regaining a sense of control over one's life and circumstances is essential for an individual's mental well-being, with personal influence over thoughts, emotions and actions contributing to a greater sense of agency and empowerment.Having little control over circumstances or outcomes can create the experience of heightened stress responses and feelings of helplessness. However, individuals who feel in control are more likely to use adaptive coping strategies, including problem-solving and social support, which can help with stress and promote resilience.Autonomy and self-determination are linked to control and are fundamental psychological needs associated with better psychological well-being. In the context of mental health recovery, regaining a sense of control can empower individuals to take an active role in their treatment and ultimately reclaim their lives.Contact Information Steven EsparzaChief Executive Officerinfo@ camppublicrelations.com 6193631368SOURCE: Park Mental HealthView the original press release on newswire.com
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 15:02:05

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Highlights:Exceptional exploration opportunity for orogenic Au and magmatic Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE discoveries Mingold Au soil anomaly (2 km by 2 km) is a high-priority orogenic gold target Large Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE anomaly (5 km by 7 km) highly prospective for Ni-sulphide deposits Integrated spring exploration program to commence shortly at Consolidated Shebandowan Updated corporate presentation now available at www.skygoldcorp.com VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 /SKY GOLD CORP. ("Sky' or the "Company") (TSXV:SKYG)(OTC PINK:SRSZF) is pleased to announce that it will shortly commence exploration on its Consolidated Shebandowan nickel-copper-cobalt-chrome-platinum group element-gold property (the "Property"), located in northwestern Ontario. The exploration program involving detailed geochemical sampling, geological mapping and prospecting, will focus on 2 high-quality exploration targets known as the Mingold Au Soil Anomaly (orogenic gold target) and a strong, extensive Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE Anomaly (magmatic nickel-sulphide target).Mackenzie (Mac) Watson, Technical Advisor to Sky Gold Corp. commented: "This is one of the best greenfield exploration projects that I have been associated with. The potential for discovery for both nickel and gold are high, particularly when viewed within the favorable structural and lithologic setting." The Property, comprising 5,894 hectares, is situated 70 km west of the City of Thunder Bay and 6 km southwest of the past-producing Shebandowan Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE mine, operated by Inco Ltd during the period of 1970 to 1989. The Shebandowan mine is a world-class example of a primary magmatic nickel sulphide deposit with production tonnage and grade of 8.7 MT at 2.0% nickel, 1.0% copper & 3.0 g/t platinum + palladium (cobalt & chrome grades are unknown).Mingold Au Soil Anomaly:The primary gold target on the Property comprises a 2 km by 2 km gold-in-soil anomaly, defined by Mingold, a previous explorer in the Shebandowan area in 1990. Heavy mineral concentrates obtained from widely-spaced sampling returned values of up to 5,250, 1,580, 1,370 & 1,050 ppb gold, with some samples yielding pristine and delicate gold grains, suggesting a local bedrock source for the gold.The gold anomaly is contained within a regional-scale, 7-kilometre-long multi-element anomaly containing arsenic, antimony, zinc as well as nickel, copper, cobalt, chrome and platinum-group-elements obtained in regional-scale glacial till and lake sediment sampling.The soil and multi-element anomalies coincide in large part, with the Tinto Lake fault, a major ENE trending crustal-scale fault and with outcrops characterized by strong hydrothermal alteration.Additional soil and glacial till geochemistry sampling are clearly warranted on the Mingold Au soil anomaly to provide detail on its size, strength and extent.Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE Anomaly:An extensive 5 km by 7 km area characterized by highly anomalous values in nickel, copper, cobalt, chrome, platinum and palladium in glacial till sampling, comprises a high-priority target prospective for nickel sulphide deposits. All of the contour plots for the anomaly depicting Ni, Cu, Co, Cr as well as Pt and Pd are coincident and are intimately associated with a large magnetic high as well as several strong electromagnetic conductors, yielded by the VTEM airborne survey, flown in the fall of 2023.The large anomaly appears to be bounded by the ENE-trending Tinto Lake fault and an unnamed parallel fault situated to the NW of it, suggesting that the anomaly as a whole is related to deep, crustal-scale faulting. The Shebandowan mine is hosted within ultramafic rocks (komatiites) proximal and within the crustal-scale Crayfish Creek fault. The Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE anomaly is underlain by mafic and ultramafic rocks, similar to the host rocks containing mineralization at the Shebandowan mine.The strong extensive Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE geochemical anomaly is associated with mafic-ultramafic rocks, as well as a large magnetic feature (magnetic high) and strong EM conductors yielded by the VTEM survey. Collectively, this strongly suggests a local bedrock source for the subject geochemical anomaly.Exploration Model:The recent Eureka gold discovery made by Delta Resources Ltd in 2023, is located within the Shebandowan greenstone belt, approximately 30 km ENE from the Consolidated Shebandowan property. Gold mineralization at the Eureka discovery is intimately associated with deep crustal-scale faults (Shebandowan Structural Zone), in part reflected by the presence of subjacent younger Timiskaming-type, pull-apart sedimentary basins. The past producing Shebandowan NI-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE mine is situated in a similar structural-lithological setting along the Crayfish Creek fault, associated with an adjacent younger sedimentary basin.In the case of the Eureka gold discovery, such mantle-tapping structures provided the plumbing system for the passage of gold-bearing mineralizing fluids and derived intrusions to reach their eventual sites of deposition. At the Shebandowan mine, numerous brittle and ductile structures associated with the Crayfish Creek fault enabled mafic and ultramafic intrusions to reach upper crustal levels to host nickel sulphide mineralization.As seen within the framework of the exploration model, the Mingold Au soil anomaly and the main Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE anomaly offer high discovery potential, in view of their structural, stratigraphic and geochemical similarities with the neighboring Eureka gold discovery and the Shebandowan Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE mine. Additionally, the presence of strong extensive Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE and Au geochemistry anomalies coupled with strong hydrothermal alteration within highly deformed lithotypes present at both target areas, clearly enhances this potential.Spring Exploration Program:ALS Global will shortly commence the first-phase of exploration on the Property. The program will initially involve detailed soil and till geochemistry surveys over the Mingold Au soil and the main Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE anomalies, to provide much-needed detail on the size, strength and extent of the target areas. Historical geochemical sampling completed over both target areas was regional in extent, featuring widely-spaced sample sites; detailed sampling is required to localize and more tightly define targets.Modelling of the high-priority EM conductors yielded by the VTEM airborne survey will also be undertaken, to assist in nickel sulphide deposit targeting. Such modelling in combination with the detailed till and soil geochemistry for Ni-Cu-Co-Cr-PGE, will help prioritize targets in preparation for follow-up work involving trenching and eventual diamond drilling.Concurrent with the above, geological mapping and prospecting will be compl
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 16:01:47

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PLAINSBORO CENTER, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Smart IMS, a leading provider of SaaS solutions in Managed Infrastructure & Managed Communications, today announced its silver sponsorship of Formation 24, Duck Creek Technologies' conference for P&C and general insurance carriers. The event, taking place from May 21-23 in Dallas, will bring together industry leaders, P&C and General Insurance professionals to explore the latest advancements in core systems, data, and cloud technologies. To know more about the event, click here."We are thrilled to be a silver sponsor of Formation 24," said Shyam Vellala, EVP Insurance business leader at Smart IMS. "As a Systems Integration partner of Duck Creek Technologies, we share a deep commitment to empowering P&C insurers with the tools and technologies they require to enhance enterprise efficiency in today's dynamic market. This event presents a valuable opportunity to connect with industry peers, showcase our innovative solutions, and contribute to meaningful discussions around the future of P&C insurance." At Formation 24, Smart IMS will showcase its innovative customer engagement solutions as well as a unique Insurance-in-a-box solution offering.About Smart IMSHeadquartered in Plainsboro, New Jersey, Smart IMS Inc. provides Application Management Infrastructure Management Services. Unified Communications, Digital - Cloud technology solutions, Life Sciences, and Insurance services to its customers in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. Smart IMS, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Oracle Platinum Partner, AWS MSP Partner, and Salesforce Partner, is a trusted technology and business partner delivering technology-enabled solutions to help companies grow their businesses and compete globally.Visit Us - www.SmartIMS.com Stay Connected - https://in.linkedin.com/company/smart-ims Contact InformationShailya Varma General Manager Marketingshailya.varma@smartims.com Contact us at: +1 609-955-3030SOURCE: Smart IMSView the original press release on newswire.com
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 19:32:24

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Southern Company Southern CompanySolar energy accounted for more than half of new U.S. electricity generating capacity for the first time ever in 2023, according to a report from consulting firm Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)..Last year, the United States saw a record 32.4 gigawatts of new solar power generating capacity added to the grid, up 51% from 2022, according to the report. That 2023 total also represents a 37% increase from the previous record, set in 2021. Utility-scale installations accounted for 69% of total new solar capacity additions, followed by residential solar at 21%. Community solar accounted for around 3.5% of new solar capacity.In the Southeast, Southern Company and its subsidiaries are leading the way in this solar expansion. As we work across the company to enable a net-zero transition, our renewables portfolio continues to grow. Across the Southern Company system of retail electric utilities, more than 2,800 MW of solar generating capacity has been added since 2015. The company plans to nearly triple solar capacity by the early 2030s and in total, expects to have approximately 20,000 MW of renewable capacity and storage by 2030."Carbon-free solar generation resources are an instrumental component of our energy mix as we build the energy network of the future," said Clay Rikard, Southern Company vice president of System Planning. "We expect solar generation to continue its accelerated growth trajectory across our service territory as we transition our electric generating fleet in pursuit of our goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Our customers and communities depend on the clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy we serve every day - and we're committed to keeping them at the center of everything we do." Georgia has ranked in the top 10 for annual solar capacity additions in the U.S. for each the past three years. Georgia Power recently advised regulators that adding some 10,000 MW of solar capacity to their generation fleet by 2035 can potentially stimulate economic benefits for that state.In addition to Southern Company's retail electric utilities, the company's wholesale energy subsidiary, Southern Power, currently owns or operates more than 2,740 MW of solar generating capacity at 30 facilities nationwide*. Southern Power helps serve the energy needs of municipalities, electric cooperatives, investor-owned utilities and other energy customers across the nation.While various policy and economic factors could impact the continued growth of solar in the U.S., the outlook is currently optimistic. "If we stay the course with policies in the IRA, solar capacity will quadruple over the next 10 years," said SEIA CEO Abigail Ross Hopper.* Some 250 MW of this amount is under contract to Georgia Power and is included in the 2,800 MW value cited above. Also, 26 of these facilities are co-owned by third parties, with Southern Power having majority ownership.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Southern Company on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info: Spokesperson: Southern CompanyWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/southern-company Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Southern Company
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 13:00:43

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THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATESVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Torq Resources Inc. (TSXV:TORQ)(OTCQX:TRBMF) ("Torq" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it is undertaking a private placement of up to 15,000,000 units of the Company (the "Units") at an offering price of $0.10 per Unit for gross proceeds to the Company of up to $1.5 million (the "Offering"). Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company and one half of one common share purchase warrant of the Company (each whole warrant being, a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.15 per share at any time on or before the date which is 12 months after the closing date of the Offering (the "Closing Date").The Warrants are subject to an accelerated expiry if, anytime following the date that is four months after the Closing Date, the closing price of the common shares of the Company on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSX-V"), or such other market as the common shares may trade from time to time, is or exceeds $0.30 for any 10 consecutive trading days, in which event the holder of the Warrants may, at the Company's election, be given notice and the Company will issue a press release announcing that the Warrants will expire 30 days following the date of such press release. The Warrants may be exercised by the holder of the Warrant during the 30-day period after the date of the press release announcing the accelerated expiry date.The proposed use of proceeds from the Offering is to finance general working capital.In accordance with applicable securities laws, the securities issued under the Offering will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day hold period from the Closing Date in Canada. Although the Offering is non-brokered, the Company may pay a cash finder's fee equal to 6.0% of the gross proceeds and issue finders' warrants equal to 6.0% of the number of Units sold under the Offering to eligible persons who refer participating investors to the Company, where permitted by applicable law and in accordance with the policies of the TSX-V. Each finder's warrant will have the same terms as the Warrants.Closing of the Offering is anticipated to occur on or about May 30, 2024, subject to the receipt of investor documentation, funds and TSX-V approval. There is no minimum upon which the closing of the Offering is conditional, and any upsize will be announced in the context of the market.It is possible that insiders of the company may participate in the Offering and the Company will be relying on the exemption from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements pursuant to sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of Canadian Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Shareholders in Related Party Transactions , as neither the fair market value of any securities issued to nor the consideration paid by such person could exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization.The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any State in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,Shawn Wallace CEO & ChairFor further information on Torq Resources, please visit www.torqresources.com or contact the company at (778) 729-0500 or info@ torqresources.com About Torq ResourcesTorq is a Vancouver-based copper and gold exploration company with a portfolio of premium holdings in Chile. The Company is establishing itself as a leader of new exploration in prominent mining belts, guided by responsible, respectful and sustainable practices. The Company was built by a management team with prior success in monetizing exploration assets and its specialized technical team is recognized for their extensive experience working with major mining companies, supported by robust safety standards and technical proficiency. The technical team includes Chile-based geologists with invaluable local expertise and a noteworthy track record for major discovery in the country. Torq is committed to operating at the highest standards of applicable environmental, social and governance practices in the pursuit of a landmark discovery. For more information, visit www.torqresources.com Forward Looking InformationThis release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking information in this release are statements that relate to closing of the Offering, use of proceeds, plans for future exploration programs, which are dependent on raising additional capital. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different (either positively or negatively) from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by some of the principal forward-looking statements. See Torq's Annual Information Form filed April 29, 2024, at www.sedarplus.ca for disclosure of the risks and uncertainties faced in this business.Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) assumes any responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.SOURCE: Torq Resources Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 15:34:49

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CINCINNATI, OH / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Blake Alma, an acclaimed numismatist and CEO of CoinHub Media, has authored An Ultimate Guide to Selling U.S. Coins and Silver, which is the latest release in "The CoinHub Series." Climbing swiftly to become the number one new release in coins and precious metals on Amazon, this guide offers a wealth of knowledge for turning coin collecting into a profitable pursuit.Blake Alma Blake Alma with his latest bookDespite being only 23 years old and actively pursuing his studies at Pensacola Christian College, Blake Alma has already made a significant mark within the numismatic community. As the founder and CEO of CoinHub Media, which has generated over $2.25 million in sales since 2023, Alma combines his academic and professional experiences to provide a comprehensive roadmap for both seasoned collectors and newcomers to the coin market. His guide, designed to benefit enthusiasts at all levels, draws on his business acumen and academic insights, making it an essential resource for anyone interested in coin collecting.The book provides readers with essential strategies for evaluating, marketing, and negotiating the sale of coins. Alma's clear and engaging writing style, which includes a hint of humor, helps demystify complex topics, making the subject matter more accessible and enjoyable.The CoinHub: An Ultimate Guide to Selling U.S. Coins and Silveralso underscores the importance of leveraging modern digital platforms to enhance sales and build community. With a robust online following of 1.8 million across platforms such as Instagram (@coinhubs), TikTok (@coinhub), and Facebook (@thecoinhub), and an active presence on the live video shopping app Whatnot (@coinhub), Alma exemplifies the potential of digital outreach in today's market.For enthusiasts and collectors looking to deepen their understanding of numismatics or to start their own business ventures, Alma's guide serves as an indispensable resource. More information about his journey, balancing business with his academic responsibilities, and details on how to purchase the book can be found at www.coinhubmedia.com As Alma manages his studies at Pensacola Christian College alongside his thriving business, his work continues to inspire a new generation of numismatists, demonstrating that dedication and knowledge can effectively merge one's passion with a successful career.Contact Information:Ben HuttonMarketing Directorben@ coinhubmedia.com 513-279-2096SOURCE: CoinHub MediaView the original press release on newswire.com
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 15:16:19

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HARTFORD, CT / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / The Urban League of Greater Hartford has received a $150,000 charitable grant from KeyBank Foundation payable over two years to support the agency's Project Ready program, a signature national youth development direct service. The funds will launch two new modules, (1) STEAM and (2) Financial Capability, to provide high schoolers with skills and experiences to help foster more racial diversity in quantitative fields."The Project Ready Scholars have been a cornerstone of our agency's work and this investment from KeyBank in our students' financial capabilities will be valuable to them in their personal and professional development," said David Hopkins, President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Hartford. "The generous intentionality of this grant from our friends at KeyBank actually makes it the largest annualized ($75,000/year) donation ever presented by a private funder to our Project Ready program!" Founded in 1964 with a mission to promote racial equity through economic empowerment, the Urban League of Greater Hartford is celebrating 60 years as one of the 92 affiliates of the National Urban League, providing programming and services in education, employment, housing, health, and justice.Project Ready modules operating in Hartford include mentoring, digital literacy, history and culture, and college success. The addition of the STEAM and Financial Capability modules will provide the Scholars, ranging in age from 14 to 19, with age-appropriate financial literacy in earnings, living expenses, budgeting, maintaining bank accounts, investing, and acquiring assets, as well as workforce readiness and entrepreneurship. Through workshops, simulations, speakers, tours, games, and activities, participants will be exposed to basic financial management techniques, and receive insights to help put them on a path to building wealth and reducing the wealth gap. Thanks to KeyBank, the Urban League of Greater Hartford expects to have an impact on current students, and attract new students, with these new modules, which also include financial incentives that afford participants an opportunity to actually put the things they learn into practice. In 2022, the Greater Hartford Project Ready team served nearly 70 students, 100 percent of whom were promoted to the next grade, with all of its seniors enrolling in college."Empowering our youth through financial education is an investment in a future where everyone has equal access to economic opportunities and where racial equity thrives," said Matthew Hummel, KeyBank Connecticut and Western Massachusetts Market President. "KeyBank shares this vision with The Urban League and is proud to support Project Ready as a strong step forward toward that goal." KeyBank's grant to The Urban League of Greater Hartford is part of the bank's $40 billion community investments plan focused on economic access and equity to communities across the country. The scope of the plan includes investments and lending in affordable housing, home lending, small business lending, green initiatives, and transformative philanthropy targeted toward workforce development, education, and safe, vital neighborhoods for underserved communities and populations.On May 1, 2024, KeyBank presented a check to Urban League of Greater Hartford leaders and young scholars at the nonprofit organization's "College Signing Day" for graduating students, their parents and educators, held this year at the Chrysalis Center in Hartford.Hartford program helps students commit to college ( wtnh.com) . About the Urban League of Greater Hartford:The Urban League of Greater Hartford is a community-based, not-for-profit 501(c)(3), established in 1964 as the National Urban League's 66th affiliate. Its mission is to promote racial equity through economic empowerment programs in the areas of youth development, adult education, workforce development, housing, personal financial management, community health, and social justice. Its programs and operations impact more than 3,000 individuals and their families every year. visit www.ulgh.org or call 860-527-0147. Follow us on social media @ulgh64.About KeyBank Foundation:KeyBank Foundation serves to fulfill KeyBank's purpose to help clients and communities thrive, and its mission is to support organizations and programs that prepare people for thriving futures. The Foundation's mission is advanced through three funding priorities - neighbors, education, and workforce - and through community service. To provide meaningful philanthropy that transforms lives, KeyBank Foundation listens carefully to understand the unique characteristics and needs of its communities and then backs solutions with targeted philanthropic investments. KeyBank Foundation is a nonprofit charitable foundation, funded by KeyCorp.About KeyCorp/KeyBankKeyCorp's roots trace back nearly 200 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $187 billion at March 31, 2024. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,200 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/ . KeyBank is Member FDICMedia contacts:Urban League of Greater Hartford: Laura Soll, Communications, | 860-688-4499, M 860-833-4466 | Laura@ sollpr.com KeyBank: Karen Crane, Communications Manager | 203-789-2752 | karen_crane@ keybank.com Photo caption (from left): Project Ready Scholars are pictured with KeyBank leaders Neil Cyr, Area Retail Leader; Matt Hummel, Market President; David Hopkins, President and CEO, Urban League of Greater Hartford; Analisha Michanczyk, KeyBank Corporate Responsibility Officer; and Trayvonn A. Diaz, Senior Outreach Assistant to Senator Christopher Murphy.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from KeyBank on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info: Spokesperson: KeyBankWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/keybank Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: KeyBank
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 12:00:37

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / The annual Taobao 6.18 mega-sale is just around the corner, set to kick off on June 1st, 2024. As a globally renowned Taobao agent, West Lake Company is gearing up to provide customers worldwide with high-quality and affordable Taobao products, coupled with efficient international shipping services.Being one of the leading Taobao purchasing agencies in the industry, West Lake Company encourages its customers to refer friends, aiming for a win-win situation that fosters continuous support from both customers and fans."From starting as a small venture run by just a couple, to now having over 20 employees and occupying a space of over 1000 square meters for our office and warehouse, there's no denying that West Lake Company owes its success to the support of our customers. Therefore, to express our gratitude for their long-term sustainability, we've decided to host a series of special events to assist them," said Hua Yun, CEO of West Lake Company.During the period from June 1st to June 18th, West Lake Company will actively purchase discounted items for customers, hunt for coupons on their behalf, and strive to provide them with the maximum savings possible. Additionally, West Lake Company has established new partnerships with leading courier services such as International YunDa and International SF Express, actively assisting customers with door-to-door worry-free delivery of products including food items, chemicals, hair and skincare products, lighters, electronic cigarettes, and other items that may pose clearance challenges.No matter where you are, we will deliver your package directly to your doorstep at the most competitive shipping rates. We provide online tracking information for all international shipments, and West Lake Company's shopping services in English, French, Russian, and Chinese are here to assist you with your Taobao shopping needs.About West Lake CompanyWest Lake Company specializes in English-language Taobao shopping and shipping services, helping customers purchase a variety of products at unbelievably low prices from China's largest domestic online shopping platform. West Lake Company assists global customers in searching for, purchasing, inspecting, and delivering goods from Taobao. Services include procurement from China, purchasing, and international shipping.For media inquiries, please contact Cathy Jodie at the provided contact information.Media DetailsCompany Name: West Lake CompanyContact Person: Cathy JodiePhone: +1 (626) 782 4581Website: https://www.tbagents.com/ SOURCE: West Lake Company
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 21:15:41

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LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Dr. Lauren Papa, the esteemed philanthropist and virtuoso performer, unveils her latest endeavor: the "Who's Your Papa" concert, a sensational event dedicated to raising funds for displaced families in Ukraine and Israel. With over 350 attendees expected at an exclusive private venue, this gala promises an evening of music, compassion, and solidarity like no other.Dr. Lauren Papa, renowned for her unwavering commitment to charitable causes, spearheads the "Who's Your Papa" concert as a beacon of hope amidst global challenges. Her boundless creativity and passion for making a difference shine through as she leads the charge in supporting those affected by displacement, using the universal language of music to unite hearts across borders.The "Who's Your Papa" concert is a testament to Dr. Lauren Papa's tireless dedication to making a meaningful impact on the world stage. From her humble beginnings on Long Island to her esteemed status in Southern California's philanthropic and artistic communities, Dr. Lauren Papa's journey exemplifies the transformative power of compassion and determination.This exclusive concert event not only showcases Dr. Lauren Papa's extraordinary talent but also underscores her steadfast commitment to humanitarian efforts. Through her collaboration with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, she continues to leverage her artistic prowess to raise vital funds in support of pediatric care and research initiatives.Attendees of the "Who's Your Papa" concert can anticipate an evening of enchantment, as Dr. Lauren Papa takes center stage to deliver a performance that transcends boundaries and touches souls worldwide. From soul-stirring melodies to electrifying choreography, every aspect of the concert is meticulously crafted to inspire, uplift, and support displaced families in need.Join Dr. Lauren Papa and her esteemed guests for an unforgettable evening of compassion, solidarity, and artistic brilliance at the "Who's Your Papa" concert. Together, let us make a difference in the lives of displaced families in Ukraine and Israel, one heartfelt note at a time.About Dr. Lauren PapaDr. Lauren Papa is a multifaceted individual whose journey embodies a symphony of artistry, compassion, and philanthropy. As a devoted mother of five and a proud grandmother, she infuses her performances with a deep love for family and a commitment to making a positive impact on the world. Through her concerts and philanthropic endeavors, Dr. Lauren Papa continues to inspire others to embrace life's challenges with grace and compassion.Contact Info:Spokesperson: Dr. Lauren Papa Organization: Who's Your Papa ConcertWebsite: https://lauren-papa.com/ Email: info@ lauren-papa.com SOURCE: Who's Your Papa Concert
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 21:01:11

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Companies on the 2024 Inc. 5000 Regionals: Midwest list had an average growth rate of 134.06 percent.PLYMOUTH, WI / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 /Inc. magazine revealed that Carbliss, a brand owned by SNFood & Beverage, secured the prestigious recognition of No. 1 on the fourth annual Inc. 5000 Regionals: Midwest list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing Midwest private companies, based in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Carbliss achieved this enviable award on the basis of an impressive 7,127% growth during the qualifying date period.Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the Midwest economy's most dynamic segment-its independent small businesses."It is an absolute honor for our team's hard work and dedication in building this brand to be recognized by such an award," says CEO and Co-Founder Adam Kroener.The companies on this list show a remarkable rate of growth across all industries in the Midwest region. Between 2020 and 2022, these 172 private companies had an average growth rate of 134.06 percent; by 2023, they'd also added 14,830 jobs and $24.5 billion to the region's economy.Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals: Midwest, including company profiles can be found at inc.com/Midwest . You'll also find an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria."The honorees in our Inc. 5000 network are the Who's Who of private companies. They're energizing regional economies as they engineer the future of their industries. Learn who they are and what they do - they'll be impacting things for a while," said Eric Hagerman, Special Projects Editor at Inc. Media.Carbliss is available for purchase in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Louisiana, Arkansas and direct-to-consumers via the website: https://shop.drinkcarbliss.com/ Carbliss Brands has sold over 2,750,000 cases since its founding in 2019 and has a team of 32 people. Adam is a Startup Advisor, Certified Dale Carnegie Leadership Instructor, sought-after speaker, and Veteran of the US Army.Contact: Ashley Crouch, 805-419-0122,ashley@ prowessventures.com More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000 RegionalsMethodologyThe 2024 Inc. 5000 Regionals are ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2020 and 2022. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2020. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent-not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies-as of December 31, 2022. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2020 is $100,000; the minimum for 2022 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.About Inc. MediaThe world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent.The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visitwww.inc.com SOURCE: Carbliss
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 16:43:07

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Four-Year Old Company's Unprecedented Growth Propelled by Product Demand and Industry-Wide Shift Towards Consolidated OfferingsNEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Cloud security leader Wiz has raised $1 billion at a $12 billion valuation, bringing the company's total funding to $1.9 billion. The current round is led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Thrive Capital, with participation from Greylock, Wellington Management, and existing investors Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, Howard Schultz, Index Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Sequoia Capital. The news comes on the heels of the acquisition of Gem Security, a leading Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) provider, as Wiz expands and enriches its Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) while setting its sights on an eventual IPO.Wiz Founders. Credit - Avishag Shaar-Yashuv From left to right: Yinon Costica (VP Product); Assaf Rappaport (CEO); Ami Luttwak (CTO); Roy Reznik (VP R&D)At 4 years old, Wiz has shattered growth records, achieving $350M ARR in 2023. The last 12 months have included many other significant milestones, from executive hires to third party recognition. At the start of 2024 Dali Rajic, formerly COO & President of Zscaler, joined as COO & President. Wiz now works with 40% of the Fortune 100, and was voted the #1 security product by independent customer reviews on G2. Notably, Wiz was the highest-ranked cloud security company on the Forbes Cloud 100 and received the top score in the "current offering" category of The Forrester Wave: Cloud Workload Security, Q1, 2024.Wiz has also made pioneering research discoveries to advance cloud and AI security, working with leading AI-as-a-service provider Hugging Face to strengthen AI security and publishing an inaugural State of AI in the Cloud report.Wiz predicts that 2024 will be "the year of security consolidation" and will use the latest round of funding to help drive future M&A efforts, along with talent recruitment and product development. The company's recent M&A activity includes the acquisitions of Raftt to empower developers and Gem Security to reinvent threat detection in the cloud.Supporting quotes:Assaf Rappaport, CEO and cofounder, Wiz: "We will never stop innovating on behalf of our customers. Wiz has worked to earn the love of security and development teams; as we bolster our CDR capabilities, SOC teams are also part of that equation. This funding round will help us continue to solve customers' complex cloud security challenges in an elegant, simple manner while supporting their broader vendor consolidation efforts."Sarah Wang, Andreessen Horowitz: "Wiz is a cloud security pioneer and has demonstrated remarkable agility, adaptability, and a keen understanding of market dynamics. This has enabled smart growth and positioned them as a power player in the cybersecurity space."Arsham Memarzadeh, Lightspeed: "Wiz is nothing short of a rocket ship. They were built for the cloud from day one and have an intense customer focus. It's what's allowed them to offer unmatched value to CISOs and ascend into market leadership so quickly. We're thrilled to deepen our partnership with the team."Philip Clark, Thrive Capital: "Wiz is a true cybersecurity platform - perhaps the only such company started in the last decade. This remarkable trajectory is a reflection of the team's deep expertise, relentlessness, and execution. Wiz is poised to solve the next wave of security problems for its customers, including the challenge posed by AI. We are thrilled to be co-leading this round."For more on the news, visit wiz.io/blog About WizWiz secures everything organizations build and run in the cloud. Founded in 2020, Wiz is the fastest-growing software company in the world. Wiz enables hundreds of organizations worldwide, including 40 percent of the Fortune 100, to rapidly identify and remove critical risks in cloud environments. Its customers include Salesforce, Slack, Mars, BMW, Avery Dennison, Priceline, Cushman & Wakefield, DocuSign, Plaid, and Agoda, among others. Wiz is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, Insight Partners, Cyberstarts, Thrive Capital, Greylock, Wellington, Salesforce, Blackstone, Advent, Greenoaks and Aglae. Visit https://www.wiz.io for more information.Contact InformationTamar HarelTell NYtamar@ tellny.com SOURCE: WizView the original press release on newswire.com
PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-07 15:02:13

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The new Top-Level Domain will provide a unique brand identity, foster a vibrant online community, and support blockchain and AI educational initiatives for this year's Paris Global SummitPARIS, FRANCE / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / For the first time,Women in Tech Global Summit , an annual event shaping the future of women in innovation, will have its own web3 top-level domain (TLD), providing a digital community for attendees and a platform for a range of initiatives to support the next generation of female tech leaders.Every delegate at the Summit-held this year in Paris from 6-7 May-will be able to log in using their own unique " Name.WITG" digital identity to enter the event's community, where they can network and access educational resources, including about the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence. Furthermore, .WITG will enable Women in Tech to grow its global brand by allowing its community to become ambassadors on social and Web3 communities thanks to a branded domain extension-similar to the effect from "Sent from my iPhone" email signatures.The new .WITG TLD will be delivered byUnstoppable Domains(UD), the leading Web3 domain name and digital identity provider. Unstoppable Domains has provided TLDs for several high-profile global technology events - including SXSW, where UD helped Austin, TX, become thefirst city in the worldto get a blockchain-powered Web3 domain."The rise of deepfakes and AI-powered malware has made digital identity one of the hottest issues in technology and politics, but web3 domains are about more than combating bad actors," said Sandy Carter, COO of Unstoppable Domains. "As we will show at Women in Tech, the genius of Web3 is how it can be harnessed to build and foster new communities, bringing a new era in how organizations engage and interact with their audience. We can't wait to show attendees the future of engagement at WIT 2024."This initiative marks a significant milestone as Women in Tech Global becomes the first women's group globally to implement its own naming service, underscoring its commitment to innovation and leadership in technology. The .WITG TLD is designed to foster a strong sense of community and identity among women in tech, facilitating networking, mentorship, and collaboration opportunities. By "using the tech to learn the tech," this pioneering domain aims to provide women with the tools they need to succeed and excel in the digital space, reinforcing the message that empowerment through technology is not just a motto, but a practical pathway to personal and professional growth.Ayumi Moore Aoki, Founder and CEO, Women in Tech Global Summit said: "Women in Tech is now firmly established as the global brand for the empowerment of women in our industry, but we can't rest on our laurels. Thanks to our new partnership with Unstoppable Domains, the 2024 Summit will bring together leaders from government, business, and civil society in a single secure, digital space to discuss the challenges facing women worldwide. They can then access education and training in transformational technologies like blockchain and AI and collaborate to build a better future for women-in the tech space and far beyond." Sandy Carter will also be on a panel at the Women in Tech Global Summit on The future of Web3,' where attendees will learn about the evolving dynamics of blockchain amidst the crypto surge and Bitcoin's latest bull run and understand the impact of generative AI's role.In the future, UD and Women in Tech Global will also plan to apply for a branded Web2 generic top-level domain (gTLD) with theInternet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers(ICANN), the entity regulating addresses in the traditional Domain Name System (DNS), at the upcoming ICANN gTLD issuance, currently expected in 2026. A TLD is the highest-ranking root-level domain in issuance. If approved, a new .WIT gTLD will be created, standing alongside such iconic addresses as .com, .net, .org, and others.-end-Press Contact press@ unstoppabledomains.com About Unstoppable DomainsLaunched in 2018, Unstoppable Domains is a Web3 domain name provider and digital identity platform working to onboard the world onto Web3. Unstoppable Domains offers Web3 domains minted on the blockchain that give people full ownership and control of their digital identity, with no renewal fees. With Unstoppable Domains, people can replace lengthy alphanumeric crypto wallet addresses with a human-readable name and log into and transact with more than 720 apps, wallets, exchanges and marketplaces. The company was named by Forbes as one of America's Best Startup Employers in 2022.For more information, please visit: https://unstoppabledomains.com/ About Women in Tech Global Summit 2024The Women in Tech Global Summit 2024, taking place in Paris on May 6-7 under the High Patronage of President Emmanuel Macron, is set to be a defining event in shaping the future of women in innovation. This Annual Meeting will bring together a diverse group of leaders from government, business, and civil society to critically examine the current status of women in the technological landscape and set priorities for the forthcoming year.For more information, please visit: https://womenintech-summit.com/ SOURCE: Unstoppable Domains
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The selected clinical research projects will be publicly announced by June 10th, 2024SANTA CLARA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 /Zeto, Inc., an innovative EEG brain monitoring company, is pleased to announce the distinguished members of the jury panel for its first clinical trial sponsorship program. The panel, comprising professionals from the fields of neurology and neuroscience research, will oversee the assessment and selection of clinical trials and research projects that align with Zeto's mission to advance biomedical research and enhance patient care through innovative EEG applications.Jury Panel Members:Robert Fisher, MD, PhD - Dr. Fisher is the Director of the Stanford Epilepsy Center and is Zeto's Chief Medical Advisor. He received research awards from the Klingenstein Foundation, EF, CURE and NIH. He has been named Best Doctors in America' since 1996 and received the Ambassador Award from the International League Against Epilepsy, the 2005 AES Service Award and the 2006 Annual Clinical Research Award. He is also the Past President of the American Epilepsy Society. His extensive experience and leadership in epilepsy research are invaluable to guiding the future of EEG technologies.Michael Weisend, PhD - Dr. Weisend brings a multidisciplinary approach to the panel with his background in cognitive neuroscience, device development, and neuroimaging techniques. His work in academia, government, and industry, along with his innovative contributions to brain stimulation technologies, will provide a broad perspective on the potential applications of research topics in clinics using Zeto EEG.Pradeep Modur, MD - Dr. Modur is a board-certified epileptologist and the director of Ascension Seton's Comprehensive Epilepsy Program. Additionally, he chairs Ascension Seton's National Epilepsy Committee and holds a professorship at Dell Medical School of The University of Texas. Dr. Modur is active in research, serves as a reviewer for several journals and is a respected speaker at conferences."We are thankful to all the research teams who submitted their applications. We were thrilled to receive such high-quality proposals! Now it's time for our accomplished panel to evaluate the submissions. The assessment includes several factors such as alignment with Zeto's vision, the potential impact on patient care, and the innovative utilization of EEG," says Florian Strelzyk, Chief Sales Officer at Zeto.Zeto announced at the 2023 Society for Neuroscience Convention in Washington D.C. that it invites interested research teams to submit proposal pitches by April 15, 2024, and the company would sponsor up to three clinical trials using the Zeto EEG system.Important Dates:Selection Completion: The rigorous selection process will commence in May and be completed by June 1st, 2024.Public Announcement: The selected clinical research projects will be publicly announced no later than June 10th, 2024, on Zeto's official website and social media channels.Zeto is committed to fostering advancements in EEG technology and clinical research. Our high-caliber jury panel underscores our dedication to supporting meaningful and impactful scientific studies that can significantly improve patient outcomes.About Zeto, Inc.Zeto, Inc., is an award-winning, privately held medical technology company located in Santa Clara, CA, focused on transforming the way electroencephalography is done in clinical and research settings. Zeto's revolutionary FDA-cleared EEG platform brings the traditional EEG procedure to the 21st century by offering the WR19, a zero-prep, wireless, easy-to-wear headset with active, dry electrodes that can be positioned as per the 10-20 system. The company plans to leverage its platform technology to improve access and quality to medical EEG testing and to enable and improve adjacent biomedical research and clinical trials.To learn more about Zeto's products, please visit https://zeto-inc.com or email us at research@ zetoinc.com Contact Information:Irina NazarovaMarketing Manageririna.nazarova@zetoinc.com 9174351226SOURCE: Zeto, Inc.View the original press release on newswire.com
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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Zeus North America Mining Corp. (formerly Umdoni Exploration Inc.) (CSE:ZEUS)(OTCQB:ZUUZF)(FRANKFURT:O92) (the "Company" or "Zeus") is pleased to announce that it has qualified for trading on the OTCQB Venture Market in the United States operated by the OTC Markets Group Inc. and the Company's common shares have commenced trading on the OTCQB under the symbol "ZUUZF" with an effective date of April 30, 2024. The Company has additionally secured Depository Trust Company ("DTC") eligibility for its common shares traded in the United States.Zeus is also pleased to announce the listing of its common shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange ("FSE") under the symbol "O92". The Company officially began trading on the FSE on April 17, 2024 as part of the Company's expansion into European investment markets. With its status as a prominent European listing venue, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange plays an important role in facilitating trading activities, handling around 90 percent of all securities traded within Germany. Companies listing on the FSE often aim to enhance shareholder accessibility and foster investment opportunities for a global audience of investors.The Company's common shares continue to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") under the symbol "ZEUS".Dean Besserer, the Company's President and CEO, commented: "Both the Frankfurt and the OTCQB listing with DTC eligibility will allow Zeus to broaden its shareholder base in the USA and abroad, as well as provide market awareness and increased liquidity as we continue to explore our portfolio of 100% owned copper and copper-gold properties in the USA".About the OTCQBThe OTCQB offers early stage and developing U.S. and international companies the benefits of being publicly traded in the U.S. The OTCQB helps companies build shareholder value with a goal of enhancing liquidity and achieving fair valuation.U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time level 2 quotes for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com . The Company's listing on the CSE and the trading of its shares on the OTCQB contribute to a larger global presence and offers investors preeminent access to trading.About the Depository Trust CompanyThe Depository Trust Company is a subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and manages the electronic clearing and settlement of publicly traded companies. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through the DTC are considered "DTC eligible". This electronic method of clearing securities speeds up the receipt of stock and cash, and thus accelerates the settlement process for investors trading the Company's shares on the OTCQB.On behalf of the board of directors."Dean Besserer"President and CEOFor more information, please contact the Company at info@ zeusminingcorp.com FOR INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACT:Kin Communications Inc.Ph: 604-684-6730 ZEUS@ kincommunications.com About Zeus North America Mining Corp.The Company is in the business of mineral exploration. The Company is focused on its exploration properties in the state of Idaho known as the: Cuddy Mountain; Selway; and Great Western properties, respectively. The Idaho properties consist of 82 (Cuddy Mountain), 57 (Selway) and 38 (Great Western) lode mining claims respectively and cover a cumulative area of approximately 3822.1 acres. The Company's flagship Cuddy Mountain Property is adjacent to Hercules Silvers' Leviathan Copper Porphyry discovery.Forward Looking StatementsWhen used in this news release, the words "estimate", "project", "belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or "should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. Although the Company believes, in light of the experience of their respective officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate, that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the parties can give no assurance that such statements will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements and information in this news release include, amongst others, the Company's exploration plans. Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Company. There are risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information.By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements or implied by such forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by forward-looking statements and information. Such factors include, among others: currency fluctuations; limited business history of the parties; disruptions or changes in the credit or security markets; results of operation activities and development of projects; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; and general development, market and industry conditions.The Company undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of its securities or its financial or operating results (as applicable). The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. When relying on the Company's forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. The Company has assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraph will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors.The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. The Company does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with ap
The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) could avail the sum of $1 billion to Lotus Bank to back its bid to provide funds that could help plug Nigerias infrastructure gap, Kafilat Araoye, the chief executive of the Lagos-based non-interest bank, said.

The capital support funding facility could help spur growth in the key sectors of the economy, Mrs Araoye said at the 2024 IsDB Group Annual Meetings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabias commercial capital.

IsDB, a multilateral development finance bank, comprises 57 shareholding member countries, including Nigeria, and boasts $182 billion in total approvals to finance over 12,000 development projects since its inception in 1975.

It will put infrastructure and businesses in place, and it will reduce the pressure on the Naira because we will generate foreign exchange from some of the things we will use the money for. What we require is monitoring, the Lotus Bank CEO said.

The facility could boost foreign exchange inflow into Nigeria, where dollar liquidity is running dry as the government strives to attract investments abroad and the official foreign exchange market struggles to get dollar supply from the central bank.

The local currency has lost much ground to the US dollar after a devaluation in January caused it to shed 43 per cent. The US currency was exchanged for N1,354 at market close on Monday at the Lagos-based FMDQ Securities Exchange compared to N871 on 18 January.

Currently, Nigerias gross dollar reserves stand at $32 billion, representing a 29 per cent slide in five years.

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When you invest money in Sukuk fund, all you are saying is that you are partnering in the project, which is monitored from beginning to the end and what the money will be used for. So, the fund is helping us to have infrastructure that we didnt have in Nigeria before, said the Lotus Bank CEO.

She stated that her bank is aiming to build trust with the IsDB with a view to identifying bankable projects that could be funded to spur economic development in the country.

The Islamic Development Bank is into oil and gas. We have lithium; we need to start mining, lithium and selling. In terms of the capital funding support, there are three broad areas, she said.

Then, there is also the side that has to do with reducing the pressure on foreign exchange, to generating foreign exchange, the export side of the businesses (export mining) and commodity generally. Nigeria needs investment in transportation including rail lines and roadsria to ease economic activities within the country, she added.

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The CEO of global cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance, Richard Teng, on Tuesday expressed deep concern over the Nigerian governments decision to detain one of its employees.

In February, two of Binance executives, Nadeem Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan, arrived in Nigeria to negotiate with the Nigerian authorities amid a crackdown on the crypto platform.

Earlier, the Nigerian government had blocked the online platforms of Binance and other crypto firms to halt what it described as continuous manipulation of the forex market and illicit movement of funds.

Mr Anjarwalla later in March escaped from lawful custody after guards on duty led him to a nearby mosque for prayers.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Mr Teng expressed concerns over the detention of Mr Gambaryan, a mid-level employee who holds no decision-making authority within the company.

It is important to note that Tigran did not go to Nigeria as a decision-maker, nor a negotiator. He was merely acting as a functional expert in financial crime and capacity building in policy discussions.

The message from the Nigerian government is clear: we must detain an innocent, mid-level employee and a former U.S. federal agent, and place him in a dangerous prison to control Binance, he said.

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Mr Teng said despite Binances efforts to engage constructively with Nigerian authorities and comply with their requests, Mr Gambaryan remains detained.

He said releasing Mr Gambaryan and facilitating his return home would be a simple solution that would allow the company to continue cooperating with Nigerian law enforcement agencies, as it has done voluntarily on numerous occasions in the past.

He reiterated Binances commitment to protecting innocent users and removing bad actors from its platform, emphasizing its readiness to engage with Nigerias tax authorities to resolve any potential tax liabilities.

Let Tigran go home to his family, and then Binance will work through the same process that we have done with Nigerias law enforcement community voluntarily more than 600 times in the past. We will always work to protect innocent users, and bad actors are not welcome on our platform. We will work tirelessly with public and private partners to remove them.

Furthermore, we will continue engagement with Nigerias Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on resolving potential historic tax liabilities, he said.

The Federal High Court at the last hearing postponed the trial involving Binance and its two executives until 17 May.

The case pertains to allegations of money laundering and tax evasion, with additional concerns raised by the government regarding the potential manipulation of the local currency through peer-to-peer trading on the platform.

Mr Gambaryan pleaded not guilty and was ordered to be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre.

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Vera Anyim, the Dunamis Church congregant who went viral on 14 April when Pastor Paul Enenche questioned her academic achievement as she shared her testimony, declared that she is not giving up on becoming a celebrity.

An overnight celebrity, Ms Anyims life has drastically transformed since she captured the headlines, prompting her to seek financial assistance from Nigerians to rent or buy a befitting accommodation.

She has since shifted from obscurity to celebrity upon her return to Abuja from a fully sponsored holiday at the Portland Resorts Hotel in Port Harcourt, River State, offered by hotelier Azubuike Ihemeje.

In addition, a gadget company gifted her an iPhone worth N1.8 million.

On Facebook, Ms Anyim is a star. She interacts with fans through promotions and giveaways, adapting comfortably to her newfound fame. She recently wrote on her Facebook page, From Vera Anyim to Viral Anyim, God is the greatest. Yet, Ms Anyim craves for more. She wants to assume superstar statusa celebrity.

Big plan

Unveiling her big plan to remain relevant in her newfound status, Ms Vera revealed her plans to meet Davido and famous skit maker Sabinus, calling on her fans to pray for her.

She wrote on her Facebook page, My next move is to go and meet with Davido. You see, this Celebrity life I must take am by Force. After that, go and meet with Sabinusus. Please pray for the latest celebrity in town. I will make all of you proud. Please share this message until it reaches Davido and Sabinus.

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This statement comes just a week after the Nigerian lawyer pleaded for assistance from her fans and followers to enable her to meet the needs of her newfound celebrity status. She emphasised the urgent need for new accommodation and enhanced security measures, citing concerns over the safety of her former residence.

However, her plea was met with considerable backlash, prompting her to apologise publicly to Nigerians. She clarified that her appeal stemmed from a genuine sense of insecurity and fear of potential kidnapping rather than a desire for financial gain. She further revealed that concerns from those close to her, suspecting her of possessing significant funds, intensified her fears.

Her Facebook post also reveals that she is a congregant at Dunamis Gospel Centre and pastors her assembly.

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Most parents deepest desire is to witness their children flourish in their chosen profession or career, surpassing their achievements.

This sentiment resonates with actor Anayo Onyekwere, aka Kanayo O. Kanayo, who introduced his first son, Clinton, to the world of filmmaking, on Monday.

Kanayo, in a video shared on his Instagram page, presented Clinton to the members of his production company, Simpliciter Associates Productions, during a movie shoot.

The actor revealed that his son would serve as an assistant production manager and personal assistant.

Clinton, a Babcock University Information Communication Technology (ICT) graduate, is the actors first son and second child.

He said: My son, Clinton Onyeze Mbaise, joins us as Assistant Production Manager and my Personal Assistant. He is an intern to understudy filmmaking and management before proceeding to further studies.

We should let our children work in organisations or other establishments to appreciate the industry. Kudos, Onyeze. Welcome aboard, Simpliciter Associates Productions.

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Treatment

The 62-year-old actor encouraged the crew members to regard Clinton as a crew member, not his son.

The 2006 Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor recipient in a Leading Role stated that Clinton would observe and learn from the crew members, absorbing any knowledge they imparted.

Dont treat him like my son; it is a warning Im giving everybody. Hes yet to walk; hes going to earn a fee like you are earning a fee. So dont begin to say, my son. I know theyre for that kind of thing. Treat him as production crew.

I hope you heard what Im saying. Treat him to the extent that youre treating others with respect. Thats what I want him to grow into. I dont want you to spoil my son for me when you want him to be good, being bad. Youre not telling him, No, dont do that. It wont help. So please.

Kanayo, a lawyer, began his acting journey in 1982 with Nigerian Television Authority productions before making his big-screen debut in 1992s Living in Bondage.

The Imo-born actor boasts a portfolio of over 100 films and received a nomination for the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in 2008 for his performance in Across the Niger.

Kanayo married Nneka Onyekwere in 1999, and they have four children, three boys and one girl. They are Uloaku, Kosisochukwu, Clinton and Einstein.

Uloaku is Kanayos eldest child and his only daughter, while Kosisochukwu and Einstein are his two other sons.

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A dozen Republican senators have sent a letter to International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan, warning him not to issue international arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, and threatening him with severe sanctions if he does so.

Target Israel and we will target you, the senators, led by Tom Cotton, warned in the one-page letter. Such actions are illegitimate and lack legal basis, and, if carried out, will result in severe sanctions against you and your institution.

The letter, dated 24 April and reported exclusively by Zeteo on Monday, said any attempt by the ICC to hold Mr Netanyahu and his colleagues to account for their actions in Gaza will be interpreted not only as a threat to Israels sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States.

A statement from the ICC Prosecutors Office issued Friday noted that there was significant public interest surrounding present cases and encouraged dialogue, but warned against individuals threatening to retaliate against any actions of the court, which is prohibited under Article 70 of the Rome Statute.

The US is not a party to the Rome Statute and does not recognise ICC jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories, which the court asserts it has.

The letter also highlighted the American Service-Members Protection Act, which prohibits federal, state, and local governments from assisting the ICC and authorises the US President to use all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any US person or ally detained by the ICC.

Neither Israel nor the US is a member of the ICC, though the Palestinian territories were given member status in 2015.

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The Biden administration has stated it does not support an ICC war crimes investigation into Israel but it has not commented on whether it would pursue sanctions against the court if Mr Netanyahu or others are ordered arrested.

Weve been really clear about the ICC investigation. We do not support it. We dont believe that they have the jurisdiction. And Im just going to leave it there for now, the Hill reported White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to have said last week.

In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for war crimes committed in the invasion of Ukraine. At the time, the Biden administration pledged to help the ICC in its efforts.

READ ALSO:Israel begins Rafah evacuation ahead of planned military operation

The ICC can prosecute individuals for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Currently, Israel is facing genocide accusations brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has imposed provisional measures in Israels Gaza offensive.

Since 7 October, Israeli forces have killed more than 34,600 people in Gazaa death toll that could surge if Israel moves ahead with its planned ground invasion of Rafah. Women and children account for up to 70 per cent of those killed by Israels military thus far.

Israel commenced the attack on Gaza following the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas which led to the death of about 1,200 people.

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A community official says three persons were injured and over 200 houses were damaged following a rainstorm in Miango District of Bassa Local Government of Plateau.

The Publicity Secretary of Miango Youth Development Association, Nuhu Nga, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the incident occurred on Monday afternoon.

Mr Nga listed affected structures to include residential houses, a clinic, schools, shops, and livestock pens.

The publicity secretary said that the rainstorm also uprooted some economic trees and left many people stranded.

He said that valuables such as documents, household products, cement, and many other items were destroyed by the rampaging rainstorm.

Although no life was lost, three people were injured and have been taken to hospital for treatment.

Currently, some affected persons have found refuge in neighbours houses.

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READ ALSO: Inmates escape as rainstorm destroys Nigerian correctional centre

The damages caused by the rainstorm further put the Miango people, who have over the years suffered violent attacks and displacement of persons, in a more precarious situation.

We call on the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and the Local Government Council to come to assist the affected persons.

We are also appealing to non-governmental organizations and well-meaning individuals to, as a matter of urgency, come to the aid of the affected persons as the rainy season intensifies, he said.

(NAN)

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The UN General Assembly on Monday debated Russias veto in the Security Council, which blocked a draft resolution aimed at preventing a new extraterrestrial arms race.

Due to the negative Russian vote, the Security Council failed to adopt last months text, which received 13 votes in favour, with China abstaining. The draft resolution was introduced by the United States and Japan, and co-sponsored by over 60 nations.

Assembly Vice-President Ahmad Muhamad opened the debate by reading a message from Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly.

Mr Francis expressed concern that the Council could not reach a consensus on addressing weapons of mass destruction in outer space.

Outer space does not belong to individual nations, its peaceful and sustainable use is not subject to national appropriation and must be a place of peace and cooperation for the benefit and in the interest of all countries, he said.

The militarisation of outer space is a very concerning trend. Besides further deepening mistrust and divisions, this inevitably threatens life on earth and could have catastrophic consequences.

The Assembly President emphasised that the 1967 Outer Space Treaty clearly prohibits State parties from placing, installing or stationing in orbit around Earth  or anywhere else in the cosmos  spacecraft carrying nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction.

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Calling on all Member States to help safeguard the UNs non-proliferation objectives both on earth and in space, he urged nations to take all necessary steps to keep the space weapons free.

The debate was held as part of the General Assemblys mandate under Resolution 76/262 to discuss the situation involving Security Council vetoes within 10 days of the veto.

The veto is a unique voting power held by the Security Councils five permanent members  China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A negative vote from any of these countries automatically causes a resolution or decision to fail.

The Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Russia, Vasily Nebenzya, explained why his delegation voted against the American draft resolution.

He stated that despite its beautiful sounding title, the text failed to address its declared goal because that objective was already covered by existing international agreements and voiced concern the resolution could have had far-reaching consequences for disarmament processes.

During the negotiations on this draft, we attempted in vain to get an answer from the authors on why they were trying to use the Security Council to reaffirm already existing international obligations in the area of outer space exploration, he said.

He referenced the 1967 Outer Space Treaty which unequivocally prohibits placing weapons of mass destruction in outer space and suggested that discussions on this topic should take place in specialised forums that include all General Assembly members.

Mr Nebenzya criticised the draft for attempting to introduce new restrictions through the Security Council that were not previously established in any international instruments, including the 1967 Treaty, raising serious doubts from a legal point of view about these new restrictions.

Imposing such obligations without preliminary, expert, legal and technical discussions is inadmissible, he emphasized.

The US Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative, Robert Wood, emphasised that the debate surrounding Russias veto of the draft resolution presents a critical opportunity to promote accountability and transparency among all permanent members of the Council.

He said the UN General Assembly plenary meeting on Russias use of its veto to quash a draft resolution aimed at keeping weapons out of outer space.

He highlighted that the draft resolution aimed to affirm the obligations of all States parties under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, particularly over the prohibition of placing nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in outer space.

He explained that it also urged UN Member States not to develop nuclear weapons specifically designed for deployment in orbit, which would mitigate the risk of a nuclear incident in space and preserve vital satellites essential for communication, security, and sustainable development.

READ ALSO: 40 killed as gunmen attack Russian concert centre

It should not be at all controversial or difficult for the Security Council to affirm the clear obligations of parties under the Outer Space Treaty, nor should it be difficult to ask that States work together towards our shared interests, he said.

Mr Wood noted that the US and Japan, as the penholders, were deliberate, transparent, inclusive and flexible in their approach to the resolution, with the text evolving based on negotiations.

Regarding Russias new proposed draft resolution on the topic, he criticised it as a diplomatic facade concealing its true intentions.

The reality is that Russia currently possesses several conventional anti-satellite weapons in orbit, he said, citing a 2019 weapon test and ongoing threats against satellites.

Russias actions cast significant doubt as to whether it will uphold its existing legal obligations under the Outer Space Treaty and raise concern about what this means for international peace and security, he added.

(NAN)

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Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State on Monday presented six Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to the state judiciary.

Presenting the vehicles, the governor said his administration will make the welfare of the judiciary staff a top priority for improved service delivery.

Mr Alia commended the judiciary for its services, urging it to do more to ensure that law and order were strictly maintained in the state.

Represented by the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice and Public Order, Fidelis Mnyim, Mr Alia urged the judiciary staff to put the vehicles to good use for the benefit of the state.

He said four of the cars were for the State High Court judges, while two were for the judges of the Customary Court of Appeal.

Speaking in his capacity as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice and Public Order, Mr Mnyim commended the governor for promoting the rule of law in the state.

He also commended Mr Alia for granting autonomy to the judiciary for optimal performance.

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Mr Mnyim said the ministry took delivery of the vehicles, and a date would be communicated for the presentation of the cars to the judges.

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A civil society organisation, SERAP, has urged President Bola Tinubu to use his good offices to immediately direct the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to withdraw the cybersecurity levy on Nigerians as it patently violates the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and the countrys international human rights obligations and commitments.

In a statement on Tuesday, the anti-corruption advocacy group called for the review of the amended law that the CBN seeks to implement with the new directive.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the CBN on Monday asked banks in Nigeria to start charging a 0.5 per cent cybersecurity levy on online transactions. The CBN said the directive was to implement the amended Cybercrime Act.

In its statement, SERAP urged President Tinubu to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN to immediately prepare and present a bill to amend section 44 and other repressive provisions of the Cybercrimes Act 2024.

Read the full SERAP statement below.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Bola Tinubu to use his good offices to immediately direct the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to withdraw the cybersecurity levy on Nigerians as it patently violates the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and the countrys international human rights obligations and commitments.

SERAP also urged him to stop Mr Nuhu Ribadu and the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) from implementing section 44 and other repressive provisions of the Cybercrimes Act 2024 as it flagrantly violates the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party.

SERAP urged him to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN to immediately prepare and present a bill to amend section 44 and other repressive provisions of the Cybercrimes Act 2024 to the National Assembly so that those provisions can be brought in line with the Nigerian Constitution and the countrys international human rights obligations.

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In a statement today signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: The Tinubu administration must within 48 hours withdraw the patently arbitrary and unlawful CBN directive purportedly imposing cybersecurity levy on Nigerians.

SERAP said, Section 44(8) criminalizing the non-payment of the cybersecurity levy by Nigerians is grossly unlawful and constitutional.

The statement, read in part: Our lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, is already preparing the necessary court papers should the administration fail or neglect to act as recommended.

The administration must urgently take concrete and effective measures to ensure the repeal of section 44 and other repressive provisions of the Cybercrimes Act 2024.

If the unlawful CBN directive is not withdrawn and appropriate steps are not taken to amend the repressive provisions of the Cybercrimes Act within 48 hours, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel the Tinubu administration to comply with our request in the public interest.

Withdrawing the unlawful CBN directive and repealing the repressive provisions of the Cybercrimes Act 2024 will be entirely consistent with president Tinubus constitutional oath of office requires public officials to uphold the provisions of the constitution, and the rule of law and abstain from all improper acts.

The repressive provisions of the Cybercrimes Act 2024 are clearly inconsistent and incompatible with the public trust and the overall objectives of the Constitution. A false oath lacks truth and justice. The oath statements require the oath takers to commit to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Section 14(2)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended] provides that, the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.

The CBN yesterday has directed banks and other financial institutions to implement a 0.5 percent cybersecurity levy on electronic transfers on the basis of the section 44 44(2)(a) of the Cybercrimes Act 2024 purportedly imposing a a levy of 0.005 equivalent to a half percent of all electronic transactions value by the business specified in the second schedule of the Act.

The money is to be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF), which shall be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

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The Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, has criticised the quality of renovation carried out in the senate permanent chamber.

Mr Ndume, the senator for Borno South, lamented that the chamber was poorly renovated despite the billions of naira expended on it.

The senator made the remarks during the plenary on Tuesday.

PREMIUM TIMES had exclusively reported that the federal government awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of the National Assembly complex to Visible Construction Limited for the sum of N42 billion.

This is despite the fact that former President Muhammadu Buhari approved N37 billion to renovate the National Assembly complex in 2019.

The complex is maintained and managed by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) and was under renovation for about two years.

While it was ongoing, the lawmakers held plenary sessions in a temporary chamber at the Senate wing of the National Assembly.

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The lawmakers however resumed plenary in the permanent chamber last Tuesday after they returned from four weeks of Easter and Eid-el-Fitr holiday.

Upon resumption, some of the senators expressed dissatisfaction with the sitting arrangements in the renovated chamber.

At todays plenary, Mr Ndume complained that the structural view, chairs, speakers and other equipment in the chamber were not properly fixed.

Chamber like conference room

Mr Ndume said the permanent chamber renovated with N42 billion looks like a conference room and not a chamber where legislations are made.

This is not a chamber, it is like a conference room. You will not even know that it is me, Ndume that is speaking, so also when the leader was speaking, he said.

The senator noted that the sitting arrangement and fixing of chairs in the renovated chamber also require correction.

We need to correct this. We need to change so many things. Like the sitting row, if you want to stand up, you will have to use tactics or strategy to stand up or sit down he added.

No voting device

Mr Ndume also listed lack of electronic devices for voting as one of the challenges in the renovated chamber.

There is no voting device here, if we are to vote electronically, the facilities are not there, but we had that previously.

There is no clock here for senators to see the time. Okay they are trying to show me and I am looking for it, it is not even clear. There used to be a big one.

Echoing speakers

The Senate whip also complained that microphones and speakers in the chamber are not audible.

He specifically observed that the speakers are echoing the voices of lawmakers when they are contributing to discussions on the floor of the Senate.

This is a serious observation. If you play back the record, you cannot identify Akpabios voice, you have to listen hard, but the audio is supposed to be very clear, the senator added.

And most importantly, these seats were better. You have where you can put your documents and conveniently make your contributions, but right now the chamber is echoing.

And lastly, the sitting arrangements, the rules clearly states that it is strictly on seniority. You have some seniors misplaced. All these should be corrected, he added.

Responding, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, shifted blame of the irregularities in the renovated chamber to the leadership of the ninth Senate led by Ahmed Lawan and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA).

Mr Akpabio said the renovation contract was managed by previous Senate leadership and management of the FCDA.

In the sitting arrangement, 99.9 per cent arrangement had been made.

This is not our contract, it was a contract that was awarded in the 9th Senate. It is the FCDA that renovated it. If we have a complaint, we have to channel it to the FCDA, Mr Akpabio said.

The senate president also stressed the need for the autonomy of the National Assembly.

We shall discuss in the future the need to have autonomy. After 25 years, the National Assembly should be able to own property, he said.

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Troops of the Nigerian Army in conjunction with personnel of other security agencies have eliminated a notorious IPOB/ESN Commander, known as Tochukwu, otherwise known as Ojoto, and two others in an encounter at their camp at Ihiteukwa in Imo State.

The Nigerian Army said in a post on X on Tuesday that the operation was conducted with personnel of the Nigeria Police, State Security Service, and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.

It said the troops conducted a successful special clearance operation across the general areas of Udda, Ihiteukwa, and Orsumoghu, along the borders of Orsu and Ihiala Local Government Areas of Imo and Anambra states, respectively.

The army added that the troops encountered members of IPOB and ESN who had been using the area as a sanctuary.

The army said the insurgents, on sighting troops, employed guerrilla tactics, lobbing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from concealed positions and riddling the roads with booby traps.

According to the army, in spite of the terrorists guerrilla tactics, troops maintained their resolve and countered the attacks with tactical precision, employing superior firepower to neutralise Tochukwu and two others.

The operation led to the recovery of firearms, communication devices, narcotics, and personal effects of the terrorists. Notably, two undetonated IEDs, six detonated IEDs and bomb-making materials were captured by the gallant troops.

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The operation has dealt a significant blow to the terrorists networks in the region.

The IEDs and bomb-making materials were safely destroyed, it said.

The army said that its troops, in another operation in Cross River State, South-south Nigeria, engaged in a fierce gun battle with a group of suspected kidnappers in the remote community of Akparanbong in Ikom Local Government Area.

It said that the troops, while on routine patrol stormed the kidnappers hideout, leading to a gun battle that forced the kidnappers to retreat hastily leaving behind two AK 47 rifles, six magazines, variety of ammunition and three mobile phones.

All the items have been recovered by the troops, according to the army,

(NAN)

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A member of the House of Representatives from Borno State, Ahmed Jaha, has asked the federal government to engage foreign military mercenaries to tackle insecurity in Nigeria.

Mr Jaha, who represents Chibok/Domboa/Gwoza federal constituency of Borno State, said the government should bring back the mercenaries used by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

The lawmaker made the call on Tuesday during a debate on a motion on insecurity moved by Ginger Onwusibe (LP, Abia) during plenary.

Mr Onwusibe had moved a motion on the tragic killing of Onumegbu Ifeanyi, a civil servant in Abia State. He was allegedly killed by five naval officers.

While contributing to the motion, Mr Jaha asked the federal government to consider bringing in mercenaries to end the nations lingering security challenges.

We can bring in mercenaries. It was attempted during President Goodluck Jonathan, they were about to finish Boko Haram. The new president (Muhammadu Buhari) was convinced and he moved them out of the country and the insecurity keeps on escalating to other parts of the country, he said.

Background

Nigeria has been battling violent extremists in the north-eastern parts of the country since 2009.

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During Mr Jonathans administration, the group became emboldened and carried out several bombings in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Mr Jonathan in 2014 reportedly hired some ex-South African Defence Force (SADF) soldiers to train the Nigerian Armed Forces to combat the terrorists in the northeastern part of the country.

However, the then government denied hiring machineries as fighters, noting that they were just consultants.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired army general, rode to power on the strenght of a promise to tackle insecurity across the country and openly opposed the use of foreign mercenaries. However, in his eight years in office, insecurity spread to other parts of the country.

Security agencies have failed us Jaha

Mr Jaha said the security agencies have clearly failed Nigerians, and he will be leading the push for the adoption of military contractors.

We are going to organise a movement to present a position paper on the attempt to bring machinery to bring an end to insecurity since our security agencies have failed Nigerians, he said.

He said security agencies have failed to end violent insurgents, despite the allocation of N19 trillion to security-related agencies.

In as much as a substantial amount of money is not going to be allocated or will continue to be allocated to security agencies, insecurity will never come to an end in Nigeria.

From 2015 to 2023, more than N19 trillion was allocated to security and security-related sectors in Nigeria whereas, we have an alternative, he said.

House to probe killing

While presenting his motion, Mr Onwusibe said Mr Ifeanyi was reportedly killed by five naval officers.

He called for investigation into the killing.

Consequently, the House resolved to mandate the Nigerian Navy to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the events leading to Mr Onumaegbus death, with a focus on identifying all individuals involved and holding them accountable under the law.

It also urged the authorities of the Nigerian Navy to implement measures to prevent similar incidents of torture and abuse within the Nigerian Navy, including enhanced training on human rights and adherence to legal protocols.

The House urged the federal government to provide adequate support and compensation to the family of the deceased.

Members voted in support of the motion when Speaker Abbas Tajudeen put it to vote.

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The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, says foreign miners are benefiting more from the nations solid minerals than their Nigerian hosts.

Mr Akpabio said this on Tuesday at a three-day investigative hearing on the need to review the nations mining industry.

The hearing was organised by the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals Development.

Mr Akpabio, while analysing the situation of the mining sector, explained that foreign miners exploited Nigerias solid minerals and left the country to continue facing insecurity.

As usual, more foreigners are earning in mining than Nigerians. Instead, they left us with tales of woes including insecurity the senate president said.

Foreign exchange

Mr Akpabio also said the nations mining sector ought to be a catalyst that determines foreign exchange.

He also noted that if the sector can be controlled, it would help the country achieve social inclusion and empower Nigerians.

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We can no longer overlook the immense potential of this sector. The mining industry should be a cornerstone of our foreign exchange earnings and a catalyst for social inclusion and empowerment he added.

The senate president said Nigeria possesses the capacity to lead other countries in the mining sector because the nation is blessed with abundant solid mineral resources.

Our beloved country, blessed with abundant mineral resources, has the potential to become a global powerhouse in the mining sector.

However, to realise this potential, we must confront the challenges that hinder the growth of this sector. This investigative hearing presents us with an opportunity to ask the tough questions, identify these challenges, and develop effective strategies to overcome them.

Unaccounted mining

The Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals Development, Sampson Ekong, lamented uncontrolled and unchecked illegal mining activities in the country.

Mr Ekong, the senator representing Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District, noted that the unchecked illegal mining is increasing insecurity challenges in the country.

It is disturbing that as a country, we have not been able to adequately maximise the advantage of our huge endowments. The nation loses so much daily, to illegal, unaccounted for and undocumented mining.

There have also been mounting concerns over misuse of our natural endowment to fuel insecurity. All these have to be checked through our collective efforts.

We have a duty to make the Nigerian solid minerals sector work optimally, generate the projected revenue for the country, improve our GDP and strengthen our economy, he said.

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China sees drop in cross-regional medical service demand: official

Xinhua) 21:56, May 07, 2024

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China has seen a significant drop in cross-regional medical service demand as the country revamps its public hospital system to achieve high-quality development, according to an official from the National Health Commission (NHC).

NHC official Zhu Hongbiao told a press conference on Tuesday that the country has been pushing forward a new system for the high-quality development of public hospitals, with the establishment of national medical centers of 13 categories and over 230 regional medical centers.

Zhu said these projects have greatly reduced the number of people seeking medical treatment across provinces or regions. He noted that efforts have been made to provide the public with integrated and continuous medical and health services, including disease prevention and treatment, rehabilitation, and health promotion.

The country has provided support for the development of 961 key clinical specialties at the national level and another 3,800 at the provincial level.

Initiatives have been launched to improve the quality of medical services and promote patient-friendly measures such as appointment service, multi-disciplinary diagnosis and treatment, day surgery, and mutual recognition of examination and test results between medical institutions, Zhu said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
The introduction of the 0.5 per cent cybersecurity levy on all banking transactions has sparked widespread discontent among Nigerians.

On Monday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a circular to various financial institutions, including commercial, merchant, non-interest, and payment service banks, indicating that the levy would come into effect two weeks from 6 May.

The levy shall be applied at the point of electronic transfer origination, then deducted and remitted by the financial institution. The deducted amount shall be reflected in the customers account with the narration, Cybersecurity Levy.

Deductions shall commence within two weeks from the date of this circular for all financial institutions and the monthly remittance of the levies collected in bulk to the NCF account domiciled at the CBN by the fifth business day of every subsequent month, the directive read in part.

Reactions

Nigerians nationwide are expressing their dissatisfaction, highlighting that banking transactions are becoming increasingly costly due to numerous charges.

A user on the X microblogging platform, Sarki, wrote: In a country plagued by hardship, poverty, & unemployment, the Federal government has introduced new cyber security levies.

Lola Okunrin, another user, noted that Cybersecurity Levy in a country where its looking like bank staff are giving out our banking details to scammers. Our cyberspace is not secure at all and we are getting charged for it,

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In its intervention, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Nigeria Labour Congress have called for the withdrawal of the directive.

In a statement issued by Kolawole Oluwadare, Deputy Director of SERAP, the organisation called on President Bola Tinubus administration to retract the arbitrary and illegal directive issued by the CBN within 48 hours.

SERAP also urged the administration to halt Nuhu Ribadu and the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) from enforcing section 44 and other oppressive clauses of the Cybercrimes Act 2024.

These measures blatantly contravene the Nigerian Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all of which Nigeria is a signatory to, the organisation said.

If the unlawful CBN directive is not withdrawn and appropriate steps are not taken to amend the repressive provisions of the Cybercrimes Act within 48 hours, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel the Tinubu administration to comply with our request in the public interest.

Withdrawing the unlawful CBN directive and repealing the repressive provisions of the Cybercrimes Act 2024 will be entirely consistent with President Tinubus constitutional oath of office requires public officials to uphold the provisions of the constitution, and the rule of law and abstain from all improper acts, the statement read in parts.

The NLC raised concerns over the imposition of a levy on electronic transactions, arguing that it burdens workers and vulnerable groups.

The union said it recognizes the importance of cybersecurity in todays digital age but imposing such a levy on electronic transactions, without due consideration for its implications on workers and the vulnerable segments of society, is unjustifiable.

This levy stands as another tax too much for Nigerians, burdening them with additional financial responsibilities, a press statement signed by its president, Joe Ajaero, said.

We see in this levy another gang up by the ruling elite to continue its extortion and exploitation of hapless and helpless workers and the masses so that their cronies in various financial centres can continue wallowing in unbridled consumption. During our last May day speech we called on the government to prioritize the welfare of Nigerian workers and masses in their policy directions and actions instead of profit-seeking that unleashes more pressure on the people.

We wonder when it has become a crime for the people to save their meagre incomes in the Banks and whether the government intends to encourage people to resort once again to keeping cash and using cash transactions instead of electronic transfers which seem to have become an undoing for the people?

While the CBN has exempted interbank transfers and loan transactions from this levy, the broader impact on everyday transactions cannot be overlooked. Such deductions directly affect the disposable income of workers and further diminish the purchasing power of the common citizen, the statement said.

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The House of Representatives has urged the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, the State Security Service (SSS) and heads of other security agencies to probe the recent killings of some Nigerians in Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

This resolution was a sequel to a motion of urgent public importance moved by Amos Daniel (PDP, Kaduna) on Tuesday during plenary session.

Moving the motion, Mr Daniel informed the House that six persons were killed on Sunday in Ambe, a settlement in the Arak chiefdom.

He stated that the attackers stormed the community on motorcycles during a birthday celebration. He stated that several persons were also left injured after the attack.

The lawmaker explained that youth in the community apprehended one of the attackers and they handed him over to security agencies.

Since the unfortunate incident, residents of the area have been left traumatised and unable to carry out their daily businesses in fear of the unknown, Mr Daniel said.

Consequently, the House urged the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation and the National Emergency Management Agency to provide food and non-food items to the affected victims.

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The House further mandated its Committees on Police, Army and Emergency and Disaster Preparedness to ensure compliance.

The motion was adopted without debate when the presiding officer, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen put the question to vote.

Enugu killings..

The House also deliberated on a motion moved by Martin Oke (PDP, Enugu) on the recent attacks on some communities in Enugu State.

In his motion, Mr Oke said Nimbo, Opanda and Ogboli communities have become the centre of killings and kidnappings in recent times.

Mr Okes motion called for the deployment of security personnel in these communities to end the general insecurity in Enugu State.

Following the adoption of the motion, the House directed the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Taoreed Lagbaja, the Director General of State Security Service (DSS) and National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to deploy more security personnel to Uzo-Uwani LGA of the state for increased security surveillance and support.

The two motions were taken unanimously when they were put to vote by the presiding officer, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen.

Motions on different security-related motions by lawmakers dominated Tuesdays session lawmakers.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the consideration of the motion on the alleged killing of a civil servant by the Nigerian Navy in Abia State, and the call for the hiring of mercenaries by Ahmed Jaha.

In all, the House observed a one-minute silence at four different times in honour of the victims during Tuesdays session.

The Minority Leader of the House, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), said most of the resolutions by the House on insecurity have not yielded much.

Mr Chinda lamented the number of times the House observed one-minute silence in honour of Nigerians killed without action.

All these motions we moved today are worthy of deeper consideration. If you observe Mr Speaker, this might be the fourth time we are observing a one-minute silence. If you recall, at our last meeting, we were almost tagging our country One Nigerian live, one-minute silence.

It is not enough. There is hardly any week we dont depend on section 14(2) of the constitution which has to do with the security of lives and properties. What are we doing as a parliament? I think we have to take all our security-related resolutions and begin to ensure compliance with some of these resolutions.

We arrive at resolutions day in and day out, and nothing happens. And to Nigerians, it appears we are not doing anything. I believe we have enforcement mechanisms, and it is high time we enforced our compliance, Mr Chinda said.

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The Nigerian Army on Monday began the conduct of its 2024 conversion for 528 Short Service and Direct Short Service officers.

Declaring the exercise open in Jos, the Plateau State capital, North-central Nigeria, Abdusalam Abubakar, a major-general, President of the Conversion Board, said the exercise was an annual event.

Mr Abubakar, who is the General Officer Commanding, 3 Division of the Nigerian Army, Rukuba, near Jos, said that the exercise would hold between 6 and 19 May.

He explained that the exercise would enable its officers recruited on the short service and direct short service basis, willing to remain in service to convert.

This is a periodic exercise aimed at coverting from short service and direct short service combatant to Regular Commission and Direct Regular Commission, respectively.

This is very significant in the career progression of officers, especially those who want to continue in service.

In all, we have 528 officers who are participating in this exercise, he said.

Mr Abubakar explained that the candidates would be tested in weapon handling, medical fitness, drills, oral interview, among others.

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The President, who thanked the Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, a lieutenant-general, for approving the exercise, warned the candidates against cheating, bribery and use of enhancement drugs during the exercise.

He also advised them to be security conscious and report any suspicious movements around them for prompt action.

(NAN)

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South-West leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) met on Monday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, to strategise ahead of the November governorship election in Ondo State.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting, hosted by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, was held at the Presidential Lodge, Government House, Agodi, Ibadan.

Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting, Mr Makinde said the party leaders convergence opened up the process of reconciling PDP tendencies in Ondo State.

He noted that the PDP family had begun to speak with one voice.

According to him, the partys governorship candidate in the November election in Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, and others will team up to ensure the party excel at the election.

The governor said all PDP leaders and stakeholders from across the six South-West states were behind Mr Ajayi.

He expressed optimism that the party candidate would reclaim Ondo State from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

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With our leaders from across the South-West standing behind our candidate in Ondo State, I think it is a strong signal to the present occupier of the Ondo State Government House that PDP is coming and it will happen.

Our candidate, Mr Agboola Ajayi, is here and the first step forward for us is to reconcile all the tendencies in Ondo State.

This is because once we have a unified PDP in Ondo State, we have a path to the Alagbaka Government House, Akure, he said.

Giving details of the meeting, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State told journalists that the South-west PDP came together to deliberate on the affairs of the party regarding the forthcoming election in Ondo State.

Mr Adeleke said the leaders congratulated Mr Ajayi for winning the party primary in a transparent process that showed the PDP was a democratic party that followed due process.

We also began the reconciliation process, because we know some people are upset and we believe our leaders will go back home to bring everybody together, he said.

Thereafter, Mr Ajayi thanked Mr Makinde and Mr Adeleke as well as other PDP leaders for their support ahead of the election.

According to him, the party is formidable in Ondo State as all members of one family are working to deliver the state to the PDP fold in November.

Among the PDP leaders who attended the meeting were former governors of Osun and Ondo states, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Olusegun Mimiko, respectively.

The 2023 PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu; a former PDP governorship candidate in Ondo State, Eyitayo Jegede; and former Deputy National Chairman of the party, C Olabode George, also attended the meeting.

PDP Deputy National Chairman (South), Amb. Taofeek Arapaja; and the party South-West Chairman, Kamoru Ajisafe, were also in attendance.

Currently, the PDP is in power in two out of the six states in the region. The two stat3s under PDPs control are Oyo and Osun. The rest of Ogun, Ondo, Lagos and Etiki are bring governed by All Progressives Congress governors.

(NAN)

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The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) has cleared and released the results of 531 candidates who sat the recently concluded 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination (UTME).

These are part of the 64,000 withheld results for further investigations into possible examination misconducts, JAMB said in a statement by its spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, on Tuesday.

Last week, the board released results of 1,842,464 candidates, withholding some 64,000 candidates results.

The JAMB Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, a professor of Islamic Studies, had explained that 78 of the withheld results are under investigation for alleged examination misconducts, 4,594 for procedural investigation, 2,896 under investigation on verification, and 57,056 for centre-based investigations.

With the new released results, the total number of 2024 UTME results released has increased to 1,842,897.

In the course of the exercise, other cases of examination misconduct were also established to make a tally of 92 from the 81 initially discovered, Mr Fabian said.

He said the board is also looking at cases of unverified candidates and would soon come up with a position.

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2024 UTME

More than 1.9 million candidates took the computer-based examination to rank candidates seeking admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions between Friday, 19 and 29 April.

In announcing the release of the 2024 UTME results last Monday, JAMB registrar noted that only 8,401, representing 0.5 per cent of candidates, scored 300 and above in the examination. The maximum score obtainable in the UTME is 400.

He said 77,070, representing 4.2 per cent, scored 250 and above and that 439,974, representing 24 per cent, scored 200 and above.

He added that 1,402,490, representing 76 per cent of candidates, scored below 200.

Clarifications

Meanwhile, JAMB has denied claims that candidates who did not sit the 2024 UTME obtained scores.

This is fake, malicious and a calculated attempt to undermine the integrity of the Board. The public is urged to disregard such irresponsible publications, he said, insisting such a publication was crafted by mischief makers to paint the board in bad light.

He added: The examination template of the board is designed with the highest sense of responsibility and is not an allocation platform where scores are doled out to candidates. It is most unfortunate that anybody could even believe such narration or that the story could even gain traction given the Boards integrity.

The examination body also asked candidates to desist from disclosing their classified details to third parties.

JAMB said: In investigating some of these allegations, the Board discovered that some of these mischief makers copy results sent to other candidates, edit the details sent to themselves and then parade this as emanating from the Board.

The Board challenges any candidate, parent or anybody with such a claim or information to prove it wrong by coming forward with the details of such claims and the phone number with which such results were conveyed.

Consequently, the Board is primed to add more features like registration number to the existing UTME Result checking process going forward to make it extra difficult for anybody to edit.

For now, the method of checking the 2024 UTME remains sending UTMERESULT to 55019 or 66019 and not through any other process. The result, at the moment, is not on the Boards website, he added.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe

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The group of Nigerian lawmakers advocating Nigerias return to the parliamentary system of government has launched an essay competition and called for papers on the issue.

The Parliamentary System Support Group (PSSG) announced this in a statement it issued on Tuesday as it intensified its campaign for Nigeria to return to the system of government it ran until the military coup of 16 January 1966 sacked the First Republic.

According to the statement, the topic of the essay is As Nigeria marks 25 years of uninterrupted democratic rule, the assertion that a home-grown parliamentary system of government is the best alternative to the current presidential system in Nigeria has been the subject of very many commentaries. Proponents of the parliamentary system argue that the system promotes inclusivity, effective representation and accountability all of which are essential for economic, social/political stability and progress. Discuss.

The group said the national initiative seeks to explore the potential shift from the current presidential system to a home-grown parliamentary system, aiming to foster a deeper understanding among young Nigerians of the structures that underpin democratic processes and governance efficiency in Nigeria.

The deadline for the submission of the essays is 12 June, Nigerias Democracy Day.

See the full statement and details of the competition below:

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The Nigerian government has deliberated on strategic measures to bolster the countrys health system and its proposal for the World Banks Pandemic Fund.

Speaking at a National Dialogue on Nigerias Pandemic Fund Application in Abuja on Monday, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, said the fund is a critical resource for pandemic preparedness and to combat health threats in Nigeria.

The Pandemic Fund is a collaborative initiative aimed at strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities in low- and middle-income countries.

It is a partnership hosted by the World Bank with the World Health Organisation (WHO) as technical lead.

Nigeria is looking to apply for the second round of funding with a $500 million envelope for eligible countries.

Mr Pate said in his opening remarks that the stakeholders dialogue is to craft a coherent proposal that Nigeria can present to the global pandemic fund negotiations.

He also outlined the implementation of a sector-wide approach to enhance surveillance, detection, and readiness for potential outbreaks, emphasising the nations commitment to self-reliance in health security.

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Essence of dialogue

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Jide Idris, explained that the dialogue was aimed at fostering transparency and collaboration to address the challenges associated with pandemics.

Mr Idris said: This dialogue serves as a platform for meaningful exchange, to refine strategies, ensure accountability and optimisation in our application so that our national priorities will be clearly defined to develop a comprehensive and compelling grant application, with a unified national voice i.e. a one country proposal.

Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is evident that our country needs a robust health security infrastructure with emphasis on prevention, disease surveillance, and preparedness and response capabilities.

In his remarks, Mr Pate further reiterated that health security was a critical pillar of the 4-point agenda on health of the Tinubu administration.

The pandemic fund represents a critical resource in our arsenal to combat health threats. While it is not the only tool available, it is a significant one that can help facilitate the cross-sectoral collaboration necessary to address complex health challenges effectively, he noted.

The minister also cited a recent study showing the presence of potential pandemic pathogens in fruit bats in an urban area, and he underscored the importance of the OneHealth approach and collaboration across ministries

Pandemic preparedness, funding

In her comments, the Programme Director of the Division of Global Health Protection at US CDC Nigeria, Farah Husain, noted that there is a shortage of funding to prevent pandemic diseases in Nigeria

Ms Husain noted that the CDC recognises the urgent need to continue to invest resources to address the long-term shortage of funding for pandemic preparedness.

She also emphasised the need for collective efforts from various stakeholders, including government institutions and international partners, to build resilient systems and effectively tackle health security challenges.

She acknowledged the importance of innovative financing mechanisms like the pandemic fund in driving results and reversing the trend of underfunding health security initiatives.

The WHO Representative in Nigeria, Walter Mulombo, in his remarks, called for a unified approach and increased investment in health security measures to safeguard the population and mitigate future risks.

Mr Mulombo stressed the significance of initiatives like the pandemic plan in enhancing readiness for future pandemics and health emergencies.

He also highlighted the need for funding and support for organisations like NCDC to drive these efforts forward.

Also, in her goodwill message, the Senior Country Manager at Gavi, Jessica Crawford, said the organisation is excited, and looking towards providing support for pandemic responses.

Other development partners at the event, including the US CDC, and Resolve to Save Lives, pledged commitment to supporting Nigerias response to disease.

More about pandemic fund

Speaking on the pandemic Fund, the Head of Global Health Security Programme at the Infectious Diseases Institute Mohammed Lamorde stated that the second call for proposal has an envelope of $500 million but the amount that Nigeria can apply for as a country is $25 million.

He, however, noted Nigeria will be working with the Ministry of Environment as well to ensure a holistic view and that the application is done with one health perspective.

Established in September 2022 and officially launched during a G20 meeting, the Pandemic Fund is the first multilateral financing mechanism dedicated to providing multi-year grants to help low  and middle-income countries prepare for future pandemics.

According to the World Bank, the fund received 179 applications from 133 countries in its first Call for Proposals.

The first round of awards was granted in July 2023, totalling $338 million that will leverage over $2 billion to help 37 countries strengthen their capacity to prevent, prepare for, and respond to pandemics.

Over 30 per cent of the grants allocated are for projects in sub-Saharan Africa, and over 75 per cent are in low and middle-income countries.

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Embattled former chairman of the Park Management System (PMS) in Oyo State, Mukaila Lamidi, popularly known as Auxiliary, has been arrested by men of the State Security Service (SSS), Nigerias intelligence agency.

Multiple sources confirmed that Mr Lamidi was picked up in Ibadan at about 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

Though the reason for his arrest is still unclear, PREMIUM TIMES learnt that it might not be unconnected with some comments he made during an interview he granted on a YouTube channel a few days ago.

In the said interview, he made allusions on a wide range of issues to the state governor, Seyi Makinde and some high-ranking government officials.

Efforts to seek further clarification on the arrest from government representatives, including the Special Adviser on Security Matters to the governor, Fatai Owoseni, were unsuccessful.

Mr Lamidi was arrested by the administration of the late Abiola Ajimobi in 2014. He was jailed in 2016 and later released towards the end of Ajimobis government in 2018.

Details later

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A man convicted for rape and impregnating his daughter has been re-arrested by the police, four years after escaping from a prison in Benin City, Edo State, South-south Nigeria.

Jacob Alone, 58, was convicted and sentenced to 21 years imprisonment, the police in Edo State said in a statement posted on X on Tuesday.

During his trial in court, the victim who happened to be his daughter died in a ghastly motor accident while coming to give evidence in court. Through intelligence gathering, the suspect was re-arrested.

We are returning him to where he belongs because from information gathered about him, he is a very dangerous man to the society, the police said.

Edo jailbreak

Mr Alone was one of the 1,993 inmates who escaped during the 2020 jailbreak in Benin and Oko prisons in Edo State.

The #EndSARS protesters had stormed the Custodial Centre, freed the inmates and looted the centres, including the weapons in their armoury, Mohammed Manga, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, had said four years ago.

Several persons were said to have sustained gunshot injuries as prison guards engaged the invaders in a shootout.

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Nigeria has witnessed frequent jailbreaks, with some of the escapees re-arrested by the police.

PREMIUM TIMES in May last year reported how the police re-arrested two Kuje prison escapees at another crime scene.

The inmates escaped when terrorists used explosives to breach the correction facility, resulting in the escape of over 800 of the 994 inmates.

The two prison escapees were re-arrested in Adamawa State.

In 2022, this newspaper reported how the police re-arrested one of the inmates, Mohammed Ibrahim, who escaped from the Jos custodial centre.

Mr Ibrahim was among those who escaped from the prison during the 2021 jailbreak in Jos, Plateau state.

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Another point that cannot be ignored is the work going into increasing generation capacity. Very soon, the brand-new Zungeru Hydropower Plant, completed in 2023, will start delivering electricity consistently to the national grid. 700MW of power, making it the second largest hydropower plant in the country, and the biggest single investment in generation in at least three decades. It has already been concessioned and handed over to the private sector operator that will run it

Nigerias power sector happens to be one of the knottiest sectors of the economy, daily driving consumers and administrators to despair. Electricity in the 21st century is something that has come to be taken for granted in many parts of the world, and yet here we are in Nigeria seemingly unable to figure it out. For millions of Nigerians, understandably, all that is seen and felt is a general oppressive failure  interminable blackouts, recurring news of the electricity grid collapsing, and the steep costs of alternative fuelling.

And yet, if one looks a bit more dispassionately, encouraging signs of progress can be seen here and there. One example: Two years ago, I went in search of grid collapse data in Nigeria, and found some interesting information: Nigeria had gone from 42 grid collapses (total and partial) in 2010, to 10 in 2015, and four each in 2020 and 2021, and three in 2023. In between, a couple of spikes, like 2016 that saw 28, and 2022 that had six (up from four the previous year), but on the whole, the trend has been an impressively-declining one, suggesting increasing levels of grid stability.

Recently, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) put out a statement highlighting that 2020 till date has seen 76 per cent less grid disturbances than 2015 to 2019. This data is necessary, not for the purpose of premature or bar-lowering celebration, or for silencing public discontent, but instead for (valuable and necessary) context; for addition to the all-important debate about what direction were headed in, regarding our power sector.

Even as the sector remains a long way from where it should be, we should at any point in time be able to assess data to see whether were headed in the right direction or not. The grid disturbance data trend certainly gives cause for some optimism. I firmly believe that optimism is always needed to energise the collective search for lasting solutions. Nigeria cannot at any time afford despondency.

This increasing stability of the grid can be explained: the outcome of a series of ongoing interventions targeted at expanding grid capacity and stability. One of the more recent ones is the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), also known as the Siemens programem, a government-to-government partnership between Germany and Nigeria, with Siemens as the technical/engineering partner.

Launched just before COVID hit, the pandemic slowed it down quite a bit, necessitating a significant extension of the timeline, but the project remains well on course, with five workstreams in its scope: Transmission, Distribution, Network Simulation, Meter Data Management, and Training / Capacity Building. The 10 mega-transformers and 10 mobile substations that were ordered in 2021 for the first phase of implementation have since been delivered and are being installed at various sites across the country. Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu formally inaugurated completed installations in five sites in February, and another two at the start of May.

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Another point that cannot be ignored is the work going into increasing generation capacity. Very soon, the brand-new Zungeru Hydropower Plant, completed in 2023, will start delivering electricity consistently to the national grid. 700MW of power, making it the second largest hydropower plant in the country, and the biggest single investment in generation in at least three decades. It has already been concessioned and handed over to the private sector operator that will run it for the next thirty years. 700MW will make a significant difference when it comes on-stream, joining a host of smaller plants recently completed (privately and publicly owned), like Geometric in Abia, Kashimbila in Taraba, Challawa Solar in Kano, and Gurara in Kaduna.

the issues in the electricity supply industry are complex (i.e., consisting of many different parts connected in complicated ways), and also that theres no magic wand to be waved for solutions. The only feasible solutions lie in the following: clearing the backlog of debts; getting more money flowing into and through the system, to unlock more fuel (gas especially); getting more meters installed, to reduce collection losses; and investing in the power grid, so that collapses can dwindle to zero, and more electricity can be consistently delivered to consumers.

Much of what Ive touched on above is focused on infrastructure or engineering  the hardware of the power sector. The towering elephant in the room, however, happens to lie in a different but interlinked area: the flow of money through the sector; the economics. This is the part thats invisible to most people, unlike the substations and the transformers and meters and power lines, etc. And yet this flow of money is the most important element, the one needs to enable the infrastructure to deliver a consistent, sustainable, enduring flow of electricity.

And this is where Nigerias biggest challenges lie. The DisCos need money to run, and to pay the GenCos that supply them with electricity. The GenCos also need money to run, and to pay the suppliers of the fuel that power the generating plants  gas (thermal stations), and water (hydropower stations). To put it in the simplest possible way, the industry cannot exist in the absence of a guarantee of an unbroken flow of money from the end-users  homes, offices, industries  all the way to the suppliers of the fuels.

The Federal Government says that at the start of 2024, it was compelled to provide subsidies amounting to 90 per cent of the monthly amount due to be paid by the DisCos to the GenCos. This subsidy came to over N210 billion monthly, and by the end of 2024 would have added up to around N2.5 trillion, for the year. It is mind-boggling that Nigerias DisCos are only able to collect, on the average, 10 per cent of the electricity they sell (some DisCos are definitely much more commercially efficient than others). There are various reasons for this, of course.

The Federal Government says that the cost per unit of electricity in Nigeria is too low, and unable to sustain commercial operations. The solution to this is to raise prices, which is what was recently done  but specifically for Band A consumers  the roughly 15 per cent of consumers who the government says are most financially able to pay non-subsidised rates (and who in 2023 accounted for about 70 per cent of all revenues collected by DisCos), in exchange for a minimum of 20 hours of electricity per day. The Government says this increase has helped halve the subsidy being paid, pushing the market closer to being self-sustaining. (Theres evidently a conundrum here: citizens say give us more power and we will pay for it; government says you need to pay more to enjoy more).

At the moment, also, the DisCos are experiencing significant technical and commercial losses  this simply means that quite a bit of electricity is lost in the process of delivering it to consumers, due to bad/aging/inadequate equipment, and also due to gaps and failures in metering, which allow electricity to be consumed without being paid for. Of the 12 million electricity points that should be metered in Nigeria today, only about five million are currently metered, according to government data. That leaves over six million points where theres no accurate way of measuring consumption and therefore imposing requisite payment. The solution here is obviously to close that metering gap, hence the planned rollout of a new, aggressive metering initiative. (The last one delivered just under a million new meters, not insignificant, but still well below target).

and the questions as to whether Nigeria will ever break this jinx of familiar darkness. I think we definitely can, and will, eventually, but it wont happen without some hard decisions, old-fashioned resoluteness, greater public understanding (which means better government communication), and an openness to being boldly creative about our approaches to the problems  knowing that Nigerias path to success may very well lie in realms quite different from the experiences and models of other countries.

Another big challenge is the historical debts being owed the fuel suppliers, especially the gas companies. Estimates Ive seen classify this debt into two categories, a pre-2014 debt of $1.3 billion owed gas suppliers, and a more recent debt of N1.3 trillion collectively owed GenCos and gas suppliers.

All of these lead to a point that cannot be overstressed, which is that the issues in the electricity supply industry are complex (i.e., consisting of many different parts connected in complicated ways), and also that theres no magic wand to be waved for solutions. The only feasible solutions lie in the following: clearing the backlog of debts; getting more money flowing into and through the system, to unlock more fuel (gas especially); getting more meters installed, to reduce collection losses; and investing in the power grid, so that collapses can dwindle to zero, and more electricity can be consistently delivered to consumers.

Not to forget this one: decentralising the sector so that state governments can step up to play bigger roles in incentivising investment and regulating performance. Thankfully the groundwork for that has already been laid, with the constitutional amendment assented to by President Buhari in March 2023, and President Tinubus Electricity Reform Act. Already Ekiti and Enugu States have taken advantage of the greater autonomy now available, establishing subnational regulators to which the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has recently transferred oversight authority.

Decentralising also means focusing more on off-grid solutions  basically taking some demand pressure off the grid, which is where agencies like the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) come in, with efforts in the provision of renewable energy. The Federal Government might also want to consider a scheme that allows subsidised access to solar panels and batteries, to encourage greater uptake by Nigerians.

To close, there is no miracle to be done or expected outside of what Ive outlined above. It is hard, painful work  theres no doubt in my mind that the position of Power Minister is among the toughest to occupy in the presidents cabinet. I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone. It is probably the sector that the public understands the least, but feels its impact the most. Which means that they expect snap-of-the-finger results, whereas reality prescribes a complex interplay of factors that will take time to yield results, and are not all within a single officials purview or mandate. (Gas, for example, lies in a different Ministry altogether, as does the responsibility for finding the money to pay legacy debts).

I will end as I started, by acknowledging the despair that many face, and the questions as to whether Nigeria will ever break this jinx of familiar darkness. I think we definitely can, and will, eventually, but it wont happen without some hard decisions, old-fashioned resoluteness, greater public understanding (which means better government communication), and an openness to being boldly creative about our approaches to the problems  knowing that Nigerias path to success may very well lie in realms quite different from the experiences and models of other countries.

Tolu Ogunlesi writes from Abuja, Nigeria.

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It is always very embarrassing to read stories of Nigerians who go abroad to give the county a bad name. Nigeria became known as a country of internet scammers and fraudsters not because all Nigerians deserve to be so labelled, but when a few bad eggs behave wrongly in other countries, it is every Nigerian that suffers from the profiling that results and the reputational damage to the country. It got so bad at a point that the Nigerian green passport became a badge of dishonour at many international airports where special attention was always paid to any flight from Nigeria. And yet this is a country of very talented and distinguished persons who have excelled in virtually every field of human endeavour. Those who bring disgrace unto the nation may get sanctioned for their offences or crimes, but that is hardly ever where the matter ends.

The latest story in this regard is that of a certain John Nwankwo Noko who was deported from Kenya on Saturday, May 4 by the Kenyan authorities, for beating his partner, identified as Ms. Pauline who happens to be a Kenyan. The story is all over the media in Kenya with the headline: Nigerian man captured on CCTV assaulting Kenyan woman on wheel deported. The Nigerian was caught on a surveillance camera assaulting a woman sitting in a wheelchair. Two ladies were shown trying to restrain him, but he refused. The footage has since gone viral, generating outrage. The woman looked helpless. It was later revealed that John Nwankwo Noko even threatened to kill her and her domestic servants if any word about his actions got out, and in the event of a court case, if they dared testify against him. It was not the first time that Ms. Pauline would be subjected to such violence by her partner. She has children for the Nigerian who has been living in Kenya for years, and has a work permit.

Somehow, the video got out to the public. The matter was taken up by Senator Gloria Orwoba who reported it at the Karen Police Station. Kenyan policemen are like Nigerian policemen. They tried to slow down the case, quoting technicalities. Many would be familiar with what happens in Nigerian police stations. There is that story, probably apocryphal about a woman who had gone to a police station to lodge a complaint against her husband.

The uniformed man at the counter listened carefully to her, only to ask her: Madam, did you say this man is your husband? The woman answered in the affirmative.

The question was repeated. The woman again affirmed.

This your husband, he paid your dowry?

Yes, the woman replied.

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The policeman reportedly drew himself to full length and said: Madam, this is a police station, we dont inquire into husband-and-wife matters here. Go back home and settle with your husband, or call your in-laws make dey settle your quarrel. Person don pay dowry, put you for house, you dey come report am for station.

Kenyan policemen are probably like that too. But for the tenacity of Senator Orwoba who took up the matter with higher authorities. The matter went to court. The Ministry of Gender got involved. The Ministry of Interior too.

However, the Kenyan authorities didnt bother to spend too much time on the case. John Nwankwo Noko was treated with the utmost contempt that he deserves. Assault and threat to inflict bodily harm or kill, as well as domestic violence are serious offences in Kenya as they are in Nigeria. Section 251 at Chapter 63 of the Penal Code of Kenya prescribes a penalty of five years imprisonment for assault causing bodily harm. Section 74 of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya explicitly protects both men and women from any form of inhuman treatment. Taking Nwankwo through a court process would have meant using the Kenyan taxpayers money to engage lawyers and the court system, and having to battle with technicalities. A quick decision was taken to expel him from the country. He was thus sent away as a persona non grata, in the fashion of a good riddance. But there are questions: what then happens to the innocent children he has left behind, and the woman in a wheelchair that he has traumatized? He has also given his home country, a bad name. Nigerians are not particularly popular in Kenya. Quite a number of our compatriots have been implicated in money laundering and drug trafficking cases in that country. From Central. Africa to the South, Nigerian men are also not popular with the male folk: they are accused of competing for the attention of local women and acting superior towards their hosts. Whatever may be the legitimate reason for this, the very picture of a man assaulting a woman in a wheelchair is horrendous. Violent behaviour of any sort is unacceptable. Hitting a defenceless person is clearly animalistic. Even animals sometimes behave better.

This is why I think the wife-beater of Kenya should not just slip into Nigeria and feel relieved that he has escaped the wrath of the law in Kenya. He may have escaped lightly also because as in Nigeria, women in Kenya in a marital situation may refuse to testify against their husband in court. Women often imagine that the man will turn a new leaf, and may generally not want the marriage to end. See for example, Piah Njpoki Kagwai vs. Jackson Kagwai, High Court of Kenya, Civil Case No 1897 of 1986 where a husband gorged out his wifes eye. Church teachings and local traditions have also not helped. But I think here in Nigeria, anybody that disgraces the country and misbehaves in diaspora should upon return to Nigeria either by deportation or relocation be made to face sanctions. The rule about double jeopardy should not apply to such persons. Our laws should be amended where necessary to make sure that any Nigerian in diaspora who becomes a persona non grata in his or her place of domicile abroad, also gets sanctioned in Nigeria for bad conduct. This is perhaps the only way we can send a strong message to those Nigerians abroad who give the entire country a bad image. We are quick to celebrate Nigerians who do well abroad, including those who may have taken up the citizenship of their host countries, in any case, the Nigerian Constitution allows dual nationality. By the same token, Nigeria must begin to name and shame those who bring shame to the country abroad.

Thirty-four states in Nigeria have domesticated the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act of 2015. Two states, Lagos and Ekiti have domestic violence registers where they list the names of those who have been found guilty of gender-based or domestic violence. I dont know John Nwankwo Nokos state of origin but here at home, his name should be in the black book containing the names of wife-beaters in states where such exists. Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chair of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) interacts regularly with Nigerians in Diaspora across the world and whenever she holds one of her interactive sessions, she always tells her audience that Nigerians have an obligation to respect the laws of the countries where they live. And of course, she always cautions against illegal migration. But there are persons in diaspora who will never listen or accept that they are Nigerian ambassadors abroad. The way to address the matter is to ensure that anybody that breaks the law abroad also faces the full wrath of the law in Nigeria.

John Nwankwo Noko was deported from Kenya on Saturday. He is probably walking free in a part of Nigeria today. There is no way the Kenyan authorities would not have contacted the Nigerian Embassy in Nairobi to report his conduct before taking a decision to deport him. We have various desks at our embassies abroad: Immigration, Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA) etc. On arrival in Nigeria, Nwankwo Noko must have passed through a Nigerian airport. He should have been detained at the Nigerian end, and subjected to serious interrogation. Kenya sends away a violent man, and he would just walk into Nigeria like that? His name should be at every immigration post in Nigeria. Persons like him must never be allowed to go out of this country again. In some other countries, he will be closely monitored. There is the argument about the freedom of movement and how Nigerians are free to choose wherever they want to live in the world, but if anybody is found to have shown a tendency to disgrace this country abroad, such persons must also enjoy the status of a persona non grata inside Nigeria. Whoever finds himself or herself in such circumstances may go to court to seek enforcement of fundamental human rights, and that is why we need to firm up our laws. Rights under the law are not absolute. We must strengthen our sanctions to re-build the national ethos and value system.

The big problem we face however is the enforcement of laws. Nigerian state officials choose which laws to enforce and the ones that they would rather ignore. Our law enforcement officials routinely break the law. It is not that they do not know what is right, or their job, but there is an established culture of impunity that creates a crisis of moral turpitude. This is why civil servants will break the law and have the temerity to boast about it in the media; it is also why all kinds of men and women flaunting dubious wealth are among some of the most influential persons in society. The people of Kenya are happy that the problematic Nigerian who battered a Kenyan woman has been expelled from their country. They see the case as a milestone in their countrys fight against gender-based violence. Senator Orwoba who fought for the enforcement of Ms. Paulines right to dignity has been praised deservedly for her intervention: a good case of a woman supporting another woman in distress, and a parliamentarian standing up for one of her constituents. Nigerian women in general have lessons to learn from her example, and all those SUV-riding lawmakers in Abuja and the states who only remember their constituents when they need votes should see what it means to be a lawmaker.

II: Togo, Faure Gnassingbes Dictatorship and Chad

One of the biggest problems we face in Africa is the sit-tight attitude of African leaders. We have seen leaders who turned the Presidency of their countries into chieftaincy positions and have worked hard to rule till death separates them from the office. We have also seen African leaders who change or manipulate the Constitution to extend their stay on power perpetually as in Guinea in 2001 and Togo in 2002, Gabon in 2003 and Uganda in 2005. They cling to power not to promote the peoples interest but to satisfy their own greed and in some of the worst manifestations we have seen emergence of dynasties in some of the countries: sons taking over from their fathers as in Gabon, Chad and Togo or watching in the wings to do so as we have seen in Equatorial Guinea. Democracy continues to suffer the hands of these leaders who plan coups against the people thus making Africas democratic consolidation a permanent work in progress. Some of Africas living dictators include Teodoro Nguema Mbasogo in Equatorial Guinea (44 years in power), Paul Biya in Cameroon (42 years), Dennis Sassou Nguesso in the Republic of Congo (38 years), Yoweri Museveni in Uganda (39 years), Paul Kagame in Rwanda (24 years) and Isaias Afewerki in Eritrea (33 years). Most recently, President Macky Sall of Senegal attempted a Constitutional coup in Africas most stable democracy. He was stoutly resisted by the people and the Constitutional Court. The lesson of the Senegalese experience is that the peoples will prevails if the people take ownership of their democracy.

The people of Togo are however not so lucky. They have failed to resist Faure Gnassingbes impunity. Last Friday, the ruling party of Togo, the Union for the Republic (UNIR) was declared winner of 108 out of 113 seats paving the way for President Faure Gnassingbe to extend his rule in Togo. He became President in 2005, after his fathers death. He has done more or less what his own father did in 2002, by changing the constitution. The Gnassingbe dynasty has been in power in Togo since 1967. In March, President Gnassingbe introduced a parliamentary system of government, which means he would be elected by parliament rather than through popular elections. The legislative elections were delayed twice because of protests by the opposition. Now Gnassingbe has had his way. He could remain in power till 2033, if he is re-elected in 2025, which is certain. It is most unfortunate what has befallen the people of Togo and if the Togolese opposition thought that their protests would make any difference, it did not. Unfortunately, dictatorship in African countries has never translated into prosperity for the people, rather, it has served as an ugly vehicle for stagnated growth, kleptomania and the abuse of the peoples potential. Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe was a place of misery. The Democratic Republic of Congo continues to be the theatre of one of the worlds most terrible conflicts.

Faure Gnassingbe needs to be reminded of the fate of Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon. His father, Omar Bongo Ondimba ruled Gabon from 1967 until he died in 2009. Ali Bongo seized power and was President for 14 years. In 2023 he was forced out by a military junta. The international community condemned the coup in Gabon, but the underlying consensus was that Ali Bongo deserved no pity. It is good to report history but African leaders appear to be tone-deaf. The next major theatre of power play is most likely to be Chad where interim President Mahamat Deby Itno confirmed his interest in the countrys Presidential election, and indeed was on the ballot in the presidential election in that country that took place yesterday. Chad has been under military rule since the death of Deby Itnos father in 2021. The late President was President for more than 30 years. He was killed on the war front, fighting rebels. His son seized power and declared himself interim President. Deby Itno is expected to win yesterdays election thus creating another dynasty in Chad. He too will get away with it. Chad is about the only ally of France and the United States in the Sahel, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger having turned against the two countries. Deby Itno may pretty much do as he wishes and the world will look away. Those who tried to stand in his way ahead of yesterdays election were either co-opted or they died mysteriously. Sad.

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The success of Chinas proposal for a shared future will depend on the willingness of nations to work together towards common goals. This vision requires a shift in mindset from competition to cooperation, and from isolationism to openness. It is important for countries to recognise that their individual interests are intertwined with the interests of the global community. By working towards shared objectives, nations can create win-win situations that benefit all the parties involved.

In todays interconnected world, it is crucial for us to come together and address the global challenges that affect all of us. From climate change to poverty, disease outbreaks to political conflicts, these issues require collective efforts and collaboration from all nations. By working together, sharing resources and knowledge, and implementing sustainable solutions, we can make a positive impact on these challenges. It is important for us to prioritise cooperation, empathy, and innovation in order to create a better future for our planet and all its inhabitants.

Ten years ago, President Xi Jinping propounded the idea of building a global community of shared future, answering a question raised by the world, by history, and by the times: Where is humanity headed? His proposal lights the path forward as the world fumbles for solutions, and represents Chinas contribution to global efforts to protect our shared home and create a better future of prosperity for all.

Let us commit to addressing global challenges with determination and dedication, knowing that our actions today will shape the world for generations to come. We must also recognise that addressing global challenges requires a long-term perspective and sustained effort. It is not enough to simply respond to crises as they arise; we must also invest in preventative measures and build resilience to future challenges. This means supporting education, research, and development in fields such as renewable energy, public health, and conflict resolution. It also means promoting policies that prioritise the well-being of people and the planet over short-term economic gains. By taking a holistic approach to global challenges, we can create a more just and sustainable world for all.

China has put forward a proposal for a shared future, emphasising cooperation and collaboration among nations. This vision seeks to foster mutual understanding, respect, and peaceful coexistence to address global challenges.Through this proposal, China aims to promote sustainable development, economic prosperity, and cultural exchange on a global scale. By working together, countries can build a more harmonious and prosperous world for future generations. This proposal reflects Chinas commitment to multilateralism and the belief that shared prosperity benefits all nations. It is a call for unity, solidarity, and collective action, to create a better future for humanity.

Globalisation has improved the allocation of production factors worldwide, including capital, information, technology, labour and management. As if connecting scattered lakes and creeks into an uninterrupted expanse of water, it draws nations out of isolation and away from the obsolete model of self-reliance, merging their individual markets into a global one and combining their respective experiences into world history.

Chinas proposal also highlights the need for dialogue and communication among nations, as well as respect for each others sovereignty and territorial integrity. These principles are essential in building trust and promoting peaceful coexistence among countries. In addition, Chinas emphasis on sustainable development is crucial in addressing pressing environmental issues such as climate change and pollution.

As information technology advances with every passing day, most prominently in the fields of Internet, big data, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, human exchanges have become deeper, broader, and more extensive than ever before, and countries are more interconnected and interdependent than at any point in the past. Globalisation is not an option; it is the reality and way of life. The global village is getting smaller  the longest distance between two places on earth has been reduced to a flight of no longer than 24 hours, and our planet is becoming flat  one tap on a mobile phone connects us to the other side of the world in a split second. This is an integrated world. Those who turn their back on it will have no place in it.

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Chinas proposal for a shared future has gained significant attention and support from various nations worldwide. The vision of cooperation and collaboration among countries has been seen as an effective means of addressing global challenges. This proposal emphasises the importance of mutual understanding, respect, and peaceful coexistence, which are crucial elements in building a harmonious and prosperous world. Moreover, Chinas initiative aims to promote sustainable development, economic prosperity, and cultural exchange on a global scale. By working together towards these goals, countries can create a better future for generations to come.

Chinas commitment to multilateralism is reflected in this proposal, which highlights the belief that shared prosperity benefits all nations. It is indeed a call for unity, solidarity, and collective action towards achieving a better future for humanity.

The success of Chinas proposal for a shared future will depend on the willingness of nations to work together towards common goals. This vision requires a shift in mindset from competition to cooperation, and from isolationism to openness. It is important for countries to recognise that their individual interests are intertwined with the interests of the global community. By working towards shared objectives, nations can create win-win situations that benefit all the parties involved.

Chinas proposal also highlights the need for dialogue and communication among nations, as well as respect for each others sovereignty and territorial integrity. These principles are essential in building trust and promoting peaceful coexistence among countries. In addition, Chinas emphasis on sustainable development is crucial in addressing pressing environmental issues such as climate change and pollution. Cooperation among nations is necessary to tackle these challenges and ensure a liveable planet for future generations.

There is no iron law that dictates that a rising power will inevitably seek hegemony. This assumption represents typical hegemonic thinking and is grounded in memories of catastrophic wars between hegemonic powers in the past. China has never accepted that once a country becomes strong enough, it will invariably seek hegemony. China understands the lesson of history  that hegemony preludes decline.

Overall, Chinas proposal for a shared future provides a hopeful vision for the world, one that prioritises collaboration over conflict and mutual benefit over individual gain. It is up to all nations to embrace this vision and work together towards a better future for humanity. To achieve the vision of a shared future proposed by China, it is essential for nations to work together towards common goals.

Furthermore, we must acknowledge that addressing global challenges is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Different regions and communities face unique challenges that require tailored approaches. It is essential to involve local stakeholders and empower them to take ownership of solutions that work for their specific context. This means investing in capacity-building and providing resources for local innovation and entrepreneurship. By promoting diversity and inclusivity in our approach to global challenges, we can ensure that everyone has a voice and a stake in creating a better future for all. Let us continue to work towards a more equitable, sustainable, and peaceful world for generations to come.

There is no iron law that dictates that a rising power will inevitably seek hegemony. This assumption represents typical hegemonic thinking and is grounded in memories of catastrophic wars between hegemonic powers in the past. China has never accepted that once a country becomes strong enough, it will invariably seek hegemony. China understands the lesson of history  that hegemony preludes decline. We pursue development and revitalisation through our own efforts, rather than invasion or expansion. And everything we do is for the purpose of providing a better life for our people, all the while creating more development opportunities for the entire world, not in order to supersede or subjugate others.

The strong preying on the weak is not a way for humans to coexist. If the law of the jungle is imposed on human society, and the idea that might makes right prevails, the principle of sovereign equality will be fundamentally undermined, and world peace and stability will be severely endangered. In the age of globalisation, all countries are interdependent and interconnected. Therefore the law of the jungle and the winner-takes-all mindset will lead nowhere; hence inclusive development for the benefit of all is the right path forward. China has consistently championed equity and justice, and remains committed to friendly cooperation with other countries, on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, in order to advance democracy in international relations.

Raphael Oni writes from Abuja.

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Of all the existing global academics, especially the ones that come from Africa, Falola stands out as one of those who have never compromised the global standard of knowledge production, and he does that in a frequency that would amaze anyone and everyone. For that reason, all the accolades directed towards him are not misdirected or ill-motivated. They are reflective of his unwavering determination and commitment to the resurgence of alternative knowledge in a world stoked by universalist fundamentals that crucify differences.

As Toyin Falola temporarily relocates to East and South Africa in the summer, giving lectures in Kenya, South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, and Botswana, he moves into what one can describe as the orbit of intellectual comparison. He is not like the figures they are used to: Nurudeen Farah, Ngugi Wa Thingo, and Wole Soyinka. He does not deal with the ambiguities of creative writing but the directness of intellectualism. He is a front-rank figure in African nationalist and political thought. As I prepared a public lecture on Toyin Falola, to be presented on 13 May, as part of an intellectual feast, I began to see how he resembles Wilmot Biden, Marcus Garvey, and WB Dubois. I eventually settled for an intellectual paradigm that linked him more to Ali Mazrui, who had tremendous respect for Falola while he was alive. At one time, Mazrui likened himself to John the Baptist, while talking about Falola, whom he called Ndugu.

Intellectuals across different generations are known for the outstanding contributions they make to issues that concern the progress of their people, in their ways. Through what they postulate and the ideologies that they project, they are drawn to a community of followers that identify the light in their engagements and decide to be associated with them because of their constellation of ideas that are useful for personal and even collective development. This occurs in every aspect of human endeavour. Shakespeare, for example, commanded a swath of literary disciples who wanted to be like him and postulate exactly like that great man. Interestingly, it was not only Shakespeare that attained that feat.

In the field of philosophy, several individuals understand that Aristotle made intimidating accomplishments that are commonly used as the benchmark for quality intellection in the ages and centuries far after his own. Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiongo, and Wole Soyinka, among others, have made such indelible marks in the literary industry in recent years, and they have had a massive impact on a crowd of intelligent folks who intend to be like them and carry out similar lights in their endeavours. Toyin Falola is another bright scholar who has blazed the trail in historical writings, and his popularity is a product of his undying love for intellectual engagements involving human history, particularly African history, for a global overview. Falola is indeed a brilliant scholar who traverses many disciplines. In a world flattened by the thorns of partial criticism by Western scholars, who are scarcely educated about African realities and history, Falola has erected himself as an irrepressible voice challenging newfangled rhetoric against Afrocentric ideas.

All these scholars in the category mentioned above and those who are unintentionally omitted have one thing in common: they are consistent in their ideological projection and committed to their life-long philosophy. At the heart of every writing is a philosophical argument made by writers for the purpose of bringing to the attention of people certain issues that can potentially challenge their sociocultural or ontological realities or educate them on the most effective ways to prevent unwholesome damage and challenges that could come to them spasmodically. To that extent, writers are considered the lights of their society and would be looked up to when expectations of a refined social environment are rife. In the African legal discourse, such writers would include the Senegalese Jurist Keba Mbaye, who, after a good analysis of the state of (under)development in Africa, posits in his Inaugural Lecture back in the 1970s that development is a human right or an entitlement. His ideas germinated, and today, not only is the right to development binding in the African human rights system, but it is also clearly provided in the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development. There is also currently a draft treaty on the Right to Development for debate at the UN.

Falola, however, stands out and is very different in this category of African scholars for some very important reasons. He shares compelling attributes with the scholars in this category by using his intellectual engagements as a force to remedy the wrongs that the world has done against Africans. Just as Ali Mazrui employed history to demystify the negative perception that people have against Africans, Falola has used that discipline and others as launchpads for his shining ideas that primarily dislodge the poor notions that are generated and spread about Africans from the West to the world. Mazrui was popular for discrediting the untested hypothesis about Africans, and he was seen for who he was: an uncompromising individual channeling his ideas regardless of the circumstances, protests, and criticism that people hurled against him.

Contrary to the misconception that individuals peopled Africa without the quality intellection needed for the transformation of their societies, evidence abounds through Falolas work that they really evolved intellectually just like other peoples of the world, and they erected vibrant and sound structures during the various phases of their growth. In one of his talks at UNISA, Falola problematised customary law to demonstrate that before the arrival of colonial masters, Africans were governed by their laws, customs, and traditions

Toyin Falola explains to people how the deliberately (mis)constructed identity of Africans by the West has obstructed the people from actualising their fullest potential. Although many people have always been critical of that position, it remains true to the extent that sufficient resources and evidence are provided to substantiate that position. All the works of man have always centred on the exploration of different aspects of African life, so that they would assist in projecting the ideas that challenge the very negative remarks and overview that the world has about Africans through the reliance on Western history and historical narratives that are purely doctored to achieve a particular intention.

Perhaps his resourceful intelligence is enhanced by the reality of his active participation in African cultural engagement; the understanding that he brings values to the table of discourse shows the reason why many people accept his positions in ways that challenge the superordinate projection of the universalists. Falola has researched African political history, and we cannot but marvel at how much evidence he has brought to the debate as to how the precolonial African societies were filled with organised political systems, effective economic templates, sound philosophical debates, and more, that helped to shape their corresponding families, settlements, and states.

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Contrary to the misconception that individuals peopled Africa without the quality intellection needed for the transformation of their societies, evidence abounds through Falolas work that they really evolved intellectually just like other peoples of the world, and they erected vibrant and sound structures during the various phases of their growth. In one of his talks at UNISA, Falola problematised customary law to demonstrate that before the arrival of colonial masters, Africans were governed by their laws, customs, and traditions, which now characterised universalists to be customary vis a vis (Western law).

While we cannot deny that Africa regorges a massive amount of wealth and natural resources, central to the intellectual argument of Ali Mazrui is the fact that Africas most influential resources are the people themselves, for they have amazing brainpower, which they translate into concrete results to transform any place where they find themselves. Falola equally holds such a view in a more instructive manner. He has been a vibrant voice in the diaspora, helping Africans who are indifferent to the core African values to reconnect to their background and claim their identities in positive ways.

By his boldness and confidence in expressing the African truth in ways that accommodate divergent thinking, he has been able to unlock the gridlock of age-long stereotypic sentiments that has placed Africa and Africans in a subaltern position, thus denying a whole continent of people the opportunity to express confidence in themselves and their heritages. Falola takes a sharp departure from Mazruis approach here. Falola dips his intellectual fingers into African history, which has received maximum denigration from anti-African advocates or Afro-pessimists, and brings replicable evidence that is required to unsettle otherwise straight-jacketed positions that have held about the continent for a very long time. That Africans in different locations and places have begun to feel alive about their past is not unconnected to the fact that individuals like Falola have taken a frontline position in rendering the destructive or hegemonic narratives against Africans invalid by producing a more credible version of the true history backed by replicable evidence.

Falola believes African spirituality contains a number of things, including a scientific approach that is waiting to scale through continental boundaries. Africans have maintained a strong scientific system for centuries and millennia, thanks to their knowledge of science and approaches that they had in different dimensions. Their knowledge of sciences enabled them to build pyramids in Egypt, the Mandengue Empire, the Kingdom of Monomotapa, and facilitated the Bamoun people of West Cameroon in inventing their specific writings.

One of the most powerful instruments of this scholar is the advocacy for the embracement of African cultural history as their model of development. As I argue in my forthcoming book on Falolas works, Falola maintains that Africas agency is inalienable and, as such, cannot be compromised. This means that, unlike Mazrui, Falola does not solely believe in depending on other peoples epistemic traditions for the safety of the African identity. In fact, rather than this, he has continued to voice his thoughts about African spirituality as a credible source of the people in challenging the crucibles of external power. His approach to liberation and emancipation is all-encompassing in that he continues to demonstrate how the reliance on African indigenous spirituality, such as Ubuntu (or the togetherness of Africans), would help bring several Africans to the awareness that their world has been invaded in ways that have detrimental effects, and consequences on other areas of their existence including socialisation, political system, and also economic practices. Just like Mazrui, Falola does not reject Islam and is of the view that it can be practiced in Africa alongside other forms of spirituality but not as a superior spirituality perspective to the pool of what Africans have available in their indigenous stores.

For this reason, he has beamed his searchlight of research and intellectual engagements in various areas, where indigenous practices can be explored for common benefits and even exported without prejudice. Falola believes African spirituality contains a number of things, including a scientific approach that is waiting to scale through continental boundaries. Africans have maintained a strong scientific system for centuries and millennia, thanks to their knowledge of science and approaches that they had in different dimensions. Their knowledge of sciences enabled them to build pyramids in Egypt, the Mandengue Empire, the Kingdom of Monomotapa, and facilitated the Bamoun people of West Cameroon in inventing their specific writings.

Falolas engagement in this way has, therefore, mandated a discovery of methods that are deserving of immediate incorporation into global intellectualism, so that the world would have several alternatives to getting problems confronting the human family solved without further acrimony. Therefore, from being an exclusive historian, Falola is believed to have mutated into an epistemologist who uses his vast educational experience to draw information from otherwise marginalised areas and refine mined ideas until they become useful to humanity in many ways. It is, therefore, no coincidence that he has organised many conferences on the continent.

Of all the existing global academics, especially the ones that come from Africa, Falola stands out as one of those who have never compromised the global standard of knowledge production, and he does that in a frequency that would amaze anyone and everyone. For that reason, all the accolades directed towards him are not misdirected or ill-motivated. They are reflective of his unwavering determination and commitment to the resurgence of alternative knowledge in a world stoked by universalist fundamentals that crucify differences. Although preceding intellectuals have made efforts towards rescuing the dying epistemic heritages of Africa, which has suffered malignant damage, courtesy of the absence of necessary materials that could serve as counterpoints, Falola has become an irrepressible voice in this domain today by giving his attention and seriousness to the resurgence of these knowledge items so that the world will be blossomed by the presence of alternatives.

Great man, welcome to our part of the world!

Serges Kamga is dean, Faculty of Law, University of the Free State, South Africa.

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Former Kano State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Muaz Magaji, has criticised Governor Abba Yusuf for embarking on the construction of two new flyovers in the state capital at a total cost of N27 billion.

Mr Magaji who served under the administration of former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje described the projects as a misplaced priority.

Governor Yusuf on Sunday laid the foundation for the construction of one of the flyovers at Kofar Danagundi in the Kano metropolis, at a cost of N15 billion. He said the facility would enhance traffic flow in the ancient city, according to a statement by his spokesperson, Sanusi Bature.

The governor who visited the project site on Sunday in company of some cabinet members, affirmed his administrations eyesight to transform the city centre to status of a mega city.

Recall that Governor Yusuf in December, 2023, awarded the multi-billion naira project to CCG Nigeria Limited with completion period of eighteen months. The multiple projects was awarded alongside another high impact interchange bridge at Talidu roundabout also in the city centre, to ease traffic congestion, Mr Bature said.

However, Mr Magaji, in a series of Facebook posts in Hausa language, said Kano no longer needs flyovers.

He also accused the government of bloating the cost of the flyover.

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The truth of the matter is that, previously, we reasoned with the flyovers constructed in the state. But in this current situation, there are other priorities that are above the flyovers. Unless. N15 billion for the construction of one flyover? Hana! Mr Magaji wrote.

Only one flyover costing N15 billion, in a single junction, in a single area, in this situation? Is it possible? Mr Magaji queried the government in another post.

PREMIUM TIMES tried unsuccessfully to speak with Mr Bature over the concerns raised by Mr Magaji but the phone contact of the governors spokesperson didnt connect on Monday.

Criticism of flyovers not new in Kano

Ironically, a former governor of the state, Rabiu Kwankwakso, who is the political godfather of current governor Mr Yusuf, had in March 2021 opposed the construction of new flyovers in the state, also describing it as a misplaced priority.

The Ganduje administration had obtained a N20 billion loan to build a flyover at Hotoro Roundabout in the Kano metropolis.

Mr Kwankwaso, in an interview with BBC Hausa Service, said education, not flyovers, was what the people needed most in the state.

If you are in government there are important projects that you have to focus your attention on always. Education, health, and so on are very important that you cannot play with.

While flyover is just a mere thing. During our administration, we constructed all the flyovers with the states money Mr Kwankwakso said at the time.

Sources of fund for the new Kano flyovers

Unlike Mr Ganduje who took a loan to build the flyover at the Hotoro Roundabout, Mr Yusuf said he is using local government funds for the two that he is building.

PREMIUM TIMES reported last December how Mr Yusuf flagged off the construction of two flyovers at a cost of over N 27 billion in the metropolis.

The flyovers, located at Kofar Danagundi on the BUK Road and Taludu junction, are being financed from the state and local government joint accounts because that has been a tradition in the state, Mr Yusuf said in response to the controversy over the use of local government funds for the projects.

It has been the tradition from my predecessors to finance such gigantic projects through the joint- account managed by the state and local governments, the governor said at the ceremony, according to a statement by Mr Bature in December.

Meanwhile, an internal memo earlier revealed that the payment would be shared on a 30/70 ratio between the state and the 44 local governments in the state.

The memo dated 18 December, from the office of the Accountant-General of the state, directed the Commissioner for Local Government, who is the states Deputy Governor, Aminu Abdulsalam, to release about N16 billion for the construction of the Danagundi flyover.

Your Excellency kind indulgence is hereby invited to note that, at its sitting held on 29 November 2023, the Executive Council has approved the award of contract to Messrs CGC Nigeria Limited at the figure of N15,974,203.99 to be paid finance by the state and local government joint arrangement at the ratio of 30 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.

Accordingly, the Executive Council has directed the Ministry of Finance to release advance payment to the tune of N6,389,742,881.59 under a genuine Advance Payment Guarantee (APG) from a reputable Bank to enable quick mobilisation of the contractor.

The state government is paying over N1.9 billion for the advance payment while the local government councils will pay over N4.4 for the advance payment to the contractor, the memo stated.

The flyover at the Taludu Junction will cost over N11 billion, making a total of over N27 billion for the two projects.

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A four-month-old baby has been abducted by suspected gunmen in Akwa Ibom State, South-south Nigeria.

The babys father, Udeme Eyo told Tribune newspaper that the incident happened around 3 a.m., on Saturday at their family house, close to PCN Primary School in East Itam, Itam Local Government Area of the state.

Mr Eyo urged security agents in the state to come to their aid by recovering the abducted child.

How it happened

Narrating the incident to Tribune, Mr Eyo said he and his wife were shocked when two gunmen stormed their bedroom after a loud bang on the door and demanded their four-month-old son.

He said, I was half asleep when I heard the bang on the door. I jumped out of bed, but the door was pulled to the ground with force. Two strange men entered and demanded my son. As a man, I tried to stop them, but they brought out guns and machetes. I shrugged.

They seized the child from my wife, who was screaming, kicked her aside, and made away with the baby. When I rushed out to raise an alarm to alert my neighbours, I saw them zoom off in a car that was parked about a pole away.

As I speak, my wife is completely traumatised. We lost our first child at about the same age, and now that she was being consoled by the new baby boy, this has happened. Im completely confused.

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The village head of the community, Efanga Usua, told the newspaper that the incident was strange in the area, adding that some unknown men on a motorcycle recently dispossessed a mentally deranged woman in the area of her baby.

Mr Usua, a professor, said the matter has been reported to the police.

The Divisional Crime Officer (DCO), Ayadehe Police Station in Itu Local Government Area, Bokime Bassey confirmed the incident to the newspaper, adding it has commenced investigation into the matter.

The police spokesperson in the state, Timfon John, did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES request for comments on the alleged abduction when contacted on Monday.

There has been an increase in kidnap incidents in Akwa Ibom State lately, with some of the cases resulting in fatality.

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Security operatives have arrested scores of suspects who allegedly killed police operatives and members of the Neighbourhood Watch Group in Igga, a community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The police spokesperson in the state, Daniel Ndukwe, announced that two police operatives and three members of the Neighbourhood Watch Group were killed in the community on Friday.

Mr Ndukwe, a deputy superintendent of police, said the victims were among a team of security agencies providing security for a team of visiting investors from Lagos State on a tour of a proposed agricultural investment site in the area.

Arrest of suspects

A combined security operatives comprising the Nigerian army, the police, State Security Service and Neighbourhood Watch Group arrested the suspects from different forests in the area, according to a statement from Governor Peter Mbahs media office on Monday.

The statement said the arrest of the suspects came after Mr Mbah ordered a series of coordinated onslaughts against alleged criminals in the community.

The police spokesperson in the state, Mr Ndukwe, did not respond to enquiries from PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday seeking details of the arrest of the suspects in the Igga Community.

Meanwhile, this newspaper reported how personnel of the Nigerian army and police operatives in Enugu State, on Saturday night, allegedly raided the community, burning houses and shooting sporadically in the community.

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The governor speaks

Mr Mbah, on Sunday, visited the Igga Community, according to the statement.

Speaking during his visit, the governor warned against resorting to self-help by some residents of the community.

He said anybody or group of persons inciting and encouraging self-help would be dealt with according to the extant laws of the land, insisting that his administration would not condone people taking the laws into their hands.

No more reprisals

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that there have been disputes over ownership of an expanse of land between Igga Community and another neighbouring community, Adani, in the same Uzo-Uwani Council Area of the state.

The dispute has led to attacks and reprisals between the two communities in recent times.

Speaking on the issue, Mr Mbah, who visited the two communities unannounced, asked them to stop engaging in reprisals.

The governor announced that he had offered scholarships and job opportunities to the children and wives of the two slain police officers and three personnel of the Neighbourhood Watch Group who were killed in the area.

He said the security of lives and property remained the top priority of his administration while vowing that the ongoing operations by the combined security operatives would continue until the area was completely rid of criminals.

One thing I can assure you today is that well apprehend all the criminals responsible for this attack. Well make sure they face the full wrath of the law as well not spare anyone involved in the crime, the governor assured the residents.

Mr Mbah, who also visited the Ada Rice Settlement where the attack occurred, further warned the communities against taking laws into their own hands.

The governor asked residents of the area to channel their grievances and challenges to the government for an amicable resolution.

My office is always open for the people. If there is anything we need to do just to be sure that youre all protected, well do it because that is our primary duty as a government and thats why we exist, the governor said.

He urged the people to cooperate with the security operatives by providing useful information to them that would lead to the arrest of the hoodlums infiltrating their communities and farmlands.

Igga Community speaks

Speaking on behalf of the Igga Community, Nnadozie Simeon, expressed delight over the governors visit, saying their confidence has been restored with the level of security deployment in the area from the state government.

Mr Simeon, a community leader, promised that his people would continue to work with the security agencies by providing information for their operations in the community.

He said the jobs and scholarships offered by the governor would help the families of the slain officers to recover and cater for their needs.

On his part, another community leader, Festus Okonkwo, said the killing of the security operatives on Friday might be a result of Adani people visiting the farm settlement which is in dispute alongside security operatives without clearance from Igga Community.

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LISBON, Portugal, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Keyrus, a global leader in data analytics and digital transformation, is proud to announce the consolidation of developing and delivering data solutions remotely from Portugal. After successfully demonstrating its expertise for over 3 years in the UK, France, and Belgium markets, Keyrus Portugal Nearshore is expanding its offering to the rest of Europe. This significant move establishes a seamless connection between the rich technological talent of Portugal and the robust markets of the Dach Region, Netherlands or Nordic Countries. This strategic initiative not only signifies Keyrus' unwavering dedication to fostering digital innovation and transformation across the globe but also marks a milestone in its ongoing mission to bridge technological frontiers.

From Portugal to the rest of Europe, Keyrus Nearshore value proposal.

Keyrus Portugal's focus on data nearshore services highlights the country's competitive advantages, including its highly skilled technological talent, cutting-edge infrastructure, and geographical and cultural proximity to major European markets. These factors, combined with Keyrus' deep experience and knowledge in data analytics, cloud solutions, ML, Gen AI, and digital solutions, ensure an unprecedented offering in terms of quality, efficiency, and value.

Javier Riera, Executive Director of Southern Europe at Keyrus, expresses excitement, "Consolidating our data nearshore services heralds a new era of collaboration, uniting Portugal's top tech talent with leading European businesses. Our goal: deliver personalized resources, aligned with client needs, for efficient implementations and exceptional results."

About Keyrus

Keyrus is a global consulting and technology company that focuses on making data matter, truly matter, from a human perspective. Since it is not only the data itself that matters, but the opportunities we can develop by leveraging it. A mere means to an end, data, whether big, small, human, complex, historical, prospective, only ever makes sense when it is used to develop experiences, shape understanding, make the best decisions. Our value proposition is founded upon five major groups of services, each comprising multiple offerings:

Automation and artificial intelligence.

Human-centric digital experience.

Data & analytics enablement.

Cloud and security.

Business transformation & innovation.

At Keyrus, we help our clients to successfully transform themselves to build a better future.

Keyrus employs over 3500 employees and is based in 27+ countries across 4 continents.

Discover more about how Keyrus' data nearshore services can revolutionize your business & data strategy by visiting nearshore.keyrus.com

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its Global Science Summit, the Novo Nordisk Foundation issues an international open call for research projects to catalyse science-based solutions to key global challenges. The programme expects to hand out up to eight grants with a total awarding budget of up to DKK 50 million (USD 7.1 million).

The Novo Nordisk Foundation is currently hosting its Global Science Summit in Helsingr, Denmark, as part of the celebrations for its 100th anniversary.

The Summit focuses on the interplay between non-communicable diseases, infectious diseases, and climate change as well as novel breakthrough-enabling technologies. The Summit brings together leading scientists, philanthropists and policymakers, with the overarching purpose of paving the way for new scientific breakthroughs that address these pressing issues.

In conjunction with the Summit, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is issuing an international open call for research projects, with the goal of catalysing science- and technology-based solutions to these global challenges. The expectation is to award up to eight grants, each with a budget of up to USD 1 million.

Professor Lene Oddershede, Senior Vice President at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, said: "As we celebrate our 100th anniversary, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is more committed than ever to helping to fund the scientific research needed to address the major globally complex and interconnected challenges humanity faces. We hope that these grants will achieve a lasting impact, and we encourage scientific communities all over the world to apply."

Organisations participating in the Global Science Summit as well as other relevant non-profit organisations will be invited to assemble project collaborations, each consisting of 2-3 partners, with the aim to explore a novel, focused and interdisciplinary idea that relates to the themes of the Summit. Each proposal should address at least two of the following thematic areas: climate change, non-communicable diseases, infectious diseases, and related enabling technologies. Applicants don't need to have attended the Global Science Summit to apply.

Further information is available on the Novo Nordisk Foundation's website.

About the Novo Nordisk Foundation

Established in Denmark in 1924, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with philanthropic objectives. The vision of the Foundation is to improve people's health and the sustainability of society and the planet. The Foundation's mission is to progress research and innovation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious diseases as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society.

www.novonordiskfonden.dk/en
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly three million businesses in the United States are owned by Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) entrepreneurs, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). SCORE , a resource partner of the SBA, is dedicated to helping AANHPI entrepreneurs achieve their business goals, providing free small business mentoring, training and resources in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

Chaga  a superfood similar to truffles  is the main focus of SCORE client Gavin Escolars business The Chaga Company, based in San Francisco.

From idea to reality

According to the Pew Research Center, 30 percent of Asian Americans say that owning a business is important to their American dream. Nationwide, Americans are starting new businesses at record rates  U.S. Census data shows that 5.5 million small business applications were filed in 2023 alone. For new AANHPI entrepreneurs in pursuit of small business success, the road can be rocky without support.

Gavin Escolar, owner of The Chaga Company in San Francisco, was inspired to start his business after discovering the superfood power of chaga mushrooms during his travels. His goal was to source quality chaga and create high-antioxidant treats and beverages. Escolar connected with SCORE mentor Pete Slosberg for guidance. A serial entrepreneur and founder of Pete's Wicked Ale, Slosberg shares his expertise as a SCORE volunteer, and assisted Escolar in navigating the challenges of funding, distribution, scaling and growing his business. "SCORE helped me anticipate roadblocks which I would not have anticipated before having an awesome mentor that guides me every step of the way," said Escolar. "They have an amazing pool of people that can help you with business solutions."

The value of a supportive network

Sunitta Hedaoo is the owner of Kora Journeys, a boutique luxury travel company based in Houston. As she was establishing her business, Hedaoo sought guidance from business mentors at SCORE. "Speaking to my mentors about digital marketing, positioning, understanding your competition  that really helped me spread my wings," said Hedaoo. "And all that is part of my success because without a team, I cannot succeed single-handedly."

The advice of an experienced mentor can be enormously valuable for any small business owner, as they take what they have learned and pay it forward by helping other entrepreneurs find success.

SCORE mentor Uyen P. Tran credits her network with helping her find success in business. "As an Asian female entrepreneur, I know that I wouldn't be where I am today without the support and guidance of my amazing mentors," said Tran. "Having someone shed light on the challenges of starting your own business and doing it the right way enabled me to pursue my dreams and do what I love. I want to be able to do that for someone else who is facing some challenges due to the cards life has dealt them."

Whether you're just starting your business plan or you've been running a company for years, SCORE mentors are ready to help with whatever issues you're facing. Find a mentor today or volunteer to be one at score.org .

About SCORE:

Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 17 million entrepreneurs start, grow or successfully exit a business. SCORE's 10,000 volunteers provide free, expert mentoring, resources and education in all 50 U.S. states and territories. Visit SCORE at www.score.org .

Funded [in part] through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

CONTACT:

SCORE

202-968-6428

[email protected]

Looking for a small business expert or owner for an upcoming media story? Email [email protected] to request an interview source.

SOURCES:

https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/organization/observances/asian-american-native-hawaiian-pacific-islander-heritage-month

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/22/a-look-at-small-businesses-in-the-us/

https://www.sba.gov/article/2024/01/11/new-business-applications-reach-record-16-million-under-biden-harris-administration

SOURCE SCORE
Further strong market share gains, disciplined execution

ZURICH, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --

Revenues flat yoy, outperforming markets; Adecco's relative revenue growth +600 bps

By GBU, Adecco, +1% yoy, of which APAC +14%, Southern Europe & EEMENA +8%, DACH +7%; LHH -5%, with Career Transition & Mobility +9%; Akkodis -2%, with Consulting +5%

& EEMENA +8%, DACH +7%; LHH -5%, with Career Transition & Mobility +9%; Akkodis -2%, with Consulting +5% Healthy 19.8% gross margin, +20 bps qoq, -100 bps yoy, mainly reflecting current business mix; pricing firm

SG&A expenses, excl. one-offs, 978 million, reflecting strong G&A savings, focus on productivity

Resilient 2.8% EBITA margin excl. one-offs, -30 bps yoy, or -10 bps yoy when excluding the impact from the timing of FESCO JV income, with gross margin developments substantially mitigated by rigorous cost discipline

Operating income 122 million, -12% yoy, constant currency; Net income 73 million, -20% yoy

Basic EPS 0.44, -20% yoy; Adjusted EPS 0.59, -18% yoy

Improved cash performance: free cash flow +72 million yoy, cash conversion 73%

On track to deliver ~150 million G&A savings, net, in run-rate terms, mid-2024

Denis Machuel, Adecco Group CEO, commented:

"The Group demonstrated strong operational progress in the first quarter. We achieved revenue stability and maintained firm pricing discipline amidst challenging market conditions while driving further cost improvement across the business. Adecco delivered significant market share gains with a healthy gross margin. Akkodis faced ongoing tech staffing headwinds while achieving solid growth in its higher-value consulting business, which lifted overall profitability. In LHH, Career Transition and Ezra once again outperformed, and the business delivered an improved margin. We remain laser-focused on the elements within our control  competitive outperformance and market share expansion, together with cost discipline. The G&A savings programme is on track, and at the same time, the Group is preserving resources, where appropriate, to ensure it can swiftly capitalise on the future market rebound."

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Browse in-depth TOC on "AI in Chemicals Market"

348  Tables

69 - Figures

360  Pages

Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=152170973

Scope of the Report

Report Metrics Details Market size available for years 20192029 Base year considered 2023 Forecast period 20242029 Forecast units USD Billion Segments Covered Component (Hardware [Accelerators, Processors, Memory, Network], Software [Software By Type {Dashboard & Analytics Tools, Process Simulation Software, Chemical Modeling Software, Laboratory Management Software, Virtual Screening Tools, Chemical Property Prediction Tools}, Software By Technology {ML, Deep Learning, Generative AI, NLP, Computer Vision, Advanced Analytics}, Software By Deployment Mode {Cloud, On-Premises}], and Services [Professional Services {Consulting, Deployment & Integration Services, Support & Maintenance Services} and Managed Services]), Business Application (R&D, Production, Supply Chain Management, and Strategy Management), End User (Basic Chemicals, Advance Materials, Active Ingredients, Green & Bio-Chemicals, Paints & Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants, Water Treatment & Services, and Other End Users) and Region. Geographies covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Latin America Companies covered IBM (US), Microsoft (US), Schneider Electric (France), AWS (US), Google (US), SAP (Germany), NVIDIA (US), C3.ai (US), GE Vernova (US), Siemens (Germany), Hexagon (Sweden), Engie Impact (US), TrendMiner (Belgium), Xylem (US), NobleAI (US), Iktos (France), Kebotix (US), Uptime AI (US), Canvass AI (Canada), Nexocode (Poland), SandboxAQ (US), Deepmatter (England), Zapata AI (US), Citirne Informatics (US), Chemical.AI (China), Augury (Israel), Intellegens (UK), Ripik.AI (India), Tractian (US), Polymerize (Singapore), ScienceDesk (Germany), OptiSol Business Solutions (India), NuWater (Africa) and VROC (Australia).

By component, the services segment to account for higher CAGR during the forecast period.

AI services, including professional and managed services, are transforming the chemicals market by providing expertise, support, and solutions tailored to AI-driven initiatives. Professional services encompass consulting, implementation, and customization of AI solutions, assisting organizations in defining AI strategies, selecting appropriate technologies, and integrating AI into existing workflows. Managed services, on the other hand, offer ongoing support, monitoring, and maintenance of AI systems, enabling organizations to focus on core operations while outsourcing AI management to experts. Managed services providers offer proactive monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimization of AI infrastructure and applications, ensuring reliability, scalability, and security. Both professional and managed services play a crucial role in accelerating AI adoption, driving innovation, and maximizing the benefits of AI technologies in the chemicals industry.

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By Business Application, the production segment is expected to hold the largest market size for the year 2024.

The chemical industry is currently undergoing significant transformation, due to the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence. This revolutionary technology is driving efficiency, promoting innovation, and streamlining production processes in the sector. By utilizing AI-powered solutions such as machine learning algorithms, advanced analytics, and real-time data analysis, chemical companies are optimizing their manufacturing operations like never before. From production planning to quality control, AI is enhancing product quality, maximizing yields, and resulting in significant cost reductions and increased enhances product quality, maximizes yields, significantly reduces costs, and increases productivity. In addition, AI's ability to analyze vast datasets allows companies to adapt to changing market demands quickly adapt to changing market demands, reducing inventory losses, and optimizing offerings. Furthermore, AI technologies are playing a crucial role in promoting environmental sustainability by minimizing waste and energy consumption. As more organizations recognize the potential benefits of AI integration, the chemical industry is poised for further advancement.

By End User, active ingredients is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Active ingredients are specific substances that provide therapeutic or functional properties to products, such as agrochemicals, personal care items, and household chemicals. These ingredients play a critical role in the effectiveness and performance of end products, whether they are medicines, pesticides, skin care products, or cleaning agents. In various sectors, AI is increasingly being used to develop, optimize, and apply active ingredients. In the agrochemical industry, AI algorithms analyze agricultural data to develop novel pesticides and herbicides that have improved efficacy and environmental safety profiles. In the personal care and household chemicals industries, AI assists in the formulation of formulation of skincare products, cosmetics, and cleaning agents with optimized active ingredient concentrations, stability, and performance characteristics. Furthermore, AI-driven predictive modeling and simulation enable manufacturers to forecast market demand, customize formulations based on consumer preferences, and optimize production processes for efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The rapid growth in AI adoption within the chemical sector across Asia Pacific stems from its ability to address industry challenges effectively. AI technologies offer solutions for optimizing manufacturing processes, predicting equipment failures, and improving product quality. Additionally, the region's burgeoning demand for chemicals necessitates increased efficiency and innovation, driving companies to embrace AI-driven approaches. Moreover, governmental initiatives and investments in AI infrastructure further propel its adoption, positioning Asia Pacific as a frontrunner in leveraging AI for chemical industry advancement.

Top Key Companies in AI in Chemicals Market:

The major AI in chemicals providers include IBM (US), Microsoft (US), Schneider Electric (France), AWS (US), Google (US), SAP (Germany), NVIDIA (US), C3.ai (US), GE Vernova (US), Siemens (Germany), Hexagon (Sweden), Engie Impact (US), TrendMiner (Belgium), Xylem (US), NobleAI (US), Iktos (France), Kebotix (US), Uptime AI (US), Canvass AI (Canada), Nexocode (Poland), SandboxAQ (US), Deepmatter (England), Zapata AI (US), Citirne Informatics (US), Chemical.AI (China), Augury (Israel), Intellegens (UK), Ripik.AI (India), Tractian (US), Polymerize (Singapore), ScienceDesk (Germany), OptiSol Business Solutions (India), NuWater (Africa) and VROC (Australia). These companies have used both organic and inorganic growth strategies such as product launches, acquisitions, and partnerships to strengthen their position in the AI in Chemicals Market.

Recent Developments:

In March 2024 , AWS and NVIDIA collaborated to enhance computer-aided drug discovery using new AI models. Their collaboration focuses on modeling the efficacy of new chemical molecules, predicting protein structures, and gaining insights into how drug molecules interact with biological targets, contributing significantly to advancements in pharmaceutical research and development.

, AWS and NVIDIA collaborated to enhance computer-aided drug discovery using new AI models. Their collaboration focuses on modeling the efficacy of new chemical molecules, predicting protein structures, and gaining insights into how drug molecules interact with biological targets, contributing significantly to advancements in pharmaceutical research and development. In January 2024 , a robotic chemistry lab collaborated with Google AI to predict and synthesize novel inorganic materials, leveraging advanced algorithms and automation for accelerated material discovery and development.

, a robotic chemistry lab collaborated with Google AI to predict and synthesize novel inorganic materials, leveraging advanced algorithms and automation for accelerated material discovery and development. In November 2023 , GE Vernova's Gas Power business announced its collaboration with Duke Energy on the nation's first 100% green hydrogen-fueled peaking power plant. GE Vernova will support the development of an end-to-end green hydrogen system at Duke Energy's DeBary plant in Volusia County, Florida , near Orlando .

, GE Vernova's Gas Power business announced its collaboration with Duke Energy on the nation's first 100% green hydrogen-fueled peaking power plant. GE Vernova will support the development of an end-to-end green hydrogen system at Duke Energy's plant in , near . In October 2023 , NobleAI, known for Science-Based AI solutions in Chemical and Material Informatics, partnered with Azure Quantum Elements (AQE), a Microsoft cloud service merging High-Performance Computing (HPC), AI, and quantum computing. This collaboration integrated AQE's advanced molecular simulation, and HPC features with NobleAI's AI-driven solutions.

, NobleAI, known for Science-Based AI solutions in Chemical and Material Informatics, partnered with Azure Quantum Elements (AQE), a Microsoft cloud service merging High-Performance Computing (HPC), AI, and quantum computing. This collaboration integrated AQE's advanced molecular simulation, and HPC features with NobleAI's AI-driven solutions. In May 2023 , Google Cloud unveiled two new AI-powered life sciences solutions to speed up drug discovery and precision medicine for biotech companies, pharmaceutical firms, and public sector organizations. The Target and Lead Identification Suite aids researchers in identifying amino acid functions and predicting protein structures, while the Multiomics Suite accelerates genomic data discovery and interpretation, facilitating the design of precision treatments.

, Google Cloud unveiled two new AI-powered life sciences solutions to speed up drug discovery and precision medicine for biotech companies, pharmaceutical firms, and public sector organizations. The Target and Lead Identification Suite aids researchers in identifying amino acid functions and predicting protein structures, while the Multiomics Suite accelerates genomic data discovery and interpretation, facilitating the design of precision treatments. In May 2023 , the chemical industry is collaborating with Siemens on a pilot project to reduce carbon emissions in its supply chain. This partnership is part of the Together for Sustainability initiative, involving 47 chemical companies that opted for Siemens' "Sigreen" solution for digitally exchanging Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) data.

, the chemical industry is collaborating with Siemens on a pilot project to reduce carbon emissions in its supply chain. This partnership is part of the Together for Sustainability initiative, involving 47 chemical companies that opted for Siemens' "Sigreen" solution for digitally exchanging Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) data. In April 2023 , Mitsui Chemicals and IBM Japan collaborated to enhance agility and accuracy in discovering new applications by merging Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) with IBM Watson Discovery. They aim to drive sales and market share growth for Mitsui Chemicals products through advanced digital transformation (DX) in the business sector.

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AI in Chemicals Market Advantages:

The increasing popularity of cloud-based QLM systems can be attributed to their cost-effectiveness, scalability, and flexibility, which enable enterprises to leverage advanced QLM features without making substantial initial expenditures in IT infrastructure.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven optimisation algorithms help to expedite the time it takes to bring new goods to market by streamlining chemical processes, cutting down on waste, minimising experimentation time, and optimising resource usage.

In order to generate chemicals with improved quality, consistency, and performance that satisfy demanding regulatory standards and customer expectations, artificial intelligence (AI) models can forecast chemical reactions, optimise formulations, and detect process parameters.

AI models are able to identify process parameters, optimise formulations, and forecast chemical reactions. Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled systems are able to assess chemical dangers, forecast safety issues, and suggest preventive actions to reduce accidents, guarantee worker safety, and adhere to environmental, health, and safety laws.chemicals that satisfy strict regulatory criteria and customer expectations while improving quality, consistency, and performance.

Algorithms for AI-based predictive maintenance examine sensor data from chemical processing machinery to find irregularities, forecast equipment breakdowns, and plan maintenance in advance, reducing downtime and increasing output.

Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms enhance supply chain operations through demand prediction, inventory management, logistics route optimisation, and cost-effective sourcing strategy identification. These algorithms also improve manufacturing and distribution efficiency and responsiveness in the chemical industry.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) propels innovation and competitiveness in the chemicals business by enabling the customisation of chemical products and formulations to match individual client requirements, preferences, and applications.

Report Objectives

To define, describe, and predict the AI in Chemicals Market by component (hardware, software, and services), business application, and end users

To provide detailed information related to major factors (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges) influencing the market growth

To forecast the market size of segments with respect to five main regions: North America , Europe , Asia Pacific , Middle East & Africa , and Latin America

, , , & , and To strategically analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the overall AI in Chemicals Market

To analyze opportunities in the market and provide details of the competitive landscape for stakeholders and market leaders

To analyze competitive developments, such as partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, and product developments, in the AI in Chemicals Market

To analyze the impact of the recession across all the regions in the AI in Chemicals Market

Browse Adjacent Markets: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Market Research Reports & Consulting

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BRONX, N.Y., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Albert Einstein College of Medicine has appointed nationally recognized education leader Yoon Kang, M.D., as its inaugural vice dean for education, following a national search. Dr. Kang is currently the senior associate dean for education at Weill Cornell Medicine, where she has overseen all undergraduate medical education programs and offices, the office of continuing medical education, and recently the physician assistant program. Dr. Kang, who will also serve as the Ruth L. Gottesman Chair in Education, will assume her new role at Einstein on July 22.

Yoon Kang, M.D.

"We are extremely pleased that Dr. Kang will be joining the Einstein community," said Yaron Tomer, M.D., The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean at Einstein and chief academic officer at Montefiore Einstein. "Her proven experience as a celebrated educator, innovative administrator, and effective leader make her the ideal person to assume the leadership of our education programs and help shape the vision for Einstein in the coming years."

In her new position at Einstein, Dr. Kang will oversee all education programs and associated offices, including the office of medical education, the office of admissions, the office of student affairs, the graduate programs in biomedical sciences, and the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). She will work closely with the College of Medicine's institutional and education leaders to implement the strategic plan for education currently in development.

"Einstein's longstanding reputation for training knowledgeable and compassionate physicians and scientists reflects a clear commitment to its education mission," said Dr. Kang. "I'm delighted to join the Einstein community and look forward to partnering with faculty, students, postdocs, and staff to continue to enhance these exceptional programs and support the Einstein pipeline of future-ready leaders and innovators."

As a leader, Dr. Kang emphasizes a data-driven approach to strategic planning. At Weill Cornell, she launched a quality improvement initiative and office and strengthened outcomes databases in medical education. She advanced partnerships and improved infrastructure in order to increase operational efficiency across offices, address accreditation needs, and allow for targeted institutional growth in the education mission. Her major areas of focus have been structuring opportunities for scholarship and innovation for students and faculty, diversifying student curricular offerings, and enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, with a particular interest in student financial well-being.

As an educator, Dr. Kang has taught thousands of students and received numerous teaching awards from the student body. She has also mentored and advised nearly one hundred medical students, graduate students, trainees, staff, and faculty. She was selected as a class of 2020 fellow of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for women leaders, has served on National Board of Medical Examiners committees, and chaired the technology task force for the AAMC's clinical skills assessment initiative.

Dr. Kang joined Weill Cornell Medicine in 2004 and became the founding director of its clinical skills center, launching the medical school's simulation education program for both medical and physician assistant students. In 2015 she was named the inaugural assistant dean for clinical curriculum and served in advancing central leadership roles before being named the senior associate dean of education in 2019.

Dr. Kang holds a B.S. in economics, with a concentration in finance, from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.D. from Washington University School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency and chief residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2023-24 academic year, Einstein is home to 737 M.D. students, 209 Ph.D. students, 124 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and approximately 239 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 2,000 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2023, Einstein received more than $192 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health. This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in cancer, aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. For more information, please visit einsteinmed.edu, follow us on Twitter, Facebook , Instagram, LinkedIn, and view us on YouTube

SOURCE Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Board-certified dermatologist encourages those who work outside to utilize proper sun protection

ROSEMONT, Ill., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent American Academy of Dermatology survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults revealed that outdoor workers  like those who work in construction, landscaping, emergency medical services, and postal delivery  are far more likely to get sunburned and tanned, putting themselves at increased risk for skin cancer, compared to the average American. In recognition of Skin Cancer Awareness Month this May, the AAD encourages everyone  and especially those who work outdoors  to practice safe sun to protect themselves from the sun's harmful rays and reduce their risk of developing skin cancer.

According to the survey, half of outdoor workers were sunburned in 2023, compared to 36 percent reported by the general American population. One in 10 outdoor workers had sunburns severe enough to cause blisters, a rate double that of the general population. And nearly 80 percent of outdoor workers got a tan or darker skin as a result of sun exposure, compared to 67 percent of Americans overall.

Tanning and unprotected sun exposure are major risk factors for skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in the United States and one of the most preventable types of cancer.

"Since most outdoor workers are exposed to the sun during peak hours of the day, it's vital they adopt sun protection measures as part of their daily routine to safeguard against skin cancer," said board-certified dermatologist Bruce Brod, MD, MHCI FAAD, a clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Steve Murray, 68, of the greater Washington, D.C. area, has worked in construction for several decades. During his childhood, Murray spent summers at the beach in Ocean City, N.J., and winter visits to Florida, where he was exposed to the sun. He didn't think about sun protection until the late 1990s when he was first diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma, a common type of skin cancer that tends to develop in people who have had a lot of sun exposure.

"Back when I was a kid, nobody worried about putting on sunscreen or wearing a hat," he said. "You just cooked in the sun. At an early age, the damage is done, and you pay the price later in life. I didn't realize the damage I was doing until the late 90s when my dermatologist started seeing things on my skin."

Murray was first diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, in 2008. Since then, he's had several more bouts of skin cancer, having undergone two surgeries in 2024 for squamous cell carcinoma on his hand and back.

"I'm in the construction business, and even though I mostly work in the office, I still have to visit the sites and be in the sun," he said. "When you work in the office environment, you don't think about having to go out for an hour, and the fact that in that one hour you cook, and you don't realize it until you get home that night. That's when you say to yourself, 'I should have put sunscreen on or I should have worn a hat,' but by that point it's too late."

Now, Murray visits the dermatologist every three to six months. He always wears a hat and sunscreen, and long sleeves whenever possible, when he's outside to protect himself from the sun.

Those who work outside are more likely to protect themselves by wearing hats, but not significantly more likely to use sunscreen, according to the survey. Fifty-nine percent reported wearing a hat compared to 47 percent of all Americans.

Outdoor workers are also more likely to believe tanning myths, according to the survey. Thirty-one percent believe a base tan will prevent sunburns, whereas only 23 percent of all Americans believe this misinformation. Thirty-one percent of outdoor workers believe that tanning is safe if you don't burn, compared to 20 percent of Americans overall.

To protect yourself from the sun and reduce your risk of skin cancer, the AAD and Dr. Brod recommend that people:

Seek shade. Seek shade when appropriate, remembering that the sun's rays are the strongest between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. You can also look at your shadow. Any time your shadow is shorter than you, seek shade.





Seek shade when appropriate, remembering that the sun's rays are the strongest You can also look at your shadow. Any time your shadow is shorter than you, seek shade. Wear sun-protective clothing. Wear a lightweight and long-sleeved shirt, pants, a wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses with UV protection, when possible. For more effective protection, select clothing with an ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) number on the label.





Wear a lightweight and long-sleeved shirt, pants, a wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses with UV protection, when possible. For more effective protection, select clothing with an ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) number on the label. Apply sunscreen. Apply a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher to all skin not covered by clothing. Remember to reapply every two hours or after swimming or sweating.

Although everyone should have routine skin cancer checks, Dr. Brod said that people with certain risk factors should be particularly mindful and schedule an appointment to see a board-certified dermatologist.

"If you have a lot of moles or growths on your skin that you're not sure about, a family history of skin cancer, you've spent a lot of time in the sun, or you've had even one severe sunburn, you owe it to yourself to get your skin checked by a board-certified dermatologist," said Dr. Brod.

To find a board-certified dermatologist in your area, visit aad.org/findaderm.

More Information

Practice Safe Sun

Shade, Clothing, and Sunscreen

Skin Cancer Awareness Month

AAD B-Roll Library

About the AAD

Headquartered in Rosemont, Ill., the American Academy of Dermatology, founded in 1938, is the largest, most influential and most representative of all dermatologic associations. With a membership of more than 21,000 physicians worldwide, the AAD is committed to advancing the diagnosis and medical, surgical, and cosmetic treatment of the skin, hair, and nails; advocating high standards in clinical practice, education and research in dermatology; and supporting and enhancing patient care because skin, hair, and nail conditions can have a serious impact on your health and well-being. For more information, contact the AAD at (888) 462-DERM (3376) or aad.org. Follow @AADskin on Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube and @AADskin1 on Instagram.

SOURCE American Academy of Dermatology
PHILADELPHIA, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The American College of Physicians (ACP) announced a new, three-year strategic priority expanding its commitment to, and support of, physicians in their engagement with continuous learning and professional accountability. ACP has long recognized the medical profession's responsibility to ensure quality medical care and has supported physicians in their lifelong learning and demonstration of ongoing accountability. The recently updated ACP Professional Accountability Principles endorse longitudinal formative assessment, support holistic credentialing for patient care, and outline important attributes and standards for any organization that is involved in assuring physician accountability.

The new strategic priority builds on ACP's 55-year history of leadership in physician continuing learning, assessment, and feedback. These priorities also help to facilitate innovative approaches for physicians to demonstrate their continuance of knowledge, document learning, and provide evidence of engagement with high-quality education. Since 1967, ACP's Medical Knowledge and Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP) has offered the gold standard in continuing medical education for internal medicine physicians. Recently, ACP has been piloting a new MKSAP feature, CORE (Confirmation of Relevant Education), which allows physician learners to enter a more rigorous assessment component including a standardized passing threshold. If they are successful, CORE participants receive a badge confirming their achievement and can earn and print a CORE certificate for inclusion in their professional portfolio. ACP has received overwhelmingly positive feedback on CORE's perceived value and relevance to clinical practice during this pilot phase.

"Physicians deserve to be recognized for their dedication to continuous self-learning . . . " Post this

In April 2025, following the February 2025 launch of ACP MKSAP, ACP plans to integrate the CORE standardized assessment feature fully into its new ACP MKSAP program. The new CORE feature is one way ACP is responding to requests from internal medicine physicians for new ways to recognize their dedication to continual learning and assessment and their achievements in keeping up with changes in medical knowledge.

"By confirming our commitment to our accountability principles, we recognize that physicians are responsible for maintaining continuing knowledge in the field and accepting feedback from reputable sources as to where their knowledge gaps are and how to close those gaps," said Isaac O. Opole, MBChB, Ph.D., FACP, president, ACP. "Physicians deserve to be recognized for their dedication to continuous self -learning and we feel confident that CORE will help our members and MKSAP users to demonstrate their professional accountability and their maintenance of knowledge in internal medicine."

About the American College of Physicians

The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 161,000 internal medicine physicians, related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

SOURCE American College of Physicians
First ever University Presidents and Chancellors Mission saw Yeshiva University President Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman head up a diverse delegation of higher education leadership including from faith-based and historically Black colleges and universities

NEW YORK, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Amid a sharp rise in antisemitism on US campuses, especially after the October 7th attacks in Israel, the International March of the Living launched the first ever University Presidents and Chancellors Mission from the United States and Canada to the annual March of the Living which took place on the Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance Day on May 6th, 2024.

OSWIECIM, POLAND - MAY 06: (L-R) Dylan Hanley, Executive Vice President of U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, Dr. Reynold Verret, President of Xavier University of Louisiana, Dr. Claudette Commanda, Chancellor of University of Ottawa, Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University, Dr. Mark Ginsberg, President of Towson University, David Machlis, Co founder and Vice chair of International March of the Living, and Dr. Kermit Bridges, President of Southwestern Assemblies of God University& (SAGU) pose under the "arbeit macht frei" sign during the 36th annual 'March of the Living' between Auschwitz and Birkenau on May 6, 2024, in Oswiecim, Poland. 55 Holocaust survivors from around the world, including Holocaust survivors who were victims of the October 7th attack on Israel led this years International March of the Living which takes place on Yom HaShoah. Approximately 8,000 thousand people from marched the three kilometres between the prisoner of war camps, Auschwitz to Birkenau in memory of the holocaust victims of World War II. This years march also included a delegation of released hostages, family of hostages, as well as relatives of people killed on and since the start of October 7th. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

The March of Living program brings participants to Poland to show a rich history of Jewish culture alongside sites of Jewish persecution. Delegates heard firsthand the experiences of Holocaust survivors and were guided by scholars-in-residence with expertise in the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights. The trip culminated on Holocaust Remembrance Day (May 5-6), during which participants joined Holocaust survivors on a solemn march from Auschwitz to Birkenau to commemorate the Nazi horrors. By participating in this mission, the hope is that university leaders will bring home their insights to fight antisemitism, hatred, and racism on campus.

The cohort of university presidents and chancellors from America and Canada that took part in the 2024 International March of the Living was led by Yeshiva University President Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman. The university presidents came from a diverse group of colleges and universities, including public, private, faith-based, and historically Black colleges and universities.

In the aftermath of Hamas' attacks on Israel on October 7th, Rabbi Berman founded the Universities United Against Terrorism  a coalition of more than 100 higher education leaders who unequivocally condemned Hamas as a terrorist organization. In a year when 73% of Jewish college students are reporting antisemitism on their college campuses , this group was the first of its kind among higher education leaders to proudly stand with Israel and denounce Hamas.

"Today, I stand in Auschwitz alongside a delegation of university presidents, united in bearing witness to the harrowing atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jews during the Holocaust," said Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University. "As antisemitism surges across the globe and college campuses, this trip reminds us that 'Never Again' is not a promise of the past, but a pressing demand of the present. Never Again is now."

"Europe's most educated and advanced country in terms of higher education, in both the arts and sciences, was none other than Germany and yet this was the very same nation that singled out for eradication an entire people  the Jewish People - in the most horrifying manner," said Dr. David Machlis, Vice Chairman of the International March of the Living. "As we traveled through Poland and saw the results of Nazi Germany's genocidal policies towards the Jews, we saw the direct link between antisemitism and the road to Auschwitz. We hope that through this mission, which is planned to be expanded in future years, university presidents will become allies in the fight against antisemitism  because we know all too well the potential devastating outcomes of ignoring the issue."

The March of the Living stands as a pinnacle event on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Each year, thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish students from around the globe march alongside Holocaust survivors, world leaders, ministers, religious figures, and cultural icons. Since 1988, over 300,000 participants have marched from Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, honoring the immense loss suffered by the Jewish people and all humanity. For the Jewish student participants of this educational program, the March of commemoration in Poland is part of a longer journey culminating in the Independence Day March of celebration in Jerusalem.

In addition to the delegation of university presidents, this year, the March was led by 55 Holocaust survivors from countries around the world, including seven survivors who were personally impacted by the October 7th atrocities in Israel as part of a delegation of surviving victims from the deadly attacks.

SOURCE Yeshiva University
AURORA, Colo., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- APEX Orthopedics Investments, a groundbreaking asset management company dedicated to fostering innovation in the foot and ankle orthopedic sector, announces its establishment. Led by a team of experts and located in the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus, APEX Orthopedics Investments is poised to transform orthopedic device development.

Founded by CEO and President Christopher Banas, along with Chairman of the Board Murray Penner, MD, FRCSC; Chief Medical Officer Greg Berlet, MD, FRCSC, FAOA, FAAOS; and Chief Innovation Officer Stephen Brigido, DPM, FACFAS, APEX Orthopedics Investments is headquartered in Aurora, Colorado. This group brings over four decades of collective experience in successful product development, having launched 200+ products, generating a cumulative revenue of USD 3 billion.

Focused on investing in and incubating Class II and Class III device innovations, APEX Orthopedics Investments is committed to driving novel solutions in fixation hardware, midfoot arthrodesis, midfoot arthroplasty, and Achilles tendon. The company currently boasts 12 pending patents in the United States and internationally, along with 73 invention disclosures.

"Our mission at APEX Orthopedics Investments is to catalyze innovation within the foot and ankle orthopedic industry," stated Chris Banas, CEO and President of APEX Orthopedics Investments. "Through strategic investments and incubation, we aim to revolutionize patient care and outcomes while empowering orthopedic professionals with cutting-edge solutions."

APEX Orthopedics Investments has organized its intellectual property into four distinct portfolio companies, each focused on addressing critical needs within the field. These portfolio companies are poised to drive significant advancements and improvements in orthopedic care.

To learn more about APEX Orthopedics Investments and its transformative work, please visit www.APEXortho.net.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Christopher E. Banas

CEO & President

APEX Orthopedics Investments, LLC

Phone: (970) 333-9758

Email: [email protected]

About APEX Orthopedics Investments:

APEX Orthopedics Investments is an asset management company dedicated to developing Class II and III device innovations within the foot and ankle orthopedic industry. With a focus on driving advancements in fixation hardware, midfoot arthrodesis, midfoot arthroplasty, and Achilles tendon solutions, APEX Orthopedics Investments aims to revolutionize patient care and outcomes while empowering orthopedic professionals with cutting-edge solutions. Based in Aurora, Colorado, the company brings together a team of experts with over four decades of collective experience in product development, having launched 200+ products, yielding a combined revenue of USD 3 billion.

SOURCE Apex Orthopedics Investments, LLC
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Step into the world of luxury lifestyle and philanthropy with a private store event and dinner hosted by Eva Longoria and CEO of Aroma360 Benzion Aboud. As the latest cover model for Haute Living Magazine at the Aroma360 Beverly Hills showroom, it was an evening to remember.

Aroma360 Beverly Hills showroom located on Rodeo Drive, at the epicenter of California luxury with a lavish yet innovative space, the showroom offers everything from its numerous hotel, spa and private label collections for home scenting to its latest in beauty fragrances.

AROMA360 Beverly Hill Showroom Hosts Haute Living Cover Launch with Eva Longoria! Post this Eva Longoria accepts a check for her charity, Eva's Heroes, from Haute Living CEO Kamal Hotchandani.

A leading force in the scent marketing industry for nearly a decade, Aroma360's specialty lies in enhancing a company's overall branding aesthetic and customer experience through scent branding and strong, strategic marketing campaigns. The brand's unique scenting solutions have been met with high acclaim, boasting clients like Ferrari, Cipriani, W South Beach, Borgata Hotel and Casino, Atlantis Paradise Island, Ritz-Carlton, and many more. Having designed custom scents for such a high caliber clientele, Aroma360 understands how to bring to life a brand's unique image through scent.

At the heart of this event partnership was a noble cause: supporting Eva's Heroes, a nonprofit organization founded by Eva Longoria herself. Eva's Heroes is dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals with intellectual special needs, providing them with opportunities to interact, grow, learn, and love.

As the evening unfolded, guests were treated to a memorable celebration, culminating in the presentation of a generous donation of $10,000 to Eva's Heroes. This contribution will enable the organization to continue its vital work, helping teens and young adults integrate and flourish in society.

SOURCE Aroma360
PARIS, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Comite International d'Histoire de l'Art (CIHA) has existed since 1873 and its congresses have usually taken place every four years (sometimes colloquially referred to as the Art History Olympiad).

The only global event in this field, it allows researchers and professionals from the art and heritage disciplines to discuss, share, and debate a wide range of issues relating to art history and all of its political, social, and societal ramifications.

36th Congress of the Comite International dHistoire de lArt, June 23 to 28, 2024, Lyon, Centre de congres Artprice by Artmarket Headquarters at The Museum of Contemporary Art Abode of Chaos dixit NYT (Lyon - France)

For France, which is hosting the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the CIHA will rank among the country's major events of the year.

Organized by the French Art History Committee (CFHA) in partnership with the National Institute of Art History (INHA), the Lumiere University Lyon 2 and the Rhone-Alpes Historical Research Laboratory (LARHRA CNRS UMR 5190), the 36th edition of this congress will take place at the Congress Center of the Cite Internationale de Lyon from June 23 to 28, 2024 (https://www.cihalyon2024.fr/en/)

According to thierry Ehrmann, CEO of Artmarket.com and founder of Artprice:

"As one of its principal active patrons, Artprice is very happy to contribute to this global event, which is one of the most important for France and its international cultural policy. With participants from over 70 countries and more than 1000 speakers, this year's CIHA will be a superb intellectual complement to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Indeed, this extraordinary quadrennial Art History Congress consolidates France's efforts to re-establish itself as an important cultural player on the international scene (according to Artprice's Annual Art Market Report, it is already the leading art marketplace in continental Europe). We will of course be very pleased to welcome CIHA delegates to the global headquarters of Artprice by Artmarket, in the heart of the Contemporary Art Museum, La Demeure du Chaos / Abode of Chaos."

The theme of this 36th edition of the CIHA is "Matter and Materiality" which is "inherent to the conception, production, interpretation and conservation of artifacts in all cultures across all periods of time The concept of materiality  refers to the fact that the artifacts are composed of materials and, at a theoretical level, to all the processes  technical, cultural and social  that undergird the realization and the material perception of works of art.

This theme opens onto a whole panoply of very topical questions that reflect major societal, ecological and ethical changes. The congress will also address a wide range of technical issues relating to different categories of objects, from paintings to prints, from architectural techniques to the use of waste materials, from the human body to clothing, among others.

Discover the CIHA program online: https://openagenda.com/fr/ciha-2024

According to Olivier Bonfait, President of the French Committee for the History of Art (CFHA), organizer of the CIHA 2024:

"By the quality and diversity of the planned discussions, the growing number of participants and the international response it has received, this Art History Congress is already a global success. And, considering Artprice's contribution to Art History by enhancing art market transparency, their support of this Congress is a great honor and makes perfect sense. Because the International Congress in Lyon is essentially a major celebration of Art History knowledge."

During the congress, there will be more than 1000 speakers from more than 70 countries and Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, a Nobel Prize laureate, will deliver the opening speech.

Among the talks on the multiple subjects related to the main themes of the congress, there will be presentations by several prestigious speakers including Georges Didi-Huberman (EHESS, Paris), Eric de Chassey (INHA, Paris), Sven Dupre (Utrecht University, Netherlands), Finbarr Barry Flood (New York University, New York, USA), Tim Ingold (University of Aberdeen, Scotland), Isabelle Pallot-Frossard (President of the Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine, Paris), Antoine Picon (Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, USA), Devika Singh (Courtauld Institute, London), Gabriela Siracusano (Universidad Nacional Tres de Febrero, Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Monika Wagner (Universitat Hamburg, Hamburg).

Several round tables will address issues related to digital technology, the art market, libraries, international research and restoration programs. And because the congress cannot address the subject of 'matter' without giving a voice to those who work on it, two international artists will present their relationship to materiality (in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon): Sheela Gowda (from India) and Jefferson Pinder (from the USA, with support from the Terra Foundation). Artprice and its L'Organe Museum of Contemporary Art which manages La Demeure du Chaos (otherwise known as the "Abode of Chaos", Dixit The New York Times) will participate in collaborative knowledge-sharing workshops.

In the evenings, discussions will continue during exceptional events organized with partner museums and foundations and the support of active patrons.

A special evening will be hosted at the global headquarters of Artprice by Artmarket, with a visit to its historical and unique documentary archive of art market knowledge from 1700 to the present day, located in the heart of its Contemporary Art Museum at the Abode of Chaos. A meeting will also be scheduled between its founding President, thierry Ehrmann, the scientific managers of the different departments of Artprice and CIHA researchers.

In addition, the Circle of Lyon Museum Patrons will host a reception at the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts during which restored works from its collection will be presented, and Lyon's Museum of Contemporary Art will host the re-edition of a banquet designed by the Swiss artist Daniel Spoerri, thanks to a loan from the National Center of Visual Arts and the collaboration of Michelin-starred Lyon-based chef, Jeremy Galvan.

There will also be various heritage excursions to the surrounding Auvergne / Rhone-Alpes region during the last day of the congress (Friday 28 June 2024). Congress participants will thus be able to discover some important cultural places such as the buildings designed by Le Corbusier (Firminy and Le Couvent de la Tourette), the monumental heritage at Batie d'Urfe and Puy-en-Velay, the exceptional Palais Ideal du Facteur Cheval (Postman Cheval's Ideal Palace), the Royal Monastery of Brou and the major museums of the region including those of Grenoble and Saint-Etienne, as well as important sites for conservation and restoration techniques (ARC Nucleart in Grenoble).

Throughout the congress, participants will be able to visit the city's museums, contemporary art centers and galleries, and discover the architectural heritage of the city's different eras (the Old Lyon district, the buildings designed by Tony Garnier, the city's industrial heritage, etc.). Lyon is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Artprice by Artmarket will be participating in a simultaneous Book Fair at the Lyon Convention Center that will allow participants to discover the most recent publications from major French and international publishers. Presentations of publications related to the theme of the congress will allow participants to meet and discuss with their authors from all over the world.

The CIHA is placed under the high sponsorship of the Ministry of Culture and its Minister Rachida Dati, the Ministry of Europe & Foreign Affairs and its Minister Stephane Sejourne, the Ministry of Higher Education & Research and its Minister Sylvie Retailleau. It is supported by major institutions: the National Center for Scientific Research, the National Institute of Art History, the Ecole du Louvre, the Universite Lumiere Lyon 2, the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Lyon, and the Grenoble Alpes University.

The organizers would like to thank all the foundations and patrons who have sponsored the travel arrangements of speakers, regardless of their geographical origin, thanks to mobility grants: Gerda Henkel Stiftung (Dusseldorf), Deutsches Forum Fur Kunstgeschichte (Paris), Fundacion Proa (Buenos Aires), Getty Foundation (Los Angeles), Tiqitaq Foundation (France), Italian Cultural Institute of Lyon, Samuel H. Kress Foundation (New York), Wu Zuoren International Foundation of Fine Arts (Beijing).

At the same time, foundations, cultural partners and companies have contributed to the organization of the congress: Artprice by Artmarket, Antoine de Galbert Foundation, Bullukian Foundation (Lyon), macLYON  Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon, the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts, the Gadagne Museums, the Musee l'Organe managing La Demeure du Chaos / Abode of Chaos, the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Academy of Fine Arts, and numerous individuals.

The CIHA Lyon 2024 Congress is open to anyone interested in art, Art History and cultural heritage.

Register and take part in all the opportunities this exceptional congress offers you including professional exchanges, the consolidation of your networks, unique and convivial moments, discoveries of all kinds, and privileged visits to the region's extraordinary heritage.

To register for the conference: https://www.cihalyon2024.fr/en/registration

To give financial support to the conference:

https://www.cihalyon2024.fr/en/help-us-intro/patronage

Welcome to Lyon, the global capital of Art History in June 2024. We look forward to meeting you

Contact: [email protected]

The Management Committee

Laurent Baridon, Judith Kagan, France Nerlich, Sophie Raux

Copyright 1987-2024 thierry Ehrmann www.artprice.com - www.artmarket.com

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About Artmarket:

Artmarket.com is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Paris, and Euroclear: 7478 - Bloomberg: PRC - Reuters: ARTF.

Discover Artmarket and its Artprice department on video: www.artprice.com/video

Artmarket and its Artprice department was founded in 1997 by its CEO, thierry Ehrmann. Artmarket and its Artprice department is controlled by Groupe Serveur, created in 1987.

See certified biography in Who's who :

https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2024/02/2024_Biographie_thierry_Ehrmann_WhosWhoInFrance.pdf

Artmarket is a global player in the Art Market with, among other structures, its Artprice department, world leader in the accumulation, management and exploitation of historical and current art market information (the original documentary archives, codex manuscripts, annotated books and auction catalogs acquired over the years ) in databanks containing over 30 million indices and auction results, covering more than 840 000 artists.

Artprice by Artmarket, the world leader in information on the art market, has set itself the ambition through its Global Standardized Marketplace to be the world's leading Fine Art NFT platform.

Artprice Images allows unlimited access to the largest Art Market image bank in the world: no less than 180 million digital images of photographs or engraved reproductions of artworks from 1700 to the present day, commented by our art historians.

Artmarket with its Artprice department accumulates data on a permanent basis from 7200 Auction Houses and produces key Art Market information for the main press and media agencies (7,200 publications). Its 7.2 million ('members log in'+social media) users have access to ads posted by other members, a network that today represents the leading Global Standardized Marketplace to buy and sell artworks at a fixed or bid price (auctions regulated by paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article L 321.3 of France's Commercial Code).

The Art Market's future is now brighter than ever with Artprice's Artmarket Intuitive AI

Artmarket, with its Artprice department, has twice been awarded the State label "Innovative Company" by the Public Investment Bank (BPI), which has supported the company in its project to consolidate its position as a global player in the art market.

Artprice by Artmarket's Global Art Market Report, "The Art Market in 2023", published in March 2024:

https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-art-market-in-2023

Artprice by Artmarket publishes its 2023 Contemporary Art Market Report:

https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-contemporary-art-market-report-2023

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La Demeure du Chaos / Abode of Chaos

GESAMTKUNSTWERK & SINGULAR ARCHITECTURE

Confidential bilingual work now public:

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L'Obs - The Museum of the Future: https://youtu.be/29LXBPJrs-o

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Contact Artmarket.com and its Artprice department - Contact: Thierry Ehrmann, [email protected]

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SOURCE Artmarket.com
Community-focused medical center one of only 384 U.S. healthcare facilities to receive "LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader" honor; only facility in Atlanta to achieve Leader status

ATLANTA , May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has awarded AvitaCare Atlanta 100% on its 2024 Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), securing it a coveted designation as an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader.

Now in its 16th year, the HEI is a national benchmarking tool that evaluates healthcare facilities' policies and practices regarding the equity and inclusion of LGBTQ+ patients, visitors, and employees. HEI survey participants are scored across the following criteria areas:

Foundational elements of non-discrimination policy implementation and training

Patient services and support

Employee benefits and policies

Patient and community engagement

Responsible citizenship

An Avita Care Solutions company, AvitaCare Atlanta's medical center and pharmacy partners with covered entity MedCura Health to offer compassionate, comprehensive, and inclusive primary and specialized care services to the greater Atlanta community, including gender-affirming care, sexual wellness care, diabetes management, behavioral health, comprehensive in-person and telehealth-based HIV prevention and treatment programs, and more. Its award-winning staff of more than 70 team members is committed to breaking down health equity barriers for LGBTQ+ patients by providing them with culturally competent care in a welcoming and safe environment.

While this year's HEI survey engaged over 1,065 U.S. healthcare facilities, only 36% received top marks. AvitaCare Atlanta's dedication to providing LGBTQ+-affirming care earned it the designation of LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader, reserved for facilities that score 100% on the index.

Meeting a crucial need for LGBTQ+ health equity in the Atlanta community

"There has never been a more critical time in the fight for LGBTQ+ healthcare equality," Avita Care Solutions CEO Michael Yount said. "To date in 2024 alone, over 500 bills targeting LGBTQ+ rights advanced through the U.S. legislature, with more than 100 of them specifically restricting the healthcare rights of the LGBTQ+ community. Thank you to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation for recognizing the important work AvitaCare Atlanta and other organizations do by offering compassionate and inclusive care to patients no matter how they identify or whom they love."

AvitaCare Atlanta Medical Director Dr. Quintin Robinson, AAHIVS, seconded the need to drive change in the healthcare sector by reducing stigma and bias toward America's LGBTQ+ communities and commended his team for continually breaking down these patient barriers. "Reports show that one in five LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. put their healthcare needs on hold to avoid the disrespect and discrimination they've faced from some providers," he said. "The AvitaCare Atlanta team is specifically trained to treat patients holistically, respectfully, and without judgment. That means every patient. It's our honor to offer LGBTQ+-affirming care to members of the Atlanta community."

While much work to be done, report shows marked progress in LGBTQ+ healthcare equality

"As anti-LGBTQ+ extremists look to strip away healthcare access at every turn, LGBTQ+ people and their loved ones are looking for healthcare providers to offer and champion fully inclusive services. The Healthcare Equality Index is helping people find facilities where welcoming policies and practices are the standard," said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign. "We know that LGBTQ+ peopleespecially our trans familycontinue to face discrimination in the doctor's office. No one should have to put their health on the backburner for fear of mistreatment in a healthcare facility or by their doctor."

Notable progress toward LGBTQ+ healthcare equality reflected in the 2024 HEI includes:

Targeted health disparities reduction plans: Encouragingly, 71% of responding healthcare facilities report having an official plan for reducing health disparities that specifically includes LGBTQ+ patients in addition to race, ethnicity, and linguistic concerns.

Encouragingly, 71% of responding healthcare facilities report having an official plan for reducing health disparities that specifically includes LGBTQ+ patients in addition to race, ethnicity, and linguistic concerns. EHR SOGI data: Major increases were seen in the number of healthcare facilities collecting sexual orientation and gender identity-related data in their electronic health records systems (EHRs). Seven of the eight relevant data points had double-digit increases.

Major increases were seen in the number of healthcare facilities collecting sexual orientation and gender identity-related data in their electronic health records systems (EHRs). Seven of the eight relevant data points had double-digit increases. Pronouns in electronic health records: The ability of responding healthcare facilities to collect and display a patient's pronouns rose from 44% to 74%. This is an important tool to help prevent misgendering a patient.

The ability of responding healthcare facilities to collect and display a patient's pronouns rose from 44% to 74%. This is an important tool to help prevent misgendering a patient. Comprehensive benefits for domestic partners: 41% of responding healthcare facilities reported providing medical and comprehensive health benefits to domestic partners of benefits-eligible employees, up from 34% in 2022. This is the first increase in this measure since the 2015 Obergefell decision on same-sex marriage.

ABOUT AVITACARE ATLANTA

Trusted in the community for over two decades, AvitaCare Atlanta, an Avita Care Solutions company, partners with MedCura Health to offer compassionate, comprehensive, and inclusive primary and specialized care services to the greater Atlanta community, including gender-affirming care, sexual wellness care, diabetes management, behavioral health, comprehensive in-person and telehealth-based HIV prevention and treatment programs, and more. A full-service lab and pharmacy are conveniently located within the clinic, and patients receive discreet prescription delivery options, financial assistance support, and medication counseling. To learn more, visit avitacareatlanta.com.

SOURCE AvitaCare Atlanta
Baker Hill receives Top Workplace award for the second time

CARMEL, Ind., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Baker Hill , a leading financial technology provider in delivering solutions for loan origination, risk management and analytics, has been named one of the Top Workplaces 2024 by IndyStar Top Workplaces. This marks the second time that Baker Hill has been recognized as a top employer in Central Indiana.

This year, the IndyStar recognized 124 companies and organizations in Central Indiana as Top Workplaces for 2024. The list of employers named to the renowned list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner, Energage LLC. The anonymous survey uniquely measures 15 culture drivers that are critical to the success of any organization: including alignment, execution, and connection.

"It is an honor to be named once again as a Top Workplace in Central Indiana," said John Deignan, president and CEO of Baker Hill. "Our team has worked hard to create an engaging, fulfilling culture here at Baker Hill, and to be recognized as a top employer in today's market is a huge win  especially as Baker Hill celebrates its 40th anniversary. It's all thanks to our incredible team members that show up to make a difference each and every day."

For more than 40 years, Baker Hill has cultivated a reputation for driving innovation in banking and lending. Today, the company is the trusted provider to more than 20 percent of the top 150 U.S. banks and 20 percent of the top 25 credit unions, an accomplishment that Baker Hill's dedicated team is proud of. Baker Hill has continued to grow and propel the industry forward with new product innovations as more financial institutions partner with the company for its world-class loan origination and risk management software. The recognition is the latest accolade for Baker Hill's team. The company has been consistently recognized by industry experts, and leading financial and technology organizations, including Aite-Novarica Group, IDC MarketScape, TechPoint Mira Awards, American Banker's Best Places to Work in FinTech, the Fintech Breakthrough Awards, among others.

"Baker Hill has achieved some significant milestones this year, and as we enter the next chapter of growth, we anticipate a bright future for our employees, our clients and the company as a whole in the years ahead," said Sheila Simpson, Chief Human Resources Officer at Baker Hill. "Success starts from the ground up. When organizations cultivate a positive workplace culture that inspires performance and collaboration, everyone wins  from the employees and leadership to the clients. Our recognition as a Top Workplace in Central Indiana for the second time is proof of our team's dedication and contributions, and we are proud to celebrate Baker Hill's world-class work culture with this achievement."

About Baker Hill

Baker Hill is in the business of evolving loan origination by combining expertise in technology with expertise in banking. Built on decades of walking alongside banks and credit unions as they provide vital resources to their communities, Baker Hill NextGen is a configurable, single platform SaaS solution for commercial, small business, consumer loan origination, and risk management that grows along with you as your business needs change. Baker Hill is lending evolved. For more information, visit bakerhill.com.

SOURCE Baker Hill
CHICO, Calif., May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bella Sun Luci, renowned for authentic Italian products, is excited to announce the arrival of Tuscan Rice at Costco Wholesale. This latest addition to the Bella Sun Luci Italian Kitchen Line offers a convenient rice pouch with delicious Italian flavor, available exclusively in the LA Costco region for a limited time.

Bella Sun Luci Tuscan Rich Pouch Bella Sun Luci Tuscan Rice 6 Pack Box

Crafted with simplicity and quality in mind, Bella Sun Luci's Tuscan Rice is a culinary masterpiece. Each box contains six microwavable pouches, providing effortless meal solutions without compromising on flavor. Made with a blend of whole grain rice, tomatoes, and authentic Italian herbs like basil, every bite delivers a taste of Italy that captivates the senses. One of the key highlights of Tuscan Rice is its preservative-free formula, ensuring a natural and wholesome mealtime experience. Free from artificial flavors, it's a clear choice for those seeking whole grain goodness without compromising on taste.

"We're thrilled to introduce the Tuscan Rice to Costco," said Mary Mooney, CEO at Mooney Farms. "It's a taste of Italy in every bite! With our Tuscan Rice, we're bringing the essence of Italian cuisine directly to your table, available exclusively in the Los Angeles's Costco Region. Get yours today!"

The Tuscan Rice offers a harmonious blend of authentic Italian flavors and convenience, providing everyone with a delicious, wholesome side dish or flavor filled meal base. Each microwavable pouch is ready in under 90 seconds, making it incredibly convenient for busy individuals looking to elevate their meals effortlessly. Whether as a standalone side dish or the foundation of an entire meal, Bella Sun Luci's Tuscan Rice promises to deliver a flavorful meal with a touch of Mediterranean flair.

For more information and to explore our full range of products, visit BellaSunLuci.com.

About Mooney Farms and Bella Sun Luci:

Founded in 1987, Mooney Farms is a certified women-owned and family operated company based in Chico, California. Dedicated to producing high-quality Mediterranean-inspired products, Mooney Farms offers a diverse range of gourmet items under its Bella Sun Luci brand, including sun dried tomatoes in premium oil, sauces, spreads, and salad dressings. With a commitment to excellence and tradition, Mooney Farms continues to delight customers with authentic flavors and premium ingredients.

Press Contact:

Emily Murdock

Mooney Farms

530-899-2661

[email protected]

SOURCE Mooney Farms
PARIS, May 7, 2024 PRNewswire/ -- This is a report from Xinhuanet:

With the ongoing evolution of the Internet and of social media landscapes, new opportunities for cultural exchanges between China and France have emerged. Bilibili, a leading youth culture community in China, is leveraging its platform to foster these cross-cultural interactions.

On May 4, 'Paris Xiao Guo Guo' (Guo Zhanglong), a Bilibili content creator who is attending the forum on the development of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and France in Paris, is interviewed by Xinhuanet. (Photo by Xin Bei)

In an interview with 'Paris Xiao Guo Guo' (Guo Zhanglong), a reporter and a prominent Bilibili content creator who is attending a forum on the development of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and France in Paris, said, "As 'Paris Xiao Guo Guo', I utilize my channel on Bilibili to showcase not only the delights of Shanxi knife-shaved noodles but also interesting stories from France. In this digital age, I am honored to be instrumental in bringing cultural exchanges between China and France to life in a more vivid and authentic manner through the new media platform, Bilibili."

Chen Rui, Chairman and CEO of Bilibili, affirms that the Internet is a potent tool for the exchange of cultural ideas. He sees his platform as an essential accelerator in the spread of culture. Stressing the importance of youth in cultural innovation, Chen argues that it is vital for young people to engage in cultural exchanges that promote understanding, respect, and learning. He also stressed the importance of quality content in cultural dissemination, noting that Bilibili actively supports its content creators in producing excellent work and uses its advanced recommendation system to ensure that this content reaches a wide audience.

Guo Zhanglong, who arrived in France as an international student in 2011, has since established himself in Paris, where he and his family own several successful knife-shaved noodle restaurants.

Reflecting on a transformative experience in 2022, Guo said, "That year, we took the initiative to introduce traditional Shanxi knife-shaved noodles at a small food fair in France. Our stall quickly became an online sensation, celebrated for its distinctive flavor and genuine cultural engagement. We were more than pleased as we observed its transformation from a simple showcase into a dynamic venue for Chinese and French cultural fusion.

Mr. Guo noted, "Our videos serve not only as a chronicle of daily life but also as a bridge for cultural exchange. Every video we share and every interaction we engage in with our French friends contribute to deepening and enhancing the Sino-French cultural dialogue, while fostering a closer bond between us all."

Looking to the future, particularly to later in 2024an important year that marks the 60th anniversary of China-France diplomatic relations and coincides with the Paris Olympic GamesGuo is optimistic: "We aim to further expand our footprint and establish Chinese cuisine as a major player on the international stage. We are confident that, amid the surge in video content creation, more talented creators will join our ranks, and together, we will spearhead the globalization of Chinese culture."

On the platform, vloggers like Paris Xiao Guo Guo showcase Sino-French exchanges through innovative storytelling techniques. Peng Jingxuan, an international student from China, captivates her audience with the retelling of her many academic and cultural adventures in France. It's a unique blend of content that covers everything from local music and art to broader cultural practices and lifestyles, giving her audiences an opportunity to better understand the nuances of the French way of life.

Bilibili is also expanding its reach globally. By collaborating with overseas multi-channel network (MCN) agencies, the platform has attracted a diverse pool of international creators, including several French vloggers. The expansion not only enriches the platform's content offerings, but also enhances its global footprint and influence.

Mr. Chen, the Bilibili CEO, highlighted the company's ongoing effort to promote vibrant cultural exchanges across the global youth community and to advance the understanding of Chinese culture through a combination of innovation within the framework of tradition and the preservation of tradition through innovation. The platform places a strong emphasis on the quality of its content and on connecting with younger audiences, aiming to foster cultural evolution through its video-sharing technology.

SOURCE xinhuanet
OSLO, Norway, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Photocure ASA (OSE: PHO), the Bladder Cancer Company, announces its participation in the congress, and two abstract presentations at the AUA 2024: the American Urological Association Annual Congress 2024 was held May 3-6, 2024, in San Antonio, TX, USA. The results of the BRAVO study performed within the VA healthcare system showed significant decreases in the risk of recurrence and progression, as well as the potential for improved overall survival in patients who received a blue light cystoscopy (BLC) compared to patients whose cystoscopy was only performed under white light. Another comparison of BLC with Hexvix/Cysview and white light cystoscopy (WLC), for the detection of bladder cancer using modern HD 4K equipment, was presented in an abstract from the multicenter phase III study of Hexvix in China, including new real world evidence data.

On Sunday, May 5th, Dr. Sanjay Das presented the study, "Use of Blue Light Cystoscopy Among Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Patients and Outcomes in an Equal Access setting: A Propensity Scored Matched Analysis."

The study, known as BRAVO (Bladder Cancer Recurrence Analysis in Veterans and Outcomes), is a retrospective, propensity score matched analysis that evaluated oncologic outcomes following BLC compared to WLC alone in patients from the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. The study addresses a lack of practical real-world data comparing the impact of BLC versus WLC, specifically for recurrence, progression, and survival. The results of this study confirm that BLC use is associated with positive and statistically significant impacts on these outcomes. The Veterans' Affairs (VA) Healthcare system accepts all U.S. Veterans, regardless of financial background, and retains its patients, allowing for high-quality data capture over a long-term follow-up period, therefore serving as a robust real-world model for equal access.

626 patients were included in this study, 313 in each study arm (WLC versus BLC). Recurrence and progression data for BRAVO was measured at a 3-year time point. Overall survival follow-up was for 10 years.

Study results include:

Risk of recurrence was significantly lower following BLC (HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.29-0.61)  40% reduction in risk of recurrence. This confirms data from multiple RCT studies.

Patients who underwent BLC had significantly reduced risk of progression (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.36-0.99) compared to patients who underwent WLC.

There was improved overall survival among BLC vs. WLC (HR 0.41, 95% CI 0.30-0.72)

Additionally, in the equal-access setting of the VA Healthcare System, benefits of BLC were equitably shared between race/gender.

The Principal Investigator of the BRAVO Study, Dr. Steven Williams, commented: "The results of the BRAVO study performed within the VA healthcare system showed significant decreases in the risk of recurrence and progression, as well as the potential for improved overall survival in patients who received a BLC compared to patients who received WLC only. These findings demonstrate the benefit of BL-enhanced cystoscopy as part of comprehensive care for NMIBC* patients, especially as improved tumor visualization helps to appropriately make determination of intravesical therapy use, such as BCG. The results are encouraging and consistent with prior clinical trial long-term oncological outcomes. It supports the generalizability of prior clinical trial results in the real-world clinical practice setting. The demonstrated impact on overall survival warrants future studies to better understand the oncologic benefit of BLC in NMIBC."

Read the abstract: https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/01.JU.0001008712.53259.7d.05

On Monday, May 6th, a Poster presentation by Dr. Hailong Hu: Blue Light Cystoscopy versus White Light Cystoscopy for the Detection of Bladder Cancer using modern HD 4K equipment: An Analysis of Pivotal Trial and Real-World Data

This pooled meta-analysis presented data from a randomized clinical trial and a supporting real-world evidence study conducted in China. Both studies enrolled patients with known or suspected bladder cancer. A total of 177 patients were enrolled, 128 patients underwent blue light cystoscopy (BLC) with Cysview (HAL) and were included in the full analysis set. Among patients diagnosed with Ta, T1, or CIS, 46 out of 109 patients (42.2%) had at least one lesion detected by BLC but not by white light cystoscopy (WLC) (p<0.0001). Fifteen patients had CIS of which 12 (80%) showed at least one additional CIS lesions found by BLC but not by WLC. The BLC detection rates for CIS, Ta, T1, and T2-T4 tumors were 95.2%, 100%, 98.3%, and 100%, respectively, while the WLC detection rates were 42.9%, 76.5%, 91.7%, and 100%, respectively.

This study confirms the superiority of HAL BLC over WLC in the detection of bladder cancer even if improved WLC using HD 4K equipment is utilized. In particular, additional high-risk difficult to see CIS lesions have been identified in 80% of CIS patients only by HAL BLC. The quality of resection is still a key cornerstone in the treatment of NMIBC of which BLC remains a crucial part despite the further development of WLC imaging.

Read the abstract: https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/01.JU.0001009548.76580.ba.18

Beyond this groundbreaking data on BLC/WLC comparison, Photocure provided attendees with hands-on experience in the blue light cystoscopy with Cysview procedure on its congress booth, that featured a Saphira HD equipment tower.

*NMIBC: Non muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Note to editors:

All trademarks mentioned in this release are protected by law and are registered trademarks of Photocure ASA.

This press release may contain product details and information which are not valid, or a product is not accessible, in your country. Please be aware that Photocure does not take any responsibility for accessing such information which may not comply with any legal process, regulation, registration or usage in the country of your origin.

About Bladder Cancer

Bladder cancer ranks as the 8th most common cancer worldwide  the 5th most common in men  with 1 949 000 prevalent cases (5-year prevalence rate)1a, 614 000 new cases and more than 220 000 deaths in 2022.1b

Approx. 75% of all bladder cancer cases occur in men.1 It has a high recurrence rate with up to 61% in year one and up to 78% over five years.2 Bladder cancer has the highest lifetime treatment costs per patient of all cancers.3

Bladder cancer is a costly, potentially progressive disease for which patients have to undergo multiple cystoscopies due to the high risk of recurrence. There is an urgent need to improve both the diagnosis and the management of bladder cancer for the benefit of patients and healthcare systems alike.

Bladder cancer is classified into two types, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), depending on the depth of invasion in the bladder wall. NMIBC remains in the inner layer of cells lining the bladder. These cancers are the most common (75%) of all BC cases and include the subtypes Ta, carcinoma in situ (CIS) and T1 lesions. In MIBC the cancer has grown into deeper layers of the bladder wall. These cancers, including subtypes T2, T3 and T4, are more likely to spread and are harder to treat.4

1 Globocan. a) 5-year prevalence / b) incidence/mortality by population. Available at: https://gco.iarc.fr/today, accessed [February 2024].

2 Babjuk M, et al. Eur Urol. 2019; 76(5): 639-657

3 Sievert KD et al. World J Urol 2009;27:295300

4 Bladder Cancer. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/bladder-cancer.html

About Hexvix/Cysview (hexaminolevulinate HCl)

Hexvix/Cysview is a drug that preferentially accumulates in cancer cells in the bladder, making them glow bright pink during Blue Light Cystoscopy (BLC). BLC with Hexvix/Cysview, compared to standard white light cystoscopy alone, improves the detection of tumors and leads to more complete resection, fewer residual tumors, and better management decisions.

Cysview is the tradename in the U.S. and Canada, Hexvix is the tradename in all other markets. Photocure is commercializing Cysview/Hexvix directly in the U.S. and Europe and has strategic partnerships for the commercialization of Hexvix/Cysview in China, Chile, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. Please refer to https://photocure.com/partners/our-partners for further information on our commercial partners.

About Photocure ASA

Photocure: The Bladder Cancer Company delivers transformative solutions to improve the lives of bladder cancer patients. Our unique technology, making cancer cells glow bright pink, has led to better health outcomes for patients worldwide. Photocure is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: PHO). For more information, please visit us at www.photocure.com, www.hexvix.com, www.cysview.com

For further information, please contact:

Dan Schneider

President and CEO

Photocure ASA

Email: [email protected]

Erik Dahl

CFO

Photocure ASA

Tel: +4745055000

Email: [email protected]

David Moskowitz

Vice President, Investor Relations

Photocure ASA

Tel: +1 202 280 0888

Email: [email protected]

Media and IR enquiries:

Geir Bjrlo

Corporate Communications (Norway)

Tel: +47 91540000

Email: [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/photocure/r/bladder-cancer--long-term-benefits-of-blue-light-cystoscopy-and-enhanced-detection-with-hd-technolog,c3974099

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New relationship focused on expanding potentially life-saving research in Southwest Montana

SPARTANBURG, S.C., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Guardian Research Network (GRN) announced today that Bozeman Health joined its national consortium dedicated to expanding access to research studies to accelerate cure discoveries and care improvements. This relationship will bolster the health system's growing clinical research enterprise, which focuses on diseases in the areas of oncology, gastroenterology, and infectious disease.

Kathryn Bertany, MD, CEO of Bozeman Health

"Collaborating with GRN will enable us to further contribute to the development and awareness of new diagnostic methods for diseases and better understand certain illnesses through clinical research," said Kathryn Bertany, MD, Bozeman Health Chief Executive Officer. "It's through innovative collaborations such as this that we are able to help move the needle in the patient care we offer while playing a role in ushering in the next generation of diagnoses and treatments."

As the largest healthcare delivery system serving Southwest Montana, Bozeman Health joins other GRN member health systems representing millions of patients across the country that share the commitment to continuously exploring improvements in patient care by playing a role in the discovery of new diagnostic and treatment options for cancer, rare diseases, and more. By bringing new trial opportunities to the community health setting, this partnership will increase representation in clinical research, thus expanding the availability for trial participation to all communities.

"GRN believes that every patient who qualifies for a clinical trial should be given the opportunity to participate," stated Shirley Trainor-Thomas, GRN Chief Administrative Officer and Vice President of the Partner Network. "Using deep data analytics, we do just that by identifying patients Bozeman Health's research team can contact to educate them on the option to volunteer. Joining GRN underscores Bozeman Health's commitment to innovation and supports their mission of improving community health and quality of life, which aligns beautifully with the mission of GRN."

About Guardian Research Network

Guardian Research Network, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is a nationwide consortium comprised of community healthcare organizations focused on advancing technology to accelerate cures and care improvements. GRN works within the life sciences industry and with its health system members to increase participation in data-driven research, optimize therapeutic and diagnostic studies and employ real world data to improve patient access to precision medicines in underserved communities. For more information, visit www.guardianresearch.org .

About Bozeman Health

Bozeman Health is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving an eight-county region in Southwest Montana. As a nonprofit organization, governed by a volunteer community board of directors, we are the largest private employer in Gallatin County, with more than 2,600 employees, including 250 medical providers representing 40 clinical specialties. It is our privilege to deliver expert, compassionate health and wellness services across the care continuum, designed to meet the diverse healthcare needs of the communities we serve. Learn more about Bozeman Health at BozemanHealth.org .

GRN Media Contact:

Jan Schmidt

[email protected]

Bozeman Health Media Contact:

Erin Brester

System Manager, External Communications & Media Relations

[email protected]

406-580-1276

SOURCE Guardian Research Network
NEW YORK, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The global bread maker market size is estimated to grow by USD 228.62 million from 2023 to 2027, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8.33% during the forecast period.

To understand more about this market - Download a FREE Sample

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Bread Maker Market 2023-2027

Report Attribute Details Base Year 2022 Forecast period 2023-2027 Historic Data for 2017 - 2021 Segments Covered Distribution Channel (Offline and Online) and Product (Automatic bread maker and Regular bread maker) Key Companies Covered AGARO, Bajaj Electricals Ltd., Breville Pty Ltd, Cuisinart, DeLonghi Appliances S.r.l., Glen Dimplex Europe Holdings Ltd., Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co., JVCKENWOOD Corp., KENT RO Systems Ltd., Koninklijke Philips NV, Lifelong Online Retail Pvt. Ltd., NESCO, Newell Brands Inc., Panasonic Holdings Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SANA PRODUCTS LTD., SEB SA Co., Sharp Corp., Siroca Inc., Stanley Black and Decker Inc., and Zojirushi Corp. Regions Covered Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa

Region Outlook

Europe North America South America APAC Middle East & Africa

1. Europe - Europe is estimated to contribute 37%. to the growth of the global market. The Bread Maker Market report forecasts market growth by revenue at global, regional & country levels from 2017 to 2027. Europe holds the largest share of the global market and is expected to maintain this position in the future. The increasing consumption of bread in European countries is the main driver of market growth.

Furthermore, the introduction of multifunctional products in the home appliance sector is contributing to market development. Demand for advanced products is increasing, leading to higher prices for manufacturers. To meet consumer demands, more vendors are offering multifunctional bread makers, which is boosting the local market.

The region's urban population growth and high per capita income also play a significant role in market expansion. With higher spending power, consumers are more likely to purchase advanced small home appliances like bread makers. Moreover, the increasing number of consumer engagement programs by bread maker manufacturers and widespread internet usage are helping vendors reach more customers, thereby fueling market growth in Europe .

For more insights on Europe's significant contribution along with the market share of rest of the regions and countries - Download a FREE Sample

Segmentation Overview

Distribution Channel

1.1 Offline

1.2 Online

Product

2.1 Automatic bread maker

2.2 Regular bread maker

Geography

3.1 Europe

3.2 North America

3.3 APAC

3.4 South America

3.5 Middle East and Africa

1.1 Offline- The offline segment's market share will see significant growth in the forecast period. This includes sales through specialty stores, department stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, and clubhouse stores. Vendors are partnering with regional retail organizations to boost sales through offline channels. They also maintain strategic partnerships with reputable appliance retailers. In 2017, the offline segment was valued at USD 320.38 million, steadily growing until 2021.

Specialty stores, also known as electronic and specialty retailers (EASRs), offer various product lines and brands. With more retailers opening their own stores, vendors have greater flexibility in budgeting for brand development, marketing, advertising, and IT support.

Hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, and clubhouse stores are major revenue contributors, providing a range of products at competitive prices. Department stores offer competitive pricing and allow thorough product assessment before purchase, with factors like convenience, extensive stock-keeping units (SKUs), and brand variety driving market segment growth.

Get a glance at the market contribution of rest of the segments - Download a FREE Sample Report in minutes!

Research Analysis

The bread maker market is bustling with demand from small-scale bakeries, family users, and food processing industries. With a focus on simplicity, these electrical appliances cater to working women and dual-working families, offering user-friendly interfaces and fully automatic operation. From horizontal to vertical loaves, these machines churn out home-baked products effortlessly, utilizing timers and digitalization for precision.

Meeting the needs of the working population, bread makers produce gluten-free and preservative-free options, including whole meal loaves and specialty bread. With a simple design, these machines cater to the gluten-intolerant population, offering semi-automatic counterparts for added convenience. From households to commercial places like bakeries, cafes, restaurants, and hotels, these appliances are indispensable.

The market also sees growth in online portals and ecommerce, connecting consumers with electric counter appliances for on-the-go products. Smart appliances with wireless connectivity are gaining popularity, enabling remote operation and monitoring. Whether sourced from local dealers or traditional retailers, bread makers satisfy the demand for convenient and nutritious home-baked goods in today's fast-paced world.

Market Overview

Looking to start your own small bakery or upgrade your current operation? Our bread maker market offers a range of electrical equipment perfect for your needs. From small ovens to ingredient dispensers, we have everything you need to streamline your bread-making process. Our high-end models feature electric counter appliances and timers for precision baking.

Whether you're making traditional bread, gluten-free options, or specialty items like brioche and pizza dough, our bread-making machines have you covered. Say goodbye to preservatives with our all-natural ingredients like yeast, nuts, and jam. With options for horizontal or vertical loaves, you can cater to your customers' preferences. Plus, with online shopping available, stocking your bakery has never been easier. Upgrade your cooking equipment today and join the working class of successful bakers.

Start exploring market insights by Download a FREE Sample Report in minutes!

Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation

7 Customer Landscape

8 Geographic Landscape

9 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10 Venodr Landscape

11 Vendor Analysis

12 Appendix

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contacts

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
SOUTH DARENTH, Kent, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Brigade Electronics has been honoured with a King's Award for Enterprise for international trade.

Brigade is one of 252 organisations nationally to be recognised with a prestigious King's Award for Enterprise. Announced yesterday, Monday 6th May, Brigade has been chosen for its excellence in international trade. A total of 257 awards were made with five companies being recognised for two awards.

Employing 154 people in the UK, Brigade Electronics was founded in 1976 by Chris Hanson-Abbott OBE, who brought the very first reversing alarm to Europe. The company has been at the forefront of championing vehicle and plant safety ever since, pioneering new products, and developing and patenting new technology.

Philip Hanson-Abbott, Managing Director of Brigade Electronics, commented:

"This is a huge honour for Brigade. We are absolutely delighted to be recognised by what is one of the most prestigious business awards in the world. This is the second time Brigade has received this accolade, having previously been presented with the Queen's Award for Enterprise for International Trade in 2019. To be recognised a second time is a huge achievement for our business and testament to the dedication of our team, both in the UK and our office locations across the globe. It goes without saying that road and workplace safety remains our number one priority and we remain wholly committed to producing high quality products that support drivers and save lives."

Brigade Electronics will receive official recognition of the award in July during a ceremony to be hosted by His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle.

The King's Award for Enterprise, previously known as The Queen's Award for Enterprise, was renamed last year to reflect His Majesty The King's desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II by recognising outstanding UK businesses. The award programme, now in its 58th year, is the most prestigious business award in the country, with successful businesses able to use the esteemed King's Award Emblem for the next five years.

https://brigade-electronics.com/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2406496/Brigade_logo_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Brigade Electronics
Hosted by Veteran Journalist Hugo Balta, Show Will Examine the City's Unique Political Landscape and Issues Impacting Diverse Communities

CHICAGO, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Steadfast in its mission to deliver thought-provoking content and hyperlocal journalism, CAN TV , Chicago's premiere hub for community access news and educational resources, is launching a new television program, Chicago Politics, on Sunday, May 19 at 12 p.m. CT on CAN TV19.

Chicago Politics

Chicago Politics will take a closer look at the politics and politicians that make Chicago's political machine one-of-a-kind. In addition to person-to-person interviews with community leaders, activists, and politicians, each monthly episode aims to unpack how democracy works: decisions made in the halls of the City Council and how the state assembly directly impacts Chicago's diverse communities. Chicago Politics will inform, educate, empower, and activate viewers to get civically involved and tap into their accountability  and power  as constituents and voters who deserve a say in decision-making.

The monthly program will be hosted by Hugo Balta , the current host of CAN TV Original Program 3 Questions With and a veteran journalist. His past experiences include being the executive editor of The Chicago Reporter, news director of WTTW, and editor at WBBM News Radio. He is also the twice president and a Hall of Fame member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Samantha Lampkin, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, media consultant and Chicago native, will serve as Chicago Politics lead correspondent. Her past career experiences include being a television news producer for markets in Missouri, Las Vegas and Chicago. She was also an on-air personality for the ABC news affiliate in Las Vegas, and radio personality at Chicago's WVON 1690AM. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

"Through this show, we aim not only to revitalize civic engagement but also to remind viewers that solutions often come from the ground up," said Balta. "We'll investigate the responses to the issues that matter most to Chicagoans, especially to Black and Brown communities, in order to determine what is and is not working and, in doing so, demand better from those in power."

The premiere episode will explore and analyze the rise and fall of 'Bring Home Chicago,' while Lampkin visits residents of the South Loop neighborhood to talk with staff and clients of Issues Barber & Beauty Salon about their thoughts surrounding the referendum. Jose Munoz, Executive Director of La Casa Norte, who has experienced homelessness, will provide exclusive commentary related to the importance of creating a revenue stream to help the unhoused.

Chicago Politics will air monthly on Sundays at 12 p.m. CST on CAN TV cable channel 19, and streaming live on cantv.org and on the can tv+ app. It will also be available on Roku and Fire TV Stick.

"Chicago Politics is a reflection of CAN TV's mission to elevate voices often underrepresented in mainstream discourse," said Darrious Hilmon, Executive Director of CAN TV. "I'm thrilled to provide another resource to Chicagoans and look forward to the conversations  and more importantly actions  this program will ignite in our communities."

View a preview of Chicago Politics here .

To learn more about CAN TV, visit www.cantv.org .

About Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV)

Established by the City of Chicago in 1983 to maximize the involvement of Chicago residents and groups in cable television, CAN TV delivers over 140 hours of original, hyper-local programming each week. Additionally, CAN TV gives every Chicagoan a voice on cable television by providing training, facilities, equipment, and airtime for Chicago residents and nonprofit groups. CAN TV's five local cable channels (CAN TV 19, 21, 27, 36 and 42) reach more than one million viewers in the city of Chicago. In 2023 (Jan-Dec), CAN TV programming was watched by more than 34.4 million viewers.

MEDIA CONTACT

CHARISSE BARNACHEA

MEKKY MEDIA RELATIONS

847.404.5216

[email protected]

SOURCE CAN TV
Hacienda La Puente Adult Education ceremonies honor students' successes

LA PUENTE, Calif., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Hacienda La Puente Adult Education (HLPAE) announces its upcoming graduation and awards ceremonies for more than 600 students, celebrating those studying English-as-a-Second (ESL) language, adult education, and job skills and career training. Two back-to-back events will take place on May 15th and May 16th from 10am to 11am at Hacienda Heights Community Center, 1234 Valencia Avenue, Hacienda Heights.

May 15th showcases the Adult Education ESL Graduation Ceremony, where nearly 40 students graduate from ESL courses and 105 complete the Citizenship Program.

"Our ESL and citizenship program are great steppingstones for students to then complete their high school diploma or equivalency and move into earning additional credentials and successfully join the workforce," said Executive Director, Dr. Greg Buckner, HLPAE.

Approximately 23% of the population in HLPAE's service area does not have a high school diploma or equivalency, which has repercussions for the local economy and for those adults seeking to build a better future.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that those without a high school diploma or equivalency have median weekly earnings of $721 compared to $905 for high school graduates with some college or an associate degree.

Workforce preparation is a critical focus at HLPAE offering training and short-term credentials in culinary, trades, health, business, cosmetology, and advanced private security. On May 16th, the school honors students in its 68th Adult Education exceling ceremony that recognizes those earning a high school diploma or equivalency, followed by its 60th Career & Technical Education Awards Ceremonies for those exceling in job training in one of these fields.

Claudia De La Torre knows the power of finishing a high school diploma and job training as a certified nursing assistant. "It wasn't an easy decision as I was helping to raise my three younger siblings, and my own daughter," said Claudia.

"But I received so much support from my instructor Mrs. Chow and I'm now dreaming of becoming a Licensed Vocational Nurse. For those questioning whether a high school diploma is worth it, it definitely is!"

John Acharya shares similar sentiments and is one of the CTE Award recipients. Born and raised in Nepal in a refugee camp, he migrated to California in 2008 with his family and had not planned to continue with college due to finances. While working in a warehouse after high school, his grandfather was hospitalized, and John was amazed at the nurses and doctors who took care of him. John furthered his education at Citrus College to become an EMT for two years, and then enrolled at HLPAE in the Licensed Vocational Nursing program.

John praised HLPAE, "Having a nursing director like Ms. Silva Davila, who dedicated her time and effort to make us great nurses, inspired and motivated me to further my nursing career."

More information about HLPAE may be found at https://www.hlpae.com/.

MEDIA INQUIRIES

Anika Jackson

[email protected]

310.567.0038

SOURCE Hacienda La Puente Adult Education
Reports highlight progress on sustainability and enterprise strategy

IRVING, Texas, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) today released its latest reports highlighting the company's environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitment, record financial accomplishments and contributions to helping customers build a better, more sustainable world.

Reports highlight progress on sustainability and enterprise strategy.

"We're pleased to highlight the great strides the Caterpillar global team is making in executing our strategy and investing for long-term profitable growth. These reports tell the stories of our outstanding 2023 financial results, sustainability progress and active participation in the public policy process," said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby. "Our employees' diverse backgrounds and experiences and strong focus on serving our customers contributed to delivering the best year in our nearly 100-year history in 2023."

Highlights include:

The Annual Report reviews how the global team delivered the best year in Caterpillar's nearly 100-year history as the company continued executing its strategy for long-term profitable growth.

The Sustainability Report provides an in-depth look at progress over the past year and how the company is helping its customers achieve their climate-related goals.

The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Report provides information about how the company governs climate-related opportunities and risks.

The Diversity & Inclusion Report provides comprehensive information on Caterpillar's progress to continue building an inclusive culture, representation advancements and key initiatives from the past year.

The Lobbying Report, The Purpose of Engagement, outlines how we advocate for a policy and regulatory environment that supports our long-term success and provides value to shareholders.

Learn more and explore the reports at caterpillar.com/reports.

About Caterpillar:

With 2023 sales and revenues of $67.1 billion, Caterpillar Inc. is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. For nearly 100 years, we've been helping customers build a better, more sustainable world and are committed and contributing to a reduced-carbon future. Our innovative products and services, backed by our global dealer network, provide exceptional value that helps customers succeed. Caterpillar does business on every continent, principally operating through three primary segments  Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation  and providing financing and related services through our Financial Products segment. Visit us at caterpillar.com or join the conversation on our social media channels at caterpillar.com/en/news/social-media.html.

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.
CCR - Results for the 4th quarter of 2023

Equivalent vehicle traffic grew by 7.0% in the period. The number of passengers boarded in airports increased by 10.0% in the period. The number of...
THE WOODLANDS, Texas, and HAIFA, Israel, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellipont Bioservices, a leading cell therapy Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), and Adva Biotechnology, an Israel-based private biotechnology company providing a decentralized, automated, and efficient manufacturing platform for advanced cell therapies, today announce its partnership with Adva Biotechnology marking the launch of the groundbreaking ADVA X3 platform in North America. The ADVA X3 is an advanced, fully automated platform for manufacturing cell therapies, streamlining processes and reducing costs. This alliance signifies a leap forward in personalized treatment, bringing cutting-edge therapies to patients worldwide.

The ADVA X3 is an all-in-one automated system that simplifies and accelerates the manufacturing of CAR-T therapies from manual to fully automated and cGMP in as little as three months. It represents a major advancement in manufacturing efficiency and quality control, ensuring the delivery of life-saving therapies with minimal user involvement. Moreover, the ADVA X3 significantly reduces costs, making it accessible to a broader patient population. The unique combination of Cellipont's best-in-class process and manufacturing expertise and purpose-built facility coupled with the ADVA X3 metabolic sensing-based AI-driven automated manufacturing platform allows therapy developers to quickly go from manual processing to fully automated and cGMP. Additionally, the ADVA X3 system supports cell therapies such as NK, TCR, TIL and exosomes from activation to final cell product.

This alliance signifies a leap forward in personalized treatment, bringing cutting-edge therapies to patients worldwide. Post this

"We're proud to partner with Adva Biotechnology and be the first CDMO in North America to offer the ADVA X3 to clients. The ADVA X3's automation and precision are game changers, enabling us to scale up production and meet the urgent needs of patients," said Michael O'Mara, COO of Cellipont Bioservices.

"The collaboration with Cellipont Bioservices is a pivotal moment for us," said Dr. Ohad Karnieli, CEO of Adva Biotechnology. "The ADVA X3 embodies our commitment to innovation and patient care, and with Cellipont's expertise, we're set to transform the landscape of cell therapies."

Meet Us at ASGCT 2024 in Baltimore, MD

Both Cellipont Bioservices and Adva Biotechnology will be exhibiting at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting, taking place in Baltimore from May 7- 11, 2024. Attendees interested in learning more about the ADVA X3 system and exploring the latest advancements in cell therapy are encouraged to visit our booths (Cellipont Booth #1613, Adva Booth #1841). Representatives from both companies will be available to discuss our collaboration, answer questions, and share insights.

About Cellipont

Cellipont Bioservices is a premier Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) specializing in the advancement of cell therapies. With a team of industry-leading experts, Cellipont is at the forefront of cell therapy development and manufacturing, offering comprehensive solutions from process development, analytical services, to large-scale commercial manufacturing. Our purpose-built facility, combined with our cutting-edge technology and commitment to quality enable us to support our clients in delivering life-changing cell therapies to patients worldwide. Cellipont Bioservices is dedicated to excellence in all aspects of our operations, ensuring that we not only meet but exceed the expectations of our clients and the communities we serve. To learn more, visit www.cellipont.com.

About Adva Biotechnology

Adva Biotechnology is at the forefront of revolutionizing cell therapy manufacturing. By providing a decentralized, automated, and efficient manufacturing platform for advanced cell therapies. Their flagship product, the ADVA platform, is a fully controlled, flexible, and automated cell processing system. It leverages the unique CAMP (Continues Adaptive Multi-Parameter) technology, which streamlines autologous cell therapy manufacturing processes. Through automation, optical sensing, and artificial intelligence, Adva Biotechnology aims to remove the manual component from the process, ultimately advancing treatments for various forms of cancer and other conditions. Their commitment to improving patient outcomes through innovative technology underscores their mission: valuing life and advancing therapies. To learn more, visit www.advabio.com.

SOURCE Cellipont Bioservices
Net loss of $6.1 million on $43.7 million in revenue, compared to net income of $7.2 million on $66.9 million in revenue in Q1 2023

on in revenue, compared to net income of on in revenue in Q1 2023 Consolidated cash balance of $209.3 million as of March 31, 2024

as of Continued enrichment operations in Piketon, Ohio , with total production of approximately 135 kilograms of High Assay Low-Enriched Uranium ("HALEU")

, with total production of approximately 135 kilograms of High Assay Low-Enriched Uranium ("HALEU") Signed approximately $900 million in contingent sales commitments for Low-Enriched Uranium ("LEU")

BETHESDA, Md., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE American: LEU) ("Centrus" or the "Company") today reported first quarter 2024 results. The Company reported a net loss of $6.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024, which is $0.38 (basic and diluted) per common share.

"Centrus had a strong start to the year, making additional HALEU deliveries to the Department of Energy ("Department" or "DOE") and submitting bids on two Requests for Proposals from the Department aimed at expanding its HALEU production capacity. In addition, the Company signed approximately $900 million in contingent LEU sales commitments to support the potential construction of LEU production capacity alongside our HALEU production," said Centrus President and CEO, Amir Vexler. "Recent funding legislation enacted with wide, bipartisan support includes a $2.7 billion federal investment in domestic enrichment. With the support of a strong, public-private partnership, we look forward to scaling up production to meet the full range of commercial and national security requirements for enriched uranium, including HALEU for advanced reactors and LEU for the existing reactor fleet. While our first quarter results reflect the expected quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in our revenues and margins  largely resulting from the timing of customer deliveries  we are encouraged by the progress we are making to reclaim American leadership in uranium enrichment."

Financial Results

Centrus generated total revenue of $43.7 million and $66.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, a decrease of $23.2 million.

Revenue from the LEU segment was $23.6 million and $58.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, a decrease of $35.2 million. SWU revenue decreased by $35.2 million as a result of a decrease in the volume of SWU sold and a decrease in the average price of SWU sold.

Revenue from the Technical Solutions segment was $20.1 million and $8.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, an increase of $12.0 million. Revenue generated by the HALEU Operation Contract increased $12.0 million due to the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 in late 2023.

Cost of sales for the LEU segment was $23.1 million and $34.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, a decrease of $11.8 million. SWU costs decreased by $12.3 million as a result of a decrease in the volume of SWU sold, partially offset by an increase in the average unit cost of SWU sold. Cost of sales for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 included $0.3 million and $2.1 million, respectively, for the revaluation of inventory loans.

Cost of sales for the Technical Solutions segment was $16.3 million and $9.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, an increase of $7.3 million. Costs incurred for the HALEU Operation Contract increased by $7.3 million due to the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 in late 2023.

Gross profit for the Company was $4.3 million and $23.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The decrease for the three months ended March 31, 2024 was primarily attributed to the decrease in gross profit in the LEU segment, as previously discussed. LEU customers generally have multi-year contracts that carry annual purchase commitments, not quarterly commitments. The gross profit in our LEU business varies based upon the timing of those contracts. The pricing of those deliveries varies depending upon the market conditions at the time the contract was signed with a portion of our outstanding contracts entered into at historically higher prices. The Company's gross profit was lower primarily due to the composition of contracts in the prior year, which included legacy and higher priced contracts. This was partially offset by an increase in gross profit in the Technical Solutions segment, primarily related to the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of the HALEU Operation Contract.

HALEU Update

On October 11, 2023, the Company announced the beginning of enrichment operations, and on November 7, 2023, it announced its first delivery of 20 kilograms of HALEU uranium hexafluoride (UF6), completing Phase 1 of the HALEU Operation Contract under budget and ahead of schedule. The DOE is contractually required to provide storage cylinders necessary to collect the output of the cascade. Using the storage cylinders currently made available by the DOE, Centrus has now achieved cumulative deliveries to the DOE of approximately 135 kilograms of HALEU UF 6 .

On November 28, 2023 and January 9, 2024, the DOE issued two RFPs for the deconversion and enrichment of HALEU, respectively. The Company submitted bids for both RFPs, with the goal of expanding HALEU production capability at the Piketon, Ohio facility.

Contingent Sales Commitments

Centrus also announced that it has signed approximately $900 million in contingent LEU sales commitments, subject to entering into definitive agreements, in support of potential construction of LEU production capacity at Centrus' American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. These commitments, reflecting deliveries of LEU to customers from 2028 to 2040, are contingent upon Centrus securing substantial public and private funding and financing to build the new capacity. Centrus competes against large, government-owned entities and is the sole publicly traded enrichment company in the industry. Congress recently included $2.72 billion for new, domestic nuclear fuel production as part of a government funding bill signed into law on March 9, 2024.

Enriched Uranium Ban

On April 30, 2024, the Senate passed the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act (H.R. 1042), which bans uranium imports from Russia and becomes effective 90 days after enactment. The legislation, which was previously passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, has been presented to the President of the United States for signature into law. The legislation includes a provision that allows for the granting of waivers through 2027, including if the waiver serves the national interest. When the legislation is enacted, we will apply for waivers from the Secretary of Energy and other applicable government agencies to request permission to continue supplying LEU to our customers. It is uncertain whether any waiver would be granted and, if granted, whether any waiver would be granted in a timely manner. The Company anticipates having adequate liquidity to support its business operations for at least the next 12 months.

About Centrus Energy Corp.

Centrus Energy is a trusted supplier of nuclear fuel components and services for the nuclear power industry. Centrus provides value to its utility customers through the reliability and diversity of its supply sources  helping them meet the growing need for clean, affordable, carbon-free electricity. Since 1998, the Company has provided its utility customers with more than 1,750 reactor years of fuel, which is equivalent to 7 billion tons of coal. With world-class technical and engineering capabilities, Centrus is also advancing the next generation of centrifuge technologies so that America can restore its domestic uranium enrichment capability in the future. Find out more at centrusenergy.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this context, forward-looking statements mean statements related to future events, which may impact our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "will", "should", "could", "would" or "may" and other words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this news release and represent management's current views and assumptions with respect to future events and operational, economic and financial performance. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, events or results and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond our control.

For Centrus Energy Corp., particular risks and uncertainties (hereinafter "risks") that could cause our actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements include but are not limited to and which are, and may be, exacerbated by any worsening of the global business and economic environment include but are not limited to the following: risks related to the war in Ukraine and geopolitical conflicts and the imposition of sanctions or other measures by (i) the U.S. or foreign governments and institutions, (ii) organizations (including the United Nations or other international organizations), or (iii) entities (including private entities or persons), that could directly or indirectly impact our ability to obtain, deliver, transport or sell low enriched uranium ("LEU") or the Separative Work Units ("SWU") and natural uranium hexafluoride components of LEU delivered to us under our existing supply contract with the Russian government-owned entity, TENEX, Joint-Stock Company ("TENEX") ("TENEX Supply Contract"), or make related payments or deliveries of natural uranium hexafluoride to TENEX; risks related to proposed and imminent legislation to ban imports of Russian LEU into the United States, or transaction with the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation ("Rosatom") or its subsidiaries, which includes TENEX, or similar bills that become law and the potential inability to secure a waiver or other exception from the ban or sanction in a timely manner or at all in order to allow us to continue importing Russian LEU under the TENEX Supply Contract or otherwise doing business with TENEX or implementing the TENEX Supply Contract; risks related to the refusal or inability of TENEX to deliver LEU to us if, among other reasons, (i) U.S. or foreign government sanctions are imposed on LEU from Russia or on TENEX, (ii) for any reason, TENEX is unable or unwilling to deliver LEU, receive payments, receive the return of natural uranium hexafluoride, or conduct other activities related to the TENEX Supply Contract, or (iii) TENEX elects, or is directed (including by its owner or the Russian government ), to limit or stop transactions with us or with the United States or other countries; risks related to disputes with third parties, including contractual counterparties, that could result if we are unable to receive timely deliveries of LEU under the TENEX Supply Contract; risks related to whether or when government funding or demand for high-assay low-enriched uranium ("HALEU") for government or commercial uses will materialize and at what level; risks regarding funding for continuation and deployment of the American Centrifuge technology; risks related to (i) our ability to perform and absorb costs under our agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") to deploy and operate a cascade of centrifuges to demonstrate production of HALEU for advanced reactors (the "HALEU Operation Contract"), (ii) our ability to obtain new contracts and funding to be able to continue operations and (iii) our ability to obtain and/or perform under other agreements; risks that (i) we may not obtain the full benefit of the HALEU Operation Contract and may not be able or allowed to operate the HALEU enrichment facility to produce HALEU after the completion of the HALEU Operation Contract or (ii) the output from the HALEU enrichment facility may not be available to us as a future source of supply; risks related to our dependence on others, such as TENEX, under the TENEX Supply Contract, a subsidiary of Orano Cycle ("Orano"), under our long-term commercial supply agreement with Orano and other suppliers (including, but not limited to, transporters) who provide, or deliver, us the goods and services we need to conduct our business; risks related to natural and other disasters, including the continued impact of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan on the nuclear industry and on our business, results of operations and prospects; risks related to financial difficulties experienced by customers or suppliers, including possible bankruptcies, insolvencies, or any other situation, event or occurrence that affect the ability of others to pay for our products or services in a timely manner or at all; risks related to pandemics, endemics, and other health crises; risks related to the impact and potential extended duration of a supply/demand imbalance in the market for LEU; risks related to our ability to sell or deliver the LEU we procure pursuant to our purchase obligations under our supply agreements and the impacts of sanctions or limitations on imports of such LEU, including those imposed under the 1992 Russian Suspension Agreement as amended, international trade legislation and other international trade restrictions; risks related to existing or new trade barriers and to contract terms that limit our ability to procure LEU for, or deliver LEU to customers; risks related to pricing trends and demand in the uranium and enrichment markets and their impact on our profitability; risks related to the movement and timing of customer orders; risks related to the fact that we face significant competition from major LEU producers who may be less cost sensitive or are wholly or partially government owned; risks that our ability to compete in foreign markets may be limited for various reasons; risks related to the fact that our revenue is largely dependent on our largest customers; risks related to our backlog, including uncertainty concerning customer actions under current contracts and in future contracting due to market conditions, global events or other factors including our lack of current production capability; risks related to uncertainty regarding our ability to commercially deploy competitive enrichment technology; risks related to the potential for demobilization or termination of the HALEU Operation Contract; risks that we will not be able to timely complete the work that we are obligated to perform; risks related to the government's inability to satisfy its obligations, including supplying government furnished equipment necessary for us to produce and deliver HALEU under the HALEU Operation Contract and processing security clearance applications due to a government shutdown or other reasons; risks related to our ability to obtain the government's approval to extend the term of, or the scope of permitted activities under, our lease with the DOE in Piketon, Ohio; risks related to cybersecurity incidents that may impact our business operations; risks related to our ability to perform fixed-price and cost-share contracts such as the HALEU Operation Contract, including the risk that costs that we must bear could be higher than expected and the risk related to complying with stringent government contractual requirements; risks related to a government shutdown or lack of funding that could result in program cancellations, disruptions and/or stop work orders and could limit the U.S. government's ability to make timely payments, and our ability to perform our U.S. government contracts and successfully compete for our work; risks related to our significant long-term liabilities, including material unfunded defined benefit pension plan obligations and postretirement health and life benefit obligations; risks related to our 8.25% Notes maturing in February 2027; risks of revenue and operating results fluctuating significantly from quarter to quarter, and in some cases, year to year; risks related to the impact of financial market conditions on our business, liquidity, prospects, pension assets and insurance facilities; risks related to the Company's capital concentration; risks related to the value of our intangible assets related to LEU's backlog and customer relationships; risks related to the limited trading markets in our securities; risks related to decisions made by our Class B Common Stock stockholders regarding their investment in the Company, including decisions based upon factors that are unrelated to the Company's performance; risks that a small number of holders of our Class A Common Stock (whose interests may not be aligned with other holders of our Class A Common Stock), may exert significant influence over the direction of the Company and may be motivated by interests that are not aligned with the Company's other Class A stockholders; risks related to (i) the use of our net operating losses ("NOLs") carryforwards and net unrealized built-in losses ("NUBILs") to offset future taxable income and the use of the Rights Agreement, dated as of April 6, 2016 to prevent an "ownership change" as defined in Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code") and (ii) our ability to generate taxable income to utilize all or a portion of the NOLs prior to the expiration thereof and NUBILs; risks related to failures or security breaches of our information technology systems; risks related to our ability to attract and retain key personnel; risks related to actions, including reviews or audits, that may be taken by the U.S. government, the Russian government, or other governments that could affect our ability to perform under our contractual obligations or the ability of our sources of supply to perform under their contractual obligations to us; risks related to our ability to perform and receive timely payment under our agreements with the DOE or other government agencies, including risks related to the ongoing funding by the government and potential audits; risks related to changes or termination of our agreements with the U.S. government or other counterparties, or the exercise of contract remedies by such counterparties; risks related to the competitive environment for our products and services; risks related to changes in the nuclear energy industry; risks related to the competitive bidding process associated with obtaining contracts, including government contracts; risks that we will be unable to obtain new business opportunities or achieve market acceptance of our products and services or that products or services provided by others will render our products or services obsolete or noncompetitive; risks related to potential strategic transactions that could be difficult to implement, that could disrupt our business or that could change our business profile significantly; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings and other contingencies (including lawsuits and government investigations or audits); risks related to the impact of government regulation and policies including by the DOE and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; risks of accidents during the transportation, handling, or processing of toxic hazardous or radioactive material that may pose a health risk to humans or animals, cause property or environmental damage, or result in precautionary evacuations, and lead to claims against the Company; risks associated with claims and litigation arising from past activities at sites we currently operate or past activities at sites that we no longer operate, including the Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio, gaseous diffusion plants; and other risks discussed in this news release and in our filings with the SEC.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this news release. These factors may not constitute all factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in any forward-looking statement. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a predictor of actual results. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made in this news release and in our filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, under Part II, Item 1A - "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, and in our filings with the SEC that attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect our business. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this news release, except as required by law.

Contacts:

Investors: Dan Leistikow at [email protected]

Media: Lindsey Geisler at [email protected]

CENTRUS ENERGY CORP. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (Unaudited; in millions, except share and per share data)



Three Months Ended March 31,

2024

2023 Revenue:





Separative work units $ 23.6

$ 58.8 Uranium 

 Technical solutions 20.1

8.1 Total revenue 43.7

66.9 Cost of Sales:





Separative work units and uranium 23.1

34.9 Technical solutions 16.3

9.0 Total cost of sales 39.4

43.9 Gross profit 4.3

23.0 Advanced technology costs 5.7

3.4 Selling, general and administrative 8.1

10.3 Amortization of intangible assets 1.1

1.1 Special charges for workforce reductions 

(0.1) Operating income (loss) (10.6)

8.3 Nonoperating components of net periodic benefit loss 0.1

0.3 Interest expense 0.4

0.3 Investment income (2.8)

(1.9) Other expense, net 0.1

 Income (loss) before income taxes (8.4)

9.6 Income tax expense (benefit) (2.3)

2.4 Net income (loss) and comprehensive income (loss) $ (6.1)

$ 7.2







Net income (loss) per share:





Basic $ (0.38)

$ 0.49 Diluted $ (0.38)

$ 0.47 Average number of common shares outstanding (in thousands):





Basic 15,906

14,841 Diluted 15,906

15,241

CENTRUS ENERGY CORP. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited; in millions)



Three Months Ended March 31,

2024

2023 OPERATING





Net income (loss) $ (6.1)

$ 7.2 Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to cash used in operating activities:





Depreciation and amortization 1.3

1.3 Accrued loss on long-term contract 

(5.6) Deferred tax assets (2.1)

2.2 Equity related compensation 0.2

1.2 Revaluation of inventory borrowing 0.3

2.1 Other reconciling adjustments, net 0.1

 Changes in operating assets and liabilities:





Accounts receivable 29.5

5.3 Inventories 27.2

22.3 Inventories owed to customers and suppliers (62.7)

(43.6) Other current assets (0.8)

15.1 Accounts payable and other liabilities (5.1)

(4.2) Payables under inventory purchase agreements 25.7

(11.1) Deferred revenue and advances from customers, net of deferred costs 0.4

0.1 Pension and postretirement benefit liabilities (2.6)

(0.7) Other changes, net 

(1.3) Cash provided by (used in) operating activities 5.3

(9.7)







INVESTING





Capital expenditures (1.5)

(0.3) Cash used in investing activities (1.5)

(0.3)







FINANCING





Proceeds from the issuance of common stock, net 7.1

22.0 Exercise of stock options 0.4

 Payment of interest classified as debt (3.1)

(3.1) Cash provided by financing activities 4.4

18.9







Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (0.1)









Increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 8.1

8.9 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period 233.8

212.4 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period $ 241.9

$ 221.3







Non-cash activities:





Adjustment of right to use lease assets from lease modification $ 

$ 4.2 Property, plant and equipment included in accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 0.1

$  Equity issuance costs included in accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 0.3

$  Shares withheld for employee taxes $ 

$ 1.9 ATM proceeds included in accounts receivable $ 

$ 1.2

CENTRUS ENERGY CORP. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited; in millions, except share and per share data)



March 31,

2024

December 31,

2023 ASSETS





Current assets:





Cash and cash equivalents $ 209.3

$ 201.2 Accounts receivable 19.9

49.4 Inventories 279.2

306.4 Deferred costs associated with deferred revenue 117.6

117.6 Other current assets 30.5

10.8 Total current assets 656.5

685.4 Property, plant and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation of $4.4 million as of March 31, 2024 and $4.3 million as of December 31, 2023 7.6

7.0 Deposits for financial assurance 13.7

32.4 Intangible assets, net 38.3

39.4 Deferred tax assets 30.6

28.5 Other long-term assets 3.3

3.5 Total assets $ 750.0

$ 796.2







LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY





Current liabilities:





Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 36.7

$ 41.9 Payables under inventory purchase agreements 67.6

41.9 Inventories owed to customers and suppliers 21.6

84.3 Deferred revenue and advances from customers 283.0

282.6 Short-term inventory loans 40.2

14.3 Current debt 6.1

6.1 Total current liabilities 455.2

471.1 Long-term debt 86.5

89.6 Postretirement health and life benefit obligations 79.0

81.2 Pension benefit liabilities 16.9

17.3 Advances from customers 32.8

32.8 Long-term inventory loans 37.5

63.1 Other long-term liabilities 8.3

8.8 Total liabilities 716.2

763.9







Stockholders' equity:





Preferred stock, par value $1.00 per share, 20,000,000 shares authorized





Series A Participating Cumulative Preferred Stock, none issued 

 Series B Senior Preferred Stock, none issued 

 Class A Common Stock, par value $0.10 per share, 70,000,000 shares authorized, 15,281,474 and 14,956,434 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively 1.5

1.5 Class B Common Stock, par value $0.10 per share, 30,000,000 shares authorized, 719,200 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023 0.1

0.1 Excess of capital over par value 188.2

180.5 Accumulated deficit (155.6)

(149.5) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (0.4)

(0.3) Total stockholders' equity 33.8

32.3 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 750.0

$ 796.2

SOURCE Centrus Energy Corp.
Addition of Two Esteemed Pediatric Medicine Physician Leaders to Fuel its Mission for Skin Health

DALLAS, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CLn Skin Care , the innovative brand known for its breakthrough line of gentle yet effective cleansers for the face and body, today announces the appointment of two distinguished physician leaders to its esteemed medical advisory board (MAB) of the company: Shakha Gillin, MD, FAAP, and Doug Krohn, MD, FAAP. Adding the new Pediatric Medicine specialists to CLn's medical advisory board further reinforces the brand's commitment to advancing skin health for all ages through diverse expertise and insights.

Within pediatrics, there are currently very few solutions to provide relief to the growing number of children and families affected by skin issues, such as eczema, folliculitis, dermatitis, and more. As such, the demand and ongoing need for CLn's line of products remain very high within pediatric medicine. Looking ahead, the CLn brand is building a future focused on providing solutions for young patients as they work to serve pediatricians and families seeking their help.

CLn Skin Care appoints two physician leaders to its medical board: Shakha Gillin, MD, FAAP, and Doug Krohn, MD, FAAP. Post this

Dr. Azam Anwar, founder & CEO of CLn Skin Care, expressed enthusiasm about adding Drs. Gillin and Krohn to the company's MAB, stating, "I am delighted to welcome Drs. Shakha Gillin and Doug Krohn to our Medical Advisory Board. Their expertise in pediatric medicine and unwavering commitment to healthcare excellence will expand our impact beyond our original roots in dermatology. The skin care needs in children are very high and we look forward to helping children and their families."

Shakha Gillin, MD, FAAP, brings a wealth of experience in pediatric medicine and preventative care to CLn Skin Care. As the co-founder of Coast Pediatrics Del Mar, Coast Pediatrics Carmel Valley, and Coast Pediatrics 4S, Dr. Gillin has promoted healthy and active lifestyles for children. San Diego Magazine has recognized her dedication to community service and pediatric excellence, where she has been honored as a "Top Doctor" annually from 2006 through 2023. Dr. Gillin's extensive leadership background includes serving on the board of Hanna Fenichel and as a board trustee at Francis Parker K-12 school, demonstrating her commitment to education and community engagement.

"I am honored to join CLn Skin Care's MAB and contribute to its mission of advancing skin health," said Dr. Gillin. "With a focus on preventative care and community engagement, I look forward to collaborating with the team to empower individuals in their skincare journey."

Dr. Doug Krohn, a distinguished primary care pediatrician and specialist in neonatal care and cognitive behavior therapy, adds a unique perspective to CLn Skin Care's board of directors. With a medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and residency training at Montefiore Medical Center, Dr. Krohn's clinical acumen and leadership skills have been honed through various professional affiliations, including Northern Westchester Hospital at Northwell Health and Optum Tri-State/CareMount Medical, amongst others. He has been recognized as one of America's Best Doctors, New York Magazine Best Doctors, Westchester Magazine Best Doctors, and Castle Connolly Best Doctors for several years, and has been named by Optum as an Optum Preferred Provider. Further, Dr. Krohn's passion for medical education, pharmacology and biotechnology aligns perfectly with CLn Skin Care's mission to deliver science-backed skincare solutions.

"What I love about CLn's line of products is that they put health and self-care back in the hands of the patient," said Dr. Krohn. "The brand empowers patients and their families to administer effective remedies without unnecessary intermediaries safely. I'm thrilled to join the board and contribute to their mission of empowering all families throughout their skincare journeys."

With the addition of Dr. Shakha Gillin and Dr. Doug Krohn to its MAB, CLn Skin Care reaffirms its commitment to excellence and innovation in skincare. The brand looks forward to adding additional pediatric medicine experts to further its mission of promoting healthier skin for all.

For more information about CLn Skin Care, please visit CLnWash.com .

For additional information, please get in touch with [email protected] at CLn Skin Care.

About CLn Skin Care

CLn Skin Care is a breakthrough line of gentle yet effective skin cleansers for the face, body, and scalp. Renowned cardiologist Dr. Azam Anwar created it after he suffered a severe skin infection. With a mission to promote healthier skin through science-backed solutions, CLn Skin Care offers a range of products specifically formulated to address common skin concerns, including acne, eczema-prone skin, athletic-related skin issues, and itchy scalp. Rooted in dermatological expertise and clinical research, CLn Skin Care is trusted by physicians and consumers worldwide for its efficacy and safety.

SOURCE CLn Skin Care
Club Crisps flavored with Mike's Hot Honey bring the heat for a next-level snacking experience, available for a limited time starting in May

CHICAGO, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Sweet and spicy snacking is having a moment: 'Swicy' conversation among snackers and on food menus has increased by 38% in the past year1. Leaning in on this buzzing duo, Club Crisps and Mike's Hot Honey are giving fans the collab of their dreams. Introducing Club Crisps flavored with Mike's Hot Honey, a new, limited-edition snack with a buttery, crispy twist.

Club Crisps launches first-ever flavor collab with Mike's Hot Honey for the ultimate sweet-heat snack

Club Crisps first-ever brand collaboration comes in partnership with America's Original and #1 Hot Honey brand2 to bring a craveable snack that has it all. With a light, buttery base, each crisp is flavored with Mike's Hot Honey's signature sweet-heat combo of 100% pure honey infused with chili peppers. Every bite delivers the perfect balance of honey and heat for the spicy-curious with lingering buttery notes, melting in your mouth and leaving you craving that next crisp.

"We're always eager to learn what our fans' new flavor obsessions are so that we can create a fun and unique snacking experience," said Carrie Foose, director of brand marketing for Kellanova Crackers. "Working with Mike's Hot Honey to create this sweet and spicy new crisp for the ever-growing spicy snacker segment is an exciting first-of-its-kind innovation for Club Crisps and for the entire Club portfolio. We can't wait to work with the Mike's Hot Honey team to bring fans just what they've been waiting for with this limited-time innovation sure to deliciously spice up you and your club's snacking game."

Club Crisps flavored with Mike's Hot Honey joins the existing Club Crisps lineup of four delightfully munchable flavors: Sea Salt, Ranch, Sour Cream & Onion and Sweet & Salty, along with the full Club Crackers portfolio that has something for everyone. This sweet-heat collab comes on the heels of the first Club Crackers portfolio brand collab last summer with JaM Cellars: Butter Chardonnay-infused Club Minis.

"We couldn't think of a better way to bring our first cracker-brand collaboration to life with the iconic, buttery crisps of Club," said Mike Kurtz, founder of Mike's Hot Honey. "We hope Club and Mike's Hot Honey fans enjoy relaxing and snacking on these buttery Club Crisps infused with our distinctive sweet-heat for a unique and delicious way to satisfy their cravings."

Club Crisps flavored with Mike's Hot Honey will be available for a limited time at retailers nationwide starting in May for an SRP of $3.99 per 7.1-ounce bag. Visit ClubCrackers.com to find the new flavor at a store near you and follow @ClubCrackersUS and @MikesHotHoney on your favorite social media platforms to keep up with the latest fun and flavor news.

About Kellanova

Kellanova (NYSE: K) is a leader in global snacking, international cereal and noodles, and North America frozen foods with a legacy stretching back more than 100 years. Powered by differentiated brands including Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats, RXBAR, Eggo, MorningStar Farms, Special K, Coco Pops, and more, Kellanova's vision is to become the world's best-performing snacks-led powerhouse, unleashing the full potential of our differentiated brands and our passionate people. Our net sales for 2023 were $13 billion.

At Kellanova, our purpose is to create better days and ensure everyone has a seat at the table through our trusted food brands. We are committed to promoting sustainable and equitable food access by tackling the crossroads of hunger, sustainability, wellbeing, and equity, diversity & inclusion. Our goal is to create Better Days for 4 billion people by the end of 2030 (from a 2015 baseline). For more detailed information about our commitments, our approach to achieving these goals, and methodology, please visit our website at https://www.kellanova.com.

About Mike's Hot Honey

Mike's Hot Honey is America's leading brand of hot honey and has been elevating everyday eating experiences since 2010, when its first drizzle on a pizza at Paulie Gee's in Brooklyn sparked a word-of-mouth sensation and created a new category of pizza topping. By popular demand, Mike started selling his small-batch, hand-labeled hot honey bottles to visitors of the pizzeria, as well as other local restaurants and businesses. Today, Mike's Hot Honey, with the same original recipe, can be found in thousands of restaurants and retailers across the country. Using only 100% pure honey infused with real chili peppers, Mike's Hot Honey's one-two flavor punch of sweetness then heat makes any dish more dynamic, from the original pairing on pepperoni pizza to chicken, cheese and charcuterie, ice cream, cocktails, and so much more. Mike's Hot Honey empowers chefs and eaters everywhere to customize, create, and share extraordinary meals. Happy drizzling!

1 (Datassentials, 2023) and (Mintel, 2024)

2 https://mikeshothoney.com/pages/about-us

SOURCE Kellanova
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Family Research Council, along with a coalition of organizations, is encouraging churches nationwide to Pray For & Stand With Israel . The event is meant as a call for the Christian community to unite in prayer and stand in unwavering support for Israel on Sunday, May 19, by dedicating a portion of their worship services to pray for Israel's peace, prosperity, and protection.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins commented:

"During a recent visit to Israel, where I met with survivors of the October 7 attack and family members of the hostages, I also had the opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and engage in discussions regarding the current challenges facing the nation. Among the many topics discussed, Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed an urgent need for Americans who support Israel to visibly show their support. We discussed the importance of solidarity and prayer as powerful expressions of support that can make a meaningful difference in the relationship between the United States and Israel.

"It is abundantly clear that in light of the challenges and complexities facing Israel--both politically and spiritually--it is imperative that we, as leaders within the Christian community, come together to demonstrate our unwavering support for Israel anchored in the word of God. With this goal in mind, I propose that we call upon Bible-believing churches nationwide to pray for and stand with Israel collectively on Sunday, May 19, by dedicating a portion of their Sunday services to pray for Israel's peace, prosperity, and protection," Perkins concluded.

WHO: Tony Perkins, Family Research Council

Michele Bachmann, Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast

Mario Bramnick, Latino Coalition for Israel

Dr. Tim Clinton, American Association of Christian Counselors

Chad Connelly, Faith Wins

Craig DeRoche, Family Policy Alliance

Carlos Duran, National Hispanic Pastors Alliance

Jentezen Franklin, Free Chapel

Dr. Jack Graham, Prestonwood Baptist Church

Gary Hamrick, Cornerstone Chapel

Jack Hibbs, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills

Skip Heitzig, Calvary Church

Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands

Cindy Jacobs, Generals International

Robert Morris, Gateway Church

Tim Wildmon, American Family Association

WHAT: Pray For & Stand With Israel

WHEN: Sunday, May, 19, 2024

WHERE: To find out more and sign up to participate, please see: https://prayandstand.com/.

CONTACT: J.P. Duffy or Alice Chao, (866) FRC-NEWS or (866)-372-6397

SOURCE Family Research Council
WASHINGTON, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- With today's release of the annual Social Security and Medicare Trustees' Reports confirming that both programs are facing near-term insolvency, The Concord Coalition called for dedicated 2024 candidate debates on how to deal with this urgent problem.

"Debates are a valuable opportunity for voters to hear and assess the candidates' ideas on how to address the nation's major challenges. While many such challenges exist, the future of Social Security and Medicare deserves special focus because the retirement security and healthcare for millions of Americans would be severely damaged by a failure to act. Moreover, because of their size and projected growth, the future of these programs also affects the allocation of federal budgetary resources, the appropriate level of taxation, and the long-term growth of the economy," said Concord Coalition Executive Director Bob Bixby.

The Social Security and Medicare trustees warn that absent corrective actions, the finances of these two critically important programs will rapidly deteriorate. Both programs are already running annual cash shortfalls, which increase pressures on the overall federal budget.

The combined Social Security trust funds (OASDI) are facing insolvency by 2035. Doing nothing would result in an across the board benefit cut of 17 percent. Medicare Part A is facing trust fund insolvency by 2036. Doing nothing would require a 11 percent cut in provider payments jeopardizing access to healthcare services.

To illustrate the magnitude of the Social Security challenge, the trustees estimate that one of three things must happen to keep the program solvent over the next 75 years: (1) dedicated revenues would have to increase by an amount equal to an immediate and permanent payroll tax increase of 3.33 percentage points  from 12.4 percent to 15.73 percent, a (2) scheduled benefits would have to be immediately and permanently reduced for all current and future beneficiaries by 20.8 percent, or (3) a combination of the two.

The trustees further note that, "If actions are deferred for several years, the changes necessary to maintain Social Security solvency through 2098 become concentrated on fewer years and fewer generations."

"The trustees' warnings are all the more alarming because the nation is not in a position of current or projected fiscal strength. Sudden and substantial benefit cuts await beneficiaries in 12 years or less  well within the lifetimes of many current beneficiaries  if lawmakers fail to act. Solutions must be found that are fiscally and generationally responsible," Bixby added.

As a budgetary matter, it is important to note that Social Security and Medicare do not "pay for themselves." The trustees' reports confirm that Social Security and Medicare Part A will experience growing cash deficits in the future as they pay out more than they receive from their dedicated resources.

General federal revenues also support Medicare Part B, which provides various medical services, and Medicare Part D, which helps pay for prescription drugs. By design, the premiums that older Americans pay for these elements of Medicare cover only about 25 percent of their costs. According to the trustees' report, Social Security and Medicare had a net draw on the budget of $534 billion in 2023. This consisted of $88 billion for Social Security and $446 billion for Medicare.

"If none of this matters to the people who seek federal office in 2024, the time to find out about it is now when voters can assess the candidates' positions and make informed judgments. Debates in the House, Senate, and presidential campaigns would shed light on whether the candidates have a firm understanding of the challenges facing Social Security and Medicare and whether their campaign promises add up. Voters should not have to wait until January of 2025 to find out whether candidates endorse the Do Nothing Plan," Bixby said.

The Concord Coalition is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to fiscal responsibility. Since 1992, Concord has worked to educate the public about the causes and consequences of the federal deficit and debt, and to develop realistic solutions for sustainable budgets. For more fiscal news and analysis, visit concordcoalition.org and follow us on Facebook @ConcordCoalition and on Twitter/X: @ConcordC

SOURCE Concord Coalition
PALM SPRINGS, Calif., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Media Advisory & Photo Opportunity

WHEN: Friday, May 10 at 10 am

WHERE: Palm Springs Air Museum, 745 N. Gene Autry Trl, Palm Springs, CA 92262|



WHAT: C-130 Hercules Aerial Fire Fighting Training and Water Drop



WHO: City Dignitaries, Wayne Coulson with Coulson Aviation, Fred Bell with Palm Springs Air Museum, PS Airport representative

WHY: Coulson Aviation USA has partnered with the Palm Springs Air Museum who has agreed to host along with the Palm Spring Airport Coulson's Air Tanker training program for the upcoming 2024 United States fire season.

"We will have our C-130 Hercules and Boeing 737 air tanker fleet training from May 9th to May 14th flying up to 50 training flights," said Wayne Coulson, CEO of Coulson Aviation. "We are extremely pleased to have the support of the Palm Springs Air Museum and the Palm Springs Airport."

"The Air Museum will be supporting Coulson with the Museum's infrastructure and will have one of Coulson's C-130 Hercules on display from May 9th to May 14th," said Fred Bell, Vice Chairman of the Palm Springs Air Museum. https://palmspringsairmuseum.org

Coulson Aviation (USA) Inc. is the only aerial firefighting company operating both fixed-wing aircraft and Type 1 helicopters and is fully equipped to carry out aerial firefighting across the globe. With their proprietary technology, multiple aircraft types, and highly experienced attack crews Coulson can fight fires on multiple continents simultaneously. https://www.coulsonaviationusa.com/

50 flight crew and 20 maintenance crew are expected to work at different times throughout the training period. The Coulson fleet will operate throughout the lower 48 states during the Fire Season for the United States Forest Service and are 4000 USG Large Air tankers which are the largest in the fleet.

The Coulson fleet will be on contract in the United States until November when the majority of the fleet will head to Australia for their fire season and the remaining Air tankers will go to South America between Chile and Argentina.

Media Contacts:

Ann Greer, [email protected]

(323) 363-8243  cell

SOURCE Palm Springs Air Museum
LOS ANGELES, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CUJO AI, the leading provider of advanced cybersecurity and network intelligence solutions for internet service providers (ISPs), has won Editor's Choice in the Cybersecurity Internet of Things (IoT) category at the Global Infosec Awards 2024. This prestigious accolade underscores CUJO AI's dedication to addressing the critical cybersecurity needs of network operators and their end users.

The Global Infosec Awards, held annually during the RSA Conference, are esteemed for their recognition of exceptional achievements in information security across diverse categories. Among these categories, the Cybersecurity Internet of Things (IoT) segment stands out as a vital area of focus, given the proliferation of interconnected devices and the associated security risks. This category highlights innovations and solutions aimed at safeguarding IoT ecosystems, addressing the complex challenges faced by organizations and individuals in securing their networked devices against evolving cyber threats.

CUJO AI serves major network operators, offering innovative solutions for device protection, ensuring network integrity. Post this

With a global clientele comprising major network operators, CUJO AI understands the unique requirements and complexities of securing interconnected devices. The company's innovative solutions are tailored to provide comprehensive protection for IoT devices, ensuring the integrity and security of the entire network infrastructure.

Santeri Kangas, CTO at CUJO AI, expressed profound appreciation for the recognition: "Our win reflects the trust and confidence placed in CUJO AI by network operators. By prioritizing a comprehensive device inventory and leveraging the latest advancements in AI and machine learning, we are committed to delivering unmatched cybersecurity solutions that foster trust and security in an increasingly connected world."

For a full list of winners and detailed insights into the achievements recognized at the Global Infosec Awards 2024, please visit the official website: https://cyberdefenseawards.com/

About CUJO AI

CUJO AI enhances the ability to understand, serve, and protect their customers with advanced cybersecurity, along with granular network and device intelligence for network service providers. Covering 3 billion connected devices, CUJO AI's advanced AI algorithms assist clients in uncovering previously unavailable insights, thereby elevating customer experience and retention through new value propositions and superior operational services. Fully compliant with all privacy regulations, CUJO AI's services are trusted by the largest broadband operators worldwide, including Comcast, Charter Communications, BT (EE), TELUS, Sky Italia, Sky UK, Rogers, Cox, Shaw, and Videotron. More information is available at https://cujo.com.

CONTACT: Viktorija Vilke, [email protected]

SOURCE CUJO AI
On May 6, 2024 , the company successfully priced $2 billion of junior subordinated notes (EJSN Offering)

The company intends to use proceeds from the EJSN Offering, in part, to purchase Series B Preferred Shares in connection with the cash tender offer

The company intends to use remaining proceeds, including the $500 million attributable to the upsized EJSN Offering in excess of the company's 2024 hybrid financing guidance to repay short-term debt and/or opportunistically retire, redeem, or repurchase other outstanding securities, which may include the existing $685 million 2014 Series A Enhanced Junior Subordinated Notes due 2054, which become callable at par in October 2024

No change to the company's existing financial guidance including with regard to earnings, credit, and dividend policy

RICHMOND, Va., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Consistent with guidance provided during its March 1 investor day and first-quarter 2024 earnings call, Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE: D), today announced the commencement of a tender offer to purchase for cash any and all of its outstanding 4.65% Series B Fixed-Rate Reset Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock, without par value, with a $1,000 liquidation preference per share (Series B Preferred Shares), at a purchase price of $997.50 per share, plus Accrued Dividends (as defined below), upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase (as it may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the Offer to Purchase) and in the accompanying Letter of Transmittal (as it may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the Letter of Transmittal and which, together with the Offer to Purchase, constitutes the Offer).

The Offer will expire one minute after 11:59 P.M., New York City time, on June 4, 2024, unless the company extends or earlier terminates the Offer (such time and date, as they may be extended or earlier terminated, the Expiration Date).

The company intends to pay the consideration payable by it pursuant to the Offer, and the fees and expenses incurred by it in connection therewith, with a portion of the net proceeds from the company's public offering (EJSN Offering) of $2 billion of junior subordinated notes (Notes). The Offer is conditioned upon the satisfaction of certain conditions, including the consummation of the EJSN Offering (Financing Condition). The EJSN Offering priced on May 6, 2024, and is expected to close on May 20, 2024, subject to customary closing conditions, at which time the Financing Condition will be satisfied. In no event will the information contained in this news release, the Offer to Purchase or the Letter of Transmittal regarding the EJSN Offering constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any Notes.

The Offer to Purchase sets forth in full the conditions to the Offer, including the Financing Condition. The Offer is not conditioned upon a minimum number of Series B Preferred Shares having been tendered.

As used in connection with the Offer, "Accrued Dividends" means, for each $1,000 liquidation preference of the Series B Preferred Shares, accrued and unpaid dividends from and including December 15, 2023 (which is the most recent dividend payment date with respect to such Series B Preferred Shares), up to, but not including, the Settlement Date (as defined below), assuming for the purposes of the Offer that a dividend for such Series B Preferred Shares had in fact been declared during such period. The date on which the company will pay the aggregate purchase price for all validly tendered and not validly withdrawn Series B Preferred Shares that are accepted for purchase is referred to as the "Settlement Date." The company expects the Settlement Date will occur promptly following the Expiration Date and acceptance of the Series B Preferred Shares for purchase. The company expects the Settlement Date to be June 6, 2024.

Any Series B Preferred Shares tendered pursuant to the Offer may be validly withdrawn at any time on or prior to the Expiration Date by following the procedures described in the Offer to Purchase.

Upon request, the Offer to Purchase and the Letter of Transmittal will be provided to record holders of Series B Preferred Shares and will be furnished to brokers, dealers, commercial banks, trust companies, or other nominees and similar persons whose names, or the names of whose nominees, appear on the company's shareholder list or, if applicable, who are listed as participants in a clearing agency's security position listing for subsequent transmittal to beneficial owners of the Series B Preferred Shares.

Barclays Capital Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Mizuho Securities USA LLC are acting as dealer managers for the Offer. For additional information regarding the terms of the Offer, please contact: Barclays Capital Inc. at (800) 438-3242 (toll-free) or (212) 528-7581 (collect), J.P. Morgan Securities LLC at (866) 834-4666 (toll-free) or (212) 834-4045 (collect) or Mizuho Securities USA LLC at (866) 271-7403 (toll-free) or (212) 205-7562 (collect). To confirm delivery of Series B Preferred Shares, please contact D.F. King & Co., Inc., which is acting as the tender agent and information agent for the Offer, at (212) 269-5552.

THE COMPANY IS NOT MAKING THE OFFER TO HOLDERS OF SERIES B PREFERRED SHARES IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE MAKING OF THE OFFER OR THE ACCEPTANCE OF ANY TENDER OF SERIES B PREFERRED SHARES WOULD NOT BE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION, PROVIDED THAT THE COMPANY WILL COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF RULE 13E-4(F)(8) PROMULGATED UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED. HOWEVER, THE COMPANY MAY, AT ITS DISCRETION, TAKE SUCH ACTION AS THE COMPANY MAY DEEM NECESSARY FOR IT TO MAKE THE OFFER IN ANY SUCH JURISDICTION AND EXTEND THE OFFER TO HOLDERS OF SECURITIES IN SUCH JURISDICTION. IN ANY JURISDICTION THE SECURITIES OR BLUE SKY LAWS OF WHICH REQUIRE THE OFFER TO BE MADE BY A LICENSED BROKER OR DEALER, THE OFFER SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE MADE ON THE COMPANY'S BEHALF BY ONE OR MORE REGISTERED BROKERS OR DEALERS WHICH ARE LICENSED UNDER THE LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION.

Additional Information Regarding the Tender Offer

This communication is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell any Series B Preferred Shares. The solicitation and offer to buy Series B Preferred Shares is made only pursuant to the Offer to Purchase, Letter of Transmittal and related materials, which the company has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as part of a tender offer statement on Schedule TO. The full details of the Tender Offer, including complete instructions on how to tender Series B Preferred Shares, are included in the Offer to Purchase, the Letter of Transmittal and related materials. Holders of Series B Preferred Shares should carefully read those materials because they contain important information, including the terms and conditions of the Tender Offer. Neither the company nor its board of directors makes any recommendation as to whether to tender Series B Preferred Shares. Holders of Series B Preferred Shares may obtain free copies of the tender offer statement on Schedule TO, the Offer to Purchase, the Letter of Transmittal and the related materials that were filed by the company with the SEC at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or by calling D.F. King & Co., Inc. In addition, holders of Series B Preferred Shares may obtain free copies of the company's filings with the SEC from the company's website at www.dominionenergy.com.

About Dominion Energy

About 6 million customers in 15 states energize their homes and businesses with electricity or natural gas from the company (NYSE: D), headquartered in Richmond, Va. The company is committed to providing reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy every day and to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050. Please visit DominionEnergy.com to learn more.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the company. The statements relate to, among other things, expectations concerning the settlement of, and consideration to be paid in, the Tender Offer, any use of proceeds from the EJSN Offering and any plans to retire, redeem, or repurchase other outstanding securities, which may include the existing $685 million 2014 Series A Enhanced Junior Subordinated Notes due 2054, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to, the ability to satisfy the conditions to the Tender Offer, including the settlement of the EJSN Offering. Other risk factors relating to the company's business more generally are detailed from time to time in the company's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Form 8-K. The company assumes no obligation to provide any revisions to, or update, any projections and forward-looking statements contained in this release.

SOURCE Dominion Energy
TURNER VALLEY, AB, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Eau Claire Distillery, a leading craft distillery based in Alberta, Canada, is excited to announce the expansion of distribution for its flagship product, Rupert's Exceptional Whisky, into the United States market. This strategic move comes through a partnership with Park Street, a renowned industry expert in alcohol importing, enabling Eau Claire to introduce Rupert's Exceptional Whisky to a wider audience of whisky enthusiasts across America. Eau Claire Distillery is actively engaging with potential distribution partners in the USA to further enhance its reach and presence in the American spirit's landscape.

Eau Claire Distillerys Ruperts Exceptional Whisky achieves Platinum at San Francisco World Spirits Competition (CNW Group/Eau Claire Distillery)

In addition to this significant milestone in distribution and a new label design shown above, Rupert's Exceptional Whisky has achieved remarkable success on the international stage, securing new accolades at the respected San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The whisky was awarded Double Gold for the third year in a row earning Platinum status, solidifying its position as a standout among global whisky brands. This achievement underscores the superior quality, craftsmanship, and dedication to excellence that define Rupert's Exceptional Whisky.

"We are thrilled to bring Rupert's Exceptional Whisky to whisky enthusiasts in the United States," said David Farran, Founder and President at Eau Claire Distillery. "The recent awards at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition reaffirm our commitment to producing exceptional spirits that resonate with whisky connoisseurs worldwide. We look forward to sharing the unique character and terroir of Rupert's Exceptional Whisky with our American customers."

Rupert's Exceptional Whisky is celebrated for its extraordinary taste profile, artfully crafted from Alberta-grown barley and the pristine waters of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Rooted in the rich whisky-making heritage of the region, Rupert's Exceptional Whisky embodies the unique terroir and character of its Alberta origins. With recent accolades at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and our expansion into the USA, Eau Claire Distillery is primed to showcase the essence of Canadian whisky-making excellence to discerning American spirits enthusiasts.

For more information about Rupert's Exceptional Whisky and distribution inquiries, please visit eauclairedistillery.com

About Eau Claire Distillery

Devoted to handcrafting fine spirits, Eau Claire Distillery is Alberta's original craft distillery located in Turner Valley, 30 minutes from Calgary. Born out of the founder's quest to honor Alberta's riches of the land and set the bar for Canada's most premium spirits, every small batch from Eau Claire Distillery is personally tended for perfection, from farm to glass. Eau Claire Distillery offers a range of premium spirits and whisky, all of which play a part in the craft distillery's philosophy of innovation and quality. Eau Claire Distillery's award-winning spirits are internationally acclaimed for their quality and flavour, Rupert's Exceptional Canadian Whisky has already won a Silver at the 2021 Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition, a Silver at the 2021 World Whisky Awards, and a Bronze at the 2021 Canadian Whisky Awards. Find out more at eauclairedistillery.com.

About San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Since its introduction in 2000, the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) has become the most respected and influential spirits competition in the world. Emphasizing integrity and impartiality, the SFWSC takes great pride in ensuring that all entries are treated with equal care and consideration by panels of carefully selected spirits-industry experts. A SFWSC medal has come to be the most reliable indication of spirits excellence, and spirits recognized as medal-worthy by our judges are understood around the world by both the trade and consumers to be the best the industry has to offer.

SOURCE Eau Claire Distillery
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., and KISSIMMEE, Fla., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC) announces the opening of Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Kissimmee, a 50-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital located at 4950 Calypso Cay Way. The hospital serves patients recovering from debilitating illnesses and injuries, including strokes and other neurological disorders, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations and complex orthopedic conditions.

In addition to 24-hour registered nursing care, Encompass Health of Kissimmee offers physical, occupational and speech therapies to restore functional ability and quality of life. Care is provided by highly specialized nurses, therapists and physicians. The hospital features all private patient rooms, a large therapy gym with advanced rehabilitation technologies and an activities of daily living suite, a therapy courtyard, a cafeteria and a dayroom.

"We are honored to open this rehabilitation hospital to help individuals in the community recovering from major illnesses and injuries regain the strength and function to return back to what matters most," said Amanda Atkinson, CEO of Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Kissimmee. "Our dedicated team of experts will provide specialized care, close to home at this state-of-the-art hospital. We are excited to have the opportunity to serve as the region's trusted choice for rehabilitation."

Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Kissimmee is Encompass Health's 161st inpatient rehabilitation hospital nationwide and its 21st inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Florida.

About Encompass Health

Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC) is the largest owner and operator of rehabilitation hospitals in the United States. With a national footprint that includes 161 hospitals in 37 states and Puerto Rico, the Company provides high-quality, compassionate rehabilitative care for patients recovering from a major injury or illness, using advanced technology and innovative treatments to maximize recovery. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies and Modern Healthcare's Best Places to Work in Healthcare. For more information, visit encompasshealth.com, or follow us on our newsroom, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Encompass Health Media Contact:

Kennedi Spurling | 205-970-5912

[email protected]

SOURCE Encompass Health Corp.
LAHORE, Pakistan, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In a final verdict, made yesterday (6 May 2024), Pakistan's Accountability Court exonerated and acquitted some of the country's highest officials and corporate leaders in a widely-publicised lawsuit, including Engro Chairman, Hussain Dawood; Engro Director, Abdul Samad Dawood; and former Engro CEO, Sheikh Imran ul Haq; among others. No evidence was found to prove any illegality, irregularity, or loss to Pakistan's national exchequer.

Initiated by Pakistan's NAB (National Accountability Bureau), the case pertained to the LNG Terminal contract award to Engro, an industrial conglomerate, in 2014. It was alleged by NAB that a non-transparent process had been followed in the award of the contract; however, in a case lasting six years, no evidence of corruption was found, and the case was ultimately dropped, exonerating all those implicated. In the final verdict, the NAB and the organisation's Chairman both independently reached the conclusion that "no irregularity, illegal gain or loss to the national exchequer was caused."

A spokesperson for Engro Corporation said: "Engro Corporation welcomes this much awaited decision of the Accountability Court. Engro has always strived to act in a fair and transparent manner in all its business and commercial commitments. Over the last six decades, the company has built its reputation through a strong focus on effective corporate governance, ethics and integrity, and compliance with the laws of the land in every country in which we operate.

"Engro remains committed to the progress of Pakistan by striving to solve some of the country's most pressing issues. We hope that this verdict will restore much needed investor confidence in Pakistan's private sector and legal system.

"During these testing times, the Company is grateful for the support it has received from our employees, shareholders, and partners who have believed in and worked with us."

The Engro Elengy Terminal, the fastest terminal set-up in the world, has been an essential part of Pakistan's energy infrastructure since 2015, when the country faced severe energy shortages. It supplies 15% of Pakistan's total gas to the nation's homes and businesses. Since inception, it has enabled Pakistan to save more than USD 3 billion through import substitution of furnace oil.

www.engro.com

SOURCE Engro Corporation
"Exosome Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Research Tools: Global Markets" is a detailed report that looks at how exosomes, which are tiny structures released by cells, are used in different ways worldwide. It talks about how they're used in diagnosing illnesses, making treatments, and doing research. BCC Research latest report talks about what's happening now, what might happen in the future, and any problems or opportunities that might come up.

BOSTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- "According to the latest research study, the demand for Exosome Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Research Tools: Global Markets expected to grow from $227.5 million in 2023 and will reach $1.3 billion by the end of 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42.2% from 2023 through 2028"

This report is all about giving a thorough look at the worldwide market for exosome products used in diagnosing, treating, and researching medical conditions. It provides both numbers and descriptions to help readers plan their business strategies, understand the market, and make smart decisions about exosome-related products. The data covers the year 2022 and predicts values for the years 2023 to 2028.

It focuses on exosome products and research tools used in healthcare only. Anything related to exosomes in areas like skincare and beauty is not included in this report.

Some Interesting Facts

Currently, there are no officially approved treatments worldwide that use exosomes, whether they're in their natural form or modified.

Despite a lot of excitement about the potential for exosomes in medical tests and treatments, many new companies working in this area are having trouble getting enough money to keep going and do their research.

Click here to gain a deeper understanding of the complexities involved in Exosome Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Research Tools within the global markets and explore further insights and details.

Exosome diagnostics, therapeutics, and research tools: global markets are driven by factors such as:

Increasing Investment in Biomedical Research: More money is being spent on studying health issues and finding ways to fix them. This can mean creating new medicines, making better medical tools, or learning more about diseases to treat them. The goal is to use more resources to learn more about how to keep people healthy. Trend Towards Precision Medicine.: Precision medicine is when doctors make treatments that are just right for each person. They do this by learning about a person's genes, lifestyle, and where they live to pick the best treatment. It's like making a suit that fits perfectly instead of one that's the same for everyone. Technological Advancements in Exosome Research Tools.: Technological advancements in exosome research tools mean that scientists are finding better ways to study tiny cell structures called exosomes. These exosomes carry important messages and can affect different diseases. The improvements include better tools like powerful microscopes, more accurate ways to detect exosomes, and smarter computer programs to analyze the data. These upgrades help scientists learn more about exosomes and how they could be used to diagnose and treat diseases.

Request a Copy of the Exosome Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Research Tools: Global Markets

Report Synopsis

Report Metrics Details Base year considered 2022 Forecast Period considered 2023-2028 Base year market size $166.4 million Market Size Forecast $1.3 billion Growth Rate CAGR of 42.2% for the forecast period of 2023-2028 Segment Covered By Application, By Region Regions covered North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Rest of the World (RoW) Key Market Drivers Increasing Investment in Biomedical Research

Trend Towards Precision Medicine

Technological Advancements in Exosome Research Tools

Segmentation Analysis

The worldwide market for exosome tests, treatments, and tools is divided into different uses:

Diagnostics and Monitoring- means using exosomes to check for diseases or keep track of someone's health over time.

Treatments- refers to using exosomes to treat diseases or medical conditions.

Tools and Materials for Research- involves using exosomes in experiments or studies, and the equipment and substances needed for that research.

This report on exosome diagnostics, therapeutics, and research tools: global markets provide comprehensive insights and analysis, addressing the following key questions:

What is the projected market size and growth rate of the exosome diagnostics, therapeutics, and research tools and reagents market?

The global exosome diagnostics, therapeutics, and research tools and reagents market was estimated to be around $227.5 million in 2023. The market is projected to reach $1.3 billion in 2028, growing at a CAGR of 42.2% during the forecast period.



What segments are covered in the market?

An in-depth analysis of the global exosome diagnostics, therapeutics, and research tools and reagents market, including historical data and market projection on sales by application, and region.



By application type, which segment will dominate the market by the end of 2028?

By application type, diagnostics and monitoring segment is anticipated to dominate the market by the end of 2028.



Which application type market is growing fastest among all?

Diagnostics and monitoring is the fastest growing market.

Some of the Key Market Players Are:

ACOUSORT AB

AETHLON MEDICAL INC.

BIO-TECHNE

CARIS LIFE SCIENCES

EXOSOMICS SPA

KIMERA LABS

MIR SCIENTIFIC

NANOSOMIX

SYSTEM BIOSCIENCES LLC

AEGLE THERAPEUTICS

ARUNA BIO INC.

CAPRICOR THERAPEUTICS INC.

DIRECT BIOLOGICS LLC

EVOX THERAPEUTICS LTD.

LONZA

NANO MED

RION

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Prevention and Treatment of Prostate Cancer: Technologies and Global Markets: This report is like a big book that talks about how doctors around the world are trying to stop and cure prostate cancer. It tells you about all the different ways they do this, like using new technologies and treatments. The book also talks about how the market for these treatments is growing and changing globally.

Directly Purchase a copy of the report with BCC Research.

For further information or to make a purchase, please get in touch with [email protected].

About BCC Research

BCC Research provides objective, unbiased measurement and assessment of market opportunities with detailed market research reports. Our experienced industry analysts' goal is to help you make informed business decisions, free of noise and hype.

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SOURCE BCC Research LLC
The $75M project is part of Ferrero's ongoing investment and expansion in the market

PARSIPPANY, N.J., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ferrero North America, part of the global sweet-packaged food company the Ferrero Group known for Keebler, Butterfinger, Nutella, Kinder, Tic Tac, and other well-loved brands, today celebrated the opening of its first chocolate processing facility in North America and third globally. The 70,000 square foot expansion to Ferrero's manufacturing campus in Bloomington, Illinois produces chocolate for some of Ferrero's iconic brands including Kinder, Ferrero Rocher, Butterfinger, and CRUNCH.

Ferrero commemorates the opening of its first US-based chocolate processing facility at 2501 Beich Road in Bloomington, IL. Left to right: Vice President of Industrial Operations Ferrero USA Federico Forti, Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Kristin Richards, Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe, President and Chief Business Officer Ferrero North America Alanna Cotton, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and Ferrero Global Industrial Head of Operations Serge Nal.

"Bringing Ferrero's decades of experience making high-quality, world class chocolate to Illinois  the heart of America's food and confections industry  is going to help us achieve our goal of being the sweets and treats leader in the market," said Alanna Cotton, President and Chief Business Officer of Ferrero North America. "Ferrero and Bloomington are going to be greater together for years to come."

The investment further expands Ferrero's footprint in Illinois. The company manufactures Butterfinger and Baby Ruth products at its plant in Franklin Park, and Keebler products on 110th Street in Chicago. Last year the company opened its new Innovation Center and R&D Labs in Chicago's historic Marshall Field and Company Building. The Ferrero manufacturing campus in Bloomington manufactures CRUNCH, 100 Grand, and Raisinets in addition to now processing chocolate. The campus will also soon house a new $214 million Kinder Bueno production facility, expected to create 200 additional new local jobs when it opens later this year.

"The exceptional talent and infrastructure here in Central Illinois are helping drive the growth of Ferrero's iconic brands, from CRUNCH and 100 Grand to Raisinets and soon Kinder Bueno," said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. "Ferrero's Bloomington facility, now including the company's first chocolate factory outside of Europe, is demonstrating to the world the manufacturing prowess we have right here in Illinois."

"Ferrero's investments have been a key driver of the incredible growth of our community," said Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe. "I look forward to prospering together for years to come."

The chocolate processing facility is part of Ferrero's overall growth and investment in North America. In addition to new projects in Illinois, the company recently invested in new capacity and capabilities for its Brantford, Ontario plant and added distribution centers in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona, as well as invested in Oregon's hazelnut growers. Ferrero's North American presence now totals more than 5,100 employees across eight offices and twelve plants and warehouses in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean.

About Ferrero

Ferrero began its journey in the small town of Alba in Piedmont, Italy, in 1946. Today, it is one of the world's largest sweet-packaged food companies, with over 35 iconic brands sold in more than 170 countries. The Ferrero Group brings joy to people around the world with much-loved treats and snacks including Nutella, Kinder, Tic Tac, and Ferrero Rocher. More than 38,000 employees are passionate about helping people celebrate life's special moments. The Ferrero Group's family culture, now in its third generation, is based on dedication to quality and excellence, heritage and a commitment to the planet and communities in which we operate.

Ferrero entered the North American market in 1969 and has grown to more than 5,400 employees in 15 plants and warehouses, and eight offices in North America across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It has expanded its presence and portfolio with the addition of iconic brands such as Butterfinger, CRUNCH, Keebler, Famous Amos, Mother's Cookies, and other distinctive cookie and chocolate brands. Follow @FerreroNACorp on Twitter and Instagram. www.ferreronorthamerica.com.

Media Contact: Cassi DePasquale, [email protected]

SOURCE Ferrero North America
The revolutionary solution is built upon Flexxon's patented algorithms that enable independent, full-stack security for real-time monitoring and response against Zero Day threats, as well as instant data restoration in the unlikely event of a breach.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Hardware cybersecurity pioneer Flexxon (or the "Company") today unveiled the third addition to its X-PHY cybersecurity ecosystem of solutions at RSA Conference 2024.

Flexxon Co-founders Camellia Chan (L) and May Chng (R) at RSA Conference 2024 in San Francisco, during the launch of X-PHY Server Defender Server Defenders Phase 1 capabilities

Server Defender is the world's first standalone and fully independent cybersecurity module that enables full-stack monitoring and defense from the hardware and firmware layers. The solution also introduces a much-needed capability to the cybersecurity ecosystem  full system reversion in the unfortunate event of a breach. The early access program for Server Defender is now open to qualified customers, granting privileged access as new capabilities are introduced over the course of the year.

"We are excited to unveil Server Defender today, building on the success of our hardware-based X-PHY endpoint solutions," said Camellia Chan, CEO and Co-Founder of Flexxon. "Server Defender is built upon truly revolutionary technology that will change the cyberwar landscape in our favor by addressing the greatest needs of end users and service providers.

Not only does it boast real-time monitoring and response capabilities, but Server Defender can also reduce downtime by at least 50% and instantly restore lost or compromised data. Cyberattacks can bring operations to a grinding halt, jeopardizing customer relationships and costing businesses millions in downtime and recovery efforts. That's why Server Defender has been meticulously designed to mitigate these risks by delivering industry-leading recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO)."

Chan continued, "This groundbreaking platform ensures businesses can maintain seamless service delivery even in the event of a breach, while facilitating lightning-fast data recovery and providing granular recovery points with negligible data loss. With Server Defender, our customers can drive their core operations forward, secure in the knowledge that their data and services are safeguarded against sophisticated cyber threats".

The Current Landscape: Defenders are Losing

Reports of escalating breaches and ransomware attacks in the last year alone demonstrate the glaring vulnerabilities in our current cybersecurity standards and the dire need for action. From the ransomware attack launched by the LockBit group on ICBC Bank[2] to the catastrophic Change Healthcare[3] breach, which reportedly cost the group upwards of USD 2 billion and counting. An April 2024 survey report[4] found that the biggest risk associated with data breaches was to business continuity, with 43% of respondents reporting unplanned downtime as a result of the cyberattack.

Attacks span financial and reputational losses, prolonged periods of downtime and interruptions, the inability to recover lost data and even, the palpable impact to end-users such as clients of financial institutions and healthcare services. With each successful attack, hackers grow bolder and greedier.

Patented Matrix Shield Technology  A Multiplier for Security

Server Defender was developed to address the spectrum of issues pre-emptively, during, and post-attack. Its market-changing capabilities are built upon Flexxon's multi-patented Matrix Shield technology, which achieves constant monitoring of attack vectors targeting the PCIe system protocol, memory subsystem, kernel level, OS level, and network layers.

The algorithm transforms all objects and files into fundamental numeric representations to offer real-time threat detection and seamless, live reversion, delivering minimal downtime even in the face of file or system corruption. To achieve comprehensive detection, response and recovery, the Matrix Shield security vault uses a combination of matrices, neural networks, and a validation system to ensure that data is stored and monitored securely.

Armed with the Matrix Shield, Server Defender provides centralized security monitoring across multiple servers and data centers. With a single, user-friendly dashboard, users can keep an eye on server security spanning:

A single server at one location

A pod of multiple servers grouped at one site

Servers distributed across different cities or regions

This unified view delivers a complete, real-time picture of a user's server security status everywhere, functioning like a command center for total oversight. This allows the true power of Server Defender to be unlocked, analyzing large amounts of security data gathered from monitoring multiple servers. Through big data analytics, Server Defender can identify even the most subtle attack patterns that may go unnoticed when looking at just one server.

Step 1: Prioritizing Attack Surface Reduction

Phase 1 of Server Defender's rollout emphasizes full architecture attack surface reduction, effectively minimising weak spots and risks to set a strong foundation for threat detection and response against sophisticated attacks. Delivering true Zero Day protection, it is capable of identifying, prioritizing, and closing attack paths leading to Tier 0 assetsthe most critical and sensitive resources within an organization's IT infrastructure. Given the mission-critical nature of these assets, their immediate prioritization and protection are essential first steps for any organisation or service provider.

Capabilities and features that early access partners can expect include:

Enhanced data security through the patented Data Bus Sentinel, which monitors read and write operations to RAM Threat detection through real-time data acquisition and security verification Direct Memory Access (DMA) attack monitoring via a user-friendly web portal to track and monitor at all times Business continuity assurance through the recovery engine and automated rollback guardian

Initial testing has yielded impressive results[5] with improvements being implemented on a continuous basis, including:

90% reduction in false positives 50% faster threat detection 50% downtime reduction 35% faster threat resolution

A Phased Rollout Toward Truly Holistic Server Security

In the following months, additional features will be tested and integrated to further strengthen security capabilities across the entire network, remedy software vulnerabilities, and shut down an ever-evolving barrage of emerging cyber attacks.

Phases 2 and 3 will deliver:

Full architecture threat detection and response, such as monitoring and response to a wide range of malware threats, including Fuzzers, Analysis, Backdoors, Denial of Service (DoS), Exploits, Generic, Reconnaissance, Shellcode, and Worms Application layer security, by leveraging the physical hardware layer to fortify all seven layers of the OSI model and five layers of TCP/IP model, ensuring a collaborative defense that leaves no room for threats to penetrate any external or internal layer for a truly comprehensive security posture

Enrolment in Server Defender's early access program is available upon request by submitting your interest on the program's landing page, with pricing starting from USD 2,800[6].

Scheduled for full release by end-2024, the Company will share updates on the general availability of Server Defender as and when available on its official platforms.

The De Facto Standard: Dynamic Hardware-based Security

Since the launch of the X-PHY SSD in 2021, Flexxon has developed its suite of hardware-based dynamic cybersecurity solutions encompassing endpoint protection and enterprise security solutions. The Company's endpoint solutions include the X-PHY cybersecurity laptops and X-PHY Vault  the world's first warm crypto wallet and secure personal cloud device. Flexxon's Server Defender is the first release in the Company's enterprise security solutions line.

With the goal of delivering effective yet easy-to-implement security solutions, Flexxon continues to develop an entire ecosystem of security innovations to safeguard our digital lives, returning peace of mind and freedom to users across the world.

End of Release

About Flexxon

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Singapore, Flexxon is a global company that specialises in next generation hardware-based cybersecurity solutions and industrial NAND flash storage devices. Rooted in its strong pedigree as a leading industrial NAND flash storage solutions provider, Flexxon is committed to protecting the basic rights of all citizens of the digital economy through constant innovation to address the evolving cybersecurity needs of today. Today, the company has offices in countries and regions including Singapore, USA, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. With over forty patents and counting, Flexxon's market-leading products and solutions aim to deliver the utmost security and confidentiality standards to users.

For more information, please visit:

Flexxon: flexxon.com

About X-PHY

Flexxon's cybersecurity line of solutions, the X-PHY cybersecurity ecosystem is anchored on the hardware to deliver innovative, effective and proactive protection.

The X-PHY Solid State Drive (SSD) was officially launched in 2021 and has since expanded to include other endpoint solutions such as X-PHY cybersecurity laptops and the X-PHY Vault - warm crypto wallet and secure personal cloud device. Its enterprise solutions include the Server Defender as well as cloud hosting and storage services.

For more information, please visit: www.x-phy.com and https://defender.x-phy.com/

[1] Please credit all images to "Flexxon" [2] China's ICBC, the world's biggest bank, hit by cyberattack that reportedly disrupted Treasury markets. Retrieved from: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/10/icbc-the-worlds-biggest-bank-hit-by-ransomware-cyberattack.html [3] Change Healthcare roundup: UHG pays out $2B, while feds mull cyber compliance rules. Retrieved from: https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/change-healthcare-roundup-uhg-pays-out-2b-while-feds-mull-cyber-compliance-rules [4] The State of Pentesting. Retrieved from: https://pentera.io/resources/reports/the-state-of-pentesting-2024-survey-report/?utm_source=PR&source=PR&utm_medium=PressRelease&medium=PressRelease&utm_campaign=StateofPentesting2024&campaign=StateofPentesting2024 [5] All figures are based on internal testing and calculated based on a per-organization basis, from publicly available global averages, gathered from reports published by IBM Security, Ponemon Institute, and Gartner. [6] Prices are accurate at time of publishing, may be subject to change.

SOURCE Flexxon
"High Performer" status is given to products that have high user satisfaction scores compared to others in same space

BURLINGAME, Calif., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- unitQ, the leading AI platform empowering organizations to take a user-centric, real-time data-driven approach to craft high quality products, services and experiences, announced today unitQ has been recognized as a "High Performer" by G2 in the "Feedback Analytics" category for Spring of 2024.

This is the fifth time unitQ has been named a "High Performer" by the G2 trusted software marketplace and the third time for 2024.

"A great tool for analyzing customer feedback across platforms." Post this

What is G2?

G2 is the largest and most trusted software marketplace. More than 80 million people annually  including employees at all Fortune 500 companies  use G2 to make smarter software decisions based on authentic peer reviews.

"unitQ's 'High Performer' distinction by G2 goes beyond mere recognition  it mirrors our team's unwavering commitment and the confidence our customers have placed in our user feedback analytics platform," said Christian Wiklund, CEO of unitQ. "From the outset, unitQ's goal has been to forge a connection between organizations and their user base through the power of real-time user feedback analytics."

Significance of G2 High Performer Status

Being recognized by G2, the world's leading business solution review platform, means that unitQ customers have vouched for our product, finding tangible value in the AI-powered customer feedback analytics software unitQ provides.

The "High Performer" status is given to products that have high user satisfaction scores compared to other products in the same category. It's an affirmation that unitQ doesn't just deliver, but excels in meeting our customers' expectations.

In Our Customers' Own Words

Highlights of G2 reviews for unitQ's customer feedback software include:

"A great tool for analyzing customer feedback across platforms."

"unitQ's analysis has helped us get to know our users."

"unitQ has been a game-changer for our international support team."

"Dedicated team and phenomenal product!"

G2 reviewers of unitQ noted the "ease of doing business" with unitQ and said they were happy with the "quality of support" as well as unitQ's "ease of use." Best of all, nearly every reviewer said they'd recommend unitQ to other organizations.

Ongoing Innovations Bolster unitQ Artificial Intelligence

unitQ's latest recognition as a G2 "High Performer" follows a spate of unitQ innovations and product advancements for its proprietary AI platform.

Among them, they include:

The debut of unitQ's advanced AI-powered software to instantly transcribe organizations' call center recordings, customer surveys and conversation bots  data that is transformed into real-time actionable insights to empower businesses to automate and elevate their product quality.

The introduction of unitQ GPT. unitQ GPT is the world's first generative AI engine for measuring the quality of an organization's products, services and experiences and harnesses unitQ's proprietary AI models to extract instant meaning from support tickets, surveys, app reviews, social media posts and product engagement data so organizations can connect the dots between what users say and do in real time.

Engineering root cause analysis (RCA) coupled with unitQ GPT empowers engineering teams to quickly identify and address the root causes of user-reported issues. This AI-driven approach not only streamlines the RCA process but also ensures that user feedback is central to product development and improvement strategies.

While unitQ already provides organizations with AI-driven, actionable insights into what their users are saying in real time across all user feedback channels, one of our latest milestones empowers unitQ customers with real-time actionable insights about how their customers are using their products and services. This first-of-its-kind, unified approach enables organizations to identify correlations between user behavior and user feedback, providing an even deeper understanding of customers' needs and preferences. unitQ has become even more powerful when integrated with product analytics software like Amplitude by further breaking down the walls between product, engineering and customer experience teams.

The User Feedback Imperative

Becoming a user-centric organization requires a deep and personal understanding of the people using today's products and services. Powered by machine learning and AI, unitQ captures user feedback in more than 100 languages from all sources  including Amazon, the Apple App Store, Discord, Google Play Store, Reddit, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, support tickets, surveys and more.

In addition to parsing user feedback in real time for unitQ customers to help them inform their decision-making along every touchpoint of the customer journey  unitQ also integrates with productivity tools such as Jira, PagerDuty, Slack, Microsoft Teams and Zendesk to alert organizations about key customer issues in any language, location or platform.

Why Customer Feedback Matters

Customer feedback is more than just words and noise. It's valuable data. By analyzing feedback in real time, businesses can understand their users better, identify areas of improvement and tailor their products to fit their users' needs. Customer feedback analytics is not about reacting but about proactively shaping products and services for optimal user satisfaction.

At unitQ, we believe in the power of real-time feedback. It offers insights that can make or break a product's success. Recognizing patterns, addressing concerns and leveraging positive and negative feedback are all integral parts of a product's lifecycle.

About unitQ

With unitQ customer feedback software, you can discover quality issues at the same time as your users. Know what product launches, releases or evergreen features are causing the most bugs or support tickets. Drill into the root causes of these issues by source, platform, device, customer segment and more.

Our AI centralizes feedback from all feedback sources and automatically groups it into thousands of granular categories to help organizations discover what matters most to users  all in real time. Customer-centric companies like Spotify, Bumble, Pinterest and HelloFresh rely on unitQ for actionable insights to drive growth, reduce churn and build brand loyalty.

Want to see how your organization compares to others? Get your free unitQ Score or book a unitQ demo today!

The company is headquartered in Burlingame, Calif.

Please visit www.unitq.com for more information. Follow unitQ on LinkedIn and X.

To learn more, contact David Kravets from unitQ at [email protected].

SOURCE unitQ
Annual awards program recognizes excellence among aerospace suppliers

OLATHE, Kan., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Garmin (NYSE: GRMN) today announced it received a Best Supplier award for the ninth consecutive year by Embraer at its annual Suppliers Conference held April 30 in Gaviao Peixoto, Brazil. Embraer, a leading aerospace manufacturer, recognized Garmin as the top supplier in the Electrical & Electronic Systems category for its G3000 Prodigy Touch flight deck systems in the Phenom 100EV and Phenom 300E.

Garmin earns best supplier recognition from Embraer for 9th consecutive year

"It is an honor to be recognized as the Best Supplier from Embraer. This prestigious award represents the strong collaboration between Embraer and Garmin and is a testament to Garmin's long-term dedication to Embraer and our mutual customers. We are truly grateful to receive this award recognizing the entire organization's commitment to on-time delivery, quality, and customer support." Phil Straub, Garmin Executive Vice President & Managing Director, Aviation

This annual award program honors an elite group of suppliers for their outstanding performance, continuous improvement and increased customer satisfaction among all suppliers who serve Embraer's global commercial aviation, business aviation and defense markets. This recognition validates Garmin's achievement in designing and manufacturing state-of-the-art flight deck systems while remaining responsive to market needs and preferences.

Over the past 14 years, Embraer has presented Garmin with 16 top honors across various categories including Electric & Electronics Systems; Technical Support to Operators; Electro-Mechanical Systems; Material Support to Operator; Services & Support; and Best of the Best.

Garmin products and services have revolutionized flight and become essential to the lives of pilots and aircraft owners and operators around the world. A leading provider of solutions to general aviation, business aviation, rotorcraft, advanced air mobility, government and defense, and commercial air carrier customers, Garmin believes every day is an opportunity to innovate. Recipient of the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy for Garmin Autoland, Garmin developed the world's first certified autonomous system that activates during an emergency to control and land an aircraft without human intervention. Visit the Garmin Newsroom, email our media team, connect with @garminaviation on social, or follow our blog.

About Garmin International, Inc. Garmin International, Inc. is a subsidiary of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE: GRMN). Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in Switzerland, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Garmin and G3000 are registered trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.

All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Notice on Forward-Looking Statements:

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd. and its business. Such statements are based on management's current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 30, 2023, filed by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file number 0-31983). A copy of such Form 10-K is available at https://www.garmin.com/en-US/company/investors/earnings/. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Media Contact:

Mikayla Minnick

913-397-8200

[email protected]

SOURCE Garmin International, Inc.
#UltimoMinuto ??| Duro golpe al narcotrafico!

El Comandante General PNP, Victor Jose Zanabria Angulo, junto a #Dirandro y #MinisterioPublico, dan detalles del comiso de casi media tonelada de droga con destino Paises Bajos y 867 kg de cocaina con destino final Bolivia.?? pic.twitter.com/VFWVeFQPX3
HOUSTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Gensystems Power Solutions, a provider of mobile gas turbine genset power, announces the successful deployment of two gensets on separate well pads in Midland, Texas. These gensets are providing reliable and sustainable power for electric fracturing (e-frac) operations. Gensystems' on-site team provides around-the-clock support, including pre-deployment planning and engineering, expert operation and maintenance and 24/7 technical support.

Gensystems Mobile Gas Turbine Genset

"The oil and gas industry is increasingly recognizing the need for cleaner and more efficient power solutions, particularly for remote operations like e-frac," says Todd Farley, President of Gensystems Power Solutions. "Our mobile gas turbine gensets deliver significant advantages over traditional diesel generators. They reduce emissions, noise pollution, and fuel consumption while providing higher power density with a significantly smaller footprint."

Gensystems understands that every project has unique needs. The company works closely with customers to design a customized power solution that meets their specific requirements for power output, environmental considerations, and more.

Compared to diesel generators, Gensystems gensets produce significantly lower emissions helping operators meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations. The cleaner burning nature of natural gas and the efficient operation of the gas turbine gensets contribute to a more sustainable approach to powering e-frac operations. The gensets are equipped with the GE LM2500 gas turbine which boasts superior fuel efficiency compared to diesel generators, resulting in lower operating costs and reduced fuel consumption and is extremely reliable.

By using Gensystems power solutions, operators can achieve significant environmental and economic benefits while maintaining the necessary power requirements for their e-frac operations via Gensystems equipment, manpower, and expertise.

About Gensystems Power Solutions

Gensystems Power Solutions is a subsidiary of Jereh Group, a global leading oil and gas equipment manufacturer. Powered by gas turbine genset or the grid, the company is able to provide a clean energy solution of electric fracturing fleet to accelerate oilfield electrification. Besides, Gensystems' clean, efficient, and reliable gensets can offer a sustainable power supply for a variety of industrial applications, helping businesses reduce their environmental impact and operating costs.

SOURCE Gensystems Power Solutions
BEIJING, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- France is the first stop of Chinese President Xi Jinping's European trip. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. How to interpret the significance frequent high-level interactions between China and France? How important is the visit to preserve the two sides' ability to engage in dialogue at the highest level? Three French observers shared their views with Global Times.

Pierre Picquart, a doctor in Geopolitics and Human Geography from the University of Paris-VIII, a writer, lecturer, specialist in China and international expert

France is influential within Europe and it can draw a new favorable model in China-Europe relations and within the framework of beneficial "East-West" cooperation.

France has a long tradition of diplomacy and international relations, which gives it credibility and expertise in the management of global affairs. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a founding member of the EU, France is often seen as an influential actor on the international scene. Thus, it can play a leadership role within the EU regarding the policies to adopt toward China.

France maintains strong bilateral relations with China, based on mutual respect and cooperation in various fields. These close relations allow France to serve as a bridge between Europe and China, facilitating dialogue and cooperation between the two parties. France can thus promote a balanced and constructive approach in China-Europe relations, by highlighting common interests and seeking solutions to common challenges.

France is often seen as a model of cooperation between East and West, due to its commitment to multilateralism, dialogue diplomacy and the promotion of universal values. China-France relations can therefore serve as an inspiring example for relations between East and West, showing that it is possible to overcome ideological and cultural differences to build a mutually beneficial partnership. For this to be possible, it is essential that France continues to promote dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect in its relations with China, while defending its interests and fundamental values.

Arnaud Bertrand, a French entrepreneur and commentator on economics and geopolitics

France's foreign policy under de Gaulle was characterized by a very deep attachment to French sovereignty, meaning France's ability to make its own decisions according to its own national interests.

He knew that China couldn't be ignored and he knew that if France was the first Western country to recognize China, it will not only, again, be on the right side of history, but it will be at the forefront of history. He knew that this would benefit France for its future relations with China, because there can only be one Western country that was the first to establish diplomatic relations with China. Thanks to him that country will forever be France, which grants France a special place in China's history.

In terms of the highlights in our relationship, French companies have benefited a lot from the Chinese market, and China has benefited from French technology as well. For instance, EDF (Electricite de France), the French electricity company, helped China build a nuclear power plant in Taishan, Guangdong Province. France's luxury sector benefits hugely from the Chinese market. It's fair to say it's been a productive relationship between our two countries.

Laurent Michelon, author of the book Understanding the relation between China and the West (Comprendre la relation Chine-Occident)

I think the fact that President Xi visits France in May, just a year after French President Emmanuel Macron came to Beijing, is a significant sign of the strength of the relationship between France and China.

French companies are extremely keen on investing more in China. China is making itself more welcoming to foreign investment, especially from European countries. The administrative hurdles are being lowered. If we look at the interviews given by the leaders of big French or German companies, they are all very bullish on the relationship between Europe and China.

My book has been well received in France when I looked at the comments about my book. Many people are saying that finally somebody is giving us some factual information about China. So I think this was something people were waiting for and they are quite happy with it.

I'm explaining to the Western audience that China is always looking for a very central position, as neutral as possible, never interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and things like that. I always tell people: come to China and see for yourself. Now, you don't even have the excuse of needing a visa; China has implemented a visa-free policy for many European countries, including France. China has always been very welcoming toward foreigners, whether tourists, investors, or businessmen.

SOURCE Global Times
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Highstreet Insurance Partners ("Highstreet"), one of the fastest growing community-based insurance brokerages and financial service firms in the US, announced today its acquisition of RISE Partners ("RISE"). The terms of this transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, RISE serves business and individual clients across Kentucky and throughout the United States. Founder and President, Mike Arnold, will continue to lead the RISE team, with the guidance and support of Highstreet's Southeast Regional President and National Segment Leader of Personal Insurance, Alyssa Rockwell.

"Mike built RISE Partners on a foundation of relationships. Relationships are what we look for at Highstreet and we believe his team will continue to outperform the competition while still putting clients first," said Highstreet Founder and CEO Scott Wick. "We couldn't be happier to welcome RISE Partners into the Highstreet family."

"Integrity and service have always been a cornerstone of RISE Partners. We chose the name, "RISE," as an acronym for "Redefining Insurance through Service and Expertise," and Highstreet Insurance Partners embodies our philosophy," said Mike Arnold, former CEO of RISE Partners.

Highstreet, has now completed 170 transactions since forming the company in mid-2018. RISE is the 6th transaction of 2024.

About Highstreet Insurance Partners

Highstreet Insurance Partners (HSIP) is a full-service independent insurance agency. Founded in 2018, the Traverse City, Michigan-based company provides a broad array of business insurance, employee benefits, personal insurance, retirement services, and specialty risk solutions that are delivered through community focused agencies. Backed by the deep local expertise of its 170 transactions and extensive national resources, Highstreet ensures all clients have the coverage and service they deserve. Additional information can be found at www.hsip.com.

SOURCE High Street Insurance Partners Inc.
Federal Legislation Would Open Funding Opportunities for Special Districts

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Special District Grant Accessibility Act (H.R. 7525), legislation that would codify a first-ever definition of "special district" in federal law and ensure districts are eligible for all appropriate forms of federal financial assistance, announced the National Special Districts Coalition.

The bipartisan legislation, which cleared the House on an overwhelming 352-27 vote, is authored by Representatives Pat Fallon (R-TX) and Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) and was cosponsored by a number of Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.

"The consequence of current law is some communities served by special districts cannot access certain federal funding opportunities, which has a huge impact on the ability of special districts to provide vital services and meet community needs," Congressman Fallon said. "H.R. 7525 re-sets the board and ensures special districts have the resources, autonomy, and flexibility to address the unique challenges and opportunities facing their communities."

"There are 3,500 special districts in Colorado alone, which are responsible for critical services for our communities ranging from drinking water and wastewater management, to health care, transit, and natural resource conservation," said Congresswoman Pettersen. "Unfortunately, special districts have not had a specific definition under federal law, meaning Coloradans in these areas are missing out on federal funding opportunities that help other communities with reliable ambulance service, wildfire protections and firefighters, pandemic response services, and more. I'm proud to work on this bipartisan bill with Congressman Fallon to help us better adapt to the complexity of local governments and ensure Coloradans and people across the country have access to the support they need."

H.R. 7525 would require the White House Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance to federal agencies requiring special districts to be recognized as local governments for the purpose of federal financial assistance determinations. Specifically, H.R. 7525 would establish the following definition in Federal law (Title 13 of US Code):

"The term 'special district' means a political subdivision of a State, with specified boundaries and significant budgetary autonomy or control, created by or pursuant to the laws of the State, for the purpose of performing limited and specific governmental or proprietary functions that distinguish it as a significantly separate entity from the administrative governance structure of any other form of local government unit within a State."

"We're extremely grateful to Representatives Fallon and Pettersen for their strong leadership on behalf of special districts and for marshaling this historic bill through the House," said Ann Terry, chair of the National Special Districts Coalition (NSDC). "We hope today's overwhelming vote in the House sets the stage for timely action in the Senate and will carry H.R. 7525 through to the President's desk, where it will be signed into law."

Special districts are local public agencies created by community residents to deliver specialized services essential to their health, safety, economy, and well-being. Like cities and counties, special districts are public agencies; however, they provide necessary services that many cities and counties do not.

According to NSDC, there are more than 35,000 special districts in the U.S. providing a range of infrastructure and essential community programs across the country including parks, water, sanitation, fire protection, ports, cemeteries, healthcare, electricity, pest control, and libraries.

For more information, visit the National Special Districts Coalition website.

SOURCE National Special Districts Association
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2024 Hyundai Palisade is the winner of Cars.com's Three-row SUV challenge. Conducted over the course of a week, the comparison test featured seven SUVs that were evaluated in a number of areas important to families. After scores were tabulated, the Palisade emerged to top place - thanks in part to its classy refinement and host of desirable features.

The 2024 Hyundai Palisade was photographed in Irvine, Calif. on July 5, 2023.

"The Hyundai Palisade conveys dignified refinement with clear differentiation worthy of a flagship SUV," said Ricky Lao, director, product planning, Hyundai Motor North America. "The Palisade also introduced a first for Hyundai with heating for its third-row seating passengers, and the second row of seats offers wing-out headrests and seat ventilation for extra comfort."

"The 2024 Hyundai Palisade wowed us with its comfortable and classy interior, easy-to-use tech and wealth of features for the money," said Mike Hanley, Cars.com Senior Road Test Editor. "It was a winning combination and makes the Palisade a clear choice if you're looking for a bit of luxury in your next family vehicle."

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.

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America
Infosys Cobalt cloud offerings and ServiceNow Now Assist to help enterprises increase productivity, enhance efficiency, and improve user experience

The collaboration is currently enabling customers such as Carrier to address key business problems

Infosys to double training investment, certifying more than 3,500 employees with ServiceNow GenAI skills

LAS VEGAS, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, and ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the AI platform for business transformation, today announced a strengthened collaboration to transform customer experiences with generative AI-powered industry solutions, at ServiceNow's annual customer and partner event Knowledge 2024. The collaboration aims to increase productivity, enhance efficiency, and improve user experience for organizations by combining ServiceNow's Now Assist generative AI capabilities and Infosys Cobalt, a set of services, solutions, and platforms designed to accelerate cloud-powered enterprise transformation. As part of this broader AI-first, industry-first strategy, Infosys will also double its investment in training by certifying more than 3,500 employees with ServiceNow GenAI skills.

"The combination of ServiceNow GenAI capabilities with Infosys' industry expertise is a prime example of how our partners are integral to driving digital transformation forward for more organizations," said Erica Volini, Senior Vice President, Global Partners and Channels at ServiceNow. "Our longstanding collaboration with Infosys demonstrates the potential for our ecosystem to yield real, impactful results for customers. We are helping shape the future of GenAI's impact on enterprise productivity, with skills training for being a key success factor in ensuring our workforces are futureproofed for GenAI."

"Infosys and ServiceNow are deeply committed to delivering exceptional customer experience for our clients. This collaboration further strengthens our relationship by bringing together ServiceNow's Now Assist GenAI solutions with Infosys Cobalt, in addition to our expertise in digital transformation and generative AI capabilities," said Anant Adya, Executive Vice President and Service Offering Head, Infosys. "Together, we have developed next-generation industry solutions that address tough challenges across sectors. These solutions leverage generative AI to automate tasks, personalize experiences, and unlock new levels of efficiency and innovation for our clients."

In collaboration with ServiceNow, Infosys will develop new industry applications into the Infosys Enterprise Service Management (ESM) Cafe, the AI-powered plug-and-play solution which is already helping ServiceNow customers accelerate time to value. Infosys is also investing in the creation of a Pro Plus BOT factory, which can offer more than 100,000 Now Assist-powered chatbots so customers can realize value in their AI journey.

Through this expanded collaboration, ServiceNow and Infosys will address critical business process challenges for enterprises across telecom, financial services, manufacturing, and retail. The new offerings will aim to deliver significant benefits to customers, including up to 20 percent improvement in operational efficiency, 5-time faster increase in response time, and 30 percent reduction in implementation timelines. At the same time, the applications will deliver insights on large transformation engagements using GenAI. The collaboration is currently enabling customers such as Carrier, a world leader in high-technology heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration solutions, to address key business problems, including poor user experience, underutilized AI-based platform capabilities, and isolated processes.

Through more than 10 years of collaboration, Infosys and ServiceNow have made substantial investments in R&D, infrastructure, and talent development resulting in improved product capabilities and market expansion.

About ServiceNow

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is putting AI to work for people. We move with the pace of innovation to help customers transform organizations across every industry while upholding a trustworthy, human centered approach to deploying our products and services at scale. Our AI platform for business transformation connects people, processes, data, and devices to increase productivity and maximize business outcomes. For more information, visit: www.servicenow.com.

This press release contains "forward looking statements" about the expectations, beliefs, plans, and intentions relating to ServiceNow's collaboration with Infosys to build generative AI solutions. Such statements include statements regarding future product capabilities and offerings and expected benefits to ServiceNow. Forward looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, ServiceNow's results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements made. ServiceNow undertakes no obligation, and does not intend, to update the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements include: (i) delays and unexpected difficulties and expenses in executing the product capabilities and offerings, (ii) changes in the regulatory landscape related to AI and (iii) uncertainty as to whether sales will justify the investments in the product capabilities and offerings. Further information on factors that could affect ServiceNow's financial and other results is included in the filings ServiceNow makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.

 2024 ServiceNow, Inc. All rights reserved. ServiceNow, the ServiceNow logo, Now, and other ServiceNow marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ServiceNow, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company names, product names, and logos may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 300,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses and communities. We enable clients in more than 56 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by cloud and AI. We enable them with an AI-first core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, or our future financial or operating performance, are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding the execution of our business strategy, our ability to attract and retain personnel, our transition to hybrid work model, economic uncertainties, technological innovations such as Generative AI, the complex and evolving regulatory landscape including immigration regulation changes, our ESG vision, our capital allocation policy and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, liquidity, capital resources, our corporate actions including acquisitions, and cybersecurity matters. Important factors that may cause actual results or outcomes to differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements are discussed in more detail in our US Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/633365/Infosys_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Infosys
SAN FRANCISCO and SUZHOU, China, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovent Biologics, Inc. ("Innovent") (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes high-quality medicines for the treatment of oncology, cardiovascular and metabolic, autoimmune, ophthalmology and other major diseases, announced that the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) for IBI343 as monotherapy for the treatment of claudin18.2-positive advanced gastric/gastro-esophageal junction adenocarcinoma (GC) patients who have progressed after at least 2 lines of prior systematic treatments.

The BTD for IBI343 was based on the data from an ongoing Phase 1 study (NCT05458219), in which favorable safety and tolerability and promising antitumor activity of IBI343 monotherapy in advanced GC patients were observed. The study results will be published at an upcoming medical conference later in 2024.

Innovent is preparing for a registrational Phase 3 multi-regional clinical trial (MRCT) of IBI343 in patients with claudin18.2-positive, HER2-negative GC (G-HOPE-001, NCT06238843) to be initiated soon.

Dr. Hui Zhou, Senior Vice President of Innovent, said, "GC patients tend to progress after second-line systematic therapies with poor prognosis and have only a half year of survival expectancy. They are in urgent need of effective third-line treatment options. We are glad to see the NMPA granted BTD for IBI343 monotherapy based on the PoC clinical results in GC, and we will continue to validate its efficacy and safety in the registrational MRCT trial. Innovent has a comprehensive and robust oncology pipeline, and, particularly in GC, we have PD-1 inhibitor (TYVYT) for first-line GC treatment and anti-angiogenic drug (CYRAMZA) for second-line GC treatment. We will further explore IBI343's potential in combination therapy as well as in other solid tumors such as pancreatic cancer."

NMPA Breakthrough Therapy Designation is intended to facilitate and expedite the development and review of an investigational drug to treat a serious disease or condition when preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug has demonstrated substantial improvement over current therapies. The BTD will not only qualify a drug candidate to receive status for rapid review by the CDE, but it will also allow the sponsor to obtain timely advice and communication from the CDE to accelerate the approval and launch to address the unmet clinical need of patients at an accelerated pace. Click here for the published list of drugs that have been granted BTD by NMPA.

About Gastric/ Gastroesophageal Junction Adenocarcinoma

Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world and is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths globally. The 5-year survival rate of patients with metastatic gastric cancer is less than 5%[i]. China and Japan are countries with highest incidence of gastric cancer[ii]. Currently, chemotherapy combination of fluoropyrimidine and platinum and immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy are the standard-of-care treatments for patients with advanced metastatic gastric cancer. However, systemic therapy has limited efficacy in advanced gastric cancer. In particular, the prognosis for patients with third-line or higher gastric cancer is usually poor, with fewer treatment options and shorter survival expectations. The median survival times for these patients is only about 0.5 year[iii].

Claudin, a member of the tight junction molecule family, is a key structural and functional component of epithelial tight junctions. Among them, CLDN18.2 is normally buried in the gastric mucosa, but the development of malignancy leads to disruption of tight junctions and exposure of CLDN18.2 epitopes on the membrane of tumor cells[iv]. CLDN18.2 is expressed in up to 80% of patients with gastric cancer.

About IBI343 (Claudin18.2 ADC)

IBI343 is an antibody-drug conjugate composed of an anti-claudin18.2 antibody, and a cytotoxic drug exatecan. As a topoisomerase I inhibitor, exatecan effectively kills tumor cells by inhibiting DNA synthesis. Binding of IBI343 to claudin18.2-expressing tumor cells results in claudin18.2-dependent internalization of IBI343. Degradation of the cleavable linker will release the drug that causes DNA damage, leading to apoptosis of the tumor cells. The freed drug can also diffuse across the plasma membrane to reach and kill the neighboring tumor cells, resulting in a strong "bystander killing effect" of IBI343.

About Innovent

Innovent is a leading biopharmaceutical company founded in 2011 with the mission to provide high-quality biologics that are affordable to all. The company discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes innovative medicines that target some of the most intractable diseases. Its pioneering therapies treat cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic, autoimmune and eye diseases. Innovent has launched 10 products in the market. It has 3 new drug applications under regulatory review, 5 assets in Phase III or pivotal clinical trials and 18 more molecules in early clinical stage. Innovent partners with over 30 global healthcare companies, including Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Incyte, Adimab, LG Chem and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Guided by the motto, "Start with Integrity, Succeed through Action," Innovent maintains the highest standard of industry practices and works collaboratively to advance the biopharmaceutical industry so that first-rate pharmaceutical drugs can become widely accessible. For more information, visit www.innoventbio.com, or follow Innovent on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Note:

TYVYT (sintilimab injection) is not an approved product in the United States.

BYVASDA (bevacizumab biosimilar injection), SULINNO, and HALPRYZA (rituximab biosimilar injection) are not approved products in the United States.

TYVYT (sintilimab injection, Innovent)

BYVASDA (bevacizumab biosimilar injection, Innovent)

HALPRYZA (rituximab biosimilar injection, Innovent)

SULINNO (adalimumab biosimilar injection, Innovent)

Pemazyre (pemigatinib oral inhibitor, Incyte Corporation). Pemazyre was discovered by Incyte Corporation and licensed to Innovent for development and commercialization in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

CYRAMZA (ramucirumab, Eli Lilly). Cyramza was discovered by Eli Lilly and licensed to Innovent for commercialization in Mainland China.

Retsevmo (selpercatinib, Eli Lilly). Retsevmo was discovered by Eli Lilly and licensed to Innovent for commercialization in Mainland China.

Statement: Innovent does not recommend the use of any unapproved drug (s)/indication (s).

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Innovent, are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Innovent does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.

These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Innovent with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Innovent's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Innovent's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.

Innovent, the Directors and the employees of Innovent assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialize or turn out to be incorrect.

References:

[i] Lasithiotakis K, Antoniou SA, Antoniou GA, Kaklamanos I, Zoras O. Gastrectomy for stage IV gastric cancer. a systematic review and meta-analysis. Anticancer Res. May 2014;34(5):2079-85 [ii] Xu B, Wang JM. Epidemiological study of gastric cancer[J]. Chin J Cancer Prev Treat, 2006,13(1): 81-87. [iii] Chan WL, Lam KO, So TH, et al. Third-line systemic treatment in advanced/metastatic gastric cancer: a comprehensive review. Ther Adv Med Oncol. 2019;11:1758835919859990. [iv] Sahin U, Koslowski M, Dhaene K, et al. Claudin-18 splice variant 2 is a pan-cancer target suitable for therapeutic antibody development. Clin Cancer Res. 2008;14(23):7624-7634.

SOURCE Innovent Biologics
VANCOUVER, BC, and HOUSTON, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - International Battery Metals Ltd. (the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced non- brokered private placement financing (the "Private Placement"). Pursuant to the Private Placement, the Company issued 18,642,134 units (each a "Unit"), with each Unit being issued at a deemed price of CAD$0.76632, for aggregate proceeds of USD$10,436,000 (approximately CAD$14,285,840).

Each Unit consists of one common share ("Common Share") of the Company, and one Common Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"), each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share for a period of two years from the date of issuance for an exercise price of CAD$0.9579 per Common Share. In connection with the Private Placement, the Company extended the expiry of 6,396,999 previously issued Common Share purchase warrants from April 21, 2025, to May 3, 2026. In addition, the Company has agreed to pay EV Metals VI LLC, a private company controlled by Jacob Warnock, a director of the Company, ("EV Metals"), a structuring fee in connection with the Private Placement, in the amount of USD$321,800 (approximately CAD$440,512), payable through the issuance of 574,840 Common Shares with each Common Share having a deemed issuance price of CAD$0.76632.

The proceeds of the Private Placement will used by the Company to meet current obligations for the deployment of its modular direct lithium extraction plant (the "DLE Plant") in the western United States as previously announced on January 11, 2024, and for general working capital purposes.

The Company further intends to complete additional private placement financings of up to USD$13,564,000 million on similar terms of the Private Placement. The securities issued under the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period of four months from the date of issuance under Canadian Securities laws and will be restricted securities under the United States Securities Act of 1933.

MI 61-101 Disclosure

In connection with the Private Placement, EV Metals acquired 7,924,157 Units for gross proceeds of USD$4,436,000 (approximately CAD$6,072,440), representing approximately 42.51% of the aggregate proceeds raised by the Company in the Private Placement. In addition, the Company will pay to EV Metals the structuring fee. The participation of EV Metals in the Private Placement constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is relying upon exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(a), respectively - Fair Market Value Not More Than 25 Per Cent of Market Capitalization, on the basis that at the time the Private Placement was agreed to, neither the fair market value of the Units to be distributed pursuant to the Private Placement to EV Metals, nor the consideration to be received for those Units, will exceed 25 per cent of the Company's market capitalization. The terms of the Private Placement were negotiated with a special committee of directors of the Company, all of whom are independent for the purposes of MI 61-101. The Board of Directors of the Company has unanimously approved the Private Placement and Structuring Fee (with Jacob Warnock abstaining) and no materially contrary view or abstention was expressed or made by any director in relation to the Private Placement. The Company did not file a material change report in respect of the participation of EV Metals in the Private Placement at least 21 days before closing of the Offering as the participation of EV Metals was not determined at that time.

About the Company

The Company is an advanced technology company focused on the development of environmentally responsible methods of extracting lithium compounds from brine. The Company has developed a patented modular direct lithium extraction ("DLE") plant which allows for rapid deployment to a resource holders production site. The Company is working with resource holders of oilfield brines, brine aquifers, and industrial customers with brine by-products. The Company believes the modular design of its DLE plant provides significant initial costs savings to customers and the proprietary DLE technology lowers operating costs by selectively extracting lithium from the brine while efficiently removing contaminants.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"William Webster"

William Webster, Chair of the Board

Neither Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forwardlooking and cautionary statements

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This release may contain statements within the meaning of safe harbour provisions as defined under securities laws and regulations.

This release contains certain forwardlooking statements with respect to, among other things, the anticipated use of proceeds from the Private Placement and the Company's expectation that it may complete future private placements with the Private Placement investors, on similar terms, for up to an additional USD$13,564,000. By their nature, forwardlooking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forwardlooking statements.

SOURCE International Battery Metals Ltd.
NEW YORK, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The global K-12 testing and assessment market size is estimated to grow by USD 12.01 billion from 2024 to 2028, according to Technavio. This growth is expected to occur at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.2% during the forecast period.

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Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global K-12 Testing and Assessment Market 2024-2028

Report Attribute Details Base Year 2023 Forecast period 2024-2028 Historic Data for 2018 - 2022 Segments Covered Product (Curriculum-based testing and Non-curriculum-based testing) and Method (Blended method, Online method, and Traditional method) Key Companies Covered Anthology Inc., Batia Infotech, CogniFit Inc., Coursera Inc., D2L Corp., Educational Testing Service, Edutech, FairTest, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co., Instructure Holdings Inc., John Wiley and Sons Inc., MeritTrac Services Pvt Ltd., NIIT Ltd., Oxford University Press, Pearson Plc, RAND Corp., Scantron Inc., Sylvan Learning LLC, Thoughtful Learning, and Vedantu Innovations Pvt. Ltd. Regions Covered North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa

One of the Key Driver Fueling Growth

Increasing emphasis on formative learning tools:

Formative assessment involves evaluating students' progress during learning. It allows teachers to facilitate rather than instruct. This method helps identify weak areas and offer feedback to improve. With the rise of digital content and online learning, educators are investing in formative assessment tools.



These tools aid in providing quick feedback and monitoring student activities. Socrative is one such tool. It allows teachers to integrate various testing components like presentations and quizzes.



It also enables assessment during video watching by embedding questions. Vizia and Edpuzzle are tools for formative assessment with videos. The emphasis on formative learning tools can drive the global K-12 testing and assessment market.

For more insights on the market trends with forecast market size and historic data (2018 - 2022) - Download a FREE Sample Report in minutes!

Major Challenges:

Credibility of sources and content quality

The market for online courses is flooded with vendors, both local and international, offering a wide range of subjects. This abundance makes it challenging for learners to judge the content quality, causing reluctance among educators to adopt blended e-learning. Learners tend to opt for courses from well-known vendors for reliability. However, concerns persist regarding content accuracy and usefulness for employment.



The rapid market expansion has led to a proliferation of vendors, raising credibility issues. This poses problems for independent learners seeking skill enhancement, particularly in regions like India and China where teacher tech literacy is low.

and where teacher tech literacy is low.

Accreditation and certifications matching industry standards are vital for vendor credibility. These challenges are likely to impede the growth of the global K-12 testing and assessment market in the forecast period.

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Segmentation Overview

Product

1.1 Curriculum-based testing

1.2 Non-curriculum-based testing

Method

2.1 Blended method

2.2 Online method

2.3 Traditional method

Geography

3.1 North America

3.2 Europe

3.3 APAC

3.4 South America

3.5 Middle East and Africa

1.1 Curriculum-based testing- The curriculum-based testing (CBT) segment is set for significant growth in the K-12 testing and assessment market. Dominating this sector, CBT accounted for USD 8.52 billion in 2018. It plays a vital role in educational institutions, offering insights into student progress through tasks and assessments. CBT facilitates informed instructional decisions, fostering personalized learning.

Its implementation enables educators to adopt a data-driven approach, empowering students to reach their potential. This essential tool drives the K-12 testing and assessment market, ensuring educators access valuable insights, make informed decisions, and promote personalized learning.

Get a glance at the market contribution of rest of the segments - Download a FREE Sample Report in minutes!

Analyst Review

The K-12 testing and assessment market is witnessing a significant shift towards digital-first approaches, driven by advancements in AI and education technology. Educational institutions are increasingly adopting online examination platforms and innovative testing systems to enhance student engagement and improve academic achievement. With the rise of virtual learning, blended testing and assessment methods are becoming commonplace, combining face-to-face classroom learning with digital platforms.

Educational researchers and instructors are focusing on fostering critical thinking and reasoning skills through adaptive testing and curriculum strategies tailored to real-life circumstances. From national standardized tests to non-curricular requirements, there's a growing emphasis on accountability and educational outcomes.

Furthermore, the market is witnessing increased adoption of online proctoring and AI-linked webcams to ensure the integrity of assessments. With the proliferation of mobile devices and 5G adoption, there's a growing demand for interactive learning technologies and immersive learning environments to meet diverse learning objectives.

Overall, the K-12 testing and assessment market is evolving rapidly, driven by a digital-first approach and a focus on student engagement, problem-solving, and creativity across all educational levels.

Market Overview

In the ever-evolving landscape of K-12 testing and assessment, automation plays a pivotal role. With the shift towards online-based testing, educational researchers are focusing on enhancing analytical skills through AI-driven exams. This ensures educational accountability and empowers remote teaching methods. Digital learning tools are leveraged to create engagement programs, fostering a data-driven decision-making culture among educational scholars.

Interim assessments provide timely insights into student progress, enabling educators to tailor their teaching approach effectively. This dynamic ecosystem emphasizes the importance of innovation in educational assessment, where technology seamlessly integrates with traditional methods to create efficient and reliable solutions for the K-12 market.

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Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation

Product

Curriculum-based Testing



Non-curriculum-based Testing

Method

Blended Method



Online Method



Traditional Method

Geography

North America



Europe



APAC



South America



Middle East And Africa

7 Customer Landscape

8 Geographic Landscape

9 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10 Vendor Landscape

11 Vendor Analysis

12 Appendix

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contacts

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
The 2024 cohort of Knight-Hennessy scholars represents 30 countries and 45 graduate degree programs across Stanford University

STANFORD, Calif., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University today announced its 2024 cohort of 90 new scholars, the largest to date. This seventh cohort comprises students from 30 countries who will pursue degrees in 45 graduate programs across all seven graduate schools at Stanford. For the first time ever, the cohort includes scholars with citizenship from Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Bulgaria, France, and Sri Lanka.

Denning House, home of Knight-Hennessy Scholars on the Stanford University campus.

Knight-Hennessy Scholars is a multidisciplinary, multicultural graduate fellowship program spanning all seven schools at Stanford University. Knight-Hennessy scholars receive up to three years of financial support to pursue graduate studies at Stanford while engaging in experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders who address complex challenges facing the world. Scholars are selected based on their demonstration of independence of thought, purposeful leadership, and a civic mindset.

"With each new cohort of scholars I am even more encouraged about the future," said John L. Hennessy, Stanford University president emeritus and the Shriram Family Director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars. "The challenges our world faces are only growing more complex, which validates the importance of our mission here."

Knight-Hennessy Scholars develops emerging leaders who have a commitment to the greater good and the tools needed to drive meaningful change. The King Global Leadership Program is a core part of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars experience, offering a wide range of workshops, lectures, projects, and experiences that complement scholars' graduate school education, helping them reach their leadership objectives.

Among the 2024 scholars , 47 percent hold a non-U.S. passport. Forty-nine percent of U.S. scholars identify as a person of color, and 11 percent have served in the U.S. military. The scholars earned undergraduate degrees at 60 different institutions, including 12 international institutions. Twenty-two percent are the first in their family to graduate from college. The seventh cohort brings the total scholar count to 514 to date, beginning with the inaugural cohort enrolled in 2018.

"Each scholar brings a unique perspective to our growing community," said Tina Seelig, executive director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars. "It is inspiring to see them build ties and gain knowledge across disciplines, cultures, and ideologies, contributing to their ability to address the world's biggest challenges."

The application for the 2025 cohort of Knight-Hennessy Scholars will open June 1, 2024, and is due October 9, 2024. Prospective scholars can attend information sessions to learn about the community, leadership development program, and admission process. Knight-Hennessy Scholars has no quotas or restrictions based on region, college or university, field of study, or career aspiration.

Announced in 2016, Knight-Hennessy Scholars is named for Phil Knight, MBA '62, philanthropist and co-founder of Nike Inc., and John Hennessy, chairman of Alphabet Inc. and president emeritus of Stanford (2000-2016). Knight-Hennessy Scholars is the largest, university-wide, fully-endowed graduate fellowship in the world. Learn more at kh.stanford.edu .

SOURCE Knight-Hennessy Scholars
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. Israel Defense Forces took over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday morning, IDF said in a statement.

According to the statement, intelligence indicated that the Rafah Crossing in eastern Rafah was being used for terrorist purposes, and IDF troops managed to establish operational control of the Gazan side of the crossing. IDF says that mortars which were fired towards the Kerem Shalom crossing, killing 4 IDF soldiers on Sunday, had been fired from the area.

As reported earlier, Israeli army had told Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah ahead of an expected assault.

According to the IDF statement, during the operation, Israel Air Force jets struck and eliminated Hamas terror targets in the Rafah area, including military structures, underground infrastructures and additional terrorist infrastructures from which Hamas operated in the Rafah area.

During the overnight operation, 20 terrorists were eliminated, according to IDF's estimates.

According to Al Jazeera, during the night Israeli warplanes pounded residential homes, killing at least 12 people.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh says the group has accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposalput forward by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office says the proposal is far from Israels demands but that he will send a delegation to Cairo for talks. Israels war cabinet also decided that its military would continue operations against Rafah.

The war began after Hamas stunned Israel with a cross-border raid on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 252 hostages taken, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 34,700 Palestinians have been killed and more than 78,000 have been wounded in Israel's assault, according to Gaza's health ministry.
"I believe we will see math scores begin to rise by 2026," says Travis Ratnam Knowledgehook CEO

SCARBOROUGH, ON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Knowledgehook CEO Travis Ratnam, visited an elementary school in his hometown of Scarborough this Monday to kick off his North American "Mathalon Tour" aimed at reversing the downward trend in math scores.

Over 100 weeks, his tour will reach 100 schools to empower teachers to inspire math confidence in their students. "We now have the tools to support every teacher, and we will begin to see a turnaround in student math scores by the end of the tour," Ratnam shared with optimism.

Year after year, elementary math scores have been trending down across Canada and the United States. This alarming statistic has become a reality due to many factors including hard-to-access professional training for teachers and dwindling student interest in math. The trend must be reversed and there has to be a better way forward for our education system.

The company is working with over 60 districts in the province and several others across the country and is one of the few education technology companies with a publicly stated mission dedicated to turning around math scores. Knowledgehook appreciates the relentless efforts of government partners in both provinces and states, enhancing investments in educational technologies that facilitate learning. "This collaboration is crucial for the systemic changes we aim to achieve through our tour," Ratnam noted.

According to Ratnam, education technology has matured to the point that Knowledgehook can now solve the two key issues that are crucial to turning around math scores: delivering personalized teacher professional learning and motivating students to take ownership of their learning.

Last year, Knowledgehook's software delivered over 10,000 professional learning sessions to teachers, with over 50% of these sessions completed after school hours. Each session assesses students' needs and will give teachers access to targeted same-day professional learning support based on those needs.

Another positive consequence is that students are regularly asking for more 'Knowledgehook', as school districts are working to put the math software into classrooms. "Kids are asking for more math activities after they experience Knowledgehook!" says Mark Breadner. Breadner was a very early supporter of Knowledgehook and a former TDSB teacher who later went on to start FIRST Robotics Canada, the leading K-12 robotics competition nationwide.

Ratnam is hopeful that solving these two problems will pioneer a shift in math scores across Canada and the United States. "We're going to visit 100 schools, one every week, and by the end of this tour, we'll show that everyone, both teachers and students, can overcome their fear of math. We believe we can change the trajectory of math scores, through our rapidly evolving solution," announced Ratnam.

Knowledgehook aims to put fun math activities in the hands of kids not only across North and South America, but eventually across the globe. Ratnam has high hopes that moving math scores by a few percentage points, on average, across our education systems, can increase GDP output.

"I believe that one day, they'll say that the global turnaround in math scores started right here in small suburban Scarborough, one teacher, one student at a time. Any child can learn math, even the most unlikely students. By the end of this tour, we hope to have demonstrated that even kindergarten students from any neighbourhood can learn math concepts as complex as fractions", says Ratnam.

Knowledgehook's "Mathalon Tour", led by Ratnam, will start on the first day of school this September 2024, running for two years, or until math scores across the continent start to rise, however, Ratnam is optimistic that the rise will start to take place before the tour is completed.

Additional Resources

Knowledgehook Home Page: www.knowledgehook.com

Knowledgehook's Founding Story: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/travis-ratnam-12645412_exciting-reveal-in-24-hours-in-one-day-activity-7112030310418026496-_r7e?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Cohen, Patricia. "Closing Education Gap Will Lift Economy, a Study Finds." New York Times. 2015-02-02. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/business/economy/closing-education-gap-will-lift-economy-study-finds.html

Research

Wiliam, D. (2011). "Embedded Formative Assessment." Solution Tree Press.



Summary:



Dylan Wiliam's book details the strategies of embedding formative assessments in everyday teaching practices. It underscores that continuous, formative assessments tailored to the learning progress of students can dramatically enhance mathematical understanding and achievement by providing timely feedback and adjustments to teaching strategies.



Timperley, H. (2007). "How Does Professional Learning Change Teachers' and Principals' Work?" Journal of Curriculum Studies, 39(5), 479-508.



Summary:



In this study, Timperley explores the transformation in teaching practices following targeted professional development. The findings suggest that when teachers receive professional learning tailored to their instructional needs, it not only changes their teaching practices but also significantly boosts students' learning outcomes in math.

SOURCE Knowledgehook Inc
Tyler joins Guardian with decades of leadership experience in financial services

NEW YORK, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian) announced today that distinguished finance leader Lauren Tyler has been elected to its board of directors.

Tyler joins Guardian's board of directors after more than two decades at JPMorgan Chase, where she currently serves as Executive Vice President and Global Head of Human Resources for JPMorgan Chase Asset & Wealth Management. Previously, Tyler served as JPMorgan Chase's Global Firmwide Chief Auditor and Global Firmwide Head of Investor Relations.

Lauren Tyler

"I'm pleased to welcome Lauren to our board and look forward to her contributions," said Andrew McMahon, CEO and President of Guardian. "Lauren's extensive experience as an international finance leader, dedication to fostering high-performing and inclusive cultures, and wealth of strategic insights will be a tremendous asset to our business."

In her work at JPMorgan Chase, Tyler has successfully led teams through pivotal moments in the financial markets. In addition to overseeing a global team of human resources professionals focused on people practices, talent recruitment, and colleague retention, she led the Investor Relations team during the financial crisis and mortgage reform. In a subsequently heightened regulatory environment, she also helmed the firm's Global Audit team.

Tyler brings significant board experience in insurance, health care, and nonprofit organizations. She currently serves on the boards of Cencora, Inc., World Wildlife Fund, and Yale Cancer Center, and previously served on the board of Alleghany Corporation.

"I am delighted to join Guardian's board of directors to support the organization's legacy of impressive financial results, growth aspirations, and purpose to inspire well-being," said Tyler. "The opportunity to help shape the future of a 160-year-old company that is reimagining the value it can deliver to consumers is exciting, and I am looking forward to bringing my experiences and expertise to the role."

For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].

About Guardian

Guardian makes a difference in the lives of people when they need us most. With over 160 years of stability and fiscal integrity, we are a trusted resource to generations of families and business owners, inspiring well-being and helping build financial confidence. Today, we stand behind millions of consumers, helping them prepare and plan for a bright future for themselves and their families. We help business owners care for their employees. And we help people recover and thrive in times of unexpected loss. As a modern mutual insurance company, we believe in driving value beyond dividends. We invest in our colleagues, are building an inclusive and innovative culture, and are helping to uplift communities through thoughtful corporate impact programs. Guardian, which is based in New York City, is a leading provider of life, disability, dental, and other benefits, and has received accolades for its culture and service. Our colleagues and financial professionals serve with care and experience, and our commitments rest on a strong financial foundation, which included a 2024 dividend allocation of $1.398 billion  the largest in the company's history. For more information, visit guardianlife.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Disclaimer

Guardian is a registered trademark of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. Copyright  2023 The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.

Dividends are not guaranteed. They are declared annually by Guardian's Board of Directors. The total dividend calculation includes mortality experience and expense management as well as investment results.

Financial information concerning Guardian as of December 31, 2023, on a statutory basis: Admitted assets = $80.3 billion; liabilities = $71.2 billion (including $58.0 billion of reserves); and surplus = $9.1 billion.

SOURCE Guardian
Presence Announces "Partner of the Year" Awards for 2023-2024 School Year

NEW YORK, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Presence, a premier solution for PreK12 remote evaluation and teletherapy services, today announced six winners of its "Partner of the Year" awards for the 2023-2024 school year. The awards recognize school partners that have demonstrated exemplary service to students and clinicians. The 2023-2024 Partner of the Year winners are from urban, suburban, rural, and virtual school communities.

"The number of students needing special education-related and behavioral and mental health services has increased, and there simply aren't enough school clinicians to provide these services," said Presence CEO Kate Eberle Walker. "Our Partners of the Year are embracing teletherapy as an innovative way to address this concerning challenge. As a result, they've been able to reduce heavy caseloads for clinicians and provide students with the tailored, customized support they need to help progress toward their IEP and mental health goals. Presence is proud to partner with and to honor these schools, who share our vision to ensure every child receives the services they need."

Following a comprehensive nomination and evaluation process, the following schools and school districts were selected to receive the award:

Round Valley Unified School District: Covelo, Calif.

Tuscarora School District: Mercersburg, Penn.

School District: Corpus Christi Independent School District: Corpus Christi, Texas

School District of Palm Beach County : West Palm Beach, Fla.

: Saginaw Intermediate School District: Saginaw, Mich.

Greater Commonwealth Virtual School: Greenfield, Mass.

"We're honored to be recognized by Presence for our commitment to providing access to speech-language therapy for students across our 52 schools," said Kimberly Whalen, Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Program Specialist and Private School Program Administrator of the School District of Palm Beach County. "We've struggled to find qualified providers for all of our students' needs, and we've now partnered with Presence for three years to offer these critical services to students through teletherapy. Their ability to really collaborate with and extend our on-the-ground team has enabled this hybrid approach to truly benefit our students, our parents and our staff."

The Presence therapy platform is designed by clinicians, for clinicians, with the goal of enhancing human connection between a therapist and their student in every session. With a network of more than 2,000 clinicians across multiple disciplines, including speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, school psychologists, and mental health professionals, these providers utilize Presence's online platform to support the full spectrum of their workfrom case management to planning to therapy delivery to documentation.

To date, Presence has partnered with nearly 10,000 schools in 47 states. From rural towns in Alaska to urban centers like Los Angeles and sprawling districts in Florida, Presence has conducted more than 6 million remote evaluations and teletherapy sessions throughout the United States.

About Presence

Inspired to drive solutions for the national shortage of school clinicians, Presence is unlocking the potential of schools and clinicians by removing traditional barriers to success through an elevated approach to teletherapy. As a trusted leader since 2009, Presence is innovating how schools assess and address student special education-related and mental health needs. By equipping the largest network of teletherapy providers with award-winning technology and end-to-end clinical support, Presence is meeting the needs of schools, students, and clinicians todaywherever they are. With 6 million remote evaluations and teletherapy sessions conducted throughout the U.S., schools and clinicians trust the experience and expertise of Presence, a pioneer in school-based teletherapy. Presence is teletherapy, elevated.

SOURCE Presence
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of Letter Carriers' annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive will be held on Saturday, May 11. The letter carrier food drive, which began in 1993, is the country's largest single-day food drive.

With the drive less than a week away, NALC and its national food drive partners will hold a kickoff event on Wednesday, May 8, at 11 a.m. at NALC Headquarters, 100 Indiana Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001. Journalists are welcome to attend, and it will be live streamed at nalc.org/live.

Each year, the Stamp Out Hunger drive is held on the second Saturday in May. Letter carriers in cities and towns across the United States collect donations of non-perishable food items left by residents near their mailboxes before that day's mail delivery.

Thousands of volunteers nationwide then help distribute the food items to local food pantries, with all food collected staying in the community.

"Letter carriers know the struggles that people in their communities facewe see it every day," NALC President Brian L. Renfroe said. "For more than three decades, we've helped to meet their needs, and it's time to do so again."

One in 8 Americans, including millions of children, elderly and veterans, are unsure where their next meal will come from. The timing of the letter carrier food drive is significantby spring, food pantries are largely depleted of winter holiday food donations, and school lunch programs are about to close for the summer.

NALC leaders and several national food drive partners will discuss the drive's importance as well as the logistics involved at Wednesday's event.

The annual food drive wouldn't be possible without the support of NALC's national partners: the U.S. Postal Service, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, Vericast, United Way Worldwide, the AFL-CIO, Valpak, Kellanova, and CVS Health. These partners help by paying for the specially marked postcards, donating thousands of pounds of food and thousands of dollars to food pantries, donating paper bags that letter carriers distribute to customers, gathering volunteers, or getting out the message about the food drive.

More information about the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive can be found online at nalc.org/food.

******

NALC represents letter carriers across the country. Its 293,000 members make it the largest of the four unions representing employees of the United States Postal Service. Founded by Civil War veterans in 1889, NALC is among the country's oldest labor unions.

SOURCE National Association of Letter Carriers
MIAMI, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- After nearly 40 years of serving families financially in the South Florida area, Guerra Financial Group has announced a complete rebranding, including a new name, logo and visual identity.

The new brand name Guerra Wealth Advisors reflects their commitment to being full-service wealth advisors. This new visual identity pays homage to the Guerra family's South American heritage and is rooted in the work the Guerra family has done serving working and retired clients locally in the community over decades.

Guerra Wealth Advisors, established in 1986, has cemented itself as one of the best independent wealth advisory firms in Miami serving more than 3,000 clients, managing over $600 million and receiving over 600 Google Reviews with a five-star rating.

Owners Fabian and Sebastian Guerra recently released their new brand name as Guerra Wealth Advisors in April 2024. The company's leadership, core values and underlying services remain unchanged.

"We are so excited to release this new brand identity which represents not only our past and present, but the incredible future we have planned for serving South Florida families and protecting their legacies for decades to come," Sebastian Guerra said. "Our company is a family serving families. We have a mission to bring financial knowledge and enable our clients and the South Florida community to make work an option and not an obligation".

About Guerra Wealth Advisors

As Fiduciary Advisors, we create customized financial strategies that transform the way families retire. As a Registered Investment Advisory Firm, Guerra Advisors, Inc. is held at a fiduciary standard with Sebastian Guerra as the primary Investment Advisor Representative. On top of being an RIA, Guerra Advisors, Inc. is a premier South Florida Insurance Agency, established in 2015 and regulated by the State of Florida with Fabian Guerra as its primary agent. For more information, visit www.guerrawealth.com .

SOURCE Guerra Wealth Advisors
TRIANGLE, Va., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of National Foster Care Day, May 7th, Marine Toys for Tots, America's premier children's Christmastime charity, is shining a light on their efforts to assist children in need with their Foster Care Initiative.

More than 700 children enter the Foster Care system every single day. Through no fault of their own, these young people find themselves removed from everything they know. Oftentimes, the only possession these children have is a small bag for clothes. That's why Toys for Tots launched their Foster Care Initiative in 2022  to provide resources that help these children during extremely stressful and trying times with the goal of reducing their anxiety and making a positive impact in their lives.

"When I became the President and CEO of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, I knew we could be more than a Christmastime charity. Part of that intent was to assist foster families and foster children. I wanted to involve the entire community to assist us in providing items such as backpacks and educational toys, books, and other gifts," said LtGen James Laster, CEO of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

During one of the most trying times they'll ever face, the Toys for Tots Foster Care Initiative is there for these children  providing them with resources and emotional relief to navigate the challenges of Foster Care. In 2023 alone, the Initiative provided much-needed support to more than 332,000 at-risk children to include those living in Foster Care.

Toys for Tots is achieving a multi-generational impact with their support for children facing challenging circumstances, as typified by SSgt James Caldwell. When SSgt Caldwell was a young boy, he faced the uncertainty of the Foster Care System and received hope through the gift of a new toy from the local Toys for Tots chapter in his community at Christmas. Fast-forward to today, and now he's giving back to disadvantaged children as a Marine who volunteers with his local Toys for Tots chapter.

"If a kid is experiencing darkness all year long and then someone like me, dressed in a fancy uniform says, 'I think maybe we can help you a little bit', that can give maybe not all of them, but one or two the hope they need, and they'll go on to do great things," said SSgt Caldwell.

Together, we can help foster children find a path to a brighter future. For more information about how you can support the Toys for Tots Foster Care Initiative, please visit https://www.toysfortots.org/programs/foster-children/.

Media Contact:

Ted Silvester

VP Marketing and Development

(703) 649-2021

[email protected]

SOURCE Toys for Tots
BOSTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- New England Law | Boston is pleased to announce the program for its 2024 Commencement ceremony, taking place on Friday, May 17, at 11:00 a.m. at the Boch Center Wang Theatre in Boston. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, the first Black woman elected to that position, will address the graduates. Campbell was elected in 2015 as the first female Boston City Councilor for District 4, and then became the first Black woman to serve as City Council president in 2018.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell will be Commencement speaker at New England Law | Boston's 113th Commencement ceremony on May 17 in Boston.

A native of Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, Attorney General Campbell endured great loss and adversity at a young age. She was only eight months old when her mother died in a car accident while going to visit her father in prison. Campbell and her siblings subsequently lived in foster care and with family, relying on public housing and food assistance. Campbell graduated from Boston Latin School and then worked her way through college with the help of grants and student loans. She was the first in her family to graduate from college and law school, graduating from Princeton University and then UCLA Law School. Sadly, both her father and twin brother also died when Campbell was a young woman.

After earning her law degree, she worked as a legal services attorney for the EdLaw project, defending the rights of children  particularly those with disabilities  and their families.

Campbell later practiced law at Proskauer LLP as an employment attorney, ultimately leaving to serve the public as General Counsel at the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission. Campbell also served as legal counsel for Governor Deval Patrick, working to improve Massachusetts' education and transportation systems.

"It is our honor to welcome Attorney General Campbell as our keynote speaker for the 113th Commencement at New England Law," said Allison M. Dussias, Acting Dean and Professor of Law. "Her perseverance and her ongoing fight for justice and opportunity for all are models for our graduating students as they embark on their career journeys. We are thrilled to have her share her inspirational story and wisdom with our graduates."

During the ceremony, New England Law leadership will present honorary Doctor of Laws degrees to Attorney General Campbell; the Honorable Nathaniel M. Gorton, Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts; the Honorable George A. O'Toole, Jr., Senior Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts; and Professor Emeritus Charles W. Sorenson, Jr., New England Law | Boston, who joined the New England Law faculty in 1991 and served as associate dean from 2004 to 2006.

ABOUT NEW ENGLAND LAW | BOSTON

New England Law | Boston was founded in 1908 as Portia Law School, the first and only law school established exclusively for the education of women. Today, New England Law offers its co-educational student body flexible, convenient programs that combine rigorous academics, dynamic community, and early access to practical experience, as well as a diverse, global alumni network spanning 29 countries, 50 states, and all areas of practice. For more information, visit www.nesl.edu.

SOURCE New England Law | Boston
Media.Monks is the only marketing and advertising services company to earn a spot on the Top 50 list every year since its inception

NEW YORK, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- S4Capital's operating brand Media.Monks, a digital-first marketing and advertising services company, has been named to the 2024 Top 50 Programmatic Power Players list by AdExchanger, a leading voice in programmatic advertising and the data-driven marketing technology ecosystem. AdExchanger's Programmatic Power Players list recognizes the most innovative and influential companies in the programmatic media buying space, commending agencies and technology platforms that drive excellence and transformative growth in the industry.

Media.Monks is the only media management service provider to make the list every year since the award was launched in 2020, solidifying the company's standing as a leader in innovative programmatic media services. Media.Monks' continuous recognition is a testament to the company's vision and commitment to delivering outstanding results for clients while staying at the forefront of industry advancements.

Media.Monks earned this recognition for its innovative artificial intelligence deployment, seamless global operating model, and flexible media offering-from managed services to transformation and in-housing. With more than $6B in digital media under influence, the Media.Monks Media capability helps global brands:

Maximize ROI on full-funnel digital advertising, fueled by AI, data-driven testing methodologies, and proprietary tools like Monks.Flow.

Create personalized demand generation, nurture, and conversion touchpoints using first- and third-party data across the entire digital ecosystem.

Take control of media delivery, measurement, and optimization processes to transform customer acquisition.

Cost-effectively expand digital channel mixes, innovating in rapidly-growing spaces like retail media, CTV, and more.

"We are honored to be named to AdExchanger's Programmatic Power Players list for the fifth consecutive year," said Christopher S. Martin, CEO-Data&Digital Media at Media.Monks. "This recognition fuels our passion to continuously innovate and provide the best programmatic media buying services to our clients. It reflects the hard work and dedication of our team as we strive to shape the future of programmatic advertising."

See all the winners nominated by the AdExchanger editorial team, and learn more about Media.Monks . The company was first recognized by AdExchanger as MightyHive from 2020-2021, and continued the winning streak as Media.Monks from 2022-2024 following the launch of its unitary brand name.

About Media.Monks

Media.Monks is the global, purely digital, unitary operating brand of S4Capital plc. Since 2021, Media.Monks has combined diverse solutionsmedia, data, social, platforms, studio, experience, brand and technology servicesto serve as a consultative partner integrating systems and workflows that deliver unfettered content production, scaled experiences and data science fueled by AI and the industry's very best talent and teams.

Media.Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave: Global Marketing Services. It has earned a constant presence on Adweek's Fastest Growing lists (2019-23), ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-23), and earns continual inclusion in AdExchanger's Programmatic Power Players (2020-23). It has also been named Adweek's first AI Agency of the Year (2023). Business Intelligence has recognized Media.Monks in its 2024 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Awards program in three categories: the Individual category, Organizational Winner in AI Strategic Planning, and AI Product for its service Monks.Flow. Media.Monks has earned the title of Webby Production Company of the Year (2021-23), won a record number of FWAs, and a spot on Newsweek's Top 100 Global Most Loved Workplaces 2023.

About S4Capital

S4Capital plc (SFOR.L) is the tech-led, new age/new era digital advertising, marketing and technology services company, established by Sir Martin Sorrell in May 2018.

Our strategy is to build a purely digital advertising and marketing services business for global, multinational, regional, and local clients, and millennial-driven influencer brands. This will be achieved by integrating leading businesses in three practices: Content, Data&Digital Media and Technology Services, along with an emphasis on 'faster, better, cheaper, more' execution in an always-on consumer-led environment, with a unitary structure.

The S4Capital Board includes Rupert Faure Walker, Paul Roy, Daniel Pinto, Sue Prevezer, Elizabeth Buchanan, Naoko Okumoto, Margaret Ma Connolly, Miles Young and Colin Day as Non-Executive Directors.

The Company now has approximately 7,700 people in 32 countries with approximately 80% of net revenue across the Americas, 15% across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 5% across Asia-Pacific. The longer-term objective is a geographic split of 60%:20%:20%. Content currently accounts for approximately 60% of net revenue, Data&Digital Media 25% and Technology Services 15%. The long-term objective for the practices is a split of 50%:25%:25%.

Sir Martin was CEO of WPP for 33 years, building it from a 1 million 'shell' company in 1985 into the world's largest advertising and marketing services company, with a market capitalisation of over 16 billion on the day he left. Prior to that Sir Martin was Group Financial Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Company Plc for nine years.

Media Contact:

Sarah Murray, 402-658-9341

[email protected]

SOURCE Media.Monks
SINGAPORE, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles has joined the growing roster of international airline loyalty programs taking advantage of travel tech company utu's 40% tax refund boost for travellers.

Sanjay Chinchwade, Chief Commercial Officer, Partnerships, said, "Our goal is to transform tax free shopping by providing travellers with the best value for their overseas purchases. This partnership not only allows Turkish Airlines' Miles&Smiles members to earn 40% more on their VAT refunds but to enjoy their travel more as well, as they collect bonus Miles from their tax-free Shopping."

Turkish Airlines Director of Marketing Arif Ali Gezmisoglu stated: "At Turkish Airlines, we continuously strive to enhance our passengers' travel experience. This partnership with utu allows us to offer our Miles&Smiles members even more value on their journeys, transforming their tax-free shopping into rewarding travel benefits. It's another step in our commitment to making every trip with Turkish Airlines a truly rewarding experience."

From today, members of Miles&Smiles can use their utu Tax Free Card to receive an upsized value of USD 125 (4,167) worth of air Miles for every USD 100 in tax-free refunds claimed while shopping overseas - allowing travellers to earn and grow their Miles as they shop.

For Turkish Airlines' Classic Plus, Elite and Elite Plus Miles&Smiles members the enhancement is even greater. utu is extending an automatic 'status match' to Turkish Airlines' premium members, matching their status with Miles&Smiles and offering up to 40% increase in air Miles without needing to qualify separately or pay for a subscription.

To start claiming more Miles, travellers just download the utu Tax Free app, available on both Google Play and the App Store. After registering for the utu Tax Free Card, they simply choose Miles&Smiles as their preferred Rewards Program. Members of Miles&Smiles will be receiving an exclusive invitation to accept the status match.

At a store, when choosing how to receive their tax refund, utu members fill in their utu Tax Free Card number on any provided tax-free form and complete the standard Tax Refund Validation Process at the airport before departure. Once completed, the upsized value of the refund in Miles&Smiles is credited to their Miles&Smiles account.

The latest addition to utu's tax-refund revolution takes the total number of partners to fourteen, with more partners in aviation and hospitality to be announced soon. Follow utu Instagram or visit utu.global for the latest news and benefit announcements.

About utu

utu (pronounced "you-too") is transforming tax-free shopping worldwide by empowering travellers with the freedom to obtain a higher VAT refund by going beyond digitising refunds to re-engineer the tax-free shopping value chain to benefit travellers. The utu management team has deep domain knowledge in tax-free shopping developed over 25 years of refunding VAT and GST worldwide. By bringing the worlds of refunds and rewards together, utu unlocks new value in rewards from retailers, airlines, hotels, and others. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Singapore, utu's products can be used in over 50 countries.

For more information, visit www.utu.global or download the utu app at https://utu.global/get-the-app/ .

About Turkish Airlines:

Established in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft, Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines has a fleet of 440 (passenger and cargo) aircraft flying to 345 worldwide destinations as 292 international and 53 domestics in 129 countries. More information about Turkish Airlines can be found on its official website www.turkishairlines.com or its social media accounts on veya Facebook , X , Youtube , Linkedin ve Instagram .
Echoing MINISO's "Life is for Fun" slogan, the new IP collection store layout sparks interaction, inviting shoppers to engage with beloved IP characters and products in dedicated zones. Until May 9th, MINISO's collaboration with the core New Jersey mall features a 16-feet-tall PenPen from MINI Family, alongside a playful ball pool area evoking summertime delight. This creative towering installation not only celebrates MINISO's store opening but also enriches the shopping experience with fun interactive elements, exemplifying MINISO's commitment to delivering joy to consumers and rapid growth in the United State.

With its core customer base being the younger generation, MINISO consistently focuses on understanding their consumption trends and demands to provide products that foster emotional connections and differentiation. Notably, IP co-branded collections have garnered substantial interest and popularity.

Following its global brand upgrade in 2023, MINISO has strategically pursued IP collaborations worldwide, positioning itself as the world's leading IP design retail group. That same year in May, MINISO launched its first global flagship store in Times Square to great acclaim, rapidly becoming a beloved destination for both locals and tourists. In March 2024, the brand unveiled its second Times Square pop-up store, featuring a striking Stitch-themed storefront design that set a new record for the highest sales per square foot among all US stores.

Furthermore, through deep collaborations with nearly 100 renowned global licensers, such as Barbie, Disney, Minions, Snoopy, and Care Bears in the US, the brand has successfully developed a plethora of unique proprietary IP products and innovative store aesthetics, offering consumers an immersive shopping experience. The brand also focuses on its own original design IPs, with unique collections such as the popular MINI Family and Dundun Chicken.

With the success of its global brand upgrade and IP strategy, IP product sales contribution in 2023 exceeded 40% globally. While in North America/US, IP products also contributed to fast growth in the region, propelling MINISO's North American revenue growth to an astounding annual rate of 128%.

"Our vision is to become the world's leading IP design retail group, and North America is pivotal in achieving this goal," said Bella Tu, General Manager of MINISO Overseas Directly Operated Markets and Vice President. "The American Dream store is a key part of our strategy to enhance our global footprint and bring unique, joy-filled shopping experiences to more consumers."

In 2023 alone, MINISO expanded into more than 10 new states in the US, bringing its total to over 100 stores across 27 states, as part of its global network of over 6,400 stores. By the end of 2024, MINISO aims to extend its presence to more states nationwide, with plans to continue expansion in existing cities and add more inland states, including Ohio, Tennessee, Colorado, and Utah. Globally, MINISO aims to add between 550 and 650 new stores worldwide by the end of 2024, reaffirming its commitment to global growth and bringing joy to consumers.

About MINISO

MINISO Group is a global lifestyle brand offering a variety of design-led lifestyle products. The Company serves consumers primarily through its large network of MINISO stores and promotes a relaxing, treasure-hunting, and engaging shopping experience full of delightful surprises that appeal to all demographics. Aesthetically pleasing design, quality, and affordability are at the core of every product in MINISO's wide product portfolio, and the Company continually and frequently rolls out products with these qualities. Since the opening of its first store in China in 2013, the Company has built its flagship brand "MINISO" as a globally recognized retail brand and established a massive store network worldwide.

SOURCE MINISO

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YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan described the 44-day war as the most significant failure of his administration. He made this statement during a press conference on May 7, in response to a question from "Armenpress" regarding his biggest failure.

The Prime Minister explained why it was not possible to avoid the 44-day war.

The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh was deadlocked as of 2018. What was the impasse, in order to move forward from the current point of 2018, it was necessary to implement the following steps: the first, the return of the seven regions, secondly, it involved resolving the current status of Nagorno-Karabakh by recognizing that it is not exclusively governed by Armenians, but also by Azerbaijanis. This would entail creating guarantees for the return of Azerbaijanis who had previously left Nagorno-Karabakh. Additionally, it required indefinitely postponing the decision on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. And even if all this was done, the war would still remain inevitable," said Pashinyan, adding that it was not clear what would happen next.

As a result of drawing all the details for four years, the Prime Minister came to the conclusion that the war was inevitable in both cases.
ST. LOUIS, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- MOHELA, a governmental non-profit organization dedicated to helping the student loan borrowers it serves, is reminding Missouri college students of the upcoming May 15, 2024 deadline to apply for one of its college scholarship programs offered through its Foundation: The Purdy Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program.

"The Purdy Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program embodies MOHELA's commitment of giving back to our community by helping to make higher education accessible for all Missouri students," said Scott Giles, Executive Director and CEO of MOHELA. "Through the work of our Foundation and our scholarship programs, we are grateful for the opportunity to award hundreds of deserving students as they pursue their higher education journeys during the 2024-2025 academic year."

The Purdy Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program was established by MOHELA's Foundation to provide scholarships to outstanding students on Missouri college campuses who demonstrate academic excellence, leadership, and character, and who require additional funding for higher education. It is a private scholarship available to Missouri college students with an award of up to $5,000 per academic year. More information on the Purdy Emerging Leadership Scholarship Program, including eligibility criteria and application details, can be viewed here.

Student applicants interested in applying for The Purdy Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program must submit their applications by May 15, 2024 .

"We are looking for leaders on Missouri college campuses, and we are excited to support the next generation of leaders in our communities through the awarding of our Purdy Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program," said Melissa Findley, Executive Director of the Missouri Scholarship & Loan Foundation at MOHELA. "We are proud to offer this scholarship program as the Foundation fulfills its commitment to helping provide critical financial assistance to Missouri students in their higher education pursuit."

The Access EXTRA Scholarship is another scholarship that was founded by MOHELA's Foundation to provide scholarships to Missouri high school seniors who demonstrate exceptional academic performance and who show financial need when completing the FAFSA. More information on the Access EXTRA Scholarship can be found here.

The Missouri Scholarship & Loan Foundation was established by MOHELA in 2010 to enhance accessibility and affordability of higher education for Missouri families. Through its Foundation, MOHELA provides grants, scholarships, and zero-interest loans to support local students, families, local institutions, high schools, and nonprofit organizations in Missouri to help make higher education accessible for all students.

In the last five years, the Missouri Scholarship & Loan Foundation has assisted more than 8,500 students in the local community, distributing a total of $17.5 million in scholarships and grants, and $24.2 million in interest-free loans for Missouri students during the 2018-2023 academic years. For more information on The Missouri Scholarship & Loan Foundation, please visit: https://www.moslf.org/programs.aspx

About MOHELA

MOHELA is a governmental non-profit organization with 40 years of experience and a track record of providing exceptional customer service to the borrowers it serves. As a loan servicer, MOHELA helps student loan borrowers manage and navigate repayment of their loans.

SOURCE MOHELA
DALLAS, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc., a late-stage clinical biotechnology company developing gene therapies for retinal degenerative diseases, today announced that its viral and laser-delivered Multi-Characteristic Opsin (MCO) gene therapy platforms will be featured in multiple presentations at the 2024 ASGCT Annual Meeting and the Retina World Congress, being held in Baltimore, Maryland and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, respectively, in May. Details are as follows:

2024 American Society of Gene + Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting

Abstract Title: Longitudinal Analysis of BCVA and Near-Field Object Recognition in Low- or High-Dose MCO-010 Mutation Agnostic Optogenetic Therapy for Retinitis Pigmentosa: 12-Month Results from a Phase 2b/3 Randomized, Sham-Controlled, Patient- and Assessor-Masked Clinical Trial (RESTORE)

Abstract/Poster Number: 917

Session Type: Poster Session

Session Title: Wednesday Posters: Gene Therapy Trials - In Vivo Modification

Session Date: May 8, 2024

Session Time: 12:00  7:00 p.m. ET

Presenter: Samuel Barone, MD, Chief Medical Officer

Presentation Title: Non-Viral Targeted Laser Delivery of Multi-Characteristic Opsin Genes for Treatment of Geographic Atrophy

Presentation Number: 426

Session Type: Oral Abstract Session

Session Title: Nonviral Approaches for Therapeutic Applications

Session Date: May 11, 2024

Session Time: 11:15  11:30 a.m. ET

Presenter: Samarendra Mohanty, PhD, President & Chief Scientific Officer

In this talk, Dr. Mohanty will highlight the advancement of near-infrared laser-delivered MCO-020 platform for the treatment of geographic atrophies (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Retina World Congress 2024

Session Title: Gene Therapy, Pharmacotherapy and Optogenetics for IRD

Session Date: May 9, 2024

Session Time: 9:05  9:35 a.m. ET

Location: Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Hotel

Presenter: Samarendra Mohanty, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Mohanty will provide a corporate update on Nanoscope's mutation-agnostic MCO-010 gene therapy for vision restoration in patients with inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs). This will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Peter Kaiser, MD, Professor of Ophthalmology at Cole Eye Institute in Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.

Presentation Title: Longitudinal BCVA and Safety Analysis of Mutation-Agnostic MCO-010 Optogenetic Therapy For Retinitis Pigmentosa: Patient Case From A Phase 2b Randomized, Sham-Controlled, Patient- And Assessor-Masked Clinical Trial (RESTORE)

Session Title: Gene and Cell Therapy

Session Date: May 10, 2024

Session Time: 2:21  2:26 p.m. ET

Location: Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Hotel

Presenter: Christine Kay, MD, Director of Electrophysiology, Retinal Genetics, and Clinical Trials at Vitreoretinal Associates in Gainesville, Florida, and Affiliate Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida.

Dr. Kay will detail the statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in visual acuity observed longitudinally for an individual with advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP) treated with MCO-010 in the RESTORE trial.

About Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc.

Nanoscope Therapeutics is developing gene-agnostic, sight-restoring optogenetic therapies for the millions of patients blinded by inherited retinal diseases, for which no cure exists. The company's lead asset, MCO-010, recently announced the 100-week data from the RESTORE Phase 2b multicenter, randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled clinical trial in the U.S. for RP (NCT04945772). The company has also recently completed the Phase 2 STARLIGHT trial of MCO-010 therapy in patients with Stargardt disease (NCT05417126). MCO-010 has received FDA fast-track designations and FDA orphan drug designations for both RP and Stargardt disease. Preclinical assets include non-viral laser-delivered MCO-020 gene therapy for GA due to AMD.

Investor Contact:

Argot Partners

212-600-1902

[email protected]

SOURCE Nanoscope Therapeutics
BIPARTISAN COMMISSION ON BIODEFENSE URGES IMMEDIATE ACTION TO ADDRESS MAJOR VULNERABILITIES

Commission Dedicates 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense to founding

Co-Chair Joe Lieberman for his tireless efforts to make America and the world safer

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense will gather today at the National Press Club to urge our Nation's leaders to change the government's biodefense cadence from on-again/off-again to always on, or risk biological calamities that could destroy society.

The Commission released its much-anticipated 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense to assist the Administration, Congress, Governors, and other government leaders in this work. Addressing the full range of biological threats  naturally occurring deadly diseases, accidental releases from laboratories, and biological attacks designed to kill and wreak havoc  the Blueprint contains 36 recommendations and 185 action items. This is the Commission's 14th report since its inception 10 years ago, reexamining, modifying, and adding to its original recommendations. The Commission also released an Appendix entitled, Proposed Congressional Hearings on the Recommendations of the 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense.

"A clear and present danger like this requires clear and present governance." Post this

"We know that apathy, inability to focus, and poor prioritization resulted in more than one million deaths and six million hospitalizations due to COVID-19. Despite some lessons learned and progress made, America remains dangerously vulnerable to the next biological event," said Commission Co-Chair Tom Ridge, former Governor of Pennsylvania and first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush. "Instead of complaining, our Commission works in a bipartisan fashion and offers solutions that address the full range of biological threats and activities necessary to defend against them. The reality is that our government must meet and overcome multiple threats to America immediately. Every outbreak, release, and attack shows us we are out of time."

As detailed in the Blueprint, success will depend on exercising authority, political will, awareness, and foresight regarding the breadth and severity of biological threats. The Commission still believes today, as it did when it released its first National Blueprint for Biodefense in 2015, that America needs top-level national leadership of the biodefense enterprise to address this problem head-on.

"This problem is not insurmountable," said Commission Co-Chair Donna Shalala, former Congresswoman and Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Clinton. "If we demand and take action on the recommendations contained within this National Blueprint for Biodefense, we can save lives now. A clear and present danger like this requires clear and present governance."

Co-Chairs Ridge and Shalala opened their remarks today noting that this National Blueprint is dedicated to the memory and profound legacy of Senator Joe Lieberman, founding co-chair of the Commission who passed away unexpectedly on March 27. "Joe's tireless efforts made America and the world safer," said Gov. Ridge. "We all miss him dearly and are committed to carrying forward with this work that was so important to him. He was the driving force behind this new National Blueprint."

For ten years, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has examined U.S. national defense against biological attacks, emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, and accidental releases of biological agents. Through research and hundreds of interviews, testimonies, and conversations with leading experts, the Commission still finds that diseases continue to exploit gaps in national biodefense, and hasty attempts to shore up one vulnerability expose many others.

Highlighted recommendations from the 2024 Blueprint include:

Strong national biodefense requires sustained leadership from the White House. The Commission recommends reinforcing White House leadership by codifying the role of the National Security Advisor as the leader of national biodefense. Here are the facts: 15 federal departments, 9 independent agencies, and 1 independent institution currently have biodefense responsibilities, and one federal department cannot tell other departments and agencies what to do. Only the White House can and they need to exercise that authority.

A comprehensive National Biodefense Strategy is critical to success. The Commission calls for a quadrennial biodefense review that would culminate in an updated National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan submitted to Congress by the White House. Biological threats change. Biotechnology changes. Our biodefense must change, accordingly.

Reducing the spread of disease indoors saves lives. The Commission calls for a research and development plan with the goal of reducing pathogen transmission in buildings. Diseases like COVID-19 linger in the air. Closing windows and shutters will not defend our buildings against biological threats. Cleaning the air from the inside out will.

Investments today ensure we are prepared tomorrow. U.S. investment in medical countermeasure development is dangerously insufficient and requires emergency funding from Congress each time America faces a biological event affecting national security. This panic-and-neglect cycle results in needless loss of life. The government must fund the medical countermeasures enterprise to no less than authorized levels and address needs identified by the National Strategy for Biodefense.

Using biological detection systems that actually work will protect cities. Twenty years after its implementation, the potential of BioWatch  equipment placed in major cities across the Nation to detect deadly airborne pathogens  remains unrealized. Congress need not wait another two decades to require the replacement of ineffectual BioWatch technology. We can transfer and build on biodetection technologies already in development today.

"Alone, each of our recommendations facilitates some degree of positive change," Senator Lieberman said prior to today's release of the National Blueprint. "However, together, they provide a blueprint for biodefense capable of addressing 21st Century biological threats and meeting public expectations of the government to deal with them."

About the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense

The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense was established in 2014 to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the state of U.S. biodefense efforts, and to issue recommendations to foster change. The Commission's 2015 report, A National Blueprint for Biodefense: Leadership and Major Reform Needed to Optimize Efforts, identified capability gaps and recommended changes to U.S. policy and law to strengthen national biodefense while optimizing resource investments. Subsequent Commission publications have addressed critical needs for The Apollo Program for Biodefense, risk reduction, biodetection, agrodefense, budget reform, diagnostics, biodefense of critical infrastructure, smallpox and orthopoxvirus readiness, and state, local, tribal, and territorial response capabilities. In September 2018 and in October 2022, the White House released the National Biodefense Strategy, and in January 2023, OMB released a biodefense budget crosscut, top recommendations from the Blueprint. In September 2021 the White House released the American Pandemic Preparedness Plan, taking up recommendations from the Commission's Apollo Program and Athena Agenda reports. The Commission continues to address biodefense challenges and to urge reform. Former Governor Tom Ridge and Secretary Donna Shalala co-chair the Commission. Hudson Institute is the Commission's fiscal sponsor.

SOURCE Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The deadline to enter the National Press Club Journalism Awards contest is today, May 7. Entries must be submitted online by 11:59 PM ET. Don't miss your chance to have your best work from 2023 recognized.

This deadline was extended a week, so this is your last opportunity to enter.

Categories include geriatrics, news photography, online journalism, breaking news, foreign affairs, aviation and technology, newsletter journalism and Washington regional reporting. A full list of categories can be found here.

Most of the categories include cash prizes of up to $1,000 and some offer a year of free Club membership. Details and instructions to enter are available online.

Club members have their entry fees waived. The entry fee is $135 for non-members.

The awards will be presented at the National Press Club Journalism Awards Dinner on Wednesday, August 28. Tickets are on sale now.

CONTACT: Kate Helster, [email protected], 202-662-7525.

SOURCE National Press Club
Donald Trump leads over President Joe Biden among older voters; Senate race is neck-and-neck between Sen. Bob Casey and Dave McCormick

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, AARP Pennsylvania released a 2024 statewide election survey that shows candidates for President, U.S. Senate, and state races should pay close attention to Pennsylvanians ages 50 and older. Eighty-percent of voters ages 50+ report that candidates' positions on Social Security are important in deciding whom to vote for in November, followed by Medicare (73%), helping people stay in their homes as they age (69%), and the cost of prescription drugs (67%).

Pennsylvanians ages 50+ will be key in determining who wins in November. This voting bloc makes up an outsized portion of the electorate: in the 2020 elections, older voters accounted for 55% of all Pennsylvania voters and in the 2022 mid-terms, they made up 62% of the state's voters. Eighty-five percent of voters ages 50+ say they are "extremely motivated" to vote in this election.

Former President Donald Trump (R) leads over President Joe Biden (D) by 4 percentage points  49% to 45%. Trump's lead is even greater among voters 50 and older, at 52% - 42%. Senator Bob Casey Jr. (D) leads Dave McCormick (R), 48% to 44% in the U.S. Senate race among voters ages 18 and over, but among the 50+, McCormick has a slight edge over Sen. Casey, 48% - 47%.

"Pennsylvania voters over age 50 are a critical voting bloc that all candidates are competing for in this election," said Bill Johnston Walsh, State Director, AARP Pennsylvania. "Pennsylvanians of all political stripes want leaders to protect Social Security and provide support for family caregivers. If candidates want to win, they should pay attention to the issues that matter to Pennsylvanians ages 50-plus."

Other key takeaways from the poll include:

A significant majority (68%) of Pennsylvanians ages 50 and older think the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Sixty-three percent of older voters say they are worried about their personal financial situation, with the cost of food and utilities ranking as top drivers of financial stress.

Eighty-nine percent of older voters are concerned about fraud through robo-calls, phishing emails, or other scams.

AARP commissioned the bipartisan polling team of Fabrizio Ward & Impact Research to conduct a survey. The firms interviewed 1,398 likely Pennsylvania voters, which includes a statewide representative sample of 600 likely voters, with an oversample of 470 likely voters age 50 and older and an additional oversample of 328 Black likely voters age 50 and older, between April 24-30, 2024. The interviews were conducted via landline, cellphone, and SMS-to-web. The margin of sampling error for the 600 statewide sample is 4.0%; for the 800 total sample of voters 50+ is 3.5%; for the 400 total sample of Black voters 50+ is 4.9%.

View the full survey results at aarp.org/PApolling.

For more information on how, when and where to vote in Pennsylvania, visit aarp.org/PAVotes.

About AARP

AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to the more than 100 million Americans 50-plus and their families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also works for individuals in the marketplace by sparking new solutions and allowing carefully chosen, high-quality products and services to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the nation's largest circulation publications, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org/about-aarp/, www.aarp.org/espanol or follow @AARP, @AARPenEspanol and @AARPadvocates on social media.

CONTACT: TJ Thiessen | [email protected] | 717-381-7420

SOURCE AARP Pennsylvania
Ribbon Cutting Scheduled for May 10th

PEMBROKE, Va., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A ribbon-cutting ceremony with stakeholders and regional partners will be held on May 10th to herald the grand opening of The Giles County Trail Center  the gateway to numerous attractions and outdoor experiences across the New River Valley and Southwest Virginia. The region's best in-class hub, located on the grounds of historic Mountain Lake Lodge and near the Appalachian Trail, will directly connect visitors, hikers and the community to Giles County and 20 miles of trails, natural beauty and cultural activities. In addition, a new four-mile loop trail to Bald Knob will make the highest point in the New River Valley readily accessible to hikers of all skill levels and allow public access to trails.

Amenities, information and inspiration await those who love the great outdoors as the new Giles County Trail Center opens to visitors.

The nearly 3,000 square-foot Trail Center has been specially designed to help visitors plan their day and discover Giles County's many attractions and hundreds of miles of trails. It features spacious outdoor decks, interior gathering space, public and ADA restrooms, changing rooms, exhibit areas and public parking. Trail maps, itineraries, brochures and videos on multiple oversized screens showcasing the area are available.

According to Giles County Administrator Chris McKlarney, the Trail Center is being dedicated in memory of local leader and Giles County native Mark Collins, an avid hiker and longtime advocate of the project.

"The Giles County Trail Center was designed to be a place where guests can be immersed in the outdoor adventure and amenities found throughout our region," said McKlarney. "Given the remote nature of this area and tremendous increase in number of day users over the past few years, creating adequate facilities to accommodate this growth was necessary."

McKlarney pointed to such amenities as the Mountain Lake Wilderness area, UVA Mountain Lake Biological Station, Glen Alton Farm, Wind Rocks, section hiking on the Appalachian Trail, Cascades Falls, Barney's Wall, White Rocks Campground, Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory, and trail system at Mountain Lake including a new trail to Bald Knob and the trail head at the Trail Center.

"The Giles County Trail Center stands as a remarkable asset for both the New River Valley and broader Southwest Virginia region, fostering connections and educational opportunities for visitors like never before," said Kim Davis, Executive Director of Friends of Southwest Virginia, which served as the fiscal agent and assisted with project management. "We take pride in the visionary leaders who brought this project to fruition through partnership, and resulting in a state-of-the-art center."

The Trail Center is a $1.2 million project funded through a 2016 Appalachian Regional Commission POWER grant with funding administered by Giles County, Giles County Industrial Development Authority (IDA), Friends of Southwest Virginia, Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division and Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).

Building Specialists, Inc. (BSI) of the Roanoke Valley transformed an existing structure into the new Trail Center creating stunning timber-framed canopies, an open layout, and a spacious interior public and gathering space. Founded in 1974, BSI is a Class A General Contractor and has spearheaded more than 3,200 construction projects  several in Giles County and at Mountain Lake Lodge  including the historic Grandin Theater. In 2005, BSI was chosen by ABC TV Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to construct a home in Blacksburg, VA.

"It has been an honor to be back working at Mountain Lake Lodge and teaming with Giles County on this project. Turning an existing 30-year-old structure into a modern facility associated with the Appalachian Trail and promoting tourism in Giles County was a thrilling opportunity for Building Specialists," commented Darrell White, BSI Project Manager.

"Giles County Trail Center is a centerpiece for the miles of gorgeous hiking trails, scenery and activity-filled days that adventure-lovers come here to enjoy," said Heidi Stone, president and CEO of Mountain Lake Lodge. "We're excited to welcome visitors for a seamless experience exploring the area's natural beauty, casual dining, drinks with friends and unwinding in a truly magical setting."

The land and building provided for the project are a partnership with Giles County, Mountain Lake Lodge and the property's owner, the Mary Moody Northen Endowment. Mountain Lake Lodge is where the iconic Dirty Dancing (known as "Kellerman's Mountain House" in the movie) was filmed 37 years ago, and still the place "to have the time of your life" mixing modern amenities with eateries, shops, activities and traditional family fun. For reservations, visit https://www.mtnlakelodge.com or call 540-626-7121.

The Giles County Trail Center, located at 2125 Doe Creek Rd., Pembroke, VA 24136, is open daily to the public from 9 a.m. to dusk. For information, visit VirginiasMtnPlayground.com or contact Giles County Visitor Center at 540-921-2079.

SOURCE Mountain Lake Lodge
DUBAI, UAE, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- TerraPay, a leading global money movement company, has joined forces with Multipass, a bank challenger in the financial technology sector, to redefine cross-border payment solutions for corporate customers. This strategic collaboration aims to offer unparalleled reliability, efficiency, and cost optimisation to businesses operating in the UK, Europe, and beyond.

Through this partnership, Multipass gains access to TerraPay's extensive global payments network, expanding its reach to new jurisdictions and local payouts in multiple currencies, ensuring efficient cross-border payment solutions to its clients. Both organizations offer 24/7 customer support and dedicated personal account managers, emphasising the importance of human interaction alongside technological advancement.

Sudhesh Giriyan, President  Cross-Border Payments at TerraPay, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, "TerraPay is thrilled to collaborate with Multipass to revolutionize cross-border payments for their corporate customers. This partnership underscores our dedication to providing innovative solutions that drive efficiency, reliability, and cost optimisation."

Rami Chedid, CEO of Multipass for the UAE and the Middle East, commented, "Our partnership with TerraPay represents a significant step forward in our commitment to deliver secure and fast payment solutions to medium-sized entrepreneurs trading internationally. All while prioritizing security and efficiency in speed and costs. As we continue to work on our expansion plans in the UAE, this trusted partnership gives a new level of importance, offering our clients practically a global payment reach."

He continued to state that Multipass has initiated the application process for a financial services license in UAE to be regulated by The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), and having received the in-principal approval, the company will launch operations very soon. "This operational expansion will broaden the global payment reach for UAE-based businesses from the very first day, providing them with a competitive edge and opportunities for business growth", he explains.

About TerraPay:

TerraPay simplifies global money movement - by providing a single connection to the most expansive cross-border payments network regulated in 31 global markets and enabling payments to 144 receive countries, 210+ send countries, 7.5Bn+ bank accounts and 2.1Bn+ mobile wallets. TerraPay is on a mission to connect a borderless financial world, making moving money everywhere instant, reliable, transparent, and fully compliant. TerraPay pushes the boundaries for global businesses  ranging from banks, fintechs and money-transfer operators to travel businesses, creator economy platforms and e-commerce marketplaces  while driving financial inclusion in even the most inaccessible markets. Founded in 2014, TerraPay is headquartered in London, with global offices in Bangalore, Dubai, Miami, Bogota, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Hague, Dakar, Joburg, Nairobi, Milan, Singapore and is expanding rapidly, having received funding from leading investors, including the IFC (the World Bank), Prime Ventures, Partech Africa, and Visa.

About Multipass:

Multipass a part of Dyninno Group of Companies, is a bank challenger that provides modern financial solutions for businesses with cross-border activity. It offers a multi-currency business account with an instant FX desk and a corporate card that allows international companies to manage their bank transfers in foreign markets in a simple way. Multipass's customer offering includes local UK, US, and EU (European Union) accounts, as well as a single multi-currency IBAN supporting over 70 currencies and 200 global payment destinations. The company was founded in 2017 and is led by Dmitry Tsymber.

Media Contact:

[email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1222771/TerraPay_Logo.jpg

SOURCE TerraPay
CHICAGO, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- North Park University will partner with Triton College in River Forest in a program that guarantees Triton transfer students admission to North Park.

As part of the program, North Park's admissions counselors will help assist students in transferring Triton students' credits to ensure they complete their bachelor's degrees as quickly as possible.

"This new partnership provides clarity and streamlines the admissions process for students at Triton looking to complete their bachelor's degree at North Park," said Anthony Scola, vice president for enrollment management and marketing. "We're eager to support these students as they look to advance their education and make an impact in the world-class city of Chicago."

North Park formed a similar partnership with Glen Ellyn-based College of DuPage last fall.

Earlier this year, North Park increased its merit-based scholarships to transfer students by up to 25%. Transfer students with GPAs of 2.50 and above are eligible for the scholarships.

Located 14 miles from downtown Chicago, Triton is a community college serving the western suburbs of Chicago. It enrolls more than 10,000 students a year and offers more than 110 degree and certificate programs.

North Park University is city-centered, intercultural, and emerging as the model for Christian higher education in 21st-century America.

SOURCE North Park University
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA has selected four proposals for concept studies of missions to help us better understand Earth science key focus areas for the benefit of all including greenhouse gases, the ozone layer, ocean surface currents, and changes in ice and glaciers around the world.

On May 7, 2024, NASA announced the selection of four proposals for concept studies of missions to benefit humanity through the study of Earth science. Most of what we know about Earth has been gathered through NASAs 60 years of observations from space, such as this image of our home planet as shown as a mosaic of data from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). Credits: NASA

These four investigations are part of the agency's new Earth System Explorers Program  which conducts principal investigator-led space science missions as recommended by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2017 Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space. The program is designed to enable high-quality Earth system science investigations to focus on previously identified key targets. For this set of missions, NASA is prioritizing greenhouse gases as one of its target observables.

"The proposals represent another example of NASA's holistic approach to studying our home planet," said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "As we continue to confront our changing climate, and its impacts on humans and our environment, the need for data and scientific research could not be greater. These proposals will help us better prepare for the challenges we face today, and tomorrow."

As the first step of a two-step selection process, each of these proposals will receive $5 million to conduct a one-year mission concept study. After the study period, NASA will choose two proposals to go forward to launch with readiness dates expected in 2030 and 2032. The total mission cost cap is $310 million for each chosen investigation, excluding the rocket and access to space, which will be provided by NASA.

Most of what we know about our changing planet is rooted in more than 60 years of NASA's Earth observations. NASA currently has more than two dozen Earth-observing satellites and instruments in orbit. The missions ultimately selected from this set of proposals will make their own unique contributions to this great Earth observatory  which works together to provide layers of complementary information on Earth's oceans, land, ice, and atmosphere.

The four proposals selected for concept studies are:

The Stratosphere Troposphere Response using Infrared Vertically-Resolved Light Explorer (STRIVE)

This mission would provide daily, near-global, high-resolution measurements of temperature, a variety of atmospheric elements, and aerosol properties from the upper troposphere to the mesosphere  at a much higher spatial density than any previous mission. It would also measure vertical profiles of ozone and trace gasses needed to monitor and understand the recovery of the ozone layer  another identified NASA Earth sciences target. The proposal is led by Lyatt Jaegle at the University of Washington in Seattle .

This mission would provide daily, near-global, high-resolution measurements of temperature, a variety of atmospheric elements, and aerosol properties from the upper troposphere to the mesosphere  at a much higher spatial density than any previous mission. It would also measure vertical profiles of ozone and trace gasses needed to monitor and understand the recovery of the ozone layer  another identified NASA Earth sciences target. The proposal is led by Lyatt Jaegle at the . The Ocean Dynamics and Surface Exchange with the Atmosphere (ODYSEA)

This satellite would simultaneously measure ocean surface currents and winds to improve our understanding of air-sea interactions and surface current processes that impact weather, climate, marine ecosystems, and human wellbeing. It aims to provide updated ocean wind data in less than three hours and ocean current data in less than six hours. The proposal is led by Sarah Gille at the University of California in San Diego .

This satellite would simultaneously measure ocean surface currents and winds to improve our understanding of air-sea interactions and surface current processes that impact weather, climate, marine ecosystems, and human wellbeing. It aims to provide updated ocean wind data in less than three hours and ocean current data in less than six hours. The proposal is led by at the . Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer (EDGE)

This mission would observe the three-dimensional structure of terrestrial ecosystems and the surface topography of glaciers, ice sheets, and sea ice as they are changing in response to climate and human activity. The mission would provide a continuation of such measurements that are currently measured from space by ICESat-2 and GEDI (Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation). The proposal is led by Helen Amanda Fricker at the University of California in San Diego .

This mission would observe the three-dimensional structure of terrestrial ecosystems and the surface topography of glaciers, ice sheets, and sea ice as they are changing in response to climate and human activity. The mission would provide a continuation of such measurements that are currently measured from space by ICESat-2 and GEDI (Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation). The proposal is led by at the . The Carbon Investigation (Carbon-I)

This investigation would enable simultaneous, multi-species measurements of critical greenhouse gases and potential quantification of ethane  which could help study processes that drive natural and anthropogenic emissions. The mission would provide unprecedented spatial resolution and global coverage that would help us better understand the carbon cycle and the global methane budget. The proposal is led by Christian Frankenberg at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena .

For more information about the Earth System Explorers Program, visit:

https://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/2023ESE/

SOURCE NASA
LAS VEGAS, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study by Anthony Termini, former Managing Partner of Beta Capital, LLC, reveals that including gold in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) has the potential to significantly enhance returns and mitigate risk over the long term.

The study, published here , used historical performance data on asset class returns from 1972 to 2024. The authors of the study backtested the performance of various common portfolio models with and without gold allocations.

Adding Gold Boosted Returns & Reduced Drawdowns Value of a 100k Portfolio Over 52 Years

Study's Key Findings:

Underperformance of Traditional Assets During Key Periods: The study backtested the performance of various portfolio models, including traditional allocations of stocks, bonds, and cash. It found that these portfolios underperformed during significant stock market downturns.

The study backtested the performance of various portfolio models, including traditional allocations of stocks, bonds, and cash. It found that these portfolios underperformed during significant stock market downturns. Gold Performance in Times of Crisis: The research demonstrates that adding gold to these portfolios improved performance during the five worst years for stocks between 1972 and 2024, outperforming both stocks and bonds in each instance.

The research demonstrates that adding gold to these portfolios improved performance during the five worst years for stocks between 1972 and 2024, outperforming both stocks and bonds in each instance. Overall Long-Term Return Potential: The study also shows that including gold within IRAs led to higher overall returns compared to traditional asset allocations. This improvement ranged from 8 to 78 basis points annually, depending on the specific gold allocation within the portfolio.

The study also shows that including gold within IRAs led to higher overall returns compared to traditional asset allocations. This improvement ranged from 8 to 78 basis points annually, depending on the specific gold allocation within the portfolio. Adding Gold Reduced Portfolio Volatility Overall: Furthermore, the research indicates that incorporating gold into portfolios reduces overall volatility, potentially minimizing losses during market downturns. The maximum drawdown across the studied portfolios was reduced by as much as 14.6% with the inclusion of gold.

Furthermore, the research indicates that incorporating gold into portfolios reduces overall volatility, potentially minimizing losses during market downturns. The maximum drawdown across the studied portfolios was reduced by as much as 14.6% with the inclusion of gold. Low Awareness of Gold IRA plans in America: Despite these potential benefits, the study highlights that awareness of the ability to own gold in IRAs remains low. The study author estimates that less than 0.5% of IRA assets currently hold gold, indicating a significant missed opportunity for many investors.

The study emphasizes the importance of carefully considering gold within the context of individual investment goals and risk tolerance. However, the findings strongly suggest that gold can be a valuable component of a well-diversified IRA portfolio, offering the potential for both enhanced returns and reduced risk over the long term, not just during periods of economic instability.

The full study can be found here: https://goldiraguide.org/goldirastudy2024

About the Author & Study:

This study was conducted by Anthony Termini, the former Managing Partner of Beta Capital, LLC, a private hedge fund in Reno, Nevada. Anthony began his investment career in the mid-1980s at Kidder, Peabody & Company's Private Client Group. After nearly 20 years in San Francisco with stints at Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch, Tony joined Kochis Fitz (now Aspiriant), one of the largest independent Wealth Management firms in the country. He contributed to the books Wealth Management: A Concise Guide to Financial Planning and Investment Management for Wealthy Clients and Diversify or Die: Diversity. Inclusion. Evolution. Success and is a frequent contributor to many financial publications.

Contact:

Mark Turner

Editorial Team

[email protected]

347-682-3532

SOURCE Anthony Termini
SHANGHAI, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Noah Holdings Limited (the "Company," or "Noah") (NYSE: NOAH and HKEX: 6686), a leading and pioneer wealth management service provider offering comprehensive one-stop advisory services on global investment and asset allocation primarily for Mandarin-speaking high-net-worth investors, today provides updates on the status of the legal proceedings against Camsing International Holding Limited and one of its affiliates (collectively, "Camsing") related to certain credit funds (the "Camsing Credit Funds") managed by Shanghai Gopher Asset Management Co., Ltd. ("Shanghai Gopher"). The Camsing Credit Funds had invested in supply chain account receivables (the "Camsing Receivables") respecting the sale of computers, consumer electronics and communication products from Camsing to a buyer (the "Buyer") .

As the Company previously disclosed on January 12, 2024, November 1, June 21, June 29 and July 6, 2022 and August 25, 2020, the Company has been involved in certain legal proceedings with respect to the fraudulent activities conducted by Camsing with respect to the Camsing Receivables.

In July 2019, Shanghai Gopher filed a civil lawsuit in Shanghai Financial Court against Camsing and the Buyer (collectively, the "Co-defendants"), requesting Shanghai Financial Court to enforce the Co-defendants to fulfill the payment obligations with respect to the outstanding amount of the Camsing Receivables under the Camsing Credit Funds, which are subject to repayment default due to the fraudulent activities conducted by Camsing (the "Camsing Civil Case").

On May 6, 2024, the Company received the judgment of the Camsing Civil Case, in which Shanghai Financial Court ruled in favor of Shanghai Gopher against Camsing. According to the judgment, Camsing was ordered to pay Shanghai Gopher (i) the outstanding amount of the Camsing Receivables of RMB3.4 billion; and (ii) relevant legal fees and expenses incurred by Shanghai Gopher amounting to RMB3.6 million. Further, Camsing was ordered to bear the fees and expenses of RMB17.1 million incurred by Shanghai Financial Court. Other claims made by Shanghai Gopher against the Co-defendants were dismissed by Shanghai Financial Court.

The judgment by Shanghai Financial Court will become effective after the end of the appeal period. The Company will continue to closely monitor and evaluate any future development of the legal proceedings in connection with Camsing and promptly inform investors of any updates as appropriate. The Company will also continue to take the best course of action to pursue the enforcement of this judgment to the fullest extent permitted by law and to protect the interests of the investors of the Camsing Credit Funds.

ABOUT NOAH HOLDINGS LIMITED

Noah Holdings Limited (NYSE: NOAH and HKEX: 6686) is a leading and pioneer wealth management service provider offering comprehensive one-stop advisory services on global investment and asset allocation primarily for Mandarin-speaking high-net-worth investors. In 2023, Noah distributed RMB74.1 billion (US$10.4 billion) of investment products. Through Gopher Asset Management, Noah had assets under management of RMB154.6 billion (US$21.8 billion) as of December 31, 2023.

Noah's wealth management business primarily distributes private equity, private secondary, mutual funds, and other products denominated in RMB and other currencies. Noah's network covers major cities in mainland China, as well as Hong Kong (China), Taiwan (China), New York, Silicon Valley, Singapore, and Los Angeles. A total number of 1,252 relationship managers across 44 cities provide customized financial solutions for clients through this network and meet their investment needs. The Company's wealth management business had 455,827 registered clients as of December 31, 2023. Through Gopher Asset Management, Noah manages private equity, public securities, real estate, multi-strategy, and other investments denominated in Renminbi and other currencies. Noah also provides other services.

For more information, please visit Noah at ir.noahgroup.com .

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Noah may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in announcements, circulars or other publications made on the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "Hong Kong Stock Exchange"), in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Noah's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements include, but are not limited to, estimates regarding the sufficiency of Noah's cash and cash equivalents and liquidity risk. A number of factors could cause Noah's actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: its goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; the expected growth of the wealth management and asset management market in China and internationally; its expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of the products it distributes; investment risks associated with investment products distributed to Noah's investors, including the risk of default by counterparties or loss of value due to market or business conditions or misconduct by counterparties; its expectations regarding keeping and strengthening its relationships with key clients; relevant government policies and regulations relating to its industries; its ability to attract and retain qualified employees; its ability to stay abreast of market trends and technological advances; its plans to invest in research and development to enhance its product choices and service offerings; competition in its industries in China and internationally; general economic and business conditions in China; and its ability to effectively protect its intellectual property rights and not to infringe on the intellectual property rights of others. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Noah's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Noah does not undertake any obligation to update any such information, including forward-looking statements, as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under the applicable law.

SOURCE Noah Holdings Limited
Key partners voice unwavering support for Norfolk Southern's management team and balanced strategy

ATLANTA, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) Tuesday highlighted additional support from key customers and industry associations  including Hub Group, Inc., American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association, CONSOL Energy Inc., and others. Their strong backing underscores the company's balanced strategy, driven by the decisive leadership of CEO Alan Shaw and guided by the Norfolk Southern board, is the best path to drive long-term value for shareholders and deliver reliable, resilient service.1

"Hub Group continues to value its long-term partnership with Norfolk Southern that allows us collectively to deliver a cost-effective, environmentally sensitive intermodal service offering to shippers throughout the eastern United States. The commitment that you and your management team have made to maintaining consistently strong service levels is critical to our mutual success in converting over-the-road shipments to rail which is leading to significant growth. We appreciate that a sustained dedication to maintaining strong service levels is a key element of your strategic planWe support you and your management team in the ongoing execution of your strategy."

- Phillip Yeager, President, CEO, and Vice Chairman

Hub Group, Inc.

"As a group we are focused on fostering long-term volume and revenue growth for the rail industry. To that end, we support strategies from our Class I partners, including the current Norfolk Southern strategy, dedicated to these same goals. We believe growth is most effectively achieved through a commitment to providing operating resilience and consistent customer service, and to do so over a full business cycle."

- Chuck Baker, President & CEO

American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association

"Arrowhead (now part of Waste Connections) has been [a] customer since 2019. During that time our annual freight volumes have increased thirty-fold, and we are looking to doubling that in the next twelve months. [The Norfolk Southern] team  from the CEO down to the local operating folks  have been extremely helpful and supportive these past five years. A large part of our success has come from their team and our partnership. Although we would never presume to tell your shareholders how to vote, and we will always remain a good NS customer, they should be aware that we would be concerned if the existing operating and marketing support changed."

- Bill Gay, Division Vice President

Arrowhead Environmental Partners/Waste Connections

"As one of the key logistics partners, I want to express my confidence and support for Norfolk Southern's current management team headed by Alan Shaw. CONSOL has been a beneficiary of some of the operational and safety improvements made by Alan. This has allowed us to grow our export business and benefitted thousands of direct and indirect workers in Southwest PA, WV, and MD."

- Jimmy Brock, Chairman and CEO

CONSOL Energy Inc.

"HC Minerals (formerly Hi-Crush) unequivocally supports Alan Shaw and the rest of the NS management team, as well as the NS strategy."

- Will Barker, General Counsel and Chief Commercial Officer

HC Minerals

"Norfolk Southern has made significant service improvements following the implementation of their new operating strategy. Consistent and rateable manifest service is critical to the success of our processing business. It allows us to meet our customers' needs and supports our growth initiatives. We support NS's strategic vision for service improvements while maintaining a customer centric approach."

- Gordon Russell, Executive Vice President

Louis Dreyfus Company

"The 'new' focus on smart expansion opportunities was truly refreshing and had been lost since 2008-2010. Since Covid  all departments have been focused on 'the customer' which is critical to success in any business. While I have never personally dealt with Mr. Shaw, I know that I can see and feel a very positive change that has been evident to me over the last few years. I truly did not think that a CEO or COO could impact the overall organization the size of NS  but the last 3 or so years something has changed. From what my NS contacts tell me, it comes down from the top. So based on this feedback, Mr. Shaw must be having this positive effect on the performance and attitude of the organization.  I have been a witness to it."

- Von Friesen, Principal

Strategic Transload Services, LLC

"One Earth Energy, LLC has been a customer of Norfolk Southern railroad for 15 years, prior to that, I was General Manager from 1990 to 2007 with Alliance Grain CoNorfolk Southern's enhanced service has enabled us at One Earth Energy to expand our rail business and invest in additional track space to accommodate our growth in production capacity along with rail shipments. I have full confidence in Alan Shaw and the entire management team of Norfolk Southern. Our Board of Directors believes Alan and his team have our best interest in mind and their approach will yield positive outcomes for both Norfolk Southern and customers like One Earth Energy. On behalf of my Board and myself we look forward to continuing [this] mutually beneficial relationship into the future."

- Steven Kelly, President & CEO

One Earth Energy, LLC

Your Vote is Important

Norfolk Southern believes all of its 13 nominees are uniquely qualified to oversee the company's strategy, drive long-term shareholder value, and hold management accountable. Norfolk Southern strongly urges shareholders to protect their investment from Ancora's outdated, destructive agenda by VOTING the WHITE proxy card FOR ONLY Norfolk Southern's 13 nominees TODAY .

Please simply DISCARD any Blue proxy card you may receive from Ancora. If you inadvertently voted using a Blue proxy card, you may cancel that vote simply by voting again TODAY using the company's WHITE proxy card. Only your latest-dated vote will count!

To learn more, visit VoteNorfolkSouthern.com.

If you have any questions or require any assistance with respect to voting your shares,

please contact our proxy solicitor:

INNISFREE M&A INCORPORATED

Shareholders may call:

1 (877) 750-9496 (toll-free from the U.S. and Canada)

+1 (412) 232-3651 (from other countries)



About Norfolk Southern

Since 1827, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) and its predecessor companies have safely moved the goods and materials that drive the U.S. economy. Today, it operates a customer-centric and operations-driven freight transportation network. Committed to furthering sustainability, Norfolk Southern helps its customers avoid approximately 15 million tons of yearly carbon emissions by shipping via rail. Its dedicated team members deliver more than 7 million carloads annually, from agriculture to consumer goods, and Norfolk Southern originates more automotive traffic than any other Class I Railroad. Norfolk Southern also has the most extensive intermodal network in the eastern U.S. It serves a majority of the country's population and manufacturing base, with connections to every major container port on the Atlantic coast as well as major ports in the Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes. Learn more by visiting www.NorfolkSouthern.com.

Important Additional Information

The Company has filed a definitive proxy statement (the "2024 Proxy Statement") on Schedule 14A and a WHITE proxy card with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") in connection with the solicitation of proxies for its 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the "2024 Annual Meeting"). SHAREHOLDERS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO READ THE COMPANY'S 2024 PROXY STATEMENT (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO), THE WHITE PROXY CARD AND ANY OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Shareholders may obtain a free copy of the 2024 Proxy Statement, any amendments or supplements to the 2024 Proxy Statement and other documents that the Company files with the SEC from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or the Company's website at https://norfolksouthern.investorroom.com as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC.

Certain Information Concerning Participants

The Company, its directors and certain of its executive officers and employees may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies from shareholders in connection with the matters to be considered at the 2024 Annual Meeting. Information regarding the direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, of the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be considered participants in the solicitation of shareholders in connection with the 2024 Annual Meeting is included in Norfolk Southern's 2024 Proxy Statement, filed with the SEC on March 20, 2024. To the extent holdings by our directors and executive officers of Norfolk Southern securities reported in the 2024 Proxy Statement for the 2024 Annual Meeting have changed, such changes have been or will be reflected on Statements of Change of Ownership on Forms 3, 4 or 5 filed with the SEC. These documents are available free of charge as described above.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this communication are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance, including statements relating to our ability to execute on our strategic plan and our 2024 Annual Meeting and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or our achievements or those of our industry to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words like "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "intend," "believe," "estimate," "project," "consider," "predict," "potential," "feel," or other comparable terminology. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates, beliefs, and projections. While the Company believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates, and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond the Company's control. These and other important factors, including those discussed under "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as well as the Company's subsequent filings with the SEC, may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements herein are made only as of the date they were first issued, and unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, 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.

1 Permission to use quotations was neither sought nor obtained.

SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Northpointe Bank, a leading financial institution headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is proud to celebrate its 25th anniversary of serving customers with excellence and dedication. Since its inception in 1999, Northpointe Bank has been committed to providing innovative banking and residential lending solutions, earning numerous awards and accolades along the way.

Established in the heart of Grand Rapids, Northpointe Bank has grown from a local institution to a nationally recognized leader in the banking industry. With a focus on fostering relationships and empowering communities, Northpointe Bank has become synonymous with trust, integrity, and reliability. Following its mission to be the best bank in America by bringing value and innovation to the people they serve, Northpointe Bank has focused on making homeownership and banking easy by providing innovative products, exceptional service and superior technology to their customers.

Northpointe Bank is proud to celebrate its 25th anniversary of serving customers with excellence and dedication. Post this

Over the past 25 years, Northpointe Bank has been honored with several prestigious awards, including recognition for multiple years from the Independent Community Bankers of America as a top performing member bank, from Scotsman Guide as a Top 100 Lender, and as a Best & Brightest Company by the National Association for Business Resources. In recent years, focus on philanthropy and financial education in their communities has increased, as evidenced by receiving the Michigan Bankers Association Financial Literacy Award two years in a row.

As Northpointe Bank commemorates its 25th anniversary, it reaffirms its dedication to its core values of integrity, innovation, empowerment, and service excellence. With a continued commitment to meeting the evolving needs of its customers and communities, Northpointe Bank looks forward to many more years of success and growth.

"We are immensely proud to celebrate this significant milestone in our journey," said Chuck Williams, CEO of Northpointe Bank. "Our success over the past 25 years would not have been possible without the trust and support of our customers, employees, and communities. As we look to the future, we remain committed to delivering exceptional banking experiences and making a positive impact in the lives of those we serve."

About Northpointe Bank:

Northpointe Bank, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a client-focused company that provides home loans and retail banking products to communities across the nation. Our mission is to be the best bank in America by bringing value and innovation to the people we serve. For each of the past nine years, Independent Community Bankers of America has ranked Northpointe Bank as a top-performing bank in the nation out of approximately 5,000 ICBA member banks*. To learn more about Northpointe Bank visit www.northpointe.com. Member FDIC  Equal Housing Lender.

*Source: Best Performing Community Banks; Independent Community Bankers of America ranked Northpointe Bank as best performing bank according to return-on-equity for banks with assets over $1 billion

Contact: Alexandra Howell, Director of Marketing

616-426-4116 | [email protected]

SOURCE Northpointe Bank
Ontinue Recognized as Best MDR Provider for the Second Consecutive Year

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ontinue, a leading provider of AI-powered managed extended detection and response (MXDR) services and winner of the 2023 Microsoft Security Services Innovator of the Year award, today announced it been named the winner in the Next Gen Managed Detection and Response Service Provider category by Cyber Defense Magazine, the industry's leading electronic information security magazine. This marks the second consecutive year that Ontinue has been recognized in the Global InfoSec Awards for its advanced, AI-powered MXDR service, Ontinue ION.

Ontinue's recognition by CDM highlights ION's ability to provide fast, effective incident resolution customized to an organization's unique environment and operational processes. Ontinue specializes in managed security operations tailored for Microsoft customers. Its approach combines 24/7 threat protection through a set of follow-the-sun Security Operation Centers with an AI-powered technology platform. ION integrates AI-driven insights, automation, a one-of-a-kind collaboration model, and human expertise to overcome the traditional challenges that MSSPs face when trying to alleviate the burden on their customers and generate superior security outcomes. The result is a tailored service that reduces the workload on internal security teams, improves incident response times, arms CISOs with the insights needed to prove success, and maximizes the ROI on customer's Microsoft security investments.

"Whether it's resource constraints, budget restrictions, or staffing limitations, many organizations leverage a Managed Security provider, or MDR partner, to help alleviate the day-to-day burden of Security Operations," said Geoff Haydon, CEO of Ontinue. "Ontinue ION makes security teams faster, more proactive, and more effective through advanced capabilities like AI-driven automation, collaboration and prevention  all built into the Microsoft Security and Collaboration platforms - to protect customers around the clock. It's an honor to be recognized for this work by Cyber Defense Magazine as the Top MDR provider for the second year in a row."

Ontinue recently launched new enhanced automation capabilities and greater visibility into what ION does on an organization's behalf. These updates strengthen existing SecOps workflows and instill deeper trust in Ontinue's Managed Security Operations service by providing total transparency into how verdicts are determined and decisions are made. Ontinue ION is driving faster incident response and offloading more of the burden from internal teams so they can refocus their efforts on other business priorities.

Ontinue embodies three major features we judges look for to become winners: understanding tomorrow's threats, today, providing a cost-effective solution and innovating in unexpected ways that can help mitigate cyber risk and get one step ahead of the next breach," said Gary S. Miliefsky, Publisher of Cyber Defense Magazine.

Ontinue ION sets new standards for MXDR services. It uniquely delivers nonstop SecOps with 24/7, always-on continuous protection while increasing overall security program maturity, efficacy and scalability. ION overcomes the shortcomings of traditional MDR solutions in several ground-breaking ways, including the first Microsoft Teams-based collaboration model for seamless real-time communication between SecOps, IT and all other security stakeholders. Ontinue is also pioneering the use of generative AI and automation to accelerate the detection and response to threats faster than ever before. Complementing the advanced capabilities of the ION service is the deep Microsoft security expertise of Ontinue's staff, which enables customers to maximize the capabilities of their Microsoft security investments.

For more information about Ontinue's ION managed security operations and its new capabilities, please visit www.ontinue.com.

Meet us at RSA!

Learn more about Ontinue ION live at the Ontinue booth (#4529) at RSAC 2024!

About Ontinue: Nonstop SecOps

As a leading provider of AI-powered managed extended detection and response (MXDR) service, Ontinue is on a mission to be the most trusted security partner that empowers customers to embrace and accelerate digital transformation by using AI to operate more at scale, and with less risk. The combination of AI and human expertise is essential for delivering effective managed security that is tailored to a customer's unique environment, operational constraints, and risks. Our MXDR service combines powerful proprietary AI with the industry's first collaboration with Microsoft Teams to continuously build a deep understanding of our customers' environments, informing how we prevent, detect, and respond to threats. Our Microsoft expertise allows customers to achieve these outcomes with the Microsoft Security tools they already own. The result is highly localized managed protection that empowers security teams to be faster, smarter, and more cost efficient than ever before.

Continuous protection. AI-powered Nonstop SecOps. That's Ontinue.

Ontinue PR Contacts:

Alison Raymond

[email protected]

ICR Lumina

Nathaniel Hawthorne

[email protected]

SOURCE Ontinue
ENOLA, Pa., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- National healthcare leader PAM Health announced its plans to build four freestanding, 42-bed physical medicine and rehabilitation hospitals in four different states, thus expanding the availability of high-quality rehabilitative care to more communities across the country.

"As a healthcare provider, PAM Health is always seeking opportunities to improve the health and well-being of the community," explains Anthony Misitano, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of PAM Health. "We look forward to offering residents of these areas a fresh, top-tier option for rehabilitation services."

The new hospitals will serve patients recovering from debilitating illnesses and injuries, including traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, strokes and other neurological disorders, amputations, and orthopedic and post-surgical conditions. PAM Health hospitals are also known nationally for their workers' compensations programs, assisting injured employees regain their optimal potential.

Once completed, each hospital will employ approximately 200 people, thus providing an economic boost to the regions as well.

Among these new hospitals, PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Loveland will mark the organization's fourth hospital in Colorado. Other Colorado-based hospitals include PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Westminster, PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Greeley, and PAM Health Specialty Hospital of Denver.

In addition, PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Bloomington will join PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Greater Indiana as the second location in Indiana. PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Green Bay will join PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Wausau as the second Wisconsin location.

Finally, PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Casper will be PAM Health's inaugural hospital in Wyoming.

PAM Health, headquartered in Enola, Pennsylvania, offers specialized healthcare services across a network of over 100 long-term acute care hospitals and physical medicine and rehabilitation hospitals, along with wound clinics, outpatient physical therapy sites, and behavioral health hospitals spanning 17 states. Committed to delivering top-tier patient care and exceptional customer service, PAM Health relies on the expertise and commitment of its highly trained personnel to become the premier and most reliable healthcare provider in all the communities it serves. Its core mission revolves around serving individuals with compassion and expertise while fostering recovery through education and research initiatives.

Learn more at PAMHealth.com.

SOURCE PAM Health
REDDING, Calif., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report titled 'Parenteral Nutrition Bags Market by Chamber Type (Single-Chamber Bags, Dual-Chamber Bags, Multi-Chambered Bags), Consumer (Adults, Children), End User (Healthcare Facilities, Pharmacies & Compounding Service Providers)Global Forecast to 2031,' published by Meticulous Research, parenteral nutrition bags market is projected to reach $1.25 billion by 2031, at a CAGR of 6.6% from 2024 to 2031.

Download Sample Report: https://www.meticulousresearch.com/download-sample-report/cp_id=5792

Parenteral nutrition bags are used to compound and store potential fluid prior to and during intravascular administration to a patient. By using standard spikes and tubing, the empty bags are filled by attaching them to containers, usually glass bottles that are sealed with a pierceable membrane and hold one or more solutions. Parenteral nutrition replaces lost energy and makes up for micronutrient deficiencies in patients.

The growth of the parenteral nutrition bags market is driven by the growing prevalence of chronic and infectious diseases, the rising global prevalence of malnutrition, the large number of premature births, and the increasing incidence of metabolic disorders. However, concerns over the infection risks associated with parenteral nutrition restrain the growth of this market. The lack of awareness regarding parenteral nutrition in developing countries is a major challenge impacting the growth of the parenteral nutrition bags market.

Some of the key companies operating in the global parenteral nutrition bags market are B. Braun SE (Germany), Baxter International, Inc. (U.S.), Fresenius Kabi AG (Germany), GVS S,p.A. (Italy), Grifols, S.A. (Spain), Technolflex (France), RENOLIT Healthcare (Germany), Valmed s.r.l (Italy), HEMEDIS GmbH (Germany), INFRA Srl (Italy), Beijing L&Z Medical Technology Development Co., Ltd.(China), Boen Healthcare Co., Ltd. (China), AdvaCare Pharma (U.S.), and Diffuplast S.r.l. (Italy).

Use of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) for Manufacturing Parenteral Nutrition Bags is the Trend

Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) is a material popularly known as rubber or foam rubber. It is an elastic material that is used to make bags through which parenteral nutrition is delivered to patients who are unable to ingest food or receive nourishment due to illnesses or infections. While other materials, such as Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), are also used to manufacture parenteral nutrition bags, EVA is currently the most widely used material.

EVA is used for various parenteral applications, such as the delivery of blood, compounded fluids, and biologics. In the case of compounded fluids, two fluids or ingredients are mixed to be provided to the patient, mainly in applications such as parenteral nutrition and chemotherapy. The use of PVC bags can cause plasticizers to leach into parenteral fluids. However, EVA does not require the use of plasticizers to achieve flexibility. EVA is a lightweight and flexible material that ensures physicochemical stability and has excellent compatibility. As a result, its application in parenteral delivery is on the rise. Hence, the rising demand for EVA parenteral nutrition bags among hospitals and clinics is driving the growth of this market.

The global parenteral nutrition bags market is segmented by Chamber Type (Single-chamber Parenteral Nutrition Bags, Dual-chamber Parenteral Nutrition Bags, and Multi-chambered Parenteral Nutrition Bags), Consumers (Adults and Children), End User (Healthcare Facilities and Pharmacies and Compounding Service Providers), and Geography. The study also evaluates industry competitors and analyzes their market share at global and regional levels.

Get a Glimpse Inside: Request Sample Pages- https://www.meticulousresearch.com/request-sample-report/cp_id=5792

Based on chamber type, in 2024, the single-chamber parenteral nutrition bags segment is expected to account for the largest share of 59% of the parenteral nutrition bags market. Single-chamber parenteral nutrition bags are designed to compound and store a comprehensive blend of nutritional solutions, including electrolytes, amino acids, lipids, vitamins, carbohydrates, and trace elements within a single compartment for parenteral administration. These bags are prescribed by physicians or healthcare providers for patients who are not able to receive nutrition orally. This group of patients generally includes people undergoing long-term chronic treatments. The large share of the segment is attributed to factors such as the ease of use, handling, transportation, and disposal of these bags, the high rate of prescription, and the widespread availability of single-chamber bags.

Based on consumer, in 2024, the adults segment is expected to account for the large market share of the parenteral nutrition bags market. The large share of the segment is attributed to factors such as increasing prevalence of gastrointestinal disorders, rising number of surgeries, rising rate of hospitalization, and growth of the geriatric population. The rising abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract in adults are driving the parenteral nutrition bags market for adults. According to the research conducted by Crohn's & Colitis UK (U.K.), one in every 123 people have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis in the U.K. Similarly, according to the article published in July 2023 in Gastroenterology, an estimated 2.4 million Americans have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). As parenteral nutrition therapy bypasses the gastrointestinal tract, it is used for providing nutrition to patients who have Crohn's disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), gastrointestinal bleeding, and others. Thus, the high dependency of adults on parenteral nutrition makes adults the largest consumer of parenteral nutrition bags.

Based on end user, in 2024, the healthcare facilities segment is expected to account for the larger share of 65% of the parenteral nutrition bags market. The healthcare facilities segment comprises compounding associated with pharmacies in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. Parenteral nutrition compounding is automated using volumetric pump systems. With the rising accessibility to parenteral nutrition therapy, hospitals are now adopting automated preparation of parenteral nutrition. Automation in the compounding systems reduces the risk of contamination, increasing cost efficiency and reducing the errors in compounding. With the introduction of an automated compounding system, the time required for compounding the bags is reduced significantly. The use of automated compounding systems coupled with the increasing prescriptions for parenteral nutrition therapy is driving the adoption of parenteral nutrition bags.

Geographically, in 2024, North America is expected to account for the largest share of 47% of the parenteral nutrition bags market. North America parenteral nutrition bags market is estimated to be worth USD 376 million in 2024. The largest share of this segment is attributed to factors such as the growing demand for parenteral nutrition due to the rising number of premature births and the growing adoption of home healthcare settings. For instance, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2020, approximately 13.4 million babies were born preterm (before the completion of 37 weeks of gestation). Preterm babies often require nutrients that need to be provided parenterally since oral nutrition is not possible, therefore increasing the demand for parenteral nutrition and supporting the growth of the market.

Have Specific Research Needs? Request a Customized Report- https://www.meticulousresearch.com/request-customization/cp_id=5792

Scope of the Report:

Parenteral Nutrition Bags Market Assessmentby Chamber Type

Single-chamber Parenteral Nutrition Bags

Dual-chamber Parenteral Nutrition Bags

Multi-chambered Parenteral Nutrition Bags

Parenteral Nutrition Bags Market Assessmentby Consumer

Adults

Children

Parenteral Nutrition Bags Market Assessmentby End User

Healthcare Facilities

Pharmacies and Compounding Service Providers

Parenteral Nutrition Bags Marketby Geography

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific (APAC)

(APAC) Latin America

Middle East & Africa

Unlock Opportunities: Buy Now- https://www.meticulousresearch.com/Checkout/52571933

Related Reports:

Pharmaceutical Packaging Market by Type (Bottle, Vial, Blister Pack, Ampoule, Pre-filled Syringe), Material (Plastic [PE, Polyvinyl chloride, PP, PET], Paper, Glass, Metal), Dosage Form (Oral, Parenteral, Topical), End UserGlobal Forecast to 2029

Pharmaceutical Contract Development & Manufacturing Market by Service {Manufacturing [API, FDF (Parenteral, Injectable, Tablet, Capsule, Oral Liquid)], Drug Development, Biologics Manufacturing}, End User [Large Pharma, Generic] - Global Forecast to 2029

About Meticulous Research

Meticulous Research was founded in 2010 and incorporated as Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd. in 2013 as a private limited company under the Companies Act, 1956. Since its incorporation, the company has become the leading provider of premium market intelligence in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa.

The name of our company defines our services, strengths, and values. Since the inception, we have only thrived to research, analyze, and present the critical market data with great attention to details. With the meticulous primary and secondary research techniques, we have built strong capabilities in data collection, interpretation, and analysis of data including qualitative and quantitative research with the finest team of analysts. We design our meticulously analyzed intelligent and value-driven syndicate market research reports, custom studies, quick turnaround research, and consulting solutions to address business challenges of sustainable growth.

Contact:

Mr. Khushal Bombe

Meticulous Market Research Inc.

1267 Willis St, Ste 200 Redding,

California, 96001, U.S.

USA: +1-646-781-8004

Europe : +44-203-868-8738

APAC: +91 744-7780008

Email- [email protected]

Visit Our Website: https://www.meticulousresearch.com/

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Content Source: https://www.meticulousresearch.com/pressrelease/1027/parenteral-nutrition-bags-market-2031

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1757980/Meticulous_Research_Logo_1.jpg

SOURCE Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd.
PARIS, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- This is a report from Xinhuanet:

A forum focused on fostering people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and France was held in Paris on May 4. The event was co-organized by Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese Embassy in France, and Publicis Groupe. During the forum, Liu Qihong, Director of China Southern Power Grid (CSG), delivered a keynote speech highlighting his company's efforts in pioneering Chinese-style modernization in collaboration with the firm's French partners.

On 4 May, at the forum on the development of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and France, guests are seen examining the Report on the New Practices of Chinese-style Modernization by CSG. (Photo by Xin Bei) On 4 May, Chen Zexin, a CSG employee who had earlier completed his studies in France, attending the salon seminar on "Opportunity in China - Dialogue with France". (Photo by Jiao Xiangyang)

Mr. Liu underlined the importance of collaboration between CSG and French entities in the power sector, especially among the utilities themselves, research institutions, and other organizations in the industry chain. He noted that such partnerships in management and technological benchmarking would enhance CSG's expansion into the European market. He stressed that the collaborations would improve CSG's technology, operations, resource management, human resources, brand image, and corporate culture, ultimately boosting its international operational capabilities. He expressed a collective ambition to promote green, low-carbon, sustainable development and the creation of a global community with a shared future.

Over the years, CSG has upheld robust exchange and collaboration ties with the EDF Group, RTE (France's transmission system operator), and Enedis. To further broaden the scope of engagement with European power industry peers, CSG established the European Regional Development Department. At the forum, CSG unveiled the bilingual Chinese-French edition of its "Report on the New Practices of Chinese-style Modernization by CSG". The French version of the promotional film "Walk Before the Light" also made its debut at the venue.

During the forum, Eric Alauzet, Chairman of the France-China Friendship Group of the French National Assembly, highlighted the crucial role of culture as a bond between the distinct civilizations of France and China. He noted that since establishing diplomatic ties, the two nations have enjoyed deep cultural exchanges that have spurred cooperation and development across multiple sectors, including economic and trade partnerships and joint efforts in addressing climate change. France and China have achieved a series of notable accomplishments through these collaborative efforts.

In conjunction with the forum's relevant themes, Chen Zexin, representing CSG, participated in the "Opportunity in China - Dialogue with France" salon seminar held on the same day. As a former student in France who was present for the conclusion of the Paris Agreement, Chen highlighted the significance of deepening China-France cooperation in energy transformation to combat climate change. He recognized France's critical role in advancing global climate governance, and expressed confidence that through Sino-French collaboration, more effective strategies could be developed to promote the low-carbon transition of energy and address global climate issues.

Founded on December 29, 2002, CSG provides power supply services to approximately 1 million square kilometers, serving a population of 272 million in Southern China, with nearly 50% of its energy generation coming from non-fossil sources. The company has made significant advances in digital grid, high-voltage transmission, pumped storage, and virtual power plant technologies. For many years, CSG has been ranked among the world's top 500 companies, demonstrating global leadership and contributing to the achievement of carbon peaking and neutrality goals.

SOURCE xinhuanet
Svend Andersen, EVP and President Consumer Self-Care International (CSCI), to Retire

Roberto Khoury, a Global Branded Consumer Health Veteran, Appointed to Lead the Business

DUBLIN, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Perrigo Company plc (NYSE: PRGO), a leading provider of Consumer Self-Care Products, today announced that Svend Andersen, Executive Vice President and President, Consumer Self-Care International (CSCI), intends to retire from the Company in December of this year. Roberto Khoury, a consumer self-care veteran with more than 20 years of experience cultivating successful branded consumer products and pan-European brands, will be appointed to lead Perrigo's CSCI segment. To ensure business continuity and a seamless transition, Mr. Andersen will continue to lead CSCI, working closely with Mr. Khoury, until August 1, 2024, at which point Mr. Khoury will assume the role of Executive Vice President and President of CSCI, and Mr. Andersen will step down to serve in an advisory role until his retirement, which is expected on December 31, 2024.

Prior to joining Perrigo, Mr. Khoury was responsible for running a $1.4 billion consumer products business at Kenvue (formerly a part of Johnson & Johnson) as Senior Vice President and General Manager of their skin care portfolio, including brand leadership responsibilities for Neutrogena, Neostrata, Clean and Clear, and Rogaine. Prior to this role, Khoury led Kenvue's consumer brands in Europe. Before his time at Kenvue, Mr. Khoury spent 13 years at L'Oreal, where he held several leadership roles in the consumer space that included stints in growing pan-European line extensions of leading brands.

"I am thrilled to join Perrigo and contribute to the Company's increasing success in the self-care industry," said Mr. Khoury. "Perrigo has a strong reputation for delivering high-quality consumer products, and I am excited to work with the talented team, especially Svend, to further strengthen the Company's well-known European brand presence. Together, we will continue to provide innovative solutions that improve the health and well-being of consumers around the world."

During his seven-year tenure, Mr. Andersen played a pivotal role in the success of the CSCI business, focusing the portfolio by significantly reducing the number of SKUs, concentrating business efforts on innovation and brand extensions, and making significant contributions to Perrigo's overall growth and development. His leadership, brand management and overall commitment have CSCI well-positioned for continued success.

"I feel very privileged to have led such a diverse, talented and passionate team, which I am truly going to miss. It has been an incredible journey with Perrigo, and I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished together," commented Mr. Andersen. "I have full confidence that Roberto is the right leader to advance the success of CSCI and all of Perrigo, and I wish him and the team the very best for the future."

Perrigo President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Lockwood-Taylor commented, "On behalf of the Board of Directors, the management team and the more than 9,000 Perrigo colleagues worldwide, I want to express our gratitude to Svend for his invaluable contributions and dedication to the growth and success of the organization. His leadership and commitment have helped position CSCI and Perrigo as a global leader in self-care and I congratulate him on his well-earned retirement."

Lockwood-Taylor concluded, "We are delighted to welcome Roberto to Perrigo, and I am confident that his fresh perspectives and deep consumer insights will focus the CSCI business on scale brands, while delighting consumers with winning innovation. We are also thrilled to have him as part of the leadership team as we continue on our journey to consumerize, simplify and scale One Perrigo."

About Perrigo

Perrigo Company plc (NYSE: PRGO) is a leading provider of Consumer Self-Care Products and over-the-counter (OTC) health and wellness solutions that enhance individual well-being by empowering consumers to proactively prevent or treat conditions that can be self-managed. Visit Perrigo online at www.perrigo.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Litigation Securities Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements relate to future events and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factorsmany of which beyond the Company's controlthat may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. Interested persons are urged to consult the Company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, available at https://investor.perrigo.com/sec-filings, for a discussion of the Company's business and financial condition and certain material trends, risks, uncertainties and other factors relating thereto, including those discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.

SOURCE Perrigo Company plc
Program Ended April 30 After Congress Refused to Continue its Funding

Planet Networks Will Finance the Program for Its Affected Customers Until January 2025

Planet Networks: Our Customers are Our Top Priority and No One Will be Left Behind

Planet Customers Who Have Been Affected and Who Haven't Been Contacted Should Call Planet Networks

NEWTON, N.J. and SAUGERTIES, N.Y., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Planet Networks, a fiber Internet Service Provider, announced today that it will continue to discount internet service for existing customers affected by the sudden end of the Federal Government's 'Affordable Connectivity Program.'

The Affordable Connectivity Program was approved by Congress in 2021 to help those who needed assistance paying for internet coverage. The program ended on April 30 after the funding ended and an extension was not approved by Congress.

Planet Networks has approximately 50 customers in New Jersey and in New York's Hudson Valley affected by Congress' decision to end to the program. The company has notified those customers that it will fund the discount itself until January of 2025.

Any Planet Networks customer who is affected by the end of the program and who has not yet been contacted by Planet Networks can call: 833-3PLANET or 833-375-2638

"Fast and reliable internet service is vital for work and school as well as everything we do in our daily lives. We knew that without reauthorization, the Federal Government would end the program that helped some of our customers, and, to us, it was a no-brainer: we had to step in. Our customers are our top priority, and no one will be left behind," said Planet Networks Founder Robert Boyle.

Planet Networks currently has been offering residential and business services in Northern New Jersey, New York's Hudson Valley, and Eastern Pennsylvania for over three decades.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

https://planet.net

CONTACT:

Rich Bamberger| [email protected]

917-662-8370

SOURCE Planet Networks
WASHINGTON, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC (PPMW) recently received an Underserved Communities Projects grant from Montgomery County, Maryland, to grow the PPMW Promotoras de Salud community health outreach program. The Promotoras de Salud program is one of 11 awardees selected through a highly competitive process, out of 132 applicants.

PPMW's Promotoras de Salud are Spanish-speaking peer educators who teach their communities about sexual and reproductive health and rights and work to destigmatize these complex topics. Prior to connecting with community members, they receive training through PPMW's health education staff. The curriculum, developed by Bilingual Program Manager Karen Gomez Morales, focuses on building a sense of trust and openness between Promotoras and their community members. It prepares Promotoras to facilitate meaningful discussions on challenging, often sensitive topics related to sexual health.

"Now, thanks to the UCP grant, the PPMW team will take the program to the next level by converting it into a state-accredited Community Health Worker program, which upon completion makes the Promotoras eligible for certification through Maryland State," explains Andrea Augustine, Assistant Vice President of Education and Community Engagement at PPMW.

By creating a new opportunity to access this formal certification, PPMW hopes to strengthen the public health workforce of the DC metropolitan region and increase Latinx representation in the area of community health. "Community health workers can make an important difference in addressing unmet needs related to social determinants of health, which can drive health disparities in Latinx communities," Augustine notes. At the same time, PPMW's Promotoras will access the necessary skills and credentials to pursue careers in this field.

In year one of the grant, the PPMW education team will use the UCP funding to enhance the existing Promotoras program, ensuring its alignment with the accreditation standards for Maryland's Community Health Worker Certification Training Program and completing the accreditation process.

In year two, once accreditation has been secured, PPMW will pilot (and continue to refine) the enhanced Promotoras program and will work to connect graduates with employment opportunities. This will prepare PPMW's Promotoras de Salud program for an official launch as an accredited Community Health Worker Certification Training Program in year three, and will enable PPMW's Promotoras to turn their passion for peer education into careers in community health, having an even greater impact.

"Promotoras de Salud are essential for the overall health of communities because they directly connect people to the services they need," says Gomez Morales. "This grant will allow us to recognize the valuable work PPMW's Promotoras de Salud do in connecting people to reproductive services and comprehensive sex education by supporting their professional journeys as educators."

About PPMW

Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC (PPMW) provides high-quality, affordable health care, including sexual and reproductive health care; promotes education programs that empower all individuals to make informed health decisions; and advocates for reproductive rights and health equity for all. PPMW is the oldest and largest provider of family planning services in Metropolitan Washington, serving Washington, DC; Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland; and Northern Virginia.

SOURCE Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, D.C.
China's move to expel Australian naval helicopter reasonable, safe, legal: defense spokesperson

Xinhua) 21:59, May 07, 2024

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesperson on Tuesday said the Chinese military's measure to expel an Australian naval helicopter over the international waters of Yellow Sea was reasonable, safe, professional, and legal.

Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks when rebutting the claims made by Australian defense minister Richard Marles calling the Chinese fighter jet's "interception" of the helicopter on May 4 "a very serious incident."

According to Zhang, a Chinese naval fleet conducted training in relevant waters of China's Yellow Sea from May 3 to 4, during which Australian guided missile destroyer HMAS Hobart dispatched a ship-borne helicopter three times to conduct close-in reconnaissance and disturb the Chinese side's normal training activities.

The Chinese troops vocally warned the Australian helicopter and conducted legitimate, reasonable, professional, and safe operations to expel it, which fully complied with international law and practice.

"We urge the Australian side to truly respect China's sovereignty and security concerns, cease spreading false narratives, strictly constrain the operations of its naval and air forces, stop all dangerous provocations, and avoid undermining the overall relationship between the two countries and the two militaries," stressed the spokesperson.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS/WAM. AIM Congress 2024, a premier global investment platform, kicked off today in Abu Dhabi under the theme "Adapting to a Shifting Investment Landscape: Harnessing New Potential for Global Economic Development".

Set to take place until 9th May, AIM Congress 2024 boasts an impressive lineup of participants, including over 100 ministers, city mayors and central bank governors; 900 speakers; 11 global stock markets; 50 unicorn companies; and more than 12,000 delegates representing 175 countries worldwide. They will participate in 27 joint events organised in cooperation with more than 330 local, regional, and international partners.

AIM Congress is an initiative of the AIM Global Foundation and is organised with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.

The current edition of the summit, held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), offers numerous opportunities for investors, businessmen, and investment companies from around the world to network and explore specialised investment projects across various sectors, featuring 450 dialogue sessions and seven high-level roundtable meetings.

Wide participation in the Congress underscores the UAE's prominent status on the global investment stage and highlights the ease of doing business within the country. This reaffirms the UAE as a prime investment hub for international investors seeking avenues for sustainable growth, expansion, and prosperity.
CHICAGO, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chicago School announced that its new proposed Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine (IllinoisCOM) has been granted Candidate Status from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA)  a significant milestone for the institution.

400 S. Jefferson will be the home of The Chicago Schools Chicago campus, which includes the proposed IllinoisCOM, as well as The Community Solution Education System. The Proposed IllinoisCOM at The Chicago School

Since its founding in 1979, The Chicago School has provided a practical and solutions-oriented education, preparing culturally competent graduates with the skills to improve the health of individuals, organizations, and communities. Building on its commitment to advance the connection between mental and physical health, The Chicago School's proposed IllinoisCOM will cultivate a pipeline of uniquely qualified physicians to provide integrated, individualized care.

"The U.S. faces a severe and growing shortage of highly qualified and empathetic physicians, and without training more physicians, existing gaps in equitable health care access could worsen in our communities," said The Chicago School President Michele Nealon, Psy.D. "With the proposed Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine, The Chicago School stands ready to be part of the solutionsupporting a steady stream of osteopathic physicians who can provide comprehensive, integrated care across the nation."

The proposed IllinoisCOM will integrate mental health education throughout its curriculum and training, supporting comprehensive wellness for both patients and future physicians. The college's innovative approach to learning will also harness artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to improve training for the next generation of doctors, providing them with significant hands-on experience before they interact with patients.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) predicts a national shortage of 37,800 to 124,000 physicians by 2034, and Illinois is expected to need an additional 1,063 primary-care physicians by 2030. Through partnerships with community hospitals and healthcare organizations throughout the country, the proposed IllinoisCOM seeks to help alleviate the physician shortage and fill gaps in community care by setting up clinical rotations for students in high-need areas.

The proposed IllinoisCOM Founding Dean John Lucas, DO, emphasizes the university's mission to partner with community leaders and fill a critical need in providing care to underserved communities across the country. "Medicine is changing rapidly," he said. "Our goal is to prepare physicians to meet patients where they are, partner with them in a care plan, and become the kinds of doctors who make a real difference every day."

In the coming months, the proposed IllinoisCOM will move forward with construction of its state-of-the-art facility located at 400 S. Jefferson Street in Chicago's West Loop while simultaneously working to establish partnerships with community leaders and organizations. In the next 12 years, the proposed medical school is expected to generate $1 billion in total economic impact.

The Chicago School is the founding member of The Community Solution Education System, an integrated, nonprofit system of colleges and universities that work collaboratively to advance student success and community impact across the country.

About The Chicago School

For 45 years, The Chicago School has been a leading nonprofit university dedicated to training professionals for careers that improve the health of individuals, organizations, and communities. By combining education, innovation, community, and impact, The Chicago School approach provides students a practical and solutions-oriented education in an array of academic programs across psychology, health, business, counseling, and behavioral sciences. With more than 6,000 students and locations in Chicago, Dallas, Southern California, and Washington, D.C., the university's extensive network of community partnerships provides applicable training and networking opportunities.

The Chicago School is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission. To learn more, visit www.thechicagoschool.edu. The Chicago School is a proud member of The Community Solution Education System, an integrated nonprofit system of colleges and universities working together to advance student success and community impact.

SOURCE The Chicago School
First digital assets market maker and broker-dealer from Singapore to achieve an In-Principle Approval from the FSRA

SINGAPORE, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- QCP, a global institutional digital assets company, today announced that they have received In-Principle Approval from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to conduct regulated activities. The decision to make a move into this strategic market for the company's footprint was in anticipation that the Middle East is going to become a dominant global hub for capital flowing into traditional and digital assets.

The IPA marks a significant milestone in QCP's journey and commitment towards becoming a regulated digital assets business. A major reason QCP has chosen ADGM as a base for its expansion is that the FSRA exists as the first regulator globally to introduce and implement a comprehensive and bespoke regulatory framework for the regulation of exchanges, custodians, brokers, and other intermediaries engaged in virtual asset activities. The progressiveness in the last few years has also created a strong foundation for institutions like QCP to enter.

Founded in 2017, in the early days of the rise of digital assets, QCP is a pioneer in a rapidly growing segment. It is one of the largest trading desks in the world for digital asset derivatives and a provider of trading solutions and structured strategies. Ernst & Young finds that as of September 2023, the monthly volume of crypto derivatives stands at US$1.33 trillion, which is nearly four times the size of the crypto spot market. With most of the crypto derivative market currently existing outside the US, Abu Dhabi and the UAE have a lot of potential to capture this market segment.

In addition, with notable financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and Brevan Howard launching in Abu Dhabi last year, Abu Dhabi is rapidly attracting its target segment of clients including family offices, traditional and crypto native macro hedge funds, high net worth individuals, blockchain protocols, VC funds, brokerages and more. QCP also previously announced a partnership with Further Ventures, which is reflective of how the company plans to meet the demand for financial and derivatives digital asset offerings in the market.

Melvin Deng, CEO, QCP said, "The IPA is a significant development for us and advances our goal of embracing greater regulation. We are committed to meeting ADGM's transparent and high standards of regulatory compliance. Our intention is to be a responsible player that wants to support market confidence. We are proud to be the first Singaporean digital asset market maker and broker-dealer to set up here in the market and hope we can encourage others to venture into this dynamic market. We want to learn from what other players are doing in Abu Dhabi and the region and bring our expertise as a first mover in digital assets to the ecosystem."

Arvind Ramamurthy, Chief of Market Development at ADGM said, "We congratulate QCP on receiving its IPA from ADGM and welcome them to Abu Dhabi's thriving international financial centre. With a leading trading desk and digital asset capabilities, we look forward to QCP's integration into ADGM's ecosystem, which will streamline regional opportunities. As the digital assets landscape continues to evolve in the Middle East, we anticipate more companies like QCP to recognise the progressive and comprehensive nature of ADGM's regulatory frameworks, fostering confidence in choosing Abu Dhabi as their regional base."

QCP will continue to have its main company headquarters in Singapore while leveraging on Abu Dhabi as a base to break new ground and drive innovation. It is well positioned to expand on the back of strong business growth, with a 64 % Y-o-Y increase in Q1 trading volumes. In line with QCP's long term commitment to the UAE, subject to the regulatory approval for the grant of the FSP, the company plans on making further investments to invest in their presence in the UAE.

About QCP

Established in 2017, QCP is one of the first digital asset trading firms in Singapore, with a vision to partner the next generation of investors to unlock institutional opportunities in digital assets.

QCP brings to clients deep expertise gained from thriving through multiple market cycles. A global market maker in digital asset derivatives with a vast network of liquidity providers and counterparties, we are shaping the future of digital asset markets through greater access and efficiency. We offer a range of tailored derivatives and spot trading as well as structured solutions to institutional, professional and accredited investors.

An active early-stage investor in crypto and blockchain, QCP's portfolio includes core trading infrastructure, exchanges, data and token ecosystems. QCP is supported by over 70 professionals in trading, business development, operations, risk and compliance teams. QCP is headquartered in Singapore.

QCP's insights cover weekly trading updates, monthly and quarterly views, and can be accessed on our official social platforms such as Telegram , Twitter , LinkedIn and more.

More information can be found at www.qcpgroup.com .

SOURCE QCP
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Rise48 Equity, a multifamily investment group headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, expanded to Dallas, TX in 2022, and is making their next move into the North Carolina market. The company plans on acquiring at least 750+ units in North Carolina by the end of 2024.

Rise48 Equity CEO and Co-Founder, Zach Haptonstall, discussing the company's recent expansion into Charlotte, North Carolina.

Zach Haptonstall, CEO & Co-Founder of Rise48 Equity said, "We see great potential in North Carolina with similar fundamentals to Dallas and Phoenix, and we're excited to provide diversification for our investors as we focus on investments in the North Carolina, Dallas, and Phoenix markets going forward. North Carolina has been a very competitive market the past several years, and we see the next 12 months as a window of opportunity to enter the market and acquire cash flowing assets at major discounts from distressed sellers while much of the competition is on the sidelines."

To support their expansion, Rise48 Equity has recently opened an office in the prestigious South Park submarket in Charlotte and has hired local staff.

The company has 240+ full-time W2 employees on full healthcare benefits in their Phoenix and Dallas offices. Phoenix still serves as Rise48 Equity's home base for their corporate headquarters, and their Dallas office continues to grow.

"We have two of our trusted and key employees in the Phoenix market who have permanently relocated to Charlotte to oversee operations and construction management. It's great to have solid and tenured team members to plug in right away and hit the ground running in North Carolina. We will implement the same value-add business plan, acquisition criteria, and operations processes in North Carolina that we have in Dallas and Phoenix. Our Dallas and Phoenix staff and operations are stronger than ever and we're well-positioned to continue executing our business plans across our portfolio in Phoenix, Dallas, and North Carolina," said Haptonstall.

About Rise48 Equity:

Rise48 Equity is a multifamily investment firm with a proven track record, having completed over $2.21 billion in transactions and currently holding over $1.78 billion in assets under management. The company offers investors opportunities for passive income through strategic acquisition and repositioning of multifamily properties. With a vertically integrated structure, Rise48 Equity handles all aspects of property management and construction in-house, ensuring streamlined operations and maximized returns.

For more information, visit rise48equity.com

SOURCE Rise48 Equity
Five-day Edmonton, AB, auction attracted 21,000+ bidders from 43 countries to compete for a record 14,500+ items

WESTCHESTER, Ill. and EDMONTON, AB, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - RB Global, Inc. (NYSE: RBA) (TSX: RBA), a trusted global marketplace for insights, services and transaction solutions for commercial assets and vehicles, today announced that Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers sold 14,500+ equipment items, trucks and vehicles at its premier Canada auction event in Edmonton, AB, last week. The five-day auction generated nearly CA$250 million in gross transaction value (GTV)  a new Canadian record.

The April 29  May 3, 2024, online and onsite auction attracted more than 21,000 bidders from 43 countries, with approximately 94.2% of the equipment selling to Canadians, including 63.3% purchased by Albertans. The remaining 5.8% of the equipment was purchased by international buyers from as far away as Saudi Arabia, Italy and the Netherlands.

"Our April-May Edmonton event once again delivered a huge selection of equipment, including lots of late-model, low-hour gear coming off recently completed jobs and ready to go to work for new owners in the next season," said Jeff Jeter, Chief Revenue Officer for RB Global. "Ritchie Bros. continues to prove that we are the leading destination for buying and selling heavy equipment and transportation assets globally, with over 21,000 bidders who were active onsite, online and through our mobile app throughout the auction. We would like to thank our record number of more than 1,600 consignors for once again choosing Ritchie Bros. to deliver the results that they count on us to deliver.

"We also extend a huge thank you to our generous and community-minded customers, who have again bid on our VIP Parking stalls in support of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Four companies have helped to raise $42,000 this year. Over the last seven years our customers have helped to raise $200,000 for children with critical illnesses," Jeter said.

Ritchie Bros. has more than 110,000 equipment items and trucks in its upcoming auctions and online marketplaces, including 5,400+ items selling in an Ontario Regional Event on May 810; 4,000+ items selling in Montreal, QC, May 1517; 1,700 items selling in Lethbridge, AB, on May 16; and 2,400+ items selling in a BC Regional Event May 2930. For a complete list of upcoming auctions and events, including weekly IronPlanet auctions and Marketplace-E events, visit rbauction.com/auctions.

About RB Global

RB Global, Inc. (NYSE: RBA) (TSX: RBA) is a leading, omnichannel marketplace that provides value-added insights, services and transaction solutions for buyers and sellers of commercial assets and vehicles worldwide. Through its auction sites in 14 countries and digital platform, RB Global serves customers in more than 170 countries across a variety of asset classes, including automotive, commercial transportation, construction, government surplus, lifting and material handling, energy, mining and agriculture. The company's marketplace brands include Ritchie Bros., the world's largest auctioneer of commercial assets and vehicles offering online bidding, and IAA, a leading global digital marketplace connecting vehicle buyers and sellers. RB Global's portfolio of brands also includes Rouse Services, which provides a complete end-to-end asset management, data-driven intelligence and performance benchmarking system; SmartEquip, an innovative technology platform that supports customers' management of the equipment lifecycle and integrates parts procurement with both OEMs and dealers; Xcira, a leader in live simulcast auction technologies; and VeriTread, an online marketplace for heavy haul transport.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this release include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by such words as "aim", "anticipate", "believe", "could", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "ongoing", "plan", "potential", "predict", "will", "anticipates", "should", "would", "could", "likely", "generally", "future", "long-term", "foresees", "estimates", "opportunity" or the negative of these terms, and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. These statements are based on our current expectations and estimates about our business and markets, and may include, among others, statements relating to the April-May Edmonton Auction and other subjects of this release, our future strategy, objectives, targets, projections and performance and other statements that are not historical facts. It is uncertain whether any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what impact they will have on the results of operations and financial condition of the combined companies or the price of RB Global's common shares. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on any such statements, and caution must be exercised in relying on forward-looking statements. While RB Global's management believes the assumptions underlying these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond RB Global's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: our results of operations, strategy and plans; potential adverse reactions or changes to our business or employee relationships; our ability to integrate acquisitions (including IAA, Inc. ), the diversion of management time on transaction-related issues; the ability of RB Global to retain and hire key personnel and employees; the significant costs associated with the merger; the outcome of any legal proceedings that could be instituted against RB Global; changes in capital markets and the ability of the company to generate cash flow and/or finance operations in the manner expected or to de-lever in the timeframe expected; the failure of RB Global to meet financial forecasts and/or KPI targets; legislative, regulatory and economic developments affecting the business of RB Global; general economic and market developments and conditions; the evolving legal, regulatory and tax regimes under which RB Global operates; unpredictability and severity of catastrophic events, including, but not limited to, pandemics, acts of terrorism or outbreak of war or hostilities, as well as RB Global's response to any of the aforementioned factors. Other risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements are included in RB Global's periodic reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and/or applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including the risk factors identified under Part I, Item 1A "Risk Factors" in RB Global's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date hereof. While the list of factors presented here is considered representative, no such list should be considered to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. Many of these risk factors are outside of our control, and as such, they involve risks which are not currently known that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed or implied herein. RB Global does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, new information, future events, changes in its expectations or other circumstances that exist after the date as of which the forward-looking statements were made, except as required by law.

SOURCE RB Global
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- SandRidge Energy, Inc. (the "Company" or "SandRidge") (NYSE: SD) today announced financial and operational results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2024.

Recent Highlights

On May 2, 2024 , the Board of Directors declared a $0.11 per share cash dividend payable on May 31, 2024 to shareholders of record on May 17, 2024 . The Company has paid $141.2 million in cash dividends since May 2023

, the Board of Directors declared a per share cash dividend payable on to shareholders of record on . The Company has paid in cash dividends since First quarter net income was $11.1 million , or $0.30 per basic share. Adjusted net income (1) was $8.4 million , or $0.23 per basic share

, or per basic share. Adjusted net income was , or per basic share Adjusted EBITDA (1) of $14.7 million for the three-month period ended March 31, 2024

of for the three-month period ended Adjusted G&A (1) was $2.8 million , or $2.03 per Boe for the three-month period ended March 31, 2024

was , or per Boe for the three-month period ended Net cash provided by operating activities of $15.7 million for the three-month period ended March 31, 2024

for the three-month period ended Generated $14.5 million of free cash flow (1) for the three-month period ended March 31, 2024 , which represents a conversion rate of approximately 99% relative to adjusted EBITDA (1)

of free cash flow for the three-month period ended , which represents a conversion rate of approximately 99% relative to adjusted EBITDA As of March 31, 2024 , the Company had $208.5 million of cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash

, the Company had of cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash Approximately $2.7 million in interest income for the quarter ended March 31, 2024

Financial Results & Update

Profitability & Realized Pricing

For the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Company reported net income of $11.1 million, or $0.30 per basic share, and net cash provided by operating activities of $15.7 million. After adjusting for certain items, the Company's adjusted net income(1) amounted to $8.4 million, or $0.23 per basic share, adjusted operating cash flow(1) totaled $17.5 million and adjusted EBITDA(1) was $14.7 million for the quarter. The Company defines and reconciles adjusted net income, adjusted operating cash flow, adjusted EBITDA, and other non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States ("GAAP") measure in supporting tables at the conclusion of this press release.

For the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Company generated approximately $14.5 million of free cash flow(1). This represents a conversion rate of approximately 99% relative to adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended March 31, 2024.

First quarter realized oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids prices were $75.08 per Bbl, $1.25 per Mcf and $23.65 per Bbl, respectively.

Operating Costs

During the first quarter of 2024, lease operating expense ("LOE") was $10.9 million or $7.92 per Boe. The Company continues to focus on its operating costs and safely maximizing the value of its asset base through prudent expenditure programs, cost management efforts, and continuous pursuit of initiatives that safely drive cost efficiency in the field. The Company successfully managed the operational impacts of seasonal cold weather throughout the first quarter of 2024, which impacted the timing of expense workover activities, but were not outside of the Company's range expectations for this time of year.

For the three months ended March 31, 2024, general and administrative expense ("G&A") was $3.3 million, or $2.42 per Boe.

Liquidity & Capital Structure

As of March 31, 2024, the Company had $208.5 million of cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash, diversified across multiple significant, well-capitalized financial institutions. The Company has no outstanding term or revolving debt obligations.

Dividend Program

In January 2024, the Board of Directors approved a one-time cash dividend of $1.50 per share of the Company's common stock, which was paid on February 20, 2024 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 5, 2024. The aggregate total payout was approximately $55.6 million. Additionally, in March 2024, the Board of Directors increased the Company's on-going quarterly dividend to $0.11 per share which was first paid on March 29, 2024, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 15, 2024. The aggregate total payout was $4.1 million. The $0.11 per share dividend is subject to quarterly approval by the Board of Directors. Dividend payments for the three-month period ended March 31, 2024 totaled $59.7 million, which included $0.1 million of dividends on vested stock awards.

On May 2, 2024, the Board of Directors declared a $0.11 per share cash dividend payable on May 31, 2024 to shareholders of record on May 17, 2024.

Operational Results & Update

Production & Revenue

Production totaled 1,376 MBoe (15.1 MBoed, 15% oil, 58% natural gas and 27% NGLs) for the three months ended March 31, 2024. Revenues totaled $30.3 million (51% oil, 20% natural gas and 29% NGLs) for the first quarter of 2024. While production in the first quarter of 2024 was impacted by seasonal cold weather, our projected long-term decline rates remain stable due to the nature of the Company's asset base and the continued focus on production optimization efforts.

Production Optimization Program

The Company continues to optimize its stable, low-decline production base, which has an estimated single-digit annual PDP decline rate over the next ten years. The Company continuously evaluates the potential for high-return projects that further enhance its asset base. Such projects include, but are not limited to, workovers, artificial lift improvements and conversions from less efficient systems, recompletions of "behind pipe" pay in vertical section of existing wells, and the restimulation of existing intervals and previously bypassed unstimulated intervals in existing wells. When evaluating these and other options, the Company continues to ensure that all projects meet high rate of return thresholds and remains capital disciplined as the commodity price landscape changes.

Outlook

SandRidge will continue to focus on growing the cash value and generation capability of its asset base in a safe, responsible and efficient manner, while exercising prudent capital allocations to projects it believes provide high rates of returns in the current commodity price outlook. These near-term projects will be focused on artificial lift conversions to more efficient and cost-effective systems and other capital-efficient workovers while preserving future development and expanded well reactivations, benefited by our 99% held by production acreage position that extends the option value to initiate projects in favorable commodity price environments, to achieve high rates of return. The Company will continue to monitor forward-looking commodity prices, results, costs and other factors that could influence returns on investments, which will continue to shape its disciplined development decisions in 2024 and beyond.

SandRidge will also continue to maintain the optionality to execute on value accretive merger and acquisition opportunities that could bring synergies, leverage the Company's core competencies, complement its portfolio of assets, seek to further utilize its approximately $1.6 billion of net operating losses ("NOLs"), or otherwise yield attractive returns for its shareholders.

Environmental, Social, & Governance ("ESG")

SandRidge maintains its Environmental, Social, and Governance ("ESG") commitment, to include no routine flaring of produced natural gas and transporting over 95% of its produced water via pipeline instead of truck. Additionally, SandRidge maintains an emphasis on the safety and training of our workforce. We have personnel dedicated to the close monitoring of our safety standards and daily operations.

Conference Call Information

The Company will host a conference call to discuss these results on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at 10:00 am CT. The conference call can be accessed by registering online in advance at https://registrations.events/direct/Q4I231505 at which time registrants will receive dial-in information as well as a conference ID. At the time of the call, participants will dial in using the participant number and conference ID provided upon registration. The Company's latest presentation is available on the Company's website at investors.sandridgeenergy.com.

A live audio webcast of the conference call will also be available via SandRidge's website, investors.sandridgeenergy.com, under Presentation & Events. The webcast will be archived for replay on the Company's website for at least 30 days.

Contact Information

Investor Relations

SandRidge Energy, Inc.

1 E. Sheridan Ave. Suite 500

Oklahoma City, OK 73104

[email protected]

About SandRidge Energy, Inc.

SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD) is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the development, acquisition, and production of oil and gas assets. Its primary area of operations is the Mid-Continent region in Oklahoma and Kansas. Further information can be found at sandridgeenergy.com.

-Tables to Follow-







(1) See "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" section at the end of this press release for non-GAAP financial measures definitions.

Operational and Financial Statistics

Information regarding the Company's production, pricing, costs and earnings is presented below (unaudited):



Three Months Ended March 31,

2024

2023 Production - Total





Oil (MBbl) 208

261 Natural Gas (MMcf) 4,807

4,912 NGL (MBbl) 367

420 Oil equivalent (MBoe) 1,376

1,500 Daily production (MBoed) 15.1

16.7







Average price per unit





Realized oil price per barrel - as reported $ 75.08

$ 74.26 Realized impact of derivatives per barrel 

 Net realized price per barrel $ 75.08

$ 74.26







Realized natural gas price per Mcf - as reported $ 1.25

$ 2.73 Realized impact of derivatives per Mcf 

1.19 Net realized price per Mcf $ 1.25

$ 3.92







Realized NGL price per barrel - as reported $ 23.65

$ 24.62 Realized impact of derivatives per barrel 

 Net realized price per barrel $ 23.65

$ 24.62







Realized price per Boe - as reported $ 22.01

$ 28.76 Net realized price per Boe - including impact of derivatives $ 22.01

$ 32.67







Average cost per Boe





Lease operating $ 7.92

$ 7.79 Production, ad valorem, and other taxes $ 1.38

$ 2.50 Depletion (1) $ 2.96

$ 2.30







Earnings per share





Earnings per share applicable to common stockholders





Basic $ 0.30

$ 0.64 Diluted $ 0.30

$ 0.64







Adjusted net income per share available to common stockholders





Basic $ 0.23

$ 0.70 Diluted $ 0.23

$ 0.69







Weighted average number of shares outstanding (in thousands)





Basic 37,042

36,859 Diluted 37,134

37,110



(1) Includes accretion of asset retirement obligation.

Capital Expenditures

The table below presents actual results of the Company's capital expenditures for the three months ended March 31, 2024 (unaudited):



Three Months Ended

March 31, 2024

(In thousands)



Drilling, completion, and capital workovers $ 745 Leasehold and geophysical 84 Capital expenditures (on an accrual basis) $ 829 (excluding acquisitions and plugging and abandonment)



Capitalization

The Company's capital structure as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023 is presented below:



March 31, 2024

December 31, 2023









(In thousands) Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash $ 208,493

$ 253,944







Long-term debt $ 

$  Total debt 









Stockholders' equity





Common stock 37

37 Additional paid-in capital 1,011,489

1,071,021 Accumulated deficit (591,822)

(602,947) Total SandRidge Energy, Inc. stockholders' equity 419,704

468,111







Total capitalization $ 419,704

$ 468,111

SandRidge Energy, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Income Statements (Unaudited) (In thousands, except per share amounts)



Three Months Ended March 31,

2024

2023 Revenues





Oil, natural gas and NGL $ 30,283

$ 43,147 Total revenues 30,283

43,147 Expenses





Lease operating expenses 10,892

11,694 Production, ad valorem, and other taxes 1,896

3,751 Depreciation and depletion  oil and natural gas 4,076

3,454 Depreciation and amortization  other 1,678

1,618 General and administrative 3,332

2,909 Restructuring expenses 

39 Employee termination benefits 

19 (Gain) loss on derivative contracts 

(1,447) Other operating (income) expense, net (9)

(94) Total expenses 21,865

21,943 Income from operations 8,418

21,204 Other income (expense)





Interest income (expense), net 2,698

2,499 Other income (expense), net 9

55 Total other income (expense) 2,707

2,554 Income (loss) before income taxes 11,125

23,758 Income tax (benefit) expense 

 Net income (loss) $ 11,125

$ 23,758 Net income (loss) per share





Basic $ 0.30

$ 0.64 Diluted $ 0.30

$ 0.64 Weighted average number of common shares outstanding





Basic 37,042

36,859 Diluted 37,134

37,110

SandRidge Energy, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) (In thousands)



March 31, 2024

December 31, 2023 ASSETS





Current assets





Cash and cash equivalents $ 206,956

$ 252,407 Restricted cash - other 1,537

1,537 Accounts receivable, net 22,316

22,166 Prepaid expenses 2,384

430 Other current assets 1,105

1,314 Total current assets 234,298

277,854 Oil and natural gas properties, using full cost method of accounting





Proved 1,539,497

1,538,724 Unproved 11,215

11,197 Less: accumulated depreciation, depletion and impairment (1,396,534)

(1,393,801)

154,178

156,120 Other property, plant and equipment, net 85,062

86,493 Other assets 3,250

3,130 Deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowance 50,569

50,569 Total assets $ 527,357

$ 574,166







LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY





Current liabilities





Accounts payable and accrued expenses $ 39,276

$ 38,828 Asset retirement obligations 9,789

9,851 Other current liabilities 778

645 Total current liabilities 49,843

49,324 Asset retirement obligations 55,545

54,553 Other long-term obligations 2,265

2,178 Total liabilities 107,653

106,055 Stockholders' Equity





Common stock, $0.001 par value; 250,000 shares authorized; 37,118 issued and

outstanding at March 31, 2024 and 37,091 issued and outstanding at December 31, 2023 37

37 Additional paid-in capital 1,011,489

1,071,021 Accumulated deficit (591,822)

(602,947) Total stockholders' equity 419,704

468,111 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 527,357

$ 574,166

SandRidge Energy, Inc. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited) (In thousands)



Three Months Ended March 31,

2024

2023 CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES





Net income $ 11,125

$ 23,758 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities





Depreciation, depletion, and amortization 5,754

5,072 (Gain) loss on derivative contracts 

(1,447) Settlement gains (losses) on derivative contracts 

5,876 Stock-based compensation 536

396 Other 40

38 Changes in operating assets and liabilities (1,774)

6,154 Net cash provided by operating activities 15,681

39,847 CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES





Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment (1,124)

(9,392) Purchase of other property and equipment (18)

(16) Proceeds from sale of assets 38

 Net cash used in investing activities (1,104)

(9,408) CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES





Dividends paid to shareholders (59,718)

 Reduction of financing lease liability (207)

(132) Tax withholdings paid in exchange for shares withheld on employee vested stock awards (103)

(211) Net cash used in financing activities (60,028)

(343) NET (DECREASE) INCREASE IN CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS and RESTRICTED CASH (45,451)

30,096 CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS and RESTRICTED CASH, beginning of year 253,944

257,468 CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS and RESTRICTED CASH, end of period $ 208,493

$ 287,564 Supplemental Disclosure of Cash Flow Information





Cash paid for interest, net of amounts capitalized $ (33)

$ (32) Supplemental Disclosure of Noncash Investing and Financing Activities





Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment in accounts payables and accrued expenses $ 605

$ 8,904 Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for financing lease obligations $ 230

$  Inventory material transfers to oil and natural gas properties $ 19

$ 75 Asset retirement obligation capitalized $ 

$ 12 Change in dividends payable $ 247

$ 

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP measures are not alternatives to GAAP measures, and you should not consider these non-GAAP measures in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Below is additional disclosure regarding each of the non-GAAP measures used in this press release, including reconciliations to their most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Reconciliation of Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities to Adjusted Operating Cash Flow

The Company defines Adjusted operating cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities before changes in operating assets and liabilities as shown in the following table. Adjusted Operating cash flow is a supplemental financial measure used by the Company's management and by securities analysts, investors, lenders, rating agencies and others who follow the industry as an indicator of the Company's ability to internally fund exploration and development activities or incur new debt. The Company also uses this measure because operating cash flow relates to the timing of cash receipts and disbursements that the Company may not control and may not relate to the period in which the operating activities occurred. Further, Adjusted operating cash flow allows the Company to compare its operating performance and return on capital with those of other companies without regard to financing methods and capital structure. This measure should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net cash provided by operating activities prepared in accordance with GAAP.



Three Months Ended March 31,

2024

2023









(In thousands) Net cash provided by operating activities $ 15,681

$ 39,847 Changes in operating assets and liabilities 1,774

(6,154) Adjusted operating cash flow $ 17,455

$ 33,693

Reconciliation of Free Cash Flow

The Company defines free cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities plus net cash (used in) provided by investing activities less the cash flow impact of acquisitions and divestitures. Free cash flow is a supplemental financial measure used by the Company's management and by securities analysts, investors, lenders, rating agencies and others who follow the industry as an indicator of the Company's ability to internally fund exploration and development activities or incur new debt. This measure should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net cash provided by operating or investing activities prepared in accordance with GAAP.



Three Months Ended March 31,

2024

2023









(In thousands) Net cash provided by operating activities $ 15,681

$ 39,847 Net cash used in investing activities (1,104)

(9,408) Proceeds from sale of assets (38)

 Free cash flow $ 14,539

$ 30,439

Reconciliation of Net Income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

The Company defines EBITDA as net income before income tax (benefit) expense, interest expense, depreciation and amortization - other and depreciation and depletion - oil and natural gas. Adjusted EBITDA, as presented herein, is EBITDA excluding items that management believes affect the comparability of operating results such as items whose timing and/or amount cannot be reasonably estimated or are non-recurring, as shown in the following tables.

Adjusted EBITDA is presented because management believes it provides useful additional information used by the Company's management and by securities analysts, investors, lenders, ratings agencies and others who follow the industry for analysis of the Company's financial and operating performance on a recurring basis and the Company's ability to internally fund exploration and development activities or incur new debt. In addition, management believes that adjusted EBITDA is widely used by professional research analysts and others in the valuation, comparison and investment recommendations of companies in the oil and gas industry. The Company's adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies.



Three Months Ended March 31,

2024

2023









(In thousands) Net Income $ 11,125

$ 23,758 Adjusted for





Depreciation and depletion - oil and natural gas 4,076

3,454 Depreciation and amortization - other 1,678

1,618 Interest expense 33

32 EBITDA 16,912

28,862







Stock-based compensation 536

396 (Gain) loss on derivative contracts 

(1,447) Settlement gains (losses) on derivative contracts 

5,876 Employee termination benefits 

19 Restructuring expenses 

39 Interest income (2,731)

(2,531) Adjusted EBITDA $ 14,717

$ 31,214

Reconciliation of Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities to Adjusted EBITDA



Three Months Ended March 31,

2024

2023









(In thousands) Net cash provided by operating activities $ 15,681

$ 39,847 Changes in operating assets and liabilities 1,774

(6,154) Interest expense 33

32 Employee termination benefits 

19 Interest income (2,731)

(2,531) Other (40)

1 Adjusted EBITDA $ 14,717

$ 31,214

Reconciliation of Net Income Available to Common Stockholders to Adjusted Net Income Available to Common Stockholders

The Company defines adjusted net income as net income excluding items that management believes affect the comparability of operating results and are typically excluded from published estimates by the investment community, including items whose timing and/or amount cannot be reasonably estimated or are non-recurring, as shown in the following tables.

Management uses the supplemental measure of adjusted net income as an indicator of the Company's operational trends and performance relative to other oil and natural gas companies and believes it is more comparable to earnings estimates provided by securities analysts. Adjusted net income is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered a substitute for net income available to common stockholders.



Three Months Ended March 31, 2024

Three Months Ended March 31, 2023

$

$/Diluted Share

$

$/Diluted Share

(In thousands, except per share amounts) Net income available to common stockholders $ 11,125

$ 0.30

$ 23,758

$ 0.64 (Gain) loss on derivative contracts 



(1,447)

(0.04) Settlement gains (losses) on derivative contracts 



5,876

0.16 Employee termination benefits 



19

 Restructuring expenses 



39

 Interest income (2,731)

(0.07)

(2,531)

(0.07) Adjusted net income available to common stockholders $ 8,394

$ 0.23

$ 25,714

$ 0.69

















Basic

Diluted

Basic

Diluted Weighted average number of common shares outstanding 37,042

37,134

36,859

37,110 Total adjusted net income per share $ 0.23

$ 0.23

$ 0.70

$ 0.69

Reconciliation of General and Administrative to Adjusted G&A

The Company reports and provides guidance on Adjusted G&A per Boe because it believes this measure is commonly used by management, analysts and investors as an indicator of cost management and operating efficiency on a comparable basis from period to period and to compare and make investment recommendations of companies in the oil and gas industry. This non-GAAP measure allows for the analysis of general and administrative spend without regard to stock-based compensation programs and other non-recurring cash items, if any, which can vary significantly between companies. Adjusted G&A per Boe is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered a substitute for general and administrative expense per Boe. Therefore, the Company's Adjusted G&A per Boe may not be comparable to other companies' similarly titled measures.

The Company defines adjusted G&A as general and administrative expense adjusted for certain non-cash stock-based compensation and other non-recurring items, if any, as shown in the following tables:



Three Months Ended March 31, 2024

Three Months Ended March 31, 2023

$

$/Boe

$

$/Boe

(In thousands, except per Boe amounts) General and administrative $ 3,332

$ 2.42

$ 2,909

$ 1.94 Stock-based compensation (536)

(0.39)

(396)

(0.26) Adjusted G&A $ 2,796

$ 2.03

$ 2,513

$ 1.68

Cautionary Note to Investors - This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance and reflect SandRidge's current beliefs and expectations regarding future events and operating performance. The forward-looking statements include projections and estimates of the Company's corporate strategies, future operations, development plans and appraisal programs, drilling inventory and locations, estimated oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids production, price realizations and differentials, hedging program, projected operating, general and administrative and other costs, projected capital expenditures, tax rates, efficiency and cost reduction initiative outcomes, liquidity and capital structure and the Company's unaudited proved developed PV-10 reserve value of its Mid-Continent assets. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions and analyses made by us in light of our experience and our perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. However, whether actual results and developments will conform with our expectations and predictions is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the volatility of oil and natural gas prices, our success in discovering, estimating, developing and replacing oil and natural gas reserves, actual decline curves and the actual effect of adding compression to natural gas wells, the availability and terms of capital, the ability of counterparties to transactions with us to meet their obligations, our timely execution of hedge transactions, credit conditions of global capital markets, changes in economic conditions, the amount and timing of future development costs, the availability and demand for alternative energy sources, regulatory changes, including those related to carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions, and other factors, many of which are beyond our control. We refer you to the discussion of risk factors in Part I, Item 1A - "Risk Factors" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K and in comparable "Risk Factor" sections of our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed after such form 10-K. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. The actual results or developments anticipated may not be realized or, even if substantially realized, they may not have the expected consequences to or effects on our Company or our business or operations. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD) is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the development, acquisition and production of oil and gas properties. Its primary area of operations is the Mid-Continent region in Oklahoma and Kansas. Further information can be found at www.sandridgeenergy.com.

SOURCE SANDRIDGE ENERGY, INC.
NEW YORK, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ShardSecure, a leading provider of data security and resilience software, has forged a strategic technology alliance with Utimaco, a leading global provider of IT security solutions.

The ShardSecure-Utimaco partnership ensures that data is well protected against outages, attacks, and other forms of data compromise. ShardSecure's protection of unstructured data complements Utimaco's protection of structured data, creating a robust holistic solution to address a wide range of customer needs.

Specifically, the integration leverages Utimaco u.trust General Purpose HSMs using a PKCS #11 interface to provide extremely secure at-rest encryption for the ShardSecure engine encryption keys. This ensures that encryption operations like encrypting and decrypting will be protected by the Utimaco HSM, adding a critically important layer of security for a defense-in-depth approach.

"Utimaco's u.trust General Purpose HSM is market leading in both performance and multi-tenancy. Establishing a strong root of trust that anchors the security of the ShardSecure engine encryption key is critical. Ensuring that encryption operations are protected by u.trust General Purpose HSM is fundamental to an organization's security profile. Utimaco's commitment to strategic alliance partners has always been part of our business model," said Scott Kemish, Vice President Channel Sales & Partnerships at Utimaco. "This collaboration with ShardSecure underscores our commitment to empowering organizations with comprehensive solutions for safeguarding their most valuable asset: their data."

ShardSecure offers innovative software for data security, privacy, and resilience that neutralizes the impact of ransomware attacks, protects AI/ML datasets, and provides file-level protection. Its self-healing data feature helps companies maintain high availability and robust data resilience in the face of outages, attacks, and other disruptions.

"We're very pleased to be announcing this tech alliance," said Julian Weinberger, ShardSecure Field Chief Technology Officer. "The increasing complexities and challenges in data security today necessitate robust partnerships. The alliance between ShardSecure and Utimaco exemplifies this by combining Utimaco's extensive portfolio with ShardSecure's powerful solutions for unstructured data, enhancing data security and trust in the market. We are excited about the potential for growth in this partnership over the upcoming months."

About Utimaco

Utimaco is a global platform provider of trusted Cybersecurity and Compliance solutions and services with headquarters in Aachen (Germany) and Campbell, CA (USA). Utimaco develops on-premises and cloud-based hardware security modules, solutions for key management, data protection and identity management as well as data intelligence solutions for regulated critical infrastructures and Public Warning Systems. Utimaco is one of the world's leading manufacturers in its key market segments.

500+ employees around the globe create innovative solutions and services to protect data, identities and communication networks with responsibility for global customers and citizens. Customers and partners in many different industries value the reliability and long-term investment security of Utimaco's high-security products and solutions. Find out more on www.utimaco.com.

About ShardSecure



ShardSecure helps companies simplify their data protection and secure their data wherever it resides  on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid- and multi-cloud architectures. Our innovative technology delivers strong data privacy, security, and resilience in a unified, multi-protocol platform that works across multiple cloud providers. The ShardSecure platform also provides agentless file-level protection, ransomware risk mitigation, self-healing, protection for AI/ML datasets, and support for regulatory compliance.

ShardSecure was recognized as a Cool Vendor in the Gartner Cool Vendors in Privacy, 2023 report by Bart Willemsen, Bernard Woo, and Nader Henein at Gartner, Inc. To learn more, visit https://go.shardsecure.com/gartner-cool-vendor-in-privacy.

Media Contact

[email protected]

SOURCE ShardSecure
MILWAUKEE, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ademi LLP is investigating ALLETE (NYSE: ALE) for possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law in its going private transaction with CPP Investments and Global Infrastructure Partners.

Click here to learn how to join the https://www.ademilaw.com/case/allete-inc or call Guri Ademi toll-free at 866-264-3995. There is no cost or obligation to you.

In the transaction, ALLETE stockholders will receive only $67.00 per share in cash, or $6.2 billion including the assumption of debt. The transaction agreement unreasonably limits competing transactions for ALLETE by imposing a significant penalty if ALLETE accepts a competing bid. ALLETE insiders will receive substantial benefits as part of change of control arrangements.

We are investigating the conduct of ALLETE's board of directors, and whether they are fulfilling their fiduciary duties to all shareholders.

If you own ALLETE common stock and wish to obtain additional information, please contact Guri Ademi either at [email protected] or toll-free: 866-264-3995, or https://www.ademilaw.com/case/allete-inc.

We specialize in shareholder litigation involving buyouts, mergers, and individual shareholder rights throughout the country. For more information, please feel free to call us. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Contacts

Ademi LLP

Guri Ademi

Toll Free: (866) 264-3995

Fax: (414) 482-8001

SOURCE Ademi LLP
NEW YORK, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Primerica, Inc. ("Primerica" or the "Company") (NYSE: PRI). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at [email protected] or 646-581-9980, ext. 7980.

The investigation concerns whether Primerica and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On April 18, 2024, The Bear Cave published a short report on Primerica, which described the Company as "a pyramid scheme". The Bear Cave cited "extensive evidence suggesting that Primerica's highest producing agents are engaged in misleading, false, or deceptive conduct including 1) a recorded Zoom presentation from a Senior National Sales Director that alleges crooked conduct, 'fake numbers,' and appears to suggest an ongoing internal investigation, 2) a text message recruiting script for new agents that appears to deliberately obfuscate their association with Primerica, 3) agent presentations that emphasize recruiting over serving independent customers and 4) a presentation by a high-producing agent saying 'it's normal to be a millionaire.'" The Bear Cave also cited "complaints obtained through public records requests", which "allege forged signatures on six-figure investment contracts" and "'institutionalized theft[.]'"

Following publication of the Bear Cave report, Primerica's stock price fell $1.55 per share, or 0.73%, to close at $210.09 per share on April 18, 2024.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com.

Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

Danielle Peyton

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

646-581-9980 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
NEW YORK, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Sealed Air Corporation ("Sealed Air" or the "Company") (NYSE: SEE). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at [email protected] or 646-581-9980, ext. 7980.

The investigation concerns whether Sealed Air and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On April 3, 2024, Bleecker Street Research ("Bleecker") presented the Company as a short idea at the Sohn Investment Conference in New York City stating, in part, that "Sealed Air (SEE) is a disaster in motion: its entire business is facing extinction as customers move away from the thin-film plastics the company makes. Sealed Air's e-Commerce business has collapsed as Amazon has moved away from the single-use plastics, formerly ever present in its packaging."

On this news, Sealed Air's stock price fell $1.99 per share, or 5.56%, to close at $33.79 per share on April 3, 2024.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com.

Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

Danielle Peyton

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

646-581-9980 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
OSLO, Norway, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Simplifai, a pioneering force in AI Automation Solutions for insurance and banking, proudly announces the completion of its latest investment round, securing a significant investment. The investment round was led by Idekapital, the Norwegian investor funding and supporting high-growth B2B software and technology scale-ups with global potential.

This significant infusion of capital comes on the heels of Simplifai's innovative advancements in the insurance industry, particularly through its new flagship product, InsuranceGPT. InsuranceGPT represents the industry's first insurance-specific generative AI technology, empowering insurers with unparalleled end-to-end business process automation capabilities. By harnessing the power of generative AI, InsuranceGPT facilitates enriched communication between insurers and their customers, delivering swift, precise, and secure responses.

"We are thrilled to support Simplifai on its journey of innovation and expansion," remarked Krisztina Horvath, Principal at Idekapital. "Simplifai's commitment to delivering significant value for their customers and their visionary approach to leveraging AI align seamlessly with our investment strategy. They have built a strong foundation and we are eager to contribute to their continued success globally."

Bard Myrstad, Simplifai CEO, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, "Idekapital embodies the ideal partner for Simplifai. Their wealth of experience in nurturing companies with similar trajectories positions them as invaluable partners. With Idekapital's expertise in product market readiness and international expansion, we are poised to accelerate our growth trajectory and drive meaningful impact in the insurance and banking sectors."

Simplifai has previously unveiled its Claims Handling solution, built on the foundation of InsuranceGPT's cutting-edge technology. For more information on this development, please visit https://www.simplifai.ai/news/simplifai-launches-the-simplifai-claims-processing-solution-powered-by-insurancegpt/.

About Simplifai:

Founded in 2017, Simplifai is the secure AI company. We create the Simplifai AI Automation platform, which is used to create a number of solutions for the Insurance and Banking industries, including Claims Intake, Claims Processing, Underwriting, and Customer Interaction. Simplifai's solutions reduce customer churn, reduce operational costs, improve customer satisfaction, and provide a strong competitive advantage for our customers. We are founded in Oslo, Norway, with offices in Pune India, the Netherlands, and Ukraine. Learn more: www.simplifai.ai.

For media inquiries or further information, please contact:

Aron Kozak

Marketing Director

+47 46 98 69 50

[email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/simplifai/r/simplifai-secures-a-significant-investment-with-idekapital-as-lead-investor,c3974742

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/22404/3974742/2782543.pdf Press release (PDF)
YEREVAN, 7 MAY, ARMENPRESS/BTA. About 63% of working Bulgarians are satisfied with their jobs, 12% are dissatisfied, and 22% stand somewhere in-between, shows a survey conducted by the Gallup International polling agency, which was published on Tuesday. The job satisfaction level in Bulgaria is close to the world's average but lower than the EU average, according to the survey.

TheEnd of Yearstudy by the Gallup International Association was carried out in 45 countries of the world. A total of 46,138 respondents were interviewed worldwide. Between October and December 2023, approximately 1,000 people were interviewed in each country face to face, by telephone or online. The margin of error is +/- 3-5%, and the confidence interval is 95%.

The last few years have seen a decline in job satisfaction. In 2018, some 70% of Bulgarian respondents said they were satisfied with their jobs.

As for income, the current wave of Gallup polling shows that 46% of working people in Bulgaria are "mainly satisfied" with their wages, and 32% are "mainly dissatisfied". Another 21% are "neither mainly satisfied nor mainly dissatisfied".

According to this indicator, attitudes in Bulgaria are also close to the world' average level, far from the extreme negativism registered in some African countries and India, but not overly enthusiastic. They are also close to the EU average.

Around 21% of Bulgarians believe that artificial intelligence creates more opportunities, and 38% see more problems. One Bulgarian in three does not feel informed well enough to express an opinion.

(This information is being published according to an agreement between Armenpress and BTA.)
NEW YORK, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Sound, maker of organic sparkling botanicals and teas, is pleased to announce it has been acquired by operating partner Next in Natural, and Jeff Lichtenstein has been appointed Chairman of the Board to assist with strategic guidance. This will provide Sound with Lichtenstein's years of experience in the natural CPG category, having helped launch and scale companies such as Chobani, Stumptown Cold Brew, and Hu, amongst others, as the founder and CEO of Gourmet Guru, later acquired by UNFI.

"Sound epitomizes what's next in natural  delicious, organic, clean, functional ingredients, and no sugar are aligned with consumer demand for just that, in a convenient format," states Lichtenstein. "Salim and Tommy have an amazing story having met as Nuclear engineers that decided to make the mother of all pivots, into Organics! "They are very talented executives, and the Next In Natural shared services platform is designed to help them thrive with the cross-functional comprehensive support team and resources that NeNa surrounds them with. Joining forces with these outstanding partners will empower them to do what they do best, while we do the rest and fortify the supply chain to keep up with demand with an eye on what's Next with future innovation and evolution."

"The better-for-you beverage category continues to grow strong, and Sound is well positioned to capitalize on this surging segment with its unique offering that eliminates the use of "natural flavors", alternative sweeteners and added sugar," states Tommy Kelly. Sound's use of organic tea and other botanicals like Hibiscus and Ginger, provide refreshing, crisp and complex flavors in addition to clean energy and antioxidants to support a healthy lifestyle. "Sound gets its name from our commitment to using only "sound" ingredients  no sugar, no sweeteners and no artificial flavors or preservatives  and we're proud of our commitment to the cleanest and most pure ingredients available."

"Sound is on track to propel the company's growth by leveraging Next In Natural's cross-functional team and expertise in production, R&D, business development, and marketing, which will help us evolve and reach new audiences. Our goal is to further build our community that looks to us as one of the few truly healthy and delicious beverages in the market," Kelly added.

About Next In Natural

Next in Natural is a Brooklyn, New York-based hybrid boutique private equity/studio that invests in and helps operate and scale select emerging organic and better-for-you focused CPG companies.

About Sound

Sound is on a mission to help people become the best versions of themselves through better nutrition. Their current product offering is a line of unsweetened sparkling beverages powered by organic tea and botanicals. Their award-winning varieties deliver an unparalleled combination of flavor and functionality without any sweeteners or calories.

Sound is available at select retailers nationwide and online at Thrive Market.

For More Information:

Contact:

[email protected] , visit www.DrinkSound.com or follow the company @DrinkSound

[email protected] or visit www.NextInNatural.com

SOURCE Next In Natural
EDINBURGH, Scotland, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Stewart Investors, a long-only active equity specialist and global leader in sustainable investing, is marking the 15-year anniversary of its Global Emerging Markets Sustainability (GEMS) strategy with benchmark-beating returns across multiple time periods, net of fees, through March 31, 2024.

Launched on Feb. 28, 2009, the Stewart Investors GEMS strategy composite has generated an annualized return of 10.0%, net of fees, for the 15-year period through March 31, 2024, versus 7.0% for its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The GEMS strategy composite also outperformed its benchmark over the 10, seven, five, and three-year periods through March 31, 2024, returning 3.9%, 4.5%, 3.3% and -2.5%, respectively, versus 3.3%, 4.1%, 2.6%, and -4.7% over the same periods for the index.



3/31/2009 3/31/2014 3//31/2017 3/31/2019 3/31/2021 3/31/2023 Annualized

Performance through

03/31/2024 15 years 10 years 7 years 5 years 3 years 1 year Stewart Investors

Global Emerging

Markets Sustainability

Composite (net) 10.0 % 3.9 % 4.5 % 3.3 % -2.5 % 7.1 % MSCI Emerging

Markets Index 7.0 % 3.3 % 4.1 % 2.6 % -4.7 % 8.6 %

The GEMS strategy composite outperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Index in 11 of 14 full calendar years from 2010 through 2023. The strategy's cumulative 15-year return through March 31, 2024 is 317.1% vs 177.1% for the index.

The GEMS strategy seeks to generate long-term, risk-adjusted returns by investing in the shares of high-quality companies that are particularly well positioned to contribute to, and benefit from, sustainable development.

Sujaya Desai, based in Sydney, is lead manager of the strategy and Jack Nelson, based in Edinburgh, is co-manager. They are part of an 11-person investment team that manages more than $18.6 billion globally, focusing on Asia Pacific, emerging markets, regional, and worldwide sustainable equity strategies. The GEMS strategy has $1.7 billion in assets under management. The team also runs a Global Emerging Markets Leaders Sustainability (GEMLS) strategy with $1.4 billion invested for a global client base.

"Emerging markets as an asset class has had a difficult 15 years. Our strategy's performance over that time, though, demonstrates that with a highly active yet equally patient approach to capital allocation, attractive returns are possible," Desai said. "Our approach is consistent: we invest in high-quality companies with enduring characteristics that are addressing large domestic markets and whose goods and services are globally competitive."

"Looking forward, the case for investing actively on a bottom-up basis in emerging markets has never been stronger," Nelson said. "We believe the emerging markets universe contains more of the world's great companies than ever, in fields as diverse as semiconductors, renewable energy technologies, software as a service, healthcare supplies, fintech and e-commerce."

Stewart Investors has received a Morningstar ESG Commitment Level of Leader, the highest designation in the assessment by Morningstar Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research. Stewart Investors is one of only eight asset managers out of 108 global firms evaluated to receive the Leader ranking by Morningstar. The designations range from Low to Basic, Advanced and Leader.

The Morningstar ESG Commitment Level is a qualitative assessment that aims to help investors identify the asset managers dedicated to delivering sustainability outcomes. To arrive at the Morningstar ESG Commitment Level for individual firms, the firm's analysts evaluate the asset managers on three key pillars: philosophy and process; resources; and active ownership.

About Stewart Investors

Stewart Investors, with more than $18.6 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2024, is an active, long-only equity manager and global leader in sustainable investing. Based in Edinburgh, the firm also has offices in London, Singapore, New York and Sydney. For more information, visit: www.stewartinvestors.com.

Media inquiries:

In the U.K.:

Bessie Stevens, MHP Group

[email protected]

[email protected]

In the U.S.:

Margaret Kirch Cohen/Richard Chimberg

Newton Park PR, LLC

+1 847 507 2229/+1 617 312 4281

[email protected]

[email protected]

This document has been prepared for general informational purposes. It does not purport to be comprehensive or to give advice. This is not an offer document and does not constitute an offer or invitation or investment recommendation to distribute or purchase securities, shares, units or other interests or to enter into an investment agreement.

The information contained within this document has been obtained from sources that Stewart Investors believes to be reliable and accurate at the time of issue but no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to the fairness, accuracy, or completeness of the information.

The Fund's performance is compared against the value of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The benchmark for this Fund has been identified as a means by which investors can compare the Fund's performance and has been chosen because its constituents most closely represent the scope of the Fund's investable assets. The benchmark is not used to limit or constrain how the Fund's portfolio is constructed, nor is it part of a target set for the Fund's performance. Given the diverse nature of the constituent funds within the Specialist IA sector, the manager does not compare performance of this Fund with its IA sector.

These figures refer to the past. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. For investors based in countries with currencies other than USD, the return may increase or decrease as a result of currency fluctuations.

Source for composite performance: Stewart Investors as of 3/31/2024. Composite performance is shown on a net of fees basis. Net performance figures are calculated by subtracting a model annual management fee of 0.85% from the gross performance figures. No other expenses or costs have been taken into account when calculating the net performance. This information is provided for illustrative purposes to demonstrate activity within the strategy for the periods shown. It is not a recommendation or solicitation to purchase or invest in any fund. Differences between fund or client-specific constraints and those of a similarly managed mandate would affect results. Source for MSCI Emerging Markets Index index: FactSet, total returns, gross of tax. Performance is calculated from inception on 2/28/2009.

Actual actions or results may differ materially from those discussed. There is no certainty that current conditions will last, and Stewart Investors, part of First Sentier Investors, undertakes no obligation to correct, revise or update information herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: The Morningstar ESG Commitment Level Research Paper dated Aug. 30, 2023  2023 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Important Information

This press release is intended for information only, aimed solely at the media and should not be further distributed to individual and/or corporate investors, and financial advisers and/or distributors. The information included within this document and any supplemental documentation provided should not be copied, reproduced or redistributed without the prior written consent of First Sentier Investors.

SOURCE Stewart Investors
CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Stork Exchange, a leading marketplace for open-box and gently used baby gear, is thrilled to welcome Baby K'tan, a leading manufacturer of innovative Ready-To-Wear baby carriers, into its ReNest Program. Baby K'tans open-box returns will now be available for purchase on Stork Exchange's online marketplace, where parents can shop conveniently, affordably, and sustainably.

Founded in 2007 by families with firsthand experience raising children with special needs, Baby K'tan has been dedicated to promoting healthy infant development and fostering strong parent-child bonds through babywearing. The Baby K'tan Baby Carrier, renowned for its patented ready-to-wear design that allows parents to carry their babies in multiple positions without complicated wrapping or buckling, has received numerous awards and accolades.

Stork Exchange, a leading marketplace for open-box and secondhand baby gear, was born out of a desire to provide parents with a more sustainable way to shop for baby gear. Frustrated with the inconvenience and lack of trustworthiness often associated with buying secondhand items from online marketplaces, the founders of Stork Exchange work directly with leading baby gear manufacturers and retailers to make their open-box returns available for parents to shop in an easy, online setting. Every item sold by Stork Exchange undergoes careful inspection, ensuring that parents can trust the quality and safety of their purchases. Stork Exchange's ReNest Program is a network of trusted partners that recirculate quality products for discerning parents.

"We are excited to partner with Baby K'tan to offer their exceptional baby carriers to our customers," said Ben Norment, Co-Founder of Stork Exchange. "Too often returned items in perfect condition end up being destroyed or thrown in the landfill simply because the packaging has been open. At Stork Exchange, we are committed to extending the life of all baby gear and have been thrilled to find a partner in Baby K'tan that shares these values. Their carriers have long been a favorite of our customers due to their comfort, simplicity, and style and we are thrilled to make them more broadly available."

In addition to offering high-quality products, both Stork Exchange and Baby K'tan share a commitment to giving back to their communities. Baby K'tan proudly devotes a percentage of its proceeds from the sale of all products to organizations such as the American Heart Association and the National Down Syndrome Society. Stork Exchange works closely with leading charities in Charlotte such as Foster Village to help ensure that every family has access to the baby gear they need.

"We trust that new parents will adore the Baby K'tan brand as much as thousands of parents already do," said Michal Chesal, President and Co-Founder of Baby K'tan. "Our partnership with Stork Exchange is based on two small family owned businesses with intentions to provide trusted brands to parents while maintaining our core values regarding the environment.

It also gives us the opportunity to offer thoroughly inspected previously loved Baby K'tan Baby Carriers to parents & caregivers at reduced prices. Enabling every parent to have the opportunity to experience the joy of babywearing."

With this partnership, Stork Exchange continues its mission of providing parents with safe, trustworthy, and sustainable shopping options, while Baby K'tan expands its reach to new customers seeking innovative babywearing solutions. Stork Exchange is actively welcoming other baby gear retailers and manufacturers into its ReNest Program, interested parties can contact Co-Founder Ben Norment at [email protected] or visit https://storkexchange.co/pages/our-partners.

For more information about Stork Exchange and its partnership with Baby K'tan, please visit https://storkexchange.co/baby-ktan.

About Stork Exchange

Stork Exchange is a premier destination for safe and convenient secondhand shopping for parents. Founded with the goal of providing parents with a better way to shop secondhand, Stork Exchange offers carefully inspected items and national shipping straight to customers' doorsteps, making sustainable shopping easy and convenient.

About Baby K'tan

Baby K'tan, LLC (http://www.babyktan.com/info.html) is a Florida based juvenile products company founded by two families raising children with special needs. Their initial product, the patented ready-to-wear Baby K'tan carrier, won numerous awards for best newborn carrier. Baby K'tan continues to increase its product line with smart, simple and stylish products that assist in baby-parent bonding and make life easier.

CONTACT: Ben Norment, [email protected]

SOURCE Stork Exchange
CALGARY, AB, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Strathcona Resources Ltd. ("Strathcona" or the "Company") (TSX: SCR) today reported its voting results from its annual meeting of shareholders held on May 7, 2024 (the "Meeting"). All matters presented at the Meeting were approved including the election of all nine nominees listed in the management information circular dated March 26, 2024. The complete results of voting for business considered at the Meeting are set out below:

Voting Results

1. Election of Directors

The director nominees listed below were elected. The results of the ballot were as follows:

Nominee Votes For Votes Withheld

Number Percent Number Percent Adam Waterous 201,003,869 99.91 % 190,238 0.09 % Steve Fagan 200,895,556 99.85 % 298,551 0.15 % Navjeet (Bob) Singh Dhillon 201,064,001 99.94 % 130,106 0.06 % Cody Church 201,064,022 99.94 % 130,085 0.06 % Connie De Ciancio 200,893,203 99.85 % 300,904 0.15 % Henry Hager 201,061,668 99.93 % 132,439 0.07 % Andrew Kim 201,013,640 99.91 % 180,467 0.09 % Rob Morgan 200,903,192 99.86 % 290,915 0.14 % Connor Waterous 200,901,716 99.85 % 292,391 0.15 %

2. Appointment of Auditors

The appointment of Deloitte LLP as the Corporation's auditors was approved. The results of the ballot were as follows:

Votes For Votes Withheld Number Percent Number Percent 201,779,380 99.99 % 21,009 0.01 %

About Strathcona

Strathcona is one of North America's fastest growing oil and gas producers with operations focused on thermal oil, enhanced oil recovery and liquids-rich natural gas. Strathcona is built on an innovative approach to growth achieved through the consolidation and development of long-life oil and gas assets. Strathcona's common shares (symbol SCR) are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

For more information about Strathcona, visit www.strathconaresources.com.

SOURCE Strathcona Resources Ltd.
Dr. Aldridge is an accomplished higher education leader who has been serving as the University's interim president since July 2023

PHILADELPHIA, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Susan C. Aldridge, Ph.D., an accomplished and widely recognized higher education leader, author and strategist who has held executive leadership positions in some of the country's largest universities, has been appointed the first female president of Thomas Jefferson University effective May 7, 2024.

Thomas Jefferson University Appoints Dr. Susan Aldridge President

"This is a pivotal moment in Jefferson's history and Dr. Aldridge is the best person to usher in a new era for Thomas Jefferson University," said Jefferson's CEO Joseph G. Cacchione, MD. "I've been thoroughly impressed with her dedication to our students, faculty and staff as both interim president and a past member of Jefferson's Board of Trustees. Her extensive higher education administration experience and visionary leadership make her a natural fit to be our University's next president."

During her tenure as interim president, Jefferson undergraduate students continued to achieve great success in employment and graduate school acceptance at the rate of 97%. The national average is about 86%. Jefferson's undergraduate and graduate enrollments have grown. Jefferson's Medical and Pharmacy student Match rates exceeded the national average.

In addition, Dr. Aldridge successfully completed a national search for the Dean of Jefferson's Sidney Kimmel Medical College with the appointment of Said Ibrahim, MD; the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center earned Comprehensive Designation from the National Cancer Institute; and she led the University through the initial phase of a new strategic planning process, Creating our Third Century, in honor of Jefferson's bicentennial

"Thomas Jefferson University is one of the most distinctive institutions I've been affiliated with, and I'm honored to have been asked to lead it into its third century," said Dr. Susan C. Aldridge, President, Thomas Jefferson University. "Today, we are a national doctoral research university, and we are part of an anchor organization that also includes Jefferson Health and Jefferson Health Plans. As a model for professional university education, we are uniquely positioned to educate tomorrow's leaders in an array of fields from architecture and business, to medicine and health sciences, nursing, design, engineering, fashion and textiles, population health, and more."

Before serving on the Jefferson Board of Trustees and as interim president for the University, Dr. Aldridge most recently held the position of President of Drexel University Online, where she expanded and oversaw the university's virtual presence with more than 100 online programs. She also spearheaded a research project around innovative practices in technology-enhanced education, which resulted in the award-winning, open-source website, Virtually Inspired.

Before joining Drexel, she was a Senior Fellow at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, where she co-authored the book, Wired for Success, which provided university presidents with a wealth of innovative, research-driven, technology-enhanced models for student success and strategic business growth. Dr. Aldridge was the Principal Investigator for several US Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) grants and a national HHS proposal reviewer. Previously, she was president of the University of Maryland Global Campus and vice chancellor at Troy University.

Dr. Aldridge has been cited twice as one of Washington DC's Top 100 most powerful women; and has received several awards from such higher education organizations as the US Distance Learning Association, Women in Technology and Campus Technology. Likewise, she was recognized by the Governor of Colorado for her exceptional leadership in healthcare service planning and delivery, while also earning outstanding service awards from the US Department of HHS and the Social Security Administration.

Having received her Bachelor's degree from Colorado Women's College, Dr. Aldridge completed her Master's degree and PhD in public administration at the University of Colorado.

Dr. Aldridge's headshot is available for download HERE.

About Thomas Jefferson University

Thomas Jefferson University, founded in 1824 as the Jefferson Medical College, is today a national doctoral research university and a pioneer in transdisciplinary, professional education. Home of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College and the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce, Jefferson is a preeminent academic institution delivering high-impact education in over 200 undergraduate and graduate programs to 8,400 students across 10 colleges. The University's academic offerings now include architecture, business, design, engineering, fashion, health, medicine, nursing, science, social sciences and textiles. Jefferson is redefining the higher education value proposition with an approach that is collaborative and active; increasingly global; integrated with industry; focused on research across disciplines to foster innovation and discovery; and technology-enhanced. Student-athletes compete as the Jefferson Rams in the NCAA Division II Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

SOURCE Thomas Jefferson University
Self-Pour Bar and Tasting Room Experience is Reshaping the Way Americans Socially Drink; Flourishes as Consumers Increasingly Prefer Self-Service Options

SEATTLE, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Craft beer fans rejoice; an emerging self-pour tap concept is making waves as they tap into franchising. With self-service trends continuing to flourish, two out of three consumers prefer self-service rather than interacting with staff, according to Forbes. A revolutionary leader in the bar space, Tapster , is experiencing this growing trend first-hand with its self-pour model and easy-going atmosphere that puts guests in the driver's seat. With interest across the U.S. rising, Tapster announced today the launch of its franchise opportunity to bring passionate beer enthusiasts and entrepreneurs a viable and simplified entrance to bar ownership.

Tapster (PRNewsfoto/Tapster)

Tapster's journey began with a passion for craft beer and a vision to reimagine how people experience it. "With Tapster cards in hand, our guests can be their own bartender and are free to sample at their own pace from over 40 beverages on tap  there's virtually no waiting, you're on your time at Tapster," said Tapster Founder and CEO Roman Maliszewski, who opened the first Tapster in 2017 in Chicago. "Our franchise opportunity represents more than a business venture; it's an invitation to join us in reshaping the future of how we socially drink, one pour at a time."

Building on Success: Tapster to Open Fifth Tasting Room

With increased growth in the craft beer and self-service industries, Tapster is set to open its fifth U.S. tasting room:

Tapster's newest location opens this May in the West Main Tower III Building at 193 106 th Ave. NE in Bellevue, Washington .

in the West Main Tower III Building at . The new self-pour bar is the brand's second location in the Seattle market, and among 10-plus tasting rooms, Tapster plans to open or have in development within the next 3-5 years.

market, and among 10-plus tasting rooms, Tapster plans to open or have in development within the next 3-5 years. Tapster first entered the Seattle market in 2021 with its tasting room in South Lake Union and has since built a solid following with year-over-year growth and double-digit sales increases.

Launches Franchise Model: Tapster to Tap into Neighborhoods Nationwide

In addition to Seattle, the tasting room franchise primarily focuses on building its current operational marketsincluding Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphiaand beyond to a presence in most major U.S. cities within the next 10 years.

"Our continued growth is a testament to the strength of the Tapster business model," Maliszewski added. "Over the past seven years, we've developed Tapster in very different markets across the U.S.  all seeing warm welcomes and becoming enveloped within the fabric of their local communities. Our goal is for our brand to be as recognizable as Starbucks, cultivating a welcoming environment for friends, families, and colleagues to hang out at their leisure."

Tapster is actively seeking hands-on, owner-operator franchisees who are passionate about their community and will be dedicated to providing outstanding guest service and upholding the brand's standards. Previous industry experience is not required.

The Tapster franchise model is designed to streamline operations, ensuring ease and efficiency for franchisees. Unlike conventional bar and restaurant establishments burdened with complex staffing and food service requirements, Tapster's self-pour technology and proven operational systems minimize the need for extensive staffing, meanwhile allowing franchisees and their team members to focus on delivering exceptional guest experiences. The total investment to open a Tapster franchise is $400,000 - $1,200,000, including a $40,000 franchise fee.

To assist in developing the tasting room franchise opportunity and managing future growth, Maliszewski teamed with Community Franchise Group, which specializes in transforming emerging franchises into national brands. The group has a collective 100-plus years of experience scaling national franchise brands such as Orange Theory Fitness, Unity Rd., Maui Wowi, Cold Stone Creamery, Rocky Mountain Chocolate, Kahala Brands / MTY Food Group portfolio, Play It Again Sports, Plato's Closet, Once Upon A Child, Retro Fitness, Floyd's 99 Barbershop and Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores.

No Waitstaff, No Waiting: Tapster is Reshaping How Americans Socially Drink

Tapster is a self-pour tasting room concept that offers a wide selection of beverages on tap, including craft cocktails, wine, cider, hard seltzer, kombucha, cold brew coffee, craft soda, and beer. With taps changing daily, guests pay by the ounceand go at their own paceto explore new flavors and try something different. The comfortable, neighborhood bar is a go-to weekly choice for locals to relax with friends, play board games, and enjoy a unique & interactive drinking experience. The brand also welcomes guests to Bring Your Own Food (BYOF) and hosts weekly events, creating opportunities for memorable get-togethers. All this, coupled with the welcoming and genuinely friendly environment, fosters a sense of community that keeps patrons coming back for more.

To learn more about the Tapster franchise opportunity, visit https://tapsterfranchise.com.

About Tapster:

Tapster is a pioneering force, revolutionizing the social drinking experience. With its innovative, self-pour technology, unwavering commitment to quality and focus on delivering a welcoming & genuine environment, Tapster offers guests a unique and immersive journey through the world of craft beer that allows them to sample a wide variety, at their own pace. Founded on the principles of environment, empowerment, and education, Tapster opened its first tasting room in 2017 and has four locations across the United States. With a proven business model focused on simplicity, profitability, and community engagement, Tapster offers owner-operator franchisees the opportunity to be part of a dynamic brand that is poised to reshape the way people experience and enjoy their favorite brews and cocktails. For more information, visit https://tapstertastingroom.com/ or https://tapsterfranchise.com.

Contact: Tom Farrell, Franchise Elevator | (847) 945-1300 Ext. 270 | [email protected]

SOURCE Tapster
SARANAC LAKE, N.Y., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Prominently featured in The Inner Circle, William Martin is acknowledged as a Top Pinnacle Professional for his contributions to the fields of safety, health, and emergency response.

Mr. Martin, the esteemed founder and CEO of Think Tank Project LLC, has distinguished himself as a prominent keynote speaker, influencer, author, and healthcare professional. With over FOUR decades of industry experience, Mr. Martin has made significant contributions to the fields of safety, health, and emergency response.

William Martin

As the visionary leader behind Think Tank Project LLC, Mr. Martin has solidified his reputation as a dynamic influencer, captivating audiences with his powerful keynote addresses. His thought-provoking insights have inspired countless individuals to rethink safety and health paradigms, ultimately fostering a safer environment for all.

In addition to his role as an influencer, Mr. Martin has authored more than 12 publications, including the widely acclaimed "Exploring Human Judgment and Its Impact on Safety." "Actionable Safety: Modeling Change for Line Crews," and a podcast series on "Influencing Safety." His written works delve into the intricate nuances of human judgment and its profound implications on safety practices.

Mr. Martin's commitment to safety and health extends beyond his influential work. He served as a dedicated registered nurse at Adirondack Health, where his expertise in healthcare contributes to the well-being of his patients. Furthermore, his role as a flight nurse and paramedic with North Country Life Flight underscores his unwavering dedication to providing critical care during emergencies.

Throughout his career, Mr. Martin has demonstrated his dedication to professional organizations, including the Wilderness Medical Society, American Heart Association, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Mr. Martin's academic journey has been characterized by a diverse array of qualifications and certifications, encompassing ecology and environmental technology, paramedicine, mountain medicine, nursing, pediatric and neonatal critical care, ski instruction, and more. He earned an Associate of Applied Science in Ecology and Environmental Technology from Paul Smith's College.

His career has been marked by remarkable accomplishments, including induction into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and the honor of being named the Whiteface Ski Patrol Volunteer of the Year in 2014 and 2015. With over two decades of experience as a critical care paramedic and emergency rescuer, Mr. Martin continues to make a lasting impact in his field.

Mr. Martin's dedication to safety, health, and emergency response speaks volumes about his commitment to making the world a safer place. Looking ahead, Mr. Martin envisions continued growth and success in his multifaceted career, as he approaches his final stages of publishing his book, "The Journey We Seek: Recognize those moments that Predict and Change your Future."

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE The Inner Circle
CHICAGO, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Underground Donut Tour, America's Donut Tour, has completed their search for America's Greatest Donuts. After putting out a call to every donut fan and donut shop in America, the fans have spoken with over 33,000 votes cast in our contest to crown America's Greatest Donuts.

Congratulations to all the America's Greatest Donut Winners! Rise N Roll Cinnamon Caramel Donut

For the third year in a row, the Overall Fan Favorite with more votes than any other donut shop was Rise 'n Roll Bakery of Indiana. Their Cinnamon Caramel Donut was voted far and away the most popular donut in America. As anyone who has tried it can tell you, it's absolutely amazing! Along with winning Overall Fan Favorite, Rise 'n Roll also won a number of other categories including Greatest Cider Donut, Greatest Cream Filled, Greatest Old-Fashioned and several more for a total of 10 categories!

We would also like to give a special congratulations to D&D's Donuts based in Chicago who won again this year for Greatest Fritter in America (along with 2 other categories) and some newcomers such as Donut Man of Glendora, CA, Bear Donut of New York City, and Beacon Doughnuts of Chicago.

Below are the 22 most popular donut shops in America along with their winning category and their winning donut:

Overall Fan Favorite : Rise 'n Roll - Cinnamon Caramel

: Rise 'n Roll - Cinnamon Caramel Greatest Beignets in America: Dahlia Bakery - Beignets

Greatest Bombolone in America: Angelina's Bakery - Nutella

Greatest Brioche in America: Basic Batch Donuts - Creme Brulee

Greatest Cake Donut in America: D&D's Place - Old Fashioned

Greatest Cider Donut in America: Rise 'n Roll - Apple Cider Cake

Greatest Cinnamon Sugar in America: Rise 'n Roll - Cinnamon Caramel

Greatest Cream Filled Donut in America: Rise 'n Roll - Chocolate Bavarian

Greatest Croissant Donut in America: Parlor Doughnuts - Blueberry Crumble Croissant Doughnut

Greatest Fritter Donut in America: D&D's Place - Apple Fritter

Greatest Fruit Filled Donut in America: The Donut Man - Fresh Peach

Greatest Fruit Flavored Donut in America: D&D's Place - Fruit Topped

Greatest Gluten Free Donut in America: Stan's Donuts - Gluten Free Chocolate

Greatest Jelly Filled Donut in America: Rise 'n Roll - Lemon Jelly Filled

Greatest Maple Glazed Donut in America: Voodoo Doughnut - Bacon Maple Bar

Greatest Mochi in America: Bear Donut - Toasted Coconut

Greatest Old-Fashioned Donut in America: Rise 'n Roll - Sour Cream Old Fashioned

Greatest Plain Glazed Donut in America: Rise 'n Roll - Glazed

Greatest Unique Flavors Donut in America: Rise 'n Roll - Chocolate Mocha Cream

Greatest Unique Toppings Donut in America: Rise 'n Roll - Crunch Bismark

Greatest Vegan Donut in America: Beacon Doughnuts - Sea Salt Caramel & Biscoff

Greatest Yeast Donut in America: Rise n Roll Bakery - Cinnamon Caramel

Congratulations to all the winners!

About the Underground Donut Tour

The Underground Donut Tour started in Chicago in 2015 as a passion project and has since grown to 20 cities in the US, Canada, Ireland and the UK including Boston, Chicago, Nashville, New York City, Santa Monica, Portland, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Dublin, London and many more! The tour itself is a fun-filled 2 hour donut adventure & walking tour showcasing some of the top donut shops in each city. Bring your appetite and thirst for adventure! To book your tour, please visit: www.undergrounddonuttour.com today.

For more information, please contact:

Jeff Woelker

[email protected]

844-366-8848

For more information on the contest:

Visit: www.greatestdonuts.com

SOURCE Underground Donut Tour
The official ribbon cutting and event in Singapore was conducted by H.E. Jamal Abdulla AlSuwaidi, Ambassador of The United Arab Emirates to the Republic of Singapore, Dr Brian Shegar, President, UAE Singapore Business Council, Mr Mohamed Al Zarooni, UAE Head of Economic Affairs and Media, Singapore, and Hany Kotat, VP, International Sales, DAMAC Properties. The launch event included CEOs and Heads of the top brokerage firms in Singapore, including Propex, Huttons, ERA, Orange Tee and Tie and SRI.

Abbas Sajwani, Board Member, DAMAC Properties, commented: "Since 2002, DAMAC Properties has been synonymous with redefining luxury. We are excited as we expand our footprint further into APAC with our recent office openings in Beijing and Singapore. With excellence in our DNA, today we create products of the highest international standards. Across APAC, we see discerning, seasoned, high-value individuals who are looking to buy premium and quality developments for investments and as a home alike. We look forward to working with our partners in bringing DAMAC's acclaimed global portfolio to APAC markets."

Today, DAMAC's total portfolio comprises over 75+ towers, multiple branded residences, large communities, hotels and hotel apartments across 12 global cities such as Dubai, London, Toronto and Riyadh. Some of the globally acclaimed projects include DAMAC Tower Nine Elms London, Europe's first Versace-branded luxury residence tower, Safa Two by de GRISOGONO, overlooking the iconic Dubai Canal, Canal Crown by de GRISOGONO, Mediterranean lifestyle inspired DAMAC Lagoons- UAE's first pre-certified LEED Platinum community. A range of upcoming projects include Zaha Hadid Architects designed condo in Miami and a luxury resort in partnership with Mandarin Oriental in Maldives that is set to redefine the standards of luxury hospitality.

Anson Tay, Managing Partner, SRI: "Dubai's property market and the city continue to be attractive for investors and residents from Singapore and across APAC. Dubai's leading developers know and understand luxury craftsmanship in real estate developments well. DAMAC is one example that has delivered on promises with a whole range of luxury developments and investment opportunities."

Michael Long, CEO, Senturion Real Estate: "A TrendLens report in 2023 from luxury consulting firm Agility revealed that more than 20% of Chinese millionaires were planning to visit the Middle East in 2024 with consumers having accumulated capital to invest in international real estate. Dubai and the UAE offer high yields, safety, speed, stability and an opportunity to own true luxury and quality with a developer like DAMAC."

The DAMAC Office in Singapore is located at Asia Square Tower 1, Marina View, Marina Bay, Singapore, 11th Floor, Unit 06.

The DAMAC Office in Beijing is located at East Tower, No.1 East Middle 3rd Road, Beijing, 4th Floor, Unit 03.

The Shanghai DAMAC Office Address is located at 3 Corporate Avenue

168 Hubin Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, 25th Floor, Units 2510-2511.

A significant number of agent partnerships are in place to manage demand within both markets.

About DAMAC

DAMAC has been at the forefront of the Middle East's luxury real estate market since 2002, delivering award-winning residential, commercial and leisure properties across the region, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, the Maldives, Canada, the United States, as well as the United Kingdom. Since then, the company has delivered approximately 46,000 homes. Joining forces with some of the world's most eminent fashion and lifestyle brands, DAMAC has brought new and exciting living concepts to the market in collaborations that include luxury homes in association with Versace, Cavalli, de GRISOGONO, Zuhair Murad, Paramount Hotels & Resorts, Rotana and Radisson Hotel Group. With a consistent vision and strong momentum, DAMAC Properties is building the next generation of Middle Eastern luxury living.

Visit us at www.damacproperties.com

Follow DAMAC Properties on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , LinkedIn and YouTube (@DAMACofficial).

For more information, please contact: Corporate Communications, DAMAC Properties: Tel: +971 4 373 2197 Email: [email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2405570/DAMAC_Group_1.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2405569/DAMAC_Group_2.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2405568/DAMAC_Group_3.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2405567/DAMAC_Group_4.jpg

SOURCE DAMAC Group

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DETROIT, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Urban Science, a leading global automotive consultancy and technology firm, today released a proprietary electric vehicle (EV) sales microstudy rooted in the firm's unrivaled industry sales data, which is updated daily, delivering a science-driven overview of the EV sales landscape in the U.S. The microstudy includes detailed 2024 sales insights through April 30, 2024, for the battery electric vehicle (BEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) segments, and state-level sales insights for the nation's top five states for BEV retail sales volume.

EV sales insights derived from Urban Science's unrivaled industry sales data

Industry sales

As of April 30, 2024, total retail industry vehicle sales, including internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, achieved 3,892,181 units, marking a growth rate of 1.2% compared to the same time period last year. By the end of 2023, one in six vehicles sold featured an electrified powertrain, a figure that rose to about one in five YTD through April 30, 2024.

BEV segment

BEV sales rose 2.8% YOY through April 30, 2024, growing slightly above the overall retail industry sales growth rate. A total of 317,086 retail BEV units were sold during this period, with retail share holding steady at 8.1% YOY. The top-selling brands in this segment were Tesla, Ford, Hyundai, Rivian and BMW.

Despite the slight uptick in industrywide BEV sales, Tesla unit sales decreased 13% YOY through April 30, 2024, while non-Tesla BEV sales increased 33%. Moreover, unit sales in all non-Tesla EV segments  comprising BEVs, PHEVs and HEVs  increased by 32%.

PHEV segment

The PHEV segment exhibited strong YOY growth with a 24.8% increase through April 30, 2024. With 77,750 units sold, PHEVs captured 2% retail share in the U.S., rising from 1.6% last year. The top-selling brands in this segment were Jeep, Toyota, Volvo, Mazda and Kia.

HEV segment

Among all electrified powertrains, HEV sales surged the most with YOY growth of 33.4% through April 30, 2024. With 382,015 retail HEVs sold through April 30, this segment reached 9.8% retail share in the U.S., a notable increase from 7.5% share in 2023 YOY. Toyota, Honda, Ford, Lexus and Hyundai were the top-selling HEV brands during this period.

Combined PHEV and HEV unit sales increased by 31% YOY through April 30, outpacing the total industry sales growth rate by a wide margin.

Top five states by BEV sales

The top five states in BEV retail sales volume through April 30, 2024, were:

California

a. California maintained its leadership in the U.S. BEV market segment through April 30, 2024, with 105,120 sales and 22% market share, a 0.7-percentage-point YOY decrease.

i. The Golden State accounted for 33% of national BEV sales during this period, marking a 3-percentage-point decrease compared to 2023 YOY.

ii. The top three counties in California for BEV market share were Santa Clara (37%), Alameda (33%) and San Mateo (31%).

Texas

a. Texas ranked second for retail BEV sales volume in the U.S. through April 30, 2024, with 24,863 sales and 6.5% market share, a slight increase compared to 2023 (6.4%).

i. The top three counties for BEV market share were Travis (15.7%), Collin (13.7%) and Williamson (13.2%).

Florida

a. Florida was the third-ranked state regarding retail BEV sales volume in the U.S. through April 30, 2024, with 23,932 sales and 6.8% market share, a slight increase compared to 2023 (6.5%).

i. The top three counties with at least 5,000 industry sales YTD for BEV market share were Broward (9.2%), Miami-Dade (9%) and Orange (8.5%).

New Jersey

a. New Jersey was the fourth-ranked state regarding BEV retail sales volume in the U.S. through April 30, 2024, with 14,393 sales and 10.1% market share, a slight increase compared to 2023 (10.0%).

i. The top three counties for BEV market share were Middlesex (17.5%), Somerset (17%) and Mercer (13.1%).

Washington

a. Washington was the fifth-ranked state regarding BEV retail sales volume in the U.S. through April 30, 2024, with 12,295 sales and 16.5% market share, an increase compared to 2023 (14.9%).

i. The top three counties for BEV market share were King (25.8%), Snohomish (19.2%) and Whatcom (14.4%).

About Urban Science

Urban Science is a leading automotive consultancy and technology firm that serves automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and dealers, and the advertising technology companies that support them, around the world. Headquartered in Detroit and operating in 20 office locations globally, Urban Science taps the power of its science  and its unrivaled data, solution offerings and industry expertise  to create clarity and business certainty for clients in even the most chaotic market conditions.

Visit UrbanScience.com for more information about how Urban Science helps automotive manufacturers and dealers gain a competitive edge by taking the guesswork out of critical business decisions. This in turn drives improved efficiency and profitability industrywide.

SOURCE Urban Science
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. On May 7, the Armenian National Assembly President Alen Simonyan and the UN Assistant Secretary-General and the UNDP Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS countries Ivana Zivkovic signed a document on the implementation of the Second Programme  Fostering responsiveness, efficiency, transparency and inclusiveness (Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia) of the Parliament of Armenia, theParliament'spress servicesaid.

According to the source, the goal of the programme is to support the development of the parliamentary capacities through training, expertise and consultation.

The National Assembly President Alen Simonyan, the UNDP Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS countries Ivana Zivkovic and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sweden to Armenia Patrik Svensson gave opening speeches in the signing ceremony.

From the very first stage of transition to parliamentary democracy the RA National Assembly adopted and welcomed the UNDP Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia project. Our joint efforts to make the work of the National Assembly more transparent, effective and accountable are aimed at the establishment of comprehensive and effective system of good governance in our state, the NA President noted in his speech.

It is noted that, Ivana Zivkovic highly appreciated the cooperation with the parliament of the Republic of Armenia, touched upon the democratic reforms in the Republic of Armenia.

Despite the huge obstacles caused as a consequence of pandemic, conflicts and change of climate, Armenia showed endurance and unwavering commitment to democratic reforms.

We are committed equipping the National Assembly with tools and experience necessary for overcoming difficult challenges of modern governance from the sittings of the parliamentary capacities development up to introduction of digitalized solutions, Ivana Zivkovic underscored.

According to the press service of the Parliament, in his speech the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sweden to Armenia Patrik Svensson expressed his gratitude to the National Assembly President for the high level cooperation and highlighted the launch of the second programme Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia.

The Programme Coordinator Ruzanna Hayrapetyan presented the main achievements of the first programme Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia and the goals and components of the second programme, after which the signing ceremony took place.

Alen Simonyan and Ivana Zivkovic signed a document on implementation of the second programme of the UNDP Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia project, after which followed the signing of Agreement on Co-financing with the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia by the NA Chief of Staff, Secretary General Davit Arakelyan and the UNDP Resident Representative Natia Natsvlishvili.
CHANTILLY, Va., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- VTG, an industry-leading provider of modernization and digital transformation solutions to Defense and Intelligence Community customers, announced today that it has been awarded a five-year $130 million prime contract to provide end-to-end engineering services, spectrum management, and test and evaluation support for Navy warfare, control, and C5I systems. The contract was awarded to VTG by the NAVSEA Integrated Warfare Systems Engineering Group (SEA 05H) with a Fleet-focused work scope that includes systems, subsystems, and sensors aboard surface ships, aircraft carriers, and unmanned/autonomous vehicles.

John Hassoun, VTG President & CEO (PRNewsfoto/VTG)

"VTG is proud to continue its longstanding support to NAVSEA and excited to partner with SEA05H in integrating the latest technologies and most advanced naval systems into the Fleet," said John Hassoun, VTG president and CEO. "This marquee program goes a long way toward ensuring the US Navy deploys the most capable, lethal warships to overmatch near-peer adversaries and reinforces VTG's position as the Navy's go-to partner for warfare and C5I systems engineering."

Since 2000, VTG's engineers and technical professionals have provided SEA 05H with advanced warfare systems engineering, human systems integration, interoperability, and test and evaluation engineering for the Navy's manned and unmanned surface fleet. The Company has played an instrumental role in the success of the Navy's Strike Force Interoperability program, including its C5 Integration Modernization Process and Warfare System Certification programs.

VTG provides the Navy's systems commands, as well as the office of Naval Research and Strategic Systems Programs, with prime contract solutions and services and thought leadership in emerging Navy programs. Its robust portfolio of capabilities ranges from systems engineering, integration, and production of C5ISR systems to the design, development, and delivery of software-defined technologies for tomorrow's naval warfighter.

About VTG

VTG delivers modernization and digital transformation solutions that expand America's competitive advantage in the modern battlespace. Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, VTG provides full lifecycle engineering for naval, aerospace, network, and digital requirements. Whether at sea, in the air, on land, or in cyberspace, VTG delivers Tomorrow's Transformation Today. For more information, visit us at www.VTGdefense.com.

SOURCE VTG
5 researchers are awarded $1.5 million in total to

protect and increase biodiversity in Chicago and beyond

CHICAGO, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Walder Foundation announced five 2024 Biota Award recipients. Now in its third year, the Biota Awards continue to advance early-career researchers who are working to understand, protect, and restore the unique and diverse ecosystems in Chicago and around the world.

2024 Biota Award recipients Walder Foundation logo

"With ever-changing risks to our planet, the Biota Awards represent a key part of our commitment to supporting biodiversity research in Chicago," said Elizabeth Walder, President and Executive Director of the Walder Foundation. "We are excited to support these researchers in our shared goal of fostering a city with diverse ecosystems for future generations to enjoy, and in elevating the contributions of the region to tackling the global biodiversity crisis."

Each Biota Award recipient will receive $300,000 over three years to produce on-the-ground, unique solutions to biodiversity challenges facing our region. Research projects range from identifying invasive plant threats to Illinois and saving threatened trees from climate change to how bats, birds, people and buildings can co-exist.

"The diversity of projects led by this year's recipients highlights the array of different threats to nature," said Jack Westwood, Program Director for Environmental Sustainability at Walder Foundation. "From preventing invasive species from compromising native biodiversity, to engaging youth in bat research to understand the impacts of urbanization, the Biota Awards are supporting early career scientists in leading research and translating their results into on-the-ground impact to help protect and conserve nature."

The 2024 recipients and their research include:

Dr. Sean Hoban , a tree conservation biologist at The Morton Arboretum, was selected for his research titled Preserving Genetic Diversity in Trees: Integrating an Affordable, Rapid Approach With Action and Policy.





a tree conservation biologist at The Morton Arboretum, was selected for his research titled Liza Lehrer , Assistant Director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo, was selected for her research titled BatTracker: community-driven research to monitor bats and connect Chicago residents to nature.





, Assistant Director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo, was selected for her research titled Dr. Gabriela Nunez-Mir , Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago , was selected for her research titled America's Next Top Invaders: Forecasting invasive range size of invasive plants using a traits-based framework.





, Assistant Professor at the , was selected for her research titled Dr. Yoel E Stuart , Associate Professor at Loyola University Chicago , was selected for his research titled Building a mitochondrial genome database of Illinois fish to enhance eDNA surveys to improve conservation outcomes.





, Associate Professor at , was selected for his research titled Dr. Benjamin Van Doren , Assistant Professor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , was selected for his research titled Wings Over the Windy City: Science, Outreach, and Action to Protect Chicago's Migratory Birds.

The 2024 award recipients will be recognized at a celebration in July hosted by the Walder Foundation. To learn more about their research projects, please visit walderfoundation.org/biota-awards

Applications for the 2025 Biota Awards will open in June, and for the first time will provide focused support for postdoctoral researchers. Please visit the Walder Foundation website in June for more information.

About the Walder Foundation

The Walder Foundation was established by Joseph and Elizabeth Walder to address critical issues impacting our world. The Foundation's five areas of focusscience innovation, environmental sustainability, the performing arts, migration and immigrant communities, and Jewish lifeare an extension of the Walders' lifelong passions, interests, and their personal and professional experiences. Walder Foundation's Environmental Sustainability program promotes the long-term sustainability of the natural environment by addressing socio-environmental challenges to climate, water, food and health.

Media Contact:

Nell DeCoursey Brennan

Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications

For Walder Foundation

[email protected]

785-817-2033

SOURCE Walder Foundation
GUANGZHOU, China, May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 4th, the "Sino-French Food Carnival to Enjoy the Taste of Spring Food at Night "was held on the Seine River in Paris to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. As the No. 1 natural plant drink brand in the world, and with the international English brand identity WALOVI, Wanglaoji made a splendid appearance at this grand event, presenting an "Eastern business card" to the world.

Founded in 1828, Wanglaoji is a herbal tea originating from Southern China. Over the years, it has flourished as a champion of the herbal tea industry, crafting a diverse range of healthy plant beverages catering to the varied tastes of consumers worldwide. With a sales network spanning over 150 countries and regions, Wanglaoji embarked on a 9,500-kilometer journey from Guangzhou to Paris, sharing the story of Chinese herbal tea and nurturing the blend of Chinese and French cultures.

The event witnessed widespread acclaim for Wanglaoji's refreshing taste and rich cultural heritage. French guests delved into the unique essence of herbal tea culture, experiencing the allure of this Chinese tradition.

Significantly, Wanglaoji unveiled its international English brand identity WALOVI, marking an accelerated localization process in the European market. This move expands Wanglaoji's consumption scenarios beyond Chinese cuisine, venturing into the realm of French-style Western dining. Following successful launches in Milan, Bangkok, and Los Angeles, WALOVI has captured the hearts of numerous overseas consumers with its image of health, naturalness, and vitality.

Furthermore, Wanglaoji's ambitious project of establishing 56 herbal tea museums is progressing steadily. Two such museums have already opened their doors in New York, while agreements for museums in Milan and Bangkok have been finalized, further promoting the exchange and mutual appreciation of herbal tea culture with cultures around the world.

Weng Shaoquan, Chairman of Guangzhou Wanglaoji Great Health Industry Co., Ltd., highlighted the brand's successful entry into overseas platforms like Amazon, Costco, Yamibuy, and Wee, igniting a trend of "natural and healthy beverages" abroad. Looking ahead, Wanglaoji aims to deepen the integration of online and offline channels, weaving its products into the diverse tapestry of global dining experiences and enhancing the multifaceted, global presence of the Wanglaoji brand as a symbol of drink pairing.

SOURCE Guangzhou Wanglaoji Health Industry Co.,Ltd.
Partnership helps clients unlock the full potential of their data to accelerate value through technology

CHICAGO, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- West Monroe, a business and technology consulting firm, announced today that it has joined the Alteryx partner community as a Solutions Provider. This partnership marks a significant milestone in West Monroe's commitment to delivering unparalleled value to clients through cutting-edge data insights.

In today's business landscape, data holds unprecedented significance to drive valuable insights. This partnership between West Monroe and Alteryx introduces faster and better insights to create more informed decisioning for clients. West Monroe differentiates itself from traditional approaches that are focused on teaching clients to build workflows or automate processes. Instead, West Monroe's experts identify value opportunities by leveraging Alteryx, enabling the swift translation of findings into actionable and executable insights within an evergreen environment.

"As both a client and partner of Alteryx, we are extremely excited about this partnership that will create lasting value for our clients," said Casey Foss, chief commercial officer at West Monroe. "We know there is tremendous untapped value in organizations' data and a strong correlation between analytics maturity and profitability. That is why we focus on identifying value opportunities with our clients to unlock their data's full potential. This approach helped us deploy real results for a consumer product client, leading to 25% revenue growth and $30 million EBDITA improvement."

Alteryx partners bring value to customers from pre-sales and planning to integrating Alteryx and optimizing performance. The partnership empowers analytics for all; helping knowledge workers across business users, analysts, and data scientists find insights faster and create business breakthroughs. Alteryx makes it easy to connect and clean data from almost any source, join that data together, then perform predictive, statistical, and spatial analytics  all in the same code-free or code-friendly environment.

"As business users require faster, easier access to analytics, Alteryx is building a powerhouse group of partners to meet the growing market need," said Paula Hansen, President and CRO, Alteryx. "We are excited to welcome West Monroe as an Alteryx solutions provider partner to join us in pursuit of our goal to empower every customer to make more informed data-driven decisions across the enterprise."

West Monroe's 70 certified Alteryx professionals excel in leveraging the platform's capabilities across various critical areas such as customer sentiment analysis, industry-specific operations, revenue optimization, marketing effectiveness, and supply chain visibility. This expertise enables clients to unlock new opportunities, optimize processes, and accelerate business growth.

West Monroe's clients have already experienced firsthand the benefits of this partnership, driving 25% revenue growth for a major optical frames company, quantifying a $50 million EBITDA benefit for a leading manufacturing distributor , and realizing $6 million in value creation opportunities for a leading private equity firm.

West Monroe is a gold sponsor at the upcoming Alteryx Inspire event from May 13 to May 16, 2024 in Las Vegas. Attend a speaking session by a West Monroe expert to learn more.

For more information about West Monroe's partnership with Alteryx and its data analytics solutions, visit: https://www.westmonroe.com/partners/alteryx.

About West Monroe

West Monroe is a digital services firm that was born in technology but built for businesspartnering with companies in transformative industries to deliver quantifiable financial value. We believe that digital is a mindsetnot a project, a team, or a destinationand it's something companies become, not something they do. That's why we work in diverse, multidisciplinary teams that blend management consulting, digital design, and product engineering to move companies from traditional ways of working to digital operating modelsand create experiences that transcend the digital and physical worlds. Connected by the five values that drive our culture, our 2,000 employees work collaboratively across the firm with the belief that our clients' success is our success. Visit WestMonroe.com to learn more.

Media Inquiries

Christina Galoozis

Director, Public Relations

[email protected]

847-302-1762

Shira Cohen

Manager, Public Relations

[email protected]

443-841-6879

SOURCE West Monroe Partners
First Quarter 2024 High-Speed Data Revenue increased 1% from the same period last year to $106.2 million

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WideOpenWest, Inc. ("WOW!" or the "Company") (NYSE: WOW), one of the nation's leading broadband providers, with an efficient, high-performing network that passes 1.9 million residential, business and wholesale consumers, today announced financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024.

First Quarter 2024 Highlights (1)

Total Revenue of $161.5 million , a decrease of $10.7 million , or 6.2% compared to the first quarter of 2023

, a decrease of , or 6.2% compared to the first quarter of 2023 HSD Revenue totaled $106.2 million , an increase of $1.0 million , or 1.0%, compared to the first quarter of 2023

, an increase of , or 1.0%, compared to the first quarter of 2023 Net Loss was $15.0 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024

for the quarter ended Adjusted EBITDA of $67.4 million , an increase of $2.2 million , or 3.4%, compared to the first quarter of 2023

, an increase of , or 3.4%, compared to the first quarter of 2023 Passed approximately 18,100 new homes in Greenfield and Edge-out markets in the first quarter of 2024

Jose Segrera joined WOW!'s Board of Directors and will become Chair of the Audit Committee

"Our first quarter results represent a strong start to the year as we make further progress in our new Greenfield markets and continued improvements in our legacy footprint," said Teresa Elder, WOW!'s CEO. "The strong penetration rates across our business reinforces our conviction in our strategy and confidence in our teams to continue growing our business."

"Our first quarter results which included year-over-year growth in high-speed data revenue, ARPU and Adjusted EBITDA, reflect the momentum we are seeing across our business," said John Rego, WOW!'s CFO. "We are continuing to aggressively manage our cost base while also driving further growth in our broadband-first strategy."

Revenue

Total Revenue was $161.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, down $10.7 million, or 6%, as compared to the corresponding period in 2023.

Total Subscription Revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 was $149.0 million, down $10.4 million, or 7%, as compared to the corresponding period in 2023. The decrease is primarily driven by a shift in service offering mix as we continue to experience a reduction in Video and Telephony RGUs, coupled with a decrease in volume across all services. The decrease is partially offset by an increase in average revenue per unit ("ARPU") driven by rate increases issued in the third quarter of 2023 and first quarter of 2024.

Other Business Services Revenue totaled $5.3 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, up $0.1 million, or 2%, as compared with the corresponding period in 2023.

Other Revenue totaled $7.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, down $0.4 million, or 5%, as compared to the corresponding period in 2023 primarily due to decreases in advertising and shopping revenue partially offset by an increase in paper statement revenue.

























(1) Refer to "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" "Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP Measures to Non-GAAP Measures," and "Subscriber Information" in this Press Release for definitions and information related to Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin and reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the closest comparable GAAP measures and why our management thinks it is beneficial to present such non-GAAP measures.

Costs and Expenses

Operating Expenses (excluding Depreciation and Amortization) totaled $67.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, down $10.6 million, or 14%, compared to the corresponding period in 2023. The decrease was primarily driven by decreases in direct operating expense, specifically programming expense, which aligns with the reduction in Video RGUs between periods, as well as increases in capitalizable expenses, and decreases in insurance expenses. Selling, General, and Administrative expenses totaled $36.4 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, down $49.1 million, or 57%, compared to the corresponding period in 2023. The decrease is primarily attributable to the effect of the patent litigation settlement incurred in 2023, and a decrease in stock compensation expense, marketing expenses, and certain cash compensation expenses partially offset by increases in employee severance charges and other professional service fees.

Net Loss

Net Loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 was $15.0 million as compared to net loss of $38.0 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. Net Profit Margin was (9.3)% for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 as compared to (22.1)% for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, was $67.4 million, an increase of $2.2 million, compared to the corresponding period in 2023. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 41.7% for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, as compared to 37.9% for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.

Subscribers

WOW! reported Total Subscribers of 500,700 as of March 31, 2024, a decrease of 26,600, or 5%, compared to March 31, 2023, down 3,400 compared to December 31, 2023. HSD RGUs totaled 489,700 as of March 31, 2024, a decrease of 19,000, or 4%, compared to March 31, 2023, and down 400 compared to December 31, 2023.

Market Expansion

Market Expansion projects reached a total of 18,100 additional homes passed for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, including 15,100 additional homes in Greenfield markets and 3,000 additional homes in Edge-out projects. As of March 31, 2024, Greenfield initiatives passed a total of 45,500 homes and 5,700 subscribers, representing a 12.5% penetration rate.

At March 31, 2024, the 2024 Edge-out projects passed 2,500 new homes and 800 subscribers, representing a 32.0% penetration rate. The 2023 Edge-out projects include 5,000 Subscribers, which represents 27.0% penetration on such nodes. The 2022 Edge-out projects include 900 Subscribers, which represents 31.0% on such nodes.

Capital Expenditures

Capital Expenditures totaled $72.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, representing a $12.3 million increase compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2023. The increase is primarily related to increases in costs related to our market expansion in locations adjacent and nonadjacent to our existing network through our greenfield initiatives. Core Capital Expenditures, or total capital expenditures excluding expansion capital expenditures, equated to 16% of Total Revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2024.

Liquidity and Leverage

As of March 31, 2024, the total outstanding amount of long-term debt and finance lease obligations was $969.9 million, and cash and cash equivalents were $19.2 million. Total Net Leverage as of March 31, 2024, was 3.4x on a LTM Adjusted EBITDA basis and undrawn revolver capacity totaled $4.3 million.

Second Quarter 2024 Guidance





Q2 2024 HSD Revenue

$104.0 - $107.0 million Total Revenue

$158.0 - $161.0 million Adjusted EBITDA

$63.0 - $66.0 million





HSD net additions

(2,000) - (500)

Webcast

WOW! will host a webcast and conference call on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. ET to discuss the financial and operating results contained in this press release. The conference call and webcast will be broadcast live on the Company's investor relations website at ir.wowway.com. Those parties interested in participating can use the information as follows:

Call Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Call Time: 8:00 a.m. Eastern

Dial In: (800) 715-9871

International: (646) 307-1963

Conf. ID: 9830786









A replay of the call will be available on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 on the investor relations website.

WIDEOPENWEST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (unaudited)

















March 31,

December 31,



2024

2023



(in millions, except share data) Assets











Current assets











Cash and cash equivalents

$ 19.2

$ 23.4 Accounts receivabletrade, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $6.4 and $6.7, respectively



37.3



38.8 Accounts receivableother, net



8.4



9.5 Prepaid expenses and other



47.0



38.5 Total current assets



111.9



110.2 Right-of-use lease assetsoperating



21.6



20.1 Property, plant and equipment, net



848.1



830.4 Franchise operating rights



278.3



278.3 Goodwill



225.1



225.1 Intangible assets subject to amortization, net



0.9



1.0 Other non-current assets



50.1



49.6 Total assets

$ 1,536.0

$ 1,514.7 Liabilities and stockholders' equity











Current liabilities











Accounts payabletrade

$ 61.8

$ 59.5 Accrued interest



1.8



1.6 Current portion of long-term lease liabilityoperating



4.4



4.3 Accrued liabilities and other



58.2



60.0 Current portion of long-term debt and finance lease obligations



17.5



18.8 Current portion of unearned service revenue



25.4



25.4 Total current liabilities



169.1



169.6 Long-term debt and finance lease obligationsless current portion and debt issuance costs



952.4



915.7 Long-term lease liabilityoperating



19.5



18.0 Deferred income taxes, net



124.2



125.7 Other non-current liabilities



26.2



27.5 Total liabilities



1,291.4



1,256.5 Commitments and contingencies











Stockholders' equity:











Preferred stock, $0.01 par value, 100,000,000 shares authorized; 0 shares issued and outstanding







 Common stock, $0.01 par value, 700,000,000 shares authorized; 98,706,060 and 98,594,629 issued as

of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively; 83,329,326 and 83,557,786 outstanding as of

March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively



1.0



1.0 Additional paid-in capital



394.8



391.8 Retained earnings



5.3



20.3 Treasury stock at cost, 15,376,734 and 15,036,843 shares as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023,

respectively



(156.5)



(154.9) Total stockholders' equity



244.6



258.2 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity

$ 1,536.0

$ 1,514.7

WIDEOPENWEST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDED (unaudited)

















Three months ended



March 31,



2024

2023



(in millions, except for share data) Revenue:











HSD

$ 106.2

$ 105.2 Video



31.8



42.1 Telephony



11.0



12.1 Total subscription services revenue



149.0



159.4 Other business services



5.3



5.2 Other



7.2



7.6 Total revenue



161.5



172.2













Costs and expenses:











Operating (excluding depreciation and amortization)



67.5



78.1 Selling, general and administrative



36.4



85.5 Depreciation and amortization



52.4



45.5





156.3



209.1 Income (loss) from operations



5.2



(36.9) Other income (expense):











Interest expense



(21.0)



(14.9) Other income, net



0.3



1.2 Loss from operations before provision for income tax



(15.5)



(50.6) Income tax benefit



0.5



12.6 Net loss

$ (15.0)

$ (38.0)













Basic and diluted loss per common share











Basic

$ (0.18)

$ (0.46) Diluted

$ (0.18)

$ (0.46) Weighted-average common shares outstanding











Basic



81,347,672



83,028,769 Diluted



81,347,672



83,028,769

WIDEOPENWEST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (unaudited)

















Three months ended



March 31,



2024

2023



(in millions) Cash flows from operating activities:











Net loss

$ (15.0)

$ (38.0) Adjustments to reconcile net (loss) income to net cash provided by operating activities:











Depreciation and amortization



52.7



45.5 Deferred income taxes



(1.4)



(14.5) Provision for doubtful accounts



2.7



2.6 Gain on sale of operating assets, net



(0.3)



 Amortization of debt issuance costs and discount



0.4



0.4 Change in fair value of derivative instruments



1.1



 Non-cash compensation



3.0



5.4 Other non-cash items



(0.2)



(0.1) Changes in operating assets and liabilities:











Receivables and other operating assets



(6.0)



(5.4) Payables and accruals



(3.8)



36.7 Net cash provided by operating activities

$ 33.2

$ 32.6 Cash flows from investing activities:











Capital expenditures

$ (72.5)

$ (60.2) Other investing activities







0.1 Net cash used in investing activities

$ (72.5)

$ (60.1) Cash flows from financing activities:











Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt, net

$ 40.0

$ 51.0 Payments on long-term debt and finance lease obligations



(5.4)



(4.9) Reimbursement of finance lease payments



1.7



 Purchase of shares



(1.2)



(28.4) Net cash provided by financing activities

$ 35.1

$ 17.7 Decrease in cash and cash equivalents



(4.2)



(9.8) Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period



23.4



31.0 Cash and cash equivalents, end of period

$ 19.2

$ 21.2 Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information:











Cash paid during the periods for interest, net

$ 19.3

$ 14.5 Cash paid during the periods for income taxes

$ 

$  Cash received during the periods for refunds of income taxes

$ 

$ 4.3 Non-cash operating activities:











Operating lease additions

$ 2.5

$ 0.8 Non-cash investing and financing activities:











Finance lease additions

$ 0.5

$ 1.9 Excise tax payable

$ 0.4

$  Capital expenditures within accounts payable and accruals

$ 41.4

$ 32.2

About WOW!

WOW! is one of the nation's leading broadband providers, with an efficient, high-performing network that passes 1.9 million residential, business and wholesale consumers. WOW! provides services in 16 markets, primarily in the Midwest and Southeast, including Michigan, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. With an expansive portfolio of advanced services, including high-speed Internet services, cable TV, phone, business data, voice, and cloud services, the company is dedicated to providing outstanding service at affordable prices. WOW! also serves as a leader in exceptional human resources practices, having been recognized nine times by the National Association for Business Resources as a Best & Brightest Company to Work For in the Nation for the 10th time and by the National Association for Business Resources (NABR) for the sixth consecutive year. Visit www.wowway.com for more information.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release that are not historical facts contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements represent our goals, beliefs, plans and expectations about our prospects for the future and other future events. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical fact and can be identified by terms such as "may," "intend," "might," "will," "should," "could," "would," "anticipate," "expect," "believe," "estimate," "plan," "project," "predict," "potential," or the negative of these terms. Although these forward-looking statements reflect our good-faith belief and reasonable judgment based on current information, these statements are qualified by important factors, many of which are beyond our control that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors and other risks that could cause our actual results to differ materially are set forth in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report filed on Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and other reports subsequently filed with the SEC. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this report are made as of the date hereof or the date specified herein, based on information available to us as of such date. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company has included certain non-GAAP financial measures in this release, including Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin. These terms, as defined herein, are not intended to be considered in isolation, as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America ("GAAP"). These terms may vary from the use of similar terms by other companies in our industry due to different methods of calculation and therefore are not necessarily comparable.

We believe that these non-GAAP measures enhance an investor's understanding of our financial performance. We believe that these non-GAAP measures are useful financial metrics to assess our operating performance from period to period by excluding certain items that we believe are not representative of our core business. We believe that these non-GAAP measures provide investors with useful information for assessing the comparability between periods of our ability to generate cash from operations sufficient to pay taxes, to service debt and to undertake Capital Expenditures. We use these non-GAAP measures for business planning purposes and in measuring our performance relative to that of our competitors. We believe these non-GAAP measures are measures commonly used by investors to evaluate our performance and that of our competitors.

Adjusted EBITDA eliminates the impact of expenses that do not relate to overall business performance and is defined by WOW! as net income (loss) before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (including impairments), impairment losses on intangibles and goodwill, write-off of any asset, loss on early extinguishment of debt, integration and restructuring expenses and all noncash charges and expenses (including stock compensation expense) and certain other income and expenses. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss), operating income or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP as measures of operating performance, operating cash flows or liquidity.

Refer to "Reconciliations of GAAP Measures to Non-GAAP Measures" and the accompanying tables below for a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA margin to Net Profit margin which are the most directly comparable corresponding GAAP financial measures.

Subscriber Information

The Company uses the terms defined below throughout this release.

Homes passed are reported as the number of serviceable addresses, such as single residence homes, apartments and condominium units, and businesses passed by our broadband network and listed in our database.

We deliver multiple services to our customers, as such we report Total Subscribers as the number of Subscribers who receive at least one of our HSD, Video or Telephony services, without regard to which or how many services they subscribe. We define each of the individual HSD Subscribers, Video Subscribers and Telephony Subscribers as a Revenue Generating Unit ("RGU").

While we take appropriate steps to ensure subscriber information is presented on a consistent and accurate basis at any given balance sheet date, we periodically review our policies in light of the variability we may encounter across our different markets due to the nature and pricing of products and services and billing systems. Accordingly, we may from time to time make appropriate adjustments to our subscriber information based on such reviews.

WIDEOPENWEST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Reconciliations of GAAP Measures to Non-GAAP Measures (unaudited)

The following table provides a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin to Net (Loss) Income and

Net Profit Margin for the periods presented:

















Three months ended



March 31,



2024

2023



(in millions) Net loss

$ (15.0)

$ (38.0) Net Profit Margin



(9.3) %



(22.1) %













Plus: Depreciation and amortization



52.4



45.5 Interest expense



21.0



14.9 Non-recurring professional fees, M&A integration and restructuring expense



6.8



5.8 Patent litigation settlement







45.4 Non-cash stock compensation



3.0



5.4 Other income, net



(0.3)



(1.2) Income tax benefit



(0.5)



(12.6) Adjusted EBITDA

$ 67.4

$ 65.2 Adjusted EBITDA Margin



41.7 %



37.9 %

WIDEOPENWEST, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Capital Expenditures and Subscriber Information (unaudited)

The following table provides additional information regarding our Capital Expenditures for the periods presented:

















Three months ended



March 31,



2024

2023



(in millions) Scalable infrastructure

$ 32.6

$ 17.9 Customer premise equipment



18.6



16.2 Line extensions



11.1



16.0 Support capital and other



10.2



10.1 Total

$ 72.5

$ 60.2 Capital expenditures included in total related to:











Greenfields

$ 43.1

$ 20.2 Edge-outs

$ 1.7

$ 4.2 Business services

$ 2.2

$ 3.9

The following table provides an unaudited summary of our continuing operations subscriber information:

























March 31,

June 30,

September 30,

December 31,

March 31,



2023

2023

2023

2023

2024 Homes Passed

1,885,700

1,892,600

1,905,600

1,932,200

1,948,500 Total Subscribers

527,300

522,400

517,400

504,100

500,700 HSD RGUs

508,700

507,800

503,400

490,100

489,700 Video RGUs

117,100

110,000

100,800

90,800

79,300 Telephony RGUs

87,700

85,300

82,700

79,500

77,700 Total RGUs

713,500

703,100

686,900

660,400

646,700

Additional Information Available on Website:

The information in this press release should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and footnotes contained in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, which will be posted on of our investor relations website at ir.wowway.com, when it is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). A slide presentation to accompany the conference call and a trending schedule containing historical customer and financial data will also be available on our website.

SOURCE WideOpenWest, Inc.
Amidst 65th Anniversary Celebrations, Automotive Aftermarket Leader Awards Stores & Individuals for Significant Achievements

TROY, Mich., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As Ziebart marks 65 years of providing premium automotive appearance and protection services, the brand honored its top-performing franchise owners and stores at its highly-anticipated 2023 Franchise Owner Celebration in Jamaica. The conference, attended by Ziebart franchise owners and corporate executives, provided a platform to celebrate significant achievements and milestones, while upholding Ziebart's longstanding promise to continually support its franchise owners.

Ziebart, the worldwide leader in premium automotive appearance and protection services for 65 years. recognized its top-performing franchise owners and stores at its 2023 Franchise Owner Celebration. For more on franchising opportunities with Ziebart, please visit: ziebart.com/franchise-opportunities

Among those recognized for providing exceptional services was Morgantown, West Virginia owner Nick Lambie, who received the coveted Dealer of the Year award, underscoring what's already been an impressive year for him:

In January, Lambie and his brother announced plans for expansion, with a second store now in development in Washington , Pennsylvania .

, . In February, the International Franchise Association (IFA) recognized Lambie as a 2023 Franchisee of the Year.

(IFA) recognized Lambie as a 2023 Franchisee of the Year. As an Air Force Veteran, Lambie was a driving force behind Ziebart's 2024 initiative to donate to Mission 22  a national veteran non-profit organization that provides support to veterans and their families.

"As a Ziebart franchise owner, I am incredibly honored to be recognized amongst the best in our network at this year's annual conference," Lambie said. "Between the unwavering passion seen across the Ziebart network and their true dedication to supporting and guiding franchise owners to success, I'm proud to be part of the Ziebart franchise family."

While Ziebart marks 65 years of service this year, several franchise stores were also celebrated for their own milestone achievements. Among those, Joe Walsh Hanley, Jr., whose store in Hilo, Hawaii celebrates 50 Years of Service this year. This prestigious accolade is a testament to Hanley's resilience, innovation, and continuous pursuit of excellence, embodying the spirit of Ziebart's legacy of quality and service for the past 50 years.

"It's truly inspiring to see one of our distinguished franchise owners reach the impressive milestone of 50 years of service, a longevity that reflects not only on Joe's strong dedication to our brand, but also his unwavering commitment to exceeding customer expectations," said Thomas A. Wolfe, President and CEO of Ziebart. "We are always proud of the hard work and remarkable achievements of our franchise owners. With this year being particularly significant as we celebrate 65 years of protecting and defending vehicles, we're eager to see what more our franchise system can accomplish in the years to come."

This year's New Dealer of the Year award went to Mike Drizake, who opened his Ziebart franchise location in Triadelphia, West Virginia in February 2023. In just one year of operation, the award recognizes Drizake's outstanding performance early in his franchising journey with Ziebart.

Matt Steiner was awarded Corporately Owned Store Manager of the Year, celebrating his consistent efforts to going above and beyond to drive success, foster teamwork, and uphold the highest standards of customer service at his store in Fridley, Minnesota. Two stores were honored with the Outstanding Customer Service award for achieving significant high-mark ratings and reviews from customers: Dennis Ahearn of Ottawa, Illinois, and Autumn Dougherty of McKeesport, Pennsylvania.

To find a Ziebart location near you, head to www.ziebart.com . For more information on Ziebart's franchising opportunities, visit ziebart.com/franchise-opportunities.

About Ziebart

Founded in 1959, Ziebart International Corporation is the worldwide leader in premium automotive appearance and protection services that extend the life of vehicles. Ziebart operates over 400 locations, with 1,300 service centers, in 37 countries. Ziebart continues to grow and offers domestic and international franchising opportunities, a best-in-class investment for qualified prospects. For more information about Ziebart's services and products, please visit www.ziebart.com . For more information on Ziebart's franchising opportunities, visit ziebart.com/franchise-opportunities.

SOURCE Ziebart
SHANGHAI, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ZKH Group Limited ("ZKH" or the "Company") (NYSE: ZKH), a leading maintenance, repair and operations ("MRO") procurement service platform in China, today announced that it will release its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2024, on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, before the open of the U.S. markets.

The Company's management will hold an earnings conference call on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at 8:00 A.M. U.S. Eastern Time (8:00 P.M. Beijing/Hong Kong Time) to discuss the financial results. Listeners may access the call by dialing the following numbers:

United States (toll free): +1-888-317-6003 International: +1-412-317-6061 Mainland China (toll free): 400-120-6115 Hong Kong (toll free): 800-963-976 Hong Kong: +852-5808-1995 Access Code: 5519595

A replay of the conference call will be accessible by phone one hour after the conclusion of the live call at the following numbers, until May 28, 2024:

United States:







+1-877-344-7529 International:







+1-412-317-0088 Replay Access Code:







7188999

A live and archived webcast of the conference call will also be available on the Company's investor relations website at https://ir.zkh.com.

About ZKH Group Limited

ZKH Group Limited (NYSE: ZKH) is a leading MRO procurement service platform in China, dedicated to propelling the MRO industry's digital transformation to drive cost reduction and efficiency improvement industry-wide. Leveraging its outstanding product selection and recommendation capabilities, ZKH provides digitalized, one-stop MRO procurement solutions that enable its customers to transparently and efficiently access a wide selection of quality products at competitive prices. The Company also facilitates timely and reliable product delivery with professional fulfillment services. By catering specifically to the needs of MRO suppliers and customers through its unmatched digital infrastructure, the Company empowers all participants in the value chain to achieve more.

For more information, please visit https://ir.zkh.com.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

ZKH Group Limited

IR Department

E-mail: [email protected]

Piacente Financial Communications

Hui Fan

Tel: +86-10-6508-0677

E-mail: [email protected]

In the United States:

Piacente Financial Communications

Brandi Piacente

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE ZKH Group Limited
Existing school bus drivers and new candidates welcome at May 9 event

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Zum , which recently signed a five-year transportation contract with Omaha Public Schools, will host a hiring event for school bus drivers on Thursday, May 9, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Four Points by Sheraton Omaha Midtown (330 N 30th St, Omaha, NE 68131).

Zum, which recently signed a five-year transportation contract with Omaha Public Schools, will host a hiring event for school bus drivers on Thursday, May 9, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Four Points by Sheraton Omaha Midtown (330 N 30th St, Omaha, NE 68131).

Zum is hiring 230 drivers to serve the families of Omaha Public Schools beginning in the 2024-25 school year. Existing drivers as well as anyone considering a new career as a school bus driver are encouraged to attend. Zum pays for training and certification for those who are not yet certified.

Zum offers higher wages, guaranteed hours and modern benefits for all drivers and staff. Additionally, Zum provides top-of-the-line air conditioned buses, equipment and technology to enhance safety and comfort for students and drivers and make drivers' day-to-day jobs easier and more enjoyable. Advanced training and certification programs include extensive ongoing training in transporting students with diverse needs and disabilities.

"We have been busy building our team of drivers in Omaha ahead of the 2024-25 school year, and we're excited to welcome all candidates at this hiring event," said Ritu Narayan, Founder and CEO at Zum. "Drivers are the heart of what we do, and Zum is proud to have the best drivers in the industry."

Zum is a "Great Places to Work" certified company and a choice employer in cities where it has partnerships. Additionally, Zum is the first and only 100% carbon neutral student transportation company in the U.S. Through its Net Zero Initiative , the company is leading in electric school bus conversion.

Anyone interested in driving or who knows someone interested that cannot attend one of Zum's hiring events can apply here .

Zum manages and operates student transportation in Massachusetts, Maryland, California, Washington, Texas, Illinois, and Tennessee with significant operations launching this year in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut and Missouri. To learn more about how Zum is working with thousands of schools across the nation to deliver safe, reliable and modern student transportation, please visit Zum's website .

About Zum:Zum has modernized student transportation, the nation's largest mass transit system, and developed sustainable ways to charge the grid. Zum's robust operations and integrated end-to-end cloud-based platform provides a modern student transportation service for school districts purpose-built around the needs of kids and the expectations of modern families. Zum provides one seamless, real-time interface for parents, drivers, schools, districts, administrators, and operators to transport children safely and with increased visibility and personalized care. Always investing in the wellbeing of communities, Zum is also the only carbon neutral student transportation provider in the nation with plans to go Net Zero with its transition to EV electric buses. Zum is available nationwide, serving more than 4,000 schools across the U.S. Learn more at www.ridezum.com .

CONTACT:

Jenny Mayfield, Vice President of Communications - [email protected]

SOURCE Zum
We are changing lives but apparently there's an "actual issue" on the footpath, writes Tara Meakins.

As I sit here typing, my body is in a world of pain that only runners will understand.

But amid the sheer exhaustion and agonising pain of running the Runaway Sydney Half Marathon on Sunday, my heart is absolutely bursting and cup completely overflowing because I did it with the support, enthusiasm and spirit of the Coogee Run Club.

The Coogee Run Club took on the Runaway Sydney Half Marathon on Sunday. Source: Supplied

Its been almost two years since my co-founder, Hannah Gandevia, and I launched the free social run club in an effort to make local mates who enjoyed running along Sydneys epic coastline.

Since then, run clubs have been popping up all over Australia, but it turns out that not everyone is happy the because according to a recent article on the Courier Mail there is an actual issue here.

If you think traffic is bad on our roads, you should try getting out of your car, the story read, before detailing the fallout on the footpath with runners out in force.

And God help us if we show any enthusiasm on our morning jogs because apparently its just too early to be that cheerful.

But to be honest, Ive actually been bracing for this kind of reaction as run clubs continue to gain popularity, because Ive seen it first hand.

Hannah Gandevia and Tara Meakins co-founded the Coogee Run Clun in May 2022 and now have 13 Run Leads who volunteer their time to support the growing group. Source: Supplied

Complaints about runners mount

Whether its the tutting under their breath as we pass by, the loud complaints about us taking up the footpath, or the two emails Ive received in two years, I know the way some people feel about run clubs on footpaths.

From being accused of not taking walkers into consideration, to charging at them as a large group of intimidating people, one person told me that it was totally unfair for those going in the opposite direction.

While another asked me if we could move our speed session from a 400 metre section of a footpath that encircled a very large park to the grass so that dog walkers could take their usual walks.

A 400 metre section. Of an entire park. That we use for 30 minutes once a week at 6.30am on a Wednesday.

The Coogee Run Club's monthly Newbies Night always draws the biggest crowd while the Speed Sesh helps improve runners pace. Source: Supplied

Firstly, I am so sorry that some members of the community feel that theyve had a poor experience with our group, and I do apologise for any negative impact we may have had on their routine.

But they dont own the footpath either.

I appreciate that we can seem like a force when we are running as a pack, and I do understand the congestion when we pass by.

But were also dealing with walkers, prams, children, dogs, and those who just stop in the middle of the path to have a chinwag.

The Coogee Run Club was born out of a love for running along the coast. Source: Supplied

Coogee Run Club committed to safety

From the very beginning, we have always communicated a message of respect and safety to our runners.

We are a friendly force and not footpath hoggers, we remind them before every single session, as well as the importance of watching out for others.

Since our rapid expansion, weve also doubled down on safety measures, breaking the team up into pace groups and recruiting more Run Leads to help us lead sessions, positioning them at certain locations to urge runners to keep left.

Youre entering a single file zone, we enthusiastically yell at our lot. Follow the leader!

The Coogee Run Club's motto is 'all faces, all paces, all welcome, always'. Source: Supplied

So while I do understand where the complaints are coming from, I ask that those who feel like their walk is ruined by the minute or two it takes for us to pass, to please share in our values of inclusivity, community and kindness.

And to appreciate that it can be pretty tricky to manage a group of endorphin filled runners, just so happy to be out running with their mates.

But most of all, I would love for others to consider what we're bringing to people.

Run clubs not just about fitness

While run clubs may have exploded in popularity recently, weve been getting together five times a week since 2022 and now have over 2,000 members. Because its never just been about fitness for us. Were focused on creating a community.

The Coogee Run Club is passionate about giving back to the local community and regularly takes part in beach clean ups and volunteers at the Centennial parkrun. Source: Supplied

From being a warm and welcoming group that attracts runners of all abilities to including a social post-run coffee, breaky, dinner or a bevvie after every single trot, from the beginning our blueprint was clear.

We wanted to foster a lifestyle that benefited physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and we've managed to make it happen.

From the members who cant wait to share their exercise wins, their race times and their new personal bests (even if thats just hitting the three kilometre mark), to the sheer transformation as our runners become healthier and happier humans.

From those whove turned strangers into family, flatmates or even partners, these are people who now spend the holidays together with growing friendships that you know will last a lifetime.

But its the quiet word to me after a run, or the message shared in private, about how the Run Club has changed their life  and even saved their mental health  that brings me, my co-founder and my wonderful team of 13 volunteer Run Leads the ultimate joy.

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Jane Goodall has labelled the destruction of Lee Point 'devastating' and has called for the government to reconsider.

Jane Goodall (centre) is one of the world's most influential conservationists with supporters including Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio. Source: Getty

The destruction of an ancient forest in Australia by a housing developer has drawn international condemnation with veteran conservationist Dr Jane Goodall describing it as simply unacceptable.

Lee Point is home to at least three native species on the brink of extinction, trees believed to be over 400 years old, and its been safeguarded for thousands of years by Darwins Indigenous population. But last week a company owned by the Federal Government began bulldozing it to make way for a luxury housing project.

"The devastating news that bulldozers have started operating at Lee Point's precious local woodland, is a crushing blow. The loss of such vital land, a biodiverse corridor and home to hundreds of bird species (some endangered) is simply unacceptable, Goodall told Yahoo News.

I plead with the Environment Minister to consider the significant impact this destructive action will have on the wildlife and people of the Darwin area now and in the future.

Endangered species including the Gouldian finch and black-footed tree-rat have been documented living at Lee Point. Source: Getty/Darwin Wildlife Sanctuary

Born in London, Goodall is considered the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees and is one of the world's best-known environmentalists. She will be visiting Australia this month, but with more of Lee Point facing destruction, she took time out of her European tour to issue a call for Australia's environment minister to reconsider the plan.

Urgent call for Australia's environment laws to be overhauled after Lee Point's destruction

Goodall's statement follows a call from Re:wild, a conservation group founded by actor Leonardo Dicaprio, for Australias conservation laws to be strengthened. It noted the current regulations have allowed for the destruction of endangered species including the Gouldian Finch. The wild population of that species has numbers less than 2500, and a significant number of them had sheltered at Lee Point.

Australia's environmental laws urgently need to be strengthened to protect hundreds of threatened species," Janice Chanson, Re:wild's senior associate of Australian conservation told Yahoo.

"Despite the Australian government's commitment to no new extinctions, it continues to allow the destruction of critical habitat for species such as the Gouldian Finch, Swift Parrot and Koala. This is pushing these species to the brink of extinction".

More than 200 species of birds had been documented at Lee Point and because it was located 20 minutes away from Darwin it had been an important tourist drawcard. Noting the international attention the development has received, Deakin University wildlife ecologist Professor Euan Ritchie said the development will harm Australia's international reputation.

"People travel from all over the world to see Australia's iconic wildlife, and Lee Point is no exception to that. People have had the amazing experience of seeing Gouldian finches close to a major city, Darwin," he told Yahoo. "It's deeply embarrassing. Australia has absolutely had a shameful record when it comes to conservation and this just contributes to that."

Related: Koala habitat bulldozed by developer for new car park

Tibby Quall (right) disagrees with Minister Plibersek (left) about the cultural significance of Lee Point to the Larrakia people. Source: AAP/EJA

Concern for wildlife as trees bulldozed at Lee Point

Last week around 100 police and security guards surrounded Lee Point to protect bulldozers contracted by Defence Housing Australia (DHA) as they flattened around 20 hectares of the 131-hectare site. Several arrests were made and local Larrakia people were left devastated as they watched their culturally important sites vanish in hours.

Ecologist Graeme Sawyer, who identified several trees at Lee Point as being hundreds of years old, told Yahoo on Tuesday the most significant forested areas were now gone, but he hoped what remains could be spared. He was one of several protesters who raised concerns last week that not enough was being done to ensure animals were not in the trees that were being bulldozed.

He submitted a formal letter to the government and attached several videos that appear to show trees being flattened without fauna spotters directly supervising. They knew there were endangered species. How can they get away with this? he said at the time.

Asked to respond to these claims, the Federal Department of Environment told Yahoo it was satisfied DHA was complying with its Australian Government conditions of approval. Northern Territory Environment Minister Kate Worden did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Although having fauna spotters is both a territory and federal requirement, her office referred questions to the Commonwealth. DHA also chose not to address the issue and instead directed Yahoo to its website.

Related: New McDonalds, KFC and Taco Bell open on former koala habitat site

Call for moratorium on Lee Point destruction fails

In 2023, the Lee Point development was momentarily paused after Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek received an emergency application to protect the site on cultural grounds, but she ultimately was not satisfied it was significant as an Aboriginal area. Many of the local Larrakia people who have been visiting Lee Point since they were children for cultural reasons disagree with her assessment.

Before this, Pliberseks office added conditions to the project it claimed offered a range of better protections for endangered species, including a 50m buffer around Gouldian Finch habitat.

Discover more of our environment coverage.

After the bulldozers rolled in last week, the Greens called on the environment minister to order an urgent moratorium on land clearing.

The deforestation proposed at Lee Point is irresponsible, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said. "Reports that land clearing destruction may be happening without the presence of nature spotters and that peaceful protesters are being put in harm's way are concerning.

Yahoo understands a moratorium is not possible under Australia's national environment laws, which were described in a 2022 independent review as being ineffective, weak and tokenistic. Two years, later, the Albanese government was elected after promising to reform them.

In April, the long-awaited reforms did not eventuate as expected. Instead, the government deferred reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act  which have been deemed necessary to protect animals facing extinction.

Dr Jane Goodall is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, the Jane Goodall Institute Australia, and the UN Messenger of Peace. She will be speaking in Australia throughout May and June as part of her Reasons for Hope tour.

Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories.
Serious health questions have been raised about a $1,400 a month rental property in Australia thats been built out of a 20 foot shipping container.

In a listing on Facebook Marketplace, the converted one bedroom ensuite space is described as being a furnished tiny house donga located on a gated acreage well behind the main house south west of Brisbane near Munruben in Queensland. Donga is a slang term for temporary or portable housing  but its the facilities that have experts worried.

The outdoor kitchen and the bathroom situation would perhaps indicate that this property is not compliant with council, property lawyer Monica Rouvellas told Yahoo News Australia.

I would be concerned about the tenants health and safety with having an outdoor kitchen as their only kitchen, which is different to having a covered and well-designed outdoor BBQ/kitchen area.

In a photo of the outside property, a long kitchen bench with a fridge at one end can be seen sitting on the veranda along with a barbecue, but it remains unclear if there is a stove top or oven.

While wrapped around the back of the container, on a very narrow verandah, is the air conditioning unit, washing machine and laundry sink.

Inside, the situation is even more grim, with a tiny, clear glass walled bathroom positioned in the middle of the room and beside the bed, offering the user zero privacy.

If the property doesn't have a functioning cooktop it won't meet Queensland's new minimum housing standards. Source: TikTok

Attempt to profiteer off people's desperation

Rach McQueen, a TikToker known for rental reviews, shared a video about the property on her profile, pointing out the sold sign on the $350 a week listing which claims to be suited to a single mature person.

It would appear that this place has been rented out so it is a shame to see that their attempt to profiteer off peoples desperation during this crisis has been successful.

TikToker Rach McQueen was shocked that the property had already been rented out. Source: TikTok

In an almost 10 minute clip she pointed out the bulls**t propertys faults from its bathroom in a glass box where tenants could be staring at the toilet 24/7 as it is right at the foot of your bed to its outdoor kitchen with a lack of power points and practicability during storms.

This place is going to be freezing in the middle of winter so how pleasant will it be to be outside here grabbing a drink from the fridge or preparing a meal in the depths of winter, she said, before highlighting the laundrys electrocution risks with a power adapter running off the main power point.

Is it legal?

According to Rouvellas, a converted container can be legal if it has met council requirements for a second dwelling or granny flat.

The outdoor laundry's power plugs also raised concern. Source: TikTok

The key issue is whether this has been approved by council, she said. For short fixed or period leases, tenants are not required to do any due diligence, so unless a tenant inquires with the local council, they will not really know if the property is council approved.

While a spokesperson for the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) told Yahoo News that properties must also receive development and building approval and meet all health and safety regulations, including Queenslands new minimum housing standards.

Minimum housing standards include ensuring the property is weatherproof and structurally sound, provides adequate plumbing and drainage, includes the necessary fixtures for a functional laundry and a functioning cooktop, if a kitchen is provided, the spokesperson said.

The bathroom in the middle of the room offers no privacy. Source: TikTok

They also specify that rental properties must be in good repair with fixtures and fittings (such as electrical appliances) that are not likely to cause injury through normal use, and provide privacy in bathroom areas.

If a customer believes a property manager or owner hasnt met their legal obligations, they can request the RTA investigates the matter, the spokesperson added.

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Bengaluru, May 7 : Karnataka's Leader of the Opposition R. Ashoka has claimed that the Vokkaliga community will turn against the Congress following the arrest of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda's son H.D. Revanna.

Speaking to media persons on Monday, BJP leader Ashoka claimed that the way the Lingayat community "turned hostile towards the Congress after late CM Veerendra Patil was meted with injustice by the party, in the same manner following the injustice done to the Vokkaliga community and former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, Vokkaligas will also turn hostile to the Congress in the coming days".

"H.D. Revanna's case and his son Prajwal Revanna's case are different. Prajwalas case is being probed and there is no objection to it. In H.D. Revanna's case, it is evident that he was arrested intentionally. He is arrested in a kidnapping case. The victimas family has been forced to issue statements. This is a political conspiracy," LoP Ashoka said refuting the allegations against JD-S MLA H.D. Revanna, who was arrested recently by the Karnataka Police on charges of kidnapping one of the victims in the sex scandal case involving his son Prajwal Revanna.

"The people of the state know about this conspiracy. This is being done to end Vokkaliga leadership in the state by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his team, there is no doubt about it," he claimed.
WASHINGTON D.C., Feb. 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing on U.S. foreign policy at the Foreign Press Center in Washington D.C., the United States, Feb. 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Jiao Min/IANS). Image Source: IANS News

Washington, May 7 : The US government has said that it is examining Hamas' agreement to a mediated proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza.

"We're currently reviewing that response. And we're discussing it with our partners in the region," National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said on Monday. Kirby evaded a journalist's question as to what exactly Hamas had agreed to in the proposal. He would not go into that, he said.

"We still believe that reaching an agreement is the absolute best outcome not only for the hostages, but for the Palestinian people. And we're not going to stop working to that outcome," Kirby said.

CIA chief William Burns is in the region working with the Israelis to reach an agreement, Kirby said. "And the last thing that I want to do is say anything at this podium that's going to put that process at risk," he added. The worst thing to do now would be to speculate about what exactly Hamas' response will be.

Kirby described a telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier Monday morning as "constructive." The conversation lasted around half an hour.

"During the call at the president's urging, Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed to ensure that the Kerem Shalom crossing is back open for humanitarian assistance for those in need," said Kirby.

During the talks, Hamas' agreement to a mediator's proposal was not yet known.

With regard to an expected ground offensive in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Kirby stressed that the US government would not support an operation that would put more than 1 million people at great risk. When asked by the press whether Washington would support a limited Israeli operation in Rafah, Kirby did not respond directly. However, Israel had not yet presented the plan for protecting the civilian population requested by the US.

--IANS/DPA

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Boeings Starliner to fly 1st crewed mission to space on May 6. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, May 7 : Boeing has yet again scrubbed the Starliner manned mission over an oxygen relief valve, two hours before launch, NASA announced.

The CST-100 Starliner spacecraft was expected to launch NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Indian-Origin Sunita Williams.

While the crew had entered the spacecraft, it faced an issue with a valve in the rocket's upper stage leading to the scrub.

"Today's #Starliner launch is scrubbed as teams evaluate an oxygen relief valve on the Centaur Stage on the Atlas V," NASA informed in a post on X.com

"Our astronauts have exited Starliner and will return to crew quarters," it added.

The Liftoff was targeted for 10:34 p.m. ET (0234 UTC May 7) aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on May 7.

"ULA Launch Director Tom Heter III has made the decision to the launch team that launch operations will not continue tonight for #AtlasV and #Starliner," the rocket company said on X.

It is not immediately clear when Boeing and ULA might be able to make another attempt.

The setback is not the first for Boeing. After signing a contract with NASA's Commercial Crew Programme to fly operational missions to and from the space station with Starliner in 2014, it has faced several delays.

In 2019, its debut uncrewed orbital flight mission did not go as planned. The mission was completed in 2022.

Further, its crewed mission has been repeatedly delayed. On the other hand, SpaceX, which was also part of the NASA Contract in 2014, has aced about 12 flights to the International Space Station.

Starliner is aimed at carrying astronauts and cargo for future NASA missions to low Earth orbit, and beyond.
Lucknow, May 7 : Polling for 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh began on Tuesday morning in the third phase of the parliamentary elections.

The constituencies where polling is being held include Sambhal, Hathras, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Badaun, Aonla, and Bareilly, spanning across 12 districts of the state.

Of the 10 seats that are voting on Tuesday, the BJP had won eight in 2019 -- Hathras, Agra, Firozabad, Fatehpur Sikri, Etah, Badaun, Bareilly and Aonla -- while Mainpuri and Sambhal went to the Samajwadi Party (SP).

This phase will be a test for the SP's first family as well, with Dimple Yadav, Akshay Yadav and Aditya Yadav contesting Mainpuri, Firozabad and Budaun respectively.

In Mainpuri, an SP bastion that the party has never lost, sitting MP Dimple Yadav will take on Jaiveer Singh of the BJP.

In Firozabad, the BJP candidate Chandra Sen Jadon is contesting against Akshay Yadav and in Budaun, Aditya Yadav  son of Shivpal Yadav  is making his electoral debut against Durvijay Shakya of BJP.

The third phase unfolds with the emergence of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), prominently including Yadavs, Lodhs, and Kachhi/Shakya/Murao communities, exerting influence as decisive factors across various constituencies. Alongside, the enduring impact of Muslim and Jat demographics remains significant in select areas.

The third phase has seen some high-pitched campaigns by leaders of all parties.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led the BJP's campaign against, what they called, dynasty and appeasement politics of the Congress and the SP, and slammed the Opposition for "declining" the Ram temple invitation.

The SP, which has much at stake in phase three, pushed its caste census pitch and alleged that the BJP will end reservation and hence is seeking 400-plus seats in the Lok Sabha.

Several constituencies, including Sambhal, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Mainpuri, and Aonla, are witnessing a three-way battle between the NDA and INDIA alliances and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) while others like Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, and Budaun will see a two-way contest between the BJP and the SP.

Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said that Agra has the highest number of voters at 20,72,685, while Etah has the lowest with 17,524 registered voters in their respective Lok Sabha constituencies.

Bareilly tops the list with 13 candidates, whereas Firozabad has the fewest contenders with 7.

A total of 100 candidates are in the fray in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies, including eight women.

An adequate strength of paramilitary forces has been deployed to conduct the elections peacefully. The responsibility of security of the strong room has also been entrusted to paramilitary forces.

In addition to paramilitary forces/police forces, arrangements have also been made for air ambulances and helicopters for medical assistance in case of emergency.

Rinwa said, "Arrangements have been made for live webcasting at 50 per cent polling places (10208 polling places), which will be supervised at all three levels by the District Election Officer, Chief Electoral Officer, and Election Commission of India. Apart from this, there will also be arrangements for videography at 3503 polling places."

In the third phase, a total of 370 model polling places, 79 all-women managed polling places, 39 all youth worker polling places, and 47 all disabled managed polling places have been created."
Thiruvananthapuram, May 7 : Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan on Tuesday asked the Kerala unit of the CPI(M) to explain the three-country 19-day private visit of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family.

"He (CM Vijayan) is duty-bound to explain whether his private visit is sponsored or from his pocket. If it is a sponsored visit, then it should tell who is the sponsor, if not then he should explain the source of his income," said Muraleedharan and added that the reply to the questions can be given by the CPI(M) state secretary also.

On Monday, CM Vijayan, his wife Kamala, and their grandson left for the UAE, and are also scheduled to visit Indonesia and Singapore before returning on May 21.

CM Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan and her husband state PWD and Tourism Minister P.A. Mohammed Riyas reached the UAE early this month and are also going to join the CM.

"It's really strange that when people in Kerala are reeling under a never before seen heatwave, CM Vijayan and his family are enjoying at beach destinations," said Muraleedharan.

"We also wish to know if both Vijayan and Riyas, who will be out of the state for 19 days, have handed charges to anyone. If so, wish to know to whom they have handed over," asked Muraleedharan.

"We want to hear on this from CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, who is always critical of PM Modi. I also wish to say, that I have just returned from West Bengal and was hugely surprised to see the election meetings held by the CPI(M) there, which were attended by just a handful of people. No one should forget that it was a state ruled by the CPI(M) for a long time and has now shrunk completely. If this is the way CM Vijayan and others in the party run Kerala, it won't be long when Kerala will go the Bengal way," said Muraleedharan.

The Vijayan family will be in Indonesia till May 12 before flying to Singapore. On May 18, they will return to the UAE before returning to India on May 21.
Srinagar, May 7 : Former Chief Minister and NC President, Dr Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday directed the rebels of the Kargil unit of his party, who resigned en masse, to vote for the Congress in Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency.

The NC said in a post on its X handle on Tuesday, "NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah has directed the Kargil unit of the party to support the INDIA bloc candidate Tsering Namgyal in the Lok Sabha election for the Ladakh seat. He has told his colleagues that failure to follow this directive will be seen as a serious breach of party discipline."

Ironically, Dr Abdullah's directive came a day after the entire Kargil unit of the NC resigned en masse from the party.

In a letter written to Dr Abdullah, Qamar Ali Akhoon, Additional General Secretary of the NC, said the entire unit of the party had resigned in the "larger interest of Ladakh."

Haji Hanifa Jan, former CEO of the Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Council, filed nomination papers for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat as an Independent against Tsering Namgyal of the Congress and Tashi Gyalson of the BJP.

Qamar Ali Akhoon and Feroze Khan, two senior NC leaders and local Congress leaders had accompanied Haji Hanifa Jan to the Returning Officer when he filed his papers.

Seen in this background, the directive of Dr Abdullah to NC rebels has the proverbial similarity to a general ordering his deserted army to move to the front against the enemy.

Ladakh constituency goes to vote on May 20.
Tel Aviv, May 7 : The Israeli military has taken control of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday.

"Following intelligence that indicated that the Rafah crossing in eastern Rafah was being used for terrorist purposes, IDF troops obtained operational control of the Gazan side of the crossing," the Army wrote on its Telegram channel.

It followed an overnight operation in which the ground troops together with the Air Force "began a precise counterterrorism operation" to eliminate the Palestinian Islamist militia Hamas and dismantle its infrastructure in eastern Rafah, the IDF said.

It added that it eliminated Hamas military structures, underground infrastructures, and other facilities the group operated.

The Army said about 20 Hamas fighters were killed in the operation. There were no Israeli injuries reported, the IDF said.

On Monday, Israeli forces began evacuating Rafah in southern Gaza as they geared up for an expected military operation there.

Israel's allies and other international leaders have been warning against an offensive in the Rafah region. Large numbers of Palestinian civilians have sought shelter in the city after fleeing Israeli airstrikes and ground operations elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.

Israel wants to use the military operation in Rafah to destroy the remaining battalions of Hamas, which it has been fighting in the coastal strip since it attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking nearly 250 hostages.

More than 100 remaining hostages are reported to be held captive in Rafah.

Israel has been threatening to launch a ground offensive into Rafah for months, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has struck an uncompromising stance in recent weeks, vowing to attack the city even if a deal to release the hostages is reached.

--IANS/DPA

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Bhopal, May 7 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the campaign trail to Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday tore into the Congress party and accused it of hatching dangerous conspiracies to harm the nation.

Addressing a public rally in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone, PM Modi said that the terrible intentions of the Congress party are clear from the statements made by those quitting the party, after two to three decades of association.

"A woman leader who went to Ram Mandir was tortured so much that she had to leave the Congress. Another leader who quit the party said that the Congress has been taken over by Muslim Leaguers and Maoists," he said.

He further told the crowd, "Congress' Shehzada (referring to Rahul Gandhi) is planning to change the Supreme Court's decision on Ram Temple. And, I am not saying this, but leaders who were with the party for several years, are saying this."

PM Modi also slammed the grand old party and the leaders of INDI alliance for their "new-found love" for Pakistan in election season.

PM Modi cited instances of objectionable and detestable statements of Congress leaders on the valour of armed forces and urged the voters to give them befitting replies for their shameless remarks.

"A Congress leader (Charanjit Singh Channi) gives clean chit to Pakistan and blamed our forces for (Poonch) terror attack, a leader of the alliance party says 'Pakistan is not wearing bangles'," Prime Minister told the gathering.

The election in Khargone along with seven other constituencies, including Indore and Ujjain, will be held in the fourth phase on May 13 while the third phase voting in nine parliamentary seats - Bhopal, Vidisha, Guna, Gwalior, Bhind, Morena, Sagar and Betul is underway.
Liya Barko said she locked eyes with killer Joel Cauchi just moments before he critically injured her.

A woman who miraculously survived the stabbing attack at Bondi Junction Westfield last month has revealed the chilling two words mass murderer Joel Cauchi uttered to her after plunging a large knife into her side.

Liya Barko said she fatefully crossed paths with the killer on the afternoon of April 13 after popping into the shops following her first volleyball class.

He just looked at me and he decided in that moment, and then I look at my hand, and I was bleeding, the 35-year-old told 9News, adding it all happened so fast she didnt even see the 30cm knife Cauchi used to pierce her ribs.

The 40-year-old attacker then held his gaze with Barko and said catch you.

As Cauchi headed off to continue his rampage, ultimately killing six people, including five women and a male security guard, Barko said another shopper  a man in a green T-shirt  rushed over, pulled her into a store and began working to save her life.

When you are on the floor, youre bleeding, you can see everyones expression and some of them were crying, they were scared...for their lives also, she told the publication, adding she would love to see her hero again and give him a hug.

Cauchi murdered six people in the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre, including five women and a male security guard. Source: AAP

Smiling doctor helps Bondi stabbing survivor pull through

Barko nearly lost her life after the weapon pierced her stomach and liver  narrowly missing her heart, according to a GoFundMe created by her friends. The surgeons battled not just to save her life but to prevent lasting neurological damage, as her brain was starved of oxygen for a critical period, it states.

Speaking to 9News, Barko said she woke up in hospital after several days to find a beaming doctor standing over her, noting his infectious energy helped her survive the trauma.

He was so happy, I have never seen someone really so happy, the 35-year-old student from Argentina said. I thought like okay, if I die right now, I'll just destroy his shift. So I cant die right now because he's just so happy.

She was released from hospital one week ago, but admitted she is still plagued by one question: Why?

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Berlin : German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius will discuss security policy with the US and Canada on Tuesday.

He is first expected to visit New York, where he will address the representatives of the American-Jewish Committee, an organisation representing interests of the Jewish community.

Pistorius is scheduled to meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday.

A visit to the defence company Boeing is also on the German Defence Minister's agenda.

During his visit, Pistorius plans to meet his US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington.

The German Defence Minister also plans to travel to Ottawa to hold talks with his Canadian counterpart, Bill Blair.

Pistorius is expected to report on Germany's military involvement in NATO as well as its contributions to the stabilisation of conflict zones. The ongoing war in Ukraine is going to be discussed as well.

--IANS/DPA

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New Delhi, May 7 : Asthma, a debilitating respiratory condition that claims 2,50,000 lives worldwide each year, can significantly disrupt brain functions, said health experts on World Asthma Day on Tuesday.

World Asthma Day is observed every year on May 7 to raise awareness about the condition. This year's theme is 'asthma education empowers'.

People suffering from asthma have thickened lung walls, clogged with mucus and hyperreactive airways.

The presence of a trigger, such as pollen, dust mites, or a viral infection, causes the airways to narrow even further during an asthma attack. Asthma primarily affects the lungs; however, experts warn that it can also directly or indirectly disrupt brain function.

"An asthma attack can result in ischemic demyelination of white matter and damage to brain cells by depriving the brain of oxygen. Repeated asthma attacks and poor management of the condition might cause sleep disturbances and impair brain function," Praveen Gupta, Principal Director & Chief of Neurology, at Fortis Hospital Gurugram, told IANS.

Research has shown that both adults and children with asthma experience cognitive impairment. Such cognitive impairment in asthmatic patients is thought to be caused by changes in the brain's architecture.

Asthma patients experience hippocampal volume loss, closely linked to cognitive impairment.

"Asthma may also exert secondary effects on neurological function, particularly in children. Factors such as hypoxia, inflammation, and the chronic stress of illness could potentially influence neurocognitive function. There is a link between asthma and various neurological outcomes in children, including deficits in cognitive function, increased risk of behavioural problems, disrupted sleep patterns, and potential medication side effects," Aratrika Das, Consultant - Pulmonology at Narayana Hospital RN Tagore Hospital, told IANS.

Further, people with asthma also have low levels of the chemical NAA which in turn impairs their memory. In addition, the lack of oxygen during asthma attacks can damage the hippocampus, making it tough for them to learn spatial tasks.

"There is a cognitive burden associated with asthma, particularly among vulnerable groups -- both young and older patients with severe asthma. This might be attributed to a higher likelihood of intermittent cerebral hypoxia in severe asthma cases. Cognitive deficits associated with asthma are global, with the strongest effects on broader measures involving academic achievement and executive functioning. There may be associated changes in the structure of the brain," Neetu Jain, Senior Consultant, Critical Care, Sleep Medicine, PSRI Hospital, told IANS.

The exact mechanism of cognitive dysfunction in patients with asthma is unknown. Patients with asthma are affected by stress and emotion. Any factor causing emotional distress can cause an asthma attack, she added.

The experts called for understanding the intricate interplay between asthma and neurological function. They called for addressing both respiratory and neurological aspects of asthma care to optimise treatment strategies and promote overall well-being.
Lucknow, May 7 : Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, on Tuesday, created a major controversy when he commented on the newly-constructed Ram Temple in Ayodhya and said that "the temple is bekaar (useless)." Lucknow, May 7 (IANS) Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, on Tuesday, created a major controversy when he commented on the newly-constructed Ram Temple in Ayodhya and said that "the temple is bekaar (useless)."

The Samajwadi Party leader said that temples in our country are not built like this, adding that the "Ram temple has not been built according to Vaastu."

Yadav said: "I worship Lord Ram every day. Some people have done the patent on Ram Navami. But, that temple in Ayodhya is bekaar (useless). It is not how temples are built. The design and map of the temple is not according to vaastu."

Reacting sharply to the statement, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said: "The INDIA members are playing with people's faith for vote bank politics. They have always opposed Ram temple in Ayodhya."

The Bharatiya Janata Party said that the Samajwadi Party leader's comments are the most "shocking and insulting" remarks on Ram Mandir by the INDIA bloc.

Slamming the leader, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala took to X and wrote: "Shocking & most insulting comment on Ram Mandir by INDIA bloc SP Leader Ram Gopal Yadav."

He further accused the Samajwadi Party of attacking the Ram Bhakts, stating that with such comments, it is clear that the INDIA bloc is working towards eradication of Sanatan dharma.
Cairo, May 7 : The Rafah crossing, the only link between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, is closed for aid and individual passage indefinitely after an Israeli military operation close by from the Palestinian side early Tuesday, a top security source told the media.

Bombing and strikes have not stopped in the eastern area of the Palestinian city Rafah that accommodates the crossing, and all workers in the crossing have left amid direct targeting by the Israeli forces, the source said on condition of anonymity.

"The movement of passengers and delivery of aid completely stopped to the Gaza Strip since Monday evening," the source added.

He said that the Israeli operation in search of Hamas tunnels and Israeli hostages might take a few days.

However, another security source confirmed to Xinhua news agency that "Egypt has inquired about the Israeli incursion in the vicinity of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, and Israel responded that the operation will end on Tuesday morning," he said, adding that Israel will not break into the crossing or control it.

Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV channel reported that Israeli tanks stood at a close distance from the crossing in southern Gaza.

"Three Israeli tanks are positioned 200 metres far from the crossing and bombarded the crossing wall. Meanwhile, sounds of firing and strikes were heard near the crossing."

Egypt will host a new round of talks with Hamas and Israel on Tuesday over the implementation of a three-stage ceasefire deal based on an Egyptian proposal that was agreed upon by Hamas.
Islamabad, May 7 : Saudi Arabia Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS), is likely to visit Islamabad next week, a visit that has been long overdue and suffered last-minute cancellations in the past.

The last time the Saudi Crown Prince visited Pakistan was in February 2019 when the then Prime Minister Imran Khan personally drove him to the Prime Minister's House.

Even though Islamabad has made arrangements and extended invitations to Prince Mohammad Bin Salman on multiple occasions after that, his proposed visits have been cancelled due to various unknown reasons.

Last year, the ruling government in Pakistan was left embarrassed when the Saudi Crown Prince travelled to India to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

Islamabad tried hard to push for a brief stopover by MBS in Pakistan at that time but the efforts did not bear fruit, leaving the government in a spot of bother.

"When MBS was travelling to India for the G20 Summit, Pakistan's Foreign Office and the Prime Minister's office tried hard to have MBS land in Islamabad for a few hours before or after his return from India. It was only to show India that Saudi Arabia is a close friend of Pakistan. But that didn't happen," said senior political analyst Adnan Shaukat.

"Contrary to the wishes of Pakistan, which wants to send strong messages to its arch-rival India on its relations with major powers in the Gulf, the Arab states have maintained a certain balance with respect to their relations with both India and Pakistan," he added.

Other reasons why Pakistan has struggled when it comes to turning scheduled visits of MBS to reality are the serious concerns of security and political instability.

"In late 2022, the Saudi Crown Prince was scheduled to visit Islamabad, but it had to be cancelled since the dates were close to the change of Army Command and also because of the ongoing protests and long marches by Imran Khan's party," said Shaukat.

"After that, new schedules for the visit could not be finalised because of the developing political uncertainty in the country, coupled with the general elections," he added.

However, it seems that this time, the Shehbaz Sharif government has done its homework.

"Shehbaz Sharif visited Riyadh twice and met with MBS to extend his assurance and invitation. MBS also seems convinced and has agreed to travel to Islamabad on Sharif's invitation. This will be the third meeting of rime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and MBS within a space of about five weeks," Shaukat said.

Shehbaz Sharif also cancelled his visit to the OIC meeting and has stayed back to host and meet the Saudi business delegation, which is in Islamabad to seek business and investment opportunities.

MBS' visit will also be significant in view of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi's recent trip to Pakistan amid the ongoing tensions in South Asia.

Pakistan has opened up its doors to the Saudi business community and investors as it hopes to attract Saudi investments.

"The strategy to attract big Saudi investment in Pakistan is part of a civil-military-led initiative to pull the country out of its current economic turmoil. Pakistan is eyeing to materialise the first phase of $5 billion investments by Saudi Arabia," said senior political analyst Kamran Yousaf.

Pakistan, under the new business framework of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) spearheaded by Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir and the Shehbaz Sharif government, was able to impress the high-powered Saudi delegation headed by their Foreign Minister.

Pakistan has offered Saudi investors stakes in key sectors, which include mining, agriculture, minerals, and energy, etc.

Islamabad is hoping that the visit of high-level Saudi delegations would pave the way for bigger announcements during MBS' visit.
Islamabad, May 7 : Saudi Arabia Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS), is likely to travel to Islamabad next week, a visit that has been long overdue and suffered last-minute cancellations in the past.

The last time the Saudi Crown Prince visited Pakistan was in February 2019 when the then Prime Minister Imran Khan personally drove him to the Prime Minister's House.

Even though Islamabad has made arrangements and extended invitations to Prince Mohammad Bin Salman on multiple occasions after that, his proposed visits have been cancelled due to various unknown reasons.

Last year, the ruling government in Pakistan was left embarrassed when the Saudi Crown Prince travelled to India to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

Islamabad tried hard to push for a brief stopover by MBS in Pakistan at that time but the efforts did not bear fruit, leaving the government in a spot of bother.

"When MBS was travelling to India for the G20 Summit, Pakistan's Foreign Office and the Prime Minister's office tried hard to have MBS land in Islamabad for a few hours before or after his return from India. It was only to show India that Saudi Arabia is a close friend of Pakistan. But that didn't happen," said senior political analyst Adnan Shaukat.

"Contrary to the wishes of Pakistan, which wants to send strong messages to its arch-rival India on its relations with major powers in the Gulf, the Arab states have maintained a certain balance with respect to their relations with both India and Pakistan," he added.

Other reasons why Pakistan has struggled when it comes to turning scheduled visits of MBS to reality are the serious concerns of security and political instability.

"In late 2022, the Saudi Crown Prince was scheduled to visit Islamabad, but it had to be cancelled since the dates were close to the change of Army Command and also because of the ongoing protests and long marches by Imran Khan's party," said Shaukat.

"After that, new schedules for the visit could not be finalised because of the developing political uncertainty in the country, coupled with the general elections," he added.

However, it seems that this time, the Shehbaz Sharif government has done its homework.

"Shehbaz Sharif visited Riyadh twice and met with MBS to extend his assurance and invitation. MBS also seems convinced and has agreed to travel to Islamabad on Sharif's invitation. This will be the third meeting of rime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and MBS within a space of about five weeks," Shaukat said.

Shehbaz Sharif also cancelled his visit to the OIC meeting and has stayed back to host and meet the Saudi business delegation, which is in Islamabad to seek business and investment opportunities.

MBS' visit will also be significant in view of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi's recent trip to Pakistan amid the ongoing tensions in South Asia.

Pakistan has opened up its doors to the Saudi business community and investors as it hopes to attract Saudi investments.

"The strategy to attract big Saudi investment in Pakistan is part of a civil-military-led initiative to pull the country out of its current economic turmoil. Pakistan is eyeing to materialise the first phase of $5 billion investments by Saudi Arabia," said senior political analyst Kamran Yousaf.

Pakistan, under the new business framework of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) spearheaded by Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir and the Shehbaz Sharif government, was able to impress the high-powered Saudi delegation headed by their Foreign Minister.

Pakistan has offered Saudi investors stakes in key sectors, which include mining, agriculture, minerals, and energy, etc.

Islamabad is hoping that the visit of high-level Saudi delegations would pave the way for bigger announcements during MBS' visit.
Gaza, May 7 : At least 20 people have been killed in Israel's continuous attacks on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since Tuesday, the media reported.

Israel targeted at least four residential buildings in Rafah, injuring dozens of people, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa's report.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a press statement on Tuesday that their militants "attacked Israeli soldiers stationed around the Rafah crossing" as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

Israel's military said on Tuesday that it had started "a precise counterterrorism operation" in Rafah city in the south of the Gaza Strip and assumed "operational control" over the Rafah crossing in Gaza.

The crossing, which has served as a passage for humanitarian aid from Egypt to war-torn Gaza, was out of service.

Since the beginning of the assault overnight on Monday, Israel said it had taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, with the Israeli forces killing at least 20 militants.

Israeli forces attacked the Rafah city from the ground and air, the military said, as residents reported heavy and relentless bombardments.

The military said it had struck "military structures, underground infrastructure, and three operational tunnel shafts".
Srinagar, May 7 : Two terrorists were killed on Tuesday in an encounter with the security forces in J&K's Kulgam district.

Police said the two terrorists were hiding in the Redwani area of the district.

"The identity of the slain terrorists is being ascertained. Firing exchanges have stopped, but searches are still going on in the area," police said.

Security forces had started a cordon and search operation after receiving intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists in the area.

After the security forces closed on the hiding terrorists, they opened fire triggering an encounter during which two terrorists were killed.

Kulgam encounter has come in the wake of the Poonch terror attack in which one air warrior was killed and four others injured.

The encounter in Kulgam comes at a time when the political parties are campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency. Kulgam is part of this Lok Sabha constituency where voting is scheduled on May 25.
London, May 7 : UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will update members of Parliament on a cyberattack on a database containing details of armed forces personnel amid reports that China was behind the hack.

A third-party payroll system has been hacked, potentially compromising the bank details of all serving personnel and some veterans, along with this, a few addresses may also have been accessed.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) took immediate action when it discovered the breach, taking the external network -- operated by a contractor -- offline.

Cabinet Minister Mel Stride said the government takes cybersecurity "extremely seriously".

The Work and Pensions Secretary said the government was not yet blaming Beijing.

He told Sky News, which first claimed China was behind the hack: "That is an assumption. We are not saying that at this precise moment."

But Stride said the government viewed Beijing's government as an "epoch-defining challenge" and "our eyes are wide open when it comes to China".

He confirmed the attack was on a third-party system rather than an MoD database, but "nonetheless, that's still a very significant matter".

He added that the Ministry of Defence acted "very swiftly" to take the database offline.

"We take cybersecurity extremely seriously. Our intelligence services do, our military does as well."

The government's refreshed review of foreign and defence policy had cybersecurity "right at the heart of that, exactly these kinds of risks, particularly when it comes to state actors".

It is understood that initial investigations have found no evidence that data has been removed.

However, affected service personnel will be alerted as a precaution and provided with specialist advice, as well as they will be able to use a personal data protection service to check whether their information is being used or an attempt is being made to use it.

All salaries were paid at the last payday, with no issues expected at the next one at the end of this month, although there may be a slight delay in the payment of expenses in a small number of cases.

The MoD confirmed Shapps "will make a planned statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday noon setting out the multi-point plan to support and protect personnel".

The Ministers will blame hostile and malign actors but will not name the country behind the hacking.

The MoD has been working swiftly to uncover the scale of the attack since it was discovered several days ago.

Labour's shadow Defence Secretary John Healey said: "So many serious questions for the Defence Secretary on this, especially from forces personnel whose details were targeted."

The revelation comes after the UK and the US in March accused China of a global campaign of "malicious" cyber attacks in an unprecedented joint operation to reveal Beijing's espionage.

Britain blamed Beijing for targeting the Electoral Commission watchdog in 2021 and for being behind a campaign of online "reconnaissance" aimed at the email accounts of MPs and peers.

In response to the Beijing-linked hacks on the Electoral Commission and 43 individuals, a front company, Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, and two people linked to the APT31 hacking group were sanctioned.

But some of the MPs targeted by the Chinese state said the response did not go far enough, urging the government to toughen its stance on China by calling it a "threat" to national security rather than an "epoch-defining challenge".

Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith repeated those calls, telling Sky News: "This is yet another example of why the UK government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to Britain and change the integrated review to reflect that."

"No more pretence, it is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states," he added.

Former Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: "Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnelas bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced."

--IANS/DPA

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Patna May 7 : With the third phase of Lok Sabha elections underway on Tuesday, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said that people from the Muslim community should get full reservation.

"The BJP leaders are provoking the people by talking about 'Jungle Raj' in Bihar. They are simply scared of losing the elections and that is why they are trying to instigate the people. The BJP is trying to destroy reservation and democracy. Muslims in India should get full reservation," the former Bihar Chief Minister said.

Lalu Prasad's remarks have triggered a political row in Bihar with state BJP President and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary saying special reservations cannot be provided to the people from the Muslim community.

"Today, Lalu Prasad Yadav said that Muslims should get reservations. We oppose his remarks. The BJP will not allow any tinkering with the reservations for the Extremely Backward Classes, Dalits, and others under any circumstances. No matter how hard Lalu Prasad tries, there will be no reservations based on religion," Choudhary said.
The Australian embassy in Washington D.C hosted a Vegemite tasting event for 'brave' Americans on Sunday.

The Australian embassy in Washington D.C hosted a Vegemite tasting event for 'brave' Americans on Sunday. Source: Australia in the United States/Facebook

A funny detail in a sign at an Australian embassys Vegemite sampling has reignited a classic debate about the beloved salty snack.

The embassy in Washington D.C announced thousands of brave Americans became honorary Aussies at the event on Sunday, and while no one was converted to the delicacy from Down Under, a whopping 8 in 10 gave it two thumbs up.

Photos posted on the 'Australia in the United States' Facebook page show a group of representatives standing in front of a table lined with plates of Vegemite and butter crackers, and the colourful reactions of curious passerbys.

But it was a small detail in a sign explaining how to eat the spread that once again got Aussies riled up.

While no one was converted to the 'delicacy from Down Under', most people gave it 'two thumbs up', the embassy said. Source: Australia in the United States/Facebook

Aussies argue over amount of Vegemite

The instructions suggest making some toast and spreading plenty of butter and a tiny scraping of Vegemite, but absolutely no more than that. Below it shows slices of toast with the suggested serving sizes divided into Vegemite for beginners, or Vegemite for regular consumers and lastly, Vegemite for those who want to die.

The last example shows a piece of bread almost entirely covered in a thick amount of the iconic yeast extract.

Despite the ominous warning, several Aussies living in the US proudly announced online they want to die and often eat it by the spoonful.

Mine is like half a jar, one person confessed in the comments. Boy do I lean heavily on the those who want to die Vegemite toast, another agreed.

However, not everyone could get on board  as expected.

Something Ill never understand! Vegemite for regular customers is where its at! someone objected. I love this but I think the middle one for regular consumers is still a bit heavy handed, a fourth person argued.

An acquired taste for sure. Spread thin on toast with butter! an American chimed in.

The debate rages on...and on.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Cairo, May 7 : Egypt has condemned the Israeli military operations in the Palestinian city of Rafah and its control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, a Foreign Ministry statement released on Tuesday said.

It considered the move "a dangerous escalation threatening the lives of more than one million Palestinians who depend mainly on this crossing as it is the main lifeline of the Gaza Strip".

The Rafah border crossing has been "the safe gateway" for those sick and wounded to get out of Gaza for treatment and for humanitarian and relief aid to enter the enclave, the statement added.

Egypt urged Israel "to exercise the maximum levels of restraint and avoid a policy of brinkmanship that has long-term effects and would threaten the fate of the strenuous efforts made to reach a sustainable truce inside the Gaza Strip".

Egypt also called on all influential international parties to intervene and exert the necessary pressure to defuse the current crisis and allow diplomatic efforts to achieve their desired results.

Humanitarian aid into Gaza via the Rafah border has stopped following Israel's assumption of control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.

--IANS/DPA

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Istanbul, May 7 : Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for 23 former and current military personnel over their suspected links to a network accused of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016.

The state-run TRT broadcaster said 19 suspects, including soldiers on duty, former military school students and a police officer, have been detained so far in large-scale operations covering 11 provinces.

The simultaneous operations came after an investigation initiated by the chief prosecutor's office in the western province of Izmir against the network's members within the Turkish military, Xinhua news agency reported.

Operations are underway to capture the remaining suspects, according to the TRT.

The network led by US-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen was listed as a terror organisation in Turkey and accused of infiltrating the state bureaucracy and military and then attempting a coup on July 15, 2016.

The government has launched a massive crackdown on suspects with links to the network in the aftermath of the coup attempt.
Lucknow, May 7 : A minor girl was allegedly held hostage and gang-raped by seven persons in the Uttar Pradesh capital.

An FIR was registered on Tuesday against five named and two unnamed persons on the complaint of the victim's mother.

According to reports, the 16-year-old girl was kidnapped by the accused on May 3. She was made to drink intoxicants and held hostage in a garage for two days during which she was gang-raped.

The accused named in the FIR include Himanshu, Sahil, Sameer, Wahid, Anil and two unnamed persons.

The garage where the minor was kept belongs to one Sadan Lala of Thakurganj.

The police spokesman said that a team had been formed to arrest the accused and the victim had been sent for medical examination.
Seoul, May 7 : South Korean Ambassador to Russia, Lee Do-hoon, attended the inauguration ceremony of its leader Vladimir Putin, who began his fifth term as President on Tuesday (local time), Seoul officials said.

Lee's attendance at the event held at the Kremlin came in contrast to counterparts from South Korea's ally, the US, and many Western countries that boycotted the event over its war in Ukraine, Yonhap news agency reported.

European Union nations were also divided over sending delegations to the inauguration, according to news reports.

The decision was made after careful consideration of various pending bilateral issues and the need to manage bilateral relations with Moscow, a source said.

The government also reportedly took into account its responsibility to protect the rights and interests of South Korean nationals and businesses in Russia.

Whether to send a presidential letter to Putin for his re-election victory is still under consideration, a Foreign Ministry official said.

Bilateral ties between Seoul and Moscow have chilled since South Korea joined a US-led move to impose sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has described South Korea as one of the unfriendly nations, calling for the withdrawal of a string of economic sanctions Seoul has imposed on Moscow.

Russia revealed early last month that a South Korean missionary has been held in the Lefortovo detention facility in Moscow since late February on espionage charges, a claim denied by the Christian aid group he works for.
Osmanabad : , May 7 (IANS) In a shocker, a man was allegedly stabbed to death while another was injured in a brawl that erupted on Tuesday near a polling station in Patsangvi village during the voting for Lok Sabha polls, the police said.

According to officials, in the charged political atmosphere of voting day, a verbal war broke out between two opposing groups near two polling booths at the Zilla Parishad polling station in the village at Bhoom taluka, around 11.45 a.m., sparking panic in the vicinity.

The incident, purportedly triggered over bringing in voters and supporters to the polling booths, led to heated arguments and soon degenerated into a full-fledged brawl between the two groups.

In the violent melee, one person whipped out a knife and repeatedly stabbed his rival Sadhan Patil, and injured at least one more person, before fleeing from the scene.

Local residents claimed that the deceased was a supporter of the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate, sitting MP Omprakash Raje Naiknimbalkar.

"Trouble arose out of a 'personal dispute' among some local people and not having any political connections, as speculated. It did not affect the elections in any manner and voting proceeded smoothly," Osmanabad Superintendent of Police Atul Kulkarni told IANS.

Subsequently, when the locals and police rushed there to calm down the groups, an uneasy peace returned.

The alleged assailant, identified as Gaurav Naiknaware, 23, is, however, on the run, and a police team is looking for him.

Patil was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, while the other person was undergoing treatment.

Patil's body has been sent for an autopsy even as police tightened security in and around the polling station, and further investigations are underway.
Beijing, May 7 : Two persons were killed while 21 others were injured in a knife attack at a hospital in China.

The police in Zhenxiong County in Yunnan province said on Tuesday that a man from a local village carried out the attack with a knife shortly before noon (local time).

No further information was available on the possible motive behind the attack or the identities of the victims.

China's state news agency Xinhua had previously reported 10 victims without specifying the number of deceased and wounded persons.

Videos circulated on the Chinese social media platform Weibo showed the arrest of the suspected perpetrator.

Other pictures from the scene showed injured victims on the ground.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident, the police said.

--IANS/DPA

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Kolkata, May 7 : The average voting percentage in West Bengal's four Lok Sabha seats was recorded at an impressive 63.11 per cent in the first eight hours till 3 p.m on Tuesday., as per the Chief Electoral Officer's records.

Kolkata, May 7 (IANS) The average voting percentage in West Bengal's four Lok Sabha seats was recorded at an impressive 63.11 per cent in the first eight hours till 3 p.m on Tuesday., as per the Chief Electoral Officeras records.

Till 3 p.m. highest polling was recorded in Murshidabad at 65.40 per cent, followed by 62.90 per cent at Maldaha-Dakshin, 62.57 per cent at Jangipur and 61.50 per cent at Maldaha-Uttar.

However, sporadic incidents of violence marred the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in the state as Trinamool Congress, Congress and BJP workers clashed with each other in various parts of Murshidabad and Jangipur seats.

During the last couple of hours, major reports of clashes between Trinamool Congress and Left Front-Congress alliance workers were reported from Domkal in Murshidabad, which has a notorious tradition of reporting maximum poll-related violence in any election.

Similarly there had been reports of massive bombing by the supporters of the BJP and Trinamool Congress at Ratua in Malda District.

The BJP alleged that in the post-lunch period the ruling Trinamool Congress workers hurled crude bombs at Ratua to terrorise voters.

Similarly, at Sujapur in Malda District, a booth agent of Trinamool Congress was beaten up severely, allegedly by Congress activists.

The Congress candidate from Maldaha-Dakshin Isha Khan Chowdhury claimed that the Trinamool Congress was resorting to rumour-mongering as it had perceived that its defeat was definite from this constituency.

The Trinamool Congress candidate from the same constituency Shahnawaz Ali Raihan has alleged that the unprovoked attack took place within the booth in front of the CAPF personnel present there who stood as mute spectators.
Chennai, May 7 : A female elephant was found dead in the Coimbatore Forest range in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

The carcass of the elephant was found near Mangarai stream, just 150 metres away from human settlements, a forest official said.

The Coimbatore forest range officer told IANS that on preliminary examinations, no external injuries were found on the body of the elephant.

The officer said that more details regarding the cause of death of the elephant would be available only after a post-mortem.

Two days ago, a male makhna elephant (tuskless elephant) was electrocuted in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu.

The Tamil Nadu government has already formulated a draft plan for constituting elephant corridors in the state to minimise the number of human-elephant conflicts.

However there is stiff opposition to the move and even the principal opposition party of Tamil Nadu, AIADMK, has warned the government that they won't allow relocation of people from areas earmarked as elephant corridors as that would mean loss of livelihood and called upon the government for alternative plans.
Islamabad, May 7 : Director General (DG) of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary, said on Tuesday that Pakistan has "irrefutable evidence" of India's involvement in the recent targeted killings of various individuals in the country.

"India's killing spree has spread to different countries now. From the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in another country, India has been involved in killings of individuals in Pakistan," Chaudhary said while addressing media at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

"Pakistan has irrefutable evidence of India's involvement behind the killings," he added.

The Major General said that Pakistani intelligence agencies are aware of India's plans to divert the attention of people from its internal issues by showing aggression along the border, and also by forming an "anti-Pakistan" election narrative.

"We are very well aware and prepared for India's plan to opt for aggression at the Line of Control (LoC) and divert attention from its internal issues through an "anti-Pakistan" narrative during the elections," Chaudhary added.

He said that there have been at least 120 speculative, 15 air space, and 59 technical violations committed by India along the LoC in 2024 as of now.

The DG ISPR claimed that India's plan to suppress the opinion of people in Jammu and Kashmir during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections is also quite clear.

"Elections of five seats on five separate days are only aimed at suppressing the voice of Kashmiris and manipulating the poll outcome," he said.

Referring to Afghanistan and the ongoing security situation in the country, DG ISPR issued a charge sheet against the Afghan Taliban-led government, claiming that more than 90 per cent of the terror attacks in the country are facilitated by Afghanistan.

"Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is supported, facilitated, and harboured by Afghanistan. Afghan nationals have been carrying out terror attacks in Pakistan. We have killed and captured many terrorists who are Afghans and belong to different areas along the border, including Spin Boldak, Paktika, and other parts of Afghanistan," he said.

"The suicide bomber involved in the attacks on Chinese engineers in Besham, which resulted in the death of at least five Chinese nationals and one Pakistani national, was an Afghan national. The vehicle involved in the attack was also readied and filled with explosives in Afghanistan before being brought into Pakistan."

The DG ISPR also said that Afghan nationals and "militants" of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) -- Majeed Brigade were involved in the attacks that took place in Gwadar and other parts of Balochistan.

"It is well known that BLA is supported and facilitated by Afghanistan. Families of TTP and BLA are living in Afghanistan in large numbers. This is a fact that cannot be ignored," said DG ISPR.

Referring to the recent threats made by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders against the military establishment of the country, including the Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir, the DG ISPR said that there can be no talks with such groups, political forces, or individuals who threaten the country's integrity and security.

When asked about the rumours of some backdoor negotiations taking place between the military establishment and Imran Khan's PTI, Chaudhary added: "The only way forward for the culprits behind May 9 riots and attacks on military installations is to apologise. However, talks of political forces look better when they are with political parties."
Bengaluru, May 5 : Former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD-S state President H.D. Kumaraswamy alleged on Tuesday that the Congress government circulated pen drives containing videos of women being sexually assaulted allegedly by his nephew and the sitting party MP from Hassan, Prajwal Revanna, through police officers in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

Prajwal Revanna, who is on the run, is the grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Kumaraswamy claimed that on April 21, the distribution of pen drives was not confined to just the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, as they were systematically circulated in the Mandya and Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha seats.

Kumaraswamy also claimed that more than 25,000 pen drives were circulated through police officers to defeat the JD-S candidates in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

While Kumaraswamy is the NDA candidate from Mandya, C.N. Manjunath, the son-in-law of H.D. Deve Gowda, is contesting from the Bengaluru Rural seat on a BJP ticket against D.K. Suresh of the Congress, the younger brother of Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar.

Kumaraswamy also claimed that he is not trying to protect anyone in the case, as the guilty must be punished without any compromise.

A police complaint has been lodged against a JD-S polling agent for allegedly making the contents of the pen drive public, which also names four others -- Naveen Gowda, Karthik Gowda, Chetan, and Putti a.k.a. Puttaraju.

Though the complaint was registered 15 days back, the SIT did not bother to call them for an inquiry, Kumaraswamy said.

Meanwhile, G.T. Deve Gowda, the JD-S core committee chief, held a press conference in Mysuru on Tuesday, where he warned that if D.K. Shivakumar is not sacked from the Cabinet or made to resign from his post as Deputy CM, the JD-S will launch protests across Karnataka.

Claiming that the SIT can't ensure a fair probe into the matter, he said: aThis government wonat agree to transfer the case to the CBI. Hence, we demand a judicial probe into the matter."

The statements made by Congress leaders confirm the role of Shivakumar in the case, he claimed.
Labor is scrambling to fix a mess of their own making and must sack the Immigration Minister, the Coalition says, amid mounting pressures on community safety.

On Tuesday, it was revealed a group of asylum seekers had been detained while trying to illegally enter Australia on a dinghy.

The group of men, believed to be from West Africa, are being held on Saibai Island in Far North Queensland  about 4km from Papua New Guinea  after they were intercepted.

The Australian Border Force has remained tight-lipped on when the group arrived, but a spokeswoman said the agency had well established operational processes to manage irregular movements of people in the Torres Strait.

Its understood the men are undergoing medical checks.

Its the latest in a string of illegal arrivals after more than 40 asylum seekers were found roaming in remote Western Australia before they were relocated to the offshore immigration detention centre in Nauru.

The latest arrival comes as Labor fights multiple migration fires, which the opposition says is compromising community safety.

The location of Saibai Island in Queensland. Picture: Google Maps

A senate inquiry on Tuesday recommended the parliament pass a Bill that would grant the government powers to jail non-citizens resisting deportation and block visa applications from specific countries.

Labor tried and failed to ram through legislation earlier this year that would result in non-citizens resisting deportation be jailed for between one and five years if they did not co-operate, but the legislation was sent to committee.

Under the Bill, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles could block visa applications from countries that did not accept citizens being involuntarily returned  like Iran, Iraq, and South Sudan.

While Labor senators recommended the Bill be passed, the Greens rejected the legislation in full, while the Coalition proposed 17 amendments to further strengthen the Bill.

Liberal senator Jane Hume said the Bill as it stood could have a pull factor for more illegal boat arrivals.

In the context of yet another potential illegal boat arrival  Labor is scrambling to fix a mess of their own making, she said.

Even Home Affairs have said that potentially this Bill could have a pull factor for more illegal boat arrivals.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil are under pressure over community safety. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the latest boat arrival, paired with new revelations about a former immigration detainee who allegedly violently bashed Perth grandmother Ninette Simmons, should be a good enough reason for Mr Giles to be removed from the immigration portfolio.

One simple thing the PM can do is remove the Immigration Minister, she said.

He only holds that position because of his close, personal relationship with Anthony Albanese. And Im sorry, factional loyalties should not be first place over keeping the community safe.

According to The Australian, Majifd Jamshidi Doukoshkan  who was among the NZYQ cohort released from immigration detention after the High Court last year ruled ongoing detention without the prospect of release was illegal  played a significant role in distributing serious quantities of meth across Western Australia five years after he was given refugee status.
Kolkata, May 7 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday afternoon alleged that several minority community voters in Uttar Pradesh were beaten up and not allowed to cast their votes.

"I just now received the message. The minority voters in Uttar Pradesh are being intimidated and not allowed to cast their votes. My question is will the Election Commission of India not take any action against this? What is happening with the Model Code of Conduct?" the Chief Minister said.

She was addressing an election rally on Tuesday afternoon at Purulia Lok Sabha constituency in support of the Trinamool Congress candidate from there, Santiram Mahato.

Speaking on the occasion, she also alleged that the BJP and CPI(M) were conspiring together not just to cancel existing school jobs but also to give fresh appointments for several posts.

"I am ready to give appointments on 10 lakh posts. But I am unable to progress on these lines because of the joint conspiracy of the BJP and CPI(M). They are blocking fresh appointments by filing cases," Mamata Banerjee claimed.

Mamata Banerjee, while speaking at the meeting, once again said that she would not allow implementation of CAA, NRC and Uniform Civil Code in West Bengal.

She once again cautioned people against applying on the CAA portal, since such applications might result in cancellation of their citizenship.
Brussels, May 7 : Investigators in Brussels have searched the European Parliament office of far-right German legislator Maximilian Krah in connection with suspected espionage by his former assistant, Jian Guo, German prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The German Police arrested Guo on suspicion of espionage on April 22.

Krah, a leading member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Europe, fired Guo following the allegations that the parliamentary aid was spying for China.

In a statement on X, Krah said: "Today, my ex-employee's office in Brussels was searched. This was to be expected after his arrest and is therefore not surprising. The only remarkable thing is that it took so long. Neither I nor any other employees are affected."

The German Public Prosecutor's statement said that both Krah's and Guo's offices were searched on Tuesday morning.

"The measures are part of the proceedings against Jian Guo on suspicion of acting as an intelligence agent."

Meanwhile, the search of Krah's office is according to his status as a witness.

Guo's Brussels flat was searched on April 24, the statement added.

A spokesman for the Belgian Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed to DPA news agency that authorities had entered the offices at the request of German prosecutors.

Krah sits on the European Parliament's Trade Committee and is his party's lead candidate ahead of European elections in a month.

Prosecutors allege that Guo passed sensitive information from inside the European Parliament to Chinese intelligence and also may have relayed information about Chinese political activists living in Europe.

--IANS/DPA

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Hyderabad, May 7 : Auteur S. S. Rajamouli, who is awaiting the release of the upcoming animated series 'Baahubali: Crown of Blood', has shared that there's a gaping difference between how the West views and leverages film franchises and how India views them.

On Tuesday, the filmmaker spoke with the media at a multiplex chain Kondapur during a press event organised for the series.

The director told the media that the series is not a sequel or a prequel but, it's an offshoot, and it unfolds right in the middle of the film's story.

"The West has a very different view of successful films that go onto become a brand. Once a film becomes a brand in the West, it trickles down into multiple media of books, games and animation."

He further mentioned: "Here in India, we don't have that, I wanted to change that so we tried different things in terms of a pre-story, the character arcs and the post-story. We tried games as well but the idea of an animated series resonated strongly with us. So, we decided to go forward with the concept."

Produced by Graphic India, Arka Mediaworks production, S.S. Rajamouli, Sharad Devarajan and Shobu Yarlagadda, aBaahubali: Crown of Blooda drops on Disney+ Hotstar on May 17, 2024.
Kinshasa, May 7 : At least 18 people have been killed in a recent bombing on four sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in eastern Congo, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday, warning of more shellings on civilians.

According to an OCHA report, 18 deaths have been reported after at least five rockets fell last Friday in and around four IDP sites in the outlying neighbourhoods of Goma, the capital of Congo's eastern province of North Kivu, Xinhua news agency reported.

Thirty-two displaced people were injured, including 27 in serious condition, mostly women and children, OCHA said, citing the provincial health division of North Kivu.

Initially, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) put the death toll at 12.

"The civilian population of North Kivu province has witnessed the worst humanitarian violations for over two years in this bloody attrition," Angele Dikongue-Atangana, the UNHCR representative to Congo, said in a statement issued shortly after the attack on IDP sites.

On Tuesday, OCHA said the risk of further shell explosions "cannot be ruled out," with one of the fallen shells remaining unexploded in the ground, and escalation of hostilities in areas surrounding IDP camps.

The sites bombed last Friday are located on the axis between Goma and the city of Sake, one of the epicentres of hostilities between the Congolese military and rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23).

Sake is considered the last barrier to the city of Goma.

"Several people displaced in sites on the Goma-Sake axis are thus exposed to high risks of insecurity and protection," OCHA said, adding that humanitarian access has been "further restricted" with the persistence of fighting.

The Congolese government blamed the attacks on M23 rebels, who had taken control of some parts of North Kivu.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, called on all parties to take appropriate measures to reduce risks to the protection of civilians and maintain humanitarian access.

MONUSCO is expected to leave Congo no later than the end of 2024, by handing over UN bases and equipment to Congolese security forces under a three-phase departure plan.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on Monday, condemned the attacks on the IDP sites and reiterated his support for efforts aimed at achieving a feeling of lasting peace in eastern Congo and throughout the Great Lakes region.
Ahmednagar : , May 7 (IANS) Lashing out at the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the grand old party is backing Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab now, adding its 'B Team' across the border has become active since the 'Team A' was staring at defeat in the Parliamentary elections.

Speaking at a rally here, PM Modi said that the statement of a Congress leader (Vijay Wadettiwar) in Maharashtra regarding the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks was "very dangerous".

"These Congressmen are now together taking the side of the terrorist Ajmal Kasab. The person who was a Minister during the Congress regime and a close friend of the family has also declared Kasab innocent. This is an insult to all the innocent civilians killed in the Mumbai attacks... this is an insult to all the security forces who killed all the terrorists in the Mumbai attacks. Also, this is an insult to martyrs like Shaheed Tukaram Omble," PM Modi said while addressing the rally to garner support for BJP candidate Sujay Vikhe-Patil from Ahmednagar and Shiv Sena candidate Sadashiv Lokhande from Shirdi constituency.

PM Modi said that tweets are being made from across the border to encourage the Congress, and in return, the Congress is giving clean chit to Pakistan over terror attacks.

PM Modi said that the Congress' election manifesto carries an imprint of the 'Muslim League'.

"You see for yourself the difference between issues and the agenda of the NDA and the Congress. Our focus is on the development, welfare, security, safety and dignity of Bharat. On the other hand, the Congress doesn't have anything even to discuss over these issues," PM Modi said.

Addressing the rally, PM Modi also said that the expiry date of INDI-Aghadi (INDIA bloc) is fixed on June 4, adding the alliance will disintegrate like a sand dune.

"INDI-Aghadi's tactics have failed before the public, and the very frustration emanating from this can be seen across the border too! None of the tactics of the INDI-Aghadi are working among the public. 'Team A' here is losing, so the 'Team B' of Congress across the border has become active.

"The third phase of voting has made it clear that the expiry date of 'INDI-Aghadi' (INDIA Alliance) has been fixed on June 4. After that there will be no one to carry the flag of INDIA bloc," PM Modi said.

The Prime Minister said that this time, the election is taking place between satisfaction and appeasement.

"BJP-NDA's entire effort is to satisfy the people of the country with their hard work, whereas the INDI-Aghadi people are busy appeasing their vote bank with their conspiracies," PM Modi said.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 7 : Amid speculation that he has been asked to wait some time more before again assuming the post of Congress' Kerala unit President, after temporarily stepping aside for the Lok Sabha polls, K. Sudhakaran on Tuesday said that he could return any time.

Sudhakaran was asked to focus on retaining his Kannur Lok Sabha seat and veteran party leader M.M. Hassan was named the acting President.

After the completion of elections in the state in the second round on April 26, there were reports in a section of the media that Sudhakaran has been asked to wait till the counting of votes takes place on June 4 and things will be decided then.

Sudhakaran, however, said he can return anytime and itas his choice. "There are no issues at all as I am the President. According to my convenience, I will return and just sign the register as there are no issues at all," he told media persons at Kannur.

Meanwhile, it was reliably learned that Sudhakaran was peeved when during the stocktaking of the Lok Sabha polls at the state party headquarters last week, he was asked to wait to return to his post.

But after he raised the issue with the Congress top leadership, he was asked to take over and sources in the know of things revealed that he will be resuming as President from Wednesday and reach the party headquarters in the state capital for the purpose.

A section of the party is not happy with Sudhakaran's style of functioning and had tried their best to keep him waiting, but he managed to have the last laugh. Now all eyes are on June 4 to see how Sudhakaran has fared, as according to reports, it has been a tough battle that he faced against CPI-M leader M.V. Jayarajan in Kannur.

Asked about this, he said: "There is no doubt about my win at Kannur."
The Hague, May 7 : Dutch Police arrested 125 pro-Palestinian protestors on Tuesday at the University of Amsterdam's campus, according to authorities.

The police intervention commenced at 3 a.m. local time when officers moved to disperse the protest that had begun on Monday afternoon, Xinhua news agency reported.

The protestors had set up tents on campus in the eastern part of Amsterdam, demanding, among other things, the severance of all ties between Amsterdam universities and Israel.

Reports indicate that protestors were asked to vacate the premises before police intervention, which resulted in the protestors being escorted away from the campus and 125 arrests.
Geneva, May 7 : The humanitarian agencies of the United Nations have condemned Israel's advance into Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, a spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, Ravina Shamdasani, said that for civilians who have been ordered to evacuate, there are no safe routes to the north and no safe havens with sufficient sanitary facilities and food supplies.

These are basic humanitarian requirements for evacuations, she said in Geneva.

"There are strong indications that this is being conducted in violation of international humanitarian law," she added.

"This morning is one of the darkest in this seven-months-long nightmare," said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Israeli forces had ignored all warnings about the impact of a Rafah offensive on the civilian population, he said.

"Panic and despair have taken hold."

"Our worst fears seem to be a reality," said James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children's fund Unicef.

--IANS/DPA

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New Delhi, May 7 : The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has got cracking on incidents of cybercrime, carried out by online fraudsters to deceive and hoodwink people by mischievous means.

In an incident of prompt action, the DoT on Tuesday disconnected a mobile number and blocked at least 20 linked mobile devices after complaints of cyber fraud by a user, via its web portal 'Chakshu'.

Aditi Chopra, a Bengaluru-based tech entrepreneur received a fraudulent phone call and fake credit alert on her mobile phone, days ago and she also narrated the incident on her X handle on how she narrowly escaped becoming a victim of cybercrime/fraud.

Aditi said that the fraudsters used a clever tactic to steal her money and had she not paid heed to their trickery, they could have succeeded in executing the online scam.

Taking to X, she said that while she was in office, somebody impersonating as her father's acquaintance called her and said he was transferring money to her number as he was facing some issues.

The credit message blipped on her phone while she was still on call and the caller requested her to send back Rs 27,000 as he transferred Rs 30,000 instead of Rs 3,000.

While she was flummoxed for a moment and could have proceeded with the fund transfer because of the urgency that the caller was showing, she thought to check with her father first.

It was then she realised how the fraudster tactfully designed a fake bank message and sent it to her mobile phone, giving the impression that it was from a bank.

She escalated the matter to DOT's Chakshu application and within days, the 'cyber fraud gang' was busted.

The mobile number which sent dubious message to her has been disconnected while other 20 suspicious mobile devices have been blocked to prevent further fraud.

Notably, Chakshu is an online service by the DoT, which facilitates citizens to report suspected fraud communications.

Users can register their complaints on the portal sancharsaathi.gov.in about impersonation or any misuse of services through call/SMS or WhatsApp.

The Bengaluru techie also dropped an advice for gullible customers on X, "never use the same device, on which you received the fake credit alert for accessing your bank account as that will make the system easier for scamsters."
New Delhi, May 7 : Nripendra Misra, the Chairman of the Ram Temple Construction Committee on Tuesday unveiled the construction plan for an auditorium within the temple premises and said that it will begin as early as 15 days.

Speaking to newsmen, Misra said the soil testing work is currently underway and once it is done, the construction of the auditorium within the temple complex will begin soon, say about 15 days.

Emphasising the importance of the auditorium, he said that there are plans to integrate special features in its design so that large religious gatherings can also be accommodated.

When questioned on the completion of the entire temple, he said that the construction of entire Ram Mandir will be completed by 2024 itself. He also informed that seven other small temples are coming up inside the premises and they will also be completed by the year's end.

He said that the Uttar Pradesh State Construction Corporation will oversee the construction of this auditorium. In addition, provisions will also be made for the lodging of sadhus and saints visiting from outside the district.

He also disclosed plans for the installation of Ram Darbar on the temple's first floor.
Eight dolphins have reportedly died, and experts believe others need urgent food and medical attention.

Dolphins have been discovered languishing inside a decaying tourist park that shut its doors during the Covid-19 pandemic and never reopened. The five surviving animals are reportedly suffering from malnutrition and dehydration but efforts to assist them have been blocked.

A further eight animals are understood to have died, three of them from starvation. They were originally brought to the Blackbeard Cay in the Bahamas so cashed-up tourists could pay to swim with them, but now the abandoned facility lacks electricity, running water, enrichment or shade.

Experts from non-profit Dolphin Project have labelled it a horrific situation and called on the Bahamas government to allow it to intervene and provide critical assistance including food and medication.

What's it like inside the abandoned tourist park?

Dolphin Project founder Ric OBarry spoke to Yahoo News from a temporary base in Florida on Monday (local time). Having seen the situation at Blackbeard Cay firsthand he described the animals were very, very underweight.

The conditions are a far cry from those inside the luxury the Sandals resort, a hotel unaffiliated with the dolphin park, that sits a short boat ride across the water. Video shows the boardwalks are now devoid of tourists and loud hungry seabirds have taken over.

Related: Chinese zoo exhibit featuring rare animal prompts growing concern

The luxury Sandals resort is just a short boat ride from the dolphin park. The two are not affiliated in any way. Source: Sandals

When OBarry travelled to the island he was warned to stay away from the abandoned tourist park. They keep telling you not to go over to that corner of the island where all those trees are, he said.

During his visit, he discovered there was just one full-time employee looking after the dolphins. Hes been with these dolphins for eight years He has no electricity whatsoever, hes like a homeless guy living on the island, OBarry said.

But O'Barry was determined to investigate, and once inside he had no regrets. He believes the dolphins were being underfed and the food prepared on unsanitary surfaces  it was hotter in the freezer than outside.

I was shocked, he added. Its so beautiful out there on the island, the water is gin-clear. But that doesnt work in their favour because the water is too shallow and in the summer time it heats up. They really suffer he said.

Related: Dolphin activist reveals scene that still haunts him

Authorities urged to allow rescuers to save dolphins

In April, Dolphin Project met with government ministers, but communication then suddenly stalled. The charity has successfully collaborated with Indonesian authorities to rehabilitate and release dolphins in Bali, and it believes it can do the same in the Bahamas.

We have offered to buy them fish and get them first aid  they need veterinarians, OBarry said.

I first went there on March 31, and I didnt want to blow the whistle on them. I wanted to give them every benefit to do the right thing. And they just ignored us hoping we would go away. And now, here we are.

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The Hague, May 7 : Dutch Police arrested 125 pro-Palestinian protesters on Tuesday at the University of Amsterdam's campus, according to authorities.

The police intervention commenced at 3 a.m. local time when officers moved to disperse the protest that had begun on Monday afternoon, Xinhua news agency reported.

The protesters had set up tents on campus in the eastern part of Amsterdam, demanding, among other things, the severance of all ties between Amsterdam universities and Israel.

Reports indicate that protesters were asked to vacate the premises before police intervention, which resulted in the protesters being escorted away from the campus and 125 arrests.
Vienna, May 7 : Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has called on Iran to take concrete steps to allow international monitoring of its nuclear programme.

Following talks with Iran's Nuclear Chief Mohammed Eslami in the central Iranian city of Isfahan on Tuesday, Grossi said that an agreement reached in March 2023 on checks on Iranian nuclear facilities was not being implemented fast enough.

Referring to the agreement, the IAEA Chief added that there had been a "slowdown in its implementation".

He called for "very concrete, very practical, tangible measures that can be implemented to accelerate the process".

Despite the 2023 agreement, Tehran in September withdrew permission for leading IAEA inspectors to work in Iran.

In addition, the agency has not been authorised to access data from some of its monitoring devices.

Eslami confirmed on Tuesday that implementation had been slow "due to some issues," blaming sanctions on Tehran.

However, Iran's state news agency IRNA said Eslami was hoping for positive developments after the talks with Grossi.

Eslami also warned against "hostile measures" against Iran's nuclear programme by Israel.

The two sides came to the brink of war in April when Iran launched direct missile and drone attacks on Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Israel responded with an attack on a military facility in Isfahan, an important site for Iran's nuclear programme.

Iran initially committed to restricting its nuclear activities in a landmark 2015 agreement which saw sanctions on Tehran lifted.

The pact was torpedoed by then-US President Donald Trump in 2018.

Tehran has in recent years resumed enriching uranium to a level suitable for nuclear weapons.

--IANS/DPA

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Guwahati/Agartala, May 7 : Movement of passengers and transport of goods, including essentials, has been affected in southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur for the past two weeks, due to the restricted movement of trains in the region, officials said on Tuesday.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) sources said that the operation of passenger and goods trains has been affected since April 25 owing to heavy landslides, and damage to railway tracks after heavy rains in Assamas mountainous Dima Hasao district, which is a connecting route to south Assam, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram.

Hundreds of workers and technicians, led by several top railway engineers, are working round-the-clock to fully restore the train services between Jatinga-Lumpur and New Harangajao stations under the Lumding division of NFR.

"We have removed the debris from the mudslides and partially rectified the railway tracks that pass through the mountainous areas. Thatas why we are only operating trains in the daytime and stopping train services at night in the hilly route," a senior NFR engineer told IANS.

He said that to closely monitor the railway tracks, fragile soil conditions and other related aspects, eight watch towers were installed and through these, railway personnel monitor the situation round-the-clock.

The engineer said that it was uncertain when the normal train services through the Dima Hasao district would be resumed.

Given the inclement and unpredictable weather conditions and for the safety of the passengers and goods trains, train movements are being restricted and this will continue till the railway tracks are fully restored.

"The NFR has taken some long-term plans to construct tunnels and elevated railway tracks to resolve the lasting solutions to the recurring problems," the engineer said.

According to the officials, the stock of fuel -- petrol and diesel a" and other essential goods in southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, and parts of Manipur are not adequate in view of restrictions on goods train movement.

After the damages to railway tracks and landslides in the hill section of southern Assam, the Tripura and Mizoram governments, on May 2, ordered rationing of the purchase of petrol and diesel for different types of vehicles.

Tripuraas Food and Civil Supplies Department Director Nirmal Adhikari held a meeting with the representatives of the Tripura Merchants' Association (TMA) and Tripura Wholesale Grocery Merchants' Association (TWGMA) to review the situation. An official said that there is no need to panic as the state has food stock for around a month, but the state government would take up the issue at the highest level.
New Delhi, May 7 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a Calcutta High Court order, which cancelled 25,753 appointments in teaching and non-teaching posts in the state-run schools made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016.

Stating that expeditious disposal of the matter will be in the interest of justice, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI), D.Y. Chandrachud, and comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to continue with its investigation into the alleged scam, but restricted the agency from taking any coercive action against the candidates or officials.

Calling the alleged recruitment scam in West Bengal a "systemic fraud", the bench observed that the authorities have a responsibility to maintain digitised records concerning the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff.

In an order passed in the third week of April, the Calcutta High Court had nullified the appointment of the candidates selected by the expired panels and asked them to return the entire salary drawn during their tenures, along with an annualised interest of 12 per cent, within the next four weeks.

Besides directing the WBSSC to initiate the recruitment process afresh, the division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi also directed the probe agency to carry on with its investigation into the matter.

On Tuesday, the apex court bench said that it is willing to continue the ad interim protection given to the candidates, subject to the express stipulation that any person found to have been appointed illegally and continued as a consequence of the present order shall refund the salary.

The CJI said: "... We direct that the investigation ordered by the HC as per Clauses 7 and 8 in Para 363 shall continue but no coercive steps be taken..."

Last time, the top court had directed that no precipitative action will be taken by the CBI against the state government officials who were involved in approving the creation of super-numeric posts till the next date of listing.

It had asked the appellants to demonstrate if there was any secondary material available to segregate the valid appointments of all the 25,753 persons empanelled in 2016 for various categories of jobs at the secondary and higher secondary schools in the state.

Taking cognisance of the state Cabinet's decision for the creation of super-numeric posts, it had said that the CBI, if necessary, can question the masterminds behind the creation of the seats in excess of the vacant posts.

These super-numeric posts, which have remained under the cloud since the beginning, are perceived to provide room for ineligible candidates recruited illegally.

In July last year, the apex court had set aside the interim direction passed by the Calcutta High Court terminating the services of 32,000 primary teachers and asking the West Bengal authorities to complete the recruitment process for the newly created vacancies within three months.

Asking the high court to decide the appeal pertaining to the cash-for-school-jobs case at the earliest, the Supreme Court had stressed that the opportunity for a hearing has to be given to all concerned.
Mumbai, May 7 : Actress Diana Penty, who keeps posting pictures of her favourite four-legged companion on social media, said on Tuesday that her pet, Victoria. is her happy place and she looks forward to being back home to hug her at the end of the day.

The 'Cocktail' actress made these comments which launching PETA India's 'Adopt - Don't Shop' campaign in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Diana said, "My dog Victoria is my happy place. Whenever I am low or feel sad and it's been a long tiring day, I just can't wait to be back home to give her a tight hug."

The actress made it clear that Victoria hates being hugged, "but my way of expressing my love for her is by hugging her. She is so special and highly intelligent. I talk to her like my sibling. She bullies me. She has a personality of her own."

Stressing the importance of adopting animals and not shopping for them, she said, "Through this campaign, I want to tell everyone who has time, space, patience, resources and lots of love to give and share, you should consider adopting an animal."

On the work front, the actress was last seen in the Shahid Kapoor-starrer 'Bloody Daddy' and will next be appearing with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in 'Adbhut' and in 'Section 84' with Amitabh Bachchan and Nimrat Kaur.
Islamabad, May 7 : Pakistan's economic woes continue to dampen its credibility among global investors as now its closest ally, friend, and 'iron brother' China, too, has put forward a demand, which has forced emergency consultations in Islamabad.

Amid increased fears of a complete meltdown of the Pakistani economy leading to default, Chinese investors have told Islamabad to relocate funds in off-shore bank accounts to service debts sustained for establishing energy plants under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Moreover, Chinese investors have also insisted that Islamabad should clear $125 million in dividends it owes to Chinese firms functioning in Pakistan.

The Chinese demand has forced emergency huddles in relevant quarters of the Pakistan government, who are now contemplating and consulting the kind of response that should be given.

Sources aware of the development say that Pakistan has not accepted the demand till now and is being cautious over its potential reaction.

"Islamabad is also cautious about potential reactions from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to any new concessions to Beijing," said the government source.

Pakistan's Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has urged focused caution in accepting any Chinese demand.

"The Finance Minister has cautioned the Cabinet Ministers in accepting any Chinese demand at the moment due to sensitivities surrounding the upcoming bailout programme talks with the IMF," said a senior official.

The government maintains that Islamabad has never defaulted on Chinese energy debt repayments, a reasoning that may be used to respond to Chinese investors' demand.

Pakistan is also expected to put forward its response during the Joint Working Group on Energy meeting in Beijing next week.

One more reason for the latest Chinese demand, sources reveal, is that Chinese investors are finding it difficult to obtain new loans due to financial troubles in Pakistan.

"To address banks' concerns, investors are now seeking to place funds in off-shore accounts to demonstrate their revenue streams," the official, who requested anonymity, said.

Chinese investments in energy projects in Pakistan are estimated at a value of at least $21 billion, while the Chinese debt for energy projects stands at around $15 billion.

China has established energy projects in Pakistan with an understanding of 75 per cent debt and 25 per cent equity. Now, it has to pay annual payments of about $2.4 billion in debts and dividends.

On the other hand, Pakistan's thin foreign exchange reserves -- $9 billion, currently -- block the central bank's capacity to allow outflow of funding.

Most of these reserves were acquired through foreign loans and purchasing of around $5.5 billion from the open market.

Islamabad is also not ready to cater to any demand from China that may have any negative impact on the upcoming Pakistan visit of an IMF team.

However, ignoring the Chinese demand is also something that the current government cannot afford to do.
Hyderabad, May 7 : Actor Sharad Kelkar, who has become the voice of the titular character in the 'Baahubali' franchise, shared that the voicing of the character empowered him in many ways.

On Tuesday, Sharad attended a press event with S. S. Rajamouli along with studio executives at a multiplex chain in the Kondapur area of Hyderabad and took a stroll down memory lane.

The actor shared with the media how his life completely changed after voicing the character.

"A boy from a small town, who stammered, became the voice of Baahubali. My life completely changed after the film," the actor told media persons.

Sharad yet again has voiced the character of Baahubali in the upcoming streaming series 'Baahubali: The Crown of Blood'.

Talking about the series, he said, "The characters and the emotions are the same, in fact all the voices in Hindi are the same".

"In the film, I had Prabhas Garu for reference but here, I had to voice the character first and then it would go into animation. So, I had to really do it from scratch putting all my imagination to the test."

Produced by Graphic India, Arka Mediaworks production, S.S. Rajamouli, Sharad Devarajan and Shobu Yarlagadda, aBaahubali: Crown of Blooda drops on Disney+ Hotstar on May 17, 2024.
Mumbai, May 7 : Tata Group AC manufacturer Voltas Ltd on Tuesday reported a 19 per cent decline in consolidated net profit, at Rs 116 crore, for the January-March quarter of 2023-24, compared to Rs 144 crore in the same period of the previous year.

The Mumbai-based companyas consolidated revenue from operations rose 42 per cent to Rs 4,203 crore in Q4FY24, as compared to Rs 2,957 crore in Q4FY23.

"The directors have recommended dividend of Rs 5.50 per share on face value of Re 1 per share (550 per cent) for the year 2023-24 which shall be paid/despatched on or after fifth day from conclusion of ensuing 70th Annual General Meeting, subject to approval of shareholders of the company," Voltas said in a BSE filing.

The company said its consolidated total income for the year ended March 31, 2024, was higher by 32 per cent at Rs.12,734 crore as compared to Rs.9,667 crore last year. The net profit was 82 per cent higher at Rs 248 crore as compared to Rs 136 crore last year.
Hyderabad, May 7 : The United Muslim Forum (UMF), an apex body of various religious organisations belonging to different schools of thought, on Tuesday declared support to the ruling Congress in Telangana for the Lok Sabha elections in 16 out of the 17 constituencies in the state.

It decided to back the AIMIM in the Hyderabad constituency.

The decision was taken at a meeting, which was presided over by religious scholar Moulana Mufti Syed Sadeq Mohiuddin, who heads the UMF.

Moulana Akbar Nizamuddin, who heads the well-known seminary Jamia Nizamia, said it was unanimously decided to support the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections scheduled in the state in the fourth phase on May 13.

The meeting appealed to the Muslims of Telangana to vote in favour of the Congress candidates in all the constituencies barring Hyderabad.

The UMF also appealed to the Muslims in Hyderabad to support the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), whose President Asaduddin Owaisi is seeking re-election for a fifth consecutive term.

The meeting felt that the country is passing through a critical phase and that Muslims should discharge their responsibility by defeating the communal forces.

The meeting was attended by religious scholars, community leaders, and intellectuals from various walks of life.

M.A. Majid, one of the participants, told IANS that the meeting was of the unanimous view that since the Congress and the INDIA bloc are taking the communal forces head-on in the elections, the Muslims of Telangana should back the party.

The UMF had backed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the Assembly elections held in November 2023. The participants in the meeting felt that though the regional party is secular, this being the Lok Sabha elections, there is a need to support a national party like the Congress to defeat the communal forces.

"The meeting also noted the efforts of Asaduddin Owaisi in exposing the communal forces and commended his services," Majid said.

The meeting also appealed to avoid the division of secular votes and decided to create awareness among the voters on the importance of casting every vote.
Jammu, May 7 : J&K Police on Tuesday dismissed three Special Police Officers (SPOs) from service for dereliction of duty.

A police spokesman said that SPOs Daljeet Singh, Bali Ram and Deepak Singh have been disengaged from service after they were found involved in dereliction of duty and criminal activities.

"SPOs Daljeet Singh and Bali Ram were arrested in a murder case registered in Ramgarh police station. They later escaped from custody.

"SPO Deepak Singh has been disengaged from service for his involvement in a case registered under relevant sections of the NDPS Act at the Samba police station," police said.

The SPOs are engaged by J&K Police on a fixed monthly remuneration and they are given training in handling weapons once they are deployed on anti-militancy operations.

--IANS

sq/dan
Tourism craze doesn't melt in China's "ice city" Harbin

Xinhua) 22:33, May 07, 2024

HARBIN, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Harbin, known as China's "ice city" in northeastern Heilongjiang Province, reported a 35 percent year-on-year increase in the number of tourists and a 71.7 percent increase in tourism revenue during the May Day holiday, demonstrating the sustained growth and development vitality of the city's tourism market.

During the five-day holiday, Harbin welcomed more than 6.2 million tourists, generating tourism revenue of nearly 7.3 billion yuan (about 1.03 billion U.S. dollars), according to the city's tourism department.

Data released by Ctrip, a leading travel platform in China, shows an 85 percent year-on-year increase in inbound tourism orders to Harbin as a destination.

The city has witnessed a tourism boom since gaining popularity on social media platforms last winter. Harbin's abundant ice-and-snow resources, attentive services for tourists and favorable government policies have transformed it into a bustling holiday destination.

During the three-day New Year holiday, the city welcomed nearly 3.05 million visitors, raking in 5.91 billion yuan in tourism revenue. Both the number of tourists and the amount of tourism revenue surpassed the figures for 2019, marking a historical peak.

Despite the melting of ice and snow and the closure of the landmark theme park, Harbin Ice-Snow World, enthusiasm for tourism in the ice city remains undiminished.

To attract more tourists and improve overall services, Harbin has introduced an array of activities, innovated consumer scenes, and enhanced the consumer experience during the holiday.

On the first day of the May Day holiday, a giant inflatable castle theme park opened to the public at the Ice-Snow World site. A brand new 18-meter-tall inflatable snowman replaced the original snowman, attracting parents and children to experience the new theme park.

"The tourism boom in Harbin shouldn't be limited to just the winter season; it should flourish all year round," said Wang Hongxin, director of the culture and tourism bureau of Harbin.

Theme buses and theme cruise ships have offered the opportunity to enjoy the city's sites, nighttime light shows, drone performances, and the scenic Songhua River. The city has also hosted dramas, symphonies, ballets and other performances for tourists from across the world.

"I didn't expect to see such large crowds at all the major attractions. I went out with friends and felt the bustling atmosphere during the holiday, which made me very happy," said Cang Xin, a local resident.

To further boost summer tourism, Harbin will host more activities featuring music, beer, and performance festivals.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan)
A handful of relatives have criticised St Josephs Primary School in Yarra Junction for refusing them entry to the classroom.

Grandparents have criticised St Josephs Primary School in Yarra Junction for refusing them entry to a classroom event on Friday. Source: St Josephs Primary School/Facebook

A primary schools decision to deny several grandparents entry to a classroom event has come under fire, with some arguing it is a step too far.

St Josephs Primary School in Yarra Junction, east of Melbourne, held an Inquiry Afternoon for grade one and two students on Friday, inviting grandparents, parents or a special person to bring something old like a toy or game to help educate the children about how technology and the world has changed over time, the Herald Sun reports.

Photos posted to the schools Facebook page show several students standing at the front of the room alongside their family members as they present photographs of relatives, decade-old phones, cameras and clocks.

Despite the joyful images, a handful of attendees said when they arrived at the school, they were refused entry to the classroom and forced to participate over video because they didnt have a Working with Children Check.

One woman said she was made to feel 'like a criminal' after school staff forced her to participate via video. Source: St Josephs Primary School/Facebook

Grandmother denied from school event 'felt like criminal'

A grandmother told the publication her tearful granddaughter was brought to the schools office after she told staff she failed to fulfil the requirement  which she later realised was requested on the back of the invitation.

Then we sat in the staffroom and we videoed the items with my grandchild talking about what it was about and then she went back into the classroom and I went home. It was very disappointing, she said, arguing that better communication would have prevented the problem.

A second grandmother who was also denied entry for the same reason said the incident made her feel like a criminal.

School's move 'a step too far'

While a Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools spokesperson told the Herald Sun the organisation school was simply taking its child safety standards extremely seriously, experts argued on Tuesday morning the move was an overreaction.

The Working With Children Check isnt set up for the one-off visit  it is a step too far, founder of the National Grandparent Movement, Ian Barnett, told Sunrise.

I understand were living in a time when we want more checks and balances, but it is unrealistic to think that grandparents attending such a day would actually need to go and provide a Working With Children Check.

He said requiring loved ones to have the certificate was a bit extreme, and that dragging a child out from the classroom to sit with nana or grandad is a step too far and embarrassingfor the school as well.

Yahoo has contacted Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools for comment.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
New Delhi, May 7 : India on Tuesday reacted strongly to pro-Khalistani elements taking the centre stage, raising anti-India slogans, and displaying objectionable posters against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a 'Nagar Kirtan' organised at Malton in Canada, urging the government led by Justin Trudeau to stop providing criminal and secessionist elements a safe haven and political space in the country.

The parade organised on Monday from Malton to Rexdale in Ontario witnessed not just the raising of anti-India slogans, but also floats threatening India's top leaders.

"As you are aware, we have repeatedly raised our strong concerns regarding the violent imagery being used by extremist elements in Canada against our political leadership. Last year, a float depicting the assassination of our former Prime Minister was used in a procession.

"Display of posters of Indian diplomats have also been put out across Canada threatening violence against them," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.

Insisting that celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civilised society, the MEA official made it clear that democratic countries "which respect the rule of law" should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression.

"We continue to remain concerned about the security of our diplomatic representatives in Canada and expect the Government of Canada to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear.

"We again call upon the Government of Canada to stop providing criminal and secessionist elements a safe haven and political space in Canada," Jaiswal said in the statement.
New Delhi, May 7 : A Delhi Congress unit leader, who had gone for the morning walk, died after he was hit by a rash and recklessly driven car in Delhi's Rohini area on Tuesday, police said.

The deceased was identified as Hari Kishan Jindal (62), a resident of Prashant Vihar.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Devender Yadav and senior leaders have expressed deep shock and offered condolences at the sudden demise of former District Congress Committee President Jindal.

Devender Yadav said that Delhi Congress has lost a strong and dedicated leader in the demise of Jindal.

The former MCD councillor, Jindal, who also fought from the Wazirabad legislative assembly, was associated with the Congress for several decades.

A senior police official said that on Tuesday at 6:36 a.m., a Police Control Room (PCR) received a call regarding an accident by a car in Sector-14, Rohini at Prashant Vihar police station.

"The local police immediately reached the spot and came to know that Jindal had been shifted to Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital where he was declared brought dead by the doctors," said the official.

A case under Sections 279 and 304-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered and during investigation, the offending vehicle has been identified.

"Multiple teams have been constituted to nab the offender," the official added,
Chennai, May 7 : AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday demanded a judicial probe into the allegations of custodial torture of popular YouTuber Savukku Shankar in the Coimbatore Central prison.

Shankar's counsel Gopalakrishnan had alleged on Monday that his client was tortured in prison after he was arrested from Theni on charges of using obscene language against women police officers in Tamil Nadu in his YouTube show.

The counsel also said that a medical check-up done before Shankar was lodged in the prison revealed that he was physically fine and had no injuries.

Palaniswami said that the allegations levelled by Shankar's advocate were serious, as he called for a judicial probe into the matter.

He also demanded a fresh medical check-up of Shankar in the prison in the presence of a judicial officer.

Claiming that freedom of the press is being curbed in Tamil Nadu, Palaniswami said while Shankar has been put behind bars for using disparaging comments in his YouTube show, many functionaries of the ruling DMK are roaming freely despite their involvement in similar crimes.

Former Chief Minister Palaniswami also said that the law of the land should be the same for everyone.
New Delhi, May 7 : Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) P. Krishnamurthy on Tuesday said that 13,637 polling stations at 2,627 locations will be set up in the city on the day of polling in all seven Lok Sabha seats on May 25.

Addressing a press conference, the CEO said that 70 pink booths will also be set up, which will be handled by women officials only, and along with this, 70 model polling booths will be set up similarly.

Krishnamurthy said that comprehensive guidelines have been issued to the concerned District Election Officers to ensure a smooth and successful election process.

During the briefing, the Chief Election Officer also highlighted a significant increase of 6.19 per cent (1,52,01,936) in the number of male (82,12,794) and female (69,87,914) voters in Delhi, alongside a notable surge in first-time voters, with 2,52,038 new voters added, marking the highest figure in the past five years. "Moreover, there has been a commendable improvement in the gender ratio, witnessing 33-point increase from 818 to 851 within the last five years. Efforts to include transgender and third-gender voters have been fruitful, with the voter count rising from 669 to 1,228 since the last general election," he said.

The CEO said that over one lakh polling personnel will be engaged for the Lok Sabha polls.

Additionally, Central Armed Police Forces, 78,578 Delhi Police personnel, and 19,000 Home Guards will be deployed for extensive security arrangements across all polling stations in Delhi.

He said that 6,833 polling stations will undergo direct monitoring by the Chief Election Officer's office and District Election Officers through a webcast, ensuring transparency and accountability in the electoral process.

"In anticipation of possible heat waves on the day of voting, adequate arrangements have been made to ensure the comfort and safety of voters, so that no voter feels any kind of discomfort due to projected heatwave conditions on the polling day," said Krishnamurthy.

The Delhi CEO also directed the concerned stakeholders to equip every polling station with safe drinking water and properly shaded waiting areas with air coolers, essential medical kits, and supplies.

He also directed the local bodies and health department to provide the requisite paramedical staff equipped with essential medicines, including ORS, at each polling location in Delhi on the day of polling.

"With a total of 8,000 volunteers, arrangements have been made for pick-up and drop-off facilities for differently-abled and senior citizen voters, and there will be 3,500 wheelchairs at the polling stations to facilitate their participation in the electoral process," said the CEO.

As the electoral process progresses, 265 candidates have filed their 367 nominations.

The deadline for the withdrawal of nominations is May 9.

The CEO expressed confidence in the preparedness of all stakeholders and called for the active participation of citizens in exercising their democratic right to vote.
United Nations, May 7 : UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appealed to Israel on Monday to stop the escalation of the Gaza conflict as its tanks rolled into Rafah while a temporary ceasefire deal hung in the balance.

"I am disturbed and distressed by the renewed military activity in Rafah by the Israeli Defence Forces," Guterres said.

aI urge the Government of Israel to stop any escalation, and engage constructively in the ongoing diplomatic talks," he said.

"A full-scale assault on Rafah would be a human catastrophe," he said.

The UN chief warned that the incursion into Rafah, "the epicentre of humanitarian operations in Gaza", will "further upend our efforts to support people in dire humanitarian straits as famine looms".

Israel said the attack on Rafah was a limited operation against Hamas whose fighters launched a rocket attack on Israel near the Karem Shalom crossing, killing four soldiers and wounding ten on Sunday. lt shut down the crossing, another vital point for aid to enter Gaza.

Israel has threatened a full invasion of Rafah, where most Palestinians inside Gaza are huddled after its invasion of Gaza that forced them to the southern part of the strip abutting Egypt. It asked Palestinian civilians in Rafah to leave it ahead of the planned military operation.

US President Joe Biden and several European leaders have urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against attacking Rafah.

Guterres said: "Even the best friends of Israel are clear: An assault on Rafah would be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare."

The Hamas attack on Israel and the Israeli reaction complicated the diplomacy for a ceasefire promoted by the US, Egypt, and Qatar.

Hamas was reported on Monday to have accepted the terms for a ceasefire after Israel made concessions. The temporary ceasefire was to lead to the release of about 30 of the Israelis taken hostage during the Hamas terrorist attack in October, freeing of some Palestinians held by Israel while staving off a" at least for a while a" the imminent attack on Rafah.

But the possibility of a ceasefire is clouded by the escalation by both sides.

Guterres said: "It would be tragic if weeks of intense diplomatic activity for peace in Gaza, yield no ceasefire. No release of hostages. And a devastating offensive in Rafah."

"I reiterate my appeal for both parties to show the political courage and spare no effort to secure an agreement now," he said.

"This is a crucial opportunity that the region a" and indeed the world a" cannot afford to miss."

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
Jaipur, May 7 : Around 2 kg heroin valued at Rs 10 crore smuggled from Pakistan was seized in Rajsthan's Sriganganagar district in a joint action by the police and the BSF, an official said on Tuesday, adding three persons including a minor were also arrested in this connection.

The heroin was bought from Pakistani smugglers through drones, said Superintendent of Police Gaurav Yadav said, adding joint efforts are being made by the Sriganganagar district administration and the police to make the district drug-free.

The police officer said that during checking, a Swift car was stopped and checked following which 2 kg heroin was recovered from the car.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Manjeet Singh (20) and Nirmal Singh (36), residents of Tarn Taran district in Punjab. A teenager (minor) has also been arrested.

SP Yadav said that a case has been registered against the apprehended smugglers under the NDPS Act.

He said that both the accused had been arrested, and the minor had been detained who, during questioning, admitted to ordering heroin through drones by contacting Pakistani smugglers on the India-Pakistan international border.
Itanagar, May 7 : The BJP in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday expelled 28 disgruntled party leaders who contested the April 19 Assembly elections against the party's official nominees after being denied tickets.

Itanagar, May 7 (IANS) The BJP in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday expelled 28 disgruntled party leaders who contested the April 19 Assembly elections against the partyas official nominees after being denied tickets.

BJPas state disciplinary action committee headed by Tarh Tarak said the leaders have been expelled from the party for six years, according to a statement issued by the state BJP.

The now expelled leaders had contested the Assembly polls on tickets of the National Peopleas Party (NPP), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Peopleas Party of Arunachal, and as Independent nominees.

The NPP is headed by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma.

The ruling BJP had fielded 60 candidates in all the Assembly seats in Arunachal, of which 10 were elected unopposed.

The prominent leaders who won without a contest included Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, Techi Kaso, Jikke Tako, Nyato Dukam, Mutchu Mithi, and Dasanglu Pul, among others.

The Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the BJP-ruled state were held simultaneously in the first phase on April 19.

The Assembly election results will be declared on June 2, while the Lok Sabha results will be out on June 4.
Jaipur, May 7 : The teachers, students and other staff in all government and private schools in Rajasthan's Kota have been barred from using mobile phones during the school hours, an official said on Tuesday.

A notification issued in this regard by Tej Kanwar, Joint Director, School Education Department, Kota division, mentioned that teachers will have to submit their mobile phones to the principal after reaching school.

The notification has been sent to all education department officials in Kota division.

Notably, the order came after a recent video of the state Education Minister Madan Dilawar went viral. In the video, he can be heard saying that there will be a ban on teachers using smartphones in government schools.

According to the Joint Director, these orders were issued around one and a half months ago.

Following the instructions of the state Education Minister, a reminder letter has been issued for its strict implementation.

It has also been mentioned in the notification that during the inspection of schools, it has been found that teachers and employees use mobile phones during the school hours.

The principals have also been directed to keep the mobile phones of the employees in safe custody.

The order mentioned that if anyone is seen using mobile phone in the school, action will be taken against the Chief Block Education Officer, Principal and other officials.
Panaji, May 7 : Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday evening expressed happiness over the robust voter turnout for the two Lok Sabha seats in the coastal state that went to the polls in the third phase on Tuesday.

As per the provisional figures released by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the state recorded a voter turnout of 74.27 per cent for the North Goa and South Goa seats where polling was held on Tuesday.

In a video message, CM Sawant said, "I congratulate all Goans for such high voter turnout. Till now, the record was 72 per cent polling, which we have crossed today."

"We respect democracy. I am hopeful that the dream of 'Viksit Bharat' will come true. I am confident that the BJP will win both the seats in Goa," the Chief Minister said.

The BJP has fielded Union Minister of State for Tourism Shripad Naik from North Goa, and industrialist Pallavi Dempo from the South Goa seat.

The Chief Minister also said that polling was peaceful in the state without any untoward incidents.

"Some political leaders tried to create issues. But people maintained peace and the elections took place smoothly," he said
Hyderabad, May 8 : A triangular fight is on the cards in the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, a key constituency in the politically significant north Telangana region.

The main contestants are battling it out after suffering defeat in Assembly elections.

Sitting MP Dharampuri Arvind of BJP, senior Congress leader and former minister T. Jeevan Reddy and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) candidate Bajireddy Goverdhan all had to taste defeat in Assembly elections held in November 2023.

Unlike in 2019 when Arvind had defeated BRS president and then chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter K. Kavitha in a direct fight, the constituency is witnessing a three-cornered contest this time.

Out of seven Assembly seats under Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, BRS won three seats in the recent polls.

Congress and BJP bagged two seats each.

The BRS retained Koratla as Arvind lost to Kalvakuntla Sanjay by a margin of over 10,000 votes.

The Congress and BRS candidates too were unsuccessful in their bid to enter the Assembly.

Jeevan Reddy, a former minister and currently a member of Telangana Legislative Council, lost to M. Sanjay Kumar of BRS by a margin of 15,822 votes.

BRS leader Bajireddy Goverdhan suffered defeat at the hands of Congress party's R. Bhupathi Reddy by a margin of nearly 22,000 votes in Nizamabad Rural constituency.

Nizamabad is the second Lok Sabha constituency after Adilabad where the BJP put up impressive performance in recent Assembly elections.

The BJP wrested Armoor and Nizamabad Urban seats from the BRS and finished second in the Koratla segment.

Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat remained a Congress stronghold till 1991 when Telugu Desam Party (TDP) wrested it for the first time.

The TDP won the seat again in 1998 and 1999.

TRS (now BRS) scored its first victory from here in 2014 when Kavitha defeated two-time MP Madhu Yaskhi Goud of Congress by a huge margin of 1.67 lakh votes. BJP had finished third with over 2.25 lakh votes.

In 2019, the BJP wrested the seat with Arvind, son of former Congress and BRS leader D. Srinivas, defeating Kavitha by a margin of 70,875 votes.

While both Arvind and Kavitha polled over 4 lakh votes each, Congress candidate finished a poor third with less than 70,000 votes.

The constituency had hit headlines in 2019 after 177 farmers jumped into the fray demanding remunerative price for turmeric and red sorghum and setting up of National Turmeric Board, taking the total number of candidates to 185.

Though Kavitha was later elected to the Legislative Council from Nizamabad Local Authorities' constituency, she kept targeting Arvind through innovative protests for failing to fulfil his promise of getting Turmeric Board.

While addressing a public meeting in Mahabubnagar on October 1, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the National Turmeric Board will be set up in Telangana to professionally focus on the entire value chain of turmeric.

However, the Turmeric Board remains a key issue in this election too as both Congress and BRS are questioning the delay in follow-up action on the Prime Minister's announcement.

Both the parties alleged that the BJP has taken people of Nizamabad for a ride with a mere announcement. Revival of Nizam Sugar Factory (NSF) in Nizamabad and its units across Telangana is another issue in the election.

The Congress has given the assurance it will revive NSF next year.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah's election rally in Nizamabad where he promised that the BJP will scrap reservation for Muslims gave further boost to the BJP's campaign.

Issues like Muslim reservation and celebration of Hyderabad Liberation Day are part of BJP's poll campaign.

The party is also highlighting the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya and its promise to bring Uniform Civil Code.

Muslims constitute about 20 per cent of nearly 19 lakh voters in the constituency.

Nizamabad was one of the four Lok Sabha seats won by the BJP in 2019.

This was the BJP's best-ever performance in the state.

As Kavitha was arrested in Delhi excise policy case, the BRS fielded its senior leader Bajireddy Goverdhan.

He was first elected to the Assembly on a Congress ticket from Armoor in 1999. In 2004, he was elected from Banswada. He joined YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) after it was floated by Jagan Mohan Reddy in 2010. Goverdhan joined TRS (now BRS) in 2014 and was elected to Telangana Assembly from Nizamabad Rural constituency. He retained the seat in 2018.

The BRS is telling the electorate that it alone can safeguard the interests of Telangana.

BRS chief KCR is exhorting people to make sure that Telangana's voice is heard in Parliament.

Congress' Jeevan Reddy is confident that like in the Assembly elections, the people will give their mandate in favour of Congress.

The senior leader is accusing BJP of diverting the people's attention from real issues like unemployment, Turmeric Board, remunerative prices for farmers, revival of sugar factories and problems of beedi workers and Gulf migrants to polarise votes on communal lines.

Jeevan Reddy was first elected to Andhra Pradesh Assembly in 1983 on Telugu Desam Party (TDP ticket) from Jagtial and served as excise minister in N.T. Rama Rao's Cabinet.

He joined the Congress in 1984 and was re-elected to the Assembly from Jagtial in 1989.

He was again elected from the same constituency in 1989, 1996, 1999 and 2004.

He served as minister for roads and buildings in Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's cabinet between 2007 and 2009.

He was elected to Telangana Assembly from Jagtial in 2014.

After defeat in 2018 elections, he entered the fray for Legislative Council elections and was elected from Karimnagar Graduates' constituency in 2019.

Jeevan Reddy is contesting Lok Sabha elections for the third time.

He twice contested unsuccessfully from Karimnagar. Both times, he lost to BRS chief and former chief minister KCR.
Washington, May 8 : The US government is insisting that the army's advance on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip is a "limited" operation, after talks with the Israeli government.

We have "repeatedly and consistently" made clear concerns about a "major operation in Rafah in densely populated areas that would give higher risk to civilians and civilian casualties," National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said on Tuesday.

However, Washington was assured in talks with Israeli representatives that it was an operation of "limited duration in size and scope and scale" aimed at disrupting Hamasa ability to transport weapons across the Rafah border.

Further action was being monitored, he said.

Of negotiations on a hostage agreement with the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, Kirby said he assumed that the two sides could come together and agree on any areas outstanding.

Washington will do everything possible to support this process and achieve this result, said Kirby, without providing any further details. At this delicate stage and at a very sensitive time in the negotiations, he said it was best to let the negotiators close the existing gaps.

However, given the text, this seems possible, he said.

--IANS/DPA

sha/
In his most comprehensive restructuring move to date as he moves to forge a new English-language management structure at Hachette, Hachette Book Group and Hachette UK CEO David Shelley has announced a series of promotions and structural changes in both the U.S. and U.K.

The most prominent move at HBG is the promotion of Ben Sevier, most recently executive v-p and publisher of Grand Central Publishing, to president and publisher of GCP. In addition to continuing to oversee Grand Central and its imprints, Sevier is now also responsible for Hachette Nashville and its imprints FaithWords, Center Street, and Worthy, led by Daisy Hutton, as well as Hachette Books and its imprint, Hachette Go, led by Mary Ann Naples.

Sevier joined HBG in 2017 and, according to the announcement, has led a period of profit growth and list expansion for Grand Central Publishing. Bestsellers that have been released under his leadership include books by David Baldacci, Harlan Coben, Sally Field, Colleen Hoover, Abby Jimenez, and Min Jin Lee. He will continue to report to Shelley.

In prepared remarks about Seviers promotion, Shelley pointed to the latter's ability to expand GCPs catalog while also growing the audience of readers significantly. Shelley also highlighted Seviers development of the Balance and Legacy Lit imprints, as well as growing the Forever imprints romance publishing program.

In a second move with a direct impact on HBG, Shelley is combining the leadership of the U.S. and U.K. distribution business under Matt Wright, who is currently CEO of Hachette UK Distribution. As CEO of HUK and HBG Distribution, Wright will be responsible, as the title implies, for clients in both the U.S. and the U.K. Publisher clients in the U.S. include Abrams, Chronicle, and Yen Press, while Hachette also handles distribution in the both regions for Lonely Planet and Quarto. Frank Casolaro, v-p of HBG Distribution, will now report to Wright. Shelley said that he expects Wright to use his experience in the U.K. to help support and enable the U.S. team to offer outstanding distribution and to grow the services we offer to our valued portfolio of client publishers.

No new changes are coming to HBG U.S.s Little, Brown group. Earlier this year, Sally Kim moved from G.P. Putnams Sons to HBG as president and publisher of Little, Brown and Company, succeeding Bruce Nichols, and Megan Tingley remains president and publisher of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. And in a previous move that expanded an American executives responsibility to the U.K., Carrie Bloxson was appointed senior v-p, culture and diversity, equity, and inclusion for both the U.S. and U.K. businesses. All three report to Shelley.

Extensive U.K. Changes

Prior to being tapped to head both HBG and HUK last year, Shelley had solely led the latter, which he has restructured to give more responsibility to three executives. Hachette UK is now organized into three core areas: adult trade, childrens trade, and education. The groups will be headed up by three CEOs: Katie Espiner, Seshni Jacobs, and Hilary Murray Hill, and all three will report to Shelley. In her newly-created role of adult trade CEO, Espiner will be responsible for all nine divisions.

In making the U.K. promotions, Shelley pointed to a record-breaking year in 2023 in the U.K, adding that he believes the new structure will help us reach evermore readers for our authors and creative partners works.

In a final promotion, Charlie King has been named CEO of the U.K. Little, Brown Book Group, as well as CEO of the HUK International divisions. In his new role, King will expand his responsibilities beyond managing director of Little, Brown to lead Hachette Australia, Hachette India, Hachette Ireland, Hachette New Zealand, and Laurence King Verlag. In his international role, King succeeds, and will report to, Hachette UK and Hachette Book Group deputy CEO Richard Kitson, who has led all of Hachette UKs international businesses since 2010. With this change, Kitson becomes chair of HUK International Divisions while continuing to lead the central departmentswhich include such functions as productionin the U.K. and U.S.

In a prepared statement, Shelley expressed confidence that the changes will create better coordination among Hachettes English-language businesses. With these promotions, I believe we will be able to harness the fantastic talent across both Hachette Book Group US and Hachette UK and help make it easy for evermore readers to discover the books we publish on both sides of the Atlantic, he said.
A rendering of the three-story apartment building planned for Kollen Park Drive.

A two-story apartment building will be constructed at the Hope site on 10th street.
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Price: $ 28,000 Seller State of Residence: Colorado Type: Recreational, Acreage State/Province: Wyoming Location: , Wy

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Price: $ 10,000,000 Seller State of Residence: Patch Tippet Type: Homesite, Lot Zoning: Mixed City: Phoenix State/Province: Arizona Location: 850**, Phoenix, Arizona

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A tropical retreat overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Windward Pointe captures the essence of Key West. The resort, located at the southeastern tip of the islands southernmost point, boasts a freeform infinity-edge pool with a poolside restaurant, a hammock overlooking the ocean, and an array of games. Nearby, enjoy Smathers Beach and the iconic Southernmost Point landmark. On-site, get involved with Inspired Experiences for unforgettable moments together during your Key West stay. Whether you c...

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The government is contemplating changes to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to deal with environmental claims and liabilities of defaulting companies to make the law future-ready and meet climate action goals, sources told Business Standard.

Currently, the IBC has various categories of claims and creditors, including those related to environmental liabilities.

Experts, however, pointed out that it did not provide for any special treatment for such liabilities which were treated as ordinary trade liabilities.

To integrate environmental goals with the IBC may require developing fresh guidelines.

"The matter needs more discussion  who should adjudicate environmental claims, what cost they should assign to it, whether to liquidate or resolve a polluting company, etc, the source said.

Globally, a discussion has recently begun on integrating climate action with insolvency processes by a 12-member working group formed by the World Bank, INSOL International, and the International Insolvency Institute earlier this year.

This is a present challenge, not something in the future.

"There is a growth in the number of people filing claims out of environmental impact.

"We also need to discuss what class of creditors should these claims fall and what priority would they get.

"We have prepared a problem paper and now we are working on the solutions, said Sumant Batra, president, Insolvency Law Academy and member of the World Bank working group.

As countries move towards the COP28 goals, businesses could face transition risk, which could lead to insolvencies.

Climate events, such as tsunami and wildfires, can lead to companies filing for bankruptcies.

At the same time, experts said there is also a debate on whether companies that are adding to environmental damage be rescued through insolvency regime or be liquidated. For instance, if a coal company goes into insolvency, then the IBC needs to take a view whether it should be resolved and be allowed to continue the same practice or insist on change of technology as part of the resolution process.

There needs to be acceptability that this could destroy value.

"Financial distress would mean companies defaulting on their environmental obligations.

"Claims around the environment need to be embedded in law, said Dinkar Venkatsubramanian, partner, EY India.

Batra suggested that at the stage of approval of the plan itself, an environmental body should be involved.

The committee of creditors may have the commercial wisdom but not the expertise to deal with climate change issues.

Among regulators, in July 2023, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) introduced the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting for top 1000 listed companies.

Experts said that while other regulators may take cue from Sebi to formulate similar responsibilities, balancing environmental concerns with economic imperatives poses a significant challenge for regulators.

Dinesh Arora, partner and deals leader at PwC India, said striking the right equilibrium between fostering green practices and facilitating economic recovery requires nuanced policymaking and a thorough understanding of industry dynamics.

Government may consider giving special status to environmental liability so that IBC is not used as a tool to white wash environmental liabilitiesWe need to give some time to settle other complex issues in IBC before we embark on this aspect completely, said Manish Aggarwal, joint head, deal advisory at KPMG in India.
Had it not been for the slow but sure emergence of China as a threat to the Western order, would India have been accepted as a near-equal partner by individual Western nations, jointly and severally, questions N Sathiya Moorthy.

IMAGE: President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra D Modi welcome US President Joe Biden at the Bharat Mandapam for the G-20 dinner in New Delhi, September 9, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

It may be just a coincidence, yes, but the way the US has been haranguing India on the human rights front during the nation's parliamentary polls has caused a lot more eyebrows to raise in the country and elsewhere than otherwise.

In particular, NRI bhakts of Prime Minister Narendra D Modi, who claimed that they or their outfits were behind the continuing high tide in bilateral relations, wouldn't know where to hide their faces -- and are silent for most part.

Even those who were critical of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the anti-India turns, developments and decisions of his government, have seemingly been silenced.

The greater coincidence was the China visit of US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken, aimed at trying to 'normalise' bilateral ties for 'global good'.

That the visit came about when the US was going after India on the human rights front did not imply any direct linkage, but this was also the case in the past years.

Hence, questions may be raised about the coincidence, sooner than later.

The question is: Was the US propping up India only because it needed a regional power to check China on the track, before it flew the coop and landed closer to the American 'homeland' or the nation's NATO allies?

After all, European allies of the US had no problem doing business with China, and literally so, until the US convinced them to impose trade and investment sanctions on Beijing.

The net result was that China lost business and investment, but India did not get all of them or even a substantial share of it.

But the US found that an once-enthusiastic India was now slowing down on Quad, Indo-Pacific and all the multilateral arrangements that it had created mainly with New Delhi in mind.

In particular, India's belated refusal to convert Quad into a military alliance -- that however had been the impression all along -- and the more recent defiance of the US diktat on buying oil from Russia, may not have gone down well with an establishment that had not been accustomed to handling such situations, especially when emanating from a friend, who in their eyes used to be a 'prospective member of an emerging NATO'.

IMAGE: French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the sixth meeting of the Franco-Chinese Business Council at the Marigny Theater in Paris, May 6, 2024. Photograph: Mohammed Badra/Pool via Reuters

It required the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent emergence of China as the anti-West balancer on the global scene that made the US in particular to look around for allies.

India, Japan and South Korea fitted the bill.

Of them, India and Japan had running adversarial issues with China.

Of course, Taiwan was always there but it needed the US to defend itself, and not be America's out-sourcing partner to check 'Chinese expansionism'.

It was like the NATO alliance in the Soviet era. It has since mutated into individual European allies of the US doing their bid to arrest Russia in military and economic terms, without directly joining the Ukraine War.

That may also be because NATO never fought a single war with the Soviet Union.

Nor are they likely to fight a war with China at present.

However, the scene of action now has shifted from cross-Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific. Rather the US scripted the concept far away from its territory.

Whatever that be, suddenly the US found India an attractive strategic partner in these parts first and the rest followed.

It began with de-hyphenating America's India-Pakistan equations, but that was only a beginning.

The greater and faster geo-strategic ties, predicated by bilateral political initiatives, culminating in the Quad, Indo-Pacific, I2U2, all three with India forming a part, was obviously there in the original American script for the post-Cold War world, to be pulled out and developed one after the other.

IMAGE: Modi and Biden raise a toast to 'ever-lasting friendship' at the State dinner the US president hosted for the Indian prime minister at the White House, June 22, 2023. Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

The question arises: Had it not been for the slow but sure emergence of China as a threat to the Western order, would India have been accepted as a near-equal partner by individual western nations, jointly and severally?

That should include Australia and Japan, if not South Korea.

Would India's concern vis a vis Chinese expansionism become a talking point again for the same reason?

Here again, among India's post-Cold War allies, Japan was the only one to take a guarded position on China's 'Doklam crisis' also involving Bhutan, in 2017.

Looking back, the question arises if China did not expect India to intervene, but for which it could have forced a border resolution on Bhutan.

Those talks are now said to be under way.

Only when Galwan happened in 2020 did the US react strongly and not very long after.

One, it was an occasion for painting China as barbaric.

Two, once the dust had settled down on Doklam earlier, Indian observers had begun pointing to the stunning US silence in the matter.

IMAGE: US First Lady Jill Biden, Modi and Biden wave to the crowd as they stand on the Truman Balcony of the White House, June 22, 2023. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Talking about India's Kashmir initiatives in a bygone era, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had this to tell the West: 'If you say our people are playing multilateralism, they always did.'

But he added: 'We have grown up.' According to him, 'Multilateralism is a kind of lowest common denominator and anything above that... it will exist side-by-side with national interests, with the calculation and competition of countries.'

Jaishankar asked the West to give more options on the Ukraine War as otherwise they would be pushing the nation into Chinese hands.

He possibly had in mind Russian President Vladimir Putin's last September declaration that the West was pushing Moscow towards China, sounding as if they would prefer not doing it.

Incidentally, China's Xi Jinping talked about Russia ties as a 'strategic option' for his country, months later in December.

In between, you had the European nations reiterating their demand for India to join the anti-Russia camp.

Leave aside the oil deal that has saved India and many other developing nations, these Western worthies seemed to be completely bereft of morals for saying what they have been saying ever since the commencement of the Ukraine War.

But not one of them even remotely remembers then prime minister Indira Gandhi's global diplomacy, seeking their intervention for the sake of Bangladeshi civilians who were brutally raped and burnt and worse, circa 1971.

Not one of them has even extended a word of remorse since.

Elsewhere, Dr Jaishankar had this to say of bilateral ties with Moscow: 'India and Russia have always shared a stable and very friendly relationship.... Russia has never hurt India's interests.'

A strong message this for India's post-Cold War allies, who, whenever it suits them try to throw the human rights rule-book (written by them for others, not themselves) when it suits them, or when they have domestic elections or when they think they can pressure India into submission -- as on the Ukraine War.

Fat hopes!

N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and author, is a Chennai-based policy analyst and political commentator.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
'Modi is not assuring the nation that if he gets back to power in 2024 and remains in power till 2029, he will not change the Constitution.'

IMAGE: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra D Modi with Shiv Sena President Eknath Shinde and BJP MP Ashok Chavan at an election meeting in Nanded, Maharashtra. Photograph: ANI Photo

Prakash Ambedkar, Dr B R Ambedkar's grandson and president of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, has decided to go alone in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra. In an interview with Business Standard's Shreyas Ubgade in Akola, the three-time member of Parliament claims that Maha Vikas Aghadi never had the goal of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party and has put up "compromise: candidates in many seats.

Depending on who wins or loses, how do you see the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the larger context?

Realising that there are bigger issues at play, people have awakened.

This is the greatest strength of Indian democracy. In times of crisis, the voter takes a stand and understands the stand he is taking.

Given that the common aim was to defeat the BJP-led alliance, why did talks with the MVA fail?

The MVA did not have the goal of defeating the BJP. They wanted to save their own skins from inquiries. Therefore, in many places, it is a compromise candidate.

In Kalyan, Shiv Sena (UBT) has done it. Buldhana is the same. The Congress has done it on three seats: Nanded, Ramtek, and Bhandara-Gondia.

I can point this out in many places. They wanted to block the VBA by offering two seats so that they could settle with the BJP and save their skin from inquiries.

That seems to be the primary intention of shutting the doors on us.

You have said that the MVA has made the term 'match-fixing' a reality in Maharashtra.

Yes, it is match-fixing. Wherever compromise candidates have been put up, it is match-fixing.

Now that you are not part of the MVA, why have you decided to support the NCP (SP) and Congress in a select few seats like Baramati, Kolhapur and Nagpur?

Doesn't this send mixed signals to your voters?

We supported the NCP (SP) because a senior leader like Jayant Patil requested that we not put up a candidate in Baramati.

For Nagpur, there were hints from the Congress that we should not field our candidate.

We believe in Shahu Maharaj's philosophy, so we support the family (Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj) in Kolhapur.

This doesn't send mixed signals. We have announced candidates in the rest of the constituencies.

Is there any scope left for any reconciliation with the MVA after the polls?

After polls, anything is possible. You don't make permanent enemies in politics. They are temporary enemies.

You won the Akola seat in 1998 and 1999. Why couldn't you repeat that performance thereafter?

In this constituency, there has been an understanding between the BJP and Congress.

My first election was in 1984 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and I lost it by a small margin.

In that election, the BJP transferred its votes to the Congress to defeat me.

The Congress returned the favour in the next election (which the BJP won).

When they found that it was becoming impossible to restrain me, they started disturbing my Muslim support by putting up Muslim candidates.

Has politics in Maharashtra entered the 'post-ideology' era?

This is similar to what we had in 1967 of 'syndicate-indicate'.

After the split in the Congress, Indira Gandhi won the 1971 election and survived, while S Nijalingappa lost.

So, here, you have to wait and see if Eknath Shinde wins or Uddhav Thackeray wins, whether Ajit Pawar wins or Sharad Pawar wins.

Whoever wins will survive. Whoever loses will perish.

Would the Maratha quota stir impact poll outcomes?

In 2024, we will garner more other backward class votes than last time.

That is where we will be limiting the BJP. Marathas by themselves are not a force (in Vidarbha).

If Kunbis were to join them, they would become a force.

Earlier, in Parliament, they used to have Kunbi candidates, and in the assembly, they would have Maratha candidates.

The equation has now changed, where you have Marathas in both Parliament and the assembly.

Therefore, the Kunbis have a feeling that they have been left out. So, they are moving to different parties. They are coming to us as well.

Kunbis are classified as OBCs, and Marathas are not classified as OBCs. There are no inter-caste marriages between Kunbis and Marathas (in Akola). Kunbis are moving away.

The Maratha presence is generally dominant. But this time, it is diluted.

Over the years, some OBC and Hindu scheduled caste communities have voted for the BJP in Maharashtra and across India.

Do you see them backing the BJP this time around as well?

I don't think so. Nobody can be fooled by them (the BJP) when they say they will do away with reservations...that they will do away with the protection given to the scheduled castes.

It depends on how much representation you are providing. In UP, if you rely on Yadavs only, other OBCs move towards the BJP.

Every state has a different combination. In Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav has hinted at adjusting with the non-dominant OBCs and extremely backwards.

If he does that, he's in the driver's seat. In Maharashtra, we are better off because we have made these adjustments.

Recently, Prime Minister Modi said even Babasaheb Ambedkar cannot change this Constitution.

He is playing with words and wants to hide his and the RSS' real intentions. The question is not about Dr Ambedkar, but whether Modi will change the Constitution.

It's a jibe which he has played by pushing it on Babasaheb. But is Modi assuring the nation that he won't change from 2024 to 2029?

Without committing himself, he is putting Dr Ambedkar in the picture. Modi has never said that he will not change the Constitution.

He is saying that Dr Ambedkar cannot change the Constitution. It's an inference that he is asking people to draw.

However, Modi is not assuring the nation that if he gets back to power in 2024 and remains in power till 2029, he will not change the Constitution. That assurance is missing.

What future do you see for Ambedkarite and Bahujan politics in Maharashtra and India?

It has a bright future. The Savarna parties are becoming unaccommodating, day-by-day. Due to this, others will be pushed towards the Ambedkarite forces.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
At least two people were killed and 21 others injured in a knife attack at a hospital on Tuesday in China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said, in the latest incident of mass stabbing in the country.

The attack took place at around 11:30 am when a man assaulted people with a knife at a local hospital in Zhenxiong County, the county's public security bureau said.

The injured are being treated in the hospital, and the case is under investigation, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

It is not yet known whether police have subdued the suspect, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

China, where private gun ownership is illegal for most civilians, has faced a spate of mass knife attacks in public places in recent years.

In August last year, two people were killed and seven others injured after a man with a history of mental illness attacked people with a knife in a residential district in also Yunnan.

In July of that year, six people, including three children, were killed in a stabbing at a kindergarten in the south-eastern province of Guangdong.

Zhenxiong County, situated in Yunnan's northeast, borders Guizhou and Sichuan provinces and, until 2020, was classified as "poverty-stricken".
Three Indian Naval Ships have arrived in Singapore for a three-day visit as part of the operational deployment of the Navy's Eastern Fleet to the South China Sea, underscoring the strong linkages between both navies.

IMAGE: Indian Naval ships arrive for three-day visit in Singapore, May 7, 2024. Photograph: Courtesy Indian Navy on X

Led by Rear Admiral (RAdm) Rajesh Dhankhar, Indian Naval Ships Delhi, Shakti, and Kiltan reached the Changi naval base in the city-state on Monday, the Indian Navy spokesperson said in a post on X.

The three ships will leave for Malaysia on Thursday and then visit the Philippines.

The visit is part of the "Op Deployment of #IndianNavy's @IN_EasternFleet to the #SouthChinaSea," it said, amidst China flexing its muscles in the South China Sea.

Currently, the Chinese navy is involved in a standoff with the US-backed Philippines naval ships in the South China Sea.

The Philippines is trying to assert its claim over the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, which is strongly resisted by China.

China claims most of the South China Sea. The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims.

The three Indian naval ships were welcomed by personnel of the Singapore Navy and the high commissioner of India in Singapore.

On Tuesday, RAdm Dhankhar and the Indian high commissioner hosted a reception onboard INS Shakti for 150 guests and missions heads.

The "visit is poised to further strengthen the longstanding friendship and cooperation between the two maritime nations through a series of engagements and activities," the ministry of defence in New Delhi said in a statement.

During the ships' stay in the harbour, various activities are planned. These include "interactions with the high commission of India, professional interactions with the Republic of Singapore Navy as also academia and community outreach amongst other activities, reflecting the shared values of both navies," it said.

The two countries' navies have had robust relations spanning three decades of cooperation, coordination and collaboration with regular visits, exchange of best practices, and reciprocal training arrangements.

"The current deployment underscores the strong linkages between both the navies," the statement said.
India has withdrawn 51 of its soldiers from the Maldives so far, the government has said ahead of the May 10 deadline set by President Mohamed Muizzu for the complete withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country.

IMAGE: Indian Navy taking part in Colombo Security Conclave Focused Operation being conducted between lead maritime security agencies of India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka in Southern Arabian Sea November 27, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

The Maldivian government earlier announced that two batches of Indian soldiers had left the country. However, the exact figure was not disclosed previously.

The chief spokesperson of the President's Office Heena Waleed, in response to questions regarding the issue, said on Monday, that a total of 51 Indian soldiers have been repatriated so far.

"All Indian military personnel in the country will be withdrawn from the Maldives by May 10. As of now, 51 soldiers stationed at two platforms have been repatriated," Heena was quoted as saying by the Edition.mv news portal.

She, however, refused to disclose the exact figure of the Indian soldiers stationed in the Maldives, stating the details would be shared at a later date, Sun.mv news portal reported.

According to previous announcements by the Maldives government, 88 Indian soldiers were stationed in the country to operate two helicopters, a Dornier aircraft and at the Senahiya military hospital.

The two helicopters and the Dronier aircraft were gifted by India.

President Muizzu, widely seen as a pro-China leader, had set May 10 as the deadline for the withdrawal of the Indian military personnel from his country. Repatriation of Indian soldiers stationed in the Maldives was a key pledge of Muizzu during his presidential campaign.

India has already withdrawn some of its military personnel operating three aviation platforms in the Maldives. The military personnel were replaced by Indian civilian technical experts.

India and the Maldives have also agreed to withdraw the remaining Indian troops before May 10. The two sides held the fourth meeting of the bilateral high-level core group in New Delhi on May 3.

"Both sides noted with satisfaction that the Government of India will replace military personnel at the last of the three aviation platforms by May 10 and all the logistical arrangements are going ahead as per schedule," the Maldivian foreign ministry said on Friday after the core group meeting.

Two batches of Indian soldiers in the Maldives have left the country, including soldiers who operated helicopters in Addu and the Dornier aircraft in Haa Dhaal Hanimaadhoo. Indian civilian personnel arrived in both areas last month to replace the soldiers, the media here reported.

The Maldives is India's key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region and occupies a special place in its initiatives like 'SAGAR' (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and the 'Neighbourhood First Policy' of the Modi government.
Bharatiya Janata Party candidates continued to face farmers' ire in Punjab with party nominees Hans Raj Hans and Dinesh Babbu Tuesday witnessing protests during campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls.

IMAGE: BJP MPs Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishan, Hans Raj Hans (second from right), and Dinesh Lal Yadav pose for a picture as they leave after the Winter Session of Parliament, as Lok Sabha adjourned sine die a day before schedule, in New Delhi, December 23, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Hans is the BJP candidate from the Faridkot constituency while Babbu is in the fray from Gurdaspur seat.

The BJP candidates and leaders have been facing protests from farmers when they are campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls.

As part of protests, farmers ask questions to BJP leaders and show them black flags for not agreeing to their demands.

A group of farmers on Tuesday posed questions to Hans in Gidderbaha where he was canvassing.

Farmers sought the BJP candidate's reply on erecting barricades by the Haryana government at the border points and firing of tear gas shells at farmers who wanted to head towards Delhi in February in support of their demands.

In Gurdaspur, farmers asked Babbu why "force" was used against protesters who were moving towards the national capital as part of 'Delhi Chalo' protest.

Babbu replied that the BJP always stands by farmers and urged them to vote for the party.

Amid party candidates facing protests from farmers, Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar on Monday had sought intervention of the chief electoral officer, claiming that the party nominees were "being forced to withdraw from campaigns".

He had expressed apprehension on the "possible collusion" of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and other parties in causing obstructions and encumbrances in the campaign of BJP candidates.

The Punjab CEO sought an action taken report from the state director general of police after the BJP delegation raised concern over the law and order situation, claiming that the party candidates were being prevented from campaigning in the state.

Farmers under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha have already said that they will oppose the BJP and will ask people to "punish" the saffron party in the Lok Sabha polls.

Farmers owing allegiance to various farm outfits are upset with the BJP-led Centre for not accepting their demands including a law on minimum support price for crops.

They were also upset over not being allowed to head towards Delhi, forcing them to camp at Shambhu and Khanauri border points of Punjab.

The SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the 'Delhi Chalo' march by farmers to press the government to accept their demands.
Election Commission on Tuesday directed social media platform 'X' to 'immediately' take down an animated video shared by the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party related to the row over reservation for the Muslim community.

IMAGE: A woman holds a cut out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP symbol lotus during his public meeting for the Lok Sabha elections, in Pune, on Monday, April 29, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

In a letter to the nodal officer of 'X', the EC took exception to the non-compliance of the directive of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer to the social media platform for taking down the video.

The panel said the animated video shared by the Karnataka unit of the BJP on its social media handle was violative of the extant legal framework.

The EC said the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka registered an FIR in this connection and wrote to 'X' on May 5 to take down the objectionable post as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act and the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.

"However, the post has not been taken down yet. Therefore, 'X' is directed to take down the post immediately," the EC said.

The fresh directive to 'X' came on the day votes were being cast in the remaining 14 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.

Polling in the other 14 parliamentary constituencies of Karnataka was held on April 26.

The Karnataka Congress had filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer of the state, accusing the BJP of promoting enmity and hatred between the Muslim and the SC/ST communities.

The complaint pertains to an animated video shared by the Karnataka BJP, which has caricatures of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

The cartoon shows the leaders putting an egg marked 'Muslim' on a bird's nest and after it hatches, Gandhi feeds 'funds' to the 'Muslim' hatchling while others strive for it.

The 'Muslim' hatchling grows as a result and kicks the three others -- SC, ST and OBC -- out as Gandhi and Siddaramaiah laugh.
India Tuesday hit out at Canada for providing "safe haven" and political space to "secessionist" elements, in a sharp reaction to pro-Khalistan elements displaying an effigy of the Indian prime minister in an offensive manner at a parade in Ontario's Malton area.

Image used for representational purpose only. Photograph: ANI Photo

India also accused Canada of allowing "celebration and glorification" of violence, expressing concerns over the security of Indian diplomats in that country, and said it expects Ottawa to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear.

India's strong reaction came two days after the 'Nagar Kirtan' parade in Malton displayed a "float" that contained an effigy of the Indian prime minister reportedly within a cage.

"We again call upon the Government of Canada to stop providing criminal and secessionist elements a safe haven and political space in Canada," external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

Jaiswal also recalled how float during a parade in June last year depicted the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

"As you are aware, we have repeatedly raised our strong concerns regarding the violent imagery being used by extremist elements in Canada against our political leadership. Last year, a float depicting the assassination of our former prime minister was used in a procession," he said.

Jaiswal said display of posters of Indian diplomats have also been put out across Canada threatening violence against them.

"Celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civilized society. Democratic countries which respect the rule of law should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression," he said.

"We continue to remain concerned about the security of our diplomatic representatives in Canada and expect the Government of Canada to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear," he said.

The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of a "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd".

Last week, Canadian authorities charged three Indian nationals with the murder of Nijjar. It is reported that they entered Canada on student visas.

Karan Brar, 22, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karanpreet Singh, 28, all Indian nationals residing in Edmonton, were charged on Friday with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Days after Trudeau's allegations in September, India asked Ottawa to downsize its diplomatic presence in the country to ensure parity.

Subsequently, Canada withdrew 41 diplomats and their family members from India.

India has been asserting that its "core issue" with Canada remained that of the space given to separatists, terrorists and anti-India elements in that country.

Following Trudeau's allegations last year, India temporarily suspended issuance of visas to Canadian citizens.

The visa services were resumed several weeks later.
After BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal's Surat win, Gujarat will see 25 Lok Sabha seats go to polls today with 266 candidates in the fray.

IMAGE: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra D Modi at an election meeting in Jamnagar. Photograph: ANI Photo

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which won all 26 seats in the previous two Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019, is aiming to repeat the success story in Gujarat this time as well.

The Congress, which has seen an early setback in the Surat constituency with the BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal being declared a winner ahead of the election, is trying to match up.

For the BJP, in the last week of campaigning, it was mostly a Modi-Shah show in terms of large rallies and public meetings in Gujarat, their home state.

Narendra D Modi addressed two election meetings in Deesa (Banaskantha) and Himmatnagar (Sabarkantha) on May 1 and four in Anand, Surendranagar, Junagadh and Jamnagar on May 2.

Amit A Shah, who's fighting for re-election from the Gandhinagar seat, addressed a public meeting in Naroda, Ahmedabad,.

The Congress, too, lined up its strongest crowd pullers. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of the All India Congress Committee, addressed a rally on May 3 in Lakheni, Banaskantha.

IMAGE: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at an election meeting in Patan. Photograph: ANI Photo

Rajkot, part of the Saurashtra region, witnessed protests against the BJP after controversial remarks on Rajputs by its candidate Parshottam Rupala.

Of the two Union ministers whose Rajya Sabha tenures ended recently, Mansukh Mandaviya will contest from Porbandar and Rupala from Rajkot.

Even as the BJP is banking on Brand Modi for a hat-trick in Gujarat to win all 26 seats, of which Surat is already in its pocket, social issues around Kshatriyas/Rajputs are dominating in some constituencies, especially in the Saurashtra region.

But BJP functionaries are putting up a brave front, dismissing any concern at all, while arguing that at the ground level, the Congress has gone missing.

IMAGE: Amit A Shah during an election meeting in Valsad. Photograph: ANI Photo

Apart from lining up a star cast for the last leg of campaigning in the state, BJP rallies focused on three things -- third sweep by the party in the state, projecting Viksit Bharat goals, and placing on record the achievements of the last 10 years, while taking on the Congress wherever possible, a source pointed out.

The Congress, on the other hand, has looked at Rajput protests as an opportunity to make some inroads into the state.

But sources in the Congress say that the biggest success story in this election season is that "the Congress is speaking and the BJP is reacting".

The sources also claim that the Congress is giving a fight to the BJP in Gujarat in more than 10 seats.

After BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal's Surat win, Gujarat will see 25 Lok Sabha seats go to polls on May 7 with 266 candidates in the fray.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
'This is my last election; hence, I need people's support and blessing to achieve and ensure victory.'

IMAGE: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, the candidate from the Rajgarh constituency in Madhya Pradesh, and his wife Amrita Singh offers prayers at the Jalpa Mata temple in Rajgarh before filing his nomination. Photograph: ANI Photo

About 82 km from cBhopal, Rajgarh is an ancient town in Madhya Pradesh, pinned close to the state's border with Rajasthan.

Mercury in this quaint district, known for its lakes and dilapidated palaces, is now rising, slowly and steadily.

Not just because of the onset of summer, but also due to the elections as votes will be cast in the third phase on May 7 here.

And this time, sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MP Rodmal Nagar is facing a tough challenge -- from an old Congress war horse.

Despite the heat, Digvijaya Singh is feeling at home in Rajgarh. And why not, it's his home turf from where he started his political journey.

And he wants to end it here.

Now 77, Singh is asserting that it will be his last election before his hangs his boots.

He was president of the Raghogarh Nagar Palika between 1969 and 1971.

And in 1977, he was, for the first time, elected to the state assembly from here, on a Congress ticket. His father too had won this seat in 1951.

He went to Parliament twice from this constituency, first in 1984 and later in 1991.

Life has certainly come full circle for the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister.

But there are challenges. Five years back, Singh lost to Pragya Thakur from Bhopal.

The BJP's Nagar, who counts former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan among his backers, is from the OBC (Other Backward Class) Kirar community, which is spread across central India.

While Nagar, looking at a third successive win, is a formidable opponent, Singh is trying to remind the electorate of their ties with his family, the rulers of the erstwhile Raghogarh principality.

"My forefathers contributed immensely and were instrumental in the development of this region. This is my last election; hence, I need people's support and blessing to achieve and ensure victory," Singh said while addressing a rally in the region.

Singh first won from Rajgarh in 1984.

His brother, Lakshman Singh, won the seat on five occasions, beginning with a by-poll in 1994 until 2004, four times as a Congress candidate and in 2004 as a BJP one.

Digvijaya's son, Jaivardhan, is a legislator from the Raghogarh assembly seat, which falls within the Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency.

Intensifying the caste politics against Nagar, Singh has blamed the ruling party for ignoring the Sondhiya community, another OBC group spread across border areas of MP.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
The Mumbai police have arrested a 70-year-old man, who had been absconding in a kidnapping and rape case for the last 40 years, from Agra in Uttar Pradesh, an official said on Tuesday.

Image used for representational purpose only. Photograph: ANI Photo

The accused was identified as Papa alias Dawood Bandu Khan, he said.

Based on specific information, a team of personnel from Dr Dadabhai Bhadkamkar Marg police station in south Mumbai apprehended Khan from Agra on Monday, he said.

He was brought to Mumbai on a transit remand and will be produced before the court here, he said.

"In 1984, a case of kidnapping and rape was registered against Khan based on a complaint filed by a woman," he said.

Khan had been arrested in the case and was out on bail.

"As the trial of the case started, he attended just a couple of hearings, and did not appear before the court after that. The court had declared him absconding in the case," the official said.

A team from Dr D B Marg police station had launched a search and also visited his Falkland Road residence, but it came to light that he had sold this property and left the city along with his family.

During the investigation, it was revealed that he was somewhere in the northern states, the official said.

All these years, various police teams tried to search him, but he remained untraced, he said.

"However, the police officials recently received specific information that he is staying with his family in Agra. Accordingly, a police team was sent to this Uttar Pradesh city, where Khan was apprehended," the official said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday said he was in favour of extending reservation benefits to Muslims but emphasised that it should be based on social backwardness and 'not on the basis of religion'.

IMAGE: RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav being greeted during the swearing-in ceremony of the members of Bihar Legislative Council, at the State Legislative Hall, in Patna on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Notably, several Muslim sub-groups figure in the lists of OBCs in Bihar and a number of other states.

However, their inclusion in Karnataka, which is currently under Congress rule, has come under fire from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was defeated in assembly polls last year.

Yadav spoke to PTI-Video in Patna after his remarks on reservation benefits for the minority community earlier in the day kicked up a storm and drew flak from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Should not Muslims too get reservations (aarakshan to milna chahiye na Muslamanon ko)," was Yadav's terse reply to journalists when they asked him about allegations by Modi and other BJP leaders that the RJD and its allies like the Congress wanted to extend quota benefits to the minority community, depriving OBCs, Dalits and tribals of their due.

The RJD supremo's remark came under attack from Modi at a rally in Madhya Pradesh where he tore into the former chief minister of Bihar, whom he did not mention by name.

"A person who has serving sentences for eating up fodder meant for cattle (an allusion to the fodder scam), who is out on bail because of poor health, has said just a few hours ago that reservations should be given to Muslims. The gentlemen is revered by the Congress. Just look at their brazenness," Modi said at the rally.

He also alleged 'what they imply is that not just a portion, but the entire quotas should be given away to Muslims', adding that this was because of 'politics of appeasement' practiced by INDIA bloc.

Reacting to the PM's outbursts, Yadav said in his typical style, "I am senior to Narendra Modi (in politics). He does not know many things that I know. It was during my reign Mandal Commission recommendations were implemented (in Bihar)."

"There are hundreds of social groups which got reservations as per the Mandal Commission report. But it was done not on the basis of religion. In the Constitution, there is no provision for reservations on religious basis," Prasad told PTI Video.

He also alleged, "Narendra Modi and his party want to scrap the Constitution and do away with reservations. This is proven by the fact that the previous BJP government headed by late Atal Bihari Vajpayee had set up a commission to review the Constitution."

The RJD president, whose party is the BJP's principal rival in Bihar, added that the saffron party would be routed in Bihar and voted out of power in Lok Sabha polls.

"They boast about a 400 plus tally. But they are going to be snuffed out (khud hi paar ho jaayenge). The third phase of polls is underway. In Bihar, our alliance is going to win all the five seats where voting is taking place. Long queues at polling booths in the current and previous phases are proof that winds of change are blowing," claimed Yadav.

Meanwhile, the BJP alleged that Yadav's remarks 'have made it clear that if voted to power, the INDIA bloc will provide reservation to the minority community by making changes in the Constitution's fundamental structure'.

"Lalu Prasad Yadav said that full reservation should be provided to Muslims. This word, 'pura ka pura' (full), used by him in his statement, is very serious. This makes it clear that they (INDIA bloc) want to provide reservation to Muslims from the share of SCs, STs and OBCs," BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
Voting is progressing in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday in the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah among the early voters.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows his his inked finger after casting his vote at a polling booth in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Photograph: @narendramodi/X

Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

While PM Modi cast his vote at a polling booth in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, Shah cast his vote at a polling booth in Ahmedabad.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Modi urged people to vote in record numbers and said their active participation will make the election more vibrant.

Modi, who is a registered voter from Ranip area in Gandhinagar, also greeted people and signed autographs on his way to the polling booth in the Gujarat capital.

Shah, who is contesting to retain the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, greeted his supporters, interacted with them and signed autographs at the polling booth.The senior BJP leader was accompanied by his wife Sonal Shah, son Jay Shah other family members as they exercised their franchise.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also cast his vote at a polling booth in Ahmedabad and appealed to the people to exercise their franchise to make the country developed and prosperous.

Polling is being held in 25 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, and for bypolls in five assembly constituencies in the state.

As the voting for the third phase commenced, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra urged people to vote in large numbers, asserting that this is an election to protect democracy and the Constitution.

Over 1,300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray in the third phase. Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).

As many as 17.24 crore people, including 8.39 crore women, are eligible to vote and 1.85 lakh polling stations manned by 18.5 lakh officials have been set up.

Polling is being held in 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the remaining 14 of the 28 in Karnataka, seven in Chhattisgarh, five in Bihar, four each in Assam and West Bengal, and all two in Goa.

Polling is also underway in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2 seats) and nine seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Betul where elections were deferred,

Queues were seen at polling booths in most Lok Sabha segments in northern districts of Karnataka with voters, mostly senior citizens and morning walkers, lining up to cast their votes early, with temperature expected to rise as the day progresses.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and Bhagwanth Khuba, and Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge were among those who came in early to cast their votes in Karnataka.

Former chief minister B S Yediyurappa along with sons B Y Raghavendra, BJP candidate from Shimoga Lok Sabha segment and B Y Vijayendra, party's state President -- and daughters-in-law cast their vote at Shikaripura in Shivamogga district.

"Out of 28 Lok Sabha seats, according to me we (BJP) are going to win at least 25 to 26 seats. The atmosphere is very good. Wherever we go people say Modi, Modi, it is going to have its own effect," Yediyurappa said after voting.

In Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, his wife Sunetra Pawar, who is the NCP candidate from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar were among those who cast their votes.

Sharad Pawar was welcomed with a traditional 'aarti' as he arrived at a polling booth in Malegaon area of Baramati constituency in Pune district.

The veteran politician stood in a queue before casting his vote at the booth.

Ajit Pawar and Sunetra Pawar cast their votes at a polling booth in Katewadi area of Baramati.

Talking to reporters after casting his vote, Ajit Pawar, the estranged nephew of Sharad Pawar, said he has been maintaining it is not a contest between family members, but the other side is propagating that it is about the family and trying to show they are together against him.

"I want to make it clear that the senior most family member in the Pawar family is my mother Ashatai Anantrao Pawar, who is with me and the three of us today exercised our voting right," he said.

As polling started for the third phase, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati appealed the voters to come out and vote.

In his post on X, Adityanath said, "Today is the third phase of the great festival of democracy. Respected voters are appealed to definitely vote to give continuity to the concept of heritage and development and to fulfil the concept of 'developed India'. Your one vote can contribute in establishing India as a world superpower.Remember - first vote, then refreshment."

The SP chief asked voter to come out to vote to maintain democracy and the Constitution.

The BSP chief said, "We should not forget the resolution of 'first vote, then refreshment' and we should not lose this democratic opportunity of shaping our own future by voting while protecting our vote in every way."

Voting was completed in 189 seats out of 543 seats in the first two phases.

The next four phases will be on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes is on June 4.
Last updated on: May 08, 2024 00:42 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Tuesday to caste their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows his ink-marked finger after casting his vote in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with his wife show their ink-marked fingers after casting their vote at a polling station in Ahmedabad. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with his wife Radhabai Kharge after casting their votes in Kalaburagi. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar leaves after casting his vote for the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls at a polling booth in Baramati on Tuesday. NCP-SP candidate from Baramati seat Supriya Sule also seen. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh and his wife Amrita Singh show their ink-marked fingers after casting their votes at a polling station in Bhopal. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Adani group chairman Gautam Adani and his family caste their votes in Ahmedabad. Photograph: Kind courtesy @gautam_adani/X

IMAGE: NCP chief Ajit Pawar and his wife and party candidate from the Baramati constituency Sunetra Ajit Pawar show their ink-marked fingers after casting their votes in Pune. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Samajwadi Party chief and party candidate from Kannauj seat Akhilesh Yadav and his wife and party candidate from Mainpuri seat Dimple Yadav go through the election procedure before casting their vote for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, at Abhinav School Polling Station, Saifai, in Etawah. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his wife Sulakshana Sawant show their ink-marked fingers after casting their votes at a polling station in North Goa. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Union minister and BJP candidate from Dharwad, Pralhad Joshi, after casting his vote at a polling station in Dharwad. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel shows his ink-marked finger after casting his vote at a polling booth in Ahmedabad. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Congress candidate from Rajnandgaon constituency Bhupesh Baghel and his family members show their ink-marked fingers after casting their votes in Durg. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and BJP candidate from the Vidisha constituency Shivraj Singh Chouhan, with his family members, after casting their votes at a polling station in Sehore. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar shows his ink-marked finger after casting his vote in Gwalior. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Bharatiya Janata Party leader B S Yediyurappa and his son and party candidate from Shivamogga seat B Y Raghavendra show their ink-marked fingers after casting their votes at Shikaripur, in Shivamogga. Karnataka BJP chief B Y Vijayendra is also seen. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: BJP MLA from Jamnagar, Rivaba Jadeja after casting her vote at polling booth in Jamnagar. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Former Karnataka chief minister and BJP candidate from Haveri, Basavaraj Bommai shows his ink-marked finger after casting his vote in Haveri. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Union Minister of MSME and BJP candidate from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency, Narayan Rane, along with his family, shows his ink-marked finger after casting his vote in Sindhudurg. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Former Karnataka CM and BJP candidate from Belagavi, Jagadish Shettar and his family members after casting their votes at a polling station in Vishveshwaraya Nagar in Belagavi. Photograph: ANI Photo

IMAGE: Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena waits in a queue to cast his vote in Ahmedabad. Photograph: ANI Photo
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On April 27, Proton Cars, the national car brand of Malaysia, officially opened its first overseas R&D center in Hangzhou Bay, Ningbo, Zhejiang province, according to a post on Geely Holding's WeChat account.

Photo credit: Geely Holding

The launch of the Proton Hangzhou Bay R&D Center marks a significant step in integrating Proton's R&D operations with Geely. This collaboration will enhance Proton's in-house development capabilities, enabling the creation of vehicle models tailored for both Malaysian and international markets.

The new center features several specialized institutes including a Central Research Institute, a Data Intelligence Development Center, and a Digital R&D Center.

Photo credit: Geely Holding

To be specific, the Central Research Institute oversees vehicle development systems and bolsters Proton's technological prowess. The Data Intelligence Development Center specializes in big data and artificial intelligence, focusing on product deployment plans. The Digital R&D Center is dedicated to managing digital needs within the R&D system and devising digital transformation strategies.

In addition, an External Cooperation Research Institute has also been established to handle complete vehicle functions and foster ecosystem integration for external projects.

To capitalize on the strengths of all partners and meet shared strategic development goals, the center will utilize the skills and experiences of engineers from both Malaysia and China, said Geely Holding. It aims to serve as a think tank for the development and export of international talents, benefiting both Proton and Geely.

The Proton Hangzhou Bay R&D Center functions as a collaborative hub between Proton and Geely, propelling multi-faceted R&D innovations. These include the integration of chassis and platforms for internal combustion and future electric vehicle models, as well as advancements in intelligent driving and project management. Additionally, the center will play a crucial role in boosting Proton's competitiveness through Geely's international network and supporting the sustainable development of Malaysia's Automotive High-Tech Valley (AHTV) in Tanjung Malim.
More than 63 percent voter turnout was recorded on Tuesday in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories with stray incidents of violence in West Bengal.

IMAGE: Women voters show their ink-marked fingers after casting their votes for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, in Bhopal on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Assam recorded the highest turnout at 77.06 percent followed by Goa at 75.13 percent and West Bengal at 73.96 percent, while Uttar Pradesh witnessed the lowest at 57.34 percent, with Bihar at 58.16 percent, Gujarat at 57.62 percent and Maharashtra at 61.44 percent doing slightly better, according to the figures from the Election Commission at 10.40 pm.

The overall voting percentage was 63.53 percent. According to the EC, the figures are an "approximate trend" and are likely to rise as data is being collected.

While the official time for the voting to conclude is 6 pm, it can go beyond to enable voters who have come in the queue before the end of fixed polling hours to exercise their franchise.

Among other states and UTs, Chhattisgarh recorded 70.05 percent polling, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 68.89 percent, Karnataka 69.65 percent, and Madhya Pradesh 66.05 percent, according to the EC.

As many as 17.24 crore people, including 8.39 crore females, were eligible to vote in the third phase and 1.85 lakh polling stations manned by 18.5 lakh officials had been set up.

With this, voting has been completed in 20 states/UTs and 282 Lok Sabha seats out of 543.

The overall voting percentage in the first and second phases was 66.14 percent and 66.71 percent respectively.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were among those who exercised their franchise in Gujarat, where elections were held in 25 seats. While PM Modi cast his vote at a polling booth in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, Shah voted at a polling booth in Ahmedabad.

Shah (Gandhinagar) is among the bigwigs in the fray along with Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).

The stakes are high for the BJP in this round as it had won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, in the last election.

Both the BJP and the INDIA bloc claimed that they had the upper hand after the third phase.

"Across all the states and UTs, voters from all walks of life have placed their faith in the NDA and our development agenda. INDI Alliance is losing even more steam, thanks to their regressive economics and outdated votebank politics," Modi said on X.

The Congress claimed that the BJP has been wiped out in the south and reduced to half of its strength after the three phases

"It's very clear that for the BJP, it is South mein Saaf, North mein Half," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X.

In Uttar Pradesh, where several members of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's family are contesting, party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the BJP workers were trying to "loot booths" in Mainpuri and people from opposition parties were being detained in police stations.

Yadav cast his vote in Saifai (Etawah) in Mainpuri constituency where his wife and sitting MP Dimple Yadav is contesting.

Sporadic incidents of violence marred the polling in the four constituencies in West Bengal as Trinamool Congress, BJP and Congress-CPI-M workers clashed with each other in various parts of Murshidabad and Jangipur seats.

According to state election officials, Murshidabad registered the highest voter turnout of 76.49 percent followed by Maldaha Dakshin (73.68 percent), Maldaha Uttar (73.30), and Jangipur (72.29).

The TMC, BJP, and the Congress-CPI(M) alliance lodged separate complaints related to poll violence, voter intimidation, and assaults on poll agents.

The EC received 182 complaints by 9 am, most of which were from Murshidabad and Jangipur constituencies.

"The TMC has unleashed a reign of terror in the entire constituency. Strict action must be taken by the Election Commission," Left-Congress combine candidate Mohammed Salim said in Murshidabad seat.

In the Karimpur area of the seat, clashes were reported between the TMC and the CPI-M supporters outside a few booths. Clashes were reported between the TMC and the Congress activists from the Domkol area.

In some areas, TMC workers held protests alleging that central forces were assisting BJP workers in "intimidating" voters at booths in the Maldaha North constituency.

In Uttar Pradesh, Agra witnessed 53.99 percent polling, Aonla 57.08 percent, Budaun 54.05 percent, Bareilly 57.88 percent, Etah 59.17 percent, Fatehpur Sikri 57.09 percent, Firozabad 58.22 percent, Hathras 55.36 percent, Mainpuri 58.59 percent and Sambhal 62.81 percent.

"In Mainpuri, BJP people are trying to loot booths. They are detaining opposition people in police stations," SP chief Yadav alleged without elaborating.

"There is information from some places that the government is using force. It is heard that officers have been deployed outside polling booths," he said.

In Budaun, the villagers of Dhoranpur boycotted the polling to protest against the alleged non-fulfilment of their demand for a road.

District magistrate Manoj Kumar said the issue has come to his notice and a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) has been sent to the village.

Not a single vote was also cast in three villages of Firozabad -- Nagla Jawahar, Neem Kheria and Nagla Umar -- as the villagers tried to draw the administration's attention to their problems.

SP candidate Aditya Yadav in Budaun alleged that his party supporters were not being allowed to vote in some places.

"I have made a complaint in this regard with the EC observer and have given proof of police atrocities. We are only getting assurances," he said.

Queues were seen at polling booths in most Lok Sabha segments in northern districts of Karnataka.

Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi and Bhagwanth Khuba, and Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge were among those who came in early to cast their votes.

Former chief minister B S Yediyurappa along with sons B Y Raghavendra, BJP candidate from Shimoga Lok Sabha segment, and B Y Vijayendra, party's state president, along with other family members cast their vote at Shikaripura in Shivamogga district.

Two government officials on poll duty died in Karnataka after suffering a heart attack, sources in the Election Commission said.

A 45-year-old woman polling officer - Kaushika Babariya- deployed at a polling booth in Amreli district of Gujarat, also died of a heart attack.

In Gujarat, the Banaskantha district collector ordered an inquiry after Congress Lok Sabha candidate Geniben Thakor alleged that electors were threatened and asked to vote for the BJP by some youngsters posing as Central Reserve Police Force personnel at a polling station.

In Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, his wife Sunetra Pawar, who is the NCP candidate from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar chief Sharad Pawar were among those who cast their votes.

Sharad Pawar was welcomed with a traditional 'aarti' as he arrived at a polling booth in the Malegaon area of Baramati constituency in Pune district.

Ajit Pawar and Sunetra Pawar cast their votes at a polling booth in Katewadi area of Baramati.

Sunetra is pitted against her sister-in-law Supriya Sule, Sharad Pawar's daughter and the sitting MP from there.

In Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma accompanied by his wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma and daughter Sukanya Sarma exercised his franchise at Amingaon in Barpeta Lok Sabha seat.

Amid rains, people used different modes of transport, including boats, to reach the polling stations across Guwahati, Barpeta, Dhubri and Kokrajhar constituencies.

With the BJP bagging Surat unopposed, 25 seats in Prime Minister Modi's home state of Gujarat went to polls on Tuesday, besides 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the remaining 14 of the 28 in Karnataka, seven in Chhattisgarh, five in Bihar, four each in Assam and West Bengal, and all two in Goa.

Voting was held in two seats in Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu and nine seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Betul where elections were earlier deferred.

Over 1,331 candidates, including around 120 women, were in the fray in the third phase.

The next four phases will be on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes is on June 4.
The management of a leading school in Mumbai on Tuesday announced it has "discontinued" the services of principal Parveen Shaikh "to ensure that our ethos of unity and inclusivity is not compromised", days after she was asked to quit reportedly for liking social media posts on the Palestine issue and the Hamas-Israel conflict.

IMAGE: A view of the Somaiya School in Mumbai. Photograph: Courtesy Somaiya School online

Shaikh, the principal of Somaiya School in Mumbai's Vidyavihar area, described her "termination" from the post as "completely illegal, drastic and unwarranted" and expressed shock over the "politically motivated" action.

The school management said her personal social media activities were not aligned with the values cherished by the educational institute.

Shaikh was earlier allegedly asked by the management to resign over her social media views, her aide had said on May 2. The management had then said it was probing the matter.

In a statement shared on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, the Somaiya school management said Shaikh's personal social media activities were "starkly misaligned with the values we cherish" and hence "given the gravity of concerns" and "after careful consideration", it discontinued her (services).

"After careful consideration, the management has discontinued Ms Parveen Shaikh's association with Somaiya Vidyavihar to ensure that our ethos of unity and inclusivity is not compromised," the statement said.

The school management, in the statement, claimed it strives to cultivate an environment where knowledge leads to wisdom and "uplifts all members of the community, transcending small-mindedness and personal biases".

"We strongly support the right to freedom of expression, yet we recognize that it is not absolute and must be exercised with responsibility and respect for others," it said.

The statement emphasised the institute remains dedicated to providing a nurturing educational environment that honours and respects all cultures and beliefs, contributing positively to society and our nation.

"We believe it is crucial to safeguard the impressionable minds of our youth, and ensure they are nurtured in an environment that upholds the highest standards of integrity and inclusivity," it said.

Earlier last week, the Somaiya school management informed the media that it had sought a written clarification from Shaikh and was waiting for her reply. The statement did not specify if the management received any clarification from her.

Shaikh, in a statement shared on WhatsApp, claimed her "termination" was "completely illegal" and she was "shocked to know" the news of her termination from social media even before receiving a notice from the management.

"My work as a school principal has been exceptional and my termination for such a reason is wrongful and unjust," she claimed.

Shaikh further said she was "disappointed" as the school management "chose not to stand" by her and took "drastic and unwarranted action".

"This action appears to be politically motivated. I hold firm belief in our legal system and the Indian Constitution and I am currently considering my legal options," she said.

Shaikh had been associated with the school since the last 12 years and took charge as the principal seven years ago.
Last updated on: May 07, 2024 09:38 IST

Check out the winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2024.

Now in its 17th year, the World Photography Organisation's awards ceremony is a major annual moment recognising the best photography in the world, celebrating the images and stories that have resonated with global audiences over the past year.

IMAGE: A collage of some of the winning images.

The prestigious Photographer of the Year title was awarded to Juliette Pavy for her series Spiralkampagnen: Forced Contraception and Unintended Sterilisation of Greenlandic Women.

Pavy won a $25,000 cash prize, a range of Sony digital imaging equipment, and the opportunity to present a new body of work at the Sony World Photography Awards 2025 exhibition.

Here is a look at the winning entries in their respective categories

Photographer Of The Year Category

Spiralkampagnen by Juliette Pavy

In 2019, Naja Lyberth, a psychologist in Nuuk, told her personal story to a local newspaper.

Following revelations of the existence of a Danish policy of forced contraception, she created a Facebook group that brought together other victims: 'We have the right to own our bodies, and it is our human right to have children.'

 Juliette Pavy, France, Photographer of the Year, Professional competition, Documentary Projects, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Architecture & Design Category

Sala Mayor (Living Room) by Siobhan Doran

'This series is part of a book project, Houses that Sugar Built: An Intimate Portrait of Philippine Ancestral Homes, for which I was granted access to these historic mansions.'

'I largely set about photographing the houses against a spoken 'backdrop', as my colleague interviewed the owner or custodian, but sometimes worked in complete silence.

'The sala mayor (main living room) typically showcases the character of the architecture and the lifestyle of the people, but also leaves room for the viewer's interpretation of these unique residences.'

 SiobhAn Doran, Ireland, Winner, Professional competition, Architecture & Design, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Creative Category

 ? (How Many More Knots?) by Sujata Setia

'We were seven daughters and four sons. When anyone came through the door my father would give our hand to them in marriage.'

 Sujata Setia, United Kingdom, Winner, Professional competition, Creative, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Documentary Projects Category

Series: Spiralkampagnen: Forced Contraception and Unintended Sterilisation of Greenlandic Women

An archive photograph of Jytte Lyberth at the age of 14, when she had her IUD inserted.

After a school medical check-up she went to hospital and was asked to take off her clothes. She was never told what was going to happen.

A few months later she experienced severe pain from the coil and returned to hospital to have it removed. Since then, she has never been able to have children.

 Juliette Pavy, France, Photographer of the Year, Professional competition, Documentary Projects, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Environment Category

Dona Leocadia by Mahe Elipe

Series: Echoes of the Hive.

For 12 years, the indigenous association led by Leocadia Utiz has been organising a native corn seed fair.

Farmers from participating communities are invited to exchange native seeds and forgotten indigenous knowledge.

According to Mayan belief, Leocadia claims to be descended from corn. Together with her family, she ensures the protection of the forest by cultivating milpa.

 Mahe Elipe, France, Winner, Professional competition, Environment, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Landscape Category

Untitled

Series: The Sacrifice Zone BY Eddo Harthmann

An infrared image of the remains of an observation tower at Opytnoe Pole.

This was the first testing ground at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, which was a large-scale facility used between 1949 and 1962 for atmospheric nuclear tests.

Eddo Hartmann, The Netherlands, Winner, Professional competition, Landscape, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Portfolio Category

Alas by Jorge Monaco

Like many trans women living in small towns and cities around the world, Alas suffers from discrimination.

Jorge Monaco, Argentina, Winner, Professional competition, Portfolio, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Portraiture Category

Father and Son by Valery Poshtarov

Series: Father and Son

Series Description: In a world that is already growing apart, holding hands becomes a silent prayer -- a way to come together again.

While posing, fathers and sons hold hands for the first time in years, sometimes decades.

It's a powerful moment, often filled with hesitation or even resistance. This act of intimacy became the project's main purpose, the photographs being just a mere testament to the long-unspoken love between the men.

Spanning cultures, reaching corners of Bulgaria, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, Serbia and Greece, this project has become a beacon of emotional expression and cultural preservation.

It serves as a global stage, encouraging fathers and sons from around the world to join the act.

By leaving the narratives behind, these portraits become open to interpretation and I invite viewers to add their own layers of meaning, making us all contributors to this evolving story of humanity.

Valery Poshtarov, Bulgaria, Winner, Professional competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Sport Category

Kald Sol (Cold Sun) by Thomas Meurot

Series: Kald Sol (Cold Sun)

'When you're looking for surf in Iceland you take anything you can, big or small.

'Here, Samuel Redon enjoys the small, but beautiful, surf in one of the most amazing landscapes I got to witness.'

Thomas Meurot, France, Winner, Professional competition, Sport, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Still Life Category

Angelica Archangelica by Federico Scarchilli

Series: Flora

Angelica has been used in traditional medicine to treat multiple health conditions.

It is thought to contain various bioactive ingredients that may have antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.

Researchers have also studied Angelica's potential anticancer effects in a lab, testing Angelica archangelica extract on breast cancer cells.

They found that Angelica may help cause breast cancer cell death, leading researchers to conclude that the herb may have antitumor potential.

Federico Scarchilli, Italy, Winner, Professional competition, Still Life, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Wildlife & Nature Category

Suspended Worlds by Eva Berler

Part of my Suspended Worlds series.

'The worlds hidden in spider webs serve as a metaphor for our private inner selves, of our deepest fears and aspirations.'

Photographed on location using natural light.

Eva Berler, Greece, Winner, Professional competition, Wildlife & Nature, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Sustainability Prize Category

Untitled by Kathleen Orlinsky

'If the government's idea of wilderness was putting the land back to the way it had been, then why not put the Apache back?' asks backcountry guide Joe Saenz, a member of the Chiricahua Apache Nation who leads horseback trips exploring the Gila Wilderness.

'There is no specific word for wilderness in the Apache language he speaks, just a word for land: Benah.'

Series Description: The Gila Wilderness spans 2,250 square kilometres of rugged country in southern New Mexico, USA.

In 1924, the Forest Service designated it the world's first wilderness area.

This milestone of American conservation largely came about thanks to a young forester called Aldo Leopold, who saw the wilderness as a place to be protected both for -- and from -- humans.

However, the Gila has always been inhabited by people, from Mogollon cliff dwellers thousands of years ago to the more recent Chiricahua Apache, who lived in the region for centuries before they were forced onto reservations.

Kathleen Orlinsky, United States, Winner, Sustainability Prize, Professional competition, Wildlife & Nature, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Open Photographer Of The Year Category

Moonrise Sprites over Storr by Liam Man

As a moonrise burns across the horizon, lights dance above the Old Man of Storr in Scotland.

This iconic rock formation was illuminated with powerful lights attached to drones, which cut through the darkness to reveal the icy landscape.

Blizzards howled for the majority of the night, leaving mere minutes to execute this photograph before the moon became too bright.

Liam Man, United Kingdom, Open Photographer of the Year, Open Competition, Landscape, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Student Photographer Of The Year Category

Don't Trust Pretty Girls by Kayin Luys

'This aunt loves to sing karaoke, and often does so during family gatherings.

'This series explores my relationship with my in-laws, with the title referring to the tattoo on my partner's grandfather's left arm.

'I wanted to explore the tension between fiction and reality, guided by stories I was told, memories and my interpretations of both.

'The result is a play of possibilities that reflect and/or transcend reality. Thanks to the increasingly strong bond formed, I found a second home with my new family.'

 Kayin Luys, Belgium, Student Photographer of the Year, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Youth Photographer Of The Year Category

Lonely Surfer by Daniel Murray

'I took this picture in Newquay, Cornwall, at the start of summer to capture the figure on the beach.

'I felt that this moment summed up Cornwall quite nicely in one picture.'

 Daniel Murray, United Kingdom, Youth Photographer of the Year, Youth Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2024.

Published with permission from Sony Photography Awards.

Photographs curated by Rajesh Karkera/ Rediff.com

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
Chinese President Xi Jinping has appointed senior diplomat Xu Feihong as the new ambassador to India after an unusually long delay of 18 months amid frozen relations between the two countries over the eastern Ladakh military standoff.

IMAGE: Chinese President Xi Jinping walks past soldiers as he arrives at the Tarbes airport, France, May 7, 2024. Photograph: Aurelien Morissard/Pool via Reuters

While there is no official announcement in Beijing yet, the Chinese foreign ministry has confirmed to PTI that Xu, former ambassador to Afghanistan and Romania, has been appointed as China's new envoy in India.

Xu, 60, is expected to travel to New Delhi soon to take over his new posting.

He will succeed veteran Chinese diplomat Sun Weidong who completed his tenure in India in October 2022.

Sun, who was China's envoy to Pakistan before his India stint, is currently the Vice Foreign Minister overseeing China's South Asia policy.

Xu's appointment which coincides with the ongoing general elections in India comes amid protracted military and diplomatic negotiations between Beijing and New Delhi to resolve the prolonged military standoff.

Relations between the two countries were frozen except for trade ever since the eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Tso (lake) area. The eastern Ladakh standoff has resulted in a freeze of bilateral ties.

The two sides have so far held 21 rounds of corps commanders-level talks to resolve the standoff.

According to the Chinese military, the two sides so far agreed to disengage from four points, namely the Galwan Valley, the Pangong Lake, Hot Springs, and Jianan Daban (Gogra).

India is pressing the People's Liberation Army to disengage from the Depsang and Demchok areas, maintaining that there cannot be restoration of normalcy in its relations with China as long as the state of the borders remains abnormal.
'I have faced 18 hours of darkness daily all my life.'

Photographs: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com IMAGE: A bakery functions in the dark in downtown Srinagar. Power cuts are a common feature of life in Kashmir.

Tariq Ahmed, a 60-year-old tailor in Baramulla in Kashmir, has only one desire in life.

He wants Baramulla to get uninterrupted 24-hour electricity supply.

So how many hours of electricity does he get at his home in Baramulla? "Two hours," says Ahmed.

"At best four hours. And if you want, stretch it further to six hours," Ahmed adds.

"I have faced 18 hours of darkness daily all my life. Power cut was, is and will be my way of life till I go to the grave."

And what is the electricity bill he gets? "I pay Rs 1,500 monthly."

"Why are you paying so much for the scant electricity you get every day?" I ask.

If he does not pay the electricity bill on time Ahmed said even the few hours of electricity he gets will be cut off.

"It is better to live with some electricity with which you can charge your mobile and inverter for some time rather than going without electricity," Ahmed says.

Seeing my look of incredulity, Ahmed stops two school girls and asks them about the power crisis in Baramulla.

In their school the children tell me the power supply is very erratic and at best they get not more than four hours of power when the classes are on.

"We are used to darkness and that is the way of life," says one girl, who refuses to give her name.

Asked if the abolition of Article 370 has helped him in any way, Ahmed says, "No way. The state of power supply is the same."

IMAGE: Baramulla has become a VIP constituency with Omar Abdullah throwing his hat into the electoral ring.

Ahmed sees a ray of hope as Baramulla has become a VIP constituency with National Conference Vice President and former chief J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah contesting the Lok Sabha elections against Sajjad Lone of the People's Conference.

Mohammad Fayaz Mir, a former Rajya Sabha member, is the Peoples Democratic Party candidate.

"My vote is for Omar Abdullah. He is a great leader," says Ahmed. "I have great hopes from him. He did a great job as chief minister and I feel he will do the same for Baramulla if he becomes the MP."

Ali Aksar, a bank executive, joins Ahmed in narrating his woes. "Baramulla mein andhera hi andhera hai (there is darkness all around in Baramulla)."

"Generators and inverters are the only source of power that we put our trust in."

"Sab logo ne Baramulla ko Allah ke saharey chod diya hai (Baramulla has been left to Allah's will).

Protests over the power shortage, Ali says, have been going on for years, but have been ignored by both the national and state media. "We are children of a lesser God," says Ali.

Baramulla is located 60 km from Srinagar and historically it was the gateway to the Kashmir Valley from Rawalpindi-Murree-Muzaffarabad now in Pakistan.

Independent India's first war started in Baramulla when Pakistani raiders attacked India after Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947.

To commemorate the martyrs of India's first war a Sikh war memorial has been built on the outskirts of Baramulla. 170 Indian soldiers were martyred in the war, whose names are displayed on the memorial.

Two years ago, Baramulla was in the news after Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Yusuf Kantroo started operating from his hideouts in the town. He was involved in several killings of civilians and security personnel till the Indian Army eliminated him in April 2022.

In May 2022, Baramulla made it to the news again after the bombing of the state's sole wine shop that opened after Article 370 was abrogated.

One wine shop employee died and three others were injured as the terrorists did not approve of wine shops which they considered un-Islamic.

Today all those terror activities seem to be from a distant past as posters and banners of the National Conference and People's Conference welcome you to Baramulla.

IMAGE: Sajjad Gani Lone's poster greets you on the way to Baramulla.

As you enter Baramulla a huge banner of Sajjad Gani Lone welcomes you, spelling out his two missions for Baramulla, 'Dignity and Development'.

'Let the voice be heard,' the poster states.

A group of young supporters are discussing politics at a People's Conference office in Baramulla next to the river Jhelum.

"I am a BTech engineer and am jobless. If I have to do a job, there is no other option for me but to leave Baramulla," says Naeem Ahmed Najar, the district youth secretary of the People's Conference, Baramulla. "Therefore, I believe in Sajjad Lone's politics as his sole agenda is development."

Asked how Lone can create a job for a BTech graduate in Baramulla, Naeem says, "The Jhelum flows from Baramulla and we generate only 4,000 mega watts of electricity. If a visionary like Sajjad is elected he will ensure 20,000 MW power is created which will lead to more jobs."

Naeem claims that Sajjad was an effective member of the legislative assembly from Handwara and his development work speaks for him.

When pointed out that the BJP is not contesting elections from Baramulla only to help Sajjad Lone who his critics consider to be a BJP stooge, Asif Lone, the district president of People's Conference, pitches in. "These are lies. These allegations are made by Omar Abdullah against Sajjad which are false."

"Omar is a BJP stooge. He was with Vajpayee as a minister. Vajpayee wanted the abrogation of Article 370 and Omar had no problems in joining him. Omar Abdullah loves the BJP, but not Modi. Therefore, he is making allegations against Sajjad," says Asif Lone.

Asked why his party's presence is not felt in Baramulla as there are not many hoardings of the People's Conference around, Asif Lone says, "We applied for 32 banners but got permission for only 14. Therefore, you don't see so many banners of our party."

"Today poll campaigning is done more effectively through digital media. Our young team members are very active and you will see on results day that Omar Abdullah will lose the elections."

IMAGE: 'Omar Abdullah loves the BJP, but not Modi,' alleges Asif Lone, district president, People's Conference, Baramulla.

"Sajjad has no chance of winning against Omar Abdullah," declares G H Rahi, district secretary of the National Conference's Baramulla unit

"Naam hi kaafi hai Omar Abdullah ka (Omar Abdullah's name alone is good enough to win). He is a leader of stature in Jammu and Kashmir politics. Sajad is a nobody," says Rahi,

Omar Abdullah's top priority, assures Rahi, after winning the election would be to implement the Punjab model of electricity in Baramulla.

"When the Aam Aadmi Party can ease the problems of people in Punjab by giving 300 units of electricity why can't we in Kashmir do the same?" asks Rahi.

"After all, it is the Jhelum river's water that is needed to produce electricity and Baramulla will do it in the near future."

Ahmed the tailor will need to wait to see his dream of all day power realised.
'The Congress backstabbed us and the BJP frontstabbed us.'

'This is the only difference between the two parties.'

IMAGE: Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari canvasses votes for his party's Srinagar candidate Mohammed Ashraf Mir, May 5, 2024. Photographs: Imran Nissar/ANI Photo

The Nagpur factor in the Kashmir elections has put the focus on one man, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party.

Once a close aide of Mehbooba Mufti, head of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bukhari split with her to form the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party in March 2020.

His opponents have alleged that Bukhari traveled to Nagpur to seek Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh Sarsangchalak Mohan Bhagwat's blessings.

Bukhari denied the allegation at an election meeting at Chaalpoora, Srinagar.

'I never went to Nagpur. If I go, I will inform and go. I am not one who will quietly do operations in the night. I do everything in the open,' Bukhari tells a crowd of 500 people assembled at Chaalpoora amid cheers.

It was not him, Bukhari adds, but the National Conference and PDP which brought the Bharatiya Janata Party to the Kashmir Valley.

'The Congress backstabbed us and the BJP frontstabbed us. This is the only difference between the two parties,' Bukhari says amidst applause from his supporters.

He is referring to how the PDP formed a government with the BJP only to be dismissed later, leading to the repeal of Article 370.

The BJP, Bukhari points out, was always open about Article 370 in its manifesto and implemented it as soon as it returned to power in 2019.

IMAGE: Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari holds a roadshow in Srinagar, May 5, 2024.

On the ground his followers know that if there is one man who can get work done for Kashmiris, it is Bukhari.

And in their opinion this cannot be possible without the blessings of the Narendra Modi government in New Delhi and the RSS headquartered in Nagpur.

The Apni Party is contesting two seats in the parliamentary elections.

Mohammad Ashraf Mir is contesting from Srinagar while Zafar Iqbal Manhas is contesting from Anantnag-Rajouri against Mehbooba Mufti.

"The drainage problem in our area was unresolvable. It was Altaf Bukhari who solved it. He gets work done," says Surinder Pal Singh.

"Kashmir was run by two parties earlier, the NC and the PDP, who unfortunately did not do much for the state. We want a new face and Altaf is that new face," Singh adds.

The BJP, which is contesting more than 400 seats across India, has not fielded a candidate against the Apni Party in Kashmir.

Ravindra Raina, who heads the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir, has stated that his party will support patriotic parties in the Kashmir Valley but did not name anyone, leading to speculation that the BJP supports the Apni Party in Srinagar and Anantnag-Rajouri.

In Baramulla, the BJP is indirectly supporting Sajjad Lone's People's Conference.

In 2019 when the Modi wave swept India, BJP candidates lost elections in Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag-Rajouri.

The BJP is trying to build a narrative that the people of Kashmir need to rout family-based parties like the NC and PDP and therefore it is keeping away from contesting elections in the Valley.

This is why someone like Altaf Bukhari becomes important.
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  Where should you go for tasty pizza in and around Southern Vermont? This is the first in a series that answers that urgent question.

If you name your restaurant Crust, the crust better be, well, scrumptious. And the crust at Crust (stylized in all caps), a new pizza spot across the state line in Williamstown, is scrumptious  thin and chewy with a hint of sweetness, perfect for holding the pepperoni and cheese or just nibbling at the end of a meal.

Ask Jim Cervone, Crust's effusive, generous owner, about the origins of its crust, and he launches into frozen yogurt  but follow Cervone, which I happily do, and the logic is clear.

A few years back, he and his wife, Lisa, were so taken with a yogurt place in Northampton, they decided to start their own place in their hometown of Pittsfield.

I dont know what happened, he says.

They named the yogurt place Ayelada (Greek word for cow), and it became Pittsfields darling. ... Everybody comes by. You havent been there, you dont live in Pittsfield.

So, Cervone thought, I got one more business left in me. ... Im going to open a pizza restaurant.

Lisa said, are you insane?

I said, yes.

He went to trade shows for two years, pre-COVID, building upon his expertise as a home chef from an Italian family of cooks. Im looking at videos, Im trying this, Im trying that. Im bringing people over. Im trying anything. Finally, I said: you know what? The simplest thing  I dont care what it costs. Let me see if I can make this great pizza. And Ill figure out how to pay for it later.

In August 2020, Crust opened in Pittsfield. In December, 2023, another Crust opened in Williamstown.

For the red sauce, he gets Roma tomatoes from Los Gatos, Calif. Are they outrageously expensive? Yes.

These meatballs are my grandmas recipe from Italy.

He didnt have pepperoni at first, because he wanted healthy and natural ingredients  no nitrates. Finally, he found all-natural pepperoni from a butcher in Ohio (pepperoni which tastes delicious, slightly curled on the pizza, salty  a nice pop of spice).

Olives are from Greece.

The dough (for the crust) took a little bit of work, I have to say, finally addressing the question of the crust. He settled on flour from Italy, which worked perfectly in the oven  set to 500. The dough has a 68% hydration level, which Cervone patiently explains and then sums up this way: Thats a lot of water. It was necessary for the light texture he sought.

Another thing about the name Crust: It hints at a bare bones, no-nonsense place. The restaurant itself is like that  clean, brightly lit, images of happy customers on the wall, metal tables and chairs. You might easily think this is just a good pizza joint.

And it is.

But the place is Clark Kent. The pizza is Superman.

Just take a bite.

Start with the Neo, a margherita pizza  tangy, balanced, the crust chewy and slightly sweet. Tasty.

The true Superman pizza for me is Grandmas pizza, a variation of a cheese pizza. It uses Avoria mozzarella cheese, put directly on the dough, covered with tomato sauce so the cheese avoids the direct heat, allowing it to melt but not burn. The full, mellow cheesiness leaps tall buildings in a single bound.

The White Mushroom pizza features mushroom truffle cream sauce, and local crimini and shiitake mushrooms topped with Mikes hot honey and Truff sauce. This was my colleague Gens favorite  for its smooth, mushroomy goodness, set off with a touch of heat.

At first, Crust did not have a chicken pizza, but Cervone yielded to the demands of his young staff and put it on as a special. Of course, he roasted his own chicken and made a house buffalo sauce. Its now on the menu full-time.

You can order gluten-free pizzas as well as cauliflower crusts.

A pleasant surprise awaits after eating Crusts pizza. You know that heavy feeling that follows a good pizza meal, when you feel like glomming onto your couch and pursuing a temporary somnolent lifestyle?

Strangely, it didnt happen on the evening of the Crust visit.

The lighter and healthier ingredients and balanced cheese, I guess, kept me from lethargy  which I appreciated.

One final note: This is the first in the pizza series, promising to find spots for tasty pizza in Southern Vermont.

Crust is in Massachusetts. No, we are not geographically challenged. Yes, sometimes you need to leave the state, but rest assured: Future stories will focus on places within Vermont.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Mostly clear skies early. Increasing clouds with showers late. Low 33F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies early. Increasing clouds with showers late. Low 33F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Shawn Conlon, 44, appears in Windham Superior Court, Criminal Division on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024, for an arraignment in connection with the homicide investigation of the death of Claudia Voight that happened in 2023.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On May 1, GAC AION, the new energy vehicle arm of GAC Group, unveiled its April sales figures. The company reported a global sales volume of 28,113 vehicles, a dip from the previous month's 32,530 units.



Meanwhile, GAC AION announced that the AION V and the 2024 edition of the Hyper HT models have successively arrived at the automaker's offline stores.

Photo credit: GAC AION

At the Auto China 2024, GAC AION debuted the second-generation AION V, a fresh all-electric SUV built on the AEP (AION Electric Platform), featuring new design philosophies and enhanced intelligent driving features. With dimensions measuring 4,605mm in length and a wheelbase of 2,775mm, the AION V boasts a 750km range and is equipped with a proprietary second-generation ITS2.0 intelligent temperature control system, capable of a 370km range with a 15-minute charging session.

Furthermore, the all-new Hyper HT debuted at the Auto China 2024, offering five variants priced between 213,900 yuan and 329,900 yuan.

The 2024 Hyper HT; Photo credit: GAC AION

Equipped with 800V technology, the 2024 Hyper HT can run 425km on a 15-minute charging session. The model comes with range options of 550km, 670km, and 825km. Its motors deliver a combined maximum power output of 180kW/250kW, with a peak torque of 355Nm/430Nm.

Also, the new models will come with LiDAR systems, and urban NOA (navigate on autopilot) functions, which will be available nationwide by September.
WINDHAM  Residents are being asked to consider some clarifying matters following the annual Town Meeting vote to offer school choice for elementary education and reject the budget to operate the elementary school.

Voters haven't specifically approved the closure of the school building and they will be asked to decide if tuition can be used to cover independent schools in addition to public schools as part of the school choice offerings. They also will consider a budget to fund tuition and building maintenance.

In an email to the community, School Board Vice Chairman Daniel Roth announced the vote will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 18.

"Our success as a board is dependent on as much sharing of thoughts and participation as possible from everyone," he wrote.

The first order of business is whether the school building should be closed. Roth said the article is meant to address the school district lacking an operating public elementary school to offer children in town, as students were sent to Townshend Elementary this year due to staffing challenges.

"Our current status as a non-operational ceasing of operations puts the health of the district in danger financially," he wrote. "From a risk and liability standpoint, we as a town would open ourselves up for possible litigation otherwise."

If the building is closed, Roth noted the board's ability and obligation for tuitioning is not in question. He said the electorate must decide on the issue, not the three-person board, "and in no way does this limit our ability to tap into any funding structures currently available to our district nor our ability to promote the school house building use in anticipation of sale in FY25."

Second on the warning is consideration of a $546,344 budget for fiscal year 2024/2025 to cover tuitioning and shared supervisory union expenses including special education.

Initially, the board proposed $50,000 for building maintenance. However, the figure was decreased to $24,000 on the recommendation of the supervisory union, then to $15,000 to cover about six months.

"The board is committed to maintain the state of the building without significantly lowering its value while the roadmap, community surveys, and selling options are finalized," Roth wrote. "Just because the $15,000 is budgeted does not mean that those costs will be the actuals."

Roth said the board is "already working to further lower maintenance assumptions through addressing low-cost energy improvements with Efficiency Vermont, and we have $8,000 of rental income which will increase as we finalize other opportunities presented to us."

"Consider the overall impact of the building maintenance to be $7,000 with rent money offsetting and more planned to bring these costs closer to $0," he said.

He noted a budget has to be approved for next fiscal year or else the district is left with 87 percent of last's year's budget, which would be about $409,000. In March, the proposed budget for running the school totaled $597,000.

Windham opts for school choice, rejects budget WINDHAM  Voters opted for school choice, rejecting a school budget that would keep the elem

At a board meeting scheduled for Thursday, Roth plans to share information about why rejecting the new budget would "ultimately cost the taxpayers more in the next few years."

"More information will show that voting for this budget will prevent the unstable financial health of our district thus preventing future tax rate increases that are anticipated otherwise," he wrote.

If the first article passes, the third will ask voters to grant the board authority to pay tuition for an elementary student at an approved independent elementary school in an amount not to exceed the average statewide elementary school tuition announced each year. In the March vote, tuition for public schools was considered.

Roth said the board hopes to address families left out of the current tuitioning structure.

"No petition has been filed and the board has been proactive to bring these families into our district again like Mountain School representing a significant number of our towns kids," he wrote.

At the April 26 special board meeting, attorney Mark Oettinger said the purpose of the vote is to make the future of the school district clear.

"Even if you vote not to close it, it's not going to be operating next year," he said of the school. "And so as a matter of law, as a matter of constitutional principles, kids have a right to be educated. Parents have a right to choose between public and approved independent. This intended to clear up some of the confusion and get you guys in line for what the law requires."

Voters aren't confused about the outcome of annual Town Meeting but they are about the upcoming meeting, Nancy Tips of Windham said. Pat Cherry of Windham called the school building closure article "redundant and unnecessary."

Oettinger stressed the importance of the voters having the power to close the building. Dan Corby of Windham agreed that question should be put to the voters, however, he worries turnout won't be the same as annual Town Meeting.

"This seems very devious and pointed as a way to create a gray area to overturn the election that already happened," Corby said.

As a longtime taxpayer, Howard Ires of Windham said he feels he has the right to live in a town with an operating school. If the school closes, he suggested a lawsuit might be brought against the school district for not meeting the Vermont Constitution, which says "a competent number of schools ought to be maintained in each town unless the general assembly permits other provisions for the convenient instruction of youth."

Other communities around the state are dealing with school closure due to changes in demographics, Oettinger said.

"Everyone would like to have their elementary schools within walking distance," he said. "It's not feasible at this time."

In an interview Monday, Roth said he wants the board and community to avoid litigation.

"This is something I especially would like to change," he said.

He also expressed a desire to hear from community members on all sides of the issue after Town Meeting and build trust to help facilitate healing.

Roth described the building closure issue as "a blindspot" that should have been addressed in the earlier vote. Currently, the district is "standing in limbo," he said.

"Either you operate a school or you don't," he said.

The board has been looking into rental agreements for the building. Roth said there's interest mostly among volunteers for hosting programming in the facility such as after-school activities, music classes and yoga.

His hope is to "finalize a roadmap" for the building with input from the community and Select Board. If the articles pass, he anticipates the School Board will spend a lot of time tracking demographics in town and state legislation to create a successful spending plan for tuitioning.

State Treasurer Mike Pieciak joined Windham on Town Meeting Day.

"He noted there's an increasing and steady number of out of state move ins," Roth said, and many families are opting for communities with school choice.

Windham parents claim a legal victory in suit over education NEWFANE  Parents of Windham Elementary students involved in a lawsuit alleging the lack of 

Roth said he's "pretty happy" the school district was among the plaintiffs recently released from a lawsuit alleging inequities at Windham Elementary. Only the state remains.

"It's great that the district is not liable or in situations where we're having to go to court," Roth said.

He said the articles being presented to voters were most recently revised "because legal action was threatened."

"It's a situation where how can we prevent this in the future?" he said. "I'm really thinking about long term planning because I think it's necessary for the aforementioned student counts and how can we be in a state where we're not so divided?"

Roth said the community has voted in "razor thin" margins in the last approximately eight years, especially on school issues.

"I think things have been contentious in Windham," he said. "My feeling is always, let's look to the future."

If lawsuits and votes always result in winners or losers, he added, "I don't see any winners in that equation."
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Huawei's smart selection alliance, HIMA (Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance), delivered a total of 29,632 new vehicles in April, according to HIMAs announcement on May 1.

AITO M9; photo credit: AITO

Specifically, for Huawei and SERES AITO brand, deliveries for the the flagship large SUV, the AITO M9, reached 13,391 units in the past month, becoming the sales backbone of the AITO brand and even the HIMA. In the meantime, AITOs mid-to-large-sized SUV, the new AITO M7, saw its cumulative deliveries reach 133,808 units by April 30 since its market launch.

Luxeed S7; photo credit: Luxeed

On the other hand, the first model of under Huawei and Cherys Luxeed brand, the Luxeed S7, accumulated deliveries of 4,546 units after its market release on April 11.

Furthermore, on April 23, AITO put its new M5 onto the market, offering three variants, including the range-extended Max version (rear-wheel-drive) priced at 249,800 yuan, the all-electric Max version (rear-wheel-drive) priced at 269,800 yuan, and the range-extended Max RS version (four-wheel-drive) priced at 279,800 yuan.

HIMA also revealed that the new AITO M5 received 4,031 units of fixed orders within 24 hours of its market launch, with scale deliveries scheduled to begin in May.

Additionally, at the recently concluded Auto China 2024 in Beijing, HIMA unveiled the first model under the STELATO brand, the STELATO S9. Positioned as an executive luxury flagship sedan, the new model is jointly developed by Huawei and BAIC Group.
They say that Cambodia is dragging its feet on repatriating them.

Cambodian women ask the Saudi Arabian government for help in returning home after they were exploited in their jobs as maids in the Middle Eastern country. Faces blurred by RFA to protect their identities.

Updated 13:15 ET on May 14, 2024

A group of 39 Cambodian women who were exploited as maids in Saudi Arabia and rescued by the Cambodian Embassy in Egypt are asking the Saudi government to help them return home because the embassy keeps delaying their return, they told Radio Free Asia.

The women had come to Saudi Arabia to work as maids, but once they landed they were subjected to physical abuse in the households where they worked, including being denied food and sleep. Some said they had not been paid, or were told they would have to work for much longer than their contracts stated.

In mid-April, dozens of women were rescued from their work settings by Cambodian Embassy staff based in Cairo, which has responsibility for Saudi Arabia.

Ambassador Uk Sarun said that 16 of the women had been sent home in late April, and Cambodian and Saudi officials claimed they were purchasing tickets for the remaining women. But so far they have remained in Saudi Arabia.

Last week, two weeks after they were rescued, the women demanded that they be sent home because the embassy was not providing them adequate food, and their health was deteriorating.

And now, with little apparent sign of their repatriation, they are asking the Saudi government to intervene.

Assurances

The women say a high ranking Saudi labor official will meet with them soon, and that they had already met with Ministry of Labor staff to explain their situation and how they were mistreated.

The labor ministry officials assured them that they would work on their behalf to resolve their mistreatment and ensure they would be get any unpaid wages, a representative of the workers told RFA Khmer on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

The Arab officials told us to keep passports to ourselves and be prepared to talk to the company to demand our salary and to get our mistreatment solved, she said.

Then, they will stamp the visas so we can return to Cambodia, she said. They said they will protect the Cambodian people to be able to go back to Cambodia.

An ailing woman who was exploited as a maid in Saudi Arabia is helped by one of her fellow Cambodians. (Image from citizen journalist video)





They also advised her not to trust Arabian companies because they are women, she said, implying that some in Saudi Arabia think workers rights only apply to men.

Regarding the delay in their repatriation, the workers claim that its because their Cambodian employer, Fatina Manpower Co., sold them to a partner company in Saudi Arabia at a high price, and is hoping that maids will give up and complete their contracts.

One of the rescued workers, Ye Thoeun, told RFA that she had worked for more than 20 days in April but she had not been paid.

She said she had only signed on to a three-month contract, but the Saudi company said she needed to work for longer, possibly up to two years.

When she fell ill, she said her boss told her to stay up in her room until she got better, and that she would not be paid for the days she wasnt working.

He spoke in Arabic, saying that the price he paid for me is very high, therefore, he cannot send me back to Cambodia, she said. But, he said I can go if I pay him US$1,500.

She said that if she had that kind of money, she would have bought out her own contract and returned home only months after she arrived.

Now, I just keep crying without hope because there is no solution for me, I dont know what to do, she said.

RFA was not able to reach the Cambodian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ouk Sarun or Cambodian Labor Ministry spokesman Kata On for comment.

Debt trap

Many of the workers stranded in Saudi Arabia are trapped by their debts.

One of the laborers, Chim Saran, said she could not repay the bank because her employer had not paid her.

We came from afar expecting to get work to get money to send to the families so we can pay off our debts, she said.

But since we got here we have faced many problems, the employers mistreat us in every way, she said. They dont pay us salaries or give us adequate food, and homeowners confine us and if we dont work for them, they threaten us.

According to Cambodias Ministry of Labor, 133 female workers came to work in Saudi Arabia. The ministry acknowledges that some of these workers have been overworked and are exposed to health problems and a lack of freedom.

However, human rights officials and workers are still urging the Ministry of Labor and other stakeholders to intervene to find other groups of workers who have been exploited by companies and employers to send them back to Cambodia.



Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

Updates to clarify that Cambodian Embassy is based in Egypt, with responsibility for Saudi Arabia.
The Philippine military denies link to alleged agreement between Manila and Beijing over Second Thomas Shoal.

Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, chief of the Philippine militarys Western Command, speaks during an interview with reporters at a port in Palawan, Philippines, March 6, 2024.

UPDATED at 12:10 P.M. ET on 05-08-2024

The military commander who oversees most Philippine-claimed territories in the South China Sea took a leave of absence days after Beijing claimed that his regional command and other government agencies had agreed with it on a new model for resupply missions to a contested shoal.

Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, chief of the Western Command, or WESCOM, filed for a personal leave, but it had no connection to the controversy focused on maritime missions to a Philippine outpost at Second Thomas Shoal, also called the Ayungin Shoal, according to a military spokeswoman.

Lets respect his decision. It is an inherent right of every individual to go on leave for whatever reasons, Col. France Margareth Padilla told reporters on Tuesday.

Carlos will return to his post after his personal leave, Padilla said, although it was not clear when he had filed for leave. Carlos did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BenarNews.

On May 4, the military designated Rear Admiral Alfonso Torres Jr. as the acting WESCOM commander, effective May 6. Torres will also continue to handle his duties as commander of the Naval Education and Training Command in San Antonio, Zambales province, according to Padilla.

The Department of National Defense said it had no information to share on the matter.

WESCOM oversees Manilas defense of the Palawan and Kalayaan islands, including the disputed Spratly chain.

Second Thomas Shoal is claimed by the Philippines, China, Taiwan and Vietnam. In 1999, Manila deliberately grounded an old navy ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, to serve as its military outpost at the shoal.

The Philippines regularly dispatches boats to the Sierra Madre to deliver fresh supplies to military personnel stationed on board.

No deal

In recent days, China claimed that Manila and Beijing had agreed on a model for resupply missions to the Second Thomas Shoal after multiple rounds of discussions through the diplomatic channel and the AFP WESCOM.

The Philippine military has made repeated confirmation[s] that the new model has been approved by all key officials in the Philippine chain of command, including the Secretary of National Defense and the National Security Advisor, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a press briefing on Monday.

Lin said that the Philippines had carried out one resupply mission under this new model on Feb. 2 before abandoning it as well.

But the Philippines defense and foreign affairs departments, as well as the National Security Council, denied having struck such a deal with Beijing on Second Thomas Shoal.

Philippine coast guard personnel and journalists sail on a rigid inflatable boat (L) as they head back after filming the BRP Sierra Madre, anchored at Second Thomas Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea, Nov. 10, 2023. (Jam Sta Rosa/AFP)

The [Department of Foreign Affairs] wishes to emphasize that only the President of the Republic of the Philippines can approve or authorize agreements entered into by the Philippine government on matters pertaining to the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

The West Philippine Sea is how Manila refers to South China Sea waters that lie within its exclusive economic zone.

The department can confirm that no cabinet-level official of the Marcos administration has agreed to any proposal pertaining to the Ayungin Shoal. As far as the Philippine government is concerned, no such document, record or deal exists, as purported by the Chinese Embassy, it said.

Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general at the Philippine National Security Council, said there was no reason to probe Carlos over Chinas alleged deal with his military command.

Carlos, he added, was a decorated officer with the Philippine Navy.

I dont think there is any cause for the investigation because this narrative coming from China is simply ... there to create dissent and sow disinformation to our fellow Filipinos, Malaya said in a televised briefing on Monday.

Duterte-Xi deal on Scarborough Shoal

There were other informal or undocumented deals, according to China.

On May 4, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Manila said Beijing had entered into an unwritten 2016 deal with former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, allowing small-scale fishing around Scarborough Shoal  another disputed area in the South China Sea  while restricting entry of government ships and planes within 12 nautical miles of the resource-rich shoal.

No less than Duterte himself alluded to this in October 2016 after returning from his state visit to China. Duterte said that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had discussed Filipinos fishing rights in the Scarborough Shoal, which has been under Chinas effective control since 2012. He, however, refused to give details because the meeting was confidential.

In 2022, fishermen told BenarNews that they were able to move more freely  although still under the watchful eyes of the China Coast Guard  near the shoal during the Duterte administration.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila said that the Philippines had abided with the deal for several years until the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. disrupted the arrangement.

Marcos Jr. earlier denied knowing of any secret arrangements with China on the West Philippine Sea and said he would seek clarification from officials of the Duterte administration.

Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the South China Sea, also denied the existence of an unwritten deal under the Marcos administration.

Let us not be influenced by their fabricated stories once again, which aim to confuse the Filipino people and divert the public discourse from the real issue of their harassment and provocative actions in Bajo De Masinloc, he said, referring to Scarborough Shoal.

The story was updated to change the date of the Philippines resupply mission to Feb. 2.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Ford China announced on May 6, 2024 that Mr. Ai Xiaoming has officially assumed the position of President of Changan Ford, reporting to the Board of Directors of Changan Ford.

Mr. Ai Xiaoming; photo credit: Ford China

Mr. He Xiaoqing, the current President of Changan Ford, will officially retire on June 1, 2024. Before that, he will assist in the smooth transition to Mr. Ai Xiaoming in his capacity as a senior advisor.

With over 20 years of experience in the manufacturing and consumer electronics industries in China, Mr. Ai Xiaoming has held CEO and other senior executive positions in several Fortune 500 companies' operations in China over the past decade. His extensive experience and expertise in comprehensive enterprise management and operational transformation will help him lead the Changan Ford team to strengthen partnerships, continuously improve product quality and production capacity utilization, and accelerate Changan Ford's transformation towards electrification and intelligence.

Prior to joining Ford China, Mr. Ai Xiaoming held various senior management positions, including Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal in Shanghai, CEO of GiantKONE Elevator, and President & CEO of Whirlpool China.

Mr. He Xiaoqing; photo credit: Ford China

During Mr. He Xiaoqing's tenure as President of Changan Ford, he made outstanding contributions to the transformation and development of the joint venture business, performance improvement, and organizational operational efficiency. He played a crucial leadership role, particularly in leading Changan Ford from losses to profits for three consecutive years. Ford China expresses gratitude to Mr. He Xiaoqing for his contributions during his service to Ford China and its joint ventures.
Judicial bodies in China no longer serve the people, but instead pledge to serve the overall situation.

Peoples Liberation Army soldiers stand guard at the entrance to the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing on May 18, 2020. The slogan To Serve the People in Mao Zedongs own calligraphic handwriting is displayed in the entrance.

Emblazoned in huge gold characters at the gate of the ruling Chinese Communist Party headquarters at Zhongnanhai, the words to serve the people has a different meaning in China depending on whom you talk to.

The phrase is often echoed by supporters of late supreme leader Mao Zedong, and often used sarcastically to highlight official wrongdoing by people with grievances. Its now being quietly ditched by the countrys top judicial bodies in favor of the much more nebulous to serve the overall situation.

A May 2 article signed by Chinas top prosecutor Ying Yong in the Communist Partys ideological magazine Qiushi was titled Serve the overall situation, deliver justice to the people, take responsibility for the rule of law.

The article came as the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate and other judicial bodies also replaced the slogan Serve the People on official documents and in public buildings with the words Serve the Overall Situation, according to social media posts in recent weeks.

Some comments quipped that the overall situation refers to the boss, while others played on a character in the word for situation that is also in the word for bureau.

What bureau is more important than the people? one Netease user commented sarcastically on a blog post about the slogan change.

The phrase To serve the people comes from a 1944 speech by late supreme leader Mao Zedong, and was intended to describe idealistic Communist Party officials and Peoples Liberation Army soldiers who are willing to do anything to bring about a better society, known at the time as the New China.

A screenshot shows an article on the news channel Jinri Toutiao discussing the change in slogans. (RFA)





If we have shortcomings, we dont fear criticism from others, regardless of who it is pointing it out, because we serve the people, says the speech.

The Chinese people are suffering. We have the responsibility to save them, and we must work hard.

Safeguarding the status of the Party

The phrase has since become something like a national motto, inscribed, often in Maos own calligraphy, in big gold letters or large red characters on official buildings, including the entrance to Zhongnanhai.

It has also been turned around as a form of criticism of government corruption and wrongdoing, particularly by the army of ordinary Chinese who seek redress through official channels as petitioners.

In 2008, a caller to a RFA Mandarin talk show said the tainted baby formula scandal that sickened hundreds of infants showed that Chinese officials do not serve the people.

In 2009, former Peoples Liberation Army soldier-turned-whistleblower Zhang Shijun accused the ruling party of hypocrisy for claiming that the army served the people after he wrote about being sent to Beijing in 1989 to enforce martial law during the pro-democracy movement on Tiananmen Square.

More recently, the phrase popped up during three years of strict zero-COVID restrictions that included grueling urban lockdowns, mass quarantine camps and compulsory daily testing regimes, this time to criticize the white-clad enforcers who at times welded people into their own apartments in a bid to prevent local outbreaks from the virus.

U.S.-based rights lawyer Wu Shaoping said the judicial agencies and courts once used the slogan to serve the people far more frequently, and that the move highlights a shift in attitude at the very top.

The people have been booted out ... and they have brought in a bunch of evil laws like the Patriotic Education Law, the Counterespionage Law, and national security laws to serve the Chinese Communist Partys overall interests, calling it the rule of law, Wu said.

The people are increasingly losing out, so the overall situation means they are willing to sacrifice lives to ensure their own safety, he said.

Independent political commentator Chen Daoyin said there wasnt much difference between the two phrases in practice, because the slogan to serve the people is rarely implemented in practice.

A realistic way of seeing this might be that ... safeguarding national security is the top priority right now, which means safeguarding the status of the Communist Party regime, Chen said. That is their fundamental interest.

Anything can be the overall situation

Feng Chongyi, a professor at the University of Technology in Sydney, agreed, saying that the claim that the ruling party served the people had always been a dubious one.

To serve the people has always been a lie and a scam, Feng said. The overall situation is a very pragmatic idea, because anything can be the overall situation.

Under Mao Zedong, it would have meant maintaining Maos absolute power, while in the wake of Deng Xiaopings suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests, it would have meant the dictatorship of the Communist Party, he said.

Today, the overall situation is the one-man dictatorship [of Xi Jinping], which means that the party will destroy whatever it needs to destroy, and strip people of whatever rights they have to maintain it, Feng said.

The topic has also prompted a number of comments on social media as people tried to figure out what the new phrase actually means.

Some netizens have quipped that the overall situation ... is that some people have wealth beyond the imagination of most people, but they have to keep it secret, blogger Looking at History, Looking at Reality, wrote on the Netease blogging platform.

Meanwhile, some people are so poor that they struggle to get enough to eat, but they have to be kept a secret too.

The blog post quoted another answer as saying: Some people have amassed a large amount of wealth through various means and methods, and through family relationships, and they need to hide it and even transfer their wealth out of the country, to avoid public resentment.

Of course, these are joke answers, but I personally think theres some truth in it, the blogger wrote.

Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie.
Chinas leader is touring European countries seen as most sympathetic to Beijing.

Visitors from China take a bow in front of a black-marble monument and to lay flowers in honor of the victims of the 1999 bombing, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May 4, 2024.

Xi Jinpings tour of potential sympathizers in Europe took a gloomy turn Tuesday, as the Chinese president headed to Serbia with an apparent warning to the United States on the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Beijings Embassy in its capital, Belgrade.

Twenty-five years ago today, NATO flagrantly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, killing three Chinese journalists, Xi wrote in the Serbian daily Politika prior to his arrival on a flight from Paris.

This we should never forget, Xi wrote. The Chinese people cherish peace, but we will never allow such tragic history to repeat itself.

Three Chinese journalists were killed and 20 Chinese nationals were wounded in the May 7, 1999, attack during the Kosovo War, which prompted outrage in China and an apology from then-U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Cleaners walk in front of a Chinese national flag placed on a building in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Darko Vojinovic/AP)

The embassy was hit during a campaign against the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to force late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

The United States blamed the bombing on a CIA mapping error.

Xis warnings about the flagrant NATO aggression come as Beijing steadfastly stands by Moscow amid its invasion of Ukraine.

China has repeatedly amplified Russian claims its invasion of Ukraine was forced by the expansion into Eastern Europe of NATO, which the United States and other NATO members insist is a defensive pact but Moscow slams as a threat to its legitimate security interests.

European tour

Xis visit to Serbia is the second stop of three in Europe  after France and before Hungary  as Beijing tries to cleave off the continent from decades of geopolitical alliance with Washington.

In Politika, Xi also hailed the iron-clad friendship between China and Serbia, which he said was forged with the blood of our compatriots.

China has poured billions into Serbia and neighboring Balkan countries  in particular into mining and manufacturing sectors  and last year Beijing and EU-applicant Belgrade signed a free trade agreement.

On Monday in Paris, Xi met French President Emmanuel Macron, who has publicly promoted the idea of France and the European Union pursuing geopolitical strategic autonomy from the United States.

Last year, speaking about a potential dispute over Taiwan between Beijing and Washington, Macron said Europe should not allow itself to become a U.S. vassal and be drawn into any conflict.

China's President Xi Jinping attends a trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the Elysee Palace as part of the Chinese president's two-day state visit in France, Monday, May 6, 2024 in Paris. (Gonzalo Fuentes/AP)

In Paris, crowds of protesters turned out on the streets to greet Xi, wave flags and express their anger over Chinas persecution of Tibetans and Uyghurs as well as its clampdown on freedoms in Hong Kong.

Xi next travels to Hungary, whose authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been a thorn in the side of NATO as it attempts to support Ukraines defense against the invasion by Russian forces.

Unlike Serbia, Hungary is also a member of the European Union and NATO, and has blocked several EU resolutions critical of China in recent years, including about Beijings crackdown in Hong Kong.

Edited by Alex Willemyns and Malcolm Foster.
Rebels claim to have shot down eighth junta aircraft since a 2021 coup.

Karenni Nationalities Defense Force members, taken on an unknown date in 2023.

An insurgent group in eastern Myanmar said on Tuesday it shot down a junta military helicopter and killed its pilot then clashed with junta forces on the ground.

The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force insurgent group said they opened fire on two helicopters delivering reinforcements and rations to a junta base in the town of Hpasawng in Kayah State on Monday. One helicopter was hit and came down in Bawlake township, an insurgent officer told Radio Free Asia.

The helicopter blew smoke and crashed after it was hit, said the officer, who declined to be identified for security reasons. The pilot was killed when we opened fire.

RFA has not been able to independently confirm the officers account.

The Kayah State-based news site Kantarawaddy Times reported that two pilots had been killed.

The junta did not release any information about such an incident and Kayah States junta spokesperson, Zar Ni Maung, did not answer his telephone when RFA tried to call for information.

Junta spokesmen have in the past dismissed claims by insurgent forces of shooting down aircraft, which they have now done eight times since the latest round of war in Myanmar began after the army overthrew an elected government in early 2021.

Karenni Nationalities Defense Force members near Than Lwin Bridge in Hpasawng city on May 6, 2024. (Karenni Nationalities Defense Force)





The Karenni officer said at least 10 soldiers in the second helicopter had parachuted to the ground after the first helicopter was hit, and battled Karenni forces.

Though junta forces have the advantage of air power, the insurgents have been making gains in several different parts of the country since late last year, including in Kayah State, on the Thai border.

As of Tuesday morning, allied insurgents were monitoring the crash site but there had been no further reports of casualties, said a Karenni Nationalities Defense Force news and information official.

The junta and Karenni forces have been battling since the rebels launched an offensive to capture two infantry battalion positions near Hpasawng on Saturday. The juntas army has launched more than 20 airstrikes in its defense of Hpasawng, a Karenni officer said.

Anti-junta forces have claimed responsibility for shooting down a total of eight junta aircraft, including a transport helicopter and fighter jets, in Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, and Rakhine states, since 2021, according to data compiled by RFA.

Kayah State, home to various insurgent factions battling to take territory from junta forces, has seen escalating violence in recent months, with landmines claiming more victims and accusations of rights abuses leveled against junta forces.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.
Residents say more than 10 houses were burned and a young mother was shot dead.

Junta troops accompanied by a newly recruited ethnic Rohingya militia raided a village in western Myanmars Rakhine state on Monday night, torching buildings and killing a young mother of two children, according to residents.

The attack on Maungdaw townships Wai Thar Li village came amid widespread gains in Rakhine state by the rebel Arakan Army, or AA, that prompted the military regime to implement a draft to shore up depleted troop losses.

As part of its efforts, the military has reportedly forcibly recruited Rohingyas into pro-junta militias which it says must be formed to protect their Muslim faith in majority Buddhist Rakhine state.

But observers say the junta is trying to stoke ethnic tensions in the region to slow the advance of the ethnic Rakhine AA.

A resident of Wai Thar Li, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, told RFA Burmese that the combined junta forces and Rohingya militia set fire to the village on Monday night and shot a 30-year-old woman dead as she fled from the raid.

"They raided the village last night. The military troops included junta forces and the newly recruited Rohingya militia, said the resident. After they entered the village firing their guns, the residents ran away. When they couldn't [arrest] the residents, they set fire to their houses. More than 10 houses were destroyed. A woman was also shot and killed as she fled.

A Myanmar security officer walks past burned Rohingya houses in Ka Nyin Tan village of suburban Maungdaw, northern Rakhine state, Sept. 6, 2017. (AP)

The woman was the mother of two children, aged 3 and 7, said the resident, who identified her husband as villager Awine Chay. The womans name was not immediately clear.

Other residents of Wai Thar Li told RFA that the attack was carried out by junta troops from the No. 5 Border Guard Police Battalion and Rohingya recruits who received training at the battalion.

They said most residents of the 70-house village had already left the area the previous night, ahead of the raid.

RFA has been unable to independently confirm claims that junta troops and Rohingya forces were responsible for the arson and death of the woman.

Attempts by RFA to contact Hla Thein, the juntas attorney general and spokesperson for Rakhine state, for comment on the attack went unanswered Tuesday.

AA gains in Rakhine

Mondays raid came on the same day that the AA, which ended a year-long ceasefire in November that had been in place since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup detat, released video footage that it said showed at least 200 junta troops surrendering.

The AA said that some of the soldiers pictured in the videos were captured from five battalions in late March and April, identifying the battalions as the 552, 564, 565 and 551.

Junta soldiers as well as some Rohingya Muslims could also be seen in the video footage released by the AA.

Myanmar soldiers stand guard in Maungdaw, Rakhine state, July 9, 2019. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

Some Rohingya have complained of being forced into the juntas army, which just seven years earlier, tortured, raped and killed thousands of Rohingya in Rakhine state and sent nearly 1 million fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh.

Since November, the Arakan Army has captured nine townships across Rakhine state. Fighting continues in Ann, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and Kyaukpyu townships.

The AA recently seized No. 1 Border Guard Force headquarters in Maungdaws Kyee Kan Pyin village, which is the biggest military outpost in the township.

Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Violent deaths are on the rise for women in the 3 years since the coup.

A released prisoner is welcomed by family members and colleagues after she was released from Insein Prison, April 17, 2024, in Yangon.

Myanmars junta has killed more than 900 women and arrested nearly 5,000 others in just over three years since the military seized power in a coup detat, a political prisoner watchdog group said Tuesday.

Shortly after the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, tens of thousands of civilians took to the streets of Myanmar to protest  many of whom were women. The junta responded with violent and sometimes deadly force, before launching a scorched earth offensive against rebel groups around the country.

On Tuesday, the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (Burma), or AAPP, said in a statement that it had documented the juntas killing of at least 929 women between the coup and May 6, 2024, accounting for nearly one in five of the 4,973 people killed since the takeover.

The AAPP said that the junta arrested at least 4,778 women over the same period, making up 18% of the total 26,631 people arrested since the coup.

Of the women arrested, at least 781 have been sentenced to prison, Naw Khin San Htwe, the secretary general of the Burmese Womens Union, told RFA Burmese.

In March last year, Myanmars shadow National Unity Government said that the junta had killed 483 women in the 25 months since the coup and detained 3,125 others.

The AAPP said Tuesday that the number of those killed and arrested is likely much higher, noting that it only tallied the deaths and arrests it had been able to verify.

One womans case

In one of the latest examples of women arrested and sentenced since the coup, a junta court last month found Lwin Cho Myint, the former general secretary of the Student Union of the University of Technology in Sagaing region, guilty of violating the countrys anti-terrorism law and ordered that she spend 17 years in prison.

A family member called her arrest and imprisonment arbitrary in an interview with RFA.

"The junta is unjustly detaining and imprisoning anyone who dissents against them, fabricating charges to justify their actions, said the family member, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

Such imprisonment under false pretenses amounts to oppression, the family member said. The more repression, the stronger the revolution. If the repression increases, there will be uprisings all over the country.

In a more high profile case, on Jan. 10, a court in Yangon regions notorious Insein Prison sentenced documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe to life in prison after finding her guilty on two counts of terrorism.

Heavy punishments for dissenters

Zu Zu May Yoon, the founder of the AAPP, told RFA that the junta regularly imposes heavy punishments on anyone who opposes its rule.

"Following the coup, there were instances of political prisoners being condemned to death without anything made public, she said, noting that even minor infractions under martial law incur a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

During my time there [in prison], people sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or lengthy terms were all confined within the same penitentiary, she said. They were isolated from contact with anyone else and endured severe living conditions.

A woman touches a bus carrying prisoners being released from Insein prison for the Buddhist New Year, in Yangon on April 17, 2024. (AFP)

AAPP said it had documented several young women who were shot dead during peaceful protests in the aftermath of the coup or died under suspicious circumstances while in custody.

Among those killed during peaceful protests were Kyal Sin and Mya Thwet Thwet Khaing, aged between 19 and 20, who were shot dead by junta police at demonstrations in Mandalay and Naypyidaw in February 2021.

Nobel Aye, a former political prisoner who was arrested and held at a detention center in eastern Bago region, was shot and killed by junta soldiers on the pretext that she had escaped from the courthouse in Waw township on Feb. 8, 2024.

Nobel Ayes brother Chan Myae said that he wanted justice for the killing.

"We want to regain our lost human rights and get justice for the torture and killings, he said. I strongly protest the widespread violation of womens rights in Myanmar, encompassing not only my sister but all women, by the [junta] forces that have seized power."

Violent deaths on the rise for women

The Burmese Women's Unions Naw Khin San Htwe, told RFA that since the coup, women in Myanmar have been killed in increasingly violent ways.

"If you look at the circumstances of the deaths, most of them died due to airstrikes, landmines, and heavy weaponry, she said. In addition, some were raped and murdered. Moreover, women have succumbed during interrogations, while others have been fatally shot in wartime conflicts."

Released prisoners are welcomed by family members and colleagues after they were released from Insein Prison Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Yangon. (Thein Zaw/AP)

RFA has documented several cases of women taking up arms alongside men on the frontlines of the war against the junta, saying they could no longer tolerate the unlawful killings and arrests of their gender.

One former nurse who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement of civil servants boycotting the junta now provides medical aid to injured rebels on the frontline.

The former nurse, who also declined to be named citing fear of reprisal, told RFA that women are regularly subjected to sexual violence in detention, even if it does not escalate to rape.

"They [the junta] transgress numerous human rights against women, perpetrating relentless violence, she said. Thus, I am compelled to persevere until the very end, aspiring to be the final torchbearer of resistance for my generation. My commitment remains steadfast to eradicate this scourge from our midst."

Translated by Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Rare incursion took place two weeks before new presidents swearing-in.

Chinese coast guard vessel number 14603 in waters near Kinmen on May 6, 2024.

Four Chinese vessels entered Taiwans territorial waters near the outlying island of Kinmen in a rare incursion, the Taiwanese coast guard said Tuesday.

China Coast Guard (CCG) ships 14608, 14604, 14512 and 14603 sailed into the so-called prohibited waters south of Kinmen island at around 3:30 p.m. on Monday and stayed for more than an hour before being driven away, the coast guard said.

The previous recent instance of a Chinese vessel trespassing into Kinmens prohibited waters  a civilian speedboat  was in February.

Taiwan-controlled Kinmen is less than 10 km (6.2 miles) from Chinas Fujian province coast but more than 180 km (112 miles) from Taiwans main island.

The boundaries between the outer islands under Taiwans control and Chinas mainland, called prohibited waters and restricted waters, were set by Taiwan in 1992 and have been tacitly respected by both sides, despite China never officially recognizing them.

Prohibited and restricted waters around the island of Kinmen, (Taiwan Central News Agency)





Prohibited waters refer to the territorial waters around Kinmen that extend about halfway to the Chinese coast, or roughly 4 km (2.5 miles) to the north and northwest. Restricted waters extend a little further, about 8 km (5 miles), to the south.

The CCG had in recent days intensively sent its vessels to deliberately sail into the waters near Kinmen, the Taiwanese coast guard said. The Chinese activities seriously affected peace and stability, as well as maritime navigation safety and traffic order in the Taiwan Strait, it said.

New normal

China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, has been stepping up its military exercises and air and sea patrols near the island over the past couple of years.

Chinas incursions are becoming a norm, said retired Taiwanese air force general Chang Yen-ting. There is, unfortunately, no going back.

China will keep pushing forward around Taiwan, first Kinmen then Matsu and after that, Dongyin, the general-turned-military analyst told Radio Free Asia, referring to some strategic outlying islands that Taiwan controls.

Just last week, the CCG announced that since April, its Fujian branch had begun to carry out regular law enforcement patrols in the waters near Kinmen in accordance with the law.

According to a CCG map issued with the announcement, the patrols had been conducted outside Kinmens prohibited waters.

The latest incursion occurred just two weeks before the inauguration of Taiwans new president, Lai Ching-te. His swearing-in ceremony is set for May 20.

Last week, National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen told Taiwans legislature that China may intensify military exercises after the inauguration, adding that his office was closely watching to see whether Beijing will conduct more military exercises to put further pressure on Taiwan.

A child looks towards China's Xiamen city from the coast in Kinmen, Taiwan February 21, 2024. (Reuters/Ann Wang)





Taiwanese experts are divided on Chinas intentions towards Taiwans outlying islands.

Some think that in the event of hostilities, the outer islands would be targeted before any attack on Taiwan proper due to their proximity to Chinas mainland.

Others say China would face a political dilemma should it first launch an assault on Kinmen or Matsu.

Since it does not occupy Taiwan, it is meaningless to occupy the outer islands, Su Tzu-yun, a senior analyst at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told RFA.

Edited by Mike Firn.
Conservative MP Tim Loughton from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, speaks during a press conference in central London on March 25, 2024.

British lawmaker Tim Loughton, who was deported from the small East African nation of Djibouti in April, has warned that the move serves as more proof of Chinas global influence in targeting those like him who are vocal critics of Beijings policies.

Djibouti, located on the Red Sea across next to Ethiopia, is home to Chinas first overseas military base, and is heavily indebted to China.

Authorities in Djibouti questioned Loughton, who was scheduled to meet with the British ambassador there for a debrief on his recent visit to neighbor Somaliland, for over seven hours on April 8 before he was told he would not be allowed entry.

This is a further warning that China poses a serious threat not just to those within China's borders, but those beyond it as well, he told Radio Free Asia.

Loughton, a Conservative member of parliament and former childrens minister, was one of seven British parliamentarians sanctioned by Beijing in 2021 for criticizing human rights abuses in China  which Beijing referred to as spreading lies and disinformation.

He said the experience gave him more impetus to speak out against the human rights abuses suffered by Tibetans, Uyghurs and others in China.

Certainly, its a further indication of just how far the tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party extend well beyond China around the world, and those of us who have been prepared to speak out are subject to the clutches of those tentacles, apparently even in countries as remote as Djibouti, he told RFA Tibetan.

But the incident pales in significance to the constant harassment, torture and violence that many people inside China face, particularly Uyghurs, Tibetans and those from Hong Kong, where there has been a clampdown on freedom amid the imposition of a strict new national security law, Loughton said.

We will continue to speak out in the British Parliament to highlight China's abuses at home and overseas, he said.

China critic

Loughton is a leading member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international cross-party group of lawmakers from over 18 democratic countries working towards a collective response to Chinese trade, security and human rights policies.

He is also co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tibet, which has highlighted Chinas record on human rights abuses, and in 2019, introduced the Reciprocal Access Bill in the House of Commons designed to bar entry to the UK for Chinese officials found to block freedom of travel to Tibet by British citizens.

Loughton, who traveled to Somaliland as part of a British parliamentary delegation, said the visit itself was successful but that China was a frequent subject of discussions because of its close ties with Djibouti.

About 2,000 Chinese troops are permanently stationed at the military base, which appears large enough to dock a Chinese aircraft carrier, he said.

China has invested heavily in the country and is also the biggest creditor to the highly indebted Djibouti government, Loughton said.

So, basically, what China wants, Djibouti tends to jump, and that became very clear with what happened to me, he added.

Loughton said he had all the necessary requirements for entry into Djibouti, but that when he presented his passport, he was questioned extensively and asked about his occupation.

When I revealed that I was a British member of parliament, then things turned decidedly frosty, he said. I was planted in the naughty corner in the arrivals lounge. ... I was then rather rudely put into a room which had doors locked behind me, and I was left there for several hours, not knowing exactly what was going on.

Authorities eventually told Loughton that he was not allowed into the country and that he would be put on the first plane out.

Even the British ambassadors deputy, dispatched to the airport to help him, couldnt persuade authorities to change their minds.

There was no reason for me not to be allowed to go into Djibouti, Loughlin said.

Clearly, some of the comments that the delegation had made expressing our concerns about the influence of China in the area had been picked up, and, clearly, those sanctioned British parliamentarians are on a blacklist, he said.

Additional reporting by Dolma Lhamo for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan, and by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during a visit to Berlin on October 11 that it was important that Ukraine's allies do not decrease their assistance next year as he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Zelenskiy has been on a whirlwind tour of major European capitals meant to win backing for his "victory plan" aimed at ending the war with Russia.

His main goal in his visits to London, Paris, Rome, and Berlin, his final stop, was to press for additional military and financial aid as Kyiv faces difficult months ahead in its fight to stop a slow but continuous Russian advance in the east.

In Berlin, Zelenskiy thanked Germany for its backing and said that "it is very important for us that this assistance does not decrease next year."

He said he would present Scholz with his plan for winning the war, repeating his hope that the conflict would end no later than next year.

"Ukraine more than anyone else in the world wants a fair and speedy end to this war," Zelenskiy said.

After his stops in London, Paris, and Rome on October 10, Zelenskiy said on X that he had "outlined the details" of his proposed "victory plan" to defeat Russian forces during his meetings with the leaders of Britain, France, and Italy.

He added that he and the other leaders agreed to work on the plan together but gave no details on what it says.

Scholz said he and the Ukrainian leader agreed on the need for a peace conference that includes Russia, but that peace "can only be brought about on the basis of international law."

"We will not accept a peace dictated by Russia," Scholz said.

Scholz also announced a 1.4 billion-euro ($1.53 billion) military aid package for Ukraine from Germany with partner countries Belgium, Denmark, and Norway, saying it includes more air defense, tanks, combat drones, and artillery and sends a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "playing for time will not work" and vowing "not let up in our support for Ukraine."

During a 35-minute meeting with Pope Francis on October 11, Zelenskiy sought the Vatican's help in securing the return of adults and children taken prisoner by Russia, he said on X, formerly Twitter.

"The issue of bringing our people home from captivity was the main focus of my meeting with Pope Francis," he said.



Zelenskiy gave Francis an oil painting called the Bucha Massacre, depicting the mass killings of civilians by Russian troops in the Ukrainian city in 2022.

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's arrival in Berlin comes after an October 12 summit of the Ramstein group of Ukraine's main backers was canceled at short notice when U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, abandoned their travel plans as the southern U.S. states braced for Hurricane Milton.



The White House said in a statement that Biden spoke to Scholz on October 10 and noted "his intention to continue our strong collaboration on geopolitical priorities, including supporting Ukraines defense against Russian aggression."

The United States has been Ukraine's main backer and by far the main contributor in terms of financial and military aid, but a victory by Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump in the election could cast doubt about Washington's continued support for Kyiv.



Zelenskiy's diplomatic efforts are taking place as Russia continues to keep up the pressure on Ukraine's cities.

As Zelenskiy arrived in Berlin, the number of civilians killed in a Russian missile strike on Odesa on October 11 rose to nine, including a teenage girl, and Russian troops struck the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.

"A two-story building where civilians lived and worked was destroyed," Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.

Odesa, Ukraine's main hub for grain exports, has been repeatedly struck by Russian forces since the start of the war.

Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said there were no injuries in one strike but an inspection following another missile strike on the Derhachiv community of Kharkiv was ongoing.

Outside Kharkiv, a 38-year-old man was killed by a Russian drone strike on the village of Kozacha Lopan, the region's military administration reported.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the capital was targeted by Russian drones early on October 11. The military administration of the Ukrainian capital later reported on Telegram that all the attacking drones had been shot down, without specifying a number.

On the battlefield, outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian forces were fighting Russian troops inside the strategic city of Toretsk in the eastern region of Donetsk after abandoning Vuhledar, another strategic hub in the region, last week.

Over the past 24 hours, Russian forces carried out fresh attacks near Vremivka, Kharkiv, Kupyansk, and Siversk, the General Staff of Ukraine's military reported on October 11.

Separately, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said at least 208 civilians were killed and 1,220 injured in Ukraine in September. That made it the month with the highest number of civilian casualties in 2024, the mission said.

The organization said that 46 percent of the dead were over the age of 60. In addition, nine children were killed and 76 were injured in September.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
An ex-minister is on trial for his wife's murder in Kazakhstan. The case has put domestic violence in the spotlight in the country, where UN figures suggest at least 400 women die every year from spousal violence. (WARNING: This video contains scenes of domestic violence.)
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On May 6, VOYAH's CEO, Lu Fang, disclosed the future plans and progress of the company's proprietary recharging solution, stating that VOYAH is initiating its plan to construct additional charging stations and piles, establishing a 6km recharging network within the key urban areas of major cities in China.

The initial phase will include the introduction of 16 demonstration supercharging stations, covering 95% of cities nationwide. Furthermore, VOYAH intends to grant all auto brands access to the company's self-established charging stations.

Moreover, the automaker is developing a comprehensive range of energy replenishment solutions, including fast-charging piles, household charging piles, and wireless charging technology.

Photo credit: VOYAH

The household fast-charging piles promise threefold-faster charging with a peak power output of 20kW. Wireless charging simplifies the charging process, only requiring vehicles to park in designated areas to complete charging. The company's megawatt charging station supports up to 8C, with a peak power output and current of 1,000kW and 1,000A respectively. Furthermore, a single pile can be equipped with dual ultra-fast charging capabilities, incorporating a slender liquid-cooled charger gun wire with a 2.8cm diameter, thus reducing the bulkiness of the charger.

VOYAH has also introduced a charging robot, revolutionizing the transition from "car seeking piles" to "piles locating car".

Additionally, at VOYAH's Spring Technology Communication Meeting held on April 24, the company unveiled the Amber battery safety system boasting an energy density of 212Wh/kg, available in multiple capacities ranging from 80/100/112kWh, with an estimated range surpassing 900km.

Photo credit: VOYAH

Furthermore, VOYAH also unveiled the new generation of Lanhai power, covering battery electric (BEV), plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV), and extended range electric (REEV) powertrains. Among these, the Lanhai Power BEV motor's operating efficiency reaches 92.5% under CLTC conditions. Meanwhile, the Lanhai Power PHEV offers a battery-powered range of 262km and a combined range of over 1,200km. In addition, the Lanhai Power REEV system uses a 1.5T deep Miller cycle range extender, providing over 310km of battery-powered range and over 1,400km of combined range.
Glimpses of the life of a U.S. soldier arrested in Russia on theft charges were visible in multiple TikTok videos posted by a Russian woman who identified the American serviceman as her husband.

A court spokeswoman in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok said on May 7 that U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black was arrested five days earlier on charges of "theft causing significant damage to a citizen."

The U.S. Army later confirmed Black's arrest.

The Associated Press, meanwhile, cited several unidentified U.S. officials as saying that Black had been charged with stealing from his longtime girlfriend, with whom he previously had a relationship while he was stationed in South Korea.

RFE/RL found a TikTok account of Blacks romantic partner, Vladivostok native Aleksandra Vashchuk, who posted numerous videos of the couple together in South Korea, including at least one showing Black in his U.S. Army fatigues.

Among the hundreds of often profanity-laced TikTok videos posted by Vashchuk, 31, are several in which she refers to Black as her husband and affectionately as pindos, a Russian slang word for Americans that roughly translates to Yankee punk.

In Uniform No media source currently available 0:00 0:00:31 0:00

Most of the videos of the couple together in 2022 and 2023 appear to have been shot in South Korea, where Vashchuk says on TikTok that she had lived for more than five years.

Black had been stationed in South Korea and had been set to return to Texas but instead traveled to Russia, according to U.S. officials. His detention is the latest in a string of arrests of U.S. citizens in Russia that are widely seen as a Kremlin attempt to build a reserve of bargaining chips for prisoner swaps with the West.

These include RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and The Wall Street Journals Evan Gershkovich, whom Russia has arrested on charges that they and their employers reject as politically motivated.

RFE/RL was unable to confirm if Vashchuk is the woman Black is accused of stealing from. Calls to a phone associated with Vashchuk went unanswered on May 7.

In one of the videos posted to Vashchuks TikTok account, which she closed to the public on May 7, Black is seen in his U.S. military fatigues with his name clearly visible on his uniform.

In one video, Vashchuk asks Black to comment on U.S.-Russian relations for her followers. He echoes several talking points frequently used by the Kremlin to justify the February 2022 invasion, calling NATO pretty aggressive.

I understand Russias position, obviously. They want to defend their country, Black says in the video before Vashchuk interjects and says former U.S. President Donald Trump is better than current U.S. President Joe Biden.

U.S.-Russia Relations No media source currently available 0:00 0:02:56 0:00

In more lighthearted videos, Vashchuk and Black can be seen partying together at bars and discussing the cult Russian movies Brother and Brother 2, with Black saying he fell asleep during the first film, which stars the late Russian movie star Sergei Bodrov.

In The Club No media source currently available 0:00 0:00:12 0:00

Black speaks a handful of Russian phrases in several videos, including the Russian phrase for f**k you after being prompted by Vashchuk.

Kitchen Conversation No media source currently available 0:00 0:00:25 0:00

In one video, Vashchuk films near Camp Humphreys, the U.S. Army installation around 60 kilometers south of Seoul.

Camp Humphreys No media source currently available 0:00 0:01:00 0:00

CBS News cited Blacks mother, Melody Jones, as saying that her son had traveled to Russia to visit his girlfriend.

"Please do not torture him [or] hurt him," Jones told the network when asked if she had a message for Russia.

Unidentified U.S. officials were cited by the Associated Press as saying that Black and his Russian girlfriend appear to have gotten into a domestic dispute sometime last year, after which she returned to Russia from South Korea.

The Associated Press also cited the officials as saying that Black did not inform his unit that he was traveling to Russia while he was essentially on leave during his move back to the United States -- and that he had not received authorization to travel there.

One photograph of Black and Vaschuk circulated by Russian state media is a selfie that the U.S. soldier took as the couple sat in a restaurant.

In the spring of 2023, Vashchuk posted that same photograph on her Facebook page, which she closed to the public on May 7, but with Black photoshopped completely out of the image.

With reporting by RFE/RLs Sergei Dobrynin, Mark Krutov, and Maja Zivanovic
Russian officials said two U.S. nationals were arrested in separate cases, including a serving army member, raising renewed questions over whether Moscow is targeting Americans to detain and later use as bargaining chips in prisoner swaps.

The Pervomaisky district court in Russia's Far East city of Vladivostok ordered the arrest of U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black and sent him to pretrial detention until at least July 2, court spokeswoman Yelena Oleneva said on May 7.

U.S. authorities confirmed that Black had been arrested in Russia and had been accused of stealing from a woman after traveling from South Korea -- where he was stationed -- without informing his superiors. The Pentagon said the soldier traveled to Vladivostok through China without official clearance.

Russian authorities separately disclosed on May 7 that another American, identified by court officials as William Russell Nycum, had been detained 10 days ago in an unrelated case and was in custody in Moscow on "petty hooliganism" and alcohol charges.

Daniel Kanigan, deputy spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, told RFE/RL in an e-mail that we can confirm that two U.S. citizens have been detained in Russia in the past week. He did not confirm the name of either of the detained Americans.

The White House on May 7 also confirmed that two U.S. citizens had been detained in Russia and said the State Department was actively seeking consular access to both.

The detentions add to a list of U.S. citizens being held in Russia under various circumstances and comes as tensions between Moscow and Washington are at the highest levels since the Cold War.

Among those being held are journalists Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL and Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal, who have been detained on charges they, their employers, and their supporters reject as politically motivated. Also being held is Paul Whelan, who in 2020 was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges that he and the U.S. government have repeatedly rejected.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, however, said the two news cases were not political and that neither is accused of espionage.

Black was charged with "theft causing significant damage to a citizen," Kommersant cited Oleneva as saying. The maximum penalty for the charge is five years in prison.

Blacks mother told the ABC TV network that her 35-year-old son had been visiting his girlfriend in Russia at the time of his arrest.

Melody Jones said Black was on a two-week leave from his base in South Korea when he traveled to Russia. She said he was pulled aside as he arrived at the Vladivostok airport and questioned for nine hours by authorities.

U.S. Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith confirmed that Black was detained four days earlier in Vladivostok, a military and commercial port in Russia's Far East, on charges of criminal misconduct.

The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Smith said in the statement. The army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia."

She gave no further details in the statement due to the sensitivity of this matter.

It wasnt immediately clear if the detained soldier was being considered as absent without leave (AWOL) by the U.S. military.

Officials confirmed that the soldier had been stationed in South Korea -- where the U.S. military has about 28,500 troops based -- and was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos, Texas, but traveled instead to Russia.

Smith added that there was no indication that Black intended to remain in Russia after his two-week leave time ended.

She said Black enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2008 and that he had served in Iraq for about 11 months ending in September 2010 and in Afghanistan from June 2013 to March 2014.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: I am deeply concerned by reports that a U.S. Army officer has been detained in Russia. Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage."

The State Department in September 2023 issued a "Do Not Travel" warning to U.S. citizens in the background of American support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion of that country. The note cited "the singling out of U.S. citizens for detention by Russian government security officials" in its warning.

Asked about the incident, a State Department spokesperson would only confirm that "a U.S. citizen has been detained in Russia."

"We reiterate our strong warnings about the danger posed to U.S. citizens inside the Russian Federation. U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately, as stated in our Travel Advisory for Russia," the spokesperson said.

The latest incident comes less than a year after U.S. soldier Travis King, also stationed in South Korea at the time, slipped into North Korea across the heavily fortified demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.

North Korea later expelled King, who was returned to the United States and eventually charged with desertion.

With reporting by AP
With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information.

NIO so far deploys 2,411 battery swap stations

On May 6, NIO released its April charging report. According to the report, NIO added 14 new battery swap stations in the past month, bringing the total to 2,411. Currently 80.15% NIO users live in the swap station district, having access to at least one battery swap station within a 3-kilometer radius of their residence or workplace.

Photo credit: NIO

Shenzhen opens over 900km of roads for autonomous driving tests

Recently, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Transport officially realeased the sixth batch of open road catalogs for intelligent connected vehicle road testing and demonstration applications. This latest opening includes a total of 43 roads, covering approximately 106.01km in length. As of now, the total distance of open roads for autonomous driving in the city has reached 944km.

SAIC MAXUS Xingji L Dongli Edition hits market, starting at 99,800 yuan

On May 5, SAIC MAXUS officially put the Dongli Edition (translating to "Power Edition") of the Xingji L pickup truck on sale. The new vehicle boasts upgrades in the powertrain system with a 2.0T engine, offering part-time four-wheel drive and rear axle differential lock features. The new model offers a total of 12 variants, with prices ranging from 99,800 yuan to 121,800 yuan.

AEROFUGIA, CITIC COHC team up to boost eVTOL commercialization

On April 30, Geely's AEROFUGIA low altitude transportation company and CITIC Offshore Helicopter Co., Ltd. ("COHC"), inked a strategic cooperation agreement, to closely collaborate on operations such as low-altitude travel, air tourism, and emergency rescue to jointly promote the commercialization of eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft and create a model for low-altitude economic operations.

VOYAH plans to open up charging network to all brands

On May 6, VOYAH's CEO, Lu Fang, disclosed the future plans and progress of the company's proprietary recharging solution, stating that VOYAH is initiating its plan to construct additional charging stations and piles, establishing a 6km recharging network within the key urban areas of major cities in China.

Official website of NIO's ONVO mass-market car brand goes online

On May 6, the official website of ONVO ("" in Chinese), a mainstream family car-oriented brand of NIO, was officially launched, featuring the message "Stay tuned for the first model, L60".

iMotion to supply iDC series autonomous driving solutions to Chery's OMODA brand

Autonomous driving solution developer iMotion was recently nominated as the supplier of Chery OMODA brand's autonomous driving solution, the company announced on May 6.Under the agreement, iMotion will provide Chery with an integrated hardware and software autonomous driving solution, with the iDC Mid autonomous driving domain controller at its core.

China's vehicle inventory alert index climbs MoM, but drops YoY in Apr. 2024

In April 2024, China's Vehicle Inventory Alert Index (VIA), which reflects the inventory pressure on automobile dealers, stood at 59.4%, indicating a year-on-year decrease of 1 percentage points but a month-on-month increase of 1.1 percentage points, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association ("CADA").

GWM's monthly overseas sales hit new high in Apr. 2024

Great Wall Motor (GWM) announced on May 6 it sold a total of 94,796 new vehicles in April 2024. In the first four months of this year, GWM's cumulative new vehicle sales summed up to 370,129 units, representing an 18.18% increase from a year ago.
China, Serbia cement foundation of people-to-people exchanges

09:57, May 07, 2024 By Xie Yahong, Liu Zhonghua ( People's Daily

The ironclad friendship between China and Serbia is brimming with new vitality in the new era, as mirrored by the growing enthusiasm for learning Chinese in Serbia, the expanded educational cooperation, the continuous enhancement of technological exchanges, and the frequent exchanges in tourism.

Serbia was one of the earliest countries to join the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China. Over the past decade, the two countries have carried out extensive cooperation in culture, education, tourism, sports, and other fields, building a solid foundation for people-to-people exchanges.

A math class is given in an intelligent classroom at the Center for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Education in Belgrade, Serbia. (People's Daily/Liu Zhonghua)

Nestling among green trees, a three-story white teaching building stands at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Belgrade. On an exterior wall of the building, there are national flags of China and Serbia.

Danimir Mandic, dean of the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Belgrade, told People's Daily, "With the help of our Chinese friends, we now have one of the most advanced digital education and artificial intelligence (AI) technology laboratory in the Balkan region."

The laboratory Mandic referred to is the Center for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Education (hereafter referred to as "the Center") located in the white teaching building. In January 2020, NetDragon Websoft Holdings Ltd., a leading Chinese education and gaming provider, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development to collaborate on projects related to educational software, hardware, value-added services, and online intelligent learning platforms, with an aim to make Serbia's education more intelligent and digitalized. The Center is one of the important components of such collaboration.

In an intelligent classroom of the Center, People's Daily reporters experienced one of the most cutting-edge technologies: with the help of virtual reality goggles, tasks such as circuit testing and reagent handling in physical and chemical experiments can be simulated by operating the controller; upon detection of mis-operations, notifications are displayed on a screen, ensuring authenticity and safety.

There is an innovative educational lab within the Center, equipped with a variety of educational tools, such as intelligent homework assessment and analysis software, language learning software, and sandbox games. It also comes with an AI assistant that answers students' questions.

Young Serbians learn to cook Chinese dishes at the Chinese Cultural Center in Belgrade, Serbia. (People's Daily/Xie Yahong)

Mandic said that since the establishment of the Center, the Chinese side has fully leveraged its technological advantages to support Serbia in developing local educational resources with the help of AI assistants and robots.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Serbian version of an online learning software co-developed by China and Serbia played a crucial role in enabling remote teaching at major Serbian universities and ensuring the learning of students.

The Center has also established cloud technology partnership with Chinese companies such as Huawei. Mandic said that in the previous semester, many primary schools in Serbia started using smart screens manufactured by China, which has greatly enhanced students' digital skills.

In a cooking classroom at the Chinese Cultural Center in Belgrade (hereafter referred to as "the Chinese Cultural Center"), an engaging cooking class was staged, during which a Chinese chef demonstrated his expertise in cooking authentic Chinese dishes and made Kung Pao Chicken on the spot.

In May 2023, a Luban Workshop was established at the Chinese Cultural Center by Tourism College of Zhejiang and Academy of Applied Studies Belgrade. It is reported that both China and Serbia are working on localizing Chinese cooking textbooks and integrating relevant courses into the local vocational education system. They also plan to provide professional training in Chinese cuisine development and production, along with catering services for Chinese restaurant staff in Serbia.

A student wearing traditional Chinese costume poses for a picture at the first traditional Chinese clothing festival held by the Confucius Institute at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia, in September 2023. (Photo courtesy of the Confucius Institute at the University of Novi Sa)

In recent years, the cultural and tourism cooperation between China and Serbia has achieved fruitful results, strengthening the bond between the two peoples. Two years after the visa exemption agreement between the two countries came into effect in 2017, China became the largest source of inbound tourists for Serbia. Besides, with the signing of the joint agreement on mutual recognition and replacement of driving licenses and the opening of direct flights between China and Serbia, the exchange of personnel between the two countries keeps increasing.

In downtown Belgrade, People's Daily reporters encountered Milos, a local tour guide who was leading a Chinese tourist group. He told People's Daily in fluent Chinese that he has been working as a tour guide since 2018 and has witnessed the increasing enthusiasm of Chinese tourists visiting Serbia.

"The visa exemption policy and the opening of direct flights have brought great convenience, and now more and more Chinese tourists are coming to Serbia. We welcome more Chinese friends to come to Serbia and experience the ironclad friendship between the two countries!" Milos said.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Autonomous driving solution developer iMotion was recently nominated as the supplier of Chery OMODA brand's autonomous driving solution, the company announced on May 6.

Under the agreement, iMotion will provide Chery with an integrated hardware and software autonomous driving solution, with the iDC Mid autonomous driving domain controller at its core.

Photo credit: OMODA

The name of Chery's OMODA range was selected from over 10,000 naming proposals from more than 30 countries worldwide. Its English name, derived from Latin roots, signifies innovation ("O") and fashion trend ("MODA"), reflecting the global younger generation's understanding and pursuit of fashion trends.

iDC Mid is iMotion's cost-effective solution for the mid-to-high-end auto market, featuring the TDA4SoC from Texas Instrument and integrating highway NOA (navigate on autopilot), Memory Parking Assist (HPA), Surround View 3D Display (SV3D), HMI rendering, and OTA functionality. It is compatible with domestically-produced chips, supports cross-platform operating systems and environments, provides an open development environment, and supports cloud and big data closed-loop development.

All key hardware and software components of iDC Mid are designed and developed by iMotion. The proprietary middleware, independent of any open-source framework, can deploy software to different computing platforms and operating systems. In the iDC domain controller, the middleware enables zero-copy data sharing across RTOS (including inter-core communication) and HLOS (such as LINUX, including inter-process communication), supporting large data transmission such as images.

iMotion's algorithms cover perception fusion, planning, control, and positioning. Perception algorithms include multimodal data fusion algorithms, transformer-based BEV perception algorithms, and USS (ultrasonic) perception algorithms.
A young Roscommon teenager is set to have his prized mullet cut off in order to raise funds for his friend Nicola Brennan Murphy who has been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.

According to the gofundme page which has been set up with a target of 1,000 "Tom Glennon is 14 years old and is a member of the St. Aidan's GAA Club and a student of Colaiste Mhuire, Ballygar. Tom is also the proud owner of the most famous mullet in Roscommon and is raising funds by cutting it for a good friend, Nicola Brennan Murphy.

"Nicola is a daughter of Sean & Anne (Nee Hurley) Brennan from Ahsaragh and sister to Valerie Lynch and Lousie Brennan.

"Nicola was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in September 2023 aged 44. This devastating diagnosis was delivered just four years after Nicola fought cancer having successfully undergone chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery with unyielding positivity throughout.

"She was so looking forward to this new chapter in her life as her two sons started university, she was in remission and finally back in the job that she loved for the past 18 years when she began to lose power in her right arm. Concerned that the cancer had returned she underwent numerous scans and tests only to be told of a new unrelated diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease (MND/ALS)."

Motor Neurone Disease is a progressive neurological condition that attacks the nerves in the brain and spinal cord which means messages gradually stop reaching the muscles which leads to weakness and wasting. MND can affect how you walk, talk, eat and breathe. Motor Neurone Disease is a progressive disease for which there is no remission.

While MND can present in various ways, Nicola is currently experiencing weakness in both her arms and legs to the extent that she has no function in some of her limbs and evolving weakness in the remaining areas."

To date 425 has been raised with the hair cut due to take place at St. Aidan's GAA Pitch, Ballyforan, with the date and time to be confirmed. To donate search for 'Join Tom Glennon's Mullet Cut for Nicola' on gofundme.

32,32,32 Challenge





Ciaran McManus, Brian Kelly, Emmet Burke, and Eoghan Diffley with Conor Murphy.

Meanwhile a group of five friends have embarked on an ambitious challenge to kick points in all 32 counties of Ireland, visiting a different club pitch in each county.

The group of young men, including four members from the St Barrys GAA club, Eoghan Diffley, Emmet Burke, Ciaran McManus, and Conor Murphy, along with Brian Kelly from the Newtown Cashel club in Longford, have decided to take on a challenge to support Conor's mother, Nicola.

The fundraiser will take place this weekend from Friday, May 10th to Sunday, May 12th over 32 hours of daylight. A gofundme page has also been set up and a percentage of all funds raised will go to a charity of Nicolas choice.

To donate, please visit the '32,32,32 Challenge' gofundme page.
Romanias President Klaus Iohannis has talks with US President Joe Biden at the White House

U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes President Klaus Iohannis of Romania at the White House.

Photo credit: presidency.ro

Diana Vijeu, 07.05.2024, 21:36

The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, who is currently on a working visit to Washington, has had talks with US President, Joe Biden, at the White House.

The two leaders have approached topical issues on the bilateral and international agenda and have also celebrated Romanias 20th year as a member of the NATO Alliance.

The two presidents have underscored their continued support for Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russias aggression. They have also reviewed the many areas in which Romania and the United States work together, including energy, economic cooperation and their shared democratic values.

President Biden has thanked President Iohannis for hosting U.S. servicemembers in Romania, and has recognized the many contributions that Romania, a stalwart NATO Ally, has made to security on NATOs eastern flank, particularly in the Black Sea region, a White House press release reads.

In his opening remarks, the U.S. President Joe Biden has praised the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis for his leadership and for providing security assistance during the war in Ukraine. We were reminiscing for a moment before you came in that, back when I was a senator, 180 years ago, I fought very hard for Romanias admission to NATO. And you, youve exceeded every expectation. And 20 years ago, when you joined NATO for real, and every year since, our nations have grown only closer, in my view, closer and closer together. And we see it in Romania and American troops serving side by side across NATO, and including in your country. I believe theres about 1,800 American forces there. We thank you for that. And, we see our work in strengthening NATOs eastern flank. And I want to thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership, especially in the Black Sea. Youve been incredible. Youve stood up, and the help youve provided for Ukraine is real. Its significant. The unified support for the people of Ukraine, youve allowed a number of refugees to come across, be in your country, about 8,000, they tell me. A whole lot. And thats really something. And, also, your security assistance to Ukraine, moving Ukrainian grain. And I want you to know the United States is committed to standing with you. Today, we lay the foundation for the next 20 years. I look forward to our discussions and just say that weve got a lot to discuss, so Im looking forward to it, President Biden said.

In his turn, President Iohannis thanked President Biden for the substantial contribution of the United States to ensuring the security of Romania and for strengthening the bilateral relationship: We managed not only to be members of NATO, thanks to you and others who really fought for us 20 years since Romania is a proud member of NATO, but we also managed to work on our bilateral relationship, which became stronger and stronger. We have a Strategic Partnership. And I think by making this partnership strong, we also managed to make the transatlantic link strong. In my opinion, a transatlantic link is the cornerstone of our democratic way of life, our values. And so, this is obviously linked to the way we see the future of our nations; how we manage to make our nations work better, live better; how we manage to guarantee the security of our peoples; how we manage to make our economies grow. And so, we have, really, a lot of issues we can discuss. But also, sometimes I believe it is important to underline that we managed to move ahead and that we managed to have very positive results. And, of course, we will discuss things we still have to achieve. And so, maybe just an example: We are working together on a visa waiver for Romania. If this goes well, hopefully, not before long, we will have results. But unfortunately, the most important issue is to find the way to reinstall peace in Europe. And helping Ukraine and the Ukrainians, you set such a huge example how this can be done. Romania is trying its best, and we have some pretty good results. I think it is decent. But nevertheless, we have to find ways to prevent Russia to win this war in Ukraine. And here we have to stay united. We have to work together. And we will, as far as I can see.

President Biden added: Let me just say one thing. I dont think theres any NATO partner who has a stronger commitment to the Euro-Atlantic alliance than Romania and the United States. And its a value set. Its what we believe () And youve stepped up, and youve been incredible. And what youve done and what were going to continue to do together, I think, is going to be significant, not only for Europe but for the whole world.

According to the Romanian Presidential Administration, the top level dialogue represents a good opportunity to raise the profile of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the US and to reconfirm the privileged bilateral relations between the US and Romania as well as their multisectoral cooperation.

I had a very consistent discussion today in Washington, D.C., with the President of the US, Joe Biden, at the White House, on the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States, including cooperation on security, economic and energy issues. As we celebrate 20 years since Romania joined NATO, we also discussed our strong collaboration in securing the Eastern Flank of the Alliance, the strategic importance of the Black Sea region, as well as our support for Ukraine and strengthening transatlantic relations, Romanias President Klaus Iohannis wrote on X, fresh from the talks he had with President Joe Biden, at the White House. I talked with President Biden about the Strategic Partnership between our countries, how we can make it stronger and how we can deepen it, so that it meets the challenges we face in this extremely complicated global context. I thanked President Biden for the substantial contribution of the United States to ensuring the security of Romania and of the entire Eastern Flank and, at the same time, for recognizing the strategic role of the Black Sea, in the context of Russias war of aggression against Ukraine the Romanian head of state told a press conference.

On Wednesday, May 8, 2024, President Klaus Iohannis will be awarded the 2024 Distinguished Leadership Award by the Atlantic Council, in token of recognition for his career and role as a trans-Atlantic and European leader.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- On May 6, local time, Chinese smart energy turnkey solution provider Star Charge and Schneider Electric signed a framework agreement to restructure their joint venture in Europe focusing on charging and energy storage businesses.

Photo credit: Star Charge

Together, they aim to create a new model of Sino-French cooperation in the new energy industry, advancing Europe's transition to clean energy and elevating Sino-French comprehensive strategic partnership to new heights.

Both Star Charge and Schneider Electric will leverage their respective advantages in R&D, manufacturing, distribution, and services to concentrate on the European market. They will establish R&D and sales systems for electric vehicle charging equipment, photovoltaic inverters, energy routers, lithium battery storage, and other products to meet the European market's demand for environmentally friendly and efficient new energy technologies and solutions.

This collaboration will assist various sectors including residential, commercial, industrial, and utilities in achieving low-carbon and zero-carbon operations, thereby serving local economic development and green transformation.

The partnership will focus on planning and implementing carbon neutrality pathways, energy management systems, energy digitalization systems, and microgrid applications, promoting the transformation of digitalization and green low-carbon initiatives.

Founded in 2014, Star Charge is a high-value enterprise in the digital energy field and a leader in China's industrial manufacturing sector. The company specializes in the R&D, manufacturing, operation, and service of electric vehicle charging systems and intelligent microgrid systems.
The Easter holidays in Romania

Romanians spent their Easter holidays both in their own country and abroad.

Foto: pixabay.com

Newsroom, 07.05.2024, 14:00

In 2024, Easter was celebrated in Romania in the same week as 1st of May, which meant people had an extended break from work. Many Romanians chose to spend these few days off in the mountain resorts in Prahova Valley. The weather was nice and many tourists spent most their time there taking in the sun in outdoor bars and restaurants, while others went on hikes up in the mountains. One of the most visited sites was Peles Castle in Sinaia, built at the initiative of Romanias first king, Carol I.

Lots of people also chose to travel to the seaside, where they enjoyed some great weather and lots of outdoor parties with live music. On offer were also boat rides at sea and a ride in the Ferris wheel in Contanta providing stunning views of this port city and the Black Sea. Those brave enough also bathed in the sea, although the water was still cold. While in the resort of Vama Veche tourists spent their time chilling in the sun and enjoying the resorts bohemian atmosphere to the sound of guitar music, in Costinesti and Mamaia they attended music festivals featuring well-known DJs playing music round the clock.

The regions of Bukovina and Maramures were also among the most popular places in Romania these days. Tourists travelling from around the country and abroad came to visit the monasteries in the region and enjoy the local traditions and food. Guests were spoilt by their hosts with delicious traditional dishes. Tourists spent their days walking and enjoying the landscapes and some peace and quiet. The Danube Delta was another popular destination for the 1st of May and Easter holidays, a unique area in Europe and a UNESCO world heritage site. Boats rides were available to all corners of this nature reserve, including via the channels, and early risers could even go fishing. Those who stayed at home for the holidays celebrated by going to a picnic or for a walk in the park with their families or friends.

Around 25,000 police forces, gendarmes, border police, fire fighters and other security forces were mobilised for these holidays to ensure citizens safety. They were stationed near public events to prevent and combat crime and be able to provide assistance to citizens if need be. According to the interior ministry, public order and emergency teams were deployed near the 12,000 churches, but no major incident was reported. The most popular foreign destinations chosen by Romanians were Bulgaria and Greece. Ferries to Thasos were full of Romanian tourists, who were very pleased with their choice of holiday.
Sabine Fellner

Todays guest is t Sabine Fellner, one of the two curators of the exhibition Touch Nature, hosted by Bucharest until June 29

foto /SAC si Forumul Cultural Austriac

Mihaela Ignatescu, 07.05.2024, 21:30

Romanias capital Bucharest is hosting in two different spaces the exhibition Touch Nature, an artistic radiography of the effects of human intervention on the environment. The exhibition was created around a dialogue between the works of 35 artists from Austria and Romania and is a call to awareness about environmental issues.

RRIs Eugen Cojocariu talked to one of the two curators of the exhibition, the Austrian art historian and curator Sabine Fellner, at the exhibitions opening.
Germany's exports rebounded at a faster-than-expected pace in March, while the growth in imports slowed sharply, data from Destatis revealed on Tuesday.

Exports gained 0.9 percent on a monthly basis, reversing a 1.6 percent fall in February. Shipments were forecast to climb 0.4 percent.

At the same time, monthly increase in imports eased to 0.3 percent from 3.0 percent in the previous month. Nonetheless, the outcome was better than the expected 1.0 percent decrease.

As a result, the trade surplus increased to EUR 22.3 billion in March from EUR 21.4 billion in the previous month. The surplus was slightly below economists' forecast of EUR 22.4 billion.



On a yearly basis, exports declined 8.3 percent after a 1.1 percent decrease. Likewise, the fall in import deepened to 9.6 percent from 6.7 percent.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Hensoldt AG (HAGHY), a German firm focused on sensor technologies for protection and surveillance, on Tuesday reported a decline in revenue for the first-quarter, mainly due to a strong last year's comparative and a decreased the pass-through , revenue with a low value-added share.

In addition, the company has confirmed its annual revenue guidance.

For the three-month period, the company recorded adjusted EBITDA of 33 million euros, higher than 30 million euros, reported for the same period last year.

Excluding items, EBITDA margin improved to 10.2 percent from previous year's 9 percent, with a positive project mix and more efficient cost management.

Order intake almost doubled to 665 million euros from 347 million euros in 2023.

Order backlog stood at 5.879 billion euros, higher than 5.362 billion euros a year ago, supported by major orders in the Sensors segment, such as the German air defense system for close- and short-range protection ordered in January and additional orders for the TRML-4D radar.

Revenue, however, slipped to 329 million euros from last year's 338 million euros.

Looking ahead, Christian Ladurner, CFO of the Hensoldt Group, said: "Starting in the second quarter, we also expect the first positive effects from the consolidation of the successful ESG acquisition. This will be an important driver for our revenues and order development. We are therefore optimistic for the fiscal year 2024 and confirm our outlook for all relevant key performance indicators."

For the full year, Hensoldt continues to expect revenue of around 2.3 billion euros and significantly faster growth in order intake compared with the revenue growth.

Annual adjusted EBITDA margin before pass-through business is expected to be between 18 percent and 19 percent.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Indian shares closed lower on Tuesday despite firm cues from global .

Investors waited for more clarity on events surrounding the Gaza conflict after Hamas reportedly accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal to halt the seven-month war with Israel, but the latter said the deal didn't meet its "core demand."

As ceasefire talks continue, Israel is pushing ahead with plans for military operations in the southern city of Rafah.

Hawkish comments from a couple of Federal Reserve officials on the rate outlook also weighed on markets.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended the session down 383.69 points, or 0.52 percent, at 73,511.85 - giving up earlier gains.

The broader NSE index dropped 140.20 points, or 0.62 percent, to 22,302.50.

Among the prominent decliners, Hindalco, IndusInd Bank, ONGC, Power Grid Corp and Bajaj Auto fell 3-4 percent.

FMCG stocks rallied after reports that companies are aiming for higher volume growth in FY25 post-elections on the back of a normal monsoon season.

Media reports suggested that the industry is already witnessing signs of a rural demand recovery after a prolonged slowdown.

Hindustan Unilever surged 5.2 percent to pace the gainers while ITC, Britannia Industries and Nestle rose 1-2 percent.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Hyundai Exter has been designed as a versatile SUV that effortlessly handles both everyday commutes and explorations beyond city limits

With its dynamic street presence, comprehensive range of premium features, advanced safety kit, peppy performance and high fuel efficiency, Hyundai Exter has emerged as a popular choice in the sub-4-meter SUV segment. The SUV primarily rivals the likes of Tata Punch, Citroen C3, Nissan Magnite and Renault Kiger.

Exter in the hills  Owner shares experience

High altitude locations are one of the best ways to test a vehicles performance. Test mules are regularly spotted across mountainous regions such as Leh Ladakh. Multiple Exter owners have now shared details about driving their brand-new SUV to various hilly terrains of India. From Munnar in Kerala, to Darjeeling in West Bengal, Exter owners are sharing their exciting journey on social media.

Owner of Exter (SXO Manual variant), Asmita Banerjee said that they got the car delivered on 21st March. The next day being a Friday, it was probably the perfect time to take Exter out on a weekend trip. While the compact size of the SUV may create some doubts, the owner was pleasantly surprised with Exters amazing driving experience in the hills.

The owners post on social media reads Its not an Exter Its a Rockstar. Darjeeling is known for its rugged terrain, dotted with steep inclines at many places. Exter is equipped with a 1.2-litre petrol engine that delivers 83 PS and 113.8 Nm. Transmission choices include 5-speed manual and Smart Auto AMT. The powertrain is designed to deliver robust performance across diverse conditions.

Exters support system for tackling hilly terrains

Along with a capable engine, driver skills also matter when it comes to negotiating hilly regions such as Darjeeling. Exter has a number of features that can make it easier to drive through challenging terrain. For example, Exter has segment-first hill start assist control. This feature can be useful across hilly regions.

Negotiating sharp turns becomes easier with Hyundai Exters power steering. Exploring new locations is possible with turn-by-turn navigation available with the 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system. OTA updates are available for map and infotainment. Exter is equipped with robust shock absorbers that can effortlessly tackle rough patches along the journey.

Exters compact size is advantageous across both city streets with heavy traffic and hilly areas that have narrow paths and tight turns. The SUV is 3,815 mm long, 1,710 mm wide and 1,631 mm tall. Wheelbase is 2,450 mm. Users also benefit from Exters high fuel efficiency of around 20 km/L with the petrol engine. With CNG, the mileage increases to around 30 km/L.

From the owners perspective, it is evident that Exter can work as a gateway to adventure in addition to everyday commutes. Whether navigating through bustling city streets or conquering mountain roads, Exter seems ready for every challenge.
Across international markets, MG Cloud EV is sold under the Wuling brand in Indonesia and as the Baojun Yunduo in China

Post the JV between MG Motor and JSW Group, the new entity has envisioned a major product onslaught for the Indian market. There are plans to launch new models every 3 to 6 months in India. Electric vehicles will be among the focus areas. One of the new upcoming products is the MG Cloud EV.

MG Cloud EV spied in India  Key features

With its curvy, aerodynamic profile, the MG Cloud EV is naturally pleasing to the eyes. Furthermore, the unique design appeals to folks who are looking for exclusivity. Some of the key highlights include polygonal headlamp housings with automatic LED lights, full-width LED light strip on top and an appealing mesh-type lower grille.

Hat tip to automotive enthusiast Samarth Agarwal for the images. Side profile is distinguishable with blacked out B and C pillars, dual-tone rear view mirrors with integrated turn signals, unique 18 Ferris-shaped alloy wheels and flushed door handles. At the rear, MG Cloud EV has eye-catching connected tail lamps, rear defogger and a powered tailgate.

Dimensionally, MG Cloud EV is 4,295 mm long, 1,850 mm wide and 1,652 mm tall. It has a wheelbase of 2,700 mm. Thats slightly shorter than Ertigas 2,740 mm, but longer than Renault Tribers 2,636 mm wheelbase. MG Cloud EV is underpinned by the E260 EV platform. Theres plenty of boot space (606 litres with Wuling Cloud EV), which can be further increased with the rear seats folded.

MG Cloud EV  Interiors

With intelligently designed interior spaces, MG Cloud EV offers ample legroom and headroom for all passengers. While the equipment list can vary from country to country, one can expect the India-spec model to offer a comprehensive range of comfort and convenience features.

Some of the key highlights include soft touch interiors and ergonomic synthetic leather seats. Theres sofa mode with a 135 backseat recline, a large 15.6 TFT infotainment system and a fully digital instrument console.

Other key features include rear AC vents, 360 surround-view camera system, digital AC with PM 2.5 filter, power windows and steering-mounted controls. Theres a wireless charger, keyless entry and smart start system and USB ports. A cocooned drive experience is guaranteed with a comprehensive range of safety features including ADAS. Users also have access to a wide range of connectivity features.

MG Cloud EV  Range, performance

Across international markets, MG Cloud EV is offered with two powertrain options. The one equipped with a 37.9 kWh battery pack has a range of 360 km. The higher-spec variant has a 50.6 kWh battery pack, offering a range of 460 km. MG could offer both options in India to target a larger segment of users.

Upcoming MG Cloud EV will be using lithium iron phosphate batteries that will supply power to a permanent magnet synchronous motor. The EV will be available in front wheel drive format. MG Cloud EV could be launched later this year or sometime next year. It is expected to be offered at a starting price of around Rs 15 lakh.
Ford Focus front three quarter

The Focus is currently in its fourth generation

Ford will not extend the Focuss life cycle beyond 2025, despite the widespread drop in electric car demand that has prompted some rival manufacturers to slow the phasing out of their combustion cars.

Ford announced in 2022 that it would shut down the Focus production line in Saarlouis, Germany, in mid-2025. It has so far been unsuccessful in finding a buyer for the site, but Europe boss Martin Sander said the firm doesnt have any plans to extend Focus production.

Thats despite Ford having adjusting its EV sales forecast in light of adoption slowing versus our original assumptions.

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Recently, the similarly sized Mercedes-Benz A-Class was given a stay of execution until 2026 because of sustained ICE demand.

Meanwhile, Renault has cancelled the IPO of its electric vehicle division, Ampere, JLR said it would slow its EV transition to build more PHEVs and the Volkswagen Group throttled back on the output of several EVs as supply outpaced sales. But Sander said Ford remains committed to retiring ICE models and progressing with the switch.

He said: In the long run, we are still deeply convinced that EVs will be the future and we will see a significant increase in volume.

He added: By the end of this year, we will have a full range of electric vehicles  both in the passenger vehicle sector but also in our commercial vehicle business line  and we are quite flexible to adapt to market demand. For the next couple of years, we have a broad choice.

Basically, our customers have the power of choice to pick what they want.

The Blue oval has suggested that smaller cars are not off the cards, however. The firm has suggested it will offer small electric cars once it has launched a family of four electric SUVs in Europe.

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Insurance Auto Auctions

The one-of-one "Kiwi Edition" McLaren Senna, a car meant for flat-out cornering on the fastest race tracks on the planet, was spotted at an insurance auction hanging out next to wrecked Hyundais and Accords. Why? Because its driver decided to showboat in the middle of Ventura Boulevard and put the nose into a car dealership.

The car popped up on Monday afternoon at what Reddit users quickly ID'd as the North Hollywood lot for Insurance Auto Auctions. That's 15 long miles from where the car crashed on April 28 at around 7:50 p.m., into the side of Lexus of Woodland Hills.

Any doubts of the car's location were quickly dispelled when one user turned up its online auction page. "Not ready for sale," the listing notes rather starkly.

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The YouTuber reportedly behind the wheel, Edmond Barseghian, who goes by Mondi, posted about picking the car up only a few days before the wreck.

Photos dated May 6 show extensive damage to the Senna, with impacts on both the front and side of the car. It's unclear, however, how much work it would take to make the vehicle roadworthy. The condition of its carbon-fiber tub is hard to determine, particularly when we're talking about a car that itself is so valuable.

Of course, all kinds of things can go wrong when handling a high-performance car. This is to be expected, particularly for a high-horsepower, carbon-fiber supercar like this McLaren. That's why you're supposed to do this kind of stuff on track, not in traffic.

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NEW YORKOn the eighth official day of testimony in the trial against former President Donald Trump, Manhattan prosecutors brought to the witness stand more Trump Organization officials who reportedly had a role in cutting the reimbursement checks sent to Michael Cohen, Trumps former personal attorney and fixer, in the scheme to pay off Stormy Daniels for her silence.

Witnesses explained that Trump or his sons, Donald Jr. or Eric, had to personally sign any checks over $10,000. Cohen was reportedly compensated for a total of $420,000. This was the standard operating procedure at the organization even when Trump took residence at the White House during his tenure as president, explained one witness for the prosecutors.

Somehow, wed have to get a package down to the White House, get it down to the president, get the president to sign the checks, get the checks returned to us, and get the checks out, witness Jeff McConney testified, via reporting on the trial day by the Courthouse News Service. McConney previously served as the Trump Organizations corporate controller.

McConney said that Trump signed monthly checks to Cohen to reimburse him for paying Stormy Daniels a "catch-and-kill" fee for the rights to her story of having an affair with the former president in 2006. The sum Cohen paid to Daniels was $130,000 via a shell corporation Cohen created to circumvent campaign finance rules and the associated bank accounts.

The prosecutors' evidence included handwritten notes linked to Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organizations former chief financial officer. McConney testified to the jury that he and Weisselberg arrived at the sum of $420,000 for all actions related to paying the settlement to Stormy Daniels Los Angeles-based attorney, Keith Davidson, and expenses.

These expenses included a $50,000 technical expense reimbursement and a $60,000 bonus for Cohen. McConney claimed that they multiplied these expenses by two for state taxes. At a total of $420,000 in total expenses, McConney said he broke this down into monthly payments of $35,000. Michael Cohen presented the reimbursements as a retainer for legal services.

Reportedly, Trump signed checks with a black Sharpie marker. Deborah Tarasoff, an accounts payable supervisor for the Trump Organization, testified that she would cut the check and send it through the pipeline with the backup, the invoice, and other documentation. The paper trail for these checks served as necessary evidence for the Manhattan prosecutors.

Weisselberg was previously convicted of tax fraud by a New York state court based on a criminal case filed by prosecutors for the Manhattan District Attorneys Office. Alvin Bragg, the district attorney in Manhattan, led efforts to indict Trump on the 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to hide the hush money payments to Daniels.

Weisselberg also testified in the civil fraud case against Trump.

Judge Juan Merchan also held Trump in contempt of court again. Merchan ruled that Trump violated a gag order when he appeared in an interview with the far-right Real Americas Voice cable news network. In the interview that aired on the network in April, Trump said, That jury was picked so fast95 percent Democrats. The areas mostly all Democrat ... its a very unfair situation, that I can tell you. In a written order, Merchan said Trumps remarks in that interview not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones. Merchan added that jail time will now have to be considered if recommended.

"Because this is now the tenth time that this court has found [the] defendant [Trump] in criminal contempt ... it is apparent that monetary fines have not, and will not, suffice to deter [the] defendant from violating this court's lawful orders," Merchan wrote in a filing. "Therefore, [the] defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration." Trump was fined $1,000 for violating the gag order. He was already been found in contempt and fined $9,000 for nine other violations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 26 met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Expounding on the lessons from the 45 years of development in China-U.S. relations, Xi said building a community with a shared future for mankind is the basic starting point for China to view the China-U.S. relationship, and stressed the importance to follow through on the San Francisco vision. His remarks charted the course for China and the United States to maintain a stable, healthy and sustainable relationship.

Whether China and the United States will be partners or rivals is the fundamental question that must be answered first in handling their relationship. It is the "first button of a shirt" that determines whether the China-U.S. relationship can develop stably.

If the United States consistently regards China as its primary rival, the relationship between the two countries will only be plagued by constant troubles and a multitude of issues.

China always believes that planet Earth is big enough to accommodate the common development and respective prosperity of China and the United States.

Over the past 45 years, the relationship between the two countries has gone through wind and rain, and the two sides can draw a few important lessons. China and the United States should be partners rather than rivals; help each other succeed rather than hurt each other; seek common ground and reserve differences rather than engage in vicious competition; and honor words with actions rather than say one thing but do another.

Xi said he proposed mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation as the three overarching principles for the relationship, which are both lessons learned from the past and a guide for the future.

China views and develops China-U.S. relations from the global vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, which is responsible for the people, for the world and for the future.

The world today is undergoing transformation not seen in a century. How to respond to it is a question of the times and of the world. China's answer is to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Xi stressed that countries live in an interdependent world and rise and fall together. With their interests deeply intertwined, all countries need to build maximum consensus for win-win and all-win outcomes.

In the face of a complex international situation, the international community expects both China and the United States to strengthen dialogue, manage differences, and promote cooperation.

As two major countries, China and the United States should undertake responsibilities for world peace, create opportunities for the development of all countries, provide the world with public goods, and play a positive role in promoting global unity.

Jointly developing a right perception, jointly managing disagreements effectively, jointly advancing mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly shouldering responsibilities as major countries, and jointly promoting people-to-people exchanges should serve as the underpinning for the mansion of China-U.S. relations.

Recently, teams from both China and the United States have been working to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state during their meeting in San Francisco. There has been an increase in dialogues, cooperation, and positive interactions in various fields, indicating a stabilizing trend in China-U.S. relations. Blinken's visit to China is part of the efforts of the two sides to deliver on the common understandings reached by the two presidents in San Francisco, maintain dialogue, manage differences, promote cooperation and enhance coordination in international affairs.

The two sides reached a five-point consensus based on a comprehensive exchange of views. They agreed to continue to work hard to stabilize and develop China-U.S. relations in accordance with the guidance of the two heads of state, maintain high-level exchanges and contacts at all levels, continue to carry out exchanges between the two militaries, further promote China-U.S. cooperation on drug control, climate change and artificial intelligence, take measures to expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, and maintain consultations on international and regional hotspot issues.

The San Francisco vision is a task entrusted by the two heads of state, which should be fully implemented without compromise.

The two sides should value peace, prioritize stability, and uphold credibility, which is a principle that the two countries must adhere to this year in developing their relations.

China is willing to cooperate, but cooperation should be a two-way street. China is not afraid of competition, but competition should be about progressing together instead of playing a zero-sum game. China is committed to non-alliance, and the United States should not create small blocs. While each side can have its friends and partners, it should not target, oppose or harm the other.

Currently the China-U.S. relations have been generally stabilized from further deterioration, but negative factors are still growing and accumulating.

The United States keeps making mistakes with its words and actions on the Taiwan question, breaking political commitments it has made. Its endless measures to suppress China's economy, trade, and technology are infringing on the rights of the Chinese people to develop. The United States is obsessed with forming exclusive blocs and manipulate bloc politics, undermining China's strategic security interests. If the United States stubbornly pushes the strategy to contain China's development, China will resolutely oppose it and respond with firm countermeasures.

Only when the "first button" is fastened correctly can China-U.S. relations truly stabilize, improve and move forward. The United States should develop a right perception of China, work with China in the same direction, put a floor of no conflict and no confrontation, and refrain from setting the relationship back, provoking incident or crossing the line. It should honor its commitments with action and turn the San Francisco vision into reality.
Hungary-Serbia Railway brings more convenience to local people

11:35, May 07, 2024 By Li Qiang, Yan Huan ( People's Daily

As a flagship project of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, the Hungary-Serbia Railway is an important part of the European transport corridor and the China-Europe Land and Sea Express Line. It is of great significance to the synergetic development between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and European development strategies. Since its commencement, the project has garnered widespread attention.

A high-speed train arrives at the Novi Sad station, Serbia. (People's Daily/Liu Zhonghua)

On March 19, 2022, the Belgrade-Novi Sad section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway in Serbia went into operation. This new route has not only facilitated local passengers, but also placed Serbia among the nations with high-speed rail. According to statistics, the Belgrade-Novi Sad section has carried 6.83 million passengers during its two years of operation.

On a morning at the Belgrade Center railway station, passengers were waiting in line on the platforms for the arrival of the train Coko, which is named after the Serbian word for falcon, a bird known for its speed. The Belgrade-Novi Sad section is as fast as a coko  the trip from Belgrade to Novi Sad can be completed in just half an hour.

"Substantially decreasing the distance between Serbia's two most vital cities, the high-speed rail has brought changes to our lives," said a passenger.

Passenger Milika often travels between the two cities. She said that a one-way high-speed rail ticket from Belgrade to Novi Sad costs less than 5 euros ($5.33), and a monthly pass provides even greater affordability. Driving between the two cities would cost over 10 euros in tolls, fuel, and parking fees, with a travel time of over an hour, Milika added.

Nenad Stanisavljevic, head of public relations department of Serbian Railways, noted that an increasing number of Serbians are now accustomed to taking the high-speed rail, as it is comfortable and provides a safer and more convenient travel experience.

The waiting hall of the Novi Sad station, built in 1964, is currently undergoing expansion in response to the rising passenger numbers since the opening of the high-speed rail line.

Veselin Simovic, a person in charge of railway infrastructure in the Novi Sad region, said that the original Hungary-Serbia railway line was constructed in 1883 and had severely aged. Some sections were no longer operational, while the maximum speed on the operational sections was less than 40 kilometers per hour. Delays of trains often happened, Simovic added.

However, the situation has dramatically changed with the opening of the Belgrade-Novi Sad high-speed rail section, according to Simovic.

"Now we have a stable daily ridership of 8,000 to 10,000 passengers, with even more on weekends. Taking a high-speed rail to Belgrade for work in the morning and returning to Novi Sad in the evening has become a choice for many people," said Simovic.

A high-speed train runs on a bridge across the Sava River in Belgrade, Serbia. (Photo/Li Gangyu)

Milan Banovic, chief engineer of the Hungary-Serbia Railway, has joined the project since its inception. Speaking of his experience working with Chinese colleagues, he said, "I learned a lot from them, and together with my Serbian engineer colleagues, we helped our Chinese counterparts resolve many localization issues. Our cooperation was very pleasant. Last year, I visited China twice and even rode on Chinese high-speed trains, which left a profound impression on me."

So far, China has offered training for over 40 Serbian technical personnel, fostering a group of young technical professionals proficient in the world's most advanced railway technologies in Serbia.

Near the Novi Sad station, track-laying work has commenced for the Novi Sad-Subotica section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway. The section is expected be completed by the end of 2024, which will mark the completion of the Serbian section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway.

During his visit to the construction site, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he was satisfied with the progress of the construction of the Novi Sad-Subotica railway section. He thanked the Chinese companies for their efforts to complete the project ahead of schedule.

"This is a significant change for the Serbian people and the entire country, as travel time between Belgrade and Subotica will be reduced to just 75 minutes," Vucic said, expecting the enhancement to attract more tourists.

Ivona Ladjevac, deputy director at the Institute of International Politics and Economics in Belgrade, has long been following the development of BRI.

In her view, Serbia needs a modernized railway to support the country's overall development. The Hungary-Serbia Railway not only facilitates transportation within Serbia but also connects the European continent, increasing freight capacity and transit capability.

"This railway is very important for the development of Europe. It has also provided many job opportunities for local communities. The areas along the high-speed rail line are gaining more development opportunities," said Ladjevac.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Wu Chengliang)
The most awaited college fest of Delhi University  Crossroads of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC)  is returning from May 8 to 10, 2024, after a gap of four years! This three-day event promises to be an unforgettable experience for the students of Delhi-NCR, which will be drenched in retro theme.



A glimpse of the 80s and 90s!



Crossroads 2024 will take you to the golden era of the 80s and 90s. Get lost among the bell bottom jeans, fluorescent colors, and disco lights. Groove to the tunes, hum old songs, and get lost in the memories of that era.



A treasure trove of entertainment!



A host of events can be expected including celebrity appearances, exciting competitions, spectacular fashion shows, interesting workshops, and delicious food stalls. Big companies like Honda, Sparx, and ICICI Bank will also participate in this amazing celebration. The support of these companies will make the celebration even more colorful and comprehensive. Also, smartphone brand Honor is also joining the celebration, which is planning to break the record of taking the most number of selfies. This will be another interesting and entertaining event, which will add to the excitement of the festival. Crossroads is not only a hub of entertainment but also a platform to promote interaction and artistic exchange among the students of different colleges.



So, students of Delhi University, get ready, because Crossroads 2024 is waiting for you! Dress up in retro looks, be a part of this amazing festival and celebrate college life.
In a major leap forward for cybersecurity, Google has unveiled a groundbreaking threat intelligence solution powered by its advanced AI, Gemini. The new offering, Google Threat Intelligence, leverages Geminis conversational search capabilities to quickly analyze vast repositories of threat intelligence, providing organizations with faster insights to better protect themselves from cyber threats.

Google Clouds latest innovation brings together expertise from Mandiant and VirusTotal, two renowned cybersecurity entities, to give security professionals enhanced visibility into global threats. The integration of Gemini 1.5 Pro with Google Threat Intelligence offers a more comprehensive approach to combating malware, including advanced support for reverse engineering.

Gemini 1.5 Pro features an impressive ability to process up to 1 million tokens, making it the worlds longest context window. This enables the AI to decompile malware files in a single pass, significantly speeding up the analysis process. For instance, Gemini efficiently processed the WannaCry malware in just 34 seconds, identifying the critical killswitch.

Google's threat intelligence solution also builds on its protection of 4 billion devices and 1.5 billion email accounts, blocking 100 million phishing attempts daily. The company aims to empower organizations to operationalize and contextualize threat intelligence more effectively. also builds on its protection of 4 billion devices and 1.5 billion email accounts, blocking 100 million phishing attempts daily. The company aims to empower organizations to operationalize and contextualize threat intelligence more effectively.

As enterprises face a continuously evolving cyber threat landscape, Google's new solution offers them an edge in staying ahead of potential attacks and protecting sensitive data and systems with unmatched speed and accuracy.
What role does the Insured Declared Value (IDV) play in your auto insurance policy? When securing an insurance policy for your vehicle, understanding the IDV is crucial as it determines the maximum sum assured by your insurer in the case of theft or total loss. Often, calculated using the IDV calculator, this value not only influences your potential claim amounts but also affects your premium costs.

Here, we will explore how IDV is calculated, its impact on your insurance policy, and why it's essential for every car owner to grasp its significance.

What is Insured Declared Value (IDV)?

Insured Declared Value (IDV) represents the current market value of your vehicle as assessed by the insurer. It stands as the maximum claimable amount under your auto insurance policy in cases of theft or total loss. Knowing accurate IDV is important because it directly influences the premium you pay.

How is IDV Calculated?

IDV is calculated based on the manufacturer's listed selling price of the vehicle (i.e., the ex-showroom price) minus the depreciation. Insurance companies use a standard schedule to determine the depreciation percentage based on the vehicle's age. The IDV is then arrived at by applying this depreciation factor to the ex-showroom price.

Components Involved in IDV Calculation

The calculation of IDV begins with the manufacturer's original selling price of the vehicle and then accounts for depreciation over time. The IDV calculator considers several factors such as the age of the vehicle, its model and make, and the city where the vehicle is registered.

Ex-Showroom Price: This is the manufacturer's listed selling price of the vehicle when it was brand new. It serves as the starting point for IDV calculation.

Depreciation: Insurance companies apply a depreciation rate to the ex-showroom price to account for the vehicle's age and wear and tear. The depreciation rates are predetermined and usually follow a standard schedule provided by the insurer. The depreciation rates vary for different vehicle ages, typically ranging from 5% to 50% over the first few years.

Age of Vehicle: The age of the vehicle is calculated from its manufacturing date to the policy inception or renewal date.

Total Depreciation Percentage: This is the cumulative depreciation percentage applied to the ex-showroom price based on the vehicle's age. It accounts for the reduction in the vehicle's value due to factors such as wear and tear, usage, and market depreciation.

Once the depreciation percentage is determined based on the vehicle's age, it is applied to the ex-showroom price using the formula mentioned above to calculate the IDV.

Impact of IDV on Your Vehicle Insurance Policy

Understanding the Insured Declared Value is essential for every car owner because it affects various aspects of your insurance policy for car or bike. Heres how it impacts various aspects of your coverage:

Premium Rates : The IDV is directly proportional to the premium you pay. A higher IDV translates into higher premiums because it increases the insurer's liability. Conversely, a lower IDV reduces the premium but may not provide sufficient coverage in case of substantial damage or loss.

: The IDV is directly proportional to the premium you pay. A higher IDV translates into higher premiums because it increases the insurer's liability. Conversely, a lower IDV reduces the premium but may not provide sufficient coverage in case of substantial damage or loss. Claim Settlements : In the unfortunate event of vehicle theft or total loss, the IDV represents the maximum compensation that the insurer will pay. Therefore, an accurately calculated IDV ensures that you receive a fair settlement, equivalent to your vehicle's market value at the time of the policy purchase.

: In the unfortunate event of vehicle theft or total loss, the IDV represents the maximum compensation that the insurer will pay. Therefore, an accurately calculated IDV ensures that you receive a fair settlement, equivalent to your vehicle's market value at the time of the policy purchase. Policy Renewal: Each renewal period offers an opportunity to adjust the IDV according to the depreciating value of the vehicle. This adjustment is crucial as it helps maintain a balance between the premium cost and the coverage.

Each renewal period offers an opportunity to adjust the IDV according to the depreciating value of the vehicle. This adjustment is crucial as it helps maintain a balance between the premium cost and the coverage. Enhancements and Accessories: If you enhance your vehicle with accessories or modifications, it can increase the IDV. It's important to declare these enhancements when renewing or purchasing insurance policy for car or bike to ensure that the IDV remains accurate.

If you enhance your vehicle with accessories or modifications, it can increase the IDV. It's important to declare these enhancements when renewing or purchasing insurance policy for car or bike to ensure that the IDV remains accurate. Negotiation Power: Knowledge of your vehicle's IDV can empower you to negotiate better terms with your insurer, particularly in terms of premium costs and coverage limits.

Conclusion

The purpose of IDV is not just to determine insurance payouts but also to set a cap on them. It ensures both parties have a clear understanding of the vehicles valuation from the onset of the policy. This transparency helps mitigate disputes and ensures fair compensation in the event of an insurance claim.

If you are on the lookout to buy or renew insurance policy for car or bike, check out ACKOs low premium vehicle insurance. From the comfort of your home, you can now enjoy the convenience of an online process for purchasing or renewing insurance. With ACKO, you get the best of both worlds: affordability and ease of access.

Disclaimer: Vehicle insurance is a mandatory requirement as per The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Non-compliance can lead to monetary penalties and legal issues. Thus, make sure to buy vehicle insurance and keep the policy active by renewing it before its expiry date. You can buy/renew vehicle insurance easily, quickly, and conveniently via the ACKO website/app for a hassle-free insurance experience.
Visa, a global leader in digital payments, has announced the appointment of Sujai Raina as the new country manager for India. In this role, Raina will lead and execute Visas strategic initiatives within the Indian market, collaborating with clients and stakeholders across the payments ecosystem to drive innovation and growth. Raina brings a wealth of experience from his previous position as vice president and head of business development for Visa in India.

Sandeep Ghosh, who continues in his role as the group country manager for India and South Asia, praised the decision, stating, Sujais role as country manager marks an important step in our commitment to the Indian market. We are confident that under his leadership, Visa will continue to deliver exceptional value to clients, partners, and consumers in India.

Sujai Raina joined Visa in 2020 and has played a pivotal role in shaping the companys sales strategy in India, contributing to the performance and growth of Visa and its clients in the country. His dual role will include leading business development for Visa in India, which demonstrates his integral role in the companys operations.

Visas growth in India, he stated. Speaking about his new position, Raina highlighted the significance of the Indian market and the potential for growth in digital payments. Indias growth trajectory, and the scale and sophistication of its payment systems, present a significant opportunity for the continued growth of secure digital payments, driving cash displacement, financial inclusion, and digital empowerment at scale. I look forward to building on the strength of our brand and the trust we enjoy to power the next phase of, he stated.

India remains a key growth market for Visa, and the appointment of Sujai Raina as country manager underscores the companys commitment to capitalizing on the unique opportunities within the region. With Raina at the helm, Visa aims to expand its innovative solutions and tailor its offerings to meet the specific needs of the Indian market, promoting the continued growth of secure, digital payment solutions.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  New York state education officials are preparing to release changes to graduation requirements for high school students next month, according to a new report by the Times Union.

The state is rethinking the requirements a high school senior needs to graduate through wide-ranging changes proposed last year by the Board of Regents Blue Ribbon Commission.

In November, the commission presented recommendations to the New York State Education Department as part of the Graduation Measures Initiative that brought together student voices and stakeholders. The commission was tasked with creating a roadmap for learning-centered education to best meet the needs of every student in New York, while also incorporating skills that prepare them for the future.

Some of those recommendations included: moving to one diploma type; allowing students to skip the Regents exams and allow for capstones or experiential learning experiences; reviewing and revising state learning standards.

State officials will share how they will implement new changes by releasing a vision on June 10, according to the Times Union. However, there wont be a timeline for implementation until next fall  which could mean changes wouldnt be in effect until potentially the 2025-2026 school year, according to the media outlet.

The Times Union also reported that Deputy Commissioner Angelique Johnson-Dingle offered a clue of what could be implemented  possibly dropping or reducing seat time. This is a requirement that students attend class for a number of days to earn credit. This change could mean students would be able to show proficiency and gain credit for a class much faster, according to the media outlet.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  To celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, a cruise line is offering an exclusive year-round cruise fare discount and onboard credit to educators.

Norwegian Cruise Line recently launched its all-new Teacher Cruise Discount for educators and school staff across the United States and Canada.

It also announced the return of its Norwegians Giving Joy recognition program that awards teachers with a free vacation.

All education professionals, including active classroom teachers, principals and assistant principals, school employees and college/university professors, can enjoy a 5% discount off any voyage from anywhere in the world  as well as a $50 onboard credit.

To participate in the new discount, educators must be validated through ID.me, a security digital identity network that allows members of the education community to verify their identity once, and never have to re-verify their identity again across any organization where ID.me is accepted.

Additional information about the cruise discounts for teachers can be found at www.ncl.com/teachers.

Additionally, through June 7, Norwegians Giving Joy campaign is open and accepting nominations for teachers making a difference in their classroom and community.

This year, the top 20 educators across the United States and Canada who receive the most votes will be invited to attend an exclusive two-night inaugural event in Boston from April 4 to 6, 2025, aboard Norwegian Aqua  Norwegian Cruise Lines newest ship from the Prima Plus Class  as she makes her U.S. debut. The top five grand-prize winners will have an opportunity to attend the boats christening celebration, followed by a three-night inaugural sailing from Miami from April 13-16, 2025.

The public can nominate certified or accredited educators in the United States and Canada who have made an impact in their life and who inspire students by visiting www.nclgivingjoy.com.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Mike The Situation Sorrentino, renowned for his role in the hit reality TV series Jersey Shore, has embarked on a journey of personal transformation and recovery, chronicled in his latest memoir, Reality Check: Making the Best of The Situation - How I Overcame Addiction, Loss, and Prison.

Sorrentino rose to fame as one of the central figures in the wildly popular MTV reality television series Jersey Shore, which aired from 2009 to 2012.

Born in Staten Island on July 4, 1982, Sorrentinos larger-than-life personality and distinctive catchphrases quickly made him a fan favorite.

However, behind the glitz and glamour of reality TV, Sorrentino battled with addiction, which ultimately led to legal troubles and personal setbacks. Despite the challenges, Sorrentino initiated a journey of recovery and self-discovery, which he candidly chronicles in his memoir.

From his days of fame and luxury to confronting the depths of addiction, Sorrentinos story resonates with audiences worldwide, offering a signal of hope for those facing similar struggles.

After his recent book signing at Barnes & Noble at the Staten Island Mall in New Springville, he shared insights into his writing process, the challenges he faces, and the message he hopes to convey to readers.

Mike The Situation Sorrentino saying hi to fans lined up with their purchased books at his book signing event for Reality Check, hosted at Barnes & Noble in New Springville on May 1, 2024. (Staten Island Advance/Toniann DiCostanzo)Staten Island Advance/Toniann DiCostanzo

Through his resilience and determination, Sorrentino has emerged as an inspiring figure, using his platform to raise awareness about addiction while serving as a testament to the power of redemption and the possibility of transformation.

Q&A HIGHLIGHTS

Can you share what message you hope readers will take away from Reality Check after reading your story?

After reading my story, I hope that readers take away the message that recovery is possible and you are not alone. If the Situation can do it, so can you!

What was the most challenging part of writing Reality Check and revisiting some of the darkest moments of your life?

The most challenging part of writing Reality Check was having to revisit some of the darkest moments in my life and reflecting on how it affected my loved ones.

How do you think sharing your story will help others who may be struggling with addiction or facing similar challenges?

By sharing my story, I hope that I inspire those struggling with addiction and offer some hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But its important to seek help, make positive changes, and believe in yourself. As I always say, the comeback is always greater than the setback.

What role did your family play in supporting you through your journey to sobriety and rehabilitation?

My family played a huge role in supporting me through my journey. If it werent for my family and my wife, Lauren, Im not sure how I would have been able to do it. Their love and support played a crucial role during the recovery process.

In your book, you discuss the loss of friends and family to overdoses. How did these experiences shape your perspective on addiction and recovery?

95 1 / 95 Fans meet Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino at Staten Island book signing event

Losing friends and family to the disease of addiction has been a heartbreaking experience and one no family should ever have to experience. These experiences have only fueled my determination to strive for excellence, which is a major reason why I wrote Reality Check. I aspire for my story to motivate others, showing them that I embody the idea that the comeback is always greater than the setback.

What advice would you give to someone who is currently battling addiction and feels like theyve hit rock bottom?

Even if you feel like youve hit rock bottom, dont lose hope! I encourage you to keep pushing, seek help, and remember that while the recovery process isnt easy, its not impossible.

How has your life changed since getting clean and sober, and what habits or practices have helped you maintain your sobriety?

My life has changed completely since getting clean and sober. My wife and I are happily married with three babies, and being a sober dad is my greatest flex. Focusing on my health and sharing my story with my fans has allowed me to make these big changes.

(L-R) Sammi Giancola, Ronnie 'Fist Pump Brah' Magro, Angelina 'Jolie' Pivarnick, Pauly Del Vecchio, Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi, Vinny Guadagnino, Jenni 'JWOWW' Farley and Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino poses in the press room at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards at Gibson Amphitheatre on June 6, 2010 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage) WireImage

With the success of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation,[2018-2024] how do you balance the pressures of fame and maintaining your sobriety?

Im thankful to have supportive friends and family who are respectful and understanding of my situation. Boundaries are very important during the recovery process. Im grateful to have a platform where Im able to raise awareness and continue sharing my life story with my awesome fans, and I hope that I continue to inspire.

Looking back on your journey, what are you most proud of accomplishing in your recovery and personal growth?

I am proud to say that I am eight years clean and sober with a beautiful family. We didnt come this far just to come this far.
NEW YORK, N.Y.  Financial records and payments to Michael Cohen were the main focus of Monday proceedings in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump.

One current and a former Trump Organization employee who worked there in accounting testified about 2017 payments to Cohen that prosecutors from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg contend were repayments for his 2016 hush money payment to pornstar Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford.

Bragg charged Trump last year with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which carries a maximum sentence of four years incarceration, according to the state court system. Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan is overseeing the case.

This is just a political witch hunt. Its election interfering, and this is really, truly election inference and its a disgrace, its a disgrace, Trump said at the end of Mondays proceedings. This is what this is all about  election inference, how do we stop it  and its a disgrace.

The allegedly falsified business records came after Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged 2006 affair with Trump in the weeks before the 2016 election.

Prosecutors allege the former president knowingly paid back Cohen using falsified business records to conceal the true reason for the payments.

Former Trump Organization Controller Jeff McConney and Accounts Payable Supervisor Deborah Tarasoff testified about documents showing the 2017 payments to Cohen allegedly repaying the payments to Daniels.

Both witnesses illustrated how the Trump family, and the former president in particular, kept a tight grip on the financial dealings of the Trump Organization, which Tarasoff said is made up of about 100 different entities.

All Trump Organization checks processed through accounts payable needed to be signed by Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Allen Weisselberg, or Trump Sr. based on the value of the check, Tarasoff testified.

She said that before 2015, the year Trump announced his successful presidential campaign, that any check valued less than $2,500 could be signed by Weisselberg, but would need the signature of a Trump family member. After 2015, the Trump Organization upped the amount to $10,000.

Both Tarasoff and McConney testified that monthly payments to Cohen made over the 12 months of 2017 were valued at $35,000 for a total value of $420,000.

The initial three months of payments were made from the trust set up after Trump took office with the remaining nine payments made from the former presidents personal checking account after being sent to the White House.

Prosecutors say the Trump Organization arrived at that amount after it doubled the initial $130,000 payment to make Cohen whole after taxes, added $50,000 to the payment for technical services, and tacked on a $60,000 bonus. Trumps defense attorneys say the payment was simply for Cohens legal services.

The defenses questioning of the two witnesses focused largely on their limited interactions with Trump and the fact that Trump didnt direct the financial professionals to process the payments. McConney told prosecutors he later learned the real reasons for the payments had been kept from him.

Braggs felony business records charges against Trump need the falsified business records to have been made in relation to another crime, in this case campaign finance violations.

Most of the trials early weeks have largely featured both sides laying the groundwork of their opposing arguments.

Prosecutors have sought to show Trump directed the alleged hush money scheme and paid back Cohen with the knowledge of what the falsified payments were actually for. Trumps defense team has sought to distance the former president from the payments.

Merchan dismissed the jury about an hour earlier than normal Monday with both sides arguing over whether prosecutors could recall a witness who testified Friday.

Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal from Braggs office, previously told the jury about social media posts Trump made around the time of the alleged hush money payments, and more recently. The defense attorney sought to block her from returning to the stand, but Merchan sided with prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, who said he expects to again call Longstreet either Thursday or Friday.

Mondays proceedings began with Merchan fining Trump another $1,000 for violating the gag order he issued ahead of the trials start, and warned him that further violations could result in jail time.

It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore going forward, this court will have to consider jail, Merchan said. The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me, but at the end of the day, I have a job to do.

While $1,000 is the top financial penalty New York law allows for contempt findings, the charge can also carry a 30-day jail sentence for each offense.

Previously, Merchan found Trump in contempt for nine online posts to Truth Social and his campaign website aimed varyingly at witnesses and the jury.

Merchans latest finding Monday related to comments Trump made about jurors during an April 22 appearance on Just the News No Noise, broadcast on a network called Real Americas Voice.

You know [the judge is] rushing the trial like crazy. Nobodys ever seen a thing go like this. That jury was picked so fast - 95% democrats, Trump said during the appearance. The areas mostly all democrat. You think of it as a - just a purely democrat area. Its a very unfair situation that I can tell you.

The judge declined to find Trump in contempt Monday over three other comments Braggs office had sought sanctions for related to the gag order.

Speaking to the press, the former president made the series of comments in relation to trial witnesses David Pecker and Michael Cohen, but the judge sided with Trumps defense attorneys in those instances.

Trumps trial will resume Tuesday, and is expected to last until at least the end of the month.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The NYPD, in cooperation with District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, will host a gun buyback event on Saturday, May 18.

The event, part of the New York City Gun Buyback Program, will take place at Christ Assembly Lutheran Church, 27 Hudson St. in Stapleton, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

As your D.A., I am committed to eradicating gun violence by any means necessary, McMahon posted last month on X, formerly Twitter.

Individuals who turn in operable handguns and assault rifles will face no questions and will receive $500 bank cards.

The program also offers $200 bank cards for so-called ghost guns and 3-D printed guns.

Anyone turning over a rifle or shotgun will receive a $75 bank card, while those handing in air guns, non-operational handguns and imitation pistols will receive a $25 bank card.

There is a three-gun-total limit and two-ghost gun limit per participant.

According to NYPD Compstat data, there have been six shooting victims and six shooting-related incidents on Staten Island this year.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  If youre pondering potential plans for Mothers Day this Sunday, you may want to consider an indoor activity. The latest forecast calls for a chance at thunder and pea-sized hail in the New York City area.

Sunday looks to feature cloudy skies and very-limited sunshine, as reported by AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek.

Rolling into the region on Mothers Day is a chance at a shower or what Dombek calls a thundershower in spots. Even though the meteorological event sounds like a storm of ceaseless lightning that would provide the backing to an AC/DC concert, Dombek says that the event will not be so severe. In reality, a thundershower is simply a rain shower accompanied by lightning.

Rainfall of less than half an inch is expected in the area, as noted by AccuWeather. Temperatures are anticipated to reach a cool high of 65 and a low of 50 in New York City.

A CHANCE AT HAIL

Recently, parts of the state experienced hail along with thunderstorms. While New York City was initially spared from these conditions, the weekend could very well bring some pea-sized hail to the area.

Leading into the weekend, anticipated storms will likely not feature any such hail, with Dombek noting that areas to the south such as Philadelphia and southern New Jersey yield higher likelihoods of that scenario.

However, the highest odds land on Mothers Day; an event which could take place in conjunction with the thundershower.

With the chilly air aloft, off the ground there, a few thousand feet up, if we did happen to get a thundershower that pops up on Sunday, it actually could have some hail with it. But small hail, kind of pea-sized or so.
Hobarts Museum of Old and New Art has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court of Tasmania in its fight to keep its women-only Ladies Lounge open.

Last month, Mona was ordered to close the lounge after a man launched an anti-discrimination case against the museum, as he objected to being refused admission to the space.

Kirsha Kaechele, the artist behind the Ladies Lounge, at the Supreme Court in Hobart. Credit: Jesse Hunniford

The NSW man, Jason Lau, won his case in the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and Mona was given 28 days to stop refusing entry to men. That deadline ended on Tuesday and the Ladies Lounge will be closed until further notice.

But the lounges creator, artist Kirsha Kaechele, who is married to Mona founder David Walsh, is not giving up on the lounges right to exist and lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Tuesday. Her motives go beyond the lounge itself  she wants to challenge the laws very relationship to and understanding of the arts.
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Eating outRestaurant news This is not a good deal: Merivales $18m class action settlement derailed A group of current and former employees alleging $129 million in underpayments now wants to abandon the settlement agreement. Bianca Hrovat May 7, 2024 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

Justin Hemmes hospitality empire Merivale is fighting to hold on to the $18 million settlement made in an underpayment class action lawsuit, after hundreds of additional workers unexpectedly joined the claim, derailing proceedings. In March, Merivale reached a settlement in response to allegations that it relied on an invalid Employee Collective Agreement, rather than the relevant industry award, to underpay up to 14,000 workers $129 million between 2013 and 2019. The hospitality group denies any wrongdoing. Under the agreement, Merivale was to pay a lump sum of $18 million to cover all damages and costs  almost half of which was likely to go to lawyers and the litigation funder. Justin Hemmes, at newly opened bar JAM, is the CEO of hospitality group Merivale. Steven Siewert The Federal Court was scheduled to hear the settlement agreement on May 7 to determine whether it was fair and reasonable, but circumstances unexpectedly changed following a 37 per cent jump in the registered number of affected Merivale workers.

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Anyone employed by Merivale during the period covered by the collective agreement was eligible to join the claim and receive a portion of the settlement sum. Counsel Rory Markham, of class action law firm Adero Law, told the court the number of group members rose to 788, wildly beyond what they anticipated during the final mediation hearing in December. Markham argued the $18 million sum could no longer be considered fair or reasonable, given that less than $9.5 million would remain to be distributed among the affected workers, and sought further mediation with Merivale. This is not a good deal, Markham argued, advising that Adero could no longer support the settlement and was abandoning the approval application. This is, in fact, a poor deal that has been substantially diluted by the additional registrations.

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Rory Markham from Adero Law is representing employees alleging underpayment by Merivale. Alex Ellinghausen Merivale does not wish to mediate and seeks to enforce the settlement as it stands. Merivale counsel Richard McHugh, SC, instructed by Johnson Winter Slattery, argued that the settlement figure had accounted for payment distribution to any additional group members. As an alternative to amending the settlement figure, McHugh proposed an obvious way through is for the funding commission or legal costs to be reduced. The original agreement proposed paying nearly 50 per cent, or about $8.6 million, of the settlement to Adero and litigation funders Investor Claim Partners. The figure does seem high, McHugh said. A costs referee accountant has been employed to examine Aderos records and determine what costs were incurred during the lawsuit, which has been ongoing since 2019.

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Before another hearing to determine whether further mediation is possible, the court ordered Adero to provide Merivale with further information and modelling to understand how the group members came to withdraw their settlement approval. Federal Court Justice Tom Thawley cautioned Merivale to focus on the issue at hand, rather than any alleged fault on the part of Adero lawyers. It seems to me that if the lawyers for the applicants were grossly incompetent  and failed to take into account the number of people that might register, it doesnt really matter, Justice Thawley said. The court isnt going to approve a settlement which isnt fair and reasonable, and its in everyones interest to focus on that question first. Read more Brisbane restaurant takes on hospo giant Merivale in surprise counterclaim over name

$300,000 is at the centre of a falling out between two Sydney hospo heavyweights

They went to war with each other: The rise and fall of a Sydney restaurant revolutionary

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Review Eating outSt Kilda These genius dumplings are not what you might expect at a typical suburban Thai The dish I loved most at Charlong is inspired not by an Asian kitchen but by iconic pasta restaurant Tipo 00. Dani Valent May 7, 2024 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

This venue appears in the June hit list Melbourne 2024. See all stories .

1 / 6 St Kildas Charlong is bright and cheerful, the food flavourful. Joe Armao 2 / 6 Thai tea tart with Thai milk tea panna cotta and whipped coconut cream. Joe Armao 3 / 6 Betel leaves topped with prawn and chicken jungle sausage. Joe Armao 4 / 6 Green curry with charcoal-grilled eggplant and optional brisket. Eggplant curry 5 / 6 Kingfish sashimi in coconut-and-galangal broth with passionfruit dressing. Joe Armao 6 / 6 King prawn dumplings with tapioca caviar. Joe Armao Previous Slide Next Slide Thai$$$$ You could look at Charlong as a nice, new neighbourhood Thai joint and youd be right: theres green curry, wokked noodles, papaya salad and friendly service. But youd also be wrong: Charlong is so much more than a standard suburban restaurant. Its clever, creative, run by women and could only be in Melbourne. Co-owner and chef Alex Kaew and her business partner and front-of-house manager Sara Pimsamarn do everything themselves, including curry pastes and spiced sausages. Pimsamarn has a background in five-star hotels. Kaew has worked in some of Melbournes best Asian restaurants, picking up skills and strategies, while also studying for a Masters degree in marketing and business. Its so tough for restaurants to make a go of it these days that I frankly feel nervous for anyone putting it all on the line and opening the doors. Hearing about Kaews extra qualifications gave me comfort. It gets even better: she grew up in Chanthaburi in Thailands east and spent long days helping at her grandmothers food stall. Anyone whos wrangled a mortar and pestle since they were 10 understands flavour.

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Green curry with charcoal-grilled eggplant and optional brisket. Joe Armao You dont need to know any of that to appreciate the delicious food. Prawn betel leaf is the umami bomb version of surf n turf, with sweet prawn and pungent chicken jungle sausage piled into a thrilling bite. Kingfish is briefly cured with makrut lime salt then laid in a shallow coconut-and-galangal broth that tips a hat to Filipino kinilaw, Thai tom kha gai and Spanish gazpacho. Its dressed with passionfruit, which sounds bonkers but completely works as an alternative acid bounce. Anyone whos wrangled a mortar and pestle since they were 10 understands flavour. The green curry recipe is from Pimsamarns family, balanced with grachai (wild ginger) and bolstered with turmeric-cured then charcoal-grilled eggplant. Add brisket if you like (I did): its a perfect meaty soaker for the elegantly spiced broth.

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Thai milk tea is given new life in the panna cotta tart with brown butter crumble and whipped coconut cream. Its excellent after dinner but I would also come here in the afternoon just for this dessert. Thai tea tart with Thai milk tea panna cotta and whipped coconut cream. Joe Armao Kaew has cooked at Phamily Kitchen (Vietnamese), Longsong and Longrain (Thai), Hochi Mama (Asian fusion), Rice Paper Scissors (Asian street food), Mr Miyagi (snacky Japanese) and was most recently head chef at BangBang in Elsternwick (Asian fusion). Shes basically put herself through restaurant school and there are elements of the whole curriculum in what shes doing at Charlong. King prawn dumplings with tapioca caviar. Joe Armao

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But the dish I loved most is inspired not by an Asian kitchen but by iconic Melbourne pasta restaurant Tipo 00. Dumplings are rethought as ravioli, filled with king prawn and bathed in lobster head bisque thats hot and sour like tom yum but enriched with butter. Tapioca beads are cooked with dark soy and squid ink to make a caviar garnish. Its genius. There are many reasons why dumplings shouldnt be considered cheap food; Kaews rendition offers a closing argument.

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Im struggling to imagine how a bunch of schoolboys might have thought this was OK. Here we are, just a few months after the public service hotties list debacle and now the lads at posh private school Yarra Valley Grammar have ranked their female classmates, from unrapable to wifey material.

This is happening at a co-ed school. A school filled with kids on track to being MPs, to being our best and brightest, filled with young men who will do well in life. But I want you to think of the young women who were described by their male peers as unrapable. It was designed to make the girls feel small and insignificant, yes, but also to provide a bond among the boys, companionable in their disregard for women. Unrapable? Safe, yes of course, thank God, but so repellant that even sexual assault was too good for them. Two of the boys involved were expelled on Tuesday, and the school has referred the matter to Victoria Police.

Boys from Yarra Valley Grammar have been suspended for ranking girls in categories on a chat group. Credit: Eddie Jim

Think of these girls while you are telling me boys will be boys. And the wifeys/cuties? Flattered maybe because we still believe that what men think about us matters. Think of those boys too, the next time someone writes  or says  not all men. Or says its men of colour. Or poor men. That they are the perpetrators. I took some time to look at the students who go to Yarra Valley Grammar.

Over 60 per cent of students are from the top economic quartile of Australian society. Another 25 per cent the next quartile down. If you dont understand the journey from deeming someone unrapable to becoming a rapist, you dont understand what happens to women in this nation of ours. Nice boys from nice homes make that journey. Just ask Chanel Contos of Teach Us Consent.
Tension was high at Monash University in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton today, seven days after students set up camp on the campus lawns in solidarity with pro-Palestine activists at universities around the world.

More than 100 people met at midday for what was meant to be a rally and march through the campus.

Organisers called off the march after clashes with a group of counter-demonstrators who showed up supporting Jewish students and Israel.

Counter-demonstrators class with university security at Monash. Credit: Justin McManus

Chants of: We are all Palestinians, Free, free Palestine and Israel out of Palestine, Israel out of West Bank were interrupted when Jewish students broke a camp barricade, made up of security guards and pro-Palestinian protesters.

One Jewish students shirt was ripped during an ensuing scuffle and another had their flag snatched when they pushed their way through the crowd.

Police watched from a distance as security guards worked to keep the opposing crowds separated. The taunts and cheers grew louder with the arrival of three adult activists, who marched onto the campus waving a large Palestine flag.

Minutes later, about 20 counter-demonstrators linked arms and sang the Israeli national anthem, as their fellow students shouted their demands for the university from a stage metres away.

Disclose, divest: we will not stop, we will not rest!

You wouldnt expect us to stay silent if this was the Vietnam War! the protesters called from the stage.

Despite the trading of insults, no arrests were made and there were no interjections from university staff.
Fresh from his defamation defeat, Bruce Lehrmann is facing legal action over the northern beaches pad he lived in rent-free under a deal with the Seven Network.

Lady Gaenor Meakes, the owner of the Balgowlah property where the former federal Liberal staffer lived until recently, is pursuing Lehrmann in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The matter is listed for a conciliation hearing on May 23 in Sydney.

Bruce Lehrmann, pictured on April 1 in the Sydney suburb of Balgowlah. Credit: Wolter Peeters

Meakes was the partner of champion sailor Mark Richards, a longtime skipper of Wild Oats XI. The precise nature of her action is not yet clear.

Lehrmann, who lost a multimillion-dollar defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson last month, had his rent at the luxury property covered by Seven.
A council in western Sydney has voted to rid its libraries of books that contain same-sex parenting material in a move that has outraged the mayor and local families.

The motion at Cumberland City Council was passed six votes to five, and prompted an angry NSW government to threaten a review of its library funding.

This book prompted complaints from parents, councillor Steve Christou said.

When civilisations turn to burning books or banning books it is a very bad sign. That is equally true for local councils, Arts Minister John Graham said.

The council, which includes the western Sydney suburbs of Auburn and Merrylands, met last Wednesday to vote on a new strategy for the eight council-run libraries.
A NSW university could become the first foreign institution to open in Saudi Arabia in a move under fire from staff who have accused it of hypocrisy for doing business with the kingdom despite its human rights record.

The University of Wollongong has been granted the first licence for an international university to investigate opening in Saudi Arabia as the Middle Eastern country pursues an aggressive strategy to diversify foreign investment and expand its higher education market.

The Saudi government revealed at a conference in February that an investment licence had been granted to Wollongong University.

Andrew Whelan, a sociology academic at the university and branch president of the National Tertiary Education Union, said staff were deeply concerned by the universitys willingness to do business with the Saudi regime.

It makes the university appear hypocritical, Whelan said.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size There is one part of me that says just let it happen (Trumpeting a terrible vision: What awaits if Biden loses  or even wins?, May 7). America has a political system that, after 250 years, is no longer fit for purpose. It has become paralysed by money. Donald Trump wants to blow it all up, and if he doesnt do it, someone else over the next few decades will. The precursor to any civil war is the gap between the super-rich and the poor. When the poor become the majority, civil war follows. Trump will probably be the catalyst for revolution and the collapse of the USA. All we can do is prepare for a world without America as the strongest power and sit back. Neville Turbit, Russell Lea Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: The enemy within in the USA is the headline-dominating Trump himself. His foul-mouthed hatreds, ignorance, repeated lies, tolerance of the likes of Vladimir Putin, and so much more that is negative make Tumultuous Trump t  this would-be dictator  a danger to democracy and world peace. His preparedness to excuse and promote extremist followers responsible for the destruction and death in the Capitol attack of January 2021 is treasonous. The Republican Partys support for Trump and its failure to oust him will ultimately be to its cost. Longstanding allies of the USA, such as we are, can only hope that Joe Biden prevails in the forthcoming presidential election. Ron Sinclair, Windradyne Like all reasonable, rational, democracy and freedom-loving people, I share Peter Hartchers alarm at the prospect of unleashing Donald Trump on the world. But I am hopeful that the hundreds of millions of Americans who defeated the corrupt blowhard at the previous election will do so again. I am hopeful that the legal proceedings against Trump will hobble him. And I am hopeful that the world community, including Australia, will drop the diplomatic niceties and trumpet what we know is right. Mark Paskal, Austinmer Hartchers review of Donald Trumps view of the world is brimming with nightmare possibilities. Trump, as Hartcher makes clear, rejects the relatively successful post-WWII global consensus. Should Trump win the presidency and trigger an isolationist USA, Australias current trade and foreign policy positions, not to mention its geopolitical role in South-East Asia, would not be relevant. It is all theory at the moment, but, as Hartchers review predicts, it points to an interesting US presidential election. Peter Thomas, Rose Bay Everyone in the MAGA cult should read Hartchers article on Trumps plan for his second presidency. Then, if they still think he is suited for or should be honoured with the presidency, they are either deliberately and wilfully ignorant, or they actually respect and agree with his corrupt values. Lets hope it is because of the latter two, as there is a slight chance of challenging and maybe changing their views with enough logical arguments. Stupidity we cant do anything about. Richard Keyes, Enfield I am appalled that Time magazine saw fit to allow Trump to espouse his vile agenda for the forthcoming election in their magazine. Josephine Piper, Miranda

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Congratulations in order for Minns on DV response I agree with Premier Chris Minns that a royal commission into domestic violence is not needed right away as it costs money and is too slow (Minns rules out royal commission, May 7). Why do we need a NSW royal commission when we can benchmark those of other states such as Victoria that have had a positive impact on DV? Apart from the legal issues and some state specific questions the rest of what ails domestic violence can be borrowed from other states findings. Weve had many royal commissions and not all recommendations are implemented. Why waste valuable time and money when we can make quick decisions based on what our neighbour states have found? Manbir Singh Kohli, Pemulwuy The great divide. Credit: Cathy Wilcox Why should a royal commission held in Victoria hold no valuable, transferable recommendations for NSW? Why not at least read their report to see what worked, given Victoria says things have changed for the better since implementing their commission recommendations? We dont need to reinvent the wheel, nor put our political heads in the sand, just because it happened across the border. Are Victorians so different from New South Welshman that their studies will show us nothing? Leone Moffat, Long Beach The premier is to be congratulated on his response to the domestic violence crisis we are facing as a community. Fast and pragmatic, rather than idealistic and perfect, is the way to go. A royal commission might be a great idea, but it isnt a short-term solution, and it would eat up money to enrich the lawyers, rather than help the victims. This scourge must be faced head on. Vivienne Parsons, Thornleigh Royal commissions are very thorough, but slow. Often used an excuse to delay, historically recommendations are not enacted, or they are cherry-picked, and within a few years the document is collecting dust. Those concerned about the DV crisis support the governments current course of quick consultation and spending. Anne Matheson, Gordon For those wanting a royal commission into domestic violence, we are still waiting for all recommendations coming from Aboriginal deaths in custody to be implemented. Geoff Teys, Chippendale

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It seems apparent that the reason we dont need a royal commission into violence against women is that weve known for years what needs to be done and successive governments of both persuasions have failed to implement what the sector has been asking for. Colin Stokes, Camperdown The denigration of females starts in the cradle and goes all the way to the top (Letters, May 7). While ever the most withering, degrading criticism of a boy consists in calling him a sissy or a girl, and a national cabinet minister can get away with insulting an opponent by calling him a girly man there is little hope of improvement. Meredith Williams, Baulkham Hills Love for Labor is fading fast Its a sad, and almost universal, truth in politics that political leaders and the governments they lead, no matter how popular when elected, always finish their term in office as unpopular (Men swing support to Coalition, May 7). Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government are certainly setting a cracking, almost record-breaking pace to reach that end. Rob Sinclair, North Sydney The Resolve Political Monitor indicates that Peter Dutton may be elected as prime minister at the next election. If that is the case, there is every likelihood that our diplomatic relations with China may be back to COVID days. Peng Ee, Castle Cove Resolve Political Monitor director Jim Reed says their latest survey result detects a strong protest message in the anti-Labor vote adding, Its entirely possible those people come back to the fold or at least preference Labor when it comes to the crunch. What this demonstrates is the weakness of the optional preference voting system when peoples votes, in most instances, end up going to one of the major political parties. The federal voting system should be optional preferential, where the voter determines where their vote goes. Riley Brown, Bondi Beach

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Arts undervalued When did the term struggling artist become a job description (Artists living off Bunnings work instead of their craft, May 7)? In countries such as France those pursuing a career in the performing arts are supported and encouraged. The collective view is that music, film, art and performance enhance and inform a society, and that its a credit to the depth of local talent that despite the sacrifice required to commit to a craft, they are well represented and applauded on the world stage. Imagine if we were to nurture those skills. Janet Argall, Dulwich Hill Make Qantas pay I hope the ACCC is on good speaking terms with the ATO (Qantas agrees to settle for $120m, May 7). Any approved settlement deal with Qantas needs to ensure that the $20 million compensation paid to customers is not claimed as a tax deduction. The $100 million penalty is not allowed due to legislation, but the other $20 million paid needs to be described for passenger inconvenience and suffering, then it will not be deductible. No escape hatch for this airline. Michael Blissenden, Dural Profit & Loss. Credit: Matt Golding Qantas management and executives should be held accountable for their poor decisions that cost shareholders money (Letters, May 7). If only there was a forum for the shareholders of Qantas to ask questions and vote on their remuneration and incentives, we may be halfway there. Phil Devine, Penshurst

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Housing solution I share your correspondents view that legislation should be introduced to encourage owners of vacant properties to make them available for rental (Letters, May 7). In March this year Georges River Council made a unanimous resolution along those lines. If other councils are similarly concerned about the housing shortage, they should urgently follow suit. James Deli, Oatley If you are looking for a parking space, then Sydney is full. Plans for more homes must include provision for parking. These days every home needs more than one car space, and some need space for extras such as boats, vans, and trailers. Adding hundreds of homes to a locality without creating space for vehicles is simply wrong. Any planning should also allow for provision for EVs and even for community batteries to store solar power. It is accepted that a home needs some connection to water and the sewer, but not accepted that a home needs somewhere to put cars and the rest. Michael Harrington, Bonnet Bay Profits over people Interesting to note the negative comments about NRMA Insurance and the closing down of a local branch (Letters, May 7). Remember when the NRMA had lots of additional services, like an inspection department that could be called upon if you were buying a car and wanted it inspected? Or when there was a technical department where you could discuss the various ins and outs of vehicles? What happened? The administration of a once mutual society asked members about the NRMA being turned into a profit-making company. Those hungry members voted yes for a short-term gain, and this is what we have ended up with. It was always going to be so. Stewart Copper, Maroubra User pays Your correspondent bemoans the enormous SUVs intimidating other drivers, polluting the atmosphere and taking up excessive space in car parks (Letters, May 7). These behemoths are advertised by their makers as trucks, and are referred to in their country of origin as pick-up trucks. An obvious solution to these issues would seem to be to officially classify them as trucks, with the same registration, insurance and tolls as a truck, and a prohibition on entering car parks. This might even result in a reduction in the numbers of these monsters, driving down the global warming contribution of these gas guzzlers. Ian Rewell, Longueville

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Thanks for joining us. This is where well leave our live updates for today, but well be back on deck tomorrow.

Here are a few of our top stories:

Brisbane public transport users will soon be able to plan their trips across not just trains, buses and CityCats but include walking and riding, with a contract awarded to replace the beleaguered MyTranslink app.

The RBA has held interest rates on hold, but its not all good news. The Reserve Bank says inflation will get worse this year and economic growth will be slower.

Queensland Police sacked its formal First Nations advisory body on the day of former commissioner Katarina Carrolls departure, after members refused to sign agreements that would silence their public advocacy.

Visy cardboard king Anthony Pratt was one of the brightest figures on the Met Galas red carpet  but perhaps not the best dressed.

Anthony Pratt at the 2024 Met Gala in New York. Credit: Getty

Two boys have been expelled from an exclusive Melbourne school over a spreadsheet that used disparaging language to rate female classmates.

One of the years major Brisbane restaurant openings, Longwang, has been unveiled in a one-of-a-kind former laneway space in the CBD.

The family of a woman who was viciously beaten by her partner in an attack that included punching her 40 times felt betrayed after he was cleared of contributing to her death.

Fresh from his defamation defeat, Bruce Lehrmann is facing legal action over the Sydney pad he lived in rent-free under a deal with the Seven Network.
A Perth magistrate seemed to have no idea she was granting bail to one of the 149 detainees released under a controversial High Court ruling last November when the man came before her for a stealing charge in March.

Kimbengere Gosoge, 42, has been arrested twice since his release from Northams Yongah Hill Detention Centre five months ago  once for possession of drugs and trespassing and once for the stealing  despite being subject to strict monitoring and curfew requirements.

Yongah Hill Detention Centre. Credit: 9News Perth

Those requirements were the responsibility of the Australian Border Force, but when Gosoge was arrested by WA Police for stealing in the circumstances of aggravation on March 8, officers seemed to be none the wiser as to who he was.

A court transcript obtained by this masthead indicated that, during a breach of bail hearing on March 19 at Joondalup Magistrates Court, neither the WA Police prosecutor nor Magistrate Raelene Johnstone had any idea that Gosoge should have been under strict supervision.
Perths housing sector is in dire straits with record rent rises, a rental vacancy rate stuck at diabolical lows, soaring house prices, a burgeoning social housing list of nearly 36,000, and a residential construction industry scrambling to meet demand as our population grows faster than any other state.

Housing Minister John Carey says hes pulling every lever to solve WAs deepening housing crisis, already announcing a raft of pre-budget measures to boost supply including dangling cash carrots to entice property owners to bring stock onto the long-term rental market.

WAs housing crisis is set to be deep and long with no medium-term remedy in sight. Credit: Ross Swanborough

Waiting in the wings with fresh ideas to bolster housing supply are two of the most powerful property lobby groups in this state: the Property Council and the Urban Development Institute of Australia.

Strategic Property Group managing director Trent Fleskens said most of the more poignant policy decisions made by the government had come directly from consultation with property lobby groups.
West Australian Education Minister Tony Buti has addressed the police shooting death of a 16-year-old student from a prestigious public school in Perths south for the first time, distancing the teens stabbing attack from a letter penned by parents at the school raising concerns about radicalisation.

Speaking to ABC Perth on Tuesday morning, Buti confirmed he had received a letter from parents at Rossmoyne Senior High School, but clarified it was a mother and father who were concerned their child was being radicalised at school.

The 16-year-old schoolboy was shot dead by police during a confronting scene WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said had all the hallmarks of a terrorist incident.

The letter, Buti said, had nothing to do with the boy who died, and the two should be treated as separate issues.

The letter itself did not identify a student. The issue was about radicalisation, the letter did not express concern of community safety, more concern about their child being radicalised, he said.
What truly happened was that an Australian military aircraft deliberately flew within close range of Chinas airspace in a provocative move which endangered Chinas maritime air security. China has launched serious protests with the Australian side on these risky moves. We urge Australia to stop provocations to prevent misunderstanding and miscalculation. Albanese said navy personnel were working in the Yellow Sea to ensure the enforcement of United Nations sanctions on North Korea, making Chinas intercept completely unacceptable. Daniel Kritenbrink, the US State Departments assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said the Biden administration was deeply concerned by the incident and called for China to do more to enforce UN sanctions on North Korea. These are serious matters; you could have an accident that could put someones life at risk, Kritenbrink said during a visit to Canberra to meet with Australian officials.

These are not just abstract principles, were talking about the safety and wellbeing of our military personnel. Kritenbrink said that over recent years, the general trend has been a Chinese military that is more aggressive and assertive ... and unfortunately, oftentimes unprofessional and unsafe in how its operated. Unfortunately, this is a phenomenon that has been developing for many years now, and its probably going to be with us for many years to come, Kritenbrink said. I think its really incumbent for all of us to speak up and speak out when these incidents happen, to demonstrate that we expect China and its military to operate in a professional and safe manner.

Kritenbrink said Australian military personnel were doing important work enforcing international sanctions on the illegal transfer of nuclear weapons material to North Korea. Daniel Kritenbrink, the US State Departments assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs. Credit: AAP Candidly speaking, we wish China were doing more to implement UN Security Council resolutions and various related sanctions vis-a-vis [North Korea] rather than engaging in conduct that is viewed as unsafe, he said. Government sources said complaints had been lodged with Beijing through official Defence channels, as well as through embassies in Canberra and Beijing. Albanese would not confirm if he had called Xi to discuss the incident but said he would raise the matter with Li directly when they met next month.

Weve made the appropriate diplomatic representations, as youd expect. We regard this as unprofessional and ... unacceptable, and weve made clear that view to Beijing, both through Beijing and also through Canberra, Albanese told Nines Today program on Tuesday. We do have communications with China. That includes visits, and the Chinese premier will be here in June. We will make our position clear as well in discussions. An Australian Navy Seahawk helicopter had a near miss with a Chinese fighter jet. Albanese added: I think the Australian public would expect some form of explanation about how this could occur. Dutton urged Albanese on Tuesday to pick up the phone to Xi to express his dismay  and, really, disgust  with what has happened because they have put Australian lives at risk and that is completely unacceptable.

We want peace to prevail in our region, but we dont do it from a position of weakness. I think the prime minister has to pick the phone up and express our deep concern because, at the moment, well see a response from China to deny that it happened or that we had made a mistake, he told Today. It is at some stage going to escalate, perhaps by accident, but itll be that unintended consequence, and Australian Defence Force personnel will pay with their lives and we dont want to see that. The Chinese embassy in Canberra has been contacted for comment. In a statement, the Defence Department criticised Chinas behaviour as posing a risk to the aircraft and personnel. While there were no injuries sustained by ADF personnel or damage caused to the MH-60R helicopter, the safety and wellbeing of our ADF personnel continues to be our utmost priority, the department said.
A critical shortage of child protection and domestic violence workers in NSW has sparked the start of rolling strike action, with the Public Service Association (PSA) warning at least 500 extra positions are needed to stop at-risk children falling through the cracks.

As many as one in 10 child protection positions are unfilled in NSW, while a key service provider in Molly Ticehursts home town of Forbes was told it could not apply for funds for domestic service workers under a multimillion-dollar NSW-Commonwealth scheme.

The scheme was established to fix the sectors chronic understaffing but the funding agreement, which aims to hire 118 new specialist domestic violence staff in NSW, has been beset by delays, with NSW Minister for Women Jodie Harrison admitting only five had been hired so far.

Minister for Domestic Violence Jodie Harrison has confirmed that there are delays to the recruitment of domestic violence workers. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

As national attention has turned to domestic violence following Ticehursts death allegedly at the hands of her ex-partner, the appalling state of the out-of-home care system in NSW has also come under fire amid reports high caseworker vacancy rates were undermining the ability to meet the needs of vulnerable children.
Lombok airports domestic and international flights are serviced by the same terminal and the drop-off area is not busy when I arrive about 7.15am for my domestic flight. I walk down a long white corridor to a sparse, somewhat sterile wide open space with high ceilings. It houses a large wooden sculpture  of what, Im still trying to work out. Theres also a small local restaurant and the dreaded Baggage Services, which offers plastic wrapping of luggage, an unnecessary security measure thats frustratingly popular in this part of the world.

The look

Plenty of seating, but few dining options. Credit: iStock

Its a largely nondescript building in need of a personality transplant. The exterior is a mix of blue reflective windows and steel beams with a wooden arch on the top that mimics the shape of the islands traditional Sasak villages. Inside, wide spaces are sprinkled with the odd souvenir shop and a handful of mediocre dining options.

Check-in

The self-check-in kiosk is not co-operating, so I line up at a desk. Despite being at the front of the queue, another gentleman is served ahead of me. Ive purchased 15 kilograms of checked luggage, but Im about three kilos over, albeit with minimal carry-on. Staff wont allow me to shuffle things around to make the weight limit, so I pay the 150,000 rupiah ($15).
This particular story began a few years ago, when researchers realised that DNA analysis had advanced enough to justify an examination of hair said to have been clipped from Beethovens head by anguished fans as he lay dying. Portrait of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) by German painter Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820. Credit: Getty William Meredith, the founding director of the Ira F. Brilliant Centre for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University began searching for locks at auctions and in museums. Eventually, he and his colleagues ended up with five locks that were confirmed by a DNA analysis to have come from the composers head. Kevin Brown, an Australian businessman with a passion for Beethoven, owned three of the locks and wanted to honour Beethovens request in 1802 that when he died doctors might attempt to figure out why he had been so ill. Brown sent two locks to a specialised lab at the Mayo Clinic that has the equipment and expertise to test for heavy metals. The result, said Paul Jannetto, the lab director, was stunning. One of Beethovens locks had 258 micrograms of lead per gram of hair, and the other had 380 micrograms.

A normal level in hair is less than four micrograms of lead per gram. It definitely shows Beethoven was exposed to high concentrations of lead, Jannetto said. These are the highest values in hair Ive ever seen, he added. We get samples from around the world, and these values are an order of magnitude higher. Beethoven composing the Pastoral symphony by a brook on the outskirts of Vienna, 1807-08. Lithograph, 1834. Credit: Alamy Beethovens hair also had arsenic levels 13 times what is normal and mercury levels that were four times the normal amount. But the high amounts of lead, in particular, could have caused many of his ailments, Jannetto said.

The investigators, including Jannetto, Brown and Meredith, describe their findings in a letter published in the journal Clinical Chemistry this week. The analysis updates a report from last year, when the same team said Beethoven did not have lead poisoning. Now with thorough testing, they say that he had enough lead in his system to, at the very least, explain his deafness and illnesses. David Eaton, a toxicologist and professor emeritus at the University of Washington who was not involved in the study, said that Beethovens gastrointestinal problems are completely consistent with lead poisoning. As for Beethovens deafness, he added, high doses of lead affect the nervous system and could have destroyed his hearing. Whether the chronic dose was sufficient to kill him is hard to say, Eaton added. No one is suggesting the composer was deliberately poisoned. But, Jerome Nriagu, an expert on lead poisoning in history and a professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, said that lead had been used in wines and food in 19th-century Europe, as well as in medicines and ointments.

One likely source of Beethovens high levels of lead was cheap wine. Lead, in the form of lead acetate, also called lead sugar, has a sweet taste. In Beethovens time it was often added to poor quality wine to make it taste better. Wine was also fermented in kettles soldered with lead, which would leach out as the wine aged, Nriagu said. And, he added, corks on wine bottles were soaked in lead salt to improve the seal. Beethoven monument on Muensterplatz plaza, in Bonn, Germany. Credit: Alamy Beethoven drank copious amounts of wine, about a bottle a day, and later in his life even more, believing it was good for his health and also, Meredith said, because he had become addicted to it. In the last few days before his death at age 56 in 1827, his friends gave him wine by the spoonful. When he was 32, Beethoven mourned that he could not hear a flute or a shepherd singing, which, he wrote, brought me almost to despair. A little more and I would have committed suicide  only Art held me back. Ah it seemed unthinkable to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I feel lies within me.

Over the years, Beethoven consulted many doctors, trying treatment after treatment for his ailments and his deafness, but found no relief. At one point, he was using ointments and taking 75 medicines, many of which most likely contained lead. In 1823, he wrote to an acquaintance, also deaf, about his own inability to hear, calling it a grievous misfortune, and noting: Doctors know little; one finally tires of them. His Ninth Symphony was most likely a way to reconcile his grief with his art. Since he was a teenager, Beethoven had been enthralled by a poem, Ode to Joy, by Friedrich Schiller. He set the poem to music in the Ninth, sung by soloists and a chorus  considered the first instance of singing in a symphony. It was the culmination of the symphony, depicting a search for joy.
To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings, he said. Trump did not reply to Merchans warning. Merchan, a stern but soft-spoken judge, did not raise his voice even as he spoke about a once-unthinkable scenario  the presumptive Republican nominee for president running for office from a jail cell. Trump is the first former US president to face a criminal trial, and Merchans toughest warning to date came on the fourth week of the proceedings, at roughly the halfway mark of the trial. In his ruling, Merchan decided that Trumps comments in an interview  in which he criticised the make-up and selection of his jury  had violated the gag order, while three other public statements he made around that same period in late April had not. Merchans decision marks the second time Trump has been told his statements outside court  whether in interviews or social media posts  violated the court order.

While Trump has tangled with judges in past civil trials, the stakes in a criminal trial are higher because the threat of incarceration hangs over the entire process. Outside the courtroom, Trump has said he was willing to go to jail to defend what he calls his constitutional right to speak as a presidential candidate. The case against Trump centres on payments made by his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen (centre), to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Credit: AP At the end of the court session, Trump told reporters outside the courtroom that the trial was a disgrace, and even more disgraceful is the gag order where, basically, I have to watch every word I tell you people. Trump suggested he was, in fact, willing to go to jail in the stand-off with the judge. Our Constitution is much more important than jail. Its not even close. Ill do that sacrifice any day, he said. His lawyers have argued that Trump has to be able to respond to the verbal attacks of his political rivals and critics, particularly when that criticism was levelled by a witness against him.

The 12th day of Trumps trial in New York, on charges of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, was otherwise consumed by the dry but factually critical details about the checks Trump signed in 2017. Loading Witnesses confirmed they handled the paperwork that helped pay former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen for what prosecutors say was a corrupt scheme to influence the election by keeping the actress silent during the 2016 presidential campaign about her alleged tryst with Trump years earlier. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 counts and denied any such sexual encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. To try to prove their case, prosecutors called Jeffrey McConney, a former senior accountant at the Trump Organisation, to describe how he was instructed to arrange the payments to Cohen.

McConney said he was summoned by his boss, chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, in January 2017 to discuss the issue. Allen said we had to get some money to Michael or reimburse Michael, McConney testified. He tossed a pad towards me and I started taking notes about what Allen said. Prosecutors say the money was meant to pay Cohen back for paying Daniels $US130,000 in October 2016 to keep quiet. Loading The Trump Organisation added money on top of that to include a bonus, and reimbursement for a separate $US50,000 business expense Cohen said he paid on Trumps behalf, McConney said. They also added to the amount so that Cohen wouldnt lose money on the transactions because of the taxes he would have to pay. We added everything up, and we came up with the amount we wanted to pay him, which was $US420,000, said McConney. That figure was based, according to an exhibit introduced as court evidence, partly on a $US130,000 payment from Essential Consultants LLC, a company Cohen created, which paid Daniels.

McConneys testimony is important to the prosecution case because his former boss, Weisselberg, is unlikely to testify after having previously pleaded guilty to perjury in a different case. While McConney was helpful to prosecutors in confirming the general purpose of the payments and that most of the checks were signed by Trump from his personal account, McConney conceded there were important details he didnt know. Prosecutors say reimbursing Cohen for the payment made to Daniels was wrongly categorised in company books as legal costs, when it should have been noted as a campaign expenditure. Jurors listened as McConney and a former subordinate described monthly emails from Cohen in 2017 meant to serve as invoices for his payment. While McConneys testimony helped prosecutors, he was one of several witnesses so far who seem to remain on good terms with Trump even after testifying against him.
PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- In an effort to foster greater transparency and operational efficiency, and as part of the onboarding program R.I.S.E.  Leadership Excellence through Relationship Building, Insight, Skills and Empowerment, the Council of Ministers (CoM) had an introductory meeting with the Secretary-General (SG) Platform, of which all Secretaries General of the Ministries form part of.

Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina emphasized the necessity of breaking down communication barriers across ministries, the so-called silo approach, to enhance operational transparency and efficiency.

Our goal is to streamline government activities through better communication, ensuring that all ministries are aligned with the governments broader objectives, stated the Prime Minister.

To enhance alignment and synchronization, and a more integrated approach, regular strategic meetings between the Council of Ministers and the SG Platform in the presence of key staff within the cabinet of the Minister as well as the financial controller of the Ministry, will be instituted.

A follow-up meeting has been scheduled for May 21, aimed at involving the Secretary Generals more deeply in finalizing the Governing Program, which will form the basis in the formulation of the annual action plans and policy strategies for the seven ministries.

This strategy is intended to ensure the SGs are co-owners of the Governing Program, fostering a sense of shared responsibility.

Prime Minister Mercelina reiterated the governments commitment to a transparent, effective government that prioritizes the welfare of the nation over individual interests.

We aim to create a working environment that promotes honesty and integrity in its way of communication, Prime Minister Mercelina said.

The attending ministers supported this sentiment, and the Secretary Generals expressed that they are looking forward to future collaborative efforts, as expressed during the meeting.
PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- The Colorado State University (CSU) Tropical Weather & Climate Research Center issued in April its seasonal hurricane activity and is forecasting up to 23 named storms for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.



Of the 23 named storms, 11 could become hurricanes, including five that could become major hurricanes (category 3-5). According to the CSU, there could be 115 days of storm activity or three months and three weeks, 45 hurricane activity days, and 13 major hurricane activity days.



The hurricane season officially starts on June 1st and ends on November 30th.



The Office of Disaster Management (ODM), which falls under the Fire Department (Ministry of General Affairs) and is headed by Fire Chief/Disaster Coordinator Clive Richardson, is appealing to all residents and businesses to start preparing for a busy hurricane season ahead. Do not wait until June 1st or the last minute to make such preparations.



You have the time now to prepare in a timely manner for what has been described as an extremely active hurricane season.



The 2024 storm names are Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Francine, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk, Leslie, Milton, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sara, Tony, Valerie, and William.



The community is urged to learn more about hurricane hazards and how to prepare for a storm/hurricane strike by visiting the Government website www.sintmaartengov.org/hurricane. There, you can download your Hurricane Season Readiness Guide" and Hurricane Tracking Chart.



Listen to the Government Radio stationSXMGOV 107.9FMfor official information and news before, during, and after a hurricane. You can also follow weather-related news and information, as well as national addresses by the Prime Minister and chairperson of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), by going to the @SXMGOV Facebook Page.



For official weather-related information, check out the website of the Meteorological Department of St. Maarten (MDS): www.meteosxm.com or visit their social media page Facebook.com/sxmweather/



Remember, it only takes one hurricane to make it a bad season. Be prepared!
Loar Holdings Inc. Announces Addition of Paul Dolan as Executive Vice President

Loar Holdings Inc. (the Company or Loar), a leading provider of niche aerospace and defense components, announced that Paul Dolan has joined the organization as Executive Vice President. Mr. Dolan will have operational, financial, and strategic oversight of Maverick Molding Co., Pacific Piston Ring Co., Inc., AGC Acquisition LLC d/b/a AGC Incorporated, and SAF Industries LLC d/b/a Gar Kenyon.

Paul comes to Loar with over 25 years of experience in the Technology and Aerospace and Defense industries, most recently serving as Chief Executive Officer of Aviation Technical Services (ATS), a leading provider of aircraft heavy maintenance, component repair services, and distribution of Used Serviceable Material (USM) and in-house developed PMA parts. Prior to ATS, Mr. Dolan held commercial and defense executive leadership roles at Chromalloy Gas Turbine, LLC. Paul has a B.S. Mechanical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy, a M.S. Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business. Mr. Dolan also is a decorated U.S. Naval Officer who flew carrier-based F/A-18 fighter aircraft including in the Persian Gulf.

Paul has a track record of executive leadership, delivering superior results while creating an intentional culture consistent with Loar s values. We are thrilled to have Paul s extensive talent in the Loar Family said Dirkson Charles, Loar Holding s Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Loar family of companies welcomes Paul to the Team, continued Mr. Charles.

I am very excited to be joining such a talented leadership team and an organization passionate about both culture and results. I m honored to have the opportunity and look forward to supporting our industry and assisting in the next chapter of Loar s growth and success stated Mr. Dolan.

About Loar Holdings Inc.

Loar Holdings Inc. is a diversified manufacturer and supplier with established relationships across leading aerospace and defense OEMs and Tier Ones worldwide. The Company s mandate is to create a strategic global alliance of companies specializing in the design and manufacture of aerospace and defense components. Loar provides its partners and customers with innovative, cost-effective engineering and manufacturing capabilities and responsive, dependable service, leading to profitable and sustainable long-term relationships.

Contact:

Investor Relations

IR@Loargroup.com

SOURCE: Loar Holdings Inc.

Transmitted by IRW-Press a News Service of IR-WORLD.com Finanzkommunikation GmbH

The author of the news release is solely responsible for the content of the release or research. This news does not constitute investment advice or an invitation to conclude certain stock exchange transactions.
Jackermeier investor group increases financing offer to Endor AG to EUR 48.4 Million and calls for personnel changes at Management Board and Supervisory Board level

A group of investors formed by the founder, major shareholder and former CEO of Endor AG, Thomas Jackermeier, has significantly increased its financing offer to the company to a total of EUR 48.439 million, according to an open letter from the group to the lending banks and the Supervisory Board of Endor AG, which the group has published earlier today and which is attached to this press release. The group is demanding that the CEO and CFO of Endor AG are to be removed from office and that two members of the Supervisory Board are to resign. The investor group coordinates its steps with the Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger (SdK).

Open letter to the representatives of the banks and the Supervisory Board of Endor

From Thomas Jackermeier as representative of the Jackermeier investor group

Dear representatives of the banks,

Dear Supervisory Board of Endor AG,

With this open letter, we want to remain true to our line and ensure transparency in the financial restructuring of Endor AG  as we already did with the press release of April 25, 2014. We are concerned about the behavior of the management of Endor AG, which lacks transparency towards the market as well as towards partners and employees.

The Jackermeier investor group (investor group) has submitted a proposal to the Board of Directors with the following key points.

Binding offers:

 Commitment letters for the subscription of a capital increase at a subscription price of EUR 1 and the issue of 7,748,792 new shares and thus a volume of EUR 7,748,792

 Exercise of own and assigned subscription rights in the amount of 5,234,066 shares

 Obligation to subscribe to unexercised subscription rights in the amount of up to EUR 6,205,416

 Loans with convertible loans totaling EUR 9 million

 Secured loans without conversion option totaling EUR 11 million

 Increase of all offers by EUR 5,815,532.00

 A new and very financially strong German investor has joined the group, who submitted a binding offer for a secured loan in the amount of EUR 5 million (with a bank confirmation).

 Werner Zieglmaier (auditor and tax consultant)

 Robin von Buren (entrepreneur and planned new major investor)

 Approval of the investor group s offer. This means that it would no longer be legally possible to file the StaRUG proceedings.

 Start negotiations to extend the loans until at least December 31, 2025 and if possible until December 31, 2026, as well as reviewing the interest conditions, negotiating repayments and financing the property with the company as soon as the Management Board has been reappointed.

Total: EUR 27,748,792 million

Non-binding offers:

Loans with convertible loans totaling EUR 17 million

Total: EUR 17,000,000 million

Total of all offers: EUR 48,439,482 million

All offers contain a confidentiality clause that prevents further details of these offers from being disclosed.

Compared to the last proposal, the new proposal has improved as follows:

In addition, parts of the investor group have had access to the data room since 02.05.2024. However, there have also been complaints from potential investors that Goetzpartners refuses to grant access to the data room. In principle, the investor group welcomes the restriction of access to the data room in order to prevent the unnecessary disclosure of confidential information. In this context, we would like to state that the investor group is aware that at least three direct competitors of Endor AG have apparently been granted full access to confidential information in the data room and that this could result in a significant competitive disadvantage and damage for the company.

Based on the information from the data room and an internal review, the investor group has come to the following conclusions:

 The capital requirement of EUR 25 million demanded by the Executive Board for financing through to 2026 cannot be verified.

 In addition, there are probably two liquidity plans: an internal company plan and an investor/bank plan. The liquidity requirements of both plans differ considerably, in the eight-digit range, at the expense of the planning for the investor group.

 In the planning submitted to the investor group by Goetzpartners, the implementation of a capital increase is planned. At the same time, however, the high costs for the implementation of StaRUG are also included, although these would not be incurred if the investor group s offer were accepted. Thomas Koch from the recruitment agency Taskforce is also to work for the company again from June 2024 for EUR 85,000 per month, contrary to the wishes of the investor group. Mr. Koch was responsible for Thomas Jackermeier s departure from the company together with Mr. Kosch.

 With carefully optimized liquidity planning in conjunction with the full financing of the property, we believe that there may be no additional capital requirement to ensure continuous liquidity until the end of 2026.

 With an additional sale of the property and leaseback as well as the capital increase, the equity ratio would also return to a normal range and Endor would no longer be a restructuring case. The investor group has repeatedly pointed out that the new major investor would like to purchase the property, but the necessary data on the property has not yet been provided by the Executive Board.

The investor group is therefore demanding that the Supervisory Board undertakes the following measures immediately:

 Immediate dismissal of Executive Board members Andres Ruff and Matthias Kosch due to breach of duty and withdrawal of confidence

 Immediate resignation of the Supervisory Board members Ingo Weber and Rudolf Dittrich. The resignation must be granted with sufficient notice to ensure that the local judge has enough time to examine and appoint the candidates for the Supervisory Board proposed by the investor group and the SdK.

 To this day, Supervisory Board members Ingo Weber and Rudolf Dittrich have failed or refused to accept invitations to three Supervisory Board meetings on the reorganization of the Management Board.

We therefore call on the Supervisory Board:

 To convene the next meeting on May 6, 2024 and expect all three Supervisory Board members to attend the required restructuring of the Executive Board and to clarify the significant discrepancy between the company s internal and investor-related liquidity planning.

 Immediate audit of the liquidity planning by an auditor or auditing company in co-ordination with the investor group and the new Executive Board to determine the acute capital requirements for the next 12 weeks, as well as the actual total capital requirements within the planned restructuring period. The banks are invited to accompany the examination.

 In addition, the preliminary annual financial statements for 2023 have to be subjected to an audit review in order to verify the expected equity ratio after implementation of all financing components of the investor group.

The investor group and the SdK propose the following candidates for the Supervisory Board:

I myself do not intend to return to the company as a member of the Executive Board, but I will of course continue to devote all my energy outside the Executive Board to the successful further development of this company.

Finally, I would like to explicitly mention that we have no indications or even knowledge that the banks or their advisors are aware of these events and rather assume that the banks, as well as the investor group, were deliberately deceived by individual Executive Board members and any supporters about the actual short and long-term capital requirements.

The investor group asks the banks to resolve the following at the imminent bank meeting:

These measures would secure long-term financing and the equity ratio would be at a level that would immediately end the expensive restructuring support. With the help of the banks, the company can thus finally concentrate on daily business again. However, the investor group makes it very clear that the sensible planned measures must be implemented and tackled with all due intensity so that the company s profitability increases again quickly and sustainably.

If you, as a shareholder or potential investor, are prepared to support the contents of this letter and the Jackermeier investor group, I would ask for your assistance. Please send an e-mail with the following content to Zieglmaier Treuhand.GmbH Wirtschaftsprufungsgesellschaft Steuerberatungsgesellschaft, Ludwig-Erhard-Str. 6a, 84034 Landshut, Kanzlei Zieglmaier:Tel.: 0871/975970

To: investorengruppe.jackermeier@zieglmaier-treuhand.com

Subject: Open letter from the Jackermeier investor group

Sender

 Name of the shareholder / name of the company (HRB number)  Representative

 Address

 Optional: Telephone number

 Number of shares held

 Enclosure: Deposit statement or proof of shares held

I support the open letter from the Jackermeier investor group with all the requests to the banks and the demands to the Supervisory Board.

[Optional 1: After reviewing the documents, I would declare my binding willingness to exercise all subscription rights to which I am entitled in the amount of XXX (subscription ratio 2:1) of the aforementioned capital increase].

[Optional 2: After reviewing the documents, I would agree to subscribe for an oversubscription in the amount of EUR XXX if unexercised subscription rights were allocated to me at EUR 1.00 per new share].

[Optional 3: On the day before Matthias Kosch s first ad hoc (29.01.2024), the share price was EUR 5.75. The closing price on 03.05.2024 was EUR 0.875. This means a decrease of the company s market capitalization by EUR 75.55 million or 84.8%. [Optional: I sold XXX shares on XXX at a price of XXX]. As a result, I have personally suffered a loss in the amount of

XXX EUR

were incurred. I would claim these damages in a class action lawsuit against all responsible parties].

This declaration is strictly confidential. Zieglmaier Treuhand GmbH Wirtschaftsprufungsgesellschaft  Steuerberatungsgesellschaft Kanzlei Zieglmaier may only communicate the total amount of all letters received and the total amount of all offers as well as the total amount of the possible claim for damages to the outside world. [Optional: The Jackermeier investor group must also not be given access to this data]

Note: The Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger (SdK) supports this initiative and will also distribute this appeal to its members.

I would like to thank all shareholders, potential investors and especially the banks for their support during this difficult phase and I am confident that we will soon be able to concentrate fully on the daily business again and that the period of uncertainty is over.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Jackermeier

Representative of the Jackermeier investor group and founder of Endor AG / Fanatec

Contact:

impact communication

Thomas Knipp

E-Mail: tknipp@impact-communication.de

Tel.: +491726800537

Original-Content von: Investorengruppe Jackermeier, ubermittelt durch news aktuell
OpenAI unveils tool to detect DALL-E images



San Francisco, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence company behind the popular image generator DALL-E, on Tuesday announced the launch of a new tool aimed at detecting whether digital images have been created by AI.

Authentication has become a major concern in the fast development of AI, with authorities worried about the proliferation of deep fakes that could disrupt society.

According to the company, OpenAI's image detection classifier, which is currently under test, can assess the likelihood that a given image originated from one of the company's generative AI models like DALL-E 3.

OpenAI said that during internal testing on an earlier version, the tool accurately detected around 98 percent of DALL-E 3 images while incorrectly flagging less than 0.5 percent of non-AI images.

However, the company warned that modified DALL-E 3 images were harder to identify, and that the tool currently flags only about five to 10 percent of images generated by other AI models.

OpenAI also said that it would now add watermarks to AI image metadata as more companies sign up to meet the standards from the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA).

The C2PA is a tech industry initiative that sets a technical standard to determine the provenance and authenticity of digital content, in a process known as watermarking.

Facebook giant Meta last month said it would begin labeling AI-generated media beginning in May using the C2PA standard. Google, another AI giant, has also joined the initiative.
Artist graffitis famous vagina painting by French master



Metz, France, May 6 (AFP) May 06, 2024



Two women Monday sprayed the words "MeToo" on a 19th-century painting of a woman's vagina by French artist Gustave Courbet in a stunt by a performance artist, a museum and the artist said.

"The Origin of the World", a nude painted from 1866, was protected by a "glass pane" and the police were on site to assess the damage, the Centre Pompidou in the northeastern city of Metz told AFP.

The work had been on loan to the Centre Pompidou-Metz from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris as part of an exhibition centred on French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, who once owned the painting.

Metz prosecutor Yves Badorc said two women born in 1986 and 1993 had been arrested after five works in total, including Courbet's nude, had been sprayed with the words "MeToo".

A third person -- who has not been detained -- is believed to have stolen another artwork, he said.

The stolen piece -- red embroidery on white material by French artist Annette Messager -- is called "I Think Therefore I Suck".



- 'Women are the origin of the world' -



French-Luxembourgish performance artist Deborah de Robertis told AFP she had organised the spray painting in red, carried out by two other people, as part of a performance titled: "You Don't Separate the Woman from the Artist".

In a video sent to AFP by de Robertis, one woman tags Courbet's famous painting with red paint and then another one.

They then chant "MeToo" before being dragged away by security guards.

De Robertis explained that she wanted to "challenge the history of art", in particular by tagging "MeToo" on the famous painting "because women are the origin of the world".

In an open letter, de Robertis denounced the behaviour of six men in the art world, describing them as "predators" and "censors".

She said the actions were a feminist performance, carried out because "the very closed world of contemporary art has remained largely silent until now".

The artist said they had also targeted another work by Austrian artist Valie Export.

De Robertis already had work on display at the venue -- a photograph of a 2014 performance at the Musee d'Orsay in which she posed showing her vagina underneath Courbet's painting.



- 'Attack on culture' -



Culture Minister Rachida Dati said five works had been targeted.

"To 'activists' who think that art is not powerful enough to carry a message alone... An artwork is not a poster to colour in with the day's message," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Metz mayor Francois Grosdidier condemned what he described as "a new attack on culture, this time by fanatic feminists".

Courbet's nude was first owned by a Turkish-Egyptian diplomat called Khalil Bey, a flamboyant figure in 1860s Paris who put together an art collection celebrating the female body before he was ruined by his gambling debts, according to the Musee d'Orsay.

It belonged to Lacan before it entered the museum's collection in 1995.

A French court in 2020 sentenced de Robertis to pay a 2,000-euro ($2,150) fine for appearing naked in 2018 in front of a cave in the town of Lourdes in southwest France, a Catholic pilgrimage site for those who believe the Virgin Mary appeared there.

A case against her was dropped in 2017 after she showed her vagina in front of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa at the Louvre museum in the French capital.

mlx/ah/sjw/nmc/rlp

ORIGIN ENERGY
Biden again warns Netanyahu on Rafah as US assesses ceasefire



Washington, May 6 (AFP) May 06, 2024



US President Joe Biden, seeking to push a Gaza ceasefire, on Monday warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against invading Rafah as Israel defiantly issued evacuation orders and carried out intense air strikes on the crowded Gaza city.

The United States said it was reviewing a response from Hamas, which said it has accepted a deal to halt seven months of war and free hostages, with CIA Director Bill Burns in the region to negotiate through Arab allies.

Biden told Netanyahu in April that invading Rafah would be a "mistake," and Secretary of State Antony Blinken told him last week in Jerusalem that there should be no offensive due to the safety of more than one million civilians sheltering there.

"The president reiterated his clear position on Rafah," the White House said in a brief readout of the call.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said afterward that the United States has not yet "seen a humanitarian plan that is credible and that is implementable."

"We believe a military operation in Rafah right now would dramatically increase the suffering of the Palestinian people (and) would lead to an increase in loss of civilian life," Miller told reporters.

But hours after the call between Biden and Netanyahu, Israel issued its second warning in a day for Palestinians to evacuate Rafah and said it was preparing for a ground invasion.

Israel carried out intense air strikes on Rafah late Monday which were virtually continuous for 30 minutes, an AFP correspondent said.

Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas following its October 7 attack, the deadliest ever experienced by Israel.

Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a broadcast address that Israeli aircraft hit "more than 50 terror targets" around Rafah on Monday.

In one area of progress, the United States said Netanyahu agreed to keep aid flowing through Kerem Shalom, the key crossing between Gaza and Israel. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack at the crossing on Sunday claimed by the armed wing of Hamas.

The Biden administration said that Burns was discussing the Hamas response in the region and did not immediately characterize it, but voiced hope for an agreement.

"We continue to believe that a hostage deal is in the best interests of the Israeli people; it's in the best interests of the Palestinian people" Miller said.

Biden is under growing domestic pressure about the war in Gaza in an election year, with pro-Palestinian protests roiling US university campuses.

New York's prestigious Columbia University, which has been at the heart of the protests, said Monday it had canceled its main graduation ceremony next week.



- Jordan king sounds warning -



Biden also discussed developments at a closed-door lunch with King Abdullah II of Jordan, which has relations with Israel but also a large Palestinian community and is especially sensitive to turbulence to its west.

The king asked Biden to intervene with Israel, saying that an Israeli attack on Rafah "threatens to lead to a new massacre," according to a Jordanian statement.

Egypt, which borders Rafah and has a peace treaty with Israel, and Qatar, a US ally that is also home to Hamas leaders, have taken the lead in the ceasefire negotiations.

Israel's apparent determination to press ahead in Rafah underscores the difficulties Biden has had exerting any leverage as Israel's main military and diplomatic backer.

In a shift in early April, after months of unstinting support, Biden warned Netanyahu that US policy on Gaza depended on the protection of civilians and aid workers.

The warning, which followed the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli drone strike, was the first hint of possible conditions to Washington's military support for Israel.

But since then, the United States has declined to curb the multi-billion-dollar assistance pipeline to Israel, saying it has been allowing in more aid to Gaza.

The United States also offered public criticism Monday over Israel's shutdown of Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news channel that has been a popular news source in the Arab world.

"We think Al Jazeera ought to be able to operate in Israel and operate in other countries in the region," Miller said.
Amnesty says Somali strikes with Turkish drones killed civilians



Nairobi, May 6 (AFP) May 06, 2024



Twin airstrikes by Somalia's military using Turkish drones killed 23 civilians, including 14 children, in March, rights watchdog Amnesty International said Tuesday, calling for an investigation into possible "war crimes".

The fragile Horn of Africa nation, which has battled an Islamist insurgency for over 16 years, has a history of defence cooperation with Turkey, hosting its largest overseas military base and training facility.

The alleged strikes on March 18 hit a farm near Bagdad village in the southern Lower Shabelle region, killing nearly two dozen people and injuring 17 others, mostly children, the rights group said.

Residents told Amnesty "the drone strikes followed heavy ground fighting" between Al-Shabaab jihadists and Somali security forces, the watchdog said.

Investigators interviewed 12 people, including victims, their relatives and witnesses, and analysed satellite imagery and photos of weapon fragments to establish the use of Turkish-manufactured bombs and TB-2 drones.

Mohamed Ali Deerey, who lost his younger brother and nine-year-old nephew in the attack, told Amnesty he hurried to the farm as soon as he heard the first blast, just before the second strike claimed the lives of more people.

"The scene was chaotic. There were screams, blood, and bodies all over the ground," he said.

Another person, who lost six members of their family, said they were "horrified".

"This is inhumane. This is a massacre."

Amnesty said all five families affected by the strikes belonged to "the marginalised Gorgaarte clan".

"In Somalia, civilians have borne the brunt of suffering in war far too often. These horrific deaths must not be overlooked," said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty's regional director for east and southern Africa.

"The Somali and Turkish governments must investigate these deadly strikes as a war crime, and put an end to reckless attacks on civilians."



- Defence deal -



Somalia's government said it had conducted an operation targeting Al-Shabaab in the same area, but did not mention any civilian deaths.

"More than 30 (militants) were killed during an operation jointly carried out by the Somali national armed forces and international partners", the ministry of information said in a statement on March 19.

It said 24 jihadists "were killed in the operation in the Baldooska area while 15 others had been killed in an airstrike on Bagdad."

Amnesty said it had requested further details from the Somali and Turkish governments but had not received any response.

The two governments signed a maritime defence deal in February this year.

Turkey is among several nations training Somali soldiers to take over from an African Union peacekeeping mission, whose troops are set to leave by the end of the year.

Although Al-Shabaab was forced out of Mogadishu by an AU force in 2011, the jihadists retain a strong presence in rural Somalia and have carried out numerous attacks against political, security and civilian targets.
Australian PM accuses Chinese warplane of 'unacceptable' conduct



Sydney, May 6 (AFP) May 06, 2024



Australia's prime minister accused Beijing of "unacceptable" conduct Tuesday, following reports a Chinese fighter jet fired flares in the flight path of an Australian navy helicopter over international waters.

The helicopter was flying across the Yellow Sea on May 4 as part of United Nations' efforts to enforce sanctions on North Korea, Australia's Defence Department said late Monday evening.

Defence officials said it was soon "intercepted" by a Chinese warplane, which endangered the helicopter by firing flares across its flight path.

"We've just made it very clear to China that this is unprofessional and that it's unacceptable," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Australia's Nine Network on Tuesday.

"I think the Australian public would expect some form of explanation about how this could occur."

Albanese said Australia's concerns had been raised through diplomatic and military channels, although Beijing had yet to respond.

Canberra in November said a Chinese destroyer had injured submerged Australian navy divers by deliberately blasting them with sonar pulses.

Beijing's foreign ministry insisted at the time that China's military "always conducted professional operations in accordance with international law".

Albanese made a breakthrough trip to China last year, hailing mended trading relations after years of bickering and reprisals.

But tensions remain when it comes to security, as Australia draws closer to the United States in an effort to blunt China's expanding influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Australian PM calls China warplane conduct 'unacceptable'



Sydney, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



Australia chastised China on Tuesday over its "unacceptable" behaviour in international airspace, accusing a Chinese warplane of firing flares in the path of one of its navy helicopters.

A Chinese fighter jet "intercepted" the Seahawk helicopter as it flew a UN sanctions surveillance mission above the Yellow Sea on May 4, Australian defence officials said.

The jet detonated flares across the helicopter's flight path, officials added, in an "unsafe manoeuvre" that put the aircraft and its crew at risk.

"We have made very strong representations at every level to China about this incident," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Tuesday.

"I can't speak to the motivation of what's occurred here. I can say, though, that it's unprofessional and unacceptable."

The Australian helicopter had been despatched from the HMAS Hobart destroyer, which was sailing through the region as part of United Nations efforts to target North Korean smugglers.

"Australian Defence Force personnel were going about their job in international waters and international skies," Albanese said.

"[They] should not be at risk while they're doing that."

Beijing has so far remained tight-lipped about the mid-air incident.

It is the latest in a string of incidents between China and its rivals in the increasingly contested airspace and shipping lanes of Asia.

A Chinese destroyer was last year accused of bombarding submerged Australian navy divers with sonar pulses in waters off Japan, causing minor injuries.

The divers had been sailing on an Australian navy frigate -- the HMAS Toowoomba -- tasked with supporting sanctions enforcement efforts in Japan's exclusive economic zone.



- 'Provocative' actions -



China's foreign ministry insisted at the time that its military "always conducted professional operations in accordance with international law".

Upping the ante less than two weeks later, Australia's navy sailed the same warship through the sensitive waters of the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing labelled that voyage a "provocative" action that could "create trouble for peace and stability".

China and Australia have been patching up their once-close trading relationship after years of bickering and tit-for-tat reprisals.

Albanese made a breakthrough trip to Beijing late last year, hailing the progress as "unquestionably very positive".

But tensions remain when it comes to security, as Australia draws closer to the United States in an effort to blunt China's expanding influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

China's number two official, Premier Li Qiang, is due to visit Australia for bilateral meetings in June.
UK defence ministry targeted in cyberattack: govt



London, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



Britain's defence ministry has been the target of a large-scale cyberattack, a government minister confirmed on Monday.

Work and Pensions minister Mel Stride said the attack was on a system run by an outside firm but was still a "very significant matter".

Tobias Ellwood, a former minister in the Conservative government, said the attack had targeted a third party payroll system used by the Ministry of Defence and had all the hallmarks of a Chinese cyber attack.

"Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel's bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced,", the ex-soldier and former chairman of a parliamentary defence committee, told BBC Radio.

The data breach is believed to have included the names, bank details and in some cases personal addresses of serving and former armed forces members.

Stride told Sky News the Ministry of Defence acted "very swiftly" to take the database off line.

But, he said, the government was not currently pointing the finger at Beijing.

"That is an assumption.... we are not saying that at this precise moment," he added.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will give further details to the parliament later in the day.
UK says defence ministry targeted in cyberattack



London, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



A senior British lawmaker said on Tuesday China was probably behind a massive cyberattack on the names and banking details of UK armed forces personnel, prompting a furious denial by Beijing.

MP and former minister Tobias Ellwood said a third-party payroll system used by the defence ministry was targeted, adding that it had the hallmarks of a Chinese operation.

"Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel's bank details -- this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced,", the ex-soldier and former chairman of a parliamentary defence committee, told BBC radio.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was due to give details of the data breach to parliament later on Tuesday.

Shapps's cabinet colleague Mel Stride confirmed there had been an attack on a system run by an outside firm but did not elaborate.

The leak is believed to have also included a small number of personal addresses of serving and former armed forces members.

Stride told Sky News television, which first reported the breach, that the defence ministry had acted "very swiftly" to take the database off line.

But the government was not currently pointing the finger at Beijing, he said.

"That is an assumption... We are not saying that at this precise moment," he added.

But he added that the government viewed Beijing's government as an "epoch-defining challenge".

"Our eyes are wide open when it comes to China," Stride said.



- 'Utter nonsense' -



Beijing hit back at the claims from Ellwood, a China hawk who has publicly criticised Beijing's crackdown on rights in Hong Kong.

"The remarks by relevant British politicians are utter nonsense," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

"China has always firmly opposed and cracked down on all types of cyberattacks."

The UK and the United States in March accused China of a global campaign of "malicious" cyberattacks in an unprecedented joint operation.

Britain accused China of targeting the Electoral Commission watchdog and the email accounts of parliamentarians.

The Electoral Commission attack was identified in October 2022 but the hackers had been able to access the commission's systems for more than a year.

China called that accusation "malicious slander".

In June 2023, Google subsidiary Mandiant said online attackers with clear links to China were behind a vast cyberespionage campaign targeting government agencies of interest to Beijing.

Washington has also frequently accused Beijing of cyberattacks against US targets.

Last month two British men, including a former UK parliamentary researcher, appeared in court in London accused of spying for China.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to take a tougher line on China, and last month announced a hike in the country's defence budget to guard against new and emerging threats.

On a visit to Poland, Sunak singled out China, alongside Russia, Iran and North Korea, describing them as "an axis of authoritarian states".

har/phz/gil
China's Xi criticises NATO ahead of Serbia visit



Belgrade, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday criticised NATO for its "flagrant" bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999, warning Beijing would "never allow such tragic history to repeat itself".

Xi was writing in Serbian daily Politika ahead of arriving in the Serbian capital Belgrade later on Tuesday, the next stop on his first visit to Europe since the Covid pandemic.

His visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the bombing by the military alliance, which was blamed on a CIA mapping error that left three dead.

"Twenty-five years ago today, NATO flagrantly bombed the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, killing three Chinese journalists," Xi wrote in Politika.

"This we should never forget. The Chinese people cherish peace but we will never allow such tragic history to repeat itself."

He also hailed the "iron-clad friendship" between China and Serbia, which he said was "forged with the blood of our compatriots".

Xi is expected to arrived in Belgrade on Tuesday night after a state visit to France which saw sometimes robust exchanges with President Emmanuel Macron on topics including the Ukraine war.

His next two European stops -- Serbia and Hungary -- are seen as among the most sympathetic in Europe to Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

China has poured billions into Serbia and neighbouring Balkan countries, particularly into mining and manufacturing, and last year Beijing and Belgrade signed a free trade agreement.
UK says defence ministry targeted in cyberattack



London, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



A senior British lawmaker said on Tuesday that China was probably behind a massive cyberattack on the names and banking details of UK armed forces personnel, prompting a furious denial by Beijing.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said there were indications that a "malign actor has compromised the armed forces payment network" but stopped short of naming China.

His comments came after MP and former minister Tobias Ellwood said a contractor's payroll system used by the defence ministry was targeted, adding that it had the hallmarks of a Chinese operation.

"Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel's bank details -- this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced," the ex-soldier and former chairman of a parliamentary defence committee, told BBC radio.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was due to give details of the data breach to parliament later on Tuesday.

The leak is believed to have also included a small number of personal addresses of serving and former armed forces members.

Cabinet minister Mel Stride told Sky News television, which first reported the breach, the government was not currently pointing the finger at Beijing.

"That is an assumption... We are not saying that at this precise moment," he said.

But he said that the government viewed Beijing's government as an "epoch-defining challenge. Our eyes are wide open when it comes to China."

Sunak, speaking on a visit to southeast London, added that the government had set out a "robust policy" towards China, which was becoming increasingly "authoritarian" at home and "more assertive" abroad.



- 'Utter nonsense' -



Beijing hit back at the claims from Ellwood, a China hawk who has publicly criticised Beijing's crackdown on rights in Hong Kong.

"The remarks by relevant British politicians are utter nonsense," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

"China has always firmly opposed and cracked down on all types of cyberattacks."

The UK and the United States in March accused China of a global campaign of "malicious" cyberattacks in an unprecedented joint operation.

Britain accused China of targeting the Electoral Commission watchdog and the email accounts of parliamentarians.

The Electoral Commission attack was identified in October 2022 but the hackers had been able to access the commission's systems for more than a year.

China called that accusation "malicious slander".

In June 2023, Google subsidiary Mandiant said online attackers with clear links to China were behind a vast cyberespionage campaign targeting government agencies of interest to Beijing.

Washington has also frequently accused Beijing of cyberattacks against US targets.

Last month two British men, including a former UK parliamentary researcher, appeared in court in London accused of spying for China.

Sunak's government has come under pressure to take a tougher line on China, and last month announced a hike in the country's defence budget to guard against new and emerging threats.

On a visit to Poland, Sunak singled out China, alongside Russia, Iran and North Korea, describing them as "an axis of authoritarian states".

har/phz/cw
UN atomic chief urges Iran to take 'concrete' steps for cooperation



Isfahan, Iran, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi, visiting Iran on Tuesday, urged the country to adopt "concrete" measures to bolster cooperation on its nuclear programme and address the international community's concerns.

At a news conference in the city of Isfahan, Grossi said he had proposed in talks with Iranian officials that they "focus on the very concrete, very practical and tangible measures that can be implemented in order to accelerate" cooperation.

The International Atomic Energy Agency director-general held talks with senior Iranian officials including Atomic Energy Organization's head Mohammad Eslami.

Grossi insisted on the need to "settle differences" on the nuclear issue while the Middle East was going through "difficult times", particularly with the war between Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"Sometimes, political conditions pose obstacles to full-fledged cooperation" between Iran and the international community, he said.

To overcome these obstacles, he said, "we need to come up with concrete steps that are going to be helpful in bringing us closer to these solutions that we all need".

Grossi said a March 2023 deal with Iran was "still valid" but required more "substance".

The agreement was reached during Grossi's last visit to Iran and outlined basic cooperation measures including on safeguards and monitoring.

The IAEA chief said, however, that there had been a "slowdown" in the agreement's implementation including the number of inspections being reduced and the accreditation of a group of IAEA experts being withdrawn by Iran.



- 'Legal right' -



Iran suspended its compliance with caps on nuclear activities set by a landmark 2015 deal with major powers a year after the United States in 2018 unilaterally withdrew from the agreement and reimposed sweeping sanctions.

"We have this legal right to reduce our commitments when the other parties do not adhere to their obligations," Eslami said during the joint news conference.

Tensions between Iran and the IAEA have repeatedly flared since the deal fell apart, and EU-mediated efforts have so far failed both to bring Washington back on board and to get Tehran to again comply with the terms of the accord.

The agency has in recent months criticised Iran for a lack of cooperation on issues including the expansion of its nuclear work, the barring of inspectors and deactivating the agency's monitoring devices at its nuclear facilities.

In February, it said in a confidential report seen by AFP that Iran's estimated stockpile of enriched uranium had reached 27 times the limit set out in the 2015 accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

Last year, Iran slowed the pace of its uranium enrichment, which was seen as a goodwill gesture while informal talks began with the United States.

But Iran then accelerated the production of 60 percent enriched uranium in late 2023, according to the IAEA.

Enrichment levels of around 90 percent are required for military use.

Iran has always denied any ambition to develop a nuclear weapons capability, insisting its activities are entirely peaceful.



- 'Hostile actions' -



At the news conference, Eslami said the talks with Grossi were "constructive" and agreed that the 2023 deal was a "good basis for interactions" between Iran and the agency.

He did not go into technical details, particularly regarding concerns expressed by the IAEA about traces of uranium discovered at two undeclared sites, Turquzabad and Varamin.

The Iranian official, however, affirmed his country's desire to strengthen its collaboration with the IAEA within the framework of the UN Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Eslami denounced "hostile actions against the nuclear programme of the Islamic republic", in particular blaming Israel, Tehran's sworn enemy.

In response, Grossi said relations between the IAEA and Iran were not influenced by "external parties".

The three-day nuclear conference is being held in Isfahan province, home to the Natanz uranium enrichment plant and where strikes attributed to Israel hit last month, triggering an expression of concern by Grossi.
Belarus holds snap inspection of nuclear arms carriers



Moscow, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



Belarus said Tuesday it had started a surprise inspection of its non-strategic nuclear weapon carriers on the orders of President Alexander Lukashenko.

The announcement comes a day after his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ordered nuclear drills on his territory, raising fears the powerful weapons could be used in Ukraine.

Non-strategic nuclear weapons, also known as tactical nuclear weapons, are designed for use on the battlefield and can be delivered via missiles.

They are less devastating than the strategic nuclear weapons used to obliterate entire cities but are still massively destructive and have never been used in combat.

"In accordance with an order from the President of Belarus, a sudden inspection of non-strategic nuclear weapons carriers is being carried out," the Belarusian defence ministry said.

The inspection will test the "planning, preparation and use of strikes with tactical nuclear warheads" and involve a squadron of Su-25 aircraft, it added.

Belarus does not have any nuclear weapons itself, but last year agreed to host Russian tactical warheads on its territory amid rising tensions over Ukraine.

Putin has upped his nuclear rhetoric since the Ukraine conflict began, warning in his address to the nation in February there was a "real" risk of nuclear war.

Last year Russia ditched its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and pulled out of a key arms reduction agreement with the United States.
Iraqi court suspends Kurdistan election preparations



Baghdad, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



Iraq's highest court on Tuesday temporarily suspended preparations for June 10 parliamentary elections in the autonomous northern Kurdistan region, a source of tension between the two main Kurdish parties.

The Federal Supreme Court suspended procedures related to "the registration of lists of candidates", while it decides on another case linked to legislative elections in Kurdistan, a statement on the court's website said.

Kurdistan's prime minister, Masrour Barzani, had filed an appeal to the supreme court arguing the "unconstitutionality" of the division of electoral constituencies planned for the vote.

While awaiting a verdict, Barzani requested "a halt and suspension of the procedures of the electoral commission".

"The proceedings are suspended from today until the verdict," an electoral commission source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The suspension comes amid a long-running conflict between the region's two historic parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

The court issued a ruling in February to reduce the number of seats in the Kurdish parliament from 111 to 100, effectively eliminating a quota reserved for Turkmen, Armenian and Christian minorities.

In response, Barzani's KDP said it would boycott legislative polls and did not register candidates.

Since then the KDP pushed for postponement of the June 10 elections, which had initially been scheduled for October 2022, but were pushed back several times.

The PUK has opposed any delay in holding the elections.

Tuesday's verdict comes as Kurdistan's president, Nechirvan Barzani, is visiting Iranian leaders in Tehran, after meeting senior politicians in Baghdad.

The KDP is the largest party in the outgoing parliament, with 45 seats against 21 for the PUK.

The Kurdistan region has been autonomous since 1991, and presents itself as an oasis of stability favourable to foreign investment in Iraq.

However, activists and opposition figures denounce what they say is corruption, repression of dissident voices and arbitrary arrests in the region.
China suspected in cyberattack on UK defence ministry



London, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



The British government said Tuesday it could not rule out state involvement in a mass cyberattack on the personal details of armed forces personnel that some lawmakers blamed on Beijing.

China furiously denied that it was behind the hack on a contractor's payroll system used by the defence ministry that contained the names, banking details and addresses of tens of thousands of serving and veteran British soldiers.

"We do have indications that this was the suspected work of a malign actor and we cannot rule out state involvement," Defence Secretary Grant Shapps told parliament.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had earlier said there were indications that a "malign actor has compromised the armed forces payment network" but stopped short of naming China.

MP and former minister Tobias Ellwood said it had the hallmarks of a Chinese operation.

"Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel's bank details -- this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced," the ex-soldier and former chairman of a parliamentary defence committee, told BBC radio.

But during his update to parliamentarians on the data breach, Shapps would not be drawn on whether China was responsible.

"This incident is further proof that the UK is facing rising and evolving threats," he said.

Shapps said up to 272,000 serving personnel might have been affected, including some recently retired veterans.

He added that initial investigations had found "no evidence that any data has been removed," and said the government had taken "immediate action" to protect those targeted, including taking the system offline.

"I want to apologise to the men and women who are affected by this. It should not have happened," he told the House of Commons.

Cabinet minister Mel Stride told Sky News television, which first reported the breach, the government was not currently pointing the finger at Beijing.

"That is an assumption... We are not saying that at this precise moment," he said.

But he said that the government viewed Beijing's government as an "epoch-defining challenge. Our eyes are wide open when it comes to China."

Sunak, speaking on a visit to southeast London, added that the government had set out a "robust policy" towards China, which was becoming increasingly "authoritarian" at home and "more assertive" abroad.



- 'Utter nonsense' -



Beijing hit back quickly at the claims from Ellwood, a China hawk who has publicly criticised Beijing's crackdown on rights in Hong Kong.

"The remarks by relevant British politicians are utter nonsense," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

"China has always firmly opposed and cracked down on all types of cyberattacks."

The UK and the United States in March accused China of a global campaign of "malicious" cyberattacks in an unprecedented joint operation.

Britain accused China of targeting the Electoral Commission watchdog and the email accounts of parliamentarians.

The Electoral Commission attack was identified in October 2022 but the hackers had been able to access the commission's systems for more than a year.

China called that accusation "malicious slander".

In June 2023, Google subsidiary Mandiant said online attackers with clear links to China were behind a vast cyberespionage campaign targeting government agencies of interest to Beijing.

Washington has also frequently accused Beijing of cyberattacks against US targets.

Last month two British men, including a former UK parliamentary researcher, appeared in court in London accused of spying for China.

Sunak's government has come under pressure to take a tougher line on China, and last month announced a hike in the country's defence budget to guard against new and emerging threats.

On a visit to Poland, Sunak singled out China, alongside Russia, Iran and North Korea, describing them as "an axis of authoritarian states".

har-pdh/phz/yad
Belarus holds snap inspection of nuclear arms carriers



Moscow, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



Belarus said Tuesday it had started a surprise inspection of its non-strategic nuclear weapon carriers on the orders of President Alexander Lukashenko.

The announcement comes a day after his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin ordered nuclear drills in Russia, raising fears the powerful weapons could be used in Ukraine.

Non-strategic nuclear weapons, also known as tactical nuclear weapons, are designed for battlefield use and can be delivered via missiles.

They are less devastating than the strategic nuclear weapons used to obliterate entire cities but are still massively destructive and have never been used in combat.

"In accordance with an order from the President of Belarus, a sudden inspection of non-strategic nuclear weapons carriers is being carried out," the Belarusian defence ministry said.

The inspection will test the "planning, preparation and use of strikes with tactical nuclear warheads" and involve a squadron of Su-25 aircraft, it added.

Lukashenko said the inspection was for "purely defensive" purposes and that the army was practising how to launch "missile strikes to repel a possible attack on Belarus".

"We have never in our lifetime been so close to the brink of nuclear war. I'm a peaceful man, I don't want war," he said at a speech commemorating upcoming Victory Day.

Belarus does not have any nuclear weapons itself, but last year agreed to host Russian tactical warheads on its territory amid rising tensions over Ukraine.

Putin has upped his nuclear rhetoric since the Ukraine conflict began, warning in his address to the nation in February there was a "real" risk of nuclear war.

Last year Russia ditched its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and pulled out of a key arms reduction agreement with the United States.
France's next-gen nuclear reactor gets green light



Paris, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



France's nuclear safety regulator on Tuesday gave the green light for a next-generation EPR nuclear reactor in Normandy to be put into service, some 12 years later than initially planned.

The authorisation by the ASN regulator means that the Flamanville reactor, located on the English Channel in Normandy, can be filled with fuel and begin testing in the coming months, the agency's deputy director Julien Collet told AFP.

With France's government wanting to build 14 new nuclear reactors, the development is welcome news for state-owned energy company EDF after multiple problems extended construction to 17 years and caused massive budget overruns.

EDF hopes to have the reactor up to full power by the end of the year.

The French-developed European Pressurised Reactor project, launched in 1992, was designed to relaunch nuclear power in Europe after the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe in Soviet Ukraine, and is touted as offering more efficient power output and better safety.

But construction of the Flamanville reactor was beset by numerous problems as similar design reactors in China and Finland came online ahead of it.

It will be the only one of its type built in France as new projects are for a simplified EPR2 version.

nal/rl/bc
Powerful Iraqi pro-Iran group says US troops must leave



Baghdad, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



Iraq's powerful Kataeb Hezbollah on Tuesday renewed its call for US troops to withdraw from Iraq, months after the Iran-backed armed group suspended attacks against American forces.

Washington and Baghdad have been engaged in talks over the presence of US troops in Iraq, who are stationed there as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.

A spokesman for Kataeb Hezbollah said in a statement that the group "did not perceive the American enemy's seriousness in withdrawing the troops and dismantling its spy bases in Iraq".

"We also haven't seen the necessary seriousness from the Iraqi government to remove them," the spokesman, Abu Ali al-Askari, added in a statement.

The United States considers Kataeb Hezbollah a "terrorist" group and has repeatedly targeted its operations in recent strikes.

During more than three months, as regional tensions soared over the devastating Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, US troops were targeted more than 165 times in the Middle East, mainly in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-backed groups including Kataeb Hezbollah, had claimed the majority of the attacks.

But a deadly drone attack in late January triggered retaliation, with US forces launching dozens of strikes against Tehran-backed groups, including Kataeb Hezbollah.

Three US personnel were killed in the January 28 drone strike in Jordan, near the Syrian border.

Two days later, Kataeb Hezbollah said it was suspending its attacks on US forces.

In February the United States and Iraq resumed talks on the future of the US-led coalition's presence in Iraq, following a request by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani who has been calling for an end to the coalition's mission.

The United States has some 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group.

The coalition was deployed to Iraq at the government's request in 2014 to help combat IS, which had taken over vast swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
US completes construction of Gaza aid pier: Pentagon



Washington, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



The US military has completed construction of the Gaza aid pier, but weather conditions mean it is currently unsafe to move the two-part facility into place, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

The pier -- which the US military started constructing last month and which will cost at least $320 million -- is aimed at boosting deliveries of desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza, which has been ravaged by more than six months of Israeli operations against Hamas.

"As of today, the construction of the two portions of the JLOTS -- the floating pier and the Trident pier -- are complete and awaiting final movement offshore," Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, using an acronym for Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore -- the official name for the pier capability.

"Today there are still forecasted high winds and high sea swells, which are causing unsafe conditions for the JLOTS components to be moved. So the pier sections and military vessels involved in its construction are still positioned at the port of Ashdod," Singh said.

US Central Command "stands by to move the pier into position in the near future," she added.

The vessels and the under-construction pier were moved to the Israeli port due to bad weather last week. Once the weather clears, it will be anchored to the Gaza shore by Israeli soldiers to keep US troops off the ground.

Aid will then be transported via commercial vessels to a floating platform off the Gaza coast, where it will be transferred to smaller vessels, brought to the pier and that is anchored to shore, and taken to land by truck for distribution.

Plans for the pier were first announced by US President Joe Biden in early March as Israel held up deliveries of assistance by ground.

More than two months later, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, and the United Nations said Tuesday that Israel had denied it access to the Rafah crossing -- the key entry point for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
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It is difficult for us at this time to process what has happened to him and that he will never come home. Daniel had left the house for school and then he was gone.
He added: I recall being asked about it in more than one media interview and saying it had never been an analysis or comparison that we had done, nor would I think it appropriate to do in terms of our response to the pandemic.
Inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett said: When people in your position and many others around you and in the rest of the UK were told that the two scenarios were  China contains or global pandemic  didnt anybody stop and say we know visitors from Wuhan, the centre of where the disease started, have been visiting Northern Ireland?
Fujian Navy Yard: a witness to China-France exchanges

13:52, May 07, 2024 By Liu Xiaoyu ( People's Daily

Photo shows the Foochow Arsenal cultural area. (Photo provided by the Museum of Foochow Arsenal 1866)

At the mouth of the Minjiang River in southeast China's Fujian province, the water flows calmly without ripples. Nestled by the Luoxing Pagoda along the river bank, the Fujian Navy Yard, also known as Foochow Arsenal, stands as a precious industrial and cultural heritage site founded 158 years ago and a witness to China-France exchanges that have spanned over 100 years.

On May 5, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Paris for a state visit to France. On the same day, a signed article by President Xi titled "Carrying Forward the Spirit that Guided the Establishment of China-France Diplomatic Relations, Working Together for Global Peace and Development" was published in French media Le Figaro. Xi said, "Over 150 years ago, French nationals helped China found its Fujian Navy Yard and the Fujian Naval Academy."

Transformed from a former shipbuilding warehouse of the Foochow Arsenal, the Museum of Foochow Arsenal 1866, has now become a "treasure trove" preserving the memories of the shipyard.

On the right side of an exhibition hall on the first floor of the museum stands a French machine that is almost 160 years old, discolored to a deep black over the passage of time.

"It's a slotting machine, also known as a vertical shaper, which is used for cutting machine beds. Therefore, it is considered the 'mother machine' of modern industry," said Chen Yue, president of the Mawei shipyard culture research association.

The memory of the slotting machine's return to the Foochow Arsenal from Sanming city of Fujian province five years ago is still fresh in Chen's mind.

Photo shows a French slotting machine. (Photo provided by the Museum of Foochow Arsenal 1866)

"Marked with French inscriptions 'J.DUCOMMUN &CIE' and 'MULHOUSE 1867,' the slotting machine was likely one of the first French machines imported by the Foochow Arsenal, a testament to the century-long history of China-France exchanges," Chen told People's Daily.

Chen has been dedicated to modern naval history for decades, with a particular emphasis on the Foochow Arsenal's history.

"In 1866, driven by the dream of national rejuvenation, the Chinese people established the Foochow Arsenal in Mawei, Fuzhou. They built shipyards, constructed warships, manufactured aircraft, established schools, attracted talent, and developed the navy. The Foochow Arsenal has become a frontier for China's exploration of national rejuvenation in modern times," Chen explained.

The Foochow Arsenal, carrying the mission to bring about a change in modern China, accomplished several groundbreaking milestones in the Chinese history.

It established China's first naval academy, nurtured the country's first modernized naval fleet, and created the first large-scale shipbuilding industrial base of modern China.

It constructed China's first domestically built armored steel warship and manufactured the country's first shipboard steam engine and first biplane trainer for naval aviation.

Besides, the Foochow Arsenal also cultivated a large number of modern talents in fields such as science and technology, military affairs, diplomacy, education, and social sciences, including figures like Yan Fu, Zhan Tianyou, Gao Lu, Wei Han, Luo Fenglu, Chen Jitong, Deng Shichang, and Sa Zhenbing. They made prominent contributions to China's modernization efforts.

Rene Vienet, a French scholar of modern Chinese history, called the Foochow Arsenal an "oil field" of French historical memory. Vienet, in his eighties, has been dedicated to studying the history of China-France exchanges, particularly the history of the Foochow Arsenal.

Photo shows the interior of the steam engine workshop of the Foochow Arsenal. (Photo provided by the Museum of Foochow Arsenal 1866)

"Many 'firsts' in the history of China-France exchanges were born here: the first sophisticated modern school in China, the first Chinese school where classes were taught in French, and the completion of the first Chinese translation of the French novel 'The Lady of the Camellias'," Vienet said.

"The first superintendent of the Foochow Arsenal Prosper Marie Giquel was also French. He assisted Zuo Zongtang in establishing the Foochow Arsenal in Mawei, introducing modern machinery and engineering personnel from France. The old slotting machine was an example" Vienet noted.

"Xi's forward thinking ensured the protection of this invaluable historical and cultural heritage for us," said Xie Zuomin, former general manager of Fujian Shipbuilding Industry Group Company Limited.

In April 1997, then deputy secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee Xi Jinping inspected the Mawei Shipyard, which originated from the Foochow Arsenal.

At that time, plans were underway to construct a riverside avenue that would pass through the Mawei Shipyard. The construction would affect production and more importantly, may cause damage to the century-old remains. Upon learning about this, Xi suggested using an elevated bridge to minimize the impact on the shipyard.

In 2016, the Mawei Shipyard was relocated to Culu Island of Fuzhou, embarking on a path of high-quality development. At the same time, its original site has been fully protected and transformed into a cultural area.

Photo shows the steam engine workshop and the painting and design institute specializing in ship drawing and design of the Foochow Arsenal. (Photo provided by the Museum of Foochow Arsenal 1866)

Stepping into the cultural area, historical imprints of China-France exchanges come into view. The steam engine workshop, which was built in 1867 and designed by French engineers, adopts the truss structure of modern industrial workshops and is the birthplace of China's first practical steam engine. Upstairs, the painting and design institute specializing in ship drawing and design showcases a typical French decorative style. Dozens of modern ship designers have emerged from there.

The enduring bond between the Chinese and French people, originating from the Foochow Arsenal, has withstood the passage of time and remains strong today.

In 2014, Laurent Fabius, then French foreign minister, and Marie-France Marchand-Baylet, president of the Groupe Depeche Foundation, visited the Museum of Foochow Arsenal 1866 and the steam engine workshop. Fabius presented a statue of Giquel to the Fuzhou municipal government in recognition of Giquel's contributions to France-China exchanges. The Museum of Foochow Arsenal 1866 collected and exhibited the statue.

A stage photo of folding progressive multidimensional experience play "The Glory Belongs to Foochow Arsenal." (Photo provided by the Museum of Foochow Arsenal 1866)

At the end of 2023, China's first folding progressive multidimensional experience play "The Glory Belongs to Foochow Arsenal" was officially performed in a former maintenance workshop of the Foochow Arsenal. Vienet visited China once again to watch the play. This time, he brought to China two pieces of good news: the complete compilation of Giquel's diary and the translation of Giquel's memoir in cooperation with a Chinese scholar.

"We are preparing to establish a 'Friends of Giquel' non-governmental association, aiming to connect with the descendants of French nationals who worked for the arsenal and Chinese students who studied in France, to carry on the century-long history of China-France exchanges and promote cooperation in the new era," said Wei Hui, the great-grandson of Wei Han, one of the first Chinese students of the Fujian Naval Academy to study in France. His proposal has been supported by many departments.

Today, construction is in full swing on the eastern side of the Foochow Arsenal cultural area. A wide underpass has been put into use, reconnecting the arsenal that was once divided by an elevated bridge into two parts.

"With a focus on heritage preservation and cultural exhibitions of shipbuilding relics, the Foochow Arsenal cultural area will continue to develop a cluster of modern industrial museums, telling the story of exchanges between China and other countries to the whole world," said Liu Jiangyuan, director of the management committee of Fujian shipyard culture.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
BTP Investigating officer Detective Constable Matthew Nolan said: Ahmed is a callous predator who targeted young girls for his own sexual gratification. Despite the victims repeated pleas for him to stop, he trapped her and raped her, making her fear for not only herself but her friends safety. I hope the guilty verdict goes some way in bringing her some closure."
Prof Hunter said that a number of factors could be behind the rise in cases, including: a drop in vaccine uptake; reduced population immunity due to a fall in cases linked to social distancing measures during the pandemic; and a scare over vaccines in the early 2000s which led to a group of people aged around 21 who did not complete their vaccination.
But affected service personnel will be alerted as a precaution and provided with specialist advice. They will be able to use a personal data protection service to check whether their information is being used or an attempt is being made to use it.
It is important that our new law stands the test of time and is a fitting tribute to those who have campaigned for it. That is why we have consulted on how we can protect the public without putting unnecessary burdens on smaller businesses.
In my witness statements (to the public inquiry), I set out in some detail honestly and fully how messages have been retained and stored to ensure that a proper record of all choices made by me and other ministers have been captured and provided to the inquiry, Mr Gething said, in reply to a question from Conservative opposition leader Andrew RT Davies.
Mr Yousaf, who at the time of his appointment was the first Muslim leader of any nation, said: As a young Muslim boy, born and raised in Scotland, I could never have dreamt that one day I would have the privilege of leading my country  people who looked like me were not in positions of political influence, let alone leading governments when I was younger.
He added: There is still 1 billion worth of unresolved PPE contracts that this Government awarded which have not been delivered on, but only one of them  PPE Medpro  is facing legal action. Why is the Government not taking legal action on the other companies that have not delivered on their contract to the members of the public?
Data on preventions are estimates based on an operational snapshot collected by French authorities, which at the time of publication have not been verified (and are likely therefore to be subject to revision). In addition, and in contrast to measuring arrivals in the UK, prevention activity is inherently likely to be subject to a relatively high degree of measurement error, the Home Office said.
One of the things I am determined to do is make sure London is a byword for opportunity. One of the things I have reflected on is my life journey, and todays young Londoners may not be able to fulfil their potential. Its not about thinking about the next election  its about what we can do over the next four years.
We expect university leaders to take robust action in dealing with that kind of behaviour and that will be the subject of the conversation in No 10 later this week to ensure a zero-tolerance approach to this sort of behaviour is adopted on all campuses.
She explains: This form of abuse can be subtle, therefore, some of the signs to watch out for include: if you are second-guessing yourself all the time, feel confused, find yourself always apologising to your partner, you are having trouble making simple decisions and find yourself withholding information from friends and family so you dont have to explain or make excuses for your partner.
And that is why, as a government, along with our allies, and particularly the Americans, we are doing all that we can diplomatically to try and encourage this deal to actually stick, because its in nobodys interest to have those crossings closed. We want these crossings open, and we want aid to be more freely flowing.
However, the nation also has a darker undertone, having some of the highest murder rates in the world. Most violent incidents occur away from tourist destinations and in local communities. However, visitors are urged to take added care in Mexico.
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Daniel Neman Features writer Follow Daniel Neman 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

It wasnt the best work of art Ive ever seen. But in many ways, it was the most memorable.

We were in New York City in January 2002, to celebrate my wifes birthday. It was a few months after 9/11, and hotels were desperate for customers. Any customers. Even us.

We stayed at the fabled Plaza Hotel for less than the cost of a Courtyard by Marriott in Indianapolis or Hampton Inn in Omaha today. The hotel was fabulous. The room was fabulous. The birthday meal at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park  cooked and served by the student chefs who have no doubt gone on to culinary greatness  was fabulous.

On Broadway, we saw the play Proof, with Jennifer Jason Leigh, who had taken over the role from the Tony-winning Mary-Louise Parker. It remains one of the very top theatrical highlights of my life.

So far, everything was wonderful. I dont even remember it being as cold as New York can get in late January.

And then we decided to go to the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Im the sort of person who goes to museums on vacation, and we had never been to that particular one.

Several artists had their works displayed there at the time. I remember one guy had placed what must have been a teeny, tiny camera on the back of a crawly insect of some sort (a cockroach? a spider?  which I know isnt technically an insect, but you get the idea). The result looked exactly as you think it would.

But it was the installation in the first gallery that drew most of the attention. It certainly drew mine.

It was called Cloaca, by the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. And it was a manmade, mechanical, see-through digestive tract.

It was 10 feet high and probably close to 20 feet long. Twice a day, every day, a museum employee climbed a ladder to the top and poured a large plate full of food into a funnel, which acted as the machines mouth.

Because the artist is Belgian, the food came from a nearby Belgian restaurant, or at least it did the day I was there.

The food slowly wound its way through a system of tubes and pipes, just as it goes through your own esophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine. At anatomically appropriate places, such as the large beaker that represented the stomach, a bit of acid was added.

We could follow along with the food as it made its long journey through the system, breaking down from identifiable ingredients into an indistinguishable mass.

And at the end of the machine, it pooped.

Were talking actual poop here, if mechanically produced. It looked like poop. It apparently smelled like poop, although by the time we got there they had figured out a way to reduce the odor in the room. It was squeezed out of a metal tube onto a conveyor belt.

From there, it was encased in Lucite, I believe, and sold for something like a thousand bucks a pile. Who would buy it? People who wanted to take some art home with them and display it in their living room, I guess.

At this point Id like to belatedly apologize to basically anyone who is still reading. Especially anyone who is reading it over their morning Cheerios.

I apologize because youre now thinking about how those Cheerios will be making that same journey. Which of course is the whole point of the exhibit. Its the natural result of eating food, its how we get the energy for our bodies to run.

Was it actually art? I wasnt sure at the time, and I still dont know. It was a machine designed to demonstrate a scientific function, in some respects not unlike one of those depictions of the solar system with planets circling the sun.

But Ill admit I was fascinated by it  perhaps more than is absolutely seemly. I dont know if it was the 6-year-old boy in me or a more adult manifestation of scientific curiosity, but I must have examined it for at least 20 minutes.

Delvoye created 10 versions of Cloaca over a period of a decade, and it seems that a few may still be on display, including at the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania. If you want to see it, you may have to go there.

Or you can get Taro Gomis 1977 classic childrens picture book to help with potty training. Its basically about the same idea. Its called Everyone Poops.
A man who was shot Saturday night in the 4800 block of Minnesota Avenue has died at a hospital of his injuries, police said.

The unidentified victim was shot just before 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Police think he was in his 20s.

The man was shot in the chest and abdomen and found in the street. He died at the hospital Sunday, police said.

Police have no suspects.
UDPATED at 1 p.m. with comment from Sauget police chief

Two motorists were injured in a crash Monday morning in St. Clair County following a pursuit by Sauget police.

The Illinois State Police and Sauget police are both investigating. Sauget police had been chasing a pickup after it took off from a traffic stop, said Sauget police Chief James Jones.

The crash was about 7 a.m. Monday at Falling Springs and Camp Jackson roads. The pickup being chased by police ran a stop light and collided with an innocent motorist, authorities said.

Jones said the pursuit was about two miles. He said no officers were hurt.

Sauget asked the Illinois State Police to investigate the crash.

Trooper Genelle Jones of the Illinois State Police said a 1998 Ford F150 pickup was heading south on Falling Springs Road, approaching Camp Jackson Road. A 2018 Dodge Journey was heading east on Camp Jackson Road, approaching Falling Springs.

A 33-year-old man driving the Ford pickup ran a red light at the intersection and hit the Dodge car.

The pickup then hit a traffic signal and overturned, police said.

The pickup's driver and a 32-year-old woman driving the car were taken to a hospital. Police have not said how badly either motorist was hurt.
JEFFERSON CITY  Work in the Missouri Senate came to an abrupt stop Monday as a member of the chambers hard-right faction again threatened to hold up passage of the state budget.

With a Friday deadline looming for the House and Senate to finish the more than $50 billion spending plan, Sen. Bill Eigel took control of the floor to air grievances about how Republican leaders are running the chamber.

Fearing another long day of filibustering following a mostly fruitless 41-hour affair last week by Eigel and four other members of the Freedom Caucus, Senate Floor Leader Cindy OLaughlin, R-Shelbina, adjourned for the day after a mere 30 minutes.

OLaughlin said she refused to answer an inquiry from Eigel because it would have turned into a screaming match.

I dont need that, and nobody else does either, said OLaughlin, who has squared off against Eigel throughout her tenure in leadership.

Eigel, who is running for governor after eight years in the upper chamber, has sought to use the Senate to raise his profile as an outsider.

For eight years, I have been lied to and double-crossed at every opportunity, Eigel said.

The Weldon Spring Republican has promised to use delaying tactics when the spending plan is called for a vote, potentially putting the Legislature in jeopardy of missing Fridays constitutional deadline to submit a budget plan.

Eigel signaled he wants deeper cuts than what are on the table.

Were spending this state into the red, Eigel said.

OLaughlin told the Post-Dispatch she is not worried yet about time running out on the budgeting process.

Am I concerned about it? Not really. I think I kind of expected that to happen, OLaughlin said. I think the majority wants to get it done. I think it will get done.

Democrats compared Eigels behavior to those in the Freedom Caucus in Washington, D.C.

Were witnessing what happens when the extreme right tries to get their way. They completely create dysfunction in government, said Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City.

For now, the time crunch is having an effect on how, when and if a final budget makes it across the finish line.

Rather than senators and members of the House sitting down to negotiate differences between the two chambers spending plans, talks will be left to Senate Appropriations Chairman Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, and House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage.

The goal is to shorten the time needed to finish work for a spending blueprint for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The way were doing this is different than in the past, House Majority Leader Jon Patterson told reporters Monday during a briefing.

If the package is not approved by Friday, lawmakers would have to go into a special session to move it to the governors desk. Patterson said he has told lawmakers to be prepared for the possibility.

Were going to do everything we can do to avoid it, Patterson said.

As of last week, the House and Senate budget proposals are about $2 billion apart.

Among items cut by the House is a nearly $53 million plan to redevelop the mostly abandoned Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City as a tourist site.

The House also reduced Parsons call for a 3% boost to colleges and universities to a 2% increase. The Senate Appropriations Committee restored that amount to 3%.

The House also would add $25 million to build a facility to teach engineering at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

After committing major state funds to rebuild and widen Interstate 70 last year, the House plan allocates $727 million to improve Interstate 44. In addition, $100 million will go to repair rural roads across the state.

Missouri taxpayers also will be on the hook for $8 million for Parsons decision to send National Guard troops to Texas as part of a Republican-led effort to highlight immigration as an election-year issue.

The plan leaves Parsons budget proposal on teacher pay intact. Base salary for teachers would rise to $40,000, up from the current national low of $25,000. The cost is about $4 million.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  No one blinks when Republicans and Democrats go to battle with each other. But eyebrows and tempers rise when the fight turns inward.

That is precisely what is happening now in rural Vernon County, Missouri, some 90 minutes south of Kansas City, where the Vernon County Republican Committee is headed to circuit court on Tuesday against the county clerk  a Republican  over who gets to determine who runs for office and call themselves a Republican.

As fights go, this one has turned nasty.

Leading the charge on one side is Cyndia Haggard, a self-described pro-Trump, MAGA Republican and election denier who in 2023 appealed to the court for clemency for a Vernon County man convicted of breaking into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020, dressed in a Revolutionary War costume.

One hundred percent, Haggard told The Star last week, the 2020 election was stolen.

The chairwoman of the countys Republican Committee, Haggard is also president of another organization, the Republican Association of Central Committees of MO, which holds that too many fake Republicans or RINOS (Republicans in name only) are being allowed to run for office under the Republican banner.

RINOs, the organizations website states beneath a photo of a rhinoceros in a suit, are like a virus that infects & destroys our partys values.

As such, the group has been promoting extensive vetting of prospective candidates before they are allowed  by a countys Republican Party committee  to run as a Republican. The vetting includes a 25-question values survey to be graded on a pass/fail basis.

We are at war to save our party, says the groups website, which bears Haggards name. Thats not an overstatement.

Legislators ignore us. They kowtow to lobbyist interests. Fake Republicans have filed under the Republican banner for years. No one in the Republican leadership says a word. No one stops them. WE. WILL.

Because the case on Tuesday involves Vernon County officials, it is being heard before Judge Gayle L. Crane of Jasper County Circuit Court. The scope of the case is narrow. It does not directly involve the issue of vetting, per se, but it does center on who has the right to determine who can run as a Republican candidate.

Republicans take Republicans to court

In March, the Vernon County Republican Committee filed what is known as a writ of mandamus through their St. Louis attorney, Mark McCloskey, to, in effect, compel the Vernon County clerk, Adrienne Lee, to do what they believe to be her public duty.

McCloskey, a personal injury lawyer, is popular in conservative circles as a podcast host. In 2020, he and his wife, Patricia, gained instant notoriety when, during the Black Lives Matter protests, they emerged from their Portland Place home brandishing weapons to ostensibly protect themselves from the protesters.

In the filing, the plaintiff maintains that, just like a club is allowed to determine who its members are, the Vernon County Republican Committee is solely responsible in the county for determining who may run for office under the Republican banner.

The county clerk, they insist, went beyond her authority when, in February, she took the filing fees from several candidates who were rejected by the committee and told them that their names would be placed on the Republican primary ballot in August.

Four individuals were initially named in the suit. All are current Republican office holders: Vernon County Administrator Kelsey Westerhold; county Treasurer Brent Barnes; county Assessor Lena Kleeman; and Rich Hill police Chief Michael Buehler, running for county sheriff. All refused to go through the committees vetting process. Four others have since been added to the suit.

The committees interpretation of state law is that, while the county clerk can take a filing fee, those checks are then passed on to the party committees. They argue that it is ultimately up to a the political parties  Republican or Democrat  whether to accept or reject those fees and accept or reject any particular candidate. In this case, they did not accept those candidates and did not cash their checks. Thus the candidates names should be taken off the ballot, the committee argued.

The whole purpose of the vetting program is to verify that people who run as Republicans adhere to Republican values and principles and arent merely putting an R behind their name so they can get elected, McCloskey told The Star. We believe the courts have backed us up  that a party should have the exclusive right to determine who gets to run under that partys banner.

The litigation, Haggard said, is about one thing only: Did the county clerk overstep her authority by putting people on the ballot that we have rejected?

What the law is

Travis Elliott, with the Springfield, Missouri, firm Ellis, Ellis, Hammons & Johnson, is representing the county clerk. He argues that she followed the law. She did her job. The prospective candidates submitted their fee to the court and, per state law, she forwarded them to the central committee.

We are not talking about what the law should be, were talking about what the law is, he said. Our position is basically that the county clerk is in the position of wanting there to be free and fair elections, not taking sides, and there being integrity in the election process.

In Vernon Countys political corners, the issue of a small committee controlling the process is being met with great umbrage.

I can tell you that Im very against it, said Shelly Baldwin, a Republican in her second term as Vernon County recorder. Every elected official is against it. ... Theyre dictating who can and cant run. She (Haggard) tells you that thats not true. I mean, you have to go take a survey, she calls it. But its a test because you have to pass it. I dont know of any other survey you have to pass.

She picks and chooses who she has on the committee. They didnt even get elected to those positions.

Some worry over the makeup of the committee, noting that one member is Dan Gayman, whom the Anti-Defamation League identified as the leader of the Church of Israel, based in Schell City.

He has popularized the two seedline theory ... which purports that Jews descend from a sexual union between Eve and Satan (only white Christians descend from Adam and Eve), the ADL has stated for years. He has been credited with inspiring such groups and figures as The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord ... and Eric Rudolph, who pleaded guilty to bombing three abortion clinics, a gay nightclub and the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

On its website, the churchs mission statement says that among its immediate goals: To Call the Covenant People of Jehovah God to repentance!  To promote the increase of spiritual strength and physical size of the Christian family. To encourage large families, home birthing, Christian education, moral and ethnic purity, and obedience to the commandments and other laws of the Living God.

Haggard confirmed that members of the Church of Israel are part of the committee but argues that any members religious affiliation is not relevant to their work with the Vernon County Republican Party.

There have been a lot of hit pieces leveled at us from those who dont want vetting and think its OK to just be vicious and hateful toward individuals or religions or whatever, Haggard said. We do have people on our committee from that church. We also have people on our committee from the Catholic Church.

Im sure you know the Catholic Church has a pedophile problem. So is that a problem for us? I get real resentful real fast when people start trying to say, Well, this religion is OK and that religion isnt. I dont belong to any church. But I support the First Amendment right of everyone to have freedom of religion.

I typically tell people who get angry or hateful about the Church of Israel, Why dont you just give me a list of approved churches or religions. Catholics got this pedophile thing. Theres people who dont like Baptists. So should we excommunicate them from our committee as well?

Vetting candidates

Haggard also argues that the vetting does not keep anyone from running for office, it just keeps certain individuals from running as Republicans. Others can run as Democrats, independents or under any other party affiliation.

Its not going away, she said of vetting.

Statewide, some 300 Republicans seeking office have either agreed to or sought out vetting. The Republican Association of Central Committees of MO website lists an array of Republican Values Approved Vetted 2024 candidates for multiple state offices, including governor.

Gubernatorial candidate Jay Ashcroft, Missouris current secretary of state, has been vetted by the group, as have candidates Chris Wright and Bill Eigel, a Missouri state senator, who last year made national headlines after a video of him handling a flamethrower at a fundraiser went viral.

In the video, I am taking a flame thrower to cardboard boxes representing what I am going to do to the leftist policies and RINO corruption of the Jeff City swamp, Eigel told The Star at the time. But lets be clear, you bring those woke pornographic books to Missouri schools to try to brainwash our kids, and Ill burn those too  on the front lawn of the governors mansion.
JEFFERSON CITY  Missouri legislators debated a nonbinding reprimand Monday for St. Louis Aldermanic President Megan Green amid uproar over her recent participation in pro-Palestinian protests.

Green has been outspoken in her advocacy for Palestinians amid a wave of campus demonstrations across the country denouncing Israels war in Gaza.

Dozens were arrested at a Washington University protest Green took part in last month. She attended another protest Friday that blocked traffic near Washington University.

Rep. Brad Christ, R-south St. Louis County, attempted to attach an amendment admonishing Green to a resolution voicing support for Israel.

The amendment would have declared that the state of Missouri admonishes St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Megan Green for her failure of leadership and participation in violent and anti-Semitic campus protests.

No one in a leadership position, especially in a city in dire straits like that, should be inciting violence on college campuses, Christ said.

Christ, after receiving pushback from a fellow Republican state representative, pulled the amendment from consideration before a vote could take place.

For the House of Representatives ... to be calling out a single individual for admonishment for expressing their First Amendment-protected views, that is dangerous, said state Rep. Tony Lovasco, R-St. Charles County. That can happen to literally anyone in this room or anyone that we represent.

Lets not damage this resolution and the statement were trying to make by taking shots at someone we disagree with, he said.

Still, other Republicans who spoke on the amendment said they supported it.

I think we as elected officials are held in a higher standard, said Rep. Jeff Myers, R-Warrenton, who said inaccurately that she did get arrested for trespassing.

Green was not among the about 100 protesters arrested on April 27. She was, however, suspended from her job as an adjunct lecturer at Washington University after that protest.

Rep. Steve Butz, D-St. Louis, who has clashed with progressives and said Monday he was no political fan of Green, nonetheless urged his colleagues to vote against Christs amendment.

President Green has a right to free speech. She can protest all she wants, he said.

Green responded to the effort in a statement later on Monday.

Our country has a long history of nonviolent campus protests transforming our country, she said. Unfortunately, our country also has a long history of detractors who spread misinformation to deflect from the injustice being protested.

With a death toll of nearly 40,000 Palestinians and 1.5 million displaced, the seriousness of the situation cannot be ignored, Green said. Anyone of conscience should be outraged by such violence and take inspiration from the courageous college students nationwide who are advocating for change through peaceful means.

After the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

The Israel-Hamas war has driven around 80% of Gazas population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction in several towns and cities.

The underlying resolution, sponsored by House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, declares support for Israels independence and self-governance.

It goes on to say that Missouri acknowledges Israels sovereign right and duty to defend its citizens and therefore to prosecute the war until the threat posed by Hamas and other terrorist organizations is eradicated.

The resolution also says Missouri supports former President Donald Trumps decision in 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel, breaking with previous U.S. foreign policy.

The House sent it to the Senate on a 108-8 vote, with eight Democrats voting against the resolution and 22 Democrats voting present.

Two Democrats voted for the resolution: Reps. Robert Sauls of Independence and Del Taylor of St. Louis.

It is possible and in fact is necessary to condemn Hamas and to condemn the atrocities of Oct. 7  and yet to also condemn some of the tactics by Israel which have killed over 30,000 people, said Rep. Kemp Strickler, D-Lees Summit, who voted present.

The legislation is House Concurrent Resolution 30.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
JEFFERSON CITY  The Missouri Senate unanimously endorsed a plan Tuesday to give the state auditor more power to investigate local governments.

Under a plan backed by Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, a Republican, the Senate gave final approval to a measure allowing him to launch a probe of cities, fire and ambulance districts, counties and other local units of government without first getting permission or being requested by local voters.

This broadens their ability to more thoroughly investigate corruption in the state, said Sen. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, who sponsored the measure.

Fitzpatrick has argued his office is limited in its ability to ensure local governments are held accountable for their actions. Rather than wait for a request, he could begin an audit if he believes improper activities are taking place.

Its a tool to increase transparency and give taxpayers a better understanding of how government is operating. If a governmental entity is guilty of wrongdoing, then citizens deserve to know that and an audit is one of the best ways to provide them with the truth, Fitzpatrick said in a statement.

If improper governmental activity is detected, the change would, for example, allow the state auditor to initiate a formal audit of St. Louis County, which has its own auditor, without a request from the County Council or a citizen petition.

Improper governmental activity revealed in an initial investigation would be defined as official misconduct, fraud, misappropriation, mismanagement, waste of resources, or a violation of state or federal law, rule, or regulation.

An audit could also occur if requested by a prosecutor, circuit attorney or law enforcement agency.

The legislation comes after Fitzpatrick has released a number of audits of small units of government that have uncovered nearly half a million dollars in missing money.

In one, an audit found a married couple tapped a small-town sewer district for more than $160,000 in personal proceeds.

A separate audit found the former acting mayor of Holland, located in Pemiscot County, was charged with failing to deposit money to pay city utility bills in city accounts.

Those audits were requested by citizens who gathered signatures for a petition asking the auditor for assistance.

Fitzpatrick said that process is time-consuming and cumbersome.

While local governments are on the hook for the cost of audits that they request, and for ones voters initiate, the auditors office would need to foot the bill for audits authorized in the measure.

The change is not expected to cost taxpayers more money.

However, the office does have a budget request for an additional $3 million intended to boost staffing levels.

When Fitzpatrick took over in 2023, the office was budgeted to have a total of 167 workers. But only 89 were on the payroll.

He has worked to fill staff vacancies by hiring 20 additional audit staff, but the lack of additional budget resources has prevented us from staffing to the intended levels, his office said in a statement.

The measure now goes to Gov. Mike Parson.

The legislation is House Bill 2111.
Moscows Red Square, with St. Basils Cathedral on the left and the Kremlin with the Spassky tower at right. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

WASHINGTON  A U.S. Army staff sergeant who was visiting his girlfriend in Russia was arrested and remains in custody on charges he stole from her, U.S. officials said.

Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was detained Thursday in Vladivostok, a military and commercial port in the Pacific, and remains in a pre-trial detention facility, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said Tuesday in a statement. Black was assigned to Eighth Army, U.S. Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys in South Korea and was scheduled to move to Fort Cavazos, Texas, Smith said.

Instead, Black traveled to Russia to see his girlfriend, according to Martin Jones, Blacks stepfather.

We told him to come home and go to his next post, Jones said. But we found out he actually went [to Russia]. A week after he got there  he got ahold of us through Facebook. Were hoping he gets home soon.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Tuesday that the Army has opened an administrative investigation to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding Blacks travel.

Instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea, through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons, Smith said. Black did not request official clearance, and [the Defense Department] did not authorize his travel to China and Russia. There is no evidence Black intended to remain in Russia after his [permanent change of station] leave period ended.

His arrest further complicates U.S. relations with Russia, which have grown increasingly tense over the war in Ukraine.

An official from the Russian Ministry of Interior informed the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on Friday that Black was arrested Thursday for theft of personal property. Smith said there is no further information about Blacks situation at this time.

[Black] will remain in detention until his next hearing pending determination, she added.

A Russian court said Tuesday that Black would be held in custody until July 2, according to NBC News, which was the first to report his arrest.

[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage. A warning to all Americans  as the State Department has said, it is not safe to travel to Russia, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a social post shared Monday on X.

The Russian woman who Black was visiting had lived in South Korea, officials told The Associated Press.

Martin Jones said the soldier is married but has been dealing with a divorce for about a year and a half. He said the Army was aware of Blacks girlfriend because the couple had a domestic dispute, and she was deported from South Korea back to Russia.

Blacks mother Melody Jones told ABCs Good Morning America on Tuesday that the soldier was on a two-week leave when he traveled to Russia, and she felt he was being set up because she suspected his girlfriend was a spy.

Black enlisted in the Army as an infantryman in 2008. He deployed to Iraq from October 2009 through September 2010. Black also served in Afghanistan from June 2013 until March 2014.

The soldier is not the only American detained in Russia. The U.S. government has said The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was jailed in March 2023, and Marine veteran Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018, are both wrongfully detained in the country.

The arrest comes less than a year after Army Pvt. Travis King was taken into custody by North Korea. He was stationed in South Korea and ran into the country during a group tour of the heavily guarded Joint Security Area, where King was promptly detained. He was returned to the U.S in September and charged with desertion in October.
Sailors carry out a general quarters drill aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, May 3, 2024. (Kyree Rogers/U.S. Navy)

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan  The USS Ronald Reagan recently steamed out of Tokyo Bay, foreshadowing its final, impending departure from U.S. 7th Fleet.

The aircraft carrier left Yokosuka, its homeport, at approximately 10 a.m. Sunday alongside the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins, Carrier Strike Group 5 spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Seth Koenig said by phone Tuesday.

The ships departure is likely one of the last times it will transit the bay before it relocates sometime soon to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash.

The Ronald Reagan and Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group are proud of their service as Americas only forward-deployed aircraft carrier and carrier strike group, Koenig said in an earlier email Tuesday.

There will be additional opportunities to do so, but we will not pass up a chance to express our deep appreciation and gratitude to our Japanese friends and family for the strength and closeness of our alliance, he added.

Koenig declined to comment on when the Ronald Reagan will leave for Bremerton, citing concern for operational security.

He also would not say whether the carrier is undergoing sea trials, typically the last milestone before its annual, six-month patrol.

Instead, Koenig described the ships departure as a scheduled underway period that includes routine operations, he wrote.

When we have more information to release about USS Ronald Reagans departure, he added. We will distribute that through the appropriate channels.

In the past, the carrier has undergone one or two weeks of trials before starting its patrol.

Sea trials also typically follow or coincide with Carrier Air Wing 5s annual carrier-landing practice on Iwo Jima. That training began Saturday and runs through May 15.

Naval aviators are spending that time flying multiple sorties and completing numerous touch-and-goes that simulate landing aboard an aircraft carrier at sea.

The Ronald Reagans replacement, the USS George Washington, is also underway; it left Naval Station Norfolk on April 25 for a deployment to Central and South America.

Koenig said that deployment is part of its transit to 7th Fleet. He declined to comment on the George Washingtons anticipated arrival time, again citing security concerns.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Rhyan Acey performs maintenance on the AN/TSQ-180 Milstar Communications Vehicle on July 30, 2021, for the 233rd Space Group at Greeley Air National Guard Station, Colo. The 233rd Space Group was the first National Guard unit to assume a U.S. Space Command mission. (Amanda Geiger/Air National Guard)

Air National Guard leaders estimated up to 70% of their space-focused airmen would resist a transfer to Space Force should Congress approve an Air Force proposal to move 14 Guard units into the newest service branch.

Without these transfers, the Space Force will have a capability and readiness gap that will take seven to 10 years and cost taxpayers approximately $1 billion to fix, Brig. Gen. Michael Bruno of the Colorado National Guard and director of the states Joint Staff said Friday during a call with reporters that included Guard members and leaders from Colorado, Alaska and Hawaii. As I speak, Air National Guard members from Colorado are currently deployed overseas in harms way while providing critical space capabilities in support of combatant commanders. Yet, these space professionals may not have a military job to come back to when they return.

The proposal would move the units into the Space Force as part of the services plan to allow for full-time or part-time service and move more space operations into the new service branch. However, the framework for part-time guardians is years away, according to the Air Force. Troops who serve on active duty have different obligations than the Guard, such as working full time for the military and moving every three years as opposed to working within their state on a part-time or as-needed basis.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall wrote Friday in a letter to concerned governors that Guard members will have the opportunity to volunteer for the Space Force or retrain and remain in the Air National Guard. Units will also remain at their current locations.

As of Tuesday, 140 House lawmakers, senators and governors  Republicans and Democrats  have expressed concerns about the proposal.

The two sides do not even agree on the number of affected personnel. The Air Force said it would impact 578 airmen, and National Guard leaders put the estimate at roughly 1,000.

The fears among Guard members include forced moves from the state where they serve now or being forced to resign from full-time civilian employment, according to troops who spoke Friday. A survey of affected troops found 70% would rather retrain or retire than be transferred into the active-duty Space Force, Bruno said.

Capt. Ian Matson of the 213th Space Warning Squadron in the Alaska Air National Guard said he spent nearly 10 years on active duty. During an assignment in Alaska, he jumped on an opportunity to stay in the state through the Air National Guard, and hes been there for more than three years. To retrain within the Guard would be to lose a job that he enjoys and to go on active duty could pull him from his family.

Having my family here by my side where I can go home every night to them is what makes me want to stay in the Alaska Air National Guard, he said.

The states with space units are Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York and Ohio.

The affected Guard units, which now provide 60% of the Space Forces electromagnetic warfare capability and 33% of U.S. space capabilities, such as deconflicting GPS issues, missile warning, satellite communications and terrestrial weather effects on operations. Guard units have been performing space missions for nearly 30 years, Bruno said.

While these Guard units serve space-focused missions primarily on the federal level, they also provide support to the states, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Monday during a call with reporters. The 233rd Space Group, which is part of the Colorado National Guard, has participated in every state-sponsored mission since 2000, he said. That includes response to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and providing satellite-based fire operations during wildfire season.

The importance of space resources to firefighting and natural disasters is essential for states like ours and many others, said Polis, who has a meeting Wednesday with Kendall to address the issue.

Staff Sgt. Robert Brown, a member of the 233rd group, said he prefers the Guard over active duty because he can continue to live near the orthopedic specialists who provide medical treatment for his young son.

My wife and I are expecting a daughter in just about a month. That really enforces our need to stay, he said.

Governors losing control over some Guard troops has led the governors of all 50 states and five U.S. territories to write to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden to challenge the move. Fifty-three governors did so in a joint letter to Austin last week through the Council of Governors, an advisory board of state governors for the Defense Department.

The council was not contacted prior to Kendall approving the proposal March 15, the governors said. The proposal is now with Congress as part of this years budget discussions and is separate from stalled legislation that would create a Space National Guard.

On Monday, a group of 56 House members and 29 senators sent a letter urging the House and Senate Armed Services committees to reject the proposal.

There are seven states that have space missions, and 53 governors who are opposed to the proposal. That should tell you everything about how dangerous [and] how much of an existential threat this proposal is to the authority of the governors and to the National Guard, Bruno said.

In Kendalls response Friday to the governors letter, he wrote the move of the units would help complete the work of standing up the U.S. Space Force and is essential to the unity of command and mission success.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who was on the call Monday alongside Polis, said Kendalls response failed to address the root of their concerns.

He was saying that the proposal would be negligible, and thats deeply disappointing, Cox said.
Participants attend a hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park using the GRIT Freedom Chair on loan from Catalyst Sports. (Catalyst Sports)

New resources available at Great Smoky Mountains National Park help visitors with disabilities explore hiking trails, go mountain biking, paddle kayaks and camp overnight in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.

After launching a program of free, adaptive activities last year, the countrys most-visited national park will expand the number and type of excursions this summer.

The programs allow individuals with disabilities and their families and community to move beyond the pavement to explore and enjoy the Smokies, said Emily Davis, a public affairs specialist with the national park.

For its inaugural year, the national park and its partners organized three hikes and one mountain bike outing for parkgoers who use adaptive gear. This year, the program will feature three hikes, two mountain bike rides, one kayak trip and one night of backcountry camping. The outings are scheduled for select dates in June, July, September and October.

Davis said the staff receives daily emails and phone calls from people inquiring about the special excursions and adaptive equipment, which the park loans out through a separate program. She said the messages come from locals and out-of-town guests planning to vacation in the popular park. Last year, more than 13 million people visited, according to National Park Service data.

Eric Gray, founder and executive director of Catalyst Sports, one of the programs key partners, said the nonprofit will provide three hiking chairs (plus two from the park), seven adaptive kayaks and a dozen mountain bikes, in addition to snacks and drinks. Experienced staff members and volunteers will help with the fit and handling of the gear.

Were trying to remove as many barriers as possible, Gray said. All they need to do is show up.

Types of adaptive equipment

Catalysts equipment is available to anyone with a physical disability and caters to a wide range of special needs. Some of the kayaks and bikes are built for two, ideal for people with visual impairments.

The organization uses three-wheel off-road trikes for people who can move their legs but have poor balance, and handcycle mountain bikes for cyclists without leg mobility. The bikes come with e-assist for powering through tough or steep terrain.

The hiking chairs have levers (easier to push than dirt-encrusted wheels) and a front wheel for steamrolling over large obstacles.

The kayaks have outriggers to prevent tipping, and a custom seat supports people with limited abdominal functions. Hand adaptations are tailored for amputees and others with restricted capabilities.

Participants can also bring their own gear. Folks who dont require special assistance are invited, too.

Its not just about making something accessible. Its about making it inclusive, so that the entire family and friends can be part of it, said Mark Bogosian, the director of the quality of life grants program at the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. By offering these kinds of programs, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is really making sure that everybody in the community has the opportunity to participate and enjoy nature and be active.

Lasher Sport All Terrain Handcycles aid people without leg mobility. The bikes come with e-assist for powering through tough or steep terrain. (Catalyst Sports)

The inclusive outdoors

National parks are becoming increasingly more welcoming to outdoor enthusiasts with mobility issues. In addition to its adaptive-friendly excursions, the Great Smoky national park has three adult-size off-road wheelchairs (and one junior chair) available for use on accessible trails. NPS volunteers meet the guest at the trailhead for a safety overview and quick tutorial. The volunteer can accompany the hikers or wait at the trailhead. Davis said the park plans to expand its fleet as well as train more volunteers for this service.

Several other NPS sites also provide all-terrain wheelchairs (e.g., Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado) or beach wheelchairs (Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado and Gulf Islands National Seashore in Florida and Mississippi). The rentals are complimentary. Because of the limited supply, reservations are strongly recommended.

The movement is flourishing on the state and regional level, as well. All-Terrain Georgia supplies all-terrain wheelchairs to more than a dozen destinations in the Peach State, including Cloudland Canyon, Panola Mountain and Cumberland Island. Tennessee State Parks and the Minnesota Department of National Resources provide the trailblazing equipment in 13 parks each. A number of other state park departments are also onboard, including those of Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

I do see the domino effect, said Carly Pearson, the Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in Knox County, Tenn. Other parks are catching on.

Pearson, a former NPS wildland firefighter who suffered a spinal cord injury in 2002, said she assisted the Knoxville nonprofit Legacy Parks Foundation in creating one of the first adaptive mountain bike trails in East Tennessee. The Independence and Freedom Trail was completed in spring 2020. She said a number of local partners have since collaborated to develop more outdoor sites that can accommodate adaptive equipment.

People with mobility issues said one of the biggest obstacles to exploring the outdoors is acquiring or accessing the specialized gear. The equipment can be prohibitively expensive. Pearson said a fully kitted-out adaptive mountain bike can cost $22,000.

Do I want to pay for my sons college or do I go and selfishly buy myself a recreational piece of equipment? she said. Im going to take care of my kid, of course.

Specialized guides

Though loaner programs help adventurers overcome that hurdle, availability isnt always enough. Depending on the individuals capabilities, the visitor might need help settling into the equipment and navigating the unfamiliar trail or body of water. Thats where the support team comes in.

For the Great Smoky Mountains program, Gray said experts from his team will accompany guests, including an adaptive mountain bike director who lives in Asheville, N.C., a hiking director who will oversee the day treks and backcountry camping trip, and an adaptive kayaking specialist from Knoxville. Park rangers will cover the educational portion of the outings, sharing ecological and historical tidbits with the group.

For backcountry camping, Gray said guests will hike for about 1 miles, cook over a fire and sleep in tents. They will rough it  to a point. Instead of digging a hole for a toilet, they will have access to a portable commode.

Were going to make it easier for them for their first experience in the backcountry, he said.

Each national park shares information about its accessible trails and adaptive programs on its website and in its visitor centers. For a broader scope, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation created a search tool to help people locate accessible and adaptable programs, events and resources around the country. The organization also has a team of advisers who can help with trip planning and other recreational advice. The service is free.

The information specialists are trained to help people locate areas for adaptive activities, Bogosian said. They help them think about the questions they need to ask as they plan their trips.

Participants attend a hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park using the Joelette, an all-terrain wheelchair with a single wheel. (Catalyst Sports)

Healing and restorative exercise

Matt Lee, a 43-year-old Asheville resident, suffered a spinal cord injury the summer after he graduated high school. He uses a wheelchair, which restricts his outdoor activities. Several years ago, he upgraded to a power-assisted device with off-road tires and a free wheel attachment. His range of exploration improved, but he still runs into stumbling blocks.

You can get to a certain point, he said, but there might be a creek or a stream or some uprooted areas or lots of rocks that are just too challenging to navigate.

In 2022, he attended an adaptive mountain bike clinic hosted by Catalyst Sports. He said it was the first time he had biked that hard and that deep into nature since his accident. He learned about the Great Smoky program during the clinic and signed up for two hikes last year. For the first trek, he borrowed a passive Jolette all-terrain wheelchair from the North Carolina Spinal Cord Injury Association. He brought his own equipment for the second excursion on Deep Creek Trail.

To venture off and experience being out in nature  its very healing and restorative, he said. Now that Ive been able to get out there, I feel better. Im happier. My overall well-being has improved.

This year, he is considering the kayak outing and the backcountry trip, an adventure that is long overdue.

I havent really done overnight camping in over 20 years, he said. So that would that would be a new experience for me since my injury.
Its been an up-and-down several years at a state-funded, $200 million drug manufacturing plant in Dunkirk, a facility that  to date  still has not actually manufactured a drug.

But could that soon change?

ImmunityBio Inc., which leases the 400,000-square-foot plant originally built for the now-defunct Athenex, publicly said Tuesday for the first time that the Dunkirk plant will play a key role in the manufacturing of the drug product for Anktiva, a bladder cancer therapy that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about two weeks ago.

The catch: The Dunkirk plant remains 12 to 18 months away from completion due to delays and an ongoing lawsuit with the general contractor.

But ImmunityBio said the fill-finish equipment  which is used to fill vials and finish packaging  has been purchased and is being installed at the Dunkirk plant. When the plant is completed, ImmunityBio said the facility will have the capacity to produce 1 million vials annually.

Dunkirk is very much part of Anktiva, ImmunityBio President and CEO Rich Adcock told The Buffalo News. Its very much part of the future success.

For public officials such as Mark Geise, the news Tuesday represents some hope for the 3805 Lake Shore Drive East plant that is envisioned as a crucial project in Western New Yorks efforts to gain a piece of the drug development and manufacturing market.

Geise, CEO of the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency, has been encouraged to see trucks delivering equipment to the plant.

I am cautiously optimistic, Geise said. I would say with this FDA approval, certainly I am far more optimistic than Ive ever been about the future of that plant.

But ImmunityBio still has a long way to go to meet the investment and hiring obligations with the state that it inherited from Athenex.

And there have been plenty of bumps along the way.

A rough road

In 2016, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the state would construct the plant for Athenex, hoping it would provide the boost necessary to turn the Buffalo company into a biopharmaceutical powerhouse that could help build Western New Yorks reputation within drug development and manufacturing.

That didnt happen.

Athenex was dealt a stunning blow in early 2021 when federal regulators raised questions about a late-stage clinical trial for a breast cancer drug it was developing. Athenex would never recover and, by late 2021, it was desperate for cash and looking to unload assets  like the lease on its massive taxpayer-funded plant in Dunkirk.

Athenex found a willing buyer in ImmunityBio, a California immunotherapy company that is backed by billionaire biotech entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.

In mid-February 2022, ImmunityBio completed its $40 million acquisition of the leasehold interest in the Dunkirk plant.

Early that year, Soon-Shiong said that ImmunityBio had great ambitions to make this plant our star plant. The companys goal at the time was to start producing its Covid-19 vaccine drug substance by the end of 2022.

That never happened.

In fall 2022, ImmunityBio laid off 38 workers at the Dunkirk plant after it determined the new facility had construction needs that may require approximately 12 to 18 months to complete in order for it to be used as intended.

And in May 2023, the FDA informed ImmunityBio that it could not approve the license for Anktiva at that time. Less than a year later, on April 22, ImmunityBio received the long-awaited FDA approval.

A year ago, we thought we were going to get approved and didnt, and we had to really double down and focus harder to get this approved, Adcock said.

Though ImmunityBios announcement Tuesday makes clear the Dunkirk plant is not complete, it represents at least the most recent hope for the state, and taxpayers, to see a return on its big investment.

ImmunityBio has big numbers to hit, given it assumed all of the investment and hiring obligations for the plant that Athenex previously negotiated with the state.

That includes spending $1.52 billion on operational expenses during the initial 10-year lease term, which began Oct. 1, 2021, and expires in 2031. ImmunityBio is paying $2 per year during the 10-year lease.

And if ImmunityBio elects to renew the lease for another 10 years, it must spend an additional $1.5 billion on operational expenses during that term.

ImmunityBio also must hire 450 employees at the Dunkirk facility within the first five years of operations, including 300 workers within the first 2 years.

If ImmunityBio fails to hit those targets, the state could potentially terminate the lease agreement and try to recoup a percentage of the funding received for the construction of the Dunkirk plant, the company informed investors in a regulatory filing.

While the delayed FDA approval was a setback, Adcock said ImmunityBio is now in a very strong position with an FDA-approved drug  which will be made in Dunkirk once the plant is complete.

As CEO, Im committed to Dunkirk, Adcock said.

A construction dispute

Behind the scenes, ImmunityBio has been involved in a legal battle with the general contractor of the Dunkirk facility.

Exyte U.S. Inc. filed a lawsuit against Athenex and ImmunityBio in October 2022, claiming it is owed about $8.4 million related to the project.

That includes, according to Exytes lawsuit, $7.4 million that it is entitled to because it completed the plant at $18.5 million below the projects guaranteed maximum price of $212.5 million.

The design-build agreement, which Exyte entered into with Athenex in December 2017, called for Exyte to be compensated for a portion of the savings it generated by completing the project at below cost, according to the lawsuit. More specifically, Exyte would get 40% of the difference between the final cost and the maximum project value, the lawsuit claims.

ImmunityBio, meanwhile, has argued that liabilities of Athenex that predated the closing of the lease purchase agreement in February 2022 are not assumed by ImmunityBio and remain obligations retained by Athenex.

Further, ImmunityBio has claimed there are multiple deficiencies in the Dunkirk plant, which Exyte  as the design-builder  is responsible to correct.

Attorneys for Exyte did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The Exyte lawsuit was stayed while Athenexs bankruptcy proceedings played out in court. On March 20, the liquidating trustee of Athenex requested the case be moved from State Supreme Court in Erie County to federal court.

Adcock said the lawsuit, as well as the delayed FDA approval, did slow down ImmunityBios plans in Dunkirk. In the meantime, he said ImmunityBio has been purchasing and installing multimillion-dollar pieces of equipment at the plant.

Were planning for the future, he said. Dunkirk is very much going to be part of that. We know thats going to mean growth and jobs and all of those, and were really happy to be able to do and deliver on the promises that people made quite some time ago.
Army First Lt. Brandon Keyon Moultrie, 28, died May 5, 2024, in Fairbanks, Alaska, after being shot outside a bar the day before. (U.S. Army)

An Alaska-based Army platoon leader died Sunday of gunshot injuries he sustained the day before while a bystander to a shooting in downtown Fairbanks, the Army said in a news release Monday.

First Lt. Brandon Keyon Moultrie, 28, of Columbia, S.C., died at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, according to the release.

Moultrie was shot in the back of the head during an altercation outside the International Hotel and Bar, the Anchorage Daily News reported Monday.

Moultrie was not involved in the dispute and was hit by a random shot, Fairbanks police told the newspaper.

Shamar Rashied Terrill Snipes, 21, was arrested Saturday and charged Monday with second-degree murder, the report said.

Moultrie was a logistical platoon leader with the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, the Army news release states.

He enlisted in July 2013 and was commissioned in 2022 through Officer Candidate School. He was stationed in Alaska in May 2023 following stints at Fort Gregg-Adams, Va.; Fort Campbell, Ky.; and Fort Stewart, Ga.

His passing is a profound loss to our community and all those that knew him and he will be dearly missed, Col. Derek Smith, commander of the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, said in the release.

Our hearts go out to the Moultrie family during this incredibly difficult time, and we are committed to providing all the care and support available to his family and friends.

Among Moultries awards and decorations were the Army Commendation Medal, three awards of the Army Achievement Medal, three awards of the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Parachutist Badge and the Air Assault Badge, according to the release.

He earned bachelors and masters degrees at Troy University in Alabama.

Just days before his death, Moultrie had been recognized by installation officials for his volunteer work in the Fort Wainwright community, the release states.
An amphibious combat vehicle attached to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit splashes off the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry during a Balikatan drill in Oyster Bay, Philippines, May 4, 2024. (Peyton Kahle/U.S. Marine Corps)

The Marine Corps deployed its new amphibious combat vehicle overseas for the first time for the annual Balikatan training in the Philippines, according to a news release Tuesday.

ACVs from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit performed live-fire exercises Saturday at a waterborne range in Oyster Bay, on the island of Palawan, said the release by 15th MEU spokesman Capt. Brian Tuthill.

A platoon of combat vehicles launched from the amphibious landing ship USS Harpers Ferry in a simulated assault on shore targets, according to the release. They use remote controlled, externally mounted Mark 19 40 mm grenade machine guns.

The crews fired training rounds that mark targets with orange chalk upon impact, instead of using high explosives, according to the Marines.

The hard work and dedication of our Marines is what made todays training successful, 15th MEU commander Col. Sean Dynan said in the release. Todays training is a proof of concept across the Marine Corps for successful ACV employment in its intended environment.

Marines in amphibious combat vehicles assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit wrap up Balikatan live-fire training in Oyster Bay, Philippines, May 4, 2024. (Aidan Hekker/U.S. Marine Corps)

The ACV training took place during the Balikatan exercise, a training event involving 16,000 U.S. and Philippine troops that began April 22 and concludes Friday.

This years exercise plays out following escalating attempts by Chinese coast guard vessels to interfere with the Philippines resupply of an outpost on Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, west of Palawan.

The mock assault marks the first operational use overseas of the ACV, which replaced the Corps amphibious assault vehicles after the accidental deaths of nine Marines off the Southern California coast in July 2020.

BAE Systems of York, Pa., developed the ACV under a $67 million contract in June 2019. The following year, the company received a $184 million contract for the vehicles full production.

The Marine Corps announced in 2021 it would replace its aging amphibious vehicles.

The eight-wheeled ACVs move troops from ship to shore and are designed to ride the surf close to shore during assaults. They fit into the Marines force redesign, which turns the Marine Corps into a distributed, light strike force equipped to fight across Pacific islands.

Marines in amphibious combat vehicles assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit take part in Balikatan live-fire training in Oyster Bay, Philippines, May 4, 2024. (Aidan Hekker/U.S. Marine Corps)

The 15th MEUs vehicles will deploy to Okinawa, then-acting commandant Gen. Christopher Mahoney said in January.

The ACV platoon and other elements of the 15th MEU deployed from Camp Pendleton, Calif., on March 19 aboard the Harpers Ferry.

The vessel is part of the Boxer Amphibious Group, whose lead ship, the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, turned back to San Diego less than two weeks after it left port on April 1 for repairs to its starboard rudder.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Obukhov State Plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Jan. 18, 2023. (Russian presidential office)

MOSCOW  As Vladimir Putin persists in his bloody campaign to conquer Ukraine, the Russian leader is directing an equally momentous transformation at home - re-engineering his country into a regressive, militarized society that views the West as its mortal enemy.

Putins inauguration on Tuesday for a fifth term will not only mark his 25-year-long grip on power but also showcase Russias shift into what pro-Kremlin commentators call a revolutionary power, set on upending the global order, making its own rules, and demanding that totalitarian autocracy be respected as a legitimate alternative to democracy in a world redivided by big powers into spheres of influence.

Russians live in a wholly new reality, Dmitri Trenin, a pro-Kremlin analyst, wrote in reply to questions about an essay in which he argued that Russias anti-Western shift was more radical and far-reaching than anything anticipated when Putin invaded Ukraine but also a relatively minor element of the wider transformation which is going on in Russias economy, polity, society, culture, values, and spiritual and intellectual life.

In Russia, Remastered, The Washington Post documents the historic scale of the changes Putin is carrying out and has accelerated with breathtaking speed during two years of brutal war even as tens of thousands of Russians have fled abroad. It is a crusade that gives Putin common cause with Chinas Xi Jinping as well as some supporters of former president Donald Trump.

And it raises the prospect of an enduring civilizational conflict to subvert Western democracy and - Putin has warned - even threatens a new world war.

To carry out this transformation, the Kremlin is:

- Forging an ultraconservative, puritanical society mobilized against liberal freedoms and especially hostile to gay and transgender people, in which family policy and social welfare spending boost traditional Orthodox values.

- Reshaping education at all levels to indoctrinate a new generation of turbo-patriot youth, with textbooks rewritten to reflect Kremlin propaganda, patriotic curriculums set by the state and, from September, compulsory military lessons taught by soldiers called Basics of Security and Protection of the Motherland, which will include training on handling Kalashnikov assault rifles, grenades and drones.

- Sterilizing cultural life with blacklists of liberal or antiwar performers, directors, writers and artists, and with new nationalistic mandates for museums and filmmakers.

- Mobilizing zealous pro-war activism under the brutal Z symbol, which was initially painted on the side of Russian tanks invading Ukraine but has since spread to government buildings, posters, schools and orchestrated demonstrations.

- Rolling back womens rights with a torrent of propaganda about the need to give birth - young and often - and by curbing ease of access to abortions, and charging feminist activists and liberal female journalists with terrorism, extremism, discrediting the military and other offenses.

- Rewriting history to celebrate Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator who sent millions to the gulag, through at least 95 of the 110 monuments in Russia erected during Putins time as leader. Meanwhile, Memorial, a human rights group that exposed Stalins crimes and shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, was shut down and its pacificist co-chairman Oleg Orlov, 71, jailed.

- Accusing scientists of treason; equating criticism of the war or of Putin with terrorism or extremism; and building a new, militarized elite of warriors and workers willing to take up arms, redraw international boundaries and violate global norms on orders of Russias strongman ruler.

Theyre trying to develop this scientific Putinism as a basis of propaganda, as a basis of ideology, as a basis of historical education, said Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. They need an obedient new generation - indoctrinated robots in an ideological sense - supporting Putin, supporting his ideas, supporting this militarization of consciousness.

Kolesnikov, speaking in an interview in Moscow, added: They need cannon fodder for the future.

Just before ordering what he believed would be a short, shock war on Ukraine, Putin published a little-noticed decree billed as vital to Russias national security. It called for urgent measures to protect traditional Russian spiritual and moral values and named the United States as a direct threat.

Threats to traditional values come from extremist and terrorist organizations, some news media and communication platforms, the actions of the United States and other unfriendly foreign states, the order stated. A key goal, it said, was to position the Russian state on the international stage as a custodian and defender of traditional universal spiritual and moral values.

Putins descriptions of the West as satanic and the war as sacred are increasingly echoed by officials and the Russian Orthodox Church.

As he fractures global ties and girds his nation for a forever war with the West, riot police in Russia are raiding nightclubs and private parties, beating up guests and prosecuting gay bar owners. Russians have been jailed or fined for wearing rainbow earrings or displaying rainbow flags. Dissidents who were imprisoned in Soviet times are once again behind bars - this time for denouncing the war.

The Kremlin has defended the crackdown as responding to popular demand.

For this article, The Post submitted questions to the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, who responded to some but not all of the queries. The Post has also requested an interview with Putin. That request was denied.

If it is not accepted by the society then police have to take measures to bring it into balance with the demands of the society, Peskov wrote in his reply. Society is now less tolerant to those parties and nightclubs.

Long obsessed with Russias population decline, Putin is urging Russian women to have eight or more babies, while also seizing chunks of Ukraines population by force. Russia has issued more than 3 million passports in eastern Ukraine since 2019, according to the Russian Interior Ministry.

In occupied Ukraine, it is virtually impossible to work, drive, or obtain health care, humanitarian aid, benefits or other services without having a Russian passport - a potential violation of the Geneva Conventions, which state that it is forbidden to compel the inhabitants of occupied territory to swear allegiance to the hostile power.

In Crimea, Russia issued more than 1.5 million passports after invading and illegally annexing the peninsula in 2014.

In ambition and scale, Putins effort to mold a new national identity is as profound as the Russian October Revolution, a member of the Moscow elite with contacts in the Kremlin said, referring to 1917, when Vladimir Lenins Bolsheviks seized power. He overturns all the values, this person said. He cuts all the usual ties.

Like many people in this article, this person spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the Russian government, which has jailed and even killed its critics. Some of those interviewed for this article have received overt warnings, including bank account and asset freezes, and two have been jailed.

They are trying to create some new form of ideology for the masses, said Mikhail Zygar, a Russian journalist and writer now living in New York. Its not a war with Ukraine. Its a war with America, a war with the West or with Satan, with all those forces of moral decay. Putinism bears hallmarks of fascism, Zygar said. Hes using the war and hatred as the instrument to brainwash the Russian people, he said. Thats everything we know about fascism.

Charges and an arrest warrant for disseminating fake news were launched against Zygar after The Post interviewed him.

Origins of Putinism

Putins quest is not new, but Russias confrontation with the West over Ukraine has allowed him to accelerate his plan. The Russian leader, who inherited his post on Dec. 31, 1999, immediately began whittling back democratic institutions and approved a raid on NTV, the main independent television station, just weeks after winning his first election in March 2000.

During his first two decades of rule, Putin rode a crest of oil and gas prices, but he never had a mobilizing ideology to convince citizens that his path was better than the Wests democratic freedoms and greater economic wealth. His re-engineering of Russia is designed to provide that unifying philosophy. Its symbol - the letter Z painted roughly on invading tanks in 2022 - now adorns public buildings and banners.

Invading Ukraine was the most destructive step in Putins longer, grander plan to restore Russias greatness as the superpower it was during Soviet times and as an empire for 200 years before that. But his transformation of Russia started well before the invasion of Ukraine, using homophobia and so-called traditional values to disrupt Western societies and court support in the Global South. He also projected military power by invading Georgia in 2008 and sending Russian troops to Syria and Africa.

In Russia, the death in February of Putins strongest rival, Alexei Navalny, was a clear signpost on this new path. Putin shrugged off Navalnys death, showing no sympathy, let alone remorse. It happens, he said, endorsing the official finding that Navalny died of natural causes. Navalnys widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has accused Putin of having him killed.

Putin decides everything, the member of the Russian elite said, and while his new term runs until 2030, he is widely expected to stay in power as long as he chooses.

In a State of the Nation speech in February, Putin described his push for women to have more children and to create a new elite of workers and soldiers.

We can see what is taking place in some countries where moral standards and the family are being deliberately destroyed and entire nations are pushed to extinction and decadence, he said. We have chosen life. Russia has been and remains a stronghold of the traditional values on which human civilization stands.

Proclaiming a new time of heroes, Putin said the old oligarchic elite was discredited.

Those who have done nothing for society and consider themselves a caste endowed with special rights and privileges - especially those who took advantage of all kinds of economic processes in the 1990s to line their pockets - are definitely not the elite, he said. Those who serve Russia, hard workers and military, reliable, trustworthy people who have proven their loyalty, he added, are the genuine elite.

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, in written replies to questions from The Post, said the aim was to encourage our people to give birth to as many children as they can, to increase Russias population.

And in this context, spreading of traditional values is extremely important for us and in this context we have nothing in common with this extremist liberalism in terms of abandoning traditional human and religious values that were witnessing right now in European countries. This does not correspond with our understanding of what is right, he added.

Peskov said the Kremlin would continue to make propaganda out of this, in the good sense of this word, adding: Especially now when we have an extreme consolidation of our society around this idea of traditional values and around the president so its easier for us to do that.

Russia remastered

At a meeting in January, Putin stood stiffly with a group of families clad in bright national costumes. It was latest iteration of his image, long shaped by staged activities like riding bare-chested on horseback. Now, extolling traditional values, he is the grandfatherly patriarch, recalling portraits of Stalin with folk from across the Soviet Union.

In Russian families, many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had seven or eight children, and even more. Lets preserve and revive these wonderful traditions, Putin said in a November speech dedicated to a thousand-year, eternal Russia.

The emphasis is on a special and powerful state dominated by Putin, on centuries-old Russian self-reliance and stoicism, and the sacrifice of individual rights to the regime. Men give their lives in war or work. Women should give their bodies by birthing children.

Putins worldview draws from 9th-century Vikings, ancient princes and expansionist czars, but its lodestone is World War II, or the Great Patriotic War, in which Russia helped defeat Nazi Germany. Russian pride in that victory, central to its national identity, is woven into Putins mythology about the Soviet Union.

Stalin, who oversaw the deaths of millions in famines, purges and the gulag, has been promoted as a strong wartime leader, with 63 percent of Russians expressing a positive view of him in a 2023 survey by the Levada Center polling agency, and 47 percent expressing respect for him.

Putins admiration for him goes back decades. In 2002, when Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski met the Russian leader for nearly five hours one-on-one, Putin professed strong admiration for three leaders - Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Stalin - and a desire to rebuild Great Russia.

My impression was I see a man who was formed by the KGB: KGB education, KGB school books and the books about history, absolutely falsified, Kwasniewski told Zygar, the Russian journalist, in 2022, but very much in favor of this understanding of Great Russia and Russian pride.

Putin has long obsessed over the idea of a civilizational battle against the West, distorting history to claim that Russia is merely retaking its historical lands in Ukraine.

Putins first prime minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, said he and other 1990s reformers assumed that, like them, Putin had embraced democracy and market reform. But he didnt, Kasyanov said. He pretended. Kasyanov said he was horrified by Putins approach to two hostage crises in 2002 and 2004 - ordering forces to storm in, causing hundreds of deaths.

That was already a demonstration of his real nature, his KGB nature: no negotiations, no compromise, because they cant come to a compromise because of the belief they will be seen as weak people, he said. By 2004, Kasyanov was in opposition. I understood that hes completely the wrong person, he said.

Putins first attempt to dominate Ukraine in 2004 - visiting Kyiv to back pro-Kremlin presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych - backfired and set the scene for the Orange Revolution and a rematch election, which Putins man lost. Putin saw it as a coup and Western support for the winner, Viktor Yushchenko, as interference. It was the start of Putins fixation on the Ukrainian problem and his belief that an independent, democratic neighbor was an unacceptable threat to his own regime.

Abbas Gallyamov, a Putin speechwriter from 2008 to 2010 and Kremlin political consultant until 2018, said Putin invaded Crimea in 2014 and conducted a full-scale military attack on Ukraine in 2022 partly to reverse declines in his approval rating. After voicing frank criticisms of Putins decisions, Gallyamov said, Kremlin managers threatened to cut him off. After this I received threats, he said. Youll starve. Youll get no contracts.

He moved to Israel with his family. Last year, he was put on Russias wanted list, according to an Interior Ministry database, and the Russian Justice Ministry declared him a foreign agent. An arrest warrant was issued March 4.

In Russia, schoolteachers are used to indoctrinate children and even to police their parents views.

Spending on patriotic education and state-run militarized organizations for children and teens increased to more than $500 million in 2024 from about $34 million in 2021, according to federal budget statistics reported by RBC, a Russian business daily.

Starting in September, all schoolchildren will get military training from soldiers who fought in Ukraine; since last year, university students take a compulsory course in patriotism that conveys distorted history and the idea that Russia has no borders when it comes to Russian-speaking compatriots.

Students of all ages are inundated with pro-war activities, including talks from war veterans clad in camouflage and black balaclavas. In Novosibirsk, children made drones for the front and in Mamadysh in Tatarstan, they produced drone tail fins. Others have made crutches for wounded soldiers or knitted stockings for the stumps of military amputees.

Superstitious conspiracy theories are taking hold, with science in retreat. More than a dozen Russian scientists have been accused of treason, thousands have fled the country, and publication of Russian scientific papers plummeted by more than 14 percent in 2022 amid Russias isolation after the Ukraine invasion, according to Scopus, a major independent database of peer-reviewed research papers.

Putin anoints heroes whose deeds most shock the West. He honored troops whom Ukraine accused of carrying out atrocities in Bucha in 2022; promoted a top Russian prison official days after Navalnys death; and paid tribute to his childrens rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, who, along with Putin, has been charged by the International Criminal Court with war crimes for the unlawful transfer and unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. The Kremlin rejects the charges.

Russias elite, meanwhile, has hardened against the West, according to one billionaire living outside Russia.

Everyone is very anti-West; thats all you hear, the billionaire said. Anti-West, anti-West, anti-West. And it will increase, the longer this war goes on - and it could go on for 10 years or more.

As Putin rails against liberal decadence and permissiveness to rally the nation behind him, Russian patriots exult at his promise of a new elite. Yekaterina Kolotovkina, the wife of Lt. Gen. Andrei Kolotovkin, commander of the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army, of Samara, developed a project called Wives of Heroes, now touring the country, with patriotic portraits of soldiers wives draped in their husbands uniforms.

At the Samara House of Officers, she runs a group of women pensioners who cut and fold bandages for the war. The storeroom is crammed with goods to be sent to the front: childrens drawings, trench candles, and comfort packages of dry crackers, sweets and homemade good-luck charms.

The people who are coming back from the special military operation absolutely must be created as this new elite, Kolotovkina said in an interview. These are people who proved their love of Russia. They are true patriots. They have to be given decent jobs in state institutions.

She blames the West for sending its filth to Russia, and for promoting LGBTQ+ people.

The new Russia is all about family values, Mama and Papa, she said. Our children should be healthy and patriotic. It will be a strong, patriotic society. We will get rid of all those who started to destroy our country. I think the new Russia will have no place for these people.

Scum and traitors Along with its elevation of new heroes, Putins push to remake Russia is marked by the persecution of thousands of those he calls scum and traitors - enemies of the state. More than 116,000 Russians were tried under repressive criminal or administrative articles during Putins most recent term, the highest since Stalinist times, according to a study by Proekt, an investigative Russian news outlet.

Among them is Boris Kagarlitsky, a leftist sociologist who was jailed in 1982 as a Soviet dissident his early 20s.

Now 65, Kagarlitsky was arrested again in July by the Federal Security Service for promoting terrorism, handcuffed and forced into an SUV by armed guards in black balaclavas, then driven 17 hours to Syktyvkar in northern Russia, where he faced court.

Kafka, he said simply. Everyone understood the absurdity. He was fined and freed in December, then jailed again in February, after the prosecutor appealed. His days operating a YouTube channel out of a studio in a dim Moscow basement are finished. In an interview over lunch before he was sent back to prison, The Post asked why he did not leave Russia. He shrugged and smiled. Jail, he said, was a professional hazard.

Kagarlitsky said Putins effort to re-engineer Russia is a desperate - and doomed - throw of the dice, disconnected from reality. Its not only out of step with ordinary Russians. Its out of step with the elite itself, he said, before rushing off to feed his cat.

The regime is also striving to discredit Putin critics outside Russia, including a beloved detective novelist, London-based Grigory Chkhartishvili, better known by his pen name, Boris Akunin, who was charged with disseminating false information about the Russian military and with justifying terrorism for opposing the war in Ukraine.

Russian stores banned his books, his royalties were seized and he was issued an arrest warrant in absentia. According to Chkhartishvili, Putin is implementing Orthodox sharia using xenophobic, bigoted, paranoid, misogynistic and inevitably antisemitic cliches to mobilize Russians. Moscow must become a mecca of morons, he said. Thats the plan.

Many of those interviewed for this article have fled Russia or were later jailed, including an eccentric YouTuber, Askhabali Alibekov, who calls himself the Wild Paratrooper. Alibekov, of Novorossiysk in southern Russia, has been jailed three times for criticizing Putin and the war. He was on the run when he spoke to The Post in December.

He grew up in an orphanage, earning the nickname Little Wolf, fighting bullies, always keen to have the last punch. But struggling against Putin, he said he felt total impotence, powerlessness, helplessness.

The country is turning into an absolutely totalitarian state. There is complete lawlessness, Alibekov said. There is no democracy. There are rich people and slaves, thats all. On Feb. 20, police dragged him off a train, and he was detained, awaiting trial for allegedly assaulting police.

Russias Interior Ministry did not respond to an inquiry about the charges against Gallyamov or the cases against Zygar, Akunin and Alibekov.

The shock value in Russias hunt for enemies is enough to quell most dissent. In January, Yevgenia Maiboroda, 72, a lonely, deeply religious pensioner, was charged with extremism and jailed for 5 years for two antiwar social media posts. And in February, a Nizhny Novgorod woman, Anastasia Yershova, was jailed for five days for displaying extremist symbols - earrings with a frog and a rainbow - which a court found to be pro-LGBTQ+.

A dystopian edge

In a shared wagon on a long-distance night train, a mother from a southern Russian city confided her worries about her children and their futures.

Her family loves to vacation in Italy, Spain, Egypt and Turkey. She showed off photos and videos of beach holidays and a New Years party in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, packed with Russians, all of whom, she said, wished for the war to end.

Her daughter, 15, feels drawn to Europe and wants to be a journalist. Her son, 10, loves gaming. Both are addicted to their iPhones and iPads. Like their friends, they use virtual private networks (VPNs) to view banned sites such as Instagram.

Russian authorities are ramping up technology to curtail dissent. Officials have flagged a ban on VPNs, and analysts see a ban on YouTube as inevitable.

Theres a dystopian edge to the new Russia. Peace activists, young and old, are behind bars, while convicted murderers, rapists and other violent criminals have been set free - pardoned by Putin to fight in Ukraine. Some are returning from war and committing horrific crimes.

Many liberals, including Kagarlitsky and Gallyamov, doubt that Putin and his hard-liners can succeed. Societies never get de-modernized, Kagarlitsky said.

Gallyamov said that many Russians are really afraid and will eventually repudiate Putins rule, just as Germany rejected the Nazis.

The general Russian population is tired of his militarism, of the war, of this patriotic, anti-Western hysteria, Gallyamov said. They drastically want just normalization.

Perhaps the fatigue is murmured too softly for the Kremlin to hear. On the overnight train, the woman was careful to steer clear of politics, a subject she dreads. And yet her despair spilled out.

I just wish there was an end to these troubled times, she said, in a low, bitter voice.

Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Todd Wasmund, commander of Southern European Task Force, Africa, speaks May 7, 2024, at a ceremony to name the Italian army base in Longare, Italy, Caserma Matteo Miotto in honor of an Italian corporal who died in Afghanistan in 2010. (Giuseppe Terrasi/U.S. Army)

LONGARE, Italy  The Italian military base in this town near Vicenza that hosts the U.S. Armys 207th Military Intelligence Brigade never had an official name.

That changed Tuesday during an emotional ceremony christening the installation as Caserma Matteo Miotto, making it the first Italian base named after a soldier who died in a modern conflict.

Miotto, 24, was a corporal from nearby Thiene who served in the Alpini, the Italian armys mountain infantry. He was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

We agreed on not choosing a name from the second or first world wars, which are inevitably linked to a bygone historical moment and society, base commander Col. Michele Amendolagine said. It was necessary to find someone who could be an inspiration, someone closer to U.S. personnel who live on this base, who walked on the same soil ... (in Afghanistan) but, at the same time, Italian.

The lack of a name had created minor issues over the years, Amendolagine said. Americans would refer to the site as Longare Base, causing confusion between the town and the installation.

The military installation in Longare, Italy, is nameless no longer after a ceremony May 7, 2024. It is now called Caserma Matteo Miotto in honor of a soldier from nearby Thiene who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. (Giuseppe Terrasi/U.S. Army) Anna dal Ferro and Franco Miotto, the parents of Cpl. Matteo Miotto, meet with U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Todd Wasmund on May 7, 2024, the day of a ceremony naming the base in Longare, Italy, after their son. The Italian base hosts the U.S. Army's 207th Military Intelligence Brigade (Theater). (Giuseppe Terrasi/U.S. Army) Franco Miotto and U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Todd Wasmund hold up a portrait of Cpl. Matteo Miotto on May 7, 2024, in Longare, Italy. The Longare base, which hosts the U.S. Army's 207th Military Intelligence Brigade (Theater), had been without an official name until Tuesday, when it became Caserma Matteo Miotto. (Giuseppe Terrasi/U.S. Army)

Italians called it Site Pluto, a holdover from the Cold War that is irrelevant today but nevertheless has sparked conspiracy theories in local media that the base is a secret storage spot for nuclear weapons.

Miotto was killed in Buji Pass, Afghanistan, after he rushed to reinforce the area. The act earned him the Silver Medal for Valor from the Italian army and the Cross of Honor, which is given to victims of terrorism abroad.

As legendary NATO allies we have stood together, we have fought together and we have sacrificed together, and Matteo Miotto is part of that legacy, Maj. Gen. Todd Wasmund, commander of Southern European Task Force, Africa, said at the ceremony, which had a turnout of nearly 200.

Every day, the United States Army is proud to serve alongside allies at bases that bear the names of fallen Italian heroes, he said. Whenever soldiers from the Armys 207th Intelligence Brigade enter this installation, they will be told the story of Matteo Miotto.

The naming ceremony also comes on the cusp of the 95th Alpini National Rally, taking place this weekend in Vicenza. The event is expected to draw 400,000 visitors to honor the Alpini, which Italy says is the oldest active mountain infantry in the world.

Miottos father, Franco, thanked both militaries for the posthumous honor given to his son.

This means everything to me, he said. I feel like we put his name inside a safe and his legacy will live on.
Tech. Sgt. Kayla Bradford waits for a radiological assessment on an F-16 Fighting Falcon during exercise Radiant Falcon on April 24, 2024, at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. The Kremlin announced Monday that it will conduct nuclear weapons drills, but Pentagon officials dismissed the idea of an elevated threat. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

The U.S. military isnt adjusting its nuclear force posture in response to new saber-rattling from Russia, American officials said this week following the Kremlins announcement that it will carry out strike drills in the immediate future.

This is an example of the kind of irresponsible rhetoric that weve seen from Russia in the past, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Monday. Its completely inappropriate given the current security situation.

Ryders comments came hours after Moscow announced that it will launch drills that simulate missile strikes with battlefield nuclear weapons.

Tactical nuclear weapons deliver a smaller yield than strategic nuclear weapons and are intended to clear out opposing forces in a more constrained area.

The drills are intended to send a signal to European leaders whom Russias defense ministry on Monday accused of escalating tensions in recent days.

Staff Sgt. Christopher Richardson, right, inspects Tech. Sgt. Kayla Bradford with an ADM-300 survey meter, a crucial step in assessing her exposure to simulated radiological elements, during exercise Radiant Falcon on April 24, 2024, at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. The Kremlin announced Monday that it will conduct nuclear weapons drills, but Pentagon officials dismissed the idea of an elevated threat. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

The Kremlin was likely referring to French President Emmanuel Macron, who has suggested that French troops could have a role to play in Ukraine to support Kyiv in the war against Russia.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron also has sharpened his rhetoric, saying that he backed the idea of Ukraine using missiles supplied by the the U.K. to strike inside Russia.

The aim of the Kremlins nuclear exercise is to unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats by some Western officials, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The drills will involve missile formations from Russias Southern Military District, whose headquarters are in Rostov-on-Don, and will incorporate aircraft and naval forces.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday that Russias nuclear rhetoric has been reckless and irresponsible throughout the Ukraine conflict.

That said, we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture in response to these announcements, nor any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, Miller said.

Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has made repeated nuclear threats. The situation has become cause for concern among top U.S. military officials.

Russia test-launches an Iskander-M ballistic missile at the Kapustin Yar complex in 2018. The Kremlin announced Monday that it will conduct drills that simulate missile strikes with battlefield nuclear weapons, but Pentagon officials responded that they won't adjust the U.S. nuclear force posture as a result. (Russian defense ministry)

Last month, U.S. European Commands Gen. Christopher Cavoli said the United States needs to revive lines of communication in place during the Cold War that helped both countries avoid nuclear conflict.

We could read each others signals. We knew how to send signals to each other, Cavoli said during an April 8 congressional hearing. Almost all of that is gone now.

In the meantime, the U.S. military has stepped up efforts in Europe to prepare for potential nuclear confrontation.

For example, an F-16 fighter wing at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany recently practiced how to safely receive and relaunch aircraft exposed to nuclear radiation.

The drills, a first at that base, dealt with a wide range of technical matters that would be required should the wing need to engage in a counterstrike mission after an adversary had used a tactical nuclear weapon against an ally.

While Air Force officials said the training wasnt tied to current events, such drills are nonetheless new to Europe and come at a time when concerns about Russian nuclear threats are at a post-Cold War high.
Ukraine warned the Kremlin is expanding its use of TikTok to question the legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelenskyys presidency and undermine the nations morale as Russia presses its advantage in cyberspace as well as on the battlefield.

Russias legions of influencers and bots are behind a series of viral TikTok videos that zero in on May 20  the date that Zelenskyys first term would have ended if the countrys election cycle hadnt been disrupted because of martial law, according to Andriy Kovalenko, a senior official focused on Russias wartime dissemination of false information.

Russia is dominating us on TikTok due to the scale of its operation, Kovalenko, who leads a department under the National Security and Defense Council, said in an interview in Kyiv. The Russians have begun working systematically on TikTok and are utilizing this platform successfully.

As Russia leverages its advantage in ammunition and manpower to exploit Ukraines dwindling stocks of weaponry, it has also increasingly embraced TikTok as part of its parallel information war. The social media app owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd. is part of an arsenal that includes other platforms such as Telegram and X, formerly known as Twitter.

A spokesperson for TikTok in London declined to comment.

Ukraines criticism comes as ByteDance is under increasing pressure from the US and European Union due to concern over data security and misinformation.

US President Joe Biden signed a law last month that requires ByteDance to divest the service or face a ban out of concern that Chinas government could use the app for propaganda or spying on US residents.

In the EU, regulators have also scrutinized the app. TikTok has said itll launch a local language feature in all 27 member states of the bloc to curb misinformation ahead of elections this year.

The US government and the European Commission, the EUs executive arm, are among institutions that already ban the app from official devices. Yet politicians including Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz operate accounts on the platform in an attempt to reach a younger audience that gravitates to the service, which boasts over a billion users.

President Xi Jinping embarked on a European tour this week, with a first stop in Paris, where French President Emmanuel Macron sought to pressure the Chinese leader to use its leverage over the Kremlin to help end Russias invasion in Ukraine. Xi and Vladimir Putin have made common cause in challenging the US-led global order, with Beijing accusing Washington of seeking to stifle its development.

Russian actors are skilled at manipulating TikTok, according to Kovalenko. They create fake accounts with Ukrainian SIM cards or manipulate geographic-location technology to appear to be in Ukraine, and can game TikToks algorithms to reach a wider base of users, he said.

There arent many Ukrainian bloggers on TikTok and those who are doing it arent inflating hits, he said. We need to adjust our approach and consider focusing on this social network as well.

TikTok found several covert influence operations that targeted the war in Ukraine attempting to artificially amplify both pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian narratives, it said in its fourth-quarter report on efforts to enforce community guidelines. It removed 2 million videos in Ukraine during the period, according to the report.

Kovalenko, with over 543,000 TikTok followers, uses his account to distribute short videos that underscore Ukraines views on the war. He said a ban is not in the works.

Instead, Ukraine wants TikTok and other social media service providers to open full-scale offices in Kyiv to help fight disinformation more effectively, according to Kovalenko.

TikTok blocked 24 pro-Russian channels after Ukraine complained to its representatives in the EU, he said.

With assistance from Jake Rudnitsky.
A Rochester organization that operates an anti-abortion clinic in Amherst is among 12 entities being sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James for promoting what her office called an unproven treatment known as abortion pill reversal.

CompassCare Pregnancy Services website, according to James lawsuit filed Monday, uses false information that is likely to mislead consumers to believe abortion pill reversal is a safe and effective treatment that can reverse medication abortions.

But, the Attorney Generals Office said, there is little scientific evidence to support abortion pill reversals safety and effectiveness. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a professional membership organization for obstetricians-gynecologists, notes on its website that claims regarding abortion reversal treatment are not based on science and do not meet clinical standards.

Medication abortion, which major medical associations have deemed safe and effective, includes taking two oral medications: mifepristone first and then misoprostol later.

Crisis pregnancy centers, which generally try to convince women that they have other options aside from terminating a pregnancy, claim the abortion pill process can be reversed if progesterone therapy is administered within 72 hours of taking the first pill, mifepristone. Abortion pill reversal treatment, which CompassCare devotes a page on its website to, involves administering repeated doses of progesterone, a hormone produced during pregnancy, to try to counteract the progesterone-blocking mifepristone.

In her lawsuit, James alleges that making false and misleading claims about abortion pill reversal  to try to get pregnant people to get the treatment  constitutes fraud, deceptive business practices and false advertising.

In addition to CompassCare, James is suing 10 other crisis pregnancy centers and Heartbeat International Inc., an Ohio-based anti-abortion group that operates a network of pro-life pregnancy help organizations  some of which pay an annual fee to be a Heartbeat affiliate.

Abortions cannot be reversed, James said in a statement. Any treatments that claim to do so are made without scientific evidence and could be unsafe. Heartbeat International and the other crisis pregnancy center defendants are spreading dangerous misinformation by advertising abortion reversals without any medical and scientific proof.

Heartbeat International, CompassCare and many of the other pregnancy centers are represented by the Thomas More Society, a Chicago public interest law firm that says it is focused on life, family and freedom.

Peter Breen, the firms executive vice president and head of litigation, said in a statement Monday that James is proceeding with a witch-hunt against New Yorks pregnancy help organizations. His firm vowed to fight back against efforts to jeopardize the Christian and life-affirming missions of Heartbeat International, CompassCare, and all similar pro-life ministries in New York.

Ms. James should follow the science and face the facts: Abortion pill reversal is a safe and effective option for pregnant mothers who have taken the first abortion pill, immediately regret it, and seek to save their unborn babies lives, said Breen, adding that the administration of supplemental progesterone has been used for decades.

After receiving James office notice of intention to sue letters late last month, the Thomas More Society on April 30 filed a lawsuit in Monroe County against the Attorney Generals Office on behalf of its clients to try to block legal action from James.

In a statement April 30, CompassCare CEO Jim Harden said James actions should be a major red flag for all Americans, wherever they stand in the abortion debate.

Conspiring to violate the constitutional rights of the politically disfavored sets an ominous precedent and, if allowed to stand, will only serve to dismantle American rule of law, Harden said.

James sued the organizations in New York County on Monday and then filed a motion to stay the Monroe County case, pending the proceeding downstate.

In her lawsuit, James is seeking to get Heartbeat and the crisis pregnancy centers to remove the misleading statements from their websites. She also is seeking payment of civil penalties for violations of the law.

In addition to the Amherst location, the site of a firebombing in 2022, CompassCare operates locations in Rochester, Albany and Brooklyn.

No one has been charged in the June 2022 arson attack. The FBIs Buffalo Office offered a $25,000 reward for anyone who can help identify the people responsible for the firebombing
President Joe Biden makes his way to the Oval Office on Monday. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)

The Biden administration is expected to notify Congress this week whether it believes Israel has violated U.S. or international law in Gaza, a determination with significant moral and political stakes for President Biden.

The forthcoming report, portions of which are expected to be made public after its transmission to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, arrives at a difficult time for U.S.-Israeli relations, as President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tangle over Israels defiance of Washingtons warnings about its conduct of a war and blockade that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and triggered the onset of famine.

A finding by the administration that Israel has violated U.S. or international law will almost certainly amplify calls for a suspension of American military aid, and is sure to anger conservatives who have railed against American criticisms of the Jewish state, as well as centrist political donors and many voters as Biden mounts a difficult reelection bid.

Yet to conclude otherwise, amid the conflicts enormous civilian toll, would risk a backlash from liberals.

Politicians from both parties have already voiced their apprehension, underscoring the challenges Biden faces - and the improbability he emerges unscathed by the reports findings - whatever they may be.

God help us if this report somehow says that  the delivery of humanitarian assistance has been compliant with international standards, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who is among the Democratic Partys most outspoken critics of the administrations management of the Gaza crisis, told reporters last week, referring to Israels control of Gazas border. God help us if thats your finding because anybody with eyes to see and ears to hear knows that thats just not true.

Under pressure from Van Hollen and other Democrats, Biden in February issued a National Security Memorandum that stipulates any country receiving U.S. military aid must provide written assurances they are abiding by international law and U.S. laws governing foreign aid. The State Department is then to produce a report assessing the credibility of those assurances.

The memorandum itself does not trigger specific actions should the State Department determine Israel is not in compliance. But the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act and other laws do, lawmakers say.

Were the Biden administration to conclude, for example, that Israel has restricted humanitarian aid from entering Gaza - something U.S. officials have already acknowledged as happening - or that Israel has carried out military strikes on hospitals or aid operations in which the harm to civilians was disproportionate to the importance of the suspected target, the administration could be compelled, under U.S. law, either to suspend weapons transfers or issue a waiver. Both scenarios could also amount to violations of international humanitarian laws, experts say.

The Biden administration is trying to walk a fine line, but I think doing it poorly, and is frankly making everyone angry, said Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), who like most other members of his party, believes Bidens memorandum and any negative action toward Israel would be harmful to U.S. national security.

Recent reports by prominent human rights monitors and legal experts, along with a leaked State Department memo, have suggested that many of those examining the allegations of wrongdoing believe Israel has violated the law.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment, but the Israeli government has repeatedly defended its actions as compliant with international law. Netanyahus government has attributed civilian casualties to Hamas presence within Gazas dense civilian population, and the militants use of civilian infrastructure; and has blamed its restriction of aid convoys on Hamas, which it says uses certain materials to further its fight.

Eighty-eight congressional Democrats on Friday wrote to Biden to express their belief that there is sufficient evidence that Israels restrictions on the delivery of US-backed humanitarian aid violate [U.S. law], and therefore call into question the assurances Israel provided pursuant to National Security Memorandum 20.

The letter, led by Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), a member of the House intelligence committee, urged Biden to enforce the memorandums terms and suspend certain transfers should it find the Netanyahu government is violating U.S. laws and policies.

The Israeli military on Monday ordered about 100,000 civilians to immediately evacuate the Palestinian border city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, ahead of a planned Israeli military operation there, a move the International Rescue Committee predicted will result in catastrophic humanitarian consequences, and which Biden has suggested would be a red line.

Im interested to see the case that the president makes for or against Israels adherence to the law, said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), adding that he has not yet seen evidence that Israel is compliant.

And I think this operation in Rafah is, in many ways, going to be determinative of whether theyre abiding by the letter and the spirit of the memorandum, Murphy said.

Spokesmen for the White House National Security Council and the State Department declined to comment on the forthcoming report or the political fury surrounding it. But U.S. policymakers involved in its preparation have said the administration recognizes it is in a tough position.

No matter the outcome, one official said, someone will find fault with it. The report is, at its essence, a proxy for the larger argument over whether the Biden administration should continue arming Israel, the official added, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic. And short of a decision to withhold weapons, there is little the administration believes it can do to avoid blowback from skeptical Democrats in Congress.

Republicans have seized on the prospect of suspending Israel aid to argue that the administration is betraying a strategic ally in the interest of pandering to domestic politics.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.) and Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), the chair and ranking Republican, respectively, on the House and Senate foreign committees, have accused Biden of issuing the memorandum to appease critics of Israel. The policy is redundant to existing U.S. law, and its reporting requirement is motivated by anti-Israel sentiment, they wrote in a recent letter to Biden.

Waltz, who sits on all three of the House national security committees, said he has spoken recently to some of his moderate, national security-minded Democratic colleagues who, he said, are getting thousands of calls per week.

Some have had daily protests outside their district offices, Waltz said. It has become a very fraught political situation.

About a month and a half after Biden issued his memorandum, lawmakers and congressional aides said the Israeli government provided the State Department with its assurances that Israel was in full compliance with U.S. and international law. One Republican aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media, said that while they opposed Bidens policy, they expected that the report would not find Israel guilty of any violation.

Administration officials have said Israel has dramatically improved the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza in recent weeks, even as the Pentagon prepares to deploy a temporary pier to serve as a supplemental delivery point for food and other necessities - necessary, they say, because a sufficient amount is not getting in through Gazas land crossings.

Many Democrats have praised the increase in humanitarian assistance, attributing the development in part to the threat of negative findings in the forthcoming report.

But Van Hollen said he has also urged the administration to remember: This report is supposed to chronicle whats happened since the beginning of the war, regardless of whether there have been recent improvements.

If the finding of fact and law is that at no point since the beginning of the war in Gaza has there been a violation of international humanitarian law with respect to the delivery humanitarian assistance, he added, you have set a terribly low bar for the world.

Michael Birnbaum and Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.
Sailors and Marines stand at parade rest on the flight deck of the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship as it pulls into the port of Miami for Fleet Week on Sunday, May 5, 2024. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

MIAMI  Hundreds of sailors and Marines held tightly in parade rest formation, lining the massive flight deck of the USS Bataan as it cruised toward Miami on Sunday evening, eliciting cheers from onlookers on nearby boats and along the causeway leading into the citys port.

Car horns honked and a chant of U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A., broke out from a cruise ship docked at a port terminal as the amphibious assault ship carried more than a thousand sailors and 400 Marines into the port for the Navys first ever Fleet Week in Miami. Excited troops aboard the nearly 850-foot ship said they were looking forward to visiting the citys famous beaches, trying its restaurants and exploring its bars during the weeklong festivities.

Food, man. I cant wait to check out the food here, said Lance Cpl. Jakie Wu, an infantry Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., when he was asked what he was looking forward to in Miami as the ship steamed toward the port. Restaurants, definitely. Probably hit the beaches. Were just going to take it one step at a time and check this city out.

Infantry Marines Cpl. James Rein, left, and Lance Cpl. Jakie Wu, both with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, arrived at Fleet Week in Miami on Sunday, May 5, 2024, aboard the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

The Bataan  back recently from a more than eight-month deployment that took it to the Mediterranean Sea and into the Middle East  was one of five ships participating in Fleet Week. The others include the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, which will soon deploy to the Middle East, the USS Leyte Gulf and USS Normandy guided-missile cruisers, and the Coast Guard cutter Seneca.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said Monday that the idea to bring a Fleet Week to Miami was launched over several dinners with Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava in recent years. The city, the Navys top civilian leader noted, holds a special place for him as a Cuban native who arrived in Miami as a refugee when he was a child before moving to New York.

Sailors and Marines stand along the flight deck of the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship as it pulls into the port of Miami for Fleet Week on Sunday, May 5, 2024. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes) Sailors aboard the USS Bataan, an amphibious assault ship, look out at the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier as the Bataan pulls into the port of Miami for Fleet Week on Sunday, May 5, 2024. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Bringing a Fleet Week to Miami  a move from the nearby Fort Lauderdale area, which had hosted a Fleet Week for decades  should help bolster the militarys connection to the city, Del Toro said. While Miami hosts several military units, including U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Central and South American and the Caribbean Sea, officials said the military could improve recruiting in the city.

Were celebrating a new tradition of service in this great city of Miami-Dade County with Fleet Week Miami, Del Toro said. Thousands of sailors, Marines, Coast Guard men and women and civilian employees will take part in events across greater Miami-Dade area, engaging with the American public we serve and stand ready to share their stories and motivation for their careers in public service.

Levine Cava said Monday that she was impressed with the number of military troops she had already seen enjoying her city since the ships pulled into the port late Sunday and early Monday. She said the city and county had spent about a year preparing for the event, which she hoped would spawn interest in the Miami areas population in military service from the troops visiting.

What is really warming my heart is the excitement of our sailors and Marines  in this trip, and the understanding that this is a two-way recruitment, the mayor said. This is a recruitment for people to serve. And its a recruitment for our beautiful part of the world  we call it paradise, and its just so exciting to see [the troops] eagerness to explore.

A sailor and a Marine look out over Miami beach from the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship as it pulls into the port of Miami for Fleet Week on Sunday, May 5, 2024. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes) Sailors aboard the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship on May 5, 2024, as the ship pulls into the Miami port for Fleet Week. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Fleet Week will include dozens of events throughout the week, including performances by military bands, a naturalization ceremony for service members becoming U.S. citizens, visits to local schools by troops including Navy SEALs, a beach Olympics event and a 5K run. Several of the ships visiting Miami will be open to the public for tours throughout the week, the Navy said.

By Monday evening, Navy sailors in their dress white uniforms and Marines in their dress blues had scattered across downtown Miami taking in the citys tropical atmosphere.

For most of the troops, it was a first time visit to Miami, said Marine Col. David Ickles, the commander of Camp Lejeunes 10th Marine Regiment, who was in charge of all the Marines participating in Fleet Week.

We have a lot of fun activities for these Marines and sailors, Ickles said. Its an exciting opportunity. I think theyre pretty excited to be here.

Ickles said he hoped the people of Miami would find some inspiration in the service members visiting their city.

I just hope as they interact with these Marines and sailors who are supporting Fleet Week that they truly get an appreciation for how amazing these young men and women who have stepped forward to answer the call to serve are, he said. We have people from all over the country, every walk of life, that come together and form a team, and its an amazing team.
A view of the Pentagon. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

A key supplier to the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies is building a $20 million supercomputer with buzzy chipmaker Nvidia to speed deployment of artificial intelligence capabilities across the U.S. federal government, the MITRE think tank said Tuesday.

MITRE, a federally funded, not-for-profit research organization that has supplied U.S. soldiers and spies with exotic technical products since the 1950s, says the project could improve everything from Medicare to taxes.

Theres huge opportunities for AI to make government more efficient, said Charles Clancy, senior vice president of MITRE. Government is inefficient, its bureaucratic, it takes forever to get stuff done.  Thats the grand vision, is how do we do everything from making Medicare sustainable to filing your taxes easier?

This AI project is an example of the flurry of activity prompted by the Biden administrations all-of-government push to ensure the United States remains the worlds leading AI power. Biden signed an executive order in October that ordered accelerated research and deployment of AI across federal agencies, as China makes efforts to catch up.

The MITRE supercomputer will be based in Ashburn, Va., and should be up and running late this year.

MITRE was spun out of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology lab in 1958 and is part of a network of Pentagon-funded research and development centers set up in the early years of the Cold War that also includes Rand and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill.

For decades, MITRE has been a supplier of surveillance, communications and cybersecurity technologies to the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies. We go way beyond what people would typically call IT, is how a former MITRE chief executive described their research to Forbes magazine, which reported its projects included a prototype tool that could hack smartwatches and software for the FBI that can capture fingerprints from photos of suspects hands on social media websites.

Other recent MITRE projects include technology to counter GPS interference, a study on pathogens in Arctic permafrost and a small drone for the U.S. Navy designed to operate autonomously at sea.

Among MITREs funding agencies are the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce and Treasury, as well as the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Social Security Administration. The think tank has 9,000 employees  more than Nintendo or Airbnb  and booked $2.2 billion in revenue in 2022. Clancy said half their R&D funds are currently devoted to AI.

Clancy said the planned supercomputer will run 256 Nvidia graphics processing units, or GPUs, at a cost of $20 million. This counts as a small supercomputer: The worlds fastest supercomputer, Frontier in Tennessee, boasts 37,888 GPUs, and Meta is seeking to build one with 350,000 GPUs. But MITREs computer will still eclipse Stanfords Natural Language Processing Groups 68 GPUs, and will be large enough to train large language models to perform AI tasks tailored for government agencies.

Clancy said all federal agencies funding MITRE will be able to use this AI sandbox.

AI is the tool that is solving a wide range of problems, Clancy said. The U.S. military needs to figure out how to do command and control. We need to understand how cryptocurrency markets impact the traditional banking sector.  Those are the sorts of problems we want to solve.

The contract is the latest success for Nvidia, which is riding high on the AI boom. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker is the worlds leader in designing the GPUs used to train advanced AI models, and there has been a global mad scramble for its chips. Nvidias stock price is up more than 200 percent from a year earlier.

Vice president of federal for Nvidia, Anthony Robbins, said that the AI sandbox could help the U.S. government with tasks ranging from securing infrastructure against cyberthreats to the IRS cracking down on fraud to helping other agencies roll out chatbots and digital assistants.

This is a platform by which MITRE can train these large language models, he said. You cant do this important AI work if you dont have this infrastructure.

The MITRE-Nvidia AI project is one of a spate of initiatives since Bidens AI executive order. Silicon Valley giants, defense contractors and universities are all scrambling for a flood of AI contracts.

Graham Gilmer, senior vice president for defense contractor Booz Allen, which is also supplying AI products to the Defense Department and other federal agencies, said theres been a lot of activity since the executive order, and that the deployment of these AI technologies across the government will probably continue through the decade.

Its certainly a major shift that we know all of government is going to have to undertake, he said.

Other federal AI projects are also underway. The National Science Foundation launched an AI research program in January with companies like Amazon, Google and OpenAI as partners along with agencies like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The Pentagon has begun studying military applications of generative AI in a program called Task Force Lima.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has also launched a U.S. AI Safety Institute that is researching AI risks with the input of industry.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Air Force Gen. Charles CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provide testimony April 30, 2024, at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Defense Departments fiscal 2025 budget proposal. (Chad J. McNeeley/Department of Defense)

WASHINGTON  A bill to amend a federal vacancy law and avoid the lack of transparency and leadership confusion that accompanied Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins hospitalization in January has passed the House and is headed to the Senate.

House lawmakers approved the measure on Monday night in a unanimous voice vote. It would require members of the National Security Council, including the defense secretary, to provide 24-hour notice of any planned or emergent medical incapacitation.

As the world grows more dangerous, and threats to our service members stationed abroad increase, we must have a strong chain of command among our militarys leadership that cannot be compromised, said Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va.

Kiggans, a former Navy helicopter pilot, introduced the bill alongside Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., an Air Force veteran. The legislation, called the Securing the Chain of Command Continuity Act, is a response to the lapses in communication that occurred during Austins hospitalization earlier this year for prostate cancer surgery complications.

The White House and lawmakers were not immediately told of Austins cancer diagnosis or his late December surgery and were left in the dark for days after the defense secretary was rushed to the hospital on Jan. 1. The hospitalization was also not initially disclosed to senior Pentagon officials.

The delays came at a time when Iran-backed militias were attacking U.S. military bases in the Middle East, and Navy ships were beginning an ongoing mission to protect shipping in the Red Sea. Some lawmakers said Austins secrecy left dangerous vacuums in leadership, and a few, mostly Republicans, had called for his resignation.

Responding to a world crisis in the shortest amount of time is essential for safeguarding the American people, Davis said after the chain of command bill passed. In catastrophic times, prompt response is crucial. The ability to react swiftly and effectively can make all the difference in saving lives.

The proposed law applies to all members of the National Security Council, which assists the president with national security and foreign policy decisions.

If passed by the Senate, the legislation would require agencies that fail to notify the presidents office, the nations comptroller general and both chambers of Congress to produce a report explaining the notification failure within 30 days.

An internal 30-day Pentagon review of the transfer of authority during Austins hospitalization found no indication of ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate, but it acknowledged the notification process could be improved.

Kiggans said the bill will help prevent similar chain-of-command breakdowns in the future. It would serve as an amendment to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which establishes requirements for temporarily filling vacant positions in top government posts.

At a time when our service members are facing lethal attacks from our adversaries overseas, my bill will help ensure continuous chain of command so that our military and national defense systems can operate seamlessly in case of an emergency and achieve mission success, Kiggans said.
Gauthier joined the Smiths for two meals while he was in Jacksonville, Ark. (Courtesy of Debbie Smith)

Alvin Gauthier was going about his workday as a postal carrier when he stumbled upon something unusual in his parcel hamper: a Christmas card sent in 1944.

Gauthier with his family. (Courtesy of Alvin Gauthier)

He sifted through the hamper and found several other loose letters written between 1942 and 1944, all of which were signed by Marion Lamb.

There was also a tattered envelope postmarked 1942, and addressed to Mr. & Mrs. Harvey Lamb Jacksonville, Arkansas. It was stamped U.S. ARMY POSTAL SERVICE.

I had no idea where they came from, said Gauthier, who has been a mail carrier in Grand Prairie, Tex., for more than 20 years.

As a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq in 2003, Gauthier felt a personal connection to the wartime letters. He knew they would probably mean a lot to the writers relatives.

The envelope that Alvin Gauthier found along with several letters written during the Second World War. (Alvin Gauthier)

I had to find the family, Gauthier said.

He searched online and found Marion Lambs obituary from 2010. Then he decided to look for Lambs relatives. He reached out to a local news station in Arkansas, KARK-TV, and explained what he found. It ran a story about the letters.

Minutes after the story aired on April 26, JoAnn Smith  Marion Lambs sister who lives in Jacksonville  started getting phone calls.

I was shocked, said Smith, 84, the only one alive of her six siblings. Marion Lamb was the eldest and had no children. He served in the military from 1941 to 1945, and was stationed in Seattle, Alaska and the South Pacific.

Smith was surprised to learn of the collection of eight letters penned by her brother and addressed to their parents. She was deeply touched that Gauthier  whose email address was included in the news story  took the time to try to track down her family. Right away, she reached out to thank him. They had a long phone call.

I had a bond with him immediately, Smith said. Hes just a caring, giving, wonderful person.

She told Gauthier she wanted to meet him in person, and he agreed. He offered to hand-deliver the letters to her.

Smith initially thought the letters had somehow been lost in the mail for more than 80 years. But once she got in touch with her daughter Debbie Smith, she quickly learned how the decades-old heirlooms landed in Texas.

It turns out, JoAnn Smiths nephew who lives in Smyrna, Tenn., had the letters in his possession for decades and in mid-April had mailed a large package of artifacts to his cousin Debbie Smith, who lives in Grand Prairie. The priority package landed in Gauthiers mail hamper, but it wasnt properly sealed. Many of the letters spilled out.

It hit me like a ton of bricks, Debbie Smith said. Of course thats what happened.

Debbie Smith said she is the family historian, which is why her cousin had shipped her the letters. When she received the package, it had clearly been unsealed.

It came open on one end, she said. I think he just overfilled it.

Gauthier had long been Debbie Smiths letter carrier, she said, and he would often go out of his way to do nice things, like dropping larger items at her door rather than at her mailbox.

JoAnn Smith with her brother Marion Lamb in 1987. (Family photo)

Still, she and her family were astounded that someone made such an effort to reunite them with the precious heirlooms  which easily could have ended up in the trash.

For me, the most amazing thing in this story is Alvin, and his determination to get the letters to the family, JoAnn Smith said.

Gauthier was so determined, in fact, that he told them he would hand-deliver the letters to JoAnn Smith in Jacksonville. While he could have simply given them to Debbie Smith on his regular route, he said he had already promised JoAnn Smith he would bring them directly to her.

The whole family wanted to meet me, so that made me want to drive to Arkansas to give them the letters in person, Gauthier said.

On his day off on April 29, Gauthier drove for nearly five hours to bring the letters to JoAnn Smith. Debbie Smith also decided to travel there for the occasion.

He paid for the hotel, his own gas. He wouldnt let us pay for it, said Debbie Smith, adding that the family offered several times to cover the cost of the trip but that Gauthier politely refused.

Gauthier said he felt a duty to deliver them in person.

Marion Lamb in an undated photo. (Family photo)

Im just a regular person. Im a dad, Im a husband, he said. I would do it again. I would do it for anyone.

When he arrived at Smiths home, they read the letters together, and JoAnn Smith was moved to tears.

She was very emotional, Gauthier said. I just put my arms around her.

JoAnn Smith said the letters brought back fond memories of her big brother, who always looked after everything and everybody.

In the letters, he inquired about me more than once, said JoAnn Smith, who was a toddler when her brother, then in his late teens, was drafted. It made me feel good.

In a way, she said, the letters brought her closer to her brother  and also to Gauthier, a stranger who quickly became a dear friend.

Gauthier said hes been in touch with the Smiths every day since he delivered the letters.

Its been wonderful, JoAnn Smith said.

While he was in Jacksonville, Gauthier had lunch and dinner with the family and traded stories.

We all just talked and hung out and got to know one another, Debbie Smith said. We had a great visit.

Next month, JoAnn Smith is taking a trip to Grand Prairie, and she is looking forward to visiting with Gauthier.

I hope to be able to see him and his family, she said. Our connection with Alvin is very important.
(Tribune News Service)  A U.S. Navy veteran considered 100% disabled always visited a VA medical center in a wheelchair, then ditched the device once he left his appointments  often to go shopping and walk around stores, according to federal prosecutors.

Christopher Stultz of New Hampshire is accused of pretending to be unable to walk for two decades, allowing him to steal $662,871.77 in benefits meant for disabled veterans, federal prosecutors said.

Now the 49-year-old Antrim resident has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after previously pleading guilty to making false statements, U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young, of the District of New Hampshire, said in a May 6 news release. Antrim is about an 80-mile drive northwest of Boston.

The federal defender appointed to represent him, Dorothy E. Graham, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on May 7.

Witnesses reported Stultz was in good physical condition and walked normally for more than 20 years, court documents state. He once taught at an elementary school and worked at a gym, where the gyms owner reported he never used a wheelchair, according to prosecutors.

Following these reports, the Department of Veterans Affairs started investigating. Then, Stultz was captured on surveillance footage, on multiple occasions, walking after his visits to VA centers, according to court documents.

Once he left the VA facilities he abandoned the facade, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

VA doctor discovers he could obviously walk

On one occasion, in October 2021, Stultz arrived for an appointment at a Boston VA medical center in his wheelchair, prosecutors said. Afterward, he headed to his car inside a parking garage and was seen standing up, according to prosecutors.

Then, he hoisted his wheelchair into his car and drove to a shopping mall, where prosecutors said he walked without impairment through multiple stores.

Afterward, Stultz visited a liquor store and a Kohls, where he was also spotted walking, according to the sentencing memo.

A year later, he parked in a handicap space at a VA medical center in Manchester, New Hampshire, and saw his doctor, who determined he was still unable to use his feet, court documents say.

Following the appointment, he was caught strolling through a mall without any ambulatory devices before he went to shop, and walk, at a Target and at another shopping plaza, according to prosecutors.

After being shown surveillance footage, his VA physician said Stultz could obviously walk, court documents state.

His injury after joining the Navy

Stultz actively served in the Navy from 1995 through 1999, when he was discharged, according to prosecutors.

A year after joining the service, he fell off a horse and got hurt, prosecutors said.

From that point on, he performed light duties until his discharge, according to prosecutors. Afterward, the VA rated him as partly disabled  until prosecutors said he started lying.

By 2003, Stultz maintained he couldnt use his feet and was rated as 100% disabled by the VA, according to prosecutors.

In February of that year, he received $2,994 in monthly disability benefits that steadily increased, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

In December 2021, he was collecting $4,774.61 a month, the sentencing memo says.

Because it was believed that he couldnt use both feet, Stultz was awarded nearly $190,000 from the VAs Automobile Adaptive Equipment program, according to prosecutors.

This allowed him to purchase cars designed to help mobility-impaired veterans, prosecutors said.

However, hes accused of selling the cars in exchange for cash, according to prosecutors.

Disease forgery defense

Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors said a forensic psychological evaluation was used as a major part of Stultzs defense.

In citing the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR), a doctor determined he met the criteria for factitious disorder, according to a sentencing memo submitted by his defense counsel.

Factitious disorder is often disease forgery for the sake of the forgery itself, coupled with concomitant benefits of being ill (that may include nurturing, attention, sympathy, and lenience from others), the doctor concluded.

In the sentencing memo, Graham wrote that while the disorder does not excuse Mr. Stultzs criminal responsibility, it does provide context to his behavior and provides an explanation rooted in conduct motivated by forces other than malicious greed.

However, prosecutors argued that this wasnt enough to support his defense.

He only sought nurturing, attention, sympathy, and lenience from the VA, and ultimately obtained over $660,000 in benefits through his lies, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

Like many white-collar defendants, (he) has a loving family and supportive friends.  But despite having it all, he still chose to commit this crime.

As part of his sentencing, Stultz must pay $662,871.77 in restitution, according to prosecutors.

Federal agents indicated to prosecutors and his defense that he will need to be reevaluated for a new Disability Compensation Rating, according to the sentencing memo submitted by Graham.

This is one of the most egregious benefits fraud cases ever prosecuted in this state.  He stole not only from taxpayers, but also his fellow veterans who were entitled to the benefits, Young said in a statement.

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Supreme Court of Pakistan's Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail on Tuesday said that the government was not doing anything regarding the alleged interference in judicial matters.

Justice Mandokhail made these remarks as a six-member bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, resumed the suo motu hearing on the Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges' letter accusing agencies meddling in judicial matters.

The bench also comprises Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

On March 25, six judges of IHC had demanded CJP Isa to convene a judicial convention to consider the matter of alleged interference of intelligence operatives in the judicial functions or "intimidation" of judges in a manner that undermined the independence of the judiciary.

The six IHC judges  Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, Justice Tariq Mahmood Jehangiri, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Rifat Imtiaz  had written a letter to the chief justice, who is also chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

Seeking guidance from the council on interference of the spy agencies in courts affairs, the judges wrote: "We are writing to seek guidance from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with regard to the duty of a judge to report and respond to actions on part of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies, that seek to interfere with discharge of his/her official functions and qualify as intimidation, as well as the duty to report any such actions that come to his/her attention in relation to colleagues and/or members of the courts that the High Court supervises."

Subsequently, the Supreme Court on April 1 took suo motu notice of the IHC judges' letter and formed a seven-member bench led by CJP Isa to hear the matter.

Today, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan appeared before the court. Meawhile, Riazat Ali appeared as the Pakistan Bar Councils (PBCs) lawyer while Khawaja Ahmed Husain was present on behalf of Aitzaz Ahsan.

At the outset of the hearing, AGP Awan apprised the court that written order of the last hearing is not yet received.

The AGP said that the order must be shown to the prime minister to file government's reply. He added that the government would be able to file its response by tomorrow if they receive the order today.

The Supreme Court Bar Association also submitted suggestions to the top court, saying that it would never compromise on the independence of the judiciary.

The SCBA called for an inquiry against those who intervene in the judicial matters. It said that the IHC has the power of contempt of court and it should have taken contempt of court action for any kind of interference.

The CJP then asked the AGP to read the written order.

Islamabad High Court Bar Association's lawyers then came to the rostrum to present his arguments.

Lahore, Balochistan High Court Bar and Balochistan Bar Council lawyer's Hamid Khan also appeared in court.

The CJP said that it was surprising that none of the lawyers were on the same page for the independence of the judiciary.

PBC's lawyer then began his arguments by reading the letter in the court.

He said that the judges have sought guidance from the Supreme Judicial Council. The PBC representative said that the judges have made very serious allegations.

Justice Minallah said that the note says the government should satisfy the court and not interfere in judicial matters.

PBC lawyer said that the body should form a judicial commission comprising Supreme Court judges. He added that all the allegations should be probed.

He further said that the top court, under Article 184/3 of the Constitution, cannot investigate itself.

Justice Minallah said everyone was agreeing that there is interference in judicial matters.

At this, Justice Mandokhail said that there is interference but the government is not doing anything about it.

CJP Isa then said that Supreme Judicial Council is a separate body and the Supreme Court cannot give directions to it. "I am the chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council but I am not the SJC itself. There are other members in the body," he said.

Justice Minallah remarked that this is not a letter but it reflects a trend, adding that the AGP said this happened in 2018 as well.

Pakistan Bar Council's (PBC) lawyer said that the government was not doing anything, hence, the judiciary itself has to take action.

CJP Isa then summarised that the PBC was suggesting a probe, that the judges use criminal laws to deal with the issue and launch contempt of court proceedings.

At this point, Justice Mandokhail said that there should be a deterrence that if anyone tries to interfere then they would suffer.

SCBA President Shahzad Shaukat said that there can be no compromise on the independence of the judiciary, adding that the judiciary should make decisions without any pressure.

"Those who interfere in judicial matters should be punished," stressed Shaukat, adding that the high court can develop its own method to stop interference in judicial matters.
Dean Byrne (30) from Cabra Park, Phibsborough, Dublin is on trial accused of conspiring with Aaron Brady in Mountjoy Prison between April 8, 2020 and June 22, 2020 to persuade prosecution witness Daniel Cahill not to give evidence at Brady's murder trial,

The Special Criminal Court has rejected arguments that it should dismiss the charge against a man accused of conspiring to pervert the course of justice during garda killer Aaron Brady's trial.

The three-judge, non-jury court found that at its highest, the prosecution case against Dean Byrne could amount to proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he conspired with Brady to persuade prosecution witness Daniel Cahill not to give evidence.

Daniel Cahill would eventually tell Aaron Brady's trial that Brady confessed to him on at least three occasions that he had shot a garda.

The court will hear closing arguments in Mr Byrne's trial tomorrow before considering its verdict.

Dean Byrne (30) from Cabra Park, Phibsborough, Dublin is on trial accused of conspiring with Aaron Brady in Mountjoy Prison between April 8, 2020 and June 22, 2020 to persuade prosecution witness Daniel Cahill not to give evidence at Brady's murder trial, a course of conduct which had a tendency to and which was intended to pervert the course of justice.

In August 2020, Brady (33) formerly of New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh was convicted by a jury of the murder of Det Gda Adrian Donohoe during a credit union robbery at Lordship, Bellurgan, Co Louth on January 25, 2013.

Aaron Brady

In submissions to the court last week Padraig Dwyer SC, for Mr Byrne, argued that "persuading" a witness not to give evidence is not unlawful. Mr Dwyer also said that Mr Byrne had a "benign motive" because he genuinely believed Daniel Cahill was going to give false evidence.

Delivering judgment today Mr Justice Burns said persuasion, even where the person believes a witness is going to give false evidence, can be an offence. He also found that there does not have to be evidence that the accused used force, the threat of force or corrupt inducements. "The course of justice may be perverted if it is obstructed, interfered with, defeated or changed," he said.

Mr Justice Burns did not accept a prosecution argument that all attempts to persuade a witness not to give evidence would amount to criminal conduct. He said there may be an "extremely limited set of circumstances" where a friend, relative or health advisor might lawfully try to persuade someone not to give evidence.

Mr Justice Burns said before coming to a verdict, the court will have to consider all the prosecution evidence. At its highest, he said the evidence could be sufficient to prove that Mr Byrne was in communication with Aaron Brady while both men were being housed in the D-wing of Mountjoy prison.

He said the court will have to consider evidence that Mr Byrne used a smartphone in the prison to disseminate Daniel Cahill's garda statement to others outside the prison.

He said there is also evidence that Mr Byrne recruited members of Mr Cahill's family to call upon him not to give evidence and that Mr Byrne "was not wholly motivated by a desire to prevent false testimony".

The trial continues tomorrow.
Kevin Maguire (39) was in an agitated state when gardai arrived to help the driver remove him from the taxi.

A taxi passenger who drunkenly tried to hit the driver was in a dark place at the time, a court has heard.

Kevin Maguire (39) was in an agitated state when gardai arrived to help the driver remove him from the taxi. Judge Maire Conneely struck the case out, sparing him a criminal record, when he made a 300 charity donation.

Maguire, of Trasnagh, Newcastle Road, Lucan, pleaded guilty to public intoxication and threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour.

Blanchardstown District Court heard gardai were called to deal with a passenger in a taxi at Newcastle Road, Lucan, on January 11.

The accused was in an agitated state and attempting to hit the driver, a garda sergeant said.

The driver requested help in removing Maguire from the taxi and the accused was verbally abusive, the court heard.

He had no previous convictions. Maguire had lost his job during Covid and developed a reliance on alcohol, which led him to a dark place, his solicitor Mervyn Harnett said.

He was addressing his alcoholism and had now got a new job in administration in sales.

Maguire was not likely to come before the court again.

The judge said she would give the accused an opportunity to make a charity donation instead of convicting him.
At the Court of Appeal today, Michael OHiggins SC, for Mackin, argued that the overall sentence imposed by the court was excessive

A notorious Limerick criminal previously jailed for nailing a man to a kitchen floor has failed in an appeal against the severity of a separate three-and-a-half year sentence for possessing crime cash wrapped up with an encrypted phone.

Gerard Mackin with a previous address at Rhebogue Road in Limerick, was extradited from Alicante in Spain in December 2022 and pleaded guilty to laundering 4,780 as the proceeds of criminal behaviour at Rhebogue Road in Limerick, on April 17, 2019.

Imposing sentence at the Special Criminal Court last May, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said that Mackin handled the money "in the context of some form of serious organised criminality in the Limerick area". While the sum of money, 4,780, was "at the lower end of the scale" the judge said the circumstances were not and Mackin's previous conviction for assault causing harm was "relevant to this case in that it explains the background against which the proceeds of crime in this case were handled".

At the Court of Appeal today, Michael OHiggins SC, for Mackin, argued that the overall sentence imposed by the court was excessive, the headline sentence of four years and eight months was overly severe and that the court erred in failing to suspend a portion of the sentence having regard to the mitigating factors in the case.

Mr OHiggins said the amount of money seized was low but was only one piece of the jigsaw. He said the context here was juxtaposing the very low amount with the fact that the money was bubble wrapped with two mobile phones, one of which was capable of encrypting data.

Mr OHiggins said that while there was no doubt that the fact the money was found bubble wrapped with two mobile phones - one of which was capable of encrypting data - was a troubling aspect, the difficulty here was in the weight the court had attached to this.

Gerard Mackin

It was submitted that no evidence was given at the sentence hearing that this offence or the previous conviction was related to a serious criminal organisation.

He said the court did not have the clarity or the sure footing to bring the sentence from the ground floor to the top floor in the band in which it falls.

Counsel also submitted that the trial judges failed to give appropriate credit to the length of time that had passed since the commission of the offence, the guilty plea at the earliest possible opportunity, the appellants voluntary return to Ireland, his compliance with gardai and his personal circumstances.

The lawyer argued that the reduction of 25% given to the headline sentence should have been higher given the mitigating factors in the case, including the fact that Mackin had come before the court with a good work record, had struggled with alcohol difficulties in the past and the fact the court had accepted the operation was not a sophisticated one. He said the court had the discretion to reduce the sentence by a third.

The court also erred in failing to suspend a portion of the sentence, the lawyer stated, having regard to the mitigating factors and the principles of proportionality and rehabilitation. He said the trial judges noted the appellants intention to take himself out of the criminal milieu he had gotten himself into but had failed to structure a sentence that would incentivise this rehabilitation.

Fiona Murphy SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said no error in principle had been identified. She said there was clear evidence the appellant was involved in criminality and that was the background for this offending.

In relation to the discount given to the headline sentence, Ms Murphy said the court was entitled to consider all the circumstances and said there was a discretion as to what amount could be given for an early plea.

The court is entitled to give whatever deduction they feel is appropriate and the court clearly did so, she said.

Dismissing the appeal in a decision delivered this afternoon, Mr Justice John Edwards said the Special Criminal Court was entitled to take the view that the appellants involvement in crime was not minor and peripheral.

He said that while the amount of money involved was only 4,780, it was found with two phones - one with the capacity for encryption - encased in bubble wrap.

The judge also noted that Mackin told lies about the source of the money and the background, with initial suggestions that it was from the credit union and later claims that it was from the appellants work.

He said that while gardai accepted Mackin had an income, their evidence was it did not come from either of those sources and that it was the proceeds of crime.

Having regard to Mackins previous conviction, the judge said that while he had been punished already and there was no question of him being punished for a second time, it was a factor to be considered.

In regard to the argument that insufficient discount was given, he said the court had not been persuaded there the reduction was too low.

He said the plea of guilty was evidently of value to the court and the appellant had been afforded an overall discount of 25%.

The judge said the plea was the major item of mitigation and while there were other factors the extent to which they would have contributed would have been modest.

He said that while it was true the court did not reference the other mitigating factors such as his previous work history and family circumstances, they were not obliged to do so and there was no reason to believe they were not taken into account in arriving at the 25% discount.

Mr Justice Edwards said accordingly, the court dismissed the appeal against severity of sentence.

Mackin had pleaded guilty before the three-judge court to knowing or believing, or being reckless as to whether property, 4,780, was the proceeds of criminal conduct, did handle, acquire and/or possess the said property contrary to Section 7 of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act of 2010.

At the hearing in March 2023, Detective Sergeant Padraig O'Dwyer told Ms Murphy that two gardai on patrol had observed an Opel Insignia car suspiciously parked outside Mackin's house on April 17, 2019. The driver was searched and found to be in possession of 4,780 in cash, an Aquaris phone and an iPhone wrapped in bubble wrap and tied together with elastic bands.

The court heard that Mackin came out of his house and conversed with gardai telling them that the money belonged to him.

In January 2011, Mackin's retrial for the murder of Edward Burns, a taxi driver and 36-year-old father-of-five, dramatically collapsed at the Special Criminal Court after the State entered a 'nolle prosequi' [a decision not to prosecute].

Several of Mackin's supporters who were in court applauded and cheered while members of the victim's family openly wept.

The chief prosecution witness refused to give evidence at the trial after telling a Belfast High Court judge he was threatened that if he gave any evidence, he would be shot dead.

Mackin had pleaded not guilty to the murder at Bog Meadow, Falls Road, Belfast on March 12, 2007.

It was the second trial of Mackin after a 2008 conviction - which made Mackin the first person convicted in a Dublin court for an alleged murder in Belfast under a rarely-used cross border anti-terrorism law - was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal and a retrial ordered.

In July 2013, another nolle prosequi was entered against Mackin at the non-jury court on a charge of IRA membership and demanding money with menaces on behalf of the INLA in Co Monaghan on May 18 and 21, 2012.
Brandon Crosbie is accused of assaulting and injuring the prison officer.

A prisoner in a courthouse custody area struck a jailer on the head with a crutch when he was trying to hit another detained man and missed, it is alleged.

Brandon Crosbie is accused of assaulting and injuring the prison officer, who was left concussed and had to take six weeks off work, a court heard.

The case against him was adjourned at Dublin District Court for Mr Crosbie (25) to decide how he intends to plead to the charge.

The accused, with a current address at the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise, is charged with assault causing harm to an officer while he was at the Criminal Courts of Justice on Parkgate Street, Dublin.

When the case came before Judge Mark OConnell, a garda sergeant said Mr Crosbie made no reply to the charge after caution and was handed a copy of the charge sheet.

The Director of Public Prosecutions was consenting to the case being heard in the district court level, subject to the issue of jurisdiction being considered.

The judge asked for an outline of the proposed evidence so he could consider this.

The sergeant said the incident was alleged to have happened at the Criminal Courts of Justice on May 12 last year, when Mr Crosbie was downstairs in the cell area of the court complex.

He was put into a cell and as another prisoner was walking by, Mr Crosbie attempted to strike the prisoner with a crutch, the sergeant said.

However, he hit the prison officer on the head, it was alleged. The guard went to hospital after the assault and was treated for concussion.

Asked if there was a medical report available, the sergeant said there was not but the prison officer had to take six weeks off work.

He had made a full recovery, she said.

Judge OConnell said he was happy to accept jurisdiction after hearing the summary of allegations.

This means the case can remain in the district court instead of being sent forward to the circuit court, which has greater potential sentencing powers on conviction.

Adjourning the case to a date in May, the judge made an order for disclosure of prosecution evidence to the defence, at the request of Mr Crosbies solicitor Tony Collier.

Mr Crosbie, who was not required to address the court during the brief hearing, has not yet entered a plea to the charge, which is under section three of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

He was granted bail his own bond of 100, with no cash lodgment required.
Anthony Walker (53), with an address at Marrowbone Lane, Dublin 8, admitted at the three-judge court to possessing a .38" special calibre Smith & Wesson revolver

Anthony Walker, pictured at the Criminal Courts of Justice(CCJ) on Parkgate Street in Dublin after he appeared before the Special Criminal Court. Pic: Paddy Cummins

A "vulnerable" taxi driver took possession of a loaded handgun that was handed over to him by a criminal in a "moment of madness', the Special Criminal Court has heard.

In December, Anthony Walker (53), with an address at Marrowbone Lane, Dublin 8, admitted at the three-judge court to possessing a .38" special calibre Smith & Wesson revolver at Tallaght Road, Templeogue, Dublin 6W, on November 23, 2021.

At the non-jury court today, Walker further admitted to possessing five rounds of .38" special calibre ammunition in such circumstances as to give rise to a reasonable inference that he had not got it in his possession for a lawful purpose on the same occasion.

Detective Garda John Rourke told Caroline Cummings BL, prosecuting, that gardai were in receipt of information in November 2021 that a crime organisation had possession of a firearm and that they may intend to cause harm to an unknown person.

Gardai then put in place surveillance on the address of Ryan Kelly (25) of Captains Road in Crumlin, Dublin 24.

Kelly was jailed at the Special Criminal Court in January for his involvement in what Mr Justice Paul Burns described as a sophisticated enterprise.

Kelly was intercepted on the night in a separate car with three other men who were wearing rubber gloves and carrying burner phones. He was jailed for six years after he pleaded guilty to possessing the firearm and the five rounds of the ammunition that were in the gun.

On Tuesday, Det Gda Rourke said Walker arrived at Kellys address on Captains Avenue in a black Prius taxi at around 8.45pm on the night and that Kelly was observed passing over an item, which later turned out to be the revolver, wrapped in a blue tea towel.

Det Garda Rourke said armed gardai stopped the Prius close to the M50 roundabout at 8.55pm. Ten minutes later gardai stopped a Volvo estate taking exactly the same route as the taxi and discovered four occupants, all of whom were in possession of burner phones, while three were wearing rubber gloves and two were wearing snoods. Kelly was one of the four men and was arrested.

Walkers phone number was discovered saved on Kellys phone as Anto Taxi and Det Gda Rourke said calls and messages had been exchanged between the two phones on November 23, 2021.

Ryan Kelly

Walker had texted Ill be there and send me the number, nearly there to Kelly but had claimed he did not know exactly where or to whom he was to deliver the firearm.

Walker was interviewed five times by gardai and acknowledged his contact with Kelly had taken place over 18 months. However, he said he only realised during the trip that what he was carrying was a gun, which was found in the passenger seat footwell.

Walker told gardai that he had previously dropped cash and what he suspected was marijuana for Kelly but had no idea he was carrying a gun when it was handed to him.

Det Gda Rourke said Walker had eight convictions, mostly for road traffic offences, all of which had been dealt with at District Court level.

Ms Cummings said the State considered the offences to be in the medium scale of offending, which attracted a headline sentence of between seven and 10 years imprisonment.

Michael Bowman SC, for Walker, said his clients previous convictions were nothing approaching this level of offending.

Mr Bowman said Walker had been a taxi driver his whole life and started picking up and dropping off Kelly during Covid when his taxi business was suffering.

Counsel said it had not been the States case against Walker that he had organised the delivery of the weapon or that he even knew what was going on when the package was handed to him.

Mr Bowman said that while Walker held a significant role in the enterprise he was hermetically kept from the decision-making process and only became suspicious of the package handed to him when he felt the weight of the revolver therein.

Mr Bowman said his client had been asked by gardai for the names of others involved but for family reasons he did not want to name any others, including who gave him the gun, and that he was in fear for his familys and his own safety.

Det Gda Rourke agreed with Mr Bowman that it was quite clear that he [Walker] was on an entirely separate level to Kelly. Det Gda Rourke said Kelly had been instructing Walker.

Mr Bowman said his client apologised to gardai and was remorseful for a moment of madness. Mr Bowman said Walker told gardai: All I can think about are my kids  it was a moment of madness. I really am remorseful, for whatever good that will do me.

Mr Bowman said his client has three children, is in a supportive relationship with his partner and was not on Garda radar at the time of the offence.

Counsel said his client had complied with all terms and conditions of his bail since the incident but had reported to gardai that windows of his car and house had been smashed in the interim, which he [Walker] says is directly related to this.

Mr Bowman said his client had told gardai that if he knew it was a gun he was being asked to transport he would have never gotten into his car that night.

Mr Bowman said his client had two testimonials to hand into the court, including one from an elderly neighbour he regularly brought to hospital, while Walker had also been volunteering at a soup kitchen for three years.

Counsel said his client was a vulnerable individual who suffered from Tourette's syndrome, ADHD and OCD.

Mr Bowman said that Walker was born in a mother and baby home, raised by his grandparents and had suffered institutional sexual and physical abuse until he was strong enough to fight off his abusers and protect others when he was around 13 years-old.

Mr Bowman said Walker suffered poor mental health, depression, low self-worth, anxiety and had overcome substance addiction in 2014, which was brought on by overwhelming guilt and shame and when he thought of his abuse relentlessly.

Mr Bowman said his client was disgusted at himself for his involvement.

Counsel said a probation report found Walker to be of low risk of reoffending and that a guilty plea was manifestly clear from the outset.

Mr Bowman said the court had the ability to depart from the presumptive mandatory minimum jail-term of five years for the offence, which carries a 14-year maximum sentence.

Mr Justice Burns adjourned the matter for sentencing to May 29 and remanded Walker in custody to that date.

A decision not to prosecute Walker with a charge that he did with knowledge of the existence of a criminal organisation, participate in, or contribute to, activity intending to, or being reckless as to whether such participation or contribution could, facilitate the commission of a serious offence by that criminal organisation or any of its members is to be entered on May 29.
The teenager, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, was today granted bail by the court subject to a number of conditions, including that he stays away from a list of named individuals, that he observe a curfew, that he surrender his passport and that he sign on twice a week.

A 17-year-old charged with the murder of gunman Tristan Sherry in Blanchardstown on Christmas Eve has been granted bail after successfully appealing a previous High Court decision refusing his application.

However, in a judgement delivered today, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Courts decision to refuse bail to two other men charged with the murder.

Mr Sherry (26) was killed after he shot and fatally injured Jason Hennessy Senior on December 24, 2023 at Brownes Steakhouse in Blanchardstown. Mr Hennessy died eleven days later.

The teenager, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, was today granted bail by the court subject to a number of conditions, including that he stays away from a list of named individuals, that he observe a curfew, that he surrender his passport and that he sign on twice a week.

His co-accused David Amah (18), of Hazel Grove, Portrane Road, Donabate and Michael Andrecut (22), Sheephill Avenue, Dublin 15 have also been charged with Mr Sherry's murder. They will both remain in custody after the court found that their risk of flight was significant and could not be effectively addressed by imposing rigorous bail terms and conditions.

In delivering judgement, Court of Appeal President Mr Justice George Birmingman said that concerns about future offending by the three applicants did not, in the courts view, meet the threshold to justify a refusal of bail under Section 2 of the 1997 Bail Act.

Accused Michael Andrecut, left, and victim Tristan Sherry, right

He said it was clear the judge had concerns that all three applicants were at risk of reprisals, and if reprisals were to follow there would be risks to the community, in particular to those who might find themselves, wittingly or unwittingly, in close proximity to one or other of the applicants.

Mr Justice Birmingham said that while the court fully understood the reasoning of the judge, Mr Justice Tony Hunt, it could not lose sight of the fact that the Act states that a court may refuse bail if it is satisfied it is necessary to prevent the commission of a serious offence by that person.

While one has to have concerns that one or all of the applicants might engage in actions seeking to avenge the death of Mr Hennessy Snr, it does not seem to us to reach the threshold of causing us to believe that refusal of bail is reasonably necessary to prevent the commission of a serious offence, he said in the judgement.

The judge said that as the High Court decision to refuse bail to the juvenile was based on Section 2 of the Act only, the court was prepared to release the teenager on bail, subject to conditions.

However, in the case of Mr Amah and Mr Andrecut, Mr Justice Birmingham said the assessment of the flight risk was informed by the fact that, unusually, the entire incident was caught on CCTV, from beginning to end. He said one of the most significant aspects of the availability of the CCTV footage is that each of the applicants now know in full detail the case against them and must have an appreciation of just how serious their individual situations are. He said the temptation to flee and avoid trial must be very great.

The court previously heard that Mr Andrecuts passport was in a bag thrown on a dog cage in the kitchen of his house when gardai arrived three days after the incident.

The Court of Appeal today said it found that the judge was entitled to reach the conclusion he did in relation to the passport  that he did not believe there was any accident or carelessness about its positioning.

The court went on to say that it was also the case that both Mr Andrecut and Mr Amah have links to other countries. Mr Justice Birmingham said that while there was nothing unusual about this, and it was certainly not the case that because someone has links to another country they cannot be granted bail, it was a factor to be weighed in the balance.

Overall, we are of the view that the risk of flight is significant indeed and is not a risk which can be effectively addressed by admitting the applicants to bail and imposing rigorous terms and conditions, he said.

Fiona Murphy SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, this afternoon told the court that the terms of bail for the juvenile had been agreed and outlined these to the court. She said the conditions include that the teenager reside at a specific address and that he stay away from another named address. She also told the court the youth is to have no contact with a number of named individuals, that he is to observe a curfew between 11am and 7pm, that he is to sign on two days a week and that he surrender his passport.

Having heard details of the conditions, Mr Justice Birmingham said the court would admit the applicant to bail on those terms.
Lee Gilligan (20), who has been given a garda GIM (Garda Information Message) warning, was caught a short distance from the scene and arrested for obstruction.

A young man jumped from a rear window at a house while gardai were forcing their way in the front door to carry out a search, a court heard.

Lee Gilligan (20), who has been given a garda GIM (Garda Information Message) warning, was caught a short distance from the scene and arrested for obstruction.

Judge Maire Conneely fined him 300 when he appeared in Blanchardstown District Court.

Gilligan, from Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to obstructing gardai in the incident at a house at Greenfort Crescent, Clondalkin, on March 30 last.

Garda Sergeant Maria Callaghan told the court gardai were executing a search warrant at the house on the day in question and were forcing entry to the premises when Gilligan and another gentleman jumped from a rear window.

The accused was apprehended a short distance away and returned to the address where he was arrested for obstruction, Sgt Callaghan said. The court heard he had two previous convictions, including one for obstruction.

Gilligan apologised to the court for his actions on the day, his solicitor Wayne Kenny said.

The accused had been served with a garda GIM warning and had no qualms about the court being told this, Mr Kenny said. He asked the judge to be as lenient as she could in the circumstances.

Judge Conneely convicted and fined the accused.

A garda information message, or GIM, is an official warning given to someone whose life is believed to be under threat.
"The guys walked in, pointed a gun right in my face, and started robbing customers and robbed the bar. I grabbed the waitress, and we went out the back door.

An Irish bar in Chicago was robbed at gunpoint during a crime spree over the weekend.

The incident took place in the Irish Nobleman Pub in the citys West Town shortly before 2am on Saturday.

Three men allegedly entered the premises, with one standing at the door as a lookout while the other two robbed customers and emptied the cash register, according to bar owner Declan Morgan.

Morgan went out the back door of the pub after the thieves fled and immediately called 911, and the group began to shoot at him.

"The guys walked in, pointed a gun right in my face, and started robbing customers and robbed the bar. I grabbed the waitress, and we went out the back door. And I went outside by my car and started dialling 911 and shouting for help," he told CBS News.

"The guy standing at the door that was lookout started shouting at the other guys that I was outside, and they came out and shot at me. So, they shot three shots, hit a Jeep, and hit my truck."

No one was injured during the robbery, but four employees have quit their jobs in the days since, saying they no longer feel safe working at the popular boozer.

The incident at the Irish Nobleman was one of four armed robberies that took place in the early hours of Saturday morning in Chicago.

Establishments in West Town, Bucktown, and Logan Square were all targeted within an hour, with each incident involving a group of men travelling in a silver sedan with an unknown registration.

The suspects pointed semiautomatic weapons at the victims and demanded cash, wallets, phones, and credit cards, CBS News reports.

Police said two of the victims were hit in the face with the weapons.

Another bar, A.J. Hudson's Public House in Lakeview, was also robbed early Saturday morning at around 1.15am when two armed thieves ran in and stole wallets from patrons and cash from the cash drawer.

No injuries were reported in the A.J. Hudson's robbery and no arrests have been made as of Monday evening.

Police were unable to confirm whether the two pub robberies were connected.

The Irish Nobleman Pub was targeted by a burglar who broke a window with a brick just last May and had previously suffered other break-ins.

Morgan claimed at the time that authorities suggested he "police" his own business by ramping up security measures, including installing "riot proof" windows.

He told Fox News' Ashley Strohmier that this was "ridiculous to expect.

"The city is asking us to police ourselves, and it just doesn't make sense," he said while appearing on Fox & Friends First.

"The police came out pretty fast, then we were informed to put in riot glass," Morgan recalled. "We priced that out, and it was about $84,000. We're a small business. We can't afford that.

"I don't know where it's coming from [the calls to install riot glass], but it's ridiculous to expect a small business to spend that much money.
Five-year-old Seamie Ryan has ulcerative colitis but a new treatment has given him the chance to have fun with his family.

Mum Rebecca says Seamie is welcomed by nursing staff like hes the king of Wexford

Seamie with his parents Rebecca and Eddie and his younger brother Teddy

Seamie has turned a corner with the treatment he is having for his condition

Little Seamie Ryan is looking forward to a summer of family fun after turning a corner in his treatment for a chronic disease.

The five-year-old was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease that affects the large bowel, when he was just three years old.

Its been a difficult number of years for the Enniscorthy boy and his family, but in recent months an effective form of treatment has made a hugely positive impact.

Now Seamie is looking forward to sunny days helping out at the family farm, camping trips and welcoming some new hens to supply eggs for family and friends.

Seamie with his parents Rebecca and Eddie and his younger brother Teddy

Both of his nannies are bakers so theyre going to be flat out! said mum Rebecca.

Were really looking forward to summer as hes in a really good place. To be able to make plans and follow through with those plans and do all those nice things.

Ulcerative colitis is an autoimmune disease and Seamie is currently on an infusion treatment which he receives via an outpatient appointment every four weeks.

He loves the craic, loves spending time with both sets of grandparents, just finds joy in absolutely everything.

And the nurses  he walks into the hospital ward every month and hes greeted like hes the king of Wexford. They couldnt be any nicer to him. Theyre amazing with him.

Hes had a really tough road. Its only actually the last two months weve really seen that side of him where were like: yes, thats the boy who we knew was in there. So its lovely to be able to describe him like that.

Mum Rebecca says Seamie is welcomed by nursing staff like hes the king of Wexford

The disease has had a huge impact on Seamie and his family in recent years.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease causes inflammation, swelling and ulceration of the intestines, and is not to be confused with irritable bowel syndrome, where there is no evidence of inflammation or ulceration.

The two most common types of IBD are Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis. In Crohns, inflammation can occur anywhere along the digestive tract, while in ulcerative colitis, it affects the large bowel or colon.

People with IBD can experience times when their disease is in remission and when it is active.

When active, most common symptoms are urgent and frequent bowel motions sometimes with blood, diarrhoea, nausea/vomiting, reduced appetite, weight loss, stomach cramps, and painful joints and skin rashes.

There is currently no cure for IBD, but early diagnosis and treatment can help to stabilise the disease and provide a normal quality of life.

Seamie was diagnosed with UC when he was just three years old, as parents Eddie and Rebecca went through a worrying time trying to discover what was wrong with their toddler.

We always knew there was just something not right, said Rebecca. He was quite unsettled, always had this little bloated belly, wasnt really thriving. When he was 13 months old, for the first time I saw blood in the stool.

Seamie Ryan receiving treatment

Initial medical tests showed no obvious issues, but their sons condition worsened and soon, he was having ten loose and bloody stools on a daily basis as his concerned parents sought further help.

Tests showed his inflammatory markers were high and further investigation including a colonoscopy revealed that his large intestine was very inflamed. Anaemia had also become an issue.

At this stage Seamie was so unwell. He was so pale, recalled Rebecca. He was admitted into Crumlin hospital after he was diagnosed. He was put on steroids to bring down the inflammation.

It took a good deal of time and effort before an effective treatment worked, and the little boy got only little relief from initial forms of treatment.

Infliximab is an immunosuppressant treatment and therefore Seamie is prone to many infections, said Rebecca.

This, in turn, impacts what we can do as a family and has implications for Seamies younger brother, Teddy (3). Seamie needs a lot of care and attention and, as a result, I had to reduce my working week.

"We rely heavily on our amazing family during times when Seamie is unwell and for childcare during his many appointments.

He has missed many outings, friends parties and playdates. Despite this, he never gives up and, when he is feeling good, his zest for life is infectious, and he puts a smile on everyones face.

Seamie Ryan

The family say they are grateful to the support of Crohns and Colitis Ireland, which is organising a major conference in Cork to mark World IBD Day on Sunday May 19. It will feature a number of talks on dating and relationships with IBD, and on eating well with the condition.

We reached out to them in the early days and theyve just been so good, so supportive to us. Theyre a non-Government funded charity, so they rely on fundraisers which we have participated in.

The family would love to see more awareness around IBD in the hope of helping other families. They would also like to see the disease qualify for the long-term illness scheme.

UC is described as a chronic lifelong illness, and yet its not on the long-term illness scheme, said Rebecca. Seamie is not automatically entitled to a medical card. If a parent has to take time off work, theyre not entitled to carers allowance.

Marking World IBD Day, and celebrating 40 years since its foundation, Crohns and Colitis Ireland is hosting a major national conference for people with inflammatory bowel disease in Cork city on Sunday, May 19. To register to attend in person, or via the live stream, see crohnscolitis.ie
Equality minister Roderic OGorman says he is bringing forward proposals to provide for a deferral of maternity leave, or any portion thereof.

Some mothers are falling ill during maternity leave  but will soon be able to reclaim their lost time off from work.

Equality minister Roderic OGorman says he is bringing forward proposals to provide for a deferral of maternity leave, or any portion thereof.

It will apply where a mother falls ill, either while pregnant or during maternity leave. And post-partum depression could be an allowable condition.

Its essential that we support mothers during such a vulnerable time in their life, Minister OGorman said.

He added that he will also be taking the opportunity to legislate for maternity leave for Members of the Oireachtas  most recently exemplified by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee.

Mr OGorman also says he will be extending the entitlement to parents (paid) leave from August 1 this year. It will go from seven weeks to nine weeks, to be taken in the first few years of life.

There have been significant developments in entitlement to leave for working families in recent years.

The Government committed in the Programme for Government extending paid leave to allow parents to spend more time with their children during their earliest years.

Parents leave and benefit now provides seven weeks paid leave for each parent, to be taken within a childs first two years. This will now extend to nine weeks this summer.

Mr OGorman says he is committed to supporting working parents, and those who are breastfeeding, in particular. The Work Life Balance Act 2023 last year included amendments to the Maternity Protection Acts.

The changes provide for the extension of breastfeeding breaks for employees to two years after the birth of their child, which may not be refused by any workplace.

These regulations are to support those new mothers who are returning to work, knowing that they can be supported to continue breastfeeding their child, Mr OGorman said.

The Act also introduces five days leave for medical care purposes for parents of children under 12, and for carers. It also provides for a right to request flexible working for parents and carers.

The right to request remote working for all employees, was commenced on in March this year following the preparation of a Code of Practice by the Workplace Relations Commission.

There are no indications yet as to how well it has been working. There is an avenue of appeal in cases of refusal.

The Government says it is committed to reviewing the flexible working provisions after two years to consider extending the right to request to all employees, not just certain parents and carers.

Statutory domestic violence leave has also been introduced, making Ireland one of the first countries to grant such an authorised absence, intended to help a person relocate to a place of safety.

Victims of domestic violence are entitled to five days leave over a period of a year, and is to be paid at 100pc of the employees normal pay, to ensure their economic situation will not be altered.
The worlds first potential case of bird flu passing from mammals to humans means New Zealand is absolutely at the point of needing a response plan in place, a top epidemiologist says.

Scientists have been growing increasingly concerned by the spread and evolution of H5N1 avian flu, which has killed tens of millions of poultry birds in four years and been detected in two dozen countries.

Having jumped from wild birds to cattle in the US, the virus is now reported to have likely spread between cattle and a dairy farm worker - the first suspected case of its kind.

While the World Health Organisation presently considers the risk to humans as low, its chief scientist has voiced concern the virus could ultimately evolve to pass between people.

Theres no sign thats happened yet, but among the several hundred people known to have caught the virus after exposure to birds, the case fatality rate has been estimated at just over 50 per cent.

In New Zealand, Ministry for Primary Industries and Department of Conservation officials have been busy preparing a national contingency plan, while scientists have been carrying out local sampling.

Otago University epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said influenza remained the number-one threat for global pandemics, with 57 per cent of recently surveyed senior disease experts predicting a flu strain as the driver of the next outbreak of deadly infectious illness.

The H5N1 strain has been with us for a long time, causing one of the greatest [animal disease events] ever documented, Baker said.

And of course, over time, the sheer opportunity for it to adapt to transmit between humans must rise.

There was reassuring consensus among scientists the virus hasnt yet adapted to humans - and that this would require a significant shift in its composition.

But there are warning signs, and were now at the point where we should absolutely have our plan in place for a range of scenarios.

Baker noted New Zealands pandemic planning had long been centred around influenza - as was seen with the Labour-led Governments initial response to Covid, before it quickly changed tack.

He was confident wed learned much from the last few years with regard to tackling a human flu pandemic effectively - and with elimination, if the threat demanded it.

I now feel much more reassured that if we have a pandemic above a certain threshold of intensity or risk, we have a solution. We know that works.

Scientists have been growing increasingly concerned by the spread and evolution of H5N1 avian flu, which has killed tens of millions of poultry birds in four years and been detected in two dozen countries. Photo / 123rf.

Unlike with Covid, Baker said a vaccine could be developed relatively quickly; the US has already stockpiled 10 million doses of shots targeting strains closely related to that found in the farm worker.

However, in an interview with RNZs Sunday Morning, US-based infectious disease researcher Dr Richard Webby voiced concerns the world would be again caught out.

It may not be this virus, but something is absolutely going to do that, he told the programme.

Its going to jump from an animal into humans and were going to [have a situation resembling the] Covid pandemic all over again, or it could be the Covid pandemic sort of supercharged as well.

Theres clearly not enough resources going into this preparedness of pandemics, and thats not a New Zealand-centric issue, its not a US-centric issue, its a global issue.

You know, its almost like were not willing to sort of put those resources into the insurance we really need.

Dr Richard Webby is a Kiwi infectious diseases researcher based at the St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. File Photo.

Richard, who heads the WHOs Collaborating Centre for Influenza Studies, noted another concern already flagged by the UN authority: that the worlds public health agencies lacked the capability to diagnose it everywhere.

If all of a sudden the virologic stars align and whats a bird virus in a cow one day suddenly gets all of the mutations it needs to be a human virus, then the chances of us picking that up in advance are pretty slim, he said.

Were going to find that when we start to see accumulation of human cases.

For New Zealands dairy industry, he considers the current risk low - as do local biosecurity officials.

I think if I were a cow in New Zealand, to be honest, Id be feeling pretty safe from this virus, he said, noting the US infections were the first seen in cattle over 25 years of tracking the virus.

If I was a chicken, maybe Id be feeling a little less safe.

Jamie Morton is a specialist in science and environmental reporting. He joined the Herald in 2011 and writes about everything from conservation and climate change to natural hazards and new technology.

-Jamie Morton, The Country
A young New Zealand scientist has joined the International Commission on Missing Persons to lead the development of tools for the large-scale identification of human remains, including more than 300,000 people still missing after the Vietnam War.

Dr Bethany Forsythe, who graduated from Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland on May 6, with a PhD in Forensic Science, is helping the ICMP to establish DNA sequencing methods for highly degraded bone samples.

The Vietnamese remains date back to a war which ended in 1975.

Im privileged to be involved in this important work that can help to bring closure to the families of the missing, says the 31-year-old, who works with scientists and officials in both Hanoi, Vietnam, and at the commissions headquarters in The Hague in the Netherlands, where she is based.

A two-year project to develop Vietnams capabilities is being carried out with the Institute of Biotechnology of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

The technologies being evaluated and optimised will form the basis for a comprehensive system for comparing DNA from human remains with the DNA from even distant family members still searching for loved ones in Vietnam.

Cutting-edge extraction techniques and DNA sequencing technology have made it possible to collect usable DNA from highly degraded samples.

This is something we have shown already with powerful nuclear DNA profiles obtained from some initial bone samples from Vietnam.

Bethany credits the Forensic Science Programme at Waipapa Taumata Rau and its close links with the governments Institute of Environmental Science and Research for the skills which enabled her to take on the challenge.

I have been very lucky to work with and learn from amazing forensic scientists in New Zealand.

A close association with the ESR, where she has worked and carried out academic research, is an extremely valuable part of the Universitys forensics programme, she says.

The former Wellington East Girls High School pupil pursued forensics because she loves science and research and a career in the field seemed interesting and achievable.

Shes finds the work rewarding and it has also provided a special benefit: meeting her partner, another forensic scientist.

The ICMP is a treaty-based international organisation working with governments, civil society, justice institutions and other organisations to address the issue of missing persons. It aims to secure the cooperation of, and assist, governments and others in locating people missing from conflict, human rights abuses, disasters and other causes.






Parking fines and debt collection agency letters have frustrated customers using some Tauranga and Te Puke shopping centres and takeaway restaurants.

People spoken to by the Bay of Plenty Times were issued fines from Wilson Parking for staying overtime at free parking lots attached to shopping centres and McDonalds restaurants.

Many such places in Tauranga that have free customer parking use Parking Enforcement Services, a division of Wilson Parking, to monitor their car parks.

Wilson Parking says a temporary fault in its mail house processing had disrupted the processing of breach notices.

The complaints

Louise Watson, a personal trainer known as Boss Lady, says she was issued a ticket at Fraser Cove in February but did not know it until she received a final warning in the mail.

Watson had been covering a shift at the centres supplement store, then had gone to the gym, got her nails done, and visited the supermarket.

She had moved her car to another parking spot within the centre during her time there.

As a casual employee at the store, Watson had not known that people working at the centre needed to register their vehicle registration number to avoid a fine.

She says she understood that parking time limits could be necessary, but was concerned about the impact of fines on families and people on tight budgets.

Its fair play. But I think they should monitor it some other way.

I dont want a parent who is struggling for money to get fined. Maybe theres a parent who is getting groceries, looking at Reduced To Clear for a bargain, then going to The Warehouse for a cheap $5 toy and then they get a ticket.

Charmaine Cook says she got a letter from Baycorp asking to pay a fine she had no idea she had been given.

It turned out that her daughter had been getting her hair done at Fraser Cove and had gone over the time limits, but because the daughters car was in her parents name, they were the ones who got the fine.

I fought for two weeks to get it sorted and kept getting the run-around.

I then passed it on to my husband to sort and he had to get angry with them before he got any answers. In the meantime, we were getting letters from Baycorp and the amount was increasing.

Eventually, we got a refund after we had paid the original amount.

Gate Pa resident Sarah Harvey is another shopper who says she unfairly got a ticket.

Sarah had taken her son and his friend out for an early-hours fishing trip in January and had visited McDonalds 11th Ave for some sustenance while it was still dark.

When she got a fine in the mail, she was surprised to see a photo of her car exiting the drive-through, headlights on in the dark, with a time stamp of 9.32am.

Sarah called the 0800 number on the letter to appeal the fine and was asked to supply evidence such as bank statements - but Sarah says she paid for the meals in cash.

I didnt even go in the car park. I said to them, you give me the evidence that I was in that park for seven hours. . . . it was so ridiculous.

Sarah commented on a social media thread in which people shared their stories about encounters with parking fines in Tauranga and Te Puke stores and takeaway stores.

It prompted her to reach out to the television show Fair Go and to ask other people to do the same.

The fines are huge ... Were innocent, its not right, says Sarah.

Other social media users also shared their experiences.

One person says they visited Fraser Cove twice in one day and the letter they received showed a photo of them entering the parking lot on their first visit and another exiting on their second visit, claiming they had parked for five hours total.

Another person says they were fined on March 16 for parking at Mount Maunganui McDonalds and were given 14 days to pay the fine but didnt know anything about it until receiving a letter from Baycorp on April 4.

The companies respond

When given details of the complaints, a Wilson Parking spokesperson says the company had previously identified a temporary fault in its mail house processing, which had disrupted the processing of breach notices.

The issue has been addressed, and those affected have had their breach notices waived, where appropriate.

The spokesperson says anyone who received a breach notice they would like to dispute could appeal the notice by emailing the company.

Fines ranged between $65 and $85 with a $20 late fee, the spokesperson says.

These fees are in line with those charged across the private enforcement industry with some operators charging higher.

A Baycorp NZ spokesperson says the company provided debt collection services to a number of clients, including Wilson Parking, and acted on its behalf to collect amounts owing.

A McDonalds spokesperson says the restaurants named by the complainants had long-standing one-hour free parking restrictions and the company that did the monitoring had been in place for more than a year.

These car parks were monitored by cameras that recorded all vehicles entering and leaving the premises.

Only when vehicles have used the restaurants drive-thru multiple times in one day has there been a known incorrect infringement.

This occurs when the first time from the first visit and the last time from the last visit have been recorded as one event.

This is easy to identify though through CCTV, and anyone who has contacted the restaurant when this has happened has had their parking fines waived.

Once this was known, the restaurants had their cameras readjusted and a new camera installed to minimise this happening again.

Tauranga Crossing no longer uses Parking Enforcement Services. Centre manager Janet Vincent says the centre had not received any complaints like those described.

With over 1700 parking spaces available, we strive to provide ample parking opportunities for everyone. Additionally, designated staff parking spaces are provided for the convenience of the employees of our retailers.

Shopping centres that list Parking Enforcement Services on their websites as the company responsible for monitoring their parking lots include Fraser Cove, Papamoa Plaza, Bethlehem Town Centre and Bay Central.

Bethlehem Town Centre manager Lauren Todd says their 1000 parks were monitored to support its customers and retailers, and to avoid customers having to compete with those misusing the space, for example as a park-and-ride option into the city.

Fraser Cove, Bay Central and Papamoa Plaza were approached for comment.

Fighting the fines

Consumer NZ investigative writer Vanessa Pratley, who has first-hand experience of being fined for overstaying at a free shopping centre car park, says the possibility of debt collection was what swayed her to eventually pay her fine.

However, she believed the $65 fine she received was a bit much for overstaying in a free car park.

Parking Enforcement Services is required under the Consumer Guarantees Act to provide their service with reasonable care and skill.

In cases where fines are consistently being issued against consumers who arent at fault, there is a risk that Parking Enforcement Services may be in breach of its obligations under the CGA, says Vanessa.

Vanessa says when a customer used a parking lot displaying signs with terms and conditions, they were accepting a contract. But parking fines should be reasonably reflective of the actual loss suffered by the operator.

Customers could appeal breach notices with Wilson or could appeal to the Disputes Tribunal which has a $45 filing fee.

-Sonya Bateson, Bay of Plenty Times




Staff at the Caltex Tauriko petrol station are bidding farewell as the business closes following more than half a century of faithful and fuel-ful service to the community.

Marking the end of an era enjoyed by locals and travellers alike, there has been a bittersweet atmosphere as loyal patrons called in one final time this last week to express gratitude to owner Alex Lee and his staff, who have become synonymous with friendly faces and reliable service.

The stations closure is not merely a business transition; it symbolises the inevitable march of progress, as NZTA Waka Kotahi requisitions the land to pave the way for the new access into the new Tauriko West community as part of the SH29 Tauriko Enabling Works, altering the landscape and the memories it holds.

A lot of my regulars are sad, says Alex. They gave us presents, money, and told us stories.

One lady who came in was saying she has been coming to us for more than 60 years.

The Caltex Tauriko station closes after decades, to make way for a new highway. Photo: Bob Tulloch.

Alex bought the business only four to five years ago, just before the Covid-19 global pandemic struck. Its his first business venture since arriving in New Zealand.

I didnt know back then that it was going to be closing. The government got in contact with me about two years ago.

Under the Public Works Act, the government can requisition land to be used for public works such as highways. Alex owned the business, which the government paid him for, but not the land that the station has stood on. The government has also bought the land from the owner.

Resigned to the inevitable, he says I have no choice. I have no say.

Caltex Tauriko has been part of a cluster of buildings located near each other on State Highway 29, with Tauriko Primary School, Tauriko Playcentre, and Tauriko Settlers Hall providing a focal point for the surrounding community.

Men at Tauriko Mill before 1920. Credit: Te Ao Marama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo 06-053.

The name Tauriko was inspired by a once-thriving local sawmilling industry. The business name Tauranga Rimu Timber Company seemed a bit long-winded, so sawmill operators, the Gamman brothers who opened mills in the Bay of Plenty in 1908, shortened the name to Tau-Ri-Co. Their father Samuel John Gamman had arrived in the country on board the Cameo in 1859.

The letter C is not a consonant in the Maori language so it was replaced with the letter K resulting in the word 'Tauriko' being formed.

Kaimai road 1963. Credit: Te Ao Marama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo 04-377.

Alex doesnt know how many previous owners Caltex Tauriko has had. Its also unknown how long the station has stood there; some say up to 80 years, with most saying at least 60 years.

Tauranga City Council's Heritage and Research Team information access specialist Leslie Goodliffe looked up 'Papers Past' and found an advertisement in the Bay of Plenty Times, dated March 23, 1946.

"It isn't clear from the short, formal notice if this is the first 'motor spirit' pump in Tauriko," says Leslie.

"I assume a timber mill would need to fuel vehicles and stationary engines."

Screenshot of 'Papers Past', Bay of Plenty Times March 23, 1946, Page 1. Image: Tauranga City Council/Supplied.

Leslie also found a photograph of an unidentified timber mill on the council's Pae Koroki website, which has a tiny sign advertising Big Tree Motor Spirit on the far right of the picture, attached to the workshop.

It's not known if this is at the Tauriko location, but there is a possibility that it could be. It appears to date from around 1910.

Sawmill, 1900s, with inset image of small, oval sign for Big Tree Motor Spirit. Credit: Te Ao Marama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo 99-960.

It is recorded that Caltex Tauriko was previously known as the Tauriko Autostop in the 80s, and there's a mention of a petrol station located at Tauriko in the 1950s on the Tauranga Historical website:

Buster Dean, father of Western Bay DC Councillor Mark Dean, was short of petrol on a trip from Hamilton to Tauranga in the late 1950's. He made the Kaimai Road summit, and then took the car out of gear and coasted the rest of the way into Tauranga. (I surmise he re-fuelled at Tauriko.), writes a Tauranga Historical Society spokesperson.

Workers on Kaimai road between 1906-1915. Credit: Te Ao Marama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo 02-196.

The Kaimai Road, now known as State Highway 29, was started in the 1880s, linking up the Kaimai track to Cambridge, with the present Cambridge Road, a remnant of its original route.

Tauriko is now home to the new housing development area The Lakes and the retail and industrial hub Tauranga Crossing.

While the history of the name Tauriko is based on a major industry set up by a migrant family, the history of the land is one of historical significance to tangata whenua, with Ngai Tamarawaho and Ngati Hangarau having had a large presence in The Lakes area.

Construction of new roading links in Tauriko will connect to the Takitimu Northern Link to Auckland and the western link to Hamilton.

Remnants of the Tauriko Rimu Timber Company sawmill tramway remain in the bush. Photo: Jamie Neill.

For those travelling to the Waikato on State Highway 29, the lower Kaimai-based station at Tauriko has been a must-stop place to fuel up before heading to Hamilton, Taupo, Auckland, or further afield. The same applies for those coming down off the Kaimai range from the Waikato, doubling as a welcome refreshment and rest place, pausing a long journey often delayed by traffic congestion.

Its not just been about fuel; the station has boasted hot pies, piping hot coffee, an in-house Subway, and a range of food, beverages and items often asked for by motorists.

Alex estimates, from the metre readings on the eight pumps, that there have been roughly 75 million litres of fuel pumped into vehicles at the site over the last 20 years, with around three to five million litres per year.

The Caltex Tauriko station closes after decades, to make way for a new highway. Photo: Bob Tulloch.

Behind the counter serving customers has been a top team that Alex says he is very sad to bid farewell to.

When I took it over I had a couple of employees and was lucky enough to work with them, and three of them worked with me from the beginning to the end.

Id like to say thank you to my staff. The manager is Shivani Chand - she has been here for six years, Kirk Wakefield was here for 10 years, and Smithesh Chacko was here for eight years.

He says their regular customers loved his staff.

Our industry has a very high turnover of people. Shivani, Kirk and Smithesh were just too good and I was lucky to work with them.

Ive had many good faithful employees, too many names to name them all. These three employees were there when I started and were there until the last day.

Alex doesnt know yet what he will be doing next, after handing over the keys last Tuesday. Hes happy that two of his staff have new jobs to go to.

Shivani will be working at New World, Kirk will be working at Caltex Greerton, and Smithesh and I are looking for the right opportunity together, says Alex, who would like to take all three staff with him into his next new enterprise.

If I have the right opportunity Id like to do retail with them, but so far we are not lucky enough to find one yet. We are searching together, but the right thing hasnt come up yet.

Hes determined that he will stay in the retail industry.

Because thats what we can do, and its all about the people. People think retail is easy but its tough. And I had really good staff I would like to do retail with if possible. Fingers crossed.

On the final day, the door stayed open until 3pm, with people bringing in presents and well wishes for the staff.

A lot of our customers came in on the last day to say goodbye to us, says Alex.

It was really sad.

Asked whether a new Caltex station will be opening in the area, a spokesperson for Z Energy Limited says while Caltex Tauriko is now permanently closed, Caltex continues to maintain a strong presence in Tauranga with four other Caltex branded service stations in the area.
Kobe Shilton is the latest recipient of Eastland Generation $5000 engineering scholarship.

Kobe is a former prefect at Whakatane High School and now a first-year Bachelor of Engineering student at the University of Canterbury.

The inaugural scholarship recognises and celebrates Kobe's exceptional academic achievements, passion for engineering, and commitment to making a positive impact.

Eastland Generation chief Executive officer Alice Pettigrew says they are honoured to back Kobe, he is an outstanding young man who is passionate and dedicated to engineering and higher education.

"We received several applications of high calibre but what set Kobe apart is his ambition extends beyond academic pursuits."

Eighteen-year-old Kobe says he finds geothermal energy and electricity production fascinating, and following completion of my degree,

"I intend to work in the industry, and eventually start up my own local company."

Kobe envisions himself being involved with local and central government, creating positive change through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, especially when it comes to energy use and production in New Zealand.

Kobe grew up in Edgecumbe and found his love for learning at a young age.

"I've spent my whole life tinkering, taking things apart, and finding out how things work. This is why I have decided to study engineering where I intend to Major in Mechatronics Engineering," says Kobe.

"It is such a privilege to have this support from Eastland Generation which is going to assist me in more ways than one on my academic journey. It will help me achieve my goals and build my career and life out of what I love to do."
In a nationwide call to action, New Zealands esteemed ornithological society, BirdsNZ, is gearing up for an avian adventure like no other.

Brace yourselves, fellow bird enthusiasts, for on June 22 and 23, it will be time to embark on a quest to count the elusive Kotuku ngutu papa, known to many as the Royal Spoonbill.

With binoculars at the ready and a keen eye for detail, Kiwis across the country are summoned to join the ranks of this feathered fellowship.

At the local helm of this counting endeavour is BirdsNZ regional representative Paul Cuming, a seasoned bird-watcher and guardian of avian knowledge.

Armed with dedication and an email address - birds.bop.volcanic@birdsnz.org.nz - Paul awaits your reports, your sightings, and your tales of the majestic Spoonbill's whereabouts.

These will go into a count database and be compared with previous counts, says Paul.

He has already spotted the birds roosting at Yatton Park, and a group of them have been seen in Kopurererua Valley.

Every observation becomes a vital clue, a puzzle piece in the grand mosaic of New Zealand's avian landscape.

But why the Spoonbill, you may ask?

While whispers suggest their numbers are on the rise across the nation, murmurs persist that they've yet to establish their court in the Bay of Plenty.

Royal Spoonbill at Yatton Park. Photo: Paul Cuming.

It is thought that the species is increasing although there is scant evidence they are breeding in the Bay of Plenty, says Paul.

He is challenging the Tauranga and Bay of Plenty community to prove that theory wrong.

The stately Royal Spoonbill is one of six spoonbill species worldwide, and the only one that breeds in NZ.

They were first recorded in New Zealand in 1861, can live up to 36 years and in flight, hold their neck outstretched and trail legs behind, looking rather awkward, like a "Dr Seuss" cartoon bird.

In 1977 the NZ population was estimated at 52 birds. The most recent estimate in 2012 was 2360 birds.

As reports of sightings flood in, Paul and others will eagerly compile the data. Will this year's count reveal a surge in their numbers?

So, grab your binoculars, dust off your birding guidebooks, and join Paul and the team on this epic quest.
Alberto Flores Granada Tuesday, 7 May 2024, 22:48 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace

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Juan Pedro Ortiz is a chef from Granada who returned to his home city two years ago after spending 10 years working in different restaurants around Spain. He first worked in Almeria with Jose Alvarez, then at Estimar in Madrid where he was also at the opening of Quique Dacosta. He is now the chef at Farala which has won a Repsol Sun award.

"The city was changing, there were people who were changing the hotel and catering business little by little and I thought that coming back to do something gastronomic here was a good option", explains Ortiz.

"It was very nice that they thought of me and since I arrived everything has gone very well, to be honest". He says that since starting at Farala, he and the team have been "evolving little by little" and that their aim is "to achieve excellence".

"We like to work with products from Granada with the best possible technique. The people who come to the restaurant leave happy and in the end that is what we work for," he acknowledges.

Zoom One of the dishes at the Farala restaurant. Ideal

Ortiz can confirm that things really are changing in Granada, just as he predicted when he decided to return to his home city two years ago and whenever he can he visits different eateries for breakfast, tapas, lunch and dinner.

When asked about the place he likes best for breakfast, Juan Pedro quickly thinks of La Gran Taberna in Plaza Nueva. "It's where I usually have breakfast because it's very close to Farala and they offer great service," he says. A perfect place to enjoy a classic breakfast where they serve toast and coffee "just the way you want it".

For the perfect place to enjoy tapas or an aperitif, the chef recommends visiting La taberna del Cosmonauta, in Calle Trinidad. "I like the area around Plaza de la Trinidad a lot because there are plenty of places to go". And this tavern is one of the ones he goes to when he wants to have a beer with a 'montadito' (small open sandwich), olives or another light bite.

For lunch, he recognises that it is difficult for him to choose just one place. That is why he highlights three restaurants because "they do it very well" and they are places where he "could eat every day". These are Le Bistro in Calle Martinez Campos; Bardana Taberna in Calle Marques de Mondejar; and Garbo in Calle Socrates.

Finally, he recommends two places that he considers "perfect for a nice, quiet evening": Manigua Casa de Comidas, in Calle Laurel de San Matias; and Betula Nana, in Calle Malaga. "They are places that do things very well, are very well located and have a lot of charm," he says.
Eugenio Cabezas Tuesday, 7 May 2024, 22:35 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace

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The latest company to open a store in El Ingenio shopping centre in Velez-Malaga, on the eastern stretch of the Costa del Sol, is Rituals, the Dutch brand specialising in cosmetics, toiletries and products for the home.

As reported by owners Salsa Patrimonio and management MVGM in a statement, other stores including Pandora jewellery store and Malaga-based perfume and cosmetics company Primor have both refurbished their premises.

In the first quarter of this year 2024 nail salon Miss Beauty opened up and the Yves Rocher store was also modernised. Further changes that the managing company has announced as the shopping centre celebrates its 24th anniversary include the opening of Hug&Clau women's fashion chain and Multiopticas opticians. Belros and Phone House will refurbish their establishments, the latter including a new Fotoprix space as a new service.

Zoom The new look Primor in El Ingenio. SUR

"For Grupo Sociedad Azucarera Larios it is important to actively participate in the generation of growth and economic development, orienting its activities to generate a positive impact, assuming responsibility for the social and environmental aspects of the different business activities it carries out", they said in a statement.
Medal honors Merieux Foundation president's decades-long bond with China

14:31, May 07, 2024 By Huang Zijuan ( People's Daily Online

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of China-France diplomatic relations. On May 5, 2024, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Paris for a state visit to France at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Alain Merieux shows the certificate and the China Reform Friendship Medal in his office in Lyon, France, Dec. 20, 2018. (Xinhua/Chen Yichen)

France was the first major Western country to establish diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level with the Peoples Republic of China. Bilateral relations have long been at the forefront of Chinas relations with Western countries.

On Dec. 18, 2018, at a celebration marking the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up, Xi awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal to 10 international friendly personages for their contributions to China's reform and opening-up. Alain Merieux, President of the Merieux Foundation, was one of the recipients. His certificate number was 001.

During the meeting with Merieux and his wife in Beijing on April 8, 2024, Xi expressed appreciation for the long-term care and support from the couple as well as the Merieux Foundation for the development of China-France relations and the cause of China's healthcare, and also hoped that the Merieux Foundation would continue deepening cooperation with China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with President of the Merieux Foundation Alain Merieux and his wife at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, April 8, 2024. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Merieux is an old friend of the Chinese people. Recalling that his bond with China began 46 years ago, Merieux said he has been following and admiring China's progress over the years.

Merieux came to China for the first time in 1978, marking the beginning of the Merieux Company and Merieux Foundation's friendly cooperation with China. Over the course of the past 40 years and more, Merieux has been involved in and witnessed every key stage of development in China's medical and health sector, including the first tuberculosis vaccination and the first bio-safety level four laboratory in Asia.

The changes that have taken place in China have not only benefited hundreds of millions of Chinese people, but have also brought benefits to the world, Merieux remarked.

In March 2014, Xi made a special trip to the Biomerieux research center in Lyon during his visit to France, where he was warmly received by the Merieuxs and staff members. All the researchers rushed to shake hands with Xi, Merieux recalled.

Xi Jinping, the then vice president of China, meets with Alain Merieux at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct. 23, 2012. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

Xi said he was glad to see that Merieux Group has made so many achievements in its cooperation with China, and appreciated its contributions to promoting China-France friendly cooperation.

Merieux has not only witnessed, but also participated in and contributed to China's reform and development. Together with the Chinese people, he has written several chapters in the friendship and exchange between China and France.

As Xi said during his meeting with Merieux and his wife, over the past 60 years, generation after generation has carried forward and developed China-France relations, with the friendship between the two countries becoming further consolidated over time.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
WASHINGTON  Sworn into Congress a night earlier to replace former Rep. Brian Higgins, Rep. Tim Kennedy got his first official assignment as a member of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, as the House Democratic Caucus confirmed his appointment to the Homeland Security Committee.

Kennedy received word of his pending appointment to the panel prior to his swearing-in on Monday. And in an interview afterward, he said a seat on the Homeland Security Committee makes sense for a federal lawmaker who represents a border community like Buffalo.

I recognize the importance of cross-border commerce and the impact that that committee will have on maintaining the friendly relations that we have with Canada, and also the critical economic impact we have on both sides of the border, Kennedy said.

For now, though, the Homeland Security panel is much more focused on the southern border than the northern border, given the ongoing influx of undocumented immigrants streaming into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California and claiming asylum in the U.S. And Kennedy said he, too, is focused on both borders.

We need to make sure that were securing our borders and paying attention to the immigration crisis thats taking hold, he said. Weve got a bipartisan bill thats been negotiated in the United States Senate. I want to see that bill come to the floor of the House of Representatives so we can make sure those that are seeking asylum here in our country are moved through the process as quickly as possible.

Kennedy had hoped to be appointed to one of the most powerful House committees, such as Energy and Commerce or Ways and Means, where Higgins served. But those top committees are almost always filled with more senior lawmakers, meaning Kennedy had to settle for appointment to a panel thats not quite so prominent. Hell be appointed to another committee, too, sometime in the coming weeks.

The new congressman, like his predecessor a South Buffalo Democrat, spoke to The Buffalo News at a celebration of his swearing-in at the Dubliner, an Irish pub on Capitol Hill.

As many members of the New York congressional delegation mingled with dozens of Democrats from South Buffalo and other parts of the city, Kennedy said he was thrilled with the unusually large turnout for the event. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries attended the party, as did former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Its really humbling, Kennedy said. So many people have stepped up to be a part of what were doing, recognizing that this isnt just about a special election for me, but its about the voice of our community in Western New York being heard. And its about a movement thats being created across the country out of Western New York. And so Im really excited about making sure that out of the gate, were making our mark.

Kennedy, 47, defeated West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson by more than a 2-1 margin in the April 30 special election to replace Higgins, who served in Congress for 19 years before resigning in February to become president and CEO of Sheas Buffalo Performing Arts Center.

While serving the last eight months of Higgins term, Kennedy will run for re-election in November in New Yorks Buffalo-based, heavily Democratic 26th Congressional District.

Kennedy comes to Congress after serving in the State Senate. Nine of the 26 members of the New York congressional delegation served in the State Legislature with Kennedy, including Jeffries, and that fact became evident as several of those lawmakers greeted him with warm hugs after his swearing-in on the House floor.

I can think of no better person to represent New Yorks 26th Congressional District and succeed our friend Brian Higgins than Tim Kennedy, said Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Manhattan Democrat and the dean of the states congressional delegation. As a New York State senator for over 13 years, Tim has been a formidable advocate for our region.

Two House Republicans who represent Western New York, Rep. Nick Langworthy and Rep. Claudia Tenney, walked over to the Democratic side of the House to congratulate Kennedy.

The New York delegation came over to say hello and congratulate me and and, you know, pass along well wishes, Kennedy said. And I think it was one of those moments today that I hope we can all replicate moving forward, working together in as many ways as possible in a bipartisan fashion.
Hector Barbotta Seville Tuesday, 7 May 2024, 14:22 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace

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The Junta de Andalucia has given the green light to the filling of swimming pools this summer in the province of Malaga, which includes the Costa del Sol. Although it will be up to the local councils to take the final decision, the regional government will not put any restrictions in place and will allow the available water to be used for this purpose.

Zoom Ramon Fernandez-Pacheco, spokesperson for the Andalusian regional government. SUR

This was announced by the Junta's spokesperson and deputy minister responsible for water, Ramon Fernandez-Pacheco, who said that this decision had been reached taking into account the special characteristics of Malaga province and the impact of tourist activity on its economy.
The diocese has presented the regional ministry of culture with a project to complete the facade as it was designed by the architect Antonio Ramos in 1784

Jesus Hinojosa Tuesday, 7 May 2024, 10:31 | Updated 10:50h. Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace

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Now that work has begun on the gable roof, aimed at solving the leak problems that Malaga Cathedral has had for decades, the diocese is also preparing to finish the roof's perimeter as it was designed in the plans left by its last Baroque architect, Antonio Ramos. Work on the building was halted on 5 July 1782 but Ramos left a detailed drawing of the complete cathedral in documents that the diocese has taken as reference for this project, at least as far as the roof is concerned.

This includes building the stone balustrade topped by pinnacles that was left to crown the edge of the roof. This was originally set to be completed once the gable roof - planned by Ventura Rodriguez - had been built, but this was never constructed. The project also involves finishing the church's main facade on the side of Plaza del Obispo.

If we observe the plans drafted by Antonio Ramos in 1784, we see that the main facade was left half-finished. Consequently, the diocese has proposed a project to the regional ministry of culture that involves its completion as it was designed by the cathedral's last architect.

Zoom A view of the half-finished facade of Malaga Cathedral. Salvador Salas

The current architect, Juan Manuel Sanchez La Chica, in collaboration with fellow architect Adolfo de la Torre Prieto, has designed the completion of this facade based on Ramos' plans, as a way of taking the baton from his predecessor. According to the sources, to the surprise of the cathedral's current technicians, the angle formed by the parapet (designed by Antonio Ramos) coincides with the slope of the roof (planned by Ventura Rodriguez in 1764). In other words, everything was carefully planned to complete the cathedral that was in the end left unfinished; now that planned work is being resumed.

The continuation of work on the cathedral has been one of bishop Jesus Catala's wishes ever since his arrival into the diocese in 2008. He has, on several occasions, proudly recalled that the diocese had, many years ago, completed part of the balustrade that was missing from the main facade. Now, with its completion, which is awaiting authorisation by the regional ministry of culture, along with the new roof project already under way, his wishes will be fulfilled.

In Ramos' plans, the top of the facade features a statue of Jesus Christ, as well as St Andrew, St Peter, St Paul and St James on the pedestals below. For the time being, the the execution of these figures is not included in the proposed project, but the diocese would like for them to be made in the future in order to fully complete the design of Malaga Cathedral's main facade, as it was drawn in the 18th century.

While awaiting permission from the regional ministry of culture to resume construction of the facade and thus to complete the roof project, works on this long-awaited scheme have already begun. In fact, the group formed by the construction companies Hermanos Campano and Grupo ORP, has started demolishing of the 'brick skin' applied to the vaults' exterior in 2009, which proved to be unsuccessful. Layers of bricks will be removed and the lead sheets that were installed to protect the building from rainwater will be left in place.
Matias Stuber Malaga Tuesday, 7 May 2024, 17:38 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace

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You use a stick to stir the coffee or tea and then, instead of throwing it away, you eat it. This is the business idea of Ivan Marmolejo and Jose Rojas, two 20-year-olds from Malaga. They have created Plash, a company focused on making and marketing edible cutlery. The young entrepreneurs are starting out in a world in which they both see themselves working in the future.

Ivan and Jose are operating in a market that is not new, but is not yet well established in Malaga. The idea came to the university friends turned business partners on a trip to Costa Rica where they observed the great waste of plastic generated by disposable sticks.

They had a light bulb moment and when they returned to Malaga they set up a project which, a few months later, is already beginning to show some success. In a conversation with SUR, Ivan explains how the idea went from idea to reality. "We contacted a supplier in Barcelona and after receiving the first samples that convinced us, we started to get in touch with bars and cafes," he says.

Zoom Plash's edible sticks accompany a cup of coffee. SUR

At the moment the edible sticks are already available in six cafes in Malaga province: De Grazia Coffee&BAR, Pura Vida Cafe Bar, Cafeteria Prados, Rou Mate Cafe Bar, Bootes Cafes and Caramello Salato Cafe. They can also be found in Malaga's video game museum (OXO).

Ivan and Jose went door-to-door to try to convince people in the hospitality trade to give them a chance. "It was a complicated time," recalls Ivan. With hardly any investment, they needed to attract customers to get the wheels in motion.

The big question is: what do the edible sticks taste like and what are they made of? "About the taste, I would say that anyone who is curious should try them. But it is a pleasant taste. Our sticks are made from rice flour and have no added sugars. They are also suitable for vegans," Ivan points out.

The young entrepreneurs are already thinking about the next steps to grow the company and are looking into the possibility of expanding the edible cutlery to forks, knives and spoons. Technically they say it would be possible. "This is just the beginning. What is clear to us is that we are in the world of entrepreneurship", says Ivan.
Mar Ramirez Huesca Tuesday, 7 May 2024, 23:35 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace

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You only need to be a lover of hiking and have the desire to enjoy the most extraordinary views to feel an irresistible desire to walk along the footbridges that make some of Huesca's mountain landscapes so unique.

Trails with views, suspension bridges and footbridges clinging to the rocky, mountain walls can be found in three locations in Huesca. There is one next door to the beautiful village of Alquezar , in Somontano de Barbastro. Or head to the striking mountain scenery of Alto Gallego where you can walk along the recently-opened footbridge of Panticosa. Last, but not least, you can amble along the walkway of Montfalco (literally meaning Falcon Mountain), overlooking Mont Rebei gorge, the borderline to the lands of Lleida.

In the easternmost part of the province of Huesca the uninhabited village of Montfalco (a ghost village since 1960) is the starting point for reaching the footbridges of the same name.

Overlooking the Noguera Ribagorzana river, the Montfalco footbridges are the first section of the traditional bridlepath that the locals used to use to reach Puebla de Montanana, a village located to the north of the river. To do so, they had to overcome an imposing obstacle, the Mont Rebei gorge and congost (the river basin flowing out of the narrow gorge). No other means of transport was capable of getting over this obstacle.

In this narrow gorge of orangey-red limestone walls many griffon vultures nest. Other iconic birds of prey such as golden eagles, bearded vultures, peregrine falcons and Egyptian vultures can also be seen. The gorge forms a magnificent, natural border between Aragon and Catalonia thanks to the river that crosses the Montsec mountain range.

The narrow passage is a challenge that can be tackled in different ways, but always in search of exceptional views. One possible route is to follow the course of the Noguera Ribagorzana river as it backs up into Canelles reservoir aboard a canoe or an electric-powered boat. The imposing perspective provided by the reddish walls, barely twenty metres apart as they rise above the wayward flow of the river, hits you straight in the eye from the starting point.

Although the route from the bottom of the gorge through the emerald green waters of the river is impressive, it is the access to the vertical footpath that offers the most thrilling experience for any hiker.

The rocky road

This route starts in the unoccupied village of Montfalco. Located in the Huesca region of La Ribagorza, it is a village nestled in the mountains from where the well-signposted route starts. The trail leads downhill to the village fountain, next to which you can see the old, open-air washroom. The restored shrine of Santa Quiteria and San Bonifacio, one of the jewels of Aragonese Romanesque art, has stuck out on a rocky outcrop since the 11th century.

Trail Distance: 4 km one way. Medium difficulty. Two hours duration.

Elevation: Montfalco (780 m) and Puebla de Montanana (510 m).

Overnight stay: Montfalco hostel. (www.alberguemontfalco.com). Monastery of Les Avellanes near Os de Balaguer, Noguera, Lerida (www.monestirdelesavellanes.com). Quiet monastic complex declared an historic-artistic site with tourist accommodation.

Along the way, in addition to the views that open up before our eyes, we can also get to know the fauna and flora of the area thanks to illustrated, information boards.

Zoom The Noguera Ribagorzana river accentuates the mountainous landscape. JCM

The path continues downhill, crossing the Tartera ravine, which gives the walker their first sighting in the distance of the starting section of footbridges anchored into the rock face. The thrills soon start as you head up the steps and ramps, helped only by the metal cable 'handrail' that separates the walkway from the emptiness of the gorge. The gorge can also be glimpsed through the planks as you walk along the two stretches of footbridges - can you measure up to the task? You climb up one by one as the walkway is only wide enough for one person, so there is no option to back down once you have started up the 291 steps that span the 83-metre drop of the gorge wall.

A new ravine, Sigue, is where the hiker can set foot once more on terra firma after the steep descent, and this leads to the 35-metre-long metal suspension bridge. The bridge affords exceptional views of the gorge, suspended over the same spot where the original bridge between both villages used to be. That was their former crossing and was destroyed when the reservoir was built in 1960.

As soon as you cross the bridge, which can bring on some vertigo as its metal platform stretches somewhat shakily over the river, you will be on the Catalan side of this historic trail. This is the moment when you get deep into the gorge and follow it just 50 metres above the water in a northerly direction, crossing tunnels carved into the rock, plenty of viewpoints and even benches where you can rest and enjoy the splendid views until you reach Hondoravine. This is where a new 40-metre bridge crosses over to Masieta, an old farmhouse now converted into an information point and the starting point for taking the Montfalco trail in reverse.

For those who do not want to suffer from vertigo, an alternative hiking route starts in Corca (Lerida) until it joins the path coming from Montfalco at the metal bridge. En route you have views overlooking the entrance to the gorge, plus the opportunity to see the church of Mare de Deu de La Pertusa, a small Romanesque chapel next to the remains of a castle that dominates the most picturesque and panoramic view of the gorge.
Domenico Chiappe Tuesday, 7 May 2024, 15:15 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace

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When he sets sail in the Aita Mari, Captain Simon Vidal heads for the central Mediterranean, between Africa and Europe. "We never know what might happen," says Vidal, who has been at the helm of the Salvamento Maritimo Humanitario (SMH) boat for three years, a small Spanish organisation that rescues migrants who take to the water in small flimsy boats.

In the most recent mission, the NGO's twelfth, they rescued 43 people, whose journeys had begun in Egypt, Sudan and Bangladesh. They faced waves over a metre high, were dehydrated and tired.

"The sea is huge but sadly there are countless cases in that area and we locate them by the 'mayday' warnings," explains Vidal, 36. "Their journey is risky; they have no safety systems or life jackets. They can capsize."

Alerts are sent by email and are addressed to the civilian fleet and to the authorities of the nearest countries. "We operate when there is administrative silence. For example, Malta and Libya never reply and if Italy does not reply, we initiate the protocol to go. Only when we have already made the rescue do they reply to assign the ports to us."

Rescued migrants are usually disembarked in Italy, but increasingly at more distant destinations. The Aita Mari, which measures 31 metres by eight, used to dock in Sicily and now has to sail an additional 120 kilometres. "That's four more days at sea," Vidal explains.

Zoom Return of the rescue launch to the mother ship, Aita Mari. SMH

The Italian government's distant port policy makes relief missions more expensive. On voyages of 45 days each - plus three weeks of preparation in port - with 14 crew members, eight of whom are professional sailors, and resources for dozens of extra people, each day at sea costs around 2,000 euros, says Inigo Mijangos, coordinator of SMH.

Counting time in port, he calculates that around 600,000 euros a year is required, including the salaries of the sailors and maintenance work with updating and overhauling equipment. The money comes from public bodies (70%) and the rest comes from donations, merchandising sales and agreements with companies, says the NGO. "The project's funds are very tight," says Mijangos.

Daunting task

Since sailing on humanitarian expeditions on the Aita Mari, Captain Vidal has not seen any lives lost. But he has had difficult rescues. "Hearing the choking screams of people in the water sticks in your mind," he confesses, recalling a "very grey day" when they found seven boats with some 300 people. "We couldn't take them all in and it was overwhelming." For eight hours they took 172 women, children and men and waited with the rest, who were still in their small boats, for four hours for the Italian coastguard to arrive.

Zoom The moment when the rescued people are transferred to the boat, where they will be taken to a safe harbour. SMH

The approach is a crucial moment in this aid. Desperation can lead to ill-advised moves. "The first thing is to ask them to remain calm," says Vidal, who has a Senegalese sailor, Edu, who speaks several African languages as well as English and French.

"It all depends on the modulation of the voice, the specific instructions and the non-verbal attitude. They pull up the boat, sometimes two, and hand out life jackets. With safety assured, they put them on the boats and from there on to the mother ship, which is kept at a good distance away. "If they see it too close, some of them think they can swim to it, even if they don't know how, and the others imitate them out of fear."

Reward

The conversion of the Aita Mari, which was used for inshore fishing, is "sturdy", says Mijangos. "Coexistence is hard. There are bad days," he admits. They try to make those rescued "feel like people".

"There is a space in the stern with an awning to protect them from the weather. If the group is larger, we try to keep them in areas that are as warm and sheltered as possible, although they are no longer as comfortable."

Zoom Board game 'Save the Fleet', created by Ogilvy, to raise funds for the NGO Salvamento Maritimo Humanitario. R. C.

Migrants are not supposed to be on board for more than a few hours, but their stay is often extended by several days. "They want us to use up our economic resources," insists Mijangos.

On those days, they are provided with food, blankets, internet minutes to communicate with their families and showers. The reward: "You just have to look at people's faces and see the gratitude alongside their suffering," says Vidal. "But I just do what I think is right." SMH now plans to do more rescues, up from three missions a year.
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An industrial parks needs should not be met to the detriment of the natural environment. Nor should those needs ignore the rights of the federally recognized Tonawanda Seneca Nation.

But that whats happening in Genesee County, the site of the Science Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Plant project.

New York State hopes STAMP will become a high-tech industry powerhouse, providing a sizable boost to the local economy, and has backed up those hopes with $100 million in state funding. But after two major spills of drilling fluid that have contaminated the Iroquois National Wildlife Preserve, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was correct to terminate the permit for a wastewater pipeline needed by STAMP.

In fact, its about time that the federal agency did its duty by this area. It had already approved the pipeline permit, requested by the Genesee County Economic Development Center, without consulting the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. The Nation is concerned and rightly so. It initiated a lawsuit in November, accusing the Fish and Wildlife Service of violating the National Wildlife Refuge System Act of 1966, as well as the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, in allowing the pipeline in the first place.

If the industrial site, now under construction, was at full capacity, STAMP Sewer Works, a corporation created under Genesee County, would need the 9-mile pipeline to carry up to 6 million gallons of treated wastewater per day from technology manufacturers at the site into Oak Orchard Creek in the Town of Shelby, Orleans County.

It should not be surprising that there is opposition to a pipeline of industrial wastewater thats adjacent to native lands, running through a wildlife preserve and ultimately discharging into a waterway thats been declared a National Natural Landmark.

The opposition comes from both the Tonawanda Seneca Nation and Orleans County, which, like the Nation, was not asked to sign off on any of this. Orleans has also initiated a lawsuit, against the Genesee County Economic Development Center.

Both the Oak Orchard National Wildlife Area and the Iroquois Refuge have been well-known for decades as important stopping points for migratory birds as well as providing more than 12,000 acres of habitat for a variety of species. These are also popular spots for hunters and anglers.

Originally intended to be created by horizontal drilling, the pipeline project was temporarily halted by the Fish and Wildlife Service after hundreds of gallons of drilling fluid were released into Iroquois Refuge wetlands late last summer. Now the federal agency has officially terminated the pipeline permit, though it holds out the possibility of discussing alternative construction methods, according to reporting from the News Mackenzie Shuman.

And therein lies the possibility that this pipeline will go forward, regardless of opposition from Orleans County and the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. The project has already been granted permits from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and a right-of-way from Fish and Wildlife. STAMP, which will need to deal with its wastewater, has powerful support from New Yorks political leadership.

There is a danger here that environmental concerns will be overlooked in favor of a development project considered too big to be impeded.

That danger must be avoided. All the questions about the pipeline and possible alternatives to wastewater management must be answered to the satisfaction of environmental interests.

One of New York States important and vulnerable natural treasures stands at risk here. That should be the priority.

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
Editors note: This article updated Tuesday afternoon with information from court papers filed in the case.

Syracuse, N.Y.  A Syracuse police officer has been put on paid leave after being accused of slapping his child and putting the childs face near soiled sheets, authorities said.
Join NY Cannabis Insider for its next industry meetup in Buffalo on May 14, 2024. Tickets available now.

This guest column was written by Joe Rossi, the Cannabis Practice Group Leader at Park Strategies. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of NY Cannabis Insider.

Last month, a Harvard Medical School article described exactly what you are going through right now.

It says, A stressful situation  whether something environmental, such as a looming work deadline, or psychological, such as persistent worry about losing a job  can trigger a cascade of stress hormones that produce well-orchestrated physiological changes. A stressful incident can make the heart pound and breathing quicken. Muscles tense and beads of sweat appear. This combination of reactions to stress is also known as the fight-or-flight response because it evolved as a survival mechanism, enabling people and other mammals to react quickly to life-threatening situations. The carefully orchestrated yet near-instantaneous sequence of hormonal changes and physiological responses helps someone to fight the threat off or flee to safety.

I spent this weekend going over the public comments from the last Cannabis Control Board meeting. Most New Yorkers that have applied for a cannabis license are simply too scared to speak up out of fear of retribution or harm to their approval process. They have not fully kicked into the flight response to their turmoil, however they are pretty close.



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Other New Yorkers, however, have had the audacity to stand up at CCB meetings and share their concerns and frustrations, which takes courage. These New Yorkers are embracing the fight response, and I absolutely applaud them.

Here are some examples from the last CCB meeting on April 11:

This is the face of someone who is losing everything Ive ever worked for  I spent my savings, took out all my pension money, maxed my credit cards, took money to put away for my Sicilian girlfriends trip to Italy, just so I can pay my rent this month. Im ready to open today  Im stuck in OCM hell. Theres still no license. No one can and will tell me where I stand. I email every day, call and talk to different people all with the same answer. Youre in review. By who? How long? Where in the queue am I?

Dispensary applicant

I havent slept more than three hours at a time since March, as that is when I anticipated I would have received my license. I dont know what to do if I dont sign the lease, I may lose the ability to open in the location I wanted to due to the site protections, as you guys have mentioned. At the same time, Im afraid to pour the last bit of my savings into a lease only to not be awarded a license and end up homeless.

Social Equity applicant

What do I do? I owe rent today. I dont know whether I should pay my rent because you guys are going to end up helping me out, or its just going to go nowhere. Ive emailed people in this room. I dont want to mention names. I have nobody to call. Im a CAURD guy. I dont need a loan. Ive used all our money. We did it right. We did it. How? You told us to do it. What do I do? Thats all I ask. What do I do? Who do I call?

CAURD licensee/Social equity applicant

You know, Im thinking about moving out of my house and living outside in a tent for the summer. If I dont, you know, I dont know, because were running out and were paying rent, and we have a lot of other bills to pay. We got the store up. Were ready. Were just waiting, like everyone. And, Im not here to yell at the OCM board.

Dispensary applicant

The nightmare that Ive been experiencing trying to get my business open. I feel compelled to come here and speak today  What I have been offered are what I consider predatory investment opportunities, where someone wants to take 49% of the license and control the license before we even get open, please, we need help. Im suffering. I need to open immediately, and I have the process to do it.

CAURD licensee/Social equity applicant

 give it to everybody who has a lease, just make sure its a legitimate lease, because theyve been spending money like I have, and they just want to know, am I going to still be spending money or do I have a shot? Or is it over now? Thats all its really about. So I appreciate your efforts. Thank you guys. Just please. And whatever you can do to expedite. I would love it. Thank you.

Social equity applicant

That is just a sample of the brave public comments from New Yorkers who faced their fears and spoke up, hoping for some clarity from the government. It is uncertain if they have received any clarity.

First, why did these people secure a location already? They werent imbeciles; they were being prudent. Section 72 of the MRTA said no retail license would be issued to someone unless they owned the premises, or could demonstrate possession within 30 days of final approval. Also, nowhere in the MRTA did it say there would be a scoreless application lottery.

That is why I would like to humbly and respectfully urge the CCB members to make some changes so these people feel heard. For one, move the public comment section of their meetings to BEFORE they vote on anything. Instead of the board members continuing to have little to no discussion on the topics they are voting on, they should hear from the New Yorkers who have put it all on the line. Also, having the public comment section BEFORE any votes allows these New Yorkers the courtesy of some answers before the meeting ends.

I urge the CCB members at this Fridays board meeting to imagine if you were in these New Yorkers shoes, and you had the audacity to speak up, but were not given the courtesy of a reply. How would that make you feel? These New Yorkers could have caved to the stress and retreated to the flight response. Instead, through their fear and stress, they found courage to speak up and to clench the fight response.

I also respectfully urge the OCM to begin a weekly email to all the applicants, and everyone on the OCM email listserv, on where the agency is with the November and December queue review process. It doesnt need to be more than two paragraphs. This allows transparency about (1) which number are you at in the lottery review, (2) how many applicants have you removed from the queue for being current illicit dispensary operators, or for other discarding factors, and (3) what is your anticipated timeline to complete the review.

If you agree about moving the public comment section to the beginning of CCB meetings, as well as a weekly update courtesy email on the November and December queues, please feel free to email the public officials on the Cannabis Control Board at their public email addresses and urge them to make those changes.

jessica.garcia@ocm.ny.gov

tremaine.wright@ocm.ny.gov

adam.w.perry@ocm.ny.gov

Hope.Knight@esd.ny.gov

gilberjk@morrisville.edu

And for the record, Im not an OCM hater. On the contrary, I believe some of the hardest working public servants in New York State today are in the OCM. They know who they are and how appreciated their work is.

I am also not saying anything that OCM leadership doesnt already know. Three months after being appointed the OCM executive director, The New Yorker did a profile on Chris Alexander, and it said:

Alexander knows he faces a monumental task, and for as smart, put together, and ambitious as he is, he knows theres no way to achieve the goal without making sure the public understands OCMs moves every step of the way. More meetings. More PowerPoints. More meetings based on PowerPoints. iIf you cant explain what youre doing, youll always be at a disadvantage, Alexander said. If you cant speak to whats happening and decisions that youre making, people will never fully support whats happening there.

He was right. Transparency is a vital function of trust. At the start of her new administration, Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged a new era of greater transparency and accountability. Why? As NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said Its important to have transparency so New Yorkers are empowered with information they need to hold their elected officials accountable.
Join NY Cannabis Insider for its next industry meetup in Buffalo on May 14, 2024. Tickets available now.

Nic Fera, part owner of Goldfinch Flora in Amsterdam, is not shy about describing the precarious nature of his cannabis crop.

Its next to impossible to keep the cannabis operation afloat when it keeps soaking up all the revenue from our vegetable farm, he said.

Two years after he planted his first cannabis crop, Fera said it was fair to say he was significantly under water with it.

It was only last week, he noted, that he was able to sell the bulk of his 900 pounds of biomass from 2023 to someone who took it off our hands for processing into oils.



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But we dont get paid until the distillate is sold for use in making gummies and vape cartridges.

And as for 2024?

I need another thousand seeds for this years planting, he told NY Cannabis Insider, but like so many of us, I dont have the money for it. Were at the mercy of businesses that still owe us money.

Like many of the states licensed cannabis growers, Fera might not be on the razors edge if millions in grants and loans had been allocated in the states 2024 budget as had been proposed by both the Senate and Assembly.

But none of the $80 million sought by the Assembly in its one-house budget, or the $128 million in cannabis relief proposed by the Senate, made it across the finish line for 2024.

For Tess Interlicchia, owner of Grateful Valley Farm in Steuben County, its been a rocky ride.

A registered nurse for 25 years, she transitioned into hemp farming in 2019 because she strongly believed in the medicinal benefits of marijuana.

But it hasnt worked out the way she envisioned.

I was near foreclosure twice, she said. So I took a full-time nursing job off the farm at Cornell University, and Ive been working my butt off trying to save the farm.

There are a lot of farmers in the same boat, she continued, trying to stay above water. Its been awful.

The kick in the pants farmers got when the funding proposals went nowhere still stings. We fought hard to get relief, she said, and we couldnt get the time of day from the executive branch.

Interlicchia noted that she finally received payment for her 2022 crop at a fraction of what it shouldve been, and she is still sitting on the 2023 crop.

Getting seeds in the ground has been a daunting task for nearly all the farmers contacted by NY Cannabis Insider.

For Ed Cleary and Lisa Keller, owners of Weaver Road Farms in Fredonia (Chautauqua County), their struggle to plant this year has been eased somewhat by partnering with other Adult-Use Conditional Cultivators for wholesale seed purchases, along with the generous donation of over 4,000 seeds  by our seed supplier.

However, they said the presence of unregulated dispensaries posed a significant challenge.

These establishments offer cheap, untested cannabis, saturating the market and making it difficult for licensed growers like us to compete, Cleary said.

And they minced no words about their personal plight.

Weve drained our savings, leaving little to nothing to cover testing, packaging, and labeling expenses. Lisa has been a delivery driver for Walmart seven days a week starting at 7 a.m., and sometimes drives all day.

This leaves me solely responsible for managing the farm, Cleary added, and ensuring compliance with OCM. Without Lisas income, we couldnt afford to keep the lights on.

Jeanette Miller, owner of Eclectic Farmstead in Niagara County, blamed a lack of understanding on the part of Gov. Hochul for the failure to get relief funding.

Miller, who said she was on the ground floor of the legalization effort and was at the MRTA signing in 2016, said that by legalizing marijuana, but not allowing home grow or having any legal ways to buy it created the black market.

The $50 million allocated for enforcement in 2024 will accomplish nothing except for producing a new revenue source for the state, she maintained.

That money shouldve gone to the farmers who have basically bankrolled the industry for the past several years.

Miller, a former head of the Cannabis Farmers Alliance, said farmers got screwed with the hemp, and now the same thing is happening with cannabis.
Albany, N.Y.  A Central New York judge who pleaded guilty to selling drugs has resigned his position on the bench and agreed not to seek it again.

Mitchell Soules Jr., a justice of the Little Falls Town Court, pleaded guilty on April 17 to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, a felony. He resigned the same day, according to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Soules, 36, was arrested last June for possessing and selling cocaine, the commission said. He was charged with several felonies, including the one to which he later pleaded guilty.

The commission began investigating Soules after his arrest. Soules was suspended, with pay, by the state Court of Appeals the month after his arrest.

A second investigation was opened several months later, after a complaint filed with the commission alleged Soules had used his position as a justice to get a police officer to drive him home from a place where he was stranded.

As part of an agreement to end both investigations, Soules agreed to never seek nor accept a judicial position.

Soules was elected unopposed in 2021 as a Republican. His term would have run through the end of 2025.

The former justice is scheduled to be sentenced next month in Herkimer County Court, records show.

Staff writer Jon Moss covers breaking news, crime and public safety. He can be reached at jmoss@syracuse.com or @mossjon7.
Washington  A federal judge Monday sentenced a DeWitt man who admitted entering the U.S. Capitol during the violent insurrection in 2021 to 90 days in prison.

Albert Ciarpelli, 68, pleaded guilty in November, as part of a deal with federal prosecutors, to knowingly entering and remaining in a restricted building without authority. He initially faced two other charges, violent entry and disorderly conduct, which were later dropped.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Ciarpelli to 90 days in prison, one year of supervised release, $500 in restitution and a $25 special assessment, according to Daniel Ball, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia.

Prosecutors had asked for six months of incarceration, while Ciarpellis lawyer, William Sullivan, had requested probation with community service.

Ciarpelli previously told federal investigators that his time inside the building on Jan. 6, 2021 was a little adventure, but he said he left when he got the feeling that he should not be there.

A statement of facts supporting the charges against Ciarpelli included numerous details from a wide-ranging interview the FBI conducted with him.

Ciarpelli said he traveled to the District of Columbia on Jan. 6 to attend a rally near the White House headlined by then-president Donald Trump. Numerous speakers at the event repeated Trumps false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election and called for overturning Joe Bidens victory.

Ciarpelli followed a group of people to the Capitol after the rally and decided to go inside through a small door to the right of the main entrance.

Once in the building, Ciarpelli said, he was sightseeing and took several pictures throughout the historic structure, including a painting of former President Andrew Jackson, whom Ciarpelli said he admires.

Surveillance photos and news photos captured Ciarpelli in the building during the riot.

One photo shows Ciarpelli taking pictures feet away from Jacob Chansley, better known as the QAnon Shaman, who was bare-chested and wearing an animal fur hat with horns.

Ciarpelli told the FBI that he had purchased round-trip flights for himself, his wife and another person to Washington for what he anticipated would be the inauguration of Trumps second term as a president.

He later canceled the flights.

More than 1,200 people have been charged in the 2021 riot, in what has become the largest investigation ever undertaken by the U.S. Department of Justice. Thousands of people stormed the Capitol in an effort to prevent Congress from completing the normally underwhelming task of counting each states Electoral College votes, which would have formalized Bidens win over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Staff writer Jon Moss covers breaking news, crime and public safety. He can be reached at jmoss@syracuse.com or @mossjon7.
Update Wednesday: Ronn Torossian was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing, according to a Syracuse University spokesperson. The charges were originally not released by the university.

In response to Torossians statement that SU hasnt responded to Jewish parents, the university said it has engaged parents and families in a variety of ways since October 7. This includes countless phone conversations, emails and text messages, as well as zoom sessions, a university spokesperson said.

Original article

Syracuse, N.Y.  A person arrested Sunday afternoon at the pro-Palestinian encampment on the Syracuse University campus has been identified as a leader of an advocacy group for Jewish families at SU.

Ronn Torossian, who has a child attending SU and is the president of the Syracuse Jewish Parents Council, confirmed in a Tuesday interview with syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that he was the person arrested.

Torossian was one of several people who approached the encampment in SUs Shaw Quad, according to an email SU sent Sunday evening to students and employees. It was signed by Chief Student Experience Officer Allen Groves and Craig Stone, who leads the universitys Department of Public Safety.

The encampment was established last Monday. Protesters there are demanding, among other things, the university cut any ties with Israeli academic institutions.

The parent was asked to de-escalate his behavior by SU employees, but refused, Groves and Stone said. Instead, the parent started to throw food, move signs and verbally berate the students, they said.

Campus police officers intervened and asked the parent to de-escalate and leave campus, Groves and Stone said. He refused and was arrested, they said.

SU officials have not said what he was charged with. The DPS daily incident and crime log reports one person arrested for a trespass incident at 117 Crouse Ave. around 1:49 p.m. Sunday; it could not be confirmed it was the parent.

Torossian said he did not touch any food. He said he asked protestors advocating for a Palestinian state how he, who splits his time between New York City and Tel Aviv, would fit into such a nation.

Where am I going to live in your free Palestine? he recalled saying.

It is believed there was no physical contact between the parent and students, Groves and Stone said. The student protesters remained peaceful, they said.

Torossian said he was detained for about 90 minutes.

I absolutely stood there to raise a voice of moral conscience, he said.

The parents council includes about 500 families, Torossian said. It has requested to meet with SU Chancellor Kent Syverud and Stone, the universitys public safety chief, to discuss the safety of Jewish students on campus.

They wont speak to us, said Torossian, who said he has given guest lectures in the past at SU and is the chairman and founder of the public relations firm 5WPR. We are scared, we are afraid.

Torossians arrest came a day after a reported altercation on the SU campus after a pro-Palestinian protest.

About 45 people gathered in Walnut Park around 3 p.m. Saturday to march in support of Palestinians in Gaza and the SU students demonstrating in the tent encampment.

After the protest concluded around 4:30 p.m., an individual not affiliated with the university was reported to have made the Nazi salute toward a group of students, according to an email sent by Groves and Stone to SU students and employees.

A brief verbal altercation took place, Groves and Stone said. Things became physical and it was reported that the person not affiliated with the university punched a student, they said.

The student declined medical attention and did not want to pursue charges, Groves and Stone said.

SU officials have said there will be an increased police presence on and around campus in the coming days.

More than 34,000 people have died in Gaza, a small strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea during Israels attempt to dislodge the leadership of Hamas, the extremist group governing the territory.

Fighters from Hamas and other groups launched a surprise attack last October on southern Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking roughly 200 hostages of varying nationalities.

Staff writer Jon Moss covers breaking news, crime and public safety. He can be reached at jmoss@syracuse.com or @mossjon7.
Washington  Rep. Brandon Williams led a group of House members Monday night who honored two Central New York police officers killed in a shootout last month in the town of Salina.

Over the course of an hour, Williams and nine other Republicans took turns speaking on the House floor about the slain officers  Onondaga County Sheriffs Lt. Michael Hoosock and Syracuse police officer Michael Jensen.

Hoosocks wife, Caitlin, and three children were among those in attendance in the House visitors gallery.

During his speech, an emotional Williams asked Caitlin Hoosock and her children to stand. He and his fellow representatives then applauded the family.

Today, Cait, this nation honors your brave husband, Williams said. Kids, this nation is grateful for his noble service. Humbly, I will tell you that we mourn with you and that we recognize your suffering and your sacrifice. May God bless and keep you, and watch over each one of you. You will not be forgotten.

The congressman said he had promised the families of Hoosock and Jensen that the officers would be honored at the U.S. Capitol.

Williams, a first-term Republican, and several of his GOP colleagues also used their speeches to portray Democrats as soft on crime.

This Congress we passed numerous bills to help law enforcement, Williams said of the Republican-controlled House. Many (of those bills), however, inexplicably languish in the Senate where support for law enforcement has waned.

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Jerusalem  Hamas announced its acceptance Monday of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its core demands and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Still, Israel said it would continue negotiations.

The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive  but only barely  for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the 7-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip. Hanging over the wrangling was the threat of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah, a move the United States strongly opposes and that aid groups warn will be disastrous for some 1.4 million Palestinians taking refuge there.
Metas Facebook and Instagram last week (30 April) became subject to an investigation under the EUs online platform rules for seemingly lacking the robustness to counter Russian disinformation, the latest in a series of probes into platforms handling of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Baltic and Nordic NGOs and researchers have painted a bleak picture of big tech's efforts to stop pro-Kremlin trolls, and doubt if these probes will put a halt to ongoing disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining NATO and the EU, while trying to bolster Russias credibility.

Faktabaari, a Finnish fact-checking and digital literacy service, has been tackling disinformation since the 2014 EU elections. Its founder Mikko Salo told Euronews that the EU has done a lot of pioneering work in this field, but said that these DSA probes are a bit late to make a change ahead of the European Elections in June.

I believe these proceedings will take time and elections are taking place in a month. They are, however, useful to enforce current policies and build even better ones for the 2025-2029 mandate and to safeguard the upcoming US elections, Salo said, assuming that the US would look to the EU for some best practices on election integrity.

Lukas Andriukaitis, one of the co-founders of Civic Resilience Initiative (CRI), a Lithuanian NGO aimed at stopping disinformation, echoes these comments.

Its a bit of a double edged sword; we have been supporting the DSA from the very start, as I think this is a very effective, if not the only way to motivate the social media platforms to take action, Andriukaitis said.

He added that the NGO community has been ringing the alarm bells about what is happening with online platforms for a while. Despite the platforms putting in some effort, they were not enough and definitely focused on showing themselves in a positive light. We have seen instances in Lithuania, where the government had harsh semi-public hearings with Meta, after which some positive changes took place, he said.

EU efforts

Figures published last year by polling agency Ipsos show that levels of disinformation from Russia have risen steeps in recent years, in particular within the Baltic states  Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, where every fourth citizen says they are heavily exposed to disinformation.

Finland for example saw a lot of fake news around its NATO membership  prior to joining the Alliance in April 2023  mostly trying to convince users that Russia does not present a threat to Finland, Disinfo Lab said in a report.

Solvita Denisa-Liepniece, a Latvian researcher in the field of cognitive security, told Euronews that it took a decade to understand how to deal with Big Tech, and while there is progress in regulating Western tech giants, there have meanwhile been significant changes in social media consumption.

In the Baltic States, for example, we observe an increased use of TikTok and Telegram, across different ages and audiences profiles, she said.

During the mandate of the von der Leyen Commission, there have been several efforts to clamp down on misinformation campaigns. An example is the strengthened Code of Conduct on Disinformation which the Commission set up in 2022, and which was signed by 34 companies  including Google and TikTok  that commit to tackling fake information online.

Another attempt to strengthen the basic conditions for free and independent media  the European Media Freedom Act  was greenlighted by EU lawmakers in March. The Act will oblige EU governments to better protect media against malign interference and limit the use of spyware against journalists. Lithuanias Culture Minister Simonas Kairys stressed back in November the need for rules as the European information space is under intense attack every day and every hour by Russian war propaganda and disinformation.

DSA

The Digital Services Act (DSA) appears to be providing an effective remedy, given the six Commission investigations already launched into platforms non-compliance since the rules started applying in August.

Under the DSA, companies designated as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP)  those with more than 45 million monthly average users in the EU  must abide by strict rules, such as transparency requirements and the protection of minors online. Besides the Meta probes, X is also subject to an investigation over its handling of the Hamas-Gaza war.

Faktabaaris Salo said that though these EU actions have led to more awareness of disinformation, so has the fake news challenge itself grown by rapid technological development such as Generative AI.

Russian full-scale invasion in Ukraine has 'unveiled the masks' in many countries, enabling better and more direct discussions on relevant issues including weaponization of the social media platforms by foreign and domestic actors. We should closely keep track of this, also independently to state actors, Salo said.

He added that the proof of the pudding will be in the implementation strategy. Its important to keep-up the pressure, raise citizen awareness and to keep the platforms accountable for their actions and words, he said.

Latvian researcher Denisa-Liepniece said that mitigation should also be comprehensive. We should not only include limiting disinformation efforts, but also going beyond fact-checking and focusing on strengthening peoples understanding of information processing, she said.

Content moderators

In a bid to counter fake news, Meta already works with independent fact-checking organisations across Europe. In Finland, for example with press agency AFP and in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with Delfi and Re:Baltica.

Ahead of the June vote, the tech giant said that it was setting up its own operations centre for the elections to identify potential threats and put mitigations in place in real time. In a separate statement, Facebooks parent company said that it planned to start labelling AI-generated content in May 2024.

However, the number of content moderators for Nordic languages remains low, despite the threat of Russian disinformation. Facebook has three employees looking at content in Estonian, two at Latvian, six at Lithuanian and 15 at Finnish, claiming that a lot of the process is automated. By comparison, the platform has about 226 people looking at French, 54 at Dutch and 242 at German content.

A recent (1 May) report published by the independent fact-checking organisation European Digital Media Observatory indicates that Russias disinformation campaigns are still very much alive.

It alleged a wide-ranging Russian disinformation campaign by former news media Pravda, and citing state-owned media, such as Tass or RIA, on websites in local EU languages and often quote pro-Russian Telegram accounts. The websites post hundreds of articles an hour through AI based models, according to the report.

Meta said in its EU election preparation statement that it signed the industry-wide tech accord, alongside companies such as Google, Amazon and Snapchat, to combat the spread of deceptive AI content in the 2024 elections. This work is bigger than any one company and will require a huge effort across industry, government, and civil society, Meta said.
European Partnership of Scientists and Funders helping to Improve Animal Health and Welfare

The European Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare (represented by the abbreviation EUP AH&W or its acronym EUPAHW) is by far the most ambitious research and innovation initiative the European Commission (EC) has funded to control infectious diseases of animals, and to promote animal welfare.

The Partnership represents a very significant investment by the European Commission and Member States in animal health and welfare. Teagascs membership will build upon existing, and enable new collaborations with our European colleagues in this important area."

Launched this year, the innovative Partnership is anticipated to invest 360 million over seven years to boost research and facilitate cooperation between all actors. The scope goes beyond the animal health and welfare actors to enhance cross sector collaboration and, through a One Health and One Welfare approach, to provide societal impact. The objectives of the EUP AH&W align with the European Green Deal and its associated Farm to Fork strategy for a fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly food system.

The ambitious objectives of the EUP AH&W have attracted a diverse pool of partners, including 56 leading research performing organisations and 30 funding organisations in Europe. The budget is 50% funded by the Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and 50% by the EUP AH&W partner institutions/organisations. To date, the Partnership has brought together 90 entities (research-performing institutions, funding organisations, and ministries), including EFSA and EMA, from 24 countries (19 EU Member States and 5 countries associated to Horizon Europe).

The Partnership is based on a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), which has been developed over a two-year period, and involving all relevant actors. The SRIA balances short term applied and strategic research. Infectious diseases, both of terrestrial and aquatic animals, and zoonotic risks such as bird flu are addressed, together with research to improve animal welfare. The Partnership also focuses on the prudent use of antimicrobials and ensuring that a high level of animal welfare is provided in every phase of an animals life. The Partnership includes 17 three-year research projects carried out internally, which start in 2024, and plans to launch research calls reaching out to additional research performing organisations beyond the Partnership. Funding organisations not yet involved in the Partnership may also contribute to these calls.

Keelin O'Driscoll is the scientific lead for Teagasc on EUPAHW. She said; The Partnership represents a very significant investment by the European Commission and Member States in animal health and welfare. Teagascs membership will build upon existing, and enable new collaborations with our European colleagues in this important area. Membership of the partnership will improve our ability to exchange expertise and pool data with other experts across the EU, leading to better outcomes for European livestock.

Nathalie Vanderheijden of the University of Ghent, coordinator of the EUP AH&W, sums up the Partnership as follows: Our partnership is a new, open initiative, bringing together EC funding, national/regional funders and research performing organisations to concentrate efforts on developments with high societal, economic and policy impact. Belgium, with its current presidency of the European Council for six months, appreciates the potential of unity in driving change!

EFSAs Chief Scientist Carlos Das Neves says in relation to the Partnership: We are pleased to announce that EFSA will be a full partner of the European Partnership Animal Health & Welfare. This is the first time that we will be a beneficiary in a research partnership under Horizon Europe, which will enable a smoother transition from research to regulatory science. We are prepared and committed to bring our expertise to the table, together with the best experts in Europe, for the benefit of animal health and welfare.

The European Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare started on 1stof January 2024, and held its kick-off meeting on the 26th and 27th of February 2024 in Brussels. The signing of the Grant Agreement by all partners was completed on 29th of March 2024.

Notes to editors

Additional information on the EUP AH&W: https://eupahw.eu

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Trade unions from 11 different European countries have written to data protection authorities across the bloc asking them to investigate Amazons data surveillance practices, according to a letter seen by Euronews today (7 May).

The union leaders, from European countries where Amazons warehouses employ significant numbers of workers  including Austria, Germany, Ireland and Spain  question the online marketplaces use of surveillance and algorithmic management. They claim that the tech giant uses hand scanners, activity monitoring software, video cameras, GPS devices and other tracking technologies, which has consequences on workers mental and physical health.

The unions therefore ask the national data protection authorities to follow the example of France. In December 2023, following an investigation the French Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertes (CNIL) imposed a 32m penalty on Amazon France Logistique.

The company was found in violation of the EU data protection rules by creating an excessively intrusive system for monitoring employee activity and performance, along with penalties for inadequate video surveillance protocols.

An Amazon spokesperson said that they "strongly disagrees" with the CNIL conclusions, and calls them factually incorrect.

"We have filed an appeal before the Council of State. Warehouse management systems are industry standard and are necessary for ensuring the safety, quality, and efficiency of operations and to track the storage of inventory and processing of packages on time and in line with customer expectations," the spokesperson said.

Amazon was also hit with a 746m fine for processing personal data in violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by the Luxembourg data protection authority in 2021.

Facilities

Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa, said in a statement to Euronews that the workers management systems undermine the trust between workers and management but also highlight a systemic disregard for our privacy laws.

It's high time that we stand up and demand that these multinational companies respect workers' personal data and their right to a dignified workplace. We need robust action now to ensure that our laws are fully enforced," Roethig said.

In a response, an Amazon spokesperson said today that the company is "proud of the investments" made to ensure that the work environments are modern, engaging, and safe.

"We are committed to using technology to enrich the experience of our employees, supporting them in their roles and helping us deliver for customers. We take data privacy seriously and believe that our existing policies and processes are compliant with national law and EU regulations," the spokesperson said.

Access

The letter comes as the marketplace also finds itself in the crosshairs of EU lawmakers. Last month, five social-democrat politicians visited Amazon facilities in Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, after representatives from the e-commerce platform were banned from entering the European Parliament following a call from the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) after the company failed to attend a series of hearings and factory visits in 2021 and 2023.

During the visits, conducted together with trade union representatives, the lawmakers wanted to hear more about working conditions from employees.

Amazon saw its 14 Parliament access badges withdrawn in February, and no new ones will be issued until further notice. Sarah Tapp, a spokesperson for Amazon told Euronews at the time that the company remains open for a constructive dialogue on issues facing the logistics industry, and [Amazon] remains committed to engaging with the [EMPL] Committee".

In a blogpost published last month  with the opening of Amazons Operations Innovation Lab in Italy  Sarah Rhoads, the companys Vice-President Global Workplace Health & Safety, stressed its continued focus on investment, innovation, and invention on behalf of safety.

Employees are the heart and soul of our operations which is why the technology we deploy at our sites is always focused on serving our team and making our operations safer. Our continued investment in robotics helps reduce employees' physical workload and repetitive tasks that can cause injuries, while also helping them gain new skills that can advance their career, Rhoads said.

This story has been updated to add an Amazon statement on the CNIL case and today's letter.
Hume BHPian



Join Date: Feb 2024 Location: - Posts: 58 Thanked: 291 Times

Re: Hyundai likely to debut Genesis brand in India by H2 of 2025 Not every vehicle can be made to be brought in CKD or SKD route right off the bat - especially from luxury brands. I've been waiting for this particular brand to enter our market for a while now - truly incredible vehicles from the Genesis stables overseas. Considering Hyundai's track record in our country and overall shift in buying dynamics, I expect two things to happen sooner than later:



1. As we see people are being more and more brand agnostic, Genesis will slowly but surely start pulling luxury buyer's loyal to the German trio in due course.



2. Knowing how well the Koreans have read the Indian market, after the initial testing phase, they'll grab at the chance and make it a CKD sooner than later just like how they did with the Ioniq.



I only hope the initial batch of CBUs are not priced out of people's reach especially considering that Genesis - how much ever luxurious and well received they are overseas - is still not known as a true luxury brand in India. But seeing BYD was able to price the Seal so competitively as a CBU, I don't see why Hyundai can't with Genesis products.



They also make excellent EVs. Bring them on Hyundai. Pleased to see them take Indian market seriously. Last edited by Hume : 5th May 2024 at 22:07 .
pqr Distinguished - BHPian

Join Date: May 2021 Location: India Posts: 214 Thanked: 5,331 Times

FY 2023-24 | Indian car export analysis | Japanese & Korean MNCs contribute 88% | Indian MNCs 2%! FY 2023-24 | Indian car export analysis | Japanese & Korean MNCs contribute 88% | Indian MNCs only 2%!



FY 2023-24 Export Highlights Industry: 6,71,756 units were exported from India; the growth rate was nearly flat at 1.3%.

Brand: Maruti Suzuki is the largest exporter, with a 42% share, followed by Hyundai at 24%.

Body style: Sedan export share is highest at 35%, followed by 30% of hatchbacks.

Fuel: 98% of cars had a petrol-only engine.

Product: The Maruti Baleno (Hatchback) was the most exported car, followed by the Hyundai Verna (Sedan).

Export-only Products: Nissan Sunny (Sedan) and Mahindra KUV 100 (Hatchback) were export-only products from India with no domestic sales.

MNC: The combined export contribution of Japanese and South Korean MNCs was 88%, whereas the Indian MNCs was mere 2%. Indian car export industry







Over the last three decades, several foreign car makers, starting with Hyundai and Ford in the late 90s, have established an export-oriented manufacturing base in India as a clever strategy to mitigate the risk emanating from the local demand cycle and make India one of the global hubs of automobile production.



Exports from India touched peak in FY 201617, at 7,58,727 units. Since then, there has been a decline in exports. In the last fiscal year (202324), exports were near stagnant at 6,71,756 units, with just 1.3% growth over FY 202223.







Since the days of the highest exports (FY 2016-17) things have changed dramatically. Two American giants, GM and Ford (30% export market share then), have stopped making cars in India for domestic and export markets. Japanese MNCs gained a stronghold in exports, followed by South Koreans in FY 202324. Most exported product has changed from the Ford Ecosport (crossover) then, to the Maruti Baleno (hatchback), now.







What has not changed, though, is the dismal export share of Indian MNCs, namely Mahindra and Tata. Which is constant at ~2%, and volume-wise, has gone down by 651 units in the last seven years!



Exporter MNCs country of origin







Foreign MNCs with operations across several continents have established India as one of their strong bases. And these MNCs now contribute 98% of the export volume from India. They have invested capital in India and created assets within the country that provide direct and indirect employment to many, besides capital infusion from their suppliers and port operators.







With the exit of Americans (except Jeep), Japanese carmakers took strong control of export volumes. Kia's entry and its strong export volume have taken Koreans share to 32%. Europeans export market share too has dropped in the past due to lower exports by Volkswagen (-42,672 units).



Brand



Maruti-Suzuki, 55% owned by Suzuki Motors Corporation Japan remains the largest exporter of cars from India, accounting for 42% of the total export volume. Its an incredible achievement for Maruti to double its export volume in the last 7 years. Hyundais volume has been consistent for a long time. Kia became the third-largest exporter of cars from India in a very short span of time, thus helping the plant production capacity to reach 95100% utilization rate in the last fiscal year. Volkswagen and Nissan export over 50% of their production to international markets. Followed by Honda, Jeep, and Citroen, with over 30% volume. Despite a strong comeback in the Indian domestic market by Tata and Mahindra, their export volume is dismally low, with no progress whatsoever in the last decade. The irony is that within their group, they have software and service exporters like TCS and Tech Mahindra, which add a significant amount to Indian foreign exchange reserves. Body style







Though in the Indian market, sedans and hatchbacks are dying breeds, there is demand for them in other markets. Thus, both body styles are being made in Indian factories and exported to foreign shores like Mexico, South Africa, etc.



Product: Export sales are higher than domestic sales





Nissan has discontinued Sunny in India; however, its next generation is still being produced in India and getting exported to Mexico and Brazil. Mahindra is still producing diesel and petrol KUV 100, discontinued in India, and exporting them to Sri Lanka and some other markets. Hyundai has retained the Verna in the diminishing executive sedan segment of India because it has a substantial market globally, as is the case with the Volkswagen Virtus, Honda City, and Maruti Ciaz, thus making India a hub for global production. The 4-door Maruti Jimny, a sales disaster in India, is saved by its export potential. Well, every market across the world is unique with varying tastes and preferences, which is why if some products have low or no demand in the domestic market, they can still be made for the export market with India as the base.



Product Maruti Baleno (Hatchback) was the most exported car from India, followed by Hyundai Verna (Sedan) and Maruti Dzire (sub-4m sedan).















Over the last three decades, several foreign car makers, starting with Hyundai and Ford in the late 90s, have established an export-oriented manufacturing base in India as a clever strategy to mitigate the risk emanating from the local demand cycle and make India one of the global hubs of automobile production.Exports from India touched peak in FY 201617, at 7,58,727 units. Since then, there has been a decline in exports. In the last fiscal year (202324), exports were near stagnant at 6,71,756 units, with just 1.3% growth over FY 202223.Since the days of the highest exports (FY 2016-17) things have changed dramatically. Two American giants, GM and Ford (30% export market share then), have stopped making cars in India for domestic and export markets. Japanese MNCs gained a stronghold in exports, followed by South Koreans in FY 202324. Most exported product has changed from the Ford Ecosport (crossover) then, to the Maruti Baleno (hatchback), now.What has not changed, though, is the dismal export share of Indian MNCs, namely Mahindra and Tata. Which is constant at ~2%, and volume-wise, has gone down by 651 units in the last seven years!Foreign MNCs with operations across several continents have established India as one of their strong bases. And these MNCs now contribute 98% of the export volume from India. They have invested capital in India and created assets within the country that provide direct and indirect employment to many, besides capital infusion from their suppliers and port operators.With the exit of Americans (except Jeep), Japanese carmakers took strong control of export volumes. Kia's entry and its strong export volume have taken Koreans share to 32%. Europeans export market share too has dropped in the past due to lower exports by Volkswagen (-42,672 units).Though in the Indian market, sedans and hatchbacks are dying breeds, there is demand for them in other markets. Thus, both body styles are being made in Indian factories and exported to foreign shores like Mexico, South Africa, etc.Well, every market across the world is unique with varying tastes and preferences, which is why if some products have low or no demand in the domestic market, they can still be made for the export market with India as the base.
Samarth 619 BHPian



Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Ajmer Posts: 297 Thanked: 891 Times

Re: Tesla files lawsuit against Indian battery company 'Tesla Power' for trademark infringement Quote: acedriver_9000 Originally Posted by Please forgive my ignorance in this. But how can Tesla have sole trademark rights when the name is that of a scientist who invented induction motor. Anyone is equally privileged to use his name in commemorative context. Isn't it? But tesla is using it as a legacy while the company is in no way related to the scientist.



The reasoning is that, What's in a name? (You can choose any name) And, you can use a different name if your intentions are honest, right?



I'll give you a good example, in 2009, you had a travel website oktatabyebye.com by Make My Trip. Tata Group moved court against it, and guess what,Tata won the case, even though tata is used traditionally as a bye-bye term.

You can read more about it here:



Reasoning is very clear:- Tata is older than Makemytrip and out of a sample size of crores of people, some people may confuse it as a Tata Group website.





To end it, let me just say, your business should make its own name, not depend on others' names, directly or indirectly.

Any kind of argument, specially those like "Sun is a common name and everyone should have rights over it" are invalid in most cases. Well, the law forces you to be responsible such that in a particular industry (for example, electronics/ batteries) you can't use a similar name to another company, such that it may confuse even 1 person.The reasoning is that, What's in a name? (You can choose any name) And, you can use a different name if your intentions are honest, right?I'll give you a good example, in 2009, you had a travel website oktatabyebye.com by Make My Trip. Tata Group moved court against it, and guess what,Tata won the case, even though tata is used traditionally as a bye-bye term.You can read more about it here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ow/4941366.cms Reasoning is very clear:- Tata is older than Makemytrip and out of a sample size of crores of people, some people may confuse it as a Tata Group website.To end it, let me just say, your business should make its own name, not depend on others' names, directly or indirectly.Any kind of argument, specially those like "Sun is a common name and everyone should have rights over it" are invalid in most cases.
Winpilot will pick up where Bloatynosy left off. The plan was originally just to rename the AI version, but this time we'll do it right and completely turn our backs on Bloatynosy. I've been playing around with a few names over the past few weeks, which are now making their way into Winpilot as plugins, such as CoTweaker and ClippySupreme, which also doubles as the main assistant in the Winpilot app designed as a chatbot. I might also introduce some classic Bloatynosy functions natively as "plugins".

The latest release of Winpilot introduces a significant milestone with its hybrid web app foundation. This update not only empowers users with the capability to remove AI features in Windows but also emphasizes the app's intelligent approach, driven by a novel hybrid and web-based core.

Here are the individual plugins briefly explained:

CoTweaker: It enhances Windows privacy settings and optimizes system and gaming configurations.

Decrapify: It removes unwanted apps and also handles advanced debloating.

WingetUI: It offers some essential base apps for download.

Copilotless: It searches for AI/Copilot features in Windows and allows you to remove them. Please follow the instructions provided.

Clippy: This is the assistant you'll consistently see in the app, @Microsoft Clippit, also known as Clippy, the manic cousin of Microsoft Copilot, monitoring various areas of the system. It can also provide simple tips. Just keep clicking on the plugin to access them."

PimpApp (Extensions): A revamped collection of third-party scripts and plugins, including the iconic WinModder from Bloatynosy, now reborn as PimpApp. Originally conceived in 2020, PimpApp stirred debate with its bold name and ability to tweak systems with community templates. Now integrated into Winpilot, it offers advanced debloating and customization features. Explore plugins like RestoreInboxApps for easy application restoration and RemoveDefaultApps for swift system decluttering with a single click.

Winpilot can also be used to change various settings and access various pieces of system information.

Features

Ask to add a device

Ask to add Microsoft Account

Ask to backup

Ask to take a screenshot

Ask to change your background image

Ask for system (winver) or device information

Ask to clean storage

Ask to empty recycle bin

Ask to show startup apps

Ask for your IP address

Ask to install apps

Ask to uninstall apps

Ask to uninstall Microsoft Software

Ask to remove bloatware

Intelligent "AI" driven bloatware detection

Set up Privacy options

Search for AI/Copilot features on Windows

Turn off AI/Copilot features

Ask to toggle dark/light theme

Ask to snap a window

Ask to run Windows updates

Ask to run quick scan in Windows Security/Defender

Ask to control options (like taskbar) directly. Turn widgets on and off, arrange taskbar icons, etc.

Ask to reset system

Ask to show available space

Ask to show processes with high RAM usage

Access to third party plugins and scripts, like Chris Titus app

Chat with Microsoft Copilot

Ask to restart Windows Explorer and Taskbar

Ask to run vive tool feature configurations (static)

You can use these skills via a type prompt in Winpilot, such as "toggle dark theme" or "uninstall apps or bloatware"; Winpilots Assistant Clippy will take the appropriate action and confirm completion.

Simply execute Winpilot.exe. Feel free to delete the cache folder Winpilot.exe.WebView2 whenever necessary.

With the chat box in front of you, input your search terms, inquiries, or keywords, and enjoy real-time results. For instance, if you need to 'install an app,' simply type 'install' or any related keyword, and you'll receive the same outcome. Additionally, using this search function, you can easily install popular apps using 'winget.' Remember other useful keywords such as 'bloat,' 'appx,' or 'uninstall' to effortlessly remove unwanted default apps in Windows 10/11. The possibilities are endless. Have fun experimenting with different queries!

What's New

This release brings numerous code improvements and the ability to permanently pin the background color of Winpilot. With "Refresh", you can initiate a color change, and use the "Pin" button to save the color. False positives have been addressed in this release. I can't explain why all the antivirus programs are flagging it. JavaScript was injected into the web version without issues, and now harmless native .NET classes are triggering alerts. We'll see if things calm down.

Previous Release Notes:

After I gave Winpilot ("WebApp") a modern look with a classic Win32 desktop app two weeks ago - the project ran in parallel and could optionally be downloaded as Clipilot - the feedback was overwhelming, and a survey to decide whether to go with the WebApp or Win32 is now almost unnecessary.

I received over 130 messages via email alone - that really wasn't necessary, folks, but yes, I agree with you - I should indeed strip the web core from Winpilot.

Given that Microsoft has recently taken the "wrong" direction again by turning its nice (not perfect but good) UWP-era Mail and Calendar app into a PWA, I wasn't particularly thrilled, to put it mildly. Quite the opposite, I will banish this app in the business environment. Apart from the fact that the app is a resource monster - PWAs rely heavily on JavaScript, which is more resource-intensive than native code, especially for complex applications like web clients - this app stores login data for IMAP accounts on Microsoft's servers, and that's simply too much for me!

Well, I don't want to digress. Winpilot is getting rid of the Edge WebView2 foundation and will return to being a classic application. Don't be surprised if "Clipilot" appears in the title bar at startup; this is the start module of the Clippy assistant. All other classic modules are named Winpilot, just like the app itself.

The old Winpilot app, based on the WebView2 core, will become Winpilot Legacy and will continue to be available for download. It may receive occasional updates, as it has currently been downloaded around 2 million times.

Here are some advantages of the new "old" classic Win32 desktop app
Rumor mill: Just when we thought Intel was finally gaining some solid momentum in the discrete GPU space, recent rumblings have thrown a major wrench into those plans. If they hold true, Intel's next-generation Arc GPUs codenamed "Battlemage" and "Celestial" could face delays or even get axed entirely.

According to a post by (typically) reliable leaker Golden Pig Upgrade on Weibo, there will be no "DG3" discrete graphics cards based on the Xe2 Battlemage architecture coming next year. For those not in the loop, Battlemage is slated to debut first in Intel's Lunar Lake "Core Ultra" CPUs expected later this year, boasting a hefty performance uplift over the current Alchemist and Alchemist+ parts.

If these get benched or delayed significantly, it'd be a massive blow to Intel's GPU ambitions.

The situation is the same for Celestial, Intel's follow-up Xe3 architecture. Golden Pig claims there might not even be Xe3 products next year at all, integrated or discrete. Celestial is supposed to arrive in 2025's Panther Lake chips on Intel's 18A and 3 nodes, but this leak casts serious doubt on those plans. It's still unclear whether the rumored setbacks affect just the discrete GPUs, the integrated versions, or both product lines.

Abandoning the discrete GPU arena just a year after breaking into it with Arc Alchemist would be equally confusing and disappointing. The Arc team has made impressive strides through steady driver updates, optimizations and day-one game support. Tossing all that progress out the window would be a waste of resources.

However, a report from last month citing sources at April's Embedded World Conference claimed that Intel plans to introduce Battlemage discrete GPUs before Black Friday 2024. This launch window would avoid the delays that plagued 2022's Alchemist debut but also pit Battlemage against new Nvidia and AMD offerings. The delays with Alchemist put Intel behind the competition performance-wise, so hitting this alleged November target could make or break Battlemage's prospects.

The only official word so far has been a roadmap slide from Intel's Meteor Lake Japan launch keynote late last year, which listed Battlemage GPUs for release sometime this year alongside details on the company's AI ambitions.

For now though, Golden Pig's assertions are still just rumors. Because if this leak proves true, it would represent a dramatic shift in strategy and call into question Intel's ability to compete long-term against team blue and green in the graphics department.
The massive crypto crackdown from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may bring its next lawsuit against Robinhood Markets, the renowned fintech company. This was after the SEC sent a Wells Notice, which signifies that it is done with its investigations and that a potential suit about a securities violation may follow for the company's crypto exchange service.

It was argued by the company that it has followed the regulations set by the SEC, including its cooperation amidst the investigation done by the regulatory agency.

Robinhood Crypto May Face SEC Securities Violation Suit

Robinhood revealed via its press release that it received a Wells Notice from the SEC, which the company claimed recommended that the Commission file an "enforcement action."

Robinhood Crypto, the crypto exchange leg of the company built from its renowned fintech and stock trading platform face the potential SEC lawsuit said Ars Technica. This follows the SEC filing which confirmed that Robinhood received subpoenas from the SEC, which asked to look into its crypto listings, crypto custody, and its platform's operations.

The SEC may file a "civil injunctive action, public administrative proceeding, and/or a cease-and-desist proceeding."

Robinhood: Followed SEC Regulations for Crypto

Dan Gallagher, Chief Legal, Compliance, and Corporate Affairs Officer from Robinhood Markets, claimed that the company followed the SEC and asked for regulatory clarity for its business. "We are disappointed that the agency has decided to issue a Wells Notice related to our U.S. crypto business," he added.

Gallagher previously argued that the SEC was not clear on the regulations for cryptocurrency despite the company asking for them, leaving Robinhood confused about the industry and what to follow.

Robinhood and Its Investment Platform

Robinhood became popular in early 2021 year for the massive stock trading phenomenon, first taking over Reddit and was later done through its platform. The 'meme stock' fame saw a significant rise, and Robinhood was among those who changed the world's trading landscape, with the company rising to a billion-dollar business at its peak.

Later, the company began offering a cryptocurrency wallet within the platform, with Robinhood centering on the Web3 protocol. After a massive demand, it added more after initially seeing two million on its waitlist.

That being said, FTX considered it, at one point, to acquire Robinhood's business and own its services, including stock trading and crypto exchange features.

Following the SEC's massive crackdown on crypto exchanges, including FTX and Binance, Robinhood is now under the regulatory agency's watchful eye. The agency recently finished its investigation. Robinhood expressed its sentiments about its cooperation in the inquiry, and it's following the rules, yet an impending lawsuit may be on its way.
United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reportedly been hacked by an unnamed threat actor, compromising the sensitive data of the nation's military personnel.

The Ministry of Defence's payroll system, which was the target of the breach, held the names and bank account details of both active and retired military personnel. In extremely rare cases, personal addresses could be contained in the data.

The hacker's identity and the data's potential uses are unknown. The information is referred to as "personal HMRC-style information," spans several years, and pertains to both active and retired members of the Royal Navy, Army, and Air Force.

An outside contractor oversaw the system; no operational MoD data was gathered. Initial inquiries by multiple sources revealed no proof that any data had been erased.

The defense secretary, Grant Shapps, is reportedly scheduled to make a statement in the afternoon following the Tuesday Commons debate.

Ministers have reportedly blamed unfriendly and malicious parties, but they will not identify the nation responsible for the cyberattack.

As a precaution, affected service staff will be notified and given expert guidance. To find out if their information is being used or if there is an effort to use it, affected citizens can contact a personal data protection service.

There should be no problems with the upcoming payday at the end of this month, as all salaries were paid at the previous one. However, there might be a short delay in paying costs in a few instances.

John Healy, the shadow defense secretary, said there were many pertinent questions the defense secretary should be asking about the alleged data breach, particularly from military people whose information was compromised.

According to reports, authorities have discovered the attack recently and are attempting to determine its scope. It might make people wonder if friends who have tense relations with China would want to provide the UK access to critical intelligence.

Read Also: World's First: UK to Officially Ban Weak Passwords

China's Cyberattacks Against UK

Less than two months have passed since the government held two "malicious" cyberattacks on British territory accountable, blaming China's "state-affiliated actors."

The United Kingdom and Britain have accused hackers with ties to China of being the primary culprits behind two cyberattacks that have been detected: one in October 2022 and the other in the summer of 2021.

According to British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, at the time, Chinese state-affiliated companies were allegedly responsible for two hostile cyber operations directed towards parliamentarians and democratic institutions.

Dowden connected the attack to the Electoral Commission, an impartial body tasked with creating rules governing how the U.K. There should be elections to a Chinese-affiliated state actor. The campaigns were reported to have taken place in 2021 and 2022. According to Reuters, Britain has not yet identified the hacker, even though the hack was made public last year.

Although the Electoral Commission discovered the attack in October 2022, it was not made public until last year. In 2023, the Commission declared that every British voter registered to vote between 2014 and 2022 had their identities and addresses compromised by hackers.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, the two events involved targeted attacks on MPs who had pushed the government to adopt a more assertive posture against China and an attack on the Electoral Commission in 2021, which is in charge of monitoring elections and political financing.

UK vs. State-Affiliated Hackers

Reiterating the same demands, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith told other sources that the latest cyberattack against the UK's MoD is yet another instance of why the UK government needs to acknowledge that China is a systemic threat to the country and adjust the integrated review to take that into account.

According to Duncan Smith, it is a hostile player that collaborates with Iran and North Korea to form a new axis of totalitarian regimes while providing financial and military support to Russia.

Related Article: Massive Data Breach in Australian Facial Recognition System Raises Alarm

(Photo: Tech Times)
New photos of Motorola's flagship phone, Moto Razr+ (2024), in all its glory, have reportedly been leaked alongside a plethora of new rumors showcasing the phone's new color options, specifications, and build.

According to the live photos and rumors initially published by 91 Mobiles, the foldable Motorola Razr 50 Ultra appears to be nearing completion of development since it is obtaining several online certifications, including BIS.

The phone will be released as the Razr 40 Ultra's replacement.

From the pictures alone, Motorola has not made any significant changes to the smartphone. The images are credited to tipster Sudhanshu Ambhore.

Users will still get to experience a sizable secondary screen with a dual camera configuration and a clamshell form that is ideal for people who prefer a folding phone that is more compact and portable.

There are also rumors that the back panel will come in three different color options: green, blue, and orange. Furthermore, the report claims that the internal specifications of the new Razr model number XT-24510-3, which does not match the XT-2453-3 model that leaked back in January, will include 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage capacity.

These parameters deviate from the January-surfaced XT-2453-3 model, suggesting the possibility of regional differences or additional storage.

Moto Razr+'s Build

Sources claim that while it may be difficult to identify what appears to be the volume rocker on the right side of the device and what might be the power button, the leaked photographs are still good enough for those who want to see every last detail.

If Motorola intends to incorporate a fingerprint scanner on the device's side, it might be feasible.

Since the Motorola Razr+ has already been listed on the Bureau of Indian Standards, the Eurasian Economic Commission, and other certification sites, Motorola will most likely be releasing the latest iterations of its flagship model shortly.

Lenovo's Motorola Expectations

The anticipated arrival of Motorola's flagship phone may improve earlier market status projections provided by Lenovo, the parent company of the industry leader in smartphones.

Within the next three years, Lenovo anticipates Motorola to become the third-largest participant in the worldwide smartphone industry.

Sources indicate that Lenovo has made a concerted effort to improve its reputation and establish itself as a more premium participant in the smartphone market, competing with companies like Apple and Samsung.

According to Matthew Zielinski, President of Lenovo's International Markets, the company has effectively revived Motorola by providing it with increased attention, and the fruits of these efforts are now apparent.

Zielinski demonstrated his unwavering faith in Motorola's future potential by declaring that he is prepared to bet that the company will come in third place globally within the next three years.

This declaration highlights Lenovo's lofty ambitions for Motorola's place in the fiercely competitive global smartphone market.

(Photo: Tech Times)
Google introduces its latest product, Google Threat Intelligence, merging the expertise of its cybersecurity unit Mandiant and threat intelligence platform VirusTotal with the Gemini AI model.

Google's New Cybersecurity Solution

In an effort to bolster cybersecurity measures, Google has unveiled its newest offering, Google Threat Intelligence. This innovative product integrates the extensive knowledge and capabilities of two established entities within the cybersecurity realm: Mandiant, Google's cybersecurity division, and VirusTotal, a leading threat intelligence platform.

By combining these resources with the advanced capabilities of the Gemini AI model, Google aims to provide a comprehensive and effective solution to combat cyber threats.

As the landscape of AI applications evolves, there is a growing emphasis on leveraging its potential for practical purposes beyond mere image manipulation. Recognizing this trend, Google has redirected its focus towards cybersecurity, acknowledging the critical importance of safeguarding digital assets in today's interconnected world.

The primary objective of Google Threat Intelligence is to simplify the complexities associated with threat reports, rendering them more accessible and easily understandable for users across various sectors.

Enhancing Cybersecurity Capabilities Through AI

Google's new product relies on the Gemini 1.5 Pro large language model to speed up the process of understanding malware attacks.

Released in February, this model took just 34 seconds to analyze the WannaCry virus code from 2017, a notorious ransomware attack. It quickly identified a kill switch, demonstrating its ability to read and write code effectively.

Within the realm of cybersecurity, Gemini offers a novel application: condensing threat reports into plain language within Threat Intelligence.

This feature enables companies to evaluate the potential impact of looming attacks accurately. In essence, it prevents companies from overestimating or underestimating threats' severity.

According to Google, Threat Intelligence boasts an extensive information network for preemptive threat monitoring. This feature allows users to gain comprehensive insights into cybersecurity, facilitating effective prioritization of security measures.

Additionally, Mandiant contributes human expertise, with professionals dedicated to monitoring suspicious groups and consultants aiding in attack prevention for companies. Meanwhile, VirusTotal's community continually shares threat indicators, further enhancing the platform's threat detection capabilities.

Also read : Google Brings AI-Enhanced Security Tools in SecOps for Enhanced Cyber Threat Management

In 2022, Google acquired Mandiant, the cybersecurity firm known for uncovering the SolarWinds cyber attack against the US federal government in 2020. Additionally, Google plans to use Mandiant's expertise to assess security risks in AI projects.

Mandiant will examine the strength of AI models as part of Google's Secure AI Framework and help simulate potential cyberattacks. While AI models are valuable for analyzing threats and detecting malware, they can also be targeted by malicious actors.

One such threat is "data poisoning," where harmful code is inserted into the data used by AI models, preventing them from responding accurately.
The Biden administration is cashing in $285 million in CHIPS Act funding to support the development of digital twins for semiconductor manufacturing.

This initiative, spearheaded by the Department of Commerce, aims to establish a CHIPS Manufacturing USA institute focused on leveraging digital twin technology within the semiconductor industry.

What Are Digital Twins?

Digital twins are virtual models replicating the structure, behavior, and context of physical objects or systems, such as semiconductor manufacturing processes.

The funding opportunity is seeking proposals from eligible applicants to advance the development, validation, and utilization of digital twins for semiconductor manufacturing, assembly, testing, and other applications.

This represents the first Manufacturing USA institute established by the Department of Commerce under Biden's presidency. The goal is to enhance semiconductor research and development by harnessing the potential of digital twin technology.

The Department of Commerce explains that digital twins offer distinct advantages over traditional research models. They can exist virtually in the cloud, enabling collaborative design and process development among engineers and researchers nationwide.

According to the department, this virtual environment is expected to foster innovation, enhance participation, accelerate research and development, and ultimately cut costs.

Additionally, digital twins are anticipated to boost semiconductor manufacturing by utilizing technologies such as artificial intelligence to streamline chip development and production processes.

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo emphasized investing in digital twin technology to drive innovation in semiconductor research, development, and manufacturing.

"Digital twin technology can help spark innovation in the research, development, and manufacturing of semiconductors across the countrybut only if we invest in America's understanding and ability of this new technology," Raimondo said in a press release.

The Chips Manufacturing USA Institute

The CHIPS Manufacturing USA institute will undertake various activities, including operating the institute, conducting basic and applied research on semiconductor digital twins, creating and supporting shared physical and digital facilities, implementing industry-relevant demonstration projects, and providing workforce training focused on digital twin technologies.

The institute will play a critical role in addressing key challenges faced by the semiconductor industry through integrated physical and digital assets. By fostering collaboration across a diverse network of stakeholders, the institute aims to accelerate innovation.

Furthermore, the CHIPS Manufacturing USA Institute will be part of a network of seventeen Manufacturing USA institutes, each dedicated to advancing U.S. manufacturing.
Google has officially announced that its Magic Editor AI image editing tool in Google Photos will be free for all users starting May 15.

This rollout applies to anyone using a Chromebook Plus with ChromeOS version 118+ or a smartphone equipped with at least 3GB of RAM and running Android 8.0, iOS 15, or higher.

In the meantime, let's know about the other AI features coming soon to Google Photos.

Usage Limits and Subscription Options

While the Magic Editor tool will be freely accessible, there is a caveat. Users can save up to 10 edited images per month at no cost.

Those who need more editing capacity can either use a Pixel device, which now includes extended access across all Pixel models, or subscribe to a Google One plan starting at 2TB for $9.99 a month.

This subscription not only expands the image-saving capacity but also offers additional Google service benefits.

Innovative Features of the Magic Editor

Portrait Light

Enhance your portraits effortlessly with the Portrait Light feature. This tool adjusts and optimizes lighting conditions in your photos, ensuring your face is well-illuminated regardless of the environmental lighting.

This feature is perfect for users who want to capture well-lit portraits against any backdrop.

Magic Editor

The core feature, Magic Editor, utilizes generative AI to allow users to reposition subjects within their photos seamlessly. This tool is particularly handy for adjusting image aspect ratios to fit various social media platforms or to bring subjects closer from the fringes to the center of the frame.

While not flawless, the Magic Editor generally produces high-quality edits that enhance the overall composition of photos.

Photo Unblur

For those perfect shots marred only by unwanted blur, Photo Unblur comes to the rescue. Armed with advanced Denoise and Sharpen tools, this AI-driven feature refines and sharpens blurred images, often achieving more natural-looking results than manual photo editing tools.

Magic Eraser

An older yet highly useful feature, Magic Eraser helps users clean up their photos by removing unwanted elements.

Whether it's an accidental photobomber or some visual clutter, Magic Eraser simplifies photo clean-ups. However, for larger objects, the tool might leave some blurring, which could require additional touch-ups.

Sky Replacement

The Sky Replacement feature rounds off the toolset. Ideal for enhancing dreary skies in photos, this tool swaps gray clouds for clear blue skies while adjusting the scene's lighting to match.

It's especially valuable for users in typically overcast regions, adding a vibrant touch to their outdoor photographs without losing the natural feel.

Google's integration of these sophisticated AI tools into Google Photos democratizes professional-level photo editing, making it accessible and free for the average user.

With these tools, Google not only enhances the user experience but also firmly positions itself as a leader in AI-driven photo editing technology.

Whether you're a casual photographer or a social media enthusiast, these new features in Google Photos promise to significantly improve your photo editing game.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has ventured deep into the heart of a galaxy hosting a voracious black hole, revealing a striking view of NGC 4951 located in the Virgo constellation, approximately 50 million light-years away.



This galaxy, classified as a Seyfert galaxy, features vibrant spiral arms encircling an active galactic center. This type of galaxy is characterized by an extremely energetic core known as an active galactic nucleus (AGN) powered by a supermassive black hole at its core.

A Voracious Black Hole in NGC 4951

NGC 4951 is recognized for its AGN, a characteristic that distinguishes Seyfert galaxies due to their high levels of energy. Unlike other AGNs where the galaxy is obscured by brightness, NGC 4951 remains visibly distinct.



The powerful emissions from AGNs like this are generated by supermassive black holes at their cores, pulling in surrounding matter and producing radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, as explained by NASA.



Hubble's role extends beyond capturing stunning images; it has contributed significantly to the understanding of supermassive black holes at the hearts of galaxies.



Prior to Hubble's launch in 1990, the existence of these cosmic giants was largely theoretical. However, observations made possible by Hubble, such as witnessing material jets expelled by black holes and observing rapid gas and dust movements around them, provided tangible evidence of their presence.



The recent observations of NGC 4951 by Hubble serve as crucial data for astronomers who seek to understand more about galaxy evolution, specifically focusing on the processes of star formation.



This data will complement observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as part of a JWST Treasury program. NASA notes that these Treasury programs compile observations into coherent datasets that support a range of scientific investigations.

NASA X-ray Satellite Finds a Cosmic Cloverleaf

In related space news, NASA's X-ray satellite has unveiled intriguing discoveries related to odd radio circles (ORCs), with one formation resembling a distinctive cloverleaf.



Astronomers have been intrigued by massive circular radio features around galaxies, with recent observations hinting at a possible connection to galactic collisions.



Led by astrophysicist Esra Bulbul from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany, recent X-ray observations have shed light on the enigmatic Cloverleaf ORC and its formation process.



The discovery of ORCs is a recent development, emerging in 2021 due to advancements in radio survey technology capable of detecting faint signals.



These mysterious radio structures extend beyond our galaxy, some encompassing regions comparable in size to entire galaxies or even multiple galaxies.



Despite efforts to model their shapes, ORCs remain a profound scientific puzzle due to the intensity of their emissions, which defy conventional explanations.



Read more about the enigmatic nature of ORCs here.




OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently acknowledged a prevailing concern about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the workforce: it will likely replace a significant number of existing jobs, as reported by MIT News.

Sam Altman: 'AI is Going to Eliminate a Lot of Current Jobs'

Altman emphasized that AI development will not simply augment job roles; instead, it will lead to substantial job eliminations, alterations in job functions, and the emergence of entirely new occupations.



"One of the things that annoys me most about people who work on AI is when they stand up with a straight face and say, 'This will never cause any job elimination.

This is just an additive thing. This is just all going to be great,'" Altman said during a discussion with MIT President Sally Kornbluth.



"This is going to eliminate a lot of current jobs, and this is going to change the way that a lot of current jobs function, and this is going to create entirely new jobs. That always happens with technology."



Kornbluth and Sam Altman's discussion at MIT's campus delved into various aspects of AI's evolution and its implications for society, education, and the labor market.



OpenAI gained significant traction with its ChatGPT large language models, swiftly becoming a widely used consumer application post-release in late 2022.

This success catalyzed substantial investments and innovation in the AI sector, ultimately triggering an AI race between tech giants.



Altman acknowledged the elevated expectations surrounding AI advancements, emphasizing the rapid pace of technological progress and human ambition to continually improve existing capabilities.



Addressing ethical considerations, Altman highlighted the progress in aligning AI systems with predefined values. Despite challenges, he noted that AI models like GPT-4 demonstrated a degree of behavioral alignment with desired ethical principles.



However, Altman acknowledged the divergence of opinions on defining the appropriate behavioral standards for AI systems, underscoring the complexity of creating a universal code of conduct for AI.





Bias Mitigation in AI

The discussion also addressed challenges related to bias mitigation in AI systems and the broader societal implications of AI's unprecedented data requirements for training large language models.



Privacy concerns in the AI landscape emerged as a significant point of discussion, with Altman emphasizing the evolving tradeoffs between privacy, utility, and safety in AI systems. He acknowledged that society is navigating uncharted territory in determining these tradeoffs.



However, Altman expressed optimism about future AI models, envisioning improvements that could reduce data dependency and energy consumption, ultimately enhancing reasoning capabilities.



Despite the potential disruptions, Altman believes that AI's transformative potential extends beyond economic concerns. He highlighted AI's potential in scientific discovery, positioning it as a pivotal driver of sustainable economic growth and progress.

Related Article : Sam Altman No Longer Owns OpenAI's Startup Fund




Connecting your AirPods to your Xbox Series X/S or One is not as straightforward as pairing them directly due to the consoles' lack of Bluetooth support. However, with a handy Xbox app workaround, you can enjoy your game's audio through your AirPods.

Here's how you can set it up, regardless of whether you use an iPhone or an Android device.

Setting Up Remote Features on Your Xbox

Firstly, power up your Xbox and navigate to the Settings menu. Within Settings, select Devices & Connections, then click on Remote Features. Here, you will find various settings, including the option to 'Enable remote features,' which is crucial for remote play setup.

Installing the Xbox App

Next, all you have to do is to proceed to the installation of the Xbox app. For iPhone users, visit the App Store, and for Android users, head to the Google Play Store. Search for the Xbox app, download and install it, then sign into your Xbox Live account.

Once logged in, tap the Remote Play icon located in the top right corner next to the notification bell to initiate connection options with your nearby Xbox console. Choose 'Remote play on this device' to proceed.

Connecting Your AirPods

Now, connect your AirPods to your smartphone or tablet. If it's your first time pairing your AirPods, open the AirPods case and press the setup button on the back to activate pairing mode.

Then, select your AirPods from the Bluetooth settings on your device. Ensure the Xbox app remains open on your device to maintain the connection.

Linking AirPods to Your TV or Monitor

If your TV or monitor supports Bluetooth, you can also connect your AirPods directly to it for an enhanced audio experience. Navigate to the Settings menu on your TV or monitor, look for the audio or Bluetooth settings, and select the option to Pair a Bluetooth device.

Put your AirPods into pairing mode, select them from the list of available devices on your TV or monitor, and enjoy your gaming with AirPods audio. Note that some users may experience a slight audio delay.

Utilizing the AirPods Microphone with Xbox

To use your AirPods' microphone during Xbox remote play, reopen the Remote Play section in the Xbox app, then access the microphone settings by clicking on the menu icon represented by eight dots and then the three dots for more settings.

Enable microphone access to allow your Xbox to utilize the AirPods' microphone. This setup should activate the microphone feature, making your gaming experience more interactive.

The steps are easy to follow, especially if you know how to use the Xbox app to your advantage. The next time you open your console, you don't need to stick to the conventional headset to enjoy the high-quality audio of your favorite game.
Microsoft and OpenAI have launched a $2 million fund to combat deepfakes and fraudulent AI content in response to the growing threat of AI-generated disinformation. Global democratic integrity is the initiative's goal.



Concerns over AI-driven misinformation have escalated to a critical level as an unprecedented 2 billion people prepare to vote in 50 nations this year. Misinformation particularly targets vulnerable groups.



The rise of generative AI technologies, such as chatbots like ChatGPT, has greatly increased the tools available for creating deepfakes. These publically available technologies have the potential to fabricate videos, photos, and audio samples of political personalities.

Major Tech Firms Collaborate to Fighting Fake News, AI Disinformation

According to a report from TechCrunch, leading tech firms like Microsoft and OpenAI have made voluntary promises to reduce AI-generated disinformation threats. Collaboration is also ongoing to standardize deepfakes designed to deceive voters. Major AI organizations have mitigated these risks in their systems. Google's Gemini AI chatbot cannot answer election-related questions, and Meta, Facebook's parent company, has a similar restriction.



OpenAI has released a deepfake detection tool to assist academics in identifying fake material generated by the DALL-E image generator. The company has joined the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) steering group, joining Adobe, Google, Microsoft, and Intel in fighting disinformation.



The newly formed "societal resilience fund" is crucial to the campaign to promote ethical AI use. Microsoft and OpenAI will grant this fund to Older Adults Technology Services (OATS), C2PA, International IDEA, and PAI. These funds will assist AI literacy and education programs, especially for disadvantaged populations.



Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Technology and Corporate Responsibility Teresa Hutson stressed the importance of the Societal Resilience Fund in AI-related community projects. She stressed Microsoft and OpenAI's commitment to working with like-minded companies to combat AI disinformation.



Accessible AI technologies raise worries about a rise in politically driven disinformation on social media, a hitherto inconceivable scenario. AI may complicate this year's several election cycles due to entrenched ideological splits and a growing distrust of internet content.

Addressing AI Generated Deepfakes Remains a Big Challenge to Authorities

While the latest artificial intelligence technologies are impressive in quality, most deepfakes, particularly those originating from Russia and China for global influence efforts, quickly lose credibility. According to Politico, experts noted that AI-generated information, no matter how convincing its photographs, movies, or audio samples, is unlikely to change most people's political views.



Recent elections in Pakistan and Indonesia have widely utilized generative AI, but there is no evidence that it has unfairly favored certain candidates. Every day, social media publishes an abundance of information that makes AI-powered frauds, even lifelike ones, struggle to gain momentum.



AI-generated misinformation operations already impacted the US, according to a report from CNN. New Hampshire robocalls using a fake Joe Biden voice tried to deter Democrats from voting in the primary. In January, social media disseminated fake AI-generated photographs of former US President Donald Trump with adolescent girls aboard Jeffrey Epstein's plane. In February, a deep-fake Twitter video showed a leading Chicago Democratic mayoral contender as unconcerned with police shootings.



Law enforcement agencies struggle to respond to deep-fake threats, according to senior US officials. Foreign deepfakes may draw rapid public declarations from authorities like the FBI or Department of Homeland Security, but Americans' involvement complicates the reaction since officials fear seeming to influence elections or restrict free expression.



States have responded differently to AI deepfakes. California, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, and Washington have passed election-deepfake laws. Minnesota's law prohibits spreading deepfakes to hurt candidates within 90 days of an election. Michigan requires campaign disclosure of AI-manipulated media.

According to the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, many US states have deep-fake regulatory bills pending.
Republican lawmakers are intensifying their efforts to dismantle key components of President Biden's climate agenda, focusing on tax credits for electric vehicles (EVs) and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) emissions regulations.

Tech Times previously reported that these potential changes could result in China overtaking the US as the industry's leader.

Republican Lawmakers Challenge Biden's Climate Agenda, Targeting EV Tax Incentives and EPA Emission Rules

The Verge tells us that the Republican action targets two significant pillars of Biden's climate initiatives: tax incentives for EV purchases and the EPA's newly finalized rules aimed at curbing tailpipe emissions.

Republican legislators are introducing bills and filing lawsuits to undermine these measures, citing concerns about their impact on industries and consumers.

A lawsuit was filed by 25 Republican attorneys general last month, contesting the EPA's mandate to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by 2032. They contend that these regulations will hurt the auto sector and its workers.

In Congress, Representative John James introduced legislation to roll back emissions standards, garnering support from key figures like Representative Elise Stefanik.

One of the central targets of the Republican assault is the federal tax credits for EV purchases. Senators John Barrasso and Shelley Moore Capito introduced the "Eliminate Lavish Incentives To Electric (ELITE) Vehicles Act" to revoke these credits.

They express concerns about China's access to taxpayer incentives and suggest that this move defund EV charging infrastructure investments.

Republican Lawmakers Challenge Biden's Climate Policies

Environmental groups like the Environmental Defense Fund are rallying against these Republican-led efforts. They emphasize the health and economic benefits of clean air policies and point to states like Kentucky, where significant investments and job growth in clean vehicle sectors have been observed.

With a conservative majority, the Supreme Court could play a decisive role in determining the fate of these climate policies. Past rulings indicate a skepticism towards EPA regulations, raising concerns among environmental advocates.

Michigan Representative John James has been vocal in his opposition to Biden's EPA emissions rule, describing it as detrimental to the auto industry and middle-class Americans.

Similarly, Senator Ricketts criticized Biden's EV mandate as "delusional," arguing that it would make it harder for low-income and rural families to afford vehicles. He pledged to use every tool at his disposal to fight against the mandate, advocating for legislation to defend consumer choice and keep costs down.

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik echoed these sentiments, cosponsoring a resolution to overturn Biden's emission standards rule. She characterized the Biden administration's climate agenda as "dangerous and un-American," emphasizing the need to combat what she sees as far-left energy policies.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.
An ABC News/Ipsos survey reveals a divide in the US population regarding the TikTok ban issue. Young adults and regular app users oppose the federal government's planned sale or prohibition of the popular social networking app. In contrast, older people, infrequent users, and nonusers favor the government's action.



The survey found that 51% of respondents agree that the US government should force a TikTok sale, 46% disagree, 53% favor a TikTok ban if it continues under Chinese ownership, and 44% oppose it, as reported by the media outlet.



User demographics affect TikTok sentiments, according to the poll. Regular app users, or 34% of adults, are most resistant to government action, with 75% rejecting a forced sale and 84% opposing a ban. The majority of uncommon users and nonusers support mandatory divestment or a ban, while occasional users have mixed opinions about a forced sale.



The poll reflects generational variations in TikTok users: 55% of individuals aged 18 to 29 using the platform and 14% of 65-year-olds. Thus, just 39% of people under 30 support a TikTok ban, compared to 70% of seniors.

Survey: TikTok Users are Not Just Gen Zs

Republicans and conservatives support a ban more than Democrats, independents, and moderates, according to the survey. While Biden voters are divided, the majority of Trump supporters support both a forced sale and a ban.



The poll was conducted using the Ipsos KnowledgePanel from April 25-30, 2024, wherein 2,260 individuals participated with a 2 percentage point margin of sampling error.



According to the US TikTok ban measure, ByteDance must sell the app within nine months. Legislators, security experts, and the Biden administration justify the measure as a means to address the threat of the Chinese government using ByteDance to acquire crucial TikTok user data or promote propaganda.



Separately, TikTok officials informed advertisers that 170 million monthly US users had begun to resemble the broader population, per The New York Times. TikTok US enterprise sales chief Tim Natividad noted that platform users are no longer "just Gen Z."



TikTok, a popular platform for marketers selling beauty, fast food, music, and more, relies on advertising. Despite its uncertain future, the firm looks desperate to preserve ad money as US internet giants focus on market share and promote short-form video competitors like Google's YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.

Private companies like TikTok and ByteDance, owned by Chinese investors, do not publish their financials. A recent estimate by independent ad industry researcher Brian Wieser projected that TikTok earned $6 billion in US ad sales last year, excluding e-commerce, tipping, and other income.

According to eMarketer, US TikTok users spend 54 minutes per day on the app, whereas Instagram users spend 35 minutes, 21 of which are videos.

Lawmakers Support TikTok Ban to Protect Youngsters from 'Brainwashing'

The dark-money group No Labels sponsored a webinar last Wednesday with renowned personalities who oppose student protests in Gaza, Rolling Stone reported. During the event, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) asserted that the inclusion of the TikTok bill in the overseas supplementary assistance package was primarily due to student protests. According to Lawler, these protests demonstrated how organized groups or nations use children to stir hatred and create a dangerous climate in the United States.



Lawler, a co-sponsor of the TikTok ban legislation, also made unfounded claims that hired agitators and activists staged the student demonstrations.



Former Rep. Mike Gallagher wrote an op-ed in November accusing TikTok of "brainwashing our youth against the country and our allies" by promoting a "pro-Hamas" video. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said China uses the app to spread propaganda and minimize Hamas terrorism.



TikTok has denied that it favors pro-Palestinian content or bans pro-Israeli content. Since October 7, 2023, Facebook has banned over 3.1 million videos and suspended over 140,000 livestreams in Israel and Palestine for supporting Hamas, hate speech, violent extremism, and disinformation. In almost the same period, TikTok removed almost 320 million bogus accounts worldwide.
GPV Opens Factory Expansion in Thailand Published: 07 May 2024 by Tyler Hanes by Tyler Hanes

VEJLE, DENMARk  GPV Electronics has opened a refurbished factory building in Thailand, adding 7,000 sq. m. of floor space to its existing 15,000 sq. m. facility.

"We are very proud of our new additional capacity in our electronics factory," said Bjorn Fiskers, managing director at GPV Electronics TH and GPV Mechanics TH. "Now, the next step is re-layout of the existing production and the new area. We are eager to take the new building into use and to start serving our customers from the new facilities."

The refurbishment took place inside GPV's previous mechanics factory, located in the same building as its electronics facilities, and gathers the 22,000 sq. m. of electronics production under one roof. In 2023, the company moved its mechanics production into a new factory building near the electronics factory.

"With the handover of our refurbished factory building, we have taken yet another important step in strengthening our operational footprint and expanding our production capacity in Southeast Asia," said GPV CEO Bo Lybaek. "The new production facilities will help us to meet our customers demands and continue to deliver high-quality products. I am proud of this great milestone and congratulate our team in Thailand."
China says top climate envoy heading to US for talks



Beijing, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



China's top climate envoy will head to the United States for talks with US counterpart John Podesta on Tuesday, Beijing said, as the world's top two emitters seek to deepen cooperation on combatting global warming.

Beijing's Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a statement that Special Envoy for Climate Change Liu Zhenmin will head to the United States from May 7 to 16.

He and Podesta will discuss "promoting China-US climate cooperation to achieve practical results", the ministry said.

The US State Department said the talks would take place in Washington.

It also said the two sides would discuss issues "including energy transition, methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases, circular economy and resource efficiency, low-carbon and sustainable provinces/states and cities, and deforestation, among others".

The talks will be the first in-person between the two envoys since taking their positions as well as the first between the United States and China on the environment since the UN's COP28 summit in Dubai late last year.

That summit saw nations endorse for the first time a call for an eventual transition away from fossil fuels responsible for global warming.

Prior to the meetings, Liu and Podesta's predecessors met in California for talks that culminated in a joint statement from the world's two largest carbon-emitting nations that helped form a basis for COP28.

Beijing said the two envoys planned "an in-depth exchange of views" on the agreement forged during those talks, known as the Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis.

Relations between the United States and China have soured in recent years on everything from trade to the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims.

Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing for the second time in less than a year, pointing to improvements in the relationship even as the top US diplomat urged greater action from Beijing on areas including curbing support for Russia.

But climate has long been seen as an area where the two powers -- the world's top greenhouse gas emitters -- can find common ground.

China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving climate change, such as carbon dioxide.

A recent jump in approvals of coal-fired power plants has added to concerns that China will backtrack on its goals to peak emissions between 2026 and 2030 and become carbon-neutral by 2060.
Chinese mill blamed for turning Serbia village red with pollution



Smederevo, Serbia, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



In the eight years since Chinese company HBIS bought a steel mill near the eastern Serbian city of Smederevo, locals say they have been plagued by heavy air pollution and thick red dust.

"There are times of the day when breathing normally is impossible," said Zvezdan Veljkovic, from the village of Radinac, where the mill is based.

Radinac has become known as "red village", because everything is permanently coated in a layer of red dust. Locals say cancer cases have rocketed and that the dust contains high levels of arsenic, chromium and lead.

Dragana Milic told AFP her grandchildren don't like coming to visit her anymore. "They won't play outside," she said.

HBIS -- one of the world's largest steel producers -- bought the mill in 2016 in a high-profile deal marked by a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping, on his last official trip to Serbia.

Xi is to arrive in Serbia on Tuesday on another official visit, one of only three countries he is flying into on his first European trip since the Covid pandemic.

China has invested billions in Serbia and neighbouring Balkan countries in recent years, with Beijing and Belgrade signing a free trade agreement last year.

But locals around Smederevo blame Chinese investment for the increased pollution.

In the three villages near the mill, residents say that they have experienced throat irritation, unpleasant smells and continual soot coating their houses, clothes and bodies.

Milic said the only thing villagers can do to protect themselves is to stay indoors.



- Cancer cases quadrupled -



The Serbian Environmental Protection Agency has ranked Smederevo repeatedly among the country's most polluted cities, classified as having "excessively polluted air".

Nikola Krstic, an activist at NGO Tvrdjava ("Fortress"), said pollution has soared since the Chinese takeover.

"We don't know the reason why... whether it's high production, technology failure, lack of maintenance or non-compliance," he said.

Tvrdjava carried out an analysis of the dust produced by the factory in 2021, together with the scientific group National Environmental Association.

The analysis, seen by AFP, found high concentrations of heavy metals including arsenic, chromium and lead, which the report warned are among "the most toxic and carcinogenic metals when present in ambient air".

"(HBIS) have saved this steel mill in economic terms, but in environmental terms they have caused great damage to this city," said Krstic.

Data from the state-run Smederevo Health Centre found a four-fold increase in cancer cases between 2011 and 2019, which activists believe is due to increased pollution.

The group filed a criminal complaint against the company in Smederevo, but it was rejected on the basis of lack of evidence.

They now plan to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.



- Special relationship -



The steel mill employs about 5,000 people, with thousands more employed indirectly.

Once a state-owned enterprise, it was privatised in 2003 and sold to US Steel. But the American corporation pulled out in 2012 after a steel market crash, and the Serbian government bought it back for one dollar.

In April 2016, the plant was sold for 46 million euros ($49 million) to China's HBIS, heralded as a sign of the "friendship" between the two countries.

Chinese-owned companies were among Serbia's top three exporters last year -- including HBIS, whose exports topped 549 million euros.

Tomislav Momirovic, Serbia's trade minister, told state broadcaster RTS that "no other country in the region or Europe" enjoys a similar level of cooperation with China.

Smederevo is one of several big investments by Chinese companies in Serbia, including a $3.8 billion investment by Chinese state-owned company Zijin Mining near the eastern city of Bor.

Stefan Vladisavljev, of the Foundation BFPE for a Responsible Society, said claims Chinese investment "saved" Serbia are "exaggerated".

"What is true is that Chinese companies were willing to take over the management and ownership of certain industrial systems for which Serbia had no other solution," he added.

HBIS did not respond when contacted by AFP.

But earlier this year its Serbia director Vladan Mihailovic told RTS that the company plans to build a wall around its open raw material storage and construct a new processor to reduce the dust.

Milic, who has been living in Radinac for 37 years, has little hope this will solve the issue.

"I think there is no other solution" but for everyone to move, she said.

mp-rox/ds/fg/smw

FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP

UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION
German climate activist marks two months of hunger strike



Berlin, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



A climate activist staging a hunger strike outside the German chancellery on Tuesday vowed to intensify his protest as he marked 62 days without food.

Wolfgang Metzeler-Kick, 49, began his protest in early March under the motto "Starving until you tell the truth", and has since been joined by three other activists.

He and his fellow protesters want Chancellor Olaf Scholz to acknowledge that "the climate catastrophe threatens the survival of human civilisation" and are calling for a "radical change of course" to reduce emissions in Europe's largest economy.

Metzeler-Kick, an environmental protection engineer and longtime activist, told AFP he was willing "to put (his) life in danger".

He stopped eating 62 days ago and wants to go further: "I'm going to intensify my hunger strike. As of tomorrow, I will temporarily stop drinking," he said.

Richard Cluse, a 57-year-old engineer, joined the protest 44 days ago, and Michael Winter, a 61-year-old biologist, joined after 22 days.

A fourth activist, Adrien Lack, 34, joined on Tuesday with a placard reading: "I will only talk to the chancellor."

A doctor told a press conference on Tuesday that Winter was in a "very critical" condition and his body mass index had fallen below 16 kg/m2 -- considered severely underweight.

Climate activists have resorted to some eye-catching stunts to get their message across in Germany over the past two years.

Protesters from the radical group known as Letzte Generation ("Last Generation") have repeatedly sat down on busy roads and glued their hands to the tarmac.

Protesters have also thrown mashed potatoes over a Claude Monet painting in Potsdam and glued themselves to an exhibition of a dinosaur skeleton at Berlin's Natural History Museum.
Drought-hit Barcelona to ease water restrictions after rains



Barcelona, May 7 (AFP) May 07, 2024



Spain's Catalonia region said Tuesday it will ease restrictions on water use for Barcelona and its surrounding area after recent rainfall allowed it to lift a drought emergency.

The announcement comes ahead of a regional election in Catalonia on Sunday in which the ruling pro-independence ERC party -- which has faced criticism over its handling of the drought -- is trailing in opinion polls.

Catalonia declared a drought emergency in February after water levels at reservoirs in the Mediterranean region fell below 16 percent of full capacity following nearly three years of below-average rainfall.

The measure led to tighter water use restrictions for some six million people living in a wide area including Spain's second-city Barcelona, especially for crop irrigation, livestock farming and industry.

But recent rains in the wealthy northwestern region have boosted reserves to nearly 24 percent.

This increase in water reserves "allows us to reduce the restrictions put in place over the last three months," Catalan government spokeswoman Patricia Plaja told a Barcelona news conference.

"The drought is not over, that is the reality. We are still facing a serious drought," she added.

The loosened restrictions means farmers will now only have to cut the amount of water used to irrigate crops by 40 percent instead of 80 percent, while industries must reduce water use by 15 percent instead of 25 percent.

Individual use limits will be increased to 230 litres per day from 200 litres during the drought emergency.

Catalonia's regional government said it would still go ahead with plans to install 12 mobile desalination plants on the Costa Brava, one of the tourist areas most affected by water shortages, as well as a floating desalination plant in the port of Barcelona.
International fugitive Jean Nassif has lost a bid to keep his multimillion-dollar defamation case against broadcaster Ray Hadley alive, after a court rejected his application to revive the case.

A warrant was issued for Nassifs arrest in June last year over an alleged bank fraud. Separately, Nassifs construction empire, including Toplace Pty Ltd and dozens of related entities, was placed into administration in July.

Ray Hadley and Jean Nassif.

While Nassif left Australia for Lebanon in late 2022 and has not returned, he had persevered in his defamation case against the Sydney broadcaster and radio station 2GB.

The case was filed in the Federal Court in July 2020 over broadcasts about Nassifs residential projects. It was automatically axed in March after he breached court orders.
Overcrowded public schools in booming north-west Sydney are operating at double or triple their enrolment caps, pushing some campuses to exceed their official capacity by 1000 students.

Data obtained by the Herald reveals at least a third of schools in The Hills Shire, Camden, Ryde and Hornsby are above their enrolment caps by more than 100 students each, with the bulk of those primary schools.

This years figures, however, show that while some public schools are being squeezed by surging enrolments, more than 300 NSW schools are underutilised, with empty classrooms and space for hundreds more pupils.

The Ponds High has overtaken Cherrybrook Technology High to become the largest public high school. Credit: Edwina Pickles

In the local government areas of Woollahra, Waverley, Bayside, and Lane Cove, many schools are losing enrolments, and no campuses are operating above their student cap. Hundreds of public schools have reported declining student numbers since 2022.
The parents of two Australian brothers shot dead in Mexico have spoken publicly for the first time, saying from the US it was time to bring their sons home.

Debra and Martin Robinson have urged people to hold their loved ones closer, following the tragic murder of their sons Callum, 33, and Jake, 30.

The Robinson brothers were on a surfing trip with American friend Carter Rhoad, 30, when they were allegedly killed by Mexican nationals attempting to steal parts of their ute.

Debra and Martin Robinson travelled from Western Australia to Mexico on Friday, where they identified the bodies of their two sons this week.
Alleged killer mushroom cook Erin Patterson will have her case fast-tracked to the Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to all charges.

Patterson faced Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court on Tuesday via video link from Dame Phyllis Frost Centre womens prison, dressed in a blue tracksuit.

Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson were poisoned by the mushroom meal.

Defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, said his client had elected to have the matter fast-tracked to a higher court, avoiding the need for a committal, where evidence against Patterson would have been tested publicly for the first time.

This also means the matter is brought before trial sooner than if it remained in Gippsland.
Public school students in rich suburbs will get $400 each to help with learning costs, but their private peers in poorer areas will largely miss out under a government initiative to ease cost-of-living pressures for families.

The news is a double blow to some parents, who also learnt in Tuesdays budget that their children would miss out on hundreds of hours of free preschool. The Age last month revealed the Best Start, Best Life program would be seriously delayed and that dozens of schools would not get funding for promised upgrades in this budget.

The School Saving Bonus of $400 will be given to all public students for the 2025 school year, regardless of their family income, and to eligible concession cardholders at non-government schools.

The Victorian Catholic Education Authority said the decision to not means-test the bonus for public students meant the government was handing out money indiscriminately in Melbournes wealthiest suburbs while refusing to help those in the states most economically disadvantaged areas.
It is easy for Victorians long familiar with talk of the states mountainous debt to hear the government speak of fiscal discipline and switch off with eyes glazed over.

After all, the Labor government showed an apparent indifference to escalating debt under Daniel Andrews leadership for much of the past decade, even as the states debt grew to the nations largest. Victorians can be forgiven for believing it didnt really matter to the government.

Treasurer Tim Pallas delivers the Victorian budget in parliament on Tuesday. Credit: Getty

Eventually, though, reality had to bite. And bite it did on Tuesday when Treasurer Tim Pallas delivered his 10th budget with projections that Victorias debt would rise markedly from $135.9 billion this year to $187.8 billion by mid-2028, and comprising the equivalent of more than one-quarter of the states economy.

The 2024-25 budget  the first under Premier Jacinta Allan, who succeeded Andrews in September  demonstrated in real terms to Victorians why debt matters. When $25 million a day is projected to fly out the door in interest payments alone, its clear that somethings got to give.
London: The leader of one of the worlds most prolific cybercrime gangs has been unmasked and sanctioned by Australia, Britain and the United States, following a years-long international disruption campaign.

Russian national Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, 31, was named as the mastermind behind the notorious LockBit ransomware operation, which has been on a hacking rampage for years, digitally extorting an estimated $1 billion from its victims.

Russian national Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, 31, was named by law enforcement in the US, UK and Australia as the organisational mastermind behind the notorious LockBit ransomware group.

Khoroshev had remained an enigma while he hid behind online monikers LockBitSupp and putinkrab. He evaded identification and bragged that people wouldnt be able to reveal his offline identity  even offering a $US10 million reward to anyone who could reveal his identity.

LockBit provided ransomware-as-a-service to a global network of hackers or affiliates, supplying them with the tools and infrastructure to carry out attacks and negotiated ransom payments. The hackers were then asked to provide LockBit with about 20 per cent of their profits.
French firms urged to seize opportunities from China's development

08:05, May 07, 2024 By Mo Jingxi ( Chinadaily.com.cn

President Xi Jinping attends and delivers a speech at the closing ceremony of the sixth meeting of the China-France Business Council in Paris on Monday. [Photo/Xinhua]

President Xi Jinping said on Monday that entrepreneurs in France are welcome to participate in China's modernization efforts, and to seize opportunities arising from China's development as the country mulls significant moves to further deepen reform across various sectors.

Xi made the remarks while attending the closing ceremony of the sixth meeting of the China-France Business Council together with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Theatre Marigny in Paris.

Xi told delegates to the meeting that China is working to steadily expand institutional opening-up, ease market access and shorten the negative list for foreign investment. This will help provide a broader market and more win-win cooperation opportunities for countries including France, he said.

Since China and France established diplomatic ties 60 years ago, the two countries have developed a closely intertwined relationship between their economies, with bilateral trade increasing 800-fold to reach $78.9 billion last year.

President Xi Jinping attends and delivers a speech at the closing ceremony of the sixth meeting of the China-France Business Council in Paris on Monday. [Photo/Xinhua]

Based on past and present experiences, Xi emphasized that there are no justifiable reasons for failures in maximizing the potential of the China-France relationship, and vowed to further enhance its productivity.

The Chinese president announced that China welcomes more imports of quality agricultural products from France, and will extend visa exemption entry for citizens from France and another 11 countries on short-term visits to China until the end of 2025.

"Deeper friendship calls for frequent exchanges and closer cooperation. We always view France as a priority and trustworthy partner of cooperation," he said.

President Xi Jinping attends and delivers a speech at the closing ceremony of the sixth meeting of the China-France Business Council in Paris on Monday. Feng Yongbin / China Daily

Noting that China and Europe are two major markets promoting globalization, Xi said China will work with France to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides.

He called on the two sides to continue to enhance political mutual trust, remove various distractions, and jointly oppose attempts to turn business relations into political, ideological or security issues.

"We should turn China and Europe into each other's key partners for business cooperation, priority partners for cooperation in science and technology, and trustworthy partners for cooperation in industrial and supply chains," he said, adding that China will open its market wider to create more opportunities for companies from France, Europe and beyond.

Danone's CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique, who attended the meeting on Monday, said that as China advances its high-quality development agenda and nurtures new quality productive forces in recent years, French enterprises like Danone have found fertile ground for growth. Around 200 government officials and entrepreneurs from both countries participated in the meeting.

"The high-level exchanges have painted a promising blueprint for the future development of China-France relations, which is truly inspiring," he said, adding that he expects the two countries' partnership to generate new opportunities in the future.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
On Saturday, a decision was made by someone at the University of Virginia to have state police break up a small anti-war encampment on Grounds.

Exactly who made that decision remains unclear.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin is not taking credit. Various statements from the school indicate it was President Jim Ryan or university police that determined state troopers were needed to remove the two dozen rain-soaked protesters, what remained of a four-day demonstration on a patch of grass near the University Chapel.

Ryan acknowledged that demonstration had been "peaceful" for days before state police officers wearing riot gear moved in and broke up the encampment. He has not, however, explicitly said he was the one who made the call.

We hoped and tried to handle this locally. But when [UVa police] attempts to resolve the situation were met with physical confrontation and attempted assault, it became necessary to rely on assistance from the Virginia State Police, Ryan said in a statement issued Saturday night.

He did not elaborate on the attempted assault, which he claims occurred after the protesters refused to take down the tents that were erected overnight Friday as a rainstorm moved into the area. A separate statement from the university says that after asking protesters to vacate the premises, authorities were again met with agitation, chanting and violent gestures such as swinging of objects. It does not specify the objects, gestures or chants.

Ryan also wrote that individuals unaffiliated with UVa were at the encampment and presented some safety concerns.

University spokesman Brian Coy told The Daily Progress that Ryan, along with a senior team of university officials, had spent Saturday at a command post on Grounds.

Its the place where the individuals who were responsible for monitoring and responding to this incident gathered to monitor events and make decisions, Coy said.

State police said they received a request for assistance from UVa police at approximately 9 a.m. Saturday. That was an hour after the university says UVa Police Chief Tim Longo asked the protesters to voluntarily remove the tents and after officials began attempts to collect the tents and were met with agitation and chanting from demonstrators.

The governors office has not said if state police were sent to UVa at Youngkin's request, instead referring The Daily Progress to an April 30 Youngkin statement where the Republican governor said his administration would, fully support campus, local and state law enforcement and university leadership to keep our campuses safe.

Youngkins administration has been in daily contact with law enforcement and the administrations at Virginias universities, according to his office.

The universities campus police are lead, they usually request help from local and state law enforcement, and we support the leaderships of those universities to keep our campuses safe, Youngkin press secretary Christian Martinez told The Daily Progress in an email.

We would not allow encampments, tents, Youngkin said in a May 3 Bloomberg interview, which his office sent to The Daily Progress. I think weve been effective in coordinating this, and Im hopeful that we can continue to make sure that safety on our university campuses is paramount.

In that same interview, Youngkin said that peaceful protests are permitted and part of the American fabric.

On April 30 he posted to X: "After repeated warnings and refusal to disperse, law enforcement must protect Virginians."

Local Charlottesville legal analyst Scott Goodman said he believes the university was under pressure from the governors office to remove the tents.

The governor made it clear itd be state policy not to allow tents on state campuses, Goodman told The Daily Progress. The university felt the pressure that comes from politicians. Thats where presidents of universities which are basically state agencies take their cue.

Those detained on Saturday were sent to Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, which had originally said 25 people were arrested. On Monday, the jail revised the number to 24. Superintendent Martin Kumer said 16 of them were charged with trespassing, seven were not processed by the jail at all and one was charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer. Neither UVa nor the jail has said how many of those arrested were students, faculty, staff or unaffiliated with the university.

Two of those arrested, one a student and the other a freelance photographer, appeared in Albemarle County General District Court Monday morning. Although UVa is a centerpiece of the city of Charlottesville, it falls under Albemarle County's jurisdiction.

The freelance photographer in court Monday, 41-year-old Kristen Finn, was charged with unlawful assembly and assaulting a law enforcement officer.

A UVa professor, Geeta Patel, was feet away from Finn during the arrest and disputes the charges and the police's account that led to them.

The criminal complaint from the arresting officer accuses Finn of attempting to intentionally impede the dispersant of protestors. The officer then wrote that a fellow officer was attempting to push Ms. Finn back.

Finn, police say, pushed back against that officer before punching him.

No, Patel said of the police account. I didnt see that at all. What I saw was her being hauled backwards.

Kristen did not assault anybody. I made it clear over and over again, she was assaulted, added Patel.

Patel said she was speaking with an officer who was among the long line of police that was moving towards the crowd in its effort to move the public off Grounds Saturday. Patel, who has no cartilage in either of her knees, walks with a cane and has difficulty moving backwards.

Then a cop to the side of him was coming towards me, clearly with the intent to hurt me, Patel told The Daily Progress.

Thats when Finn stepped in, with her back to police, in an attempt to get between them and the older Patel, according to Patel.

She was asking me to move back. Next thing I knew, shed been hauled away and arrested rather violently, Patel said. She put her body on the line to help a complete stranger.

A video appears to corroborate Patels account.

In it, Patel can be seen speaking to an officer as police continue their march.

Do not touch her, a man in the crowd can be heard saying to police.

Seconds later, Finn appears on the left side of the screen. Her back is turned to a police officer as she calmly speaks to Patel. The camera pans to the right, then back to the left as an officer appears to grab Finn by the hand, turning her toward him and then pulling her behind the police line and arresting her. The video does not show Finn punching anyone.

At her hearing Monday, the Albemarle County Commonwealth Attorneys Office, who is prosecuting the case, did not object to Finn being released or being able to leave the country. Her attorney, Jeffrey Fogel, noted that commonwealth attorney holds an elected office.

Theyre not beholden to the attorney general or the governor, Fogel told The Daily Progress outside the courthouse. They dont report to them the way Jim Ryan and my friend Timmy Longo have to report to them. He cant call the shots. They tell them what to do. They have masters.

Many in Virginia have applauded the police response, which was made possible by the decision to declare an unlawful assembly, which is defined in Virginia thus: Whenever three or more persons assembled share the common intent to advance some lawful or unlawful purpose by the commission of an act or acts of unlawful force or violence likely to jeopardize seriously public safety, peace or order, and the assembly actually tends to inspire persons of ordinary courage with well-grounded fear of serious and immediate breaches of public safety, peace or order, then such assembly is an unlawful assembly.

After an unlawful assembly is declared, those who remain are guilty of trespassing. Attorney General Jason Miyares referenced this in a Sunday appearance on Fox News.

The reality is that what you had at UVa were students that were warned repeatedly, Miyares said. They were violating both their student code of conduct. It was an unlawful assembly. There was trespassing.

State police, Miyares said, had to deal with these students that instead of acting like adults, they acted like coddled children.

But the university has also been widely criticized, notably by hundreds of students and faculty members that have signed letters demanding answers from the university and for charges against the detained to be dropped.

That includes a professor who was selected as a member of UVas recently formed Religion, Diversity and Belonging Task Force. Oludamini Ogunnaike, a professor in the department of religious studies, resigned from the task force Sunday.

I cannot in good conscience make recommendations to an academic administration that has acted so violently and contrarily to the goals with which we have been tasked, Ogunnaike wrote in his resignation letter. How could I recommend ways to make Muslim and Jewish students, faculty, and staff feel more welcome on grounds to an administration that sent in heavily-armed riot police to point guns at, threaten, pepper spray, manhandle, arrest, and ban from grounds a small handful of Muslim, Jewish, and other students, faculty, and staff  many of whom were not even part of the protest encampment.

An unknown number of students were among the 24 people arrested Sunday. Some students were sent a letter from Longo telling them that they will be barred from Grounds in the future. According to the letter, recipients will be permitted to finish their final examinations and fulfill any academic requirements. They may also continue to live on Grounds until they finish their exams.

Upon completion of examinations, you must vacate your on Grounds residence, Longo wrote. The no trespass order will remain in effect until the start of the Fall 2024 semester.

On Monday evening, the university announced that it would be holding a virtual town hall at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, to provide an update and answer questions about Saturdays protest near the UVA Chapel that led police to declare an unlawful assembly and arrest demonstrators who didnt leave.
MARTINI launches Dare to Be campaign

MARTINI is launching a new global campaign. MARTINI Dare to Be will appear first in Spain and Benelux this month, followed by Portugal and Italy, as well as appearing in advertising across Europe and North America.

The campaign centres what MARTINI calls the modern aperitivo movement, with visuals showing friends with long drinks in the daytime. The visuals were created by campaign director Tom Noakes and fashion photographer Lou Escobar.

Victoria Morris, MARTINI vice president, commented: Style and playfulness are at the heart of MARTINIs identity and have been a significant part of our heritage as an Italian brand. We wanted to bring these elements to the forefront through the message of MARTINI Dare to Be.

With MARTINI Dare to Be, were continuing to partner with creative leaders who bring our vision of MARTINI to life. The bold visuals and composition of the campaign film and photography speak to our history as an icon of Italian magnetic style, elevating everyday moments with a style that showcases personality.

7 May 2024 - Lucy Schofield

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Bankers house burgled, Rs 3.10 lakh cash stolen





Staff Reporter

A THIEF broke into a senior bank managers house at Juni Mangalwari in Lakadganj area and made off with more than Rs 3.10 lakh cash. According to police, Kishor Madhukarrao Hedau (58), who is a Senior Manager of Punjab National Bank (PNB), Thane (West) Branch, stays with his family at Badlapur. He visits Nagpur with his family every two-three months. His house at Juni Mangalwari, near Jagannath Swami Mandir, was locked since February 26 this year. Hedaus neighbour saw the door of his house open. He contacted Hedau and told him about it. Hedau arrived from Badlapur and saw the door latch broken.

He checked the box-type wooden diwan in his house and was shocked to find the bag containing Rs 3,10,400 cash stolen. Hedau immediately called the police. Staff from Lakadganj Police Station visited the spot. He told police that he had kept the new currency notes of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 500 denominations in the diwan which were stolen on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. Following Hedaus complaint, police registered a case under Sections 457,380 of the Indian Penal Code and started investigation.
Complaint filed against Kharges son-in-law in Rs 800 crore scam





BENGALURU,

A COMPLAINT has been registered with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Karnataka Lokayukta against Congress President Mallikarjun Kharges son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani and five others on Monday in connection with alleged Rs 800 crore scam. The complaint was registered by BJP Bengaluru South District President N R Ramesh. The complaint has named Radhakrishna Doddamani, who is the Management Committee Chief in the Dr B R Ambedkar Medical College and Dr B R Ambedkar Dental College as the prime accused. The charges against him include alleged corruption, cheating, creation of fake documents, forgery and misuse of power. H S Mahadeva Prasad, Dr N T Murali Mohan and V S Kuber are the other accused. The complaint has also been lodged against the Public Relations Officer Amanulla Khan.

The complainant N R Ramesh said that the accused indulged in collecting hundreds of crores from failed and ineligible students of rich families to provide them seats to study MBBS and BDS courses by creating fake documents. Scam involves more than Rs 800 crores in connection with admissions to Dr B R Ambedkar Medical College and Dr B R Ambedkar Dental Colleges. Though the college employee association members, activists and few members of the administration committee have filed complaints to the Governors office, Chief Secretary of Karnataka Government, no action has been initiated in this regard, he alleged.

He said that since 2008-09 till date, thousands of illegalities have come forward regarding admission under the management quota. After the appointment of Amaunalla Khan, a fourth-grade officer as a PRO, the failed students were given admissions violating all rules and guidelines, Ramesh said. N R Ramesh said that the fake academic certificates were obtained from the colleges in Jharkhand and other states for the students who failed in class 12th and admission to MBBS and BDS courses were given.
DLSA ensures education to 180 school dropouts





By Vikas Vaidya

Everyone is aware of the yeomans work of resolving several pending court cases by District Legal Services Authority (DLSA). It is giving justice to needy people where judges and lawyers render services without taking a single penny. This is all related to legal profession, where judges and lawyers are acting as good samaritans. DLSA has added another feature to its work that is related to providing education to children who leave school for some or other reason. It has helped 180 children to get admitted in schools, and now ensures continuance of their education. Under the able guidance of Principal District Judge and Chairman of DLSA, Nagpur, D P Surana, DLSA Nagpur conducted Bring Dropouts Back to School campaign (Specific Serve Campaign to identify dropouts with the help of Para Legal Volunteers). The members of the authority identified total 180 underprivileged teenagers, including 63 girls, 5 handicapped children, who were deprived of education and took action to secure admissions for them in schools. Out of 180 kids, 125 kids had left education due to poor financial condition. Remaining 55 kids were never admitted to the school.

The special drive, led by DLSA Secretary Sachin S Patil proved to be a success, bringing hope and brighter prospects to these young minds. The initiative saw 102 kids from Nagpur city and 78 from rural area being enrolled in schools, ensuring that they are not left behind due to their economic circumstances. Sachin S Patil, appointed three dedicated Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs) namely Mukund Adewar, Rajratan Wankhede and Mushahid Khan who selflessly roamed across the city and rural area, particularly focusing on underprivileged areas and slums. The Para Legal Volunteers (PLVS) along with District Child Protection Co-ordinator of Zilla Parishad Prasenjit Gaikwad played a crucial role in creating awareness about the Right to Education Act 2009 among residents, and they worked tirelessly to reach out to the parents of children who were deprived of educational opportunities. Besides admission, the DLSA is also ensuring that the students are provided with school uniforms, books, and other essential materials. Talking to The Hitavada, one of the PLVs Mukund Adewar said, School dropout is a major problem.
Extensive security arrangements in Raipur for polls





Staff Reporter

RAIPUR,

In compliance with the Model Code of Conduct, under the guidance of Inspector General of Police Raipur Range, Amresh Mishra, and Senior Superintendent of Police Raipur, Santosh Singh, the police have taken extensive action and made arrests. Additionally, other preparations for Election Day have been made. In Raipur district, for election duty, 18 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), along with 7 Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) companies and 1995 other police forces, home guards, forest guards, and kotwals have been deployed, who were put on duty a day before the election day. In coordination with the district election team, the district police force and CRPF personnel have been conducting continuous checks on suspicious individuals, including all types of vehicles, through 24 flying squads (FAST) and 25 static surveillance teams (SST), and 5 other police checkpoints. To ensure a peaceful voting process, approximately 90 patrolling parties have been deployed in all police station areas a day before the voting day, along with 16 AD parties. All patrolling parties will remain in contact with each other via wireless sets. In view of the Lok Sabha elections, monitoring of all social media platforms is being carried out by the Social Media Monitoring Cell of the police.

Bringing mobile phones inside the polling booths on the day of voting is prohibited. Violating the secrecy of the vote is a legal offense, and if anyone shares related photos/videos while voting on any social media platform, legal action will be taken against them. The Election Commission is also webcasting a large number of polling centers through CCTV cameras. To ensure the entire voting process is conducted smoothly, extensive patrolling parties have been deployed in all police station areas, and monitoring is being carried out with the help of CCTV cameras and civil teams. SSP Santosh Singh has appealed to the residents of the district to actively participate in the voting process. Exercise your voting rights and strengthen democracy. Today, Collector Gaurav Singh and SSP Santosh Singh, along with other officials, inspected the strong room arrangements and conducted a thorough inspection of all booths, providing necessary instructions.

2,200 COPS, 16 CAPF COMPANIES DEPLOYED IN DURG:BHILAI: OVER 2,200 police officials and personnel and 16 CAPF companies have been deployed for free and fair polling across Durg Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday. The district administration and police urged the people for exercising their franchise and extending all possible cooperation for smooth and peaceful polling. Superintendent of Police (SP) Jitendra Kumar Shukla told the newspaper that 320 out of total 1,509 polling booths have been marked as sensitive and adequate number of police and CAPF force officials and personnel have been deployed for peaceful polling across the parliamentary constituency. He informed that Gazetted Officers (GOs) have been deployed for ensuring close supervision over developments during polling and ensuring immediate measures in case of any adverse developments.

Besides, Station House Officers (SHOs) were directed for maintaining strict vigil at police stations level coordinating developments with senior officials for checking eventuality and ensuring peaceful polling in the process at police stations level. He informed that apart from it 70 police patrolling teams will maintain round the clock vigil during polling and the specially constituted 28 Quick Response Team (QRT) will be in alert mode along with Anti Demonstration (AD) squads at sensitive pockets. The officials and personnel in companies of CAPF including ITBP, BSFand CRPF, deployed for smooth election in the parliamentary constituency have already been briefed about duty and the region. SP Jitendra Kumar Shukla urged people for valuing ones vote and casting it without fail sans fear or succumbing to any temptation. He also appealed people for due cooperation for ensuring smooth and free and fair polling.
Fire breaks out at Union Carbide warehouse





By Bhavana Aparajita

Shukla

After the devastation in 1984, the Union Carbide shutdown the site but left it to rust that has never been cleaned up. On Monday afternoon, fire broke out at Bhopals Union Carbide factory warehouse. Fortunately, no loss of life or property reported but it has pressed the alarm for authorities. With the prompt action of Police and Fire Bridge team the fire incident at Union Carbide warehouse was brought under control but the episode left larger question before the Government to take steps for the treatment of toxic chemical waste kept in the defunct Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. Exclusively talking to The Hitavada, Bhopal Police Commissioner Harinarayan Chari Mishra confirmed the news of fire at the factory site. It was localised and very soon it was doused. No casualty or loss of property reported, CP Mishra said.

According to the information, within 20 minutes fire was doused off, since it was not dense. Eyewitnesses say that the plastic tank had caught fire. The people residing close to the Union Carbide factory saw smoke billowing out from the campus. They rushed to the spot to find that a tank kept there had caught fire. The police and the fire brigade were informed immediately, who rushed to the spot. Since long time debate over the incineration of toxic waste is going on but even after passing almost 40 years nothing has been done. As scientific testing of groundwater and well water near the site revealed mercury levels up to 6m times greater than what is accepted as safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
india seen as 'friendly, fair' as well as 'firm, fiery' nation that cares for its people: Jaishankar





New Delhi, May 7 (PTI)

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said India today is not only seen across the globe as "friendly and fair" but also as a "firm and fiery" nation that cares for its people and fends for them in crisis situations.

Jaishankar made the remarks while speaking on the topic "Viksit Bharat @2047-The Voice of the Youth" at an event at the Delhi University's Hansraj college.

He was referring to the rescue operations run by India to bring back its citizens from war-torn countries such as Ukraine.

"Viksit Bharat" is not a mere slogan to motivate the people but is the foundation built in the last 10 years upon which the future of India's next 25 years will be built, Jaishankar said while addressing students.

"The next 25 years of the 'Amrit Kaal' are your future. It is the journey towards 'Viksit Bharat', and it is you who will make this journey possible," he said.

The external affairs minister said that he sees these 25 years as "a period of opportunity and new challenge".

"This change is of the kind that we have never seen before," Jaishankar said while highlighting the developments that have taken place in the economy and the technology sector, and in India's position in the global forum.

India has emerged as a technology leader globally and the first impression that it has made on the world is with the success of Chandrayaan-3 "which was made at less than the cost of making a movie", Jaishankar said, referring to the country's mission to the South Pole of the Moon.

He also said that India is growing as a digital economy with cashless transactions of 12 billion per month, higher than America where four billion such transactions take place in a year.

Jaishankar also spoke about India's non-tolerance towards cross-border terrorism and gave the example of the Balakot airstrike.
Last rites of Martyr Vicky Pahade performed with State honours in Chhindwara





Our Correspondent

CHHINDWARA,

The last rites of Air Force soldier, Vicky Pahade, who was martyred in the terrorist attack in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir, were performed at Pataleshwar Mokshadham in Chhindwara on Monday. The funeral pyre was lit by the martyrs 5-year-old son Hardik. Earlier, the Air Force gave him a guard of honour. His mortal remains were brought from Nagpur to Imlikheda airstrip (Chhindwara) at 10.30 am in an Army helicopter. After giving guard of honour, the mortal remains was taken from Parasia Road to his home village Noria Karbal in a special vehicle. The last journey from Noria Karbal reached Pataleshwar Mokshadham. Here the relative took the son in his lap and completed the last rites as per the rituals. Earlier in Chhindwara, Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav paid tribute to the martyr Pahade. He also met his mother Dulari. The Chief Minister said, We are proud of our brave soldiers and Army. Those who committed this cowardly act will have to pay the price.

Chief Minister said that India is capable of taking revenge for such cowardly acts. The Chief Minister said that the State Government will give Rs 1 crore to the family of Baidharani. At the same time, he said that except for a few minor incidents, no major incident took place due to the abolition of Article 370. India is capable of taking revenge for this cowardly act. A large number of local people arrived to participate in the last journey of Vicky Pahade. The last journey of martyr Vicky Pahade was taken out from the airstrip along with a convoy of Air Force officers and soldiers. His family, relatives and thousands of people are involved in this journey. Patriotic songs are playing. Slogans of long live the martyrs are being raised. Crowds of people have gathered everywhere to pay homage. The army and the people of the district are proud of Vicky Pahade, who gave martyrdom to the country.
Main accused in ASI Mahendra Bagris murder arrested





Our Correspondent

SHAHDOL/SATNA,

In the case of ASI Mahendra Bagri, who was killed by a tractor trolley at Shahdol, police arrested the main accused and tractor owner Surendra Singh who had cash reward of Rs 30,000 on his head. Earlier, police has arrested Ashutosh Singh and driver Raj Rawat. SP of Shahdol Kumar Prateeik has Line Attached TI of Beohari Police Station, Munnalal Rahangdale for negligence. After this incident district administration raided many mines and seized more than two dozen hywa from bank of Son river and other places. Further, police also razed the house of accused Ashutosh by bulldozer.

Further, mortal remains of the martyr ASI Mahendra Bagri was brought to his native village at Masanha in Satna district. The funeral pyre was lit by his nephew. SP Ashutosh Gupta and SDOP Vidita Dagar reached Masanha village to pay last respect to the martyr police officer. SP attended the last rites and saluted the martyr police officers. The last rites were performed with full State honours. A contingent from district police paid last respect to the martyr ASI. The body was wrapped in the tricolour. Pall of gloom descended in village when body reached the home. The mother, wife and three daughters of martyr ASI also reached the village along with the mortal remains. Villagers in large number attended the funeral procession and paid last respect to the martyr police officer.
Mine-hit villagers threaten boycott





Our Correspondent

KORBA,

RESIDENTS of nine villages affected by the Kusmunda project of the South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) have announced a boycott of the Lok Sabha General Elections voting on Tuesday. Conversely, some members of the village community have decided to participate in the election process. If sources are to be believed, this decision stems from dissatisfaction with unfulfilled promises following the acquisition of their ancestral land by the SECL for coal mining operations. Despite assurances of compensation and employment opportunities, the affected villagers find themselves stranded, with neither compensation for their land nor the promised jobs materializing. According to the land-displaced villagers, their appeals to officials have gone unanswered, exacerbating frustration and resentment among them. The decision to boycott the elections was made collectively during a meeting in Pali Padania.

According to sources, a significant number of villagers from nine villages, including Pali, Jatraj, Sonpuri and others, have declared their intention to boycott the elections due to concerns regarding employment, rehabilitation and compensation. Officials from SECL Kusmunda stated that hundreds of unemployed individuals from the villages have been hired by contract companies in the mine, and 109 people have been employed as regular SECL employees. Efforts are being made for rehabilitation at Sarwamangla dumping, Barampur dumping, Khamariya, and Sarvamangla Nagar. The process is also underway to provide eligible villagers with regular employment opportunities. Meanwhile, a team from SECL Kusmunda visited the villages on Monday to engage in dialogue with the residents.

The team attempted to persuade the villagers and appealed to them to participate in the election process. Notably, this issue has come at a time, when Korba braces for the third phase of voting, where the competition is fierce between BJP candidate Saroj Pandey and Congress candidate Jyotsna Mahant. Rajeev Singh, Area Manager of SECL Kusmunda, has appealed the SECL officers, workers, villagers, and labourers to ensure a 100% voter turnout. Talks between the SECL team and the villagers were continuing when this report was being filed.
Special trains serving special problems to passengers





Staff Reporter

Special trains being run by Indian Railways to clear the summer rush is sparing no trouble for the travellers in providing harrowing experience as horrific tales of absence of service and basic facilities have been reported. All these special trains are running with five digit number starting with zero and going by the treatment being meted out to these specials, one wonders whether Railways authorities are at all serious about the damage being caused to its image due to shoddy service. The other day the Pune-Nagpur special train provided yet another instance of how not to run services. A common feature of these special trains is that none of them are run as per fixed time table and hence prone to delay. In any given case, travellers are often to miss their commitments as due to congested pathways (tracks), these trains mostly run behind schedule. Sometimes the delay is of almost 24 hours, means people who might have some important appointment or needed to reach an important even the are bound to miss the same.

In short, Indian Railways is abusing its dominant and exclusive position in carrying long distance passengers and taking their consumers for granted. Absence of any other alternative means people have no option but to bear with shoddy services and curse their luck for getting caught in the whirlpool of mess, said, Satish Yadav, Member, Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC). Take the case of 01166 Pune-Nagpur summer special on which the travellers were provided such a special treatment and none of them would forget it so easily. As there is heavy rush of travellers on the route, many were elated to get confirmed reservation and hence opted for the same. But little did they realise the trouble they would be in for. First of all, most of the bogies in the train had run out of water and there was no way they could even go to answer natures call.

As usual the passenger first contacted the Ticket Checker who promised to do something, but later it was learnt that water would be made available only on reaching Bhusaval. Means till that time, for nearly four hours, the travellers would have to bear with this little inconvenience. Yadav said he was getting so many calls from the travellers about absence of water. Even the dust bins in the compartments were not emptied. The special trains are mostly weekly in nature and run on other routes and rotated and due to paucity of time, they are not attended to by the staff at the originating station resulting in such horrid situations for passengers. However it must be pointed out that Railways run these special trains on special charges, meaning the ticket prices are on higher side compared to regular trains on the route. But even after paying extra money, Railways is not making any efforts to ensure comfort of the travellers on long distance routes.

The travellers then sought help on Rail Madad but beyond acknowledgment, there was no other comfort. Yadav said during the rush period, railways press in additional trains but due to shortage of staff, the cleanliness aspect often gets overlooked in such special trains. The staff is already hard pressed to put in place the regular trains, and as such, the additional trains running as special sometimes gets overlooked. Senior railway officials though aware of the ongoing situation have done little to ensure adequate manpower on the ground-level to ensure that the passengers long journey is comfortable and not disastrous.
Voting for third phase today





Staff Reporter

RAIPUR,

As many as 1,39,01,285 voters including 69,33,121 male voters, 69,67,544 female voters and 620 third gender voters will exercise their franchise at 15,701 polling stations of seven Lok Sabha seats of the state under the third phase elections on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Chhattisgarh Reena Babasaheb Kangale said that voting will be held in 58 assembly constituencies of seven Lok Sabha seats- Durg, Raipur, Bilaspur, Janjgir-Champa (reserved for scheduled caste), Raigarh (reserved for scheduled tribe), Korba and Surguja (reserved for scheduled tribe) in the state on Tuesday. Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. All preparations have been completed for polling at the polling stations of the seven Lok Sabha seats.

Polling parties left for the concerned polling stations of the seven Lok Sabha seats of the state on Monday so that the polling can begin on time. 168 candidates including 142 male candidates and 26 female candidates are in the fray in the seven Lok Sabha seats of State. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, there were a total 1,27,13,815 voters and now the total voters is 1,39,01,285 an increase of 9.34 per cent.

There are 3,98,416 voters, whose ages are between 18 and 19; 31,92,602 voters, whose ages are between 20 and 29 years; 1,29,481 PwD voters; 61,715 voters, whose age are above 85 years; 2174 voters, whose ages are over 100 years and 11,271 service voters. Gender ratio is 1000:1005. Average per polling booth voters are 885. In Surguja Lok Sabha constituency, 18,19,347 voters will exercise their franchise. 18,38,547 voters will cast their votes in Raigarh Lok Sabha constituency. 20,56,047 voters will cast their votes in Janjgir-Champa Lok Sabha constituency.

16,18,864 voters will exercise their franchise in Korba Lok Sabha constituency. 21,02,687 voters will cast their votes in Bilaspur Lok Sabha seat. 20,90,414 voters will cast their votes in Durg Lok Sabha constituency. 23,75,379 voters will exercise their franchise in Raipur Lok Sabha constituency. Gender ration of voters is more than 1000 in 29 assembly constituencies out of 58 assembly constituencies in seven Lok Sabha seats of State. Total 2809 Sangwari polling stations, which will be managed by the female polling personnel, have been set up in the seven Lok Sabha seats. 58 polling stations will be managed by PwD polling personnel while 235 polling stations will be managed by the youth polling personnel. 306 Adarsh polling stations have been set up in the seven Lok Sabha seats of the state.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Surguja Lok Sabha seat saw a turnout of 77.30%, Raigarh Lok Sabha seat recorded 77.78%, JanjgirChampa Lok Sabha seat had 65.58%, Korba Lok Sabha seat witnessed 75.28%, Bilaspur Lok Sabha seat reported 64.36%, Durg Lok Sabha seat had 71.68%, and Raipur Lok Sabha seat recorded 66% turnout. In addition to the voter photo identity card, voters have the option to present 12 other alternative photo documents for casting their votes. These include the Aadhaar Card, MNREGA Job Card, Driving License, PAN Card, Indian Passport, Pension Document with Photo, service identity cards with photo issued by Central/State Government/PSUs/Public Limited Companies, passbooks with photo issued by banks/post offices, smart cards issued by RGI under NPR, Health insurance smart card issued under the Ministry of Labour scheme, Government Identity Card issued to Members of Parliament /MLAs/Legislative Council, and Unique Disability ID (UDID) card issued to Persons with Disabilities by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. On the polling day, May 7, a public and general holiday has been declared in the seven Lok Sabha constituencies. Similarly, the Labour Department has announced May 7 as a "paid holiday" for workers.

As of May 5, a combined total of 2725 voters, including 805 individuals aged above 85 and 462 individuals with disabilities, have participated in the electoral process via door-todoor postal voting in these seven Lok Sabha seats under the third phase. Additionally, 641 postal ballots have been received at the assistance centres managed by election duty officers/employees. Out of total 11,271 service voters in the seven Lok Sabha seats, 428 postal ballots have been received by May 4. In the seven Lok Sabha constituencies, a total of 61,664 polling personnel have been deployed for 15,701 polling parties, with an additional 15,928 personnel on standby. To ensure the integrity of the elections, 202 companies of security forces have been stationed. Among these, 25 polling stations are classified as vulnerable and 1072 as critical, necessitating the deployment of CAPF personnel along with measures such as webcasting, videography, and microobservation. Additionally, 283 polling stations have been identified as shadow areas for the third phase. Moreover, 1658 sector officers have been tasked with providing regular updates on polling percentages to the Returning Officer every two hours. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will be stationed at Voters Assistance Booths in every polling station, equipped with alphabetical voter lists to assist voters in locating their names and serial numbers. A total of 37,855 Ballot Units (BU), 19,097 Control Units (CU), and 20,984 VVPAT machines have been provided.

Webcasting facilities have been set up at 7,887 polling stations out of the total 15,701, allowing the Election Commission of India to closely monitor proceedings. Meanwhile, on Monday, both major political parties, the BJP and the Congress, engaged in door-to-door campaigning to sway voters. The primary electoral battle in these Lok Sabha seats is between the BJP and the Congress. To combat the heat wave, arrangements have been made at all polling stations across the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, including provisions of cold water, lemon water, and ORS for both voters and polling parties. Additionally, coolers have been installed, and shaded areas have been designated for voters. Waiting halls are also available at the polling stations, along with medical kits, stated the CEO.
Normally by this time of year, students planning to attend Virginia Commonwealth University  and every other American college  in the fall are committing to schools and sending in deposits.

But as many families with a college-bound high school senior know, this isnt a normal year.

Delays in processing the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, form have students across the country stressed out, and understandably so. Typically, May 1 is the national college deposit deadline  but this year, many students havent yet received need-based financial aid offers from schools because of the federal delays in processing applications.

Typically, students file their FAFSA forms starting in the fall, meaning that by January or so, schools are receiving those forms and are able to create financial aid packages based on the forms.

This year, the issues with the new forms meant that students couldnt even start their applications until the end of December. That means schools like VCU are just now receiving financial information we need to process financial aid packages. This week VCU is starting to offer need-based aid packages to new students  nearly four months later than we usually do.

Without knowing how much financial aid theyll receive to cover the cost, it could be challenging for some families to decide which college their student will attend.

At VCU, our message to students is that the most important thing is to remain committed to their college education. This years FAFSA issues are stressful, yes  but theyre a glitch in the system, which is not the norm. We want students to understand that VCU and college administrators around the country are working to help them. Well get through this!

We applaud the federal governments intent, which was to make the FAFSA form simpler and easier to use, especially for lower-income and middle-income students.

According to the Department of Education, simplifying the form should allow 610,000 more students to qualify for Pell grants, which go to low-income students, and almost 1.5 million more students will qualify for the maximum Pell grant. These are laudable goals.

This is an issue which especially impacts VCUs students, because so many of them rely on need-based financial aid.

In the current academic year, about 65% of VCUs student body, and 71% of our undergraduates, are enrolled with a FAFSA. More than 30% of our student body is Pell-eligible, meaning their families have low incomes, and another third is made up of first-generation students.

The FAFSA delay has a greater impact on those groups, but it also impacts middle-income families, who also often rely on need-based financial aid. In addition, the FAFSA is the first step toward other ways of paying for college, such as direct loans.

Comparing the applications we received last year at this time to the ones weve received so far for next year, weve seen about 14% fewer FAFSA applications  which is still a better rate than the state and national averages. According to the National College Attainment Network, FAFSA submissions are down 23.8% in Virginia and down 29% nationally.

Our expectation is that well see that number tick up as the federal government processes more applications. While VCU, like many schools, has a May 1 deadline for commitments and financial deposits for the coming academic year, weve extended our deposit deadline to May 15. We understand the position our students are in.

In the meantime, there are proactive steps both VCU, other Virginia institutions of higher learning and students can take.

On VCUs end, we are processing aid packages as quickly as possible for the applications weve received. And this year, were also awarding merit-based financial aid earlier than we usually do, so students who qualify can use that to start making decisions. Weve also made additional institutional aid available.

We encourage students  and potential students  to reach out to their financial aid counselors at the college they are considering, via phone or email.

And we encourage students to visit campus if they havent yet, to also speak in person with their financial aid counselor. Incoming students can connect with VCUs financial counselors face-to-face and get a feel for the school, as well.

We also want students to remember: every student who applies for FAFSA, and every college, are facing the same delays. A lot of students are just like them, waiting anxiously for their forms to process. And that will happen  later than wed all like, but it will happen. Colleges are working with students to help make this process a little easier.

And the most important thing is that students not give up on college because of these delays. Their future is too important to let it be sidelined by what is ultimately a temporary timing issue. The FAFSA is just one step toward the bigger goal  getting an education that will allow them to pursue their dreams.

This column was originally published in the Virginia Mercury.
Double tragedy: No time for red-tapism

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15,000 is a huge number, specially when it refers to houses destroyed or damaged by hailstorm or thunderstorm. It is now official that more than 15,000 houses have been either damaged or completely destroyed by the hailstorm/thunderstorm which lashed several parts of the state on May 5. The figure may only rise after full assessment. As seen in several photographs and video clips circulated on social media, the scale of damage is huge. In fact, it is a disaster for thousands of families. While many houses have been razed to ground, hundreds of houses had their roofs blown away and thousands had their roofs perforated like metal gauze. The disaster has only doubled the peoples misery and economic woes. Along with the dwelling houses, large tracts of vegetable farms, agricultural crops as well as horticultural crops have also been ruined by the hailstorm/thunderstorm. Although there are some unofficial reports of the hailstorm/thunderstorm killing poultry and livestock, there is no official record as yet. The authorities need to carry out a thorough assessment on this front too. This, we fear, will have serious impacts on the states economy. The state and her people have been already reeling under suffocating economic woes on account of the violent crisis which erupted on May 3, 2023 and is still lingering without a hope of resolution any time soon. More than 60,000 people displaced by the violent conflict have been taking refuge in relief camps and living a wretched life for the past one year. Now more people, rendered homeless or roofless by the hailstorm/thunderstorm, are taking shelter in community halls and relief camps. If the devastating hailstorm/thunderstorm of May 5, 2024 is a natural disaster, the violent conflict raging across the state since May 3, 2023 is a man-made one. The situation is really desperate and the state must act accordingly, and it is undoubtedly a fit case for declaration of Natural Disaster officially.

The situation is really desperate as evidenced by long queues seen in front of hardware stores since early morning long before the hardware stores were opened to buy construction and roofing materials, particularly CGI sheets. The scale of damage and destruction is so widespread that many hardware stores of Imphal have exhausted their stocks of CGI sheets on a single day. The government did respond to the natural disaster by way of calling damage reports but very little has been done on ground so far to lessen the misery of the affected people. The government and its agencies must act pro-actively and do everything to ameliorate the peoples misery. A large number of people have been suffering from the double tragedy of a man-made disaster and a natural disaster. Its not time for lengthy, cumbersome paper works or red-tapism. It would do well for the government and its agencies to go to the affected people and do whatever they can to lessen the peoples suffering instead of waiting for the people to come to their offices. Cumbersome paper works and red-tapism at such time of natural disaster will only draw harsh criticisms. The situation is so desperate and it demands the state and its agencies to act on war-footing. It is heartening to note the Chief Ministers announcement that an amount of Rs 6.90 crore has been sanctioned to take up relief measures for the affected people. At the same time, it must be understood that the sanctioned amount will do no good until and unless it reaches the suffering people. If the sanctioned amount is held up at government offices, it will serve no purpose. Rather it will invite public ire. The Chief Minister was also saying that the government would look into the question of providing compensation to farmers for loss of crops, poultry and livestock. This is indeed a positive response from the government. This is another key aspect which must be assessed comprehensively and the Chief Ministers response ought to be translated into action for all these farmers have been already suffering from the crippling impacts of the violent crisis. It is a disaster and people are suffering from a double tragedy. Its no time for red-tapism.
Doctors feel that with the sharp rise in the incidents of asthma, more awareness drives are required to improve the quality of life for asthmatic patients.

India accounts for 13 per cent of the global burden of asthma. Globally, 42 per cent asthma-related deaths take place in India. It has been seen that only 20 per cent of the diagnosed patients are aware about asthma, said doctors today on the eve of World Asthma Day, which falls on 7 May.

The recent Global Burden of Disease (GBD 1990-019) estimated the total burden of asthma in India as 34.3 million, accounting for 13.09 per cent of the global burden.

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Dr Angira Dasgupta, HOD chest department, BR Singh Hospital emphasized that despite the increasing prevalence of asthma in India, there is still lack of awareness about asthma and its symptoms. Asthma is not a disease that can be permanently cured but can only be managed better with right intervention and medication.

Among 20 per cent of patients who are diagnosed with asthma, the majority are youngsters in the age group of 20 to 40 years. Similarly, those who are unaware about the disease are usually in the age group of 35 to 55 years. So, it is high time that the general public should be sensitized.

Dr Dasgupta said awareness about asthma is required for better management of the disease by understanding the symptoms and causes of asthma. If people are aware then they can take steps to avoid the things that trigger asthma and thus reduce the asthma attacks. For example, exposure to allergens like dust mites, pet dander and pollen can help to reduce inflammation and narrowing of the airways.

By sensitizing and promoting right information, we can significantly improve quality of life for asthmatic patients, Dr Dasgupta added.
During his campaign for BJP candidate Dilip Ghosh in Durgapur, Union home minister Amit Shah stressed on minority appeasement and infiltrations in the state but did not mention anything on Sandeshkhali sting operation though he named Sheikh Sahajahan at Tilak Maidan here today.

In fact, Amit Shah remained silent on the issue of sting operation in Sandeshkhali and the thirty two minute-long viral video clips, which proves that the party is trying to skirt the issue, barely a day before the third phase of election in the state.

Instead, he has claimed that Mamata Banerjee has tried to save the culprits like Sheikh Sahajan, but it is the high court which has handed over the case to the CBI.

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Women have been raped and tortured, but the women chief minister has remained a silent spectator and did not arrest the culprits, he alleged.

He has urged the voters to support BJP in the polls for introducing CAA and claimed that already the benefits of abrogation of article 370 in Kashmir has been seen.

Amit Shah criticised chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her minority appeasement and claimed that from the houses of a Bengal minister, crores of rupees were seized.

The state government also protects the criminals but the BJP will find them out even if they are hidden underground and will face trial.

Amit Shah said that Dilip Ghosh, the BJP candidate for the Burdwan  Durgapur seat is a big leader and during his tenure as state president BJP has become stronger in the state organisationally.

Political observers feel that this statement of Amit Shah is a direct message to Suvendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar, the two most powerful BJP leaders in the state.

Dilip Ghosh has been shifted from his Midnapore seat to an unknown seat like Burdwan  Durgapur. There has been a factional feud in the state BJP and Shah has given a strong message before the next phase of polls, it is believed.

Amit Shah arrived in Durgapur yesterday and later held a meeting with the top leadership of Rahrbanga at a private hotel in which party president of West Bengal Sukanta Majumdar was also present.

Sources said that Amit Shah gave several tips to the local top leadership before the next phase of polls which is very crucial for the saffron brigade. Central observers Sunil Bansal and Mangal Pandey were also present.
A day after Lieutenant Governor (LG) Saxena recommended a NIA probe into the alleged funding of the Aam Aadmi Partys (AAP) by a banned extremist outfit, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers staged a protest demonstration at the AAP office here on Tuesday.

Led by BJPs Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva, the protestors marched to the AAP office. After converging outside the office, when they tried to breach police barricades, the police stopped and detained them only to be let off later with a warning.

During the demonstration, the protestors raised slogans against the AAP and its convenor Arvind Kejriwal.

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Addressing the gathering, Sachdeva hit out at the jailed chief minister saying by accepting donations from a terrorist outfits, the AAP chief tarnished the image of national heroes like Shaheed Bhagat Singh whose martyrdom he often invokes.

Sharpening his attack on the AAP, the Delhi BJP president said while differences in politics are acceptable, compromise on the security of the nation is not. Hence, he condemned the AAP for not hesitating to take funds from an extremist organisation. By accepting donations from a terrorist organization, the AAP has exposed its political character, the BJP leader pointed out.

Against this backdrop, Sachdeva said AAPs offices in all the seven constituencies of Delhi could be seized for allegedly colluding with the enemies of the nation. The BJP workers will go door-to-door to acquaint people with the character of the AAP, he added.

Along with the BJP wokers, the protest rally was participated by party leaders of like Sardar R P Singh, Vijendra Gupta, Mohan Singh Bisht, Anil Bajpayee, Dinesh Pratap Singh, Vishnu Mittal, Gajendra Yadav, Richa Pandey Mishra, and Amit Gupta and also partys district presidents.

Sachdeva called on every voter to ensure that their vote goes in favour of the nation.

Speaking on the occasion, Vijendra Gupta alleged that the AAP and Congress subscribe to Maoist ideology and work accordingly, spreading only communal violence.

The AAP is the only party where corruption and anti-national sentiments go hand in hand, he contended.

Another leader of the saffron party, R P Singh, alleged that Kejriwal is the progenitor of corruption in the Delhi government, and by accepting money from an extremist outfit, the Delhi CM has proven that he has no moral values, Singh added.
Ankush Bahuguna, a trailblazing figure in the world of digital content creation, is set to make history as the first Indian male beauty content creator to grace the renowned Cannes Film Festival red carpet. Styled by the celebrated fashion guru Akshay Tyagi, Bahugunas debut at the 77th Cannes Film Festival marks a significant milestone in his already illustrious career.

Bahugunas journey to Cannes is a testament to his resilience and determination. Originally on a path towards architecture, he discovered his passion for content creation, particularly in the realms of beauty and comedy. Overcoming childhood struggles with self-doubt and bullying, Bahuguna has emerged as a beacon of confidence, inspiring countless individuals along the way.

From humble beginnings in the capital city of India, Ankush Bahuguna has risen to prominence as a prominent figure in the digital landscape. With millions of followers across various social media platforms, he has carved out a unique niche with his captivating and diverse content, defying traditional gender norms and captivating audiences worldwide.

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Reflecting on his Cannes debut, Bahuguna expressed his gratitude and disbelief at realizing such a dream. He sees his presence on the prestigious red carpet not only as a personal triumph but also as a significant step forward for South Asian representation in the beauty and fashion industries. His journey serves as an inspiration, illustrating that with belief and hard work, extraordinary achievements are within reach.

Beyond his digital endeavors, Bahuguna has expanded his repertoire to include acting, starring in web series such as Joint Venture and Badboli Bhavna. Additionally, his popular YouTube series, Wing It With Ankush, in collaboration with a leading beauty brand in India, has garnered millions of views, showcasing his versatility and creativity.

Ankush Bahugunas ascent to Cannes is not just a momentous occasion for him personally, but it also symbolizes a broader shift towards inclusivity and acceptance in the global beauty and fashion landscape. As he takes his place on the red carpet, Bahugunas presence speaks volumes, opening doors for countless others to follow in his footsteps.
In a significant development regarding the recent shooting outside actor Salman Khans Mumbai residence, authorities have apprehended a fifth suspect in the case. Identified as Mohammad Chaudhary, the individual was captured in Rajasthan for his alleged involvement in aiding the shooters, Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta.

Chaudharys role reportedly involved providing financial support and conducting reconnaissance for the assailants, as confirmed by officials from the Mumbai Crime Branch. This arrest adds another layer to the ongoing investigation into the alarming incident that shook the Bandra neighborhood.

Tragically, the case took a somber turn with the death of Anuj Thapan, one of the arms suppliers implicated in the matter. Thapan was discovered deceased in his cell on May 1, with reports suggesting suicide as the cause.

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Authorities revealed that Thapan had attempted to end his life while in custody and succumbed to his injuries after being rushed to the hospital. His arrest on April 26 had been a significant breakthrough, shedding light on the network responsible for supplying weapons to those involved in the attack.

The incident, which unfolded on April 14, witnessed two assailants firing shots outside the Galaxy Apartments which is Salman Khans residence, before making their escape. Subsequent arrests have revealed ties to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

In response to the gravity of the situation, Mumbai Police invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) against all the accused individuals linked to the shooting incident.

Furthermore, authorities have issued a lookout notice for Anmol Bishnoi, the younger sibling of incarcerated gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, in connection to the case. The investigation continues as law enforcement agencies work tirelessly to bring all those involved to justice and ensure the safety of the community.
Renowned Malayalam actress, Kanakalatha, known for her versatile portrayals in over 360 films, passed away peacefully at her residence in Thiruvananthapuram at the age of 63. Her demise came after battling Parkinsons disease and dementia. Born on August 24, 1960, in Kollam, she ventured into the cinematic world and became a beloved figure among audiences for her exceptional performances.

Throughout her remarkable four-decade career, Kanakalatha graced the silver screen with memorable roles in various acclaimed films such as Priyam (2000), Kannezhuthi Pottum Thottu (1999), Stalin Sivadas (1999), and Varnapakittu (1997), among others. Her final appearance was in the film Pookkalam (2023), leaving an indelible mark on the industry.

Not limited to Malayalam cinema, Kanakalatha also made significant contributions to Tamil films, starring in notable works like Uzhaikkum Paadhai (2018), Unakkaga Piranthen (1992), and Karpooramullai (1991). Her talent transcended boundaries and captivated audiences across regions.

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Beyond the silver screen, Kanakalatha extended her talent to television and dramas, leaving an enduring impact. While she appeared in only a few dramas such as Pramani, Indulekha, and Swathi Tirunal, her television roles, including Paliyathachan, Ente Manasaputhri, and Alaudeenum Albuthavilakkum, resonated with viewers.

On a personal note, Kanakalathas life had its ups and downs. Marrying at a young age and later parting ways after 16 years, she faced challenges but remained dedicated to her craft. In 2021, illness struck, and she was cared for by her sister, Vijayamma, as her health declined. Diagnosed with Parkinsons disease and dementia, she fought bravely until the end.

Kanakalathas legacy transcends her cinematic achievements; she serves as an inspiration for aspiring actors and leaves behind a rich body of work that will continue to be cherished by generations to come. Her talent, versatility, and dedication to her craft will be remembered fondly, ensuring her immortality in the hearts of her fans and colleagues alike.
Around 55 per cent average voting was registered across the nine Lok Sabha constituencies of Madhya Pradesh by 3 pm on Tuesday.

The seats of Bhopal, Guna, Rajgarh, Vidisha, Morena, Bhind (SC), Gwalior, Sagar and Betul (ST) are being contested in MP in the third phase of Lok Sabha polls today.

According to MP Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan, polling is being conducted peacefully across the state.

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He said that till 3 pm, Morena registered 48.23 per cent voting, Bhind (SC) recorded 44.18 per cent, Gwalior registered 49.60 per cent and Guna registered 60.16 per cent polling.

Similarly, 53.08 per cent voting was registered in Sagar, 59.87 per cent in Vidisha, 50.16 per cent in Bhopal, 59.63 per cent in Betul (ST) and 63.69 per cent polling was registered in Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency till 3 pm.
Seeking general amnesty for the Kashmiri youth detained in cases related to terrorism, Apni Party candidate for south Kashmirs Anantnag Lok Sabha seat Zafar Iqbal Manhas has demanded their release to enable them to join the mainstream in J&K.

Manhas was addressing a series of election rallies in the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri where Pakistan is trying hard to revive terrorism by repeatedly targeting men of the Indian Army.

He opposed registration of FIRs against the innocent youth and held the National Conference (NC), PDP and Congress equally responsible for the sufferings of the people.

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The youth booked in different cases across the region and other areas of Kashmir should be given general amnesty so that they can be brought back to mainstream life, he asserted.

Manhas had to do a bit of explaining to clear the common belief that the Apni Party was being backed by the BJP. He said that it was the NC that became an alliance partner of the BJP at the Centre for the first time from J&K. Later, the PDP followed the footsteps when it formed a coalition government in J&K with the BJP.

Asking the people to remain vigilant from the divisive forces, he asked them to come forward and elect a candidate who is contesting on merits.

Criticising the traditional parties for deliberate neglect of the Pir-Panjal region for decades, Manhas said that he would strongly advocate for a Hill Development Council for Rajouri and Poonch districts with separate allocation of funds for overall development of the region to overcome the backwardness.

Manhas is pitted against the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and the NC candidate Mian Altaf and others in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency for which polling was earlier scheduled to be held on 7 May but have now been postponed to 25 May.

Manhas held a roadshow in the Poonch town where he said that he would fight for the rights of the people of the region who were discriminated against for decades by the NC, PDP and Congress. He accused these parties of being responsible for the backwardness of the region.

He said that these parties were responsible for the troubled period in the region because they played divisive politics to remain in power.

Being a border region, he said that Rajouri and Poonch districts have faced worst kind of human catastrophic due to hostile situation on the Line of Control (LoC), unprovoked ceasefire violations, increasing drug addiction menace, underdevelopment, inadequate specialised staff in educational and health sector, improper infrastructure, and issues of basic amenities remain unresolved.
The Congress has put its faith in a woman candidate for the second time after 52 years for the Lahaul and Spiti by-election scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls on June 1.

The Congress on Sunday evening announced the candidature of Anuradha Rana for Lahaul and Spiti and Subhash Chand for Barsar.

The by-elections in these two Assembly constituencies (ACs), along with four other ACs, were necessitated following the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs by State Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania under anti-defection law for defying for party whip to be present in the Assembly during cut motion and Budget session.

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These rebel MLAs had earlier cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha election on February 27 in favour of BJP candidate Harsha Mahajan who defeated senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi despite Congress being in a majority in the legislative Assembly.

Zila Parishad chairperson Anuradha Rana is pitted against former Congress rebel Ravi Thakur who switched sides and joined the BJP.

Ravi Thakur is the son of former MLA Lata Thakur, the first woman legislator from the tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti and the first Scheduled Tribe MLA in Himachal Pradesh.

Lata Thakur had won the election in 1972.

Anuradha Rana is also said to be a protege of two-time MLA Ravi Thakur. Thakur had won the election twice in 2012 and 2022 on Congress ticket.

Hailing from Teiling village in Lahaul and Spiti, she belongs to a humble family.

Her nomination as the Congress candidate has finally put to rest speculations of allotment of ticket to former BJP MLA Ram Markanda that was being opposed by the contenders from the party, workers and people supporting Congress.

The Congress office bearers of the Lahaul and Spiti block unit even met Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and expressed their resentment, demanding that the ticket should not be given to Markanda.

The rationale of the party workers was that such a trend of importing candidates to contest elections would demoralise party workers who devote their lives with dedication to strengthen the party.

Some of the office bearers, along with one of the party contenders for the ticket, former NSUI Lahaul and Spiti district president and ex-district Youth Congress president Suresh Kardo, had threatened mass resignation.

Addressing the media at Lahaul on Monday, an elated Rana, almost in tears, thanked the party for giving ticket to contest the by-elections, saying, I am grateful to the party for giving me the ticket. I am hopeful that people of the district will support me as they want change.

She also expressed her gratitude to other contenders, who despite their seniority in the party, ultimately supported her.

Suresh Kardo said, We thank the party high command, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, for giving ticket to a party worker. We will work unitedly to ensure the victory of Anuradha Rana.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday doubled down on his claim that the Opposition wants to snatch away the reservation of Dalits and OBCs and give it to Muslims. Reacting to RJD supremo Lalu Yadavs remarks on Muslim reservation, Modi said the statement of the INDIA alliance leader has confirmed their intentions.

Congress is silent but today one of its allies confirmed the intentions of INDI alliance. Their leader who is in jail in connection with the fodder scam and has been punished by the courtHe has just come out on bailHe said that Muslims should get reservation and not just reservation, he says that Muslims should get complete reservation. What does this mean? These people want to snatch away all the reservations that SC, ST and OBC communities have and give complete reservation to Muslims, the prime minister said while addressing a public gathering in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh.

The prime minister has been accusing the Opposition Congress of indulging in appeasement politics ever since the party released its election manifesto.

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Terming the partys manifesto a document of Muslim League, Modi alleged that the grand old party has plans to give Muslims a chunk of reservation granted to SC, ST and OBC communities.

However, the Congress has rejected the prime ministers claim, saying he is reading from his 2019 script.

Reacting to the PMs charge, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate accused Modi of misleading people over quotas for Muslims in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
An estimated 58 per cent of the 1.89 crore voters exercised their franchise for the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in ten seats of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, which by and large passed off peacefully.

EC officials confirmed that polling was peaceful with no untoward incident being reported from anywhere so far.

Till 5 pm, voting percentage in the 10 LS seats was 55.13 58 per cent, which can go up to 58 58 per cent of the by the end of the polling at 6 pm, sources said.

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Like the previous two phases, the voting percentage did not cross 60 58 per cent on average.

In this phase, only Sambhal crossed 6058 per cent of the mark by 5 pm.

However, reports say in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, BJP and SP workers clashed at polling station Tejganj of te Bebar area of Kishni assembly station. There was heavy stone pelting at the polling station in which three BJP workers were injured.

In Ferozabad, around 42 fake voters have been arrested.

A report from Sambal said SP candidate and sitting MLA Ziaur Rahman Burke had a heated exchange with the police in Chaudhary Sarai of Sambhal Kotwali area.

Meanwhile, SP President Akhilesh Yadav, his wife and SP candidate Dimple Yadav and his daughter Aditi voted in Saifai.

Prominent candidates among the total 100 in the fray in this phase were Dimple Yadav, daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav and wife of SPs National President Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting from Mainpuri. The BJP has fielded Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh against Dimple.

Shivpal Singh Yadavs son Aditya Yadav is in the fray from Badaun and Prof Ram Gopal Yadavs son Akshay Yadav is the SP candidate from Firozabad.

Union Minister of State SP Singh Baghel is the BJP candidate from Agra. The BJP fielded Minister of State for Revenue Anoop Valmiki from Hathras whereas the party fielded Rajveer Singh, son of former chief minister Kalyan Singh from Etah, and former minister of state Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar from Bareilly. In Fatehpur Sikri, the BJP has given a ticket to Rajkumar Chahar while here Ramnath Sikarwar is in the fray from Congress.

Around 26 per cent of the candidates contesting in the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in UP have criminal cases against them while 46 per cent are Crorepatis.

In the past two phases, UP recorded low voting percentage which has made the political parties worry about the results.

In both the phases, the poll percentage dropped below 60 per cent.

According to the EC office here, 26.12 per cent voting was recorded till 11 am in the ten Lok Sabha seats of UP that went up to 38.12 per cent at 1 pm, 46.78 at 3 pm, and 55.13 per cent at 5 pm.

At 5 pm Agra reported 51.53 per cent voting ,followed by 57.07 per cent in Etah, 54.73 per cent in Aonla, 52.77 per cent in Badaun, 54.21 per cent in Bareilly, 54.93 per cent Fatehpur Sikri , 56.27 per cent in Firozabad, 53.54 per cent in Hathras, 55.88 per cent in Mainpuri, and 61.10 per cent in Sambhal.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that if Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is released on interim bail in view of the general election, he would not be performing official duties as discharging official work while on interim bail would have a cascading effect.

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Hinting that it may consider granting interim bail to Kejriwal in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta said that if released on bail, Kejriwal would not be attending his office and performing his functions as Chief Minister.

The court said this while reminding senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Kejriwal that in the last hearing on May 3, 2024, the bench had asked whether he (Kejriwal) should be signing the files because of his present position.

As Singhvi said that it would create a piquant situation of a government without Chief Minister and a Chief Minister without power. Singhvi even offered that Kejriwal will not deal with any file relating to excise policy. The senior advocate said that now everything has been reversed on the excise policy.

However, the bench said that Kejriwal attending his office while being on interim bail will have a cascading effect. It will have a cascading affect, Justice Khanna told Singhvi.

Submitting to the suggestion from the bench, Singhvi said, He will not sign any files, with a condition that Lt. Governor may not stop any work on the ground that I have not signed any file.

However, the hints that the court may grant interim bail to Kejriwal in view of the ongoing general elections was stoutly opposed by the Directorate of Enforcement which urged the bench not to carve out any exception in the case of a politician as all are equal in the eyes of the law.

Please dont make an exception. It will send the wrong message. Demoralize the common man. The electioneering is a luxury, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Directorate of Enforcement told the bench further stating Please dont earmark politicians as a separate category, from barbers, mazdoor, farmers and businessman and corporate honchos.

Justice Khanna said, We grant bail in exceptional cases. He is not a repeat offender and We cannot ignore this aspect (ongoing general elections).

Justice Datta said that we have considered this aspect keeping in view the balance of convenience and equity.

In the course of the earlier hearing today as Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju took the court through the statement of different accused and one of them who has turned approver to present a case of Kejriwals involvement in the excise policy case, Justice Khanna repeatedly reminded him that the limited issue is Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.

The Section 19 (1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, says that if an officer of Directorate of Enforcement has on the basis of material in his possession, reason to believe (the reason for such belief to be recorded in writing) that any person has been guilty of an offence punishable under this Act, he may arrest such person and shall, as soon as may be, inform him of the grounds for such arrest.

Telling ASG Raju that there has to be a balancing between the material that the ED is relying on for prosecuting an accused and that it is not relying on, the bench noted that it was almost two years since it was in possession of material that it has relied upon to arrest Kejriwal and it does not behove of an investigating agency to say that it was investigating the case.

The hearing will continue on Thursday or next week.

Kejriwal has approached the top court challenging the Delhi High Courts April 9, 2024, order rejecting his plea against his arrest by the ED and the subsequent remand. The top court had asked the Enforcement Directorate to respond to Kejriwals plea.

Kejriwal in his plea against the High Court order has contended that his arrest after announcement of the General Elections is motivated by extraneous considerations. Describing his arrest as motivated, Kejriwal has contended that a sitting Chief Minister has been arrested in the middle of election cycle and especially after the announcement of the schedule of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The petition by Kejriwal against the High Court order says that the statements and material relied upon by the ED against him was in its possession for the last niner months but why it acted when general elections were on.

These statements relied upon as grounds of arrest were recorded by the ED from December 7, 2022, till July 27, 2023 and subsequently no further material has been collected against Kejriwal, states the petition.

Moreover, such statements and material were in possession of the Enforcement Directorate for the last nine months and still the arrest has been made illegally in the middle of general election 2024, says the petition by Kejriwal.

The petition says that Kejriwals arrest also constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy based on free and fair elections and federalism, both of which form significant constituents of the basic structure of the Constitution.
Senior Congress leader K Sudhakaran, who temporarily handed over the charge of KPCC president to MM Hassan, following his candidature from the Kannur Lok Sabha constituency, will resume his role as Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president on Wednesday.

The Congress high command has reportedly given him the nod to take over the post. Confirming the decision, Sudhakaran said the approval from the partys high command was only a matter of formality. I can take charge anytime, today or tomorrow, he told media persons in Kochi on Tuesday.

It is learned that the intervention of some senior Congress leaders and pressure from K Sudhakaran himself forced the Congress national leadership to bring him back to the helm of the party in the state.

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A section of senior Congress leaders, who backed Sudhakaran, conveyed to the national leadership that if there is further dilly-dallying on Sudhakarans return as party chief would send out a wrong message.

Sudhakarans return to the position of KPCC chief was delayed for some time. There was also a campaign in his favour and against him. Earlier, there were speculations that the national leadership is looking for a fresh face in the state to hold the position of party Kerala chief.

There were also reports that A group leaders in the state are trying to use the delay in the decision as an opportunity to change Sudhakaran from the position. Earlier, Sudhakaran had expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in returning the post of KPCC president to him.

Sudhakaran suspected that there was a conscious effort to shift him from the position of the KPCC president. His supporters ask why there should be a delay in handing over the charge of the KPCC chief to Sudhakaran as polling is over in Kerala.

Waiting for the result is not a justification for delaying the handing over of the charge to Sudhakaran, they say.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday wrote a letter to leaders of the INDIA bloc, alleging discrepancies in the voting data released by Election Commission for the first and second phases of the Lok Sabha polls.

He urged the leaders of the Opposition parties to raise their voice against such discrepancies to protect democracy and the Constitution.

My letter to the leaders of INDIA parties, regarding the discrepancies in the voting data released by ECI and non-publishing of registered voters, the Congress chief wrote on X.

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Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, along with the post also shared the letter addressed to leaders of the INDIA bloc over the matter.

In his three page letter to Opposition leaders on Monday, the Congress chief wrote, 2024 LS elections is the fight to save democracy and the Constitution. As you are aware with the recent developments, the credibility of the ECI is at an all time low. It is in public domain on how the ECI, perhaps for the first time in history, delayed the release of the final voting percentages of the first and second phase of6 the Lok Sabha elections.

Additionally, it is extremely disconcerting to know, through various media reports, that even the final registered voters list from the third phase onwards is also not released. All these developments cast a dark shadow on the functioning of the ECI an institution built with the collective efforts of the Indian State and its people, he said.

Stating that the inordinate delay in the release of the final voting percentages for the first and second phases raises serious doubts on the quality of data, Kharge said, In my electoral life of 52 years, I have never witnessed such a high increment of voting percentages, in the final published data, that we now assume came from the later hours of voting on the polling days.

For the first phase (102 seats), the Commission said that as of 7pm on 19th April, the estimated voter turnout was around 60 percent, while similarly for the second phase (88 seats), the estimated voter turnout was around 60.96 percent. Why is it that on 20th April, the Commissions projected voter turnout for the first phase was increased to 65.5 percent and on 27th April, for the second phase the voter turnout data was 66.7 percent. Finally on 30th April, the figures were confirmed at 66.14 percent for the first phase and 66.71 percent for the second phase?, he said.

The Congress chief further said, As the INDIA bloc it should be our collective endeavour to safeguard Democracy and protect the independent functioning of the ECI. All the aforementioned facts force us to ask a question  could this be an attempt to doctor the final results? Prime Minister Modi and the BJP are visibly flustered and frustrated by the voting trends and their receding electoral fortunes in the first two phases. The entire nation knows that an autocratic regime, drunk with power, can go to any extent to stay in the chair.

I would urge all of you that we must collectively, unitedly and unequivocally raise our voice against such discrepancies, for our only objective is to protect the culture of a vibrant democracy and the Constitution, Kharge said.
On a day when polling for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections is underway, former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad courted a fresh controversy on Tuesday when he batted for Muslim reservations saying it should be done now.

By doing so, the RJD leader gave an opportunity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to double down on his claim that the Opposition wants to snatch away the reservations of Dalits and OBCs and give them to Muslims. Predictably, Modi lapped up the opportunity without losing time. While addressing a public rally in Madhya Pradeshs Dhar, he took a dig at the Lalu Prasad saying a fodder scam accused leader, who is out on bail, is advocating reservations for Muslims.

Speaking to reporters at the legislative council in Patna, Lalu Prasad said, The votes are on our side They are saying that there will be a Jungle Raj because they are scared, they are trying to instigate They want to finish the Constitution and democracy 

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On the allegation of snatching the reservations of the OBCs and giving them away to the Muslims, he said, .Are toh reservation toh milna chahiye Musalmano ko, pura (Muslims should get reservations in full).

Reacting to his statement, Prime Minister Modi said, Congress is silent but today, one of its allies confirmed the intentions of INDI Alliance. Their leader, who is in jail in connection with the fodder scam and has been punished by the courtHe has just come out on bailHe said that Muslims should get reservations and not just reservations, he says that Muslims should get complete reservations. What does this mean? These people want to snatch away all the reservations that SC, ST, and OBC communities have and give complete reservations to Muslims.

They cant see anything beyond appeasement now, he said at the rally, adding If they come to themselves, they will also take your breath right away..

The prime minister has been accusing the Opposition Congress of indulging in appeasement politics ever since the party released its election manifesto.

Describing the Congress manifesto as a reflection of the Muslim Leagues agenda, Modi alleged that the grand old party has plans to give Muslims a chunk of the reservations granted to the SC, ST, and OBC communities. However, the Congress has rejected the prime ministers claim, saying he is reading from his 2019 script.

Rajya Sabha MP and BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters at the party headquarters, The apprehensions expressed by BJP and PM Modi are now proving to be completely true. The genie of Muslim reservation has come out of the lamp of the INDI alliance and is visible in the sky from the South to the plains of Ganga. The thing worth noticing in the statement given by Lalu Prasad is that the most serious word he was asked about the Muslim community, he said yes Muslims should get reservation poora ka poora. It became clear that they want to give reservation to the Muslim community by snatching the share of SC, ST and OBC

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath says, This is what the prime minister is saying that the parties associated with INDI Alliance, be it Congress, RJD, Samajwadi Party, they will try to disturb the reservations of OBCs, SCs, and STs and their manifesto mentions that.

He pointed out that when the Congress-led UPA government was in power both the RJD and the Samajwadi Party were its constituents. At that time, they had formed the Ranganath Mishra Committee and Sachar Committee. The Ranganath Mishra Committee recommended 6 per cent reservations for Muslims, which was strongly opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at that time.

BR Ambedkar was against reservations on the basis of religion. People should answer them through their votes and reject them, he exhorted the voters.

BJP ally JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said Lalu Prasads statement favouring reservations to Muslims violates the basic spirit of Mandal Commission; social and educational backwardness, not religion, only criteria for reservations:
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase III Voting: Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast his vote at a polling booth in Ahmedabad under the Gandhinagar constituency today as voting in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 is underway for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories.

The third phase polling is being held in Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4).

BJPs Mukesh Dalal has won the Surat Lok Sabha seat unopposed after Congress candidates, including main and substitutes, along with other candidates form smaller parties dropped out of the contest.

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In the third phase, more than 1300 candidates are in the fray. Of them, as many as 130 are women.

Originally, the voting was scheduled to be held on 94 seats but the Election Commission of India postponed the polling on Jammu and Kashmirs Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat to May 25.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Modi reached a polling booth at Nishan Public School in Ranip locality of Ahmedabad city.and cast his vote.

After casting his vote, Modi urged countrymen to vote in large numbers.

The PM was accompanied by Home Minister Amit Shah, who is BJPs candidate from the Gandhinagar seat.

Today is the third phase of voting. There is great importance of Daan in our country and in the same spirit, the countrymen should vote as much as possible. 4 rounds of voting are still ahead. As a voter in Gujarat, this is the only place where I vote regularly and Amit Bhai is contesting from here as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, the PM told reporters outside a polling booth in Ahmedabad.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule are among the prominent leaders in the fray.

Of the 93 seats where polling in being held today, the BJP has won 72 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Lok Sabha elections 2024 are being held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The counting of votes will take place on June 4 and the results are likely to announced on the same day.
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The last four Lok Sabha seats in Assam which went to polls on Tuesday, recorded an overall voter turnout of 74 per cent by 5 pm.

With a total of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam, this third phase encompassed crucial constituencies such as Dhubri, Barpeta, Kokrajhar, and Guwahati.

By 3 pm, the average voter turnout across these constituencies stood at 63.08 per cent. Dhubri exhibited the highest turnout at 65.51 per cent, while Guwahati recorded the lowest at 63.08 per cent.

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Notably, in the first phase, five constituencies witnessed a turnout of 75.95 per cent, followed by a turnout of 81.17 per cent in the second phase.

With the culmination of the third phase, the polling process for all 25 Lok Sabha seats in North East, including Assam, has concluded.

In Assam, the BJP contested on 12 seats, along with allies Asom Gana Parishad and United Peoples Party Liberal, each contesting one seat. The principal opposition party in the state, Congress, contested on 13 seats, reserving one seat for its INDIA alliance partner.
The most wanted A++ category terrorist and operational chief of Pakistan-backed The Resistance Front (TRF), Basit Dar, was among two terrorists killed on Tuesday in an encounter with the security forces in the Redwani area of south Kashmirs Kulgam district. The NIA had announced a Rs 10 lakh reward for providing credible information on Dars whereabouts.

A joint team of the Army, CRPF, and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the J&K Police launched an anti-terrorist operation on Monday night after receiving intelligence inputs on the presence of terrorists in the area. The operation, which was halted in the night, resumed on Tuesday morning during which the two terrorists were killed in a fierce gunfight.

The house in which the terrorists were hiding caught fire during the gunfight on Tuesday morning.

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IGP (Kashmir) VK Birdi hailed the elimination of the top terrorist as a big achievement. He said that Dar was actively involved in terrorist activities since April 2021 and took part in numerous attacks targeting minorities, civilians, and security forces. He had been missing from his home for three years before joining the TRF, a frontal outfit of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The identity of the other slain terrorist is being ascertained.

Security forces are conducting a search operation at the encounter spot. Additional forces have been deployed at the encounter site.

It is worth mentioning that Kulgam falls within the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency, where three targeted killings by terrorists occurred recently. These included the killing of an IAF soldier, a government official, and a member of the Village Defence Group (VDG) within the past fortnight, spanning across the Rajouri and Poonch districts.
In a proactive move to combat the heat wave gripping the state, the Uttar Pradesh government has prepared a comprehensive action plan to protect people from its severity and also provide relief during emergencies.

Under this, the appointment of nodal officers has been mandated at the state, district, and municipal levels.

Additionally, stringent measures include monitoring of heat waves at the district and civic level through video conferencing.

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With a focus on safeguarding citizens from the sweltering temperatures, the action plan will be implemented effectively by following the instructions received from the Government of India, officials here on Tuesday.

Instructions have been issued by the Urban Development Department to implement the action plan on a priority basis for the management of heatwave as well as the diseases and ill effects arising from it.

As per the instructions, wide publicity should be done regarding dos and donts during the heatwave and warnings should be issued through mobile messages/Whatsapp regarding its ill effect. Additionally, proper arrangements should be made for ORS packets at health centers and Anganwadi centers.

The instructions also include changes in the working hours of schools, laborers, and workers and guidelines for preventing deaths due to sunstroke.

It has also been mandated in the instructions to designate temples, community halls, and malls as cooling centers. Arrangements for water and buttermilk should be made at public places by NGOs, community groups and individuals. Adequate shelter arrangements will be ensured in urban bodies to protect people from heat.

In addition to this, all necessary measures to ease impact of heatwave should be widely disseminated among the public in extreme temperature conditions. A public awareness campaign should also be conducted regarding prevention and treatment of heat related illnesses. Weather forecasts and temperature will be displayed at busy places.

Furthermore, special campaigns for water supply will be conducted by urban bodies to keep all water pumps in working condition and to repair and restart those which are not working. Repairing of pipelines supplying water from main pipelines to residential areas will be done to ensure clean water supply.

Additionally, chlorination will be carried out periodically for water purification. Samples of water will be collected at user-end points regularly for bacteriological and virological testing to monitor the quality of drinking water.

In areas where drinking water supply is from hand pumps, distribution of chlorine tablets in appropriate quantities will be done as per the requirement. In areas affected by drinking water scarcity, water supply will be arranged through tankers. Inspection of sewer lines and water pipelines will be conducted in urban areas, and any breakage or leakage found in sewer or water pipelines will be promptly repaired.

Until the leakage is fixed, alternative arrangements will be made to ensure safe drinking water supply in the affected area. Additionally, appropriate veterinary medicine and provision of drinking water will be ensured for animals at shelter locations.

The instructions also include arrangements for shade and drinking water at bus stations and terminals. Provision of drinking water will be ensured for pilgrims at temples and other religious places. Areas like cities, hamlets, and slums expected to be most affected by heat wave will be identified, and arrangement for drinking water made there.

Additionally, proper shade will be arranged in open parks. Water will be sprinkled regularly on the streets. Appropriate planning should be prepared for the construction of new buildings in urban areas. Construction work for green buildings will be carried out while adhering to environmental and building codes.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday urged the people to exercise their franchise to save the Constitution and protect democracy, as the voting for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections gets underway.

In a post on X, the Congress chief wrote, Vote to save Constitution, vote to protect democracy. 11 Crore people in 93 constituencies shall exercise their democratic right, not just to elect their representatives, but shall decide whether they want to secure their Constitutional rights or witness our great nation veer towards dictatorship.

He urged people to choose democracy, so that the institutions can return to their independent form and are not pressed under the thumb of brute power.

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We are right in the middle of the battle.

A correct decision now, can create an India where Nyay i.e. justice is supreme.

When you press that button on the EVM, keep in mind that you are deciding not just your future, but the collective future of 140 crore fellow Indians, the Congress chief said.

He also extended his warm welcome to the first time voters, and called them flag bearers of change.

Remember, the sound of the voting button shall strengthen the Constitution.

Come out in large numbers and vote. Choose wisely.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi also called upon voters to come out in large numbers and cast their votes.

Remember this is not an ordinary election, it is an election to protect the democracy and Constitution of the country, he wrote on X.

Echoing similar sentiments, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wrote on X, This election is to save the countrys democracy and Constitution. Your every vote is important. Vote for your and your childrens future.

The voting for third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 parliamentary constituencies spread across 11 States/Union Territories began at 7 am across 1.85 lakh polling stations.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of going abroad to enjoy beach tourism at a time when the people of Kerala are suffering from extreme summer heat.

He posed three questions to Vijayan on his and his familys private foreign tour.

Speaking to media persons here, Muraleedharan asked who the sponsor of the foreign trip is and what the source of income of the sponsor is. Who is the sponsor of the foreign trip of the CM and his family? What is the source of income of the sponsor? Who has been given the charge of the chief minister and the Public Works Department Minister, he asked.

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He also asked as to what is the stance of the CPI-M on foreign tour of the CM and his family amidst the financial crisis in the state. What is the CPI-Ms stand on this foreign trip amidst the financial crisis, Muraleedharan asked.

Opposition Leader has not responded to the matter. It should be revealed who is bearing the expense of the foreign trip, he further said.

Kerala BJP prabhari Prakash Javadekar also asked at whose expense the chief minister went abroad.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family left for a three-nation private tour on Monday. The family will visit Indonesia, Singapore, and the UAE before returning on May 21.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that Pakistan is posting tweets to cheer up the Congress party after its dismal performance in the first three rounds of polling, and the party in turn is giving clean chit to the perpetrators of the ghastly 26/11 attack on innocent citizens and security personnel in Mumbai.

Addressing a BJP election rally in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, the prime minister asks who does not know the 26/11 attack was the work of Pakistan. Who killed our jawans, who killed our innocent, everybody knows it; the courts have given verdict, Pakistan too accepts the reality; even phone recording of terrorists is available, but the Congress is issuing not guilty certificates to terrorists, he said.

On the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the statement of a Congress leader in Maharashtra is highly dangerous, Mr Modi said. The Congress leaders are siding with Kasab, the worst of the 26/11 terrorists, he said.

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Modi said the minister of state for external affairs during the Congress rule, who is close to the Congress family, has also declared Kasab not guilty.

The prime minister called it an insult to the innocent killed in the attack. It is also an insult to all the security men who eliminated the terrorists; an insult also of martyrs like police official Tukaram Omble. Which direction does the Congress want to take the country, Mr Modi asked.

How low Congress will stoop to for its policy of appeasement, he asked. Should this party and the INDI-Aghadi get even a single seat in Maharashtra, the Prime Minister asked people.

He said 4th June, the day of the election result, will be the INDI-Aghadis expiry date, definitely. After that day, there will be no one around to hold their flags.

The prime minister said the 2024 poll is between the policy of appeasement and the policy of making everyone happy and satisfied. While the BJP is trying to satisfy everyone, the Congress is busy conspiring and following the appeasement policy. He said he had said that the Congress manifesto has a Muslim League imprint.

He said he had also warned the nation that Congress and the INDIA bloc are planning a dangerous game. Without naming RJD leader Lalu Prasad, he said, A senior INDI leader in Bihar, who was convicted for the fodder scam and just came out of jail, had disclosed the plan to the media today that if the INDI alliance government comes to power, it will give reservations to Muslims.

Not just reservations, but the entire reservation benefit, the prime minister said. At present, this reservation applies to SCs, STs, OBCs, and ordinary poor only. Now, the INDI alliance says the whole of reservations will be snatched from the SCs, STs, and OBCs and given to the Muslims to strengthen their vote bank, the prime minister contended.

They want to do something that was prohibited by architect of the Constitution Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Constituent Assembly. The Constitution bars reservation on the basis of religion and the INDI alliance wants to change the Constitution to make its vote bank happy, the prime minister charged.

The poor, SCs, STs, and OBCs have all rejected the INDI alliance, he said. Now, these people will go to any limit to teach them a lesson. Will you let this happen, he asked the crowds, and they replied No.

He said the Congress-INDI Aghadi cannot talk about many issues. The NDA has taken up the issues of development, the welfare of the poor, national security, national pride, and respect. Is the Congress fit to talk about any of these issues, he said.

On the welfare of the poor, the Congress will have to bury its face in the sand like an ostrich; it has nothing to say on this issue, he alleged.

For 50 years, it made false promises of garibi hatao (removal of poverty), he said. Modi, on the other hand, can talk about having built four crore pucca houses for the poor, opening of 50 crore bank accounts for the poor, free ration to 80 crore people, distributing PM Kisan Samman Nidhi of Rs 3 lakh crore, and a record increase in MSP for farmers, besides Rs 1.50 lakh crore compensation as crop insurance money, he said.

In the last 10 years, he said, Modi ensured guarantee of security and development. The NDA Government resolved all problems left behind by the Congress government. In Maharashtra, the Congress pushed farmers towards drought, the Congress was busy with loot.

The NDA Government completed long pending dam projects to help farmers. The delay because of the Congress increased the cost several times. The Congress leaders made money from the dam construction, but the farmers waited for water. Now, Ahilyanagar and Nashik will be getting water for irrigation, he said.

Farmers welfare is NDAs top priority, he asserted. Sugarcane farmers got their dues and even income tax relief. In Maharashtra, Rs 30,000 crore has been distributed under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Viksit Bharat needs Nari Shakti and womens Self Help Groups are encouraged. The target now is to make three crore women Lakhpati Didis. They will become drone didis also, he said.
Often confused with Mexicos Independence Day, Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexicos triumph over the French forces in the 1862 battle of Puebla, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza against the Second French Empire under Napoleon III. The event, celebrated annually on May 5th, derives its name from the date of this historical victory, which has evolved into a cherished holiday over time. While the holiday has gained more popularity in the U.S. than in Mexico, it serves as a means to celebrate Mexican culture, particularly among people of Mexican-American heritage.

In the U.S., Cinco de Mayo is marked by grand parades, festivals, and parties held nationwide. Its widespread celebration and popularity in the U.S. are often attributed to advertising campaigns by beer, wine, and tequila companies. Restaurants also join the festivities, offering enticing deals on food and drinks. Some argue that beer sales on Cinco de Mayo rival those of the Super Bowl. In contrast, the observance of the day in Mexico is primarily ceremonial, featuring military parades and battle re-enactments, especially in Puebla.

What Led to the battle for land between France and Mexico? Following the Mexican-American War (1846-48) and the Reform War (1858-61), which ultimately led to the Second French Intervention in Mexico, the Mexican treasury was depleted. In response, on July 17, 1861, Mexican President Benito Juarez declared a moratorium, suspending all foreign debt payments for two years. In retaliation, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom formed an alliance and sent naval forces to Veracruz to demand repayment. While Britain and Spain peacefully negotiated with Mexico, France seized the opportunity to wage war and establish its empire in Mexico, culminating in the battle of Puebla.

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What makes the battle significant? Despite being vastly outnumbered, with 2,000 Mexican soldiers facing 6,000 French soldiers, Mexico achieved a surprising victory on the day of battle. Juarez declared May 5th a national holiday to commemorate this triumph. Although the war did not result in a decisive strategic victory, it held immense importance for the people of Mexico. Furthermore, it is argued that the failure of the French intervention in Mexico prevented subsequent European invasions in the Americas.

The holiday also holds significance in connection to the American Civil War. With the French retreating from North America after their defeat, the Confederate States of America were unable to seek aid from France, affecting the outcome of the Civil War.
S ince 17 April, pro-Palestine sitin demonstrations have impacted multiple American universities, bringing education to a standstill. Riot police employed force to take down protestors encampments while arresting thousands. Clashes between students and riot police are being reported across the US as also between proPalestine and pro-Israel demonstrators. Protests on this scale were last witnessed during the Vietnam war. Within days, protests spread to universities in the UK, Canada, France and Australia. In most countries, riot police were called in to quell the protests.

Protesting students are accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza while demanding that educational institutions divest from businesses linked with Israel as also companies providing military equipment to them. Most US universities invest their funding, donations as also earnings, in shares of major companies including defence suppliers. Brown, Northwestern and Rutgers universities are the few to have come to an agreement with protestors. Authorities classify these demonstrations as anti-Semitic, and controlled by professional protestors. Professionals guiding protests is a global phenomenon and not a discovery of the West.

Professionally organized protests in India, funded by anti-India organizations and lobbies abroad, when quelled by employment of police power led to India being accused of subverting freedom of speech and lowering its democratic credentials. Why are those institutions and nations, which questioned India, silent now? Hypocrisy! In the US, even professors were manhandled and treated worse than criminals, but not a single entity objected. Universities across the West are threatening students with suspension if they do not terminate their protests.

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Not a single voice was raised in support of demonstrating students but many had supported protesting Indian students and farmers. Even President Biden backed the crackdown mentioning, Dissent must never lead to disorder. He added, Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing cancellation of classes and graduation  none of this is a peaceful protest. Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not a peaceful protest. But this is exactly what the US condemned as suppressing freedom of speech and right to protest when India cracked down on Shaheen Bagh, JNU and farmers protests. Why these double standards?

In the US, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was amongst those arrested and handcuffed. There was not a word of criticism or support in the media. The suspension of Rahul Gandhi from parliament by courts resulted in a series of comments by US and European government spokespersons and their media. The US media, which led the charge against the Indian government in its handling of different protests, is currently backing employment of force rather than negotiations. The New York Times had a headline, Crackdowns at four college protests lead to more than 200 arrests.

CNNs headline said, How universities are cracking down on a swell of tension months into student protests over Israels bombardment of Gaza. The Washington Post said, How a Columbia protest sparked a student revolt. In no case were authorities accused of employing brute force, event hough videos emerging from campuses showed use of disproportionate force by riot police against peaceful protestors. There were not weets backing the peaceful protestors from Rihana, Greta Thunberg, Malala and Mia Khalifa. In contrast, the New York Times headline on the farmers protest in India, despite the government avoiding employing force, said: Modis response to farmer protests in India stirs fears of a pattern. The Washington Post had a headline, Protesting farmers are teaching India a hard but much needed lesson. CNN stated, Angry farmers once forced Indias hardline leader into a rare retreat. Rihana tweeted, why arent we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest. Mia Khalifa tweeted, I stand with the farmers.

India was singled out because the farmers protests were largely Western-funded and professionally managed. During the Jawaharlal Nehru university protests of 2016, the Washington Posts headline said, Indian students called it free speech. The government called it sedition. The New York Times mentioned, Sedition arrests in India inflame old freespeech tensions. Should we not wonder why the same concept of free speech becomes anti-Semitism when it comes to continental US and other European campuses? Western media avoided commenting on the crackdown in US universities. However, they feel it is their right to comment when protests arise in other nations. The BBC supported the US government when it headlined, Columbia students defy deadline to disband pro-Palestinian encampment. Al Jazeera did defend the protestors when it said, Generation gap: What student protests say about US politics, Israel support.

The US State depar tment, which finds fault with every other democracy, including India on freedom of speech, will maintain silence and blame protestors in campuses ignoring police highhandedness and use of disproportionate force. While both Trump and Biden support Israel, it is likely that the brutal crackdown will impact Biden more than Trump. India was amongst a few nations which showed the US the mirror, but only gently, when its spokesperson mentioned, we are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad. Indian media reaction was also not at the level expected, possibly due to ongoing elections. Comments from the Indian spokesperson should have been more forthright. In Germany police employed force to break up pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Humboldt University, Berlin, which comments on Indian democracy.

In Canada, protestors established encampments in multiple university campuses. Demands are being raised to employ force to evict them. Justin Trudeau had mentioned during his bilateral with PM Modi during the G20 summit, Canada will always defend freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and freedom of peaceful protest and it is extremely important to us. India must remind Canada that the freedoms which Trudeau has sworn to protect must not be tampered with. Further, there would be many Indian-origin students amongst those protesting for whom the government would be naturally concerned, as Trudeau was during the farmers protests. It is payback time for India. Keeping quiet and displaying niceties is never globally appreciated. No nation would thank India for not commenting on their internal matters.

(The writer is a retired Major-General of the Indian Army.)
Goa stands as a microcosm of the intricacies between power and governance. With polling for both the states Lok Sabha seats scheduled for the third phase of the general election today, Goa offers a fascinating glimpse into the complexities at play. At the heart of the matter lies the Bharatiya Janata Partys ambitious bid to secure both the North and South Goa seats. Armed with a formidable electoral apparatus and an overarching administrative control, one would expect the BJP to glide effortlessly towards victory. But the BJPs quest is hamstrung by its own governance record in the state.

From the protracted saga of iron ore mining to the challenges plaguing the tourism and agriculture sectors, the BJP governments performance has not been up to the mark. Despite promises of revival, mining remains at a standstill, leaving a trail of economic devastation in its wake. Meanwhile, other key sectors grapple with issues ranging from unemployment to environmental degradation. The opposition, particularly the Congress and its allies, have capitalised on these governance issues, presenting a united front against the BJP juggernaut. By shifting the campaign spotlight onto the BJPs Achilles heel, they aim to erode the partys electoral stronghold.

Veteran politicians like Ramakant Khalap and Viriato Fernandes spearhead this charge, highlighting the BJPs shortcomings while offering an alternative vision for Goas future. But amid the political manoeuvring and electoral rhetoric, its the voices of the people that truly resonate. Citizen disenchantment is palpable, fuelled by a sense of disillusionment with the status quo. The spectre of local displacement, deforestation, and demographic shifts looms large, casting a shadow over Goas once-idyllic landscape. Grassroots movements like the Goa Bachao Andolan serve as a potent reminder of the power of collective action in holding the government accountable.

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In the face of mounting challenges, chief minister Pramod Sawants attempts at damage control appear strained. Promises to preserve Goas identity ring hollow against a backdrop of alleged corruption and unchecked development. In these circumstances, will the BJPs reliance on the Modi card, while formidable, be enough to sway voters grappling with the harsh realities of everyday life? Ultimately, the outcome of the elections will hinge on more than just political rhetoric or electoral machinery. It will reflect the collective aspirations and frustrations of a populace wanting more from its leaders. As Goa stands at a crossroads, it seeks to heed the call of democracy and chart a course towards a brighter, more inclusive future. In the end, it is not just about winning seats; it is about forging a path towards genuine progress and prosperity for all Goans. The coming weeks will tell India which of the contending parties has presented a more convincing narrative to the sunshine states voters.
As votes are cast in the third phase of the general elections today, in Karnataka, where the remaining 14 of its 28 Lok Sabha constituencies go to the polls, the spotlight sharply turns to the north of the state. This follows the second phase on April 26, where constituencies dominated by the Vokkaliga community had their say. Today, its the turn of North Karnataka, a region where the Lingayat community has a significant demographic and political influence.

This phase of elections is crucial, not just for the immediate electoral outcomes but for the deeper political narratives it may establish. The battle lines are drawn between seasoned BJP stalwarts such as former chief ministers Jagadish Shettar, Basavaraj Bommai, and union minister Pralhad Joshi, against a younger brigade from Congress, signalling a deliberate clash of generations and ideologies. These contests underscore a pivotal theme in Indian politics: the enduring tug-ofwar between traditional caste dynamics and the evolving aspirations of a new voter base. Historically, the Lingayat community has been seen as a cornerstone of electoral politics in Karnataka, wielding substantial influence over election outcomes.

Their vote has often been perceived as a bloc that could make or break political fortunes, particularly for the BJP. However, the strategic decision to field non-Lingayat candidates in places like Hubballi raises questions about whether traditional loyalties will hold firm or give way to broader issues such as development, governance, and policy impact. The Modi factor that the BJP leans on heavily is tested here anew in the context of local socio-political dynamics. Will the charisma of a national leader sway voters in a region where local issues and identities are deeply rooted? This election might provide some answers, testing the waters for how far-reaching the Prime Ministers appeal really is in the granular politics of Karnataka. Moreover, the introduction of younger Congress candidates could potentially recalibrate voter interest and expectations, particularly among the youth and first-time voters.

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These candidates bring with them a promise of change and a focus on progressive governance, challenging the traditional political narrative that has often been centred around caste and community. As voiced by local leaders and influential seers, theres a palpable call for a shift towards meritocratic and development-oriented politics, moving beyond the caste-driven electoral strategies that have dominated the landscape. This sentiment resonates with a broader national desire for politics to transcend traditional boundaries and focus on inclusive growth and governance.

As voters in North Karnataka head to the polls today, they carry with them the potential to influence not just the electoral map but the very nature of political engagement in the region. Will they reinforce the traditional caste equations, or will they pivot towards a more issue-based voting pattern? The outcomes here could signal a significant shift in how political parties strategise and campaign in the future, not just in Karnataka but across India
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced it is in discussion to loan Airtel Africa US$200 million, to fill the operator's coffers to fund network expansion in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Kenya.

In a disclosure, the IFC stated capex will involve modernising Airtel Africas network by purchasing active equipment on site for 4G such as antennas, software updates, packet score, base transceiver stations, and acquisition of fibre capacity.

The money will also be used to refinance USD-heavy debt.

This will be the IFCs second investment into Airtel Africa, the first was in 2022 for an undisclosed amount to expand networks in seven African countries. Environmental and social performance of this investment was noted as satisfactory over the two years since the cash injection.

Airtel Africa had been making moves to expand its network to support growing demand for connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the GSMA, Sub-Saharan Africa saw 3% 5G adoption in 2024 but the industry body predicted this rate will rise to 17% by 2030. It also predicted almost half of users in the regions will be connected to 4G.
The West has never been too comfortable with Indias rise. Indeed, at independence, nobody expected India to survive as a democracy. Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters, the imperialist Prime Minister of Britain Winston Churchill is supposed to have remarked on the independence of India, adding all Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. Now after leaders like Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, it is perhaps their leaders who deserve to be called people of low calibre.

In his 1968 book Population Bomb, the Nobel laureate Paul Ehrlich, and before him in 1967, the Paddock brothers, William and Paul, had predicted that India would splinter into anarchy and chaos over famine and food riots. The Paddock brothers in fact argued that there was no point in giving food aid to India as it would be a sheer waste ~ Indians should rather be left to their own fate. After Indias third Parliamentary election, Aldous Huxley wrote, When Nehru goes, the government will become a military dictatorship ~ as in so many of the newly independent states, for the army seems to be the only highly organised centre of power. On the eve of the 1967 elections, the Times of London ran a series of articles titled Indias disintegrating democracy.

Its Delhi correspondent, Neville Maxwell, wrote that the great experiment of developing India within a democratic framework has failed and that Indians would soon vote in the fourth ~ and surely last ~ general election. India has not only survived all these dismal predictions, but has thrived and prospered. No one today calls us a third world country or the Sick Man of Asia. The West has grudgingly ceded space to Indias growing heft in international affairs as champion of the global south and its economic rise within a short period of a decade under the NDA rule, which has seen India overtaking its erstwhile colonial master. India is comfortably poised to become the third largest global economy before the end of this decade.

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While the West has taken note of Indias achievements in space and technology benefiting millions of poor, it never misses a chance to denigrate Indias rise by highlighting contrary views, especially of Indian academics positioned in American university campuses who, for some strange reason, are also not comfortable with Indias rise. Now the Western media is turning its ire towards the Indian polity, focusing especially on the current parliamentary elections. A country practices and manages its democracy according to its own culture, values and ethos, which need not necessarily be Western.

The Western media overlooks the fact that despite its many flaws, Indias democracy remains a most vibrant one, evidenced by the high participation of citizens in the electoral process which dwarfs the low participation rate in their own democracies. Some time back, the Swedenbased V-Dem Institutes Democracy Report 2024 termed Indias democracy as an electoral autocracy. Now, in an editorial titled The mother of democracy is not in good shape, UKs Financial Times has said that the gap between pro-democratic rhetoric and reality is widening in India.

Citing an intensifying clampdown on opposition parties, in particular the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, it said this matriarch of representative government is in ill health, with worrying implications for the coming polls and what may follow. Most Western media have highlighted Mr. Kejriwals arrest. Only the courts will decide whether the arrest was justified or not. But the Western media has universally highlighted the arrest as a sure indicator of Indias regression from democratic principles, while the string of cases filed against Donald Trump in US courts in its election year are just upholding the rule of law and letting the law take its own course in a proper democracy! A desire to woo India has often led western democracies to hold their tongue over democratic backsliding, the Financial Times continued and advised Western governments to be more robust in criticizing India, since preserving political freedoms is in the best interests of Indian growth and prosperity, and of the Modi governments ambitions to enhance the countrys role as a leading member of the global community.

One FT journalist has wondered, Will this be Indias last democratic election? recalling the Western medias inherently entrenched bias against India. In an editorial, the Guardian wrote that BJPs win would mean that Indian democracy would be the loser. Democracies run best when there is a contest of ideas and equal treatment of citizens in everyday administration, it says, before concluding that these are in short supply in Modis India. In another article, its columnist Kenneth Mohammed wrote Behind a veneer of progress, injustice and inequality propped up by corruption and the caste system haunt the subcontinent .. It seems to be a global south problem that leaders are more enthusiastic to spend taxpayers funds on expensive vanity projects than concern themselves with fixing basic issues of infrastructure, health and education to raise the standard of living for all its people.

Christophe Jaffrelot, a professor of political science in France, wrote in Le Monde, Indias elections this year stand out for their undemocratic nature, arguing that Mr Modi is turning democracy into electoral authoritarianism. The Los Angeles Times questioned, Is Narendra Modis India still a democracy? In an article titled The Modification of India Is Almost Complete, Michael Kugelman wrote in Time magazine, The Modiera actions are highly controversial because of Indias constitutionally enshrined secular traditions and resilient democracy. But . it has far too many backers to be characterized as a wholesale trampling on the public will. This may be the tyranny of the majority, but its also something that enjoys a public mandate. Aijaz Hussain and Sheikh Saaliq wrote in the Washington Post, A decade into power, and on the cusp of securing five more years, the Modi government is reversing Indias decadeslong commitment to multiparty democracy and secularism. All of Indias institutions are suspect in their eyes, civil liberties are under attack. Peaceful protests have been crushed with force.

A once-free and diverse press is threatened. Violence is on the rise against the Muslim minority. And the countrys judiciary increasingly aligns with the executive branch. Every democracy has its flaws. But one wonders whether the Western media would have been so critical of Indias democracy and its electoral process if the opinion polls did not predict such an emphatic victory for the BJP alliance. They are apparently buying the Opposition campaign about democracy in danger. After the collapse of the Soviet empire, when Francis Fukuyama wrote his essay End of History claiming that the Western political, economic, and social systems constituted the culmination of humanitys sociocultural evolution, the West expected all countries to follow their unique model.

To measure this convergence, they then started devising a series of arbitrary indexes on liberty, human rights, freedom of religion and even human happiness, styled on their values. That is how they wanted to keep their control in a multipolar, post-colonial world. When countries like China and India started charting their own independent paths by defying their values, they started vilifying them. Now with low population, low productivity and the prospect of a wider economic recession, the West is facing an uncertain future, while India is rising. A rising India, like a rising China, refuses to buy the Western model of development and Western values. It is now becoming increasingly assertive, if not confrontational and combative, almost adopting Chinas wolf-warrior diplomatic approach. The West wants Indias democracy to be under its continuous vigilance and control, and whichever alliance comes to power after the elections will be most unlikely to allow it.

(The writer is a commentator, author and academic. Opinions expressed are persona)
Israels military said on Monday night that it is carrying out large-scale airstrikes in Rafah, the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, hours after Hamas announced the acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari proposal regarding a ceasefire in the strip.

In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office said the proposal is far from meeting Israels core demands, and that the government will send a delegation to Cairo to exhaust every possibility of reaching an agreement acceptable to Israel, Xinhua news agency reported.

Also, a Qatari delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday for indirect negotiations on the Gaza truce between Israel and Hamas through mediators, according to a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry.

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* Hamas nods to Gaza truce proposal

Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh has told the Egyptian and Qatari sides that his movement approved their proposal regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, the Gaza-ruling Palestinian faction said in a statement on Monday.

We agreed on the proposal that meets our demands of ceasing fire, reconstructing the strip, the return of the displaced to their areas of residence, and a deal on a prisoner swap, the statement said.

According to an Egyptian security source on Monday, a Hamas delegation has headed to Cairo to work on the enforcement of the Egyptian proposal.

The source said Egypt has informed the Israeli side of Hamass acceptance of the Egyptian proposal, adding that the Israeli delegation will arrive in Cairo on Tuesday to complete discussions on the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire proposal and a hostage-for-prisoner swap deal at the invitation of Egypt.

* Three-phase ceasefire proposal

A Hamas source told Xinhua news agency that the Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by Egypt and Qatar includes three phases, each lasting 42 days.

The source said the first phase involved a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim axis, a zone in central Gaza that separates the northern and southern Palestinian enclave, as well as the free movement of displaced persons from south to north Gaza.

Also, this phase would bring out a 10-hour daily cessation of Israeli airstrikes and a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the release of approximately 33 Israeli hostages in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, the source added.

The second phase features an agreement on restoring a sustainable calm to Gaza, with a complete withdrawal of most Israeli forces from the coastal area, while, during the third phase, the complete blockade on the strip would be lifted.

The source emphasized that the ball is now in the Israeli sides court, noting that the United States is committed to ensuring the agreements implementation.

* Israel advances Rafah attack plan

Also on Monday, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel was reviewing seriously the proposal earlier approved by Hamas.

We are examining every response and answer very seriously, exploring every possibility regarding the issues of negotiations and the return of hostages, Hagari said at a press briefing.

However, the Israeli army was in parallel conducting large-scale airstrikes in Rafah, where about 1.2 million people uprooted by the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict have been seeking refuge.

The IDF is currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in southern Gaza, the Israeli military said in a statement.

The attack came after the military announced in the morning the beginning of the evacuation of civilians from eastern Rafah as part of the preparation for a ground operation in the region, Hagari said.

The Israeli war cabinet unanimously decided on Monday to continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas to promote the release of Israeli hostages and to achieve other goals of the war, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Ministers Office.

The statement confirmed that the proposal approved by Hamas is far from meeting Israels core demands and Israel will send a delegation to Cairo to exhaust every possibility of reaching an agreement acceptable to Israel.

Israel has launched a large-scale offensive against Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamass unprecedented attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the kidnapping of around 250 others, according to Israeli official figures.

Israel estimated that there were still about 134 Israelis held hostage in Gaza, whereas Hamas announced that 70 of them had been killed in Israeli indiscriminate airstrikes.

On Monday night, people in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv took to the streets, rallying to demand the immediate release of the hostages.

Currently, the bloody conflict in Gaza has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians and injured over 78,000 others, according to the Hamas-run health authorities.

Cairo, Doha, and Washington are seeking to reach a deal for a prisoner exchange and a second ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, following the first one that ended in late November 2023.
The US government has said that it is examining Hamas agreement to a mediated proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Were currently reviewing that response. And were discussing it with our partners in the region, National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said on Monday. Kirby evaded a journalists question as to what exactly Hamas had agreed to in the proposal. He would not go into that, he said.

We still believe that reaching an agreement is the absolute best outcome not only for the hostages, but for the Palestinian people. And were not going to stop working to that outcome, Kirby said.

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CIA chief William Burns is in the region working with the Israelis to reach an agreement, Kirby said. And the last thing that I want to do is say anything at this podium thats going to put that process at risk, he added. The worst thing to do now would be to speculate about what exactly Hamas response will be.

Kirby described a telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier Monday morning as constructive. The conversation lasted around half an hour.

During the call at the presidents urging, Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed to ensure that the Kerem Shalom crossing is back open for humanitarian assistance for those in need, said Kirby.

During the talks, Hamas agreement to a mediators proposal was not yet known.

With regard to an expected ground offensive in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Kirby stressed that the US government would not support an operation that would put more than 1 million people at great risk. When asked by the press whether Washington would support a limited Israeli operation in Rafah, Kirby did not respond directly. However, Israel had not yet presented the plan for protecting the civilian population requested by the US.
Repair work to three damaged subsea cables off the coast of Yemen was delayed due to access disputes in the Red Sea, stemming from the ongoing civil war in the country.

Bloomberg reported, the Yemeni government granted permission for work to begin on the Seacom and EIG cables, but refused permission on the AAE-1 cable as it clashed with consortium members of the infrastructure.

The disagreement stems from the control of TeleYemen, the countrys only mobile network operator. It has two branches, one in Aden under the control of the Yemeni government and the other in Sanaa under Houthi rebel control. The government refused to cooperate with the militia group and sought to appoint a representative from the Aden branch.

However the consortium did not approve alternative representation and Yemen's government declines to grant a permit, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.

The cables were taken offline when the Rubymar vessel was sunk during the ongoing conflict in Yemen in February. Data on the damaged cables were rerouted but highlighted vulnerabilities of subsea cables and repairs needed in a conflict zone.

The government-controlled side of TeleYemen requested the nations telecoms ministry to demand subsea cable maintenance company E-Marine provide a $12.5 million bank guarantee to ensure it would not carry out repairs on the AAE-1 cable, when the company was working to fix the other two and the dispute resolved.

The ministry initially approved the the condition but Yemens cabinet decided against stating it wasnt necessary, a senior official from the government told the news agency.
Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams is ready to fly into space for the third time on Tuesday as the pilot aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in its the first crewed test flight.



Boeing's Starliner will blast off for the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Starliner will carry Williams, 58, and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station, marking what could be a momentous and long-awaited victory for the beleaguered Boeing programme.

The scheduled lift-off is set for 22:34 local time on Monday (8:04 am IST on Tuesday)

"We are all here because we are all ready. Our friends and family have heard about it and we've talked about it and they are happy and proud that we are part of the process to fix it all," the BBC quoted Williams as saying

The mission has been delayed for several years because of setbacks in the spacecraft's development.

If it is successful, it will become the second private firm able to provide crew transport to and from the ISS, alongside Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Such a scenario with both SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Starliner flying regularly is one for which the US space agency has long waited.

Design and development is hard particularly with a human space vehicle, said Mark Nappi, vice president and Starliner programme manager at Boeing, during a Thursday news briefing.

There's a number of things that were surprises along the way that we had to overcome. It certainly made the team very, very strong. I'm very proud of how they've overcome every single issue that we've encountered and gotten us to this point, Nappi said.

This is history in the making, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said of the upcoming Starliner mission during a March 22 news conference. We're now in the golden era of space exploration.

SpaceX and Boeing developed their respective vehicles under NASA's Commercial Crew Programme, a partnership with private industry contractors. From the outset, the space agency aimed to have both companies operating at once. The Crew Dragon and Starliner spacecraft would each serve as a backup to the other, giving astronauts the option to keep flying, even if technical issues or other setbacks grounded one spacecraft.

Williams received her commission as an Ensign in the United States Navy from the United States Naval Academy in May 1987.

Williams was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998 and is a veteran of two space missions, Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33.

She served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33.

During her first spaceflight, Expedition 14/15, Williams was launched with the crew of STS-116 on December 9, 2006, docking with the International Space Station on December 11, 2006.

While onboard, she established a world record for females with four spacewalks totalling 29 hours and 17 minutes. Astronaut Peggy Whitson subsequently broke the record in 2008 with a total of five spacewalks.

On Expedition 32/33, Williams was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, along with Russian Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko and Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, on July 14, 2012.

Williams spent four months conducting research and exploration aboard the orbiting laboratory.

She landed in Kazakhstan on November 18, 2012, after spending 127 days in space.

During their Expedition, Williams and Hoshide performed three spacewalks to replace a component that relays power from the space station's solar arrays to its systems and repair an ammonia leak on a station radiator. With 50 hours and 40 minutes, Williams once again held the record for total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut. The record has since been overtaken by Peggy Whitson. Williams has spent a cumulative total of 322 days in space.

Williams was born in Euclid, Ohio, to Indian-American neuroanatomist Deepak Pandya and Slovene-American Ursuline Bonnie (Zalokar) Pandya.

She holds a physical science degree from the US Naval Academy and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from Florida Institute of Technology.
India exported half of its pharmaceutical produce last year, marking a significant rise since the Covid-19 pandemic. The country's drugs and pharmaceuticals exports increased 9.67 per cent year-on-year to $27.9 billion in 2023-24, even as the total exports dipped by 3 per cent in the last fiscal. In 2022-23, the exports stood at $25.4 billion.

During Covid-19, the need to reduce our dependency on other countries for pharmaceutical drugs was strongly felt. Therefore, Performance-linked Incentives (PLI) scheme was introduced in the pharmaceutical and bulk drugs sector and we found good success, said Dr Arunish Chawla, secretary, department of pharmaceuticals. Nearly 50 bulk drugs were identified out of which open offers were given for the production of 34 drugs. We achieved success in producing 30 drugs and as per last years figures, India exported 50 per cent of its produce showing that the pharma industry in the country is now export-oriented and it is a big success.

Dr Chawla, who was speaking at a one-day workshop, Meditech Stackathon 2024, organised by the department of pharmaceuticals, ministry of chemicals and fertilizers and Confederation of India Industries (CII), emphasised on the need to replicate the pharma success in medical device industry as well. This workshop has been organised so that stakeholders, especially the domestic and multi-national industries can sit together and map their value chain on the basis of which a policy stack will be prepared. This will show gaps in policy, processes and incentives and lead to adequate policy nudge or arbitrage, Dr. Chawla said.

The policy stack will be built up in four stages. First is value chain mapping, second is economic classification for the value chains to be integrated with the policy and data framework. Third, tariffs and taxes and how they move and evolve across value chains in both industrial space and time and fourth, identifying various elements of policy, price, scheme and regulatory arbitrage to finally facilitate policy nudge which will have both financial and institutional (built bottom up) elements.

Dr Chawla added that atmanirbharta in medical devices is their mission and is guided by world class quality (zero defect full effect) statement. We will build world class product and will reduce our import dependence from 75-80 per cent to 50 per cent over the next five years in medical devices industry, said Dr Chawla. The idea is to evolve a dynamic world class competitive medical device industry where healthcare does not suffer, patients get top class treatment at par with the world.

He said that already some strides have been made and three central medical device parks are being built in Noida, Indore and Chennai besides a number of small parks across the country. A lot of medical devices used for ECG, cancer treatment, critical care were being exported till few years ago. With the launch of PLI scheme we have got confidence and 30 medical plants were inaugurated by the union minister few months ago, Dr Chawla added. Domestic as well as foreign companies like Philips and Siemens have set up their plants in India to produce finished devices.
A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recovered mountains of cash from premises linked to Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam's personal secretary Sanjiv Lal, two arrests were made on Tuesday morning.

Besides Sanjiv Lal, his domestic help Jehangir has also been arrested. The money, amounting to Rs 32 crore, was recovered from the help's house, an apartment in Ranchi, on Monday.

Both have been taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after overnight questioning, sources told PTI. A total of Rs 32 crore in cash apart from Rs 3 crore from some other premises were recovered by the ED. The total cash recovery stands at Rs 35.23 crore, the sources said.

Footages shared by the ED sources had shown officials emptying wads of cash from large bags into piles of currency notes. Eight note-counting machines had to be deployed by the agency apart from bank staff to ascertain the exact amount of currency, which was majorly in the Rs 500 denomination. Personnel of central paramilitary forces stood guard at the building where the flat is located.

Two currency counting machines had to be replaced as they stopped working due to overheating and large trunks were brought inside the location to take the cash for depositing in a bank.

A total of six premises are being searched as part of the operation, and from two premises the agency has recovered Rs 2.93 crore and Rs 10 lakh each, the sources said. Some jewellery has also been seized.

The raids were conducted as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the state rural development department. Last year, the ED arrested Virendra Ram, a chief engineer at the Jharkhand Rural Development Department, in connection with the alleged irregularities in the implementation of some schemes. The ED had also seized Ram's assets worth Rs 39.29 crore.

According to the documents filed by the ED in the PMLA (Prevention of Money-Laundering Act) court, Virendra Ram had approached a Delhi-based chartered accountant last year to launder his wealth. The money, amounting to several crores, was the kickbacks he received in return for contracts awarded to companies.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand rural development minister and Congress leader Alam had denied any wrongdoing on his part. Alam told PTI on Monday that he had no official information regarding this so far. "I have been watching TV and it says the premises are linked to the official PS (private secretary) provided to me by the government," he added.
E-commerce giant Amazon has finally arrived in Africa  South Africa to be precise, with the announcement of the launch of Amazon.co.za, providing customers in South Africa with a new online shopping experience, as the company puts it.

As in most countries, users are invited to download the Amazon Shopping App or visit the website on desktop or mobile browsers in order to access a selection of local and international brands across 20 different product categories, with, potentially, same-day or next-day delivery.

There is also an emphasis on the importance of the launch in offering new opportunities for local businesses. Amazon states that it provides independent sellers with on-boarding tools, payment processing solutions, and promotional elements to help them be discovered by clients, as well as reporting and analytics to enhance sales.

Hence the statement by Robert Koen, managing director of sub-Saharan Africa, Amazon: We are excited to launch Amazon.co.za, along with thousands of independent sellers in South Africa." The countrys minister of small business development, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, adds: "We are counting on Amazon to provide such opportunities to our small enterprises.

As proof of this, Amazons launch announcement highlights the fact that it has partnered with goGOGOgo, a South African non-profit organisation, offering customers the opportunity to package eligible products in handmade gift bags made from recycled material.

Based in Johannesburg, goGOGOgo is dedicated to building the capacity, skills, and knowledge of grandmothers, locally known as GOGOs, who raise millions of children in South Africa.

What this launch means for competing services, like Jumia and recently launched pan-African business-to-business marketplace Zandaux.com, is an interesting question. Amazon has a lot of power in the global market but hasnt got the local reach of some of its African competitors  yet.
For a regular person dreaming of travelling abroad, getting an American visa may seem like the holy grail. But for those in the travel business, as well as regular foreign visitors, there is another, tougher visa to crack that opens the gateway to perhaps the most sought-after destination for those in the know  the Schengen visa, which allows entry and seamless travel across 26 countries in the European Union.



And its never been as difficult to get one as it has been this summer for Indians. It is getting tougherthere is a lot of harassment, said Pawan Gupta, managing director of Chennai-based Peekay Holidays, one of the leading tour operators in the country. Appointments are getting to be a big issue (and) documentation is getting tougher.

It is ironic that this market scenario is happening even as the European Commission, in a grandiose manner recently, announced relaxing of Schengen visa rules for Indians, with those who have travelled twice to Europe earlier in the existing valid passport, they will become eligible for longer multiple-entry visas, starting first with two years, to be followed by a five-year visa.

Travel to Europe made easyanother step towards enhancing people-to-people contact!, European Unions ambassador in India Herve Delphin had exulted announcing the new rules just last month. The move comes as part of an EU-India Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility (both nations are back at chafing out their long-pending free trade agreement, too).

However, in many cases, the people-to-people contact is not even reaching the visa office, or, it is ending abruptly there. Across the board, aspiring Indian tourists this summer have found that appointments to the most in-demand European tourist destinations are not available, in some cases, for months altogether. With travel on an upswing after Covid since last year, many affluent Indians had hoped to return to the Blue Banana for a spot of the famed European vibe  al fresco dining in Amsterdam, wine-soaked Paris nights, overdose of history and culture in Tuscany, the joie de vivre of Spain, beer tasting in Bavaria and the likes.

And, while heavy documentation has always been a bane, with bank statements, IT returns and guarantees being asked (one first-time traveller reminisces how he was asked to present himself physically at a Scandinavian countrys embassy in Delhi after return as proof!), this time, the process itself is becoming a punishment. Post-Covid, many European countries had cut down on staff leading to inordinate delays, and worse, illogical rejections through the post-lockdown period, but, there was hope that matters would stabilise once normalcy returned.

Georg Enzweiler, deputy head of mission at the German embassy in Delhi argues that visa issue time had come down to 2-3 days and that the present delay of a few days more is probably because of the summer rush. Our visa numbers have increased (and) rejection rates are just 10 per cent. Of course, the rates vary from country to country.

What the diplomats say does not reflect the reality on the ground. Media has been abuzz about couples applying ending up with one of them getting a visa and the others being rejected. Mayank Sharma, a sales head at Unity Small Finance Bank took to X after he lost Rs 3.5 lakh spent on tickets and reservations after his Schengen application to Greece was rejected. Letter was in standard format which said that theyre not sure if Ill come backwhereas I have a savings bank balance of seven figures. Honestly, I am shocked, he wrote.

While waiting period runs into weeks, agencies like VFS and BLS, who between them do almost all the European visa verification work, have been raking in the moolah, charging a premium for services like visa at the doorstep, updates on messages etc., with more and more frustrated travellers opting for it in the hope of a speedy redressal. Germanys Enzweiler himself said he was shocked that agencies are not following the simplified documentation requirements while processing applications. We have notified new rules on the local level. If you do have previous Schengen visas, you should not be asked again (for bank statements and similar documentation).

Meanwhile, the horror stories continue to flow in. Gupta of Peekay Holidays refers to a family of three who applied for a visa, only to find the parents application rejected and the sons approved. Or another client, with Rs 16 lakh in their account being told You dont have sufficient funds. He asks, When the world is opening up to India, why cant you?
India on Tuesday hit out at Canada over the 'Nagar Kirtan' parade that allegedly featured a Khalistani "float" in Malton, and urged Ottawa to stop providing criminal and secessionist elements a safe haven and political space in the country.

Celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civilized society, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.

Jaiswal said democratic countries which respect the rule of law should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression.

We have repeatedly raised our strong concerns regarding the violent imagery being used by extremist elements in Canada against our political leadership. Last year, a float depicting the assassination of our former Prime Minister was used in a procession. Display of posters of Indian diplomats have also been put out across Canada threatening violence against them, he said.

Jaiswal said India continues to remain concerned about the security of its diplomatic representatives in Canada and expects Ottawa to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear.

The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Prime Minister Trudeau's allegations in September last year of a "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd".

Last week, Canadian authorities charged three Indian nationals with the murder of Nijjar. It is reported that they entered Canada on student visas.
Union Minister for Tribal Affairs and Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Arjun Munda, is the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate from Khunti Lok Sabha constituency in Jharkhand in the ongoing elections. In an interview with THE WEEK, Munda exudes confidence about the BJP doing even better in these elections compared to 2019, when the party had won 12 out of the 14 seats in the state. He says the main reason for the confidence is the success of the Modi government in ensuring that its welfare schemes have reached the common man.



Munda accuses the rival INDIA bloc of indulging in scaremongering by talking about threats to the Constitution or the reservation policy. A sitting MP from Khunti, where the contest was extremely close in 2019, Munda says the result will be more decisive and in his favour this time as the people know that the BJP cares for them while the Congress is only trying to propagate myths.

What are the prospects of NDA in the Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand?

In Jharkhand, we will do even better than last time. The reason is that the work done by the Modi government has reached the common man, the schemes have reached the common man. At the state level, the governance is in a pitiable state. The youth of the state have no expectations from the state government because of the numerous paper leaks that have taken place. The INDIA alliance is there, but in a Lok Sabha election, even a person in a village keeps in mind what is happening in the country and they want stability.

The social categories that have so far been neglected have been looked after by our government and the Prime Minister has himself taken the initiative to formulate schemes for them. One of them is to transform tribal villages into model villages wherein their traditional way of life is preserved. On the other hand, the INDIA bloc is trying to mislead the people with the sole intent of winning elections.

The INDIA alliance is raising the issues of price rise and unemployment.

If you look at the all-India price index, it is stable. They should be asked to look at the situation between 2004 and 2014 and tell us what the price rise situation was like. There was policy paralysis, scams, price rise and collapse of the economy between 2004 and 2014. We are providing free foodgrains to 80 crore people. We faced the COVID challenge.

The INDIA alliance claims that the contest in the tribal seats especially will be close.

The Congress has only spread falsehoods in the last 60-70 years. They want the tribals to continue to remain downtrodden so that they can go amidst them and propagate myths. They claim that the reservation will end. Can reservation end in this country? They say we will change the Constitution? Is that possible? The Constitution is our holy book. Can you change the holy book? But they make these false statements in the villages and try to mislead the people. They are indulging in scaremongering.

The BJP is accused by the opposition of being anti-Adivasi. They ask why you have referred to them as Vanvasi and not Adivasi.

If I ask why Bharat is called India, what will the reply to that be? It is something like that. If you speak in a multilingual manner, there can be many descriptions. Ours is a multilingual country. Some people like it, others don't. If you don't like it, don't use it. The main issue is about how we maintain their original character. Their identity draws from their characteristics, not from any nomenclature. What are they trying to achieve by making it a political issue?

How big a factor is the arrest of Hemant Soren in this election?

We have zero tolerance for corruption. The agencies have to do their work. If they feel there is something wrong happening, they should have faith in the judicial system of the country.

It has been portrayed as an attack on Adivasi pride.

The law is equal for everyone. You cannot take benefit of privilege when it comes to legal matters. You can exercise your constitutional rights. But you do not get constitutional rights to indulge in corruption.

They claim they will get the sympathy of people.

They can make efforts in that direction. They cannot talk about their wrongdoing before the people, so this is what they will claim.

How do you look at the political debut of Kalpana Soren?

I will not comment on that. But, I will definitely say to ensure that India becomes strong, we have to rid the country of dynastic politics.

But Sita Soren, daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren, has joined the BJP.

What is dynastic politics? It means ensuring someone from the family is in the seat of power. If someone strikes out by dint of his or her own, there is nothing wrong with that.

Coming to your constituency, it had witnessed a tough contest in 2019 and you had won narrowly.

The people of Khunti are aware people. It is the land of Birsa Munda. Some people will definitely try to create confusion, but that will not have any impact. People have understood who cares most for them.

How do you assess your challenger Kalicharan Munda?

There are many challengers, many candidates. How can you say he is the only challenger? I am hopeful that the people will vote for a person who works for them.

What are the main issues in Khunti this time?

The Opposition is trying to wage an issue-less fight. The issues they have raised are actually related to the working of their own government in the state. There are issues that have to do with local administration. There is poor governance.

Migration is a big issue here.

Migration has been an issue. But, I have taken some initiatives such as skilling people and connecting them with companies. Hundreds of women and girls from this area are working in Tata Electronics.

Khunti's name figures in the illegal opium trade.

It is an issue related to the local administration, the state government.
Voting for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections will be held in 93 seats across 11 states and one UT on Tuesday. The states that go to the polls include Madhya Pradesh (9), Uttar Pradesh (10), Bihar (5), Chattisgarh (7), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), West Bengal (4), Goa (2), Assam (4), Dadra and Nagar Havel and Daman and Diu (2).

In the third phase, over 1,300 candidates, including around 120 women, are vying for seats in the Lok Sabha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were among the 172 million voters eligible to vote on Tuesday.

Narendra Modi cast his vote at Nishan Higher Secondary School at Ahmedabad, accompanied by Amit Shah. "Today is voting for 3rd phase of Lok Sabha Elections. I appeal to countrymen that they should vote in large numbers," the Prime Minister told reporters, displaying his inked finger to the media.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi casts his vote for #LokSabhaElections2024 at Nishan Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad, Gujarat pic.twitter.com/i057pygTkJ  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

"There is great importance of 'Daan' in our country and in the same spirit, the countrymen should vote as much as possible. Four rounds of voting are still ahead. As a voter in Gujarat, this is the only place where I vote regularly and Amit Bhai is contesting from here as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate," Modi added, referring to Amit Shah.

Other prominent people who are in the fray include Union ministers Amit Shah from Gujarat's Gandhinagar, Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, Pralhad Joshi from Karnataka's Dharwad and former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh.

From opposition parties, Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh; Congress's Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Berhampore, West Bengal, and Digvijaya Singh from Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh; NCP's Supriya Sule from Maharashtra's Baramati are some of the candidates seeking a mandate in the third phase.

Interestingly, the third phase covers seats and regions that are BJP strongholds, including Madhya Pradesh and Modi's home state Gujarat. In the 2019 elections, the party won 72 of the 93 seats going to polls on Tuesday. However, things have since changed as the Congress and its allies have gained strength in states like Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The first two phases saw a turnout of 66.14% and 66.71% respectively, which was marginally lower than the corresponding phases in 2019. The Election Commission has since stepped up its campaigns to encourage people to vote while consulting with weather officials and health and disaster management agencies to deal with the impact of heatwave conditions on Tuesday's vote.
The UK Westminster Magistrate's Court rejected the bail application of fugitive businessman Nirav Modi on Tuesday. He has been in London prison for over five years.

The new bail application was rejected by a UK judge citing a "substantial risk" of absconding justice. The bail application was filed on the grounds of long incarceration.

The 52-year-old diamond merchant was declared a fugitive in December 2019. Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are accused of committing a Rs 14,000 crore scam by obtaining credit facilities fraudulently from the Punjab National Bank.

Nirav Modi did not appear for the bail hearing at Westminister Magistrate's Court in London, however, his son and two daughters were present on his behalf.

"I am satisfied that there remain substantial grounds against bail. There continues to be a real, substantial risk that the applicant [Nirav Modi] would fail to attend court or interfere with witnesses," Judge Zani was quoted saying in his judgment after a short hearing.

"This case involves, by any footing, a very substantial fraud allegation... not one where bail can be granted and the application is refused," he said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrived from India for the hearing and followed the proceeding in court.

The businessman was arrested on an extradition warrant on March 19, 2019, and then UK Home Secretary ordered his extradition in April 2021. Since then, he had exhausted his legal appeals in the case up to the Supreme Court and made six separate bail applications.
A new report released by Tel Aviv University and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has revealed a staggering increase in antisemitic incidents in France, with a near-quadrupling of incidents in 2023 compared to the previous year. The report, which warned of a growing threat to Jewish life in the West, showed that France experienced the highest increase in recorded antisemitic incidents of any country with reliable statistics.

The report found that 1,676 antisemitic incidents occurred in France in 2023, up from 436 in 2022. A significant proportion of these incidents (74%) occurred after October 7.

The United States also saw a significant increase in antisemitic incidents, with a total of 7,523 incidents reported in 2023, up from 3,697 in 2022. The ADL highlighted the rise of antisemitism on US campuses as a particular concern, with 913 incidents reported in 2023, accounting for 12% of the total incidents in the country.

Other countries also experienced increases in antisemitic incidents, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy.

For those whose views serve an anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist ideological and instrumentalist purpose, October 7 was a golden opportunity to advance further their hateful and racist fringe perspectives into mainstream conservative discourse, using it to attack rivals, mobilize supporters and attract new followers, wrote the authors of the report, titled Antisemitism Worldwide Report for 2023.

The reports authors warned that current trends could threaten the ability of Jewish communities to lead normal lives in the West, citing the rise of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist rhetoric and violence.

The year is not 1938, not even 1933, Prof. Uriya Shavit, head of The Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute, wrote in a press release. Yet if current trends continue, the curtain will descend on the ability to lead Jewish lives in the West  to wear a Star of David, attend synagogues and community centers, send kids to Jewish schools, frequent a Jewish club on campus, or speak Hebrew.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
U.S. university presidents joined Holocaust survivors and thousands of Israelis on Monday for the March of the Living, a yearly memorial march at the site of Auschwitz that honors the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and celebrates the state of Israel.

This year, the mood at the march was overshadowed by the war in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the deadliest violence against Jews since Adolf Hitlers regime sought to destroy the entire Jewish population of Europe.

The October attack unleashed a war that has fueling pro-Palestinian and pro-terror protests that have swept U.S. campuses. Many Jewish students have felt intimidated by protests, which have included antisemitic tropes and calls for anti-Jewish violence.

A small group of pro-Palestinian protesters waving Palestinian flags stood along the side of the road as participants marched with Israeli flags from the site of Auschwitz in the Polish town of Oswiecim to the site of Birkenau about 3 kilometers (2 miles) away. The area was under German occupation during World War II and today the former death camps are preserved as memorials by the Polish state.

Through this protest we want to say that we bow down to the victims of the Holocaust too, said Omar Faris, president of an association of Palestinians in Poland. At the same time, we demand an end to war, an end to genocide.

The march took place on what is Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Jewish calendar. A grim landscape of watchtowers and barracks were filled with the blue and white of Israeli flags, a celebration of Jewish survival at the place of genocide.

The event, now in its 36th year, usually draws thousands of participants, including Holocaust survivors and Jewish students, leaders and politicians. This year, Israeli hostages released from captivity in Gaza and families whose relatives are still being held captive also joined.

Judith Tzamir, a Holocaust survivor from Germany who moved to Israel in 1964, had long avoided visiting Auschwitz. But she was inspired to join this years march after her kibbutz fended off an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7

See, I try not to remember it all the time. But on the 7th of October they brought me the remembrance very, very harshly back, she told The Associated Press at the site of the former death camp. And thats the moment when I decided, OK, this is the time you should go to Auschwitz to see it.

Amid the backdrop of pro-Palestinian protests that have roiled American campuses, Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University in New York, led a delegation of leaders from Catholic, Evangelical and historically Black colleges and universities.

The message here is clear. The dangers of allowing hate to go unchecked are real. And we dont need to get to the cattle cars in order for it to be unconscionable and unacceptable, he said, referring to the cattle cars used to transport Jews to their deaths at camps under German wartime occupation.

He said it was essential for university leaders to call out, and in no uncertain terms, when there is intimidation and hate and antisemitism. Were seeing it on campuses and college campuses, and it needs to have a response.

Some who had planned to attend had to cancel to deal with the protests at home, Berman told the AP, though he did not name them.

(AP)
Trump Media and Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, has fired an auditor that federal regulators recently charged with massive fraud.

The former presidents media company dismissed BF Borgers as its independent public accounting firm on Friday, according to a securities filing  which also notes that Trump Media engaged with Arizona-based accountant Semple, Marchal & Cooper as BF Borgers replacement over the weekend.

BF Borgers dismissal arrived on the same day that the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the firm and its owner Benjamin F. Borgers with deliberate and systematic failures in more than 1,500 audits.

The charges, which include failing to abide by accounting rules and fabricating documentation to cover up its shortcomings, do not involve any work that BF Borgers performed for Trump Media. To settle the charges, BF Borgers and Borgers agreed to pay a combined $14 million in civil penalties as well as permanent suspensions effective immediately, set to prevent them from handling SEC-related matters as accountants.

BF Borgers time with Trump Media was brief. It named the Colorado firm as its auditor on March 28, according to a recent annual report filing. At the time, Trump Media disclosed that BF Borgers had also handled its audits before it went public by merging with shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp.

Trump Media had previously cycled through at least two other auditors  one that resigned in July 2023, and another that was terminated its the board in March, just as it was re-hiring BF Borgers.

In its regulatory filing, Trump Media said that the decision to change independent registered public accounting firms was made with the recommendation and approval of the Audit Committee of the Company. The Associated Press reached out to the company for further comment Monday, including on whether Semple, Marchal & Cooper would review BF Borgers previous work for Trump Media.

BF Borgers and Semple, Marchal & Cooper did not immediately respond to requests for statement.

(AP)
An American soldier has been arrested in Russia and accused of stealing, according to two U.S. officials.

The soldier, who is not being identified, was stationed in South Korea and was in the process of returning home to the United States. Instead, officials said he traveled to Russia.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel details.

Cynthia Smith, Army spokeswoman, confirmed that a soldier was detained on Thursday in Vladivostok, a major military and commercial Pacific port, on charges of criminal misconduct. She said Russia notified the U.S. and the Army told the soldiers family.

The U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia, Smith said.

It was unclear Monday if the soldier is considered absent without leave, or AWOL.

The arrest comes less than a year after American soldier Travis King sprinted into North Korea across the heavily fortified border between the Koreas. North Korea later announced that it would expel King, who was returned to the U.S. He was eventually charged with desertion.

Russia is known to be holding a number of Americans in its jails, including corporate security executive Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, The U.S. government has designated both as wrongfully detained and has been trying to negotiate for their release.

Others detained include Travis Leake, a musician who had been living in Russia for years and was arrested last year on drug-related charges; Marc Fogel, a teacher in Moscow, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges; and dual nationals Alsu Kurmasheva and Ksenia Khavana.

(AP)
Philippines-based service provider PLDT is widely reported to be in talks to sell just under 50% of its data centre business to Japanese telecommunications company NTT.

PLDT is the Philippines' largest telecommunications group, so this deal, if it goes through, wont be a small one.

PLDT Chairman Manuel Pangilinan has confirmed to news agency Reuters that the talks  to sell 49% of PLDTs data centre business  are in progress. The deal could value the data centre business at US$750 million, though that valuation has not been officially confirmed.

NTT, Japan's largest phone company with a market value (depending on your source) said to be nudging US$100 billion, can no doubt afford to make this purchase. Reuters explains that such a deal would underscore increasing interest in Southeast Asian data centres as an expanding digital population and the rise of artificial intelligence fuel growth prospects. A deal could be reached in the second half of this year, reports suggest.

As for how it will spend the money, PLDT is likely to use the proceeds to cut debt and fund ongoing and new data centre projects.

PLDT owns and operates 11 data centres through subsidiary ePLDT, which recently announced that a planned 50MW hyperscale data centre being built by its data centre unit Vitro is on track to go live as early as this July.
On April 24, the United States Embassy in the Bahamas issued a strong warning to travelers headed to Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI): check your bags for forgotten firearms or stray ammunition before departing, or face the possibility of 12 years in prison.

This warning comes after the arrest of Virginia native Tyler Wenrich. Officials arrested Wenrich and took him into custody after they found two bullets in his backpack before he boarded a cruise ship. Wenrich is one of four Americans currently awaiting sentencing for possession of ammunition in TCI.

Strict firearms laws have led to the arrest of several Americans this year, and the State Department advises travelers to check their bags carefully for ammunition or weapons before departing.

The statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Nassau states, If you bring a firearm or ammunition into TCI, even inadvertently, we will not be able to secure your release from custody.

Stricter Laws for Firearm Possession

Possession of a firearm or ammunition is prohibited in Turks and Caicos. Rigidly enforced punishments for violating the firearms ordinance have been in effect since 2022. That includes a minimum prison sentence of twelve years and a fine without limit for anyone found to possess a firearm or ammunition. Turks and Caicos residents have no constitutional right to bear arms.

Despite these stringent laws, tourists found in violation of TCIs firearm laws in the past often received slap-on-the-wrist punishments. These tourists were routinely able to pay a reduced fine and go on their way without serving jail time. However, in February, the Court of Appeals ruled that the Supreme Court of TCI does not have the right to issue only a fine without jail time, even to tourists on their way out of the country.

An Innocent Mistake With Serious Consequences

The U.S. Embassys travel alert urges vacationers to double-check their bags because even inadvertent possession of a weapon or ammunition will be met with harsh consequences.

Its a reminder that American travelers need to hear. All four U.S. citizens currently awaiting sentencing for possession of ammunition claim that the ammo was left over from previous trips, and they werent aware that they were bringing it into TCI.

According to a Turks and Caicos newspaper, 40-year-old Pennsylvania native Bryan Hagerich was found to be in possession of 20 rounds of rifle bullets while at Providenciales International Airport, boarding a flight back to the U.S. Hagerich explained the bag he was carrying was the same one he often used for hunting trips. Hagerich posted bail but has been in Turks and Caicos since February, awaiting sentencing.

Ryan Watson, a 40-year-old father from Oklahoma, was arrested when officials found four rounds of hunting ammunition inside a plastic bag in his luggage. In an interview with Fox and Friends Weekend, Watson explained that the rounds were left in his carry-on bag from a hunting trip in Texas. Like Hagerich, Watson was at the airport preparing to fly back to the United States when officials found the ammunition in his luggage.

Watson is currently out on bail but, like Hagerich, must remain on the island. He and Wenrich will appear in court on May 7th.

A fourth American, 72-year-old Michael Lee Evans, was arrested and pled guilty to possession of seven rounds of ammunition in December. He is on bail in the United States for medical reasons and faces sentencing in June.

While the Court of Appeals ruled that the Court does not have the power to completely forgo a sentence of jail time, the judge may issue a custodial sentence of less than twelve years if there are exceptional circumstances. Hagerich will be the first person to face trial since the February ruling. The severity of his sentence is likely to set a precedent for the other tourists who are awaiting trial for possession of ammo.

Dont Count on TSA To Find Ammo

In a statement to The Independent, the TSA acknowledged that the four rounds of ammunition had not been picked up at the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma, where the Watsons had flown out from.

TSA is here to protect our transportation security systems, and an oversight occurred that the agency is addressing internally, a TSA spokesperson told the British digital news company.

But that doesnt absolve Watsons answerability. The Embassy warning specifically addresses this. TSA screening in the United States may not identify ammunition in your baggage; it is your responsibility to ensure your baggage is free of ammunition and/or firearms.

Declaring a weapon does not make it legal, and traveling into Turks and Caicos with a declared weapon will still result in arrest.

Take Care When Traveling to Turks and Caicos

Travelers, especially those who regularly take hunting trips and pack bags with weapons or ammunition, should take the State Departments alert seriously. Check bags carefully for any weapons or stray ammunition, and dont rely on TSA screening to find these items.

(AP)
A critical shortage of prison space has forced the Shin Bet to suspend arrests of numerous West Bank Palestinians suspected of links to terrorism, according to a report by Channel 12. The agency cited a letter sent to political leaders the previous day, highlighting the severe consequences of this necessary decision.

The letter emphasized that the high threat level necessitates extensive preventative actions, resulting in frequent arrests. Without these measures, terrorism and violence on the ground will escalate. The Shin Bet warned that the ongoing lack of holding facilities hinders their ability to carry out arrests, forcing an increase in threat levels on the ground.

According to the letter, over 30 arrests in the West Bank were canceled last week due to the lack of prison holding space. In March, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar released around 40 Palestinians from administrative detention a month early to free up space for higher-threat detainees. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir opposed this move, suggesting the release of Jewish administrative detainees instead.

Administrative detention is a controversial tool used by Israeli forces to detain terror suspects without charge or trial, often for extended periods without legal counsel. Its usage has surged amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and Israels fears of violence spilling over to the West Bank, governed by Hamass secularist rival Fatah.

In response to the prison space shortage, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered government ministries to prepare for an influx of thousands of inmates. Estimates suggest thousands of terrorists will be arrested in 2024, exacerbating the prison space crisis if preparations are not made.

Since the war began on October 7, troops have arrested approximately 3,850 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including over 1,650 affiliated with Hamas. The Fatah-run Palestinian Authoritys health ministry reported that over 490 West Bank Palestinians have been killed during this time.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
Esther Greizer, zl, a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor from Hungary who passed away overnight Sunday, on Yom HaShoah, was unable to have children after she endured medical experiments as a child in Auschwitz.

Her great-nephew, Yochai Gringlick, said that despite her pain, she married and was a loving and giving person and treated him and his siblings as her grandchildren. He put out a call on social media for people to attend her levaya, especially since there would be no shiva as her husband and siblings had already passed away.

So many people heeded his call and attended the levaya in Haifa on Monday afternoon that many people couldnt even enter the funeral hall.

Among the participants were many IDF soldiers as well as at least one bereaved father.



Yehi Zichrah Baruch.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
The diplomatic rift between the US and Israel is growing wider after Hamas said it accepted a ceasefire deal  one whose terms Israel says the US hid from them.

Israeli officials told Axios the Biden administration failed to brief them on the proposal before Hamas announced its acceptance on Monday, despite prior assurances of transparency.

A senior US official disputed the claim, saying, American diplomats have been engaged with Israeli counterparts. There have been no surprises.

However, Israeli officials express deep disappointment and harbor suspicion, potentially hindering future negotiations.

The proposal, negotiated by Egypt and Qatar, was presented to Hamas without Israels knowledge, according to Israeli officials. They claim the US, including CIA Director Bill Burns, was aware of the new proposal but didnt inform Israel. This perceived lack of transparency has led to feelings of mistrust, with some Israeli officials believing Israel got played by the US and mediators.

A US official said that the proposal was seen as a counter-proposal, not a new one, and emphasized the complexity of the negotiations conducted through intermediaries in Doha and Cairo, in explaining why they didnt brief Israel about it.

The unnamed official again praised Israels late April proposal as the most forward-leaning proposal to date and urged Hamas to release hostages to secure a ceasefire.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
The IDF on Tuesday morning confirmed that IDF forces have full control of the Rafah Crossing from the Gazan side.

The 401st Armored Brigade captured the area at about 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning, cutting it off from the major Salah a-Din thoroughfare that was captured by the Givati Brigade overnight.

About 20 terrorists were killed in the operation that took place overnight Monday. IDF troops also discovered a number of large terror tunnels and destroyed a vehicle rigged with explosives that drove toward an IDF tank. At the same time, Air Force jets carried out airstrikes against about 100 Hamas targets in Rafah.

During the operation, some innocent Gazans tried to flee into Egypt but were blocked by Egyptian soldiers.

BChasdei Hashem, no IDF soldiers were injured during the operation.

The videos below show IDF tanks on the Gazan side of the crossing:

The Philadelphi Corridor:

The Rafah Crossing is the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Gaza and Israel is now in control of all aid entering Gaza.

The videos below show terror tunnels IDF troops uncovered in Rafah:

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
The IDF on Tuesday said that Air Force jets intercepted a drone heading to Israel from the east overnight Monday.

The IDF previously intercepted a drone heading to Israel from the east overnight Sunday.

During the night, Air Force fighter jets successfully intercepted a drone heading to Israeli territory from the east, the IDF stated. The drone was monitored by IDF forces, it did not cross into Israel, and no warnings were activated in accordance with policy. There were no casualties or damage.

Once again, the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
A Monday deadline for pro-Hamas protesters to leave an encampment at Massachusetts Institute of Technology cleared many demonstrators only to have the site retaken while protesters at the Rhode Island School of Design began occupying a building in the ongoing protest movement connected to the Israel-Hamas war.

At MIT, protesters were given an afternoon deadline in which to voluntarily leave the protest site or face suspension. Many left, according to an MIT spokesperson, who said protesters breached fencing after the arrival of demonstrators from outside the university. On Monday night, dozens of protesters remained at the encampment in a calmer atmosphere, listening to speakers and chanting before taking a pizza dinner break.

Demonstrations at Columbia University, where the Pro-Hamas protest movement began about three weeks ago, have roiled its campus. Officials on Monday canceled its large main ceremony, but said students will be able to celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies this week and next.

The decision comes as universities around the country wrangle with how to handle commencements for students whose high school graduations were derailed by COVID-19 in 2020. Another campus shaken by protests, Emory University, announced Monday that it would move its commencement from its Atlanta campus to a suburban arena. Others, including the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Northeastern, have pulled off ceremonies with few disruptions.

Columbias decision to cancel its main ceremonies scheduled for May 15 saves its president, Minouche Shafik, from having to deliver a commencement address in the same part of campus where police dismantled a protest encampment last week. The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan said it made the decision after discussions with students.

Similar encampments sprouted up elsewhere as universities struggled with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.

The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony. Students abandoned their camp at USC on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.

Emorys ceremonies scheduled for May 13 will be held almost 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of the universitys Atlanta campus, President Gregory Fenves said in an open letter.

Please know that this decision was not taken lightly, Fenves wrote. It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors and other agencies  each of which advised against holding commencement events on our campuses.

The 16,000-student university is one of many that has seen repeated pro-Hamas protests. Student protesters are calling on their schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or otherwise contribute to the war effort.

At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students.

The University of California, Los Angeles, moved all classes online for the week due to ongoing disruptions following the dismantling of an encampment last week which resulted in 44 reported arrests.

Schools are trying various tactics from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action to get protestors to take down encampments or move to other areas of campus.

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago said in a Facebook post Sunday that it offered protesters amnesty from academic sanction and trespassing charges if they moved and that many protesters voluntarily left.

Those that remained were arrested, the school said.

A group of faculty and staff members at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked the administration for amnesty for student protesters who were recently arrested and suspended. UNC Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine said in a media advisory that it would deliver a letter on behalf of more than 500 faculty who support the student activists.

Harvard Universitys interim president, Alan Garber, warned students that those participating in a pro-Hamas encampment in Harvard Yard could face involuntary leave. That means they would not be allowed on campus, could lose their student housing and may not be able to take exams, Garber said.

(AP)
Emanuel Akdemai was born prematurely- and was on a breathing machine for two years!* Later on he received an ear implant to replace a missing ear, but then it was discovered that half his jaw was also missing* These expensive operations are not subsidized by insurance, and in order to pay the expenses, his father is writing a special Sefer Torah for the merit of the contributors* A climactic moment in this touching drama

Emanuel could have already written a book about his adventures from the time he was born until now. Hes only ten years old, but he already has much life experience- intubated for the first two years of his life, afterwards undergoing a series of operations, and even now, when the end is in sight, he still has a long and difficult journey before he can look back and smile a victorious smile.

To his good fortune, HaKadosh Baruch Hu gifted him with abundance to compensate, as it were, for his missing ear and half-jaw. Hes an especially charismatic child with a winning smile and personality. Whoever knows him loves him- children and adults alike. Hes very bright and talented, with an outstanding ability to express himself- and most importantly, he has a giving heart of pure gold.

His intelligence and talents have amazed his friends and neighbors in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Yerushalayim where his family lives, and this helps him somewhat to deal with the challenge of his unusual appearance and with all the many medical challenges hes undergone.

Hes undergone many operations, most of them in the U.S., where hes had to fly no fewer than seven times for this purpose. Hes had a jaw implant and an ear implant, both done in stages. Months pass between each stage. Each time he returns home he needs to recuperate for a few months before flying in yet again for the next treatment.

To fulfill Emanuels dream click here>>>

Last week he flew to the U.S. for the eighth time, and today hes scheduled to undergo a crucial operation. The insurance doesnt subsidize the operations. Left without options, the family themselves are compelled to pay for these exorbitant procedures.

The Akdemai family has eight children; Emanuel is the sixth. The first daughter is married, and together with her younger siblings she strives to give support and encouragement to Emanuel to help him deal with his painful challenges.

Emanuels father is a yirei Shamayim sofer STam. He is currently writing a Sefer Torah in the memory of the soldiers who fell in battle during the current Iron Swords War. Every person who contributes to his sons surgery, he says, will also be given the merit of this special Sefer Torah memorializing the holy fallen soldiers.

We can help them. Lets do it! This surgery is so very important for little Emanuel- he wants so badly to just look normal, like a regular boy. The doctors say that, bezrat HaShem, at the end of these procedures- which are still in process- Emanuel will indeed look like his friends, and will no longer look like he has a disability.

Lets help him fulfill his dream and look like everyone else!

To contribute, click here>>>
BP profits came in below expectations for the first quarter as the oil giant suffered lower energy prices and refining margins.

The supermajor said its underlying replacement cost profit - its preferred measure - totalled $2.7billion (2.2billion) in the opening three months of 2024, compared to $5billion (4billion) for the same period last year and forecasts of $2.9billion.

Earnings were hit by falling oil and gas prices, the temporary shutdown of its Whiting Refinery in Indiana following a power outage, and 'significantly weaker' margins in its fuels business.

Results: The oil supermajor said its underlying replacement cost profit - its preferred measure - totalled $2.7billion (2.2billion) in the opening three months of 2024

Meanwhile, its gas and lower-carbon energy division was affected by unfavourable foreign exchange movements and increased exploration write-offs.

Nonetheless, BP announced a $1.75billion (1.4billion) share buyback, in line with its commitment to return $3.5billion to shareholders in the first half of 2024, and maintained a 7.3 cents per share dividend.

The energy giant also plans to save $2billion in costs by the end of 2026 through a mixture of supply chain efficiencies, digital transformation and 'high-grading our portfolio'.

Murray Auchincloss, chief executive of BP, said the firm 'delivered another resilient quarter financially' against the tougher backdrop.

Rival Shell last week revealed first-quarter earnings of 6.1billion, far surpassing analyst predictions.

Shell benefited from rising refining margins and cost-cutting measures, including thousands of redundancies over the past year, and reducing spending in low-return fields, such as low-carbon energy.

The company intends to spend another 2.8billion on share buybacks during the second quarter, having returned over 18billion in 2023.

BP shares were 0.4 per cent lower at 508.3p on Tuesday morning, although they have risen by about 7 per cent since the year began.

Shell shares were up 1.5 per cent to 2,900.5p.

Jamie Maddock, energy analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said: 'Ultimately the market is going to compare BP to Shell a lot at the moment, particularly as the latter is doing well in fairly volatile conditions.

'For BP however, this means slight misses in results leads to a slightly more overexaggerated reaction. Todays results from BP were fairly uneventful in the grand scheme of things with its earnings and shareholder returns more or less as expected.

'These are still early days for CEO Murray Auchincloss as he looks to narrow the modest valuation gap with Shell but more so with US peers. BP is facing pressures on a few fronts, so unspectacular results will be welcomed until it is clear the business is in better shape.'

Both BP and Shell have watered down their carbon reduction targets despite pressure from campaigners and some investors.

The former recently started production from its Azeri Central East platform in the Caspian Sea and the Seagull oil and gas field in the North Sea.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM  Get Free Report) was down 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $184.47 and last traded at $185.80. Approximately 2,093,910 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 15,333,759 shares. The stock had previously closed at $187.14.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on TSM shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $130.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Susquehanna restated a positive rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $168.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $200.00.

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Trading Down 0.5 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $965.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $170.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $161.61.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The semiconductor company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.33 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a return on equity of 25.54% and a net margin of 37.85%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. Research analysts predict that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.4871 per share. This represents a $1.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. This is an increase from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 53.4% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,416,194 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $2,369,473,000 after buying an additional 6,060,511 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 40.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,695,714 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $2,679,602,000 after acquiring an additional 5,643,949 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 116.3% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,784,316 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $1,352,992,000 after acquiring an additional 4,186,133 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 669.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,721,489 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $646,832,000 after purchasing an additional 3,237,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harding Loevner LP raised its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Harding Loevner LP now owns 11,616,715 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $1,222,768,000 after buying an additional 2,008,043 shares during the period. 16.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Profile

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, packages, tests, and sells integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices in Taiwan, China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, the United States, and internationally. It provides a range of wafer fabrication processes, including processes to manufacture complementary metal- oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic, mixed-signal, radio frequency, embedded memory, bipolar CMOS mixed-signal, and others.

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Colombian connectivity service provider INRED and satellite operator SES announced their latest collaboration on Monday, with this one using SES medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites to provide internet connectivity in the department (administrative division) of Amazonas.

The project  launched under the auspices of the Colombian governments Amazonas Digital initiative  aims to connect more than 500 homes, schools, government entities, and thousands of habitants in Amazonas.

INRED said it will use the MEO satellites to connect the city of Leticia and other rural areas in Amazonas that will enable better access to educational and governmental services.

SES said its MEO satellites, which orbit 8,000 km above the Earth, will play a major role in complementing the governments digital inclusion initiatives to deliver connectivity to the most hard-to-reach regions in the country.

Amazonas, located in the southernmost part of Colombia, is the countrys largest department in area while having the third smallest population (just over 76,500 as of 2018).

The Amazonas project is the latest in which INRED and SES have collaborated with the Colombian government over the past six years. In February this year, the two companies teamed with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MinTic) to launch the "Zonas Comunitarias para la Paz" project, which will use SES geostationary satellites to connect 300 new sites in remote, sparsely-populated areas.

Omar Trujillo, VP of Enterprise Americas at SES, said the satellite operator has helped INRED to connect nearly one million people in 1,300 sites across Colombia with free Wi-Fi access.

Having a long-term partner such as SES, who operates satellites in both geostationary and MEO orbits and knows our connectivity needs well, we have full trust in SES offering the most ideal satellite network to pave the way to a better social and economic future for the people of Colombia, said INRED CEO John Urena in a statement.
Ericsson announced on Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jordanian telco Umniah to expand its 3G and 4G network in major cities across the country.

Under the MoU, Umniah will deploy Ericsson Radio System products and solutions that can be flexibly upgraded as its multi-band and multi-layer needs change over time.

As part of the expansion project, Umniah will use 5 MHz of acquired spectrum and another 5 MHz of spectrum refarmed from its 3G network to add more network capacity to its 4G network.

Umniah CEO Faisal Qamhiyah said the additional spectrum and upgraded infrastructure will enable the telco to not only handle more data traffic and serve the growing demand for mobile broadband services, but also extend 4G coverage to areas where it is currently unavailable.

We aim to significantly improve our network capacity, expand network coverage, and deliver superior user experience for our customers, he said in a statement.

The deal is the second struck by Umniah and Ericsson this year. In February, Umniah announced it will deploy Ericssons Cognitive Software AI solutions to optimise its network and address critical aspects of its network in key locations.
ASOTIN  Asotin County officials got a chance to air their concerns about unfunded mandates, drug laws and green energy ramifications Monday with a state lawmaker.

Rep. Joe Schmick, R-Colfax, stopped by the Asotin County Commission session to ask what the 9th District needs help with at the state level.

The primary concerns he heard about were indigent defense expenses, a need for more mental health and substance abuse counselors, and tougher laws on drug crimes.

Drug dealers need to be put away, and illegal drugs need to be off the streets, Schmick said. Fentanyl is the scourge of our society.

The states high crime rates are mostly driven by mental health and substance abuse, Schmick said, and lax laws and lack of services have created a revolving door at local jails.

The states high crime numbers are disheartening, Schmick said. Were talking about the safety of our communities.

Commissioner Brian Shinn said the county is paying a boatload for public defenders at the same time the state is decreasing the number of cases each attorney can handle. We would like some help on this, he said.

In addition, Gov. Jay Inslees green energy goals are creating problems on the east side of the state, officials said. Wind turbines and solar farms are cropping up in rural communities that are struggling financially, such as Pomeroy and Oakesdale, located in Garfield and Whitman counties.

There is a fine line between respecting an individuals property rights, and living next to neighbors who may not appreciate looking at windmills, Schmick said.

Once they get established, its hard to get rid of them, he said. I havent seen any on Mercer Island, have you?

Asotin County officials said theyre thankful no wind turbines have been built here. The Snake River dams provide much more energy than windmills or solar panels, they said.
Filing week began Monday at auditor offices across Washington for the states primary election, which takes place Aug. 6.

Each open seat requires a filing fee equivalent to 10% of the salaries of the elected position. Candidates have until Friday to make sure their names appear on the ballot.

In Asotin County, two county commissioner seats are open, including District. No. 1, currently held by Brian Shinn, and District No. 2, held by Chris Seubert. The filing fee is $600.35, and the terms are for four years.

The Asotin County prosecutor position, now held by Curt Liedkie, carries a filing fee of $1,772.94. The former prosecutor, Ben Nichols, died a year ago, and Liedkie, a longtime chief deputy prosecutor, was appointed to the unexpired office.

The Superior Court judge position held by Brooke Burns is open in Asotin, Garfield and Columbia counties. The four-year term requires a $2,173.91 filing fee with the state of Washington.

The Asotin County Public Utility District has an open six-year commissioner position in District No. 2. The position is currently held by Don Nuxoll, and the filing fee is $280.68.

In Garfield County, two board of commission positions will be on the 2024 ballot. District No. 1, held by Jim Nelson, and District 2, covered by Larry Ledgerwood, are open. The filing fee is $272.32.

Whitman County has two commission positions that will be on the ballot; the filing fee for either of those is $796.39. The District No. 1 spot is held by Art Swannack and No. 2 is held by Tom Handy.
Waiting for apology

In a Daily News column of April 23, Todd Broadman envisions a Moscow where community members can put aside their grievances with Doug Wilsons Christ Church. After the controversy about his slavery book, I want to explain why I, at least, am not ready for this Kumbaya moment.

The book was a shock to me and the rest of the community. Doug was a philosophy major in my department, and he took most of my classes. We had friendly debates about religion, and he wrote a fine masters thesis on C. S. Lewis and the freedom of the will.

At one time Doug and I were neighbors, and we continued our debates over the proverbial fence. We both had young daughters and, as mine was a bit older, my wife and I gifted our industrial-grade baby carriage to the Wilsons. Sometimes I think about how that sturdy baby buggy must have made its way through many Christ Church families.

In 1994, Doug established New St. Andrews College, and I was invited to speak at one of their weekly convocations. My topic was Confucius and the Aesthetics of Virtue. My talk was well received, and I challenged the students to think about Christian virtue ethics.

In 2007 Christ Church member Paul Kimmell gave a presentation on leadership to the Moscow Chamber of Commerce. He praised Robert E. Lee as an example of a good leader. He concluded his PowerPoint with the juxtaposition of Old Glory and the Confederate Battle Flag.

I challenged Kimmell to apologize for this outrage and he did. I have since had the opportunity to commend him in person for this gesture.

I am eagerly awaiting that moment when, taking a cue from Kimmell, Doug confesses his sins about the disruptions he has caused in our good town.

Nick Gier

Moscow

Trump and Biden

In response to Kirk Koefod, who thinks that my April 25 column, A needed intervention for Trump enthusiasts, applies equally well to Biden and Democrats: congratulations on your brilliant I know you are, but what am I defense. Very impressive. So much more persuasive than even attempting a cogent counterargument. But, as we all know, facts, logic and thinking are all a liberal conspiracy. Its blind faith, gut feeling and mindless repetition of slogans that constitute truth.

I dont suppose it matters that Biden doesnt engage in juvenile bullying, embarrassing social media posts or disparaging the United States at every turn. That he comports himself with basic decency and integrity, that hes a functional adult and effective politician, or that Democrats have never been slavishly loyal to Biden the way Republicans are to Trump and hence almost nothing about my article could apply to Biden. (You know nearly all of us voted for Biden because it was the only way to vote anything but Trump, right?) Our side good, other side bad may not be a particularly nuanced political philosophy, but it certainly makes up for it in stark simplicity and parsimony.

Nonetheless, I do want to thank you for your acknowledgment that Democrats are hard-working, decent, honest, freedom-loving Americans. Its very brave for a conservative to finally come out and say what we all know to be true. Maybe were not so far apart after all.

Ryan Urie

Moscow

Not fooling anyone
Concerns about diminishing customer loyalty are prevalent among Australian businesses, with 78% expressing apprehension, according to a survey. This issue is one that many hope to tackle with AI, despite lingering apprehensions about the technology.

Commissioned by Genesys and conducted by industry research firm YouGov, the study revealed that two-thirds (66%) of respondents identified customer churn as their primary business concern. Of these, 40% were worried about customers shifting to cheaper competitors, while 29% cited concerns about churn due to poor experiences or customer service.

To address these concerns, a significant majority (97%) of surveyed organizations stated they have already adopted or planned to adopt AI to enhance customer experience. However, senior business decision-makers remain cautious, with 95% expressing some level of concern about implementing AI in their companies.

Among their top concerns were cybersecurity risks associated with AI programs (46%), legal and regulatory issues (42%), internal lack of AI skills among employees (40%), and the cost of investing in and implementing AI (40%).

Despite these apprehensions, 91% of senior business decision-makers reported that their companies had seen or expected to see increased customer satisfaction from AI implementation. Additionally, 94% of businesses actively using or considering AI for customer experience enhancements anticipated improvements in first contact resolution, campaign ROI, and cost reduction.

The study forecasts a rise in AI investment among Australian businesses, with anticipated spending set to reach 15.1% of annual budgets in the next financial year, up from 11.1% in the current year. Moreover, 90% of respondents expect their companies to invest in AI in the upcoming financial year, compared to 88% in the current year.

Drivers for AI implementation include automation and streamlining of repetitive processes (32%), improvement of quality and consistency across the customer journey (28%), and enhancement of personalization (27%). As a result, 31% of organizations are applying or planning to apply AI to conversational chatbots, while another 31% are leveraging it for predictive analytics and digital engagement.

Here are some ways SMEs can use AI to get customers:

Targeted Advertising and Marketing

AI helps small businesses aim their ads better. By studying customer info, it can make ads for social media, search engines, and emails that match what potential customers like.

Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

AI-powered chatbots can answer questions any time, sort potential customers, and set up appointments. This lets human staff focus on harder jobs and makes customer service faster.

Content Creation and Optimization

AI can suggest ideas for content, headlines, and even write blog posts or product descriptions that work well on search engines. This brings more people to the site and attracts possible customers.

Social Media Listening and Engagement

AI keeps an ear on social media, spotting when people mention a brand and how they feel about it. This helps small businesses find leads, deal with customer worries fast, and join relevant online chats.

Recommendation Engines and Personalized Offers

Just like big online shops, AI looks at what people bought before and what they look at online to suggest things they might like. This can boost sales and keep customers happy.

Mark Buckley, Vice President of Genesys Australia and New Zealand, emphasized the transformative potential of AI in customer experience and engagement. The business benefits of AI technology are clear, and the latest research from Genesys showcases just how AI can change the face of customer experience and engagement, said Mark Buckley, Vice President, Australia and New Zealand, Genesys. While some concerns remain about implementing AI technology, the opportunity is ripe for businesses to tap AI and the solutions that draw upon its power to transform customer experience for the better.

Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield recognized the remarkable courage and vital contributions made by journalists around the world.

As we mourn the dozens of journalists killed in Gaza; as hundreds more remain unjustly detained around the world; and as Evan Gershkovich marks 400 days in a Russian prison, this occasion is less a celebration than an urgent call to action, said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. And it is a reminder that a free and independent press is the cornerstone of every democracy.

We count on the media to expose corruption and counter disinformation; to facilitate the exchange of ideas and shine a spotlight on human rights abuses, noted Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. We rely on journalists and media workers to seek out the truth, to tell the world what we need to know, and to hold the powerful accountable. This work is as important as ever today, as we face down new and unprecedented challenges to our democracies, our communities, and to international peace and security itself.

Journalists continue to face harassment and intimidation. They are arbitrarily and unlawfully surveilled by governments, including their own governments. They are met with cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns. And, far too often, they are violently attacked and wrongfully detained  simply for telling the truth.

Evan Gershkovichs crime was reporting the facts about Russias illegal war in Ukraine, noted Ambassador Thomas Greenfield. Locking Evan up was meant to be a sign of toughness and strength. And of control. But the truth is, this pernicious targeting by the Kremlin, and by strongmen across the world only reveals their weakness and their fear. Because they know that history is not kind to those who squash dissent through force. That oppression always begets resistance; that, as Dr. [Martin Luther] King famously said, the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice.

Other detained journalists include Alsu Kurmasheva, a Prague-based Russian-American journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Kurmasheva was arrested in Kazan, Russia on October 18, 2023, and charged with failure to register as a foreign agent. And Austin Bennett Tice is an American freelance journalist who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria on August 14, 2012.

Every day, the United States is working to free unjustly imprisoned journalists, and combat impunity for violence and other injustices committed against them.
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Ameren Missouri is reminding its customers that the deadline for applying to the state's Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is May. . .
General Chansamone Chanyalath, Politburo member, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense of Laos. (Photo: KPL)

Lao News Agency KPL, Lao National Radio, Pasaxon newspaper and Lao People's Army Newspaper simultaneously published the speech of General Chansamone Chanyalath.

In his speech, General Chansamone Chanyalath said that the Dien Bien Phu victory was not only a victory for the Vietnamese army and people, but also a victory for all three Indochina countries. It has very great significance for the People of Laos and Cambodia in their struggle against the common enemy to regain independence and freedom for each country.

General Chansamone Chanyalath emphasized that the resounding Dien Bien Phu victory on May 7, 1954 extinguished the will of the colonialist invaders, forcing France to sign the Geneva Agreement on cessation of war and restoration of peace in Indochina, abolishing French rule, recognizing the independence of the three countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, officially ending French colonialism in Indochina.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Laos, the Dien Bien Phu victory is the most brilliant victory in the history of the heroic Vietnamese people's anti-colonial struggle and is engraved in the history of Vietnam and the world in the 20th century.

General Chansamone Chanyalath emphasized that this was the victory of the entire Vietnamese people and army.

More than 70 years have passed, and the meaning and valuable lessons learned from this important historical event are still a source of great encouragement for all the people of Vietnam and Laos in the current work of national building and protecting. That was the victory of the strength of "the entire people fighting the enemy" under the wise leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh.

In Pasaxon newspaper and Lao National Radio, General Chansamone Chanyalath and Mr. Vilayvanh Phomkhe, former Lao Ambassador to Vietnam and former Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of Laos, analyzed that the Dien Bien Phu victory in 1954 contributed to cheering and encouraging Lao people to believe in the correct path that the Lao People's Revolutionary Party had chosen in the fight against the common enemy, which was to stand side by side with the army and people of Vietnam.

General Chansamone Chanyalath also highlighted the contribution of the Lao People's Army in the Vietnamese People's struggle against invaders. Laos helped Vietnam open the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos to transport ammunition, food and forces to liberate South Vietnam, contributing to the resounding victory on April 30, 1975, completely liberating the South and unifying the country.

Vietnam's victory also made an important contribution, helping the Lao people have more strength to stand up to seize power on August 23, 1975 and declare independence to establish a new regime, the State of the Lao People's Democratic Republic on December 2, 1975./.
Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on invitation visits the Orsay Museum with Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on invitation visited the Orsay Museum with Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday afternoon.

Brigitte warmly welcomed Peng at the gate of the museum. The wives of the two heads of state entered the museum to appreciate the "Paris 1874 Inventing Impressionism" exhibition and the museum's masterpiece oil paintings.

The two stopped from time to time to appreciate Impressionist classic works by Claude Monet, Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and other famous painters, and exchanged feelings.

Noting that both the Chinese and French people love painting very much, Peng expressed her hope that the two sides could carry out more exchanges so that the two peoples could feel the charm of each other's cultures and deepen mutual understanding.

Peng hoped that artists of the two countries will strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, and inspire each other to create more exquisite works of art.

In the hall of the museum, the wives of the two heads of state had cordial exchanges with French students who were visiting and studying there.

The students shared their experiences of learning Chinese and expressed their love for Chinese culture. Peng encouraged them to work hard to learn Chinese well, and take opportunities to study in China, walk around and take a look, so that they can get a true and multi-dimensional view of China.

Peng said she hopes that the students will become little envoys of China-France friendship and build a bridge of communication between the two peoples so that China-France friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

Founded in 1986, the Orsay Museum is a French national museum, which has the richest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist artworks in the world.

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on invitation visits the Orsay Museum with Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

Editor: WXL
Upholding mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, China-France economic and trade cooperation continues to expand, making the "pie" of cooperation bigger.

In recent years, the relationship between China and France has risen to new heights, and the two countries keep making new progress in cooperation on aviation, aerospace, nuclear energy, agrifood and green development.

Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Shein and Temu have boosted Chinese exports to France, offering high-quality and affordable products to French consumers.

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping was warmly received by French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal at Paris Orly airport as he started his third state visit following previous trips in 2014 and 2019.

This visit took place during the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and France, fueling the visit with special meaning as an important opportunity to build on past achievements and guide the future of bilateral ties.

In the 60 years since, the bilateral relations have always stayed abreast of China's relations with Western countries, setting a prime example for countries with different social systems to coexist in peace and pursue win-win cooperation, Xi said in a written speech on Sunday upon his arrival here.

China is ready to consolidate traditional friendship, enhance political mutual trust, build strategic consensus and deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields with France via visit, Xi said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Paris for a state visit to France at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, May 5, 2024. Xi was received by French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal at Paris Orly airport upon arrival. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

MAKING A BIGGER PIE

According to data released by China's Ministry of Commerce, French direct investment in China in the first two months of this year has surged 585.8 percent year-on-year.

China and France, in the face of difficulties and challenges, have upheld true multilateralism and kept to the right direction of free trade and economic globalization, significantly enhancing the resilience and vitality of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, said Xi while addressing the closing ceremony of the fifth meeting of the China-France Business Council in Beijing in April 2023.

According to a 2023 survey of French companies in China conducted by the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, many member companies are planning to further invest in China.

"The importance of the Chinese market, from my point of view, has not changed," Barbara Frei, the executive vice president of Schneider Electric, told Xinhua. She voiced confidence in China's position as a more mature economy and the biggest market in industrial automation and highlighted China's role as an "innovation driver."

Her remarks were echoed by Patrick Charignon, vice president for Asia-Pacific of EDF Renewables, a subsidiary of France's leading electric utility company EDF.

"China, with its immense ambitions in terms of energy transition, and as the world leader in decarbonized energy production capacity, is obviously a very important market for EDF," said Charignon.

Upholding mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, China-France economic and trade cooperation continues to expand, making the "pie" of cooperation bigger. Two-way trade between China and France has reached 78.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.

China is now France's largest trading partner in Asia, while France ranks as China's third-largest trading partner within the European Union (EU).

During a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in April last year, Xi conveyed to Macron China's readiness to work with France to build a "French farm to Chinese dining table" whole-chain rapid coordination mechanism. Nowadays, this mechanism is becoming a shining example of practical cooperation between China and France.

"We produce high-quality beef thanks to our certification and traceability system. We still need to communicate that quality to Chinese consumers," Maxence Bigard, president of INTERBEV, the French interprofessional livestock and meat association, told Xinhua.

The first Airbus A321 aircraft is produced at the Final Assembly Line Asia (FALA) facility in north China's Tianjin on Nov. 9, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

COOPERATING ON INNOVATION

In recent years, the relationship between China and France has risen to new heights, and the two countries keep making new progress in cooperation on aviation, aerospace, nuclear energy, agrifood and green development, said Xi in his written speech on Sunday.

In the joint venture established by the Renault Group and the Chinese automotive supplier Minth located in the "Battery Valley" of northern France, two new production lines have begun manufacturing battery boxes for electric vehicles.

Inside the factory, dozens of welding robots and handling robots work in an orderly manner. The advanced technologies brought by the Chinese side have spared French partners' capital and time.

"What really interests us is to have this partnership so that we can benefit from the know-how of these Chinese companies that have made very, very rapid progress, particularly in electric vehicles, but also in upstream technologies," said Yann Pitollet, CEO of Nord France Invest, whose words echo the sentiments of many local executives.

In January, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus opened a service center dedicated to the entire lifecycle of an aircraft in the city of Chengdu, the firm's first such center outside Europe.

"Expanding our presence in the Chinese market provides us with the opportunity to discover additional avenues for growth," said Brian Agnew, general manager of Airbus Lifecycle Services, adding that the Chengdu project is driving Airbus to expedite the development of localized services, benefiting not only Chinese customers but also global clients.

In the cosmetics industry, China has become one of the six global research and innovation centers and one of the three global beauty technology centers for French company L'Oreal, as well as a product evaluation center.

France was the first Western country to cooperate with China on civilian nuclear energy projects. Since then, cooperation has expanded from technical to more forward-looking research areas.

"The two countries are committed to continuing their nuclear cooperation on cutting-edge research and development topics, in particular on the basis of the agreement between the Atomic Energy Authority of China and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission," said a joint statement between China and France in 2023.

Luo Qingping, chairman of the China Institute of Nuclear Industry Strategy (CINIS), told Xinhua that over the past year, CINIS has conducted forward-looking research on nuclear energy to support low-carbon development in collaboration with EDF.

"This is an exemplary case of strategic planning research cooperation between Chinese and French companies, reflecting the consensus between China and France in the development of nuclear energy," said Luo.

Chinese pavilion is seen at the 60th International Agriculture Fair in Paris, France, Feb. 26, 2024. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)

EXPANDING WIN-WIN PLATFORMS

In the video speech marking the 60th anniversary of China-France diplomatic ties, Xi said the two countries should "pool cooperation forces and share development opportunities through openness."

The China International Import Expo (CIIE) has become an important gateway for French goods to enter the Chinese market. The 7th CIIE of this year has once again invited France as the guest of honor. Pascale Thieffry, director of the French Pavilion department at Business France, said that the CIIE has greatly promoted the trade development between France and China.

On the French side, the International Agriculture Fair (Salon de l'Agriculture) in Paris also serves as a bridge for agricultural cooperation between China and France. From February to March this year, the Chinese Pavilion made its debut at this annual event, with local specialties such as dried wolfberries and citrus peel tea, as well as Chinese handicrafts like paper-cutting and shadow puppets, attracting many French customers to come and discuss cooperation.

Cross-border e-commerce between China and France has witnessed a boom in recent years. Li Mingtao, head of the research institute at the China International Electronic Commerce Center, said in the past two years, e-commerce platforms have prompted many small French enterprises to explore the Chinese market.

A study by SDA Bocconi School of Management in Italy shows that from 2019 to 2022, French exports to China on Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and Taobao Global amounted to 41 billion euros (44 billion dollars), roughly equivalent to the total sum of exports of Italy, Spain, and Germany to China.

Meanwhile, Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Shein and Temu have boosted Chinese exports to France, offering high-quality and affordable products to French consumers.

The third-party market cooperation between China and France also continues to deepen. Stellantis Group, a leading global automaker that merged by Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group, invested 1.5 billion euros (1.62 billion dollars) in October last year to acquire about 20 percent of the shares of Chinese electric vehicle company Leapmotor Technology. The newly established joint venture has started production of pure electric vehicles in Italy and Poland, among other places.

In the Republic of the Congo, China, France and the Central African country jointly undertake the concession operation project for No. 1 National Highway, significantly boosting local employment and improving people's well-being.

Xinhua correspondents Qiao Benxiao, Zhang Baihui, Zhang Chaoqun, Dong Xiaohong, Che Yunlong and Li Chao also contributed to the story.

Editor: ZAD
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday delivered a speech titled "Building on Past Achievements to Jointly Usher in a New Era in China-France Cooperation" at the closing ceremony of the Sixth Meeting of the China-France Business Council in Paris, France.

The following are some of the highlights of Xi's speech.

- The China-France relationship has always been a pacesetter for the relations between China and Western countries. It shows how countries with different cultures, systems and development levels can help each other succeed and make progress together.

- Our trade has expanded by nearly 800 times since the establishment of diplomatic relations, reaching 78.9 billion U.S. dollars. Cumulative two-way investment has exceeded 26 billion U.S. dollars. More than 2,000 French companies have woven themselves into the fabric of the Chinese market.

- As one of the earliest participants in China's reform and opening up, France has contributed to China's modernization drive and benefited from it. Deeper friendship calls for frequent exchanges and closer cooperation.

- China will continue to make full use of the "French farm to Chinese dining table" whole-chain rapid coordination mechanism, and bring more cheese, ham, wine and other quality agricultural products from France to the dining tables of Chinese families.

Editor: WXL
In Sri Lanka, tourism leaders are worried because the government has raised the cost of visas. This change makes it more expensive for travelers to visit the country. Tourism experts are concerned that these higher fees will make tourists choose other destinations where it costs less to travel, such as Thailand or Vietnam.

Sri Lanka Visa Fee Hike Threatens Tourist Influx

The decision to increase the visa fees was made as Sri Lanka is trying to attract 2.5 million tourists by the end of the year. However, this goal might be hard to reach now because the more expensive visas could stop people from visiting.

Travel and Tour World revealed that the standard tourist visa now costs $75 for people from countries not in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). This price is 50% more than it used to be. For people from SAARC countries, the visa price is now $35.

Tourism officials have asked the President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to bring back the old prices. They believe that keeping travel costs low is essential to encourage tourists to visit.

The new e-Visa system, which replaces the older Electronic Travel Authorization system, is meant to make traveling to Sri Lanka easier and more efficient. Despite this, the higher fees might make it tough for Sri Lanka's tourism industry to compete with other countries.

As Sri Lanka's tourism sector faces these challenges, the outcome of the new visa pricing policy is still uncertain. The government's response to the concerns of the tourism industry is highly anticipated.

People in the travel business are hoping for a solution that keeps Sri Lanka an attractive and affordable destination for tourists. The situation shows the difficult balance between improving services and keeping travel costs reasonable.

Related Article : This is Why Sri Lanka is Your Next Solo Travel Dream Destination

Extends Visa-Free Entry for Seven Countries

Sri Lanka has extended its visa-free entry policy for travelers from seven countries until May 31, 2024. This policy allows visitors from India, China, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan to enter Sri Lanka without a visa.

The program, which began in October 2023 and was initially set to end in March 2024, has been successful in increasing the number of tourists, leading to extensions first through April and now into May next year.

As per Travel and Leisure Asia, travelers from these countries must apply for an e-visa before their trip but will not be charged any fees. The e-visa is valid for a single entry and allows a stay of up to 30 days.

To apply, visitors need a valid passport, a personal photo, proof of where they will stay in Sri Lanka, and a flight confirmation. Applications can be made through Sri Lanka's official visa website.

This visa-free program is part of Sri Lanka's efforts to boost tourism by making it easier and more attractive for tourists to visit.

However, this should not be confused with full visa exemption, which applies to Singapore, Maldives, and Seychelles; travelers from these countries can enter with just their passport and stay for longer periods.
Much has been said about Amsterdam's picturesque canals, the red-light district known as De Wallen, and all the spots offering stroopwafels, frites (otherwise known as fries), and Dutch pancakes. However, no visit to the capital of The Netherlands will ever be complete without visiting the Royal Palace.

Located in Dam Square, which is at the heart of Amsterdam, the Royal Palace is the official reception palace of the Dutch royal family. What this means is that it is used during state visits as well as other important celebrations and holidays in the country. Despite the fact that the palace is actively used during royal reception, it is open to the public when it is not being used for such occassions.

Designed by architect Jan van Campen, it initially served as the town hall. It was converted into a palace by Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who became King of the Netherlands.

Much of the grandeur of the town hall-turned-palace has survived since its construction in the 17th century. These can be viewed by the public though a group tour or just by visiting the palace and paying for the entrance fee. There is a free hand-held audio tour available for those who want to explore the palace on their own.

The Citizens' Hall

One of the most striking parts of the Royal Palace is none other than the Citizens' Hall. There are a lot of details to soak in when you stand in the hall, including the three large maps that are part of the marble floor.

You will also find a six-meter tall statue of Atlas that is depicted to be holding the world on his shoulders. A version of this statue can also be spotted outside the palace in bronze.

Related Article : Why the Anne Frank House is Worth Visiting When in Amsterdam

Rooms

From the Citizens' Hall, you will be able to explore and check out the other rooms inside the Royal Palace. However, do take note that not all rooms can be entered. Instead, visitors can opt to observe and take photos of these rooms from the doorway.

Among the rooms that you will find in the Royal Palace are the bedrooms that was once used by Louis Bonaparte and his wife, Hortense de Beauharnais. The couple did not have a happy a marriage and even stayed in separate bedrooms that were far from one another.

Other rooms that can be found in the palace are the Throne Room and the Moses Room (also known as the Moses Hall).

Vierschaar

Towards the end of your visit, you will enter the room known as the Vierschaar or the Judiciary. This was previously where public announcements of death sentences were made, which is why it faces Dam Square. It once had an opening through which prisoners walked to reach their the square, where they were typically executed.

The details in the Judiciary all symbolize what the room is all about. Do look for the female figures on the wall that represent remorse and guilt.
Jet AM Spares Establishes Itself as a Leading Supplier With a Comprehensive Selection of Commercial Jet Parts and Products Organized by ATA Chapters.



(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED STATES - May 6th, 2024 - CALIFORNIA, ANAHEIM, UNITED STATES, February 13, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Jet AM Spares, an ASAP Semiconductor owned and operated website, has emerged as a dominant force in the parts distribution market, offering a comprehensive range of jet engine parts and commercial jet offerings categorized by ATA chapters. With a commitment to innovation and excellence, as well as a consistently expanding selection of products, Jet AM Spares continues to solidify its position as a trusted supplier for a diverse customer base.

The aviation sector relies heavily on the immediate availability of high-quality parts to ensure the safe and efficient operation of aircraft, and Jet AM Spares recognizes this critical need by positioning itself as a key source for a wide range of jet engine parts. From turbines to compressors, fans, and more, Jet AM Spares provides essential components necessary for the proper functioning of jet engines across various aircraft models, all while upholding quality assurance and competitive pricing.

In addition to jet engine parts, Jet AM Spares offers a comprehensive selection of commercial jet offerings categorized by ATA chapters. This categorization system allows for streamlined procurement processes, enabling customers to quickly and efficiently locate the specific parts they need based on their aircraft's maintenance manual. Whether it is airframe components, powerplant parts, or avionics, Jet AM Spares ensures that customers can easily access the parts required to keep their aircraft in optimal condition.

At the heart of Jet AM Spares' success is a commitment to innovation. The company continuously invests in research and development to stay at the forefront of streamlined procurement services. While offering over 2 billion new, used, obsolete, and hard-to-find items, Jet AM Spares provides a user-friendly website and lookup tools to promote an ease of search. Furthermore, Jet AM Spares leverages its market intelligence, strong supplier relationships, and other resources to guarantee solutions to difficult needs, even when other channels fail.

Jet AM Spares understands that reliability is paramount in the aviation industry, and that is why the company places a strong emphasis on quality assurance and compliance. All parts offered by Jet AM Spares undergo rigorous testing and inspection processes to ensure they meet the highest standards of safety and reliability, and every listing traces back to a vetted manufacturer or entity. Additionally, Jet AM Spares adheres to strict industry regulations to guarantee the authenticity and integrity of its products, the parent company ASAP Semiconductor operating with AS9120B, ISO 9001:2015, and FAA AC 00-56B accreditation.

Jet AM Spares is committed to providing exceptional customer service to its clients, the company understanding the importance of timely procurement, especially in the fast-paced aviation industry. That is why Jet AM Spares offers expedited shipping options on numerous parts and upholds around-the-clock support to ensure that customers can access the parts they need, when they need them. With a dedicated team of experts ready to assist at any time, Jet AM Spares is committed to delivering an unparalleled customer experience. To learn more about Jet AM Spares and its range of offerings, be sure to visit the companys website at https://www.jetamspares.com/.

About Jet AM Spares:

Owned and operated by ASAP Semiconductor, Jet AM Spares is a premier purchasing platform for quality-assured aviation components that find use in varying applications. Across a variety of carefully curated catalogs, customers can find over 2 billion new, used, obsolete, and hard-to-find items that cater to diverse applications on Jet AM Spares website, everything being ready for purchase at any time. With team members working around the clock and instant RFQ services, customers are encouraged to kick off their procurement needs at their earliest convenience.

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Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : HOW CAN YOU CHOOSE THE SEAT ON ICELANDAIR Industry: Airlines

Icelandair Seat Selection



(TRAVPR.COM) USA - May 6th, 2024 - You are planning the visit with your favorite one, but if your co-partner seat is not available with you, then definitely your journey becomes a little boring, thats why Icelandair allows passengers to select the seat during the booking process. Icelandair provides you Icelandair Seat Selection, which will make your journey amazing.



Icelandair Seat Selection Policy Icelandair's Seat Selection Policy allows you you travel and enjoy them with your favourite one together because your seat will be together. Here are some important points which you have to keep in mind while selecting the seat. According to Icelandair's Seat Selection Policy of Icelandair Airlines, use the official website to select a seat.

When you are choosing the seat while booking the flight, you do not need to pay any charge regarding the Seat Selection.

After booking the flight, you can still select the seat with the managed tips option, but now you need to pay extra charges, for selecting the seat.

Charges will depend on the travel classes and your destination. How can you choose a seat on Iceland Airlines? By calling You can select the seat by calling Helpline No. of Iceland Airlines - 1-800-223-5500. By website You can visit the official website of Iceland Airlines - https://www.icelandair.com/

Now, find the flight and then select the seat as well.

You can log in and manage trips to see your booking.

After that, the next step in which you can select a seat.

Confirm the seat and proceed to the payment. By social media Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/icelandair?igsh=MTA3bjAzZGZubWpzaw== Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Icelandair What will be the charge for seat selection on Iceland Airlines? After selecting the seat, you will come to the payment process. For this, you absolutely want to know the charge for seat selection. Then you should know the charge for seat selection. Seat selection charge depends on class type and seat and destination. your charge can vary, but it will be 10 to 30 USD dollars. How many options are available while selecting the seat? There are the following options available for seat selection. Economy Standard seats: with decent pitch and width availability, there are regular seats on the Icelandair flight. These seats will be free to select when booking or checking in online within 24 hours before departure. Economy comfort seat: this seat can be found in the first row of the economy cabin. But this seat is available with additional charges during the booking process or later. Saga Premium seat - you can find this seat in the front portion of the flight; you will find a comfortable seat, enhanced dining options,





What is the use use of seat maps for seat selection? Seat maps give nitty gritty data approximately the format of seats, galleys, washrooms, and other components inside the flight. They offer assistance to travelers to familiarize themselves with the cabin highlights, find their seats, and make educated choices almost situated determination. It is fundamental to know the make and show of your airship when utilizing situated maps, as situated arrangements can contrast among different planes. Extra information regarding the seat of Iceland Airlines Icelandair ensures a comfortable travel experience by offering diverse seating options. To make well-informed choices, passengers should familiarize themselves with the available seating selections and their corresponding prices. In Icelandair's Economy class, standard seat width and pitch are provided, with the option to upgrade to Economy Comfort or Saga Class for a more spacious journey. Opting for an upgrade provides passengers with added legroom, increased seat width, and amenities like lounge access or recliner seats. Some Economy class seats may feature extra legroom, which can vary depending on the aircraft and seating row. For example, additional space may be available in rows 6 and 7, but it's crucial to verify such details as they may differ across aircraft versions. Opinions among passengers regarding Icelandair seats are diverse, with some offering mixed reviews. While some consider the extra legroom to be worth the additional cost, others may feel that the seat padding is insufficient for longer flights. Utilizing seat maps during the reservation process proves beneficial in selecting a preferred or less favorable seat. Online tools provide comprehensive seating information for various Icelandair aircraft on different itineraries. FAQs What will be the width of the seat in Icelandair economy class? The seats at Icelandair are better than those of other airlines' flights. The seat width in Icelandair in economy class is 19 inches, so you can sit comfortably while traveling. Is there any seat upgrade option available on Icelandair? Yes, of course, Iceland airline offers an upgrade option for the passenger seeking additional legroom. You can see the prices while booking the ticket. What type of upgrade does Icelandair offer? There are various types of upgrades that Icelandair offers, such as seats, different types of fares, and many more factors. Can I choose a seat on Icelandair? yes, you can choose. You will be assigned the seat for free. However, you can select your preferred seat anywhere in the cabin for a fee. Seat selection will be included in the ticket on Saga Premium and Saga Premium Flex. How does the seat selection work? Reserving a seat within your service class incurs a fee. While each airline ticket includes an assigned seat, most domestic airlines charge an extra fee for passengers who wish to choose their seat location. https://www.flightsaura.com/blog/icelandair-seat-selection/ ### Please contact the person or company listed above for information regarding the content of this press release. TravPR.com are not the issuers of this press release and are not responsible for the accuracy of the content. Share Release :



CONTACT INFORMATION Name: Flights aura Company: Flightsaura Phone: +1-866-609-1576 Email: sophia.smith112221@gmail.com Web: PRESS RELEASE TAGS
Ancient DNA reveals genetic resilience of Pacific walruses

Photo by Casey Clark

A female Pacific walrus rests on sea ice in the Bering Sea.

DNA extracted from ancient bones has helped scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks shed light on the surprising resilience of Pacific walruses in the face of historical commercial overhunting.

The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, has important implications for the future of the iconic Arctic species amid modern environmental challenges, including the disappearance of sea ice due to the effects of climate change.

Pacific walruses inhabit the cold northern waters of the Bering and Chukchi seas and depend on sea ice to feed, molt and calve. Floating ice gives them a place to haul out of the water to rest and allows them to roam freely over a large territory.

When the U.S. acquired Alaska from Russia in 1867, Yankee whalers began hunting walruses intensively for their hides, blubber and ivory tusks. Within 20 years, overhunting had cut the population of 200,000 animals in the region by at least half. The decline triggered a famine among the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bering Strait region, who relied on walruses for subsistence.

Two more waves of overhunting followed. Each time, hunting paused when the walruses became too scarce to be hunted profitably. That allowed the population to bounce back, triggering another period of intensive hunting. The last wave of overhunting ended in about 1960.

Researchers wanted to learn how the sudden population decreases affected Pacific walruses genetic diversity. To find out, they analyzed DNA from archaeological samples  some as much as 3,300 years old  and compared it to data from modern specimens.

We expected genetic diversity would be lost as a result of the population contraction, said lead author Kendall Mills, who recently earned her Ph.D. from UAF.

The big surprise was that the overhunting actually didn't reduce their genetic diversity much at all, she said. We found no difference between ancient and modern Pacific walruses.

Photo by Casey Clark

Pacific walruses  mostly females and calves  gather near sea ice in the Bering Sea. Floating ice gives walruses a place to haul out of the water to rest and allows them to roam freely over a large territory.

Researchers suspect walruses maintained genetic diversity because of their wide-ranging behavior, aided by the floating sea ice. Because they werent constrained by land, they were less prone to localized inbreeding, which can lead to an extinction vortex.

An extinction vortex occurs when a population becomes so small and genetically homogeneous that individuals become more susceptible to genetic disorders, which contributes to additional population decline. Without intervention, species caught in an extinction vortex may reach a point where they cannot recover, ultimately facing extinction.

Once a species drops below a certain threshold, theres a ratcheting effect, Mills said.

The term ratcheting effect describes a situation where progress or change becomes locked in a certain direction, making it difficult to reverse course.

The study suggests that although Pacific walruses will almost certainly continue to decline in number as the planet warms, they may be less susceptible to the ratcheting effects of inbreeding, at least initially. However, ongoing habitat loss of sea ice from climate change poses new challenges.

According to Lara Horstmann, chair of UAFs Department of Marine Biology, the loss of Pacific walruses would affect the culture and subsistence lifestyle of Indigenous people. The animals also play a vital role in the ocean ecosystem.

Walruses feed by suctioning clams, mollusks, worms and other creatures from the seabed in shallow waters. As they forage, their tusks mix oxygen into the sediment and release nutrients into the water.

Theres a lot of life in the ocean, and much of it requires oxygen, Horstmann said. Without the walruses stirring things up, youd lose a lot of prey for other animals. Youd lose the worms that live in the sediment, the nematodes, the mussels.

This latest study adds to a body of knowledge gleaned from more than a decade of research funded by a $1.7-million grant from the National Science Foundation, with additional support from the Jay Pritzker Foundation. The ancient DNA specimens were obtained from the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution and the UA Museum of the North, home to the worlds largest collection of marine mammal specimens, according to the studys senior author Link Olson, curator of mammals. They were processed at UAMNs Ancient DNA Laboratory.

The researchers hope understanding the species genetic responses to changes in population size can help guide conservation efforts.

What surprises me is how resilient they are, given all of the changes that theyve gone through, Horstmann said. It is really incredible that they can yo-yo back. They are adapting by changing their feeding habits and their calving intervals as necessary. They are just incredibly adaptable. And for an animal that seems so unique and specialized, that, to me, is surprising and hopeful.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Kendall Mills, kkmills@alaska.edu; Link Olson, leolson@alaska.edu, 907-474-5998; Lara Horstmann, lara.horstmann@alaska.edu, 907-474-7724

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UAF undergraduate wins Goldwater Scholarship

Photo provided by Xochitl Munoz

Xochitl Munoz at the Annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting.

University of Alaska Fairbanks geosciences undergraduate Xochitl Munoz has been named a 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholar. The Goldwater Scholarship program is designed to identify, encourage and financially support outstanding collegiate juniors and seniors pursuing research careers in the sciences, engineering and mathematics.

The program was established by the U.S. Congress in 1986 to honor the late Senator Barry Goldwater. Munoz is the 10th UAF student to win the award, which provides up to $7,500 per year to cover tuition, fees, books, and room and board. As a rising junior, Munoz will receive scholarship support for two years.

To be considered for the award, students must complete a rigorous application process in which their home university nominates them for national consideration. Munoz was selected from a pool of 5,000 candidates from 446 academic institutions to receive one of 438 scholarships.

Munozs career goals include researching early mammalian evolution to earn a Ph.D. in paleontology and working as a university professor or museum curator.

Xochitl was the perfect candidate for this award, said Eugenie Euskirchen, UAFs Goldwater Scholarship coordinator. They have such a strong research background for someone at their career stage. Im not surprised they won, she said.

Munoz is mentored by Patrick Druckenmiller, director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North and professor of geology; Sarah Fowell, professor of geology; and Beth Caissie, physical scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey.

Xochitl is a talented up-and-coming young scientist, said Druckenmiller.

In the first semester of their freshman year, Xochitl eagerly latched on to a research project in our lab concerning some understudied mammal fossils, he said. They have since produced some amazing findings, presented this work at a professional conference, and have a manuscript for publication in the works.

UAF photo by JR Ancheta

Xochitl Munoz aboard R/V Sikuliaq in August 2023.

"Its common to find students who are excited about research in a general sense and passionate about changing the world," said Caissie, who sailed with Xochitl for a month last summer on a research cruise.

"But its rare to find a student who is genuinely happy to put in the time it takes to do mundane but necessary tasks. Xochitl saw even these as worthy of close attention. They are possibly the most conscientious person I have ever met," she said.

In the lab or in the field, Xochitl has demonstrated commitment, creativity, hard work and collegiality. We are lucky to have them in the lab, said Druckenmiller.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Xochitl Munoz, xmmunoz@alaska.edu; Eugenie Euskirchen, 907-474-1958, seeuskirchen@alaska.edu; Beth Caissie, 413-824-2388, bcaissie@usgs.gov

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By Janice Phelan, May 6, 2024

Funding removes financial barrier for students interested in traveling abroad by covering passport application costs.

Thanks to an American Passport Project grant, the University of Central Missouri (UCM) will be able to assist students interested in studying abroad by offering funding for passports.

UCM was among 51 institutions in the United States receiving the grants, offered through the Institute of International Education to support Pell-eligible students by opening the pathway to study abroad.

More than 60 percent of UCM students applying for a study abroad program do not have a passport at the time of application, said Matt Chiesi, the universitys coordinator for the Study Abroad Program.

This grant will support students who have interest in studying abroad to get their passport while they plan their future travel, Chiesi added.

UCMs grant totaled $4,000, and this is the first time the university has received the American Passport Project award. The funding will pay for all passport application costs for 25 students.

We do anticipate awarding all 25 awards, he said. In fact, Dr. Roger Best (UCMs president) has also promised to match these funds for an additional 25 students at UCM next year. The target is first-year students, whether freshman or transfer students.

Interested students will apply for the passport funding over the summer and fall of 2024.

Chiesi praised Tiana Key, UCM assistant director, First-Year Experience, and the universitys Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Integrity for their assistance with the grant application.

Research shows that studying abroad can increase students overall engagement, provide a sense of belonging, expand their knowledge of cultural experiences and encourage their transition from their first year to second year, Key said. The grant, combined with UCMs additional funding, will remove a financial barrier for a total of 50 students interested in this experience.

I believe this free passport opportunity will be life-changing for many of our first-year students, Key added. I hope the students see this grant as an opportunity to take the first step toward participating in one of the many studying abroad programs at UCM and connecting with the larger global community.

The American Passport Project represents the Institute of International Educations commitment to creating access to international education opportunities and enabling equity by removing a financial barrier, thereby increasing the diversity and inclusion of students studying abroad. Through the project, the organization aims to grant 10,000 U.S. students their passports by the end of this decade.

Shown in photo: Student Alexis Swope in London.
The Latvian government is set to hand over to Ukraine a short-range air defense system.

This was announced by the Minister of Defense, Andris Spruds, whose statement was published on the European Commission website

There are countries that have Patriot systems, he noted, admitting that some have none in their disposal but the latter are still able to provide other models to Ukraine.

The minister added that his country is ready to contribute to Ukrainian air defense capabilities.

"This is about about a multi-level approach, he said, adding that this implies a short-range air defense capability.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Germany called on the EU and NATO to strengthen Ukraine's air defense as soon as possible. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, launched a joint initiative, calling on third countries to review the options to this end. The initiative was discussed last week at the G7 top diplomats meeting.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, following the EU summit on April 18, said Ukraine needs at least seven Patriot systems, one of which will be donated by Germany.
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Published May 6, 2024

CAPTION: ULM Honors program students Grace Gunder (left) and Beau Benoit hosted the annual Honors Banquet on April 29, 2024.

MONROE, LA  The ULM Honors program held its annual Honors Banquet at ULMs Bayou Pointe Event Center on April 29, 2024.The Honors Program recognized eleven students graduating with honors in the college, four students graduating with honors in the university, and three students who completed all undergraduate requirements and will enter ULMs Pharmacy program.

Students graduating from honors in the college must complete 20 hours of honors coursework, complete independent honors research, and maintain a 3.4 GPA or higher. Those eleven students graduating with Honors in the College were Jordyn Eaton (Salt Lake City, UT - computer science), Jenna Etheridge (Monroe, LA  biology), Grace Gunder (Elizabeth, LA - biology), Loren Higginbotham (Slaughter, LA  biology), Hannah Jones (Sterlington, LA  biology), Mehek Lamsal (Kathmandu, Nepal  accounting), Prasansha Paudel (Kathmandu, Nepal  computer science), Yana Paudel (Bhaktapur, Nepal  computer science and mathematics), Rachel Robertson (West Monroe, LA - psychology), Kiauna Rollins (Baker, LA - marketing), Alden Sonnier (Bunkie, LA - medical laboratory sciences).

Students graduating from honors in the university must complete 22 hours of honors coursework, complete independent honors research, write a thesis, and maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher. Elisa Castillion, a biology major from Metairie, LA, was recognized for her thesis, The Transparency of Neonatal Testing in Louisiana. Taylor Brinson, a psychology major from West Monroe, LA, was recognized for her thesis, Risk Propensity and Sensation-Seeking Behavior Differences Between Genders. Brinson will pursue a Masters of Biomedical Sciences with a Neuroscience concentration and attend MD Anderson in Houston, TX. Sarah Broadway, a criminal justice major from West Monroe, LA, was recognized for her thesis, Illuminating Myth: Exploring Orpheus and Eurydice Through Cut Paper Light Boxes. Caitlyn Cullen, a political science major from Vacherie, LA, was recognized for her thesis, The Susceptibility of Different Groups of Individuals to Join Christian Nationalist Ideology.

Three students were recognized for completing the requirements for honors in the college and will enter the Pharmacy graduate program in the Fall. They were Kaitlyn Apperley (Monroe, LA), Tierney Gammage (Monroe, LA), and Abigail Yelverton (Rayville, LA).

The ULM Honors Program also recognized outstanding faculty and students. The Faculty of the Year Award went to Dr. Patrick Morgan, assistant professor of English, in recognition for his exemplary record of teaching honors students in honors courses.

The recipient for the Jordan Faith Bass Freshman of the Year Award was Noah Stephan, a biology major from Monroe, LA; the Sophomore of the Year was Nishu Shrestha, a computer science from Nepal; the Junior of the Year was Shreya Adhikari, a nursing major from Nepal, the Senior of the Year was Caitlyn Cullen, a political science major from Vacherie, LA. The honors program also awards a student of the year. The Student of the Year Award is given to the student who best exemplifies the ideals of the ULM Honors Program through excellence in scholarship, high moral character, and outstanding service to the honors program and university. Grace Gunder, a senior biology student from Vacherie, LA was the recipient.

Dr. Joshua Stockley, director of the ULM Honors Program, in brief remarks to those in attendance, said You are all simply amazing, amazing, amazing individuals  persistent, gritty, resilient, creative, funny, intelligent, hardworking, determined, empathetic, supportive, motivated, leaders  you are all these things. And, word has travelled. Your acceptance into prestigious schools and employment for elite companies combined with a record number of applications for the 2024 academic year demonstrate that people know about the excellence of the ULM Honors Program and the University of Louisiana Monroe. You reaffirm President Berrys insistence that we are the best in the world at what we do.

About the ULM Honors Program

The ULM Honors Program is a unique program within ULM that seeks any intellectually curious student who desires to challenge themselves with new ideas and to work with similarly motivated students. The program is open to any student of any major. Honors students are exposed to more in-depth topics and work closely with faculty in smaller courses.

For more information about the Honors Program contact Dr. Joshua Stockley at stockley@ulm.edu or 318-342-3216 or visit ulm.edu/honors.
Graduation ceremonies are usually joyous occasions, marking the culmination of years of hard work and dedication. However, a recent incident at Georgia State University's graduate commencement ceremony has sparked controversy and raised questions about freedom of expression and cultural sensitivity on campus.

The Incident

In a video clip went viral on social media, a student wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress, was escorted out by armed security officers during a ceremony. According to the university's statement, the student was not asked to leave for wearing the keffiyeh, as garments displaying national or cultural symbols are permitted. However, the student also brought a Palestinian flag, which is prohibited under the university's commencement policies.



The university's statement explained that the student relinquished the flag to security before walking across the stage. However, her behavior was deemed "disruptive" in the center aisle after the flag was returned, leading to her removal from the ceremony. The statement also mentioned two other incidents where a guest's garment and another graduate's attire were mistaken for flags.

READ MORE : Morehouse College Faces Controversy For Inviting Biden As Commencement Speaker Amidst Objection From Faculty And Students

Freedom of Expression vs. University Policies

This incident raises important questions about the balance between freedom of expression and adherence to university policies. While universities have the right to establish guidelines for graduation ceremonies, they must also ensure that these guidelines do not infringe upon students' rights to express their cultural identities.

The keffiyeh, for example, is not just a piece of clothing but a symbol of Palestinian solidarity and resistance. For many students, wearing the keffiyeh is a way to express their support for the Palestinian cause. Banning the keffiyeh or other cultural symbols could be seen as stifling students' freedom of expression and cultural identity.

On the other hand, universities also have a responsibility to maintain decorum and order during graduation ceremonies. Disruptive behavior, regardless of the underlying reasons, can detract from the solemnity of the occasion and disrupt the experience for other graduates and their families.

The Role of Security and University Response

The university's response to the incident has also come under scrutiny. While the university maintains that the student was not asked to leave for wearing the keffiyeh, questions have been raised about the role of security officers in handling the situation. The use of armed security officers to escort a student out of a graduation ceremony has been criticized as excessive and heavy-handed.

Furthermore, the university's statement did not provide details about the student's alleged disruptive behavior, leading to speculation and confusion. The lack of transparency in the university's response has only served to fuel the controversy surrounding the incident.

The incident at Georgia State University's graduation ceremony highlights the complex issues surrounding freedom of expression, cultural identity, and university policies. While universities have the right to establish guidelines for graduation ceremonies, they must also ensure that these guidelines are applied fairly and do not infringe upon students' rights.

Moving forward, it is important for universities to engage in dialogue with students and stakeholders to ensure that their policies are inclusive and respectful of diverse cultural identities. By fostering a culture of understanding and respect, universities can create an environment where all students feel valued and supported in expressing their cultural identities.
As the issue of antisemitism continues to spark debates and tensions across college campuses nationwide, three university leaders find themselves thrust into the political spotlight. In a Capitol Hill hearing scheduled for May 23, the presidents of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Michigan, and Yale University are slated to testify.

This marks the third such hearing in six months, underscoring the heightened scrutiny faced by institutions of higher education in addressing antisemitism and supporting Palestinian causes amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. As these leaders prepare to navigate the political crossfire, they face complex challenges with far-reaching implications for their institutions and the broader landscape of higher education.

Antisemitism on Campus: A Growing Concern

In recent years, colleges and universities have grappled with incidents of antisemitism, exacerbating tensions within their communities. From offensive remarks and discriminatory actions to contentious debates surrounding Israel-Palestine relations, the issue has emerged as a pressing concern for campus leaders.

The rise of social media platforms has provided a platform for the dissemination of hateful rhetoric, further fueling tensions and polarization. In response, universities have implemented various initiatives to combat antisemitism, including educational programs, diversity training, and increased support for Jewish student organizations. However, the persistence of such incidents underscores the complexity of addressing deep-seated biases and prejudices within academic environments.

READ MORE : House Of Representatives Votes To Codify Broad Definition Of Antisemitism Into Federal Civil Rights Law

The Role of Congressional Hearings

Against this backdrop, Congressional hearings on campus antisemitism have taken center stage, shining a spotlight on university leaders and their responses to these challenges. Led by Republican members of the House Education and Workforce Committee, these hearings have sought to hold institutions accountable for their handling of antisemitic incidents and related protests.

While ostensibly aimed at addressing concerns about discrimination and campus safety, the hearings have also been criticized for their politicization and potential chilling effect on academic freedom. University presidents called to testify have faced intense scrutiny and pressure to demonstrate their commitment to combating antisemitism while upholding principles of free speech and intellectual inquiry.

Navigating Political Pressures

For university leaders, the prospect of testifying before Congress poses a delicate balancing act between appeasing lawmakers, protecting their institutions, and maintaining the trust of their campus communities. In the face of partisan rhetoric and polarizing debates, presidents must articulate their positions with clarity and conviction, while also acknowledging the complexities of the issues at hand.

Moreover, the political implications of their testimony extend beyond the confines of the hearing room, with potential ramifications for funding, enrollment, and institutional reputation. As they prepare to face Congressional scrutiny, university leaders must navigate a fraught political landscape while upholding their commitment to academic integrity and inclusivity.

Challenges and Controversies

Previous hearings have not been without controversy, as university presidents found themselves under fire for their handling of antisemitic incidents and related protests. Some critics have accused presidents of failing to adequately address concerns about discrimination and intolerance on their campuses, while others have questioned the motives behind the hearings themselves.

Moreover, the intersection of antisemitism with broader debates about Israel-Palestine relations has further complicated efforts to find common ground and foster constructive dialogue. As tensions escalate and emotions run high, university leaders face mounting pressure to strike a delicate balance between upholding free speech rights and ensuring a safe and inclusive campus environment.

Looking Ahead

As the date of the upcoming hearing approaches, university leaders find themselves at a critical juncture, grappling with complex challenges and competing priorities. While Congressional scrutiny may serve as a catalyst for action and accountability, it also raises questions about the politicization of higher education and the erosion of academic freedom.

Moving forward, it is essential for university leaders to remain steadfast in their commitment to combating antisemitism, promoting diversity and inclusion, and fostering a campus climate where all voices are heard and respected. By navigating the political crossfire with integrity and courage, they can help pave the way for meaningful dialogue, understanding, and reconciliation in the pursuit of a more just and inclusive society.
As pro-Palestinian protests continue to ripple across university campuses, institutions of higher learning are finding themselves entangled in a web of misinformation.

False reports, altered images, and misleading narratives are spreading like wildfire on social media, creating a challenging environment for universities to navigate. With the rise of digital misinformation, the question of how universities should address and combat these falsehoods has become increasingly pressing.

The Landscape of Misinformation

The advent of social media has transformed the way information is disseminated, offering both unprecedented access to news and a breeding ground for misinformation. The recent pro-Palestinian protests have highlighted the susceptibility of digital platforms to the spread of false information, with manipulated images and misleading narratives quickly gaining traction online.

Darren Linvill, co-director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, notes the deliberate efforts of bad actors to exploit these platforms for their agenda. "Bad actors are trying to exacerbate this issue; from the perspective of state actors, it's ripe to drive a wedge into," Linvill explains.

The misinformation surrounding the protests is multifaceted, ranging from false reports about events on campus to the misrepresentation of actions taken by protesters. One such example occurred at Harvard University, where false claims circulated about a raised Palestinian flag replacing an American flag on campus. The university responded with an online statement clarifying the situation, emphasizing the importance of addressing misinformation promptly.

READ MORE : California Fights Misinformation, Fake News Using Media Literacy Bill

To Address or Not to Address: The Debate

The question of whether universities should directly address misinformation has sparked debate among experts. Yotam Ophir, head of the Media Effects, Misinformation, and Extremism Lab at the University at Buffalo, believes that drawing attention to misinformation can sometimes backfire. Ophir highlights a challenge for universities attempting to fact-check and correct misinformation: many may doubt their objectivity.

However, Erik Nisbet, director of Northwestern University's Center for Communication and Public Policy, argues that universities have a responsibility to speak out against misinformation, even if their efforts are met with skepticism. Nisbet emphasizes the importance of having accurate information readily available, even if some people ignore or reject fact-checking efforts.

Joan Donovan, a professor at Boston University, suggests that a balanced approach is needed, especially when misinformation could incite violence. Donovan argues that in situations where misinformation is intended to incite fear or panic, it is the responsibility of universities or administrators to clarify the truth.

Empowering Students With Media Literacy

In addition to addressing misinformation, experts emphasize the importance of equipping students with media literacy skills. Tim Richardson, program director of journalism and disinformation at PEN America, highlights the need for individuals to seek news from credible, diverse sources to avoid confirmation bias.

Some universities have taken proactive measures to enhance media literacy among students. Ophir teaches a "misinformation" course at the University at Buffalo, focusing on developing critical thinking skills in navigating the digital information landscape. Ophir suggests that educational systems should provide students with literacy tools from a young age.

Boston University's Donovan advocates for integrating journalism practices into education, regardless of students' majors or career paths. Donovan emphasizes the importance of teaching high school and college students about journalism ethics to improve their engagement on social media.

As universities grapple with misinformation amid pro-Palestinian protests, the need for a multifaceted approach has become evident. While the spread of false information presents challenges, it also underscores the importance of media literacy and critical thinking skills in navigating the digital age. By addressing misinformation and empowering students with the tools to discern fact from fiction, universities can play a pivotal role in combating the spread of falsehoods in today's information landscape.
Remarks:

Notification of change of GSO position of Inmarsat-4 F2 (international designator 2005-044A).
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District Administration Karachi South has introduced digital system for issuance of domicile in order to ensure transparency in the process and facilitate the citizen

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2024) District Administration Karachi South has introduced digital system for issuance of domicile in order to ensure transparency in the process and facilitate the citizens.

The Commissioner Karachi Syed Hassan Naqvi was briefed during a meeting held here at the office of deputy commissioner South on Tuesday to review the measures taken to facilitate citizens and for improvement of civic facilities in the metropolis, said a statement issued here on Tuesday.

He irected deputy commissioners of all the districts of Karachi division to establish transparent system for issuance of domicile in their respective districts.

Naqvi also inspected the domicile desk at the occasion. Deputy Commissioner South Altaf Sario briefed that digital system was fulfilling the requirements of transparency in issuance of domicile and citizens have been facilitated in obtaining domicile.

The meeting also taken stock of arrangement being made to deal with any emergency situation arising from potential heavy rains.

The DC South briefed that a contingency plan has been devised in view of the expected monsoon rains so that citizens could be saved from rain damage and difficulties.

It was decided in the meeting that the deputy commissioner will hold separate meetings with the Municipal Commissioners and the teams of the Towns and Municipal Administration of the district to review their rain emergency plans and will take necessary measures.

Earlier, Commissioner Karachi along with the Deputy Commissioner South visited different areas of the district and inspected measures taken for improvement of the city.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2024) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that the Saudi business delegation highly commended the preparedness and confidence of the Federal ministers and other government team members, displayed during their visit, which augured well for the country's future.

The prime minister, in the opening remarks at the federal cabinet meeting, informed the cabinet members that during the interaction with him at the dinner reception he had hosted for them on Monday, the appreciation by the head of Saudi delegation, bought him immense pleasure for it being unprecedented.

He said he would hold a separate meeting with the cabinet members and the government officials who had put in their utmost efforts to ensure the success of Saudi delegation's visit.

Prime Minister Shehbaz told the meeting that the head of Saudi delegation, who was an intelligent and highly educated, acknowledge during meeting with him in the the presence of the ministers, that guidance, presentations and follow-ups by Pakistan side, were a pleasant surprise and very encouraging.

The members of Saudi delegation also acknowledged that they were returning with satisfaction and pleasure and would report to the Saudi leadership that they had witnessed a new era in Pakistan.

The prime minister congratulated the cabinet members and federal secretaries for their hard work, adding that the appreciative words by the Saudi delegation, made his evening as well as that of the whole of Pakistan.
Singapore, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2024) Amazon said Tuesday it would invest $9 billion in Singapore over the next four years to expand its cloud computing capabilities in the city.

The tech giant said the figure doubles its investment in the city-state and will help it meet growing demand for cloud services and adopt artificial intelligence.

"AWS (Amazon Web Services) is doubling down on its cloud infrastructure investments in Singapore from 2024 to 2028 to support customer demand, and help reinforce Singapore's status as an attractive regional innovation launchpad...,"the company said in a statement.

The e-commerce titan last week said profit in the first three months of 2024 tripled as its cloud, ads, and retail businesses thrived.
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Porto Alegre, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th May, 2024) Humanitarian aid arrived on Tuesday in Porto Alegre and other flood-ravaged municipalities of southern Brazil, where queues formed for drinking water as forecasters warned of more downpours.

The worst natural calamity ever to hit the state of Rio Grande do Sul has claimed at least 90 lives, with 362 people reported injured and 131 still missing, according to the civil defense force that handles disaster relief.

Nearly 400 municipalities in total have been hit, including state capital Porto Alegre, and more than 156,000 people have been forced to leave their homes as streets were transformed into rivers after days of rain in unprecedented amounts.

Porto Alegre is home to some 1.4 million people and the larger metropolitan area more than double that.

For tens of thousands of people left stranded amid impassable roads, collapsed bridges and flooded homes in Rio Grande do Sul, "the most urgent demand is (drinking) water," said civil defense official Sabrina Ribas.

Helicopters were flying two and fro delivering water and food to communities most in need, while work continued on restoring road access.

In the municipality of Alvorada, west of Porto Alegre, there were queues of people with buckets and plastic bottles, collecting drinking water from the few municipal taps still working.

Most shops have run out of bottled water.

"This is horrible. We have children," said 27-year-old Gabriela Almeida, queuing at a public tap with a one-year-old in her arms.

Individuals and businesses with wells were doing what they could to help.

Alvorada resident Benildo Carvalho, 48, was one of them -- filling neighbors' bottles with a hose as a line of people started to form outside his house.

"It's a matter of solidarity," he told AFP. "You cannot deny people water."

Only one of Porto Alegre's six water treatment plants was functioning, the mayor's office said, and hospitals and shelters were being supplied by tankers.

- 'Changed the map' -

President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva said more emergency funds would be freed up Tuesday, vowing there would be "no lack of resources to meet the needs of Rio Grande do Sul."

Some 15,000 soldiers, firefighters, police and volunteers were hard at work in planes and boats, even jet skis, to rescue those who are trapped and bring aid where they can.

Brazil's neighbors Uruguay and Argentina have sent rescue equipment and trained personnel.

As the calamity showed no signs of abating, weather forecasts suggested it could still get worse.

The Inmet meteorological institute warned of possible storms in the south of Rio Grande do Sul until Wednesday, followed by rainfall in the center and north it said would imperil the rescue effort.

The state's Guaiba River, which runs through Porto Alegre, remained at historic levels Tuesday.

According to weather agency MetSul, the flooding has "changed the map of the metropolitan region" of Porto Alegre.

Police, meanwhile, said there have been reports of evacuated homes being looted and some residents, afraid of such intrusions, were refusing to move to shelters.
JOHANNESBURG, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2024) At least five people have died and dozens remain trapped in the rubble after a five-story building at a construction site collapsed in South Africas city of George in Western Cape Province, emergency officials said Tuesday.

The building that was under construction collapsed on Monday afternoon, trapping over 70 workers but 24 have so far been pulled out of the rubble.

Local television showed rescue workers digging through the rubble with hopes of pulling out more workers alive.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said: All the necessary support has been offered to emergency personnel to expedite their response.

At the moment, officials are focused on saving lives. This is our top priority at this stage.

President Cyril Ramaphosa offered his condolences to the relatives and friends of the five people who died in the building collapse.

The Presidents thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones as well as the families of close to 50 people who are trapped in the rubble, Ramaphosas office said in a statement.

He said investigations into the cause of the incident must aim to prevent a repeat of this disaster.
Tarbes, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2024) French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday was to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees mountains, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia's war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade.

The first day of Xi's state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday.

Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine and asked Beijing to do all it could to end the war.

Xi for his part warned the West not to "smear" China over the conflict and also hit back at accusations that Chinese overcapacity was causing global trade imbalances.

The fresh mountain air at the village of Bagnere-de-Bigorre and the adjacent resort of La Mongie, as well as lunch accompanied by their wives Peng Liyuan and Brigitte Macron, will allow Xi and Macron to explore these issues in relative intimacy.

While born and brought up in the north of France, the young "Manu" spent numerous winter and summer holidays with his late maternal grandparents in the area just below the Col du Tourmalet, over 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) above sea level and a legendary climb in the Tour de France.

Xi is expected to dine on local lamb, cheeses and wines in an environment the president hopes will help the pair get to the heart of the most pressing issues.

Hours after hosting a lavish state banquet for Xi in Paris Monday night, Macron personally welcomed Xi on arrival at Tarbes airport in in southwest France.
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New York, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2024) The New York judge presiding over Donald Trump's historic criminal trial threatened the former US president with jail time on Monday if he commits another violation of his gag order.

Trump, 77, is charged with falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment made to a porn star just days ahead of his 2016 race against Hillary Clinton.

Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was threatening at the time to go public with her story about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, a salacious revelation that could have been damaging to his White House campaign.

Judge Juan Merchan held Trump in contempt of court and fined him $1,000 on Monday for a violation of the gag order prohibiting him from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors or court staff and their relatives.

Trump, whose trial is taking place six months ahead of an expected White House rematch with Democrat Joe Biden, was also fined a total of $9,000 last week. But Merchan said these penalties were not serving as a "deterrent" and he would have to consider jail time for further violations.

"As much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction..., I want you to understand I will," Merchan told Trump, who sat silently at the defense table dressed in a dark blue suit and red tie.

"At the end of the day I have a job to do and part of that job is to maintain the dignity of the justice system," the judge said, calling Trump's defiance a "direct attack on the rule of law."

Merchan's ruling came at the start of the third week of testimony in the high-stakes trial of the Republican White House candidate, the first former US president to face criminal charges.

Speaking to reporters after the day's proceedings, Trump blasted the case as "election interference" by Democrats to keep him off the campaign trail.

"I should be out campaigning," he said.

Before the day wrapped up, prosecutors said they expect at least two more weeks of witness testimony, drawing an angry reaction from Trump.

"I thought they were going to be finished today and they want two to three more weeks," he told reporters.

He also criticized the gag order.

"Our constitution is much more important than jail, it's not even close," he said. "I'll do that sacrifice any day."

Prosecutors called two witnesses on Monday.

Jeffrey McConney, a Trump Organization executive, walked the jury through the reimbursements to Cohen for the hush money paid to Daniels, saying most of the funds were drawn from Trump's personal account.

McConney was followed by Deborah Tarasoff of the Trump Organization's accounts payable department, who was asked about the checks signed by Trump to pay Cohen back.

Daniels, 45, and Cohen, 57, who has become a vocal critic of his former boss, are both expected to testify at some point during the trial.

Hope Hicks, a former close advisor to Trump, testified last week about the "crisis" that engulfed his 2016 presidential campaign after a tape emerged of him bragging about groping women.

Hicks said she was a "little stunned" by the now infamous Access Hollywood tape in which Trump was heard boasting about grabbing women's genitalia.

Hicks was a key player in the final stages of Trump's successful 2016 presidential campaign when the hush money payments to Daniels were allegedly made.

According to prosecutors, panic over the tape triggered a Trump campaign effort to silence Daniels over her claim of a sexual encounter with the married Trump. Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels.

In addition to the New York case, Trump has been indicted in Washington and Georgia on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Biden.

He also faces charges of illegally storing huge quantities of top-secret documents taken from the White House at his home in Florida.
UNITED NATIONS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2024) Pakistan has called for steps to prevent the weaponization of outer space, saying such a course would avert a grave danger to international peace and security.

"The threats to security in and from outer space have escalated sharply in recent years. This is evident from the placement of weapons in space, and its increasing characterization as the next war-fighting frontier in the military policies and doctrines of major powers," Ambassador Munir Akram told the UN General Assembly on Monday.

The 193-member Assembly was debating Russias veto in the Security Council last month which blocked a draft resolution aimed at preventing a new extraterrestrial arms race.

Due to the negative Russian vote, the 15-member Council failed to adopt last months text, which received 13 votes in favour, with China abstaining. The draft resolution was introduced by United States and Japan and co-sponsored by over 60 nations.

In his remarks, Ambassador Akram said that the US-Japan draft resolution rightly recognized that the prevention of an arms race in Outer Space would avert a grave danger for international peace and security; underscored the importance of the Outer Space Treaty; and reiterated that the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament as the sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum.

Pakistan, he said, has always maintained a principled position that resolutions on global disarmament issues should be deliberated and concluded in an inclusive and transparent manner within the appropriate forums -- the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the UN Disarmament Commission and the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, which deals with disarmament and international security matters.

The Pakistani envoy regretted that there has been no progress on a Treaty to Prevent an Arms Race in Outer Space for over four decades.

"Initially," he said, "some dismissed the possibility of an arms race in outer space. Then, they argued that it was too late to prevent its militarization and called for focusing on non-weaponization measures. Now, they want to concentrate on behavior rather than capabilities, ignoring the inherent risks of legitimizing the weaponization of Outer Space."

Pakistan, Ambassador Akram said, has been advocating a comprehensive approach with a dual focus on both capabilities and behaviour.

"We have consistently advocated urgent negotiations on a legally binding instrument on PAROS (Preventing Arms Race in Outer Space). Concurrently, we have also actively contributed to non-legally binding measures such as Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures (TCBMs).

However, he added, the evident gaps in the international legal regime cannot be filled by TCBMs or other non-legally binding norms.

Regretting that a few states continue to block the start of such negotiations in the Committee on Disarmament (CD) on a legally binding instrument that prohibits the placement of weapons in outer space and outlaws the threat or use of force against outer space objects, the Pakistani envoy said that they have failed to explain how such negotiations would undermine their security interests. "They have also failed to justify why definitional and verification issues cannot be taken up during negotiations  an approach that they advocate for another item in the CD."

Ambassador Akram therefore hoped that this issue of weaponization of Outer Space, which has been raised in the Security Council, will be transmitted to the C.D. for further consideration within the context of negotiations on a Treaty to prevent an arms race in Outer Space.

Earlier, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia explained why his delegation voted against the US-Japan draft resolution.

He stated that despite its beautiful sounding title, the text failed to address its declared goal because that objective was already covered by existing international agreements, and voiced concern that the resolution could have had far-reaching consequences for disarmament processes.

During the negotiations on this draft, we attempted in vain to get an answer from the authors on why they were trying to use the Security Council to reaffirm already existing international obligations in the area of outer space exploration, he said.

He referenced the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which unequivocally prohibits placing weapons of mass destruction in outer space and suggested that discussions on this topic should take place in specialized forums that include all General Assembly members.

Ambassador Nebenzia criticized the draft for attempting to introduce new restrictions through the Security Council that were not previously established in any international instruments, including the 1967 treaty, raising serious doubts from a legal point of view about these new restrictions.

Imposing such obligations without preliminary, expert, legal and technical discussions is inadmissible, he said.

On his part, Japanese Ambassador Kazuyuki Yamazaki urged delegates to consider the catastrophic consequences if a nuclear weapon were detonated in outer space, resulting in the destruction of satellites and critical space infrastructure with irreversible impacts on peoples lives worldwide.

The draft Security Council resolution on weapons of mass destruction in outer space, co-drafted by the US and Japan, was intended to avoid such a nuclear catastrophe for humankind, he said.

He highlighted the broad support for the draft, with 13 votes in favour and 65 co-sponsors.

Regrettably, one permanent member decided to silence the critical message we wanted to send to the present and future people of the world: outer space must remain a domain free of weapons of mass destruction, he lamented.

He said preventing nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in outer space must remain our priority.

Outer space must never be an arena for a nuclear arms race, he said.

US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said the debate surrounding Russia's veto of the draft resolution presents a critical opportunity to promote accountability and transparency among all permanent Council members.

He highlighted that the draft resolution aimed to affirm the obligations of all States parties under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, particularly over the prohibition of placing nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in outer space.

He said it also urged UN Member States not to develop nuclear weapons specifically designed for deployment in orbit, which would mitigate the risk of a nuclear incident in space and preserve vital satellites essential for communication, security and sustainable development.

It should not be at all controversial or difficult for the Security Council to affirm the clear obligations of parties under the Outer Space Treaty nor should it be difficult to ask that States work together towards our shared interests, he said.

Ambassador Wood noted that the US and Japan, as the penholders, were deliberate, transparent, inclusive and flexible in their approach to the resolution, with the text evolving based on negotiations.

Regarding Russias new proposed draft resolution on the topic, he criticized it as a diplomatic facade concealing its true intentions.

The reality is that Russia currently possesses several conventional anti-satellite weapons in orbit, he said, citing a 2019 weapon test and ongoing threats against satellites.

Russias actions cast significant doubt as to whether it will uphold its existing legal obligations under the Outer Space Treaty and raise concern about what this means for international peace and security, he added.

Speaking on the issue, Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong emphasized that outer space is the global commons and embodies the shared aspirations of all humanity.

The world today is not at peace. The risk of outer space weaponization is on the rise and the right of developing countries to access space science and technology is being restricted, he said.

He said the international community should take measures that benefit all countries.

These include preserving the peaceful character of outer space, urgently enhancing international space governance frameworks and fostering increased cooperation and dialogue.

The draft resolution on outer space security previously proposed by the US and Japan is neither comprehensive nor balanced, which China is not in a position to support, the Chinese envoy said, adding that a new resolution proposed by Russia at the Security Council is more balanced and comprehensive.

China supports that [Russian] draft resolution and looks forward to its early agreement among Council members to jointly safeguard mutual trust and cooperation among all parties on the issue of outer space, he added.

APP/ift
Police on Tuesday broke up pro-Palestinian demonstrations at universities in Amsterdam and Berlin, which were inspired by similar demonstrations on campuses around the world

Amsterdam, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2024) Police on Tuesday broke up pro-Palestinian demonstrations at universities in Amsterdam and Berlin, which were inspired by similar demonstrations on campuses around the world.

At the University of Amsterdam, images on public broadcaster NOS showed police baton-charging protesters and smashing up tents at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT), after they refused to leave the campus.

"The demonstration took on a violent nature because later in the evening massive stones were removed from the ground," police said in a statement.

Violence briefly erupted on Monday evening when a small group of counter-protesters wielding flares stormed the main protest.

Demonstrators blocked off some roads to the university, after which police broke up the protest to enable access by emergency services.

Some students hurled stones and fireworks at the officers when they broke up the demo, said police, and more than 120 were arrested.

On Tuesday morning, police began releasing some of those arrested but dozens were still in custody.

The protesters have urged the university to break ties with Israel because of its military offensive in Gaza.

The war in the Gaza Strip was sparked by an unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group , which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Warsaw, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2024) Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has shut down domestic dissent and ramped up confrontation with the West over nearly a quarter century in power, officially begins his fifth term on Tuesday.

Ever since the previously little-known KGB agent became president on New Year's Eve 1999, he has consolidated power by bringing oligarchs to heel, banning any real opposition and turning Russia into an authoritarian state.

The Kremlin leader is due to be inaugurated for a fifth term on Tuesday after winning his largest-ever election victory in March in a vote condemned by the West as a sham.

The election was overshadowed by the death of Putin's main rival Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison in mysterious circumstances.

Other opponents are serving lengthy jail sentences or have fled into exile.

Abroad, 71-year-old Putin has spearheaded efforts to challenge the dominance of the West.

His grip on power tightened further after he invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with public dissent against the war effectively silenced through court proceedings and imprisonment.

His rule risks being defined by the war in Ukraine, which has cost many thousands of lives and sparked unprecedented Western sanctions that have created major tensions in the Russian economy.

- Quashed mutiny -

There were large anti-war protests in the days after he ordered troops into Ukraine in the early hours of February 24, 2022. They were quickly quashed.

But there were more demonstrations months later when the government was forced to announce a partial mobilisation, after Russia failed to topple Ukraine's government in the opening offensive of the war.

The most serious challenge to Putin's long rule came in June 2023, when Yevgeny Prigozhin, a long-time ally and head of the Wagner mercenary group, announced a mutiny to unseat Russia's military leadership.

The bloody uprising threatened to tarnish Putin's self-created image of a strategic genius -- uncomfortable for a ruler who likes to compare himself to Peter the Great, the reform-minded emperor who expanded Russia's borders.

But in recent months, Putin has demonstrated his lasting power.

Domestic opposition has been silenced, the economy is growing again, the Russian military has gained ground in east Ukraine, and he has resumed foreign travel.

- Early reform hopes -

Putin started out as an intelligence officer before embarking on a political career in the mayor's office in his native Saint Petersburg in 1991, as the Soviet Union was falling apart.

Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first president, appointed him as head of the FSB security service in 1998 and as prime minister the following year.

It was a carefully planned strategy, culminating in his nomination as acting president when Yeltsin resigned.

Putin won his first presidential election in March 2000 and a second term in 2004.

His rise initially spurred hopes that Russia would reform and become a predictable, democratic partner to the West on the global stage.

Putin gained popularity by promising stability to a country still reeling from a decade of humiliation and economic chaos following the Soviet collapse.

After two stints as president, he switched back to being prime minister in 2008 to circumvent a constitutional ban on holding more than two consecutive terms as head of state.

But he kept the reins of power firmly in hand and returned to the presidency in 2012 despite pro-democracy protests in Moscow, winning a fourth term in 2018.

He jailed his loudest rival, Navalny, in 2021.

The clampdown on opposition movements ramped up after the launch of hostilities in Ukraine.

Thousands of Russians were handed long prison sentences using newly reinforced censorship laws.

The West imposed sanctions that effectively cut off Russia from the global banking system, adding to the Russian leadership's siege mentality.

- 'New Iron Curtain' -

In October 2023, Putin accused Europe of creating a "new Iron Curtain" and said Russia was building "a new world" order that would not be based on Western hegemony.

He has also increasingly pushed a domestic agenda of nationalism and social conservatism, including most recently laws against Russia's LGBTQ community.

Persona non grata among Western leaders after the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian strongman has sought to pivot east, wooing India and China with increased energy exports.

At the same time, he has drastically boosted defence spending, creating a new war economy in an effort to prevail in Ukraine.

The war failed in its initial aims to topple Ukraine's government and Russia was forced into a series of humiliating setbacks by the determined defence of the much smaller Ukrainian army.

But, with the conflict now in its third year, Putin has been speaking with increased confidence about Russia's prospects on the battlefield -- a topic he avoided for many months.

Russian forces successfully held off a much-hyped Ukrainian counter-offensive last year and have made significant advances in 2024 following delays to much-needed Western military supplies.

Wrangling in Washington held up $61 billion in military aid for Ukraine, which was finally approved last month.

On the battlefield, Ukrainian troops have frequently found themselves outnumbered and outgunned and Russia is redoubling its offensive ahead of a new Western military boost for Ukraine.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for crossings into the besieged Gaza to be reopened immediately and urged Israel to "stop any escalation" after the occupying power sent tanks into Rafah where 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering

UNITED NATIONS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2024) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for crossings into the besieged Gaza to be reopened immediately and urged Israel to "stop any escalation" after the occupying power sent tanks into Rafah where 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering.

"I am disturbed and distressed by the renewed military activity in Rafah by the Israeli defence forces," he told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York.

"The closure of both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be re-opened immediately.

"I urge the Government of Israel to stop any escalation, and engage constructively in the ongoing diplomatic talks."

Israel overnight sent tanks into Rafah in southern Gaza, seizing control of the border crossing with Egypt, an operation the United Nations said denied it access to the key humanitarian passage.

The military's thrust into the eastern sector of the city packed with displaced civilians came a day after Israel warned Palestinians in the area to evacuate ahead of a long-threatened ground operation.

Army footage showed tanks flying the Israeli flag taking "operational control" of the Palestinian side of the border crossing, it said, in a deployment that had a "very limited scope against very specific targets".

UN humanitarian office spokesman Jens Laerke said Israel had denied it access to both Rafah and Kerem Shalom - the other main Gaza aid crossing, on the border with Israel - with only "one day of fuel available" inside the besieged territory.

Unless fuel was allowed in, "it would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave", he warned.

Overnight, heavy bombardments rocked Rafah, according to media reports. The Kuwaiti hospital said 23 people were killed and the Najjar hospital said another four people were killed.

Hamas said last night that it had informed Egypt and Qatar of its "approval of their proposal regarding a ceasefire" in the conflict, prompting cheering crowds to take to the streets of Rafah.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the proposal was "far from Israel's essential demands", but the government would send negotiators for talks "to exhaust the potential for arriving at an agreement".

In the meantime, it added, "Israel is continuing the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages and the other objectives of the war".

The United States, Israel's closest ally, said it was "reviewing" the Hamas response.

In his remarks, the UN chief reiterated his appeal for a ceasefire, while underscoring the need for an agreement between the Government of Israel and the leadership of Hamas to stop the unbearable suffering of both Palestinians in Gaza and the Israeli hostages and their families.

It would be tragic if weeks of intense diplomatic activity for peace in Gaza, yield no ceasefire. No release of hostages. And a devastating offensive in Rafah, he said, stressing:

I reiterate my appeal for both parties to show the political courage and spare no effort to secure an agreement now.

The UN chief further emphasized that a full-scale assault on Rafah would be a human catastrophe.

Countless more civilian casualties. Countless more families forced to flee yet again  with nowhere safe to go. Because there is no safe place in Gaza, Guterres said.

Attacking Rafah will further upend our efforts to support people in dire humanitarian straits as famine looms.

Guterres also warned that the repercussions of an attack on Rafah would be felt far beyond the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and the wider Middle East region.

Even the best friends of Israel are clear: An assault on Rafah would be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare, he said.

I appeal to all those with influence over Israel to do everything in their power to help avert even more tragedy.
Malawi's Vice President Saulos Chilima was arrested in November of 2022 after being named among 84 individuals suspected to have received bribes from a U.K.-based businessman, Zuneth Sattar.

Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau accused Chilima of receiving kickbacks from Sattar in exchange for government contracts.

However, early this month, Director of Public Prosecutions Masauko Chamkakala filed a notice to the High Court to drop the case in which Chilima had not taken a plea after 18 months.

An order from High Court Judge Redson Kapindu issued Monday says all charges Chilima was answering to in connection to the case have been dropped.

Moses Mkandawire, the chairperson for the National Alliance Against Corruption, told VOA that the Malawi government should have let the case proceed in court if it wants to be taken seriously in its efforts to curb corruption.

"We have to look at what the law says if someone has offended, violated, abused a particular law," Mkandawire said. "It's extremely important that that person is brought before the courts of law because otherwise, we are just paying lip service to the fight against corruption."

Mkandawire said it's unfortunate that Malawi's fight against corruption continues to favor high-profile individuals despite commitments by President Lazarus Chakwera to fight corruption without fear or favor.

In May of last year, the DPP dropped a corruption case against former President Bakili Muluzi, who was accused of diverting $11 million donation to his personal bank account while in office between 1994 and 2004.

This came a month after President Chakwera pardoned a former minister of homeland security, Uladi Mussa, as an act of mercy during Easter. Musa was jailed in 2020 for corruption and placed on a U.S. travel ban.

In July of last year, Chakwera also pardoned the country's former minister of information Henry Mussa on poor health grounds. He was serving a nine-year jail term after being convicted of conspiracy to steal government property.

George Phiri, a former lecturer of political science at the University of Livingstonia, said dropping the case against Chilima is detrimental to the fight against corruption.

"Discontinuing a high-profile case, forgiving people whom the court has justified that they were guilty of an offense, I think, does not send a good message in the fight against corruption in Malawi," he said.

Malawian government authorities said dropping court cases is constitutional because the country's laws give the director of public prosecution the power to discontinue any case.

Reacting to the development, members of the United Transformation Movement party of Chilima on Tuesday took to the streets of the capital, Lilongwe, to celebrate the discontinuation of the case.

"We are excited of course as a party but the chief factor in this whole thing is the behavior of the vice president during the process," said party spokesperson Felix Njawala. "We have understood that really he is a man who respects the rule of law because he advised members of the party not to interfere with the process."

According to the court order, the director of public prosecutions must brief parliament on the reason for dropping the case against Chilima within 10 days.
Analysts say China continues to undertake "incredibly aggressive" military actions after an Australian navy helicopter in international waters was targeted by flares dropped by a Chinese fighter jet.

The Canberra government has condemned the incident as dangerous and unprofessional.

The Australian Seahawk helicopter was taking part in a United Nations mission to enforce sanctions against North Korea when it was intercepted by the Chinese air force.

Officials in Canberra say the Chinese fighter jet detonated flares close to the Australian helicopter, forcing its pilot to take evasive action.

The incident took place over international waters in the Yellow Sea off the coast of South Korea during the weekend.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that his government had made "very strong representations at every level to China" about the incident.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the Australian helicopter had flown near Chinas airspace in a provocative manner, and that the Chinese military took necessary measures to warn and alert the Australian side. Lin said Beijing has lodged an official protest with Canberra over the incident.

Since coming to power in May 2022, the Albanese government has made concerted efforts to improve relations with China, Australias biggest trading partner.

Analysts say that while Australias diplomatic and economic relationships with China are stabilizing, bilateral military ties remain unpredictable.

Jennifer Parker, an adjunct fellow at the University of New South Wales and an expert associate at the Australian National University's National Security College, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tuesday that the Canberra government must contend with growing military tensions in the Indo-Pacific.

Whilst the diplomatic and economic relationship may have stabilized from where it was, from a military perspective, China is still being incredibly aggressive in the region and not just towards Australia," she said. "We saw last week Chinese vessels water cannoning Philippines government vessels in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal, which sits right within the Philippines exclusive economic zone. So, we do know that Chinas aggressive behavior in the region has not changed.

Last week, the Philippines accused China of "dangerous maneuvers" and "harassment" after its use of water cannons against two Philippine vessels during a patrol in the South China Sea.

In response, Beijing urged the Philippines government not to challenge Chinas resolve to defend Chinas sovereignty in the region.

Beijing has sweeping claims in the South China Sea, which is a major international shipping route.
Activists and human rights groups in Bangladesh are raising alarms over the government's culture of impunity for human rights abusers, as detailed in the U.S. State Departments recently released annual human rights report.

Bangladesh made no significant progress in improving its human rights situation, the department said in its 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

The report said arbitrary killings, enforced disappearances and torture by government forces persisted throughout the past year. It also highlighted additional concerns, including harsh prison conditions, arbitrary arrests and a lack of judicial independence.

Reacting to the report, Nasiruddin Elan, a director of Odhikar  a human rights organization known for documenting thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh  said, These reports raise public awareness, making people more informed and aware about the issues, which is essential.

In 2022, Bangladeshs government accused Odhikar of spreading propaganda against the state by publishing misleading information, leading to the revocation of its operating license and criminal charges against Elan and Adilur Rahman Khan, the founder and secretary of the organization.



Elan and Khan were sentenced to two years in prison in September 2023 following a trial widely criticized as politically motivated by campaigners. Both are currently out on bail.

The findings of the [State Department] report are not surprising to me. We are in a state where democracy is completely absent, and governance is increasingly autocratic. Under such conditions, those in power will show little regard for human rights. They have no reason to try [to] improve the human rights situation, Elan told VOA.

Shahdeen Malik, a prominent Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights activist, expressed concern over the culture of impunity highlighted in the report, noting that it has created a dire situation where citizens have no recourse or means to seek remedy if they become victims of wrongdoing.



It's a telltale sign of a dictatorship when the system disregards human rights, stifles freedom of expression and quashes rights movements, Malik told VOA.

He believes targeted sanctions against high-ranking officials or visa restrictions might compel the government to address the human rights abuses by its agents.



In December 2021, the U.S. placed sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite unit of Bangladeshs police force, and six of its current and former officers. The sanctions were imposed because of the RABs alleged involvement in many extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances.



The seemingly autocratic government now ignores pressure from civil societies and rights activists. The international community could implement targeted actions to punish the wrongdoers. However, it is important to remember that broader trade sanctions would ultimately harm the general population, Malik said.

A 34-year-old opposition political activist of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who asked to remain unnamed for fear of repercussions, said the report revealed the true face of the current government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

To remain in power, the government has violated the human rights of opposition activists and the free press to an unthinkable extent. And the U.S. report has done a great service to the people of Bangladesh highlighting the dire state of the countrys human rights situation, he told VOA via telephone from a northwestern district of the country.

He added that he currently faces nearly a dozen charges because of his involvement in BNP politics. The activist said that these charges have resulted in five incidents of imprisonment, but said he was currently out on bail. He denies the allegations, asserting that they are baseless and politically motivated.



The international community and also the U.S. now must act on the findings of the report; like they previously imposed sanctions on the RAB forces, they should hold the human rights abusers accountable, he said.

Bangladeshs Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to VOAs calls, messages and email requests for comment. However, during a media briefing in April, the ministry criticized the U.S. assessment, saying the report did not accurately reflect the situation on the ground and claimed it was based on isolated and unfounded allegations.

"It is also apparent that the report mostly relies on assumptions and unsubstantiated allegations drawn from local and international nongovernment organizations (including anonymous sources), many of which are supported by the U.S. government or related entities, ministry spokesperson Seheli Sabrin told journalists while reading from a statement on April 25.

Extrajudicial actions

Citing data from a prominent local human rights organization, Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), the State Department report noted that although there was a reported decline in extrajudicial killings from the previous year, ASK's records indicate that from January to September 2023, eight individuals died under questionable circumstances. That includes two deaths in shootouts and three from physical torture, either before or while in custody.

This number, however, represents a decrease from the 12 incidents reported in the corresponding period in the previous year.

The departments report also points out that enforced disappearances, mostly targeting opposition leaders, activists and dissidents, orchestrated by or on behalf of government authorities, continue unabated, with security services frequently implicated. According to an unnamed local human rights group cited in the report, from January to September 2023, 32 individuals became victims of enforced disappearances.

The report said, There were numerous reports of widespread impunity for human rights abuses. In most cases, the government did not take credible steps to identify and punish officials or security force members who may have committed human rights abuses.

Suppressing freedom of expression



The report noted restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence or threats against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions, censorship and the use or threat of criminal libel laws to curtail free speech.

It also criticized the Digital Security Act, or DSA, a law enacted in 2018 that has long been termed by rights activists as draconian for its misuse by the government to suppress dissent and freedom of speech.

The law was used against speech found on social media, websites and other digital platforms, including for commentators living outside of the country, the report said.

Bangladesh enacted a modified version of the DSA last year, now named the Cyber Security Act. Rights activists maintain it remains as repressive as its predecessor.
Belarus said Tuesday it started checks on its armys readiness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on orders of President Alexander Lukashenko.

The announcement comes a day after Russia's Defense Ministry said it plans to hold drills involving tactical nuclear weapons.

Belarus does not have nuclear weapons, but it agreed to host Russian tactical warheads on its territory last year amid Russias escalating war with Ukraine.

Several dozen Russian tactical nuclear weapons were deployed in Belarus under an agreement last year, Lukashenko said in April. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last June that Moscow had positioned bombs in Belarus as a warning to the West.

Lukashenko ordered a surprise inspection of forces in charge of such weapons.

During the checks, "the entire range of activities from planning, preparation and use of strikes with tactical nuclear weapons will be checked," Belarusian Defense Minister Defense Viktor Khrenin said.

Tactical nuclear weapons are designed for use against troops on battlefields. They are less powerful than nuclear warheads fitted to long-range ballistic missiles, which are intended to obliterate entire cities. By late 2022, Russia had already deployed Iskander missiles, which are nuclear capable, to Belarus.

Russia said Monday it would practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in a military exercise after Moscow said there were threats from Britain, France and the United States.

Kyiv is used to these drills as "nuclear blackmail is a constant practice of Putin's regime," a Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson said.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Polish prosecutors have discontinued an investigation into human skeletons found at a site where German dictator Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders spent time during World War II because the advanced state of decay made it impossible to determine the cause of death, a spokesman said Monday.

The remains were found February 24 at Wolf's Lair, which served as Hitlers chief headquarters from 1941 to 1944, when the area was part of Germany. The compound of about 200 Nazi bunkers and military barracks hidden in deep woods was the site of the failed assassination attempt on Hitler by Colonel Claus Stauffenberg on July 20, 1944. The site is now a tourist attraction.

The spokesman for the prosecutor's office in nearby Ketrzyn town, Daniel Brodowski, said police officers secured the remains after they were found by a local group, Latebra, which searches for historical objects.

A forensic medical expert examined them under the supervision of the prosecutor's office, which was trying to determine if manslaughter had occurred. It discontinued the investigation in late March because of a lack of evidence that a crime had been committed, Brodowski told The Associated Press in an emailed statement.

The expert stated that the preserved bone remains were of human origin and came from at least four people, three of whom were most likely middle-aged men, and the fourth was a child several years of age whose sex cannot be determined, Brodowski wrote.

But because of the advanced decay of the remains, it was no longer possible to determine the cause of death, he said, noting that at least several dozen years had passed.
Israel began striking targets in Rafah hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal. Israel rejected the cease-fire proposal but then said it would send negotiators to continue the talks. We talk to Steven Simon, a Professor of Practice in Middle East Studies at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies of the University of Washington and Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. French President Emmanuel Macron hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping. And Scientists believe every bird - from pigeons at the park to penguins at the zoo - are living, breathing dinosaurs, thanks to the discovery of a fossil called Archaeopteryx.
British citizen Peter Fouche has been volunteering with Ukraines Armed Forces since March 2022. Before Russias invasion, he was working as a carpenter in London, but after the start of the war he made the decision to travel to Ukraine to help. In January 2024, he officially enlisted in the countrys Armed Forces. Anna Kosstutschenko met with the man and learned about what motivated him. Camera and edit: Pavel Suhodolskiy
Thailands influential former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has met with key figures in the resistance to Myanmars ruling junta with a goal of mediating a resolution to the armed conflict that has raged in Myanmar for more than three years.

Sources who chose to remain anonymous due to security concerns told VOAs Burmese Service that Thaksin held informal meetings with leaders of Myanmars shadow government, the National Unity Government, or NUG, during visits to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand in March and April.

The sources said Thaksin, whose political party now heads the coalition governing Thailand, has met separately with representatives of various ethnic armed groups from Myanmar, including the Karen National Union, or KNU, Karenni National Progressive Party and the Kachin National Organization.

During one of the meetings, Thaksin met with General Yawd Serk of the Shan State Reconstruction Council/Shan State Army, the RCSS/SSA, according to another source close to the armed group. Serk was recently implicated in a sting operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration involving arms for nuclear materials as reported by VOA in March.

According to the anonymous source, Thaksin expressed a desire to mediate between Myanmars military junta and Ethnic Resistance Organizations, or EROs, which have been fighting the junta since it seized power from an elected government in February 2021.

Thaksin has reportedly requested permission to visit Myanmar, but there has, so far, been no official response from the junta. VOA has not been able to reach either the junta or Thaksins office for comment as of the publication of this article.

The Bangkok Post quoted Thailands new foreign minister, Maris Sangiampongsa, on Tuesday confirming Thaksins meetings and saying the talks were, "at a personal level and not part of the Thai government's policy towards its neighbor."

Maris went on to say the Myanmar junta views Thaksin as someone who "can help" end the conflict because of his connections and influence. Maris made the remarks at Thailands Government House before a weekly Cabinet meeting.

In a statement to VOA on Monday, Kyaw Zaw Wai, a spokesperson for the NUG president's office, expressed appreciation for Thailand's efforts within ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to find a solution that reflects the will of the Myanmar people.

He also acknowledged Thailand's humanitarian efforts, including the provision of food and shelter for thousands of refugees during fighting in Myawaddy, a strategically important town on the Thai-Myanmar border which recently fell to resistance forces.

Kyaw Zaw Wai also said that the NUG has asked Thailand to increase engagement with both the NUG and the EROs, particularly concerning the delivery of humanitarian aid to displaced people in Myanmar.

"Thaksin's visit may aim to discuss the situation in Myanmar and potentially mediate toward a resolution," said Sai Htun Aung Lwin, a Myanmar and Shan ethnic affairs expert.

Speaking to VOA by phone on Friday, he emphasized that Thaksins involvement in Myanmars struggles will have significant implications for the countrys neighbors, which have vested interests in the outcome of the conflict.

"It's crucial to consider Thaksin's role, especially given his party Pheu Thais current governance. Additionally, Thaksin's statements may provide insights into Thai foreign policy objectives, potentially impacting border stability and conflict resolution," he said.

Lwin pointed out that Thaksin is widely perceived to have close ties to Thailand's new foreign minister, suggesting that his approach to the Myanmar conflict likely will be closely aligned with that of the Thai government.

The former prime minister has had a longstanding relationship with former Myanmar military generals and political figures close to the military, as well as a good relationship with ethnic armed groups, especially the RCSS and KNU," Lwin added.

During an interview with Reuters in late April, current Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin suggested that the junta may be more amenable to peace negotiations following a series of military setbacks in several parts of Myanmar.

"The current regime is starting to lose some strength," Srettha said in the interview. "Maybe it's time to reach out and make a deal."

NUG presidential office spokesperson Kyaw Zaw also expressed appreciation for the support his group has received from the Thai government and acknowledged the challenges it faces regarding Myanmar.

We regard this support highly and view the Thai government's increased engagement with various stakeholders as a positive development, he said. As the new foreign minister assumes office, we trust and anticipate that addressing Myanmar's affairs will remain a significant priority.
In the weeks since protests against Israel's war in the Gaza Strip began on U.S. college campuses, the number of people facing arrest has soared into the thousands.

Police from New York City to Los Angeles have been breaking up protest encampments, sometimes violently, and rounding up demonstrators.

In the United States, where the right to publicly criticize the government and the right to assemble to protest its policies are both enshrined in the Constitution, the dispersal of protests is a sensitive subject.

But while federal law guarantees freedom of speech, that freedom is not unfettered.

Choosing civil disobedience

Over the centuries, federal courts have established that some restrictions on speech, particularly related to the "time, place and manner" in which it is delivered, are legally permissible.

Dating to at least the Civil Rights Movement, members of protest movements in the U.S. have often knowingly and purposefully violated those restrictions, engaging in what is commonly known as civil disobedience.

In states across the country, protesters demonstrating against the war in Gaza have faced a variety of charges, including trespassing and unlawful assembly. Many of those arrested may face jail time, an appearance before a judge and possible legal sanctions. Student protesters may also face internal discipline from universities.

First Amendment binds government

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees Americans' right to free speech and assembly. It reads, "Congress shall make no law  abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

However, it is important to note that the First Amendment only binds the federal and state governments, not private individuals and institutions.

"At a public university, the First Amendment will regulate what that institution can do with respect to protesters," Vera Eidelman, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told VOA. By contrast, private universities are free to establish their own rules about permissible speech.

"The government can impose content neutral rules, meaning they can't be based on the message that is being expressed by the protesters that reasonably get at the time, place or manner of the protest," Eidelman said.

In practice, that often means limits on things such as using amplified speech late at night and camping out in public spaces.

"Rules like that, that are content neutral and are reasonable and are not aimed at suppressing a message, are generally available for the government to apply," she said.

Not all neutral

Civil liberties advocates have pointed out that some of the enforcement actions being taken against protests appear to be examples of the government acting to shut down particular kinds of speech, which is not permitted under the First Amendment.

In Texas, which has a state law that protects the right of students to protest on campus, Governor Greg Abbott nevertheless preemptively announced that pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas at Austin would not be allowed to take place and sent in law enforcement officers to prevent protesters from assembling.

Abbott said he was blocking the protest because it would be "antisemitic"  a claim that civil rights advocates said does not justify suppressing speech.

"We were very concerned about what we saw at UT Austin," Alex Morey, vice president for campus advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told VOA.

"We took huge objection to that, because we said, 'This is not you breaking up civil disobedience or keeping the campus safe from violence. You're preempting peaceful protest, and you're saying that it's viewpoint based,'" she said.

Impact of arrests

For the thousands of protesters who have faced arrest over the past few weeks, the consequences can range widely.

In Austin, for example, most of the dozens of protesters taken into custody during Abbott's preemptive raid had their charges dropped almost immediately. They were quickly released from custody after prosecutors found little basis for pressing charges.

However, according to Trisha Trigilio, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Criminal Law Reform Project, the impact on other protesters could well be more severe.

In the U.S., police can legally hold a person in custody for 48 hours before they are brought before a judge and formally charged with illegal activity.

"The arrest can be quite violent, and the next few days after arrest when people are held in jail can also be really harmful," Trigilio told VOA. "Protesters could miss work and lose their jobs. There's a lot of students arrested, and they miss important deadlines leading up to finals and graduation. People were arrested towards the end of the month, and rent was due at the time that many people were jailed.

"You'll hear folks in law enforcement talk about being jailed for 'just a few days,' but it's actually really serious," Trigilio said. "These arrests can have really lasting effects."

Various charges

The kinds of charges protesters face vary significantly. Some are relatively minor, with the maximum penalty consisting of a fine. Others, however, face much more serious consequences, including for some of the students arrested at Columbia University, who broke into and occupied a campus building before being removed by police.

"We've seen people charged with felonies," Trigilio said. "Here in New York, people were charged with burglary. It's very common, when you have this kind of emotional back and forth between police and protesters, for police to charge people with resisting arrest or assaulting an officer. Your charges like assault and burglary can be elevated to felonies depending on the jurisdiction you're in."

In the U.S., conviction for a felony can be a serious burden. In some states, felons are deprived of the right to vote, and in many cases, a felony will complicate a person's employment prospects.

But even simply being charged with a felony can be damaging, with many jurisdictions requiring the accused to post cash bail before they are released from custody.

"A recent study showed that most Americans cannot afford a $400 emergency expense," Trigilio said. "And it's very common for cash bail to require payments that are greater than that in order for people to get out of jail."
U.S. President Joe Biden commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day by condemning antisemitism and making the case that protests must be peaceful. Meanwhile, Israel rachets up its military action in Rafah and closes the border crossing there as peace talks in Cairo devolve. Ukraine and the U.S. claim that there has not been any increase in Russian military activity in Russias west, despite the announcement that Russia would begin training with tactical nuclear weapons there. The International Organization for Migration released its annual report. Plus, Myanmar before monsoon season starts. And are American troops headed to Nigeria?
Israel is sending a delegation back to Cairo for more talks on the details of a cease-fire.

The Israeli move came a day after Hamas made a surprise announcement that it accepted an Egyptian cease-fire proposal that Israel had previously accepted.

But on Tuesday, Israeli officials said that the terms Hamas accepted are not the same as those in the original Egyptian proposal, and that the changes that Hamas is demanding make it impossible for Israel to agree.

Israeli officials said the first stage of the deal envisions the release of 33 humanitarian hostages, meaning women, the elderly and the sick, in exchange for a six-week cease-fire and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

But now Hamas says that some of those 33 who would be freed have died. There are also questions on the timing of the release and how many Palestinian prisoners will be freed for each hostage.

Brigadier General Yisrael Ziv, a former commander of the Gaza district, said that Israels first priority must be to bring the hostages home.

The first priority is to maximize the option for the deal, Ziv said. We understand that the time is running out for the life of the hostages and the maximum pressure is about that  how many people alive we can evacuate through such a deal.

Israel also has questions about reported guarantees that the U.S. and Egypt gave Hamas that Israel will not restart the war in Gaza and that the cease-fire will continue indefinitely.

A U.S. government spokesman would not comment on the reports.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said that even though the Hamas proposal falls far short of what Israel wants, Israel will negotiate in good faith.

The war cabinet unanimously decided that Israel will continue its operation in Rafah in order to apply military pressure on Hamas to release our hostages and achieve all the wars objectives, Mencer said. Despite Hamas grandstanding, Hamas proposal is far from Israels core demands. Nevertheless, Israel will dispatch a ranking delegation to Egypt to maximize any chance of an agreement on terms acceptable to Israel.

On Tuesday, Israeli tanks and troops took over the Palestinian side of the crossing between Israel and Egypt. The Palestinian Authority called on the U.S. to stop Israel from invading the city of Rafah.

Ziv said the Israeli action to take over the crossing was a limited operation and not the large-scale invasion Israel has threatened.

The purpose of the operation is mainly to leverage the negotiations being done this time, Ziv said, trying to get a better deal, or to lower the demands of Hamas asking Israel to stop the war and to get into a full cease-fire.

As the war hits the seven-month mark, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said the death toll is close to 35,000, although that includes fighters and civilians.

More than 1,300 people in Israel have been killed  most of them in the initial October 7 attack by Hamas  and more than 130 Israelis are still being held hostage by the militant group.
The White House expressed hope Tuesday that Israel and Hamas could close any gaps in cease-fire negotiations, as Israel warned it could "deepen" its operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah if talks fail to secure the release of hostages.

"A close assessment of the two sides' positions suggests that they should be able to close the remaining gaps, and we're going to do everything we can to support that process," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Israel's military said Tuesday its forces had taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, a day after ordering tens of thousands of Palestinians to leave the area and launching repeated airstrikes.

The Israeli operation comes after weeks of Israeli officials saying an offensive in Rafah was necessary to achieve their goal of defeating Hamas, while the United States, the United Nations and others warned that launching an offensive in an area crowded with Palestinian civilians could create a humanitarian disaster.

Kirby said Israeli officials have indicated the operation was limited in scope.

But Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned of more extensive operations in Rafah unless cease-fire talks taking place in Cairo result in the release of hostages held by Hamas.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said an assault on Rafah would be a "strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare" at a time when famine is looming over northern Gaza.

"It would be tragic if weeks of intense diplomatic activity for peace in Gaza yields no cease-fire, no release of hostages, and a devastating offensive in Rafah," he told reporters at the United Nations.

He urged both the Israeli government and Hamas to show "the political courage" to secure a deal and stop the bloodshed and urged countries with influence over the parties to use it.

He said the two main aid crossings into Gaza  Rafah and Kerem Shalom  must be reopened immediately.

Jordan's foreign minister said on social media platform X that instead of giving negotiations a chance, Israel occupied the Rafah crossing and closed it to humanitarian aid. He called for the U.N. Security Council to "act firmly & immediately." And he called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "face real consequences."

Human Rights Watch said in a statement Tuesday that Israel is not adhering to the "legally binding orders" of the International Court of Justice because it is "obstructing the entry of lifesaving aid and services into Gaza."

The closing of the Kerem Shalom crossing and the seizing of the Rafah crossing are "blocking aid from entering and people from leaving Gaza via the primary crossings used in recent months," HRW said.

The humanitarian need in Gaza remains dire despite Israel's allowing more aid trucks to enter the territory in recent days, but the increase, according to HRW, "has been modest and nowhere near enough to meet the overwhelming need."

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on social media that Israel's move into Rafah is about achieving its main goals, including the release of the hostages held by Hamas and the militant group's defeat.

The developments in Rafah followed a Hamas announcement Monday that it had accepted a cease-fire proposal worked out with Egyptian and Qatari negotiators.

Netanyahu's office said the cease-fire proposal was "far from Israel's essential demands," but that Israel would send negotiators to Cairo on Tuesday to continue talks.

Israeli officials told media outlets that the plan approved by Hamas was not what Israel had agreed to, but was unclear what, if anything, had changed about the proposal that Hamas would accept but Israel would not.

The World Health Organization says about 1.2 million people are sheltering in Rafah, and more than half of them are children. Many came from other parts of Gaza, fleeing in search of safety and shelter as Israel's campaign against Hamas left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins.

The Israel-Hamas war was triggered by the October 7 Hamas terror attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials. About 100 of the hostages were freed in a week-long truce in late November.

Israel's counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

VOA's Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Moscow threatened Monday to strike at British military targets inside Ukraine and elsewhere if Kyiv's forces struck Russia with British-supplied long-range missiles  a move British Foreign Secretary David Cameron greenlighted Kyiv to take in self-defense.

During a visit in Kyiv last week, Cameron said Kyiv's forces will be able to use British long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia.

Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it's defending itself," Cameron said in an interview with Reuters last week.

Cameron also said that London did not put "caveats" on how Ukrainian forces use weapons supplied by Britain.

The Russian foreign ministry announced in a statement it had summoned the British Ambassador Nigel Casey in Moscow and warned him that if Ukrainian forces use British-supplied weapons to strike Russia, Moscow could retaliate at "any U.K. military facility and equipment on Ukrainian territory and beyond."

"The ambassador was urged to reflect on the inevitable catastrophic consequences of such hostile steps by London and to immediately refute in the strongest and most unequivocal manner the bellicose provocative statements by the head of the Foreign Office," the statement added.

Russia also announced earlier that it was planning new nuclear weapons drills near Ukraines borders, citing "threats" made by Western leaders, including French leader Emmanuel Macron and British officials, and in response to NATOs expansive military exercises close to the Russian borders.

Ukraines energy grid restored

Ukraine said Monday it had restored power to hundreds of thousands of people who lost electricity in Russian strikes overnight but warned of "urgent challenges" in maintaining its electricity infrastructure.

Moscow has been barraging Ukrainian energy facilities, triggering blackouts and energy rationing across the country.

Around 400,000 households lost power in the northeastern Sumy region after Russian forces struck high-voltage distribution lines, energy officials said.

The regional electricity operator later said all but around 15,000 homes had been reconnected to the grid.

Ukrainian Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko called on allies to increase sanctions on Russia's energy sector, saying "sanctions against Russia should deprive it of any opportunity to be a player in the world markets, in the energy markets."

Russian attacks also cut power to consumers in the nearby region of Kharkiv, leaving 32,600 households without electricity in the morning, the energy ministry said.

Russian attacks increase

Russian forces have increased their attacks on the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv in recent months, creating fears that Russia could be preparing a ground offensive in those regions, which were partially occupied at the beginning of Moscow's invasion.

Kyiv says Moscow is escalating attacks from the air and on land ahead of nationwide celebrations on May 9, when Russia marks its victory against Nazi Germany in World War II, and while munition-depleted Ukraine awaits the arrival of critical weapons supplies from the United States.

Russia said Monday its forces had captured two more front-line villages in Ukraine, including in the northeast Kharkiv region, where Kyiv had repelled Moscow's troops earlier in the conflict.

Russian army units "liberated the village of Kotlyarivka in the Kharkiv region" and "the village of Soloviove in the Donetsk People's Republic," the defense ministry said in a daily briefing.

Kotlyarivka lies about 20 kilometers from the embattled Ukrainian stronghold of Kupiansk in the northeast, an area that has seen intense shelling amid speculation Moscow could launch an offensive there.

Soloviove meanwhile lies on the eastern front, close to the village of Ocheretyne that Moscow claimed to have captured Sunday.

Ukraine's military made no mention of either locality in its evening General Staff report, but its outgunned and outmanned forces have struggled to hold the front line in recent months.

Ukrainian bloggers appeared to acknowledge that both villages were in Russian hands.

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's ground forces commander, said late last month that Kyiv had pulled back from three villages in the eastern Donetsk region and was building a new line of fortifications amid fears of Russian advances.

Deadly Ukraine drone attack in Belgorod

Officials in western Russia said a Ukrainian drone attack killed at least six people Monday in the Belgorod region near the Russia-Ukraine border.

Regional Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram the drone struck several vehicles and that the attack injured more than 30 people.

Ukraines military said Monday the countrys air defenses shot down 12 of 13 drones launched by Russian forces in overnight attacks.

The Ukrainian air force said the drones were intercepted over the Sumy region, located in northeastern Ukraine along the border with Russia.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
Mozambiques ruling Frelimo party picked Daniel Francisco Chapo, the 47-year-old governor of a southern province, to be its candidate for Octobers presidential election, after heated internal debates that lasted three days.

Sundays selection of Chapo halted speculation that President Filipe Nyusi planned to cling to power at the conclusion of his term through an amendment to the constitution.

Nyusi said the endorsement puts an end to a soap opera of rumors, including talk of a possible third term. Frelimo respects the laws, he added, so there was no reason to speculate about new term limits.

Nyusi also encouraged party members to support Chapo in the upcoming elections.

Since Mozambiques independence in 1975, all heads of state have been nominated by Frelimo.

The party has won all elections since multi-party democracy was introduced 30 years ago at the end of a crippling 16-year civil war which left over one million people dead and five million others internally displaced.

Chapo has been governor of Inhambane province since 2016. He holds a masters degree in development management from a university in Mozambique. Prior to entering politics, he taught constitutional law and political science at the Universidade Catolica in the port city of Beira, and worked as an announcer at a private radio station in the same city.

After being confirmed as Frelimos candidate, Chapo promised to work to promote the countrys economic development.

If elected, Chapo will become Mozambiques fourth democratically elected head of state.

Chapo is viewed by analysts as a leader who may be able to restore security in the troubled oil- and gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado, where Islamic State-linked insurgents have been terrorizing civilians and destroying public infrastructure since 2017, forcing the interruption of multibillion-dollar projects.

The violence has continued despite support by troops from other countries of the Southern African Development Community, and soldiers from Rwanda.

Economic analyst and university lecturer Alcidio Bachita has high hopes for Chapo.

He is an individual who has not been accused of any corruption schemes, Bachita said. And I believe that this change of leadership will open a new page in the history of Mozambique, given that he is a young man and was born after [the] independence period of the country. So I believe that the economy of Mozambique will witness a great performance in the coming years.

Mozambique will hold its seventh presidential and legislative elections on October 9.

The deadline for presenting lists of candidates for president to the Constitutional Council is June 10.
A Muslim-dominated neighborhood in the Indian capital that held a massive months-long protest of a new citizenship law four years ago has transformed into one of the citys food hubs. Residents link its new identity to the protests when people from different communities bonded over food. From New Delhi, Anjana Pasricha has a report. Camera: Darshan Singh
The warning notice, signed by five civil society groups and a former chairman of Nigerias Independent National Electoral Commission, came in an open letter Friday to Nigerias president and the National Assembly

The coalition, without providing evidence, accused the United States and France of lobbying authorities in the Gulf of Guinea countries, especially Nigeria, to redeploy troops expelled from the Sahel states.

It said the alleged move could have wide ranging implications for defense and internal security" and that hosting a military base in Nigeria could potentially divert state funds and resources away from important local projects like education, health care and infrastructure development.

Kabiru Adamu, founder of Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited, said the letter has a political undertone.

"It looked like it was just based on the desire to create a political outcome," Adamu said. "There's no fact supporting the allegation that either the U.S. or France has approached Nigeria for the establishment of a base anywhere in Nigeria, even though that is likely to happen. Of course, because we've seen the influence of both countries reducing in the Sahel region, Nigeria will offer a likely fallback option for both countries, especially the U.S."

The coalition also said the alleged plan to set up a U.S. military base in northern Nigeria could aggravate regional tensions with neighbors, cause a notable environmental impact and worsen the high cost of living for the local population.

Nigerian authorities have yet to respond to the letter.

Political affairs analyst, Ahmed Buhari, said authorities must heed the caution.

"It's what I call interfering in people's spaces. As it is right now, we need our neighbors more than we need any foreigner whatsoever from any part of the world," Buhari said. "I rather we live side by side with our neighbors more peacefully and with trust than for us to be frolicking at this moment with the United States or France for that matter. All the places you will find the United States military base  you can do your findings  there's no peace around the region."

The U.S and French militaries have been operating in Africas Sahel for many years, helping the region in its fight against terrorism.

But a wave of coups in recent years has strained that relationship, with military juntas accusing foreign powers of being overbearing without significant progress against jihadist militants.

Some juntas have instead turned toward Russia for help fighting the armed groups.

Adamu cautions the letter might be an example of Russian propaganda.

"There's also the possibility that we're seeing the propaganda mercenaries by Russia and Niger playing out in this regard," Adamu said. "We know that since the coup in Niger, the putschists and Russia have been engaged in massive propaganda and they have used the prominent individuals from the Nigerien and Northern Nigeria extraction to achieve political objectives."

Despite counterterrorism interventions in Africa, a 2023 Global Terrorism Index report shows deaths from terrorism in the Sahel increased by an alarming 2,000% over the last 15 years.

Burkina Faso ranked first among countries most impacted by terrorism, Mali was third, Nigeria eighth and Niger was 10th.

Last month, African leaders met in Nigeria and pledged to collaborate against terrorism. But experts say with troops leaving the region, armed groups could intensify attacks on targets.
Pakistan said Tuesday that recent militant attacks in the country, including a deadly suicide car bombing on Chinese engineers, were planned from terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

Major-General Ahmed Sharif, spokesperson for Pakistans military, leveled the allegations during a live broadcast news conference. He said Afghanistans Taliban government has failed to prevent the use of Afghan soil for cross-border terrorism despite repeated protests and sharing of solid evidence with them through diplomatic channels.

In late March, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a convoy of Chinese engineers and workers in northwestern Pakistan, killing five of them and their local driver. The slain Chinese nationals were working on a major dam project.

This attack was planned in Afghanistan, and terrorists and their facilitators were also being controlled from there, said Sharif. The car used in it was readied in Afghanistan, and the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national.

The spokesperson also said Pakistani security forces captured and killed several Afghan nationals who were carrying out recent terrorist attacks, adding that members of the Afghan-based, anti-Pakistan Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, along with other fugitive insurgents, orchestrated the cross-border terror attacks.

Explaining that the Afghanistan-based terror group is aiming to undermine peace and stability in Pakistan, Sharif said, The main reason for the new wave of terrorism in Pakistan is the facilitation and supply of modern weapons to the TTP by elements in the Taliban government.

The Taliban's Defense Ministry spokesperson rejected as "irresponsible and far from reality" the Pakistani military's claims that Afghan soil was used in the attack against the Chinese workers.

Enayatullah Khwarizmi asserted in a statement that the killing of Chinese citizens occurred deep inside Pakistan and "shows the weakness" of Pakistani security agencies.

"The Islamic Emirate has assured China on this matter, and the country has also understood that Afghans are not involved in such issues," Khwarizmi claimed, using the official title of the Taliban administration. Beijing has not immediately commented on the Taliban assertions.

Surging TTP and other insurgent attacks have strained Islamabads ties with Kabul.

TTP, designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations, is a close ally of Afghanistans fundamentalist Taliban rulers.

The group is known to have provided recruits and shelter to Taliban leaders in Pakistani border areas when the Taliban was staging insurgent attacks against the U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan for almost two decades. The Taliban seized power in 2021 as all foreign forces withdrew from the country.

Pakistani officials and the latest United Nations assessments have documented the presence of thousands of TTP fighters on Afghan soil since the Taliban takeover.

Sharif said Tuesday that growing incidents of terrorism in Pakistan prompted the government to evict undocumented Afghans and send them back to their native country. He noted that more than 563,000 Afghans living illegally in Pakistan had gone home since October, when Islamabad began its crackdown on undocumented migrants.

The crackdown is not targeting an estimated 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees in the country and the more than 800,000 others carrying government-approved Afghan citizenship cards.
Pakistans Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Tuesday his country will not back off from building a much-delayed gas pipeline with Iran.

We will not let anyone use their veto, Dar said at a press briefing Tuesday, without naming the United States.

Pakistan and Iran signed a Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement in June of 2009 for a pipeline that would supply 750 million to 1,000 million cubic feet per day of gas to energy-starved Pakistan from Iran's South Pars Field.

While Iran claimed in 2011 that it had completed its side of the pipeline, construction delays continue on the Pakistani side, primarily for fear of invoking U.S. sanctions.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said it does not support the Pakistan-Iran pipeline as Tehran is under U.S. sanctions for its nuclear program.

The government will decide what, when, and how to do anything based on Pakistans interests. It cannot be dictated to us, Pakistans foreign minister told reporters in Islamabad.

In February, Pakistans outgoing caretaker government approved building a small patch of the pipeline from the Iranian border into Pakistani territory to avoid billions of dollars in penalties for project delays.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifs government, which took office in March, has not begun construction on the project.

The pipeline received only a passing mention in a lengthy joint statement issued at the end of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisis visit to Pakistan in late April, prompting speculation the project was not on track.

We have to watch our interest. We have to look at our commitments, Dar said, rejecting the notion Pakistan was delaying the project under U.S. pressure. However, he conceded the pipeline is an issue that is quite complicated.

After Raisis visit in which both sides agreed to boost bilateral trade to $10 billion dollars, the U.S. State Department warned, yet again, that Islamabad could face trouble for doing business with Tehran.

Broadly we advise anyone considering business deals with Iran to be aware of the potential risk of sanctions, Vedant Patel, State Department deputy spokesperson, said during a briefing last month.

Energy-starved and cash-strapped, the South Asian nation of some 240 million people needs cheap fuel from its neighbor. Pakistan currently meets much of its needs with expensive oil and gas imports from Gulf countries.

Irans arch-rival Saudi Arabia, on whom Pakistan relies heavily for financial support, is also widely believed to be opposed to the pipeline.

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, spokesperson of Pakistans Foreign Ministry, told media in late April that Islamabad was in talks with Washington to address concerns surrounding the pipeline.

We have noted some statements have been made by the United States. We are also engaged with the United States and discussed the various aspects of Pakistan's energy needs, Baloch said at a weekly press briefing.

Pakistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs contended in the past that Islamabad does not need a sanctions waiver from Washington to build the pipeline with Tehran.

However, experts say sanctions will kick in once gas is pumped.

Pakistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Energy have not confirmed if Islamabad has applied for a sanctions waiver from Washington.

Donald Lu, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, told a Congressional hearing in March that Pakistan had not requested the waiver to purchase Iranian gas.
German police on Tuesday broke up a protest by several hundred pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied a courtyard at Berlin's Free University earlier in the day, the latest such action by authorities as protests that have roiled campuses in the United States spread across Europe.

The protesters had put up about 20 tents and formed a human chain around the tents. Most had covered their faces with medical masks and had draped kufiyah scarves around their heads, shouting slogans such as "Viva, viva Palestina."

Earlier on Tuesday, Dutch police arrested about 125 activists as they broke up a similar pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam.

In Berlin, police called on the students via loudspeakers to leave the campus. Police could also be seen carrying some students away and some scuffles erupted between police officers and protesters.

Police used pepper spray against some of the protesters. The school's administrators said in a statement that the protesters had rejected any kind of dialogue and they had therefore called in police to clear the campus.

"This form of protest is not geared towards dialogue. An occupation is not acceptable on the FU Berlin campus," university president Guenter Ziegler said. FU is the abbreviation for Free University. "We are available for academic dialog  but not in this way."

The administrators said some protesters attempted to enter rooms and lecture halls at Free University in order to occupy them. The protest organizers, which say they are made up of students from various Berlin universities and other individuals, had called on other students and professors to take part in the action, the university statement said.

In recent days, students have held protests or set up encampments in Finland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, France and Britain, following earlier protests at U.S. campuses.

Amsterdam police said on the social media platform X that their action was "necessary to restore order" after protests turned violent. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Video from the scene aired by national broadcaster NOS shows police using a mechanical digger to push down barricades and officers with batons and shields moving in, beating some of the protesters and pulling down tents. Protesters had formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, NOS reported.

The demonstrators occupied a small island at the university son Monday, calling for a break in academic ties with Israel over the war in Gaza.

After clearing the Amsterdam protest by early afternoon Tuesday, police closed off the area by metal fences. Students sat along the banks of a nearby canal. The school said in a statement that police ended the demonstration at its Roeterseiland campus overnight Tuesday "due to public order and safety concerns."

"The war between Israel and Hamas is having a major impact on individual students and staff," it said. "We share the anger and bewilderment over the war, and we understand that there are protests over it. We stress that within the university, dialogue about it is the only answer."

In Finland, dozens of protesters from the Students for Palestine solidarity group set up an encampment outside the main building at the University of Helsinki, saying they would stay there until the university, which is Finland's largest academic institution, cuts academic ties with Israeli universities.

In Denmark, students set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen, erecting about 45 tents outside the campus of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The university said students can protest but called on them to respect the rules on campus grounds.

"Seek dialogue, not conflict and make room for perspectives other than your own," the administrators said on X.

The administration "cannot and must not express an opinion on behalf of university employees and students about political matters, including about the ongoing conflict" in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the statement said.

On their Facebook page, members of the activist group Students Against the Occupation said their attempts to talk to the administration over the past two years about withdrawing the school's investments from companies with ties to activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories have been in vain.

"We can no longer be satisfied with cautious dialogue that does not lead to concrete action," the group said.

In Italy, students at the University of Bologna, one of the world's oldest universities, set up a tent encampment over the weekend to demand an end to the war in Gaza as Israel prepared an offensive in Rafah, despite pleas from its Western allies against it. Groups of students organized similar protests in Rome and Naples, which were largely peaceful.

More than a dozen tents were set up in a piazza named for a university student who fought against fascist rule during World War II. Some were decorated with Palestinian flags and a banner read "Student Intefadeh," or "Student Uprising."

In Spain, dozens of students have spent over a week at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Valencia campus. Similar camps were set up Monday at the University of Barcelona and at the University of the Basque Country. A group representing students at Madrid's public universities announced it would step up protests against the war in the coming days.

In Paris, student groups called for gatherings in solidarity with Palestinians later Tuesday.

On Friday, French police peacefully removed dozens of students from a building at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, after they had gathered in support of Palestinians.

On Tuesday, students at the prestigious institution, which counts French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni, were seen entering the campus unobstructed to take exams as police stood at the entrances.

Protests took place last week at some other universities in France, including in Lille and Lyon. Macron's office said police had been requested to remove students from 23 sites on French campuses.
Russia on Tuesday said it had declared U.S.-funded rights group Freedom House an "undesirable organization", effectively banning anyone from working for or having links with the group.

Authorities in Russia have declared dozens of media outlets, think tanks and non-profit organizations "undesirable" since 2015, a label rights groups say is designed to deter dissent.

In a statement, Russia's Prosecutor General said Freedom House had called for "comprehensive assistance to Ukraine to defeat Russia" and had "discredited" the Russian army.

"The organization provides information, financial, legal and other support to Russian opposition structures, pro-Western and LGBT activists, communities defending their interests, and persons convicted of terrorist crimes," it said.

Freedom House says it supports and provides funding to local democracy activists and civil liberty groups in more than 30 countries, receiving much of its financing from the U.S. State Department.

It is best known for its "Freedom in the World" index that measures each country's civil liberties and labels them "Free" or "Not Free". Russia is labelled "Not Free".

Since launching its offensive in Ukraine, Moscow has waged an unprecedented crackdown on dissent that rights groups have likened to Soviet-era mass repression.

Among other organizations labelled as "undesirable" in Russia are the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, Transparency International and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators said Tuesday that they thwarted a plan by Russian agents to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other high-level officials.

Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were arrested on suspicion of treason for enacting the plan, Ukraine's state security service said in a prepared statement, which added that the plot was drawn up by Russia's Federal Security Service.

Moscow did not immediately comment on the reports, which indicate that the colonels were recruited prior to Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for the inauguration, was indeed a failure of Russian special services," Vasyl Maliuk, head of Ukraines State Security Service, told his agency via Telegram.

The United States and most European Union countries skipped Putins 6th term swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday.

The inauguration comes more than two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said in 2022 that there had been at least 10 attempts to assassinate him. A Polish man was arrested in April on allegations of working with Russia's GRU military intelligence on an alleged plot to assassinate the Ukrainian president.

Zelenskyy is leading Ukraines effort to fight off Russia's aggression as the war enters its third year.

Overnight attack

Russias defense ministry said Tuesday the countrys air defense shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod region.

The drone intercept was the second to take place over Belgorod in less than 12 hours, after Russian air defenses shot down another drone overnight.

Belgorods regional governor reported air sirens but no further information about damage from drone debris.

Belgorod, located along the border between Russia and Ukraine, is a frequent target of Ukrainian attacks.

Moscow threatens UK

Russia threatened Monday to strike British military targets inside Ukraine and elsewhere if Ukraines military uses British-supplied long-range missiles against Russian targets.

During a visit to Kyiv last week, Cameron said Ukrainian forces will be able to use British long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia.

Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it's defending itself," Cameron said in an interview with Reuters last week.

Cameron also said that London did not put "caveats" on how Ukrainian forces use weapons supplied by Britain.

The Russian foreign ministry announced in a statement it had summoned British Ambassador Nigel Casey in Moscow and warned him that if Ukrainian forces use British-supplied weapons to strike Russia, Moscow could retaliate at "any U.K. military facility and equipment on Ukrainian territory and beyond."

"The ambassador was urged to reflect on the inevitable catastrophic consequences of such hostile steps by London and to immediately refute in the strongest and most unequivocal manner the bellicose provocative statements by the head of the Foreign Office," the statement said.

Russia also announced earlier that it was planning new nuclear weapons drills near Ukraines borders, citing "threats" made by Western leaders, including French leader Emmanuel Macron and British officials, and in response to NATOs expansive military exercises close to the Russian borders.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
Britain, the United States and Australia imposed sanctions against a senior Russian leader of the cybercrime gang LockBit, British and U.S. authorities said Tuesday.

Dmitry Khoroshev was unmasked as one of the leaders of LockBit, a cybercriminal group which has stolen more than $1 billion from victims in its four-year lifespan. Britain said Khoroshev will face asset freezes and travel bans.

"These sanctions are hugely significant and show that there is no hiding place for cyber criminals like Dmitry Khoroshev, who wreak havoc across the globe, Graeme Biggar, Britains National Crime Agency director general, said in a statement.

LockBit makes money by hacking into computer systems, stealing sensitive data and threatening to leak it if victims fail to pay a ransom. It has targeted more than 2,500 victims worldwide, including large companies.

Khoroshev received at least $100 million in Bitcoin payments from LockBit's activity, according to a 26-count U.S. indictment unsealed on Tuesday.

LockBit infrastructure was first seized by law enforcement in February in a campaign by the NCA, U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and Europol. The ransomware groups site was hijacked by police and used to leak internal information about the group and its operators.

The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Khoroshev. It is offering the same award for the identification or location of other leaders in the LockBit group.

"Russia continues to offer safe harbor for cybercriminals where groups such as LockBit are free to launch ransomware attacks against the United States, its allies, and partners," a U.S. Treasury Department statement said.

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
TikTok said on Tuesday it filed a federal lawsuit challenging a law signed by U.S. President Joe Biden that would force the sale or ban of the social media app.

The company argues the bill violates First Amendment free speech protections.

The law, signed by Biden in late April, gives TikToks Chinese parent company, ByteDance, less than eight months to sell TikTok or face a ban.

The divestiture "is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally, TikTok and ByteDance said in their filing. There is no question the act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere.

Under the new law, Apple and Google cannot legally offer the TikTok app. Internet hosting services would also be prohibited from supporting the app.

The law was passed after U.S. lawmakers expressed concern that TikTok invokes national security concerns because China could collect data of Americans through its app. The bill overwhelmingly passed in the House last month after a unanimous committee vote moved it to the floor.

The Chinese government "has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States," the lawsuit said.

The filing said TikTok spent $2 billion on measures to protect user data. TikTok also agreed to a "shutdown option" that would give the U.S. the authority to suspend the app if it violated the terms of a 90-page draft National Security Agreement.

Biden could extend TikToks January deadline by three months if he decides ByteDance is making progress toward a sale of the business.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
Initial reports say at least two people are dead and more than 20 others injured in a knife attack at a hospital in southwestern China.

The attack took place in Zhenxiong county in Yunnan province. The reports say a suspect has been arrested.

Knife attacks have occurred with some frequency in China in recent years, including an attack last July in southeastern Guangdong province, when six people were killed and one person wounded in an attack at a kindergarten.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
The United States and most European Union countries said they will skip Russian President Vladimir Putins swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday.

"We will not have a representative at his inauguration," Matthew Miller, U.S. State Department spokesman, said Monday.

A senior Kremlin official said the heads of all the foreign diplomatic missions in Moscow had been invited to attend the event, the Interfax news agency reported, according to Reuters.

Twenty EU member states plan to boycott Putins inauguration for a sixth term, but seven others are expected to send a representative, a European diplomat told Reuters.

Ukraine urged allies to not attend.

"Ukraine sees no legal grounds for recognizing him as the democratically elected and legitimate president of the Russian Federation," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Putin won nearly 88% of the vote in the presidential election in March, just weeks after his greatest political foe Alexey Navalny died in jail.

Western nations condemned the reelection as undemocratic.

The inauguration comes more than two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

France is expected to send a representative to the event despite Paris increasing its support for Ukraine in recent months. French President Emmanuel Macron said last week he would consider sending troops to Ukraine.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said it would not be represented at the inauguration, while Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuanias foreign minister, said Russia must continue to be isolated because of its criminal leader.

"Participation in Putin's inauguration is not acceptable for Lithuania, he said. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people fighting against Russian aggression."

Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Chinese President Xi Jinping offered few concessions to his counterpart and host Emmanuel Macron as he wrapped up a two-day visit to France on Tuesday evening. Both presidents are seeking to mend ties on Xi's first trip to Europe in five years, after relations were soured by trade disputes and Beijing's support for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

Macron invited Xi high into the Pyrenees Mountains, the home region of the French president's maternal grandmother. Beneath snowy peaks shrouded in fog, the two leaders and their wives watched traditional dancers before dining on locally produced ham, lamb, cheese and blueberry pie.

French officials said the mountain trip on Tuesday would provide a chance for less- formal one-on-one discussions after the pomp and ceremony of Xi's official state welcome in Paris on Monday.

Relations have worsened significantly since Xi last visited the region in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic. Europe accuses Beijing of subsidizing industries that are undercutting its own companies in areas such as electric vehicles  but Macron told his Chinese guests that the European Union is not seeking to cut economic ties.

"Our shared objective is to continue our relationship," Macron told delegates Monday at the Franco-Chinese Business Council in Paris. "There is no logic in decoupling from China. It's a desire to preserve our national security, just as you do for your own. It's a desire for mutual respect and understanding, and a desire to continue to open up trade, but to ensure that it is fully fair at all times, whether in terms of tariffs, aid or access to markets.

WATCH: While visiting France, Xi offers few concessions over trade, Russia

China's response

Xi made no immediate concessions, said analyst Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies.

"Xi Jinping does not feel that China has an overcapacity issue. And he feels that the European position on Chinese EVs, for example, is unreasonable. But then of course he is also trying to engage with the French and potentially having a leading Chinese car manufacturer setting up facilities in France, as a kind of incentive to persuade that maybe it's in France's interest to engage with China and welcome Chinese EVs," Tsang told VOA.

The trade relationship is tilted in Beijing's favor, according to Nicholas Bequelin, a senior fellow at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center.

China "has a major export economy towards Europe. The trade deficit in Europe is huge and growing. The de-risking or anti-subsidy policies that the European Union wants to put in place will take a lot of time  and because they affect the different countries in the European Union differently, it is very difficult to get to an agreement," Bequelin said.

Russia threat

Europe faces the more pressing security threat of Russia, as the Kremlin's forces slowly advance in eastern Ukraine. China has given Moscow diplomatic and economic support, despite Western appeals for Beijing to help end the illegal invasion.

Xi declared a "no limits" partnership when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing in February 2022, just days before the Kremlin's tanks rolled across the Ukrainian frontier.

A recent U.S. assessment concluded that China is providing vital components such as machine tools and microelectronics that Russia is using to make weapons. Last year, trade between China and Russia hit a record $240 billion.

Speaking in Paris Monday, Xi rejected European accusations that China was aiding Russia's war.

"China is neither the creator of the crisis, nor a party, a participant of the war. However, we didn't just watch the fire burning across the river but have been playing an active role in achieving peace," Xi told reporters.

Europe's message

China's claim is demonstrably false  and European leaders must take a tougher line, said analyst Igor Merheim-Eyre, a policy adviser at the European Parliament and research fellow at the University of Kent.

"We've already had [German] Chancellor Olaf Scholz, we've had Macron, we've had Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, we have [EU Commission] President [Ursula] von der Leyen, all making trips to Beijing and repeating the same message: that China should not be supporting Russia in its aggression against Ukraine. And in those two years, I see no change," Merheim-Eyre told VOA.

"What they've really failed at is spelling out to Xi Jinping what will be the cost of China supporting Russia's war of aggression  which it clearly is. I mean if it wasn't, we wouldn't already have four Chinese companies on the EU sanction list. And the circumventions are much broader than that," he said.

Costs for China

Europe should make the costs clear, said analyst Tsang, because China's "policy has always been one of declaring neutrality, supporting Putin and refusing to pay a price for that."

Sanctioning Chinese companies that are supplying Russia's military would likely be effective, he said. "For Xi Jinping, the important thing is that he stays in power, and that means he has to keep the Chinese economy on an even keel. Supporting Putin is a desirable thing  but fundamentally staying in power overrides the aspirational goal of undermining U.S. global preeminence and leadership." Tsang said.

Shared interest

Von der Leyen on Monday urged Beijing to help end the war. "We agree that Europe and China have a shared interest in peace and security. We count on China to use all its influence on Russia to end Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," she said in a recorded video address.

But European leaders should be more realistic about Beijing's ambitions, argued analyst Merheim-Eyre.

"I'm looking at my world map, and I'm trying to see where exactly this common interest lies. Because wherever I look, from Africa to the South China Sea to Ukraine, China is playing a destructive role, and I do not see common areas of interest in these matters."

After visiting France, Xi was headed Tuesday for Serbia, a key Balkan partner in Beijing's Belt and Road investment program. On Wednesday, Xi is due to travel to Hungary, his closest European ally and a longtime thorn in the side of EU unity on Russia and China policy.

VOAs Mandarin Service contributed to this story.
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Zimbabwe's parliament has started nationwide consultations after the Cabinet in February agreed to abolish the death penalty to conform with international standards. Columbus Mavhunga has the story from a public hearing in Bindura, Zimbabwe.
Although the massacres in Sudan and Congo are far more deadly than those in Palestine, its the latter that Im going to talk about today. Indeed, this is the first time weve witnessed ethnic cleansing live on our cell phones. Id like to come back to some information that Ive already covered in various articles, but which some media obviously dont want to include in their analyses. I would like to tell you that there is no community fatality: this conflict was not provoked by the people of Palestine, be they Jews, Christians or Muslims, but by outside powers who, for a century, have wanted them never to know peace.

The British creation of Israel

To make myself clear, Ill start by telling you about the United Kingdom. You attended the coronation of King Charles III. Youll remember that, in the middle of the ceremony, he took off his rich clothes and dressed in linen. His pages set up screens to prevent the audience from being dazzled. When the screens were removed, he had become king. He was then presented with the symbols of his power, the sceptre and globe. What had happened in those few moments out of public view? The Prince of Wales had seen God, like Moses before the burning bush [1]. This explanation probably sounds far-fetched to you, and you wonder how his subjects could believe such a tall tale. In fact, since James VI in the 16th century, British sovereigns have declared themselves kings of Israel [2]. It was against his conception of divine right that Oliver Cromwell overthrew his son Charles and proclaimed the Commonwealth. However, the Lord Protector was equally enlightened, professing that all Jews should be regrouped in Palestine and Solomons Temple rebuilt there [3]. In the end, successive dynasties kept this myth alive. They adopted various rites and imposed others on their subjects, such as Jewish circumcision, which was performed in maternity wards on all newborn males in the Kingdom at birth, during the XIX century.

Two years before the Balfour Declaration (1917), which announced the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine, a Jewish diplomat and future Foreign Minister, Lord Herbert Samuel, wrote a memorandum on the Future of Palestine (1915). In it, he argued for a Jewish state that would place the entire Diaspora at the service of the Empire. A little later, he specified that this new state should never be able to ensure its own security, so as to be eternally dependent on the English Crown. This is exactly what we are witnessing today. This is the fate that has cursed the people of Palestine.

Lord Arthur Balfours declaration was followed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilsons 14 points. In them, he describes the objectives achieved by his country during the First World War. Point 12 is strangely worded, but at the Paris Conference that drafted the Treaty of Versailles, he specified in writing what was to be understood: the creation of the State of Israel in Palestine (and Kurdistan in Turkey). The World War had brought about a rebalancing of forces, so that Washington was now working alongside London in the defense of common interests.

During the interwar period, Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine went smoothly. Arab landowners readily sold some of their land to Jews. However, as early as 1920, Arab terrorists began murdering Jews. Among the murderers was Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, who was sentenced by the British to 10 years in prison, but never executed. On the contrary, Lord Herbert Samuel (the man who had written that there should never be security in Palestine), who had become the British High Commissioner in Palestine, pardoned him and appointed him Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, ostensibly to maintain a balance between the two great local families.

Then came a Salafist (i.e. a Muslim wishing to live like the Prophets companions in the 7th century), Izz al-Din al-Qassam, who had already organized a revolt against the French in Syria and became imam in Haifa. He decided to wage jihad, not against the British occupiers, but against Jewish immigrants. Various attacks and pogroms against Jews followed. To maintain civil peace, the British killed al-Qassam, after whom the current Hamas al-Qassam Brigades are named.

The death of al-Qassam had solved nothing. The British, true to their colonial technique of "divide and rule", have always developed with one hand what they fought with the other. In 1936, Lord Willam Peel, at the head of an official commission, assured us that peace could only be restored by separating the Arab and Jewish populations into two distinct states. This is what is known today as the "two-state solution".

During the Second World War, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem became an ally of Chancellor Adolf Hitler. In particular, he rallied the Muslims of the Balkans to join the SS and supported the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question". For their part, the Jewish fascists (the "revisionist Zionists") of Ukrainian Vladimir Jabotinsky fought alongside the Axis against the British. The Zionists, for their part, fought on the side of the Allies, while challenging the limits that the British theoretically imposed on Jewish immigration - only theoretically.

They met in May 1942 at the Baltimore Hotel in New York, under the chairmanship of David Ben Gurion. They laid down the principles of the future State of Israel. Until now, we have been assured that Ben Gourion was a man of good will. However, he had been Jabotinskys companion during the inter-war years, and had spoken out in favor of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. A book, released in Hebrew in Israel two weeks ago and published by a major publishing house, assures that he was kept abreast of the Hungarian Rezso Kasztners negotiations with Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Eichmann that lasted until the fall of the Reich. Kasztner claimed to buy the escape of a million Hungarian Jews. In reality, he saved only his family and friends. Above all, he extorted 8.5 million Swiss francs in gold (a colossal sum at the time) from wealthy Jewish families in Hungary, making them believe in a possible escape [4]. If the documents quoted in this book are accurate, David Ben Gurion would also be a swindler, having deceived his own people.

The United Nations proposed

 not to divide Palestine (not the "Peel two-state solution") ;

 to establish a republican, democratic and representative regime;

 to guarantee the cultures of the various minorities;

 guarantee religious freedom for Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Conferences and negotiations followed in vain. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly (which then comprised only 56 member states) approved the partition plan drawn up by a special commission [5]. It was immediately rejected by all Arab countries.

On May 14, 1948 (two and a half months before the end of the British mandate), David Ben Gurion cut short the discussions and unilaterally proclaimed the independence of the State of Israel. The day after the coup, as the 100,000 British troops began to withdraw, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and North Yemen sent their troops to defend the Arabs of Palestine. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood also sent a group of fighters, under the command of Said Ramadan (son-in-law of founder Hassan el-Banna and father of Tariq Ramadan), to join them. At the time, however, none of these countries had an army worthy of the name. They were quickly defeated. The myth of the invincibility of Tsahal was born.

However, as my Lebanese friend Hassan Hamade told me, this narrative is a lie. In reality, the Arab heads of state were already committed to Israel, and the Jews were no more valiant than the Arabs.

In this way, Emir Majid Arslan, the Lebanese Minister of Defense, led his troops without encountering much resistance to Bethlehem, which he liberated. The Lebanese President, Bechara el-Khoury, immediately ordered him to abandon the battlefield, which he refused to do. He dismissed him, but he continued the war as a mere officer. In the end, his troops were not defeated by the Jews of Palestine, but by the "Jordanian" army commanded by a British general, John Bagot Glubb (known as "Glubb Pasha") and a hundred or so British officers. In reality, Jordan had no soldiers, but the Arab Legion, formed by the British during the Second World War, had changed its name to the "Jordanian Army" on the first day of the war, while retaining its British officers. It was the British and Jordanians who saved Israel from the start, just as they saved it again when Iran attacked last month. This war was not an attempt to crush Israel, but the first manifestation of Arab Zionism.

The United Nations, worried by these developments, dispatched a special envoy, the Swede Folke Bernadotte, to recuperate the situation after the Israeli coup and the Arab-Israeli war. As soon as he arrived, he realized that the Special Commission that had drawn up the partition plan was ignoring demographic realities: the Israelis were claiming a territory disproportionate to their numbers, and enjoying the support of Arab Zionist governments that had first pretended to play the role of good offices and then to wage war.

On September 17, 1948, "revisionist Zionists" (i.e. Jewish fascists) assassinated Folke Bernadotte and the head of the UN observers, French colonel Andre Serot. My maternal grandfather, Pierre Gaisset, was in the next car. He was unharmed and replaced Colonel Serot in his duties. The assassin, Yehoshua Cohen, was never arrested. Two years later, he became the official bodyguard of Prime Minister David Ben Gourion. The leader of the "revisionist Zionists", Yitzhak Shamir, was immediately appointed head of a Mossad department. He carried out secret actions on behalf of the United Kingdom and the United States throughout the Cold War, from Guatemala to the Congo, and later became Prime Minister (1983-84 and 1986-92).

On November 29, 1948, the Ben-Gurion government, which claimed to be searching for the assassins of Folke Bernadotte and Andre Serot, submitted an application for membership of the United Nations, accompanied by a letter declaring "that the State of Israel hereby accepts, without any reservation whatsoever, the obligations arising from the Charter of the United Nations, and undertakes to observe them from the day it becomes a Member of the United Nations". Convinced, on May 11 1949, the United Nations General Assembly accepted [6]. Today, in view of Israels systematic failure to respect its commitments, several states are calling for its membership to be "suspended".

Operation " al-Aqsa Flood

Lets move on to the present day. On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Resistance, on the initiative of Hamas, launched a vast operation against an Israeli military base and also against civilians. Under international law, the Arabs of Palestine are an "occupied population" within the meaning of the Geneva Conventions. However, they can only attack military targets, not Kibbutz or raves. The aim of the operation was to take military prisoners, and possibly civilian hostages too, in order to negotiate the release of Palestinian hostages in Israel, i.e. administrative prisoners. It is not known how many prisoners and hostages they have taken, let alone how many are civilians and how many are military personnel. According to Hamas, more than 30 officers are being held.

This operation, " al-Aqsa Flood, has been prepared over the last three years in full view of everyone [7]. Hundreds of kilometers of tunnels were dug using tunnel-boring machines, which could only enter Gaza with the approval of Israeli customs. At least 1 million cubic meters of earth and rubble had to be evacuated under the eyes of the Israeli security services. Several training camps were built and hang-glider training was carried out. Not only did the Israeli intelligence services observe all this, but so did other powers such as Egypt and the USA. Numerous reports were sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Yet he did not react. Worse still, he dismissed his Defense Minister, General Yoav Galland, in August 2023, because Galland complained about this lack of reaction in the cabinet. However, given the public reaction to this dismissal, he preferred to reinstate him rather than have to explain the reason.

The various Palestinian factions (Islamic Jihad, PFLP and National Initiative) were awakened by Hamas at 4.30 a.m. to take part in an operation starting at 6.30 a.m. (i.e. before sunrise). It began with the destruction of all the robots monitoring the Separation Wall. So, from 6.30 am, the alarm was sounded. By 8:00, news agencies around the world were broadcasting images of the attack [8]. However, the Israeli security forces did not intervene until 9.45 am.

From the outset of their intervention, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) applied the "Hannibal directive"; an instruction that orders one to kill ones own soldiers rather than see them taken prisoner by the adversary. The Israeli governments casualty figures do not distinguish between attackers and defenders. Similarly, the Israeli government has reported exactions that fighters do not normally have time to perpetrate during a surprise attack. The Mauritian Pramila Patten, UN Special Rapporteur on sexual violence, interviewed victims and witnesses of Operation Flood of al-Aqsa. She concluded that some sexual exactions may have been committed, but that the most serious accusations (notably the castration of soldiers) were not credible [9]. Reports of the beheading of babies were withdrawn after an investigation by Al-Jazeera.

For the moment, the Israeli opposition refuses to address the question of the Prime Ministers possible role in the organization of this operation. But it must be asked: Benjamin Netanyahu is the son of the fascist Benzion Netanyahu, private secretary to Vladimir Jabotinsky (Benito Mussolinis ally, who died at the start of the Second World War). He has always expressed his admiration for both men.

Benjamin Netanyahu has always supported Hamas as a tactical ally in the fight against Yasser Arafats Fateh. However, until 2017, Hamas referred to itself as the "Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood". This organization was restructured in 1949 by the British secret services on the model of the United Grand Lodge of England [10]. In 1950, it became part of the Anglo-Saxon Cold War apparatus. Thats when Sayyed Qutob, the jihad theorist, became its star. Admittedly, in 2017, Gazans who wanted to defend their country joined it, but they demanded that Hamas break with the Muslim Brotherhood and the British. In the end, the two currents coexisted [11]. On October 19, 2022, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received Khalil Hayya, leader of Hamass revolutionary current. But he refused to receive Ismael Haniyeh and Khaled Mechaal, leaders of the Hamas Brotherhood [12]. From an Arab point of view, then, there is not one Hamas, but two. Indeed, throughout the Syrian war, Hamas fought alongside al-Nosra (the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda), the IDF and Nato Special Forces, against the Syrian Arab Republic. On December 9, 2012, Hamas elements came to the Damascus suburb of Yarmouk to assassinate leaders of the Palestine Liberation Front (PFLP), including a friend of mine [13].

Not only is it wrong to attribute the October 7 attack to Hamas alone, but it is also wrong to ignore the fact that there are two Hamas. These lies make it possible to present the "Deluge of al-Aqsa" operation as a vast anti-Semitic pogrom, in the words of President Emmanuel Macron, when in fact it was an act of Resistance, as pointed out by Francesca Albanese, UN Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The massacre of Gazans with the Anglo-Saxons

We have witnessed the massacre of 35,000 people, the disappearance under the rubble of 13,000 others, and the serious physical injuries of a further 120,000. Anyone with human feelings can only be horrified. This has nothing to do with the identity of the victims; its just a question of humanity.

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this is just a police operation to arrest the assailants of October 7, but everyone has understood that there is no connection between this attack and the current Israeli operation. Its all about making life unbearable for the Gazans until they leave of their own accord. This was the program of Vladimir Jabotinsky and his secretary, Benzion Netanyahu. It had been validated by the Nazi negotiator and founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion.

Throughout the massacre, and even today, the Anglo-Saxons provide Israel with weapons to carry it out.

However, just as demonstrations against the bloodshed have begun in American universities and are spreading across the country and then to France, the Biden Administration has considered dismissing Benjamin Netanyahu in favour of General Benny Gantz. Admittedly, the decision is not legally his to make, but Washington has a long history of coups detat and color revolutions. Secretary of State Antony Blinken therefore invited him to "discuss the situation". Benny Gantz accepted, while arranging a meeting with the Sunak Administration during his return trip. But things didnt go well [14]: Benny Gantz understood perfectly well that Washington was asking him to stop the massacre, which he approved of, but he insisted on informing his interlocutors of his desire to protect his country by destroying Hamas. His interlocutors were taken aback and realized that he was not "a son of a bitch, but our son of a bitch", in the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They immediately notified the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. When Benny Gantz arrived in London to meet the Special Security Advisor, Sunak invited himself to their meeting. He tried to explain to a bewildered Benny Gantz that the Hamas "sons of bitches" should not be touched, because some of them are "our sons of bitches". So the Anglo-Saxons didnt overthrow Benjamin Netanyahu.

Seen from London and Washington, the massacres of civilians are deplorable, but are merely adjustment variables. As it stands, Israel is an indispensable state. If it were to be pacified and become normal, it would no longer serve any purpose. Like the Republic of Corsairs in the 18th century, Israel enables the most extensive money-laundering operations and serves as a haven for some of the worlds greatest criminals.

An official of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) told me that he was a waiter in the bar of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. One day, he witnessed the arrival of a group of diamond dealers, who had arrived without passing through customs and were being escorted by the military. These men and a few customers exchanged diamonds and cash, then left incognito. This kind of deal could not take place in any other state.
On paper, this should be a good episode: Three different couples make out and we have the beginnings of chef drama. Unfortunately, its all pretty boring. No voices are raised. The people want love triangles, sex in the master, and shouting matches. Instead, we get the polite Yelpers at it again, taking photos of breakfast. Fraser says the eggs Benedict needs more drizzle, but Nick disagrees, standing firm that his parsley garnish is enough. Fraser mutters, What a disaster, when it looks completely fine. The guests gush that its perfect, although theyre being hyperbolic because those photos were not grid-worthy.

In the galley, Barbie hears Nick say, These incompetent people are driving me **** crazy. She asks who hes talking about, and he claims he was talking to himself, not endearing him to the stews any further. Pretend you were talking about the guests, Nick! Hes also clashing with Paris and fatphobically judges her for eating mayo. Paris doesnt care what he thinks; she knows shes hot and eats mayo straight from the container in an interview. Eating mayo plain is still less gross than a man making comments about a female coworkers body. You never know if someone has struggled with eating disorders or body image in the past, and its just rude. Nick later tries to compliment Paris by insulting her entire gender: For a chick, shes not weak. Paris: You really know how to talk to a woman, huh.

The exterior-crew drama is less heated at the moment. Ben says good morning to Sunny, who gives him the silent treatment in return. She tells us shes trying to act like everythings fine, but its a little difficult. Later, they fix a chair together. Sunny drills it herself, relying on no man. Given his actions later that night, Ben must see this chair as a sign they could fix their relationship just as easily. We also learn that Dylan used to operate cranes on cargo ships. He says it was the worst job ever, but it was when he started listening to podcasts which inspired him to get into yachting. In my headcanon, Dylan getting distracted by mantras and admiring his own abs is the reason that ship got stuck in the Suez Canal a few years ago.

On the Barbie-Kyle front  Barbyle? Kybie? Have they earned a couple name yet?  Barbie has worked through some of her guilt about having sex. She may not be modest like her Argentinian family, but theres nothing wrong with what she did because she and Kyle are two adults who like each other. On break, Barbie calls her sister, who is well aware of their dads standards and thinks hell already be disappointed. Or, to put it in boat pun terms, that ship has sailed. Barbie decides that being herself is most important, and she likes this guy, whos actually really nice to her. All day, Kyles unsure where he stands with her until night when she pulls him aside to apologize and tell him shes ready to own it. They kiss. I want to be bitter, but theyre so smiley; the happiness is contagious.

Someone whos not afraid to own the fact they have a crush is Fraser. He jokingly calls guest Steven his husband and is excited to see him in a bathing suit. I worry this is one-sided, but I am then relieved to see Steven joking similarly to his friend Stephanie about proposing to Fraser tonight. Barbie plants the idea of a midnight kiss between the two. When she teases Fraser about it, he jokingly threatens to try and fire her again. I love that theyve moved past their issues, and Xandis laughing with them, too. The interior crew is united because nothing brings co-workers together better than a mutual enemy. Thanks, Nick!

Fraser checks in with Kerry about the potential guest-crew member midnight kiss and doesnt mention that the crew member in question is himself. Kerry, who is functionally HR, clocks it as sexual harassment. Fraser: And if the crew member was really actually keen? Kerry approves but stays tight-lipped about his own past boatmances. He makes a Dr. Evil pinky gesture that I hope someone turns into a GIF.

While prepping for the NYE-themed dinner, Nick continues to antagonize Paris, calling her his third favorite stew. She doesnt enjoy the joke, and he doesnt like that a person with so much less experience than him is giving him garnish suggestions. He makes a foam that splurts sadly onto the plates. Fraser thinks this is horrific and is surprised the guests arent complaining. Theyre happily taking pics as usual, and making their own video content by pouring sauces, which seems like the kind of tableside presentation Nick shouldve stepped up and did. This makes the diners slow to finish eating. Theres been a lot of talk about finishing dinner exactly at the stroke of midnight, and that could be in jeopardy. As part of the dessert, Nick makes Chantilly cream quenelles, which Ill acknowledge are very hard to do, but the plating is still not wowing me.

Frasers not only anxious about the food: Hes been single five years and says he feels like hes lost his game. Luckily, Steven seems to lack any game, too. His gold suit is awful, but it allows his friends to enlist Fraser to take it off and help Steven avoid overheating. The Yelpers film the strip down, and its pretty awkward, but at least everyones having fun. The guests move to the bridge deck for the countdown to midnight, so I guess that dinner timing thing was abandoned. Ive never seen someone less excited about having four sparklers in hand than Paris. At midnight, Fraser gives Steven a kiss, which is the least surprising thing ever since its been teased so much. Its chaste; Fraser was hopeful for a bit more. More excitingly, Steven messages him that night. He asks about sleeping in Frasers room, which Fraser professionally shuts down. Less professionally the next morning, Fraser finds and wears Stevens shirt. I would be weirded out by this, but Steven is chill about it.

At breakfast, the war of the garnishes continues. Nick thinks the stews suggestions like cucumber stars and sliced cherry tomatoes are tacky. He and Fraser argue about crepe options after Fraser already told the guest itd be chocolate. As a lover of both organization and crepes, I feel passionately that they should have had a menu figured out beforehand, and that the default flavor should be lemon sugar, not chocolate.

The charter comes to an end with the best docking theyve had all season, according to Kerry. Hes confident in his leadership decisions to promote Ben and Sunny. Does he still not know the two have been sleeping together? Im rarely excited about the reunions, but the prospect of Kerry calling out Ben after watching this back would definitely be something to look forward to. For now, though, Kerry feels the crews synergy and believes the guests did too. Primary Alex is super complimentary and leaves a nice $23,000 tip. I assume this money comes from his tech salary and not his nacho Instagram page. There are also nacho recipes on his website for anyone brave enough to try them 

Post-charter, Kerry checks in with Fraser. Fraser says he doesnt want to speak too soon but then does: Hes unimpressed by the foods presentation, plus Nick is unfriendly and stubborn. Kerry says it seems like Fraser doesnt want to be as helpful as he was to Anthony, and Fraser needs to shift his attitude. This inspires Fraser to call an all-stew meeting. He declares they should give Nick some grace because hes new but still watch out for food that looks like a cafeteria lady slopped it onto a plate. Paris raises the issue that Nicks said some questionable things to her. Fraser says they should all be as positive and helpful as they can. To cap off the meeting, they group-hug and he calls the girls cretinous whores, which may be teasing but feels firmly the opposite of a positive and professional attitude shift.

At the preference sheet meeting, we learn the upcoming primaries are yacht owners used to butler service. The guests will include their college student/former dancer daughter and her friend, to which Ben goes, Uh-oh. Ben is the worst. There must be no teenage girls for Ben to flirt with at dinner that night because he walks over to Sunnys side of the table to hug her and gets a bit handsy. She says her dinner was very garlicky, and hes a vampire. Ben kind of takes the hint. Nick rivals Ben for the shittiest man award by telling a story about the time he bought a Chanel bag for an ex-girlfriend, and when they broke up, he took the bag back.

After dinner, the cast goes to dance at a club in search of some DFMOs. Xandi is drunk off Pinot Grigio and clumsy like a baby giraffe. Steven meets up with Fraser and they get their proper kiss. Barbie decides not to hold back with Kyle. PDA is new to her, but it feels good as long as nobody makes it a thing. Cue Dylan and Nick, who make it a thing by obnoxiously cheering them on. Dylan even steps in to hug Kyle when Kyles arms are literally around Barbie. Dylan and Nick are rightfully punished for this behavior by being exiled to a car alone when everyone else piles into the other car.

Back on the boat, Ben and Sunny make out. She figures theres chemistry, so why not? Im like, girl, you know why not! The margaritas are affecting your decision-making skills! But the roommates have a good system set up where Sunny and Kyle swap rooms to be with Ben and Barbie. Paris looks after drunk Xandi in their room. Barbie and Kyle cuddle, marveling at how opposite they are. The pair both admit in interviews that theyre falling for each other. Barbie is the espresso martini to Kyles lager. Hes feeling vulnerable with his heart on his sleeve  Thats that me, espresso.
Photo: Eric Laciste/Universal Pictures

The Fall Guy is a love letter to the stunt community, an opportunity to bask in Ryan Goslings sky-high levels of charm, and in the form of one of its villains, an all-too-realistic depiction of a narcissist Hollywood actor.

Tom Ryder, an action star played by rumored new Bond actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is the star of The Fall Guys film-within-the-film, the sci-fi epic Metalstorm. Hes also a smug, showboating asshole who lies about doing all his own stunts; kills his new stunt double, Henry (Justin Eaton, Taylor-Johnsons actual stunt double in the film), with a misplaced kick; and tries to frame his old stunt double, Goslings Colt Seavers, for the crime. Taylor-Johnson and Gosling have a lot of fun with Toms braggadocio and Colts deadpan replies when the star actor and his stunt double finally face off. Toms all puffed-up, pompous, and a teensy bit sexual as he shirtless-ly reveals that he sabotaged a stunt Colt did for him on a previous film, which led to Colt breaking his back; Colt calls Tom a Bond villain dipshit and says theyre getting tangled in exposition as Tom over-explains his evil plan.

The Fall Guy emphasizes that for people in the movie industry, films are literally and figuratively their whole lives, the way they understand their feelings and their reality. Its why Colt and his boss and friend Dan (Winston Duke) get themselves amped up for a fight scene by quoting The Last of the Mohicans, and why Colt, when declaring his love for director Jody (Emily Blunt), wonders if his big admission of adoration is from a movie, or did I just make it up? The boundaries between fiction and reality are pretty fluid in this film, which leads to the question: Is The Fall Guy shading anyone specific with its depiction of Tom Ryder?

Director David Leitch, writer Drew Pearce, and Gosling developed the films story together, and given Leitchs hands-on approach, its tempting to think his experiences working with movie stars might have helped shape these characters. So lets consider the evidence, drawing from the movie, Leitchs career, and the general field of leading action men these days. (All in the spirit of gossipy fun, dont sue us.)

Ryan Reynolds, Chris Pratt, Brad Pitt, Jason Statham

Lets start with four action stars who have worked with Leitch  on Deadpool 2, Jurassic World (for which Leitch did second-unit work), Bullet Train and Fight Club, and Hobbs & Shaw, respectively  and who fit the general omnipresent white dude all over genre franchises mold. In real life, all of them pretty openly praise stuntwork or their stunt doubles; remember that Leitch was Pitts stunt double in Fight Club. More than a decade ago, Statham supported the stunt communitys campaign for the Oscars to add a specific category recognizing their work: Its a total injustice. Theyre the ones getting busy. Then you have some guy standing in front of a fucking green screen screwing his face up pretending like hes doing the stunt. To me, its like a farce. Given that a scene pretty much exactly like this plays out in The Fall Guy at Toms expense, I think its safe to assume that Statham (and all these dudes) are free from mockery because of their vocal support of the industry in the past. Now, Pitt did do a series of ads for Chanel N5, and Tom does have a beauty campaign in The Fall Guy that Colt rolls his eyes at. But I think that detail more closely aligns with another actor on this list.

Tom Cruise

We must consider Tom Cruise because he is arguably the worlds biggest action star, and the one whose insistence on doing his own stunts makes the most headlines (and wins Vulture Stunt Awards!). Theres also the fact that Tom Ryder is named, well, Tom. But The Fall Guy has only praise for Cruise, like when Colt jokes about wanting Metalstorms deepfake technology to turn him into the Mission: Impossible star. Is it possible that Hannah Waddinghams character, Gail Meyer, Toms longtime producer, is modeled after Cruises former publicist, his sister, Lee Anne DeVette? Eh, probably not. All they have in common is that theyre women; Gail seems more like an updated version of The Godfather producer Robert Evans than anyone else (note their similarly oversized glasses). I think you cant make an action movie about action movies without acknowledging Cruises existence and impact, but thats the extent of the connection between Tom and Tom.

Keanu Reeves

Is there any possible reality in which Tom Ryder is a subtweet of Mr. John Wick, renowned nice man? There cant be, right, not when Leitchs big break was co-directing that Keanu-starring picture? Admittedly, Leitchs work went uncredited because of some Directors Guild of America rules, and Chad Stahelski kept directing the John Wick films solo (Leitch retains an EP credit). But very few actors are out here championing the stunt community like our beloved Neo. Keanu innocent, probably.

Matthew McConaughey

It has to be acknowledged that Tom is, for some reason, American, and Taylor-Johnson (who is English) is doing a Dazed and Confusedera Matthew McConaughey accent. This man can do a perfectly serviceable, perfectly flat American voice (we heard it in Godzilla, Savages, and the Kick-Ass films), so the put-on Texan drawl is definitely a choice. But is McConaughey an action star? Nope; even in films like The Dark Tower and The Gentlemen, McConaughey isnt doing a ton of physical work, nor pretending to. So lets just put the accent down as ATJ trying some things out rather than McConaughey shade.

Johnny Depp

Heres where things get interesting. Remember that ad campaign I mentioned earlier, the ones all over the airport in Los Angeles when Colt flies to Australia, and all over bus shelters in downtown Sydney? They look very much like Depps Dior Sauvage ads, in that they place Tom in a dusty, desert landscape in front of mountains and a beautiful watercolor sky, and make him look like a mysterious, brooding antihero as hes sledgehammering rocks to prove his masculinity, or whatever. And then later in the film, when Gail walks into Jodys trailer and sees that its messy  as if two people have fought, because they have, unbeknownst to Gail  she says it looks like Johnny and Amber were in there, a joke thats gotten some bad press but that is at least contextualized in the film as another indication of how crappy Gail is as a person. Those two moments together feel pointed; maybe not exactly like an insult toward Depp, but a reminder of the amount of power and cultural sway he once held and how that image was, like Toms, manufactured and manipulated. Something to think about!

Dwayne Johnson

An action star who (allegedly) disappears from set, shows up late, has an entourage whose members do whatever he wants, and who is overly concerned with his public image to the point where it starts to affect his actual acting. All of Toms behavior in The Fall Guy seemingly aligns with Johnsons (alleged) misbehavior on the upcoming film Red One, as documented in this piece at the Wrap. And recall that Johnson and Leitch did work together on Hobbs & Shaw. Something to think about, part two! (Its also worth considering that perhaps Tom could contain elements of Vin Diesel, whos also been accused of diva behavior on set and who was rumored to be feuding with Johnson on The Fate of the Furious. But Diesel has talked before about how the death of Harry OConnor, his stunt double on the xXx set, affected him and emphasized to him the importance of safe stuntwork, so it seems unlikely he inspired a character who is so blithe about stunt safety.)

Jason Momoa (not!)

The one person we can assume Tom Ryder isnt supposed to be mocking is Momoa, who ends up appearing in the film as himself, replacing Tom after the action star explodes in a pyrotechnics accident he caused by using his cell phone where he shouldnt. Its fun to see Duncan Idaho show up and kick ass, since so much of Metalstorm is Dune-coded (set in space on a sandy planet, with a Hans Zimmerlike score and Teresa Palmer looking like shes wearing a Lady Jessica Halloween costume). Also, havent many of us wondered is it Momoa or Mamoa at some point? The Post-It note Tom has in his loft with that question might be his most relatable quality!
Macklemore. Photo: Mat Hayward/Getty Images

Say what you will about Macklemore, but he will rage against the machine. In the middle of the nastiest, and perhaps most unserious, rap beef of the decade, the Seattle MC directed his animus toward Israels apartheid system against Palestine. Macklemore released the anti-genocide, Palestine-solidarity track Hinds Hall on May 6, the same day Israel seized a border crossing at Rafah, the city where 1.3 million displaced Palestinians have crammed for refuge, cutting off a vital aid route. All proceeds from Macklemores track will go to a United Nationsrun nonprofit supporting Palestinian refugees. I want a cease-fire, fuck a response from Drake (woo), Macklemore spits. We guess Kendrick and Drake going bar-for-bar over whos the worst abuser while an actual war decimates a whole country didnt necessarily do it for the rapper. What happened to the artist? Macklemore raps. What dyou got to say?

HINDS HALL. Once its up on streaming all proceeds to UNRWA. pic.twitter.com/QqZEKmzwZI  Macklemore (@macklemore) May 6, 2024

The title Hinds Hall refers to the since-raided Columbia University building student activists occupied last week, which they renamed in remembrance of a 6-year-old victim of the war, Hind Rajab. Macklemore criticizes the brutal suppression of protesters in his bars, questioning the idea that calls for divestment from war profiteering and protesting for peace are somehow threatening and antisemitic. Calling out white supremacy and the buttressing of an apartheid system, he urges activists to continue their work until Palestine is free. What if you were in Gaza? What if those were your kids? Macklemore raps. If the West was pretendin that you didnt exist? / Youd want the world to stand up and the students finally did.
More than 600,000 people are released from U.S. prisons every year, vowing never to go back. Many do. One man is trying to change that.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD and Bord Bia CEO Jim OToole led a contingent of Irish seafood exporters at the recent Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona, the worlds largest seafood trade fair with over 2,000 exhibitors and 34,000 visitors.

Speaking after launching the trade reception at Bord Bias Origin Green Ireland Pavilion, Minister McConalogue said: The Irish seafood sector is showcasing its extensive product range, scope and first-class reputation with international food buyers here at the Seafood Expo Global.

Annually, over 156,000 tonnes of Irish seafood from pelagic species and whitefish to shellfish, salmon and trout are exported by Irelands seafood industry to all corners of the world.

More than 550 million of Irish seafood produce was exported to over 70 countries in 2023. I am pleased to say that the demand for premium quality, responsibly sourced seafood from Ireland remains very strong. The Seafood Expo Global is a key event for identifying potential new markets, targeting new customers and expanding Irelands presence in its established markets. The key Irish offerings during the three-day event included pelagic species, such as herring, mackerel, and horse mackerel, whitefish, shellfish and crustacean species such as crab, mussels, prawns, scallop, oysters and lobster, as well as farmed seafood, including salmon and trout.

The value the Irish industry places on product integrity and responsible practices is paying dividends in attracting new seafood business. The Irish seafood sectors high rate of participation in Bord Bias Origin Green programme demonstrates a commitment to sustainability throughout the seafood value chain.

Fishers, fish farmers and processors have acquired green credentials through a large number of sustainability programmes run by Bord Iascaigh Mhara.

Bord Bia CEO Jim OToole said: Trade shows like this are strategically important as Bord Bia tries to position Ireland as the supplier of choice for sustainably-produced, safe and high-quality seafood with our international buyers. Its also an excellent opportunity for Irish companies to generate business opportunities and to deepen relationships with existing customers. Concluding, Minister McConalogue said: I very much welcome the opportunity to heighten awareness of Irelands substantial seafood offering at the Expo and on a world stage. I will continue the important work of raising Irelands profile as a source of superior seafood and of expanding Irelands range of exports worldwide.
Cillian Sherlock and Cate McCurry, PA

Updated at 20:11

The national broadcaster RTE recorded fictitious accounting transactions and operated with a lack of trust between its board and senior management, according to long-awaited expert reports.

It comes as more than 100 recommendations from two reports ordered by the Government were published on Tuesday, alongside an examination on the organisations use of off-balance sheet transactions.

Media Minister Catherine Martin said her department will withhold a second round of funding to RTE pending its implementation of recommendations contained in a series of reports.

Ms Martin has also said the report of RTEs barter account provides further evidence of poor governance.

In a press conference, she said: The (recommendations) will bring further transparency on the remuneration of top presenters in RTE, both on air and off-air. The reviews I have published today make clear that the governance of RTE requires radical reform.

While much of this work must be carried out by the RTE board and Leadership Team, the Review of Governance and Culture found that the legislative framework underpinning the governance of RTE contained in the Broadcasting Act needs fundamental reform.

She added: Earlier today, the chair and director-general of RTE both gave me a clear commitment that RTE accepts the recommendations of the reviews in principle and will implement the recommendations of the Expert Advisory Committees.

On foot of this, I intend, with the agreement of the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, to release the first tranche of 40 million in additional Exchequer resources allocated to RTE this year.

The dispersal of the final tranche later this year will be subject to a satisfactory assessment of RTEs updates on the implementation of the plan by my department and the further agreement of the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.

Asked about timescales with a general election due in the next year, Minister for Media Catherine Martin said there will definitely be a decision on the funding model for RTE before the summer.

Implementation plan

That was something that we agreed at Cabinet today too, she said.

I can move as quickly as possible on this, and that is what I will be doing. Time is slightly against me as far as this Government can go, but I am focused on moving this as fast as possible.

There are a number of amendments to the Broadcasting Act. The key will be that implementation plan with the timelines. We will have a bit more clarity on that in six weeks time.

She said she hopes the actions necessary can be completed before the general election, but if it cannot, it will be for the next government to complete.

I would hope that any government that is in place after the next election will take very seriously the key recommendations from expert groups that are putting RTE and public service broadcasting on sure footing, she said.

Minister for Media Catherine Martin said the reviews so far have cost around 574,000 and could reach more than one million euros.

She said she believes the reports represent value for money.

I think that today is the first day where we can really see there is a path forward for RTE and indeed for public service media, she said.

But I do believe the scale of the financial, organisational and reputational issues in RTE merited this root and branch review and examination, and the fact that we have 116 recommendations, she said.

More importantly the fact that we are in a position now today where I am saying we accept all the recommendations, but more importantly RTE is accepting their recommendations and were looking to an implementation plan, to moving forward and a funding model.

It also recommended requiring RTE to include a financial or formula cap in any future exit scheme; reforming the approach to engaging and paying presenters; improve the functioning of the RTE Board and its committees; and ensure greater transparency for higher executive pay.

It further recommended to improve the accountability of the director general to the RTE Board; strengthen the implementation of gender, equality, diversity and inclusion policies in the broadcaster; and ensure the review of roles and grades and forthcoming review of allowances in RTE are effective, transparent and include consultation with employees.

The cost of three reports has amounted to around 570,000 to date, however the cost is expected to reach as much as 1 million as the department awaits confirmation of further invoices.

The review of governance and culture includes 90 recommendations to reform RTEs corporate governance framework, its organisational culture and its way of doing business.

The review of its HR practices made 26 detailed recommendations, including improving the oversight and mechanisms by which it engages contractors and presenters and the use of short-term employment contracts and employment terms and conditions in RTE.

The Government said it has accepted in principle all 116 recommendations made by the expert advisory committees.

RTE will now be required to prepare an implementation plan within six weeks, setting out the actions and associated timelines that it will take to implement the recommendations.

Ryan Tubridy (Niall Carson/PA)

The implementation plan will be overseen by a monitoring group, composed of the Ministers department and senior representatives and NewERA (New Economy and Recovery Authority).

RTE was plunged into crisis in June last year after it admitted understating the fees for its star presenter and previous top-earner Ryan Tubridy.

A series of probing parliamentary committee hearings also uncovered other concerns about culture, governance and financial management at RTE and there have been several high-profile resignations from the board and executive of the station.

Disclosures during the scandal revealed the use of barter accounts by the broadcasters commercial wing.

Barter accounts are commonplace in the media industry to allow organisations to exchange advertising airtime that would otherwise go unsold in return for goods and services from companies.

However, RTEs use of the accounts came under intense scrutiny and a previous report found that there were significant gaps in controls and record keeping.

The organisation commissioned external auditors to produce reports on the Tubridy payments, the use of barter accounts and voluntary exit schemes as well as an ill-fated musical which accrued millions of euros in losses.

However, Ms Martin has said the two independent expert reports which were ordered by her Department will form the main basis for the Governments decision on reforming the funding of public-service broadcasting in Ireland, including RTE.

A pre-existing steady decline in licence fee revenue was accelerated by the expanding controversy.

RTE operates on a dual-funding model that sees around 55 per cent of its income brought in through the obligatory licence fee, which costs 160 a year for Irish households with a television.

Approximately 85 per cent of revenue from TV licence fees goes to RTE to carry out its public service broadcasting commitments, while it also earns money through commercial operations.

RTEs director-general Kevin Bakhurst, who assumed the role in the early weeks of the crisis, has also announced a strategic plan for reforming the institution by 2028.

It includes cutting headcount by 400  a reduction of up to 20 per cent  and a significant increase in investment in the independent production sector.

RTE said it has welcomed the publication of the reports.
Two residents of the Williamstown Halting Site in Waterford were each found guilty of one count of money laundering by a jury, when their case was heard at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court.

James and Nora OReilly,of (Unofficial) Bay 2, were handed the verdict by a jury last week at Waterford Circuit Court.

In February 2021, a large number of gardai entered the halting site to execute search warrants on a number of properties, including the residence of the accused.

Inside their caravan, a sock containing 26,415 in cash and ten alprazolam tablets was found. The prosecution alleged that the money was the proceeds of criminal conduct, namely drug dealing.

The residence of James and Nora OReillys daughter was also searched, where weighing scales, deal bags and 130 alprazolam tablets were found.

Additionally, a large container at the site was searched. Inside, a recess was dug underneath the floor which contained a large amount of cannabis and alprazolam.

The prosecution also detailed to the jury, that a prior search which was carried out at the halting site in November 2020. During that time, the residence of James and Nora OReillys son was searched, where wads of cash were found stuffed into a fire blanket. Alprazolam tablets were also found at the residence.

In Gardai interviews, explaining where the 26,415 came from, Nora OReilly said it was given to her by the partner of her cousin.

That individual told An Garda Siochana that she gave Nora OReilly the money to temporarily hold. She further disclosed to the authorities that she did not have employment and that the substantial sum of cash was accrued through various injury claims from previous years.

She provided gardai with a solicitors letter confirming that both herself and her partner received 7,000 each in 2018 as compensation for a traffic accident, and that she had received 48,000 for a trip and fall accident in 2017.

When asked about the ten alprazolam tablets that were found mixed in the cash, she said they belonged to her partner.

During Nora OReillys garda interview, she was asked if she believed that the money handed to her was the proceeds of crime, to which she replied: It never occurred to me. She added: Theres no drug dealing around my place, and said she agreed to hold the money for her cousins partner because: Im a good friend and she trusts me.

She added: I was only doing a favour, I wont do it again.

In his closing argument, State Prosecutor Conor ODoherty BL, referred to the drugs found within the cash, saying the expiry date and batch number were identical to the drugs found in the cabin of James and Nora OReillys daughter.

He asked the jury: Is that an incredible coincidence, or is it a clear and obvious link? In further alleging that the money was the proceeds of drug dealing, Mr. O Doherty referred to the two weighing scales found in the O'Reilly's daughters cabin, saying: Theyre not like scales you would have in your kitchen. Referring to the deal bags found there, he said: They are not for putting your kids lunch in.

He added that both defendants lied when they claimed to be unaware of any drug dealing taking place at the site, saying: "They know the source of the money is criminal conduct.

Mr. William Fitzgerald BL, defence council for James OReilly, said in his closing that all evidence in relation to the 2020 search is irrelevant". He remarked that the prosecution insinuated that the two defendants were some type of criminal masterminds at the top chain of criminal behaviour. Following this statement, Mr. Fitzgerald requested both defendants to rise before the jury and posed the question: "Do they look like criminal masterminds to you? Clearly not the case.

Defense for Nora OReilly, Gareth Hayden BL, told the jury that prosecutions evidence jumps all over the place. He further emphasised that the prosecution was asking the jury to view James and Nora on what was allegedly was done by their children. He added that there is certain scientific evidence that wasnt provided to the jury, such as DNA or fingerprints. After approximately an hour of deliberation, the jury found both James and Nora OReilly guilty of money laundering.
Members of the public are invited to have their say on the draft South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan (DMAP) which has just been published.

The plan, which is in respect of Irelands first ever spatial plan for renewable energy at sea, could see two offshore windfarms developed off the Waterford coast along with two off Wexfords coast.

The draft plan, published by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD, identifies four maritime areas off the south coast, in which development of offshore renewable energy (ORE) is proposed to take place over the next decade.

An independent economic analysis, published alongside the draft DMAP, highlighted potential economic benefits associated with plan, which could deliver inward investment of 4.4 billion, and an estimated 49,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) years of employment to the Irish economy.

The analysis further suggests that more than 65 per cent of inward investment and employment opportunities could be captured within the south coast region.

The draft South Coast DMAP is part of an overall plan-led approach to ensure that ORE will only be located in areas off the south coast that are environmentally suitable for such development. Protecting the marine environment and biodiversity and supporting people reliant on the sea for their livelihood are central to the sustainable development of the south coasts ORE potential.

The four areas proposed were identified following comprehensive environmental assessment along with an engagement process that involved coastal communities and stakeholders, de-risking the DMAPs as much as possible.
In Waterford City, nestled next to the Viking House Refugee Hostel, lies the worlds only Mens Shed tailored for refugees.

The New Community Mens Shed has been active for five years, serving as a vital gathering place for community members from nearby direct provision centres. Recently, several members were asked to share their experiences in Ireland with the Waterford News & Star.

Muhammed, who arrived in Waterford from Pakistan last year, said:

I came to the Mens Shed to help me learn English. Its very helpful and my English is getting better since coming here and its so nice to meet new people. I like living in Waterford, and I have visited many different parts of the county to see the views.

Muhammed, founding member Frank Kennedy, Samson

Samson from Nigeria added:

I came to Ireland in January, and I think its a very nice place. Tonight is my first time at the Mens Shed. Its very, very interesting and everyone is so friendly, and I will definitely come back. We are all sharing an experience here, and we are helping each other learn how to live in Ireland.

Rachid, who moved to Waterford from Algeria last September said;

For me, Waterford is quiet and I love the mountains and how calm it is here, it helps clear your head.

Rachid also mentioned that he joined the Mens Shed to engage in conversations with fellow members and to aid in his English language learning journey.

Rachid and Brian

Speaking further, founding member Frank Kennedy said, Were acting as a big brother, a stepping stone, to help advise people and try tell them how they can apply their background and skills to life in Ireland. This group of people, a lot of them are quite young, and have never been away from home, and so theyre adrift when they come here and they can feel alone."

"I think also that if we could get employers to take a few of the lads on for a week as interns, to give them a taste of what its like in a working environment, it would go such a long way."
By the time this appears in print you will probably be Taoiseach. Being the youngest Taoiseach ever elected in Ireland is quite something and it will more than make up for those endless nights of rubber chicken dinners and mind bending party committee meetings. You certainly deserve credit for achieving your goal. The climb to the top is littered with the (metaphorical) bodies of those who fell by the wayside. Congratulations are in order.

From a Waterford point of view, the first thing that most people heard was that you consulted deeply with Phil Hogan before making your challenge for the position as Taoiseach. To say that Mr. Hogan is disliked in Waterford is an understatement. As he is deep in your counsels, it appears to us that a vote for you is by association, a vote for Phil Hogan.

Former Fine Gael politician who served as European Commissioner for Trade.

Not many people in Waterford will buy that bill of goods. Once bitten, twice shy and all that. When Hogan and James Reilly supported Enda Kenny for Taoiseach in 2011, both were subsequently appointed to cabinet.

Almost immediately there were negative movements against WIT and UHW and the budgets for both were savaged. There was an attempt at service reduction in UHW to bring it into line with the county hospitals in Wexford, Clonmel and Kilkenny. WIT, on the cusp of university status, was devastated, its leadership destroyed and capital investment in new business and engineering buildings cancelled.

Fine Gael came into the 2011 election, and two subsequent elections, promising a university for Waterford, but we recall the bitter words that emanated from Kilkenny that there will be a university in the south east but the name Waterford wont be over the door! That miserable forecast has come true. The SETU merger of WIT with IT Carlow has thus far been disastrous. Promised funding and new buildings have not arrived in Waterford. The sole positive has been the 4m purchase of the brownfield glass factory site, hardly convincing in the context of the investment required.

WIT/IT Carlow merger has been 'disastrous.'

Since 2011 the traditional universities have greatly expanded new courses, facilities and student accommodation. This has put enormous pressure on the newly formed TU sector with a 4% reduction in student numbers while the existing universities increased numbers by 9%. No investment has been made in new teaching buildings in Waterford since 2006. How can Waterford compete in this environment?

Last week, Damien Tiernan replayed your Feb 2022 WLR interview, made in advance of the SETU creation in May, 2022. You said regarding the purchase of the glass site that I want a decision within the year. The case for Waterford is different as they did not need to put a business case to buy the site. We need this urgently, we need it yesterday. We have made a decision in respect of Waterford to set aside capital to expand the footprint (of WIT). Very fine words. The purchase of 20 acres was not completed until November 2023, 20 months after your interview!

Waterfords biggest grouse is the obscene lack of new third level buildings. We travel all over the country, including to Carlow and see masses of new third level buildings everywhere. The last one in Waterford was built on the Cork Road in 2006. You well know that a new engineering building was promised on the Cork Road in 2009, when outline planning was granted for it. Your party now attempts to persuade people that nothing could develop from an outline planning process. This is an egregious untruth. The outline permission was part of a PPP to provide the new building.

That PPP was cancelled by the Fine Gael government in 2011. Had that not happened the chosen PPP developer would have applied for full planning permission as part of the contract. Anyway, government revived the project in 2017 and planning for a new engineering building was granted in 2019. You told Damien Tiernan in February, 2022 that Waterford has been let down (by you as minister?) on this funding and that I expect construction to commence this year (2022) or early next year and open in 2025. I understand the skepticism of Waterford people. I am not going to hide. It is long overdue for the people of Waterford.

They have been let down on this. Ah sure, whats two years between friends? Here we are in April 2024, still let down and still skeptical. No sign of the new engineering building, the 2025 target blown out the window. We hear ad nauseam from your local party faithful that the matter is complicated and that there is only one contractor left in the PPP. You and your Department of Further Education caused this delay. You removed the Waterford building from the first PPP construction bundle in 2020 and concentrated on Dublin and Cork, the places that least need new investment. We are sick of hearing the new building is at the tender stage in the last few months of the five year term of this government. (Please dont talk about the North Quays).

Waterford North Quays render.

The delay in providing the new building is shameful and unequalled on any third level campus across the country. It is often said in business and politics that people kiss upwards, and kick downwards. Fawning at the people above you and trampling on those below you. Many believe that Waterford city bears the marks of your upward climb as third level capital investment was delayed to satisfy your political supporters in Carlow, Kilkenny and Wexford. WIT/SETU and Waterford has been seriously wounded by you in that context.

Unless construction on the new engineering building starts quickly, people simply wont vote for Fine Gael in Waterford. The lackeys tell you it doesnt resonate with the electorate like they told Leo that the UHW mortuary was not an issue. We have been codded, misled, suffered obfuscation, mendacity and appalling delay for nearly every government project here.

Your predecessor Mr. Varadkar admitted this about funding for UHW. As incoming Taoiseach, who presided over the Department of Further Education for the past four years, you bear a special responsibility to deliver investment to SETU Waterford. P**s or get off the pot. Give us our new engineering building!
An air of dissatisfaction has stalked the city for quite some time. You can see it on social media posts where a section of people are unhappy with almost everything.

The council are fools, the shops are awful, the traffic is terrible, the parking is cat, the one way system is shocking etc., you name it, its being said about this small city.

If you track urban issues on YouTube and elsewhere, you can find the same stuff written about most towns or cities in Ireland, the UK, and interestingly in Germany. Facebook users in New Ross, for example believe everyone buys everything in Waterford. Some people in Waterford think that the grass is greener almost everywhere else.

Of course, things here could be better in many ways, but my observed reality from the sheer volume of delivery vans in our neighborhood, is that internet shopping is an all devouring monster. Every time I see that monstrous Amazon fulfillment centre (the most ironic description) on the M7, I reflect sadly in memory of the thousands of small local businesses across Ireland that this gravestone commemorates.

On a wider local note there is palpable dissatisfaction with getting things done by both government and local business. The delays to development of UHW have been written about here ad nauseam. Ministerial promises have been continually shown to be worthless. UHW is still the most underfunded, understaffed etc., etc. Model 4 hospital in the land.

Legions of promises have been made and broken. Delay in development at SETU/WIT is almost biblical. The last teaching building to be built there started in 1998 and was completed in 2006. Promises to build a new engineering building are seen as unbelievable in a process which started in 2009 and shows no sign of being finalised. New FDI job announcements have almost vanished except for two very small new additions in the past 18 months.

At Cartamundi, 234 jobs vanished without a blink from government. The reply to any expression of concern about anything from the Airport to the WRC Rally disappointment and everything in between is the North Quays, the North Quays, the North Quays. Great and thanks very much, butthe rest of our development agenda?

Why do we find it so hard to get government to deliver? Has local business confidence been damaged by the persistent feeling that Waterford hasnt government backing in the same way as Galway? Has anyone ever heard of a protest march in Galway where people took to the streets to demand some facility or investment from government? Not in my lifetime anyway.

Frisby Construction has broken the duck with development at the old Glass offices, but otherwise local business is so risk averse, while clinging to shamefully derelict property, as to defy description in a chicken and egg situation. Why is that?

The confidence engendered while Martin Cullen was a cabinet minister elicited huge local investment, but now there is some official dynamic at work seemingly intent on delaying or preventing delivery to Waterford, think 24/7 cardiology, SETU engineering building or UHW capital plan, in a way that does not affect other regional cities. Its actually preposterous.

Some suggest it results from the financial crash of 2008/10 when the IMF troika allegedly instructed government that this country only needed three development nodes in Dublin, Cork and Galway. The tenure of Michael Noonan as Minister for Finance ensured that Limerick was added to that trio, but we were left to the tender mercies of the 2011 Enda Kenny government.

Whatever is going on, even government politicians regularly admit that it exists. Waterford has a particular difficulty in attracting capital spending from governments led by Fine Gael. Weve heard the promises, weve read the letters, but still inordinate delay is the default position.

The German composer Max Reger once wrote: I am sitting in the smallest room in the house. I have your letter before me. In a moment soon it will be behind me.

Thats how many people react to government promises in Waterford. We have learned to our cost that ministerial promises are often economical with the truth or just plain mendacious. Can we not actually just get something done, get something started?

Does anyone, even those involved (who must be despairing of progress at this late stage in the electoral cycle), actually believe this stuff? Will the next ploy be the pre-election wail of crocodile tears we tried our best to deliver Waterford projects, but were unable to do so because the Greens, DPER, or government procurement rules blocked us. But never fear, elect us again and everything will be fine! Are we naive enough to swallow that?

The overarching feeling of discontent is perhaps exemplified by the four year tenure of Taoiseach Harris in the Dept. of Further Education. Fifteen years since anything was built at WIT and we still await a new engineering building. Several other promised WIT buildings are at project gateway 2, the final stage before proceeding to actual construction.

Did Harris merely continue the delaying process that Fine Gael has continually deployed on Waterford projects? Is it in their handbook under the heading County Towns in the South East where every move that party makes, from the amalgamation of county and city to the destruction of our two local VEC organisations and transfer of their management team to Wexford is politically, rather than strategically, motivated? Despite being the south-easts, Ireland 2040 nominated economic driver, can anything be done to favour Waterford, (North Quays excepted), which upsets Fine Gael loyalists in the Wexford/Carlow/Kilkenny bloc?

Meanwhile, a planned new airport in Arklow, which would never have arisen if Waterford airport was developed, has surfaced to the excitement of the Dublin metro commentariat.

Lets see does Taoiseach Harris support that! Its always amazing that delay is our fault, the airport board, the business plan, the financial arrangements, while the delay and endless process inflicted on us by minsters and their Sir Humphreys is never questioned.

Our docile government reps seem unable to step outside their party box and make a stand for Waterford, even when the impact on local commerce is so apparent. That must change.
Hospice coffee morning, April 25, ONeills Bar.

The next coffee morning in aid of The Waterford Hospice will be held in Mols Restaurant at ONeills Bar Tramore on Thursday morning April 25 at 11.00 am. All monies raised here will be donated to Waterford Hospice. There will be teas, coffees and scones available, and as usual there will be a raffle with some exciting prizes to be won

Mozart by Candlelight, April 27, City Hall, 19 to 32

This is the third concert that Frank McNamara will have brought to Waterford. He previously brought his highly popular Chopin by Candlelight & Christmas Classics by Candlelight concerts last year and received multiple standing ovations from the capacity audience.

The upcoming Mozart by Candlelight evening unfolds featuring the talents of renowned Irish pianist Frank McNamara and the violin artistry of special guest Deirdre Reddy.

Frank McNamara, celebrated for his virtuosity and emotive interpretations, will weave his magic on the piano, whilst Deirdre Reddys mastery of the violin adds a new dimension to the performance.

Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Leslie Dowdall and Mark Caplice Live, May 10, Victoria House Bar, 27.50

Leslie Dowdall and Mark Caplice will bring their 'Both Sides Now Tour' to Victoria House Bar in Tramore this May, for an evening filled with music and soulful performances. Leslie Dowdall teams up with young artist and multi-award winning songwriter Mark Caplice for the Irish tour and a reimagined interpretation of Joni Mitchell classic Both Sides Now.

Dowdall has an impressive touring history with renowned bands such as U2, Simple Minds, Bob Dylan, and The Pretenders. Meanwhile Mark Caplice has been rapidly ascending in the music industry. In recent years, Caplice has collaborated with the GRAMMYs and has established himself as a prolific songwriter and producer, crafting tracks for Netflix, Eurovision, and numerous artists globally.

Leslie Dowdall

Shane Barry & The Silver South Ensemble, June 9, The Seanti bar, 10 or 22 with bus

Featuring a 10-piece band, including a brass and percussion section, Shane Barry brings his acclaimed original band to the Seanti. The Waterford-based multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, Shane Barry, released his debut, solo album Songs from the Silver South in November 2023. This 10-track album represents a wide range of influences and interests, from ambient country to indie new-wave to folk-rock and soul.

Shane Barry & the Silver South Ensemble

Tommy Tiernan Live, June 27  29, Theatre Royal, 39

Recognizable to audiences as 'Da Gerry' in Channel 4s series 'Derry Girls' and earning praise as the host of the 'The Tommy Tiernan Show' on RTE One, Tommy Tiernan is hitting the road with the brand new tour throughout Ireland, and will be playing three dates in Waterford this coming June.
The Bilberry Goats are now in the 13th year of their original three-year plan, with their portfolio of work having grown exponentially in that time.

Garter Lane Theatre has become the home of the Bilberry Goats, and in this 40th Anniversary year of the theatre, the well renowned group decided to mark the occasion with a trip that looks back on some of the finer moments of their past shows.

The dominant theme of their upcoming show, 'Is This It?', is the death of an old culture of variety theatre in Waterford and the emergence of a more professional form of theatre, but with one problem, no one told the Bilberry Goats. Their hearts belong in the old culture, but they try hard to exist in the new one. They haphazardly upend the politest of situations. Rules are difficult for them as they pursue life by sheer instinct with the faculty of thought only used for pleasure.

From May 15 to 18, the goats will tell their tale with old and new material. They will revisit the chaos of 'Murder in the Park', when the CSI investigates a crime, show their religious adoration in a procession like no other and leave the Mayor hapless after a hurricane Council meeting. They will briefly revisit the Covid years with a visit to lockdown hairdressing followed by demonstration on how the HSE could function with few resources. New material at a graveside and a finale that salutes past members will also feature. This year, Jack Cunningham and his dancers will help the goats revisit 1984. Conor Lyons will visit the goats for an audition, the opening of act two will feature the voice of Greta Rochford and the closing of act one will be in the hands of Brenda, Hazel and Toby.

The usual suspects will include Tony Corcoran, Davy Sutton, Brenda Giles, Brian Collins, Jane Fraher, Scol Grant, Brian Power, Toby Hickey, Hazel Tebay, Paul Corcoran and Fatz Dunphy.
We all know the Winston Churchill quote, describing Russia: a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

And I have to admit that I dont have the solution to the riddle, or the key to the enigma. I dont understand Russia any more than Churchill did; in fact, some might even say I have less of a clue.

Saint Basils Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow. Visiting the worlds largest country is not an option right now. Credit: iStock

Russia has always seemed baffling to me, a place of deep contradictions and hefty cultural barriers that I as a bumbling visitor have no hope of breaking down. I dont understand what Im seeing. I know that I, too, am bizarre to so many people I meet.

However, Russia is baffling in a way that Ive enjoyed visiting to try to unravel. This is the country of Tchaikovsky and Baryshnikov, but also Putin and Stalin. Theres such beauty in Moscow and St Petersburg, but such drudgery in their outer suburbs. Russia is European but also Asian. Its one country but with 21 semi-autonomous republics.
I said, Does Hugh Hefner know you stole his pyjamas?  Daniels recalled, referring to the trademark outfits of Playboy boss Hugh Hefner. Loading Daniels, now 45, told the court that she found Trump to be pompous and arrogant that night, and when he dared her to spank him with a magazine, she obliged. Asked by the prosecutor where she swatted him, she replied: On the butt. She later went to the bathroom, and came out to find him on the bed in boxer shorts and a T-shirt.

They had brief sex, she told the jury, and at one point she felt like she had blacked out even though she had not been drinking, evidence that led Trumps team to demand a retrial. THE PROSECUTION, WHICH HAS NO CASE, HAS GONE TOO FAR. MISTRIAL! Trump posted on social media during a break. While much of Daniels story has been made public before  in TV interviews, books and documentaries  this was the first time the details had been laid bare for the 12-member jury who hold Trumps fate in their hands. Trumps lawyers, however, sought to paint her as someone who was seeking fame and fortune, and who hated him.

Before she took the stand, Trumps defence team had asked Judge Juan Merchan to limit lurid details about the sexual encounter, including specifics about genitalia, arguing that it could be unduly prejudicial. Merchan agreed with that request and expressed frustration as prosecutors allowed Daniels to air salacious details that skirted close to the edge of his directive, such as whether Trump was wearing a condom or what sexual position they took. In asking for a mistrial, Trumps lawyer, Todd Blanche, argued these details were added to embarrass Trump and inflame the jury. However, Merchan denied this while acknowledging that at times the witness had been a little bit difficult to control. It took two hours before prosecutors finally moved on to the substance of the case, which is not about whether the pair had an affair but rather, whether Trump fraudulently paid hush money to stop his campaign for office being derailed. Daniels was paid $US130,000 ($198,000) by Trumps lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to silence her story on the eve of the 2016 election. Trump then reimbursed Cohen, but is alleged to have falsified business records to disguise the payment as a legal retainer.

She has previously denied sleeping with Trump, something she now claims she did for fear of retribution. She told the court about being threatened by various people to not tell her story. One case, she said, involved an unknown man approaching her in a parking lot in Las Vegas while she was with her daughter. In this courtroom sketch, Stormy Daniels testifies on the witness stand as Judge Juan Merchan looks on. Credit: AP But in cross-examination, defence lawyer Susan Necheles suggested Daniels was out for revenge. Asked if she hated Trump, Daniels answered yes. Asked further if she wanted him jailed, Daniels said she wanted him to be held accountable. Necheles then accused Daniels of trying to extort Trump through the hush-money payment, which she denied.

As the court adjourned for the day, Trump  who is under a gag order not to attack witnesses in the trial  did not refer to Daniels or her testimony when he addressed reporters. Instead, he once again described the case a disgrace and lamented the fact it was keeping him off the campaign trail. Loading Im stuck. Im here instead of being in Georgia, instead of being in New Hampshire, instead of being in Wisconsin, and all the different states that we want to be, he said. Meanwhile, another of Trumps criminal trials, this one relating to his alleged mishandling of classified documents, has been postponed indefinitely by US District Judge Aileen Cannon. The trial had been set down for May 20 and the decision to delay indefinitely is a blow to the Justice Departments efforts to obtain a jury verdict before the November presidential election.
At the request of the Customs Department of Burkina Faso, the WCO Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme organized a series of workshop sessions throughout March 2024 on the sustainable development of a culture of Integrity.

The workshop brought together more than 20 customs officials and was led by experts from the WCO A-CIP Programme and the WCO Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) for West and Central Africa (WCA). This technical assistance and capacity-building activity enabled all participants to acquire the tools and best practices needed to embed organizational change over time in Burkina Faso Customs. The workshop also established linkages with the reform and modernization initiatives of the administration, as outlined in their 2020 reorganization plan.

With the support of the Burkina Faso Customs internal A-CIP Committee, WCO A-CIP experts set out to help the participating managers consolidate their individual and collective commitment to integrity. Emphasis was placed on collective action, enhanced dialogue with internal and external stakeholders, and the rigorous use of data based on the results of the 2020 and 2023 Customs Integrity perception surveys.

Other highlights of the workshop included a presentation of the WCO WCA ROCB Human Resources Strategy and an in-depth discussion on the benefits of developing a gender and diversity approach within Customs administrations in terms of integrity performance.

The WCO A-CIP Programme provides technical assistance and capacity-building support to WCO Member administrations implementing integrity-related initiatives in line with the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration. For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Hungary is very interested in heightening its economic relationship with Azerbaijan, President of Hungarian Institute of International Affairs Gladden Pappin told Trend in an exclusive interview.

Pappin noted that there is very close cooperation between Hungary and Azerbaijan, which escalated to the level of an enhanced strategic partnership in 2023. This relationship goes much deeper for Hungarians. Hungary, as a member of the EU, has a deep cultural heritage in Central Asia. Since 2018, Hungary has been an observer member of the Turkic Council and the Organization of Turkic States. It feels a very deep cultural connection with Azerbaijan and the other members of the Organization of Turkic States.

Hungary's cultural and historical connections to the region make it very interested in heightening its economic relationship with Azerbaijan. There are a number of important Hungarian companies that operate in the country. There's a significant annual trade turnover, and there have been a number of mutual initiatives, particularly related to energy, in the last few years, he said.

Pappin mentioned that both countries occupy important spots on the transit routes between East and West, and as a result, they share similarities in this sector too. They both serve as a kind of gateway between the West and the East, and in recent decades, they have fought hard for and restored their national sovereignty. So they share a similar spirit, experience, and positioning in the contemporary geopolitical environment. For all of these reasons, the relationship has become very strong.

Talking about transportation links between Europe and China, Pappin noted that the capacity of the Middle Corridor has increased significantly in the last couple of years.

"The Middle Corridor runs straight to and through Hungary. Therefore, Hungary is at the western end of this route, connecting it to China. The connection between Hungary and China is very strong. There are a number of Chinese industries that operate in Hungary, and those are growing and becoming more significant. A significant portion of Hungary's imports come from China and play a role in Hungary's manufacturing process. So, for that reason, the increased capacity of the Middle Corridor is extremely important, he said.

Furthermore, he observed a dramatic acceleration in Hungary's desire to acquire energy from Azerbaijan over the last few years. That has led to a number of proposed infrastructure and transportation projects between Hungary and Azerbaijan, including an undersea electric cable that will transport green energy to Hungary.

"But the logistical projects are quite complex and will involve a lot of different partners over the next few years to fully come into existence. Minister Peter Siyarto pointed out that Hungary's goal is to have up to 10 percent of its energy needs supplied by Azerbaijan in the not-too-distant future. It is a goal; nevertheless, the agreement last year to realize the initial transportation and shipment of energy and natural gas to Hungary has already begun to be realized," he said.

Speaking about green energy, Pappin noted that Hungary has been undertaking elements of its own green transition in the last few years in a moderate way that will primarily respect the energy needs of Hungarian households. So it doesn't want to undertake that transition in a way that would be disruptive to them. In general, Hungary aims to serve as a major transit hub for goods, energy products, and green energy projects between Azerbaijan and the European Union.

"The fact that the COP29 conference will be held in Azerbaijan, as an oil-producing country, is a sign that the old contrast between traditional fossil fuel extraction and green energy production is somehow changing, and that it's possible to pursue and support elements of the green transition and aim to, as much as possible, have a clean economy while not abandoning the traditional sources of energy extraction," he said.

The Institute for Development and Diplomacy (IDD) organized Pappin's lecture at ADA University. He delved into Hungary's perception of the evolving global landscape, highlighting its distinct viewpoint as a nation within the EU, situated at the crossroads of the West and the East.

"Hungary is very attuned to the need for maintaining an open and cooperative world economy, especially within Europe. This entails economic cooperation not only with the US but also with China and as many other partners as possible," he said.
Warm tributes were paid to Cllr John Cribbin last Wednesday by fellow councillors and the Mayo County Council executive during his final Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District meeting after 25 years in local politics.

Cllr Cribbin announced last year that he would not be standing in this years Local Elections, bringing an end to the Fine Gael councillors quarter-century career on Mayo County Council.

Cathaoirleach Cllr Gerry Murray (Sinn Fein) led the tributes to a great servant to Ballyhaunis.

John always embodied the values of getting on with the job. Once the elections were over, we would get the work done and we were always happy to work together, he said.

Cllr Tom Connolly (Fine Gael) said that Cllr Cribbin had been a great political representative throughout his career.

He served his community with distinction and did huge work for the people of Ballyhaunis.

Cllr Michael Burke (FG) added that he was an exceptional colleague and praised him for his measured contributions to debates in the Council chamber.

John could hold his own in the Chamber in a very diplomatic way. He had brilliant commitment to duty and to Mayo County Council. He always believed in flying the flag for Mayo County Council.

Cllr Damien Ryan (Fianna Fail) said he wished Cllr Cribbin the best in his retirement from politics.

John always embraced the spirit of cooperation and fairness. Once the political skullduggery of an election was behind us, we always worked together.

Cllr Richard Finn (Ind) said Cllr Cribbin could take great pride in the work he had done.

You worked hard for your area and can look back with pride for the service you gave to the area. We all have our differences around this table but we have all set them aside for the benefit of the whole area.

Cllr Patsy OBrien (Ind) said Cllr Cribbin was respected in farming circles as well as political.

He is no stranger to every mart in the province, where he is well-known and respected.

Cllr Neil Cruise (FG) said Cllr Cribbin made a massive difference to Ballyhaunis in the last 25 years.

I was born in Ballyhaunis so I have known John since I was very young. Ballyhaunis is the better for John Cribbin the past 25 years. There is a lot of dynamics in Ballyhaunis and he has dealt with them in a sensitive and hard-working manner.

He is about quality over quantity. I always remember his well-thought delivery and contribution to a motion we had on naming the new Destroyer ship after Corporal Patrick Bob Gallagher, it was like poetry in motion.

If I had one wish for John in his retirement, I want to see him on that boat when it is launched in the US, he added.

Cllr Adrian Forkan (FF) said Cllr Cribbins work on the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in Bekan is often forgotten.

The work he done on the Centre of Excellence is not told often enough. The work he did was equally as important as what John Prenty (Connacht GAA Secretary) did.

Head of the MD Padraig Flanagan, on behalf of all the staff of Mayo County Council whom Cllr Cribbin had worked with, thanked him for his service, commitment and level-headiness.

You have been the same all along. The John Cribbin of 25 years ago is the same as the John Cribbin of today. Director of Services Joanne Grehan said in addition to being a great judge of cattle, Cllr Cribbin was also a great judge of people.

I remember your first piece of advice to me. You told me to try your best to never forget the people on the ground and that stuck with me. Mayo is a better place because of your contributions.

Cllr Cribbin said his final MD meeting was a proud day for him and he looked back on his career with pride and nostalgia.

When I set out on this journey, it certainly wasnt planned. I was invited to a meeting where Cllr Pat Higgins announced he wouldnt be contesting the next election the following year and all present looked to me and asked if Id consider putting my name on the ballot paper.

I was never politically ambitious and had no intention of ever putting my name on a ballot paper. 25 years later I have to say, I enjoyed every minute of it and Id do it all again in a heartbeat. He expressed a debt of gratitude to the staff of Mayo County Council.

I was a small spoke in a team that was delivering every week for the whole county.

He said it was a shame that politicians no longer get the same respect.

So much has changed about politics. Unfortunately, we live in an era where the respect that politicians have isnt the same as it was years ago. There is a small, minority group that are ready to have a shot, especially at national politicians and thankfully it hasnt filtered down to local level.

I wouldnt condone those people who are constantly knocking the system. We live in a great county and country.

Cllr Cribbin wished his fellow councillors success in the upcoming elections and said he was deeply, deeply grateful' for their tributes.
Fianna Fail Senator Lisa Chambers, has written to Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill, regarding the alarming numbers of immigrants entering the Republic of Ireland from Britain through Northern Ireland.

In her correspondence the European candidate for the Midlands Northwest constituency has directly queried First Minister O'Neill on how she plans to address this issue, as it is a shared challenge.

Senator Chambers has expressed profound concern over the implications of this situation and emphasised the necessity for collaborative action to tackle this shared challenge.

There were comments in the House of Commons this week which said that Northern Ireland should not become a dumping ground for the UKs problems.

Senator Chambers says that by extension, Ireland should not become such a dumping ground also.

"It is not acceptable that Britain's migration policy seems to be to Rwanda or to Ireland - this is not how neighbours should interact with each other," she added.

Drawing attention to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's comments on RTE Radio earlier this week referencing legislation that grants powers to monitor entry points into Northern Ireland, at ports or airports, Senator Chambers sought clarity on whether these powers are being considered or looked at by First Minister O'Neill.

Given the gravity of the issue for the entire island, Senator Chambers highlighted the urgency of addressing this matter comprehensively.

"The influx of immigrants from the UK through Northern Ireland and into Ireland is a pressing concern that demands immediate attention and collaborative action," she said. "It is imperative that we work together to find equitable solutions that uphold the integrity of our borders and ensure fair treatment for both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland."

Senator Chambers urged First Minister O'Neill to engage in transparent dialogue and proactive measures to address the shared immigration challenges facing both jurisdictions.
The Government has housed more refugees per capita in the west of Ireland than the east, according to new figures.

Mayo is home to 2,342 Ukrainian refugees, according to the breakdown. Sligo is housing 1,493 Ukrianian refugees; Galway County Council has homed 1,882 and Roscommon 538.

The figures show that Kerry is taking the largest number of Ukrainians.

The top three county areas where Ukrainian refugees are accommodated are Kerry (6,195), Donegal (3,956) and Cork County (3,018), while the lowest are Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown (284), Monaghan (313) and Longford (320).

The figures show that for counties of their population size, Mayo, Donegal, Louth and Wicklow are housing a particularly high number of International Protection (IP) refugees.

Mayo is home to 1,396 IP applicants, far more than other Connacht counties. Sligo hosts 490 IP refugees; Galway (163) and Roscommon (194).

For international protection applicants, three Dublin local authority areas top the list  Dublin City Council (3,802), followed by South Dublin (3,569) and Fingal (2,591)  while bottom are Leitrim (104), Longford (136) and Kilkenny (137).

The new figures were provided by Integration Minister Roderic OGorman.

Its clear from these figures that there is still a significant regional imbalance in the distribution of immigrants into the country, said Peadar Toibin TD, leader of the Aontu party, who requested the data.

The Government has located far more immigrants per capita in the western counties than in the east, he added.

The Government insists it is dealing with international arrivals on a national basis, not county by county.

More than 106,000 Ukrainian refugees came to Ireland following the outbreak of war in their home, Thousands have home while others have secured employment and are renting. Recent figures reveal there are 48,305 Ukrainians living in State-paid accommodation while there are more than 29,000 IP applicants homed.
The Department of Education has failed to respond to calls from Westport councillors to clarify the situation regarding the planned development of a new school for Holy Trinity School in the town. The Church of Ireland school was to be developed at the former Scoil Phadraig site in the town, but plans were thrown into disarray earlier this year after the Department offered the site to the local Sacred Heart Secondary School for temporary pre-fabs.

A meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District heard accusations that Minister for Education Norma Foley has "gone missing" since the controversy erupted. The matter was raised by Cllr Christy Hyland who said it had been agreed at the last meeting to write to the Department.

"Holy Trinity National School was all set to go with their new school, with plans in place and an architect appointed. Then the Department pulled the mat from under them with talk about putting prefabs into the site where the school was to be built on. Have we heard back from the Department?

Padraig Walsh, head of the district, said there had been no reply.

Fianna Fail Cllr Brendan Mulroy said party colleague Minister Foley promised to get back to him but failed to do so.

"Norma Foley has actually gone missing on this. I would get on the phone and ask her to meet a delegation from Holy Trinity because it is not good enough.

"Does she realise the history of Westport town? They are a minority religion in this town. When it comes to a United Ireland vote, how do you think it would go when it comes to this being how they treat minority religions here? On my watch, Holy Trinity will not be kicked around the place. I say, lets get a delegation to go and see the Minister and I have no problem taking time out to do that.

Cllr Peter Flynn said: I second a delegation going to meet the Minister. It was just so frustrating to watch what is going on over the last few months and for [the deal] to unravel, so getting face-to-face with the minister and getting answers is the only way to go.
Councillors in Claremorris have called for Uisce Eireann (formerly Irish Water) to be taken to task over a fish kill at a local lake.

Fine Gael Cllr Tom Connolly told last weeks municipal district meeting that he received correspondence from Claremorris Chamber of Commerce, highlighting images of "a significant number" of dead fish washed up on the edge of Clare Lake, which is accessible via McMahon Park. The Chamber said it has been lobbying Uisce Eireann to upgrade overflow sewerage tanks in the area, adding that recent heavy rainfall caused the situation to "dramatically deteriorate", leading to the fish kill.

Our scenic beauty spot has been polluted by sewerage overspill into the lake. We need action against Irish Water, said Cllr Connolly.

We need Mayo County Council and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop this once and for all.

Independent Cllr Richard Finn, who is also on the Clare Lake committee, said there has been ongoing problems at the lake and very little has been done to "reprimand" Irish Water.

If this was a farmer or a private individual, theyd be locked up or fined severely.

Its about time something was done, McMahon Park is one of the best in the country and the volunteers who look after it deserve to be appreciated.

Cllr Damien Ryan said no conglomerate, no matter how big, is above being reprimanded in these situations.

Irish Water isn't beyond being dealt with. The environment section of the Council should send a report to the EPA. Irish Water isn't beyond the law or regulation.

They are the one body that has to be disbanded and passed back to the people.

Cllr Michael Burke said this was a very serious matter but was not optimistic that Irish Water would deal with it promptly.

With Irish Water, you can expect anything. They are all over the shop."

An Uisce Eireann spokesperson said they are aware of the situation at Clare Lake and have plans to address it.

"Uisce Eireann is carrying out investigations and putting plans in place to reduce overflows at Clare Lake in Claremorris," they said.

"We are committed to safeguarding public health and protecting the environment in all our activities and we will continue to proactively liaise with Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Environmental Protection Agency in relation to all these matters."
Recently, the once-well-known BBC literary pundit, Joan Bakewell, was asked: How old is old?

Now in her 90s, she dismissed the question as old hat. Eventually, under some pressure she conceded: Once you are over 90, you are considered to be old. Late middle age (now) goes on until you are 80.

Age, in other words, is a matter of perspective. You are as old as you feel is a common wisdom.

Some, like Joan Bakewell, resent being called old at 90, others can feel old at 40. Others again, like the London Times columnist, Elaine Kingett (who is 74 and has a bus pass, hearing aids and a shopping trolley as credentials) believes age is a moveable feast. Asked how old she feels, on a good day shed say 53, though first thing in the morning when she looks into the mirror she suspects shes 165.

Yet, even though she looks like her mother, she doesnt feel old. She feels middle-aged and how she lives and what she does reflects that confidence  apart from a few more prescribed medications and pauses to remember why she came into a room.

An Irish version of what I might call the Bakewell/Kingett syndrome is noted this very day (May 7) when Lelia Doolan celebrates her 90th birthday by jumping out of an aeroplane flying at 10,000 feet above Edenderry, Co Offaly. For any youngsters who might be reading this column, or who dont remember as far back as 1969, Doolan was one of the rising stars of RTE television but decided to walk away from a top job in protest against the direction the fledging national station was taking  notably its swerve away from public-service broadcasting through its reliance on funding from advertising. Her decision to walk away  in Shane Rosss words in the Sunday Independent penniless and forever  was a far cry from the more recent exit packages that had scandalously became the norm for our national broadcaster.

The presenting reason for what to many will appear as a foolish whim is Doolans intention to use her birthday to raise funds for her favourite charity  the much admired Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders). Asked on a Cork local radio station if she was too old for jumping out of an aeroplane at 10,000 feet, she replied, 90 is no age these days.

These thoughts are inspired by new research that emanated from Humbolt University of Berlin and was published in the American Journal of Psychology and Ageing, which looked at data from more than 14,000 people born as early as 1911. Now it seems that while heretofore elderly or old people once regarded 71 as old they now think 75 is more accurate as the dial continues to move upwards on the graph of life as optimism or delusion (depending on our perspectives) take hold.

So much of life is determined by personality type or, more simply, by where we are on the optimism/pessimism graph. And age is no exception. Fear which, in small measures makes great sense, can inflate incrementally with the years, as a number of positive medical constants do battle with a declining confidence and a burgeoning sense of catastrophe. One woman, on the eve of her 70th birthday, was terrified that shed wake in the morning and everything in her wardrobe would be either beige and elasticated. (A friend reassuringly counselled, You dont wear that stuff now, so you wont when youre older.)

But what can we make of this growing refusal to accept what the novelist Philip Roth tellingly described as the inevitable encroachments of old age. Its both an industry and a conspiracy as it imagines we can stay old age by binning phrases like Thats for young people or At your age or What used you do? Or attempting the impossible as with the present epidemic of the self-flagellating Bucket List  a pointless exercise in trying to do what we are no longer able to do and threatening a heart attack or worse on ourselves in the process.

As our sense of ourselves begins to wobble and our decisions may not be as judicious as they were, maybe we need to remind ourselves that delusion can reach pandemic proportions as old age creeps up on us. And that its more appropriate (and easier on ourselves and those around us) to decide to make our peace with old age. And rather than rejoining the gym, it may be more astute to graciously accept the offer of a seat on the bus or whatever common sense determines in our efforts to navigate the burdens that come our way.

In more critical and less amenable times, the late Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, once famously denounced the liberal-minded Lelia Doolan as mad, bad and dangerous. In a more tolerant age, no one would want to throw water on how a 90-year-old wishes to celebrate her birthday or compromise the work of Medecins Sans Frontiers but, like advertisers protecting themselves against any possible legal implications of the use of their products by admonishing prospective buyers not to try this at home, I would encourage a less dramatic encounter. But then I find it difficult to imagine being 90, and even more difficult to imagine jumping out of an aeroplane, 10,000 feet above Edenderry.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Azerbaijan plays a crucial strategic role as a valued partner of Slovakia, said Slovak Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Denisa Sakova at the business forum between the countries held in Baku, Trend reports.

She stated that the signing of the double taxation avoidance agreement in April strengthened the already robust cooperation between the two nations.

Sakova stated that the existence of such an agreement, as well as a legal framework of 11 documents, will allow for greater mutual economic cooperation.

Representatives of 37 companies and structures of Slovakia have arrived in Baku. I believe in their productive negotiations during this visit, the deputy prime minister emphasized.

She added that the business forum serves as a productive platform for establishing close ties between companies and entrepreneurs of the two countries.

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COLLEGEVILLE, Pa.  The Perkiomen Valley School District Board of Directors on Monday approved the district's preliminary 2024-25 budget calling for a 2.75% increase in real estate tax.

The new rate is .03738 mils from .03638 mills. The increase would be a roughly $180 annual increase for a home assessed at $180,000.

The rate increases as the value of the home assessment rises. For example, a home assessed at $225,000 would show a $225 increase in the homeowner's real estate tax bill.

The approval on Monday was necessary, as regulation dictates the budget cannot have final approval until 30 days after the preliminary budget approval.

Bus contract

Jim Weaver, district business administrator, also updated the board on the Student Transportation of America contract. He reported that the district received a letter from the company requesting the district revisit the current contract expiring in 2028. The company cited current market conditions generating operational costs that are exceeding the contracted yearly increases.

Board member Jason Saylor said the company's service to the district does not warrant increases.

"STA is like going to a restaurant and not getting a knife and a fork to eat your food. You don't pay extra for that," said Saylor.

Board member Tammy Campli said the letter outlined competitive pay as a factor in the increase.

Allowing for changes once a contract is signed is an unwise stance for the district, said board member Robert Liggett.

"What kind of precedent does this set?" asked Liggett.

"Once it was agreed to, if they're looking for ways to make more money, that's on them. That's not on us," said board member Don Fountain.

"If they really cared about us giving them serious consideration, we would have been happy to have them," said board member Laura White.

The district said they are considering options at this time.

Full-day kindergarten

An update was also provided regarding full-day kindergarten that the district will implement in the 2024-25 school year. District teachers visited East Penn School District, which recently implemented a full-day program.

On April 23, kindergarten teachers and principals attended sessions geared towards planning for full-day schedules. Subjects included schedules, reporting and lesson plans.

For instance, the educators discussed "titrated progression" where routines are taught. In this model, for example, children will have more time in September in morning meetings and pack-up at the end of the day to allow students to comfortably adjust.

According to the district's website, "establishing strong relationships with peers and adults during kindergarten is crucial for students' long-term success in both academic and personal spheres."

An online informational forum will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, for more information about kindergarten, officials said.

Vape sensors

Students vaping in bathrooms continues to be an ongoing issue at Perkiomen Valley High School, officials said. At the board's March meeting, they discussed strengthening the district's stance against students vaping during school hours.

Karthik Ganesh, the district's chief information officer, proposed 26 HALO 3C Smart Sensors, 22 of which will be used at the high school and two each at the district's Middle School East and Middle School West. The project costs, including installation and training, are $66,950. The sensors can be installed this summer.

Perkiomen Valley school board discusses crackdown on students vaping Board member Jason Saylor claimed he received reports of students going to great lengths to trick vape detectors currently in place at the high school.

Ganesh said the sensors in the middle school were part of a "pilot program."

Superintendent Barbara Russell said vaping was not an issue at the middle school level.

Liggett asked for more data on vaping in middle schools. "I want to know the big picture before we start to do this," he said.

Saylor said vape pens are flushed, causing plumbing issues. He also previously has said that he received multiple reports of students going to great lengths to trick vape detectors currently in place at Perkiomen Valley High School  including sticking their heads into toilet bowls to exhale vape smoke from the highly addictive devices.

Ultimately, the board did not vote on the sensors. Instead, they asked for more information on pricing and equipment. The action will be on the agenda for the regular board meeting on May 13.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. There are seven Slovak businesses doing business in Azerbaijan, Executive Director of the Export and Investment Promotion Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (AZPROMO) Yusif Abdullayev said at the business forum between the countries held in Baku, Trend reports.

To date, seven Slovak businesses are doing business in Azerbaijan. Slovak enterprises are expected to grow their presence in Azerbaijan as a result of participation in this forum and other upcoming events, he emphasized.

According to him, AZPROMO has organized numerous joint events both in Azerbaijan and Slovakia over the past 15 years.

He mentioned that AZPROMO promotes the attraction of investments to Azerbaijan as well as supports domestic exporters who are engaged in exporting oil and gas products from Azerbaijan.

Today, 37 Slovakian and 55 Azerbaijani firms, public agencies, and organizations join the meeting. We expect these meetings to create new prospects and spark cooperative talks, he added.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Azerbaijan is expected to adopt a mechanism to stimulate the development of the logistics sector in the second half of 2024, Executive Director of the Export and Investment Promotion Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (AZPROMO) Yusif Abdullayev told Trend.

The government is prepared to subsidize a portion of the logistics sector's operations within the country. Approval of the corresponding subsidy mechanism for logistics is anticipated in the latter half of the year, he said.

According to Abdullayev, the government will make a detailed selection of logistics companies that it is willing to support through the upcoming subsidies.

Each business will have its proportion of subsidized funding decided upon independently, Abdullayev stressed.

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In their voices and through their lenses: Panel Discussion on the Implications of the 2024 Elections

Panel Discussion on the Implications of the 2024 Elections for SADC.

The Wits School of Governance (WSG) is hosting a series of of dialogues to address key issues around the 2024 National Elections in South Africa. This series will provide a comprehensive assessment of the meaning and implications of the 2024 elections through multiple lenses. This scholarly series themed, 30 Years of Democratic Governance and the 2024 South African Elections: Taking Stock and Looking Forward, will focus on the implications of South Africas Elections for the country, SADC, Africa, and Global South while also focusing on gender and the elections. For each of these dialogues, prominent and expert voices will comprise panels. The WSG will host dialogues with the leaders of other smaller and large parties, and other individuals in the coming weeks. Look out for details at www.wits.ac.za/wsg.
Intellectual creative workers shine at prestigious Humanities and Social Sciences awards

Scholars in the School of Arts and the School of Education distinguished themselves at the 2024 National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences Awards.

The annual National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences Awards (NIHSS) Awards recognise exceptional, innovative, and socially responsive scholarship, and creative and digital contributions that enhance and advance fields in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

The 2024 NIHSS Awards took place on 14 March in Pretoria. Awards are made in categories broadly including books (non-fiction and fiction), as well as creative and digital contributions.

The Wits School of Arts performed well, winning three awards:

Vuma Levin, a Lecturer in Wits Music, was joint winner in the Best Musical Composition/Arrangement category for The Past is Unpredictable, Only the Future is Certain.

The Best Public Performance award went to visual artist and dancer Reshma Chhiba, who is the Exhibitions Coordinator in Fine Arts, and Anusha Pillay and Panna Dullabh for Bhumi/Earth.

Zen Marie (Fine Arts), Oluwarotimi Randle (Digital Arts), Tegan Bristow (Digital Arts) and Tamara Tesoriera (Digital Arts), with Catalina Meija Moreno and Huda Tayob, won in the Best Digital Humanities Visualization/Infographic category for Ellipses Issue 4: Architectures of the South: Bruising, Healing, Remembering and Returning.

Rene Smith, Head of the Wits School of Arts, says, We are delighted and so proud of WSOA colleagues and all others who were also shortlisted. The awards are significant in our sector/fields and the accolades bestowed upon our colleagues are all well-deserved.

The School of Education was in a class of its own with Dr Zaheera Jina Asvats Tears of the Weaver named a finalist in the fiercely contested Fiction Short Story category. Asvat is a Lecturer in Mathematics Education.

Professor Juliet Perumal, Head of the Wits School of Education, congratulated Asvat, writing, Your achievement in having Tears of the Weaver long listed among the top 10 titles from a plethora of submissions, and further distinguished as a Finalist, standing shoulder to shoulder with only one other exceptional work, is a testament to your extraordinary talent and dedication to the craft of storytelling. Asvat says that she is deeply grateful for the support from the Wits School of Education community.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The Iran-Azerbaijan Giz Galasi hydrojunction on the Araz river is anticipated to be commissioned soon, the Executive Director of the Iranian East Azerbaijan Regional Water Company Yousef Ghaffarzadeh said, Trend reports.

According to him, this junction is one of the most important projects between the two countries and is fully ready for operation.

As Gaffarzade noted, the Giz Galasi hydrojunction, 196 kilometers downstream from the Araz dam, will deliver water to 74,000 hectares of agricultural land in Iran (62,000 in Ardabil province and 12,000 in East Azerbaijan province), increasing agricultural production.

The company representative added that due to floods, a regulating channel is provided on both sides of the Giz Galasi hydrojunction, with a flow rate of 3.44 thousand cubic meters per second.

To note, the Iranian side claims that 5.5 trillion rials (nearly $131 million) have been spent on the Giz Galasi hydroelectric junction.

This dam will supply water to 74,000 hectares in East Azerbaijan and Ardabil provinces in Iran, providing employment for 85,000 people.

This dam will regulate two billion cubic meters of water per year (one billion cubic meters for Azerbaijan, one billion cubic meters for Iran).

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Turkiye's Konya city hosts Anatolian Phoenix - 2024 International Search and Rescue Exercise, Trend reports via the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The exercise participants received a briefing at the initial stage. The briefing provided detailed information about the purpose of the exercise, its scenario, venue, tasks to accomplish, and safety rules.

Azerbaijan is represented by a group of servicemen of the Parachute descent and search-rescue service, aviation vehicles of the Air Force, as well as the special forces of the Navy.

Anatolian Phoenix - 2024 exercise will continue until May 17.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are facing global threats, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov said at the 4th SDG Dialogue themed Stakeholder consultations on Azerbaijan's 4th Voluntary National Review and progress on five SDGs, Trend reports.

According to Ahmadov, Azerbaijan is already submitting its 4th National Report.

"Most countries have adopted the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a global development initiative.

Azerbaijan prioritizes the SDGs, emphasizing their significance for future progress. However, global challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing conflicts, hinder the realization of these goals, he added.

To note, Baku is hosting the 4th SDG Dialogue, themed Stakeholder consultations on Azerbaijan's 4th Voluntary National Review and progress on five SDGs.

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GLOBALink | China, France building up momentum for future-oriented cooperation Pub Date:24-05-07 09:45 Source:Xinhua This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and France, a milestone event in China-Western relations. #GLOBALink Produced by Xinhua Global Service Editor:

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mark Libby has finally made a long-awaited visit to the territories liberated from Armenian occupation. Naturally, this event couldn't have left the Armenian diaspora in the US and pro-Armenian journalists indifferent.

When asked about the US position on Libby's trip to the cities of Shusha and Fuzuli, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller politely declined to comment. Regarding the upcoming meeting in Almaty between the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Miller stated that there were "no expectations" from the State Department.

So, the State Department essentially shut down any opportunity for Armenians to provoke and escalate this topic further.

And one might wonder, what is there even to comment on? All diplomats accredited in Azerbaijan regularly visit regions of the country, and that's nothing out of the ordinary. They view Karabakh solely as Azerbaijani territory. The fact that some provocative journalists are trying to politicize this event once again highlights their pro-Armenian bias.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership between Azerbaijan and Slovakia is a very serious political document, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said after the ceremony of signing the document, while making a speech with the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico, Trend reports.

"Today marks a significant day in the history of Slovakia-Azerbaijan relations. Honorable Prime Minister is visiting Azerbaijan, and a Joint Declaration on strategic partnership was signed within the framework of the visit. This is a very serious political document, a document that raises our relations to the highest level. The articles contained in the Declaration of strategic partnership reflect our intentions and, at the same time, define the prospects for future cooperation.

I believe that today marks the opening of a new chapter in Slovakia-Azerbaijani relations, and I am hopeful that our shared path will be highly successful," President Ilham Aliyev said.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Among the documents signed today are agreements related to defense and defense industry sectors. Extensive discussions have been conducted on these two fronts, President Ilham Aliyev said in a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico.

The head of state noted that concrete negotiations have now begun on establishing joint production facilities in the defense industry sector between Azerbaijan and Slovakia.
Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, also a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, visits the UNESCO headquarters on invitation, and meets with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. [Xinhua/Ding Lin]

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua)  Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, visited the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters on Monday morning in Paris on invitation.

Upon the arrival of Peng, also a UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay warmly welcomed her at the entrance.

Azoulay accompanied Peng to visit an exhibition on the ten-year achievements of cooperation between China and UNESCO, and spoke highly of China's contribution to the development of girls' and women's education around the world.

Peng briefed Azoulay on China's latest progress in promoting girls' and women's education, especially the achievements of the Spring Bud Project, a Chinese nationwide drive to help dropout girls return to school and to improve teaching conditions in impoverished areas.

Peng said that serving as the UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education in the past decade, she has visited many schools in various countries and is delighted to see more and more women being able to have a better live thanks to education.

Promoting girls' and women's education is a great cause that is closely related to social progress and the shared future for humanity. The Chinese side is willing to work with UNESCO to encourage increased global investment in girls' and women's education, help more women obtain equal access to education rights and jointly create a better future, she added.

For her part, Azoulay highly praised Peng's work and contributions as the special envoy, expressing UNESCO's willingness to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China to promote new developments in global girls' and women's education.

Azoulay presented Peng with a ten-year service honor certificate. Peng presented UNESCO with a tapestry titled "blooming spring bud" co-created by beneficiaries of the Spring Bud Project.

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, also a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, visits the UNESCO headquarters on invitation, and meets with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. [Xinhua/Ding Lin]

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Audrey Azoulay presents Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, also a UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, with a ten-year service honor certificate, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. Peng visited the UNESCO headquarters on Monday morning in Paris on invitation and met with Azoulay. [Xinhua/Yue Yuewei]

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Audrey Azoulay accompanies Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, also a UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, to visit an exhibition on the ten-year achievements of cooperation between China and UNESCO, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. Peng visited the UNESCO headquarters on Monday morning in Paris on invitation and met with Azoulay. [Xinhua/Ding Lin]

(Source: Xinhua)
Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on invitation visits the Orsay Museum with Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. [Xinhua/Ding Lin]

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua)  Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on invitation visited the Orsay Museum with Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday afternoon.

Brigitte warmly welcomed Peng at the gate of the museum. The wives of the two heads of state entered the museum to appreciate the "Paris 1874 Inventing Impressionism" exhibition and the museum's masterpiece oil paintings.

The two stopped from time to time to appreciate Impressionist classic works by Claude Monet, Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and other famous painters, and exchanged feelings.

Noting that both the Chinese and French people love painting very much, Peng expressed her hope that the two sides could carry out more exchanges so that the two peoples could feel the charm of each other's cultures and deepen mutual understanding.

Peng hoped that artists of the two countries will strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, and inspire each other to create more exquisite works of art.

In the hall of the museum, the wives of the two heads of state had cordial exchanges with French students who were visiting and studying there.

The students shared their experiences of learning Chinese and expressed their love for Chinese culture. Peng encouraged them to work hard to learn Chinese well, and take opportunities to study in China, walk around and take a look, so that they can get a true and multi-dimensional view of China.

Peng said she hopes that the students will become little envoys of China-France friendship and build a bridge of communication between the two peoples so that China-France friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

Founded in 1986, the Orsay Museum is a French national museum, which has the richest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist artworks in the world.

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on invitation visits the Orsay Museum with Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. [Xinhua/Yue Yuewei]

(Source: Xinhua)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. One of the areas of Azerbaijan-Slovakia cooperation involves the operation of a Slovak company in the liberated territories. The reconstruction of the Garvand village in Aghdam will be managed by a Slovak company, President Ilham Aliyev said in a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico, Trend reports.

"This also carries great symbolic meaning because it demonstrates the level of sincerity in our relations. At the same time, the work to be carried out by Slovak experts in the liberated territories, based on the 'smart city' and 'smart village' concepts, which is up to the most modern standards, will bring joy to the people who will return there," the head of state noted.
MARION, IL  Tuesday night, 88 Veterans will return home from an all-expenses-paid day trip to Washington D.C., where they toured memorials, museums, and Arlington National Cemetery. Nonprofit organization Veterans Honor Flight of Southern Illinois hopes to see a large crowd welcome them home.

"Well, every flight, you know, the community has come out, and they've shown up and so, we're hoping the same thing tonight," Welcome Home Committee Co-Chair Amanda Throgmorton explained in a video call on Tuesday morning.

Festivities begin at the front entrance of the Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois at about 5 p.m. That's when community members are expected to begin lining up with banners and lawn chairs.

Organizers say there will be 10 food trucks on site, in addition to live music. The Veterans' plane is expected to arrive at about 8:45 p.m.

"It's just unbelievable the way our community in Southern Illinois comes together to honor our Veterans," Throgmorton said. She's been participating in Honor Flights for years.

"It's been one of the best things that I volunteer for. And it's just an honor to be able to thank our Veterans that way," she said. Co-chair Deborah Hogg echoed that sentiment. Her dad was a disabled Veteran. "I grew up being very aware of Veterans and their sacrifices," she explained. "I wanted to be involved. And I showed up and they put me to work. And it's been that way ever since."

According to Hogg, Honor Flights include access to wheelchairs and other accommodations for disabled Vets. There are nurses on each flight, and each Veteran is paired with a guardian who assists them all day. About 30 volunteers meet the Veterans in Washington D.C. to assist with travel between memorials, museums, and the Arlington National Cemetery, with the help of a police escort.

Hogg and Throgmorton said it takes a team to plan flights each year. They plan all year long for two flights, one in the spring and one in the fall. But they say it wouldn't be possible without help from the community.

"It cost over $100,000 for this flight for these Veterans," Hogg said. "The community comes through, the region comes through, and there are just so many volunteer groups out there and businesses and individuals who are doing fundraisers and everything they can think of to make that donation back to Honor Flights, so that we can continue to send our Veterans. We couldn't do it without the community support."

Throgmorton is encouraging families to come out Tuesday night to show their support. "We want to welcome these veterans home in Southern Illinois style and show them you know, how thankful we are for them," she said.

Parking is limited at the airport, but a shuttle will be available to take people to the site from the Cornerstone Church parking lot, right next to Sam's Club.

See the PDF below for more information.
In this image taken from video Police arrests some 125 activists as they broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, as protests that have roiled campuses in the United States spread into Europe. (AP Photo InterVision)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Slovakia and Azerbaijan are currently governed by policies based on sovereignty and dignity, President Ilham Aliyev said in a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico, Trend reports.

The head of state congratulated Robert Fico once again on his re-election as Prime Minister of Slovakia and noted that concrete steps were taken immediately after he resumed his role. "High-ranking officials made trips from Slovakia to Azerbaijan and from Azerbaijan to Slovakia, and today we are welcoming our esteemed guest," the Azerbaijani leader emphasized.
Michelin-star chef Bryn Williams to open new restaurant at Theatr Clwyd

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, May 7th, 2024

Molds Theatr Clwyd and internationally renowned chef Bryn Williams have announced a new partnership that will see the opening of a new restaurant within the theatres premises in 2025.

This collaboration marks a significant fusion of culinary excellence and cultural artistry in North Wales.

Bryn Williams, fom Denbigh, is one of the UKs most respected chefs, known for his commitment to using local produce and creating innovative dishes.

Williams, a Michelin award-winning chef and restauranteur, is regarded as one of the UKs best chefs.

His restaurants have included the acclaimed Odettes in London, Colwyn Bays Porth Eirias, a beach-front restaurant, cafe & bar on the North Wales Coast, The Cambrian in the stunning Swiss Alps, and The Touring Club in Penarth.

Bryn Williams said: I am thrilled to be returning home to my native Wales, to work in partnership with Theatr Clwyd, an organisation I have known and loved since being a child growing up locally.

I cant wait to share my culinary passion for our distinct and dynamic region and its produce with my community

Liam Evans-Ford, Theatr Clwyds Executive Director said: We are deeply excited to be working in partnership with Bryn on our food and drink offer at Theatr Clwyd  including restaurants, bars, and in all our event and retail spaces.

We always aim to work with people who are world class at what they do, who share our values, and who have strong links to our locality.

Bryn delivers on all these, and we look forward to working with him to make Theatr Clwyd known as a food and drink destination, as well as a venue for world-class culture and communities work.

The new restaurant will open in 2025 in Theatr Clwyds building following completion of the vital redevelopment project.
Wrexham engineers dig generous donation from manufacturing giant

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, May 7th, 2024

Students dig a generous donation that will help train future generations of engineers in North Wales

Wrexham-based JCB Transmissions presented staff and learners at Coleg Cambria with parts and equipment, including motors, gearboxes, transmissions, and axles from excavators, loaders, and diggers.

Carl Roberts, Cambrias Director for Curriculum  Engineering at the colleges Bersham Road site, thanked the company for the machinery, which will be used to train cohorts on the Motor Vehicle and Engineering programmes.

We are very grateful for this kind donation, the equipment will be invaluable in allowing our learners to be hands-on and work closely with a range of high-quality machinery, he said.

The company even brought us a complete JCB engine, which is fantastic and provides us with an alternative to studying more traditional car and motorcycle engines.

Carl added: JCB has long been a supporter of Coleg Cambria, like us they want to promote and help produce more skilled apprentices and engineers for the sector.

A contribution such as this will play a huge role in us achieving that.

One of the UKs largest manufacturers, JCB Group employs more than 8,000 people at its factories in Staffordshire, Derby, and on Wrexham Industrial Estate.

JCB Transmissions Operations Director Craig Weeks was pleased to be able to help lay the foundations for learners and apprentices at Cambria.

He said: JCB Transmissions supports local schools and colleges in a variety of ways, and we are delighted to assist Coleg Cambria by donating equipment which will help with the training of the next generation of engineers and motor vehicle technicians.

Among the items donated were gear boxes, axles and electrical motors which can now be stripped down and rebuilt to help students get a broader understanding of mechanics and electrical engineering.
Wrexham smashes Cardigan to have the largest visitor app in Wales

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, May 7th, 2024

A new Wrexham app has been downloaded over 3000 times, however has only had 6000 hits on content inside it.

Councillors were receiving a Smart Towns update, that included the data on a Wrexham App.

The report before councillors details, This is a digital platform where local independent businesses have the ability to promote themselves to users of, and visitors to Wrexham. The app was developed in partnership with Near Me Now, which has developed the platform for use in other Welsh towns. This means that when users visit another place using the app, they can immediately toggle to that place or indeed see the Wrexham offer from their own location.

The app is business-first and provides the opportunity to highlight the shop window and promotions to a much wider audience. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded 3,354 times and now hosts over 60 businesses with a total of over 6000 hits to the local businesses pages. The platform can develop over time with feedback from businesses and visitors alike to shape the overall digital experience.

The apparent 3,300 downloads with just 1.8 hits on businesses on the app per download raised eyebrows from some committee members who queried the figures.

The meeting was told by a council officer that the figures meant it was now the largest visitor app in Wales , the strongest launch in Wales, and Wrexham was now bigger than the leading smart town Cardigan (population 4,000), and was selected due to the back end support, Ive spoken to many app developers from throughout the UK but these guys in South Wales are really, really focused on the town centre thriving. Its not about the tech, its about the place more than anything. They spent six weeks up here, going around businesses talking to businesses, and even after the app launch, they are up here every two weeks now for the next six months, and they call up once a month for the next two years. So its still an ongoing platform which is developing. Hopefully, that will drive some some extra footfall into the city of Wrexham.

Cllr Gallanders noted as a city centre business owner they were on the app, adding, I love how the report calls it the Wrexham app, which I think is a far better name than vzta because quite frankly, who knows what vzta is? Its been downloaded 3354 times. Now that that appears to be quite a quite a good number but its only had 6000 hits, meaning each person has only really looked at it twice. Have we had any feedback as to how many hits the the app should be getting off up that many downloads?

Do we know how many of those downloads are domestic and how many are tourist because obviously, a large element of the app is tourism. Have we had any feedback from any customers actually using the app themselves? Obviously, Ive given feedback to the app developers on its a bit laggy, a bit slow, some things dont link up right and they are working on those.

The officer told the meeting they didnt have the data on the local v tourist use split but would ask.

On customer feedback it was described as ongoing development and work in progress, with one example given that menus for restaurants would be useful, and should appear in the coming months.

Businesses are set to promote the app and you can look to social media for more information on it.

Cllr Dana Davies detailed her concerns, I understand it is in its infancy, I am just a bit concerned here that those that have downloaded it and experienced glitches  those people have switched off, and that is why they are not using it. In all fairness, I have downloaded it, and I dont even get pictures, I just get grey screens. Its not just quite slow, its trying to get all the information thats in there.

So where the Lead Member, and the Officer said, its a work in progress that is great. But, I think going forward, can I just ask if there are any upgrades to that app, we need to keep residents and visitors informed so they continue to look at it and use it.

From that point of view, I think weve got a responsibility here to communicate with the public and visitors on upgrades to that app.

Cllr Davies wondered if improvements could be communicated to the 3000+ who downloaded the app that there could be better versions out there now than their initial experience of using the app.

The officer assured the committee the valid comments and really helpful feedback would be taken back to the developers.

The Regeneration & Business Investment Lead Officer told the committee the vision for the app was for it to get ahead of tour arrivals and be part of the literature and booking process for tourists to the area, It becomes part of the information thats available to people who are booking their holidays from all sorts of destinations across the world.

The meeting was told specialist officers from the sector have been involved, and Visit Wales, will be used to make sure it is pushed into channels where people will see it the most around events, so that the app is part of your toolkit for coming and enjoying Wrexham over that period of time.

The meeting also heard live from the USA  as Wrexham.com was live tweeting some updates, and getting interactions as usual on social media:

Cllr Gallanders highlighted the tweet, noting Wrexham.com was er, politely following todays meeting, and read out the contribution that noted someone actively searching the app couldnt find it in the USA app store.

Cllr Gallanders asked for confirmation that the app, that has a tourism element, was available outside the UK.

Officers and the Lead Member then spoke for several minutes on general points without much clarity on if it was available internationally yet.

Cllr Dana Davies then reasked, Wrexham is a global visitor destination at the moment. So its not just about USA, and being able to download, and our Canadian friends that come and visit us quite regular on the way to the Racecourse. But, its also our Asian tourists industry and everything. Can I get an understanding of is this just on the UK App Store at the moment, and not accessible globally yet? If thats the case, and I understand its only been in operation since the first of March, can we have an understanding as to when that will be released globally?

The officer replied, We will come back to you outside of the meeting with an update on the App Store situation and get an understanding from where it is currently, where it could be in the future, and how quickly we can get there. Because again, completely accept it needs to be available to the range of different visitor sources that Wrexham benefits from and attracts.

The committee voted to request a review of the Wrexham app is conducted, with a report due back in October. The review will look at the effectiveness of the app, promotional activities, customer usage, App Stores internationally, and the domestic versus tourist data information.
Israel launched its long-planned genocidal assault on Rafah on Monday, issuing orders for the population of the city to evacuate and launching an intense bombardment.

More than 1.2 million refugees, over 600,000 of whom are children, are currently sheltering in Rafah, under squalid conditions, without adequate food, water, hygiene or medicine. The majority of the children, in the words of the Euro-Med monitor, are either injured, ill, and/or malnourished.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, May 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramez Habboub)

Israel bombed residential homes throughout Gaza Monday, leaving at least 26 people deadmostly women and childrenand dozens more wounded and buried under the rubble. Israeli tanks have approached within 200 meters of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the Associated Press reported.

The War Cabinet unanimously decided this evening that Israel will continue its operation in Rafah, the Netanyahu government said in a statement Monday.

The assault on Rafah comes despite the acceptance by Hamas Monday of a proposal for a temporary cessation of hostilities in exchange for the release of hostages. But after spending weeks attempting to blame the Palestinians for the ongoing war, Israeli officials flatly rejected the proposal.

National Security Minister Ben-Gvir replied in a post on X, Hamas exercises and games have only one answer: an immediate order to occupy Rafah!

In response to the murderous Israeli onslaught, multiple US officials reiterated their unlimited support for Israel. We have always made clear that we are committed to Israels defense, said State Department spokesman Vedant Patel on Monday. That commitment to Israels security remains ironclad.

Our support for Israels security remains ironclad, said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. The President pushed very hard  so that we can continue to help Israel with its security needs

Israel has a right and a responsibility to defend itself, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. And were going to continue to provide for their security.

Absurdly, Kirby denied that an assault on Rafah had begun, declaring, There hasnt been an assault or an attack on the city.

In a cynical exercise in deceptive wordplay, Kirby said, The president doesnt want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there.

This statement seeks to suggest that the White House opposes Israels assault on the city, despite the announcement by the White House last month that The two sides agreed on the shared objective to see Hamas defeated in Rafah.

The Wall Street Journal, speaking for a faction of the US political establishment that openly proclaims its homicidal aims instead of trying to cover them up it with transparent lies, declared, The battle for Rafah has begun in Gaza, and its an essential part of Israels war of self-defense against Hamas.

In a blunt assessment of the situation on the ground, the Journal wrote:

Early Monday morning Israel ordered the evacuation of eastern Rafah, directing civilians to safety. In the afternoon Israeli tanks advanced. The plan is to evacuate and fight in the city piece by piece, swiftly moving civilians north and west.

In reality, the evacuation of Rafah is being conducted just as the previous evacuations were, with Israel demanding that civilians move to areas under active bombardment and targeting people as they are fleeing. The evacuation orders included no promise of safe passage or that those displaced will be safe once they arrive.

The Euro-Med Monitor said in a statement:

Through written leaflets, text messages, and recorded phone calls, the Israeli army has ordered Rafahs civilian population to move out of the citys eastern neighborhoods, particularly the area of Al-Shouka as well as Al-Salam, Al-Geneina, and Al-Byouk, toward the area of Al-Mawasi. However, Israel provided no explanation as to how the civilian population would be safely transported to Al-Mawasi, which is west of the nearby city of Khan Yunis, or how they would be organized upon their arrival.

Euro-Med noted:

More than 200,000 people may be targeted by the displacement orders, which also affect the Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital, Rafahs main hospital, as well as the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings. It should be noted that humanitarian aid access through these crossings has been stopped since yesterday afternoon.

To date, Israel has ordered the evacuation ofi.e., ethnically cleansedmore than two-thirds of Gaza.

The Euro-Med Monitor warned:

A larger wave of displacement, increased overcrowding, and the elimination of opportunities to obtain basic food and water will result from the impending Israeli ground attack on Rafah, which may be the deadliest point of escalation against Palestinian civilians. The Strips health system, which is already nearly destroyed, would likely collapse completely.

Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda, who is currently living in a refugee camp in Rafah, said in an Instagram posting:

If Rafah is invaded, that means the largest and the only crossing, Rafah Crossing, will be closed. And that means no humanitarian aid trucks are entering, those who are in need for treatment outside Gaza cannot travel, those who are in need to evacuate their families to find any safe places outside Gaza cannot travel, the international humanitarian workers, doctors, activists cannot get inside Gaza.

In a statement on X, Socialist Equality Party presidential candidate Joe Kishore wrote:

The development of a movement in the working class against the war of the capitalist class at home has to be connected to a fight against the capitalist war abroad. It is, in reality, one war. It is by mobilizing the working class on a socialist program, independent of the parties of the ruling class, that the genocide in #Gaza can be stopped as part of a fight against the imperialist-capitalist system as a whole

Since the start of the genocide nearly seven months ago, 34,622 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health officials, with thousands more buried under the rubble of buildings, meaning the real death toll is greater than 40,000. At least 254 aid workers, 492 health workers and 141 journalists have been killed by Israeli bombs or bullets.
Boeing employees walk a Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner down towards the delivery ramp area at the companys facility after conducting its first test flight at Charleston International Airport, Friday, March 31, 2017, in North Charleston, South Carolina. [AP Photo/Mic Smith]

Boeing locked out its private firefighter force on early Saturday after the latest round of contract negotiations failed over questions of wages. The lockout of members of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) began at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Affected were approximately 130 IAFF Local I-66 firefighters who protect Boeings manufacturing facilities as well as perform preventive measures, respond to medical emergencies, and guard against refueling and flight incidents.

According to the union, Boeing firefighters are stationed at locations in Auburn, Everett, Renton, Seattle and Moses Lake, and receive around 200 emergency calls per month.

A facility in central Washington about 170 miles (275 kilometers) from Seattle was also locked out.

The company immediately brought in scabs to take over this important safety work. It said in a statement Saturday: Despite extensive discussions through an impartial federal mediator, we did not reach an agreement with the union. We have now locked out members of the bargaining unit and fully implemented our contingency plan with highly qualified firefighters performing the work of (union) members.

Boeing maintains that its operations will not suffer, but the union says the lockout will negatively affect the surrounding communities as their local fire and emergency services will be the ones responding to emergency calls at Boeing.

The IAFF Local I-66 and Boeing have been negotiating for two and half months, with each side accusing the other of negotiating in bad faith. The union twice rejected company contract offers since February, and renewed negotiations broke down almost immediately on Monday according to the union.

The company employs its own private firefighter unit as a method of saving on corporate insurance costs. The IAFF argues that these firefighters have saved Boeing billions of dollars in loss and insurance costs and are only asking for 40 to 50 percent in raises, which would still leave these private crews underpaid for the cities where the Boeing plants are located. Municipal firefighters in the same cities would still make 20 percent to 30 percent more than the Boeing firefighters even after the demanded raise.

Another major dispute is the time it takes to hit the top of the pay scale. Currently set at an incredible 14 years, the company is demanding that firefighters wait 19 years before reaching the top, while the IAFF is calling for only five years, to match the deal workers in other Boeing departments receive.

The company is playing hardball with critical safety workers in the very same plants where profit-driven negligence has produced massive defects in its planes.

Three hundred and forty-six people were killed in two accidents occurring in October 2018 and March 2019 involving a known software defect in the new Boeing 737 Max airplanes. In January 2024, a door plug on a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines blew out just after takeoff.

By the end of 2019, the families of people who were killed in the two crashes had brought over 150 lawsuits against Boeing.

This was supposed to be one of the most highly scrutinized planes in the world. And here you are with another incident that was risking passengers lives, said Sydney Ember in a documentary from the New York Times.

The Arlington, Virginia based company has seen more than $24 billion in losses since the beginning of 2019. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also ruled that Boeing defrauded the Federal Aviation Administrations (FAA) Aircraft Evaluation Group (AEG) and would pay a settlement of $2.5 billion. Boeing has been under investigation due to quality assurance and safety concerns after a string of safety incidents occurred.

They are now apparently moving to impose the costs of managements negligence onto the backs of workers. Both the company and the corporate-controlled government are also looking to pin blame onto individual scapegoats within the company to shield the companys top executives from responsibility.

In October 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Mark Forkner, Boeings former chief technical pilot for the 737 Max, on fraud charges but he was found not guilty on all charges. Forkner is so far the only individual to face criminal charges in the case of the two 737 Max crashes

The criminal investigation by the DOJ centered on two workers who, Boeing testified, deceived the FAA AEG about the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which according to the DOJ, may have played a role in both 737 Max crashes. The DOJ said this deception resulted in critical information about MCAS being omitted from a key FAA document as well as airplane manuals and training materials for pilots.

David P. Burns, the acting assistant attorney general of the DOJs criminal division at the time, said: Boeings employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception.

With passenger and shareholder lawsuits looming, Boeing announced to its workers on February 21, 2024 that Ed Clark, the leader of the 737 program since 2021, would be replaced.

While the courts and Boeing itself attribute these catastrophic failures to individuals within the company, it is nothing but an attempt to absolve the ruling class of the consequences of their murderous drive for profits and war.

The company is deeply enmeshed within the military-industrial complex that is indispensable to the ruling class drive for war abroad. This ruling class will not allow Boeing to be held accountable, as that accountability would threaten their war efforts as well as their own stock portfolios.

This relentless profit-driven operation backed by the ultra-rich and US imperialism raises alarming questions about the recent deaths of two Boeing whistleblowers. John Barnett was a former worker at Boeing who had a record of complaints about safety issues with the 787 Dreamliner. Barnett was found dead on March 9, 2024 from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on what was supposed to be his third day of testimony in court after Boeing counsel requested that he come in for an extra day.

Joshua Dean, a quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems, reported manufacturing defects on the 737 Max. He was fired in April 2023 and died on May 1, 2024 from a sudden infection.

Boeings lockout of its firefighters is simply the latest move to impose relentless cost-cutting, endangering public safety, in its pursuit of profits. But the struggle of the firefighters is not only against this powerful greedy company, but also against the military-industrial complex and the state with which Boeing is integrated.
US intelligence agencies believe that Vladimir Putin didnt order the killing of Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison on February 16. The revelation, published by the Wall Street Journal in late April, came from undisclosed sources within the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the State Department and is broadly accepted within these institutions.

Alexei Navalny listens to a question while speaking to the media in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013. Russian authorities on Friday, Feb. 16, 2023, say Navalny died in prison. He was 47. [AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko]

According to the WSJ, The U.S. assessment is based on a range of information, including some classified intelligence, and an analysis of public facts, such as the timing of Navalnys death and how it overshadowed Putins re-election.

Indeed, the forces that have benefited the most so far from the oppositionists end are not the Kremlin, but its right-wing critics, the White House and NATO, all of whom immediately blamed Moscow when Navalny died and used it to whip up anti-Russian sentiment. With the war against Russia in Ukraine resulting in little more than failed counteroffensives, massive body counts and societies on both sides of the Atlantic increasingly disgusted by violence, Washington and its allies seized upon Navalnys death this winter to try to breathe new life into their fight for democracy in Russia.

They are now working to elevate his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, as the heir to his legacy. Time magazine included her in its just-published list of the 100 most influential people of 2024. The blurb written about her was authored by Vice President Kamala Harris. Germanys news network Deutsche Welle, as well as the countrys prestigious Ludwig Erhard Summit, recently each announced that Navalnaya will receive their annual freedom prize.

Neither the White House nor the agencies cited by the Wall Street Journal have responded to the newspapers revelation. The New York Times and the Washington Post, both of which play a leading role in promoting the anti-Russian line in the mass media, buried the news and failed to report on it. Political commentators in Europe dismissed it. Slawomir Debski, director of the government-funded Polish Institute of International Affairs, declared that Putin was personally invested in [Navalnys] fate, such that the chances for this kind of unintended death is low.

The WSJ article has provoked sharp denunciations from Navalnys supporters within the Russian opposition. Leonid Volkov, a central figure in the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) founded by Navalny, said those who arrived at the conclusion clearly do not understand anything about how modern days Russia runs. The idea of Putin being not informed and not approving killing Navalny is ridiculous, he added. However, he did not declare that the newspapers account of what US intelligence officials said was false.

From the moment the news broke that the Russian oppositionist had collapsed in a prison yard in western Siberia, the FBK has been insisting that the head of the Kremlin masterminded his death. This claim is an essential element of their false characterization of Navalny, what he represented and the political movement of which they are now jockeying for control. According to them, the Russian oppositionist had a broad base of popular support, was beloved by millions and was the personification of democratic values. Because he was all of these things, Putin had to kill him and did kill him.

But their depiction of Navalnya far-right, pro-market Russian nationalist who allied with fascists, celebrated the importance of doing so and commanded no popular support outside well-to-do-layers in the major citieswas complete nonsense, and so was their alleged proof of Putins involvement.

In February, Maria Pevchikh, the head of the FBK (an organization that refuses to make public information about its funding sources) released a well-made, seven-minute YouTube video in which she declared that Navalny was everything that Putin could never be and he hated him for it. In answer to the rhetorical question as to why the Kremlin leader had to kill him precisely now, she says that she knows the answer and has not the slightest reason or desire to hide it.

Pevchikh, who is expertly done-up, claims that Putin acted in order to stop a prisoner exchange secured by her organization through strong-arming Western politicians. This was done, she declares in an effort to impress the viewer, with the aid of the wealthiest people on the planet. In return for Navalny, the Kremlin was to get Vadim Krasikov, a Russian imprisoned in Berlin on charges of carrying out a murder at the behest of Moscow. Instead, according to her, Putin, having decided, I just need to get rid of that bargaining chip, had Navalny killed. This was his solution to the fact that he did not want to continue with the prisoner swap.

Leaving aside the puffing up of the FBK as some sort of influential organization capable of telling Western governments what to do (as opposed to vice versa), this makes no sense. Any prisoner exchange agreed to by the Russian government could only have been executed with the presidents prior approval. If Putin did not want to release Navalny, he simply would not have agreed to the swap. One does not kill off ones own bargaining chips. One removes them from the table and puts them in ones pocket.

Clearly aware of her unconvincing logic, Pevchikh admits Putins actions were absolutely irrational. She leaves it at that, however, and this is the sum total of the proof that the Russian president killed Navalny.

The WSJs revelation that multiple US intelligence agencies have determined that Putin did not order the murder of his critic come as news reports indicate that the Russian opposition is riven by various divisions. While powerful layers within the US ruling class have, at least for the moment, thrown their public support behind Navalnys widow, there are many other contenders for the prize of Americas leading stooge in Moscow.

The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have both recently carried articles about the tensions among these layers, a theme which the Financial Times also took up last year. Ex-Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, right-wing former chess champion Garry Kasparov, Kiev-based Ilya Ponomaryov, Israeli-based social media personality Maxim Katz, Yulia Navalnaya, FBK-personnel Leonid Volkov and Maria Pevchikh and others inside and outside of Russia are all vying for the role of leader of the opposition.

In a March 19 article, the New York Times lamented the insularity of the oppositionists grouped around the FBK, the back-and-forth squabbling between them and other Kremlin critics and the fact that the organization was unable to turn out more a than a few dozen people to a demonstration called to commemorate Navalnys death outside the Russian embassy in Vilnius.

But, whatever the differences within the various layers of the anti-Putin forces, they all share, as these recent news articles made clear, a few things in commonunabashedly pro-market policies, hatred of the Russian working class and a commitment to the US-NATO effort to break up and dominate Russia. None of them enjoy significant support in the Russian masses.

An April 17 Wall Street Journal article titled, Infighting Divides Russian Opposition in Exile, noted, Most opposition figures do agree on a twofold strategy: first, to gradually sow discontent inside Russia and maintain the support of the 10% to 20% of Russians they estimate to be disillusioned with the Russian president; second, to seize on any unrest inside Russia and turn it into a street movement or rally around whichever protest leader comes to the fore.

According to the newspaper, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky put the matter succinctly, stating, Im ready to back the devil if he helps destabilize this regime. Anticipating a split in the Putin-regime elites, Khodorkovsky declared, You need to back one group of bad guys against another. Such are Russias great fighters for democracy.
Graduate students, autoworkers and other workers: Tell us what you think about the strike vote and what has to be done to stop the police assault on protests! All submissions will be kept anonymous.

Demonstrators gather on the UCLA campus after nighttime attacks by organized Zionists against pro-Palestinian groups, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Los Angeles. [AP Photo/Ryan Sun]

On Monday, United Auto Workers Local 4811 announced it will hold a vote from May 13 to May 15 on whether to authorize a strike against the police crackdown on college campuses. Local 4811 is made up of 48,000 graduate student workers across the entire 10-campus University of California (UC) system and the Lawrence Berkeley Labs.

That fact that a vote has been called is in response to enormous, uncontrollable rank-and-file anger over the state crackdown over the right to protest against genocide. Campuses have been turned into occupied zones across the country. At UCLA, the arrests of protesters began after last weeks police-abetted fascist/Zionist assault on the Palestine Solidarity Encampment. The brutal attack lasted five hours.

A further 44 protesters were arrested on Monday, including journalist William Gude, who has since been released.

The World Socialist Web Site fully supports graduate student workers demands for strike action to force an end to the genocide and the police state measures in defense of it. Last week, the WSWS published a statement by the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees, calling for an international political strike in defense of the students, mobilizing the strength of the working class as the basic force against war.

In particular, the statement demanded the UAW call immediate walkouts of its entire 400,000 members, including in the auto and defense plants.

Jerry White, the Socialist Equality Partys candidate for US vice president, spoke to autoworkers in Detroit about the campus protests. Theyre not out there fighting or causing riots, theyre just speaking about how they feel, said one Detroit autoworker, defending the anti-genocide protesters. Were supposed to have the right to freedom of speech, but its being taken away from them.

Jerry White then noted, And if they could do it to the students, they are going to do it to the working class too, to which the worker responded emphatically, Yes.

UAW bureaucracy stalling for time

However, the IWA-RFC statement warned that the union bureaucracy was moving to block action. If the bureaucrats refuse, or try to stall for time, workers should throw them out and replace themnot with career officials, but with leaders drawn from the shop floor who are prepared to enforce the democratic will of the working class, the statement continued.

Sabotaging any action is exactly what the UAW bureaucracy, which has endorsed the re-election of Genocide Joe and has the closest ties to the Biden White House, is doing. The decision to wait another week before even beginning a vote on whether to strike if circumstances [are] justified, in the words of Local 4811, is designed to stall for time and even try to avoid calling a strike at all.

President Joe Biden stands with Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, at the United Auto Workers' political convention, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Washington. [AP Photo/Alex Brandon]

In the intervening seven days, Israels long-planned assault on Rafah will be well under way, killing thousands. Meanwhile, the police and both parties will continue their rampage against students, and they will have ample time to prepare to respond to any strike that Local 4811 does call.

Other campus unions around the country are also blocking strike action during the police crackdowns. At the University of Michigan, the lecturers union is attempting to push through a sellout contract without a strike, even as the university has seen some of the most vicious attacks on protests in the country.

That union is part of the American Federation of Teachers, which has the closest ties to the Democrats and the military, expressed above all by union President Randi Weingarten, who slanders the protests as antisemitic.

Among UC grad student workers, the announcement of the delayed vote produced anger and frustration. Why the hell are we waiting another full week to vote on a strike? one grad student posted on Twitter/X. Do we need another week of police brutality and slaughter of Palestinians to decide if now is the right time to strike?

Another Twitter/X user said: Despite the increased police repression of free speech and intensified police occupations happening across the UCs, last night @uaw_4811 voted down Cops Off Campus as a demand for the upcoming potential strike because, and I quote, now is not the time. But If not now, when? he demanded.

UAW officials see the strike vote as a means of blowing off steam, not organizing a struggle. In its statement announcing the vote, Local 4811 called on the university administration to work with it to de-escalate the situation. It added: This de-escalation is possible: Brown, Northwestern, Evergreen State, Rutgers, University of Minnesota, and UC Riverside were able to reach agreements with student protesters.

This amounts to a declaration that the bureaucracy wants to help shut down the protests. The Northwestern University deal, which ended protests in exchange for toothless promises from the university administration, sparked outrage as a betrayal. The UC Riverside deal committed the university to nothing more than bimonthly meetings, the formation of a task force and similar measures.

At any rate, the end of the genocide cannot come from talks with university officials but only through mobilizing the working class to force an end to the war. Behind campus officials lies, American imperialisms two main parties are joining hands to ban opposition to war.

Mass arrests at UC San Diego

This is why attacks on protests are only escalating without restriction. At UC San Diego, an additional 64 arrests have been made. Videos on social media show students being frog-marched by heavily armed police onto police buses. Afterwards, hundreds gathered at the San Diego central jail demanding that police let them go.

Police beginning to clear students off the UCSD campus at about 8am local time.

Manuel, a UCSD student, told the WSWS, Early at 5:00 a.m. the police arrived. When I got to campus early, all the parking structures were blockaded, and everything was closed. It was only open to pedestrians. This was a deliberate tactic to choke out the protesters, prevent the arrival of supporters and press, and isolate them.

Things took a turn for the worst around 10:00 a.m. when they began arresting people and taking them to a prison bus in a cul-de-sac behind Price Center. It was clear they had showed up to make mass arrests. After [police finished] handcuffing and putting protesters on the bus, students tried to physically block the bus from moving and eventually the police intervened to move the blockade.

The UCSD campus after police cleared students off by about 11am.

The university then announced in an email at 6:18 p.m. that ... out of an abundance of caution in light of current circumstances, all campus instruction will be moved to a remote modality effective immediately. Photos show that the university enforced this with police blockades on campus.

The working class must respond

Any delay in strike action is unacceptable. Neither students nor workers, and certainly not the Palestinians, can wait another week for a strike vote whose outcome, at any rate, is a foregone conclusion.

Graduate student workers must mobilize to countermand this slow-motion sellout. They should organize their own rank-and-file strike vote and form their own strike committees, uncontrolled by the UAW apparatus, to enforce their democratic will.

Autoworkers also have an obligation to take action to defend the students. The fight against war and police repression is a class issue. The pro-war, pro-corporate parties cracking down on students will not hesitate to use the same methods against striking industrial workers. And it is workers across the world who are being made to pay for imperialist war.

IYSSE members distribute statements opposing Gaza genocide to Stellantis workers at Warren Truck Assembly Plant in Warren, Michigan on December 21, 2023

Moreover, the same union bureaucracy and pro-war government joined hands last fall to force through a massive sellout on autoworkers, which Biden hailed as a historic victory. Since then, thousands have lost their jobs, and others are now working 70 hours a week without limits.

Biden is using the UAW and the other unions to block or limit strikes and impose wartime discipline on workers. The UAW bureaucracy ignored a strike vote at Allison Transmission, a key defense plant making parts for Israeli fighting vehicles. UAW President Shawn Fain is also appearing in public with a picture of a B-24 bomber, effectively declaring American workers have to build weapons just as they did in World War II.

This, too, requires that workers take the initiative out of the hands of the bureaucrats. The growing network of autoworker rank-and-file committees must also turn to connect the fight against layoffs with the fight against war and police violence.
Australian Labor Party Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held a much-publicised meeting with rabbis and Zionist leaders last Friday at which he met their demands for his government to do everything it can to create the political conditions to shut down protests on Australian university campuses and more broadly against the genocidal Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (front, fourth from the left) meets with members of Rabbinical Council of Australasia on May 3, 2024. [Photo: X/Twitter @AlboMP]

Albanese used the 90-minute meeting at Sydneys Central Synagogue to vow to do more to fight alleged antisemitism. He thus aligned himself with a vitriolic campaign by Zionist organisations and the right-wing corporate media to slander the campus protests and the widespread public opposition to the genocide as anti-Jewish, even though many Jewish people are actively involved.

Murdoch media outlets and the Liberal-National Coalition are openly demanding a police crackdown similar to the violent attacks on campus protests across the United States. They have voiced fury that a national council meeting of university chancellors last Thursday did not call for such police operations.

An editorial in the Murdoch medias Australian last Friday accused the chancellors and vice chancellors of giving free passes for anti-Semitic enemies of Israel at universities. On the same day, the Daily Telegraph, a Murdoch tabloid, posted a venomous editorial comment claiming that anti-genocide protests in Australia and internationally amounted to undisguised Jew hatred and equating them to the Nazi holocaust.

Yet anti-Jewish and pro-Palestinian protests and camps at our universities are being tolerated, even supported, despite their hateful message, it declared. Why havent the universities, particularly Melbourne and Sydney, called in the police?

The Coalition is demanding legislation to financially penalise universities that fail to break up encampments protesting the Gaza invasion. Without any substantiated evidence, false claims are being propagated that Jewish students feel unsafe because of the encampments, currently at six Australian universities.

This is being accompanied by witch hunting lies of antisemitism and support for terrorism. In reality, it is the Zionist state that is conducting terrorism against the Palestinians, as it has since the establishment of Israel in 1948, and many Jews, both within Israel and internationally, have joined the demonstrations against Netanyahus fascistic regime.

According to a statement released by the Rabbinical Councils after the meeting, Albanese pledged to help create the political climate to shut down the campus protests. Albanese listened attentively to the concerns raised by the Jewish community and assured the meeting that he would increase his efforts and those of his government to address the concerns expressed.

Under photos of the meeting, Albanese then posted on the social media platform X/Twitter: Antisemitism has no place in Australia Students must feel safe at university classes. Families must feel safe in their own neighbourhoods.

The rabbinical statement indicated that Albanese denounced the ongoing anti-genocide demonstrations more broadly, not just on the campuses. He expressed his deep regret for the breakdown in civil discourse and for the social strife in Australia they allegedly produced.

The Central Synagogues Rabbi Levi Wolff told the Australian: Hes also obviously very disappointed in how things are unfolding. Hes being hounded himself wherever he goes by people who are absolutely crazy, and theyre making his life miserable.

Albaneses complaint speaks volumes about Labors hostility to the demonstrations across Australia, in which thousands of people have joined, week after week, for nearly seven months. It is also a threat to the basic democratic right to protest, not just against the genocide but also the broader US-led turn to war in the Middle East and against Russia and China.

Albaneses pledge to the Zionist leaders is already being put into effect. On Sunday, Education Minister Jason Clare said he had told university vice-chancellors there is nothing more important than the safety of students who shouldnt be afraid to go to university.

Clare told reporters he had asked them to make sure that they implement their codes of conduct. That could provide the pretext for removing encampments on the grounds of obstructing activities or causing offense.

Asked about the widely-used protest chant of from the river to the sea and references to intifadawhich call for the freedom for Palestinians from the decades of Zionist oppressionClare told reporters: Any words that stoke fear are intolerable. Any words that stoke fear in our community or make people not want to go to university are intolerable here.

At the same time, Clare declined to back the Coalitions demands for an immediate police crackdown, instead urging political, community and religious leaders to work together to bring the country together, not let it get torn apart.

That evidently reflects concerns in the government and among university authorities that violent police attacks on anti-genocide protests at this point could trigger intense and potentially explosive opposition, including among students, academics and in the working class.

At the rabbinical meeting, Albanese reinforced his governments Zionist commitment, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to complete the Gaza mass killings and devastation in the southern enclave of Rafahwhere up to 1.5 million people are trapped in appalling conditionsregardless of any talks about a temporary ceasefire.

The Prime Minister also reiterated his support for the Jewish peoples historic connection to the land of Israel and Israels right to exist in peace and security, and its right to defend itself, the rabbinical statement said.

Albaneses stand further exposes the illusions, promoted by many protest leaders, that protests can force the Labor government to change its course. Albanese followed US President Joe Biden, who last week declared that the anti-genocide protests would not change his governments policies.

Fully aware of the intense opposition in the working class to Israels barbaric onslaught on Gaza, Albanese has clearly aligned his government with an increasingly rabid campaign to shut down anti-genocide protests as soon as possible.

Definite political conclusions must be drawn from this commitment. The Labor government, together with all the imperialist powers, with the US in the lead, endorses the Gaza genocide because it is a key step to a region-wide war targeting Iran. This is part of Labors intensifying partnership with US militarism in the Indo-Pacific and globally.

American imperialism is seeking unchallenged dominance over the energy-rich Middle East, as part of its plunge into what would be a catastrophic world war against Russia and China to seize their resources and redivide the globe in its corporate profit-driven interests.

The struggle against the genocide and lurch toward a third world war cannot be answered by students alone. It requires a turn to the working classto the factories, warehouses and docksas part of the necessary fight to develop a unified struggle of the international working class against all the governments responsible, including Albaneses, and the entire capitalist order itself.
The impact of El Nino heavy rains and flooding has wreaked havoc on the lives of millions across Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. This is now being compounded by the impact of Cyclone Hidaya in the coastal areas of East Africa.

No sector has been left unscathed. Torrential rains and flash floods have caused hundreds of deaths, tens of thousands of displaced, the collapse of entire infrastructures and the destruction of crops.

Kenya has been particularly badly affected. According to the National Disaster Operations Centre, an estimated 210 people have been killed, 164 injured, and 72 left missing, while 194,305 people have been displaced by heavy rains and flooding. Critical infrastructure has also been affected, including roads, bridges, dams, and health facilities. Schools have been ordered to close.

In Nairobi County, the home of Kenyas capital, an estimated 147,061 people are affected and 20,968 families displaced by the heavy rainfall. The majority of deaths have happened in the slums of Mathare and Kibera, where residents have accused the government of William Ruto of neglecting them.

One resident in Mathare told Al Jazeera, The government says they deployed the military and the national youth service and they are stepping up search and rescue missions, but where are they? It has been a week, and where are they? I have not seen anyone here in Mathare. Not one person from the government has come to help us.

Residents take refugee at Ombaka Primary School after fleeing floodwaters that wreaked havoc in Ombaka Village, Kisumu, Kenya. [AP Photo/Brian Ongoro]

In the most tragic single event, a mudslide in Mai Mahiu claimed the lives of 71 people after water blew through a blocked river tunnel under a railway line in Nakuru County, causing a flash flood, as many of the victims lay at home sleeping.

Human Rights Watch published findings that working-class neighborhoods and the poorest areas have been most severely impacted by the floods due to less solid structures, congestion and poor sanitation infrastructure.

The floods are also having a devastating impact on agriculture, already affected by several years of drought. Hunger is now looming. According to the Kenya Red Cross Society, at least 8,565 livestock have been lost and 36,344 acres of croplands damaged.

There is now a risk of disease outbreaks. Cholera, spreading from contaminated water supplies, has been detected in 34 people. Stagnant water, creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes, is expected to increase the number of malaria cases.

In neighboring Tanzania, floods claimed the lives of at least 155 people and injured 236 others. More than 200,000 people and 51,000 households were affected. Ferry services between Tanzanias capital, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar were suspended as Cyclone Hidaya approached with maximum winds of 120kph.

In Burundi, torrential rains have affected more than 179,200 people and displaced 31,200 since the start of the year. In a country already suffering high levels of food insecurity, it is estimated that 10 per cent of the countrys crop area for the 2024 agricultural season has been affected.

In Rwanda, heavy rains and floods killed 14 people, and damaged roads and bridges. In Somalia, more than 127,000 people have been affected, with 8,376 displaced and 7 children killed.

The severity of the latest record rainfall and flooding is another demonstration of the destructiveness of capitalist-induced climate change and global warming. Scientists have warned for decades that more intense rainfalls will be triggered as greater levels of moisture accumulate in the heated atmosphere.

East Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change, with extreme weather events growing increasingly common and intense, including severe droughts, rains and floods. Since late 2020, the region has suffered its worst drought in 40 years.

The fight against climate change is fundamentally a class question. Invariably, across the region and the globe, it is the poorest layers of the populationwhether workers, pastoralists, small farmers and/or people living in informal settlementswho suffer most from these frequent climate-related catastrophes.

On the other side, the wealthy layers live in the affluent neighborhoods of Nairobi, Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Mogadishu and Bujumbura, away from flood-prone areas and with access to generators and good sewage systems. They drive SUVs that skim over badly damaged roads and potholes, can work remotely using laptops, and can afford highly inflated food prices and store them in their pantries. If affected by viruses, they can access top private health facilities.

Rooted in these affluent layers, politicians cynically urge the poor to pray their way out of the crisis. The Ruto government has made a call for prayers to address the flood situation, a year after Ruto invoked God to dismiss the probability of extreme rains and refused to make any preparations while ruthlessly imposing IMF-dictated tax hikes and subsidy cuts and violently crushing anti-austerity protests, claiming the lives of over 70 protestors.

The fight to throw off imperialist exploitation is inextricably bound up with the struggle against this venal oligarchy that function as the local representatives of the imperialist powers and global corporations.

Less than 0.1 percent of the population in Kenya (8,300 people) own more wealth than the bottom 99.9 percent (more than 44 million people). That 0.1 percent includes Ruto, the current opposition leader Raila Odinga and former President Uhuru Kenyatta. The country has one of the fastest growing echelons of the super-rich anywhere in the world.

Tanzania is home to Mohammed Dewji, with a portfolio of $1.77 billion, the 13th richest person in Africa. He is the CEO of METL, a conglomerate founded by his father in the 1970s. He is part of an elite that has enriched itself in sectors such as energy, agriculture, telecommunications, and Fast Moving Consumer Goods.

Rwanda has been run for three decades by the Western-backed dictator Paul Kagame, with a personal net worth of at least $500 million. He and his family members control the majority of the Rwandan economy through a holding company called Crystal Ventures.

This ill-gotten wealth must be expropriated and directed towards meeting urgent human needs, including measures for anticipating, mitigating, and responding to extreme weather events such as heavy rains and floods.

Infrastructure must be made capable of withstanding severe weather conditions and advanced satellite technology and geographical information used to predict high levels of flooding. Drainage systems must be maintained and enhanced, sand dams and rainwater harvesting systems constructed, and projects launched to restore and conserve wetlands, which serve as natural water absorbers. Planning regulations must be tightened and stringently enforced to prevent construction in flood-prone zones and safeguard natural buffers like forests and grasslands.

But such crisis measures can only achieve their ends to the degree that they are tied in with a global struggle against capitalism by the working classespecially in the imperialist centres where the global corporations plan their pillage of the planetthat would facilitate a rapid transfer of resources and technology to the oppressed countries.

Funding the fight against the climate crisis also means stopping the flow of resources to military spending, rapidly accelerating as the major imperialist powers prepare for conflict on a scale not seen since 1945 and drag with them their former colonies run by their proxies. Ruto is increasing Kenyas ties with the US, whose drive to oppose the rise of China across the African continent threatens to plunge the whole region into an arms race and war.

Over the weekend, as the country drowned in floods, Nairobi announced it was acquiring a high-tech missile defense system from the genocidal regime of Israel using a $1 billion loan from Tel Aviv. Nairobi claims growing security threats in the Gulf of Aden from Al-Shabaab in Somaliawhich has no aircraftand the Houthis in Yemen, who have a single fighter jetan ancient F-5.

Defence spending in the country has grown by 38 percent from 2021 to 2024, from $925 million to $1.2 billion.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ali Asadov, who is on an official visit to the Republic of Turkiye, familiarized himself with the progress of construction work carried out in the Azerbaijan district in Kahramanmarash province, Trend reports.

Azerbaijan supported the construction of a new district in Kahramanmarash province, which suffered from a devastating earthquake in Turkiye on February 6, 2023, by order of President Ilham Aliyev.

According to the Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement signed on September 25, 2023, in Nakhchivan city, the Azerbaijani government allocated funds for the project totaling $100 million.

Within the framework of the project, the chairman of the board of the State Agency for Housing Construction, which is the executive body of the Azerbaijani side, Sadig Sadigov, informed Ali Asadov about the progress of construction work.

The Prime Minister gave appropriate instructions in connection with timely and high-quality implementation of construction work.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
On Friday, the New York Times published a lengthy guest essay by Gaby Del Valle acknowledging that Democratic Socialists of America representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now the linchpin in the Democratic Partys strategy to block the growth of opposition to imperialist war and genocide in Gaza and channel it behind Bidens reelection campaign.

The comment, headlined The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez You Dont Know, drops the pretense that Ocasio-Cortez is an outsider challenging the Democratic Party establishment, instead admitting that the New York congresswoman is critical to saving the Democratic Party. In straddling the line between outsider and insider, Del Valle explains, Ocasio-Cortez is trying to achieve the one thing that might just shore up her fractured party: building a new Democratic coalition that can consistently draw a majority of American support.

The Times essay on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [Photo: NYTimes/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]

The role played by Ocasio-Cortez and the DSA has become all the more critical to the stability of the political establishment as student protests have spread at campuses across the country over Bidens support for the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Only 9 percent of young people believe the US is on the right track according to a recent Harvard analysis, while one NPR poll from April shows Trump outpolling Biden among millennials and Generation Z.

Expressing the concerns of a section of the Democratic establishment, Bernie Sanders told CNN last Friday that he worr[ies] very much that President Biden is putting himself in a position where he has alienated not just young people but a lot of the Democratic base in terms of his views on Israel and the war, voicing the concern that this may be Bidens Vietnam. CNN aired Sanders interview with the headline, Biden cannot afford a boiling summer of protest.

Enter Ocasio-Cortez, whose role (as the Times comment states outright) is to channel their righteous anger into a political movement, i.e., into the Democratic Partys 2024 election campaign.

The elevation of Ocasio-Cortez is part of a long-term strategy by the Democratic Party to falsely present this arch-reactionary institution of American imperialism as a progressive vehicle for social change. The Hill recently published an article headlined Ocasio-Cortez emerges as key Biden surrogate for progressives, young people, which quotes various Democratic establishment figures as welcoming a more prominent role for Ocasio-Cortez and the DSA in the 2024 election.

Former Representative Steve Israel, a former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told The Hill, AOC has immense and sustained visibility with young voters and progressives of all ages. She can play a very impactful role in helping to unite them to stop Donald Trump. She can remind them about Bidens success in funding climate initiatives, reducing student debt, and more.

A campaign spokesman for Biden told The Hill that the president is proud to have earned Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs support, and we look forward to working with her and our entire Democratic coalition to defeat Donald Trump this November. After appearing with Ocasio-Cortez at a publicity stunt on Earth Day for his energy policies, Biden said, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez of New York, you know, I learned a long time ago: Listen to that lady. Listen to that lady. Were going to talk more about another part of the world too, real quickly, he added, referencing Gaza.

President Joe Biden with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders, April 22, 2024. [AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta]

Even for someone as practiced in sycophancy as Ocasio-Cortez, her praise for Biden amid the genocide in Gaza and police crackdown on protests in the US trawls the depths. During a recent appearance on Stephen Colberts late night show, she called Biden a man of tremendous empathy, praising the administration for its efforts to send a handful of aid trucks to Gaza. During an appearance at the end of April with Mehdi Hasan, she called Biden a decent man whose actions have led to a de-escalation in Gaza. She recently reiterated that she would support funding the Iron Dome, the Israeli anti-missile system, and has publicly supported arming the far-right Ukrainian government in the US/NATO war against Russia.

Even Democratic insiders acknowledge Ocasio-Cortezs efforts to promote Biden and the Democratic Party confront the challenge of substantial opposition from her socialist opponents.

Del Valles comment for the Times explains that Ocasio-Cortez and the DSAs congressional supporters are routinely criticized from the left and that Ocasio-Cortez has taken much of the heat from leftist activists who see her as a symbol of the contradictions and compromises inherent in the political system. Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the former Sanders organization Our Revolution, told The Hill, At the end of the day, young people are not naive. They are not blindly going to say, well, AOC or Bernie is for Biden, so Im going to be for Biden.

Bound up with efforts to promote and elevate Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Party is initiating new attacks on socialist criticism of her endorsement of Genocide Joe.

On Friday, Common Dreams published a diatribe against left-wing AOC derangement syndrome authored by former Democratic state representative Aaron Regunberg. In a barely-veiled reference to the World Socialist Web Site, Regunberg denounces a segment of the online left, saying our movement needs to start calling out AOC derangement syndrome for what it is. Its not just stupid. Its not just cynical.Relentlessly tearing down one of our most effective leaders  undermines our capacity to win.

Regunberg praises Ocasio-Cortez and Biden for helping the left win a series of progressive victories over the course of Bidens first term, a list which includes reforms as minor as better refunds for airline travelers whose bags are damaged in flight. While its understandable to feel that Democratic failures on Israel/Palestine overshadow accomplishments like these, Regunberg adds, they dont negate the concrete impact of such gains for millions of Americans.

As Regunberg downplays the genocide in Gaza on behalf of Ocasio-Cortez and Biden, he fails to mention that he was supported by Zionist organizations like the Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs during his 2023 run for Congress in Rhode Island, and that one pro-Israel lobbyist told Jewish Insider, While he is progressive on a lot of issues, his position on Israel was pretty much aligned with where we are. We are hoping that he will be a bridge, once he gets to Congress, with some of the more progressive members, on Israel.

In June 2023, Regunberg defended the state of Israel when Representative Pramila Jayapal called it racist, with Insider quoting Regunberg as saying, No, I do not think that Israel is a racist state, instead calling it an essential partner for the U.S. Regunbergs uncle, Brad Schneider, is a Democratic congressman and among the staunchest supporters of Israel. A September 2023 article in The American Prospect noted that Schneider worked hard to keep AIPAC funding out of the [2023 Rhode Island] race in order to benefit his nephew, who ended up losing the election.

Ocasio-Cortezs ongoing efforts to provide political cover for the Democratic Party confirm, once again, the role of the DSA as a cog in the Democratic Party machine. For decades, the DSA has served to corral social opposition behind the Democratic Party, block the development of an independent revolutionary movement and provide the Democrats with a left veneer to better carry out its increasingly reactionary and genocidal policies.
The following speech was given by Andrei Ritsky, a representative of the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists in Russia, at the International May Day 2024 Online Rally, held Saturday, May 4.

International May Day 2024 Online Rally

Today, on May Day, I send my congratulations and warmest greetings to the international comrades and listeners who have gathered once again to celebrate the Day of International Workers Solidarity, which traces its origins to the May Day demonstrations of 1886 in Chicago and was enshrined by the Paris Congress of the Second International in 1889.

On this day of international working class solidarity, I call upon the workers and youth of the world to come to the defense of my comrade, Bogdan Syrotiuk, the founder and leader of the Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists in Ukraine. Bogdan was arrested by the Ukrainian secret service (SBU) in a fabricated case of violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine last week. He faces a serious prison sentence of up to life imprisonment.

Bogdan Syrotiuk in his office.

The only crime that Bogdan committed was his conviction that Ukraine can become truly free only through the independent struggle of the Ukrainian working class, acting together with the international working class against imperialism and war. He advanced a principled political position based on a Marxist understanding of the war, opposed to the fanatical worship of Ukrainian nationalism as well as the reactionary Russian nationalism of the Putin regime. Like our entire movement, he has fought for the unification of workers in Russia and Ukraine with the workers in the imperialist countries, to put an end to a fratricidal war that has claimed the lives of at least half a million Ukrainians and tens of thousands of Russians.

Bogdan on November 7, 2023, the 106th anniversary of the October revolution, near a memorial dedicated to Red partisans

The position of the International Committee and the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists on this war is rooted in the theoretical and historical traditions of Marxism. For us, history is of the utmost importance. Without a correct understanding of the history of the Soviet Union, its dissolution, and the establishment of new capitalist regimes, it is impossible to advance a clear and consistent program of action to combat the modern crisis of capitalism and the threat of a third world war, the wicks of which have already been lit in the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The objective force of Marxism and its theoretical foundation, historical materialism, lies in the fact that it understands history as the struggle of social classes. Capitalists and workers are not just people on opposite sides of an enterprise, but classes with their own historical material antagonistic interests.

For us, the social foundation of a regime is more important than how it tries to present itself. This fundamental question in Marxist theory is very often denied by pseudo-leftists who try to pretend to be followers of Marxism or Bolshevism, but, in reality, worship bourgeois nationalism or imperialism.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

The dissolution of the Soviet Union was not only the product of the betrayal of Stalinism. It was also a consequence of the changes in the world economy that led to the globalization of production in the 1980s. These conditions undermined the basis for socialism in one country as a practical policy of the Stalinist bureaucracy. Having reached a dead end, and fearing a revolt by the working class, the Soviet bureaucracy decided to re-integrate the USSR into the world capitalist system.

ICFI conference against war and colonialism, Berlin, 1991

The dissolution of the Soviet Union proved to be a nightmare for the vast majority of the population. Pervasive poverty, looting of state property, banditry, a huge increase in social inequality, devastation in education, medicine and science. In short, the country was living the kind of catastrophe that wars and natural disasters usually lead to. The Soviet working class found itself divided and crushed. Imperialism celebrated victory alongside the newly formed Russian, Ukrainian and other oligarchies. Today, the disintegration of the Soviet Union is again making itself felt in the war in Ukraine.

The Russian oligarchy, continuing the Stalinist policy of peaceful coexistence, believed that it could work with imperialism as an equal partner that would respect and recognize the interests of the Russian oligarchy. Even now, the Kremlin is working in this tradition, despite the threat of direct war with NATO, and is eager to make a deal.

With the outbreak of NATOs proxy war in Ukraine, many defenders of both Putins regime and Zelenskys regime have emerged. Each of them has their own arguments in favor of supporting one side. But for both of them, there is no class struggle. The defenders often like to talk about who is responsible for the war, thus shifting the question from the merits of the case to who first started it. But according to Trotskys correct observation:

Of decisive importance is the question, not of who started first, who appeared as an aggressor, but which class is leading the war and on behalf of what historical ends. If the oppressed class or an oppressed nation appears in the role of aggressor on behalf of its liberation, we will always welcome such aggression.

The main argument of the defenders of Zelenskys regime is that it is supposedly defending the right to national self- determination and that it is fighting a war in defense of democracy against dictatorship. The persecution of comrade Bogdan gives the lie to all of this war propaganda. All those who are opposed to the regime are declared agents of the Kremlin and persecuted, threatened with imprisonment or even death. The Zelensky regime has refused to hold presidential elections and banned all opposition parties in the country, introduced anti-worker legislation, and is forcibly mobilizing half a million people in the name of alien class interests.

The main argument of the defenders of Putins regime is that it faces the aggression of NATO imperialism and seeks to protect Russia from being carved up. The defenders of the Putin regime and its invasion of Ukraine prefer not to refer to their own history, recalling only the crimes of imperialism.

Putins regime emerged out of the bureaucracys restoration of capitalism and reaction against the 1917 October revolution. As the heir of the Stalinist bureaucracy, it has inherited all its counterrevolutionary features. Its principal function is to defend the gains of the capitalist restoration on behalf of the oligarchy. With the war in Ukraine, Putin is not protecting Russia, but the national sovereignty of the bank accounts of Russian billionaires.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is interviewed by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on February 6, 2024. [Photo by Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin]

The outbreak of the war in Ukraine has aggravated the political crisis in the country, which is growing by the day. Despite the positive results of the presidential election, economic stability and success on the front, the country is in limbo and a single overt action by the ruling class can trigger a wave of social anger hitherto unseen in the history of modern Russia. The economy will not withstand another major upheaval, and the front will not survive without the economy.

The ruling class in Russia is at an impasse. On the one hand it is under pressure from NATO imperialism and torn by factional infighting in the oligarchy. On the other hand, it is forced to reckon with the resentment of the Russian working class. More than imperialism, the Russian oligarchy fears revolution. It recalls all too well that the First World War ended in Russia with the coming to power of the Bolshevik Party in a working class revolution. No doubt, the Russian billionaires and politicians who today scream about national security will have no qualms to ask their NATO enemies of today for protection from revolution tomorrow.

Fighting for the revival of Trotskyism in the former USSR, the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists is preparing the ground for the creation of sections and parties of the working class that will fight for the power of the working class in opposition to the rule of the imperialists and the oligarchs.

The workers and youth in the former Soviet Union are now being drawn into gigantic struggles, on which will depend not only the fate of the individual regimes, but of humanity.

A sculpture of Trotsky that Bogdan Syrotiuk made

No bourgeois regime is capable of resolving the crisis other than through war and destruction, because any other way would be contrary to its fundamental capitalist interests. The contradictions of capitalism cannot be resolved within national borders and on the basis of a defense of private property. Only the international working class armed with the program of world socialist revolution will be able to put an end to the wars and resolve the fundamental crisis. To do so, however, it must fight for its unity with its brothers and sisters around the world.

Todays celebration is an excellent step in this direction.

Long live the International Committee of the Fourth International!

Long live the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists!

Free Comrade Bogdan Syrotiuk!

For the unity of the Russian and Ukrainian working class!

No to nationalism and imperialism!

Forward to the world socialist revolution!
From the left, ITAK leader S. Sritharan, Tamil Progressive Alliance leader Mano Ganeshan, ITAK secretary Mavai Senathirajah and Provincial Council member S. Sivamohan at the ITAK 2024 Mayday event in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka [Photo: Facebook/Ruban Ruban]

Tamil nationalist parties based in the North and East of Sri Lanka are debating how to respond to the forthcoming presidential elections and how best to secure the interests of the Tamil elites with the Colombo government. The presidential election is due in September or October.

Previously the Tamil capitalist parties have sided with one or another Sinhala-majority parties in Sri Lankas other provinces by calculating who would best support their particular demands.

The Tamil Peoples National Alliance (TPNA), Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) and Democratic Tamil National Alliance (DTNA), a front of several groups, are currently arguing over whether to field a common Tamil candidate for the presidential election. The Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) is calling on Tamils to boycott the election.

These bourgeois parties, however, are widely discredited among the Tamil masses because they have consistently demonstrated that they are only concerned about the interests of the Tamil elite not ordinary workers and poor.

Sri Lankas Tamil minority has faced decades of legal and political discrimination by the successive Colombo governments which have whipped up anti-Tamil communalism to divide the working class along ethnic lines.

In 1983, the then United National Party (UNP) regime on behalf of the islands ruling elite initiated its bloody communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The 26-year communal war killed over 100,000 Tamil civilians, many of whom were disappeared, tens of thousands were injured, and countless properties destroyed.

Though the war ended in May 2009, some political prisoners remain in jail, while the Northern and Eastern provinces are still under continuous military occupation with much of the land forcibly taken during the war still under military control. The Tamil masses have not recovered from the devastation of the war.

C.V. Wigneswaran, a TPNA leader, parliamentarian and former Northern Provincial Council chief minister, has proposed that the Tamil parties field a common candidate in the presidential election, offering himself as the ideal candidate.

Wigneswaran says that the parties which have come to power in Colombo have not solved the problems facing Tamils and declares, What can the Tamils achieve by supporting them? By fielding our own candidate, he says, We can bring unity among Tamil people and apply more pressure in discussions with Colombo.

The same position has been echoed by former MP and DTNA leader Suresh Premachandran. Tamil people can emphasise to the Sinhalese that the national ethnic problem should be resolved, he said.

ITAK, the main Tamil parliamentary party, is divided over whether to field a Tamil presidential candidate. The newly elected ITAK general secretary S. Sridharan, who is an MP, has favoured nominating a Tamil common candidate.

Other ITAK leaders and parliamentarians, such as R. Sambandan and M.A. Sumanthiran, oppose this proposal. They believe this would harm direct collaboration with the Colombo political establishment and President Ranil Wickremesinghe in particular.

Sambandan has said that if a Tamil common candidate is fielded it would create a crisis to travel within a united Sri Lanka. By this he means that Sinhala chauvinist groups would retaliate against Tamil people. Sumanthiran has endorsed this position.

TNPF general secretary and MP Selvaraja Gajendran told the media that by boycotting the election the Sinhala leadership can be pressured into accepting the reasonable demands of the Tamils. By taking this stand, he added, America, India and the European countries would also accept our requests. The TNPF, previously known as the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), has boycotted presidential elections since 2009.

The public debate by these Tamil capitalist parties over how to respond to the presidential election as a means for addressing the democratic and social rights of Tamil people is a total fraud.

Notwithstanding their tactical disagreements over the presidential election, these bourgeois parties have no fundamental differences. They all defend the profit-system and are unified and unwavering in their support for the Wickremesinghe governments ruthless implementation of the International Monetary Fund dictated austerity measures.

Their calculations centre on how best to pressure the Colombo ruling elite to secure a maximum devolution of power in governing the Northern and Eastern provinces. Without exception, they all seek the support of the US and European imperialist powers and India to pressure the Sri Lankan government to grant favourable political and economic concessions for the Tamil elite.

These parties also support the US and Indian military build-up against China and maintain a deliberate silence on Washingtons backing for the genocidal invasion of Gaza by the Israeli military.

The historical record of all these Tamil organisations, including the LTTE, is one of sordid manoeuvres and deals with every Sri Lankan government, combined with constant appeals to the imperialist powers, mainly the US, and India.

In 1994, the separatist LTTE supported presidential candidate Chandrika Kumaratunga, expecting peace talks and a power-sharing arrangement. After various political manoeuvres, however, she restarted and intensified the war in 1997.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was formed in October 2001 under pressure from the LTTE for a parliamentary mouthpiece. This manoeuvre was taken in preparation for the US-backed peace talks with the government of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, which came to power in December 2001.

Those peace talks collapsed because of the hostility of the military and the Sinhalese chauvinist groups, mainly the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). With their backing, President Kumaratunga took control of various ministries in the Wickremesinghe regime in late 2003. She then sacked the government in 2004.

In 2005, the LTTE helped Mahinda Rajapakse come to power by boycotting the 2005 presidential election in the North and the East. Following his election, Rajapakse broke the then existing ceasefire and resumed the war.

After the LTTEs defeat in May 2009, the pro-imperialist TNA began to disintegrate. In 2010, the ACTC split from the alliance. During the presidential election that year, the TNA supported Sarath Fonseka, the military commander who led the bloody war against the LTTE during its final years.

The TNA then lined up, with US-led pressure, with Rajapakse to pressure him to distance his regime from China. Rajapakse had obtained financial and military assistance from Beijing and was cultivating close relations. Washingtonthough it supported Rajapakses war campaignwas intensifying its pivot to Asia to diplomatically isolate and militarily encircle China.

When Washington sponsored several resolutions in the UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lankan human rights violations during the war to intensify its geo-strategic demands on Rajapakse, TNA backed these resolutions. In the 2015 presidential election, the TNA played a prominent role supporting the Washington-sponsored regime-change operation to oust Rajapakse and bring Maithripala Sirisena to power.

Other groups in the alliance in recent yearsthe Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Front (EPRLF), Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO)broke from the TNA and formed the DTNA.

The Colombo-based capitalist parties, including Wickremesinghes UNP and its offshoot, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, as well as the JVP-led National Peoples Power (NPP), are keen to secure votes from the North and East to win the presidential ballot. These parties, however, have a long and bloody record of instigating anti-Tamil communalism, war and repression, and are despised by workers and the poor, Sinhala and Tamil alike.

The working class and the poor in the North and East must reject the wretched manoeuvres and conspiracies of the Tamil parties. These organisations all defend the capitalist profit system. Like the rest of Sri Lankas ruling elite, the concern is not the democratic and social rights of the oppressed masses but securing and bolstering their class privileges.

From the Tamil nationalist groups through to the UNP, SJB, JVP and the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna regime, these bourgeois parties are hostile to the objective unity of Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim workers in the mass uprising which erupted between April and July 2022 and brought down President Gotabaya Rajapakse and his government.

Likewise, they are deeply concerned about rising working-class opposition to the brutal social attacks being imposed by the Wickremesinghe regime on behalf of the International Monetary Fund and finance capital.

The only way to defeat the escalating government assaults is through the independent mobilisation of the working class in a unified struggle for socialist internationalism and against the capitalist profit system. To unite, workers have to oppose all forms of nationalism and communalism, including anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim discrimination.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is the only party that fights for this perspective. We call for the bringing down of Wickremesinghe regime and the repudiation of all foreign debts, the immediate withdrawal of the military from the North and East, and the scrapping of Sri Lankas unitary state constitution which enshrines communal discrimination and repression.



Such a struggle involves the fight for a workers and peasants government in the form of a Sri Lanka-Eelam Socialist Republic as a part of the Union of Socialist Republics of South Asia and internationally. The democratic rights of Tamil and Muslim people can only be resolved as a part of this fight.
There are growing indications that NATOs war against Russia is entering a new stage of escalation that threatens to lead to the use of nuclear weapons. Top NATO officials are publicly talking about resorting to missile strikes and ground war against Russia, while Russian officials are warning they may launch counter-strikes on NATO countries.

A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is test-fired as part of Russia's nuclear drills from a launch site in Plesetsk, northwestern Russia, Oct. 26, 2022. [AP Photo/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service]

Last week, 100 artillerymen and surveillance specialists of the French Foreign Legion were deployed to the front lines at Slavyansk in Ukraine, according to a report by former US Undersecretary for Defense Stephen Bryen in the Asia Times. Bryen said a further 1,500 French Foreign Legionnaires could soon deploy to Ukraine. He wrote that one consequence of this is potentially triggering a pan-European war.

While the French Foreign Ministry denied Bryens report, it is in line with President Emmanuel Macrons previous calls for a ground war with Russia. Macron and other top NATO officials are now reasserting these comments in an aggressive press campaign. Last week, in The Economist, Macron again demanded that NATO be ready to send ground troops to Ukraine:

If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there were a Ukrainian requestwhich is not the case todaywe would legitimately have to ask ourselves this question.

This weekend, the Italian daily La Repubblica reported on further NATO war plans. It cited secret NATO agreements allegedly defining two red lines, Belarus entry into the war and a Russian provocation targeting Poland, Hungary or the Baltic States. If either of these red lines were crossed, NATO would mobilize 100,000 troops across Eastern Europe, from the Baltic states to Romania.

Also, last Thursday, UK Foreign Minister David Cameron went to Kiev, where he said Ukraine has the absolute right to use British long-range missiles to bomb Russia.

This weekend, Macron told the French financial newspaper La Tribune that NATO must create total uncertainty about its actions in Russias military command:

President Putin has constantly brandished the nuclear threat. Faced with such an adversary, it is such an act of weakness to give a priori limits on ones own actions! We must on the contrary deny him any idea of what we might do. This is how we can deter him from taking action.

Macrons statements illustrate the mood of utter recklessness prevailing in ruling circles. During the Cold War, US and Soviet officials installed an emergency hotline between the White House and the Kremlin, fearing that nuclear war could erupt accidentally if one side misread the intentions of the other and believed the opponent had launched a nuclear strike. On September 26, 1983, this nearly occurred, when Soviet early warning systems falsely indicated that US forces had launched nuclear missiles at the Soviet Union.

Now, however, Macron says NATO aims not to seek a negotiated peace, but to force the Russian military to assume that NATO may adopt the most aggressive possible policy. This includes possibly launching not only a large-scale land invasion of Russia, but alsosince France, Britain and the United States all refuse to rule out initiating the use of nuclear weapons in a wara pre-emptive nuclear strike on Russian forces in Ukraine or on Russian cities.

Whether or not French troops are already deployed in Ukraine, the Kremlin is clearly taking these reports seriously. The strategic ambiguity Macron said he wanted to build in NATO relations with Russia has been established. Increasingly convinced that NATO may catastrophically escalate the conflict, Russian officials are calling to prepare the most drastic measures in response, creating conditions for a disastrous escalatory spiral in the war.

Yesterday, the Kremlin announced that it would hold military exercises simulating the use of nuclear weapons. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov called the nuclear exercises a response to an unprecedented stage in the escalation of tensions initiated by the French president and the British foreign secretary, including an intention to send armed contingents to Ukrainethat is, to actually put NATO soldiers in front of Russian troops.

Extraordinary warnings emerged after the Russian foreign ministry summoned the British and French ambassadors yesterday to protest the statements of Cameron and Macron.

It warned UK Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey that Camerons statements made Britain a de facto party to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the Guardian wrote. Casey was told that in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with British weapons, any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and abroad could be targeted, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Yesterday, on his Telegram channel, former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev bluntly stated that if NATO continues on its course, Russia could bomb Washington, Paris and London amid a world catastrophe. Medvedev wrote:

There is some kind of total degradation of the ruling class in the West. This class really does not want to logically connect elementary things. Sending your troops to the territory of Ukraine will entail the direct entry of their countries into the war, to which we will have to respond. And, alas, not only in the territory of Ukraine.

In this case, none of them will be able to hide either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in 10 Downing Street. A world catastrophe will come.

On May 4, introducing the International Committee of the Fourth Internationals (ICFI) May Day online rally, David North warned of the danger that the NATO war against Russia in Ukraine could escalate into a nuclear world war. Citing US-UK pledges to arm NATOs Ukrainian puppet regime with long-range missiles that can strike major Russian cities, North said:

But what if Putin, invoking the precedent set by President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, declares, paraphrasing Kennedys warning, that attacks on Russian territory by Ukraine with missiles supplied by NATO will be regarded as an attack by NATO upon Russia, requiring a full retaliatory response upon NATO countries?

It is high time for Biden and his NATO colleagues to tell the people that their pursuit of victory in Ukraine means risking nuclear war and describe in necessary detail what will happen to their countries and the world if the confrontation with Russia goes nuclear.

There was no trace of exaggeration in this warning, which has been confirmed in barely three days.

The strongest possible appeal must be made to workers and youth around the world: If the working class does not intervene against the capitalist governments to stop this escalation, one or another confrontation will ultimately escalate into nuclear war.

The greatest danger is that masses of workers and youth are not fully aware of the urgency of the risk of a catastrophic global war. They must be alerted and mobilized through an international movement of meetings, protests and strikes, aiming to build a mass, socialist anti-war movement in the international working class.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Turkish towns Istanbul and Izmir are hosting the EFES-2024 multinational exercise with 1,567 participants from 49 countries, Trend reports via the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijan Army personnel who will participate in the multinational live-fire exercise's practical classes have been deployed to Turkiye.

EFES-2024 multinational exercise will continue until May 30.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The meeting between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in the Kazakh city of Almaty on May 10 will discuss the text of the peace agreement and separate points of the document, and this meeting will make a step forward in the peace process between the two countries, Azerbaijani MP Sevinj Huseynova told Trend.

She noted that the results of the April 19 meeting of the State Commission on Delimitation of the State Border between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia and the Commission on Delimitation of the State Border and Border Security between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan speak about the reality of direct negotiations between the two countries, strengthening the way to peace and stability in the South Caucasus region, and hence point to a more effective peace process.

"The Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia have installed 40 border pillars as of May 6, 2024, based on geodetic measurements conducted as part of the border clarification works. This demonstrates once again that negotiations without mediators are more realistic and effective. Over the past 30 years, we have not seen the real work of mediators, and on the contrary, negotiations have reached a deadlock, but recent processes show that direct negotiations can produce real results. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan can be signed by November also shows that direct negotiations are more effective, the MP said.

As political analyst Ilyas Huseynov told Trend, the meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in Kazakhstan is an important initiative to achieve peace, security, and stability in the South Caucasus.

He stated that Kazakhstan wishes for the South Caucasus to be stable and expand opportunities in transportation and energy carrier transportation so that projects such as the Middle Corridor and the Zangezur Corridor can be more sustainable and serious progress made for the benefit of the region.

That is the reason why the President of Kazakhstan has put forward this significant proposal, and the meeting will take place as early as May 10. The main political agenda of the meeting includes discussions on border security, border delimitation and demarcation, and the text of the peace treaty, with the crucial issue being that the parties are meeting without mediators. In this connection, one can hope for the results of the meeting, Huseynov said.

He added that, at the same time, it is necessary to achieve the sustainability of these results and their further deepening.

We should not forget about those who want to cross out the achieved results. Undoubtedly, they are fighting for the South Caucasus, which is also an integral part of the global struggle," Huseynov stated.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Cooking Channel show will film at the Rochester Lilac Festival. Here's why

The Rochester Lilac Festival, which showcases the most extensive collection of lilacs in the Northeast, has gotten its share of national publicity, but never on a national food show, said Jenny LoMaglio, executive producer.

That will change when the Cooking Channel show "Carnival Eats" comes to town May 10 and 11, the opening weekend of the 10-day festival.

In the show, comedian Noah Cappe travels around North America seeking out imaginative food at carnivals and fairgrounds. In Rochester, the show is slated to feature local food trucks Neno's Gourmet Mexican Street Food, Roll'n Deep and Macarollin.

Birria tacos at Neno's Gourmet Mexican Street Food in Rochester Friday, April 9, 2021.

Neno's has been around since 2015, when Fidelio Rita and his siblings launched a colorful 10-foot trailer that served tacos and tostadas. They have since opened a full-size food truck and a series of brick-and-mortar restaurants.

The show will feature its birria tacos, which Rita introduced in 2021, when birria had gone viral on social media. They are filled with braised beef, salsa verde, Mexican cheeses and onions and served with a smoky-spicy consomme for dipping. Cheddar cheese is added to the outside of the tortillas, which sizzles to a crisp as it cooks on the flat-top grill. A birria torta (sandwich) will be featured as well.

Fidelio Rita, chef and co-owner of Neno's Gourmet Mexican Street Food, finishes his birria tacos with cheddar cheese on the outside for extra crunch.

Rita is excited about the opportunity to be featured on the show. "I feel a little bit nervous, but I think we'll do great that day," he said.

Roll'n Deep, an Asian-fusion food truck owned by Scott Phomvongsa, hit the road in 2016. The show will feature its garbage roll, a deep fried egg roll filled with truck-made meat hot sauce, mac salad, tater tots and American cheese. It's a big seller at food truck rodeos and any events where beer is served, Phomvongsa said.

Korean Nachos from the Roll'n Deep food truck.

It also will feature its Korean nachos: Fried wonton chips topped with soy-braised pork, house made kimchi and gochujang crema. It is garnished with scallions and sesame seeds.

"I'm pretty excited, a little nervous," Phomvongsa said." I get a little camera shy sometimes, but I think I'll be ok."

Rochester-based food truck Macarollin will be featured on Carnival Eats.

Macarollin, a longtime food truck known for its gourmet mac and cheese, will serve its classic mac at the festival, as well as versions topped with lobster, pulled pork and Buffalo chicken. The show opted to feature one of its lesser known creations, pizza mac.

"Any advertising is good advertising as far as I'm concerned," said Chuck Andrews, owner. "It should be fun."

Andrews said shooting will begin at 5:30 a.m., on a weekend that's especially hectic for food trucks, but he's thrilled about the opportunity nonetheless.

"I think it's fantastic that Rochester  specifically the Lilac Festival  is being chosen to have a segment on their show," he said. "How cool is that?"

The Garbage Roll from Roll'n Deep is filled with meat hot sauce, mac salad, tater tots and American cheese.

Carnival Eats, which debuted in 2014, was most recently in the Rochester area in 2019, when it visited the Spencerport Firemans Carnival. It also has featured the Wyoming County Fair, Great New York State Fair and Erie County Fair.

Tracy Schuhmacher covers Rochester's food and drink scene. Notice something new in your neighborhood? Send tips to tracys@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Lilac Festival food to be featured on Cooking Channel's Carnival Eats




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J. Balvin will soon see his two-pack of Air Jordan 3s inspired by South America.

The J. Balvin x Air Jordan 3 Rio will release in May following a white Medellin edition that released last year. Whereas the previous version saw an off-white form the majority of the sneaker, this Air Jordan 3 is dominated by black. Once again, the heel stabilizer takes on a purple, orange and yellow gradient. Also making a return are the translucent mustaches with a gradient beneath and mismatched Nike Swoosh and smiley face marks. The same lightning bolt that makes up the eyes in the smiley face also forms the i in Air. Besides black, further deviation comes from an orange tongue interior and a translucent outsole in the same color.

J. Balvin has been collaborating on the Air Jordan models in sequential order beginning with a rainbow Air Jordan 1 released in 2020. The Air Jordan 3 marks the first time hes received two colorways for a single sneaker, and the Rio and Medellin editions take additional inspiration from the sunrise and sunset, respectively, . Behind Travis Scotts Air Jordan and Nike releases, his sneakers collaborations are arguably the most sought-after of any musicians today.

The J. Balvin x Air Jordan 3 Rio will release May 22 through the Snkrs app and select third-party retailers. Pricing is set at $250.

J. Balvin Air Jordan 3 Rio

J. Balvin Air Jordan 3 Rio

About the Author:

Ian Servantes is a Senior Trending News Editor for Footwear News specializing in sneaker coverage. Hes previously reported on streetwear and sneakers at Input and Highsnobiety after beginning his career on the pop culture beat. He subscribes to the idea that ball is life and doesnt fuss over his kicks getting dirty.









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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov has arrived on an official visit to Turkiye, Trend reports via the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan.

To note, a Turkish-Azerbaijani business forum will be held in Ankara. The forum will be held in connection with the 11th session of the joint intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkiye , with the cooperation of the Foreign Economic Relations Council of Turkiye and the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges of Turkiye . Assistant to the Turkish Head of State Cevdet Yilmaz and Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov will take part in the forum.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Laurent Cantet, who has died of cancer aged 63, was a French writer-director who brought a subtly probing but non-judgmental gaze to a run of films that doubled as parables of contemporary life, most notably the Palme dOr-winning The Class in 2008. Im always interested in showing the complexity of our world, he said. Whats always difficult is making a film that deals with reality without being too didactic.

A number of Cantets stories explored peoples relationship to the work they do. Where Human Resources (1999) stalked a business-school graduate sent to oversee lay-offs at the factory employing his aging father, Time Out (2001) followed a man so ashamed at losing his job that he drives around during office hours, pretending to be gainfully employed.

Time Out paired Cantet with the screenwriter Robin Campillo, himself later a director of note. The pair reteamed for Heading South (2005), an adaptation of Dany Laferrieres short stories about white women visiting Haiti in the 1980s. Despite a typically steely Charlotte Rampling performance, the film yielded scattered critical responses, yet Cantet and Campillo rebounded with The Class, at once a modern classic, and strikingly different from the sentimental school dramas of yore.

For starters, its source was a memoir by the essayist Francois Begaudeau about the disillusion he felt while teaching. Cantet asked the boyish Begaudeau to play a version of himself opposite real-life pupils in a dramatisation of the incidents that pushed him to quit. In his Time review, Richard Schickel noted this hard-won authenticity: It is hard to think of another film more tightly autobiographical than this one. Its even harder to think of other films that build so gripping a narrative out of a string of comparatively minor and disparate incidents.

Francois Begaudeau and real pupils in The Class, 2008 - Alamy

Cantet sensed he was on to something when teachers at the Parisian school he was filming at complained that pupils were more motivated about attending his fictional lessons than their own real ones; a last-minute entry at Cannes, the film eventually scooped the festivals top prize, becoming the first French winner for 21 years.

Although beaten to the Foreign Film Oscar by the Japanese drama Departures, The Class proved a notable arthouse success, a film that asked big questions about education without losing sight of what makes a compelling story. Fiction is really important in my films, even if it deals with something very real and very social, Cantet told one interviewer. I think that putting political and social issues first would make people afraid to come and watch the film.

This particular fiction reflected the directors roots. The son of two teachers, Laurent Cantet was born on April 11 1961 in the commune of Melle in western France. He studied photography at university in Marseille before attending the national film school, IDHEC.

L'Emploi du temps (Time Out), starring Aurelien Recoing, 2001 - Alamy

Initially he ventured into non-fiction, assisting the veteran documentarist Marcel Ophuls on Veillees darmes (1994), on the siege of Sarajevo. Yet he broke through with striking short and medium-length fictions: Jeux de plage (1995), a coastal blueprint for Human Resources that won the Prix Jean Vigo for Best Short Film, and the made-for-TV Les sanguinaires (1999), about a man retreating to an island off Ajaccio, Corsica, to avoid the mania of Y2K.

Following his Cannes triumph, Cantet was tempted westwards. In Canada, he filmed, in English, Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang (2012), a textured and detailed adaptation of Joyce Carol Oatess novel. He then headed south to Cuba for the anthology film 7 Days in Havana (2012), each segment filmed by a different director, and Return to Ithaca (2014), a somewhat underpowered drama about old friends reuniting on a rooftop terrace to discuss their place in revolutionary history.

Thereafter Cantet came home, reteaming with Campillo for the Marseille-set The Workshop (2017), which updated the cross-generational debate that so elevated and electrified The Class with the added dramatic charge of online nationalism. That aspect of web-enabled chaos was central to Cantets final film, Arthur Rambo (2021, unreleased in the UK), in which an emergent media personality has his upward mobility checked by the discovery of hateful Tweets posted by his younger self.

Cantets social commitment extended offscreen: he was affiliated with the Collectif des Cineastes Pour les Sans-Papiers, who provide support to undocumented migrant workers, and he served as the president of Passeurs dImages, an association which campaigns for greater film literacy in schools.

Promoting The Workshop, Cantet spoke of the need for society to engage the young: I was very happy at the end of shooting, [as] one of the guys [in the non-professional cast] thanked me for the wonderful experience he had. He told me, You know, its the first time Im speaking that much. Not just joking with friends (I know how to do that), but with the film, for a few months, we had to think precisely [about] what we are living today, and it was a great experience. I think thats what we should do with young people: give them space to think together.

Laurent Cantet, born April 11 1961, died April 25 2024

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When youre in the news as much as Donald Trump and Melania Trump are, there are bound to be ample rumors in every corner  especially when it comes to their relationship.

So heres the thing: a bunch of jokes and memes have sprouted from their public appearances, especially from the fact that Melania looks like shed rather be anywhere else but next to him. Then, there are moments when theyre packing on the PDA, and onlookers are left a bit confused.

The pair originally met at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998, and started dating soon after. Donald proposed to Melania at the 2004 Met Gala, and the two got married at their Mar-a-Lago resort.

Things seemed fine in their early years, but the rumors amped up when Donald ran for US President in 2015. Since then, many have alleged a plethora of things about their relationship, and the rumors have gotten so bad that sometimes, Donald even would rant about it on Twitter.

So what were these rumors? Well, well tell you the most bizarre ones to date.

Please know all of these are rumors. They are all allegations made by authors, former colleagues, and Twitter users and are to be taken with a grain of salt. But these rumors are pretty out there. From weight loss rules to possible espionage, these are some of the most bizarre (and rather troubling) rumors about Melania and Donalds marriage that have made the rumor mill over the years.

See the strangest rumors about their marriage below:

A version of this article was originally published on July 2023.

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They Allegedly Sleep in Separate Beds

They Allegedly Sleep in Separate Beds

The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump by Mary Jordan alleged that No matter which of his properties he is visiting, Trump sleeps in a separate bedroom that has been decorated to his taste  he favors darker colored walls and rugs, while Melania likes whites and light colors.

This allegation came up again in May 2024, when Stormy Daniels also said this to be true, per OK.

Melania Reportedly Had Choice Words for Donalds Post-Arraignment Speech RSVP

Melania Reportedly Had Choice Words for Donalds Post-Arraignment Speech RSVP

Vanity Fair reported that Melania allegedly RSVPd f**k off to Donalds Post-Arraignment Speech held at Mar-a-Lago, where she was living on site. She ended up being a no-show.

She Allegedly Used His Legal Woes to Beef Up Prenup

She Allegedly Used His Legal Woes to Beef Up Prenup

Multiple sources and insiders previously said that Melania renegotiated her and Donalds prenup after the Donald VS E. Jean Carroll case. Melania talked about boosting her monthly allowance and their son Barrons inheritance, and in exchange, shed be there for him during his presidential run.

Donalds Alleged Rules for Melanias Post-Pregnancy Body

Donalds Alleged Rules for Melanias Post-Pregnancy Body

In an explosive piece from Vanity Fair entitled Inside the Trump Marriage: Melanias Burden, they alleged that things changed after Melania got pregnant. They wrote, She was 35checkout time for women, as Trump once told Howard Stern-and no longer the dewy fox hed met seven years earlier. A visitor to one of Trumps homes, late into Melanias pregnancy, recalls him remarking that he agreed to the baby on the condition that Melania would get her body back. She promised him that everything would go back to the way it was, says this guest; it struck this person as a contract.'

Melania Allegedly Didnt Live in the White House

Melania Allegedly Didnt Live in the White House

There was a rumor that Melania lived in a separate DC home with Barron, away from Donald, who stayed in the White House. In a Washington Post story about the first ladys private life, her office denied the rumor. Their spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham claimed it to be 1,000% false: We laugh at it all the time.

Melania Allegedly Has a Body Double

Melania Allegedly Has a Body Double

This rumor may be the biggest conspiracy theory attached to their marriage. People have tweeted videos and photos for years now, alleging that Melania has a body double to stand in for her during Donalds many events. Donald himself blasted the rumors, per AP.

Melania Reportedly Doesnt Want to Support Donalds Presidential Campaign

Melania Reportedly Doesnt Want to Support Donalds Presidential Campaign

Insiders recently alleged that Melania doesnt want any part of Donalds Presidential campaign and never did. Melania is not now or hasnt recently taken part in her husbands political events, an insider told People back in April 2023. It is not comfortable for her.

Donald Reportedly Blamed Melania for 2022 Losses

Donald Reportedly Blamed Melania for 2022 Losses

Per New York Post, Donald was allegedly furious with multiple people, including Melania, over urging him to support Dr. Oz.

Donald Is Said to Never Keep Melania in Mind When Making Decisions

Donald Is Said to Never Keep Melania in Mind When Making Decisions

Fans have speculated that not a single one of Donalds decisions, no matter how big or small, have Melania in mind. Former advisor and the director of Donalds 2016 campaign Steve Bannon alleged, per Yahoo, that he never saw any evidence of a marriage. He added that Donald rarely (if ever) keeps Melania in mind for decision-making.

Melania Allegedly Planned to Divorce Donald After 2020

Melania Allegedly Planned to Divorce Donald After 2020

Omarosa Manigault Newman claimed in the book Unhinged: An Insiders Account of the Trump White House that Melania was counting every minute until he is out of office and she can divorce him.

Their Marriage is Allegedly Transactional

Their Marriage is Allegedly Transactional

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff alleged to the BBC in 2020 that Donald and Melanias marriage is simply transactional. I do believe its a transactional marriage, Wolkoff said. Donald got arm candy. Melania got two dynamic decades. She was a young model, she didnt have success yet. She met Donald, she married, she became an American citizen, they had a son and ten years after that shes the first lady of the United States.

Melania Reportedly Fled to Europe on Donalds 77th Birthday

Melania Reportedly Fled to Europe on Donalds 77th Birthday

Instead of ringing in Donalds 77th birthday with him, its alleged that Melania and their son Barron were planning to go on a grand European tour during the summer months. And per Daily Mail, they left for the continent on his birthday.

Fans Thought Melania Allegedly Mightve Tipped Off The FBI

Fans Thought Melania Allegedly Mightve Tipped Off The FBI

One huge accusation was that Melania was allegedly one of the possible members of the family who tipped off the FBI before they raided the couples Mar-a-Lago residence, per MSN. The raid was to retrieve evidence as part of investigations into the former presidents involvement in the January 6 insurrection among other legal battles.

Melania is Allegedly a Russian Spy

Melania is Allegedly a Russian Spy

The rumor that Melania was a potential Russian spy started back in 2017 when reports came in from the Daily News that she and Vladimir Putin seemed friendly during the G20 banquet in Hamburg. She hasnt publicly spoken to him before, or since that incident.
Authorities have taped off Drakes Toronto residence after a shooting reportedly took place outside of it. One man reportedly suffered serious injuries.

CBC reported that the shooting occurred early Tuesday morning (May 7). The official Toronto Police Operations X account reported that the shooting occurred on Bayview E and Lawrence Ave E at 2:09 a.m. The man who was shot was transported to the hospital and police were present at the scene of the crime at the time of reporting.

They also reported that the suspect fled the scene of the crime in a vehicle and they were not able to provide a description. CBC specifically noted that the unnamed injured man was not Drake, despite the fact the shooting took place outside of his Bridle Path residence

SHOOTING:

Bayview Ave & Lawrence Ave E

2:09 am

 reports of a shooting

 police o/s

 man transported to hospital with serious injuries

 suspect fled in a vehicle

 unknown description#GO978573

^sc  Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) May 7, 2024

A look at the scene surrounding the home of rapper Drake as police investigate a shooting in the upscale area. Police confirm to @CityNewsTO that Drake was NOT the man injured. pic.twitter.com/V0J3Y1KdDY  Tammie Sutherland (@citytammie) May 7, 2024

Naturally, theories are swirling about this shooting have to do with Drake and Kendrick Lamars current rap feud. The Poetic Justice duo released five different songs aimed at one another over the last five days, namely 6:16 In LA, Family Matters, Meet The Grahams, Not Like Us, and The Heart Part 6. They threw wild allegations at each other as well; the Toronto rapper claimed Lamar domestically abused his fiancee, Whitney Alford, and the Compton rapper countered by saying the 6 God has a second child he never revealed to the world and that he was a pedophile.

This shooting follows another which took place last weekend in Los Angeles. The Weeknds manager Cash XOs security guard was shot outside of the Amestoy Estates area of Encino, a suburb of Los Angeles last Monday (April 29). TMZ reported that three hooded men entered the residence and opened fire upon seeing the security guard.

The guard was rushed to the hospital and reportedly in critical condition at the time of publishing. Cash XO did not suffer any serious injuries and the suspects were gone by the time the police arrived on the scene. Given the fact Drake and The Weeknd traded disses in the middle of April, people believed that there was some connection based on the timing of it all.

It is worth noting that the shooting also took place outside of Drakes home just days after Kendrick Lamar used a photo of it for his Not Like Us cover art. He didnt solely target Drizzy on the song, but also his associates who have been accused of being sex offenders.

The cover art featured the home being shown in the Predator app, and several red dots throughout the home, indicating that there were sex offenders present. Thus, it is easy to try to connect the dots and draw conclusions, but nothing has been proven yet.

It is unclear whether Drake or Kendrick Lamar will be releasing any more diss tracks, and if the situation has escalated to gun violence, stopping at The Heart Part 6 may be for the best. Fans have been consumed with and entertained by a heavyweight bout between two of this generations top artists, and two of the greatest artists of all time, but lives being lost is where people ought to consider a hard stop.

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Orange County officials say Central Florida has lost more than $150 million in film and television productions in recent years.

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On Tuesday, Orange County Commissioners moved forward with a plan to bring productions back to the area.

County leaders are considering offering a new filmmaker incentive to lure more of them back.

READ: Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bill to provide additional tax relief to Florida residents

It was about 25 years ago when Central Florida billed itself as the Hollywood of the East, but the state hasnt invested in film incentives in about a decade.

While states like Georgia saw an explosion, Florida phased out film incentives, citing a poor return on the investments.

However, the county now has a new plan that is expected to bring the productions back.

We have so many great studios in the back lot of Universal right now, and we need these decision-makers to come through for us, local actress Franny Titus said.

Orange County Commissioners voted to move forward with their Central Florida Film incentive on Tuesday, meant to attract talent, promote local businesses, and showcase the county as a whole.

READ: Panera discontinuing Charged Lemonade after lawsuits

What were doing now and seeing how the community all banded together and filled out that room and spoke their thoughts...it just shows me we might bring it back, local Actor Christopher Charlestin said.

The plan aims to fill a hole left when the state cut film incentives back in 2016. Currently, counties like Hillsborough, Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade already have similar initiatives in place.

Its perfect timing, Artistic Director for All the Lines Studio and Incubator LLC Kimberly DiPersia said.

The program is performance-based and will go to a particular project once all spending has been verified.

Some of the requirements include the company spending at least $400,000, having 60 percent of production days in Central Florida, and 55 percent of the cast and crew being local residents.

READ: 2 Osceola County schools placed on lockdowns while deputies search for wanted person

The plan is similar to one Republican in the Florida Senate proposed several years ago. That plan never passed.

As for Orange County, their plan is still in the early stages and will be discussed again later this summer.

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Paying Guests is a 2009 Bollywood comedy film directed by Paritosh Painter. The plot revolves around four friends, Bhavesh, Parag, Parikshit, and Jayesh living in Pattaya, Thailand. These friends are in deep financial trouble after three of them lose their jobs and their shared apartment, all in one night. Now to fix these woes, these guys come up with a master plan.

Heres how you can watch and stream Paying Guests via streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video.

Is Paying Guests available to watch via streaming?

Yes, Paying Guests is available to watch via streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The guys find a new home but it comes with a catch, that they have to be married. Working the mischiefs, two of the boys decide to pose as the wives of the other two guys and get the apartment.

In succession of this coup, these friends also rent out a portion of their rented space to paying guests. However, things quickly escalate and land these guys into hilarious situations causing more and more trouble. The movie on the whole is filled with slapstick comedy, light-hearted giggles and a complex storyline.

The cast consists of Bollywoods finest comic actors like Shreyas Talpade as Bhavesh, Javed Jaffrey as Parag, Aashish Chaudhary as Parakshit, and Vatsal Seth as Jayesh in lead roles. Other supporting actors in the movie are Johnny Lever as Ballu Singh, Celina Jaitley as Kalpana, Neha Dhupia as Aarti Gupta and Riya Sen as Arpita.

Watch Paying Guests streaming via Amazon Prime Video

Paying Guests is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon Prime Video offers a plethora of great movies in almost every genre. Some of the most-watched genres are comedy, romance, thrill and action. Here are some movie recommendations to check out on Prime Video: The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Big Sick, Manchester by the Sea and The Social Network.

You can watch via Amazon Prime Video by following these steps:

Go to Amazon Prime Video Select Sign in and Create your Amazon account Sign up for a Prime Video membership: $14.99 per month or $139 per year with an Amazon Prime membership

$8.99 per month for a standalone Prime Video membership

Amazon Prime is the online retailers paid service that provides fast shipping and exclusive sales on products, so the membership that includes both this service and Prime Video is the companys most popular offering. However, you can also opt to subscribe to Prime Video separately.

Paying Guests synopsis is as follows:

Four friends attempts to find employment and accommodation pits them against landlords and gangsters in Bangkok.

NOTE: The streaming services listed above are subject to change. The information provided was correct at the time of writing.

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The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries Season 1: How Many Episodes & When Do New Episodes Come Out?

Viewers of The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries Season 1 are wondering how many episodes are in the series and when each new episode comes out. In this war docuseries, veterans Ronnie Adkins and Rudy Reyes investigate numerous controversial objects, documents, and images from wars. They unearth the mysteries behind assassinations, conspiracies, propagandas, and shocking disappearances. Moreover, they examine various historical wars, such as The Korean War, The Vietnam War, the World Wars, and so on.

Heres how many episodes are in The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries Season 1 and on what day new episodes come out.

How many episodes are in The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries Season 1?

The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries Season 1 has 5 episodes.

The episode list is as follows:

Episode 1: Ghost Armies; Missing Pilot; Lost Bomber; Inside the A-130

Episode 2: Jungle Horrors; Project Giant; Homesick Mechanic; Inside Narco Subs

Episode 3: The Curious Case of Major Logan; The Lost Cosmonaut; Battleship Explosion; Dolphins Secret Weapons

Episode 4: The Korean at D-Day; Stealth Chopper; Arctic Nazi Base; The Caspian Sea Monster

Episode 5: Mystery of the USS Scorpion; B-24 Air Explosion; Backyard Bombs; Operation Bolo

The debut season, which premiered on April 22, 2024, starts with the disturbing disappearance of a Desert Storm Fighter. It also showcases how six soldiers struggled to survive the scorching heat of the Libyan Desert during the Second World War after their B-24 bomber crashed. The second episodes explore the surprising mysteries that occurred during The Vietnam War.

The cast of The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries Season 1 includes Ronnie Rodkins and Rudy Reyes as the shows hosts. Other groups of individuals who appear in the docuseries include Ward Carroll, Mark Sauter, Anand Toprani, Joseph Assad, and more.

When do new The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries Season 1 episodes come out?

New episodes of The Proof Is Out There: Military Mysteries Season 1 typically come out every Monday.

The official synopsis for the series reads:

Combat veterans Rudy Reyes and Ronnie Adkins unravel the mysteries behind the strangest and most controversial images, sounds, and documents from the modern history of war. Mysteries span the modern era of warfare, including the World Wars, The Korean War, the Vietnam War, The Cold War, The Gulf War, and the conflicts of the 21st century. Assassinations caught on tape, exploding battleships, ghost planes, vanished soldiers, propaganda hoaxes, alleged cover-ups and conspiracies are analyzed and dissected by Reyes and Adkins, aided by a team of top experts, and former members of the military. Each episode lifts the veil of secrecy on the fog of war.

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On the indie side of filmmaking life, Sean Price Williams has seen it all. Hes worked with the Safdies, Alex Ross Perry, Nathan Silver, Robert Green, and Athina Rachel Tsangari, and often more than once. Hes the premier chronicler of New York City independent movies behind the camera, typically shooting on celluloid, and bringing surreal, gritty poetry to character-driven stories that feel on the ground like portraits of versions of ourselves.

One of the most unabashedly movie-loving cinematographers working today, Williams last year moved to directing for the sprawling, scratchy-edged tale of East Coast youth, The Sweet East, which remains in theaters and features stars like Jacob Elordi, Simon Rex, Jeremy O. Harris, and Ayo Edebiri.

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But even more recently than that directorial debut, he released a 1000 Movies book via Metrograph Editions, a simple, unadorned paperback that offers, rather than commentary, pages listing his favorite essential films and their directors Williams thinks you should seek out.

The book project started out as a spreadsheet shared with friends before it was published on Letterboxd in 2017, and now lives in bound form as a diary so devoid of comments that youre almost invited to make your own notations as you flip through it. The titles range from obscurities to outright classics, but Williams, in his selection, is never trying to be pretentious. Filmmakers highlighted include Josef von Sternberg, Stanley Kubrick, Blake Edwards, Akira Kurosawa, Mel Brooks, Luis Bunuel, Russ Meyer, Jacques Demy, Ridley Scott, Bela Tarr, Claire Denis, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Chantal Akerman, Jia Zhangke, Michael Mann, Maurice Pialat, and Alfonso Cuaron.

Theres also a range of high and low culture in Williams recommendations (which IndieWire parsed in more close-up detail earlier). The book encompasses the usual canon fodder but with a spotlight on lesser-known titles from time-honored directors, including both shorts and features, that arent impossible to track down.

IndieWire spoke with Williams, a New Yorker if that wasnt obvious from his very New York movies, about the book over the phone. Hes candid about his thoughts on filmmakers like the ever-on-the-verge-of-controversy Vincent Gallo, as well as more populist filmmakers and titles (especially from the 90s) he ignored as he came into being as a cinephile, growing up in video stores.

Hes 46, and so after seeing movies theatrically as a kid made fair use of torrent sites, as many of us did, hunting for scans of forgotten classic movies before platforms like Criterion Channel, Metrograph at Home, and MUBI made them more available and ready for proper appreciation. (Look at Andrzej Zuawskis Possession, largely unknown until recent years, when its now regarded as a 1980s masterpiece.) Williams most recently shot the latest film from Chevalier director Athina Rachel Tsangari, Harvest, in Greece, which he talks about in our interview below.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

IndieWire: Your 1000 Movies book originated as a spreadsheet that became a Letterboxd list posted in 2017, which youve of course since updated. Do you still use that site as a tool?

Sean Price Williams: Im not on there. What would I say?  Id spend a year finding every single movie I ever saw and log it or whatever. Its great because it changes the pantheon who loves great films. There are all kinds of movies now that people love that no one even knew about 15 years ago. I think thats great. There are conversations on there that are valuable. I do look sometimes. If we screen a movie, Ill go see if anyone commented on it.

You just shot a new movie directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari with Caleb Landry Jones and Harry Melling, and you filmed it in Greece. What can you say about this movie?

Ive got to go do the color-grade in Greece. Ill know what it is then. Theyve been working on it tirelessly. I dont really know what it is yet. Its a period piece, but its like a not-committed-to-period period piece. Its a bit off the wall and tonally adventurous.

Is that a common phenomenon where you shoot something and dont know what it is?

Yeah. I like that. Except when it comes back, and all my favorite stuff has been cut out of it, and they changed the direction of stuff in the edit, which doesnt happen very often, but thats a bitch.

You also shot Nathan Silvers movie Between the Temples, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Were you there at the festival?

No, I dont go there. I really have a terrible time at pretty much all the festivals that are still going. All the good ones are gone, the ones I liked, the fun ones. [With] the bigger festivals, there is so much distraction. I end up not seeing any movies anymore at the festivals, which feels terrible when you leave and barely saw anything. I myself cant even stay disciplined enough to see the films, and then I am at very bad parties with very unfun people instead. And its a lot of money. Those festivals dont give you anything. Cannes, Sundance. Im just spending money for nothing. I always wish in the end I just stayed in New York, so I dont go anymore.

Sean Price Williams on the set of Between the Temples

How did you consume movies growing up? Were you a VHS person who eventually moved into torrenting?

Well, I am now [using torrent], and I also still buy DVDs, Blu-rays, VHS pretty constantly. Im buying and downloading for whatevers not available. Most of the things in that book are available. I wasnt trying to be esoteric and difficult. I do want the list to be something that someone like myself at different ages would look at and think, hmm, and would give it a try. I love my movie books I had when I was younger that I would just mark up, highlight, make little comments. I have collectible list books like Krautrocksampler, this record book by Julian Cope, I think my copy would be worth $500, but its so marked up.

Whats your relationship to collecting physical media nowadays?

Im reading about this comeback, which is wonderful. I really wish someone would start making VCRs again. Theyre making tapes again. Theyre making crazy types, like LED light-up VHS tapes, but no ones making the VCRs anymore. I actually just got my VCR fixed this week, because the heads were all gunked up. Ive never stopped collecting. I have a huge collection of discs, records, and then, in my ex-girlfriends apartment, I have a whole room of VHS still.

Do you still have access to that room?

Not very regularly. Were still friends, and it was just such a special room that I kind of convinced her to treat it like a landmark, an untouchable landmark.

So shes still holding onto all these?

Until I grow up and get a real house or something, yeah.

I see what youre saying about the VHS thing. I have a VHS of Peter Greenaways The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, but no VCR. And yet the movie is unavailable anywhere else. Peter Greenaway has a very cynical view of film distribution, and his movies are largely not accessible.

When I got into movies, the easiest [Greenaway] ones were The Cook, The Thief, The Belly of an Architect, Drowning by Numbers. You had to get a bootleg of The Falls or the earlier shorts, and now those are kind of more available than the really popular ones. Other than Draughtsmans Contract. Thats part of the fun of this whole thing [is] how Ive watched movies that were completely unavailable become the most easily accessed. Just the trends of availability for films.

Were doing this Kims Video rehabilitation thing at the Alamo, and I am stacking up all these tapes just to see if there are things available, and its wild that movies with big movie stars just arent available now. Or maybe theyre on YouTube now, and in six months, they get pulled.

The Sweet East Courtesy Everett Collection

In terms of your moviegoing life, was there a year that was especially formative for you?

Since I was a kid, Ive always been so devoted to movies. I moved to New York in 99, 2000, and there were movies early on that were strong. I think it was 2002 or 2003, whenever MoMA was under construction, and they were showing movies at the Gramercy Theatre, and they had a Nicholas Ray series, which was somehow life-changing. I just felt like it cracked open new ways of watching films for me, like a kind of a depth that I hadnt really found, and then I was able to watch more personal films differently, it was just cracked my head open a bit. So it was whenever that season was when they were at the Gramercy.

So it wasnt necessarily new releases you were drawn to. It was repertory.

When I was a kid, Empire Strikes Back came out. Thats an impression I still swear I remember at three years old. Superman II. Growing up with Spielberg, it was made for my generation, these films, and it was kind of perfect. It was also the only time in 100 years of Disney, where Disney was kind of struggling and almost bankrupt, so we didnt have that kind of tyranny. We had a lot of variety.

1997 was a big year for me. I saw Titanic for the first time that year and then The Ice Storm, too young, but both changed my life as a moviegoer. You would have been 20 years old then. What did the 90s mean to you?

I missed the 90s through sheer pretentious young man shit. I hated The Ice Storm. I hated Titanic. I hated The Sweet Hereafter. I was just hating everything new almost straightaway because I was discovering all these old European films at the time. I was working in a video store in Baltimore, and I had this access to stuff. Everything new was just putrid in my mind, and I missed out on a lot of things. When Gummo came out, that brought me back to taking a new movie seriously. I never saw Forrest Gump. I never saw a lot of these things. I saw Braveheart five years later, and I liked it, but I was just avoiding this stuff in the 90s.

The list really starts to get thin in the 90s. Ive discovered a couple movies this past year that inevitably will go on the list. But I have to give time to see how they feel. They have to have time. I cant just see a new movie and say, Yup, thats on the list.

Was there anything you felt was too esoteric to put on the list in your book?

Very often, Ill discover a movie alone at three in the morning, and Ill show it to friends, very excited, and when I show it to friends, it reveals itself to be not so good. I get wrapped up in atmosphere and my mood, and I can be really wrong.

Which is, of course, good. My closest friends and I strongly disagree on many filmmakers. [Robert] Aldrich, Clint Eastwood. The only film [in the book] that is impossible to see is Vincent Gallos Promises Written in Water. I considered taking it off because I dont want it to seem like, Look, Ive seen this movie no ones seen. But its a movie thats always in my head, these images. I am probably, at this point, misremembering almost all the things I think I love about the film.

Faster, Pussycat, Kill! Kill! from 1965 Courtesy Everett Collection

Is there a filmmaker we havent heard from in a while youd like to come back?

I think were gonna see a very big Russ Meyer comeback, because his films have been really not available for a long time. Hes still like, you know, canon cult, but like, I feel like most young people, if theyve heard of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, they havent actually seen it or seen any of his films, and Im kind of excited, especially with the sexual politics of today, for the rest of Meyers movies to really make a big, a big splash. And I think thats going to happen. As far as new guys, I love Vincent Gallo.

Im not sure how receptive the market will be to a new Vincent Gallo movie given recent and past controversies against him. His collaborators have made allegations of abuse and torment, and Christina Ricci has not spoken highly of her Buffalo 66 experience. But that movie was huge for me.

Hes got a new movie hes acting in thats going to come out [The Policeman], but Id like to see him behind the camera again.

Brown Bunny was even bigger for me [than Buffalo 66]. It just surprised me so much. Buffalo 66, what I love is the ideas and the attempts and the invention, even when it doesnt work. You can see a guy tirelessly trying things. Which I like, but I like that about Jerry Lewis movies, too. You sacrifice a lot just to try things out.

Buffalo 66 Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection

Well, talk about another person whose famous movie will not be seeing the light of day. The Day the Clown Cried.

A lot of people think theyre gonna see it, and theyre not. I have a friend whos seen it and, yeah, according to him its not that important to be seen. I also would love to think the new [Francis Ford] Coppola movie would be great, but well see.

Hes always trying something different, which has to be the case with Megalopolis.

I think of [Coppola] as the one who inspired all those guys, producing THX 1138, which I recently added to the list. I thought Id grown out of that movie, but watching it again, oh my god, theres so much good stuff going on. I really think a lot of that is Coppola and Walter Murch. Coppola was not the puppeteer but the guy who encouraged experimentation.

It was great talking to you, and congratulations on the book.

Lists, to me, are kind of silly, but they also serve a purpose. It helps the memory when youre getting older. People make fun of me, like, Youve got a book out. Youre a writer! I know Im not. [Laughs.]

You didnt write anything. Its literally a list in book form!

One of these days! [Laughs.]

1000 Movies is currently available from Metrograph Editions.

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UPDATED, 10:25 AM: The Writers Guild of Canada members have ratified the unions new contract with the Canadian Media Producers Association. The three-year deal takes effect today and runs through January 31, 2027.

Here are some of the terms:

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Live-action script fees will increase by 5%, 4%, and 3.5% over the next three years.

Animation script fees will increase by 5%, 11.5%, and 3.6% over the same period.

A new minimum staffing provision requires two Story Editors to be engaged during the bulk of principal photography on productions commencing on or after January 1, 2025, for one-hour productions with budgets over $2.5M per episode and half-hour productions with budgets over $1.5M per episode.

New AI protections require producers to disclose and contract under the IPA when providing writers with AI-generated materials, as well as no reduction in existing writer credit or compensation.

Expanded protections against discrimination and harassment in the workplace are in place.

Bargaining this agreement was extremely challenging, but it has resulted in a more united and engaged membership, WGC President Bruce Smith said in a statement. Our work will continue on many fronts, including fighting for equal compensation and protections for animation writers, advocating for a better funding system to address the needs of feature film writers, and ensuring our industry can flourish.

Added WGC Executive Director Victoria Shen: These achievements would not have been possible without the solidarity demonstrated by our membership. Special thanks to the Negotiating Committee, who volunteered months of their time, passionately represented the interests of screenwriters, and stood their ground to reach this deal.

PREVIOUSLY, May 7: There wont be a strike in Canada after all. The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) and the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) have reached an agreement in principle on terms for a new Independent Production Agreement (IPA).

The pair jointly announced they had successfully concluded negotiations and reached terms on a three-year IPA. The agreement, details of which will emerge over coming hours and days, covers terms, conditions and rates for writers, story editors and story consultants.

This comes after Deadline last week revealed talks had resumed amid an increasingly nervous industry environment following news the WGC had for the first time in its history approved strike action. Our sources said the approval was being seen as a last-ditch ploy to bring the CMPA back to the table and hash out a deal. Looks like it worked.

The terms of the IPA will now be sent to the CMPAs board of directors and distributed by the WGC for ratification among its members. The previous agreement had ended on December 31, 2023, replaced by an interim pact while a new long-term deal was negotiated. Before this most recent round of talks began, we understand the negotiating table had remained empty since February.

We are proud to have come to terms on an agreement that truly values the important alliance that exists between Canadian screenwriters and independent producers, said Sean Porter, the CMPAs Vice-President of National Industrial Relations and Counsel. I want to thank the individuals on both sides of the bargaining table for their commitment to finding solutions that serve to benefit the future of our sector and Canadian storytelling on screen.

We are pleased to have reached a fair agreement with the CMPA that will protect the livelihoods of our screenwriter members and maintain stability in the Canadian film and television industry, said Victoria Shen, WGC Executive Director. We feel the new agreement includes important protections for Canadian screenwriters and balances the concerns of our producer partners.

The agreement avoids a writers strike, which would have been most unusual for Canada but was beginning to appear the most likely outcome. Some within Canadas writers community felt the CMPA wasnt negotiating in good faith, while many producers felt the terms demanded were unrealistic and unreasonable. Issues such as AI, remuneration for animation scribes and the number of writers on sets were among the most concerning to writers, sources told us.

Writers and actors strikes paralyzed the U.S. industry last year, and it was unknown how brutal action would be the smaller, more fragile Canadian market. However, writers were ready to test the waters, with 96.5% of those who voted on strike authorization being in favor, come what may. One source we spoke to last week said the volume of the yes vote had surprised the CMPA, demonstrating a determination to stand firm in our commitment to achieving a fair deal for screenwriters.

Different to the U.S. is the fact that the CMPA does not represent broadcasters or streamers in the way the AMPTP did in its talks with the American writers and actors unions.

Canadas production sector remains in flux, with networks impacted hard by ad downturns and the recent introduction of the Online Streaming Act resulting in streamers reticent to commission new films and shows. However, todays news is a major relief for an industry that didnt need any more bumps.

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In the last 30 years, Ive interviewed a one-armed juggler, a psychic who finds lost pets and a man who ate 27 chili dogs in less than an hour.

But none of those make quite as compelling a story as this:

Ive interviewed Stormy Daniels twice. Both times in Raleigh. Both times in a strip club. And both times about national politics, her answers delivered with candor and astuteness.

I bring this up now not to make light of a former president on trial, nor to weigh in on either side legally or politically, but only to recall a pair of encounters forever wedged in my brain.

Forgive me, but it seems impolite not to share.

A potential US Senate race?

In 2010, my then-editor at The N&O:

1. noticed an advertisement for Stormy Daniels performing at was then called The Mens Club on Yonkers Road in Raleigh;

2. remembered reading that the adult-film actress was scheduled to announce on that very day whether she would run for the U.S. Senate.

Why would Daniels consider a bid for national office?

You may recall a scandal of that era involving an escort service run by the D.C. Madam, whose phone contacts included U.S. Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana. The Republican senator, up for election in 2010, would eventually admit his involvement in a prostitution ring.

Though widely considered a gag at the time, the Draft Stormy movement launched an online campaign. But Daniels, a Louisiana native whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, chose to take it seriously and traveled the state on a listening tour, expecting to be heckled but instead winning praise for her honesty.

Daniels switched her party affiliation to Republican, called for creative thinking and entrepreneurship and pledged to make a final decision on her candidacy by April 15  in the middle of her Raleigh Mens Club stint.

Sipping Sprite while waiting for a strip club interview

Once inside, I learned that Daniels would speak to me, but only once she finished her performance, which involved a Little Red Riding Hood suit bathed in purple light. Ive never been a big strip club fan, but I spent four hours waiting, sipping Sprite on-the-clock.

But once she finished, Daniels graciously explained why she was bowing out of politics  a decision she thought unfortunate but necessary.

I thought I would be accused of making a mockery of the system, she said, a stud twinkling in her cheek. But you can be blond and sexy and ... not be an idiot. For some reason, our society equates sexuality with stupidity.

She continued while fans lined up for autographs.

Its expensive, she said. I actually found that very sad. The cost of running for office keeps the best people from running. You need someone to represent the average person, and the average person cant afford to run. You get this vicious cycle of Ivy Leaguers.

The next day, Daniels officially announced what I had in my notepad:

I have become a target of the cynical stalwarts of the status quo, she wrote, comparing herself to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin after her failed vice-presidential run. Simply because I did not fit in their mold of what an independent working woman should be, the media and political elite have sought to relegate my sense of civic responsibility to mere sideshow antics.

Whenever Ive told this story, both in The N&Os pages and to people I knew, the comments I heard rarely involved antics and nearly always focused on the adult actress being well-spoken.

Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump

This quality would rise again in 2018, when she Daniels would allege both an affair and a hush-money deal with President Donald Trump, statements she repeated on the Manhattan witness stand Tuesday.

By then, Daniels was on seemingly every TV screen, and a Raleigh newspaper reporter like myself stood in line behind Anderson Cooper and 60 Minutes.

But in June of that year, Daniels returned to The Mens Club in Raleigh and found an entirely different crowd, including Jimmy Creech, the former United Methodist minister defrocked for marrying same-sex couples, seated that night with his wife, the late Chris Weedy.

Just in front of me, they waited three hours in the front to cheer on the stripper performing in a star-spangled thong, whom Creech called an American hero.

We just admire her willingness to challenge the dishonesty of Donald Trump, he said. To call him out on that and take it as far as it can go.

I dont frequent these kinds of places, Weedy added. But its important to me to support Stormy because shes standing up for herself and she has integrity. Shes articulate. In that (60 Minutes) interview, you could feel her integrity.

I got far less time speaking with Daniels that night, and I doubt she remembers either of our interviews. But as she signed Team Stormy T-shirts for fans, she told me, The fan base is now completely different. Lots of gay men taking forays into strip clubs, and lots of women. Angry, angry women.

Time and the jury will tell where all of this goes next.

But if Stormy Daniels performs in Raleigh for a third time, I predict a full house.
The Oscar-winning actress also suggested that Alcatraz reopen after Sunny Hostin said Trump should be thrown "in the clink."

Donald Trump might not be in jail just yet, but The View ladies have already locked down where they'd like to see the former president serve time if he's convicted at the end of his ongoing legal battle.

Oscar-winning moderator Whoopi Goldberg asked her fellow panelists Tuesday morning which facility they'd like to see welcome Trump if he's sentenced to jail time in his hush money trial involving reported payments made to his alleged mistress Stormy Daniels, eliciting an enthusiastic reaction from both the cohosts and the studio audience.

"I think to prove a point, put him in the clink," legal expert Sunny Hostin said, prompting Goldberg to ask where Trump should be imprisoned. Hostin quickly responded by suggesting Rikers Island, a controversial New York City prison, while Goldberg floated the idea of reopening San Francisco's famed Alcatraz facility.

"That's number one is Rikers. But, I'm okay if he goes to Alcatraz and they reopen it. You know, what about Guantanamo Bay?" Goldberg said as she turned to the audience, which collectively gasped when she brought up the military detention center that was previously investigated for reported torture techniques.

ABC; Curtis Means/Daily Mail/Bloomberg via Getty Whoopi Goldberg on 'The View' ; Donald Trump in court

Ana Navarro joked that Guantanamo, located in Cuba, "would be close to [Trump's] Mar-a-Lago," meaning "Melania and come and visit" if he went there.

Trump's former communications staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin brought the conversation back to more serious matters, speculating that "even if he's not convicted, this could resonate with women" and sway the upcoming presidential election.

After Hostin read a legal note that stressed Trump "pleaded not guilty to falsifying business records and has denied ever having an affair with Stormy Daniels," Goldberg turned to the camera to deliver a final blow: "And that's what you do. You deny, deny, deny, lie lie lie, deny, deny, deny!"



The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.



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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree on the application of the law On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Trend reports.

According to the decree, within two months the Cabinet of Ministers shall prepare and submit to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan proposals on officials authorized to draw up protocols on cases of administrative offenses stipulated by Article 517-3 of the Code of Administrative Offences and solve other issues arising from the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan No. 1116-VIQD On Amendments to the Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Administrative Offenses dated March 29, 2024.

Moreover, the head of state signed the law on amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses.

The document stipulates that new fines will be introduced for non-compliance with the rules of behavior during the introduction of the regime of the emergency environment of social character.

Under the law, for non-compliance with the rules of behavior during the introduction of an emergency regime of a social nature, individuals will be fined from 100 manat ($58.8) to 200 manat ($117.6), officials from 300 manat ($176.4) to 600 manat ($352.9), or administrative arrest for up to one month will be applied according to the circumstances of the case, taking into account the personality of the offender. Legal entities will be fined from 1000 manat ($588.2) to 1500 manat ($882.3).

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Notoriously noxious Hollywood has-been Harvey Weinstein was transferred from a hospital prison unit to notoriously noxious Rikers Islandbut his spokesperson is pushing back on claims that he was getting VIP treatment.

Calling his lawyer isnt VIP service; its standard for someone facing trial, Juda Engelmayer told The Daily Beast on Tuesday. There was no cushy treatment.

Weinsteinwho is locked up while awaiting retrial on rape chargeswas moved from Bellevue Hospitals intensive care unit for detainees to the Rikers infirmary on Monday evening. Engelmayer said the transfer was unwarranted because Weinsteins medical issues were being handled properly and he needs the care.

Convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years, Weinstein scored a court victory last month when an appeals court threw out the guilty verdict, finding the court should not have allowed some witnesses to testify.

Weinstein Wheeled Into Court as Prosecutors Vow to Retry Him

He had been held at a state prison in upstate New York but after the decision was moved to Rikers, where detainees awaiting trial are held. He was transferred to Bellevue with complaints of chest pain on April 27 and reportedly has since been diagnosed with pneumonia. Engelmayer said that Weinstein has a heart condition, spinal issues, and a long list of concerns.

Harvey said The care at Bellevue was excellent and I appreciate the care that was given, Engelmayer said, adding that the prison will do the best they can, but the services and capabilities at Rikers are more limited, and his medical needs are serious.

The transfer comes after the news site The City reported on Monday that Weinstein was being held on a Bellevue floor separate from other detaineesand was enjoying a private room, bathroom phone, and television. The outlet reported that the 72-year-old was spending his days watching CNN, talking on the phone, and speaking in person to his lawyer.

Citing sources, the New York Post reported that The Citys article set off officials in the city Department of Corrections, who immediately began contemplating how to move him and when to move him quickly.

Engelmayer pushed back on reports that Weinstein was getting special treatment, stating that he was getting standard medical care for someone facing trial.

Bellevue is just set up differently, he added. The room with the phone is a smaller space, there are fewer inmates and so, it often could have looked like he had it to himself.

Someone must have complained, but its not a private room, just empty most of the time.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Jennifer Lawrence hasnt attended the Met Gala in almost a decade. Her last appearance at the event was in 2015. Tonight was no different.

Lawrence made her Met Gala debut in 2013, where she appeared in a strapless, flower-adorned black Christian Dior gown that was belted at the waist. She wore a netted veil in her hair to reflect the nights PUNK: Chaos To Couture theme.

Rabbani and Solimene Photography - Getty Images

That same year, she spoke with ELLE Canada about being tapped to be a Dior ambassador and how her relationship with fashion has changed. Id never really been that interested in fashion. Im like every girlI want to wear something that looks good, but when it came to red carpets, I was never very opinionated, she said. But if I dont have an opinion, then somebody else will. So, I decided to start being more vocal about what I like and dont like. If I have to wear something, I may as well wear something I like!

She spoke with ELLE Canada again in November 2023 about her personal style, telling the magazine: I normally lean toward a more understated elegance and quiet luxury.

She also spoke about how she became interested in watches, which ultimately led her to becoming an ambassador for Longines. The first watch I ever wore was a digital watch that had kind of a [Magic] 8-Ball question-answer situation. You could say Does so-and-so have a crush on me? [And itd be] like, No way! she recalled. Then I started caring about watches about four or five years ago. My husband and I were engaged, and my brother- in-law gifted me a watch from his father. It was just really meaningful to me, obviously. Thats when I started to notice watches, which led me to Longines.

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25,000 Cases of Apple Juice Is Being Recalled in More Than 30 States Due to Elevated Arsenic Levels

Check your fridge  you might need to dump your juice.

Martinelli's

Double-check your apple juice before drinking it.

Food Safety News reports that S. Martinelli & Company is recalling approximately 25,000 cases of Martinellis Gold Medal Apple Juice because sampling conducted in Maryland showed elevated levels of inorganic arsenic in the product.

The recall, which is ongoing, was issued on April 16, and S. Martinelli & Co. has reached out to vendors in 34 U.S. states, as well as Puerto Rico and Panama, where the juices were distributed. Food Safety News notes that these states include: Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.

The juice's best-by dates are March 9 and 10, 2026. For a full list of the affected batch numbers, go here.

Related: What's the Difference Between 'Sell By,' 'Use By,' and 'Best By' Dates?

Though the affected apple juice has a 2026 expiration date, it was actually produced early last year and shipped to grocery stores between March and September of 2023, with the majority of shipments delivered prior to July 28, 2023. No other products in the Martinellis line are affected, and S. Martinelli & Co. has instructed retailers to discontinue sales of the product.

While the FDA explains that elevated levels of arsenic can cause negative health effects as wide-ranging as developmental defects, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, so far, no one has complained of adverse effects from the recalled Martinellis apple juice. Relatedly, the FDA only issued its official guidance on inorganic arsenic levels in apple juice as recently as June 2023; before that, it had spent 10 years in the draft phase, not codified by the agency.

Related: The Best Way to Store Meat in Your Fridge and Freezer

The current action level is 10 parts per billion, whereas it had previously been 23 parts per billion. The apple juice tested in Maryland indicated 11.6 parts per billion.

Martinellis issued a recall on this same variety of apple juice last year because of a potential issue with the glass used to make the bottles. The quality of the glass was such that there was a risk of shards chipping off into the juice, though this was a smaller-scale recall and the issue has since been resolved.

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Read the original article on Food & Wine.
Shrimp & Lemon Rice is available Monday, May 6, 2024, at Fox River Brewing Company in Appleton, Wisconsin. The dish is part of the restaurants special Mothers Day menu. It consists of shrimp with house mad lemon rice, served with a parmesan and sundried tomato cream sauce and fresh asparagus. Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.

APPLETON - Mother's Day is on May 12 this year and you're likely wondering where to take the motherly figure in your life out to eat. Restaurants in the Fox Valley are preparing to serve breakfast, lunch and even dinner for families celebrating the holiday with special buffets and custom menus.

Gifts and a meal are some of the best ways to show appreciation to a motherly figure, but can also be difficult decisions to make without a guide. If you're having trouble finding the perfect gift for Mother's Day, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin asked moms across Northeast Wisconsin what they actually want to receive this year.

A spa day, a clean home and a much-needed break were amongst the top answers.

If you're having trouble finding a restaurant, here are six restaurants in the Fox Valley to visit for special Mother's Day meals.

1100 Appleton Road, Menasha; 920-722-7885

Michiels Bar & Grill will have a brunch buffet from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with the option to choose from chef carved tenderloin, chef carved ham, broasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, smoked salmon, shrimp, scrambled eggs, sausage links and more. A full dessert bar is included. The restaurant encourages customers to place reservations over the phone ahead of the holiday.

501 W. Water St., Appleton, 920-993-9087

Alongside it's regular menu, Fratellos will be serving a specially curated brunch menu for Mother's Day. The menu will include sirloin and eggs, an omelet, chicken and waffles, French toast, eggs benedict and gravy and kids chocolate chip pancakes. The brunch will be available from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Reservations can be made by phone.

W3010 Edgewood Trail, Appleton, 920-968-0222

The StoneYard in Appleton will serve a buffet from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The buffet will have options including honey glazed ham, broasted chicken, slow braised beef tips, macaroni and cheese, scrambled eggs, bacon, French toast sticks, pancakes and cheesy hash browns. It will cost $24.99 for adults and $12.99 for kids age four to 11. A 20% gratuity will be added to all checks, regardless of party size. Reservations can be made by phone.

220 N. Fox River Dr., Appleton, 920-830-2326

At The Machine Shed's brunch buffet, customers can choose from items like a made-to-order omelet station, baked and fried chicken, herb-crusted pork loin, smoked salmon, breakfast staples, macaroni and cheese and beef pot roast. The buffet will be available from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., after the restaurant will return to its normal menu. The cost for adults is $32.99 and $16.50 for ages 6 through 12. Reservations can be made by phone.

The Berry Momsacto drink is available Monday, May 6, 2024, at Fox River Brewing Company in Appleton, Wisconsin. The drink is part of the restaurants special Mothers Day menu and is made with Moscato wine mixed with honey, lemon and raspberries. Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.

4301 W. Wisconsin Ave., Appleton, 920-991-0000; 1401 Arboretum Drive., Oshkosh, 920-232-2337

The Appleton Fox River Brewing Company has curated a special menu which will be available the entire week of Mother's Day. From May 6 to May 12, customers can visit and choose from items on the menu like the Strawberry Fields Salad, shrimp and lemon rice and bruschetta chicken salad. The menu also includes two specialty cocktails, a blueberry lemonade mimosa and Berry Momscato.

The restaurant's Oshkosh location will serve a brunch buffet on the holiday. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. the location will have breakfast and lunch options and a dessert bar. Customers can choose from bacon, scrambled eggs, French toast sticks, roasted chicken, salmon, carved ham and sirloin and more. The regular menu will resume at 4 p.m. Adults cost $34, kids age nine through 12 cost $16 and kids age four through eight cost $13. Reservations can be made on its website or by phone.

N8770 Fire Lane 1, Menasha, 920-733-9721

Waverly Beach will serve a brunch buffet from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with hot breakfast and lunch items to choose from. The buffet will include ham, prime rib, broasted chicken, sausage links, bacon, scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese, cheesy hashbrowns, chicken tenders, stuffing, salads, deviled eggs and desserts. It will cost $35.99 for adults and $15.99 for kids age four through 12. A 20% gratuity will be added to all checks. Reservations can be made on the website. The restaurant asks customers looking to make reservations for a party of 20 or more to email sscott@anduzzis.com.

Reach Jelissa Burns at 920-453-5107 or jburns1@gannett.com. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @burns_jelissa or on Instagram at burns_jelissa.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: 6 restaurants in the Fox Valley to visit for Mother's Day 2024
WELLS, Maine  At Bake Maine, a new breakfast, lunch and pastry shop, theres a savory sandwich called The Brandon that includes a baked egg, bacon, ham and sausage, all topped with cheddar, American cheese, dijonnaise, arugula, tomato, and avocado, all tucked in between a ciabatta bun.

Never heard of The Brandon? Theres a reason for that. Its unique to Bake Maine, which is owned by Wells natives Kristen and Doug Perry and opened at 2178 Post Road on Friday, May 3.

Doug and Kristen Perry opened their new bakery, Bake Maine, in their hometown of Wells, Maine, on Friday, May 3, 2024. The couple is seen here inside the bakery, which serves breakfast and lunch and seats around 40 people, the day before their grand opening.

According to Doug, Brandon was just a customer who walked into a previous shop at which he worked and said, Give me everything you have. Doug did just that, and the meat-packed, heavily topped breakfast sandwich made its debut in the world.

We ended up becoming friends, Doug said.

The Brandon ended up as one of several sandwiches on which Doug is putting his own twist at his and Kristens new shop.

'Stephen King's Maine': New book is a fan's guide to the people, haunts behind the novels

New Bake Maine is homecoming for Wells couple

While Bake Maine is new to Wells, its actually the second such bakery and sandwich shop that goes by that name. The Perrys opened their first one in Portland in early 2023. Based on the quick success of that operation, they decided to expand their enterprise into their hometown. Both Kristen and Doug graduated from Wells High School in 1998.

For the couple, the new Bake Maine is a return to the local eatery scene. With a business partner, the Perrys opened and operated 1690 House Bakeshop and Cafe in Wells from 2017 through 2020. Afterward, they managed A Cafe and Bakery, also in Wells, until 2022. That year, they moved into the Portland space on Washington Avenue.

The professional homecoming feels good, according to Kristen. She said she is looking forward to connecting again with the base of customers she and Doug built up during their first forays into local eateries before they started their Portland business.

Its really nice to be home, she said.

The shop will be open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Well expand hours as we get closer to summer, Kristen said.

Above & Beyond Catering: Opens new wedding, events venue in Sanford, Maine

Sweet and savory on the menu at Bake Maine

Kristen provides the sweet half of the shops menu, and Doug brings the savory one. She discovered baking by watching Julia Child, the famous French chef, on PBS when she was young. She studied the art of French baking in Paris and New York City. Before returning to Maine, she worked for two French chefs in Boston.

Doug has a history of working at local restaurants, including the Maine Diner. Coming up in his career, he figured he would own a diner of his own someday.

Not too far off, Kristen said to him from her seat in their shops dining area.

Doug and Kristen Perry enjoy a light moment in front of their new bakery, Bake Maine, on Post Road in their hometown of Wells, Maine, on Thursday, May 2, 2024.

The menu at Bake Maine features eight sandwiches for breakfast and seven for lunch, as well as a Power Bowl salad and the soup of the day. The idea, the Perrys said, is to focus on their unique offerings and to leave room to shake things up with specials, should another Brandon walk in with ideas of his own.

We dont want to do what everyone else is doing, Doug said. Most of our stuff, almost 90% of our stuff, is from scratch, made here. A lot of restaurants are going away from that because they dont have the labor.

The Brandon is not the only sandwich named for someone. Theres a breakfast sandwich called The Kristen with a baked egg, cheddar cheese, dijonnaise, avocado, tomato and spinach on a biscuit.

The Wilson features black pastrami, fried egg, hot honey chive mayo, pepperjack cheese on a potato bun.

For lunch, theres also The Lawson, named after Kristens father. That one has roast beef, pepperjack cheese, fried onions, hot honey chive mayo, and arugula on a potato bun.

As for the baked goods, itll be Kristen in the kitchen making croissants, scones, tarts, French macaroons, and more.

Bake Maine offers croissants, scones, tarts, French macaroons, and more.

Its those macaroons Kristen likes best.

The outside of them is a thin crispiness, and the inside is soft and gooey and melts in your mouth, she said. You can change the flavors so easily because its two shells of a cookie and a filling. The whole bite can be like multiple layers of flavor and texture.

Kristen also said she might want to teach a baking class at the shop  something she once did at York County Community College  and she and Doug might begin offering pop-up meals at one point.

'HB' says farewell: Longtime owners officially sell historic Kennebunk store

Opening Bake Maine in Wells 'a dream come true'

Opening a second Bake Maine is both terrifying and exciting, Kristen said and smiled, but for her and Doug, its a dream come true, a longtime goal theyve achieved in the hometown they love.

And do the Perrys see a third Bake Maine opening somewhere? When asked, Kristen laughed and nodded toward her husband.

He does, she said.

For more information, visit online at bakemaine.com or call (207) 216-9060.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Bake Maine: Wells couple brings sweet and savory eats to hometown
In March 2024, Aldi issued a major product recall after its Village Bakery Tortilla Wraps were suspected to contain pieces of metal. According to the U.K. Food Standards Agency, the substance might have ended up in the flatbread due to tampering. While the human body requires small amounts of minerals such as iron and zinc to function, authorities have advised against eating the metal-laced tortilla wraps.

This isn't the first time Aldi has issued a concerning food product recall. In its history, the company has had to announce bigger (and sometimes more shocking) recalls to ensure customer safety. For instance, there was one about dangerous cheese, and another about 130,000 pounds of dangerous meat that affected 35 states. There was even an incident of horse meat that suppliers tried to pass off as beef. Read on if you want to know the biggest food recalls that have ever affected Aldi products.

Read more: The Most Delicious Aldi Finds Of All Time

Frozen Peas Recalled In 7 States

Frozen peas up close - Nickbeer/Getty Images

In April 2017, Aldi recalled over 2,000 packages of Season's Best Frozen Sweet Peas from stores in seven states, namely: Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. In a statement, Aldi said that it decided on the recall as a precaution and quickly removed the affected product from their store shelves.

The cause of such a recall in so many places? An outbreak of listeriosis, an infection caused by eating food contaminated by listeria bacteria. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year around 1,600 people contract listeriosis, with the most vulnerable groups being pregnant women, newborns, senior citizens, and those with compromised immune systems.

While listeria is not as prevalent as other foodborne bacteria like salmonella and E.coli, it is the deadliest. Of the 1,600 infected annually, 260 die from it. In the case of the Aldi's recall, there weren't any reports of anyone getting sick from the peas.

40,000 Pounds Of Barbecue Pork Products

Pork ribs at deli section - Weerajit Kosingh/Getty Images

That's a lot of pork ribs. In May 2023, Eastern Meat Solutions Inc., which supplies pork products to Aldi and Walmart, recalled 40,763 pounds of pork that were not inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The items that Aldi stocked, namely Park Street Deli Sweet Chipotle Boneless Pork Ribs with Sauce and Park Street Deli Hawaiian Style Boneless Pork Ribs with Sauce, originated from Ontario, Canada and entered the United States without being thoroughly inspected by the FSIS. Without these inspections, food items  especially meats  cannot be guaranteed safe for consumption.

There were no reports of anyone getting sick from eating the pork products, but customers were nonetheless advised to return or throw away the items. If you're unsure about the freshness of the meat you're about to eat, it's better to skip it. Authorities warned that eating undercooked or contaminated pork can lead to trichinosis and hepatitis, among other infections.

Meat Products With Bone Fragments Recalled In 35 States

Turkey kielbasa unwrapped on counter - Lauripatterson/Getty Images

In January 2024, in cooperation with its supplier Salm Partners, Aldi recalled over 130,000 pounds of turkey kielbasa. There was so much of it that the recall affected stores in 35 states, totaling 2,972 Aldi stores nationwide. The reason for such a massive recall was bone fragments, which led to many unpleasant dining experiences and one minor oral injury.

There are different reasons why bone particles could end up in your kielbasa. For instance, with so much work involved in the slaughter process, it's hard for butchers to avoid overlooking bits of bone. Another is that many factories separate the meat from the bones using machines, which are not always so accurate, and this inaccuracy sometimes leads to pulverized bone bits in cuts like ground beef or sausages.

It's unclear though how exactly the bone fragments ended up in Aldi's Parkview Turkey Polska Kielbasa. According to the company, affected items were all contained in 13-ounce vacuum-sealed packages and labeled with the UPC code 4099100078954. So, for those who have been saving one of these in the freezer in anticipation of a future barbecue, it would be best to dispose of the kielbasa to save you and your BBQ guests a trip to the dentist.

Charcuterie Meats That Led To A Salmonella Outbreak

A complete charcuterie board - Igor Dutina/Shutterstock

Skip the coppa at your next dinner party. In January 2024, Fratelli Beretta USA, Inc. recalled its charcuterie meats, particularly packages that contained coppa. According to the USDA, the contaminated items had the salmonella bacteria as a result of under-processing.

Aldi, which sells Fratelli Beretta's charcuterie meat products under its Appleton Farms Gourmet Deli Selection brand, recalled affected items from its stores in 39 states. If you bought coppa from Aldi at the start of the year, there's a chance that it could still be in your fridge, given its long shelf life. The product comes in a six-ounce plastic tray, has a best-before date of "7/3/2024," and has the UPC code: 4099100038149. If you do have the item in stock, the company has advised you to "discard it immediately or return it to their local store for a full refund."

In a report, the CDC concluded that the outbreak was over, but not before infecting 104 people from 33 states. 27 of those who fell ill were hospitalized, but fortunately, there were no reported deaths.

Six Deaths And 159 Hospitalizations From Cantaloupe

Sliced cantaloupe on cutting board - Pjohnson1/Getty Images

When you hear about salmonella, you typically think of contaminated eggs or meat, but did you know that it could also come from fruit? In October 2023, the CDC cautioned the public about eating pre-cut cantaloupe after a salmonella outbreak affected 407 people. Of that number, 159 were hospitalized and six died. The agency, however, added that those statistics were likely underreported because there were victims who recovered from salmonella without going to the hospital or getting tested.

The contaminated cantaloupes were distributed and sold in 44 states, leading to huge recalls involving many restaurants and retail chains. Aldi, for its part, issued a recall notice for its cantaloupe, cantaloupe chunk, and pineapple spear products in its stores in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

There are many ways that cantaloupes can get infected, from coming in contact with animal feces or dirty irrigation water to improper handling by farm workers. The bacteria could also spread when the fruit isn't washed thoroughly. The cantaloupe's nubby surface acts as an ideal environment for bacterial growth, and when that tainted rind gets cut, the salmonella could move to the inner flesh. This is one reason it's best to avoid pre-cut fruit.

Stone Fruits That Left One Person Dead

Ripe peaches and plums for sale - Patty_c/Getty Images

The last few months of 2023 weren't great for fruit lovers. In October of that year, there was the salmonella outbreak involving contaminated cantaloupes. Then, a month later in November 2023, the FDA warned the public to be wary of peaches, plums, and nectarines that carried the listeria bacteria.

The new outbreak resulted in 10 hospitalizations and one death in seven states. There was even a case of a woman going into early labor after contracting the illness. To contain the problem, HMC Farms, the supplier of the contaminated stone fruits, issued a recall affecting retailers Publix, Walmart, Albertsons, and Aldi. 29 Aldi locations across the country disposed of their fruit stocks.

If you recently stored peaches, plums, or nectarines in your crisper drawer, don't forget to wash them before eating because cold temperatures cannot kill the listeria bacteria. And if there's a recall notice related to the fruits you bought, discard the produce immediately and don't even bother making a smoothie.

Over 80,000 Cases Of Kraft Singles

Kraft American Singles processed cheese slices - Juanmonino/Getty Images

There was nothing to smile about for retailers like Aldi when Kraft Heinz announced a recall of about 83,800 cases of its individually wrapped Kraft American Singles processed cheese slices in September 2023. In a statement, Kraft Heinz explained that it had received complaints from customers who had choked on the cheese's thin plastic film. After an investigation, it was found that the issue was due to a manufacturing error wherein tiny strips of plastic remained on the cheese slice even after removing the wrapper.

There were no deaths or serious injuries from the incident. Kraft Heinz also assured the public that it had repaired the broken wrapping machine and checked others for similar errors. With the cheese slices being a popular grocery item that's stocked nearly everywhere, Aldi was heavily affected by the recall. The grocery store chain had to remove the Kraft Heinz product from its stores in 38 states.

38,909 Cases Of Contaminated Pineapples

Pineapple chunks in a bowl - Jonathandowney/Getty Images

By now, you know that listeria is one persistent parasite. It not only caused outbreaks related to frozen peas, peaches, plums, and nectarines, but in July 2023, it also led to pineapple contaminations.

How pineapples transmit listeria is quite similar to how cantaloupe is contaminated. If the fruit is improperly handled, the bacteria clings and proliferates in the many nooks and crannies of its rough outer surface. And because a pineapple's rind is difficult to wash, unsuspecting victims tend to skip or hastily do this preventive health measure. The end result is the same: The bacteria transfers to the inner parts of the fruit during the cutting process.

Aldi, in cooperation with its supplier SunOpta, recalled its Season's Choice brand of frozen Mixed Fruit and Tropical Blend Fruit in response to the outbreak, pulling out 38,909 cases from its stores in 27 states. The issue also heavily affected other retailers based on FDA data. For instance, Whole Foods removed 34,578 cases of its 365 Organic Tropical Fruit Medley, while Walmart disposed of 70,360 cases of its Great Value Mixed Fruit. And although no illnesses were reported, the listeria-related incidents that we've featured so far remind us that we really need to know how to wash fruits and veggies.

Onions That Caused A Nationwide Salmonella Outbreak

Top view of red onions - Fotografiabasica/Getty Images

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic wasn't the only outbreak that health authorities had to deal with  there was also the one involving salmonella. In June of that year, the CDC noticed a surge in salmonella infections linked to red onions and warned the public to avoid eating onions of any type supplied by Thomson International Inc. The spread of the bacteria had already begun, however, and by October 2020, the infections had reached every U.S. state except Louisiana and Vermont. A total of 1,127 people fell ill from the salmonella strain and 167 of those were hospitalized. No deaths were reported.

In response to the outbreak, Aldi recalled all red, white, yellow, and sweet onions under the Onion 52 brand, which was supplied by Thomson International Inc. The recall affected Aldi locations in 14 states, as well as items available on Instacart. Other companies that also had to issue similar recalls included Walmart, Kroger, and Food Lion.

The CDC estimates that salmonella causes 1.35 million infections in the U.S. alone each year, leading to 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths. To reduce your chances of catching the bacteria, ideally choose fresh onions that aren't bruised or damaged. Make it a habit to use a separate cutting board for raw chicken to avoid cross-contamination.

56,578 Pounds Of Sandwiches Recalled For Plastic Contamination

Ham and cheese sandwich - Boblin/Getty Images

In April 2019, one foreign material became a sandwich filling: Hard semi-transparent plastic. After receiving customer complaints about the unexpected ingredient, manufacturer J&J Snack Foods Corp. recalled 56,578 pounds of its hot stuffed sandwiches from retailers nationwide. To put that into perspective, the serving size of a 6-inch roast beef sandwich at Subway is 224 grams (or roughly 0.49 pounds). If we're to imagine the amount of recalled J&J sandwiches in terms of Subway subs, it would be around 115,465 roast beef sandwiches.

Aldi, which stocks the products, recalled its supplier's Bremer Classic Pepperoni Pizza Hot Stuffed Sandwiches and Bremer Classic Ham & Cheese Hot Stuffed Sandwiches from stores in 29 states. It's unclear how so much plastic got included in the sandwiches or how many people had accidentally ingested the unsavory filling. FSIS later said that no one was harmed from the incident.

More Than 132,000 Pounds Of Meat Contaminated With E.coli

Ground beef patty at grocery store - Kristi Blokhin/Shutterstock

In July 2018, at least 18 people started feeling sick after consuming ground beef from manufacturer Cargill Meat Solutions. Two months later, the USDA announced that one victim had died. The culprit? E.coli.

According to the USDA, meat from the chuck portion of the carcass had been contaminated with a strain of E.coli (O26) that could cause fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and kidney failure. It takes an average of 34 days after exposure for victims to fall ill, which means by the time authorities became aware of the situation, the beef products had already been distributed to locations all across the country.

To contain the outbreak, Cargill recalled 132,000 pounds of its meat products, with Aldi asking its customers in 11 states to dispose of a couple of varieties of 80% lean ground beef patty products. The company also advised Chicagoland-based consumers using the Instacart delivery service to discard the affected items. The massive recall worked and the CDC said that the outbreak was contained.

11.7 Million Pounds Of Chicken Strips

Fried chicken tenders with fries - Elena Veselova/Shutterstock

As it turns out, metals ending up in processed foods is more common than we think. In May 2019, Aldi recalled its Kirkwood Buffalo Crispy Chicken Strips and Kirkwood Honey BBQ Crispy Chicken Strips after supplier Tyson Foods revealed that 11,829,517 pounds of its frozen, ready-to-eat chicken products potentially contained metal.

The FSIS received two complaints from customers who had bitten into the pieces of metal. Other consumer complaints followed, with three saying the extraneous material had caused oral injuries. The grievances forced authorities to classify the chicken strips as high health risks. There were so many of the chicken strips that, for its Kirkwood Buffalo Crispy Chicken Strips and Kirkwood Honey BBQ Crispy Chicken Strips brands, Aldi recalled products available in 29 and 33 states, respectively. There were also recalls in Walmart and AWG stores, as well as notices for products exported to Hong Kong, Bermuda, and St. Maarten.

This wasn't the first time that Tyson Foods had to recall contaminated meat in an enormous quantity. The company issued five different recalls throughout 2019 because pieces of metal, rubber, and plastic kept ending up in its products. Then, in November 2022, it recalled 93,697 pounds of beef due to mirror-like materials in the raw meat. None of these other incidents though involved Aldi.

A Salad Contamination That Had Two Recalls And Affected Two Countries

Pre-packed salads on display - monticello/Shutterstock

In December 2021, Dole announced a recall of its Dole-branded salads, as well as Aldi's private-label products, namely Little Salad Bar and Simply Nature salad kits. The reason for recall shouldn't be a surprise anymore. It was listeria, which was present in random samples taken from the company's Bessemer City, North Carolina and Yuma, Arizona processing facilities.

As mentioned earlier, listeria is a bacteria that poses a danger to pregnant women, newborns, senior citizens, and the immune-compromised. Eating affected foods can result in fever, chills, nausea, diarrhea, convulsions, vomiting, and even death. For the public's safety, Aldi removed the brand salads from its locations in nine states, while Dole notified other retailers in 17 states to recall products containing the lettuce.

But that wasn't enough to stop the spread of the contamination. In January 2022, there was a second Dole recall, this time for salad kits made at their facilities in Springfield, Ohio and Soledad, California. The recall included Aldi's Little Salad Bar brand, forcing the company to take down the items from stores in 22 states. In addition, Aldi removed the said products available on Instacart's grocery delivery platform. Dole asked other grocery companies not only in the U.S. but also in Canada, to remove affected salad bowls and kits. Despite the bacteria becoming widespread, Aldi said that there were no reports of serious illness related to their products.

Beef Products That Were Actually Horse Meat

Horse with owner - Thomas Northcut/Getty Images

One could argue that this was the biggest scandal in the company's history. It not only involved many Aldi stores, but also the entire European Union. In January 2013, news rocked Europe when lab results confirmed that beef burger products sold in various E.U. member states actually contained horse meat. More chaos ensued as Aldi rushed to take down the products while governments across the continent started investigations. That was just the beginning, however, and soon, more Aldi products like Today's Special Frozen Beef Lasagne and Today's Special Frozen Spaghetti Bolognese were found to contain up to 100% horse meat.

How did horse meat end up in beef products? It's a bit complicated; there were a lot of pointing fingers. Aldi blamed its supplier Findus for the contaminated meats. Findus, in turn, blamed its meat supplier Comigel, which blamed its supplier, who then blamed ... you get the point. In the end, authorities arrested a Dutch wholesaler who allegedly sold 300 tons of horse meat and jailed three U.K. men who inflated their profits by passing off horse meat as beef, which is more expensive. If you'd like to read more about the E.U.-wide issue, we published a horse meat scandal explainer.

Read the original article on Mashed
Boca Bash, the day after: How a vlogger had snorkeling 'treasure hunt' for gallons of trash

BOCA RATON  A day after Sunday's annual Boca Bash, Brook Crist took to Lake Boca for a day of "treasure hunting," as she likes to call it.

The treasure? The dozens of gallons of garbage left behind in the ocean by this year's boaters at the bash, the once-a-year water party held on the last Sunday in April in Boca Raton.

Crist, of Pompano Beach, was at the event. But not in the way most others were.

She drove there to fly her drone overhead to capture footage of the water from above, to compare it to her footage from the next day, when she'd fly the drone again. She's since uploaded a vlog of Monday's search, featuring both clips.

"There were hundreds of boats, and like thousands of people anchored everywhere," Crist said. "The next day, when we went back to clean it up, there were maybe, max, 10 to 12 boats."

Boca Bash cleanup featured on vloggers' YouTube pages

Brook Crist, of Pompano Beach, and her friend Christine collect trash in Lake Boca on April 29, 2024, a day after the 2024 Boca Bash.

For the last five years, Crist and her now-husband, Viktor Hluben, have cleaned, or "treasure hunted" in, the lake after the bash.

The pair are content creators with social-media pages dedicated to fishing, diving, cooking and life outside. Crist has more than 295,000 subscribers on her YouTube page, Brook Crist Outdoors, and Viktor, Landshark Outdoors, has more than 725,000.

"Boca is very local to me," Crist said. "It's basically our local sandbar. "So as far as cleaning up, I feel like I'm cleaning up my local waters."

Each time she and Hluben go, she said, there are always others there hunting for treasure. But rarely is there ever anybody helping clean up the trash.

"We basically just go wanting to help clean up our environment, because there is a lot of trash after that event," Crist said. "Hopefully, we can make a little dent in it."

This year, Crist's friend joined them. With masks, snorkels and fins on, and with mesh bags in hand, the trio collected 10 gallons of garbage.

"We went around just picking up all the trash that we could find," Crist said.

Mostly, it was bottles and cans. But more than 10 sunglasses, about two dozen e-cigarettes and a cellphone made the cut, too. Beaded necklaces in an assortment of colors and a dollar bill topped the piles of trash.

"I always like to call it treasure hunting, but as far as treasures go, there are not many to be found," Crist said.

'Treasure hunters' glad Boca Bash trash-dumping video has gone viral

The amount of trash picked up on Monday was typical, she said. Every year, she and Hluben pick up anywhere from two to three 5-gallon buckets of garbage left behind.

But this year, Lake Boca's in the spotlight after a video posted online by a group known as Wavy Boats, showing a group of boaters dumping two cans full of trash into the ocean, went viral. The video, posted on Monday, has since been featured on national television news shows and in international media reports.

Two teenagers turned themselves into FWC authorities on Friday. The parents of one of them issued an apology through a spokesperson during the weekend, saying the family was "extremely saddened" by the incident and urging that the teens be given community service as a punishment to make the dumping "a teachable moment."

"It's very disturbing and disgusting to see that people would do something like that," Crist said. "The reality of it is that that happens every year. They just happened to actually get filmed doing it, but the amount of trash that is dumped there every single year is just outrageous."

But Crist is glad the video has gone viral, she said.

"It's making a lot of people very aware," Crist said. "And I hope that it makes people think twice again before they do something like this, because it does happen every year."

The two teens filmed dumping trash in the video uploaded by Wavy Boats have turned themselves into authorities, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson said Friday.

"The illegal dumping of trash in our marine environment is a serious crime, and we worked closely with the Palm Beach County State Attorneys Office to determine appropriate charges," FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said.

"Callous disregard for Floridas environment will not be tolerated. This is a teaching moment for all those involved  Floridas natural resources are precious, and we should all do our part to protect them."

Jasmine Fernandez is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boca Bash 2024: YouTubers 'treasure hunt' for trash dumped in lake
Uniquely is a Bellingham Herald series that covers the moments, landmarks and personalities that define what makes living in Northwest Washington so special.

Spring is coming to Whatcom County, and today The Bellingham Herald launches a new series of Destination profiles for you to enjoy. We will be exploring local cities, islands and other destinations that can be experienced within a days travel from Bellingham.

To kick things off, we explored Lynden and found a fairy tale forest, delicious pastries, sweet locally-owned shops and beautiful scenery.

Stop 1: Bellewood Farms

On your way from Bellingham to Lynden, take WA-539 to stop at Bellewood Farms and Distillery for a quick breakfast or coffee. Bellewood Farms and Distillery is an apple orchard, seasonal pumpkin patch, distillery, farm store and cafe that offers a variety of drinks, food and baked goods.

Bellewood Farms and Distillery at 6140 Guide Meridian Rd. in Lynden, Wash. on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Grab breakfast at the cafe or a to-go coffee and pastry for your drive up to downtown Lynden, and enjoy the beautiful views from the farmstead.

Bellewood Farms and Distillery at 6140 Guide Meridian Rd. in Lynden, Wash. on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Bellewood Farms also offers free distillery tastings and a farm store full of homemade pies, butters, ciders and more.

Bellewood Farms and Distillery at 6140 Guide Meridian Rd. in Lynden, Wash. on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

The business is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday at 6140 Guide Meridian Rd. in Lynden.

After visiting Bellewood Farms, continue on your drive to downtown, which leads you through tree-lined streets.

Trees lining Front St. in Lynden, Wash. on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Stop 2: Downtown Shops

Youll know you found downtown Lynden when you see The Mill at Seventh, a restaurant nestled inside an iconic windmill. Across Front Street from The Mill, youll be able to park in a large, free public parking lot.

The Mill at Seventh and the Dutch Village Mall on Thursday, May 3 at 655 Front St, Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Downtown Lynden was first planned out in 1871, according to the Lynden Heritage Museum website, and now is home to a variety of small, locally owned shops to explore  and a hidden gem: The Dutch Village Mall.

The Dutch Village Mall on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 655 Front St, Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

The Dutch Village Mall looks quaint from the outside, but inside its doors youll find a hidden town square with an indoor koi pond, bridges, a restaurant, stores and a theater.

The Dutch Village Mall on Thursday, May 3, 2024 at 655 Front St, Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Chandara House restaurant inside The Dutch Village Mall on Thursday, May 3, 2024 at 655 Front St, Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Visitors can enjoy The Claire Theaters latest production, a bite to eat from Chandara House, an authentic Thai restaurant or stop in a shop such as Opal and Oak, a housewares, clothing and gift shop.

Opal and Oak was opened in May 2022 by husband-and-wife duo Hollie and Colin Morris.

I have been in design with my previous job of 20 years, so always have had a passion and interest in home decor and decorating, Mollie Morris wrote in a message to The Herald. Lynden is such a quaint small town, and we didnt have a boutique quite like ours so when the opportunity arose, we jumped at it.

Opal and Oak, a a housewares, clothing and gift shop on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 655 Front St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

I hope to provide a place where people can come in and have a positive. And pleasant experience and feel joy when they shop with us. I hope that we can offer a little something for everyone and that they can feel the heart and love that is put into each item that we choose to bring into our shop, Morris said.

Opal and Oak is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at 655 Front St.

Lynden has a very Dutch heritage, which is easy to spot. But it is also such a tight-knit community. Everyone really does look out for each other. Almost feels like a big extended family at times, Morris said.

Stop 3: Eucatastrophe Coffee and Used Books

As you continue east down Front Street, make sure to stop in at Eucatastrophe Coffee and Used Books to grab a drink and pastry before your next stop and explore the vast rows of used books that take you further and further into the store.

Eucatastrophe Coffee and Used Books on Thursday, May 3, 2024 at 515 Front St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

The cafe has an indoor seating area for you to enjoy a variety of espresso drinks and baked goods, or a book from their massive collection.

Eucatastrophe Coffee and Used Books is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 515 Front St.

Stop 4: Lynden Heritage Museum

The Lynden Heritage Museum is located at the far East end of Front Street and is a must-see for history buffs or curious visitors.

The museum filled its 30,000 square feet with other 20,000 items on display to educate visitors on the history of Whatcom County and the city of Lynden, as well as rotating new exhibits.

The Lynden Heritage Museum on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 217 Front St, Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Admission costs $10 for adults, $7 for students and seniors. Children and veterans are admitted for free. The Lynden Heritage Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at 217 Front St.

Stop 5: Lunch at The Newsroom Pub

After your busy morning of exploring, we recommend stopping for lunch at The Newsroom Pub, although Lynden has a variety of restaurants to choose from along Front Street.

The Newsroom Pub on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 608 Front St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

The Newsroom Pub opened in 2022 in a historic building that used to house the Lynden Tribune. The newspaper was printed there for 41 years, according to the restaurants website. The pub is decorated with historic newspaper front pages and nods to the local newspaper that continues to publish.

The Newsroom Pub on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 608 Front St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

The Newsroom Pub is open to all ages and has indoor and outdoor seating. The restaurant serves fish tacos, burgers, salads, fish and chips, nachos, mac and cheese and paninis, as well as ice cream from Edaleen Dairy.

The Newsroom Pub is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at 608 Front St.

Stop 6: Village Books and Paper Dreams

After lunch, stroll through Village Books and Paper Dreams, a book and gift store that has another location in Bellingham. This location is attached to another great restaurant with multiple Whatcom County locations, Avenue Bread, as well as a womens clothing boutique Cheeks Jeans.

Village Books and Paper Dreams on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 430 Front St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Village Books and Paper Dreams is open from 10 a.m to 5 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday at 430 Front St.

Stop 7: Alsum Trading Company and Summit Thrift Store

A few doors down from Village Books and Paper Dreams is Alsum Trading Company, a large home goods antique shop.

Alsum Trading Company on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 400 Front St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Alsum Trading Company is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 400 Front St.

For those who love finding more good deals, right next door to the antique shop is Summit Thrift Store, which is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 404 Front St.

Stop 8: Lynden Dutch Bakery

The Lynden Dutch Bakery on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 421 Front St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/ The Bellingham Herald

After exploring more shops downtown, you may me craving something sweet. The Lynden Dutch Bakery is your perfect stop to pick up a coffee and a homemade treat.

The Lynden Dutch Bakery on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 421 Front St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

The Lynden Dutch Bakery was started in 1907 and is known for its authentic Dutch baked goods, treats and desserts.

The Lynden Dutch Bakery on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 421 Front St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Whether youre craving a chocolate tart, an almond koekie, butter cookies, white chocolate raspberry scones, caramel apple pie, raspberry cream cheese muffin or a cinnamon roll, Lynden Dutch Bakery lives up to its reputation.

An almond koekie and chocolate tart from The Lynden Dutch Bakery on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 421 Front St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Lynden Dutch Bakery is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at 421 Front St.

Grab a coffee and a treat to enjoy on your stroll at our next stop.

Stop 9: Jim Kaemingk Sr. Trail

A few minutes away from Front St. is a hidden gem: Jim Kaemingk Sr. Trail. The trail is an easy, paved road that connects neighborhoods and Lynden Middle School along Fishtrap Creek, and has some beautiful scenery along its path.

A storybook-like cottage on the Jim Kaemingk Sr. Trail on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 503 Brookfield Ct. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

If you enter the trail at 503 Brookfield Ct., park your car on the street and begin walking along the school playfields chain link fence. Youll reach a fork in the road where you can choose to visit a fairy tale-like cottage on your left, or a forest-lined stream and bridge on your right.

A bridge over Fish Trap creek on the Jim Kaemingk Sr. Trail on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 503 Brookfield Ct. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Stop 10: Edaleen Dairy

If youre craving another sweet treat on your adventure-filled day, take a three-minute drive to Edaleen Dairy for homemade ice cream. The Lynden-based dairy has storefronts across Whatcom County, serving up its delicious ice cream, milk, yogurt, cheese and other dairy products.

Edaleen Dairy on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 1011 E Grover St. in Lynden, Wash. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

At the dairys Lynden storefront, visitors can also pick up deli sandwiches, Dutch sweets and baked goods, soup, cheesecakes and specialty sundaes. Edaleen Dairy is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 1011 E Grover St.

A waffle cone of cappuccino chip ice cream of Edaleen Dairy in Bellingham, Wash. on Aug. 4, 2023. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

Stop 11: Scenic Drive Home

If youre heading south as you leave Lynden, take an alternate way home along Hannegan Road. This route will take you through miles of green farmland, mountain views and a bridge over the Nooksack River.

The view from Hannegan Rd. in Lynden, Wash. on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Alyse Smith/The Bellingham Herald

If youre needing a spot for dinner, pull off at Rusty Wagon Old Tyme Food, Raspberry Ridge Golf Course & Grill or District Brewing.
Dog treated to burger before emotional drop-off at shelter. The pup needs a new home

A playful dog spent 10 years living with a loving family  and now she needs another home.

Before Queens family dropped her off at the shelter, they bought her a cheeseburger and spent every second with her they could in an effort to do anything to lift Queens spirit, a New York humane society wrote May 7 on Facebook.

The shelter  Anitas Stevens Swan Humane Society of Utica  said the pet owners experienced the painful transition after spending a decade caring for Queen. Their apartment building is under new management and doesnt allow pets.

When the family surrendered its beloved dog at the shelter, workers also got emotional and promised we would do any and everything to find Queen the best home, according to the Facebook post and shelter manager Melissa DeMartino.

We know that there is another perfect family out there to pick up on cherishing Queen where they left off, the shelter wrote on Facebook, adding that its spoiling her with toys and treats as she transitions to shelter life.

The shelters post left several social media users emotional, with many saying they cried or felt heartbroken.

As of May 7, Queen was still up for adoption. She is described as an energetic and friendly dog who enjoys playing.

She doesnt act like shes 10 years old, DeMartino told McClatchy News in a phone interview. She has a lot of pep in her step.

The shelter is in Oneida County, a roughly 45-mile drive northeast from Syracuse. More information about its adoption process can be found at anitas-sshs.org.

Sophia, a 14-year-old golden retriever, surrendered to NY shelter. Heartbreaking

Snuggly dog with colossal teeth needs a home, New York shelter says. Meet Eeyore
In an extraordinary feat of determination and ingenuity, Cassie Aran and Lauren Lee, both 29-year-old Florida natives, have etched their names into the records of adventure.

Their remarkable journey, spanning a staggering 500 miles from Jacksonville to Key West, concluded on Saturday, marking a historic milestone in unconventional travel.

As they arrived at the Southernmost Point, an excited crowd, including figures such as Commissioner Clayton Lopez and City Manager Al Childress, enveloped them in a warm embrace of applause and congratulations.

Their story stands as a testament to human determination and the pursuit of dreams, inspiring countless others far beyond Key West.

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Railway freight lines connecting China with Europe via land ports in the northeastern region recorded 2,000 inbound and outbound trips in the first quarter of this year as of Sunday  a year-on-year increase of 7 percent, according to China Railway Harbin Group.

The trains, which pass through Manzhouli Port in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and through Suifenhe Port and Tongjiang Port in Heilongjiang province, moved 210,000 standard shipping containers, a year-on-year increase of 6 percent. It was a record high, the group said.

Since the beginning of this year, the volume of trains passing through the three ports accounted for about one-third of the whole country, representing continuous improvement in the quality of cross-border logistics.

Suifenhe Port has seen double-digit growth for five consecutive months.

Since the opening of China-Europe freight routes at Tongjiang Port in July last year, the port has recorded more than 100 trips.

There are currently 24 rail routes in use for China-Europe freight via the three ports. Trains move daily necessities, general merchandise, mechanical equipment, metals, agricultural products and timber between more than 60 Chinese cities and European cities in 14 countries.
Photo: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree amending the decree on the application of the law On Amendments to the Law on State Procurement and On Approval of the Procedure for Centralized Procurement of Food Products by State Enterprises and Organizations (Departments) at the Expense of State Budget Funds, Trend reports.

According to the decree, part 2 of the above document was abolished.

To note, this part contained the approval of the "Procedure for procurement of food products by state enterprises and organizations (departments) in a centralized manner at the expense of the state budget".

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
When Prohibition hit the U.S. in 1920, cocktail lovers flocked en masse to Havana, where Bacardi quickly emerged as the preferred liquor brand of the fashionable bon vivant crowd. More specifically, the "spirited" new age sippers were jetting to Bacardi headquarters, where artists, writers, and celebrities were known to fill the black and gold lobby around the clock. One such writer was Charles H. Baker Jr., an American bevy buff with a boundless budget from a new marriage who found himself taken with one of the Bacardi HQ's chief offerings, the Daisy de Santiago cocktail.

The drink's name is an homage to Bacardi's flagship distillery in Santiago, Cuba, and the cocktail is thought to have originally been invented by a bartender at the Bacardi headquarters in Havana. Its exact birthdate is lost to history, but the drink's first appearance in writing is in Baker's 1939 book "The Gentleman's Companion volume II -- An Exotic Drinking Book." Per his log, Baker visited the bar four times during his stay in Cuba, and he calls the Daisy de Santiago "a lovely thing" and "along with the immortal Daiquiri, this is the best Bacardi drink on record," via Difford's Guide.

Along with the Daisy de Santiago, other Prohibition cocktail classics enjoyed at HQ included the Mismo and Mary Pickford. Bacardi has since moved its operation to Bermuda in 1965 following the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s.

Read more: The 40 Absolute Best Cocktails That Feature Only 2 Ingredients

Daisy De Santiago Got The Prohibition Party Started In Havana

Close-up of a bottle of Bacardi Superior white rum - Jordan Strauss/Getty Images

The Daisy de Santiago is a fizzy, refreshing combination of white rum, lime juice, simple syrup, yellow Chartreuse, club soda, and mint garnish. The ingredients (except for the club soda) get wet-shaken and strained into a crushed ice-filled goblet or stemmed wine glass. To finish, the drink is topped with club soda and mint. You could also load it with other garnishes like berries, icing sugar, or a dehydrated lime wheel. Alternative assemblies call for the yellow Chartreuse to be omitted from the shaker and drizzled over the top of the finished cocktail instead. Others swap the Bacardi Superior white rum for one- to three-year lightly aged rum like Bacardi Gran Reserva Maestro de Ron, which lends to a deeper flavor profile.

Fans might be more widely familiar with its frozen strawberry-flavored cousin served in a bowl-sized glass with a campy cactus-shaped stem. But, a traditional daiquiri simply mixes light rum, lime juice, simple syrup, and a lime twist. Compared to the daiquiri, the Daisy de Santiago features a more herbaceous profile with subtle aromatics from the yellow Chartreuse -- which, in many ways, actually seems more comparable to the lime, mint, and rum Mojito.

The "Daisy" cocktail family, which also includes margaritas and sidecars, combines a base spirit with citrus juice, simple syrup, and often a fizzy mixer like club soda and a flavored liqueur. Either way, the result is a light, accessible sipper (and, fittingly, the word for "daisy" in Spanish is "margarita").

Read the original article on Tasting Table
What can homeowners associations enforce in Illinois? Heres what state law allows

If youre a part of a homeowners or condominium association in Illinois that has a long list of rules, you may have wondered just how much authority they have and what you should do if you feel like you are unfairly fined.

Illinois has three primary pieces of legislation governing homeowners associations, including the Illinois Condominium Property Act, the Illinois Common Interest Community Association Act and the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986.

The Illinois Common Interest Community Association Act applies to homeowners associations that collect more than $100,000 per year in dues and have at least 11 private residences. Entities that do not meet these requirements fall under the general nonprofit act in Illinois, Teri Ross, executive director of Illinois Legal Aid Online, said in an interview with the News-Democrat.

Homeowners associations typically use management companies, which must be licensed in the state of Illinois and are regulated.

Generally, the main goals of the associations are to maintain or increase property values and to maintain common elements, Ross added. Common elements for condo buildings may include elevators, lobbies, a parking garage and external features.

They can require things to look in a certain way, Ross said of the associations.

Rules on lawn maintenance, when and where to put trash cans outside and maintaining your homes external appearance can all be included in contracts.

So its really important that people read over all of those things to understand what their obligations are, Ross said.

Homeowners associations can also enact rules regarding pets, including a limit on the number of pets one unit can have, a weight limit, leash requirements and more. They may not prohibit service animals or place size restrictions on them.

While homeowners associations can include a wide variety of regulations in their contracts, Illinois law does regulate them. For example, homeowners associations must comply with all local ordinances and state and federal laws regarding anti-discrimination and fair housing.

Homeowners associations in Illinois must hold a vote before levying special assessments, such as fees for improvements like tuckpointing, repaving or landscaping. They must also have governing boards that meet at least once per year and submit an annual budget. All members of the association have the right to attend board meetings and review documents.

Illinois homeowner associations cannot prohibit residents from installing a satellite dish or antenna, displaying an American flag, displaying a military flag or putting religious fixtures on their front door.

State law also gives residents in communities with homeowners associations the right to install solar panels, and as of Jan. 1, Illinois homeowners associations cannot prohibit the installation of electric vehicle chargers.

What if your HOA unfairly fines you?

Homeowners associations in Illinois are required to give notice of a violation before fining a resident and must give them a fair chance to be heard if they disagree with the fine, Ross said.

To exercise this right, you can request a hearing with the board of your homeowners association to argue you did not commit the violation or the associations bylaws dont actually prohibit what you did.

If the board finds you did violate the rules and you did not, you could sue the association. Ross recommends choosing a lawyer that has specific expertise in homeowners or condo association law if you go this route.

If your homeowners association violates your rights by discriminating against you as part of a protected class, you can file a report with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

Do you have a question about the law in Illinois for our service journalism team? Wed like to hear from you. Fill out our Metro-east Matters form below.
The Teton County Coroner has ruled the death resulting from a two-skier collision at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) a homicide. The incident occurred on April 14 between an unnamed skier in his mid-30s and 71-year-old Peter Wuerslin who was a part-time JHMR ski instructor. Both skiers were taken to St. Johns Urgent Care Clinic in Teton Village, Wyoming for their injuries. Wuerslin was placed on life support. He died on April 17 and the Teton County Sheriffs Office asked the public for information from witnesses as they investigated.

According to ski patrol reports, the unidentified skier was uphill from Wuerslin and then failed to maneuver away from him in order to avoid their collision. In an email to Jackson Hole-based news outlet Buckrail, Teton County Coroner Brent Blue said the cause of death was intracranial hemorrhaging and indicated his homicide ruling does not mean the TCSO or County Attorney will come to the same conclusion.

Homicide declarations following severe ski collisions are not completely unheard of but they are rare and attention-grabbing. In March, the California Department of Health Care Access and Information reported that ski-related ER visits rose 50 percent between 2016 and 2022. Earlier this month, The Colorado Sun reported 14.8 million people visited the Centennial States slopes in 2022 and 2023 as part of a deep dive into the severity and frequency of on-hill collisions.

In that report, the newspaper highlighted the protocol for both skiers and snowboarders, and resorts, when collisions happen. For example, Vail Resorts has specific protocols for ski patrol when they respond and the resort participates in collecting contact information from visitors involved in accidents as well as witness reports. They also comply with requests from law enforcement investigations without the need for a subpoena but do require a subpoena when lawyers request information to protect guest privacy.

These incidents unfortunately continue to be an occurrence for skiers, JHMRs Risk and Safety Director Jon Bishop told Buckrail after Wuerslins passing. It is your duty as an uphill skier to avoid those below you. We ask that everyone ski in a safe and respectful manner.

The post A Jackson Hole Resort Collision Resulted in a Death Thats Now Being Ruled a Homicide first appeared on The Inertia.
Sarah Woodland and her six miniature Shetland ponies travel to meet elderly animal lovers around the United Kingdom

Sarah Woodland Sarah Woodland and the Dinky Ponies

Sarah Woodland's Dinky Ponies business brings six miniature Shetland ponies to meet retirement home and hospital residents around England

The Dinky Ponies have gone viral on Instagram with emotional videos of elderly animal lovers fawning over the therapy pets

Woodland's tiny horses also visit kids at special needs and mainstream schools and book private one-on-one sessions



Miniature Shetland ponies may stand less than 3 feet tall, but Sarah Woodlands traveling team of tiny horses are raising spirits sky-high across the United Kingdom.



In 2021, lifelong equestrian Woodland formed the Dinky Ponies, an aptly named team of therapy ponies based in Oxfordshire.

The fun-sized herd started out attending outdoor children's parties and private visits around southern England, but Woodland needed a way to keep business from dropping off with the temperatures every winter.

Toward the end of the summer in 2022, she called a few local care homes to see if their elderly residents might want to meet the Dinky Ponies.

It didnt take long before Woodland became inundated with bookings and inquiries requesting visits from the six trained and trusty steeds who make up the team: Poppy, Abbey, Charm, Tinks, Gracie and Georgie.

Today, the Dinky Ponies have expanded their services to hospitals, special needs schools, mainstream schools and more. Woodland tells PEOPLE shes seen a range of priceless reactions during their visits, but most people are extremely pleased to meet the unexpected therapy pets.

Sarah Woodland Sarah Woodland on a visit with one of her Dinky Ponies

A lot are very surprised, especially if they are in a room that you have to get to by [elevator], and they would never expect to see a pony come in their bedroom! the former freelance horse groomer says, adding, Some dont believe the ponies are real. Some are scared occasionally and take a little bit of reassurance.

Thanks to social media, the Dinky Ponies services have reached animal lovers far beyond the English towns they travel to. Woodland documents their meet-ups on social media, sharing some of the ponies most heartwarming interactions for her 124,000 follows on Instagram.

Sarah Woodland A Dinky Ponies visit

In one post with over 130,000 likes, Poppy the pony instantly brought an especially reserved, often distant care home resident out of her shell. In the clip, Poppy can be seen comfortably resting her head on the elderly woman, whose eager delight is palpable in the footage.

One of the things I love the most about my job is seeing the difference the ponies make, Woodland wrote in the Instagram videos caption. Witnessing how their presence literally changes someone's whole entire mood, facial expressions and attitude. Watching their eyes light up, and the smiles form on their faces. When they go from sitting staring at the wall, to engaging, chatting and enjoying the ponies' company. I love sitting and watching the magic happen.

Sarah Woodland Sarah Woodland with the Dinky Ponies

The Dinky Ponies fans and followers take to the comments to compliment Woodlands initiative and her remarkably well-behaved ponies. After decades of experience working with horses, Woodland says training requires time, patience and love above all else.

I never make them do anything they dont want to do, so the visits are really governed by them and where they want to go, she tells PEOPLE. "It's a lot to do with trust and them understanding I would never put them in danger."

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Read the original article on People.
'I never expected to be living here': In the Toms River woods, homeless tell their stories

TOMS RIVER - Melissa McLean ticks off the series of jobs she's had: there was a newspaper route, data entry, work behind the counter at a Matawan restaurant. Most recently she cared for her 94-year-old mother, who is now in a nursing home.

It was her mother's move to the nursing home from Lakewood's Leisure Village East that left McLean, 64, without a home of her own; she had given up her own apartment to move in with her mother. For the past year, she's been living with her fluffy little dog, Susie, deep in the woods of Winding River Park.

McLean is one of about 20 people occupying the wooded tent camp, founded and supplied by Minister Steve Brigham of Destiny's Bridge, an advocacy organization that assists those experiencing homelessness.

"They blame the homeless for living in the woods, but they should be helping them," Brigham said on a recent day, as he brought in supplies, including propane, for the campers. Ocean County is the only county in the state without a transitional shelter for the homeless; the county Board of Commissioners reiterated recently that there are no plans to build such a facility.

The county does provide financial support for numerous organizations that assist those without a home, and last year instituted a homelessness trust fund, which is expected to raise between $275,000 to $390,000 annually. That money will be used to support programs to prevent people from becoming homeless.

About 10,270 New Jerseyans were living without a home in late January 2023, according to a "point in time" count by Monarch Housing Associates. That's a 17% increase over 2022, attributed in part to the lapse of eviction protections in place during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as increased costs for rent and food.

Susie cuddles up in the blankets as owner Melissa McLean relaxes and talks with another camper at the homeless camp in the Toms River woods. McLeans tent is often a gathering place for conversation, since she has a coffee pot.

"When I became homeless, at first I was on my own, living in my car," McLean said on a chilly recent day, as Susie sat alongside her on the cot in her tent. "I was camping at Turkey Swamp Park." She met Brigham at Allaire State Park in Wall, right when she was running out of money.

"It was $40 a night just for a camp site," she said. Brigham told her about the Winding River camp, and McLean moved out into the woods. She's on disability after suffering a stroke that kept her hospitalized for 10 days, but in the camp, she likes to stay busy.

Pictures of grandchildren on the nightstand

McLean makes coffee in her Mr. Coffee machine and cooks on a hot plate in her tent. There's a fire pit outside, where other residents like to stop by to sit during the evening. A young couple, Kayla and John, recently stopped by for coffee and to cook hot dogs on the hot plate.

More: Which New Jersey towns will sink under water from sea level rise? Find out on this map

John makes some hot dogs with his girlfriend Kayla as they visit Melissa McLean's tent. McLean's tent at the homeless camp in the woods of Toms River is meeting place for coffee and conversation, and other campers stop by to talk and relax.

Pictures of her three grandchildren are on her nightstand, in a picture frame that reads, "Simply the Best Grandmom." Her daughter is a district manager of a local restaurant chain, and McLean occasionally stays with her. But her daughter has a small one-bedroom apartment, and there is not a lot of room. On trees outside, residents have put bird feeders and a hummingbird feeder. McLean said she was excited recently to see one hummingbird taking a drink of nectar.

"There are wonderful people here," she said. "Minister Steve is great. He takes care of us." Next to her tent, her cousin, Jimmy Forbes, 58, who grew up in Staten Island and Hopatcong and lived in North Brunswick, recently moved in with his small, feisty dog, Molly.

Forbes, who suffers from severe allergies and asthma, found himself without a home after his mother passed away. "I wanted to move closer to where she was," Forbes said of McLean. Molly, who is nervous, growls and barks at strangers, but Forbes laughs that her bark is the only threatening thing about her.

Jimmy Forbes, 58, a resident of the Toms River homeless camp, moved to the camp there when he couldnt afford regular housing, and learned of the camp from his cousin Melissa McLean, who had moved there.

Like many of the residents of the Winding River camp, Forbes and McLean are dedicated to their pets, even though having a dog or cat makes it more difficult for them to find permanent housing. Many landlords won't rent to people with pets, or they charge fees for dog or cat owners that make already expensive rents unaffordable for many potential tenants.

Residents use bicycles to leave the camp, doing shopping at nearby stores and washing their laundry. So many people donated clothing, blankets and other items to campers that for a while, the entrance to the campground was lined with piles of wet clothes, discarded boxes and bags, and even some rotting food. Brigham and the campers have cleaned up the mess, with the help of a dumpster used to dispose of the unneeded goods.

Chickens roam the outskirts of the camp, providing fresh eggs and also some protection from the ticks and other bugs that bother campers in the summer months.

Paul Hulse, chief executive officer of Just Believe, said his group has gotten about five people from the camp into housing since the beginning of the year.

Case workers have gone to the camp to deliver mail to residents, hand out food products and water, and also Narcan, or naxolone, which can stop an overdose.

"We've been gridlocked out there," Hulse said of the camp, noting that many of those living in the woods have been uneasy about working with those who visit the area. Just Believe has found housing for 114 people and nine pets since January, Hulse said, but has found few takers in the camp.

More: 'Ignore the haters': Marlboro woman with alopecia lost hair but found a community

Kayla looks at the warm weather outside as she takes a break from cleaning. The homeless in the camp in the Toms River woods enjoy the nice weather when they have it and take to their tents to wait out the bad as it comes. As the first warmer days of spring arrive, the homeless pull back the plastic coverings to let in some fresh air.

Living here for more than a year

Brigham has worked to create a sense of community among the campers. On Easter, he preached a sermon and helped prepare a feast, including slices of ham and pineapple. In warmer weather, he helps cook hamburgers and hot dogs on a grill near the center of the camp. He provides tents and portable heaters and hooks people's tents up to the generator. A series of orange extension cords snakes through the wood-lined pathways.

Many of the campers have been in Winding River for well over a year. Advocates from groups such as Just Believe have frequently visited the camp, but many of those who live there say they are unwilling to move out of the woods unless they can find permanent housing. They often don't feel safe in the motels they are placed in, and also complain of being bounced from one motel to another.

Brigham would like the county to consider turning the newly acquired Cedar Creek Campground, in Berkeley's Bayville section, into a location for tiny homes.

"There are 90 slots that have electricity," he said. "Tiny homes could be put in and it would be perfect."

McLean said a group of women in the camp helps prepare meals, using crock pots to cook dinners like chicken and rice and lasagna with meatballs. The hum of a generator can be heard in the camp; housed in an orange tent, the generator helps power residents' electronics and lights. It also helps camp members charge their cell phones and use computers to access the internet or play DVDs.

Rev. Steve Brigham delivers an Easter sermon and prayer before the homeless enjoy their Easter dinner at a camp in the woods of Toms River.

The winter was fairly mild, but during a couple of snowstorms, residents were out frequently, knocking snow off tents and canopies. They stay warm with portable "buddy heaters," and pointed out that one of the benefits of winter is the lack of insects; ticks, mosquitoes and chiggers are a problem when the weather warms.

No family left

April Higgins, 62, is a Toms River native who has lived in the camp for about a month. A graduate of Toms River High School South, Higgins has set up two cots in her tent, using one as a couch. She watches movies on her laptop; the Harry Potter films are among her favorites.

Higgins said she has no living family left; she's been on disability for about 20 years and needs hip replacement surgery. Before her hip became too painful, she worked in home health care; her mother had her own business.

Higgins has decorated the inside of her tent with stickers of butterflies and flowers, to make it more homey.

April Higgins talks about how she ended up living in the Toms River homeless camp and what life is like for her now. Higgins, 62, has been on Social Security disability for the past 20 years and needs a full hip replacement. Before she went on disability, she worked as a home health aide for years.

"There are no shelters for the homeless," Higgins said. "Nobody cares.  There are so many motels that are empty, they could put people in there and let them work."

Only a few steps from Higgins' tent, a new family, the Augustinos, moved in about two weeks ago. Shannon Augustino, 35, said she previously lived in motels in Lakehurst and Seaside Heights before moving into the woods. Her father, Jeffrey Augustino, 62, previously worked for Middlesex County as a sewage treatment operator, and then had his own construction business.

But he was forced onto disability after neck surgery, a bout with colon cancer, and a hernia. His head is tilted because of degeneration of discs in his neck, making it almost impossible for him to stand up straight. His sister, Eileen, 73, has also moved into the woods; she cannot read or write and has been on disability her whole life, she said. Her brother described her as "mentally challenged," but Eileen noted she can cook and clean and helps around the camp.

'There are a lot of nice people here'

Jeff Augustino, 62, sits outside his tent in the Toms River homeless camp. Augustino can't work because he has ruptured discs in his back that he couldn't have repaired because he was already being treated for cancer.

"We are homeless for the first time in our lives," Jeffrey Augustino said, standing outside the tent he was sharing with Shannon and Eileen. Brigham had set up another tent for the family, who were feeling a bit crowded sharing one small space, along with their three cats, Franklin, Mai-Mai and Georgie.

"It's not as bad as I thought it would be," Jeffrey said of life in the camp. "There are a lot of nice people here."

Shannon is trying to train her black cat, Franklin, to walk on a leash, after the feisty feline figured out to open the zippers on the family's tents and escaped at least twice, once luring Mai-Mai out with him. On a recent day, Shannon showed bloody scratches on her arms and legs from pursuing the cats into the sticker bushes where they fled.

Eileen Augustino, who is disabled, sits outside with her niece Shannon Augustino and neighbor April Higgins and enjoy the warm weather at the homeless camp in the woods of Toms River.

Jeffrey hopes to be able to leave the woods soon; he's expecting a $30,000 payment for an on-the-job injury, and has his eye on a trailer in Vineland that he can purchase for $14,900, leaving enough to buy a car so that he and the family can move there. With his $1,600 monthly disability payment combined with his sister's, he said he can afford to pay the monthly pad fee for the trailer.

"Hopefully, I'll get that money very soon, and then we can move out of here," he said.

Shannon Augustino, 35, holds up one of her cats that lives with her at the Toms River homeless camp.

'I never expected to be living here'

Another new camper, Robert Adams, 68, also hopes he can leave the woods sometime soon. A retired nurse, Adams was caring for his mother in Jackson for the past six years, but she was recently moved to hospice and he lost his home. He shares his tent with Bella, a long-haired chihuahua that he rescued from the Monmouth County SPCA in Eatontown.

"After my mother passes, I will inherit $50,000," Adams said, as Bella trotted back and forth in the tent. "I'm going to buy a trailer." His voice cracks as he talks about his mother, with whom he had an up-and-down relationship; at one point she had kicked him out the house because he refused to get rid of Bella.

"That was seven years ago, and I moved to Steve's in Howell," said Adams, who has suffered with bouts of severe depression for most of his life. He was referring to a previous camp run by Brigham in Howell, that has since been dismantled. But as his mother became more frail, she invited him back to the house, and said he could bring the dog. Adams was still working as a nurse until he hurt his back several years ago, and is no longer able to work, he said.

Adams noted that he was married for 25 years, but the relationship fell apart 13 years ago, when his stepdaughter and her husband moved in with him and his wife. Adams' negative opinion of the husband's frequent bouts of unemployment led to tension with his wife, he said, and eventually led to a divorce.

"I never expected to be divorced," he said. "I never expected to be living here. I'm embarrassed."

Jean Mikle covers Toms River and several other Ocean County towns, and has been writing about local government and politics at the Jersey Shore for nearly 40 years. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Toms River homeless camp deep in the woods shows no sign of shrinking
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.  Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

One of the many educators who tried to get me to finally, actually get serious about my academic career once called me an indifferent student.

I remember sitting in that meeting thinking: If only! I wasnt indifferent to school. I craved recognition for my intelligence and erudition. Those million meetings and sternly worded letters about failing to apply myself wouldnt have hurt so much if I had the gift of indifference. I was only pretending not to care.

Chunking along with a B average in high school would have been no problem if I had been indifferent. The real problem was that my sloth and my vanity were even more powerful than my shame.

I was using the intelligence that kept showing up on the standardized test scores that drove counselors and teachers batty about my potential. Its just that I was using it to do the absolute least amount of work possible. I could ace the classes that lined up with my interests and knowledge, but found myself forever flirting with disaster on the courses that would have required me to really try.

Imagine arriving for summer school to repeat Algebra II to try to bring up an abysmal grade but still feeling smug. Not trying had become my own perverse badge of honor. These other people were here, I thought, because theyre not that smart. Im here because I didnt even try, and still managed to get a D.

What a jerk.

Despite my checkered academic past, Hampden-Sydney College, a red-brick Federal-style idyll in the Virginia countryside, took a chance on me. But it did so only after deferring my application for early admission to see how my next semester grades panned out. I had barely scraped into the college of my choice, but, of course, drew no wisdom from the nearness of the thing. I instead concluded that I had beaten the system.

After one semester, the system had beaten me. I was placed on academic suspension, flunked out after bringing the same dilettantism to my college studies that I had so carefully cultivated in high school. But the courses were much harder and the distractions, both wholesome and unwholesome, had multiplied. I wanted my college to be rigorous without understanding that it would ask the same of me.

But finally, a chink in the firmament of my self-regard through which a little light could pass. I would have preferred death to failing to win my return. I attacked the classes at the little state college up the road from my parents home with shameless zeal: Front row seats, hand up for every answer, course work turned in early. Straight As. Readmission.

So, I had finally really worked for something, but I had been caught trying. All the effort I put into pretending to be an unserious student was now in jeopardy. Who would I be, or, rather, pretend to be, when I got back to Hampden-Sydney?

Professor Jim Simms began the second term of his Western civilization classes with a brief scan of the syllabus and then an open question: Who was responsible for the Holocaust?

What followed was many minutes of very bright boys trying to show just how bright we were, and failing. We named every Nazi over the rank of major before we resorted to counterintuitive answers: It was really Hindenburgs fault  , The industrialists  , Churchill turned a blind eye  , Stalins territorial ambitions , The German people 

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. And he was enjoying our frustration. This guy was tough and playful at the same time. He had been a Marine. He had worked real jobs. He cussed at us. He was not impressed with our prep-school sneers.

Then Dr. Simms gave us the answer: Charles Darwin. Because once he told people that human beings were just animals, you could exterminate them in exactly the same way you would any animal that was a nuisance. Scientific slaughter, boys.

With that and a booming clap of his hands, he sent us out, minds racing. I dont know if I was ever more excited for the next installment of a class as I was that afternoon walking out of Morton Hall. I wanted to argue these questions with him and my classmates endlessly. And for the next three and a half years, I did.

I was already thinking about Jim Simms and learning to love scholarship before I heard the news last week that he had died.

Watching videos of clashing protesters on campuses, each dressed up in the costume of their chosen sidekeffiyehs and masks over here, fraternity shirts and Ray-Bans over thereI thought about how Dr. Simms had gotten to Hampden-Sydney.

When I arrived in the mid-90s, there was a crew of great professors at the college, all of whom had arrived in 1968 or soon thereafter. Many were conservatives, but not all. What they had in common was a desire to flee the insanity of the campuses where they were teaching at the time. And Hampden-Sydneyall-male, founded in 1776, liberal arts, genteel, and academically rigorouswas the ultimate counter to the counterculture.

I wondered about the new generation of Jim Simmses, looking through smeared windows onto quads turned into stages for performative protest by students egged on by adults off campus. I wondered how many would say what he had said more than 50 years ago: Screw this. How many will find a place like Hampden-Sydney, choosing a good environment over climbing the ladder of elite universities?

I hope many will, because we will never run out of young fools like I was. I needed a role model for how to take school seriously without being a brown noser. I needed evidence that honoring my genuine intellectual curiosity with effort and some diligence did not have to make me a grind. Indeed, it could be a kind of rebellion of its own.

Jim Simms showed me something better to pretend to be: a grown-up. And I may get there yet.

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How over-50s are being squeezed by elderly parents and struggling kids

The first thing Ann Jeffrey does when she wakes up in the morning is check that her mother is still breathing.

Jeffreys mother, who is 84, was diagnosed with dementia in 2016. Jeffrey was working for a recruitment agency at the time but cut down her hours to look after her mother. Then the pandemic hit. Jeffrey moved in to care for her full-time. Two months later, she told her boss she could not come back to work.

Now, the 58-year-old cares for her mother seven days a week. Her mother cannot move from the waist down and has to have her food blended before she can swallow it.

If I went to work it would be like leaving a three-month-old baby in the house on their own, says Jeffrey.

She herself is under great strain. Mum doesnt get violent, she doesnt shout. But mentally, its soul-destroying.

Jeffreys situation is becoming all too typical. As Britains population gets older and sicker, more people are being forced to provide informal care for family members. The bulk of this burden is being shouldered by people who are over the age of 50.

This age group are often caring not only for elderly relatives but also children and grandchildren. Some are grappling with their own health problems.

This trend is not just a social issue  it is becoming an economic problem for the country too.

New analysis by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) for The Telegraph suggests this change is at the heart of the rise in economic inactivity amongst older workers.

Nationally, the number of people providing informal care has surged by 700,000 since the pandemic to a six-year high of 5.2 million in 2022-23, according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)s Family Resources Survey.

Britain was already in the midst of a health and social care crisis before Covid-19 struck and the pandemic only worsened the problem.

People with long-term health conditions suddenly had much more difficulty getting check ups and appointments, says Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK. Covid also made people ill. Lockdowns meant older people became less mobile.

The social care system is grappling with a staff and funding shortages just as demand is rising. It is people just approaching retirement who are most likely to be picking up the pieces. Sixteen per cent of people aged 55 to 64 are now providing informal care, up from 13pc pre-Covid.

At the same time, worklessness in this age bracket has surged. IES analysis of DWP data shows that 237,000 55 to 64-year-olds dropped out of the workforce between 2018-19 and 2022-23.

The main reasons given for this rise in economic inactivity were early retirement and long-term sickness, but IES analysis also suggests a clear link with caring responsibilities.

Of the 237,000 who dropped out of the workforce, 131,000 were carers.

When earlier retirees are excluded, the rise in economic inactivity was driven almost entirely by people who were carers.

The DWP insists there is no evidence in our data that shows an increased proportion of people becoming economically inactive due to caring responsibilities.

It is true that most of the carers who left the workforce said they were doing so not because of their care responsibilities but because they were long-term sick themselves. However, experts say the two are often connected.

There is a really significant health strain with this responsibility, says Emily Holzhausen, director of policy and public affairs at Carers UK. In terms of what people then say is the primary reason for them leaving work, well if it makes you ill, then youll say youre leaving because youre ill.

More than three-quarters of carers (79pc) feel stressed or anxious, according to Carers UK. Nearly half (49pc) feel depressed, while 54pc said their physical health had suffered as a result. More than one in five (22pc) have sustained injuries from caring duties.

People strain their back and shoulder muscles because of lifting and moving people, says Holzhausen.

Jeffrey fell ill for several months at the start of the year.

It was pretty much a throat infection, a nose infection and an ear infection all at the same time. The doctors did put it down to stress.

She adds: I was trying to give up smoking and even my doctor said dont be stupid, this is not the time, you cannot put more stress on yourself. If I can feel the tension building up slightly, I will take myself upstairs and Ill have a cigarette and count to 10 and start again.

IES director Tony Wilson says: Is this contributing to higher economic inactivity amongst workers in their 50s? I think its almost certainly the case that it is.

Aside from the health strains, there is a question of time. The vast majority of people aged 55 to 64 who have become carers since the pandemic are now caring for people for at least 35 hours a week, IES analysis shows.

There is a huge employment penalty for longer caring hours, says Wilson.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has made encouraging early retirees back to work one of his key priorities as part of efforts to address rising inactivity rates and boost growth. Many are now going back into the workforce.

Conversely, the number of people who are held back by caring responsibilities is only likely to rise.

We have an ageing population and they are spending more years in ill health, says Alice Martin, head of research at Lancaster Universitys Work Foundation.

There is going to be a greater need to look after these people. That is a real factor that is going to be pulling people, usually women, out of paid employment.

A government spokesman said: Our reforms have helped over-50s become one of the fastest-growing parts of the workforce with almost 100,000 people aged over 50 added to company payrolls in the last year and we have recently doubled the number of 50PLUS champions in our Jobcentres so even more older people can remain in and return to work.

The age at which people have most caring responsibilities is also the age at which they are often starting to develop their own health problems. A third of people aged 55 to 64 have a limiting health condition, says Wilson.

People in their 50s are also often grappling with care demands on multiple fronts.

Its not unusual to find people in their 50s and 60s who are having to look both ways. Their own parents are not well, but theyre also having to do more to support their own grandchildren or sometimes their own children, who might in some cases still be living at home because its so difficult for people to get on the housing ladder, says Abrahams.

Nearly 700,000 informal carers aged between 45 and 64 have these sandwich responsibilities, according to IES analysis.

Holzhausen wants the Government to invest more in social care to reduce the burden on families supporting their relatives and keep as many of them in work as possible.

For Jeffrey, finding someone to look after her mother for a day while she went to her late aunts funeral was incredibly difficult. Short-term nursing home care is almost non-existent. Her only option for temporary care was to book a minimum weeks stay at a care home, which costs 1,500.

Jeffrey knows she has to get back to work: I dont have a proper pension plan.

But her time out of the labour force has affected her. Ive been stuck here for so long, I cant go back into an office job. I am so out of it with technology, I wouldnt be taken seriously at all.

Instead, she hopes to get a job in the care industry. I think if I could do this for somebody else, I wouldnt have the stress of the emotional attachment that Ive got with mum. I think I could help somebody else in their final days.

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Welcome to Checking In, a new review series in which our editors and contributors rate the best new (and revamped) luxury hotels based on a rigorousand occasionally tongue in cheek10-point system: Each question answered yes gets one point. Will room service bring you caviar? Does your suite have its own butler? Does the bathroom have a bidet? Find out below.

The ranch offers horseback riding and polo lessons.

In three words: Calling all cowboys.

More from Robb Report

Whats the deal?

Estancia Vik is the brainchild of Norwegian-born billionaire businessman Alexander Vik and his wife, Carrie. Opened in 2009, the Spanish Colonial horse and cattle ranch sits on over 4,000 rugged acres in southern Uruguay and is a roughly 10-minute drive from Jose Ignacioa chic, seaside village where the Viks own two other boutique hotel properties: Bahia Vik and Playa Vik.

The couple tapped Uruguayan architect Marcelo Daglio to design the palatial property, which is packed with an assemblage of art from world-famous artists such as contemporary sculptor Pablo Atchugarry. Fun fact: The late David Rockefeller used to visit the estancia every year for his birthday.

The best room

Estancia Vik has 12 suites.

Forget rooms. Estancia Vik has 12 individually designed suites spread across its two floors, all featuring decor from local artists. During our trip, we stayed in one of the two best suites on the upper level, dubbed Daglionamed after the architect who helped design the property. Across its 900 square feet, theres an in-room fireplace, an espresso machine, a massive boat-shaped wooden bathtub, and a private wraparound patio with an outdoor shower. If youre on the hunt for a TV, you wont find one. Instead, you can pass the time by watching horses and cows roam free or look out to the lagoon.

The Rundown

The property features sculptures by Pablo Atchugarry.

Did they greet you by name at check-in?

Yes, as soon as we pulled up to the property, the staff met us outside, welcomed us by name, and immediately took our bags. Theres no official check-in desk here. Instead, we were ushered to the central living room where we plopped down on comfy couches underneath a ceiling frieze by Uruguayan contemporary artist Clever Lara.

Welcome drink ready and waiting when you arrived? (Bonus point if it wasnt just fruit juice)

Yes, a pitcher of fruit-infused water was placed on the table after we sat down. Although, if we wanted something stronger (it was only 9 am), were sure the staff wouldve happily obliged. There was also a complimentary bottle of La Piu Belle waiting for us in our suite, a red blend that the Viks produce at their winery in Chile.

Does the resort have a standout perk?

If youre an aspiring cowboy, youve come to the right place. Horseback riding is by far the propertys main draw, and before our visit, I could count the times Ive saddled up on one finger. We met up with our gaucho guide, Bauti, and embarked on a leisurely one-hour trot around the grounds. I was happy to just be a member of the herd, however, if youre feeling extra adventurous, you can take your equine companion for a swim in the lagoon. The hotel also has a private polo field where guests can take lessons or play with the professionals. When youre done, dont forget to refuel over yerba mate and tortas fritas (Uruguayan fry bread).

Private butler for every room?

No, but all the staff members are exceptionally warm, attentive, and at the same time, pretty low-key. If theres anything you want delivered to your suite, just ask and theyll bring it to you.

Is the sheet thread count higher than 300?

The thread count is a generous 800. Theres truly no better snooze than the one after a day of riding, museum hopping, and wine tasting.

Is there a heated floor in the bathroom? What about a bidet?

The bathroom floors arent heated and come summertime (December to March), you wouldnt want them to be. But yes, there is a bidet.

Are the toiletries full-sized?

No, however, the bathrooms are all stocked with Vik Retreatsbranded bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and body lotion made from green tea.

A pool overlooks the grounds.

Is there a private pool for the rooms exclusive use?

No, but there is a 65-foot black granite swimming pool at the center of the property. Its position affords sweeping views of the grassland behind it. Oh, and the bottom is lined with fiber-optic lights that mimic a constellation come nighttime.

Is there caviar on the room service menu?

Unlike a typical resort, Estancia Vik doesnt have a room service menu. That said, the hotel does serve Uruguayan caviar, the countrys new flagship product.

Is the restaurant worth its salt?

There isnt a formal restaurant here, but breakfast and dinner are served in the dining room. In the morning, you can either dine in or grab a fresh baked pastry and juice if youre in a hurry. One meal worth writing home about was the authentic Uruguayan asado feast which took place in the propertys graffiti-clad grill room. At the center is a parilla, or massive barbecue, where different cuts of meat are cooked over an open flame. During dinner, we were brought everything from homemade chorizo to blood sausage, sweetbreads, and short ribs to chow down on.

Do you want to spend Friday night in the lobby bar?

Yes, though, youll have to head over to the one located in the Basquiat-esque grill room. If youre interested in a lively night out, you can grab tapas at Solera, a local wine bar located just down the road in the village of Jose Ignacio.

Would you buy the hotel if you could?

In a heartbeat. Especially If it meant wed get to keep the animals, too.

The Verdict

The grill room is used for hosting traditional Uruguayan barbecues.

While Estancia Viks eclectic array of artwork and rustic ranch vibes might not fit everyones tastes, the property is an under-the-radar gem waiting to be found. For those looking for more surf than turf, its sister propertiesPlaya Vik and Bahia Vikare within easy reach of the beach.

Rates: from $790

Score: 8

What Our Score Means:

1-3: Fire your travel agent if they suggest you stay here.

4-6: Solid if youre in a pinchbut only if youre in a pinch.

7-8: Very good. Wed stay here again and recommend it without qualms.

9-10: Forget booking a week. When can we move in permanently?

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TOPEKA (KSNT)  A counseling and mental health facility in the Capital City is offering special classes during the month of May.

Pam Evans with Family Service and Guidance Center (FSGC) was on the 27 News morning show discussing a free mental health first aid class next Saturday, May 18 at the Shawnee County Public Library.

What they can expect is learn about signs and symptoms of common mental health challenges that youth and teens unfortunately are challenged by a lot, Evans said. Also, theyll learn how to help teens who maybe they come across who are in crisis and how to help them get resources.

For more information about the FSGC, watch the interview above.

For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
Women were invented to make mens lives more difficult. With characteristic style and wit, Daisy Dunn opens her new book by quoting Hesiod. As this misogynistic Greek farmer-poet put it in his Works and Days, some time around 700BC, let no woman deceive your mind with her shapely bottom and wheedling conversation  its your barn she is seeking. Avarice was only part of the problem, apparently, along with gluttony, drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, superstition, lack of foresight and irrationality. Women were descended from Pandora, and she had the mind of a treacherous dog, because Zeus had created her as a punishment for men.

Women, gender and sexuality in the Classical world have been the subjects of much scholarly endeavour in recent years. Many of the results have been turgidly unreadable, sometimes driven more by contemporary Western concerns rather than a desire to illuminate the past; a few exhibit an insane evangelistic fervour, as if studying ancient sexuality will somehow lead to a modern bedroom utopia. In The Missing Thread, Dunn wisely avoids being drawn into this strange looking-glass world. This is not a book about women, she writes, but a history of antiquity written through women.

As such, this is mainstream history  political, social, economic and cultural  that doesnt pretend that men werent almost always in charge, but rather pushes the Alexanders and Caesars slightly to the sides, so that light may fall on the clearing to reveal the women in their shadow. So Dunns telling of the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome (218-201BC) focuses on Imilce, Hannibals wife; Busa, who provided aid to the Romans defeated at Cannae; the Oppian Law that limited the freedom of Roman women; the condemnation of two vestal virgins for lapsed vows; Claudia Quinta, who proved her chastity by miraculously towing the ship bringing the Great Goddess Cybele to Rome; Sophonisba, the Carthaginian woman who brought the Numidians into the war; and the female protests that led to the Oppian Laws repeal.

The Missing Thread is a bold and ambitious book. Although centred on the Greeks and Romans, it looks at many other peoples, including the Etruscans and Persians, occasionally stretching even to the Chinese, and reaches back as far as the Sumerians, Hittites and Minoans. (The latter, Dunn writes, are the best candidate for a matriarchy  if one ever existed.) Being the author of In the Shadow of Vesuvius, which made even the bookish life of Pliny the Younger exciting, its unsurprising that Dunn fills The Missing Thread with brilliantly drawn pen-portraits. Alongside a sensitive reading of her poetry, Sappho of Lesbos emerges as proud, snobbish, jealous, affectionate and utterly brilliant. Its good to be told that no one could have taken seriously the later (male) tradition that gave the original lesbian a husband called Kerkulas of Andros  literally, C-ck from the Isle of Man.

Everyone who has read about the ancient world knows that most women spent most of their time weaving. It is a brilliant insight that, as the Fates weaved the life of mortals, this was a constant reminder of the inescapability of death. Similarly, the advice of male doctors that women should have penetrative sex regularly  if not watered by semen, the womb was liable to wander about inside a womans body seeking moisture, leading to madness or death  is described drily as opportunistic.

Daisy Dunn, author of The Missing Thread

Women in Greece and Rome seem to have received a worse deal than their peers in other ancient cultures. Etruscan girls were given a personal name, and mothers were named on the tombs of men. The latter never happened in Rome, and daughters all carried the family name, with a number if there was more than one: Claudia, Claudia Secunda, Claudia Tertia and so on. Persian women, although categorised by Western writers as living the ultimate secluded life, actually could own property, trade, and travel on their own, unlike female Greeks.

Paradoxically, in regimes where more men had more freedom, like the Athenian democracy, women were subject to more restrictions. Only in monarchies, and to a lesser extent oligarchies, did some Greek and Roman women have a public profile and political influence. (Although it must be noted that this applied to only a very few women of the elite, only existed because of their relationships with the men of their families, and was thoroughly resented by other men.)

The Missing Thread is a wonderful book: informative, thought provoking, and a pleasure to read. The only regret is that it stops with Acte, the mistress of Nero, gathering his ashes in AD 68. It would have been good to see Dunn take on the women of later antiquity. Did Faustina, the wife of Marcus Aurelius, have sex with a gladiator, or was she the paragon of modesty portrayed by her husbands propaganda? And did the terrifying Syrian women from Emesa (modern Homs) rule the empire over the heads of their absent or inadequate menfolk? Another book to answer these questions would be welcome indeed.

Harry Sidebottoms books include The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome. The Missing Thread is published by W&N at 25. To order your copy for 19.99, call 0808 196 6794 or visit Telegraph Books

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The seventh meeting of the High Level Working Group on Caspian Sea Issues was held in Baku on May 6-7, 2024, Trend reports, referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Additionally, it was noted that delegations from the Republic of Azerbaijan (head of the delegation - S. Sharifov), the Islamic Republic of Iran (head of the delegation - A. Jahangiri), the Republic of Kazakhstan (head of the delegation - Z. Amanzholova), the Russian Federation (head of the delegation - M. Petrakov), and Turkmenistan (head of the delegation - M. Atajanov) participated in the negotiations.

The head of the Azerbaijani delegation, Sharifov, chaired the meeting.

During the meeting, the parties continued discussing the methodology for establishing direct baselines in the Caspian Sea.

The meeting also reviewed cooperation in the Caspian Sea.

The delegations expressed their gratitude to the Republic of Azerbaijan for the high level of organization of the meeting.

The next meeting of the working group will be held on June 24-27, 2024, in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
1 in 3 east Jackson County renters report hazards in their homes. Would this fix help?

Peeling paint. Mold and mildew. Water leaks. Broken or missing carbon monoxide detectors.

These are some of the most common problems renters face in the areas of Jackson County outside Kansas City, according to a new comprehensive report from the countys public health agency.

One in three renters surveyed last year by Jackson County Public Health reported at least one health or safety hazard in their homes.

But only four municipalities out of the 11 in the agencys jurisdiction  Buckner, Grandview, Raytown and Sugar Creek  require rental units to be inspected for these hazards before they can be rented out to tenants.

Unlike typical health inspections, which require tenants to report hazards and advocate for them to be fixed, proactive rental inspection programs aim to catch issues in rental units  and force property owners to fix them  before they cause serious health problems.

These programs have been shown to improve tenants health and help preserve housing stock in communities around the country, the county health department said. Theyre also widely supported by Jackson County residents, including around 77% of those surveyed by the agency.

Heres what to know about proactive inspection programs and how you can get hazardous conditions addressed in your Jackson County rental home.

What health and safety hazards do renters face in Jackson County?

In a survey of hundreds of eastern Jackson County renters conducted last year by Jackson County Public Health, 33% reported at least one health or safety hazard in their homes out of a list of 22 common hazards and an other option.

Nearly 200 respondents, or around 12% of those surveyed, reported three or more of these hazards in their rental units.

The most commonly reported issue was a lack of carbon monoxide detection in the home. Detectors were either broken or not present at all.

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that can build up in poorly ventilated spaces, leading to over 400 deaths in the U.S. every year. The gas is colorless and odorless, making detectors a vital safety measure.

Other common issues in Jackson County rentals include mold and mildew, which can lead to asthma and respiratory problems, and peeling or chipping paint, which can cause harmful lead exposure. Other hazards ranged from broken windows and inadequate heat during the wintertime to broken locks, insect or rodent infestations and exposed electrical wiring.

The survey did not include Jackson County renters within Kansas City or Independence city limits because these cities have their own health departments.

Mouse traps and cockroach traps are seen placed along the gap of a wall heater in Michelle Paylors studio apartment at Independence Towers on March 19 in Independence.

What impacts do proactive rental inspections have in Jackson County?

The four municipalities that proactively inspect rental units for health and safety hazards report a positive impact for tenants and landlords alike.

Instead of waiting until housing units deteriorate and become uninhabitable, PRI programs help preserve the existing housing stock by keeping conditions safe and healthy, the report states.

Buckner, Grandview, Raytown and Sugar Creek require units to be inspected either between each tenant, every two years or both. Buckner requires property owners to hire third-party inspectors, while the other three municipalities employ inspectors  property owners pay the city for inspections, helping to fund the positions.

If units dont meet city health and safety codes, property owners are required to bring them up to code before they can continue to rent them out.

We have discovered through rental inspections, properties that were substandard  that have been rehabbed and now revitalized some of our neighborhoods, a Sugar Creek representative told county researchers.

A number of properties that have sat vacant have been purchased and rehabbed and now provide safe, attractive and compliant housing.

Which parts of Jackson County are most in need of proactive rental inspections?

According to the countys community health assessment conducted last year, 21% of renters in eastern Jackson County live in units with health and safety hazards that could be addressed using a proactive inspection program.

Currently, just under 11,000 rental units outside Kansas City and Independence are subject to proactive inspections. That leaves around 20,000 more units in municipalities that dont require them  mostly in Lees Summit and Blue Springs.

If just these two municipalities adopted proactive rental inspection programs, the number of units covered would more than double to around 25,900. Thats around 83% of all the rental units in eastern Jackson County outside of Kansas City and Independence.

Support for these programs is extremely high in both cities: More than 80% of residents surveyed in Lees Summit and 79% of those surveyed in Blue Springs were in favor of proactive rental inspections.

These programs arent just successful in small municipalities. The report notes that Rochester, New York, implemented proactive inspections for lead paint in 2005, and found a decrease in blood lead levels among affected renters as a result. With more than 200,000 residents, Rochester has around twice the population of Lees Summit.

What should I do about health hazards in my KC or Independence rental?

Rental units are required under Missouri law to be safe and habitable, and landlords must make repairs related to regular wear and tear on units.

In Kansas City, the Healthy Homes program allows tenants to notify city inspectors of unsafe conditions in their rental units. The program can then intervene to force landlords to fix the hazardous conditions. You can contact Healthy Homes by calling 816-513-6464.

Independence has a program called Rental Ready that requires rental properties to pass a basic health and safety inspection done by a third-party company every two years. Tenants can report unhealthy living conditions using the citys Landlord Tenant Complaint Form.

Contact your municipalitys neighborhood services or code enforcement department for more information about reporting unhealthy or hazardous living conditions in your rented home.

Do you have more questions about tenants rights in the Kansas City area? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
A 1-year-old boy is dead after overdosing on fentanyl earlier this year.

Dymar Byrd was taken to Nationwide Childrens Hospital on Feb. 27 where he died, our news partners at WBNS reported. The Franklin County Coroners Office said his cause of death was acute toxic effects of fentanyl and ruled his death a homicide.

>> Woman accused of causing crash that killed local father, injured his wife and children indicted

No charges have been filed yet in the case, but the Columbus Division of Police is investigating his death.

The coroners office in Franklin County has investigated several baby deaths because of drug overdoses in the last two years.

Ive had at least two cases myself where there have been fatalities in infants and toddlers related to fentanyl, Dr. Mike Caplan, a forensic pathologist and deputy coroner for the coroners office, told WBNS.

>> Coroner IDs person who fell from stands at Ohio Stadium during commencement ceremony

Caplan said its his offices responsibility to get awareness out to prevent these types of deaths.

Usually between 8 to 12 months, thats the time where their mobility is increasing. They Learn to put stuff in their mouth. They have no fear. They are very exploratory. Thats the peak age, Caplan said.
BUTLER COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW)  It has been eight months since an Augusta woman was found murdered in her home. On Tuesday, the state announced a $10,000 reward for information that helps solve the case.

The victim was 93-year-old Joanne Johnson. A family member found her body in her home at 1711 Robbins Street last Labor Day weekend. Authorities believe she was killed between Saturday evening, Sept. 2, 2023, and Sunday evening, Sept. 3, 2023.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation) and the Augusta Department of Public Safety have been investigating the murder.

Video: KSN storm tracker captures footage of the aftermath of the Oklahoma tornado

They say that Governor Laura Kelly issued an executive order offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the killer or killers. Johnsons family is matching the reward offer, which increases it to $10,000.

Anyone with information about this crime, no matter how small the detail might seem, is asked to contact the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME or Augusta Crime Stoppers at 316-775-0055.

Anonymous tips can also be submitted online at https://www.kbi.ks.gov/sar, or by using the P3 TIPS App on the Augusta Crime Stoppers Facebook page.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSN-TV.
Thirteen federal judges announced Monday that they will no longer hire Columbia University grads as law clerks because of the virulent spread of antisemitism on the troubled Ivy League campus.

The jurists fired off a letter to Columbia President Minouche Shafik saying the once-prestigious Manhattan university has become an incubator of bigotry as anti-Israeli protests continue to run rampant there, the Free Beacon said.

Freedom of speech protects protest, not trespass, and certainly not acts of threats of violence or terrorism, the judges said in the scathing missive, which was sent after weeks of campus encampments and the eventual takeover of a historic Columbia academic building.

The school took the dramatic step Monday of canceling its university-wide graduation ceremony because of the upheaval. James Keivom

It has become clear that Columbia applies double standards when it comes to free speech and student misconduct, the judges said.

Recent events demonstrate that ideological homogeneity throughout the entire institution of Columbia has destroyed its ability to train future leaders of a pluralistic society and intellectually diverse country.

The stunning boycott comes as Columbia administrators Monday canceled the universitys traditional school-wide graduation ceremony over concerns about unrest. Michael Nagle

As judges who hire law clerks every year to serve in the federal judiciary we have lost confidence in Columbia as an institution of higher education, the letter said. Columbia has instead become an incubator of bigotry.

The stunning boycott comes as Columbia administrators Monday canceled the universitys traditional school-wide graduation ceremony over concerns about unrest.

Last week, NYPD cops in riot gear stormed the campus to finally tear down a sprawling encampment and dislodge a group of students who broke into Hamilton Hall and barricaded themselves in the building.

Columbia was widely criticized for not calling in the police sooner.

Columbia University  plagued by anti-Israel protests and encampments  is such an incubator of bigotry that 13 federal judges are refusing to hire law clerks from there. AP

Violent protests at Columbia led NYPD cops in riot gear to storm campus and cuff more than 100 people last week. Getty Images

More than 100 protesters, including students and many outside agitators, were arrested in the raid.

Columbia is just one of a slew of US colleges overtaken by anti-Israeli demonstrations in the wake of a sneak attack on the Jewish state by Hamas terrorists Oct. 7, which prompted an Israeli counter-strike in the Gaza Strip that has reduced much of the region to rubble.

On Sunday, Columbia protesters called on the school to cancel final exams and automatically pass all of the students because last weeks police raid left them irrevocably shaken.

According to the federal judges now boycotting Columbia, the protest there has gone entirely too far.

Both professors and administrators are on the front lines of the campus disruptions, encouraging the virulent spread of antisemitism and bigotry, the judges wrote.

The virulent spread of antisemitism at Columbia has been allowed to go virtually unchecked, the judges said. Robert Miller

According to the federal judges now boycotting Columbia, the protest there has gone entirely too far.

Significant and dramatic change in the composition of its faculty and administration is required to restore confidence in Columbia, they said.

The jurists signing the letter were led by federal appellate Judges James Ho and Elizabeth Branch, who spearheaded earlier boycotts of Yale and Stanford University law schools, according to the Free Beacon.

Last year, Ho and Branch announced they would stop considering Stanford Law School graduates for clerk positions after another conservative judge was booed off the stage at the school.

In 2022, the two judges said they would no longer hire Yale Law School grads as clerks because of a prevalence of cancel culture at the renowned university.
CHICAGO  A 13-year-old girl was shot Tuesday morning in the South Chicago neighborhood.

The girl was in the 8200 block of South Commercial Avenue just before 7:50 a.m. when she sustained a gunshot wound to the right side of her body, CPD said.

The girl was stabilized and was transported to Comer Childrens Hospital.

The circumstances around the incident are not available at this time.

A person of interest is being questioned, according to CPD.

Anyone with information can leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
A 15-year-old girl who was missing for months had been sex trafficked until she escaped and told her story to police, Georgia investigators said.

Now, four accused traffickers have been arrested, the Atlanta Police Department said during a news conference May 3.

A fifth is still on the run, police said.

Authorities they were called to a hospital Feb. 29 after receiving a report that a teen girl missing since December had been found but reported being trafficked, Tracy Lewis with the City of Atlanta Police Department said during the conference.

As the 15-year-old recounted her story, an investigator recalled a similar narrative from another trafficking survivor, and they learned their cases were related, Lewis said.

Police learned the 15-year-old and three other girls ages 14 to 16 had been forced into sexual servitude, Lewis said.

They were taken to truck stops, gas stations and other locations to perform sex acts, according to Lewis.

The 15-year-old called her mother Feb. 29 and told her she was being held captive and was going to escape, according to a 911 call obtained by McClatchy News. At this point, she had been missing for three months, her mother told the operator.

The teen was able to flee and sought refuge with someone nearby, who called the police, Lewis said.

The teen was able to provide investigators detailed information that allowed them to bring the men into custody, according to police.

She was very, very knowledgeable about what was going on, Lewis said. She was excellent. She remembered tag numbers and stuff like that. And its because she watches crime shows,  so she kind of tried to remember things.

The four men charged are 24-year-old Albert Wells, 47-year-old Taalib Blount, 22-year-old Levi Sears and 48-year-old Talmes Eugene Smith. They face an array of charges each, including rape, trafficking a person for sexual servitude, false imprisonment, pimping a person under 18 and interference with custody.

McClatchy News reached out to the attorney representing Wells and Smith on May 6 and did not receive an immediate response. Attorney information for Blount and Sears was not available in court records.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 911.

To report potential trafficking situations, you can contact the national hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or chat with the online hotline.

Girl breaks free from mans grasp as he tries to pull her in car, California cops say

Teacher forced prostitution on three troubled runaway students, Texas cops say

Man brings teen relative to US, then rapes and assaults her for years, CA cops say

Missing 14-year-old found state away in closet of man she met on Reddit, feds say
Detectives in York County say two suspects have been arrested in connection with a deadly shooting that happened last week in Clover.

The York County Sheriffs Office said on Tuesday that Mitchell Strickland, 38, was arrested in Randolph County, North Carolina. Hes accused of murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Another suspect, 32-year-old Shelby Jeanette Strickland, was arrested for accessory after the fact of a murder.

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The pair were arrested after a shooting that killed 51-year-old Stephen Roger Stowe of Clover, according to the sheriffs office. Authorities didnt say how the Stricklands are related.

Investigators say the shooting happened on May 3 after an argument between the victim and the suspects. The victim was shot on Enon Church Road in Clover.

YCSO says both of the Stricklands were held in the Randolph County Detention Center and awaiting extradition to York County as of Tuesday.

No other details have been released at this time.

(WATCH: Local organization donates $150K to families of four fallen officers)








Robberies of U.S. Postal Service mail carriers at gunpoint for their "arrow" keys -- universal keys to blue mail collection boxes tlike these ones that allow the thieves to steal their contents, including checks and money orders -- have increased in recent years.

Two Columbus men are the latest to have been sentenced in U.S. District Court for being accomplices in the armed robberies of U.S. Postal Service mail carriers.

Cody N. Beasley, 23, also known as "Drose," was sentenced Monday to six years and three months in prison, while Kenan M. Lay, 21, also known as "Swerv," was sentenced April 19 to 5 years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus.

Federal prosecutors stated in court documents that on May 11, 2023, Lay provided a handgun to Cameron Newton, of Westerville, and Thierno Bah, of Columbus, which the pair used to rob and pistol whip an elderly female postal worker at a post office on West Broad Street. Newton paid Lay $100 to use his gun for the crime, and updated Lay throughout the progress of the robbery, according to court records.

On April 4, 2023, Beasley orchestrated and paid $500 to Jama and May to rob another Postal Service letter carrier at gunpoint while the worker was sitting in his work vehicle on Sawmill Road in Dublin, prosecutors said.

Beasley also admitted to stealing a postal "arrow" or universal master key to blue USPS street mailboxes in March 2023 while in the Cleveland area. Federal prosecutors say thieves want the arrow keys so they can steal mail, including checks and money orders.

Beasley and another co-conspirator were pulled over in Parma Heights in Cuyahoga County and fled from police. Police officers eventually caught and detained the two men. A search of their vehicle turned up a black trash bag filled with mail. Through a search of their cellphones, officers also discovered pictures of stolen checks and research of more than three dozen post offices and USPS collection boxes in Cleveland, prosecutors said.

While Beasley and his co-defendant were in jail together, prosecutors said they began plotting for the postal robbery in Dublin.

Others charged in postal carrier robberies since 2022

Lay and Beasley are among the latest who have been charged and/or sentenced to prison in for such robberies of USPS carriers in central Ohio in the past few years. Among others:

Brandon J. Campbell, 23, of Columbus, was sentenced to more than six years in prison in August 2022 for robbing two postal carriers of arrow keys at gunpoint in September 2021, one at Vistas at Rocky Fork Apartment Complex in Gahanna and the other near 4500 Hemingway Court in Columbus.

Theirno S. Bah, 20, of Columbus, has admitted to robbing postal carriers on four different occasions from December 2022 to May 2023. His co-defendant, Cameron D. Newton, 20, of Westerville, was also part of the plots and regularly acted as a lookout while Bah committed the armed robberies. Their cases remain pending.

In January, Anthony Williams, of Columbus, was arrested in Pittsburgh after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges in connection with the armed robberies of two U.S. Postal Service carriers in 2022 in the Columbus area. Prosecutors allege that Williams threatened a USPS mail carrier with a gun to get an arrow key on Nov. 9, 2022, on Michigan Avenue in Columbus.

smeighan@dispatch.com

@ShahidMeighan

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 2 Columbus men sentenced to prison for postal carrier robberies
Two Georgian volunteers fighting for Ukraine, David Gogadze and Beso Lomidze, have been killed during hostilities in the Avdiivka sector, the Black Eagle unit said on May 7.

According to available information, Georgians rank first among the foreign fighters killed while fighting on Ukraine's side during the full-scale war with Russia.

"As a result of military operations in the Avdiivka direction, fighters of the Black Eagle detachment, David Gogadze and Beso Lomidze, were killed," Black Eagle said on Facebook.

"The Black Eagle unit extends its condolences to the bereaved families."

The unit did not specify the date of the two fighters' deaths.

Pro-Ukrainian Georgian volunteers usually fight in one of four different units: the Georgian Legion, the Caucasian Legion, the Black Eagle, and Tbilisi, Radio Free Europe/Radio Europe's Georgian service said.

In comments to The Kyiv Independent in February, the Georgian Legion said that at least 59 Georgian fighters had been killed in battle since the beginning of the full-scale war.

More casualties among their ranks have been reported since then.

Read also: Georgians likely rank first among foreign fighters killed fighting for Ukraine

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Hormel Foods Sales has announced a voluntary limited recall of two Planters products produced at a facility in April, over concerns the nuts might be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes. | FDA

Hormel Foods Sales has announced a voluntary limited recall of two Planters products produced at a facility in April, over concerns the nuts might be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes. The recall only impacts two retailers and five states, according to a notice published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The recall includes 4-ounce packages of Planters Honey Roasted Peanuts with a best if used by date of 04 11 25 and 8.75-ounce cans of Planters Deluxe Lightly Salted Mixed Nuts, dated 05APR26. No other products are part of the recall.

The products were shipped to Public distribution warehouses in the South, including Florida, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. They were also distributed to Dollar Tree warehouses in South Carolina and Georgia.

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause serious, sometimes lethal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and those with weakened immune systems. Health individuals typically suffer short-term symptoms like high fever, severe headache, stiffness, abdominal pain, nausea and diarrhea, according to the advisory. Pregnant women are warned that the infection can lead to miscarriages and stillbirths.

No illnesses have been reported in relationship to the recall and the FDA said the retailers have been notified. Those with the product included in the recall can return it to the store for an exchange or a refund.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Azerbaijan stands among the few countries with ready 4th review on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the country's Deputy Minister of Economy Sahib Mammadov said, Trend reports.

The official made the remark at the 4th SDGs Dialogue conference, themed Stakeholder Consultation on the 4th Voluntary National Review of Azerbaijan and Women's Economic Empowerment for SDG 5 Acceleration."

According to him, this is an indication that Azerbaijan places a high value on this project.

The review will reflect the consultation that will take place. The primary distinction between the 4th Voluntary National Review and its predecessors lies in the preservation of records during the analysis of other reports.

Representatives from Laos are also attending this conference.

Our guests will have the opportunity to learn about Azerbaijan's achievements in this field. We'll share our experience," he added.

To note, the event is taking place in Baku.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
2 rounds of rain expected today with a possibility of hail, thunderstorms in the afternoon

GREEN BAY - Two rounds of showers are expected today in greater Green Bay with the second one packing more of a punch, according to Tasos Kallas, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Green Bay.

The first one is moving from south to north and will arrive around 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. With the rainfall, there could be some winds but it won't be severe, Kallas said.

The second round of rain will get stronger in the late afternoon and early evening so drivers may expect something on their evening commute. Most of the rain will be outside the Green Bay area and reach more of southern Wisconsin, Kallas said, but there's a possibility of small hail and thunderstorms.

"Severe risk is only marginal," Kallas said.

A hazardous weather outlook was issued for northeastern Wisconsin, cautioning of strong wind gusts and hail mainly south of a Marshfield, Waupaca, and Oshkosh line.

So while the risk of severe weather in the Green Bay is "really low," Kallas said it's "something to keep an eye on."

Temperaturies will get warmer Wednesday with the high in the high 60s and a sunny forecast.

Contact Benita Mathew at bmathew@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Rain forecast for Green Bay; hail, thunderstorms possible in afternoon
Two colonels in Ukraine's State Protection Service were identified as part of a group planning to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

The colonels, who have been detained but not yet been publicly identified, were recruited by the Russian Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, Ukraine said.

"Their mission involved identifying military personnel within Zelenskyy's security detail capable of abducting and assassinating him," Ukraine's State Protection Service, or SBU, said.

MORE: Trump held his tongue on Ukraine aid. McConnell says it may have made the difference.

Other high-ranking officials were also allegedly targeted by the group, which SBU officials described as a "network of agents." SBU head Vasyl Malyuk and the head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, were among those who had been targeted, officials said.

"One of the agents was tasked with surveilling the president's movements and relaying this information," the SBU said in a statement posted to Telegram. "A plan was devised to target a location where the president would be present with a missile and drone strike."

The colonels had allegedly obtained the drones they planned to use for the operation against Zelenskyy.

PHOTO: UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-WAR-NATO (Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images)

The pair also allegedly divulged classified Ukrainian information to Moscow.

"Despite the intended terrorist attack, which was meant to be a gift to Putin prior to the inauguration, the Russian special services failed," Malyuk said in a statement.

MORE: Pentagon announces new $6 billion military aid package for Ukraine

The White House called the alleged plot to assassinate Zelenskyy "very concerning news."

"Obviously we are glad that the potential assassination attempt was averted," press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. "I don't have anything beyond that to share. Certainly would refer you to the Ukrainian government. It is certainly concerning news."

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller added, "Obviously, it just speaks to the depravity that we've seen on display from the Putin regime since the outset of this conflict."

2 Ukrainians detained for allegedly plotting Zelenskyy assassination with Russia, Ukraine says originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  After pro-Palestine protesters took over the Portland State University library for multiple days last week, KOIN 6 News learned that less than 20% of people who were arrested were PSU students

Just six of the 31 people who were arrested were students at the college. PSU said two other individuals were taking classes earlier in the year but werent enrolled for the spring term.

Charges for four people have been dropped. Two were homeless and the other two voluntarily exited the building after the police made the arrest announcement.

Pro-Palestinian groups took over the library twice. The second time occurred only hours after protesters ran away from the library, and several were caught by police.

From downpours to warm temps, Portland area prepares for summer-like heat

The university said PSU will press charges against those who were arrested and cooperate with the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office. Thats in line with PSU President Ann Cudds words last week after the group of protesters refused to take a deal that would have offered protection from suspension and expulsion.

The university says it will now review the allegations that led to arrest under the code of student conduct. Those arrested could be suspended or expelled, even if charges are dropped.

Local businesses were forced to shut their doors early in response to the protests.

We just opened not very long ago, and our sales (are) still up and down, but when things happen like that, it does affect (us), said Nicole Luu, co-owner of Pho 503. We dont have a lot of business, it (was) affected because when I walked in we shut down early.

Authorities are still searching for at least 18 other protesters who escaped after the initial occupation on Thursday.

Portland police are asking the public's help in identifying protesters who were seen running away from the PSU library following a days-long occupation. May 2, 2024 (courtesy Portland Police Bureau).

Portland police are asking the public's help in identifying protesters who were seen running away from the PSU library following a days-long occupation. May 2, 2024 (courtesy Portland Police Bureau).

Because the library will be shut down for repairs until the fall, students will not have access to books or other resources. However, the university is offering online resources instead.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
CHEATHAM COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN)  Ask any law enforcement officer and they will tell you that domestic situations are the most dangerous calls they respond to, because emotions are oftentimes high.

In some cases, victims call for police to help and that anger ends up being directed at the officers.

Due to the potential dangers, Cheatham County supervisors tell News 2 deputies spend many hours each year training and educating themselves on tactics and laws associated with domestic violence issues.

Mother, child escape alleged kidnapping at Madison church

Not only is there classroom reeducation, but supervisors say deputies also use virtual simulations to run through the types of volatile scenarios they could encounter.

Law enforcement recently responded to a domestic call where they found a 30-year-old woman walking down the road carrying a young child. When a deputy pulled up, the woman appeared animated and upset.

He asked how she was doing, and the woman replied, I just had to get away from them, they all jumped me. The womans 53-year-old mother went on to tell deputies that her daughter had been using drugs, but she reportedly denied her mothers claims.

They are accusing me of being on drugs. I am a recovering addict, I have four years sober, you know I take Subutex, I am not on drugs, the woman could be heard saying on the deputys body camera footage.

Woman dead following accidental shooting in Nashville , Metro police say

The woman then told authorities her mother and brother had attacked her, allegedly punching and choking her. Throughout the emotional call, the two deputies on scene continued to step away from the family members to confer and coordinate facts from all parties.

Deputy 1: What he is telling me is that she is high.

Deputy 2: And she grabbed the baby and slapped the mom.

Deputy 1: Brother comes out and gets on top of her, hitting her in the face, shes got marks on her neck.

On body cam, while one of the deputies was interviewing all parties, the mother admitted to hitting her daughter during the height of the argument.

I got involved. I wont deny I got involved. Im not going to lie. I tried to whoop her a**, she said.

CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime news from Middle Tennessee

The brother also admitted to choking his sister and using an arm bar to take her to the ground while trying to break up an alleged fight between the mother and daughter.

As the deputy confers with his partner, he says, They started swinging at each other, got her down, put her in a choke hold.

In the end, the deputies arrested all three family members on charges that include domestic violence, aggravated domestic violence, public Intoxication, contraband in a penal institution and a day later, violation of order granting bail.

The body camera footage showed one of the deputies reminding the womans mother why she, too, was being arrested.

You cant swing on people, you know that. Appreciate you being cool with me, but you cant swing on people all right, the deputy said. And the reason your son is going to jail is because you cant choke people.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

The 30-year-old daughter went to jail on public intoxication charges. According to an arrest affidavit, deputies later found two grams of drugs on the woman while she was being booked into jail.

Jail officials tell News 2 all parties have since bonded out of jail while awaiting their days in court.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
Johnny James Watson, left, Robert James Watson III, back, and Danie Kelly Jr., right, sit with their attorneys during their sentencing hearing on Tuesday in Port Orchard. Superior Court Judge Kevin Hull sentenced each man to four life sentences for each murder they were convicted of in April, as well as some additional charges.

PORT ORCHARD -- The three men convicted in the 2017 murder of four members of a blended family near Lake Tahuya were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Tuesday morning.

Multiple family members of John Careaga, Crystal Careaga, Hunter Schaap and Johnathon Higgins spoke to the Kitsap Superior Court courtroom for more than an hour, where Danie Jay Kelly Jr., 45, Robert James Watson III, 52, and Johnny James Watson, 50, were seated, before the sentence was issued by Superior Court Judge Kevin Hull. Each man was sentenced to four life sentences, one for each count of first-degree murder they were found guilty of by a jury on April 5. Additionally, each of the three were sentenced to an additional 46 years combined for charges of attempted murder and arson, and enhancements for firearm possession, commission of a crime during a burglary and multiple victims in the same crime.

"(These crimes) have had a ripple effect, not only for this family, but also for the community," Prosecuting Attorney Kelly Montgomery said before individuals addressed the court, leading to the sentences being issued.

Related: 3 suspects found guilty in Careaga family quadruple murder

Hunter Schapp's mother Carly Schaap placed an urn with her son's remains alongside a photo of him on a table next to the lectern where eight family members then offered memories of the deceased, admonitions for the convicted men, encouragement to Hull to apply the most severe penalties possible, and thanks to the jury that found Kelly and the two Watson brothers guilty after a trial that lasted more than 5 months.

Carly Schapp and others described the pain that has been inflicted on the blended family, many of whom were in the courtroom, since the three killings in January 2017 at a home near Tahuya Lake in rural Kitsap County and a fourth near a Mason County tree farm. Others spoke about the anguish of waiting nearly five years until the three suspects were arrested in June 22 and charged with murder and arson for burning the Tahuya Lake home. She shared, and others echoed, the feelings of anxiety, depression, sadness, fear and toxicity that spread through the family in the years since the murders, including the loss of another young family member, Joseph Careaga, in a 2018 crash near Hansville.

"Johnny Watson, Robert Watson and Dani Kelly," Carly Schapp said, directly addressing the three, shackled in green Kitsap County Jail jumpsuits and seated across the courtroom. "You've stolen not just from our family and friends, but from the goodness that surrounds us all."

Grandparents, children, cousins and parents of the deceased took time to address the judge, often emotionally. John Careaga was described by family members as a loving father and uncle who would entertain the nine children who relied on him as well as cousins, nephews and nieces, whether by creating adventures, hosting Harry Potter night or wiping noses. Crystal Careaga was described as a personable and contagious "bright light" since she was a child; Johnathon Higgins was a "big teddy bear" who shared a close and deep relationship with his mother; and Hunter Schaap, a busy teenager who played sports, liked to cook and spend time with close friends, was noted for his courage, particularly the night he was wounded yet able to call 911 and alert law enforcement to the intruders at the family home.

Related: Background on the trial for Careaga quadruple homicide suspects

"I wonder how much that courage would have helped others in this community, or even this world," one family member shared. "Now we'll never know."

Kelly and the Watson brothers, who have been held at Kitsap County Jail, declined the opportunity to speak during Tuesday's proceedings.

Before closing Hull told the court he struggled to write his own statement for the hearing, after hearing months of testimony and evidence in the case, which began last November. He instead reflected on the emotional testimony from family members that was shared, before issuing the sentences, which were all the maximum penalties allowed under state guidelines.

"The damage here is just too much, the impact is too much," Hull said just before noon. "... I don't know how you can recover from these circumstances, but these families are doing their best. It's a nightmare, but it's reality."

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: 3 men sentenced to life in prison for 2017 Careaga family murders
Take 300 health and safety course before installing hanging baskets, council tells volunteers

Sue Unwin says residents should be left alone to 'make the town look nice' - BAV MEDIA

Residents in a market town renowned for its award-winning floral displays have been told they must complete a 300 health and safety course before putting hanging baskets on street lights.

Members of the Chatteris in Bloom group, which has previously won gold at Britain in Bloom and Anglia in Bloom, are furious after being hit with the ridiculous new regulations by Cambridgeshire County Council.

The volunteers usually hang baskets on about 20 lampposts in the town at the end of May, and judging takes place in July.

However, this year the council has told them to complete the two-day course  or hire a contractor to put the baskets in place  to ensure everyones safety, because the streetlights are connected to the power grid.

Jobsworths killing community spirit

Sue Unwin, 64, president of Chatteris in Bloom, said: Its ridiculous, its becoming impossible with the bureaucracy and red tape. Its health and safety gone mad.

Weve been doing this for more than 18 years with no problems. Some jobsworth in the county council has made this decision.

Were all volunteers and none of us have the time or the money to do a course as well as decorate the town, we already give enough of our own time.

Were so fed up, bureaucracy is going to kill our community spirit. We just want to make the town look nice. Why cant they leave us alone to get on with it?

A display of hanging baskets and planters from a previous year - BAV MEDIA

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: Its great seeing the creative ways that communities across the county make use of streetlights with festive displays.

As streetlights are directly connected to the local power grid, to ensure everyones safety any group wishing to display items from a streetlight needs to get in touch with the council, so we can make sure essential independent safety training is completed for everyones well-being.

We look forward to hearing from Chatteris in Bloom.

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$37,000 found in bathrooms of 2 Ohio businesses, and cops dont know how it got there

Nearly $40,000 in cash was discovered hidden in the bathrooms of two businesses, sparking a mystery in a small Ohio town.

Five days after $25,000 was found at the Avalon Theater in Marysville on April 27, an additional $12,270 was discovered inside the bathroom of a KFC in the same town, according to the Marysville Division of Police.

Now, officers are trying to figure out who put the money in the locations  and why.

Truly bizarre, just weird, especially two times in one week in our town, Capt. Nate Sachs told WCMH. Its disbelief. Its disbelief and honestly theyre just curious as to why the money would be there in the first place.

Police said a worker at the Avalon Theater discovered large amounts of cash in each stall trashcan while cleaning the womens bathroom April 27.

An employee later told officers a woman who was at the theater the previous night with her children had exited the bathroom acting odd, but its unclear if she hid the money, according to a police report.

The cash from the theater included 146 $100 bills and a similar number of $50 and $20 bills.

On May 2, a large amount of cash was found banded up inside of the toilet tank at a KFC in the same town, police said. More money was found laying directly on the top of the toilet mechanism in the tank in a separate stall.

The $12,270 discovered in the KFC bathroom included 97 $100 bills, according to police.

Officers are investigating the two discoveries and attempting to discern a link between the two.

Sachs said in a statement to McClatchy News the department is exploring all possibilities, including that they are related.

Were trying to figure out whose money it is, and what possible connection it could be ... to anything that we could see in the city, Sachs told WSYX.

Marysville is about a 35-mile drive northwest from Columbus.

Human finger found in Walmart parking lot, cops say. How it got there is a mystery
CLINTON HILL, Brooklyn (PIX11)  New York City Councilmember Crystal Hudson is pleading for Mayor Eric Adams support in addressing the strain a large migrant shelter has placed on the Clinton Hill community.

Its not about politics, Hudson said. Its about the significant strain on the existing community caused by the influx of over 4,000 new residents.

Residents have reported issues with increased trash, abandoned vehicles, and loitering.

More Brooklyn News

Hudsons team has struggled to address these concerns without support from the Mayors office. They requested resources like vaccination buses and town halls but received no meaningful response.

Were asking now, at this point, for him to commit to coming to the community and doing a town hall, Hudson said.

Her office even filled out the Mayors official engagement form but was denied support.

Undeterred, Hudsons team is hosting their own resource fair on June 1 to provide services directly to the migrants, including hot meals, care kits, and vaccinations.

Were asking him to do it because the community has been asking for a response, and we havent received one, Hudson said. People need resources and assistance, and the city is equipped to provide them.

More Local News

Since 2022, over 175,000 migrants have arrived in New York City. With over 64,000 currently in its care, the city faces challenges in managing the influx.

Adams requested state funding to cover half the citys cost associated with the migrants, arguing the federal government was not doing enough.

PIX11 News reached out to the Mayors office for a statement:

As we manage hundreds of people who continue to arrive in our city every day, we are doing so more efficiently and in a more cost-effective manner by looking toward long-term planning and management to stabilize and protect our shelter system. This ensures New York City can continue to support those most in need, and deliver important services for all New Yorkers. Our dedicated staff at the Humanitarian Relief Centers work around the clock to provide critical support to families in need. We appreciate the councilmembers partnership in this very important work to house and care for over 65,000 migrants still in our system. City Hall Spokesperson

Without mayoral support, Councilmember Hudson said her team is left to address the complex issues arising from the migrant shelter.

I cant answer all the questions people are asking, Hudson said. I dont have the information or resources, and he does.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
4 arrested on suspicion of DUI, 11 vehicles impounded during checkpoint on Panama Lane

4 arrested on suspicion of DUI, 11 vehicles impounded during checkpoint on Panama Lane

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  Police made four arrests for DUI during a checkpoint Friday night in southwest Bakersfield, the department said.

The checkpoint took place on May 3 in the 6900 block of Panama Lane from 6 p.m. to 12:40 a.m.

The Bakersfield Police Department said officers arrested four motorists on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. Two of those drivers had previous arrests, according to police.

Deadly V Street shooting gang-related: reports

Thirteen drivers were cited for driving without a license while four were cited for driving on a suspended license. Eleven vehicles were impounded during the checkpoint.

Officers screened a total of 1,381 vehicles, officials said in a release.

Anyone who sees a possible driver under the influence is asked to call 911.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The UN congratulates Azerbaijan's preparation for its 4th national review of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Assistant Administrator, Director, Bureau for Policy and Program Services of the UN Development Program (UNDP) Marcos Neto said, Trend reports.

The official made the remark at the opening of the 4th SDG Dialogue, themed Stakeholder Consultation on the 4th Voluntary National Review of Azerbaijan and Women's Economic Empowerment for SDG 5 Acceleration."

"Azerbaijan is one of the five countries that have prepared their fourth national review of the SDGs. In this regard, we congratulate Azerbaijan," he pointed out.

According to Neto, women's participation in the economy means an additional $12 trillion.

"The negative consequences of prohibiting women from participating in the economy are incredible," the official emphasized.

He mentioned that the UN is ready to support the enhancement of women's role in Azerbaijan's economy and can develop financial programs.

"We support Azerbaijan's national priorities and share knowledge in fields such as demining, gender equality, and climate change.

We have established 17 women's resource centers in Azerbaijan. Thus, more than 8,000 women have undergone various courses and have been provided with equipment. We provide them with psychological and financial support," Neto said.

He stressed the need for reforms in professions that are off-limits to women globally.

"Azerbaijan has achieved outstanding success in this area. We would like the country to integrate gender equality into all spheres. Azerbaijan can also benefit from Brazil's experience in this matter," he added.

To note, the event is taking place in Baku.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
HELLS KITCHEN, Manhattan (PIX11)  At least four police officers were injured after an NYPD cruiser crashed into an 18-wheeler in Manhattan early Tuesday morning, according to authorities.

The crash happened near 58th Street and 8th Avenue in Hells Kitchen around 5:32 a.m. All four officers were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries, according to authorities.

Suspect in fatal shooting of NYPD Detective Jonathan Diller to appear in court

The driver of the 18-wheeler was not injured, police said.

Its unknown how the collision happened. The officers were responding to a 911 call at the time of the crash, according to authorities.

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates.

Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her work here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KSNT)  Nearly $42 million in federal funding is being sent to the Sunflower State to address several housing-related issues.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced in a press release Tuesday, May 7 that $5.5 billion in funding is being dispersed to 1,200 communities across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. A total of $41,944,189 is on the way to Kansas to help the state with affordable housing, community development, homeless assistance and economic growth.

Homeownership is an essential part of the American Dream that represents so much more than a roof over our heads. For people all across our nation, a home represents financial security, the opportunity to build wealth and equity, and a foundation for a better future for themselves, their children, and future generations, said Vice President Kamala Harris. That is why President Biden and I are expanding on our historic investments in housing by announcing $5.5 billion that will increase access to affordable housing, invest in economic growth, and address homelessness in communities throughout America. This funding will build more affordable homes and support renters and homeowners while also lowering costs, building wealth, and creating jobs.

A breakdown of where this cash is heading can be found below:

Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)  $25,791,683

HOME Investment  $9,938,538

Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG)  $2,268,891

Housing Opportunities for Persons With HIV/AIDS (HOPWA)  $800,244

Housing Trust Fund (HTF)  $3,144,833

Kansas gov. orders flags to fly at half-staff

For 50 years HUD has provided flexible grant funding so that communities nationwide can make their own choices about addressing their most urgent challenges. These funds will be used to create permanent housing, offer temporary shelter, provide downpayment assistance for ready homebuyers, support community infrastructure  like water and sewer projects  and invest in small businesses, said Marion McFadden, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development.

For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
The child was seriously injured at the theme park on May 2 and died in the hospital on May 5, police say

Steve Parsons/PA Wire Legoland Windsor Park

A baby died days after suffering cardiac arrest at Legoland Windsor Resort in the U.K., and a woman has been arrested on suspicion of neglect.

The child, a 5-month-old boy, was seriously injured at the theme park on May 2 in what the Thames Valley Police have alleged was a neglect incident.

Three days later, on May 5, the infant died in the hospital, officials said.

According to information provided by police, the incident likely occurred at the parks Coastguard HQ boat ride between around 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.

An unidentified 27-year-old woman was arrested in connection to the incident on May 2, prior to the babys death.

The woman was arrested on suspicion of neglecting a child to cause unnecessary injury, and has been released on police bail until July 26, per the Thames Valley Police.

Currently, police are not looking for anyone else as a suspect.

Detective Constable Zoe Eele of the Thames Valley Polices Child Abuse Investigation Unit  and one of the officers investigating the childs death  called the incident distressing in a May 7 press release.

Firstly, our thoughts are with the family of the boy who sadly died in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest, Eele said in the release. We are supporting them as best we can at this extremely difficult time.

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The detective constable also said her unit is working closely with the team at Legoland Windsor Resort in its investigation.

I would ask for the public to please avoid speculation about the incident and to respect the boys family at this deeply upsetting time, she added.

In a statement provided to PEOPLE, a spokesperson for Legoland Windsor said, "Were incredibly saddened to hear this news and our heartfelt condolences go out to all those affected. We remain extremely grateful to all staff and members of the public who supported us when this young guest was taken ill at the Resort last week. Legoland Windsor is committed to supporting Thames Valley Police with their ongoing investigation."



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Read the original article on People.
The "Soul of the Nation" slate card for five candidates who ran together to become delegates to the Democratic National Convention Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.

Five North Florida residents, all active in Democratic Party campaigns, were elected last month to serve as 2nd Congressional District delegates to the Democratic National Convention Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.

The delegates are Judy Mount, 1st vice chair of the Florida Democratic Party; Savannah Atkins, a Leon County Young Democrat; Dave Jacobsen, president of Florida AFSCME Retirees Chapter 79; Elijah Hooks, a member of FAMU College Democrats; and John Hedrick, a Leon County Democratic state committeeman.

The five ran together as a slate that they called Soul of the Nation, based on their diversity in age, race and gender. Several of those elected have served as delegates before, including in 2020, when it was held virtually because of the COVID outbreak. The younger delegates will be going for the first time, Jacobsen said.

Mount, chair of the Jackson County Democratic Executive Committee and a state committeewoman, has served at every Democratic national convention since 2008.

Its just going to be exciting getting everything going, and getting everybody on the right track and ... coming together unified to get President Joe Biden reelected, Mount said.

Jacobsen, former president of the Democratic Club of North Florida, served as a delegate in 2016 and 2020. At 80, he said he doesn't expect to attend another convention

"This will this will be a pinnacle for me and my political career, he said.

The election for CD2 delegates was held April 20 at the Leon County Supervisor of Elections Office and locations in Marianna and Panama City. Jacobsen said Patricia Byrd is expected to be selected as an at-large delegate.

More than a dozen others ran for delegate, including Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor, who filed to run but opted not to campaign. Minor said he hopes to attend the convention as one of the partys political leader/elected official delegates, who will be selected later.

County Commissioner Rick Minor participates in a Blueprint meeting on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024.

I entered my name in the district delegate election, but when I learned that friends who helped me in my County Commission races were also running, I couldnt bring myself to campaign against them, Minor said in an email. So, Ive now applied to be a PLEO delegate, and well see what happens.

This years presidential election is literally about preserving American democracy, Minor added, and the convention will be an opportunity for Democrats to convey that to voters.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Five North Florida residents elected as delegates to DNC in Chicago
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has warned universities that students arrested during pro-Palestine protests may face felony charges under a 70-year-old law meant to target the Ku Klux Klan.

In a letter sent Monday to the states public universities, Yost said a 1953 anti-disguise law could apply to mask-wearing students protesting against Israels war in Gaza. The law makes it a fourth-degree felony for two or more people to commit any crime together while wearing white caps, masks, or other disguise.

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At least 40 people were arrested during peaceful protests on Ohio State Universitys campus in late April, including 18 students. All protesters were charged with criminal trespassing, a low-level misdemeanor. But under his interpretation of the states anti-disguise law, Yost said protesters could face up to a year and a half in prison and $5,000 in fines.

I do not wish to see anyones First Amendment rights abridged, nor see anyone surprised that they violated the law, Yost wrote. The First Amendment is a shield against the government, not a sword against fellow students.

Dozens  if not hundreds  of protesters wore face coverings during pro-Palestine protests at Ohio State and other universities, whether they were the black-and-white checkered keffiyehs known as a symbol of Palestinian resistance or blue KN95 face masks. At an antiwar protest at Ohio State on May 1, protesters handed out free KN95s alongside pita sandwiches and slices of watermelon.

Some protesters use face coverings to shield their identities from law enforcement or would-be harassers who post their images and identities online. Others mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19  particularly immunocompromised or otherwise disabled people. COVID-19 infections hospitalized 61 people and killed 12 in Ohio in the last week of April, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Ohio to begin enhanced voter roll purge ahead of November election

In the first place, students should protest within the bounds of the law, and not commit crimes, Yost wrote. In the second place, they should own their advocacy and avoid wearing masks.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, states began passing anti-mask laws in the mid-20th century to combat the violence perpetrated by masked members of the Ku Klux Klan  hence the reference in Ohios law to white caps. At least a dozen states have anti-mask laws similar to Ohios. Such laws have been challenged at state and federal levels for violating First Amendment rights, to mixed results.

Last May, a neo-Nazi group praising Hitler and fitted with swastikas protested outside a drag brunch fundraiser at Land Grant Brewing Company. Most of the neo-Nazis wore black ski masks and red sunglasses to cover their faces.

Ohio State University Police and the Ohio State Highway Patrol arrested 36 people on Ohio States campus during a pro-Palestine protest on April 25. Students, calling on Ohio State to disclose and divest its financial ties to companies affiliated with Israels war in Gaza, had set up tents with plans to have an encampment similar to those seen at universities across the U.S.

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But after five hours of peaceful protests, chants and prayer, law enforcement in riot gear forcibly dispersed the crowd of several hundred, pushing protesters to the ground to handcuff them and dragging others toward county sheriffs buses. Ohio State had previously warned that setting up an overnight encampment would violate the universitys space rules.

Days later, Ohio State President Ted Carter said in an email to the university community that the decision to arrest protesters was not about limiting free speech, but to avoid significant safety issues.

A spokesperson for Ohio State said the university is reviewing Yosts letter but did not say how it might impact previously-charged protesters.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
82% of Ukrainians do not trust Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, 63% seek its ban

83% of Ukrainians believe that the state has to interfere with the activity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). Specifically, 63% of respondents stated that this church must be completely banned in Ukraine (54% expressed this opinion in December 2022, 85% in May 2023).

Source: survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, commissioned by the public organisation Centre of Strategic Communications Forum

Details: Another 20% Ukrainians are in favour of a "softer" approach, which does not involve a complete ban, but the establishment of state control and supervision.

At the same time, in the opinion of 12% of respondents, nothing should be done and the affairs of the UOC-MP should not be interfered with, but only certain possible cases of offences should be investigated (12% in December 2022 as well, 6% in May 2023).

83% of Ukrainians believe that the state should intervene in the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (78% in December 2022, 85% in May 2023).

Screenshot: Kyiv International Institute of Sociology

In all regions of Ukraine, the majority of the population (from 76% in the east to 85% in the west and 86% in the centre) are in favour of a proactive state position regarding the activities of the UOC-MP.

69% of surveyed residents of western Ukraine and 68% of participants from the centre of Ukraine are in favour of a complete ban of the UOC-MP. There are fewer people with this position in the south and east (55% and 46% correspondingly).

82% of Ukrainians stated they do not trust the UOC-MP (from 73% in the east to 88% in the west of Ukraine). Only 8% trust the Russian-connected church, and another 11% were undecided.

The vast majority of Ukrainians in all regions (from 73% in the east to 88% in the west) do not trust the Moscow-backed church.

Screenshot: Kyiv International Institute of Sociology

Anton Hrushetskyi, the acting head of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, believes that UOC-MP is engaging in activity which makes it look like the fifth column of the Kremlin.

"Obviously, the Church is unable to convince Ukrainians that it is supposedly no longer dependent on the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate and stands on pro-Ukrainian positions," he commented on the results of the survey.

Hrushetskyi also thinks that security actions regarding representatives of the church must be accompanied by enhanced communication, especially with the Western partners, because Russia is trying to discredit Ukraine abroad for the alleged "persecution of Christians".

The survey was conducted during 20-25 April, 2024, by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS). By order of the public organisation Centre for Strategic Communications Forum, questions were added about trust in the UOC-MP and what the governments policy concerning the church should entail.

A total 1,220 respondents aged 18 and older and living in all Ukraine-controlled regions of Ukraine were interviewed in the conduction of the survey.

Background:

There are still more than 8,000 churches of UOC-MP in Ukraine yet only 22 of them directly indicate their affiliation.

Back in 2022 the Constitutional Court recognised the law obliging the UOC-MP to indicate its affiliation with Russia as constitutional.

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SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON)  Eighty-seven people were arrested in San Jose over Cinco de Mayo weekend as officers enforced a zero tolerance tactic toward criminal behavior. Simultaneously, San Jose Police Department officers also joined city-sanctioned Cinco de Mayo cultural festivities to celebrate the holiday.

San Jose drew large crowds throughout the weekend of May 3-5. City sanctioned events were largely successful, and the majority of community members and visitors lawfully enjoyed this cultural celebration that has been a San Jose tradition for decades, Sgt. Jorge Garibay wrote.

An officer donning a custom SJPD mariachi uniform sang with a mariachi band at one festival, and a low-riding classic SJPD patrol car cruised with 300 local lowriders paying homage to Chicano and Mexican roots and traditions.

A police officer sings with a mariachi band on Cinco de Mayo 2024. (Image courtesy San Jose Police Department)

We proudly embrace and understand the significance this celebration holds for residents and visitors. SJPD also employed zero tolerance for criminal behavior, Garibay wrote.

SJPD said several felony crimes, reckless driving incidents and sideshows, required enforcement action. Violence flared about an hour after a city-sanctioned festival ended in Emma Prusch Farm Park on King Road. Two people were stabbed and rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Large Cinco de Mayo crowds that gathered for unsanctioned events and sideshows were broken up by police.

Garibay wrote, This weekends sanctioned events were peaceful and well attended family events. However, the City experienced a high number of unrelated disruptive visitors who desired to create unsafe conditions for our Officers and the public. Among many other things, SJPD investigated a double stabbing event with life threatening injuries, numerous physical fights, multiple sideshows events throughout the city, an alcohol related vehicle collision where the intoxicated suspect driver collided with a patrol vehicle injuring our officer, assaults on patrol officers, vandalism to patrol cars, and multiple firearms arrests.

While proactively patrolling impacted areas from May 3-5, SJPD statistics included:

Felony Arrests: 17

Misdemeanor Arrests: 52

Warrant Arrests: 18

Vehicle Impounds: 8

Traffic Citations Issued: 156

Firearms seized: 6

911 calls for service: 2,100

Garibay wrote, Historically, the Police Department has received numerous requests from residents and business owners concerned about unsanctioned gatherings and activities. Traffic diversions were only deployed when traffic gridlock was starting to occur, and/or when crowds started to become large and unruly enough that they presented a public safety issue. Due to the illegal actively and other safety concerns, SJPD deployed several traffic diversions to maintain public safety. Once public safety was restored, the traffic diversions were lifted.

(Image courtesy SJPD)

The police department said it looks forward to continuing its collaboration with communities to build on 2024s success to ensure safety for future Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

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An 86-year-old Florida woman died in a freakish traffic mishap at her mailbox and it was her 87-year-old sister driving the car, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Identities of the two sisters have not been released.

The crash happened around 4:30 p.m. Monday, May 6, in a Port Richey residential neighborhood, about a 40-mile drive northwest of Tampa.

A Mercury sedan, driven by a 87-year-old Port Richey woman, was backing out of a private driveway ... after dropping off her 86-year-old sister, the highway patrol reports

The (86-year-old) sister walked to the mailbox to check for mail as the driver was reversing out of the driveway. After exiting the driveway, the driver changed gears to travel forward, then accidentally depressing the gas pedal.

The car veered toward the mailbox, striking her sister and continuing into a tree, officials said. It came to a stop only after colliding with a Toyota Venza parked at the home of the next-door neighbor on Elm Leaf Court, officials said.

Investigators say the 86-year-old woman died at the scene.

Details of an investigation were not released.

Man runs over 86-year-old father multiple times in bar parking lot, Florida cops say

Husband shoots wife, then chases ambulance taking her to a hospital, Florida cops say

Woman was killed when she was thrown from speeding pickup, Florida police say
Embattled ABC News president Kim Godwin stepped down after she was caught badmouthing her new boss  the last straw in a confluence of bad decisions that included the bungled firing of weatherman Rob Marciano last week, The Post has learned.

Godwin  the first black person to lead a major network news division  resigned Sunday to end a chaotic three-year tenure marked by a slew of public missteps that led corporate overlord Disney to bring in veteran executive Debra OConnell in February.

She was badmouthing Debra. It was the last straw, an ABC source told The Post on Monday.

Kim Godwins short, three-year reign as president of ABC News was chaotic and marked with missteps. Getty Images for The Alliance for Women in Media

The elevation of OConnell was effectively a demotion for Godwin, who was still given a three-year extension by Disney CEO Bob Iger.

Disney is scheduled to report its earnings on Tuesday, and Iger did not want to get bogged down in questions about Godwin, another source close to the situation told The Post.

Her sudden exit followed a blistering report last Friday by the news outlet Puck that claimed Godwin was trashing OConnell to an associate over a recent dinner in New York.

A day earlier, CNN reported that Godwin was in hot water and under a leadership review by OConnell, who was said to be astonished by Godwins mismanagement of a division that includes top-rated shows Good Morning America and World News Tonight.

They decided to pull the trigger on her Friday night, the second source said. They negotiated a settlement.

Financial terms of her three-year deal or her payout were not made public.

Debra OConnell was brought in to oversee Godwin in February. OConnell has been conducting a review of Godwin and other top leaders at ABC News. Getty Images

ABC News declined to comment. Godwin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The source told The Post that a confluence of events that included the Marciano saga and negative feedback from fellow black employees about their boss played a role in Disney sharpening the ax.

Debra already knew about Kim was trashing her, the source said, adding that what upset top brass was learning that nobody in the building supported Godwin.

Godwin (left), who is backstage at ABCs The View, stepped down on Sunday night. @newsmom8 / Instagram

The source cited Pucks report, which included interviews with black journalists at the network who were worried that Godwin would use the race issue to insulate herself from criticism or frame the narrative around her seemingly inevitable departure.

Race in the workplace is so nuanced that it can be easily weaponized by all sides and bad actors of any race, a black ABC News veteran told the outlet.

Disney fell into the trap of the soft bigotry of low expectations and appointed someone everyone knows is unqualified to do the job Now [they] are worried that firing the first black woman would be an act of racism, when she is simply bad at her job.

Sources pointed to Godwins bungling of Rob Marcianos exit as one of many issues that led to her early retirement from ABC. Walt Disney Television

The National Association of Black Journalists came out with a full-throated defense of Godwin on Saturday. The organization claimed Godwins supporters inside the network had been silenced.

Those supporters have told NABJ that they see the attacks, perpetrated through media reports, as racially motivated or in reaction to her not being in what some in the industry call the good old boy network of players, the organization wrote in its press release.

A source with knowledge said the press release rankled top brass, who expedited the date of Godwins exit.

Godwin also allegedly said in several staff meetings that black people dont watch the news, and complained that in the wake of George Floyds murder at the hands of cops, news networks had overcompensated for a lack of diversity in the leadership ranks.

Its quite the opposite, the second source told The Post. It shows a fundamental lack of knowledge in the audience and thats troubling.

On the bright side, the long national nightmare is over.

Under Godwin, ABC saw viewership of its cash cow, Good Morning America, begin to falter, which alarmed higher ups. AP

Employees are now bracing for more restructuring after Godwins departure, with one source adding the worst of it is yet to come.

As previously reported by The Post, some sources are pointing at the former presidents top lieutenants, Jose Andino, the vice president of the office of the president & process management, executive editor and senior vice president Stacia Deshishku and executive vice president Derek Medina.

As we talk about the decline of news, watching these three for the past three years is like watching The Lion King and the three hyenas picking up the carcass of Mufasa, a source said of the three lieutenants.

Mediocrity hides in the shadows of ambiguity and in this case, it not only hides, it thrives in the ABC News C-suite, the source added.

Godwins mishandling of the relationship between GMA3 hosts TJ Holmes and Amy Robach was one of the execs first big leadership disasters. ABC

In recent days, the source said, Godwins bad decision-making returned to haunt her. Marciano, a former Good Morning America weatherman, was ousted amid alleged anger issues.

A year earlier, Marciano was banned from GMAs set after he allegedly made a colleague feel uncomfortable. Instead of firing Marciano then, Godwin moved him to World News Tonight and had him send in reports to GMA, a move that prolonged the problem, sources said.

The move was reminiscent of Godwins mishandling of the relationship between GMA3 hosts TJ Holmes and Amy Robach, who were allowed to remain on the air even after news of their romance became public.

OConnell has also reportedly been shocked that Godwin has failed to replace the networks head of talent, Galen Gordon, more than a year after she had fired him. She also was not happy to see ABC News lose its Washington bureau chief, Jonathan Greenberger, to Politico just months before a historic presidential election.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. My deepest appreciation goes out to the Turkic statesparticularly Azerbaijan and Turkiyefor their selfless sharing of vaccines and protective masks right from the start, World Health Organization (WHO) Director for Europe Hans Kluge said in an interview with Anadolu Agency, Trend reports.

He stressed the need for transparency and mutual aid, noting that some nations did not share vaccines and masks.

"Solidarity is not just a word for the Organization of Turkic States; it is something that all nations must display," Kluge added.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Abilene police take New Mexico double homicide suspect into custody, recover abducted baby

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC)  A suspect was arrested in Abilene on Monday in connection to a New Mexico homicide and abduction of a baby girl.

Clovis Police investigating double homicide, abduction of infant

Taylor County Jail: Alek Collins (May 2024)

Alek Collins, 26, of Houston, is accused of shooting two women to death, injuring a 5-year-old, and abducting a 10-month-old in Clovis, New Mexico.

Abilene police say they located Collins at a north Abilene home where he was reportedly staying. Narcotic agents set up surveillance and later took the suspect into custody.

Clovis Police Department gives update on 10-month-old found safe after abduction, double homicide

The baby girl was taken into protective custody and medically evaluated.

Alek Collins was booked into the Taylor County Jail on Aggravated Robbery and Aggravated Assault against a Public Servant charges on Monday. More charges for Collins will likely come later on.

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Illustration: Adani Samat

After surviving a disastrous congressional hearing, Claudine Gay was forced to resign as the president of Harvard for repeatedly copying and pasting language used by other scholars and passing it off as her own. She's hardly alone among elite academics, and plagiarism has become a roiling scandal in academia.

There's another common practice among professional researchers that should be generating even more outrage: making up data. I'm not talking about explicit fraud, which also happens way too often, but about openly inserting fictional data into a supposedly objective analysis.

Instead of doing the hard work of gathering data to test hypotheses, researchers take the easy path of generating numbers to support their preconceptions or to claim statistical significance. They cloak this practice in fancy-sounding words like "imputation," "ecological inference," "contextualization," and "synthetic control."

They're actually just making stuff up.

Claudine Gay was accused of plagiarizing sections of her Ph.D. thesis, for which she was awarded Harvard's Toppan Prize for the best dissertation in political science. She has since requested three corrections. More outrageous is that she wrote a paper on white voter participation without having any data on white voter participation.

In an article in the American Political Science Review that was based on her dissertation, Gay set out to investigate "the link between black congressional representation and political engagement," finding that "the election of blacks to Congress negatively affects white political involvement and only rarely increases political engagement among African Americans."

To arrive at that finding, you might assume that Gay had done the hard work of measuring white and black voting patterns in the districts she was studying. You would assume wrong.

Instead, Gay used regression analysis to estimate white voting patterns. She analyzed 10 districts with black representatives and observed that those with more voting-age whites had lower turnout at the polls than her model predicted. So she concludes that whites must be the ones not voting.

She committed what in statistics is known as the "ecological fallacy"you see two things occurring in the same place and assume a causal relationship. For example, you notice a lot of people dying in hospitals, so you assume hospitals kill people. The classic example is Jim Crow laws were strictest in states that skewed black. Ecological inference leads to the false conclusion that blacks supported Jim Crow.

Gay's theory that a black congressional representative depresses white voter turnout could be true, but there are other plausible explanations for what she observed. The point is that we don't know. The way to investigate white voter turnout is to measure white voter turnout.

Gay is hardly the only culprit. Because she was the president of Harvard, it's worth making an example of her work, but it reflects broad trends in academia. Unlike the academic crime of plagiarism, students are taught and encouraged to invent data under the guise of statistical sophistication. Academia values the appearance of truth over actual truth.

You need real data to understand the world. The process of gathering real data also leads to essential insights. Researchers pick up on subtleties that often cause them to shift their hypotheses. Armchair investigators, on the other hand, build neat rows and columns that don't say anything about what's happening outside their windows.

Another technique for generating rather than collecting data is called "imputation," which was used in a paper titled "Green innovations and patents in OECD countries" by economists Almas Heshmati and Mike Shinas. The authors wanted to analyze the number of "green" patents issued by different countries in different years. But the authors only had data for some countries and some years.

"Imputation" means filling in data gaps with educated guesses. It can be defensible if you have a good basis for your guesses and they don't affect your conclusions strongly. For example, you can usually guess gender based on a person's name. But if you're studying the number of green patents, and you don't know that number, imputation isn't an appropriate tool for solving the problem.

The use of imputation allowed them to publish a paper arguing that environmentalist policies lead to innovationwhich is likely the conclusions they had hoped forand to do so with enough statistical significance to pass muster with journal editors.

A graduate student in economics working with the same data as Heshmati and Shinas recounted being "dumbstruck" after reading their paper. The student, who wants to remain anonymous for career reasons, reached out to HeshmAati to find out how he and Shinas had filled in the data gaps. The research accountability site Retraction Watch reported that they had used the Excel "autofill" function.

According to an analysis by the economist Gary Smith, altogether there were over 2,000 fictional data points amounting to 13 percent of all the data used in the paper.

The Excel autofill function is a lot of fun and genuinely handy in some situations. When you enter 1, 2, 3, it guesses 4. But it doesn't work when the datalike much of realityhave no simple or predictable pattern.

When you give Excel a list of U.S. presidents, it can't predict the next one. I did give it a try though. Why did Excel think that William Henry Harrison' would retake the White House in 1941? Harrison died in office just 31 days after his inaugurationin 1841. Most likely, autofill figured it was only fair that he be allowed to serve out his remaining years. Why did it pick 1941? That's when FDR began his third term, which apparently Excel considered to be illegitimate, so it exhumed Harrison and put him back in the White House.

In a paper published in the journal of the American Medical Association and written up by CNN and the New York Post, a team of academics claimed to show that age-adjusted death rates soared 106 percent during the pandemic among renters who had received eviction filing notices, compared to 25 percent for a control group.

The authors got 483,408 eviction filings, and asked the U.S. Census how many of the tenants had died. The answer was 0.3 percent, and that 58 percent were still alive. The status of about 42 percent was unknownusually because the tenant had moved without filing a change of address. If the authors had assumed that all the unknowns were still alive, the COVID-era mortality increase would be 22 percent for tenants who got eviction notices versus 25 percent who didn't. This would have been a statistically insignificant finding, wouldn't have been publishable, and certainly wouldn't have gotten any press attention.

Some of the tenants that the Census couldn't find probably did die, though likely not many, since most dead people end up with death certificatesand people who are dead can't move, so you'd expect most of them to to be linked to their census addresses. But some might move or change their names and then die, or perhaps they were missing from the Census database before receiving an eviction notice.

But whatever the reality, the authors didn't have the data. The entire result of their paperthe 106 percent claimed increase in mortality for renters with eviction filings versus the 22 percent observed ratecomes from a guess about how many of the unknown tenants had died.

How did they guess? They made the wildly implausible assumption that the Census and the Social Security Administration are equally likely to lose track of a dead person and a living one. Yet the government is far more interested in when people die than when they move, especially because they don't want to keep cutting them Social Security checks. Also, dead people don't move or change their names.

Whether or not their assumption was plausible, the paper reported a guess as if it reflected objective data. That's considered acceptable in academia, but it shouldn't be.

Another paper, titled "Association Between Connecticut's Permit-to-Purchase Handgun Law and Homicides," was published in the American Journal of Public Health. It cooked up data to use as a control. The study claimed to show that a 1994 gun control law passed in Connecticut cut firearm homicides by 40 percent. But firearm homicide rates in Connecticut followed national trends, with no obvious change after the 1994 law.

Forty percent compared to what? The authors arrived at their conclusion by concocting an imaginary state to serve as the control group, combining numbers from California, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. This fictional state had 40 percent more homicides than the real Connecticut.

Reality is too messy for a technique like this to tell us anything meaningful. The author's entire finding derived from the fact that Rhode Island, which comprised most of "synthetic Connecticut," experienced a temporary spate of about 20 extra murders from 1999 to 2003, a large percentage increase in such a small state. Since the temporary spike in murders wasn't the result of a change in gun control policy, it tells us little about the efficacy of Connecticut's 1994 law or the policy issue at hand.

Is it always wrong to guess about missing data? No, not under conditions of extreme uncertainty in which data collection is impossible before a decision has to be made. For example, if you're considering taking a potentially life-saving medicine that hasn't been properly studied, you make the best guess you can with the information you have. But difficult decisions that have to be made with scarce information shouldn't influence public policy and aren't worthy of publication.

Yet researchers routinely rely on these methods to generate results on matters of no great urgency, because in academia publishing matters more than truth. Which is a shame. Progress in human knowledge requires real-world observations, not clicking a mouse and dragging it to the bottom of the screen.

Photo Credits: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA/Newscom, Walter G Arce Sr Grindstone Medi/ASP, Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA/Newscom

Music Credits: Strange Connection by Nobou, Digital Dreams by Jimmy Svensson, Nothing Can Stop Us by Nobou, Hero Is Born by idokay, Sneaky Shenanigans by Charlie Ryan

The post Academics Use Imaginary Data in Their Research appeared first on Reason.com.
Two Indiana professors say they're constitutional rights are jeopardized by a new Indiana law promoting "intellectual diversity" on college campuses. (Getty Images)

A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday challenges a contentious new Indiana law that seeks to push speech and course content in college classrooms toward intellectual diversity.

The litigation lodged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana asserts that Senate Enrolled Act 202 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The measure was adopted by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Eric Holcomb in March.

The law requires all Indiana public colleges and universities institute policies that chill the speech of or compel speech from faculty members, a news release alleged.

The suit was filed on behalf of two professors at Purdue University Fort Wayne. Steven A. Carr is a professor of communication and the director of the Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. David G. Schuster is an associate professor in the history department.

The ACLU of Indiana said Purdue University is the named defendant because the state institution is mandated to enforce the allegedly unconstitutional provisions of the law.

Although Professors Carr and Schuster both already seek to foster a culture of free inquiry in their classrooms, this does not mean that they believe it is appropriate to provide equal time or attention to all lines of questioning, the lawsuit said. They exercise their judgment and academic freedom to determine when further inquiry on a subject is no longer desirable or appropriate, and they have no way of knowing whether this type of in-the-moment-decision-making will subject them to discipline or other employment consequences.

Professors fearful of the laws penalties

The law in question states professors must be disciplined if they fail to foster a culture of free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity and expose students to scholarly works from a variety of political or ideological frameworks.

Both plaintiffs assert in the lawsuit that they could be compelled to speak or prohibited from speaking, in violation of their First Amendment rights, or risk adverse employment actions  including not being promoted, having their tenure revoked, or facing discipline up to and including termination.

Story continues below.

sea_202_-_complaint

The ACLU of Indiana indicated the professors are concerned the law could require public college and university faculty to give debunked theories equal time in their classrooms alongside rigorously studied academic analysis.

The lawsuit provides specific examples of course content of concern to the two professors.

As part of his courses examining United States history in the post-civil war period, Schuster teaches about the culture wars surrounding the LGBTQ rights movement in the 1990s, according to the lawsuit.

(Schuster) is aware that some academics teach about this movement as embodying the rise of a homosexual agenda, during which, according to them, LGBTQ people were attempting to indoctrinate students and others with ideas about homosexuality, the complaint said. Schuster does not believe that divergent perspective is accurate, however, and instead maintains that teaching such a perspective would be harmful to his students.

He thus does not believe he should be required to teach this perspective, and while he has in the past invited students to discuss this perspective during office hours, he does not devote class time to it, the lawsuit continued.

Schuster additionally teaches about slavery and its legacy. The lawsuit claims the professor does not believe he should be required to teach any number of divergent scholarly perspectives on that subject, either  including that slavery ultimately benefited African American people, which was once a dominant view among academics in that field.

Carr separately teaches about the Holocaust through his work at the Institute.

The lawsuit emphasizes that divergent perspectives regarding the existence and scope of the Holocaust exist, ranging from denial that the Holocaust occurred, to revisionist accounts challenging the scope and causes of the genocide.

Professor Carr would not teach those perspectives, but the language of the statute would appear to require him to do so, the complaint reads.

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Another example referenced in the lawsuit describes a course recently taught by Carr about the eugenics movement  including study of legislation involving forced sterilization passed in Indiana in 1907.

He does not believe that he should be required to teach, for example, the divergent scholarly perspective that racially based forced sterilization could ever be appropriate or even defensible, the lawsuit said.

The suit seeks to block the unconstitutional portions of the statute to protect the free speech rights of the two professors before the law is set to take effect on July 1.

SEA 202 puts Indianas professors in an untenable position. Through vague language and the threat of harsh sanctions, including termination, the law strips professors of the academic freedom that the Supreme Court has long recognized they have the right to exercise, said ACLU of Indiana attorney Stevie Pactor in a written statement. No professor should have to choose between their employment and their First Amendment rights.

Whats in the new law?

Senate Enrolled Act 202, one of this years most debated higher education bills  was touted by GOP lawmakers as a way to increase intellectual diversity in publicly funded college classrooms.

Although faculty and students overwhelmingly contended the proposal would micromanage their institutions and have a chilling effect on free expression, the governor signed the bill into law, saying it requires free inquiry and civil discourse programming for new students, strongly encourages academic freedom and protects faculty to express differing viewpoints from their colleagues and university leadership.

The law makes changes to the institutions diversity-oriented positions and their policies for tenure, contract renewals, performance reviews and more. It also establishes new reporting and survey requirements based on free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity.

Now, Indiana is additionally one of a handful of states that requires boards of trustees to establish diversity committees on campuses.

Under the new law, those diversity committees must make recommendations promoting recruitment and retention of underrepresented students rather than the minority students specified in current law.

Senate Enrolled Act 202 requires a five-year review process for Hoosier education institutions, as well. Even so, many Hoosier institutions already have some level of review for tenure of faculty members.

The law further requires institutions to establish complaint procedures in which school students and staff can accuse faculty members and contractors of not meeting free-expression criteria. Institutions will have to refer those complaints to human resource professionals and supervisors for consideration in employee reviews and tenure and promotion decisions, according to the law. In limited circumstances, complaints could be advanced to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

The post ACLU of Indiana files federal lawsuit to block new law undermining professors free speech appeared first on Indiana Capital Chronicle.
BALTIMORE  The future rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge will create an opportunity for Maryland to rethink what it stands for, some advocates, legislators and historians say.

Local, state and federal officials have already vowed to rebuild the steel structure that once spanned the Baltimore skyline and collapsed March 26 when the cargo ship Dali crashed into it in the early morning hours, sending six construction workers to their deaths.

Some advocates have demanded that part of that process include rethinking what the rebuilt bridge should be called. Originally known as the Outer Harbor Bridge, it was named after Key in 1976 before opening in 1977.

While the bridges namesake is probably best known for writing The Star-Spangled Banner, Key was also a slaveholder who found himself fighting both for and against Black freedom in his lifetime.

Addressing that contradiction with a name change isnt about erasing the past said Carl Snowden, convener atop the Caucus of African American Leaders. Its about fighting for the future, Snowden said, and thats especially true in this case, as the six victims of the collapse were all Latino.

They died literally on that bridge, Snowden said. To rebuild a bridge to someone who did not see people of color as their equal, I think sends the wrong message  not for this generation, but for generations yet unborn.

William G. Thomas III is one of three authors who spoke on a panel April 17 at St. Johns College in Annapolis, Keys alma mater. All the panelists said the state should consider renaming the Key Bridge.

Naming is an opportunity for the community to consider who it honors and who it commemorates, Thomas said. I think naming a bridge or a building  should tell a story that helps us understand who we are and call forth a vision of who we aspire to be.

The Caucus of African American Leaders, a statewide consortium of civil rights organizations, unanimously passed a resolution in April calling for renaming the bridge after the late U.S. Rep. Parren J. Mitchell, the first Black Marylander elected to Congress.

Snowden and Daryl Jones, who leads a national voting rights and social justice organization called the Transformative Justice Coalition, have been pushing the state to name something after Mitchell for several years, Jones said. But when the Key Bridge collapsed, it presented the opportunity to rename this bridge for a very deserving American and a very deserving Marylander, Jones said.

Mitchell does already have some recognition. On April 24, state and federal lawmakers gathered at the Parren Mitchell Event and Cultural Center to present $500,000 that will be used to restore Mitchells family home, according to a news release.

Baltimore City Councilman John T. Bullock represents the district where that home is located and was also present at the event. Bullock said building a new bridge creates an opportune time to open up a debate, which should include community voices both for and against retaining Keys name.

I think its worth having a conversation about the name of the bridge and what folks would like to see going forward, Bullock said. If we look [at] what the vision is in terms of the future of Baltimore and where we are now, I mean, I couldnt imagine not having at least Parren Mitchell be part of that conversation if were going to go down that road.

While Mitchell may be the first choice for the Caucus of African American Leaders, Snowden said what he really wants are public hearings where Marylanders can voice their views. The ongoing debate has already brought into the conversation Gloria Richardson, a civil rights leader best known for her work along the Eastern Shore, though she was born in Baltimore.

The new bridge would fall under the purview of the Maryland Transportation Authority, which means any naming or renaming process would require approval from that entity and the Maryland Board of Public Works, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) said in a statement.

While it is premature to consider renaming the Francis Scott Key Bridge, MDOT shares in the belief that the bridge rebuilding effort should incorporate a way to honor the lives of transportation workers and reflect the strength of the Baltimore community that the bridge serves, MDOT said.

The bridge could also bear a new name if the General Assembly took legislative action.

When asked about renaming the bridge at a news conference April 19, Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, reiterated his commitment to four core objectives, which include rebuilding the bridge  but not necessarily changing the name.

Even if they are important conversations, they are not now conversations, Moore said.

But state Sen. Jill P. Carter, a Democrat representing Baltimore City and a long-standing proponent of racial justice who pushed for the removal of a statue of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, is ready to open up dialogue as part of a larger national movement to remove these vestiges and symbols of racism, slavery, white supremacy. Carter was in part referring to the removal of some Confederate statues from public view, including in Baltimore, and pushback against those efforts, which have sometimes turned violent.

It would stand to reason that if we deal with the initial crisis, and once we are on the course of reconstructing the bridge, that we would strongly not just consider but advocate and actually change the name of the bridge from Francis Scott Key, Carter said. To preserve that name, you are preserving a reminder of a time when we were not even considered human, not even considered people, not considered citizens with any rights.

Even though its a long time ago, it is still a painful history, she added.

And when it comes to Key, its a complicated one.

Thomas is a history professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who researches freedom suits, lawsuits brought by enslaved people against slaveholders for their emancipation.

Key represented enslaved families in some of those lawsuits  only to later make public comments that disparaged Black freedom and suggested he regretted his role in those lawsuits, Thomas said. And that isnt simply because Key is a product of his time, Thomas added.

Enslaved people sought freedom and many people spoke out against slavery in the founding era, Thomas said. The ideals of the American nation were in direct contradiction to the perpetuation of American slavery. And neither Key nor many others sought to resolve that contradiction in any meaningful way.

Carter said a name change wasnt appropriate to consider during the last General Assembly session, which concluded two weeks after the Key Bridge collapse. Legislators had to focus on passing emergency relief, such as the PORT Act, she said.

As that bill was passing the House, Del C.T. Wilson, a Charles County Democrat, said in response to concerns raised by a House Republican that because the language notes the structure as the Francis Scott Key Bridge, there was no doubt the rebuilt bridge would bear the same name. Wilson declined to comment.

But since the bridge is projected to be rebuilt in just over four years, the PORT Act, which provides economic relief to workers and businesses affected by the slowdown of activity at the Port of Baltimore and creates a scholarship fund for the children of the collapses six victims, may no longer be a factor.

Carter said a rename could not only be possible but necessary in 2025, though she noted support will be needed from the Legislative Black Caucus, federal officials and the public.

I think that it is still very much taken for granted  how much so much of the history that we are forced to accept as all of our history is actually a history that was counter to the interests of Black people, Carter said.

But the renaming effort is also sure to receive some pushback. U.S. Rep Andy Harris, a Republican representing Marylands 1st Congressional District and a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said in an emailed statement that he supports retaining the bridges current name and will seek to require it as a condition of any federal funding.

Thomas said that even if the bridge is renamed, Keys connection to American patriotism via The Star-Spangled Banner wont disappear. But at the same time, collectively, the story that monuments and named buildings and bridges tell right now across America often do not reflect the complete history of our communities or of the nation.

___
AES Ohio has dozens of crews out all across the Miami Valley and is urging people to get ready to be in their safe space with severe storms possible this evening.

>> LIVE UPDATES: Severe storms with large hail, tornadoes possible today

As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, some schools decided their safest step would be sending students home early.

Troy Christian Schools decided to dismiss early, a tough spot for some parents.

Well, I had to get off work to get here, an hour and a half is not a lot of notice, said Deena Gates.

Gates had to leave her job at Wright Patterson Air Force Base to scramble and pick up her 4th grader. Dozens of other parents were in that same scramble mode.

Hopefully nothing happens, safety for the kids is best, Gates said.

Mary Ann Kabel with AES Ohio said preparation is key in planning for and surviving storms. She urges families to have emergency kits. Her company is following its emergency plans.

We have 45 line crews and 69 tree crews, Kabel said.

Kabel said the most common cause of outages are trees or branches falling on power lines.

She said crews have a three-step restoration process, de-energize the line, remove the trees and make repairs, then re-energize the lines.

AES crews have a tough job they need to concentrate on.

Our people are doing a very dangerous work, its not the time to ask them a question about when they will have the power restored, Kabel said.

AES is planning for everything from high winds and hail to tornadoes.

To view outages or see how long the estimated restoration time for the repair is, you can visit the AES Ohio website here.
ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC)  The Abilene Fire Department (AFD) battled a North Abilene house fire Monday night between the Westwood Richland and Dyess areas of town.

In a press release late Monday night, AFD said fire crews were dispatched out to a house fire at around 8:40 p.m. Those firefighters arrived to heavy smoke and flames emitting from a bedroom window.

When AFD entered the home that bedroom was fully involved in flames. Firefighters contained the fire quickly and extinguished it. This fire caused significant heat and smoke damage throughout the structure.

Thankfully, nobody was home when AFD arrived and no injuries were reported. While a cause is being investigated, AFD estimated damages to be $10,000.

No further information has been released.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com.
COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL)  A man is wanted in connection to a shooting near a convenience store on Fort Benning Road, according to the Columbus Police Department.

Police say Gary Louis Walker, 46, has warrants out for his arrest on charges of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Walker is described as standing at 63 and weighing about 210lbs. Police say he is considered armed and dangerous.

The warrant stems back to Friday, May 3 at 7:20 p.m. when Columbus police were called to the 1500 block of Fort Benning Road. Upon arriving, officers found Darrin Huntley had been shot multiple times.

Huntley was taken to Piedmont Columbus Regional where he underwent surgery. According to Columbus police, Huntley is listed as critical but stable.

Anyone with information on Walkers whereabouts should call 911 Cpl. Kevin Baldwin at (706) 225-4337.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WRBL.
The search for Duval Countys next school superintendent narrowed Tuesday to two finalists visiting Jacksonville next week for job interviews and hand-shaking at events for the public and school employees.

Finalists Christopher Bernier and Daniel Smith will visit schools, talk to a focus group from the public plus senior school district figures and attend a public meet-and-greet gathering Monday, May 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Everbank Stadium.

Interviews by the finalists with a focus group of residents recruited by board members will be open to the public and are scheduled to start at 10:15 a.m. May 13 at the Shultz Center for Teaching and Leadership at 4019 Boulevard Center Drive.

Christopher Bernier is a finalist for the Duval County school superintendent's job.

The Everbank Stadium event is also public, with an opportunity for the finalists to introduce themselves to residents and a receiving line for school system employees to meet the prospective superintendents at the beginning of the gathering. The event will be at the stadium's Gallagher Club East, with parking in Lot C.

Tough question: What did Duval County superintendent candidates tell the School Board about closing schools?

The two educators  Bernier resigned last month as superintendent of Lee County schools around Fort Myers; Smith is chief of staff for the Loudoun County, Va. school district in the Washington suburbs  will also meet privately in one-on-one with Duval County School Board members on Tuesday May 14.

Besides the one-on-one meetings, the full board will conduct public interviews with the candidates May 13 starting at 1 p.m. at the Shultz Center. Board members will ask the same questions of both candidates in a formalized process where each member will explore a separate theme, such as fiscal transparency or personal leadership, working through a sheet of questions in the 90 minutes allotted for each finalist.

Daniel Smith, Loudoun County. Va. schools chief of staff, is a superintendent finalist shown in a YouTube video posted as part of his application for the top job with Duval County Public Schools.

Florida School Boards Association CEO Andrea Messina, whose organization was contracted to work on the superintendent search, told board members she prepared about 225 questions to choose from within the seven themes.

Big question: Mark Woods: Another superintendent search in Duval County. Who would want this job?

After the board interviews, board members will have time to reflect before casting votes for the next superintendent on May 23.

A contract is supposed to be worked out after that, with the superintendent starting the job around July 1.

The finalist choices mean the next superintendent will be a white man, whose life experiences will have been different from Superintendent Dana Kriznar. The veteran Duval administrator took over the top job last year after former Superintendent Diana Greene retired, later taking over a nonprofit focused on building literacy among Black and Latino children.

Two of the search processs semifinalists were Black and board Chair Darryl Willie and member Warren Jones both proposed including one of those  Portland, Ore., Deputy Superintendent Cheryl Proctor  in the finalist list, which didnt have to have a fixed number. The motion failed to find support among te full board, however.

Jones noted that having just two finalists would leave the board no options if one of the finalists took a job in another district instead.

Bernier had been named last month as a finalist for a superintendents job around Reno, Nev., but Messina said he told her he had withdrawn from that contest to focus on seeking the job in Jacksonville.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Duval School Board taps superintendent finalists to meet public next week
AI 'pilots' are getting so good they're sometimes beating humans in dogfights

AI 'pilots' are getting so good they're sometimes beating humans in dogfights

Some AI-controlled fighter jets are outperforming human pilots in dogfights, per the AP.

The outlet witnessed an hourlong experimental flight at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The Air Force is reportedly planning a fleet of more than 1,000 AI-enabled unmanned warplanes.

Some AI-controlled F-16 fighter jets are already outperforming human pilots in dogfights, according to a report from the Associated Press.

The AP reported this finding after witnessing an hourlong experimental flight at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.

During the flight, the AI-controlled F-16, called Vista, performed maneuvers at more than 550 miles an hour with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on board.

While the AI system is still in its early days, the AP reported that some versions of the tech are learning so rapidly that they have outperformed pilots in air-to-air combat.

Representatives for the US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

The US Air Force has been actively exploring AI, which has been cited as a transformative technology for military action globally.

Although the technology is not yet fully developed, the AP reported that the force plans to build up a fleet of more than 1,000 AI-enabled unmanned warplanes. The first AI-controlled jets are set to be in operation by 2028, per the report.

Kendall told the outlet he'd seen enough during the experimental flight to trust the technology to decide whether to launch weapons in a war.

Industry experts and human rights activists have warned an using AI to make autonomous decisions during military action could lead to errors and unintended casualties.

A recent report claimed Israel was using AI to help identify targets in its war against Hamas without thorough human oversight. The IDF denied the claims at the time in a statement to BI.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Air France flight from Paris to Seattle diverted to Canada after passengers report smoke in cabin

Its been a travel nightmare for passengers who were onboard Air France flight 338.

What was supposed to be a direct flight from Paris, arriving in Seattle on Tuesday morning, turned into a two-day-long nightmare.

We are traveling well-beyond, were probably at around 40 hours, Ive lost track of time now. Its just getting to be a little unbearable at this point, said Kim Lee.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner had to make an emergency landing in Nunavut, Canada.

Passengers say the plane started to smell like burning rubber mid-flight.

One lady that was in our row she said she smelled something really strong, and she also saw the smoke, said Lee.

Air France is calling it a heat smell in the cabin.

Danielle Stubblefield says her mom was on the flight.

She called me twice yesterday in the morning and sounded very exhausted and very weak, said Stubblefield.

Immediately Stubblefield panicked because her mother has a lung condition and was not able to access her medication for hours.

After waiting for more than eight hours in the remote community of Northern Canada, passengers were put on a flight to JFK in New York, but the nightmare didnt end there.

When they got to New York, they were bussed to a hotel and given a room, but they were told that they need to stay by their phone because they didnt have any flights arranged for them and they were not going to be flying together anymore, said Stubblefield.

Several passengers, including Kim Lee and Sophia Schweitzer, were eventually booked on a Delta flight 491 scheduled to arrive in Seattle on Wednesday at 3:32 p.m.

Its important to note the flight has been delayed twice already.

Air France needs to step up. They need to give people a travel vouchers for another flight at the minimum as well as cover some of the expenses that people have undergone, said Lee.
On May 7, 2024, a meeting with 'Young Leaders' took place at the Partnership and Liaison office of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Azerbaijan.

The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss climate change, Sustainable Development Goals, challenges, and opportunities for future cooperation, and to exchange knowledge on effective directions to act upon.

At the organized meeting, Mrs. Adila Aliyeva, Manager of Work with Volunteers at COP29, Mrs. Anastasia Lavrina, CBC TV presenter and expert commentator, Mr. Azer Aliyev, General Director of the Youth Development and Career Center, and Co-founder and development director at Gender Hub Azerbaijan, Mr. Roman Gojayev, participated. The youth representatives made a presentation informing the FAO team about the institution they represent and the activities they are currently performing.

During the meeting, Mr. Nasar Hayat, the representative of FAO in Azerbaijan, made an opening speech. After greeting the youth, he informed them about the activities of FAO related to youth. In his speech, Mr. Hayat said, "FAO understands that the key to the future lies in the hands of the next generation and we are optimistic about the future despite the challenges ahead."

In turn, FAO experts exchanged ideas with the youth about the work that has been implemented and future prospects. At the end of the meeting, it was decided to continue the cooperation in the directions mentioned during the discussion.
Akrons plan to control speeding gets underway in May

AKRON, Ohio (WJW)  Akron is installing 30 temporary speed tables  as well as one that will be permanent  in an effort to curtail speeding cars in residential neighborhoods.

Speeding is consistently ranked as one of the No. 1 one concerns of Akron residents in their neighborhoods, Mayor Shammas Malik is quoted in a news release.

Person named who fell from Ohio Stadium stands during graduation

Speed tables are raised sections of the road near the middle of a block, like flat speed bumps that are long enough to raise all four wheels of a vehicle, forcing it to slow down.

A permanent speed tabled is planned for Maple Street in Ward 1, according to the release. Here are the streets expected to get a temporary speed table this year:

Ward 1 : Hall Street, Kuder Avenue

Ward 2 : Chapman Drive

Ward 3 : Thornton Street

Ward 4 : Elmdale Avenue

Ward 5 : Clark Street, Lovers Lane

Ward 6 : Shelburn Avenue, Alaho Street

Ward 7 : Hammel Street

Ward 8 : Winhurst Drive, North Pershing Avenue

Ward 9 : Battles Avenue, 12th and 6th streets

Ward 10: Wyandot, Mohawk and Goodview avenues

Motorists should expect to see signs nearby and residents living along those streets should expect to get a postcard in the mail about them.

Theyre expected to be installed throughout the next month and will stay there until the fall, according to the release.

Also in the works are 40 more solar-powered speed limit signs that flash a passing drivers speed to remind them to stay below the speed limit. Forty signs are already in place  two each along 20 different streets in all 10 wards.

New signs are planned for 21 more streets this year:

Ward 1 : Two each along Crosby Street and Edgerton Road

Ward 2 : Two each along Fouse Avenue and Breiding Road

Ward 3 : Two along Kenmore Boulevard and one each on Cedar and Exchange streets

Ward 4 : Two each along South Rose Boulevard and Delia Avenue

Ward 5 : Two each along Johnston and South streets

Ward 6 : Two each along Albrecht Avenue and George Washington Boulevard

Ward 7 : Two each along Thornapple and Cole avenues

Ward 8 : Two each along Sand Run and Merriman roads

Ward 9 : Two each along East and Hancock avenues

Ward 10: Two each along Newton Street and Tonowanda Avenue

VIDEO: Semi rollover on I-77 causes massive backup

The city received more than 600 requests for traffic calming measures last year, according to the release. Since the city started placing temporary speed tables in 2020, theyve seen an average decrease in vehicle speeds by 3 mph to 6 mph, according to the release.

The locations of speed tables and speed limit signs are selected based on requests. To have your street considered for the Traffic Calming Program, you can fill out a form on the citys website. To give feedback on traffic calming in a certain area, take the citys online survey.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
Alabama lawsuit over threat of prosecution for abortion help can move forward, court rules

A federal judge rejected an attempt Monday to toss a suit challenging Alabamas attorney generals threat to prosecute those who help with out-of-state travel for abortions, paving the way for the case to move forward and denying anti-abortion activists a win.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, in a preliminary ruling Monday, said the case brought by the Yellowhammer Fund  a group that supports people who need out-of-state abortions in the Deep South  can continue its lawsuit, which argues Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshalls (R) threats create an illegal chilling effect on the groups freedom of expression.

The group claims it has been forced to stop operating its abortion fund out of fear of prosecution. Alabama banned nearly all abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, even in cases of rape or incest.

Last year, Marshall threatened to prosecute anyone who aids and abets in an abortion, prompting confusion among health care workers and groups such as the Yellowhammer Fund. This led to an increased sense of fear and uncertainty for Plaintiff and pregnant people alike, the group wrote in its complaint.

Thompsons ruling, which was in response to Marshalls motion to dismiss the lawsuit, pointed to the constitutional right to travel.

In his ruling, Thompson wrote, Therefore, the plaintiffs here correctly contend that the Attorney General cannot constitutionally prosecute people for acts taken within the State meant to facilitate lawful out of state conduct, including obtaining an abortion.

The Constitution protects the right to cross state lines and engage in lawful conduct in other states, including receiving an abortion, he added. The Attorney Generals characterization of the right to travel as merely a right to move physically between the States contravenes history, precedent, and common sense.

In a related suit, a group of health providers represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alabama also sued Marshall for allegedly explicitly threatening providers with felony charges if they assist Alabama residents looking to travel out of state to obtain an abortion.

Todays ruling sends a strong signal to anti-abortion politicians that their efforts to prevent pregnant people in states with bans from obtaining the help they need to access legal, out-of-state abortion care are blatantly unconstitutional, Meagan Burrows, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, wrote in a statement.

The Hill reached out to Marshalls office for comment.

Since the groups filed the pair of lawsuits last July, the state saw a fierce battle over reproductive rights after the state Supreme Court ruled frozen embryos were children and, thus, those who destroy them can be liable for death.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) services were mostly halted in the state, though lawmakers quickly passed legislation to address civil and criminal liability for IVF providers that prompted some health care providers to resume services.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Members of the Alaska House Finance Committee discuss their first-draft budget on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Members of the Alaska House Finance Committee discuss their first-draft budget on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

A key Alaska House committee has approved funding for the most school maintenance projects in several years  from new roofs to copper pipe and electrical replacements.

The finance committee advanced a $552 million construction and renovation spending plan that includes a huge increase for school maintenance. If adopted, the $63 million earmarked for major maintenance projects would be the most approved by the Legislature since 2011.

We need everything we can get, said Lon Garrison, executive director of the Association of Alaska School Boards. Im thrilled to see it got on there and Im hopeful it remains.

The finance committee is usually the penultimate legislative step for the states annual capital budget, which funds renovation and construction projects statewide.

The Alaska Senate approved a draft of the capital budget last month, and the House Finance Committee added about $107 million to that draft under a prearranged agreement with the Senate, then voted Friday to advance the revised budget to a vote of the full House.

The $552 million agreement covers only general-purpose state spending. If fee-funded programs and federal funding are included, the capital budget exceeds $4 billion.

That figure covers spending in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, and additions to the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

We think that the capital budget achieves the objectives of both the House and Senate and the governor, and its based on life-health-safety needs, as agreed on beforehand, said Rep. Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham and the finance committee co-chair in charge of the capital budget.

Fridays vote by the finance committee marked a return to regular order for the House. For the past several years, the capital budget has been rolled together with the operating budget in a single document. Last year, House lawmakers voted for just the second time in state history to approve the Senates version of the budget rather than negotiate a compromise between a House version and Senate version.

This is the first year out of four that weve actually been able to see something in our hands and try to work together, said Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok and a member of the finance committee.

You cant fund everything. But I think it was a pretty fair effort, he said.

The finance committees work is subject to approval on the House floor and by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who may reduce or eliminate line items.

Story continues

Last year, for example, lawmakers approved $30 million for projects on school maintenance list, and Dunleavy vetoed $10.4 million from that figure.

This year, the Senate proposed spending $36.2 million on the states list of priority school maintenance projects, and the House Finance Committee bumped up that amount to $62.8 million, enough to fund the top 26 projects on the list.

The budget now has enough money to cover projects from the Northwest Arctic Borough to Ketchikan.

On the list is a new roof for Anchorages Homestead Elementary, three sites in the Southeast Alaska town of Wrangell, a new roof at Nome Beltz High School, and more.

Most folks understand that major maintenance is imperative if we want students to be in an environment where they can actually learn. We havent invested in that in a meaningful way in a really long time, Garrison said.

He called the additions a pretty big deal and said hes glad things are moving in the right direction, but said the increase doesnt cover everything that districts need.

Altogether, the major maintenance list includes almost $332 million in asks, covering 95 separate projects.

In addition to the big addition for school maintenance, the House Finance Committee added more than $10 million in additional spending on renewable energy projects, enough to cover biomass burning in Healy, solar in Southwest Alaska, and hydroelectric projects in Southeast Alaska.

Theres $2.5 million for road projects in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and another $2.5 million for fisheries projects in that borough. The $750,000 approved for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race by the Senate was boosted to $1.4 million by the House.

No date has been set for a vote in the House, but traditionally, the capital budget is approved as one of the last items before the Legislature adjourns its regular session for the summer. The session is scheduled to end by May 15.

Senior reporter Claire Stremple contributed to this article.

The post Alaska House nears vote on big increase for public school maintenance statewide appeared first on Alaska Beacon.
Heidi Hedberg, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health, speaks at a May 9, 2024, news conference about Alaska's overdose deaths and efforts to educate the public about the dangers of fentanyl. With her are Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Attorney General Treg Taylor. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Heidi Hedberg, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health, speaks at a news conference on Monday about Alaska's overdose deaths and efforts to educate the public about the dangers of fentanyl. With her are Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska and Attorney General Treg Taylor. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

With Alaskas drug overdose deaths surging, state leaders on Monday kicked off a new campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of the drug that caused most of them: fentanyl.

The new campaign, called One Pill Can Kill, is national and spearheaded by the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies. But it has special meaning in Alaska, which last year had a record-high total of overdose deaths, they said.

Preliminary numbers show that 342 Alaskans died from overdoses in 2023, a 40% increase over 2022 totals, according to the state Department of Health. Of the total, 264  about three-quarters  were from fentanyl, up from 151 fentanyl deaths in 2022, according to the departments preliminary numbers.

Alaska is under attack, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said at a news conference held at the Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory in Anchorage.

This is the largest in Alaskas history, and it marks a really devastating moment in history, Heidi Hedberg, commissioner of the state Department of Health, said at the news conference.

Beyond the statistics are personal tragedies.

Sandy Snodgrass, a mother who lost her son in 2021 to a fentanyl overdose, recounted some of the details. He was only 22 years old and my only child, she said. He died within shouting distance of help in a wooded area a short distance from a Wells Fargo drive-through and McDonalds drive-through on Debarr Road in Anchorage. The devastation of his fentanyl poisoning death has impacted his family, friends and community in ways that I cannot fully describe here today.

Karen Malcolm-Smith, who lost her son to an opioid overdose in 2017, described how such tragedies reverberate through families and communities.

Karen Malcolm-Smith, whose son died of an opioid overdose in 2017, speaks at a May 6, 2024, news conference about a fentanyl awareness. The news conference was held at the state's crime laboratory in Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Karen Malcolm-Smith, whose son died of an opioid overdose in 2017, speaks at a Monday news conference about a fentanyl awareness. The news conference was held at the states crime laboratory in Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

For people like Sandy and I, we will never experience a college graduation, attend a wedding, have grandchildren, she said. Parents and family members cope with intense grief, depression and other mental health problems that are manifested in problems like divorce, physical health problems, and unfortunately, we also see suicides, Malcolm-Smith said.

She established the David Dylan Foundation in her sons honor to encourage others to seek help for their addiction problems.

Hedberg said public education, including the One Pill Can Kill awareness campaign, is only one part of a multipronged state effort to stop fentanyl deaths.

While the Department of Public Safety works to intercept drugs so that the supply does not reach the public and the Department of Law pursues legal approaches to the problem, the Department of Healths antiopioid work focuses on harm reduction and treatment as well as on education, Hedberg said.

Last year, she said, the department distributed more than 46,000 antioverdose naloxone kits and over 89,000 fentanyl test strips.

Now the department is preparing to distribute $3.3 million in grants for local, regional and statewide programs for harm reduction and treatment. A request for bids from potential grantees was published last month.

Money for the grants comes from one of the national settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors, a $26 billion settlement struck in 2021 with manufacturer Janssen/Johson & Johnson and three pharmaceutical distributors. The settlement was made final in 2022. Alaska is expected to get $58.5 million over 18 years from it, Hedberg said.

There have been other national opioid settlements to which Alaska is a party since then.

Sandy Snodgrass, who lost her 22-year-old son Bruce to a fentanyl overdose in 2021, listens on May 6, 2024, to Karen Malcolm-Smith speak about the loss of her son in 2017. Snodgrass and Malcolm-Smith were speakers at a news conference on fentanyl education. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Sandy Snodgrass, who lost her 22-year-old son Bruce to a fentanyl overdose in 2021, listens on Monday to Karen Malcolm-Smith speak about the loss of her son in 2017. Snodgrass and Malcolm-Smith were speakers at a news conference on fentanyl education. Snodgrass said she will be trying to persuade state lawmakers to pass a bill increasing penalties for drug distribution. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Another part of the state effort is increasing penalties for distributors of fentanyl and other deadly substances.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Attorney General Treg Taylor, who both spoke at the event, pushed for final passage of state legislation, House Bill 66, that would classify as second-degree murder the act of providing a drug to someone who later suffers a fatal overdose.

Some people may think thats harsh. But if you apply that to any other aspect of society  somebody cuts the brakes on a car, and someone is killed, somebody doesnt maintain an airplane, somebody plays with a gun  they all have consequences, Dunleavy said.

The known increased risk caused by fentanyl justifies charging them with a homicide, Taylor said.

The bill passed the House last year and was pending, as of Friday, in the Senate Finance Committee, usually the last committee prior to a floor vote.

The bill would also enhance potential penalties for anyone who surreptitiously drugs an unwitting person, for example, with depressants or tranquilizers that are commonly referred to as date-rape drugs.

Snodgrass said she was headed to Juneau this week to lobby for final passage of the bill. She is also working for passage of a bill pending in Congress, called Bruces Law after her son, to boost fentanyl education and prevention programs nationally. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced the bill and Sullivan is a cosponsor.

Both of these laws, along with the One Pill Can Kill campaign introduced here today, will add three powerful tools to the toolbox to bring the fight to fentanyl, Snodgrass said.

The post As Alaska overdose deaths mount, state leaders launch new education effort appeared first on Alaska Beacon.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  An alleged crack cocaine dealer was arrested over the weekend after allegedly stabbing another man on a Sun Metro bus near Downtown El Paso late Saturday morning May 4, according to court documents obtained by KTSM.

Court documents say Juan Manuel Pulido, 48, is facing a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after stabbing a 32-year-old man whom he believed was after him.

1 person hurt in stabbing, 1 in custody near Downtown

The bus driver told police that Pulido approached him, stating that some people on the bus were after him, according to court documents.

The bus driver then turned around and saw the victim holding his neck and stated, He stabbed me, while pointing at Pulido, according to court documents.

The bus driver then hit the emergency button on the bus and called dispatch.

Court documents say officers responded at around 11 a.m. and spoke with Pulido after the incident.

Pulido told officers that he had been kidnapped and believed that the 32-year-old man was after him, according to court documents.

Pulido told officers that he sells crack cocaine for a local street gang and that the gang told him that if he didnt work for them, they were going to hurt his family, according to court documents. Pulido also told officers that he had never seen the man before.

Law enforcement obtained surveillance footage from inside the Sun Metro bus where it showed the 32-year-old man sitting by himself.

Pulido was seen sitting in the row behind the man and they never spoke to each other, according to court documents.

Court documents say the victims back was facing Pulido and Pulido then got up from his seat walked towards the man and stabbed him in the neck.

Court documents say the Sun Metro bus then stopped at 1800 Oregon and officers detained Pulido.

The victim was taken to a hospital nearby where he was informed that his wound was non-life threatening as it barely missed his jugular, according to court documents.

The victim also told law enforcement that he was afraid for his life and had no idea why he got stabbed.

The victim also said that he had never seen Pulido before in his life and wanted to press charges.

Detectives also spoke with several witnesses who said that the victim was sitting alone and was not bothering anyone. They also said that Pulido got up from his seat and stabbed the victim in the neck, according to court documents.

This is the second violent incident on a Sun Metro bus in the past week.

Last week, a 43-year-old man was stabbed and killed after intervening in an argument onboard a Sun Metro bus. Police are still looking for the suspect.

Crime of Week: Man stabbed, killed during argument on bus

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
A woman in Australia accused of serving a meal intentionally made with poisonous mushrooms pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder.

Erin Patterson appeared at Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court via video link from a prison in Melbourne, in the southeastern state of Victoria, where she has been held since her November arrest in connection with a fatal meal at her home four months earlier. Three of her guests who ate the beef wellington shed made died, while a fourth became seriously ill but survived.

Mushroom Lunch Mom Is Charged and Cops Say She Tried to Kill Before

The 49-year-old mom denied murdering her former parents-in-law, Gail and Dom Patterson, both 70, as well as Gail Pattersons sister, 66-year-old Heather Wilkinson. One of the five counts of attempted murder relates to the meals survivorWilkinsons husband Ianwhile the other four concern Erin Pattersons alleged attempts to kill her ex-husband, Simon Patterson, with whom she has two children.

Erin allegedly attempted to murder Simon at the fateful lunch, but he did not accept an invitation to attend. Shes also accused of having attempted to kill him on three earlier occasions dating back to 2021.

Police previously said the four family members who died after the July lunch displayed symptoms consistent with the consumption of death cap mushrooms.

If convicted, Erin Patterson could face a sentence of up to 25 years for each attempted murder charge. The murder counts are punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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I am leaving for the unknown. Palestinians fleeing Rafah describe their fear and despair

Palestinian civilians told to evacuate eastern Rafah by the Israeli military have described their fear and despair at being uprooted from their homes and shelters, as Israel airstrikes hit Gazas southernmost city.

There were hopes that the Rafah offensive would not go ahead after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal on Monday, but those were quickly dashed after Israel said the terms were far from Israels necessary requirements and it would continue in order to exert military pressure on the militant group.

By Tuesday morning, Israeli airstrikes on Rafah had killed 23 people, including six children, according to hospital officials in southern Gaza.

The Israeli military said it had operational control of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, a vital entry point to transport desperately needed aid into the enclave from its southern border with Egypt.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said on Tuesday the military was undertaking a precise counterterrorism operation to eliminate Hamas terrorists and dismantle Hamas terrorist infrastructure within specific areas in eastern Rafah.

Hamas said the Israeli militarys move on Rafah constituted a humanitarian catastrophe that posed a direct threat to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.

People fleeing the area have told of terrifying experiences while recounting their past 24 hours to CNN, after the Israeli military ordered an estimated 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate immediately on Monday. Residents were told to move to Al-Mawasi, a coastal town near the city of Khan Younis that aid groups say is not suitable for habitation.

One man, Rabee Gharableh, told CNN that it was his familys seventh displacement. The situation is very difficult we left in fear, as civilian houses were being targeted, people we know. The shelling was arbitrary and random last night, he said.

Another woman, who did not share her name, said she fled from death with her children. She said her family has been displaced over 10 times since the war broke out and had endured much suffering and humiliation.

The current war began on October 7 when Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel and took more than 200 people hostage.

In the almost seven months since, Israels military bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 34,600 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and driven more than 1 million Palestinians to seek refuge in Rafah, a city that the medical NGO Medicines San Frontieres said was absent of the necessary conditions for survival.

A displaced Palestinian, who fled Rafah after the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of civilians, sits on a vehicle, in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on May 6, 2024. - Ramadan Abed

CNN witnessed people in eastern Rafah in a state of panic following Israels evacuation announcement, which sparked a flurry of appeals from world leaders, the United Nations, and humanitarian groups urging Israel not to carry out its long-threatened assault.

The move was described as inhumane by United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk and beyond alarming by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Faisal Barbakh, who fled on his bicycle, said he is leaving a lifetime of memories behind for the unknown.

Im carrying all of my life here. My family is torn in seven places. I feel its the end of life. I cant think anymore. I left 59 years of life behind, all of my memories, my childrens pictures, the contract of my house.

Video footage shows families arriving to the beach road of Deir el Balah, which is further north than the IDF-outlined humanitarian area, on overloaded trucks, donkey carts and cars. Their vehicles were piled with mattresses and personal belongings, as other people started setting up tents.

Many of those leaving eastern Rafah have been previously displaced multiple times as Israels focus has moved from city to city.

This is the fourth time Im being displaced. From Nuseirat to Khan Younis, then to Rafah, and now another one. I dont know where I am heading, one man told CNN.

Displaced Palestinians fleeing Rafah after the Israeli military told civilians to leave the eastern parts of the southern Gazan city, May 6, 2024. - Ramadan Abed/Reuters

Israel takes operational control of crossing

After the Israeli military stormed the Rafah crossing, Palestinian flags were replaced with Israeli flags, which according to photos on social media, could be seen mounted outside the main building.

IDF spokesperson Shoshani said intelligence indicated that the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing was being used for terrorist purposes.

The border crossing has been a key humanitarian aid portal, with as many as 300 trucks entering the strip through it each day, according to an announcement from Egypt last month.

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesperson for the General Authority of Border and Crossing, told CNN that all movement and aid shipments through Rafah had stopped after Israeli tanks captured the crossing facilities from the Palestinian side.

Gazas Ministry of Interior and National Security warned that Rafahs closure exacerbates the humanitarian crisis and represents a policy of collective punishment against more than 2 million people.

The ministry described the crossing as a main lifeline for citizens in the Gaza strip which does not represent any threat to the Israeli occupation.

This photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows a tank with an Israel flag on it entering the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday. - IDF/AP

Aid groups quickly expressed concern that the Israeli operation there could bring humanitarian relief efforts across the Gaza Strip to a standstill.

Continued interruption of the entry of aid and fuel supplies at the Rafah crossing will halt the critical humanitarian response across the Gaza Strip, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on X.

It added that the catastrophic hunger faced by people especially in northern Gaza will get much worse if these supply routes are interrupted.

CNN has reached out to the IDF and COGAT on this and asked about any plans to keep aid getting into Gaza.

In recent months, Israeli strikes have further deteriorated conditions for those living and sheltering in the city, including an estimated 600,000 children. Malnutrition is rapidly spreading and medical facilities are rendered ineffective by the Israeli authorities siege, Medicines San Frontieres said.

Two boys, Malek and Yousef, were making their own way of Rafah out on bicycles Monday, clinging to their bags. We are running away from the Israelis. They warned us and ordered us to evacuate the eastern area. I have my clothes and food in the bag. We are going to our grandparents house, one said.

No safe zones in Gaza, EUs top diplomat says

There has been a chorus of condemnation over the situation facing many in Rafah and other places in the strip after Israel ignored international calls against proceeding with the operation.

The European Unions foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Tuesday that there were no safe zones in Gaza after criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He added that he was afraid the offensive would lead to many civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, fuel shortages in Rafah have prevented people from fleeing and reaching the Israeli-designated expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, Suze van Meegen, the NRC head of operations in Palestine told CNN by phone from Rafah on Tuesday.

A Palestinian youth carries a child as he walks through rubble in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan district on Tuesday. - AFP/Getty Images

Several people in Rafah told CNN that they didnt know where to go. One man, Odeh Asaliyeh, said death is more dignified than this and that he prays to get hit and find rest from all of this. I dont know where to head to there is no safe place in all of Gaza Asaliyeh added.

Alaa Abu Ramadan said her family had been waiting for daylight to leave. We dont know what to do. We are going into the unknown, Ramadan said.

For those that are able to travel the many kilometers to Al-Mawasi, the coastal town near Khan Younis, they arrive to find it already crowded with displaced people, some of the new arrivals appearing confused and disorientated. The streets were packed with trucks and donkey carts, surrounded by huge piles of garbage.

I came here from Rafah and didnt find any place to stay. People even say we should leave (here). I swear, I dont know where to go. They distributed leaflets, and people panicked and started running away, said Mohammad Abu Khamash.

UNRWA previously warned that Al-Mawasi is not appropriate for habitation.

Its really not somewhere thats quite suitable for people to put up tents and to be able to sit and try to live and meet their basic necessities every day, Scott Anderson, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, told CNN Monday.

Palestinians inspect a house damaged in an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. - Hatem Khaled/Reuters

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNNs Eve Brennan, Mia Alberti, Magdi Abdelhadi, Richard Roth, Sarah El Sirgany, Jomana Karadsheh, Louis Mian, Ibrahim Dahman, Michael Schwartz and Martin Goillandeau contributed to this report.

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Amateur archaeologists found a mysterious 12-sided object from the Roman Empire that experts can't explain

The Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group found an ancient Roman dodecahedron in the Midlands of England. Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group

An amateur archaeology group found a mysterious dodecahedron near an ancient Roman villa.

The purpose of these 12-sided objects is unknown, though many theories have been suggested.

The complex crafting process suggests they were likely custom-made and expensive.

Down a tree-lined road 100 miles north of London lies an open field where a Roman villa once stood about 2,000 to 1,700 years ago.

Amateur archaeologists with the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group have been excavating its remains, including a bathhouse, gatehouse, and ancient tiled mosaic floors for the last few years when they made a miraculous discovery.

Last year, a dozen volunteers were digging up a field about half a mile from the villa when a cry went up, Richard Parker, the group's secretary, told Business Insider.

The archaeologists had mostly been finding masonry, some animal bones, and a lot of pottery. But Richard Watts, one of the volunteers, was holding something unique.

It was a small metal object, about the size of a softball, with holes in each of its 12 sides and covered with small knobs.

Due to their unusual shape and where they've been found, dodecahedrons' purpose remains a mystery. Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group

"We realized we'd found something really quite significant pretty quickly," Parker said. Though he'd never seen one in person, Rob Evershed, a member of the group, recognized the hollow, rounded object as a Roman dodecahedron.

Everyone started Googling on their phones. Work stopped as they tried to figure out what to do next, Parker said.

Only around 130 dodecahedrons have ever been found. The first known one was discovered in 1739 in Hertfordshire, England.

This latest find is the first dodecahedron ever uncovered in England's Midlands region, the BBC reported. The British broadcast recently featured the object on an episode of "Digging for Britain," a show about archaeology. And England's Lincoln Museum put the object on display for the first time last weekend during its Festival of History.

No one knows the purpose of the dodecahedron

The Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group on the day they discovered the dodecahedron. Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group

A toy? A tool? A religious relic? Once the group had identified it as a dodecahedron, they still had no idea what exactly it was. In fact, no one really knows.

"The fact that many of them were found before scientific excavation started in the 20th century does hinder our understanding of them," Frances McIntosh, an archaeologist with English Heritage who specializes in Roman artifacts, told Business Insider via email.

There often aren't detailed records of their excavation sites.

Over the centuries, more have turned up in the northwestern provinces of the Roman Empire in present-day Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, McIntosh said.

However, she noted that dodecahedrons haven't been found in Italy, Spain, Africa, or Turkey. That regionality adds to their mystery.

Made of a copper alloy, the 12-sided dodecahedrons don't have an obvious function. They come in many sizes, meaning they likely weren't used as a measurement tool. They're somewhat fragile and couldn't withstand heavy use, an archaeologist told The Washington Post.

Some scholars suggest dodecahedrons have religious significance or played a role in rituals. Other guesses range from a candle holder to surveying equipment. Their locations don't offer many clues, either.

"They have been found in all sorts of places," McIntosh said. People have dug up dodecahedrons at military camps, a temple, public baths, a theater, and a tomb, to name a few.

Dodecahedrons may have been custom-made

Parker thinks it would've taken an expert to make the dodecahedron that the Norton Disney group found. An analysis of the material found it's 75% copper, 18% lead, and 7% tin.

"The composition is fairly unusual," Parker said. "Having such a high lead content, it would've required a lot of skill to pour this particular alloy into the mold because it would've been very sticky."

McIntosh agrees an experienced craftsperson likely made it. "As this is a hollow item, it would have been a very complex process," she said.

That complexity means they wouldn't have been cheap. "They would have been expensive items," McIntosh said, "likely bespoke commissions."

The dodecahedrons' many mysteries make them fascinating, Parker said. The group plans to return to the site this year to look for more objects and possibly new clues to the dodecahedron's significance.

Read the original article on Business Insider
GATE CITY, Va. (WAVY)  An Amber Alert has been canceled after a reported child abduction in Southwest Virginia.

Virginia State Police said the child, 10-month-old Cedar Samuel Griffith, was believed to have been abducted by 30-year-old Ashley Jordan Griffith.

VSP announced just after 7 p.m. that the two were both located safe and the alert was canceled.

The Amber Alert was issued just before 3 p.m. Tuesday on behalf of the Scott County Sheriffs Office. They said the reported abduction happened around 8:18 p.m. Monday, and the child was last seen on Daniel Boone Road in Gate City.

State Police didnt release additional additional information about the potential motive and circumstances in the case, or whether Ashley Griffith would be facing charges. Anyone with information in the case is asked to contract the Scott County Sheriffs Office at 276-386-9111 or State Police.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The 4th Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Dialogue was held in Baku on the topic Stakeholder Consultation on the 4th Voluntary National Review of Azerbaijan and Women's Economic Empowerment for SDG 5 Acceleration", Trend reports.

Officials from Azerbaijan's central executive authority, including Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov, and foreign organizations with local representation were in attendance at the event.

Opening the event with an introductory speech, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov noted that Azerbaijan has coordinated its National Development Program with the UN Sustainable Development Program.

The results achieved in Azerbaijan in the social and economic spheres, as well as Azerbaijan's contribution to the implementation of the SDGs, are related to the fact that Azerbaijan was able to coordinate its National Development Program with the UN Sustainable Development Program. We see the results of this integration, he noted.

Then, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Vladanka Andreeva and Chairperson of the State Committee on Family, Women, and Children Issues Bahar Muradova made speeches.

The event continued with panel discussions.

The commitments of the 4 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted as a result of the event.

To note, the SDG Dialogue aims to stimulate knowledge and present international best practices to stakeholders, including the government, the UN, the private sector, civil society, international financial institutions, and development partners. Also, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it aims to provide practical support to the Government of Azerbaijan and the National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development in realizing national priorities within the framework of the 2030 Strategy of Azerbaijan.

Each SDG dialog is dedicated to a specific topic selected in consultation with the National Coordinating Council for Sustainable Development.

A total of three SDG dialogues have been held since November 2022. The first SDG dialogue was dedicated to Green Transformation in Azerbaijan, the second - Towards 2030: Socio-Economic Inclusion in Azerbaijan, and the third - Outcomes of the Global SDG Summit 2023 and the Role of Supreme Audit Institutions in the Implementation of the SDGs.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY)  The American Cancer Society has picked Hampton Roads to be involved in a new study to help fight breast cancer, focusing on Black women.

Its called the VOICES of Black Women study. Researchers here and in Atlanta are looking for 100,000 women to participate in the study. They want 90% of participants to be African American women. The goal of the study is to determine why Black women have a higher mortality rate of breast cancer, despite more white women developing the disease.

10 On Your Side talked with Dr. Bruce Waldholtz with the American Cancer Society. He is involved in the study.

African American women are actually a little bit less likely than white women to get breast cancer, but have a 40% higher mortality rate, said Waldholtz, who is a cancer survivor himself. Hes also a researcher at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk.

There are likely multiple causes for that. And this study, which is done entirely online it explains the purpose of the study, which is to try to decrease health care disparities in breast cancer, Waldholtz said.

The 30-year study will involve 20 women from 20 states and Washington, DC. Researchers will look at things like medical history and lifestyle factors to find early triggers that could cause breast cancer for women down the road. They are looking for participants ages 25 to 55. Women will be required to compete a 30-minute study two times a year.

Recruitment for the study began in Oct. 2023 with a pilot launch in Atlanta and Hampton Roads. The national launch expands enrollment to Alabama, California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Eligible participants must identify as Black, be assigned female at birth or self-identify as women and not have a history of cancer.

Researchers say the information they learn from this study will be used to help fight cancer for future generations.

The American Cancer Society says the cost of the study is about $100 million over 30 years.

If youre interested in participating, you can sign up online using the link here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
American Found Dead, Tortured in Mexico Cemetery Had Ankle Tied to Tree, Boyfriend Is Charged with Murder

Lous Hernandez, 61, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing of Reyna Hernandez, authorities say

Renton Police Department Reyna Hernandez

Reyna Hernandez was last heard from on Feb. 26 before her body was found in Mexico in March

Police charged Lous Hernandez with first-degree murder in connection with her killing, per reports

Authorities allege Lous killed her and carried her body to Mexicali, Mexico

A man has been charged with murder in connection with the killing of Reyna Hernandez, a Washington State woman who was tortured and found dead in a cemetery in Mexico in March, per police.

Reyna, a 54-year-old hair salon owner from Renton, Wash., was missing for about two weeks before she was found with her hands and feet bound and with a gunshot wound to her head in Mexicali, Mexico, FOX 13 reported at the time, citing authorities.

Lous Hernandez, 61, has now been charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death, Renton Police announced on Monday.



Lous, who is identified by several news outlets as Louie Hernandez, was Reynas boyfriend, KING 5 reports. Immediately after Reyna's body was discovered in March, Lous was arrested on unrelated charges of drugs and ammunition possession, per Renton Police.

Reyna was last heard from on Feb. 26, prompting concern among her friends and family who said she was reliable and punctual about opening her salon every morning, local KIRO 7 reported at the time.

Reyna's sister Sara Carillo previously said Reyna was headed to see her boyfriend of 30 years before she disappeared, FOX 13. reported at the time.

Authorities allege that Lous shot Reyna in the head when she entered his home on Feb. 26, KOMO News reports. Lous then used his son's tools to transfer Reyna's body to her vehicle and drove down with it to Mexico, prosecutors claim.



At the cemetery in Mexicali, Lous allegedly tied Reyna's ankle to a tree and drove away, according to court documents reviewed by the outlet. Authorities allege Lous tied her body to the tree, backed into the area and took off, leading her body to be dragged out of the vehicle as it drove away, KOMO News reports.



Renton Police Department/Facebook Reyna Hernandez was found tortured to death in a cemetery in Mexico in March

Related: Missing American Found Tortured to Death in Mexico Cemetery: 'The Worst Possible Outcome'

It's not clear if a motive has been established in the alleged murder.

Renton Police told PEOPLE during the initial stages of the investigation that Reyna's death was being investigated as a "domestic violence crime."

During an investigation into her disappearance, Renton Police said their evidence indicated Reyna had been taken against her will," KIRO 7 previously reported.



Carillo told the outlet that the last time she spoke with Hernandez was on Feb. 24, and that she "sounded happy."

Related: American Woman Found Tortured, Killed in Mexico Was Going to See Boyfriend Before She Disappeared: Family

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The suspect is currently being held in Mexican jail while King County Prosecuting Attorneys Office works with DoJ to extradite him, Renton PD said in their statement. King County prosecutors have asked he be held on $5 million bail.



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 hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.



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Read the original article on People.
An American in Russia on a tourist visa has been arrested in Moscow after he allegedly broke into a childrens library while intoxicated.

The man, identified by news reports and Moscows court service as William Russell Nycum, was arrested on petty hooliganism charges and sentenced to 10 days in jail, according to Reuters.

Reports claim that Mr Nycum, an English language tutor, broke a window to gain entry to the library. Russias RENTV said, according to CBS, that after the man had climbed through the window of a childrens library in Moscow, he fell asleep.

Video footage aired by the Russian network showed a person, partially clothed, in what appeared to be a courtyard of the building, according to CBS.

Mr Nycum is in Russia on a six-month tourist visa and was staying with acquaintances, reports said. It is unclear when he first arrived in the country, The Associated Press reports.

William Russell Nycum, pictured on his Russian tourist visa. He reportedly fell asleep while intoxicated in a childrens library in Moscow, where he was later detained (Ren TV)

Moscows court service said on Tuesday that he had been found naked in the outside courtyard after drinking alcohol. The court service described the incident as one which "expressed obvious disrespect to society, citizens and public order, Reuters reported.

There has been no immediate confirmation of Mr Nycums arrest from US authorities. The Independent has contacted the Department of the State for comment.

The news of the Americans arrest in Russia comes hours after confirmation that another US citizen was arrested and will be held in custody for at least two months over an alleged theft.

US soldier Gordon Black, 34, was arrested, according to Russian court spokesperson Elena Oleneva, and will be held in jail until at least 2 July.

The US Army said on Monday it had been informed about the detention. The soldier was detained in the Russian port city of Vladivostok.

Mr Black was charged with secretly stealing property from a woman he had met in South Korea, according to Russias interior ministry. The pair reportedly started a relationship and when the woman returned to Vladivostok, Mr Black travelled to Russia to visit her.

Mr Black is being held in pre-trial detention, the court said in a separate statement, referring only to US citizen B.

When asked by Reuters about the detention of the two US nationals, a spokesperson for the US embassy in Moscow said that they are aware of the reports of US citizens being arrested inside of Russia.

Consular officers from the embassy always seek to aid citizens with appropriate assistance, but due to privacy concerns, we arent able to comment further, the spokesperson added.

The Russian Foreign Ministrys office in Vladivostok has claimed that Mr Blacks arrest has nothing to do with politics or espionage, according to state news agency TASS.

Tensions between the US and Russia have remained at high levels ever since Russias invasion of Ukraine in February in 2022. Arrests of US citizens in Russia have reached levels equivalent to the Cold War, AP said.

Among the Americans jailed are Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned since last March, and former US marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018. The US government has said both are wrongfully detained.

WNBA player Brittney Griner was also detained by Russia in early 2022 on drug-related charges and sentenced to nine years before being later released as part of a prisoner exchange between the US and Russia.
Kristin Dupont works with fourth- through seventh-grade students in a special education class at Grantosa Drive School in Milwaukee in 2022.

If funding streams for special education covered the full costs of those services in Wisconsin schools, school districts could already have over 60% of the funding that they sought from voters in referendums this spring, an analysis by the office of state Sen. Chris Larson found.

The state reimburses schools for only about a third of their special education costs, leaving districts to pull from their general aid to cover the rest.

Larson, a Democrat from Milwaukee, called on Republican lawmakers to convene a special session to use some of the state's budget surplus to raise state reimbursement of special education costs to 90%. A Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo requested by Larson showed the move could cost about $970 million annually, if costs next year are similar to this year.

Republicans previously rejected calls to raise the reimbursement rate. Gov. Tony Evers had proposed raising the rate to 60%, after calls for an increase from a broad coalition of business executives, public school leaders and private school leaders. Republicans walked it back to 33%, a slight increase from the previous rate of 30%.

That leaves districts on the hook to cover the rest of their costs. Most districts had to pull between $1,000 and $2,000 in regular education funding for each district student to cover special education services in the 2019-20 school year, according to a report by the Education Law Center, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that advocates for equitable school funding.

Staff for Sen. John Jagler, R-Watertown, and Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, who chair the education committees in the state Legislature, said they did not immediately have a comment on Larson's proposal.

Special education funding could save schools most of what they sought in referendums, including in Milwaukee

Public schools are required by federal law to meet the needs of students with disabilities as outlined in individualized education plans, regardless of cost. In 2022-23, Wisconsin schools had over $1 billion in unreimbursed costs for special education.

Larson's office looked specifically at the 68 school districts that used referendums this spring to ask voters for the ability to raise tax funding for schools. Together, they asked voters for about $427 million.

The total unreimbursed special education costs for those districts was about $272 million. That's about 64% of the amount they collectively sought from voters.

Larson's office also found 16 school districts where unreimbursed special education costs were the same or higher than the amount sought in a referendum.

Sen. Chris Larson spoke in support of the Milwaukee Public Schools referendum March 19 at City Hall.

Looking at Milwaukee Public Schools, full special education funding would provide the district an additional $143.5 million, Larson's office found  about 57% of what the district sought from voters this April in its successful referendum, which will ultimately raise the district's spending authority by about $252 million.

In a letter to constituents Tuesday, Larson argued that with the passage rate for referendums declining across the state, the issue of special education is more urgent to sustain school budgets.

"This is not sustainable," Larson wrote. "People support their public schools, but there are limits to how much they are willing to raise their own taxes."

Costs are greater for high-poverty districts

The special education reimbursement shortfalls tend to be highest for districts with higher rates of poverty, an analysis by the Education Law Center found, as those districts have higher numbers of students with disabilities who need special education services.

The center compared Milwaukee Public Schools with the Whitefish Bay School District.

In the 2019-20 school year, 84% of MPS students qualified as low income, and 20% were identified as having disabilities. In Whitefish Bay, 2% of students were low income, and 11% had disabilities. MPS had to use about $2,000 of its general funding per student to cover special education costs, while Whitefish Bay had to pull about $1,100 per student.

Researchers have found a variety of reasons why students from lower-income families, and students of color, are more likely to need special education services. As a result of racist housing policies and governmental neglect, many children have been exposed to lead in their water or paint, live in food deserts and deal with other environmental stressors that affect their development. Many families also struggle to access early childhood education and other learning opportunities that wealthier families can attain.

How much does my district spend on special education?

A tool from the Education Law Center shows the amount each Wisconsin school district spent on special education in the 2019-20 school year, and how far short the state funding fell.

For districts that had a referendum this spring, Larson's office's data shows the referendum amounts and the amounts of special education costs that weren't reimbursed in the 2022-23 school year.

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Special education funding could avert some school referendums
Anger builds over sweeping change in the way most Californians will pay for electricity

With little debate two years ago, state lawmakers passed a complex energy bill that enabled a sweeping change in how most Californians are billed for electricity.

The legislation was what Pacific Gas & Electric had asked for from the state public utilities commission three months before: a transformation of electric rates so that households would pay a fixed charge each month in exchange for lower rates for each kilowatt hour they used.

Gov. Gavin Newsom submitted the bill as part of a massive 2022 budget revision. In four days, it was passed out of an Assembly committee hearing without discussion, approved by the full Assembly and Senate and signed by Newsom.

The state's three largest investor-owned power companies that pushed for the change say it will encourage Californians to ditch cars and appliances that run on planet-warming fossil fuels and replace them with vehicles, stoves and heaters that operate on electricity from solar panels and wind turbines. They also say the new monthly fee will allow them to more evenly allocate fixed costs among customers.

But opponents say the legislation was a financial gift to PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, and will cause millions of Californians who live in small homes or apartments that use little electricity to pay more, while residents in large homes that use a lot of electricity will save money.

If you wanted to design a policy that would send the signal that conservation doesnt count, this would be it, said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.

Read more: Joshua Tree's celebrity rattlesnake wrangler wants to change how you see reptiles

Now, as governor-appointed members of the California Public Utilities Commission prepare to approve a $24 monthly charge at a May 9 meeting, some lawmakers who voted for the original legislation are trying to reverse it. A coalition of more than 250 environmental and community groups are also protesting the law, claiming that its approval smacks of an all too cozy relationship between utility companies, regulators and think tank researchers.

Opponents complain that the new law eliminates a $10 cap on fixed charges that had been in place since 2013, and that there is now nothing to prevent the utilities from raising it higher.

There is a trend nationwide of utilities trying to move more of the payments they extract from ratepayers into fixed fees because they get that money no matter what, Cook said. This is easy money.

Terrie Prosper, the CPUC's director of strategic communications, said in a statement that the new rate structure makes going electric more affordable for everyone, regardless of income, geography, or the size of their home.

Someone who powers all their home appliances and their vehicle with electricity would save an average of $28 to $44 a month compared with the current billing structure, the commission estimates. (The law does not apply to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power or other municipal utilities.)

Prosper said customers would still be encouraged to conserve electricity in the evening hours when the grid is most stressed because the rate per kilowatt hour would be higher. This is similar to how current rates vary by the time of day, she said.

"The flat-rate design will not increase utility revenues," Prosper said. "The flat rate is not a new fee  it simply reallocates how electricity costs are paid for on bills."

Alex Stack, a spokesperson for Newsom, said that before the bills passage, the idea of the fixed fees had been repeatedly discussed at public meetings and budget hearings "as a potential solution for managing rising electric bills."

Stack did not answer a question of whether Newsom proposed the bill at the utilities' request.

And Prosper did not explain why the Newsom administration had introduced the fixed-fee language in a bill just days before the governor had to sign the budget and related legislation.

California already has the nations second-highest electricity rates. Only Hawaii's are higher.

Michael Backstrom, Edisons vice president of regulatory affairs, said the new fixed charge would ensure everyone using the grid is paying for its operation and upkeep.

There is no additional cost being collected, he said. Theres no change to utility profits.

PG&E and SDGE executives did not respond to several phone calls and emails seeking comment.

The inspiration for the new law came from a 2021 paper written by professors at UC Berkeleys Energy Institute at Haas, which is partly funded by utility companies.

The paper detailed how costs for building renewable energy plants, burying power lines to reduce the risk of wildfire ignitions and compensating fire victims have pushed electric rates so high that they were discouraging Californians from buying electric cars and replacing their gas appliances.

The paper also said the rising number of homes with solar panels meant that fewer households were paying for these fast-rising expenses that go into calculating the rate per kilowatt hour charged by utilities.

The professors proposed that the rate per kilowatt hour be reduced while a new fixed charge be added to bills.

Fixed fees are considered to be regressive, since they are harder for lower-income people to pay than the wealthy. For this reason, the professors proposed a fixed charge that was progressive and rose according to income.

Read more: How humanity's ear-splitting racket deafens whales and other marine animals

Since 2018, UC Berkeleys Energy Institute at Haas has received $205,000 from PG&E, $160,000 from Edison and $50,000 from SDGE, according to the institute.

The Solar Rights Alliance  a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of homeowners and businesses that use solar power  said the institute's work of advising the government while receiving money from the utilities "suggests a serious conflict of interest."

Severin Borenstein, an economics professor who was the lead author, said no organization is allowed to give more than 2% of the institutes budget. And he said the electric companies had no influence on the 2021 paper.

We are not doing the bidding of any of these people, he said.

The utility companies liked the papers recommendations. In a March 2022 filing, PG&E argued for swift adoption of a fixed charge similar to what the professors had proposed. The company said legislation was needed to either raise or ideally eliminate the $10 cap.

Two months later, on May 13, 2022, Newsom released a 175-page revision to his proposed budget. In a paragraph on Page 63, he said he was proposing legislation to adjust electricity rates to predetermined fixed charges. That change, he said, would enhance widespread electrification efforts.

The states legislative tracking system shows the proposed language to do that first appeared on June 26, 2022. Thats when a measure, Assembly Bill 205, was amended to add pages of proposed energy legislation. Part of the bill allowed the state to buy power from the aging Diablo Canyon nuclear plant and to approve solar and wind farms over the objections of local governments.

It also contained language that eliminated the $10 cap and ordered the utilities commission to establish a fixed charge on an income-graduated basis.

AB 205 was what is known in Sacramento as a trailer bill to the state budget. The trailer bills are meant to enact law changes required by the governors proposed budget. But politicians have sometimes misused them to get complicated or controversial legislation passed with little public notice.

Lawmakers use of the trailer bills surged after voters passed Proposition 25 , pushed through by Democrats and public employee unions in 2010, which said the budget and any related legislation would need just a majority vote, rather than two-thirds. Democrats now dominate the states Legislature.

When AB 205 was introduced, a Democratic lawmaker called it a crappy trailer bill that was dumped on us on late Sunday night.

The next day, AB 205 and 28 other trailer bills addressing diverse issues, including cannabis regulation and reproductive rights, were presented at a hearing of the Assembly Budget Committee.

According to a transcript , the committees leaders limited public discussion to one hour. The fixed electric charge was not mentioned.

Unfortunately, having this one hearing for one hour, mere hours after budget bills materialized is certainly not adequate, said Assemblymember Vince Fong, a Bakersfield Republican, at the hearing.

The full Assembly and Senate passed the bill two days later. Newsom signed it the next day.

Read more: How a death trap for fish in Californias water system is limiting the pumping of supplies

Last year, the three electric companies said that in accordance with AB 205 they were proposing fees as high as $128 a month for households with incomes over $180,000. Those earning $69,000 to $180,000 would pay a fixed monthly fee of as much as $73. Those making less than $69,000 would pay $15 to $34, depending on which company supplied their power.

The three companies said they would seek to increase the fixed charge if there was a revenue imbalance of 10%. Such an imbalance might occur if estimates of how much they would collect in fixed charges did not cover what they were losing in the lowered rates per kilowatt hour.

The companies proposal outraged some legislators.

A letter to the commission from 18 Democratic members of Congress pointed out that the average electricity consumption of each California resident had stayed nearly flat since the 1970s because of energy efficiency efforts.

Imposing a high fixed charge may undercut these decades of progress by forcing people to pay their utility company before they even turn on the light switch, the California representatives wrote.

In January, Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, Democrat from Thousand Oaks, proposed AB 1999 to reverse much of what Newsoms bill had done.

With criticism growing in late March, the commission said it was proposing a more modest monthly fixed charge of $24.15. Lower-income people would pay either $6 or $12 a month based on their circumstances.

But the commissions proposal did not stop the complaints from households across the state or the coalition opposed to the new rate structure.

In an analysis conducted for the coalition, Josh Plaisted of Flagstaff Research estimated that households using more than 6,000 kilowatt hours a year would save more as they increased their electricity use. For example, a 2,500-square-foot home with a swimming pool might save more than $300 a year, he said.

I think this is a surprise to most people, Plaisted said. You have low energy users subsidizing current high energy usage.

The opposition was angered even more when Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) and other Assembly leaders stopped debate on Irwins bill late last month with a procedural move that shelved it for the legislative session.

Cynthia Moreno, the speakers press secretary, disputed claims that the Assembly leaders had killed the bill.

We are continuing work on the issue this year, including possible amendments to ensure any changes in the fixed charge are revenue neutral for utilities and not a means to increase their profits," she said.

Moreno said that Rivas appreciated the "legislative scrutiny of the PUC and the governors plan, and that oversight will continue.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The BBC seems eager to reassure us that the students taking over campuses to protest against Israel are gentle, peace-loving pillars of the community  rather than, as some members of the public might have supposed, a pack of brainwashed, Jew-hating apologists for terrorism. To this end, on Sunday the BBC News website ran an article headlined: Inside a peaceful and proud Gaza protest camp at a UK university.

The article certainly made all involved sound like lovely people. There was just one small snag.

Directly beneath the peaceful and proud headline was a photo of a student protester whose face was completely obscured by a big black mask.

Now, Ive no doubt that this student  who for some reason asked not to be named  is a delightful human being who wouldnt hurt a fly, not even a wicked Zionist one. I would just say, however, that if I were staging some form of protest, and I wished to show the public that my goals were entirely peaceful, I would probably decide against wearing a big black mask. Otherwise, the public might think that a) I looked a tiny bit intimidating, and b) I was carefully concealing my identity because I intended to commit some kind of crime, possibly a violent one.

Just a thought.

Still, it isnt just masks that seem to be de rigueur at these protests. Theres another item of clothing that is possibly even more popular. Its the keffiyeh: a type of traditional Palestinian scarf that is typically used as a headdress. And its being worn by lots of Left-wing students  even those who happen to be white.

Which is fascinating. Because, for the past decade, Left-wing students in both Britain and America have been telling us, very loudly and angrily, that white Westerners shouldnt wear the traditional clothing of other ethnic groups  because this is cultural appropriation. And cultural appropriation, theyve repeatedly warned us, is offensive, hurtful, and almost certainly racist.

In 2019, for example, the students union at the University of Sheffield declared that it was insensitive to wear a sombrero. In 2018, the students union at the University of Kent decreed that it was unacceptable to dress up as a Native American (or Red Indian, a term which is itself now considered unacceptable). And in 2015, hundreds of students at Yale staged furious protests after a female lecturer said people should be free to wear whatever costumes they wished, including those from other cultures. Shortly afterwards, she resigned.

Perhaps, however, this lecturer was simply ahead of her time. Because in 2024, its apparently deemed wholly acceptable  even admirable  for white Westerners to don the clothing of another ethnic group. As long as theyre doing it to demonstrate their hatred of Israel, anyway.

To be clear: Ive got nothing against white people wearing the keffiyeh. All Im saying is that, when Left-wing activists decide to make abrupt changes to the rules theyve sought to impose upon society, I wish theyd let the rest of us know. Say, by sending out a helpful memo or press release. ATTENTION ALL CITIZENS. Cultural appropriation is no longer considered a heinous offence against marginalised and oppressed minorities. Instead, it is now considered a noble expression of solidarity with them. Please update your records accordingly.

Something along those lines. Just as a courtesy. Otherwise, its not easy for the rest of us to follow the rules, if were no longer sure what they are.

LGB tea

Over the course of my lifetime, one of the most striking linguistic developments has been the changing usage of the word queer. When I was growing up, it was a term of homophobic abuse, used only by bigoted thugs. In recent years, however, the word has been successfully reclaimed. As a result, many people are now proud to call themselves queer.

Until yesterday, however, I didnt realise that food could be queer, too.

But it turns out it can. Boston University, reports the New York Times, has just hosted the inaugural Queer Food Conference. Around 160 attendees paid $45 (35) a head to discuss queer food, analyse food spaces from queer, Marxist, feminist and anti-colonialist perspectives, and celebrate foods that challenge binaries and any kind of normativity. (One speaker, a non-binary transgender lesbian, cited okra. The way you slice into okra and its crunchy and ooshy-gushy  a lot of people think its weird. But okra is queer.)

For me, at least, this is a real eye-opener. I must admit, it had never previously occurred to me that the food on my plate might have a sexual orientation, or a gender identity.

But then, I suppose thats just my cisgender heterosexual privilege showing.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The International Energy Agency (IEA) looks forward to hosting the first COP29-IEA High-Level Dialogue, said Fatih Birol, IEA Director General, Trend reports.

"Looking forward to co-hosting with COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev the first COP29-IEA High-Level Dialogue on May 15 in Paris. Global energy and climate leaders will convene at IEA HQ to discuss how to deliver on the outcomes of COP28 and build ambition for Baku," he wrote on his page on X.

Azerbaijan will host the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in November this year. The decision was made at the plenary meeting of COP28 held in Dubai on December 11 last year. Within two weeks, Baku, having become the center of the world, will host about 70,00080,000 foreign guests.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system. The acronym COP (Conference of Parties) stands for Conference of Parties, which is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The parties to the convention are 198 countries. Unless the parties have decided otherwise, COP is held annually. The first COP event was held in March 1995 in Germany's Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.
By Tatiana Bautzer and Michelle Price

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Attorneys for Sung Kook Bill Hwang are expected to argue that prosecutors are pushing a novel and nonsensical market manipulation theory when the criminal trial of the former Archegos Capital Management boss kicks off in New York this month.

Archegos, a $36 billion family office which invested Hwang's personal wealth, collapsed spectacularly in March 2021 after its highly leveraged bets on a small number of stocks via complex derivatives quickly soured.

Prosecutors allege Hwang and his deputies lied to banks about the magnitude of Archegos' derivative positions to borrow billions of dollars that they then used to inflate the underlying stocks through open market purchases.

When Archegos finally ran out of money in March 2021, Hwang's "house of cards" collapsed, prosecutors for the Southern District of New York allege.

The fund's blow up, one of the biggest in years, left global banks nursing $10 billion in losses, including $5.5 billion at Credit Suisse, contributing to the Swiss bank's own downfall last year. Prosecutors also allege Archegos' collapse caused more than $100 billion in shareholder losses at companies in its portfolio.

The trial, which begins with jury selection on Wednesday, is expected to lift the lid on the inner workings of Wall Street and banks' dealings with profitable but risky clients.

"This case has generated particular attention on Wall Street because banks, including Credit Suisse, lost billions of dollars as a result of Hwangs alleged scheme," said Joshua Naftalis, a former prosecutor and now partner at law firm Pallas.

Hwang, a former hedge fund manager who was known on Wall Street for his highly risky investing style, has pleaded not guilty and denies all the charges. In a December court filing, his attorneys said that it was the "most aggressive open market manipulation case ever" brought by prosecutors.

Several attorneys said they believe it may be a tough case for prosecutors to win because the market manipulation theory is untested, and the Wall Street banks are not typical victims.

"You could definitely say the prosecutors are pushing the envelope here," said Brian Klein, a former federal prosecutor who is now a partner at law firm Waymaker.

Typically, market manipulation involves some kind of trickery, but the stock purchases Archegos made in the open market do not appear to involve deception, said Robert Frenchman, an attorney who has defended clients in market manipulation cases.

"The defense will argue that those buys were bona fide," he added.

A spokesperson for the prosecution declined to comment. Hwang's defense attorneys also declined to comment.

The son of a Korean pastor, Hwang moved to the United States as a child and earned several U.S. business degrees.

He honed his stock-picking skills from 1996 to 2000 at Tiger Management, the late billionaire Julian Robertsons pioneering hedge fund. In 2001, Hwang launched his own hedge fund business, Tiger Asia Management.

The fund grew quickly, but then losses and regulatory issues in Hong Kong and the United States led the firm to shut in 2012. Hwang paid $44 million to settle U.S. insider trading charges.

Hwang turned Tiger Asia into a family office, renaming it Archegos Capital Management in early 2013. Reuters reported in 2021 how Hwang rebuilt his connections on Wall Street.

His trial is expected to last up to eight weeks, suggesting many witnesses will be called. Among them will likely be former Archegos chief risk officer Scott Becker and head trader William Tomita, who pleaded guilty to lying to the banks and are cooperating with prosecutors.

Executives from some of the banks are also expected to appear.

Given the banks are sophisticated financial institutions, prosecutors may struggle to characterize them as sympathetic victims, said lawyers.

"The defense will probably argue these facts were hiding in plain sight and the banks were aware of what Hwang was doing," said Naftalis.

(Editing by Michael Erman)
(Getty Images)

Current and former journalists, attorneys who defend the Freedom of Information Act and other lifetime supporters of FOIA are joining efforts for a stronger public records law through a new ballot question committee called Arkansans for a Free Press.

The committee formed last week in support of two government transparency ballot initiatives proposed by Arkansas Citizens for Transparency (ACT). Ashley Kemp Wimberley, executive director of the Arkansas Press Association, said the nonpartisan committee would lead to a broader reach with the members each bringing different connections.

While the [FOIA] is a right of every Arkansan, its a tool that must be in place for those in our journalism community to continue to do their jobs, Wimberley said. Its very important to our association  and everybody in the media industry.

Maurice Buddy King, a retired journalist with more than 50 years of industry experience, will serve as committee chair. Other members include Skip Rutherford, a longtime figure in Arkansas politics; Robert Steinbuch, a law professor and regular columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; James Rusty Fraser, publisher of the Stone County Leader; and Andrew Bagley, publisher of the Helena World.

I am honored to serve as chair of this committee of longtime supporters and friends of the Arkansas journalism community, King said in a statement. While some of us have very different political views, this is not a political campaign. FOIA is non-partisan by nature and should be important to every citizen of Arkansas. It is a tool that has to be in place to sustain community journalism and democracy.

The committees 15 members will work alongside ACT to solicit signatures and fundraising dollars. Wimberley, Steinbuch and attorney John E. Tull, who are all involved in the new committee, helped draft the ballot initiatives. Nate Bell, a former state representative whos involved with ACT, said he was excited to have more people involved in the coalition.

[Arkansans for a Free Press] is just bringing more people in to be on the front line on this effort, Wimberley said. I think that when you bring in more people and you have a broader reach, then the only thing thats going to happen is were going to move faster.

Wimberley herself will serve in an advisory capacity, she said, which includes getting the committee up to speed with efforts ACT already has underway, explaining the goals and leading a discussion on whether the APA should help fund the initiatives.

Ballot initiatives

ACTs two proposed ballot initiatives aim to strengthen the states public meeting and open records law so residents can continue to obtain information from governmental officials.

The Arkansas Government Disclosure Amendment and Act go hand in hand, though they both have different requirements. At least 72,563 signatures need to be turned into the secretary of states office by July 5 to qualify the act for the November ballot; the proposed constitutional amendment requires 90,704 signatures. An estimate of the current signature count wasnt available on Monday.

The act would establish policies and define phrases like government transparency, cybersecurity and public meeting. It would also establish the Arkansas Government Transparency Commission, a group of five members who would assist citizens in accessing public records and meetings.

The amendment would enshrine the principles of government transparency in the Arkansas Constitution, restrict the circumstances in which the Legislature can make laws concerning government transparency and confirm the state can be sued if officials fail to comply.

ACT formed after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law enacted during a special legislative session in September 2023 that limited the publics access to certain records about spending on official security. Earlier versions of the FOIA legislation would have added more exemptions to the law, but bipartisan concerns altered the course.

Though the Sanders administration set out for a broad bill that would have essentially gutted the FOIA, an attack on the public records law has been going on for years, Wimberley said.

It was kind of a death by 1,000 cuts, Wimberley said. Every legislator would say, This doesnt do much, its just a small change to FOIA. But when you get 30 or 40 bills that all make a small change to FOIA, cumulatively they might have a big effect.

The peoples law

While members of the press may feel heightened concerns around changes to the FOIA because of the significant impact it would have on obtaining information, limiting government transparency is an issue that affects all Arkansans, Wimberley said.

People are very passionate about the issue when you talk about government transparency, she said. What we generally hear from the far left and the far right and everywhere in between is that its their taxpayer money and they have a right to know how its being spent.

Bagley said the people hes come in contact with about the initiatives have been overwhelmingly supportive, regardless of their political party.

Everybody agrees that we should have a right to know what our government is doing and that [the] government should not be concealing or making it hard to find information, Bagley said.

Its not just reporters who use the FOIA in Helena-West Helena, Bagley said. Being in a town thats very political, Bagley said several citizens request information from their local officials, and without the FOIA, everything could get swept under the rug.

I want everybody from the pothead to the preacher, because FOIA is for everybody, Bagley said.

Fraser said the FOIA makes a great check and balance for the government, and for journalists, its the best tool weve got in our arsenal.

Every elected official we have will tell you they are in favor or they support transparency in government, Fraser said. How many of them are lying? Damn near all of them.

Both Bagley and Fraser have published stories over the years solely using the FOIA. Bagley said he revealed the local school district had several broken security cameras, and Fraser said he helped save a surgeons career.

If it were political in nature  far left or far right  the [Arkansas] Press Association wouldnt be involved, Wimberley said. Its simply protecting whats one of the strongest Freedom of Information Act laws in the country and making sure we preserve what we have.

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The post Arkansas Press Association forms committee to support government transparency appeared first on Arkansas Advocate.
Armenian PM explains why he did not attend Putin's "inauguration"

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated at a press conference in Yerevan that he did not attend Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin's "inauguration" because he was not invited.

Source: News.am, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Pashinyan said he did not receive an invitation to Putin's event from Russia.

Quote from Pashinyan: "I received an invitation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attend his inauguration. But I did not receive one from Russian President Vladimir Putin."

He also emphasised that today's press conference was just as essential as the event in Moscow.

"We are obviously discussing very important issues," he added.

Pashinyan also commented on his reluctance to go to Moscow to celebrate 9 May.

"Last year I participated in the 9 May event [i.e. the Victory Day anniversary parade in Moscow  ed.], and I don't think I need to participate every year... Wouldn't it seem strange to you if the leader of Armenia attended the 9 May military parade [in Moscow] every year?" he said.

According to media reports, diplomats from at least six EU countries  France, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Hungary and Slovakia  decided to attend Putin's "inauguration" on 7 May.

The EUs top diplomat, Josep Borrell, had advised EU countries not to send representatives to the "inauguration".

The European Commission later explained why several EU governments had sent delegates to the "inauguration" anyway.

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Christopher Chris Gilbert, an aspiring medical student, was left nearly brain-dead back in April after he was pushed off the dock of a waterfront restaurant and into a Louisiana lake by friends, knowing he couldnt swim.

According to local outlet KSLA, Gilbert was submerged underwater for ten consecutive minutes before a patron from a nearby restaurant intervened and rescued the 26-year-old.

When explaining what happened, his mother Yolanda George, told KSLA, A friend of his called and she was hysterical crying. She told me that Chris has fell into the lake and he had been underwater for 10 minutes or so. The doctor [at Ochsner LSU Health] called us in and told me that at that time, he was brain dead and the rest of his organs were starting to fail. That we had 72 hours on the ECMO machine. Its sort of like dialysis for the lungs and they had to put him on a ventilator.

She continued, I was devastated. I felt like my life had ended in that moment. My son is aspiring to be a medical doctor, my son is going to be a medical doctor. He got his masters last year in biological science. Hes preparing for medical school so for this to have happened to him I was just devastated.

The New York Post reports that the medical student has been taken off life support, but is still recuperating physically.

Nonetheless, Gilberts family is now demanding for an arrest to be made, and intend to hold the restaurant owner responsible for failing to properly restrict access to the lake despite serving alcohol.

Family attorney Claudia Payne revealed that Gilberts friends told police that he fell into the lake, but upon investigating further, it was discovered that he was pushed. In the legal field, we characterize things the way we see fit. Of course, they are saying horseplay. We are saying that it was a criminal intentional push into the lake, Payne added, noting that she believes the incident was racially-motivated because Gilbert is Black and the friends he was with are white.

Had Chris, a Black male, pushed a white female into a lake, he would be arrested, Payne shared, adding that the family just wants prosecutors to abide by the law accordingly.

More from VIBE.com
The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is being withdrawn worldwide, months after the pharmaceutical giant admitted for the first time in court documents that it can cause a rare and dangerous side effect.

The vaccine can no longer be used in the European Union, after the company voluntarily withdrew its marketing authorisation. The application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on Tuesday.

Similar applications will be made in the coming months in the UK and in other countries that had approved the vaccine, known as Vaxzevria.

The decision to withdraw it brings to an end the use of the jab, which was heralded by Boris Johnson as a triumph for British science and credited with saving more than six million lives.

AstraZeneca said the vaccine was being removed from markets for commercial reasons. It said the vaccine was no longer being manufactured or supplied, having been superseded by updated vaccines that tackle new variants.

Vaxzevria has come under intense scrutiny in recent months over a very rare side effect, which causes blood clots and low blood platelet counts. AstraZeneca admitted in court documents lodged with the High Court in February that the vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS.

TTS  which stands for Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome  has been linked to at least 81 deaths in the UK as well as hundreds of serious injuries. AstraZeneca is being sued by more than 50 alleged victims and grieving relatives in a High Court case.

But Astrazeneca has insisted the decision to withdraw the vaccine is not linked to the court case or its admission that it can cause TTS. It said the timing was pure coincidence.

In a statement the company said: We are incredibly proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the global pandemic. According to independent estimates, over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally.

Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic.

As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed, there is a surplus of available updated vaccines. This has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied. AstraZeneca has therefore taken the decision to initiate withdrawal of the marketing authorisations for Vaxzevria within Europe.

We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path forward to conclude this chapter and significant contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Telegraph has been told that the company will withdraw marketing authorisations in other countries, including the UK, where it has regulatory approval. AstraZeneca never had approval for the vaccine to be used in the US.

The company said: We will partner with regulatory authorities globally to initiate marketing authorisation withdrawals for Vaxzevria, where no future commercial demand for the vaccine is expected.

The Government largely stopped using the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine by the autumn of 2021, by which time it had supplied about 50 million doses in the UK. It was replaced in the UK with Pfizer and Moderna jabs in time for the winter booster campaign at the end of 2021.

Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccines at the European Medicines Agency, the body which is responsible for drug and medicine safety within the EU, told Italian media: The authorisation of the anti-Covid vaccine Vaxzevria by AstraZeneca will be withdrawn and the process has already officially started with the European Commission. This is in line with the expectations that no-longer-used and updated vaccines will be withdrawn, as per our indication.

Mr Cavaleri said he expected all the monovalent vaccines  which dealt only with the original Wuhan strain  to be withdrawn in time.

AstraZeneca accepted the vaccine can cause TTS in a legal document in February this year. The causal mechanism is not known.

Workers producing the vaccine in October 2021 - JOHN LAWRENCE

Lawyers for claimants in the High Court case argue that the drug caused vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT)  a subset of TTS  and that it was not as safe as individuals were entitled to expect. Astrazeneca has always insisted that patient safety is our highest priority.

The company has said: From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.

But Kate Scott, whose husband Jamie was left with a permanent brain injury after having the vaccine and who was the first person in the UK to bring a legal action, said: AstraZenecas Covid vaccine no longer being used in the UK or Europe, and soon the rest of the world, means no one else will suffer from this awful adverse reaction.

They say it is for commercial reasons, but maybe its because it can no longer be seen as being within the acceptable safety parameters, with 445 confirmed cases of VITT, 81 of these fatal in the UK alone.

Mr Scott, 47, a father-of-two, who has had to give up work, said: This is good news, but I will always wish they had, like they did in other countries, paused it in the UK after just one case. More lives could have been saved and I would not be suffering the way I am.

Mr Scott, pictured with his wife, wishes the vaccine had been withdrawn much earlier - ANDREW FOX

Sarah Moore, a partner at law firm Leigh Day, which is bringing the legal claims, said: To those who we represent, all of whom have suffered bereavement or serious injury as a result of the AstraZeneca vaccine, this decision to withdraw marketing authorisation, ending the usage of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the EU, will be welcomed.

It will be seen as a decision linked with AstraZenecas recent admission that the vaccine can cause TTS, and the fact that regulators across the world suspended or stopped usage of the vaccine following concerns regarding TTS.

This is an important regulatory step, but still our clients remain without fair compensation. We will continue to fight for the compensation our clients need and campaign for reform of the vaccine damage payment scheme.

The scheme, run by the Government, has paid out to victims. But it has been branded inadequate, prompting them to bring separate civil claims against AstraZeneca, which the drugs firm is contesting.

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PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now)  Employees at two different Prince Georges County 7-Elevens told DC News Now Tuesday that suspects had pried open the ATMs overnight, stealing cash before escaping.

The Laurel Police Department (LPD) said that one of those robberies happened at the 7-Eleven on Seventh Street around 3 a.m.

Prince Georges County Police Department officer charged with assault in Charles County

An employee said that four people had entered the store. Three of them used a jaws of life style tool to crack open the ATM and steal cash while the other held an employee in a back room.

Damaged ATM at the 7-Eleven on Seventh Street in Laurel. (Randi Bass/DC News Now)

They said that the suspects also stole the computer system with surveillance footage.

Laurel police said the suspects implied they had weapons.

Employees said that the four suspects were in and out in less than four minutes and took off in a black SUV.

Bob Kohler works near the Laurel location and was shocked to hear about what happened across the street from his office.

Its disgusting. I feel sorry for these nice people [who run the store]. Its got to be a coordinated effort by some group, which is terrible. I hope the police are all over it, said Kohler.

14-year-old girl, woman dead after crash on I-495 in Prince Georges County

The ATM at the 7-Eleven on Riggs Road in Adelphi was also damaged  employees there said that suspects opened it to steal the cash from inside around 3:20 a.m.

The Adelphi store is about a 15-minute drive from the Laurel location that was hit around 20 minutes earlier.

Damaged ATM at the 7-Eleven on Riggs Road in Adelphi. (Randi Bass/DC News Now)

Employees at the Adelphi store told DC News Now that no one was hurt. Laurel police also confirmed that no one was hurt at the Seventh Street location.

There were additional reports of ATM robberies across the area, but Prince Georges County police would not confirm any details about those incidents.

Laurel police said their detectives were working with other agencies to investigate the Seventh Street incident as part of a string of robberies.

Anyone with any information is urged to get in touch with the Laurel Police Department.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
A Pennsylvania pastor is crediting God with keeping him safe on Sunday during an attempted shooting that became part of his churchs livestreamed worship service.

The Rev. Glenn Germany of Jesus Dwelling Place Church in North Braddock, Pennsylvania, said God jammed the attackers gun.

He pulled the gun; it clicked, the pastor told WPXI News in Pittsburgh. You heard him shoot it. God jammed the gun so the bullet didnt come out.

Video of the service shows a man walking up the aisle of the church toward the Rev. Germany and raising a gun. The pastor took shelter behind the pulpit as a church member tackled the man.

(The Rev.) Germany and the congregant then worked together to wrest the gun away from (the man), who was soon subdued and held until state troopers arrived, The Associated Press reported.

Law enforcement has since identified the man with the gun as Bernard J. Polite, 26. He faces numerous charges, including aggravated assault and attempted homicide, and was being held Monday without bail at the Allegheny County Jail, per The Associated Press.

Polite allegedly told the police that he felt God wanted him to attack the Rev. Germany.

According to the criminal complaint, Polite confessed to police that he tried to shoot Germany because, God told him to do it, and that he wanted to go to jail to clear his mind, Pittsburghs WTAE News reported.

Nonprofit Security Grant Program supports churches

The attempted shooting at Jesus Dwelling Place Church in Pennsylvania happened the same day that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced an increase in the funding available to houses of worship with security concerns.

Churches, as well as synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship, can now apply to be part of this years $400 million Nonprofit Security Grant Program to get financial support for security upgrades.

Were going to keep funding so that no synagogue or other religious institution is going to have to live in the fear that they now live with, Schumer said, according to The Associated Press.

The Rev. Germany was not asked about the grant program, but he told WPXI News that he has no plans to change his churchs approach to security after the incident. He said he plans keep his churchs doors open and welcome newcomers.

Similarly, he told The Associated Press that hes feeling grateful rather than scared.

I am feeling grateful that I woke up this morning and that I am here. It could have gone an opposite direction, the pastor said. But God has intervened and I am grateful for him.
Attorney: Bruising on body of man who died in Tarrant jail custody suggests use of force

A man who died following an altercation with officers at the Tarrant County Jail after being arrested during a schizophrenic episode had bruises on his body suggesting the use of force, an attorney representing Anthony Ray Johnson Jr.s family told the Star-Telegram on Monday.

Johnsons family said they took him to WellBridge Healthcare, a behavioral health facility in Fort Worth, when he began noticing the symptoms of a schizophrenic episode on April 19. He asked his mother to take him to a hospital because he didnt want to become a danger to himself or others, his family told the Star-Telegram.

Instead of getting help, though, his family said the facility turned him away because he was not yet violent.

WellBridge in Fort Worth declined Monday to comment on whether Johnson was ever a patient or what the mental health facilitys standards are for admissions, directing questions to the facilitys corporate leadership. A spokesperson for corporate could not be reached for comment Monday.

Johnson, a 31-year-old Marine Corps veteran who was assigned to combat logistics, was diagnosed with schizophrenia after his time in the military, his family said. He took the diagnosis seriously and wasnt ashamed to seek help, they said.

A military spokesperson told the Star-Telegram that details on his early discharge in 2013 after two years in the Marine Corps cannot be released.

Anthony Ray Johnson Jr., a Marine veteran, tried to get help when he began noticing the symptoms of a schizophrenic episode, according to his family. Johnson was turned away from a mental health facility, his sister said, and was arrested later that day. He died April 21 after being pepper-sprayed in an altercation with officers at the Tarrant County Jail.

Johnson was arrested in Saginaw later on April 19, the same day he tried to seek help, according to the Tarrant County Sheriffs Office, which handles administration of the jail. He was found holding a knife in an intersection, police said. His family said the schizophrenic episode had taken hold. On April 20, his family said, they heard from him in a phone call from the jail and he seemed to be doing better.

Then, on the morning of April 21, Johnson refused to leave his cell during a routine contraband check, leading to an altercation with detention officers, according to the sheriffs office.

The sheriffs office said Johnson was pepper-sprayed and then given medical attention, which is routine. But Daryl Washington, an attorney representing Johnsons family in their quest to get answers about what happened to him, said he suspects there was more to it.

Bruising on his body suggests more force was used against Johnson than just pepper spray, Washington told the Star-Telegram in a phone interview.

If there was something to justify this, that would be known very early on, Washington said. We havent heard anything for justification of what happened, what went on. But its evident to us that there was more involved in this than pepper spray. More force.

The Star-Telegram has filed an open records request for video from the jail showing what happened. The county has sent that request to the Texas Attorney Generals Office seeking permission to withhold the video.

Washington said he hasnt seen the video, either, but has heard it exists.

We are asking and we are demanding that any video footage be released, he said. They talk about transparency and how they want to be transparent to the public, but in this situation we feel like theyre hiding something that took place.

The sheriffs office has declined to comment, citing the Texas Rangers involvement in the investigation. In a statement April 23, the Texas Department of Public Safety, of which the Texas Rangers are a department, said the Rangers criminal investigation is ongoing and there is no further information available.

The Tarrant County Commissioners Court is expected to discuss Johnsons death and other recent deaths in the Tarrant County Jail at a meeting Tuesday morning.
Stormy Daniels spent hours on the witness stand Tuesday, recounting details of an alleged tryst with former President Trump and how she ended up in a hush money agreement to keep it quiet ahead of the 2016 election.

Daniels was so far the highest-profile witness in the Manhattan district attorneys prosecution of Trump over a $130,000 payment made to her to not spill her allegations of the one-night affair.

Cross-examination of Daniels grew testy with Trumps attorney attempting to paint the porn actress as a liar and an extortionist. Daniels is expected to retake the stand when the trial resumes on Thursday.

Follow below for a recap from New York.

Judge threatens Trump with jail time: 5 takeaways from Trump trial Monday

Trump says hed be willing to go to jail over gag order violations

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Soft loans of more than 50 million manat ($29.4 million) have been distributed among 800 investment initiatives in Azerbaijan with the goal of supporting the growth of women entrepreneurs, Deputy Economy Minister Sahib Mammadov said, Trend reports.

He made this statement at the 4th SDG Dialogue, which was themed "Stakeholder consultations on Azerbaijan's 4th Voluntary National Review and progress on five SDGs."

According to him, this signifies Azerbaijan's prioritization of the project.

It's worth mentioning that the Entrepreneurship Development Fund, operating under the Ministry of Economy in Azerbaijan, has disbursed over 50 million manat ($29.4 million) in soft loans to support over 800 investment projects focused on advancing women's entrepreneurship between the first quarters of 2020 and 2024. This initiative has facilitated the creation of over 1,000 new job opportunities, he added.

To note, Baku is hosting the 4th SDG Dialogue, themed Stakeholder consultations on Azerbaijan's 4th Voluntary National Review and progress on five SDGs.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
(Bloomberg) -- Australias government has expressed outrage after a Chinese fighter jet fired flares near its military helicopter, an act that risks unsettling Canberra and Beijings improving ties.

Most Read from Bloomberg

A Peoples Liberation Army aircraft intercepted an Australian helicopter in the Yellow Sea on May 4 and released flares along the flight path, according to a statement from the Department of Defence on Monday. The helicopter was operating from an Australian naval vessel enforcing United Nations sanctions against North Korea, the statement said.

The PLA air force plane dropped flares about 300 meters in front of the Seahawk helicopter and about 60 meters above it, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles told 9News in an interview. No Australian personnel were injured in the encounter.

The Australian government said the incident was unprofessional and unacceptable. Weve made clear, that view to Beijing, both through Beijing and also through Canberra, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on local radio on Tuesday morning.

Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

This is the second incident between the militaries of the two countries in recent months. Two Australian navy divers were injured by sonar pulses from a Chinese naval vessel in November last year, in an incident that came right after Albaneses visit to Beijing  the first Australian leader to do so in more than seven years after bilateral relations soured.

Ties have gradually improved since Albanese came to power in 2022, with China removing punitive tariffs on wine and barley and starting to buy coal and other goods again in the past year.

Australia on Monday called on all countries including China to operate their militaries in a professional and safe manner.

--With assistance from Ben Westcott.

(Updates with Albaneses comments.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2024 Bloomberg L.P.
Erin Trudi Patterson has previously vowed her innocence, saying she is 'devastated' by the deaths - Anita Lester/AAP Image

The Australian woman who cooked a deadly mushroom lunch that killed three elderly guests has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Erin Trudi Patterson is charged with the murders of Gail Patterson and Don Patterson, both 70, who fell ill hours after eating a beef Wellington at their daughter-in-laws home last July.

The 49-year-old is also accused of killing Heather Wilkinson, Gails sister, and the attempted murder of Mrs Wilkinsons husband, Ian, who survived damage to his liver after receiving an organ transplant.

It will be alleged that she knowingly mixed toxic fungi  believed to be the death cap variety found in the wild  into their lunch. Mushrooms are a key ingredient in beef Wellington, used to make the duxelles between the dishs meat and pastry layers.

Ms Patterson was also charged with four counts of attempting to murder her estranged husband Simon Patterson, who had previously been hospitalised with a stomach illness.

Police plan to present evidence she allegedly tried to kill Mr Patterson once in 2021 in the couples hometown, south-east of Melbourne, and twice in 2022, including in the Victorian mountain holiday region of Howqua and in Wilsons Promontory, a camping and hiking destination.



Ms Patterson also allegedly intended to poison him at the family lunch, which he was invited to but did not attend.

Ms Patterson's barrister told the court she had opted to 'fast-track' the case to the Supreme Court in Melbourne

Appearing from a womens prison via video link, Ms Patterson was on Tuesday morning asked to tell the Latrobe magistrates court how she intended to plead to the charges.

Not guilty, your honour, she said.

The mother-of-two has previously vowed her innocence, telling the media she was devastated by the loss of her childrens grandparents.

In a shift in Ms Pattersons legal strategy, her barrister Colin Mandy SC, told the court she had opted to fast-track the case to the Supreme Court in Melbourne.

The method  introduced during the Covid pandemic to address backlogs in the court system  allows homicide suspects to skip a committal hearing where a magistrate decides whether the evidence is strong enough for a conviction.

Her lawyers had previously indicated that they wanted the magistrate to test the polices case before trial. But that meant Ms Patterson would have spent at least 15 months on remand.

Ms Patterson was committed to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court and will appear for a directions hearing later in May.

She has not applied to be released on bail during any of her four court appearances.

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China says its military took necessary steps to warn Australia in jet incident

China says its military took necessary steps to warn Australia in jet incident

BEIJING/SYDNEY (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday its military took steps to warn and alert an Australian aircraft after Australia blamed a Chinese fighter jet for endangering one of its military helicopters during an "unsafe" confrontation over the Yellow Sea.

The incident could create a new rift between the nations trying to rebuild ties following a 2020 low, when Canberra called for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19, and Beijing responded with trade barriers.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said the Chinese air force J-10 jet dropped flares above and several hundred metres ahead of an Australian MH60R Seahawk helicopter on a routine flight on Saturday.

No one was hurt in the incident, which happened during an operation to enforce sanctions against North Korea.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was "unacceptable" for Australian defence personnel to be put at risk in international airspace.

On Tuesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the Australian aircraft deliberately flew within close range of Chinas airspace in a "provocative move" that endangered maritime air security.

"The Australian military aircraft flew near China's airspace in a threatening way," the spokesperson, Lin Jian, told a regular news briefing.

"The Chinese military took necessary measures at the scene to warn and alert the Australian side," he said, adding that the situation was handled in a manner consistent with China's law and regulations, and was professional and safe.

"China has lodged serious protests with the Australian side over its risky moves," Lin said. "We urge the Australian side to immediately stop the provocations and hype to prevent misunderstanding and miscalculation."

China has also been accused of unsafe behaviour in the skies by other countries, including Canada and the United States.

Australia has also previously charged China with "unsafe and unprofessional" actions at sea.

In Sydney, Albanese told broadcaster Nine's Today Show the Australian Defence Force personnel were "in international waters, international airspace," as they worked to ensure that the U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea were enforced.

"They shouldn't have been at any risk," he said, adding that the Australian public expected an explanation from China about the incident, and Australia had made "very strong representations at every level to China".

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is expected to visit Australia next month, he said, adding, "We will make our position clear as well in discussions."

The helicopter, flying from destroyer HMAS Hobart, dodged the flares. The confrontation put the aircraft and those on board at risk, although no one was hurt, Australia's defence department said in a separate statement.

The incident is the second in six months to mar what has otherwise been a growing rapprochement between the two countries after years of strained relations and trade disputes.

In November, Australia said a Chinese naval vessel injured some of its divers in Japanese waters using an underwater sonar. China denied it had used its sonar; however Australia rejected the explanation.

In 2022, Australia protested after a Chinese navy vessel pointed a laser at an Australian military aircraft close to Australia's northern coast.

In a separate incident in 2022, Australia said a Chinese fighter aircraft dangerously intercepted an Australian military surveillance plane in the South China Sea, releasing a "bundle of chaff" with pieces of aluminium that were ingested into the Australian craft's engine.

Liu Jianchao, head of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party, said during a visit to Australia in November the Australian navy's movements in the South China Sea and East China Sea appeared to be an effort to contain China.

Australia has rejected this, saying it respects the right of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law.

China claims sovereignty over much of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. An international tribunal in 2016 said China's expansive claim had no legal basis.

Chinese navy vessels have been tracked off Australia's coast several times in recent years, including monitoring exercises with the U.S. military.

(Reporting by Andrew Hayley in Beijing and Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Zahira Shaw

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF)  The Richmond County Sheriffs Office is requesting the publics help to locate 2 missing teens.

16-year-old Zahira Shaw was last seen on April 30th, on the 400 block of Boy Scout Road.

She was last seen wearing a white long sleeve shirt, black pants, and black crocs.

ALSO ON WJBF: Third 16-year-old missing from Richmond Co.

Derrick Gaines Jr.

16-year-old Derrick Gaines Jr. was last seen April 24th, on the 3500 block of Jack Kelly Road.

He was last seen wearing a black hoodie, black jeans, and blue Jordan sneakers.

Authorities do not believe these two teens are together. If you have any information on their whereabouts, contact the Richmond County Sheriffs Office.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJBF.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A Tigard grandmother faces five separate charges after allegedly passing out inside a running Jeep and exposing her 10-month-old granddaughter to fentanyl.

Julia Apostello was arrested late on May 3 after an officer spotted the unlicensed Jeep in the Tigard Plaza Shopping Center, police said. The officer looked inside the parked and running Jeep and saw Apostello passed out behind the wheel and a baby in a car seat in the back. The officer also saw drug paraphernalia in plain view, officials said.

The babys mother, contacted by police, was inside a business with her 4-year-old daughter and said shed been gone for about 30 minutes.

No ambulances for Gresham stabbing appalling

The baby was taken to a hospital to be examined and tested positive for fentanyl, authorities said. A powdered substance found in the Jeep also was found to be fentanyl.

Apostello was booked at the Washington County Jail for two counts of criminal mistreatment, child neglect, endangering the welfare of a minor and reckless endangerment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Data centers in Ashburn, Virginia (Gerville / Getty Images)

Virginia, home to the countrys largest concentration of data centers, faces a critical juncture in its energy future. As the demand for data storage and processing grows, so does the need for reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy to power these facilities, the largest of which can consume more than 100 megawatts (MW) of power. Thats equal to the production of a single large utility-scale facility  enough to power tens of thousands of homes. The rise of AI will greatly increase the power needs of data centers.

Policymakers and energy providers are exploring the potential of small modular reactors (SMRs) to meet the growing energy needs of the data center industry. While SMRs offer the potential for clean, reliable energy, their development and deployment face significant challenges and limitations.

SMRs are a type of nuclear reactor that are smaller in size and power output compared to traditional nuclear power plants. They are designed to be modular, meaning they can be factory-built and transported to the site of installation, potentially reducing construction time and costs. SMRs typically have a power output of approximately 300 MW (MW) and can be used for a variety of applications, an obvious-looking one being electricity production to power megawatt-hungry data centers. In 2022, Gov. Glenn Youngkin suggested that the states first SMR would be built in Southwest Virginia, but in March the governor reversed course, and the focus has shifted to areas that have a more established nuclear infrastructure.

The industry is gearing up to potentially employ SMRs as part of the power stack for data centers. Stakeholders definitely noticed when Microsoft commenced a nationwide search for a principal program manager for nuclear energy and then when it announced in January 2024 that it had hired Directors of Nuclear Technologies and Nuclear Acceleration.

As Virginia navigates this complex energy landscape, a wisely balanced approach is crucial. SMRs are not a panacea. We should continue to recognize the vital role of solar energy and other renewable sources in our states energy mix. Only by embracing a diverse and inclusive energy strategy can Virginia meet the demands of its burgeoning data center industry while ensuring a sustainable and prosperous future for all Virginians. Additionally, this embrace of diversity will be mission-critical for Dominion Energy to meet the statutory requirement under the Virginia Clean Economy Act that 100%of its energy be produced by renewable sources by 2045.

The risks of overreliance on SMRs

While SMRs represent a promising avenue for clean energy production, it is essential to recognize that they are not a silver bullet solution to Virginias energy challenges. One of the most significant risks associated with an overemphasis on SMRs is that this technology  years away from coming to fruition  may be used as a pretense to block the development of solar energy projects in rural Virginia counties.

In recent years, there has been growing opposition to solar development in many rural communities across the state. As I noted in a previous commentary piece for the Virginia Mercury, A clear trend has emerged of Virginia counties purposefully limiting their own options. An increasing number of them are imposing explicit moratoria or near-bans on solar development. This opposition is often rooted in concerns about the impact of solar projects on local land use, property values, and aesthetics. An oft-cited opposition argument is that the energy produced in these rural farms is just sent up to Northern Virginia.

The promise of SMRs risks exacerbating this trend by providing opponents of solar development with a new argument to justify their position. They may argue that with SMRs on the horizon, there is no need to invest in solar projects that could, allegedly, have negative impacts on local communities. This line of reasoning, however, ignores the fact that SMRs are still years away  perhaps as much as 20 years away  from widespread deployment and face significant permitting challenges. Further, when sites are identified, they will almost certainly face local NIMBY opposition themselves. Its also worth noting that one SMRs electrical production is approximately that of two orange solar farms  hardly the sort of production that moots solar.

Virginia legislators recently authorized Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to move forward with initial development efforts for two nuclear reactors but, as Virginia Mercury columnist Ivy Main colorfully noted, This is not a fix. It is like scheduling knee surgery for next year when you are having a heart attack today.

Therefore, curbing todays development of reliable, cost-effective renewable energy, and overemphasizing the present significance of SMRs in meeting Virginias energy needs, could leave Virginia in a very precarious position.

The case for a balanced, holistic energy approach

To meet the growing energy demands of Virginias data center industry while ensuring a sustainable and resilient energy future, it is essential that we adopt a balanced, holistic approach that embraces a diverse mix of energy sources. This approach should include a combination of SMRs, solar energy, and other renewable sources such as wind and hydropower  as well as energy derived from fossil fuels. Fossil fuels still play a significant role in Virginias energy mix and will likely continue to do so, although gradually declining in importance, for the foreseeable future. Its unrealistic to suggest otherwise.

SMRs, although promising, face significant challenges that could delay their widespread deployment beyond even the 20-year timeframe. For one thing, such projects face significant licensing challenges at the state and federal level, including by the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Commission, whose processes include an extensive review of safety, environmental, waste management and other issues associated with nuclear projects.

Nuclear energy is also expensive, especially when compared to solar. According to a 2023 analysis by Lazard, a financial advisory and asset management firm, the cost of generating electricity from new nuclear plants in the United States is significantly higher than the cost of solar energy, even when accounting for energy storage. Lazard estimates that the unsubsidized levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) from new nuclear plants will range between $141 and $221 per megawatt-hour (MWh).

In contrast, Lazard projects that the unsubsidized LCOE for newly constructed utility-scale solar facilities will range between $24 and $96 per MWh. This means that, on average, solar energy with storage is likely to be less than half the cost of electricity generated from new nuclear plants. (It is fair to acknowledge that these costs are current estimates and that nuclear power could get more cost-effective over time, by improved technology, for example.)

These cost differences have significant implications for Virginias energy future. By prioritizing solar energy development now, the state can not only reduce its carbon footprint but also ensure that electricity remains affordable for consumers and businesses. Moreover, the lower costs of solar energy can help to attract new industries and businesses to the state, driving economic growth and job creation.

Ultimately, the key to Virginias energy future lies not in a false choice between SMRs and solar, but in a comprehensive approach that recognizes the strengths and limitations of each energy source, plus traditional sources of energy, while working to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and reducing our carbon footprint over time. Instead of either/or when it comes to energy, lets focus on all of the above.

The post Balancing Virginias energy future: A holistic approach to powering data centers appeared first on Virginia Mercury.
Bank of America is closing this Sacramento branch due to rapid adoption of online banking

A Bank of America branch in Sacramentos Land Park neighborhood will close later this year as more customers turn to online banking.

The Bank of America financial center at 1515 Broadway will officially close its doors on Sept. 10, according to the banks website.

The decision to close this financial center is driven by the rapid adoption of digital self-service banking, said Colleen Haggerty, Bank of Americas senior vice president of global marketing and corporate affairs.

Haggerty said that the bank regularly assesses its retail branches to consolidate locations that have multiple branches nearby and have low in-store transactions.

Our 1515 Broadway financial center has significantly less foot traffic and has three other Bank of America financial centers within two miles, Haggerty said.

Does Bank of America closure mean for customers?

Customers who frequent Bank of Americas Broadway location or opened an account there were notified of the closing, according to a screenshot of the notice posted on Reddit.

In the notice, Bank of America said those customers bank accounts will remain the same and that specialists are available to provide guidance if needed.

The bank advised customers of the branch to call 877-218-8262 and make an appointment to close safe deposit boxes.

Haggerty said there are a total of 44 Bank of America financial centers in the Sacramento area.

We have also been renovating and modernizing all our centers to better reflect how clients use these centers now, Haggerty said.

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.
WORCESTER  There is disagreement over the levers of power in Worcester when it comes to the citys cable contract with Spectrum.

To highlight the division, John Keough, chairman of the citys Cable Television Advisory Committee, said he filed an order Monday with the city clerk. The filing asked the City Council to take a position on the advisory committees unanimous recommendation in March that the city not renew its 10-year contract with Spectrum.

The recommendation is based on the committees belief that Spectrum falls woefully short of delivering the services promised in the contract.

The order would apply to next weeks City Council meeting. Keough conceded the council doesn't have the authority to decide the citys cable deal, but the advisory committee wants the councils position on the record.

It comes as City Manager Eric D. Batista stated in his May 1 blog, The Buzz with City Manager Eric Batista, that despite the advisory committees recommendation, the city is currently in a renewal process with Spectrum relative to its license agreement to provide cable television services in Worcester.

"I appreciate the work of the advisory committee and their recommendations when it comes to the license agreement. However in addition to their recommendations, I must consider the options the city has, as well as federal and state regulations when it comes to cable providers," Batista wrote.

The city declined a request for an interview with Batista on current talks with Spectrum. A city spokesman said Batista cant speak on specifics of the ongoing negotiations and referred all questions about the license agreement to the blog.

Advisory committee put in the work

Keough is outraged because the advisory committee's recommendation comes after years of public hearings and surveys that showed widespread customer dissatisfaction with Spectrum. Advisory committee members are volunteers, appointed by the city manager.

Universally, not a single resident at the public hearings or in the surveys said Spectrum treated them well, said Keough. Spectrum are poor partners and never treated the city well.

The committee also spent city funds to hire a consultant, The Buske Group, to investigate whether Spectrum adhered to the contract's terms. Lawyer Gerard Lederer, a specialist in telecommunications and cable law, was also hired by the advisory committee, at taxpayer expense, to review the contract.

Keough said it was all done to give Batista the tools to make the best decision for the citys cable subscribers.

Could payment shift to streaming companies?

Meanwhile, a pending bill made it out of a state legislative committee Monday that could change the landscape. It would shift the burden of paying for public, education and government access channels from cable TV subscribers to streaming companies that do business in Massachusetts.

Currently in Worcester, 5% of Spectrum's gross revenue it gets from city cable subscribers is returned to Worcester to fund its cable office and PEG channels.

The Legislature's Joint Committee on Advance Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity recommended that lawmakers in the House and Senate consider supporting the bill. It now goes to Ways and Means in both branches for further study before it can come to a floor vote.

State Sen. Michael O. Moore, D-Millbury, the Senate co-chairman of the joint committee, said the bill originally proposed streaming companies doing business in Massachusetts return 5% of gross revenues to pay for PEG channels in cities and towns statewide.

However, the joint committee determined 5% could generate significantly more cash than needed. The bill wasn't intended to add revenue to the state's general fund, according to Moore.

So the joint committee formed a five-member commission to study what the appropriate percentage should be. The commission is expected to meet annually and whatever percentage it ultimately decided on, the number could be increased or cut annually, depending on market conditions.

Those with seats on the commission include the commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable or a designee, commissioner of the state Department of Revenue, the state commissioner of rural affairs, the president of Massachusetts Community Media Inc. and the president of New England Connectivity and Telecommunications Association.

'None are correct'

Keough strongly disagreed with points raised in Batista's blog for negotiating a new contract with Spectrum.

None of (Batistas) points are correct. All are completely false, said Keough.

The blog stated that Spectrum doesnt have exclusive rights in Worcester and another company could come in to provide cable services. However, that company would need to purchase Spectrums existing cable network or build its own.

An unlikely scenario for a companys bottom line, according to the blog, because the industry is moving away from cable to streaming services.

Keough challenged this line of thinking. He said state law makes it illegal for another company to build a new system of utility poles and wires. Besides, Keough said, the poles are routinely shared with other telecommunications companies, making the construction of new poles unnecessary. In addition, the existing poles are owned by the city and cant be transferred to other companies without the citys permission, according to Keough.

City Manager Eric Batista

Batistas blog also claimed that denying Spectrums license would result in protracted legal proceedings. Even if the city won in court, the blog said, residents would be left with no cable provider. Plus, there would be no funding for cable services and PEG channels that help keep residents informed about local issues.

Keough disputed that premise, noting that denying license renewal forces a company to come to the negotiating table. He cited the recent example in Springfield. That city, the third-largest in Massachusetts, agreed to a new 10-year license agreement with cable provider Comcast in February 2022. It happened two months after Mayor Domenic Sarno sent Comcast a nonrenewal letter.

Batista noted in his blog that the city can negotiate funding for PEG access channels and cable services. However, it can't negotiate what Spectrum charges customers and programming, as the federal government deregulated those aspects.

Four swings, four misses

Four areas legally set by the Federal Communications Commission determine if a city or town can start the formal process for nonrenewal of an existing cable license, according to Keough. Spectrum failed all four, he said.

One is meeting a communitys needs, and Keough said Spectrum violated it by unilaterally moving PEG channels to a new spot on the dial without informing customers beforehand.

Another factor is financial. Many of Spectrums payments to Worcester have been late, said Keough.

Third, some infrastructure improvements mandated in the contract havent been made, according to Keough. They include failure to make upgrades in PEG channel connections at City Hall, Worcester Technical High School and WCCA TV.

Finally, customer service requirements in the contract have completely failed, said Keough. Customers are supposed to get their bills 15 days before the due date, but it often doesn't happen. The advisory committees has copies of bills from customers, Keough said, that show arrival on the 30th of the month, one day before payment is due.

In addition, calls to customer service representatives are supposed to be answered by a human within 30 seconds.

Thats never happened in the 11 years of the contract, said Keough.

No advance notice

What burns Keough, he said, is that Batista went public with his blog without first telling the advisory committee that he planned to negotiate a new deal with Spectrum.

Its typical of city administration, said Keough. They asked volunteers for services and we work hard. This has been a consistent thing since (former City Manager) Mike OBrien. Volunteers on committees are consistently disrespected.

Keough also noted that Worcester has never demanded an audit of Spectrums contract with the city, even though the franchise agreement allows it, at Spectrums expense. He also questions whether city administration has the expertise to negotiate complicated cable deals.

Cable business is challenged

Besides, the writing is on the wall, said Keough, that the cable business model is dying. Streaming is quickly taking its market share and Keough provided numbers to prove his point. In October 2023, when Spectrums 10-year contract was extended for one year, the company had an estimated 23,000 subscribers, compared to 48,000 in 2013.

Meanwhile, Spectrums payments to Worcester fell from $2.07 million in 2013 to $1.97 million in 2023. The drop would have been higher if not for Spectrum hiking subscriber fees. Keough noted the company is legally allowed to increase fees once a year, but did it three times in 2023.

This is likely the last cable contract the city will negotiate, said Keough, because subscribers are migrating in droves to streaming services. Given that picture, Keough wonders why Batista isn't exploring legal options the city is entitled to in order to get a better deal with Spectrum.

"(Batista) will not fight for the people of Worcester," said Keough. "He would rather give Spectrum what they want rather than help his constituents and citizens. It makes no sense."

Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on X: @henrytelegram.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Spectrum in Worcester: Batista and advisory panel at odds on renewal
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The relations between Azerbaijan and Slovakia continue to develop, Executive Director of the Export and Investment Promotion Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (AZPROMO) Yusif Abdullayev told reporters at the business forum between the countries held in Baku, Trend reports.

Regrettably, our trade metrics aren't particularly robust. Presently, seven Slovak companies are active in Azerbaijan. Following the forum we've organized, we anticipate further advancement in our trade relations. A total of over 90 companies' representatives are participating in this forum. This business event was arranged during the visit of the Slovak Prime Minister to Azerbaijan. We envision collaboration flourishing across industries, agriculture, and IT.

Bilateral exports are currently limited, necessitating expansion. We aim to bolster not only product exports but also services, he added.

To note, Baku hosts the Azerbaijan-Slovakia business forum. The forum is attended by 37 companies from Slovakia and 55 companies, state agencies, and organizations from Azerbaijan.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
(Photo credit: North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission)

A bear cub being cared for by Appalachian Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina after it was yanked from a tree for selfies is said to be doing very well.

The disturbing scene unfolded last month in Asheville when a group of people was caught on video messing with very young black bear cubs in an attempt to get photos.

Rachel Staudt, who recorded the video of the incident outside an apartment complex, said the group started taking pictures of the cubs after pulling one out of the tree. "It was a horrible thing to do to an innocent baby animal," Staudt told Storyful.

The group can be seen repeatedly attempting to yank the cubs from the tree, then holding one of the bears and taking a selfie before dropping the cubs, who ran away.

NCWRC's BearWise Coordinator Ashley Hobbs, responded to the scene and was able to capture one cub, noting that it was in poor condition. "The cub appeared to be lethargic and frightened. It looked to be favoring one of its front paws and was wet and shivering," she said in an NCWRC statement.

The commission searched the area for the second cub but couldn't find it. "Our hope is it was able to reunite with the mother because it would not survive on its own at this young age," said Mountain Operations Supervisor James Tomberlin.



In a new statement, Appalachian Wildlife Refuge said the rescued cub, believed to be three or four months old, is doing well after she was introduced to another orphaned cub. Both cubs are thriving, Executive Director Savannah Trantham said. "They are eating well and interacting with enrichment, doing all the things we hope to see with young cubs."

Officers with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission investigated this incident and said no charges will be filed and the case has since been closed.

"While dangerous and unfortunate, it appears to be an isolated event," said commission spokesperson Failey Mahlum, according to Citizen Times. "It is unlawful in NC to capture and keep black bears. However, the bear cubs were immediately released, and officers have determined there will be no charges filed."

Appalachian Wildlife Refuge hopes to release the cubs as wild bears in the autumn.

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New Bedford man held without bail on murder charge in connection to West End shooting

NEW BEDFORD  A 38-year-old New Bedford man was held without bail following arraignment on a murder charge Tuesday in New Bedford District Court.

Defendant Christopher Smith addressed the court during the arraignment, saying, "I'm not guilty, your honor."

Smith had initially been charged with armed assault to murder but the charge was changed to murder when the victim, 60-year-old Ronald Sinclair of New Bedford, died as a result of his injuries Friday, May 3.

Christopher Smith, right, was arraigned on a murder charge Tuesday, May 7, in New Bedford District Court. At left is his attorney, James Hanley.

According to the Bristol County District Attorney's Office, Sinclair was shot during an incident on Austin Street, near the crossing of County Street, on Monday, April 29, in New Bedford. Officers had responded to the site around 2:30 p.m. for reports of a male gunshot victim.

Sinclair "was rushed to the hospital for treatment," according to a press release, but died days later on May 3.

"The alleged shooter, Christopher Smith, 38, of New Bedford, was initially arrested shortly after the shooting in the backyard of a home on Chestnut Street," the release reads.

Smith is due back in court June 17 for a probable cause hearing.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Alleged New Bedford shooter held without bail on murder charge
Whats being built there? Amazon, new hotel, private school and daycare center

Welcome to Whats being built there?

This regular feature gives brief explanations about local construction projects that prompt questions from Tri-City Herald readers.

Have a question? Let us know: news@tricityherald.com.

Kennewick

Resort at Hansen Park Community Center

7942 W. 10th Ave.

A three-story community center will serve renters at The Resort at Hansen Park, a mixed rental community by TMG Northwest near Columbia Center Boulevard and West 10th Ave. in Kennewick. Wendy Culverwell/Tri-City Herald

TMG Northwest, the Vancouver-based developer behind The Resort at Hansen Park, is constructing a three-story community center to serve tenants of its rental properties near Columbia Center Boulevard and West 10th Ave.

The 24,114-square-foot building has a construction value of $6.9 million.

Developers Dennis Pavlina and Carmen Villarma are developing the 18-acre mixed-use complex to include triplexes, two apartment complexes and a commercial development in the first phase.

Gas station and convenience store

8920 W. Clearwater Ave.

A gas station and convenience store is under construction at 8920 W. Clearwater at Steptoe Street. Wendy Culverwell/wculverwell@tricityherald.com

Site work has started for a new gas station and convenience store at the intersection of North Steptoe Street and West Clearwater, near a Kadlec clinic.

The project includes a gas station with four fuel pumps and eight vehicle positions, a 40,000-gallon underground tank and a 4,000-square-foot convenience sore with drive-thru window for food service.

The project is valued at $540,000, according to a building permit issued April 19.

Richland

Queensgate Transit Center

Queensgate Drive and Columbia Park Trail

Ben Franklin Transit is building a new transit center off Queensgate Drive and Columbia Park Trail in south Richland to extend service. Wendy Culverwell/Tri-City Herald

Ben Franklin Transit is building a new transit center in south Richland to extend service.

The newest transit center is off Queensgate Drive and Columbia Park Trail, on Windmill Road at the existing Tulip Lane Park & Ride.

Construction started in May 2023, with the cost covered by a Washington State Department of Transportation grant.

The transit hub aims to create a western hub and to improve service to West Richland, Prosser, and Benton City. It will feature a bus lane, restrooms, real-time reader boards and connections to bike paths and nearby Interstate 182.

Flex Space Business Center

4401 Leslie Road

Grading work has started at 4401 Leslie Road, Richland, for Flex Space Business Center, a commercial park near West Clearwater Avenue and Leslie in Richland. Wendy Culverwell/Tri-City Herald

Grading work has started on a 15-acre site near Leslie Road and West Clearwater Avenue for an office/warehouse park that will be built in three phases. The project is referred to as Leslie Road Richland Flex Space in planning documents.

The first phase entails grading the site and building the first pre-engineered metal structure, which will be about 58,000 square feet. The second phase will add a comparable size building and the third will add a third, 78,400-square-foot building.

Matson Development is the developer.

Pasco

Amazon Distribution Center

5700 N. Capitol Ave.

Amazon and its partner, Ambrose Property Group, are constructing an 86,000-square-foot delivery station at 5700 N. Capitol Ave., next to Resers Fine Foods. Wendy Culverwell/Tri-City Herald

Seattle-based Amazon and its development partner, Ambrose Property Group, have begun site work for a $25 million distribution facility next to the new Resers Fine Foods north of the King City truck stop.

Amazon.Com Services LLC paid $3.75 million for 25 acres in the Port of Pascos Pasco Industrial Center 395 (PIC395) and is using it to establish a last-mile facility to serve local customers. The building will have about 86,000 square feet. The construction value is $11.8 million.

Separately, Amazon is retrofitting one of its fulfillment centers near Sacajawea State Park into an Inbound Cross Dock, which will operate in tandem with the distribution center.

Together, the two facilities will employ 1,650 people.

West Richland

ABC Dino Academy

2885 Bombing Range Road

Grading work has started at 2885 for Dino Academy, a preschool/daycare,drop-in center, elementary school and future middle and vocational school at 2885 Bombing Range Road. Wendy Culverwell/Tri-City Herald

Site work has started for a new school near Kids World Child Care and the Islamic Center of Tri-Cities on Bombing Range Road.

Dino Academy will consist of a preschool/daycare, a drop-in center, an elementary school and a future middle school and vocational school.

The project is being developed by Syed Amir and will include three buildings to start, with two more contemplated in the future.

Building A will be 5,000 square feet and will house the preschool and daycare. Building B will be 3,600 square feet and will be a drop-in center. Building C will be 5,000 square feet and will serve elementary-aged children. Construction should be complete by spring.

After that, Amir intends to seek permits to build Buildings D and E, about 5,000 square feet each, to serve as a middle school and a vocational school.

Amir said the school aims to respond to mental health and other crises facing youth.

The school will emphasize character, morality, manners, truth, integrity and forgiveness, he told the Tri-City Herald.

Prosser

Sleep Inn Hotel

250 Merlot Drive

Choice Hotels has submitted plans for a 67-room Sleep Inn for review under state environmental regulations.

The 45,000-square-foot hotel will be three stores and will be on a 2.5-acre site on the south side of Merlot Drive, east of Chardonnay Ave.

Joe Kumar of Kennewick is the applicant for the hotel project. Construction could begin as early as June.

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UPDATE: Ysleta ISD said the threat to Bel Air High School proved not to be credible after a thorough investigation.

Here is the statement the district released in an update on Tuesday, May 7:

Earlier today, the administration of Bel Air High School was made aware of a possible threat toward the school. Upon receiving this information, both law enforcement and Ysleta ISD Security were promptly notified and conducted a thorough investigation. Following their assessment, it was concluded that the threat was not deemed credible. Our children are safe when they are on our campus, and we take every precaution to ensure the security of every student and staff member. Classes are proceeding according to a modified schedule. Thank you.

ORIGINAL: EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Bel Air High School was placed on lockdown Tuesday morning, May 7 for a possible threat made to the school, according to a spokesperson with the Ysleta Independent School District (YISD).

The spokesperson says El Paso Police and district officials are at the scene.

The spokesperson also says students are currently safe in their classrooms.

As a precautionary measure, Bel Air High School was placed on lockdown at about 10 oclock this morning after administration was notified of a possible threat made toward the school. The El Paso Police Department was immediately notified and are on site to investigate the situation. All students are safe in their classrooms and under direct adult supervision, the spokesperson said.

No further information has been released.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
The Belarusian Armed Forces launched a sudden inspection of military units capable of using tactical nuclear arms and other forces, the country's Defense Ministry said on May 7.

The announcement came a day after Russia, Belarus's key ally, said its forces would practice the usage of tactical nuclear weapons.

The snap inspections took place on the orders of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko on May 7.

"A unit of Iskander operational-tactical system and a squadron of Su-25 aircraft are being prepared to carry out their intended tasks," Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said.

"An entire range of activities from planning, preparation, and use of tactical nuclear weapons will be tested," he added.

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At least two Su-25 attack planes were relocated from their home airfield, Lida, to the Machulishchy airbase near Minsk, said the independent Belarusian monitoring group Belarusian Hajun.

Missile systems Iskander-M and Polonez-M are also to be transferred into positions for the drills, the group said.

Belarus does not possess its own nuclear weaponry, but Russia signed an agreement with Minsk last year to place its tactical nuclear arms on Belarusian territory.

Belarusian authorities claimed in December 2023 that the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons had been completed.

Belarus is Moscow's close ally and has provided extensive support to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, namely allowing Russian troops to launch their unsuccessful offensive toward Kyiv from its territory in 2022. Despite this, the Belarusian military has not directly participated in Russia's war.

Read also: Belarus Weekly: Belarusian hackers claim to have infiltrated KGB computer network

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (KLFY)  The St. Martin Parish Sheriffs Office is mourning the death of a beloved deputy over the weekend.

Joseph Filer Wiltz died Saturday, according to a post on the St. Martin Parish Sheriffs Office Facebook page.

It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the passing of Mr. Joseph Filer Wiltz, The post reads. He passed away on Saturday, May 4, 2024 and was a beloved employee of the St. Martin Parish Sheriffs Office and will be greatly missed.

Wiltz was assigned to the main office in St. Martinville as Front Lobby Deputy. Over the past several years, he worked intermittently at the St. Martin Parish Sheriffs Office, and since 2021, he has been employed as a full-time deputy, officials said.

He greeted everyone with a smile and was known for his amazing meteorological skills, the post reads. He always knew the current weather and the upcoming forecast.

He was very sweet and thoughtful and was a much loved member of our community. He always took the time to ask about our families and made sure we were doing ok.

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Visitation is scheduled for Saturday, May 11, at Syrie Funeral Home in Lafayette from 8-10 a.m. followed by a mass at 10:30 a.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Breaux Bridge.

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The German authorities have banned Russian flags, military uniforms, placards featuring the letters V or Z, and other symbols and signs that could be seen as glorifying Russia's war against Ukraine during events in Berlin on 9 May [Victory Day, a Russian holiday that commemorates the Soviet victory in WWII  ed.].

Source: European Pravda with reference to Zeit

Details: On Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 May, Berlin will host a number of events to mark the end of World War II in Europe, including several wreath-laying ceremonies at Soviet memorials in Treptower Park and the Tiergarten, as well as rallies at the Brandenburg Gate and in the government quarter.

This year, police have once again banned Russian flags, military uniforms, placards featuring the letters V or Z, and other symbols and signs that could be seen as glorifying Russia's war against Ukraine near Soviet memorials. Russian military marches and songs are also banned.

Wednesday begins with a large demonstration in Treptower Park entitled The 79th Anniversary of Liberation from Fascism  Thank You to the Liberators, in which 200 people will take part. Throughout the day, left-wing and communist groups, as well as representatives of district authorities, will lay wreaths at memorials in various locations in Berlin.

Supporters of Ukraine have announced that there will be a demonstration in the government quarter: "Peace for Europe! Russian soldiers out of Ukraine".

On Thursday there will be more demonstrations in the government quarter and Treptower Park, where a left-wing rally with 300 participants has been registered to start at 09:00.

A 1,000-strong rally is set to take place at 11:30 on Strasse des 17 Juni (17 June Street), which runs through the Tiergarten, to commemorate the Soviet soldiers who died during World War II. At noon, a left-wing demonstration will march from Friedrichshain to Treptower Park. A similar event is planned around the Brandenburg Gate from 17:00.

In addition, the Night Wolves, a group of pro-Putin bikers, are expected to arrive in Berlin on Thursday.

Previously:

Lithuanias Department of State Security has not ruled out the possibility of Russian provocations in the country on 9 May.

Latvian law enforcement and security agencies have promised to prepare for 9 May very seriously this year.

And in Moldova, the authorities have warned that people who wear a St George's ribbon or the Z or V signs  symbols of Russian aggression  on 9 May will be fined.

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BERWICK, La. (KLFY)  A Berwick man was arrested Monday after a standoff resulted in a shot allegedly fired at police officers, authorities said.

Aydan Rhodes, 18, of Berwick was arrested at 9:52 a.m. Monday and charged with 3 counts of attempted first degree murder, illegal use of weapons and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to Berwick Police.

Authorities said officers received a call at approximately 9:45 a.m. of a suicidal subject at a residence in the 500 block of Ehrlich Street. Officers entered the residence to make contact with the subject, Rhodes, who was observed with a shotgun pointed at officers. Officers took cover and began to negotiate with Rhodes to drop the weapon. During negotiations, Rhodes threatened to kill officers and asked officers to kill him, authorities said.

Police said a single shot was fired in the direction of officers. Additional assistance from outside agencies were requested.

Officials said a family member inside the residence entered the room and wrestled the gun away from Rhodes. After being disarmed, officers said the suspect then became armed with a large knife. Officers ordered Rhodes to drop the knife, at which time he complied. Rhodes was taken into custody without further incident.

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Berwick Police Chief David Leonard said he commends the officers for showing great restraint and not using warranted deadly force. The department was assisted by the Morgan City Police Department and the St. Mary Parish Sheriffs Office, Leonard said.

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Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has stated that he has advised EU countries not to send their representatives to the "inauguration" of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Source: European Pravda, citing Borrell during the meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday, 7 May

Details: Borrell mentioned that after numerous discussions with the member states, he sent them all a message outlining his understanding that "the right thing to do is not to attend this inauguration". "My advice was not to do it and I think that most of the Member States will not attend," he said.

Borrell recalled that the International Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant for Putin, and that the elections in Russia were neither fair nor just. He said that it would be difficult for Ukrainians and many others around the world to understand why European representatives would be present at the "inauguration" in Moscow under these circumstances.

"It would be a clear contradiction. My advice to the Member States was not to attend, and I hope that many of them, most of them, will follow this indication. But each Member State is fully sovereign to decide to go or not to go," added Borrell.

Background:

Radio Liberty reported that diplomats from France, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Hungary and Slovakia will attend Putin's "inauguration".

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that it does not see any grounds for recognising Vladimir Putin, the head of the Kremlin, as the democratically elected and legitimate president of Russia.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. CEO of Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) Robert Simoncic has announced areas of cooperation in which Slovakia can share experience with Azerbaijan following a business forum in Baku, Trend reports.

Slovakia is developing energy, ICT, electronics manufacturing, automotive, space, and satellite technologies and is eager to share its knowledge. The CEO emphasized that today in Baku, they signed key agreements that established the framework for future partnerships.

He noted that Slovakia exported goods worth eight million euros to Azerbaijan in 2023 and imported goods worth one million euros.

Nevertheless, with the signing of the intergovernmental Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation in April 2024 (set to take effect from January 2025) and the recent agreements reached on May 7 in Baku, the trade volume between our nations is poised to rise, Simoncic added.

To note, Baku is hosting the Azerbaijan-Slovakia business forum. 37 companies from Slovakia and 55 companies, state agencies, and organizations from Azerbaijan are present at the forum.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Beverly LaHaye: within a decade of its founding, CWA boasted more than 500,000 members, with chapters in every state

Beverly LaHaye, who has died aged 94, was the wife of Tim LaHaye, the evangelist and bestselling author, and founder of Concerned Women for America, a conservative group that campaigns against feminism, abortion and gay rights, and for integrating traditional Christian family values into federal law.

Her husband was credited, through his ministry and his Left Behind series of novels, with popularising a belief in an imminent apocalypse in which true believers would be physically raptured up to heaven, leaving the unbelievers to endure seven years of catastrophes presided over by the Antichrist.

His fathers death when he was nine was the catalyst for Tim LaHayes beliefs. His wife, by contrast, experienced a more political epiphany in 1978 while watching a television interview with Betty Friedan, whose book The Feminine Mystique (1963) had helped to launch the womens liberation movement.

As she told the story, she was so outraged by Betty Friedans claim that women in America supported abortion rights that she rented a hall in San Diego under the name Concerned Women for America (CWA) and put an ad in a newspaper inviting women to a meeting, to which 1,200 women showed up.

Beverly LaHayes message was, essentially, that if the sort of egalitarianism that Betty Friedan espoused came to be, American society would collapse. Feminism was a philosophy of death that was threatening the survival of our nation, and decent women needed to rise up against lesbianism, Marxism and extreme social change.

Donald Trump speaking at the 2023 Concerned Women for America summit - MANDEL NGAN

Over the next 40 years Beverly LaHaye and her CWA team proved remarkably skilled at convincing other women that a conservative platform was in their best interests. Within a decade CWA boasted more than 500,000 members, with chapters in every state and what Beverly LaHaye called an army of kitchen-table lobbyists, campaigning for the criminalisation of abortion, the teaching of creationism and other evangelical causes.

The CWAs first victory, with other conservative groups, was to block the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the American constitution, which would have banned discrimination on grounds of sex. The amendment had passed both houses of Congress, but under pressure from opponents it failed to meet a 1982 ratification deadline.

Beverly LaHaye became close to President Ronald Reagan, who delivered the keynote address at the CWAs 1987 national convention, and to the Bushes senior and junior. She frequently testified before Congress, including confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justices at which she championed Right-wing nominees including Antonin Scalia, Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.

Yet, oddly, some critics detected an unexpected feminist message behind her exhortation that women should put God first.

Tim and Beverly LaHaye - CWFA

She was born Beverly Jean Davenport in Detroit on April 30 1929. Her father, a factory worker, died shortly before her second birthday and her mother later married a Ford worker whose surname, Ratcliffe, she adopted. When he lost his job in 1939 the family fell on hard times, and Beverly often had to miss school to care for her mother, who was bedridden with a heart condition.

She attended Bob Jones College, a private evangelical institution in South Carolina, where she met her fellow student Tim LaHaye and dropped out to marry him in 1947. They had four children, but as she admitted in a book, The Spirit-Controlled Woman (1976), as a housewife and mother she experienced smoldering resentment... from the endless little tasks that had to be repeated over and over again and seemed so futile.

But she eventually came to realise that submission was Gods design for women: I wasnt just picking up dirty socks for my husband: I was serving the Lord Jesus.

She went on to take a job as a teletype operator at Merrill Lynch, which she found kind of exciting. God, she once said, didnt make me to be a nobody.

Settled in San Diego, she worked with her husband to spread his brand of fundamentalist Christianity, giving talks to church groups and leading seminars on family life. In 1970 the LaHayes co-founded San Diego Christian College. In 1976 they published a Christian sex manual, The Act of Marriage, which claimed that religious wives have sex more often and enjoy it more than non-believers.

Beverly LaHaye stepped down as president of CWA in 2006 but remained a fixture in conservative circles.

Her husband died in 2016 and a son the following year. She is survived by another son and by two daughters.

Beverly LaHaye, born April 30 1929, died April 14 2024

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President Biden will speak at the Holocaust Memorial Museums Days of Remembrance event on Tuesday on Capitol Hill, where he is expected to draw on the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and address the rise in antisemitic incidents.

You can expect the President to make clear that during these sacred days of remembrance, we honor the memory of the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust and recommit to heeding the lessons of this dark chapter. Never again, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said during a briefing with reporters on Monday.

The event will also feature remarks from Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

The address comes as American college campuses are embroiled in protests over Israels war on Gaza, which has left at least 35,000 Palestinians dead. The speech comes at a time when Biden has come under growing criticism for his administrations support for Israel as the death toll mounts.

Read More: Gaza Calls, Columbia Falls: Campus Protesters Defy Suspension Threats and Occupy Hall

On Apr. 17, Columbia University students set up about 50 tents referred to as the Gaza solidarity encampment demanding a ceasefire and divestment from companies with ties to Israel or weapons manufacturers. After negotiations with the university failed, NYPD in riot gear cleared the encampment on Apr. 30 and arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian students.

Protests have since spread across the country, and led to the cancellation of multiple graduation ceremonies.

In some cases, the protests have been marred by antisemitic incidents, and Jewish students have reported feeling unsafe. It is completely OK to protest the war in Gaza or be horrified by various actions of the Israeli government, Jacob Schmeltz, a student at Columbia University, told the Associated Press. But Jewish students at Columbia right now do not feel physically or emotionally safe to be on campus.

Student protests have spread to Europe. On Tuesday, Dutch police arrested around 125 pro-Palestinian activists at the University of Amsterdam. Police broke up a similar protest at Berlins Free University on the same day.

Protests or encampments have also been held in Australia, Canada, the Middle East, and South America.

Contact us at letters@time.com.
Xavier Becerra, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. (Photo by Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  The Biden administration will publish a final rule Friday that will allow about 100,000 uninsured people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to enroll in state-run or private health insurance plans provided under the Affordable Care Act, administration officials said.

The new rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could provide an opportunity for those uninsured DACA recipients to enroll in health coverage through a Health Insurance Marketplace plan or a state-run Basic Health Program, also called BHP, in the few states where those plans are available.

By providing new opportunities for quality, affordable  health care, this rule will give DACA recipients the peace of mind and opportunity that every American deserves, White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden said on a Thursday call with reporters previewing the final rule.

Only two states, Minnesota and New York, operate Basic Health Programs. Oregon is set to become the third this year. The program, created in the Affordable Care Act, allows states to provide affordable health care coverage to low-income people who make too much to qualify for Medicaid. The programs are almost entirely federally funded.

In a statement, President Joe Biden said DACA recipients, often called Dreamers, deserve access to health coverage.

Dreamers are our loved ones, our nurses, teachers, and small business owners, Biden said. And they deserve the promise of health care just like all of us.

There are about 600,000 DACA recipients who were brought into the country without authorization when they were children. The Obama-era program protects them from removal.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said about one-third of DACA recipients are uninsured.

DACA recipients are currently three times more likely to be uninsured than the general U.S. population and individuals without health insurance  are less likely to receive preventative or routine health screenings, Becerra said on the Thursday call.

November start date

The rule will go into effect Nov. 1, in order to align with the individual market Open Enrollment Period in most states and allow time for required operational updates, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House. The move could affect as many as 100,000 DACA recipients, the White House said.

DACA recipients are no longer excluded from receiving coverage from a quality health plan, Becerra said.

DACA recipients who qualify to enroll in a Marketplace plan could also qualify for advance payments of the premium tax credit (APTC) and cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) to reduce the cost of their Marketplace coverage, depending on their income, according to the fact sheet.

The rule will update the definition of qualified noncitizen to receive Medicaid and Childrens Health Insurance Program benefits to clarify the categories of noncitizens who qualify for coverage. The rule will not otherwise change eligibility for those programs for noncitizens.

A senior administration official also noted that most DACA recipients have health care coverage through their employment, but that this rule will catch any recipients who are uninsured. The administration official spoke to reporters on the condition they not be named.

DACA recipients are currently awaiting a court case that is likely to head to the Supreme Court to determine the legality of the program after the Trump administration tried to end it. If the Supreme Court deems the program unlawful, its unclear what happens to those in the program.

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By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday that the threat of antisemitism is growing in the United States, including on college campuses, as his support for Israel's assault on Gaza divides Democrats and alienates some young voters.

In a speech honoring the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, Biden joined a heated American debate about Jewish security, Zionism, free speech and support for Israel, in the country with the largest Jewish population after Israel.

Addressing a bipartisan audience at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual commemoration, he warned of the risk that the truth about the systematic killing of Jews during World War Two would be lost.

"'Never again' simply translated for me means: Never forget. Never forgetting means we must keep telling the story, we must keep teaching the truth," Biden said at the U.S. Capitol's Emancipation Hall. "The truth is we're at risk of people not knowing the truth."

Biden spoke seven months to the day after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 by Israeli tallies, in what he has called the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

"This hatred (of Jews) continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness," Biden said.

"Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting ... that Hamas unleashed this terror," he said. "I have not forgotten, nor have you. And we will not forget."

Biden's speech comes as Israel's retaliation has killed nearly 35,000 people in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, according to Gaza health authorities, left many of the area's 2.3 million people on the brink of starvation and sparked protests in the U.S. demanding that universities and Biden withdraw support for Israel.

Biden acknowledged Americans' right to protest and demonstrate, but didn't mention the Gaza deaths.

"We know scapegoating and demonizing any minority is a threat to every minority," Biden said. "There is no place on any campus in America for antisemitism, hate speech or threats of violence of any kind."

On Tuesday, Israeli forces seized the main border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza, shutting down a vital aid route for Palestinian civilians as they prepared a possible offensive aimed at eliminating Hamas fighters.

Many Jewish Americans have been critical of Israel's Gaza attacks, leading protests against actions of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and condemning Netanyahu in Congress.

Biden said his commitment to Israel was ironclad, even amid disagreements with the country's government. The U.S. government has been holding up several shipments of weapons to Israel, a source told Reuters on Tuesday.

ANTISEMITISM, HATE CRIMES JUMP

Law enforcement and advocacy groups report a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks in the U.S. since Oct. 7, as well as anti-Muslim attacks. Some Americans favor zero-tolerance policies defining antisemitism broadly, while others see the threat of attacks against Jews being used to limit legitimate criticism of U.S. support for Israel.

"Antisemitism is reaching crisis levels in our country," said Carol Ann Schwartz, national president of Hadassah, a women's Zionist organization that has been consulted by the White House.

Biden, who is in a tight race for the White House with Republican rival Donald Trump, pledged to unite the country.

He said he was inspired to run by then-President Trump's response to the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia, white nationalist rally, where marchers chanted, "Jews will not replace us." Biden now governs a country no less divided than when he took office in 2021, most statistics show.

The FBI reported a 36% increase in anti-Jewish hate crime incidents between 2021 and 2022, the latest year for which data is available, as well as a jump in crimes against Black Americans and gay men.

CAMPUS PROTEST POLITICS

Trump has sought to exploit Democratic divisions over Israel's response and widening college protests to improve Republicans' lot with Jewish voters, who traditionally vote Democratic.

Police crackdowns on some campuses have given ammunition to Trump's claim that U.S. cities are under siege from violent crime, illegal migration and out-of-control leftist policies. Trump's Republican Party has argued that the protests are driven by antisemitism.

"Jewish Americans are realizing that the Democrat Party has turned into a full-blown anti-Israel, antisemitic, pro-terrorist cabal," said Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson.

Biden has asked the Department of Education to provide colleges with examples of antisemitic discrimination that could lead to a federal civil rights investigation, and technology firms to determine the best ways to monitor antisemitism online.

About seven in 10 U.S. Jewish voters support Democrats, while three in 10 are Republican-aligned, according to the Pew Research Center.

Kenneth Stern, director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, who helped craft a modern "working definition of antisemitism," said the word is being misused to stifle protected speech about Israel.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would apply the definition Stern helped develop to enforce federal anti-discrimination laws on college campuses. Stern opposes the bill.

"I don't think that you can combat hatred of any type effectively with weak democratic institutions," said Stern. "When we have a government that decides it's going to stop certain things from being said, that creates an opportunity for totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and that's never good for the Jews."

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, James Oliphant, Jeff Mason and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Heather Timmons, Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)
President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned of the ferocious surge of antisemitism in the wake of pro-Palestinian protests that have swept college campuses nationwide over Israels war with Hamas, and vowed to continue to support Israel.

I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world, Biden said at a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol to remember victims of the Holocaust. But there is no place on any campus in America or any place in America for antisemitism or hate speech, or threats of violence of any kind.

As college commencement season begins, many of which have been canceled or disrupted by protests, Biden addressed the climate at American universities. On college campuses, Jewish students [have been] blocked, harassed, attacked, while walking to class, Biden said. Antisemitism, antisemitic posters, slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the worlds only Jewish state. Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7... It is absolutely despicable, and it must stop.

Bidens remarks come as he faces increasing pressure to stop sending arms to Israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza grows. More than 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza, with many of the areas 2.3 million people on the brink of starvation, following Hamas kidnapping of more than 200 hostages and killing of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023.

Read More: Biden Condemns Campus Unrest Over Israel-Hamas War: None of This Is a Peaceful Protest

Biden on Tuesday signaled that he would continue to support Israel even as his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has soured over his governments push to invade the southern Gaza city of Razah. My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people and Israel is ironclad, Biden said, even when we disagree."

While Biden has been a longtime supporter of Israel's right to defend itself, he continues to face intense scrutiny for the civilian casualties and humanitarian crisis resulting from the conflict. Protests at college campuses across the country have erupted over Israels response and his Administrations handling of the war, highlighting potential problems could face among young voters as he seeks re-election.

Biden said that his Administration is "working around the clock" to free remaining hostages in Gaza. Hamas on Monday said it has accepted a ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar which seeks to halt the seven-month war with Israel, though its unclear what the ceasefire deal entails and whether Israel will accept the terms.

During his speech, Biden also honored the memory of the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust and reaffirmed his commitment to never forgetting the lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history.

"Never again simply translated for me means: Never forget. Never forgetting means we must keep telling the story, we must keep teaching the truth," Biden said. "The truth is we're at risk of people not knowing the truth." Biden connected the Holocaust to the Oct. 7 attack, which was the deadliest day for Jews in Israel since: Here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months laterpeople are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror I have not forgotten.

Bidens speech took place one day after Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Write to Nik Popli at nik.popli@time.com.
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The News

US President Joe Biden condemned the ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world at a Tuesday ceremony to remember victims of the Holocaust.

Biden said Hamass Oct. 7 attack on Israel had reignited antisemitism around the world during his speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museums Annual Day of Remembrance Celebration.

Now, here we are, not 75 years later, but just 7 and a half months later, and people are already forgetting, theyre already forgetting that Hamas released this terror, Biden said. I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget.

Biden speech came as he grapples with how to handle a surge of pro-Palestinian demonstrations across US campuses that have led to thousands of arrests and canceled graduation ceremonies. Last week, the president delivered his first direct remarks on the unrest, criticizing protests as not peaceful and stating that they hadnt changed his mind about his Israel policy.

Republicans have characterized the protests as a breeding ground for antisemitism.

On Tuesday, Biden reiterated the right to free speech in the US, as he tried to thread the needle of supporting protesters right to demonstrate while denouncing antisemitism reports on campuses.

In America, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, he said. There is no place on any campus in America, any place in America, for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.

In conjunction with the speech, the Biden administration announced new measures to combat antisemitism on campuses, including sending every school district and college guidance outlining examples of antisemitism that are subject to civil rights investigations.

This guidance is meant to ensure that colleges and universities do a better job of protecting both Jewish students and all of their students, the administration said.

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President Biden on Tuesday called on Americans who are ignoring the events of the Holocaust and the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel to stop, issuing additional criticism of the protests on college campuses across the United States.

The president delivered the keynote address for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museums Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony and acknowledged that on college campuses, Jewish students are blocked, harassed, attacked while walking to class.

Antisemitism, antisemitic posters, slogans, calling for the annihilation of Israel, the worlds only Jewish state, he said in remarks at the U.S. Capitol. Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the holocaust and Oct. 7, including Hamass appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize Jews. Its absolutely despicable and it must stop.

The president reiterated his support for peaceful protests and demonstrations, but noted where they have crossed the line on college campuses.

I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world. In America, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate, disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard. I understand; thats America, Biden said. But there is no place on any campus in America, no place in America, for antisemitism, hate speech, or threats of violence of any kind.

And, he reiterated his ironclad commitment to the security of Israel and its right to exist even when we disagree. Biden has signaled his unhappiness with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus handling of the war and lack of facilitation of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Now, here we are. Not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later and people are already forgetting. Theyre already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror, he said. It was Hamas that brutalized Israels. It was Hamas that took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten, and nor have you, and we will not forget.

The president last week issued his first speech on the protests on college campuses, during which he criticized violence, vandalism and forms of hate stemming from them, arguing any demonstrations must remain peaceful.

The protests have focused on Bidens pro-Israel stance throughout the war.

Bidens remarks Tuesday came as the Israeli military seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, after the president warned Netanyahu against such an invasion, and as Hamas has said it agreed to a cease-fire deal but Israel pushed back on it.

In a striking split-screen moment, Biden began his speech at the U.S. Capitol just as adult film actor Stormy Daniels was recounting her sexual encounter with former President Trump, Bidens likely opponent in November, during her testimony in a New York courthouse.

CNN, MSNBC, and Fox cut away from its play-by-play coverage of the Trump trial to air Bidens speech.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Joe Biden seen speaking from the White House on Feb. 8, 2024. Biden warned in a Holocaust remembrance speech Tuesday of rising antisemitism. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden warned Tuesday of rising antisemitism in the U.S. and said too many are forgetting the attack on Israel in October.

During a Holocaust memorial speech at the U.S. Capitol, Biden stressed the importance of honoring the 6 million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, and the victims of Hamas Oct. 7 attack in Israel that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.

Now here we are, not 75 years later but just seven months later and people are already forgetting, theyre already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror, he told attendees at the Holocaust Memorial Museums Annual Day of Remembrance Celebration.

I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget, he continued.

Biden criticized student protests at college campuses across the country over Israels war effort. Protestors have called for their institutions to divest from businesses that are tied to Israel and have called for a ceasefire.

Weve seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world, Biden said. There is no place on any campus in America, any place in America for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.

Biden last week commended students peaceful protests, while criticizing those that turned violent.

As the war reaches its seven-month mark, more than 34,000 Palestinians  13,000 of them children  have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The war began after Hamas militants killed about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and took 199 people hostage on Oct. 7.

Combating antisemitism

Biden announced several new administration initiatives to combat antisemitism Tuesday.

The Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights will issue new guidance to all school districts and colleges to provide examples of antisemitic discrimination and how those instances can violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The agency said it has opened more than 100 investigations in the past seven months into complaints alleging discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, including Antisemitism.

The Department of Homeland Security will also build an online campus safety resource guide and develop best practices for community-based targeted violence and terrorism prevention to reduce these assaults and attacks, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House.

The Department of State also has an agency, the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, which will convene technology firms to identify best practices for addressing antisemitism content online.

U.S. House action

Biden was joined Tuesday by GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

The House last week passed legislation to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances definition of antisemitism for the Department of Educations enforcement of the Civil Rights Act. All schools that receive federal funding are required to comply with that law.

Some Democrats have raised concerns that the language is too broad and could lead to restrictions on freedom of speech.

The lead drafter of the definition, Kenneth Stern, then an antisemitism expert with the American Jewish Committee, has repeatedly opposed the definition, raising concerns when the Trump administration tried to issue an executive order similar to the recent House bill.

It was never intended to be a campus hate speech code, but thats what Donald Trumps executive order accomplished this week, Stern wrote in 2019. This order is an attack on academic freedom and free speech, and will harm not only pro-Palestinian advocates, but also Jewish students and faculty, and the academy itself.

Johnson is also leading a House-wide effort to address the college campus protests, such as grilling university presidents and threatening to pull federal funding from those institutions.

Members of the House Education and Workforce Committee grilled Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Tuesday about antisemitism on college campuses. Several similar hearings are scheduled in the coming weeks.

We are witnessing American universities quickly becoming hostile places for Jewish students and faculty, Johnson said.

Johnson said there has been a rise in antisemitism since Oct. 7, which was the most deadly attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

The threat of repeating the past is so great, Johnson said. There are some who would prefer to criticize Israel and lecture them on their military tacticsthan punish the terrorists who perpetrated these horrific crimes.

The post Biden decries campus antisemitism in Holocaust remembrance speech appeared first on Kentucky Lantern.
President Joe Biden speaks from the White House on Feb. 8, 2024. Biden warned in a Holocaust remembrance speech Tuesday of rising antisemitism. (Nathan Howard | Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden warned Tuesday of rising antisemitism in the U.S. and said too many are forgetting the attack on Israel in October.

During a Holocaust memorial speech at the U.S. Capitol, Biden stressed the importance of honoring the 6 million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, and the victims of Hamas Oct. 7 attack in Israel that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.

Now here we are, not 75 years later but just seven  months later and people are already forgetting, theyre already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror, he told attendees at the Holocaust Memorial Museums Annual Day of Remembrance Celebration.

I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget, he continued.

Biden criticized student protests at college campuses across the country over Israels war effort. Protesters have called for their institutions to divest from businesses that are tied to Israel and have called for a ceasefire.

Weve seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world, Biden said. There is no place on any campus in America, any place in America for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.

Biden last week commended students peaceful protests, while criticizing those that turned violent.

As the war reaches its seven-month mark, more than 34,000 Palestinians  13,000 of them children  have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The war began after Hamas militants killed about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and took 199 people hostage on Oct. 7.

Combating antisemitism

Biden announced several new administration initiatives to combat antisemitism Tuesday.

The Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights will issue new guidance to all school districts and colleges to provide examples of antisemitic discrimination and how those instances can violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The agency said it has opened more than 100 investigations in the past seven months into complaints alleging discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, including Antisemitism.

The Department of Homeland Security will also build an online campus safety resource guide and develop best practices for community-based targeted violence and terrorism prevention to reduce these assaults and attacks, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House.

The Department of State also has an agency, the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, which will convene technology firms to identify best practices for addressing antisemitism content online.

U.S. House action

Biden was joined Tuesday by GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

The House last week passed legislation to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances definition of antisemitism for the Department of Educations enforcement of the Civil Rights Act. All schools that receive federal funding are required to comply with that law.

Some Democrats have raised concerns that the language is too broad and could lead to restrictions on freedom of speech.

The lead drafter of the definition, Kenneth Stern, then an antisemitism expert with the American Jewish Committee, has repeatedly opposed the definition, raising concerns when the Trump administration tried to issue an executive order similar to the recent House bill.

It was never intended to be a campus hate speech code, but thats what Donald Trumps executive order accomplished this week, Stern wrote in 2019. This order is an attack on academic freedom and free speech, and will harm not only pro-Palestinian advocates, but also Jewish students and faculty, and the academy itself.

Johnson is also leading a House-wide effort to address the college campus protests, such as grilling university presidents and threatening to pull federal funding from those institutions.

Members of the House Education and Workforce Committee grilled Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Tuesday about antisemitism on college campuses. Several similar hearings are scheduled in the coming weeks.

We are witnessing American universities quickly becoming hostile places for Jewish students and faculty, Johnson said.

Johnson said there has been a rise in antisemitism since Oct. 7, which was the most deadly attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

The threat of repeating the past is so great, Johnson said. There are some who would prefer to criticize Israel and lecture them on their military tactics  than punish the terrorists who perpetrated these horrific crimes.

The post Biden decries campus antisemitism in Holocaust remembrance speech appeared first on New Hampshire Bulletin.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. I am confident that COP29, which is going to be held in Azerbaijan, will be successful, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Marcos Athias Neto said, Trend reports.

He made the statement at the 4th SDG Dialogue, themed Stakeholder Consultation on the 4th Voluntary National Review of Azerbaijan and Women's Economic Empowerment for SDG 5 Acceleration."

COP29 is scheduled at a crucial juncture. I am confident that this event will be conducted successfully. Within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, there are objectives dedicated to addressing climate change, underscoring its significance, he emphasized.

He mentioned that Azerbaijan has committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions until 2050.

I firmly believe that Azerbaijan will attain even greater triumphs along this path. The UN will extend its expertise to Azerbaijan in the realm of climate change. Ahead of COP29, the UN Development Program will provide Azerbaijan with support in this endeavor, he added.

To note, Baku is hosting the 4th SDG Dialogue, themed Stakeholder Consultation on the 4th Voluntary National Review of Azerbaijan and Women's Economic Empowerment for SDG 5 Acceleration."

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Editors note: This article was updated to reflect the position of former State Department officials on U.S. policy toward Israel.

President Biden is facing a key test this week in delivering a report to Congress on Israels conduct in Gaza, which has the potential to cut off U.S. assistance to Israel.

The report is mandated by National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM 20), which Biden issued in February, and is due by May 8. It requires the administration to assess Israeli assurances that it is using U.S. weapons in line with international laws on war and human rights.

If Israel is found to be in violation of these laws, the Biden administration will then have 45 days to recommend next steps.

While theres little expectation that Biden will impose severe consequences against Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the president has shown increasing openness to imposing consequences on Israel in response to mounting evidence of human rights abuses against Palestinians.

These include sanctioning Israeli settlers and their supporters in the West Bank for violence against Palestinians, as well as singling out five Israeli military units operating in the West Bank as having carried out instances of gross human rights violations  although these incidents predate Israels war against Hamas in Gaza.

The administration has, so far, held off imposing consequences on the units, citing Israeli engagement on remediation efforts, investigations and accountability.

We have seen remediation of those violations. And that is, of course, what we expect of partners, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said last week.

This weeks deadline comes as campus protests against U.S. support for Israel have shaped the debate over Gaza in recent weeks. Concerns over how Biden will carry out NSM 20 has prompted its own debate within foreign policy circles.

Some Republicans want the memo revoked, arguing that existing guardrails are sufficient and support for Israel should be the priority. Leading Democrats are calling for more detail on how it will actually be carried out, and questioning Israels assurances that it is following the law.

Last week, 88 House Democrats wrote to Biden urging enforcement of NSM 20, including imposing costs on Israel for what they view as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government impeding the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

Determining that Israel was hindering delivery of humanitarian assistance would constitute a violation of Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act and trigger the U.S. to block security assistance or arms sales.

It is incumbent upon the Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense to begin the assessment and remediation process outlined in the memorandum and consider the variety of tools available to the administration to address these continued violations, from refreshing the assurances to withholding specific arms transfers, they wrote.

Bidens decision to issue the memo came in direct response to pressure from some Senate Democrats to scrutinize more closely Israels war conduct in Gaza, but also preserve the presidents flexibility in holding Israel to account.

The language in the memo does not single out Israel; it applies to all foreign recipients of the recently-passed U.S. national security supplemental package, to include Ukraine and Taiwan.

And the president, or any successive president, has the power to revoke the memo and make its directives obsolete. But Republicans have already lashed out at Biden as trying to placate critics of security assistance to our vital ally Israel.

We urge you to revoke NSM-20, abide by the robust and vital human rights safeguards already codified in U.S. security assistance law, and continue to support our critical partners around the world, Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), and Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the top Republicans on the foreign affairs panels of their respective chambers, wrote to Biden in April.

Reception of the memo is also controversial among Democrats, concerned that the administration could hide behind vague language and underdeveloped reporting requirements to shield Israel from consequences.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), joined by 12 colleagues, requested a briefing in March from Bidens national security team, writing the NSM does not outline how the administration will determine if a country has violated an assurance and if there is a process in place to track its adherence to them.

Similar concerns prompted the creation of an independent task force that issued a report last month detailing reports of Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law.

The authors include two former State Department officials who are critical of U.S. policy toward Israel, and experts on international humanitarian law, civilian harm mitigation, U.S. domestic law and security assistance.

The 76-page report provides scores of incidents that the authors say represent a a systematic disregard for international humanitarian law and military best practice regarding civilian harm mitigation by the Israel Defense Forces, including with U.S.-provided arms.

Josh Paul is the co-chair of the task force and the former director of the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. He resigned from the State Department in protest in October over what he criticized as the U.S. governments unchecked weapons deliveries to Israel.

He said the importance of NSM 20 is to put the administration on record of what it knows of Israels potential violations of international law and its actions related to the hindering of delivery of humanitarian assistance.

If they do lay out any credible reports of violations of [international humanitarian law], it would not be surprising to see them provide excuses. But I think they will have to tread very carefully there, as that would have to be something that the administrations lawyers would need to take a look at, he said.

The task force report does not prescribe actions for the administration. Biden officials have previously cited Israeli government remediation efforts and investigations into incidents of human rights violations as satisfying efforts at accountability.

Paul said he was not optimistic that the U.S. would hold Israel to account, given its previous statements on the war.

Im going to withhold judgment and wait and see what they actually say, in the hope that they do make a good faith effort to follow the directives President Biden laid out in the NSM.

What is almost certain to remain unchanged is Bidens resolute support for Israel in standing by its seven-month war against Hamas for the Oct. 7 attacks, when Hamas members killed approximately 1,200 people and taking more than 250 people hostage, with 133 Israelis still held against their will in Gaza.

For Israels supporters, any suggestion that Israel violated international law must be taken with the caveat that it is facing a terrorist enemy that uses civilians as shields.

There have been civilians murdered, but that is not the fault of Israel, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in an interview with CNN last month.

Its the fault of the terrorists  the Hamas operators and soldiers, the terrorists who have used these people and put them into harms way. Israel, Im convinced, is doing its very best to prevent civilian casualties. But this is a war, and theyre fighting for their very existence. And they are not the aggressors. It is the other side.

But the catastrophic humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians in Gaza has prompted candid criticism from Biden, who has called Israeli bombing indiscriminate and over the top.

Gazas health agency says more than 30,000 people have been killed in the war, the majority women and children; but Israeli officials say that also includes more than 10,000 Hamas fighters. Another 50,000 people have been injured; more than 1 million displaced; and the head of the United Nations food program said Gaza has now entered a full-blown famine.

Luis Moreno, who served as deputy chief of mission to Israel from 2007-10, said Bidens recent actions imposing some consequences on Israel are welcome. But he said theres a double standard for Israel on application of so-called Leahy laws, which require the U.S. to cut off military assistance and cooperation with foreign security forces found to have committed human rights abuses.

Leahy vetting was not applied to [Israel], said Moreno, a career foreign service officer who served as U.S. ambassador to Jamaica.

Theres always been a double standard with the IDF, and it was always understood and no one really questioned it, he said.

Tom Malinowski, a former Democratic congressman who served as assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights and labor during the Obama administration, said that double standard will be tested as more evidence emerges from Gaza.

Its true that till now the State Department has in practice not applied Leahy to Israel, he posted on the social platform X. The real test will come when investigations of the current conflict start. It will be painful, but [in my opinion] its always better to confront these issues honestly and consistently.

Updated at 7:05 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Joe Biden is facing more critical moments this week that will test his fraught relationship with his base over Israels war in Gaza and potentially widen the partisan split about the Jewish state that has been building for years.

Long before the current conflict, polls showed that sympathies among rank-and-file Democrats have been shifting from Israel toward the Palestinians over roughly the past two decades  a period that coincides with almost unbroken right-leaning governments in Israel, mostly led by current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Simultaneously, support for Israel over that same long period has markedly increased among rank-and-file Republican voters.

As a result, over twice as many Republican as Democratic voters now say they sympathize more with Israel than with the Palestinians, a much bigger gap between the parties than earlier in this century, according to Gallup Organization polling. This widening partisan chasm in the United States suggests that whenever Netanyahu leaves the political stage in Israel, an inescapable part of his legacy will be a leading role in shattering the bipartisan consensus that for decades provided Israel an almost unassailable position in US politics.

Theres no doubt that the drivers of the US-Israeli relationship that have accounted for its resilience, its special quality and character over the years, are more under stress than at any point in my government experience or even out of government, said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has advised six secretaries of state on the Mideast.

That rising pressure could make Biden the last of his kind: Though the vast majority of Democratic office-holders show no penchant to fundamentally break with Israel, Biden could be the last Democratic president for the foreseeable future who aligns so unreservedly with the nation. Hes expected to make a speech on antisemitism on Tuesday at an event sponsored by the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Meanwhile, Democratic critics of his handling of the war will be watching on Wednesday when his administration is due to report to Congress on whether Israel is using US weapons in accordance with international law and is cooperating with the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Bidens deep personal bond with Israel already makes him a throwback in US politics. In the first half century after Israels formation in 1948, it was Democratic presidents such as Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton who displayed the greatest emotional connection to the Jewish state. Republican presidents including Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush also supported Israel but more overtly qualified that support when it conflicted with their other regional goals of preserving access to oil and repelling Soviet influence; Reagan and Bush each at points protested Israeli actions they opposed by temporarily withholding aid.

Over roughly the past quarter century this partisan pattern has inverted. Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump have identified most thoroughly with Israel, while Clinton (in his second term) and Barack Obama experienced the most disagreements with the Israeli government. Many factors have contributed to this reversal of roles. Bushs campaign against Islamic extremism after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks encouraged him to place more value on Israel as a regional ally. Growing identification with Israel among US White evangelical Christians, a key GOP constituency, also nudged the party toward greater support for the Jewish state. Conversely, more voters in the Democratic coalition (both racial minorities and liberal Whites) came to see Israels treatment of the occupied Palestinian territories as colonial, or even apartheid-type, oppression.

While holding the prime minister position in the late 1990s and then again with only brief interruption since 2009, Netanyahu has also played a huge personal role in prompting this American partisan reversal. Netanyahu has pursued staunchly conservative policies within Israel (such as his attempt to weaken the judiciary that triggered massive nationwide protest) and rebuffed pressure from successive Democratic presidents to negotiate an independent Palestinian state. As important, he has aligned with the Republican Party as overtly as any foreign leader has with either political party in modern times. Netanyahu in 2015, for instance, delivered a speech to Congress opposing the Iran nuclear deal at the invitation of House Republicans  over express objections from Obama. And Netanyahu recently echoed Republican talking points at a news conference when he dismissed the protests about the war on US campuses as simply widespread antisemitism.

Against this backdrop, partisan polarization about Israel among American voters was already widening years before the brutal Hamas attack last October and the devastating Israeli response it triggered.

One measure is the annual Gallup polls that ask Americans whether they sympathize mostly with Israel or mostly with the Palestinians. In 2001, the share of Republican voters who said they sympathized mostly with Israel exceeded the share of Democrats by only eight percentage points (59% vs. 51%.) By Obamas second term, Republican partisans were over 20 points more likely than Democrats to say they sympathized mostly with Israel. The gap between the parties in sympathy for Israel expanded under Trump to nearly 40 points, and it has soared to 45 points under Biden  nearly six times the difference in 2001. In the 2023 and 2024 surveys, Gallup recorded for the first time that the share of Democrats who sympathized mostly with the Palestinians exceeded the share who mostly favored Israel.

Another long-running survey series from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found similar, though not quite as extensive, movement. In 2002, the share of Republicans who said the US should take Israels side in the conflict was roughly double the percentage of Democrats; in the latest survey, conducted this February, the gap had grown to about 3-to-1. The survey found that the share of Democrats who said the US should align with Israel in the conflict, after falling through the Trump years, rebounded to nearly 1-in-5 in the latest poll, almost exactly its level in the early 2000s. But as many Democrats now say the US should side with the Palestinians  a view held by just 1-in-50 Democrats in 2002. (Thats also the same share of Republicans today who say the US should side with the Palestinians.) Most Democrats said the US should not take either side in the conflict  a view shared by only about two-fifths of Republicans.

An array of polls this spring show how the war in Gaza has hardened this partisan split. Earlier this year, both Quinnipiac University and CBS/YouGov polls found that while about 55% of Republicans wanted the US to send more military aid to Israel, about two-thirds of Democrats did not. Nearly half of Democrats, but only a little over one-fifth of Republicans in the CBS poll, said the US should pressure Israel to stop the fighting. While a slim majority of Republicans expressed confidence in Netanyahu in an April Pew survey, over 7-in-10 Democrats said they had little or no faith in the Israeli leader to do the right thing. In the Quinnipiac survey just 5% of Democrats said they had a favorable view of Netanyahu; the number was 11 times as high among Republicans.

All of the dividing lines separating the parties are also cleaving the generations. Just 1-in-12 young adults in the Quinnipiac poll said they had a favorable view of Netanyahu and over two-thirds opposed sending more arms to Israel; likewise, in the Pew survey about two-thirds of young adults said they viewed the Israeli government unfavorably. Gallups latest poll found that while older adults still mostly favor Israel, a plurality of younger adults now express sympathy for the Palestinians.

These shifts in attitudes within the Democratic coalition have only modestly changed behavior among the partys leading elected officials. Only 37 House Democrats ultimately voted against the recently approved foreign aid package that included over $26 billion in new military assistance to Israel. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, despite an earlier speech criticizing Netanyahu, is reportedly joining with House Speaker Mike Johnson to invite the Israeli leader to address a joint congressional session  an extraordinary opportunity given how many of Bidens requests Netanyahu has resisted since the war began.

Liberal critics of Israels approach to the Palestinians, both before and after the October 7 attacks, largely attribute the widening disconnect between Democratic voters and elected officials to the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and other pro-Israeli lobbying groups in Washington. Since the Obama presidency, AIPAC has become more aggressive in supporting primary campaigns against Democratic officials critical of Israel; it has pledged to spend $100 million this year to defeat members of Congress who have criticized Israels conduct of the war most strongly such as Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri.

AIPACs enormous financial and political pressure in Washington is the most important factor in slowing down larger numbers of Democratic officials from opposing Israels war in Gaza, said Waleed Shahid, who has held senior positions in multiple liberal organizations and has been active in organizing opposition to the war. By targeting Democrats who oppose a blank check of weapons funding to Israel, AIPAC aims to stall an inevitable generational shift within the party.

Yet AIPACs influence alone doesnt explain the distance opening between Democratic voters and officials. Part of the answer, as Shahid suggests, is generational. Biden personifies an older cohort of US political leaders whose image of Israel was formed when it was a lonely outpost of democracy and haven for Holocaust survivors. Ordinary Americans and US political leaders alike in the years of the 1967 and Yom Kippur (1973) wars tended to view Israel, in Millers words, as a David barely fending off threatening Goliaths; now, many younger Democrats in particular believe Israel is no longer David, its Goliath, and it is pounding David in Gaza, Miller said. Older Democratic officials have been less influenced than younger ones by the emergence of that new perspective among their voters.

Many observers also note that Biden tends to view foreign policy much as he does domestic politics  placing enormous confidence in his ability to leverage personal relationships with other leaders. Biden always says all foreign policy is an extension of personal relationships, said Ben Rhodes, who served as a senior National Security Council adviser while Biden served as Obamas vice president. I dont know how many times I heard him say that.

Biden over the course of the war has more explicitly criticized Netanyahu and the far-right coalition that he is governing with, but he has still rebuffed rising demands within Democratic ranks to penalize Israel for its conduct of the war and resistance to the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Were almost at the seventh month of this war, and this administration has been reluctant to impose a single cost or consequence on this Israeli government that normal humans would regard as serious or significant pressure, said Miller. Instead, Miller added, Biden is still operating primarily from the belief that to achieve his goals in the region  more humanitarian aid into Gaza, a ceasefire that leads to further hostage releases and eventually a regional accord between Israel and Saudi Arabia  he cannot do that by creating a sustained public breach with the Israeli prime minister. He needs Israels acquiescence if not its active assistance.

Biden allies also believe Israels critics within the party are overstating the political risks of his continued support. Though polls show widespread opposition to the war among both young people and Democrats more broadly, they also usually show that those voters prioritize other issues more.

While some elements of the partys activist core are focused on whats happening in Gaza, most Democrats and most Americans are not, said long-time Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, president of the Democratic Majority for Israel, a pro-Israeli group. Rather they are seized with other issues  whether its holding down prices or protecting abortion rights or protecting democracy itself. 

But as the war persists  with the wave of campus protests compounding the fractures over the issue in the Democratic coalition  there are clear signs the partys center of gravity is moving away from the instinctive support for Israel expressed by older Democrats such as Biden and Schumer.

The telltale sign is not the escalating outrage over the war from liberals long critical of Netanyahu and far-right Israeli governments, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and members of the squad in the House. Rather the key measure is the willingness of ambitious mid-career Democrats closer to the party center to criticize Israels conduct of the war more openly and to indicate support for limiting the future transfer of offensive weapons; the list of Democrats in that camp include Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Chris Coons of Delaware and Tim Kaine of Virginia. Biden only agreed to deliver the report due Wednesday on Israels use of US weapons and cooperation with international aid after pressure from a group of about 20 Democratic senators led by Van Hollen.

Though almost all Democratic senators voted for the recent military aid package for Israel, Biden risks alienating many who supported the assistance if Wednesdays report to Congress does not seriously address whether Israel should be penalized for its actions in the war, said Amanda Klasing, the national director of government relations and advocacy for Amnesty International. Amnesty recently issued a report charging that Israel has targeted civilians with US weapons in violation of international law. Biden has a Democratic caucus that is putting a lot of faith in this process, she said. They have taken these votes under the assumption that these conditions will be applied by the administration.

The Israeli prime ministers personal relationship with Trump is prickly, but Netanyahus hardline approach toward both the Palestinians and Iran has encouraged the GOPs transformation into what Miller calls the Israel can do no wrong party.

If Israel elects a more centrist government in the future, Miller believes, the widening US partisan divide over Israel could narrow. But given the alienation about Israeli actions among Democratic partisans in general  and younger voters in particular  it seems virtually guaranteed that Democratic elected officials in the years ahead will face greater pressure than Republicans to maintain a critical distance from Israel.

So far, Biden has been much more inclined to resist than respond to that pressure. A ceasefire could diffuse that pressure for a time. But even Biden may not be able to ignore the inevitable backlash among Democrats if Netanyahu, with or without a cease fire, eventually fulfills his pledge to launch a ground invasion of Rafah.

The fierce Israeli response to the terrorist attacks of October 7 may leave in rubble not just much of Gaza, but the US tradition of bipartisan support for Israel.

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President Joe Biden meets with Romania's President Klaus Iohannis in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden hosted Klaus Iohannis, the president of Romania, on Tuesday at the White House, with the two leaders celebrating their joint cooperation on issues including international security, the economy and continued support for Ukraine.

The meeting in the Oval Office was meant to mark Romania's two decades as a NATO member, according to the White House.

At the start of the meeting, Biden joked he advocated for NATO accession for Romania when he was a senator 180 years ago and said the alliance was stronger for the country's inclusion. Biden noted that Romanian and American troops have fought and trained alongside one another and praised Romania for having stepped up to assist Ukraine in fending Russias invasion.

The United States is committed to standing with you, Biden told Iohannis.

In turn, Iohannis thanked Biden for hosting him and called the transatlantic alliance a cornerstone of our democratic way of life. He said he intended to make progress toward a visa waiver for Romanian travelers to the U.S. but that the most important topic was to find a way to reinstall peace in Europe and to ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin doesnt win.

Iohannis announced in March that he will run to be NATO's next secretary-general, although Biden and many other leaders in the alliances have thrown their support behind Mark Rutte, the Netherlands prime minister. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say Tuesday whether that issue arose during the two leaders' meeting, deferring to a readout that was expected later.

Earlier Tuesday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby sidestepped questions about whether Biden would ask Iohannis to clear the way for Rutte. Selection of the next NATO secretary-general requires consensus.

Nothings changed about our support for Mr. Rutte to be the next secretary-general, Kirby said.
A Biden administration report that could cut off military aid to Israel has been indefinitely delayed.

The State Department was anticipated to issue the report Wednesday, but thats no longer the case, reported Politico. The report would have defined whether Israel violated humanitarian law since its conflict with Gaza broke out on October 7. If the State Department determined Israel had broken humanitarian law, then it would have been even harder to justify continued U.S. military assistance to Israel.

In an email shared by three Senate aides and one House aide with Politico, the Biden administration notified Congress that the report would be briefly delayed, without any further clarification or issue of a new deadline.

But comments from the State Department itself werent so assuring.

We are trying very hard to meet that deadline, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Tuesday, who outright admitted that the report wasnt finished. Its possible it slips just a little bit, but we are trying to get it done by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Israel blatantly rejected a cease-fire opportunity, launching more airstrikes onto Rafah and capturing the Palestinian side of the Rafah Crossing in the hours after Hamas agreed to a cease-fire proposal organized by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.

The last couple of days have proved that Israel was not really negotiating in good faith, Omar Rahman, an expert on Israel-Palestine with the Middle East Council for Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera. The moment that Hamas agreed to a deal, Israel was willing to blow that up by commencing their assault on Rafah.

The goal is to destroy Gaza in its totality, Rahman said.

The international criminal court at The Hague is weighing whether to charge Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with war crimes as the countrys war on Gaza claims so many lives that local authorities say they can no longer keep count. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 77,000 Palestinians have been injured in the conflict, according to data from the Gaza Health Ministry. Most of the victims have been women and children.

Israel has advanced its attacks on the beleaguered nation by blocking humanitarian aid from reaching those who need it. Israel has also utilized mass starvation, as well as blocked or destroyed access to critical resources such as water, food, fuel, electricity, and medical aid.
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden plans to huddle with chief executives from large companies to discuss the state of the economy and efforts to implement his infrastructure and clean energy policies, according to the White House.

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Biden invited the corporate leaders for a Tuesday meeting amid a renewed push to highlight the strength of the US economy and sell his legislative accomplishments, as polls show the public remains unsold on his economic stewardship.

Citigroup Inc. CEO Jane Fraser, United Airlines Holdings Inc. CEO Scott Kirby, Evercore Inc. founder Roger Altman and Marriott International Inc. CEO Anthony Capuano are among those participating in the meeting with Biden, according to a White House official.

Biden sought to gather executives from the manufacturing, banking, clean energy and construction sectors to solicit their input on the US and global economies and share his belief that efforts to invest in the US and repair overseas alliances is building greater certainty and confidence at home and abroad, the official said.

Other attendees include Corning Inc. CEO Wendell Weeks, Flex Ltd. CEO Revathi Advaithi, retired Xerox Holdings Corp. CEO Ursula Burns and Bechtel Group Inc. CEO Brendan Bechtel, according to the official.

Biden has periodically gathered business leaders at the White House to hear their perspectives on the economy, a top issue for voters in the November election. The presidents recent polling bump in key battleground states evaporated amid deep voter pessimism about the state of the economy, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll released last month.

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President Joe Biden denounced what he called a "ferocious surge" of antisemitism in America and the atrocities committed by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel in a speech at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

His keynote remarks were part of a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum ceremony marking the Days of Remembrance to honor the memory of the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust as well as other victims of Nazi persecution.

"Never again simply translated for me means never forget," Biden said before a crowd of Holocaust survivors, Jewish Americans and lawmakers gathered in Emancipation Hall.

"Here we are not 75 years later but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting," Biden said. "They're already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror. It was Hamas who brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten, nor have you. And we will not forget."

The high-profile remarks came at a fraught political moment, as a possible Israeli invasion of Rafah looms and college protests against the war in Gaza are unfolding across the U.S.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden addresses rising levels of antisemitism, during a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony, at the U.S. Capitol building, May 7, 2024, in Washington. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Biden has faced criticism from Republicans and Democrats as he's tried to balance unwavering support for Israel's security with sympathy for the Palestinians killed and suffering in Gaza.

But his message Tuesday largely focused on his staunch support for Israel and condemnation of the atrocities against Jews witnessed on Oct. 7 as well as the harassment of the community in the months since -- including incidents on college campuses, propaganda on social media and more.

"To the Jewish community I want you to know I see your fear, your hurt, your pain. Let me reassure you as your president, you're not alone," Biden said. "My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad even when we disagree."

MORE: Biden speaks with Netanyahu as Israeli invasion of Rafah appears imminent

At least 1,700 Israelis have been killed and 8,700 others injured by Hamas or other Palestinian militants, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since Oct. 7, Israeli military operations have killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza and injured more than 78,000 others, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

Biden did not directly comment on Gaza or the humanitarian crisis unfolding for Palestinians in his speech. On campus protests, Biden again emphasized the right to free speech but spoke out against instances were Jewish students have been "blocked, harassed or attacked while walking to class."

"I understand people have strong belief and deep convictions about the world," he said. "In America, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate and disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard."

"But there is no place on any campus in America [or] any place in America for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind whether against Jews or anyone else," Biden continued.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden addresses rising levels of antisemitism, during a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony, at the U.S. Capitol building, May 7, 2024, in Washington. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Tuesday's remembrance ceremony also featured remarks by House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Biden's faced heavy criticism from Republicans over the campus unrest, with many conservative lawmakers blasting his response as insufficient. Overall, GOP lawmakers have seized on the protests to further their narrative of "chaos" under the Biden administration and to show their strong support for Israel.

MORE: Biden faces pressure from Republicans to speak out on college protests

Johnson used his remarks to continue criticism of the campus unrest, going so far as to compare them to antisemitic activity at German institutions of higher learning during World War II.

"We remember what happened then and now today we are witnessing American universities quickly becoming hostile places for Jewish students and faculty," he said. "The very campuses which were once the envy of the international academy have succumbed to an antisemitic virus."

"Now is a time for moral clarity and we must put an end to this madness," Johnson said.

PHOTO: House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks at the annual Days of Remembrance ceremony for Holocaust survivors at the U.S. Capitol, May 7, 2024, in Washington. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Jeffries said antisemitism and other forms of hate speech was not a "Democratic issue or Republican issue" but "an American issue."

"We must crush antisemitism along with racism, sexism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, homophobia and all other forms of hatred together," Jeffries said.

MORE: College protests updates: Police begin dismantling University of Chicago encampment

The White House on Tuesday also announced new actions intended to combat the rise in antisemitism, including on college campuses.

They include directing the Department of Education to issue new guidance to school districts and universities providing examples of antisemitism and other forms of hate that trigger Title VI investigations; the creation of a website by the Department of Homeland Security and partners that includes campus safety resources; and working with technology firms to address antisemitic content online.

"We've seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world," Biden said in his speech, adding it is "absolutely despicable and it must stop."

ABC News Molly Nagle contributed to this report.

Biden condemns 'ferocious surge' in antisemitism during Holocaust remembrance ceremony originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
President Joe Biden on Tuesday forcefully condemned antisemitic demonstrations and downplaying of the 7 October terror attacks as echoes of Nazism. He assured Jewish Americans of their place in the country amid the continuing protests over Israels seven-month-old war against Hamas, telling them: Youre not alone, you belong. You always have and you always will.

In fiery remarks delivered at the United States Capitol to an audience that included multiple Holocaust survivors, Mr Biden recalled how his father had taught him and his siblings about the horrors of the Shoa around the dinner table as they grew up in Delaware, and said he has looked to impart the same lessons on his children and grandchildren, including by taking them to the site of the Dachau concentration camp so they could see and bear witness to the perils of indifference, the complicity of silence in the face of evil.

The president explicitly compared the motivations of the Nazis who perpetrated the mass murder of Europes Jews with the Hamas militants who committed the October 2023 attacks which constituted the worst slaughter of Jews since 1945.

He warned that the ancient hatred of Jews did not end with the fall of Nazi Germany, but continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world.

That hatred was brought to life on 7 October 2023, he said. Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later. And people are already forgetting or already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror.

It was Hamas that brutalised Israelis, it was Hamas that took and continues to hold hostages, he continued. I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget!

The president also warned of a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world since that day, including on some college campuses where Jewish students, he said, have been kept from attending class by protesters. And he denounced the antisemitic slogans and chants used by some of the protesters, including those calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world's own Jewish state or denying, downplaying, rationalising, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and 7 October.

It's absolutely despicable and it must stop, he said.

Mr Bidens remarks came just hours after the White House announced a series of new actions to combat the rising antisemitism he spoke of at the Capitol.

Republicans have accused the president of failing to denounce campus protests across the country that have, in some cases, involved police action and violence. His critics say that elements of the Democratic voter base are themselves antisemitic and that Mr Biden fears their reaction.

But Mr Biden came out forcefully against the violent and antisemitic elements of the pro-Palestinian protests in remarks from the White House last week. At the time, he said peaceful protest was in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues while stressing that the US is not a lawless country.

Were a civil society, and order must prevail, he said. Destroying property is not a peaceful protest  its against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations  none of this is a peaceful protest; threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. Its against the law.

The president reiterated his call for protests to remain within the law at the Capitol on Tuesday, yet as the protests have persisted, so have accusations that the pro-Palestinian demonstrations are per se antisemitic. Concerns have also been raised over whether Jewish students are being denied the right to an education by the actions of some protesters  and the inaction of campus authorities.

To that end, the Department of Education has sent a Dear Colleague letter to higher education institutions to lay out guidance on what constitutes antisemitic discrimination that could lead to consequences. The letter uses as its guidance the portions of the Civil Rights Act which prohibit discrimination based on actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics in the form of a hostile environment or different treatment.

In addition, eight Biden administration cabinet departments have issued written guidance which makes clear that the Civil Rights Act prohibits certain forms of antisemitic, Islamophobic, and related forms of discrimination in federally funded programs and activities.

According to the White House, these policy rollouts are meant to build on the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism which the Biden administration rolled out one year ago this month.

A fact sheet distributed to reporters ahead of the presidents remarks stated that the Biden administrations strategy includes over 100 actions the Biden-Harris Administration has taken, and continues to take, to address the rise of antisemitism in the United States, as well as over 100 calls to action for Congress, state and local governments, companies, technology platforms, students, educators, civil society, faith leaders, and others.
A protest encampment in support of Palestinians is re-occupied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes peaceful protests at college commencement ceremonies where he and other administration officials will speak, the White House said on Tuesday as pro-Palestinian protests spread around the country.

Columbia University on Monday canceled its main graduation ceremony after weeks of unrest roiled the Ivy League college's campus, but it will still hold smaller, school-based events.

The protests at Columbia have inspired similar demonstrations at dozens of universities around the country. Students have called for a ceasefire in Gaza and have demanded their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel.

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden welcomed peaceful protests on campuses and elsewhere, but would continue to condemn hate speech, antisemitism or violence.

"It doesn't matter where he is, where he's speaking. It doesn't matter if it's a commencement or one of his events. He welcomes peaceful protests," she said.

"We have been very clear. We believe all Americans should have the right to peacefully protest," she added. "What we don't want to see is hate speech, violence."

Biden is due to give a commencement speech at Morehouse College in Atlanta on May 19.

Biden warned on Tuesday that the threat of antisemitism is growing in the United States, including on college campuses, joining a heated American debate about Jewish security, Zionism, free speech and support for Israel, in the country with the largest Jewish population after Israel.

Biden last week address the campus unrest, saying Americans have the right to protest "but not a right to cause chaos" through vandalism, breaking windows or shutting down campuses.

Jean-Pierre reiterated the White House position that it should be up the universities to decide how to respond.

She condemned behavior captured in a video at the University of Mississippi over the weekend as "undignified and racist", after a student was accused of mocking a Black protester by making monkey noises during an anti-war demonstration.

"The actions in the video are beneath any American," Jean-Pierre told reporters.

The Democratic president, seeking re-election in November, has walked a careful line of denouncing antisemitism while supporting young Americans' right to protest and trying to limit longer-term political damage.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Andrea Shalal; writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Alistair Bell)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Azerbaijan and Russia discussed cooperation in tackling climate change, Trend reports via the official COP29 page on X.

The Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan, President of COP29 Mukhtar Babayev met Russia's Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov and Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov.

The purpose of the meeting was to promote bilateral and regional cooperation in the areas of environmental protection and climate change.

This November, Azerbaijan will host COP29. This decision was made at the COP28 plenary meeting held in Dubai on December 11 last year. Hence, Baku will become the world's center, receiving about 7080,000 foreign guests.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. COPthe Conference of the Partiesis the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. There are 198 countries that are parties to the Convention. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the COP is held annually. The first COP event took place in March 1995 in Germany's Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.

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Dr. Keith Heinzerling takes a bottle of psilocybin pills from a safe at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica in 2022. Heinzerling is among the researchers whose studies are vetted by the Research Advisory Panel of California. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

California lawmakers could soon clear a governmental logjam that has held up dozens of studies related to addiction treatment, psychedelics or other federally restricted drugs.

The holdup revolves around the Research Advisory Panel of California, established decades ago to vet studies involving cannabis, hallucinogens and treatments for "abuse of controlled substances."

It has been a critical hurdle for California researchers exploring possible uses of psychedelics or seeking new ways to combat addiction. Scientists cannot move forward with such research projects without the panel's blessing.

The panel had long met behind closed doors to make its decisions, but concerns arose last year that it was supposed to fall under the Bagley-Keene Act, a state law requiring open meetings. Holding those meetings in public, however, raised alarm about exposing trade secrets and other sensitive information.

So the panel stopped meeting at all. It has not convened since August. Meetings ordinarily scheduled for every other month have been canceled since October.

The result has been a ballooning backlog: As of early May, there were 42 new studies and 28 amendments to existing projects awaiting approval, according to state officials.

Read more: Kratom products have gone unregulated in California, unnerving both fans and critics

Ziva Cooper, director of the UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids, said she had submitted one study to the California panel over a year ago  one already approved by the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and an institutional review board. That research will assess the health risks of cannabis for seniors and young adults ages 18 to 25, two groups whose cannabis use has been on the rise, she said. Cooper said the panel sought a small change: adjusting two words in a consent form for study participants. But because the panel has not been meeting, she has been unable to proceed.

The holdup has also snarled two other studies her UCLA center had submitted to the panel  one examining whether cannabis could be used as an alternative to opioids for pain relief, another on whether a psychedelic compound found in mushrooms, psilocybin, could help treat people struggling with cocaine addiction.

And Cooper said she hasn't even bothered to submit three more studies, including research on the effects of high-potency cannabis. The holdup has left Cooper and other researchers fearing they could lose funding for planned studies or be forced to lay off staff.

The idea of having to study something different because "in California I can't do the research that I'm trained to do ... is demoralizing," Cooper said. It aggravates her "to not be able to answer the questions that are desperately needed right now" as the range of cannabis products on the market has grown.

The standstill "has broad implications, costing researchers money in expired grants and contingent grants, shortened patents on new drugs, lost wages for research personnel, lost talent, and lost costs of research drugs for human use that will expire before use," according to an analysis prepared for a state committee.

That long hiatus could soon end: Under Assembly Bill 2841, the state panel would be able to hold closed sessions to discuss studies that involve trade secrets or other proprietary information. The bill, proposed by Assemblymember Marie Waldron (R-Valley Center), would go into effect immediately if signed by the governor.

"We are focused on reactivating the large amount of research studies that have been on hold for over a year now," Waldron said in a statement. "This is the quick and urgent solution needed to address that problem."

Read more: How L.A. County is trying to remake addiction treatment  no more 'business as usual'

The bill is supported by the nonprofit Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions, which supports research into the possible benefits of psychedelics for treating depression and other conditions among military veterans and helps them obtain such treatment abroad.

"Psychedelic research has ground to halt in California  including numerous VA studies, " said its director of public policy, Khurshid Khoja. If the Legislature does not act swiftly, the state will see "a rapid exodus of skilled researchers from California universities and research institutions to pursue their critically important work elsewhere  not to mention capital flight by funders wholl deploy research dollars outside the state."

"AB 2841 is an urgently needed response to address this crisis," Khoja said.

To many researchers, however, AB 2841 does not go far enough. Dozens of scientists have called for the panel to be eliminated, arguing that even when it was meeting regularly, it was an unnecessary obstruction to research already being scrutinized by other government and institutional reviewers.

In a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a coalition of researchers argued that undergoing the state review could delay a study by at least five months, resulting in more than $100,000 in "unnecessary staff expenditures" in that time. Because other states don't have that hurdle, they argued, California researchers are losing out on competitive funding  and Californians miss chances to participate in local trials for emerging treatments.

Read more: The longest, strangest trip: Some psychedelic drug users are stuck with unwelcome highs

UCLA psychologist and addiction researcher Steven Shoptaw called it "an unequal burden on addiction research" compared with other scientific studies.

The California panel has been vetting not only studies that involve federally restricted drugs, but also those assessing any kind of medication to treat addiction, said Dr. Phillip Coffin, a UC San Francisco professor of medicine who has called to eliminate the panel.

"If I'm testing Prozac for depression, or Prozac for any other disease, I can do my research without waiting" for the committee, he said, but "If I'm testing Prozac for addiction, I have to wait." By maintaining such barriers, Coffin argued, "we are seriously harming any chance California has of responding to the addiction crisis."

Short of eliminating the panel, some have also argued for amending the law to exempt any researchers who have gotten federal approval to do such research.

Others have argued that the panel has a valuable role, even for studies that have undergone review by the FDA or other entities. An analysis of AB 2841 prepared for the Assembly Committee on Health said state data from the Department of Justice show that the Research Advisory Panel regularly catches issues with drug safety, consent forms missing important information about safety and privacy, and other potential problems.

The panel "has a record of providing an extra level of protection, which is important given the volume of controlled substance research that occurs in California," the analysis said. In addition, the committee analysis said the panel is "the only one which ensures that studies conducted in California comply with state law."

Coffin disputed such arguments, saying that in his experience and that of many other researchers, its feedback had not "improved patient safety or remotely justified the extreme delays."

If it is truly finding problems that have escaped other reviewers, he argued, "then all research  not just addiction treatment and controlled substances  should be forced to go through this panel."

Read more: DEA's big marijuana shift could be a lifeline for California's troubled pot industry

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A bipartisan group of House members and senators are calling on the congressional Armed Services committees to reject the Biden administrations proposal to incorporate Air National Guard service members into the Space Force, calling it deeply flawed.

In a letter dated May 6 to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, 56 House members and 29 senators argued the proposal would undermine the nations National Guard system.

In a March legislative proposal to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Defense Department asked Congress to override an existing law requiring governors to approve changes to National Guard units in order to clear the way to shift hundreds of members to the Space Force.

When individuals sign up for the National Guard, they are serving their country and their community. Congress shouldnt abandon this model, the lawmakers wrote in the letter. The original intent of the National Guard was to have a force ready to respond to the needs of their state and country. Because of this, authority was placed in the hands of each states individual governor.

This is more than a matter of governance; governors bear the responsibility to protect the safety of their citizens by maintaining their readiness and deployability of their National Guard units, the letter continued.

The letter was led by Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), the founding co-chair of the Space Force Caucus, alongside Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.)

The move, proposed to be a part of Congresss National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2025, would affect about 14 space units, equal to about 1,000 Air National Guardsmen, Air and Space Forces Magazine reported.

The Hill reached out the House and Senate Armed Services committees for comment.

The letters signatories join a group of state leaders who are urging the committees against including the proposal. A group of governors from 48 states, territories and commonwealths wrote a letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in opposition of the proposal last week.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), notably absent from the letters signatories, each penned their own letters slamming the proposal.

In a letter to President Biden sent last week, Abbott argued the proposal would give the secretary of the Air Force unilateral authority to transfer parts of the Air National Guard units into the Space Force without consent from the governor and called it an attempted power grab.

DeSantis argued the move would flout more than a century of precedent and undermine federal law protections for state control of their National Guard forces. He said his states National Guard should already be larger than it is and blamed the federal government for making it under-resourced.

A White House official told The Hill on Monday that the Biden administration supports the Defense Departments suggestion for a one-time transfer of National Guard missions into the Space Force and noted it is consistent with the structure approved by Congress in the 2024 defense policy bill.

The official also noted the Biden administration has consistently been against the establishment of a Space National Guard.

Earlier this year, the Air Force announced it would make sweeping changes to the military branch and Space Force to ensure the U.S. can meet security demands. These changes include a new field command for the Space Force, called the Space Futures Command, which will be responsible for experimentation, wargaming and mission planning.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A group of more than 100 House members from both sides of the aisle is pushing for a permanent ban on horse slaughter in the United States.

In a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, the group of 120 lawmakers requested language be included in the U.S. Department of Agricultures budget that permanently bans tax dollars from being used in the process of horse slaughter.

This would prohibit taxpayer money from being used to inspect horse slaughter plants, preventing the killing of horses for human consumption.

The letter was led by Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).

Language similar to this popular and fiscally responsible policy has been enacted each year since Fiscal Year 2014, and for all but two years since 2005, Buchanans office said in a statement. This successfully led to a closure of all horse slaughter facilities in the United States.

Buchanans office noted the previous language has not made the ban permanent, forcing lawmakers to advocate for its inclusion in government funding each year.

The language the lawmakers are now proposing would ensure taxpayer dollars in this fiscal year or any fiscal year hereafter cannot be used for the slaughter of horses in the U.S.

Beyond fiscal and humane concerns, flesh from American is not fit for human consumption because equines are not treated as food animals in the United States and therefore are not maintained under the regulatory food safety requirements for animals raised for human consumption, their letter stated.

Throughout their lives, horses routinely receive drugs and medications that are specifically banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in food animals

due to their toxicity to humans, they added.

According to the lawmakers, there was also a nearly 88 percent decrease in the number of American horses shipped abroad to slaughter for human consumption since 2012, when more than 160,000 horses were transported. In 2023, about 20,370 horses were shipped, the lawmakers said.

The Hill reached out to the offices of Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the chair of the Appropriations agriculture subcommittee, and its ranking member, Rep. Sanford Bishop Jr. (D-Ga.), for further comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks with House Speaker Mike Johnson (L) arrive for the address by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, April 11, 2024. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) (AFP via Getty Images)

On Tuesday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet once again as Johnson seeks to talk down Greenes plans to remove Johnson from his job. Greene would do that by triggering a motion to vacate, effectively turfing him out of the speakership if she can get enough votes in support. How did it come to this?

On the surface, the two should be natural allies. Both are hardline conservatives and ardent supporters of former president Donald Trump. Both voted to object to the 2020 presidential election results after January 6 and both have made a point of criticizing President Joe Biden on immigration policy.

But prior to his ascent as speaker, few people had heard of Johnson  whereas Greene was one of the most visible faces of the pro-MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

How it all began

After Republicans took back the House of Representatives in 2020, Greene closely aligned herself with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the grounds that Republicans needed to be unified to investigate Bidens administration. As a junior member of House leadership, Johnson also voted for McCarthy all 15 rounds it took before McCarthy ultimately earned the gavel.

In addition, Greene emerged as the loudest opponent in the GOP of providing aid to Ukraine. In the previous Congress, Johnson also voted against providing aid to Ukraine.

In September of last year, after protracted negotiations with hardline conservatives, McCarthy put a stopgap spending bill to the floor to keep the government open  but without providing aid to Ukraine.

That triggered Representative Matt Gaetz to file a motion to vacate against McCarthy, which both Johnson and Greene opposed. The three-week search for a replacement began. Johnson, who first won election in 2016 and served as vice chairman of the House Republican conference, emerged as the consensus choice. All House Republicans  Greene included  voted for him.

How the split happened

Initially, Greene and Johnson were unified in opposing aid to Ukraine. Johnson later killed a bipartisan deal in the Senate that would have provided aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan in exchange for restrictions to immigration and additional security measures at the US-Mexico border. After the Senate passed a standalone bill, Johnson refused to put the bill to the floor.

Republicans only have 217 members compared to Democrats 213, giving Johnson an incredibly thin majority. Given that a handful of hardliners will oppose almost any piece of legislation put to the floor, that gives Johnson an even slimmer majority to navigate.

Greene had initially said she would file a motion to vacate against Johnson if he put aid to Ukraine on the floor. But even before then, Greene had expressed dissatisfaction in Johnson when he worked with Democrats to pass the 12 spending bills to keep the government open for the rest of the fiscal year.

Were breaking all the rules, she told The Independent in March. Remember the precious rules of the Republican Conference?

The day of the vote for the second batch of spending bills, Greene had clearly had enough  and she filed her motion to vacate.

What is the motion to vacate  and why is Greenes different from Gaetzs?

The motion to vacate the chair at its core triggers a no-confidence vote in the speaker of the House of Representatives. Since the Tea Party era, conservatives have used the motion to vacate as a threat against Republican speakers. But in the past, conservatives did not make the resolution privileged, which triggers a vote within two legislative days.

As part of McCarthys deal with hardline conservatives to vote to make him speaker, he allowed for one member to file a motion to vacate. In October, Gaetz filed his motion to vacate the chair, and he made it privileged. Eight Republicans and every Democrat present voted to oust McCarthy, so he was out.

Conversely, Greene has not made her motion privileged, saying rather that she hopes Johnson will change his behavior in reaction and that the party can consider replacing him on a slower timeframe.

I filed the motion to vacate today, but its more of a warning than a pink slip, she told reporters. Its time for us to go through the process, take our time and find a new speaker of the House that will stand with Republicans and our Republican majority instead of standing with the Democrats.

What role do Democrats have?

Last week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar announced they would support a motion to table Greenes motion.

That infuriated Greene, which led her and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky to say last week that they would force a vote.

What does Greene want?

As she heads to meet with Johnson, PunchBowl News reported Greenes demands: no additional US aid to Ukraine; a plan to defund Special Counsel Jack Smiths investigations into former president Donald Trump; and a demand that Johnson only put forward legislation that has a support from a majority of Republicans. This latter demand is commonly known as the Hastert Rule.

Its unclear whether Johnson will support any of these after their meeting. But doing so would make it much more difficult for him to pass spending bills, given a handful of conservatives often oppose them and Democrats would consider defunding investigations a non-starter.
The EU has proposed restrictions on 11 ships believed to be part of a shadow fleet of vessels that help Russia evade sanctions, Bloomberg reported on May 7.

If approved, the ships will be banned from EU ports and barred from using European companies' services.

The shadow fleet refers to aging and largely uninsured oil tankers that Russia uses to transport oil above the $60 per barrel price cap that the EU, the U.S., and the Group of Seven (G7) countries imposed in December 2022 as part of the effort to cut Moscow's fossil fuels revenue.

On April 22, Swedish Navy chief Ewa Skoog Haslum said Russia's shadow fleet of oil tankers is possibly conducting espionage in the Baltic Sea as well as helping circumvent sanctions on the trade of Russian oil.

Haslum said some of the ships from the shadow fleet have been found to possess communications and signals equipment not usually associated with cargo vessels, leading to concerns they could be used in "hybrid operations."

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The equipment could possibly be used to intercept communications or perform other acts of espionage, she added.

The EU is also working on a proposal to limit imports of Russian liquified gas (LNG) as part of the upcoming 14th package of sanctions, European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said on May 6, as reported by European Pravda.

Despite Brussels' target to be free of Russian fossil fuels by 2027, several EU members remain heavily reliant on Russian gas, and imports of LNG from Russia reached record highs last year.

Speaking at a press briefing in Kyiv, Simson reportedly said there are currently no sanctions against Russian LNG, but EU energy ministers "made a decision and proposed a tool to limit the access of Russian liquefied natural gas to our energy terminals."

Simson also said the EU is preparing for a sudden end to the Russian pipeline gas supply when the transit contract between Ukraine and Moscow expires at the end of this year.

Read also: Swedish Navy chief says Russian shadow fleet of oil tankers possibly conducting espionage in Baltic Sea

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Authorities found the body of Jose Mynor Lopez, the final victim of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse to be pulled from the Patapsco River, Tuesday.

Six weeks to the day since a massive cargo ship struck a support beam, sending the bridge and a construction crew fixing its potholes into the river, the bodies of all six men killed in the collapse have been found. Crews continue to work on removing the bridge wreckage to clear the shipping channel and plan to use precision explosive charges to remove part of the bridge lodged on top of the ship.

Wilmer Lopez Orellana, an uncle of Lopez, said in Spanish that it was good news if it was true that teams had recovered his nephews body. Orellana said the family hopes that Lopezs mother will bury him in Guatemala. He left behind four children.

The victims were part of a Brawner Builders crew working on the bridge when it was struck by the cargo ship Dali early in the morning of March 26. They were presumed dead later that day as operations shifted from rescue to recovery.

Divers previously recovered the bodies of Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, 26, originally from Guatemala; Maynor Suazo Sandoval, 38, originally from Honduras; Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, originally from Mexico; Carlos Daniel Hernandez, who was in his 20s and was originally from Mexico; and Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez, 49 and originally from El Salvador.

For immigrant workers who die in US, a bodys journey home is one last struggle

Salvage divers located Lopez on Tuesday before state police, transportation authority police and the FBI responded to the scene to recover his body, the unified command said in the release. Lopez, 37, lived in Dundalk.

Melvin Ruiz is a former co-worker of Lopezs who had kept in touch with Wilmer for updates about ongoing recovery efforts. Ruiz learned from a reporter Tuesday afternoon that his friends body had finally been found.

Im not happy, but at least theyre going to have somebody to send back to Guatemala, Ruiz said. Its good for the family to have the body so they can say goodbye.
Boeing calls off its first astronaut launch due to last-minute issue with rocket

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  The launch of Boeings Starliner capsule was scrubbed Monday night, just hours before the scheduled liftoff, due to a valve problem on the rocket.

The ULA posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the launch will not continue tonight. Its unclear when the next launch opportunity would be.

Dillon Rice, a United Launch Alliance engineer, explained that the issue involved an oxygen relief valve on the upper stage of the companys Atlas rocket.

In a situation like this, if we see any data signature is not something that we have seen before, then we are just simply not willing to take any chances with what is our most precious payload, Rice told the Associated Press.

Boeings Starliner crew hosts news conference ahead of launch

The long-awaited launch of the Boeing Starliner capsule, its first with a crew on board, to the International Space Station was set for 10:34 p.m. Monday after years of delays.

Two NASA test pilots  Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams  had just strapped into Boeings Starliner capsule when the countdown was halted.

There was no immediate word on when the team would try again to launch the test pilots to the International Space Station for a weeklong stay. It was the latest delay for Boeings first crew flight, on hold for years because of capsule trouble.

Starliners first test flight without a crew in 2019 failed to reach the space station and Boeing had to repeat the flight. Then the company encountered parachute issues and flammable tape.

NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX a decade ago to ferry astronauts to and from the space station after the shuttle program ended, paying the private companies billions of dollars. SpaceX has been in the orbital taxi business since 2020.

At the nearby Kennedy Space Center on Monday, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket topped with 23 Starlink communication satellites just after 12:30 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
Boeing is facing ten more safe and sound whistleblowers after two die suddenly

Beleaguered airline manufacturer Boeing faces at least ten more safe and sound whistleblowers after two men who had publicly spoken out against the troubled aerospace company died in recent weeks.

Joshua Dean, who worked as a quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, died last week, according to his family. The 45-year-old who had an active lifestyle and was believed to be in good health, passed away in the hospital following the onset of a fast-moving infection. He suffered from Influenza B and MRSA, and developed pneumonia, according to Fox59.

John Barnett, 62, a quality control engineer at Boeing for 32 years, was found dead at a hotel in March, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

There remain at least ten other Boeing whistleblowers out there, both former and current employees, who are safe and sound lawyers for both Dean and Barnett told The Independent.

Attorney Brian Knowles described the two men as heroes who wanted to help the company do better.

He told The Independent: What I dont want to see is, these two unfortunate circumstances, what happened with Josh or John, is to make them fearful to speak up. [But] there are other people out there... there are others.

In January, a door plug of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 travelling for Alaska Airlines blew off in mid-air, leading to the grounding of all 171 MAX 9 jets by the FAA and instigating an investigation (AP)

He added that he would not speculate on the multiple conspiracy theories being spread online surrounding the two mens deaths.

These men were heroes. So are all the whistleblowers. They loved the company and wanted to help the company do better, Mr Knowles previously told The New York Post. They didnt speak out to be aggravating or for fame. Theyre raising concerns because peoples lives are at stake.

It comes after a string of incidents related to Boeing over the past year. In January, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9s door plug blew off in mid-air, leading to the grounding of all 171 MAX 9 jets by the FAA and instigating an investigation.

On Monday the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) announced it had launched a new investigation into Boeing after the manufacturer voluntarily informed it that inspections of a number of its 787 Dreamliner models may not have been completed.

In a statement to NPR, the FAA said its also investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records. The agency also said Boeing is re-inspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet.

Mondays announcement comes in the wake of several previous Boeing controversies.

Four people came forward  including Dean and Barnett, alleged that corner-cutting in the manufacturing process of the MAX 9 was causing safety risks.

The death of Joshua Dean, 45, was announced last week. A former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, he previously went public with claims that the companys leadership ignored manufacturing defects in Boeings 737 MAX (Supplied)

Dave Calhoun, Boeing CEO, announced in March that he would step down at the end of the year while the company reported a $355m net loss for the first quarter of 2024.

Meanwhile, Deans family posted moving tributes to him on social media.

My handsome brother Joshua passed away this morning and is with our baby brother. I dont know how much more my family can take. I dont know how much more I can take honestly, his sister, Taylor Rae Roberts, wrote in a Facebook post.

He had gone public with claims that Spirits leadership ignored manufacturing defects in Boeings 737 MAX, in a complaint to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in December 2023, as part of a lawsuit filed against the company by shareholders in December 2023.

He told The Wall Street Journal in January that he had been fired in April 2023 for pointing out that holes in jet fuselages had been drilled incorrectly.

Barnett was found dead at a hotel in March in Charleston, South Carolina.

The former Boeing worker had alleged that the company intentionally used defective parts in its planes and warned that passengers on its 787 Dreamliner might face a lack of oxygen if a sudden decompression occurred.

John Barnett, 62, was found dead in a hotel room in March from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after beginning testimony in a lawsuit against Boeing (@Megatron_ron/Twitter)

He was found dead just days after beginning testimony into another lawsuit against Boeing.

Mr Knowles said Barnett had developed PTSD through working for the company, having faced push back against issues he had raised to his superiours.

That stuff weighed on him, Mr Knowles told The Independent.

When youre complaining up the chain about serious quality and safety issues you should be taken seriously, you dhouldnt be harassed for doing that. And he faced that constantly.

Thats a pretty heavy load to take on and then to raise issues and be told not to worry about it, to work in the grey area... there is no grey area.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
Dottie Fisher remembers how much her older brother loved to fish.

She said Bryan Keith Fisher's favorite spot was Erie's South Pier, a popular place for local anglers along the channel connecting Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie.

Fisher, 16 at the time, was believed to have been heading out to go fishing when he left his family's home in the 500 block of East Second Street on the afternoon of Feb. 23, 1983. He was last seen by one of his sisters at about 3 p.m. that day, Erie police Detective Sgt. Craig Stoker said.

Fisher never came home.

Rumors, tips and reports of possible sightings never panned out for the various Erie police officers who were assigned over the years to look into Fisher's whereabouts after his mother filed a missing persons complaint.

Bryan Keith Fisher, who was 16 when he disappeared in Erie in February 1983, remains a focus of Erie police as investigators work to resolve a number of missing persons cases in the city. The photo to the right is the most recent family photo of Fisher available, and the image on the left is a simulated, age-progressed image that was released in 2008, when Fisher would have been 41 years old.

Fisher's parents died, his father in 2001 and his mother in 2007, without ever knowing what happened to their son. His six siblings, most of whom still live in the Erie area, are also left without answers, said Dottie Fisher, the sixth-youngest of the children.

"It's hard; very, very hard. It's hard on all of us. We wish we knew, wish he was back. And it's horrible," she said.

The 41-year search for Fisher, now 58, is a focus for Stoker, the cold-case investigator for the Erie Bureau of Police. The case is the second-oldest of eight missing persons cases that Stoker is working on as part of his duties.

A fateful fishing trip

Fisher's case has traveled far beyond Erie.

His disappearance is among the cases featured on the websites of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, The DoeNetwork, and The Charley Project, among others. Fisher is described on some of the sites as being 5 feet 9 inches tall and 180 pounds at the time of his disappearance, with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Fisher has a scar between the middle and ring fingers of his right hand, a tattoo of a cross on his right arm, and a tattoo of a skull on his upper arm that may have been altered to the image of a rose, according to some of the information posted online.

Fisher was reportedly wearing jeans, a white T-shirt and a black leather jacket when he left home on Feb. 23, 1983, according to Stoker.

Dottie Fisher, who was 12 years old when her brother last left home, said she remembers little about the day of his disappearance other than that her parents were talking about it and that they filed a missing persons report with the police.

After the report was filed, police checked places Fisher was known to frequent, including fishing spots, an arcade that was on State Street at the time, and the old grain elevators along the bayfront where Fisher and other kids were known to hang out, Stoker said. A number of Fisher's friends were also interviewed, he said.

Fisher's parents, who owned a restaurant that was on East Avenue, told the Erie Times-News in a story published in November 1983 that some boys had passed along a rumor that someone was out to get Fisher and he left town. Fisher's father said in the article he believed his son left town because somebody would have seen him if he was still in town.

The parents also reported in the article that someone reported seeing Fisher a day or two after he left home, at a grocery store with a person described as a tall, tough-looking character with long hair.

One rumor that Erie police followed up on, according to Stoker, was that Fisher was possibly seen in Corry with a woman. Fisher's mother mentioned that sighting in a follow-up interview with the Erie Times-News that ran in February 1984. The mother also mentioned a rumor that her son was seen in a waiting room at UPMC Hamot a few days after he disappeared.

More recently, Erie police were contacted a few years ago from a person who had seen an artist's rendering of a person whose skeletal remains were found in Indiana, and thought the person might look like Fisher. The remains were eventually determined to be those of someone else, Stoker said.

An ongoing investigation

Among the Erie police officers who would work Fisher's case over the years was Police Chief Dan Spizarny, who was an insurance fraud investigator for the department at the time and worked some cold cases. He said he looked into the case in his spare time, but he and other investigators never made much progress.

Spizarny said the case is being reviewed again by Stoker, and police are looking into a few things that have come up that they are now able to review.

"Every so often we look at it again to see what steps we can take, and we think we have another option we are going to try now," Spizarny said.

He did not reveal what that option is.

Stoker, as part of his ongoing efforts to solve the case, said he has touched base with private investigators who looked into Fisher's disappearance and has recently spoken to members of Fisher's family. Police have Fisher's DNA on file.

Dottie Fisher remembers her brother as fun, who would play with his siblings and do "all the stuff a brother would do."

Dottie Fisher said she believes someone hurt her brother.

She would eventually like to know what happened to him.

"It hurts all of us," she said. "We don't know if he's alive or dead."

Anyone with information that could help police in their investigation into Bryan Keith Fisher's disappearance is asked to contact Erie police Detective Sgt. Craig Stoker at 814-870-1506.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie police reexamine 41-year-old disappearance of 16-year-old boy
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Within the framework of Azerbaijan's chairmanship of COP29, experts of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conducted trainings on May 6-7 in Baku city with the participation of relevant state structures to support the preparation of the Biennial Transparency Report (BTR), which is the main component of the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) under the Paris Agreement, Trend reports.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the event, Yalchin Rafiyev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan and Chief Negotiator of COP29, emphasized that the submission of the Biennial Transparency Report by the participating states, including Azerbaijan, is one of the priorities of the COP29 Presidency. In this regard, he called on the relevant state structures of the country to contribute to the preparation of the Biennial Transparency Report as soon as possible.

During the two-day training, representatives of the UNFCCC Secretariat briefed participants on the main elements of ETFs, methods, procedures, and guidelines in this area, as well as the use of the new electronic software in the process of preparing the Biennial Transparency Report.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will change its name to Scouting America next year to reflect its pledge to inclusion, the organization announced Tuesday.

The new name will go into effect on Feb. 8, 2025, for the youth organizations 115th anniversary.

Though our name will be new, our mission remains unchanged: we are committed to teaching young people to be Prepared. For Life, Roger A. Krone, president and chief executive officer of Scouting America, said in a statement. This will be a simple but very important evolution as we seek to ensure that everyone feels welcome in Scouting.

The announcement was made on Tuesday at the Texas-based organizations annual meeting in Florida.

The change follows decades of turmoil for the youth organization, which agreed to a $2.4 billion bankruptcy settlement earlier this year in the wake of sexual abuse allegations from thousands of individuals.

More than 80,000 men filed claims against the organization, alleging they were abused as children by leaders across the nation. The BSA sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020 as it was named in an estimated 275 lawsuits.

The $2.46 billion bankruptcy reorganization plan began last year, despite a temporary pause earlier this year, and has allowed the organization to continue its programs while compensating the thousands of victims.

The organization previously faced scrutiny over its ban on gay members. In 1990, the Boy Scouts expelled James Dale, an Eagle Scout who had become an assistant scoutmaster, after learning he was the co-president of Rutgers Universitys gay and lesbian organization, The Associated Press reported.

He later sued the organization for discrimination but lost after the Supreme Court ruled the BSA could keep membership criteria excluding homosexual people, the news wire added.

The ban, while criticized by a number of institutions, received the support of several conservative groups and lasted until 2013, when the organization began allowing gay youth into its ranks. Two years later, the BSA ended its highly controversial blanket ban against openly gay men and women serving as adult leaders and employees of the organization.

In a major shift in 2017, the BSA began allowing transgender children who identify as boys to enroll in its boys-only programs. It also began allowing girls into the program. The girls were first accepted as Cub Scouts, the organizations program for children 7 to 10 years old, in 2018 and in 2019, the program began accepting girls ages 11 to 17 years old into its flagship program, Scouts BSA.

More than 1 million youth are currently involved in programs with the BSA, including more than 176,000 girls and young women across all programs, the organization said Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A federal three-judge panel has asked the Louisiana Legislature to draw yet another congressional map by June 3 or have the court produce "interim" boundaries to conduct the Nov. 5 election.

Tuesday's order comes after the court ruled the previous map drawn in January by the Legislature was unconstitutional because of an impermissible racial gerrymander used to create a second majority Black district among the state's six congressional seats.

The court's guidance didn't order that a second majority Black district be included in a new map. If the Legislature fails to draw a new map, the court said it would create one on June 4.

In its Tuesday order, the court also dismissed Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry's May 15 deadline she said is necessary to conduct next fall's election.

Attorney General Liz Murrill expressed frustration with the order and said the state will go over the panel's head to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Today, three federal judges who never spent a day running an election have ignored uncontradicted testimony that we need a map by May 15, and once again turned Louisianas Congressional elections upside down," Murrill said in a statement. "Thats on the tails of another federal judge, the 5th Circuit and the Supreme Court doing it in the last round of congressional elections.

"At a time when concerns about election integrity are higher than ever, this ruling threatens the ability of the secretary of state to conduct a stable and fair election in a presidential election year in Louisiana. We will be heading this week to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Louisiana lawmakers are currently in session until June 3, but it's unclear whether there is a bill filed that can be amended to draft a new congressional map.

Lawmakers also are considering legislation that would convene a constitutional convention during the final few weeks of the Regular Session.

Tom Stagg United States Court House in Shreveport on April 8, 2024.

At stake are the political careers of the incumbents and scope of representation for the state's Black voters.

The plaintiffs successfully challenged the map by attacking the new majority Black 6th Congressional District boundaries stretching from Baton Rouge to Lafayette to Alexandria to Shreveport as unconstitutional, arguing they they didn't meet traditional redistriction principles like compactness and preserving communities of interests.

The state contended additional factors drove the map, including the politics of protecting powerful incumbent Louisiana Republicans U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (4th District), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (1st District) and Julia Letlow (5th District), a member of the Appropriations Committee that controls the country's purse strings.

Doing so put Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, the current 6th District congressman, in peril by dismantling his boundaries in favor of a majority Black voter population.

U.S. Western District Judges Robert Summerhays and David Joseph, both nominated by President Trump, sided with the plaintiffs. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Carl Stewart, nominated by President Bill Clinton, dissented in the divided decision.

More: Here's what we know about the latest status of Louisiana's elusive congressional map

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.

This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Federal judges order Louisiana Legislature to draw new congressional map
TAMPA  On a Wednesday morning last month, a group of senior city staff and business leaders huddled with Mayor Jane Castor to discuss plans connecting Tampa and Orlando with high-speed rail.

The meeting came about six weeks after Florida lawmakers decided not to include a requested $50 million to spur rail expansion along Interstate 4. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis later said at a news conference that taxpayers wouldnt be on the hook to pay for construction by private operator Brightline.

Castor wanted an update on whats next.

Im excited by the progress thats being made to bring Brightline to Tampa, she later said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times. The stakeholders involved are committed to making this route a reality and to overcoming any challenges presented by an infrastructure project of this scale.

Among the attendees of the mid-April meeting, a familiar face: Bob Buckhorn, the two-term former Tampa mayor and Castors predecessor.

Bringing high-speed rail to Tampa is a topic near and dear to his heart, he recently told the Times, bemoaning the fact that more than a decade ago then-Gov. Rick Scott rejected over $2 billion in federal funding from the Obama administration to connect Tampa and Orlando by rail.

Now, were close to getting it done, he said, describing the April meeting as informational.

Buckhorn, who left office in 2019, is a vice president at public affairs group Shumaker Advisors Florida and accompanied Brightline leadership to the meeting.

Brightline is Shumakers client, Buckhorn said. The firm handles public affairs and communications for the train operator, he said.

Its pretty exciting. I wasnt sure I was going to live to see this, but Im confident now that its going to happen, he said. But its going to take time. Its a big, big, expensive project.

Station locations along the route have yet to be announced. Speculation points to a building owned by Hillsborough Community College in Ybor City as a frontrunner for the Tampa terminus.

Brightline declined to comment on that matter and the college didnt return a call from the Times.

We have an open dialogue with Tampa area leadership (and around the state) and Tampa is a major part of our immediate expansion plans, a Brightline spokesperson said in a written statement to the Times.

Meeting attendees have otherwise been mum on discussion details.

Brightline became the nations first private passenger rail to launch in a century when it started its 67-mile service between Miami and West Palm Beach in 2018. It launched with private backing and plans to develop commercial and residential hubs around its stations.

Service was extended to Orlando last year with much fanfare.

In November, Buckhorn and Castor both rode the connection from Miami to Orlando alongside dozens of other public and private sector leaders from the city and Hillsborough County.

Looking out the window as the train zoomed north through Central Florida farmland at up to 125 mph, Castor wasnt jealous, she said. But the experience did affirm that Tampa needed this yesterday.

She previously told the Times she expects the city to accommodate Brightline by the end of the decade.

The planned Tampa extension is expected to include stops at the Orange County Convention Center and South International Drive, according to Brightlines November report to bondholders.

Frequent riders of the existing South Florida route will soon experience some sticker shock. Right now commuters can buy 40 one-way tickets for $399 to all destinations between West Palm Beach and Miami. Beginning June 1, Brightline will offer packages of just 10 tickets, and are offering the first 10 for free. But after that, the cost of 40 tickets will more than triple to $1,400.

It has become increasingly difficult to accommodate all Guests as peak trains are reaching capacity, the company wrote on its website.

Last year, Tampa obtained a federal grant to launch an office dedicated to accelerating big transit projects. Among the priorities is transforming the area around what would be Brightlines Tampa station into an urban, walkable neighborhood, according to the citys grant application. The $25 million project is estimated to take three years.

During the most recent state legislative session, Rep. Karen Gonzalez Pittman and Sen. Jay Collins, both Republicans, asked for the $50 million to spur rail expansion between Orlando and Tampa along Interstate 4. The money, ultimately not included in the budget, would have been spent alongside a larger $2.4 billion road construction project that will add more than 14 miles of tolled express lanes from west of U.S. 27 in Polk County to east of State Road 536 in Orange County.

Gonzalez Pittman and Collins wrote in their requests that the Florida Department of Transportation  which would have been the direct beneficiary of the funds  should incorporate a modest scope of additional structure work into that road project to allow for the rail.

For the time being, those traveling from Orlando to Tampa have few options but to keep their fingers crossed that the interstate isnt clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Alejo Vidal-Quadras said Foreign Office were failing to take decisive action against the regime - THIERRY CHARLIER/AP

A Spanish politician who survived being shot in the face at close range by a suspected Iranian-linked assassin has said the West must stop appeasing Tehran.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, the co-founder of Spains Vox party, told The Telegraph that Britain needs to end all trade with the country, proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation and send urgent aid to the Iranian opposition.

Mr Vidal-Quadras, the former vice-president of the European Parliament, accused the Foreign Office of failing to take decisive action against the regime in order to keep lines of communication open.

On Nov 9 last year, Mr Vidal-Quadras was walking home from a healthy walk in the park when an assassin  who remains at large  called out: Hello, sir.

Alejo Vidal Quadras was shot and injured in the Nunez de Balboa street, Madrid on Nov 9 2023 - OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP

As he turned to reply, the gunman fired one bullet from a handgun, shattering the 78-year-olds jaw and narrowly missing his neck and brain.

I started bleeding a lot, there was a lot of blood on the floor, and then my consciousness started coming and going, he said, adding that his assailant sped off on a motorbike driven by an accomplice.

Then a gentleman that was passing by took off his jacket and put it against the wounds to stop them bleeding and within a few minutes the ambulance and the police arrived.

After reconstructive surgery and 16 days in hospital, Mr Vidal-Quadras  who was previously placed on a sanctions blacklist by Tehran in October 2022  was discharged with only slight blemishes on both cheeks to show for his narrow escape.

A total of five people have been arrested as part of the investigation into the shooting, including one British woman. They are yet to face trial.

The suspected gunman  a Tunisian resident of France with several previous convictions there  has not been caught.

Sasha Brooks Wong, 29, a daughter of a British businesswoman, is currently being held by Spanish police over the assassination attempt of Alejo Vidal-Quadras

Mr Vidal-Quadras has accused Iran of ordering the assassination because he is an outspoken opponent of the regime and supporter of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) committee, an exiled opposition group.

Maryam Rajavi, the NCRIs president, said in a video address to a meeting in Parliament on Tuesday that the attack showed that the clerical regime is a dangerous enemy of humanity.

Mr Vidal-Quadras said the reluctance of Western governments  including Britain  to cut all ties with Iran has emboldened the autocratic regime and is partly to blame for its attack on him.

In many foreign departments they believe there can be peace, they can negotiate, he said. Better an enemy that you can at least talk to than chaos.

But this policy of appeasement has failed. They are a mortal enemy. We have done very stupid things with these people.

They have a mentality where they always see appeasement, negotiation, constructive approach, as weakness. And then instead of appeasing them, they become more and more aggressive. They think, they want to negotiate, that means we can attack even stronger.

The veteran conservative politician said Britain, the United States and the European Union urgently need to start treating Iran as a pariah state.

He called for all diplomats to be recalled from the country, wide-ranging sanctions to be imposed and all imports and exports to cease to strangle them financially.

No diplomatic relations, no trade, nothing, he said, adding that the Iranian resistance and Iranian people should be sent financial aid and offered overt political and diplomatic support.

I have realised that the current policies are not only useless, but counter-productive, he said, calling on the IRGC to be proscribed a terrorist organisation. We have always taken the wrong way, trying to appease, trying to negotiate concessions.

He led the centre-Right Popular Party (PP) in Catalonia for five years until 1996, when he left the post after his disagreement to a deal between his party leader, Jose Maria Aznar, the then-prime minister, and a Catalan nationalist party.

Known for his opposition to Catalan separatism, he continued to serve as an MEP for the PP between 1999 and 2014 but then failed to retain his seat that year when he ran for Vox, which has since become Spains third-largest political force.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Brown agreed to vote on divestment and Columbia refused: what does it mean for colleges and how would it work?

A student at the University of Oregon sets up a sign that reads "Divest from death" as students set up a tent encampment at the university to protest the Israel-Hamas war on Monday, April 29, 2024 (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The Gaza campus protests on Brown University will come to an end, at least through the end of the school year, but not because police stormed student encampments and hauled out demonstrators in zip ties.

Brown has instead successfully negotiated an end to the protests by agreeing to hold a vote on a key issue driving the protests: divestment.

The university's corporate board agreed on Tuesday that it will hold a vote on whether or not it will divest its interest from Israel, a major victory for students protesting the ongoing war in Gaza.

In return, protesters will tear down their encampment, and have agreed not to restart protests during the school year.

The devastation and loss of life in the Middle East has prompted many to call for meaningful change, while also raising real issues about how best to accomplish this, Christina Paxson, the university's president, wrote in a statement. Brown has always prided itself on resolving differences through dialog, debate and listening to each other.

While the broader point of the protests has been to call attention to Israel's treatment of Palestinians since the 7 October Hamas terror attack, the more direct  and actionable  issue at the heart of the campus demonstrations has been a demand for colleges to stop spending money in ways that benefit Israel.

A student at the University of Oregon sets up a sign that reads Divest from death as students set up a tent encampment at the university to protest the Israel-Hamas war on Monday, April 29, 2024 (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Divestment

Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest, has been an oft repeated chant on the campus of Columbia University, where the latest round of student protests began in mid April.

Disclosure is obvious  the protesters want to know how the universities are spending their money, specifically with regard to money that benefits Israel.

Divestment is, essentially, the opposite of an investment. The students want their schools to stop pouring money into Israel, which they argue makes them complicit in the ongoing violence in Gaza.

Palestinian advocacy groups have called for divestment since at least 2005. Since then, BDS  boycott, divest, sanction  has been a common demand from advocates for Palestine.

Universities maintain endowments, which are funds they use to invest in stocks, bonds, and companies to help generate revenue.

Different student groups have different demands when it comes to divestment. At Brown, students agreed to end their protest so long as the university at least holds a vote on the matter. At Yale and Cornell, students have asked that their schools specifically divest any money that aids in weapon manufacturing.

At Columbia, students have made a more substantial ask; they want the school to stop using its $13.6bn endowment to invest in any company that does business with Israel. That includes major international powerhouses like Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon, according to CNN.

Pro-Palestianian protesters gather near a main gate at Columbia University in New York, Tuesday, April 30, 2024 (Copyright The Associated Press 2024)

What does divestment look like?

Columbia has actually divested in the interest of civil rights in the past; in the 1980s, students protesting apartheid South Africa successfully convinced the school to sell the majority of its stocks in companies connected to South Africa. That divestment included selling stock in Ford and Coca-Cola.

Nicholas Dirks, a former chancellor of the University of California, spoke with CNN and argued that university investments were more complicated today than in the 1980s, making divestment a tricky road to travel.

The economy is so global now that even if a university decided that they were going to instruct their dominant management groups to divest from Israel, it would be almost impossible to disentangle, he told CNN. Its not clear to me that its really possible to fully divest from companies that touch in some way a country with such close political and trade ties to the US."

Professor Todd Ely from the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado, Denver, said that divestments don't typically work to shift a company's behaviour, but it can work to draw significant attention to a cause.

"Divestment itself doesn't really influence the companies or the industries being targeted directly," he told NPR. "It's more the stigma created and drawing attention to the issue more broadly."

He agreed with the statement that modern university endowments are complex, and make divestment a complicated  though not impossible  endeavour. He pointed out that investments made through endowments are intended to go back to supporting students and providing financial aid.

"So it's a complex situation where calls to change the way these funds are invested by students and other interested parties do end up kind of in a circular way going back to support the students themselves," he said.

Chris Marsicano, an assistant professor of education studies at Davidson College, told PBS that the divestment movement against apartheid South Africa did not greatly affect its economy, but the "slow drip" of headlines about colleges dropping their support did put political pressure on the nation.

"So we're pretty sure that  from research, that divestment in South Africa didn't make a big economic impact, which shouldn't be a surprise, as universities weren't heavily invested in South Africa during the apartheid era," he said. "But the political pressure, the slow drip of headline after headline after headline announcing different colleges and universities divesting certainly put political pressure on the apartheid regime."

He said it appears that the Columbia protests have been successful in putting political pressure on Israel, pointing to the fact that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu felt the need to denounce the demonstrations.

"When we hear last week that Prime Minister Netanyahu specifically mentions campus protests in the United States, that lets us know that college students have captured the attention of key stakeholders for peace," he said.

US Police officers stand guard after clashes errupted on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) (AFP via Getty Images)

What are universities saying about divestment?

On 29 April, Columbia University president Nemat Minouche Shafik, said the school would not divest from Israel, and they are not the only school to balk at the students' demands.

The University of California also said it would not divest, claiming doing so "impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses," according to a statement.

American University in Washington DC also rejected divestment calls.

Such actions threaten academic freedom, the respectful free expression of ideas and views, and the values of inclusion and belonging that are central to our community, Sylvia Burwell, the president of American University, said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

At Yale, University President Peter Salovey said in a message that the school's Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility recommended against divestment, including divestment from certain military weapons manufacturers.

The University of Michigan rejected calls for divestment, noting that it has no direct investment with Israeli companies, and that only a fraction of a per cent of the universitys $18bn endowment was indirectly invested. The college justified its decision by referring to a 20-year-old policy that "shields the university's investments from political pressures."

Some colleges have been more amenable to discussing divestment.

Like Brown, protests at Northwestern Univeristy ended after the school agreed late on Monday to create an advisory committee on university investments.

Portland State University took a step toward divestment when it announced on 29 April that it would pause its gifts and grants from Boeing in response to protesters demands.

UC Riverside also agreed to examine its endowment fund.

The UC Riverside campus agreed to form a taskforce to examine whether the colleges endowment fund should be removed from the wider UC investment office in order to divest.

The University of Texas, Dallas, said it would also welcome the opportunity for open, respectful dialogue with student protesters on the issue, KERA reports.

According to US Department of Education data, approximately 100 US colleges have reported either gifts or contracts from Israel that total $375m over the last 20 years.
MADISON COUNTY, Ala (WHNT)  A national architecture, engineering and construction firm is taking applications for education microgrants in Madison County.

BRPH, an architecture, engineering and construction firm with offices across the country including Huntsville, announced that it will award six $1,000 grants to K-12 teachers who teach science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) in Madison County along with some counties in Georgia and Florida.

Jackson County set to return to Huntsville TV market in the fall

The $6,000 microgrant program is in honor of its 60th anniversary to both support educators and instill a passion for STEAM among elementary and secondary students.

BRPH has been providing architecture, design and engineering services for the education market throughout our 60-year history and were deeply invested in improving the lives of faculty, staff and students, said Janie McDermott, vice president, CHRO and principal, BRPH Companies, Inc. We are especially proud to support the hard-working teachers in the districts where we do business and to help inspire the next generation of STEAM scholars who will one day join us as architects, engineers and constructors.

Educators looking to receive the grant can fill out the application here and provide the following information:

A detailed description of the proposed project with a clear explanation of how the project relates to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics curriculum.

An explanation of how the proposed project will provide hands-on, immersive lesson(s) to inspire students interest in STEAM topics.

A detailed budget and timeline to explain how and when the funds will be spent, as well as the total number of students impacted. Educators may request any amount up to $1,000.

Recipients of the grant will be announced in mid-September.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHNT.com.
Bugging devices found in room where Polish government was scheduled to meet

Bugging devices were found in a room on May 7 that the Polish Council of Ministers were scheduled to meet in, said Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesperson for the Polish security service.

Over the last few months, authorities have arrested numerous individuals accused of spying on behalf of Russia inside Poland, Germany, Estonia, and Austria, raising questions about the extent of Russian intelligence activity inside Europe.

Poland is a key conduit for Western military equipment to reach Ukraine, and authorities have previously identified Russian spy networks attempting to disrupt the flow of military aid.

Dobrzynski said that the devices had been found and dismantled in a meeting room in Katowice.

The incident is still under investigation, he added.

The Polish media outlet Rzeczpospolita reported in October 2023 that a bugging device found in a car used by Polish President Andrzej Duda may have been planted by Russian security services.

Read also: Austria urges strengthened security in aftermath of spying scandal

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Bullard man sentenced to 10 years in prison for impersonating police officer

SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KETK)  A Bullard man accused of impersonating an officer pleaded guilty on Tuesday in the 7th District Court.

Human remains found off FM 346 East in Smith County, foul play suspected

Jason Fears was arrested in January 2023 after officials said he flashed red and blue lights and made a hand signal at someone to pull over in Chandler. The person Fears attempted to pull over, followed Fears into Tyler.

Mugshot of Jason Fears. Courtesy of the Smith County Jail.

Fears was pulled over in Tyler for speeding and when the Tyler police officer learned about the incident in Chandler, he was arrested and charged with impersonating a public servant.

Fears was sentenced to 10 years at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KETK.com | FOX51.com.
A school bus moves through a flooded street April 10, 2024, in Lake Charles when severe weather included three tornadoes in the area. (Photo courtesy of Corey Arvie)

LAKE CHARLES  The superintendent of Calcasieu Parish School Board announced his retirement Monday, following widespread criticism of his decision not to cancel school last month ahead of severe weather that included flooding and tornadoes.

Shannon Lafargue

Shannon Lafargue (Calcasieu Parish School Board photo)

In his retirement statement, Shannon Lafargue reflected on his 34-year career in education, expressing hope that he had positively affected the lives of those he had served.

I have been honored to serve side-by-side with great teachers, administrators, and staff, and I thank all those individuals who commit to this great profession we call education, Lafargue said.

The superintendents decision to keep schools open on April 10 has come under fire from parents, teachers, bus drivers and students at multiple school board meetings. Many questioned why Lafargue didnt cancel school when surrounding districts did.

At an April 30 special board meeting, Lafargue told the audience he took full responsibility for his decision, acknowledging a previous video statement on Facebook did not express his position as he had hoped.

The National Weather Service confirmed three separate tornadoes touched down in the Lake Charles area on the morning of April 10. They included an EF-2 tornado with winds up to 115 mph near McNeese State University, and two EF-1 twisters in Cameron Parish.

At that same meeting, School Board District 12 representative Russell Castille said he, Lafargue and all board members had discussed the April 10 expected weather conditions in a group text message after the state and surrounding parishes had announced closures. Those in the group text had asked Lafargue about Calcasieu also closing its schools.

After 9 oclock at some point, we received a text from our superintendent [that] said: We are open period, Castille said. What that meant to me was, Im large and in charge.

In a phone interview with the Illuminator, Castille declined to share the text messages, stating he had already deleted them.

Thats in the past, and weve moved on from there, Castille said. So I probably wouldnt have shared it anyway. Weve developed a delayed start program, and everybodys said their peace at this point.

The school board approved a delayed start policy at the April 30 meeting that would allowing school to begin as late as 10 a.m. when severe weather threatens.

Lafargue assumed the position of superintendent on July 1, 2022, having previously served as the districts chief operating officer and chief academic officer. His retirement is effective June 28. More details about the upcoming search process for the next superintendent will be provided soon, the Calcasieu Parish School Board said.

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The post Calcasieu school superintendent resigns following severe weather flap appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator.
California breaks tourism record. But has the Golden State fully come back from the pandemic?

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

TOURISTS ARE COMING BACK TO CALIFORNIA. MOSTLY.

People are visiting California and spending money in record numbers, a sign that the pandemic-era slump is finally over.

According to data released by travel industry nonprofit Visit California, and collected by Dean Runyan Associates, the Golden States tourism economy generated $150.4 billion in travel spending for 2023, up from the previous record of $144.9 billion in 2019  the year before the COVID-19 pandemic led Gov. Gavin Newsom to lock everything down.

The report found that spending was 3.8% higher than in 2019, and 5.6% higher than in 2022, with spending exceeding 2019 levels in 34 out of Californias 58 counties. Meanwhile, three of Californias four international gateways  San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles Counties  were among those exceeding 2019 spending levels. The fourth gateway  San Francisco  was 97.2% recovered, according to the report.

California tourism is back where it belongs  setting records and providing for the workers, business owners and all Californians who depend on the travel industry as a cornerstone of our states economy, said Visit California CEO Caroline Beteta in a statement.

Visitors to California generated $12.7 billion in state and local tax revenue, up 3% from 2019. Tourism created nearly 65,000 new jobs last year, bringing the total industry employment up to 1.1 million, 98% of where things stood in 2019.

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown put more than half a million travel and hospitality workers out of work, according to Visit California.

The report found that international visitors spent $24.3 billion in California in 2023, up 38% from 2022 but down from the $28.6 billion peak in 2018.

Travelers from China and other parts of Asia have been slow to return after the pandemic, hindering full recovery from the international sector, according to Visit California.

The report can be viewed here.

ASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS CALL FOR CAMPUS PROTEST OVERSIGHT HEARING

Fresh off his call for stripping violent student protesters of their financial aid, Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, joined Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Central Valley, in calling on Assemblyman Avelino Valencia, D-Anaheim, to order a hearing of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Accountability and Oversight  which Valencia chairs  to discuss recent campus unrest and hear from university administrators.

Students have been protesting the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza at universities across the country, staging largely peaceful protest tent encampments. There have been a number of clashes, though, between both protesters and police and protesters and counter-protesters. Thousands of protesters have been arrested nationwide, including hundreds in California.

The letter said that violence and antisemitic attacks at UCLA and Cal Poly Humboldt is appalling and a shameful moment in our states history.

Students have been  and continue to be  harmed physically, mentally and emotionally. The universities are incurring substantial costs for clean-up, security and other expenses, the Republican lawmakers wrote in their letter.

Gallagher has been critical of university administrators for refusing to act to disperse the protesters in a timely fashion.

Taxpayers deserve to know how the protesters were able to take over parts of the college campuses, including how groups were able to occupy and deface UCLAs historic Royce Hall, the letter read.

The letter went on to state that taxpayers want  and deserve  to hear from university administrators about how these incidents played out and what plans are in place to prevent this disruption in the future.

Valencia has not publicly responded to the request by deadline.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Good morning. This is your reminder that arming our teachers will not solve Americas gun violence problem. Dont let the @GOP get away with this.

- Gov. Gavin Newsom, via X.

Best of The Bee:
This California city is the nations worst to drive in  it isnt L.A.

Americas worst city to drive in is located in the Golden State, but it might not be the city youre thinking of.

According to a recent study from Forbes Advisor, the worst city to drive in is Oakland.

The study evaluated 47 metro areas and took a number of factors into account, including driving experience, safety, cost of car ownership and access to car maintenance.

Oakland received the inauspicious top ranking for several reasons, including the high number of fatal crashes, high gas prices and long average commute times.

These are the worst places in California for truck traffic

The Town ranked second-worst for overall cost of car ownership and ninth overall for driving experience, which factors in commute distance and how much time is wasted in traffic.

Just across the bridge, The City, aka San Francisco, didnt fare much better.

San Francisco came in at No. 3 on the ranking of worst cities to drive in, driven, so to speak, by exceedingly slow commutes and the highest gas prices among all cities listed.

The entire Bay Area also ranked fourth in its rate of car thefts.

Los Angeles wound up in 11th on the list, with cost of car ownership the biggest contributing factor. Safety and overall driving experience were also on the wrong side of the equation, the study shows, but the city is rife with auto shops and other amenities that gives it a good score for access to car maintenance options.

Long Beach landed at 20th on the list with similar marks.

Americas worst traffic isnt in Los Angeles

Of the 47 cities researchers evaluated, five California cities were among the worst to drive in, but three found themselves among the best.

San Diego (6th), Fresno (9th) and Bakersfield (11th) all performed well in the study, particularly due to the overall driving experience. Fresno and Bakersfield, however, did not perform well under the safety category.

The best city to drive in, according to Forbes Advisor, is Raleigh, North Carolina, with good marks for safety and driving experience, but particularly for cost of vehicle ownership.

Forbes Advisor used information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the U.S. Census Bureau and American Automobile Association, among other sources, to compile its list.

To see the complete ranking and read more about the methodology used in the study, click here.

While driving in these metro areas might not be the most enjoyable, a previous study by Forbes Advisor found that some of the nations best drivers actually call those cities home.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
A pandemic program created to shelter Californias vulnerable homeless population during COVID-19 helped thousands of people stabilize and transition into housing, a new independent study has found.

Theres just one problem: the program was expensive and the federal government is backing out of reimbursing local governments hundreds of millions of dollars for it. The program no longer operates in Sacramento County.

The report also comes at a time when California is grappling with its homelessness strategy and a lack of data to determine what is most cost-effective.

More than 62,000 people received temporary housing under the states Project Roomkey, which was launched in April 2020. The program moved medically vulnerable people from the streets and congregant shelters into empty hotel and motel rooms in an effort to isolate them and reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19.

While it was not designed as a rehousing program, about one-third of participants transitioned into permanent or temporary housing after leaving, according to a study commissioned by the California Health Care Foundation and conducted by research firm Abt Global.

Another quarter of people temporarily sheltered under the program moved into other emergency shelters and 15% returned to unsheltered homelessness. Destinations for 18% of participants were unknown after they left, and 4% went to hospitals, substance use treatment facilities or other institutional settings.

Researchers gathered data for the study through surveys and interviews with counties and tribes that accepted Roomkey funding grants, as well as visits to five sites across the state, and final outcome assessments from participants in Los Angeles, Ventura and Tulare Counties.

Not only did Project Roomkey meet its original goal of saving the lives of people who were experiencing homelessness but the program enhanced how interim housing is designed and operated in some communities across California, the study concludes.

Researchers noted individual rooms gave participants privacy and allowed them to bring possessions and pets.

As a result, in some communities, (Roomkey) was able to bring people indoors who had previously been unwilling to use traditional, congregate shelters, said Nichole Fiore, the studys lead author.

Among the studys findings is that people who spent more time in the program were more likely to find their own permanent housing upon leaving and less likely to exit to homelessness. For example, of participants in Los Angeles County who participated in Roomkey for one month or less, 5.7% exited to their own housing. That number jumped to nearly 40% for people who stayed between six months and a year, and 50.7% for people who stayed 18 months or more.

This is likely because Roomkey gave people a chance to stabilize after periods of homelessness through housing, access to treatment and other benefits like rent subsidies and case managers, according to the report.

Longer lengths of stay in PRK accompanied by consistent, supportive services and available rental subsidies is key to creating a pathway to permanent housing, the study reads. It recommends exploring how the Roomkey model can be used to support a pathway to permanent housing for people whose need for intensive support is temporary.

Local governments ran the program expecting much of it to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but FEMA announced in October it would not cover stays longer than 20 days that began after June 11, 2021  the day the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its pandemic isolation and quarantine recommendation.

The rule change will cost counties an estimated $300 million. Sacramento County officials say the county is now on the hook for $8.9 million spent under the program, which cost a total of $50.9 million in the county.

The study included a number of policy recommendations, including continuing to leverage hotels, motels and the partnerships created under Roomkey. It also recommends investing in interim housing and service models that allow for longer-term stabilization periods.

Project Roomkey  which was stood up quickly during a global pandemic  shows how much we can move the needle when Federal, State, and local government agencies, Tribes, and the private sector all come together in support of a common goal, Scott Murray, a spokesperson for the California Department of Social Services, said in response to the study.

How Roomkey Started

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled Project Roomkey in early April 2020, weeks after declaring a state of emergency over COVID-19 and amid heightened fears of its transmission, particularly among vulnerable communities and people living in congregant settings.

In addition to shelter in a private room, participants often received two or three meals per day, COVID-19 testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) Many also had access to services like case management and behavioral and physical health treatment. Participants were not required to undergo any evaluations or treatment in order to stay at the sites.

At its peak, the state had more than 16,000 rooms under contract for Roomkey. It began to ramp down in 2021, though according to the study, a handful of communities were still operating at least one Roomkey site at the end of 2023. The program was billed as a public health response but it also provided contracts for hotels that were struggling with losses from travel cancellations.

While the program was first created to isolate homeless people who were older and medically vulnerable, it expanded as the pandemic wore on. After vaccines became readily available, the programs goals shifted from isolating people at greater risk from the coronavirus disease to a focus on rehousing and stabilization for the states homeless.

Meanwhile, the Newsom administration also began working on a related program, Homekey, which focuses on acquiring and converting hotels, motels and apartments into longer-term homes for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

The study comes amid renewed scrutiny over Californias homelessness strategy in the face of a looming budget deficit. A recent state audit found that despite more than $20 billion in spending over the past six years, Californias unsheltered population continues to rise. It also revealed a lack of data collection and sharing across state agencies, which makes it difficult to determine which programs are cost-effective.

Researchers with Abt Global also had challenges collecting data for their evaluation of Project Roomkey and recommended better data sharing across state agencies.

To further understand the homelessness crisis across the state and evaluate what is working well, we need to understand how people are interacting with the many public systems, programs, and benefits; which combination of programs and benefits are best at preventing and resolving homelessness; and who is most at risk for homelessness, the studys recommendation reads.
California groundwater levels rose in 2023 for the first time in 4 years

Last winters unusual onslaught of rain and snow led to Californias first increase in groundwater levels in four years, state officials reported Monday.

The 2023 water year  which spanned from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023  brought a welcome 4.1 million acre-feet of managed groundwater recharge and a total rise in groundwater storage of 8.7 million acre-feet, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

Managed groundwater recharge involves purposefully replenishing supplies by injecting excess water into an aquifer. The 4.1 million acre-feet recharge volume was equivalent to the entire storage capacity of Shasta Lake, the largest above-ground reservoir in California.

California is invested in preparing for weather extremes by maximizing the wet years to store as much water as possible in preparation for the dry years, said Paul Gosselin, deputy director of sustainable water management for the Department of Water Resources, in a statement.

Of the total recharge amount, 93 percent  or 3.8 million acre-feet  occurred in the agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley, according to the report. For reference, the average American household uses about 1 acre-foot of water each year.

Over the course of the 2023 water year, the state extracted 9.5 million acre-feet of groundwater, a sharp contrast to the 17 million acre-feet withdrawn the previous water year, the report noted.

Gosselin credited the impressive recharge numbers in 2023 to the proactive work undertaken by local and state agencies, while also warning Californians to avoid becoming complacent.

We must do more to be prepared to capture and store water when the wet years come, he added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
California is hiring for these state jobs, offering some remote work. See whats available

Searching for remote work opportunities in California?

The state of California is hiring for positions in May for the departments of social services, air resources, emergency services and more.

State jobs are known for offering competitive benefits and enrollment in the nations largest state public pension plan. Many of the following jobs have specific requirements  which are linked below.

Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration announced plans in April that could require state employees to work in-office for a minimum of two days per week starting this summer.

As of Tuesday, May 7, here are the latest state jobs offering some remote or hybrid work on the CalCareers website:

Child Welfare Workforce Development Manager | Permanent, full-time

Department: Social Services

Location: Sacramento County

Salary: $6,760 to $8,398 per month

The child welfare workforce development manager oversees a small team of analysts and handles tasks related to budgeting, leading projects and child and family services.

Hybrid work is available for eligible California residents. However, this position can require in-person attendance for meetings and training at the headquarters in Sacramento, with travel expenses being the employees responsibility.

If remote work ends, the employee must report to headquarters, according to the CalCareers website.

The application closes on May 14.

Disaster Assistance Programs Specialist I | Permanent, full-time

Department: Office of Emergency Services

Location: Orange County

Salary: $4,490 to $6,178 per month

The disaster assistance program specialist I is responsible for performing tasks related to federal and state disaster assistance within the department.

Tasks can include working with a variety of programs, including grants, public assistance and research analysis.

While this position is eligible for a hybrid work schedule with up to two days of remote work per week, additional in-office work days can be required.

The application will close once the position is filled.

Service Desk Analyst | Permanent, full-time

Department: Office of Legislative Counsel

Location: Sacramento County

Salary: $4,792 to $8,487 per month

The service desk analyst performs a variety of tasks within the department related to information technology, including providing technical phone support and fixing software issues on desktop computers.

This is a hybrid position, according to CalCareers. However, the number of in-office work days is not listed.

The application will close once the position is filled.

Methane Satellite Data User Needs and System Architecture Lead | Permanent, full-time

Department: State Air Resources Board

Location: Sacramento County

Salary: $5,633 to $10,903 per month

The methane satellite data user needs and system architecture lead is responsible for researching and analyzing satellite data to find and reduce methane and other air pollutants.

This position is eligible for a hybrid work schedule. However, applicants must live in California to report to headquarters in Sacramento, paying for their own travel expenses.

The application closes on May 17.

Project Coordinator | Permanent, full-time

Department: Social Services

Location: Sacramento County

Salary: $5,684 to $7,114 per month

The project coordinator will support and manage projects, relating to services for at-risk children and families, and supervise other team members.

Hybrid work is available for eligible California residents. However, this position can require in-person attendance for meetings and training at the headquarters in Sacramento, with travel expenses being the employees responsibility.

If remote work ends, the employee must report to headquarters, according to CalCareers.

The application closes on May 14.

Public Utilities Regulatory Analyst V | Permanent, full-time

Department: Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety

Location: Multiple locations

Salary: $9,078 to $11,362 per month

The public utilities regulatory analyst V will work on creating policies and implementing regulations related to reducing wildfires caused by utility circuits that are currently above ground.

This is a remote-centered position, according to CalCareers. When the employee is required to report to headquarters, they can report to the Sacramento, San Francisco or Los Angeles office.

The application closes on May 16.

Matrix Team Analyst | Permanent, full-time

Department: State Teachers Retirement System

Location: Yolo County

Salary: $3,640 to $5,916 per month

The matrix team analyst will support the Service Retirement Division by assisting with performance goals, reviewing forms for members, ensuring accurate data entry and scheduling appointments for members.

This position offers a hybrid work schedule, with three remote days and two days on-site at the headquarters in West Sacramento.

The application closes on May 13.

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.
A California skydiving instructor is about go to trial. Can his students death be mentioned?

A question looms over the upcoming trial of an instructor at a notorious skydiving center near Lodi: Will federal prosecutors be able to mention how one of his students died?

U.S. District Court Judge William Shubb has left that unresolved after recent hearings. He was sympathetic to arguments that the death not be mentioned but didnt rule out that prosecutors be allowed to bring it up.

Robert Pooley is charged with four counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. None of the charges address the fate of his student, Yong Kwon, who died during a 2016 jump with a tandem partner at the Parachute Center in Acampo.

The high-profile incident was just one of many fatal falls at the center over its decades in business.

Pooleys defense attorneys dont want the nature of Kwons death to be discussed at all. In court filings, and at the recent hearings, they have argued that mentioning those details to the jury could improperly harm Pooley.

Its a concern the judge acknowledged.

You cant escape the fact that it is prejudicial to the defendant to make even a suggestion that as a result of his conduct, a man was killed, Shubb told lead prosecutor Katherine Lydon last month, whom he accused of looking for an excuse to bring the information in at Pooleys trial.

Lydon said prosecutors wouldnt argue Pooley caused Kwons death, but they still want it to be mentioned.

They have recordings of Pooley referring to Kwons death in statements he made as part of an investigation into the incident, Lydon said during a hearing Monday.

In one, Pooley said he was the instructor of the man who died, said Mia Crager, one of his public defenders. She argued for that mention to be removed.

But Shubb said he would not force prosecutors to edit the recordings.

You cant prevent the government from putting in relevant evidence, he told Crager.

Shubb suggested a possible resolution to the issue at a hearing last month: Address the matter with potential jurors at the start of Pooleys trial, which is set to begin next week. The judge could advise them not to let it sway their views because prosecutors arent claiming that Pooley directly or indirectly led to Kwons death. If not, one of the jurors could bring it up during deliberations, and taint the jurys decision.

Thats the worst thing that could happen, Shubb said.

Pooleys defense attorneys did not agree to that approach. On Monday, the judge said he would evaluate the issue as it came up during the trial. He indicated that he could excuse potential jurors who are aware of the center.

He has, however, barred prosecutors from mentioning Kwons death during the cases opening statements.

Prosecutors allege that in 2016 Pooley falsely led skydiving students to believe they could obtain necessary certifications by completing tandem instructor courses he taught at the Parachute Center. Pooleys teaching credentials were suspended at the time and he couldnt certify students on his own.

He normally taught with another instructor. But when the other teacher left the country for a few months, prosecutors say Pooley led the courses by himself. During this time, he is accused of signing off on student training by using forms pre-filled with the other instructors signature.

One of those students was Kwon, a 25-year-old from South Korea. On Aug. 6, 2016, he led a tandem jump with 18-year-old Tyler Turner, who had gone to the center with friends.

During the jump, Kwon had issues with the main and reserve parachutes before he and Turner crashed into the ground. They are just two of at least 28 people who have died at the Parachute Center since 1985, an investigation by The Sacramento Bee found.

The stakes are high for Pooley. According to prosecutors, he faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the wire fraud counts and a mandatory two-year sentence for each count of aggravated identity theft.

The trial is scheduled to start May 15.
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia's former Prime Minister Hun Sen asked Myanmar's ruling general on Tuesday to allow him to speak to detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on a video call, a request he said the junta chief would consider.

Suu Kyi, the figurehead of Myanmar's struggle against military rule, was arrested during a 2021 coup and has since been sentenced to 27 years in prison for a multitude of offences her allies say she did not commit.

Hun Sen, who stepped down to make way for his son last year after nearly four decades in charge of Cambodia, spoke on Tuesday via video telephone call with Min Aung Hlaing, the general who led the coup against Suu Kyi's elected government.

In a post on his Facebook page that showed a picture of the two speaking on video, Hun Sen said Min Aung Hlaing agreed to give the request "high consideration". Cambodia would send a special envoy to Myanmar, Hun Sen added.

Hun Sen, now president of Cambodia's Senate, has no official mediation role in Myanmar's post-coup conflict and it was not immediately clear why he had sought access to Suu Kyi.

Myanmar's military government could not immediately be reached for comment.

It is not clear where Suu Kyi is being held and her family and lawyers say they have no access to her. The military maintains she has received due process.

Myanmar is locked in a civil war between the military on one side and, on the other, a loose alliance of established ethnic minority rebels and an armed resistance movement formed out of the junta's bloody crackdown on anti-coup protests.

The conflict is the biggest challenge facing the military since it first took power in the former British colony in 1962, with battles on several fronts to quell uprisings and stabilise an economy that has wilted since the coup.

The junta and an emboldened resistance face a critical window in the conflict, as rain-laden monsoon clouds are set to begin rolling across Myanmar around early June and swamp the frontlines.

(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, May 7. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad line constructionwill begin in October this year, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov said, Trend reports.

Zhaparov highlighted Kyrgyzstan's current logistical challenges, describing it as a "dead-end" state reliant on rail routes through Kazakhstan and Russia for international market access. He underscored that constructing a railway line would establish an independent transportation route for the country, opening up access to global markets.

In March, Zhaparov announced a consensus on the implementation mechanism for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project.

The government proposes to build a 311-kilometer railway line in Kyrgyzstan from Torugart to Kosh-Dobo, Kazarman, and Jalal-Abad for $4.7 billion. The design and survey institute of China Railway Construction Corporation created the feasibility study and the parties concluded the studies in July 2023, confirming the railway line's technical and economic viability.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Left to right are Daniel Grzych, his attorney John DeSimone, and the Rhode Island Board of Elections Campaign Finance Director, Ric Thornton, at the board's meeting on May 7, 2024. (Screenshot)

A perennial candidate for state and local office will be the first offender of state campaign finance requirements to have his fines reduced.

The Rhode Island Board of Elections on Tuesday voted 3-0 to slash financial penalties owed by former candidate Daniel Grzych by nearly 90%. Grzych, a Providence resident, ran unsuccessfully as an independent for seven state and local races spanning 2002 to 2014. He previously owed more than $71,000 in fines to the state elections board for submitting late the regular financial reports required during his time as a candidate.

Now, hell owe just $6,600  three times the amount he spent over the five campaigns during which he missed reporting deadlines. The boards decision Tuesday marks the first time using newly enacted regulation change giving the appointed elections panel more leeway to reduce fines for offenders. The rule change adopted in 2023 relies on a formula based on the number of violations to cap fines at a lower amount while letting the elections board close campaign finance accounts so fees dont keep accruing.

Under the formula included in the updated state rules, Grzych could have had his fine reduced to about $28,000, said Ric Thornton, the boards campaign finance director.

However, given Grzychs actual spending during his span of failed candidacies  amounting to $2,200, all of which was self-funded  Ray Marcaccio, the boards attorney suggested an even lower fine.

The purpose for the regulation is to make sure whatever we do by way of fine and penalty is proportional to the offense that occurred, Marcaccio said. The way the statute was written, a lot of these daily amounts continue to accrue almost exponentially.

Indeed, 93% of the $6.1 million in unpaid financial penalties for late or missing campaign reports as of September come from just 15% of the offenders, with many of the top violators unable to pay, or unreachable, according to data provided by Thornton. Grzych once held the dubious distinction of a spot in the top 10 list of violators with the largest outstanding fines, according to an Associated Press story in 2015. As of September 2023, Grzych dropped to the 25th ranking, though the amount of overdue penalties was unchanged.

In an only-in-Rhode Island moment, former Rep. John DeSimone, who defeated Grzych in the 2012 Democratic primary for the House District 5 seat, is now the attorney for his former political opponent. The pair appeared together before the Board of Elections to explain the circumstances that led to Grzychs late filings and subsequent lack of response to notices about his overdue payments.

He never had a sophisticated campaign, DeSimone said. As I recall, he had a dump truck that he put signs on and drove it around. That was the extent of his campaign.

Grzych also explained how personal health issues as well as responsibilities caring for ailing family members swallowed his attention over the ensuing 20 years, making him unaware of the overdue fines for late campaign finance reports, despite the many certified mail notices he was sent.

I dont want to say I was dumb, but I didnt know all the facts, Grzych, 71 said.  I lost track of a lot of things over the last 20-something years.

He never had a sophisticated campaign. As I recall, he had a dump truck that he put signs on and drove it around. That was the extent of his campaign.

 Former Rep. John DeSimone, attorney representing Daniel Grzych

He is also facing foreclosure for the Providence home he owns with two other people, after they stopped making payments on their $170,000 mortgage loan beginning in 2020, according to the complaint filed by HSBC Bank in June 2023 in Providence County Superior Court. As of Tuesday, $230,000 remains on the mortgage payment, though a pending agreement selling the property for $320,000 is expected to close soon, John DeSimone said.

The Rhode Island Board of Elections, which is named as a party of interest in the case because it has a lien on the property stemming from Grzychs outstanding fines, has spent more than $1,000 on court and legal fees as well as certified mail notifying Grzych of his outstanding fines, Thornton said.

Board member Louis DeSimone abstained from the vote due to the appearance of conflict of interest; he is John DeSimones first cousin, though he said they have no economic ties. Board members Diane Mederos, Randall Jackvony and Michael Connors were absent from the meeting.

Prior to the vote, the board also met behind closed doors for 45 minutes to discuss the foreclosure case, but did not take any votes shared during the public session.

The post Campaign finance offender lost seven bids for office but wins mercy from elections panel appeared first on Rhode Island Current.
State Rep. Adam Morgan shares a laugh with other members before the start of the Education and Public Works Full Committee meeting in Columbia, S.C. on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. (Travis Bell/STATEHOUSE CAROLINA)

A viral social media post. A letter from the governor. A contentious battle for S.C. Congressional District 4.

Are non-citizens in South Carolina receiving voter registration forms or declination forms?

Last week, allegations erupted over social media platform X that a state government office was responsible for giving a voter registration form to a non-citizen, both in person and then by mail. The persons family member who received the forms contacted S.C. state Rep. Adam Morgan, chair of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus and candidate for the Fourth Congressional District.

Within a week, Morgan had a series of viral posts, garnering more than 400,000 views, a letter from himself and South Carolina Freedom Caucus members ordering Governor Henry McMaster to investigate the office and a letter back from McMaster, urging Morgan to provide proof to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

This has led to a frenzy of accusations and finger pointing for whos responsible. Some are asking, whos the person? And is this really happening in South Carolina? Others are calling it a political stunt or campaign tactic.

Morgan, who is running against incumbent William Timmons in a heated race for Congress, initially posted a photo April 29 of a voter declination form on X along with a message about voter registration forms being given to non-citizens.

Is the Federal Gov giving voter registration forms to non-citizens, Morgans post read. Yes, at least in SC. A refugee sent us this form that was given to her in a packet at the Social Security Office in Spartanburg. She asked Why are they giving these to non-citizens?

Morgan updated the post in a thread to clarify that the form was given by the South Carolina Medicaid office, not the Social Security Office. The photo of the form, which he called a voter registration form, is actually a voter registration declination form, not filled out. The form can be found online and printed out. The forms are distributed to those who are receiving government assistance and asks if theyd like to vote.

The form doesnt ask if the person is a U.S. citizen.

He later posted that the agency also mailed more copies forms to them. None of this is by accident, Morgan tweeted.

In an interview with The State, Morgan said the non-citizen was from Ukraine and lives in Boiling Springs in Spartanburg County with her sister. When she had gone to the medicaid office, she was given the form, and she then gave it to her sister, confused about what to do with it.

If you read the form, it doesnt say, are you a citizen or not, it just says, do you want to register or not? Morgan said. So they thought they had to fill out the form and were confused by it.

Her sister mailed the form back to Health and Human Services Office, Morgan said, but at a later date, HHS mailed more copies of these forms to the non-citizen and her sister. Thats when the sister contacted Morgan.

Its really just bad for everyone, Morgan said. Its confusing for the refugees, leaving our system in a place where you have potential areas of abuse or fraud.

Morgan said the stories about policies for the offices are all over the place surrounding how these forms are sent or distributed.

Its very sketchy that they sent it multiple times, thats the part that doesnt pass the smell test, Morgan said.

HHS released a statement which said as the states Medicaid agency, the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is required by Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act Of 1993 to offer voter registration information. The statement went on to read that the office does not believe they should have a role in voter registration, but without the legal authority to make this change, they remain required by federal law to provide voter registration application forms with each Medicaid application.

SCDHHS does not process or submit voter registration forms for Medicaid applicants or members, the statement reads. Voter registration applications are processed, if appropriate, by the South Carolina Election Commission. SCDHHS is aware of reports circulating on social media that an individual who was applying for Medicaid coverage as a refugee was sent a South Carolina Election Commission voter registration declination form.

The statement includes that Morgan had not been in contact with Robert Kerr about the topic.

SCDHHS is investigating what has been reported on social media. The agency encourages anyone who believes voter registration information was inappropriately distributed by SCDHHS to contact the agencys fraud department at www.scdhhs.gov/fraud.

Morgan later posted a letter to X that he had sent to McMaster, where he and other Freedom Caucus members asked the governor to immediately order all state agencies to cease distributing voter registration forms to non-citizens, to update the forms to include a citizenship question as required by state law, and investigate HHS knowingly sending these to non-citizens, the X post read.

I think the governors office can do that since its their agency, Morgan told The State. Excited to see what happens from the investigation, the governors taking it seriously and make sure that we have as secure elections as possible.

McMaster responded within hours, and requested that Morgan provide SLED with any and all evidence, documents and information that he possesses.

The letter from McMaster ended with These are very serious allegations. The integrity of our elections is indeed a top concern. I ask that you give Chief [Mark] Keel your full and immediate consideration.

Morgan said Friday the family was meeting with SLED to discuss what had happened early next week.

You can ask SLED hey are you all meeting with a refugee family next week about this and theyll say yeah, its an ongoing investigation and thatll be proof that the refugee family exists and that were doing an investigation into it, Morgan said.

As of Monday SLED did not confirm there was an ongoing investigation. SLED provided a statement, SLED has received the Governors letter to Representative Adam Morgan and will review the allegations provided.

When asked by The State about proof, Morgan said the only thing that the family has showed him are the forms, and that the family was looking for the letterheads from the office that were sent to them. He said the proof is two people who saw the form and experienced the situation.

The election commission and HHS are trying to say oh no were required to do this and this is what were supposed to do even though thats now a one-eighty from when I talked to them the other day when they were saying No we dont send this out. And This wasnt supposed to happen, Morgan said in an interview Friday.

On X, not everyone was as convinced that Morgans story was true.

When your campaign stunt leads to SLED investigating you an X account that goes after the Freedom Caucus tweeted about the incident.

Chris Slick, a S.C. political strategist, tweeted Well, go ahead @SCFreedomCaucus cowboys. Cough up the name, @RepAdamMorgan, @evannewman_sc, @rpagesc, and @Jscottpace ?Who is the non-citizen? Where are they from? Tell us.

The fact that someone is saying were lying about it, were literally meeting with SLED next week, Morgan said to The State. SLED has already talked to the refugee family. Whatever clown is out there pushing that were doing an election stunt is just ludicrous and honestly obnoxious and everything wrong with politics.

At the end of his tweet April 29, Morgan wrote We are set to pass a bill prohibiting non-citizens from voting in SC elections! Stop this nonsense in your state!

Nearly two days later, the House passed legislation from the Senate prohibiting non-citizens from voting in elections at any level in South Carolina. Morgan attached this vote to the form issue.

Many said this was a non-issue, Morgans post on May 1 read. Then we discovered state agencies sending voter registration forms to non-citizens. These non-issues keep turning out to be major issues

However, the legislation was in the works before last weeks events.

It has nothing to do with what Adam Morgan did, Im a little frustrated they tried to make it about that, because, I dont appreciate something weve been working on for several months being hijacked in this intra-party fight over there in the House about the Freedom Caucus trying to politicize something that by the way, wouldnt have passed if Speaker Smith and the Republican leadership didnt push for it, Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, sponsor of the legislation that passed the House said.

Kimbrell said the legislation was designed to ensure what California, New York, Washington D.C., Vermont, other states have done would not happen in South Carolina, which is extending the right to non-citizens voting in municipal elections, mayoral races, school board races or others.

Certain jurisdictions and courts have found that every citizen is a floor not a ceiling, so were just saying only citizens would be able to vote, Kimbrell said. This has been going on for weeks. We worked really hard to get it through the Senate. To say it has anything to do with Rep. Morgans letter to the governor about the election commission is not true.

Kimbrell added that he doesnt believe the forms being distributed is an issue.

That form is attached to medicaid forms, Kimbrell said. I dont view that as an issue right now. Thats not what my amendment was about. My amendment was about preventing this from happening in the future. I think they took an opportunity to say look what we did.
In the spring of 1985, more than 100 Columbia University students blockaded Hamilton Hall for three weeks, protesting the universitys financial investments in South Africa. At the time, a school administrator stated that bringing police on campus to quash the student protest would be anathema to the university.

Anti-apartheid protests were commonplace then: More than 80 students at Princeton University blocked off that institutions main administrative building, Nassau Hall, shortly after the Columbia action. And the following year, students at UNC-Chapel Hill constructed an encampment on campus, calling for immediate and full divestiture of all of the Universitys funds from South Africa. Chapel Hills chancellor granted student protesters permission to construct a shantytown encampment mere minutes before a rally, and the university also agreed to let the encampment stand for nearly three weeks.

Protest is a traditional part of the fabric of campus lifeand if you spend much time scrutinizing university mission statements, you might get the impression that it is even an academic imperative. Yet its now difficult, if not impossible, to square that with the draconian response to the Gaza protests at over 50 colleges and universities across the country, which have resulted in more than 2,300 arrests or detainments. Though the P.R. departments at universities are fond of touting their schools rich histories of political demonstrations, and of alumni who made history through their activism, as Columbias Office of Public Affairs has put it, their deeds tell another story: Less than a day after Columbia students began occupying Hamilton Hall, in the early hours of April 30, University President Minouche Shafik urged the NYPD to clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments. Hundreds of officers entered campus, and more than a hundred students were arrested.

The show of force is so completely disproportionate, Nara Milanich, a professor of history at Barnard College, told The New Republic. Columbia amassed a force of police officers in full-on riot gear, some of whom are members of a counterterrorism unit, in order to remove several dozen 19-year-olds from a building.

The outsize response was hardly limited to Columbia. Rather than engaging with student concerns, accommodating their activism, and avoiding excessive legal or academic punishmentor even simply acknowledging students right to protest at alluniversities nationwide have responded with brute force: On April 30, less than a week after UNC-Chapel Hill students set up an encampment in front of the universitys administrative building, police detained 36 protesters, arrested six, and cleared out the encampment.

And less than six minutes after students at Princeton Universitywhich professes a commitment to prepare students for lives of service, civic engagement, and ethical leadershipstarted setting up a Gaza Solidarity Encampment, police arrested two of them. When student protesters occupied a university administrative building four days later, it took less than two hours for police to arrest an additional 11.

Such a response is a far cry from 1978, when Princetons dean personally spoke with protesters during a sit-in. Princeton abandoned litigation after the 1985 anti-apartheid protests; now, its administration has promised, it will not ask the prosecutor to drop any criminal charges brought against members of our community. Meanwhile, 17 Princeton undergraduates have commenced a hunger strike.





Juxtaposing the robust activism of the 1970s and 80s with todays protests underscores just how profoundly retrograde universities attitudes and actions have become. What were seeing here is the logical consequence of corporatization, of the sort of culture that emerges from administrative bloat, said Clifton Crais, a professor of history at Emory University who helped spearhead a vote of no confidence in the universitys president, Gregory Fenves, after police were called to end pro-Palestinian protests. (Seventy-five percent of faculty voted no confidence in Fenves.) You just have this chasm between the administration and everyone else, Crais told TNR.

Barnards Milanich sees recent university responses as part and parcel of a much broader story about the suppression of academic freedom, the suppression of expression. Milanich says that faculty and students have seen a steady erosion of the right to protest and really the right to expression in general on our campus.

Indeed, before issuing arrests and suspensions, many admins declared that current protests violate official university policy. But there were also violations of university policy in the protests of 1978 and in 1986. What has changed is not so much policy, nor protester tactics. Its that the schools have become less willing to accommodate activism itself.

Besides, many administrators have shown themselves indifferent to following their own policies, bringing in police in defiance of agreed-upon procedures. Emory University policy dictates that the only time you can call in the police is when there is a threat to life and the destruction of property, Crais, who helped author the schools policy on open expression, told TNR. And we simply have had neither of that.

To be sure, the repression of college protests is not without precedent. Last Saturday marked the fifty-fourth anniversary of the 1970 Kent State shootings, when National Guardsmen shot and killed four students protesting American involvement in the Vietnam Wara tragic reminder of what can happen when educational institutions squash nonviolent student action with sheer force.



But it would appear that the specter of actual mass violenceat the hands of the state, and not the studentsis absent from the memories of many current college administrators, not to mention law enforcement and politicians like House Speaker Mike Johnson, who suggested that the Columbia protests might be an appropriate time for the National Guard. (To date, President Joe Biden has condemned the idea of bringing in national forces.)

That hasnt stopped university admins from justifying their use of outside law enforcement in the name of safety. We must consider the safety of all of our students, faculty, and staff, wrote UNC-Chapel Hill interim Chancellor Lee Roberts and Provost Christopher Clemens in demanding the dispersal of the protest encampment. The takeover of Hamilton Hall and the continued encampments raise serious safety concerns, wrote Columbias Shafik in her letter inviting the NYPD on campus.

This rhetoric is deeply disingenuous: Police at Chapel Hill reportedly dislocated one protesters shoulder. Police at Columbia threw a protester down stone steps. Police at UT Austin pepper-sprayed students and detonated stun grenades. Police at Washington University in St. Louis arrested one demonstratora history professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsvilleso violently that he was hospitalized with broken ribs. Days after the Columbia police action, the NYPD admitted a sergeant accidentally fired his gun inside a building where protesters were being forcibly removed. This past weekend, police forcibly removed protesters from the commons at the University of Virginia by using chemical irritants. Such actions beg the question of exactly whose safety is of concern.

In fact, during the one instance when a police presence might, theoretically, have been helpfulwhen, that is, a group of around 200 counterprotesters began viciously beating UCLA students on April 30it took cops more than two hours to arrive to defuse the violence. When LAPD did show up, they shot students with rubber bullets.

The clarion calls for safety have been accompanied by those invoking consequences to the disruption of normal university functioning. The UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin P. Eltife stated on April 30 that any attempt to  disrupt UT operations will not be tolerated. Princeton University President Chris Eisgruber, citing the universitys free speech policy, wrote on April 25 that the University may reasonably regulate  expression to ensure that it does not disrupt the ordinary activities of the University.

Of course, this is a willful misunderstanding of the role of protest. An expression of political discontent that is not disruptive is called an email, or a petition, or a meeting. Protests are by necessity disruptive: They emerge when other forms of negotiation have been exhausted. (And students and faculty have, in fact, explored such avenues.)

The role of the administration is to defend the values of the university as a place for education, inquiry, teaching, learning, expression, and yes, even protest, Milanich said. And that is what the university administrators to my mind have completely ceded.

There have been [historically] other approaches than calling the police onto campus, Erik Gellman, a professor of history at UNC-Chapel Hill, told me. We even had a former chancellor who had committed to never inviting armed police or armed guards to suppress student free speech. Here at UNC, the recent actions of the interim Chancellor Roberts violated that commitment.

Not all administrators have forsaken their duty to protecting student expression. Wesleyan University adopted a tack that is as sane as it is, regrettably, exceptional. Although students who assembled a pro-Palestinian encampment are in violation of university rules, Wesleyans president, Michael S. Roth, wrote in a letter to the student body on April 29, the university will not attempt to clear the encampment so long as the protests remain nonviolent (and further explained his decision in an essay for The New Republic). And at Brown, university leaders agreed to discuss divestment from companies affiliated with the Israeli military in exchange for the dismantling of student encampments. Similar deals were struck between administrators and student protesters at Northwestern, Rutgers, and Evergreen State College.

Any college or university who plans on banning, suspending, or expelling students who were arrested on campus really needs to rethink that idea, Gellman said. That is just a complete violation of any kind of moral or ethical standard. The cases of Wesleyan and others underscore that an institutional response to disruption, discomfort, and inconvenience on campus that relies on negotiation and accommodation, rather than force, can in fact be successful. For schools to behave otherwise betrays the very values they profess to uphold.
(COLORADO SPRINGS)  Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) invites the community to attend its second annual Night of Hope CASA Goes Mardi Gras fundraiser on Saturday, June 1, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The event will occur at downtowns Phantom Canyon Brewing Company at 2 Pikes Peak Avenue. Tickets are $125 and include a Cajun-style buffet dinner with King Cake, drinks, and activities such as caricatures, face painting, mask making, games, a silent auction, and more. There will be a dance floor and live music from The Davenport Band. Tickets can be purchased here.

All proceeds from the event will go toward CASA programs which aim to improve the lives of abused and neglected children by providing citizen volunteers to advocate for them in the legal system.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX21 News Colorado.
Case of Salem woman struck, killed by DEA agent argued before US Court of Appeals

A memorial near High Street and Leslie Street SE, the intersection where 53-year-old Marganne Allen was struck by a DEA agent in a truck while she was riding her bicycle on March 28, 2023.

Attorneys for a Drug Enforcement Agency agent who struck and killed a Salem woman riding her bicycle in March 2023 argued Tuesday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that he had shown a plausible defense for immunity and should be allowed to continue, and seek dismissal of, his criminal case in federal court.

Attorneys with the Oregon Department of Justice, the agency that appealed a federal court's decision to remove the case from state court in light of the immunity defense, said the case should be returned to Marion County Circuit Court for trial.

Attorneys for DEA agent Samuel Landis argue that his work duties as a federal agent at the time of the crash make him eligible for immunity from prosecution, even though he may have broken state law.

Prosecutors say Landis acknowledged he ran a stop sign at High and Leslie streets SE and had no lights or siren on when he hit Marganne Allen while she was riding her bike home from work on March 28, 2023.

Allen, 53, died at nearby Salem Health hospital.

Landis, 38, did not face immediate charges, and the case was transferred from Salem Police to Keizer Police due to a potential conflict of interest. Months later, the Marion County District Attorney's Office charged Landis with criminally negligent homicide.

Landis' attorneys argue he is entitled to use the federal defense of immunity under the Supremacy Clause because he was actively surveilling a "dangerous fentanyl supplier" while on duty, and his case was taken out of local circuit court and into federal court.

The move allowed the agent to argue for law enforcement immunity as a possible defense. Federal law provides law enforcement officers with a potential criminal defense of immunity from prosecution. Such a defense does not exist under Oregon state law.

After U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane ruled the case would be heard in federal court, the Oregon Department of Justice appealed the decision.

DOJ attorneys said Landis failed to put forward evidence that his immunity defense was plausible.

The case then went to U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle.

Arguments on whether drug surveillance was urgent

Attorneys for Landis have argued there are instances when "breaking traffic laws is necessary for law enforcement to do their job; the failure to do so would render them 'ineffective.'"

In legal filings, the agent's attorney cited the case of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who ran a stop sign in southern California, killing three women and injuring two children.

In 2012, a U.S. District Court judge said federal law gave immunity from state prosecution to federal law enforcement officers accused of crimes committed in the course of their duties, according to reporting from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The judge said that even though the agent wasn't responding to an emergency when he killed the three women, punishing him could have a "chilling" effect on federal agents responding to actual emergencies.

The three manslaughter charges against the ICE agent were dropped.

Marion County prosecutors said Landis was not in danger or responding to an emergency at the time of the crash. There were no plans to arrest an individual being surveilled that day or to immediately stop a drug deal, prosecutors said. Other agents were ahead of him.

"(Landis) is not being prosecuted for carrying out his federal duties, rather, he is being prosecuted for driving his vehicle in a grossly negligent manner that resulted in the death of an individual," prosecutors said. "There is no meaningful connection between defendants federal duties and his conduct of running a stop sign and killing a cyclist."

memorial is set up near High Street and Leslie Street SE for 53-year-old Marganne Allen.

Both sides pointed to grand jury testimony supporting their cases during the Tuesday hearing.

Oregon Senior Assistant Attorney General Philip Thoennes said Landis's ability to rely on Supremacy Clause immunity hinges on whether his actions were necessary.

"The testimony at the grand jury was that there was no urgency and there was no hot pursuit," Thoennes said. "I want to make that clear for the court."

He argued for the case to return to state court because Landis failed to meet the factual requirement to prove he was entitled to an immunity defense. He did not use lights and sirens, and there was no urgency when Landis violated state law. He had not proven a plausible defense, Thoennes argued.

Landis' attorney, Amy Potter, countered that there is a plausible argument that Landis was acting reasonably.

"It was a mistake of judgment," Potter said. "We know that it was a tragedy that happened."

In hindsight, running the stop sign was the wrong decision, but Landis made a reasonable decision, knowing the "dangerousness of the fentanyl dealer" they were tailing, she added.

Potter said Landis had shown a plausible defense and the federal judge was correct in moving the case out of state court. She asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the case to continue in federal court, where she will argue for dismissal due to Landis's immunity.

Not a lot of case law exists on cases like Landis's, but the existing ones support allowing Landis to move forward with his defense, she added.

U.S. Court of Appeals Senior Judge M. Margaret McKeown said the state-submitted petition for a writ of mandamus of the district court's decision was "a high standard to overturn."

After hearing the arguments, the appeals court will review the case and return with an opinion. The case is paused in federal court until the appeals court reaches a decision.

The crash at the bottom of High Street hill

The crash occurred at the bottom of a hill as High Street transitions from downtown into the Bush's Pasture Park neighborhood. The intersection has a stop sign for those traveling eastbound on Leslie Street, like Landis. There is no stop sign for those traveling on High Street, like Allen.

Loved ones and neighbors who responded to the crash regularly add flowers and candles to a memorial at the site of the crash.

Allen's family posted a note at the crash site thanking neighbors for caring for Allen until an ambulance arrived and holding a vigil in her honor.

"Marganne was a kind and loving person that would have done the same for you," her family said in the note. "To us, this will always be a sacred place and you will always be our heroes."

Allen, a mother of two, was the program manager for Oregon's Agricultural Water Quality Resources department, according to state records.

She was remembered as an avid cyclist, high school water polo player and leader in the natural resources community.

For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodworth@statesmanjournal.com call 503-910-6616 or follow on Twitter at @wmwoodworth.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Appeals court hears case of Salem woman killed by DEA agent
Authorities are investigating the death of an inmate found with stab wounds Friday morning after an alleged attack by two other inmates at a California prison in Lassen County.

The deadly stabbing, which occurred about 9:30 a.m. Friday at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, is being investigated as a homicide, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Monday in a news release.

State prison officials said inmates John Patch and Zachary Harris allegedly attacked fellow inmate Scott Cook. Investigators recovered two inmate-manufactured weapons at the crime scene.

Prison staff responded to the reported attack and found Cook with multiple stab wounds, CDCR said in the news release. Authorities performed life-saving measures on Cook, before he was taken to the triage and treatment area. Medical staff pronounced Cook dead about 20 minutes after the attack. No other injuries were reported.

Cook, 49, was serving a sentence of life without parole for a San Bernardino County conviction of first-degree murder, carjacking, kidnapping and grand theft, with an enhancement for using a gun in the crime, CDCR said. Cook had been in state prison custody since Nov. 16, 2000.

Cook also was sentenced in Kern County to 16 years and eight months in prison for assault by prisoner with a deadly weapon or force likely to cause great bodily injury, and possessing a manufactured of deadly weapon by prisoner, state prison officials said.

Harris, 36, and Patch, 30, have been moved to restricted housing during the homicide investigation, CDCR said. Prison staff has limited movement of inmates on the yard to facilitate the investigation by the prisons Investigative Services Unit and the Lassen County District Attorneys Office. The Office of the Inspector General was notified, and the Lassen County Coroner will determine Cooks official cause of death.

Harris is serving a sentence of 24 years and eight months in prison for a San Diego County conviction of second-degree attempted murder with the use of a gun, the manufacture, sale or possession of a short-barrel shotgun or rifle, evading or attempt to evade a peace officer while driving recklessly, first-degree burglary and assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, CDCR said.

He has been in state prison custody since July 21, 2021. Harris also was sentenced in Kern County to 11 years for assault by prisoner with means of force likely to cause great bodily injury.

Patch is serving a sentence of life with a chance of parole for a San Diego County conviction of second-degree murder with the use of dangerous or deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon that inflicted great bodily injury to cause a victim to become comatose or suffer paralysis and assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, CDCR said. Patch has been in state prison custody since Dec. 21, 2022.

High Desert State Prison houses about 2,500 minimum-, medium- and maximum-custody inmates.
A Chamblee police officer has been arrested and is facing child pornography charges.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation charged Ray Collar, 48, of Paulding County, with two counts of distribution of child sexual abuse material on Monday, May 6.

The Chamblee Police Department said in a statement that Collar was immediately relieved of duty pending the outcome of the investigation.

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

The GBIs child exploitation and computer crimes unit began an investigation into Collars online activity after receiving a cyber tipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about the possible online possession and distribution of child pornography by Collar.

The GBIs investigation was conducted with the cooperation of the Chamblee Police Department.

GBI agents and deputies with the Paulding County Sheriffs Office served a search warrant on Collars home.

The Chamblee Police Department issued the following statement:

The Chamblee Police Department (CPD) has been notified of criminal charges pending against one of its employees. The Department has cooperated with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation during the investigation and immediately relieved the employee of duty pending the outcome of the investigation. The CPD is troubled by these allegations. We will continue to monitor the progress of this investigation.

TRENDING STORIES:

Anyone with information about other cases of child exploitation is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Unit at 404-270-8870 or report via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTipline at CyberTipline.org.

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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IN OTHER NEWS:
URBANA, Ill. (WCIA)  A Champaign woman was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of meth.

35-year-old Malaia A. Turner was found to have colluded with several people to take large amounts of crystal meth from Illinoisan and Californian suppliers to Central Illinois. The drug was then distributed to people in Champaign, Coles, and Edgar Counties in exchange for money.

Crime Stoppers looking for suspect in Urbana property damage case

Turner has been in the custody of the United States Fire Marshal since her arrest in August 2022. She was convicted by a federal grand jury on Friday after four days of court hearings. Turners sentencing is set for September 23 in Urbana, where she faces statutory penalties of 10 years to life in prison, a fine up to $10 million, and at least five years of supervised release following her prison term.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations Springfield Field Office, the Illinois State Polices East Central Illinois Task Force, and the United States Postal Inspection Service investigated Turners case as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation. The OCDETF aims to take down the countrys highest-level criminals and their organizations.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCIA.com.
In the fall, Gov. Bill Lee excitedly announced a sweeping voucher proposal, the Education Freedom Scholarship Act, which would provide $7,075 in state funds to 20,000 students looking to attend a private school in the 2024-25 school year.

Lee championed the proposal for months, but as time passed, it ran into hurdles. The Tennessee Senate and House created dramatically different versions of the bill, and it faced staunch opposition from both urban and suburban school districts. Last month, a disappointed Lee announced that his voucher proposal didn't have a pathway forward in the 2024 legislative session.

Still, he emphasized that he would pursue the voucher proposal again next year. And on Tuesday, he reiterated that commitment at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, during a Q&A session.

'Entrenched thinking'

When asked if the uniform opposition from school districts would cause him to change his approach as he thought about vouchers going forward, he pushed back against critics of his proposal and asserted that its wanted by parents throughout the state.

Gov. Bill Lee and Jeff Kollath, executive director of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, walk through a Soul Train portion of the museum as Lee visits as part of the celebration for the passage of The ELVIS Act, short for the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, in Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

There will always be critics; there are always concerns whenever there is change to the status quo. Entrenched thinking is the status quo and changing that is hard, Lee said. But we've seen that parents far and wide across Tennessee, want to have better options, want to have options and choices for their kids. Why wouldn't we want to give a parent a choice for a child's education? Why wouldn't we want a child to have another option to succeed?

The governor was also asked what the proposal would look like next year  would he again pursue $7,075 for 20,000 students, or would he seek larger or smaller numbers?

Without getting into specifics, Lee said he thinks the actual legislation will be different, and that hell learn from what he saw and experienced with the proposal this year. His goal for education freedom, he explained, was that it be universal.

More: 'Weight on the balance:' What a Memphis family using Tennessee vouchers thinks

More: After Tennessee law, will Memphis-area schools allow guns in classroom? What they said

What that means is that every family in the state have access to a choice about where their kids go to school, he explained. All education institutions will rise in quality when that happens. And we should be committed to the best public, the best private, the best educational choices for all of our students.

Lees point about simultaneously having great best public schools and an expansive voucher program is one hes made before; and on Tuesday, he emphasized that, if the voucher bill passes next year, it will be enacted alongside the largest funding increases for public schools in the states history.

We can have the best public schools and give education freedom to parents at the same time, he said. We should not expect anything less than that.

What the school districts think

But his comments arent likely to assuage public education leaders, who derided the proposal and were relieved when it failed in the general assembly.

School district officials had expressed concern that the bill would ultimately harm public schools, despite Lees insistence that the program would be funded separately. Many also noted that it would send government funds to private schools, which werent beholden to the same state assessments and regulations as public ones. And others pointed out that students didnt necessarily perform better after switching to private schools using vouchers.

Jeff Kollath, executive director of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, and Gov. Bill Lee laugh as they speak about some of the memorabilia as Lee visits as part of the celebration for the passage of The ELVIS Act, short for the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, in Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

They also seem ready to again push back against the voucher proposal if and when it resurfaces. For example, when Lee revealed the bill was dead for the year, Arlington Community Schools Superintendent Jeff Mayo called it a small victory, but said public school advocates cannot stay silent this next year.

Even now, Governor Lee has publicly said hes making plans to revive the bill next legislative session, meaning he hasnt even taken a day to understand why his signature bill failed, he said in a statement last month. That tells me he doesnt care to listen to our concerns. The end game is to ultimately usher vouchers into Tennessee to fund private schools, despite the lackluster evidence that it will actually help students.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee talks about next voucher bill in Memphis
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Slovak transportation company Betamont considers the Central Asian region to be very promising for its activities, a member of the executive board of the Central European group of companies AZC Orbis Invest and majority shareholder representative of the Slovak company Betamont, Matej Sabol said, Trend reports.

He made the remark on the sidelines of the Azerbaijan-Slovak business forum.

Right now, we have projects in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. These projects are related to weight control on roads, which is one of our areas of activity. Although these projects are not large-scale, we already have a market presence in these countries. We are looking to expand our presence in every promising region, and Central Asian countries are promising for our company's operations, he said.

Sabol also noted that the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad project is currently underway in Central Asia.

We are not involved in this project at the moment, but it is part of the Middle Corridor. In conditions where transportation of goods through Russia from Asia to Europe is difficult, the Middle Corridor opens up additional opportunities for our company, he added.

To note, Betamont is a Slovakian technology company that specializes in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Road and rail transportation are the main areas of its research and development.

The Middle Corridor links the containerized rail freight networks of China and the European Union through Central Asia, the Caucasus, Turkiye, and Eastern European countries.

A multilateral multimodal transport infrastructure links ferry terminals on the Caspian and Black Seas with the railway systems of China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkiye, Ukraine, and Poland.

The middle corridor facilitates increased cargo traffic from China to Turkiye, as well as to European countries and vice versa.

A route train running along this corridor delivers cargo from China to Europe in an average of 2025 days, and this is one of the main advantages of this transport corridor.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
(WHTM) Pennsylvania filmmakers want the state to lure more productions to shoot here.

They came to the state capitol asking lawmakers to increase funding to Pennsylvanias film tax credit program from $100 million to $300 million. Film crews that spend at least 60% of their budget in Pennsylvania can get a 25% tax credit.

Movies made decades ago are still bringing tourists to Pennsylvania.

We still see who come to Philadelphia to make the Rocky Steps run part of their visit and the small diner where Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence sat in this building, Executive Director for Greater Philadelphia Film Office Sharon Pinkenson said. Silver Linings Playbook continues to have visitors that want to sit in the very same booth.

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Two projects filming this year in Pennsylvania are season three of Mayor of Kingstown starring Jeremy Renner in Pittsburgh and the movie Task  filming in the Philadelphia area with Mark Ruffalo.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.
An investigation into Social Security Administration overpayments by Cox Media Group and KFF Health News is now a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service.

This award, considered to be the most prestigious of Pulitzer prizes, is a historic achievement as CMG is the first local broadcast media company to be named a finalist for the honor.

Being a Pulitzer Prize finalist is strong validation for the value of our investments in local news and investigative journalism on a national level, said Marian Pittman, president of content for CMG. Were honored to be included among this elite group of journalists recognized today.

The coverage by eight CMG investigative teams, including 11 Investigates, KFF Health News and CMGs Washington News Bureau, details the system overpayment of vulnerable Americans by the Social Security Administration. Since the investigation began, policy changes have been implemented and the SSA announced internal changes, showing the profound influence journalism can have.

>> Local families told they owe thousands they dont have after Social Security overpayments

Through our coverage, WPXI reporter Amy Hudak brought you the stories of local families struggling to cope after they were told they owed thousands in overpayments. Our investigation also helped get Social Security benefits restored for a Pittsburgh veteran.

>>> 11 Investigates helps get Social Security benefits restored for veteran, Pittsburgh native

The investigation gained traction in the nations capital, with lawmakers demanding answers from the Social Security Administration and calls for congressional hearings. Eventually, officials took action and SSA made significant changes to how it handled overpayments.

>>> Major changes in how Social Security overpayments are handled, following 11 Investigates reporting

In 2023, the group investigative teams aired more than 100 news stories and distributed content nationwide, amplifying the impact of the investigation by reaching millions of people on air and online.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

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

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At least 1 dead in crash on Allegheny River Boulevard Plum woman declared legally insane after fathers stabbing death may never face trial, lawyer says Man accused of trying to shoot local pastor struggles with mental health, family says VIDEO: Heres what local experts are saying about new COVID-19 variants DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
TechCrunch

The dispute between WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg and hosting provider WP Engine continues, with Mullenweg announcing that WordPress is forking a plugin developed by WP Engine. Specifically, Advanced Custom Fields  a plugin making it easier for WordPress users to customize their edit screens  is being taken out of WP Engines hands and updated as a new plugin called Secure Custom Fields. The Advanced Custom Fields team responded on X, describing this as a situation where a plugin under active development has been unilaterally and forcibly taken away from its creator without consent, which it said has never happened in the 21 year history of WordPress.
Charlotte Water is planning for the future, and with as much growth as the Queen City has seen it means an increased need for clean water.

The city of Charlotte wants to increase the amount of water it transfers from the Catawba River Basin by about 30 million gallons per day, going from 33 million to 63 million.

ALSO READ >> EPA: Local water systems contain pollutants, toxic forever chemicals

The basin serves areas like Hickory, Albemarle, and communities in South Carolina, so officials from Charlotte are hosting public meetings in several spots to hear feedback and concerns from neighbors.

The first meeting took placed Wednesday evening in Hickory, with more scheduled in the coming weeks.

Growing

Hickory Mayor Hank Guess says theres a trend of growth in his area, but to keep it going, the community will rely on the Catawba River just like Charlotte.

Were going to have a need for that water the same as Charlotte has a need for that water, Guess told Channel 9s Michelle Alfini.

Both cities draw their water from the Catawba basin, but while all of Hickorys wastewater ends up back in the river, only the western part of Mecklenburg Countys wastewater makes it back into the Catawba.

Water that is used on the eastern side of Mecklenburg County wants to flow to the Rocky River Basin, said David Czerr with Charlotte Water.

Czerr says its an issue of gravity. Once the water makes it to the eastern side, it would have to be pumped back up to the Catawba River, which Czerr says is very costly and energy-intensive to do.

The Department of Environmental Quality issues licenses limiting how much cities can pull each day, and thats what Charlotte Water wants to see increased.

We will be refining that number and looking at what we actually need and what alternatives could offset, Czerr said.

He added that just because the request is up to 63 million gallons per day, it doesnt mean theyd actually transfer that much every day.

Our average day number is far, far less than that, Czerr said.

Meanwhile, community members who rely on the same water source want Charlotte to keep their needs in mind.

We dont think that if it was in reverse, we dont think Charlotte would allow us to do what theyre asking from us, Guess said.

Heres when and where the meetings are taking place:

Hickory - Wednesday, May 8, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Ridgeview Branch Library, 706 1st Street SW

Charlotte - Thursday, May 9, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Charlotte Water HQ, 4100 W Tyvola Road

Albemarle - Wednesday, May 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at EE Waddell Community Center Banquet Room, 621 Wall Street

Florence - TBD

Camden - TBD

(VIDEO: New report shows plans to clean up Catawba river)
Our ferry system is still overwhelmed. Over 3,500 canceled sailings in 2023. A workforce shortage with a silver tsunami approaching as hundreds of WSF employees retire. An aging fleet that is facing a daunting $250 million backlog of maintenance.

I see it in the faces of frustrated ferry riders and hear it in their voices at my town halls.

Yet for all that, Im optimistic about the course were charting to get WSF back on track to be a world class ferry service once again.

Let me tell you why.

Greg Nance

We have strong new leadership

Last month Steve Nevey took the helm as head of WSF. Nevey is a career mariner with an impressive private sector track record. He has spent the last two years as director of marine operations at WSF and earned recognition from Gov. Inslee for innovative recruitment efforts.

Im optimistic that under Assistant Secretary Neveys leadership, we can face these challenging headwinds and right the ship. Crucially, hardworking WSF Crew are buying in.

Related: Gubernatorial candidates focus on fast ferries, diesel power and personnel to fix ferries

Were investing in our ferry workforce

Over half of canceled sailings have been attributable to staffing shortages. The incoming silver tsunami is an immense challenge and a once-a-generation opportunity to recruit the most skilled and diverse ferry workforce to take the helm.

The Legislature is investing over $12 million in this years budget for additional deck and engine crews. These investments help us staff up to restore reliable service.

Impactful grassroots leaders have stepped up too. Bremerton Ferry Coalition organizes a monthly crew appreciation ride to recognize and thank WSF staff.

Were funding our ferries

WSF is down to 15 operational vessels  far below the 26 we need for full service  and over $250M behind in deferred maintenance for vessel upkeep, risking the early retirement of boats.

At the capitol in Olympia, my top priority on the House Transportation Committee is building a bipartisan coalition to fund our ferries. We worked across the aisle to pass a budget that includes $80 million in new investments (and $1.3 billion total) to bolster vessel construction, maintenance, and workforce expansion. The ferry legislation I introduced had 27 co-sponsors, including leadership of both parties.

Weve allocated funding to build the next five ferries and to better maintain our fleet.The Climate Commitment Act unlocks nearly $200 million more in new ferry investments for vessel construction and terminal electrification.

Also by Rep. Nance: 3 policies we'll pursue in Olympia to help fix our state ferry system

Whats still needed?

These are good first steps but its vital we double down on smart investments to build our fleet and ferry workforce.

Accelerate recruiting efforts. Washingtons shop classes and technical programs are a pipeline to recruit promising oilers and engineers. We can establish the Puget Sound Naval Academy at Bremerton to inspire and train the next generation of mariners. Direct pathways at Naval Base Kitsap and Naval Station Everett will help recruit experienced sailors whove honorably served our nation.

Accelerate vessel procurement. New hybrid-electric ferries wont be ready for service until 2028 but we must act faster. We can restore reliable service before then by procuring leased vessels and empowering Kitsap Transit and other regional providers to bridge the gap wherever possible. Amidst WSF service disruptions, Kitsap Transit fast ferries have become a vital link for neighbors in Kingston and Bremerton. Im pleased that Senator Drew Hansen and I helped secure $4 million to fully fund these routes. This must be a recurring investment.

The biggest reason Im optimistic?

Ferry riders have stepped up and made our voices heard. I am grateful to folks who shared suggestions at one of the 7 Fix our Ferries town halls I hosted around Kitsap, to hardworking WSF crew whove shared their ideas for how the state can better support, and to neighbors for demanding action on the ferries.

Your voices and stories have helped us build this momentum and unlock new bipartisan investments. Weve made strong progress to start 2024 but we must keep pressing forward together.

Do you have an idea to improve ferry service? Please email me at Greg.Nance@leg.wa.gov.

Together, well Fix our Ferries.

Greg Nance (D-Kitsap) is a member of the Washington House of Representatives. A lifelong ferry rider, he serves on the House Transportation Committee and is Vice Chair of the Legislatures Maritime Caucus.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Legislator sees new leader, and plan to fix Washington State Ferries
As last weeks local election results were trickling in I started (because I know how to have a good time) jotting down a non-exhaustive list of all the ways in which the UK appears to be worse off than it was 14 years ago. The resultant catalogue was worryingly long, worryingly easy to write and worryingly hard to edit down into the space designated for this column.

Such an audit will inevitably err towards gloom-mongery, so three preemptive caveats.

First, the UK still has many tremendous assets and attributes. Second, theres no way to get a grip on these challenges without itemising and prioritising them. And, third, many of the following problems precede Tory rule.

But some are new, very few have improved since 2010, and most have got much, much worse. Combined they amount to a damning indictment of the Government and a reasonable explanation for why the electorate appears to have lost patience with the Conservative Party.

Potential solutions to these problems will, of course, be political. Just picking the order in which theyre tackled would likely incite furious debate. But, really, most are less in need of ideology than basic managerial competence. With that in mind, and in no particular order, heres the UKs to do list:

Planning. A project to build a road tunnel under the Thames Estuary has resulted in a planning application that is 359,000 pages long. Why? Too much bureaucracy is fostering a cant do attitude.

Productivity. Even the French are out-hustling us and they take most of the summer off. This is the root cause of our economic woes. Yet we dont even know why UK productivity growth is so low, much less what to do about it.

Potholes are the physical evidence of what systematic underinvestment does to a country - Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Potholes. Want to understand what systematic underinvestment does to the physical fabric of a nation? Take a drive.

The NHS. Quite simply the biggest policy conundrum in the UK. The public venerates the National Health Service but also knows its broken. Healthcare is the biggest item in the Governments budget and yet perpetually underfunded. Reform is vital and yet politicians lack the courage to take it on.

The stock market. UK plc now trades at such a deep discount to other countries that many companies are thinking about upping sticks and moving domicile or have become takeover targets. Or both. Westminster will never love the financial industry. But it needs to understand the City better.

Farming. Squeezed by low food prices and high costs, farmers are also left to deal with the transition from EU subsidies, more extreme weather and increasing environmental protections. At least they have Jeremy Clarkson to highlight their plight.

Pensions. Think weve got intergenerational inequality now? Just you wait. Almost nobody working today is saving enough to even scrape by in retirement. A policy catastrophe of epic proportions is unfolding in slow motion.

Welfare. The key is to strike the right balance between providing a reasonable safety net to catch those who encounter genuine bad luck while not bankrupting the state. The nations finances are tipping the wrong way.

Energy policy. Where to start? The total mismanagement of our North Sea riches perhaps? Or the squandering of our historical expertise in nuclear energy? Or closing down all our gas storage sites? The UK has got this so wrong in so many ways for so long that just untangling the mess will almost certainly mean we fail to take advantage of new technologies.

Tax. If you had a blank sheet of paper and wanted to invent a bewildering system full of weird thresholds and unintended disincentives youd be hard pressed to produce anything worse than the UKs Byzantine tax regime.

Housing. Were not building enough new homes and we havent been for some time [see Planning]. Instead were pushing up prices with policies that stoke demand. Plus, were demonising landlords. Its an awful combination.

Net zero. Might it still be possible to build consensus around achieving this target or is it such a blunt tool that its never going to work?

Airports. There are few areas in which the UKs global aspirations more clearly clash with its net zero goals. Heathrow has been the focus of this tension but plenty of airports in the country would like to expand. Will they be allowed to? Almost certainly not [see Planning].

Water. This is beginning to look like a case of privatisation gone wrong. Is Thames Water, which is drowning in debt and threatened by renationalisation, a special case or representative of a wider malaise? Can natural monopolies ever be run as businesses?

Universities. What happens when you cross the streams of austerity, immigration and culture wars? Nothing good  as the higher education sector, one of the UKs traditional strengths, is now finding out.

Railways. In most other countries, travelling by train is a low-cost, low-stress and low-carbon way to get around. Not so in the UK. This tends to be either blamed on unions or privatisation depending on your political inclination. But the issues run deeper than that.

Immigration. The British public broadly believes immigrants make a positive contribution. This country is good at making newcomers welcome and absorbing them into society. However, it has become an economic crutch and chaos at the borders threatens to undermine what should be a success story.

Industrial policy. Does the UK even have one? Should it?

Councils. Many are being driven to the point of collapse. For some its a lack of funding. For others its financial incompetence. Most are struggling to cope with an overwhelming increase in demand for their services.

Brexit. Whether youre pro or anti, surely we can all agree that arguing obsessively about one topic to the exclusion of almost everything else for eight years has created an enormous opportunity cost.

Short-termism. If you were looking for a theme connecting all the preceding issues it would surely be the UKs inability to plan properly [see Planning]. Most companies and investors struggle to look beyond the next quarterly results and politicians are seemingly unable to raise their sights beyond the next election.

Could now be the moment for that to change given the next one appears to be a foregone conclusion?

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Chemicals in car interiors may cause cancer  and theyre required by US law: Study

Tens of millions of Americans each day breathe in carcinogenic chemicals that are woven into the interiors of their cars, a new study has found.

While opening a window can help reduce the risk, only reforms can keep people safe, researchers wrote in a study in Environmental Science and Technology.

Approximately 124 million Americans commute each day, spending an average of an hour in their cars.

By federal law, the interior of these vehicles are required to contain flame retardants, or chemicals that make it harder for them to combust in a crash.

These chemicals have been a legally mandated part of modern cars since the 1970s, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) passed a law requiring their use.

Its arguable how effective this protection is.

Patrick Morrison, of the International Association of Firefighters, said in a statement on the study that these chemicals do little to prevent blazes  but instead simply make them smokier and more toxic.

What the study conclusively demonstrates is that any such protection comes at a price.

Virtually all cars investigated by Duke University researchers contained the chemical tris (1-chloro-isopropyl) phosphate, or TCIPP  which the U.S. National Toxicology Program is investigating as a potential carcinogen.

Most cars also had two other phosphate-based flame retardants that the state of California is investigating as potential carcinogens: Those chemicals are tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP) and tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP).

All three chemicals are linked to reproductive and neurological problems  particularly because they dont stay in the fabrics theyre woven into.

Flame retardant chemicals off-gas or leach from the seat and interior fabrics into the air,  especially in hot weather, when car interiors can reach 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

Advocates argue that the risks of these chemicals outweigh the benefits.

But health researchers have found that the average U.S. child has lost up to 5 IQ points from exposure to flame retardants in cars and furniture. And adults with the highest levels of flame retardants in their blood face a risk of death by cancer that is four times greater than those with the lowest levels, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Morrison, of the firefighters advocacy group, added that firefighters are concerned that flame retardants contribute to their very high cancer rates.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(Bloomberg) -- Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said Milwaukee and Chicagos police departments will do a officer swap to increase presence in both cities during their respective political conventions this summer.

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Were actually trading and working with the Milwaukee police, Pritzker said in an interview on Bloomberg Televisions Balance of Power on Monday. The Chicago Police are going to help at the Milwaukee Republican Convention this year, and the Milwaukee Police are coming to help us for our Democratic Convention here in Chicago.

A spokesperson for the city of Milwaukee confirmed that they will be sending about 75 officers in support of the DNC in Chicago. Spokespeople for the city of Chicago and the police department didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

Read more: Pritzker Not Worried About Repeat of 1968: Washington Edition

The comments came during Pritzkers discussion of security at the DNC, which Chicago is hosting this August. Pritzker said that the convention will have an extensive security apparatus that also includes the Secret Service, the FBI and the Illinois State Police. Milwaukee is hosting the Republican National Convention in July.

Sharing resources with Milwaukee makes a lot of sense given how close the two host cities are this year  less than 100 miles (161 kilometers) apart, he said. Pritzker added that the two police forces are both training for the conventions.

Protests are a normal part of a political convention and we expect them, Pritzker said.

--With assistance from Shruti Date Singh.

(Updates to add estimate of Milwaukee officers in third paragraph.)

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ASTANA, Kazakhstan, May 7. Vice Minister of Finance of Kazakhstan Dauren Kenbeil has discussed increasing investment volumes with representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Trend reports.

He spoke with bank representatives in Tbilisi, Georgia, as part of the 57th Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors.

During the meeting with ADB Vice President for South, Central, and West Asia Yingming Yang, the parties exchanged views on the implementation of a number of projects and increased financing in the private sector.

The parties noted that the adopted ADB Country Strategy for Kazakhstan for 20232027 will contribute to the effective implementation of the assigned tasks and ongoing economic reforms in Kazakhstan.

Furthermore, Kenbeil held meetings with Eugene Zhukov, the Director General of the ADB's Regional Department for Central and West Asia, and Justine Diokno-Sicat, the Executive Director of the ADB. At these meetings, the parties discussed implementing projects in Kazakhstan, including increasing the volume of investments.

To note, Kazakhstan joined the ADB in 1994. Since then, the ADB has allocated approximately $7 billion in the form of government and private sector loans, grants, and technical assistance.
KSP

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated how many arrests were made. There were 14 people charged while two were arrested.

Fourteen people were charged in connection with an alleged organized chicken-fighting event last weekend in Casey County, Kentucky State Police said.

State troopers responded to a call around 12 p.m., May 5, about the event happening at a property along KY-837 in Bethelridge, about 100 miles southeast of Louisville. Once they arrived, investigators found a caged area "with seating around it for spectators, several injured chickens, and a concessions area on the property," according to a news release by KSP.

Police noted in the release that Bethelridge residents Leo Harris, 59, and Christopher Harris, 39, were arrested and charged with cruelty to animals in the second degree and brought into custody at the Casey County Detention Center.

Twelve additional Kentucky residents were charged with cruelty to animals in the second degree:

Steven Wesley, 35, Science Hill

Tiffany Robinson, 35, Liberty

Brandon Mounce, 39, Lancaster

Randall Emerson, 49, Bethelridge

Kaleb Chansler, 33, Middleburg

Ronald Sharp, 47, Russell Springs

Dormas Bullock, 72, Eubank

Jeffrey Owens, 53, Stanford

David Bradshaw, 65, Bethelridge

Patrick Harris, 30, Liberty

Dakota Ford, 29, Salvisa

Janafer Denson, 39, Crab Orchard

According to KSP, the case remains open and is being investigated.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky chicken-fighting event results in 14 charged
Got lunch plans? Chicken chain to pay for 404 meals to support Jamaican restaurant destroyed by fire

A chicken restaurant chain is helping a popular Jamaican restaurant destroyed in a fire by paying for hundreds of meals.

Channel 2 Action News first reported on the fire at Dat Fire Jerk Chicken, a Jamaican restaurant off Northside Drive, last month.

Owner Jay John told Channel 2s Berndt Petersen that an accidental fire started in the restaurants smoke shack shortly before noon on April 20. He said they were in the middle of grilling food for the day when the fire started and got out of hand.

I was actually on the grill in the area when the fire took over, John said. And my first priority was to make sure everyone was safe.

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

Everyone got out safe, but the building was destroyed. John has vowed to rebuild and has been operating out of a food truck since the fire.

On Tuesday, Nandos PERi-PERi Chicken, a South African chicken restaurant expanding soon to metro Atlanta, will pay for 404 meals to support Dat Fire Jerk Chickens rebuilding efforts.

TRENDING STORIES:

We have had the opportunity to really explore the city of Atlanta several times over the past year as we gear up for our presence in the market, and we always leave feeling inspired by the culturally diverse and vibrant community, Nandos CEO John Fisher said.

The meals will be handed out Tuesday afternoon from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Nandos said if there are any meals left over, they will be donated to PAWkids, a nonprofit that supports and provides food and holistic resources to children and families in need.

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Less than 10 years ago, Chinas president Xi Jinping was in Britain on a state visit to mark the start of a golden friendship between the two nations. He even joined David Cameron, then prime minister, for a pint in a Buckinghamshire pub to seal the deal. It was to prove the high point of an intergovernmental relationship that has declined markedly ever since.

Now China is seen almost as a hostile state after launching a global campaign of cyberattacks on the Wests political systems and blacklisting parliamentarians. Sanctions have recently been imposed in response, but have been denounced as ineffective and feeble. The Americans are challenging China directly with trade constraints and have even threatened to cut off TikTok unless the Chinese company that owns it sells up.

But far from being a pariah, President Xi knows how to play countries against each other. He is in Paris for talks with Emmanuel Macron and the EU president Ursula von der Leyen. The French leader said he would be robust in his dealings with his Chinese counterpart, calling for a more balanced trading relationship.

But to President Xi, the fact he is back in Europe for the first time in five years, and the optics that will provide back in China, is what matters. The chances that he will give anything away are minuscule. China has been buying up the worlds gold, is beginning to dominate the electric car market  unfairly says the EU  and is supporting Russia in a war in Europe.

Mr Macron doubtless believes that keeping open lines of communication with Beijing is important and has laid on the best the French pomp and circumstance for their guest. But as Mr (now Lord) Cameron discovered in 2015, Mr Xis idea of a friendly relationship is entirely self-serving.

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(Bloomberg) -- China is likely using data from hacks of UK government institutions to build profiles of British military personnel and people in other sensitive roles as Beijing expands espionage against the US and its allies, government officials and cyber experts said.

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State-backed hackers obtained the names, bank account details and in some cases addresses of thousands of British soldiers, sailors and air force pilots in a cyberattack on the payroll system of Britains Ministry of Defence, Defense Secretary Grant Shapps told the House of Commons on Monday. He declined to attribute blame, but said the UK cannot rule out the involvement of another state. Government officials earlier Tuesday attributed it to China.

This sensitive information could aid China in mapping the UKs defense capabilities, as well as identifying potential targets for recruitment or coercion, said Federico Charosky, founder and chief executive officer of Edinburgh, Scotland-based cybersecurity firm Quorum Cyber. Personnel contained within the list will have access to classified information.

The breach  which Shapps said affects as many as 272,000 people  came just weeks after the UK government accused Chinese state actors of accessing the personal information of some 40 million voters by hacking an electoral database, as well as a separate 2021 hack against British parliamentarians. The US, Australia and New Zealand have accused Chinese state actors targeting public institutions with cyberattacks in recent years.

China on Tuesday rejected suggestions its involved. We strongly oppose such accusations, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said, describing them as completely fabricated and malicious slanders.

It had all the hallmarks of hybrid warfare, said Luke de Pulford, director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group which takes a hawkish stance on Beijing.

Charlie Parton, a former diplomat who worked nearly 40 years with the UK Foreign Office, mostly in China, said the incident fits the Chinese Communist Partys pattern of targeting military service members from the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance of the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The CCP has past form in attacking personnel data bases, the most egregious example being the hack of the US Office of Personnel Management, he said, referencing the 2015 hack of more than 22 million records on U.S. government employees, including their applications for security clearances.

China certainly sees the value in collecting treasure troves of personal data, which it will use to target military officers or civilian officials for intelligence approaches or further hacks to get at information, said Parton, now a fellow at the Council on Geostrategy and the Royal United Services Institute think thanks in London.

Shapps and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak both attributed the attack to a malign actor. The premier declined in a Sky News interview to blame it on China, saying more broadly that Britains policy to the Asian nation is very robust.

They are a country with fundamentally different values to ours, he said. Theyre acting in a way that is more authoritarian at home, assertive abroad.

The string of high-profile cybersecurity incidents which Western officials have blamed on China puts the spotlight on what Beijing is trying to do with the information its actors are accused of obtaining. British ministers have been keen to stress that each of the recent cyberattacks had seen only relatively low-level personal information compromised, downplaying the level of immediate threat to individuals.

Instead, Chinas strategy appears to be to use a series of hacks a mass intelligence collection exercise, piecing together information from different databases and cross-checking it with publicly available social media profiles to produce analyses of British national security personnel, government officials and experts said.

The information could be used to build a big picture of Ministry of Defense personnel, said Don Smith, vice president of threat research at the cybersecurity firm SecureWorks. Its about making sure you understand your enemy. Its got to be an objective for the Chinese state to understand the UKs political, economic and defensive positions.

Chinas motivations could vary from gaining a better understanding of Britains military and intelligence capabilities, to trying to track the movements of personnel, as well as identifying people Beijing could approach for espionage purposes, officials said. Some 20,000 Britons had been contacted by Chinese state actors on LinkedIn with the aim of obtaining government and business secrets, Ken McCallum, the head of Britains domestic spy agency MI5 said last year.

Greg Levesque, chief executive officer of Utah-based Strider Technologies, a company that mines public records in China for clues about IP theft, said Chinese intelligence services are amassing a global repository of data on foreigners thats being used to further Beijings strategic aims.

Government agencies in China are using those datasets to recruit scientists, corporate executives, and retired military or government personnel across the West, he said.

Fraud is another possible motive. The government was monitoring the dark web to see if the information by the hackers had been posted there for other criminals to access, government officials said.

Attention is also focusing on the role of third-party data services providers to government bodies, since the MoD payroll system was run by a private company. Shapps named the contractor that was hacked as SSCL, saying a security review is under way, and appropriate steps will be taken.

Understanding what steps third party providers take to safeguard information is a critical part of cyber risk management, said James Sullivan, cyber director at the Royal United Services Institute. This appears to be a weak link for the MoD on this occasion.

--With assistance from Ellen Milligan.

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(Bloomberg) -- China may soon release audio of a purported phone call with a Philippine military official that Beijing claims is evidence of an agreement over disputed territory in the South China Sea, according to Chinese officials.

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In the alleged Jan. 3 phone call, Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, head of the Philippine militarys Western Command, agrees to a new model in handling resupply missions to the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, according to a transcript provided by Chinese officials to Bloomberg News.

The transcript may be released to the public within days, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because they werent authorized to speak on the record.

The Chinese statements marked the latest in a war of words between China on the one side and the Philippines and the US on the other over disputed parts of the South China Sea. Tensions have escalated in recent months, with Chinese ships using water cannons to repeatedly blast Philippine vessels trying to supply troops stationed on the Sierra Madre, a marooned World War II-era ship in the Second Thomas Shoal.

The US and the Philippines have repeatedly disputed Beijings version of events in the South China Sea, while also accusing China of spreading misinformation.

Chinas Foreign Ministry has said in recent days that discussions on the new model were held this year with the Philippine militarys Western Command, and it had been approved by officials up the chain of command, including by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano. They both denied Beijings statements over the weekend.

The transcript of the purported call cited Carlos saying that Teodoro, Ano, and the chief of staff of the Armed Forces, General Romeo Brawner, had signed off on the agreement. The name of one Philippine official  listed ahead of the others  was redacted from the transcript. Chinese officials declined to identify that person.

Asked Tuesday about Chinas claims to have an audio of a phone call with Carlos, Teodoro said he didnt know anything about it.

No one except the president, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, is authorized to enter into any agreement regarding any international issue, Teodoro said by phone. I dont know where the Chinese are coming from.

Carlos didnt answer repeated calls to his mobile phone, which appeared to be turned off. The Philippine military said earlier on Tuesday that he filed for a leave of absence, adding that it wasnt connected to Chinas claim that the Western Command chief entered into an agreement with Beijing.

We cannot comment on this yet because we havent seen the transcript, Philippine military spokeswoman Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said in a mobile phone message Tuesday, when asked about the Chinese claims. And is the transcript authentic or is it fabricated? The telephone conversation might be a deep fake.

Brawner, who was also identified by Carlos in the transcript, didnt reply to messages seeking comment.

As we mentioned in our last statement Saturday, we have no more comment on this issue, National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Malaya said Tuesday via text message. CHN can go ahead for all we care.

The Chinese officials said the transcript covered two minutes of audio and declined to provide more information on what they said was a 12-minute call.

In the purported transcript, Carlos agrees to notify the Chinese two days in advance of any resupply missions and to transport only food, water and humanitarian goods to the Sierra Madre.

Both sides agreed to send one coast guard vessel and one civilian ship to each resupply, the officials said, adding that the Philippines had broken all three provisions of the deal.

China is publicizing the new model almost a month after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he was horrified to learn that his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte entered into a gentlemans agreement with China that effectively had the same terms, preventing Manila from bringing construction materials to the Sierra Madre.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said that only President Marcos can authorize agreements on the South China Sea. The DFA can confirm that no cabinet-level official of the administration has agreed to any Chinese proposal pertaining to the Ayungin Shoal, it said, using the local name for the Second Thomas Shoal.

--With assistance from Cliff Venzon.

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Workers hang on ropes to install a giant Chinese national flag on a skyscraper that is a symbolic gateway leading into the city from the airport, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May 4, 2024. Chinese leader Xi Jinping's visit to European ally Serbia on Tuesday falls on a symbolic date: the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during NATO's air war over Kosovo. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)  Chinese leader Xi Jinping's visit to European ally Serbia on Tuesday falls on a symbolic date: the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during NATO's air war over Kosovo.

U.S. jets dropped five bombs on the Chinese Embassy compound in the Serbian capital on May 7, 1999, setting it ablaze and killing three Chinese nationals. Twenty other people were injured in the bombing, which has burdened relations between the two powers ever since.

Xi referred to the bombing in an op-ed published in Serbias Politika newspaper on Tuesday, saying that we must not forget that 25 years ago today, NATO brazenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, according to translations carried by Chinese state media.

The Chinese people value peace but will never allow historical tragedies to happen again," Xi added.

The Western military alliance had launched the air war in March that year to force then Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to end a brutal onslaught against ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo.

The U.S. at the time apologized and said the embassy bombing was a mistake that happened due to faulty intelligence. The intended target, Washington said, was the headquarters of a Serbian state arms exporter located on the same street, a few blocks away.

Imagine that somebody would, even by accident, strike an American Embassy somewhere around the world. The reaction would be immediate, said Sven Biscop, a professor of European foreign and security policy at the Ghent University and Egmont Institute.

So for a country like China, it is also clear that this is a big thing," he added. "And, of course, it has not been forgotten.

Angry protesters in China stormed U.S. diplomatic installations as the bombing fueled anti-American sentiments and speculation that the attack was intentional rather than accidental. Mistrust over the incident has endured to this day.

We will probably never really conclusively know either way," Biscop said. But one thing is sure. In war, incidents like that do happen, and I usually tend to go for the most simple explanation rather than try to invent complicated theories.

While straining Beijing's relations with the U.S., the embassy bombing brought China and Serbia closer together. China has emerged as Serbias largest provider of foreign direct investment and its second-largest trading partner after the European Union.

Beijing opposed the NATO bombing campaign and has since backed Belgrade's bid to counter the Western-backed push for independence in Kosovo, a former Serbian province. In return, Serbia has been a loyal ally to Beijing and has opened its doors without restraint to billions of dollars of Chinese investment, even as it formally seeks EU membership.

"The friendship forged in blood between the peoples of China and Serbia has become the common memory of the two peoples and will inspire both sides to move forward together, Xi wrote. We are willing to work with our Serbian friends to stay true to our original aspirations, join hands in progress, write a new chapter in national development and revitalization, and build a China-Serbia community with a shared future for mankind in the new era.

Signs of pro-China sentiments were clearly visible ahead of Xi's visit on Tuesday and Wednesday. In Belgrade, a huge Chinese flag was placed on a skyscraper along a roadway leading into the city from the airport. Smaller Chinese and Serbian flags could be seen downtown and along a highway.

Serbia's air force MiG-29 jets escorted Xi's presidential plane to the Belgrade airport.

Xi arrived from France and will later travel to Hungary as part of his first European tour in five years.

He is expected to visit the site of the former embassy and pay his respects to the bombing victims. A Chinese cultural center now stands at the spot where the embassy was once located.

The sprawling complex reportedly includes a Confucius Institute, workshops, exhibitions, offices, residential space and a hotel. It is seen as a symbol of China's growing influence in Serbia and across Europe.

Near the institute, a group of visitors from China last weekend bowed in front of a simple black-marble monument and laid flowers in honor of the victims of the 1999 bombing. An inscription on the monument in both Chinese and English reads: Honor Martyrs, Cherish Peace.

___

Associated Press writers Sylvain Plazy in Brussels and Christopher Bodeen in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, reaffirmed their commitment to promoting a political settlement of the Iran nuclear issue, in a joint statement published by Chinese state media on Tuesday.

The leaders also called for the "concrete implementation" of a two-state solution in Israel and "condemned" Israel's policy of settlement-building in the West Bank.

Xi is on a two-day visit to France as part of his first trip in five years to Europe, where he has been pressed by European leaders on trade tensions and Ukraine.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Tom Hogue)
China's Xi to travel to the French Pyrenees and Serbia

French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend an official welcoming ceremony, at the hotel des Invalides. Loic Baratoux/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Chinese President Xi Jinping's trip to Europe is scheduled to include an excursion to the French Pyrenees mountain range on Tuesday.

The first day of talks in Paris focused on trade policy and Ukraine with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The Elysee Palace said a more personal aspect of the visit is planned for Tuesday.

Xi and Macron plan to arrive at the Col du Tourmalet, one of the highest paved mountain passes in the Pyrenees, at around 1 pm (1100 GMT) and have lunch together.

In the late afternoon, Xi plans to travel on to Belgrade, where he is to be the guest of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

The Balkan country maintains cordial relations with China, which is investing in infrastructure projects and industrial sites there.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend an official welcoming ceremony, at the hotel des Invalides. Loic Baratoux/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

French President Emmanuel Macron (L), European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (R), and China's President Xi Jinping (C) leave after attending a meeting at the Elysee presidential palace. Christophe Licoppe/European Commission/dpa
A man in the hospital dressed in dark clothes wields a knife in each hand

At least two people have been killed and another 21 injured in a knife attack in a hospital in Yunnan, southwest China.

The attack happened at a local hospital in Zhenxiong county at around 11.37am, when an as yet unnamed male suspect went on a rampage.

He has since been arrested, according to the state-run news site The Paper, but no motive has been given for the attacks.

According to investigations, the suspect is a male villager from Zhenxiong Countys Poji Town, said the Zhenxiong county police office in a statement posted on its official WeChat account.

Witnesses spoke of chaotic scenes as the morning attack unfolded.

Images published by The Paper appeared to show a man dressed in dark clothes wielding a knife in each hand.

One witness told Chinas Red Star News that he narrowly escaped the attack and that one or more doctors were among the injured.

Footage the witness recorded showed people bleeding and lying on the ground, with one older person trying to help another.

No motive identified

No details have been released about the identity of the injured. The police said they were receiving treatment and that investigations were ongoing.

Although guns are illegal in China, the country has been confronted by a series of mass stabbings in recent years.

In 2014, China was horrified by another mass stabbing carried out by a group of eight knife-wielding attackers at a train station in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, that killed 31 people and injured 141.

The Chinese government blamed Islamic extremists from the western region of Xinjiang for the assault.

Knife attacks have often occurred at kindergartens. Last July, a man with a knife killed six people and wounded one other at a kindergarten in Guangdong province in the countrys southeast.

A man who injured 15 people, six seriously, in a knife attack at a Shanghai hospital in 2022, was sentenced to death last year.

Zhenxiong county, situated in Yunnans northeast, borders Guizhou and Sichuan provinces and lies 220 miles northeast of Kunming. Until 2020, it was classified as being poverty stricken.

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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, May 7. Kyrgyzstan imported 1,676 tons of oil products from Uzbekistan from January through February 2024, which is 67.5 percent more than 1,000 tons in the corresponding months of 2023, Trend reports.

According to Kyrgyzstans State Statistical Committee, the value of the imports reached $871,849, an increase of 13.2 percent compared to $770,474 in JanuaryFebruary 2023.

Overall, Kyrgyzstan bought 95,661 tons of oil products from January through February 2024, which is 99.5 percent more than in the same period of 2023 (47,953 tons). The value of the imports amounted to $72.831 million, which is 69 percent more than in JanuaryFebruary 2023 ($43.088 million). Russia was the largest supplier, from which Kyrgyzstan bought 74,247 tons of oil products for $54.137 million.

Kyrgyzstan's foreign trade turnover totaled $2.255 billion in the first two months of 2024, which is 28.3 percent more than in the same period in 2023 ($1.758 billion). Exports totaled $307.5 million, increasing by 18.4 percent compared to JanuaryFebruary 2023 ($259.726 million). Imports amounted to $1.947 billion, growing by 30 percent, compared to $1.498 billion in the corresponding months of 2023.
Related video: Would you eat a cicada salad?

TOPEKA (KSNT)  Kansans will soon be hit with the calls of a notorious singing insect this summer as they emerge from their shells to mate.

Cicadas are a regular sight in Kansas each year, filling the air with their distinctive calls from the vantage point of trees. Many Kansas residents may be worried theyll be bombarded with the insects this year as part of the cicada-geddon tied to the expected emergence of trillions of cicadas from two distinct broods.

KSNT 27 News reached out to Raymond Cloyd, an entomologist with Kansas State University, to learn more about what Kansans can expect as the cicadas begin to appear.

Separate Broods

Cloyd said there are different kinds of cicadas in the wild. A common variety, dog-day cicadas, emerge on an annual basis from June to August. They get their name as they are typically most active during the dog-days of late summer.

A woman is holding Dog-day cicada (Tibicen canicularis) nymphal skins in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on August 14, 2023. Before a cicada becomes an adult and sheds its skin, it tries to find a plant to attach itself to with its claws. Often, their nymphal skin remains attached to a plant long after the cicada has hatched. (Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A dog-day cicada (Tibicen canicularis) is clinging to its nymphal exoskeleton after emerging from it in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on August 29, 2023. Before a cicada becomes an adult and sheds its skin, it is trying to find a plant to which it can attach itself with its claws. Often, their nymphal skin remains attached to a plant long after the cicada has hatched. (Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Woman holds a Dog-day cicada (Tibicen canicularis) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on August 18, 2021. (Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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These cicadas shouldnt be confused with periodical broods, a separate species, which appear after a long period of time has passed. The broods responsible for the cicada-geddon this year belong to this category and are from Brood 19 and 13. Cicadas in Brood 19 only come out once every 13 years while Brood 13 comes out once every 17 years. The last time both broods emerged at the same time occurred more than 200 years ago.

Will Kansas be hit with a cicada swarm in 2024?

Cloyd said Kansans can breathe easy this year as both Brood 19 and 13 will not impact the Sunflower State. Both broods will emerge this year around the same time in the following states, sparing Kansas from their presence:

Brood 19 Alabama Arkansas Georgia Iowa Illinois Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Missouri Mississippi North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Virginia

Brood 13 Iowa Illinois Indiana Michigan Wisconsin



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While neither of these broods are expected to impact Kansas, another might in the future. Cloyd said Kansas is home to brood four, another periodical type of cicada with a 17-year life-cycle, which last appeared in 2015 and wont come again until 2032.

Theres no need to panic, Cloyd said. Its nothing to worry about.

Whats with all the racket?

Cicadas can be quite noisy once theyre active, producing loud calls. Cloyd said the noise comes from males searching for females to mate with.

Males will start singing and luring females into areas where they mate, Cloyd said. The male dies and the female lays eggs in tree branches, then dies. Larvae will emerge, fall to the soil and start cycle all over again.

Both annual and periodical cicadas are similar in terms of their life-cycle. The insects serve as a food source for birds and can be slightly inconvenient to deal with due to their loud mating calls and tendency to run into people outside.

They wont bite you or sting you, theyll just hit you, Cloyd said.

When are free fishing days in Kansas for 2024?

For more Kansas Outdoors, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
AUSTIN (KXAN)  Conversations are happening now at the City of Austin about what happens when more than $188.5 million in federal pandemic relief funding runs out. More than half of that money is going toward addressing homelessness.

[That] included the investment in permanent supportive housing, were gonna see over 400 new permanent supportive housing units come online by the end of the year. It also included some strategic investment in rapid rehousing, Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said.

Austin budgeted more than $40M in ARPA funding for rapid rehousing, that money is going away

In 2021, President Joe Biden signed off on a massive amount of COVID-19 relief funding called the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that, in part, shoveled billions to state and local governments, including the City of Austin.

The roughly 30 programs the City of Austin said it would use that money for include rapid rehousing, funding homelessness service providers, affordable childcare and access to food.

Of the roughly $188.5 million the City of Austin got in that ARPA funding to do it, Austin has spent more than $105 million of it  roughly 55%  according to an annual expenditures report the city was required to submit to the federal government last week. KXAN received it through the Texas Public Information Act.

But the report also shows a significant amount of that money has been allocated already, though it may not be technically spent yet. In all, that document shows theres about $30 million left to be allocated.

City of Austin faces tough cuts when ARPA dollars run out, including homelessness services

Truth be told, theres not a lot of wiggle room here on how were able to allocate our federal dollars. In fact, were on a timeline on how were able to expend them and to ensure they are appropriately allocated, Fuentes said.

Governments are required to have all of their funds allocated by the end of this year and spent by the end of 2026 if they want to hang on to them.

When asked if city council members would require city staff to report back on how successful those programs end up being, Fuentes said they would. But she also said it could take some time, particularly when it comes to projects like permanent supportive housing.

Absolutely, its on us to ensure that we have a transparent and accountable system in place, Fuentes said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
In an inaugural ceremony at City Hall, the City of Jackson recognized the month of May as Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, celebrating the contributions and highlighting the history of the AAPI community.

Per the Federal Asian Pacific American Council, the national theme for May 2024 is "Advancing Leaders through Innovation."

Jackson Mayor Scott Conger presented the AAPI Heritage Month proclamation to Dr. Sandra Dee, a Jackson cardiologist and speaker at Friday's opening ceremony who described it as "a dream come true."

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"I think what is important or the takeaway message here is for people to understand what it is to be Asian-American living in this society," she said.

Jackson Mayor Scott Conger reads off a proclamation honoring AAPI month during the AAPI Heritage Month celebration inside Jackson City Hall on Friday, May 3, 2024.

Honoring AAPI heritage is amplified in May to commemorate the first Japanese immigrant's arrival in the U.S. in May 1843.

"The City of Jackson takes pride in its growing population of Asian-American and Pacific Islander citizens, who enrich our community and are instrumental in the future of our city," Conger said.

In what Dee noted as being a "momentous occasion" in representing her city, she walked attendees through a few of the defining moments of AAPI history.

Dr. Sandra Dee and Dr. Nivedita Prasanna talk as Nivedita gets ready to interview with media during the AAPI Heritage Month celebration inside Jackson City Hall on Friday, May 3, 2024.

"It's not all the glamour and the beauty that people hear about," she said. "What is important is to know why we are here, the struggles that we've faced as Asian-Americans, to remember what our forefathers did for us to have a better life here in the United States."

Dr. Nivedita Prasanna, West Tennessee Healthcare's 2024 Doctor of the Year Award recipient, performed a traditional Indian dance with a message that she says communicates the bestowment of good fortune to everyone in attendance.

Nearly every detail of Prasanna's outfit had symbolism, even down to the bindi.

Artist Jagruti Mehta poses alongside her artwork during the AAPI Heritage Month celebration inside Jackson City Hall on Friday, May 3, 2024.

"This bindi that I have on my forehead, this is supposed to be the wisdom that we all have in one another, and when I said namaste, it means the divinity in me salutes the divinity in you," she said.

Decorated in chains and bangles, she explained that the jewelry represents the principles of wealth and prosperity in Indian culture.

"I hope that people took away that, here in Jackson, we have such a beautiful fusion of so many cultures," Prasanna said.

Dr. Nivedita Prasanna performs a dance routine during the AAPI Heritage Month celebration inside Jackson City Hall on Friday, May 3, 2024.

"That was the whole point of the second song, which is that when our Indian culture combines with the American culture, such beauty arises from it in terms of how much more we can depict."

In Jackson, the month-long series of events are every Friday at 4 p.m. in the lobby of City Hall. There, community members can engage with artwork from local AAPI artists and enjoy various cultural performances.

Sarah Best is a reporter for The Jackson Sun. To support local journalism, subscribe to the Daily Briefing here.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Inaugural AAPI Heritage Month features weekly events in Jackson
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR)  Mayor Sherman Lea and Vice Mayor Joe Cobb joined Virginias First Lady Suzanne Youngkin to cut the ribbon on a new recovery home in Roanoke.

On May 7, the flagship Four Truths Recovery opened its doors for the first time in the Northwest area. The new recovery home sits on Staunton Avenue.

It is co-founded by Bradley Free Clinic`s Christine Wright, who has dedicated herself to serving the Roanoke Valley by showing firsthand knowledge.

She says hundreds of volunteer hours went into getting the home ready. The nonprofit supports eight residents at a time, with a six-month minimum commitment. Four Truths Recovery links its guests to employment, transportation, health care, mutual support meetings, and more.

Recover housing isnt just a place to stay, its a lifeline for those fighting addiction, said Mayor Lea. Its where people find support, structure, and the tools to rebuild their lives. Each person there has a story of strength and resilience.

Thats what Four Truths Recovery is all about.

Four Truths Recovery was established in January of 2024 with the mission to create a nurturing community of hope, healing, and resiliency.

Virginias Chief Medical Examiner says Roanoke City continues to have one of the highest overdose percentages in the state, its important that we wrap our arms around Roanoke, said First Lady Youngkin.

For more information, visit the Four Truths Recovery website.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFXRtv.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  The City of Memphis has filed a lawsuit against Serenity Towers and its owners. Attorneys representing the city of Memphis also filed a petition in Shelby County Environmental Court asking the court to declare Serenity Towers a public nuisance.

In the 55-page petition, prosecutors called the senior high rise a chronic nuisance and the site of numerous health and safety concerns.

The suit outlines citations, violations and problems long exposed by the WREG Investigators, such as the non-working elevators, an inadequate HVAC system, residents going without hot water, and living with bed bugs.

WREG has previously exposed repeated problems including federal and local code violations at the taxpayer-funded senior high rise, run by Ohio-based Millennia Housing Management.

Serenity is owned by a Millennia-affiliated entity. The group announced its plan to sell the property late last year. We recently learned that Millennia is planning to get out of the affordable housing business altogether.

Millennia to sell off Memphis apartments complexes

A city spokesperson said, I can confirm that a petition to declare a property a chronic nuisance was filed again both Serenity and Millenia. The spokesperson explained the citys legal department said it had hired outside counsel to look at more expansive approaches to address blight and this is part of that effort.

According to the petition, the city is asking the court to declare the property a nuisance in order to alleviate years ongoing, long-term and worsening problems at Serenity Towers

In addition to unsanitary conditions, residents have also repeatedly expressed feeling unsafe at Serenity Towers. According to the petition, Memphis police have been called to Serenity more than 2,000 times in the past two years. Prosecutors referred to it as a disproportionate number of calls.

Roughly 600 of those calls were transferred to the Memphis Fire Department. The bulk of those were labeled as disturbances; several others were noted as calls for mental consumers. The petition also notes calls for individuals who were armed, as well as cases of aggravated assault, arson, and burglaries.

The document also notes Serenitys proximity to the University of Memphis, as well as it being located right next to a nursing home and blocks from a church and day school.

The citys lawsuit comes as Serenity remains in Shelby County Environmental Court for numerous citations for code violations. Attorneys for Serenity were back in court Tuesday for an appearance.

Parties discussed the fact that there may be another pending lawsuit filed in the future but said theyd address it further at the next court appearance or when all the parties had been served.

Seniors living at Serenity have long complained about problems such as bed bugs, and not having hot water, air conditioning, or working elevators. In 2023, the News Channel 3 Investigators uncovered records revealing the owners hadnt paid the company that services its elevators.

Documents obtained by WREG show Serenitys owners collected just under $1 million in housing assistance payments in 2022.

HUD suspends Millennia. Whats next for Serenity Towers as court considers takeover?

WREG reached out to Millennia about the lawsuit and were waiting to hear back. A spokesperson for the Department of Housing and Urban Development said the agency doesnt comment on pending litigation.

As for the pending sale, a Millennia spokesperson said the property has not been sold yet.

HUD recently suspended Millennia, immediately prohibiting it from doing new business with them and any other government agency. The agency accused Millennia of financial mismanagement with tenant security deposits and taxpayer funds.

HUD said the Ohio company must repay the money and it wants them barred from federal government business for five years. At the time, Millennia said it was aware of HUDs concerns and was addressing them.

Serenity failed its latest HUD inspection, scoring a 23. Inspectors documented a total of 320 deficiencies.

Serenity is scheduled to be back in Environmental Court on Tuesday, May 14th.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
City of Nampa renames Hispanic Cultural Center. This is what led to the change and why

Jose DeLeon, facilities manager of the building formerly known as the Hispanic Cultural Center, is guiding the new center through a transition period, which starts with a new name.

The Nampa City Council, which now owns the center, voted Monday to rename the center to the Idaho Hispanic Community Center.

DeLeon said in a phone interview that the name encapsulates the original intentions of the center  to be a location for educational advancement and cultural expression for Idahos Latino community  and where he hopes to guide it in the coming years.

In July 2023, the city took over operations of the center from the Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation after a rash of complaints from some of the buildings tenants and Latino community members, who said the building had fallen into disrepair.

The Idaho Hispanic Community Center is located at 315 Stampede Drive in Nampa. It is open five days a week for entry.

Mayor Debbie Kling and the city appointed DeLeon to run the center on Jan. 30, 2024. Since then, DeLeon has tackled the long list of infrastructure improvements needed at the building, which opened in 2003. DeLeon was the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce director of programming for two years.

DeLeon said the building needed plumbing and tile improvements, new paint, a new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system and roof. So far, most of the improvements have been made, he said, but the roof project is ongoing.

The construction took place as the center remained open to the community, DeLeon said.

One of the things that I wanted to stand up right away and get going was the feeling that people could come in and actually use the center as a rental facility for community meetings, gatherings and that kind of thing, DeLeon said.

Since February, the city has hosted Community Council of Idaho events, quinceaneras, first communions and political fundraisers. It is a polling place for early voting in the May 21 primary election.

DeLeon has big plans for the center: He hopes to bring in computers for people to use, host cooking classes and host art exhibits.

And, he said, he wants to ensure that all Nampa residents feel welcome.

The Hispanic (Community Center) is poised to become a vital institution within our community, promoting cross-cultural understanding, appreciation, unity, while celebrating the vibrant tapestry of Hispanic culture, through diverse programming, DeLeon said.

DeLeon said he was looking forward to hosting the 208 Night Market, a large market with local vendors serving food from across the Latino community. He said the first market will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18.

The new name came from weeks of work from the Nampa Community and Cultural Advisory Group. DeLeon said the group started with 47 name suggestions and had to get it down to one.

DeLeon said the advisory group comprises about 18 Nampa residents who are Latino.

The new name allows us to brand and market the center and fulfill its intent to improve the quality of life for all people as well as to recognize, celebrate, and preserve Hispanic heritage, culture and values, said Dan Puga, chairman of the advisory group, in a news release.

The City Council approved the new name in a 5-1 vote. Councilman Dale Reynolds was the lone dissenting vote.

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A Tennessee-based cleaning company has been fined $649,304 after it was found to be employing at least 24 children, some as young as 13, to clean slaughterhouses and meatpacking facilities during overnight shifts, the U.S. Department of Labor has announced.

Fayette Janitorial Service, which operates as Fayette Industrial, agreed to pay Mondays court-ordered penalties and hire a third-party watchdog following a federal investigation into its use of child labor, according to the signed court order.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, children younger than 18 are barred from working in dangerous occupations. These include most jobs in facilities that slaughter, process and render meat and poultry.

Children in hazardous occupations drove the Fair Labor Standards Acts passage in 1938. Yet in 2024, we still find U.S. companies employing children in risky jobs, jeopardizing their safety for profit, Christine Heri, the Labor Departments regional solicitor in Chicago, said in a statement.

The children were found to be working shifts at two slaughtering and meatpacking facilities, Seaboard Triumph Foods in Sioux City, Iowa, and Perdue Farms in Accomac, Virginia, the Labor Department said.

In France, an adult works at a slaughterhouse designed to ensure humane processing in 2023. In the U.S. on Monday, the Department of Labor fined a company for hiring children as young as 13 to clean slaughterhouse and meatpacking facilities in Iowa and Virginia. NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images

At the Iowa facility, federal investigators reported seeing children carrying glittered school backpacks as they arrived for their overnight shifts. They allegedly were responsible for cleaning kill equipment, including head splitters, jaw pullers, bandsaws and neck clippers, using corrosive cleaners.

At least one child suffered severe injuries while attempting to remove debris from machinery at the Perdue Farms plant, the Labor Department said.

Both meat companies said in February that they no longer do business with Fayette Industrial, whose headquarters is in Somerville, Tennessee, The Associated Press reported. The Labor Department obtained a preliminary injunction that month against the cleaning and sanitizing company to stop the unlawful employment of children at its workplaces amid the federal investigation.

In addition to the monetary penalties, the company must hire a third-party consultant or compliance specialist who will monitor and audit the companys compliance for at least three years.

It must also establish a toll-free hotline for people to anonymously report child labor concerns.

Every employer has a legal and moral obligation to make certain they are not employing children in dangerous jobs, Wage and Hour Midwest Regional Administrator Michael Lazzeri said in a statement. With this agreement, we are ensuring Fayette Janitorial Service takes immediate and significant steps to ensure they never put children in harms way again.

During the last fiscal year, more than 5,800 children were found to have been employed nationwide in violation of federal laws, the Labor Department said.

A representative of Fayette Industrial did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment on Tuesday.

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Cleary University honored its largest graduating class ever of 532 students over the weekend.

HOWELL  Cleary University honored its largest graduating class ever of 532 students over the weekend. More than 1,000 family members and friends gathered at Lake Trust Stadium to join in commencement Saturday, May 4.

Steve Hoeft served as keynote speaker. Hoeft is president of the Bridgestone Americas Commercial Truck Group in Tennessee and an alum.

Cleary University President Alan Drimmer delivers a welcome speech Saturday, May 4.

Cleary awarded several student honors:

Presidents Award: Lance Wiltse.

Graduate Leadership Award: Chelsea Hendra

Business Innovation Award: Sean Parks

Entrepreneurship Award: Rachel Hall

Community Service Award: Derek Ware

DECA Stole: Sophia Coelho, Chelsea Hendra and Lance Wiltse

DECA Honor Cord: Caleb Buda, Allison Davis and Julie Heslip

In addition to student awards, Cleary extended two honorary doctorate degrees to John OMalley, president of Trinity Health Livingston, and David Snodgrass, president and CEO of Lake Trust Credit Union.

Working together with Cleary University has been a great opportunity for Trinity Health, OMalley said. We are bringing more jobs into this community, and Cleary is preparing its students for these positions in the business side of healthcare."

Cleary University extended an honorary doctorate degree to John OMalley, president of Trinity Health Livingston, on Saturday, May 4.

Lake Trust Credit Union has been a business partner of Cleary for more than a decade, Snodgrass said.

Cleary has developed a positive placemaking in Livingston County. This is a place where you want to live, work and play, and Cleary has elevated the placemaking with offering quality education."

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Hoeft, also a Howell High School alum, told graduates that character, maintaining humility and cherishing relationships are among the traits that will benefit them moving forward.

Be honest and transparent with yourself and others, Hoeft said. And always remember to enjoy the journey.

 M. Alan Scott is a freelance writer for The Livingston Daily. Contact the newsroom at newsroom@livingstondaily.com.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Cleary celebrates largest graduating class in history
By Maximilian Heath and Matias Baglietto

CORDOBA PROVINCE, Argentina (Reuters) - Global warming has brought Argentina's corn farmers a dangerous new enemy: a yellow insect just four millimeters (0.16 inch) long that thrives in hotter temperatures and is threatening harvests of the crop. Meet the leafhopper.

The world's No. 3 corn exporting country has slashed millions of tons from its harvest projections for the current crop due to a rare plague of the insect that can carry a stunt disease that damages the cobs and kernels of the plant.

Farmers fear such infestations could become more regular, with fewer frosts in recent years to check the insect's spread, and forecasts for a warm winter ahead, farmers, weather experts and data analyzed by Reuters showed.

Some farmers already have said they will sow less corn for next season in favor of other crops such as soy, the South American country's main cash crop, which is not affected by the bugs.

"Many are going to reduce their hectares of corn to zero," said Anibal Cordoba, a producer in northern Chaco province, adding a hard freeze this winter is needed or leafhopper numbers will explode again next season.

"You normally found leafhoppers in the bud of the plants if you looked. But this year you go to the field and you find clouds of leafhopper. It's just crazy."

Agriculture and climate experts linked the unusual outbreak to rising global and local temperatures.

"The number of days with frost is becoming less frequent due to global temperatures rising," said climate change specialist Matilde Rusticucci at the University of Buenos Aires, adding minimum temperatures in the country had "increased steadily".

"The year 2023 was declared the warmest year in history," Rusticucci said. This helped leafhoppers spread far beyond the warmer northern regions where they usually thrive and where farmers have adapted. Some 10 million tons of Argentine corn production has been lost already, and analysts say it could fall further.

"We should be talking about an Argentine production of more than 60 million tons of corn and because of this insect we are talking about 50.5 (million tons)," said Cristian Russo, head of agricultural estimates at the Rosario grains exchange (BCR).

"We all suspect that it still could get much worse than what we're seeing," he added. "It's a big blow to corn."

According to Russo, leafhopper numbers in northern Argentina are 10 times the normal level, while the insect has been found nearly 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) south of traditional areas, where previously it had been too cold.

Argentina's government, which did not respond to a request for comment on this story, has looked to speed authorization for pesticides to fight leafhoppers and recently met with farm associations to coordinate how to mitigate leafhopper damage.

'THIS IS A REAL, REAL PROBLEM'

In parts of Argentina, frosts have actually increased in recent winters, but some key farming areas have had a substantial decline. Nationally, minimum temperatures have been rising and cold nights decreasing over decades.

A study by scientists at Argentine universities and state institutes showed that from 1963 to 2013 the average number of cold nights decreased from 15 days per year to around eight.

Fewer frosty nights help leafhoppers, which cannot tolerate temperatures below 4 degrees Celsius, said Fernando Flores, entomologist at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA).

"One of the most important causes of the big increase in (insect) numbers was the decrease in the number of frosts in the country the previous winter," Flores said.

In western central Cordoba province, the main corn region of Argentina, the provincial grain exchange has estimated leafhopper-related corn losses of $1.13 billion. Data from the Cordoba observatory show frosts down steadily over decades.

"What was planted late towards the end of December, beginning of January, was where the greatest damage was seen," said Ramon Garcia, a farmer from the Cordoba farm town of Marcos Juarez. "There was a significant drop in yield."

The outlook ahead is tough. Rusticucci said January, February and March 2024 already set records for global maximum temperatures.

Michael Cordonnier, Illinois-based agronomist at consultancy Soybean and Corn Advisor Inc, said what had happened with corn in Argentina was "very unusual" and it would take time for farmers there to adapt, as farmers in warmer corn-growing areas like Brazil have adapted over years.

"This is a real, real problem. Going forward, they will be able to solve this a few years down the road by getting hybrids that are more tolerant to corn stunt disease and registering more insecticides for this specific problem," he said.

"But for the time being it's just terrible."

(Reporting by Maximiliano Heath and Matias Baglietto; Editing by Adam Jourdan and David Gregorio)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov has set off on a working visit to Russia, according to the Kyrgyz president's office, Trend reports.

The office noted that during the visit, Zhaparov will participate in the jubilee summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and in solemn events commemorating the 79th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow.

The official delegation of Kyrgyzstan includes:

- First Deputy Prime Minister Adylbek Kasymaliev;

- Foreign Minister Jeanbek Kulubaev;

- Head of the Department of Foreign Policy of the Presidential Administration Muratbek Azymbakiev;

- Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Russia Gulnara-Klara Samat;

- Minister of Economy and Commerce Daniyar Amangeldeyev;

- Mayor of Bishkek Aybek Junushaliev.

To note, on May 6, the Kyrgyz Presidential Administration announced that the summit is expected to adopt several important decisions and documents, including the draft Protocol on Electronic Information Exchange between the EAEU and its member states, as well as the establishment of the "10 Years of the Eurasian Economic Union" medal.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
College administrators are falling into a tried and true trap laid by the right

A student is arrested during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Texas at Austin on April 24, 2024. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Interrogations of university leaders spearheaded by conservative congressional representatives. Calls from right-wing senators for troops to intervene in campus demonstrations. Hundreds of student and faculty arrests, with nonviolent dissenters thrown to the ground, tear-gassed and tased.

Weve been here before. In my book Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and the Campus Wars in Modern America, I detail how, throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, conservative activists led a counterattack against campus antiwar and civil rights demonstrators by demanding action from college presidents and police.

They made a number of familiar claims about student protesters: They were at once coddled elitists, out-of-state agitators and violent communists who sowed discord to destroy America. Conservatives claimed that the protests interfered with the course of university activities and that administrators had a duty to guarantee daily operations paid for by tuition.

Back then, college presidents routinely caved to the demands of conservative legislators, angry taxpayers and other wellsprings of anticommunist outrage against students striking for peace and civil rights.

Today, university leaders are twisting themselves in knots to appease angry donors and legislators. But when Columbia University President Minouche Shafik called in the NYPD to quell protests, she was met with a firm rebuke from the American Association of University Professors.

If the past is any indication, the road ahead wont be any easier for college presidents like Shafik.

Lawfare from the right

Throughout the 1960s, students organized a host of anti-war and civil rights protests, and many conservatives characterized the demonstrators as communist sympathizers.

Students spoke out against American involvement in the Vietnam War, the draft and compulsory ROTC participation. They demanded civil rights protections and racially representative curricula. The intervention of police and the National Guard often escalated what were peaceful protests into violent riots and total campus shutdowns.

From 1968 into the 1970s, conservative lawyers coordinated a national campaign to sue indecisive and gutless college presidents and trustees whose approach to campus demonstrations was, in conservatives estimation, too lenient.

The right-wing organization Young Americans for Freedom hit 32 colleges with lawsuits, including private Ivy League schools like Columbia, Harvard and Princeton, as well as public land-grant universities like Michigan State and the University of Wisconsin.

The legal claim was for breach of contract: that presidents were failing to follow through on their end of the tuition agreement by not keeping campuses open and breaking up the protests. Young Americans for Freedom sought to set legal precedent for students, parents and broadly defined taxpayers to be able to compel private and public institutions to remain open.

Conservative students further demanded that their supposedly communist peers be expelled indefinitely, arrested for trespassing and prosecuted.

Expulsions, of course, carried implications for the draft during these years. A running joke among right-wing activists and politicians was that protesters should be given a McNamara Scholarship to Hanoi, referencing Robert McNamara, the U.S. secretary of defense and an architect of the Vietnam War.

A pin reading 'Contaminate HANOI DROP HIPPIES.'

A pro-Vietnam War pin suggests dumping protesters in North Vietnams capital, Hanoi. (Stuart Lutz/Gado/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, right-wing activists hounded college leaders with public pressure campaigns by collecting signatures from students and alumni that called on them to put an end to campus demonstrations. Conservatives also urged donors to withhold financial support until administrators subdued protesting students.

Cops on campus

Following the massacre at Kent State in 1970, when the National Guard fired at students, killing four and wounding nine, nearly half of all colleges shut down temporarily amid a wave of nationwide youth outrage. With only a week or two left of the semester, many colleges canceled remaining classes and even some commencement ceremonies.

In response, conservatives launched a new wave of post-Kent State injunctions against those universities to force them back open.

With protests ongoing  and continued calls from the right to crack down on them  many university administrators resorted to calling on the police and the National Guard, working with them to remove student protesters from campus.

In fact, this very moment brought about the birth of the modern campus police force.

Administrators and lawmakers, afraid that local police could not handle the sheer number of student demonstrators, arranged to deputize campus police  who had historically been parking guards and residence hall curfew enforcers  with the authority to make arrests and carry firearms.

State and federal lawmakers attempted to further stifle student dissent with reams of legislation. In 1969, legislators in seven states passed laws to punish student activists who had been arrested during protests through the revocation of financial aid, expulsion and jail sentences.

President Richard Nixon, who had excoriated campus disruptions during his successful White House run in 1968, encouraged college presidents to heed the laws and applauded them for following through with expulsions.

Is antisemitism the new communism?

As the U.S. presidential election approaches, Ill be watching to see how the Trump and Biden campaigns respond to ongoing student protests.

For now, Trump has called the recent protests antisemitic and far worse than the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. Biden has similarly condemned the antisemitic protests and those who dont understand whats going on with the Palestinians.

Both are repeating the false framework laid out by GOP Reps. Elise Stefanik and Virginia Foxx, a trap that university administrators have fallen into during House inquiries since Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

There indeed have been antisemitic incidents associated with pro-Palestinian demonstrations on university campuses.

But in these hearings, Stefanik and Foxx have baited four women presidents into affirming the rights politicized framing of the protests as rife with antisemitism, leading the public to believe that isolated incidents are instead representative and rampant.

Like their association of civil rights and peace demonstrators with communism throughout the Cold War, politicians on both sides of the aisle are now broadly hurling claims of antisemitism against anyone protesting Israels war in Gaza, many of whom are Jewish.

The purpose then, as it is now, is to intimidate administrators into a false political choice: Will they protect students right to demonstrate or be seen as acquiescent to antisemitism?

The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The post College administrators are falling into a tried and true trap laid by the right appeared first on Nevada Current.
New College of Florida's, College Hall photographed from the backside facing Sarasota Bay located on the Bayfront side of the Campus. THOMAS BENDER/HERALD-TRIBUNE

Do you remember Jan. 22, 2024?

It was the day when The New York Times had this Page One headline: "Ron DeSantis ends campaign for president."

It was also the day the public was invited to comment on a draft Master Plan for the New College of Florida campus. Dozens of neighbors, faculty, alumni and students showed up for the session, and there was excitement  and perhaps dread  because the new administration would be revealing its vision for the campus.

Jono Miller

However, there was also a palpable sense of annoyance because the document we were being asked to comment on had not been made available on the colleges website. Instead, we were presented with illustrated panels depicting various parts of the campus and a PowerPoint presentation. Then, sitting at tables, those assembled offered suggestions that were ultimately summarized by one reporter from each table.

In the end, roughly 90% of those who were present at the session did not get to publicly express their views.

By holding that first "hearing," New College ostensibly met a legal requirement for updating a Florida State University System campus Master Plan. But since there was no plan to review, such a claim seems hollow. Let me suggest what a hearing to receive comments on a document should minimally include:

It should allow everyone who wants to speak about the document to be heard.

It should ensure that the document speakers are commenting on actually exists  and that it has been made available for review prior to the actual hearing.

I am writing this guest column more than 100 days after that first hearing in January, and the draft Master Plan still has not been made available. In addition, no one seems to know when the draft plan will become available; in fact, several projected dates for revealing it have already come and gone.

One thing is clear: There is not some cumbersome college committee structure that is slowing things down on New College's new campus Master Plan. Thats because at the moment there is no Campus Landscape Committee, no Campus Development Committee and no Campus Master Plan Committee.

Ill confess: New College's current campus Master Plan took years to update. I know because I chaired the last Campus Master Plan Committee  but while it was not an expedient process, it was thorough and inclusive.

The plan was prepared (following a competitive search) by Moule and Polyzoides, a distinguished California new urbanist design and architecture firm that was assisted by eight subcontractors (most of them local). The current Master Plan is a heavily illustrated, large format document of 88 pages. It is not known if New College's new plan will be an edited and updated version of the current plan, or if the current firms working on it started from scratch.

One wonders how the draft Master Plan will reflect the recent correspondence from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which seemed to nix the sale of the eastern Pei campus that has been leased from the airport  and also appeared to question whether the college had any right to use the East campus at all.

Yikes!

The college has controlled this property for 62 years only to find that this proposed sale has the FAA raising questions about the appropriateness of non-aeronautical land use. It noted that all airport properties should be zoned Airport/Light Industrial, and the best use might be office space for speculation/development. Among the problems the FAA sees with the college campus are conflicts with residential, educational, recreational, and water retention areas.

That covers just about everything

In addition, the FAA found the current 99-year lease was too long, the terms too favorable and the properties used for the real estate valuation were not comparable. New College President Richard Corcoran and Sarasota-Bradenton Airport CEO Rick Piccolo deserve credit for trying to resolve a campus land use issue that should have been solved years ago. But will the college administration, with its demonstrated political muscle and ties to Gov. DeSantis, be able to rescue the land sale? Time will tell.

A land swap under negotiation between New College of Florida and the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport could give the airport enough space to build six new terminals on the western edge of it's property.

More: New College gave Richard Corcoran a $200,000 bonus. Here's how he can prove he deserves it.

In the meantime, the FAAs exploding worm can of objections seems to threaten the very existence of roughly one-third of the campus. Does this mean the college has to put forward two distinct master plans  one with and one without the East campus?

In any event, that first "hearing" on Jan. 22 was anything but a hearing. The New College of Florida community and neighbors deserve a do-over just as soon as the draft Master Plan actually exists  and, of course, only after we get to actually read it.

Jono Miller is a local educator and former co-director of New College of Florida's environmental studies program. He chaired a previous Campus Master Plan Committee at New College and currently serves as president of NCF Freedom, an entity working to preserve academic freedom, shared governance and student agency at New College.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: New College of Florida's campus plan remains a confusing mystery
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX)  The Colorado Stampede rodeo is returning to Grand Junction after 20 years, and the organizers are requesting the communitys assistance. They are seeking volunteers for the event scheduled on May 24-26. The volunteers will manage ticket and admission booths, help set up the rodeo and assist in all areas of the event. The CEO of the Stampede stated that volunteers will have a fun experience connecting with the rodeo team and will be provided dinner, as well as free tickets, allowing the whole family to join.

To become a volunteer, interested individuals can email laura@coloradostampede.com or call 970-270-5080.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WesternSlopeNow.com.
The Colorado State Patrol will have an increased presence throughout Pueblo and Fremont counties this weekend to crack down on impaired driving.

According to a CSP news release, saturation patrols  meaning those in which an increased number of troopers patrol a specific area  will begin Friday, May 10, and go through Sunday morning, May 12.

"This operation specifically focuses on the major traffic arteries in the two counties, along with their feeder roads," CSP officials said in the release.

The operation will specifically target impaired driving, said Capt. Michael Tafoya, commander of CSP Troop 2D.

"We're going to have extra state patrol members in the areas on top of our current local staffing working Interstate 25. In Pueblo County, we'll be focusing heavily on the Pueblo West area and the roads within Pueblo West," Tafoya said.

More law enforcement news: Pueblo sheriff says he's sought legal advice on deputies union. Where is he getting it from?

Colorado State Patrol vehicle

Tafoya said it's "that time of year," in which CSP begins to see an increase in impaired driving crashes in Pueblo and Fremont Counties.

"It seems as though we're seeing an increase in drivers coming from, I assume, Colorado Springs and Denver, coming from the north and south on the interstate, cutting through the Pueblo West area on weekend evenings," he said.

Tafoya stated that CSP's focus on Pueblo West is also partly due to a shift in jurisdiction. On April 1, CSP Troop 2D took over responsibility for crashes on county roads from the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office, and is therefore focusing heavily on Pueblo West.

"The sheriff's office has no statutory requirements to provide those kinds of services, and given the staffing resources of both agencies, I approached the sheriff and proposed we take that back over as a means of alleviating the resource strain on him and putting the focus back where it belongs with us," Tafoya said.

Pueblo and Fremont counties have experienced 62 fatal crashes and 168 crashes where occupants sustained serious bodily injury over the past five years, according to data provided by CSP. Most of those incidents occurred on Monday and Saturday afternoons.

"The leading causal factor for these crashes is impaired driving, followed by distracted driving and lane violation," CSP said in the release. "Of those crashes, 49 were caused by the careless actions of someone who chose to drive while impaired. Our mission is to stop this reckless behavior 'in its tracks' and save as many lives as possible."

Tafoya stated that while Mondays tend to see an increase in crashes, CSP members coming from around the state for the planned saturated patrols are needed for their home patrols on Monday.

"The members that are coming from all over the state  they're coming Friday, they're leaving Monday at 1 a.m. to go back to their respective troops and fulfill their obligations with their respective troops as well," he said.

Motorists who encounter a suspected impaired driver should avoid the driver by getting out of the way, according to CSP. After pulling their vehicle over, the motorist can then contact the Colorado State Patrol by calling *CSP (*277), 911, or 719-589-5807.

When reporting a suspected impaired driver, be prepared to provide the following information: vehicle description, license plate number, location and direction of travel, driver description, and the driving behavior being demonstrated. All emergency calls can be made to 911.

Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formally known as Twitter, @jayreutter1. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Why the Colorado State Patrol is targeting impaired drivers in Pueblo
Which Columbus City schools will close? Board solicits feedback on 20 possible closures

Twenty Columbus City Schools face the possibility of closure under nine different scenario recommendations presented by the Superintendent's Community Facilities Task Force at Tuesday's board of education meeting.

Students, parents, teachers and staff got a first look at which of the district's more than 110 buildings might close as the task force presented its recommendations at the school board meeting. The scenarios include a number of possible ways students could be moved around to other schools, either by moving programs, consolidating area schools or closing buildings.

Superintendent Angela Chapman reiterated at the meeting that the scenarios are initial recommendations and feedback from the community will inform any final approvals to be made in June.

"I would say to all of our parents, community members and stakeholders, to take a deep breath," Chapman said before the board went into executive session. "These are initial recommendations that have been submitted to begin the conversation about where we go from here."

Columbus City Schools Superintendent Angela Chapman listens to initial recommendations from her facilities task force on recommendations for closings of schools during the public comment period at Tuesday's school board meeting.

About 30 Columbus Education Association members and district parents, all wearing red shirts, gathered in the parking lot before Tuesday's meeting to push back on what the educators' union called "rushed recommendations" to close and consolidate buildings. So many people showed up for the school board meeting to hear the task force's presentation that the board had to open an overflow room for people to view the meeting.

After the district successfully passed a nearly $100-million levy in November, district officials said it would close some of the 113 school buildings in the state's largest district, The Dispatch previously reported.

Columbus City Schools is the state's largest school district with about 46,000 students, but enrollment peaked at 110,173 during the 1971-72 school year.

The Superintendent's Community Facilities Task Force was formed in early 2024 and includes nearly two dozen members of the public, parents and educational professionals.

Which Columbus City Schools might potentially close?

Community Facilities Task Force Co-Chairs Al Edmondson and Jim Negron presented nine different scenarios to the board that included which schools might close or consolidate.

The scenarios are:

Scenario 1A

South High School and Marion Franklin High School consolidate to one regional high school at South serving grades 9-12;

Buckeye Middle School closes and is replaced by Marion Franklin Middle School serving grades 6-8;

Livingston, Fairwood, Siebert, Stewart, Moler, Lincoln Park and Southwood elementary schools transition to K-5 schools or consolidate. Fairwood, Siebert and Moler would close.

Scenario 1B

South High School and Marion Franklin High School consolidate to one regional high school at South serving grades 9-12. Marion Franklin would close;

Buckeye Middle School would remain open and take the 7th and 8th grade students from South High School;

Fairwood, Siebert and Moler elementary schools would consolidate with area schools and close.

Audience members listen to initial recommendations for the closing of schools during the public comment period Tueday at the Columbus City School Board meeting.

Scenario 2

Starling K-8 School moves grades 6-8 to traditional middle schools and becomes Starling K-5;

West Broad, Valleyview and Lindbergh elementary schools would consolidate with area schools and close.

Scenario 3A

Gifted Academy programs housed at the Everett Facility will be split between Oakland Park Elementary School and Dominion Middle School. Everett Facility would close;

Cranbrook and Hubbard elementary schools would consolidate with area schools and close.

Scenario 3B

Ridgeview Middle School consolidates with Dominion Middle School. Gifted Academy students from the Everett Facility would relocate to Ridgeview and Everett would close;

Cranbrook and Hubbard elementary schools would consolidate with area schools and close.

Scenario 4

Linden McKinley High School moves 7th and 8th grade students to area middle schools, serves grades 9-12 and draws a new boundary;

Duxberry, North Linden, Northtowne and Innis elementary schools would consolidate with area schools and close.

A capacity crowd listens to the preliminary proposal about the potential closing of schools at a Columbus School Board meeting. An overflow room was set up due number of people in attendance.

Scenario 5

Eastmoor Academy moves to East High School and redistricts, leaving a middle school at Eastmoor;

Johnson Park and Sherwood middle schools consolidate with Eastmoor campus and those buildings would close;

Broadleigh Elementary School would consolidate with area schools and close.

Scenario 6A

Columbus Alternative High School moves to East High School and the building at McGuffey Road closes;

Duxberry Arts K-5 moves to Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center and Duxberry building closes;

Columbus City Preparatory School for Boys at Old Eastmoor Middle School co-locates with Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls and Old Eastmoor building closes;

Broadleigh Elementary School would consolidate with area schools and close.

Scenario 6B

Columbus Downtown High School merges with Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center;

Columbus Alternative High School moves to East High School and the building at McGuffey Road closes;

Columbus City Preparatory School for Boys at Old Eastmoor Middle School co-locates with Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls and Old Eastmoor building closes;

Broadleigh Elementary School would consolidate with area schools and close.

Many parents in the room scoffed as Negron walked the board through the scenarios.

When asked if the district would ultimately pursue just one of the scenarios or if multiple scenarios could be enacted, Negron did not directly answer the question. Rather, he said he wants to hear from the community.

"I don't live in a world of hypothesis, so we have to trust the process," Negron said.

Columbus School Board listen to public comment about the potential closing of schools.

Parents, students call on board to 'press pause' on school closure discussions

Rita Hallaveld, whose daughter attends Duxberry Park Elementary School, said at Tuesday's meeting that she's disappointed over what she believes has been the district's lack of transparency leading up to this point. She questioned why Columbus City Schools are considering closing buildings rather than working to increase enrollment.

Hallaveld said the scenarios presented are "inequitable" and don't seem to reflect where the city is growing.

"For Linden schools to close when Linden is one of the fastest-growing neighborhoods? It doesn't make sense," she said.

Marielle Henault of the Forest Park neighborhood speaks out Tuesday against the potential closing of schools prior to a Columbus City School Board meeting.

Marielle Henault, a parent of three students at CCS schools, said she was troubled by how the board has interacted with community members since voters passed the district's levy in November.

"I'm frankly devastated by the 'business-as-usual approach' by this facilities task force," Henault said.

"Do this with us, not for us or at us," she said.

Josephine Amponsah provided a student's perspective on potential school closings in an emotional testimony Tuesday.

Amponsah, a 17-year-old senior at Independence High School, said school closings ultimately impact students the most.

"The emotional and mental effects on these students are not protocol," Amponsah said through tears. "We as students pay the biggest cut emotionally."

Audience members help console Independence High School senior Josephine Amponsah as she speaks out against the potential closing of schools during public comment Tuesdy at a Columbus City School Board meeting.

Teacher's union president quit task force before recommendations

In late April, Columbus Education Association President John Coneglio, who heads the union representing more than 4,500 teachers and other educational professionals in the district, resigned from the task force, The Dispatch previously reported.

In an open letter to the district, Coneglio said that after six meetings of the Superintendent's Community Facilities Task Force, it was evident to him that the "sole focus of the committee is solely on the mass closure of neighborhood schools and the further managed decline" of the district. He also said the task force lacked transparency and said the closures would disproportionately impact "disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities of color."

"Our Board of Education now has a unique opportunity to work with the community and build the district of the future, not return to the same failed policies of the past," Coneglio said in a statement. "It has become clear to me that the current Task Force is another iteration of previous failed attempts."

District says process has been transparent, open in engagement

In response to Coneglio, Columbus City Schools emphasized in a prepared statement that district officials believe the process had been transparent and that "its important that we have representation from our labor partners, who represent so many of our employees."

"We believe our students, our teachers, and all of our staff must have access to the best curriculum, facilities, technology, and resources so they can be successful," the CCS response to Coneglio said. "That means focusing on our resources instead of spreading them out."

A member of the Columbus City Schools Superintendent's Community Facility Task force goes through a simulation exercise as the group prepares to recommend school building closures in the state's largest district.

Russell Brown, the district's chief of strategy and performance, told The Dispatch last month that CCS wants to make all of the data, including interactive databases, meeting summaries and presentations available to the public.

That way, Brown said, "Everybody can understand what we're looking at."

Building capacity, utilization major considerations in recommendations

Brown said the biggest factors considered by the task force were building capacity and utilization.

While there are 113 CCS school buildings, not all of them are uniformly occupied, The Dispatch previously reported. In fact, some schools have utilization below 25% of their capacity, while enrollment at others is up to 120% of capacity. Utilization refers to the percentage of a school building's capacity that is used based on a four-year average of enrollment.

"If over half the kids in the building are picking to go somewhere, that's probably telling you something," Brown said. "Certainly people are choosing not to be there."

Beyond simply closing the buildings, Brown said, the district will also have options of having specialty schools inside of other schools, or combining schools.

Brown said he wanted to emphasize that May will be an opportunity for the public to interact on the recommendations before the board acts. Even then, he said, there will be a period of years while the district aims for a soft landing of potential closures.

"We look forward to hearing from people in this process. This should be an ongoing dialogue with the community," Brown said. "It will take time, and we'll want to engage with the community as we implement (the new facilities plan)."

Cbehrens@dispatch.com

@Colebehr_report

shendrix@dispatch.com

@sheridan120

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus City Schools task force offers 20 possible school closures
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The Scoop

NAIROBI  Members of Kenyas Maasai pastoralist community are clashing with managers of a major carbon project, raising new concerns that international demand for carbon credits generated in Africa could have damaging consequences for local communities.

The Northern Kenya Rangelands Carbon Project (NKRCP), which describes itself as the worlds largest soil carbon removal project, has sold carbon credits to corporations including Meta, Netflix and UK bank NatWest. It restores and maintains grasslands to absorb carbon, including by managing grazing patterns of livestock herds on the 4.7 million acres it covers. Absorbing carbon allows it to generate carbon credits which can be purchased by corporations to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions.

The project, however, continues to face significant opposition from many members of affected local communities, who say it is disrupting their ways of life and denying them access to their ancestral land. Many also say it puts women at risk due to harsh work conditions in some areas.

Community activists working in Baringo, Narok and Kajiado counties in Kenya, where the project operates, told Semafor Africa that NKRCP had failed to undertake proper public participation or educate local communities, leading to complaints from members of affected communities and resistance to the projects efforts to fence off land in some areas. They claimed that the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), which runs the project, has failed to gain the informed consent of affected communities for the carbon project as is legally required, despite the NRTs insistence that it has letters of consent.

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Know More

Erin, a community activist working in Narok and Kajiado whose name has been changed to protect her identity, said that many households of the Maasai were grappling with disruptions to grazing practices as well as access to ancestral land due to the project, with several households opposing efforts by the project to fence off land for the project.

They will fence it (ancestral land) and tell you youre trespassing, she said. We have our own traditional way of herding and grazing patterns. They need to respect indigenous knowledge.

Erin also claimed that the Maasai women workers recruited by NRT for its grassland regeneration program lacked protective gear. The program, which counts towards the projects stated impact on local jobs and livelihoods, sees women from local communities hired to grow grass across huge tracts of land to regenerate degraded rangelands for 500 Kenyan shillings ($3.70) per day. The process often involves the uprooting of invasive species such as opuntia (prickly pear cactus).

The project, which was rebranded to Northern Kenya Rangelands Carbon Project, operates in 14 community conservancies in the country. Part of the proceeds from the sale of carbon credits are channeled back to the conservancies and various community projects such as schools and health facilities.

NRT was yet to respond to queries from Semafor Africa by the time of publication.

Title icon

Martins view

While carbon offsetting projects can offer an economic opportunity, local communities need to understand them and their impact on their everyday lives before they can enter into legally binding contracts. The perspectives and concerns of local communities who are most affected by these projects should be factored in at every stage. Otherwise, the global rush to capitalize on carbon credits will be more disruptive and controversial than beneficial for the people who live in these areas.

Observing that three quarters of carbon offsets in 2022 took place in developing countries, Amos Wemanya, senior advisor at environmental nonprofit Power Shift Africa told Semafor Africa that growing demand for carbon credits was bound to cause conflicts over land use.

These concerns are already evident elsewhere in Kenya. The countrys Ogiek community faced eviction from the Mau forest last year, which their lawyers claimed was linked to the governments push to capitalize on carbon projects. Wemanya said African countries could lose control of large swaths of land as foreign corporations rush to snap up carbon credits to make up for their emissions. He suggested alternative solutions for climate finance on the continent.

Given Africas negligible contribution to the climate crisis, Africa should receive grant-based funding from the countries and companies that have driven the crisis. Grants are required to avoid increasing indebtedness already arising from an unjust international financial system, he argued.

Title icon

Room for Disagreement

The project results in increased pasture and forage for herders animals, according to the NKRCP which says it raises incomes for pastoralist households whose cattle then fetch higher market prices. Fourteen community conservancies participating in the NKRCP have also earned a total of 1.7 billion Kenyan shillings ($12.6 million) over the last three years from the sale of carbon credits, according to the Northern Kenya Trust (NRT).

Each of the 14 participating conservancies received $324,000 in 2022 and 2023. NKRCP also cites the construction of schools and boreholes among other social impact projects in communities where it operates.

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A man in a suit speaks at a podium while other people stand behind him

During a press conference Thursday at the Capitol, Landry defended attacks on his proposed constitutional convention, in which he wants legislators and 27 delegates he will appoint to meet for two weeks to rewrite the states foundational document. (Piper Hutchinson/Louisiana Illuminator)

The head of Louisianas two-year college system is in favor of a constitutional convention, which he hopes could result in fewer budget cuts to higher education.

Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, penned a letter to Republican Gov. Jeff Landry expressing his and the systems board of supervisors support for the governors quest to update the states foundational document.

We do not need to reinvent Louisiana; rather, we must untangle the fiscal complexities created by past leaders, Sullivan wrote. Given the intricate nature of constitutional commitments, a limited constitutional convention aimed at resolving the fiscal issues plaguing Louisiana is necessary.

Legislators are currently discussing legislation, House Bill 800 by Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, that would assemble a constitutional convention, with 144 legislators and 27 delegates appointed by the governor meeting to make changes to the document. While lawmakers have billed this as a limited convention to refresh the constitution, delegates likely would have authority to change anything they wanted.

Beaullieu has said the delegates would use the convention to move some portions of the constitution into statute, which would make it substantially easier for legislators to change them.

Landry, the driving force behind the convention, has not said what he wants removed from the constitution but alluded toward tax reform and removing constitutional protections for some funding.

Presently, higher education and health care are the only large portions of the budget without statutory or constitutional protection, meaning they are the first to be cut when a fiscal crisis hits. Proponents of the constitutional convention have used this to market the convention, arguing the Legislature should have the ability to cut more evenly across the board.

This untenable situation has always made higher education and healthcare the states default budgetary fallbacks, jeopardizing their crucial roles, Sullivan wrote.

Higher education underwent deep cuts as a result of a self-inflicted budget crisis during Gov. Bobby Jindals administration.

During his two terms in office, Jindal frequently tapped one-time funds for recurring government expenses as means of balancing the budget. He also took an hardline anti-tax stance at a time when oil and gas severance revenues, the states longtime fiscal staple, tapered off.

State aid to higher education was reduced more than 55%, leaving a hole in the budget that had to be mended with increased tuition and fees, which climbed at some campuses more than 100%.

The Jindal-era budget crisis was remedied by the passage of a temporary sales tax, which is slated to expire next year. Economists forecast its expiration will lead to a $585 million shortfall for the state budget.

The repercussions of the states financial mismanagement were severe, Sullivan wrote. Louisiana lost four two-year colleges, discontinued seven hundred programs, and laid off numerous hardworking educators and skilled crafts professionals.

Beaullieus proposal is slated to be discussed Tuesday by the House of Representatives. It faces an uncertain path forward. The bill proposes the convention would start May 20 and last two weeks. If the legislation is approved by the House, it still needs approval from a Senate committee and the full chamber.

Senators have been more skeptical of the proposal, raising concerns about the compressed timeline and the convention running concurrently with the end of session, which could impact the passage of bills.

Louisianas last successful constitutional convention was in 1973, when elected delegates met for over a year to meticulously rewrite the 1921 constitution.

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The post Community college leader endorses constitutional convention appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator.
Jennifer Brown plays the drum while Jarrell Williams dances at an MMIP march on the Capitol steps in Juneau on May 5, 2024. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

Jennifer Brown plays the drum while Jarrell Williams dances at an MMIP march on the Capitol steps in Juneau on May 5, 2024. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

Dozens of people wore red and stood in the rain on the Capitol steps in Juneau on Sunday to mark Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day of Awareness. Some had red handprints across their mouths, others carried banners and drums. Mothers and caretakers wrapped Chilkat designed blankets around the shoulders of their young children.

Amid an ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, the crowd honored lost relatives and community members  and called on state and tribal governments, as well as community members on an individual level, for change. Legislation that would support an increased MMIP response in the state must be approved by the House before it becomes law.

Jennifer Brown has organized the event for the last four years with support from the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

This affects our way of life. This affects our communities. Abuse happens and sometimes a blind eye is turned. It is time for us to take our stand against violence  physical, mental, and sexual, she said.

Brown remembered the numerous family members she has lost to violence and underlined the painful effects of grieving a missing loved one. She said her family cannot have a funeral, which is culturally necessary for her cousins soul to be at rest.

Last year more than 160 Indigenous people went missing in the state, according to a report from the states public safety department; more than two dozen were not found. The agency has not yet completed its reporting for the first part of this year.

Members of the crowd prepare to march from the Capitol in downtown Juneau at a missing and murdered Indigenous people rally on May 5, 2024. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

Members of the crowd prepare to march from the Capitol in downtown Juneau at a missing and murdered Indigenous people rally on May 5, 2024. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska has specific challenges related to missing and murdered Indigenous people. It is the only state with its own chapter in a report that describes a failure of the federal government to fulfill its duties to tribal nations, resulting in a public health, public safety and justice crisis nationwide. This year the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety decried the lack of resources to rural areas.

John Garcia, an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women, called on men to protect women and uphold values. I speak to our Native men here: Thats on us. Thats on us. Because this is where its happening  this is happening in our families, in our villages more than it happens here in the larger cities. We need to do something, we need to be part of the solution, he said.

Garcia also pointed to civic responsibility and called out several legislators whose votes, he said, have upheld systemic injustices against Alaska Native people. He thanked Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, and Reps. Andi Story and Sara Hannan, both D-Juneau, for advocating for Alaska Native people.

We need to know who the proponents and who the detractors are in legislation. We need to pay attention to let them know we are watching them. Our representation can so easily be erased, he said.

Legislative response

Kiehl told the crowd that state lawmakers have begun to make progress on policy to address the ongoing crisis. He said that legislation must be aimed not only at holding people accountable for violence but also prevention efforts.

The legislative solutions he pointed to include a bill that would create a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Review Commission in the Department of Public Safety, direct that department to employ at least two permanent MMIP investigators and require that cultural training be included in police officer training. Senate Bill 151, sponsored by Sen. Donald Olsen, D-Golovin, was approved by the Senate and is scheduled in the House Finance Committee for a hearing on Friday.

Rep. CJ McCormick, D-Bethel, is the sponsor of its companion bill, House Bill 234, which differs slightly by requiring four, rather than two, additional MMIP investigators.

McCormick is also the sponsor of House Joint Resolution 17, a document that would urge Congress to pass the proposed Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act that would investigate boarding school abuses that led, in some cases, to the death of Indigenous children. The Alaska House approved HJR 17 by a 36-1 vote in April.

Jarrell Williams dances in a Raven's Tail robe to the Women's Warrior Song, written by Martina Pierre, on the Capitol steps in Juneau on May 5, 2024. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

Jarrell Williams dances in a Ravens Tail robe to the Womens Warrior Song, written by Martina Pierre, on the Capitol steps in Juneau on May 5, 2024. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

A handful of state lawmakers were present at the event on Sunday: Kiehl, McCormick, Hannan, Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok/Northway, and Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks. Olsen made a brief appearance and his staff was present.

Kiehl told the crowd that lawmakers need to make sure that there isnt a double standard for care and justice for Indigenous people.

We need everyone to be heard and listened to, understood the same way  no matter what your culture of origin is, or how you speak to a problem. Or how you speak to someone from the government, he said. We dont meet that standard yet. We must.

For all the people who are afraid to speak up

Before the crowd at the Capitol marched through downtown, Mary Stixrud, with a bright red handprint over her mouth, called on tribal governments to model the kind of response she said Native people deserve to see on the state and federal levels.

There needs to be accountability and it needs to start with us. We cry out for justice and yet remain silent and do not demand that from our own tribal government, she said.

She recounted how some of her family members have told her they dont want to hear her account of her childhood rape, or hear the perpetrators name maligned.

Im speaking up for all the people who are afraid to speak up. For all the little girls and boys who are scared and feel like they are not seen and not heard. For the women and men who are being made fun of by their own family and peers and turn to suicide and drugs, Stixrud said.

As she spoke, other demonstrators eyes turned red, though it is uncertain if their cheeks were wet with tears or rain.

Yes, I am scared, she said. But to ask for change, it has to start somewhere. Let it be with us.

The post Community, lawmakers must end violence against Alaska Native people, say advocates at MMIP march appeared first on Alaska Beacon.
Computer Science Could Become Required to Graduate in Louisiana

This article was originally published in Louisiana Illuminator.

Computer science classes might be required for Louisiana high school graduates starting in the 2027-28 school year.

House Bill 264, authored by Democrat Rep. Jason Hughes from New Orleans, passed without objection Wednesday out of the Senate Education Committee. The bill adds computer science requirements for every path to a high school diploma at Louisiana public schools.

Computer science would also be required to receive any award from Taylor Opportunity Program for Students. The TOPS Opportunity, Performance and Honors awards would require students to take one credit of computer science as part of their math or science curriculum or in place of a foreign language.

Help fund stories like this. Donate now!

For TOPS Tech, students can take computer science as one of their math or science courses or as one of their electives.

The option for using computer science to complete graduation requirements would partially begin in the 2027-28 school year.

For those graduating in 2028 and pursuing TOPS Opportunity, Performance, and Honors awards, computer science can only be used in place of the foreign language requirement. The TOPS Tech pathway does not allow for students graduating in 2028 to use computer science to fulfill any of the existing requirements.

Two years ago, then-Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, gained approval for a bill that allowed students to count two credits of computer science instead of a foreign language for TOPS eligibility.

Hughes bill now heads to the Senate floor.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and Twitter.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, May 7. An incident involving the use of firearms occurred on the Kyrgyz-Tajik section of the state border, Trend reports.

According to the Border Service of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan, the incident occurred around 12:20 local time near the settlement of Ak-Bosogo in the Leylek district of the Batken region.

It was reported that Kyrgyz border guards spotted Tajik citizensshepherds grazing livestock on the territory of Kyrgyzstan, approximately 250-300 meters from the state borderline. The demands of the Kyrgyz guards for the Tajik citizens to leave the territory of Kyrgyzstan were ignored. Furthermore, the Tajik citizens began throwing stones at the Kyrgyz border guards.

One of the shepherds fired 2-3 shots towards the Kyrgyz border guard post. In order to prevent further escalation, the Kyrgyz border guards fired warning shots into the air, after which the shepherds fled into Tajikistan.

There were no casualties among the Kyrgyz border guards. One of the Tajik citizens sustained a gunshot wound to the leg.

A meeting of border representatives from both sides is expected. Currently, the situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik section of the border is described as stable.
Congress urged to pass new laws aimed at protecting children and teens online

Lawmakers in D.C. are pushing two bills that would improve online safety for kids and teens.

The first bill they are considering would ban targeted ads for minors and add regulations for users under 16.

Another would give parents the opportunity to monitor their kids behavior online.

Read: DeSantis signs bill restricting social media access for minors in Florida

This comes after many parents and teenagers have called on Congress to act.

For 10 years, I was trapped inside this echo chamber, where social media takes a classic American beauty standard and puts it on a loop in front of my face, said Ava Smithing with Young Peoples Alliance.

Watch: Report: Social media negatively impacts young girls and how they see the world

To pass them quickly, some lawmakers are pushing for the bills to be added to the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which is set to expire on Friday.

It is also the last major piece of legislation that needs to be passed before the fall.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, a Republican from Sarasota, gives an acceptance speech at Robarts Arena after winning re-election to his District 17 seat in November 2022. His wife, Jennifer Steube, was by his side. He is running for another term in 2024.

Steubes office aids constituents

In reference to Constituent cant reach Steube, a letter published March 31: As the elected representative for Floridas 17th congressional district, I take seriously my duty to serve Floridians in Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee counties.

I value your opinions and can personally assure you, the phone calls and letters of every single constituent are taken into consideration. Even if you leave a voicemail for my office outside of business hours, we take down your message and ensure your voice is heard.

I often hear from Floridians who have been given the runaround by federal agencies, particularly the VA and Social Security administration. Many times, I hear from people who are waiting for important doctors appointments, tax refund checks or passport help. These are issues that cant wait.

We have a team of caseworkers in my Sarasota and Charlotte county offices who are eager to help you with any federal agency youre dealing with. No issue is too big or too small.

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube speaks during an Oct. 27, 2023, appearance at the South County Tiger Bay Club in Venice.

Write to us: How to send a letter to the editor

We cant always guarantee a favorable outcome, but we will advocate on your behalf to ensure you are treated fairly and receive a timely response. Last year, we helped more than 1,100 Floridians with casework, and were here to help you, too.

Contact my office anytime for agency assistance or to share your views about the work of Congress. Email me through my website: https://steube.house.gov/contact/ or call my offices at 202-225-5792 or 941-499-3214.

Thank you for the honor of representing you in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, Sarasota

Right-wing politicians in judicial robes?

Please, someone help me to understand the logic of the Supreme Court justices who  faced with the reality of an actual U.S. president attempting to overthrow the voting rights of millions and violating his oath to protect and preserve the Constitution  seem to be much less concerned about the issue at hand than how it may affect future presidents actions.

Their absurd hypothetical questions to the petitioners lawyers indicate they feel they need much more time to consider the issue before them, which should be a no-brainer.

Apr 25, 2024; Washington, DC, USA; Protestors gather outside of the US Supreme Court as the Supreme Court justices hear oral arguments on whether former President Donald Trump is immune from criminal charges in his federal election interference case.. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY ORG XMIT: USAT-873093 (Via OlyDrop)

Yet when confronted with an issue of equal importance  whether a potential candidate may be disqualified from the ballot in Colorado due to the above actions of a sitting president  they took up the issue right away and needed practically no time to render an opinion in former President Donald Trumps favor.

Is it just me, or are the conservative justices simply right-wing politicians in black judicial robes?

God help America!

Stephen L. Japhe, University Park

Recognize service of government workers

Public Service Recognition Week is celebrated May 5-11. It honors federal, state, county, local and tribal workers who help to keep our government moving and our lives organized.

In times of crisis, they are the workers who step up to serve us.

And whether it's protecting the public, caring for veterans or nursing home residents, teaching or sending vital economic aid to businesses and individuals, these workers answer the call  and put in long hours doing so.

As a chaplain, now retired, at a veterans' hospital in Illinois, I was proud to serve the spiritual needs of veterans and their families for 30 years.

Happy Public Service Recognition Week to all! Remember to thank them for their service.

William Vander Heyden, Sarasota, president, Chapter 242, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: No issue too big or too small: Get help from Steube's office
A group of right-leaning federal judges sent a letter to the president and law dean of Columbia University saying they wont hire graduates of their school after the unrest that has taken over campus the last few weeks of the academic year.

As judges who hire law clerks every year to serve in the federal judiciary, we have lost confidence in Columbia as an institution of higher education, said the 13 conservative judges.

Columbia saw the start of the pro-Palestinian encampments that have spread across the country. The school eventually got police involved to clear the area.

Freedom of speech protects protest, not trespass, and certainly not acts or threats of violence or terrorism. Speech is not violence, and violence is not speech. Universities that are serious about academic freedom understand the difference, and they enforce the rules accordingly, the judges wrote.

It has become clear that Columbia applies double standards when it comes to free speech and student misconduct. If Columbia had been faced with a campus uprising of religious conservatives upset because they view abortion as a tragic genocide, we have no doubt that the universitys response would have been profoundly different, they added.

The judges said they would cease hiring from the school starting with the class of 2024.

The objective of our boycott is differentit is not to hamper academic freedom, but to restore it at Columbia University, the judges concluded.

An official for the school said they have no comment on the letter.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Law students and undergraduates from Columbia University wont be getting jobs with 13 conservative federal judges, who say the college has become an incubator of bigotry following pro-Palestinian protests.

The group wrote to Columbia President Minouche Shafik and the dean of the universitys law school, Gillian Lester, on Monday, according to CNN and the National Review.

Considering recent events, and absent extraordinary change, we will not hire anyone who joins the Columbia University communitywhether as undergraduates or law studentsbeginning with the entering class of 2024, the letter signed by the thirteen justices said.

The New York school has been at the heart of demonstrations against the war in Gaza in recent weeks, starting with an encampment in the main quad. Students at other schools across the US have followed with protests that have included clashes between faculty, leadership and law enforcement.

Protests have seen students and faculty voice their concerns over ties institutions have to Israel or investors seen sas benefiting from Israels military actions.

Protestors occupy an encampment in support of Palestine on the grounds of Columbia University on April 22, 2024 in New York City (Getty Images)

Since the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, Columbia University has become ground zero for the explosion of student disruptions, anti-semitism, and hatred for diverse viewpoints on campuses across the Nation, the letter from the judges read.

As judges who hire law clerks every year to serve in the federal judiciary, we have lost confidence in Columbia as an institution of higher education. Columbia has instead become an incubator of bigotry, it continued. As a result, Columbia has disqualified itself from educating the future leaders of our country.

The Independent contacted Columbia University for comment on Tuesday.

Columbia Law School states on its website that students and alumni obtain some of the most coveted judicial clerkship positions in the country with roles on the US Supreme Court and federal circuit courts.

All of those who signed the letter were appointed by former president Donald Trump, and many of them sit on courts in Texas.

The three primary signatories were Elizabeth L. Branch, a Circuit Judge on the US Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit; James C. Ho, a Circuit Judge on the US Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit; and Matthew H. Solomson, a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims.

NYPD officers detain a person as pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside of Columbia University in New York City on April 18, 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

They argue that the boycott on hiring isnt because they dislike criticisms made by students but because Columbia needs to restore academic freedom.

In the letter, the justices offer three ways Columbia could address recent issues including rendering more severe punishments for students and faculty who have taken part in the protests.

After all, elite universities purport to train not just law-abiding citizens but future leaders, the group said. Universities should also identify students who engage in such conduct so that future employers can avoid hiring them.

Despite seeming to be speaking largely about pro-Palestinian demonstrations, the justices also argue that there should be neutrality and non-discrimination in the protection of freedom of speech, asserting that an uprising by anti-abortionists would be met with a very different response by the school.

Finally, the letter calls for a more diverse faculty and staff, to offer different viewpoints.

Columbia has called in the New York City Police Department during the protests, with officers arresting dozens of students. In an announcement last week, Ms Shafik said that the drastic escalation after many months of protests had pushed the university to the brink and that she was sorry to have reached this point.

I hope that we can use the weeks ahead to restore calm, allow students to complete their academic work, and honour their achievements at Commencement, Ms Shafik said on 1 May.

We also must continue with urgency our ongoing dialogue on the important issues that have been raised in recent months, especially the balance between free speech and discrimination and the role of a university in contributing to better outcomes in the Middle East.
Gov. Roy Cooper renewed his demands for more accountability in the state's private school voucher system at a Monday press event. (Photo: Ahmed Jallow)

At a press conference on Monday, Gov. Roy Cooper reiterated his call for increased investment in public schools and outlined new legislation that proposes a moratorium on additional taxpayer-funded private school vouchers until public schools are fully funded. Cooper called efforts by Republicans to expand the voucher program larceny.

The governor was joined by state House and Senate Democratic leaders, Rep. Robert Reives and Sen. Dan Blue, as well as other Democratic legislators and public education advocates.

The legislation Cooper endorsed, House Bill 993 and Senate Bill 853, would require voucher students to take state standardized tests and mandate that private schools provide services for students with disabilities that comply with federal and state law. The bill would also mandate additional reporting from private schools, including graduation rates, attendance records, financial audits and aggregate test scores.

Lets be clear about something, Im not against private schools, Cooper said during his speech. But a private school education is not constitutionally mandated, while a public school education is. Thats why I oppose this reverse Robin Hood scheme that steals taxpayer money from public schools and gives it to private schools.

A bill that would allocate an additional $463 million to the states private school voucher program over the next two years gained traction in the Senate last Thursday, passing on a vote of 28-15. The legislation now returns to the House for concurrence in Senate changes.

Republican backers of House Bill 823 say the additional money is needed to clear the waitlist of more than 54,000 people for the states Opportunity Scholarships. The income-based program that helps parents cover private school tuition costs, with awards ranging from $3,000 to $7,000.

Funding for the program ran out after scholarships were offered to 13,511 applicants in the lowest income tier and about 2,300 in the second income tier.

Republican leaders are pushing forward with a plan to funnel more than half a billion dollars into their unaccountable voucher scheme, said Rep. Reives. Elected officials have a duty to be good stewards of your tax dollars and ensure that money is well-spent. We are calling for commonsense oversight and accountability for private schools receiving taxpayer money.

Cooper also pointed to the potential impact on rural schools, arguing that these measures divert funding away from public schools in those communities. He expressed confusion over support for school voucher legislation among some rural lawmakers.

I think maybe the most confounding mystery is why so many rural legislators vote to take taxpayer money out of their own public schools and send it to the large number of private schools in the city.

Nearly one-third of North Carolina counties, primarily rural, have only one or no private schools participating in the voucher program, according to the figures provided by the governors office.

Instead of raising teacher pay and investing in public schools, legislators want to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on private school vouchers that even millionaires with kids already in private schools can receive, said Cooper. This scheme is shockingly irresponsible, and the legislature must stop spending more taxpayer money on private school vouchers until they fully fund our public schools.

The post Cooper renews call for public school investments, blasts GOP voucher expansion as larceny appeared first on NC Newsline.
Law enforcement unions in California are criticizing a recent report calling the Golden State one of the best places to be a police officer in the United States.

The report, released by the personal finance website WalletHub, based its findings largely on compensation and training, though it also included metrics like police deaths per 1,000 officers and state and local spending on law enforcement agencies.

Unfortunately, the authors of this study didnt survey rank-and-file police officers or sheriff deputies about the realities of law enforcement in California prior to releasing this click-bait headlined study, a news release representing several state police unions stated.

President of the Los Angeles Police Protective League Craig Lally pointed to low police staffing levels in L.A., San Francisco and San Jose that he says have created slow emergency response times, dangerous safety conditions for officers and mandatory overtime that wreaks havoc on department morale.

We dont see any of these metrics in this study but that is the reality law enforcement officers face in California, he added.

The unions also took issue with the reports findings on officer compensation, saying WalletHub failed to consider the high cost of living in the state, especially where housing is concerned.

As of March 2024, the median price of a home in California is $793,600, and in San Francisco, its $1,415,000, said Tracy McCray, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association. In order to find an affordable place to live, our officers, especially new recruits, are forced to live further and further from work, adding hundreds of hours of commute time, added stress, higher travel costs, and causing them to spend much less time with their families.

New police officers participate at a graduation exercise at the Los Angeles Police Academy in April 2018. (Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Next on the list of grievances was the well-known contempt and frustration police officers have for Californias revolving door criminal justice system.

Steve Slack, president of the San Jose Police Officers Association, recalled a recent gunbattle with a repeat offender who had several warrants out for his arrest. Two San Jose police officers were shot during the confrontation.

California no-bail policies make their jobs much more dangerous, and many California politicians support a catch-and-release mentality that protects the criminals at the expense of victims, the public and police officer safety, he said.

Another challenge called out in the criticism of the report is the difficulty police departments face in recruiting. President of the Sunnyvale Public Safety Officers Association Devon Klein said the department has successfully recruited candidates from out of state for several years, but the problem is retaining those officers.

Woman stabbed multiple times in parking lot of Southern California store

Once they get here and face the reality of housing costs, the demoralization of constant legislative efforts that degrade or vilify the profession, and the overall declining moral in our Department, too many return to their home state or go elsewhere, Klein said.

KTLA has reached out to WalletHub for comment on the unions criticism of the report and is waiting to hear back.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
North Carolina cops released a statement Tuesday detailing evidence supporting that Mica Miller, the wife of a South Carolina preacher, took her own life last monthtamping rumors suggesting her estranged husband may have been involved.

Loved ones of Miller, 30, claimed in court documents this weekend that she was abused by her ex, John-Paul Miller, and that shed eerily warned previously that if a bullet was found in her head, it was the doing of her former partner.

In a news release Tuesday, however, the Robeson County Sheriffs Office said that a slew of security footage and a 911 call, in which she told an operator she was about to kill herself, showed that Mica died by suicide and not foul play.

While I know its not what many people wanted to hear, the evidence is quite clear and compelling, and we are as saddened as anyone that this occurred, said Sheriff Burnis Wilkins. There are many factors that we have reviewed that occurred over an extended period of time that are probably related to the reason for this investigation, but in the end, sadly, a tragic decision was made by Mica that ended her life.

Among the footage that bolstered John-Pauls alibi, cops said, was proof that he was attending a sporting event in Charleston with another woman he was in a romantic relationship with, including timestamped photos of his truck on the interstate in the opposite direction of North Carolina. Other footage showed Miller purchasing a gun from a pawn shopthe same weapon found near where her lifeless body was found hours later inside a state park an hour north of her home in Myrtle Beach.

Mica Miller bought a handgun just hours before using it to kill herself, police said. Robeson County Sheriff's Office

Millers death had garnered national attention, particularly after John-Pauls announcement of her passinga day later, in front of his parishioners after delivering a normal sermonappeared to be casual given the gravity of the situation.

I got a call late last night, my wife has passed away, he said in that announcement. It was self-induced and it was up in North Carolina.

She had struggled with suicide before. Each time we would help her through it and take her to the doctor, and we got through it and everything was fine. She even gave a few testimonies here at church that we have on video. She battled suicide, but God took care of her and got her through it.

He added that Mica Miller wasnt well mentally and was in need of medicine that was hard to get to her. He never mentioned her by name and instructed church-goers to not discuss the matter inside the building, which only added to suspicions. Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, where John-Paul preached, had suspended him by Monday, ABC 15 reported. The churchs website was also taken down.

Mica Millers sister, Sierra Francis, wrote in a motion to become the administrator of her estate that the 30-year-old was abused by John-Paul and that she said on many occasions that, If I end up with a bullet in my head, it was JP.

A medical examiner said Monday that Miller died from a bullet wound to the head, but specified that it appeared to be self-inflicted. It clarified that the bullet did not go through the back of her head, as rumors suggested.

In her motion, Francis noted that her sister was hopeful for a future without John-Paul and that shed filed for divorce from him earlier this year.

Pastors Wife Warned Husband May Kill Her Before Her Death, Family Claims

Millers final posts on Facebook provided a glimpse into her wellbeing, with the former step-mom-of-five posting eerie captions in her final weeks. That included the last photo she ever posted on April 9, a selfie, being captioned, When terrible terrible TERRIBLE things happen to you (yall know what Im talking about) RPF: resting peace face.

She posted photos of herself being baptized in the ocean a little over a week earlier, tagging a South Carolina church different from where her husband preachedthe same institution shed been a youth and worship leader at for years. On March 22, she posted a video in which she discussed leaving a dangerous situation.

Cops said a search of Millers search history revealed she Googled National parks near me on the day of her death, which returned a result for Lumber River.

Police said Tuesday that someone called 911 to report that they heard someone crying and a gunshot. Not long after that, another individual inside Lumber River State Park called police to say theyd found a womans body lying in the river. A GoFundMe for Miller raised $12,000 by Tuesday afternoon.

This incident has garnered much attention from across the Carolinas and beyond. I want to assure everyone that a very methodical investigation was conducted, said Wilkins. Unfortunately, rumors and conspiracy theories were spreading quickly, and assumptions were being made. However, in the end, we must make decisions based on the facts, and evidence that has been gathered.

If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing or texting 988.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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County leaders want new sales tax to pay for new Fulton County Jail. Why this is the cheaper option

Fulton County plans on asking the state for permission to raise a sales tax to pay for a proposed nearly $2 billion new jail.

County officials told Channel 2s Richard Elliot that the $1.7 billion price tag is better than what the county says is the $2.4 billion it would take to retrofit the old jail.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat appeared before a state Senate subcommittee investigating problems at the Rice Street Jail on Tuesday.

He and county leaders are arguing over budgets even as both sides agree the old jail is quite literally falling apart.

Its so bad, that jail officials say prisoners are pulling out parts of the walls to make shanks.

We are putting a Band-Aid on heart surgery, and so ultimately, we need a replacement facility, Labat said.

County leaders agree.

Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts acknowledged they both want the same thing but have differing views on how to do it.

We may differ as to what we see is how we go about providing for the public safety of the 1,200,000 people who call Fulton County their home, Pitts said.

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But while both sides disagree on how to manage the old jail, both agree they need a new one.

The county said its planning to build a new $1.7 billion facility and it came to the meeting with a wish list for state lawmakers, including asking the state to authorize a new sales tax to pay for it, adding three new superior court judges to help speed prisoners through it and transferring some available jails to Fulton County, which would include the Atlanta City Jail.

Columbus state Sen. Randy Robertson said theyre not ready to move on any of those suggestions but agrees Fulton County needs a new jail soon.

Right now, everything they are doing is keeping everything above water. But I think anyone that doesnt believe Fulton County has to build a new jail, theyre living on a planet that Im not familiar with, Robertson said.

Senators acknowledged the job county officials and the sheriffs office did in reducing the total number of county prisoners from a pandemic high of 3,700 to 1,731 at the Rice Street Jail as of Tuesday morning.

RELATED NEWS:




Hundreds of people rallied in Princeton on Nov. 4, 2023, to call for a ceasefire in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war continues. (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)

Two Camden County officials overreached when they called upon a local school district to halt a protest opposing the war in Gaza, the American Civil Liberties of New Jersey said Tuesday.

A letter the civil rights group sent to the countys board of commissioners says the county officials must uphold students rights to freedom of speech and expression. While the ACLU of New Jersey does not take positions on international affairs, the organization opposes all efforts to censor political speech, it said.

The commissioners demand undermines foundational constitutional principles and the value of free speech, wrote Sarah Fajardo, ACLU of New Jerseys policy director.

Commissioners Jeffrey Nash and Melinda Kane sent a letter April 22 to the Eastern Camden County Regional School Districts superintendent as students were planning a walkout in support of a cease-fire in Gaza. Administrators at the districts high school, which has nearly 2,000 students, were aware of the protest plan.

The duo called on the district to call off the protest, which was set to coincide with Passover. They said common chants at pro-Palestinian rallies like from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free and others are antisemitic because they call for the elimination of Israel and accuse the country of genocide.

Not all speech is protected speech, Nash and Kane wrote.

The commissioners said the walkout would invite anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric and suggested the district could lose federal funding for violating civil rights laws.

In recent weeks, New Jersey college students set up at least three encampments protesting the war in Gaza, aping encampments seen at colleges nationwide. Rutgers New Brunswick students dismantled their tents last week after the university set a deadline for protestors to clear out, and agreed to eight of the 10 demands from students. An encampment remains active at Rutgers Newark campus. And at Princeton University, students have spent nearly two weeks camped out in a courtyard and have launched a hunger strike.

Eastern Regional students agreed to postpone their walkout and instead are planning a rally in support of human rights later this month, according to NJ.com.

Fajardo notes in her letter that a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court ruling protects public school students free speech rights. She urged the board to publicly disavow Nashs and Kanes letter.

To be clear, it is critical for schools to combat antisemitism. The harassment of Jewish students is wrong and illegal. But it is also wrong and dangerous to suggest that all speech in support of Palestinians, the cessation of bombing, and human rights is necessarily antisemitic harassment, she wrote.

Nash, Kane, and the school districts officials did not respond to a request for comment on the ACLU letter.

The post County officials criticism of planned Gaza protest undermined free speech, ACLU says appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.
A couple had a $100,000 budget for their destination wedding. Here's how they spent it.

Misaki and Amir Hajimirsadeghi got married on April 2.

The couple planned a destination wedding at Nobu Hotel Los Cabos with a budget of $100,000.

They managed to come in under budget and splurged on showstoppers like fireworks.

Misaki and Amir Hajimirsadeghi got married on April 2, five years after they started dating and nearly 10 years after they met.

As they started planning their wedding, Misaki and Amir wanted to prioritize not overspending.

Business Insider spoke to Misaki about how they planned their destination wedding  and came in under their $100,000 budget.

Misaki and Amir Hajimirsadeghi were friends for nearly a decade before they started dating.

The Hajimirsadeghis have been friends for years. Francisco Salas

Amir and Misaki met as freshmen in college at the University of California San Diego through a mutual friend.

"After college, he went to San Francisco," Misaki, 29, said of Amir, 28. "I was in LA, and when he moved back down to LA, where he grew up, then we reconnected and we started dating."

They've been an item since 2019, and Amir proposed in December 2022.

Today, the Hajimirsadeghis are still based in LA. Misaki is an analyst, while Amir is a software engineer and the cofounder of Faliam, a healthcare and financial platform.

After they got engaged, they examined their finances to set an overall budget.

They paid for their wedding themselves. Francisco Salas

Misaki and Amir knew they would be paying for their wedding themselves, so after they got engaged, they started building a budget based on their savings and other big purchases they wanted to make soon, including a home.

Misaki told BI she and Amir "worked backward," setting aside money for a down payment on a home and several months of mortgage payments, money for car payments, and emergency funds in case they lost their jobs.

From there, they discussed how much they wanted to spend on a wedding, landing on $80,000. But everyone they knew advised them they would likely go over budget, so they set aside $100,000 for the day.

Misaki and Amir decided to have a destination wedding.

Most of their guests were traveling. Francisco Salas

"Most of our family and friends are out of California, so even if we had it in LA, it would have been a destination wedding for everyone else," Misaki said of why she and Amir chose a destination wedding.

They also had guests traveling internationally from Iran and Japan, so choosing a venue outside the US didn't seem like a big leap.

"Also, we were looking at the prices of LA venues, and it was crazy," she added. "The venue fee itself was half of our wedding budget. So we quickly found out we couldn't afford to do it in LA anyways."

They picked the Nobu Hotel Los Cabos in Mexico for their nuptials.

They got married in Mexico. Francisco Salas

Misaki knew she wanted a minimalist, black-and-white vibe for their April 2 wedding.

"The vision was very clear to me from the beginning," she said.

That aesthetic guided their venue search, and when she and Amir saw Nobu Hotel Los Cabos, they knew it would be perfect. The Nobu brand is known for its iconic Japanese restaurants frequented by celebrities and the wealthy, but it also has luxury hotels that draw in a similar crowd. The Los Cabos location is particularly popular on social media.

Nobu Hotel's buildings, which offer ocean views, are sand-toned and modern, serving as an ideal backdrop for Misaki and Amir's nuptials. They also liked that all of their guests could be in one hotel for the duration of the celebrations.

Nobu also appealed to the Hajimirsadeghis because they didn't have to pay a venue fee.

Nobu didn't charge for the venue separately. Francisco Salas

Unlike many venues, Nobu Los Cabos didn't charge a fee to reserve the space. Instead, Misaki and Amir had to use Nobu for catering and bar services.

The catering cost $14,254, while the drinks for the open bar  a nonnegotiable for Misaki and Amir  came in at $14,606.

"Directly, that's for the food and the drinks, but indirectly, it's just the cost you pay for doing your wedding at Nobu and the cost you pay for having everyone at one hotel," Misaki said of the fee.

As is the case at many destination weddings, the Hajimirsadeghis' guests paid for their lodging. Rooms at Nobu Hotel Los Cabos vary depending on the time of year, ranging from $400 to $999 a night, according to its website.

Catering and drinks: $28,860

Misaki also found a wedding planner who could help them pull off the wedding.

A wedding planner made the logistics of a destination wedding easier. Francisco Salas

Misaki used Instagram to track down a wedding planner, looking at planners who had already done weddings at Nobu Los Cabos.

"I made a list of all the wedding planners who have done weddings at Nobu that I liked so I could go to them and be like, 'I want a wedding like this,'" she said.

Look At Me Brides, based in Cabo, was a perfect fit.

"If you're doing a destination wedding, I can't recommend a destination wedding planner enough," Misaki said. "I could not have done any of this. She coordinated all the communication with the vendors."

Misaki also said she and Amir told the Look At Me Brides team that their budget was $80,000, not $100,000, in the hopes it would help them stick to it.

Wedding planner: $4,640

The ceremony took place overlooking the beach, and flowers helped to create the vibe they wanted.

The ceremony overlooked the beach. Francisco Salas

The Hajimirsadeghis had a Persian wedding ceremony overlooking the beach. Their setup was simple, but they used white flowers to make a big impact.

Floral Dreams by Vero Romo created a detached floral arch to frame the ceremony. They stuck to white flowers throughout the day.

Flowers: $4,595

The couple didn't have to pay an officiant for their ceremony.

The ceremony was an affordable aspect of the wedding. Francisco Salas

Amir's brother officiated their ceremony, so they didn't have to pay an officiant like many couples.

Misaki and Amir's wedding featured a Sofreh Aghd, a tradition in Persian wedding ceremonies where the bride and groom sit with a spread of items that hold symbolic meaning, including a mirror and candles, Brides reported.

The Hajimirsadeghis rented the table, mirror, and candelabras they used for their Sofreh Aghd from Yaya Rentals, while Misaki provided bowls and plates from their home collection for the other aspects of the ceremony.

Ceremony rentals: $275

Misaki wore a simple gown with a dramatic back.

The dress matched the minimalist aesthetic. Francisco Salas

Just as she did for the venue, Misaki first saw her wedding dress on Instagram. She knew the Made With Love gown was perfect as soon as she saw it.

"I just wanted something really simple that mimicked the minimalist, simple style that we went with for the wedding," Misaki said, adding that she liked that the dress hugged her figure because she's petite.

"I thought it was simple enough, but then it had some element of drama in the back," she said, pointing to the draping under the open back, buttons lining the gown, and the full train.

She paired the gown with platform heels from Badgley Mischka.

Dress: $3,027.78

Shoes: $130

A floor-length veil completed Misaki's bridal ensemble.

She paired the dress with a veil. Francisco Salas

Misaki chose an affordable veil from Etsy for the nuptials. It trailed behind her as she walked down the aisle.

An updo held up the veil, which was styled by Los Cabos Makeup. The company also did Misaki's natural makeup.

Veil: $152

Hair and makeup: $300

Amir splurged on his shoes.

The shoes were from Gucci. Francisco Salas

Amir rented a tuxedo from Michael Kors for the wedding rather than buying an ensemble. But he paired the affordable tux with high-end Gucci loafers.

"I feel like everyone focuses on the bride, and it was nice to have something special for him, too," Misaki said of the shoes. "He can re-wear those to a nice dinner. It was a good investment."

Tuxedo: $200

Shoes: $1,000

Misaki mixed and matched luxury and affordable details throughout the wedding.

Misaki Hajimirsadeghi ordered her invitations online. Francisco salas

The Hajimirsadeghis' wedding had a luxury feel, but Misaki ensured they didn't unnecessarily splurge on aspects of the wedding.

For instance, they both got high-end wedding rings from Cartier, but Misaki chose invitations from Minted, which are typically more affordable than fully custom stationery. However, she told BI she thinks she could have saved more money by DIYing the invitations.

"I think a lot of people will spend a lot on their wedding dress or invitations, some of the earlier costs, because you don't know how much everything else is going to cost," she said.

Rings: $5,820

Invitations: $549

Misaki and Amir had to build out their reception space, including a dance floor.

The reception was black and white. Francisco Salas

The reception occurred outside in a courtyard without lights, so the Hajimirsadeghis' planning team transformed it into a true reception space.

Misaki selected a black-and-white checkerboard dance floor from VVR PRO Cabo and strings of fairy lights from Pro-AV Los Cabos to frame it.

"We wanted to put our money toward big items that were noticeable and would be in every picture," Misaki said.

Dance floor: $3,300

Fairy lights: $2,800

Misaki and Amir stuck to their black-and-white theme with the rest of their decor.

They repurposed the ceremony flowers. Francisco Salas

The couple tapped Yaya Rentals again for their black tables and chairs, as well as their bar, and they chose coordinating plates, chargers, and runners from Del Cabo Events to complete their table settings. They also used both Yaya and Del Cabo for their linens and flatware.

Misaki and Amir were also able to repurpose the floral arch from the ceremony for their reception, ensuring they got more bang for their buck.

Misaki made the day-of signage for the wedding to save money, handmaking everything from their welcome sign to their menus.

Misaki told BI she could do most of the work on a laser printer, which saved her hundreds of dollars.

"You really can't tell the difference between the professional invitations and the DIY stuff that I made," she said.

DIY materials: $100

Tables, chairs, linens, flatware, and bar: $5,740

The Hajimirsadeghis wanted to invest in wedding details that felt true to them.

The shot wall was a fun feature of the day. Francisco Salas

For instance, Misaki didn't want to provide guests with a traditional party favor. Instead, she used that money to turn their seating chart into a shot wall made by Bunker Project Studio.

"I knew we wanted to keep the energy going after the ceremony because it's so easy to just get tired and not be in the mood to get onto the dance floor," Misaki said.

Likewise, they chose an audio guestbook from After The Tone rather than a traditional book, both because she thought it was sentimental and because she thought it would suit their event better.

"The vibe was party, and I knew a lot of my friends and family weren't gonna write a meaningful letter while drinking a cocktail," she said. "I was bawling when I got the voicemails back."

Seating chart: $1,440

Guestbook: $400

Their welcome bags had fun touches, too.

They included shoe bags for their guests. Francisco Salas

Misaki and Amir provided welcome boxes for guests upon their arrival at the wedding weekend, which included white bags with black bows.

They were designed to hold guests' shoes during the beachside ceremony, allowing them to leave them behind if they didn't want to get sandy.

Welcome bags: $700

They of course had a wedding photographer, as well as a videographer.

The bride and groom during their first look. Francisco Salas

They hired Francisco Salas to photograph the day, from the first look to candid shots at the reception, and Allan Carrazco was their videographer.

Photographer: $4,400

Videographer: $3,364

The Hajimirsadeghis also hired a content creator for the wedding.

They hired a content creator for the wedding. Francisco Salas

Misaki connected with Kaitlin McDermott of Social Hour on TikTok and hired her to create content for the wedding.

"She, in hindsight, was probably my best hire," Misaki said.

"The amount of pictures and videos that I got back from what she took of us, it's just priceless," Misaki said, adding that she loved seeing candid content, including when she changed into her gown or when her guests started limboing on the dance floor.

"You can't put a price tag on it," she added.

Content creator: $1,500

They opted for a DJ over a band.

The couple during their first dance. Francisco Salas

"We like DJs more than a live band," Misaki said of how they selected music for the event. "We like EDM, hip-hop, that kind of music."

They hired DJ Emmanuel for the reception and the ceremony.

"Having a live musician for the ceremony would have cost a lot more money," Misaki said.

DJ: $3,646

Misaki also changed into a shorter dress for the end of the festivities.

The bride had a second outfit. Francisco Salas

Later in the evening, Misaki changed into a strapless minidress from Meshki that was easier for dancing, which she paired with sheer gloves.

Her second ensemble was more affordable and perfect for the dance party vibes.

Second dress: $165

Gloves: $7

The Hajimirsadeghis chose a champagne tower over a cake.

They didn't have a wedding cake. Francisco Salas

Nobu's catering menu featured three courses, and Misaki told BI their menu included a bread assortment, a salad, a choice of entree between beef, salmon, lamb, or ravioli, and a cheesecake dessert. Since dessert was already built into the meal, Misaki and Amir decided not to buy a separate wedding cake, which also would have had to come from Nobu.

Instead, the Hajimirsadeghis invested in a champagne tower they could pour bubbly into at the end of the night instead of cutting into a cake.

Champagne tower: $320

And to make the end of the night extra special, they splurged on fireworks.

Fireworks exploded as they poured champagne. Francisco Salas

The Hajimirsadeghis had their planning team arrange for fireworks to erupt while they popped the bubbly.

"We were pouring champagne while the fireworks were coming down," Misaki said.

The fireworks cost over $2,000 and only erupted for one minute, but it was worth it for Misaki and Amir.

Fireworks: $2,800

Misaki and Amir ended up coming in under budget, spending just over $80,000.

They were under their budget. Francisco Salas

Misaki and Amir managed to stick to their preferred spend of $80,000 almost perfectly.

Misaki told BI that telling their planning team a lower budget than they actually felt comfortable spending helped keep their costs low and prevented her and Amir from getting stressed out when surprise costs came up.

"We actually felt good about it because we were kind of under budget," she said. "Obviously, you can always have a cheaper wedding; you can always have a backyard wedding. But for what we wanted, which was at a five-star hotel with all of our guests together having Nobu food, I think we saved a bunch of money."

Misaki advises other couples who are just starting to wedding plan to have an intentional conversation with their partner about what they want to prioritize financially before they start making wedding decisions.

"Everyone has different priorities," she said. "If you don't care to have a wedding, then obviously spending $80,000 on a wedding doesn't make any sense."

"Talk with your partner on where your priorities lie, whether you even want to have a wedding," she said. "And then if it is something you want to do, then think about all the other priorities in your life. For us, it was owning a home and having kids in the next few years."

Total: $80,230.78

Catering and drinks: $28,860

Wedding planner: $4,640

Flowers: $4,595

Ceremony rentals: $275

Bride's first dress: $3,027.78

Bride's shoes: $130

Bride's second dress: $165

Gloves: $7

Veil: $152

Hair and makeup: $300

Tuxedo: $200

Groom's shoes: $1,000

Rings: $5,820

Invitations: $549

Dance floor: $3,300

Fairy lights: $2,800

DIY materials: $100

Tables, chairs, linens, flatware, and bar: $5,740

Seating chart: $1,440

Guestbook: $400

Welcome bags: $700

Photographer: $4,400

Videographer: $3,364

Content creator: $1,500

DJ: $3,646

Champagne tower: $320

Fireworks: $2,800

Misaki said her relationship with Amir "feels like home."

The bride and groom. Francisco Salas

"We've been friends for over a decade now, so I'm just comfortable with him," Misaki said of her husband.

"We have the same sense of humor, the same goals and values in life," she added. "It's just easy with him."

If you want to share the real cost of your wedding with Business Insider for a story, get in touch at sgrindell@businessinsider.com .

Read the original article on Business Insider
TRENTON - When Neptune Police Sgt. Christine Savage told a local television reporter that the department had abused her for eight years, her employer said she violated a non-disparagement provision in a settlement to resolve claims of discrimination and harassment.

But the New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously that the provision violated a state law prohibiting employers from using non-disclosure agreements.

"Survivors of discrimination, retaliation and harassment now have a legal right to tell their story  a right that cannot be taken away by a settlement agreement," Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote. "The non-disparagement clause in the agreement is against public policy and cannot be enforced."

The court overturned the New Jersey Appellate Division and remanded the case back to the lower court with guidance, noting that non-disparagement clause was unenforceable.

See a full copy of the ruling at the end of this story.

Christine Savage, left, and Elena Gonzalez were honored by the NAACP.

Workplace rules: A bill in Trenton would require employers to reveal pay rate in all job postings

The case stems from non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, in employment contracts and settlements. Originally designed to prevent workers from sharing trade secrets, advocates in the wake of the #MeToo movement said employers were using them to silence women from speaking out against workplace harassment.

Policy makers have reined in the provisions. Among them: New Jersey, which in 2019 became the first state to ban provisions that were designed to conceal claims of discrimination, retaliation or harassment.

Former Murphy aide played a role: Sexual harassment victims are protected under new law

Savage, who has been fighting her case for more than a decade, cheered the court's decision.

"This day belongs to Christine Savage who had the courage and tenacity to speak out about the sexual discrimination and harassment in the Neptune Police Department that she and others have endured," her Brick-based lawyer, Donald F. Burke Jr., said in a statement. "The Supreme Court upheld her right to speak and rejected the efforts to silence her. It has been a long road and we are grateful to the Supreme Court and proud of having achieved this result for Christine and others who will likely benefit from this ruling."

A lawyer representing Neptune couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Savage joined the Neptune Police Department as a police officer in 1998. And she, along with Elena Gonzelez, filed a lawsuit in 2013 saying in part that they repeatedly had been passed over for promotions in favor of less qualified men and were subjected to a hostile work environment.

The two sides settled the case. The women were paid $330,000 each and promoted to sergeant.

Savage, however, sued two years later, alleging harassment and retaliation only intensified. The two sides agreed to another settlement in July 2020 that included a non-disparagement provision that read in part: "The parties agree not to make any statements written or verbal, or cause or encourage others to make any statements, written or verbal regarding the past behavior of the parties, which statements would tend to disparage or impugn the reputation of any party."

Neptune police lawsuits: Lawsuits filed against Neptune cops have cost $2M. Taxpayers could be on the hook for more.

Savage the next month discussed the settlement with an NBC reporter, saying of the department, "you abused me for about eight years."

Neptune said Savage violated the non-disparagement provision and filed a motion to enforce the agreement, setting the stage for the court to decide a question that would affect not only the two parties, but also employers and employees statewide: Does the state law prohibiting non-disclosure clauses include non-disparagement clauses?

The Appellate Division said Savage didn't violate the terms of the agreement, but non-disparagement clauses were enforceable.

But the Supreme Court went a step further. It said the Neptune settlement included language that would have prevented employees from revealing information about discrimination and harassment, directly conflicting with the state law.

"Survivors of discrimination and harassment have the right to speak about their experiences in any number of ways, and they can no longer be restrained by confidentiality provisions in employment contracts or settlement agreements," the court said.

Critics of NDA provisions said the decision was an important step in protecting women.

Julie Roginsky, a New Jersey Democratic political strategist who co-founded Lift Our Voices to draw attention to NDA's, said non-disparagement clauses gave employers a way to get around the non-disclosure law, even though few laypeople signing an agreement would understand where the line was drawn.

The court's decision was groundbreaking, she said in an interview. "If the Legislature is going to give people the right to speak out about violations under the law against discrimination, then that right should not be limited in any way. They should be able to tell their truth and tell their stories and then not be bound by any type of gag order. And a non-disparagement agreement is just a gag order by another name."

Christine Savage case by Dennis Carmody on Scribd

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ harassment victims no longer silenced by non-disparagement rules
This week, I walked through a bustling Borough Market one evening; paused, on my bicycle, to hear the fabulous no-notes oratory of Mick Lynch in Trafalgar Square on May Day; mingled with the crowds waiting for a platform announcement at Paddington, and I wanted to go round and thank everyone.

Thank them for being there. Thank the sippers in the bars and pubs, the banner-wavers and the weary commuters. Congratulate them for simply showing up, for being out and about, for leaving the house. Because these days it isnt easy.

Once, way back when, we had a lockdown imposed upon us, televised press conferences urging us to stay at home and police vans with their loud-hailers yelling at sun-bathing miscreants to pack up their towels. But now we have a new lockdown, a stay-at-home message written, as it were, in invisible ink; subliminal messages coming at us from every direction. And we need to fight it, to find a way to swerve the bombardment that comes at us when we try to leave our homes and to avoid the siren call to lethargy.

As the great Loyd Grossman used to say on Through the Keyhole: Lets take a look at the evidence. There is, of course, the endless assault on the commuter. The fares, the delays, the torture of the compensation scheme, Delay Repay.

In Japan, the ticket inspector enters a carriage of the clean and speeding on-time train, bows and checks tickets. When he reaches the end of the carriage he turns, bows and exits. Its a sight and a spirit that once seen is never forgotten.

Here in Blighty, and Im not talking from some general blase experience over time but of precisely Wednesday this week en-route, as ever from Taunton to London, when our nice inspector entered the carriage. He was jaded already from his announcements, during which he was trying to understand, out loud, quite why the 08.23 from Taunton was already 20 minutes late by the time it had reached Exeter that morning; quite why the powers-that-be had decided to let his late-running train allow another to edge in front of it before his then got wedged behind a freight train.

Another morning of apologies for the poor brute who could offer nothing but the suggestion we claim refunds on the GWR Delay Repay. As he checked my ticket, I was attempting to claim for last weeks delays, but the upload your ticket button wasnt functioning. Its a nightmare, he conceded. I hear the voices of people complaining about it before I go to sleep at night.

A good reason to stay at home, for him and us, you might think.

And look at the analysis by MailOnline into the annual cost of commuting to London. There is not a single annual ticket from any popular commuter area, from Canterbury to Colchester, that is less than 6,000, and if you want a 12-month ticket from Norwich to London on Greater Anglia, its 10,244. Although you do at least, on that service, get a nice bar with a smiley server, as opposed to the trolley of carb doom on GWR.

And the report is a nail in the coffin to those who want not just to leave their homes, but to sell them, to quit the city for their rural dream. Moving out of London can be a false economy, said personal finance expert Martyn James. Property may be cheaper but you get clobbered by the commute cost. The grass isnt greener outside of the city, he said. And I think he might have been sobbing when he added, because theres no grass.

What the government needs to do is encourage, or insist, that train operators offer pay-as-you-go flexible seasonal tickets, tickets for most of us who do not nowadays, schlep to London every day, but might do it twice, or even once, a week.

Then, as we look out of the window at home, wondering if it will ever stop raining, and we pause to consider a holiday away from it all, reality also bites. Airports are now enforced retail experiences, shopping centres with flights in between. I get queue anxiety which rather obscures the thought of building sandcastles with my little boys. Better to hope for some sun this summer. To stay at home.

And post-Brexit, the dream of a place in the sun for so many Brits, the villa in Puerto Banus, the apartment in Nice, the renovated farmhouse in Chianti, is torn to shreds once you realise you have to set the stop-clock on 90 days.

Meanwhile, where is the motivation for the younger generation to leave the house and venture forth to do something like a ski season? Pre-Brexit the European ski resorts operated a virtuous economic circle; the Brits worked the chalets and bars, then partied and invested their cash back into the local economy.

Now visa requirements make that virtually impossible. A friend who runs bars and restaurants in an Alpine ski resort tells me: There are no Brits here to liven things up and the Eastern European workers save or send their money home.

When it comes to eating out, town and city dwellers are encouraged to stay at home and use Deliveroo. You can stay wedged into the sofa, theres no wretched service charge, no tube or taxi bill to pay, no chance of being mugged  or worse. And so many of us are now bewitched by that dreadful slogan of Just Eat; a filthy company that should be banned for conning people into thinking its better not to cook, its better not to go out.

And what of the rural communities, seemingly barred from leaving their villages because theres no bus service? Or, if there is a bus service, its not at a time that encourages nice economic behaviour.

A caller to Iain Dales LBC show put it succinctly this week. Charlie and a friend from Cannock in Staffordshire took a bus to Stafford for the evening. After the cinema they nipped to a pub around 8pm: My friend was about to look at the menu, he said, but I had to tell him, Weve got 10 minutes to get our bus. The evening was just getting started and we had to call it to a close.

With wall-to-wall Netflix and Apple TV and Amazon Prime and BBC iPlayer, its cheaper to get a big telly and stay at home. And you can stay at home and doom scroll, trawling social media for videos of people bursting huge zits, or watching large ships crashing (my favourite).

But we must fight against this, lobby for better bus services, put down our phones and cadge a lift to the pub. Hospitality dies when we shun it, or use the creations of dark kitchens, delivered via bike or moped.

And thank God that the lunacy of the 15-minute grocery delivery service died a natural death. Get out of the house and get Britain moving.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who is at the center of the allegations against Donald Trump in his hush-money trial, is the next witness on the stand Tuesday



Trump started his day early Tuesday morning with an angry post on Truth Social fuming that he only just learned which witness would be called next, only to quickly delete the post, possibly afraid of violating his gag order and facing prison time.



Trump was warned Monday by Judge Juan Merchan that any further violations of his gag order would result in prison time. The former president has already been found guilty of violating the order 10 times, resulting in a total of $10,000 in fines: $1,000 for every instance.



The case centers around hush-money payments made to Daniels from Trump to cover up an affair prior to the 2016 election through his former fixer and attorney, Michael Cohen. Danielss testimony will mark a change from earlier witnesses, who have mostly spoken about payments and communications taking place in 2016 and 2017. Daniels has previously spoken about receiving threats over the payments, remarking that she accepted them because she feared for her life. Her testimony could elaborate on this as well as other salacious details, which could be very damaging to Trump.



Trump is facing 34 felony charges for allegedly falsifying business records with the intent to further an underlying crime in his payoff of Daniels. He has pleaded not guilty.


Gov. Spencer Cox talks to journalists at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on the last night of the legislative session, Friday, March 1, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Tuesday joined several other Western governors calling on Congress to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, which would widen eligibility for people poisoned by radiation from Cold War era nuclear weapons testing and manufacturing, known as downwinders.

Coxs support comes as lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are considering two RECA bills.

One would extend the deadline for compensation, which is set to expire this June, sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee in the Senate and Rep. Celeste Maloy in the House, both Republicans from Utah.

The other, sponsored by Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, would increase compensation, expand eligibility for certain uranium workers, and widen the current definition of an affected area to include all of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Guam.

It would also include parts of Hawleys district near St. Louis, where creek water was contaminated by radiation during nuclear weapons development.

As of Tuesday evening, Congress has 14 days to pass an expansion or extension before compensation expires on June 10.

Cox told Utah News Dispatch in a statement that he wants to see the program expanded.

We support efforts to expand compensation for those affected by the nuclear testing that occurred throughout the West, Cox said in the statement. Its the right thing to do.

The statement comes on the heels of a similar push from Western governors urging members of Congress to support Hawleys bill. On May 1, Republican Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, chair of the Western Governors Association, and Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, vice chair of the organization, sent letters to several lawmakers asking them to schedule a vote.

The bill acknowledges that nuclear weapons production and testing has had much broader effects than currently recognized by statute, and Western Governors encourage you to expeditiously schedule the legislation for consideration by the full House, reads a letter sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat.

RECA was enacted in 1990  to be eligible for compensation under the act, Utahns had to prove they contracted certain types of cancer and lived in Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Washington or Wayne counties for two consecutive years from 1951 to 1958, or during the summer of 1962.

People who worked in uranium mines, mills or transporting ore in Utah from 1942 to 1971 were also eligible.

Downwinders could receive $50,000, with uranium workers getting $100,000.

Lee and Maloys bill would extend the same program thats been in place since 1990. But activists have long claimed the program was too narrow, pointing to ample evidence that all of Utah and other states in the West were downwind from nuclear weapons testing.

RECA also excludes people who had kidney cancer, certain kinds of leukemia, autoimmune disorders or other diseases that are linked to radiation. And Utahns who worked but didnt reside in eligible counties or lived just across an eligible county line cannot receive compensation.

Hawleys bill, which passed the Senate in March after a bipartisan 69-30 vote, would increase some payouts up to $150,000 while covering people who worked in uranium mines and mills up until 1990, extending the current timeframe by nearly 20 years. Uranium core drillers and remediation workers would also be eligible.

Hawley has said he hopes the expansion will be added to a bill expanding child tax credits.

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The post Cox joins other Western governors calling on Congress to expand compensation for downwinders appeared first on Utah News Dispatch.
(Bloomberg) -- The Czech government summoned Russias ambassador to protest cyber attacks against the countrys institutions and critical infrastructure, for which Prague and its NATO allies blame the Kremlins intelligence services.

Most Read from Bloomberg

European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries have accused Russia of conducting hybrid warfare, such as cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns, to undermine democracy and weaken support for Ukraine.

We have called on the Russian Federation to refrain from this behavior, which is contrary to UN standards and its own obligations, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in a statement.

Read more: Germany Slams Russia For Cyber Attacks on Firms, Party Officials

The move echoes a similar protest by Germany, which last week said it had clear evidence of attacks directed by a group called APT28, which Western countries said is controlled by Russias military intelligence agency. Those attacks targeted Chancellor Olaf Scholzs Social Democratic Party, as well as government departments and various companies.

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ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, May 7. Turkmenistan discussed cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) to improve the level of professional training, Trend reports.

An official source reports that Toyli Komekov, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkmenistan to Italy, and Serge Nakouzi, the head of the FAO's human resources department, discussed this topic in Rome.

During the meeting, there was an exchange of views on the organization of internships for employees of sectoral structures in Turkmenistan in various areas of FAO, as well as the training of professional personnel in agriculture, water resources management, combating climate change, and desertification.

Furthermore, the conversation also focused on the state and prospects of cooperation between Turkmenistan and FAO in the field of using effective international practices to ensure food security and achieve sustainable development.

Meanwhile, in March of this year, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov made a working trip to Italy, where he held a meeting with Deputy Director-General of FAO Maurizio Martina during which the parties analyzed issues of cooperation in the fields of agriculture and food security.
Czech Republic's top court rules that surgery is not required to officially change gender

FILE - People march during the LGBTQ+ parade at the Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023. On Tuesday May 7, 2024 , the Czech Republic's highest legal authority ruled to dismiss part of a law requiring people to undergo surgery, including sterilisation and change of sexual organs, to be able to officially change their gender. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

PRAGUE (AP)  The Czech Republics highest court on Tuesday ruled to dismiss part of a law requiring people to undergo gender-affirmation surgery, including sterilization, in order to officially change their gender.

The Constitutional Court said the requirements are unconstitutional and in conflict with the fundamental right of trans people to have protected their physical integrity and personal autonomy in connection with their human dignity.

Only two of the courts 15 judges opposed the verdict, which cannot be appealed. Lawmakers must change the affected sections of the law by the middle of next year.

The court ruled at the request of a person who was seeking a gender change. The authorities refused to register him as a man because he had not undergone surgery.

The Czech practice was criticized by LGBTQ+ rights groups.

The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, was one of the last European Union countries to have such conditions in law.
Dad leaves 9-month-old alone at home as he robs bank at gunpoint, Illinois cops say

A 36-year-old man abandoned his 9-month-old child at home as he robbed a bank, Illinois authorities say.

The McHenry Police Department said the robbery happened around 10:45 a.m. Monday, May 6, at a Huntington Bank.

Peter Sova brandished what appeared to be a handgun as he passed a note to a teller, demanding money, police said. He is accused of fleeing the bank on foot after receiving an undisclosed amount of cash.

Police said they captured Sova shortly after the robbery. He was detained in a field on the property of a church in McHenry.

As officers were investigating, they learned he had left his 9-month-old child alone at home, according to a news release from the police department. Police took the baby into protective custody, and the boy was eventually released into the custody of his mother.

Sova was charged with aggravated robbery, theft of more than $500 and child abandonment, police said. He was placed in the McHenry County Jail in Woodstock.

In 2021, Sova was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of residential burglary. The McHenry County States Attorneys Office said he entered a home looking for money, and he was detained by the homes residents.

Woodstock is about a 60-mile drive northwest of Chicago.

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Dallas priest arrested, charged with indecency with children, Garland police say

A Dallas priest was arrested after he was accused having inappropriate contact with two children, Garland police said in a news release Tuesday.

Authorities arrested 34-year-old Ricardo Reyes Mata. A priest with the Catholic Diocese in Dallas, he is charged with two counts of indecency with a child.

Reyes Mata was arrested based on reports of inappropriate contact with the minors, which happened during a visit at a home in Garland, police said.

Detectives are communicating with the Diocese of Dallas about the case.

Reyes Mata is being held at the Garland Detention Center on $175,000 bond.

Anyone with information about the investigation or other incidents is asked to contact Garland police at 972-485-4840.

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DEER TRAIL, Colo. (KDVR)  The Colorado property owner where several teens were rescued from an abandoned missile silo spoke about his concerns in an exclusive interview with FOX31.

Although a fence is broken, the property owner has gated off the area and placed locks and no trespassing signs, but despite those efforts, people still find their way beyond the gate.

This is real dangerous. This is a dangerous place to be, Jerry Linnebur said at his property near Deer Trail.

Bill to ban semiautomatic guns to die in committee

A message spraypainted on the silo reads Welcome to Paradise, but after an intense rescue from this silo around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, it was anything but.

If you want to know what black is, down there, thats as black as it gets down there. Its pitch dark, he said.

An abandoned missile silo is covered in graffiti

Crews were underground for several hours searching through the silo described as tunnels and caverns. Linnebur told FOX31 he has not been down there in nearly a decade.

Well, I dont know what the condition of it there is now, but back then was water in it. Theres steel, its tunnels, its a mess  lets just put it that way, Linnebur said. Like some of it, youre walking on a beam just so wide, and like that generator room underneath that mound of dirt right there, its big enough its like a gym down there. Like a gymnasium. Its a big room.

After nearly two hours, rescuers made contact with the three teens trapped inside, including one who had serious injuries from falling 30 feet.

He fell through three stories where there was an opening. It will send you through all three stories. Theres several rooms in certain depths, Linnebur said.

I hope its a lesson to the other kids

The first thing that went through his mind when he learned of what happened: the condition of that boy or that young fella, Linnebur said. Well, I always worry about people getting hurt here. I was hoping he was alive. I hate the idea that hes  that he could be crippled for life.

Linnebur said the silo was closed off by steel bars that were removed by first responders to make the rescue.

If your flashlight went out or something happened, you can step off. If you step off from one of those silos, now theyre a lot of those have a lot of water and theyre pretty full with water, he said.

For now, he said he will do all he can to keep people away.

A lot of times the deputies will come up here just to make sure, look and make sure theres no cars setting up here. Theres a deputy who lives in that house right there that works for Arapahoe County. He wasnt on duty that day. Matter of fact, hes the one that told me about this, Linnebur said.

He wants other kids to learn from this mistake.

I hope its a lesson to the other kids that were in here and that they tell their other friends around the schools, stuff like that, to stay away from there. Because its dangerous. You can see what happened, Linnebur said.

What were Colorados missile silos for?

This is the first time Tracie White, with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, has heard of a situation like this.

I do know that trespassing has been an issue on many of these facilities. At this point, I know many of the property owners typically do press charges on trespassers on facilities such as this on private property. However I have not heard of any instances involving an injury of this nature, she said.

She explains what silos are.

The Titan I missiles are one of the first intercontinental ballistic missiles developed by the United States. There are six of these missile complexes in Colorado. Each of these type missile complexes contained three missile launch silos, a bunch of associated equipment, propellant terminals, a powerhouse, a control center, antennas and a number of underground tunnel systems that connected the infrastructure, White said.

Using your cell phone in your car could cost you $85+ soon

She said the department has little involvement in closing the silos.

So we really dont have any involvement in those pieces. We were involved in the environmental cleanup of these sites but not so much any of the property transfer issues or closure, White said.

Linnebur said he plans to put concrete slabs to cover the silo to prevent something like this from happening in the future.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, will make a statement to the Commons about the hack - PA

Around 270,000 service personnel may have been hit by Chinas hack on the Ministry of Defence, it has emerged.

The hackers gained access to payroll information including names, bank details and some addresses of serving personnel, reservists and veterans, in the data breach.

The Telegraph understands that a personal data protection service has been made available to all service personnel. Those affected have been referred to a government website that provides advice and support, which includes how to use data monitoring services to track personal data across the web.

Both serving and retired personnel have also been advised that if they do see their data online then they need to report it immediately via a helpline and not engage with the website owner.

On Tuesday, Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, will make a statement to the Commons about the hack, which Beijing has denied.

When asked about the reports, Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it opposed all forms of cyberattacks and is against the use of cybersecurity issues to smear other countries for political purposes deliberately.

Investigation launched

An investigation has been launched into how such sensitive information could have been accessed.

The cyber attack is thought to have been on a payroll system operated by a contractor external to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The system, which is the main mechanism for administering pay and expenses for service personnel, is separate from the wider MoD infrastructure. It was immediately taken offline.

It is not known if the contractor is responsible for any other part of the MoD infrastructure or whether the company was targeted specifically because of a known vulnerability in its systems.

The attack, which is thought to have taken place in recent days, would not have been able to access any personal details of special forces personnel as they are administered through a separate system. However, some veterans who have left the Armed Forces in recent years may have been affected.

Tobias Ellwood, former chairman of the defence select committee, urged the Government not to understate the severity of this hack.

He said it had been conducted most likely to secure the banking details of personnel who might be leant upon in return for financial gain - perhaps even unaware China sits behind this.

He added: Whilst the MOD has robust resilience firewalls in place, its clearly not the case with third party contractors which I am sure will now be addressed by the Defence Secretary.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
A stone bust of Ludwig van Beethoven stands near the Old Playground Pavilion in Tower Grove Park in St. Louis on March 3, 2021. On May 7, 1824, Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" was performed for the first time. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

May 7 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1718, the French established the city of New Orleans on land inhabited by the Chitimacha tribe. The actual date of the city's founding is unknown, but the anniversary is traditionally observed May 7.

In 1789, the first U.S. presidential inaugural ball, celebrating the inauguration of George Washington, was conducted in New York City.

In 1824, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was performed for the first time.

In 1913, homemade bombs found under the bishop's throne in St. Paul's Cathedral and opposite the offices of Evening Star in Bouverie Street, were deemed by police to have been the work of suffragettes.

The St. Anne Parade marches down Royal St in New Orleans on Fat Tuesday, February 21. On May 7, 1718, the French established the city of New Orleans on land inhabited by the Chitimacha tribe. File Photo by AJ Sisco/UPI

In 1915, a German U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania off the coast of Ireland, killing nearly 1,200 people.

In 1921, in an exclusive interview with the United Press, Sun Yat Sen, president of the Canton Chinese government, outlined his policy proposals as he sought recognition for his fledgling government.

Germany's Gen. Gustav Jodl (C) signs the unconditional surrender documents on May 7, 1945, in Reims, France, ending the war in Europe. He is flanked by Col. Wilhelm Oxenius (L), his aide, and German Adm. Hans Georg von Friedeburg. UPI File Photo

File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI

In 1945, U.S. Army Gen. Dwight Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany from Gen. Alfred Jodl.

On May 7, 1994, "The Scream," Edvard Munch's famed expressionist painting, was found in a hotel room south of the Norwegian capital of Oslo three months after it was stolen. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

In 1954, rebel Viet Minh forces overran the French stronghold of Dien Bien Phu, bringing about the end of French control in Indochina and creating the division of Vietnam.

In 1987, Rep. Stewart McKinney, R-Conn., died at age 56, the first member of Congress identified as a victim of AIDS. McKinney contracted the virus following a tainted blood transfusion.

France's newly elected president, Emmanuel Macron, addresses a crowd of well-wishers at the Louvre in Paris on May 7, 2017. Macron won the presidency over nationalist leader Marine. File Photo by Clement Martin/UPI

In 1994, The Scream, Edvard Munch's famed expressionist painting, was found in a hotel room south of the Norwegian capital of Oslo three months after it was stolen. Thieves stole the painting again in 2004 and it was recovered a second time in 2006.

In 2000, Vladimir Putin was sworn in as Russia's second president in the first democratic transfer of executive power in the nation's 1,000-year history.

In 2007, officials reported no survivors in the crash of a Kenyan Airlines plane that went down in a Cameroon mangrove swamp with 114 people aboard.

In 2014, a Thai court, in an abuse-of-power ruling, removed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office.

File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI

In 2017, France elected Emmanuel Macron, of La Republique En Marche! Party, president over Marine Le Pen of the National Front.

In 2023, Arab League members agreed to reinstate Syria back into the coalition and urged the country to take action to end its nearly 12-year civil war. The league ousted Syria in 2011 after President Bashar al-Assad's strong-armed response to protesters sank the nation into a civil war.

File Photo by via Saudi Press Agency
This is the first story of a two-part series. The second story is available here.

At a summit near San Francisco in November, the leaders of America and China turned to the biggest threat to their relationship.

The topic was Taiwan, which Chinas government considers part of its rightful territory and has threatened to take by force. When it came up, according to an American official who later spoke to the press, Chinese leader Xi Jinping grew exasperated  not at the risk of war, but at the timeline.

Xi basically said: Look, I hear all these reports in the United States [of] how were planning for military action in 2027 or 2035,  the official said.

 There are no such plans,  Xi said in the officials telling.  No one has talked to me about this. 

That first year, 2027, is a fixation in Washington. It has impacted the debate over China policy  a shift from the long term to the short term. Its also helped steer billions of dollars toward U.S. forces in the Pacific. And in the last several years, its been a question mark hanging over the Biden administrations approach to the region.

According to U.S. intelligence, Xi has told the Chinese military it needs to be ready to invade Taiwan by that year. But ready to invade is different than will invade; American officials stress the year isnt a deadline.

Defense News spoke to sources in Congress, the Pentagon and Washington-based think tanks to understand what may be the most important, most misunderstood year in Sino-U.S. relations. The message was that 2027 has exposed a rift in Washingtons China strategy. The U.S. is more focused on the country it calls its pacing challenge, but experts disagree on whether its running a sprint or a marathon  and if it can prepare for both.

China will not renounce the use of force as a possibility around Taiwan, said David Finkelstein, who studies the Chinese military at the Center for Naval Analyses. So the military option hangs over the Taiwan Strait like Damocles sword.

The Davidson window

In the years leading up to 2021, Sino-U.S. relations had soured. Washington had become more confrontational during Donald Trumps presidency, in large part as a response to Beijings own aggression. The Peoples Liberation Army was  and still is  bulking up quickly, with weapons, reforms and exercises that could enable an invasion of Taiwan. Lawmakers concerned the U.S. was falling behind had just created the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, an effort to rush more money to military leaders in the region.

With that backdrop, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, began his questioning at a 2021 hearing.

The common theme I hear with regard to Chinas actions under Xi Jinpings leadership is alarm, Sullivan said, citing concerns over Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Chinas strong-arming of U.S. allies like Australia and India.

Sullivan then asked the sole witness that day  Adm. Phil Davidson, the retiring head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command  whether that changed the odds of a conflict around Taiwan.

The threat is manifest during this decade, Davidson said at the end of his answer, in fact, in the next six years.

Adm. Phil Davidson, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command at the time, tours a memorial on Sept. 12, 2019, while visiting with Philippine military members. (MC1 Robin W. Peak/U.S. Navy)

Its rare to find a true before-and-after moment on an issue as complex as Sino-U.S. relations. This, said several experts, was one.

It set off these warning alarms that broke outside the niche community and into the broader policy conversation in D.C., said a Republican congressional aide, granted anonymity because the individual was not authorized to talk to the press.

The concern it generated earned a nickname: the Davidson window, shorthand for the near-term threat of an attack on Taiwan.

And that changed how Congress spent money. The Pacific Deterrence Initiative doesnt have its own budget, but in the last few years the U.S. has spent more on its forces in the region. Indo-Pacific Command sends Congress a yearly list of priorities, including what doesnt make the Pentagons budget request.

The latest wish list has called for $26.5 billion in spending. And while $11 billion didnt make the cut in the Pentagons fiscal 2025 budget request, that means about $15 billion did, with the chance lawmakers may add more in the next spending bill.

Congress also gave the Pentagon $1 billion in annual authority to send Taiwan weapons. The recently passed national security supplemental includes almost $2 billion to replace whatever the Pentagon sends, along with $2 billion more in financing to purchase American equipment.

You can draw a direct line between Adm. Davidsons comments and the ability to get something like the foreign military financing for Taiwan through, the congressional staffer said.

Suddenly, in a considerable number of hearings, members of Congress were asking military leaders about their windows.

At the start of the summer, the chief of naval operations and the commandant of the Marine Corps said they shared Davidsons concerns.

Gen. Mark Milley, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a later hearing that Davidsons comments were based on a speech from Xi, calling on Chinas military to develop capabilities to seize Taiwan and move it from 2035 to 2027.

U.S. officials havent shared the text of that speech.

I hope I am wrong

This became the standard line across the administration  affirmed by Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns.

President Xi has instructed the PLA [Peoples Liberation Army], the Chinese military leadership to be ready by 2027 to invade Taiwan. But that doesnt mean that hes decided to invade in 2027 or any other year as well, Burns said during a TV interview in February 2023.

Amphibious assault vehicles of the Chinese People's Liberation Army move in formation at sea during a live-fire training exercise held in 2023. (Xie Wenjian/Chinese Defense Ministry)

And as the hearing with Milley showed, that distinction is easy to miss. Then-Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., argued with the general over whether other witnesses had said China would invade by 2027.

Milley said no, but added a caveat: Intent is something that can change quickly.

The back-and-forth showed two factors that have defined the 2027 debate ever since: For one, its hard to keep the year from looking like a timeline; and second, even though ability and intent are different, theyre still related.

The first issue has been clear in the three years since Davidson testified. More officials were pressed to offer their own assessments.

In fall 2022, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said China wants to unify with Taiwan on a much faster timeline than the U.S. expected. Then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday soon after said his service needed a fight tonight approach to the region.

Then in early 2023, a memo from Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, leaked.

I hope I am wrong, it read. My gut tells me we will fight [China] in 2025.

After this last case, the Pentagon intervened. Officials began repeating a new talking point: Conflict with China is neither imminent nor inevitable. Theyve stuck to that assessment ever since.

But by then, said a senior defense official, granted anonymity to speak freely, the concerns around 2027 had spread widely.

People around Washington would call the officials office to ask if China would invade that year and whether the U.S. is ready. Since then, the official said, the misconception has become less common.

Its not like Xi Jinping has a calendar up in his office with a date in 2027 marked invade Taiwan,  the official said.

In fact, many of the experts who spoke with Defense News said its unlikely any Chinese leader would set a deadline. Chinese law doesnt have timelines for an attack on Taiwan; it has conditions, particularly an attempt by the island to declare independence.

And Xi hasnt scrapped Chinas policy toward the island, which calls for unification without war. Some leading China analysts dont think invading the island is a legacy issue for him.

Xi is a politician, said Toshi Yoshihara, who studies the Chinese military at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank. All politicians want options, so the last thing you want is to be tied to a deadline.

Seed corn

The Pentagon doesnt dismiss 2027 altogether. Thats because its a real goal for Chinas military  just a nuanced one.

Chinas government has set a series of year-based goals throughout this century, almost like mile times a runner wants to hit while training to win a race.

The most important one is 2049, which is 100 years after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China. By then, Chinas leaders want to reach national rejuvenation  or as they see it, again becoming the worlds most powerful country. A core part of that goal is unification with Taiwan.

Members of the media look at the Taiwanese developed large UAV Teng Yun, which resembles the American MQ-9 Reaper and can stay aloft for up to 24 hours, at the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in Taichung in central Taiwan on Nov. 15, 2022. (Walid Berrazeg/AP)

China has also set short- and medium-term markers. The earlier one is 2027, the 100th anniversary of the Peoples Liberation Army. It was added to Chinas calendar in 2020. The midterm one is 2035.

Its a yardstick, said Chad Sbragia, a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses and former head of the Pentagons China policy.

The logic isnt so different from how the U.S. works. Take an initiative like Replicator, for example. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks has pledged to field thousands of drones by August 2025, which forces the Pentagon to move faster and offers a chance for accountability.

Chinas military goals arent that specific. Instead, theyre captured in somewhat vague phrases repeated by Chinese officials. By 2035, the modernization of its armed forces should be basically complete. By 2049, it wants to have a world-class military.

The official said its not totally clear  to both the American and Chinese governments  what those phrases mean.

The goals for 2027 are more detailed, though hard to translate from the original Chinese. Heres how its described in the Pentagons 2023 report on Chinas military strength:

Accelerate the integrated development of mechanization, informatization, and intelligentization, while boosting the speed of modernization in military theories, organizations, personnel, and weapons and equipment.

The aims are simpler than they sound, the defense official said.

Two Taiwanese Kuang Hua VI-class missile boats maneuver at sea during a military drill on Jan. 31, 2024. (Annabelle Chih/Getty Images)

The first half focuses on the militarys equipment, its ability to gather data, and its ability to communicate or jam its enemies. The second part refers to doctrine  or the ability for all the different parts of the Peoples Liberation Army to fight together.

These are the main areas where China thinks its military must improve if the nation is to surpass its rivals, most of all the United States. Others include corruption and the long time since China last fought a war, which means its leaders have less data on how their forces could perform today.

These goals all matter for a potential fight with Taiwan, though the official stressed that any conflict is still just that  potential. Chinas government would prefer to annex the island without a war, and may think a stronger military could force Taiwan into negotiations. The defense official said its difficult to judge whether China is on pace to reach its goals, which are more difficult to measure than simply a weapons inventory.

The amount of military equipment theyre producing is eye-watering, Sbragia said.

In response, some people, like U.S. military leaders in the Pacific and hawkish lawmakers, say America needs to surge money to its forces in the region. American law doesnt require the nation to defend Taiwan, but U.S. President Joe Biden has said several times that it would.

Others, such as officials in the Biden administration, argue the U.S. cant fixate on a threat this decade.

We dont really get to choose one or the other, the defense official said. We dont get to say were going to pour all of our resources into being ready right now and shortchange what we think we need to invest in for the future.

Not everyone agrees the U.S. can do both. Even those that do  such as former Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who until recently led the Houses committee focused on competition with China  argue the U.S. should be spending much more on the effort.

But China will likely be a long-term competitor  as illustrated by its goals, which stretch decades into the future. One of the benefits of the 2027 debate in Washington, multiple China experts told Defense News, is that its made Americas government take that competition more seriously.

But they also gave a warning: America shouldnt think theres zero chance of conflict before that year, and if nothing happens after that date, it shouldnt get complacent.

That means spending the money it can on the short-term threat while also upgrading U.S. forces for the long term, said Zack Cooper, who studies U.S.-China strategic competition at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.

We dont want to be eating our seed corn, he said.

This is the first story of a two-part series. The second story is available here.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) will testify before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday in a hearing focused on the pro-Palestinian protests at George Washington University (GW).

A spokesperson for the committee confirmed her attendance on Tuesday, nearly a week after she was asked by the panels chair to testify. Bowsers office has also confirmed to The Hill that she will testify tomorrow.

The hearing follows a visit to GWs campus and its pro-Palestinian encampment by members of the Oversight Committee, including Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). While visiting, some lawmakers verbally clashed with the protesters there, and Boebert expressed her displeasure with a Palestinian flag on a statue of George Washington near the encampment.

If the faculty here, who many are involved in this right now  I had people proudly saying that they are faculty  and not wanting to remove a Palestinian sign from the George Washington statue. If they dont want to do something to address this? Well, then kiss your federal funding goodbye, Boebert said at the time.

On the day of that visit, Comer announced a hearing focused on the protests at GW, and called Bowser and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith as witnesses. The Washington Post reported late last month that MPD decided to not accept requests from GW officials to clear the encampment at the university shortly after it began.

The House Oversight Committee is deeply concerned over reports indicating the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department rejected George Washington Universitys request for help in removing the radical, antisemitic, and unlawful protestors occupying the campus and surrounding public lands, Comer said in a statement.

D.C. police later defended their decision to not clear the encampment as it has gone on, with Smith stating if the encampment continues to be peaceful, it will not be cleared, according to a report from NBC Washington.

I think here in the District of Columbia, we allow people the opportunity to have freedom of speech, and thats what were seeing right now. There has been no violence, no violent behavior, no confrontations, Smith said, according to an MPD spokesperson. If the behavior changes, then our procedures and our process might change.

The Hill has reached out to GW.

Updated at 3:37 pm.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON (DC News Now)  D.C. police said a man was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon in Southeast.

Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers were called to the 3400 block of 25th St. after receiving reports of a shooting. There, they found a man who was shot. He died there.

Reward doubled in shooting that killed 3-year-old DC girl

The shooting was still being investigated.

Anyone with information was asked to call 911 with the event number: I20240225783.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 7. Uzbekistan Airways is soon to commence flights between the nation's Nukus and Almaty in Kazakhstan, Trend reports.

The airlines have confirmed that the flights will begin operating on Wednesdays and Saturdays starting from June 1.

Uzbekistan Airways has raised the frequency of its flights from Tashkent to Almaty to fourteen times weekly. The new flights are operated on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

At the same time, Kazakh FlyArystan, a low-cost carrier, expands its route network in Uzbekistan and opens a new route Almaty - Namangan - Almaty.

The flights will start in June 2024 and will be operated twice a week - on Mondays and Thursdays.
The death of a woman who fell from Ohio Stadium during Ohio State University's spring commencement on Sunday is being investigated as an "apparent suicide" by the Franklin County Coroner's Office, preliminary reports reviewed by The Dispatch show.

Larissa Brady, 53, of Woodstock, Georgia, north of Marietta, was pronounced dead at 12:25 p.m. Sunday at the scene outside Ohio Stadium by Columbus firefighters, the coroner's office reported Tuesday. Brady was identified by her fingerprints, the coroner's office said.

Ohio State police cordoned off the scene Sunday after a woman died from a fall from Ohio Stadium during Sunday's commencement ceremonies.

Brady's daughter was receiving a bachelor's degree during the ceremony, according to the university's program. Brady spoke to her daughter as she entered the stadium for commencement, the coroner's office report stated.

Related: One dead at Ohio State University graduation after fall from stadium

Brady then went into the stadium with her husband and 12-year-old son to sit and watch the ceremony, according to an investigative report from the coroner's office. Once seated, Brady then told her family she wanted to move higher into the stadium and her family told investigators they lost sight of her.

After making her way to the last row of benches, witnesses saw Brady climb over the stadium's concrete wall, according to the coroner's office. Brady had been sitting in section C30 near the bell tower.

Brady had suffered from mental health issues and had attempted suicide at least twice before, most recently earlier this year, according to the coroner's office. Her husband told investigators that she had not been compliant with her medications.

Ohio State and its police department have released little information about the death that occurred during Sunday's commencement ceremony. Ohio State police did not suspect foul play, nor that the fall was the result of an accident, university spokesman Ben Johnson said Tuesday in an emailed statement.

Following the death, the university contacted all graduates and staff who volunteered at graduation and offered counseling services, Johnson told The Dispatch.

Students can call 614-292-5766 and press 2 for immediate assistance after hours, while faculty and staff should call 1-800-678-6265, according to the university.

The commencement on Sunday continued uninterrupted as news of the death spread through the crowd.

University officials and commencement speakers  including social entrepreneur and OSU alum Chris Pan  made no reference to the death during the ceremony. Students leaving the graduation ceremony at the stadium walked past the area where Brady fell, which was still cordoned off by yellow crime scene tape.

"Ohio State is grieving the death of Larissa Brady, a family member of one of our graduates," Johnson said via email. "Our hearts go out to her family and friends during this exceptionally difficult time."

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis and needs help, you can call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

mfilby@dispatch.com

@MaxFilby

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Coroner's office: Ohio Stadium death investigated as apparent suicide
DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA)  A Central Illinois landmark is now listed among the most endangered historic sites in the state.

Landmarks Illinois released its 2024 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois list on Tuesday, which lists 10 sites that are in need of restoration and could end up being demolished, as past landmarks on the list have been. This year, the Decatur Masonic Temple joined the list.

This years Most Endangered sites are not only incredibly important places in their communities, but many are large-scale buildings that sit prominently in highly visible areas near city centers, in historic districts or on state-owned land. Their neglect is seen and felt, said Bonnie McDonald, President & CEO of Landmarks Illinois.

New TIF district approved at Decatur City Council meeting

Landmarks Illinois said the Masonic Temple has served as an important community center in Decaturs historic district since it was built in 1929. Its hosted cultural events and speakers like Eleanor Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy Jr.

But the building does not generate enough income to pay for proper maintenance, Landmarks Illinois said, and that lead to deterioration and expensive damages.

Despite their current condition, these places tell important stories from our past  stories that should not be erased due to insufficient investment or general disregard for our collective histories, McDonald added. Landmarks Illinois stands ready and willing to help our partners find preservation resources and solutions for these threatened places, which are opportunities for sustainable reuse, job creation and providing spaces needed in their communities.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCIA.com.
Defence Intelligence of Ukraine comes up with new ways to hit Russian vessels

Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) says that Ukrainian special forces are constantly inventing new methods to destroy Russian vessels in temporarily occupied Crimea.

Source: Andrii Yusov, spokesperson for DIU, on the air of Radio Liberty, commenting on the destruction of the Russian high-speed patrol boat Mangust

Quote: "They (the Russian occupiers ed.) certainly draw conclusions and try to build new defences in different ways in different areas. Of course, they try to take it into account. But in the end, both Magura (marine drone) operators and DIU special forces do not attack in the same way every time. They act differently.

Therefore, despite the fact that they try to hide ships, move them, conceal them, and build new barriers, they find new ways to show that the DIU and Magura are working extremely effectively. Another US$3 million is real estate that is already on the seabed."

Know more: Target and eliminate: How Ukraine's Magura drones devastate Russian ships

Background:

On 6 May, the DIU division Group 13, using the Magura V5 attack marine drone, destroyed a Russian Mangust-class high-speed patrol boat, designated Project 12150, in temporarily occupied Crimea.

Ukrainian intelligence reports that the Russian Navy and special services use boats of this class as multi-purpose high-speed vessels for patrolling the water area, fighting saboteurs and search and rescue operations.

DIU noted that the estimated cost of the destroyed Mangust is about US$3 million. The Russian Defence Ministry did not comment on this statement.

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OCEANSIDE, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI)  The fresh-seafood-to-go concept many have tried after walking the length of the Oceanside Pier will be making a comeback.

Brine Box owners Jessica and Davin Waite confirmed to FOX 5/KUSI Monday that the kiosk-style grab-and-go eatery will be rebuilt following the devastating fire that destroyed their building after less than a year in operation.

Oceanside is our home and we are incredibly optimistic about rebuilding this business we love with a team that is like family, said the North County restaurateurs, who are also the pioneers behind The Plot, Shoots Fish & Beer and Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropub.

Brine Box

Photos: A glimpse into the past as Oceanside reels from pier fire

The Waites, who drive their local businesses on the notion of sustainability, also expressed gratitude toward the leaseholder of the restaurant building, formerly Rubys Diner, that was also destroyed during the unexpected blaze.

Alexander Leff owns OS Pier, LLC., where now only sits scorched remnants of the old building, as well as what was Brine Box. The Waites commended him for his investment and commitment to Oceanside, including rebuilding the end of the iconic pier.

Witnessing the loss of a piece of Oceansides legacy was truly heart-wrenching, Leff told FOX 5/KUSI. We hold a deep affection for the pier and the city, and understand the profound significance of this iconic landmark to the Oceanside community.

Oceanside Pier damage

The building that was destroyed by the fire, which officials said likely started due to accidental causes, was constructed in 1987, according to Leff.

We will not walk away from its 37-year-old legacy as a place where the community and visitors can gather and dine while gazing out on the beautiful Pacific, he continued. We know the City of Oceanside is resilient, and we share in the communitys desire to have the pier restored to its former glory.

This includes the rebuilding of Brine Box, though its too early to predict a reopening date. Leff said he plans to work with city officials and California Coastal Commission to make it all possible.

The Waites previously described Brine Box as defiantly delicious. Now, they are also adding the word determined as they set their sights on making a comeback. Fresh fish and chips, Korean barbeque prawns and clam chowder tater tots will be eaten atop the Oceanside Pier, once again.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
The double murder trial of Richard Allen -- accused of killing two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017 -- has been delayed several months, less than a week before jury selection was to begin.

In a pretrial motions hearing Tuesday morning, defense attorneys for Allen withdrew their motion for a speedy trial, citing concerns over having enough time to present their case.

The trial was scheduled to begin May 13, and was expected to last three weeks.

MORE: Delphi murders: What the unsealed documents reveal and the questions that remain

The defense estimated they needed 15 working days to present their case and felt the May window was not long enough, so they withdrew their motion filed earlier this year.

The trial's new start date was set for Oct. 14.

PHOTO: Photos of Abby Williams, left, and Libby German, right, at police headquarters in Delphi, Indiana. (Lindsey Jacobson/ABC News, FILE)

On Feb. 13, 2017, best friends Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14, were enjoying a day off from school in their hometown of Delphi, a quiet, small town of nearly 3,000 residents in central Indiana.

They were on a hiking trail, walking, chatting and snapping photos, when they disappeared.

Their bodies were found the next day.

MORE: Delphi double murder suspect confessed multiple times: Prosecutors

For more than five years, the case remained unsolved, haunting Delphi residents.

No suspect was named in the murders until Allen was arrested in October 2022.

Allen admitted to police that he was on the trail that day, but he denied any involvement in the murders, according to court documents.

Police analysis of Allen's gun determined that the unspent round discovered within 2 feet of one of the victims "had been cycled through Richard M. Allen's Sig Sauer Model P226," the probable cause affidavit said.

Delphi double murder trial pushed back to October a week before scheduled start originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The head of the House Democratic Caucus defended the right of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) to remain in Congress while his criminal trial runs its course, saying the Texas Democrat  recently indicted on bribery and foreign influence charges  is presumed innocent just like every American.

Hes entitled to make his defense, hes entitled to the presumption of innocence, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) told reporters in the Capitol. Just like every American, hes entitled to that presumption. I think thats the overwhelming feeling of House Democrats at this point.

Aguilar has been tougher on other lawmakers facing indictments in recent months. He supported the expulsion of former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) in December and a couple of months prior, he called for the resignation of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). Both are facing federal charges related to financial corruption.

Aguilar defended that distinction, saying the circumstances surrounding Cuellars indictment are very different from those of the other two. He characterized Cuellar as a serious legislator with a long history of public service, in contrast to the first-term Santos, who had fabricated large parts of his biography to gain a campaign edge.

He has deep relationships  on both sides of the aisle. We know that he is a serious public official, public servant. And I think thats what sets this apart from other issues and the silliness of George Santos that we had in the past. And I think thats why many of us are treating this a little different, Aguilar said. The substance of the allegations is very different, but the individuals are also night and day.

Pressed about the distinction surrounding the Menendez indictment, Aguilar suggested the evidence in that case  which included publicly released Justice Department (DOJ) photos of cash and gold bars allegedly stashed by the New Jersey senator  set it apart from Cuellars indictment.

I think that these are very different, Aguilar said. There were some pictures, and there were some things that were very different with respect to the allegations. So, look, hes entitled to the presumption of innocence.

The comments echo those of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who had issued a brief statement shortly after Cuellars indictment describing him as a valued member of the party.

Like any American, Congressman Cuellar is entitled to his day in court and the presumption of innocence throughout the legal process, Jeffries said.

Cuellar and his wife Imelda were indicted Friday in Texas on federal charges of bribery, money laundering and foreign influence peddling. The DOJ has accused the pair of accepting $600,000 in bribes from two separate businesses  a Mexican bank and a petroleum company run by the government of Azerbaijan. In return, Cuellar used his influence in Congress to push for policies beneficial to both, according to the DOJ.

Both Cuellars appeared in court in Houston on Friday and were released after posting a $100,000 bond. Both have denied any wrongdoing, although Cuellar has stepped down from his committee assignments in the Capitol while the legal process runs its course.

That, Aguilar said, was the right thing to do.

These are incredibly serious allegations, and the Democratic Caucus treats these with the utmost respect, Aguilar said. Hes entitled to that presumption of innocence, as any American would [be].

Santos, for his part, is accusing Democrats of hypocrisy for supporting his expulsion while defending Cuellars right to keep his seat while the courts proceed.

But former President Trump, who has been indicted on dozens of charges, is racing to Cuellars defense, saying the Texas Democrat  whose support for tougher border security policies has long bucked his partys platform  is the victim of a weaponized DOJ.

Biden just Indicted Henry Cuellar because the Respected Democrat Congressman wouldnt play Crooked Joes Open Border game, Trump posted on his Truth Social website. He was for Border Control, so they said, Lets use the FBI and DOJ to take him out! This is the way they operate.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, Assembly Minority Assistant Leader Kalan Haywood (D-Milwaukee) and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) announced a new campaign to target the seven Republicans that sit on the Joint Finance Committee on Monday. (Photo via Democratic Party of Wisconsin)

Wisconsin Democrats, who are hoping to make major gains in the state Legislature this year, are targeting Republicans who sit on the states powerful budget committee and working towards running a Democratic candidate in every district.

Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, Assembly Minority Assistant Leader Kalan Haywood (D-Milwaukee) and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) announced a new campaign to target the seven Republicans who sit on the Joint Finance Committee, and spoke about their ongoing work to win majorities in the state Legislature during a press conference in Milwaukee on Monday morning.

Democrats have been criticizing the states Joint Finance Committee, which writes the states biennial budget and controls outgoing money in the state, for continuing to sit on millions of dollars in unspent funds. The committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday to vote on a 2025 opioid settlement spending plan, while Evers continues to urge them to release many of the funds.

Wikler said the campaign is to hold Republican politicians to account for refusing to do what most Wisconsinites want on critical issues like hospital closures, the closures of University of Wisconsin campuses and funding from settlements about opioid addiction. Critical issues where most Wisconsinites want the same thing but these Republican politicians are playing political games that affect peoples lives.

Wikler said the party would invest six figures in its push  titled the No More Games campaign. He didnt provide a total figure. The money will be spent on pushing ads to voters online, including on Facebook and Instagram, about the lawmakers.

These are seats where, thanks to new fair maps, Republicans are finally going to be accountable, Wikler said.

The legislative maps signed into law this year are providing Democrats with a new opportunity to win this election cycle and the new campaign is likely just the start of Democrats investment into legislative races this year. Winkler said the commitment from the state party will likely be in the millions of dollars this year.

I would be stunned if this was not the most expensive state legislative election cycle in Wisconsin history, Wikler said.

The ad campaign is a step towards Democrats goal of gaining power in the state Legislature.

Half of Senate seats up in next election

Senate Democrats road to a majority is different from their path in the state Assembly since only 16 seats are up for election in the fall, Hesselbein said. However, she said Democrats are fired up and ready to go with candidates running in every district.

For the first time in over 20 years, Senate Democrats have a Democratic candidate running in every single district this November, Hesselbein said.

Four senators will be targeted by the campaign. Hesselbein said the campaign would provide accountability, saying that the committee is at the heart of Republican obstruction and inaction in the Legislature.

Republicans have used their stranglehold on this committee to wield power to the benefit of the ultra wealthy and big corporations and at the expense of everybody else, Hesselbein said. She pointed to two lawmakers who will be targeted by the campaign: Sen. Joan Ballweg (R-Markesan), who is running for reelection in the 14th Senate district, and Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville), who is running for reelection in the 8th Senate district.

Hesselbein highlighted the closure of UW-Plattevilles Richland campus, saying that Republicans underfunding of the University of Wisconsin system is to blame.

The closure of this campus and continued indifference by legislative Republicans is a choice, Hesselbein said. Its a choice made not just in Richland County, but across the state, a choice to underfund higher education, making it harder for young people to get ahead and for our workforce and economy to grow.

Hesselbein also named Stroebel while calling out Republicans ongoing refusal to release $125 million meant to fight PFAS contamination across the state.

As parents we expect the kids to drink the water  that tap water is going to be safe, Hesselbein said.

For Stroebel, she added, the highest priority seems to be protecting corporate polluters.

One of the ads launched as a part of the campaign urges viewers to call Stroebel and tell him to stop playing games.

Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay), who is running in the 2nd Senate district and Joint Finance Committee co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), who is not up for reelection this year, will also be targeted by the Democrats campaign.

All Assembly seats are up

In the Assembly, Democrats have more opportunities to flip districts with all 99 seats up for reelection.

Were going to tell people how they are using their power to escape accountability for the poor choices they have made over the last decade, Rep. Haywood said. In November, for the first time in a very long time, Wisconsinites will have a real choice.

The campaign will target three Assembly lawmakers: Reps. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam), Jessie Rodriguez (R-Oak Creek) and Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls).

There is a very clear path to the majority, Haywood said. He said Democrats are shooting to compete for all 99 seats, noting that there is still a month left before the candidates filing deadline for the fall elections.

The post Democrats target Republicans on budget committee, aim for control of Legislature appeared first on Wisconsin Examiner.
Denmarks Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced a new humanitarian aid package worth 250 million Danish kroner (33.5 million) to help meet the needs of the Ukrainians most affected by the war.

Source: European Pravda with reference to a statement on the Danish Foreign Ministry website

Details: The package provides basic emergency aid  food, medicine, water and shelter  for Ukrainians in the hardest-hit areas, especially children and women.

Funds will also be spent on insulating Ukrainian households ahead of next winter and on humanitarian mine action.

Much of the funding  DKK 100 million  will be distributed through "Danish civil society partners who have been present in Ukraine since the beginning of the war", and the rest will be channelled via specialist UN institutions.

"With this new support package, we aim to ensure urgent and life-saving humanitarian aid and protection for the most vulnerable groups," said Dan Jrgensen, Denmarks Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy.

Last month Denmark agreed to increase its contribution to the Ukraine Fund  a mechanism for long-term military support for Ukraine  by a further DKK 4.4 billion (590 million) in 2024.

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The Danish Foreign Ministry announced on May 7 a new 250 million kroner ($33.2 million) humanitarian aid package for Ukraine.

Denmark, one of Kyiv's key supporters throughout Russia's full-scale invasion, has recently announced an additional $633 million in military support for Kyiv.

About 40% of Ukraine's population is in need of humanitarian aid, the ministry said, citing U.N. data.

"The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is extremely serious," said Dan Jorgensen, the Danish development cooperation minister.

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"Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, thousands of homes have been destroyed, hospitals have been bombed, and basic necessities such as water, heating, and electricity are scarce resources for many Ukrainians."

The humanitarian package will include food, medicine, water, and shelter for Ukrainians in the hardest-hit areas. It is focused on the protection of the most vulnerable citizens, including children and women, and will also include psychological support and maternal healthcare, according to the statement.

Ukraine and Denmark signed a memorandum of understanding on long-term cooperation and reconstruction in late April that provides $450 million to Kyiv.

Read also: Minister: Denmark first to buy military aid for Ukraine from Ukrainian manufacturer

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
DENVER (KDVR)  The city of Denver is dealing with a recent surge in unlicensed vendors outside of concerts and sporting events.

A video from April 29 shows Denver Police Department officers arresting an unlicensed vendor selling hot dogs.

Strong winds cause overhead I-25 interstate sign to fall and hit semi truck

According to police, officers told several unlicensed carts to leave, and everyone complied except for the man in the video. As officers attempted to cite the vendor, he tried to walk away from officers and resisted arrest, police said.

He faces charges of charges of:

License required

Providing false information

Resisting any police authority

They potentially face enforcement action, and we look at that as a last resort, said Eric Escudero with Denver Department of Excise and Licenses.

Escudero said their goal is to educate people about the importance of food safety and how to obtain a license.

If you see these hot dog vendors, these unlicensed ones that are operating illegally, youll notice that they dont have any refrigeration for these hot dogs or this bacon, Escudero said. Theyre not using gloves, theyre not using sanitary practices such as a hand washing station, and theres often an unsafe use of propane. Those are big concerns for us.

Hot dog vendor

Photos provided by the city show a vendor serving food outside Coors Field during the home opener. The photos show hot dogs and bacon unrefrigerated and stored near the ground. The woman serving food is not wearing gloves and does not have a proper hand washing station.

In Denver, we want to make sure foods safe, so you go out and you get a hot dog after a game youre not playing Russian roulette with your digestive system. We want people to be healthy, Escudero said.

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To obtain a license, apply online at the citys website. Theres a one-time $150 application fee and an annual fee of $75 to $100, depending on your setup. The license comes with a required inspection from Denvers fire and health departments.

Food vendors are required to display their licenses. According to Denver Department of Excise and Licenses, there are currently 101 businesses licensed to operate a food cart in Denver.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
Editors note: The story has been updated to reflect that the child care employee who was arrested was working for a program contracted by the New York City Department of Education.

BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11)  A child care employee working for a program contracted by the New York City Department of Education was arrested Monday, sources said.

Savitree Nerine, 49, was arrested after someone reported her for shoving a toddler-aged child. Nerine allegedly shoved the child multiple times while working, according to police sources.

Video: Woman rescued by NYPD officers atop 54-story building in Manhattan

Police from the 47th precinct in the Bronx arrested Nerine, who was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree harassment, arrest records show.

This alleged behavior is extremely concerning, and we do not condone this at any schools or contracted early childhood programs. We are in communication with the contracted early childhood program on any necessary next steps, a statement from the New York City Department of Education said.

Other information was not made readily available. An investigation is currently ongoing, police said.

Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
A sheriff's deputy who was part of a task force focused on keeping Los Angeles County's jails free of drugs and gang activity was arrested last week and accused of smuggling drugs into a county jail, according to booking records and multiple law enforcement sources.

Michael Meiser, 39, was arrested April 30. Jail records show he was booked on suspicion of an unspecified felony on May 1. L.A. County Sheriff's Department records show Meiser worked at North County Correctional Facility as an investigator. He worked with the jails anti-gang unit, known as Operation Safe Jails, according to two law enforcement sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

One of those sources and another law enforcement official, who also was not cleared to speak publicly about the case and requested anonymity, told The Times that Meiser was arrested for allegedly smuggling heroin into the the jail complex in Castaic.

Jail records show Meiser was cited and released without bail last week. He did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on Tuesday and it was not clear if he has retained an attorney.

Read more: Their daughter killed herself with a deputy's gun. They're still looking for answers

In an emailed statement Tuesday afternoon, Richard Pippin, president of the Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, acknowledged the investigation but offered little more information.

We are aware that there is a criminal investigation underway regarding one or more employees working in our jails," the statement said. "All law enforcement professionals are rightfully held to a high standard both on and off duty. ALADS will wait until we have access to all the information yielded by the investigation before commenting further.

One source said Meiser had been under surveillance for a long time and was allegedly observed buying heroin in Los Angeles before returning to the jail facility where he was arrested last week. The source described Meiser's arrest as part of a "larger operation" to combat drug use in the jail.

A jail official said last week that the case was being handled by the department's Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau, which looks into alleged crimes by department employees. On Tuesday, the Sheriff's Department confirmed only that investigators had arrested an employee for "felony charges" and that "the employee is relieved of duty pending the outcome of the case."

Officials said the investigation is ongoing, adding that it will be presented to prosecutors "once the case is completed."

A spokeswoman for the L.A. County district attorney's office confirmed that the agency is aware of Meiser's arrest and has not yet been presented the case for charging consideration.

Read more: Why was 2023 such a deadly year in Los Angeles County jails? It depends on whom you ask

Operation Safe Jails' main goal is to combat "the criminal activities of inmate gang members" and discourage gang activity, according to Sheriff's Department records.

In 2013, deputies in the Operation Safe Jails program were among those indicted for attempting to hide a jailhouse informant from FBI officials who were using him to investigate jail abuses and corruption. The deception and the cover-up that followed ultimately landed former Sheriff Lee Baca and several others in federal prison.

L.A. County is struggling with a surge of deaths in the jails, many of them linked to drug use. Last year, department officials said that out of 45 inmate deaths in the jails, a dozen were drug-related  more than twice as many as a decade earlier when the jail population was much larger.

In recent years, several of those deaths have been at the county's northern jail complex. Last year, a quarterly oversight report showed that jailers there skipped several required safety checks before discovering an inmate who had overdosed. Records show jailers only learned of the medical emergency after other inmates summoned them for help.

When a 29-year-old collapsed at the North County Correctional Facility in 2022, other inmates tried to save him by administering the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. After he died, officials discovered surveillance footage had captured him loading a makeshift syringe at his bunk and asking another inmate to help him inject it into his neck, according to autopsy records.

Read more: Oversight inspectors accuse Sheriff's Department of retaliation after reports on jail fires

Deputies also later reported seeing him inject drugs on camera a few weeks before his death  but records do not make clear how he might have obtained the drugs.

To combat the problem, officials under the prior administration made naloxone readily available by mounting the nasal spray onto jail walls. In recent months, department officials have repeatedly touted the need for better body scanners to search inmates for drugs  a solution that would not necessarily address the problem of drug smuggling among sworn staff.

Melissa Camacho, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California told The Times on Tuesday that the arrest highlighted gaps in the jail's efforts to stop contraband.

"It's really concerning that sheriff's deputies are smuggling heroin in, and that the sheriff's response to in-custody deaths has not included requiring LASD staff to be searched before entering the workplace," Camacho said. "The arrest just goes to show how vital that kind of search is to protecting the health and lives of people who are in custody."

Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Quality Journalism for Critical Times

May 1 or May Day is a European festival rooted in the ancient past that celebrates the beginning of summer. In Florida however, May 1, 2024 was a day of mourning because it will be forever seen as the first day of Floridas heartless and dangerous six-week abortion ban.

As a consequence, millions of women in the state have had their reproductive healthcare protections snatched away by Gov. Ron DeSantis, his collaborators in the Florida Legislature and the menagerie of far-right extremists, the Republican elite, MAGA supporters, Christian nationalists and white evangelicals.

On May 1, women in Florida woke up to a grim and bleak reality.

Across Florida, abortion clinics are shutting down or preparing to do so, fear and trepidation among women seeking or needing an abortion is high and clinics in North Carolina, southern Virginia, Kansas and Illinois are bracing for a surge of patients now that the last bastion of abortion access in the South has fallen.

Screenshot of Vice President Kamala Harris speaking in Jacksonville on May 1, 2024

At the stroke of midnight, another Trump abortion ban went into effect here in Florida  and today, this very day, at the stroke of midnight, another Trump abortion ban went into effect here in Florida, Vice President Kamala Harris told an audience at a May 1 campaign event in Jacksonville. And starting this morning, women in Florida became subject to an abortion ban so extreme it applies before many women even know they are pregnant. Which, by the way, tells us the extremists who wrote this ban either dont know how a womens body works, or they simply dont care.

Reproductive justice, health advocates and other experts have likened the Florida and Arizona abortion bans to earthquakes which have significantly altered Americas abortion landscape.

A world away in Arizona, the Arizona Senate voted 16-14 to repeal an 1864 Civil War-era abortion law that the state Supreme Court dredged up. The long-buried law bans all abortions except those performed to save a womans life. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs wasted no time in signing the repeal. One problem is that the repeal wont go into effect until 90 days after the legislature adjourns.

The repeal also means that the state has reverted to the 15-week ban that the archaic law superseded.

MAGA stalwart and Trump acolyte Kari Lake  who initially supported the 1864 laws near-total ban on abortions  has flip-flopped on her position so many times and her support has severely damaged her prospects of winning the U.S. senate seat.

Anti-abortion forces, white evangelicals and others in that camp have made it clear that political ideology is decidedly more important than womens lives; women have little value in their world or thinking which made it easy for them to orchestrate the theft of their rights. They seem unconcerned with making abortion care and access illegal or that women and teens and children who are raped by friends, strangers and family have no protection because of them.

What DeSantis and his far-right allies have been doing is part and parcel of a multi-pronged national strategy embraced and employed by Americas white conservative minority who are determined to ensure that a rising multiracial governing majority  comprised of African Americans, brown people and Democrats  never gets close to the levers of power.

The battle will be fierce

As we move into November, politically, the battlelines are drawn.

Signage for voters looking to vote in-person. March 5, 2024. (Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

Both sides of this momentous, consequential and calamitous issue are wrestling each other and over the next six months, the battle will be fierce. The results of the November elections will show clearly which side triumphs.

This war on women is the most recent battle for Americas soul, if it has one. Theres a great deal at stake.

For a while, Floridians, including opponents of DeSantis anti-abortion crusade, appeared to be punch-drunk, pummeled by a steady succession of bills and laws which have curtailed civil liberties, disemboweled voting rights, erased African American history, attacked labor unions and harmed student protestors, gay and trans communities and bludgeoned teachers.

Now, Floridians and Americans are pissed, and Republicans are going to pay.

When they put into play the plan to pack the U.S. Supreme Court, neither DeSantis, former president Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kari Lake, Kellyanne Conway or the majority of the right-wing Arizona Supreme Court could not have ever envisioned the hornets nest they kicked over when they conspired to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In retrospect, if given the opportunity, Im sure these cruel, coldhearted people would love to rewind the clock and get a do-over but that train left the station a while ago.

Euphoria among the anti-abortion cabal and their accomplices has turned to absolute dread. Faced with widespread anger, public fury and passion, Republicans have been hastily backing away from the scalding issue, equivocating, attempting to reframe their positions, with some even lying that they never supported their misogynistic anti-abortion outlooks at all.

Dems snatch the offensive

To their credit, Democrats have snatched the offensive. VP Harris has been the tip of the spear on the abortion issue, crisscrossing the country staking Democrats position. While in Jacksonville, Harris hammered Trump, tying him to this abortion disaster.

Donald Trump did it, she asserted. Because of Donald Trump, more than 20 states have abortion bans. More than 20 Trump abortion bans, the vice president said.  women woke up to a new reality.

President Joe Biden at the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough Community College in Tampa on April 23, 2024. (Photo credit: Mitch Perry)

President Joe Biden, Harris and other Democrats are blaming Trump, DeSantis, Sen. Rick Scott and the far-right clique on the U.S. Supreme Court. The Biden campaign has turned up the heat on Republicans with several ads castigating the Arizona Supreme Court, the legislative extremists, and demagogues, with Biden promising to fight like hell to restore reproductive rights across the nation.

Trump has said abortion laws should be left to the states, and while he has proudly proclaimed authorship of ending Roe, but when asked, he said he doesnt know if hell vote for the November ballot initiative, refuses to say if hell sign a nation ban, and in a recent Time magazine interview, supports the idea of states monitoring the movements of pregnant women.

If theyre smart, Democrats will throw a good chunk of its resources not just in Florida but in the 11 states that have or are trying to get abortion ballot amendments before the public in November.

On a recent Hacks on Tap podcast, Mike Murphy, a veteran Republican operative and vocal anti-Trumper, gave Team Biden some unsolicited advice to Team Biden about Florida: Light it up with ads.

If the elections gonna have a big abortion war, and in most places that works for Biden, and youre dripping in moneyset Florida on fire, Murphy said. Throw a match. Florida is a pro-choice state and you got money.  Trump doesnt have a complete lock on it. He has an advantage, but god, you can create a lot of trouble for him there.

The post DeSantis, GOP Legislature and handpicked Supreme Court drag Florida backwards appeared first on Florida Phoenix.
An attorney representing Ron DeSantis argued in a state appeals court Tuesday that the governor has "executive privilege," a power that would potentially allow him to conceal a broad swath of records from the public.

There's no precedent for executive privilege in Florida. Yet its existence, at least as found by a Tallahassee trial judge, is one of the arguments the governor's office is using to justify its refusal to release information about how DeSantis selects justices for the state Supreme Court, making it one of the most conservative in the nation.

"Our understanding of what executive privilege means is that it (covers) documents whose disclosure would threaten the confidentiality that is necessary to perform a enumerated constitutional duty," Senior Deputy Solicitor General Nathan Forrester told a trio of 1st District Court of Appeal judges, none of whom were appointed by DeSantis.

The 1st District Court of Appeal building.

That viewpoint has government transparency advocates and media groups worried about a dramatic limitation of the publics ability to get information in Florida, which has constitutionally-enshrined public records rights long-lauded for their transparency.

Executive privilege is best known as the legal concept, based on separation of powers, that allows the president of the United States to withhold information from Congress, the courts and the public in certain circumstances. It's perhaps best known for President Richard Nixon's attempts to invoke it during the Watergate scandal.

Leon Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey sided with DeSantis last year, setting up the Tuesday oral arguments in the Tallahassee appeals court. It's a high-stakes case, according to lawyers opposing the state.

Attorney Phil Padovano warned reporters after the hearing that the governor would cite executive privilege in "thousands of cases" if allowed.

"It opens the door, really, to what I would think is the destruction of the right to view executive branch government records," said Padovano, himself a retired 1st District Court of Appeal judge now in private practice. "They just want to say, 'I'm the governor. (You) can't get the records.' "

In 1992, Floridians approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing public access to records and meetings of the executive, judicial and legislative branches.

Judge Clay Roberts, appointed by former Gov. Charlie Crist in 2007, mentioned that amendment to Forrester, who denied it prevented the governor's office from keeping certain documents confidential.

What prompted the case?

In his closing, Padovano asked the judges to consider whether the state's argument made "any sense."

"Does it make any sense that the governor of Florida could convene a secret meeting to help him appoint justices to our Supreme Court, and that somehow the records of that meeting ... could somehow evade the constitutional right to access public records?" he said.

DeSantis has publicly said he convened a group of people I trust to help him pick justices. He described the group as being made up of six or seven pretty big legal conservative heavyweights," but refused to name them.

Padovano is representing an anonymous individual  referred to as J. Doe in the case  who sent a public records request to the governor's office trying to get their names. The individual requested communications between the office and those "heavyweights."

That request was denied, prompting the lawsuit.

But will the decision even address executive privilege?

The stakes may be high, but there's a chance the judges' ruling doesn't even touch on the governor's powers, instead focusing on other arguments. That means, however, there would still be no state-based executive privilege in Florida, since the circuit decision isn't binding.

"There are a lot of issues in this case," Roberts said. "I think way before we get to executive privilege, we need to talk about some of these others."

The sides debated whether the public records request was validly written, with Roberts saying it "seems to me" that its framing may go beyond the typical request by not just requiring records but also someone to ask the governor who the "heavyweights" were.

Also a point of contention: Whether it was proper for an anonymous person, in this circumstance, to request public records and then to sue.

But Padovano asked the court not to ignore the executive privilege argument, even if the circuit decision didn't set a precedent.

"I have debated myself and thought about myself, 'Is it better just to leave it alone?'" he said. "I concluded that it's not, because people who are scholars in this area pay attention to circuit court opinions."

More on the argument: In 'big deal' case, DeSantis argues he can invoke 'executive privilege' to conceal records

DeSantis repeatedly sued for records: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused of lack of transparency, sued again in Tallahassee

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA TODAY Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DeSantis lawyer: Florida governor has 'executive privilege' on records
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Quality Journalism for Critical Times

Reacting to speculation and media reports, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday appeared to quash a plan to bring lawmakers back to Tallahassee to address any unresolved issues, including immigration.

I have no plans to call a special session, DeSantis said while speaking with reporters after a bill signing ceremony in Cape Canaveral. Ive been asked: Would you do more immigration? Of course Ill do more immigration. Would you do this? Of course I will. Its there. Whether thats a special session or not, but I am for some of the things that people have been talking about, but we dont have a plan necessarily to do a special session.

The 2024 legislative session ended March 8, but the Florida Legislature has still not sent all approved bills to the governor for consideration, including the massive 2024-25 state budget, which would be effective July 1.

It was DeSantis himself who back in March raised the possibility of bringing the Legislature back to Tallahassee to address immigration issues. Appearing on a podcast with Sean Hannity, the governor said he was considering having the state enact a bill that would allow law enforcement to have the authorization to arrest and detain undocumented immigrants, echoing a Texas measure that has been blocked in the courts.

But that was then. DeSantis said on Tuesday that if there are things that we need to do, then Im sure the Legislature will want to do it. But as of now, were moving forward with the budget.

There was also speculation that a special session could be convened to address abortion-related issues, months before Floridians vote on a constitutional amendment that would rescind the states new six-week abortion law and return a womans right to abortion up until the time of viability.

I am and I suspect it was anti-abortion extremists and others who were trying to float this idea and get Republican support too, Orlando Democratic House Rep. Anna Eskamani told the Phoenix in a text message. Glad to see it did not work.

According to the Florida Constitution, a special session may be called either by the governor, by a joint proclamation issued by the Senate President and House Speaker or by a three-fifths vote of each chamber in the Legislature.

But Senate President Kathleen Passidomo has no plans to make such a call. Senate spokesperson Katie Betta told the Phoenix No on the issue.

The Phoenix also reached out to House Speaker Paul Renners office for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

The post DeSantis says he has no plans to call Legislature back for a special session appeared first on Florida Phoenix.
Despite US warnings, Israel signals it's going ahead with what could be a 'disaster' in Rafah

Israel says it has taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing after a military operation.

Leaflets were dropped in the eastern part of the city, urging citizens to evacuate.

The US put pressure on Israel not to carry out the assault  or at least reduce civilian casualties.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday it had established operational control of the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing, after conducting what it called "targeted" strikes against Hamas in the eastern part of the city.

A spokesperson for the Gaza border authority also confirmed the presence of Israeli tanks at the Rafah crossing, according to The Guardian.

The US had earlier said an Israeli invasion of Rafah  a city in southern Gaza where scores of Palestinian refugees have fled  could be a "disaster."

On Monday, the Israeli military told civilians in the eastern part of the city to evacuate ahead of what it called "extreme force," which it said it would use against "terrorist organizations" in the area.

The Israel Defense Forces wrote in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that it ordered civilians to "temporarily move to the humanitarian area," which is slightly northwest, using a combination of flyers, text messages, phone calls, and Arabic media broadcasts.

Leaflets began to fall on the eastern part of the city at about 9 a.m. local time, according to media reports.

Images from Reuters and Getty Images show Palestinian civilians leaving the area.

Displaced Palestinians are arriving in Khan Yunis with their belongings from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 6, 2024, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army. Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The IDF's evacuation order came a day after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, that any military operation in Rafah must include a "credible plan" to evacuate Palestinians and maintain the flow of humanitarian aid, according to a Pentagon readout of their call.

More than 1 million Palestinians are estimated to have fled to the city since Israel began its assault on Gaza following the Hamas terror attacks on October 7.

The militant group killed over 1,100 people in the attacks, and hundreds were captured by Hamas fighters.

The Israeli government has responded with crushing force, launching airstrikes into Gaza that have killed more than 35,000 people, according to Hamas-run Gazan health authorities.

International pressure has been building on Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire in the conflict.

Meanwhile, Israel is facing mounting pressure over its handling of the war  including from the US, its ally.

Israeli soldiers near the border with the southern area of the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images

President Joe Biden has previously urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reduce civilian casualties. Past Israeli assaults and strikes have killed aid workers, including seven people with the World Central Kitchen, whose convoy was hit by a drone strike.

In March, John Kirby, a White House national security spokesperson, said a military operation in Rafah could become a "disaster."

Biden was pressed last month in an MSNBC interview to declare a "red line" for Israel's leadership; he agreed that a Rafah invasion was one.

The White House, however, later walked back Biden's statement, The New York Times reported.

President Joe Biden with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York City. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

In a speech at a Holocaust-memorial event on Sunday, Netanyahu seemingly dismissed criticism of his handling of the war, vowing that Israel would "stand alone" if it was forced to.

"I say to the leaders of the world: No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself," Netanyahu said, according to The Associated Press.

The war in Gaza has become a divisive issue in the US, where protests have ignited on college campuses. Demonstrators have demanded that the schools divest from Israel; hundreds of protesters have been arrested.

Meanwhile, Biden is facing pressure from his left flank over his support for sending munitions and military aid to Israel. A group of pro-Palestinian voters has been racking up votes against him in the Democratic primaries, hinting that his fragile coalition to defeat former President Donald Trump, his GOP challenger, could be in danger.

Read the original article on Business Insider
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON)  A domestic violence survivor and her three children were sheltering in a San Jose hotel when the abuser showed up with a gun. San Jose Police Department officers confronted the armed man in the hotels hallway, a harrowing shootout ensued, and the man jumped out a third-story window, according to a police report obtained by KRON4 on Monday.

The police report was filed in Santa Clara County court along with felony charges for the accused gunman, Kevin Angelo Briones. Prosecutors charged Briones, 33, of San Jose, with attempting to murder two SJPD officers.

The incident happened at Extended Stay America hotel at 6189 San Ignacio Avenue on the night of May 2. The domestic violence survivor was staying at the hotel with her children, ages 8, 10, and 15, investigators said. Briones and the woman were in a prior dating relationship, the police report states.

Kevin Angelo Briones mugshot was released by the San Jose Police Department.

Emergency dispatchers received one 911 call reporting that Briones was on his way to the hotel, and another call reporting that he was knocking on the womans hotel room door.

When SJPD Officer DesRoches, Officer Castillo, and Officer Dodge arrived at Extended Stay America at 10:39 p.m., they found Briones in a narrow hallway of the third floor. Briones was holding a skateboard, black duffle bag, and a black cell phone, SJPD Det. Hans Jorgensen wrote.

Briones tried to walk away from the officers and they ordered him to stop. The man reached into his duffle bag and pulled out something wrapped in a teal T-shirt. Officer Dodge stayed behind guarding the womens hotel room doorway. Castillo and DesRoches followed Briones.

San Jose police officers search Extended Stay America hotel on May 3, 2024, after two officers were shot in a shootout. (KRON4 Photo)

While Briones was running, the T-shirt he was holding fell to the floor. Briones turned  and extended his arms while holding a gun toward the officers. Briones fired eight rounds in the direction of Officer Arredondo and Officer DesRoches, Jorgensen wrote in the police report.

Officer DesRoches fell on his back and fired 11 shots at Briones. After a brief pause, Briones started to move toward the officers, and Officer DesRoches fired additional rounds at Briones, Jorgensen wrote.

A bullet went through DesRoches leg. Arredondo was shot in the knee, leg, shoulder, and abdomen. At the time of this report, Officer Arredondo has undergone life saving surgery and is in critical condition, Jorgensen wrote.

Police Chief Paul Joseph said, We had an armed, dangerous felon showing up in the middle of the night at a hotel room where this domestic violence survivor and her three children were. Its fortunate that our officers arrived in time to intervene. They took that harm  and not this domestic violence survivor and those children.

Arredondo and Dodge never fired their weapons, the report states.

After the shootout, Briones ran away from the officers toward a hallway glass window. The glass window was shattered. He jumped through the window, falling three stories to the ground, the police report states.

Kevin Angelo Briones is seen inside the hotel, left, and in a police mugshot, right. (SJPD images)

Backup officers found Briones lying in a bush near the hotel. Briones sustained gunshot wounds to his torso, liver, and right forearm. He also had a fractured neck and collapsed lung. At the time of this report, Briones is intubated with life threatening injuries, Jorgensen wrote.

Officers combed the hotel for evidence overnight and into Friday morning. Detectives found a black Glock 9mm pistol with an extended magazine under the shattered window. The gun had been previously stolen in San Jose during an auto burglary, the police chief said.

Joseph said his officers saved the lives of three children and their mother. Its clear to me that these lives were all in great danger, and the officers are the reason they survived this horrific and traumatic incident, Joseph said.

BRIONES-CHARGESDownload

The woman told investigators that Briones told her that if the cops try to catch him, he is ready to shoot, the police report states.

The critically-injured officer is expected to survive, the police chief said. SJPD told KRON4 on Monday that the officer is still in the hospital and listed in critical but stable condition.

Briones is a convicted felon, on active probation in Santa Clara County, and is prohibited from possessing firearms. If convicted of the new attempted murder charges filed against him, he could face a life prison sentence with possibility of parole.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
Court documents filed by Mica Miller and her husband, who is the pastor of a Myrtle Beach area church, reveal details about the couples relationship leading up to Mica Millers eventual death.

Mica Miller, 30, died April 27, 2024, after being found with a gunshot wound to her head while in her vehicle in a North Carolina state park, according to her husband, John-Paul Miller on May 3, 2024.

Her death has gained national attention and has been discussed and analyzed on social media by family, friends, and church members, as well as non-members. Most of those discussions include #justiceformica.

Her husband is the pastor at Solid Rock Church in Market Common in Myrtle Beach. He notified the church congregation of his wifes death during an April 28, 2024, sermon, including the fact that her death was self-induced.

Chief Deputy Damien McLean with the Robeson County Sheriffs Department confirmed on May 3, 2024, that the case is under investigation, adding that anytime there is a death, the department does an investigation.

It has been reported that a North Carolina medical examiner said that Micas death was from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a story by WPDE TV. The Robeson County Sheriffs Department said they would release information about the medical examiners findings Tuesday.

Sister says Mica feared for her life

Following Mica Millers death, her sister Sierra Francis sought to be appointed special administrator of her estate. The court document filed May 3, 2024, listed Micas death as suspicious circumstances, which are currently being investigated by the Robeson County authorities. The document also states that prior to her death, Mica Miller had sought a restraining order against her husband, although it is believed it was not served before her death.

An affidavit filed by Sierra Francis states, I know my sister to have expressed the abuse and violence against her by her husband to others, including family members and members of the church congregation.

The document goes on to say that Mica indicated that there were people following her and keeping track of where she went. Her sister said in the document that Mica had expressed that she was fearful and that if I end up with a bullet in my head, it was not by me, it was JP (John-Paul).

Mica Miller had filed for separation on April 15, 2024, from John-Paul Miller. According to the affidavit, her husband was served the papers on April 25, 2024, and she was found dead on April 27, 2024.

What police reports say

Police reports show that on March 11, Mica Millers tires were slashed when she was at the Springmaid Pier around 1:30 a.m. She reported this to Horry County Police.

Later that morning, around 11:30 a.m., she called police again about harassment, saying a man whom she has been avoiding came up to her at a gas station and tried to speak with her. He has also been calling and texting her despite the fact Mica Miller had blocked his number. She then told police she feared for her life.

Mica Miller said she had tried to get a restraining order against the suspect, who was not named in the police reports. A mechanic also found a GPS tracker on her car.

Both wife and husband had postnuptial agreement

According to public online records, Mica Miller had filed for divorce from her husband on Oct. 8, 2023. However, it was disposed on Feb. 12, 2024. The dismissal of the divorce said that the couple indicated they may be able to resolve the issues between them.

A postnuptial agreement was filed a year before the dismissal between Mica Miller and John-Paul Miller on Feb. 12, 2023, regarding what would happen if they were to divorce.

Mica Miller was employed at the time as the churchs creative director. The couple both waived their right to seek alimony or separate support in the agreement. In addition, the home that the couple shared, which is owned by the church, would not be included in marital property.

The agreement, which was signed by both Mica and John-Paul, said that the couple agreed to not speak negatively of Solid Rock Ministries and to keep their personal life confidential.

Records also show that John-Paul Miller filed for separation on Feb. 22, 2024. The document indicated that the couple had separated in early February and had lived apart since that time.

The filing was dismissed on March 11, 2024, and was followed by Mica Miller filing for separation on April 15, 2024.

What Micas husband has said

John-Paul Miller confirmed that his wife had filed for divorce. He was notified by police of his wifes death late April 27.

He was told that Mica had purchased a gun and drove two hours to Lumber River State Park in Lumberton, North Carolina, where she was found in her vehicle by a kayaker, Miller said May 3, 2024.

Miller described his wifes battle with mental illness, adding that this wasnt the first time she tried to take her own life. Mica Miller has been open about her mental health struggles, posting videos about it on social media and offering testimonies at her church.

Miller denied any abuse against his wife.

She had been in the hospital in February, one of many times Mica had been placed there during their marriage, Miller said.

Mica Millers family has not responded to requests to comment.

Couple had been married for seven years

The couple did not have any children of their own, but John-Paul Miller had five children from a previous marriage, which ended in 2016. Mica Miller and John-Paul Miller were married on Nov. 7, 2017, according to court documents. She would have been about 23 and he would have been about 38.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 7. Uzbekistan and Hungary discussed further development of cooperation in investment, industrial, trade and economic, banking and finance, cultural, and humanitarian spheres, Trend reports.

According to Uzbekistan's Ministry of Investment, Industry, and Trade, the issues were reviewed at the 9th meeting of the Uzbek-Hungarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation in Tashkent.

Uzbekistan's Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade, Laziz Kudratov, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, took part in the meeting, as well as agencies, industry associations, commercial banks, educational institutions, and diplomatic missions of the two countries.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan's Surkhandarya delegation and Hungarian entrepreneurs signed 18 contracts worth $124.2 million.

The parties concluded agreements in fishing and plastic processing, the production of wine products, the supply of electronics and agricultural machinery, as well as equipment for the production of bags and furniture.
The UK says a huge payroll data breach by a 'malign actor' has exposed details of military personnel

FILE - Britain's Defence Secretary Grant Shapps arrives in Downing Street for a cabinet meeting in London, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. British officials say the names and bank details of thousands of serving British soldiers, sailors and air force members have been exposed in a data breach at a payroll system. The Ministry of Defense said Defense Secretary Grant Shapps would make a statement in the House of Commons on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, afternoon setting out the multi-point plan to support and protect personnel. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

LONDON (AP)  The names and bank details of thousands of serving British soldiers, sailors and air force members have been exposed in a data breach by a malign actor who may have had state help, defense officials said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Defense said the breach occurred at a third-party payroll system holding bank details of as many as 272,000 serving armed forces personnel and recent veterans. In a few cases, addresses may also have been exposed.

Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said officials had immediately taken the system offline and launched an investigation into the breach and possible failings by the contractor, SSCL, which describes itself as the largest provider of critical business support services for government.

We cannot rule out state involvement, Shapps told lawmakers in the House of Commons, though he said the government did not yet have evidence to make that conclusion.

Shapps did not confirm reports by Sky News and the BBC that Chinese hackers are suspected of carrying out the cyberattack.

For reasons of national security, we cant release further details of the suspected cyber activity behind this incident, he said.

Labour Party defense spokesman John Healey asked why "the media has clearly been briefed that China was behind the attack if the government wasn't prepared to say so.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when asked about the reports, said it opposed all forms of cyberattacks and is against the use of cybersecurity issues to smear other countries for political purposes deliberately.

SSCL was founded as a joint venture between the British government and a private tech firm. The government sold its final 25% stake in the firm last year. SSCL clients also include the Home Office, Cabinet Office and Ministry of Justice.

In March, Britain and the United States alleged that hackers linked to the Chinese government had targeted U.S. officials, journalists, corporations, pro-democracy activists and the U.K.s election watchdog in a campaign of malicious cyberattacks. The two countries imposed sanctions on several individuals and the U.S. charged seven alleged hackers, all believed to be living in China.
Did COVID doom isolated WA town? State and federal leaders asked to help save it

Theres no pharmacy in Point Roberts, Washington. Theres also no bus or taxi services, no veterinarian, no hospital, and no 24/7 police department.

The exclave of Washington state, which is in Whatcom County, is only accessible by driving 25 miles through the Canadian border from Blaine, Washington, and is home to about 1,200 residents in an approximate 5 square mile area.

Members of the community must travel between the borders for a lot of their needs from Point Roberts to Blaine, including some students for their daily commute to school. Some residents have dual citizenship and are able to use services, like a dentist, on the Canadian side of the border.

But when COVID lockdowns hit, the community suffered in ways that continue to be felt today. Although the border is now open, some members of the community say the town is still suffering, and that elected leaders need to have a plan in place before another catastrophe closes residents off from the mainland again.

Christopher Carleton, the towns fire chief, told McClatchy he believed slow economic progress was the most lingering effect from the border closures, and that solutions need to be found to truly help the struggling community.

I think its imperative to understand that if we dont find a foundational solution and we are not put in writing at a congressional or senatorial level in both countries and governments, that this will happen again to our community, said Carleton.

In 2021, Carleton wrote to Gov. Jay Inslee and other elected leaders and criticized what was then an ongoing border closure. Shortly after that email, Inslee used funds from the American Rescue Plan to provide $100,000 to save the Point Roberts grocery store and made a visit to the community.

Carleton doesnt think that is enough.

Necessities of life arent just a grocery store, Carleton said. but the value to have that freedom of travel due to our geographical isolation is imperative to our everyday life.

The town of Point Roberts has only one grocery store. In 2021, state and federal leaders provided $100,000 to the market to prevent it from closing due to border restrictions at the time.

Others in the community are feeling the impact of the economic situation in Point Roberts, and think that more relaxed borders would help.

Tamra Hansen is the owner of the Saltwater Cafe in Point Roberts. It is one of two restaurants in Point Roberts, but neither operate full time.

Hansen told McClatchy that the situation she finds her restaurant in is challenging.

She added that the best year yet for her cafe was in 2019, and that the restaurant is currently experiencing a 25-30% drop in business since then. She hopes to soon open and operate a currently-defunct restaurant at the marina in town in order to bring more tourism to the area.

Hansen said allowing Canadians with work visas to come to the area would benefit business owners like her as well.

Brian Calder is the chairman of the chamber of commerce in Point Roberts, and leads the schools dollars for scholars program. His family has lived in Point Roberts for generations.

Like others, Calder feels Point Roberts has been left out of the economic recovery by federal and state leaders.

The potential here is untapped, Calder said.

In general, Calder said he believes Point Roberts is discriminated against by elected leaders who represent the area.

If they paid any attention to us at all they would realize that it is imminently solvable for a reasonable price, Calder said. And they would benefit through increased taxation because of the volume of economic activity.

Calder also agreed with others that having an agreement between the borders would be helpful for residents in the area to travel more freely and has expressed concerns to both the U.S. and Canadian governments multiple times. He has also been in communication with Whatcom County leaders and state officials regarding the issue, but said he feels like those conversations have not led to much action.

Brian Calder, chairman of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce, holds a shirt he made during the early days of the COVID pandemic when border closures isolated the small Washington state community completely bordered by Canada.

There was also an emotional aspect of the impacts COVID border closures had that some dont want to see happen again.

Brians wife Marlene told McClatchy that it was difficult for her to be so restricted from seeing her family on the Canadian side, despite being a dual citizen. The emotional toll still has an effect on her, she said.

And the inconsistency of Canadian border patrol sometimes allowing passage and other times not was frustrating, as well as the pushback she would get from agents at the border.

I havent gotten over it, Marlene said.

Border crossing numbers also confirm what Calder and others told McClatchy: Point Roberts has seen a massive decline in visitors for the area.

While numbers were declining prior to COVID, the closures far exacerbated the issue. There are about 30,000 to 60,000 less border crossings on a monthly average than there were pre-COVID.

And, a fair share of those visitors are only coming over from Canada because gas prices are nearly a dollar cheaper in the exclave, Brian and others pointed out.

While McClatchy was in Point Roberts, researchers from the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University were there to interview residents about all impacts of the border closures.

Dr. Laurie Trautman is the director of the program and said that other border areas researchers are studying, such as Windsor or Buffalo, arent affected by borders the same way as Point Roberts because it is completely isolated.

This is a community that is completely dependent on a functioning border, Trautman said. And that was the real challenge was the border stopped functioning.

Not only is there still personal trauma from people not being able to see family during those times, the economy is still suffering, she noted.

Many, and if not most communities have recovered once those restrictions liftedthings went back to normal, said Trautman. Here, things didnt go back to normal when restrictions ended.

During the pandemic U.S. leaders such as Gov. Jay Inslee and congressional leaders heavily advocated for the community, but the Canadian government was not helpful, Trautman said.

That breakdown in bilateral collaboration between the U.S. and Canada was really troubling, she added. And that is something we can work to do better next time.

What leaders are saying

Sen. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, pushed back on the idea that all residents want to see more economic growth in Point Roberts. From talking to locals, she said there is a split between folks in the community who prefer the quiet of the area, and those who would like to see the area grow more economically. Shewmake acknowledged that the border closures were challenging for Point Roberts, however.

Its a challenging place to govern because the issues are hyperlocal, Shewmake said. Youll hear disagreements between people and you dont necessarily know which one represents the consensus.

Others pointed out that the Legislature has already made some moves to help the small community.

Rep. Joe Timmons, D-Bellingham, noted that a bill sponsored by Shewmake this session, SB 6017, was passed to expand the use of the border area fuel tax.

Because Point Roberts isnt connected to the continental U.S., the bill will allow them to essentially expand the use of their border area fuel tax that theyre already collecting for transportation infrastructure, Timmons said.

Timmons also pointed to funding provided by state lawmakers this year for broadband access, in addition to the nearly $12 million in funding provided by the federal government in 2022 to expand broadband in the area.

Really in terms of how to help I am open to any and all specific ideas we can do to help the community there because I really want to see it thrive, Timmons said.

In a statement from U.S. Senator Patty Murray, D-WA, she said that Point Roberts faces unique hurdles and that it is a really difficult situation. She also added that she pushed hard and repeatedly to reopen the border at Point Roberts during the pandemic.

I support common-sense efforts to ensure people in Point Roberts and other enclave communities can move more easily across the border when they need to, especially when unforeseen circumstances like a pandemic make that much more difficult, she said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus office did not respond to a request for comment about whether they had been contacted by residents and other elected officials, and instead referred McClatchy to the Canadian Border Services Agency.

Cross-border travel that allowed individuals to access goods and services essential for work and daily life was permitted, said a spokesperson for the agency. Only in circumstances where the purpose of transiting through Canada was explicitly for optional purposes was prohibited. The Government of Canada applied the optional/discretionary purpose test to permit foreign nationals entry to Canada in order to transit directly to or from one point of the United States (U.S) to another point in the U.S. for reasons that would not be considered optional, they said.

In an email from Mike Faulk, communications director for Inslee, he said that their office was in constant communication with the community about their needs during and in the aftermath of the pandemic.

We wrote numerous letters to senior Cabinet officials, President Biden and his then-chief of staff, to say nothing of the efforts of the congressional delegation, Faulk said. To everyones frustration, we did not get much engagement with our persistent requests for modifications of the land border closure that lasted well into 2021.

He noted that there is no question that the unique geography creates unique challenges.

The states engagement here has been persistent and robust, within the bounds of what the state is empowered to do, he said. Potential future closures of the U.S.-Canada border or other ports of entry are exclusively the province of the federal and Canadian governments.
I didnt say it was valid: Johnson County sheriff admits he didnt have signed warrant

Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden acknowledged on Monday that no judge signed off on seizing old ballots in his long-running elections investigation after he falsely said last month he had a search warrant in hand.

The admission came after Hayden, a Republican in a competitive race for reelection, in April accused Johnson County Election Commissioner Fred Sherman and other officials of rushing to destroy old ballots from several past elections, suggesting they were attempting to eliminate evidence just as the sheriff was on the verge of obtaining a search warrant for them.

In fact, Johnson County at Haydens request had previously held off on complying with a state law that mandates the regular destruction of old ballots. But with Hayden unable to obtain a court order to preserve the records, officials earlier this year moved forward.

Haydens comments on Monday came in a fiery exchange with Mike Kuckelman, a former Kansas Republican Party chairman who opposes Haydens candidacy, during a candidates forum in Olathe. Kuckelman posted a video of the exchange to social media.

Ive been catching all kinds of trouble. Mike, you can read that, cant ya? Im not going to give you anything you cant see, Hayden says in the video as he holds papers clipped together.

Hayden then refers to a meeting with Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe and five officers. So when you want to tell me I need to be Gigliod have your stuff together, Hayden says.

Brady-Giglio rules generally require law enforcement to disclose information about officers that call into question their credibility as witnesses.

Kuckelman, who doesnt appear on screen, can be heard asking which judge, followed by Hayden responding theres no judge.

A judge has to sign a search warrant to be valid, Kuckelman says.

I didnt say it was valid, Hayden replies.

Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden speaks at the press conference Thursday afternoon, Aug. 27, 2020 that announced charge in the Westwood Apple Market killing in 2003.

While law enforcement officials can prepare a search warrant application, warrants must be approved by judges. And in Johnson County, standard practice calls for the Johnson County District Attorneys Office to review all search warrant applications before they are submitted to a judge.

Melody Webb, a spokeswoman with the Johnson County District Attorneys Office, previously said the office is unaware of any search warrant being submitted to a judge for review. Webb on Tuesday said Howe has no further comment on this.

A spokeswoman with the sheriffs office previously declined to comment on an open investigation  even as Hayden regularly makes public comments about the probe. Haydens office didnt immediately comment on Tuesday.

Haydens claim that he had a search warrant has become a flashpoint in the sheriffs race ahead of the August primary. Hayden, who ran unopposed in both 2016 and 2020, faces Republican challenger Doug Bedford, a former undersheriff. The race has so far drawn one Democratic candidate, Prairie Village Police Chief Byron Roberson.

Kansas law requires the regular destruction of ballots. But the county hadnt destroyed them from the 2019 election onward as Hayden probes an election software company previously used by the county to manage poll workers. The sheriffs investigation has produced no criminal charges.

County officials said late last year they received reminders from Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican, to destroy ballots in compliance with state law. Johnson County chief legal counsel Peg Trent in a November letter asked Hayden whether he was still investigating and had any objections to the ballots being shredded.

The sheriffs office asked for the records to be preserved, saying they were crucial to the investigation. Trent responded by asking if Hayden planned on obtaining a search warrant.

When no search warrant was served, the Johnson County Election Office in late February shredded the ballots from the 2019, 2020, and 2021 elections.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican who joined Hayden in urging the county to preserve the ballots, is now crafting a legal opinion on whether the election office had the authority to destroy the election materials amid a criminal investigation.

Schwab, who oversees the states elections, has said election officials have no authority to disregard state law absent a court order.
Memories of his own escape flooded back as the Rev. Nils Hernandez heard that Senate File 2340  a bill aimed at making illegal immigration a state crime  was signed into law.

Sitting in a pew at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Waterloo where he is pastor, Hernandez rehashed his journey into exile more than 30 years ago  a move that forced him to leave behind his life and family in Nicaragua with no return date guaranteed. In March 1987, Hernandez was 19 years old and a seminary student in Matagalpa when he led his classmates in a strike against the Nicaraguan government and soon faced threats for his participation.

He said his life and the safety of his loved ones were on the line as he joined the thousands of Nicaraguans in fleeing the country to find refuge. He said he first turned to Guatemala before heading for the United States.

Father Nils Hernandez stands for a photo at the Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Waterloo, Wednesday, April 24, 2024.

It's a story he says he's told many times before but one that's still tough to remember  especially as Iowa lawmakers continue to crack down on immigration policies and target a population he considers crucial to the state's economy and workforce.

"I feel the pain and the concerns that my brothers and sisters have," said Hernandez, whose pathway to citizenship was long, rocky and at times uncertain. He spoke about being denied political asylum, facing deportation and then returning to the U.S. after being granted a religious visa.

Hernandez, who eventually became a U.S. citizen in 2001 and has lived in Iowa for 30 years, said he knows exactly how stressful the process can be, the risk of being caught and living in what can feel like isolation.

More: Iowa's new immigration law relies on local police, but many doubt they can enforce it

Hernandez, who joined the hundreds of immigrants, activists and supporters last Wednesday in a statewide protest march against SF 2340, said he and many others are scared of the new "illegal reentry" law and the impact it will have on people of color across the state. They say it comes at a time of heightened anti-immigrant rhetoric and promotes racial profiling in communities that are already susceptible to the discriminatory practice and fearful of law enforcement agents.

One community organizer, Gabriel Saldana, said he isn't surprised the proposed bill became law. Saldana, who works for the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice in Des Moines, said lawmakers have passed legislation in recent years targeting other marginalized groups' rights and access to resources, education and programs.

"We've seen attacks on public libraries, the AEA disability community, the trans community," Saldana said. "They're going after unions and workers. We know the anti-immigrant hysteria is really high right now," with it being a presidential election year.

"If you're not at the table, you're on the menu."

Reynolds: Law gives state power to enforce immigration laws

Last Wednesday, at a rally held in Des Moines, Hoover High School student Alison De Luna was huddled under a canopy with a sign that read: "I should be worried about college not SF 2340." Other families around her held up American flags and colorful posters featuring the phrase "por la dignidad humana"  "for human dignity" in English  in bright red.

Like Hernandez, De Luna, who attended the event to show support for Latino families like hers, said many Iowa immigrants have rebuilt their lives here from scratch. They are scattered across various industries such as agriculture, business and construction. Many of them own stores that are vital to their neighborhoods, and SF 2340 threatens their livelihoods, she said.

Escucha Mi Voz, Latinx Immigrants of Iowa and Iowa City Catholic Worker held the rallies in Iowa City, Waterloo, Des Moines and Davenport on May 1, which is known as May Day and celebrates workers rights.

The group Latinx Immigrants of Iowa demonstrates in opposition to the state's new "illegal reentry" law Wednesday, May 1, 2024, outside the Iowa State Capitol. This demonstration was one of four similar ones held across the state.

SF 2340 makes it a state crime for someone to be in Iowa if they have been previously deported, removed or denied admission to the U.S. Those arrested face felony charges carrying prison sentences of up to five or 10 years. The law also allows state courts to deport individuals convicted of what it calls "illegal reentry."

"The Biden administration has failed to enforce our nation's immigration laws, putting the protection and safety of Iowans at risk," Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement last month announcing the law signing. "Those who come into our country illegally have broken the law, yet Biden refuses to deport them. This bill gives Iowa law enforcement the power to do what he is unwilling to do: enforce immigration laws already on the books."

The law is similar to one in Texas, which has been blocked by the courts while a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality is decided. The U.S. Department of Justice has said it will sue Iowa to block the law if it remains in effect, and several Iowa police chiefs have said they don't have the resources or knowledge to enforce it.

More: Win some, lose some: How Gov. Kim Reynolds' ambitious legislative agenda fared in 2024

Law 'is so divisive and so harmful,' lawyer says

Rogelio Rodriguez, of Lutheran Services of Iowa, and Allison McCarthy, of the Drake Legal Clinic, said many of their clients have expressed fear in the wake of the new law. They said SF 2340 makes their clients feel unwelcome, and the law's vagueness adds another layer of anxiety.

"It discourages them from just living normal lives," said McCarthy, director of the legal clinic's refugee services and a Drake University law professor. "It discourages them from interacting with local law enforcement when they might really need help or assistance for safety reasons. The climate that's perpetuated by this law is just one that is so divisive and so harmful for people."

Rodriguez said his caseworkers regularly work with children who have some status in the U.S. They could have legal permanence through the Special Immigrant Juvenile visa, which is granted to undocumented immigrants under 21 who have faced abuse, neglect or abandonment by their parents, or Temporary Protected Status, for those who flee their homeland because of war, unstable government or an environmental disaster.

But that doesn't mean they feel "safe" or "comfortable" in the U.S. "It doesn't mean that there's any level of security," he said.

"It's important for us to understand the impact of what a law like this can have on our communities feeling appreciated," Rodriguez continued. "There's an appreciation for diversity throughout the world, and when these laws come into play, it creates a lot more distance between community members because of differences or because of perspectives or opinions.

"There is diversity in Des Moines, maybe not as much as like Chicago or Denver or LA," he continued. "But there is some level of diversity here, and there is an appreciation for diversity here. These laws squash that and really make people kind of go into their corners. There's a disconnect that happens, and that sort of energy, that sort of community does not serve anybody well."

Stephen Gruber-Miller and Galen Bacharier contributed reporting.

F. Amanda Tugade covers social justice issues for the Des Moines Register. Email her at ftugade@dmreg.com or follow her on Twitter @writefelissa.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa's 'illegal reentry' law ignites fears of racial profiling
[table-of-contents] stripped



FLiRT COVID-19 variants, KP.1.1, KP.2, and KP.3 are spreading in the U.S.

The current COVID vaccine may not protect against them as well as previous variants.

Its not clear if these are more infectious than other variants.

After a fairly quiet spring, COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in the U.S. and SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, keeps churning out new variants. The latest is a trio, KP.2, KP.3, and KP.1.1, known collectively as the FLiRT variants, and theyre leading an uptick in new COVID-19 infections in the U.S.

One FLiRT variant, KP.2 is now the dominant variant in the U.S., and its been quickly increasing in cases over the past few weeks. KP.2 now makes up 28.5% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Meet the experts: Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York; Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security; William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

KP.3 came out of nowhere after being a blip on the radar in late April and now makes up nearly 13% of COVID-19 cases, just behind KP.2. But sister variant KP.1.1 is also rising in the ranks and currently makes up 9.2% of COVID-19 cases in the country. Collectively the FLiRT variants are causing plenty of issues around the U.S.

So, what are the FLiRT variants and how concerned should you be? Infectious disease doctors break down the latest COVID-19 strains.

What are the FLiRT variants, KP.2, KP.3, and KP.1.1?

The FLiRT variants are the collective name given to KP.2, KP.3, and KP.1.1. These are descendants of JN.1.11.1, a spinoff of JN.1, which was the most common variant in the U.S. until late April, explains Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York.

While the name FLiRT is cute, it isnt randomits based on the technical names for their mutations, according to the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA). These are part of the Omicron family, Dr. Russo says. Theyre like siblings.

Theres not a lot of detail about these variants available at the moment, but preliminary research shows that KP.2 has three changes in its spike protein compared to JN.1, Dr. Russo says. (In case youre not familiar, the spike protein is what SARS-CoV-2 uses to latch onto your cells and infect you.)

In mid-May, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an update that KP.2 and KP.3 were responsible for nearly 10% and 20% of cases, respectively, globally. The WHO has classified these variants as being under monitoring, meaning theyre on the radar but theres no reason to sound an alarm about them at this point.

How contagious are the FLiRT variants?

Its worth pointing out that the portion of cases caused by KP.2 is increasing while the portion of cases caused by other variants is decreasing. That implies that there is something about KP.2 that gives it an advantage over the others, Dr. Russo says.

Its worth pointing out that KP.2 and KP.3 have risen quickly when it comes to the number of COVID-19 cases theyve caused, while cases caused by other variants are decreasing. That implies that there is something that gives them an advantage over the others, Dr. Russo says.

Overall, Dr. Russo says that the FLiRT variants dont seem to be more or less virulent than JN.1, but we are still learning about KP.2 and its siblings.

As for KP.3s quick rise, Dr. Russo says time will tell if this variant ends up behaving differently from its sibling FLiRT variants.

Should I be concerned about the FLiRT variants?

As of now, doctors say theres nothing to suggest that the FLiRT variants are any more concerning to the general population than other recent COVID-19 variants. However, William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, points out that there is some early data that show KP.2 may be able to evade the protection from the vaccine a little more than previous COVID vaccines. (More on that in a moment.)

But theres no need to panic about new variants gaining steam in general. As SARS-CoV2 continues to circulate, it will always be generating new variants, says infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

How can I distinguish FLiRT from other variants?

Doctors say thats pretty tough. Theres nothing that you or your doctor would notice that would indicate that you have a FLiRT variant as opposed to another COVID-19 variant, Dr. Russo says.

In fact, the only way that the CDC has data on different variants is through genomic sequencing, which looks at the genetic code of the virus to see which variant you haveand thats not something youd get from even the best at-home COVID-19 tests or that your doctor would get from a rapid test in their office.

What are the symptoms of the FLiRT variants, KP.1.1, KP.2, and KP.3?

Doctors say its hard to tell for sure right now, but Dr. Schaffner points out that previous variants havent looked that different when it comes to symptoms, either.

According to the CDC, these are the most common symptoms of COVID-19:

Fever or chills

Cough

Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Fatigue

Muscle or body aches

Headache

New loss of taste or smell

Sore throat

Congestion or runny nose

Nausea or vomiting

Diarrhea

Still, the loss of taste and smell seems less common now, Dr. Schaffner says. It could be because of changes in the virus itself or because people have developed more immunity, either through vaccinations or being infected, he says. Were all experienced now with COVID, he adds.

Do home tests pick up the FLiRT variants?

Yes, Dr. Schaffner says that home tests should still be able to detect the FLiRT variants. However, keep in mind that these tests expire after a whiletests hanging in your medicine cabinet for years may be less effective or not efficient at all at picking up any COVID-19 variants if the expiration date has passed.

If you have COVID-like symptoms and plan to test yourself, just check the expiration date on the side of the box. Because some tests have had their expiration dates extended, you can double-check the actual date of yours on the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA ) website. Some dates have been extended while others have not, making it important to look.

Is there a vaccine for the FLiRT variants?

Yes, the COVID-19 vaccine is protective against the FLiRT variants, although there is data to suggest that it might not be as effective as its been against other strains.

It may be off to the side a little bit in regards to protection from the vaccine, Dr. Schaffner says. Protection is not zero, but its not quite as good as it was before.

If youre in a high-risk group and you havent gotten the updated vaccine, Dr. Schaffner recommends getting it to increase your protection throughout the summer. For sure when the new vaccine comes out in the fall, we should all get it, he says.

Do the FLiRT variants increase the risk for long COVID?

Thats not clear. This is still very early days, Dr. Schaffner says. As of right now, there is no indication that the FLiRT variants are any more risky for developing long COVID than other variants. However, that may change over time.

The bottom line

The FLiRT variants are just the latest in a long line of new variants that have surfaced from SARS-CoV-2. These strains are new to the scene and researchers are still learning more about them. However, they do seem to be more infectious than previous variants.

If you have symptoms of COVID-19, doctors recommend testing yourself and doing your best to prevent the spread of the virus, especially if you spend time around people who are high risk for severe complications of the virus. Were underestimating the severity of COVID, Dr. Russo says. Stay up to date with the latest COVID guidelines and if you test positive, wear a well-fitting mask to protect others.

This article is accurate as of press time. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly evolves and the scientific communitys understanding of the coronavirus develops, some of the information may have changed since it was last updated. While we aim to keep all of our stories up to date, please visit online resources provided by the CDC , WHO , and your local public health department to stay informed on the latest news. Always talk to your doctor for professional medical advice.

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Authorities are warning hikers about dog treats stuffed with fishhooks scattered along a section of the Appalachian Trail.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission issued a warning May 6 via Facebook about the potentially deadly treats found by a hiker near the George W. Outerbridge shelter.

The incident occurred near the North Trail Loop leading to the shelter, on State Game Lands #217, in Washington Township, Lehigh County, officials said.

These could prove deadly to any animal that consumes them, including wild and domesticated animals.

McClatchy News reached out to the Pennsylvania Game Commission on May 7 to determine whether any animals were known to have consumed the treats but did not immediately hear back.

Anyone who finds more of the treats or has information about the incident is asked to call 1-833-742-9453 or 1-833-742-4868 immediately.

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WASHINGTON  Federal prosecutors are seeking more than 11 years in federal prison for convicted Jan. 6 defendant Brent Bozell IV, the son and grandson of two men who shaped the American conservative movement in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Bozell, also known as "Zeeker," smashed windows at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and was convicted of a host of charges in September, including five felonies. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 17. Federal prosecutors, in a sentencing memo filed late Friday, sought a terrorism sentencing enhancement for Bozell, saying that his actions were intended to affect the conduct of the government and that he made preparations for Jan. 6 because he "believed that the presidential election had been 'stolen' and thus planned to respond through violence."

Image: Leo Brent Bozell (FBI)

Bozell's father, Brent Bozell III, founded the Media Research Center, NewsBusters, CNSNews and the Parents Television and Media Council. Bozell III once wrote that former President Donald Trump "might be the greatest charlatan of them all" but pivoted to defending Trump after his 2016 election victory. Brent Bozell Jr., the convicted rioter's grandfather, was a speechwriter for Joe McCarthy, ghostwrote Barry Goldwater's "The Conscience of a Conservative" and was a friend of National Review founder William F. Buckley. Bozell Jr. was such a "fan boy" of fascist dictator Francisco Franco that he moved to Spain during his reign, according to Politico, which also credited him with organizing the "first violent anti-abortion protest" in Washington in 1970, for which he was "convicted of assaulting a police officer with a five-foot wooden cross," according to his 1997 obituary.

Few Jan. 6 rioters, federal prosecutors said, "were involved in as many pivotal breaches" as Brent Bozell IV during the Jan. 6 attack. Bozell IV, they said, "is not similarly situated to any other defendant given his relentless and sustained attacks on law enforcement in multiple locations inside and outside the Capitol" on Jan. 6.

"Leo Brent Bozell IV led the charge in a violent attack on the United States Capitol. ... Bozell participated inand often leda series of critical breaches on January 6: the police line under the scaffolding (2:00 p.m.); the police line on the landing of the Northwest Stairs (2:09 p.m.); the final police line at the top of the Northwest Stairs (2:11 p.m.); the initial breach of the Capitol building at the Senate Wing Doors (2:12 p.m.); the police line near the Carriage Door (2:21 p.m.); the East Rotunda Doors (2:38 p.m.); the Senate Gallery (2:42 p.m.), and the Senate Floor (2:49 p.m.)," the government wrote.

Bozell, court evidence showed, was among the first rioters to enter the Capitol, and he joined the mob as it chased U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up the stairs near the Senate floor. Bozell soon entered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office and "left carrying an unidentified object in his hand," prosecutors said, before he joined other rioters as they breached the East Rotunda doors from the inside, allowing more rioters to flow inside.

"After January 6, Bozell expressed disappointment that the election results were eventually certified despite the mobs efforts, calling Mike Pence a 'traitor' for his part in certifying the election results. Bozell also sought to minimize and justify his conduct," federal prosecutors wrote. "For example, he made fantastical claims about how he accessed the building, and he told his friends and family that the 'Capitol siege was morally justified.'"

Like many conservatives, Bozell also tried to blame "antifa," writing in a text that "Antifa lead" even though he himself had smashed windows to let the mob into the building. He then made the implausible claim that "Antifa coordinated with Congress, DC mayor and police to gain unfettered access." He also texted his brother to get him to persuade their father, Bozell III, to retract his public condemnation of violence.

Jan. 6 defendant Brent Bozell IV (U.S. DC for the District of Columbia)

In their own memo, Bozell's defense attorneys wrote that he "regrets his decisions" that day and that he didn't have any "thought-out plan." They wrote that Bozell believed at the time that the election was "rigged" but today accepts that Joe Biden is president.

Bozell is part of a family "that has long been 'intune' with politics in Washington D.C. and was too personally and emotionally 'invested' in the final outcome of the 2020 election," his attorneys wrote.

They added that Bozell is "ashamed that he smashed windows at the U.S. Capitol Building and entered through them."

Brent Bozell III the president of the Media Research Center, wrote a letter in support of his son that he is "a man of peace" and suggesting that politics may be at play in the case. (The Justice Department is seeking a similar sentence for Zach Alam, another rioter who smashed windows at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and took his case to trial.)

"I have remained silent for the past 3 1/2 years because I didn't want to tip the apple cart of justice. But given what I saw in the trial, and more importantly learning about this terrorism enhancement, I no longer can. I believe there is more at play here," Bozell III wrote in the letter. "I am not pleading my son's innocence, only that his punishment match the crime. I am asking the Court to consider my son's character that is sterling and is being defended by absolutely everyone around him."

Bozell III wrote that he believed that everyone in the Bozell household voted for Trump but that they were "not unanimous in our analysis of the election results."

"We are a political family, and have been for generations," Bozell III wrote. "As such there was great discussion over the subject, be it by phone, by email, text or dinner conversation. Passionate? Of course, if you felt your greatest gift as an American  the right to vote  had been stolen. But never, ever was there a discussion of violent behavior  planned, proposed, considered, raised or even mentioned."

In the 40 months since the attack on the Capitol, prosecutors have charged more than 1,424 defendants, and 1,019 have been convicted in court. Of the 884 defendants who have been sentenced, 541 have received periods of incarceration from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Read our ongoing coverage of Donald Trumps first criminal trial here.

Though Tuesday is shaping up to be better, with Stormy Daniels testifying, Monday was the most boring day so far in People of New York v. Trump. A pair of accountants from the Trump Organization testified dryly about the companys bookkeeping processes, also explaining each and every one of the 34 business documents that Trump is accused of falsifying. For the first time, multiple jurors appeared to lose focus, and the note-taking was far less copious than for more compelling witnesses, such as Hope Hicks, Keith Davidson, and David Pecker.

Although the testimony itself didnt reveal much, beyond the handwritten notes that Trump Organization Controller Jeffrey McConney and Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg took describing Michael Cohens precise reimbursement plan for the Stormy Daniels payment, it showcased one thing: Donald Trump might not be in this mess if he wasnt such a cheapskate micromanager.

Specifically, the company had a rule that Donald Trump, Eric Trump, or Donald Trump Jr. had to sign off on any payment more than $10,000, which is one reason Trump had to be involved in the Cohen reimbursement scheme in the first place. Those handwritten notes laid out that the Trump Organization was to pay Cohen $180,000 in reimbursements$130,000 for the Stormy payment and $50,000 for another more legitimate reimbursementthen double it to gross up and pay for taxes, in addition to a $60,000 bonus for Cohen himself. That totaled $420,000, or $35,000 a month for 12 months of repayments, which were labeled in the Trump books as legal expenses based on a retainer. These are the allegedly false records. Prosecutors on Monday went through each individual one of those payments with both of the accountants. (As ever, Trumps beautiful blue eyes were closed for most of the day.)

Trumps third adult child, Eric Trump, in the audience that day, was possibly one of the most engaged observers, nodding along every time his name was mentioned. This went like so:

Prosecutors show email stating that an invoice was OK to pay as per agreement with Don and Eric. Eric nods on the sidelines. Prosecutors explain that payments needed a sign-off from Trump or one of President Trumps sons. Eric nods. Prosecutor asks witness if they understood a reference to two of the presidents sons to mean Don and Eric. Eric nods again. Witness explains that invoices of a certain amount had to be paid by Eric, Don Jr., or Mr. Trump.

Eric nods yet again.

Eric also nodded, of course, when the prosecution presented a check he had personally signed to reimburse Cohen. (When Deborah Tarasoff, testifying to explain all the signatures on the various checks, walked to and from the witness stand, she seemed to ignore the defendant but gave Eric a warm, motherly smile and even patted his leg.) Eric did not nod when the names of his brother Donald Trump Jr. and his father were listed as check signersit was just a personal thing.

In addition to having to sign off on each of those $35,000 payments, the former president also had to pay them through his own personal accounts that are managed through the Trump Organization, which led to him personally signing nine checks listed as retainer payments to Cohen. Those signatures tied him to the falsifying of the business records of which he is accused, making it much more difficult to argueas his defense attorneys continue to attemptthat this was all formal accounting procedures in an elaborate family business with which he had nothing to do.

As a practical matter, he would have had an easier time with plausible deniability if he didnt micromanage and sign everything, elections expert Richard Hasen told me.

He did, though. And although those extra payments to Cohen, specifically the gross up for his taxes and the bonus, may make him sound like a generous boss, much of the previous testimony vividly illustrates that Trump is a cheapskate. Prosecutors offered a series of exhibits on Tuesday demonstrating that signing every big check was standard practice for Trump, specifically excerpts from his books in which he bragged about his micromanagement and frugality. Pennypinching, you bet, Im all for it, Trump wrote in Trump: Think Like a Billionaire, excerpts of which were read to the jury. As I said before, I always sign my checks, so I know where my money is going.

Lets unravel this a bit further. First things first, if he hadnt relied on outside actors to cover up his alleged peccadilloes by making the hush money paymentsspecifically AMI to pay Karen McDougal and Cohen to pay Danielsand he had instead made those payments himself, this would have been a much different case, though the former president still could have been accused of failing to disclose his own campaign expenditures, Hasen told me.

But there also would have been far less of a paper trail had he just shelled out himself. This, however, is not the Trump way, as witness after witness has testified. Trump is a cheapskate who tries to get out of every payment he can. For instance, last week former Daniels attorney Davidson testified that he had had a conversation with Cohen in which the former Trump fixer complained that he had not been reimbursed by Trump as of Christmas 2016.

Davidson quoted Cohen as saying, during that conversation: Ive saved that guys ass so many times, you dont even know.  That fucking guys not even paying me the $130,000 back.

In fact, Trumps frugality was what had forced Cohen into paying Stormy in the first place. At the start of the trial, Pecker testified that Trump never reimbursed AMI for the McDougal payment (and a second payment to a doorman who made a false allegation about Trump) either. And so, Trump may have assumed that he didnt have to bother when it came time to pay for Daniels story.

By mid-October, when that deal had fallen apart, it looked as if ABC was going to run the Stormy story and everything was going to come out. National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard lamented this situation in a text to Davidson, declaring that it had gone awry all because Trump is tight.

I reckon that Trump impersonator I hired has more cash, Howard added, for good measure.

When asked about his understanding of what Howard meant by tight, Davidson responded, That Mr. Trump was frugal.

They had this deal sort of on a silver platter and there for the taking and it didnt close, and the only reason it didnt close was because it didnt fund, and the only reason that it didnt fund was because they didnt want to spend money, Davidson testified.

When Stormy takes the stand today, it will be the ultimate example of Donald Trumps cheapness coming home to roost.
Douglas County landfill to continue accepting tornado debris for free through May 11

Gov. Jim Pillen and Col. John Bolduc of the Nebraska State Patrol flew above the tornado damage Monday, April 29, 2024, including above Elkhorn. (Courtesy of the Nebraska State Patrol)

OMAHA  Free dumping of tornado-related debris will continue at the Douglas County landfill through Saturday, May 11.

The Douglas County Board on Tuesday approved extending the no-cost debris drop-off period for people impacted by the Arbor Day twister. The Pheasant Point Landfill is located in Bennington, 13505 N. 216th St.

Roger Garcia, board chair, said there is still a need. We want to help the citizens who are recovering, rebuilding and going through this natural disaster.

Also at its weekly meeting, the County Board voted to waive building permit fees for tornado-damaged properties in Bennington, Waterloo and unincorporated areas of the county. The board last week indicated a desire to do so and voted formally on the resolution Tuesday.

While the fees are waived, property owners still need to go through the permitting approval process, said Kent Holm, director of County Environmental Services. For more information, call 402.444.7189.

Last week, the Omaha City Council voted similarly to waive building-related permit fees for property owners in its geographic jurisdiction that are recovering from the tornado storm.

The post Douglas County landfill to continue accepting tornado debris for free through May 11 appeared first on Nebraska Examiner.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Some of the warmest temperatures of the year are expected around the greater Portland-Vancouver metro area later this week.

A nearly 30-degree temperature spike is expected by the end of the week as record highs are threatened. Temperatures are expected to warm close to 90 degrees by the end of the week and take the Pacific Northwest into the weekend.





This rapid warming trend will be a shock to the system as Portland has seen 12 consecutive days with measurable rainfall and below-average temperatures. A ridge of high pressure will build over the western half of the country later this week. Its that weather pattern change that will usher in the early onset of summer.

Oregon in top 5 of most difficult states to save money in US, study finds

Typically, Portland sees its first 80-degree temperature around May 8. Thats on track this week, but some locations could be near 90 by the end of the week. On average, the first round of 90-degree heat isnt felt in Portland until June 18. That might be over a month ahead of schedule if temperatures get that warm.

Portlands iconic Keller Fountain to remain dry as repairs continue

The two days that have the best chance at seeing records met or surpassed are Friday and Saturday. Fridays record temperature is 89-degrees last set on May 10, 2019. Saturdays record is slightly warmer at 91-degrees set on May 11, 1971. Forecast temperatures are putting Portlands afternoon highs near those conditions later this week.

Stay with the KOIN 6 Weather Team as they track Portlands first round summer heat.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Over two dozen pro-Palestine protesters were arrested on Manhattans Upper East Side on Monday evening while marching from a midtown college campus to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to demonstrate in front of the Met Gala, one of the most high-profile events of the year in the city.

The New York Police Department confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the arrests took place at 6:30 p.m. local time at 80th Street and Madison Avenue, just a block away from the star-studded red carpet event, which was teaming with paparazzi.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Waving Palestinian flags and chanting Gaza! Gaza!, according to The New York Times, the demonstrators were largely from student groups at Baruch College, Columbia University and New York University who had gathered to protest the war in Gaza, and then converged at Hunter College, according to the NYPD.

A total of 27 people were arrested and detained at the citys 19th precinct on the Upper East Side, according to the NYPD. Charges against the protesters, per a list obtained to THR, range from the more serious 2nd Degree Assault, Resisting Arrest and Obstructing Governmental Administration to the lesser charge of Disorderly Conduct  typically a misdemeanor resulting in a fine if a plea is made; in New York, its sealed from ones record after one year. This was the lone charge against 21 of those arrested on Monday night. The police spokesperson added that an investigation into the planned protest is still ongoing.

Just after 4:30 p.m. on Monday, police said officers responded to three scheduled demonstrations at separate college campuses; these took place in Greenwich Village, home to New York University; the Gramercy Park area, where Baruch College is located; and Morningside Heights, where protests have rattled the Columbia University campus for weeks.

A second protest moved from a gathering point in nearly Central Park toward the glitzy event, according to the Times, where the Costume Institutes exhibition, titled Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, saw major stars including event hosts Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth pose in glamorous gowns and chic suits in front of hundreds of photographers from major publications.

Any exposure at the event the protestors hoped for was thwarted, however. A THR staff member who was inside the Met Gala press tent said they were unable to hear or see any sign of the protest or arrests that were taking place one avenue away. The high-profile nature of the event had prompted the installation of barricades in Central Park, so any protesters attempting to get to the event via Central Park found that avenue blocked off, according to a report from CBS News.

Christy Pina contributed to this report.

Best of The Hollywood Reporter
A group protesters who gathered on Tuesday to urge Columbia University to divest from Israel said a man intentionally drove his car into their group, hospitalizing one person.

A group of about 25 protesters picketed outside of the home one of the universitys Board of Trustees in the Upper East Side on Tuesday morning, according to USA Today.

Police told the outlet that an argument broke out between protesters and a driver, and that as the protesters attempted to leave the area, the driver drove at the crowd, hitting one person. Three people, including the driver and the injured protester, were arrested, police said.

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department confirmed to The Daily Beast that the driver was 57-year-old Reuven Kahane. Maryellen Novak, 55, who was hit by the car, was also arrested, as well as another protester, 63-year-old John Rozendaal.

Columbia Ditches University-Wide Commencement Ceremony Amid Gaza Protests

A press release from the Columbia University Apartheid Divest student organizing group alleged Kahane grabbed the protesters arm when they tried to hand him a flier. He then moved to park across the street from the group of protesters.

As they began to disperse, the group alleged, Kahane circled the block before plowing into the group of students, striking one de-escalator, who attempted to stop the car as it surged forward. After it struck the first student, another moved in front of the vehicle, forcing it to stop.

The student who was struck was also arrested, but was transported to the hospital where they were handcuffed to the bed. The NYPD told The Daily Beast that Novak remains in the hospital where they are being treated for minor injuries.

Kahane has been charged with second degree assault, the NYPD spokesperson said. Novak was charged with criminal mischief and unlawful assembly, while Rozendaal was charged with criminal mischief.

Last week, Columbia University sent hundreds of police officers into campus to forcibly clear out protesters occupying Hamilton Hall and protesting for divestment on the campus lawns. The same week, a mob of pro-Israel protesters descended on an encampment of pro-Palestine protesters at UCLA, attempting to tear down their barricade, and throwing bottles and fireworks into the encampment.

On Monday, Hamas accepted a ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar, which would have brought an end to Israels violent military campaign in Gaza, which has killed over 34,700 people according to the Associated Press. Israel balked at the deal, and proceeded to seize Gazas vital border crossing in Rafah.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA)  Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) is pushing for a change to a federal bill to help small airports across the country.

In an amendment to the bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, Durbin asks for the government to conduct a study on how the federal government can leverage existing programs to help at small, nonhub airports like Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield offer more convenient airline services.

He filed the amendment with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who said some communities in Iowa have also lost their regularly scheduled air services.

Savoys Willard Airport looking for community help in expanding operations

As a frequent flyer who relies on the service at Springfields airport, I know that maintaining adequate service at our states smaller regional airports is critical, Durbin said. This bipartisan amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill, with Senator Grassley, would help ensure that regional airports are not left behind.

Durbin also said he hopes to see the final version of this legislation include serious support for local airports as many downstate Illinoisans who rely on their flights.

In February, Durbin joined Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Representative Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) asking American Airlines to improve their flight plans at the Springfield airport.

Illinois members of Congress urge airline to improve service at Springfield airport

The FAA bill authorizes more than $105 billion in spending for the Federal Aviation Administration from fiscal year 2024 through 2028, with funding going towards services like improving airports, modernizing airspace technology and hiring air traffic controllers.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCIA.com.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Early voting for the June 4 primary in New Mexico began Tuesday, May 7 in Dona Ana County, the County Elections Bureau said.

Early voting will be held 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday from Tuesday, May 7 through Saturday, June 1 at the Dona Ana County Government Center, 845 N. Motel Blvd. in Las Cruces. Early voting will be held at the government center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 1.

Expanded early voting begins May 18 and lasts through June 1 at eight other sites around Dona Ana County.

Election Day is June 4 and polls will be open that day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 42 sites around Dona Ana County.

For more information, visit dacelections.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE)  Early voting is now underway for the upcoming primary election. Starting Tuesday, voters in the Metro can cast their ballot at the County Clerks Annex on Lomas Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Voting will then expand to 20 convenience centers throughout the county on May 18.

Study shows 65% of New Mexico voters very confident their vote counted

Same-day registration will be available at all locations. Election day is June 4.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
Early voting underway in West Virginia; more than 24K ballots cast so far

Early voting began on May 1 for the West Virginia primary election. (Stephen Maturen | Getty Images)

More than 24,000 ballots have been cast in the first few days of early voting for West Virginias primary election, officials say.

As of Saturday, 24,579 West Virginians had voted, according to unofficial totals from the Secretary of States Office.

Early voting started May 1. According to the Secretary of States Office, 58,684 West Virginia residents cast their ballots during early voting for the 2022 primary election, and 43,468 West Virginians early voted in the 2020 primary.

In Kanawha County, a total of 3,027 people voted as of Monday afternoon, County Clerk Vera McCormick said. She added that thats a low number for the start of a presidential election year.

Typically, between 500 and 800 per day cast their vote at the Kanawha County Voter Registration office alone, she said. Voter Registration at the Kanawha County Courthouse is one of nine places in Kanawha County where people can go to early vote. McCormick attributed the slower start this year to the many races on the ballot and a high number of political advertisements.

I think people are taking their time and researching, she said. I think theyre checking things out before they come to vote.

In Putnam County about 1,100 people had voted as of Saturday, County Clerk Brian Wood said. During the 2022 primary, 2,435 Putnam County residents voted early. Altogether during that primary, 8,724 ballots were cast, representing 22.75% of registered voters in the county, he said.

Wood said hes confident as many votes will be cast during this years primary election, but he noted that a 22.75% isnt a high turnout.

Wood said that early voting offers a convenience factor for people who may work on election day and is just as safe as casting your ballot on election day as far as the office securing and tabulating the ballots.

Its important for people to realize that judicial races, school board races and levies are on the ballot only during the primary, he said.

Regardless of whether you vote absentee, you vote early or you vote on election day, we encourage everyone to get out and have their voices heard, Wood said. He added that there are several important down ballot races this year, including the governors race.

Early voting continues through May 11. A list of early voting locations is available on the Secretary of States website.

Primary election day is Tuesday, May 14. Polls open at 6:30 a.m and close at 7:30 p.m.

The post Early voting underway in West Virginia; more than 24K ballots cast so far appeared first on West Virginia Watch.
Over 500 million years ago, weird complex creatures emerged on Earth. Scientists now think they know why

Sign up for CNNs Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.

Earths magnetic field plays a key role in making our planet habitable. The protective bubble over the atmosphere shields the planet from solar radiation, winds, cosmic rays and wild swings in temperature.

However, Earths magnetic field almost collapsed 591 million years ago, and this change, paradoxically, may have played a pivotal role in the blossoming of complex life, new research has found.

In general, the field is protective. If we had not had a field early in Earth history water would have been stripped from the planet by the solar wind (a stream of energized particles flowing from the sun toward Earth), said John Tarduno, a professor of geophysics at the University of Rochester in New York and senior author of the new study.

But in the Ediacaran, we had a fascinating period in the development of the deep Earth when processes creating the magnetic field  had become so inefficient after billions of years, that the field almost completely collapsed.

The study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment on May 2, found that Earths magnetic field, which is created by the motion of molten iron in Earths outer core, was significantly weaker than its current strength for a period of at least 26 million years. The discovery of the sustained weakening of Earths magnetic field also helped resolve an enduring geological mystery about when Earths solid inner core formed.

This time frame lines up with a period known as the Ediacaran, when the very first complex animals emerged on the seafloor as the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere and the ocean increased.

These weird animals barely resembled life today  squashy fans, tubes and doughnuts, and discs such as Dickinsonia, which grew up to 4.6 feet (1.4 meters) in size, and the sluglike Kimberella.

Prior to this time, life had been largely single-celled and microscopic. The researchers believe that a weak magnetic field may have led to an increase in oxygen in the atmosphere, allowing early complex life to evolve.

A photograph shows a cast of a 560 million-year-old Dickinsonia costata fossil found in South Australia. At more than a meter in length, the creature is the largest known animal from that period. - Shuhai Xiao/Virginia Tech

Uncovering the magnetic fields near collapse

The intensity of Earths magnetic field is known to fluctuate over time, and crystals preserved in rock contain tiny magnetic particles that lock in a record of the intensity of Earths magnetic field.

The first evidence that Earths magnetic field weakened significantly during this period came in 2019 from a study of 565 million-year-old rocks in Quebec that suggested the field was 10 times weaker than today at that point.

The latest study collated more geological evidence that indicated the magnetic field weakened dramatically, with information contained in 591 million-year-old rock from a site in southern Brazil suggesting the field was 30 times weaker than today.

The weak magnetic field hadnt always been that way: The team examined similar rocks from South Africa that dated back more than 2 billion years and found, at that point in time, the Earths magnetic field was as strong as it is today.

Unlike now, Tarduno explained, back then the innermost part of Earth was liquid, not solid, influencing the way the magnetic field was generated.

Over billions of years that process is becoming less and less efficient, he said.

And by the time we get to the Ediacaran, the field is on its last legs. Its almost collapsing. But then fortunately for us it got cool enough that the inner core started to generate (strengthening the magnetic field).

The emergence of the earliest complex life that would have wafted along the seafloor at this time is associated with a rise in oxygen levels. Some animals can survive at low levels of oxygen, such as sponges and microscopic animals, but larger animals with more complex bodies that move need more oxygen, Tarduno said.

Traditionally, the rise in oxygen during this time has been attributed to photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria, which produced oxygen, allowing it to build up in the water steadily over time, explained study coauthor Shuhai Xiao, a professor of geobiology at Virginia Tech.

However, the new research suggested an alternative, or complementary, hypothesis involving an increased loss of hydrogen to space when the geomagnetic field was weak.

The magnetosphere shields the Earth from solar wind, thus holding the atmosphere to the Earth. Thus, a weaker magnetosphere means that lighter gases such as hydrogen would be lost from the Earths atmosphere, Xiao added via email.

Tarduno said multiple processes could have been taking place at once.

We do not challenge that one or more of these processes was happening concurrently. But the weak field may have allowed oxygenation to cross a threshold, aiding animal radiation (evolution), Tarduno said.

Peter Driscoll, staff scientist at the Earth and Planets Laboratory at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC, said he agreed with the studys findings on the weakness of Earths magnetic field, but the claim that the weak magnetic field could have affected atmospheric oxygen and biological evolution was difficult to assess. He wasnt involved with the study.

It is hard for me to evaluate the veracity of this claim because the influence that planetary magnetic fields might have on climate is not very well understood, he said via email.

Tarduno said that their hypothesis was solid, but proving a causative link could take decades of challenging work given how little is known about the animals that lived at this time.

A 565 million-year-old fossil of an Ediacaran animal, called Fractofusus misrai, was found at the Mistaken Point Formation in Newfoundland, Canada. - Shuhai Xiao/Virginia Tech

Inner core mystery

The geological analysis also revealed telling details about the innermost part of Earths center.

Estimates on when the planets inner core may have solidified  when iron first crystallized at the center of the planet  once ranged from 500 million to 2.5 billion years ago.

The research on the intensity of Earths magnetic field suggests that the age of Earths inner core is on the younger end of that timescale, solidifying after 565 million years ago and allowing Earths magnetic shield to bounce back.

The observations appear to support the claim that the inner core first nucleated soon after this time, pushing the geodynamo (the mechanism that creates the magnetic field) from a weak, unstable state into a strong, stable dipolar field, Driscoll said.

Tarduno said the recovery of the field strength after the Ediacaran, with the growth of the inner core, was probably important in preventing a drying of water-rich Earth.

As for the bizarre animals of the Ediacaran, they had all disappeared by the following Cambrian Period, when the diversity of life exploded and the branches of the tree of life familiar today formed in a relatively short time.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 7. Uzbekistan and Hungary talked about launching a special economic zone for projects by Hungarian and European companies in the Tashkent region, Trend reports.

According to the Uzbek president's office, the issues were reviewed at a meeting between President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Szijjarto.

During the meeting, the parties discussed Uzbek-Hungarian multifaceted cooperation.

The officials noted the consistent strengthening of strategic partnerships and the dynamic development of practical interaction between Uzbekistan and Hungary.

Both parties revealed that trade turnover between the two countries has almost doubled in recent years, and the number of joint projects and enterprises is growing.

In addition, the sides discussed issues of promoting cooperation projects in the spheres of industry, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, fish farming, logistics, real estate construction, and other areas.

At the end of the meeting, both officials reviewed cooperation within the framework of international and regional organizations, including the Organization of Turkic States.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan's Surkhandarya delegation and Hungarian entrepreneurs signed 18 contracts worth $124.2 million.

The parties reached agreements in fishing and plastic processing, wine production, electronics and agricultural machinery supply, as well as equipment for bag and furniture production.
Lumps in the Night

Researchers are increasingly suspicious that a powerful collision between the Earth and a Mars-sized object dubbed Theia some 4.5 billion years ago may have left "mysterious blobs" buried deep within Earth's interior  an impact so violent that it ejected enough material to allow the Moon to form.

Now, as the Washington Post reports, scientists are also coming to suspect that these buried blogs may have led to the development of plate tectonics as well, the geological processes that were integral to the formation of life on Earth and still trigger earthquakes and volcanoes to this day.

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers drew a line between the mysterious blobs that were left behind from the collision and modern plate tectonics, which eventually formed the conditions that allowed life to flourish billions of years later.

"The giant impact is not only the reason for our Moon, if thats the case, it also set the initial conditions of our Earth," coauthor and California Institute of Technology geoscientist Qian Yuan told WaPo.

Superunknown

The team examined existing theories surrounding these blobs buried in our planet's mantle, which are made of different materials than their surroundings, and how they first came to be.

The researchers believe that roughly 200 million years following the impact, these blobs kickstarted "strong mantle plumes" that initiated a process called subduction, with slabs of the Earth's crust sinking below other slabs.

The paper could also help explain the oldest minerals ever discovered on Earth, which scientists believe to have been the result of subduction over four billion years ago.

"The models link the earliest subduction to the [Moon-forming giant impact] with implications for understanding the diverse tectonic regimes of rocky planets," the researchers wrote in their paper.

But not every scientist is convinced. And others questioned whether we could ever figure out what was going on over billions of years in the first place.

"We need to bear in mind there is insufficient evidence for us to ever really know what the tectonic mode was in the Archaean," University of Maryland geoscientist Michael Brown, who was not involved in the study, told WaPo, referring to the Earth's second of four geologic eons that lasted from four to 2.5 billion years ago.

"So from a philosophical standpoint, its almost certainly unknown and unknowable," he added. "I think that point sometimes gets lost."

More on tectonics: Scientists Puzzled by Sudden, Super-Loud Rumble Inside Mars
Scientists may have identified a molecule that played a key role in robbing Venus of its water and turned this planet into the arid, hellish world we see today.

Venus is often called "Earth's twin" because both planets are around the same size and density; they are also both rocky planets located in the inner region of the solar system. Yet, in many crucial ways, Venus couldn't be less like Earth.

While our planet is teeming with life, Venus, the second planet from the sun, is a virtual hell. It's the hottest planet in the solar system (even hotter than Mercury, which is closest to the sun), and has temperatures of around 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius). That's hot enough to melt lead. Plus, Venus has quite fearsome surface pressures.



Importantly, Venus also lacks a key element for life that's abundant here on Earth: Water. This is despite the planet being within the so-called "Goldilocks Zone" of the sun, in reference to the region around our star that is neither too hot nor too cold to allow liquid water to exist  and it's also despite the fact scientists know Venus probably used to have water.

Related: Zoozve  the strange 'moon' of Venus that earned its name by accident

In fact, billions of years ago, Venus is believed to have had as much water as Earth  but, at some point in its evolution, clouds of carbon dioxide in the planet's atmosphere triggered the solar system's most intense runaway greenhouse effect. This sent temperatures soaring to the point they are seen today. That triggered the planet's water to evaporate, after which it was lost to space.

Even factoring this process in, however, scientists don't know how Venus became quite so desert-like or how it is still losing the little water it has left to space. Now, a team of scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder may have discovered the secrets of this process by telling what they call "the water story on Venus."

"Water is really important for life," Eryn Cangi, co-team leader and a scientist with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP, said in a statement. "We need to understand the conditions that support liquid water in the universe and that may have produced the very dry state of Venus today.

"We're trying to figure out what little changes occurred on each planet to drive them into these vastly different states."

Hey, neighbor! Spare a cup of water?

To put into context the difference in water content of planetary neighbors Earth and Venus, Cangi explained that if all the water on our planet were spread evenly across its surface, it would create a global layer almost 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) deep. Doing the same for Venus, stripping the remaining water from the atmosphere would create a global layer just 1.2 inches (3 centimeters) deep.

"Venus has 100,000 times less water than the Earth, even though it's basically the same size and mass," Michael Chaffin, co-team leader and a fellow LASP scientist, explained in the statement.

To determine how it reached its current state, Cangi, Chaffin and colleagues used computer models of the planet, treating it almost like a gigantic chemistry laboratory. This allowed them to take an enhanced look at the diverse reactions that occur in Venus' swirling atmosphere and identify a suspect for its water loss.

A orange orb overlapping a slightly larger blue and green orb

What the team discovered was that a molecule called HCO+  composed of an atom of hydrogen, an atom of carbon and an atom of oxygen  high in the atmosphere of Venus, may have been responsible for delivering the last of the planet's water to space.

"As an analogy, say I dumped out the water in my water bottle," Cangi said. "There would still be a few droplets left."

HCO+ could be removing these droplets from Venus' atmosphere, in essence. In fact, the same team has previously suggested that HCO+ was also the culprit that caused Mars, Earth's other neighbor, to lose its water.

The researchers say HCO+ is produced constantly in the Venusian atmosphere, but that these ions don't survive for long. An ion is a positively or negatively charged molecule, having earned its charge due to either lacking some electrons necessary to balance the positive charge of its protons, or having extra electrons to create a net negative charge in the molecule.

HCO+ lacks the electrons needed to balance the positive charge of the molecule's protons, and is thus positively charged (hence the + symbol).

Electrons in Venus' atmosphere rapidly recombine with HCO+, causing the molecule to split into two. From there, the team argues that the hydrogen atoms zip away and possibly even escape into space. Hydrogen atoms form two of the components of the water molecule (H2O), which is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, so this therefore robs Venus of the primary ingredients of water.

The team thinks that, for Venus to have reached its extreme dry state, the planet must have had an excess of HCO+ molecules in its atmosphere.

"One of the surprising conclusions of this work is that HCO+ should actually be among the most abundant ions in the Venus atmosphere," Chaffin said.

A yellowish orange scene, with clouds and a ground, with a small white spacecraft floating in the middle.

However, there is a big stumbling block to this conclusion. Thus far, we've never seen HCO+ in Venus' atmosphere.

Chaffin and Cangi don't think that's because the molecule isn't there, however, but rather because humanity has lacked the instruments needed to see it. Though Earth's neighbor Mars has been visited by many spacecraft from Earth, few missions have popped in on our other neighbor Venus  and none of those had the right equipment to see HCO+.

Related Stories:

 Life on Venus? Intriguing molecule phosphine spotted in planet's clouds again

 If Venus had Earth-like plate tectonics in its distant past, did it have life too?

 The Magellanic Clouds must be renamed, astronomers say

But a number of future space missions are setting their sights on Venus. NASA's Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission is a particularly important one. Set to launch in 2029, DAVINCI will drop a probe through the scorching hot atmosphere of Venus to determine the world's chemical composition.

Yet, even DAVINCI won't have the right equipment to detect HCO+.

Still, the team hopes a general interest in Venus will arise thanks to DAVINCI (and the European Space Agency's upcoming mission EnVision), ultimately leading to a space mission that is indeed capable of detecting HCO+, thus adding veracity to the team's water-loss story.

"There haven't been many missions to Venus," Cangi concluded. "But newly planned missions will leverage decades of collective experience and a flourishing interest in Venus to explore the extremes of planetary atmospheres, evolution and habitability."



The team's research was published on Monday (May 6) in the journal Nature.
After years of debate and construction, a prominent builder is about to greet the first occupants at its new residential project in East Hanover, one of two developments that will add more than 800 housing units to the town.

The first arrivals are expected this spring at Livana, a 265-unit development on the north end of East Hanover between Eagle Rock Avenue and Route 280, Kushner, formerly known as Kushner LLC, announced last week.

Construction began in June 2022. Livana East Hanover will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

A rendering of rental units under construction at Livana in East Hanover, a collection of 265 apartments replacing demolished office properties between Eagle Rock Avenue and Route 280. First occupancy is expected in spring of 2024.

Livana debuts in Morris, Bergen counties

Kushner also announced it will soon open another Livana property for renters age 55 and older in Fair Lawn in Bergen County. That development will feature 307 one- and two-bedroom units.

"These new offerings will epitomize a fusion of prime location, quality product and exceptional resident service, perfectly tailored to meet the evolving needs of renters today and well into the future, Kushner President Nicole Kushner Meyer stated in a news release announcing the openings.

Both Livana properties also feature outdoor pools and game areas, club rooms, outdoor grills, bike storage, pet spas and other common-area amenities.

East Hanover affordable housing drawing on Thursday

Each Livana property also includes an affordable housing component. In East Hanover, 53 units will be reserved for qualifying low-income applicants. In Fair Lawn, 46 units are reserved for low-income renters age 55 and older.

East Hanover will conduct a random selection for preliminary applications in these and two other planned affordable-housing projects. Applications must be received by 1 p.m. Thursday, after which the waiting list may be closed. There will be a preference for applicants who live and/or work in what New Jersey has designated as Housing Region 2  Morris, Essex Union and Warren counties.

A section of the East Hanover website provides an overview of three new developments and applications for affordable housing in each.

A Kushner spokesperson on Monday said rental rates for the Livana properties have not yet been released. The median monthly rental rate for apartments of any size in East Hanover is $3,527, according to Zumper.com, which monitors real estate trends.

More: Morris County housing boom cresting, but not its commercial growth, report shows

Court order paves the way for more building

A court-ordered directive for more affordable housing in New Jersey continues to drive redevelopment and new construction throughout the state. That directive grew out of to the state Supreme Court's 1975 Mount Laurel Doctrine, which found the New Jersey constitution requires municipalities to provide their "fair share" of low and moderate-income housing, and to remove any exclusionary zoning.

Another ruling in 2015 shifted oversight of those obligations from the state Council on Affordable Housing to the court system, after the high court concluded COAH had failed to adequately enforce its mandate. That ruling opened a legal door for developers to design large new residential projects, knowing they can gain favor for their projects as long as they include a negotiated percentage of affordable housing.

In East Hanover, for example, 20% of the new Livana units will be priced for low- and moderate-income tenants, while Kushner can sell the other 80% at market rates.

One town, two Kushner family plots

Elsewhere in town, construction also continues at a 548-unit development rising on the site of the former headquarters of Mondelez International off River Road. That property is being developed by a separate Kushner family business, Kushner Real Estate (KRE).

Groundbreaking for the project, Valley View Park, took place in May of 2023. The first phase of 239 units is expected to open early next year.

Artist's rendering of a building planned as part of the KRE housing development on River Road in East Hanover.

KRE agreed to build 34 low-income apartments at Valley View Park and another 62 at the Woodland at Valley View portion of the development.

Both Kushner developments are part of a redevelopment plan in East Hanover amended in 2019 to address two pressing needs currently shared by many New Jersey towns: meeting affordable housing requirements and repurposing a glut of vacant office properties.

East Hanover Mayor Joseph Pannullo, speaking after the Mondelez deal was finalized in 2022, said he's not against affordable housing. But he objected to the court-enforced process  and the imposition of almost 1,000 new units on a town with a population of just over 11,000.

"The people that move in there, I'm 100% sure, will be people that are going to love and embrace this town," Pannullo said. "They'll probably work here at one time or another. They'll contribute to this town being a great town. It's not about the people that are going to be here  it's about the amount of human beings that you're going to stick into a small area."

William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com

Twitter: @wwesthoven

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: East Hanover plans affordable housing drawing as Livana project nears
Editorial: Of course the death penalty is racist. And it would be wrong even if it weren't

Civil rights organizations and defense attorneys last month asked the California Supreme Court to invalidate the death penalty in this state for being irredeemably racist. Around the same time, Alameda County Dist. Atty. Pamela Price announced that a federal judge had ordered her to review 35 cases her office had handled over the last three decades after she discovered evidence that prosecutors systematically excluded Black and Jewish people from juries hearing capital cases.

As written, death penalty laws are race-neutral. Is the death penalty racist?

Read more: Editorial: California bill can limit role of racism in the criminal justice system

Of course it is. Evidence and experience show racial bias at play at every level of the criminal justice system, from arrest to jury selection to verdict. The disparities are particularly glaring in death sentences. Black defendants were 4.6 to 8.7 times more likely to be sentenced to death than other defendants facing similar charges, according to a landmark study of thousands of murder and manslaughter convictions dating to 1978. Latinos were 3.2 to 6.2 times more likely to be sentenced to death.

The disparity is even larger when the defendant was Black or Latino and the victim was white or Asian.

Read more: Editorial: Attack racism in California's criminal proceedings

All of this is documented, but it is also intuitive, after years of evidence showing Black and Latino people being arrested more often and sentenced to longer prison terms than white people for the same crimes. It stands to reason that the same biases would show up in death sentences. The apparent exclusion of Black and Jewish people from Alameda County juries is surprising only because evidence of it surfaced.

The Supreme Court petition contains voluminous data regarding racial bias in Californias capital punishment system.

Read more: Editorial: Bureaucracy of death may snag condemned Oklahoma man, guilty or not

But in a sense, thats all beside the point.

The death penalty has been challenged on other grounds, for example because the various drugs and other instruments of execution inflict unconstitutional levels of pain and suffering. But that too is beside the point.

Even if the state could perform painless and anxiety-free executions and racial biases were eliminated, the death penalty would still be wrong.

Read more: Editorial: The death penalty is wrong  even for racist mass killers

Its wrong because it puts too much power in the hands of government. Individual government agents, such as police officers, sometimes must exercise deadly force for the protection of others during fast-paced crises, but there is no such justification for carefully planned and premeditated state homicide.

Its wrong because its applied arbitrarily and is overtly political. Consider the statements and actions of former President Trump, who called for the death penalty for drug dealers in 2018, then pardoned convicted drug dealer Alice Johnson in 2020 after her cause was taken up by Kim Kardashian, and now is again demanding execution for drug dealers. Consider President Biden, who as a candidate promised to end capital punishment in federal cases but whose Justice Department nevertheless continues to seek death sentences.

Read more: Editorial: Death penalty's retreat is excruciatingly slow

Its wrong because juries that are qualified to hear arguments and weigh evidence to determine guilt are not qualified  nor is anyone  to weigh non-tangibles such as moral worth, or to choose between life or death without improper emotional considerations. The fact that they do so is legally permissible yet morally unconscionable.

The death penalty is wrong even when it is not imposed, because prosecutors use the mere possibility of execution to pressure defendants into pleading guilty and accepting life sentences  even if they are innocent. Its wrong because prosecutors death qualify juries at the beginning of proceedings by excluding anyone who may have qualms about execution, and because prosecutors are trained to use dehumanizing language (monster, animal) when trying to get juries to choose death. Even if a death-qualified jury instead chooses life in prison, the same qualities that made jurors open to a death sentence may also have made them more likely to convict.

Read more: Editorial: Buffalo mass killer should not be executed. What happened to Biden's promise?

And sometimes those convictions are in error. Seven Californians sentenced to death since 1973 were later exonerated. The Death Penalty Information Center names 20 people put to death in Southern and border states since 1989 who may well have been innocent.

Americans who favor capital punishment generally want it to be imposed, if at all, without factual error, pain, politics, prosecutorial overreach or racial bias. But thats just fantasy. The death penalty is inextricably bound up with each of those ills, and more.

Read more: Editorial: He spent 38 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. It's a stain on our justice system

California Gov. Gavin Newsom promised that no one would be put to death on his watch, and he ordered that death row and the execution chamber be dismantled. But capital punishment remains on the books in California, and district attorneys continue to use it to unjustly wring guilty pleas from defendants, or to toughen juries by death-qualifying them (although some, including George Gascon of Los Angeles and Jeff Rosen of Santa Clara County, no longer do, and are seeking to reverse death sentences).

The petitioners who cite racism in California death sentences are correct, and they deserve credit for identifying an angle of attack that not only is righteous but also just may work. The tragedy is that its necessary for them to do it. The death penalty is morally repugnant and manifestly unjust, even without the long and ample record of racism in its application.

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.
There will be a vote to remove Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson this week and it will fail thanks to Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Its not that Jeffries doesnt want to become speaker himself, but that will be decided by the American people six months from today, on Election Day, when all 435 seats are being contested.

Control of the gavel should not be decided by wacko Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is pushing to topple Johnson because he actually did the correct and responsible thing. What the speaker did right was bringing to the floor an aid package for besieged Ukraine against the wishes of the isolationist wing of his own Republican conference.

Shamefully, the majority of his party colleagues voted no. The $60.8 billion for Ukraine passed two weeks ago relying on Democratic votes. Among Republicans, 53% of them voted no, while 100% of the Democrats voted yes. Putin hasnt conquered Kyiv, but he has captured the House Republicans.

Greene, who is more MAGA-crazed than Donald Trump himself and sees hero Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the villain, wants Johnson out because of that.

On March 22, incensed as Johnson edged closer to allowing the Ukraine bill to come to the floor after the Democrats began collecting signatures for a discharge petition to force the Ukraine measure to the floor (as we had urged), she filed her own short motion, H.Res.1103, saying Resolved, That the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives is hereby declared to be vacant. It is the same 17 words that were used to topple the previous Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

Winding back to last fall, McCarthys downfall started when he reasonably cut a deal with President Biden and Senate Democrats to keep the government funded on Sept. 30. It passed the House with 58% of the GOP on the bill, but still had to have Democratic votes to get the necessary two-thirds. So even though he had the backing of most of his conference, needing the Democrats was an anathema to the hardest core radicals.

McCarthy foe Matt Gaetz, who insisted when McCarthy first squeaked into power on the 15th vote that a single member be allowed to make a motion to vacate the chair, pushed the button on Oct. 3.

McCarthys allies tried to table the matter, but 11 in his own party sided with the Democrats to let it advance. Then on the motion to vacate, Gaetz was joined by seven others. It only needed six defectors, so eight was plenty and McCarthy was ousted.

Greene supported McCarthy throughout, so she wasnt in on the fun. But this its all her doing. Johnson correctly ignored Greenes threats and moved ahead on Ukraine. She added isolationist Thomas Massie on April 16 and kook Paul Gosar on April 19. But Johnson stood firm and the House voted the next day, April 20, to aid Ukraine. It was Hitlers birthday, an earlier invader of Ukraine.

There are 217 Republicans and 212 Democrats (soon to be 213 when Tim Kennedy from Buffalo is seated). Having Greene and her two allies would be enough to overthrow Johnson if all the Democrats joined. But that wont happen. Tom Suozzi was the first to say no and now so has Jeffries and his leadership team. They are not supporting Johnson, but opposing Greene. Good for them.

___
Los Angeles adopted an array of ambitious climate and transportation goals years ago under former Mayor Eric Garcetti, who had the relatively easy job of setting long-range targets knowing he would be out of office when they came due.

But now that some of those important deadlines are approaching, Mayor Karen Bass has the more difficult task of actually delivering on them. Already, there are signs of underperformance and delay.

Read more: Editorial: Biden expanded two national monuments in California. Three more to go

Plans for more than $40 billion in rail, highway and mobility projects that were supposed to be finished in time for the 2028 Olympics have been scaled back dramatically after Metro was unable to line up even half of the funds needed. A City Controllers report last fall found that Garcetti's Green New Deal plan has not accomplished much, lacks meaningful metrics of progress and doesnt amount to a comprehensive and actionable set of steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Its disappointing that these lofty efforts to make Los Angeles an environmental and transit model have yielded so little.

In the latest instance of lowered expectations, Metros staff has for the second time in a year tried to delay the transit agencys 2030 deadline to convert its entire 2,000-bus fleet to emissions-free electric models, without so much as a vote. In the seven years since Metro adopted the zero-emission policy, it has managed to order only 145 battery-electric buses and get just 50 of them delivered.

Read more: Editorial: Automatic braking on U.S. cars will save lives. Biden is right to require it

In a receive and file report that reads like a list of excuses, Metro staff blamed the slow progress on challenges with manufacturing, cost, range and charging and grid infrastructure. Electric buses can go about 150 miles before they need a recharge. But agency officials have done little to demonstrate that they are working with urgency to overcome these obstacles, presenting it instead as a foregone conclusion that the city wont be able to reach the 2030 deadline until 2035.

Metro officials should be redoubling their efforts on climate and transportation solutions, not making excuses for why they cant be met. Its a bad look, especially as the city prepares to be in the global spotlight with the Olympics.

Fortunately, Bass and other Metro board members didnt acquiesce to that defeatism. They directed staff to come back with a detailed plan of action to get a 100% zero-emission fleet as soon as is possible and fiscally responsible. The board is right to resist Metro staffs efforts to dial back this key climate and air quality goal.

Read more: Editorial: In eco-minded California, there's still no constitutional right to clean air and water

Its imperative that this board make it clear that when this board sets goals, we dont do so lightly, and we dont easily accept backsliding, City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky said at the board meeting last week. It's good to hear at least some elected officials trying to stick to promises made by predecessors.

We hope the sorry progress on the shift to electric buses is not a sign of things to come on the other climate goals in L.A.'s Green New Deal," but it's not looking promising.

Garcetti set a variety of near and long-term metrics for improving air quality, boosting renewable energy, electrifying vehicles and buildings and getting 70% of the citys water from local sources by 2035 in an effort to confront the greatest threat to our physical security and our health. He also established the sweeping 28 by 28 plan six years ago to accelerate 28 significant transportation projects and complete them ahead of the 2028 summer Olympic Games.

Read more: Editorial: If 10 straight months of record-breaking heat isn't a climate emergency, what is?

Metro has replaced 10 of the projects on the list with less ambitious alternatives that can be finished in four years. For example, plans to build a light rail line in the eastern San Fernando Valley, the Sepulveda Transit Corridor linking the Valley with the Westside and an L.A. River bike path were downgraded to things such as bus-only lanes and upgrades to existing rail lines and stations.

These are necessary and virtuous goals, and achieving them would make the city a greener and healthier place to live. Leaders should learn from these setbacks in order to get ahead of other looming targets. They should retool the way agencies are held accountable for making progress and establish more aggressive interim targets that will put the city on the right path.

Read more: Editorial: Berkeley's backtrack on gas ban won't stop the electrification trend

One way forward would be to codify them, just as California has done with some of its key climate goals, so that they become legally enforceable requirements and not mere aspirations to be shrugged off by finger-pointing bureaucrats. One proposal moving through City Hall would make L.A.'s climate policies more durable by incorporating them into the citys General Plan.

The City Council has already turned some climate targets into requirements, like the goal of supplying 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035. But city leaders should be more proactive in making sure agencies are on track. To achieve its mandate, the Department of Water and Power has to line up the power purchasing agreements and transmission infrastructure necessary to double the city's renewable energy portfolio in just a few years. Tougher scrutiny today could prevent future disappointment.

City leaders' environmental promises are only growing in importance as Angelenos increasingly deal with deadly heat waves, destructive wildfires, polluted air and other effects of the climate crisis. As those impacts grow worse, we wont look back charitably on government officials who offered excuses rather than action to clean the air and cut use of fossil fuels.

Bass and other elected officials need to understand that being a climate leader takes much more than just setting tough goals. It takes years of hard work, pushing bureaucracies to follow through with the urgency befitting of a crisis.

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.
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)  Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was in the hot seat on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. He apologized to students and families for delays in the FAFSA process.

Were committed to getting it right and making sure we open doors to access to higher education for more students across our country, Cardona said.

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) is worried that the glitches will continue in the future.

Will you admit that you broke the FAFSA, which Congress intended to be implemented in a timely and error-free fashion? Grothman asked.

Yes, we have had significant delays that were working tirelessly to implement correctly, Cardona responded.

However, many Republicans took the time during this hearing to call for Cardonas resignation.

You must resign, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said.

Foxx criticized Cardonas response to protests and antisemitism on college campuses across the country.

If I were to grade your tenure as an administrator, Id give you an F, Foxx said.

Cardona said he is committed to campus safety but refused to bar pro-Palestinian protestors from having their student loans canceled.

Hate has no place on college campuses, and every student deserves to learn in an environment where they can feel free to be themselves, Cardona said.

Cardona requested a $22 million budget increase to expand staffing.

Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) wants that money to address both antisemitism and Islamophobia on campuses.

How would flat funding impact the ability of the department to process these claims in a timely manner? Hayes asked.

It would impact it significantly, Cardona said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has announced $14.1 million in funding to pay for 22 projects on dams across the state.

The projects vary from maintenance and reconstruction to outright removal.

Of the 22 projects, nine are in West Michigan, including three in Allegan.

EGLE will provide $1 million to the city of Allegan for repairs to the Allegan City Dam. The Dam Risk Reduction Grant Program recommended using the funds to remove and replace the stop logs in the spillway to extend the life of the dam.

Harmful algal bloom confirmed on Duck Lake

The Department of Natural Resources will also receive $500,000 for a feasibility study on removing the Swan Creek Dam and modifying the Highbanks Dam and $300,000 to repair the Trowbridge Dam.

Sandy Pines Wilderness in Hopkins will receive more than $720,000 to conduct maintenance work on the Monterey Lake Dam.

The high-hazard dam is typically in satisfactory condition, but a significant piping issue was identified in late 2023, EGLE stated. The proposal for proactive action to prevent further damage aims to replace the corrugated pipe through the dam, repair the upstream embankment due to stability concerns and replace the toe drain.

The city of Battle Creek will get $200,000 toward the removal of the Monroe Street Dam.

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The village of Hesperia will get $270,000 to conduct a study on the Hesperia Dam on the White River to determine what work needs to be done to bring the dam into compliance with safety requirements.

The Muskegon River Watershed Assembly will get more than $380,000 to remove Rowe No. 1 Dam on Penoyer Creek, which was recently deemed in poor condition and is considered a risk to human health and the environment.

The city of White Cloud will get nearly $69,000 to finish its feasibility study on the White Cloud Dam.

The DNR will get $1.6 million to remove the Hall Lake Dam in Yankee Springs Township.

MPART declares new PFAS contamination site near Grand River

The dam is considered to be in poor condition due to several identified deficiencies. Project deliverables include removing all water control structures, placing a properly sized culvert to restore local hydrology, and restoring the area with native vegetation, EGLE stated.

The Dam Risk Reduction Grant Program was created in 2022 to address aging dam infrastructure across the state. Two years earlier, four dams in mid-Michigan failed, causing billions of dollars in damages.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes near the Rafah crossing. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

Egypt has condemned the Israeli military operations in the Palestinian city of Rafah and its control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, a foreign ministry statement released on Tuesday said.

It considered the move "a dangerous escalation threatening the lives of more than 1 million Palestinians who depend mainly on this crossing as it is the main lifeline of the Gaza Strip."

The Rafah border crossing has been "the safe gateway" for those sick and wounded to get out of Gaza for treatment and for humanitarian and relief aid to enter the enclave, the statement added.

Egypt urged Israel "to exercise the maximum levels of restraint and avoid a policy of brinkmanship that has long-term effects and would threaten the fate of the strenuous efforts made to reach a sustainable truce inside the Gaza Strip."

Egypt also called on all influential international parties to intervene and exert the necessary pressure to defuse the current crisis and allow diplomatic efforts to achieve their desired results.

Humanitarian aid into Gaza via the Rafah border has stopped following Israel's assumption of control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.

Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes near the Rafah crossing. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes near the Rafah crossing. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
The El Paso City Council took a timid step toward having developers and homebuilders foot the cost for expanding El Paso Water services to the farthest edges of the city.

After hours of public comment at its meeting Tuesday, May 7, the El Paso City Council voted 5-3 to impose new impact fees on developments in three parts of the city  the Northeast, East Side and West Side  where growth has exploded in recent years and strained city services.

The vote marks the first time water impact fees have been updated in 15 years, but the 28% the City Council approved is far below the 100% increase advocates were demanding.

El Paso Water spokesperson Denise Parra said in an email that the utility currently generates around $2 million in impact fee revenue from the three areas. That will increase to about $2.5 million following Tuesday's vote, she said.

Following is a breakdown of current water and wastewater impact fees on meters less than one inch in the three areas:

Northeast: $1,469, will increase to around $1,880

Westside: $1,586, will increase to around $2,030

Eastside: $1,617, will increase to around $2,069

City Reps. Art Fierro and Brian Kennedy, who pushed the more modest proposal, were joined by city Reps. Joe Molinar, Isabel Salcido and Henry Rivera to push it over the finish line. South-West city Rep. Chris Canales, who championed the proposal for increased impact fees, was joined by city Reps. Cassandra Hernandez and Josh Acevedo voted against the downgraded increase.

District 8 city Rep. Chris Canales speaks during the council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, at El Paso City Hall.

Canales noted that the growth at the city's edge has already led to higher costs for the city, which is now absorbing the cost of providing additional police and fire services, public parks and libraries, code enforcement and street maintenance.

Additionally, he noted the city has incurred additional debt for the construction of an El Paso Police Department Westside Regional Command Center, as well as a regional park on the Eastside.

East-Central city Rep. Cassandra Hernandez agreed.

More: $300,000 homes sit vacant because of developer problems at El Paso Upper Valley subdivision

"It is inequitable," Hernandez said. "How do we stop that irresponsible growth?"

Hernandez called for the city to both de-incentivize building on the city's fringes and encourage more development within city limits, where more than 92,000 acres are currently vacant. While those calls seemed to fall on deaf ears, Canales noted that work is currently being done on a plan to incentivize development within the city.

City Council inundated with public comment

Canales' assessment that developers should be expected to bear the weight of further straining city services seemed to resonate with members of Amanecer People's Project, formerly Sunrise El Paso, whose members turned out in droves to advocate for the new fees.

Also on hand to advocate in favor of a 100% increase on current fees were current City Council candidates Kenneth Bell and Wesley Lawrence, as well as former City Council candidate Veronica Carbajal.

"Once again," said Carbajal, president of Justicia Fronteriza PAC, "El Paso is far behind other cities in Texas."

District 2 City Council candidate Veronica Carbajal speaks to local voters at the Memorial Senior Center on Nov. 28, 2023

"Developers are lucky we are not asking for interest on the last 15 years they've avoided paying (impact fees)," she added later.

Those pushing for a 100% increase in the fee insisted that the cost of extending city services to the edge of the city should be paid by developers.

A chorus of opposition to the increase in impact fees was just as loud, led, in large part, by the developers and homebuilders who would be paying the higher bill.

Opponents to the increase asserted that any hike in cost for developers or homebuilders would simply be passed along to homebuyers and the future development would be stifled.

Mia Romero of the El Paso Chamber chided the city Planning Commission for not offering a recommendation on the proposal and Carlos Gomez of ICON Custom Home Builders said the cost would "disproportionately affect those who aspire to own a home in El Paso."

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso City Council approves minimal increase to water impact fees
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 7. Uzbekistan and Hungary sign a number of bilateral documents, investment agreements, and export contracts, Trend reports.

According to Uzbekistan's Ministry of Investments, Industry, and Trade, the documents were signed during the Uzbek-Hungarian Business Forum held in Tashkent.

Laziz Kudratov, Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade in Uzbekistan, and Peter Szijjarto the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Hungary, attended the forum.

The parties emphasized a firm commitment to strengthening long-term partnerships and comprehensive support from the business circles of the two countries.

At the forum, participants presented investment projects and organized 137 B2B and G2B meetings, planning to develop new joint venture projects and conclude mutually beneficial trade agreements.

At the same time, both countries are implementing a solid package of investment projects and trade contracts in banking and finance, agriculture, transportation and logistics, machine building, pharmaceuticals, water management, and other sectors.

Within the framework of the IX meeting of the Uzbek-Hungarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, the Uzbek-Hungarian Business Forum took place. More than 200 representatives of the business community, heads of ministries and agencies, and experts attended the event to discuss current cooperation issues and identify new promising areas for joint project implementation and trade ties expansion.
It's Election Day, Hoosiers. These are the key races to watch in Indiana's primary.

Election Day is finally here. The months of campaigning, make that years for some candidates, comes down to how Hoosier voters cast their ballots today.

This is a consequential primary in Indiana for multiple reasons: In a state with a Republican supermajority at the Statehouse that last elected a statewide Democrat in 2012, many of today's races will likely indicate the candidates destined to win in November and hold elected leadership positions shaping Indiana's future for years to come.

Live Indiana Election Day updates: GOP governor's race, Statehouse seats up for grabs

Given those stakes, several of today's key races are Republican primaries: There's a hotly contested race for governor, multiple incumbent challenges at the Statehouse and intense battles for open congressional seats.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. today. We have the breakdown for you of which races are significant and who is running for them.

IndyStar Election Night Live: Join us tonight as IndyStar reporters, pundits discuss the primary's biggest races

Republican gubernatorial primary

This is the marquee race of Indianas primary season, with six Republican candidates spending millions and barraging the airwaves to get Hoosiers attention.

Gov. Eric Holcomb is term limited, and gone are the days of a party favorite sailing to the nomination.

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun has maintained a comfortable lead in polling, though the polls also indicated a large portion of Hoosiers were undecided for much of the race. Polls havent shown a clear second-place alternative to Braun, so many camps will be watching the results trickle in Tuesday with interest.

More: Read our profiles of every Republican candidate for governor

Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, former commerce Secretary Brad Chambers and Fort Wayne entrepreneur Eric Doden have often, in polling, been roughly tied in a distant second. Former Attorney General Curtis Hill and Indianapolis mother Jamie Reitenour have trailed in the polls and in fundraising.

The winner will face Democratic nominee Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater in the fall.

Indiana voter guide: Everything to know about elections and voting in 2024

5th Congressional District Republican primary

Incumbent Rep. Victoria Spartz speaks during a League of Women Voters forum on Thursday, April 4, 2024, at Anderson High School Auditorium in Anderson Ind. The forum included Republican and Democratic candidates running for the 5th Congressional District.

The main question in the 5th District is whether U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartzs last-minute decision to seek a third term had any impact on Republican voters.

Just three months ago, Spartz reversed her 2023 decision to not seek reelection to Congress and turned the Republican primary to replace her upside down. Eight other candidates made the Republican ballot and had been campaigning for months before Spartz threw her hat back into the race. Raju Chinthala, Max Engling, Chuck Goodrich, Mark Hurt, Patrick Malayter, Matthew Peiffer, L.D. Powell and Larry Savage are also running in todays Republican primary.

More: Here's who is running against Spartz and Goodrich in Indiana's 5th Congressional District

Most of the race has been a nasty back-and-forth between Spartz and Goodrich, a Noblesville state representative and CEO of Gaylor Electric. Internal polling from those campaigns earlier this year showed voters mostly supported Spartz and Goodrich or were undecided.

But today we will find out how Republican voters feel and who will face the winner of the Democratic primary: Ryan Pfenninger or Deborah Pickett. Will Spartzs incumbency and late hundreds of thousands of dollars in self loans push her over the top? Will Goodrichs attack ads, millions in personal loans be what stops Spartz from a third term? Or will another candidate come out of nowhere to win the partys nomination?

6th Congressional District Republican primary

U.S. Rep Greg Pence walks through pit lane Sunday, May 28, 2023, ahead of the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The 6th Congressional District is one of three rare open U.S. House seats on election ballots this year. Following the retirement announcement of U.S. Rep. Greg Pence in January, seven Republicans lined up to run for the seat.

Those seven candidates span in experience from current and former state lawmakers, political newcomers and business owners. Jamison Carrier, Darin Childress, Bill Frazier, John Jacob, Jeff Raatz, Jefferson Shreve and Mike Speedy are all running in the 6th Districts Republican primary.

More: With Greg Pence out, 7 Republicans vie for Indy-based 6th Congressional District

Shreve, Speedy and Carrier lead the field in personal loans to their campaigns, with Shreve almost entirely self-funding his congressional race with a $4.5 million donation as of mid-April. Speedy loaned his campaign $1.3 million and Carrier loaned his campaign $750,000. Will money be the deciding factor in this race, especially for Shreve following his 2023 loss in the Indianapolis mayoral race? Or will attacks on Shreves Second Amendment views or Speedys gas tax votes resonate more with voters?

Its also the first race for the open seat since state lawmakers adjusted the boundaries of the 6th District in 2021 to include southern townships in Marion County. Will that have any impact on who the Republican nominee will be? We will see what voters think once the polls close. The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Cynthia Wirth in November.

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate

Valerie McCray and Marc Carmichael are running as Democrats in the U.S. Senate primary.

Braun chose to run for governor instead of his Senate seat, and U.S. Rep. Jim Banks is the only Republican on the ballot for it. So that leaves the Democratic primary as the race to watch.

Former state Rep. Marc Carmichael, who hasnt run a campaign since 1990, came out of political hibernation specifically to oppose Banks, motivated in part by a desire to restore abortion access for his granddaughters following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

More: In the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, candidates are not worried about Jim Banks

Valerie McCray, an Indianapolis psychologist who also ran for president in 2020, is running on a mental health platform. Her campaign says shes the first Black woman to run for U.S. Senate in Indiana.

The winner will face a sizable challenge from Banks, who has already amassed $4.7 million and has Donald Trumps endorsement.

Indiana Statehouse races in Marion and Hamilton counties

In Marion and Hamilton counties, there are a handful of interesting battles for both vacant Statehouse seats and challenges to incumbents.

More: These central Indiana Statehouse races are contested. Here's who is on your ballot.

Noblesville: Chuck Goodrich is leaving House District 29 to run for Congress, so two Republicans with fairly different political alliances are competing for his seat. Laura Alerding, the former Hamilton East Public Library board president who came under fire for a controversial book removal policy, is running against Alaina Shonkwiler, a former district director in Spartz office who left an alleged unhealthy work environment there. She disagrees with Alerdings actions on the library board. One Democrat is running unopposed.

Hamilton County/Zionsville: Republican state Rep. Donna Schaibley is retiring from House District 24. Hunter Smith, a former Colts punter who now owns a farm in Zionsville, is running against businessman Bill Gutrich in the Republican primary. Gutrich sits squarely on the pro-growth and pro-development side of economic development, whereas Smith has said environmental preservation is important. Gutrich has the backing of local Hamilton County leaders like former mayor Jim Brainard, and Smith has backing from outside conservative organization Americans for Prosperity.

Northeast Indy/Lawrence: Sixteen-year Democratic state Rep. John Bartlett is being challenged for his House District 95 seat by Autumn Carter, a former finance director for the Marion County Democratic Party in the Democratic primary election. Carter, a breast cancer survivor and author, said she wants to address affordable housing, womens reproductive health and mental health. Bartlett is the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus parliamentarian and has worked on legislation about school bus safety and police investigations of fatal shootings.

Southwest Indy: Longtime Republican state Sen. Mike Young is facing a challenge for his Senate District 35 seat from political newcomer Philip Clay, a 29-year-old real estate investment banker in the Republican primary. Young resigned from the GOP caucus over the decision to exempt cases of rape and incest from Indianas 2022 abortion ban; Clay, president of the Plainfield Redevelopment Commission, is interested in workforce and economic issues, as well as in bringing new, young blood to the General Assembly.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X@CarloniBrittany.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: It's Election Day. These are the key Indiana primary races to watch.
MANITOWOC  The search for 3-year-old Elijah Vue continues as law enforcement utilizes equestrian and canine resources to try to locate the toddler, who has been missing since Feb 20.

A news release from Two Rivers Police Department May 7 said investigators have been analyzing an extremely large amount of video and other data that has been gathered during the 78-day search.

The search has included K-9 teams to help find the boy and now investigators say searchers on horseback are joining the effort.

According to the release, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation continues to lead the search efforts with help from Two Rivers police, the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Police and area firefighters examine ditches along State 310 near Johnston Drive during the search for a missing 3-year-old boy Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Two Rivers, Wis. Elijah Vue was reported missing Feb. 20.

The May 7 release also addressed recent rumors that the TRPD was not allowing an organization called Midwest EquuSearch to take part in search efforts.

"This is incorrect, misleading and serves as a distraction away from our efforts to find Elijah," the release said.

The release added the TRPD has not turned away any volunteer organization from the search for Elijah, nor do those groups need permission from the TRPD to help search.

The only restriction the TRPD has put on the volunteer searches has been to respect private property.

Since Elijah was reported missing, the TRPD has actively asked for assistance from the public, including volunteer organizations, in searching for the boy.

The search has also included the use of the most advanced technology available, the release said. Previous reports included accounts of the use of drones, aircraft, boats and diving equipment to aid the search efforts.

Missing Wisconsin children: Elijah Vue is one of more than 30 missing children in Wisconsin

Elijah Vue's mother and her boyfriend face child neglect charges over his disappearance.

Katrina B. Baur, Elijah's mom and a Wisconsin Dells resident, was arrested in February after Elijah was reported missing. Jesse Vang, a 39-year-old Two Rivers man who police say was in a relationship with Baur, was also arrested.

Vang told police he fell asleep while Elijah was standing next to his bed praying as a form of punishment the morning of Feb. 20. When Vang woke up, he said Elijah was gone and he called 911.

Vang pleaded not guilty to a felony child neglect charge April 16. His next appearance is scheduled for June 28.

Baur faces a felony charge of chronic child neglect, a second charge of felony child neglect involving a different child, and two misdemeanor charges of obstructing an officer. She pleaded not guilty to the charges March 22.

At a previous court date for Baur April 30, she was denied a motion to lessen her $15,000 bond. The next event in Baur's case is now a status conference set for May 28. Baur is not expected to be in attendance for that meeting.

Candlelight vigil: Elijah Vue vigil in Two Rivers sends message of positivity and hope for the missing 3-year-old Wisconsin boy

Do you have information about Elijah Vue?

Elijah, a 3-year-old boy from Two Rivers, is missing Feb. 20. The Two Rivers Police Department has asked the public for help with finding him.

The total reward for information leading to the discovery of Elijah or the arrest and charging of anyone responsible for his disappearance has now grown to $40,000. The FBI has offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to locating Elijah or convicting those responsible for his disappearance, Manitowoc County Crime Stoppers has offered a $10,000 reward, and the city of Two Rivers has now offered an additional $15,000, reward which was funded through community donations.

If you have information that could help the Two Rivers Police Department find Elijah Vue, contact their tipline at 844-267-6648 or submit information via the Crime Stoppers app P3.

Alisa M. Schafer is a reporter for the Herald Times Reporter in Manitowoc. She can be reached by email at aschafer@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Elijah Vue, missing Wisconsin boy: Search now includes horses, canines
Elon Musk calls out Boeing's historic first crewed spaceflight, saying SpaceX beat them to the punch years ago

Elon Musk criticized Boeing on X ahead of its first astronaut flight to space.

SpaceX beat Boeing to the punch, flying NASA astronauts to the space station four years ago for cheaper.

Musk said Boeing has "too many non-technical managers."

Elon Musk soured the day of Boeing's first astronaut flight to space by lobbing criticism at the company on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Boeing built the Starliner spaceship in collaboration with NASA, and it's set to launch into space on Monday evening, carrying astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams (left) and Butch Wilmore (right) conduct suited operations in a Boeing Starliner simulator. NASA/Robert Markowitz

But SpaceX beat them to the punch in 2020 when it became the first private company to fly astronauts in space and ended a nine-year hiatus in US human spaceflight.

Musk was sure to point this out in an X post on Monday, stating "SpaceX finished 4 years sooner." Boeing did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship that accomplished the feat came from the same NASA initiative that's flying Starliner on Monday. The effort, called the Commercial Crew Program, gave Boeing $4.2 billion to design, build, and test its spaceship.

Not only did SpaceX do it faster  its spaceship was also cheaper, costing NASA just $2.6 billion. Since its first crewed flight in 2020, the company has flown seven astronaut crews to and from the ISS for NASA, with its eighth currently living on the station. It has also flown four private missions.

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken (left) and Doug Hurley (right) were the first people to fly aboard a private spaceship, SpaceX's Crew Dragon. SpaceX

With each flight, SpaceX has earned money, while Boeing has been sinking more and more funds into Starliner.

Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, pointed out the disparity on X on Monday morning. He attributed it to "too many non-technical managers at Boeing."

Although Boeing got $4.2 billion to develop an astronaut capsule and SpaceX only got $2.6 billion, SpaceX finished 4 years sooner.



Note, the crew capsule design of Dragon 2 has almost nothing in common with Dragon 1.



Too many non-technical managers at Boeing. https://t.co/bTXWAfxfrh  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2024

Musk was reposting an Ars Technica article by the publication's senior space editor Eric Berger, which laid out in detail how "Boeing decisively lost the commercial crew space race, and it proved to be a very costly affair."

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is guided into position above an Atlas V rocket for an uncrewed test flight. NASA/Cory Huston via Reuters

There were clear technical reasons for the delays. During Starliner's first attempt to fly to the ISS without a crew, software errors forced it to return to Earth early. Then a series of issues, including dysfunctional valves in the propulsion system, caused further delays.

But commentators like Musk and Berger say there's an underlying cause.

The Commercial Crew Program represents a major shift in how NASA sees its contractors. Going forward, from space stations to the moon to Mars, NASA wants to foster a new competitive economy in space. Rather than the entity running everything, the agency wants to be one of many customers on companies' space stations, spaceships, and lunar bases.

That's part of why Crew Dragon and Starliner were on fixed-price contracts. NASA set the price, and then SpaceX and Boeing had to build and fly the spaceships to NASA's specifications.

After all, the companies would have other customers on their spaceships. They weren't building them just for the government. So it's on them if costs start to balloon.

That's an adjustment for Boeing as a legacy contractor for the Department of Defense and NASA, aerospace expert George Nield previously told Business Insider.

Boeing was used to the government paying all of its expenses to deliver the best possible product. Under that model, Berger explained, "cost overruns and delays were not the company's problem  they were NASA's."

Suddenly, with a fixed price, "it's up to the company to figure out what risks to take in terms of new technologies and new approaches," said Nield, who is a former associate administrator of the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

Adjusting to the fixed-price model was a challenge for Boeing, which has long had the luxury of moving slowly. Scrappy SpaceX, however, was "in its natural environment," as Berger put it.

A spokesperson told Berger that "challenges arise when the fixed price acquisition approach is applied to serious technology development requirements, or when the requirements are not firmly and specifically defined resulting in trades that continue back and forth before a final design baseline is established."

According to Berger, the spokesperson added: "A fixed price contract offers little flexibility for solving hard problems that are common in new product and capability development."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Since camping and shelter restrictions were passed, Clarkstons homeless encampment has dwindled from 75 people to about 20. Those who remain are forced to move their belongings, creating piles of supplies in an alleyway near Foster Park. (Whitney Bryen / InvestigateWest)

This story was first published by InvestigateWest.

John Parke, known as Cowboy, is always ready to pack up and move. He stacks his black and blue tent, foam sleeping pad, and flannel-lined sleeping bag on top of a wagon that he hauls away every day at 7 a.m. before police arrive and order him and the other unhoused people of camp town to leave.

Moving has become part of Parkes morning routine. He had to move when officials in Clarkston, a small town in southeastern Washington on the Idaho border, closed the park where he was living in October. He moved days later when the city erected fences around another park where he was preparing his shelter for winter. And he moved again when the mayor declared 75 people at an encampment behind Walmart a state of emergency.

Now, the 45-year-old has to move every day so police wont ticket him.

Theyre making it harder to get a job and improve our situation, Parke said. Theyre acting like bullies at school, and Im not going to let them do that, so Im standing up for the homeless community.

The city of about 7,000 recently restricted tents and other make-shift shelters used by unhoused people like Parke to one city park between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. and prohibited personal belongings that are not essential to living. Parke is part of an ongoing lawsuit against Clarkston arguing the ordinance is unconstitutional.

Smaller Washington cities like Clarkston are increasingly confronting the housing crisis more commonly associated with densely populated, urban areas.

That could be a preview of whats to come, not just in Washington but nationwide, following a U.S. Supreme Court decision expected in June. Justices are considering whether to overturn lower-court rulings in Oregon and Idaho that protect homeless people from being ticketed, charged or arrested for sleeping on public property when there is no shelter available.

In the past year, at least five Washington cities and two counties responded to increased homeless populations with camping bans. In addition to Clarkston, the Northwest Justice Project, which provides free civil legal assistance to low-income people in Washington, recently sued two other cities, challenging the constitutionality of homeless restrictions.

Cities contend that these laws are necessary to control encampments, which are unsafe for inhabitants, the general public and the environment. In a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in, cities said theyre paralyzed by federal court rulings in Boise, Idaho and Grants Pass, Oregon, that presume temporary shelter beds are the solution to homelessness, channeling local resources away from longer-term solutions like permanent supportive housing, mental healthcare, drug rehabilitation, and low-income housing support.

Civil rights attorneys said barring people from using tents or shelters on public property isnt the answer either.

Those laws have forced unhoused people to scatter across the state. Where there are camping bans, constant movement becomes overwhelming for people without permanent shelter. Many seek refuge on public lands outside city borders and in nearby communities causing homelessness to spike there, often overnight. Thats what happened when the city of Lewiston, Idaho, banned camping in 2022, sending many of its unhoused residents across the bridge and into Clarkston.

John Parke and Tiffany Deen are among about 20 unhoused people who regularly sleep at Foster Park, the small space in the center of Clarkston that the city designated for camping. (Whitney Bryen / InvestigateWest)

Howard Belodoff, the Idaho Legal Aid attorney who won the case against Boise, said a reversal would unleash cities to pass and enforce homeless bans.

If they reverse it, every podunk town is going to take these ordinances criminalizing the homeless and adopt them, said Belodoff. These smaller cities have been trying to fly under the radar, but a reversal, well, theyre going to feel empowered to do it out in the open.

Martin vs. Boise Fallout

Since confining camping to a small park in the center of town in February, Clarkstons camp town dwindled from 75 to about 20 people. One group set up a new camp in a wooded area about 20 miles northwest of town. Some walked back across the bridge to Lewiston. Others havent been seen in months.

A similar pattern has been playing out across the Northwest since the 2018 Martin vs. Boise ruling sided with homeless people who were cited by police in Idahos capital city when there were no shelter beds available. It was deemed cruel and unusual punishment.

Since then, cities have sought new ways to regulate homelessness, restricting when and where people could camp, sleep, lie or sit. Homeless advocates argue the restrictions make it more difficult for unhoused people to survive. Grants Pass, a city of fewer than 40,000, fined homeless residents for having blankets and pillows in public parks despite a shortage of shelter beds. A group of unhoused residents sued the city and, in 2022, an appellate court expanded protections for homeless people to include civil penalties.

Last year, Seattle and Spokane joined more than 20 cities, counties and organizations asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule those verdicts and give municipalities more authority to decide how to respond to homelessness. The Supreme Court heard arguments last week and is expected to make a ruling this summer.

Some cities have ignored the rulings, citing and arresting people even when there was no available shelter. Others, instead, ticketed homeless people for disorderly conduct or urinating in public. Some identified loopholes like environmental protections to support prohibitions.

With a Supreme Court decision still pending, Washington cities have continued to pass restrictions. Yakima County in south-central Washington has been removing abandoned encampments along the Yakima and Naches rivers for years. In July, commissioners adopted a policy against the advice of the county prosecutor allowing for the removal of inhabited camps, too.

Last summer, council members in Everett, 30 miles north of Seattle, banned resting or placing items such as a blanket within two blocks of behavioral health, addiction or emergency housing services.

In November, the Vancouver City Council closed an additional 48 acres of public property to camping. The following day, the Clark County Council banned camping near bodies of water, in parks and natural areas, prohibited daytime camping, and restricted storage of personal property.

As these homeless bans spread into the suburbs or smaller cities in Washington like Clarkston, civil rights attorneys said some are violations of the Martin vs. Boise ruling.

Many of those smaller cities dont have overnight shelters. And those that do cant keep up with the need. In Washington, people in temporary or emergency housing or without shelter have increased 52% in a decade, according to state estimates. In 2023, on a single night, that number exceeded 28,000, which is generally considered an undercount.

Rents are rising in every corner of the state, not just in the Puget Sound region, pricing low-income residents out, said Tedd Kelleher, housing policy director for the Washington State Department of Commerce.

For people in the margins, the math that worked for them five years ago doesnt work for them anymore, Kelleher said. Its making it harder and harder for them to stay inside.

Unhoused residents of Burien are challenging an ordinance passed in March by City Council members banning daytime camping in the Seattle suburb. The ban on daytime shelters also is part of Parkes claim against Clarkston.

One of Clarkstons City Council members refused requests from InvestigateWest for an interview. The others did not respond. In its ordinance, city officials justified the restrictions by citing unsafe and unsanitary conditions at encampments that pose a threat to the community.

Jennifer Graham, who grew up in Clarkston in a small, white house kitty-corner from Foster Park, said her daughters family, who now live there, can no longer enjoy the playground across the street at Foster Park. Thats the half-acre park where residents of camp town were forced to move in February after City Council members made it illegal to camp anywhere else.

None of the kids in the neighborhood can play in the park because were not sure if there are needles lying in the grass, Graham said. And the kids that have gone over to try to play, they get hollered at by the homeless people.

Graham started a Facebook group in March where she posts calls to Clarkston police about Foster Park, arrest reports, pictures and videos meant to persuade city leaders to bar camping from all parks. Rather than a shelter, she supports a community court system that would offer beds at mental health and addiction treatment centers for those who need it. And jail for those who refuse to comply.

John Wolff, an attorney with the Northwest Justice Project who represents Parke and three other unhoused people, said Clarkston has as much of an obligation to his clients as it does to other residents. Attorneys on both sides are gathering evidence before arguing their case.

My clients are all from Clarkston. They have families from there, and they deserve to be there, too, Wolff said. All theyre trying to do is assert their rights to basic survival that any human has the right to.

A shrinking map

Parkes breath turned to fog as he tugged on the strap that secures his tent to the top of his wagon on April 19. A nearby voice yelled, Seven a.m. Everybody better get up!

People sleeping in Foster Park have been cited by police if their shelters arent taken down by 7 a.m. Clarkston police have issued 11 trespassing citations at the park since the restrictions were passed, according to police records. Police cited seven people at 7:18 a.m. on March 11  the day after clocks rolled forward one hour for daylight savings.

Even worse for some is the 8 a.m. deadline. Thats when the sprinklers come on. The park remains closed until noon, and tents and other temporary shelters are prohibited until 9 p.m.

But the city had some suggestions about where members of the encampment could relocate outside city limits: Hard-to-read black and white maps were handed out to residents, housed and unhoused, at a Feb. 6 meeting where the city acknowledged its lack of shelters. Hand-drawn black lines and barely visible computer-generated shapes encircled areas that the city said were available for camping. Many were along the river and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which quickly closed those areas to prevent overnight camping.

Weve identified multiple public properties in the area that we believe also fall under the auspices of Martin vs. Boise, City Administrator Steve Austin said at the meeting. Those are properties in Idaho, properties in Washington that anybody that does not have a home is able to reside on without criminal prosecution.

Parke has been cited twice for trespassing. Both times, he said he overslept. Both of Parkes citations are misdemeanors that could carry up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, a major setback as Parke works toward financial and housing stability. He wont know the consequence until he goes back to court next month. He worries he will end up back behind bars due to his past mistakes.

In the late 90s, Parke began using methamphetamine to dull the symptoms of his undiagnosed mental illnesses, contributing to 20 years of criminal charges for bounced checks, driving violations, drug possession, failing to appear in court, unpaid fines and felony domestic abuse.

Parke said his mental health took a dive about two years ago, and he again turned to drugs. He lost his job and his home and ended up on the streets. Hes sober now and receiving treatment for borderline personality disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and manic depression.

I let my mental health get the best of me. Hell, I let life get the best of me, Parke said. Im trying to get back up and do the right thing and make it work, and its just, theyre making it harder and harder to improve my situation. Sometimes its hard not to give up.

Clarkstons ban sent some searching for a place to sleep across the river in Lewiston, Idaho, which barred sleeping in public more than a year before. Clarkstons homeless population rose drastically after that, the mayor stated as part of the emergency proclamation adopted at the February meeting.

Emergency shelter in the Lewis Clark valley is limited to youth and women who are victims of domestic abuse, volunteers said. Weeks after Clarkstons restrictions went into effect, the Union Gospel Mission broke ground on a homeless shelter in Lewiston. But rules require residents to be sober and complete daily chores, and they prohibit co-ed housing, excluding many in need. Other attempts to build a shelter in Lewiston have failed due to public opposition.

On a corner overlooking Foster Park is First Christian Church, home of the Red Door Kitchen, which serves seven free meals a week. Its pastor, David Carringer, said he invited the mayor, City Council members and police to attend one of the meals. No one accepted the invitation.

No one wants these people, so someone complains and theyre passed on to the next, and then they complain and theyre passed on again, and its a cycle, Carringer said. Instead of trying to come together and compromise, were pitted against one another, and the poorest always lose.

Waiting for a decision

City camping bans, legal challenges, and the fate of people like Parke hinge on the decision of nine Supreme Court justices.

Last week, the court heard from both sides. Asking for a reversal of the Grants Pass decision, the citys attorney argued that the previous ruling was too vague and hampered cities that need camping laws to protect public health and safety. The opposing attorney argued that those laws punish people for being homeless and turn the citys homelessness problem into someone elses problem by forcing them into other jurisdictions.

Justices are expected to rule in late June, near the end of the session.

Like the U.S. constitution, Washingtons constitution protects people against cruel and unusual punishment. It also contains a provision protecting peoples right to travel. Carrie Graf, an attorney with the Northwest Justice Project, argued to the Washington Supreme Court in October that the town of Lacey violated that provision when it passed a law requiring vehicles being used as shelter to move every four hours. The court has not yet ruled on the case.

An ordinance passed in February designated Foster Park as the only place in Clarkston where people who are homeless can sleep at night, but people must move all of their belongings every morning before the sprinklers go off, or risk being ticketed by police. (Whitney Bryen/InvestigateWest)

Graf said these and other provisions of the state constitution could insulate Washington from the fallout if the U.S. Supreme Court dismantles the 9th Circuit decisions.

While he waits for a local judge to decide his fate, Parke is applying for disability income. If thats approved, hell apply for housing assistance. Until then, hell continue sleeping at Foster Park as long as the city permits.

None of us want to be here, to be pointed at and laughed at and yelled at by people driving by, Parke said. The city put us front and center on purpose to create a circus and put us on display.

Parke pulls his wagon toward an alleyway across from the park. The plastic tires on Parkes wagon scrape against the gravel as he pushes it against a garage in an alleyway across from the park.

He makes three more trips from the park to the alley and back, each time with an armful of someone elses belongings. Only a couple of tents remain when Parke glances up at the sun and mutters, I hope it warms up soon.

Surveying the grounds one more time, he crosses the street and takes a sip of Mountain Dew from a bottle hed been toting around since the day before. He starts walking. He doesnt know where hes going, just that he cant be there.

InvestigateWest (invw.org) is an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest.

The post As empowered cities ban them from public spaces, homeless people in WA search for refuge appeared first on Washington State Standard.
Outraged New Yorkers on Tuesday blasted the disgusting anti-Israel protesters who desecrated a historic World War I memorial in Central Park and torched a US flag  insisting the unruly mob was anti-American and just spreading even more hatred.

Several Upper East Side locals stopped by to see the carnage for themselves after the latest wave of protests descended into mayhem late Monday as the star-studded Met Gala took place nearby.

These people are just nuts and violent, said Michael Skol, who has lived in the tony Manhattan neighborhood for 25 years, to The Post.

Burning the flag is anti-American. Its stupid, he added. It definitively doesnt help Palestinians or the peace process. These are people who are not in the tradition of believing America is a good place. Its disgusting.

Clean-up crews arrived early Tuesday to scrub the historic World War I memorial in Central Park that was vandalized by anti-Israeli protesters overnight. G.N.Miller/NYPost

Anarchists vandalized the WWI 107th Infantry Memorial in Central Park, as well as the Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman monument in the nearby Grand Army Plaza on 59th Street during the Monday evening chaos.

Separately, at least one America-hating vandal torched the US flag.

The enraged locals argued that the throngs of pro-Palestinian protesters were only hurting their own cause with their mindless destruction.

Its horrible to treat a World War I memorial the way they did. It breaks your heart, Ron Zucher, 50, said.

Anarchists vandalized the WWI 107th Infantry Memorial in Central Park as protests descended into chaos Monday evening. Jack Morphet/NY Post

At least one America-hating vandal torched the US flag at the base of the monument. Jack Morphet/NY Post

In this country, you have a right to voice your opinion, but not destroy memorials that pay tribute to heroes who died for our country.

You gotta have some decency, he added. The protesters are not helping their own cause destroying monuments and burning the flag. The protesters dont know our history and are ignorant of the sacrifices people made before them.

Skol said, Theres not much thinking going on on the part of these Palestinian supporters.

Its pure violence, its pure stupidity. 

A clean-up crew arrived at the WWI memorial early Tuesday to scrub off the Gaza and Free Palestine graffiti left behind using power washers and a biodegradable chemical cleaning agent.

The bronzed memorial depicting seven WWI foot soldiers in battle, which was sculpted by Karl Illava, was dedicated back in 1927.

Robin Cohen, an Upper East Side local, told The Post that the protesters are just spreading hatred. G.N.Miller/NYPost

Meanwhile, stickers of the Palestinian flag that read Stop the Genocide. End the apartheid. Free Palestine were still scattered all over park benches along Fifth Avenue.

The protesters are just spreading hatred, said Robin Cohen, another Upper East Side local.

We wouldnt be here with freedom of speech and freedom to protest if people hadnt fought for our freedom, Cohen continued. Dont you think they should be arrested for defacing a memorial for people who fought for our freedom?

Cops were still hunting for the vandals as of Tuesday, with NYPD Deputy Commissioner Operations Kaz Daughtry vowing to track down the perps responsible for the heinous crime.

We will leave no stone unturned until the perpetrators are brought to justice, he tweeted. Vandalizing a memorial, a symbol of remembrance and honor, is not only an act of criminal mischief but also a disrespect to the sacrifices of those who served our country.

Let this serve as a warning to anyone who dares to deface our citys landmarks  there will be consequences.

A clean-up crew scrubbed off the Gaza and Free Palestine graffiti left behind using power washers and a biodegradable chemical cleaning agent. G.N.Miller/NYPost

Lee Zeldin, an Army veteran, reservist and former gubernatorial candidate, said, The rioters who have taken over the streets of Manhattan are anarchists whose sole goal is to create chaos and soe division across the country.

Every Hamas sympathizer involved in desecrating this 107th Infantry World War I memorial should be arrested, and any foreign national on a Visa who participated must be immediately deported.

The destruction unfolded after a mob of more than 1,000 protesters started off at CUNYs Hunter College and tried to descend on the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Met Gala as part of a Day of Rage protest.

At least 27 people were busted in the vicinity of Madison Avenue and East 83rd Street as the demonstrations erupted.

After being blocked by cops and diverted toward Central Park, the anarchists then set about defacing the monuments.

Im really not happy with the desecration of the war memorial, Mayor Eric Adams said after being questioned by reporters on the latest wave of violence.

This anti-American action bothers me. Im not going to sit back. We are going to continue to protect this city.

Local construction worker Domenico Testani, 68, added, The protests are useless.

It makes no sense Testani said. A World War I memorial has nothing to do with whats happening in Palestine.

They have a right to protest, understood, but use some common sense.

Additional reporting by Carl Campanile and Craig McCarthy
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  The El Paso Museum of History has been selected to participate in the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) 2024 Museum Assessment Program, according to a news release from the City of El Paso.

The AAM is a nationwide association made up of 35,000 museums and museum professionals, according to the City.

The El Paso Museum of History assessment aims to qualify the museum for AAM accreditation. Currently, the El Paso Museum of Art is the only AAM-accredited institution in a 200-mile radius, according to the City.

To be a part of the program, museums choose one of four institutional assessment types:

Organizational

Collections Stewardship

Education and Interpretation

Community and Audience Engagement

According to the City, the El Paso Museum of History will be participating in the Collections Stewardship assessment.

The museum must follow the following standards to be categorized as Collections Stewardship:

The museum owns, exhibits or uses collections that are appropriate to its mission

The museum legally, ethically and manages documents, care for and uses the collections

The museum conducts collections-related research according to appropriate scholarly standards

The museum strategically plans for the use and development of its collections

Guided by its mission, the museum provides public access to its collections while ensuring preservation

We are thrilled to see the fruits of the last five years of hard work at the El Paso Museum of History receive a much-deserved acceptance into the Museum Assessment Program. This comes at a time when our museums pivot toward a more inclusive approach to programming, greater collections care, and adherence to best practices. We look forward to an assessment that leads to accreditation for this institution, said Quality of Life Managing Director Ben Fyffe.

For more information on the AAM, visit their website here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
An unknown red substance is flowing through drainage ditches following a fire at 7560 Perrydale Loop.

An unknown red substance has been flowing through drainage ditches in the Perrydale area since a barn fire May 2, and residents are being warned to keep themselves, pets and livestock away.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took samples Monday morning, and should have results later in the week, said Dylan Darling, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

We dont know whats in the water yet, Darling said.

An unknown red substance is flowing through drainage ditches following a fire at 7560 Perrydale Loop.

The three-alarm fire took place at 7560 Perrydale Loop in the unincorporated community of Perrydale in Polk County. The property has an Amity address.

Discolored water has since been flowing from the property into drainage ditches toward nearby Ash Swale, Darling said.

Multiple agencies responded to a three-alarm barn fire Thursday night in Amity, including crews from SW Polk Fire District.

The property owner has been cooperating, Darling said.

Weve been talking with him about past and current use of the property, Darling said.

DEQ also is consulting with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, with the thought that the substance could be an agricultural chemical or dye.

DEQ is investigating whether any environmental cleanup will be needed at the site, Darling said.

Tracy Loew covers the environment at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips: tloew@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6779. Follow her on Twitter at @Tracy_Loew

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: EPA, DEQ investigating red substance in ditches following barn fire
NEW YORK  Mayor Eric Adams paid a surprise visit Tuesday to a community center at the Jacob Riis Houses to sample the tap water, following a report raising questions about water quality in POLITICO.

I love New York water, the smiling mayor said after guzzling a cup from inside a communal center in the sprawling housing complex.

My goal is just to come in, tell the residents of Riis that Im willing to drink what I ask you to drink, he told a TV reporter on site. Being mayor is not only being substantive, but its being symbolic. This is my symbolic gesture, making sure the water is healthy is my substantive action that I must take.

The mayor left the visit off his public schedule and did not inform the press in advance.

POLITICO reported on Tuesday that multiple residents at the public housing complex have been falling ill with similar symptoms  a continuation of health and safety scares at the long-deteriorating housing complex that Adams predecessors failed to rectify. The Democratic mayor inherited crumbling buildings overseen in part by a court-appointed federal monitor.

One of the four residents who spoke with POLITICO was treated at a hospital emergency room for symptoms concerning for arsenic toxicity in March, according to copies of her medical records.

In September 2022 Adams made a similar stop with city Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan amid headline-grabbing arsenic scare.

After a water test that year showed unsafe levels of arsenic at Riis Houses, city officials blamed the since-retracted findings on a lab error and said subsequent tests found little to no trace of arsenic.

City Hall and NYCHA officials cited those test results from 2022 in responding to POLITICOs reporting. The city Department of Environmental Protection, out of an abundance of caution, tested a nearby water main last month and found no trace of arsenic, according to NYCHA spokesperson Barbara Brancaccio.

"We take any and all questions about water quality seriously, but there is no arsenic," Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer said Tuesday.

During a budget hearing Tuesday on the citys funding proposal for the housing authority, NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt told City Councilmember Justin Brannan there is no need to test the water in residents apartments and suggested that fish or smoking was to blame for the arsenic poisoning symptoms.

That resident, Sheletha Hill, told POLITICO she does not smoke and does not consume any seafood due to a food allergy.

Hill and several of her neighbors said clumps of their hair have been falling out and showering gives their skin rashes and a stinging, burning itch. Two of her neighbors said their dogs suffered bouts of diarrhea after drinking the tap water.

Hill expressed frustration at the mayors quick stop to Riis.

You didnt even come knock on my door, Hill said. "He didn't even come to see about us."
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG)  A home was damaged and a pet cat was killed in a fire on Sunday, the Escambia County Fire Rescue shared in a Facebook post.

According to the post, ECFR units responded to a house fire in the 1000 block of Rainbow Avenue at around 10:33 p.m. on Sunday.

Man arrested for stolen SUV, drugs: ECSO

FIRE LOCATION:

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When units arrived, they saw flames and smoke coming from the back of the home. ECFR units made entry and began immediate water application, according to the post.

The post noted the fire was brought under control by around 10:59 p.m.

Mobile Infirmary, Center for Reproductive Medicine speak out after Alabama Supreme Court decides to not rehear IVF case

During a search of the home, authorities said one cat was found dead. There were no other injuries or fatalities, according to the post.

Through investigations, authorities determined the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction in the rear addition of the home.

Escambia County EMS and Florida Power & Light provided assistance to ECFR during the response, the release said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.
Estonia's parliament backed a resolution on May 6 to declare the Russian Orthodox Church to be an "institution sponsoring the military aggression of the Russian Federation."

The church, also known as the Moscow Patriarchate, has broadly supported Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of the church, is a staunch backer of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been accused of using his subordinates in Ukraine and other countries to spread Russian propaganda.

"Ever since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow....has expressed his public support to the act of aggression of the terrorist regime of the Russian Federation," the statement by Estonia's parliament read.

"The leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate and Patriarch Kirill are using the 'Russian World' ideology as a tool to promote the war; it is being utilized to destroy the last manifestations of Russian democracy, militarize Russian society, and justify the aggression in order to expand the Russian Federation to all of the territories dominated by it in the past, including Ukraine," it continued.

The parliament noted that the declaration specifically concerned the church as an institution and not its congregants.

"Estonia must preserve the constitutional right to religious freedom, with full consideration for the rights and freedoms of everyone living here," the statement concluded.

Estonia has previously accused leaders of the Estonian Orthodox Church, a branch that is under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, of backing Russia's full-scale war.

The church's leader, Metropolitan Yevgeniy, left Estonia in February after the government decided not to extend his residence permit on the grounds that he made public statements and actions in support of Russian aggression.

Ukraine has also accused the Moscow Patriarchate-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church of supporting Russia's full-scale war.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced in April that Metropolitan Arsenii, who served at a church in Donetsk Oblast, was suspected of revealing information about the location of Ukrainian troops in the area.

Read also: Opinion: What should Ukraine do about its Russia-linked church?

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 7. Direct flights between Budapest (Hungary) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan) will resume on June 30, initially with one flight per week, Trend reports.

"Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, emphasized the significant economic benefits of Hungary-Uzbekistan strategic cooperation, noting that several domestic companies are in the final stages of local investments," Zoltan Kovacs, Hungary's Secretary of State for International Communication, wrote on his page on X.

He noted that preparations are nearly complete for a Hungarian pharmaceutical plant in Uzbekistan and a $165 million poultry processing facility.

Peter Szijjarto also shared that the Uzbek government is setting up a 50-hectare special investment area for Hungarian companies. The Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences collaborates with several local institutions, reinforcing cooperation.

Meanwhile, within the framework of the IX meeting of the Uzbek-Hungarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, the Uzbek-Hungarian Business Forum took place. More than 200 representatives of the business community, heads of ministries and agencies, and experts attended the event to discuss current cooperation issues and identify new promising areas for joint project implementation and trade tie expansion.

Laziz Kudratov, Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade in Uzbekistan, and Peter Szijjarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Hungary, attended the forum.

At the forum, participants presented investment projects and organized 137 B2B and G2B meetings, planning to develop new joint venture projects and conclude mutually beneficial trade agreements.
FILE - Parliament members attend a session at the European Parliament, Tuesday, April 23, 2024 in Strasbourg, eastern France. EU countries rubberstamped a plan worth six billion euros ($6.45 billion) in support of Western Balkans states Tuesday, May 7, 2024, aimed at accelerating reforms and economic growth in the region, in view of their future membership to the bloc. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, File)

BRUSSELS (AP)  EU countries approved a plan worth 6 billion euros ($6.45 billion) to support Western Balkan states on Tuesday aimed at accelerating reforms and economic growth in the region, as they seek future membership in the bloc.

The Council of the European Union said the plan, which covers the period from 2024 to 2027, is expected to provide up to 2 billion euros in grants ($2.15 billion) and 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) in loans. Aid is contingent on reforms that would bring Western Balkan economies in line with EU rules.

The facility will support a range of socio-economic and fundamental reforms, including reforms related to the rule of law and fundamental rights, the Council said.

The regions six countries  Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia  are at different stages in their applications for membership, but residents have been frustrated with the slow pace of the process. Croatia was the last country to be accepted by the EU in 2013.

The six countries pledged to adapt customs regulations and create joint border crossings like EU member countries. They also set targets to launch research and development hubs for industry and install free Wi-Fi in public places.

The Council said that a precondition for Serbia and Kosovo to receive aid is that they engage constructively with measurable progress and tangible results in the normalization of their relations.

Serbia has not recognized Kosovos 2008 declaration of independence, and recent tensions between them have sparked concern among Western powers. Both have said they want to join the EU, but the bloc has warned that their refusal to compromise is jeopardizing their chances for membership.

___

AP World News: https://apnews.com/world-news
Radio Liberty has learned that of the six EU member countries sending diplomats to the "inauguration" of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, one state has changed its mind at the last moment.

Source: European Pravda, citing Radio Liberty

Details: The list obtained by the publication shows that diplomats from France, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Hungary and Slovakia will attend Putin's "inauguration".

According to Radio Liberty's information from diplomatic circles within the European Union, as of the evening of 6 May, Belgium intended to send its representative to the event. However, sources reported this morning that it would ultimately not participate in the ceremony.

Previously: On the evening of 6 May, Reuters reported that seven countries, including France at the ambassadorial level, were planning to attend Putin's "inauguration".

Background:

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it does not see any grounds for recognising Vladimir Putin, the head of the Kremlin, as the democratically elected and legitimate president of Russia.

Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, is opposed to European Union representatives attending the "inauguration" ceremony for Russian leader Vladimir Putin following his sham re-election this spring. A number of EU states have announced that they will not attend.

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European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell attends the meeting of EU foreign and development ministers at the European Council building in Brussels. -/European Council/dpa

The European Union's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, on Tuesday criticized the Israeli army's advance on the Gazan city of Rafah.

"I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties - civilian casualties," Borrell said.

He noted that the EU and the United States had urged Israel not to attack Rafah, where many people have fled to from other parts of Gaza.

"In spite of this warning and this request, the attack started yesterday night," Borrell told journalists in Brussels on Tuesday.

"There are 600,000 children in Gaza. They will be pushed to so-called 'safe zones.' There is no safe zone in Gaza," Borrell said.

A general view of the meeting of EU foreign and development ministers at the European Council building in Brussels. -/European Council/dpa

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell (R) greets European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen during a meeting of EU foreign and development ministers at the European Council building in Brussels. -/European Council/dpa
A group of 31 lawmakers from the European Parliament wrote a letter on May 7 to Josep Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, calling for the suspension of Georgia's EU candidate status.

The letter said the "continued undemocratic behavior of the Georgian authorities, in particular their aggressiveness in pushing through a 'Russian-style' law on foreign agents, silencing and using force against peaceful demonstrators, has crossed the line."

The foreign agents draft law would require organizations that receive foreign funding to be labeled as foreign agents, subjecting them to higher scrutiny. The legislation, scheduled for its third and final reading on May 17, would likely stifle NGOs and civil society organizations, including those that monitor election integrity and government corruption.

It mirrors repressive Russian laws used to crack down on Kremlin regime critics and is popularly referred to in Georgia as the "Russian law."

The legislation has been met with widespread condemnation in the West, and EU officials have openly said that its passage would hurt Georgia's chances of joining the bloc.

The attempts to pass the law have sparked mass demonstrations on a nightly basis in the country. In turn, the police have stepped up their repression of protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons.

The letter called on Borrell to "take a firm stance" that would "send a clear signal to the Georgian authorities."

Beyond calling for the suspension of Georgia's EU candidate status, which it received in December 2023, the letter called for a review of EU funding for the country and an "immediate assessment" of the status of the nine required reforms Georgia is supposed to implement as part of the accession process.

"In recent years we have worked tirelessly to support the Georgian people and their aspirations to join the EU. We remain determined to do so, but the democratic criteria for all EU candidate countries are the same and must be respected," the letter concluded.

Polling has consistently found that around 80% of Georgians approve of joining the EU.

Read also: Georgian government holds massive anti-West rally as it aims to pass Russian-style law

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Everything you need to know about Election Day

Indiana voters hit the polls starting at 6 a.m. and here is your guide. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Although early voting has increased in popularity over the years, the majority of Hoosiers still cast their ballots on Election Day. And today is that day.

So, the Indiana Capital Chronicle is here to break down all you need to know: from where to vote and what to bring to who is on the ballot.

First off, 4,711,642 Hoosiers are registered. For the month prior to the voter registration deadline in early April, 2024 saw a more than 20% increase from 2022, state election officials said.

The Secretary of States office conducted a statewide voter outreach campaign including schools, fairs, festivals, sporting events, and parades. There were also registration promotions on television, radio, and digital media platforms.

As a grassroots statewide elected official, Ive been so passionate about our outreach and community engagement efforts as weve crisscrossed all 92 counties of the state for a second year in a row at a record pace. We are so encouraged to see more eligible Hoosiers registered to vote. This is proof of our hard work. Now its time to get out to the polls and vote, Secretary of State Diego Morales said.

Turnout

Of course, turnout is more of a problem than getting Hoosiers to register. In the 2022 primary, only 14% showed up to the polls. Of those, about 73% of the ballots were cast on Election Day.

Check out The Indiana Citizens virtual ballot tool

For the 2020 primary  a presidential year, like now  turnout hit 24% statewide. During that years primary, many more Hoosiers were allowed to use mail-in voting due to COVID-19, which meant 51% of the votes were cast absentee, either by mail or early in person.

Morales has also tried to assure Hoosiers about the integrity of Indiana elections. He recently sent packets to state legislators that included a hefty spiral bound report assessing Indianas laws and system.

It came with a whistle and lanyard that says, Blow the Whistle on Election Interference.

Where to go

In some counties, you vote at a specific polling location matching your precinct. To find a polling location, go to indianavoters.in.gov and click find your polling location box. Search using your voter registration information or by county or precinct.

In 63 counties, residents can vote at any vote center location in the county instead of a designated neighborhood polling place.

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m.  tied with two other states for the earliest end time in the nation.

You must present a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot. The ID must have a photo; include your name generally matching your voter registration; include an expiration date and be issued by the state or federal government.

In most cases, an Indiana drivers license, Indiana photo ID card, Military ID or U.S. Passport is sufficient. A student ID from an Indiana State school may only be used if it meets all the criteria. A student ID from a private institution may not be used for voting purposes.

So, what happens if you have a problem? Call 1-866-IN-1-VOTE (1-866-461-8683) or email havaadministrator@sos.in.gov.

If you forget your ID, you can still vote via a provisional ballot. You then have until noon 10 days after the election to follow up with the county election board and either provide the necessary documentation or affirm one of the laws exemptions applies to you.

Avoid bringing any election paraphernalia with you, like signs or shirts supporting a specific candidate. Those arent allowed in the voting areas.

The races

Now that youre ready, you have a lot of choices this primary day. A lot.

The top race is president. President Joe Biden is uncontested on the Democrat ballot. Nikki Haley and Donald Trump top the Republican ballot even though she dropped out of the race weeks ago.

The six Republican candidates for governor at a Carmel debate on March 11, 2024. (Whitney Downard/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

Next up is U.S. Senate: Democrats have a challenge between Marc Carmichael and Valerie McCray while U.S. Rep. Jim Banks is unopposed on the Republican ballot. Learn about this race here.

The GOP race for governor is a doozy. Six candidates means someone with just 17% of the vote can win.

The hopefuls are U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, former Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, former Indiana Economic Development Corp. (IEDC) leader Eric Doden, former Attorney General Curtis Hill and conservative activist Jamie Reitenour.

Indiana Capital Chronicle profiled each candidate and relevant stories can be found on our Election 2024 page.

On the U.S. House side, there are a stunning 63 candidates running for nine House seats. Three of those seats are open because incumbents decided not to run again. Those are Districts 3, 6 and 8. Dont be overwhelmed by the choices  just take your time. We laid out the candidates in this preview piece.

Next comes 125 state House and Senate seats. But only 41 are contested. Learn more about the Senate contests and House races.

And dont leave before weighing in on several important county races and convention delegates.

The post Everything you need to know about Election Day appeared first on Indiana Capital Chronicle.
A former California correctional officer has been indicted on allegations he accepted thousands of dollars in bribes to smuggle contraband, including weapons and cellphones, while working at Solano State Prison.

Edwin Fernand, a resident of Rancho Cordova, faces charges of conspiracy to smuggle weapons and other contraband into the Vacaville penal institution, attempting to bring a deadly weapon into a penal institution and receiving bribes, according to the indictment filed April 26 in Sacramento Superior Court.

A criminal grand jury returned with the indictment of four felony charges against Fernand. The California Attorney Generals Office announced his arrest Tuesday in a news release.

Regardless of occupation or position, our office is committed to holding those who break the law accountable, Attorney General Rob Bonta said in the news release. No one is above the law.

Authorities arrested Fernand and booked him at the Sacramento County Main Jail; he has since been released from custody. Fernand appeared for his arraignment Monday afternoon, court records show. He is scheduled to return to court for another hearing June 20.

State prosecutors said Fernand worked as a correctional officer at Solano State Prison for nearly 19 months and prosecutors allege he committed the crimes from Feb. 27, 2020, through Sept. 14, 2021.

Fernand earned a base salary of $84,847 in 2021 and had total pay and benefits that year of just over $142,437, according to compensation records provided by the state to Transparent California.

Fernands arrest was the second time in a week authorities announced criminal charges against a California correctional officer accused of smuggling contraband into a prison. Last week, state prison officials arrested a correctional officer reportedly found in possession of fentanyl and other narcotics inside Pleasant Valley State Prison in Fresno County.

The case against Fernand was investigated by the FBI and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation strongly condemns any peace officer who violates their oath and shatters the publics trust, CDCR Secretary Jeff Macomber in the news release about Fernands arrest. Let this serve as a reminder that we will seek accountability from those who refuse to follow the law.

Fernand is accused of communicating with a prison inmate to coordinate the smuggling, prosecutors detailed in the indictment.

The inmate sent text messages to an out-of-custody co-conspirator; the message had a website for an online retailer that had photos of plastic stabbing weapons, according to the indictment.

The out-of-custody co-conspirator allegedly shipped the weapons Fernand with the expectation the correctional officer would bring the weapons to the inmate at prison in Solano County. The out-of-custody co-conspirator then paid Fernand money, according to the indictment.

State prosecutors said the correctional officer accepted thousands of dollars in cash payments in exchange for smuggling a wide range of contraband into the prison, including cellphones, tobacco, alcohol and deadly weapons. The indictment alleges Fernand smuggled bottles of Patron Tequila, among other alcohol, into the prison.
Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican, is bucking his party and endorsing President Joe Biden over Donald Trump in this years election.

This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass, he wrote in an opinion piece in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Duncan wrote that the GOP cant rebuild until it rebukes Trump, who he said has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character. He pointed out that the former president is currently on trial over a scheme involving hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Most important, Trump fanned the flames of unfounded conspiracy theories that led to the horrific events of Jan. 6, 2021, Duncan wrote. He refuses to admit he lost the last election and has hinted he might do so again after the next one.

He also had a reminder for voters concerned about issues such as higher taxes and campus unrest over Gaza.

I get it. No one likes paying higher taxes, and these protests are unsettling, he wrote. But the last year of the Trump presidency was hardly a time of tranquillity.

He blasted Trumps erratic handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and said the then-president fueled racial unrest with his approach to the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

Trump has shown us who he is, Duncan wrote. We should believe him. To think he is going to change at the age of 77 is beyond improbable.

Duncan sparred with Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election, refusing to endorse his conspiracy theories or take part in his efforts to overturn the result, drawing the then-presidents ire.

Hes remained a persistent Trump critic, last year comparing him to an ax murderer and delivering a warning to his supporters.

I think Republicans, like many other people in Donald Trumps past, are going to regret ever being associated with him, Duncan said on CNN last summer.

Duncan had been approached by No Labels to run as a third-party candidate against Trump and Biden, but declined.

Read his full editorial endorsing Biden at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Beijing, Paris to forge stronger ties

08:16, May 07, 2024 By Xu Wei ( China Daily

President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, arrive at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on Monday, with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, after a welcoming ceremony. FENG YONGBIN/CHINA DAILY

President Xi Jinping underlined on Monday the necessity for China and France to uphold independence and autonomy and jointly fend off a new Cold War or bloc confrontation, during talks with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

The two sides should jointly uphold mutual benefits and oppose decoupling and the building of barriers, while sticking to farsightedness and promoting the equal and orderly multipolarization of the world, Xi told his host.

During the talks, both leaders also sought to strengthen their partnership and enhance the shared response to global challenges.

Before the talks, Macron hosted a pomp-filled welcoming ceremony for the Chinese president at Les Invalides, the French military museum, as the two leaders inspected a military band and the guard of honor.

The landmark meeting in Paris came more than one year after Xi hosted Macron in Beijing and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in a number of engagements that saw the two leaders strengthen their personal bonds and reaffirmed both nations' shared commitment to global peace and stability.

Xi, in a signed article published on Monday in the French newspaper Le Figaro, underscored Beijing's readiness to work with Paris, in the spirit that guided the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations 60 years ago, to forge a stronger comprehensive strategic partnership.

"Both China and France value independence as two major countries. Our interactions in the long course of history have released tremendous energy swaying the trajectory of the world," he wrote.

Xi mentioned the key areas of progress secured in the bilateral ties over the past decades, including establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership, cooperation projects in aviation, nuclear energy and third-party markets, and the reaching of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

"We live in a world that is far from being tranquil and is once again facing a multitude of risks," Xi wrote, highlighting the need to reinforce the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership in promoting the stronger cooperation of the global community.

Meanwhile, Xi assured France that China, as the world's second-largest economy, will open even wider to the world and deepen cooperation with France and other countries.

"One thing that has made China's development possible is our firm commitment to opening-up," Xi wrote.

The president underscored that Beijing welcomes more quality French farm products and cosmetics to the Chinese market, adding that China invites more investment by companies from France and other countries.

He explained that China has fully opened up its manufacturing sector and will move faster to expand market access to telecommunication, medical and other services.

The president also mentioned the 15-day visa-exemption policy for visitors from many countries including France, as part of broader measures to facilitate travel and payment by foreigners in China.

Xi also made the case for heightened bilateral cooperation on innovation and the joint promotion of green development.

He emphasized that Beijing supports more investment in France by Chinese companies, while expressing the hope that France will ensure that they operate in a fair and equitable business environment.

Xi arrived in Paris on Sunday, the start of a six-day trip to Europe  his first overseas tour this year  that will also include key engagements with the leaders of Serbia and Hungary.

France is China's third-largest trading partner and third-largest source of actual investment within the European Union, while China is the European country's largest trading partner in Asia and the seventh-largest globally, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Official statistics showed that trade between the two nations reached $78.94 billion last year.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev will pay a working visit to Moscow on May 8-9, Trend reports.

Upon the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will attend the regular meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in the status of head of the observer state and solemn events in connection with the 79th anniversary of the Victory in World War II.

According to the program of his stay, several bilateral meetings are also envisaged.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
FILE PHOTO: View shows a part of an unidentified missile, which Ukrainian authorities believe to be made in North Korea, in Kharkiv

FILE PHOTO: View shows a part of an unidentified missile, which Ukrainian authorities believe to be made in North Korea, in Kharkiv

By Tom Balmforth and David Gauthier-Villars

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian state prosecutors say they have examined debris from 21 of around 50 North Korean ballistic missiles launched by Russia between late December and late February, as they seek to assess the threat from Moscow's cooperation with Pyongyang.

In previously unreported details of an investigation under way into the missiles, the office of Ukraine's top prosecutor, Andriy Kostin, also told Reuters that the failure rate of the North Korean weaponry appeared to be high.

"About half of the North Korean missiles lost their programmed trajectories and exploded in the air; in such cases the debris was not recovered," Kostin's office said in written answers to Reuters' questions.

North Korean missiles account for a tiny portion of Russia's strikes during its war on Ukraine, but their alleged use has caused alarm from Seoul to Washington because it may herald the end of nearly two-decade consensus among permanent members of the United Nations Security Council on preventing Pyongyang expanding its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

In addition to providing North Korea with an opportunity to test missiles, Russia has taken steps that will make it harder for the United Nations to monitor sanctions imposed on Pyongyang in 2006.

Last month, Moscow vetoed the annual renewal of the U.N. sanctions monitors - known as a panel of experts - that has for 15 years monitored enforcement of the U.N. sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), North Korea's official name.

China, one of the five permanent members on the Security Council with Russia, the United States, Britain and France, abstained from the vote.

Days before its mandate expired, the panel submitted a report confirming for the first time that, in a violation of U.N. sanctions, a North Korean-made ballistic missile known as Hwasong-11 had struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

This, and Moscow's veto, underscore how Russia and North Korea have intensified their bilateral relations beyond largely transactional, barter agreements, said Edward Howell, an expert on North Korea at Oxford University.

"There is a lasting legacy that is being shaped now, which is the fact that North Korea, through being assured of Russia's support, is really being able to undermine key international institutions like the U.N. Security Council," he said.

The Russian presidency referred questions on the North Korean missiles to the Russian Defence Ministry, which did not respond to emailed questions from Reuters. North Korea's mission to the United Nations in Geneva also did not respond.

DOZENS KILLED OR WOUNDED

Despite the setback at the United Nations, Kostin has said his office will carry on with the investigation.

The prosecutor's office said that when debris could not be collected at impact sites, Hwasong-11 missiles, which are also called KN-23 in the West, were identified by looking at their flight trajectories, speed and launch sites.

The last recorded use of a KN-23 was on Feb. 27, the prosecutor's office said, adding that the total number of launches it has identified tallied with intelligence showing North Korea delivered about 50 ballistic missiles to Russia.

According to the United States, Russia received ballistic missiles and artillery rounds from North Korea after the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, met Russian President Vladimir Putin for a rare summit last September.

The 21 cases, in which debris was collected, include three that were fired at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and its surrounding region, Kostin's office said. The others struck the regions of Kharkiv, Poltava, Donetsk and Kirovohrad.

The attacks, which began on Dec. 30, 2023, killed 24 people, wounded 115 and damaged a number of residential buildings and industrial facilities, it said.

The about 50 missiles were launched from multiple sites including in Russia's western regions of Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk, it added.

The Ukrainian statement did not say whether any of the missiles had been shot down by air defences. Ballistic missiles are typically hard to intercept because of their trajectory and speed.

According to Kostin's office, Ukrainian authorities were still investigating whether Pyongyang had dispatched instructors to monitor the ballistic missile launches.

(David Gauthier-Villars reported from Istanbul; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Timothy Heritage)
Extreme weather will be focus on new undergrad program at University of Texas

AUSTIN (KXAN)  As the school year comes to a close, extreme weather is ramping up. Recent flooding in the Houston area and tornadoes in West Texas are reminders that weather is difficult to predict around the globe. A new degree program at the University of Texas in Austin hopes to address that.

Starting in the fall, UTs Jackson School of Geosciences will offer a program in climate sciences.

Were seeing a lot of students now. They take one class and they say, Hey, this class made me realize that climate science is what I want to do,' assistant professor Geeta Persad said.

Persad developed the program alongside Dr. Kerry Cook.

Persad said there has been a demand among students for the program. Gen Z ranks climate change as one of their top concerns for the future, a Pew Research Group study found in 2021.

A new climate sciences program at UT Austin hopes to address extreme weather around the world. (Credit; Eric Henrikson/KXAN)

Every time I tell a student, hey, were offering a new climate system science major to them. Theyre just like, of course, why would you not this is one of the biggest challenges of our time,' Persad said.

Fashion meets science at UT exhibit celebrating sustainable style

UT Austin will be the first major university in the state to offer a degree program in climate science, and will be one of the few in the nation.

Everybody is realizing that they need people with expertise, expertise in climate science in order to understand how climate risk is going to affect their operations, Persad said.

Why UT Austin is focusing on the climate

The Jackson School already employs many researchers who are exploring climate sciences, Persad said.

Given the number of students we have, and the number of students we train, we will also have automatically a large impact, Geological Sciences Department Chair Danny Stockli said. Its really about the impact of the climate system on us, the environment, and ultimately, probably long term, sustainability (and) survivability.

UT Austins TACC Viz Lab will help professors visualize climate changes impact around the world. (Credit; Eric Henrikson/KXAN)

The university already has technology and staff for the new major. Persad said the universitys resources will allow them to take the lead in the field.

Salt could be key ingredient for clean energy transition, UT Austin researchers say

Its a really powerful place to be training the next generation to engage with these topics, Persad said.

Extreme weather and politics

Climate change is a major hot button issue for many. This makes the University of Texas, a state-run school, an interesting place for a degree program on climate science.

At the end of the day, this is a science question, Stockli said. Whether you call it climate or you call it extreme weather, this is really what its about. Its about the impact and how we can help Texas and the country and the world.

The degree program opens up to undergraduate students this fall.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (left) and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (right) speak during an event at Colorado State University.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (left) and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (right) speak during an event at Colorado State University on Nov. 16, 2023. (Courtesy of Utah Governor's Office)

Governors from around the country are united in opposition to a proposal from the U.S. Department of Defense that would transfer certain National Guard units away from state control and move them under the Air Force.

Its what Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, call an extremely dangerous precedent. During a joint news conference on Monday, both governors told reporters it breaks a century-old system of gubernatorial authority, violates trust between National Guard members and the government, and could impact military readiness.

We urge the Air Force to work with governors to find a better way forward, Cox said.

Cox is currently the chairman of the National Governors Association  Polis is the vice-chair. The group last week mobilized governors from 53 U.S. states and territories to sign a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, arguing the move undermines over 100 years of precedent as well as national security.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are the only governors that didnt sign the letter, although both have publicly criticized the plan. Cox joked the proposal was helping the United States be bipartisan again.

In response to an interview request, a spokesperson for the Utah National Guard said the organization shares the concerns expressed in the governors letter and is closely following the issue.

The Department of Defence submitted the plan, officially titled Legislative Proposal 480, in March to the Senate Armed Services Committee. It would move all Air National Guardsman with space-related missions from state to federal control, placing them under the umbrella of the U.S. Air Force, specifically the Space Force.

Seven states currently have such units  Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York and Ohio. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Congress earlier this year it would move about 700 guardsmen to new roles within the Space Force.

Kendall called it a unique situation, and there were no plans to further federalize the National Guard. But both Cox and Polis pushed back, calling it a dangerous precedent to set and warning that it could impact military readiness.

To say that only seven (states) that have active space guards are affected is simply not correct and understates this, Polis said. This is a major federalisation of the State National Guard and a change in the military force structure with implications for all of the states.

Cox said if the number of guardsmen impacted is actually negligible like Kendall suggested, then they should have no problem dropping it and working with governors to find a better way forward.

The airmen in these units signed up to be in the guard, and forcing them to move really violates the trust between our guard members and the Air Force, Cox added.

The governors said the law runs afoul of Title 10 and Title 32, which grant governors authority over the states National Guard. According to the National Governors Association, the law states that there should be no removal or withdrawal of a unit of the Air National Guard without consultation and approval from governors.

Cox said Kendall replied to the letter last week, but called his response deeply disappointing.

It didnt address the root of the concern that there has been no process to consult with the governors, Cox said.

According to Polis, a majority of current Air National Guard space operators will not transfer to the U.S. Space Force, suggesting their positions would be dissolved.

We estimate the risk of loss to upwards of 80% of personnel in a domain  that is incredibly important for our national security, and only becoming more so, Polis said.

Polis said those units help with satellite-based operations to help battle wildfires or other natural disasters.

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The post Extremely dangerous: Govs. Cox, Polis criticize federalization of National Guard appeared first on Utah News Dispatch.
Facebooks supreme court is investigating the social media giant for allowing users to post the controversial pro-Palestinian slogan from the river to the sea.

The companys Oversight Board, a panel of academics and campaigners who review moderation policies, said it would consider three posts where parent company Meta left the phrase online after appeals from users.

Hate speech campaigners have condemned chants of from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free as anti-Semitic and genocidal, arguing the words imply the destruction of the state of Israel and are used as a rallying cry by terror groups including Hamas.

The board  whose members include ex-Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the former prime minister of Denmark  will look at three posts that were viewed millions of times between them.

Meta's Oversight Board includes Denmark's former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt - RITZAU SCANPIX/via REUTERS

All three posts were reported by multiple users and allowed to remain online by Meta. One post condemned senseless slaughter by Zionist Israeli occupiers.

The panel said it had picked the cases to determine how Meta should moderate the phrase given the resurgence in its use after October 7, 2023, and the controversies surrounding the phrases meaning. The boards decisions are non-binding.

Meta told the board that the specific posts were not found to have violated its rules against violence, hate speech or support for dangerous groups.

The company said use of the slogan had already been reviewed, and that it was not necessarily a call for violence or linked exclusively to support for Hamas.

In January, the Oversight Board warned that Facebook and Instagram, which is also owned by Meta, were failing to remove Holocaust denial posts. One post, which questioned whether six million Jews had been killed by the Nazis, remained up for three years.

It said anti-Semites had been able to evade Metas detection tools using images, memes or code words and that Meta was overly reliant on automated systems to review posts.

In December, The Telegraph revealed that Meta had allowed adverts to be purchased on its social networks that included the phrase from the river to the sea. The company said at the time that the phrase could be blocked if it violated its policies.

A Meta spokesman said: We welcome the boards review of our guidance in this matter. While all of our policies are developed with safety in mind, we know they come with global challenges and we regularly seek input from experts outside Meta, including the Oversight Board.

As weve said previously, we continually assess our policy guidance to better understand potential impacts on different communities. This work is ongoing, and we look forward to the boards decision and recommendations.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Fact Check: Posts Claim It's Illegal in India to Know a Baby's Sex Before Birth. Here's the Truth

Claim:

Its illegal in India for would-be parents to know  and for doctors to determine and relay  the biological sex of a fetus.

Rating:

Rating: True

Editor's Note: Scientific literature uses the words "biological sex" in reference to the sex assigned to an infant at birth. To avoid inconsistencies, this article also uses that language."

Social media users routinely claim that Indian law prohibits the determination of a fetus' sex before birth in that country. This 2023 Reddit post is one example:

This claim is true.

In 1994, the Indian government enacted the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT Act) to put a check on female feticide, or the deliberate act of aborting a female fetus. At that time, an estimated 70% of all abortions performed in Delhi, India, were due to the fetus being female.

Gender roles influence families and society in India, which can sometimes lead to families preferring to have a biological son than a daughter, according to a 2019 report published by the global advocacy organization Center for Reproductive Rights. As the Pew Research Center writes, historically in Indian society, "sons have been expected to take care of their aging parents, and men have been the main beneficiaries of inheritance. Meanwhile, married women often live with and support their in-laws." In line with these traditions, the nonpartisan think tank writes that families tended to place higher value and provide more support to sons than daughters. This is known as "son preference."

In short, PNDT was enacted to prevent the misuse of sex determination techniques to protect the fetus.

The act was amended in 2003 and renamed the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT Act) to strengthen the original legislation. This amendment placed a "ban on sex selection before and after conception" and regulates prenatal diagnostic techniques for detecting abnormalities or disorders. However, the law does not discuss abortion or providers of abortion.

Among other measures, the law prohibits doctors or patients from communicating about the sex of a child, requires that every medical center registers under the act, and that patients must file paperwork that they don't want to know the sex of the child, and doctors must declare that they have not determined or conveyed the sex, according to guidelines published in the Indian Journal of Radiology and Imaging in 2012.

Noncompliance with the act reportedly in "any manner, be it the smallest of an error, brings wrath upon the errant," noted a 2012 commentary published in the Indian Journal of Radiology and Imaging. These consequences can include criminal prosecution and suspension and cancellation of registration by the State Medical Council. Compliance measures and a code of conduct are outlined in a 2016 report published by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Government of India.

A report published by the International Center for Research on Women describes son preference in India as a "well-documented phenomenon" that is strong but not universal. Unofficial calculations by the United Nations estimated that "200 million females are missing in the world; women who should have been born and grown up, were killed by infanticide or selective abortion."

Sources:

Bhaktwani, Anita. "The PC-PNDT Act in a Nutshell." The Indian Journal of Radiology & Imaging, vol. 22, no. 2, 2012, pp. 13334. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.4103/0971-3026.101114.

---. "The PC-PNDT Act in a Nutshell." The Indian Journal of Radiology & Imaging, vol. 22, no. 2, 2012, pp. 13334. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.4103/0971-3026.101114.

"Center for Reproductive Rights." Center for Reproductive Rights, 3 May 2024, https://reproductiverights.org/.

Corichi, Jonathan Evans, Neha Sahgal, Ariana Monique Salazar, Kelsey Jo Starr and Manolo. "2. Son Preference and Abortion." Pew Research Center, 2 Mar. 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/03/02/son-preference-and-abortion/.

Goldberg, Justin. "Securing Reproductive Justice in India: A Casebook." Center for Reproductive Rights, 20 Dec. 2019, https://reproductiverights.org/securing-reproductive-justice-in-india-a-casebook/.

"Home." ICRW, https://www.icrw.org/. Accessed 3 May 2024.

Imam, Z. "India Bans Female Feticide." BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), vol. 309, no. 6952, Aug. 1994, p. 428. PubMed, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.309.6952.428.

Mani, Sanjeev. "Guidelines for Ultrasound Owners and Owners of Clinics, Diagnostic Centres, Nursing Homes and Hospitals." The Indian Journal of Radiology & Imaging, vol. 22, no. 2, 2012, pp. 12528. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.4103/0971-3026.101102.

"Press Corner." European Commission - European Commission, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/home/en. Accessed 3 May 2024.
EL PASO, TEXAS (KTSM)  A broken-hearted family is mourning the death of one of their loved ones after a large fire in Canutillo ravaged three to four homes on Sunday evening, May 5.

KTSM spoke with one of the families whose home was destroyed by the fire. Eduardo Hidalgo had lived in the home for over 20 years. He says he has nothing left anymore.

Hidalgo is not only mourning the loss of his home, and all his personal belongings, but also the death of his brother, Manuel Hidalgo.

1 person confirmed dead in Canutillo fire

Local fire officials have not identified the man who died in Sundays fire, but the family has confirmed his identity.

Hidalgo said he first realized something was wrong after he heard a loud bang twice. He went to his backyard and realized a fire had broken out.

The flames were like 20 feet high already, Hidalgo said.

I started praying for my brother. I knew he was not going to make it. The fire was too hot, but I could still hear him saying, Please get me out. I couldnt get into that fire; it was too hot, Hidalgo said.

Luckily, his brothers wife and grandchild managed to escape the flames through a window, Hidalgo said.

The Hidalgo family is left reeling with many questions left unanswered. They say it took fire crews an hour to arrive. Anahi Hidalgo, the daughter of Eduardo Hidalgo, thinks maybe things could have been different if fire crews arrived earlier.

I feel like if the firefighters were here on time, I mean, maybe, I dont know The house went up so fast, but at least there wouldnt have been so much damage. My dad would have still had his house. The neighbors in the back, they also got affected by it. I think they could have helped if they came a little earlier. It would have been prevented a little more, Anahi Hidalgo said.

The fire drew a multi-agency response. Enrique Duenas, spokesperson for El Paso Fire, said the West Valley Fire initially responded to the fire at 6th Street and Park Avenue at about 5:31 p.m.. It took them eight minutes to arrive, Duenas said.

At 6:10, West Valley Fire requested additional assistance from El Paso Fire because the fire was rapidly spreading. Nine minutes later, El Paso Fire arrived on scene, Duenas said.

Canutillo is an unincorporated community in El Paso County and relies only on volunteer fire departments like West Valley Fire.

The Red Cross was at the scene of the incident on Sunday night assisting any displaced residents. KTSM also spoke to Jocelyn Cepeda, a social worker for the Canutillo Independent School District who said, they are working to assist the Hidalgo family with supplies and clothing.

Anahi Hidalgo told KTSM fire crews are not helping the affected families with cleanup, and they have not provided any resources for them either.

The County Fire Marshals Office is investigating the cause of the fire at this time.

Here is a link to a GoFundMe page that has been set up to help the Hidalgo family.











Photos courtesy of Anahi Hidalgo

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
FAYETTEVILLE, WV (WVNS)  Keeping students safe is a priority around the nation and the state. In Fayette County, the board of education plans to follow the lead of school districts across the state by hiring two school safety officers. The officers will be retired law enforcement agents whom the school board will pay to travel around the county schools, as needed.

Fayette County Schools Superintendent, Gary Hough said on Monday, May 6, 2024, the school district will pay the officers around $60,000 annually from upcoming levy funds. The funds were expected to be available on July 1, 2024.

The move is a solution to a limited budget, which does not allow for prevention resource officers, or PRO officers to be placed in every school.

PRO officers are employed by local police departments and placed in a number of schools. They have police power and can make arrests and investigate crimes committed by students and staff.

Fayette County Schools reimburses the department for the PRO officers salaries, with the exception of Fayetteville Police Department.

Hough said FPD places a PRO officer at a local school free of charge to the school district.

Crumbl Cookie countdown comes to an end

We knew that resources, just like anything else, theres limited budgets and you have to operate within that budget, said Hough. How do you do this and do it effectively, with the resources that are provided? And this is what we come up with it, that we feel like is a good plan.

He said the levy funds will also be used to expand the coverage area of existing PRO officers, in addition to the hiring of the two school safety officers.

School safety officers are specifically present to protect teachers and students and serve in a security role.

One of the school security officers will be primarily placed in the Meadow Bridge district.

Well have one that we rove, to all of our locations, and then, basically, by doing that, we cover everything in this county, said Hough. We have security officers available to every spot in this county.

He said the school safety officers will be hired from among retired law enforcement officers who are legally permitted to be armed.

Mount Hope Fire Department announces the availability of oxygen masks for pets

In Kanawha County, which borders Fayette County, Kanawha County Schools officials will hire twelve school safety officers for the next school year. Kanawha County Schools Executive Director of Safety and Security, Keith Vititote said the officers may travel to different schools instead of being assigned to just one school.

He emphasized the role of school safety officers is strictly for protecting those inside the schools.

The bottom line is that they are there to protect students and staff, said Vititote. We thank voters for the opportunity to include this additional layer of security.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WVNS.
Nearly a week after violence erupted on the campus of UCLA, Chancellor Gene Block announced Monday that the school is working with the Los Angeles Police Department and has reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to hold those responsible for the melee accountable.

Hostilities outside the pro-Palestinian solidarity encampment had been simmering since demonstrators took over Royce Quad on April 25, setting up dozens of tents and surrounding themselves with metal fences and wood pallets.

On April 30, just hours after Chancellor Block labeled the encampment as unauthorized, pro-Israeli counter-protestors, many dressed in all black with white masks over their faces and flags draped across their shoulders, lobbed fireworks at the encampment and attempted to dismantle the barricades.

For at least two hours, campus police stood by as both factions traded punches, hurled items at each other, and dispersed pepper spray and fire extinguishers in a chaotic scene that wasnt contained until around 2 a.m. when LAPD officers arrived.

The president of the University of California system, Michael Drake, said 15 people were injured, one of whom required hospitalization.

Despite the widespread violence, no arrests were reported, though Chancellor Block vowed a thorough investigation.

Just two days later, on May 2, police moved in, dismantled the encampment and arrested several hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

Israeli Protesters Laid Siege On The UCLA Gaza Support Camp For Over 4 Hours. The Israeli Protesters Used Make Shift Weapons, Chemical Weapons And Fireworks To Assault The Camp All Night Long, in Los Angeles, on May 1, 2024.(Photo by Shay Horse/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Many people in white masks showed up before violence broke out among pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protestors at the UCLA campus on April 30, 2024. (KTLA)

Violence broke out among pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protestors at the UCLA campus on April 30, 2024. (KTLA)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA  May 1: Pro-Palestinian protestors and pro-Israeli supporters clash at an encampment at UCLA early Wednesday morning. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

A counter protester shouts at pro-Palestinian protesters at a pro-Palestinian encampment set up on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) as clashes erupt, in Los Angeles on May 1, 2024. Clashes broke out on May 1, 2024 around pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the University of California, Los Angeles, as universities around the United States struggle to contain similar protests on dozens of campuses. (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP) (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images)

US Police officers stand guard near a pro-Palestinian encampment set up on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), after clashes erupted in Los Angeles on May 1, 2024. Clashes broke out on May 1, 2024 around pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the University of California, Los Angeles, as universities around the United States struggle to contain similar protests on dozens of campuses. (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP) (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images)

Police face-off with pro-Palestinian students after destroying part of the encampment barricade on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, California, early on May 2, 2024. (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images)

Police make an arrest as they face-off with pro-Palestinian students after destroying part of the encampment barricade on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, California, early on May 2, 2024. (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images)

Police react while pro-Palestinian students stand their ground after police breached their encampment at the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, California, early on May 2, 2024. (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images)

Police make an arrest as they face-off with pro-Palestinian students after destroying part of the encampment barricade on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, California, early on May 2, 2024. (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES CA MAY 2, 2024  Police tear down the tents on the UCLA campus Thursday, May 2, 2024. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA  MAY 02: A California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer detains a protestor while clearing a pro-Palestinian encampment after dispersal orders were given at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, on May 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The camp was declared unlawful by the university and over 100 protestors who refused to leave were detained during the operation. Pro-Palestinian encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the country with some protestors calling for schools to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA  MAY 02: A California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer detains a protestor while clearing a pro-Palestinian encampment after dispersal orders were given at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, on May 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The camp was declared unlawful by the university and over 100 protestors who refused to leave were detained during the operation. Pro-Palestinian encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the country with some protestors calling for schools to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Remnants of the pro-Palestinian protest encampment at UCLA on May 2, 2024. (KTLA)

Police patrol as workers clean up the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus after police evicted pro-Palestinian students, in Los Angeles, California, early on May 2, 2024. Hundreds of police tore down protest barricades and began arresting students early Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles  the latest flashpoint in an eruption of protest on US campuses over Israels war against Hamas in Gaza. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Workers clean up the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus after police evicted pro-Palestinian students, in Los Angeles, California, early on May 2, 2024. Hundreds of police tore down protest barricades and began arresting students early Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles  the latest flashpoint in an eruption of protest on US campuses over Israels war against Hamas in Gaza. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

A group of people were detained on the third floor of a parking garage on the campus of UCLA on May 6, 2024. (KTLA)

A group of people were detained on the third floor of a parking garage on the campus of UCLA on May 6, 2024. (KTLA)

A group of people were detained on the third floor of a parking garage on the campus of UCLA on May 6, 2024. (KTLA)

A group of people were detained on the third floor of a parking garage on the campus of UCLA on May 6, 2024. (KTLA)

Today, Block followed up on his promise, saying the university is committed to identifying last weeks perpetrators of violence and holding them accountable.

The LAPD has committed a detective to assist in our investigative efforts, and we have also connected with the FBI about possible assistance, the chancellor said Monday in a message to the Bruin community. We have spoken to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon to solicit his help in ensuring that the instigators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Block added that investigators are reviewing all available footage from the April 30 incident, interviewing witnesses and urged anyone who has information about the attack to report it as soon as possible.

Despite the announcement, demonstrations on the campus of UCLA continued Monday.

The universitys newly formed Office of Campus Safety, headed by former Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel, arrested 43 people in a campus parking structure this morning.

Police say the group refused to provide identification and prove whether they were students legally allowed on campus during curfew hours.

According to UCLA regulations, non-affiliates of the university are not allowed on campus between midnight and 6 a.m. without permission. Everyone, including students, staff and faculty, is required to show ID if campus police determine theres a disturbance to campus peace, KTLAs Samanth Cortese reported.

Later, dozens of protesters, perhaps more than 100, marched through campus and gathered for a rally in front of the student union building. The university then announced that all classes would be moved to remote due to ongoing disruptions.

School officials also said Royce Hall and Powell library would remain closed until Friday.

UCLA did not respond to multiple questions from KTLA about todays arrests.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
A shot of cards on a table at West Alabama Womens Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. A federal judge Tuesday allowed a lawsuit seeking to prevent Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall from prosecuting assistance for out-of-state abortion care to proceed. (Vasha Hunt for Alabama Reflector)

A federal judge Monday allowed a lawsuit aimed at stopping Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall from prosecuting those who help Alabamians seek out-of-state abortion care to move forward.

U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson denied Marshalls motion to dismiss the lawsuit, upholding the plaintiffs claims of right to travel and limits on the extraterritorial application of state law.

The claim will not be dismissed because (a) the right to travel includes the right both to move physically between states and to do what is lawful in those states, and (b) prosecuting those who facilitate lawful out-of-state abortions, as the attorney general threatens to do, would violate that right, Thompson wrote in the ruling.

Thompson wrote that Marshalls characterization of the right to travel as merely a right to move physically between the states contravenes history, precedent, and common sense, and added that such a constrained conception of the right to travel would erode the privileges of national citizenship and is inconsistent with the Constitution.

A message seeking comment was left with Marshalls office Monday. Alabama passed an effective abortion ban in 2019 which became law in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal abortion rights protections in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization.



A coalition of reproductive and civil rights groups sued Marshall last year, citing statements he made in an August 2022 radio interview in which Marshall said that health care providers could face felony charges for assisting Alabamians in traveling to other states to obtain legal abortion care.

Marshalls office sought dismissal of the lawsuit, arguing that state statute allows law enforcement to charge people with committing a crime outside the state if it were illegal to do so in Alabama. The office wrote that a crime receives no constitutional protection.

Alison Mollman, legal director of the ACLU of Alabama, said in a phone interview Tuesday that the ruling signals that Marshalls threats may pose constitutional concerns.

I think this is a victory in many ways for Alabama and for health care providers and their patients, but its only a partial victory, she said. This case will still need to go forward, and were looking forward to having our day in court..

The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of West Alabama Womens Center in Tuscaloosa; Dr. Yashica Robinson and Alabama Womens Center, both in Huntsville, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery.

The plaintiffs alleged that without court intervention, pregnant individuals could face delays in accessing necessary care, and that some may be coerced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term.

The lawsuit emphasized the potential serious consequences in a state with the nations third-highest maternal mortality rate, particularly among Black women, who experience a disproportionate number of maternal deaths due to systemic racism.

Meagan Burrows, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement that Todays ruling sends a strong signal to anti-abortion politicians that their efforts to prevent pregnant people in states with bans from obtaining the help they need to access legal, out-of-state abortion care are blatantly unconstitutional.

Robin Marty, the operations director of West Alabama Womens Center, said Tuesday that its been far too long that providers have been able to offer information that is legally available to patients about their reproductive health choices.

For people who are becoming pregnant, they deserve the right to know everything that they could possibly choose to do with that pregnancy, and being cut off from the ability to provide full care to our patients has been horrifying, Marty said.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The United States should not influence cooperation between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, Trend reports.

He made the statement during a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi on May 6 in Tehran.

Amir-Abdollahian believes that Iran-IAEA cooperation is progressing positively and will continue to grow. He added that the impartial and professional stance of the IAEA director general will play an effective role in the cooperation between Iran and the agency, helping the region return to sustainable security and stability.

During the meeting, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi also stated that Iran's position is important for strengthening Iran's cooperation with the agency and restoring regional stability and security.

Strengthening the cooperation process between Iran and the IAEA will lead to the failure of the parties who follow tensions and conflicts in the region under any pretext, he said.

To note, on May 6, the three-day 1st International Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology began in Isfahan, Iran. Senior Iranian officials attended the conference. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi also visited Iran to participate in the conference.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
A federal judge smacked down a series of threats by Alabamas Republican attorney general to prosecute groups that help women obtain out-of-state abortions, wading into a debate over access to the procedure that has lingered since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.

The plaintiffs, including a group called the Yellowhammer Fund that helps women obtain out-of-state abortions, sued Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall after he suggested prosecution might be possible for groups that aid and abet abortions, including by helping women travel out of state.

That issue has been closely watched by advocates on both sides of the abortion debate as red states across the country ban or severely limit access to the procedure in the wake of the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe. That has forced many women seeking an abortion in a clinical setting to cross state lines.

The right to interstate travel is one of our most fundamental constitutional rights, US District Judge Myron Thompson wrote in a preliminary ruling late Monday.

Alabama can no more restrict people from going to, say, California to engage in what is lawful there than California can restrict people from coming to Alabama to do what is lawful here, Thompson wrote.

The suits were brought not by women seeking an out-of-state abortion but rather by groups that intend to help them. Thompson, appointed to the bench by President Jimmy Carter, wrote that a patients right to travel was inextricably bound up with those groups. Collectively, he wrote, the groups receive as many as 95 inquiries each week asking about the availability of out-of-state abortions.

The Constitution protects the right to cross state lines and engage in lawful conduct in other states, including receiving an abortion, Thomson wrote in a decision that will allow the lawsuit to proceed. Travel is valuable precisely because it allows us to pursue opportunities available elsewhere.

A spokeswoman for Marshall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022, abortion rights groups warned that some states might attempt to limit out-of-state travel for the procedure. Since the Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, nearly two dozen states have banned or heavily limited access to abortion.

Floridas six-week abortion ban took effect last week, for instance, cutting off access to the procedure in most of the southern United States. Alabama has banned abortion with no exception for rape or incest.

I think we will see statements like these increase as attorneys general and other state actors try to extend their own abortion politics and policies across state lines, said Temple University Beasley School of Law Dean Rachel Rebouche. This is the world Dobbs created  one of intense interstate conflict.

The Supreme Courts majority opinion in Dobbs didnt deal with out-of-state travel.

But Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative who joined the courts 5-4 majority to overturn Roe, wrote separately to suggest that the question wasnt an especially difficult one to decide.

As I see it, some of the other abortion-related legal questions raised by todays decision are not especially difficult as a constitutional matter, Kavanaugh wrote. For example, may a state bar a resident of that State from traveling to another state to obtain an abortion? In my view, the answer is no based on the constitutional right to interstate travel.

Access to abortion medication, another option for women in states that ban the procedure, is also facing a legal challenge. The Supreme Court this year is considering a suit by conservative doctors and advocates who say the Food and Drug Administration overstepped its authority by expanding access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

The Alabama groups were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The decision brings us one step closer to ensuring that healthcare providers can fulfill their ethical duties to their patients and to establishing that pregnant Alabamians can access comprehensive information about their legal healthcare options., said Alison Mollman, legal director of the ACLU of Alabama.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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Federal Judge Aileen Cannon announced Tuesday she was indefinitely postponing Donald Trumps classified documents trial in Florida, putting the case on ice less than three weeks before it was slated to begin.

The announcement likely means the case will not be tried until after the 2024 election.

Trumps camp is sure to view the postponement as a major win, as theyve tried nearly everything legally possiblethrough a variety of appeals and motionsto have each trial against the former president pushed back or thrown out entirely, including the classified documents trial in question.

Cannon wrote Tuesday that the trials start date, previously slated for May 20, was being delayed so she can resolve a slew of pre-trial motions. She added that the finalization of a trial date at this juncture ... would be imprudent and inconsistent with the Courts duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court.

Stormy Relives Sex With Trumpand He Gets Desperate

Before she sets a new trial date, Cannon said she plans to resolve the backlog of other issues in the case that have piled up in recent weeks. That, she said, will take until at least late July.

Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting Trump in the case, did not immediately comment on the delay. Hed previously asked Cannon to have the trial begin July 8, but she indicated Tuesday that date is too soon.

Smith is already sitting in limbo on another Trump case, awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity that could determine if the trialconcerning the former presidents attempts to subvert the 2020 electioncan move forward this year or not.

Its not the first instance Trumps delay tactics have paid off. He previously had his hush-money trial in New York City, which currently ongoing as of Tuesday, pushed back nearly a month from its initial start date.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A proposal from Sen. Glen Womack, to create a majority Black district that stretches from Caddo Parish to East Baton Rouge Parish (Screen capture from bill)

A panel of three federal judges has ordered the Louisiana Legislature to take another stab at drawing the states congressional districts, the latest update in a years-long saga that has seen lawmakers adopt two maps that have run into court obstacles.

The order, handed down Tuesday, is the latest update in the case Callais v. Landry, in which a group of non-Black voters sued over the creation of a second majority-Black congressional district. They contend the map, signed into law after a five-day special legislative session convened in January at Gov. Jeff Landrys direction, constitutes an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and violates the 14th and 15th amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The three judge panel voted 2-1 in favor of the plaintiffs. The two judges who sided with the plaintiffs are federal court appointees of former President Donald Trump, while the dissenter was a nominee of former President Bill Clinton.

In a press release, Attorney General Liz Murrill, who defended the map, slammed the courts decision.

Today, three federal judges who never spent a day running an election have ignored uncontradicted testimony that we need a map by May 15, and once again turned Louisianas Congressional elections upside down, Murill said. At a time when concerns about election integrity are higher than ever, this ruling threatens the ability of the Secretary of State to conduct a stable and fair election in a presidential election year in Louisiana. We will be heading this week to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The judges gave the Legislature until the end of their ongoing lawmaking session on June 3 to draw a new map. This timeframe disregards the May 15 deadline set by Republican Secretary of State Nancy Landry, a defendant in the case who said the maps had to be finalized by then in order for new districts to be used in the November election.

The 5th Circuit ruling notes the state said during arguments that it could use a map for the fall election thats adopted by the end of May.

Other parties in the case will also be allowed to submit proposed maps, and the 5th Circuit panel will come up with its own boundaries as a fallback. If the Legislature does not adopt a map by the end of the regular session, the court will impose a remedial map.

Its unclear if there is a bill in the current legislative session that could be amended to include the new congressional maps. The deadline to file new legislation passed in early April.

Any amendments have to be germane to the bill, and the only congressional redistricting bill was withdrawn shortly after it was filed in early April. Several other bills would redistrict the Legislature and Louisiana Supreme Court, but such substantive amendments could be ruled as irrelevant to the bill.

In the Callais case, the 5th Circuit judges found that race was the motivating factor for the drawing of the map, making it an illegal racial gerrymander. They rejected the argument that legislators were motivated by politics. Partisan gerrymandering is legal, but racial gerrymandering is not.

A key part of the courts finding that the map constitutes a racial gerrymander is the shape of the new 6th Congress District, which runs from Caddo Parish in northwest Louisiana down to East Baton Rouge Parish, crossing the center of the state diagonally to pick up communities of Black voters along the way.

The Court finds that  District 6 does not satisfy the geographically compact and reasonably configured Gingles requirement, the opinion reads.

The Gingles test arose from a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that set standards for determining whether election districts meet federal standards.

The redistricting plan at issue in the Callais case was enacted in response to an order from U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, an appointee of President Barack Obama, after she ruled against a map the Legislature approved in 2022. She gave the Legislature until Jan. 31 to redraw the lines, as she ruled the 2022 map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It retained a single majority-Black district, leading to the lawsuit from a group of Black voters, Robinson v. Landry, to block its boundaries from taking effect.

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting laws or procedures that purposefully discriminate on the basis of race, color or membership in a language minority group. Diluting the voting power of racial minorities is one way the law can be violated.

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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The post Federal judges order Louisiana Legislature to draw yet another congressional map appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator.
Fentanyl pills hidden in babys diaper found during traffic stop, Texas cops say

A mother and father were arrested after a deputy conducting a routine traffic stop discovered fentanyl hidden in their babys diaper, Texas deputies said.

Authorities pulled the parents vehicle over on the evening of May 5 for a minor traffic violation and smelled marijuana coming from inside, according to a May 7 news release from the Smith County Sheriffs Office.

McClatchy News is not naming the parents to protect the childs identity.

The deputy conducted a probable cause search and discovered four bags of raw marijuana in the trunk, the sheriffs office said.

After talking with the parents, the deputy became suspicious that narcotics may have been concealed in the clothing of their 6-month-old daughter who was also present in the car, according to law enforcement.

The deputy asked the mother to change the babys diaper, noting that it looked full, authorities said.

Inside the diaper was a pill bottle containing pressed fentanyl, a highly dangerous illegal narcotic, according to law enforcement.

Both parents were charged with possession of marijuana, manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance and endangering a child, according to the sheriffs office.

I cant express enough how irresponsible and dangerous it is to do something like that, Smith County Sheriffs Office PIO Sgt. Larry Christian told KLTV.

The baby was released to Child Protective Services after her parents were arrested, Christian told the station.

The pair was booked at Smith County Jail, and their bonds total $105,000 each, authorities said.

Toddler dies from overdose 3 weeks after return to parental custody, Florida cops say

Customer angry over McDonalds order shoots, kills man trying to calm him, TX cops say

Trio ambush and kill foreign politicians son, cops say. 3 arrested one month later
Paul Grice is the fifth member of Gods Misfits to be charged in a murder investigation. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)

On the afternoon of July 6 last year, Paul Grice went to the county clerks office at the Cimarron County Courthouse at Boise City, Oklahoma, and paid $104 to file a peculiar document in an attempt, among other things, to renounce his U.S. citizenship.

You may have heard of Grice, a member of an anti-government group in the Oklahoma panhandle called Gods Misfits, because he was recently the fifth member of the group to be charged with the murder of a pair of Kansas women in connection with a custody battle.

But the custody dispute is only part of the story. It appears the Misfits may have embraced reckless and vengeful violence as an extension of their apocalyptic religious beliefs that children are property and that no government or other human institution can interfere in parental authority.

Grice had turned 31 a few days earlier, so maybe he was thinking about his place in this world  and perhaps the next. We dont know exactly what was on his mind when he walked into the historic red brick courthouse at the center of town to deliver his bundle of papers, but the story told by the 35-page document is of a world vastly different from the one the rest of us inhabit.

Grices world was based not on reality but instead spun from poisonous conspiracy theories, half-baked legal hypotheses and religious delusion. Im assuming he must have walked into the Cimarron County Courthouse at Boise (pronounced Boyce) City because he lived with his wife and three kids only 16 miles to the northeast, at Keyes, a town of just a few hundred people. Theres no indication in the documents of whether he delivered them in person, or mailed them, but I imagine he would have visited in person.

We know Grice sent copies of the renunciation document to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken by certified mail. The return receipt is in the filing.

I am a creation of nature and natures God, he declared in the courthouse document, in the curious spelling and punctuation that has become the legal patois of the sovereign citizen movement. A people, a man, found alive and living, commonly known by my family, friends and neighbors as Paul Grice and so here I (w)ill stand.

He had dominion over all things, he asserted. His three children were his God-given property and subject to none other. He lived not in Oklahoma, but in the Oklahomat Republic, and the United States had been under martial law since the Civil War. The 14th Amendment, which most of us understand as granting citizenship to formerly enslaved persons and guaranteeing due process and equal protection under the law, had actually made slaves of us all. The Federal Reserve was illegitimate, the U.S. had become a corporation that sold its citizens as debt to foreign powers, and 1930s Pennsylvania congressman Louis T. McFadden was right when he said there was a Jewish conspiracy for world domination.

He also claimed state and federal authorities, in cooperation with judges and attorneys, were engaged in child kidnapping and trafficking.

All of it is nonsense, but its the kind of nonsense associated with anti-government rhetoric from the sovereign citizen movement, topped with QAnon conspiracy theories.

Sovereign citizens believe they are not under the jurisdiction of the federal government and consider themselves exempt from U.S. law, Travis McAdam, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told me. And that is all based on a variety of conspiracy theories and falsehoods they use to justify their beliefs and activities.

The sovereign movement has been around for decades and has typically been linked to militias, McAdam said, but recently it has gained strength from QAnon. Although the movement has usually been seen as irksome by public officials, because of the copious court filings that are a favorite tactic of sovereigns to avoid paying taxes or confound the legal system, sovereign resistance has sometimes taken violent forms. The FBI classifies the movement as a domestic terrorism threat.

Terry Nichols, the convicted Oklahoma City bomber, was part of the movement. In 1992, Nichols  like Grice  attempted to renounce his U.S. citizenship.

I am no longer a citizen of the corrupt political corporate state of Michigan and the United States of America, he wrote in a letter to officials.

Such attempts arent legally recognized. You can only renounce your citizenship, according to the State Department website, from outside the U.S., and only by following established procedure.

Weve seen more and more sovereign groups trying to recruit people who are involved (in disputes) with child protective services, McAdam said. They really try to use the idea of this is an illegitimate government, this is an illegitimate court system trying to take your kids away, and maybe we can help.

On April 24, Grice became the fifth Misfit to be arrested.

After two women went missing, law enforcement made four arrests in Oklahomas Cimarron and Texas counties (clockwise, from top left): Cole Twombly, Tifany Adams, Tad Cullum and Cora Twombly. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)

He faces the same charges as his former prayer partners, Tifany Adams, Tad Cullum, and Cole and Cora Twombly. Adams was in a bitter custody dispute with the mother of her grandchildren and, according to court documents in the criminal case, the five were involved in a conspiracy to kidnap and kill. The plan was to ambush the childrens mother, Veronica Butler, and a court-approved supervisor when they came to pick up the children for a birthday party March 30, the day before Easter, the documents say. Both women were from Hugoton, just across the state line in Kansas.

Their car was found abandoned along a dirt lane in Texas County, Oklahoma. Smashed windows, a broken hammer, a purse with a pistol magazine and blood at the scene indicated something violent had taken place. The women were the object of an intense search for two weeks after their disappearance.

The bodies of Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, the supervisor, were located following the initial arrests. They had been mothers and church members in their hometown of Hugoton. Their remains were found in a freshly dug hole covered by dirt and hay at a rural property rented by Cullum for grazing cattle. Tifany Adams, according to an affidavit filed by prosecutors, had confessed to participating in the murder of the women.

Affidavits in the case also named Grice as being involved, including helping to block the highway and divert Butler and Kelleys car. Authorities have not said where Grice was before he was arrested. He was arraigned Wednesday at Texas County District Court at Guymon, Oklahoma. Like his co-defendants, he was denied bond.

On April 23, 2024, Grice was interviewed and admitted that he was part of the planning and killing of both Butler and Kelley, an affidavit supporting probable cause for his arrest said. Grice admitted to (an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent) that he participated in the killing of Butler and Kelley and their subsequent burial.

In his manifesto-like filing at Boise City last year, Grice cited a litany of perceived governmental abuses that are common among sovereign citizens and Christian Identity adherents. Grice recalled the April 19, 1993, siege at Waco, Texas, as the murder  of 86 men, women and children by agents of the federal government. Part of Timothy McVeighs motivation in bombing the Alfred P. Murrah federal building on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City  which killed 168 people and was the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history  was the Waco siege.

I am not anti-government, anti-military, or anti-America, Grice claimed in the document. The eccentric capitalization that follows is his: Quite the contrary. For Generations, My family served the united States of America in both active and inactive service all over the world.

The sovereign citizen movement began with William Potter Gale, a World War II veteran who formed an anti-tax resistance movement called the California Rangers in the 1960s. Gale also was a key figure in Christian Identity and white supremacy and a founder of the Christian Patriots of the 1980s. At one point, he broadcast his message to radio listeners from a studio in Dodge City. He was convicted of tax crimes, sentenced to prison and died awaiting appeal in 1988.

In the document filed July in Cimarron County, Grice rails against government oversight and regulation, the genetic manipulation of food, vaccines and the United Nations. He does get two things right: The Tuskegee Experiment, in which hundreds of Black men were left untreated for syphilis so the course of the disease could be studied, and Project MK-Ultra, a CIA project in which unsuspecting individuals were given experimental drugs in an attempt at mind control.

Near the end, he references the Book of Revelation.

I must now also leave Babylon the Great and not partake of her sins any longer lest I receive her plagues, he writes, for her sins have reaching unto Heaven, and God will remember her iniquities. May God have mercy on the people of the United States/UNITED STATES!

They spell their name and others in all caps or they use weird punctuation, McAdam said. They think the Treasury Department has set up these accounts when any child is born, and that somehow there is this corporate account, that exists differently (but represents) the actual child. And so youll see in these court filings where theyll think that OK, if I just get the punctuation right, if I get the capitalization right, Im going to be able to reclaim my sovereign status.

Its as if the sovereigns believe there is a kind of magic code to legal documents, that if only they get the weird spelling and capitalization right, all of their problems will be solved. But there doesnt appear to be a Sovereign Citizens Stylebook, and every document looks a bit different.

Some sovereign citizens also believe that the only legitimate governmental entity is the state, but they tend to view each state as a republic. McAdam said, however, he did not know why Grice spelled Oklahoma as Oklahomat Republic.

Reading Grices manifesto left me wondering how many others out there believe what he does, or at least what he professed to. McAdam said the SPLC had not heard of Gods Misfits until news broke about the arrests. He also said the center doesnt have a way to track actual members in a movement, but that it was pretty clear the sovereign citizens were growing.

McAdam, who works for the SPLC from his home in Montana, compared the movement to a prairie twister.

Many of these movements are like a funnel cloud or tornado, where way up in the clouds at the big end of the funnel, you have people the get pulled in for all kinds of reasons, McAdam said. They kind of spin out and back in again. But then there are people who really start to go down into the funnel. And as they do that, they become steeped in these conspiracy theories and worldviews. And if you go all the way through down to the ground and pop out, well those are people like Timothy McVeigh.

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The post A fifth Misfit is accused of murdering Kansas women. Last year, he declared extremist beliefs. appeared first on Oklahoma Voice.
WAYNE, N.J. (PIX11)  A fire engulfed a home in Passaic County, New Jersey, killing a familys dog Saturday night, officials said.

The fire happened at a home on Lenox Road in Wayne, according to Wayne Fire Company No. 5.

Off-duty FDNY firefighter saves man from burning car

Firefighters worked for several hours to extinguish the flames. Two firefighters suffered non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

The residents were not home at the time of the fire, according to officials.

Glad to hear that the family was not home at the time of the fire and all are safe. So very sorry to hear of the loss of the familys pet, Wayne Mayor Christopher Vergano said.

Information on the cause of the fire wasnt available.

Finn Hoogensen is a digital journalist who has covered local news for more than five years. He has been with PIX11 News since 2022. See more of his work here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
FIREBAUGH, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE)  A Firebaugh farmer was honored by Assemblywoman Esmeralda during the 2024 Latino Spirit Awards held on the California State Assembly Floor, officials announced.

Assemblywoman Soria recognized Joe L. Del Bosque as her 2024 Latino Spirit Award Honoree. After years of migrant farm work, officials say Del Bosques family settled on the Westside of the San Joaquin Valley, where Joe grew up working on the farm with his father, starting when he was 10 years old.

Upon graduating from Fresno State in 1975, Del Bosque established his own melon farm in 1985, a farm that now produces organic melons, tomatoes, almonds, and cherries.

Del Bosque, according to officials, has been a strong vocal advocate for farmers and farmworkers impacted by water policies. He was appointed to serve on the California Water Commission in 2012 and he now serves on the Ag Foundation Board at Fresno State, and the Board of Directors of AMOR wellness.

He is also a member of the California Melon Research Board, the California Latino Water Coalition, the Western Growers Association, and the California Farm Bureau. He was selected as the 2024 Latino Spirit Honoree thanks to his contributions to agriculture in California.

Thank you for recognizing the talents of Latinos across California. We are a diverse community and our contributions span all sectors. As a former farmworker and now farmer I am humbled to receive the Spirit Award in Agriculture, said Del Bosque.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47.
Anglers on the Big Hole River near the Powerhouse fishing access site on Aug. 2, 2023. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)

Anglers on the Big Hole River near the Powerhouse fishing access site on Aug. 2, 2023. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)

The effort to try to restore trout populations in the Big Hole River after historic low numbers were recorded last year received preliminary good news that initial counts this spring along two sections of the river show increases from 2023, especially among brown trout.

The population growth is encouraging, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Big Hole River fisheries biologist Jim Olsen said Tuesday, but the brown trout and rainbow trout populations are still only about one-half to three-quarters of the long-term average population sizes in the Big Hole.

It is one of four rivers in southwest Montana where FWP, Montana State University, and local fisheries groups are studying what has caused trout population declines over the past decade and mysterious illnesses in some fish.

In the Melrose section of the Big Hole River, which is below the Salmon Fly Fishing Access Site, crews this spring found an estimated 192 rainbow trout and 506 brown trout per mile  up from 161 rainbows and 324 brown trout per mile in last years estimates. But the long-term averages of 488 rainbow trout and 908 brown trout per mile in that section still far outpace current estimates.

In the Hogback section of the river, which sits between the Glen Fishing Access Site and the Tony Schoonen Fishing Access Site, crews found slightly fewer rainbow trout this year (263) than they did last year (288). But they counted a large increase in brown trout, finding an estimated 722 this year compared to 289 last year. Historically, crews have found about 473 rainbow trout and 920 brown trout in that section of the river.

Biologists also did population estimates for the Jerry Creek section near Wise River and the Pennington section upstream of Twin Bridges to sample upper and lower sections of the river, but the estimates have not been finalized.

Olsen said the results so far from the two sections have been good, and that its likely that better water levels last year helped improve the survival of juvenile fish because many of the fish counted this year were 2-year-old fish.

Save Wild Trout, another group working on studying fish declines on the Big Hole, acknowledged the survey results and said in a social media post that a good water year & hard work can make a difference.

The forecast & nutrient pollution mean lots more work to do. The breakdown  young, juvenile, adults  is an important indicator of overall health, the group said.

The Big Hole, Beaverhead, Ruby and Madison rivers are among those in southwest Montana that have seen decreased streamflows compared to historical averages over the past decade, and those lower water levels are among the factors biologists are looking into as to why trout populations have declined.

But if a better water year in 2023 was a boon for the trout populations on the Big Hole, water supply forecasts so far this year could spell trouble.

The May water supply forecast released this week by the Natural Resources Conservation Service said snowpack in the Jefferson River basin is currently at 69% of normal, compared to 127% this time last year. And April brought only 70% of the monthly average precipitation to the basin.

Those conditions have the NRCS forecasting water supply in the Jefferson and Beaverhead rivers to be just 35% to 50% of normal for May through July and about the same through September. The Big Hole at Glen, for instance, was running at 1,260 cubic feet per second on Tuesday  close to the 25th percentile for May 7 and nearly 900 cfs below the mean flow for the date compared to the past 26 years of records.

The NRCS said precipitation forecast this week could help streamflows but even a wet spring would likely not boost rivers back to normal levels.

It likely wont be enough to compensate for the lack of precipitation earlier this season. Many rivers and streams will still likely see below normal runoff volumes this season, however with additional precipitation in the coming weeks runoff might end up closer to the 30% exceedance forecasts, the May water supply forecast report says.

FWP and MSU researchers have started tagging trout as part of their study in the Jefferson and Madison basins and are asking anglers to report when they catch tagged fish to help them understand population sizes, locations and health. Certain tags will make anglers eligible for awards.

They also are conducting a fish mortality study, a juvenile fish study and a fish health study as part of the project. They also hope to conduct molecular testing for fungi, bacteria and viruses in the Big Hole and Beaverhead rivers to help better understand what is happening to the fisheries.

The post Fish survey finds growth in trout population on Big Hole River since 2023 appeared first on Daily Montanan.
At least six dead and dozens missing as multi-story building collapses in South Africa

At least six people have died and 48 so far unaccounted for after a multi-story building collapsed Monday afternoon in the South African city of George, officials said Tuesday.

Rescue missions remain underway, and 26 people have been removed from the rubble since the building collapsed in the Western cape province around 2 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET) on Monday, George Municipality said in a statement.

Three teams of rescue personnel are currently working on three different areas within the site of the collapsed building, the statement said.

The rescue operation is estimated to take four to five days, with 111 emergency personnel on site, the Western Cape Government said Tuesday.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa offered his condolences in a statement from his office Tuesday, saying, The Presidents thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones as well as the families of close to 50 people who are trapped in the rubble.

Ramaphosa also called for an investigation into how the incident happened, to bring closure to the community and prevent a repeat of this disaster. the statement said.

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Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill Hooser (Courtesy of Utah Department of Public Safety)

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox ordered flags across Utah to be flown at half staff to honor Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill Hooser, who died in the line of duty over the weekend.

Police said Hooser, 50, was intentionally struck and killed by a semitruck driver on Sunday morning while Hooser and a Utah Highway Patrol trooper conducted a traffic stop on Interstate 15. The driver fled the scene and was later detained.

Monday, police forces commemorated Hooser with a procession on I-15, while officers transported his body from the medical examiners office in Taylorsville to Santaquin.

Cox described Sunday as a tragic day in the history of our state, at a news briefing. For a small police department with only 15 officers, Cox said, the tragedy hits even harder.

Every year we have a fallen officer memorial and every year there is a remembrance ceremony that is held for those who have lost their lives in the line of duty, Cox said. Tragically, we will be adding another name to that memorial.

The governor also thanked Utah law enforcement and those who helped locate the driver later that day.

Im grateful for those who pursued knowing that their lives would be in danger from someone who had already killed and would certainly kill again, Cox said. And were just grateful that we have that caliber of people who were willing to step up and make a tremendous difference.

Michael Hooser, the fallen officers brother, said during a news conference Monday his family is devastated by the loss and was humbled to see the support shown by Utahns.

Such a senseless loss, it hits so hard for not just our family, but our extended law enforcement, family and the community. We take comfort in the outpouring of support we have received from agencies and officers all over the state, Hooser said. Although nothing could ever make up the loss we feel, we take solace knowing that Bill died a hero, doing the job he loved, serving people he loved.

The governor ordered flags to be lowered beginning immediately Monday afternoon until sunset on the day of his interment, according to a news release. The Governors office said it would send an additional notice of the day when the flags can be returned to full-staff position.

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The post Flags in Utah lowered in remembrance of fallen Santaquin police officer appeared first on Utah News Dispatch.
AccuWeather meteorologists are monitoring a new setup for heavy rain and possible flooding in parts of Texas and much of the Gulf Coast region from later this weekend to early next week.

The downpours of greatest concern will occur after severe thunderstorms visit parts of the region this week, and a break of dry weather will follow.

After spotty severe thunderstorms moved through into Wednesday night, more concentrated showers and thunderstorms will drench northeastern Texas on Thursday.

While Thursday's downpours will not repeat the deluge that occurred last week when 7-14 inches of rain poured down in a few days, a general 1-2 inches of rain is in store with local amounts of 2-4 inches. That can be enough to slow the recession on some rivers in the region and bring small streams quickly out of their banks again.

The Trinity, San Jacinto and Neches rivers all surged to major flood levels following rainfall up to 30 inches in the last 30 days in part of their basins.

Friday to Saturday will be mainly dry over much of central and northeastern Texas. That dry stretch will expand to much of the Mississippi Delta region and the Southeast states into the weekend.

The break in the rain will help with cleanup operations in the wake of the recent severe weather events over the region.

One or more storm systems will travel from South Texas to the northern Gulf of Mexico and tap into the moisture influx.

"A southeast wind will develop and bring a fresh surge of rich Gulf moisture back into the southern Plains, setting the stage for another potential period of wet weather which will last into early next week," AccuWeather Meteorologist Joseph Bauer said.

Severe weather cannot be ruled out, but the main concern is torrential downpours that can potentially renew flooding or trigger flooding in some areas that have been spared so far this spring, Bauer said.

Downpours will occur from central Texas, eastward to Houston from Sunday to Monday, then along the Interstate 10 corridor in Louisiana, including New Orleans, and on to Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Florida from Monday to Tuesday. How far inland the heaviest rain extends beyond I-10 or where the most intense band sets up will depend on the track of the storm moving along from west to east.

Should the downpour pattern develop to its full potential, a general 2-4 inches of rain may occur, with double those amounts possible locally. Where the heaviest rain falls, streams and secondary rivers will surge and flooding will commence or resume. The flood-ravaged area of northeastern Texas will be watched closely for potential impacts from the wet setup Sunday to Monday. Additional rounds of rain may occur on Tuesday and Wednesday in part of the same area.

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Heavy rain across the Mississippi Delta region will not trigger flooding on the lower part of the Mississippi River. Rising water levels on this part of the Mississippi River are the result of heavy rainfall on portions of the Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and upper Mississippi basins in recent weeks.

However, should downpours focus on the region, urban flooding can occur in the metro areas, including New Orleans. The Big Easy has dried out a bit as of late with rainfall of about 25% of the historical average since April 15, but during the prior six weeks or so, nearly 15 inches of rain fell, which was about two times that of the historical average.

It is a similar story in Tallahassee, Florida, where rainfall since April 15 has been less than 5% of the historical average. During the period from March 1 to April 14, 15 inches of rain fell, which was 210% of the historical average.

Downpours may reach some locations that really need the rain. Soil conditions range from abnormally dry to extreme drought in parts of southern and central Texas, according to the United States Drought Monitor.

"While it's early to get too specific on where the heaviest rain will fall, this event does look to include central to southeastern Texas, which could bring much-needed rain to the San Antonio to Corpus Christi corridor," Bauer said.

Another patch where rain is needed is across central portions of the Florida Peninsula, where pockets of moderate drought exist.

The bulk of the downpours from Monday to Tuesday may stay north of the zone from Tampa to Orlando, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Houk said. Enough rain may fall on parts of the Florida Panhandle and the northern part of the peninsula to trigger localized flooding early next week.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
HOUSTON (AP)  Floodwaters in the Houston area and parts of Southeast Texas began to recede on Monday, allowing residents to begin returning to their homes and assess damages after days of heavy rainfall that pummeled the area and led to hundreds of rescues  including people who were stranded on rooftops.

While officials in Harris County, where Houston is located, reported no deaths or major injuries from the flooding, Gov. Greg Abbott said there were at least three deaths in the state. Among those killed was a 4-year-old boy in North Texas who died after riding in a car that was swept away in fast waters.

After days of heavy rainfall in the Houston area and other parts of Southeast Texas, Mondays weather was dominated by mostly sunny skies and little if any rain.

We can absolutely see the light at the end of the tunnel, and weve made it through the worst of this weather event, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the countys top elected official, told reporters Monday.

Swiftwater rescue teams from Michigan, including three Grand Rapids and one retired Walker firefighter made their way into neighborhoods cut off by floodwaters in Walker County, north of Houston. Theyre delivering food and water to people who decided not to evacuate. The Michigan team arrived over the weekend and could be in Texas for two weeks.

Areas near Lake Livingston, located northeast of Houston, received upwards of 23 inches (58 centimeters) of rain over the past week, National Weather Service meteorologist Jimmy Fowler said. Areas in northeastern Harris County, the nations third-largest county, had a range of between 6 inches (15 centimeters) to almost 17 inches (43 centimeters) of rain in that same period.

Hidalgo said 233 people and 186 pets had been rescued in Harris County over the last few days. Active rescues stopped Monday, and officials were transitioning from a response phase into recovery mode and cleanup, she said.

Across Texas, more than 600 people were rescued by local and state authorities, Abbott said. A disaster declaration was issued by Abbott for 91 counties impacted by the severe weather.

It has been heart wrenching to see our fellow Texans be literally inundated with record water fall, Abbott said.

While many of the impacted neighborhoods and subdivisions along the San Jacinto River in Harris County were accessible on Monday, others remained cut off by flooded roadways.

Were a resilient community. I know well continue to recover from this, said Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

At least five school districts around the Houston area were closed on Monday due to the flooding.

Houston is one of the most flood-prone metro areas in the country. Hurricane Harvey in 2017 dumped historic rainfall that flooded thousands of homes and resulted in more than 60,000 rescues.

Most of the city of Houston was not heavily impacted by last weeks rainfall, except for the neighborhood of Kingwood, where some homes and roads flooded.

Abbott said preliminary reports showed at least 800 structures in the state had been damaged. But he expected that number to increase as officials in many impacted communities had not yet begun to assess the destruction.

Various counties and communities north and east of the Houston area on Monday were also transitioning from rescue to recovery.

I dont think this is going to be a short term recovery, thats for sure. Its going to be a very long term recovery, said Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy.

At least 174 water rescues were done in Polk County, where many areas still remained underwater on Monday, Murphy said.

In Walker County, water rescues had stopped, but swift-water rescue teams were checking on residents in about 100 homes who had decided not to evacuate but now couldnt leave because of high water, said Sherri Pegoda, the countys deputy emergency management coordinator. The rescue teams were taking food and water to these residents, she said.

Another week or maybe two before the waters recede enough for them to get out on their own, Pegoda said.

As he rode a boat through a rural flooded neighborhood in Trinity County on Sunday, Sheriff Woody Wallace said during a Facebook livestream that the residents in his county had suffered much.

During the livestream, partially submerged cars and street signs could be seen around Wallace. At one point, a game warden on the boat rescued an armadillo that had been swimming in the flood waters.

Poor little thing out here about to drown, Wallace said, adding they would take the armadillo, which he named Sam, to shore.

In Johnson County, south of Fort Worth, a 4-year-old boy died when he was swept away after the vehicle he was riding in became stuck in swift-moving water near the community of Lillian just before 2 a.m. Sunday, an official said. The Tarrant County medical examiners office said the cause of death of the child, who would have turned 5 later this month, was drowning.

Abbott said two other deaths tied to the severe weather were a man in Bosque County who was swept away by rushing waters and a Conroe Police Department officer who died after being injured when a tornado struck his home in Trinity County on April 28.

Murphy said she is tired of dealing with historic weather events, but whatever happens, whatever Mother Nature sends our way, then we will deal with.

___

Associated Press reporter Jamie Stengle in Dallas and videojournalist Lekan Oyekanmi in Houston contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
May 7 (UPI) -- The husband of Ana Knezevich Henao, a Florida woman who went missing a few months ago while temporarily living in Spain, was arrested recently by the FBI at Miami International Airport, authorities said.

David Knezevich, 36, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and a native of Serbia, is currently in federal custody for his alleged involvement in his wife's kidnapping, an FBI spokesperson confirmed Monday.

He was arrested Saturday and has been charged with kidnapping in connection to Knezevich Henao's disappearance. It had been reported that the pair were headed toward or were in the middle of a divorce after 13 years of marriage.

Officials in Spain said Knezevich Henao, 40, a naturalized American citizen and a native of Colombia, "disappeared" on or about February 2. She did not meet a friend as planned, according to her brother, and she had not been seen since.

A series of WhatsApp text messages to a friend at about the time she supposedly went missing communicated that she had met someone -- though that was met with suspicion.

"I met someone wonderful!! He has a summer house about 2h (hours) from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. Signal is spotty. I'll call you when I get back," read one message, according to Sanna Rameau, a friend of Knezevich Henao.

It was later reported that a woman with whom Knezevich had met online had been asked by him to write the message on Feb. 3 "in perfect Colombian."

"I'm hoping we are going to get some answers," Rameau told CNN after learning of Knezevich' arrest.

Knezevich has been connected to his wife's disappearance by law enforcement on multiple fronts and the two reportedly had significant assets between them that were at risk of being split in their pending divorce proceedings.

Authorities say Knezevich had flown from Miami International Airport to Turkey on Jan. 27 and, after landing in Istanbul, Knezevich headed north to Belgrade then left his native Serbia -- formerly Yugoslavia -- on Jan. 30 but returned days later on Feb. 5 after his wife supposedly had disappeared.

Officials said the suspect who spray-painted security cameras at the entrance to the door and at the elevator in the upscale Salamanca apartment building where Knezevich Henao had been living the night she was last seen matched a description of her estranged husband. He was also linked to the purchased spray paint cans.

It also was determined that he had rented a car in Serbia in eastern Europe -- where Knezevich was located at the time his wife disappeared -- which had been pinned down to being in the neighboring where she was last seen. The dealer reported that the rental car had been driven a long distance consistent with a trip across Europe to Madrid, according to officials.

The woman who admitted to writing the WhatsApp messages unknowingly did so and had reported the incident to police after her mother had discovered an article online about Knezevich talking about how his wife disappeared.

NBC News had reported that David Knezevich, also a naturalized U.S. citizen, was at an initial Monday court appearance and had been ordered to a temporary pretrial detention.

The investigation into Knezevic Henao's disappearance is still ongoing. Knezevich, the suspect, has a Friday pretrial detention hearing.

"The Spanish National Police, Customs and Border Protection, the Diplomatic Security Service, and the FBI continue their investigation," the FBI said in a statement.
What was a Florida judge who is presiding over a Trump trial doing in Montana?

Photo illustration (Photo illustration via Pxfuel | Public domain).

Montana has suddenly become part of the storyline in one of former President Donald J. Trumps federal trials, this one focusing on whether he took and hid classified documents from his presidency.

The federal trial, which includes special prosecutor Jack Smith, is being overseen by federal district court Judge Aileen Cannon, a judge appointed by Trump during his presidency.

Trump is also the presumptive GOP nominee for president in 2024.

However, reporting by National Public Radio shows that Cannon traveled twice recently to a luxury resort in Pray, Montana, to attend a conservative legal conference, but failed to disclose the trips, which some estimate cost in the tens of thousands of dollars apiece.

Federal guidelines do not prohibit a sitting federal judge from taking luxury vacation, even paid for by another person or group, so long as they are disclosed and documented.

Judge Aileen Cannon, a federal judge in the Southern District of Florida.

Since NPR first reported the story, Cannon has amended a required filing, documenting the trip, but who paid for the travel remains unclear. The conferences, which she attended at Sage Lodge, were sponsored by the George Mason School of Law, a conservative leaning law school with deep ties to Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society.

Cannon attended two judicial education programs sponsored by the George Mason Universitys Antonin Scalia Law School, called the Sage Lodge Colloquium. Both were week-long seminars during the last week of September in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

The luxury lodge in Pray boasts a spa and locally-sourced food from the area. It bills itself as the ultimate Montana luxury resort getaway. A search for accommodations on the website reveals a nightly retail rate of between $819 and $5,436.

The lecturers at the seminars featured an array of scholars, experts, reading assignments and lecturers, largely from the GMU faculty. Some of the topics were esoteric, like Law, Lawyers and Courts in Early Crime Classics, to more modern topics like Climate Change and the Common Law.

Some of the speakers were better known in the region, including Cam Sholly, superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, who gave a fireside chat during one of the evenings.

Other presentations included several sessions by Todd Zywicki, a GMU Foundation professor of law and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. In 2022, he presented two sessions, according to the published agenda, including Woke Law! And Unprofitable Education: Student Loans, Higher Education Costs, and the Regulatory State.

The 2022 Colloquium was billed as a special YELLOWSTONE edition, and focused on land and issues of the American West, according to the schedule, with sessions on the history of public lands in the West, and titles of seminars, This is MY LAND and Whose River Is It?

The Colloquium partnered with the Property and Environment Research Center, PERC, an established and well-known group in Montana. PERC has its roots at Montana State University but is now a stand-alone organization that examines how free markets can improve the environment.

The 2022 session featured a session on Bootleggers and Baptists, an economic theory that posits some groups that would seem opposite support the same policy for different reasons. In the classic example, proposed by Bruce Yandle, both bootleggers and Baptists favored a prohibition on alcohol, but for different reasons. Both groups, who disagreed about alcohol supported the bans for their own gain. The theory examines how leaders in politics and the courts broker power within those groups, and the effects of those policies.

On Tuesday, Cannon also pushed back a deadline for filings in the case against Trump regarding classified documents, making it appear more likely that the trial may not resume before Election Day 2024. Trumps trial was scheduled to being on May 20, but a new date has not yet been established by Cannon, according to the federal docket.

Sage-Lodge-Colloquium-Agenda-September-2021 Sage-Lodge-Colloquium-2022-Word-Press-Agenda

The post What was a Florida judge who is presiding over a Trump trial doing in Montana? appeared first on Daily Montanan.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  A man was accused of threatening a group of pickleball players with a machete on Saturday.

According to a report from NBC affiliate WBBH, Joseph Devalle, 54, walked up to the group at a North Naples community center, kicked over chairs and yelled at them to leave.

Devalle was accused of grabbing the machete from his vehicle and saying that he would beat their a**. He told deputies he felt threatened himself after the group said he should make them leave, which prompted him to grab the machete like the macho man he is, according to WBBH.

Devalle was charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intention to kill.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
FORD LAUDERDALE, Fla.  The Broward State Attorneys Office is taking aim at human trafficking by uniting businesses, landlard and law enforcement against illegal massage parlors that not-so-secretly offer more than back rubs to their clients.

State Attorney Harold F. Pryor is calling it the Stop Abuse, Fight Exploitation (or S.A.F.E.) Initiative and said its goals are preventing victim recruitment, closing illegal businesses and disrupting profit.

The S.A.F.E. Initiative is an effective way to help landlords, local government, and businesses to recognize, report, or evict illicit businesses that are engaging in human trafficking, Pryor said in a statement released by his office Tuesday. If we work together, we can shine a light on those who seek to harm vulnerable people and we can shut down this evil exploitation.

Illegal massage parlors dont exactly hide, but to the unaware, they can go unnoticed. They look like low-budget massage parlors, located in shopping plazas and strip malls right next door to convenience stores, day-care centers, music schools and small restaurants.

The S.A.F.E. program seeks partnerships with landlords, local government and law enforcement to identify the illegal businesses and make it difficult for them to continue to operate in Broward County.

For more information or to report suspected illicit massage businesses, please email safeinitiative@browardsao.com or call the Broward State Attorneys Office hotline at 954-831-7487.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. It has been decided to start a new process between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian Vice President and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami said during the press conference with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in Isfahan, Trend reports.

According to him, such a decision was taken at a meeting with the IAEA Director General. Based on the decision, a preliminary text of future agreements in three directions will be prepared.

Eslami said that a joint statement was issued between Iran and the IAEA in March last year. The statement is conceived as a basis for cooperation between Iran and the IAEA.

The Iranian vice president stated that of the three directions, the first direction is the direction of safeguards. There are many political issues in this direction. Based on this, this direction should not be mixed with other directions. The IAEA has proposed to verify 4 locations in this direction. Two of these locations have been verified and two more remain. The problem of incompatibility of components has also been eliminated.

The second direction is related to the current situation. The problems envisioned by the IAEA and within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Convention (NPT), shortcomings will be addressed and expectations will be met, he said.

He noted that the third direction is to overcome obstacles based on future steps, mutual expectations, and the role of the IAEA Director General.

To note, the 3-day 1st International Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology (International Conference on Nuclear and Technology) in Isfahan, Iran, kicked off on May 6. Iran's top officials attended the conference. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi also visited Iran to attend the conference.

Meanwhile, an agreement between Iran and the IAEA was reached last March (2023) and a statement on the agreement was issued. According to the agreement, Iran's cooperation with the IAEA is within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Convention (NPT) and safeguards, as well as the parties are to cooperate with each other regarding the allegations made about the existence of enriched uranium substances related to Iran's nuclear program.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the drag community protest against Florida's 'Protection of Children' bill which would ban children at live adult performances, at the state capitol in Tallahassee, Florida

By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) - Florida's top prosecutor and a Catholic medical group on Tuesday sued the Biden administration in an effort to block a rule that they say will force doctors to provide gender transition care against their judgment or face heavy penalties.

The lawsuit by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), filed in federal court in Tampa, takes aim at a new rule published by the U.S. Department of Health and Services (HHS) on Monday that would ban discrimination in healthcare on the basis of gender identity.

The rule is based on an anti-discrimination provision within the Affordable Care Act, the national health insurance law better known as Obamacare, which forbids sex discrimination.

In their complaint, Moody and CMA say the new rule goes beyond the anti-discrimination law. They say it would force doctors to provide, and insurance to pay for, treatments including puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for transgender minors and adults against their medical or ethical judgment.

They also said the rule conflicted with a Florida law banning such treatments, which are known as gender-affirming care, for minors.

"These rules trample states' power to protect their own citizens and we will not stand by as Biden tries, yet again, to use the force of the federal government to unlawfully stifle Floridas effort to protect children," Moody said in a statement.

The plaintiffs claim that the rule is "arbitrary and capricious" under a federal law governing agency rulemaking, and violates doctors' right to free speech and freedom of religion under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. They are asking the court for an order blocking its enforcement.

HHS said not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agency and major medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics have said that gender-affirming care is medically necessary and potentially lifesaving, and have called restrictions on it discriminatory.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in a 2022 executive order instructed federal agencies like HHS to ensure access to gender-affirming care and prevent discrimination against transgender people.

Republican-led states, meanwhile, have passed a flurry of laws directed at transgender people, including bans on gender-affirming care for minors and restrictions on transgender students' participation in sports.

Last week, a group of Republican states sued the administration over a rule that would bar schools and colleges receiving federal funds from discriminating against transgender students.

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  The mother of a Utah man murdered nearly 16 years ago is showing everyone the true meaning of forgiveness. Not only does she forgive one of the inmates in prison for her sons death, but shes also one of the leading advocates for him to get out, in this edition of Behind the Badge.

For the last 14 years, Fonua Kimoana has lived life locked up and behind bars at the Utah State Prison. He was sentenced in 2010 on charges of kidnapping and killing a man in West Jordan. He told ABC4 he was hit with a big wave of emotions the day he was read his sentence. Over the past decade, the reality of being removed from society has brought with it another wave of emotions.

Fonua Kimoana

He said there was pain but mostly guilt and shame. But now, theres also hope.

As unlikely as it may sound, the mother and daughter of the man murdered, Jay Wolfinjer, are now advocates for Fonua to be released from prison.

Behind the Badge: Helping todays youth prepare for tomorrows challenges

I believe its time for him to go home to his family, said Linda Dobbins, Jay Wolfinjers mother.

Speaking with Jays mother Linda over Zoom in New Mexico, she said she forgives Fonua and doesnt believe he played the key role that led to her sons death.

I look at this like I could be sitting here waiting for my son to come home, and if my son was not completely involved in something I would want him to come home, said Linda.

That belief has been over a decade in the making. It took Linda 13 years before she could bring herself to read a letter Fonua wrote, answering her questions about what happened in 2008 the day her son died. Fonua writes hed been up all night drinking and doing drugs the night before when he got a call that morning from his uncle saying he needed Fonuas help.

In our culture, when family calls you without question you go, said Fonua.

Fonua drove to the Broadmoor Village Apartments in West Jordan, where his uncle severely beat Jay with the butt of a gun, and needed Fonua to get rid of him. Realizing what hed gotten into, Fonua said he tried to leave, but admits he helped take Jays body out of the apartment.

By the time we got to the car, I was supposed to follow to another house in West Valley, but they kept going and I took the second airport road, and went my own way I didnt want any part of it anymore, said Fonua.

Linda Dobbins

He explains he didnt take part in the beating, but says he didnt do anything to help Jay either. Something Fonua now deeply regrets, and vows to Jays mother hell teach young people to avoid becoming like him. He wrote: If I can prevent one of these youngsters coming in and out of here from getting into gangs and doing drugs, your loved one, Jay, wont die in vain. Im taking responsibility for my actions no matter how long it takes.

Behind the Badge: How detectives safely found the Utah victim of cyber kidnapping

And Linda believes him.

I believe that Fonua needs to have this chance, I believe he needs to get out and make a difference, she said.

For Jays daughter, Autumn Songer-Porter, that forgiveness hasnt come as easy. She said her life ended the day her father died.

Now living in Hawaii, Autumn was just 11 years old when Jay was killed. After her fathers murder, she said life at home completely changed, and both her mental and physical health deteriorated.

I started having seizures, and I got diagnosed with Graves disease, so I developed epilepsy, and Graves disease it literally altered my brain chemistry losing him, it completely changed me, she said.

Autumn Songer-Porter

As much as it still hurts, she knows shes not the only one who lost a father. While she isnt sure if she will ever truly forgive Fonua for the role he played, Autumn said he should still be with his daughters.

Fonua has two girls who were just one and three years old when he was locked up. He has missed the majority of their lives. Pesi Kimoana, one of his daughters, told ABC4 she took her first-ever picture with her dad in September of 2023.

It was little things at first like daddy-daughter dances and then the transition from elementary to middle school, said Pesi.

Behind the Badge: Reconstructing a car crash

Pesis sister, Kulaea agreed it was pretty harsh. She said she has never known her father outside. Their mother, Elisha, said seeing what Fonua has missed has been heartbreaking.

You never think someone that you know, you know be involved in something like that, said Elisha Paiz, Fonuas ex-wife.

All three feel like Fonua has changed significantly into a very loving man. And Fonua feels it too.

I no longer think or make decisions like I used to, Fonua said.

Fonua credits his change to his relationship with God, worshipping weekly in prison chapels and participating in Utahs prison entry programs for inmates. Programs such as therapy, opportunities for graduation, and learning job skills inmates can take with them when they make parole.

Pesi Kimoana

We want to make sure that they are equipped with the tools necessary to be successful in the community not and return to prison, said Utah Department of Corrections Clinical Deputy Director for Reentry and Rehabilitation Lena Gustafson.

Fonua said the programs helped him learn how to deal with his feelings and emotions so they dont become something more later. Now, Fonua says he is ready and Jays family thinks so too.

I hope he doesnt make me look stupid or make me out to be wrong, but I dont think he is going to, said Linda.

Jays daughter, Autumn, hopes Fonua is able to prove everybody wrong and prove herself and her family right for not only himself but for his kids, who are anxious to have him home. Pesi told ABC4 she hopes anything can bring him home and Fonua said he feels that wave of love and support.

That is, I think its a miracle in my life, said Fonua. He hopes its enough to open doors and locked gates when his day to walk out finally comes.

Fonuas first parole hearing is scheduled for October 2026. Linda said she plans to travel from New Mexico to speak on his behalf.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
Former firefighter to serve up to 130 years in prison on child sex crimes

BECKLEY, WV (WVNS)  Raleigh County Circuit Court Judge, Andrew Dimlich sentenced William Pettry, a former firefighter for Coal River Volunteer Fire Department, to spend 37.5 to 130 years in prison during a sentencing hearing on Monday, May 6, 2024.

Pettry, 35, pleaded guilty in March to crimes related to sexually assaulting an 11-year-old child and filming the assault.

Under the sentencing, Pettry would be eligible for parole after serving 37.5 years.

Pettry pleads guilty to sexual assault of a child

Judge Dimlich ordered Pettry to remain under supervision for 50 years, if he is paroled.

The victim lost close family members at the time Pettry began sexually abusing her, according to Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Benjamin Hatfield.

Hatfield pushed for the maximum sentence in the case.

Crumbl Cookie countdown comes to an end

I am glad that I could help this victim put another major tragedy behind her. She has been through so much over the course of the last 18 months, said Hatfield. My heart absolutely breaks for her.

Hatfield said Pettrys crimes are one of the most offensive violations hes seen in his career.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WVNS.
Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan says he is voting for Biden in November

Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan on Monday said he will vote for President Joe Biden in November, arguing former President Donald Trump has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character.

Unlike Trump, Ive belonged to the GOP my entire life. This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass, Duncan, a CNN contributor, wrote in an opinion piece published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Duncan told CNNs Laura Coates Monday night that Trump is not a Republican and doesnt represent our brand.

Donald Trumps not a Republican. He doesnt represent our brand. He doesnt represent our future. Hes a horrible human being at this point, were watching that play out hour by hour in the courtroom, Duncan said. Its time to move on. If were going to heal as a party and truly get back to doing the things that we should do  and thats be conservative but not angry or crazy or liars  we should turn the page immediately from Donald Trump.

In the op-ed titled, Why Im voting for Biden and other Republicans should, too, Duncan outlined why he has decided against backing the GOP nominee. While Duncan admitted Bidens age is a concern for many and his progressive policies arent to conservatives liking, he wrote he was left with no alternative as he argued a second Trump term would hinder the Republican Party from moving forward.

The GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden, Duncan wrote. The alternative is another term of Trump, a man who has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character. The headlines are ablaze with his hush-money trial over allegations of improper record-keeping for payments to conceal an affair with an adult-film star.

Duncan criticized fellow members of his party, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, calling it disappointing to watch an increasing number of Republicans fall in line behind former president Donald Trump. This mentality is dead wrong, he added.

Duncan also slammed Bill Barr, once an attorney general for the former president who has since emerged as one of Trumps most prominent critics, for recently saying he would vote for the presumptive Republican nominee over Biden in November.

Ironically, having served as his attorney general until December 2020, Barr saw firsthand Trumps ability to cause damage. Barrs declaration that the Justice Department uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election infuriated his boss and set off a chain of events that ended with Jan. 6, Duncan wrote.

Trump has shown us who he is. We should believe him. To think he is going to change at the age of 77 is beyond improbable, Duncan later added.

Trumps attempt to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia caused Duncan and other Georgia GOP election officials, including Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to push back against Trumps claims of fraud in the state.

Duncan was president of the Georgia state Senate when Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election before Georgia state lawmakers in meetings he said at the time he did not sanction.

Last year, he testified in front of the Fulton County grand jury that would later indict Trump and others for their attempts to overturn the election in the state. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges he faces.

Duncan told CNNs Jake Tapper after the 2020 election that Trump attacking Kemp and Raffensperger disgusts him and spoke about the threats elected officials in the Peach State have received.

All of us in this position have got increased security around us and our families and its not American, its not what democracy is all about but its reality right now. So, we are going to continue to do our jobs. Gov. Kemp, Brad Raffensperger and myself all three voted and campaigned for the president but, unfortunately, he didnt win the state of Georgia but it doesnt change our job descriptions, Duncan said.

In 2021, Duncan announced he would not run for reelection in 2022, explaining he would instead focus on reforming the GOP.

We have to move on as Republicans, we have to, and this is our first step to it.  I think Georgians are going to vote against Donald Trump, Duncan said on Laura Coates Live.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNNs Jack Forrest and Rashard Rose contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on Monday sentenced Marvin Harris, Jr., "Mesh," 25, of Fort Myers, to 45 years in federal prison for murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.

A Fort Myers man who in September pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and interstate murder-for- hire resulting in death will serve more than four decades in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on Monday sentenced Marvin "Mesh," Harris, Jr., 25, of Fort Myers, to 45 years in federal prison for murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.

Harris' co-defendant, Latrel Jackson "Kobe," 26, of Chicago, Illinois, faces sentencing on June 24, and faces a mandatory term of life imprisonment.

According to court documents, in November 2019, Harris hired two individuals, Jackson and unindicted co-conspirator who has since died, to travel from the Chicago-area to Fort Myers to commit murder in exchange for $10,000.

Harris, according to authorities, said his motive was to retaliate against individuals he believed had robbed a Fort Myers residence from which he and others associated with him sold drugs. The individuals Harris, suspected of committing the robbery belonged to a Fort Myers gang known to law enforcement as "Bucktown."

With the agreement to retaliate against Bucktown, Jackson and the deceased co-conspirator traveled to Fort Myers from Chicago aboard a commercial airline on Oct. 28, 2019.

When they arrived, Harris picked Jackson and the deceased up from the Southwest Florida International Airport and provided them with partial payment for the planned murder, as well as firearms to accomplish the task.

Initially, authorities said, Jackson and the deceased stayed at Harris' "trap house"  a residence used primarily to distribute drugs from  in Fort Myers but later moved to a local motel on Palm Beach Boulevard. During that time, Jackson, the deceased and others attempted to find members of Bucktown to murder in the retaliatory scheme, authorities said.

No bond: Man who fatally shot neighbor in North Fort Myers held without bond, cited fear for dog

On Nov. 2, 2019, Harris obtained a vehicle for Jackson and the deceased to use during the commission of a murder. Jackson and the deceased proceeded to a known Bucktown hangout in Fort Myers and observed the victim, K.U., standing in front of the residence near the curb of the street. Jackson and D.S. quickly circled the block and, at close range, opened fire on the victim, killing him in front of the residence from a gunshot to the head.

After the shooting, authorities said, Harris paid Jackson and the deceased the remaining sum of money owed for completing the murder-for-hire scheme.

Jackson and the deceased were also left in possession of the firearms used to commit the murder. The pair then returned to the Chicago area by commercial bus on Nov. 3, 2019.

During a search of Jackson's Chicago-area home on Nov. 21, 2019, authorities said they recovered two firearms from an attic space in his room. Expert testing and examination of the firearms by ATF confirmed that both matched shell casings recovered from the murder scene and the murder vehicle, and that one of the firearms had fired the bullet which had been recovered from the victim's head during his autopsy.

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: Fort Myers man sentenced to 45 years in murder-for-hire
Fort Smith couple convicted of posing as lawyers again to exploit car accident victims

FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)  A Fort Smith couple was found guilty of unauthorized practice of law on May 6.

Courtesy: Sebastian County Sheriffs Office

According to a press release from attorney Joey McCutchen, Leigh Ann Annie Saffer and David Saffer misrepresented themselves as accident specialists and exploited victims seeking assistance after car accidents.

Leigh Ann Saffer was arrested May 1 and charged with two class D felonies for violating the Fraudulent Insurance Act.

The release says Leigh Ann Saffer fabricated an insurance claim under the alias Annie Little, falsely representing herself as an insurance employee, coercing people into making payments directly to her and making threats to coerce people into complying with her demands for payment.

Judge finds Fort Smith couple guilty of posing as lawyers to exploit car accident victims

This is a widespread problem across the state. Not only do these deceptive practices exploit vulnerable people, but they also drive up our insurance rates. Its time we put a stop to these deceptive practices immediately, McCutchen said.

The release says the Saffers frequently solicited businesses for Arkansas Chiropractic Group in Fort Smith. The Saffers office is across the street from The Arkansas Chiropractic Group office.

According to the release, several victims testified in the trial that they were repeatedly solicited by the Saffers, who offered them unauthorized legal advice on how to handle their personal injury claims.

The release says they face a class D felony if they engage in the unauthorized practice of law in the future.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KNWA FOX24.
The four Charlotte police officers injured in shootout are now home recovering

All four CMPD officers who were hospitalized after suffering injuries in last weeks deadly shooting in east Charlotte are now at home recovering, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Tuesday.

CMPD officers Christopher Tolley, Michael Giglio, Jack Blowers, and Justin Campbell suffered injuries after responding to a house on Galway Drive, where four law-enforcement officers were fatally shot while trying to arrest Terry Clark Hughes, Jr., who was later fatally shot by police.

Three of the injured CMPD officers suffered gunshot wounds and one had a broken foot, police said.

Statesville Police Cpl. Casey Hoover was released last Thursday after being shot and injured in the shootout, the department said on social media.

Four officers on a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force were killed trying to make the arrest, and the CMPD officers who were injured were all responding to the shootout, police said.

Private funerals are planned for Alden Elliott and Sam Poloche, two officers with the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction who were killed.

Both funerals will not be open to the general public, but Elliotts family invited the public to line U.S. 70 in Catawba County to pay tribute.

A funeral was held for CMPD officer Joshua Eyer last week, and Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas M. Tommy Weeks Jr. on Monday.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS)  All of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers injured in the April 29 shootout have been released from the hospital, the agency reported Tuesday.

In addition to the CMPD officer killed in the east Charlotte incident, four others sustained injuries: Chris Tolley, Michael Giglio, Jack Blowers and Justin Campbell.

We are grateful to be able to share that as of yesterday, all CMPD officers injured in the tragic incident on Monday, April 29, 2024, have been discharged from the hospital and are now at home, embarking on their journey to recovery, CMPD said in a statement on social media.

MORE FROM QUEEN CITY NEWS

SHANNON PARK SHOOTING

The officers were providing aid to a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant on Galway Drive. Four total law enforcement officers died from the gunfire in addition to suspect Terry Hughes Jr.

The injured officers were being cared for at local Atrium Health and Novant Health facilities.

You were our heroes when our officers needed help the most, CMPD continued. We appreciate and are grateful for the continued service provided over the past week. We continue to be overwhelmed daily by the support and kindness shown. Thank you to all who have reached out and continue to keep the CMPD family in your thoughts.

Statesville Police Cpl. Casey Hoover also was hospitalized while serving as a member of the Task Force.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. As a sign of goodwill, Iran has remained in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program, Iran's Vice President and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami said during the joint press conference with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi, Trend reports.

Iran has not withdrawn from the Comprehensive Joint Action Plan; the side that withdrew from this agreement is the US, and it has not fulfilled its obligations and has not allowed others to fulfill their obligations, and the three European countries (UK, France, and Germany) have also taken steps in this direction, he said.

According to him, Iran has unilaterally fulfilled its obligations under the JCPOA and reduced its commitments under Article 26 of the agreement.

Eslami stated that the Iranian parliament has approved a strategic action plan to lift sanctions against Iran. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran is taking steps within the framework of the plan.

To note, the Comprehensive Plan of Joint Action on Iran's nuclear program was implemented between Iran and the P5+1 group (the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) in January 2016. The US announced in May 2018 that it was withdrawing from the plan and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year. Iran has announced that there will be no restrictions on the Iran nuclear deal in 2020.

In late 2020, the Iranian parliament adopted a strategic plan to counter the sanctions, citing the non-fulfillment of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and six countries and the imposition of sanctions on Iran.

According to the decision of the Iranian parliament, as of February 23, Iran had stopped the implementation of additional measures and an additional protocol included in the nuclear deal. As a consequence, the monitoring mechanism of the IAEA was reduced by 2030 percent.

Under Article 26 of the nuclear deal, if one party fails to comply with its obligations, the other party may suspend all or part of its obligations.

The 3-day 1st International Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology in Isfahan, Iran, kicked off on May 6. Iran's top officials attended the conference. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossini also visited Iran to attend the conference.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Rescuers work to rescue construction workers trapped under a building that collapsed in George

Rescuers work to rescue construction workers trapped under a building that collapsed in George

By shafiek tassiem and Wendell Roelf

GEORGE, South Africa (Reuters) -Rescuers were using cranes, drills and their bare hands to try to reach dozens of people trapped when a multi-storey building being built in the South African city of George collapsed, killing at least six people.

Of the 75 workers who had been on the construction site, 48 remain unaccounted for on Tuesday. Authorities have made no comment about what caused it to collapse on Monday.

While the rescue teams are able to communicate with 11 people buried in the wreckage, families gathered waiting for news of their loved ones were in tears, fearing the worst.

"We treat everybody as still alive," Colin Deiner, chief of disaster management for the Western Cape province, told a press conference.

There have been moments of hope. People clapped and cheered as rescue workers pulled a person out alive from among broken concrete slabs and twisted steel reinforcements. They have made contact with other survivors as they scour the site with sniffer dogs.

"We have one area where four people are in a basement and we've been communicating with them, so that's quite a big operation that's taking most of the day to get them out," Deiner said.

So far 27 people have been retrieved from the site, in the coastal city east of Cape Town, including at least six dead.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for an investigation.

Liatel Developments, the contracted builder of the structure, said it was trying to assist those on site of the five-storey residential building.

"The investigations to follow obviously will reveal what has transpired and what has happened, but at this point in time it's just saving as many people as we possibly can," company director Theuns Kruger told Reuters.

CCTV footage seen by Reuters showed a cloud of dust as the building crumbled.

A local councillor told reporters on Monday she had heard a "boom" and then the building collapsed.

(Reporting by Shafiek Tassiem and Esa Alexander in George, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town, Bhargav Acharya in Johannesburg, Writing by Bhargav Acharya, Editing by Gerry Doyle, Christina Fincher and Alison Williams)
Four political newcomers seek 7th District council seat. What to know about candidates

Four candidates are vying to represent District 7 on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council.

Frank Cannavo, Heather A. Hadi, Joseph Hale and William Matthew Housh are all running for the seat held by Preston Worley, who has served on the council since 2017 and announced in December he would not run again in the upcoming election.

The 7th District includes areas off Richmond Road and Athens-Boonesboro Road, including neighborhoods around Woodhill and Codell drives, Squires Road and Hays Boulevard. Concerns about development and affordable housing are at the top of most of the candidates lists of important issues.

The primary election is May 21 with early voting May 16-18. The top two vote-getters will appear on the ballot for the general election in November.

Frank Cannavo

Cannavo said he started getting phone calls from people about a possible run for council after he got involved in opposing a proposed development along Athens-Boonesboro Road.

You cant stop progress, but you dont have to change the character of where you live, he said. Out here on this side of town, people are selling the horse farms off. People have assets. You cant say to them, You cant sell your property.

One answer is to try to control how things get developed.

Cannavo is a fan of cluster development, building buffer zones of green space between clusters of buildings, between buildings and roads. ...trying to get the proper kind of housing that doesnt overwhelm the geography.

He noted that agriculture  and not just the horse industry  is a major economic driver in Fayette County. We cant just destroy that.

He said hes also concerned about gentrification and maintaining good housing for people who rent.

Cannavo said hed like to minimize as much as possible the conflict between the owner and the renter.

Hes also interested in transportation, and while he said hes not being critical of Lextran, he said Id like for us to help them find a solution.

Frank Cannavo Photo submitted

Cannavo is a former Army officer who had a varied career in business.

The military definitely gave me a perspective on life. You can do just about anything you put your mind to working together with others, he said. If somethings got to be done, Im willing to jump in the middle of it and try to get it done with other people.

Before settling in Lexington, he said he lived in seven states and about 20 communities.

Ive been involved everywhere Ive lived and seen what worked and what hasnt worked, he said. The key is to get people involved. I think I could get people enthused and involved. ...I think I have some skills to get people to see what could be done.

Cannavo has been active in the Lexington community.

Hes served as a Fayette County election officer since 2010, is on the board of directors of the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial, is active in Knights of the Columbus, has worked on five Habitat for Humanity builds and has volunteered more than 970 hours at the Kentucky Horse Park Breeds Barn.

He said hes disheartened by the conflict he sees around him, including in local government.

We have to find ways to work together to solve our problems together, he said.

Heather A. Hadi

Concerns about the availability of affordable housing and encouraging growth and development are important issues for Hadi.

Growth is good, she said. Housing costs have risen tremendously. Its hard for people to stay in Lexington.

Hadi said the city is losing people as they are pushed out into surrounding areas in search of more affordable housing, which in turn can create transportation problems.

We cant stay like this forever, Hadi said. We need to accept growth and change as long as its done to benefit the common Lexingtonian.

She said the recent expansion of the urban service boundary is something that we need to handle in a responsible, sustainable way.

And Hadi said shed like to see some changes that would streamline the process when it comes to development, so affordable housing could be built more quickly.

Its very difficult to get permits and get things through the planning commission, she said. We need to cut down some of those hoops that developers are going to have to jump through.

Heather A. Hadi Photo submitted

If elected, Hadi said shed also like to work on making Lexington more accessible to the underserved in terms of transportation and walkability.

Hadi, an immigration and family law attorney, said her father is from Iraq, and her mother was born in the United States but is of Iraqi descent.

Hadi grew up in Lexington and returned to the city after law school because she wanted to try to help immigrants, and she said being able to help those populations in a new capacity through the council is an exciting opportunity.

I want to be able to help them on a totally different level, Hadi said.

When asked about something voters might not know about her, Hadi shared that she used to box.

Im a fighter in the courtroom. Im a fighter in the ring, she said. Im not somebody to give up.

And, she said, I do want to fight for this community.

As a young woman of color and a single mom who runs her own business, she said, its nice when people can look at their city council and see themselves.

Hadi said Lexington needs a fresh set of eyes and a fresh perspective on the council, and she said she loves the fact that the race is nonpartisan.

We need a smarter government that doesnt have their hands in political sides, she said.

Joseph Hale

This is Hales second time running for a seat on the council.

Hale, who ran unsuccessfully against Worley in 2022, said he thinks his experience makes him the most qualified candidate right now.

I have a lot of experience, first of all, in government, said Hale, the IT coordinator for the Emergency Response and Preparedness Branch of the states Department for Public Health.

In that role, Hale said he worked with the command staff for the states COVID-19 response, which he said gives him a leg up on being able to handle what to do when it gets tough for the whole state.

Hale is also a pastor and runs a mentoring program for boys called Boys to Men. He taught for eight years at the College for Technical Education.

He said he understands the issues the city council is dealing with and wouldnt be blindsided with whats going on in the city.

Top of mind, he said, are affordable housing and public safety.

Rent, Hale said, is getting outrageous, with people often spending more than 50% of their income on housing.

Hale said hes interested in finding solutions that are fair for both sides.

It has to be fair for the owner and the one thats renting, he said.

He said the rate of homelessness in Lexington also needs to be addressed.

Hale said public safety issues would also be a priority for him: We want it to be safe in all of District 7, not just in certain areas, and actually in all of Lexington.

It starts with community, he said.

Joseph Hale Photo submitted

Hale said hed also like to tackle some traffic concerns in the district, such as a bottleneck that develops on Richmond Road near Jacobson Park during rush hour every afternoon and a speed limit that he said is dangerous and unsafe on the Todds Road end of Hays Boulevard near a newly-constructed apartment complex.

Im willing to take notes, he said, and bring issue of importance to people in District 7 to the council.

Asked to share a fun or interesting fact about himself, Hale said he did stand-up comedy for several years, so public speaking comes naturally.

He said he hopes the voters of the district will study and learn about the people that you are going to be voting for.

These positions in our city ... are the positions that will affect you personally, Hale said. Choose your candidates wisely.

William Matthew Housh

Housh has helped other candidates with their campaigns in the past, and he said he was inspired to run for council himself on the suggestion of his niece, a student at Lexington Catholic.

She said, Uncle Matt, you would be good at that, Housh said.

Housh works as a clerk for city government and has past experience as a mail carrier and a claims representative who helped injured postal workers trying to get government compensation. Housh also unsuccessfully ran for county judge executive in 2014, he said.

He said hes particularly interested in working on public safety issues and affordable housing.

Public safety would be my primary focus, Housh said, adding that the police department is understaffed, and the city goes through a tremendous process to try to find those people.

He believes a lot more coordination could happen between the Lexington Police Department and the Fayette County Sheriffs Office.

On the affordable housing front, Housh said hed like to try to promote more ease of use when people come to try to get building permits, since he said dealing with city government now can be a cumbersome process.

William Matthew Housh Photo submitted

He said his experience working in city government gives him a leg up on understanding the process of how government works.

I know everybody, he said. Im an excellent listener. ...Im honest and direct, and Ill always do my best for our city.

I have no desire to go up in politics, he said. I just want to help my neighborhood out.

As a member of the council, Housh would see himself as facilitator of what the neighborhood needs and what the city can provide.

He said hed be facilitating fresh ideas, such as an idea he has for how Lexington could keep city hall where it is now by using space currently taken up by the neighboring parking garage.

And he said hed like to do something to speed up the interchange in the area of Alumni Drive and New Circle Road.

He said the wheels of progress sometimes turn slowly in Lexington, and hed like to see that improve.

Things in our city sometimes take 20 to 30 years to come to fruition, Housh said.

Housh said hes civically involved already, volunteering with the Lexington Humane Society and on environmental projects through organizations like the Sierra Club and The Arboretum.

Im also a strong proponent of our arts, he said. Im very much interested in science and technology.

Frank Cannavo

Age: 75

Direct family: Spouse, Evelyn Sue Cannavo

Job experience: U.S. Army Officer  Field Artillery, Airborne and Ranger Qualified. Vietnam 1971-72 with 173rd Airborne Brigade and 101st Airborne Division. Stateside 1972-75 with 82nd Airborne Division. Past experience as administrative officer at Fayetteville (N.C.) State University; product specialist, marketing supervisor and strategy manager at Texas Instruments Control Products Division; sales and marketing manager for Peerless Radio Co. in Pompano Beach, Fla.; total of 37 years in various roles at companies creating and manufacturing products for the aircraft industry. Facilities coordinator for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, 2016-2020.

Education: United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., B.S. in general engineering; North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C., M. Ed. in adult and community college.

Other offices held: No elected public offices.

Heather A. Hadi

Age: 35

Direct family: Daughter Layla Cupps, son Liam Cupps, mother Nawal Hadi and father Ray Hadi

Job experience: Local immigration and family attorney in Lexington since 2013, when she opened her own firm. Has been a small business owner since.

Education: Graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in 2006, UK with bachelors in communications in 2010 and St. Thomas School of Law (Miami Florida) with a Juris Doctorate in 2013.

Other offices held: No elected public offices.

Joseph Hale

Age: 44

Direct family: Hale Family

Job experience: IT Coordinator for Kentucky Department for Public Health - Emergency Response and Preparedness Branch

Education: Graduate of Sullivan University

Other offices held: No elected public offices.

William Matthew Housh

Age: 59

Direct family: Six older siblings: Michael Housh, John Housh, Kevin Housh, Kathleen Jones, Julie Housh and Mary Housh

Job experience: Honorable discharge from U.S. Navy, where he was assigned to the Nuclear Field Program. Past employment with U.S. Census Bureau as field director responsible for counting homeless individuals in seven Central Kentucky counties, including Fayette, and former USPS mail carrier in Garrard County. Has worked as a federal claims representative with Harris Federal Law Firm. Employed as a clerk for the City of Lexington since 2012.

Education: Previously attended Lexington Community College and Kentucky State University

Other offices held: No elected public offices.
France accuses Russia of intimidation after French ambassador is summoned by Russian Foreign Ministry

France has spoken out against Russias use of diplomatic channels to threaten other countries after the French ambassador was summoned by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Source: a statement by the French Foreign Ministry, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Russia summoned the French ambassador to Moscow yesterday to decry Frances "provocative" policy.

Russias actions were triggered by remarks made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently reopened the discussion about Western troops possibly being sent to Ukraine.

"France notes that diplomatic channels have once again been hijacked in order to manipulate information and engage in intimidation," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The French ministry said that the Russian Foreign Ministry had "once again reversed responsibilities" and was trying to accuse Western countries of threatening Russia when it is Russia that has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine and pursuing aggressive actions aimed at destabilising European countries through cyberattacks and other hybrid operations.

"France will continue to support Ukraine in the long term as it defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russian aggression," the French Foreign Ministry stressed.

Background:

During a visit to Kyiv on 3 May, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that Ukraine has the right to use weapons provided by the UK to strike targets inside Russia "just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine" using weapons supplied by Iran and North Korea.

Camerons statement provoked an outraged response from the Russian Foreign Ministry, whose representatives issued a number of threats directed at the UK.

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A French castle owned by royals and a Rothschild is on the market for $454M  which would make it one of the most expensive homes ever sold

A French castle owned by royals and a Rothschild is on the market for $454M  which would make it one of the most expensive homes ever sold

A 12th-century French castle, Chateau d'Armainvilliers, is being auctioned for around $454 million.

The castle was previously owned by King Hassan II of Morocco.

It could be transformed as part of a new city development outside Paris.

A 12th-century castle that once belonged to a Rothschild is being auctioned for a staggering 425 million, or around $454 million.

Once sold, the castle and its grounds could be transformed into a new city development just outside Paris, a spokesperson for Ignace Meuwissen, a luxury real-estate agent who is handling the sale with his company Whisper Auctions, told Business Insider.

The 17-bedroom castle, known as Chateau d'Armainvilliers, dates back to the 12th century and is around 30 miles outside Paris, according to Mansion Global. It was once owned by Edmond de Rothschild, before being sold to King Hassan II of Morocco, a spokesperson for Meuwissen told Business Insider.

Meuwissen told Mansion Global that it's one of the most expensive real-estate listings in the world.

But despite its connection to royalty, a spokesperson said the castle "may not hold much historical value" to the future buyer and will likely be favored because of its large size. The castle is 2,500 square meters and has an additional 1,000 hectares of surrounding land.

Chateau d'Armainvilliers has three floors with 17 bedrooms.

Chateau d'Armainvilliers. Whisper Auctions

The castle is 2,500 square meters in size, consisting of three floors with three elevators, 17 bedrooms, five reception rooms, a hairdressing salon, a kitchen, separate housing for staff members, and stables that can hold up to 50 horses, a spokesperson for Ignace Meuwissen told BI.

A developer could transform the castle and its grounds into 'a new city.'

The interior of Chateau d'Armainvilliers. Whisper Auctions

The sale is being handled by Whisper Auctions, which represents off-market, luxury properties. The company's listings start at 2.5 million euros, or around $2.6 million, according to its website.

Ignace Meuwissen, the company's cofounder, is "in discussions with developers" who could transform the castle and surrounding area into a city, a spokesperson said.

Meuwissen's vision "entails the possibility of developing a new city near Paris, with the historical significance of the castle being of secondary importance," they said.

They added that the project would involve the creation of apartments, commercial centers, and other amenities. It's unclear if the castle would have to be refurbished or demolished for the development to take place.

Take a look inside one of the castle's five reception rooms, which stands out for its colorful decor.

One of the receiption rooms. Whisper Auctions

The castle's decor is loud and colorful. This room has bright blue chairs and red throw cushions, while others have extravagant chandeliers, vibrant paintings, and grand pillars.

The castle's 17 bedrooms all have their own unique look.

One of the bedrooms in Chateau d'Armainvilliers. Whisper Auctions

One of the bedrooms, photographed above, has a chandelier and a walk-in closet and is decorated with several armchairs, a dressing table, mirrors, and a double bed.

The property was last put on the market in 2008.

The office. Whisper Auctions

Speaking to Mansion Global, Meuwissen said King Hassan's son inherited the castle following his death in 1999. He sold it in 2008 for 200 million euros, or around $215,500 million, Meuwissen told the outlet.

"The property was purchased by an owner from the Middle East but has never been utilized," Meuwissen said.

The castle has generated interest from around the world.

Stained-glass paintings in the lounge. Whisper Auctions

The castle has generated worldwide interest, with press outlets including Architectural Digest and The New York Post writing about the listing.

Meuwissen told Mansion Global that the property has received interest from international buyers, including one person from Eastern Europe and three people from Asia.

Read the original article on Business Insider
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Winter isnt done with Oregon yet.

A Frost Advisory is issued for much of the Willamette Valley Wednesday morning. This comes just days before highs are expected to climb close to 90 degrees.

Summer heat is in store for much of the Pacific Northwest this week, but not with one final blast of winter-like conditions. Clearing skies late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning will help keep morning lows. Temperatures will likely fall into the 30s for much of the Willamette Valley by Thursday morning. Patchy frost is likely for some in lower lying areas as winds calm and skies clear.







Sensitive plants are at greatest risk to frost damage Wednesday morning. Action should be taken before sunset Tuesday to bring potted plants indoors and cover fresh vegetation that cant be brought indoors overnight.

From downpours to warm temps, Portland area prepares for summer-like heat

This late season frost threat comes well after the average final freeze of April 18, but frost has been recorded as late as May 23 in Portland. This late season cold snap is followed by a major warming trend in western Oregon and Washington.

Oregon Gov. Kotek signs emergency housing law

KOIN 6 Meteorologist Josh Cozart shares Portlands first big warming trend of the year

Afternoon temperatures will rebound into close to 70 degrees by Wednesday afternoon as sunnier skies return to the greater Portland, Vancouver metro area. Thats just the start of this weeks warming trend.

Summer-like heat is expected by the end of the week where records are being threatened. This round of weather whiplash might come as a surprise to unsuspecting residents of western Oregon and Washington.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
FORT EISENHOWER, Ga. (WJBF)  The mother who was accused of killing her child at Fort Eisenhower last November has entered a not guilty plea.

According to court documents, April Evalyn Short, 30, entered a not guilty plea on Monday, May 6th in federal court.

According to the Department of Justice, on the morning of November 15th, 2023, Short used a knife to cut the neck of her 11-month-old baby.

ALSO ON WJBF: Two arrested by RCSO after drug bust in connection to Augusta Mall shooting investigation

According to investigators, the 11-month-old was pronounced dead at Eisenhower Army Medical Center later that day.

Authorities state that Short was charged with murder with an aggravated circumstance, and the Department of Justice alleged that she committed the crime during an act of child abuse.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJBF.
Fujifilms X100 V became a surprising viral hit thanks to influencers who loved not only its performance but also its retro-chic cool factor. Now, the company has launched its successor, the similar-looking but more-capable X100 VI. Its only been on sale a short time, but retailers are already reporting months-long waiting lists.

It features some key improvements over the previous model, including a much higher-resolution 40-megapixel sensor, in-body stabilization and better video. At the same time, it retains the looks and compact size people loved about the X100 V.

Fujifilm / Engadget 91 100 Expert Score Fujifilm X100 VI compact camera Fujifilms X100 VI is a near-perfect update to the X100 V, keeping everything buyers liked while adding extra resolution and stabilization. The only downsides are mediocre battery life and autofocus. Pros Beautiful design

Excellent image quality

Much-improved video

In-body stabilization

ND filter available Cons Autofocus not the best

Mediocre battery life $1,599 at B&H Photo Video

I couldnt wait to get a hold of one to check out the performance for myself and see if its worth a purchase or upgrade. To test, I hopped on the Eurostar over to London with my French photographer friends to see if its worth the high price and considerable wait.

Body and handling

The X100 series is beloved in large part because of the vintage rangefinder camera styling, and Fujifilm didnt mess with that. In addition to the near-identical looks, the X100 VIs button and dial layout is unchanged. Fujifilm also kept the previous models 23mm f/2 lens.

To accommodate the in-body stabilization, the X100 VI is slightly chunkier and weighs 18.4 ounces, about 1.4 ounces more than before. Thats not much, but every bit counts for a camera designed to be carried around all day.

The control design with dedicated dials for ISO, shutter, aperture and exposure compensation is a bit old-fashioned compared to modern cameras. But it does serve a purpose, showing settings at a glance. Thats a must for shooting on the fly.

The X100 VI isnt just cosplaying as a rangefinder, either. On top of the 3.69-million dot electronic viewfinder (same as the last model), it offers a rangefinder-style optical finder and a hybrid of the two with a picture-in-picture EVF. The last setting is for people who still want a digital security blanket, and it works very well.

Fujifilm X100 VI mirrorless camera review Fujifilm X100 VI mirrorless camera review

Also unchanged is the rear display, allowing basic up and down tilting for high or low angle shooting. Thats not great for selfies or vlogging, but perfect for shooting from the hip.

The menu system is mostly the same, which is a good thing as its relatively easy to find key settings. To avoid diving in, though, you can use the quick menu and numerous buttons and dials for easier adjustments. Its also customizable and Id advise buyers to set it up to their preferences to avoid any shooting errors.

The X100 VI has a single slot that only supports slower UHS-I cards, unfortunately, along with a USB-C port for charging and data. The MicroHDMI port also lets you use external recorders, though the tiny camera looks awkward with one attached. Finally, the battery is the same smallish one as before, unfortunately  more on that in a bit.

Performance

Fujifilm X100 VI sample image gallery (Samuel Dejours for Engadget)

Despite the higher resolution, the X100 VI still shoots at a decent 11 fps, with buffer space for about 17 uncompressed RAW frames. JPEG bursts are a bit faster at 13 fps in electronic shutter mode and the buffer size jumps to 37 frames in that case.

Unless you really need total silence, the mechanical shutter is your best bet. Its very quiet, and youll see considerable rolling shutter in electronic mode.

Autofocus is much-improved compared to the V. Its more reliable for subject tracking and adds new autofocus modes for animals, birds, cars, motorcycles, airplanes and trains. Fujis eye- and subject-detection are in separate modes though, forcing you to change settings.

Fujifilms AF system was already middling, lagging behind Sony and Canon. The X100 VI is even less effective than Fujifilms larger X-H2 and X-T5, due to the slowish motors on the fixed lens. That means focusing on moving subjects is a bit hit or miss. That said, burst shooting is not what this camera is for and the fact that its decent at all is a bonus.

Fujifilm X100 VI mirrorless camera review (Steve Dent for Engadget)

In-body stabilization might be the biggest improvement to come to the X100 lineup. With six stops of shake reduction, you can get sharp photos down to about a quarter second. That lets you blur motion to make interesting, creative shots.

The optical finder takes some getting used to, as its not a direct view through the lens like with DSLRs. Its off to the side of the lens, so this parallax means subjects that are close to the camera may not be framed the way you expect. Thats why the EVF insert mode is so handy as it supplies a second true view of the scene.

One issue is battery life, with only 450 shots on a charge or 310 if you use the EVF. I found that one battery wasnt enough for a full days shooting, so factor extra ones into your buying decision. You may also want an external charger, as Fujifilm doesnt supply one in the box.

Image quality

Fujifilm X100 VI sample image gallery Fujifilm X100 VI sample image gallery

The 40MP sensor obviously delivers a big boost in resolution over the X100 Vs 26MP. The extra pixels are also handy if you need to crop in, which is a common requirement with a fixed wide-angle lens camera. And while the lens is the same as before, its sharp enough to resolve the extra detail.

If this sensor seems familiar, thats because its the same as the one on the X-T5 and X-H2, so the image quality here is similar to those. In-camera treatment of JPEG and 10-bit HEIF files is handled well, with pleasant, accurate colors and a nice balance of noise reduction and detail. You can often share photos straight out of the camera, too, something thats important to street photographers who do little to no post-processing.

The 14-bit RAW photos offer plenty of room for fine-tuning, even in bright or dark areas. However, if you underexpose shots and try to boost levels, noise can get out of hand compared to a full-frame camera.

Fujifilm X100 VI sample image gallery

The higher resolution doesnt hurt image quality much at higher ISOs. Noise is well controlled up to ISO 6400, and you can go up to 12800 if exposure is set correctly. I was impressed with the quality when shooting in bars and other dark environments.

And of course, the X100 VI offers Fujifilms full array of film simulation modes. You can experiment with popular looks like Velvia, Eterna or Acros black and white, and still have a full-color RAW backup. As the only major camera company also selling 35mm film, Fujis simulations are the most pleasing and realistic.

Video

The X100 VIs excellent video specs are another bonus. It has nearly the same feature set as the X-T5, so you can shoot 6.2K at 30 fps with a 1.23x crop, or 4K at up to 60 fps with line-skipping and a 1.14x crop. The camera also offers sub-sampled 4K at up to 30p using the full sensor width, or high-quality 4K 30p with a 1.23x crop. Fujifilm also introduced 10-bit and F-Log2.

Fujifilm X100 VI review (Samuel Dejours for Engadget)

It took me a while to get used to the different modes and cropping levels. At 6.2K and 4K HQ, rolling shutter is pronounced so youll need to be aware of that. At the same time, full-sensor sub-sampled 4K is noticeably more low-res than the HQ mode.

Video autofocus matches what I saw with photos, meaning it was decent but not super reliable for moving subjects. The AI-powered AF did lock onto subjects, but again, couldnt always keep up to flying birds, animals or vehicles.

Handheld video is now a realistic option with in-body stabilization. It worked well as long as I didnt move around much, and offers a boost mode that smooths out jiggles further. Digital stabilization is also an option, but isnt supported with the 6K or HQ modes, and doesnt really reduce jolts for walking or fast movements.

Video quality is solid for a small compact camera, offering the same accurate colors you see in JPEG photo modes. Shooting in 10-bit F-Log makes it possible to adjust footage considerably in post or get creative. You can also shoot video using the film simulation modes if you want a specific look straight out of the camera.

Wrap-up

Fujifilm X100 VI sample image gallery (Samuel Dejours for Engadget)

Fujifilm has made all the right moves to keep the X100 VIs popularity high by tucking a very competent street and travel camera into a beautiful retro-cute body. The extra resolution, in-body stabilization and new video features should be more than enough to tempt owners to upgrade.

At $1,600, the X100 VI doesnt have a lot of competition  which is odd, given its success. Leica springs to mind with the Q3, though that costs a whopping $6,000. Another option is the $1,000 Ricoh GR IIIx, which also offers in-body stabilization and an ND filter. However, resolution is lower at 24MP and it lacks the X100 VIs high-end video features.

Sonys ZV-1 II is also in this compact category, but its mostly designed for video. Keep an eye on Panasonic, as it may release a new compact camera, according to recent rumors. In any case, if youre in the market for a high-end compact and can afford the X100 VI, I wouldnt hesitate  theres a lot of camera inside that beautiful body.
SANTAQUIN, Utah (ABC4)  A funeral has been arranged for Santaquin Sgt. Billy Dean Hooser, the officer who was tragically killed in the line of duty over the weekend.

The funeral will be held at 10 a.m. at the Utah Valley University in Orem on Monday, May 13. Sgt. Spencer Cannon with the Utah County Sheriffs Office said the funeral will be followed by a precession to the Santaquin Cemetary.

The route for the procession has yet to be finalized, according to Sgt. Cannon, however, it is being planned to have minimal impacts on traffic.

Sgt. Hooser was killed on Sunday, May 5 when he was struck by a semi-truck driver allegedly fleeing the scene of a traffic stop.

Fallen Santaquin officer honored with procession, memorial

Hooser was a Utah native with eight years of law enforcement experience, according to the Santaquin Police Department. He joined the force in 2017 and was promoted from Corporal to Sergeant in February 2024. His younger brother, Mike Hooser, said Sgt. Hooser died a hero doing what he loved and serving the people he loved.

The public is invited to attend the memorial services and pay their respects.

On Monday, Law enforcement officers and first responders from several Utah agencies were part of a procession honoring Hooser as his body was moved from Taylorsville back to Santaquin.

Sgt. Cannon told ABC4 that law enforcement agencies have stepped up to help the Santaquin Police Department as they grieve the loss of a coworker. Police Chiefs county-wide came together and created a sign-up sheet for their officers to take shifts in Santaquin to give officers some time-off. Cannon said the sign-up sheet filled up almost immediately.

All the police departments in Utah County want to jump in and do anything they can to help relieve the burden that [Santquin officers] are feeling right now, Cannon said. All the normal things that happen day-to-day are still happening in town and they need to have a response. So the agencies got together in taking some of those days and basically being Santaquin police officers for a shift.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
Future executions in Oklahoma to be set for 90 days apart

The execution gurney is shown in this image from a video released by the Oklahoma Corrections Department.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has decided future executions will be set 90 days apart "unless circumstances dictate modification."

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond had asked for more time to reduce the stress on the volunteer execution teams. He was joined in the request by Steven Harpe, the executive director of the Department of Corrections.

"The present pace of executions, every 60 days, is too onerous and not sustainable," Harpe said.

The decision on 90-day intervals was announced Tuesday. It was not unanimous. Two of the five judges called for executions to remain at 60 days apart.

"Individuals in many professions face demanding and arduous duties as part of their job requirements," Judge Gary Lumpkin wrote in opposing more time. "Personnel in our military continuously face life and death situations but they step up each day and do their duty."

All five judges agreed, though, that executions will be set one at a time from now on instead of in phases.

The state has a backlog because of a hiatus on lethal injections that lasted almost seven years. A dozen have been carried out since they resumed in 2021 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. The latest was April 4.

Drummond and Harpe in January asked the court to go to 90-day intervals once the second phase of executions is completed in June.

Why were executions halted in Oklahoma?

Executions were put on hold after the wrong deadly drug was almost used on Sept. 30, 2015, on death row inmate Richard Glossip. A doctor involved in the process discovered the mistake and the execution was called off.

Officials later confirmed the same wrong deadly drug had been used inadvertently during an execution on Jan. 15, 2015. Oklahoma resumed executions on Oct. 28, 2021.

Four had taken place by mid-2022 when the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals scheduled 25 more.

That schedule came out on July 1, 2022, after those inmates lost a legal challenge to the lethal injection protocol. The schedule called for the executions to be completed in five phases by the end of 2024.

Earlier: Oklahoma prisons chief wants executions every 90 days to relieve burden on staff

Lethal injections in each phase were scheduled about four weeks apart, with two-month breaks between phases.

Drummond last year called for a change to 60-day intervals to reduce the stress on staff and give more time for training. The Court of Criminal Appeals agreed, resetting seven executions.

The court acknowledged Tuesday that scheduling executions in phases has not worked. Judges told the attorney general to timely notify them each time an inmate is executed, gets a stay or has a stay lifted so the next execution can be set.

Lumpkin on Tuesday pointed out the Department of Corrections carried out 18 executions in 2001, seven in 2002 and 14 in 2003.

"It is time to realize the victims and their families must be remembered and the law established by the Oklahoma Legislature followed," he wrote. "As shown in 2001-2003 by the actions of DOC employees, they can step up to meet the challenges placed before them when proper leadership is provided."

Judge says people doing executions need to suck it up

Lumpkin also had harsh comments at a hearing on the 90-day request in March.

"We set a reasonable amount of time to start this out, and y'all keep pushing it and pushing it and pushing it," he said to Drummond. "And whos to say next month you wont come in and say, 'I need 120 days?'

"This stuff needs to stop, and people need to ... suck it up, realize they've got a hard job to do, and get it done in a timely, proficient, professional way.. And I'm not buying the sympathy stuff."

Still scheduled for execution June 6 is Wade Lay, who fatally shot a Tulsa bank guard during an attempted robbery in 2004. A judge is expected to issue a stay soon because experts agree he is now mentally incompetent. His clemency hearing before the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has been called off.

To be scheduled next is Richard Norman Rojem Jr. He faces execution for the fatal stabbing of a 7-year-old girl in 1984. Rojem, 66, claims he is innocent.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma executions will now be 90 days apart, court says
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The border pillars in Tavush are a guarantee of Armenia's security, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference, Trend reports.

Since the prior guarantees failed, the focus of current events in Armenia is on creating new security pledges, he emphasized.

Pashinyan pledged to exert maximum effort to enhance these assurances and expand the number of border pillars.

As part of efforts to clarify coordinates, geodetic measurements as of May 6, 2024, led to the installation of 40 border pillars along the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The collaborative efforts of expert groups from both countries are ongoing.

Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
GA boy thought he was drinking Mountain Dew. Why a middle school worker has now been charged

A paraprofessional is no longer employed after a student allegedly found a liquid that wasnt soda in a bottle.

On Thursday, around 1:15 p.m., deputies were called to Morgan County Middle School regarding an employee having alcohol at the school.

When deputies arrived, they were told a male student had taken a Mountain Dew from Alexandra Nicole Ligon Lambert, 39, possession.

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Officials said after the student drank it, he realized that the liquid inside the bottle was something other than Mountain Dew.

The student reportedly told another teacher who asked the paraprofessional about the liquid.

Lambert was then brought to the principals office, where she admitted to bringing a water bottle full of vodka to school, stating that it was an accident, according to officials.

TRENDING STORIES:

Lambert took a breathalyzer test, which returned positive for alcohol, registering a 0.259. She was also informed that she could not leave the school driving, being that she was allegedly three times over the legal limit.

Morgan County Sheriffs Office said the assistant principal found an empty water bottle that contained residue of an alcoholic beverage in the trash can where the student threw it away.

Lambert was arrested and charged with a citation for city ordinance disorderly conduct, which involved public drunkenness. She was transported to the Morgan County Sheriffs Office Adult Detention Facility.

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Morgan County Charter Schools sent the following statement to parents and guardians last week:

The Middle School administration was informed today of a potential issue involving an employees water bottle containing alcohol. Law enforcement was promptly notified and an investigation ensued. It was subsequently confirmed that alcohol was indeed present, leading to the immediate arrest of the employee by the Morgan County Sheriffs Office. As this is a personnel matter, we cannot provide further comments at this time, but we can confirm that the individual is no longer employed with our district.

The safety of our staff and students is paramount, and we take all incidents seriously. We have zero tolerance for any behavior that could jeopardize their well-being. We will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement and appreciate the support of the Morgan County Sheriffs Office.

IN OTHER NEWS:
GA woman said she set neighbors apartment on fire with him inside because of the company he kept

A 60-year-old woman is facing charges after allegedly starting a fire at a north Georgia apartment.

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On May 2, officers with the Clayton Police Department were called to the Shady Side Apartments regarding an apartment fire. When officers arrived, they noticed a fire burning on the front porch of an apartment.

The 64-year-old victim was trying to finish putting out the fire.

Authorities began knocking on the neighbors apartment door. Officers said when she opened, they noticed a blue light on a table near the couch.

Clayton officials said the neighbor, Judy Callenback, 60, smelled like alcohol and was wearing a wet robe.

When officers went to speak to the victim, he stated he was sleeping on his couch and woke up to lights flashing outside his window. As he got up to check the lights, he noticed the fire at his apartment.

The victim told police that Callenback was lighting items on fire and made threats toward him.

TRENDING STORIES:

Clayton police said they noticed a wet footprint on the concrete sidewalk at Callenbacks front porch, which led back towards her apartment from the victims apartment.

Judy went into a speech about David and all the [expletive] and drugs he was involved in and how she was the victim because she lived next door to him and just wanted to rest, the police report, obtained by Channel 2 Action News, reads.

She continued to deny that she set her neighbors apartment on fire.

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When officers met with the apartment director, Callenback was allegedly caught on camera setting the fire and wearing the same robe when she was arrested. Clayton officials said she was also seen lighting other items on fire near the sidewalk in front of the victims apartment.

Callenback was arrested and booked into the Rabun County Detention Center. Shes charged with arson, terroristic threats and acts, aggravated assault and public drunkenness.

IN OTHER NEWS:
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday posted and quickly deleted a complaint about an upcoming witness on Truth Social despite being under a gag order barring him from publicly attacking witnesses.

Trump, whose legal team has not received advance notice of upcoming witnesses from prosecutors after he violated the gag order, wrote Tuesday morning that he was just told who the witness is today.

This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare, Trump claimed, even though his team has long had the full witness list. No Judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way.

The post was deleted less than 30 minutes later.

Trump appears to have deleted this post complaining that his legal team didnt have time to prepare for todays witness. (I saw it on Truth Social a few minutes ago but its gone now.) pic.twitter.com/Z6MdZruY9G  Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 7, 2024

Former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade noted that there is "no legal requirement to provide notice in advance of the days witnesses."

"In fact, in federal court, there is even no requirement to share witness lists with opposing counsel. And in light of safety concerns here, there are strong reasons to protect witness identity," she added.

The post came a day after Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for his 10th gag order violation and warned that he could face jail if he breaches the order again.

Georgia State Law Prof. Anthony Michael Kreis said the post may not violate the gag order since it was "really directed at the process" rather than the witness.

"But the quick removal seems like the most public-facing evidence we have the Trump absolutely does not want to see the inside of a jail cell," he added.

Adult film star Stormy Daniels is expected to testify on Tuesday, her attorney Clark Brewster told The Associated Press. Trumps alleged hush-money payments to Daniels are at the heart of the 34 felony charges against him. Trump is accused of illegally covering up the payment to prevent Daniels claim of a sexual encounter from coming out during his campaign. Trump has denied the allegations and the affair.
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant addresses the annual Conference of Presidents at the MoD Headquarters in Tel Aviv. Gallant said the Israeli army would be prepared to make compromises in the event of an agreement on the release of hostages during the offensive in Rafah. Shachar Yurman/GPO/dpa

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the Israeli army would be prepared to make compromises in the event of an agreement on the release of hostages during the offensive in Rafah.

"But if this option is cancelled, we will continue and deepen the operation," Gallant said, according to his office on Tuesday evening. He said that applied to the whole of the Gaza Strip and that the military pressure would lead to the destruction of Hamas.

On Monday, Gallant ordered the army to advance to Rafah and take over the border crossing. Israel's military took over checks of the border crossing on the Palestinian side. "This operation will continue until we have eliminated Hamas in the Rafah area and throughout the Gaza Strip or until the first hostage returns," Gallant said.

Israel and the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas are currently indirectly negotiating a ceasefire in the Gaza war and the release of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners. "We are prepared to make compromises in order to get hostages back," said Gallant.
Hugely popular social media platform TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance sued the U.S. government after a recent law passed by Congress and signed by President Biden just weeks ago that gives the company about nine months to sell TikTok or face a ban in U.S. app stores.

TikTok says the new law violates the U.S. Constitution and its First Amendment rights. The suit, or petition, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., was not unexpected as ByteDance has said it has no intention of selling TikTok and vowed to fight. TikTok insists that its U.S. user date is protected.

More from Deadline

There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, the lawsuit states, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere, the suit says. For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than one billion people worldwide.

It said the law, called the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, is unconstitutional. Banning TikTok is so obviously unconstitutional, in fact, that even the Acts sponsors recognized that reality, and therefore have tried mightily to depict the law not as a ban at all, but merely a regulation of TikToks ownership.

It said the qualified divestiture demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United

States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally. And certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act. Petitioners have repeatedly explained this to the U.S. government, and sponsors of the Act were aware that divestment is not possible.

There are good reasons why Congress has never before enacted a law like this. Consistent with the First Amendments guarantee of freedom of expression, the United States has long championed a free and open Internet  and the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that speech conveyed over the Internet fully qualifies for the First Amendments protections.

Basically, it said the Acts national security argument is a slippery slope. If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of

any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down. And for TikTok, any such divestiture would disconnect Americans from the rest of the global community on a platform devoted to shared content  an outcome fundamentally at odds with the Constitutions

commitment to both free speech and individual liberty.

The TikTok sale or ban included as part of a sweeping bipartisan $95 billion aid package to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. In a video post that day on X/Twitter, TikTok CEO Shou Chew said, Rest assured, we are not going anywhere.

The facts and the Constitution are on side, and we expect to prevail again, he said.

Donald Trumps presidency also took a hard line with TikTok but through the governments Committee On Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). There was no official law passed and the administration faced several legal setbacks before appearing to drop the issue.

TikTok most recently slammed the law at its Newfronts presentation for advertisers last week. I want you to know that we not backing down, said Blake Chandlee, President, Global Business Solutions at ByteDance/TikTok.

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House impeachment investigators will meet next week to vote on whether to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt as part of their quest to gain access to an audio recording of an interview conducted with President Biden during his classified documents probe.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and House Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) have a transcript of Bidens interview with special counsel Robert Hur, but the Justice Department has held back from sharing the audio files.

The substance of the recording has little to do with their impeachment investigation into Biden. But the panels have nonetheless sought the audio, as well as two documents found in his home that dealt with Ukraine.

The Justice Department has twice urged the committees not to escalate the matter, and last month said the two chairs requested the information based on political purposes that should have no role in determining which law enforcement files are shared.

It seems that the more information you receive, the less satisfied you are, and the less justification you have for contempt, the more you rush towards it, Carlos Uriarte, head of legislative affairs for the Justice Department, wrote to Jordan and Comer last month.

The department declined comment Tuesday morning but has taken the stance that turning over its investigative files would have a chilling effect as it seeks cooperation across various probes.

House Republicans have defended their interest in the audio, saying the format contains revealing verbal cues and that a subjects pauses and inflections can provide context or evidence of whether a subject is evasive or suffers from a poor memory.

The Departments unsupported speculation about the Committees motives in insisting that you produce the audio recordings has no bearing on your legal obligation to produce the subpoenaed materials, they wrote last month.

The contempt vote, if approved, would go from the committee to the full House floor.

Though censure of a sitting attorney general would be remarkable, it would likely have little practical effect: contempt votes largely act as a referral to the Justice Department, which then weighs whether there are grounds for contempt of Congress charges.

The coming hearing is not the first time that the two chairs have threatened contempt as part of their impeachment investigation.

Last summer, the duo was prepared to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt over access to the FD-1023 file memorializing an interview with a bureau informant who alleged Biden accepted a bribe while serving as vice president.

The informant has since been arrested on charges related to fabricating the claim.

An attorney general has been held in contempt only twice before.

In 2012, Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt for refusing to turn over documents related to the Operation Fast and Furious, where law enforcement failed to intervene as some 2,000 guns were sold.

The department took no further action against Holder.

Trump-era Attorney General Bill Barr was also held in contempt for skirting a subpoena dealing with changes made to the census form, and the department likewise took no additional action.

Bidens interview with Hur focuses on how documents from his tenure as vice president ended up in his home and in an office he used once leaving the administration.

The interview was the basis for Hurs conclusion that Biden would likely be perceived as an elderly man with a poor memory by a jury, even as he likewise wrote that he failed to find sufficient evidence to support any charges.

The Justice Department insists its decision to withhold the recording is not political, but rather consistent with their prerogative of protecting their investigations.

The decision to sit down with investigators and prosecutors should not include a tacit invitation for the Committees to participate, comment, or apply selective hindsight, Uriarte wrote last month.

It would be severely chilling if the decision to cooperate with a law enforcement investigation required individuals to submit themselves to public inquest by politicians.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Like most Americans, weve been following Donald Trumps hush-money trial closely and have been fascinated by everything weve learned so far. But if were honest, todays testimony is the one weve been waiting for.

Today is finally the day when we find out what bisexual former adult film star Stormy Daniels said when she took the stand to testify against the former president.

We love it whenever someone is courageous enough to stand up to Trump, but what exactly is he being charged with, and what did Daniels talk about during her testimony?

Stormy Daniels is an incredibly compelling witness. Her attention to detail is exactly what the prosecution wants. Donald Trump lied to America's face when he said he didn't have an affair with her. Add that to the list of whoppers he has told. The hush money hijacked democracy. pic.twitter.com/SctpaDVUhM  Russell Drew (@RussOnPolitics) May 7, 2024

Why is Trump on trial this time?

In the final weeks of the 2016 election  otherwise known as the before times  Trump was getting antsy about his chances of beating Hilary Clinton if his affairs and poor treatment of women came to light. So he got his lawyer to pay off the two women hed allegedly had affairs with to keep them quiet.

Then, if that slimy behavior wasnt enough, fraudulent business records were created to cover up the alleged criminal conduct. Now, hes about to head to trial, where Trump is facing a whopping 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.

How is Stormy Daniels involved?

Back in 2006, when former adult film star Stormy Daniels was in her 20s and Trump was in his 60s, the two allegedly had an affair. Age-gap relationships can be hot, but yuck!

To keep that info on the down low, Trumps then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 through a shell corporation for her silence, according to the Associated Press.

The prosecutors want Daniels to testify about the hush-money payments, which is smart because if you want someone to spill the tea on the stand, you pick someone who far less outspoken (and frankly super brave) than Daniels.

Trumps lawyers tried to get Daniels testimony excluded from the trial, but yesterday, the judge ruled against them, basically saying, In your dreams!

When Stormy Daniels went to the National Enquirer in October 2016, Trump was hemorrhaging support from Republican electeds in the aftermath of the Access Hollywood tapes. Daniels' story would have killed his campaign. Burying it was a crime big enough to steal the entire election pic.twitter.com/aFt5MosmXd  The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) March 11, 2024

What did Stormy Daniels say during her testimony? (UPDATE)

During her testimony today, Daniels recounted her first meeting with Trump in his hotel suite, where he quizzed her about whether she had any sexually transmitted diseases, talked about his business ventures, and told her that he and his wife, Melania, slept in separate room, The Advocate reports.

In a particularly salacious part of her testimony, Daniels said that he showed her a magazine with a picture of him on the cover, and when she got frustrated by Trumps rude behavior, she told him that someone should spank him with it. Trump then handed her the magazine, and she swatted him with it.

After that, Daniels said that Trump was much more polite and even suggested she should come on his show The Apprentice, NBC News reports. He allegedly told her that she should appear on the show to prove she shouldnt be underestimated and then told her that she reminds him of his daughter. Gross.

Daniels said that the two slept together in his hotel room but described it as brief, that he didnt use a condom, and that he always called her honey bunch.

Why is Michael Cohen part of the trial?

Not only did Cohen pay off Daniels, but he also paid $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal through the publisher of the tabloid the National Enquirer, who also killed McDougals story so it wouldnt come to light.

But thats not all because a slimy lawyer has to get paid, too. Cohen was paid $420,000, including a $60,000 bonus. Looks like we got into the wrong business because, apparently, being a terrible human being pays really well.

In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges, lying to Congress, among other crimes for which he got three years in prison. But because things work differently for the wealthy, he only spent 13 1/2 months behind bars and a year and a half in home confinement.

Trumps lawyers tried to argue that Cohen has a history of lying, so his testimony should be excluded from the trial. Thats rich coming from the legal team of the biggest liar around.

Luckily, Judge Juan Merchan is more intelligent than that and rejected their argument.

Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump's request to keep Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels & Karen McDougal from testifying in his hush money case.



Remember when Trump had Cohen thrown back in prison for writing a book? Karma is fun to watch. #ProudBlue #TrumpForPrison2024 LOCK HIM UP pic.twitter.com/dhRxqxat6o  LA Blue Dot in GA  (@namwella1961) March 19, 2024





What are the Access Hollywood tapes, and what did the judge rule?

On Monday, the judge also ruled that the infamous Access Hollywood tapes  the ones where Trump was real gross and bragged about how he gropes women  cant be played during the trial, but prosecutors can bring them up to talk about Trumps fear of how the video footage would impact his bid for president.

Although wed be shocked if there was a single person in America who hasnt heard Trump say he was going to grab them by the p***y.

The TLDR

Trump was worried he wouldnt win the 2016 election if all of his bad behavior came to light, so he paid off a bunch of people, and now a judge says the people involved can testify against him. Score one for justice!
A section of a human brain with Alzheimer's disease is displayed at the Museum of Neuroanatomy at the University at Buffalo, in Buffalo, N.Y., Oct. 7, 2003. A long-feared gene appears to do more than raise peoples risk of Alzheimers: Inheriting two copies can cause the mind-robbing disease, according to research published in the journal Nature Medicine on Monday, May 6, 2024. | David Duprey

Having two copies of a gene long believed to increase risk of Alzheimers disease may actually be a new genetic form of the degenerative neurological disease.

Thats according to a new study that found more than 95% of individuals over age 65 with two copies of the APOE4 gene show biological characteristics of the diseases pathology when spinal fluid or positron emission tomography are examined.

The study, published in Nature Medicine, was conducted by researchers at the Sant Pau Research Institute, led by Dr. Juan Fortea, director of the memory unit of the institutes Neurology Service, found that those with two of the gene variant also develop Alzheimers disease earlier than those who have different APOE variants. The findings might represent a new genetic form of Alzheimers disease, Fortea said in a news release.

These data represent a reconceptualization of the disease or what it means to be homozygous for the APOE4 gene, Fortea said in a written statement. This gene has been known for over 30 years and it was known to be associated with a higher risk of developing Alzheimers disease. But now we know that virtually all individuals with this duplicated gene type develop Alzheimers biology. This is important because they represent between 2 and 3% of the population.

Its also crucial to note that not everyone who has both APOE4 genes develops Alzheimers symptoms. Researchers are trying to understand what makes some  the minority of the double APOE4 carriers  different.

The study design

As CNN explained, This shifting appreciation of inherited risk, researchers say, is due to a better understanding of the role of a fourth gene that carries the blueprints to make a lipid-carrying protein called apolipoprotein E, known as APOE. APOE ferries cholesterol throughout the body and brain and is thought to play a role in depositing or sweeping away sticky beta amyloid plaques, which are one hallmark of Alzheimers.

The APOE gene has different haplotypes. APOE3 is the most common and is considered neutral, neither increasing or decreasing risk of Alzheimers disease. APOE2 is thought to be protective against Alzheimers. And because one gene comes from each parent, there are combinations believed to raise or decrease risk somewhat.

Rarely, people can have APOE4 and have a lot of beta amyloid in their brain but not have symptoms, perhaps because of other genetic or environmental factors that protect their brains at the same time. In the large dataset of nearly 3,300 brains kept by the National Alzheimers Coordinating Center, for example, 273 individuals had two copies of the APOE4 gene, and 240, or 88%, had dementia, CNN reported.

The new study included data from 3,297 individuals whose brains were donated for research and 10,039 in clinical study for Alzheimers disease. The researchers found that almost all of those who had both APOE4 genes  which means one copy inherited from each parent  had some Alzheimers disease pathology and had significantly higher levels of (Alzheimers) biomarkers from age 55 compared to APOE3 homozygotes. By age 65, nearly all had abnormal amyloid levels in cerebrospinal fluid, and 75% had positive amyloid scans, with the prevalence of these markers increasing with age, indicating near-full penetrance of AD biology in APOE4 homozygotes.

The study said the age of symptom onset was also earlier, at just over 65 years of age.

Symptoms for those with a pair of APOE4 genes also developed seven to 10 years earlier than with other older adults who develop Alzheimers.

Until this study, it was thought that the only genetic form of Alzheimers disease was the early-onset form, which is quite rare and strikes between 30 and 60 years of age.

Future treatment target?

Dr. Reisa Sperling, a study co-author at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, told The Associated Press that the research means it is vital to target treatments toward the APOE4 gene. The article noted that some doctors wont offer the only drug that has been shown to modestly slow the disease, Leqembi, to people with the gene pair because theyre especially prone to a dangerous side effect.

Said Sperling, This data for me says wow, what an important group to be able to go after before they become symptomatic.

The study authors hope the findings will aid development of prevention strategies, clinical trials and targeted treatment for people with two copies of the APOE4 gene, according to background material on the study. In the release, Dr. Alberto Lleo, a researcher in the Dementia Neurobiology Group at the Sant Pau Research Institute, who directs Neurology Service there, said the finding reinforces that specific prevention strategies are needed.

According to CNN, The important takeaway from the study, said Dr. Constantine Lyketsos, director of the memory and Alzheimers treatment center at Johns Hopkins, is that Alzheimers disease shouldnt be treated as a monolith. Rather, it shows that there are different forms of the disease that need personalized treatment.

Said Lyketsos, who was not involved in the study, The point is, we need to start doing precision medicine and breaking it down. Start with genetics.

Experts dont currently suggest gene testing for an APOE variant as a routine part of diagnosis. The study authors suggest that might need to be reconsidered.
An encampment of Haitian migrants at Plaza Giordano Bruno in Mexico City. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

In the rapidly gentrifying Mexico City neighborhood of Juarez, tourists roll suitcases to luxury Airbnbs, and music bumps from pool parties at Soho House, a new members-only club. Shops sell designer underwear. Cafes serve caviar.

And then there are the tents  hundreds of them  that fill the streets.

Here, destitute migrants from around the world bide time as they wait for the opportunity to request asylum at the U.S. border. Entire families from Haiti, Venezuela and other places in upheaval live exposed to the elements, cooking over open fires, bathing in water pilfered from fountains and finding ways to relieve themselves without public restrooms.

Despite the hardships, Karenis Alvarez, 36, said the three months she has spent camped here haven't been worse than life back in Venezuela, where food and electricity are scarce, and the education and health systems have collapsed.

"We have a place to sleep," said Alvarez. "Even if its a tent."

Karenis Alvarez, 36, and her 17-year-old son from Venezuela make arepas outside their tent in Mexico City's Juarez neighborhood. (Alejandra Rajal / For The Times)

The sprawling encampment has triggered protests from angry neighbors, who chanted, "The street is not a shelter!" during a recent demonstration, as organizers complained to local journalists that the migrants were making the area unsafe. It has also sparked outcry from humanitarian organizations that implore Mexico to do more to protect the people traversing its territory.

Above all, it has become a symbol of how an uptick in global migration is transforming not just the United States border but nations to its south.

In Costa Rica, migrants  mostly from Nicaragua  make up 10% of the population.

In Panama, humanitarian networks have been so overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of migrants on the march that authorities have started moving them north in buses.

And in Colombia, nearly 3 million Venezuelans have sought refuge in recent years; 2 million others have landed in Ecuador and Peru.

The pressures are also acute in Mexico, where a series of U.S. policies in recent years have forced many migrants to wait for extended periods, and where leaders are under pressure from their American counterparts to keep migrants away from the border.

Mexican authorities have stepped up their enforcement in the north of the country  setting up an extensive net of checkpoints and deporting migrants back to their home countries or sending them south on buses. Many migrants say Mexico City, where enforcement actions are less common, feels safer. But with some shelters here crowded to four times their capacity, migrants have had to improvise, erecting tents in various parts of the metropolis, including Juarez.

Haitian migrants who were staying at a shelter in Mexico City on their way north were forced to make camp at a park after the shelter closed. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

Known for its leafy streets and historic architecture, the neighborhood has changed rapidly in recent years, with rents soaring and high-brow restaurants and Pilates studios moving in.

Like other parts of Mexico City, Juarez has become a hub for tourists and digital nomads  remote workers, many from the United States, who move abroad in part to take advantage of the lower cost of living. They crowd natural wine bars, browse high-end clothing shops and cruise around on bicycle "taco tours."

Read more: Californians and other Americans are flooding Mexico City. Some locals want them to go home

Then there are foreigners like Keyla Arriaga.

On a recent hot afternoon, the 23-year-old sat on a dusty couch in the middle of a street. As a dog walker steered his pack around tents and a pair of sunburned travelers walked by sipping beers, Arriaga nursed her infant daughter with one hand and navigated a U.S. government smartphone app with the other.

The app, CBP One, would allow Arriaga to schedule an appointment at a U.S. port of entry, where she could request asylum for herself, her baby and her two young sons, who were tugging at her, increasingly impatient.

Keyla Arriaga, 23, is traveling with her children  Dylan, Bryan, and Dana  after fleeing the escalating violence in their hometown of Guayaquil, Ecuador. (Alejandra Rajal / For The Times)

"Mami, I'm thirsty," said Bryan, 5.

"Mami, I want to play," said Dylan, 7.

Arriaga shushed them as she rifled through a stack of crumpled birth certificates and other identity documents in search of information the app required.

They had fled their hometown of Guayaquil, Ecuador, to escape rapidly escalating gang violence. Arriaga hoped to get out of Mexico as soon as possible, given what she had heard about the country's cartels and the propensity of authorities to extort from migrants.

The longer Im here, the more bad things can happen to me," she said.

But like many in this camp, she is stranded. Migrants can't access CBP One south of Mexico City, and in the north, the threat of deportation looms. And once they apply, the wait for an appointment can last months.

Many migrants try to find jobs in the meantime.

In the main market in Juarez, a noisy labyrinth of stalls where vendors sell food, plants and clothing, it's not uncommon to hear Haitian Creole mixed in with Spanish and with English from tourists.

Marc Arthur Garcon, 52, is one of two Haitians who works for a butcher. Back home, he owned a photo studio. But after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise plunged Haiti into turmoil, he sold his car and bought a one-way plane ticket to Nicaragua.

Marc Arthur Garcon, 52, departs the market to fulfill a meat order. Formerly a photographer in Haiti, he sold all his possessions to leave the country. (Alejandra Rajal / For The Times)

When he arrived in Mexico, he applied for asylum, thinking he might like to live here in the long term.

Asylum claims in Mexico have increased more than a hundredfold over the last decade, from 1,300 applications in 2013 to 141,000 last year.

In the end, Garcon decided against staying in Mexico, given how little he earns making deliveries on bicycle  $16 for each 12-hour shift. He's also concerned about the growing ire from neighbors. But he knows, too, that the U.S. is not a sure bet, and he could face deportation once he enters. He feels sometimes like there is simply no place for him.

"Im really frustrated," he said.

The encampment has been a frequent topic of conversation for longtime residents of Juarez such as Idelbrano Lopez, 40.

Seeing kids living on the street makes him sad, he said. And the unsanitary conditions of the camp make him worried for his own family.

"As a human being, I want to help them, but if we keep helping them, they might stay forever," he said.

A Haitian migrant family camps out at Plaza Giordano Bruno. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

Others in the neighborhood said worries about the migrants are a distraction from the issue of gentrification.

They dont give us any problems," said Lorena Perez, 50. "The real problem here is the rising costs."

Isaac Contreras, a local volunteer who comes to the encampment daily to teach art to the children living there, recently organized a party for the migrants. A restaurant donated food and cake. Children sang songs in Creole. Some of the adults danced.

Contreras said it's important that he and others in the community get to know the people living on their doorstep.

"Were neighbors," Contreras said. "How are we going to create a community together?"

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 8. The next round of negotiations has begun between the delegation of the Palestinian Hamas movement and a group of mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States on a settlement in the Gaza Strip, Trend reports.

According to information, negotiations are taking place in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

It is reported that members of the delegation intend to complete discussions on the possibility of achieving a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

A combined attack was carried out on Israel on October 7. From the beginning, a massive rocket attack began from the territory of the Gaza Strip, followed by the penetration of militants by land, water, and air.

Israel declared a state of war after a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. Moreover, Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a mass gathering of reservists.
Georgias Former No. 2 Republican Explains Why Hes Voting for Joe Biden in 2024

Former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan shared his reason for opposing Donald Trump in an op-ed published on May 6

AP Photo/Alex Slitz; Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty George Duncan and President Joe Biden

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan is reaching across the aisle to endorse President Joe Biden in the upcoming presidential election.

Once the state's No. 2 Republican, Duncan, 49, announced he is voting for Biden, 81, in a passionate op-ed letter published on May 6. His message aimed to steer Republicans away from Donald Trump's campaign for a second term.

Duncan's letter, published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, labeled Trump, 77, a criminal defendant without a moral compass as he listed his reasons why he deemed Trump an unworthy candidate for reelection.

Unlike Trump, Ive belonged to the GOP my entire life, he wrote. This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.

Related: Donald Trump Has Moral Compass of an Ax Murderer, Says Georgias Former No. 2 Republican

AP Photo/John Bazemore Duncan shared his vote for Biden in the 2024 election in an op-ed published on May 6

The former lieutenant governor, who openly criticized Trumps claims of fraud in the 2020 election, continued in his letter that the GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving him with no choice but to vote for Biden.

The alternative is another term of Trump, a man who has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character, he went on. The headlines are ablaze with his hush-money trial over allegations of improper record-keeping for payments to conceal an affair with an adult-film star.

Duncan also mentioned the former presidents April Time interview in which he stated the restricting policies he would put in place if he secured a second term, and blamed Trump for causing the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol, among his reasons to vote against him.

Trump has shown us who he is. We should believe him. To think he is going to change at the age of 77 is beyond improbable, he added in the letter.

Related: Adult Film Star Stormy Daniels Testifies That Donald Trump Told Her She Reminded Him of 'His Daughter'

Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty Duncan said he is voting against Donald Trump should he run for a second term in November

Elsewhere in his letter, Duncan called out Trumps ex-attorney Bill Barr for sharing his support for Trump.

Barr saw firsthand Trumps ability to cause damage, he wrote. Barrs declaration that the Justice Department uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election infuriated his boss and set off a chain of events that ended with Jan. 6.

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Duncan previously slammed Trump in a 2022 op-ed for holding back the Republican Party after serving as Georgias lieutenant governor when Trump lost the 2020 election. He also testified in the Fulton County investigation into Trump and his allies for their alleged election subversion efforts.

Following the release of his latest op-ed, Duncan told CNNs Laura Coates on May 7 that Trump is not a Republican in his eyes.

He doesnt represent our brand. He doesnt represent our future. Hes a horrible human being at this point. Were watching that play out hour by hour in the courtroom, he said.

Related: Donald Trump Learns Punishment for Repeatedly Violating Gag Order in Manhattan Criminal Trial

Its time to move on," Duncan continued. "If were going to heal as a party and truly get back to doing the things that we should do  and thats be conservative but not angry or crazy or liars  we should turn the page immediately from Donald Trump.

Georgia will play a significant role in the 2024 election, as a narrowly divided state with 16 Electoral College votes. Once firmly Republican, Georgia swung blue in 2020 when Biden won by just 0.2%.



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Georgia woman charged with operating telemarketing scheme with 200 victims in 25 states

Georgia deputies arrested a woman accused of operating a telemarketing scheme that impacted hundreds of people across 25 different states.

On April 30, the Washington County Sheriffs Office arrested 32-year-old Destiny Danywell Magoon from Sandersville.

Magoon allegedly told customers to mail their dead loved ones irreplaceable items, so that she could create a memento out of them.

These customers said they never received the memento or their items back.

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

Deputies said there are more than 200 victims across 25 different states.

Investigators charged Magoon with 12 counts of felony theft by deception.

Anyone who may have been a victim is asked to contact the Washington County Sheriffs Office at 478-552-4795.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
German defence minister to hold security policy talks in US, Canada

German Minister of Defense boards an aircraft of the Bundeswehr air force to travel to the USA and Canada. Britta Pedersen/dpa

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius begins a multi-day trip through the United States and Canada on Tuesday.

His first stop is New York where he is expected to give a speech to representatives of the American Jewish Committee, an organization that represents Jewish interests.

Pistorius is scheduled to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday.

A visit to the defence company Boeing is also on the agenda.

During the trip, Pistorius plans to meet his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in Washington.

The German defence minister also plans to travel to Ottawa to hold talks with his Canadian counterpart Bill Blair.

Pistorius is expected to report on Germany's military involvement in NATO as well as its contributions to the stabilization in conflict zones. The ongoing war in Ukraine is also to be discussed.

German Minister of Defense boards an aircraft of the Bundeswehr air force to travel to the USA and Canada. Britta Pedersen/dpa
A screenshot from a video shows a police car parked at the European Parliament. In connection with the espionage allegations against a former employee of Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Maximilian Krah, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had the offices of the politician and the suspect in the European Parliament in Brussels searched on Tuesday. Alina Grunky/dpa

Authorities in Brussels on Tuesday searched the European Parliament office of far-right German legislator Maximilian Krah in connection with suspected espionage by his former assistant, Jian Guo, prosecutors say.

A statement by the German Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said Krah's parliamentary offices in Brussels had been searched in connection with an investigation into Guo.

German police arrested Guo on suspicion of espionage on April 22. Krah, who represents Germany's far-right Alternativ fur Deutschland (AfD) party, fired Guo following the allegations.

A spokesman for the Belgian public prosecutor's office confirmed to dpa that authorities had entered the offices on the request of German prosecutors.

A screenshot from a video shows security guards standing in a corridor in the European Parliament. In connection with the espionage allegations against a former employee of Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Maximilian Krah, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had the offices of the politician and the suspect in the European Parliament in Brussels searched on Tuesday. Alina Grunky/dpa
A screenshot from a video shows security guards standing in a corridor in the European Parliament. In connection with the espionage allegations against a former employee of Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Maximilian Krah, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had the offices of the politician and the suspect in the European Parliament in Brussels searched on Tuesday. Alina Grunky/dpa

Investigators in Brussels have searched the European Parliament office of far-right German legislator Maximilian Krah in connection with suspected espionage by his former assistant, Jian Guo, German prosecutors said on Tuesday.

German police arrested Guo on suspicion of espionage on April 22. Krah, a leading member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Europe, fired Guo following the allegations that the parliamentary aid was spying for China.

In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Krah said: "Today, my ex-employee's office in Brussels was searched. This was to be expected after his arrest and is therefore not surprising. The only thing that is remarkable is that it took so long. Neither I nor any other employee are affected."

The German public prosecutor's statement said both Krah's and Guo's offices were searched on Tuesday morning.

"The measures are part of the proceedings against Jian G. on suspicion of acting as an intelligence agent." The search of Krah's office, meanwhile, is pursuant to his status as a witness.

Guo's Brussels flat was searched on April 24, the statement added.

A spokesman for the Belgian public prosecutor's office confirmed to dpa that authorities had entered the offices on the request of German prosecutors.

Krah sits on the European Parliament's trade committee, and is his party's lead candidate ahead of European elections in a month's time.

Prosecutors allege that Guo passed sensitive information from inside the European Parliament to Chinese intelligence, and also may have relayed information about Chinese political activists living in Europe.

A screenshot from a video shows a police car parked at the European Parliament. In connection with the espionage allegations against a former employee of Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Maximilian Krah, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had the offices of the politician and the suspect in the European Parliament in Brussels searched on Tuesday. Alina Grunky/dpa
A screenshot from a video shows security guards standing in a corridor in the European Parliament. In connection with the espionage allegations against a former employee of Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Maximilian Krah, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had the offices of the politician and the suspect in the European Parliament in Brussels searched on Tuesday. Alina Grunky/dpa

Investigators in Brussels have searched the European Parliament office of far-right German legislator Maximilian Krah in connection with suspected espionage by his former assistant, Jian Guo, German prosecutors said on Tuesday.

German police arrested Jian Guo on suspicion of espionage on April 22. Krah, a leading member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Europe, fired the man following the allegations that the parliamentary aide was spying for China.

In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Krah said: "Today, my ex-employee's office in Brussels was searched. This was to be expected after his arrest and is therefore not surprising. The only thing that is remarkable is that it took so long. Neither I nor any other employee are affected."

The German public prosecutor's statement said both Krah's and Jian Guo's offices were searched on Tuesday morning.

"The measures are part of the proceedings against Jian [Guo] on suspicion of acting as an intelligence agent," it said, adding that the search of Krah's office, meanwhile, is pursuant to his status as a witness.

Jian Guo's Brussels flat was searched on April 24, the statement added.

A spokesman for the Belgian public prosecutor's office confirmed to dpa that authorities had entered the offices on the request of German prosecutors.

Dpa has so far been unable to reach Jian Guo for comment on the allegations against him.

Krah sits on the European Parliament's trade committee, and is his party's lead candidate ahead of European elections in a month's time.

Prosecutors allege that Jian Guo passed sensitive information from inside the European Parliament to Chinese intelligence, and also may have relayed information about Chinese political activists living in Europe.

It's not clear exactly what investigators were looking for in the office on Tuesday. Security guards used blue tape to keep journalists at bay in the corridor outside the office.

Documents belonging to Krah are protected by his immunity as a member of the European Parliament. The parliament can decide to waive this immunity, but the legislature isn't due to meet again until after the European elections on June 6-9.

The case against Jian Guo is one of several criminal investigations into foreign meddling in the parliament, though it's the only one related to China.

Last year, Eva Kaili, a Greek social democrat and vice president of the European Parliament, was arrested by Belgian police on suspicion of taking bribes from Qatar.

Two other social democrat members of the parliament - Belgium's Marc Tarabella and Italy's Andrea Cozzolino - were also arrested in their respective home countries as part of the Qatar investigation.

Kaili, Tarabella and Cozzolino deny any wrongdoing. Other figures connected to the parliament, including Kaili's domestic partner, have also been arrested.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo recently announced that the country's intelligence services are investigating attempts by Russia to influence the European Parliament.

A screenshot from a video shows a police car parked at the European Parliament. In connection with the espionage allegations against a former employee of Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Maximilian Krah, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had the offices of the politician and the suspect in the European Parliament in Brussels searched on Tuesday. Alina Grunky/dpa
By Philipp Krach

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police cleared a pro-Palestinian protest camp on Tuesday at a courtyard of the Freie Universitaet Berlin, which had called for a stop to Israel's military operation in Gaza.

Some 100 people set up two dozen tents on the campus on Tuesday, joining a call by the so-called "Student Coalition Berlin" to occupy German universities.

Students from various Berlin universities joined the protest, carrying Palestinian flags and shouting slogans supporting Palestinians and denouncing Israel and Germany.

The student group demanded that criminal charges be dropped against students and others who had shown solidarity with Palestinians on campuses, and for the universities to publicly oppose planned reforms to Berlin's senate that would enable the expulsion of students on political grounds.

They also urged banning police from the campus and reinstating academics and staff members of German universities and research institutes, who were expelled or defunded because of their political stance.

Freie Universitat Berlin said the protesters tried to enter university rooms and lecture halls aiming to occupy them, and that the university filed criminal complaints and suspended lectures in several buildings.

"This kind of protest is not dialogue oriented. An occupation of university property is not acceptable. We welcome academic debate and dialogue  but not in this form," said Guenter Ziegler, president of Freie Universitat Berlin.

Student protests over the war and academic ties with Israel have begun to spread across Europe but have remained much smaller in scale than those seen in the United States.

The students are protesting Israel's offensive in Gaza, launched after a Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people. Israel's reprisals have killed over 34,000 in the enclave, according to Gaza health authorities.

More than 25 police vehicles surrounded the camp at Freie Universitaet Berlin and police said they cleared the area due to a university management request as the protest was not registered.

"There were isolated cases of deprivation of liberty for incitement to hatred and trespassing Freie Universitaet Berlin," Berlin police wrote in a post on social media platform X, adding that those who would not comply with the orders would be taken by police and later reported.

(Reporting by Philipp Krach and Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
FILE PHOTO: German Navy combat support ship Frankfurt am Main is moored at the northern German naval base of Wilhelmshaven

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany sent two warships to the Indo-Pacific region on Tuesday in a bid to strengthen its military presence in the region amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan and over the disputed South China Sea.

Those tensions were putting pressure on the freedom of navigation and free passage on trade routes, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said at the northern German navy base in Wilhelmshaven.

Some 40% of Europe's foreign trade flows through the South China Sea.

"Looking the other way, showing no presence in the Indo-Pacific in support of the international rules-based order, that's not an option for Germany," he told reporters before the vessels departed. "Presence matters."

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, despite an international tribunal ruling that Beijing has no legal basis for these claims. China also claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite the latter's strong objections.

The supply ship Frankfurt am Main set sail from Wilhelmshaven, while the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg left from the Spanish harbour of Rota. The vessels will meet at sea, then sail to Halifax in Canada and onwards to the Indo-Pacific.

The ships will pass through the South China Sea but it was not clear whether they will also sail through the Taiwan Strait as the United States has done, a move certain to irk Germany's top trade partner, China.

"Since several allied navy vessels have passed (the Taiwan Strait), this obviously is an option. But no decision has been taken yet," said Pistorius.

In 2021, a German warship sailed into the South China Sea for the first time in almost 20 years, joining other Western nations in expanding military presence in the region amid alarm over China's territorial ambitions.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Mashaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is on an official visit to Turkiye, Trend reports.

During the visit, new agreements will be signed between the parties in order to further strengthen existing cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, construction, healthcare, tourism, energy and defense industry.

The visit, which took place on the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, is the first official foreign visit of the emir of Kuwait, who took office on December 16, 2023, to a non-Arab country. This is also the first visit at the level of the Emir of Kuwait to Turkiye after a seven-year break.

The meetings between Turkish and Kuwaiti officials will discuss the countries' bilateral relations, including important areas such as trade, defense industry, tourism and investment, as well as regional issues including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Last year, trade between Kuwait and Turkiye was worth about US$700 million. Currently, the goal is to diversify cooperation, increase mutual trade and investment through new cooperation mechanisms.

Turkiye is one of the most preferred countries for tourism, treatment and real estate investment by Kuwaiti citizens. Kuwait is among the top ten countries whose citizens actively buy real estate in Turkiye.
Andy Grote, Hamburg's Senator for the Interior and Sports, and Nancy Faeser German Federal Minister of the Interior, hold a press conference following a special Standing Conference of German Interior Ministers (IMK) and further developments following attacks on Matthias Ecke, Member of the European Parliament. Georg Wendt/dpa

German federal and state interior ministers agreed on the need for tougher penalties for violent crimes targeting politicians and volunteers ahead of upcoming election campaigns on Tuesday.

They discussed policing measures and weighed tightening criminal law in talks called after an attack on a German lawmaker last week.

In order to send "a very clear signal," the security authorities and also the judiciary must ensure swift and consistent proceedings and penalties, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Tuesday evening after a video conference arranged following the incident in Dresden.

If criminal law had to be tightened further for this, she said she would seek dialogue with Justice Minister Marco Buschmann.

Matthias Ecke, who represents the Social Democrats (SPD) in the European Parliament, was brutally beaten by four assailants on Friday evening while hanging campaign posters in the eastern German city of Dresden.

State interior ministers joined in their call on the federal ministry to for tougher penalties for attacks on politicians and election workers to protect those working at local authority level in particular from threats and violence.

Statistics show a rising number of offences against lawmakers, according to Faeser. She said there were 2,710 offences against elected representatives in 2023, an increase of 53% compared to the previous year.

"Attacks on AfD politicians are also unacceptable," she said, referring to the far-right Alternative for Germany. She denigrated an "escalation of anti-democratic violence."

She warned of those especially from the far-right fringe, who are becoming increasingly "unrestrained and unscrupulous" in their attacks and defamation of people and demanded a halt to the spiral of hatred and violence.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for solidarity for those involved in promoting democracy. "Democracy needs a political culture that is free from hatred and agitation and even more so free from violence," he said Steinmeier in Brandenburg.

The security authorities must do everything necessary to track down the criminals and the courts must bring the perpetrators to justice, Steinmeier said.

"But this also means that we must stand behind those who fulfil their responsibilities as democrats and show our complete disgust for those who violate democratic rules."
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attends an honorary salute at the Fijian Armed Forces Blackrock Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Camp. Sina Schuldt/dpa

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has again criticized Russia following cyberattacks on the governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) and German companies.

"We see that the Russian war is being waged at all levels," Baerbock said on Tuesday during her visit to the Pacific state of Fiji.

This included the blockade of Ukrainian grain exports, but also the cyberattacks that targeted not only Ukraine, but also the SPD and German companies.

"This is a process that is irresponsible. It is an event that we cannot remain silent about," Baerbock said.

Cyberattacks on the SPD and German companies in the fields of logistics, defence, aerospace, IT services have become public recently.

Germany has summoned the acting charge d'affaires of the Russian embassy, Alexei Korlyakov, to Berlin for a week of consultations.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in Berlin spoke of a "standard procedure" on Monday. "The German government takes this event very seriously as behaviour against our liberal democracy and the institutions that support it."

In Australia on Friday, Baerbock said Berlin blames a unit of the Russian military intelligence service GRU for a 2023 cyberattack on the centre-left SPD, the dominant party in Germany's ruling coalition,. In June 2023, the SPD said that email accounts belonging to its executive had been the target of a cyberattack earlier that year.

According to the SPD this was made possible by a security vulnerability in software which was not known at the time of the attack.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attends an honorary salute at the Fijian Armed Forces Blackrock Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Camp. Sina Schuldt/dpa
A globetrotting jewelry thief suspected of ripping off swanky stores in Beverly Hills, Miami and South Korea is now behind bars following heists at Cartier and Tiffany in New York City, The Post has learned.

Yaorong Wan, 49, was busted in Manhattan last week after he allegedly jacked diamond rings  which had a combined value of nearly $300,000  from the world-renowned jewelry stores, prosecutors said.

His sticky-fingered crime spree included the theft of an $18,000 watch from a London Jewelers in Manhasset on Long Island last month, according to the criminal complaints.

Yaorong Wan, 49, of Queens, has been accused of being a globetrotting jewelry theft who has stolen hundreds of thouands of dollars worth of merchandise from stores across the world.

Authorities are also eyeing Wan  who has a red notice out on him from Interpol  for similar heists at a Tiffanys in South Korea, an Hermes store in New Jersey and Cartier stores in Beverly Hills, Calif. and Miami, Fla., law-enforcement sources and the Manhattan District Attorneys Office said.

The NYPDs Major Case Squad tracked Wan to a Queens apartment building on 40th Road on Friday, where they arrested him and slapped him with two counts of grand larceny for the Manhattan thefts, police sources said.

The arrest appears to have ended Wans years-long criminal caper, which took him halfway around the world and left his pockets heavy with stolen rings and watches, police sources said.

His wild jaunt appears to have started in September 2018, when he hit a Tiffanys in the South Korean capital of Seoul and made off with a $330,000 diamond ring, sources said.

He took a few years off, then came to the US last December and quickly began fleecing stores throughout the country, according to the sources.

In January, he allegedly strolled into a Cartier store in Beverly Hills and left with a $48,000 diamond ring and a watch worth $10,000 that he conveniently forgot to pay for, sources said.

Wan allegedly had an affinity for hitting Tiffany & Co. stores, such as the one in Rockefeller Center. AP

Then he came to the Big Apple, where he allegedly hit the Tiffany & Co on Fifth Avenue in Rockefeller Center on March 4 and the Cartier store at 20 Hudson Yards on March 12, according to the complaints.

At Tiffanys, Wan waltzed in at about 3 p.m. that day and asked the woman behind the counter about several pieces of jewelry, the court documents allege.

He eventually settled on a diamond ring, which was valued at a whopping $255,000.

Wan allegedly held the ring, looked it over, handed it back and left the store, the complaint said.

But the ring he returned wasnt the same one the employee handed him  even though she thought it was.

Wan also allegedly stole from several Cartier stores, including locations in Beverley Hills, Miami and New York. John Lamparski/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

About a week later, the store was doing a routine inventory when workers found out the allegedly genuine ring was, in fact, a counterfeit cubic zirconia stone mounted on 18-carat white gold, the complaint said.

That was a far cry from the pricey original, which was a natural diamond mounted on platinum that was engraved, hallmarked and had a unique code attached to it, according to the complaint.

When investigators watched surveillance footage from that day, they saw the defendant examine the ring  then allegedly slip it into his palm in a bit of sleight-of-hand trickery and offload the cheaper fake.

Store workers had photographed the ring on March 5, and none of the engravings or hallmarkings were present, the complaint said.

On March 12, he allegedly engineered a similar magic trick on an employee of the Cartier store in Hudson Yards.

That day, Wan walked in at about 1:30 p.m. and asked to look at two engagement rings and two watches, investigators said.

Wan also snatched an $18,000 watch from a London Jewelers in Manhasset, according to complaints. Matthew McDermott

The employee handed him the diamond rings, then got distracted, according to the complaint.

Thats when Wan allegedly handed back one of the rings, but slipped the other  valued at about $25,000  into his pocket before taking off.

The caught-on-camera heist was his second big score in just eight days.

Sources said he then went to Miami, where he allegedly lifted a $16,000 watch from a Cartier store on March 24.

Then he came back to the metropolitan area, where he pilfered the glitzy watch from Manhasset on April 19 and two watches  worth a combined $17,000  from the Hermes store inside the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford on April 26, sources said.

In the Long Island case, investigators say Wan was perusing watches at the London Jewelers on Northern Boulevard when he slid a Chopard watch into his left jacket pocket, the complaint said.

Then he strolled past the registers and out the door, according to the complaint.

When he was arrested, Wan allegedly had three watches that he stole from Manhasset and New Jersey, as well as the fake stones he used to swap with the legitimate pieces, sources said.

He pleaded not guilty at his Saturday arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, and a judge cut him loose on supervised release, according to the complaint and police sources.

But afterward, authorities sent him over to Nassau County, where he was locked up on $500,000 cash bail for the watch theft and an outstanding warrant out of East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Wan pleaded not guilty to a charge of third-degree grand larceny in Nassau District Court on Sunday morning, according to online court records. His next appearance is slated for Tuesday morning.

Hes also scheduled to be back in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 14, according to court records.

Neither the Miami Police Department nor the East Rutherford police responded to requests for comment Monday.
Goldberg: What happened to the Republican war on 'woke'  and what we should have learned from it

This isnt going to be more musing about whether America has reached  peak woke . But that is part of the story. So lets start there.

About a decade ago, many on the left embraced the word woke, a term with roots in African American culture and activism . It originally meant staying awake  that is, woke  to the dangers facing the Black community. But in the hands of the broader, and whiter, academic and journalistic left, it soon became a kind of cool catchall for progressive politics, alongside other buzzwords like intersectionality.

The combined effects of the Trump presidency, the death of George Floyd and the COVID-19 pandemic pushed wokeness into overdrive. This was the era of defund the police and other radical inanities.

Read more: Goldberg: What we keep getting wrong about protests like those at USC, Columbia and other campuses

The right soon took up the word, using woke as a catchall for everything  woke or not, real or not  it hated about the left. The novelty of wokeness as a concept lent an equal edginess, for a time, to anti-wokeness. Its a familiar tale, really: The same thing happened with political correctness in the early 90s.

Republican politicians declared war on wokeness. Erstwhile presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was at the anti-woke vanguard, even pushing the Stop WOKE Act through the state Legislature. It didnt work out too well for DeSantis or his imitators.

And thats the point: Both wokeness and anti-wokeness have lost their transgressive edge. Now theyre both kind of cringe, as the kids say.

And that is a sign of healing.

Read more: Column: The Republican Party can still do what's rational and right. Here's the proof

One of the worst annoyances of polarized politics is the way the fringes symbiotically feed off each other. Like bootleggers and Baptists both benefiting from blue laws, the extreme left and extreme right need each other to justify their catastrophizing. The worst thing that could happen for Republican House fundraising efforts would be for the Squad of far-left members of Congress to be replaced by sensible Democrats. And the last thing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wants is for Marjorie Taylor Greene to be primaried by an intelligent Republican who doesnt talk about Jewish space lasers .

So is woke over? Probably not. The term might be in terminal decline as anything other than an epithet, but the ideas are going to be around for a while  as will anti-wokeness  because both are just stand-ins for the culture wars left and right.

But it does seem as if many on the left are starting to realize they went too far. Most Democrats dont talk about defunding the police anymore because it is a wildly unpopular idea, including among Black people. Nor do they use the term Latinx as much now that they have learned that it repelled more Latinos than it pleased.

It was recently reported that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will no longer require applicants for faculty jobs to submit diversity statements confirming their support for diversity, inclusion, and belonging. University President Sally Kornbluth told UnHerd, We can build an inclusive environment in many ways, but compelled statements impinge on freedom of expression, and they dont work.

A slew of elite schools have reversed course by requiring standardized tests again. Big corporations are paring back their diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, departments, which surged under Trump.

And, of course, the explosion of lawlessness and antisemitic rhetoric on elite campuses has been a lesson for academia, the left and Democrats. The country isnt that into disorder and bigotry. Polls suggest that the public is siding with police more than protesters .

Theres a lesson here for the right too. For a decade, the populist right has been whining about losing every battle in the culture war to rationalize its embrace of radical and authoritarian politics. But the premise is wrong. The right doesnt always lose  or win  any more than the left does.

Trump and his supporters insist that America cant survive without him in the White House. William Barr, who was attorney general under Trump, says his former boss is utterly unfit to be president but that he will still vote for him because a second Biden term would amount to  national suicide  because of wokeness or something. Never mind that wokeness surged under Trump and has been receding under Biden.

Obviously, the right and left still have plenty to complain and worry about. The point is that theres always plenty to complain and worry about. Tides come and go. And people learn, eventually, from their mistakes.

@JonahDispatch

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.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Republican candidate for Texas 23rd Congressional District Brandon Herrera and controversial guest Kyle Rittenhouse visited El Paso on Monday, May 6, to rally support for Herreras campaign in a runoff race.

Herrera is running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, for the Republican nomination in District 23.

Gonzales far-flung district stretches from San Antonio to East El Paso.

The runoff election is May 28.

Kyle Rittenhouse listens as the attorneys and the judge talk about jury instructions at the Kenosha County Courthouse. Rittenhouse was accused of shooting three demonstrators, killing two of them, during a night of unrest that erupted in Kenosha after a police officer shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back while being arrested in August 2020. Rittenhouse, from Antioch, Illinois, was 17 at the time of the shooting and armed with a semi-automatic rifle. He faced counts of felony homicide and felony attempted homicide. (Photo by Sean Krajacic-Pool/Getty Images)

Rittenhouse was acquitted of killing two people at a protest in Wisconsin back in 2020.

Since Rittenhouses move to Texas, hes become involved in Texas politics while appearing with conservative candidates like Herrera.

Report sheds light on deported migrants

At Monday nights event, the venue wouldnt let KTSM inside to film, and Herreras campaign said he wouldnt give interviews, only adding that they plan to block walk and hand out yard signs on Saturday in the El Paso region.

KTSM reached out to Gonzales team regarding Herreras stop in El Paso and they issued the following statement:

Brandon Herrera continues to disqualify himself. First, he makes fun of veteran suicide. Now he says Trump will lose the election. What will he say next? Meanwhile, Tony Gonzales endorsed President Trump on day one, has the support of both Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick due to his strong stance on securing the border and delivering for Texans.

Mondays event had a change in location from the American Legion Post 36 near the airport to Rudys Country Store and Bar-B-Q in Far East El Paso.

Herrera and Rittenhouse were scheduled to speak at 6:30 p.m., however, started at a later time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
WASHINGTON  Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska released a resolution Tuesday in an attempt to censure Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar following remarks she made about Jewish students during a visit to Columbia University last month.

The progressive lawmaker's comments at a university encampment on April 25 sparked criticism. Bacon's resolution, released during the week of Holocaust Remembrance, is the latest GOP pushback.

During her visit, Omar, a vocal supporter of Palestinians, told a reporter that she met Jewish students at the protest and "all Jewish kids should be kept safe." She went on to say that "we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide," a phrase that Republicans and others sharply criticized.

Bacon's resolution, shared with the Star Tribune, takes aim at those remarks and her "recent hateful comments and history of antisemitism."

"Representative Omar has a long and demonstrated history of hateful rhetoric that plays into the worst antisemitic tropes," the resolution reads. "Representative Omar's slanderous comments against Jewish students could inflame violence against the Jewish community."

The Republican lawmaker has not filed the resolution as a privileged motion and it's unlikely to be heard this week, Bacon's office said.

Omar's spokeswoman Jacklyn Rogers said in April that the congresswoman "clearly condemned antisemitism and bigotry for all Jewish students."

"Attempts to misconstrue her words are meant to distract from the ongoing violence and genocide occurring in Gaza and the large antiwar protests happening across our country and around the world," she said.

Censuring a House lawmaker "registers the House's deep disapproval of Member misconduct," however it does not result in a members' expulsion. If a censure resolution is approved, a member is forced to stand in the "well of the House" while the House speaker reads the censure publicly on the House floor.

This is not the first GOP censure attempt Omar has faced. GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene brought a censure motion against the congresswoman in February following mistranslated remarks in which Omar talked about her support for Somali Americans. That measure never received a vote.

Republicans also voted to remove Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee in February after seizing on past remarks she made as their basis from blocking her from returning to her post.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of Minnesota's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called Bacon's resolution "Islamophobic" and another example of the attacks Omar often faces.

"The congresswoman has been deliberately targeted by both Republicans and Democrats who have used Islamophobic tropes," Hussein said.

Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said he is not surprised by the censure resolution.

"She votes against the fundamental needs of Israel's self-defense against Iran and its proxies, the Iron Dome system. She seemingly equates Israel's self-defense with genocide. She echoes the venomous rhetoric on college campuses. Whether it rises to the level of censure is for the Congress to decide," Hunegs said.

One of Omar's sharpest critics in the wake of her recent remarks has been fellow Minnesotan and GOP House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who criticized her for "encouraging violence against Jewish students" and saying the congresswoman has joined the "likes of Hamas and Iran with her endorsement of the pro-terrorist, antisemitic protests."

Omar's daughter Isra Hirsi, a student at Barnard College in New York City, was recently arrested and suspended from college for participating in a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University. She was charged with trespassing.
New legislation proposed by GOP state lawmakers would repeal the health and safety exemption from the states longstanding ban on mask-wearing in public.

The Unmasking Mobs and Criminals bill, introduced in a legislative committee as a substitute to an existing House bill, would remove an exemption to the ban on wearing masks in public, that currently allows mask-wearing for the purpose of ensuring the physical health or safety of the wearer or others.

Sen. Buck Newton, a Wilson Republican, presented the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning during a discussion-only meeting. Newton told reporters after the committee adjourned that lawmakers wanted to address instances of people hiding their identities in public.

Newton said the bill is partially in response to recent demonstrations on college campuses across the state, where many protesters have been seen wearing masks. But he said that the protests arent the only reason lawmakers want to take action.

Demonstrators march outside an event attended by former UNC-Chapel Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz during a pro-Palestinian protest and encampment at UNC Chapel Hill on Monday, April 29, 2024.

Penalties for masks during crimes

In addition to repealing the health and safety exemption, the bill would increase criminal penalties for people who wear masks to conceal their identity while committing another crime.

Under the bill, anyone who admits to having, or is found by a jury to have worn a mask to hide or attempt to hide their identity during the commission of another crime would face a misdemeanor or felony that is one class higher than the underlying offense they were convicted for.

The bill leaves in place a number of other exemptions, including provisions that allow public masking for people who are:

 Wearing traditional holiday costumes in season;

 Engaged in trades and employment where a mask is worn for the purpose of ensuring the physical safety of the wearer, or because of the nature of the occupation, trade or profession;

 Using masks in theatrical productions including use in Mardi Gras celebrations and masquerade balls;

 Members of any societies, orders, or organizations engaged in any parades, rituals, initiations, ceremonies, celebrations or other required events, who have obtained permission from local authorities.

Penalties for protests that block traffic

The bill also changes existing law to impose new penalties for participating in demonstrations intended to block traffic, or willfully impeding traffic and blocking emergency vehicles. In addition to criminal penalties, the bill would allow for organizers of protests that block emergency vehicles to be held civilly liable for any injuries or death that results from those delays.

Newton said that lawmakers want to preserve the First Amendment rights of people to demonstrate, but added that protesters need to do so in an orderly way, and that its unacceptable for people to block ambulances, fire trucks, or other emergency vehicles.

The folks that want to express their frustration about a particular issue, certainly have the right to do that, Newton said. They do not have the right to risk peoples health and safety.

Newton, a chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he expects the bill will be taken up for more discussion and a vote to advance it out of the committee next week.

In the Spotlight designates ongoing topics of high interest that are driven by The News & Observers focus on accountability reporting.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced additional sales tax holidays while speaking in Cape Canaveral on Tuesday.

DeSantis, speaking at Gators Portside Port Canaveral restaurant, signed House Bill 7073, which provides over $1 billion in tax relief for Florida families, including a back-to-school holiday and a disaster preparedness holiday.

Floridas economy has remained strong despite reckless federal spending and failed policies in Washington, said Governor Ron DeSantis. This tax relief package will provide much needed relief for Floridas families, especially as the D.C. political class shows no signs of reversing course on the inflationary policies of the federal government.

The tax package provides a one-year tax exemption on residential property and flood insurance premiums, and continues the following sales tax holidays in Florida:

Two Disaster Preparedness Holidays; June 114 and August 24September 6, families can prepare for hurricane season with items like tarps, batteries, and flashlights, sales tax free.

The Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday; July 29August 11, families can save on pens, pencils, computers, clothing, and other school supplies.

The Tool Time Sales Tax Holiday; September 17, Floridians can save on power tools, hand tools, toolboxes, and other items.

The Freedom Month Sales Tax Holiday; July 131, Florida families can purchase summer items like pool floats, fishing supplies, and outdoor equipment, in addition to admissions to museums and state parks, sales tax free.



The governors office said the tax relief package also includes sales tax credits for businesses that have employees with disabilities and increases the cap for the Strong Families Tax Credit Program, which supports organizations focused on child welfare.

The governor appeared alongside Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie.

This is a developing story. Stay up to date on the latest from News Channel 8 on-air and on the go with the free WFLA News Channel 8 mobile app.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
The government supported on May 7 a draft decree by President Volodymyr Zelensky on the creation of a separate Armed Forces branch dedicated to unmanned systems, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.

Zelensky presented the plan for the new branch in early February as part of Kyiv's efforts to ramp up production of this crucial military capability.

"This is a strategic step for our country in the face of the growing threat from Russia," Umerov said.

As the next step, the Defense Ministry will "prepare and introduce the relevant draft law to the government meeting."

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The Unmanned Systems Forces will reportedly focus specifically on improving Ukraine's work with drones, creating special drone-specific units, ramping up training, systemizing their use, increasing production, and pushing innovation.

Drones have become a crucial factor on Ukrainian battlefields for both belligerents, serving multiple purposes, including reconnaissance, airstrikes, naval strikes, and guiding artillery.

Strategic Industries Deputy Minister Hanna Hvozdiar said in March that Ukraine has the capacity to produce 150,000 drones every month and may be able to produce 2 million drones by the end of the year.

Read also: The Counteroffensive: Behind the scenes with a Ukrainian drone-hunting unit

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Grandfather paid stranger $20 to watch 7-year-old while he went to bar, Sacramento sheriff says

Deputies arrested a 54-year-old grandfather on suspicion of child endangerment after he reportedly gave $20 to an unknown homeless woman to take his 7-year-old granddaughter to a thrift store on Monday while he went into a Sacramento-area bar.

The grandfather on Tuesday remained in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail; his bail amount was set at $75,000. His arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court.

Along with the felony child endangerment charge, he faces a misdemeanor charge of being drunk in public and a vehicle code infraction for allegedly driving with a suspended license, jail records show.

About 7:45 p.m. Monday, deputies were called to the bars parking lot in the 5300 block of Auburn Boulevard in the Old Foothill Farms neighborhood.

A passerby had called 911 to report the grandfather was asking people for help because his 7-year-old granddaughter had been kidnapped for human trafficking, the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office announced Tuesday in a news release.

Deputies arrived and spoke with the grandfather, who was highly intoxicated, sheriffs officials said. He told the deputies he had given $20 to an unknown homeless woman to take his granddaughter to a nearby thrift store while he went into the bar about four hours earlier.

Deputies obtained video from a nearby security camera that captured the woman leaving with the girl.

Other sheriffs personnel were called to search for the missing girl. A sheriffs helicopter, aerial drones and K-9 units, were brought to the area to help with the search. About 30 minutes later, the unknown homeless woman heard the public address announcements from the helicopter and returned to the parking lot with the girl.

Deputies said the woman confirmed the grandfather had given her money to take the child to the thrift store, and that the grandfather was highly intoxicated. She told deputies that she did not think the grandfather could care for the girl.

The woman took the girl to her camp to get food, the Sheriffs Office said. Deputies spoke with the child, who corroborated the womans account.

Sheriffs officials said the granddaughter was not in distress and was medically cleared by paramedics at the scene. Deputies determined that the girls aunt had full custody of the child, but she had to go to work and had asked the grandfather to care for his granddaughter.

The deputies spoke with Child Protective Services officials and determined the girl could return home with her aunt. The deputies also consulted with detectives from the Sheriffs Child Abuse Bureau, before they arrested the grandfather on the child endangerment charge.
A green enamel dial and pink gold case highlight an exceptional complication

Throughout its history, Jaeger-LeCoultre has been distinguished by its mastery of complications and, for almost a century, this has included timepieces able to display multiple time zones simultaneously. Calibre 948 is a uniquely artistic expression of universal time, combining a world time display with a flying tourbillon that makes a complete circuit of the dial in 24 hours  an allusion to Earths rotation on its axis and its orbit around the Sun. In 2024, La Grande Maison presents a new interpretation of the Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948, with a green enamel dial that celebrates the colours of nature and showcases the skills of the Manufactures in-house Metiers Rares atelier. Set in an 18-carat (750/1000) pink gold case, it is offered in a limited edition of 20 pieces.

Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948 World-Timer  Jaeger-LeCoultre

The precision of the worlds time zones

As with all measurements of time, the origin of our worlds time zones lies in astronomy: the passage of our 24-hour day is determined by the rotation of Earth on its own axis. However, zones are a relatively recent concept, driven by the need to impose order and precision on international timing. Until the 19th Century, every city determined its own time, based on 12 noon being the time that the sun was at the highest point in the sky. As railway travel developed in the 19th century, this made scheduling impossible and it became clear that standardised timing  the synchronisation of clocks within a given geographical region  and global norms were needed.

At the International Meridian Conference in 1884, it was decided that Greenwich Observatory in London (longitude 0) would be the basis for calculating times around the globe and each of the 24 major time zones would be defined by 15 degrees of longitude. The worlds day would start and end at midnight at the Greenwich meridian and times would be counted east and west from there  hence the terms Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), ante meridian (am) and post meridian (pm).

The Metiers Rares atelier: mastery of ancestral crafts

To create the complex and richly coloured dial of the Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948, the master artisans of Jaeger-LeCoultres Metiers Rares atelier united the skills of enamelling, guillochage and lacquering. To complete a single example of the dial requires a total of more than 70 hours of meticulous work.

Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948 World-Timer  Jaeger-LeCoultre

Champleve  which translates literally as raised field  is a noble and ancient enamelling technique that originated almost 2,500 years ago. With great skill, the artisan must first carve out depressions in the surface of the precious metal, conforming precisely to the outline of the desired image. These hollow areas are then filled with multiple layers of enamel  fired at very high temperatures after each layer  until they are flush with the original surface. Adding refinement and intrigue, the enameller uses a combination of opaque and translucent enamels to create areas of lighter and darker colour that suggest the continents different landscapes. The Calibre 948 dial required 10 layers of enamel and represents more than 20 hours of work for the enamelling alone.

Lacquering is a lengthy and exacting artisanal process that requires the manual application of multiple layers of coating on the surface to be decorated. It begins with a clear coat of varnish, followed by a layer of colour. This is followed by up to 15 coats of translucent lacquer, to add depth and richness  with each coat requiring a precisely controlled drying process. The lacquering is completed by polishing the disc to a perfect finish that attracts the light and amplifies the richness of the colour.

A world of time expressed through artistry of rare precision

Measuring just 25.5mm in diameter, the multi-layered dial of the Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948 is a remarkable work of art in miniature. In keeping with world-timer tradition, the centre of the dial is dominated by a map of the world as seen from the North Pole. The outline of the continents is cut from a fine plate of 18ct gold and decorated with champleve enamel. However, unlike the traditional flattened image, this map floats above the main dial plate on a domed skeleton of pink gold formed by the longitudes and latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. A masterpiece of laser-cutting precision, this complex and delicate domed structure brings lightness and depth to the dial and makes a subtle allusion to the depth and complexity of time measurement.

Beneath the dome, representing the oceans, the dial plate is decorated with blue-green translucent lacquer applied over a wavy guilloche pattern that suggests the movement of the sea.

As on all classical world timers, each time zone is represented by the name of a city, set on a green opaline ring around the central dial. Set outside the city ring are two concentric fixed rings. The inner ring indicates 24 hours, which are marked with applied rectangular indexes and laser-engraved numerals. The outer ring features the minute track, which is a laser-engraved on a background of dark green lacquer that complements the colour of the map and oceans. In a circular aperture to one side of the map, the flying tourbillon appears to float weightlessly above the oceans, spinning in 60 seconds. As the tourbillon makes a complete 360-degree revolution of the dial in 24 hours, the domed map and the city ring turn in unison, mimicking the rotation of Earth on its axis. Thus the right time in every city is always indicated by the hour marked on the city ring adjacent to the city name.

An elegant case for an exceptional calibre

When Jaeger-LeCoultre created Calibre 948, it was the first time that a world-time complication had ever been united with a flying tourbillon. Moreover, the Universal Tourbillon  patented by JaegerLeCoultre  makes a complete circuit of the dial every 24 hours, corresponding to the length of a mean solar day. Consisting of 388 components, the automatic movement is an eloquent expression of JaegerLeCoultres technical expertise, having been conceived, developed and entirely produced within the Manufacture.

Despite its complexity, Calibre 948 has been designed to ensure that the watch is very simple to operate: the time is set with the crown, which synchronises all of the time zones around the world. On arrival at a new destination, local time is set by the same crown, which moves only the hour hand, in one-hour jumps forwards or backwards, allowing the minutes and seconds to continue running accurately.

Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948 World-Timer  Jaeger-LeCoultre

With its pure lines and refined proportions, the Master Grande Tradition case is a perfect foil for the complexity of the dial. Comprising more than 40 parts, its convex bezel contrasts with broad bevels on the lugs, and the hollowed-out lug sides add dynamic tension. Different surfaces are microblasted, polished and satin-brushed to maximise the play of light. The warmth of the pink gold is complemented by a dark green alligator strap that matches the dial.

With its magnificent green dial, the new interpretation of the Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948 is testament to Jaeger-LeCoultres commitment to uniting artistic creativity and sophisticated mechanics, always maintaining the fine balance between the spirit of innovation and a profound respect for tradition.
GRAPHIC: Florida man bites chunk out of deputys head, sheriff says

HOLMES COUNTY, Fla (WDHN)  A Florida deputy is recovering after being attacked at the Vortex Springs SolFest by a drugged-out volunteer, a release from the Holmes County Sheriffs Office says.

According to the Holmes County Sheriffs Office, James Anderson, the volunteer, attacked a deputy, biting a chunk out of the deputys head while trying to grab his gun. The deputy was on walking patrol at the festival.





The HCSO release said the deputy tried to fight off Anderson and tased him before he was eventually restrained by several other deputies.

Deputies say Anderson was under the influence of PCP, LSD, ketamine, mushrooms, and ecstasy at the time of the attack.

The deputy was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

Anderson is charged with aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDHN - wdhn.com.
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The Scene

James Comer and his colleagues were not on George Washington Universitys campus for very long. They arrived at 2 p.m. on Wednesday  first for private meetings with administrators, then for a slow walk through the Liberation Zone that pro-Palestinian students had built on University Yard. Seventy-four minutes later, after a short press conference, they climbed into a white van and headed off.

That was still too long for the protesters they met. Some of them blocked activists whod wrapped their heads in keffiyehs before they could approach members of the House Oversight Committee. One group sang and clapped along to Palestine is Heaven, and another positioned itself to raise mocking signs behind Comer. Lauren Boebert stopped to yank a Palestinian flag on the statue of George Washington  this is America, and that shit needs to come down  until a faculty member convinced her to keep moving.

Comer got to deliver his message: D.C. needed to shut the protest down, and his committee would follow the money trail to see if there are outside groups that are paying for these types of activities. And afterwards, on Fox, Comer said hed been to ground zero and heard the death to Israel chants  not audible to reporters that day  from people who wanted the Biden administration to get on the side of Palestine and Hamas.

Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, there had been some campus activism that fit Comers description. Some of it happened at GWU, where the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter was suspended last year after projecting the phrase Glory to our martyrs onto a library, and where masked members of a Peoples Tribunal chanted guillotine, guillotine as they named administrators working to end the protest.

Republicans, who are stepping up a six-month investigation into campus protests, are making the worst incidents famous  and linking them back to Democrats.

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Davids view

The Republican counteroffensive against the protesters has taken two forms. One has been a wave of legislation and hearings that aim to limit criticism of Israel on campus. The other is a combination of hearings and media hits that highlight, and sometimes overstate, the most offensive reports of whats happening there.

The very campuses which were once the envy of the international academy have succumbed to an antisemitic virus, House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday, at a Holocaust remembrance event headlined by President Biden. Students who were known for producing academic papers are now known for stabbing their Jewish peers in the eyes with Palestinian flags.

That incident was debated and questioned weeks earlier. A pro-Israel activist at Yale recorded a protester waving a Palestinian flag in her face, hitting her with the tip, injuring her left eye. Activists had adopted careful media strategies, from widespread face-masking to official spokespeople who other protesters would direct reporters and social media influencers would talk to. That didnt change the coverage Republicans saw, from the flag-stab incident to videos of protesters using their bodies to keep some students out of their camps.

Do you believe that students who spend their time in college calling for the destruction of an ethnic or religious group, or spend their time preventing students of particular ethnic or religious groups from walking around campus freely, or occupying campus buildings, deserve to have their student loans forgiven? House Education and the Workforce Committee chair Virginia Foxx asked Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Tuesday. When the secretary started to couch his answer, Foxx clarified: Im talking about the students who are being antisemitic and stopping Jewish students from going to class.

All but a few Democrats were wary of endorsing the protests, out of fear that this might happen. Now that it has, the Republican response has been swift, carried out from the House to the states.

The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which would codify anti-Israel speech as antisemitic, divided House Democrats like no other response to the Oct. 7 attacks. In North Carolina, where Republicans hold a legislative supermajority, House Speaker Tim Moore is moving the SHALOM Act, which would implement the same Working Definition of Antisemitism; Moore will almost certainly join the U.S. Congress next year, as the nominee for a re-drawn and safely Republican seat near Charlotte. In Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is urging the next legislative session to work on combating antisemitism on Texas college campuses.

Some Republicans have dissented from that campaign; 21 of them opposed ASAA last week. But theyre far more united than Joe Bidens party, far more ready to highlight the worst incidents on campus, and effective at bringing like-minded Democrats on board. Bidens remarks on the protests have angered protesters, who want him to at least endorse a ceasefire, and been dismissed by Republicans, who want him to weigh in on specific campus incidents and condemn them.

He didnt specifically speak to what theyre saying and what theyre doing, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton told ABC News on Sunday. Theyre chanting final solution. Theyre telling Jews to go back to where they came from. Theyre spray-painting buildings with vile, antisemitic hate.

The White House has tried for weeks to differentiate between peaceful protesters and agitators. Comer and other Republicans dont get so specific. The existence of the campus protests is a reason to pull back government grants to universities and student loan forgiveness; Cottons No Bailouts for Campus Criminals legislation would bar people convicted of any offense from getting that.

What everyone in the Democrat Party realizes is that a significant percentage of the Democrat Party base is solid in the antisemitic category, Comer told Fox News after his GWU visit. Theyre against Israel, and they expect Joe Biden to [be] on the side of Palestine and Hamas against Israel.

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Notable

In Politico, New York Rep. Jerry Nadler talks to Ryan Lizza about why he led the opposition to the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act: It could make criticism, under certain circumstances, of Israeli government policy antisemitic, which it clearly isnt.

In The New York Times, Michelle Goldberg argues that the logic of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act is already indicting Israel critics with no bias against Jews; Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa has been labeled antisemitic because she called for a cease-fire in Gaza and because she signed an open letter about the killing of Gazan journalists.

In The Free Press, Francesca Block reads the manuals that are helping some protesters be taught to become militants, carrying out actions that Republicans have highlighted and Democrats have condemned.

In his newsletter, Ken Klippenstein finds that a widely-reported claim, that Death to America has become a popular protest slogan, has no evidence, even after it inspired House Republicans to ask for an investigation.

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Greatest source of antisemitism in Texas doesnt look very right wing anymore | Opinion

It would be easy to believe that antisemitism in Texas is a problem only for the political right.

Just Google antisemitism, Texas and the most prominent headline returned from the Texas Tribune reads, Jewish Texans see surge in antisemitism as precursor to fascism.

The accompanying story, from late 2022, tracks a rise in reported antisemitic incidents, which the experts cited attribute solely to QAnon followers and other white supremacist groups, otherwise known as ultra right-wingers.

The author even goes so far as to accuse Gov. Greg Abbott of employing insidiously antisemitic rhetoric as a political tool.

Fast forward 18 months, to the not-so-subtle antisemitic protests led by progressive youth on elite university campuses across the U.S., including the flagship University of Texas at Austin.

It would seem that the greatest source of antisemitism in Texas and beyond doesnt look very right-wing anymore.

It looks downright progressive.

Since last years horrific surprise attack by Hamas militants on the nation of Israel, contingents of Hamas sympathizers in the U.S. have been voicing their support for the groups aims.

These Hamas sympathizers are frequently far-left activists and increasingly concentrated on college campuses, where they have made wreaking havoc on their institutions of higher learning second only to terrorizing their fellow Jewish students.

Hundreds of incidents of harassment have been documented, some resulting in actual physical violence, many causing Jews to feel unsafe at their schools, and most going unaddressed by campus administrators.

Last month, protesters escalated their hateful efforts at New York Citys Columbia University.

Masked protesters and their non-student supporters began issuing demands, occupying campus buildings and setting up encampments on the university quad  all the while chanting antisemitic and sometimes murderous slurs at their Jewish peers.

Their actions forced professors to move classes online and even obliged a rabbi affiliated with the school to urge Jewish students to stay away from campus for their own safety.

One might think such antics would be isolated to elitist coastal schools, but no.

Channeling their activist peers at Columbia and UCLA, a group of about 500 students and supporters at the University of Texas recently announced their intent to occupy the lawn in solidarity with occupied Gaza.

They walked out of their classes chanting antisemitic slogans, accused Abbott of genocide against the Palestinians (for what isnt exactly clear) and harassed police officers who were monitoring and eventually broke up the crowd, arresting 55 people.

Similar protests have cropped up at other Texas campuses, including the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, where 17 were arrested last week. I could go on.

Unlike the administration at Columbia, though, Texas schools have championed free speech but made clear that the protests must not disrupt the schools ability to function for a long period of time without consequence.

And they have followed through.

Unfortunately, most of the reporting on these events focuses on the response of the school or the state  often criticized  and not on the insidiously hateful rhetoric of the perpetrators.

You might have a guess as to why.

Several months ago, a small group of white supremacists gathered at a taco joint in Fort Worth before dropping antisemitic fliers at various locations around the city.

Their decision to quietly share their hatred through paraphernalia was roundly condemned by multiple outlets. I, too, expressed my disgust, but also surmised about how when it comes to antisemitism, the far-left and the far-right really are not so far apart.

In Texas, only the latter seems to get critical coverage. That must change.

But make no mistake, political leftists are now a far greater source of hatred toward Jews  whether they and are willing to admit it or not.

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Group kidnapped, tortured and killed man over drugs in 2006, feds say. Five now charged

Five people have been charged in connection to a 2006 kidnapping and murder of a Pennsylvania man.

Kevin Holloway, Mark Scott, Linton Mathis, Atiba Wicker, and Kenneth Tuck were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death, and aiding and abetting, according to a May 2 news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

McClatchy News reached out to attorneys for Tuck, Mathis and Scott for comment May 7 but did not immediately hear back. An attorney for Wicker was not listed in public court records.

Halloways attorney sent a statement saying, It is important to remember that Mr. Holloway, like all American citizens, is presumed innocent. An Indictment is simply a charging document that must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. We look forward to getting the discovery/evidence in the case, reviewing it and defending Mr. Holloway to the best of our abilities.

On Aug. 26, 2006, Shamari Taylor, 38, and his then girlfriend were kidnapped by several men impersonating police officers in West Philadelphia. Taylors girlfriend was released, but Taylor was not, officials said.

The ensuing investigation revealed that in the summer of 2006, at least nine men conspired to rob Taylor of cocaine and drug proceeds, and, in doing so, some of them disguised themselves as police officers while using fake badges, police lights, and firearms, officials said.

After being abducted, Taylor was taken to a warehouse where he was interrogated and tortured, officials said. His captors were trying to find out where he stored cocaine and money.

Taylor was then suffocated to death and his body was discarded in Fairmount Park. Several days later, four of the kidnappers moved Taylors body, burying him in a vacant lot in North Philadelphia that has since become the parking lot of a charter high school, officials said.

Taylor would not be found until Aug. 21, 2018, when his remains were recovered in a shallow grave, according to officials.

Tuck was charged in 2006 in connection with the kidnapping, but in 2008, after two trials, he was acquitted, officials said. A family member of Tuck is accused of bribing a witness who testified at his 2007 state trial, and that witness along with other witnesses provided false testimony supporting Tucks alibi for the evening Taylor was abducted, according to authorities.

Prosecutors said Tuck was recruited to join the conspiracy plot to kidnap and rob Taylor while posing as a police officer, and that Kevin Holloway and his drug-dealing associates, Mark Scott and Linton Mathis, participated in the kidnapping and murdered Taylor in the warehouse after torturing him.

The investigation further revealed that Taylors friend, Atiba Wicker, and another acquaintance helped plan the crime, in part, by luring Taylor to the abduction site on August 26, 2006, officials continued.

The defendants face life in prison, if convicted.

Man kidnaps ex and says hes going to skin her alive before fatal crash, WA cops say

Teen kidnaps girlfriend at work, then shoots at her family trying to stop him, cops say

20-year-old jogger was kidnapped and killed, NC cops say. Suspect IDd 45 years later
They had to check white, Black or other. Now they have a new Census category

Emad Salem was a volunteer for the Census Bureau in 2020 to help minorities, specifically Arab Americans, register with the U.S. Census.

The 64-year-old Palestinian, who identifies as Arab American, lives in Euless and has also helped the Arab American Institute get the community involved in the political process by registering to vote. The last few years, Salem has worked with the group to push for the classification of Arab Americans in the Census.

Salem said many minorities, especially first generation immigrants, do not feel safe giving their personal information to the government.

A lot of the communities were under-counted, and thats really something that needs to be worked on, and continue to work on, to make sure that everyone is represented, Salem said.

The Office of Management and Budget this year updated its federal standards on collecting race and ethnicity data, for the first time since 1997, by adding a category of Middle Eastern or North African. Changes will be made to the U.S. Census and other federal forms and surveys.

The new category has brought mixed emotions to those who identify with MENA.

It will allow for better representation, where before those ethnic groups had to identify as white, other, or Black. It will also help reveal health disparities and inequities in housing, income and employment, and will allow for funding to be better targeted toward projects addressing those issues. But some people fear being identified as MENA will increase discrimination in everyday life and in receiving resources.

U.S. Census Adds MENA

The Office of Management and Budget established the Interagency Technical Working Group on Race and Ethnicity Standards to develop recommendations for improving the quality and usefulness of federal race and ethnicity data. The Working Group used 20,000 comments, 94 listening sessions and three public virtual town halls for its recommendations, which include the addition of the MENA category.

The MENA population is geographically based and includes Arabic-speaking groups, such as Egyptians and Jordanians, and non-Arabic speaking groups, such as Iranians and Israelis, and ethnic and transnational groups from the region, such as Assyrians and Kurdish people, according to the Census Bureau.

The Middle East, formerly called Near East, is a geopolitical region of countries encompassing the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the Arabian Peninsula. It includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran and Afghanistan.

Previously, people who trace their ancestry to the Middle East or North Africa checked white, Black,  African American, or other on the Census and federal forms.

The MENA category will be included in the next Census in 2030. But federal agencies are instructed to begin updating their surveys and administrative forms as quickly as possible. They are to submit a plan to comply within 18 months and have five years to carry out the plans.

The new minimum set of race and ethnicity categories on the census and other federal forms will be: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Middle Eastern or North African, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and white. The revisions encourage detailed race and ethnicity data collection beyond the minimum categories such as Haitian or Nigerian for those who check Black.

Another update will combine the topic of race and ethnicity on federal forms into one question that will allow people to choose multiple categories based on how they identify.

The 2020 Census, which included MENA as a write-in option, recorded over 3.5 million people who reported Middle Eastern and North African descent. Texas has the fourth largest share of the MENA population in the country, with most concentrated in Texass 24th Congressional District, which spans Tarrant and Dallas County, according to the Arab American Institute.

For some, the term Middle East is confusing, but a better option than white.

Shaimaa Zayan, 40, was born in Egypt and moved to the United States when she was 23. She lives in Austin and works for CAIR-Texas Austin & DFW, which protects civil rights, promotes justice, works to improve understanding of Islam, and empowers American Muslims.

She identifies as a Muslim, an Arab, North African, and Mediterranean, but is not always comfortable with identifying as the term Middle Eastern. The term is Eurocentric, or viewed in the perception of Europeans, and doesnt account for the vastness of the areas culture, language, or history, according to Zayan.

She is perceived by people as a foreigner with her hijab on, but on paperwork she marks white as her race. But if she sees paperwork with MENA as an option she checks it since it makes more sense than saying she is white.

Better federal data collection of MENA populations allows for federal funding to be better targeted to appropriate organizations, for better education opportunities from scholarship programs, and to better identify disparities in income, housing and employment.

You feel like youre in the middle, Zayan says. Youre not getting the privilege of the majority, and youre not getting any privilege that sometimes is given to the minority groups.

When Zayan came to the U.S., she says, she merged her culture with that of the United States as she learned more about the customs and traditions.

Health Outcomes

The potential benefit of having MENA as a category goes beyond just identification but may help address disparities and identify solutions for health care.

The grouping of MENA populations and white people into one category in the past has made it difficult to separate information about people who would identify as MENA. That leads to limited data on health outcomes for MENA populations and limited opportunities to get specific resources to address situations unique to those populations, says Tiffany Kindratt, assistant professor in the Public Health Program at UT Arlington.

Kindratts research focuses on comparing health outcomes between MENA individuals, both U.S. and foreign born, to white individuals. She has to use different large databases for her research because national surveys usually do not have a MENA checkbox.

Her research has discovered that MENA individuals are more likely to have low infancy birth weight, higher odds of reporting cognitive limitations and undiagnosed Alzheimers disease compared to white individuals.

When you compare the health outcomes of Black and Hispanic individuals to whites, that disparity could be greater if the white population did not include MENA individuals, Kindratt said. And so it just moves the science forward and allows us to really actually see what those differences are.

Skeptical of MENA

Some are skeptical of the value of being able to identify as MENA.

Nadine Moharram, 47, lives in Frisco and says she worries how it could discriminate people, like herself, even more.

Moharram was born in Qatar and is Palestinian but always marks white on federal forms because other options dont apply to her.

She worries that identifying as MENA could affect her in applying for jobs, loans, her children applying for schools and how people will treat her.

Despite her concerns, Moharram said she thinks adding MENA to the Census and other forms will add to the culture, history and sense of community in the United States.

Im really hoping that once this is added, its going to add education, Moharram said. People are going to get more knowledge about this category and who we really are.

A MENA category would also help with growing businesses, said Salem, the real estate agent who works in Irving.

He says having the MENA category would help him be able to apply for government contracts as a minority owned business, which he currently is not able to.

Salem says the new category will help with businesses, education, health and more for MENA individuals, helping to put them into better position to be successful and ingrained into American society.

Be proud of your origin and be proud of being an Arab American, Salem said.
The first days of Haitis rainy season continue to prove destructive and deadly for the countrys vulnerable population. The death toll from heavy rains has risen to 17, while the number of homes flooded has doubled to more than 4,000, the countrys Civil Protection authorities said.

Most of the destruction has occurred in the northern region of the country in Haitis second largest city, Cap-Haitien, the office said in its most recent update on the weather-related disaster.

The report shows that in addition to the loss of lives, more than 4,910 homes have been flooded while at least 40 homes have been either been damaged or destroyed during the rains.

On Monday, the office warned Haitians to remain on alert because the soil remains saturated and rain and thunderstorms were expected in the West, Southeast, Northwest, GrandAnse and Nippes regions of the country.

Between April 28 and May 2, the country experienced two deadly events, particularly in the Northwest and North departments, the agency said.

The heavy rains in late April had already led to a landslide in Port-de-Paix, which killed at least three people in the same family, including a six-year-old child, the agency said. Moderate to heavy rains days later on May 1 and 2 led to the deaths of 13 people in Cap-Haitien, including 12 in a landslide.

The city is very much in a critical situation as a result of the rains that continue, Cap-Haitien Mayor Yvrose Pierre said. The city is impassable. Even where we used to get rid of the waste, we cant because of the flooding the roads are blocked. There are roads that are practically impossible to get through.

At least 17 people have died in heavy rains in Haitis second largest city, Cap-Haitien. More than 4,000 homes have also been flooded. Cap-Haitien mayor's office

Pierre said Cap-Haitien, affectionately known as Okap, needs support from the central government, which currently collects all of the revenues that come into the city, whether its the taxes from Royal Caribbean Internationals port stop at Labadee or from the Hugo Chavez International Airport, which today has become the only way out of Haiti.

When I talk about profound support, I am talking about the canals, the ravines that have not been drained for 10 years, she said. We need to not only remove people off the mountains, but we need to reforest the mountain to prevent the landslides.

I believe the city merits an emergency intervention, she added.

Pierre said the mayors office, along with the local garbage collection agency, are in need of equipment. Their only truck for garbage collection isnt working and the public works department lacks a budget for fuel.

They need to give the mayors office the financial means, she said about the central government in Port-au-Prince. All of the money from the largest contributors is blocked in the capital and we need it to be distributed so the mayors office can do what needs to be done. I have spent seven years as mayor and its seven years that the money from the largest contributors have never come to Cap-Haitien.

At least 17 people have died in heavy rains in Haitis second largest city, Cap-Haitien. More than 4,000 homes have also been flooded. Cap-Haitien mayor's office

In December alone, Pierre said, the city contributed over $82 million to the countrys coffers that went to Port-au-Prince. But while the city was flooded, there hasnt been one cent that stayed in Okap to support Okap.

Among the contributors to the citys tax base is Royal Caribbean, which in March announced it will suspend ports of calls at Labadee, its private beach in Haiti, even though the area has not seen the kind of violence unfolding in Port-au-Prince.

Pierre said even though the cruise ship tourists didnt come to the city itself, there are a lot of vendors who depend on cruises to earn a living.

There is an impact, she said, adding that this means there even less money going into to the public treasury.

On Monday, the United Nations said the armed violence in Port-au-Prince continues to affect the population , with more people fleeing the capital.

The latest attacks in Delmas, in the metropolitan area of the capital Port-au-Prince, that took place on Friday forced thousands of people to flee violence, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Dujarric said the head of the U.N. Population Fund, Natalia Kanem, warned that the majority of those displaced are women and girls and are particularly at risk.

Conditions in the displacement sites are deplorable, with women and girls at heightened risk of sexual exploitation and violence and with people struggling to secure food, clean water and the most basic commodities, he said.

On Friday, Guterres asked the global community not to forget Haiti. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, he wrote Hunger in Haiti has reached unprecedented levels. Almost half of the population are now facing acute food insecurity.

The United Nations $674 million humanitarian response plan for the country, Guerres said, is only 15.2% funded.
Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on the east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

A few hours after the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement announced that it would agree to the mediators' proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, the Israeli army attacked targets in the east of the city of Rafah late on Monday evening.

According to an army spokesman, the targets were Hamas facilities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war Cabinet had previously decided to continue the military operation in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip in order to increase the military pressure on Hamas and achieve Israel's war aims.

"While the Hamas proposal is far from meeting Israel's core demands, Israel will dispatch a ranking delegation to Egypt in an effort to maximize the possibility of reaching an agreement on terms acceptable to Israel," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Palestinian media reported late on Monday that Israeli forces were pushing into the Kerem Shalom crossing area. Al-Aqsa TV reported Israeli tanks were firing at the crossing from some 200 metres away.

The border crossing with Egypt is the most important corridor for the delivery of food, medicine and other urgently needed supplies to Gaza.

Hamas had approved a proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war put forward by mediators Egypt and Qatar, according to a post in Hamas' official Telegram channel on Monday evening.

The Hamas statement said that the head of Hamas' Politburo Ismail Haniyeh "called Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and the Egyptian Minister of Intelligence Abbas Kamel, informing them of Hamas' acceptance of their proposal for a ceasefire agreement."

Indirect negotiations will resume on Tuesday, with a Qatari delegation heading to Cairo, a spokesperson for Qatar's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the announcement, WAFA news agency reported and Al Arabiya channel aired images of jubilant people in the streets. "Enough war. We are happy," one resident told the channel.

Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, dismissed the announcement as a "trick" and said the only Israeli response should be "an immediate order to conquer Rafah, increase military pressure, and continue to crush Hamas until it is utterly defeated," according to the Israeli television station Channel 12.

The US government said it was examining Hamas' agreement.

"We're currently reviewing that response. And we're discussing it with our partners in the region," US National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said.

"We still believe that reaching an agreement is the absolute best outcome not only for the hostages, but for the Palestinian people. And we're not going to stop working to that outcome."

The Hamas announcement came as Israeli forces began evacuating the city of Rafah.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) called on the inhabitants of the eastern part of the city on the border with Egypt to move to the al-Mawasi camp on the Mediterranean a few kilometres to the north.

An estimated 100,000 people are affected, according to an IDF spokesman. They were informed by text message, telephone, leaflets and via Arabic-language media.

Eyewitnesses in Rafah reported that many people quickly fled, some transporting their belongings in donkey carts.

Israel's allies and other international leaders have been urgently warning against a Rafah offensive, including France, Germany, Britain and Jordan, as well as the European Union and the United Nations.

"We believe a military operation in Rafah right now would dramatically increase the suffering of the Palestinian people," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, casting doubt on whether the evacuation demanded by Israel could be done safely.

Israel has been threatening to launch a ground offensive into Rafah for months. Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostage. The more than 100 remaining hostages are believed to be held in Rafah.

Relatives of hostages have urged the Israeli government to negotiate a deal, and demanded an explanation in a letter to Israeli Cabinet ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot on Monday.

"We family members are watching in horror what is happening," they wrote. "Netanyahu is deliberately destroying the deal and leaving the hostages to die."

"Now it's time for the Israeli government to prove, with action, its commitment to its citizens," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said. "The Cabinet must take Hamas' acceptance and turn it into a deal for returning all the hostages."

Mahmoud Merdawi, a senior Hamas member, told dpa on Monday that Israel's preparations to attack Rafah would have a negative impact on the indirect negotiations and "catastrophic consequences" for the local population.

According to the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza, 34,735 Palestinians have been killed and more than 78,000 others injured since the war began seven months ago.

The figures, which do not distinguish between civilians and fighters, cannot be independently verified.

Palestinians celebrate in Rafah streets, after Hamas announced it has accepted the truce proposal, put forward by mediators Egypt and Qatar, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

Palestinians celebrate in Rafah streets, after Hamas announced it has accepted the truce proposal, put forward by mediators Egypt and Qatar, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
Hamass agreement on Monday to a ceasefire deal that was never on the table was yet another ruse to buy time and build international pressure to halt a major IDF operation in Rafah. It was a sign of the terrorists desperation to prevent the destruction of their final stronghold. An IDF move into Rafah has been delayed far too long. It is the result of months of fruitless negotiations over release of hostages that never showed any sign of materialising. Yet Israel had little option than to play along while even the smallest glimmer of hope existed.

The delay was also brought about by unbearable pressure from the US and other Israeli allies, with Biden repeatedly forbidding an attack on Rafah without what he called a credible and executable plan to protect or evacuate the civilian population there. Similar demands were recently parroted by Lord Cameron during a visit to Jerusalem. No plan the IDF drew up ever met Bidens stipulations, but then no plan could have done so if his real intention was to block the final destruction of Hamas amid growing concerns about adverse effects on his own electoral prospects. Of course one credible plan would have been to allow civilians to take temporary refuge through the Egyptian border into Sinai. Biden could have brought that about by pushing Cairo to agree but neither he nor any other international leader ever even raised a finger to do so. That unforgivable failure, which played right into Hamass hands, has contributed to many of the civilian deaths during this war and will likely lead to many more.

Now the IDF has been making preliminary moves against Rafah on the ground and from the air. Quite rightly, Jerusalem has not signalled its immediate intentions. Those may be to shape the battlefield for future large-scale operations, including spurring the civilian population to evacuate Rafah to designated humanitarian zones and adding pressure on Hamas to free the hostages. Nor is it impossible that an apparently inevitable push into Rafah might impel elements of the Hamas leadership to make good their escape from Gaza while they still can. After all, they have witnessed the collapse of every one of their formed fighting units as the IDF advanced through the rest of Gaza. Whether this turns out to be a limited operation or something more sustained, Israel is going to have to deal with Hamas by an offensive in Rafah if it is to achieve its goal of dismantling the terrorist threat to its citizens. One thing we can be sure of is that the US and other Western countries will continue to browbeat Israel not to do so and instead to end the war.

These countries will be pushed further into acting against Israel by two separate phenomena. First, Iran will try to protect its proxies in Gaza by again stepping up aggression from its militant networks in the region. That in turn will raise renewed trepidation in our capitals about escalation and wider conflict. Second, expect demonstrations on university campuses and in the streets to intensify even further. The impact of Gaza-related agitation on some recent local elections in Britain will be fresh in the minds of our politicians. Rishi Sunak says hes deeply concerned about the prospects of a military incursion into Rafah and according to Keir Starmer it must not go ahead.

Bidens trepidation over widespread protests in an election year is only too clear. As the IDF moved against Rafah yesterday, the Biden administration continued its public opposition to Israels very objectives in Gaza, with White House spokesman John Kirby saying: Youre not going to eliminate an ideology through military operations. This tired mantra is a false argument against pretty much any military solution to any aggressor. Why did the US fight against Isis, which represents the same ideology as Hamas? Why is Ukraine bothering to resist the military manifestation of Putins ideology?

It shouldnt need saying that it is absolutely vital for Israel to eliminate Hamass capability to continue translating its twisted ideology into physical violence. That means their physical destruction in Rafah. Israel must push on with its plans and not buckle to international pressure, no matter how great. Failure to do so would amount to nothing less than strategic defeat.

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Hamas official warns of no ceasefire deal if Israeli aggression on Gaza continues

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hamas official Osama Hamdan warned on Tuesday that if Israel's military aggression continues in Rafah, there will be no ceasefire deal.

Hamdan's comments were made during a press conference in Beirut as a delegation from Hamas, the group that runs the Gaza Strip, arrived in Cairo from Doha to continue ceasefire negotiations, a statement from the group said on Tuesday.

"We affirm that the military operation in Rafah, if carried out by Israel, will not be a picnic for the (Israeli) army," Hamdan said.

"The ball is in Netanyahu's court," he added, saying that the latest ceasefire proposal which Hamas agreed to "represents the minimum that responds to the demands of our people and our resistance."

Israeli forces seized the main border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza earlier on Tuesday, shutting down a vital aid route into the Palestinian enclave that is already on the brink of famine.

"The Rafah crossing was and will remain a purely Egyptian-Palestinian crossing," Hamdan said.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam, Muhammad Al Gebaly, Writing by Adam Makary; Editing by Michael Erman)
Allissa Pataki talks to Pascal Ravessoud, Vice-President of the FHH, during the Roadshow in Paris to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the FHH Academy

Ten years is something to celebrate! And the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) did not miss the opportunity to celebrate on 26 and 27 April. During the first leg of its Roadshow at the we are_club in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, the FHH presented its activities around watchmaking knowledge and education, as well as its certification. These included a Watch Icons augmented reality experience - developed in collaboration with the FHH's partner brands - featuring twelve digital works, an exhibition of twelve timepieces from brands of French origin, a watch movement assembly and disassembly workshop with professional watchmakers, a live performance by gouache artist Estelle Lagarde, themed tables, lectures, panel discussions on topical subjects, and of course the famous quiz night, with questions taken from their certification.

The famous quiz night  FHH

And not least, the FHH Academy has unveiled its new training course - the Watch Essentials course in video format. Aimed at the general public, these educational and entertaining courses are similar to a Masterclass, divided into successive episodes. Students will find a variety of content on the platform, including podcasts and quizzes, which can be accessed at any time to facilitate learning. Available on the FHH website, the course will initially be available only in France, then in Switzerland.

We spoke to Pascal Ravessoud, vice-president of the FHH, about the new FHH Academy online course, the role the foundation plays in the industry and how he got into watchmaking.

In case you haven't already, check out our interview with Aurelie Streit, Vice-President of the FHH and founder of the FHH Academy.

What a great place to start your Roadshow!

(Laughs) We told ourselves that we had to focus on quality, that it wasn't our idea to hold a big mass for as many people as possible. We wanted people to be able to get to know us in good conditions, conducive to exchange, informal, because we want to be very human in our contact, particularly because some people can sometimes perceive watchmaking as a bit distant and aloof. Some people go into boutiques and feel they can't ask questions. So we really try to be the first step towards knowledge. To make people want to learn, that step has to be easy to take, we have to be able to approach people in a simple, no-frills way, and put the human element back at the centre.

FHH Roadshow Paris - Exhibit  FHH

Yes, you can feel that in the overview of the training course I've just attended. Everything is really explained in a way that's accessible to everyone.

That's it! I've been in the watchmaking business for 20 years and I realise that a lot of people are interested. But you have to take them by the hand to take the first step. It's the first step that counts, as in life. Once that first step has been taken, people want to know more and will continue the process themselves. But this is especially true of watchmaking: because it's technical and there's a lot of information in a very small volume, it can be off-putting. People don't necessarily understand the value and complexity. If you manage to deconstruct this difficulty at the first stage, people then want to know more. How many times have I given awakening training courses or conferences where people say to me at the end ah, that's great, I've learnt lots of things, I want to know more? And then, two years later, those same people have bought a watch, have books and are interested in watchmaking. Our approach is to break the ice.

FHH Roadshow Paris - Panels  FHH

The FHH Academy is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Did you anticipate its growth and impact on the industry over the last decade?

At the Academy, we have around 70 customers from all over the world, many of whom are partner brands. The biggest players among our partner brands are already customers. On the other hand, we feel that end customers are hungry for training and certification - a huge need that didn't exist ten years ago. When we launched the Academy, the industry was nowhere near where it is today: brands had huge training needs, because their sales staff were faced with customers who knew more and more. We're now past that phase, even if there are still needs due to the fact that everything is constantly being renewed.

The growth we see over the next five to ten years is due to the development of the B2C business - end customers who have heard about certification, want to be certified and are asking us how to go about it. We've had this insistent demand for two years now, post-COVID. We feel that this is a game-changer and that's why we're developing it now.

One of the main aims of the FHH's educational pillar has always been to provide consumers with the right information so that they can make the right purchasing decisions, making them a long-term quality audience for watchmaking. Is it complicated to inform people about these subjects without necessarily saying that one method is better than another, that one brand is better than another?

The FHH doesn't get into that. We're here to promote the industry in general, and the incredible story that watchmaking has told through various examples. But that doesn't mean that just because we choose one example, the other is any less good. It's all about getting the best out of knowledge, because as you said before, a better-educated customer is a better customer and a better-educated employee is a better employee. Sometimes brands come to us and say that they'd prefer us to put them forward, like this or that, for example, in terms of their story. But we're here to tell the story of watchmaking in a general, neutral way, and we'll never say that so-and-so is better than so-and-so. That's not our role. Who are we to say that?

Furthermore, there is no question of us only highlighting partner brands as opposed to non-partner brands. We can't ignore certain watches because it would be distorting the information not to include them. It's very important that the FHH is seen as a reference source. Today, there is so much fake news and AI; there are 150,000 websites talking about watchmaking. There isn't always the same information and people need a point of reference. We want to be that reference point by being credible, fair and neutral. We're not doing this for commercial gain, we've got nothing to sell. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation, and everything we do is designed to increase knowledge. The more credible and neutral we are, the more meaningful our actions will be.

Given the future trajectory of the FHH Academy, what are your long-term goals for its development over the next ten years?

The long-term goal is really to become the foundation for the whole industry. We'd like all the big players to put their trust in us and become our partners. Today we have 44, but there are many more. We'd really like everyone to be aware of the value we bring to the whole industry. If we have that, we know that behind us, we'll develop everything we need to help them even more. The more partners we have, the more funding we'll have to develop projects. It's a bit like a virtuous circle. And of course we're going to develop B2C, particularly with our new online training course.

Watch movement assembly and disassembly workshop  Allissa Pataki / WorldTempus

Can you share an anecdote to illustrate how the FHH can advance the love of and interest in watchmaking?

I have a personal anecdote about how I got into watches. When I was 18, it was the Swatch phenomenon  it was crazy. They were still plastic, quartz watches. Back then, watchmaking was nothing: there were no collectors, nothing. We collected Swatches with friends. We'd go to Milan and Paris to see the launches. We'd look for the new Swatches, and that was how we had fun. Then, when I was 20 or 21, a friend - who was more advanced than we were - showed me a mechanical watch with a visible back. He turned the watch and I could see the movement. There I was (editor's note: he imitates a shocked face). From that day on, I was screwed.

The FHH can create that spark in the eyes of people who are initially incredulous. After one of our training courses or conferences, you see people with their eyes lit up, you really feel the passion. You see these people again later and realise that they are indeed into this hobby, this passion. They've got caught up in it.

And that passion is one of the things you can communicate. Our interest lies in communicating it.
Hamas has offered a ceasefire deal. Heres why that wont bring an immediate end to the war in Gaza

When Hamas declared on Monday evening that it has agreed to a ceasefire deal, it caught many off guard. Israel was evidently not expecting it, and it was not even immediately clear what Hamas had agreed to.

Hamas announcement was initially met with jubilation in Gaza and cautious optimism by regional leaders after it was presented as an acceptance of an Israeli proposal. But Israel issued what looked like a holding position, saying that Hamas position was far from meeting its demands.

And it pressed on with a controversial military operation in Rafah, southern Gaza, conducting air strikes on Monday and seizing control of the Palestinian side of a border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday morning amid intense pressure from his hardline coalition go all-in.

At the same time, Israel said that it would send a delegation to Cairo to assess Hamas position. The CIA director, Bill Burns, traveled to Cairo on Tuesday and was expected to hold a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

So whats going on?

What we know about what Hamas is offering

Hamas said on Monday that it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, which includes a ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, an exchange of captives, reconstruction of the territory, and the lifting of Israels blockade of the enclave.

The offer by Hamas would start with the release of 33 hostages from Israel in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners over a 42-day period, and end with the rebuilding of Gaza during a period of sustainable calm, according to a document shared with CNN by a regional source familiar with negotiations.

A diplomatic source familiar with the talks told CNN earlier that the reference to sustainable calm was a way to agree to a permanent ceasefire without calling it that.

The deal would be divided into three-phases, each lasting 42 days. It would include an eventual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in the second phase, according to the document seen by CNN.

US officials have pushed back on Hamas claim that it had agreed to a ceasefire deal, instead characterizing the response as a counterproposal with changes. That counterproposal will need further negotiation, they said, and is being treated as a communication tactic to publicly demonstrate that Hamas is willing to make an agreement.

Still, the White House said Tuesday that a close reading of Israel and Hamas separate negotiating positions indicates the two sides should be able to strike an agreement.

What has the response been from Israel and others?

Israel says the deal offered by Hamas isnt what Israel helped craft with Egypt last week, with war cabinet member Benny Gantz saying Monday that Hamas version does not correspond to the dialogue that has taken place so far with the mediators and has significant gaps. Netanyahu said the war cabinet unanimously determined that Hamas offer was very far from Israels core demands.

Israel did however send a working-level delegation to Cairo to better understand the Hamas offer and determine whether a deal can be forged.

The biggest sticking point is the question of a permanent ceasefire and how to address it in the deal. The Hamas proposal calls for an end to the war, which is a red line for Netanyahu, a senior American official told CNN.

Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrate with the hostages families against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, demanding an immediate hostage deal and general elections, in Tel Aviv, Israel on April 6. - Matan Golan/Sipa/AP

Frank Lowenstein, who worked as Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations under US President Barack Obama during the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, told CNN that this may be the moment of truth for the blame-game both sides have been playing with the ceasefire negotiations.

Hamas has apparently accepted the constructive ambiguity about duration that the mediators have been proposing, along with guarantees of a permanent ceasefire that are obviously not enforceable, Lowenstein said, adding that it is now up to Netanyahu  he would much rather invade Rafah for his extremist coalition politics than have a ceasefire that could end the war and likely bring elections.

How are the talks linked to Israels Rafah operation?

Israel argues that Rafah is Hamas last bastion in Gaza, and last week Netanyahu vowed to launch a ground operation there irrespective of a deal with Hamas and in defiance of US pressure not to go ahead.

On Monday evening, the Israeli military conducted air strikes against what it said were Hamas targets in eastern Rafah. By Tuesday morning, it had seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, replacing Palestinian flags there with Israeli ones in a show of control. The move followed an order by the Israeli military to about 100,000 residents of northern Rafah to evacuate immediately.

The Hamas ceasefire offer was designed to torpedo the Rafah operation, Netanyahu said, and that did not happen.

The Rafah crossing is a strategic site for Hamas, Barak Ravid, CNN political and global affairs analyst, told CNNs Anderson Cooper, adding that it is seen as a symbol of Hamass continued control of Gaza.

Israels seizure of the crossing may have damaged Hamas image before the Palestinian people in Gaza, and it acts as leverage to make Hamas more flexible in hostage talks, he said.

The Rafah operation wasnt on the scale of a major ground incursion the Biden administration had been warning Israel against, but it may have been designed to appease some of the extremist ministers in Netanyahus cabinet who have been pressuring him to press on with an invasion of the city and threatening to collapse his coalition if he doesnt comply.

US officials told CNN Tuesday that the Biden administration doesnt believe Israeli military activity in Rafah is the beginning of a major operation into southern Gaza and a source familiar with Israeli plans said that a limited incursion into Rafah was intended to keep pressure on Hamas to agree a deal that would bring about a ceasefire and a hostage release.

A military operation in Rafah may be in the interest of both Israel and Hamas, said Lowenstein, the former US negotiator.

Bibi (Netanyahu) wants to show how tough he is by standing up to us (the US) and the world to defend Israel. And Hamas thinks hes walking into a trap in Rafah that will leave Israel even more isolated, including from the US, and subject to even greater international condemnation.

Displaced Palestinians, who left with their belongings from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip following an evacuation order by the Israeli army, arrive in Khan Younis on Monday. - AFP/Getty Images

Whats at stake for Netanyahu and Hamas?

Hamas and Israel have accused each other of obstructing an agreement and prolonging the war.

Experts say both sides are pushing for maximalist demands because their political survival depends on it.

Netanyahu finds himself in a tough spot. He faces intense pressure from his closest international allies and the families of Israeli hostages to agree to a ceasefire deal and avoid a full-scale invasion of Rafah, as well as the need to oblige hardliners in his fragile coalition who dont want him to stop until Hamas is eliminated.

Hamas may also be wary of its fate if the war ends without a guarantee of a permanent ceasefire.

Since the short ceasefire deal in November, Hamas has not been interested in a deal with Israel that doesnt include a permanent end to hostilities, Lowenstein said, as the group believes that is the only scenario that ensures its survival.

Both sides only want a ceasefire deal that ensures their political survival, Lowenstein said. For Hamas, thats a permanent ceasefire that allows them to retain some military capabilities. For Bibi, its only a temporary pause on the path to total victory.

Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, DC, says that even though both Hamas and Netanyahu believe they have benefited politically from the continuation of the conflict, pressure has been mounting domestically for both to end hostilities.

Hamas is under tremendous pressure, including to some extent from its own leaders living outside of Gaza, to accept cease-fire proposals from Egypt and Qatar in order to gain some respite for the organization and relief for the Palestinians in Gaza, Ibish told CNN.

But Hamas may be aware that it has better chances of survival than Netanyahu, even if the group re-emerges in a different form, he says.

Hamas will survive. It is a political organization and a brand-name. It is not a list of individuals who can be killed or infrastructure and equipment that can be destroyed, Ibish said. Netanyahu, on the other hand, both personally and politically will not survive forever.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNNs Abeer Salman, Becky Anderson and Jeremy Diamond, Christian Edwards, Mostafa Salem, Nic Robertson, Lauren Izso, Michael Williams, Oren Liebermann, Benjamin Brown, Jennifer Hansler, Alex Marquardt, Ibrahim Dahman, Tim Lister, Michael Schwartz, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Eugenia Yosef, Tareq El-Helou and Kareem Khadder contributed to this story.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Have you seen the video of nearly 200 young white students at the University of Mississippi surrounding and shouting at a group of more than two dozen pro-Palestinian protestors last week?



If not, video of the incident has since gone viral, and it specifically shows a Black woman being surrounded by white students in the middle of the Ole Miss campus, shouting, yelling at and recording her.

Watch below:

Ole Miss taking care of business. pic.twitter.com/JiL9hs2pHz  Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) May 3, 2024

On Monday, it was announced that one of the students, who is part of the campus fraternity Phi Delta Theta, has been expelled from the organization for making ape sounds at the Black woman during their protests, according to NBC News.

The student who made ape noises while jumping up and down can be seen on the right side of the frame nearly eight seconds into the video. The name of the student has not been made public.

But the name of the Black woman has been released. She is Jaylin R. Smith, a 24-year-old graduate student who works at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at Ole Miss. In a quote to CNN, she reassured that nothing these students did could hurt her, saying, One thing that will never break me is people taunting me or making monkey noises at me.

In a statement, Phi Delta Theta said, Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters is aware of the video regarding the student protest at the University of Mississippi. The racist actions in the video were those of an individual and are antithetical to the values of Phi Delta Theta and the Mississippi Alpha chapter. The responsible individual was removed from membership on Friday, May 3.



Furthermore, the university also has plans to launch an investigation into the behavior of at least one student who was present during the harrassment of the pro-Palestinian protestors.

More from NBC News:

Chancellor Glenn F. Boyce sent a letter to students and staff Friday noting that Ole Miss leaders were aware of behaviors that were offensive, hurtful, and unacceptable, including actions that conveyed hostility and racist overtones at Thursdays protest. While student privacy laws prohibit us from commenting on any specific student, we have opened one student conduct investigation, he wrote. We are working to determine whether more cases are warranted.

Although U.S. Rep. Mike Collins heralded the actions of the students in the above post on X, it led to a bunch of people on social media criticizing him for praising the discriminatory actions of the students.

Just read the comments on the post where he shared the video.

In a Monday statement, Collins said, If that person is found to have treated another human being improperly because of their race, they should be punished appropriately, and will hopefully seek forgiveness.

For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, May 6, 2024 | Ken Coleman

During a Monday Detroit visit, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the Biden administration has pledged more than $100 million for small and medium-sized auto manufacturers to expand or retool their facilities, some of which could prepare for the production of electric vehicles (EVs).

These grants will allow businesses to upgrade production and production lines to produce parts for electric vehicles, Harris said.

Harris gave about 15 minutes of remarks at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History to an audience of about 200, most of whom were African American. The appearance was another stop for her Economic Opportunity Tour and Harris offered a similar presentation in Atlanta last week.

Harris, who is the nations first female, African-American and Asian-American vice president, also touted the Biden-Harris record that is centered on supporting Black business development, as well as job growth, student loan forgiveness and creating more opportunities for home ownership.

Today, Black Americans are 40% less likely to own a home. And this is a sad fact, Harris said. And homeownership rates for Black men have been falling for three decades straight, Harris says. We gotta do something about that. So to help address these disparities, in our budget, President Biden and I outlined a blueprint to provide folks who are first in their family to buy a home with $25,000 toward a down payment.

Detroit is 77% African American and it has voted strongly for Democrats for decades.

Harris also said that the Biden administration has launched a program to match government-backed loans with private equity capital to make sure auto suppliers stay in America.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, who served as Michigan governor from 2003 to 2011, attended the event and highlighted the Biden-Harris administrations commitment to supporting workforce development as a pillar of U.S.industrial policy. She echoed Harris optimism about the auto manufacturers and electric vehicle production.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaks at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, May 6, 2024 | Ken Coleman

For Michigan, this means growing the manufacturing workforce with good-paying union jobs to electrify the auto industry with American-made parts, Granholm said.

The Department of Energy will set aside $50 million of its Automotive Conversion Grants Program for partnerships with states to help small- and medium-sized suppliers convert from manufacturing internal combustion engine parts to manufacturing parts for the EV supply chain.

Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su also attended the announcement, as did Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist.

Im just happy that she came to Detroit, Williams said. We love her and she has done right by us.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes the Biden-Harris administration and campaign has shown up for Black communities time and time again.

While Trump wants to drag us backwards, our trailblazer of a Vice President continues to demonstrate true leadership and passion. Michiganders understand Republicans extreme MAGA agenda for what it is, and I have no doubt they will once again reject MAGA Republicans this November, Barnes said.

Keith Williams, chair of the Michigan Democratic Partys Black Caucus, attended the Detroit event and praised Harris.

The Michigan Republican Party did not respond to the Advances request for comment.

Former President Donald Trump, the likely GOP challenger to Biden in November, held a rally in Saginaw County last Wednesday.

At the campaign event, Trump denounced the Biden administrations goal for electric vehicles to make up 50% of all new vehicles sold by 2030, which Trump called a mandate. He criticized Biden and UAW President Shawn Fain for the effort, saying a transition to electric vehicles would result in the loss of U.S. auto jobs to China.

It will be an economic bloodbath. Crooked Joe will rip out your auto jobs and send them immediately to China, Trump said.

Trump is also scheduled to appear at a right-wing Turning Point convention in Detroit next month.

The post Harris touts Biden administrations record on African Americans, Detroit automotive industry appeared first on Michigan Advance.
'You hate Donald Trump!' Stormy Daniels accused of vendetta, extortion in scorching cross-examination

After nearly four hours of direct testimony, Stormy Daniels was cross-examined by a Trump attorney.

'Am I correct that you hate Donald Trump?" lawyer Susan Necheles demanded out of the gate.

Other questions accused Daniels of lying about sex with Trump and trying to extort him.

During a fiery cross-examination in the New York hush-money trial, porn star Stormy Daniels fought back against a defense lawyer's accusations that she has a vendetta against Donald Trump  and that she tried to extort him.

"Am I correct that you hate President Trump?" defense lawyer Susan Necheles demanded early in Tuesday afternoon's questioning.

Daniels looked directly at Necheles, her voice crisp as she answered.

"Yes," Daniels said.

"And you want him to go to jail, right?" Necheles pursued.

"I want him to be held responsible," Daniels snapped back.

This photo from a 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe was taken hours before Stormy Daniels says she had sex with Donald Trump. Manhattan District Attorney's Office

"You want him to go to jail, am I correct?" Necheles asked.

"If he is found guilty, absolutely," Daniels answered.

The tense exchange came after nearly four hours of direct testimony, in which Daniels described the one-night-stand she says she had with the then-Apprentice star in 2006.

"It was hard to get my shoes on because my hands were shaking so hard," she told jurors of getting dressed after what she described as a regrettable encounter.

Trump has denied there was an encounter.

Prosecutors say Trump falsified 34 business records in order to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels that purchased her silence just 11 days before the 2016 election.

Sticks and stones

Trump and Daniels have long called each other names on social media.

In a classic exchange from October 2018, the then-president called Daniels "horseface" in a tweet, as he celebrated a federal judge dismissing her defamation lawsuit against him.



"Game on, Tiny," responded Daniels, in a callback to her then-new book, Full Disclosure, in which she mocked his genitalia.

On Tuesday, the lawyer-witness exchange over this tawdry and long-running war of words led a female alternate juror to roll her eyes.

Necheles raised her voice as she confronted Daniels with a 2022 tweet in which Daniels called Trump an "orange turd."

"I don't owe him shit and I'll never give that orange turd a dime," Daniels had tweeted.

"And that's you calling President Trump names, right?" Necheles asked.

"In retaliation for what he said to me, yes," Daniels answered.

"And that's you making fun of how he looks, right?" Necheles asked.

"Correct," Daniels answered.

"So when you were asked on your direct examination if he called you 'horseface,' you call him names all the time, right?" Necheles shouted, in what was as much an accusation as a question.

"Yes," Daniels answered quickly. "Because he made fun of me first."

"So one of you started it, but you both continue it, right?" Necheles asked, her voice still loud.

"Correct," Daniels answered defiantly, at which point the alternate's eyes rolled.

Trump's mood lightened



Trump had appeared visibly downcast  and angry  during Daniels' direct testimony, as she described their conversation before the alleged encounter at a celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe, months after the birth of his son with Melania Trump.

Trump compared Daniels to his daughter, Ivanka, and assured her that he and his wife kept separate bedrooms, the porn star testified.

At one point, Trump became so visibly agitated  even "audibly cursing" at the defense table  that the judge called the attorneys to the bench, and threatened to hold the GOP frontrunner in contempt.



Daniels also described feeling ashamed and scared after the encounter.

Her fear increased in 2011, she told jurors, after she gave an interview about the encounter to In Touch magazine.

The piece never ran. But soon after her interview, a male stranger threatened her and her infant daughter in a Los Vegas parking lot, she told jurors.

During these descriptions, Trump slumped in his chair. He kept his chin down and watched Daniels' testimony on the large screen on the wall opposite him, raising only his eyes.

But on cross, Trump's mood visibly lightened as Necheles questioned Daniels about why she waited to go public with her Lake Tahoe story, and why she never filed a police report about the stranger.

His chin rose, and his scowl disappeared.

"Mr. Trump, how's it going in there?" a reporter asked him in the hallway during a break in the cross-examination.

"Very well," Trump answered.

Extortion? False!

At another point in grilling Daniels, Necheles accused the porn star of cashing in on a false "claim" of sex.

She used the word "extort" to describe Daniels' motive.

"You were looking to get  extort money from President Trump, right?" Necheles asked.

"False," Daniels snapped back.

"Well, that's what you did, right?' Necheles asked.

"False," Daniels answered again.

"You've been making money by claiming you had sex with Donald Trump for more than a decade, right?" the lawyer asked some minutes later.

"I've been making money by telling my story about what happened to me," Daniels answered.

"And that story has made you a lot of money, right?" Necheles demanded.

"It has also cost me a lot of money," Daniels answered.

Daniels' cross-examination is expected to continue Thursday morning.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Read the latest in our coverage of the death of Anthony Johnson Jr. and other issues in Tarrant County jail.

Anthony Johnson Jr.s family demanded transparency from Tarrant County and its Sheriffs Office in front of a meeting room packed and spilling over into three overflow spaces Tuesday afternoon.

You cant see my pain right now, but I can make sure yall turn colors and see pain, Anthony Johnsons sister Janell Johnson told county commissioners.

Before allowing public comments, the commissioners heard a county employee who does not work for the Sheriffs Office read statements that had previously been released to the media about Anthony Johnsons death in custody of the county jail. Sheriff Bill Waybourn, who is regularly in attendance at commissioners court meetings, was not present Tuesday, nor was any representative of his office.

Janell Johnson suggested their absence was because they were scared of her. She said she would speak and not let Waybourn leave or ignore her until he was crying and red in the face, feeling at least some measure of her pain.

The family and other members of the community want answers about how Anthony Johnson died. The 31-year-old Marine veteran, called A.J. by his family, was arrested and jailed in Tarrant County while he was experiencing a mental health crisis.

Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons comforts Anthony Ray Johnson Jr.s sisters Chanell and Janell Johnson after hearing their comments regarding Anthonys death while incarcerated at the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

His death came after his family says they took him to WellBridge Healthcare in Fort Worth, a behavioral health hospital, on April 19 because he was at the beginning of a schizophrenic episode.

WellBridge turned him away because he wasnt yet violent to himself or others, the family told the Star-Telegram. They were told they should come back when he was.

WellBridge declined Monday to comment on whether Johnson was ever a patient or what the mental health facilitys standards are for admissions, directing questions to the facilitys corporate leadership. A spokesperson for corporate could not be reached for comment.

Later that same day, he was arrested after being found in an intersection in Saginaw, wielding a knife, according to police.

Jacqualyne Johnson, Anthony Johnsons mother, said when she got word that her son had been arrested, she was relieved.

My heart was at rest because I was like, OK, hes not going to harm anyone. Hes safe. 

But two days later, he was dead.

Anthony Johnson died April 21 after an altercation with jailers during which he was pepper-sprayed, according to the sheriffs office. Daryl Washington, a Dallas attorney representing Johnsons family, told the Star-Telegram Monday that Johnson had bruises on his body, suggesting the use of force.

If there was something to justify this, that would be known very early on, Washington said. We havent heard anything for justification of what happened, what went on. But its evident to us that there was more involved in this than pepper spray. More force.

Anthony Ray Johnson Jr., a Marine veteran, tried to get help when he began noticing the symptoms of a schizophrenic episode, according to his family. Johnson was turned away from mental health facility, his sister said, and was arrested later that day. He died April 21 after being pepper-sprayed by officers during an altercation at the Tarrant County Jail.

Family demands answers

Commissioner Alisa Simmons has called for a federal investigation into Johnsons death and the county jail. The family said they want the same thing.

They cant be the ones to prosecute themselves, because they wont, Chanell Johnson, one of Anthony Johnsons sisters, said after addressing the commissioners.

The family is also demanding the release of two videos. The Star-Telegram has requested the footage, too. On Monday, Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells, who represents the county, sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtons office seeking to withhold the video.

Washington also wants the county to release the video.

We are asking and we are demanding that any video footage be released, Washington said. They talk about transparency and how they want to be transparent to the public, but in this situation we feel like theyre hiding something that took place.

Johnsons case isnt the first time an inmate has died after being pepper sprayed in the jail. A Star-Telegram investigation in 2022 found that the 2019 death of Robert Miller was likely due to complications from being pepper sprayed multiple times at close range. His death was ruled natural.

Before Johnson was booked into the Tarrant County jail, his family said, he sought medical attention when he began noticing the symptoms of a schizophrenic episode coming on.

You killed my son, his mother, Jacqualyne Johnson, said to the commissioners.

Anthony Johnson Jr. with his sisters Janell and Chanell.

She said her comments were directed to County Judge Tim OHare and all the commissioners except Simmons. Simmons, she said, is the only commissioner she believes has shown any willingness to address problems in the county and in the jail.

This has been festering in the county for years and youve done nothing about it, Jacqualyne Johnson said. My son served. He was in the Marine Corps. Whoever approached him in his cell, he defended himself. He was mentally unstable and it didnt start here. We took him to a facility and they rejected him.  Had they held him for 24 hours, 24 hours, this wouldnt have happened.

Anthony Johnson Jr.s sisters Janell and Chanell Johnson and his mother, Jacqualyne, speak with the media gathered to hear about their comments regarding Anthonys death while incarcerated at the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

Knowledge that he had schizophrenia should have been known to police, the jail and anybody else in the justice system in Tarrant County, his sister Janell Johnson said. Anthony Johnson had been in a behavioral health facility before, received his medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder from a county program and told officers who were arresting him that he had schizophrenia.

Jacqualyne Johnson said she shouldnt have to be there addressing the county commissioners.

I havent even buried my son yet, she said. The next time I see him will be when I bury him.

Community speaks out

Anthony Johnsons family wasnt alone in demanding answers. Members of the community lined up to address the court.

Many demanded answers. They want the videos made public. They want Waybourn to speak publicly about what happened. They arent satisfied with the sheriffs explanation that he wont speak about Anthony Johnsons death because there is an ongoing investigation.

The Star-Telegram has tried multiple times to get more information from the Sheriffs Office. In an email Monday evening, a spokesperson for the sheriff told the Star-Telegram that speaking about the case could impact the outcome of the investigation.

For the integrity of the investigation and to make sure that people are held accountable, we need to let a thorough process continue without being hindered by rumors or comments from this office, the spokesperson wrote. We cannot and will not comment on any open investigations until they have been completed.

Simmons said during the session that she personally requested Waybourn be present to answer questions at the meeting. He declined, she said.

She wanted to question him about what happened leading up to Johnsons death, but said he refused to even send a representative.

Simmons also said she requested to view the videos from the jail in a closed session, where the public and media would not be able to see them, and was told no.

After Anthony Johnsons family spoke, Simmons followed them out of the chambers. There in the hallway, she embraced them.

That touched me in a particular way so I had to take a break, she said when she returned to the chambers.

Anthony Johnson Jr.s sisters Janell and Chanell Johnson and his mother, Jacqualyne, speak with the media gathered to hear about their comments regarding Anthonys death while incarcerated at the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

The family said they wont rest until they have answers. Chanell Johnson said her brother was murdered. She and her family want justice.

Everybody is going to understand our pain, Janell Johnson told reporters after speaking to the commissioners. Dont be sorry. Get this changed. This has to change. Nobody should have died.

There have been more than 60 deaths in the custody of the Tarrant County Jail since Waybourn took office in 2017.

Anthony Johnson Jr. with his mother, Jacqualyne.
Travelers looking to rent an Airbnb or VRBO in Hawaii will have to look a little harder.

The Aloha State has signed a new bill that will put more regulations on short-term rentals, which are currently contributing to the destinations housing crisis. The law, which was signed by Gov. Josh Green on Friday, grants counties the power to regulate vacation lodging in local areas or eradicate them altogether.

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The bill clarifies the counties authority to control the time, place, manner, and duration of land uses, particularly transient accommodations including short-term rentals, Gov. Green explained in a statement posted to X (formerly known as Twitter).

Last years wildfires in Maui were a driving force in the decision to sign Senate Bill 2919 into law. The 2023 disaster burned down more than 2,500 acres and displaced thousands of individuals. Nine months later, survivors are still looking for permanent housing. Currently, a shortage of inventory has driven up the cost of living in Maui with home prices clocking in at a whopping three times the national average, The Guardian reported.

As we press forward with our ongoing wildfire response and recovery efforts, SB 2919 will be a pivotal tool to address Hawaiis housing crisis, while ensuring our essential housing programs for Maui recovery remain robust, Gov. Green said in a statement. Our commitment to maximizing housing availability on Maui and statewide persists, and the state continues to extend support to legal owners who contribute to Maui wildfire relief efforts.

Since the bill was passed, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen has already revealed plans to remove roughly 7,000 short-term rental units, including 2,200 in West Maui, by January 1, 2026, Hawaii News Now reported. Gov. Green has also announced that the state intends to build over 13,000 affordable housing units in the next two years.

We understand that theres going to be a give and take, Mayor Bissen said during a press conference last week. So the question is what is most important? And our priority is housing our local residents, especially now.

A similar crackdown happened in New York City last September. The number of short-term Airbnbs in the Big Apple dropped 70 percent after the city enforced a new law that required rental owners to register their properties, according to Wired. The new rule was partly enacted to get more available units on to the rental market.

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Head of Polish intelligence: Putin ready for mini-operation against NATO, but observes Western reaction

The head of Poland's military counterintelligence service, Jarosaw Strozyk, suggests that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is already prepared for a small-scale military operation against a NATO country.

Source: European Pravda, citing Strozyk in an interview with Polish publication Dziennik Gazeta Prawna

Strozyk noted that all forecasts regarding Russia's readiness for a potential attack on a NATO country from analytical centres lacking full information are based solely on certain assumptions.

However, he admitted that the Kremlin leader already has the capability to organise a small-scale operation against an Alliance member state.

"Putin is certainly already prepared for some mini-operation against one of the Baltic countries, for example, to enter the famous Narva [municipality in Estonia  ed.]. Or  to land on one of the Swedish islands," Strozyk said.

He added that despite Putin's intentions, he is currently being held back by the West's stance. "What the West is doing together to support Ukraine shows him that in the event of an attack on NATO, the Western response would be even greater," believes the head of Poland's military counterintelligence service.

Background:

Over the past few weeks, several NATO European countries have warned the public of the risk of Russian aggression in the near future.

Recently, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius stated that the Russian military-industrial complex is already working to replenish its arsenals.

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Gov. Maura Healey, state Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu will be traveling to Italy next week for a climate conference.

The delegation will be attending the Vatican Climate Summit: From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience, which is taking play May 15 through 17.

Pope Francis will preside over the global conference, which will bring researchers, policy makers and faith leaders together to understand the scientific and societal challenges of climate change and recommend solutions for resilient people and resilient ecosystems, according to the The Pontifical Academy of Sciences website.

Healey, who will provide a keynote address at the opening session of the conference, will discuss governing in the age of climate change and Wu will talk about governance, health and energy at the Vatican Climate Summit, officials earlier said.

Healey said the trip will highlight Massachusetts climate and economy, particularly the emerging industry of climatetech. The goal of the trip is also to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties between Massachusetts and Italy, the governor said.

Im excited for this opportunity to showcase Massachusetts climate and economic leadership on the global stage, and to make the case for why businesses should consider starting and growing in our state, Healey said in a statement. Massachusetts deeply values our close relationship with Italy and the Vatican City State, and we see this trip as an excellent opportunity to strengthen ties and strategize on future opportunities for collaboration.

Hoffer is Massachusetts first ever climate chief, according to the states website. She joined the Biden Administration as a Day 1 political appointee, serving as the Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. Hoffer led the EPAs Office of General Counsel through the transition until November 2021, and continued to serve as Principal Deputy General Counsel.

In a statement, Hoffer said that the trip presents an incredible opportunity to learn from leaders from around the world how they are advancing emissions reduction, resilience, and support for communities facing intensifying climate impacts.

It is truly the honor of a lifetime to present at the Vatican Summit and I am eager to share our accomplishments and vision for Massachusetts and collaborate with other global leaders as we navigate the many challenges and opportunities presented in this unprecedented moment in human history, Hoffer said.

The global summit is organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences under the leadership of UMass Boston Chancellor Suarez-Orozco and Ram Ramanathan, distinguished research professor at UC San Diego and climate solutions scholar at Cornell University.

On Tuesday, Healey will host a roundtable with the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy with Italian business leaders considering establishing, growing, or expanding their footprint in Massachusetts. Healey will highlight all that makes Massachusetts a great place to do business, learn more about what the businesses are interested in and the challenges they face, and discuss opportunities for further collaboration, her office said in a statement.

Healey will also participate in two panels during the conference. On Wednesday evening, she will co-chair the Energy Session with Professor Cheikh Mbow of Senegal. Healey will deliver opening remarks and introduce each panel, which includes: Access/Clean/Affordable Energy by Dan Esty of Yale University; Renewable Energy Transition by Arunaba Ghosho of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water; Resilient Grid by Vida Rozite of the International Energy Agency; and Clean Cooking by Ali Mohamed, Kenyas Climate and Clean Cooking Envoy.

On Thursday, Healey, Chancellor Suarez-Orozco and Ram Ramanathan will participate in Highlights and the Way Forward, during which they will reflect on the sub-regional summits that took place during the course of the summit. The session will end with proposals from all mayors and governors on next steps.

Italy is currently Massachusetts 10th largest trading partner globally, according to Healeys office. In 2023, total trade between Massachusetts and Italy was $2.05 billion. Italian companies, such as Enel North America and Piaggio Fast Forward, have operations in Massachusetts.

Hoffer, who will also speak at the summit, will visit the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research alongside UMass-Boston Professor Paul Kirshen on Tuesday. Later Tuesday afternoon, she will meet with Edoardo Zanchini, the director of the City of Romes Climate Office, and Environment, Science, Technology, and Health personnel from the U.S. Italian Embassy.

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

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Boston area motorists, pack your patience!

The Sumner Tunnel will close again this summer for more restoration work, but it will only be off limits to drivers for a month instead of the initially planned two-month closure.

The Sumner is approaching 100 years old, and MassDOT said the work is necessary.

This is the most impactful project that we will be undertaking this summer, State Highway Administrator John Gulliver said.

Gulliver on Tuesday addressed the approaching closure, which primarily affects East Boston residents and airport traffic.

The state will fully close the tunnel for one month from July 5 to August 5.

This work is focused on the driving deck which effectively acts as a bridge from one end of the tunnel to the other thats where we have to close it for portions of the work, Gulliver said. Last year, the Sumner was closed for half the Summer to redo the ceiling. This summer, the driving deck or road is the focus. Originally, the plan was to fully close the tunnel for two months.

Gulliver added, Instead work that does not require demolition will happen during the weekends in the fall. The state says the project is the largest rehab of the tunnel in 25 years and it is expected to extend the tunnels life by 50 years. This is the final stage of construction for the tunnel which is a major thoroughfare taking traffic from the airport.

The MBTAs Blue Line subway service will be free as an alternative for commuters during the closure.

Even if you are traveling off-peak hours, you should expect heavier than normal traffic, Gulliver warned. To help people deal with the closure, there will be discounted fares for the Tobin Bridge and Ted Williams tunnel. The MBTAs blue line will be free.

Additional information can be found on mass.gov/sumner-tunnel.

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For this years Only Watch, the Belgian brand has decorated the mobile dials of its Type 1 Squared watches with an X representing a fragment of DNA. The pattern will align perfectly for just one second every seven days

History has shown that timepieces introduced at the Only Watch auction can be split into two categories: demonstrative and figurative. Demonstrative watches are designed to showcase technical or artistic mastery, revealing a specific talent, watchmaking ingenuity, or a novel complication. Figurative watches, on the other hand, focus on imagery, symbolism and a poetic sensibility. Ressence belongs firmly in the latter category.

Neither is inherently superior to the other; they simply reflect different approaches. Interestingly, the symbolic approach is often more challenging to execute. As Alexandre Peraldi, former designer at Baume & Mercier, once said, It is much more difficult to design a beautiful, original and perfectly finished watch priced at CHF 2,000 than a grand complication with no limits on budget or time.

Type 1 Squared  Ressence

This rings true for the young, 100% independent watchmaker Ressence, founded in 2010, which enjoys neither an unlimited budget nor unlimited time. But these constraints served as rocket fuel to the creativity of Benoit Mintiens, the Belgian brands founder. An industrial designer by training, he had to find a clever, original and creative theme to enter the sale, which takes place in Geneva on 10 May. The result is a testament to his talent: ingenious, original, disconcerting, and so simple that its a wonder no one had thought of it before.

Rotating DNA

The idea revolves around the familiar ladder structure of DNA, with its multiple rungs in twisting strands. The Type 12 features a fragment of this design on its dial  or rather, dials. The central concept of a Ressence watch is that each display (hours, minutes, seconds, power reserve) is given its own dedicated dial, all in constant rotation. This is where the DNA idea truly shines: the vast X that stretches uninhibitedly across the four dials is a prisoner of their motion, fragmenting and scattering, only to realign perfectly once each week, every Sunday at midnight.

Type 1 Squared  Ressence

Ephemeral delight

The idea of fleeting alignment is not new. Austrian watchmaker Carl Suchy & Sohne made it the trademark of its inaugural Waltz collection, which has the small seconds guilloche lining up with the rest of the dial once every minute.

Waltz  Carl Suchy & Sohne

With the Type 12, greater patience is needed, since the alignment occurs only once a week. But the approach itself provides the key to the link with medical research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the raison detre of Only Watch. The message is clear: long-term effort and patience will be needed, but the reward will come eventually.
Heightened sense of concern: New survey predicts a mass exodus of nurses in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Nurses Association is predicting a mass exodus of nurses in the state if things dont change soon.

Survey results released Monday revealed that twenty percent of Massachusetts-based nurses are planning to leave the field in two years or less.

The poll is based on feedback from 510 registered nurses, the majority of whom are not MNA members.

37 percent of those who plan to leave the profession said they are departing because of burnout, exhaustion, or lack of support from employers.

The three most common complaints included: deteriorating quality of care delivered in hospitals, understaffing, and low pay.

Nurses reported not having enough time to care for patients and needing to care for too many patients at one time.

When you feel like you cant take care of your patients properly, it causes great moral distress, said Meghan Mahoney, a registered nurse at Brigham & Womens Hospital.

Mahoney said that the ethical dilemma and the physical danger she faced on the job in the emergency department at Brigham and Womens Hospital caused her to step away from her nursing role for an entire year.

Ive been screamed at. Ive been spat on, hit, kicked, punched, slapped, she explained. Thats not what I signed up for.

64 percent of nurses surveyed reported that workplace violence and abuse is a serious problem.

Thats a 22 percent increase compared to a similar survey done in March 2021.

Were losing a lot of talented people, said Katie Murphy, President of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Theres a heightened sense of urgency and a heightened sense of concern.

Nurses from across Massachusetts are planning to gather outside the State House Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in recognition of National Nurses Week.

Murphy said theyll be advocating for better working conditions and support from state lawmakers.

Nurses have been working with state legislators for years in hopes of passing measures to make it easier to punish people who attack healthcare workers and to limit the number of patients that can be assigned to a registered nurse at one time.

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

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Flowers next to Monon High Bridge in memory of Liberty German and Abigail Williams on Feb. 21, 2017, on the Monon High Bridge Trail just east of Delphi.

After five years of uncertainty, rumors and shifting narratives, an arrest was finally made in the slaying of Abigail "Abby" Williams and Liberty "Libby" German. Since then, the case has been characterized by legal chaos.

Richard Allen's trial was set to begin May 13 with jury selection in Fort Wayne, followed by the trial in Carroll County. At a May 7 hearing, the trial was moved to October.

THE LATEST: Delphi murder trial moved to October

In October, Reporters from IndyStar and the Journal & Courier will provide updates throughout the trial.

In the meantime, here's a look at a some of the major points that have happened in the case over the years since the brutal murders of two Delphi teens.

Two years after Delphi's Abby Williams and Libby German were murdered, their families set up photos and candles for a Community prayer remembrance at Delphi United Methodist Church 1796 US-421, on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019.

FEB. 13, 2017: Abby Williams and Libby German were last seen alive. Their bodies were found the following day.

Feb. 15, 2017: Police release a grainy photo of the man suspected of killing the girls. Online sleuths call him "Bridge Guy."

FEB. 22, 2017: Audio clip released with unknown man saying what sounds like "down the hill."

JULY 17, 2017: Composite sketch of Delphi homicide suspect released.

APRIL 22, 2019: Indiana State Police release new sketch, video and audio. They later clarify that it's not the same man as in the previously released sketch.

JULY 29, 2021: Carroll County authorities say they won't release any more information about persons of interest in the murders.

DEC. 6, 2021: Police seek information about a fictitious online profile linked to the case. It's later revealed that the profile communicated with Libby.

OCT. 2022: Richard Allen arrested, charged with the murders of the two teens. The week after his arrest, he's moved to the state prison for safekeeping.

NOV. 29, 2022: Redacted probable cause affidavit released for Richard Allen's arrest warrant, revealing that an ejected bullet found near the bodies was tied to a gun in his home.

JAN. 23, 2023: Court prohibits officials and family from disseminating information about the case to the public. Soon after, various media organizations, including IndyStar's parent company, challenge the order.

JUNE 29, 2023: 118 documents released in the case against Richard Allen.

SEPT. 18, 2023: Attorneys for Allen release memorandum including a theory that Odonists killed Abby and Libby, along with a motion to suppress a search warrant on Allen's property.

1967 Whiteman Drive, the home of double murder suspect Richard M. Allen, on Oct. 31, 2022, in Delphi, a few miles from where girls Abigail Williams and Liberty German were killed in 2017.

OCTOBER 2023: Pictures of sensitive crime scene evidence are leaked online. Police later learn a man tied to the evidence leak died by suicide.

OCT. 19, 2023: Special Judge Frances Gull announces that Allen's defense attorneys have withdrawn from the case.

OCT. 30, 2023: Allen, through his civil attorneys, asks Indiana Supreme Court to review Special Judge Frances Gull's decisions in the case and reinstate Andrew Baldwin and Brad Rozzi as his defense lawyers.

NOV. 6, 2023: Allen's civil attorneys filed a second case in the Indiana Supreme Court asking for the original defense team's reinstatement and Gull's removal.

NOV. 22, 2023: State police arrest Mitchell Westerman in connection with evidence leaked in the murder case.

JAN. 18, 2024: Prosecutors file to add 2 murder charges and 2 kidnapping charges against Richard Allen.

APRIL 2024: Defense court filings accuse prosecutors of withholding information, concealing evidence

The Carroll County Courthouse in Delphi, Indiana, as seen the morning of Jan. 13, 2023.

MAY 1, 2024: Judge rules Allen's attorneys not in contempt, but could face sanctions

MAY 7, 2024: At Allen County Court hearing, Richard Allen's trial is moved to October 2024.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Richard Allen's murder trial is coming up. A look at key dates in the case
The notice coming to Highland mailboxes doesnt mean your water is full of lead, but it isnt something to ignore, either.

City water customers will receive a required notice titled unknown service line notice. This is mandated by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for any customer of public water supplies when the material of their service line is unknown.

City Manager Chris Conrad said the citys water mains are not made of lead. However, the lines carrying water from the citys main to an individual residence may be made of lead or steel.

Your service line from the point of the curb stop or valve to your house is a private service line, Conrad said. We do not have a record of that material and we have to find out what that material is.

The reason? Lead contamination in drinking water can be hazardous. Children exposed to lead can suffer lifelong complications affecting their ability to think and learn.

In 2018, more than 12,000 Illinois children had blood levels high enough to require medical intervention. All children six years or younger are assessed for lead risk according to Illinois law.

In 2020, high levels of lead were found in the drinking water for some Highland homes. The city was not found in violation as a whole, but some water tests were as high as 15 parts per billion. Those tests are conducted by individual residents, not city workers, to ensure the most accurate results. For the last two and a half years, Highland has been taking samples every six months to satisfy IEPA regulations.

Ordinarily lead sampling is conducted every three years. IEPA records showed an average lead measure of 0.0021 in June 2023 and 0.017 milligrams per liter in 2020. In 2017, the measure was 0.0082, and in 2014 it was 0.0065. The prior samplings going back to 2002 usually ranged from 0.0018 to 0.0022.

Conrad said the most common means of getting lead contamination into your body is paint chips and dust, but it is possible to get it through drinking water. The city already adds phosphates to the water that adhere to the walls of the pipes and prevent corrosion and leaching of lead into the water.

Most studies show that lead-contaminated water is unlikely to raise blood lead levels in adults, but infants drinking formula made with lead-contaminated water may be at higher risk. Bathing and showering is safe, as lead cant be absorbed through the skin.

Other suggestions from the Illinois Department of Public Health include flushing the taps for 1-2 minutes with cold water before drinking or cooking, and that water can safely be used to water plants or clean if you are concerned with wasting water. Aerator screens on faucets and water filters should be cleaned and replaced regularly.

Experts also recommend running water for a few minutes first thing in the morning to ensure no excess material got into the water while it was still in the pipes overnight.

Conrad said the city is required to conduct a complete inventory of all service lines by April 2027. Thus, they are asking residents to call and schedule an appointment for the water department to inspect their service lines. City water employees will need visual access to the service line where it enters the residence of business.

Once the inventory is complete, the city will be required to submit a replacement plan, including potential funding for replacement, to IEPA. We are asking for our citizens cooperation in meeting this requirement, Conrad said.

Residents who are concerned about possible lead contamination can also test their own drinking water. Home test kits are available at local hardware stores.

The Illinois Department of Public Health also recommends cleaning up paint chips and peeling paint, and washing floors, countertops and windowsills weekly with soap and water. Children and pregnant women should be kept out of a work area where renovations are going on to make sure they are not exposed to lead paint chips or dust. If you live or work in a high-contamination area, IDPH recommends removing shoes when coming indoors so lead from dust or soil is not tracked inside. More information can be found on the IDPH website.
Hiker dies on Scout Landing trail in Zion National Park near site of Jan. 26 death

LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Just over three months after a hiker died at Zion National Parks Scout Lookout, rescuers were summoned again to aid an unresponsive hiker on Monday afternoon.

A male hiker was pronounced dead after nearly an hour and a half of emergency rescue efforts, according to a National Park Service (NPS) news release. The hikers age was not released.

The Washington County Sheriffs Office, Utah Office of the Medical Examiner and the National Park Service are still investigating the cause of the mans death, according to information provided by NPS.

A 63-year-old California man died of what appeared to be a cardiac event near the same spot on Friday, Jan. 26.

Scouts Landing is described as the closest you can hike to Angels Landing without a permit on one hiking website. The trail climbs 1,000 feet in elevation in just under 2 miles.

The West Rim Trail, which temporarily closed for rescue operations, has since reopened.

Zion National Parks response involved over 33 individuals, including search and rescue team members, dispatchers, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, law enforcement and other NPS personnel. The park would like to thank Intermountain Life Flight for their support on the incident, NPS officials said.

Zion National Park is about 150 miles northeast of Las Vegas via Interstate 15.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
A hit-and-run incident by a semi-truck with a tractor and trailer attached left a Kansas City pedestrian in critical condition on Tuesday.

The truck did not leave enough room for its attached cargo when it was turning onto Wilson Avenue near the Sheffield neighborhood in East Kansas City, according to the Kansas City Police Department. When the truck turned too sharply, the tractor and trailer went over the curb, through the median and onto the sidewalk, according to Officer Alayna Gonzalez, a KCPD spokesperson.

The trailer smashed into the pedestrian before hitting a telephone pole and fleeing. Police are still determining whether the truck hit the pedestrian or ran them over, according to Gonzalez.

The pedestrian is currently at a local hospital, where they are dealing with critical injuries, KCPD said. The identity of the driver remains unknown.

One hundred and forty-eight people died in traffic accidents in Missouri from January through the end of March 2024, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. In the same time frame in 2023, 170 died in traffic accidents in the state.

Just under 40% of fatal traffic accidents in Missouri in 2023 occurred at intersections, according to MoDOT.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  A hit-and-run suspect died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Monday in northeast Bakersfield, according to police.

Bakersfield police officers were dispatched to the area of Niles Street and Union Avenue for a report of a hit-and-run crash just before noon Monday.

4 arrested on suspicion of DUI, 11 vehicles impounded during checkpoint on Panama Lane

While responding to the crash, officers received reports of gunshots fired. The incident prompted a large police response in the area, and several streets were blocked off by investigators.

Police say the hit-and-run suspect attempted to conceal himself. The suspect was later found suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

One woman who was in the vehicle struck by the hit-and-run suspect driver was transported to a nearby hospital with minor injuries.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17.
Hochul slammed for saying black kids in the Bronx dont know what the word computer means

Bronx politicians ripped Gov. Kathy Hochul after she asserted that some black children in the borough dont know what the word computer means.

Hochul, speaking at an on-stage forum in California Monday, stuck her foot in her mouth while trying to explain how she wants to create a diverse workforce in new areas like artificial intelligence.

Right now we have, you know, young black kids growing up in the Bronx who dont even know what the word computer is, Gov. Kathy Hochul blabbered into a microphone Monday.

They dont know, they dont know these things. And I want the world opened up to all of them, she continued.

Right now we have, you know, young black kids growing up in the Bronx who dont even know what the word computer is, Hochul said at a forum Monday. Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

Lawmakers from the Bronx and all across the five boroughs quickly tore into Hochuls gaffe  which she later said she regretted.

Do better, Assemblywoman Karines Reyes (D-Bronx) wrote on X saying she was deeply disturbed by Hochuls remarks.

Our children are bright, brilliant, extremely capable, and more than deserving of any opportunities that are extended to other kids, Reyes added.

Our children, far from being underestimated, are the epitome of brilliance, resilience, and untapped potential, Assemblyman John Zaccaro (D-Bronx) wrote in a statement.

They are not only capable but deserving of every opportunity that their counterparts are offered. Its disheartening to witness such a portrayal that undermines their abilities and aspirations, he continued.

Bronx politicians were quick to condemn Hochul, including one assemblywoman who said she was deeply disturbed. arska n  stock.adobe.com

I would invite Governor Hochul to visit us in The Bronx to experience firsthand the intelligence, resilience, and joy that radiate from Bronx children and residents each day, Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo (D-Bronx) chimed in.

One Bronx pol coming to Hochuls defense was Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) who called her words inartful and hurtful.

While the Governors words were inartful and hurtful, I dont believe that is where her heart is. I firmly believe she wants to see all of our students excel, Heastie said.

Working with Governor Hochul, I hope we can redouble our efforts to bring greater access to technology to our kids in the Bronx. All our students deserve an equal chance to grow and thrive, he added.

Hochul made the remarks at the Milken Institute Global Conference Monday where she was primarily discussing her $400 million Empire AI initiative that recently passed as part of the state budget.

I misspoke and I regret it, Hochul later told the Post in a statement. Of course Black children in the Bronx know what computers are  the problem is that they too often lack access to the technology needed to get on track to high-paying jobs in emerging industries like AI. Thats why Ive been focused on increasing economic opportunity since Day One of my Administration.

The governor touts the broad partnership between universities and the state as a way to build New Yorks tech sector and keep colleges competitive as industries develop.

A spokesperson for Hochul didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.
Green MSP Ross Greer said that landlords were 'not contributing anything useful to society' - SST/Alamy

Landlords in Scotland have claimed they are being made to feel like pariahs after repeated attacks from senior politicians.

The Scottish Association of Landlords said that red tape and hostility from Holyrood was causing some to defer investments or to take properties off the rental market, fuelling a housing crisis.

Over recent years, those renting out properties have faced the imposition of rent caps and eviction bans, with many of the policies championed by the Scottish Greens, who until April were in government.

Ross Greer, the senior Green MSP, has previously claimed landlords are not contributing anything useful to society.

Earlier this year, his party attacked the landlord lobby for spreading misinformation about the impact of radical housing policies.

There has also been a recent crackdown on short-term lets on platforms such as Airbnb.

Patrick Harvie, the Green co-leader and former tenants rights minister, described short-term lets as harmful to society.

John Blackwood, chief executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords, said that privately Scottish politicians said rentals were part of the solution but that messages sent out in public meant landlords were hearing quite the opposite.

It feels like were not wanted

They hear an anti-landlord rhetoric that comes from our politicians, he said.

And that puts them off, stops them from investing. It makes you feel that actually were not wanted.

We should actually actively be exiting the sector, not investing in the sector.

The anti-landlord rhetoric, all of that just adds up to a feeling that these landlord investors have where they think, You know what, if nobody wants us to be doing it, I feel almost a pariah in society by renting out property in the first place, then actually maybe I should just go when Ive got the opportunity. And many are opting to do that.

A rent cap initially imposed by the Scottish Government intended to alleviate cost of living pressures came to an end on April 1.

The Scottish Government recently published its Housing (Scotland) Bill, which includes plans to introduce long-term rent controls and grant tenants significant new rights.

There is speculation over the future of the legislation following the termination of the coalition deal between the Greens and the SNP, and the resignation of Humza Yousaf.

John Swinney, the new First Minister, this week refused to say whether it would be taken forward.

However, he may need Green votes in Holyrood should his plan to do deals with Unionist parties be rejected.

West Dunbartonshire council last week joined four others  Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, and Argyll and Bute  in formally declaring a housing emergency.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: A fairer, well-managed private rented sector is in the interest of both tenants and responsible landlords.

Our Housing Bill includes a package of important reforms to the rented sector that aim to improve affordability and strengthen tenants rights.

We will continue to engage with stakeholders from across the sector on delivering our commitment to introducing a longer-term system of rent controls, which will improve affordability for tenants while recognising the importance of landlords investing in property quality.

Alongside this, we are committed to encouraging new and different approaches to attracting investment into our housing sector and the launch of our new Housing Investment Taskforce is an important step in that work.

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HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) Horry County Police Chief Joe Hill will retire this fall, county spokesperson Mikayla Moskov confirmed to News13 Monday.

Moskov said Hill has talked about his retirement for some time. Hill served as police chief of Horry County since 2016.

Hill is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and came to the Horry County Police Department after serving 28 years with the Fairfax County Police Department.

At the Fairfax County Police Department, Hill assisted in the supervision of a $184 million budget with 1,377 sworn officers and over 200 civilian staff.

Hill has an extensive resume and works with the U.S. State Departments Anti-Terror Assistance Program where he is a mentor to other senior and executive members of police agencies worldwide, the Horry County governments website said.

He teaches police and military commanders abroad and has travelled to over 13 countries teaching counter terror operations and ethical leadership, the website said.

The County has not released any information on when the department will start looking for a new chief or when Hills last day will be on the job.

Count on News13 for updates.

* * *

Taylor Ford is a digital journalist for News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2023. Taylor is a Florence native and covers the Pee Dee out of News13s Florence Bureau. Read more of Taylors work here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW.
During the dress rehearsal for the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmo, Sweden, rapper alyona alyona fell on stage. However, the star did not lose her cool, managed to get up and start her performance without any delays, and after the performance, she said that every Ukrainian woman would do the same.

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Eurofans even saw the incident as symbolic, as this is exactly what the number of the Ukrainian contestants represents - the fight against difficulties. In a commentary to Anna Tulieva, alyona alyona assured that she was feeling fine and explained the reason for the fall to fans and critics.

"After rehearsals, my chainmail became longer than it was because it stretches. I didn't expect to step on it. One broken nail, a scratched knee, and a slightly torn costume doesn't mean anything. I got up and went to rap. Any Ukrainian woman would have done that. I'll get up and go rap even better, because I already have experience of falling and getting up," the star said.

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The performer's fall was captured on some viewers' cameras, but not on the official recording.

"Falling is always stressful and a crazy release of cortisol! Singing right away is so fucking hard! Alyona is a rock," showgirl Monroe supported the star.

"But how cool and symbolic. She fell, got up and continued! It's so intertwined with the song. It's so intertwined with our lives," blogger Vanya Russell wrote.

The Ukrainian participants themselves launched a flash mob with memes on this topic. For example, Jerry Heil recalled how she fell into the orchestra pit on stage.

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Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
The bill passed the Senate unanimously. But a group of 170 Republicans and 18 Democrats voted to kill the bill in the House. (Spencer Platt | Getty Images)

The New Hampshire House voted down a bipartisan bill meant to make it easier to build housing in the state, in a 188-173 vote last week that kills the legislation for the year.

Proponents of Senate Bill 538, known as the HOMEnibus, argued it would help dislodge barriers to housing development and give cities and towns new tools to increase housing units.

The Municipal and County Government Committee heard much testimony that New Hampshire has a severe housing crisis, wrote Rep. David Preece, a Manchester Democrat, in a report to the House ahead of the vote. It is affecting businesses, the economy, and our labor market because of the lack of housing and affordability. This bill enables local governing boards to use another tool to address the housing shortage in their communities.

The latest version of the bill allowed cities and towns to create office conversion zones, within which developers could get property tax breaks to convert commercial real estate buildings into residential housing. It also allowed towns and cities to speed up changes to the zoning code: The bill allowed residents to empower their local councils or boards of selectmen to pass new zoning codes; currently zoning codes may be changed only once a year at town meeting. That empowerment of local officials would need to be approved by the town via a warrant article.

And the bill would require that town and city planning boards consider alternative parking options when deciding whether to approve or deny a new housing development. That would allow developers to propose housing projects that dont include new parking lots for residents but utilize existing public or private lots; the bill would require the planning board to seriously consider those proposals.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously. But a group of 170 Republicans and 18 Democrats voted to kill the bill in the House Thursday. Voting against that motion were 165 Democrats and seven Republicans.

To housing advocates, the bill would have helped interested towns incentivize housing development and speed up the process, at a time when many businesses are struggling to find workers due to low housing availability.

Housing prices and rents are at record highs, and the states rental vacancy rate is below 1 percent, a number that housing experts say is far below the recommended rate of 5 percent. And homelessness in the state increased by 30 percent from 2020 to 2022, according to the states annual point in time count and the latest report from the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness.

A few simple adjustments to our zoning and planning procedures would encourage a modest increase in this desperately needed supply, said Rep. Laurel Stavis, a Lebanon Democrat.

But opponents took issue with each of the bills parts. Rep. Len Turcotte, a Barrington Republican and chairman of the Municipal and County Government Committee, argued that the Legislature should not allow towns to give property tax breaks for housing, because doing so could just raise property taxes for other businesses and homeowners in town. Turcotte argued the bill could allow town officials to give unfair tax favors to favored developers.

Turcotte also opposed empowering local government officials to make changes to zoning codes without town meeting approval. In a report to the full House, Turcotte wrote: The ability to change the municipalitys zoning on very short notice without time for the citizenry to consider and vote on the proposed changes is anathema to good governance.

And he and others opposed the part of the bill requiring local boards to consider alternative parking solutions, noting that it would actually require zero parking to be part of any development proposal, which he said could lead to parking congestion in towns.

Rep. Diane Pauer, a Brookline Republican, said the office conversion zones could have the effect of forcing businesses to move out if their landlords decided to convert their office buildings to apartments instead.

This bill is extremely ill-advised as it displaces business tenants, making them homeless when business space is converted to residential use, she said.

The nearly party-line vote was a blow to efforts by housing advocates to create a bipartisan coalition to pass zoning reform.

The Republicans joining Democrats to vote against killing the bill included Reps. Joe Alexander, of Goffstown; Keith Ammon, of New Boston; Ross Berry, of Manchester; Jim Kofalt, of Wilton; Tom Mannion, of Pelham; Fred Plett, of Goffstown; and Joe Sweeney of Salem.

But nearly twice as many Democrats broke from their party to kill the bill, including Reps. Peggy Balboni, of Rye; Karen Calabro, of Hollis; Mike Edgar, of Hampton; Sallie Fellows, of Holderness; Julie Gilman, of Exeter; Jeffrey Goley, of Manchester; Jaci Grote, of Rye; Cathryn Harvey, of Chesterfield; Jim Maggiore, of North Hampton; Kat McGhee, of Hollis; Nancy Murphy, of Merrimack; Catherine Rombeau, of Bedford; Rosemarie Rung, of Merrimack; Dianne Schuett, of Pembroke; Carry Spier, of Nashua; Charlie St. Clair, of Laconia; Mark Vallone, of Epping; and Jonah Wheeler, of Peterborough.

Housing advocates expressed disappointment after the vote.

Its hard to fathom that the House voted down the HOMEnibus bill in the midst of New Hampshires housing crisis, said Elissa Margolin, director of Housing Action NH, an advocacy group. However, housing advocates must remain energized, expand our coalitions, and continue to educate policy makers.

The move to kill the bill was recommended by the Municipal and County Government Committee, which has often voted in recent years against housing bills that are seen to take away local control. But the vote also came as political leaders in both parties have emphasized the need for more housing.

In early 2023, Speaker Sherman Packard formed the House Special Committee on Housing, which was tasked with exploring legislation that might help the state close its housing deficit. That committee has endorsed a number of bills that have passed the full House this year, including House Bill 1291, which would allow homeowners to build two accessory dwelling units by right, up from the current one.

HB 1291 is currently in the Senate Commerce Committee; a public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. But SB 538 was seen by observers as the most comprehensive approach to zoning.

Speaking from the floor, Alexander, the chairman of the House Special Committee, expressed frustration at the lack of support for the bill.

Im not shocked that the Municipal and County Government Committee would recommend killing another bill related to housing, he said. Mr. Speaker, did you create a special committee for that very reason? Only time will tell.

The post House kills HOMEnibus bill, voting against attempt to incentivize housing appeared first on New Hampshire Bulletin.
House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson, R-Lee's Summit, speaks during floor debate in March 2021 (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Commuincations).

Any talk of changes to how the Missouri House functions following allegations of staff intimidation during the investigation of Speaker Dean Plocher will have to wait until after the legislative session ends on May 17, Majority Leader Jon Patterson said Monday.

Patterson, a Lees Summit Republican expected to take over as speaker next year when Plochers final term in office expires, told reporters hes ready to move on from the Plocher ethics inquiry that has hung over nearly the entire legislative session.

We maintained all along, we were going to let the process play out, Patterson said. I believe in the House. I believe in our members. I believe in the committee process. The committee spoke rather decisively, and thats good enough for me.

Last week, the House Ethics Committee voted to drop its months-long investigation.

Plocher immediately declared himself fully exonerated, but the chair of the committee  GOP state Rep. Hannah Kelly of Mountain View  said the inquiry was undermined by obstruction from the speakers office.

That includes alleged intimidation of possible witnesses, Kelly said. To illustrate her point, she released a March email from Lori Hughes, director of administration for the Missouri House, detailing numerous incidents she believed were designed to intimidate nonpartisan legislative staff members.

Patterson said Monday he had not seen the letter.

After the session is over, were going to look at the rules, Patterson said. Were going to look at how things are functioning, and we really want to make this a great place for people to come and work and serve their state.

While he says he hasnt read Hughes letter, Patterson said he will go talk with her, and well do that after session.

Pattersons comments came hours before the ethics committee reconvened Monday evening to discuss a new complaint, this one believed to be focused on Kelly because she recused herself from the proceeding.

The interim chair of the committee, GOP Rep. Rick Francis of Perryville, told Missourinet after the hearing that the panel completed its work and would release its findings after speaking to the subject of the complaint. House rules indicate that at the initial hearing for a new complaint, the ethics committee can vote to dismiss or to proceed to a primary hearing where testimony can be accepted.

The dismissed Plocher investigation was focused a series of scandals that emerged last fall. The speaker was accused of pushing for the House to enter into an $800,000 contract with a private company outside the normal bidding process; threatening retaliation against legislative staff who pushed back on that contract; improperly firing a potential whistleblower; and filing false expense reports for travel already paid for by his campaign.

Last month, the ethics committee rejected a report that recommended a formal letter of disapproval for Plocher, that he hire an accounting professional to manage his expense reports moving forward and that he refrain from retaliation against any legislator or House employee who cooperated with the committee.

The report included a letter from a private attorney hired by the committee to collect evidence for the investigation, who wrote that she had never encountered more unwilling witnesses in any investigation in my career.

The level of fear expressed by a number of the potential witnesses, she wrote, is a daunting factor in completing this investigation.

The report also detailed how one witness, who was anonymous, feared their employment was at risk for testifying before the committee. Another potential witness was allegedly highly encouraged not to testify by a Republican lawmaker close to the speaker.

Hughes March 5 letter to Kelly included references to 20 pages of notes I have compiled along with the numerous emails I have received from employees documenting their fear of being retaliated against or even wrongfully terminated. I feel the need to share some things that are most relevant, while attempting to protect staff that do not want me to share details.

She went on to write that in her more than 21 years of state government service, I have never witnessed or even been involved in such a hostile work environment that is so horrible that I am living in fear every day of losing my job.

I cannot continue to idly sit by and hope that the speakers office will stop harassing myself and other staff members, she wrote. I believe wholeheartedly in my role as director of administration, I have an obligation and duty to bring these horrific actions to your attention.

Plocher has denied engaging in intimidation or obstruction, telling reporters last week: I adamantly deny that I obstructed anything.

A bipartisan majority of the committee found that there was absolutely no merit in the accusations in the complaint filed against me, he said.

In an interview last week, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, said Hughes allegations were deeply concerning.

But with less than two weeks left before the legislative session ends, and a laundry list of unfinished business  including the state budget  she didnt see any hope of a discussion about changes or fixes taking place this year.

To see someone with 20 years of experience in human resources chronicle the intimidation, the fear and a hostile environment taking place in the statehouse was very troubling and very sad, said state Rep. Deb Lavender, a Manchester Democrat.

If anybody in this building is truly working for the people of our state, its our nonpartisan staff, she said. And to know that they were working in a hostile environment this year does not speak well of any elected officials in this building.

The post House leader says discussion of alleged staff intimidation will wait for sessions end appeared first on Missouri Independent.
The House Education and Workforce Committee on Monday subpoenaed acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su over what it called a failure to hand over materials related to the departments return-to-work plan.

Under Acting Secretary Su, the [Department of Labor (DOL)] has adopted a posture of blatant negligence in complying with the Committees oversight requests  vague answers and routine failures to provide requested materials have become the norm, committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said in a statement.

It comes days after Foxx threatened to subpoena Su during a committee hearing last week, when the Labor chief appeared before the panel.

Foxx sent a letter to Su on March 6 pressing her on the departments failure to submit their return-to-office policies after the White House requested the information. The North Carolina Republican asked Su to do so by March 20, but last week said an adequate amount of information was not handed over and threatened to subpoena Su by May 6 should additional information not be handed over.

The Committees March 6th letter to DOL requesting information on its return-to-work action plan remains unanswered  this is entirely unacceptable, Foxx said in a statement. Acting Secretary Su has also now ignored a request during her May 1 appearance before the full Committee that she provide a copy of DOLs return-to-office plan, which the White House instructed each agency to prepare and submit.

The department handed over what Foxx called an insufficient response on April 18 in response to the March letter that failed to address the Committees core request, per Foxx.

In Foxxs initial letter to Su, she pointed to an analysis from the Government Accountability Office that found the DOL and five other agencies used an estimated 23 percent of their headquarters space on average.

Calling this unacceptable, Foxx referenced guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued in April 2023 that urged federal workers to return to the office full time.

An accurate understanding of the headquarters staffing situation is necessary for the committee to ensure that DOL is undertaking its mandates faithfully and in accordance with the law, Foxx wrote. Furthermore, employees failing to return to the office could expose taxpayers to significant waste, fraud and abuse.

The Hill reached out to the Department of Labor for further comment.

Sus nomination to replace former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has faced numerous roadblocks over the past year amid backlash from Republicans in the Senate.

Su was nominated by President Biden last March to fill in for Walsh, but the nomination was never voted on in the upper chamber. By June, it appeared Democratic leadership made little progress in convincing holdouts to back her nomination.

She was renominated by Biden to serve as Labor secretary in January, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee advanced the nomination in a party-line vote in February. It has yet not been brought to the Senate floor for a full vote.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
House Republicans will move forward next week with a plan to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over the audio recording of an interview with President Joe Biden conducted as part of former special counsel Robert Hurs probe into Bidens handling of classified documents, reports say.

The House Judiciary Committee is planning to hold a markup for a contempt resolution on May 16, a source told the Associated Press. The resolution could then go to the full House for a vote.

Bill Maher Blasts AG Merrick Garland for Failing to Prosecute Trump

Republicans have repeatedly demanded that the Justice Department turn over the unredacted audio of Bidens interviews with Hurrequests that the DOJ has rebuffed. Instead, the department gave only some of the records, excluding the audio, to committees conducting the impeachment inquiry into Biden.

The DOJ warned that handing over the audio could set a precedent for future inquiries. In a letter last month to Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and James Comer (R-KY), Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte said the committees desire for the audio might not be in service of legitimate oversight or investigatory functions but rather to serve political purposes that should have no role in the treatment of law enforcement files.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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SUFFERN  Dozens of hospital workers lined Lafayette Avenue and Hillcrest Road outside Good Samaritan Hospital at noon Tuesday to show solidarity with fellow workers recently hit with layoffs and with the community that they said will have fewer health services close at hand.

Similar rallies took place outside St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick and Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, according to members of 1199 SEIU, the union that represents nurses and service staff. The facilities are part of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network.

Health care workers at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern stand on route 59 outside the hospital May 7, 2024 as they protest layoffs that Bon Secours Charity Health System, which includes Good Samaritan, were hit with recently. About 50 workers at various Bon Secours hospitals in the Hudson Valley were laid off.

"We're a community hospital," said Alex Pierre, a patient care associate at Good Sam. The impact of layoffs, he said, means "we can't serve the community like we want to."

WMC Health Network officials said Tuesday patient care services are unaffected in the local communities served by the medical facilities.

Pushback against local layoffs

WMC Health Network officials confirmed this month that about 50 workers at the Rockland and Orange County medical facilities were hit with layoffs. While WMC didn't specify the job titles, the layoffs included management, administrative and support staff, as well as home nursing staff, 1199 member said.

Those at Tuesday's rally contend that layoffs at local community health facilities are designed to beef up business for Westchester Med's main campus in Valhalla.

Wendy Carpio, a surgical technician at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, was among about 40 health care workers at the hospital who protested outside the hospital May 7, 2024. The workers were protesting layoffs that Bon Secours Charity Health System, which includes Good Samaritan, were hit with recently. About 50 workers at various Bon Secours hospitals in the Hudson Valley were laid off.

WMCHealth spokesman Andrew LaGuardia explained that the networks goal was to expand services in local hospitals.

LaGuardia said staffing changes are more a realignment of services based on community needs.

LaGuardia said WMCHealth has been investing in local hospitals. He cited a recent $40 million renovation and expansion at Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis and a refurbishment of Good Samaritan Hospitals labor and delivery suites.

Workers subject to the layoffs were being offered other jobs within the network and outplacement services, LaGuardia said.

Care in community

But rallying workers said job cuts at a community hospital mean service cuts to that community.

"That's the nice thing about community hospitals," said Lisa Kozma, a registered nurse at Garnett Medical Center in Middletown. "The community can have their care here."

Garnett is not part of the WestMed System, but Kozma said she stands with her fellow healthcare workers represented by 1199.

Health care workers at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern stand on route 59 outside the hospital May 7, 2024 as they protest layoffs that Bon Secours Charity Health System, which includes Good Samaritan, were hit with recently. About 50 workers at various Bon Secours hospitals in the Hudson Valley were laid off.

"You think anyone from administration is going to come down here and hand out a tray, wipe a face," Kozma said, "sit with a family that just lost a loved one?"

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Hudson Valley hospital workers rally to keep community care
Humanitarians with several aid groups dug their heels in on Monday after Israel ordered more than 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate ahead of a planned ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah  insisting that they wont abandon Gazans ahead of the imminent massacre.

Workers who have been on the ground in Gaza to help Palestinians survive the last seven months of bombardment are sounding the alarm on the dangers of the anticipated ground offensive in Rafah, a city that has become a vital aid hub because a crossing at Egypts border serves as the main route for aid to enter the enclave. The crossing will be closed as it falls under Israels evacuation zone.

Palestinians in eastern Rafah woke up on Monday morning to flyers falling from the sky telling the already displaced civilians in Arabic to again flee for their lives and move back north, toward al-Mawasi and Khan Younis, according to The Associated Press. Israeli forces have been launching airstrikes on the city for weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Rafah invasion will go forward regardless of whether Israel strikes a deal with Hamas and whether or not the United States will continue to give support to its ally in the Middle East, according to AP. The Israeli military has already killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the enclave, according to local health officials, since it launched strikes in retaliation for a Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack that left an estimated 1,200 Israelis dead and about 240 people taken hostage.

We Wont Abandon Gazans.

Hundreds of Palestinians, including children, migrate on Monday from eastern neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip after Israel warns them with pamphlets to evacuate Rafah. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) responded to Israels evacuation order by stressing it has no intention of leaving behind more than half of Gazas population, the people now sheltering in Rafah, saying, We wont abandon Gazans.

An Israeli offensive in Rafah would mean more civilian suffering and deaths. The consequences would be devastating for 1.4 million people, UNRWA posted Monday on X, formerly Twitter. UNRWA is not evacuating: the agency will maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible and will continue providing lifesaving aid to people.

Israel has long painted UNRWA as an agency that helps Hamas militants, accusing a dozen employees several months ago of participating in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Despite the agency immediately firing the accused employees, multiple investigations have shown that there is no evidence to back up Israels claims that resulted in UNRWA losing massive funding and threatening Palestinians access to aid.

We are staying. We are remaining where we are right now. Were going to continue to do what we can to meet the needs of the people, but its already been difficult, UNRWAs director of planning, Sam Rose, who is in western Rafah, told Sky News. Were failing to ward off famine. The situation has become exponentially much more difficult now as weve lost our major supply route from Kerem Shalom.

There are no safe zones in Gaza

The Israeli army issued evacuation orders to Palestinians and other displaced people in several areas of eastern Rafah ahead of a planned ground invasion, urging them to immediately relocate to the coastal town of al-Mawasi. Omar Zaghloul/Anadolu via Getty Images

The Israeli leaflets ordered Palestinians in Rafah to move north, to the coastal town of al-Mawasi and the city of Khan Younis, places that residents and aid workers say are unequipped to handle an influx of refugees. Israels military claims that aid services will be provided at the so-called safe zones, but such a claim is not consistent with Israels track record of bombing the very areas it had deemed safe for Palestinians seeking refuge.

I have heard that tents have been set up in the al-Mawasi area for displaced individuals by local and international organizations. However, I have doubts about their safety, as we have learned not to trust the occupying armys assurances of providing safe zones, Mercy Corps aid worker Salmasaid through the organization, using a pseudonym to protect herself and her family. They may find various reasons to launch attacks in what they claim to be a safe zone. Consequently, I have no intention of relocating to that area.

Israeli forces virtually destroyed Khan Younis earlier this year, raiding hospitals and bombing the neighborhoods around them. Medics recently found hundreds of bodies in mass graves near the hospital, and civil defense forces have reported that many of the bodies showed signs of torture and execution-style killings. Israel Defense Forces have denied burying the bodies.

They told people to go to Khan Younis. Yes, as you heard, Khan Younis. Khan Younis is 100% destroyed! Gaza journalist Bisan Owda said in a video posted Monday on Instagram. The municipality, humanitarian workers and agencies are saying that the schools, the hospitals, the infrastructure, roads and homes of Khan Younis  are 100% destroyed!

People comb through destroyed tents after Israeli airstrikes hit the al-Mawasi district of Khan Younis, Gaza, on March 26. Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images

Theres not even a place for people to put tents there, yanni (you know), for that its dangerous and theres no places, she said. Theres no water, theres no hospitals, no schools, no homes, no roads. The still-standing but destroyed buildings are about to fall. Its too dangerous to be in Khan Younis.

Al-Mawasi is a Bedouin town west of Rafah where 400,000 Palestinians are already sheltering, according to UNRWAs latest assessment. Despite being deemed a humanitarian zone by Israel, conditions are dire, with insufficient infrastructure to support hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Al Mawasi is a desert area adjacent to the sea with no signs of life, no electricity, no water and few houses. Last week, we conducted an aid distribution in this area, marking one of the most harrowing experiences Ive witnessed, Saleem, another aid worker for Mercy Corps, who also asked to be identified by a pseudonym, said on April 29 in a statement provided to HuffPost by the humanitarian organization.

Picture this: Tents stretching endlessly under the scorching sun, with no relief in sight  no electricity, no water and no aid. It was chaotic and unorganized. During the day, the inside of the tents felt like a sauna. Just two days ago, during a heatwave, a 5-year-old girl tragically lost her life due to the extreme heat, Saleem said. Of course, I will not head there.

A Health Care Crisis Worsens.

Palestinians mourn their loved ones killed in an Israeli attack Monday on Rafah. Bodies, including those of women and children, have been brought to the mortuary of Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital for burial. Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images

Israeli forces have made it impossible for Gazas health care and humanitarian workers to medically treat Palestinians as soldiers raid and destroy hospitals and clinics across the Gaza Strip. In Israels designated red zone in Rafah is Al Najjar hospital, where one doctor said patients have been dying a slow death for the last seven months.

They suffer from cancer, kidney disease, diabetes, heart disease and other pre-existing conditions that have gone untreated for the better part of the last 212 days, Dr. Mhoira Leng, a palliative care doctor who volunteered at the hospital, said in a statement provided by the Institute for Middle East Understanding, a pro-Palestinian advocacy group. Al Najjar hospital staff has been providing care against all odds: The staff are living in tents with scarce access to food. Now they are being forced to flee and move immovable patients out of the only hospital providing this care in Gaza.

U.N. experts said in a news release Monday that a Rafah invasion would further endanger pregnant women and new mothers, who are already disproportionately affected by Israels daily bombardments, the destruction of maternity wards and the lack of necessary medication. More than 180 Palestinian women a day are giving birth without pain relief, and miscarriages have increased by up to 300%, the U.N. experts said Monday.

Rafah is the main hub of the humanitarian response in Gaza and has some of its last functioning health facilities. This includes the al-Helal al-Emirati Maternity Hospital, which is now the main facility for pregnant women in Rafah, managing around 60 deliveries every day, Dr. Natalia Kanem, executive director of the U.N. agency for sexual and reproductive health (UNFPA), said in a statement Saturday.

An attack on Rafah could turn this and other facilities from places of hope into rubble and dust  putting at risk the lives of tens of thousands of pregnant women.

Children In Rafah Are On The Edge Of Survival

Palestinian children line up Saturday to help their families as Palestinians wait for hours in front of the water dispensers for daily water supplies in Rafah. Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images

Humanitarian workers are deeply concerned about how the pending Rafah invasion will affect Gazas children, who, along with women, make up the majority of the Palestinian death toll. About half of Rafahs population is children, many of whom have been repeatedly displaced during the military campaign and are sheltering in tents.

According to UNICEF, Israels siege on Rafah would pose catastrophic risks to the 600,000 children sheltering in the southern city, many of whom are highly vulnerable and at the edge of survival.

More than 200 days of war have taken an unimaginable toll on the lives of children, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a press release. Rafah is now a city of children, who have nowhere safe to go in Gaza. If large-scale military operations start, not only will children be at risk from the violence but also from chaos and panic, and at a time where their physical and mental states are already weakened.

Without enough food, water and medicine, children in Gaza  many now orphaned and maimed  are bearing the brunt of Israels military offensive. According to local health officials, the attacks have killed more than 14,000 Palestinian children, and more are believed to be dead under the rubble.

Smoke billows after Israeli forces bombard Rafah on Monday. AFP via Getty Images

Hundreds of thousands of children who are now cramped into Rafah are injured, sick, malnourished, traumatized or living with disabilities, Russell said in the UNICEF statement. Many have been displaced multiple times and have lost homes, parents and loved ones. They need to be protected, along with the remaining services that they rely on, including medical facilities and shelters.

Israel has faced repeated criticism from humanitarian groups and its allies, including the U.S., over the plan to invade Rafah, but Netanyahu and his cabinet have maintained that the military will move forward with the siege.

Hamas leaders accepted a cease-fire proposal on Monday, leaving it up to Israel to decide whether to agree to a deal to end the violence and free remaining hostages. Netanyahu said Monday that he would send negotiators to continue talks, AP reported.

Related...
Hungarian official says 'positive signs' in talks with Ukraine on national minorities

There have been "positive signs" regarding Ukraine's fulfillment of Budapest's demands on national minorities issues in recent weeks, Hungarian State Secretary Tristan Azbej said on May 7.

"In the last weeks we have seen some positive signs, but we still have some way to go until all our demands regarding the minority rights are met," Azbej said ahead of the EU ministers meeting in Brussels.

Budapest has repeatedly accused Kyiv of discriminating against the Hungarian ethnic minority concentrated in southwestern Ukraine, an accusation that the Ukrainian leadership denies.

Much of these disputes center around Ukraine's language laws that require at least 70% of education above fifth grade to be conducted in Ukrainian.

While Budapest has called this measure discriminatory toward the Hungarian minority, Kyiv retorted that it only aims to ensure that every Ukrainian citizen has sufficient knowledge of the official language.

Hungary has formulated an 11-point request to Ukraine regarding the rights of national minorities, which included the restoration of the status of a national school, the ability to take a high school diploma in Hungarian, and the ability to use Hungarian in public life.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported in mid-March that Hungary has sent a document to the EU member states criticizing Ukraine's policies on national minorities.

In the document, Budapest reportedly demanded the restoration of the rights its minority had before 2015, noting that the protection of national minorities' rights is one of the priorities mentioned in the negotiating framework for Ukraine's potential accession to the EU.

Hungary also called for the possibility of political representation at the regional and national levels, according to the document. Kyiv has not publicly responded to the document.

In September 2023, the Ukrainian parliament approved changes to national minorities law, which was one of seven steps recommended by the European Commission in June 2022 for Ukraine's accession to the European Union. The changes were signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelensky in November.

Read also: Kuleba: Ukraine, Hungary to set up special commission to resolve national minorities issue

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Hollywood actress Emily Blunt told us how terribly she was treated at a casting call by Russian-American director Andrey Konchalovsky, the husband of the famous grief-stricken chef Yulia Vysotskaya. At that time, in 2002, the star of the Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer was applying for the role of King Henry II's young mistress in the film The Lion in Winter.

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She admitted that she felt humiliated and hated, and she never got the part. In her place, strangely enough, was Konchalovsky's wife Vysotskaya. According to The Sun, the Ukrainophobic director deliberately ran down the actress, who was just starting out at the time.

"He was very cruel at the audition and liked to knock me down several times. It was a very misogynistic atmosphere, and I just remember feeling like a shell of who I was. I remember this casting as a horrible experience because you just feel humiliated," the star admitted.

Interestingly enough, Konchalovsky was probably so uninteresting to her that Blunt couldn't even recall his name at an American Actors Fund event.

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"I have to just say that he was mean. It's really awful. Of course, we [actors] are not always unaffected. You're going to get your feelings hurt - that's how it goes. In this work, there is sometimes an element of life in the trenches. It can be painful, and it can be as beautiful as it is painful. And I was ready for that. Sometimes there's an element of preparing for an attack in this job, but that was the most unpleasant moment," said Emily Blunt.

As a reminder, Andrey Konchalovsky supported the war in Ukraine, and he is developing his career partly in Hollywood and partly in Russia. Interestingly, he called the dictator Vladimir Putin a brave man who was not afraid to challenge the "main world evil" from which the director makes money, America. According to Konchalovsky, over the past 60 years, there have been only a few people who "dared to try to put an end to the dominance of the American dollar," and, of course, Putin himself is one of them.

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Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote that the former director of "Yeralash" went to war against Ukraine in 2023, and recently even received a medal "For the Rescue of the Perishing". In this way, he tried to escape from the pre-trial detention center, where he spent 2 years for molesting minors and raping a 13-year-old boy.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
MIAMI - The husband of Fort Lauderdale woman Ana Knezevich, who went missing in Spain, has been arrested.



David Knezevich was arrested Saturday at Miami International Airport for "for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of a U.S. Citizen in Madrid, Spain on or about February 2, 2024."

David Knezevich / Credit: FBI, Courtesy

Sanna Rameau, who is Ana's best friend, said, "I am happy that there has been an arrestWe are hoping that this next chapter will bring justice and that we find answers about what has happened to Ana."



In a previous interview, Rameau said something strange happened just before she disappeared.

"There was a man that entered the building, they sprayed her surveillance cameras in her building around 9:30 p.m. She was last seen around 10 p.m.," she said.

The following day Rameau said she got a mysterious text from Ana's phone, very out of character.

"Saying that she met a man on the street the day before, that she was going to be in his house 2 hours away from Madrid and she had a connection with him she never had before," she said.

Rameau said Ana was going through a tough time as she and her husband were getting a divorce.

David is due back in federal court on Thursday.

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Husband of Fla. Woman Who Went Missing in Spain Arrested 3 Months After Her Disappearance

According to the website of Spains National Center for Missing Persons, Ana Maria Knezevich went missing in Madrid on Friday, Feb. 2

David Knezevich David Knezevich

The husband of a woman who went missing in Spain has been arrested by U.S. federal agents three months after her disappearance. He was charged with kidnapping, according to the criminal complaint viewed by PEOPLE.

According to Spains National Center for Missing Persons website, Ana Maria Knezevich, 40, went missing in Madrid on Friday, Feb. 2.

She had traveled from South Florida to Spain in December following her "nasty divorce" from her husband of 13 years, David Knezevich, 36, per the Associated Press.

According to the outlet, the couple, who sometimes spell their surname Knezevic, own the company EOX Technology Solutions Inc., which offers computer support in South Florida.

Detenido en el Aeropuerto Internacional de #Miami (EEUU) el marido de Ana Maria Henao por su presunta relacion con la desaparicion de su mujer, en el marco de una investigacion llevada a cabo por la @policia



Han colaborado la Agregaduria de Interior de #Belgrado,@FBI de pic.twitter.com/AfoLTSDwBW  Policia Nacional (@policia) May 6, 2024

Related: Woman Who Avoided Prison After Stabbing Lover 108 Times Is Appealing. Now His Dad is Speaking Out (Exclusive)

Policia Nacional, the Spanish international police, reported on X, formerly Twitter, that David Knezevich was detained at Miami International Airport "for his alleged relationship with the disappearance of his wife."

According to the AP, following the arrest, Knezevich appeared in Miami federal court Monday, May 6, and will have a bond hearing Friday, May 10.

"The Spanish National Police, Customs and Border Protection, the Diplomatic Security Service, and the FBI continue their investigation. Because this is an ongoing investigation, no further information will be released," the FBI said in a statement to the AP.

His attorney, Ken Padowitz, did not respond to the AP's call for comment after Knezevich's arrest and Padowitz did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. In February, Padowitz told the AP Knezevich was not involved with his wife's disappearance and was cooperating with authorities.

The complaint reviewed by PEOPLE explains that Ana was last seen by security cameras as she was entering her apartment building "on or about February 2" in Madrid around 2:30 p.m.

"That same day at approximately 9:27 p.m., the building's surveillance camera captured a male wearing a helmet enter the building at the same time some individuals were exiting. Once inside the building, the male is captured descending the stairs while holding a can of spray paint, which he uses to disable a surveillance camera by painting the lens," it continues.

Related: Death of Skier Killed in Collision with Another Skier Is Ruled a Homicide

The man is then allegedly seen "fastening a piece of duct tape to the lock of the building entrance to prevent the lock from engaging to allow subsequent entry." The complaint alleges that the man had "physical characteristics that resemble those of Knezevich."

Law enforcement did a welfare check on the apartment and allegedly found multiple of Ana's items missing. After an investigation began, investigators also acquired surveillance footage that showed David purchasing the spray paint and duct tape.

Officials also discovered that David traveled abroad "on or about January 27" and later asked an employee "to impersonate the victim in order to open a new bank account."

AP Photo/Manu Fernandez Ana Maria Knezevich

In a statement to the South Florida Sun Sentimental, Sanna Rameau, Ana's friend, reacted to David's arrest, saying they are "very happy that an arrest has been made, and I am hoping that this new chapter will bring clarity and that we get the answers that we are hoping for.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

We want to know what happened to her and where she is. Obviously, we want the person responsible for this to be held accountable," the statement continued.



For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.
Husband, wife arrested over 100 miles away in NC after York County neighbor killed

North Carolina police arrested a husband and wife more than 100 miles away from the scene of a Clover shooting that claimed the life of their neighbor, York County sheriff officials said.

Mitchell Strickland, 38, and his wife, Shelby Jeannette Strickland, 32, are in the Randolph County, N.C. jail awaiting extradition after the Friday shooting death of Stephen Stowe, 51, the sheriffs office said. Randolph County is northeast of Charlotte and south of Greensboro.

Deputies said they have arrest warrants against Mitchell Strickland for murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Shelby Strickland is charged with accessory to murder after the fact, the sheriffs office said.

The N.C. Highway Patrol arrested the couple after a traffic stop on Saturday, York County Sheriffs Office spokesman Trent Faris said.





Stowe was killed Friday night at a property on Enon Church Road west of Clover, according to deputies and the York County Coroner.

The suspects and victim were acquaintances who lived in separate dwellings on the same York County property where the shooting happened, Faris said.

The shooting happened after an argument escalated between the victim and suspects, the sheriffs office said.

The homicide on Friday is the first in unincorporated York County in 2024, deputies said. There was an unrelated fatal shooting of a Gastonia, N.C. man inside the city of York May 4 that remains unsolved, the York Police Department said Tuesday.
The husband of Ana Maria Knezevich Henao, who disappeared in Spain in February, was arrested by the FBI at Miami International Airport and charged with kidnapping in connection with her disappearance.

Knezevich Henao, 40, a native of Colombia and naturalized U.S. citizen, was reported missing Feb. 2 in Madrid, according to Spanish police.

Friends and family members previously told NBC News that she had moved to Madrid amid a difficult separation from her husband, David Knezevich, who is originally from Serbia. They said she shared significant financial assets with him from their shared businesses.

Ana Maria Knezevich Henao. (via NBC South Florida)

After months of unanswered questions during which missing person notices blanketed streets in Spain, Spanish police announced Monday that David Knezevich was arrested Saturday at Miami International Airport in connection with her disappearance.

The investigation was carried out by the Belgrade Interior Attache Office, FBI agents in Florida and Colombian and Spanish police.

He has been charged with kidnapping by federal agents, according to a complaint filed Friday in the Southern District of Florida. The complaint did not detail what may have happened to Knezevic Henao.

Man believed to be David Knezevich-spray painted camera at wife's Madrid apartment  and left with a suitcase, complaint says

David Knezevich was considered a suspect in his wife's disappearance after a man who resembled him spray-painted the security camera in her Madrid apartment building, after a car he rented in Serbia was tracked down to her street and after suspicious texts sent from her phone were tracked back to him.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI, Knezevic Henao had traveled from Miami to Madrid on Dec. 26. Then on Feb. 2, her friends and family lost contact with her.

She was not formally named in the filing, but she was described as the wife of David Knezevich. She was still married to him at the time, but friends and family members said they were separated and planning to divorce.

The separation was contentious because Knezevich did not want to split the marital assets evenly with the victim, the complaint said. The victim was very fearful of Knezevich and believed that he was surreptitiously monitoring her whereabouts.

Knezevic Henao was last seen alive entering her apartment building in Madrid at 2:20 p.m. Feb. 2, according to Spanish authorities citing security cameras.

At 9:27 p.m. the same day, the buildings security camera captured a male wearing a helmet enter the building at the same time some individuals were exiting. Once he was inside, he was seen holding a can of spray paint and painted the lens of the camera. Despite the paint, the lens was not totally obscured, and the man was seen fastening duct tape to the lock of the building, the complaint said.

The man looked at the camera, and his physical characteristics resembled those of David Knezevich, the complaint said.

The man was seen again at 10:30 p.m., this time leaving the elevator with what appeared to be a suitcase.

Missing items, a Serbian car rental and stolen license plates

Two days later, Spanish firefighters entered Knezevic Henao's apartment for a welfare check. A law enforcement search found that her cellphone, her laptop and her chargers were missing.

Spanish police used the security video at the apartment to identify the brand of spray paint used to obscure the camera and found a store in Madrid that had sold the same brand on Feb. 2. Security video from the store showed a man who appeared to be David Knezevich purchasing the spray paint can, as well as two rolls of duct tape, around noon Feb. 2, the complaint said.

A Peugeot 308 car that David Knezevich had rented in Belgrade, Serbia, was tracked to Knezevic Henao's street in Madrid.

He had rented the Peugeot from an agency for Jan. 29 through March 15. He had traveled out of Serbia by car on Jan. 30, and he returned to Belgrade by car on or about Feb. 5, the complaint said.

The owner of the rental car agency told law enforcement officers that when the man returned the car, the windows had been tinted, the license plate frames had been changed and two stickers had been removed from the vehicle.

The car had also traveled 7,677 kilometers while it was rented by Knezevich. The complaint noted that it's a 26-hour, 2,592-kilometer drive from Belgrade to Madrid.

Around that time, a person in Spain reported that both of his license plates had been stolen off his vehicle. When authorities ran a search in their plate reader database, they found it on Calle Francisco Sivela  the street where Knezevic Henao's apartment was located.

The stolen plate had passed through two toll booths in the middle of the night of Feb. 2 and into Feb. 3. Video from the booths showed the plates were attached to a Peugeot 308 with tinted windows  matching the description of David Knezevich's rented car. However, because of the tint, the driver was not visible.

A suspicious text and impersonating calls to cancel insurance

When Knezevic Henao disappeared, she had reportedly sent a text to a friend on Feb. 3 claiming to have met a man. She said she was going to his home two hours away from Madrid, warning that she'd have spotty cell service.

The FBI complaint revealed that a Colombian woman who met David Knezevich on a dating app told law enforcement officers that on Feb. 3, he asked her on WhatsApp to help translate messages into perfect Colombian. He claimed it was for a friend in Serbia who was writing a script about a Colombian character.

He asked her to translate the line: I met someone wonderful. He has a summer house about 2h from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. There is barely any signal though. Ill call you when I come back. Kisses, according to the complaint.

He then asked her to translate: yesterday after therapy I needed a walk and he approached me on the street! Amazing connection. Like I never had before, according to the filing.

At some point in their connection, the woman told her mother that she had met a Serbian man online. Her mother searched his surname on Google and learned that his wife had been reported missing in Madrid. The woman then discovered a news article that included a message purportedly sent by David Knezevichs wife that matched the exact wording of the text she had helped translate.

Ana Maria Knezevich Henao. (via NBC South Florida)

The complaint also said other evidence surrounding the couple's businesses came into play.

NBC News previously found three corporations registered under the couples names in Florida  EOX Technology Solutions Inc., Registered Corporate Agents LLC and EOX Capital LLC  all of which provide technology and other types of support for South Florida businesses.

On March 4, a woman claiming to be Knezevic Henao contacted an insurance company to cancel three insurance policies held for her and her husband's business. During the call, children were heard in the background, though Knezevic Henao does not have any children. Later, law enforcement officers learned that the number was owned by David Knezevichs company and that he was listed as the contact for the phone number.

Then, on April 24, an employee of David Knezevich told law enforcement officers that he had instructed her to impersonate Knezevic Henao in order to open a new bank account and provided her with Knezevic Henao's Social Security number to use as proof. The next day, the employee told David Knezevich she was uncomfortable impersonating Knezevic Henao because she was missing, but he allegedly told her that it was not serious and that it needed to be done for employees to be paid. David Knezevich further allegedly stated, I cannot call with my voice because I sound like a guy.

Online court records show David Knezevich made his initial court appearance Monday and was ordered to temporary pretrial detention. He's due back in court for a pretrial detention hearing Friday.

A attorney listed for Knezevich and the FBI office in Miami didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The investigation is ongoing.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) Rafael Grossi speaks during a joint press conference with Iran's Atomic Energy Department (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami after their meeting in Isfahan. Aeoi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has called on Iran to take swift and concrete steps to improve the monitoring of its nuclear programme.

"I want results and I want them soon," Grossi said at Vienna airport on Tuesday evening after returning from two days of talks with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and nuclear chief Mohammed Eslami in Iran. However, no concrete steps were agreed during Grossi's visit.

The IAEA and Iran reached an agreement in principle in March last year on inspections of nuclear facilities and the clarification of past nuclear activities that were kept secret.

But Tehran withdrew permission for some of the most experienced IAEA inspectors to work in Iran in September. The IAEA also was not authorized to access data from some of its monitoring devices.

"The present state is completely unsatisfactory for me," Grossi said in Vienna. He confirmed that Tehran is still insisting on linking cooperation with nuclear inspectors on the lifting of economic sanctions imposed by the West. Grossi said there were many political issues involved.
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) Rafael Grossi speaks during a joint press conference with Iran's Atomic Energy Department (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami after their meeting in Isfahan. Aeoi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has called on Iran to take concrete steps to allow international monitoring of its nuclear programme.

Following talks with Iran's nuclear chief Mohammed Eslami in the central Iranian city of Isfahan on Tuesday, Grossi said that an agreement reached in March 2023 on checks on Iranian nuclear facilities was not being implemented fast enough.

Referring to the agreement, Grossi said there had been a "slowdown in its implementation." He called for "very concrete, very practical, tangible measures that can be implemented in order to accelerate the process."

Despite the 2023 agreement, Tehran in September withdrew permission for leading IAEA inspectors to work in Iran. In addition, the agency has not been authorized to access data from some of its monitoring devices.

Eslami confirmed on Tuesday that implementation had been slow "due to some issues," blaming sanctions on Tehran.

However, Iran's state news agency IRNA said Eslami was hoping for positive developments after the talks with Grossi.

Eslami also warned against "hostile measures" against Iran's nuclear programme by Israel.

The two sides came to the brink of war in April when Iran launched direct missile and drone attacks on Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Israel responded with an attack on a military facility in Isfahan, an important site for Iran's nuclear programme.

Iran initially committed to restricting its nuclear activities in a landmark 2015 agreement which saw sanctions on Tehran lifted. The pact was torpedoed by then US president Donald Trump in 2018.

Tehran has in recent years resumed enriching uranium to a level suitable for nuclear weapons.

Iran's Atomic Energy Department (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami speaks during a joint press conference with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) Rafael Grossi after their meeting in Isfahan. Aeoi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) Rafael Grossi (L), and head of Iran's Atomic Energy Department (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami (R) shake hands at the conclusion of their joint press conference after their meeting in Isfahan. Aeoi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) Rafael Grossi speaks during a joint press conference with Iran's Atomic Energy Department (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami after their meeting in Isfahan. Aeoi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has called on Iran to take swift and concrete steps to improve the monitoring of its nuclear programme, on returning from two days of talks in Tehran.

"I want results and I want them soon," Grossi said at Vienna airport on Tuesday evening after discussions with Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and nuclear chief Mohammed Eslami in Iran. However, no concrete steps were agreed during Grossi's visit.

The IAEA and Iran reached an agreement in principle in March last year on inspections of nuclear facilities and the clarification of past nuclear activities that were kept secret.

But Tehran withdrew permission for some of the most experienced IAEA inspectors to work in Iran in September. The IAEA also was not authorized to access data from some of its monitoring devices.

"The present state is completely unsatisfactory for me," Grossi said in Vienna. He confirmed that Tehran is still insisting on linking cooperation with nuclear inspectors on the lifting of economic sanctions imposed by the West. Grossi said many political issues were involved.

He earlier called on Iran to take concrete steps to allow international monitoring of its nuclear programme after talks with Eslami in the central Iranian city of Isfahan.

Grossi said that an agreement reached in March 2023 on checks on Iranian nuclear facilities was not being implemented fast enough.

Referring to the agreement, Grossi said there had been a "slowdown in its implementation." He called for "very concrete, very practical, tangible measures that can be implemented in order to accelerate the process."

Despite the 2023 agreement, Tehran in September withdrew permission for leading IAEA inspectors to work in Iran. In addition, the agency has not been authorized to access data from some of its monitoring devices.

Eslami confirmed on Tuesday that implementation had been slow "due to some issues," blaming sanctions on Tehran.

However, Iran's state news agency IRNA said Eslami was hoping for positive developments after the talks with Grossi.

Eslami also warned against "hostile measures" against Iran's nuclear programme by Israel.

The two sides came to the brink of war in April when Iran launched direct missile and drone attacks on Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Israel responded with an attack on a military facility in Isfahan, an important site for Iran's nuclear programme.

Iran initially committed to restricting its nuclear activities in a landmark 2015 agreement which saw sanctions on Tehran lifted. The pact was torpedoed by then US president Donald Trump in 2018.

Tehran has in recent years resumed enriching uranium to a level suitable for nuclear weapons.

Iran's Atomic Energy Department (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami speaks during a joint press conference with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) Rafael Grossi after their meeting in Isfahan. Aeoi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) Rafael Grossi (L), and head of Iran's Atomic Energy Department (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami (R) shake hands at the conclusion of their joint press conference after their meeting in Isfahan. Aeoi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Idaho man gets 30 years for trying to spread HIV through sex to male victims

An Idaho man was sentenced last week to 30 years in prison for trying to spread HIV to dozens of victims.

Alexander Louie, 34, admitted to having sex with 30 to 50 different men and boys, including a 16-year-old, and didn't tell his partners he was HIV positive so he could infect them with the disease, the Ada County Prosecutor's office said in a news statement.

Detectives began investigating Louie in August 2023, when an undercover detective began speaking with him online. Louie thought he was communicating with a 15-year boy, the statement said. The two men spoke online and then agreed to meet in person in Boise, where Louie lived. He sent the "teen boy" naked photos through internet chats, and said he was going to videotape their encounter, said authorities in a news statement.

When Louie arrived at the designated spot, law enforcement arrested him in September 2023 on charges of child enticement. He was charged in November 2023.

Police said as they continued their investigation they discovered Louie was not taking his HIV medication. He told authorities he lied to prospective partners about his HIV status and then purposely had "sexual contact with both men and teenage boys in hopes to transfer HIV to them."

According to the Idaho Statesman, as part of a plea deal Louie pled guilty to one count each of sexual battery of a minor, the enticement of a child through the internet and transferring body fluids.

At his May 3 sentencing, Ada County District Judge Derrick O'Neill told Louis that his "conduct would be the Webster's definition of a predator," according to prosecutor's office.

O'Neill sentenced Louie to 30 years in prison, but he will be eligible for parole after 16 years, the prosecutor's office said.

"This defendant's repeated and egregious offenses negatively impacted many people in our community," said Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts in a statement. "I want to thank the Ada County Sheriff's Detective and my trial team. Their hard work on this case ensured Mr. Louie was brought to justice in order to protect our community from his predatory and dangerous conduct."

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In our Reality Check stories, Idaho Statesman journalists seek to hold the powerful accountable and find answers to critical questions in our community. Read more. Story idea? Tips@idahostatesman.com.

A Washington, D.C.-based ethics watchdog group has filed a complaint against an Idaho pregnancy center urging the state attorney generals office to investigate the centers use of private health data.

The Campaign for Accountability filed complaints in five states about pregnancy centers, including Sage Womens Health Center in Twin Falls. The Idaho complaint said Sage mimics the offices of physicians and collects sensitive personal and health information typically protected by federal data privacy law  but the facility is not bound to comply with that privacy law.

The complaints said the pregnancy centers  all of which are affiliated with anti-abortion rights networks  claim to comply with HIPPA, a misspelling of the abbreviation for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

While the Idaho complaint, which was filed April 23, doesnt allege any misuse of medical information by Sage Womens Center, it asks the attorney generals consumer protection division to delve deeper into what the nonprofit does with patient data.

We are deeply concerned about the way that women are being deceived about where they are and what might happen with their data, Campaign for Accountability Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview.

Sage Womens Center did not respond to requests for comment on the complaint. The Attorney Generals Office told the Statesman Tuesday morning that it does not comment on pending investigations.

Idaho facility claims, then denies HIPAA adherence

On its website, Sage Womens Center asks its patients for information about their menstrual periods, contraceptive use, pregnancy status and more using patient intake forms and other documentation it receives as an affiliate of Care Net, a Christian nonprofit that opposes abortion rights. The Campaign for Accountability told the Statesman all the facilities it filed complaints about are affiliates of Care Net.

Care Net did not respond to a request for comment.

Sage is one of more than a dozen pregnancy resource centers  also called crisis pregnancy centers  in Idaho, and one of more than 1,200 affiliated with Care Net. Such businesses have long drawn criticism from abortion rights advocates and medical associations, which say the centers deceive pregnant patients into appointments, then dissuade the patients from abortion, sometimes with medical misinformation.

Several other Idaho facilities are also affiliated with Care Net or its partner organization Heartbeat International, including Lifeline Pregnancy Care Centers in Nampa and Caldwell, Compassion & Hope Pregnancy Center in Pocatello and more in Central and North Idaho.

Sages website says it provides pregnancy testing and ultrasounds. A pregnancy options tab on the website lists parenting, adoption and abortion. Though Sage does not offer abortions, which are illegal in Idaho now in most instances, its website invites pregnant women to make an appointment to talk about the procedure.

Sage Womens Center is not recognized by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare as a medical facility, but the Campaign for Accountability said Sages appointment process and attestations to medical privacy appear similar to those at doctors offices.

On several pages of its website, Sage says it is HIPPA compliant, though its privacy policy notes that the nonprofit is not actually beholden to the law, which requires certain health care providers and businesses to inform patients and get their consent before disclosing medical information to third parties.

Because we are a medical care provider that does not engage in any transactions that invoke coverage of the HIPAA privacy act, the privacy practices and terms described in this notice are voluntarily undertaken, the policy states.

The Campaign for Accountability complaint said Sages privacy policy is much harder to find on its website than its promises of HIPAA compliance, making it difficult for patients to know how their personal data could be used.

Kuppersmith said invoking HIPAA is a direct nod to the idea of privacy.

HIPAA is sort of a shorthand for protection of your data, Kuppersmith told the Statesman. People see that and they think it means that their data cant be shared.

Instead, the policy informs patients that they can request limitations on how or where Sage Womens Center shares their health information.

We will consider your request, but we are not legally bound to agree to the restriction, the facilitys privacy policy states.

Idaho AG quiet on possible investigation

The Campaign for Accountability complaint asks the attorney generals office to look into potential conflicts between Sages practices and the Idaho Consumer Protection Act, which bans unfair or deceptive advertising and other business practices. The watchdog group said Sage is violating that law by promising to comply with HIPAA, only to reveal in other documents that it does not.

The complaint also says its not clear what Sage is doing with the data it collects from patients. The group told the attorney general that its possible Sage is sharing patient information it has misrepresented as confidential.

Kuppersmith pointed out that Sage Womens Center and other facilities may be trying to follow federal privacy requirements, but theres no way to be sure theyre doing so effectively. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services oversees HIPAA compliance, but it does not look at facilities that are not legally obligated to follow its rules.

That means that no one is checking if these centers are actually HIPAA compliant, Kuppersmith said. So they might be, in their own mind, voluntarily complying with HIPAA regulations that exist, but there is no audit or anyone regulating whether or not they are actually complying.

The Campaign for Accountability said late last week that it had not received any communication from the office of Attorney General Raul Labrador  a Republican who opposes abortion rights  regarding its complaint or the possibility of an investigation. Attorney Generals Office spokesperson Dan Estes told the Statesman the office sent a letter of acknowledgment late last week.

Kuppersmith told the Statesman the watchdog group hopes to see Sage Womens Health remove language guaranteeing health care data privacy from its website.

We think, at the very least, the center should not be allowed to continue to deceive women in this manner, she said.

This story has been updated to include comments from the Idaho Attorney Generals Office.
The famous American writer Stephen King has spoken ambiguously about Russia's war in Ukraine. In particular, he mentioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in his message.

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The celebrity called on politicians to "settle their differences". King wrote about this on his page on the social network X (Twitter).

"I think Putin and Zelenskyy should stop killing people and settle their differences mano a mano with pay-per-view. I would like to see Mr. Z kick Putin's ass," the post reads. Perhaps the king of horror was referring to a hand-to-hand fight between the president of Ukraine and the Russian dictator, suggesting that this "action" should be paid for.

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As a reminder, Stephen King openly supports Ukrainians in the war with Russia. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the American has repeatedly condemned the Russians and refused to cooperate with Russian media. The legendary writer actively monitors the situation in our country and the success of Ukrainian soldiers at the front.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) -A lawyer for the state of Idaho on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to revive a 2023 state law making it a crime to help a minor cross state lines for an abortion without her parent's consent, which a lower court judge had blocked in November.

"The law is narrow, and one would think, unobjectionable," Idaho Deputy Solicitor General Joshua Turner told the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle.

"It prohibits strange adults from recruiting, harboring or transporting unemancipated minors within Idaho to procure an abortion, but only when that act is done with the specific intent to conceal it from the unemancipated minor's parents or guardians."

A federal judge in Boise had blocked enforcement of the law in November while she considers a lawsuit brought by Lourdes Matsumoto, a lawyer and advocate who works with victims of sexual violence, and the Northwest Abortion Access Fund and Indigenous Idaho Alliance, which helps people in Idaho access abortion. They argued that the law interfered with their right to free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Their lawyer Wendy Olson said the panel should uphold that order, saying the law "seeks to criminalize an unclear amount of undefined assistance to minors" and amounted to regulation of protected speech and expression because it prevents plaintiffs from telling minors about getting abortions.

Circuit Judges M. Margaret McKeown and John Owens, who were both appointed by Democratic presidents, appeared open to reviving at least part of the law. Circuit Judge Carlos Bea, an appointee of Republican then-President George W. Bush, did not speak during the argument.

McKeown asked several questions during the argument questioning how transporting someone could be speech protected by the First Amendment.

She also asked both sides whether the part of the law against "recruiting" could be blocked, on the grounds that it interferes with speech simply telling minors about accessing abortions, while upholding the prohibitions on harboring and transporting.

Turner said it could, while Olson said that harboring and transporting could still be protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of association.

Idaho bans almost all abortions, with narrow exceptions to save the mother's life and for rape or incest that is reported to police. However, it borders Washington, Oregon and Montana, which allow them.

Under its law, adults who help girls obtain surgical or medication abortions without parental or guardians' consent would face a minimum of two years in prison if convicted.

The case is one of several challenging laws that criminalize helping residents travel to states where abortion is legal. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that had established a nationwide right to abortion.

A group of Alabama healthcare providers and a fund that helps people in the state filed lawsuits last year seeking to block anyone from being prosecuted under state law for helping someone travel out of state for an abortion. The state's Republican attorney general had suggested that Alabamans who did so could be prosecuted as criminal accomplices.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Richard Chang and Jonathan Oatis)
IDF says it now controls Gaza side of Rafah crossing

Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on the east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

The Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday.

"Following intelligence that indicated that the Rafah Crossing in eastern Rafah was being used for terrorist purposes, IDF troops obtained operational control of the Gazan side of the crossing," the army wrote on its Telegram channel.

That followed an overnight operation in which the ground troops together with the air force "began a precise counterterrorism operation" to eliminate the Palestinian Islamist militia Hamas and dismantle its infrastructure in eastern Rafah, the IDF said.

It said it eliminated Hamas military structures, underground infrastructures and other facilities the group operated. The army said about 20 Hamas fighters were killed in the operation. There were no Israeli injuries reported, the IDF said.

On Monday, Israeli forces began evacuating Rafah in southern Gaza as they geared up for an expected military operation there.

Israel's allies and other international leaders have been warning against a Rafah offensive. Large numbers of Palestinian civilians have sought shelter in the city after fleeing Israeli airstrikes and ground operations elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.

Israel wants to use the military operation in Rafah to smash the remaining battalions of Palestinian militant organization Hamas, which it has been fighting in the coastal strip since it invaded Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostage.

The more than 100 remaining hostages are believed to be held in Rafah.

Israel has been threatening to launch a ground offensive into Rafah for months, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has struck an uncompromising stance in recent weeks, vowing to attack the city even if a deal to release hostages is reached.

Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings on a vehicle after an evacuation order issued by the Israeli army. Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings on a vehicle after an evacuation order issued by the Israeli army. Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
It's a big day for bird lovers in the United States. Michael Sanchez from Oregon happened to be at the beach recently when he snapped a photo of a rare sighting  a Blue Rock Thrush  a breed of bird that's never been photographed here in the United States.

Call it luck or call it good timing, but Sanchez happened to get the super rare shot that would make most bird watchers envious.

Sanchez, a band director at Sky Ridge Middle School in Camas, Washington, was at Hug Point Falls near Cannon Beach when he pulled out his camera, KGW 8 reports.

Related: Extremely Rare Bird 'Checks In' at the Bellagio in Las Vegas

Im very, very beginner. I got my first camera in April," he told the news outlet. Sanchez doesn't seem to be a bird enthusiast himself, but he could tell there was something special about a bird he snapped a photo of.

"To me, it looked like a little bird with black feathers. When I got home, I saw beautiful colors," he explained. Blue Rock Thrushes have a blue back and chestnut front.

It wasn't just a pretty bird. This was an extremely rare sighting. It's believed to be the first time that a Blue Rock Thrush has been seen in the United States.

"What makes this so exciting is that Blue Rock Thrush breeds across Europe and into Asia, and it doesnt breed very far north; thats why we dont see them in Alaska," Brodie Cass-Talbott, senior educator at Bird Alliance of Oregon, explained to the news outlet.

He added that this is probably the rarest bird that's ever been seen in Oregon.

ABC World News Tonight's David Muir said that Sanchez originally shared the photo hoping to get help identifying the animal.

"Before I knew it, I had folks from birding associations getting in touch with me, asking about the bird," he told the news anchor. "It's been a wild ride."

Enthusiasts have started flocking to the state park hoping to get a glimpse of the bird themselves.

It's not clear why the bird ended up in Oregon, but Cass-Talbott said they have a theory.

"The leading theory that this bird was migrating, encountered a storm, got blown out to sea, and potentially found a passing ship headed to the United States," he said.

It was an unexpected find, but one that Sanchez is so happy that happened.

"What I'm mostly happy about is this brings a little bit of joy and a little bit of beauty to everybody's lives," he told David Muir.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi voted in the countrys general elections Tuesday as the mammoth, weekslong contest reached its halfway point.

In recent weeks, Modi has ratcheted up rhetoric seen as incendiary against the countrys Muslim minority and emphasized his economic growth pitch as his Hindu nationalist party seeks a legislative supermajority with its coalition  a feat thats only happened once in Indian history.

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Modis party looks to the south

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Sources: The Guardian, Reuters

Modis Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are expected to win a majority in the lower house of Parliament, but winning a supermajority  400 out of 543 seats  would extend the reach of the BJP to every corner of the country, The Guardian wrote. Its strategy involves recruiting celebrity candidates to challenge veteran opposition officials, and appealing to Christians in the countrys south, nine coalition officials told Reuters. The states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been a tough nut for the BJP to crack because the party is not viewed as representative of local interests around language and culture, the South Asia program director at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told The Guardian. Local BJP candidates are leaning away from reinforcing Hindu nationalist narratives and campaigning around larger than life personalities instead, one party leader said.

Low voter turnout in the spotlight

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Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, The Economic Times

Indias Election Commission said it was taking steps to boost get-out-the-vote efforts last week after being disappointed with voter turnout so far. That led political analysts to question whether Modis party can achieve the blowout victory its hoping for, especially as scorching temperatures have deterred some voters. But the chief economic advisor at SBI, the countrys largest lender, said the low turnout narrative is a myth, arguing that a better measure to analyze turnout is the absolute number of voters, which has increased compared to 2019. He predicted the remaining phases of the election will see J-shaped growth.

Modi makes global economic pitch, but questions linger

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Sources: Nikkei, Bloomberg, GlobeScan/Friends of Democracy survey

Indian stocks have surged during Indias election, buoyed by confidence that Modi will be reelected for a third term and boost the economy. Modis pledge to expand industrial output and lure foreign electric vehicle and semiconductor firms with the goal of making India a developed country by 2047 is a pie in the sky" idea, one economist said, requiring 8% economic growth every year for the next quarter century. Questions also remain about Modis ability to improve Indias standing in the West: In a new survey, 75% of respondents in the US, UK, and France were concerned about Indian laws making it harder for Muslims to become citizens, and 70% of Americans said they are concerned about human rights in India.

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Election Commission directed social media platform X on Tuesday to take down a video post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party after an opposition complaint that it promoted enmity among economically weaker groups.

The takedown order for violation of poll rules came days after police registered a case against leaders of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including the president of its Karnataka state unit that had shared the post.

The animated video published last week during India's long general election accused opposition Congress leaders of planning to extend welfare benefits to the minority Muslim community at the cost of other disadvantaged tribal and Hindu caste groups.

Modi, seeking a third straight term, has made similar allegations in recent speeches and said Congress would distribute the wealth of majority Hindus among Muslims, whom he referred to as "infiltrators" who have "more children".

Congress denies making any such election promise.

"X is directed to take down the post immediately," a letter from the election commission to the social media platform said.

There was no immediate comment from X or the BJP.

Modi's critics accuse him and his party of targeting Muslims for electoral gains, which he has denied, saying that his government does not discriminate and also that he does not oppose the community or Islam.

About 80% of India's 1.4 billion people are Hindus but it also has the world's third largest Muslim population of about 200 million people.

The video depicted a caricature of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi placing a large egg tagged "Muslims" and feeding "funds" to the hatchling that emerges, which then pushes out of the nest three other hatchlings representing disadvantaged groups.

Congress said in its complaint to the election body that the post sought to "intimidate" members of the three weaker groups to not vote for the party "by projecting that funds reserved for them will be usurped by Muslims."

Modi and his BJP party have made controversial remarks in what analysts say is an attempt to invigorate their hardline base as the election sees comparatively low voter turnout compared to previous years.

(Reporting by Shivam Patel; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
Indiana County man sentenced to up to 50 years in prison for rape of a child

An Indiana County man was sentenced to up to 50 years incarceration for several crimes, including rape of a child.

David Gene Crawford, 48, of Homer City, was declared a sexually violent predator and sentenced to up to 50 years in a state correctional institute.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Indiana County man arrested on child rape charges

On Nov. 13, 2023, Crawford entered a guilty plea to 10 offenses including rape of a child, rape by forcible compulsion, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion, sexual assault, indecent assault of a victim less than 13 years old and incest of a minor.

A judge ordered consecutive sentences that amount to no less than sixteen years and a maximum of fifty years. Crawford must register with Megans Law through the Pennsylvania State Police for the remainder of his life, including the heightened requirements for a sexually violent predator.

The case was investigated by state police after a report of abuse was made to the Childline hotline. They found that the defendant sexually abused a minor for about two years. The defendant made threats against the victim if they made a report of the abuse to anyone.

Tonight, the victim in this matter can rest knowing that the defendant will remain in the state prison system for a long time, potentially the rest of his life. This victim was very strong throughout this case and I am very thankful that they saw justice today said District Attorney Bob Manzi in a news release. I applaud the victims courage and the thorough investigation from the Pennsylvania State Police that helped put this defendant in prison for, potentially, the rest of his life.

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Iowans give $3 million to sheriffs group, but charities see only a third of that

The Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association Institute is raising money in Iowa through direct-mail solicitations like this one. (Photo courtesy of Hamilton County Sheriff's Office)

Iowans have donated more than $3 million in recent years to a group of Iowa sheriffs, but only $1 million of that has been spent on the stated purpose of helping children and educating law enforcement personnel.

In fact, more than 60% of Iowans donations to the sheriffs in 2022 were consumed by the expenses of a for-profit marketing company.

For years, the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association Institute, which is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization with a mission of sending underprivileged children to camp and educating law enforcement personnel, has raised money in Iowa through direct-mail solicitations.

Iowans who are targeted by the campaign are typically sent a letter on the letterhead from their own county sheriff, seeking contributions to provide critical support and training for law enforcement, to help send underprivileged children to camp and to provide support for the Iowa Special Olympics.

Some of the letters offer donors a set of credentials in return for a donation: a membership card for the donors wallet, a window decal and a bumper sticker.

Such items have been used by various police associations for decades as fundraising incentives, but they also have generated controversy. Because they are items that might be displayed on or in a vehicle during a traffic stop, some have argued they imply that donors can expect, if not receive, favorable treatment when pulled over.

If theres a better way to raise money or help do those things, we would be all ears.

 ISSDAI President Shawn Ireland

Earlier this year, the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office promoted the campaign on its Facebook page, asking citizens to donate and play an active role in helping make our community a safer place by providing resources and services to the sheriffs of Iowa.

According to the institutes most recently disclosed tax returns, the sheriffs hired fundraising company, Altus Marketing, collected $471,987 in by sending out such direct-mail solicitations in 2022.

Of the $471,987 that was raised, Altus Marketing kept $292,832, and the sheriffs organization received $179,155, according to the tax records.

The sheriffs then spent $108,375 sending children to a YMCA camp, donated $10,000 to the Special Olympics, and contributed $4,000 to an Iowa State Sheriffs Association museum.

That would suggest the sheriffs total charitable expenses that year were $122,375. As in years past, one of the organizations biggest annual expenses is tied to meetings and conventions, which accounted for $185,424 in spending during 2022.

Sgt. Shawn Ireland of the Linn County Sheriffs Office is the organizations current president and says the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association Institute has struggled with the expense of fundraising.

It is expensive to have a fundraiser, he said. The funds that we get do go to good things, but it takes money to make money and its hard to run a program like that by ourselves because were full-time sheriffs and deputies. So we hire a company that does the fundraising for us. And we never solicit by phone. We always send out those letters.

The 2022 spending by the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association Institute is similar to what the group has reported to the Internal Revenue Service in previous years.

Between 2016 and 2022, only $1,006,153  or 33% of the $3,080,928 Iowans donated in that time  was used for the stated purpose of training officers and helping underprivileged children.

Ireland said that while its not ideal to spend so much with a professional fundraising company, the sheriffs have yet to find a better way to raise money.

If theres a better way to raise money or help do those things, we would be all ears, if somebody has a better solution for us, he said. Of course, we would like to have a better outcome, we work to improve our processes always, but currently it just seems like this is the best way for us to do that kind of business right now.

The post Iowans give $3 million to sheriffs group, but charities see only a third of that appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch.
By Francois Murphy and Parisa Hafezi

VIENNA (Reuters) -Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog will continue talks aimed at ending an impasse on many issues between them and should strike a deal on a package of measures "soon", the watchdog's chief Rafael Grossi said on Tuesday as he returned from an Iran trip.

The International Atomic Energy Agency faces a range of difficulties in Iran, including the fact Tehran only implemented a small fraction of what Grossi thought it committed to in a "Joint Statement" on future cooperation they made in March 2023, and the few concrete steps taken stopped in June of last year.

Speaking to reporters in Isfahan on Tuesday alongside Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami, Grossi said they were trying to agree on "tangible measures" Iran could now take under that Joint Statement rather than thrashing out a new agreement.

"I certainly expect to start having some concrete results soon," Grossi told an airport news conference upon his return to Vienna.

"I want results and I want them soon. And I think they understand that as well," he said, adding that it "would be good" if an agreement could be reached within a month, in time for the next meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors.

He would not specify the steps being discussed but said they included uranium enrichment and access to facilities. That could be a reference to resuming monitoring of activities introduced by a 2015 deal between Iran and major powers but then scrapped as the deal unravelled after a U.S. pullout in 2018.

They also included addressing Iran's decision last year to ban many of the IAEA's top enrichment experts assigned to the country, he said. A years-long investigation into unexplained uranium traces at undeclared sites was also mentioned.

"We continue interactions over unresolved issues, including issues regarding two sites," Eslami told his news conference with Grossi.

Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the around 90% of weapons grade. If that material were enriched further, it would suffice for two nuclear weapons, according to an official IAEA yardstick.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons but no other state has enriched to that level without producing them.

When asked if Iran was demanding that sanctions be lifted in exchange for nuclear steps, which would be beyond the IAEA's remit and require the involvement of major powers, Grossi said there were political aspects to the discussions.

"The complex aspect about this, is that there are a lot of political things involved. Some of them within my purview, some of them not," he said.

"So when it comes to lifting of sanctions and things like that, which are very important for Iran, I am not the one who has the key to solve these issues," he said.

(Writing by Francois Murphy; Editing by Michael Georgy, William Maclean and Nick Zieminski)
Ukraine and its creditors have begun consultations on the restructuring of the state debt. These negotiations are part of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program and are expected to be completed by August. The consultations will not be easy, but Ukraine is definitely not facing a default - all the talk about it in the media has nothing to do with reality.

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This was the explanation given by Danylo Hetmantsev (Servant of the People), Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, to a high-profile article by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The fact is that Ukraine's official G7 creditors have postponed debt payments until 2027, but the deferral for Eurobonds expires in August 2024.

"All options - extension of the deferral or a full-fledged restructuring with partial servicing and write-off - are on the table. The negotiations will not be a cakewalk - that's a fact - but I have no doubt that they will end in a deal in the coming months. So let's exhale, we are definitely not talking about any full-fledged default now," said Hetmantsev.

In addition, an agreement with Ukraine's external creditors is part of the IMF program, which has pledged to provide its expertise and an umbrella for such negotiations. According to the EFF program, Ukraine should save $11.8 billion on external debt payments by 2027, including $4.6 billion in 2024.

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The MP explained that the news, citing anonymous WSJ sources, spread in the information space on Easter, May 5. It said that the holders of Ukrainian Eurobonds want Ukraine to resume servicing its obligations next year in the amount of up to $500 million per annum in interest payments.

However, the article also noted that if the parties do not agree on the terms of the restructuring, Ukraine may default after the current debt holiday expires in August."For the sake of hype, some media and TV channels emphasized the latter, i.e. a possible default, which since the late 90s has been the usual threat in Ukraine in any event," Hetmantsev said.

In fact, a possible deal on Eurobonds and GDP warrants includes two options. These are:

extension of the deferral (similar to the one that Ukraine agreed with the Paris Club and the G7 countries)

a full-fledged restructuring with the issuance of new longer-term securities, which may involve writing off a certain part of the debt in exchange for extended compensation and guarantees for creditors (including debt service).

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"Any "insights" about the upcoming deal and conclusions based on them about what is beneficial and what is not beneficial for Ukraine are pure speculation. Those who are at least a little aware of how restructuring operations work know how complicated this process is, which involves financial and legal advisors on both sides working under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Obviously, the non-resident holders of Eurobonds, mostly represented by investment funds and insurance companies, expect that this will be a full-fledged restructuring. However, while negotiations are underway, they cannot say this publicly in detail because of the NDA. But if there is a partial "leak" to the media, that's fine. This should be taken as an element of market pressure. We'll see how it goes, the consultations are ongoing," said the MP.

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In addition, at least 2/3 of the Eurobond holders (at least 50% for each issue) must agree to the restructuring. The WSJ article referred to investors controlling 20% of the debt.

"The only thing that can be said with certainty is that the probability of a full default, when the parties do not agree on a restructuring at all, is minimal at this stage... Obviously, Ukraine continues to be in exceptional circumstances due to the full-scale war and will not be able to service the Eurobonds on market terms after the August deferral expires. Under what conditions it will be able to do so is a matter of negotiation, where a separate aspect is the use of Russian assets (income from them) as a guarantee/partial source of repayment of external debt service in the future," Hetmantsev said.

He reminded that there is no such thing as a "useful default". "Since 2016, Ukraine has been building trusting relations with commercial external creditors, acting as a predictable borrower even in such difficult conditions as now," the MP summarized.

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As OBOZ.UA previously reported, the head of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde issued a statement condemning the US proposals to use Russia's frozen assets to finance military aid to Ukraine.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Iran and the UN nuclear agency are still discussing how to implement a 2023 deal on inspections

International Atomic Energy Organization, IAEA, Director General Rafael Grossi, left, and head of Iran's atomic energy department Mohammad Eslami shake hands at the conclusion of their joint press conference after their meeting in the central city of Isfahan, Iran, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

JERUSALEM (AP)  Iran and the United Nations' nuclear watchdog are still negotiating over how to implement a deal struck last year to expand inspections of the Islamic Republic's rapidly advancing atomic program, officials said Tuesday.

The acknowledgment by the International Atomic Energy Agency's leader Rafael Mariano Grossi shows the challenges his inspectors face, years after the collapse of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers and the wider tensions gripping the Mideast over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's Hezbollah militia launched attacks on Israel on Tuesday as Yemen's Houthi rebels were suspected of targeting a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden.

Grossi has already warned that Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make several nuclear bombs if it chose to do so. He has acknowledged the agency cannot guarantee that none of Irans centrifuges may have been peeled away for clandestine enrichment.

Grossi spoke to journalists at a news conference in the city of Isfahan, alongside Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. While both men said there would be no immediate new deal struck during the visit, they pointed to a March 2023 joint statement as a path forward for cooperation between the IAEA and Iran.

That 2023 statement included a pledge by Iran to resolve issues around sites where inspectors have questions about possible undeclared nuclear activity, and to allow the IAEA to implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities.

Grossi and Eslami offered few specifics from the ongoing discussions, though Grossi said technical teams from the two sides were talking over specifics.

What we are looking at is concrete measures that could make this operational, Grossi said.

Eslami said: The important point is that Mr. Grossi takes the necessary actions to settle the problems that are mainly political."

Speaking to reporters later Tuesday in Vienna, Grossi reiterated that the joint statement between Iran and the IAEA agreed in March 2023 was still very much alive and that it contained all the necessary points.

I want results and I want them soon, Grossi told reporters at Vienna airport. The present state is completely unsatisfactory, he said.

Grossi explained that there was no timeframe or deadline agreed on the implementation of the various points but added that he was told by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian that Iran was ready to engage in very concrete measures.

He also said that no technical team was left behind in Tehran to continue discussions.

Tensions have grown between Iran and the IAEA since 2018, when then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers. Since then, Iran has abandoned all limits the deal put on its program and enriches uranium to up to 60% purity  near weapons-grade levels of 90%.

IAEA surveillance cameras have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the agencys most experienced inspectors. Iranian officials also have increasingly threatened they could pursue atomic weapons.

Meanwhile, tensions between Iran and Israel have hit a new high. Tehran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel last month, after years of a shadow war between the two countries reached a climax with Israels apparent attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and others.

Isfahan itself apparently has come under Israeli fire in recent weeks, despite being surrounded by sensitive nuclear sites.

Eslami in his remarks accused Israel of meddling in the relationship between the IAEA and Iran.

It is important to be careful that the hostile actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which the Zionists are source of ... do not affect the interactions between Iran and the agency, Eslami said. What is shown in the media is based on the Zionist regimes manipulations.

Grossi insisted that the IAEAs relationship with Tehran is not affected by outside parties.

Elsewhere in the Mideast, Hezbollah claimed multiple explosive drone and rocket attacks on Israel, saying they targeted barracks, Israeli air defenses and other sites. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on those incidents, though it did acknowledge incoming fire targeting Yiftah, some 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Jerusalem, an attack also claimed by Hezbollah.

The Lebanese Sunni political and militant organization the Islamic Group also claimed targeting an Israeli barracks near Chebaa Farms, a territory captured by Israeli troops from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war. The attacks all came as the Israeli military seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the Gaza Strip as cease-fire negotiations remained on edge.

Also Tuesday, a ship in the Gulf of Aden came under a suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. A captain aboard the vessel reported two explosions in close proximity to the ship, the UKMTO said, though the boat and its crew were safe.

The rebels did not immediately claim the attack, but it typically takes them hours to acknowledge their assaults. The Houthis have launched over 50 attacks on shipping since November over the Israel-Hamas war.

The U.S. military's Central Command separately said that it shot down a Houthi drone over the Red Sea on Monday.

___

Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna contributed to this report.
The United Nations and aid groups are raising urgent alarm for Israel to reopen Gazas border crossings and deescalate military operations in the southern city of Rafah to address a humanitarian catastrophe for more than one million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued desperate pleas for Israel to back off its attacks against Hamas in Rafah and move to open key gateways, Rafah and Kerem Shalom, for humanitarian aid deliveries.

The closure of both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be re-opened immediately, he said.

Rafah is the epicenter of humanitarian operations in Gaza. Attacking Rafah will further upend our efforts to support people in dire humanitarian straits as famine looms.

Israel on Monday night began what it called specific attacks against Hamas targets in eastern Rafah and seized the border crossing with Egypt, a main artery for humanitarian aid deliveries and any movement of Palestinians to and from Gaza.

Guterres, in his plea, called for Israels international partners to exert pressure on Jerusalem to rein in its military operations.

I appeal to all those with influence over Israel to do everything in their power to help avert even more tragedy.

Several aid groups joined in on the calls warning against Israels military operations targeting Rafah, pointing to a likely high toll of civilian deaths and coming on top of declarations that famine is present in the strip.

We had already run out of words to describe how catastrophic the situation is in Rafah  but this next chapter will take it to indescribable new levels, Save The Children said in a statement.

John Kirby, the White House spokesperson on National Security issues, said the administration is closely watching the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) attacks on Gaza, saying that Jerusalem has described it as aimed at cutting off Hamass ability to ship arms across the Rafah border.

How theyve described it is as not of the size, scale, duration, and scope that one could equate to a major ground operation.

Kirby said the White House remains opposed to a broader, IDF-ground offensive into Rafah that doesnt prioritize protection of civilians.

We dont want to see any operation conducted in Rafah that doesnt properly account for the safety and security of the people that are there, big or small, far or wide. And were going to be watching this one very, very closely.

Kirby said that at President Bidens request, Israel had committed to reopening the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel that was shut down following a Hamas rocket attack that killed four Israeli soldiers, and wounded 10 others on Sunday.

The administration is also pushing for Israel to re-open the Rafah crossing for humanitarian deliveries.

Theres still a lot more work that needs to be done, Kirby said. I would not say that everything has been sufficient to date. Clearly, theres still great humanitarian need and great risk for the people that are trying to get that assistance to those in need.

The administration has said that targets for humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza aim to reach about 500 trucks per day. An average of 240 trucks traveled through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings each day, over the first five days of May, according to data from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Israel said that multiple crossings allow for about 350 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily.

The IDF did not have comment on any plans to reopen the Rafah crossing when reached for comment by The Hill.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes near the Rafah crossing. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

The Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday, in an operation the Israeli leadership has promised will be "limited."

Rafah was the last city in the coastal territory that Israeli forces had not entered during its massive offensive since the October 7 attacks on southern Israel. Israel believes that weapons are entering the Gaza Strip via the border with Egypt.

US National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said that Washington was assured in talks with Israeli representatives that it was an operation of "limited duration in size and scope and scale" aimed at disrupting the ability of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas to transport weapons across the Rafah border.

A private US security company is to take over the management of the Rafah border crossing after the end of the Israeli military operation, according to a report in Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The Israeli government did not wish to comment on the report when asked. In the US, Kirby said he knew nothing about it.

Israel has promised not to damage the facilities of the border crossing in order to ensure its continued operation, Haaretz said.

Israel has also reportedly said its sole aim is to ensure that Hamas no longer has any control over the border crossing, which would be a considerable setback as it would no longer be able to levy taxes on incoming goods.

Angry reaction to Israeli offensive

Hamas called Israel's storming of the Rafah border crossing a "dangerous escalation" against civilian facilities protected by international law.

It added in a statement that the military attack will exacerbate the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and will prevent the flow of much needed emergency relief aid to Gaza.

Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oncu Keceli slammed the Israeli operation in Rafah, posting on X it showed "that the Netanyahu government is not acting in good faith."

International concern over trapped civilians

A spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, Ravina Shamdasani, commented that for civilians who have been ordered to evacuate there are no safe routes to the north and no safe havens with sufficient sanitary facilities and food supplies.

These are basic humanitarian requirements for evacuations, she said in Geneva.

"There are strong indications that this is being conducted in violation of international humanitarian law," she said.

"This morning is one of the darkest in this seven-months-long nightmare," said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The Red Cross also said questions such as how to safely transport the city's disabled, elderly, and sick, and where such a large population can move and reside safely with basic needs met, remain unanswered.

Conflict continues elsewhere in Gaza

The military arm of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, again attacked the Israeli border crossing Kerem Shalom with rockets on Tuesday.

The al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attacks, which triggered warning sirens in the area, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). There was initially no information on casualties.

On Sunday the al-Qassam Brigades attacked Kerem Shalom with around 10 rockets, killing four Israeli soldiers and injuring others.

Members of the al-Qassam Brigades also executed three Palestinians on Tuesday in the west of Rafah for allegedly collaborating with Israel.

Qatari delegation arrives in Cairo

Talks on a possible ceasefire in Gaza are meanwhile continuing in Cairo, and a Qatari delegation has arrived in the Egyptian capital, airport sources said.

On Monday Hamas said it had approved a proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war put forward by mediators Egypt and Qatar.

Afterwards, Qatar said its delegation would head to Cairo to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, hoping the talks would lead to an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel and Hamas to show "political courage" to reach an agreement.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the Israeli army would be prepared to make compromises in the event of an agreement on the release of hostages during the offensive in Rafah.

"But if this option is cancelled, we will continue and deepen the operation," Gallant said, according to his office on Tuesday evening.

"We are prepared to make compromises in order to get hostages back," said Gallant.

Attacks from Lebanon continue

The pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement said on Tuesday it had launched drone attacks at Israeli army targets in northern Israel.

Hezbollah said the attack was in support of the Palestinians in Gaza and had targeted "enemy officers and soldiers while they were in the courtyard of the Yiftah Barracks."

The Israeli army said a number of suspicious aerial objects were identified approaching Israeli territory and intercepted, and others which were not intercepted caused only light damage on the ground.
Palestinians flee as Israel Defense Forces tanks seize the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing - AFP via Getty Images

Israel said on Tuesday that it had seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing to cut off a lifeline for Hamas.

In an overnight operation, tanks of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered the Gaza Strip to seize the crossing, which has been used to deliver supplies of aid.

Video footage from the operation showed one tank rolling over and crushing a welcome sign saying I love Gaza. In another clip tanks carrying huge Israeli flags can be seen driving down a road by the border with Egypt.

Israeli officials said that the raid was very limited in scope, suggesting it did not form the prelude to an immediate ground operation in Rafah, which the US and Western allies firmly oppose.

The raid came after Israel on Monday rejected Hamas agreement to a ceasefire proposal, saying the deal the terrorist group had signed up to did not meet its key demands.

Avi Hyman, a spokesman for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate, said that Israel would no longer allow the crossing to transport supplies to Hamas.

This is the beginning of our mission to take out the last four Hamas brigades in Rafah, he said, dampening hopes of a hostage deal in the near term.

In a separate briefing, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer claimed that Hamas has cross-border underground smuggling tunnels underneath the Rafah crossing infrastructure.

These Hamas tunnels must be dealt with to shut off arms to the terrorists, Mr Mencer said.

On Tuesday, Israel sent a mid-level delegation to Cairo to discuss Hamass proposal in more depth with Bill Burns, CIA director, also set to attend.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said he will not sign up to any deal that requires Israel to stop fighting in Gaza after the release of the 133 hostages currently held by Hamas.

The leadership of Hamas has indicated that ending the war permanently is their own red line.

The IDFs operations at the Rafah crossing threatened supplies of aid into the territory, the UN and other aid agencies said.

We currently do not have any physical presence at the Rafah crossing as our access  has been denied by Cogat [Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories], Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UNs OCHA [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs], told a press conference in Geneva, referring to the IDFs agency overseeing supplies into the Palestinian territories.

All fuel going into Gaza crosses via Rafah, Mr Laerke said, warning that the enclave has only one day of fuel reserves.

The UN has urged Israel to reopen crossing as Rafah residents prepare to leave - REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

The World Health Organisation also confirmed that Israel is not allowing transfer of patients through Rafah.

The other crossing for supplies for Gaza has remained closed since Sunday when Hamas mortar fire targeted Israeli troops at a staging ground nearby, killing four of them.

Another mortar attack at the Kerem Shalom crossing was reported early on Tuesday.

Inside Gaza, Palestinians reacted anxiously to initial reports that Israeli tanks were operating on the border with Egypt.

Speaking to The Telegraph over the phone from the west of Rafah, Mohammad Najjar, a student, said that the night was very difficult.

From east to west, Rafah is no wider than 15 kilometres (9 miles), he said, so the IDF are very close to where he is and everyone is, of course, worried about what might happen next.

An Israeli strike in the east of Rafah. Israel says operation is 'very limited' in scope - HATEM KHALED/REUTERS

Until this moment we can hear the bombing, he said, following a night of artillery, drones and air strikes.

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday urged the US to intervene immediately to stop Israel from invading Rafah.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, the spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, said Israel has committed a crime by seizing the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing and blasted the unacceptable international silence.

Israels decision to enter Rafah despite warnings from its allies is damaging its stature in the world and prospects for a hostage deal, critics of Mr Netanyahu have warned.

If this move scuttles a hostage deal  that would be very grave. There is a lie and a fallacy here that has been built up entirely by Netanyahu as if the Rafah story is [the key to] either ultimate success or total failure, and nothing is more inane than that, Maj Gen (res) Yair Golan, a former member of parliament, told Israels army radio.

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Israel-Gaza  live updates: 80,000 flee Rafah as Biden says US wont supply weapons for major ground assault

Israel-Gaza  live updates: 80,000 flee Rafah as Biden says US wont supply weapons for major ground assault

More than 80,000 people have left Rafah since Monday as Israeli continues its offensive in southern Gaza, the UN has said.

Most of those uprooted by Israeli military evacuation orders in eastern Rafah have already been displaced from other areas of Gaza, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

The agency said people people were leaving with everything they can carry in vehicles, trucks, (on) motorbikes and donkey carts.

Shelling has been reported in Rafah overnight, just hours after US president Joe Biden publicly vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces make a ground offensive into southern Gaza.

I made it clear that if they go into Rafah ..., Im not supplying the weapons, Mr Biden, whose administration has repeatedly asked Israel for its plan to protect civilians in Rafah, said in an interview with CNN.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on Mr Bidens remarks, but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed the Rafah operation will go ahead, saying it must hit Rafah to defeat Hamas fighters there.

Key Points

Biden says US wont supply weapons for Israel to attack Rafah

Civilians in Gaza killed from US bombs, acknowledges Biden

No more concessions to Israel in truce talks, says Hamas

Unicef concerned for 600,000 displaced Palestinian children

Our live coverage has been paused

Thursday 9 May 2024 15:55 , Alexander Butler

Our live coverage has been paused

All of a sudden, Democrats are talking about Gaza and the Israel arms pause

Thursday 9 May 2024 15:40 , Alexander Butler

Elizabeth Warren says Netanyahu ignores the United States at his peril

Slovenia to recognise Palestinian state by mid-June

Thursday 9 May 2024 15:27 , Alexander Butler

The Slovenian government has initiated the procedure for the recognition of a Palestinian state as a form of leverage to end the conflict in Gaza, a move it announced in March, Prime Minister Robert Golob said.

The horrors we see every day in Gaza are inadmissible and must stop, Golob was quoted as saying on the government X platform. I call on Israel to put an immediate end to its attacks on Gaza and to use the negotiating table.

Mr Golob said he would like his countrys recognition to be an incentive for these negotiations to proceed more quickly and speed up the dialogue in the United Nations on an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and the security and existence of Israel through a two-state solution.

The announcement came as Ireland, Spain and a number of other European Union member states are reportedly considering recognising a Palestinian state on 21 May, according to a report by Irelands national broadcaster.

How far will Netanyahu go in Rafah to appease his hardline coalition?

Thursday 9 May 2024 15:10 , Alexander Butler

How far will Netanyahu go in Rafah to keep his hardline coalition partners onside?

Who are Yemens Houthis and why are they attacking ships in the Red Sea?

Thursday 9 May 2024 15:06 , Alexander Butler

Editorial: If Rafah is attacked, Israel will have nothing to show for its unwinnable war

Thursday 9 May 2024 15:00 , Alexander Butler

If Rafah is attacked, Israel will have nothing to show for its unwinnable war

Iran will build nuclear bomb if Israel threatens existence, supreme leaders advisor says

Thursday 9 May 2024 14:50 , Alexander Butler

Iran will build the bomb if Israel threatens existence, supreme leaders advisor says

How many weapons does the UK export to Israel?

Thursday 9 May 2024 14:40 , Alexander Butler

How many weapons does the UK export to Israel?

Israel warns it will not be subdued after Washington threatens to withdraw weapon supplies

Thursday 9 May 2024 14:31 , Alexander Butler

Israel has vowed it will not be subdued in the face of friends and enemies after the United States warned it would withdraw weapons supplies to the country.

Defence minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would do whatever necessary to achieve its war aims in Gaza despite growing international pressure to halt an invasion of Rafah.

He said: I turn to Israels enemies as well as to our best of friends and say - the State of Israel cannot be subdued. We will stand strong, we will achieve our goals - we will hit Hamas, we will hit Hezbollah, and we will achieve security.

We have no choice, we have no other country. We will do whatever is necessary, and I repeat - whatever is necessary, in order to defend the citizens of Israel, to remove the evil threats against us, and to stand up to those who attempt to destroy us.

On Wednesday, US president Joe Biden warned Israel it would stop supplying weapons if it went ahead with its planned ground invasion of Rafah, which the UN warned would be a bloodbath. Israel claims Hamass last four battalions are hiding in the city.

Yoav Gallant said Israel would not be subdued after Washington threatened to withdraw weapon supplies to the country (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press All rights reserved)

EXCLUSIVE: More than 240 aid workers killed in Gaza, UN reveals

Thursday 9 May 2024 14:30 , Billal Rahman

Over 240 aid workers have died in Gaza since the beginning of the Hamas war, a UN Official has told The Independent.

UN spokesperson Olga Cherevko who is currently in Rafah, has also described the horrific conditions people are living in. She said: We have not had enough aid entering since the beginning of this war.

Its horrific, theres almost a 1.5 million people living here, basically on top of each other.

The number of humanitarian workers that weve lost which is now over 240 people that have been killed, some of them in the line of duty.

Ms Cherevkos comments come as Israeli military launched its offensive in Rafah, despite repeated warnings from the US and UK.

UK should have been ahead of US in suspending arms sales to Israel, ex-national security adviser says

Thursday 9 May 2024 14:20 , Alexander Butler

UK should have been ahead of US in suspending arms sales to Israel

What weapons has the US paused sending to Israel  and what else do they supply?

Thursday 9 May 2024 14:08 , Alexander Butler

What weapons has the US paused sending to Israel  and what else do they supply?

In pictures: Humanitarian aid packages are dropped on the Gaza Strip

Thursday 9 May 2024 13:50 , Holly Evans

Humanitarian aid packages are dropped on the Gaza Strip (AFP via Getty Images)

The beseiged enclave is running low on food and aid supplies (AFP via Getty Images)

80,000 displaced from Rafah as Israeli bombardment intensifies, UN says

Thursday 9 May 2024 13:38 , Tom Barnes

More than 80,000 people have left Rafah since Monday as Israeli continues its offensive in southern Gaza, the UN has said.

Most of those uprooted by Israeli military evacuation orders in eastern Rafah have already been displaced from other areas of Gaza, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

UNRWA said people people were leaving with everything they can carry in vehicles, trucks, (on) motorbikes and donkey carts.

More than 47,500 people are estimated to have left shelters in Rafah on Wednesday alone, the agency added.

Rafah's hospitals will run out of fuel in 3 days, WHO says

Thursday 9 May 2024 13:20 , Holly Evans

The World Health Organization says it has only three days of fuel for its medical operations in southern Gaza, with shortages already forcing one of three remaining hospitals in the city of Rafah to shut down.

The Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been closed since Israels military took control of the Palestinian side early Tuesday, blocking the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid. The U.N. says northern Gaza is already in a state of full-blown famine.

The war in Gaza has driven around 80% of the territorys population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, mosques and schools across several cities. The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials.

Read the full article here:

The Latest | Rafah's hospitals will run out of fuel in 3 days, WHO says

Israeli airstrike kills four Hezbollah members in Lebanon, says security source

Thursday 9 May 2024 12:50 , Holly Evans

An Israeli air strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed four people on Thursday, according to Lebanons civil defence, with security sources saying those killed were members of armed group Hezbollah.

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has rumbled on since October in parallel to the Gaza war, with an escalation this week as both sides intensified their bombardment, fuelling concern of a bigger war between the heavily-armed adversaries.

Israel has used artillery, drones and warplanes against targets in southern Lebanon, including to strike fighters from Hezbollah and other armed groups. Fighters in Lebanon have launched rockets and their own drones into northern Israel.

The Israeli military did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Thursdays strikes.

David Cameron says UK systems of arms exports to Israel not the same as US

Thursday 9 May 2024 12:19 , Holly Evans

Foreign Secretary David Cameron described Britains system and scale of arms exports to Israel as completely different from those in the United States, saying the sales it licences were relatively small and policed by strict procedures.

Cameron was responding to a question on whether Britain would follow the U.S. after it warned that it would withhold weapons from Israel in case of a major invasion of Rafah.

Theres a very fundamental difference between the US. situation and the UK situation, Cameron said after a speech.

The US is a massive state supplier of weapons to Israel ... we do not have a UK Government supply of weapons to Israel, we have a number of licences, and I think our defence exports to Israel are responsible for significantly less than 1% of their total.

Lord Cameron says there is a fundamental difference between UK and US sales of arms to Israel (Getty Images)

Israeli politicians respond to Bidens comments on withholding arms

Thursday 9 May 2024 12:00 , Holly Evans

This is a difficult and very disappointing statement to hear from a president to whom we have been grateful since the beginning of the war, Israels ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said on public radio.

And Israels far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said the government would pursue its goals in Gaza despite the US threat.

We will achieve complete victory in this war despite President Bidens push back and arms embargo, he said in a statement.

We must continue the war until Hamas is totally eliminated and our hostages are back home. This involves conquering Rafah completely and the sooner the better.

Latest pictures from the ground

Thursday 9 May 2024 11:36 , Holly Evans

Smoke billows from Israeli strikes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip (AFP via Getty Images)

A group of Israeli soldiers holds an Israeli flag as they gather with military vehicles at an undisclosed position (EPA)

Education Secretary fears university campuses could become unsafe like in US

Thursday 9 May 2024 11:22 , Holly Evans

There is a fear that university campuses in the UK will become unsafe spaces for students and staff like in the US, the Education Secretary has said.

Student encampments have been set up at more than a dozen universities in the UK against the war in Gaza, including Cambridge and Oxford.

Tensions have continued to ratchet up in standoffs with pro-Palestine protesters at US university campuses- and thousands of demonstrators have been arrested since the protests began in America last month.

A student demonstration at the University of Edinburgh (PA)

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conducted a meeting in the state dining room of No 10 on Thursday morning with vice-chancellors from leading UK universities to discuss antisemitism on campuses and protecting Jewish students.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said vice-chancellors need to show leadership in response to protests against the war in Gaza.

Speaking ahead of the roundtable, Ms Keegan told Sky News: What we dont want is our campuses becoming unsafe environments for students or staff and going down the route that you see in other places like the US.

80,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah since Monday

Thursday 9 May 2024 10:47 , Holly Evans

Since Monday, 80,000 people have fled Rafah, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in a post on X on Thursday.

The toll on these families is unbearable. Nowhere is safe, UNRWA said.

People are facing yet another forced displacement in the #GazaStrip



Since Israeli Forces military operation intensified on 6 May, around 80,000 people have fled #Rafah, seeking refuge elsewhere. The toll on these families is unbearable. Nowhere is safe.



We need a #CeasefireNOW pic.twitter.com/SEk3MOJtWE  UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 9, 2024

Only three days left of fuel for medical operations in southern Gaza

Thursday 9 May 2024 10:22 , Holly Evans

The World Health Organisation says it has only three days of fuel for its medical operations in southern Gaza, with shortages already forcing one of three remaining hospitals in the city of Rafah to shut down.

The Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been closed since Israels military took control of the Palestinian side early on Tuesday, blocking the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid.

The UN says northern Gaza is already in a state of full-blown famine.

Israel said it reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing, the other main entry point for aid, on Wednesday.

However, UN officials say no aid has entered Gaza, and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side because of ongoing fighting.

Human Rights Watch say Israel has unlawfully used force to kill Palestinians

Thursday 9 May 2024 10:05 , Bel Trew

Israeli forces have unlawfully used lethal force in fatal shootings of Palestinians, organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.

Based on documentation of several cases since 2022, this also includes deliberately executing Palestinians who posed no apparent security threat,

HRW investigated eight specific killings of Palestinians in the West Bank, including children.

Israeli forces have no need to fear that their government will hold them accountable.

The IDF gave no responses to HRWs questions about the eight specific killings.

HRW found that Israeli forces had unlawfully used lethal force (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Shelling reported overnight in Rafah

Thursday 9 May 2024 09:36 , Holly Evans

The BBC has reported that shelling was heard in Rafah overnight, although the Israeli military is yet to comment.

Journalists with the AFP agenyc reported heavy shelling, while the Palestinian news agency Wafa said eight people were killed.

It has also been reported that the area around the Rafah crossing has been struck.

Macklemore performs Gaza war protest song Hinds Hall at New Zealand concert

Thursday 9 May 2024 09:02 , Holly Evans

Grammy-winning American rapper Macklemore performed his new protest track in support of Palestine, called Hinds Hall, for the first time in New Zealands Wellington.

The single, a surprise release from the rapper on Tuesday, is inspired by the worldwide student protests against Israels war on Gaza and pays tribute to Hind Rajab.

Rajab, 6, was killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza two months ago while she was waiting for rescue trapped in a car with the bodies of her dead relatives.

Read the full article here:

34,904 Palestinians killed in Gaza since 7 October

Thursday 9 May 2024 08:57 , Holly Evans

At least 34,904 Palestinians have been killed and 78,514 injured in Israels military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, Gazas health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The announcement comes as a vessel carrying aid to a pier built by the US in the besieged enclave set sail from Cyprus.

The Sagamaore left the port of Larnaca on Thursday morning and will be used to offload aid supplies onto a floating pier.

A boy stands before an impact crater at the site of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 8 May 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

Israels former defence official rejects claim country can manage without US arms

Thursday 9 May 2024 08:19 , Holly Evans

Israels former head of defense production and procurement on Thursday rejected the claim the country could manage without American arms.

In an appearance on Israeli public radio, he said they would be forced to source arms elsewhere.

Israels UN ambassador condemns US decision to pause weapons transfers

Thursday 9 May 2024 07:48 , Holly Evans

The United States decision to pause weapons transfers to Israel will significantly impair the countrys ability to neutralise Hamas, their United Nations ambassador Gilad Erdan has said.

It comes after Joe Biden vowed publicly to withold weapons if Israels forces made a major invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza. Their administration has repeatedly asked Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus government for its plan to protect civilians.

Biden also acknowledged that US bombs provided to Israel have killed Gaza civilians in the seven-month-old offensive aimed at annihilating Hamas.

US president Joe Biden made the comments during an interview with CNN (CNN)

Iran to change nuclear doctrine if existence threatened, adviser to supreme leader says

Thursday 9 May 2024 07:28 , Holly Evans

Iran will change its nuclear doctrine if Israel threatens its existence, an adviser to Irans supreme leader said, the latest comment by an Iranian official that raises questions about what Tehran says is its peaceful nuclear program.

Tehran has always said it had no plans to obtain nuclear weapons. Western governments suspect that it wants nuclear technology to build a bomb; its nuclear program has been at the centre of a long-running dispute that has led to sanctions.

In April, in the middle of a tense standoff with Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander also said Israeli threats could prompt Iran to change its nuclear doctrine.

We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb but should Irans existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine, Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was reported as saying.

Biden faces domestic pressure over decision to halt military aid to Israel

Thursday 9 May 2024 06:49 , Namita Singh

Joe Biden is facing pressure from some the left to rein in Israel and condemnation from critics on the right who say he has moderated his support for a key Mideast ally.

If we stop weapons necessary to destroy the enemies of the state of Israel at a time of great peril, we will pay a price, said Republican senator Lindsey Graham, his voice rising in anger during an exchange with defence secretary Lloyd Austin.

This is obscene. It is absurd. Give Israel what they need to fight the war they cant afford to lose.Independent senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Biden ally, said in a statement the pause on big bombs must be a first step.

US president Joe Biden steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on 8 May 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Our leverage is clear, Mr Sanders said. Over the years, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. We can no longer be complicit in Netanyahus horrific war against the Palestinian people.

Defence secretary Lloyd Austin, meanwhile, told lawmakers that its about having the right kinds of weapons for the task at hand.

A small diameter bomb, which is a precision weapon, thats very useful in a dense, built-up environment, he said, but maybe not so much a 2,000-pound bomb that could create a lot of collateral damage. He said the US wants to see Israel do more precise operations.

Has US withheld military aid from Israel before?

Thursday 9 May 2024 06:32 , Namita Singh

This is not the first time that military aid to Israel has been paused. In 1982, president Ronald Reagan imposed a six-year ban on cluster weapons sales to Israel after a Congressional investigation found that Israel had used them in populated areas during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Israels use of American cluster bombs was also reviewed under president George W Bush over concerns that they were used during a 2006 war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

Were the bombs legal for Israel to use in Gaza?

Thursday 9 May 2024 06:27 , Namita Singh

The use of large bombs like 2,000-pound bombs is a matter of heated debate.

International humanitarian law does not explicitly ban aerial bombing in densely populated areas, however, civilians cannot be targets and a specific military aim must be proportionate to possible civilian casualties or damage.

The statute of the International Criminal Court, which is investigating Israels war on Gaza lists as a war crime intentionally launching an attack when it is known that civilian death or damage will be clearly excessive compared to any direct military advantage.

How has Israel responded to US weapon supply pause?

Thursday 9 May 2024 06:25 , Namita Singh

Israel has denied targeting Palestinian civilians, claiming its sole aim was to annihilate Hamas and that it took all precautions to avoid unnecessary deaths.

After the news broke on Tuesday, a senior Israeli official declined to confirm the report.

Men and a boy inspect the site of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 8 May 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

If we have to fight with our fingernails, then well do what we have to do, the official said.

A military spokesperson said any disagreements with the US were resolved in private.

Scale of damage from 2,000-pound bombs

Thursday 9 May 2024 06:23 , Namita Singh

A 2,000-pound bomb impacts a wide area. The pressure from the explosion can rupture lungs, burst sinus cavities and tear off limbs hundreds of meters from the blast site, according to the United Nations.

The International Commission for the Red Cross in a 2022 report stated that the use of wide-area explosives in a densely populated area is very likely to have indiscriminate effects or violate the principle of proportionality.

When did US decide to halt weapon supplies to Israel?

Thursday 9 May 2024 06:10 , Namita Singh

The decision to halt weapon supplies to Israel was made last week, US officials told Reuters. Joe Biden was directly involved. Mr Biden confirmed the pause personally in a CNN interview Wednesday.

People search with flashlights by an impact crater at the site of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 7 May 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers, he said when asked about 2,000-pound bombs sent to Israel.

Which weapons shipment to Israel has US blocked?

Thursday 9 May 2024 06:07 , Namita Singh

Washington has paused a shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and another of 1,700 500-pound bombs, according to US officials.

Sources said the shipments, which have been delayed for at least two weeks, include Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which convert dumb bombs into precision-guided ones, as well as Small Diameter Bombs.

The latter is a precision-guided glide bomb that packs 250 pounds of explosives. They were part of an earlier approved shipment to Israel, not the recent $95bn supplemental aid package the US Congress passed in April.

Why the US is stopping some bomb shipments to Israel?

Thursday 9 May 2024 05:36 , Namita Singh

The United States has suspended a shipment of weapons to Israel, including heavy bombs the US ally used in its campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.

The suspension comes as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues a military assault on the Palestinian city of Rafah, over the objections of US president Joe Biden.

The US is reviewing near term security assistance, defense secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate hearing yesterday in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.

Weve been very clear...from the very beginning that Israel shouldnt launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battlespace, Mr Austin said. More than one million Palestinian civilians have sought shelter in Rafah, many previously displaced from other parts of Gaza following Israels orders to evacuate from there.

The US decision was taken due to concerns about the end-use of the 2,000-pound bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza, said a US official speaking on condition of anonymity. The US had carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that might be used in Rafah, the official said.

Meanwhile, a US official told the Washington Post that the weapons shipment could still be delivered at White Houses discretion, adding that a final decision on how to proceed has not been made.

In any case, the official added, the Israeli military has enough weapons supplied by the US and other Western nations to conduct the Rafah operation if it chooses to cast aside the White Houses objections.

Unicef concerned for 600,000 displaced Palestinian children

Thursday 9 May 2024 05:08 , Namita Singh

Unicef has urged Israels government to agree a ceasefire deal as the UN agency expressed concern for displaced Palestinian children.

Theres 600,000 children that are seeking shelter in Rafah and that many of them have been displaced multiple times already, Unicef spokesperson Tess Ingram told The Intercept. Theyre exhausted, traumatised, sick, hungry, and their ability to safely evacuate is limited.

Children stand by an impact crater at the site of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 8 May 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

The area that theyre being directed to evacuate to is not safe. Its not safe because there arent the services there to meet their basic needs, water, toilets, shelter, she told the outlet. But its also not safe because we know that that area has been subject to strikes despite being a so-called safe zone. So were really concerned about that impact of a ground offensive on one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Israel says it reopened a key Gaza crossing, UN says no aid entered

Thursday 9 May 2024 05:02 , Namita Singh

The Israeli military yesterday said it reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after days of closure but the UN said no humanitarian aid entered and there was no one to receive it on the Palestinian side since workers had fled during the militarys incursion into the area.

The Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel was closed over the weekend after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers nearby. On Tuesday, an Israeli tank brigade seized the nearby Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, forcing its closure.

Israeli soldiers organize their equipment and a tank near the border with the Southern Gaza Strip on 5 May 2024 in Southern Israel, Israel (Getty Images)

The two crossings are the main terminals for entry of food, medicine and other supplies essential for the survival of Gazas population of 2.3 million Palestinians.

The Israeli foray did not appear to be the start of the full-scale invasion of the city of Rafah that Israel has repeatedly threatened. But aid officials warned that the prolonged closure of the two crossings could cause the collapse of aid operations, worsening the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the UN says a full-blown famine is already underway in the north.

A looming humanitarian catastrophe amid Israels Rafah assault

Thursday 9 May 2024 04:39 , Namita Singh

Hamas said its fighters yesterday were battling Israeli forces in Rafahs east and Islamic Jihads fighters attacked Israeli soldiers and military vehicles with heavy artillery near the citys long abandoned airport.Israeli tank shells landed in the middle of Rafah wounding at least 25 people, medics said. Residents said an Israeli air strike killed four people and wounded 16 others in western Rafah.

The Israeli military said its troops had discovered Hamas infrastructure in several places in eastern Rafah and were conducting targeted raids in Rafah and airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.

A boy stands before an impact crater at the site of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 8 May 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

The UN, Gaza residents and humanitarian groups say further Israeli incursion into Rafah will result in a humanitarian catastrophe.

A UN official said no fuel or aid had entered the Gaza Strip due to the military operation, a situation disastrous for the humanitarian response in Gaza where more than half the population is suffering catastrophic hunger.

Palestinians have crammed into tented camps and makeshift shelters, suffering from shortages of food, water and medicine.

The streets of the city echo with the cries of innocent lives lost, families torn apart, and homes reduced to rubble, Rafah mayor Ahmed Al-Sofi said, appealing to the international community to intervene.

No more concessions to Israel in truce talks, says Hamas

Thursday 9 May 2024 04:38 , Namita Singh

Palestinian militant group Hamas said yesterday it would make no more concessions to Israel in Gaza truce talks.

Delegations from Hamas, Israel, the US, Egypt and Qatar have been meeting in Cairo since Tuesday. Citing a source familiar with the matter, Egypts state-affiliated Al Qahera TV reported early this morning that areas of disagreement were being resolved and there were signs that an agreement will be reached, without giving details.

But Izzat El-Reshiq, a member of Hamass political office in Qatar, said in a statement yesterday that the group would not go beyond a ceasefire proposal it accepted on Monday. It would also entail the release of some Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian women and children detained in Israel.

Children stand by an impact crater at the site of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 8 May 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

Israel isnt serious about reaching an agreement and it is using the negotiation as a cover to invade Rafah and occupy the crossing, said Reshiq.

Israel on Monday declared that the three-phase truce proposal approved by Hamas was unacceptable because terms had been watered down. It did not respond immediately to the Hamas statement.

The US said on Tuesday that Hamas had revised its ceasefire proposal and the revision could overcome an impasse in negotiations. Just a few hours before Hamass latest statement, Washington continued to say the two sides were not far apart.

We believe there is a pathway to a deal ... The two sides are close enough they should do what they can to get to a deal, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.

Very disappointing says Israels UN ambassador on US weapon halt

Thursday 9 May 2024 04:35 , Namita Singh

US officials yesterday confirmed that Washington paused delivery of a shipment of bombs to Israel because of the risk to civilians in Gaza.

Israels UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, called that decision very disappointing but said he did not believe the US would stop supplying arms to Israel.

The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, and it accelerated deliveries after the Hamas attacks on 7 October that triggered Israels offensive in Gaza.

Men and a boy inspect the site of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 8 May 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the militant group Hamas (AFP via Getty Images)

However, Joe Biden has been under pressure from his fellow Democrats and growing campus protests to deter Israel from invading Rafah. His support of Israel has become a political liability as the president runs for re-election.

Civilians in Gaza killed from US-supplied bombs, acknowledges Biden

Thursday 9 May 2024 04:15 , Namita Singh

Joe Biden acknowledged that civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of US-supplied bombs.

Mr Bidens comments, his starkest to date, increase the pressure on Israel to refrain from a full-scale assault on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge after fleeing combat farther north in Gaza.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on his remarks, but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Rafah operation would go ahead. Israel says it must hit Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are there.

Israel, meanwhile, continued tank and aerial strikes on southern Gaza after moving in via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route.

Biden says US wont supply weapons for Israel to attack Rafah

Thursday 9 May 2024 04:14 , Namita Singh

President Joe Biden said that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah  the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza  over concern for the well-being of the more than one million civilians sheltering there.

Mr Biden, in an interview with CNN, said the US was still committed to Israels defence and would supply Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive arms, but that if Israel goes into Rafah, were not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used.

US president Joe Biden steps off Marine One upon arrival at Soldier Field Landing Zone in Chicago, Illinois, on 8 May 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

Killing of man in Egypt linked to Gaza'

Thursday 9 May 2024 02:00 , Jane Dalton

A Canadian man of Jewish Israeli descent has been shot dead in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in a suspected criminal case, a security source said, while a previously unknown militant group said it carried out the attack in reaction to the war in Gaza.

The Egyptian security source said the man had been killed with the motive of robbery and made no link between the shooting and the victims ethnic background.

But a message on Telegram by a previously unknown group called Vanguards of Liberation claimed responsibility for the attack as a reaction to Israels military campaign in Gaza and its move to seize control of the Rafah crossing on Egypts border with the enclave. It named the victim as Ziv Kipper, accusing him of working for Israeli intelligence.

Rafah residents face the fire of hell

Thursday 9 May 2024 00:10 , Jane Dalton

Recap: United Nations officials have warned that vital aid is being choked off after Israeli forces and tanks seized control of the main aid crossing in Rafah:

Rafah residents face the fire of hell as Israeli tanks seize border crossing

Palestinians awaiting execution as pressure grows on Israel to agree ceasefire

Wednesday 8 May 2024 22:15 , Jane Dalton

Palestinian civilians fleeing Israels assault on east Rafah have said they have been sentenced to death. Bel Trew reports, with Nedal Hamdouna in Rafah:

Palestinians in Rafah awaiting execution as pressure grows over ceasefire

Opinion: I witnessed hell on earth in Gaza

Wednesday 8 May 2024 21:15 , Jane Dalton

Ive been on the ground in Rafah  what I saw there horrified me

Irish students win anti-Israeli fight with university

Wednesday 8 May 2024 20:14 , Jane Dalton

A student encampment protest at Trinity College Dublin is to end after management agreed to the demands of protesters wanting the university to cut all ties with Israel.

Visitors have been unable to access the historic Book of Kells since action began on Friday evening when the activists set up tents inside the campus of the prestigious institution.

University management met student representatives on Wednesday to discuss the situation.

In a statement, Trinity said it would complete a divestment from investments in Israeli companies that have activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN blacklist in this regard.

This process is expected to be completed by June.

It said it would endeavour to divest in other Israeli companies, noting that its supplier list contains just one Israeli company which will remain until March 2025 for contractual reasons.

Marking an unprecedented victory for the Trinity encampment protesters, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) have agreed to work towards a complete divestment from Israeli institutions.



The protesters have unanimously agreed to accept the college's terms on cutting ties. The pic.twitter.com/lTsN5Sflg0  Lovin Dublin (@LovinDublin) May 8, 2024

Suspension of US bombs shipment disappointing, says Israel

Wednesday 8 May 2024 18:56 , Jane Dalton

Israels ambassador to the UN called has called Washingtons decision to delay a shipment of powerful bombs to Israel very disappointing.

But Gilad Erdan said he did not believe the US would stop supplying arms to Israel.

Washington said it had held up the shipment to prevent Palestinian civilian casualties.

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington had carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that might be used in Rafah and as a result suspended a shipment of 1,800 2,000lb (907kg) bombs and 1,700 500lb bombs.

This would be the first such delay since the Biden administration offered its ironclad support to Israel after Hamas October attack.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the decision was taken in the context of Israels plan to invade Rafah, which Washington opposes without civilian safeguards.

Police clearing Pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University, dozens arrested

Wednesday 8 May 2024 17:00 , Tom Watling

Police began to clear a Pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University early Wednesday, hours after dozens of protesters left the site and marched to President Ellen Granbergs home.

Officers gave their third and final warning to demonstrators to move at about 3:30 a.m., saying all who remained in U-Yard and the stretch of H Street in front of the plaza would be arrested, according to GW Hatchet, the universitys independent student-run newspaper.

Police clearing Pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University, dozens arrested

Main maternity hospital in Rafah stops admitting patients

Wednesday 8 May 2024 16:30 , Tom Watling

The main maternity hospital in the Gaza Strips crowded southern city of Rafah has stopped admitting patients, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has reported.

The UNFPA told Reuters that the hospital, Emirati Maternity Hospital, had been handling some 85 out of a daily total of 180 births in Gaza prior to an escalation of fighting between Hamas and Israeli troops on Rafahs outskirts.

Around half of Gazas 2.3 million people have been crowded into Rafah after fleeing other parts of the enclave during seven months of war.

Emirati Hospital has only five delivery beds. But following the mass influx of people into Rafah that began in December due to Israeli airstrikes and fighting further north, the hospital became the main place for women to give birth in Rafah, Dominic Allen, the UNs top official for the occupied Palestinian territories.

Other hospitals in the city, like Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, have for months been admitting war wounded and directing women in labour to Emirati.

Palestinian babies born preterm amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas receive care at the Emirati hospital in Rafah (AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden administration says it has been clear on what kind of Rafah invasion is acceptable. Israels counterterrorism mission into the southern Gaza city has blurred those lines.

Three administration officials said Israels Monday night campaign into eastern Rafah, which came hours after an evacuation order for 100,000 people, has the United States concerned. But they then stress the operation has fallen short of the major ground invasion the White House has warned against, one that would put the 1.4 million Palestinians in the line of fire.

This is not what weve been worried about, said one of the officials, like others granted anonymity to detail sensitive internal thinking. All three said that no review of U.S. Israel policy is happening now.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby later told reporters this is an operation of limited scope, scale and duration, noting the U.S. would be watching this one very, very closely.



Those sentiments muddy what President Joe Biden and his team insist is a well-defined red line. For months, the U.S. has said publicly and privately that Israeli forces shouldnt storm into Rafah without a comprehensive civilian protection plan in place. A deteriorating humanitarian situation would prompt the U.S. to reassess its Israel policy, Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April, a message he reiterated during a similar conversation on Monday.

But this weeks operation  which reportedly killed 23 Palestinian civilians and cut Rafah off from aid  shows that the administration has difficulties drawing and enforcing that line.

This does look like the prelude of a major military operation, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Tuesday, shortly after Kirbys remarks. We have not yet seen that operation commenced. Asked about that comment, he clarified: We dont know if its a prelude or not.

U.S. officials openly and quietly argued Israels maneuver was a limited response to Hamas launching an attack last weekend that killed four Israeli troops from the invaded area. But as part of that operation, Israel has now taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, shutting down a vital aid route and sending thousands of Palestinians fleeing for safety.



The closure of both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday. Bob Kitchen, the International Rescue Committees vice president for emergencies, said over a million civilians are now in imminent danger and aid flow through the Rafah crossing has halted with no aid trucks entering since May 5.

Two of the administration officials said the U.S. is monitoring to ensure the precise counterterrorism mission doesnt grow into an all-out invasion of the city. Israel would have to call up more forces to take on the estimated 3,000 Hamas fighters in and under Rafah, indicating that a large-scale operation isnt imminent.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a Monday night statement that it sent ground troops and armored vehicles into the area to eliminate Hamas terrorists and dismantle Hamas terrorist infrastructure, including underground positions. Since the start of the operational activity, approximately 20 terrorists have been eliminated and three operational tunnel shafts have been located.



Kirby further told reporters what weve been told by our Israeli counterparts is that this operation last night was limited and designed to cut off Hamas ability to smuggle weapons and funds into Gaza. The U.S. would work with its Israeli counterparts to reopen the Rafah crossing as soon as possible, Kirby continued.

Israeli leaders are suggesting the military mission will grow. The moves are an important step toward dismantling Hamas military and economic capabilities, Netanyahu said in a Tuesday speech. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant followed with comments delivered on the Gaza border: This operation will continue until we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and the entire Gaza strip, or until the first hostage returns.

CIA Director Bill Burns is heading back to Cairo for negotiations that may be inching toward a deal. On Monday, Hamas said it greenlit a cease-fire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar, but it wasnt the pact Israel and the United States supported. Hours later, Israel launched its operation into Rafah, potentially complicating talks and damaging broader efforts at normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Biden delivered a Tuesday speech inside the Capitol about rising antisemitism in America, which of late has exhibited itself on college campus protests against his Israel policy. The president didnt address the Rafah situation.

Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.
(Bloomberg) -- The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it had agreed to a cease-fire proposal for the Gaza Strip, but Israels war cabinet unanimously rejected it as far from Israels necessary demands, dashing hopes for an immediate pause in the fighting.

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Israel vowed to continue its operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas but also said it will send a delegation to meet with mediators to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement. In a statement later Monday, the Israel Defense Forces announced fresh airstrikes against Hamas targets in the Rafah area.

The Israeli response followed hours after Hamas had posted a statement to Telegram saying that Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political office, had accepted a Qatari and Egyptian cease-fire proposal. Questions were raised almost immediately about the details, with both US and Israeli officials saying they were studying the Hamas response.

Benny Gantz, a centrist who joined the war cabinet, said in a post on Telegram that the proposal offered by Hamas does not correspond to the dialogue that has taken place so far with the mediators and has significant gaps. He said an Israeli delegation nonetheless will meet with negotiators in Cairo.

Hamas and Israel have been negotiating via Qatar, Egypt and the US on an agreement that would see the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli jails. It would also include a pause in fighting.

The proposal and cease-fire that Hamas said it could accept has minor wording changes from the one that Israel and the US had presented to the group, the New York Times reported.

The proposal calls for the eventual enactment of a sustainable calm, the paper reported citing two officials familiar with the revised plan. The officials, who werent identified, said the changes were made by Arab mediators in consultation with US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns and the wording was something all sides had earlier said they could accept.

The officials also said they expected warring parties would likely clash over the definition of sustainable calm, the paper reported.

Israeli cabinet minister Itamar Ben Gvir was the first Israeli official to address the Hamas response to the cease-fire proposal, saying it was no more than a trick. Hamas shenanigans have only one answer: an immediate order to occupy Rafah! Increasing military pressure, crushing Hamas, and proceeding to its ultimate defeat, Ben Gvir said in a post on X.

Tensions Increased

Those talks had stalled over the weekend over the Iran-backed militant groups insistence that any truce be permanent, leading to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Israel has said it must eliminate Hamas before ending the war.

Tensions also increased after Hamas killed four Israeli soldiers with a rocket barrage on Sunday on the border crossing of Kerem Shalom, one of its worst missile attacks in weeks. Israel has insisted on a phased approach to any cease-fire, saying Hamas must first commit to the release of about three dozen hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

I want it to succeed, but the cold, sort of cool analyst in me says the fundamental divide between the two combatants  Israel and Hamas  make it more likely that well see many more weeks, if not months, of violence than well see some sort of off-ramp to a diplomatic settlement, said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute who previously worked at the US National Security Council.

At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will go ahead with its invasion of Rafah, in Gazas south, where Israeli forces say Hamas still holds sway. Earlier Monday, Israel told some civilians to move out of parts of Rafah, a possible prelude to a long-expected attack on the city where more than a million Palestinians have sought shelter from the war.

The Israel Defense Forces will act with extreme force against terrorist organizations in your areas of residence, a spokesman said on X on Monday morning. He urged residents of eastern Rafah to go north to an expanded humanitarian area near Khan Younis, another city in Gaza.

Large numbers of people started leaving Rafah in cars, on foot and on horse-drawn carriages. A spokesman for the Israeli military said its Air Force struck 50 targets in Rafah Monday.

President Joe Biden has called a Rafah invasion a red line, and he and other top US officials have repeatedly warned that Israel must not launch such an attack without protecting civilians. During a visit to Tel Aviv last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said weve not seen such a plan.

Biden and Netanyahu spoke on Monday. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden had again made clear the US view about operations in Rafah that could potentially put more than a million innocent people at greater risk.

Read More: Biden, Netanyahu Speak as Israel Tells Gazans to Leave Rafah

If a cease-fire had been reached, it would have brought about a halt in fighting between Israel and Hamas for the first time since a similar accord in late November. The impasse could allow talks to begin regarding a permanent truce, while letting much-needed aid be delivered to Gazas war-ravaged population. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union.

--With assistance from Courtney McBride, Jordan Fabian, Akayla Gardner, Iain Marlow, Jon Herskovitz and Bill Faries.

(Updates with New York Times report on deal from paragraph six. An earlier version of this story incorrectly said details on the cease-fire proposal had been provided.)

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Israel says it has taken control of Gaza side of Rafah Crossing amid truce talks

Aftermath of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah

Aftermath of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah

By James Mackenzie and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) - The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had taken operational control of the Palestinian side of Gaza's southern Rafah Crossing, which borders Egypt and has been pivotal for the delivery of aid and exit of injured people in the Gaza war.

The military said forces were scanning the area in the morning after launching a ground and air operation in part of eastern Rafah on Monday night, amid diplomatic efforts abroad to achieve a new truce.

The Gaza Crossings Authority said in a statement that Israel's takeover was a "death sentence" against Gazans, particularly the ill and injured.

Throughout the seven-month war, Rafah, the only crossing not run by Israel, has been the main lifeline to the outside world for Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians, allowing humanitarian supplies in and transport of patients out during severe shortages and destruction of healthcare facilities.

The Israeli military said a limited operation in Rafah was meant to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas, the militant group that governs the blockaded Palestinian territory.

Israel's closest ally the United States has advised against an assault in Rafah, the last refuge for around half of Gaza's population.

OVERNIGHT STRIKES

Palestinian health officials said Israeli tanks and planes pounded several areas in Rafah overnight, killing 20 Palestinians and wounding several others in hits on at least four houses.

Residents said Israel had dropped new leaflets on Tuesday, again warning people to leave areas in eastern Rafah.

Israeli tanks also shelled eastern areas of Beit Lahiya, Jabalia, and Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, residents said.

The Israeli military said most people and some international organizations had evacuated the area of eastern Rafah where it was operating. It said it killed some 20 fighters and found three tunnel shafts.

A separate, Israeli-controlled crossing nearby, Kerem Shalom, was closed on Tuesday for security reasons and will reopen once the security situation allows, the military said.

Israel has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians in its air, ground and sea assault on Gaza, according to Gaza health officials. The U.N. has said famine is underway in northern Gaza and is making its way to the south.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie and Henriette Chacar; Editing by Tom Hogue and Andrew Cawthorne)
On the eve of the so-called "inauguration" of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, a new wave of rivalry for influential positions in the government has begun among Kremlin officials. Russian elites are trying to secure influential roles for themselves if dictator Putin leaves power prematurely.

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In particular, the Kremlin officials have begun to actively speculate about who will be part of the new government after Putin's "inauguration." This is stated in the analysis of the Institute for War Studies.

Sources in the Kremlin told Russian "opposition" media that some elites are "tense", hoping for promotion and worrying about demotion. Kremlin officials are also trying to take the "highest position" in case Putin's upcoming six-year term turns out to be his last.

However, analysts have noted that there is currently no indication that Putin intends to step down from power after his upcoming dictatorial term. Therefore, the Kremlin leader's possible efforts to create elites who will succeed him, as well as the elites' efforts to position themselves in the government, are probably premature.

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At the same time, some sources close to the Kremlin suggest that Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin or First Deputy Chief of Staff to the Russian President Sergei Kiriyenko could become the next prime minister, while other sources have expressed doubt that the current Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, will resign.

At the same time, sources in the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation claim that members of the State Duma are already ready to re-approve Mishustin as prime minister. Two sources close to Putin's administration and the Russian government said that the deputy prime minister and the dictator's representative in the Far Eastern Federal District, Yuri Trutnev, and the governor of the Kemerovo region, Sergey Tsivilyov, want new positions in the Russian government.

ISW believes that the changes in the positions of the Russian elite are unlikely to affect decision-making and policy planning within the country or internationally. Dictator Putin is still focused on conservatism, eliminating all dissenters, winning the war against Ukraine, and "turning to the East," probably meaning deepening Russia's relations with China, Iran, and North Korea. To this end, Putin is trying to create ideological homogeneity among the Russian elite.

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As a reminder, there will be no U.S. representative at the inauguration ceremony of the aggressor country's president, Vladimir Putin. The White House does not consider these elections to be free.

Earlier, it was reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Europe will begin on May 6 and last until May 10. This means that none of the superpower leaders who could attend the "inauguration" of Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin will be present at the event.

As reported, most European Union countries will boycott the Kremlin's ceremony. However, seven EU states may send representatives to the event which is being organized by the Russians on May 7.

Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Israels military seized control of the Rafah border crossing in Gaza Tuesday, according to officials.

Israeli military tanks rolled into the southern city of Gaza, which is housing around 1.3 million people, early Tuesday.

The seizure of the border crossing, critical for delivering humanitarian aid, comes after militant group Hamas said it would agree to a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal. However, Israel said the deal was not up to par.

The military said its aircraft struck more than 50 targets on the Gaza side of Rafah. Israel has faced backlash for its planned incursion into the area, an operation President Biden and his administration warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to proceed with.

Netanyahu on Tuesday said the capture of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing is an important step toward dismantling Hamass capabilities.

Israel told about 100,000 residents of eastern Rafah to evacuate Monday, a day before Israeli 401st Brigade moved into the crossing, The Associated Press reported. Both Rafah and Kerem Shalom, two major entry points for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, have been shut down the last two days, according to the AP.

The United Nationss agency that supplies food and medicine for Palestinians in Gaza, known as the UNRWA, said Tuesday that it will stay in Rafah despite Israels incursion.

We are staying where we are, the director of planning at UNRWA, Sam Rose, told Al Jazeera English. The issue is our ability to continue delivering over a sustained period of time if the crossings remain closed.

The Israeli military killed 23 Palestinians overnight, according to the AP. In response, Gazas Interior Ministry slammed the Israeli military operation in the area and said the crossing does not pose a risk to Israel.

The Rafah crossing is a civilian service facility and constitutes the main lifeline for citizens in the Gaza Strip, the ministry said in a statement Tuesday. The crossing does not represent any threat to the Israeli occupation.

The war in Gaza, which began Oct. 7 after Hamas launched a strike on Israel that killed nearly 1,200 people, has driven around 80 percent of the territorys population from their homes, the AP reported. The death toll in the region from Israels response has risen to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials.

Updated at 12:02 p.m. EDT

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(Bloomberg) -- Israeli forces took control of the Rafah border-crossing in Gaza on Tuesday morning ahead of a possible assault on the city.

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Its the first time Israels army has entered that part of Gaza since the war with Hamas, an Iran-backed militant group, began in October.

The development came a day after Israel told residents in parts of eastern Rafah to leave immediately and launched more airstrikes in some areas of the city. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said civilians will be allowed to move out before any ground attack.

Cease-fire talks between the two sides continue but remain stuck over Hamass demand that any pause in fighting is effectively permanent. Israel says the war cant end  even if theres a break for a weeks-long truce  until Hamas surrenders or is crushed as a military and governing organization.

Palestinian officials said all aid flows from Egypt into Gaza had stopped after the Israel Defense Forces took over the Rafah crossing.

The army has halted the movement of people and aid completely, the Hamas-run border authority said in a statement. Tanks drove through the area in the far south of the Gaza Strip and soldiers replaced Palestinian flags with Israeli ones.

The IDF said it acted following intelligence that indicated the Rafah crossing was being used for terrorist purposes.

Hamas called it a dangerous escalation against a civilian facility protected by international law.

The border is the main entry point for aid into Gaza. Its closure follows the shutting of the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza on Sunday after Hamas rockets killed four Israeli soldiers there.

The US has been urging Israel for weeks to allow more food and other supplies in, with the United Nations saying parts of the territory are on the verge of famine.

Israel says that, for now, 100,000 people fall under its evacuation order in eastern Rafah. One Israeli official said the operation will probably last around two weeks. Its unclear if the military will try moving out people in other parts of Rafah, which could take longer.

More than 1.4 million people are sheltering in Rafah, most of them having fled from other areas of Gaza to seek shelter. Israel has largely defeated Hamas in the rest of the territory, but says around 5,000 to 8,000 fighters and senior leaders are in Rafah.

Israel also believes its the location of most of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, which is backed by Iran and designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union.

Most Arab and many European states have said Israel should not attack Rafah, fearing it would cause mass casualties. The US has expressed concerns too.

Despite the request of the international community, the US, the EU  everybody asking Netanyahu not to attack Rafah  the attack started yesterday night, Josep Borrell, the EUs foreign policy chief, said in Brussels on Tuesday. There are no safe zones in Gaza. Lets see how we can try to mitigate the consequences of the situation.

Egypt condemned in the strongest terms Israels takeover of the Gaza side of the border post. Saudi Arabia called for a cease-fire to stop the genocide carried out by the occupation forces against defenseless civilians.

On Monday night, Hamas said it had accepted a cease-fire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar. Israel rejected that, saying it contained demands not previously under discussion.

Qatar said it was sending a delegation to Cairo on Tuesday for the latest round of negotiations.

The war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. Israels bombardment and ground attack on the Palestinian territory have killed almost 35,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The only truce so far lasted a week and ended on Dec. 1. Around half the hostages were released. Of those remaining, Israel thinks at least 30 are dead.

--With assistance from Omar Tamo, Kateryna Kadabashy, Alex Newman, Salma El Wardany and Katharina Rosskopf.

(Updates with comments from Hamas and IDF.)

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A general view of the Israeli-Lebanese border wall, after an intercepted rocket fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel. Two Israeli reservists have been killed in a drone attack by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, the Israeli army said on Tuesday. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

Two Israeli reservists have been killed in a drone attack by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, the Israeli army said on Tuesday.

The two 31-year-old soldiers were killed on Monday in an incident on Israel's northern border, the army said.

The drone loaded with explosives had hit a building in the town of Metulla. According to media reports, the army was unable to intercept the unmanned aerial vehicle. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to Lebanese reports, four civilians - a couple and their two sons - were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Sunday. The attack took place in the village of Mais al-Jabal near the common border. Two other people were injured. The house that was attacked was badly damaged.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war seven months ago, there have been repeated military confrontations between Israel's army and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon on the border, with multiple casualties on both sides.

The mutual shelling has already caused severe destruction in villages on both sides of the border. About 150,000 people have either been evacuated or have left the combat zone.
By Mohammad Salem and Nidal al-Mughrabi

RAFAH, Gaza Strip/CAIRO -The U.S. said negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire should be able to close the gaps between Israel and Hamas while Israeli forces seized the main border crossing in Rafah on Tuesday, closing a vital route for aid.

Hamas official Osama Hamdan, speaking to reporters in Beirut, warned that if Israel's military aggression continued in Rafah, there would be no truce agreement.

The Palestinian militant group accused Israel of undermining ceasefire efforts in the seven-month-long war that has laid waste to Gaza and left hundreds of thousands of its people homeless and hungry.

The truce comments came as Israel invaded Rafah, a southern Gazan city where more than one million displaced Palestinian civilians have sought shelter from Israel's offensive throughout the tiny territory.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said Hamas offered amendments on Monday to an Israeli proposal aimed at ending the impasse. The deal text, as amended, suggests the remaining gaps can "absolutely be closed," he said. He declined to specify what those were.

Israel on Monday said a three-phase proposal that Hamas approved was unacceptable.

Kirby said mediators from Qatar and Egypt along with U.S. and Israeli officials were gathering in Cairo. Hamas separately said its delegation was in Cairo as well.

OFFENSIVE

Israel's seizure of the Rafah crossing came despite weeks of calls that the U.S., other nations and international bodies hoped would deter a big offensive in the Rafah area - which Israel says is Hamas fighters' last stronghold.

Israeli army footage showed tanks rolling through the Rafah crossing complex between Gaza and Egypt, and the Israeli flag raised on the Gaza side.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said seizing the crossing was a "very significant step" toward Israel's stated aim of destroying Hamas's military capabilities.

Residents reported heavy tank shelling on Tuesday evening in some areas of eastern Rafah. A Rafah municipal building caught fire after Israeli shelling, residents and Hamas media said. Medics said one Palestinian was killed and several wounded in the building while an Israeli strike also killed two Palestinians on a motorcycle.

Health officials said Abu Yousef Al-Najar, the main hospital in Rafah, closed on Tuesday after heavy bombardment nearby led medical staff and around 200 patients to flee.

"They have gone crazy. Tanks are firing shells and smoke bombs cover the skies," said Emad Joudat, 55, a Gaza City resident displaced in Rafah.

"I am now seriously thinking of heading north, maybe to the central Gaza area. If they move further into Rafah, it will be the mother of massacres," he told Reuters via a chat app.

Many of those in Rafah were previously displaced from other parts of Gaza following Israel's orders to evacuate from there.

Families have been crammed into tented camps and makeshift shelters, suffering from shortages of food, water, medicine and other essentials.

The U.N. and other international aid agencies said the closing of the two crossings into southern Gaza - Rafah and Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom - had virtually cut the enclave off from outside aid and very few stores were available inside.

Red Crescent sources in Egypt said shipments had completely halted. "These crossings are a lifeline... They need to be reopened without any delay," Philippe Lazzarini, head of U.N. aid agency UNRWA, said on X.

Separately, Jordan said Israeli settlers attacked a humanitarian convoy on its way to a crossing in northern Gaza.

The White House said it had been told the Kerem Shalom crossing would re-open on Wednesday and fuel deliveries through Rafah would resume then too.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to Israel and Hamas to spare no effort to get a truce deal. "Make no mistake  a full-scale assault on Rafah would be a human catastrophe," Guterres said.

'PANIC AND DESPAIR'

Israel's military said it was conducting a limited operation in Rafah to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas, which runs Gaza. It told civilians to go to what it calls an "expanded humanitarian zone" some 20 km (12 miles) away.

In Geneva, U.N. humanitarian office spokesperson Jens Laerke said "panic and despair" were gripping the people in Rafah.

Civilians did not have enough time to prepare for evacuation and no safe route to travel, he said. The roads are "littered with unexploded ordnance, massive bombs lying in the street. It's not safe," he said.

Critics of the Gaza war have urged U.S. President Joe Biden to pressure Israel to change course. The U.S., Israeli's closest ally and main weapons supplier, has delayed some arms shipments to Israel for two weeks, according to four sources on Tuesday.

The White House and Pentagon declined comment, but this would be the first such delay since the Biden administration offered its full support to Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.

Israel's offensive has killed 34,789 Palestinians, most of them civilians, in the conflict, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting about 250 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Any truce would be the first pause in fighting since a week-long ceasefire in November during which Hamas freed around half of the hostages and Israel released 240 Palestinians it was holding in its jails.

Since then, all efforts to reach a new truce have foundered over Hamas' refusal to free more hostages without a promise of a permanent end to the conflict, and Israel's insistence that it would discuss only a temporary pause.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Angus MacSwan, Sharon Singleton and Cynthia Osterman, Editing by Ros Russell, Gareth Jones, Nick Macfie and Josie Kao)
Israeli tanks have rolled into Rafah. What does this mean for the Palestinians sheltering there?

JERUSALEM (AP)  The Israeli tanks that entered the periphery of Rafah early Tuesday stoked global fears that an offensive on Gaza's southernmost city could endanger the more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there.

The ground assault dimmed hopes of an immediate cease-fire deal that the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have spent months pushing for. In the hours before the attack began, Hamas agreed to a cease-fire proposal that the Israeli government swiftly rejected.

About 1.3 million Palestinians  more than half of Gazas population  are jammed into Rafah and face the prospect of having to evacuate with no good plan for where to find adequate shelter.

Here's what we know so far about the operation and evacuation plan.

WHERE WILL PALESTINIANS GO?

Now that Israel has begun ordering Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah, it is sending them to a patch of land whose current inhabitants say is little more than a makeshift tent camp with squalid conditions.

On Monday, Israel issued a warning to evacuate an area of eastern Rafah where approximately 100,000 Palestinians are sheltering. Israel encouraged the evacuees to move to Muwasi, an Israeli-declared safe zone that it says has expanded and will be equipped with field hospitals, shelter materials and other facilities. The United Nations and aid organizations say Muwasi is not ready to shelter the tens of thousands who might seek refuge there.

Muwasi stretches roughly 8 kilometers (5 miles) along the coastline from Gazas southernmost city, Rafah, to its other major southern city, Khan Younis.

Israel unilaterally declared the area a humanitarian zone early in the war, telling residents they would be safe there. According to the U.N.s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, Muwasi is now home to more than 450,000 displaced Palestinians, including many who arrived in recent months as Israel has intensified its ground offensive in central and southern Gaza.

An Associated Press journalist saw dozens of Palestinians arriving in northern Muwasi on Monday. Although there were dozens of empty tents nearby, there were few signs of widescale preparations being made to accommodate the large influx of evacuees that was expected. Other Palestinians across Rafah, even those outside the evacuation zone, have decided to head to central Gaza or to Khan Younis instead of Muwasi.

UNRWA didn't assist in preparation efforts in Muwasi, as it didn't want to entice people to move to an area that isn't prepared to accept them, said Scott Anderson, the agency's Gaza director. However, UNRWA will provide aid to new evacuees who arrive there moving forward, he said.

Residents say toilets are scarce and there is little running water in Muwasi. Many relieve themselves in walled holes they dig outside of their tents to avoid long queues at the public latrines and maintain privacy. Palestinians say they sometimes wait hours to collect drinking water from the tankers that deliver it to various locations in the camp.

A number of stalls in the camp sell tent-building equipment, canned foods and basic vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes at inflated prices. A kilogram (roughly 2 pounds) of potatoes goes for around $6  a high price for the vast majority of people.

Building a large tent from wood and nylon costs about $500, people there said, while buying a ready-made version costs about double.

The area of Al-Mawasi is overcrowded with more than 400,000 people," UNRWA's commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, posted on X. It does not have the facilities to take more people & is not safer than other parts of Gaza.

WHAT DOES THE RAFAH OPERATION MEAN FOR HUMANITARIAN AID?

U.N. officials say an attack on Rafah will collapse the aid operation that is keeping the population across the Gaza Strip alive, and potentially push Palestinians into greater starvation and mass death.

The Rafah crossing has a main route for aid entering the besieged enclave and the only exit for those able to flee into Egypt. Early Tuesday, Israel seized control of the Gaza side of the crossing, saying militants had staged attacks from the area.

Both Rafah and Kerem Shalom, the other main aid entry point, have been closed since a Hamas mortar attack killed four Israeli soldiers. Though smaller entry points still operate, the closure is a blow to efforts to maintain the flow of food, medicine and other supplies that are keeping Gazas population alive.

Some entry points have been opened in the north, and the U.S. has promised that a port to bring in supplies by sea will be ready in weeks. Bringing aid into Gaza through Rafah would likely be impossible during an invasion.

WHY DOES ISRAEL SAY RAFAH IS CRITICAL?

Since Israel declared war in response to Hamas deadly cross-border attack on Oct. 7, Netanyahu has said a central goal is to destroy its military capabilities.

Israel says Rafah is Hamas last major stronghold in Gaza, after operations elsewhere dismantled 18 out of the militant groups 24 battalions, according to the military. But even in northern Gaza, the first target of the offensive, Hamas has regrouped in some areas and continued to launch attacks.

Israel says Hamas has four battalions in Rafah and that it must send in ground forces to topple them. Some senior militants could also be hiding in the city.

Hamas continues to launch projectiles from Rafah. Hamas launched half a dozen mortars and rockets toward Kerem Shalom again on Tuesday.

Israeli strikes continued throughout Tuesday in Rafah, largely in the citys eastern section. Plumes of thick black smoke rose over the horizon after several of the strikes.

WHAT HAS THE INTERNATIONAL REACTION BEEN?

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the "dangerous escalation threatens the lives of more than a million Palestinians who depend primarily on this crossing as it is the main lifeline of the Gaza Strip, referring to the Rafah crossing.

Egypt, a strategic partner of Israel, has said that an Israeli military seizure of the Gaza-Egypt border  which is supposed to be demilitarized  or any move to push Palestinians into Egypt would threaten its four-decade-old peace agreement with Israel.

The U.S. has urged Israel not to carry out the operation without a credible plan to evacuate civilians and says it still hasn't seen one. The U.S. previously said Israel should use pinpoint operations inside Rafah without a major ground assault.

The president doesnt want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

Late Tuesday, a senior Biden administration official said the U.S. had paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on Rafah.

The paused shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 smaller ones, with the U.S. concern focused on how the larger bombs could be used in dense urban setting, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The official said no final decision had been made yet on proceeding with the shipment later.

POLITICAL CALCULATIONS

The current operation, which is more limited in scope, could be a tactic by Netanyahu to appease ultranationalist and conservative religious partners in his government. They have threatened to pull out of the coalition if he signed onto a cease-fire deal without an operation in Rafah.

Netanyahu's critics say hes more concerned with keeping his government intact and staying in power than the national interest  an accusation he denies.

One of his coalition members, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has said that accepting a cease-fire deal without a Rafah operation would amount to Israel raising a white flag and giving victory to Hamas.

Now that the Rafah operation has begun, Netanyahu risks further isolating Israel and alienating the U.S.

His vocal refusals to be swayed by world pressure and his promises to launch the operation could be aimed at placating his political allies even as an Israeli negotiating team was in Egypt attempting to revive the possibility of a cease-fire.

____

Associated Press journalist Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
Israel said on Tuesday that it had sent tanks into Rafah in defiance of US warnings.

The Biden administration says its concerned about the lives of hostages and civilians.

The attack signals a widening rift between the US and Israel over actions in Gaza.

Early on Tuesday, Israeli tanks seized control of the vital Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

It came after the Israeli military launched a series of overnight strikes on the city as international mediators attempted to hash out a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

The attacks took place just hours after President Joe Biden had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to invade Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the war elsewhere in Gaza had made temporary homes.

But throughout its eight-month war, Israel has shown that it is willing to reject and ignore the advice of its most important international ally, the US.

That is despite Israel being the world's biggest recipient of US military aid. According to the reports, Washington gives it around $3.8 billion worth of weapons and defense systems each year.

"We're having this conversation about how horrible it would be for US credibility and US leadership if we fail to support Ukraine," Matt Duss, the executive vice president of the Center for International Policy, told Time in March.

"The same applies here. Our inability to exert any meaningful influence on Israela state that is hugely reliant on US supportis also enormously damaging."

A snub to Biden

The Israeli escalation came after hopes were raised of a cease-fire when Hamas said it accepted a deal to halt the conflict proposed by Qatar and Egypt.

John Kirby, the White House spokesman, said on Sunday that Biden told Netanyahu the US would "not support ground operations in Rafah" unless it shows how it plans to protect the lives of civilians.

Israel on Monday warned civilians in eastern Rafah to evacuate, indicating that an attack may be imminent. At the moment, its strikes on the Rafah appear more limited than the ground invasion Biden warned against Sunday.

However, they show that US pressure hasn't been enough to completely deter a Rafah offensive. Ahead of the assault, the US held back a shipment of ammunition to Israel, according to reports. But that didn't appear to be enough.

A growing rift between the US and Israel

Biden initially offered Israel the US' full support in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, which killed around 1,200 people and seized hundreds of mostly civilian hostages.

But as the war has progressed, the rift between Biden and Netanyahu on how to conduct the campaign to destroy Hamas has become more pronounced.

Biden is trying to restrain Israel and get it to wind down the campaign. Israel's attacks on Gaza have killed tens of thousands of civilians, according to Gazan health authorities, provoked a wave of protests on US campuses, and corroded support for Israel internationally.

Fear that the conflict could spiral into a wider regional war remains intense.

US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York City on September 20, 2023. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

But Netanyahu sees things differently from Biden, and Israel has claimed that it remains determined to destroy the six Hamas battalions that it says are holed up in Rafah.

He's outright rejected calls for the creation of a Palestinian state after the war, a measure backed by the US and another key US regional ally, Saudi Arabia, which has held out the prospect of a deal to normalize relations if Israel agrees.

The US says that negotiating a cease-fire with Hamas remains the best way of securing the lives of the 128 Israeli hostages that remain in Gaza.

But Netanyahu appears to be prioritizing the political demands of his cabinet over the advice he's getting from Biden, say some analysts. His coalition is fragile, and he relies on the support of far-right lawmakers who are demanding an attack on Rafah.

"Netanyahu's calculation is much more focused on maintaining his coalition than he is on keeping Joe Biden happy," Aaron David Miller, a former US peace negotiator who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Wall Street Journal.

At the same time, Netanyahu is under pressure to secure the lives of the 128 Israeli hostages that remain in Gaza.

There remains the possibility that Israel, by attacking Rafah, is pushing for the upper hand in a cease-fire agreement, not positioning itself for a wider invasion.

The New York Times, citing Biden administration officials, said that the rapidly changing prospects for a cease-fire over the weekend are likely part of a bid to "gain leverage at the negotiating table with a clear resolution not yet in sight."

But if Netanyahu pushes ahead with his threats to invade Rafah, the consequences for the US could be grave, some warn.

The Gaza war has repeatedly threatened to spill into a wider regional conflict, and scenes of new civilian suffering in Rafah could intensify that threat. Meanwhile, Biden could see his global influence eroded if Netanyahu continues to ignore his warnings.

Dave Harden, a former mission director at the US Agency for International Development in the West Bank and Gaza, recently told the BBC that Netanyahu "almost treats Biden as some kind of inconsequential second secretary of a low-ranked European power."

The limits to his influence over Netanyahu's actions could soon become even more apparent.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Italian FM: Rome sends Ukraine weapons only for use within its borders

Italy supplies Ukraine with weapons only for use within the country's borders, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on May 7, according to the ANSA news agency.

His statements came after U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that Ukraine had a right to use the weapons provided by London to strike targets inside Russia, to which Moscow responded with threats to hit back at "any British military equipment in or outside Ukraine."

"All the military materiel we send is destined to be used only inside the territory of Ukraine. We don't give materiel that can be used beyond Ukraine's borders. We are not at war with Russia," Tajani said.

When asked about French President Emmanuel Macron's remarks on the possible deployment of Western troops in Ukraine, the Italian minister said he does not think "Macron wants to make war on Russia."

Tajani said that Rome is "against sending troops to fight against the Russians," echoing the statement by Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto.

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Ukraine has continued to press its Western allies for longer-range weapons, but partners have hesitated about delivering arms that could potentially be used to strike within Russian territory.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Kyiv will not use weapons supplied by foreign partners to hit targets outside of the countrys borders. Such restrictions do not apply to domestically produced arms, some of which are reportedly capable of striking deep into Russia.

Some of Ukraine's allies have sent weapons to Kyiv with no restrictions on strikes inside Russia, according to Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze.

Ukraine has received long-range missiles, such as the Storm Shadow from the U.K. and the French-made SCALP. It was reported on April 25 that the U.S. had secretly sent more than 100 long-range ATACMS missiles to Kyiv.

Ukrainian forces reportedly successfully used them to strike targets on the Russian-occupied territories, including Crimea.

Read also: Ambassador: Washington doesnt support strikes with U.S.-made weapons in Russia

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Italian Foreign Ministry is against Ukraine using their weapons to attack Russia

According to the Italian government, the weapons sent to the Ukrainian Armed Forces are meant to be used only within Ukraine's borders.

Source: Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, writes ANSA, as reported by European Pravda

Details: According to Tajani, all military equipment sent by Italy is intended for use only in Ukraine.

Quote: "We do not provide equipment that can be used outside Ukraine. We are not at war with Russia," Tajani said.

When asked about French President Emmanuel Macron's recent proposal to send NATO soldiers into Ukraine if Russia breaches the Ukrainian defence line and Kyiv makes a request, the Italian minister responded: "I don't think Macron wants to fight Russia; ask him what he wants to do. NATO makes its own decisions, and we are a member of NATO; we are not at war with Russia, and we oppose sending soldiers to attack them."

Background:

During a visit to Kyiv, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated that Ukraine has the right to use weapons provided by London to strike targets on Russian territory "just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine" with weapons from Iran or North Korea.

Cameron's statement sparked hysteria in the Russian Foreign Ministry, whose representatives issued threats to London.

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The European Commission has sent a draft proposal to the European Union (EU) countries that includes the 14th package of sanctions against Russia. This package includes restrictions on imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia, a ban on imports of helium, manganese ore, and mining machinery, as well as restrictions on funding for political parties, non-governmental organizations, etc.

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According to the Polish Radio, the package includes a ban on transshipment of Russian LNG in EU ports. In particular, in the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, as well as restrictions on the Russian LNG projects Arctic and Murmansk.

The package also provides for sanctions against certain vessels belonging to the Russian Federation's "shadow fleet " that transport Russian oil despite EU restrictions, prohibiting them from entering European ports. The proposal also provides for a ban on transportation companies that are a quarter or more owned by Russians to operate in the EU.

In addition, the Commission has prepared a list of more than 50 companies from outside the EU that are subject to trade restrictions because of their assistance to Russia in circumventing sanctions. In addition to this, it is proposed to ban the financing of political parties, foundations and non-governmental organizations by Russia, and a symbolic ban on the sale of Ukrainian artworks on the European market in case of suspected looting is proposed.

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In terms of specific goods, the package does not include a ban on aluminum imports, but it does include a ban on helium imports. As for exports, the ban will apply to manganese ore, mining machinery, monitors, and electronics.

Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis confirmed that the EU is working on the next, fourteenth package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The previous, 13th package of sanctions was approved by the EU Council on February 23 to respond to Russia's full-scale invasion in response to its aggression against Ukraine.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, the Arctic LNG 2 project managed by Novatek plays a key role in Moscow's strategic plans to increase exports and replenish the budget, but the sanctions imposed by the United States create obstacles to its further development. Russia plans to triple its LNG (liquefied natural gas) production by 2030, bringing in at least $35 billion annually.

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Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
ITHACA, N.Y. (WETM)  Police released the name of the Ithaca College student who was hit by a driver who is now facing a DWI charge on Saturday morning.

The New York State Police Department identified 19-year-old Max Ross of Lafayette, Louisiana, as the pedestrian who was hit. Police say that Ross is currently in stable condition at Robert Packer Hospital.

NYSP: Ithaca College student seriously injured by alleged impaired driver

According to the New York State Police Department, Ross was walking near the 1500 block of Slaterville Road at about 1:30 a.m. on May 4 when he was struck by an eastbound vehicle driven by 30-year-old Blake A. Curtis of Ithaca. Curtis immediately called 911.

Ross was transported to Robert Packer Hospital by LifeFlight for serious injuries.

Curtis was charged with vehicular assault, a class E felony, and driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WETM - MyTwinTiers.com.
ITHACA, N.Y. (WETM)  An Ithaca man was arrested on Monday after police said he had a felony warrant out for his arrest.

According to the Ithaca Police Department, 26-year-old Decante L. Metz was arrested on an outstanding warrant after police arrived at a home in the 300 block of West Buffalo Street in the city.

NYSP: Ithaca College student seriously injured by alleged impaired driver

Police served the warrant at around 7:54 p.m. on Monday, May 6, where they found Metz inside the home on West Buffalo Street, and were arrested without incident.

The warrant stems from a shooting that took place on Dec. 9 around 9:30 p.m. in the 100 block of N. Plain St in Ithaca.

Police say that further arrests will be coming as the investigation develops.

Metz was processed and taken to the Tompkins County Jail where he awaits further proceedings.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WETM - MyTwinTiers.com.
The parents of Gordon Black, an American soldier who was arrested in Russia last week, had warned him against flying to the city of Vladivostok to meet his girlfriend, according to his stepfather.

Blacks stepfather, Martin Jones, told The Daily Beast that the American soldier had mentioned wanting to visit Russia when they last spoke over Facebook a few weeks ago.

He mentioned it once and we told him, Dont you dare do it, Jones, 53, said in a phone interview. I told him he needs to get back to the States. Thats all I told him. I told him he had no business being there.

U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black is featured in numerous videos posted on TikTok by Aleksandra Vashchuk, a Vladivostok native who refers to Black as her husband. The two are shown together in South Korea, where Black was based and Vashchuk reportedly lived for a number of years.

Blacks partner had moved back to Russia after being deported from South Korea a while back, Jones said, adding that the U.S. soldiers so-called girlfriend was the reason Black went on the trip.

U.S. Soldier Arrested in Russia Last Week: Army

There was some woman involved He had been seeing her for a good while. Apparently she was living in South Korea until she was deported, he said. I have a feeling that she had a lot to do with it, Jones said, adding that he learned of the arrest last Thursday.

According to Blacks stepfather, Jones had left the U.S. for South Korea two and a half years ago, and the army kept extending him there. He was only supposed to have been there for a year.

Were very worried and its been very stressful, he added.

In one Tiktok video apparently shot after Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Black expresses sympathy for Moscow, saying America I think NATO is pretty aggressive, honestly. I understand Russias position, obviously. They want to defend their country.

Vashchuk set her TikTok profile to private on Tuesday as details on the case against Black trickled out. A Telegram channel known to be close with Russian law enforcement said Black had been placed in a cell with other first-timers who are struggling to communicate with him in English.

The channel also claims Black has a history of beating Vashchuk, who is said to have called the police on him over an incident in South Korea. Hes charged with theft causing significant damage to a citizen, which carries a maximum penalty of five years behind bars.

Unnamed U.S. officials told the AP that Black and his Russian girlfriend had gotten into a domestic dispute last fall while they were in South Korea and she left the country shortly after.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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By Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan has described as "regrettable" U.S. President Joe Biden's comment that "xenophobia" is stifling the Asian nation's economic growth, the top government spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Last week Biden said "xenophobia" in economies from China to Japan and India was hobbling their growth, while arguing at a Washington fund-raising event that migration has been good for the U.S. economy.

"We lodged representations to the United States that the comment was not based on the correct understanding of Japan's policy and regrettable," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular news conference, without elaborating.

Hayashi was quick to add, however, that Japan's ties with its security ally the United States were more solid than ever, and Tokyo will strive to make them even stronger.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Washington in April for a summit with Biden and unveiled plans for military co-operation and projects from missiles to moon landings, so as to strengthen ties with an eye to countering China and Russia.

At last week's event to raise funds for his 2024 re-election campaign, Biden said, "One of the reasons why our economy's growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants."

"Why is China stalling so badly economically, why is Japan having trouble, why is Russia, why is India, because they're xenophobic. They don't want immigrants. Immigrants are what makes us strong."

Japan, which prides itself on its homogeneity, has long been reticent about immigration, although its falling birth rate and a rapidly ageing population point to an acute labour shortage in the coming decades.

Asked in a Newsweek interview if he wanted to spur immigration to reverse the population decline, Kishida said Japan must consider inviting skilled workers, but ruled out a full-fledged immigration programme.

"For highly capable and motivated workers to be invited into Japan to provide support to Japanese society is what we would like to enable," Kishida said in the interview, published last week.

"There are still some in Japanese society who are resistant to the idea of continuous, indefinite immigration of labour from overseas."

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Is New Jersey one of the best states in the country? See how it ranks

When you think of the best states in the country, where does New Jersey rank? Chances are that if you live in the Garden State, you probably think of it pretty highly.

And, you wouldn't be wrong: New Jersey is considered the 14th best state in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2024 Best State Rankings. This is an improvement from last year's best state rankings, where New Jersey ranked 19th out the 50 states.

The ranking was based on eight categories: health care, education, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, crime and corrections, and natural environment. Each of these categories were assigned a weight based on the three-year average of data from recent national surveys that asked nearly 70,000 people to prioritize each issue in their respective state. Each state also received individual rankings for each of these eight categories.

U.S. News & World Report released their 2024 Best State Rankings on May 7th.

Where New Jersey ranked in each category

Of the eight categories considered in the ranking, New Jersey placed in the top half of the 50 states for six of them.

The state received its highest ranking for both health care and education, ranking fourth overall. This is an improvement from New Jersey's eighth place ranking for health care in 2023, falling in line with the report's claim that the country has overall seen significant improvement in metrics like Medicare quality, health insurance enrollment and urban air quality.

New Jersey's ranking for education did decrease from second in 2023, though, which the report states is due to the findings that states in the Northeast are better at pre-K-12 education than they are at higher education.

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"The top 5 states in the pre-K-12 subcategory (Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire and New York) all find themselves in the bottom half of states for higher education," the report reads. "Nearly across the board, these five states rank in the bottom 10 for tuition and fees and debt at graduation, with New York's No. 14 ranking on tuition and fees the long exception."

The state also maintained its fifth place ranking for crime and correction, and maintained fairly similar standards from 2023 by ranking 24th for both natural environment and economy. But, the state saw significant improvement in infrastructure, ranking 16th compared to its ranking of 35th in 2023.

Opportunity and fiscal stability are the two categories where New Jersey performed poorly, ranking in the bottom 10 of all states. The state ranked 43rd for opportunity and 48th for fiscal stability, remaining fairly consistent from the 2023 rankings.

What are the five best, and worst, states in the nation?

Utah ranked as the best state in the nation, achieving top 20 results in seven of the eight categories, according to the report. New Hampshire, Nebraska, Minnesota and Idaho round out the top five.

A sunset at Lake Hopatcong's Henderson Cove. New Jersey ranked 24th for natural environment in U.S. News & World Reports' 2024 Best State Rankings.

And, ranking 50th overall, Louisiana is considered the worst state in the nation, according to the report. New Mexico, Mississippi, Arkansas and West Virginia make up the remaining bottom five states.

Maddie McGay is the real estate reporter for NorthJersey.com and The Record, covering all things worth celebrating about living in North Jersey. Find her on Instagram @maddiemcgay , on X @maddiemcgayy , and sign up for her North Jersey Living newsletter. Do you have a tip, trend or terrific house she should know about? Email her at MMcGay@gannett.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Is NJ one of the best states in the US? See the rankings
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  Joan Jacobs, one of San Diegos most influential philanthropists whose gifts made alongside her husband have shaped countless institutions across the region, died late Monday night. She was 91 years old.

Her death was confirmed in a statement released by the office of Rep. Sara Jacobs, one of her grandchildren, on Tuesday.

After four sons, I was my Grandma Joans first girl  and she spent every day making sure I knew I was special and loved. She pushed me and everyone around her to be the best versions of themselves, and Im forever grateful for that, the congresswoman said.

I am who I am because I am her granddaughter, she continued. I will forever cherish the time we spent together and always remember the lessons she taught me that Ill teach to my own children one day.

Larry Lucchino, the Padres president behind Petco Park, dies at 78

Joan Jacobs and her husband, Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs, have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to local groups and causes over the years, spanning educational, cultural and scientific industries.

Beneficiaries of these contributions  like UC San Diego, the San Diego Symphony and the La Jolla Playhouse  have dedicated buildings and other well-visited sites to the couple, such as The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, Jacobs Medical Center at UC San Diego Health, and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theater at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Many of these donations were made quietly up until 2002, when the couple pledged $120 million to the San Diego Symphony as the nonprofit was struggling with bankruptcy, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

These high-dollar donations ramped up in 2010 with the Giving Pledge, a campaign organized by Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates to give the majority of their wealth to address some of societys most pressing problems. The Jacobses were among the 40 original signers.

Outside philanthropy, Joan Jacobs also served on the board of several organizations in town, notably those tied to the regions art and culture scene.

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 10: Joan and Irwin Jacobs receive an award at the LLIMF 10th Anniversary Gala Dinner at Cipriani 25 Broadway on October 10, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Krista Kennell/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Her efforts supporting the arts earned her accolades like the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, the Philanthropy in the Arts Award from Americans for the Arts, and the Helen Bill Vandervort Alumni Achievement Award from Cornell University.

In a statement, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria honored Jacobs commitment to these causes that, as he described, enrich peoples lives.

Few people have had a more profound impact on San Diego than Joan Jacobs, he continued. San Diego mourns her passing and will be forever grateful for her generosity, vision, and commitment to making our city a better place for all.

Originally from New York City, Jacobs attended Barnard School for Girls before earning a bachelor of science degree from Cornell Universitys College of Human Ecology in 1954. It was at Cornell where she met her future husband.

She is survived by her husband Irwin, their four sons, Gary, Hal, Paul and Jeff Jacobs, as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A public celebration of life for Jacobs will be held on Monday, May 13 at 11 a.m. at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
On Tuesday, May 7, the "inauguration" of the Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin is taking place in the capital of the terrorist state, Moscow. In his speech to the Russians, the war criminal once again spoke about the main goals of the war against Ukraine.

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The broadcast of the "performance", organized in the grand Kremlin palace, can be viewed on Youtube on CBC TV Azerbaijan channel. In his speech, the dictator assured that Russia does not shy away from dialogue with Western countries, and the choice is theirs "from a position of mutual respect, not force."

During his speech, Putin thanked those who are "fighting for the Motherland" and Russian citizens in all regions of the country. He assured them that the interests and security of the people would be above all else.

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The dictator also referred to the "separatists," cynically noting that "Russians" from the historical lands, i.e. those occupied by Russia, allegedly defended the right to be with their homeland.

In addition, Putin noted that the Russians "confirmed the rightfulness of the country's course as this is especially important now, in times of serious trials," and expressed confidence that Russia will go through the current period with dignity and become even stronger.

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As a reminder, ISW noted that on the eve of the Russian dictator's "inauguration", a new wave of rivalry for influential positions in the government has begun among Kremlin officials. Russian elites are trying to secure influential roles for themselves if dictator Putin leaves power prematurely.

Reuters reported that the United States and most EU countries will boycott the Kremlin's ceremony, but seven EU states may send representatives. Diplomatic sources told journalists that France, Hungary, Slovakia and possibly some other European countries would attend the ceremony.

Earlier, EU foreign and security policy spokesperson Peter Stano said that Russia had sent invitations to Putin's so-called inauguration to European countries. The EU was deciding how to respond to such an invitation on behalf of the entire union.

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Earlier, the U.S. State Department said that their representatives would not attend Putin's inauguration ceremony because the White House does not consider the election to be free. When asked whether this meant that the United States was boycotting the event, Miller said that "you can draw your own conclusions."

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Judge will decide on NC voter ID law. Five takeaways from day one in the courtroom.

A federal judge heard arguments in a longstanding challenge to North Carolinas voter ID law on Monday. Depending on how she rules, the newly enacted requirement could be blocked before the November election.

Heres what you need to know from day one of the trial.

Challengers argue the law has racist origins and impacts

The NAACPs lawsuit, which was first filed in 2018, argues that North Carolinas voter ID requirement discriminates against Black and Latino voters.

Kathleen Roblez, a lawyer representing the NAACP, said in her opening statement that the case was about impermissible, intentional racial discrimination.

She noted that the law was passed by a legislature that was found to be unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered, with the final votes coming shortly before new lawmakers took office and broke the Republican supermajority.

Roblez also said that expert reports will show the law has racist impacts. Plaintiffs commissioned a survey of North Carolina voters conducted by Matt Barreto, a political scientist at UCLA. They say it found that 93.9% of white respondents had a photo ID compared to 87.6% of Black respondents and 83.3% of Latino respondents. Details have not yet been aired in court.

Lawmakers argue the law is one of the most permissive

Republican lawmakers, who are named as defendants in the case, deny that the voter ID law is racist and argue that it offers broad accommodations to voters that minimize any potential disenfranchisement.

David Thompson, a lawyer representing the lawmakers, called the requirement one of the most permissive voter ID laws in the country in his opening statement.

He noted that free voter IDs are available at all county board of elections offices and voters can fill out ID exception forms when they go to the polls if they dont have any identification.

Thompson rebutted claims that the gerrymandered legislature which enacted the law did so with racist intentions, saying a legislature built on discrimination would not have created all these exceptions.

He also cited data from the primary election in March in which over 99.9% of voters who voted in-person did not have any issues with the ID requirement.

Advocate witnesses say voter ID adds barriers to voting

The NAACP brought a variety of witnesses from advocacy organizations on Monday, who testified that the voter ID requirement made it harder to vote and created more work for get-out-the-vote groups.

Deborah Maxwell, president of the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, said the ID requirement is an additional hurdle to voting, which is already difficult for minority voters, especially in rural areas.

This state has made it as hard as it can for marginalized individuals to vote, she said.

The plaintiffs also called on Elma Hairston, president of the High Point NAACP, to testify. She said that her organization had spent valuable resources informing voters about the ID requirement, which could have instead gone to youth educational programs.

On cross examination, lawyers for the defendants questioned Maxwell and Hairston about the process of becoming a member of the NAACP, noting that potential NAACP members faced paperwork and costs to join, and drawing a comparison between those steps and those for voting.

Witnesses criticize free IDs and exceptions

A frequent topic of questioning during witness testimony were the exceptions and accommodations the legislature enacted alongside the voter ID requirement.

The NAACPs witnesses questioned the effectiveness of the states new free voter ID cards as well as the exceptions to the ID requirement.

Maxwell noted that the free IDs are only available at county board of elections offices, some of which can be located far away from rural voters who, if they need the ID, already do not have drivers licenses.

Iliana Santillan, the executive director of El Pueblo, an advocacy group for the Latino community, said the process of filling out an ID exception form can cause hesitation among some voters.

People are very hesitant to fill out any kind of document, she said, noting that some Latino voters have parents who are in the country without legal authorization and are wary of government attention. ... Theres a lot of fear within our community, she said.

Some expert witnesses wont be able to testify

Judge Loretta Biggs did not allow the NAACP to bring in several witnesses to provide expert testimony.

They had planned on putting James LeLoudis, a history professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, on the stand, but Biggs said the plaintiffs had not given defendants enough time to prepare for the testimony.

In her opening statement, Roblez said LeLoudis report to the court traces the history of racism in North Carolina politics, including recurring cycles of expansion of voting rights followed by white backlash.

Reports from LeLoudis and other expert witnesses will remain in the court record, but Biggs said that allowing live testimony could case substantial prejudice toward the legislative defendants.

This is a bench trial, meaning there is no jury. Biggs, taking into account the entirety of the court record, will make the final ruling in this case.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, left, gestures during a news conference at the Arkansas Capitol. (John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate)

A Pulaski County Circuit judge dismissed blogger Matt Campbells lawsuit against Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday.

Campbell sued Sanders in October, claiming her office violated the state Freedom of Information Act. Campbell spent weeks last fall using the FOIA and his Blue Hog Report blog to scrutinize the governors offices use of public funds, including $19,000 spent on a lectern.

Attorney General Tim Griffins office filed a motion Monday to dismiss Campbells case because the plaintiff did not deliver the lawsuits summons and complaint to Sanders office within 120 days of filing the complaint, according to court documents.

Before Monday, there had been no action in the case since February, when Campbell filed a motion asking for more time to deliver the documents. Judge LaTonya Honorable never granted the request.

Campbell said Tuesday that he will refile the lawsuit with additional allegations of FOIA violations. He said he has been planning to do so for weeks and let the deadline to serve process pass on purpose.

Griffin said in a news release that the dismissal was the proper outcome for this baseless case and that cases like this waste taxpayer dollars and clog up our judicial system.

Campbell, who was a practicing attorney before the Arkansas Times hired him as a reporter last year, said he found it laughable that Griffin would file a procedural motion and try to tout it as a win.

In September, Campbell revealed on X that Sanders office had used a state-issued credit card to buy the lectern and a travel case for $19,029 from a Virginia-based event design and management firm with political ties to Sanders.

Lecterngate subsequently led to national and international attention for the Sanders administration. Arkansas Legislative Audit investigated the purchase from October to March and published a report in April detailing several instances of potential lawbreaking by Sanders staff throughout the purchase, delivery and record-keeping process.

Cortney Kennedy, Sanders chief legal counsel who defended the lectern purchase before lawmakers last month, denied two of Campbells FOIA requests to the governors office on Oct. 23, according to court documents.

Campbell requested:

First Gentleman Bryan Sanders Outlook calendar.

All messages to and from Bryan Sanders two state email addresses.

Aall bills of lading or other documents showing shipping and/or delivery of the lectern ordered from Beckett Events, the firm that sold the lectern.

All communications sent from (or on behalf of) the Governors Office to any person making a FOIA request since Jan. 1, 2023.

Kennedy claimed Campbells requests went against the FOIAs exemption for [u]npublished memoranda, working papers, and correspondence of the Governor.

Campbell filed the lawsuit the next day, claiming that Kennedys denial of the requests was illegal because Bryan Sanders is not a state employee and therefore the exemption she cited did not apply.

In September, Sanders called a special legislative session and supported several exemptions to the FOIA that met bipartisan opposition in the Legislature and from the public. The only FOIA change that made it through the Legislature was an exemption for records related to the governors security. Sanders signed Act 7 of 2023 the day before Campbell made the lectern purchase public knowledge.

Sanders called the special session three days after Campbell filed a previous lawsuit over unanswered FOIA requests for Arkansas State Police communications related to security for the governor and first gentleman, as well as documents reflecting ASP security costs for the Sanderses.

Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, Act 7s House sponsor, mentioned the lawsuit while encouraging his fellow House members to vote for the bill. The lawsuit was dismissed after Campbell contracted COVID-19 and was unable to appear in court.

In October, Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, requested the audit into the lectern purchase and an additional probe into significant expenditures involving the governors office shielded by Act 7. Lead auditor Roger Norman said in April that the second audit was still in the early stages.

The post Judge dismisses FOIA lawsuit against Arkansas governor by blogger who revealed lectern purchase appeared first on Arkansas Advocate.
NEW YORK  An upstate New York judge Tuesday knocked an abortion rights measure off the fall ballot on procedural grounds, dealing a blow to Democrats who hoped it would energize supporters and boost voter turnout in the state.

Supreme Court Justice Daniel J. Doyle ruled that state lawmakers improperly approved the language of the proposed constitutional amendment before getting a required written opinion from the state attorney general.

The ballot measure would have barred discrimination based on pregnancy outcomes, which proponents portrayed as a way of further protecting abortion rights in New York in the face of a conservative push for stricter bans nationwide.

The decision by the Rochester-based judge removes for now a politically charged question from the November ballot that Democrats hoped would encourage supporters of abortion rights to vote for President Biden and Democratic candidates in several congressional battleground districts.

Attorney General Letitia James said her office would appeal the judges ruling.

New Yorkers deserve to be protected by their constitution, especially as our basic freedoms and rights are under attack, said James, a Democratic supporter of abortion rights.

The issue of abortion has been a powerful mobilizing tool for Democrats across the country, especially since 2022, when the conservative Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized it nationwide.

The ruling opened the door for Republican-run states to impose draconian abortion bans and spurred a new conservative legal effort to ban medication abortion nationwide.

Many political analysts credit anger over rollbacks of abortion rights for blunting what Republicans had hoped would be a sweeping victory in the 2022 midterm congressional elections.

Democrats are hoping to repeat that dynamic this year even in deep blue states like New York where abortion rights already enjoy robust protections.

Biden is already the favorite to carry the Empire State, but Democrats also hope to flip up to five GOP-held congressional seats in New York as they try to retake control of the House of Representatives.

Constitutional amendments to protect abortion rights will be on the fall ballot in several states, including battleground Arizona and former President Trumps home state of Florida.

New Yorks constitution already bans discrimination based on race, color, creed or religion.

The proposed amendment would have added add ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive healthcare and autonomy to the list.

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NEW YORK  Donald Trump was threatened with jail time by Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan on Monday after being found in criminal contempt again for the tenth violation of a gag order in his hush money case.

In his sternest warning yet, Merchan, in stunning courtroom remarks, said it appeared the $1,000 fines he has issued for Trumps violations were not serving as a deterrent and that he must start considering more severe punishment. He told the Republican front-runner, Its important you understand that the last thing I want to do is put you in jail.

You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next (POTUS) as well, the judge said.

Merchan said Trumps repeated violations were direct attacks on the rule of law and that he cannot allow that to continue.

The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me, but at the end of the day, I have a job to do and part of that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system, Merchan addressed Trump.

In a written order on Monday, Merchan found Trump had violated the order in an interview on the conservative channel Real Americas Voice when he talked about the jury and how it was selected.

You know (the judge is) rushing the trial like crazy. Nobodys ever seen a thing go like this. That jury was picked so fast  95% democrats. The areas mostly all democrat. You think of it as a  just a purely democrat area. Its a very unfair situation, that I can tell you, Trump said in the April 22 interview.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felonies that allege he repeatedly and fraudulently falsified business records to cover up the reimbursement to fixer Michael Cohen to disguise the underlying election conspiracy.

After the warning, prosecutors called their tenth witness to the stand  former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney.

Over the last two weeks, the prosecution has laid out an alleged conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election. They are now expected to begin linking that scheme to the falsification of business records charges Trump is facing, which relate to his alleged reimbursement to Cohen for paying off porn star Stormy Daniels in 2017.

Smoking gun on Cohen payment

The former Trump Org controller testified about what prosecutors say is proof of Trumps efforts to hide the hush money payments as legal expenses.

In questioning the former Trump Org controller, the prosecution zeroed in on the companys accounting and reporting procedures  seeking to establish that Trump himself authorized any payments that went out in his name.

Trumps defense team has argued that he was unaware of Cohens hush money payoff to Daniels and that payments to his personal lawyer and fixer in 2017 were for genuine legal services.

Cohen invoiced the compensation pursuant to a retainer agreement, and the Trump Org accountants logged it as payment for legal fees.

Did you ever see a retainer agreement? Colangelo asked McConney Monday morning.

I did not, the ex-controller conceded, later acknowledging those expenses were never filed with the companys legal department.

A potential smoking gun  a bank statement  entered into evidence Monday appeared to refute the defense claim that Cohen wasnt reimbursed for hush money.

The document, showing Cohens wire transfer to Daniels attorney via a shell company, included handwritten notes by Allen Weisselberg.

The CFOs math added up how much Cohen was owed$180,000 when including an additional campaign expense, acknowledging the fixer was also owed $130,000 for hush money.

DJT needs to sign the check

Documents displayed for the jury showed that many of the checks to Cohen  the core of the case  were paid directly out of Trumps personal bank account.

Under questions from prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, McConney, who oversaw Trumps companys general ledgers, walked the court through two critical pieces of evidence: a bank statement and notepad scribbles memorializing the transactions.

In chicken scratch handwriting, they showed how McConney and convicted ex-finance chief Allen Weisselberg arrived at the $420,000 they sent Cohen in installments of $35,000 and how theyd wire funds monthly from President Trumps personal account.

DJT needs to sign the check, read one notation displayed in court.

McConney said that then-President Trump was the only signatory for checks coming out of his account, which meant the controller had to ensure they were sent to the White House for his signature.

Somehow, wed have to get a package down to the White House, get the president to sign the checks, get the checks returned to us and then send the checks out.

Gag order warning follows previous fines

Merchans warning came after prosecutors last week flagged four more instances of Trump potentially violating a gag order implemented before the trial started by criticizing witnesses and jurors on his social media website, Truth Social, and in media interviews. Merchan has fined him $9,000 so far.

The gag order prohibits Trump from making public statements  or directing others to make them about the jury, witnesses, potential witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and the relatives of all trial participants. The judge expanded it to include his own relatives after Trump publicly targeted Merchans daughter online.

Merchan, who did not find Trumps comments about witnesses Michael Cohen and David Pecker clearly violated the order, said Trumps comments about jurors were an unambiguous breach.

Defendant not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones, the judge wrote.

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A 47-year-old Tenino woman accused of conspiring to commit murder is being held in the Thurston County jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Tabitha Ramsey Gibson attended her preliminary appearance in Thurston County Superior Court on Monday. Deputies arrested her Friday afternoon in connection to an April 16 fatal shooting at Old Highway 99 Company Bar and Grill near Offut Lake.

Gaylord Travis Sayers of Olympia, 56, died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the torso, Coroner Gary Warnock told The Olympian. Bar patrons restrained Curtis Gilbert Gibson, husband to Tabitha Gibson, at the scene. The patrons reportedly told law enforcement Curtis Gibson shot Sayers during an altercation with members of a motorcycle club.

Deputies initially arrested Tabitha and Curtis Gibson at the scene, but Tabitha Gibson was let go before she could appear in court. The Prosecuting Attorneys Office charged Curtis Gibson with first-degree premeditated murder on April 18 while detectives continued investigating the incident.

Court records show a detective reviewed video footage from a dash camera in Curtis Gibsons vehicle on May 2. Based on audio from the footage, the detective alleges Tabitha Gibson planned a homicide with Curtis Gibson.

Judge John Skinder found probable cause for the alleged crime of first-degree conspiring to commit murder and set the bail amount. In doing so, he determined theres a likelihood Tabitha Gibson may commit a violent offense if released without conditions.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Scida requested bail be set at $1 million. He alleged the pair left the bar, went to a different bar and then returned to the initial bar where the shooting took place after discussing committing murder.

Patrick OConnor, director of Thurston County Public Defense, represented Tabitha Gibson on Monday. He argued against Skinder finding probable cause and called the information in the probable cause statement, scant.

Even taking those statements at face value, your honor, I dont believe they are sufficient, even for probable cause to meet the elements of conspiracy OConnor said.

When it came time for Skinder to decide conditions of release, OConnor said he did not have the opportunity to review the video described in the probable cause statement. However, he said Gibson has shared with him a a very divergent set of facts about the incident.

OConnor said Gibson is indigent, has no prior criminal history and should be presumed innocent at this phase. Given all that, he asked Skinder to release her on her personal recognizance or at least set reasonable bail at $10,000.

This case has a lot of moving parts and what weve only been shown so far in this probable cause statement are snapshots of the entire story, OConnor said. I think theres a lot more to this incident.

What did the probable cause statement say?

The probable cause statement describes the investigation into the shooting from the perspective of law enforcement.

The dash camera footage showed Curtis and Tabitha Gibson drive up to Old Highway 99 Company Bar and Grill to have a drink. They later get back into the vehicle amid a verbal disturbance with Sayers, according to the statement.

As the pair drive away, Curtis Gibson allegedly says, Its a good thing I didnt have my gun on me.

The statement notes the audio is distorted; however, the detective reviewing it alleges Tabitha Gibson says, We should (expletive) kill all of em. Shortly afterwards, she allegedly says, I think we just shoot em babe.

At one point, Tabitha Gibson allegedly asked Curtis Gibson to use his fingerprint to open a lockbox. Curtis Gibson tells her to close it up. A few moments later, he adds, Put the (expletive) gun away, according to the statement.

The conversation allegedly continues as follows.

I dont want to touch it, Tabitha Gibson says.

Then stop (expletive) playing with it like some (expletive) toy, Curtis Gibson says. Its not a (expletive) toy.

No. Tabitha Gibson says.

When it gets pulled somebody dies, Curtis Gibson says.

Yeah, Tabitha Gibson says.

Thats it. Thats it. Hold your (expletive) together, Curtis Gibson says. When it gets pulled out somebody dies. And you better be on the right?

I dont know if Im being in the right or wrong but Im gonna be on the right, Tabitha Gibson says.

They know who we were, Curtis Gibson says. That dude was pressed.

The pair travel to another bar and later return to Old Highway 99 Company Bar and Grill. The statement alleges Curtis pulls into the parking lot and accelerates rapidly toward the motorcycles.

Sayers reportedly tells Curtis Gibson to return to his car multiple times and not grab anything. Curtis Gibson allegedly responds with Youre all (expletive).

Tabitha Gibson then exits the vehicle and walks across the front of the car, per the statement. Then the first gunshot is heard. Two more gunshots are heard before someone says, Somebody help me. Then a fourth gunshot is heard.

Afterwards, Curtis Gibson allegedly tells others to kill him multiple times and says, You (expletive) brought this on yourselves.

Someone then says, Shes got the gun, multiple times before a fifth gunshot is heard.

The video reportedly ends with Curtis Gibson back in frame with blood on the left side of his face. Tabitha Gibson walks over to him and wipes his face with her hands.

Curtis Gibson pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder on April 30. He remains in the Thurston County jail pending a jury trial or other resolution to his case.

If charged, Tabitha Gibson must return to court for her arraignment hearing on May 21.
Former President Donald Trump, followed by his attorney Todd Blanche, walks to speak to reporters following the day's proceedings in his trial, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in New York. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP)  The federal judge in Florida presiding over the classified documents prosecution of former President Donald Trump has canceled the May 20 trial date, postponing it indefinitely.

The order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had been expected in light of still-unresolved issues in the case and because Trump is currently on trial in a separate case in Manhattan charging him in connection with hush money payments during the 2016 presidential election. The New York case involves several of the same lawyers representing him in the federal case in Florida.

Cannon said in a five-page order Tuesday that it would be imprudent to finalize a new trial date now, casting further doubt on federal prosecutors' ability to bring Trump to trial before the November presidential election.

Trump faces dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally hoarding at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida classified documents that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021, and then obstructing the FBI's efforts to get them back. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

Trump faces four criminal cases as he seeks to reclaim the White House, but outside of the New York prosecution, it's not clear that any of the other three will reach trial before the election.

The Supreme Court is weighing Trumps arguments that he is immune from federal prosecution in a separate case from special counsel Jack Smith charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia have also brought a separate case related to election subversion, though it's not clear when that might reach trial.
Derrick Higdon walked out of the courtroom in handcuffs as his wife cried quietly a few feet away.

The moment marked the climax of a jury trial that has lasted more than a week.

Derrick Higdon is accused of breaking into his ex-wife's house and setting it on fire, killing her cats.

Higdon, 49, was accused of breaking into a home belonging to his ex-girlfriend, Misty Oakes, on July 23, 2017, and setting it on fire while Oakes hid on the floor of her car. Two of Oakes' cats, Spike and Barney, died in the fire.

Higdon, who has been living in Rock Hill, South Carolina, was charged with attempted first-degree murder, breaking and entering with intent to terrorize and injure, cruelty to animals and first-degree arson.

Higdon represented himself in court during his trial, which started in late April. Attorney Charles Lifford provided him legal advice.

Judge Sally Kirby-Turner granted him a small victory when she reduced the first-degree arson charge to attempted first-degree arson. On Monday, although the day ended with him in handcuffs, Higdon scored a much bigger win. Although he was convicted of felony breaking and entering with intent to terrorize and injure, he was acquitted of all other charges.

Higdon's trial was marked by testimony that depicted him as a cheating husband whose fixation on his ex-girlfriend culminated in acts of violence that left her living in fear for years. Oakes testified that she and Higdon had been having sex even after they broke up, but when he married his wife, Melissa, she told him she no longer wanted to continue that aspect of their relationship. He became angry, she said, beating her up on July 10, about two weeks before the fire. Higdon testified that, despite his marriage, he was still in love with Oakes at the time of the incident. He said he went to her house the evening of July 23, knocked on the door and left when there was no answer.

The jury began deliberations on Friday morning and asked to see multiple pieces of evidence again, including video of Oakes' burning house, text messages between Higdon and Oakes, police body camera footage showing Higdon's traffic stop, and surveillance footage that showed Higdon pulling up and approaching Oakes' home.

The jury also listened to Oakes' 911 call  in which she reported that Higdon was breaking into her home  a second time.

At one point Monday afternoon, the jury sent a note to Kirby-Turner saying that they were struggling to agree on a verdict. They returned with a verdict at around 4 p.m.

Prosecutor Debbie Gulledge asked that Higdon be sent to prison. Higdon asked Kirby-Turner to give him probation "at most."

Kirby-Turner wasn't feeling merciful.

She first addressed Oakes, who was sitting in the courtroom on a bench behind Gulledge with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I want you to know that this court heard everything that you said. And I want you to know that this court sees what you've been through, not just on July 23, but on the days before July 23," Kirby-Turner said. "I've seen it. I've heard it. I've heard how this man talked to you on recordings. I've heard how this man has referred to you in this courtroom. I've seen how this man referred to you in text messages. I want you to know that this court has seen it, and this court understands."

Then she spoke to Higdon.

"I've watched you for two weeks. I heard you for two weeks. What you did to this woman is inexcusable, and again, I'm not just talking about July 23," Kirby-Turner said. "You mentally abused her. You manipulated her, and you tried to do the same to the courtroom.

"We heard how you talked to her, how you broke her down, called her cruel, cruel things, told that woman, the mother of your child, she had no conscience because she didn't want to stroke your ego and have sex with you... It was mental abuse to control her, and then when she said, 'I'm not doing it anymore,' it was physical abuse to control her And then you violated the sanctity of her home to inflict terror upon her to try to regain that control... She's done. She's done with you controlling her, with you abusing her, with you manipulating her, with you gaslighting her. She's done."

Kirby-Turner sentenced Higdon to six to 17 months in prison.

Lifford told the Gazette that the sentences Higdon could have received, had he been convicted on all charges, would have had him spending as many as 20 years in prison. He said that the defense that helped Higdon mostly prevail was that the surveillance footage time stamps didn't match Oakes' 911 call.

"The security surveillance video was very limited, but it clearly shows him arriving at 17:33 and leaving at 17:36. He was stopped and detained by police at 17:46," Lifford said. "The police dispatch times documents Misty describing events happening in real time. She said he broke her window at 17:40 and described seeing the door open and close after 17:46. Though she was a compelling witness, I believe the jury had reasonable doubt based upon the impossibility of him doing the crimes while in police custody."

Lifford added that he didn't know how the fire started, but that the fire investigators did not find an ignition source, so whatever started it likely burned up in the blaze.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Jury returns a verdict in attempted murder trial
'It Just Gets Worse': Kristi Noem Torched For Digging In Again On Kim Jong Un Story

Kristi Noem is still digging in after making a dubious claim in her new book that she once met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and critics arent buying it.

The South Dakota governor, a Republican, has been at the center of an intensifying firestorm surrounding the release of her book, No Going Back. One of the issues at hand is the veracity of her claim that she met Kim when she was serving in Congress. After that claim was called out as false, her spokesperson told HuffPost on Friday that two small errors in the book would be corrected, and that Kim was included in a list of world leaders and shouldnt have been.

But over the past few days, Noem muddied the waters in a series of media appearances in which she refused to give a straight answer on whether she had met with Kim.

Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Noem did it again when pressed by host Jesse Watters.

Did you meet [Kim Jong Un]? Watters asked.

Ive been to the DMZ. Ive been to North Korea, Noem replied, referring to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.

I dont talk about my conversations with world leaders, she added, even though she did just that in the book.

And so, when I looked at the book and I saw that excerpt, I decided to make the change to the content of the book and thats been done.

Watters followed up, So, you didnt have a conversation with Kim when you were at the DMZ?

I dont have conversations about my conversations with world leaders, Noem replied.

The new spin didnt land on social media, where she was encouraged to put down the shovel.

It just gets worse every time she opens her mouth, former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) posted.

See some of the other reactions below.

WHY IS SHE SO BAD AT THIS https://t.co/CuqUevp6SB  Secular Talk (@KyleKulinski) May 7, 2024

"And yet, I will write about my internal monologue about murdering a puppy and a goat." https://t.co/16o1c6DOWk  Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 7, 2024

She needs to lay low. Very low and very quiet. https://t.co/tQMOTShp0Y  Heather Thomas (@HeatherThomasAF) May 7, 2024

Shes now saying its classified but she spoke about in her book and read the audio version. Its simply a lie. https://t.co/rtBNVXcOBW  Sara Spector (@Miriam2626) May 7, 2024

The whole week, Noem keeps stepping on rakes she threw on the ground herself.

I cant believe were on week two of this. https://t.co/K4aXF754bYpic.twitter.com/owFJJIOQJa  Marmel (@Marmel) May 7, 2024

Not to be unprofessional but what a bunch of horseshit. https://t.co/dAdw66LO2B  Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) May 7, 2024

Seriously, someone has to stop her. Confirming you met a world leader isnt talking about the conversation. Politicians announce meetings with world leaders all the time. She was caught in a lie and she just continues to damage herself. https://t.co/L4nF5gh9wx  Chad Hasty (@ChadHastyRadio) May 7, 2024
Board members of the new Cannabis Justice Coalition, who advocate for legal adult use of marijuana in Kansas, include from left to right Prairie Village City Council member Igna Selders, former federal prosecutor Barry Grissom, Prairie Village City Council member Ian Graves and attorney Leslie Byram. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Board members of the new Cannabis Justice Coalition, who advocate for legal adult use of marijuana in Kansas, include from left to right Prairie Village City Council member Igna Selders, former federal prosecutor Barry Grissom, Prairie Village City Council member Ian Graves and attorney Leslie Byram. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

OVERLAND PARK  Leaders of a new politically diverse coalition said Tuesday they were committed to supporting candidates for the Kansas Legislature dedicated to ending the states prohibition on recreational cannabis and to expunging criminal records tied to marijuana.

Prairie Village City Council member Inga Selders, founder of the Cannabis Justice Coalition, said it was frustrating to observe inertia of elected officials who failed to deliver fair and equitable laws and policies recognizing the social, medical and financial benefits of fully legalizing cannabis.

The bipartisan coalition would be dedicated to conducting a campaign to educate voters about marijuana. It would emphasize science and facts instead of comedic fiction packaged into Cheech and Chong films in the 1970s and 1980s. That effort would be combined with political advocacy on behalf of state House and Senate candidates aligned with the philosophy of legalization, Selders said.

Despite a majority of Kansans wanting recreational cannabis fully legalized in Kansas, most of our state legislators arent listening to the constituents and have turned cannabis reform into a partisan issue, when in fact it isnt, she said.

The coalitions board included Barry Grissom, the U.S. attorney for Kansas from 2010 to 2016 under President Barack Obama; Ian Graves, a Prairie Village City Council member and advocate of marijuana decriminalization; and Leslie Byram, an estate planning and probate attorney who regularly works with clients with special medical needs.

Law enforcement resources

During a news conference, Grissom said Kansas should adopt marijuana laws consistent with the approach of Missouri and Colorado on consumption of cannabis by adults. Colorado implemented recreational marijuana sales in 2014, while Missouri followed in February 2023.

Grissom said work as a federal prosecutor and representing clients in private practice offered a window into criminal justice issues, including the necessity of making wise use of financial resources for law enforcement.

I know that spending money on investigation, interdiction, arrest, prosecution, incarceration of individuals involved in some level of use of cannabis is bad public policy, he said. Its a waste of taxpayer money. It is a waste of precious resources our law enforcement needs to keep us all safe in our homes, our communities, our houses of worship and our schools.

He said it was a good first step for the U.S. Department of Justice to recommend marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule III controlled substance along with other prescription drugs instead of remaining a Schedule I substance comparable to heroin, LSD and cocaine. It has been obvious that marijuana wasnt the equivalent of heroin, he said.

He said the classification change ought to spur research to better understand the medical potential and drawbacks of cannabis. However, he said a better approach would be for the federal government to decriminalize marijuana and allow each state to set its own standard.

The Pew Research Center says 24 states and the District of Columbia legalized recreational use of marijuana. Fourteen other states have authorized medical consumption of cannabis.

Just ridiculous

Graves, the other Prairie Village council member, said it was silly the Kansas City metropolitan area was divided into two regions where marijuana consumption was legal to the east in Missouri and illegal to the west in Kansas. Despite that border gap, he said, cannabis was in widespread use in both states.

I tell you cannabis is being consumed in Johnson County frequently. Its already here, said Graves, who considered enforcement of marijuana laws in Kansas a waste of time. Folks in law enforcement know that this just isnt something we should be wasting our time on.

He said the answer for Kansas was passage of a statewide law legalizing cannabis. A piecemeal approach by cities or counties through decriminalization would leave Kansans to contend with a baffling jumble of marijuana ordinances and resolutions, he said.

In October 2023, Fort Hays State University released its annual Kansas Speaks survey of public opinion. The FHSU report showed 67.2% of participants supported recreational sale of marijuana for people 21 and older.

Kansas have been surveyed over and over again. The people of Kansas want recreational cannabis, Graves said. What we need to do is educate people on where their elected officials stand.

Decriminalization

Byram, the attorney with a practice serving individuals with disabilities, said she was aware of families with children or other loved ones with epilepsy, seizure disorder, cancer, insomnia, Alzheimers and mental health challenges, that relocated to other states where cannabis products could be legally obtained.

Kansans shouldnt have to uproot their families to secure necessary medical treatment with cannabis products, she said.

She said the state could invest tax revenue from cannabis sales to relieve waiting lists for services that should be available to Kansans enrolled in Medicaid. The state also could lean into its agriculture economy by engaging in university research on cannabis, she said.

Ive educated myself on the decriminalization and the benefits that come from that and Im largely supportive of legalization for recreational use for that purpose, Byram said. A lot of resources can be rerouted to other law enforcement efforts.

Selders said the coalition was committed to legalization of recreational marijuana, rather than take baby steps by first legalizing medicinal cannabis. During the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers considered a bill that would establish a highly regulated five-year pilot program for sales of medical marijuana. The bill received a hearing in a Senate committee, but was promptly tabled until 2025.

Our biggest mission is to make cannabis legalization up front and central this election cycle, Selders said.

The post New Kansas coalition seeks to legalize adult use of cannabis, expunge criminal records appeared first on Kansas Reflector.
It is commonplace for Russian propaganda to lie and distort facts. The biography of the Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin is also not without fabrications and lies.

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However, despite the vivid attempts to hide the truth about the main war criminal of the Russian Federation, information about Putin's real parents can be found online. OBOZ.UA has found out what exactly the tyrant is hiding about his parents why he is so eager to do continue doing it.

Kremlin version of Putin's biography

According to the Kremlin's official legend, the future dictator was born in Leningrad "into a simple family and lived like a normal person." There is not much information about the dictator's parents on his personal website. It only states that the future dictator's mother was Maria Ivanovna Shelomova. Nothing is said about her, except that she "was a very gentle, friendly person".

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The Kremlin legend also says that the dictator's father was Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, a war veteran who served in the security of a carriage factory and was a foreman at the plant.

However, in contrast to the official version of Putin's biography, other facts tell of a completely different life for Putin. Moreover, his parents could have been completely different people.

Could Putin's father have fought on the side of Nazi Germany?

One of those who first began to dispel the myths about Putin's biography was Viktor Suvorov, a former employee of the Soviet GRU's Geneva residency. Back in 2003, a Polish newspaper published an interview with him, in which Suvorov showed a photo he had discovered in secret British archives depicting six men, among whom could be Putin's real father.

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A former Soviet intelligence officer claims that the photo was taken during the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, and that at the time, the father of the current Kremlin dictator served in General Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army, which fought as part of the Nazi army against the USSR during World War II.

Unsurprisingly, Russian propaganda strongly rejected this version of Putin's real father. Kremlin media outlets stated that such rumors were being spread to demoralize Russian society.

The Kremlin dictator's real mother

Putin's real mother actually lived in Georgia, and the future murderer lived with her for only a few years of his childhood. According to Polish writer, journalist, and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Krystyna Kurczab-Redlich, the future Russian dictator had to live in four families in 1950-1960, and Putin never saw his own father.

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The journalist noted that the dictator's real mother was Vera Nikolaevna Osepashvili (Putin), who was born in 1926 and lived in the Georgian village of Metekhi as of 2022. After the Second World War, she met Platon Privalov, became pregnant, but later learned that the man was married. The woman packed her things and went to her parents in Terekhino, where the future dictator was born.

After that, Vera Nikolaevna found herself in the Georgian village of Metekhi, where she married a Georgian named Osepashvili and had more children. After some time, the young future dictator was sent to Ural to her parents, where he was sent to a boarding school and soon adopted.

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Putin is using criminal methods to hide his true origin

According to the American-Russian historian Yuri Felshtinsky, journalist Artem Borovik was going to publish a sensational story in 2000, in which he wanted to reveal Putin's true biography. However, on March 9, 2000, the journalist died in a car accident. Historians suggest that it was not really an accident but a premeditated murder because Putin did not want to recognize his real parents despite the numerous proofs of his ancestry.

In addition, the author of the publication about the dictator's alleged real mother is Vakha Ibragimov, the press secretary of the assassinated Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev. Felshtinsky claims that journalist Artem Borovik was flying to Georgia to meet with Ibragimov in order to obtain a tape of an interview with Putin's mother. Despite the mysterious accident, Borovik's colleagues released the material on April 26, 2000, but only after the presidential election when the danger for Putin had passed.

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House Speaker Dan Hawkins, seen during a March 21, 2023, session of the House, exaggerates the cost of Medicaid expansion, mocks the benefit of providing medical care to nearly 150,000 adults and children, and claims the people who would benefit "choose not to work."

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, seen during a March 21, 2023, session of the House, issued a statement Monday urging Gov. Laura Kelly to sign Senate Bill 37. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA  House Speaker Dan Hawkins on Monday urged Gov. Laura Kelly to sign bipartisan tax relief rather than summon lawmakers back to Topeka for a special session that would cost $84,000 per day.

The Democratic governor threatened to call a special session if lawmakers failed to adopt a package of tax cuts that met her approval. She vetoed a package of income, property and sales tax cuts that would have left the state with a budget deficit by 2029, and proposed a less-costly alternative.

But lawmakers never considered her proposal before adjourning for the year. Instead, lawmakers passed a nearly identical plan to the one she vetoed.

The Legislature has bent over backward to address her stated concerns, the states fiscal outlook is positive, and we have a hefty budget surplus, Hawkins said in a statement Monday. The governor is out of excuses. We dont need an $84,000-a-day special session for tax relief  the work has already been done through great bipartisan efforts of the legislative tax committees. We simply need the governor to make good on her campaign promise to govern from the middle and sign the bill.

During her reelection campaign in 2022, Kelly promised to govern from the middle of the road.

Still looking on the map for the road you are in the middle of, Governor, Rep. Rebecca Schmoe, R-Ottawa, wrote on X. Sign the tax bill over half of your own party in the legislature supports. Do something that helps every Kansan.

Senate Bill 37 cleared the House by a 108-11 margin and the Senate 25-9.

The legislation would exempt Social Security income from income tax and increase standard deductions. It would exempt $100,000 of residential property value from the state mill levy  and reduce the rate from 20 mills to 19.5 mills. It would eliminate the state sales tax on food by July 1.

It would also move the state from three income tax brackets to two.

Kansas currently uses a graduated system: 3.1% for income under $15,000, 5.25% for income between $15,000 and $30,000 and 5.7% for income above $30,000. The income amounts are doubled for couples filing jointly.

Under SB 37, the first $23,000 would be taxed at 5.2%, and anything over $23,000 would be taxed at 5.57%. The threshold would be $46,000 for couples.

The bill also would abolish the Local Ad Valorem Tax Reduction Fund. From 1937 to 2003, the state distributed a portion of sales tax collections into the fund, which then offset local property taxes. Lawmakers havent funded the program in two decades, frustrating local officials.

Kellys proposal would have retained the exemption on Social Security income and the July 1 expiration of the sales tax on food. She would have raised the residential property exemption to $125,000 while keeping the rate at 20 mills. And she would have added a child care tax credit valued at $18 million per year.

She would have kept the three-tier income tax system but lowered the rates to 3%, 5.2% and 5.65%.

As lawmakers worked late on April 30 to pass SB 37, Kellys chief of staff Will Lawrence issued a warning: She will call the Legislature back into a special session if this is the tax plan sent to her desk.

Lawmakers made a final tweak, lessening the amount of income tax cuts, before passing the law. It isnt clear if the governor intends to sign it.

Rep. Tom Sawyer, D-Wichita, posted a chart on X that shows the amount of income tax relief a family would receive depending on their earnings. Couples who earn less than $40,000 would see some of the largest benefits, according to his chart, and the percentage of savings would disproportionately benefit low-wage earners.

I hope the governor signs it, Sawyer said.

The post Kansas House speaker urges governor to sign tax cuts and avoid special session appeared first on Kansas Reflector.
KENNEBUNK, Maine  Mere minutes after officially becoming an American citizen on Friday, Domingo Aguilar said he felt like a weight that had been sitting on his shoulders for years had finally been lifted.

I feel pretty good, Aguilar said. Ive been waiting.

Since 1987, to be exact. Thats when Aguilar, now 67, came to the United States from Nicaragua.

A man jumps for joy after receiving his certificate proving his U.S. citizenship during a naturalization ceremony at Middle School of the Kennebunks May 3, 2024.

Now a resident of Lewiston, Aguilar said he is most excited to officially have his freedom of speech. Freedom without fear, he added.

Aguilar was one of 20 individuals from 15 countries who officially became U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony at the Middle School of the Kennebunks on May 3. Those who raised their right hands and recited their Oath of Allegiance to the United States originally hailed from such diverse nations as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Thailand, Italy, and Somalia.

Ken Niyonkuru, 25, came to America from Burundi in East Africa eight years ago. After he became a citizen at the ceremony, he said he felt excited and proud of himself. He also spoke of his plans to go to medical school and of his new eligibility for a passport allowing him to travel freely.

But the most important freedom he's most excited about is his right to vote in American elections. Niyonkuru left little doubt that he would stop by the League of Women Voters table in the schools lobby and register to vote before heading home.

Now I am able to put my voice to use and contribute, he said.

U.S. citizen Nima Yusuf, left, poses with her daughter, Safa Hassan, prior to the naturalization ceremony where Safa will receive her citizenship May 3, 2024.

This naturalization ceremony was the fourth one to be hosted by the Middle School of the Kennebunks over the years. The event, which MSK students attended alongside local dignitaries and others, included patriotic performances by the schools band and chorus.

According to RSU 21 spokesperson Matthew Shinburg, the middle school organized the ceremony with the United States Customs and Immigration Services, which works with American residents who have decided to become naturalized citizens.

MSK Principal Marty Bouchard said his school was honored and proud to host the naturalization ceremony.

Our mission is to develop productive global citizens by building knowledge and character, Bouchard said. I can think of nothing better than helping our students to realize how hard people work to gain citizenship and to be a part of a ceremony that increases our diversity here in Maine.

Nasroekad of Kenya takes the Oath of Allegiance as she becomes a U.S. citizen with others at the Middle School of the Kennebunks May 3, 2024.

The United States Customs and Immigration Services helps candidates for citizenship apply for naturalization, process legal paperwork, and administer citizenship tests. Once applicants have successfully passed these measures, they are invited to celebrate their new status at a formal ceremony such as the one MSK hosted.

Abdi Nor Iftin, the author of Call Me American, a memoir, served as the ceremonys keynote speaker. Born and raised during the civil war in Somalia, Iftin became an American citizen himself during a naturalization ceremony in early 2020.

Keynote speaker Abdi Nor Iftin, author of "Call Me American," shares stories during a naturalization ceremony held at Middle School of the Kennebunks May 3, 2024.

Dressed in a suit and sporting a red, white and blue tie, Iftin told the new Americans that his own experience of becoming a citizen at his naturalization ceremony changed him forever. He described the impacts he felt during the decades in which he was labeled as a refugee and an asylum seeker. He also shared the vow he made to himself to move forward when he finally became a citizen.

Becoming a citizen is not just about obtaining a piece of paper, Iftin told his fellow new Americans. Its about embracing the values and ideals that define this great nation. Its about contributing to the rich tapestry of American society, regardless of background or origins. Its about recognizing that we are all part of something greater than ourselves: a nation built on the principles of freedom, equality, and opportunity for all.

Before Iftin spoke, each of the new Americans took their Oath of Allegiance, which Erika Grunnet, the acting field office director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, administered.

Grunnet told the soon-to-be-Americans that they each had been found by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to be of good moral character and attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States.

Emelyne Nduwimana of East Africa glances back as she walks with her children to become a U.S. citizen at the Naturalization Ceremony at the Middle School of the Kennebunks May 3, 2024.

This is the moment weve all been waiting for, she said.

After Iftin spoke, Grunnet awarded the new citizens their certificates.

With a certificate in hand, each new American turned to the audience and smiled and basked in applause. One of them  who left the ceremony too quickly to be asked for his name  jumped up and down and pumped a triumphant fist into the air as the audience cheered.

Like Aguilar, Oliver Murray became a citizen on Friday after also living in America for a long time. He arrived in the United States from the United Kingdom 30 years ago. He met his wife, an American, while she attended school in his country. When the time came for her to return to the states, he followed her here.

After the ceremony, Murray said he felt proud and relieved and ready to jump into American life as an American.

Im very eager to participate in the greatest democracy in the world, he said.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk welcomes new Americans: 'Greatest democracy in the world'
FILE PHOTO: Kevin Spacey appears in court as jury continues to deliberate, in London

By Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) - Oscar-winning U.S. actor Kevin Spacey on Tuesday overturned a London court ruling which effectively found him liable for an alleged sexual assault on a British man, after his lawyers mistakenly failed to serve a defence to a civil lawsuit.

Spacey is being sued at London's High Court by a man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, who alleges that in 2008 he was sexually assaulted by the Hollywood star. The actor has denied the allegations.

In 2022, the 64-year-old was charged in Britain with nine sexual offences against four men between 2004 and 2013 but was acquitted of all charges after a high-profile trial last year.

One of those four complainants separately sued Spacey in a civil lawsuit at London's High Court in 2022.

Earlier this year, a judge granted the man "judgment in default"  a ruling in his favour without a trial  after Spacey's lawyers failed to serve a defence to the lawsuit in time.

Adam Speker, a lawyer representing Spacey, said it was a "genuine error" by the actor's legal team from the prominent British law firm Carter-Ruck.

Speker argued it would be unfair for the claimant to effectively win his lawsuit against Spacey without a trial when he had been "disbelieved on oath by a jury".

Judge Jeremy Cook ruled in Spacey's favour and overturned the judgment in default against the actor.

"The defendant's solicitors have made an error," Cook said. "In my view, that error should not be visited upon the defendant."

Tuesday's ruling means that the claimant's case against Spacey will proceed towards a full trial.

The ruling comes a day after Britain's Channel 4 broadcast a documentary featuring testimony from several men who made allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Spacey.

Spacey gave an interview to British broadcaster Dan Wootton ahead of the broadcast in which he denied any illegal activity and said he would not allow himself to be "baselessly attacked without defending himself".

"I take full responsibility for my past behaviour and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologise to anyone whos made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me," he said.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alison Williams)
FILE - Former President Boris Yeltsin, left, smiles as he talks to Russian acting President and Premier Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Russia, Dec. 31, 1999. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Significant dates in Vladimir Putins 24 years in power in Russia:

Dec. 31, 1999  In a surprise address to the nation, Russian President Boris Yeltsin announces his resignation and makes Putin, the prime minister he appointed four months earlier, the acting president.

May 7, 2000  After winning election with about 53% of the vote, Putin is inaugurated for his first four-year term.

May 11, 2000  Tax police raid the offices of NTV, a popular independent broadcaster noted for critical coverage of the Kremlin. It is the first salvo in moves against prominent independent media that have characterized the Putin era.

Aug. 12, 2000  The submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea with 118 people aboard, setting off the first widespread criticism of Putin, who stayed on vacation early in the crisis and waited five days before accepting Western offers of help.

Oct. 23, 2002  Militants from Russias region of Chechnya take about 850 people hostage at a Moscow theater. Three days later, Russian special forces pump an unidentified gas into the theater to end the crisis, killing at least 130 hostages along with the militants. Putin defends the operation as having saved hundreds of lives.

Oct. 25, 2003  Oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is Russias richest man and seen as a potential challenger to Putin, is arrested and later sentenced to 10 years in prison for tax evasion and fraud. His oil company is dismantled, most of it acquired by state oil company Rosneft. He has since become an opposition figure in exile.

March 14, 2004  Putin is elected to a second term as president.

Sept. 1, 2004  Islamic militants seize a school in the southern city of Beslan, and more than 300 people die in the chaotic explosions and shootout ending the siege two days later. Putin blames regional leaders incompetence and announces that governors will be appointed figures rather than elected.

April 25, 2005  Putin alarms international observers by describing the collapse of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.

Feb. 10, 2007  In a speech at a conference in Munich, Putin turns away radically from earlier attempts to develop closer ties with the United States.

May 8, 2008  Barred by the constitution from running for a third consecutive term, Putin is appointed prime minister by new President Dmitry Medvedev but effectively remains Russias political leader.

Aug. 8-12, 2008  Russia fights a short war with Georgia, gaining full control of the separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.

March 4, 2012  Putin is elected to a new presidential term, which is now six years long under constitutional changes he engineered. Protests by tens of thousands before the vote and on the eve of his inauguration lead to laws toughening penalties for unauthorized political protests.

June 6, 2013  Putin announces on state television that he and his wife, Lyudmila, are divorcing.

Feb. 7, 2014  Putin opens the Winter Olympics in Sochi, a costly prestige project that he was instrumental in winning for Russia.

March 18, 2014  Following the ouster of Ukraines Russia-friendly president amid protests in Kyiv, Moscow annexes Crimea after the Kremlin sends in troops wearing uniforms without insignia. A quick referendum is staged on the peninsula, splitting it from Ukraine. Putin admits a year later that he planned the annexation weeks ahead of time.

April 2014  Fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels begins in eastern Ukraine.

Feb. 27, 2015  Boris Nemtsov, a top figure of Russias beleaguered political opposition, is gunned down on a bridge next to the Kremlin. Nemtsov was working on a report about Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine.

Sept. 30, 2015  Russia begins airstrikes in Syria that Putin calls necessary to destroy terrorist groups. The action helps Syrian President Bashar Assad, a longtime ally, remain in power.

May 15, 2018  Putin opens the 18-kilometer (12-mile) bridge from Russia to Crimea, solidifying Moscows annexation. The bridge later becomes a target of attacks during the war with Ukraine.

July 16, 2018  Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at a summit in Helsinki, where Trump is asked about allegations that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election that brought him to power. He dismissed the claims and said Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial.

July 1, 2020  A referendum approves constitutional changes proposed by Putin, allowing him to run for two more terms starting in 2024.

Aug. 20, 2020  Opposition leader Alexei Navalny falls severely ill while organizing political opposition to Putin in Siberia and is later flown to Germany, where he is diagnosed with nerve-agent poisoning. Navalny blames the Kremlin, which denies it.

Dec. 22, 2020  Putin signs a bill granting lifetime immunity to former presidents.

Jan. 17, 2021  Navalny is arrested at a Moscow airport upon returning from Germany. He is later convicted on several charges and sentenced to 19 years in prison.

July 2021  Putin publishes an article declaring the historical unity of Russia and Ukraine, an ideological precursor to Moscows invasion.

Feb. 24, 2022  The invasion of Ukraine begins, and Putin characterizes it as a special military operation needed for Russias security.

March 4, 2022  Putin signs a law that calls for up to 15 years in prison for spreading false or defamatory information about the military.

Sept. 30, 2023  The International Criminal Court issues a war-crimes indictment for Putin, accusing him of the unlawful deportation and transportation of children from Ukraines war zone into Russia.

June 23, 2023  Mercenary force leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who accused officials of denying ammunition and support to his fighters in Ukraine, mounts a rebellion in which his troops take control of Russias southern military headquarters and head for Moscow. The uprising ends the next day, but undermines Putins image of power. Prigozhin is killed exactly two months after the uprising in a mysterious plane crash.

Feb. 16, 2024  Navalny dies at an Arctic prison colony of unspecified causes. There is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did, said U.S. President Joe Biden. More than 350 people were arrested paying tribute to Navalny at ad-hoc memorials and monuments to victims of political repression.

March 17, 2024  Putin wins a fifth term in an election that reportedly gave him 87% of the vote. His victory had never been in doubt; the other three candidates on the ballot were low-profile politicians from token opposition parties that support the Kremlins line.

March 22, 2024  Gunmen storm a concert hall on Moscow's outskirts, killing people coming to hear a rock group and setting the building on fire. The attack, which killed 144 people, was claimed by an offshoot of the Islamic State group and Russia arrested 11 citizens of Tajikistan as suspects, but Putin and other officials claimed without presenting evidence that the attack was carried out under Ukraines direction.

May 7, 2024  Putin begins a fifth term in office.
With about a month to go until the European Parliament election in June, some of the most productive, outspoken or visible tech lawmakers are hoping to be re-elected for another five-year mandate. Weve been looking at which key decision-makers on files such as the AI Act, cybersecurity and platform regulation are on the list, as well as those bidding farewell to Brussels.

Up for re-election:

Brando Benifei (Italy/S&D)

Brando Benifei is Italys half of the AI Act duo, together with Romania's Dragos Tudorache. Benfei, who was elected an EU lawmaker at the age of 28 in 2014, has not only co-led the Parliaments efforts on the AI Act but also dealt with topics like toy safety and the single market. He has hinted several times about the work on AI that needs to be done in the next mandate; carrying on with rules on AI and the workplace for example.

Axel Voss (Germany/EPP)

Axel Voss entered Parliament in 2009 becoming one of Germanys most prominent lawmakers on tech. Voss is a member of the Legal Affairs Committee and steered through files including the AI Act. In the previous mandate he played a key role in copyright reform and the EUs pioneering General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For the next mandate, Voss has called for reform of data rules as well as future-proof laws. Hes placed fifth on the Christian-Democrat list of the German region of North Rhein-Westphalia.

Birgit Sippel (Germany/S&D)

Most people remember Birgit Sippel, who has been in Parliament since 2009, for her fight for e-privacy, e-evidence and Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) as well as for her involvement on migration issues. Shes placed fifth her partys list, increasing the likelihood of her staying in Brussels.

Eva Maydell (Bulgaria/EPP)

One of the best-known lawmakers on tech files such as the Chips Act, AI and data rules, Bulgarian Eva Maydell has been making waves since, at 28-years old, she entered Parliament in 2014 as the youngest lawmaker in the Christian-Democrat EPP group.

Kim van Sparrentak (the Netherlands/Greens-EFA)

Kim van Sparrentak, who was elected with preference votes as an EU lawmaker in 2019, is fourth on the joint Dutch Labour-Greens list, almost guaranteeing that she will secure another term. Van Sparrentak steered through files on addictive design and consumer protection and focused on topics such as AI and labour rights. She said on her party website that she wants to continue fighting for a human approach to technology in the next mandate.

Incoming candidates:

Luukas Ilves (Estonia/Renew)

An interesting newcomer, if elected, will be Luukas Ilves, most recently the deputy secretary general for digital development at the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. He has held jobs at the countrys Defence Ministry, the permanent representation in Brussels and worked as Estonias Chief Information Officer, following technology topics. He is the son of Toomas Hendrik Ilves, also an MEP between 2004 to 2006, who left the job to become President of Estonia, often cited as Europe's most digitised state. Luukas Ilves said the EU needs to catch up with the US and China when it comes to AI, at the time of announcing his candidacy for the liberal Reform Party.

Running again:

Influential AI lawmaker Svenja Hahn (Germany/Renew) is also planning to run again, as is Maltas Alex Agius Saliba (S&D) who worked on the same file. Marcel Kolaja (Czechia/Greens-EFA) and Christel Schaldemose (Denmark/S&D) are also on their national lists.

The Netherlands' key lawmaker on cybersecurity files Bart Groothuis (Renew) has confirmed he is available for another mandate, while Sophie in t Veld (the Netherlands/Renew), who played a high-profile role on spyware, has left the Dutch D66 party to join Volt, for which she is hoping to get elected in Belgium to continue her two-decade mandate. The party advocates the establishment of an EU-level ministry of digitalisation.

Leavers:

Among departing lawmakers are Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (Finland/S&D) and Paul Tang (Netherlands/S&D)  who followed issues such as the Digital Services Act and tax evasion. Deirdre Clune (Ireland/EPP), who was involved in the AI Act, and Karen Melchior (Denmark/Renew) who contributed to the Parliaments position on geo-blocking, do not appear on their respective lists.

Dragos Tudorache (Romania/Renew), the Parliaments co-lead on the AI Act is also leaving, although he may continue his work on AI as he's been mooted as a candidate to head up the new EU AI Office. Dita Charanzova (Czechia/Renew), currently a vice-president and influential in the Parliaments Internal Market committee, said she will not be on the list for ANO, the party of former prime minister Andrej Babis. Whether she will run for another party, remains to be seen.
By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Harry will not be seeing his father King Charles during his current visit to Britain as the monarch will be too busy, Harry's spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Harry, 39, has returned to Britain to attend a number of events to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, the international sporting event that he founded for military personnel wounded in action.

The younger son of King Charles has only been back in Britain on a few occasions since he and his American wife Meghan stepped down from official royal roles in 2020 and moved to Los Angeles where they live with their two young children.

They have since become estranged from the rest of the royal family and Harry is said to be barely on speaking terms with his elder brother, heir to the throne Prince William.

Harry's last publicised trip came in February when he made a flying visit to see his father for a quick reunion after Buckingham Palace revealed that the 75-year-old king had been diagnosed with cancer.

There had been press speculation that the pair would meet up again on his latest trip, but a spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex said this would not happen.

"In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not the duke will meet with his father while in the UK this week, it unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majestys full programme," the spokesperson said.

"The duke of course is understanding of his father's diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon."

Charles returned to public duties last week for the first time since his diagnosis for an unspecified form of cancer. Buckingham Palace said the king's diary would be carefully managed to minimise any risks to his health.

The palace has said it would not comment on matters relating to Harry.

On Tuesday, Harry, who served in the British armed forces in Afghanistan, attended a number of appointments linked to the Invictus Games. On Wednesday he will appear at a service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral in London where he will deliver one of the readings.

After leaving Britain, Harry will be joined by his wife Meghan for a visit to Nigeria.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Gareth Jones)
What We Know After Death of Joshua Dean, Second Boeing Whistleblower to Die in Two Months

For the second time in as many months, a Boeing whistleblower died unexpectedly in the spring of 2024.

On March 9, 2024, former Boeing employee John Barnett was found dead in Charleston, South Carolina. Then on May 1, 2024, The Seattle Times reported that Joshua Dean, who worked for Boeing contractor Spirit AeroSystems, had died the previous day after a "struggle with a sudden, fast-spreading infection." Both men had publicly complained about safety lapses and mismanagement in the companies.

Some readers reacted with allegations of a sinister plot:

(X user @WallStreetSilv)

This is a conspiracy theory in the truest sense of the phrase. The timing of the two deaths, given recent scandals at Boeing related to aircraft safety and the general lack of faith in large U.S. corporations, create a dark explanation that's easy to suggest but hard to prove.

So here's what we know to date about those deaths. We'll update this story with more information as it becomes available.

John Barnett

Snopes previously reported on Barnett's death. To briefly recap:

Barnett, who was 62 when he died, worked at Boeing for over 30 years and first filed a whistleblower complaint against his employer in 2017. In 2019, Barnett spoke to the BBC and The New York Times about safety concerns he had with Boeing's production of the 787 Dreamliner airplane, which he said the company's management routinely ignored.

In the days leading up to his death, Barnett was providing a deposition about Boeing's safety lapses in Charleston, South Carolina. He was discovered dead in his car from what the Charleston coroner's office called a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A Boeing spokesperson told Snopes the following via email:

We are saddened by Mr. Barnett's passing and our thoughts continue to be with his family and friends. Boeing reviewed and addressed quality issues that Mr. Barnett raised before he retired in 2017, as well as other quality issues referred to in the complaint. Engineering analysis determined the issues he raised did not affect airplane safety.

Joshua Dean

Dean, who was 45 at the time of his death, did not work for Boeing directly. He worked for Spirit AeroSystems, the Boeing contractor linked to manufacturing defects in the Boeing 737 MAX plane.

According to several credible news outlets, including NPR, The Seattle Times and CBS News, Dean, a quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, initially reported a problem to management in October 2022. Holes in the bulkhead of the 737 MAX had been improperly drilled, he said, and might lead to depressurization of the plane's cabin while in flight.

In April 2023, Boeing and Spirit announced a separate manufacturing defect in the 737 MAX, related to fittings on the tail fin. Spirit fired Dean later that month. In his deposition, Dean claimed that he might have missed the tail fin problem because he was focused on the bulkhead problem he had previously identified.

In August 2023, 10 months after Dean initially reported his concerns about the bulkhead holes to supervisors, Boeing publicly reported the defect. Dean filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over those issues in the latter half of 2023, claiming that Spirit had fired him as a scapegoat. He also filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Labor, which was ongoing at the time of his death, according to news reports.

Then in January 2024, a door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX blew off mid-flight. Spirit installed that door plug. One of Dean's coworkers confirmed some of his allegations not long after.

On April 21, 2024, Dean, whom his family described as a "health nut" and someone who didn't have a regular doctor because he was never sick, checked himself into an urgent care because he was having trouble breathing. He quickly found himself in a hospital: He tested positive for Influenza B then developed MRSA followed by pneumonia and may have had a stroke. By April 30, he was dead.

Snopes reached out to Spirit AeroSystems for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

The Conspiracy

The theory that the two deaths were more than coincidental did not begin after Dean died  Barnett's apparent suicide in the middle of a deposition was suspicious enough for some online to claim that Boeing had ordered his assassination. While Dean died of an infection, the fact that he went from being in very good health to barely holding on to life in the course of two weeks only amplified the theory that something was at play behind the scenes.

Brian Knowles, an attorney who represented both Barnett and Dean, called them "heroes" in the New York Post. Knowles also told Time magazine that he did not want to speculate on the two whistleblower's deaths:

"I would like to see the evidence from the investigating authorities." But, he adds, "what society does not need is people in fear to speak up."

Charleston police are still investigating Barnett's death. Dean's mother has requested an autopsy to determine exactly what her son died from, but those results could take months.

Meanwhile, the FAA announced on May 6, 2024, that it had opened an additional investigation into Boeing over concerns that the manufacturer had skipped some inspections on the 787 Dreamliner and falsified records.

Sources:

Archive, View Author, and Get author RSS feed. Boeing Faces 10 More Whistleblowers after Two Die. 4 May 2024, https://nypost.com/2024/05/04/us-news/boeing-faces-10-more-whistleblowers-after-two-die/.

B, et al. "Boeing Whistleblower John Barnett, Who Raised Alarm over Plane Quality, Is Found Dead." NPR, 12 Mar. 2024. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2024/03/12/1238033573/boeing-whistleblower-john-barnett-dead.

---. "Whistleblower Joshua Dean, Who Raised Concerns about Boeing Jets, Dies at 45." NPR, 2 May 2024. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2024/05/02/1248693512/boeing-whistleblower-josh-dean-dead.

Boeing Supplier That Made Alaska Airlines Door Plug Was Warned of "Defects" with Other Parts, Lawsuit Claims - CBS News. 10 Jan. 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boeing-loose-bolts-alaska-airlines-united-airlines-spirit-aerosystems-door-plug/.

Boeing Whistleblower Raises Doubts over 787 Oxygen System. 6 Nov. 2019. www.bbc.com, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50293927.

Gates, Dominic, and Lauren Rosenblatt. "Whistleblower Josh Dean of Boeing Supplier Spirit AeroSystems Has Died." The Seattle Times, 1 May 2024, https://www.seattletimes.com/business/whistleblower-josh-dean-of-boeing-supplier-spirit-aerosystems-has-died/.

"Https://Twitter.Com/WallStreetSilv/Status/1785863043005415625." X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1785863043005415625. Accessed 6 May 2024.

Izzo, Jack. "Boeing Whistleblower Found Dead in His Car with 'Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound'?" Snopes, 12 Mar. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//news/2024/03/12/boeing-whistleblower-found-dead/.

Kaplan, Michael. Whistleblower at Key Boeing Supplier Dies after Sudden Illness - CBS News. 2 May 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joshua-dean-boeing-whistleblower-dies-sudden-illness/.

Kitroeff, Natalie, and David Gelles. "Claims of Shoddy Production Draw Scrutiny to a Second Boeing Jet." The New York Times, 20 Apr. 2019. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/20/business/boeing-dreamliner-production-problems.html.

Malone, Patrick. "With Boeing in Hot Seat, Claims against Supplier Spirit AeroSystems Take Shape." The Seattle Times, 21 Feb. 2024, https://www.seattletimes.com/business/with-boeing-in-hot-seat-claims-against-supplier-spirit-aerosystems-take-shape/.

Negroni, Christine. "Was Foul Play Involved in the Boeing Whistleblowers' Deaths? People Are Definitely Worried About It." Slate, 3 May 2024. slate.com, https://slate.com/technology/2024/05/boeing-deaths-whistleblowers-suicide-rumors-foul-play.html.

Reporter, Alia Shoaib Freelance News. "Attorney for Dead Boeing Whistleblowers Speaks Out." Newsweek, 6 May 2024, https://www.newsweek.com/attorney-two-boeing-whistleblowers-dead-calls-them-heroes-1897493.

"Spirit AeroSystems Whistleblower Dies After Sudden Infection." TIME, 2 May 2024, https://time.com/6973635/boeing-spirit-aerosystems-whistleblower-josh-dean-dead/.

Strassmann, Mark, and Michael Kaplan. Family of Boeing Whistleblower John Barnett Speaks out Following His Death - CBS News. 28 Mar. 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-barnett-boeing-whistleblower-family-interview/.

Tangel, Andrew. "FAA Opens New Boeing Inquiry Over 787 Inspections." Wall Street Journal, 6 May 2024, https://www.wsj.com/business/airlines/faa-opens-new-boeing-inquiry-after-jet-maker-says-it-may-have-missed-some-787-inspections-39e1b028.

Walker, Mark, and James Glanz. "Alaska Airlines Flight Was Scheduled for Safety Check on Day Panel Blew Off." The New York Times, 12 Mar. 2024. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/us/politics/alaska-airlines-flight-door.html.
The Kremlin is once again intensifying its campaign of reflexive control aimed at influencing Western decision-making through nuclear threats and diplomatic manipulation.

Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW)

Details: Several military analysts have stated that reflexive control is a key element of Russia's hybrid warfare approach. This tactic shapes the enemy through targeted rhetoric and information operations so that the enemy voluntarily takes actions that benefit Russia.

Russian officials have consistently timed nuclear readiness exercises and vague threats of nuclear retaliation to coincide with important Western decisions on the war in Ukraine in order to force Western politicians to restrain themselves and reduce their support for Ukraine.

The current apparent renewing of nuclear rhetoric, this time as planned tactical exercises involving nuclear weapons, coincides with the imminent arrival of Western weapons in Ukraine.

Russian officials are likely using the nuclear weapons information operation to dissuade Ukraine's Western partners from providing additional military support and to scare Western politicians into preventing Ukrainian forces from using Western-supplied systems to attack legitimate military targets in Russia.

Russian forces have been conducting routine nuclear exercises as part of this broader nuclear rhetoric information operation, but ISW continues to assess that Russia is extremely unlikely to use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine or elsewhere.

Russia has frequently used nuclear weapons rhetoric during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine to pressure the West to withdraw military support for Ukraine.

For reference:

The Soviet mathematician Vladimir Lefebvre defined reflexive control as "the process of transferring the reasons for a decision" to the enemy through "provocations, intrigues, disguises, creation of false items and lies of any kind."

Background:

The Russian Ministry of Defence reported on 6 May that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had instructed the Russian General Staff to prepare for non-strategic (tactical) nuclear weapons exercises to "practise the preparation and use" of tactical nuclear weapons.

The Russian Ministry of Defence stated that these exercises would involve missile units from the Southern Military District of Russia, as well as Russian aircraft and naval forces.

The Russian Ministry of Defence and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in particular, stated that Russia would conduct nuclear exercises in response to "provocative statements and threats" made by Western officials against Russia.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the United States of deploying ground-launched intermediate- and short-range missiles "in various regions around the world", which, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, allows Russia to respond in the same way.

Russia's Foreign Ministry also said it would consider the arrival of F-16s in Ukraine as a provocation, as Russia would consider F-16s to be nuclear weapons carriers  a standard threat that Russian officials have made since Western states first committed to sending F-16s to Ukraine in the summer of 2023.

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, accused US, French and UK officials of considering sending their troops to Ukraine and said this justified Russia's tactical nuclear weapons exercises. Medvedev also explicitly threatened a "world catastrophe" as a result of Western intervention in Ukraine and warned of Russian strikes on Washington, Paris and London. Russian officials, including Medvedev, are critical elements in Russia's efforts to use nuclear rhetoric as a form of reflexive control.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also summoned the UK and French ambassadors to Russia as part of a broader campaign of reflexive control aimed at dissuading Western governments from supporting Ukraine.

To quote the ISWs Key Takeaways on 6 May:

The Kremlin appears to be re-intensifying a reflexive control campaign targeting Western decision-making using nuclear threats and diplomatic manipulation.

Russian elites and Kremlin officials are reportedly vying for influential positions in the Russian government ahead of the Russian presidential inauguration on 7 May to prematurely secure powerful roles in the event that Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves power around the end of his new term.

A Russian insider source, who has routinely been accurate about past Russian military command changes, claimed that the Russian military command appointed the commanders and chiefs of staff of the newly formed Leningrad and Moscow military districts (LMD and MMD).

The Kremlin continues tightening the restrictions on individuals it designates as "foreign agents," restricting their ability to serve in government roles, likely in a disguised purge of officials who do not adequately align with the Kremlin.

Ukraines Defence Intelligence conducted a successful maritime drone strike against a Russian patrol boat in occupied Crimea on 6 May, and Ukrainian forces are reportedly adapting their maritime drones to combat Russian defensive measures.

Russia may be switching sides in the Sudanese civil war to support the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in pursuit of a Red Sea naval base for Russia, which would align Iranian and Russian Sudanese policy and create opportunities for increased Iranian-Russian cooperation in Sudan and the broader Red Sea area.

Russia has pursued a Red Sea port since 2008 to protect its economic interests in the area and improve its military posture by increasing its ability to challenge the West in the broader region, including in the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean.

Russia backing the SAF would greatly benefit Iran by aligning Iranian and Russian policy and strategy in the region, which would advance Irans own aims of securing a Red Sea base in Sudan.

The Kremlin is additionally pursuing secondary objectives, including sidelining Ukrainian and US influence in Sudan, through its outreach to the SAF.

Russian forces recently made confirmed advances northwest of Svatove, near Avdiivka, in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and in the east (left) bank of Kherson Oblast.

Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia Oblast Head Ivan Fedorov stated that Russian authorities have created the infrastructure necessary to conscript Ukrainians in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast and plan to conscript more than 150,000 Ukrainians into the Russian army in an unspecified time period.

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South Dakota governor Kristi Noem was reportedly gunning for a top job at the National Rifle Association as recently as last fall, according to a new report.

Ms Noem  who saved future opponents time and energy by willfully choosing to include in her new book that she shot her dog decades ago  reportedly offered to step down as governor to take the position, a pair of sources told Axios.

The sources claim that last autumn, Ms Noem reached out to former NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre  himself no stranger to killing an animal and looking like a fool as a result  to offer herself up as the next vice-president or CEO of the organisation.

She allegedly said she'd be willing to walk away from her governorship early to take the role.

According to the sources, it wasn't a far-fetched idea; they said Ms Noem has been a known quantity in NRA leadership circles and that her name was reportedly floated shortly after Mr LaPierre resigned in January.

An official successor for the gun lobbying group has yet to be named. Andrew Arulanandam, a Republican operative since at least 1994, is the interim CEO.

Ian Fury, Ms Noem's spokesperson, told Axios that the report is nonsense and that she would have never considered leaving her position as governor.

"She loves her job as governor of South Dakota," he told the outlet.

The alleged NRA gig isn't the only job Ms Noem has had her eyes on.

Up until the dog story broke, Ms Noem was considered a top contender to be Donald Trump's running-mate in 2024.

Those hopes may have been dashed to the gravel pit alongside Cricket (the pet she says in her memoir No Going Back that she shot after several misdemeanours, including trying to bite her).

"She's DOA," an ally of Mr Trump told The Hill.

Kristi Noem reportedly pitched herself to take over the NRA, sources claim (AFP via Getty Images)

On nearly every social media post she has made since the story broke, commenters have referred to her killing her dog.

Shes basically taken herself out of the running to be VP, a Republican strategist told The Hill.

The strategist reportedly was baffled as to why Ms Noem thought it would be appropriate to leave that story in her book. She even acknowledges in her book that including the story likely wasn't a tactical move.

I guess if I were a better politician I wouldnt tell the story here, she wrote, according to The Guardian.

On the other hand, Mr Trump does like Ms Noem, and he frequently uses "dog" as an insult, so she still may have a VP shot. Audio recordings of Mr Trump musing over his potential 2024 running mates were published by Axios on Sunday, and included some praise for the South Dakota governor.

"Somebody that I love. She's been with me, a supporter of mine and I've been a supporter of hers for a long time," Mr Trump allegedly said about Ms Noem.

While she's waiting to find out if she'll be taking on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris later this year, Ms Noem will likely still be fielding questions about the details in her new book.

In addition to the dog killing controversy, Ms Noem has also been called out for falsely claiming to have met North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un while she was serving on the House Armed Services Committee. She also claimed to have cancelled a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron.

I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, she wrote. Im sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (Id been a childrens pastor, after all).

The Dakota Scout, a publication in South Dakota, tried to verify both meetings but could find no evidence of either happening. After speaking with Mr Macron's office, they found Ms Noem never had a meeting scheduled with the leader.

Ms Noem's spokesperson later confirmed to news outlets that the story was not true and would be removed.

Mr Fury told The New York Times that the inclusion of the North Korean leaders name had been a mistake.

This has been communicated to the ghostwriter and editor, he told the paper. Kim Jong-un was included in a list of world leaders and shouldnt have been."
Evidence has been found for the existence of a planet that crashed into the Earth a long time ago. A new study of metal ore in the depths of the Moon supports the version that the Earth's satellite was formed as a result of this collision.

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According to scientists, the catastrophe occurred about 4.5 billion years ago, Mail Online reports. A planet the size of Mars called Theia shattered into fragments of hot lava upon impact with the Earth.

Some of Theia's remains are buried as dense and massive "clumps" deep under the tectonic plates of Africa and the Pacific Ocean. But scientists say that there has been no evidence of where the rest of Theia went after this catastrophe.

New data obtained by NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft have revealed large deposits of titanium-iron ore deep beneath the Moon's surface. This may indicate that other remnants of Theia actually formed the Moon.

Planetary geophysicist Adrien Brocke of the German Aerospace Center in Berlin described NASA's GRAIL findings as nothing short of "fascinating."

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His team's new paper, published this April in the journal Nature Geoscience, focuses on "gravitational anomalies" deep beneath the Moon's surface: dense, heavy pockets of matter detected by the GRAIL spacecraft's sensors.

"Analyzing these variations in the moon's gravitational field allowed us to look beneath the surface of the moon and see what lies beneath," Brockett said.

Under the lunar crust, between the mantle and the core, two dense areas were found that could be deposits of titanium and iron called ilmenite. They indicate the validity of the theory of a collision with Thea.

After the probable collision and burial of fragments of this lost planet deep under the Earth's crust, molten lava basins of heavy titanium and iron on the Moon's surface began to sink deeper into its core, pushing lighter rocks up. In other words, the Moon turned inside out.

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The theory of an interplanetary collision has been confirmed by studies of the Earth's mantle. In particular, there are two similar dense areas known as Large Low Shear Velocity Plumes (LLSVP).

One is located under the African tectonic plate and the other under the Pacific tectonic plate. They were measured with seismic equipment similar to that used to detect earthquakes.

Their existence was established when geologists discovered that seismic waves slow down dramatically at a depth of 2900 km in these two regions, which are different from other parts of the Earth.

Scientists believe that the material in these LLSVPs is 2-3.5% denser than the mantle surrounding the Earth.

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Last year, researchers led by the California Institute of Technology proposed that these LLSVPs could have formed from a small amount of Theia material that fell into the lower mantle of the ancient Earth.

To confirm this, they asked Professor Hongping Deng of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory to investigate the idea using his innovative computational fluid dynamics techniques.

After running a series of simulations, Professor Deng found that after a moon-forming impact, a significant amount of Theia's material  about 2% of the Earth's mass  would have fallen into the lower mantle of the ancient planet Earth.

"Through precise analysis of rock samples, combined with more advanced giant collision models and Earth evolution models, we can infer the material composition and orbital dynamics of primordial Earth and Theia," said co-author Deng Qian Yuan, a geophysicist at the California Institute of Technology who also worked on the project.

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Brockett said that he hopes that future NASA missions to the Moon, like those planned under the Artemis program, will be able to conduct similar seismic measurements: the first of its kind seismic data from the Moon that will better support the Theia collision theory.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine warned the Kremlin is expanding its use of TikTok to question the legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelenskiys presidency and undermine the nations morale as Russia presses its advantage in cyberspace as well as on the battlefield.

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Russias legions of influencers and bots are behind a series of viral TikTok videos that zero in on May 20  the date that Zelenskiys first term would have ended if the countrys election cycle hadnt been disrupted because of martial law, according to Andriy Kovalenko, a senior official focused on Russias wartime dissemination of false information.

Russia is dominating us on TikTok due to the scale of its operation, Kovalenko, who leads a department under the National Security and Defense Council, said in an interview in Kyiv. The Russians have begun working systematically on TikTok and are utilizing this platform successfully.

As Russia leverages its advantage in ammunition and manpower to exploit Ukraines dwindling stocks of weaponry, it has also increasingly embraced TikTok as part of its parallel information war. The social media app owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd. is part of an arsenal that includes other platforms such as Telegram and X, formerly known as Twitter.

TikTok has increased safety and security measures in Ukraine since the start of the war and removes harmful misinformation, according to a TikTok spokesperson. Globally, 97% of misinformation content is removed before it is flagged to the platform, the spokesperson said.

Ukraines criticism comes as ByteDance is under increasing pressure from the US and European Union due to concern over data security and misinformation.

US President Joe Biden signed a law last month that requires ByteDance to divest the service or face a ban out of concern that Chinas government could use the app for propaganda or spying on US residents.

In the EU, regulators have also scrutinized the app. TikTok has said itll launch a local language feature in all 27 member states of the bloc to curb misinformation ahead of elections this year.

The US government and the European Commission, the EUs executive arm, are among institutions that already ban the app from official devices. Yet politicians including Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz operate accounts on the platform in an attempt to reach a younger audience that gravitates to the service, which boasts over a billion users.

President Xi Jinping embarked on a European tour this week, with a first stop in Paris, where French President Emmanuel Macron sought to pressure the Chinese leader to use its leverage over the Kremlin to help end Russias invasion in Ukraine. Xi and Vladimir Putin have made common cause in challenging the US-led global order, with Beijing accusing Washington of seeking to stifle its development.

Russian actors are skilled at manipulating TikTok, according to Kovalenko. They create fake accounts with Ukrainian SIM cards or manipulate geographic-location technology to appear to be in Ukraine, and can game TikToks algorithms to reach a wider base of users, he said.

There arent many Ukrainian bloggers on TikTok and those who are doing it arent inflating hits, he said. We need to adjust our approach and consider focusing on this social network as well.

TikTok found several covert influence operations that targeted the war in Ukraine attempting to artificially amplify both pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian narratives, it said in its fourth-quarter report on efforts to enforce community guidelines. It removed 2 million videos in Ukraine during the period, according to the report.

Kovalenko, with over 543,000 TikTok followers, uses his account to distribute short videos that underscore Ukraines views on the war. He said a ban is not in the works.

Instead, Ukraine wants TikTok and other social media service providers to open full-scale offices in Kyiv to help fight disinformation more effectively, according to Kovalenko.

TikTok blocked 24 pro-Russian channels after Ukraine complained to its representatives in the EU, he said.

--With assistance from Jake Rudnitsky.

(Updates with TikTok comments in fifth paragraph.)

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A leaked message suggests the new Labour First Minister of Wales may have misled the Covid Inquiry when he denied intentionally deleting WhatsApp correspondence.

Vaughan Gething, who took over as First Minister in March, could be recalled to the inquiry after the message emerged appearing to contradict his claims he did not delete WhatsApp messages during the pandemic.

Mr Gething, who was the health minister during the pandemic, told the inquiry in March that his lost messages were not deleted by him but by the Welsh Senedds IT team during a security rebuild.

He told the hearing that the lost information was a matter of real embarrassment and told Baroness Heather Hallett, the inquirys chairman, that he regretted that all these messages are not available to you.

However, a message leaked to news website Nation.Cymru has now cast doubt on Mr Gethings version of events.

In a message posted to the ministerial group chat on Monday Aug 17 2020, Mr Gething appears to have said: Im deleting the messages in this group.

They can be captured in an FOI [Freedom of Information request] and I think we are in the right place on the choice being made.

A spokesman for the inquiry confirmed it had been made aware of the message and was now considering whether Mr Gething would need to provide further information.

He said: These reports have been brought to the attention of the inquiry this morning.

The inquiry is considering the information available and whether it is necessary to seek further evidence from Mr Gething.

The context of the First Ministers message is unclear and it is unknown whether it falls within the inquirys terms of reference.

However, the message was written while Wales was still following Covid restrictions after the first lockdown and when then First Minister Mark Drakeford was deciding on what contact between people could be allowed.

It was sent on the same day the Welsh Government announced that A-level and GCSE students would be awarded the grades estimated for them by their teachers.

The Welsh government had been facing a backlash after 42 per cent of grades predicted by teachers were lowered, amid claims an algorithm had unfairly downgraded them.

Corridor conversations

The lack of WhatsApp messages available to the inquiry meant Mr Gething and Welsh ministers escaped the same scrutiny as Boris Johnson, who was quizzed over messages from himself and his advisors that revealed a toxic culture in Downing Street during the pandemic.

Mr Gething is expected to be asked about the message during First Ministers Questions on Tuesday and the Welsh government has not commented on the issue.

Telling lies at a statutory public inquiry amounts to the criminal offence of perjury, which on conviction can lead to a prison sentence of up to seven years.

Addressing the inquiry in March, Mr Gething insisted that the messages were used in place of conversations you have in the corridor which were no longer possible during the pandemic and not for decision-making or to circumvent processes within the government.

He added: I certainly do regret the fact that all those messages arent available to you, because you could see them and satisfy yourself that all of the information there is consistent with all the information in the records you do have in front of you.

Mr Gething is already facing questions over a 200,000 donation which boosted his campaign for the Welsh Labour Leadership.

Last week in the Senedd he survived a vote calling for an independent inquiry into the donation from Dauson Environmental Group, whose director David Neal was previously convicted of environmental offences.

Opposition groups raised concerns that it could be a possible conflict of interest and breach of the ministerial code, while members of his own benches questioned his decision-making.

Cloak and dagger decision-making

Today both the Conservative and Plaid Cymru opposition leaders called for the First Minister to be recalled to the inquiry to give further evidence over his WhatsApp messages.

Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said: The cloak and dagger decision-making in the Labour Welsh Government is clear to see.

Decisions made in these WhatsApp groups have led to lives lost and businesses shut, so with evidence suggesting that the First Minister deliberately deleted important exchanges, its obvious why Labour has blocked an independent Wales-specific Covid inquiry.

In light of this, there is an even more compelling case for a Covid inquiry for Wales.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid Cymru, said the revelation strikes a devastating blow to those who lost loved ones during the pandemic.

He said: We all sought transparency but were told all was in the open for the UK inquiry to see. This undermines any belief that that is the case.

It shows blatant disregard for honesty and transparency, further undermining trust in the Labour First Minister on the back of his donations scandal.

The leaked message shows that the Welsh Labour Cabinet was complicit in allowing this deception. Baroness Hallett, as chair of the inquiry, should immediately recall Vaughan Gething to give clarity on what he said under oath.

Vaughan Gething is running away from an independent investigation into a donation to his Labour leadership campaign but must not be allowed to dodge an investigation into this extremely serious matter.

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Labour suffered, in its otherwise successful local election performance, from the loss of the Muslim vote. I put inverted commas round the phrase because I dislike the idea that a religion enjoins support for a political party.

Nevertheless, it is true that Muslim activists in Britain seem obsessed with Israel-Gaza. It is the subject of the angry weekly marches in London which menace Jews and block the streets. It is what causes the protests on university campuses.

What should Labour do about this? Since it has long been far more popular with Muslim voters than any other major party (except the SNP under the hapless Humza Yousaf), it obviously needs to worry. Some will advise Sir Keir Starmer to edge away from the strong support for Israel which he expressed immediately after Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis on 7 October.

This would be a mistake, both politically and morally. Labour insiders are more aware than most voters of the danger of the weird alliance between punitive Muslim extremists who believe women are inferior, homosexuals should be killed etc and the usually white hard-left Corbynites whose social agenda is completely different but share Islamist hatred of Israel and the West.

Some activists in the Corbynite organisation, Momentum, have now left Labour to campaign against candidates whom they regard as unsound on the Middle East. Others stay to undermine it within. These are the people whom Starmer came into the job determined to depose. He should not flinch now. Their presence taints any party which contains them, and loses moderate votes.

Some will say, What is wrong with Labour becoming more anti-Israel? That would reflect a growing belief. In theory, it is legitimate  although, I would argue, mistaken  to come down harder on Israel. There is much to criticise in the policies of Netanyahus uneasy coalition. But the nature of leftist/Islamist opposition to Israel is unappeasable.

After all, the current rage is provoked not by an atrocity of Israels but by the atrocity which triggered Israels response. The marchers express no anxiety about Hamas. In any sane political culture, the main moral and practical energy should be directed at catching and punishing Hamas. Yet exactly the opposite occurred. Israeli retaliation was condemned even before it had happened. The well-coordinated crowds in the streets shouted anathemas at the victims, not the perpetrators.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) claims to speak for Muslims in this country, though the Government does not recognise that status. I recently emailed the MCB to check its official position. It says, The Muslim Council of Britain condemns the killing of innocent people on October 7th. There is no justification for the murder of innocent individuals. Similarly, we retain this position for the many thousands of Palestinians murdered prior to October 7th, for the approximately 1200 Israelis killed on October 7th and the well over 34,000 Palestinians killed including thousands of Palestinian children in what the ICJ plausibly considers genocide.

At a casual reading, that sounds reasonable; but note the nuances. No mention is made of who killed the Israelis. The killing of innocent people is condemned, with the implication that some killed were not innocent. By mentioning the many thousands of Palestinians killed in unspecified events before 7 October, it implies that the 7 October attacks were retaliatory. By lumping together the massacred with the victims of the Israeli military response, it assumes a false moral equivalence (and the truth of the Hamas casualty figures). It is also untrue that the International Court of Justice plausibly considers the killings in Gaza to be genocide. The just-retired ICJ president confirmed this last month.

Sensing these equivocations, I emailed the MCB again, asking whether it agreed that the murders of 7 October were carried out chiefly by Hamas. I had no reply. I re-sent the question. Again, I have had no reply. Apparently, the biggest British Muslim umbrella organisation cannot bring itself to say a bad word against Hamas. A party likely to form the next Government of this country must beware with which Muslim leaders it engages.

Footnotes to Plato

Thrilling to find out, thanks to AI work on a charred manuscript surviving from Pompeii, how Plato may have spent his final hours. According to the story deciphered (which describes events over 400 years before it was written), the man whom many consider the greatest of all philosophers got grumpy at a dinner party at which a Thracian slave-girl was playing a flute. He complained of her scant sense of rhythm. Then he died.

I noticed that no one reporting this story complained about the fact the girl-flautist was a slave. It was simply part of the narrative.

Imagine this had been a new discovery about the death of, say, Sir Francis Drake. If the old buccaneer were today revealed to have been rude about a slave girl on his last night in earth, this would lead to calls to remove any remaining Devonian colonialist monuments to him. Everyone understands that slavery existed in the otherwise democratic city-state of ancient Athens. Many probably feel much the same about the traditional story that the Prophet Muhammad had a slave-wife, called Maria the Copt? In both cases, the wrong of slavery is acknowledged, but so is the cultural context. Why is it only when the British had slaves that their guilt must be everlasting?

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Rachel Reeves used her speech in the City to attack the Conservatives' economic record - Dan Kitwood/Getty

Labour will table laws to give workers greater rights within 100 days of entering power, despite warnings from business leaders that the plans will damage investment.

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said the party was absolutely committed to the proposals after coming under pressure from unions.

The plans would make it easier for staff to organise and join strikes, while employees would be given a new right to switch off outside office hours.

Labour has also said it will curb the use of zero-hour contracts, although it will not now ban them outright, as it had previously pledged.

In a speech in the City of London on Tuesday, Ms Reeves hit out at the Tories economic record, following their hammering in the local elections.

She was introduced at the event by Nick Boles, a former Tory minister who has become a Labour adviser. He hit out at ex-colleagues including Rishi Sunak, suggesting they did not understand the need for restraint and had played fast and loose with public money.

Ms Reeves said: I can commit that, in the first 100 days of a Labour government, we will put forward legislation on the New Deal for Working People, including banning exploitative zero-hour contracts.

Not only is this the right and the fair thing to do, its also good for the economy. There is now mounting evidence that shows more secure work results in both a more motivated workforce and also workers who are willing to move jobs.

After tabling the law, Labour would consult on how to implement it, she added, meaning the measures would not come into force for some time.

Ms Reeves said many firms already go well beyond the rights that will be written into law, stressing that companies have got nothing to fear from the proposals.

They would create a level playing to ensure that businesses cant undercut each other by using practices such as zero-hour contracts and fire and rehire, she added.

Her remarks came after union bosses reacted angrily to suggestions that she was planning to water down the partys flagship offering on workers rights.

They warned her and Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, that there would be significant anger if they bowed to pressure from businesses to weaken the proposals.

Unite, Labours biggest union backer, warned her and Sir Keir Starmer that watering down the plans would be a red line and it may hold back up to 30 million in donations in response.

Speaking to journalists following her speech, Ms Reeves confirmed that Labour had officially dropped its plans to entirely ban the use of zero-hour contracts.

Instead, it will give workers the right to demand a permanent contract if they have worked regular hours for a company for at least 12 weeks. The shadow chancellor said this would give people greater choice and mean that the flexibility cant be all one way in favour of employers.

She added: There will be nothing that would stop employers from using overtime, or taking on workers on a seasonal basis to fulfil the demands of Christmas or during summer.

Tory legacy is a Britain that is poorer

Ms Reeves took aim at the Tories record, saying Rishi Sunak was deluded for claiming that the economy was turning a corner and accusing the Prime Minister and Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, of doing a victory lap for going from negative growth to no growth.

The Prime Minister claims hes delivering for the country, but the British people didnt order what he is delivering, she said. The Tory legacy is a Britain that is poorer.

But when challenged, Ms Reeves would not commit to reversing years of Tory stealth taxes on workers by raising income tax thresholds.

She said she would like taxes on working people to be lower but would not make unfunded commitments because that is the way to economic ruin.

The shadow chancellor said the local elections results, which included victories in Tory heartlands, showed there are no more no-go areas for Labour, but admitted the party needed to rebuild trust with Muslim voters after many abandoned it over its stance on Gaza.

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LAKE ZURICH, Ill.  Police and the FBI are investigating after a Lake Zurich resident lost over $1.5 million after falling victim to a months-long scam.

According to Lake Zurich police, the resident, who has not been identified, lost about $1.58 million to scammers over a five-month period.

Police say the victim was contacted by an unknown caller who was posing as a police officer in China who claimed to be investigating a criminal matter.

Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines

The victim was then instructed by the scammer to wire money to several different accounts in order to avoid prosecution.

Police did not provide details on when the scam unfolded.

Lake Zurich police say they are now working with the FBI on the case.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
An ulcerative colitis patient unhappy with the results of a surgical procedure allegedly embarked on a four-year stalking campaign against the doctor who performed it, vowing to brutalize and torture him until he was little more than [a] consciousness trapped in a body experiencing nothing but physical and emotional pain and regret.

Thats according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Daily Beast, which accuses Robert Bouton McDougal of threatening unspeakable violence against Dr. Jared Frattini and his family after an operation left the 27-year-old Costa Mesa, California resident with near-constant diarrhea.

I dream of seeing him limbless and blind, but conscious, McDougal posted to Substack on March 29. I want bones shattered into pieces He needs to be gunned down in the parking lot. He needs to be thrown in the back of a truck, and tortured. Brutally tortured. He needs to feel levels of pain no living creature has ever felt I want to kill this man. I want to genocide his family. I want him tortured, skinned alive, mutilated.

Ulcerative colitis is a form of irritable bowel disease that causes inflammation and bleeding in the colon and digestive tract.

McDougals white-hot temper has landed him in hot water before. In February 2017, the Costa Mesa resident made headlines over a very public dust-up with a community college chemistry professor who gave him a B on an exam. McDougal, who had to be pepper sprayed into submission, used a racial slur toward a campus security officer who responded to the scene, and was barred from the school for two years.

However, he returned the following month and vandalized two campus security vehicles, slashing their tires and scrawling swastikas and the N-word across their hoods, earning himself a six-month jail sentence followed by three years of probation. In 2022, McDougal was arrested in Florida on charges of assaulting a police officer, and was sentenced to six months probation. The following year, he was sentenced to another six months probation for threatening to kill members of the Tarpon Springs, Florida PD.

McDougal, who was arrested May 2 in Washington State on one federal count of stalking/interstate domestic violence, does not yet have an attorney listed in court records and was unable to be reached on Tuesday for comment. His lawyer in the previous campus case, John Christl, told The Daily Beast that he is not currently representing McDougal and has no information about who is.

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

The latest case against McDougal can be traced back nearly a half-decade, when the FBI was made aware of online threats toward Frattini, 50, and his family, according to the complaint, which was unsealed Monday in Tampa federal court. In February 2020, the complaint states, McDougal was admitted to a hospital in Pasco County, under Frattinis care.

There, Frattini removed McDougals colon and rectum, according to a motion Christl filed in one of the Florida cases. This left McDougal with 15 or more daily attacks of diarrhea, the motion goes on, noting that the acidic nature of these bowel movements also causes persistent and intense burning and a painful rash.

By the summer of 2020, McDougal was starting to come unglued, according to the federal complaint. Thats when he began posting online videos containing unhinged threats to kill Frattini for what McDougal considered an unnecessary surgery with complications, the complaint continues.

On or about August 17, 2020, McDougal posted a video on his Facebook page in which he said, I swear to God, [Jared] everyone at [Frattinis hospital], Im gonna to fucking slaughter all of you, I am gonna fucking set your whole family on fire, I am gonna fucking knife off the limbs of every fucking family member, Im gonna fucking murder you all, according to the complaint. The video ended with the following statement directed at Victim 1: Ill get my hands on your children! I will fuckin decapitate them!

Roughly 10 days later, McDougal called Frattinis private practice and told a staffer that he planned on showing up at the office to kill Frattini, after which he would kill himself, the complaint states.

The threats quickly escalated, with McDougal posting at least 25 videos targeting Frattini and his loved ones, according to the complaint.

What I want to do to your children, what I want to do to them, I want to inflict a level of pain and a level of suffering that is unparalleled, McDougal said in one posted to YouTube, the complaint states.

In another, McDougal allegedly thundered, Jared, I want to decapitate you. But first I want you to watch, I want mental pain. I want to skin your wifes head alive. I want to take your house, smash it. I want to cut your limbs off, Jared. I want to take your hands, cut your hands off. Then I want to take them, and I want to beat you over the head with them. Jared, I hate you.

In a third, McDougal posted video from a car, with two female voices audible in the background, the complaint states.

I wake up, Jared, and I think about how much I think about you, Jared, every waking second, from the moment I go to bed, I think about Jared, McDougal said, according to the complaint. I think about Jared. I think about hurting Jared. I think about hurting Jared and I know this is the only way this ends.

One the female voices then chimes in, saying, Lets just all three fuckin drive there.

Yea, lets just do it, the second female voice replies.

Lets [go] all the way, fuckin four-day road trip, McDougal says, according to the complaint.

In April 2021, Frattini obtained an order of protection against McDougalwhich has not stopped McDougal from making threats to the doctor and his family, the complaint states.

It lays out details of numerous subsequent threats, such as a July 2023 text message to an unnamed recipient, in which McDougal allegedly wrote, Should I just do a murder suicide? I obviously need to take out Jared, who came out of nowhere and is responsible for destroying my life with his lies and deception. Craving getting my hands on Jared is the only thing that kept me going. I hate him every waking second.

More YouTube videos followed, such as an October 2023 posting titled, WHY DO CREATURES LIKE JARED EXIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I THINK ABOUT JARED AND NOTHING BUT JARED!!!!

Jared Conte Frattini, you motherfucker, a wild-eyed McDougal shouts at the camera. ... I want to skin you alive Had there been no complications I still would be threatening to hurt you I still would want to hurt you I would be just as suicidal and ready to take you out and just touch you, Jared. Touch you, touch you, in all kinds of disturbing ways.

As 2024 got underway, McDougal kept it up, according to the feds, posting to the Reddit group u/UlcerativeColitis: I would rather kill Jared and be in prison than go on with him being alive. And on March 29, McDougal unleashed his most disturbing threats yet, the complaint says.

In a now-deleted article posted to Substack under the heading, How My Large Intestine Was Stolen, the complaint says McDougal wrote to Frattini directly, telling him, So Jared, if youre reading this, I know what you fucking did you son of a bitch. I will NEVER stop coming for you. Not a second has gone by in the four years you decided to approach me and catch me off guard. You fucking knew I would have told you to get away from me if you tried explaining elective reasons. Your ability to take no for an answer is going to cost you everything. I promise you this: your decision to cross me will be the worst mistake of your fucking life I want to kill this man. I want to genocide his family. I want him tortured, skinned alive, mutilated This all ends with me killing him, of course.

All McDougal could think about, he wrote, is the jiggling [Frattinis body] will undergo as it is pulverized.

This repulsive, scumbag body needs to be obliterated, the article continued. ... I occasionally dont want his death to be quick. I want it to be slow. I want him to think about me every time he cums for the rest of his life.

Although McDougal didnt make any effort to conceal his identity, the FBI subpoenaed subscriber information from YouTube, Facebook, and Google, which named McDougal as the one behind the violent screeds. As for the Substack posting, an unnamed individual who has known and communicated with McDougal for more than three years brought the threats to the attention of the hospital where [Frattini] works.

The complaint says McDougal placed [Frattini] and his family in serious fear of harm and caused them substantial emotional distress. McDougals course of conduct further caused [Frattini] and his family to make lifestyle changes and enhance security out of fear of McDougal.

Frattini did not immediately respond to emails, texts, and voicemails seeking comment.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Larimer commissioners question Thornton about pipeline. Here's when a decision could come

The black line in this image shows a preferred route for the Thornton water pipeline through Larimer County, as of November 2023, while the orange line is the route from the 2018 application. The new route is shorter than the last proposal and moves the pump station to a different location on land owned by Water Supply and Storage Company.

After taking a second round of public comment on the Thornton pipeline project Monday night, Larimer County commissioners will resume their hearing Wednesday, when they could make their decision on whether to approve or deny the 1041 application.

This is the second application from the city of Thornton for that project in six years.

Larimer County commissioners rejected the first application in 2019, and Thornton sued. Eventually, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the county's decision.

The project would convey Poudre River water to Thornton through Larimer, Weld and Adams counties. The city got the water rights through its purchase of Weld County farmland in the 1980s.

Get caught up: Missed the first public hearing for Thorntons 1041 water pipeline application? Heres a recap

What the public said about the Thornton pipeline Monday

About 25 people spoke against the pipeline project Monday night and implored commissioners to reject the 1041 application, which allows local governments to have permitting power for development projects with statewide interest.

Most of those who spoke said Thornton should run its water through the Poudre River rather than building a pipeline.

Many conceded that the city has rights to the water rights, but they said it doesn't have the right to disturb Larimer County properties and wildlife.

Residents shared their concerns about the pipeline's effects on things like wildlife and habitat, wetlands, soil, flooding, trees, existing infrastructure like canals and the Poudre River.

Michael Anthony, whose property is close to the proposed route, showed photos of the land while addressing commissioners, pointing out potential vulnerabilities.

Several people who spoke suggested Thornton use the current Water Supply and Storage Co. canals to deliver its water to the farms it purchased for the water rights, saying the city can convey the water once is gets to their land.

And many spoke of their love for the Poudre and their desire to maintain its health and vibrancy for future generations.

What Thornton said Monday

Addressing the Poudre River concerns, Carolynne White, the city's legal representative from the Brownstein firm, said the project doesn't affect the Poudre River at all because it wouldn't divert any additional water.

Todd Barnes, communications director for Thornton, said the water is already diverted and stored in reservoirs.

He also said most of the public comments were focused on things that fall outside of the issue at hand, which is the application criteria.

There are 49 criteria and subcriteria that Thornton must show it can meet, and Barnes said residents didn't demonstrate how the city is missing the mark.

He said while most of the public commenters Monday asked for the so-called "Poudre River option," the city's 1041 application doesn't require it to provide enhancements like that. And White said going that route would require a modification of the city's water rights, which she said is prohibited by 1041 statute.

Barnes told commissioners that denying Thornton's application would do nothing to protect the Poudre. But he said approving it would allow the county to reap the benefits Thornton is offering as part of its application, which includes contributing to a Poudre River enhancement fund and conserving land according to the county's open lands plan.

Barnes also said Thornton is part of a program to add to and protect flows in the Poudre.

Finally, Thornton representatives addressed claims made during public comment that they said were incorrect.

White said while some people apparently believe Thornton is building two or even three pipelines, it's building only one.

What Larimer County commissioners wanted to know

Commissioners asked questions about some of the property owners' specific concerns, and they requested information on planned mitigation for things like crops, soil, revegetation, wetlands, pinch points with other infrastructure.

They also asked questions about a condition Thornton has proposed that would allow it to make minor adjustments to the path of the pipeline on a property as long as a property owner approves it.

Commissioner John Kefalas asked how the Thornton project could coincide with the Northern Integrated Supply Project pipeline to prevent property owners from going through two bouts of construction.

"Is there some level of assurance that that's what you're going to try to work towards?" he asked.

The NISP project is being contested in court, and that could affect timing, White said.

Commissioner Kristin Stephens asked about Thornton's plans to mitigate carbon emissions.

What's next?

The continued hearing will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, in the First-Floor Hearing Room of the Larimer County Administrative Services Building, 200 W. Oak St. in Fort Collins. The meeting will be livestreamed and recorded for on-demand viewing on FCTV and YouTube.

The public comment portion of the hearing, which began April 22 and was continued to Monday, is now closed.

On Wednesday, commissioners will have more time to ask Thornton representatives questions and could make a decision.

County staff are recommending approval of the application, with the addition of 76 conditions. Thornton has also proposed new conditions.

The Larimer County Planning Commission also recommends approval.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Larimer County's decision on Thornton pipeline could come Wednesday
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  A large sinkhole engulfed two cars and temporarily displaced people from three homes in Las Cruces on Monday night, May 6, according to the Las Cruces Fire Department.

The Fire Department says at around 9:30 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to a report of a sinkhole in front of a residence located on the 1700 block of Regal Ridge Street.

The Fire Department says crews arrived to find a large sinkhole that had swallowed two cars that were parked in the driveway of the home. The sinkhole measured to be 30-feet wide and 30-feet deep.

The Fire Department says the sinkhole was still settling when they arrived. Residents of the affected home and nearby residents were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

The Fire Department says Regal Ridge Street is temporarily closed to traffic until City of Las Cruces engineers and street crews can determine the potential cause of the sinkhole and the safety of the roadway.

No injuries were reported. However, the American Red Cross was called to assist the family of the affected home and nearby residents who were also evacuated.

Intermittent closure of the road and utility services are anticipated in the coming days when its determined how best to backfill the sinkhole, the Fire Department said.

Las Cruces Utilities and El Paso Electric were called to secure utilities and evaluate if any service lines might have been compromised within the neighborhood, the Fire Department said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
On May 7, Russia is organizing the "inauguration" of dictator Vladimir Putin, a criminal recognized by half the world as responsible for waging wars against neighboring states, committing terrorist attacks on the territory of his own country and killing his opponents, etc. The tyrant, who has been the leader of the aggressor country for almost a quarter of a century, could be tried for this, but instead, the Russian Federation is trying to create the illusion of the legitimacy of his "stay" in power until at least 2030.

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The number of victims of Putin's regime is in the tens of thousands and is growing every day - in Ukraine, where one of the longest and bloodiest wars unleashed by him continues. OBOZ.UA recalls Putin's main crimes that the world cannot forget.

Unleashed wars and the M17 disaster

Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2024, launched under the traditional pretext of "protecting civilians," was the largest war in Europe since World War II. A year ago, military experts predicted that the aggressor might have enough resources "for two to three years," but now the world is no longer talking about timeframes, but calling for everything to be done to help Ukrainians stop Putin now so that this war does not spread beyond Ukraine.

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As Slovo i Dilo previously calculated, during the reign of the Kremlin dictator, Russia has not spent a single day without war. The shortest one was against Georgia, when the fighting lasted nine days from August 8 to 16, 2008. Formally, Putin was then prime minister, and Dmitry Medvedev was the so-called president.

For the longest time - 15 years (since April 16, 2009) - armed conflicts in the North Caucasus have been going on, in which Russians are involved, calling it the "fight against terrorism."

The second Russian-Chechen war, during which Putin became the head of the Russian Federation, lasted nine years and eight months (07.08.1999-16.04.2009). Its first phase ended in the spring of 2000 with the establishment of a pro-Russian government, and in the following years, the Russians mopped up guerrilla movements. The losses of the Russian army, according to various estimates, amounted to 7-14 thousand soldiers.

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The war against Ukraine is the third longest in Putin's rule, and it has been going on for 10 years and three months since the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of part of Donbas (two years and three months or 804 days - the phase of full-scale aggression). The losses of the Russian army in this war are incomparable to any other combat operations in which it has participated - more than 476,000 killed and wounded occupants.

As part of its hybrid war against Ukraine, the terrorist state of Russia committed one of the largest crimes of international proportions - the downing of a Boeing 777 aircraft near Donetsk on July 17, 2014. This is a recognized act of destruction by the occupation forces of the Russian Federation of a civilian passenger plane of Malaysia Airlines, which was operating a regular flight MH17, killing all passengers and crew (298 people in total). On February 26, 2016, the Bellingcat group released an investigation that revealed the chain of command - the names of the commanders responsible for the downing of the passenger jetliner, from Putin to the commander of the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, Muchkayev. And on November 17, 2022, the Hague District Court announced that only life imprisonment would be a sufficient punishment for Russians Igor Girkin (recently imprisoned by Putin's authorities for "extremism") and Sergei Dubinsky, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, who were found guilty of the MH17 crash.

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In addition to terrorizing Ukraine, for almost nine years (since September 30, 2015), Russia has been involved in hostilities in Syria on the side of President Bashar al-Assad. And for almost seven years (since November 20, 2017), Russia has been expanding in Sudan and the Central African Republic - Putin has been fighting there with mercenaries, including the private military company Wagner.

Assassinations of opponents

Former Soviet KGB intelligence officer Vladimir Putin first became the head of the Russian Federation 24 years ago. During this time, he has only once fakedly removed himself from the "presidential" chair, putting his henchman Medvedev in it to prevent any opposition from coming to power. All opponents who prevented him from establishing a dictatorial regime were eliminated in Russia in one way or another, including through murder "under strange circumstances."

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Navalny

Among the most high-profile deaths of Putin's enemies, at least seven victims can be mentioned, the last of whom was opposition leader Alexey Navalny. The main critic of Putin's regime died on February 16, 2024, in a high-security penal colony in the Russian polar region after a walk when he felt unwell.

The opposition figure and anti-corruption activist was imprisoned for 19 years on a number of charges. His arrest was followed by the entire democratic world, and before that, his poisoning with the Novichok nerve agent in 2020 was discussed. That is why Navalny's death has raised questions and assumptions that Putin was behind it from the very beginning. For example, the news of his death appeared on the website of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service just two minutes after it was reported to have officially occurred. This aroused suspicions, since the Russian authorities, like any totalitarian regime, never act so quickly in such cases, especially when it comes to the death of political prisoners.

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Nemtsov

Another of the most high-profile murders is the death of politician Boris Nemtsov, who was an outspoken critic of the Kremlin leader over his domestic policies. He led massive street protests against the results of the parliamentary elections in Russia, disclosed facts about corruption among officials, and was arrested several times during the dispersal of such opposition rallies. Nemtsov also supported the Orange Revolution in Kyiv, the Euromaidan in 2014, and sharply criticized Russia's policy toward Ukraine.

In February 2015, just a few hours after he called on the public to join a march against Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, the oppositionist was shot four times in the back. The next day, Nemtsov was to release a report with evidence of the Russian Armed Forces' involvement in the fighting in Donbas. After his murder, Putin said that it was "of a premeditated and provocative nature" and verbally took the investigation "under his personal control." The real murderers (who were accomplices of the Kremlin dictator's accomplice, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov) and the contractors remain at large.

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Berezovsky

Once one of the richest and most influential people in Russia, Boris Berezovsky is believed to have played an important role in Putin's rise to power, but he himself failed to gain a foothold with the new leader. His dispute with him led him to flee to Britain, where he vowed to overthrow Putin and convict him of his crimes. The politician also accused the Kremlin of organizing the murder of former intelligence officer and informant Alexander Litvinenko.

In 2013, Berezovsky was found dead in the locked bathroom of his home in Britain with a noose around his neck. At first, the death was ruled a suicide, but to this day it has not been officially determined. Friends and relatives of the Russian politician believe that it was a murder ordered by Putin.

Politkovskaya

Anna Politkovskaya, a reporter for Novaya Gazeta, published the books Putin's Russia and Russia Without Putin, in which she accused the Kremlin leader of turning the country into a police state. She wrote extensively about the brutal massacres in Chechnya, also blaming the Russian authorities and Kadyrov. On October 7, 2006, she was murdered in the elevator of her own home, according to human rights activists, because of her professional activities.

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The investigation was led personally by the Russian Prosecutor General, and five men were convicted. The judge recognized that the murder was a contract killing, but the main person was not identified. Putin distanced the Kremlin from any involvement in the crime, saying that the journalist's death "by itself is more harmful to the authorities of Russia and the Chechen Republic... than her activities."

Litvinenko

Former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko was a prominent critic of the Kremlin and Putin, and later accused the FSB of organizing a series of apartment bombings in Russia in 1999 that killed hundreds of people. That same year saw the Russian invasion of Chechnya and Putin's rise to power.

Litvinenko accused him of ordering Politkovskaya's murder. He followed her in 2006 and died three weeks later, after drinking a cup of tea laced with the deadly polonium-210. Investigations in Britain, where the intelligence officer lived after fleeing Russia, found that the poisoning was carried out by Russian agents Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, who were carrying out orders "probably approved by Putin." Russia refused to extradite them, and in 2015, the dictator awarded Lugovoi a medal for services to the homeland.

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Yushenkov and Shchekochikhin

In 2003, there were two murders of people who were investigating the Kremlin and Putin personally. Former army colonel Sergey Yushenkov was active in politics when he was shot dead near his home in Moscow. It is noted that he could have been killed for collecting evidence of Putin's involvement in the 1999 building bombings.

Journalist Yuri Shchekochikhin was also investigating this topic when he suddenly fell ill with a mysterious illness in July 2003 and died suddenly a few days before he was supposed to fly to the United States. The Russian authorities declared his medical records secret, thus stopping any attempts to determine the cause of death.

Terrorist attacks in Russia

On March 22, 2024, armed men opened fire on visitors to the Crocus City Hall concert hall in the Moscow region, killing at least 137 people and injuring 182. The attack was the deadliest in Russia in recent years. ISIS terrorists claimed responsibility for it, but despite the evidence, Putin's government is trying to blame Ukraine for the attack.

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It is noteworthy that major terrorist attacks in the Russian Federation began just after Putin came to power. Apart from the aforementioned series of residential building bombings in 1999, they have occurred virtually every year.

2002: "North-East"

On October 23, militants from the North Caucasus stormed a Moscow theater during a performance of the musical North by Northwest, taking the audience, performers, and staff hostage. Three days later, Russian special forces introduced poison gas into the building, stormed it, and freed more than 700 people. It is noteworthy that almost 130 people died of poisoning from the same gas and other problems during the "rescue" operation, and not at the hands of Chechen militants.

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2003: the explosion of a suburban train

During the morning rush hour on December 5, an explosion occurred in a suburban train in the city of Essentuki, killing 231 people - 34 of them died on the spot, 17 died of wounds in hospitals, and the remaining 180 were injured. The Kremlin blamed Chechen separatists and called the attack "an attempt to destabilize the country" on the eve of parliamentary elections.

2004: Suicide bombing in the Moscow metro

On February 6, a suicide bomber shoots people on a Moscow subway train between Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya stations: 42 people are killed and about 250 are injured. Six months later, on August 31, a suicide bomber blew herself up near the Riga station, killing 10 people and injuring fifty.

2004: bombing of civilian airplanes

On the night of August 24, suicide bombers blew up Tu-154 and Tu-134 planes in the air over the Tula and Rostov regions, killing 90 people. One plane was flying to Sochi, the other to Volgograd, and they crashed almost simultaneously. The Kremlin authorities again linked the attacks to separatists from Chechnya.

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2004: massacre at a school in Beslan

On September 1, during a celebration for the new school year, militants demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya seized school No. 1 in the North Caucasus city of Beslan. They took more than 1,000 students, parents and staff hostage, launching a siege that lasted more than two days. Russian security forces stormed the school and, as a result of their "rescue" operation, a fire broke out in the gymnasium where most of the hostages were staying. The deadliest terrorist attack in Russian history, known as the "Russian September 11," claimed the lives of 334 people, including 186 children.

2006: explosion at a market in Moscow

On August 21, an explosion killed 14 people, including two children, and injured 61 at the Cherkizovsky market in Moscow. The Kremlin said it was an attack by the chauvinist organization Spas on traders from Central Asia and the Caucasus, "motivated by racist views."

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2007: bus bombings

On October 31, an explosion on a bus in Togliatti (Samara region) killed eight people and injured more than 60. A year later, the investigation was suspended due to the death of a suspected chemistry student. On November 22, 2007, an explosion in a passenger bus traveling to Vladikavkaz killed five people and injured 13. On December 9, in Nevinnomyssk (Stavropol Krai), two people were killed and 10 injured on a bus. The perpetrators of the attack, former policemen from Ingushetia, were sentenced to 23 and 24 years in prison.

2009: the bombing of the Nevsky Express

On the evening of November 27, a bomb explosion derailed the Nevsky Express train connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg. Twenty-seven people were killed. A group led by Chechen militant Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for the explosion.

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2010: double terrorist attack in the Moscow metro

During rush hour on March 29, explosions occurred at Lubyanka and Park Kultury metro stations 40 minutes apart: 41 people were killed and 80 injured. The explosive devices in the cars were activated by two female suicide bombers. However, the aforementioned Umarov claimed responsibility for ordering the double attack.

2011: The Domodedovo terrorist attack

On January 24, an explosion occurred at the Moscow airport, killing 37 people and injuring about 170. Among them is a Ukrainian citizen, playwright Hanna Yablonska. The suicide bomber, according to the Russian Investigative Committee, was a 20-year-old native of the North Caucasus. But again, Umarov later claimed responsibility for this, promising to also disrupt the 2014 Winter Olympics, which Russia was hosting in Sochi.

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2013: explosions in a trolleybus and at a train station in Volgograd

On October 21, an explosion occurred at Volgograd's main railway station, killing six bus passengers and the woman who carried out the attack, allegedly a native of Dagestan, Naida Asiyalova. Russian investigators claimed that the attack was supposed to take place in the capital, but the suicide bomber detonated the explosive device earlier for unspecified reasons. Less than 24 hours later, in Volgograd, at least 15 people were killed and more than 20 injured in a rush-hour explosion on a trolleybus. The attacks occurred less than six weeks before the start of the Sochi Olympics.

2017: attack in the St. Petersburg metro

On April 3, an explosion in the St. Petersburg subway killed 15 people. Officials said the suicide bomber was ethnic Uzbek Akbarzhon Dzhalilov. One man was later sentenced to life in prison for financing the bombing, and 10 others received long prison terms.

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Will Putin be punished?

On July 1, 2020, Russia completed voting on constitutional amendments, the key of which is to "zero out" the so-called presidential terms of dictator Putin. Thus, Russia has finally decided to usurp power. This law actually granted him and his family members lifetime immunity from prosecution after leaving office. The document prohibits bringing the former leader of the country to criminal or administrative responsibility, detaining, arresting, searching and interrogating him; the taboo applies to his home, cars, communications equipment, luggage and correspondence.

In practice, this means that it is virtually impossible to strip Putin of his immunity after he leaves power. But given the way Russians support his aggressive policies and the killing of civilians in Ukraine and other countries, there is no hope for the dictator to be punished in Russia.

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On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Children's Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on suspicion of the illegal forced transfer of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. This warrant is the first ever issued against the leader of a country that is a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Russia, of course, denies any accusations and has warned that Putin has refused to appear before the court in The Hague and will not testify. Since the Hague court does not have its own police force, only law enforcement officers of the signatory states to the Rome Statute that recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC can detain the internationally wanted dictator (in May 2023, there were just over 30 willing to do so).

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In April 2024, 44 countries in The Hague supported the creation of a special tribunal for Russia for crimes against Ukraine. In another step toward isolation, the European Parliament has now passed a resolution recognizing Russia's "presidential election" as illegitimate. Many countries have refused to attend the next " inauguration ceremony" of Putin as head of the Russian Federation on May 7, but there are those who will personally go to watch the "inauguration" of the 71-year-old war criminal.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA found out what Putin is hiding about his parents and why Russians are lied to about their dictator's past. For example, what the Russian president's "father" looked like and why a journalist was killed for a "sensation" about his mother.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!

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Las Vegas tourist accused of driving into unhoused persons tent, hiding in bush to avoid police, report says

LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A Las Vegas tourist accused of driving into an unhoused persons tent before running from the scene told officers he hid in a nearby bush to avoid police, according to an arrest report obtained by 8 News Now.

Just before 2 a.m. on Sunday, May 5, officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to the area of South Sandhill Road near East Hawaii Avenue after witnesses reported a driver hitting a pedestrian.

One witness told 911 that the driver of a blue Chevrolet Cruze with a Utah license plate was driving under the influence and plowed a guy, according to the arrest report.

The driver was traveling north on Sandhill approaching Hawaii Avenue when he traveled off-road and collided into a makeshift tent on the side of the road, the report stated.

An unhoused individual was sleeping inside of the tent when the collision occurred. Medical personnel took him to a local hospital with critical injuries, the report stated.

After the collision, the driver stopped inside a gas station approximately 300 feet away from the collision site, where several witnesses spoke to him and the passenger, telling them to wait for police.

Despite that advice, the driver and the passenger left the scene driving to a private residence before abandoning the vehicle and leaving on foot in an unknown direction, according to the report.

Police contacted the resident of the address listed for the vehicle in Washington, Utah. She told officers that her son, identified as Yester Yancarlos Paz-Zavala, 20, and his friend were using the vehicle for a road trip to Las Vegas to visit a friend, the report stated.

Yester Yancarlos Paz-Zavala, 20, faces a felony charge of duty to stop at the scene of an accident involving death or personal injury, and misdemeanor charges of failure to render aid at a vehicle accident and driving without a valid drivers license. (LVMPD)

Police told Paz-Zavalas mother that her vehicle was involved in a crash that resulted in a pedestrian being critically injured and asked her to contact her son and have him call police immediately.

While executing a search warrant on the vehicle, officers found a cell phone on the drivers side floorboard. Police dialed the number provided by Paz-Zavalas mother, which caused the phone to ring and revealed the phone belonged to him, the report stated.

Later, Paz-Zavalas brother called police and said that he and Paz-Zavala were at a gas station on East Charleston Boulevard and would wait for police to arrive.

Paz-Zavala told police he arrived in Las Vegas at around 5 p.m. with his friend, where they met up with his friends brother. After drinking an alcoholic beer, they left.

Paz-Zavala told police that while they were driving, the vehicles tire went flat so they stopped at a gas station to inspect it. Paz-Zavala did not make any mention of the crash occurring.

He told police that as he exited the vehicle, witnesses approached him about the crash. Paz-Zavala said he was afraid for his safety so the two got back into the vehicle and left, but abandoned the vehicle due to the damage on the front tires, the report stated.

Paz-Zavala explained to police that he ran into a nearby yard and hid inside a bush so that police would not find him. While in the bush, Paz-Zavala saw officers conducting their investigation.

After police cleared the scene, Paz-Zavala met up with a family member at an unknown location, before his mother convinced him to turn himself in.

Paz-Zavala was being held at the Clark County Detention Center on a $10,000 bail. He faces a felony charge of duty to stop at the scene of an accident involving death or personal injury, and misdemeanor charges of failure to render aid at a vehicle accident and driving without a valid drivers license.

His next court appearance is scheduled for May 8 at 8 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
The Latest | Israel forces block Gaza's Rafah border crossing. UN says it's running out of fuel

Israeli forces have seized the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, pressing their offensive into the southern city on Tuesday. The closed border means U.N. humanitarian teams in Gaza will run out of diesel fuel by Wednesday, a senior humanitarian official said, leaving them unable to pump drinking water, maintain communications and deliver aid.

The Israeli assault into Rafah came just hours after Hamas accepted a cease-fire proposal mediated by Egypt and Qatar. Israel insists the deal does not meet its core demands.

Israel says Rafah is Hamas last stronghold, however the United States opposes a full-scale invasion of the city without a credible plan for protecting civilians. Rafah is currently filled with more than a million displaced civilians huddling in tents and overcrowded apartments.

The war in Gaza has driven around 80% of the territory's population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, mosques and schools across several cities. The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials.

The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Currently:

 US paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says.

 Israeli tanks have rolled into Rafah. What does this mean for the Palestinians sheltering there?

 Scenes from Israel and Gaza reflect dashed hopes as an imminent cease-fire seems unlikely.

 Israeli forces take control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

 The U.N. says theres full-blown famine in northern Gaza. What does that mean?

 Bernie Sanders says Gaza may be Joe Bidens Vietnam. But hes ready to battle for Biden over Trump.

Follow APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

US PAUSED BOMB SHIPMENT TO ISRAEL OVER RAFAH INVASION CONCERNS, OFFICIALS SAYS

The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a senior administration official said Tuesday.

The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, with the focus of U.S. concern being the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting. More than 1 million civilians are sheltering in Rafah after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israels war on Hamas, which came after the militant groups deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

President Joe Bidens administration in April began reviewing future transfers of military assistance to Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government appeared to move closer toward an invasion of Rafah, despite months of opposition from the White House.

The official said the decision to pause the shipment was made last week and no final decision had been made yet on whether to proceed with the shipment at a later date.

 By ZEKE MILLER and AAMER MADHANI in Washington

ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS IT INTERCEPTED A DRONE HEADED TOWARD RED SEA PORT

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military says it has intercepted a suspicious aerial target that was headed toward the Red Sea port of Eilat.

The army said the drone was launched from the east and intercepted outside of Israeli airspace on Tuesday. It gave no further details on the source of the launch.

Iranian-backed militias across the region, including Yemens Houthi rebel group, have repeatedly fired missiles and drones toward Israel throughout the seven-month war in Gaza. Iran also launched over 300 missiles and drones toward Israel in a single strike last month in what it said was a response to the killing of two Iranian generals in Syria that it blamed on Israel.

U.S. MILITARY HAS FINISHED BUILDING A TEMPORARY PIER TO DELIVER AID TO GAZA. PLANS TO MOVE IT INTO PLACE ON HOLD

WASHINGTON  The U.S. military has finished construction of a temporary pier and causeway that will be used to deliver aid to Gaza through a maritime system, but plans to move it into place on the shore are on hold due to weather and other logistics.

Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters on Tuesday that U.S. military ships and the assembled pier are at Israels Ashdod port. High winds and sea swells are making it too dangerous for the U.S. military to install the pier at the Gaza beach.

Singh says the U.S. hopes to install the pier and causeway later this week, if the weather permits.

Meanwhile, humanitarian aid is being loaded onto a large container ship, the Sagamore, in Cyprus, for eventual delivery to Gaza, Singh said.

The U.S. hopes the pier can be used to bring more humanitarian aid into Gaza, where the U.N. says there is a full-blown famine in the north.

FUEL IS RUNNING OUT IN GAZA, AND U.N. WILL SOON LOSE WATER, FOOD, MEDICAL AND AID OPERATIONS

UNITED NATIONS  Critical diesel fuel to pump drinking water, maintain communications and deliver aid in Gaza will run out Wednesday and its estimated that food already in the south will be gone by the end of the week, a senior U.N. humanitarian said following Israels closure of the two key crossing points into the territory.

Andrea De Domenico, the head of the U.N.s humanitarian office in the Palestinian territories, said Tuesday that Israels military operation and evacuation order in Rafah has resulted in the forced displacement of tens of thousands of people.

The area Israel told Palestinians to go is mainly sand dunes and has no latrines, water points, drainage, shelter or health facilities, De Domenico said in a virtual news conference from Jerusalem.

The Israelis are not on the ground providing services and are looking for humanitarian partners, he said. And it is impossible to improve conditions without the arrival of supplies and fuel to transport them to the new locations.

Without fuel and more flour, he said, the 16 bakeries supported by the U.N. World Food Program throughout Gaza will be forced to suspend operations. If supplemental nutrition supplies cant be delivered, the treatment of more than 3,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition will be interrupted, he said, and three of the main remaining hospitals will become inoperable.

De Domenico said the U.N. normally uses 200,000 liters of diesel fuel a day in Gaza. As of Tuesday night, it had 30,000 liters left.

Without a fuel delivery on Wednesday, he said, the main water production facility in the north will be shut, depriving the entire population of access to drinking water. The same shutdown will happen in another day for the middle and south of Gaza, impacting 1.9 million people.

The reality is that we are confronting a situation where we have probably one of the least resilient populations in Gaza because of the seven months of war in one of the most violent and lethal conflicts that we have seen in recent years, he said.

De Domenico said there is a risk that no humanitarian assistance will be available in the coming days unless a way can be found to bring in and sustain aid deliveries.

The Israelis have assured the U.N. they are working on ways to bring in more fuel, hopefully on Wednesday, he said, and they said they hope to reopen the crossings rapidly, but didnt give a timeline.

RIGHTS GROUP SAYS ISRAEL VIOLATES U.N. COURT ORDERS BY BLOCKING AID AT BORDER CROSSINGS

JERUSALEM  Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that by preventing the transfer of much-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza, Israel was violating orders handed down by the International Court of Justice.

The Court has twice ordered Israel to do more to allow aid into Gaza. For the last two days, both major crossings into the besieged enclave have been closed. One, Kerem Shalom, was closed after a Hamas mortar attack there killed soldiers. The other, Rafah, was seized by Israel on Tuesday morning.

Human Rights Watch alleges that even before the recent crossing closures, the amount of aid entering Gaza was far from enough. The United Nations reported an increase on average of only 24 trucks a day after the order came down from the International Court of Justice. Thats as the head of the UNs main food program says a full-blown famine is developing in Gazas north.

Despite children dying from starvation and famine in Gaza, the Israeli authorities are still blocking aid critical for the survival of Gazas population in defiance of the World Court, said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. With each day that Israeli authorities block lifesaving aid, more Palestinians are at risk of dying.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs in Gaza, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. Israel disputes the U.N.s figures and, prior to the recent crossings closures, said it was surging aid into the strip, opening up additional crossings in the north and allowing aid shipments through a port in Ashdod.

The report, citing interviews with aid workers, also said Israeli authorities continue to deny certain items from entering Gaza and have refused to provide a comprehensive list of what is not allowed in.

The report says that solar panels, motors, metal parts, and things stored in wooden crates are often rejected. That means advanced medical equipment and generators are difficult to get in. Several aid workers said that entire trucks of aid can be rejected by Israeli authorities if they are carrying banned items. Israel says that it rejects items that are dual use, or could be used for militant purposes.

U.S. EXPECTS KEREM SHALOM CROSSING BETWEEN ISRAEL AND GAZA TO REOPEN WEDNESDAY

WASHINGTON  White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that the U.S. expects the Kerem Shalom crossing to be reopened to humanitarian aid for Gaza on Wednesday.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel are critical entry points for food, medicine and other supplies for Gazas 2.3 million people. They have been closed for at least the past two days, although the smaller Erez crossing between Israel and northern Gaza continues to operate.

Kerem Shalom was closed after a Hamas mortar attack there killed soldiers. Rafah was seized by Israeli forces early Tuesday morning.

The U.N. warned of a potential collapse of the flow of aid to Palestinians from the closure of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, at a time when officials say northern Gaza is experiencing full-blown famine.

DEATH CONFIRMED OF ISRAELI MAN WHOSE BODY WAS TAKEN INTO GAZA ON OCT. 7

TEL AVIV  A support group for the families of Israeli hostages taken into Gaza confirmed Tuesday the death of Lior Rudaeff, 61, the 39th hostage known to have died.

Rudaeff was killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and his body taken into Gaza, the Hostages Families Forum said. He was from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, and came to Israel from Argentina as a child, the Forum said.

Israel says Hamas is holding about 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Rudaeff's body has not been returned, the Forum said, demanding that the Israeli government pursue every avenue in the current negotiations to bring back his remains as well as all the hostages still in Gaza.

HAMAS SAYS IT WON'T MAKE CONCESSIONS UNDER FIRE

BEIRUT  A Hamas political official said Tuesday that the militant group would not make concessions under fire in its ongoing negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal.

The comments by Osama Hamdan on Tuesday followed Israels incursion into Rafah, where troops seized a key border crossing from Gaza to Egypt. At the same time, a delegation of Hamas officials arrived in Cairo to continue the negotiations.

Hamdan said the proposal Hamas had agreed to represents the minimum that meets the demands of our people and our resistance and was agreed upon by all the Palestinian factions operating in Gaza.

The ball is in the Israeli court and in the court of the American administration because this agreement, the text we agreed to, before it was presented to us, was approved by all the mediators, including the American side, he said. The mediators, he said, had given guarantees that Israel would implement the agreement.

The Associated Press could not independently confirm these behind-the-scenes details of the negotiations.

Hamdan said Hamas will not respond to any initiative to stop the aggression or any exchange deal under military pressure and under the escalation of aggression, and these illusions, if (the Israelis) have them in their minds, will go unrealized.

He said the group will not accept the presence of any occupying force on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, which was and will remain for us a purely Egyptian-Palestinian crossing.

U.S. IS CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC THAT ISRAEL AND HAMAS CAN CLOSE GAPS IN CEASE-FIRE DEAL

WASHINGTON  A White House spokesman on Tuesday expressed guarded optimism that Israel and Hamas should be able to close the remaining gaps to complete an agreement that would lead to release of hostages and pave the way for an extended truce in the seven-month war in Gaza.

Its based on our understanding of where the text is right now, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said of the administrations optimism. Again, Hamas responded yesterday and there were amendments offered. Again, thats the task of negotiating. Thats what negotiations are all about. Its our understanding from looking at the text that we feel it suggests that we should be able to close these gaps.

Talks are to continue on Tuesday in Cairo. Kirby declined to put a timeline on when Americans officials believe a deal can be sealed.

Everybodys coming. Qatar is coming. The Israelis are coming. Obviously, the Egyptians will be there of course, and Bill Burns will be there, Kirby said. Thats not insignificant. Everybody is coming to the table.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS ISRAELI OPERATION IN RAFAH IS NOT THE FULL-ON INVASION BIDEN WARNED AGAINST

WASHINGTON  White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that Israels operation along the Gaza-Egypt border in eastern Rafah is not a full-on invasion of the city that Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds.

Kirby said the U.S. has been told by Israelis that it is an operation of limited scale and duration and aimed at cutting off Hamass ability to ship arms across the Rafah border.

He said the U.S. would be closely monitoring Israeli conduct, adding: How they describe this is not of a size, scale, duration and scope that one could equate to a major ground operation.

ISRAEL'S DEFENSE MINISTER VOWS TO DEEPEN RAFAH OFFENSIVE IF TALKS ON HOSTAGE DEAL FAIL

JERUSALEM -- Israels defense minister has vowed to deepen the military offensive in Rafah if a deal to bring home Israeli hostages held by Hamas does not make progress.

Israel sent troops into Rafah late Monday and seized the citys strategic border crossing with Egypt after rebuffing a cease-fire proposal approved by Hamas. Israel said the proposal did not address its core demands but agreed to continue negotiations.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited troops in the Rafah area on Tuesday and said the operation would continue until Israel eliminates Hamas in Rafah and the rest of Gaza.

But he said Israel is willing to make compromises to bring home hostages. If that option is removed, we will go on and deepen the operation, he said. This will happen all over the strip  in the south, in the center and in the north.

NETANYAHU SAYS CAPTURE OF RAFAH CROSSING WAS AN IMPORTANT STEP TOWARD DISMANTLING HAMAS

JERUSALEM  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the militarys capture of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing is an important step toward dismantling Hamas military and economic capabilities.

Tuesdays capture of the crossing, which is one of the main conduits for humanitarian aid to the territory, puts Israel in full control of Gazas borders for the first time since it withdrew troops in 2005.

The U.N. has warned of a potential collapse of the flow of aid to Palestinians from the closure of Rafah and the other main crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, at a time when officials say northern Gaza is experiencing full-blown famine.

GERMANY WARNS ISRAEL NOT TO LAUNCH A MAJOR OFFENSIVE ON RAFAH

BERLIN  German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday warned Israel of a major offensive on Rafah.

I strongly caution against conducting a major offensive on Rafah, the minister wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

One million people cannot vanish into thin air. They need protection. They urgently need further humanitarian assistance, she added, demanding that the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings must be reopened immediately.

Germany has for decades been a staunch supporter of Israel. Berlin, however, has gradually shifted its tone as civilian casualties in Gaza have soared, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. In recent weeks, Baerbock has repeatedly spoken out against a ground offensive in Rafah.

TURKEY CALLS ON ISRAEL TO WITHDRAW FORCES FROM RAFAH BORDER CROSSING

ANKARA, Turkey  Turkey called on Israel to withdraw its forces from Gazas Rafah border crossing and warned that any military action in the southern city would have global implications.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not acting in good faith when he escalated attacks on Rafah just as the Hamas militant group accepted a cease-fire proposal, said Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oncu Keceli in a statement Tuesday.

An operation targeting Rafah will affect not only the region but the whole world, Keceli said. It is essential that Israel immediately withdraw from the Gaza section of the Rafah border crossing that it has occupied. There must be an immediate return to the status quo in Rafah and the border crossing.

A MAIN HOSPITAL IN RAFAH IS EVACUATED BECAUSE OF INTENSE ISRAELI STRIKES, HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS

CAIRO  The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Tuesday that one of the main hospitals in the southernmost city of Rafah was evacuated due to intense Israeli strikes in the area.

Medhat Abbas, a spokesman for the ministry, said the evacuation of all the patients of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital began late Monday and finished Tuesday. All have been transferred to other medical facilities and makeshift hospitals nearby, he said, without elaborating. It remains unclear if there has been any damage to the facility.

The ministrys announcement comes hours after Israel began a ground assault on Rafah and ordered the evacuation of eastern areas of the city. The hospital does not fall within the Israeli-designated evacuation zone.

Dialysis patients were some of the last remaining in Abu Youssef al-Najjar according to the hospitals manager, Marwan al-Husm, who spoke with The Associated Press earlier Tuesday.

The hospital is one of the largest medical facilities in southern Gaza, and is the latest to be forced to halt operations since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7.

U.N. CHIEF APPEALS TO ISRAEL AND HAMAS TO SHOW COURAGE AND REACH A DEAL

UNITED NATIONS  The United Nations chief is appealing to Israel and Hamas to show political courage and spare no effort to reach a cease-fire agreement now, warning that this is a decisive moment for Palestinians and Israelis and for the fate of the entire region.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Tuesday that he is disturbed and distressed by the Israeli Defense Forces renewed military activity in Gazas southern city of Rafah, where some 1.3 million Palestinians had fled seeking safety.

An assault on Rafah would be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare, he said. Make no mistake  a full-scale assault on Rafah would be a human catastrophe.

Guterres said Palestinians will be forced to flee again, with nowhere safe to go in Gaza, and there will be countless more civilian casualties.

The secretary-general stressed that Rafah is the center of U.N. and global humanitarian operations in Gaza and the closure of both the Rafah and Karem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation.

They must be reopened immediately, he said.

Guterres appealed to all those with influence over Israel to do everything in their power to help avert even more tragedy  and promote a humanitarian cease-fire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and the delivery of life-saving aid.

HEZBOLLAH CLAIMS A DRONE ATTACK ON NORTHERN ISRAEL

BEIRUT A Hezbollah-claimed drone attack targeted an Israeli kibbutz near the Lebanese border on Tuesday, sparking a fire at one location, authorities said.

The Lebanese militant group said its attack targeted enemy officers and soldiers around Yiftah.

The Israeli military said its air defenses intercepted one target around Yiftah, while another fell and a fire broke out at the scene. Two other objects fell in an open area, while the rest fell and caused light damage, the Israeli military said.

The military acknowledged no casualties and declined to identify the objects as drones.

Hezbollah has been supplied with Iranian bomb-carrying drones and has previously used them to attack Israel.

U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE SAYS ISRAEL HAS OBLIGATIONS TO PROTECT CIVILIANS

GENEVA  Israel has strict obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the safety of civilians in Gaza, a spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office said, hours after Israeli forces seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in a push against the southern city.

Ravina Shamdasani said that Israel is under obligations to make sure that civilians have access to medical care, adequate food, safe water and sanitation.

Failure to meet these obligations may amount to forced displacement, which is a war crime, she said.

Referring to the Israeli operation in Rafah, Shamdasani added: There are strong indications that this is being conducted in violation of international humanitarian law.

U.N. HUMANITARIAN AID AGENCY SAYS ISRAEL IS DENYING IT ACCESS TO RAFAH CROSSING

GENEVA  The U.N. humanitarian aid agency said Tuesday that Israeli authorities have denied it access to the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt that is now in the control of the Israeli Defense Forces.

Rafah is in the crosshairs, said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at a regular briefing in Geneva.

IDF is ignoring all warnings about what this could mean for civilians and for the humanitarian operation across the Gaza Strip, he added. I think its fair to say that the reports that we get from colleagues on the ground is that panic and despair has taken hold: People are terrified.

He said 76% of the territory of Gaza is under evacuation orders and people in Rafah have not been given adequate time to abide by evacuation orders.

Laerke said the operations of the U.N. and its partners in Gaza have a very, very short buffer of about one day of fuel  primarily diesel to run trucks and generators. Its not like there are huge warehouses full of aid in Gaza because as a general rule its distributed upon entry, he said.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SAYS ISRAELI STRIKE THAT KILLED 7 AID WORKERS IN MARCH WAS AN UNLAWFUL ATTACK ON CIVILIANS

BEIRUT  Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that a March 27 Israeli strike on a paramedic center in south Lebanon that killed seven emergency service workers was an unlawful attack on civilians that failed to take all necessary precautions.

It added that U.S.-supplied arms were used in the strike in the village of Hebbariye that was carried out using a U.S.-made joint direct attack munition guidance kit and an Israeli-made 500-pound (about 230 kilograms) general purpose bomb.

The rights group called for Washington to stop providing arms to Israel given evidence that the Israeli military is using US weapons unlawfully.

Israel at the time of the strike said it had hit a military compound and killed a significant terrorist operative from the Jamaa Islamiya, or Islamic Group, a Lebanese Sunni political group with an armed wing that has sometimes joined forces with the Shiite Hezbollah militant group as it has clashes with Israeli forces on the border over the past seven months.

Human Rights Watch said it found no evidence of a military target at the Lebanese Succour Association-run paramedic center that was struck, and that Islamic Group officials and family members of the seven people killed said they were civilians.

The Islamic Group said that while some of its supporters volunteered as paramedics with the association, they do not include any fighters from its armed wing. The report noted that under international law, warring parties have a duty to distinguish between combatants and civilians and in case of doubt whether a person is a civilian, that person must be considered a civilian.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 370 people in Lebanon over the past seven months, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups, but also including more than 70 civilians and non-combatants. In Israel, strikes launched from Lebanon have killed 14 soldiers and 10 civilians.

ISRAELI MILITARY TAKES CONTROL OF THE GAZA SIDE OF THE RAFAH CROSSING WITH EGYPT

JERUSALEM  An Israeli tank brigade has seized control of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, authorities say, moving forward with an offensive in the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remain on a knifes edge.

The move comes after hours of whiplash in the Israel-Hamas war, with the militant group on Monday saying it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated cease-fire proposal. Israel, meanwhile, insisted the deal did not meet its core demands. The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive  but only barely  for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the 7-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing early Tuesday morning, the Israeli military said, taking operational control of the crucial crossing. Its the main route for aid entering the besieged enclave and exit for those able to flee into Egypt.

HAMAS PUBLISHES FULL TEXT OF CEASE-FIRE PROPOSAL

BEIRUT  Hamas has published a copy of the cease-fire and hostage release proposal that the militant group said it had agreed to on Monday.

The framework brought forward by Qatar and Egypt aims to bring a halt to seven months of war in Gaza. However, it's unclear if Israel will agree to the terms. The proposal outlines a phased release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza alongside the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire enclave and ending with a sustainable calm or permanent cessation of military and hostile operations.

Israel has previously said it would not agree to either a full withdrawal of its forces or a permanent cease-fire as part of a hostage release deal.

The first stage would last 42 days and would involve a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the release of about 33 hostages held in the territory, including the remaining Israeli women  both civilians and soldiers  as well as children, older adults and people who are ill.

Thirty Palestinian prisoners held in Israel would be released in exchange for each Israeli civilian hostage and 50 in exchange for each female soldier.

Palestinians displaced in Gaza would be allowed to return to their home neighborhoods during that time.

The parties would then negotiate the terms of the next stage, under which the remaining civilian men and soldiers would be released, while Israeli forces would withdraw from the rest of Gaza. This phase would be conditioned on achievement of a sustainable calm.

The final stage would involve exchange of the bodies of hostages who died in captivity and the beginning of a reconstruction plan for the enclave that would take place over three to five years under the supervision of a number of countries and organizations, including: Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.

THOUSANDS PROTEST IN ISRAEL CALLING FOR A DEAL TO RELEASE HOSTAGES

TEL AVIV, Israel  Thousands of Israelis rallied around the country Monday night calling for an immediate deal to release the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.

The protests came as Israels War Cabinet voted to begin an operation on the city of Rafah, saying that a cease-fire proposal Hamas accepted earlier in the night was not in line with Israeli demands.

In Tel Aviv, about 1,000 protesters swelled near Israels military headquarters, some blocking the citys main highway until late into the night. Police tried to clear the road, lifting some protesters off the street and extinguishing fires lit during the demonstration. Other officers on horseback surrounded crowds who chanted deal now!

In Jerusalem, hundreds of protesters called for a hostage deal. They marched toward the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, holding a banner reading the blood is on your hands.

There were also smaller protests in the cities of Haifa, Beersheba and Raanana.

Israeli police did not immediately respond to a request about the number of people arrested.

In front of Netanyahus house stood Mai Albini Peri, the grandson of Haim Peri, a hostage in Gaza. He held a sign that read, Rafah, not at the expense of my grandfather.
Editors note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.

A restaurant space in Altamonte Springs that had been home to a local eatery that abruptly closed its doors in January has promptly found its next tenant.

Lechonera, a chain of family-owned Latin restaurants, will fill the 2,670-square-foot building at 1370 E. Altamonte Dr. that formerly was Poblanos Mexican Grill.

Robert Guzman told Orlando Business Journal that Lechonera Altamonte Springs will be his third restaurant in the region, joining La Lechonera El Barrio on Semoran Boulevard in Orlando and Lechonera St. Cloud.

Read: Deputies: Basset hound, 2 cats, 3 geckos & 2 birds found dead in DeLand home

Click here to read the full story on the Orlando Business Journals website.

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As a member of the IT coalition, Latvia has provided communication equipment worth 100,000 for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda with reference to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine

Details: The ministry noted that this equipment will help facilitate communication for Ukrainian brigades at the tactical level.

"Thanks to our partners, we continue to meet the needs of our units at the tactical level. This new batch of equipment from Latvia will help establish communication in the combat zone," said Kateryna Chernohorenko, Ukraines Deputy Defence Minister for Digital Transformations, Digital Development and Digitalisation.

Background:

Latvia has already supplied laptops within the IT coalition to upgrade supply logistics and roll out an SAP-based system.

The IT coalition is a special group led by Estonia and Luxembourg within the Ukraine Defence Contact Group. Its objective is to support Ukraines Defence Ministry and Armed Forces in the sector of IT, communications and cybersecurity.

Earlier it was reported that the Netherlands would be joining the military coalition which would supply Ukraine with advanced drone technologies and strengthen its offensive capabilities in the war against Russia.

The member states of the coalition for the development of Ukraines IT capabilities signed a cooperation agreement in February.

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Latvian President confirms participation in Ukraine's Peace Summit in conversation with Zelenskyy

On Tuesday 7 May, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics spoke by phone with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Source: Rinkevics on Twitter (X), as reported by European Pravda

Details: During the conversation, Rinkevics reaffirmed his participation in the next Peace Summit next month in Switzerland.

The presidents of both countries also discussed defence cooperation.

Rinkevics expressed gratitude to Zelenskyy for congratulating Latvia on the anniversary of the restoration of its independence.

Previously:

Polish President Andrzej Duda confirmed to Zelenskyy that he will attend the Peace Summit in Switzerland.

The Global Peace Summit will be held on 15-16 June in the Swiss city of Burgenstock. Switzerland has invited over 160 countries and international organisations, but not Russia.

Viola Amherd, President of the Swiss Confederation, announced that the Pope has been invited to the Global Peace Summit.

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Republican legislative leaders joined Gov. Kevin Stitt, a handful of Democratic lawmakers and about 20 members of the Capitol press corps for a budget summit Monday that featured a prayer and a great deal of political rhetoric about tax cuts but few actual budget agreements.

One bright spot: Both chambers said they would support the governor's call for a $45 million appropriation to fund emergency management operations to clean up from a series of tornadoes that swept through the state destroying businesses and homes in Sulphur, Marietta and Holdenville.

Monday's meeting, hosted by Stitt, was supposed to kick-start a state budget process that had slowed down. Last week the governor sent an email to House Speaker Charles McCall, Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat and the Capitol press corps inviting them to a meeting on the budget. Treat replied to the governor saying he would attend. He also forwarded the email to every member of the Legislature.

Monday, Stitt pushed lawmakers to come to an agreement. "The priorities are important to keep in mind," Stitt said. "Let's keep our expenses in line with our income. The second point is a tax cut. We should be able to give Oklahomans another tax cut."

For his part, McCall said the House was excited by "the enhanced interest" in being transparent. "I think we're very close on the budget," he said.

Sen. Greg Treat attends a budgetary meeting Monday at the Oklahoma Capitol.

Oklahoma Senate leader called the budget summit 'pretty much a press conference' for tax cut

On Monday, Treat said the meeting was supposed to be about negotiating a budget but was, instead, "pretty much a press conference" on the governor's  and the speaker's  call for a cut in the personal income tax. Treat said he did not expect to reach a budget agreement at the meeting but did hope to "fast track money for emergency management."

During the meeting, House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Kevin Wallace also pushed Treat to cut a deal on education funding.

House Speaker Charles McCall speaks during a budgetary meeting Monday at the state Capitol.

"We can do that, if you want to talk about a tax cut," Wallace said.

Treat replied, "Is this a press conference or is this the budget?"

"It's the budget," Wallace said.

More: A state budget agreement could still be an uphill battle despite the special summit

While Stitt, McCall and others met around a large conference table, Democrat members of the Senate and the House sat in the audience. Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd and Sen. Julia Kirt said they attended the meeting to see what, if anything, would happen on the budget.

Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat speaks with House Speaker Charles McCall during a budgetary meeting Monday at the Oklahoma Capitol.

"I expect a lot of rhetoric," Kirt said.

Still, while the meeting was overall civil, there were moments when the tension among McCall, Treat and Wallace was evident. Echoing Wallace, McCall continued to push Treat on a tax cut. McCall said the House "was not moving" on its budget positions until an income tax cut was addressed by the Senate.

Treat's reply was terse: "If you want to talk budget, we'll talk budget," he said. "If you want to talk about revenue, we can have that conversation, too."

With just a few weeks left before the legislative session adjourns for the year, lawmakers have entered the crunch phase of the budget process. Monday's meeting offered few new insights into the budget but did bring all the players together in one place to talk.

Gov. Kevin Stitt attends a budgetary meeting Monday at the state Capitol.

Stitt said he was pleased by the effort. "I think we're all working very hard," the governor said. "I applaud the Senate and the House for this transparent process. I really appreciate it."

The 2024 legislative session will adjourn at 5 p.m. on May 31.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma budget summit talks tax cuts, but few agreements made
Bipartisan lawmakers are questioning how the state has spent billions of dollars to address homelessness. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Democrats and Republicans expressed frustration Monday as they grilled Gov. Gavin Newsom's top housing officials in a tense legislative hearing about how billions of state dollars have been spent on the worsening homelessness crisis.

The hearing by the Assembly budget subcommittee on accountability and oversight came after a state audit released last month found that California has failed to adequately track the outcomes of its vast spending on homelessness programs, raising questions about efficacy and transparency.

California has spent more than $20 billion over the past five years to help people get off the streets, but homelessness has continued to rise  jumping by 6% in 2023 to more than 180,000 people. California has been the state with the largest homeless population for more than a decade, according to the latest federal data.

The audit raised concerns in the Legislature about whether the spending has worked and could hamper requests by cities and counties for more money to address the crisis as the state faces a massive budget deficit.

Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) hammered Newsom officials Monday, demanding data regarding how specific programs have worked to get homeless people sheltered. The officials repeatedly said the information is not yet available.

"You come to a budget committee, and theres no numbers," Ting said. "How many people have we helped? How many people are off the street?  Because that's what the public wants to know. What's the money been spent on?"

Meghan Marshall, executive officer of the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, said the system is undergoing a "transformation," and officials are still working on reporting requirements mandated by a law Newsom signed in 2021.

New data about how homelessness funding has been spent should be available as soon as July, Marshall said, adding that the state is "working through data quality issues."

A frustrated Ting said, "That sounds like an excuse."

Last month's state audit found that Marshall's council has not evaluated program success or consistently monitored spending. The audit said California "must do more to assess the cost-effectiveness of its homelessness programs."

Megan Kirkeby, a deputy director for the California Department of Housing and Community Development, said cities and counties that received some grants were not previously required to show the state how they spent homelessness program funding.

I dont think thats something to be proud of. I dont think thats something we feel good about. I dont think thats something that we accept," Kirkeby said, adding that the state has made significant progress and is in "the first phases of a culture change."

The audit results have rekindled debate about state and local officials' roles in handling the crisis.

Last month, Newsom, a Democrat, called for more oversight of cities and counties and threatened to withhold homelessness funding from those that fail to produce results, saying, Im not interested in funding failure any longer."

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg  all Democrats  and other leaders of California's largest cities traveled to the state Capitol last month to lobby for more homelessness funding.

Newsom has proposed ending grants that have been given to some cities and counties since 2019 to combat homelessness, while maintaining other programs dedicated to the crisis, as he and lawmakers negotiate how to lessen the budget deficit.

Gloria on Monday urged lawmakers to increase that funding by $1 billion, pointing to recently compiled data showing that at least 150,000 people have been served through programs in Fresno, Riverside and other cities.

"We welcome being held accountable," Gloria said.

Republicans pointed to the lack of data as the fallout of the Democrats' firm grip on power in Sacramento, with some suggesting that the spending has gone unchecked because of one-party rule.

"The long and short of it is we have to stop measuring success by how many dollars we're spending," said Assembymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), who was among those who called for the state audit. "I am frustrated by the lack of urgency that I see today and the lack of data."

Democrats, too, voiced frustrations with city and county leaders who are asking for more money  and with Newsom officials who could not supply them with the information they sought.

"We can't just be shoveling money at a problem without knowing if we're spending the money wisely, in the most cost-effective way," Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Rolling Hills Estates) said. "This should not be a reason for us to stop addressing this crisis, but we need to get smarter in terms of how we're spending the money."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
In the past nine months, hundreds of books across dozens of states are being banned at an alarming rate. A majority of the bans feature books written by authors who are people of color, LGBTQ+, Black and Indigenous, and feature characters from marginalized groups. (Getty Images)

School districts in Kansas are readjusting due to a 2022 school district law. (Getty Images)

TOPEKA  School districts with shrinking student populations have been addressed with a bill setting out state aid guidelines for the next year.

Rep. Kristey Williams, an Augusta Republican, estimated the state has 11 school districts with fewer than 100 students enrolled. As an emergency measure, the Legislature passed a bill addressing one district expected to have eight students total enrolled in the 2024-2025 school year.

In this situation of extreme declining enrollment, its not the intent of the Kansas legislature to fund anything but those students, and so when they are contracted to go to an outside district, that district should not be able to maintain their money locally for purposes other than for students, Williams said during April 30 bill debate.

Senate Bill 339, sent to the governor after it passed 117-2 in the House and 34-3 in the Senate, will prohibit state foundation aid from being allocated to a school district with no students attending school in the district in fiscal year 2025. Students who are residents of the district but enrolled elsewhere will have to be counted in the other school district, with state foundation aid sent there.

The move comes at the same time as a 2022 statewide open enrollment law goes into effect. Starting with the 2024-2025 school year, the law allows Kansas students to attend schools outside of their own school district as long as theres space available.

Rep. Jarrod Ousley, a Merriam Democrat, said the issue of extremely low district enrollment would be examined again during the next legislative session.

Well come back and give a better fix to this next year, Ousley said.

The post Lawmakers pass bill responding to low Kansas school district enrollment appeared first on Kansas Reflector.
At least 436 people died from heat exposure between 2011 and 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Months after federal officials declared 2023 the worlds warmest year on record by far, New Jersey lawmakers are moving forward with protections for workers forced to toil in excessive heat.

A bill that would require state labor officials to implement a heat stress standard that would trigger action from employers to protect their workers advanced unanimously in the Senates labor committee Monday but drew major ire from the business community.

Theres a lot of uncertainty, a lot of confusion, and I think this needs some serious feedback and work to it to see what the scope and unintended consequences of this bill, said Mike Egenton of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.

Under the measure, introduced by Sen. Joe Cryan (D-Union), employers would be required to implement a plan to protect their workers from excessive heat. At a minimum, their plan must include providing cold water, offering rest breaks and access to shade or cool-down areas, limiting the time workers are exposed to heat, and having an emergency response in case an employee becomes ill or injured, among other things. Employers would also be required to postpone non-urgent tasks until a heat wave is over.

No workers should have to choose between their job and going home safely. If irresponsible non-union employers are allowed to profit from mistreating the employees, it creates a race to the bottom where we all lose and when lives are at stake, said Gerardo Cortez, a UPS driver and member of Teamsters Local 177.

At least 436 people died from heat exposure between 2011 and 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration says heat is the leading cause of death among all weather-related phenomena in the United States, and notes that workers of color in essential jobs are disproportionately subject to hot working conditions.

All employees would also be mandated to take training on how to recognize high-risk heat days and signs of when someone is suffering from heat-related illness under Cryans bill. Within 30 days of the bills enactment, employers would have to begin maintaining data on their prevention plan and all heat-related injuries and fatalities. The Department of Labor would oversee enforcement of the bills provisions and maintain a program to educate employers on heat stress standards.

Critics of the measure say the law is impractical as written and would lead to disruptions in their daily job responsibilities.

Its another burden on top of the other plans we got to do, and again, taking time away from patient care to do this, said John Indyk of the Health Care Association of New Jersey, which represents the long-term care industry.

Regulations like this would continue to make New Jersey a hostile business climate, said Elissa Frank, vice president of government affairs for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. Noting that OSHA is currently crafting heat-stress standards, she said New Jersey doesnt need another labor mandate when federal regulations are impending. OSHA began the rule-making process nearly four years ago.

Some complaints lie with how broad the legislation is. Eric Blomgren of the New Jersey Gasoline Association said often, gas stations are staffed with one or two employees. If people take mandatory paid rest breaks, the gas station might have to shut down during that time or hire another worker, increasing payroll costs, he said. He suggested amending the bill to carve out businesses with few employees.

Eileen Kean of the National Federation of Independent Business also stressed the wide-ranging applicability, from people working in kitchens in the summer to car dealers in parking lots. She said the regulations arent needed because the job market is so tough right now that businesses want to retain their workers.

Why would employers try to not take care of their employees? I would argue in our current business climate, employers are taking better care of their employees than they ever did, because when you get your team, you get good people, you want to keep them and treat them well, she said.

But people with first-hand experience of working in the heat pleaded with lawmakers to enact these protections. They say without regulations, companies will put production and profit over workers safety.

It can exceed 100 degrees in the back of a metal delivery truck, Cortez said. And if it takes more than a minute to find the package hes delivering, hes drenched in sweat and lightheaded, he said. His union fought for protections and accommodations in their contract, like fans in new trucks and access to ice machines, but he knows thousands of warehouse workers and other drivers cant push back on their bosses demands.

Washington Rodriguez works at a warehouse, and has watched his fellow workers pass out on the job because of the heat. The water fountain at his job is so far away that people must choose between drinking water and potentially losing their jobs over bad production numbers or stress their bodies out and keep up with demand, said Rodriguez, who testified on behalf of Make the Road New Jersey, a labor and immigration organization.

Ive seen too many employers demonstrate year after year they are willing to sacrifice workers for profits. We must have a law that holds all employers to a common sense level of responsibility for protecting the workers in extreme heat, he said. Keeping workers safe is not too much to ask.

The post Lawmakers push to protect workers from excessive heat criticized by business groups appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.
Lawmakers to refile bill to stop HOAs from taking peoples homes after Channel 2 investigation

Just a day after Channel 2 Action News aired an investigation into people losing their homes over aggressive homeowners associations, we have learned that lawmakers plan on refiling legislation to prevent people from losing their homes in the future.

Several state representatives said they will refile House Bill 1032 which would make it illegal for HOAs to foreclose on a home because of unpaid fees.

This move seeks to address concerns about the potential abuse of assessment fees, which have, at times, been used to unfairly target homeowners, a news release said.

Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray found throughout his investigation that Georgia homeowners could be up to date on their mortgage, never miss a loan payment, and lose their home to foreclosure by their HOA.

Each month Karyn Gibbons mailed a check for HOA dues on her Gwinnett County condo to the address provided in writing at closing.

But she said she never knew when or if it would be cashed.

It was just random. I mean thered be two, three, four, five months go in between checks being cashed, said Gibbons.

Then out of the blue she was served with a notice of foreclosure by her HOA.

With late fees and thousands of dollars in attorney fees, she owed more than $30,000.

Did you even know you could be foreclosed on by an HOA? Gray asked Gibbons.

No. Never heard of it, Gibbons said.

Gibbons story was one of many that Gray heard about.

Now, lawmakers are working to stop this from happening to anyone else.

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We drafted this bill because no one should lose their home because of HOA fees/assessments, said Rep. Sandra Scott. When a person pays their mortgage and taxes, they have paid the two bills that make them homeowners. Peoples American Dream of Homeownership should not be taken away because of fees/assessments. We are asking for homeowners to support HB 1032. We would like to have a hearing and vote when we return to session in January 2025.

As a homeowner who, for years, dealt with HOA abuses of authority, power, and lack of transparency, I am committed to ensuring fair treatment and protections for all, said Rep. Kim Schofield. Our goal is to address the systemic issues that have caused distress and create a more equitable environment where condo owners feel secure and empowered.

Another bipartisan bill sponsored by state senator and Rules Committee Chair Matt Brass, a Republican representing Newnan, did pass at the Gold Dome this year to create a study committee examining how to change laws to better protect homeowners.

Brass told Gray the No. 1 topic on the study committees agenda will be HOA foreclosures that he said are taking families generational wealth.

To have some outside group come and take that away from me is again, its un-American. And were not going to stand for it in this state, Brass said.

Several states have put in place laws limiting HOA foreclosure.

That legislative study committee is expected to start its work likely in late summer.

Brass expects potential bills for the next session to come from the committee.

As chair of the powerful rules committee that decides what bills get a vote on the floor those potential reforms have a bill ally with Brass.

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In the Donetsk region, fierce fighting is taking place between the Ukrainian Defense Forces and the Russian occupiers in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions. The enemy has deployed four additional brigades to these frontline areas.

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Nazar Voloshyn, spokesman for the Khortytsia operational and strategic group of troops, said this on Monday, May 6, during the United News telethon. According to him, the enemy managed to achieve some tactical success, but did not gain an operational advantage.

The enemy's main attack forces are now trying to break through the defense of our troops, build on their success and reach large settlements - Kurakhove and Pokrovsk. In these two areas, the Russian Federation has deployed a large number of units, and the aggressor country has had a numerical advantage in people, weapons and military equipment from the very beginning.

"The occupants are attacking the positions of our troops in those areas every day. And now the enemy is trying to develop an offensive to the west of Avdiivka and Maryinka, making its way to Pokrovsk and Kurakhove," Voloshyn said.

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He said that the Ukrainian side is taking measures to strengthen defense in these areas.

"The units that suffered losses have been replaced, and brigades that have regained their combat capability are being relocated. That is, we are also acting proactively, not waiting for the enemy's actions," the spokesman explained.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky visited the frontline areas where the Russian occupation forces have concentrated their main forces for the upcoming offensive. He stated that the situation at the front was difficult and said that the enemy was trying to reach Kurakhove and Pokrovsk.

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Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Lawmakers say state canceled tour of hospital where man burned alive in whirlpool

Hopemont Hospital in Terra Alta, West Virginia. (West Virginia Department of Health photo)

Lawmakers say that the Department of Health Facilities leadership canceled legislators chance to tour a state-run hospital where an elderly, nonverbal man died after being left in scalding water.

This is the second instance where lawmakers said the department has canceled their attempts to get answers about the patients gruesome death at Hopemont Hospital in January.

The long-term care facility is located in Terra Alta.

Del. Amy Summers, co-chair of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability, said the tour had been scheduled for Monday.

The tour was canceled on Friday evening because the secretary was not available. I suggested we meet with the CEO anyway and that request was denied, said Summers, R-Taylor. I am exploring my next steps with the Speaker of the House.

Annie Moore, spokesperson for the newly-created Department of Health Facilities, confirmed in an email that the meeting was canceled due to an unexpected personal issue for department Secretary Michael Caruso.

The Department of Health Facilities is actively engaged in rescheduling the meeting as soon as possible. Secretary Caruso wanted to be present for the tour to personally respond to questions and address concerns the committee members may have had, Moore wrote.

Del. Diana Winzenreid, R-Ohio

Del. Diana Winzenreid, R-Ohio, planned to attend the tour.

I am viewing this in good faith that there is no ill intent, she said. I am less concerned about the scheduling challenges, and Im more concerned about the overall lack of urgency to address the situation and provide answers.

Winzenreid, Summers and other lawmakers previously scheduled a meeting April 16 with Caruso and a Hopemont executive.

The meeting was canceled due to, according to lawmakers, interference from the executive branch under Gov. Jim Justice.

Justice, who is running for U.S. Senate, vehemently denied that accusation, saying he did not control legislative meetings.

The death at Hopemont remains under investigation, according to the governor.

The patient, who required round-the-clock care, was placed in a whirlpool with a water temperature of 134 degrees and left in the tub for at least 47 minutes, according to Disability Rights West Virginia.

A state inspection in February found that water temperatures at the facility did not meet regulatory guidelines for six months, and a staff member chose to keep it warmer per staff request.

The report also found, based on staff interviews, medical records reviews and observation, that the facility failed to ensure one of six residents had an environment which was as free of accident hazards as was possible.

Four nurses, including three contract employees, were fired from Hopemont following the patients death.

Im deeply troubled by the incident at Hopemont, and Im concerned about the inability to allow access to the facility to ensure this was, in fact, an isolated incident, Winzenreid said. This population is so vulnerable, and not being able to advocate for themselves, it is our job to do so.

The post Lawmakers say state canceled tour of hospital where man burned alive in whirlpool appeared first on West Virginia Watch.
A group of 95 people filed a lawsuit in Illinois on Monday alleging they were sexually abused as children in juvenile detention centers across the state for over two decades.

The 186-page suit, filed in the Illinois Court of Claims, alleges state employees sexually abused Claimants and/or negligently allowed or failed to prevent sexual abuse of Claimants while they were children in the legal and physical custody of the State of Illinois, including at Illinois Youth Centers in Chicago, Joliet and Harrisburg, between 1996 and 2017.

The case was brought by 95 adults born on or after July 24, 1983, who say they were abused while in the custody of the state. Just three of the plaintiffs are named in full, while 92 used only their initials to protect their identities.

One of those plaintiffs, Jeffery Christian, was sexually abused as a teenager by two different employees at two juvenile detention facilities, according to the lawsuit. He spoke about the impact of that abuse at a news conference Tuesday along with attorneys and other survivors.

I wish I could have used my time in the system to grow and change and become a better man through the discipline and support of the staff around me. Instead, I was sexually abused and neglected, Christian said.

I spent over two decades carrying the weight of abuse on my shoulders and trying to be the tough guy, to push it down and act like it doesnt matter. But I wont push it down anymore, he said.

The lawsuit comes amid ongoing concerns about child sexual abuse in juvenile justice facilities. Young people in these facilities experience higher rates of sexual victimization than adults in prisons or jails, according to results from the Department of Justices National Survey of Youth in Custody. The overall percentage of youth reporting sexual victimization has decreased over time, from 12.1% in 2008-09 to 9.5% in 2012 and to 7.1% in 2018, according to the survey.

The lawsuit filed Monday says that in some cases, the sexual abuse of minors was perpetrated by systematic and unconstitutional strip searches of juvenile inmates. The searches provided the opportunity for abuse of minors, the suit states.

The State of Illinois has caused and permitted a culture of sexual abuse to flourish unabated in its IYC facilities, the lawsuit alleges.

The defendants are named as the state of Illinois acting through its agencies, the Department of Corrections and/or the Department of Juvenile Justice. The lawsuit specifically accuses the defendants of negligence and sexual abuse, among other counts. Each claimant claims and demands judgment of the maximum $2 million, the suit states.

In a statement, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice said it was aware of the lawsuit and noted the allegations occurred under prior administrations.

Although the Department is unable to comment on active litigation, IDJJ takes seriously the safety of youth in the care of the Department. All allegations of staff misconduct are immediately and thoroughly investigated in partnership with the Department of Corrections, the Illinois State Police and the Department of Children and Family Services, the department said.

IDJJ has enacted policies and protocols to ensure the safety of youth and staff and identify any possible instances of abuse or misconduct. IDJJ protocols comply with both state and federal safety standards and IDJJ completes ongoing policy and protocol evaluations. All staff working in IDJJ facilities undergo background checks and training, along with participating in ongoing professional development.

The Illinois Department of Corrections did not respond to a CNN request for comment.

Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat who took office in 2019, said Monday the allegations involved the prior governorship and declined to comment further, according to CNN affiliate WLS.

Survivors speak out for change

D. Todd Mathews, the lead counsel at the law firm Bailey & Glasser LLP, right, speaks during a press conference with attorneys and abuse survivors on May 7 in Chicago. - WLS

Attorneys and several child sexual abuse survivors held a news conference Tuesday to discuss the lawsuit and tell their stories.

The abuse suffered by our clients, then minors entrusted to the care of the State of Illinois, created great suffering and has reverberated across their lives, D. Todd Mathews, the lead counsel at the law firm Bailey & Glasser LLP, which filed the suit, said in a statement. We salute their strength and were honored to fight for these survivors in court.

Christian, one of the few named plaintiffs in the suit, alleged he was about 13 or 14 years old in 2001 or 2002 when he was sexually abused by a female adult correctional officer at the IYC-Pere Marquette. His mother reported the abuse, but no one followed up about it, the lawsuit states.

When he was about 15 or 16 years old and housed at IYC-Chicago, he was sexually abused by a female counselor believed to have been in her 20s who gave him commissary money and wrote him love letters, the lawsuit states. When the warden found the letters, Christian was sent to confinement and later given a new counselor, the suit states.

At the time of the above-described sexual abuse of Christian, his abusers and other employees were not adequately supervised, monitored, or surveilled by the State of Illinois and its respective departments, the lawsuit states. Upon information and belief, the States failure to supervise, discipline, remove, and/or otherwise investigate Christians abusers and staff members who knew or should have known about the abuse directly enabled the above-described sexual abuse.

Christian said Tuesday he felt good standing among a group of other plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Once upon a time I was a child scared, scared to voice my opinion, he said. Seeing these other survivors with me today, it just let me know I wasnt the only one.

Another named victim, Calvin McDowell, alleged he was about 17 years old in 2004 and housed at IYC-St. Charles when he was sexually abused by a chaplain believed to have been in his 60s. The suit alleges Illinois and its employees knew or should have known that this staff member was sexually abusing children  and they negligently and/or willfully breached their duty to prevent the abuse, to make timely and reasonable efforts to stop the abuse, and to report it.

In the news conference, McDowell said he made some mistakes as a child and believed the detention center would help care for him and push him in the right direction. He was mistaken, he said.

I was victimized and sexually abused, which led to decades of mental anguish and confusion, he said. Instead of being cared for, I felt more alone than ever. I held my secret from the people I loved out of fear and embarrassment. I had nights where I wanted to give up on life, nights where I kept asking myself Why? Why me? Why me?

I knew I had to answer that question for myself, but I could never find the truth until now. Today, Im not alone. Today, I take my life back from the man who preyed upon me. Today I begin the road to recovery. This lawsuit gives me the strength and hope I needed when I was a kid, he continued.

The man who abused me can no longer abuse me, can no longer take advantage of me mentally or emotionally. I will not be silenced. I am not a victim, and I will no longer ask myself why.

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Leader of Russian hacker group LockBit sanctioned by US, UK and Australia

On 7 May, the US, UK and Australia imposed sanctions on Dmitry Khoroshev, the Russian leader of the LockBit hacker gang, which is responsible for the development and distribution of LockBit ransomware.

Source: US Treasury Department, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Khoroshev has been designated for his role in the dissemination of LockBit malware, which has enabled hackers to steal tens of millions of dollars from their victims.

Photo: US Treasury Department

Concurrently, the US Department of Justice has charged the Russian national with 26 counts of designing and administering a malicious cyber operation, while the State Department has offered a US$10 million reward for information leading to Khoroshev's arrest.

Prior to this ruling, the US government had taken various actions against Russian cybercriminals involved in ransomware, including the disruption of the LockBit ransomware infrastructure and sanctions against LockBit group affiliates.

Background:

In February, the US Department of Justice charged two Russian nationals, Artur Sungatov and Ivan Kondratiev, also known as Bassterlord, with active involvement in this hacker gang. Both are accused of participating in numerous attacks on dozens of users in the US, Asia and the Middle East between 2020 and 2021.

The US State Department is offering a US$10 million reward for information that will help identify or locate them.

LockBit is regarded as one of the most prolific such gangs in the world, targeting over 2,000 victims in the US and other countries and extorting over US$120 million.

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Leaders of Finland and Belgium confirm they will attend Ukraine's Peace Summit

Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo have confirmed their attendance at the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland in mid-June in phone calls with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Source: European Pravda

Details: Following his call with Zelenskyy, the Finnish president wrote on Twitter (X) that he had discussed "the upcoming peace summit in Switzerland, which I will attend". He also said he hoped that "as many colleagues as possible will be able to join".

President @ZelenskyyUA called. We discussed the upcoming peace summit in Switzerland, which I will attend. I hope as many colleagues as possible will be able to join. We also spoke about Finlands and Europes support to Ukraine. Tomorrow I will continue these discussions in pic.twitter.com/QQWzHBAwBg  Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb) May 7, 2024

President Zelenskyy tweeted about his conversation with the Belgian prime minister, thanking him for "confirming his participation in the Peace Summit".

Zelenskyy also spoke with both leaders about bilateral aid in the context of Russia's full-scale war.

I spoke with Belgian Prime Minister @AlexanderDeCroo and thanked him for confirming his participation in the Peace Summit. We appreciate Belgium's principled stance toward the Peace Formula.



We also discussed our defense and political cooperation. We value Belgiums decision to pic.twitter.com/hQOwgcn0Lg  Volodymyr Zelenskyy /   (@ZelenskyyUa) May 7, 2024

The Global Peace Summit will be held on 15-16 June in the Swiss city of Burgenstock. Switzerland has invited over 160 countries and international organisations, but not Russia.

The presidents of Poland and Latvia have already confirmed that they will be attending.

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Eric Walden makes a lot of school visits near the end of the academic year, just as the weather turns warmer and the promise of summer vacation beckons.

Thats when the kids in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, start getting into more fights  or, as he puts it, when business is booming. Walden is the assistant chief juvenile officer of the local circuit court, charged with overseeing the probation of minor offenders across two counties. He also helps lead the citys Group Violence Intervention, a program designed to curb feuds in schools and neighborhoods before they take a deadly turn.

He and his colleagues keep a busy docket in Pine Bluff, a community of about 40,000 nestled in the Arkansas Delta. A stunning number of its residents are poor and unhealthy, but the citys abiding concern the last few years has been crime. Multiple analyses have named it one of the most dangerous places in the United States, with murder rates several times higher than the national average, and a tragically high share of the violence is committed by and against children.

The wave seemed to crest in 2021. That year saw a record 30 homicides, including that of a 15-year-old boy shot by a classmate inside Watson Chapel Junior High School. The building has since been demolished, its students relocated while awaiting the construction of a new campus. But Walden said the killing, and dozens like it over the past few years, have shaken young people in ways he can sense during trips to classrooms.

Saving Schools in Americas Fastest-Shrinking City

Exodus and renewal in Pine Bluff, Arkansas

View the Series

When we bring it up, we can feel the trauma in the room, Walden said. We know its hard: You were at school with Billy just the other day, and now hes gone. Maybe you know the kid who killed him, and now one is locked up and the other is deceased.

Little by little, Pine Bluff is in danger of being hollowed out, with Census data revealing that one out of every eight inhabitants either died or left town between 2010 and 2020. A number of factors are driving them away, from the areas relative lack of economic opportunity to its generally poor school performance. But among them is the specter of death hanging over middle and high schoolers.

(Marianna McMurdock/The 74)

As Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree told The 74s Linda Jacobson, without more trust that children will be safe in district schools, nobodys going to send their kid here, and well never raise our enrollment.

Related: We Want Our Kids Back: To Entice Families, Pine Bluff Looks to its Schools

Both in Pine Bluff and across the United States, education authorities fear that pre-COVID levels of learning cant be restored until schools are made safer, with stronger relationships and more trust between students and faculty. Those fears are supported by a wealth of research showing that violence in schools is closely tied to lower academic achievement and life prospects. Students exposed to chaotic behavior, whether inside or outside of school, tend to learn less than their peers in well-ordered environments, and negative perceptions of school environment lead to lower attendance.

Worry among families has clearly risen since the pandemic. In a recent Gallup poll, 38 percent of American parents  down somewhat since 2022, but higher than any other period in the last two decades  said they were anxious about their childrens physical safety in school. Researcher Jennifer DePaoli said that while mass shootings like those in Uvalde and Parkland receive disproportionate attention in national news, the bulk of school safety problems stem from much less sensational causes.

The conversation about school safety largely comes up after school shootings, and that really diminishes the acts of violence that students typically experience in schools. Jennifer DePaoli, Learning Policy Institute

The conversation about school safety largely comes up after school shootings, and that really diminishes the acts of violence that students typically experience in schools, DePaoli told The 74. The bullying and threatening behavior really do make students feel unsafe on a day-to-day basis.

A changing gang culture

Walden has an unusually keen understanding of those everyday safety problems. He first moved to Arkansas two decades ago, at age 18, after a troubled childhood in Nevada and Kansas. Hed been involved with gangs as a teenager, even facing adult charges while still a juvenile.

I came to Pine Bluff to get out of trouble, he said, mingling a note of irony with real appreciation.

We see a lot of that, kids getting put on virtual, because theyre trying to prevent situations from happening. Eric Walden, juvenile officer

Hoping to stop local kids from making the same mistakes, Walden signed on as a youth mentor while attending the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He has been involved in the juvenile justice realm ever since, coordinating grants and working as a training officer before assuming his current role as the assistant chief of staff at the Sixth Division Circuit Court. When hes not supervising a dozen probation officers, he ministers to the faithful as associate pastor at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

Walden said the complexion of youth crime has changed significantly, and for the worse, throughout his career. He attributes that transformation in part to the nationwide evolution of so-called hybrid gangs, decentralized cliques of young men engaged in criminal acts with little planning or hierarchy. Where conflict in cities like Pine Bluff was once channeled through foundational groups like the Crips or Gangster Disciples, Walden said one recent case involved the killing of a young man by an acquaintance whod recently appeared alongside him in a YouTube music video.

Related

Stopping Youth Violence Before It Starts

Id give anything to get back the kids we were seeing 10 years ago because you knew what you were getting then, he remarked. The kids were dealing with now, theres no regard for adults or teachers. It doesnt matter if youre best friends, theres a good chance youll get harmed.

The Group Violence Intervention  an idea developed in the 1990s by celebrated criminologist David Kennedy and road-tested in an array of high-crime cities  was launched in Pine Bluff last year as a response to widespread concern. But it will also take a coordinated effort with state and even federal law enforcement agencies to suppress the gang violence problems in central Arkansas. In a single five-day span last July, the city saw four homicides of victims aged 17 or younger.

Erika Evans serves as the president of the Pine Bluff High School Parent-Teacher Organization. She said she was glad that her daughter attended local public schools and that her two older sons graduated as honor students. But safety issues needed to be taken seriously by everyone in the city, she added.

To have some of my children's classmates killed, that's a grave concern for me. We have to make sure that if we see something, we say something. Erika Evans, Pine Bluff High School Parent-Teacher Organization

To have some of my childrens classmates killed, thats a grave concern for me, Evans said. We have to make sure that if we see something, we say something. Its a community effort, and you cant just say, Its not going to happen to me.

(Marianna McMurdock/The 74)

Always looking over my shoulder

As in other cities, most violence in Pine Bluff occurs outside of school. But too often, parents complain, it has spilled into classrooms and hallways as well.

When students returned from summer vacation in fall 2021 for their first year of full-time, in-person schooling since the start of the pandemic, a spate of brawls tore through Pine Bluff High School. Some victims said they were chased through the halls by groups of their classmates.

Such incidents may not grip the conscience of the community to the same degree as the school shooting at Watson Chapel Junior High, but they meaningfully impede learning for the affected kids. The high school was closed the entire day after one 2021 fight, and Walden said that in one district he works in, it wasnt uncommon for administrators to proactively send home students they believe to be instigators, or even targets, of violence.

Johanna Lacoe

If they get wind that a kid might be getting into it with somebody  even if the kid was a victim because he was threatened  theyd tell him not to come to school, he observed. We see a lot of that, kids getting put on virtual, because theyre trying to prevent situations from happening.

Results from social science suggest a connection between the fear of in-school violence and poor academic results. Some of the most compelling evidence comes from New York City, where a 2020 study used survey responses from over 340,000 middle schoolers to chart a clear connection between feelings of physical threat in school and lower standardized test scores; the academic harm was greatest in cases where students reported staying home from school because of safety concerns.

Data from other cities point to similar trends. A 2011 paper on perceived safety in Chicago Public Schools found that large numbers of both students and staffers worried about being victimized in school buildings  especially in areas where fewer adults congregated  and that schools enrolling larger proportions of low-performing students were more likely to see safety problems. Another study, this one based in Philadelphia, showed that the closure of underperforming schools led to a substantial decrease in crime in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Related

Failing Schools: Home to Underachieving Students, Disillusioned Teachers and  According to a New Study  Higher Rates of Crime

Economist Matthew Steinberg, an author of both papers, said it was hard to identify a direct causal relationship because of the nature of the population enrolled in failing schools: largely disadvantaged students who are more likely to be exposed to poverty and instability at home.

One needs only to have eyes and ears and to have lived in the world to know that if someone feels unsafe, it affects their ability to focus. Matthew Steinberg, Accelerate

Still, he added, it was undeniable that in schools with greater behavioral challenges, teaching and learning are often subordinated to the need for classroom management.

One needs only to have eyes and ears and to have lived in the world to know that if someone feels unsafe, it affects their ability to focus, Steinberg said. If Im a kid in school, and Im always looking over my shoulder, how does that support my learning?

Those sentiments were echoed by Stanley Ellis, director of education at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Institute for Digital Health & Innovation. Last fall, the institute received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to combat youth violence through partnerships between the Pine Bluff School District and several community and faith-based organizations. The funds will help target at-risk students for services and train school employees in trauma-informed education.

Pine Bluff has a very rich, storied history  a good history. We want students to be contributors to that history, and we need to reduce violence so they can be around to do that. Stanley Ellis, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Ellis identified social media as a particular conduit of stress between peers, through which bullying and conflict are carried over from school to the wider community.

It travels with you from school to the house, Ellis said. You cant concentrate in class because youre trying to respond to the negative stuff thats been said about you or your friends or your family members.

(Marianna McMurdock/The 74)

Recalling a rich, storied history

A native of the Arkansas Delta, Ellis said that Pine Bluffs reputation as a place of crime and disorder was belied by its much older record of achievement.

Freed slaves flocked there during and after the Civil War, establishing businesses and occasionally winning local office. Opportunity surged through the mid-20th century with the growth of employment in the defense and paper industries. While the emergent African American population there was also subjected to terror and lynchings during and after Reconstruction, he said, young people were inheritors of a legacy of uplift.

Pine Bluff has a very rich, storied history  a good history, he said. We want students to be contributors to that history, and we need to reduce violence so they can be around to do that.

Sources agreed, however, that if the city is going to see a revival, it will have to stem the departure of its inhabitants, more than 10,000 of whom left over the last 14 years. One of the keys to that turnaround will be better academic performance from a school system that has recently posted some of the worst results in the state.

Many parents cheered last fall when the school district was returned to the control of local officials after years under state supervision. The handover is seen as a reflection of better financial management and real, if modest, growth in student performance.

Now Evans and other parents are looking forward to 2026, when the city has pledged to complete a new high school. Besides offering an upgrade in overall facilities, it is hoped that a new campus will offer new safety features  the existing campus, spread across multiple structures, is too diffuse for administrators and school resource officers to oversee, parents have complained  that will relieve students and teachers fears about disruptive behavior.

Evans, who helped lead the campaign to raise funds for the new building, said she hoped a renewed commitment to education would not only improve public schools, but also reset peoples expectations of what is possible in Pine Bluff.

When weve been out discussing the building of a new high school, we saw the community enthralled, she said. They were happy to see a brand-new school, and when you bring a new school, the mindset shifts: Here is an opportunity for improvement.
Gov. Bill Lee earlier this year quietly ended an expedited clemency program for those sentenced under a previous version of the state's drug-free school zone law.

Ending the program means offenders convicted under the old law  who were sentenced to years longer in prison than they would be today  have lost what may have been their most viable option to get out from under a sentence the state legislature felt was too severe.

Under the old law, those convicted of a drug crime within 1,000 feet of a school, library, park, day-care center or recreational center were subject to harsh mandatory minimum sentences even for first-time drug offenses. The Tennessee General Assembly changed the law in September 2020 to reduce the radius of a "school zone" to 500 feet and to restrict the application of harsh sentencing requirements to crimes when a child was put at risk.

Gov. Bill Lee speaks during a press conference at the end of session at the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, April 25, 2024.

Attorneys Ben Raybin and Daniel Horwitz said they have worked with people who were sentenced to about 15 years in prison under the old law's sentencing requirements when they would have received a two-to-three-year sentence otherwise.

In December 2021, Lee announced he created a process that would allow those sentenced under the old law to quickly become parole eligible through a grant of clemency if they would not have been sentenced as harshly under the new law. The process shifted the Board of Parole's typical role in reviewing applications to the Tennessee Department of Correction, but the board still had the final say in whether the offender was released.

Lee's office ended the program in January 2024, Lee spokesperson Elizabeth Johnson said in a statement to The Tennessean. While the change was posted to TDOC's website sometime earlier this year, it was not announced to the press nor to at least some of the attorneys whose clients were seeking expedited clemency.

The expedited clemency process for certain drug-free school zone offenders was designed to be temporary and had accomplished its intended purpose, Johnson said. We trust the Board of Parole to provide a thorough review to all clemency applications.

The administrations early statements about the program did not indicate it would be temporary, and Lee's office did not respond to a specific question about why he decided to shutter the program.

No offender who sought expedited clemency through the program was denied, so under state law, all are still eligible to apply for clemency through the traditional process. Still, not all who applied were granted expedited clemency.

The traditional clemency process is one of the options offenders still have to reduce their sentences, although that process can take years, Horwitz said.

Lawmakers also created an avenue for offenders to petition the courts they were convicted in to reduce the length of their sentences. Judges have full discretion over when to grant those petitions, so this option works well with some judges and jurisdictions, including Nashville, Raybin said.

Some judges are not so agreeable. Horwitz's client Wayne Potee's petition was denied, and an appeals court told Horwitz he had no right to appeal that decision. After Potee applied for expedited clemency through the governor's process, TDOC's general counsel told Horwitz on Jan. 4 that the application should go to Lee's office that day.

Defense attorney Daniel A. Horwitz gives his closing argument for Russell Mazes post-conviction review at Justice A. A. Birch Building in Nashville, Tenn., Wednesday, March 27, 2024.

"Minimal as it was, the Drug Free School Zone clemency program was among the only positive things that Lee has done for criminal justice reform during either of his two terms as Governor," Horwitz said in a written statement to The Tennessean. "Ending the program prematurely and without notice to anyone  particularly after applicants like Wayne Potee were already approved under it  is a betrayal."

At the time the program was announced in 2021, 335 people were incarcerated for drug-free school zone offenses committed prior to September 2020.

In 2022, Lee granted immediate parole eligibility to 30 people under the expedited pathway. Last year, there were no drug-free school zone offenders included in his annual clemency announcement. A month later, Lees office officially shuttered the expedited pathway program.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMealins.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee drug-free school zone law: Lee quietly ends clemency program
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the average American home uses an average of 10,791 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year.

If you didn't know already, the city of Leesburg manages its own power company, and about 27,747 residents are customers of the government-run electric and gas service.

An electric advisory board, which convened for its first meeting last November to discuss policies related to Leesburg electric and gas, continues to meet the first Monday of the month. A page on the city explains the members' terms and other details.

At a May 6 meeting, the advisory board began discussions related to a two-year pilot program that would allow new residents who live in the coverage area and are employed as licensed K-12 teachers in Lake County to qualify to have their utility connection fees of up to $205 waived.

"We are drafting the programs implementation resolution," City Manager Al Minner told the Daily Commercial after the meeting. "Not sure if it will make the May 13 or May 28 commission meeting for consideration."

Advisory board member Marc Schwarz proposed the idea, and a majority of the board voted in favor of going forward with deciding the requirements and drafting a teacher pilot program proposal to present to the city commission.

Minner sounded optimistic when he cited that Leesburg Electric's current financial stability, allowing the city to keep power costs down. The utility ranks ninth in the state among the 35 municipalities who run their own power, putting Leesburg in the average range of municipalities listed by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs.

"We were able to bring for April power cost adjustment down to a penny per kilowatt, so that knocks about 10 bucks off your average bill," Minner said.

Also at the May 6 meeting, members discussed the existing surge protection service for around an extra $13 a month, including a warranty for the equipment. Minner said a slim minority of residents use the service.

That could be due to a lack of awareness. A couple of board members admitted that they didn't even know the surge protection service existed. So, it bears repeating that if you have expensive electronics that could be affected by a power surge from lightning or other interruption, you can sign up for the service on the city's website, leesburgflorida.gov.

Minner also told the board and citizens in attendance about Leesburg's utility assistance program. Leesburg utility customers who are having difficulty paying their utility bill can call the customer service department at 352-728-9800 to set up a payment plan.

Rebates and solar installation savings are also explained on the city's website.

The Leesburg Electric Advisory Board meets the first Monday of the month at 5:30 p.m., and the next meeting will take place June 3. You can tune in live to Leesburg meetings on LakeFront TV's YouTube channel, Xfinity channel 22, CenturyLink ch. 21 (HD, 1021) or Spectrum ch. 497.

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: A utility pilot program may help teachers moving into Leesburg
Three dozen law professors from across the country are demanding that a Utah district court hold the Beehive State responsible for the declining water levels in the Great Salt Lake.

The professors submitted an amicus brief on Friday in support of a lawsuit  launched by conservation groups in the fall  alleging that Utah has failed to ensure that enough water reaches the Great Salt Lake.

The writers also declared their opposition to motions to dismiss the case, which were filed by private water users, water conservancy districts, municipalities and state agencies.

The Great Salt Lakes precarious future is not beyond legal remedy, the professors stated.

Instituting conservation measures for the benefit of the Great Salt Lake is a complicated endeavor, due to the dictates of the water rights system that dominates much of the U.S. West.

The system, which dates to the mid-19th century Homestead Act, enabled users to divert water on a first-come, first-serve, priority basis  meaning that imposing usage cutbacks for the sake of the lake could infringe upon a higher-priority users water rights.

But the conservation and community groups that sued the State of Utah in September argued that upstream diversions have led to a significant decrease in the Great Salt Lakes water  and that the state has a responsibility to protect this public resource.

The Great Salt Lake belongs to the people of Utah, Stu Gillespie, senior attorney with one of those conservation groups  Earthjustice  said in a statement. It is time for the state to fulfill its obligation to protect this resource and address the unsustainable upstream water diversions that are putting it at risk.

The path toward reversing the basins declining water levels and ecological collapse involves harnessing whats known as the public trust doctrine, the law professors wrote in the amicus brief.

Such doctrines require governments to hold natural resources in trust for the public, with such resources typically including navigable waters and their submerged lands, per the brief.

In Utah, the public trust doctrine dates at least back to the states 1896 establishment and was enforced in its constitution  which recognized the doctrines applicability to lands and water and the concept of beneficial use as the basis for fulfilling those rights, the professors noted.

Beneficial use refers to a rights holders requirement to only use a diverted water allocation for predefined purposes, such as irrigation, hydropower, domestic, municipal, commercial or mining uses.

Regarding the public trust doctrine, the state legislature also has declared that all state waters belong to the people of Utah, the professors explained, noting that other Mountain West states have applied their own such doctrines to water bodies like the Great Salt Lake.

Demanding that the court correct the states shortsighted view of its trust obligations, the writers stressed the need to apply the public trust doctrine to water law  which they described as being frozen in the 19th century.

The state clearly has the authority to undertake water conservation measures necessary to restore the Lake, they stated, noting that such measures could include changes to surplus water management in wet years and requiring efficiency improvements.

The writers stressed that no vested rights need be threatened, while emphasizing that these rights do not enable users to divert a fixed quantity of water in perpetuity.

All water rights in the state are subject to the public interest and must be used for beneficial purposes without waste, the professors stated.

It is within the power of this Court to inform the state that the waste of the Great Salt Lake is neither in the public interest, nor is it a beneficial use, they concluded.

In response to the amicus brief, Joel Ferry, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, said in a statement that he and his colleagues received the document and plan to oppose it.

Ferry described the amicus brief as largely duplicative of the plaintiffs complaint, noting that Utahs district court rules do not authorize such filings.

We have been  and will continue to  work to protect the interests of the state of Utah, he continued, noting that the agencys divisions are all mindful of their individual responsibilities.

Together, we are addressing the need to protect the Great Salt Lake, Ferry added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Letters to the Editor: Did the UCLA protesters invite mockery, or should we take them seriously?

The site of a cleared pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus is cleaned on Thursday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: Clearly, the tragedy that has befallen the people of the Gaza Strip and Israel is nothing to be mocked. It is a serious and troubling situation. But the protesters have invited mockery. ("Mocking Gaza protesters as 'gluten-free warriors' was fun  until a mob at UCLA attacked them," column, May 3)

Let's review:





Pro-Palestinian demonstrators wore masks from the outset  and yes that is cowardly  as some were reported to have blocked Jewish students on the UCLA campus. This isn't nonviolent protest.

Graffiti on the walls of campus buildings with the message "from the river to the sea" is not nonviolent. This is an obvious call for the elimination of Israel and a clear genocidal statement. Those statements echo the Hamas charter calling for the elimination of Israel.

If these protesters are so concerned about civilian casualties, why are they not calling for the dismantling of Hamas and the return of the hostages it took during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel?

How about this sign: "Return the hostages. Dismantle Hamas. Stop this war."

Alan Rubenstein, Encino

..

To the editor: Columnist Lorraine Ali mentions comments by Bill Maher and Judith Miller mocking the protesters.

Maher makes fun of the campus protests because he seems to find fodder in strange places. But really, does anyone still pay any attention to Miller, a former New York Times reporter?

In the lead-up to the Iraq war, Miller floated claims that Saddam Hussein was actively trying to build nuclear weapons. Miller also had a problem admitting her journalistic blunders, going so far as to say, "I was wrong because my sources were wrong." Fact-checking didn't seem to be her strong suit.

But the student protests, especially those that turned violent, should bring up memories in this country. Why did college administrators invite police onto their campuses when there wasn't yet violence? Then at UCLA last week, counter-protesters beat people in the pro-Palestinian encampment while police took hours to respond.

Right now, "four dead in Ohio" keeps running through my head. In the 1960s and '70s, students were protesting an illegal war that was sending young men back to the states in body bags. In 2024, students are protesting the starvation and slaughter of people in Gaza by a corrupt official who would wipe the Palestinian territories off the map if the chains of civility were removed.

Different decade, same story  and attempting to divert from the reality of the situation with mockery isn't funny.

Kathryn Louyse, Glendale

..

To the editor: To quell potential violence, at the first sign of a protest, maybe universities could require that only individuals with university IDs, plus delivery people, be allowed on campus. All others could be excluded as trespassers.

Wendell H. Jones, Ojai

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
ST. LOUIS  A Lincoln County, Missouri, man appeared in federal court on Monday to be sentenced for recording himself sexually abusing children.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Christopher C. Parker, 32, not only recorded the abuse, he uploaded the videos online and discussed the crime with others.

Uploading the illicit material trigged tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which then notified the FBI on March 21, 2023.

Forecast: Severe storms to bring hail and high winds

Agents obtained a search warrant and went to Parkers home in Fountain N Lakes the following day. They discovered child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on a laptop and cellphones.

Parker admitted to the abuse and the recording. He previously pleaded guilty in January to two counts of production of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography.

A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Parker to 27 years in federal prison.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 2.
Ukraine currently faces no threat from the territory of unrecognized Transnistria. At least not a serious one, if we look at it objectively.

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This opinion was expressed by Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, during a telethon. At the same time, he noted that the border is being strengthened in all directions, including the southern one.

"If we look objectively at the enemy's forces and means on the territory of the unrecognized republic, we cannot talk about serious threats. Most of the information, military and political provocations planned by the enemy against the PMR were not supported even within this entity and, accordingly, were not implemented," the DIU representative noted.

Yusov recalled that recently "there was an information wave that the PMR was about to ask to join Russia. Then the DIU and the official Chisinau said that this was not true, that it was a provocation." He added that "that's what happened," and the conversation went no further.

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Earlier, ISW pointed out that Russia has launched its "hybrid operations" in Moldova. In particular, the Kremlin wants to use Transnistria and Gagauzia for its own purposes.

It was also reported that at the end of February this year, "Transnistria" asked Russia for "protection" from Moldova . In particular, the so-called deputies at the congress complained about the "economic blockade" by Moldova and approved a declaration asking the Kremlin for help.

A few days later, Moscow began to shake another region of Moldova. We are talking about the Gagauzia autonomy, whose leader has since traveled to Moscow several times to meet, among others, with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Among other things, she said that Gagauzia would declare its independence if Moldova decides to unite with Romania, and also announced the launch of cards of the Russian payment system Mir on the territory of the autonomy.

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Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber . Do not fall for fakes!
Listen to final episode of 'Where Secrets Go To Die' podcast

Detroit Free Press subscribers can now listen to the finale of "Where Secrets Go to Die: The Disappearance of Derrick Henagan," an eight-part true crime serial podcast built on long-form investigative journalism, at freep.com/secrets. All the episodes are available early for subscribers on the playlist page.

If youre not yet a subscriber, join us today to get access to the show.

Episode 8, called "The Empty Grave," takes listeners to an Upper Peninsula courthouse where Dyanna Maddox faces felony charges that could send her to prison. Then, reporter and host John Wisely hears from Maddox herself.

Wisely also hears from someone close to Henagan  someone who has felt the anguish of this case perhaps more than anyone. Trooper David Moeggenborg's daughter, Meghan Moeggenborg, also evaluates her next steps in the shadow of her father's legacy.

"Secrets" is the story of Henagan, a downstate man who moves to Michigans remote Upper Peninsula in the winter of 2007-08, then vanishes. Follow along as Wisely, a veteran Free Press journalist, investigates Henagan's case following a news tip on a triple murder. Wisely's reporting uncovers serious concerns about the Michigan State Police  especially Trooper Moeggenborg.

Rayce Henagan poses for a portrait in his Kalamazoo home. Henagan was 6 years old when his father, Derrick, disappeared from the Upper Peninsula. Police believe he was murdered even without being able to locate a body. Rayce looks to find answers in the more than decade-old case.

Sign up for our email updates on this story through our newsletter.

"Secrets" was also made by Darcie Moran, Garrett Tiedemann, Tad Davis, Robin Chan, Adrienne Roberts, Kathy Kieliszewski, Jim Schaefer and Anjanette Delgado.

Our theme music is Abyss, an original song by Camilla Cantu and Brian Castillo.

The Free Press has won the Michigan Press Association's "Podcast of the Year" award for four years in a row. Listen to all of our shows at freep.com/podcasts.

If you need help: For resources to help with cases of suspected child sexual assault, call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 800-422-4453.

For domestic violence resources, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE or go to thehotline.org.

For substance misuse and mental health resources, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration at 800-662-HELP or go to samhsa.gov/

For sexual violence resources, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network can connect survivors of sexual violence to support services at 800-656-HOPE or through the website rainn.org

To report a suspected case of human trafficking, go to humantrafficking.org or call their hotline at 888-373-7888 to submit a confidential tip or to access resources to help victims and survivors.

Darcie Moran is an executive podcast producer, support editor and reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Twitter: @darciegmoran

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Episode 8 of 'Where Secrets Go to Die' podcast out now
(Bloomberg) -- Lithuanias president called for improved relations with China after the establishment of a trade office with Taiwan three years ago triggered a rift between the worlds No. 2 economy and the European Union member state.

Most Read from Bloomberg

President Gitanas Nauseda said that, while he views setting up the trade outpost as positive in principle, the representative office should adopt the word Taipei rather than Taiwan in line with international standards in a bid to defuse simmering tensions with Beijing.

The adjustment could serve as a signal from Lithuania to normalize diplomatic relations with China, Nauseda, who is seeking reelection in a presidential contest on Sunday, told Baltic News Service.

The comments coincide with a European tour by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who warned against a new Cold War during a trip to France on Monday as the EU increasingly aligns with the US on security and trade. The Chinese leader will travel on to Serbia and then Hungary this week in an effort to expand investment in eastern Europe.

But the spat with Lithuania exemplifies a harder line from Beijing, which considers self-ruled Taiwan its territory. After the Taiwan trade office was set up, the backlash included China blocking trade, scrapping Lithuania from its customs system and pressuring companies to stop sourcing in the Baltic nation. Identity cards of Lithuanian diplomats in Beijing were canceled.

Nausedas overture contrasts with recent comments in which he labeled China a threat because of its alignment with Russia. It also lays bare political divisions in the nation of 2.8 million, where the opposition has lambasted the government for its tough stance against Beijing.

Read More: Xi Urges Macron to Help China to Avoid a New Cold War

Lithuanias foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, this week called for a coalition of nations to fight against economic coercion, a reference to China. The president in contrast called for Vilnius to dial tensions back.

All steps must include a respectful dialog with all parties concerned and in agreement with both Taiwan and China, Nauseda said.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2024 Bloomberg L.P.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  A special day at Catholic High School as graduates who also served in the military were honored.

The school unveiled a statue on Monday as a tribute to veterans and fallen heroes.

Little Rocks Catholic High School for Boys beloved German Shepherd passes away

All of it was made possible thanks to a more than $7,000 donation from students involved with the schools Junior ROTC program.

Those who served say its more than just an honor for them, it also speaks to the young students at the school.

Seeing a modern soldier in combat uniform will give them the reality of what it takes to defend our country against enemies foreign and domestic, Andy Rossi, who graduated in 1967, said. And they may be called upon as volunteers to do that and it brings that reality home to them.

Civil rights leader Daisy Bates and singer Johnny Cash to replace Arkansas statues at the US Capitol

Catholic High School has a history of supporting the military and encouraging its students to serve their country.

The school has had a Junior ROTC program since 1967.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
Little Rocks first ALDI location set to open in May

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  After expanding to other areas of the Natural State, the value-grocery chain ALDI is finally set to open the doors at its first Little Rock location in just a few weeks.

The company has set May 23 for the grand opening at the new store located at 12309 Chenal Parkway, though shoppers will be able to get a sneak peek of the store starting May 15.

New sign promises Little Rocks first ALDI store is coming soon

The chain is known for its store-brand products, fresh produce and no-frills shopping experience. The new location will put it in close competition with other nearby stores including Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Sams Club and Trader Joes.

According to the announcement of the opening, the store is offering multiple incentives to bring in new customers, including a $500 gift card giveaway, an 8:45 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony and a free shopping tote.

Aldi opens first central Arkansas location in Conway

The store is also offering a bag of ALDI goodies as well as a golden ticket worth up to $100 for the first 100 customers in the store during the grand opening.

Fans of the grocery chain were excited last summer when the company purchased the land parcel, which was the location of a former Bed Bath & Beyond store.

ALDI USA buys location of former Little Rock Bed Bath & Beyond, report claims grocer putting in storefront

Little Rock joins Conway as central Arkansas cities with the chain. The Faulkner County store opened in January to similar fanfare and events.

Expansion into more cities in the region is still in the works for ALDI. The Cabot Planning Commission gave the green light to a plan to bring the store there during a January meeting.

Cabot Planning Commission gives go-ahead for Aldi grocery store in the city

The Little Rock and Cabot locations would be the 15th and 16th locations for ALDI in Arkansas. Besides Conway, there are also stores in northwest Arkansas in Bentonville, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Harrison, Rogers, Siloam Springs, Springdale and Van Buren, as well as in the northeast part of the state in Batesville, Jonesboro and Paragould.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
Little Rock Master Plan focuses on bringing more housing to downtown

Little Rock Master Plan focuses on bringing more housing to downtown

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.- After seven months of planning, the Little Rock Master Plan draft is finally here.

Little Rock Downtown Partnership leaders say the planners have talked to residents to get feedback on whats needed to help the city grow, and housing has been a main focus.

We have far less residential density than our pear citys, Kyle Lenenberger with LRDP said.

Final round of public input meetings held for downtown Little Rock master plan

He and planners said there is plenty of state and city-owned land going unused, but soon that could all change, making some downtown residents and business owners happy.

The big difference between living in a suburb and living downtown is that you really get to connect with your neighbors, Everett Gooch said.

Gooch is one of the many workers that live downtown and he said more housing is something he supports for the master plan.

Its a fun experience and I wish more people could experience it, Gooch said.

Business owners like Gianni Bruno say hes looking forward to the growth.

I might have to expand if that were the case, and I think that would be great for business for all these restaurants down here, Bruno said.

Running on Empty: Can new plans bring life back to downtown Little Rock?

The unveiling of the plan is set to take place Wednesday at the Robinson Theater starting at 6 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
The Wichita area is under a tornado watch until 11 p.m. Monday.

The National Weather Service warns that extreme weather could strike rapidly in parts of south-central Kansas, central Oklahoma and north-central Texas. The weather service is warning that the storms could be a particularly dangerous situation  with the potential for powerful long-track tornadoes, softball-sized hail and wind speeds as high as 80 miles an hour.

Explosive Thunderstorm development is expected within this Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch across parts of TX, OK, and KS this afternoon. PDS tornado watches are only issued when multiple strong or violent tornadoes are expected to occur. https://t.co/MgxibStR43  National Weather Service (@NWS) May 6, 2024

Explosive Thunderstorm development is expected within this Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch across parts of TX, OK, and KS this afternoon, the National Weather Service posted on X. PDS tornado watches are only issued when multiple strong or violent tornadoes are expected to occur.

A tornado watch means weather conditions favor thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes. A tornado warning  which usually triggers tornado sirens and phone alerts  means a tornado is expected. If the watch upgrades to a warning, seek shelter immediately.

Through 7 pm, storms are expected to affect areas generally along and west of I-135. The stronger storms through 7 pm will be capable of softball size hail, damaging winds to 80 mph and tornadoes. #kswx pic.twitter.com/a3bplDrs3l  NWS Wichita (@NWSWichita) May 6, 2024

Tornado warnings were issued in counties in north-central Oklahoma Monday evening until 6:30 p.m., including Enid, Helena and Lahoma. That storm system is expected to move north and east into Kansas Monday evening.

Dangerous day: Wichita in area with greatest threat of tornadoes, severe storms

Here are Wichita-area schools, businesses with closings due to possible severe weather
What we saw at polls and watch parties on Indiana's primary Election Day

IndyStar reporters spent Election Day talking to voters, candidates and poll workers. Here's what we saw and heard throughout the day and as results rolled in. This coverage is free as a public service. If you don't already, please consider subscribing to IndyStar to support local journalism.

11:30 p.m.: About 19% of registered voters in Hamilton County cast ballots, according to early data

Data compiled by the Hamilton County Election Board shows about 19% of registered voters in the county voted Tuesday. Early numbers show 51,896 voters cast ballots in the primary election, with 36,636 of them cast on Election Day.

 Holly Hays

10:05 p.m.: Prelim numbers show fewer than 15% of registered voters in Marion Co. voted

Early numbers compiled by the Marion County Election Board show just 13% of the county's registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday's primary election.

As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, 85,682 ballots had been received, according to the board's website, of the 632,919 registered voters in the county. (Certified election results won't be ready until May 21, according to the board.) More Republican ballots were pulled than Democratic  46,757 and 38,667, respectively.

 Holly Hays

9:40 p.m.: Here's who's winning Indiana's Congressional primary races

Several of Indiana's nine Congressional districts saw contested races in at least one of the parties. Here's how those are shaping up:

More: Here's who is winning Indiana's primaries for U.S. House

9:20 p.m.: Braun accepts GOP gubernatorial nomination, thanks supporters

"When you run these campaigns, it's about fleshing out what the important issues are. And you have thick skin to get through it. And then you have to be very forgiving and don't hold any grudges if you're going to actually get something done," Braun said. "That's how we take this state to the next level, and I can't wait to do that."

9 p.m.: AP calls 6th Congressional District for Shreve

The Associated Press declared Jefferson Shreve the winner of the Republican primary for Indiana's 6th Congressional District Tuesday night.

Shreve, who ran for mayor of Indianapolis in 2023, led the seven Republican candidates with 28% of the vote followed by state Rep. Mike Speedy and political newcomer Jamison Carrier both with about 22% of the vote, according to unofficial results.

More: Jefferson Shreve wins 6th Congressional District GOP primary

 Brittany Carloni

8:45 p.m.: AP calls 5th Congressional District for Spartz, Carson wins in 7th

In the 5th Congressional District, with about 77% of votes counted, Republican incumbent Victoria Spartz leads with about 39% of the vote with state Rep. Chuck Goodrich at 33% of the vote and Max Engling with 10% of the vote, according to preliminary election results.

In the 7th Congressional District, incumbent Andre Carson had 91% of the vote with 69% of votes counted, shortly after the race was called by the Associated Press at 8:05 p.m. He will likely go on to win the November election too, due to the Democratic-leaning make up of the county.

More: AP calls GOP primary for 5th Congressional District for Victoria Spartz

More: Rep. Andre Carson wins 7th District Democratic primary

8:30 p.m.: Doden and Chambers release statements, say they've called to congratulate Braun

Republican gubernatorial candidates Eric Doden and Brad Chambers have both released statements saying they've conceded the race for the party's nomination to Sen. Mike Braun.

"I entered this race because I believe Indiana is a great state, but that with the right leadership, it could be even better," Chambers said. "I hope U.S. Sen. Braun will be the leader Indiana needs and act ambitiously to create more opportunities that will lift up every Hoosier.

Doden shared a four-part written statement to X (formerly Twitter). "Today I have an even stronger belief in the greatness of the people of Indiana," he wrote.

Thank you.



Thank you to each and every Hoosier who supported us along this journey. For 3 years, we have traveled the state meeting with Hoosiers and offering our bold vision for Indianas future. Today I have an even stronger belief in the greatness of the people of Indiana. pic.twitter.com/vLfsAacl5k  Eric Doden (@DodenForIndiana) May 8, 2024

"Tonight is merely a step along the way in our calling to make Indiana even better," Doden wrote. "God has given us a peace and a renewed energy that this is not the end of a journey, or the beginning of one, but the continuation of one that will bring many good things."

 Holly Hays

Related: In-depth profiles of all of Indiana's Republican candidates for governor

7:35 p.m.: Crouch concedes governor's race: 'It's been an incredible journey'

Indiana republican gubernatorial candidate Suzanne Crouch gives remarks conceding in the republican governor nomination to Mike Braun, May 7, 2024, at The Industry in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch conceded the Republican governor's race to Sen. Mike Braun.

"It's been an incredible journey," she said, thanking supporters. As a party, we need to unite behind him to ensure that we keep Indiana on the road to victory in November by electing Mike Braun as the next governor of the state of Indiana."

 Alexandria Burris

7:20 p.m.: AP calls Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate for McCray

With about 13% of the vote tallied, Valerie McCray has a 30-percentage-point lead over former state Rep. Marc Carmichael.

The Republican nomination is assured for lone candidate U.S. Rep. Jim Banks.

More: Associated Press calls Democratic race for U.S. Senate for Valerie McCray

7:15 p.m.: AP calls GOP governor's primary for Braun

With nearly 13% of votes counted across Indiana, Sen. Mike Braun has about 39% of the vote, which is 18 percentage points ahead of Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch. Former commerce Secretary Brad Chambers is close behind Crouch, with nearly 18% of the vote so far.

More: Associated Press calls Indiana governor's race for Sen. Mike Braun

7 p.m.: Indiana polls are officially closed

As the clock strikes 7, all polls have closed across the state. IndyStar will have reporters stationed at candidates' watch parties and providing context as results are posted.

Check back here for election results as they come in.

6 p.m.: Polls close across majority of state

Polls have officially closed across the majority of the state (all eyes on you now, Central Time Zone).

5:30 p.m.: Carmel voters weigh in on gubernatorial primary

Kate Bechtel, 69 of Carmel, said she comes out to vote no matter what the issues are because its my civic duty. She said she had to do a lot of research to decide to vote for in the Republican gubernatorial primary. There were a lot of ads and misinformation out there.

Bechtel decided to vote for Brad Chambers and said she feels great about that. She liked that he built a business  That takes hard work and shows honesty and integrity, something you dont get much of in politics these days.

Jim Brown, 50 of Carmel, said when hes voting in the primaries, hes looking for the right people who want whats best for the community. He voted for Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch for the Republican gubernatorial candidate, feeling her policies aligned the most with his beliefs.

Brown said there was really only one Governor candidate who he was against: Sen. Mike Braun. Some of his ideas I dont think are good for the state, they feel more self-centered.

 Sarah Bowman

5:25 p.m.: Braun to reporters at watch party: 'I feel real good'

I'm at Mike Braun's election watch party. Regarding tonight's GOP gubernatorial primary, he tells reporters, "I feel real good about the prospects." pic.twitter.com/CbhhEWcqgf  Tony Cook (@indystartony) May 7, 2024

 Tony Cook

Severe weather could arrive in Indy area as polls close and could create rush-hour headaches

Severe weather is expected to hit the Indianapolis metro area before polls close Tuesday afternoon. Storms, which include heavy rain and large hail, are expected to hit the western suburbs between 5 and 6 p.m. and are likely to create issues during rush-hour traffic, said Sam Lashley, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Indianapolis.

Everybody should just be on alert and have multiple ways to get warning information, Lashley said, adding that storms will continue until around 8 or 9 p.m. If you hear thunder, get indoors, get to a safe spot.

Indianapolis is under a tornado watch this evening. Cities and towns west of Central Indiana, including Terre Haute and Brazil, were under a tornado warning around 4:45 p.m.

Stay weather aware: Tornado watch issued for parts of Indiana. Hail, damaging winds possible. What to expect

 Kristine Phillips

5:15 p.m.: First-time voter says he 'didn't even consider' Biden's age while casting primary ballot

Liam Hoffman, 18, a recent high school graduate, voted in his first election at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 52nd Street and Central Avenue.

He said he pulled a straight Democratic ticket, specifically to register support for Joe Biden.

A lot of his views align with mine, Hoffman said, citing student loan forgiveness. Hes the best chance to get some things changed.

Hoffman said Bidens age was not an issue for him.

I didn't even consider it, he said.

Three other voters in the polling place in the Democratic-leaning neighborhood said they pulled Republican ballots even though they are democrats or Independents so they could vote against Mike Braun for governor.

 John Tuohy

5:10 p.m.: 'I figured I would try and choose the least-bad option'

Robert Jackson, 63, stopped by John Boner Community Center to cast a ballot in the Democrat primary. Jackson said hes a loyal Democrat. He doesnt have faith or confidence in Donald Trump. The Democrat party's work(ed) hard to get African Americans and other people of color to where they are now. I don't want to see their work in vain."

The Democrat party's work hard to get African Americans and other people of color to where they are now. I don't want to see their work in vein. Theres no replacement for Bill Crawford. There's no replacement for Julia Carson was successful in me obtaining a teaching license pic.twitter.com/knlDTFfAq8  Alexandria Burris (@AllyBurris) May 7, 2024

Erin Turner, 32, also pulled a Democrat ballot. Because were really red, I feel its important to vote blue when you have the opportunity.

She'd like to see more Democrats on the ballot. I just feel like were going to continue to be red in that realm, just based on the number of candidates there were for that. Democrats dont really have a choice. Its just like, well, there was one person. Thats all you get.

Mike Matta, 33, wants to be heard. He usually votes Democrat, but that doesnt get him very far in a red state. So this time, he pulled a Republican ballot in the primary.

Knowing that our governor and senators and all that sort of stuff are probably going to be Republican, I figured I would try and choose the least-bad option," he said. He picked Nikki Haley for president (who dropped out of the race after qualifying for Indiana's ballot) and Brad Chambers for governor.

 Alexandria Burris

4:45 p.m.: Brad Chambers would help boost Indianas industries, former Democratic voter says

At the Jewish Community Center on the north side, the polling center was nearly empty by late afternoon, with one or two voters walking in every few minutes. Several voters either didnt want to talk or didnt want to share their names and voting decisions publicly, citing broad polarization concerns.

But Andy Helmbock, 42, said he voted for Brad Chambers for governor, saying the Republican candidates background in business would boost the states industries, including biotechnology, construction and manufacturing. On the campaign trail, Chambers, founder and CEO of Buckingham Companies, described himself as a political outsider and business leader who can grow Indianas economy.

Andy Helmbock, 42, said he voted for Brad Chambers for Indiana governor. Helmbock told IndyStar he was previously a Democrat, but now identifies as an Independent.

Hes had a thumbprint on a lot of pulse of businesses, said Helmbock, who said he was a Democrat but now identifies as an Independent. He added that rising costs of living in coastal states would make Indiana, under Chambers leadership, an attractive place for businesses.

Chris Seigel, 68, didnt want to share whom he voted for. He did say he believes Mike Braun will be Indianas next governor, although he has little confidence in the Republican frontrunner. Seigel also said he cares deeply about female reproductive rights, and the issue dictated how he voted this election. He described himself as pro-choice.

 Kristine Phillips

4:30 p.m.: Join us for a live discussion of some of the primary's marquee races

IndyStar is going live at 6 p.m. for a panel discussion of some of the election's biggest races so far. Hosted by the Star's government and politics editor Kaitlin Lange, the panel will include Statehouse reporters Brittany Carloni and Kayla Dwyer and opinion editor James Briggs.

Also joining us for the panel are Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, political commentator and publisher of indypolitics.org, and Democratic strategist Lindsay Haake, whose clients include Democratic Attorney General candidate Destiny Wells.

 Holly Hays

4 p.m.: Rain, sleet or shine, Im ready to go

There's only a couple people voting at the IPS Service Center on Walnut Street.

Tiera Betts, 36, said she likes candidates from both political parties. She's a veteran, so she said she'll prioritize whoever can benefit veterans the most.

"It just depends on what I feel when I open the door," Betts said, laughing.

Suzanne Crouch stands out to her; Betts said she admires how Crouch handled the pandemic. On the other hand, she likes how U.S. District 7 Rep. Andre Carson "makes sure veterans get their benefits.

Regardless, voting is important, she said.

I know my grandparents got hosed down trying to vote, got chased by dogs trying to vote," Betts said. "So whenever its time to vote, rain, sleet or shine, Im ready to go.

 Nadia Scharf

4 p.m.: Turnout slow at Lucas Oil Stadium a few hours before polls close

There were more construction workers in the parking lot of Lucas Oil Stadium than voters mid-afternoon. At least one of those workers, 52-year-old Phil Rosenkrans, sauntered over and became a voter  the only voter the polling place saw in half an hour.

Though he finds the premise of being restricted to one party's ballot puzzling and stifling, he nonetheless chose a Republican ballot, as he usually does. On the six-way governor's race, there was just one piece of information he knew: He wanted to pick someone other than U.S. Sen. Mike Braun.

He knew so little about the other candidates, though, that he picked a name at random toward the middle of the list and couldn't recall what the name was.

"Too many people had too many negative things to say about him," he said. "I just knew I didn't like him."

The last Republican governor he liked, actually, was Mitch Daniels. He remembers that the economy was good and the roads got fixed up. Daniels certainly represents a bygone era of Indiana politics where mudslinging was taboo, unlike this election: "He was the dude."

 Kayla Dwyer

3:30 p.m.: 'We need somebody who's not afraid to represent for Indiana'

Community building and hometown pride are important for mother-daughter duo Karyn Lander, 47, and Camille Lander, 20.

The pair voted at Lawrence North High School today. Camille graduated from the school in 2022, and she said she looks for candidates who have the communitys best interests in mind, just like she does.

Her and her mother kept an especially close eye on the race for Senate, as theyre keen to find someone who will stick up for the Hoosier state.

We need somebody whos not afraid to represent for Indiana, Camille Lander said.

As to why they decided to show out for the primary election, Karyn Lander said its because theyre voting for the people who decide whos going to be on the ballot.

Even if the turnout is smaller than a general election, Camille Landers said, that raises the stakes that much higher.

The one thats seen as less important is the one you got to watch out for, Camille said.

 Jade Thomas

3:15 p.m.: Voter turnout in HamCo already exceeding that of 2022 primary

According to Hamilton County officials, more than 25,200 voters had cast ballots by 3 p.m. on Tuesday, exceeding the number of Election Day voters in the 2022 primary. An additional 3,955 absentee ballots and 11,248 early ballots had been received. Hamilton County sits in the state's 5th Congressional District, where incumbent Republican Victoria Spartz faces a challenge from State Rep. Chuck Goodrich, R-Noblesville, and others.

More: Here's who is running against Spartz and Goodrich in Indiana's 5th Congressional District

In Marion County, officials reported 46,362 ballots had been cast by Tuesday afternoon.

 Holly Hays

3:05 p.m.: Republican voters say they're looking for candidates that represent their politics

AJ Bucher, 25, said he didnt think any candidate on the ballot currently represented him very but voted for Curtis Hill in the Republican primary for governor because he seemed like the most right-leaning candidate.

He feels the least mainstream GOP to me, Boucher said outside of the Pike Township Fire station 62.

Ryan McCroskey, 47, said he likes current Gov. Eric Holcomb and said there were plenty of candidates to choose from for the Republican primary but eventually chose Brad Chambers.

Ive actually met him in person and he just seemed the most real and most sincere to me, McCroskey said.

 Caroline Beck

3 p.m.: 'You never know, one vote might tip the scale'

In Fishers on Tuesday, voters cast their ballots in an 1800s-era log cabin on the western edge of the city near the White River. Campaign signs for Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, and Max Engling, a 5th Congressional District Republican candidate, greeted voters at a white picket fence in front of the Historic Ambassador House.

It was a cloudy afternoon, but a steady group of voters quickly moved in and out of the polling location. There were no lines and voters said they had no problems casting their ballots at the Hamilton County polling site. It was very quick, one person said.

Most of the voters Tuesday afternoon were interested in the Republican gubernatorial campaign. Maribeth Degyansky said she pulled a Republican ballot and voted for former Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers. Degyansky said she liked his business experience and that he was not a career politician.

He just seems like a down-to-Earth, honest person who would represent the middle class, she said.

Russ Cable, who lives just two miles from the Ambassador House, said he was interested in the governors primary and the 5th Congressional District race, where Victoria Spartz is running for reelection against eight other candidates. Cable said he pulled a Republican ballot, but did not share how he voted. The Fishers resident said he has never seen such a crowded primary in the governors race before, which especially makes it important to vote this year.

You never know, one vote might tip the scale, Cable said.

 Brittany Carloni

2:45 p.m.: 'I think that (Crouch) can make a difference'

Its quiet inside IUPUIs University Library. Still, a few voters are trickling in.

Claire Weaver voted a Democratic ballot, and said she chose Valerie McCray for her progressive policies. She chose to vote today because she wants to live in a democracy, she said.

Mike Pollard told IndyStar he voted for Suzanne Crouch in the May 7, 2024, primary election: Maybe she wants to finish the unfinished business she had when she was lieutenant governor, but at the highest level now.

Mike Pollard voted for Suzanne Crouch on the Republican ticket. She has the experience, he said.

I think that she can make a difference, Pollard said. Maybe she wants to finish the unfinished business she had when she was lieutenant governor, but at the highest level now.

Pollard doesnt align himself with either party. This year, he went Republican because of his conservative values, particularly around government finances, but he says his vote depends on the conversation surrounding the candidates.

"What are the needs, whos talking more about whats going on, not just personally but collaboratively, some of the subjects were dealing with," Pollard said. "Who is talking more about it, and whos giving answers.

 Nadia Scharf

2:30 p.m.: Democrats ponder pulling Republican ballots but decide against it

Linda Schussler and her husband Bob, who usually pull Democratic ballots, considered choosing Republican ones today at Lawrence North High School.

Jim and Jan Fuquay said they wanted to see candidates focus more on education.

Linda said she wanted the opportunity to vote for a candidate for governor who was the most honest. But she didnt, as she said, the information thats gleaned from primaries is necessary for Democratic planning in the future.

Jim and Jan Fuquay had a similar idea, but decided not to pull a Republican ballot. They were also concerned about the race for governor and were unimpressed that candidates didnt focus heavily on topics like education.

They dont really get in-depth about issues in Indiana, Jan Fuquay said.

The couple, who tutor third-graders to improve their literacy skills, want a candidate whos well-educated, honest and cares a lot about education.

 Jade Thomas

2 p.m.: 'It feels like everyone is running for governor'

Tim Jedlicka, 61, said he came out to vote in the primary election for the insane governor race  it feels like everyone is running for governor.

Tim Jedlicka of Fishers said "it feels like everyone is running for governor.

He said it was hard to decide whom to vote for because he felt the candidates were too caught up in federal issues. Jedlicka wouldnt say whom he ultimately voted for in the Republican gubernatorial primary, but said hed like to hear more talk about school funding.

Im from Illinois where a budget surplus is unheard of, he said at the Roy G. Holland Memorial Park Building.

He said he would like to see that money put to use.

The Fishers resident also said he did not vote for U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz or state Rep. Chuck Goodrich for Indianas 5th Congressional District in the primary.

They both can go, Jedlicka said.

 Sarah Bowman

1:30 p.m.: 'It concerns me seeing money that should go to the public schools going to the vouchers'

Greg Bowes, 64, said he ended up voting for the Pike school referendum question even though he is hesitant to see more state dollars go to charter schools.

Greg Bowes said he voted yes on the Pike Township referendum and wants to see more dollars staying in public schools.

He ultimately voted yes because he said at least the dollars werent going to private schools and would be staying in public schools.

At least charter schools have a little bit more oversight than the voucher schools do, which can basically do whatever they want, and it concerns me seeing money that should go to public schools going to the vouchers, Bowes, a Pike Township resident, told IndyStar where he voted at Snacks Crossing Elementary School.

 Caroline Beck

1 p.m.: 'Indiana is a red state and only getting redder. All I have is my vote'

A steady stream of people went in to vote at the Delaware Township Government Center over the lunch hour and were able to complete the task in about 10 to 15 minutes.

Monica Shimer voted a Democratic ballot at the Delaware Township Government Center.

Monica Shimer, 54 of Fishers, voted a Democrat ballot. She said some people may feel like its a lost vote, but she still wants her voice to be heard.

Indiana is a red state and only getting redder. All I have is my vote, Im not going to give up, she said.

Shimer said she considered pulling a Republican ballot. She said if there had been a real opponent to Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, she would have voted Republican to be a counterweight and vote for anyone else but him.

Likewise, Linda Schenk, 75, said she and her husband voted a Democrat ballot.

Thats probably why we were in and out so fast  not a long ballot, said Schenk, of Fishers. We are definitely one of a minority in the area.

Schenk grew up in Indy but recently moved back to the area after 40 years in Evansville. She said there would be more representation on both sides of the ballot down there and its been an adjustment being back in the Indy area where things feel much more one-sided.

 Sarah Bowman

12:15 p.m.: Gubernatorial primary and 5th congressional district races bring out Fishers voters

At the Delaware Township Community Center, Nate Salsgiver, 36, said he voted to re-elect U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz to represent Indianas 5th District. Salsgiver also said the vote for the Republican gubernatorial candidate was a bit more difficult to decide since there were a few he liked based on what he knows. But he declined to say who ultimately got his primary vote.

Jamie Zappala of Fishers said she wants to set a good example for her children about the importance of voting and respecting everyones opinions, even if theyre different.

Jamie Zappala, 31, said she voted for Brad Chambers in the Republican gubernatorial primary. She said he seems likable and the Fishers mayor had endorsed him. She and her family are relatively new to the area, moving to Indiana from Ohio about three years ago.

Zappala said she also wants to set a good example for her children about the importance of voting and respecting everyones opinions, even if theyre different.

Were a young family, and I want to be able to have those conversations about different topics and issues, she said.

 Sarah Bowman

Noon: Strong feelings about Braun and Pike Township referendum bring voters out

Some voters told IndyStar they pulled Republican ballots  even if they don't usually  especially because they wanted to vote for or against U.S. Sen. Mike Braun for governor.

Darlene Swilik, 61, lives in Indianapolis in the Pike Township area and said she decided to vote for Braun after talking with her neighbors about the governor's race.

It was general consensus among my neighbors that they went with him because I don't always keep up like I should, Swilik told IndyStar when she went to vote at Eagle Creek Elementary.

Kathy Koehler (left) said she supported the Pike schools referendum, and Matthew Smith said it was important to him to come out and vote against Mike Braun for governor.

Matthew Smith, 46, said he typically votes Democrat but voted on the Republican ballot because he wanted to vote against Braun. Smith selected Brad Chambers.

It was quite fun honestly and made me feel like my vote counted more, Smith said.

Voters had strong opinions about the Pike school referendum, as well. Swilik said she voted no because she didnt want her taxes raised. Kathy Koehler, 52, said she voted yes because she always wants to support schools.

If they say they need more support, then Im willing to help them, Koehler said.

Jeanne Mathews, 56, is a former Pike Township teacher and came out to vote at the same school where she used to teach, Eagle Creek Elementary School, and said she voted in favor of the referendum question.

As a former teacher, I understand how important it is that our schools are well-funded, Mathews said.

 Caroline Beck

11:15 a.m.: 'Our teachers deserve to be paid more'

Rev. Dr. Richard Curry Jr., senior pastor of True Tried Missionary Baptist Church, said he came out to Jonathan Jennings School 109 because he felt it was his duty to exercise his right to vote.

While he wouldnt say if he pulled a Democratic or Republican ballot, he did say he was closely watching the presidential and governor races.

Rev. Dr. Richard Curry Jr. said he voted in favor of the Pike schools referendum.

He also said while hes worried about rising tax rates, he did vote in favor of the Pike schools referendum.

Especially when thinking about our African American children, I think they deserve better schools and our teachers deserve to be paid more, Curry said.

 Caroline Beck

10:35 a.m.: 'Things need to change'

Roger and Tesha Conrad, 59, see voting as one way to correct the course of government.

Things need to change, Tesha said. Neither of us are happy with where things are going, so we have to step up and do whats necessary, which is vote.

Both Tesha and Roger voted for Brad Chambers in the gubernatorial race because they see him as an outsider, not a career politician.

I think thats the way the system started, Roger said. We need to get back to having more part-time politicians.

 Bradley Hohulin

10:30 a.m.: 'I want to make sure we have a voice'

Downtown Westfield was fairly sleepy in the late morning, with songbirds and construction equipment supplying most of the soundtrack. Still, every couple of minutes, someone walked up the steps of Westfield City Hall to cast their vote.Rick Yelle, 59, said he's voting because he often isnt satisfied with how officials act on behalf of people like him.I dont always feel that were politically represented by people who stand for us, Yelle said. So whatever us is, I want to make sure we have a voice.

 Bradley Hohulin

9:45 a.m.: Voters tout candidates 'willing to be in the middle'

Voters filtered into the Crossroads AME Church slowly on a rainy morning, with about two or three entering every five minutes.

Gregory Smith, 72, who voted at Crossroads AME Church, is concerned about the race for governor. He pulled a Democratic ballot but wondered why hes seen little advertising on that front.

The governor's race is a concern for Gregory Smith, who voted at Crossroads AME Church on Tuesday morning.

The governor's race was the main reason Megan Plotner, 36, stepped out to vote as well. Plotner, who pulled a Republican ballot, wouldnt share which candidate she chose but did say it was not Mike Braun.I want someone willing to be in the middle, Plotner said.

Greg Swallow, 48, agreed. He wants to return to having debates about topics like Medicare and free market economics, instead of cultural warfare. He pulled a Republican ballot because he said there werent as many choices on the Democratic side.Im 100% voting against Donald Trump, Swallow said. Im 100% against Mike Braun. And its 100% because of January 6.

 Jade Thomas

Megan Plotner said she's looking for a governor "willing to be in the middle" when she voted Tuesday morning.

8:45 a.m.: Couple opts for candidates who bring positivity

Outside of the occasional school board race, Paul Kropp, 64, and his wife Glenna, 62, seldom miss an election of any kind.

Given the chance to vote, we vote, Glenna said.

She cast her gubernatorial vote for Brad Chambers, while Paul voted for Eric Doden. Glenna said Chambers struck her as a candidate with new ideas.

He just seemed more like an outsider, businessman type, she said. I think (Mike) Braun will probably win, but I just wanted to cast my vote for someone different at this time.

Paul and Glenna Kropp said they were intrigued by some outsiders in the races as well as by candidates who focused on their own policies rather than tearing others down.

Paul, who moved to Carmel with Glenna from Kouts three years ago, gravitated toward Dodens focus on small towns with his Indiana Main Street Initiative.

Neither Glenna nor Paul voted to re-elect Victoria Spartz for Congress. Paul voted for Goodrich, while Glenna voted for speech pathologist Raju Chinthala.

Paul said Spartz decision to exit, then re-enter the race was enough to make him vote against her, although he didnt feel strongly about any of her competitors. Glenna received several of Chinthalas campaign flyers and appreciated that he emphasized what he planned to do rather than tear down his opponents.

I felt like Goodrich and Spartz were just negative all the time, every flyer, Glenna said.

Both Kropps said they were weary of candidates focusing more on attacking their opponents than promoting their policy.

And I understand thats the way you win an election, Paul said. You beat everyone else down and youre the last one left. But Im tired of it, yeah.

 Bradley Hohulin

8:30 a.m.: Election Day weather brings the possibility of severe storms

Two waves of thunderstorms are expected today. The initial wave is expected to be mostly sub-severe and pass through between 9AM and 12PM. The second wave is expected to begin around 3PM and continue through 10PM, and is the greater concern for severe thunderstorms. #INwx pic.twitter.com/31tjnlgc6I  NWS Indianapolis (@NWSIndianapolis) May 7, 2024

Storms moving across Indiana today have the potential to bring large hail and tornadoes, the National Weather Service said.

The initial, less severe, wave of storms will move through the area between 9 a.m. and noon.

More severe storms are expected to roll through between 3-10 p.m. with the highest risk between 6-10 p.m.

There is a broader tornado threat across Central Indiana today. This includes a giant hail threat, a National Weather Service briefing indicates. Storms are expected to continue into Wednesday.

What to expect: Large hail, damaging winds, possible tornadoes could hit Indiana soon.

 Jen Guadarrama

8 a.m.: 'The primaries can end up mattering more than the actual election'

Carmel Clay Public Library was mostly quiet early Tuesday morning, with a handful of Hamilton County voters trickling in during the first two hours of polling. But Dan Stamer, 33, wasnt going to miss the primary.

As a voter in Indiana, the county-wide or state-wide elections tend to be a bit of a home run for one party, Stamer said. So the primaries can end up mattering more than the actual election.

He said he filled out a Republican ballot because his choices will ultimately matter more when electing leaders in historically red Indiana.

Cara Langford, 55, said she has a responsibility to vote, even in primaries.

I feel its a duty, she said. People before us have gone to war and died for our freedoms so we can have a voice.

Langford and her husband John, 55, both cited their faith as motivation for voting for Eric Doden in the gubernatorial race.

Im a Christian, and his beliefs align with mine, John said.

John and Cara Langford said their faith was a motivating factor to vote for Eric Doden in the Republican gubernatorial race.

Both of the Langfords voted to re-elect Victoria Spartz for Congress in the 5th District. Cara felt Spartz most prominent competitor, Chuck Goodrich, wouldnt represent her values in Congress.

My understanding of him is that he wasnt consistently pro-life, she said.

 Bradley Hohulin

7:50 a.m.: Chambers heads out to the polls early

Brad Chambers, the former commerce Secretary who's on the Republican gubernatorial primary ballot, voted at Second Presbyterian Church, saying he heard about an incredible candidate on the ballot for governor. He said he believes this candidate can honestly fix Indianas challenges.

The candidate? Brad Chambers.

Casting a supporting vote at the same place was Mike Fritton, 56, who said he's known Chambers for over 20 years.

What he has done in his business career will translate well to the political arena, said Fritton, who lives in Indianapolis.

 Jade Thomas

Mike Fritton, 56, voted for Brad Chambers on Tuesday morning at Second Presbyterian Church.

7:45 a.m.: Appreciating the right to vote brings people out early

Property taxes in Pike Township were at the top of Breaford Alexanders list of concerns when he voted this morning at Second Presbyterian Church. Alexander, 50, pulled a Democratic ballot and said that he voted this morning because so many people fought for his right to do so.

Likewise, Jaylen Alexander, 21, encouraged others to come out and vote. He pulled a Democratic ballot, saying that he believes people should be able to do what they want and that hes seen Republicans try to take peoples rights away.

 Jade Thomas

Breaford Alexander, 50, had property taxes in mind when he came out to vote at Second Presbyterian Church.

Where can I vote in the 2024 primary election?

Polls are open in Indiana from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

In Marion and Johnson counties, you can vote at any polling location in the county, known as vote centers. A list of Marion County vote centers is available at vote.indy.gov/vote-centers. A list of Johnson County vote centers is available here.

In Hamilton County, voters have to cast ballots in their assigned precincts. To find your polling location, visit indianavoters.in.gov.

Live somewhere else? Check this list to see if your county uses vote centers. Or visit your county clerk's website.

You must present a valid photo ID to vote in person. Visit the Secretary of State's website for more information on acceptable forms of ID.

 Kayla Dwyer

Homework to prep for the polls: Everything you need to know about 2024 Indiana primary election

Republican gubernatorial primary is marquee race

This is a gubernatorial primary unlike any other: Six candidates, several of them very well funded, have been duking it out for the nomination, with one candidate starting his campaign exactly three years ago.

Polls have shown U.S. Sen. Mike Braun with a comfortable lead over Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, former commerce Secretary Brad Chambers, Fort Wayne entrepreneur Eric Doden, former Attorney General Curtis Hill and Indianapolis mother Jamie Reitenour. But they've also shown a sizeable contingent of voters undecided  a large enough portion for the other candidates to hold out hope, especially because one candidate could win with about 20% of the vote.

More: Read our profiles of all the Republican gubernatorial candidates

There's only one Democratic candidate for governor: former state schools superintendent Jennifer McCormick. Most observers consider this primary to be the main competition for governor. It would take a significant amount of resources and unique conditions for the Democratic candidate to defeat the Republican nominee in November, given the deep-red demographics in Indiana, and thus far, McCormick hasn't shown signs of amassing such resources.

 Kayla Dwyer

No campaigning is allowed a certain distance from voting booths, as indicated by this sign Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022 at the St. Augustine's Home in Indianapolis, Ind.

Open Congressional seats draw major competition

Three Indiana representatives in the U.S. House are giving up their seats this election. One of them, U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, is running for Senate. (That's another race to watch, by the way  Banks is unopposed for the Republican nomination, but there are two Democrats vying to run against him in the general election.)

Two congressional districts that are in central Indiana, the 5th and the 6th Congressional Districts, have a lot of competition and a striking amount of self-funding.

In the 5th district, which includes Hamilton County, many Republicans jumped into the primary because they thought incumbent Rep. Victoria Spartz was not going to run again, as she stated previously. But she changed her mind, and now that race appears to be a head-to-head between Spartz and state Rep. Chuck Goodrich. Goodrich has loaned $4.6 million to his campaign; Spartz, $700,000 as of May 3.

More: Here's who is running against Spartz and Goodrich in Indiana's 5th Congressional District

More: With Greg Pence out, 7 Republicans vie for Indy-based 6th Congressional District

In the 6th district, which includes Johnson and southern Marion counties, seven Republicans are vying to replace retiring Rep. Greg Pence. They include former Indianapolis mayoral candidate Jefferson Shreve, state Rep. Mike Speedy and state Sen. Jeff Raatz, former lawmakers like John Jacob and Bill Frazier, and political newcomers Jamison Carrier and Darin Childress. Several of these candidates, particularly Shreve, also loaned hefty sums to their campaigns.

 Kayla Dwyer

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Live updates, results and winners from Indiana's 2024 primary election
Donald Trump and attorney Susan Necheles. (David Dee Delgado/Pool via Getty Images)

Trump's lawyer Susan Necheles seized on opportunities to try to point out inconsistencies in the narrative delivered by Stormy Daniels.

At one point, Necheles accused Daniels of trying to sell her story to In Touch magazine in 2011 at the same time she was threatening to sue the gossip website TheDirty.com, which had weeks earlier leaked the story of Daniels's alleged affair with Trump. Necheles implied the two motivations were contradictory.

Necheles homes in on the denials.



Q: You denied having had sex with President Trump?

A: Right, because I was afraid.

Q: So you're telling InTouch magazine that you did have sex with him, then The Dirty that you didn't.

A: It was not the same time.

Q: You sure about that?  Tyler McBrien (@TylerMcBrien) May 7, 2024

Trump's lawyer also pointed out a discrepancy in Daniels's 2018 book, Full Disclosure.

In the book, Daniels wrote that in 2011 she attended an exercise class after being confronted by a man she said threatened her for speaking about having sex with Trump. On the stand, however, Daniels testified that she didn't attend the class because she was too shaken, NBC News reported.

Necheles also pointed to the fact that after the alleged confrontation in 2011, Daniels testified, she didn't tell her then boyfriend out of fear of upsetting him. Yet she chose to share the story publicly in a 2018 interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes.

"Your daughter's life was in jeopardy and you did not tell her father  but you went on Anderson Cooper and decided to tell the world?" Necheles pressed Daniels on the stand, according to CNN.

"Right," Daniels replied.

Later, Necheles pointed to Daniels's past claims accusing Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen of hiring the man who threatened her in 2011. According to reporters in the courtroom, Daniels acknowledged that she did suspect Cohen sent the man at the time but has since realized he didn't.

In the end, Necheles sought to make the point that the only way for Daniels to monetize her story was to speak publicly about having sex with Trump.

"It taught you if you want to make money about President Trump, you better talk about sex," Necheles asked, according to CNN.

Daniels replied, "No, although that does seem to be the case. Sadly."
France sent its ambassador to the "inauguration" of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin because of certain financial, commercial, and humanitarian ties with Russia. Democratic countries should avoid such steps, while the presence of ambassadors should not be overestimated.

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This opinion was expressed by Ukrainian diplomat Roman Bezmertnyi in an interview with OBOZ.TALK. He recalled that when he was ambassador to Belarus, he did not attend the inauguration of dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

"I know what it is like not to go to the inauguration of an Ogre because I was among those who did not go to one of the inaugurations of the neighboring Lukashenko. Usually, the next step is to call the Foreign Ministry and write a note of protest. As for the ambassador attending such a procedure, this is a common thing and it has happened even in the most tense situations," Bezsmertnyi said.

The diplomat added that among the functions of embassies and consulates is to address a number of humanitarian issues.

"Although the appearance of the ambassador is a recognition of the fact that another Ogre has been elected president. Therefore, from the point of view of diplomatic protocol, international relations, the moral and ethical situation in a certain club, let's say, democratic countries, European countries, such things should be avoided," he said.

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There are many maneuvers for this, Bezsmertnyi noted. For example, an ambassador, referring to a busy schedule of visits to a certain region of the Russian Federation planned in advance, "due to the fact that he cannot violate it, does not go through with such a procedure," he said.

"However, the right thing to do in such a situation is not to wander between three pines, but simply to say honestly that we, as a democratic state, cannot support the election, let alone the inauguration, of the Ogre, who has reassembled this Fuhrer's throne with such maximum violations. So everything is clear here. Who and where? Those who still have some issues that have not been resolved, those who are in very delicate relations related to certain financial, commercial, humanitarian things, and so on. Therefore, this step is being taken to equalize a certain balance," the diplomat explained.

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Bezmertyi believes that the presence of ambassadors at the inauguration of the Kremlin dictator should not be overestimated:

"I would not overestimate the presence of ambassadors, I would hug those who are not there and say that this is a club of people who take a clear position of non-recognition of the violator of the right to vote, freedoms, citizens of the state, who appointed himself not only president, but also emperor and fuhrer, and in general just trolled for these elementary things."

At the same time, the diplomat rejected the possibility that it was Chinese President Xi Jinping who, during his visit to Paris, asked French President Emmanuel Macron to send a representative to Russia.

"I don't believe that such a dialog could have taken place. Xi Jinping is a very high-flying bird, he never stoops to such things. Notice that he speaks in such biblical phrases, so to speak. They are closer to Chinese philosophy, a kind of white verse about everything good versus everything bad, but there are words for bad and good, they don't know what they mean," Bezsmertnyi explained.

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According to him, relations between Russia and France "sometimes go through such a tumult that neither Paris understands what Moscow is doing, nor Moscow understands what Paris is doing, especially since Paris's diplomacy is diplomatic diplomacy."

"What the French mean, they cannot explain very often, and only those who do it know. Hence, I do not exclude that there is a certain gesture, or some expectations that they are counting on, which is why this step is being taken. But from the point of view of the EU, its policy, the policy of the EU as a whole, this is a very unpleasant thing of moral and ethical nature, first of all, not political, especially international. I don't want to belittle the role of the French ambassador, it is very important everywhere," says Roman Bezsmertnyi.

In the current situation, "it is obvious that there are certain dialogues and contacts that do not allow this step to be taken, because it is obvious that this step will be the last one that will bring down the system of relations" between Russia and France, he explains:

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"Especially since the other day the French ambassador was invited to give explanations about the position of Paris, about the troops sent to Ukraine, President Macron's statements, and so on. Obviously, this issue of the ambassador's presence or absence at the process of this enthronement of the emperor was discussed there as well."
JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL)  Local and regional agencies participated in a Swift Water and Rope Rescue Instructor course at the Jonesborough KOA campground on Tuesday.

The instructor course will teach attendees swift water and rope rescue so they can return to their department to train others.

Flooding is one of the most costly disasters in the nation, Washington County, Tennessee/Johnson City EMS Chief Dan Wheeley said. Texas is going through a horrible time right now with flooding. Were prone to flash flooding in Tennessee as well. And so this class [is] important. These instructors will go back to their departments and be able to bring this training to their departments, develop their swift water programs and train firefighters, paramedics, police officers and staff to be able to go out and rescue people when we have flooding.

Blue Plum Festival returns to downtown Johnson City in June

The two-day class will focus on swift water, boat and rope rescues. Wheeley said the Jonesborough KOA campground is one of the best swift water rescue sites in the county.

Water is always changing, Wheeley said. Its coming up, going down, constantly changing. You never know how many victims youre going to have when you respond. Many times its in the dark in flood response. You know, we train out here in the river. Its a great venue and were so blessed to have this spot to train.

Wheeley said EMS departments never know when theyll get a call regarding water rescue and the training allows first responders to do that safely.

As first responders, theyre called to mitigate all kinds of hazards and all kinds of incidents, Wheeley said. And flooding is something that we just have to deal with in East Tennessee all the time. This training allows our responders to do that safely, to be able to go out and affect those rescues, take care of their community, and be able to train their firefighters to operate safely.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.
WARSAW, Poland  Senior Lockheed Martin officials said they expect the first F-35 warplanes for Poland to leave the production plant in Fort Worth, Texas, in the coming months, a time line unaffected by the companys problems with a major upgrade for the aircraft known as Technology Refresh 3, or TR-3.

The envisioned timing lines up with Polish pilot training, which is slated to begin in the United States later this year.

The first F-35 planes for Poland are expected to leave the factory this summer, Gary North, vice president for customer requirements at Lockheed Martin and a former general in charge of U.S. Pacific Air Forces, told Defense News. Between late 2024 and 2026, these planes will be used at the Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, Arkansas, as the first trainers for Polish pilots.

The statements are largely in line with the declarations of officials from the Polish Ministry of National Defence. Last month, a spokesperson for the ministry told Defense News the implementation of the contract for the purchase of 32 F-35 fighters is proceeding in line with the schedule.

In the United States, Lockheed Martin has struggled to roll out the TR-3 package, which includes software and hardware upgrades designed to improve the computing performance that underpins the next-generation fighter jets operations. Last month, chief executive Jim Taiclet told reporters the first F-35s boasting TR-3 capabilities, already overdue for more than a year, wont be considered combat-ready until 2025.

In January 2020, Poland signed a deal worth some $4.6 billion under which the nation is to secure 32 fifth-generation jets from the United States. The foreign military sale is to enable the Polish military to replace its outdated Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-22 and Mikoyan MiG-29 jets, adding the F-35s to its fleet of F-16 C/D Block 52+ jets and FA-50 light attack aircraft.

The F-35s are scheduled to arrive to Poland in 2026, making the country the first user of the Lockheed Martin-made fighter in the region, with the Czech Republic and Romania following suit.
Defense attorney Gary Wood attends a preliminary hearing for his client, Epic Charter School co-founder David Chaney, on Tuesday in special judge Jason Glidewell's courtroom at the Oklahoma County Courthouse. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)

OKLAHOMA CITY  The conclusion of an already delayed court hearing for Epic Charter Schools co-founders will be postponed even further because of a last-minute demand that one of the defense attorneys be disqualified from questioning a star witness.

The preliminary hearing for Benjamin Scott Harris, 48, and David Lee Chaney, 45, was set to resume Tuesday and Wednesday in Oklahoma County District Court but now will wait until July. Prosecutors from the Attorney Generals Office already spent a week in March presenting evidence and witness testimony to establish probable cause for their major embezzlement and racketeering case against Harris and Chaney.

Epics former chief financial officer, Joshua Aaron Brock, 42, was meant to return to the witness stand this week to continue his testimony. But minutes before the hearing started, Brocks legal team, led by attorney Irven Box, filed a request that Chaneys lawyer, Gary Wood, recuse himself.

The request claims Wood represented Brock in the past.

Former Epic Charter School chief financial officer Josh Brock, right, follows his attorney Chris Box through the Oklahoma County Courthouse in Oklahoma City on Tuesday. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)

Brocks attorneys contended it would be unethical for Wood, or anyone from his law firm, to cross-examine a former client. Wood has given legal advice to Brock, Harris and Chaney since 2019 and learned confidential and privileged information through the relationship, the filing states.

Wood said the claim is completely false. Brock has hired different attorneys from Harris and Chaney since the embezzlement case was filed in 2022.

I never represented Josh Brock, Wood said.

Special judge Jason Glidewell postponed the hearing until July 25 to give Wood time to respond and to reach a decision on the disqualification. The hearing could be delayed even further if Chaney is ordered to find another attorney to handle Brocks cross-examination.

Harris, Chaney and Brock were charged in 2022 with racketeering and a series of alleged financial crimes, all stemming from their leadership at Epic. Harris and Chaney founded the virtual charter school in 2011 and made millions of dollars managing it until Epic cut ties with them in 2021.

The co-founders deny any wrongdoing. Brock said he agreed to testify against them and plead guilty in exchange for no prison time.

Epic Charter School co-founders David Chaney, left, and Ben Harris, right, attend a preliminary hearing on March 27 in special judge Jason Glidewells courtroom at the Oklahoma County Courthouse in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)

When his testimony began in March, Brock described a profit-focused mentality that he and the co-founders had while operating the public charter school.

He said he knowingly filed false financial reports with the Oklahoma State Department of Education. He said these reports claimed Harris and Chaneys company, which earned 10% of Epics annual funding, was owed reimbursement for services it never provided.

Harris and Chaney spent Oklahoma funds and local employee resources to expand the Epic charter brand to California without fully repaying the cost, Brock said.

Bank records prosecutors presented showed the co-founders and Brock used Epics Learning Fund  advertised for students to spend on lesson plans, technology and extracurricular activities  for their personal expenses.

The co-founders have contended the Learning Fund was a private account that belonged to their company, not the school, and therefore could not be embezzled. However, Brock agreed with prosecutors that the Learning Fund should be considered public, taxpayer dollars intended for students.

Harris attorney, Joe White, said during the March proceedings that the defense team would dispute the claims all the way to trial.

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It was a promise made two decades ago when the neighborhood of Davis Bottom was razed to make way for the Newtown Pike extension.

The new neighborhood, now called Davis Park, would get a new park when construction of Newtown Pike was completed, state and city leaders said about 20 years ago.

On Tuesday, city, neighborhood and state officials celebrated the grand opening of the nearby park that includes a new playground, a shelter, multi-use trail and open green space.

No neighborhood is complete without a beautiful park, said Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton during a press conference at the park located along Newtown Pike, Oliver Lewis Way and Versailles Road.

Former mayor and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray said the project was a team effort with city, state and federal officials.

Its a monumental day that we can celebrate a promise made and a promise kept, Gray said.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which oversaw the Newtown Pike extension project, was able to secure $1 million in funding for the park. The city contributed $200,000.

Byron Mitchell, president of the Community Land Trust and longtime Davis Park resident, said the park will serve as a gathering area for the neighborhood. The Community Land Trust was formed to buy the land the new neighborhood sits on.

We now have this beautiful facility to enjoy, Mitchell said.

Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilwoman Jennifer Reynolds, who represents the area, said the park is just one many changes at Davis Park.

A new 3,800 square foot community center will be constructed in Davis Park. The community center will be completed by late 2024 and will cost $3 million.

Im so thrilled to see it come to fruition, Reynolds said. Parks can be a symbol of hope for the future. This park stands in a historic area to remember the people that were here before it and to serve as a gathering place for those that live and frequent it now.

Dozens of families were relocated to make way for the Newtown Pike extension. Families started moving out of their homes to make way for the federal highway project in 2006.

A little less than 100 people lived in government-provided mobile homes starting in 2008 until affordable homes and apartments were built over the next decade. The park that was once there was removed due to a sewer project.

In addition to affordable homes and apartments, the plans for the area had long called for a park. Before construction on Newtown Pike began, the neighborhood had a beloved park.

In addition to the park, the city has also started construction on a new community center. Using federal coronavirus relief money, the city set aside $2 million for the new community center. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet contributed $1 million toward the community center, which will have meeting spaces and offices for the Community Land Trust.

The community center is expected to open later this year.
The shoreline in Long Beach. (Mark Boster / For The Times)

Long Beach police said Monday that a person killed during a standoff with officers last month was a 17-year-old boy.

On the night of April 26, police were called to a home in the 6800 block of Cerritos Avenue, where a male with a gun was reported to have broken in and demanded items from a minor and two adults inside, the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement.

The suspect, found in the yard of the residence, was believed to be armed, police said.

"Officers engaged in verbal de-escalation for over an hour as they tried to negotiate the suspects surrender," the statement reads.

A replica firearm was recovered by Long Beach police at the scene of a fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old boy. (Long Beach Police Department)

A SWAT team had been called in and was "on scene and preparing to deploy" when an officer shot the boy, according to police.

The teen was struck once in the upper body. He died at a local hospital.

Officers recovered a replica firearm from the scene, the police statement said.

Police did not release the teenager's name, but the Los Angeles County medical examiner, in an email to The Times on Wednesday, identified him as Brandon Ramon Salgado of San Bernardino.

Officers wore body cameras, and the Police Department will make video available to the public after it is reviewed, the department said.

On Monday, the Police Department said detectives had learned there was "an accomplice" in the home invasion who fled before officers arrived.

Iskay Mota, 18, of Modesto, was arrested Wednesday and transported to the Long Beach city jail, where he was booked on suspicion of robbery and held on $100,000 bail, according to police and Los Angeles County inmate records.

The shooting is being investigated by the California Department of Justice, which independently probes all fatal police shootings of unarmed civilians.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Neelam* loved nothing more than taking sunrise walks along the Manchester Ship Canal. But, since catching Covid-19 in August 2022, she only has the energy to see her beloved skyline every three weeks  often paying for the exertion with fatigue so severe, shes unable to leave her bed for days.

I got Covid, and I never got better, says the medical writer, 34. If I exert myself even a tiny bit, Im so exhausted that I cant even sit on my sofa: I have to lie down. I cant watch Netflix: using my laptop requires too much concentration.

Neelam now works fully remotely and barely sees friends. I tried going into the office on Fridays, but was so exhausted, it took me the whole weekend to recover, she says. On the rare occasions I now go to a restaurant, I have to sit outside and only go during the quietest periods. I never venture out without wearing a mask, as Im so terrified of catching Covid again.

For most of us, the days of lateral flow tests, hand-sanitiser and standing 6ft apart are a distant fever dream. But not for Neelam and her fellow Covid long-haulers. The Government ignores us, she says. Most frustratingly of all, the medical profession still wont take us seriously.

Long Covid is a term used to describe ongoing symptoms of Covid-19, or new symptoms that develop after an infection. According to research released last week by the Office for National Statistics, an estimated two million people  thats 3.3 per cent of England and Scotlands population  are currently experiencing self-reported long Covid symptoms.

One and a half million of these said their lives were adversely impacted by their illness with almost 400,000 reporting that their ability to undertake day-to-day activities had been limited a lot.

Research conducted last year by the Government revealed that fatigue was the most common symptom of long Covid (reported by 72 per cent), followed by difficulty concentrating (51 per cent), muscle ache (49 per cent) and shortness of breath (48 per cent).

The term long Covid is familiar to all of us, yet the illness itself remains something of a medical mystery. Long Covid is going the same way as ME [myalgic encephalomyelitis], says Nigel Speight, a consultant paediatrician. For a large number of years, GPs abdicated their responsibility for it because it wasnt an ology and the psychiatrists invaded the empty territory. Once they made it seem controversial and no one knows if its real, doctors sat on the fence and pretended it didnt exist.

ME is a complex and chronic post-viral fatigue syndrome, and a diagnosis has been considered controversial. A 2020 literature review found that a third to a half of all GPs did not accept it as a genuine clinical entity and, even when they did, they lacked confidence in diagnosing or managing it.

Dr Chris Smith is a consultant virologist at Queens College, Cambridge and presenter of the Naked Scientists podcast. Given the broad range of symptoms, from brain fog to fatigue, muscle pains and signs of nerve damage, its likely that long Covid is not one single condition but an umbrella term uniting a host of different syndromes, all with different mechanisms, outcomes and best treatments, he says.

The problem is further compounded by the fact theres no reliable test yet for long Covid. (The same is true for ME, which does not have a diagnostic test.) This means that getting an accurate diagnosis remains a challenge.

Dr Smith talks about the unappetising prospect that claims of long Covid may become the occupational health virological equivalent of a whiplash for the work-shy, making genuine cases of long Covid harder for victims to defend. Lets hope not.

Long Covid sufferers are used to being told they are malingerers, that their condition is just an excuse or that its all in their heads. Conspiracy theorists on X delight in telling them they are suffering from Long Vax  that their symptoms are a result of the vaccinations, rather than a reaction to the virus.

For campaigners such as Ondine Sherwood, who runs a charity and support organisation called Long Covid SOS, this widespread view is frustrating and upsetting. I cant understand how a post-viral illness attracts such scepticism and nastiness, says Sherwood, who had suspected long Covid for six months in 2020 (her initial illness occurred before the tests were available).

As with ME, doctors were not prepared for the aftermath of Covid, and told their patients: Oh, it just goes away. Our recent GP survey showed that over 62 per cent of long Covid patients received no practical help from their GPs and 9 per cent were told their symptoms were down to anxiety.

Neelam had been vaccinated three times when she caught Covid while visiting her parents in India. When her utter exhaustion showed no signs of abating after a month, she saw a healthcare assistant at her GPs surgery who told her that this happens a lot; you will get better in a few weeks. But the fatigue continued. One afternoon, Neelam was once unable to squeeze onto a packed tram: the 15 minute walk home left her in bed for four days.

Sent away by her GP again in January 2023, Neelam insisted on a referral to a long Covid clinic. It took a year for her appointment to come around. I told them I wanted to tackle my physical symptoms, but all they did was discuss my mental health, she says. I eventually received a letter diagnosing me with anxiety. Then I was offered an appointment with Occupational Health about how to manage my workload  which has never been the problem. I was upset and frustrated. If the doctors dont believe me, whats the point?

None of this is helped by Neelams friends, who are sceptical about her illness. Many of them refuse to believe me or dont understand, she says. They roll their eyes when I ask them to do a lateral flow test before meeting me. The other day I mentioned long Covid in a WhatsApp group and everyone went silent for ages, until another friend changed the subject entirely and the conversation started again.

Determined to unlock the secret of her physical symptoms, which include a fast heart rate, Neelam is now under the care of a private cardiologist. She is taking medication to slow her pulse, which she says: helps a bit. But even the cardiologist was asking about my stress levels and my anxiety. They are trying to find reasons for my condition that dont exist.

Like most others with long Covid, Neelam is desperate to regain the life she knew before its onset, but campaigners repeatedly point to the lack of research in treating the condition. The Government boasts about 50 million in funding, but that was all spent in 2021, says Ondine Sherwood. Since then, long Covid has lost out to other conditions.

But when the Government complains about economic inactivity, they never mention long Covid, she says. Two million people are being impacted  a third of them have had long Covid for more than three years  and you cant force people back to work. We need treatments, we need interventions and this wont happen without the Government investing at least 100 million in research.

Some studies are continuing, such as the Wilco (Working out the Immunology of Long Covid) study at Imperial College London, which examines the immune responses of patients who have had Covid. One theory behind the illness is that the immune system  activated by the Covid virus  fails to switch off, with sufferers symptoms being attributed to this. Sherwood points to studies conducted by Yale University and in the Netherlands. All this research could lead to treatments, but its so far off, she says. Trials take a long time.

Neelam used to follow every twist and turn in scientific research: now she is simply too exhausted. Her main concern is to avoid catching Covid again, as well as managing her constant daily fatigue.

None of this was on my radar two years ago, says Neelam. But, these days, my mind is constantly doing these calculations  how busy will the tram be? Is there a bench on the way to the Co-op? Its exhausting. People think the pandemic is over, but I live it every single second.

*Names have been changed

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A Los Angeles County deputy sheriff is facing felony charges for allegedly smuggling drugs to inmates at a county jail, according to booking records and media reports.

Michael Meiser, 39, was arrested last week by the Sheriff Departments Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau.

The exact charges were not listed on the jails inmate information center. However, the Los Angeles Times cites unnamed sources who say Meiser worked at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic and was arrested for smuggling heroin into the complex.

Deputy caught with 100 pounds of fentanyl was working for El Chapos cartel, report says

The department offered very few details in a statement to KTLA 5 News on Tuesday.

The Departments Internal Criminal Investigation Bureau initiated an investigation into the allegations involving an employee, the statement read. We arrested the employee on April 30th for felony charges. The employee is relieved of duty pending the outcome of the case.

North County Correctional Facility

A source told the L.A. Times that Meiser, who worked with the jails anti-gang unit, had been under surveillance for a long time and was observed purchasing heroin in Los Angeles before returning to the jail.

The department said the investigation is ongoing and would be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office once the case is completed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
Louisiana bill to report diversity, equity, inclusion summary to Dept. of Education advances to Senate

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD)  A bill that requires public schools and higher education institutions to report any diversity, equity and inclusion summaries has passed the House and is headed to the Senate.

HB904, authored by State Rep. Emily Chenevert, passed the House on Monday.

The bill states each public elementary and secondary school and public higher education institution should report a summary of all diversity, equity and inclusion programs to the Louisiana Department of Education and Board of Regents for fiscal years 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 by Oct. 31, 2024.

The bill also would require the state Department of Education and Board of Regents to submit a summary to various House and Senate committees by the end of 2024.

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Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party claims that its representative, President Andrzej Duda, allegedly has some influence on the odious American businessman and former US President Donald Trump. Their meeting in the United States (April 17) coincided with a partial change in the policy of the Republicans and Trump himself on assistance to Ukraine.

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Some analysts believe that Duda was simply in the right place at the right time. However, PiS members praised Duda after the Polish president traveled to the United States and the US Congress approved a package of support for Kyiv. Politico writes about this.

"The Polish government believes it has a secret weapon to turn Donald Trump against Russian leader Vladimir Putin," the journalists said.

It is known that Duda spoke with Trump for two and a half hours in his gold-decorated eponymous tower in New York, Trump Tower, just a few days before the unblocking of American aid. The parties discussed, among other things, Ukraine's military needs. The Polish president also met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson.

When Congress made a positive decision, PiS was quick to claim Duda's involvement.

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"Big applause to President Duda, who has received powerful resources to fight Russian imperialism," PiS lawmaker Dariusz Matecki wrote in X.

"President Duda can be fully confident that the job has been well done for Poland and the entire region," added Marcin Przydacz, another party member.

And in politically divided Poland, where the government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the PiS party with President Andrzej Duda are at odds with each other, there is a rare consensus on the need to "grease" Trump.

"I hope that during the meeting in New York, the president took the recommendation of the Polish government and presented the Polish position on security issues. In this we need maximum agreement and minimum disagreement," Tusk wrote (Politico called him Duda's "old enemy").

The rival parties showed unity on this issue because of the serious risk posed by Russia, the danger of the US leaving NATO, and the possible US "abandonment" of Europe if Trump wins the US election.

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Interestingly, PiS's story about Duda's "triumph" quickly turned into a joke and a meme in the Polish information space. Poles even wrote a joke song about it.

However, a day after the meeting, Trump, who had previously spoken favorably of Putin and criticized Ukraine, said on social media: "As we all agree, Ukraine's survival and strength should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it's also important to us! Move, Europe!"

Politico emphasized that Polish PiS politicians regularly speak at conservative gatherings in the United States. Duda was one of the few who refused to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 election. And in 2018, the PiS government even considered naming a base in Poland "Fort Trump" to encourage the White House to deploy American troops there.

When the likely Republican presidential candidate met with the Polish leader in New York, he spoke of his friendship with him.

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"[Duda] is my friend, and we've had four great years together, and we may have to do it again. We fully support Poland... I have great respect for this country and great respect for the president," Trump said of the Polish leader.

And although the current Polish government is very wary of Trump, Duda's visit to him "took place with Warsaw's blessing," according to Politico.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, Trump recently made threats against the current US president. He promised that when he becomes president again, he will persecute Joe Biden and open a criminal case against him. All of these "troubles" will fall on Biden's head if Trump does not receive presidential immunity for interfering in the 2020 election in court.

Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!

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Louisiana Family Demands Justice For Son After He Was Allegedly Pushed Into A Lake While With Friends And Nearly Died

Louisiana Family Demands Justice For Son After He Was Allegedly Pushed Into A Lake While With Friends And Nearly Died | Photo: Sean Gladwell via Getty Images

A mother in Louisiana wants local police to step in and arrest the person responsible for nearly causing the death of her son.

On April 14, Christopher Gilbert suffered severe brain damage after he nearly died after he had to be rescued from Lake DArbonne in Farmerville, KSLA reported. The recent Louisiana Tech University masters graduate was hanging out with some friends when one of them allegedly forced him into the water. Following the push, another friend attempted to get him since he stayed underwater but was unsuccessful. The young adult was under water for around 10 minutes when was rescued by an onlooker who was a customer at a nearby food stop. The unidentified hero gave the victim CPR until police officers arrived.

The 26-year-olds mother, Yolanda George, and family claimed it was a known fact among her sons circle of friends that he didnt know how to swim. She shared in an interview with KTLA that she learned of the incident from a female friend of his who witnessed the physical assault.

A friend of his called and she was hysterical crying. She told me that Chris has fell into the lake and he had been underwater for 10 minutes or so, she told the news station.

Doctors described Christopher Gilberts survival as a miracle after allegedly being pushed into a lake by his friends and left underwater for nearly 10 minutes. https://t.co/OdpzVmidI5 pic.twitter.com/hFoVFvGYB0  Action News 5 (@WMCActionNews5) May 6, 2024

Gilbert was flown to a Louisiana State University medical center for to be cared for. When George learned how serious her sons injuries were, she was overcome with shock and sadness because she knew his dreams.

The doctor called us in and told me that at that time, he was brain dead and the rest of his organs were starting to fail, she said. That we had 72 hours on the ECMO machine. Its sort of like dialysis for the lungs and they had to put him on a ventilator.

Initially, Gilberts mom opened up with KNOE and shared that he lost consciousness and had to be put on life support due to the accident. Eventually, he regained consciousness, was temporarily taken off life support and had to learn how to eat again. Due to the near-death injuries, Gilberts family is seeking help from the authorities to not just let this incident skate by. Claudia Payne, the familys lawyer, disclosed to KSLA that the group of friends originally told law officials that the LTU alumni accidentally fell in the water. After police looked further into the evidence, it was discovered that he was indeed pushed by an unnamed female friend.

In the legal field, we characterize things the way we see fit. Of course, they are saying horseplay. We are saying that it was a criminal intentional push into the lake, the attorney told KSLA.

On April 18, a Change.org petition was launched to ensure Farmerville police department do their jobs and arrest the appropriate individuals involved in this tragedy. The current goal for signatures is 5,000 and over 4,400 people have already signed it so far.

While my office has been retained to represent the family civilly, nothing else is needed for any law enforcement agency within this jurisdiction to make an arrest, Payne wrote. Our office would like the communitys support in requesting that the Farmerville Police Department, and or the Union Parish Sheriffs Office make an arrest of the known individual who pushed Chris into the lake.
The federal court that struck down Louisianas congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander is giving state lawmakers until the beginning of June to redraw the map themselves.

In the meantime, the court is setting up a schedule for proposals for a new congressional plan to be considered by the court, in case the court itself must draw the new map.

Accordingly, if the Louisiana Legislature fails to enact a new map by June 3, 2024, the Court intends to order the use of an interim remedial Congressional districting map on June 4, 2024, the court said in the Tuesday order, while noting it may appoint a redistricting expert to assist it in the process.

The scheduling order issued by the court, a three-judge panel in Louisiana, is the latest development in the messy dispute over the congressional map, which could influence the control of the US House next year.

A map that the Louisiana legislature drew after the 2020 census  which included only one majority-Black district in a state where roughly one-third of the population is African American  was ruled a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act by a different federal court last year.

The legislature adopted a new map this year to create a second majority-Black district out of six total. That map was challenged by voters, some of them prominent White Republicans, and was struck down by the three-judge panel last week.

Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry has said the state needs a map by May 15 for it be able to administer this years elections. But the court on Tuesday noted previous statements from the states lawyer in the other case that Louisiana could be prepared for the November election as long as it had a map by the end of May.

It is expected that at least some of the litigants involved in this current case will ask the Supreme Court to intervene this week and let the plan the lawmakers adopted earlier this year be used for this years elections.

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Representative Beau Beaullieu at a podium with a microphone. He holds a piece of paper in his hands.

Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, is carrying legislation that sets up the framework for a constitutional convention. (Allison Allsop/Louisiana Illuminator)

The Louisiana House of Representatives voted 75-27 Tuesday to call a convention to overhaul the states 50-year-old constitution, even as there is little clarity about what supporters hope to accomplish during such an event.

Our people are leaving the state, House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, told the chamber, advocating for the proposal. Im going to go back home and Im going to tell them I did everything that I could to make sure that my children have an opportunity here.

This convention is going to impact people for the next 50 years, said Rep. Wilford Carter, D-Lake Charles, who voted against legislation to enable the convention.

The Louisiana Senate, whose members are more skeptical of the proposal, will next review House Bill 800. The full Legislature must pass the bill by June 3, when its regular session concludes.



Gov. Jeff Landry made holding a constitutional convention a central portion of his legislative agenda over the past two months, but he has refused to offer details about what constitutional changes he wants to see happen.

Landry and other convention supporters have said constitutional revisions could help Louisiana achieve wholesale tax reform and assist with the states estimated $558 million budget shortfall next year.

Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, is author of House Bill 800. He said the constitutional convention would address broader issues besides financial matters, Articles VII and VIII, but he, Landry and other convention supporters have refused to identify what other items they want to address.

There has been no information about what Landry wants to specifically remove from the states foundational government document. Thats created an information vacuum for legislators, who have been left to guess what might be on the chopping block.

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In interviews, advocates and legislators have speculated that Landry and convention supporters might be interested in weakening collective bargaining provisions, local government authority, and levee board governance. Constitutionally-protected tax breaks that lower the cost of food, residential utilities and prescription drugs for residents may also be on the chopping block, according to advocacy groups.

Right now, I dont know if any of us actually know whats on the menu. We dont know what were really ordering, Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Port Allen, said before voting against the bill.

While they wont say what they are willing to change, Landry and the Louisiana House agreed to try and take a few constitutional provisions off the table for alterations.

Beaullieu amended his constitutional convention bill to wall off public school funding protections and the homestead exemption property tax break in the constitution. The House also agreed on Tuesday to protect retirement benefits for public employees and teachers as well as the authority and pay of sheriffs and district attorneys.

But the House voted against insulating Southern University or judges from constitutional changes.

During the convention, Landry and Beaullieu have also promised no laws would be immediately changed. Instead, the governor has proposed only moving language out of the constitution and into what he has called a super statute in regular state law.

We are not rewriting the constitution. This is a refresh of the constitution, Beaullieu said.

While relegating language from the constitution into statute wont immediately change any law, it will make it easier for legislators to eliminate or change those provisions at a later date.

In spite of Beaullieus assurances on protecting certain areas from constitutional cuts, legal experts have questioned whether that is possible.

Several lawmakers and attorneys believe state law doesnt allow for a limited constitutional convention, where certain items are declared off limits. If a convention is held, delegates could open up any portion of the constitution for alterations if they wanted, they said.

Ahead of Tuesdays vote, Landry put pressure on several House members who were hesitant to support a constitutional refresh. His team pushing the convention, former Rep. Neil Abramson and former House Speaker Jim Tucker, have been pulling aside state representatives for chats in the House chamber over the past two weeks.



Landry also showed up in person on the House floor Tuesday to talk to a handful of lawmakers who have been publicly skeptical of the convention, including Republican Reps. Stephanie Hilferty of New Orleans, Neil Riser of Columbia and Joe Stagni of Kenner. He stayed in the House chamber until a vote on the constitutional convention took place, a rare moment for a governor.

Hilferty and Riser voted to hold a convention. Stagni opposed the proposal, the only Republican to do so. Democratic Reps. Roy Daryl Adams of Jackson, Dustin Miller of Opelousas, Chad Brown of Plaquemine and Robby Carter of Amite joined GOP members in support of the bill.

Higher education system leaders and large health care providers who largely depend on public funding also released statements this week supporting the concept of a convention.

If a convention was held, it would take place in three stages. An organizational session  where they pick the conventions leaders  could take place as soon as May 30. Convention committees would then meet in June and July to discuss potential constitutional changes, and wrap up their work by Aug. 1.



The full convention would then meet from Aug. 1-15, according to the bill.

Beaullieus legislation already lays out who would serve as constitutional convention delegates. They would include the 144 members of the Louisiana Legislature and 27 delegates Landry has selected.

The post Louisiana House votes to call convention to overhaul state constitution appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator.
Loving 911 dispatcher is killed on way to work by accused drunk driver, CA cops say

A loving 911 dispatcher was killed while on her way to work, California officials said.

San Leandro police responded to the scene on May 5 and found a woman later identified as Antoinette Finau unconscious and suffering from crash injuries, according to a Facebook post by the Alameda County Sheriffs Office.

Officers learned her car had been broadsided and rolled over as she crossed through the intersection, police said.

The other cars driver was uninjured and was arrested on charges of driving under the influence, officials said.

Antoinette impacted our agency with her sweet nature, kind heart, warm smile, and pride in being the voice on the other end of a call for help, deputies said. She was a loving mother, a sister, a daughter, and a friend to many.

Finau was taken to a local hospital where she later died, officials said.

We will remember Antoinette as someone who lived her life to the fullest and touched the hearts of those around her, officials said.

Finaus body was escorted to the Alameda County Coroners Bureau in a long procession that lit up the highway, officials said.

She was born a star, and you escorted her to this place like a star. We are grateful, Finaus family told deputies.

San Leandro is about a 20-mile drive southeast of San Francisco.

If you or a loved one shows signs of substance use disorder, you can seek help by calling the national hotline at 1-800-662-4357 or find treatment using SAMHSA's online locator.

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Man pins wife with car, then runs over a woman who heard the screams, Utah cops say


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"Reading this book makes me want to work harder," Lin-Manuel Miranda writes in the foreword to his father's new autobiography, Relentless: My Story of the Latino SpiritTthat is Transforming America. The pages that follow thoroughly illustrate the Hamilton creator's point: his father, Luis A. Miranda Jr., has lived an influential life in politics, activism, and the arts that is hard to summarize. Yet, Relentless attempts to do so.

Early on, Miranda offers a peak into his early life growing up in a working-class family in Puerto Rico. "My parents were part of the civic life in our town," Miranda tells T&C. "If there was a hurricane or storm somewhere, my parents were always helping alongside the Red Cross." And, while philanthropy has always been part of his life, Miranda says his move to New York City in 1974 to study psychology at NYU was particularly life-changing.

Cindy Ord - Getty Images

"Coming to New York didn't change my own desire to help others and use civic organizations to help because that's something my parents always taught me," he says. "But, it changed the causes. All of a sudden, we were in a place with minority groups fighting for basic needs and communities. My life changed drastically when I moved to New York. My wife and I are doing the same things my parents did, just working with different institutions."

Since this awakening to the immigrant experience in the United States, Miranda thrust himself into public and political service. He served as the advisor for Hispanic Affairs to Mayor Ed Koch and was a consultant to the David Dinkins administration. Miranda served as a political consultant on campaigns for Hillary Clinton and Senator Chuck Schumer. He was also the founder and first president of the Hispanic Federation, a non-profit that supports the Hispanic community and Latino institutions through work in education, health, immigration, civic engagements, and more. Get the point? "He's able to see the collective impact. How do we address food insecurity, how do we address poverty long term?" Jose Calderon, the current President of the Hispanic Federation, tells T&C. "Of course, he has a unique personality, but he also has a unique ability to see 10 or 15 steps down the road."

Manny Carabel - Getty Images

Miranda also has a secret weapon that captivates audiences and gets people to rally around his causes: art and culture. In Relentless, Miranda points out several moments that defined his interest in the arts. He mentions how he watched the Sound of Music 80 times growing up, and how seeing The Unsinkable Molly Brown was "transformative." In fact, Miranda shares that seeing West Side Story motivated him to leave Puerto Rico. "When Tony is Killed and Maria starts crying," he writes, "my heart was in pieces."

"I eat salad to be healthy, but I consume art to feed the soul," he says. "There is that part of us that is not necessarily physical, but key to who we are. Could you imagine the pandemic months without the arts? Without people going out and singing on their balconies? Without online media sharing videos of people painting and dancing? There is plenty of talent in minority communities and we need to provide resources to that talent."

Max Vadukul

An example of how Miranda has married the worlds of art and philanthropy could be seen in 2017, after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Miranda and his son took Hamilton to the island and helped raise $15 million benefitting existing human-aid organizations, such as the Flamboyant Arts Fund.

"Luis has a relentless focus on uplifting Latin voices in America, and he knows the arts make that possible," Oskar Eustis, the artistic director at the Public Theater in New York City, where Miranda serves as the board's chair, tells T&C. " Power may require politicsbut making people central to the story of America is what really changes the world.

Shop Now Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit That Is Transforming America amazon.com

So, why release this Relentless now? "Because it's an election year," Miranda says. "And, the Latino voter has never been more important than it is now. A lot will be said about the Latino vote, and I have something to say on the matter. It is something that I have done for the last 45 years of my life: to create community, and to work in making sure Latinos from various nationalities can work together. It's the perfect moment to do it."

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Macron cancels meeting on four-day week... as too many staff were on holiday

French workers only needed to register five days' holiday this month to get 12 days off - LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Emmanuel Macron has had to postpone a labour summit to discuss the four-day week because too many participants were on holiday.

The number of national holidays this week means many French will not work at all.

According to France Info, the state radio channel, Matignon  the name given to the prime ministers office  had hoped to organise a labour COP (along the lines of global climate talks) to discuss more flexible working hours, and in particular the four-day week.

The major summit was slated to gather trade unions, elected officials, members of civil society and sociologists to discuss the relationship with work, which has changed since Covid.

Ideally, Matignon would have liked to stage the meeting this week, it wrote.

However, the event had to be postponed in part owing to Chinese president Xi Jinpings visit on Monday and Tuesday, but mainly because the number of national holidays this week means that the French only have to take one day off  Friday  to get five days holiday.

France Info noted that the timing of the summit was perhaps unfortunate during a period when the French may not be too keen to hear about work.

Its a long aqueduct!

Indeed, on top of the national holidays of May 8 and 9 to mark Victory in Europe Day and the Ascension, given that May 1 was also a national holiday  Labour Day  French workers only needed to register five days holiday this month to get 12 days off.

Add to that remote working and the fact that most state schools are shut on Friday and the result is that swathes of the French have headed for the hills. Indeed, the streets of Paris were on Monday night eerily empty as thousands of Parisians left for the provinces, sparking massive traffic jams on Tuesday morning. French roads risk gridlock on Sunday evening when they return, according to national traffic forecaster Bison Fute.

The French have a special word for bank holiday long weekends: they call them ponts, or bridges.

In his economic editorial on state radio France Inter, Dominique Seux exclaimed: This is not a bridge, nor even a viaduct; its a long aqueduct!

In 2022, Frances employers federation, Medef, argued that these ponts were disrupting the entire working week and suggested following the example of Britain, where public holidays are taken close to the weekend. They also suggested axing two national holidays, saying this would boost GDP by one point and create 100,000 jobs  to no avail.

According to French national statistics body INSEE, the number of national holidays in May will cost the national economy between 4-6 billion. Business will take a hit of between 2-3 per cent in most sectors, with peaks of around 10 per cent in some parts of the French economy.

The event had to be postponed in part owing to Chinese president Xi Jinping's visit on Monday and Tuesday, - GONZALA FUENTES/REUTERS

However, French rental accommodations and campsites are having a bumper year and posting record occupancy in May. Those in favour also point out the number of actual days worked this year is above average because 2024 is a leap year.

But labour lawyer Sabrina Kemel told BFM Business: The problem is the return to work, as everything has piled up. Last time this happened, I said to myself, if Id known, I would have worked a bit in between.

Speaking on RMC, Charles Consigny, another lawyer, said: Im all for a bit of breathing space as long as one works the rest of the time but I think work culture is [in] the process of disappearing in this country plain and simple in the name of wellbeing, which justifies everything.

Work is stigmatised and is no longer seen as [a] means to flourish or emancipate oneself but as a punishment, he said.

Despite his claims, France topped the UK for the fifth straight year to remain Europes most attractive destination for foreign direct investment in 2023, according to an EY survey released last week.

But EY warned that Paris European leadership could be challenged.

Financing, labour costs and taxation  the basic competitiveness tenets  are still considered handicaps, the report said, also underlining a decrease in quality of life, attributed to the French social climate.

Good work-life balance

The French are very keen on the idea of the four-day working week. Among the 10,000-odd people who took part in a consultation by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, three-quarters felt that five days on, two days off was not ideal for a good work-life balance.

France has seen no major working-time reforms since the introduction of the 35-hour working week in the 1990s.

In his France Inter editorial, Mr Seux said that national holidays werent the only threat to productivity.

Remote working was also taking its toll.

He cited a major company listed on the French stock market that took a close look  apparently anonymously  at the computer connection times of its executives.

It found that there was a dip on Thursday late afternoon  could this be a coincidence that they were travelling to work at the weekend?  and then, wait for it, there were reconnections until late in the evening before a much less intense Friday, when no meetings were actually possible in the afternoon

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With lamb and cheese, Macron tried to charm China's Xi in the Pyrenees

By Elizabeth Pineau, Bart Biesemans and Ingrid Melander

TARBES, France (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping left France on Tuesday after a two-day trip during which he offered no major concessions on trade or foreign policy, even as President Emmanuel Macron pressed him on market access and Ukraine.

Macron and his wife Brigitte waved goodbye to Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan at the airport in France's southwestern Pyrenees region, after taking them to lunch in the mountains following a day of talks and state pomp in Paris on Monday.

A source close to the French presidency said the trip allowed for "friendly and very frank talks" that allowed Macron to pass on messages on Ukraine and would allow for more open talks in the future.

Macron has a history of trying to establish personal relationships outside of protocol in not always successful attempts to obtain more from other leaders.

After watching traditional dancers perform under the snowy peaks, the two presidential couples ate locally grown ham, lamb, cheese and blueberry pie. Xi said he would give the ham some publicity and praised the cheese.

Macron gave Xi a woollen blanket made in the Pyrenees, a Tour de France cycling jersey and armagnac from the nearby southwestern region - a brandy at risk of Chinese trade sanctions.

Macron pressed Xi throughout his visit to reduce the trade imbalance, with better access for European firms in China and fewer subsidies for Chinese exporters, and to weigh on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine.

Xi said he would welcome more high-level talks on trade frictions but denied there was a Chinese "overcapacity problem", casting doubts on what progress can be achieved.

French and Chinese companies concluded some agreements on Monday ranging from energy, finance and transport, but most were agreements to cooperate or renewed commitments to work together.

"Xi was consistent in signalling goodwill to (his) French interlocutors but did not come with tangible concessions on the issues that matter the most," said Mathieu Duchatel of the Institut Montaigne think-tank.

WINNER?

In a sign of some progress on agriculture, China will allow imports of pig origin protein feed as well as pork offal from France with immediate effect. French pork producers said the offal deal should boost pork exports by 10%.

However, European hopes of an Airbus plane order to coincide with Xi's visit appear to have been dashed, with the two sides agreeing only to expand cooperation.

A European diplomat said Xi was the "winner" of the visit, having "cemented his image as the 'ruler of the world' where Westerners are begging him to solve European problems in Ukraine".

Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the Brussels-based ECIPE think tank, said the visit was possibly less about making concrete progress on trade than creating some policy space they might need if Donald Trump returns to the White House after November's U.S. election.

MACRON STYLE

Macron has embraced, hugged, winked at or slapped counterparts on the back. He did not chance this with Xi.

The two couples travelled on separate flights from Paris and took separate cars to the mountains, where thick fog meant they missed out on the view.

Xi's Pyrenees invite nevertheless had echoes of Trump joining Macron in 2017 to watch the Bastille Day parade, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's 2019 trip to the French president's Bregancon fortress summer retreat in southeast France.

"Emmanuel Macron attempted this narcissistic diplomacy of 'I flatter the tyrant' with Vladimir Putin for five years, with the Bregancon fort ... the camaraderie," Raphael Glucksmann, who leads the French Socialists' European Parliament ticket, told RTL radio.

"And all that ended with what, the invasion of Ukraine and the threats to our democracies."

The EU's 27 members ran a goods trade deficit of 292 billion euros ($314.72 billion) with China in 2023, according to Eurostat data, down from a 397 billion-euro deficit a year earlier but still the second-highest ever level.

French cognac makers rallied on Tuesday as Xi presented what Macron described as an "open attitude" towards a trade dispute between the two countries.

A French diplomatic source said China would not impose taxes or customs duties on French cognac, pending the investigation. Xi did not comment on this during his many public statements on Monday.

Xi travels later on Tuesday to Serbia.

(Reporting by Bart Biesemans in Tarbes, Elizabeth Pineau, Tassilo Hummel, Tim Hepher, John Irish, Leigh Thomas, Ingrid Melander, Dominique Patton, in Paris, Phil Blenkinsop in Brussels, Laurie Chen in Beijing, Piotr Lipinski in Gdansk, Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alison Williams, Nick Macfie and Sharon Singleton)
It was a couple of months ago when the Republican Study Committee released a controversial budget plan that, among other things, endorsed going after Social Security and Medicare. This, not surprisingly, generated some swift pushback from the programs Democratic champions.

Soon after, however, Donald Trump apparently thought he could try to turn the tables. In late March, the former president insisted that it was Democrats who were in the process of killing Social Security by allowing the INVASION OF THE MIGRANTS.

None of this made any sense. In fact, it was a reminder that the presumptive Republican nominee still, even now, doesnt understand the basics of how Social Security works: As a Washington Post fact-check report explained, Undocumented immigrants improve the health of Social Security and Medicare by paying payroll taxes without receiving benefits.

Trump, in other words, had reality backwards.

This week, the idea that Democrats are killing the Social Security system became even sillier. NBC News reported:

In other words, despite longer-term challenges facing the system, Biden-era economic growth has been so strong that the Social Security systems finances have gotten better, not worse.

This years report is a measure of good news for the millions of Americans who depend on Social Security, including the roughly 50% of seniors for whom Social Security is the difference between poverty and living in dignity  any potential benefit reduction event has been pushed off from 2034 to 2035, Social Security Commissioner Martin OMalley said in a statement.

OMalley also took the opportunity to urge Congress to extend the trust funds solvency as it did in the past on a bipartisan basis.

Given that such a move would require Republicans to accept some concessions on tax policy, this seems extraordinarily unlikely.

But complicating matters further is the fact Trump appears desperate to launch the largest and most aggressive mass-deportation program in generations. No matter what ones opinion might be about immigration, theres no great mystery as to what such a move would do to Social Security: It would weaken the systems financial health.

Its really not that complicated. When employers hire undocumented workers, many of whom rely on fraudulent Social Security numbers, the businesses subtract payroll taxes that go toward the Social Security and Medicare systems. Those workers, however, will not receive Social Security and Medicare benefits  because theyre ineligible  which means each of those employees is inadvertently strengthening the programs finances: Theyre putting money into the system without taking anything out.

(Why would they do that? Because even after the payroll taxes are subtracted, these workers believe theyll make more money than they would in the countries they left behind.)

If Trump were to implement a mass-deportation program, and succeeded in removing millions of undocumented workers, that would weaken Social Securitys and Medicares finances and accelerate the social-insurance programs insolvency. The former president might not understand any of this, but voters should.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
After Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar was indicted late last week on alleged corruption charges, it was tempting to assume Republicans would be pleased. After all, the Texas congressmans indictment will likely make his congressional district even more competitive, and it will increase pressure on other Democrats to endorse Cuellars resignation, expulsion or both.

Donald Trump, however, doesnt quite see it this way.

In closed-door remarks delivered at a donor retreat over the weekend, the former president  who had a habit of pardoning politicians convicted of corruption  actually complained about the Texas lawmaker getting indicted, suggesting that Cuellar got indicted for political reasons, because he was tough on the border.

On Sunday night, Trump brought the same message to the public by way of his social media platform. His missive read in part:

So to review, in Trumps mind, President Joe Biden ordered the FBI and Justice Department prosecutors  as well as, presumably, members of a federal grand jury  to make up evidence of corruption against a sitting congressman of Bidens own party. The rascally White House, according to the former presidents creative theory, executed this plot because Cuellar is more conservative than many other Democrats when it comes to border policy.

If this bizarre perspective sounds at all familiar, its not your imagination: When Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey was indicted on corruption allegations last year, some congressional Republicans and one of Trumps lawyers said this, too, was part of a partisan plot.

After Cuellars charges were announced, I made the case that the indictment did fresh harm to one of the animating concepts in contemporary Republican politics: The ridiculous idea that Democrats have weaponized federal law enforcement to punish GOP figures and shield Democrats from accountability.

The Justice Department and the FBI, leading Republican voices insist, are little more than political tools for the Biden White House and its fiendish allies.

Given the number of Democrats facing charges or investigations at the hands of the Justice Department and the FBI, its impossible to take such a nonsensical theory seriously.

But as were learning, nothing can shake Republicans commitment to their baseless theory  and new evidence that contradicts their ideas is simply filtered through the conspiratorial lens.

When Republicans are indicted, were told, its evidence of the justice system being weaponized against the right. And when Democrats are indicted, the theory goes, its also evidence of the justice system being weaponized against the right.

The conspiracy theory must always be true, even when its not.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
On Monday, May 5, Israel struck more than 50 terrorist targets in the Rafah area. According to preliminary data, 26 people were killed, including 11 children.

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This was reported by The Times of Israel. It is noted that these strikes are the beginning of Israel's military operation in Rafah.

The purpose of the attack is to eliminate Hamas leaders and four militant battalions, as well as to try to rescue Israeli hostages.

In addition, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that the military cabinet had unanimously decided that Israel would continue the operation in Rafah. According to him, it is necessary to exert military pressure on Hamas to "facilitate the release of our hostages and achieve other goals of the war."

At the same time, although Hamas's proposal is far from the necessary requirements of Israel, Tel Aviv will send a delegation to check the possibility of reaching an agreement on terms acceptable to them.

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According to AP News, Hamas has accepted Egypt and Qatar's proposal for a ceasefire, but Israel said the agreement does not meet its basic requirements. Therefore, the IDF continues to move forward with attacks on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Nevertheless, Israel said it would continue negotiations.

It is noteworthy that Hamas's sudden agreement to a ceasefire came a few hours after Israel ordered the evacuation of about 100,000 Palestinians from the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, which signaled the inevitability of an attack.

The Israeli military said it was conducting "targeted strikes" against Hamas in the eastern part of Rafah. Shortly thereafter, Israeli tanks entered Rafah, coming within 200 meters of Rafah's border with Egypt. It is also worth noting that the attack on Rafah took place the day after Hamas militants killed four Israeli soldiers in a mortar attack that Israel claimed took place near the Rafah crossing.

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On Sunday, May 4, it became known that the United States of America suspended the supply of its ammunition to Israel. This was the first time since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

Earlier, Netanyahu said that Israel would enter the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, regardless of the ceasefire negotiations. To achieve a complete victory, the IDF must eliminate Hamas battalions there.

- Turkey has suspended all trade relations with Israel because of the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Ankara demands that the international community be allowed to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.

- In April 2024, the head of Israel's military intelligence, Aaron Haliva, resigned. Earlier, the major general took responsibility for the failures that allowed the Hamas terrorist group to attack Israel on October 7, 2023.

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Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Todays installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.

* Its Primary Day in Indiana, where one of the most closely watched elections is in the 5th congressional district. Incumbent Rep. Victoria Spartz, who announced her retirement before changing her mind, is facing Republican rivals who kicked off their campaigns when they thought she wasnt running.

* There are a variety of other contests of note in the Hoosier State today, and Bolts magazine published a handy rundown.

* As Sen. Jon Tester faces a tough re-election fight in Montana, Donald Trump mocked the Democratic incumbents appearance at an event over the weekend, saying Tester looks pregnant to him.

* Two years ago, Tiffany Smiley raised a ton of money for her Republican U.S. Senate campaign, which she ended up losing by 14 points. This year, Smiley has launched a primary campaign against Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse  one of the 10 House GOP members who voted to impeach Trump after Jan. 6.

* In Nevadas U.S. Senate race, where former ambassador Jeff Gunter is still hoping to gain traction, the Republican unveiled a Build the Wall, Deport Them All blueprint over the weekend. Most of the GOP establishment has already rallied behind Sam Brown in the primary.

* In North Carolinas 13th congressional district, Kelly Daughtry suspended her candidacy after Trump endorsed Brad Knott in the local GOP primary. A day later, the former president nevertheless mocked Daughtry as a RINO.

* And in Arizonas 8th congressional district, theres a fierce Republican primary fight between failed Senate candidate Blake Masters and failed state attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh. Last week, their race took an ugly turn: Masters released a video slamming Hamadeh for not having a spouse or children.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Todays edition of quick hits.

* The speech was worth your time: President Joe Biden denounced a wave of antisemitic incidents that have broken out since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, assuring Jewish-Americans in a speech Tuesday that they shouldnt feel isolated and alone as they face down bigotry. The president also used the address to reaffirm his unswerving commitment to Israel, though he hinted at disagreements with Israeli government leaders whose offensive in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of civilians.

* In Gaza: The Israeli military said its ground forces have seized control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, closing a crucial entry point for humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave.

* Ahead of Stormy Daniels testimony: Trump took to his social media site this morning to rip Merchan after learning who will testify today, but within minutes he deleted the post.

* Im starting to notice a pattern here: As Stormy Daniels was testifying about her defamation claim against Trump, the former president appeared for a while to be solidly asleep.

* The last time TikTok filed a big suit like this one, it won: TikTok is suing the United States government in an effort to stop enforcement of a bill passed last month that seeks to force the apps Chinese owner to sell the app or have it banned.

* Its almost as if Judge Aileen Cannon is taking deliberate steps to advance Trumps electoral strategy: Reversing one of her own decisions, the federal judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trumps classified documents case granted his request on Monday to postpone the deadline for a crucial court filing in the criminal proceeding, increasing the chance that any trial would be pushed past the November election.

* On a related note: Over and over, Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, has treated seriously arguments that many, if not most, federal judges would have rejected out of hand. Often, her acceptance of Mr. Trumps unorthodox claims have resulted in significant delays in bringing the charges in the classified documents case in front of a jury.

* Quite a moment: Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) stepped to the microphone on the House floor Monday to speak about one of her latest pieces of legislation, as she has done many times before during her five years in Congress. But the voice that gave the speech wasnt hers  it was from a text-to-voice application, an assistive device she uses to help her navigate a degenerative brain condition with which she was diagnosed last year.

* Fresh evidence that all is not well in Florida: Javier Ortiz, the Miami police captain whose long history of citizen complaints alleging beatings, false arrests and harassment made him notorious in the city he swore to protect and serve, has joined Ron DeSantis Florida State Guard. Ortiz, 44, joined the paramilitary organization in February, about a year after the Miami Police Department rescinded his firing on the condition that he give up his work-issued gun, work a nighttime desk job and commit to an early retirement.

See you tomorrow.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Given the federal difficulties in responding to the Covid pandemic, it didnt come as too great of a surprise when President Joe Biden created a White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy. Its remit was obvious: Officials in this office would be responsible for monitoring future crises and helping coordinate federal responses.

Unfortunately, the office didnt have to wait too long before confronting an important challenge. Politico reported this week on the federal response to the burgeoning bird flu threat.

Politicos report added that senior pandemic preparedness officials recognize that the H5N1 avian flu outbreak represents the first true test for the pandemic preparedness office.

Time will tell, of course, how well the administrations team responds to this test, but in the meantime, it appears Donald Trump is already prepared to shutter the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy if hes elected to a second term.

When the former president sat down with Time magazines Eric Cortellessa, the reporter brought up the office and asked the Republican whether hed disband it. Trump replied, Well, [Biden] wants to spend a lot of money on something that you dont know if its gonna be 100 years or 50 years or 25 years. And its just a way of giving out pork.

As for the offices future, the presumptive GOP nominee went on to say that hed probably close the pandemic preparedness office, adding, Yeah, I think I would. ... I think it sounds good politically, but I think its a very expensive solution to something that wont work.

Or put another way, the fate of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy will likely be determined by the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

Lets not forget that in 2018, the Trump administration thought itd be a good idea to dismantle a National Security Council directorate at the White House charged with preparing for pandemics.

Not long after the Covid crisis began in earnest in the United States, the then-president said he didnt think hed need a global health security team.

After having four years to reflect on this, Trump appears to have learned very few lessons from the experience.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
UPDATE: Sailor dies in SR-163 rollover crash

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  An 18-year-old man died in a rollover crash over the weekend on State Route 163, authorities said.

The collision occurred on Sunday around 4:05 a.m. on SR-163 southbound, located north of Friars Road, Salvador Castro with the California Highway Patrol said in a news release Monday.

The victim, of Perris, California, was driving a Nissan Maxima on the major freeway when the car veered off the roadway for unknown reasons and crashed into a tree, according to authorities.

64 arrested during clearing of Gaza Solidarity encampment at UC San Diego

The force of the crash caused the Nissan to overturn, ejecting the driver, Castro said. The driver, who was the sole occupant, sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased on scene.

The San Diego County Medical Examiners Office is determining if driving under the influence was a factor in the crash.

Authorities shut down all traffic lanes of SR-163 southbound, north of Friars Road during the investigation.

Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact the CHP San Diego Area at 858-293-6000.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
WAYNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)  A man is facing charges after he allegedly assaulted a trooper while he was being arrested on different charges.

According to the Wayne County District Attorney A.G. Howell, 32-year-old Shane Murphy of Lake Ariel was arrested for assaulting a Pennsylvania state trooper.

Police say on Monday, Murphy became agitated during a summary trial for charges of careless driving and reckless driving at the Wayne County Courthouse.

Driver allegedly flees scene after hitting woman at Sheetz

Murphy was arrested on the charges and while being removed from the courthouse,

he continued to be resistant, belligerent, and disorderly causing the arm of a trooper to

go through a glass door, as stated in the affidavit.

The Trooper suffered cuts from the glass that required stitches, investigators noted.

Murphy is being held at the Wayne County Correctional Facility on a $100,000 bail.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PAhomepage.com.
Man accused of shooting in Roxbury last month arrested in Quincy, police say

A Boston man was arrested on Monday, nearly a month after he allegedly shot a victim in Roxbury.

28-year-old Ahmad Lewis is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, assault and battery with a firearm, and destruction of property over $1,200.

According to Boston Police, on April 13 around 3:45 p.m., officers responded to a shots fired call at 16 Seaver Street and found an adult male victim suffering from a gunshot wound.

The victim was transported to an area hospital with injuries not considered to be life-threatening.

An arrest warrant was issued for Lewis and members of the Youth Violence Strike Force found him on Washington Street near Quincy Center on Monday, according to authorities.

Lewis will be arraigned in Roxbury District Court on Tuesday.

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California man arrested for assault just hours after getting released from jail

A man who had been recently released from jail in Riverside was arrested again hours later, police said.

According to the Riverside Police Department, the man, identified as 25-year-old Dandre Parker Jr., was released from a jail in downtown Riverside after serving about six months for robbery and a variety of other offenses.

Parker was sentenced to three years on probation, but he allegedly assaulted a security guard outside a grocery store with a large piece of cement within a few hours of his release, Riverside police said.

He was arrested again and is now back in jail facing an assault with a deadly weapons charge.

The exact date of Parkers release and arrest was not disclosed by authorities.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
The brochures that Israel dropped on Gaza this Monday contained several threatening messages to the population of Rafah to evacuate their places of residence. One of them said: We warn you not to approach the east and south wall. That wall, or fence, marks the perimeter of the Gaza Strips border with Israel (east) and with Egypt (south). Before dawn on Tuesday, as the war entered its eighth month, the Israeli military launched a ground operation that the authorities had been announcing for weeks amid international pressure not to do so.

The European Union and Egypt immediately criticized this attack. At the moment, the military has not launched an invasion with blood and fire and house by house, as they did in other towns in the Strip during the conflict, although they have taken control of the strategic Rafah crossing, which they claim was being used for terrorist purposes. A statement by the Israeli Defense Forces said that IDF ground troops are continuing to operate against Hamas terrorist operatives and infrastructure in the area of the Rafah Crossing in eastern Rafah.

The attack, which included agents from the Shin Bet (Israeli internal security service) and aviation support, focused on specific targets and in limited areas of eastern Rafah to try to reduce the presence of Hamas members, according to military sources. About 20 of them have been eliminated, as well as military structures, underground infrastructure, and additional infrastructure, the military said in a statement.

Some media outlets showed images taken before dawn from the Egyptian side, in which Israeli airstrikes continued to batter Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians are struggling to survive in tent camps, more than half of the population of Gaza. The United Nations warned that the two main entry points for humanitarian aid, the Rafah crossing and the Kerem Shalom crossing, are now closed. With this double blockade, Israel is leading the region towards a disaster and continues with its policy of famine and persecution of the Palestinians, Hamas denounces in a statement.

Israel launched this operation shortly after a half-hour telephone conversation between U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. With this latest ground operation, the Israeli leader seeks to demonstrate that, despite the warnings from his American ally and the rest of the international community, it is he who holds the reins of the conflict and who makes the final decisions. Netanyahu also said that they were sending a delegation to Cairo, where negotiations are being held to achieve a ceasefire. Hours earlier, Hamas had accepted a peace plan proposal negotiated with Qatar and Egypt that Israel considered far from its own demands.

Israeli authorities launched an operation on Monday to evacuate tens of thousands of Gazans from the areas that are now considered combat zones. People have been urged to move northeast, to a camping area called Al Mawasi near the Mediterranean coast.

Israeli tanks take control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing. Ejercito israeli

The image of the Israeli armored vehicles circulating through the Rafah crossing and the Israeli flag flying on the flagpole as a new symbol of the occupation reflect the line that the most far-right sector of the Israeli government seeks to impose on Netanyahu, who depends on several of his ministers to remain in office.

Humanitarian aid

The two main arteries to bring aid to Gaza are currently blocked, denounced Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations humanitarian coordination office (OCHA), recalling that UN agencies have very low reserves within the Palestinian enclave. If fuel does not arrive for a prolonged period of time, it would be a very effective way to bury the humanitarian operation, added Laerke while denouncing that the Israeli authorities had previously prohibited the agency from being present at the Rafah crossing.

Rafah is the only point that gives access to neighboring Egypt. Until now, it was the only way out of the war for the Gazan population, including the wounded. Since October 7, between 80,000 and 100,000 people have been able to escape from the Strip through that crossing, according to the Palestinian National Authority. It is also one of the few points through which Israel allows the arrival of humanitarian aid, although it has always been controlled by Israeli authorities. Another crossing through which some aid also flowed, Kerem Shalom, is also closed since Sunday, when a Hamas attack on Sunday killed four members of the Israeli army.

Rafah is of vital importance for the operation that Israel wants to carry out. Israeli authorities believe this is where any surviving Hamas battalions are located, and where the majority of the hundred or so hostages, many already dead, could have been transferred to.

Meanwhile, the most wanted man in the entire Strip continues to be Yahia Sinwar, top leader of Hamas in the enclave, whom Israel accuses of being the mastermind of the attack against Israel on October 7. No information has emerged to suggest that he is outside the Palestinian enclave. He is considered a key player in the negotiations and awarded a fundamental role in any decision that Hamas ends up making, such as a possible ceasefire.
Man bit down on cops head at festival and taser didnt stop him, Florida sheriff says

A sheriffs deputy had a chunk of flesh bitten out of his head at a music festival when he encountered a man who had consumed multiple psychedelic drugs, according to investigators in the Florida Panhandle.

The suspect, who was captured, was identified as a volunteer staffer at Sol Fest in Ponce De Leon, the Holmes County Sheriffs Office said in a news release. Ponce De Leon is about a 90-mile drive northeast from Pensacola.

Investigators say the attack happened on Sunday, May 5, the final day of the four-day music and arts festival.

An HCSO deputy was attacked while on foot patrol by a (man) under the influence of multiple substances including PCP, LSD, ketamine, mushrooms, and ecstasy, the sheriffs office said.

(He) assaulted the deputy and tried to grab his gun, resulting in serious injuries including a chunk bitten out of the deputys head. Despite the deputys efforts and the use of a taser, (the man) remained combative.

The suspect was eventually restrained when other deputies arrived to help. Both men were taken to a hospital for treatment, officials said.

The deputys identity and details of his injuries have not been released.

The suspect is charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence, officials said.

Multiple drug-related arrests were made during the festival, after attendees were found in possession of mushrooms, MDMA, ecstasy, THC oil and cocaine, officials said.

Gunfight at park leaves suspect dead, 2 deputies seriously hurt, Florida sheriff says

I was bored. Teen tries store robbery after PS4 video game breaks, Florida cops say

Suspect uses deputys radio to call for backup in her own arrest, Virginia cops say
CHICAGO  A man has been charged with concealing a homicidal death after police said he shot and killed a woman two days before she was found in South Deering.

Marable Timile, 58, was arrested Monday and charged with one felony count of concealing a homicidal death, according to the Chicago Police Department.

15-year-old boy shot while inside Archer Heights restaurant

Police said he shot and killed a woman around 12:45 p.m. Saturday in the 9800 block of South Hoxie Avenue.

The womans identity hasnt been released yet by the Cook County Medical Examiners Office.

He is due in court for a detention hearing on Tuesday.

Chicago police havent released additional information.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
A man of draft age died on the territory of the Saksahanskyi military enlistment office in the city of Kryvyi Rih on May 5 due to the "rapid deterioration of his health," the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast military recruitment center reported.

The man showed symptoms of an epileptic seizure at the enlistment office, the center said. Before the ambulance arrived, the man reportedly was provided with first aid.

"The police officers who arrived at the scene stated that he had died by natural causes showing no signs of a struggle," the statement read.

Law enforcement officers are investigating the death of the man, according to the enlistment center.

There have been multiple cases of suspected abuses committed by enlistment officials toward civilians and conscripts since Ukraine started a large-scale mobilization after the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022.

A 49-year-old man reportedly died at a military enlistment center in Ternopil Oblast in late February after staying at the center for multiple days.

He was reportedly found to be epileptic but had bruises all over his body. The Special Prosecutor's Office of Ternopil was investigating the conduct of the center's employees for potentially abusing power.

A commander of the security department at the Ternopil military enlistment office was charged with torture last October, and another staff member of the same department was charged with illegal imprisonment of a civilian.

Ukraine recently updated the legal framework in order to ramp up mobilization this year amid manpower shortages. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the new law on mobilization on April 16, introducing penalties for those dodging the draft.

Another law lowered the minimum age of compulsory military service from 27 to 25, making men eligible for the draft as soon as they turn 25.

Read also: Defense Ministry: Medical commission members can no longer use own discretion on conscripts eligibility

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Georgia deputies are looking for a man accused of entering a Wendys and then choking an employee who happened to be his girlfriend, according to WALB.

Lee County deputies said that just before noon on Monday, a suspect entered the Wendys on Ledo Road and choked one of the employees.

Sheriff Reggie Rachals said that it was the boyfriend of the employee who entered the restaurant and began choking her. The employee then left the restaurant and fired a gun into the air.

Luckily, no one was injured.

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Deputies identified the employee as 35-year-old Nicole Broner. The man was not identified by WALB.

The man was arrested for aggravated assault, while Broner was arrested for reckless conduct.

Channel 2 Action News has reached out to Wendys for comment.

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DES PLAINES, Ill.  A fatal crash involving a Metra train caused some backups for riders on Monday afternoon.

According to Metra, inbound and outbound Union Pacific Northwest trains were halted at Des Plaines around 7:18 p.m. after train #666 struck a pedestrian.

Authorities later confirmed that the victim, a 56-year-old male from Des Plaines, was hit by the train in the 1500 block of Miner Street.

Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines

He was later taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Shortly after the notification about the delays came out, Metra offered another update, indicating that the #666 train, which was scheduled to arrive at the Ogilvie Transportation Center at 7:29 p.m., was about 15 to 20 minutes behind schedule.

Authorities have not provided details on what led to the crash and Metra Police are investigating the incident.

Authorities have not yet identified the victim killed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
Man gets 40 to life for deadly shooting outside Lamont bar

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  When a fight he helped provoke at a Lamont bar didnt go in his friends favor, Jose Gomez-Rivera didnt step in and separate the men.

He chose instead to pull a gun and fire at point blank range, killing Rosalino Soto Juarez. Then he fled with his friend.

Bakersfield woman who tried to turn in found marijuana was turned away by police

Noting Gomez-Rivera summarily executed Juarez, Judge John Oglesby on Tuesday sentenced him to 40 years to life in prison. Gomez-Rivera showed no reaction.

A jury in April found Gomez-Rivera, 39, guilty of murder. Surveillance footage captured the June 30, 2023 shooting that occurred just before midnight outside El Descanso Bar on Weedpatch Highway.

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Arrested more than a month after the shooting, Gomez-Rivera told sheriffs detectives he waited for the combatants to separate then fired twice from 6 feet away.

He said he closed his eyes when he pulled the trigger, according to court documents, and he didnt mean to kill anyone. He told detectives he threw the gun between rows of vineyards on Buena Vista Boulevard.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17.
Man in jail now charged with womans November murder, Jacksonville police say

A man who was already in jail is now facing a murder charge in the November death of a 20-year-old woman, the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office said.

Corey Martin, 30, was charged with second-degree murder on Monday in the death of 20-year-old Veronica Brown, JSO said in a news release.

Police were originally called to a battery with injuries in the 6800 block of North Pearl Street in the North Shore neighborhood on November 4.

Brown was found unresponsive outside of a home and was pronounced dead at the scene by the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, JSO said.

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JSOs Crime Scene Unit and Homicide Team investigated and after detectives interviewed witnesses, they identified Martin as the suspect who was responsible for this heinous crime, the news release said.

Martin was located by JSOs SWAT team and arrested on outstanding warrants on unrelated charges that include possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, trespassing, and possession of a controlled substance.

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In Martins arrest report, police said that he has been arrested multiple times for domestic battery on multiple different women over the course of several years. Due to the fear cause by Martin these women who were victims of domestic battery obtained injunctions for protection against Martin.

Martin is being held in the Duval County Jail and his next court date is set for June 4 at 9 a.m.

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Jack Road, Callum Robinson and Jake Robinson were only alive in Mexico for one day. The three young men crossed into Baja California from the United States on April 26, and 36 hours later they had disappeared. Eight days passed before authorities found their bodies and their families identified them. The crime has renewed fears about violence in Mexico. The U.S. government has issued new warnings about travel to Mexico, while Australia said it was shocked by the absolutely horrendous experience. Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Barcena has expressed her condolences to the victims families.

It begins Thats the caption Callum Robinson, 30, used on April 26, when he posted an image of two vans with surfboards and waves in the background. Robinson lived in San Diego, where he was a lacrosse player. His brother Jake had flown to see him from Australia, where he worked as a doctor. Both were originally from Perth in Western Australia. The brothers regularly shared photos of their trips on Instagram. The photo in Mexico was their last.

The two were traveling with Jack Road, 30, from the U.S. The three shared snapshots of their vacation in Baja California on social media: they are seen at the popular surf spot KM 38, in Rosarito, petting a puppy and in Ensenada, having a beer. There is a photo in a jacuzzi and a video of a taco stand. The reel ends on April 27, with an image of the three young men with a coffee in front of the ocean, on San Miguel beach. The social media silence was one of the changes that alarmed their friends. As did the fact that the surfers did not arrive that night at their accommodation near Rosarito. They didnt arrive later, either.

On April 30, a friend of the surfers filed a missing persons report with the Baja California Prosecutors Office. However, it was not until a day later that the case made the news. On May 1, Callum and Jakes mother, Debra Robinson, asked for help. The Australian woman posted a message on a popular English-speaking Facebook group, called Talk Baja, which has more than 120,000 members. She was looking for any clue to find her children. The post quickly went viral. Soon, U.S. and Australian media were reporting on her search for the surfers, along with data on the level of violence in Mexico. The level of international scrutiny forced the State Prosecutors Office to act quickly.

Surfers throw flowers during a tribute to the three victims. Karen Castaneda (AP)

On May 2, about nine miles from Punta San Jose, another popular surf spot in Baja California, authorities found the victims camp on an off-track road in the community of Santo Tomas, in Ensenada. The place, called La Bocana, was described by the Prosecutors Office as an unpopulated area, very far from the town, that does not have either telephone or internet signal. This is where the young surfers camped out and where their burned tents were found. Rods belonging to tents, a firearm casing, some plastic bottles, blood stains and traces of dragging, something like heavy packages, were found said Baja California Attorney General Elena Andrade, which made us suspect that they were violently assaulted, and we doubted that they were alive.

The fears came true a day later, when the surfers bodies were found in a deep well, about 3.7 miles from the camp. The Prosecutors Office described the discovery of the well, which was 15 meters deep and filled with water, as like finding a needle in a haystack, given the terrain was very difficult to access and that the well was covered with wooden planks. Andrade explained that it took hours to extract the bodies, which were identified by the families.

Violent assault

The preliminary hypothesis of the Prosecutors Office is that it was a robbery that turned into a murder. According to the authorities, the surfers decided to camp in the coastal area, when the assailants passed by aboard a white Ford Ranger vehicle. When they spotted the white Colorado pickup vehicle, owned by the victims, they approached with the intention of taking the vehicle, removing the tires or other parts, to put them in their own pickup, an older model. When they approached and surprised these people, they probably resisted, and the aggressors took out a firearm and killed them, said the attorney general.

Based on the opinion of the experts, Mexican authorities believe that the assailants first shot one of the young men, as he tried to stop them from stealing the vehicle, and then the other two who came out to defend their friend. When they see that what was originally a robbery is getting out of control, they try to get rid of the bodies by throwing them into the well, said Elena Andrade. All three bodies had a gunshot wound to the head.

Experts work at the site where the bodies were found, on May 5 in the town of Santo Tomas, near Ensenada. Alejandro Zepeda (EFE)

So far, three people have been arrested for the murders. The main suspect is Jesus Gerardo N, alias El Kekas, who has a criminal record and is accused of forced disappearance. His girlfriend and brother have also been arrested, and police are trying to determine their involvement in the murders. The woman was discovered with one of the victims cell phones. In the white Ford Ranger, police also found the firearm that was allegedly used to shoot the surfers. The victims Chevrolet Colorado truck was found about 37 miles from the crime scene. It has been torched.

International alarm

The case has raised international alarm. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the identification of the bodies was frankly horrendous news. I think the whole countrys heart goes out to all of their loved ones. It has been an absolutely horrendous, absolutely horrific ordeal, and our thoughts are with all of them today, he said.

Roger Cook, the premier of Western Australia, also expressed his concern about the case. Everyone in Western Australia is suffering as we hear about more aspects of this story, the violence they were exposed to and of course the loss of life, he said.

On Sunday, around 500 people, most of them surfers, protested in Ensenada to call for more security. In the Facebook group, Talk Baja, safety tips and suggestions for safe camping sites are being shared. The governor of Baja California, Marina del Pilar Avila, has tried to ease concern about violence in the state: Baja California is and will continue to be a state with safe tourism for the thousands of people who visit us from the rest of the country and the world. I send my condolences and solidarity to the families at this difficult time.

They were not attacked for being tourists, it was with the intention of stealing a vehicle, they surely did not know the origin of these people, said prosecutor Elena Andrade.

The case has also highlighted the difference in investigations into disappearances in Mexico. In just over a week, the Baja California Prosecutors Office found the bodies of the young surfers, identified the suspects and provided a hypothesis as to why the attack occurred. Meanwhile, in Baja California, more than 2,700 people remain missing, according to the Interior Ministrys registry. In fact, in the well, where Jack Road, Callum and Jake Robinson were found, there was a fourth body. It had been there longer. Authorities still havent identified it.

Surfers march in Ensenada in Baja California, on Sunday. Karen Castaneda (AP)

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A high-speed chase through Columbus ended in a water rescue after a man accused of stealing a vehicle bailed out and jumped off a bridge into Big Walnut Creek, according to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

A sheriff's deputy attempted to pull over a Jeep Compass that had been reported stolen at 3:50 a.m. on Cleveland Avenue and Innis Road on Columbus Northeast Side, but the driver, later identified as Adam Garber, 45, fled, the sheriff's office reported.

A close-up photo of police lights by night

Garber led sheriffs deputies and Columbus police officers on a roughly 15-mile chase through Columbus, ending at Gerling Boulevard and South Hamilton Road on the city's Southeast Side. Garber left the vehicle on foot and jumped into the creek, the sheriff's office reported.

Columbus Division of Fire's water rescue team was called to the scene to help locate Garber, who was found clinging to a tree branch after about 30 minutes of searching. He was taken into custody.

Garber has been charged with felony receiving stolen property and failure to comply, the sheriff's office reported. Additional charges are likely.

bagallion@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: High-speed chase through Columbus ends with man in Big Walnut Creek
Should a man who kills his female partner be treated differently than other murderers?

Three years ago, a North Carolina State University student was found dead in her home. Just last month, her killer was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

That man was her partner. Erick Gael Hernandez-Mendez was someone Christina Matos trusted and loved, shed even been helping with his citizenship application.

Five days after he became a US citizen, he killed Christina.

She wanted to help him because he was a kind man  well, thats the facade he put up for her, her brother Abraham Matos told The Independent.

After he got what he wanted  after only five days  he stabs her to death over 16 times.

Mr Matos and their mother Yolanda Matos are still reeling from the loss of Christina and have since become aware of the growing epidemic across North Carolina and the rest of the country: femicide.

Christina Matos, 20, was killed by her partner in April 2021 just five days after he helped him get his citizenship (Provided by her family)

Femicide is the gender-related killing of women and girls, usually by a current or former romantic partner. The terms femicide and homicide both describe the intentional killing of another person, but they are not synonymous.

In 2023, El Centro Hispano conducted research that found 51 North Carolina women were victims of femicide that year alone.

Femicide ... is the most severe and extreme manifestation of the continued attacks on women and girls, because of gender roles, inequity between men and women, discrimination and the existence of harmful social norms, said Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, the executive director of El Centro Hispano, a local organization in North Carolina helping the Latino community across Durham, Wake, Orange, and neighboring counties.

We can never know who is going to kill who. If I knew, I obviously wouldve warned her, Mr Mato said about his sister. You gotta look for the signs. Its always the ones you trust, its always the ones close to you. Its the ones you think would never hurt you.

Now 2024 is expected to surpass last year  with 13 homicides of women in North Carolina by partners during January and February alone. Between 1 March and 16 April, the most recent data available, another 13 women were killed, according to the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

El Centro Hispano is trying to change this.

Gender-based violence is a longstanding issue in Latin America. Chile and Brazil classify femicide as a crime, while people in other countries across Latin America and Europe have protested to demand laws to establish it as an offense, according to El Centro Hispano.

On 8 March  International Womens Day, the group called on Governor Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein to support making femicide a crime separate from homicide.

This would make the killing of women in North Carolina a specific criminal offense with more severe sentences.

Sadly, we are seeing more and more cases every day, said Ms Rocha-Goldberg from El Centro Hispano. Some of these cases are close to our heart.

Earlier this year, North Carolina real estate agent Liliana Concha Perez, 55, was found dead in her Durham office. Shed been killed by her former boyfriend, who was described by her brother as jealous, possessive and obsessive. After hed killed Concha Perez, he died by suicide next to her.

Within a few weeks, at least five more domestic-related murders  leaving five more women and one girl dead  followed, according to research by El Centro Hispano.

Earlier this year, North Carolina real estate agent Liliana Concha Perez, 55, was found dead in her Durham office. Shed been killed by her former boyfriend (El Centro Hispano)

On 15 January 2024, Gabrielle Raymond, 37, and Nancy Taylor, 69, were allegedly shot to death along with their dog in Apex, by their neighbor, a former Army captain.

A week later, Kaylinn Cave, a 12-year-old girl, was allegedly murdered by her father in Yadkin County.

On 24 January, Maria Teresa Meraz-Cruz was killed allegedly by her boyfriend, Miguel Angel Ventura, in Benson, North Carolina, in a murder-suicide following an argument.

On 1 February, Nataly Martinez, 20, a single mother of two girls, died at the hands of her partner in Charlotte.

On 7 February, police arrested Tammy Lynn Hodgess husband after she was found dead inside her home.

When does it end? We want us alive. asked Ms Rocha-Goldberg, who knew Liliana and her partner who killed her. Both were members of the groups board.

Liliana was well-known in the community as someone who helped countless Latinx immigrants navigate the path to homeownership.

There is a lot of hurt in our community after Lilianas death, Ms Rocha-Goldberg said. We need to make sure this doesnt keep happening.

She helped him get his citizenship. Five days later, he killed her

On 3 April 2021, Christina Matos was murdered in her apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina. She had just turned 20 years old a few days earlier.

Her body was discovered inside her locked bedroom after her mother and brother went to check on her. An autopsy revealed she had been stabbed at least 16 times. A trail of blood led from her room to her former partners room.

Christinas former partner, Erick Gael Hernandez-Mendez, who was born in Mexico, testified at his trial earlier this year that their marriage was a sham to obtain his U.S. citizenship and that he had agreed to pay her $15,000 for the favour.

Hernandez-Mendez told jurors that he witnessed her roommate, Kailey Lynch-Firicano, stab Christina to death, claiming the women had a fight over the temperature in the apartment days earlier.

They were on their knees like this, he described to the courtroom. She was coughing and gurgling with blood coming out ... I stayed with her til her last breath, and I said I will go get help ... and Christina said no, let me die.

Prosecutors argued that Hernandez-Mendez placed the blame on Ms Lynch-Firicano only after she was arrested and charged with felony accessory after the fact to murder and obstructing justice  which was two years after the murder.

Prosecutors also said that Hernandez-Mendez had not paid Christina in full, and was annoyed that she had moved on to be with other men, leading him to not trust her, and ultimately led to a motive.

They also argued that Hernandez-Mendez had conducted an Internet search asking What happens if my U.S. citizen wife dies?

In the end, after only three hours of deliberation, a jury found Hernandez-Mendez guilty of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.

You are a wolf in sheeps clothing, Christinas brother Abraham told the defendant in a victim impact statement, You are the worst person to encounter, to use people like tools and throw them out when you break them.

Christinas mom read her statement through her tears.

I cannot call you animal, because sometimes an animal has compassion, Ms Matos told Hernandez-Mendez. Look at what you did to her! Look at what you did to my family! Look at what you did to me!

Ms Lynch-Firicano, the other former roommate, will face trial next month.

Christinas family says they plan on being there for further justice, despite knowing that nothing will bring back Christina.

Its hard, very hard, her heartbroken mother told The Independent through her tears. He stole her life, for what? She no deserve, no woman deserve this.

Ms Matos said its time for the government to step in.

Everyday cry, everyday suffer. Its not fair, she said. I know other mothers do the same. So what now? We can help this not happen again. So other mothers no feel the pain. The pain I feel Its hard. It never goes away.

Women are dying of femicide at a startling rate  what can be done?

In April, the Population Institute, a nonprofit which advocates for gender equality and sexual and reproductive health, released a report on widespread harmful gender-based practices in the US, including female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), child marriage, and femicide.

According to the new report, the US has one of the highest rates of femicide among high-income countries, 2.2 per 100,000 women. Women in the US are 28 times more likely to be intentionally murdered by guns than women in peer countries.

The lack of a legal differentiation between femicide and homicide makes it very difficult to gather accurate data about femicide, according to El Centro Hispano.

The group says they are doing all they can, but do not have the adequate funding and have started a petition calling on Governor Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein, and other lawmakers to pursue classifying femicide as a crime in North Carolina.

Classifying femicide as its own crime could encourage government funding toward such programs, they said.

However, classifying femicide as a crime does little good if those who are most at risk have difficulty accessing the legal protections a separate classification would provide.

Joanna Kelley, an attorney who has represented the families of female homicide victims, including the family of Liliana, told The Independent thatassault on a female is already a specific charge in NC General Statutes, and that North Carolina could be the first state in the US to make femicide a crime.

Designating such killings as a specific crime in the state means we understand that our society is changing; there are new needs and therefore, we must adapt, Ms Kelley said.

But Ms Kelley added that one of the roadblocks they face is that the issue has become political, instead about the victims and their families.

This is not about being Democrat orRrepublican - this is not about being a feminist, we care about men too, and domestic violence happens to both, she said. We care about the people. Thats who the focus should be on. And thats why a change needs to happen.

The Independent has reached out to local lawmakers, including Senator Thom Tillis for comment. Mr Tillis office had previously promised to pay for the transport of Lilianas mother from Colombia to the United States for her funeral.

Ms Kelley confirmed to The Independent that Lilianas mother was able to travel to the US and attend her daughters funeral.

Lilianas friend and colleague at El Centro Hispano, Ms Rocha-Goldberg, said she believes the recent murders, including Lilianas, highlight the pressing need for legislative action.

In the petition, the organization lays out compelling reasons to establish femicide as a crime, including recognizing the gendered nature of violence, providing justice for victims and their families, enabling accurate data collection and research, and serving as a deterrent.

Proclamation of femicide (El Centro Hispano)

But as of May, the government has not taken any steps to address femicides.

We wont give up. Well continue to raise our voices, Ms Rocha-Goldberg said. How many more women will be hurt, how many killed, before something is done? It needs to end now.

Meanwhile, Mr Matos hopes by sharing his sisters story, it will help other women.

I refer to him as the boogeyman under my bed, Mr Matos said about the man their family trusted because he was someone Christina trusted.

And Im keeping him under my bed. Im moving forward. Im keeping Christina in my heart. My mom and I are moving forward  and what better way than to share Christinas story to help spread awareness.

If you or someone you know is in danger of intimate partner violence, reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
Man knocks on door, tries to sexually assault 81-year-old with Alzheimers, CA cops say

A man was arrested after he was accused of trying to rape an 81-year-old woman with Alzheimers, California officials said.

On April 29, the man identified as Walker Gabriel Munoz, 22, knocked on the womans Pacoima apartment door and she let him in, according to a news release by Los Angeles police.

When inside, Munoz physically attacked the woman and tried to sexually assault her, police said. The attack was recorded on a home security camera, authorities said.

The woman was sent to a local hospital for a sexual assault exam, police said.

Munoz was arrested on May 3 and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on a charge of kidnapping with intent to commit rape, police said.

The investigation remains ongoing and police ask anyone with information to call 818-834-3115.

Pacoima is about a 30-mile drive northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

If you have experienced sexual assault and need someone to talk to, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline for support at 1-800-656-4673 or visit the hotline's online chatroom.

Man sexually assaults two women he met online on the same day, Texas cops say

Officer raped pretrial detainees he was transporting, feds say. Hes going to prison

Man brings teen relative to US, then rapes and assaults her for years, CA cops say
Man who lived with mother charged with her murder after police find body in bathtub

Man who lived with mother charged with her murder after police find body in bathtub

A man who lived with his mother allegedly murdered her and left her body in the bathtub inside their shared home, police say.

Jeremy Gentry, a 48-year-old man from Fruitland, Maryland, has been charged with first and second degree murder, first and second degree assault and reckless endangerment after Beatrice Kay Gentry, 68, was found dead inside their home on the 200 block of Sand Castle Boulevard, according to the Maryland State Police.

MORE: Series of bomb threats targeting LGBTQ+ Pride events in Montana deemed to be hoaxes

Police were first alerted to the incident shortly before 9:00 p.m. on Sunday when the Fruitland Police Department and emergency medical service personnel were dispatched to the residence on regarding a report of an unconscious woman, according to the Maryland State Police.

Once they entered the home, police and EMS personnel located an unresponsive woman in the bathtub, authorities said. EMS personnel pronounced her deceased on the scene. The Maryland State Police Homicide Unit was subsequently requested by the Fruitland Police Department to assume the investigation.

MORE: 6 people, including 3-year-old, shot at Fort Worth apartment complex

The deceased was subsequently identified as Beatrice Kay Gentry who shared the home with her son, Jeremy Gentry, police said.

The cause and manner of Gentrys death are currently pending autopsy results and police did not disclose a possible motive in her alleged murder.

MORE: Boy, 14, dies after man with sword stabs multiple people near London tube station

Maryland State Police Forensic Crime Scene Technicians processed the scene for evidence, authorities said. Further investigative efforts revealed Jeremy Gentry as the suspect. Subsequent consultation with the Wicomico County States Attorneys Office led to State Police investigators obtaining an arrest warrant for Jeremy Gentry.

Police say that Gentry was arrested on Monday morning without incident.

MORE: 2-year-old boy dies after bounce house carried away by wind gusts

Gentry is currently awaiting a bond hearing before a Wicomico County District Court Commissioner while an investigation into the alleged murder is being conducted by the Worcester County Sheriffs Office, Snow Hill Police Department and the Fruitland Police Department.

The investigation into Gentrys death is currently ongoing.

Man who lived with mother charged with her murder after police find body in bathtub originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A man who was injured in a shooting in May 2023 has filed a lawsuit against Columbus police officers involved in the shooting.

A man paralyzed after being shot in the Short North a year ago has filed a lawsuit against the officers involved in a shooting despite admitting that bullets struck him before officers opened fire.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on the same day the Franklin County Prosecutor's office said a grand jury would not review the case for potential charges against the officers involved.

According to the lawsuit, Jalen Bradley, then 20, was with his sister in the Short North on May 6, 2023. Around 2:30 a.m., a group of people approached and attacked the pair, the lawsuit says.

During the altercation, Bradley says someone in the group of people shot him and his sister, injuring them. Bradley was legally armed, according to the lawsuit, and returned fire against the attackers.

The lawsuit says Bradley had been "attempting to run for cover away from the shots" when several Columbus police officers, "who didn't know what was going on, opened fire."

Short North police shooting article: Columbus police officers who opened fire in Short North shooting won't face charges

Bradley had been looking for cover "in case the shooters came back," the lawsuit says.

What Columbus police's body camera shows

Body camera footage shows Columbus police officers Carl Harmon and Jacob Velas firing as they moved toward a person with a gun in front of the Roaming Goat Coffee shop at 849 N. High St. That person is Bradley.

The body camera footage, released by police in 2023, shows the officers kicking a handgun away from Bradley before handcuffing him and having him taken by paramedics to a nearby hospital.

At least 10 people were injured in the shooting, although Columbus police have never said how many of those people were hurt by other pedestrians or by the responding officers.

The lawsuit says officers fired "no fewer than 20 shots" and "recklessly shot ... without cause and ignoring the safety of all pedestrians, vehicles and patrons of businesses in the area."

The lawsuit also says officers "were never shot at and yet shot with zeal at (Bradley and his sister) who were doing nothing more than fleeing for their lives."

Bradley suffered 11 gunshots in his back and neck, which led to him being paralyzed, and the shots were fired after there was no longer any ongoing threat. The lawsuit does not say how Bradley could determine what injury led to him being paralyzed.

At the time of the shooting, Columbus police said nearly a dozen firearms were recovered.

bbruner@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Short North police shooting victim left paralyzed sues Columbus police
A man points a gun at a church pastor before getting tackled. Then the suspects relative is found dead in the gunmans home

Editors note: Find the latest coverage of the gunman at Jesus Dwelling Place Church here.

An armed man gave no warning as he walked toward the front of Jesus Dwelling Place Church in Pennsylvania on Sunday, raised a gun toward the pastors face and pulled the trigger.

What happened next may have been divine intervention, Pastor Glenn Germany said.

Im thankful to God that Im still here, because he definitely pulled the trigger, Germany told CNN affiliate WTAE.

The gunman attempted to shoot, but the firearm failed to discharge, Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement.

The incident in North Braddock was captured on the churchs livestreamed video. Immediately after the gunman pulled the trigger, a church member tackled the suspect to the ground.

Police say Bernard Polite tried to shoot a pastor in North Braddock, but the gun wouldn't discharge. - Jesus' Dwelling Place Church

State police identified the suspect as 26-year-old Bernard Junior Polite.

Its not clear why the suspect tried to shoot the pastor. Germany said he had never seen the gunman before Sunday, WTAE reported.

All of a sudden, I just seen a gun pointing right at me, the pastor told the affiliate. And at that point, all I could do was run for cover.

As Germany ran and hid behind a lectern, the churchs cameraman rushed the gunman and tackled him to the ground, according to WTAE. The pastor quickly emerged from behind the lectern and helped subdue the suspect.

Polite faces charges of attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person, court records show.

He was arraigned early Monday morning and was denied bail. He is being held at Allegheny County Jail, and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 13.

It was not immediately clear if Polite has an attorney.

After the attempted shooting at the church, police found the body of a man who was shot in Polites home, Allegheny County police told CNN. The homicide victim was identified as 56-year-old Derek Polite, a relative of the suspect from the church incident.

County Police can confirm Bernard Polite, a suspect in a previous incident Sunday morning at a North Braddock church, is known to live at the residence where the shooting occurred and is a relative of the shooting victim, police spokesperson Jim Madalinsky told CNN in an email.

At this point, no charges have been filed in connection with the homicide and it remains an active investigation.

CNNs Lechelle Benken contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
A man from Diamond Bar has been sentenced to one year in federal prison for driving through a rally to protest violence and prejudice against Asians, Asian Americans and others of Asian descent.

Steve Lee Dominguez, 58, was sentenced for his actions on March 21, 2021, when he ran a red light, drove through a crosswalk filled with peaceful demonstrators and shouted racial slurs at them.

He pleaded guilty to one count of bias-motivated interference with federally protected activities back in October 2023, according to the United States Department of Justice.

The rally was held in Diamond Bar to protest and raise awareness about an increase in hate crimes and violence targeting members of the Asian American Pacific Islander community, driven in part by the coronavirus pandemic.

The population of Diamond Bar, about 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, is more than 58% of Asian origin, according to U.S. Census data.

That particular rally was held five days after eight people, including six Asian women, were shot and killed at two Atlanta spas.

The group had assembled at the intersection of Diamond Bar Boulevard and Grand Avenue, carrying American flags and protest signs. The group was peacefully gathered and lawfully crossed the streets using marked crosswalks and had the right of way, the DOJ said.

Dominguez came across the rally while he was stopped at an intersection at a red light.

Dominguez yelled, Go back to China! and other racial slurs and profanities at the demonstrators, the DOJ said in a Monday news release. He then deliberately drove his car through the intersection crosswalk at the red light, made an illegal U-turn into oncoming traffic, and cut off the route of several rally participants lawfully crossing the street.

An Asian woman carrying a Stop Asian Hate sign, a Black woman carrying a sign that read End the Violence Against Asians, and a 9-year-old girl were among the victims, the DOJ said. Dominguez narrowly missed those in the intersection and no injuries were reported.

After cutting off the rally with his vehicle, Dominguez wasnt done. He then got out of his Honda  a Japanese automaker  and began yelling more racial epithets at the crowd, including the n word.

He then called police, identifying himself as John Doe, and told dispatch that the protesters were blocking the streets and were about to trample my car. He told police he had to run the red light for his safety and urged them to get some control to the area where the rally was taking place.

Dominguez later fled the scene, but his license plate was captured in a video posted to social media.

United States Attorney Martin Estrada said Dominguezs actions were intentional and meant to curtail the rights of peaceful demonstrators.

While differences of opinion are part of a healthy democracy, we cannot allow people to commit acts of violence against those with whom they disagree, Estrada said.

Mehtab Syed of the FBIs Los Angeles Field Office said the March 2021 rally was meant to stand up for a righteous cause, the protection of Asian members of the community from hate-motivated attacks. Instead, it was overshadowed by Dominguez attacking innocent civilians.

Todays sentence represents the FBIs commitment to ensuring that Constitutionally-protected rights are not violated and those who deny them will be held accountable, Syed said.

The FBI, which investigated the case, urges anyone with information related to hate crimes to call the FBI L.A. Field Office at 310-477-6565 or submit a tip online.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A man who had his truck stolen from a Raleigh shopping center Sunday said he was able to trail the vehicle for several miles and help police catch the alleged car thief.

The victim didnt want to be identified but said he was inside the Burlington store on Stage Road for about an hour and when he came outside saw someone driving off in his white Chevy Avalanche.

The victim was shopping with a friend, and they jumped into the friends car and began following his truck. They also called police and gave them turn-by-turn directions.

We tried to keep our distance. I dont think they knew we were following them, the victim said.

The victim told investigators a gray Jeep also appeared to be following the pickup.

He said the suspect bailed out of the Avalanche at S Bellevue Boulevard and Peabody Avenue in Midtown when the truck stalled.

He probably thought it was a kill switch, the truck owner said.

When officers arrived, the victim pointed out the suspect, later identified as Jamaal Jones-Cage, 32, who was running southbound on Bellevue.

Police said Jones-Cage left a red jacket, a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and work gloves inside the victims vehicle.

Officers said they also found a generator and various construction tools in the back seat of the Chevy Avalanche that did not belong to the victim.

The truck owner said Jones-Cage damaged his steering wheel column to start the vehicle.

Jones-Cage was charged with theft of up to $60,000 in property. He is being held on a $25,000 bond and is scheduled to appear before a judge on Tuesday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
UPDATE: Authorities said Wright has been arrested and is in the Polk County Jail.

POLK COUNTY, Texas (KETK)  Authorities are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a man in a murder investigation after the body of a woman was found in a wooded area.

Human remains found off FM 346 East in Smith County, foul play suspected

According to officials, Jasmine Muldoon was reported missing on Sunday, and the next day, her body was found off US Highway 59 near Livingston. Her body has since been taken to the medical examiners office for investigation and to determine cause of death.

The sheriffs office said a first-degree murder warrant has been issued for 23-year-old DeAndre Wright, of Livingston, and they are asking for the publics help in locating him.

Sheriff Lyons is asking that you do not approach DeAndre Wright and that you immediately contact your nearest law enforcement agency if he is seen, officials said in a release.

The Polk County Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to Wrights arrest. Anonymous tips can be reported to 936-327-STOP or www.polkcountycs.org.

Anyone with information about the case or Wrights location is asked to contact the Polk County Sheriffs Office at 936-327-6810. Anonymous tips can also be sent in to P3 online, the P3 App or to Polk County Crime Stoppers at 936-327-STOP.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KETK.com | FOX51.com.
Who is Manolo De Los Santos? Leader of Hamas-cheering radical NYC group has ties to Cuba

The head of a radical activist group who urged anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University to channel the deadly Black Lives Matter riots of 2020 is a career agitator who spent years in the socialist haven of Cuba, The Post can reveal.

Manolo De Los Santos, the 35-year-old leader of the Midtown-based nonprofit The Peoples Forum (TPF), came to The Bronx from his native Dominican Republic at age 5 and has made a career of spurring protests on the streets of New York City.

He first traveled to Cuba in 2006 and was there as recently as March to demand an end to the US blockade against the socialist state which has been in place since 1962.

Manolo De Los Santos, 35, leader and de facto mouthpiece for The Peoples Forum, a radical anti-Israel group that encouraged the takeover of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University. LP Media

As TPFs executive director and de facto mouthpiece  a role hes held since 2018, according to his Facebook  the writer, organizer and public speaker is as known for his zealous support of left-wing causes as he is for his repugnant public statements.

De Los Santos, who declined to speak to The Post when approached outside his Hells Kitchen home Monday, has in the last year alone hailed Hamas Oct. 7 terror attack as heroic, called for Israel to be erased from history and eagerly welcomed the impending defeat of the US empire.

He has been a longtime advocate for Cuba, which he first visited as a teenager with a progressive religious group called Pastors for Peace and which he was later based out of for many years.

When he wasnt denouncing US hegemony from the shores of Cuba, De Los Santos was causing trouble across the Big Apple, participating in numerous disruptive street protests and giving provocative speeches laced with incendiary anti-Israel rhetoric.

When we finally deal that final blow to destroy Israel, when the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism in our lifetime, De Los Santos said in January in front of a cheering crowd in a now-viral video.

His remarks were so vicious that South Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) denounced the speech as Nazi rhetoric, and called for Goldman Sachs, whose philanthropy arm used to direct funds to TPF, to cut ties with the organization  which also has links to the Chinese Communist Party.

De Los Santos has longstanding ties with Cuba, first visiting as a teenager in 2006 and spending many years there later as a home base. X/@manolo_realengo

Thousands of Israelis were massacred, maimed, mutilated, abducted, raped, and tortured at the murderous hands of Hamas, Torres wrote, referring to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

[Hamas] espouses the kind of genocidal ideology that The Peoples Forum has been caught promoting as the final blow, which is strikingly similar to Nazi rhetoric about a final solution, he continued.

Shortly after, De Los Santos penned a defiant missive on the TPF website in which he refused to apologize and dismissed the medias labeling of his words as hate speech as a propaganda trick by the apologists for genocide.

De Los Santos was one of 10 protest group leaders busted on Jan. 27 on a day of anarchy around the city during which demonstrators shut down part of the Brooklyn Bridge and attempted to flood JFK Airport in Queens. Instagram/@peoplesforumnyc

Less than two weeks later, on Jan. 27, De Los Santos was among 10 protest leaders cops busted on a day of anarchy across the city in which hundreds of anti-Israel demonstrators descended on Manhattan, partially blocking the Brooklyn Bridge and attempting to flood JFK Airport in Queens.

In between street marches and railing against the evils of capitalism, De Los Santos uses his extensive social media presence  which includes more than 31,000 followers on X  to post glory shots of Hamas members accompanied by reverent missives lauding the terror groups actions.

On Oct. 7, the day Hamas launched its bloody terror attack against Israel that killed more than 1,200 men, women and children, De Los Santos shared a Hamas propaganda video showing terrorist paratroopers gearing up for the cowardly assault against the Jewish home state.

A few weeks later as the battle in Gaza raged on, he posted an image of Hamas fighters raising automatic weapons in celebration.

Victory to those who resist Zionism! Victory to those who fight as the bombs fall in Gaza! Victory to those who defend their people from Israels war crimes! Victory to all who mobilize, march & act in solidarity with Palestine! Resistance until Victory! Palestine will win! he wrote accompanying the image.

Reached by email late Monday afternoon, De Los Santos didnt directly address any of The Posts questions about what if any role he played in fomenting campus unrest at Columbia.

Instead he offered a deflective statement rejecting characterizations that the campus protests were violent, blaming the police for being the true source of the violence.

He also praised student demonstrators for their courage in risking suspension, expulsion, arrest, loss of housing and so much more.

They are seeing their own schools and tuition money supporting an ongoing genocide and doing everything they can to stop it.
The effects of early access to porn on minors are alarming more and more countries. France, Germany and the U.K. have implemented age verification systems for accessing such content. In the U.S., eight states have already done so, and several others are considering it. The Spanish government is preparing its own tool, which should be ready by the end of the summer.

There is some international consensus around the need to delay the age at which young people start watching online porn. In Spain, this begins on average at just eight years of age, according to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD). But it is less clear what steps should be taken. Many privacy experts fear that these systems will put an end to the digital anonymity of internet users. They have reason to be wary of this, since these mechanisms often manage personal data, which in turn means this sensitive information can be hacked and used to extort money. Age verification systems are surveillance systems, argues the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a benchmark institution for the protection of digital freedoms, in no uncertain terms.

What techniques are being used to verify that the person who is trying to access pornographic content is of legal age? There are three main ways to do it. The first is for an adult website to ask the user for a credit card, which usually implies that the cardholder is an adult. The second consists of requesting the users identity card, which must be verified manually or using artificial intelligence (AI). The third option is to use an automatic facial recognition system. In all three cases, the user must share sensitive data.

There is a fourth way. Since 2023, the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (CNIL), the French equivalent of the AEPD, has been testing an online age verification system that is more respectful of privacy. It consists of putting a digital intermediary (a program) between the age verification service and the website that is being blocked from children. The idea is that the system does not have access to data that identifies the user and that the verifier does not know which website the user is accessing.

They wont know anything about you, other than that you are of legal age and that someone is asking you to verify your age, says Olivier Blazy, a computer scientist and professor at the Ecole Polytechnique, from Palaiseau, on the outskirts of Paris. Blazy has worked with the CNIL on developing the French system. What we are trying to demonstrate is that an age verification tool can be designed that respects the anonymity of users, says the specialist.

This system is run via the FranceConnect portal, where all French people who pay social security contributions have an account. Blazy and his colleagues have used it as a gateway to access the program they have devised. This ensures that the authorities do not know which websites the user is trying to visit (in other words, which website requires age verification). When you try to access a website that requires verification, the website will send you a challenge. That challenge is done at a verification provider, which in turn gives a group signature to the user. So the destination website only receives a group signature, with no user details. This is very basic cryptography, which has been around for 15 years, but has never been used in this context, explains Blazy.

Weaknesses of existing methods

The French method has advantages over the other three systems. It is relatively easy to hack systems based on scanning ID documents. And its consequences can be serious for users: they can be impersonated or credit can be requested in their name, explains Blazy. The implications of using facial recognition are even more serious. Storing biometric data is always dangerous, he says. This data unequivocally identify users, making them a treasure for cybercriminals.

Regarding the most used system  paying zero dollars to prove that you have a bank account  this means that the data of these accounts and their holders must be stored. Whats more, it no longer serves as a way to verify that a user is an adult, because some banks allow minors to have an account. Children can also take a parents credit card and pretend to be them. Our method factors in authentication, so its going to be harder for them to cheat the system, Blazy explains.

The French system is not perfect either. For example, unless a VPN is used  a connection from a virtual private network  the websites accessed keeps the users IP, which is the identifier or license plate of the device with which it is accessed. So you are not completely anonymous, explains Blazy, who also explains that foreigners who visit France and want to access pornographic content must open an account on FranceConnect and follow the process described above: In total, it takes about 10 minutes. It is not a lot of time, but to the users of these portals it can seem that it is a world away.

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Many Floridians struggle to access the mental healthcare they need. Whos to blame? | Opinion

Our nations mental health crisis has reached a fever pitch, and Florida is feeling the heat.

Many Floridians struggle to access the care they need due to a lack of resources and support. Thats why policymakers, healthcare professionals, and the broader community must keep their foot on the gas pedal when addressing mental health in the Sunshine State.

Chief among the problems facing Florida is a severe shortage of mental health providers. Florida is among the top six states in the U.S. with the most areas dealing with mental health workforce shortages. The state is facing workforce shortages across hundreds of facilities that provide mental health services, and it would need more than 500 mental health professionals to address the problem.

This shortfall of mental health care providers is not just a statistic; it is a tangible obstacle that exacerbates the struggles of Floridians and results in preventable delays and backlogs in the health care system.

Prioritizing solution-oriented frameworks to support mental health within Floridian communities is critical  especially given that approximately 32 percent of Floridians report symptoms of anxiety or depression.

It is encouraging to see more leaders with a seat at the policymaking table recognize the urgency of the issue and the importance of prioritizing solutions. Florida lawmakers recently passed a Live Healthy legislation package to enhance healthcare access across the state. The package includes providing crucial mental health support by establishing a new category of teaching hospitals that specialize in research and collaboration to address acute behavioral health needs.

Improving the mental health landscape in Florida can help turn the tide and ensure a happier, healthier state. Doing so will be an uphill battle, but there are solutions on the table to make progress.

If we take steps to build out our mental health workforce now, we can set our future generations up for success. We need strong investments in mental health workforce recruitment. Its crucial that we increase the supply of qualified clinicians to address our nations mental health crisis across the board.

In the short term, we should be incorporating mental health services into primary care settings  as primary care physicians are most often the central point of contact for patients and can provide critical interventions on the front end. We know that 80 percent of people with a behavioral health disorder are already visiting their primary care physician at least once a year, so we must prioritize training for physicians to care for those with mental and behavioral health problems.

Unfortunately, there are still a number of barriers at play that threaten this potential for progress.

Namely, a proposed federal rule change to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) could actually lower standards for qualified clinicians and reduce patient access to and affordability of care.

While intended to increase the number of mental health care providers, this rule change could undermine patients quality of care, and the unintended negative consequences of the rule could exacerbate the mental health crisis among our most vulnerable communities  children, those struggling with substance abuse, and low-income families. It would lower standards for clinicians and make it even more difficult for people to navigate which professionals are qualified to help them.

Its imperative that leaders here in Florida and nationwide address roadblocks like this so as not to exacerbate the challenges the Sunshine State is already confronting related to mental health.

I urge policymakers to oppose this rule and move forward with proactive solutions that will make a meaningful difference in access to mental health services. By bolstering our workforce, increasing telehealth services and supporting integrated care, we can set Florida on a strong path forward.

Constance Connie Garner is senior policy director at Foley Hoag who formerly served as senior policy director with the Senate HELP Committee. She played a pivotal role in drafting the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
Many states are eager to extend Medicaid to people soon to be released from prison

Community health worker Ron Sanders, right, helps a patient at San Franciscos Southeast Family Health Center, part of the Transitions Clinic Network that assists former inmates navigate health care after release. A new policy allows states to provide Medicaid health care coverage to inmates for specific services 30-90 days before their release. (Photo courtesy of Transitions Clinic Network)

A new policy that allows states to provide Medicaid health care coverage to incarcerated people at least a month prior to their release has drawn bipartisan interest and a slew of state applications, including one from Pennsylvania.

Federal policy has long prohibited Medicaid spending on people who are incarcerated in jails or prisons, except for hospitalization. As a result, when people are released, they typically dont have health insurance and many struggle to find health care providers and get needed treatment. In a population that is disproportionately likely to have chronic conditions such as heart disease and substance use disorders, that can be deadly.

Some states terminate residents Medicaid coverage when theyre incarcerated, while others just suspend it. Either approach can cause delays in seeking health care for people recently released from incarceration, with sometimes disastrous outcomes: A seminal 2007 study found that former prisoners in Washington state were 12 times more likely to die from all causes within two weeks of release, compared with the general population. The leading causes were drug overdoses, cardiovascular disease, homicide and suicide.

Because a disproportionate number of Black, Native and Hispanic people are incarcerated, lowering their death risk after release might reduce racial health disparities in the overall population.

In 2022, about 448,400 people were released from prison, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Under federal guidance released a year ago, states can connect prisoners with case managers 30-90 days before they are released to develop plans based on their health needs. The case manager can help the person make post-release appointments with primary care doctors, mental health counselors, substance use programs, and housing and food assistance.

States that want to extend Medicaid coverage to people in prison or jail must request a federal waiver to do so. At a minimum, participating states must provide case management, medication-assisted treatment for people with substance use disorders and a months supply of medication upon release, though states are free to do more.

Imagine if we had three months to prepare. Having a plan of action and even having appointments already scheduled for their needs  its going to be game changing.

 Alfonso Apu, director of behavioral health services at Community Medical Services Inc. in California

The Health and Reentry Project, a policy analysis organization focused on health care for former prisoners, called the new policy groundbreaking.

What these waivers enable states to do is build a bridge to access to health care  a bridge that starts before someones released and continues after their release, said Vikki Wachino, executive director of the Health and Reentry Project and a former deputy director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Its about starting the process before they leave prisons and jails, so that they can have stronger connections to health care providers and treatment providers after they leave prison and jail.

As of last month, federal officials had approved waiver applications from four states  California, Massachusetts, Montana and Washington. Nearly 20 other states are waiting for approval, according to health research organization KFF.

Jack Rollins, director of federal policy at the National Association of Medicaid Directors, said states that want to participate are focusing on different incarcerated populations and medical conditions. Some would start with jails, others with state prisons or youth detention facilities. Some states would provide coverage to all inmates, others just to those with a substance use disorder.

Source: KFF Analysis of Section 1115 Waivers posted to Medicaid.gov

Washington will cover people incarcerated in jails, prisons and youth correctional facilities beginning three months before they are released, an estimated 4,000 people each year. It will connect them to community health workers, bring in doctors and counselors for consultations, and provide lab services and X-rays.

Montana will limit its program to people in state prisons who have a substance use disorder or mental illness and will provide services beginning a month before release. It did not give an estimate of how many people would receive help each year.

Under its still-pending application waiver for its Keystones of Health program, Pennsylvania would suspend Medicaid coverage during incarceration instead of terminating it, help people apply for coverage prior to their release and maintain coverage for a least a year after release, according to a fact sheet. It will connect them to healthcare providers and community services, provide medication assisted treatment for substance use disorder prior to release and provide a 30-day supply of prescriptions on release.

California, where an estimated 200,000 people will be covered each year, also included community health workers in its plan. Dr. Shira Shavit, executive director of the Transitions Clinic Network, a California-based national network of clinics focused on formerly incarcerated people, said ex-prisoners are especially well suited for that role.

Shavit said her group consults them on where to locate new clinics and on strategies to reach recently released inmates, because the workers are adept at knowing where people are when they come out into the community and finding them there.

Research suggests that connecting recently released people with others who know what its like to be incarcerated makes it less likely that they will end up in the emergency room.

They know how to connect with people, and people trust them, and will follow them to come to clinic and feel comfortable coming, Shavit said.

Alfonso Apu, director of behavioral health services at Community Medical Centers Inc., a California network of neighborhood health centers that serves patients in San Joaquin, Solano and Yolo counties, said its easy to lose people once they are released.

The complexity of these patients is so intense that they are going to need three, four, five hours of encounters with primary care every month, at least, Apu said.

Imagine if we had three months to prepare, he said. Having a plan of action and even having appointments already scheduled for their needs  its going to be game changing.

Dr. Evan Ashkin is a physician who founded the Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program at the University of North Carolina, a network of community health centers that works with local health departments, clinics and community health workers to connect former inmates with health care. He agreed that employing community health workers who share the experience of previous incarceration is essential.

Im hoping well be able to expand this workforce, Ashkin said. In our state, North Carolina, theres not a lot of folks focusing on access to health care for people post-release.

North Carolina is awaiting word on its application.

Ashkin added that racial equity issues are really important.

We have to have our eyes wide open on the type of services we provide, that they are set up to bring in the communities most impacted, he said.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Many states are eager to extend Medicaid to people soon to be released from prison appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
Many states are eager to extend Medicaid to people soon to be released from prison

Community health worker Ron Sanders, right, helps a patient at San Franciscos Southeast Family Health Center, part of the Transitions Clinic Network that assists former inmates navigate health care after release. A new policy allows states to provide Medicaid health care coverage to inmates for specific services 30-90 days before their release. (Photo courtesy of Transitions Clinic Network)

A new policy that allows states to provide Medicaid health care coverage to incarcerated people at least a month prior to their release has drawn bipartisan interest and a slew of state applications.

Federal policy has long prohibited Medicaid spending on people who are incarcerated in jails or prisons, except for hospitalization. As a result, when people are released, they typically dont have health insurance and many struggle to find health care providers and get needed treatment. In a population that is disproportionately likely to have chronic conditions such as heart disease and substance use disorders, that can be deadly.

Some states terminate residents Medicaid coverage when theyre incarcerated, while others just suspend it. Either approach can cause delays in seeking health care for people recently released from incarceration, with sometimes disastrous outcomes: A seminal 2007 study found that former prisoners in Washington state were 12 times more likely to die from all causes within two weeks of release, compared with the general population. The leading causes were drug overdoses, cardiovascular disease, homicide and suicide.

Because a disproportionate number of Black, Native and Hispanic people are incarcerated, lowering their death risk after release might reduce racial health disparities in the overall population.

In 2022, about 448,400 people were released from prison, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Under federal guidance released a year ago, states can connect prisoners with case managers 30-90 days before they are released to develop plans based on their health needs. The case manager can help the person make post-release appointments with primary care doctors, mental health counselors, substance use programs, and housing and food assistance.

States that want to extend Medicaid coverage to people in prison or jail must request a federal waiver to do so. At a minimum, participating states must provide case management, medication-assisted treatment for people with substance use disorders and a months supply of medication upon release, though states are free to do more.

Imagine if we had three months to prepare. Having a plan of action and even having appointments already scheduled for their needs  its going to be game changing.

 Alfonso Apu, director of behavioral health services at Community Medical Centers Inc., in California

The Health and Reentry Project, a policy analysis organization focused on health care for former prisoners, called the new policy groundbreaking.

What these waivers enable states to do is build a bridge to access to health care  a bridge that starts before someones released and continues after their release, said Vikki Wachino, executive director of the Health and Reentry Project and a former deputy director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Its about starting the process before they leave prisons and jails, so that they can have stronger connections to health care providers and treatment providers after they leave prison and jail.

As of last month, federal officials had approved waiver applications from four states  California, Massachusetts, Montana and Washington. Nearly 20 other states are waiting for approval, according to health research organization KFF.

Jack Rollins, director of federal policy at the National Association of Medicaid Directors, said states that want to participate are focusing on different incarcerated populations and medical conditions. Some would start with jails, others with state prisons or youth detention facilities. Some states would provide coverage to all inmates, others just to those with a substance use disorder.

Washington, for example, will cover people incarcerated in jails, prisons and youth correctional facilities beginning three months before they are released, an estimated 4,000 people each year. It will connect them to community health workers, bring in doctors and counselors for consultations, and provide lab services and X-rays.

Montana will limit its program to people in state prisons who have a substance use disorder or mental illness and will provide services beginning a month before release. It did not give an estimate of how many people would receive help each year.

California, where an estimated 200,000 people will be covered each year, also included community health workers in its plan. Dr. Shira Shavit, executive director of the Transitions Clinic Network, a California-based national network of clinics focused on formerly incarcerated people, said ex-prisoners are especially well suited for that role.

Shavit said her group consults them on where to locate new clinics and on strategies to reach recently released inmates, because the workers are adept at knowing where people are when they come out into the community and finding them there.

community health worker outside building talks to patient

Community health worker Ron Sanders, standing, talks with a patient outside Southeast Family Health Center in San Francisco. (Photo courtesy of Transitions Clinic Network)

Research suggests that connecting recently released people with others who know what its like to be incarcerated makes it less likely that they will end up in the emergency room.

They know how to connect with people, and people trust them, and will follow them to come to clinic and feel comfortable coming, Shavit said.

Alfonso Apu, director of behavioral health services at Community Medical Centers Inc., a California network of neighborhood health centers that serves patients in San Joaquin, Solano and Yolo counties, said its easy to lose people once they are released.

The complexity of these patients is so intense that they are going to need three, four, five hours of encounters with primary care every month, at least, Apu said.

Imagine if we had three months to prepare, he said. Having a plan of action and even having appointments already scheduled for their needs  its going to be game changing.

Dr. Evan Ashkin is a physician who founded the Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program at the University of North Carolina, a network of community health centers that works with local health departments, clinics and community health workers to connect former inmates with health care. He agreed that employing community health workers who share the experience of previous incarceration is essential.

Im hoping well be able to expand this workforce, Ashkin said. In our state, North Carolina, theres not a lot of folks focusing on access to health care for people post-release.

North Carolina is awaiting word on its application.

Ashkin added that racial equity issues are really important.

We have to have our eyes wide open on the type of services we provide, that they are set up to bring in the communities most impacted, he said.

Editors note: This story has been updated to more accurately describe the Health and Reentry Project.

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On May 4, 2024, the U.S. Marine Corps new Amphibious Combat Vehicle was employed overseas for the first time during its initial deployment. As part of Exercise Balikatan 2024, an annual bilateral exercise between the U.S. and the Philippines, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Units ACV platoon launched from the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) in Oyster Bay, Philippines. This marked the first operational employment of the Marines new swimming armored vehicle.

An ACV rolls out of USS Harpers Ferry (U.S. Marine Corps)

After splashing into the water, the ACVs organized into assault sections. They then closed with and engaged multiple targets on the shore of Oyster Bay. The ACVs were armed with externally-mounted Mk 19 40mm belt-fed automatic grenade launchers controlled by Remote Weapons Systems. The simultaneous fire from the water was controlled and coordinated by the ACV Platoons section leaders; the ACV provides Marines with increased command and control capability while afloat as well as increased mobility ashore.

An ACV equipped with a Mk 19 (U.S. Marine Corps)

The exercise in Oyster Bay employed 40mm training grenades that marked impacts with orange chalk; high explosives were not used. After completing the waterborne gunnery, the ACVs remarked aboard Harpers Ferry. The hard work and dedication of our Marines is what made todays training successful, Col. Sean Dynan, 15th MEUs commanding officer, said in a DVIDS story. Todays training is a proof of concept across the Marine Corps for successful ACV employment in its intended environment.

An AAV in the Philippines during Balikatan 2019 (U.S. Marine Corps)

The ACV was adopted to supplement and eventually replace the Marine Corps Amphibious Assault Vehicle. First introduced in 1972, the AAV was not upgradeable to meet future Marine requirements. Moreover, the tragic deaths of eight Marines and a Navy Corpsman during an AAV sinking in July 2020 saw the Marine Corps ban the vehicle from maritime operations. With increased urgency to introduce the ACV, the delivery of the first 18 vehicles was announced in October 2020. Full-rate production was announced two months later.

The Marines also conducted an ACV towing exercise during Balikatan 2024 (U.S. Marine Corps)

Based on the Italian Iveco SuperAV eight-wheel drive tactical vehicle, the ACV is made by Iveco in collaboration with BAE Systems. Under the ACV Family of Vehicles, the Marine Corps plans to develop and introduce the following variants: the ACV-C command and control variant, the ACV-30 infantry fighting variant equipped with a 30mm chain gun, the ACV-R maintenance/recovery variant, and the ACV-P personnel carrier variant that carries 14 Marines in addition to its crew of three. The Mk19s used in Oyster Bay can also be substituted for M2 .50-cal Browning Machine Guns.

ACVs prepare to reembark USS Harpers Ferry (U.S. Marine Corps)

As the ACVs are fielded in the fleet, the Corps will test and validate its employment, embarkation, maintenance, logistical requirements, and integration with allies and partners. As the Marines prepare to fight future battles, the ACV will be critical to littoral operations in contested environments.
The Marine Corps has banned Marines from using personal cellphones and other devices during training exercises, armed duty, high-risk training and aviation operations.

Previous guidance on personal portable electronic devices  a category that includes cellphones, laptops, tablets, smart watches, portable gaming systems, digital cameras and Bluetooth headphones  had given unit commanders more leeway to set their own policies. But a Marine Corps order dated March 26, signed by Commandant Gen. Eric Smith, tightens the service-wide rules about the devices, citing a host of risks the technology can cause.

The order comes as part of a broader effort by the Marine Corps to rein in Marines use of personal electronic devices at work.

Personal portable electronic device use can reduce situational awareness, compromise privacy, and threaten operations security, the order states.

The order tells commanders to issue unit-specific policies that align with the Marine Corps new restrictions.

Under the new rules, Marines conducting training exercises in the field should not carry personal devices. Commanders may authorize limited use of the devices in the areas where Marines have set up their temporary camps.

Marines who are standing armed duty cant carry personal devices, the order states. Nor can Marines carry them during high-risk training events  such as live-fire training, water survival training, obstacle courses or rappel training  regardless of whether they are receiving or administering the training.

Operators and crew members of government-owned vehicles and equipment are barred from device use that creates unreasonable risks to mission or good order and discipline while operating such vehicle/equipment.

Personal devices are prohibited from areas actively involved with Marine Corps aviation operations, meaning hangars, flightlines, aircraft maintenance spaces, briefing areas and aircraft.

The ban on device use during aviation operations comes with some exceptions. Aircraft passengers who arent members of the crew may use their devices with approval from the aircraft commander. Aircrew members who dont have government-issued devices may carry powered-off personal devices as a last-resort form of communication for emergencies.

The order allows commanders of battalions or larger organizations to set temporary, situation-dependent exceptions to the rules, but commanders cant make permanent exceptions based on billet, rank or seniority.

The Marine Corps wants a cultural shift in how Marines use devices, according to the order. Leaders are expected to teach their Marines about the risks posed by devices and use tools to monitor device emissions.

When Marines break the new rules, commanders are required to report the violations and deal with them as they see fit.

Yet the order urges a gentle approach to enforcement: Where applicable, commanders are encouraged to use PPED violations as learning/training opportunities to both educate on the operational risks of PPEDs, while providing Marines the opportunity to learn from their mistakes without derailing their future career.

The order does not apply to Marines official government-issued devices.

The Corps previous guidance on personal devices, a 2016 white letter from then-Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, had restricted device use during live-fire training, swim training, and vehicle and aircraft operations but otherwise had left it up to commanders to make their own rules.

No texting for official business

The order from March is the second time in recent months the Corps has restricted Marines use of personal devices.

The service announced in a Marine administrative message in December 2023 and reiterated in a Marine Corps bulletin in February that Marines had to use their Microsoft Teams accounts or government emails for official business. That means Marines arent allowed to transmit official information via text, even on their government-issued devices.

When Marines inadvertently do business on their personal devices, they must screenshot the content and send it to their own government email accounts with the subject line Official Record of Text Messages, the bulletin states.

Official business includes Any contact with a media outlet by any member of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) acting in an official capacity, according to the bulletin.

In February, Marine Corps Times asked the office of Deputy Commandant for Information Lt. Gen. Matthew Glavy if that meant Marine public affairs officers providing information on background or junior Marines discussing the dire conditions of their barracks would have to disclose their communications with journalists to records officials.

More than a month after receiving that query, Capt. Karen Jensen, a spokeswoman for the office, responded via email, Unfortunately, I cannot speculate on the various ways records could be created in the future. Marines are expected to abide by policy regarding records retention in all cases.

Records serve as evidence and documentation of an agencys operations, decisions, policies, procedures, functions, and other activities and will be maintained in accordance with guidance issued by the National Archives and Records Administration, Jensen said in the emailed statement. The Marine Corps is committed to upholding these standards.

You will be attacked

Since many of the younger Marines in the force have grown up with smartphones, it is a challenge to limit use of the devices, Marine leaders have said in recent years.

In 2016, Neller recounted a training exercise in which the electromagnetic signature from Marines personal cellphones made it easy to identify the location of a particular area in the headquarters, CNN reported. He cautioned Marines to leave their devices behind before going to the field: Because if you can be seen, you will be attacked.

In 2022, then-Commandant Gen. David Berger said one lesson from Russias war in Ukraine is personal cellphones can get troops tracked  and killed.

How a popular running app reveals the discreet routines of life on base

Every time you press a button, youre emitting, Berger said. Every Marine, every soldier, every sailor grows up with these now. They dont think anything about pressing a button  this is what they do all day long.

The Army, meanwhile, has partially embraced the use of personal cellphones. Approximately 20,000 soldiers and Army civilians were approved for a bring-your-own-device initiative in 2023 that allows users to conduct official business from their personal phones through a secure cloud-based app, C4ISRNET previously reported.

Lt. Gen. John Morrison, a top Army cyber official, said in August 2023 the process was very, very, very secure.

Its more efficient, more effective, and, quite frankly, if you want to reach me on the weekend, call me on my personal device, he said.
The Marine Corps' new amphibious combat vehicle, or ACV, debuted in the Philippines as part of its first overseas deployment after more than a year-and-a-half of limited operations.

Marines aboard ACVs launched from amphibious ships in the Pacific on Saturday to conduct live-fire training in the Philippines, the service said in a statement. The Marine unit involved in the training was the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU, a unit out of Camp Pendleton, California, which deployed this spring for partner exercises across the Pacific.

The ACV was involved in multiple rollovers in 2022, which did not result in any injuries or deaths then, but the Corps temporarily pulled the vehicles from service to better train Marines in operating them. Amid the preparation for its deployment to the Pacific this year, a Marine was killed in an on-land ACV rollover incident in December.

Read Next: Meet the First 'Space Cowboys': 3 Guardians Complete Arduous Army Cavalry Spur Ride

"The hard work and dedication of our Marines is what made today's training successful," Col. Sean Dynan, commanding officer of the 15th MEU, said in a statement Saturday. "Today's training is a proof of concept across the Marine Corps for successful ACV employment in its intended environment."

The deployment of the vehicle occurred during Exercise Balikatan '24, which involved U.S. training with the Philippine military meant to build the partnership and counter Chinese influence in the region.

A platoon of ACV Marines left the USS Harpers Ferry and attacked targets along the shore of Oyster Bay, Philippines, with MK19 grenade launchers. After wrapping up the attack, the ACVs reembarked aboard the Harpers Ferry.

In 2022, the vehicle rolled over twice on land, which prompted the Marine Corps to pull the ACV from surf operations while it recertified crews to operate it. Late last year, a Marine with the 15th MEU, Sgt. Matthew Bylski, died after the vehicle rolled over on land during an exercise to prepare for the unit's current deployment.

The following month, after the Corps said it had recertify its crews, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Chris Mahoney, announced that the ACV was again operating in the surf and the 15th MEU would be deploying with them to the Pacific.

The new ACVs can deploy from amphibious ships, travel across the water and take beachheads. It replaced a decades-old platform that had a troubled history, including a 2020 incident that resulted in the deaths of eight Marines and one sailor.

That vehicle, called the amphibious assault vehicle, or AAV, had been used since the 1970s. It was lighter and had tracks, different from the wheeled ACV, which weighs roughly 70,000 pounds when fully loaded.

The 15th MEU is deployed as part of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, or ARG, which includes the Harpers Ferry and USS Somerset.

Part of the 15th MEU's deployment in April was met with trouble due to the readiness of the USS Boxer, the ARG's namesake. After suffering engineering issues, the Boxer returned to San Diego, causing Marines and sailors to be offloaded so repairs could be made.

The Boxer had already been delayed by months, Military.com previously reported, due to maintenance issues.

Editors note: this story has been updated to correct the name of the amphibious combat vehicle.

Related: Troubled USS Boxer Returns Home 10 Days into Deployment Due to Maintenance Issue
WASHINGTON  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said last week that she would force the House of Representatives to hold a referendum on whether to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) this week, but so far shes not doing it.

Greene emerged from a meeting with Johnson on Tuesday saying that the ball is in Mike Johnsons court to act on a set of suggestions for running the House that she and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) presented to the speaker.

Asked about the timeline for Johnson to respond, Greene wouldnt be specific.

Thats up to Mike Johnson, and it cant drag out, she said. These are things that have to be done.

The suggestions  Greene and Massie have insisted that they arent demands  include only allowing votes on bills with support from a majority of Republicans, not providing further funding for Ukraine, and defunding the special counsel prosecuting former President Donald Trump.

Only two Republicans have said that they would support Greenes move against Johnson, while Democrats have said that they would vote to bail out Johnson, meaning her resolution would certainly fail. But she said she would do it anyway to show that Johnson was effectively a Democrat.

Its not clear if Greene wants a handshake from Johnson, some sort of written pledge, or what.

Obviously, you cant make things happen instantly, and we all are aware and understanding of that, Greene said. So now the ball is in his court and hes supposed to be reaching out to us, hopefully soon.

Johnson, for his part, said Tuesday that his talks with Greene and Massie are not a negotiation, and that he has similar meetings with members from all over the Republican conference.

And Johnson said the idea of reining in special counsels is something that Republicans have wanted to do for a while, before Greene and Massie made their suggestion.

Theres discussion this week, as there has been for a long, long time, about what is the most effective way for Congress to take the reins of that and ensure that the special counsels are not abusing the law themselves, Johnson said.

In other words, Johnson, who has previously said that Greenes ouster threat is bad for the Republican party and the country, has offered no concession to Greene except for meeting with her in his office.

The problem is, Republicans have very few bargaining chips with which to try to force Democrats to agree to any of Greenes demands, unlike earlier in the year when the government needed funding. The last must-pass bill before fall is for reauthorizing federal aviation programs. That legislation could wind up being targeted, though, to carry any concessions Johnson may agree to, and it was reportedly discussed by Johnson and Greene at Tuesdays meeting.

While Greene warned Johnson against dragging the dispute out, she started the fight back on March 22, when she filed the initial motion to toss him from the speakers chair. Then she described it as a warning shot to get Johnson to fight harder against Democrats, and she has publicly warned several times since then that she would ask for a vote. She particularly warned Johnson against allowing a vote on aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russias invasion, but he did it anyway.

Greene and many other Republicans who are angry but do not support her move are upset over Johnson allowing floor votes on an annual spending deal, government authority to spy on foreigners abroad and a $61 billion Ukraine aid package, as well as his tacit acceptance of Democratic help to stay in power.

Asked why she said last week that she would force the vote on her motion to vacate this week but isnt doing so, Greene said that shes just being patient.

What Im trying to do is give Mike Johnson a chance to be a Republican speaker, and he seems willing to try to do that again, she said.
Marjorie Taylor Greene says outcome up to Mike Johnson after threatening his removal

Marjorie Taylor Greene said on Tuesday the outcome of her call to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is now in his hands.

This development comes after the speaker, Ms Greene and her ally Representative Thomas Massie met for some 90 minutes on Tuesday afternoon. They previously met on Monday for over an hour.

After the second meeting, Ms Greene told reporters the ball is in Mr Johnsons court.

We will see, she told reporters. It is up to Mike Johnson.

The GOP duo want Mr Johnson to block future Ukraine aid. They also want him to defund Special Counsel Jack Smiths probes into Donald Trump. Mr Smith is investigating the classified documents case and the 6 January riots. These asks are largely symbolic because the US Senate and President Joe Biden would likely block them.

Before Tuesdays meeting, Ms Greene told The Independent the speaker has been working with Democrats the entire time.

[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what hes delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda, Ms Greene told The Independent.

Key Points

Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks to The Independent about her fight against Speaker Johnson

Its not a negotiation, Speaker Johnson says of meeting with MTG

Why is Marjorie Taylor Greene calling to oust Speaker Mike Johnson?

Freedom Caucus member gives The Independent his thoughts on ousting effort

Marjorie Taylor Greene turns her hostage situation into a circus

Donald Trump wants MTG to stand down: report

Marjorie Taylor Greene meeting with Mike Johnson as she vows to call for his removal

Monday 6 May 2024 16:34 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson privately on Monday afternoon, PBS NewsHours Lisa Desjardins reports.

Ms Greene, a Georgia Republican, vowed last week to call a vote to remove Mr Johnson from his position. If Ms Greene triggers a privileged motion on her motion to vacate, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours on his removal.

However, Democrats have signalled they will vote to save Mr Johnson if the vote is triggered, meaning he will likely survive.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (left) and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (right) pictured speak to one another in the US Capitol in April. Ms Greene vowed to force a vote on Mr Johnsons removal this week (Getty Images)

What is a motion to vacate?

Monday 6 May 2024 16:45 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene plans to call a motion to vacate against Speaker Mike Johnson. If Ms Greene triggers a privileged motion on her motion to vacate, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours on his removal.

Read more about how a motion to vacate works  and how the process was used to oust the last Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy:

What is a motion to vacate? The process Matt Gaetz triggered to oust Kevin McCarthy

Why is Marjorie Taylor Greene calling to oust Speaker Mike Johnson?

Monday 6 May 2024 17:01 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, vowed to trigger a vote on Speaker Mike Johnsons removal this week.

Ms Greenes efforts to remove the Speaker are supported by Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky. The pair have criticised Mr Johnsons reliance on and willingness to work with Democrats on passing several bills, including the supplemental foreign aid legislation for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Read more about Ms Greenes gripes with Mr Johnson from The Independents Washington, DC Bureau Chief, Eric Garcia:

Marjorie Taylor Greene says shell trigger no-confidence vote on Johnson next week

Democrats say they would save Republican speaker amid possible effort to oust him

Monday 6 May 2024 17:15 , Katie Hawkinson

House Democrats have announced that they will vote to save Speaker Mike Johnson if far-right Republicans choose to trigger a motion to vacate to remove him.

The motion is being pushed by MAGA Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, but it has struggled to garner support even among some of the Republicans who voted to oust Mr Johnsons predecessor as speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

Mr Johnson has faced criticism from the right flank of his party after going ahead with a vote to send aid to Ukraine as part of a $95bn foreign aid package that also included funds for Israel and Taiwan.

Read more from Gustaf Kilander and Eric Garcia:

Democrats say they would save Republican speaker amid possible effort to oust him

Representative Thomas Massie backs vow to vote on Mike Johnson ouster

Monday 6 May 2024 17:30 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, is standing beside Marjorie Taylor Greene and her call to vote on ousting Speaker Mike Johnson this week.

This week we vote on whether Mike Johnson should remain as Speaker, Mr Massie wrote on X. If youre happy with what hes done this year and if youre looking forward to what he will do the remainder of the year, you should join the Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries in supporting Mike Johnson.

This week we vote on whether Mike Johnson should remain as Speaker.



If youre happy with what hes done this year and if youre looking forward to what he will do the remainder of the year, you should join the Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries in supporting Mike Johnson. #uniparty  Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 5, 2024

ICYMI: Republican lawmaker doesnt mince his words about Marjorie Taylor Greene: She is a total waste of time

Monday 6 May 2024 18:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Republican Senator Thom Tillis called one of his House colleagues a waste of time, a bad leader, and a threat to the future of the GOP, according to a recent report.

CNNs Erin Burnett played an audio recording of the senator trashing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene during her show on Tuesday.

I think shes uninformed, she is a total waste of time, Mr Tillis says on the recording. She is a horrible leader. She is dragging our brand down. She  not the Democrats  [is] the biggest risk to us getting back to a majority.

Ms Greene has frustrated some members of her party by crusading against Mike Johnson, the current speaker of the House. Mr Johnson was installed after Congressman Matt Gaetz led a successful, though extremely unpopular campaign to remove Kevin McCarthy, then-speaker of the House.

Mr Gaetz reportedly moved to have Mr McCarthy replaced because the former speaker agreed with Democrats to pass a vote that would keep the government operating.

Read on:

Republican lawmaker on Marjorie Taylor Greene: She is a total waste of time

WATCH: Last week, Marjorie Taylor Greene pledged to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson

Monday 6 May 2024 18:30 , Katie Hawkinson

We need to get our act together: GOP representative condemns Greenes call to oust Johnson

Monday 6 May 2024 19:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, said Marjorie Taylor Greenes motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson cant succeed.

We need to get our act together and come together for the betterment of our country...I don't know why she's doing this because the votes aren't there, Ms Mace said of her colleague on Monday morning. She's gonna lose the motion to vacate.

Nancy Mace on Marjorie Taylor Greene's motion to vacate: "She's gonna lose. I don't know why she's doing this because the votes aren't there." pic.twitter.com/j64Wxe2nv8  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 6, 2024

Mike Johnson says he doesnt know if motion to vacate will be brought today

Monday 6 May 2024 19:30 , Katie Hawkinson

In a brief gaggle with reporters Monday afternoon, Speaker Mike Johnson said he didnt know if Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene would force a motion to vacate vote today.

I dont know, Mr Johnson said as he walked through the halls of the US Capitol. I just gotta do my job right now.

Asked by @ChadPergram if Johnson thinks a motion to vacate will be brought today



Speaker Johnson: I dont know. I just gotta do my job right now. pic.twitter.com/1kSLNh1VBA  Sam Lisker (@slisker) May 6, 2024

Ms Greene and Mr Johnson are set to have a private meeting in less than one hour.

ICYMI: Three reasons Mike Johnsons job is safe  and one reason it might not be

Monday 6 May 2024 20:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Read analysis on why Marjorie Taylor Greenes motion to vacate against Speaker Mike Johnson could fail, from The Independents Washington Bureau Chief Eric Garcia:

Three reasons Mike Johnsons job is safe  and one reason it might not be

Speaker Mike Johnson set to meet with Marjorie Taylor Greene momentarily

Monday 6 May 2024 20:30 , Katie Hawkinson

Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene is set to meet with Speaker Mike Johnson privately at 3:30pm, PBS NewsHours Lisa Desjardins reports.

Ms Greene vowed last week to force a vote to remove Mr Johnson from his role as Speaker of the House. If Ms Greene triggers a privileged motion, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours.

Marjorie Taylor Greene now in Speakers office

Monday 6 May 2024 20:57 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene entered Speaker Mike Johnsons office just minutes ago, Punchbowl News reports.

MTG entered the speakers office without saying anything to a large group of reporters.  Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 6, 2024

She reportedly did not speak to reporters on her way in.

WATCH: Representative Nancy Mace condemns Marjorie Taylor Greenes efforts to oust Speaker Johnson

Monday 6 May 2024 21:00 , Katie Hawkinson

MTG faces some GOP opposition to her ousting effort

Monday 6 May 2024 21:29 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene is currently meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson after vowing to force a vote to oust him this week.

Amid these rising tensions, some GOP representatives and senators are pushing back against her call.

Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, said Ms Greene wont succeed.

We need to get our act together and come together for the betterment of our country...I dont know why shes doing this because the votes arent there, Ms Mace said of her colleague on Monday morning.

GOP Senator Thom Tillis called Ms Greene uninformed and a waste of time last month as she called to oust Mr Johnson.

Democratic leadership also said last week they would vote to save Mr Johnson.

Meeting with Greene, Johnson stretches past one hour mark

Monday 6 May 2024 22:02 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Speaker Mike Johnson have been in a private meeting for more than an hour, according to Fox News Chad Pergram.

The pair are meeting after Ms Greene vowed to force a vote to oust Mr Johnson this week.

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie walk through the US Capitol to Speaker Mike Johnsons office on 6 May 2024. Ms Greene is meeting with Mr Johnson on Monday afternoon about her efforts to oust him (Getty Images)

ANALYSIS: Marjorie Taylor Greenes exercise in vanity has failed  spectacularly

Monday 6 May 2024 22:30 , Katie Hawkinson

Tuesday should have been the perfect day for Marjorie Taylor Greene to trigger her motion to vacate. It had been more than a week since the House had voted on the foreign aid package that provided assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. That vote allowed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to blast isolationists in the Republican party and gloat at their diminished power. MTG was poised to bite back.

Instead, on Tuesday, Democrats threw House Speaker Mike Johnson a lifeline. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar all said they would join in a motion to table Greenes motion, specifically citing the right-wing conspiracy theorist from Georgia as their reason for doing so.

Read more analysis from Eric Garcia, Washington, DC Bureau Chief for The Independent:

Marjorie Taylor Greenes exercise in vanity just failed  spectacularly

Marjorie Taylor Greene ends meeting

Monday 6 May 2024 22:47 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene has ended her meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson.

The two plan to meet again tomorrow, she told reporters waiting outside the Speakers office.

>@mtgreene PUMPS THE BREAKS: she says shell meet with Johnson again tomorrow.  Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 6, 2024

ICYMI: What is MUGA, and why is Marjorie Taylor Greene using the acronym?

Monday 6 May 2024 23:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene says her fellow representatives will need to choose between MAGA or MUGA as her attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson moves ahead.

On Wednesday, the right-wing Georgia firebrand, accompanied by fellow right-wing Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said she will call a privileged motion next week that would trigger an automatic vote within 48 hours over Johnsons removal.

Ms Greene and Mr Massie criticised Mr Johnsons reliance on Democrats to pass everything from spending bills to reauthorisation of surveillance legislation and aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. They blasted work between Mr Johnson and Mr Jeffries as a culmination of the uniparty.

Ms Greene then brandished a hat that said MUGA.

The uniparty is Make Ukraine Great Again, she said. The uniparty is about funding every single foreign war. They think this is the business model that needs to be done.

Read more:

Marjorie Taylor Greene says shell trigger no-confidence vote on Johnson next week

Mike Johnson says he can get everyone on the same page'

Monday 6 May 2024 23:02 , Katie Hawkinson

Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News he thinks he can get everyone on the same page after meeting with Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday afternoon.

Ms Greene told reporters the duo plans to meet on Tuesday as well.

Mr Johnson also told Fox News he spoke with former president Donald Trump today amid Ms Greenes calls for his removal.

VIDEO: Johnson says he thinks he can get everyone on the same page following his meeting with Rep MTG



JOHNSON did speak to Trump today as well https://t.co/qjTtQ5vwOw pic.twitter.com/OfOjEYiTBp  Kelly Phares (@kellyfphares) May 6, 2024

What is a motion to vacate?

Tuesday 7 May 2024 00:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene plans to call a motion to vacate against Speaker Mike Johnson. If Ms Greene triggers a privileged motion on her motion to vacate, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours on his removal.

Read more about how a motion to vacate works  and how the process was used to oust the last Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy:

What is a motion to vacate? The process Matt Gaetz triggered to oust Kevin McCarthy

WATCH: GOP Representative Nancy Mace condemns Marjorie Taylor Greenes efforts to oust Speaker Johnson

Tuesday 7 May 2024 01:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Why is Marjorie Taylor Greene calling to oust Speaker Mike Johnson?

Tuesday 7 May 2024 02:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, vowed to trigger a vote on Speaker Mike Johnsons removal this week.

Ms Greenes efforts to remove the Speaker are supported by Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky. The pair have criticised Mr Johnsons reliance on and willingness to work with Democrats on passing several bills, including the supplemental foreign aid legislation for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Read more about Ms Greenes gripes with Mr Johnson from The Independents Washington, DC Bureau Chief, Eric Garcia:

Marjorie Taylor Greene says shell trigger no-confidence vote on Johnson next week

Tuesday 7 May 2024 03:00 , Katie Hawkinson

ICYMI: Republican lawmaker doesnt mince his words about Marjorie Taylor Greene: She is a total waste of time

Republican Senator Thom Tillis called one of his House colleagues a waste of time, a bad leader, and a threat to the future of the GOP, according to a recent report.

CNNs Erin Burnett played an audio recording of the senator trashing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene during her show on Tuesday.

I think shes uninformed, she is a total waste of time, Mr Tillis says on the recording. She is a horrible leader. She is dragging our brand down. She  not the Democrats  [is] the biggest risk to us getting back to a majority.

Ms Greene has frustrated some members of her party by crusading against Mike Johnson, the current speaker of the House. Mr Johnson was installed after Congressman Matt Gaetz led a successful, though extremely unpopular campaign to remove Kevin McCarthy, then-speaker of the House.

Read on:

Republican lawmaker on Marjorie Taylor Greene: She is a total waste of time

ICYMI: Greene faces some GOP opposition to her ousting effort

Tuesday 7 May 2024 04:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Some GOP Congressmembers condemned Representative Marjorie Taylor Greenes efforts to oust Speaker Mike Johnson.

Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, said Ms Greene wont succeed.

We need to get our act together and come together for the betterment of our country...I dont know why shes doing this because the votes arent there, Ms Mace said of her colleague on Monday morning.

GOP Senator Thom Tillis called Ms Greene uninformed and a waste of time last month as she called to oust Mr Johnson.

Democratic leadership also said last week they would vote to save Mr Johnson.

ICYMI: Marjorie Taylor Greene threatens to trigger motion to vacate Mike Johnson

Tuesday 7 May 2024 05:01 , Katie Hawkinson

ICYMI: Democrats say they would save Republican speaker amid possible effort to oust him

Tuesday 7 May 2024 07:00 , Katie Hawkinson

House Democrats have announced that they will vote to save Speaker Mike Johnson if far-right Republicans choose to trigger a motion to vacate to remove him.

The motion is being pushed by MAGA Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, but it has struggled to garner support even among some of the Republicans who voted to oust Mr Johnsons predecessor as speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

Mr Johnson has faced criticism from the right flank of his party after going ahead with a vote to send aid to Ukraine as part of a $95bn foreign aid package that also included funds for Israel and Taiwan.

Read more from Gustaf Kilander and Eric Garcia:

Democrats say they would save Republican speaker amid possible effort to oust him

ANALYSIS: Marjorie Taylor Greenes exercise in vanity has failed  spectacularly

Tuesday 7 May 2024 09:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Last Tuesday should have been the perfect day for Marjorie Taylor Greene to trigger her motion to vacate. It had been more than a week since the House had voted on the foreign aid package that provided assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. That vote allowed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to blast isolationists in the Republican party and gloat at their diminished power. MTG was poised to bite back.

Instead, Democrats threw House Speaker Mike Johnson a lifeline. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar all said they would join in a motion to table Greenes motion, specifically citing the right-wing conspiracy theorist from Georgia as their reason for doing so.

Read more analysis from Eric Garcia, Washington, DC Bureau Chief for The Independent:

Marjorie Taylor Greenes exercise in vanity just failed  spectacularly

ICYMI: What is MUGA, and why is Marjorie Taylor Greene using the acronym?

Tuesday 7 May 2024 11:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene says her fellow representatives will need to choose between MAGA or MUGA as her attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson moves ahead.

On Wednesday, the right-wing Georgia firebrand, accompanied by fellow right-wing Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said she will call a privileged motion next week that would trigger an automatic vote within 48 hours over Johnsons removal.

Ms Greene and Mr Massie criticised Mr Johnsons reliance on Democrats to pass everything from spending bills to reauthorisation of surveillance legislation and aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. They blasted work between Mr Johnson and Mr Jeffries as a culmination of the uniparty.

Ms Greene then brandished a hat that said MUGA.

The uniparty is Make Ukraine Great Again, she said. The uniparty is about funding every single foreign war. They think this is the business model that needs to be done.

Read more:

Marjorie Taylor Greene says shell trigger no-confidence vote on Johnson next week

Representative Thomas Massie backs vow to vote on Mike Johnson ouster

Tuesday 7 May 2024 12:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, is standing beside Marjorie Taylor Greene and her call to vote on ousting Speaker Mike Johnson this week.

This week we vote on whether Mike Johnson should remain as Speaker, Mr Massie wrote on X. If youre happy with what hes done this year and if youre looking forward to what he will do the remainder of the year, you should join the Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries in supporting Mike Johnson.

What is a motion to vacate?

Tuesday 7 May 2024 14:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene plans to call a motion to vacate against Speaker Mike Johnson. If Ms Greene triggers a privileged motion on her motion to vacate, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours on his removal.

Read more about how a motion to vacate works  and how the process was used to oust the last Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy:

What is a motion to vacate? The process Matt Gaetz triggered to oust Kevin McCarthy

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mike Johnson set to meet again

Tuesday 7 May 2024 14:30 , Katie Hawkinson

Georgia Republican Marjorie Talyor Greene and Speaker Mike Johnson will meet for a second time this afternoon.

Yesterday, their meeting lasted more than an hour after Ms Greene vowed to force a vote to remove Mr Johnson from his role as Speaker. If Ms Greene triggers a privileged motion, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours.

Her demands from Mr Johnson include a guarantee he will not pass more aid for Ukraine and a commitment to defunding Special Counsel Jack Smiths probes into former president Donald Trump, Punchbowl News reports. Mr Smiths investigations include the classified documents case and the 6 January 2021 riots probe.

However, these asks are largely symbolic, given the US Senate and President Joe Biden would likely block both of these moves.

ICYMI: GOP Representative Nancy Mace condemns Marjorie Taylor Greenes efforts to oust Speaker Johnson

Tuesday 7 May 2024 15:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Why are Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mike Johnson feuding over Ukraine?

Tuesday 7 May 2024 15:30 , Katie Hawkinson

Speaker Mike Johnson has faced criticism from Marjorie Taylor Greene and other far-right Republican representatives after going ahead with a vote to send aid to Ukraine as part of a $95bn foreign aid package that also included funds for Israel and Taiwan.

Now, Ms Greene wants him to commit to not passing any more aid to Ukraine, according to Punchbowl News.

The pair are set to meet for a second time this afternoon.

Its not a negotiation, Speaker Johnson says of meeting with MTG

Tuesday 7 May 2024 15:40 , Katie Hawkinson

Speaker Mike Johnson declared that his meetings with Marjorie Taylor Greene and her ally Thomas Massie are not a negotiation.

Yesterday, I met at some length with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie, Mr Johnson said at a Tuesday morning press conference. It was a good discussion, it was productive. Well visit again today. Its not a negotiation.

Mr Johnson, Ms Greene and Mr Massie all met on Monday afternoon for more than an hour. Ms Greene and Mr Massie are threatening to force a vote on Mr Johnsons removal this week.

On an hourly basis, I hear suggestions and thoughts from members, Mr Johnson continued. My door is open to members. Theres nothing unusual about this...This is not a negotiation at all.

I take Marjorie and Thomas ideas, and everyone elses, equally and we assess them on their own value.

Who is MTGs ally, Representative Thomas Massie?

Tuesday 7 May 2024 16:15 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, is joining Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene in calling for Speaker Mike Johnsons removal.

Mr Massie joined the meeting between Ms Greene and the speaker on Monday. He also opposes US aid to Ukraine, one of the chief complaints Ms Greene has against the speaker.

This week we vote on whether Mike Johnson should remain as Speaker, Mr Massie wrote on X. If youre happy with what hes done this year and if youre looking forward to what he will do the remainder of the year, you should join the Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries in supporting Mike Johnson.

This week we vote on whether Mike Johnson should remain as Speaker.



If youre happy with what hes done this year and if youre looking forward to what he will do the remainder of the year, you should join the Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries in supporting Mike Johnson. #uniparty  Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 5, 2024

ICYMI: Democrats say they would save Republican speaker amid possible effort to oust him

Tuesday 7 May 2024 16:30 , Katie Hawkinson

House Democrats have announced that they will vote to save Speaker Mike Johnson if far-right Republicans choose to trigger a motion to vacate to remove him.

The motion is being pushed by MAGA Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, but it has struggled to garner support even among some of the Republicans who voted to oust Mr Johnsons predecessor as speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

Mr Johnson has faced criticism from the right flank of his party after going ahead with a vote to send aid to Ukraine as part of a $95bn foreign aid package that also included funds for Israel and Taiwan.

Read more from Gustaf Kilander and Eric Garcia:

Democrats say they would save Republican speaker amid possible effort to oust him

Donald Trump wants MTG to stand down: report

Tuesday 7 May 2024 16:33 , Katie Hawkinson

Donald Trump spoke with Marjorie Taylor Greene over the weekend, asking her to step down in her fight to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, Politico reported, citing three GOP members.

Mr Johnson also confirmed to reporters on Monday afternoon he was in touch with the former president.

Ms Greene is demanding the speaker fight to defund Special Counsel Jack Smiths probes into Mr Trump, Punchbowl News reported.

Mr Smiths investigations into Mr Trump include the classified documents case and the Capitol riots probe.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and Mike Johnson set to meet again shortly

Tuesday 7 May 2024 17:01 , Katie Hawkinson

Georgia Republican Marjorie Talyor Greene, her ally Representative Thomas Massie and Speaker Mike Johnson will meet for a second time this afternoon around 12:30 pm local time.

Yesterday, their meeting lasted more than an hour after Ms Greene vowed to force a vote to remove Mr Johnson from his role as Speaker. If Ms Greene triggers a privileged motion, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours.

Her demands from Mr Johnson include a guarantee he will not pass more aid for Ukraine and a commitment to defunding Special Counsel Jack Smiths probes into former president Donald Trump, Punchbowl News reports. Mr Smiths investigations include the classified documents case and the 6 January 2021 riots probe.

However, these asks are largely symbolic, given the US Senate and President Joe Biden would likely block both of these moves.

What is a motion to vacate?

Tuesday 7 May 2024 17:30 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene plans to call a motion to vacate against Speaker Mike Johnson. If Ms Greene triggers a privileged motion on her motion to vacate, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours on his removal.

Read more about how a motion to vacate works  and how the process was used to oust the last Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy:

What is a motion to vacate? The process Matt Gaetz triggered to oust Kevin McCarthy

Marjorie Taylor Greene enters Mike Johnsons office

Tuesday 7 May 2024 17:36 , Katie Hawkinson

Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie entered Mike Johnsons office moments ago.

The trio is now conducting their second meeting in less than 24 hours. Yesterdays talks stretched for more than an hour.

Earlier today, Mr Johnson declared that his meetings with Marjorie Taylor Greene and her ally Thomas Massie are not a negotiation.

Yesterday, I met at some length with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie, he said at a Tuesday morning press conference. It was a good discussion, it was productive. Well visit again today. Its not a negotiation.

Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks to The Independent about her fight against Speaker Johnson

Tuesday 7 May 2024 17:43 , Katie Hawkinson

The Independents Eric Garcia asked Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene if the leaked list of her demands made it harder to reach an agreement with Speaker Mike Johnson  who has dismissed the idea that their talks are a negotiation.

No, he has been working with the Democrats the entire time, Ms Greene said of Mr Johnson.

[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what hes delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda, she told The Independent. This is not what Americans voted for  they gave us the majority because they want a Republican agenda. Thats what were here to work on.

The bizarre feud between former allies Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mike Johnson, explained

Tuesday 7 May 2024 18:15 , Katie Hawkinson

On Tuesday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet once again as Johnson seeks to talk down Greenes plans to remove Johnson from his job. Greene would do that by triggering a motion to vacate, effectively turfing him out of the speakership if she can get enough votes in support. How did it come to this?

On the surface, the two should be natural allies. Both are hardline conservatives and ardent supporters of former president Donald Trump. Both voted to object to the 2020 presidential election results after January 6 and both have made a point of criticizing President Joe Biden on immigration policy.

But prior to his ascent as speaker, few people had heard of Johnson  whereas Greene was one of the most visible faces of the pro-MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

Read more from The Independents Washington, DC Bureau Chief Eric Garcia:

The bizarre feud between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mike Johnson explained

WATCH: Speaker Johnson says meetings with Marjorie Taylor Greene are 'not a negotiation'

Tuesday 7 May 2024 18:45 , Katie Hawkinson

ICYMI: What is MUGA, and why is Marjorie Taylor Greene using the acronym?

Tuesday 7 May 2024 19:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene says her fellow representatives will need to choose between MAGA or MUGA as her attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson moves ahead.

On Wednesday, the right-wing Georgia firebrand, accompanied by fellow right-wing Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said she will call a privileged motion next week that would trigger an automatic vote within 48 hours over Johnsons removal.

Ms Greene and Mr Massie criticised Mr Johnsons reliance on Democrats to pass everything from spending bills to reauthorisation of surveillance legislation and aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. They blasted work between Mr Johnson and Mr Jeffries as a culmination of the uniparty.

Ms Greene then brandished a hat that said MUGA.

The uniparty is Make Ukraine Great Again, she said. The uniparty is about funding every single foreign war. They think this is the business model that needs to be done.

Read more:

Marjorie Taylor Greene says shell trigger no-confidence vote on Johnson next week

Marjorie Taylor Greene ends meeting with Speaker Johnson

Tuesday 7 May 2024 19:10 , Katie Hawkinson

The meeting between Speaker Mike Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene and her ally Thomas Massie ended after some 90 minutes on Tuesday afternoon.

Ms Greene largely ignored reporters questions after the meeting.

Before the meeting, Ms Greene told The Independent the speaker has been working with Democrats the entire time.

[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what hes delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda, she told The Independent.

Freedom Caucus member gives The Independent his thoughts on ousting effort

Tuesday 7 May 2024 19:13 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas and member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, told The Independent he broadly agrees with Marjorie Taylor Greenes call for change.

I dont know her exact laundry list, but in broad terms, yes, Mr Roy told The Independent just outside the US House chambers. The American people are not happy.

He echoed a similar sentiment to Ms Greene, who told The Independent she wants Speaker Mike Johnson gone because he is not honouring voters wishes.

[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what hes delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda, Ms Greene told The Independent on Tuesday. This is not what Americans voted for  they gave us the majority because they want a Republican agenda. Thats what were here to work on.

Democrats brush off Marjorie Taylor Greenes fight to oust Speaker Johnson

Tuesday 7 May 2024 19:28 , Katie Hawkinson, Eric Garcia

House Democrats who spoke to The Independent brushed off Marjorie Taylor Greenes fight to oust Speaker Mike Johnson.

Ill vote to table it, Democratic Representative Jim McGovern told The Independent of Ms Greenes potential motion to vacate.

Meanwhile, Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell did not mince his words when speaking to The Independent about his thoughts on Ms Greenes fight.

We're going to be the side that wants to get s*** done, we will be united, we will deliver the votes, Mr Swalwell told The Independent.

Marjorie Taylor Greene turns her hostage situation into a circus

Tuesday 7 May 2024 20:00 , Eric Garcia

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greenes ability to suck out the energy of the House and redirect the spotlight on her remained unbowed.

Greenes meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson was supposed to be an off-ramp from her threatened motion to vacate.

Instead, it gave her more attention.

Ms Greene was joined by fellow conservative insurgent Thomas Massie, who has joined Ms Greene in her efforts to remove Johnson. Also accompanying the right-wing firebrand was Brian Glenn, the host of Right Side Broadcasting Network and her boyfriend.

The huddle between Johnson and Greene went well into votes. The meeting continued to drag on despite the fact that Mr Johnson was set to meet with Abdullah II, the King of Jordan.

Its up to Mike Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene says

Tuesday 7 May 2024 20:15 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene may be backing off on her threats to force a House vote to oust Speaker Mike Johnson this week.

This development comes after Mr Johnson, Ms Greene and her ally Representative Thomas Massie met for some 90 minutes on Tuesday afternoon.

After the meeting, Ms Greene indicated to reporters the outcome is now in Mr Johnsons hands.

We will see, she said. It is up to Mike Johnson.

ICYMI: Donald Trump reportedly wants MTG to stand down

Tuesday 7 May 2024 20:30 , Katie Hawkinson

Donald Trump spoke with Marjorie Taylor Greene over the weekend, asking her to step down in her fight to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, Politico reported, citing three GOP members.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ms Greene said she is in close contact with the former president but will not share the details of their conversations.

Mr Johnson also confirmed to reporters on Monday afternoon he was in touch with the former president.

Democrats say theyll save Johnson from Marjorie Taylor Greenes ouster attempt: Ill hold my nose

Tuesday 7 May 2024 21:00 , Katie Hawkinson, Eric Garcia

House Democrats dont like the fact that they might have to save House Speaker Mike Johnson. But they are coming to accept they will do it, if it means stopping Johnson from cutting a deal with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

On Tuesday, Greene met for more than an hour with the speaker in his office, even as votes began on the House floor and Johnson was set to meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Afterwards, Greene told reporters the outcome lay with the speaker.

We will see, she said. It is up to Mike Johnson.

Greene filed a motion to vacate the chair, which would trigger a no-confidence vote in Johnson, back in March. Last week, Greene (and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky) said that she would trigger a vote to oust the speaker after House Democratic leadership said they would consider tabling Greenes motion to vacate.

But that does not mean Democrats will relish doing so.

I thought they fell in love again, Representative Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the Rules Committees, told The Independent, after the meeting between Johnson and Greene, and I wouldnt have to hold my nose and vote not to vacate the chair.

Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell of California criticised Greene for seeming wobbly on pushing Johnson out.

I can just speak for our side  were gonna be the side that wants to get s**t done, well be united, well deliver the votes, he told The Independent. And as I said, it looks more like a motion to vacillate than a motion to vacate because she cant decide what she wants to do other than try and be famous.

Read on:

Democrats say theyll save Johnson from Marjorie Taylor Greene: Ill hold my nose

What is a motion to vacate?

Tuesday 7 May 2024 21:30 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene may call a motion to vacate against Speaker Mike Johnson. If Ms Greene triggers a privileged motion on her motion to vacate, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours on his removal.

Read more about how a motion to vacate works  and how the process was used to oust the last Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy:

What is a motion to vacate? The process Matt Gaetz triggered to oust Kevin McCarthy

ICYMI: Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks to The Independent about her fight against Speaker Johnson

Tuesday 7 May 2024 22:00 , Katie Hawkinson

The Independents Eric Garcia asked Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene if the leaked list of her demands made it harder to reach an agreement with Speaker Mike Johnson  who has dismissed the idea that their talks are a negotiation.

No, he has been working with the Democrats the entire time, Ms Greene said of Mr Johnson.

[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what hes delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda, she told The Independent. This is not what Americans voted for  they gave us the majority because they want a Republican agenda. Thats what were here to work on.

What are GOP members saying about Greenes ouster?

Tuesday 7 May 2024 22:30 , Katie Hawkinson

Some GOP members are brushing off Marjorie Taylor Greenes efforts to oust Speaker Mike Johnson if he does not agree to her demands.

Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York who represents a district that voted for President Joe Biden, laughed off the motion to vacate as a stunt.

I just dont care, its so stupid, he told The Independent.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina called Greene uninformed and a waste of time last month when she called to oust Johnson the first time.

But some fellow far-right representatives are happy to see Greene standing up to the speaker.

Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas and member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, said on Tuesday that he broadly agrees with Marjorie Taylor Greenes call for change.

I dont know her exact laundry list, but in broad terms, yes, Roy told The Independent just outside the US House chambers. The American people are not happy.

VIDEO: Marjorie Taylor Greene exits second meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson

Tuesday 7 May 2024 23:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Its up to Mike Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene says

Wednesday 8 May 2024 00:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene may be backing off on her threats to force a House vote to oust Speaker Mike Johnson this week.

This development comes after Mr Johnson, Ms Greene and her ally Representative Thomas Massie met for some 90 minutes on Tuesday afternoon.

After the meeting, Ms Greene indicated to reporters the outcome is now in Mr Johnsons hands.

We will see, she said. It is up to Mike Johnson.

ICYMI: Donald Trump reportedly wants MTG to stand down

01:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Donald Trump spoke with Marjorie Taylor Greene over the weekend, asking her to step down in her fight to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, Politico reported, citing three GOP members.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ms Greene said she is in close contact with the former president but will not share the details of their conversations.

Mr Johnson also confirmed to reporters on Monday afternoon he was in touch with the former president.

ICYMI: Freedom Caucus member gives The Independent his thoughts on ousting effort

02:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas and member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, told The Independent he broadly agrees with Marjorie Taylor Greenes call for change.

I dont know her exact laundry list, but in broad terms, yes, Mr Roy told The Independent just outside the US House chambers. The American people are not happy.

He echoed a similar sentiment to Ms Greene, who told The Independent she wants Speaker Mike Johnson gone because he is not honouring voters wishes.

[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what hes delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda, Ms Greene told The Independent on Tuesday. This is not what Americans voted for  they gave us the majority because they want a Republican agenda. Thats what were here to work on.

Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke to The Independent about her fight against Speaker Johnson

03:00 , Katie Hawkinson

The Independents Eric Garcia asked Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene if the leaked list of her demands made it harder to reach an agreement with Speaker Mike Johnson  who has dismissed the idea that their talks are a negotiation.

No, he has been working with the Democrats the entire time, Ms Greene said of Mr Johnson.

[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what hes delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda, she told The Independent. This is not what Americans voted for  they gave us the majority because they want a Republican agenda. Thats what were here to work on.

After the meeting, Ms Greene told reporters the ultimate outcome was up to Mr Johnson

What is MUGA, and why is Marjorie Taylor Greene using the acronym?

04:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene says her fellow representatives will need to choose between MAGA or MUGA as her attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson moves ahead.

On Wednesday, the right-wing Georgia firebrand, accompanied by fellow right-wing Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said she will call a privileged motion next week that would trigger an automatic vote within 48 hours over Johnsons removal.

Ms Greene and Mr Massie criticised Mr Johnsons reliance on Democrats to pass everything from spending bills to reauthorisation of surveillance legislation and aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. They blasted work between Mr Johnson and Mr Jeffries as a culmination of the uniparty.

Ms Greene then brandished a hat that said MUGA.

The uniparty is Make Ukraine Great Again, she said. The uniparty is about funding every single foreign war. They think this is the business model that needs to be done.

Read more:

Marjorie Taylor Greene says shell trigger no-confidence vote on Johnson next week

ICYMI: Marjorie Taylor Greene turned her hostage situation into a circus

05:01 , Eric Garcia

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greenes ability to suck out the energy of the House and redirect the spotlight on her remained unbowed.

Greenes meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson was supposed to be an off-ramp from her threatened motion to vacate.

Instead, it gave her more attention.

Ms Greene was joined by fellow conservative insurgent Thomas Massie, who has joined Ms Greene in her efforts to remove Johnson. Also accompanying the right-wing firebrand was Brian Glenn, the host of Right Side Broadcasting Network and her boyfriend.

The huddle between Johnson and Greene went well into votes. The meeting continued to drag on despite the fact that Mr Johnson was set to meet with Abdullah II, the King of Jordan.

WATCH: Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke to The Independent about her fight against Speaker Johnson

06:00 , Katie Hawkinson

The bizarre feud between former allies Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mike Johnson, explained

07:00 , Katie Hawkinson

On Tuesday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet once again as Johnson seeks to talk down Greenes plans to remove Johnson from his job. Greene would do that by triggering a motion to vacate, effectively turfing him out of the speakership if she can get enough votes in support. How did it come to this?

On the surface, the two should be natural allies. Both are hardline conservatives and ardent supporters of former president Donald Trump. Both voted to object to the 2020 presidential election results after January 6 and both have made a point of criticizing President Joe Biden on immigration policy.

But prior to his ascent as speaker, few people had heard of Johnson  whereas Greene was one of the most visible faces of the pro-MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

Read more from The Independents Washington, DC Bureau Chief Eric Garcia:

The bizarre feud between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mike Johnson explained

ICYMI: What is MUGA, and why is Marjorie Taylor Greene using the acronym?

08:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene says her fellow representatives will need to choose between MAGA or MUGA as her attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson moves ahead.

On Wednesday, the right-wing Georgia firebrand, accompanied by fellow right-wing Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said she will call a privileged motion next week that would trigger an automatic vote within 48 hours over Johnsons removal.

Ms Greene and Mr Massie criticised Mr Johnsons reliance on Democrats to pass everything from spending bills to reauthorisation of surveillance legislation and aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. They blasted work between Mr Johnson and Mr Jeffries as a culmination of the uniparty.

Ms Greene then brandished a hat that said MUGA.

The uniparty is Make Ukraine Great Again, she said. The uniparty is about funding every single foreign war. They think this is the business model that needs to be done.

Read more:

Marjorie Taylor Greene says shell trigger no-confidence vote on Johnson next week

ICYMI: Freedom Caucus member gives The Independent his thoughts on ousting effort

09:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas and member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, told The Independent he broadly agrees with Marjorie Taylor Greenes call for change.

I dont know her exact laundry list, but in broad terms, yes, Mr Roy told The Independent just outside the US House chambers. The American people are not happy.

He echoed a similar sentiment to Ms Greene, who told The Independent she wants Speaker Mike Johnson gone because he is not honouring voters wishes.

[The Democrats] are ready to deliver the votes to save his speakership, because they support him because of what hes delivered for the Democrats and the Biden agenda, Ms Greene told The Independent on Tuesday. This is not what Americans voted for  they gave us the majority because they want a Republican agenda. Thats what were here to work on.

What is a motion to vacate?

10:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene may call a motion to vacate against Speaker Mike Johnson. If Ms Greene triggers a privileged motion on her motion to vacate, the House will be forced to vote within 48 hours on his removal.

Read more about how a motion to vacate works  and how the process was used to oust the last Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy:

What is a motion to vacate? The process Matt Gaetz triggered to oust Kevin McCarthy

WATCH: Marjorie Taylor Greene exits second meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson

11:00 , Katie Hawkinson

The bizarre feud between former allies Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mike Johnson, explained

12:00 , Katie Hawkinson

On Tuesday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet once again as Johnson seeks to talk down Greenes plans to remove Johnson from his job. Greene would do that by triggering a motion to vacate, effectively turfing him out of the speakership if she can get enough votes in support. How did it come to this?

On the surface, the two should be natural allies. Both are hardline conservatives and ardent supporters of former president Donald Trump. Both voted to object to the 2020 presidential election results after January 6 and both have made a point of criticizing President Joe Biden on immigration policy.

But prior to his ascent as speaker, few people had heard of Johnson  whereas Greene was one of the most visible faces of the pro-MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

Read more from Eric Garcia:

The bizarre feud between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mike Johnson explained

What are GOP members saying about Greenes ouster?

13:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Some GOP members are brushing off Marjorie Taylor Greenes efforts to oust Speaker Mike Johnson if he does not agree to her demands.

Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York who represents a district that voted for President Joe Biden, laughed off the motion to vacate as a stunt.

I just dont care, its so stupid, he told The Independent.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina called Greene uninformed and a waste of time last month when she called to oust Johnson the first time.

But some fellow far-right representatives are happy to see Greene standing up to the speaker.

Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas and member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, said on Tuesday that he broadly agrees with Marjorie Taylor Greenes call for change.

I dont know her exact laundry list, but in broad terms, yes, Roy told The Independent just outside the US House chambers. The American people are not happy.

Democrats say theyll save Johnson from Marjorie Taylor Greenes ouster attempt: Ill hold my nose

14:00 , Katie Hawkinson, Eric Garcia

House Democrats dont like the fact that they might have to save House Speaker Mike Johnson. But they are coming to accept they will do it, if it means stopping Johnson from cutting a deal with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

On Tuesday, Greene met for more than an hour with the speaker in his office, even as votes began on the House floor and Johnson was set to meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Afterwards, Greene told reporters the outcome lay with the speaker.

We will see, she said. It is up to Mike Johnson.

Greene filed a motion to vacate the chair, which would trigger a no-confidence vote in Johnson, back in March. Last week, Greene (and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky) said that she would trigger a vote to oust the speaker after House Democratic leadership said they would consider tabling Greenes motion to vacate.

But that does not mean Democrats will relish doing so.

I thought they fell in love again, Representative Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the Rules Committees, told The Independent, after the meeting between Johnson and Greene, and I wouldnt have to hold my nose and vote not to vacate the chair.

Read on:

Democrats say theyll save Johnson from Marjorie Taylor Greene: Ill hold my nose

WATCH: Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke to The Independent about her fight against Speaker Johnson

15:00 , Katie Hawkinson

ICYMI: Its up to Mike Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene said Tuesday

16:00 , Katie Hawkinson

Marjorie Taylor Greene may be backing off on her threats to force a House vote to oust Speaker Mike Johnson this week.

This development came after Mr Johnson, Ms Greene and her ally Representative Thomas Massie met for some 90 minutes on Tuesday afternoon.

After the meeting, Ms Greene indicated to reporters the outcome is now in Mr Johnsons hands.

We will see, she said. It is up to Mike Johnson.
MARLBORO COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW)  A Marlboro County man is facing an attempted murder charge in connection with a shooting into a vehicle in March, authorities said Tuesday.

Daquon Quadrel McCrimmon, 32, of Clio, was charged with attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.

Marlboro County deputies responded March 13 at about 2 p.m. to E. Highway 9 in the Clio area for someone shooting into an occupied vehicle, the sheriffs office said. Deputies spoke with a person and found multiple bullet holes in the vehicle.

The person told deputies that he was followed in his vehicle when McCrimmon started shooting into the vehicle, according to the sheriffs office. McCrimmon was taken into custody Tuesday at an apartment complex by the sheriffs office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

McCrimmon was booked into the Marlboro County Detention Center.

* * *

Caleb is a digital producer at News13. Caleb joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW.
Maryland allocates record funds to child care. For some families, it still may not be enough

BALTIMORE  Mindy Bowman started online classes to get her psychology degree because she feels it will make her a better mom. To meet that goal, she sends her 2-year-old daughter to day care three days a week, which costs $474 a month.

Thats after the child care scholarship Bowman receives as a single parent going to school full time, getting ready to start an internship and raising two other children.

Its almost like youre paying rent for your child to go to school, Bowman said. For a long time, I didnt do it because I wanted to stay home with my kids; it was cheaper and I enjoy that. But then I wanted to go back to school. And now Im realizing, wait, but I really cant afford it because its so expensive.

Bowmans child care scholarship is part of the largest public investment in child care the state makes, said Laura Weeldreyer, executive director of the Maryland Family Network, a nonprofit that connects families with child care.

According to the Maryland State Department of Education, as of mid-March more than 22,000 families were receiving financial assistance to pay for care for nearly 33,000 kids.

Enrollment in the scholarship program is on the rise as care options aimed at low-income families shutter. Even as the state invests record numbers of people in the program, the model of private child care is still fundamentally broken, experts and advocates say. Child care is becoming less affordable while providers still dont make enough money. And the high costs may be keeping some Maryland mothers from returning to work, potentially causing ripple effects throughout the economy.

The private provision of child care is a market failure. Its simply not profitable to care for children under 5, Kathryn Anne Edwards, a labor economist and policy researcher, said.

The Maryland General Assembly in April passed a $63 billion budget that allocates $328.5 million for the child care scholarship program, more than five times 2024s original amount. The budget also sets aside $218 million in emergency funding for the current fiscal year to cover shortfalls.

According to reviews of state budgets going back to 2007, the first year a line item for the child care scholarship appeared in the budget, 2025s funding is the largest in the states history by a wide margin.

The child care scholarship program, formerly known as the child care subsidy, helps eligible families in Maryland pay for high-quality child care and early education programs. According to income guidelines, a family of four making up to $90,000 and applying for the first time would be eligible if factors such as working or going to school were met. Parents may still be responsible for some of the cost, as Bowman is.

But not everyone in need qualifies, leaving some to rely on less formal methods, like family members and neighbors, to watch their children. That leads to a system that is incredibly unequal in quality, Edwards said.

The richest who command market power can afford and demand the highest quality care. The low-income who are lucky enough to get a voucher can get high-quality care as well, Edwards said. But after that, its just a real erosion of quality.

Plus, Edwards said, continuing to invest in programs like child care scholarships keeps the power in the hands of the market, where the cost of child care has risen faster than the price of prescription drugs.

Still, some things have become more accessible, said Del. Jared Solomon, a Democrat representing Montgomery County. Starting in 2018, legislators pushed for increased and presumptive eligibility for the scholarship program alongside more money for providers. Participation rates have risen ever since.

In terms of the income eligibility, it used to tap out at $30,000 or $40,000 for a family of four, which obviously in most parts of Maryland is a drop in the bucket, Solomon said. [We] went from being one of the worst [states] in recent years to being one of the best.

Weeldreyer said there are two primary forms of child care: center-based care and home-based care, often called family child care. The latter is smaller, allowing up to eight children in a home at a time; centers, meanwhile, can be as large as schools.

Family child care can often be the more accessible option for lower-income families and those living in rural areas, Weeldreyer said, making them an incredibly important piece of this landscape.

Rural geography does not have a critical mass of population to stand up a child care center; people are just too spread out, Weeldreyer said. So Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore really depend on family child care providers.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the number of available child care spots plummeted. The state hasnt fully recovered and is still thousands of licensed slots down, Weeldreyer said, but the decline is more dire for family-based care both in Maryland and nationally.

The decline in family child care is still egregious, Weeldreyer said. That was not caused by the pandemic. Thats probably close to a 30-year trend.

The situation could be worse than it seems. Weeldreyer said its difficult to tell how many kids are actually in child care. Her nonprofit is able to pull data daily on how many licenses are active, but that wont necessarily reflect enrollment or attendance  child care facilities arent obligated to report those numbers the way public schools are.

The fewer spots there are, the more expensive those spots become. According to a recent Maryland comptroller report, between 2019 and 2023, the average cost of child care increased by 14% to 30%.

Federal guidance says families should spend no more than 7% of their household income on child care. According to data collected by the Maryland Family Network, there is nowhere in the state where families making their jurisdictions median income and paying the average cost of child care could meet that goal.

And yet, the expense of child care isnt reflected in the wages of those who provide it.

Hilary Roberts-King is the executive director of Downtown Baltimore Child Care (DBCC), a nonprofit with three locations offering full-priced, reduced tuition and Early Head Start child care. Roberts-King said about 250 families use the three centers, with kids ranging from 6 weeks to 5 years old.

Because facilities cannot charge the parents enough money to make money doing infant and toddler care, centers need to boost their numbers with preschool-aged kids to stay afloat while taking on babies and younger children, for whom care is an expensive undertaking.

At DBCC, some teachers have been there for 40 years, Roberts-King said. But that isnt the norm.

Child care itself is not a good economic model. It relies on families who are at the very beginning of their earning potential, Roberts-King said. Unfortunately, most of the time, child care is made affordable on the backs of the teachers. And we all know that child care is infamous for its really low wages.

At DBCC, teacher pay can range from $15, Marylands minimum wage and the rate for DBCC substitute teachers, to $30 an hour.

In addition to comparably low wages, child care openings often cant compete with more flexible hours and work-from-home options offered in other careers, creating a tight labor market, Roberts-King said.

They should be paid everything we have as a society. And were relying on an economic model that puts people with the least amount of resources to pay people  who are very, very skilled at what they do  a very often mediocre salary, Roberts-King said. Because thats what the parents can afford to pay.

Bowman homeschooled her first two kids until they were 5, but after going back to school herself in 2022, she knew she would need help with her youngest. And thats been hard to find.

We should have different options of things that can help moms because if you want us to go back to work, then we need someone to watch our kids, Bowman said.

The Maryland comptrollers 2023 state of the economy report notes that between 2019 and 2021, 2% of women ages 16-24 and 25-34 dropped out of the labor force in Maryland, compared with 1% and 0.4% nationally. Maryland also lags behind other states when it comes to women returning to the workforce at pre-pandemic levels.

Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman said her office believes that both the lack of spots in child care and the high cost of the services are a deterrent to allowing both parents in families to return to the workforce.

Because of the pay gap, and other structural forces, it is often a woman who ends up staying home, Lierman said. That means that we have fewer people in our labor force, and it means that our private sector cant grow as fast as it could be.

Our report demonstrates that the need to solve the child care challenge is not  this is not a womens issue, Lierman added. This is an issue that our economy depends on getting right.

-------

(Baltimore Sun reporter Sam Janesch contributed to this article.)
The #MeToo movement is today  seven years after producer and sexual predator Harvey Weinstein was met with a wave of accusations  a massive iceberg. The tip is made up of famous women, largely from Hollywood, who dared to break the silence around sexual violence perpetrated by powerful men. While the rest of the iceberg is made up of the thousands of anonymous women  unseen by the public  who, moved by these womens example, also stepped forward and dared to denounce the intrinsic impunity of power relationships at work, and by extension in life. Thats why the movement sees the New York Court of Appeals decision to overturn the first conviction against the powerful Hollywood producer as a setback, but not as a defeat: the fear of speaking out is gone.

The courts decision to overturn the historic verdict, which saw Weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2020, means that there will be a retrial. The co-founder of Miramax, however, will remain in prison for a separate rape conviction in Los Angeles. But as it was a landmark ruling, the setback has disappointed activists and survivors. Ashley Judd, one of the actresses who led the charge against Weinstein, called the overturning of the conviction was institutional betrayal. This is what its like to be a woman in America, living with male entitlement to our bodies, said the actress.

Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for eight of the women who accused Weinstein, called it a major step back in holding those accountable for acts of sexual violence. Overturning the verdict is tragic in that it will require the victims to endure yet another trial, he added.

Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Womens Law Center and co-founder of the legal defense fund Times Up, said the decision was a step in the wrong direction, devastating news for the Silence Breakers, the brave women who at great personal risk told their stories of sexual abuse in 2019. We want them to know they are not alone. The decision, added Goss Graves, does not erase the truth of what happened. It does not alter the reality that Weinstein is a serial sex offender who exploited his power for decades. It does not alter the reality that he was also sentenced in 2022 in Los Angeles to 16 years in prison.

Some of the survivors have already said they would be willing to testify again, even if it means reliving the trauma. Ambra Battilana, a former victim of Silvio Berlusconi in her native Italy and the first to denounce Weinstein in the United States, in 2015, said she would take the stand in a new trial, which Manhattan prosecutors expect to be held in the fall. But Battilana  who was not believed by the District Attorney when she first accused Weinstein in 2015, despite presenting a tape recording  was scathing of the U.S. justice system. If the D.A. had taken my case seriously in 2015, we wouldnt be here. This is an ongoing failure of the justice system  and the courts  to take survivors seriously and to protect our interests. Battilana did not respond to this newspapers request for an interview.

Deborah Tuerkheimer, a former assistant attorney in Manhattan and now a law professor at Northwestern University, explains why the sentence was overturned. In most states, including New York, the law is designed to limit juries access to information about a defendants past bad acts, including testimony about alleged sexual misconduct similar [to that on trial]. There are exceptions, which is why the trial judge allowed the jury to hear from three women who had not been victims of the crimes charged [against Weinstein], said Tuerkheimer, author of Credible, Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers. But the Court of Appeals, she added, disagreed with this evidentiary ruling. In a 4-3 decision, the Appeals Court held that the testimony of the three additional female accusers was improperly admitted, which meant that Weinsteins trial was unfair.

Some blame the decision to overturn the landmark verdict on the errors made by former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who built the case on Battilanas initial complaint and who, according to some members of his team, was silenced by Weinsteins all-embracing power. Now it is up to his successor, District Attorney Alvin Bragg  the prosecutor who accused Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels case  to reactivate the trial.

The state Court of Appeals ruling reopens a painful chapter in Americas reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures  an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein, and that spread beyond Hollywood. Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was found guilty of sexually assaulting more than 140 women over nearly two decades. While the child abuse scandal within the Catholic Church has ruined many dioceses and put others in difficult spots.

For Jennifer Mondino, director of the Times Up legal defense fund, the overturning of Weinsteins conviction was a huge shock, a huge disappointment, especially for the women, who were so brave and shared so much pain for so many years. But, she continued, the courts decision does not negate the truth of these womens experiences, other courts [the one in Los Angeles] had already found him guilty, which means that millions of people heard their allegations. According to Mondino, the clamor of the voices of thousands of women has allowed the movement to move forward.

Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in court on May 1. David Dee Delgado (REUTERS)

Legal defense fund for women

Backed by more than 300 women in Hollywood, the Times Up legal defense fund was born in 2018, months after the start of the #MeToo movement. It is aimed at supporting women, men, Black and LGTBQ+ people without access to media, and without money to file a lawsuit. Since it was launched, we have assisted more than 5,000 people experiencing harassment at work, and three-quarters of the total identify as people of color and in low-paying jobs. The number is growing, because this is still a phenomenon that is present everywhere: in agriculture, in the cleaning sector, in restaurants; people who did not know that what was happening to them was sexual harassment, and now they do, that is the great strength of the movement, explained Mondino.

But this progress is under threat by the systematic ultra-conservative offensive against feminist demands  the Supreme Courts repeal of the constitutional right to abortion was the wake-up call of what is looming  and by the possible victory of Donald Trump in the November elections. Indeed, buoyed by the #MeToo movement, columnist E. Jean Carroll successfully sued the former U.S. president for sexual harassment  a feat that would have been unthinkable before. By revealing the criminal behavior of powerful figures, the movement also indirectly led to the arrest of pedophile tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, whose suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 prevented him from being tried for sex trafficking and sexual abuse of underage girls. It also led indirectly to a long list of cases against powerful figures from a wide range of fields.

They are going to find we are even stronger, said the director Times Up, alluding to the ultraconservative offensive against reproductive rights, abortion and #MeToo itself. Their attacks strengthen us, because it is not the first time they have attacked us. Weve faced criticism before, but the movement is much bigger than the women who make it up. Women together who are bringing change [] women who have built a community among themselves, have empowered each other and have empowered others.

The #MeToo movement has been accused of only representing the white elite, and not the multiracial society that is the United States. But that has not stopped countless groups from embracing the movement. For Tarana J. Burke, a social activist with three decades of experience with African American women and girls, #MeToo is more than just a moment in time; it is a commitment and a vision that are bigger than any hashtag or viral moment.

In response to the courts decision to overturn Weinsteins conviction, Burke  who is the founder of one of the many #MeToo platforms  said: This is not a blow to the movement. Its a clarion call, and we are prepared to answer that call. Burke claims to have coined the hashtag in 2006 to describe women victims of sexual violence, but it wasnt until October 2017, when the article uncovering Weinsteins abuse was published, that it finally saw global recognition. By 2018, the hashtag had been used on the social network Twitter (now X) more than 19 million times.

Thousands of women have now publicly stood up to denounce the powerful men abusing women in subordinate position. The recent setback in the courts, they say, is just a stone in the road: you just need to go around it to keep moving forward.

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LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)  The now-former vice chair of Masons Planning Commission is in the Wells County Jail in Indiana after being arraigned on charges including soliciting a child to engage in sexual intercourse.

Seth A. Waxman was charged in Wells Circuit Court, before Judge Kenton Kiracofe, Monday morning on three charges. He faces a charge of child solicitation  solicitation to engage in sexual intercourse or other conduct; a charge of legend drug deception, knowingly possessing a contraband legend drug; and possession of a controlled substance.

Waxman is currently in the Wells County jail in Indiana, just outside of Fort Wayne, IN. He was arrested by the Bluffton, IN police department, an official confirmed Monday evening.

Seth Waxman booking photo. Courtesy Photo Wells County Sheriffs Department and Jail

A community group with the goal of protecting our communities and youth against online child predators has taken credit for Waxmans arrest.

The group, Predator Catchers Inc. Indianapolis, livestreamed his arrest.

In the video, volunteers from the group can be seen and heard waiting for Waxman to arrive at a local Walmart in the Bluffton, IN area. When they identify him, the volunteers approach the former official and confront him.

Waxman tells the volunteers they should have the conversation outside. The volunteers agree and walk with him, while asking questions, to the front of the store.

waxman courtDownload

As the volunteers and Waxman approach the front doors, a deputy from the Wells County Sheriffs Department approaches. He asks Waxman for his identification and Waxman then asks if he is being detained. The deputy confirms he is.

Officers from the Bluffton Police Department placed Waxman in handcuffs and into the backseat of one of their patrol vehicles. The volunteers tell law enforcement they have some of the online chats with Waxman in their possession. They hand law enforcement a red folder. While one officer reviews the printed chats, the volunteers are questioned about their interaction with Waxman.

Mason Mayor Russell Whipple tells 6 News Waxman submitted his resignation, effective immediately, Monday afternoon via email. He tells 6 News the resignation was sent from Waxmans email address to Whipples email. Whipple had no further comment.

Waxman resigned from the Planning Commission Monday afternoon, Mason City Councilwoman Rita Vogel tells 6 News by text message.

Vogel has known Waxman since they were students at Mason Middle School. She issued the following statement in response to news of his arrest:

Recently I was made aware of the arrest of Seth Waxman, vice-chair of the Mason Planning Commission and my friend, in the city of Bluffton, Indiana. Details are few but I want to note that I believe survivors and will always stand with victims of sexual trafficking. While we think we may know good friends, many of us know that some people can hide very deep dark secrets. I am as shocked as many of you that this has occurred. I had no knowledge of any transgression prior and would have taken seriously reports of this nature because I stand with survivors, she wrote in a text to 6 News. Until additional information comes to light, I will have no further comment on this matter.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WLNS 6 News.
Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka speaks to reporters at the start of a fiscal 2025 budget briefing by Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues, left, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Sam Doran/CommonWealth Beacon)

BOSTON  Senate leaders unveiled a $57.9 billion budget plan for the coming fiscal year that would eliminate tuition and fees at community colleges and fares at all of the states regional transit authorities.

The proposal builds on earlier efforts to make community college free for nursing students and students over 25 by making it free permanently for all students. The cost is expected to total $117.5 million.

At the same time, the Senate budget proposal provides $214 million in total funding for the states 15 regional transit authorities, which provide bus service outside the MBTA service area in the eastern part of the state. The Senates RTA proposal is $30 million higher than the Houses proposal.

The Senate RTA funding includes $40 million that would allow the transit agencies to provide year-round, fare-free access to the bus services they provide. Several of the RTAs have already abandoned collecting fares, and the Senate plan would reimburse them for giving up that lost revenue and allow those that havent eliminated fares yet to do so.

Sen. Michael Rodrigues of Westport, the chair of the Senates budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, said the budget plan also provides $10 million to launch bus routes connecting regional transit authorities. For example, he said, a bus route could run up and down Route 24 connecting three different RTAs servicing regions between Brockton and Fall River.

Rodrigues said Senate support for eliminating fares at the RTAs does not mean the chamber also backs eliminating fares at the MBTA. He said eliminating fares at RTAs makes sense because most of the riders fall in the low-income category. By contrast, he said, MBTA riders tend to stretch across many income categories. He said the Senate budget plan, like the budget approved by the House, provides financial support for a half-off fare for low-income riders of the MBTA.

The Senate spending plan provides a total of $361.5 million to the MBTA, which is several hundred million dollars below what the House proposed in its budget.

In his remarks to reporters, Rodrigues said he is interested in providing more regional equity on transportation. At one point he described the Ts gap between spending and funding as insatiable. Asked for clarification he said: The gap is vast. Its a big gap.

The Senate budget plan, combined with funding from an earlier mid-year spending plan, provides $500 million for the states emergency shelter system in the coming fiscal year. Thats well below the more than $900 million Gov. Maura Healey says is needed to operate the system next year.

Its enough to get us into the next calendar year, Rodrigues said of the Senates approach. He said the goal is to pressure the Healey administration to keep working to make the program more efficient and reduce its cost.

We want to keep pressure on the administration to make programmatic changes to make it more efficient and affordable, he said. If we just throw all the money they want at it, theres no incentive. Were saying make it work and if you cant make it work then come back to us and tell us why you cant make it work.

The Senate budget doesnt endorse any of the local option taxes on restaurant meals, hotel stays, and cars pushed by Healey and doesnt embrace an online lottery, which the House supported in its budget proposal. Rodrigues said the state treasurer, who oversees the lottery, testified that it would take 14 months to get an online lottery up and running, so it wouldnt yield any funds for this budget even if it was authorized.

And weve heard a lot of concerns from brick and mortar retailers, convenience stores, and package stores that rely on the Lottery for their business that it would hurt their business, the senator said.

Rodrigues said the Senate budget proposal would change the law so lottery players could pay for their tickets with debit cards as opposed to just cash, a move Rodrigues said would boost sales by $25 million.

This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The post Mass. Senate budget plan makes community college free, cuts regional transit authority bus fares appeared first on Rhode Island Current.
Massive tree falls across busy road in Malaysian capital, killing one man, damaging cars

A tree fell across Jalan Raja Chulan, one of the Kuala Lumpur's busiest roads

A tree fell across Jalan Raja Chulan, one of the Kuala Lumpur's busiest roads

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A massive tree fell across one of Kuala Lumpur's busiest roads on Tuesday, killing a man, hurting two others, disrupting monorail services and damaging more than a dozen cars, officials said.

Videos and photos on social media showed the tree uprooted and toppled across the Jalan Sultan Ismail road in heavy traffic, about a kilometre (0.62 mile) from the iconic Petronas Twin Towers.

The body of a 47-year-old man was removed from the scene, police and the fire department said, and 17 cars were impacted by the incident.

A Malaysian ride-share driver, 26, and a 72-year-old Swedish woman believed to be his customer, were injured and taken to hospital for treatment, a police official told reporters.

Some of the tree's branches fell across an elevated monorail track running parallel to the road, the photos showed.

Monorail services were delayed as a result, the train's operator said in a notice.

(Reporting by Hasnoor Hussein and Mandy Leong; Writing by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Md. Man Arrested on Murder Charges After His 68-Year-Old Mother Was Found 'Unresponsive' in Bathtub

The Maryland State Police Department said the woman was pronounced dead at the scene

Maryland State Police Jeremy Gentry

A man in Maryland has been arrested on murder charges after his mother was found dead in a bathtub.

On Monday, May 6, the Maryland State Police Department shared in a press release that officers took 48-year-old Jeremy Gentry from Fruitland into custody on charges of first and second-degree murder, first and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment.

According to police, shortly before 9 p.m. local time on Sunday, May 5, Fruitland Police Department and emergency medical service personnel were dispatched to Jeremys home  which he shared with his 68-year-old mother Beatrice Kay Gentry  due to a report of an unconscious woman.

Emergency crews met with Beatrices husband at the entry to the home and located an unresponsive Beatrice in the bathtub. She was pronounced dead at the scene, per the release.

Maryland State Police Jeremy Gentry mugshot

Authorities said that Maryland State Police Forensic Crime Scene Technicians processed the scene for evidence and Jeremy was determined as a suspect as a result of further investigative efforts.

Subsequent consultation with the Wicomico County States Attorneys Office led to State Police investigators obtaining an arrest warrant for Jeremy Gentry," the Maryland State Police Department said in its statement.

Police said Gentry was arrested Monday morning without incident.

The cause and manner of Beatrices death are still pending autopsy results.

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The incident is still under investigation by the Maryland State Police Department with the help of the Worcester County Sheriffs Office, Snow Hill Police Department and the Fruitland Police Department.

Jeremy is currently awaiting a bond hearing before a Wicomico County District Court Commissioner, police said.



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Read the original article on People.
A light rail train crosses West 13th Avenue near Pecos Street in Denver on Aug. 6, 2022. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline)

The Colorado Senate gave final approval on Tuesday to one of the most significant housing policies debated this legislative session. The measure would boost housing stock and increase allowable density.

House Bill 24-1313 passed on a 19-15 vote. It seeks to raise housing density to the tune of 15 units per acre close to bus routes, train lines and other transit corridors in the biggest cities along the Front Range.

Coloradans are begging for more housing, and there is no better place to build housing and increase density than near transit, bill sponsor Sen. Faith Winter, a Westminster Democrat, said in a statement following the vote.

The bill passed the House in April on a 37-24 vote. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis supports the bill.

The now-passed bill looks very different from its introduced version. Through amendments in both chambers, it lost its most forceful  and controversial  strategy to ensure compliance: a plan to withhold tax money intended for highway infrastructure in cities that fail to meet density goals.

The bill still retains the creation of a new $35 million fund to support infrastructure in cities that work to meet density goals.

The watered-down version still earned no votes from four Senate Democrats.

We are still preempting local governments and their authorities, said Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat.

More ADUs

The Senate also approved House Bill 24-1152 on Monday night, which will allow accessory dwelling units on single-family properties to be built along the Front Range. That passed on a 20-15 vote.

Both bills now head back to the House for consideration of Senate amendments.

Both the density bill and ADU bill were part of a housing package born out of last years failed, massive land use bill that died on the last day of session. This year, lawmakers brought individual bills to resurrect some parts of that policy.

Polis already signed a bill to eliminate occupancy limits in the state, and a bill to eliminate parking minimum requirements in some urban parts of the state is headed to his desk.

The legislative session ends Wednesday.

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The post Measure that would increase housing density near transit earns final Colorado Senate approval appeared first on Colorado Newsline.
The U.K. Defense Ministry was struck by a cyberattack likely carried out by Chinese hackers, Sky News reported on May 7.

Chinese and Russian-linked hacking groups have been accused of launching cyberattacks on a number of European governments and institutions, such as the U.K.'s Sellafield nuclear waste site.

The latest cyberattack was reportedly directly attributed to the Chinese state, according to Sky News. It targeted the payroll system of defense ministry employees and resulted in the breach of an unspecified amount of personal data.

"This is yet another example of why the U.K. government must admit that China poses a systemic threat to the U.K. and change the integrated review to reflect that," said lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith in comments to Sky News.

"No more pretense, it is a malign actor, supporting Russia with money and military equipment, working with Iran and North Korea in a new axis of totalitarian states," he added.

The BBC reported that Defense Secretary Grant Shapps is expected to provide a public update on the extent of the hacking and the government's "multi-point plan" to respond in an address to the parliament later on May 7.

The news comes amid Chinese President Xi Jinping's first trip to the EU in five years.

The Chinese leader's visit comes at a strenuous time, as Beijing and Europe are increasingly at odds over China's support for Russia during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Read also: EU, NATO denounce Russias cyberattacks on Germany, Czechia

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Scottish Tories are pushing for Dr Hilary Cass' review to be implemented in Scotland - YUI MOK/PA

Medical professionals who try to help children with gender identity issues could become frightened of prosecution under SNP plans to ban conversion therapy, Hilary Cass has warned.

The leading paediatrician, who last month published a landmark review into child gender services in England, said that clinicians would be worried about becoming the test case under new laws.

The Scottish government plans to make it a criminal offence to attempt to change or suppress a persons gender identity.

It has insisted that ethical medical practices would not be covered by the ban, which could carry penalties of up to seven years in jail.

However, giving evidence to Holyroods health committee, Dr Cass said that legislating in the area was fraught with difficulties and could create fear among therapists.

Some trans rights activists claim that anything not affirming of a persons self-declared gender identity counts as conversion therapy.

However, Dr Cass told MSPs it was vital holistic assessments were carried out on children with gender distress, saying problems such as autism or family breakdown could explain their symptoms.

Its a big challenge and all I can say is Im glad Im a doctor and not a litigator, Dr Cass said when asked about the conversion therapy ban.

The Sandyford gender clinic in Glasgow, branded the "Tartan Tavistock" after the controversial flagship children's gender clinic in London - IAIN MASTERTON/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Everyone should be protected from conversion therapy. But the challenge, thinking about the legislation, has been about intent.

If a therapist engages with a young person and they change their views about their gender identity, and then they subsequently say it was because the therapist had an intent to change their gender identity, that puts the therapist in a difficult position.

She added: The anxiety that you may be the test case is making clinicians even more anxious, potentially, about working in this area.

The Scottish Tories are pushing for the Cass Review to be implemented in Scotland, where gender services are influenced by American guidelines set by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).

However, the WPATH guidelines, which back an affirming approach and emphasise the benefits of hormone treatments and surgeries, were criticised as lacking rigour by Dr Cass, who said they should not be used by NHS England.

The Tories are to force a vote on the Cass Report on Wednesday and have called on the SNP to vote for a motion calling on ministers to implement its recommendations in Scotland.

Before being kicked out of government, the Scottish Greens attempted to rubbish the review but John Swinney, the new First Minister, has praised it.

The report has already led to a suspension of puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones for under-18s in Scotland.

Dr Cass told MSPs the issue of puberty blockers had been almost totemic for being the way to get onto a treatment pathway and this had stopped us looking at other ways of managing young peoples distress such as treating anxiety or depression.

Comprehensive holistic assessments

She told MSPs the single most important takeaway from her report was that young people with gender issues should receive comprehensive holistic assessments when reporting gender distress.

For most young people, gender issues would resolve without gender-affirming medical treatments meaning it was unnecessary for them to be prescribed potentially dangerous hormones or puberty blockers, she said.

Dr Cass said undiagnosed autism, family and school issues or struggles with sexuality could all lie behind a childs claim to be transgender. However, she said a medical transition would be appropriate in some cases.

Her view clashes with comments from a senior clinician at the Sandyford gender clinic in Glasgow, branded the Tartan Tavistock after the controversial flagship childrens gender clinic in London.

In a leaked recording obtained by the Telegraph, the consultant clinical psychologist said in 2022 that clinicians were basically just going on what [the patient] tells you when making diagnoses.

She added: Its not a forensic assessment where youre looking at social work and school and all of those things.

There have been calls to shut the Sandyford and replace it with smaller regional centres, which would take an evidence-based approach to care, as is happening in England.

Meghan Gallacher, the Scottish Tory deputy leader, said: Its high time that SNP ministers listened to Dr Cass and implemented in full her recommendations.

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Medina elementary school staff member suspected of being under the influence at work

Medina elementary school staff member suspected of being under the influence at work

**Related Video Above: Find out more about sobriety checkpoints**

MEDINA, Ohio (WJW)  The Medina City School District confirmed a staff member, whom they said was not a teacher, was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol while on the job.

The incident took place Friday at Northrop Elementary School, with the district sending out a letter to parents and staff.

She Looks Like Me: Gold medalist Dominique Moceanu meeting long lost sister inspires film

This matter was promptly addressed by our administration team upon discovery early in the morning, and the employee has been placed on administrative leave pending further investigation, Superintendent Aaron Sable said in the letter.

Sable made clear the staff member was never in charge of children and was not in contact with them that day. The staff member has since resigned, Sable said.

Twinsburg HS remains closed Tuesday after lightning strike

Thank you for your support as we continue to investigate the situation and maintain a safe and positive environment for our learners and educators, Sable said.

No further information has been released at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
Incoming Rock Island-Milan Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sharon Williams first met the community this morning at the Rock Island Hy-Vee second-floor community room.

The 54-year-old native of Nashville, Tenn., wanted to hold the meet-and-greets (two more are planned this month) because shes new to the area and wanted to start learning more about the school district.

Dr. Sharon Williams, center, met members of the community for an hour Tuesday morning, May 7, at the Rock Island Hy-Vee community room.

Its important for me to get to different places in the community, to meet a wide swath of people, to understand better how theyre experiencing the schools, what they want me to know, she said Tuesday.

Her high school in Nashville had over 2,000 students. Rock Island High School has about 1,600 students, of a total of 6,159 in the district. There are nine elementary schools, two junior high schools, plus one alternative high school, with a total district budget of $113.7 million and average $14,000-per-pupil spending. The district also has a comprehensive Pre-K and Head Start program through the Horace Mann Early Learning Center.

Williams first started as a social worker in Memphis and has a degree in social work.

It spurred me on to want to be a teacher, she said Tuesday. I could have more impact as a teacher. She was a first-grade teacher in Memphis, and moved back to Nashville, teaching 1st and 3rd grades, and became a principal there.

Williams has worked in Tennessee, Missouri, Washington State, Mississippi, Louisiana and Illinois. Shes lived in four cities along the Mississippi River  Memphis, St. Louis, Baton Rouge and now, Rock Island.

Her last position was deputy superintendent for two and a half years at Proviso Township High School District in Forest Park, Ill., outside Chicago. Williams has held many leadership roles in education over her career.

Its really served me well, because I pull on all those experiences coming into a new school district, she said.

Williams holds a doctorate of education from Tennessee State University and a masters degree in Early Childhood Education and Teaching from the University of Memphis.

Most diverse in the state

Rock Island-Milan is the most diverse school district in the state of Illinois, in terms of racial and ethnic makeup, and number of languages spoken in the school system. Of its students, only one-third are White; 2,073 are African-American; 953 are Hispanic; 431 are Asian and 558 are more than one race.

Students in the district speak 27 different languages, according to district spokesman Redrick Terry.

Million Father March (photo: Rock Island  Milan School District #41)

There are school districts that are very diverse in Cook County  Proviso, we were primarily Hispanic and African-American, but not a lot of language diversity, not a lot of cultural diversity, Williams said. This is truly the most diverse school district in Illinois based on language, culture, race.

Shes worked in many diverse districts, and its a challenge with language barriers, and foreign students getting used to this country.

Our students are exposed to students from all over the world, she said as a plus to that diversity. Many of our scholars dont have that opportunity, to be with students who arent like them.

Theres always a need for the district to hire more multi-lingual teachers, Williams said.

Diversity in the area is a strength, she said, which attracted her to the district.

Coming from a high school district, Williams wanted to return to a job that was responsible for pre-K through 12th grade. She also admires the Board of Educations support of schools, its unified voice and the overall pride of the community in the schools.

Williams, right, spoke with members of the public Tuesday morning at the Hy-Vee on Rock Islands 18th Avenue.

Everywhere you look, theres someone from Rocky  theyre very prideful of their school district and where they went to school, Williams said.

She doesnt have any kids of her own, but shes a dog mom  to a 3-year-old rescue dog, adopted in Baton Rouge.

Very quiet, friendly

Its very quiet; its a peaceful place, Williams said of the Quad Cities. Lots of outdoor activities. People are very friendly and welcoming.

There are facilities management planning meetings this week for the district to work on its facilities plan. The first public forums will be Wednesday, May 8 at 6 p.m. at Edison Junior High (4141 9th St.) and Thursday, May 9 at 6 p.m. at the high school (1400 25th Ave.).

Rock Island High School is at 1400 25th Ave.

Those meetings are set up to gain input from the community, Williams said, noting architects will share what their building assessments are, and what the needs are.

There have been partial plans over the years and some improvements made, she said. But theres not a comprehensive plan. Thats the goal over the next six months or so, phase one is getting input, and facilities assessment.

Tracy Pugh, a member of the Rock Island-Milan Board of Education, said Williamss qualifications are strong.

She has an opinion on every department that we have and every program we have in the district, shes been a leader of, he said Tuesday. Its nice to have somebody who knows whats going on, even though shes still willing to learn.

Williams has a doctorate in education from Tennessee State University and has worked in education over 23 years (photo by Jonathan Turner).

Its a plus to have someone with experience like her, from multiple districts, and can apply that here, knowing what has worked and what hasnt.

Every school district, you have the same issues with kids, but you need somebody who has the knowledge to do the job, and that was the biggest thing for us, Pugh said.

The districts biggest challenge is getting the buildings back to where they should be, and ensure that programs are geared to all students, he said.

I like she doesnt use the word student, she uses the word scholar, Pugh said. Those are our future scholars. Those two things we need to get on top of, and get our team on the same level.

Any school district has to emphasize improving graduation rates and making sure kids stay in school. Rock Island has a 77% graduation rate, compared to 89% for Moline High.

Rock Island High School senior Aline Niyogusenga in 2023.

As a 10-year employee of East Moline Correctional Center, Pugh sees the result of what happens when students drop out of school and get into crime.

Kids who graduate or go on to a trade, they have a better chance of not ending up in that kind of situation, he said. Graduation rates, we need to go up, and we need our scholars to stay in school.

The district should help students figure out a possible career path by the time theyre in junior high, Pugh said.

We need to educate them on what money is out there for them, what scholarships are available, he said. Williams should strengthen the districts partnerships with local companies and apprenticeships, and get more kids involved, Pugh added.

(rimsd41.org)

She wants to do whats right and being in education for so long, you understand your job is to make sure that kids have an opportunity, he said. I think thats what I saw in her  she wants to make sure all of these kids in our school district have an opportunity in life, period.

Make sure the teachers have what they need to do their job, Pugh said. We are nothing without our teachers. We need the teachers to be happy, to have the materials they need to do their job.

Starting on July 1

In January 2024, the Board of Education approved a three-year contract with Williams to start July 1, 2024, at an annual salary of $220,000.

She will have other public meet-and-greet events at these times:

May 14  5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at RIMSD #41 Administration Center, 2000 7th Ave., Rock Island.

May 22  1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at MLK Center, 630 9th Street, Rock Island.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com.
Editors Note: This article is part of a series on incumbents and challengers running in the four upcoming Chatham County Board of Education district representative elections. The non-partisan School Board elections will be held on May 21 in conjunction with county primary elections. The advance voting period started April 29 and runs through May 17. The registration deadline was April 22.

Cornelia Hall, Chatham County School Board district 3 representative seeks reelection in 2024

Chatham County School Board District 3 - Cornelia Hall, Incumbent

Introduction

My voice is still strong I dont mind speaking up, said Cornelia Hall who is running once again to serve as Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) District 3 representative. She was initially appointed to the board in 2012 and has successfully campaigned to hold the seat three times, thus far.

She wasted no time in her meeting with Savannah Morning News getting right to key topics of early childhood education and the attendance issues facing the district. The conversation showcased her as a life-long learner who thrives when sharing her knowledge, whether as a teacher, school leader or community servant. Not only does she feel she has a great deal of support among the District 3 community, she recently received an endorsement of her reelection bid from the Savannah Regional Central Labor Council.

Background

Halls life journey began in the South across the Savannah River in Hilton Head, South Carolina. As a young child her family moved north where grew up in Westchester, New York. She ultimately attended college at the University of Illinois. She then started a career in education in Chicago but came back to Hilton Head in 1989. Prior to returning, she had already been serving as an assistant principal with the Chicago Public Schools System.

She went on to be a teacher and school principal within Beaufort and Jasper counties school systems until 2007. During that time, she served a year as a middle school language arts teacher, rose to assistant principal position again and helped oversee the construction of two middle schools. Post-retirement, she also spent three years working as a Reading Resource Teacher within SCCPSS at Thunderbolt Elementary.

As aboard member she has been instrumental in many discussions and initiatives over the years, but one sticks out to her as a notable achievement: the June 2022 budget meeting. She said that she led the conversation on raising the base level compensation all SCCPSS employees to $15 per hour. She felt the acknowledgment of their value has gone a long way towards helping us retain their services and maintain their loyalty.

Student, staff and teacher participation in the school community has been a goal throughout her life in education. She underscored that point with a fond memory of a second-grade student who opened morning announcements each day with Good Morning, boys and girls, this is Luis, your Ridgeland Elementary weatherman!

Platform

Hall envisions the development of young people who, at graduation, are ready to become economically independent, kind adults, able to think critically and act responsibly in the world. While she feels gains have been made during her time on the board, she is not fully satisfied with the results, which is why she has decided to run again.

I have unfinished business.

She would like to see additional pre-K programs supported through the State of Georgia, particularly in early learning centers like the districts Acorn Academy offerings. Those programs are for children who will be 3 years old prior to Sept. 1 of the upcoming academic year. The district currently offers two Acorn Academy classes at Carrie E. Gould Elementary, 4910 Pineland Dr, Savannah, GA 31405 and the Early Learning Center at Henderson E. Formey School, 400 E Broad St, Savannah, GA 31401.

Hall also advocated for closer examination of the Choice Schools and well-performing schools. Though she acknowledged that not all SCCPSS schools have the same needs, she feels underperforming schools could benefit from the successes of others. Overall she aims to "build lives of significance [her slogan] through policy creation and insightful distribution of resources.

Early voting has begun: What you need to know ahead of May's state and local primaries

Tanet Taharka Myers is running for the Savannah-Chatham County school board's district 3 representative seat in 2024.

Chatham County School Board District 3 - Tanet Taharka Myers, Challenger

Introduction

Tanet Taharka Myers said that the many comments she has heard from teachers, staff and students in the school district make clear that the "system is in crisis." According to her conversations, parents feel unsupported, students are struggling with little help and teachers are burning out at a fast pace. She said that people feel they cant speak up. She also feels the board possesses a great deal of talent among its members, but that it lacks cohesiveness. She wants to help foster a more collaborative board and she wants to be a voice for those who feel unheard.

Myers has not run for a school board seat previously. She is a product of SCCPSS schools and has been a parent of a SCCPSS student. She knows firsthand the potential and the pitfalls that exist. She also aims to bring her years of experience as a civil servant to the District 3 board seat.

"A different voice is needed...someone that is going to actually listen and respond to the needs of the public."

Background

Myers graduated second in her class from Savannah High School when it was located at Washington Avenue, before it became Savannah Arts Academy. She then earned her undergraduate degree in marketing from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, and a Masters of Public Administration from Savannah State University (SSU). She has held city government positions in Savannah and Brunswick. She spent more than eight years working at SSU as an executive assistant before moving into her current role as a campus liaison for South University. All of those roles have led her to value clear communication among an organization's stakeholders.

Her professional experience has also highlighted the importance of connecting elected officials with the citizenry. I believe I have that skill set to make sure that those connections actually occurat the level that we're actually getting something done, she said.

Another aspect of her background that she plans to bring to the District 3 board seat is that of a SCCPSS parent. When talking about wraparound services and individual education plans, Myers feels her opponent may approach them from an educational professionals perspective and not that of a parent who has navigated the school system.

Platform

Top priorities for Myers are addressing absenteeism, improving literacy rates and empowering families with students who require disabilities or support services. How? A few of the main strategies she shared is to negotiate new opportunities with community partners, look deeply at budgets, advocate for stronger engagement with parents, and assess grants management processes in the district.

Myers also wants to enrich afterschool activities and budget for staff to improve afterschool resources to families. Additionally, she mentioned wanting to take a closer look at the use of smartphones because she is concerned about students access to social media throughout the school day.

Regarding teachers, Myers favors limiting the frequency of changes to curriculum and programming. She also would like to see stronger measurements to determine the effectiveness of such changes. She wants educators to be protected from burnout by be being given the appropriate work-life balance. Increasing teacher pay was one action she discussed, but she also stressed the need to relieve the amount of demands being placed on teachers each year.

Overall, she aims to be a representative who is known and seen in the community. We need to get back to advocating for our students, advocating for our parents and advocating for educators, she said.

District 1 candidates: Get to know the candidates for Savannah-Chatham's district 1 school board seat

District 2 candidate unopposed: Hoskins-Brown pursues fourth term on Savannah school board after 13 years in office

Hear the candidates in person

A candidate forum, hosted by Voices for Schools and Deep Center, will take place Sunday, May 19 at Front Porch Improv, 210 W. Victory Drive, Savannah. District 1 will start at 2:00 p.m. District 3 will start at 3:15 p.m. District 7 will start at 4:30 p.m.

The positions of school board president and district 4, 5, 6 and 8 school board representatives will be up for re-election in 2026.

Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at jschwartzburt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Meet Savannah's District 3 school board candidates
Menasha police say their staffing hasn't kept pace with the growth of the city.

MENASHA  Menasha police made a plea Monday to go to referendum this fall asking voters to approve the hiring of six additional officers at a cost of nearly $950,000 annually.

The police department currently employs 32 sworn officers, or 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents.

According to FBI statistics, the average ratio in Wisconsin is 2.2 officers per 1,000 residents and the average ratio in the nation is 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents.

"Menasha would need to add seven officers to match the state ratio and 11 officers to match the national ratio," Police Chief Nick Thorn said.

The city's Administration Committee postponed action on the referendum until its Aug. 5 meeting to give Finance Director Jennifer Sassman time to receive information from the state on how the referendum might affect Menasha's state shared revenues.

The referendum, as currently proposed, would be held Nov. 5 and ask voters to approve exceeding state levy limits by $949,207 annually to hire, equip and train six additional police officers.

The amount represents an 8.1% increase in the city tax levy.

"It comes down to the city's finances and can we afford this or do we do less," Common Council member Ted Grade said.

Menasha Police Chief Nick Thorn

Why are more police officers needed in Menasha?

Menasha's population has increased 23% in the past 50 years, rising from 14,836 in 1970 to 18,268 in 2020 as the city has grown east of Oneida Street.

During that time, police staffing has increase 3% through the addition of one school resource officer in 2022.

"Policing has changed significantly over the past 50 years, and our workload continues to increase," Thorn said in a memorandum to the council.

In 2011, Menasha police responded to 11,952 calls for service. In 2023, the number rose to 13,628, a 14% increase.

Thorn said the department's average response time has increased from 12 minutes in 2017 to 23 minutes in 2023.

"Unfortunately, what has transpired over the past several years has put us significantly behind," Thorn said.

The heavy workload can result in forced overtime, officer fatigue and burnout; increased risks to officers due to a lack of adequate backup; and an overreliance on mutual aid from nearby agencies. It also can limit community outreach and training opportunities for officers and impede the department's ability to recruit and retain employees.

"We hire exceptional individuals with tremendous work ethic and commitment to service, but we have to be realistic in assessing their capability to handle such a volume of work," Thorn said.

During Monday's council meeting, residents spoke in favor of adding police officers, but there wasn't a consensus on whether they should be added all at once or over time, nor was there a consensus on whether the officers should be funded within the levy limits or outside the levy limits.

How is the police department currently staffed?

The police department's 32 sworn officers are assigned to the following positions.

Police chief

Deputy chief

Six lieutenants (five for patrol, one for investigations)

Two investigators

Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group investigator

Public information officer

Four school resource officers

16 patrol officers

The six new positions would consist of three patrol officers, two investigators and a lieutenant.

An earlier presentation called for hiring seven officers, with the additional position assigned to mental health or traffic enforcement, but that's not the current proposal.

"If that's something the community wants us to explore, then we would ask to move up to seven," Thorn said.

Menasha police respond to a 2019 fatal shooting that occurred while officers were executing a search warrant at an apartment in the 900 block of Tayco Street.

How much would the additional officers cost homeowners?

Information presented Monday show the additional six officers would cost $949,207 annually, including salaries and benefits, equipment, vehicles and training.

The cost translates to a tax increase of 73 cents per $1,000 of property value.

The owner of a $200,000 home would pay an additional $146 in annual property taxes, and the owner of a $300,000 home would pay an additional $219 in annual taxes.

Developer Steve Atkins, whose company is building $600,000 to $700,000 homes in the Woodland Lakes Cottages subdivision, said the additional tax burden could turn away prospective buyers.

"The No. 1 reason that people choose not to buy in Menasha, and in particular our development right now, is high taxes," he said.

Proposed referendum doesn't contain a sunset clause

The referendum, as currently drafted, would read as follows.

"Under state law, the increase in the levy of the City of Menasha for the tax to be imposed for the next fiscal year, 2025, is limited to 1.7%, which results in a levy of $11,750,084. Shall the City of Menasha be allowed to exceed this limit and increase the levy for the next fiscal year, 2025, for the purpose of hiring six (6) additional police officers, and provide the necessary training, equipment, and vehicles, by a total of 8.08%, which results in a levy of $12,699,291, and on an ongoing basis, include the increase of $949,207 for each fiscal year going forward?"

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Menasha police seek referendum to hire six additional officers
Meta Oversight Board to review content with from the river to the sea

Metas Oversight Board will review three Facebook posts that included the phrase from the river to the sea that the social media company ruled to keep up on the platform, the board announced Tuesday.

The phrase pre-dates the current conflict, but the three posts under review were published on Facebook in November, following the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7 and Israels military action in Gaza.

The board said it selected the cases in order to consider how Meta should moderate the use of the phrase given the resurgence in its use after October 7, 2023, and controversies around the phrases meaning.

On the one hand, the phrase has been used to advocate for the dignity and human rights of Palestinians. On the other hand, it could have antisemitic implications, as claimed by the users who submitted the cases to the Board, the board said.

Each of the posts included the phrase from the river to the sea, and were reported by Meta users for violating the companys community standards but the platform ruled that they should be left up on Facebook.

Users who reported the content and appealed to the board said the phrase broke Metas rules on hate speech, violence and incitement, or dangerous organizations and individuals, according to the board.

In a blog post, Meta said it determined the three pieces of content the board is reviewing did not violate those policies.

A Meta spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill, we welcome the boards review of our guidance in this matter.

While all of our policies are developed with safety in mind, we know they come with global challenges and we regularly seek input from experts outside Meta, including the Oversight Board. As weve said previously, we continually assess our policy guidance to better understand potential impacts on different communities. This work is ongoing, and we look forward to the boards decision and recommendations, the spokesperson added.

Facebook must follow the boards decision even if it overturns the initial ruling Facebook made.

The board, which is run independently from Meta and funded by a grant provided by the company, can also offer non-binding policy recommendations. If adopted, the recomendations could have far reaching impacts on how the phrase is used on Metas platforms.

As part of its decision, the board is accepting public comments for 14 days.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Metros First Tuesday to discuss fentanyl, elder fraud, cyber safety and more; public is encouraged to attend

LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Las Vegas Metropolitan police want to remind the public about its First Tuesday event held the first Tuesday of every month. Police open the community police stations and say its an opportunity for officers to educate, inform, and listen to residents concerns.

Each area command hosts a specific topic for discussion and residents are encouraged to ask questions or get information. Here is a list of topics to be discussed on Tuesday, May 7, at the following command centers.

Bolden Area Command, 5:30 p.m.

Fentanyl Awareness

1851 Stella Lake Street

Northwest Area Command, 5:30 p.m .

LVMPD Air Support Unit

9850 W. Cheyenne Avenue

Summerlin Area Command

Elder Fraud/Cyber Safety

Veterans Memorial Leisure Center at 101 N. Pavilion Center Drive

Northeast Area Command, 6 p.m .

Fentanyl Awareness

3750 Cecile Avenue

Downtown Area Command, 6 p.m.

Technology in Crime Fighting

621 N. 9th St.

Southeast Area Command, 5 p.m.

Pool Safety

3675 E. Harmon Avenue

South Central Area Command, 6 p.m.

Crisis Intervention Team

Paradise Recreation Center at 4774 McLeod Drive

Spring Valley Area Command, 5:30 p.m.

Fentanyl Awareness

8445 Eldora Avenue

Enterprise Area Command, 6 p.m.

Friends & Family First Party

Silverado Ranch Park at 9855 Gilespie Street





For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
New Mexico efforts to catalog lead water lines off to slow start as federal money flows in

Water drips from a faucet in Pleasanton, California. The U.S. is spending record amounts of federal dollars to address lead lines in water supplies, but the issue is widespread and costly. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Millions in federal dollars are headed to 10 New Mexico communities to address lead and copper pipes in local water systems.

State finance officials said other municipalities need to act soon and apply to receive whats left of the $28.6 million New Mexico received in its portion of the $3 billion from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Things are off to a slow start, said Michael Vonderheide, the director for Public Programs at the New Mexico Finance Authority, in regards to local water agencies applying for the funding.

Currently, the agency has approved $8.7 million for lead and copper water pipe surveys in places like Albuquerque, Farmington, Gallup and Dona Ana County. Smaller water associations in Leasburg, Garfield and La Union will also see this money fund their projects.

Once they get to the fundable list, we move forward with them expeditiously at the Finance Authority, Vonderheide said about his agencys role in the process.

All 10 of the projects are surveys to identify how many lead lines a utility might have, he said, noting that larger water systems have larger survey costs.

The money, given by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is administered in part by both The New Mexico Environment Department and The New Mexico Finance Authority, as loans to water systems.

The intent is to get all the lead service lines out of the ground, and reduce lead exposure, this $28.6 million is specifically for that, said John Rhoderick, who leads the Water Protection Division at the New Mexico Environment Department.

To qualify for the funds, water systems need to complete a pre-application process with the New Mexico Environment Department, which includes collecting the supporting documents and the projects ranking in a priority system.

Then, the New Mexico Finance Administration sends the money.

The water utilities are reimbursed for the costs as the project moves forward. Additional federal funds could be made available on a year-to-year basis.

Lead remains a big problem with a bigger cost

Last year, the EPA estimated about 9 million lead service lines feed drinking water to communities around the nation, the first time it put a solid number to lead lines. The 2023 survey projected the cost of replacing those lines to be about $625 billion.

Congress allocated just 2% of that estimate  $15 billion for lead service line replacement  in the infrastructure bill.

In the survey, the EPA estimated New Mexico had about 15,400 lead service lines, less than 1% of the states pipes. It further estimated the cost for New Mexicos pipe replacements would be $1.6 billion.

Lead and copper were common materials in household plumbing, but corrosion of the pipes or the solder joining in copper pipes could expose people to lead in their water  which is unsafe in any amount, especially for children, pregnant people, and the elderly.

Lead exposure poses a myriad of risks.

It can damage brains, kidneys and the nervous system, cause learning and behavioral problems, cardiovascular issues such as high blood pressure, hypertension and reproductive issues, and increase miscarriage chances, according to the EPA.

The federal government banned the use of lead for plumbing in 1986, but many older homes and water systems still used lead pipes.

In a 2023 rule improvement, the federal government found that water systems pipes are the biggest source of lead exposure in drinking water, and is requiring utilities to replace 100% of lead pipes within the next decade, amid other changes to strengthen protections against exposure.

New Mexico water systems are facing an autumn deadline this year to complete and return surveys of how many lead or galvanized pipes remain in their water systems as part of the federal rule changes in 2023.

We havent gotten a lot of information back yet from communities, they have until October 16 of this year to provide us with those inventories, Rhoderick said.

Rhoderick said its typical for water infrastructure needs to outstrip funding, but said the surveys are vital.

$28 million is a good number, we need every dollar we can get, Rhoderick said. I dont know at this point, neither does NMFA have any idea how that number compares to the need, because were trying to determine the need at this point.

NM Water Systems that received funds

Leasburg Mutual Domestic Water Consumer Association: $50,000

Farmington Water System: $3.7 million

Gallup Water System: $1 million

Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority: $1.1 million

Dona Ana Municipal Domestic Water Consumers Association: $1.6 million

Cedar Creek Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association: $85,000

Garfield Mutual Domestic Water Consumers and Sewage Works Association: $377, 657

La Union Mutual Domestic and Sewage Works Association: $135,000

Bernalillo Water Department: $250,000

Alamogordo Water: $400,000

The post New Mexico efforts to catalog lead water lines off to slow start as federal money flows in appeared first on Source New Mexico.
MIAMI, Okla.  A somber day of recognition in Miami, about an issue facing indigenous people across the nation.

The Quapaw Nation invited tribe members and other Native communities to join them in a half-mile walk for awareness of missing or murdered indigenous people.

Sunday was officially Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day.

The Department of Justice reports Native Americans face higher rates of violence and experience violent crime at higher rates than the national average.

The goal of Mondays event is to bring attention to this ongoing issue in Native American communities.

High number of domestics, murders, and then just missing people. They felt like it was kind of swept under the rug for a while, and were trying to do this to bring attention to it and make everybody realize there is a problem out there, and we need to address it, said Mike Mullin, Quapaw Nation Deputy Chief of Investigations.

A lot of families go without having answers. Thats the biggest thing, is we try to find a way to bring closure to the families thats had people missing or murdered, or the cases are unsolved or people thats been missing and they havent been found, said Charles Addington, Quapaw Nation Chief Marshal & Dir. of Public Safety.

An estimated 4,200 missing and murdered indigenous cases have gone unsolved.

Ten are from tribes in Ottawa County.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com.
A series of incisive Miami Herald editorials highlighting the depth of dysfunction in the city of Miamis government while calling for sweeping reforms was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize on Monday, the latest recognition for the Heralds decorated editorial board.

Isadora Rangel, a member of the Miami Heralds editorial board since 2021, was honored as a finalist for Miami Dysfunction, a collection of five editorials published over the course of 2023 that examined the scandals and political turmoil that defined Miami City Hall during a tumultuous year. The editorials also offered ideas for how the troubled city can rebuild public trust, increase voter turnout and improve the governance of Floridas second most populous city.

Id like to think that we put the weight of the editorial board behind these ideas, and I hope that that matters, Rangel said on Tuesday.

Rangel pointed to the work of the Herald newsroom, which operates separately from the editorial board, as a catalyst for the boards analysis and commentary on City Halls shortcomings.

She said the editorials drew from the Heralds coverage of Mayor Francis Suarezs quiet side gig as a consultant for a Coconut Grove developer, which has led to state and federal investigations; reporting on the arrest of former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla on corruption charges; and a $63.5 million civil judgment against Commissioner Joe Carollo after a federal jury found he pushed city employees to harass Little Havana businessmen as retaliation for supporting a political opponent.

The genesis of Miami Dysfunction was the feeling on the editorial board that the city was not being run on behalf of its constituents, but on behalf of those in power, and we felt that was counterproductive, Rangel said.

Miami Herald Executive Editor Alex Mena said the recognition underscores the vital role of journalism in fostering transparency and driving positive change in our community.

I am immensely proud of Isadora Rangel for being named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Mena said. Her insightful editorials, rooted in rigorous journalism, shed light on political scandals and advocated for meaningful reforms in Miami.

The announcement marks the second year in a row the Pulitzer Board has honored the Heralds opinion team. Amy Driscoll, then the deputy editorial page editor, won the Herald its 24th Pulitzer in May 2023 for her series Broken Promises  another body of work focused on holding local governments accountable in Miami-Dade County.

Members of the Miami Herald editorial board  including, in front row, from left: Isadora Rangel; Lauren Costantino, audience engagement producer; Nancy Ancrum, editorial page editor; Amy Driscoll, deputy editorial page editor; and Luisa Yanez editorial page; deputy managing editor react after winning the Pulitzer for editorial writing in May 2023.

Were so proud of the recognition for Isadora Rangels editorial series Miami Dysfunction as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, said Driscoll, now the Heralds opinion editor overseeing the boards work. That series spotlights the vital work needed in this community, and it helped spark a much-needed conversation. Its gratifying that the Pulitzer board acknowledged the work of the Miami Herald opinion team for the second year in a row.

The distinction also marks a posthumous laurel for Nancy Ancrum, who capped a 40-year career at the Herald by serving as the Heralds editorial page editor for a decade before retiring at the end of 2023. Weeks after her retirement, Ancrum died, leaving a legacy that included two Pulitzer Prizes for the Heralds opinion team. In 2017, Jim Morin won the Pulitzer for his editorial cartoons.

Rangel, in her own words, is a proud immigrant, born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a graduate of Florida International University. She returned to Miami in 2021 after a stint as the opinion and engagement editor for Florida Today in Brevard County, the Space Coasts major daily newspaper.

From late June through November, Rangel wrote five editorials sharply focused on the city of Miamis problems and how to fix them. The Pulitzer jury described the work as a scathing series that roots the citys multiple political scandals in a troubled local democracy and champions electoral reforms.

The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing was David E. Hoffman of the Washington Post, for a compelling and well-researched series on new technologies and the tactics authoritarian regimes use to repress dissent in the digital age, and how they can be fought.

Since the Herald series was published, Miami voters elected two commissioners who ran on reform platforms, and even the embattled mayor floated major changes to the municipal government during a speech in January, repeating some of the reforms suggested in the Herald editorials.

The commission has yet to assemble a charter review commission, a panel to recommend changes to the city charter.

Rangel said she hopes the conversation about how to improve the city government continues, and she emphasized that the debate should include those who dont want to see change.

I welcome the people who oppose these ideas, too, she said. Honestly, we would like to see those discussions happen in public, even if some of these players think that these reforms are not valid.

Read the Heralds Miami Dysfunction series

Residents, shake up this city and demand a larger commission

That landslide win Mayor Suarez brags about? Thats not the whole story

Trio of politicians lives up  or down  to citys disgraced reputation

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KYODO NEWS - May 7, 2024 - 18:43 | World, All

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday his government has expressed concerns to China over an incident where a Chinese fighter jet released flares in front of an Australian helicopter above international waters in the Yellow Sea, rapping the act as unsafe and "completely unacceptable."

A J-10 jet of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force on Saturday intercepted an Australian navy MH-60R Seahawk helicopter on a routine flight during an international operation to enforce U.N. sanctions on North Korea, according to Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles.

Albanese said in the television interview with Nine Network's Today Show that Australia has "made it very clear to China that this is unprofessional and that it's unacceptable" while seeking an explanation for such behavior.

"They're in international waters, international airspace, and they're doing work to ensure that the sanctions that the world has imposed through the United Nations on North Korea...are enforced," the prime minister said, referring to the Austrian Defense Force personnel.

"And they shouldn't have been at any risk," he added.

The Chinese jet released flares about 300 meters in front of the Australian chopper and 60 meters above it, forcing it to take evasive action, Marles said in a statement.

No injuries or damage to the aircraft occurred, according to a separate statement by the Australian Defense Department.

China defended the fighter jet's action, saying the Australian chopper "deliberately flew within close range" of Chinese airspace "in a provocative move," endangering Beijing's security while ostensibly enforcing U.N. resolutions.

The Chinese military "took necessary measures at the scene to warn and alert" the Australian side, and it handled the situation in accordance with law and in a safe manner, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, adding Beijing has lodged "a serious protest" with Canberra over the helicopter's risky moves.

China's Defense Ministry also claimed the Australian helicopter disturbed the Chinese military's normal training activities and demanded Canberra to "stop spreading false narratives" and halt "all dangerous and provocative acts."

It is the second such incident involving Australian and Chinese forces in six months, threatening to hamper improving ties between the two nations after years of heightened tensions under the government of Albanese's predecessor, Scott Morrison.

In November, Australia said its naval divers sustained minor injuries after being exposed to sonar pulses from a Chinese warship while conducting diving operations in international waters inside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

At the time, China argued that its military is strictly disciplined and always operates professionally in accordance with international law, rejecting the Australian claim.

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Australia, ASEAN urge against unilateral actions in South China Sea

Japan, Australia in talks on cooperation in military contingencies
WASHINGTON (WOOD)  Seventy-five veterans from mid-Michigan boarded an Honor Flight Tuesday morning to head to our nations capital, including a 106-year old who served in World War II.

The group took off from Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids.

Before Washington, they visited Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Its a new stop for the mid-Michigan honor flight and is the site that inspired the Star-Spangled Banner. Some were getting emotional as they walked around the site. For many, this was their first time there.

Veterans from Mid-Michigan visit Fort McHenry on the Honor Flight. (May 7, 2024)

Veterans from Mid-Michigan visit Fort McHenry on the Honor Flight. (May 7, 2024)

Veterans from Mid-Michigan visit Fort McHenry on the Honor Flight. (May 7, 2024)

Its a wonderful feeling knowing that they all made the same commitment, Vietnam veteran Norman Mosele said.

For him, the commitment is symbolized by the red, white and blue.

Its a wonderful feeling knowing that they all made the same commitment, he said. Just knowing that (they were) willing to die for what it stands for.  Although I wasnt in any combat, I was there an willing, and the guys that were there are heroes, all of them.

They were honored to be with 106-year-old World War II veteran Robert Holt. Many of the veterans stopped to shake his hand, take pictures with him and thank him.

Just fantastic. I was taken back the first time I learned he was 106  My hero, believe me, said one veteran.

This is nice, really nice. Eighty years ago, I never thought I would be doing all of this. I was in combat, everything, machine guns, I had it all in my combat days, said Holt.

World War II veteran Robert Holt, 106, arrives at Gerald R. Ford International Airport for the Mid-Michigan Honor Flight. (May 7, 2024)

For the rest of the night, the veterans are scheduled to have a dinner, relax and cool down  the weather was humid with a high of 79 degrees in Baltimore on Tuesday.

Wednesday, the group heads to Washington where we they will go to a number of sites, including Arlington National Cemetery, the World War II Memorial, United States Navy Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and others.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
U.S. Senate candidate and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers rallies for Donald Trump in Freeland. | Kyle Davidson

More than nine months after registering to vote in Michigan, election officials in Florida say former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake) is now officially removed from their voting rolls.

Rogers, one of four Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for Michigans U.S. Senate seat that will open up with the retirement of Democrat Debbie Stabenow, has drawn fire from political rivals as being a carpetbagger after questions were raised by the Michigan Advances reporting in January about where he was actually living.

Although born and raised in Livingston County, which he represented during his six years in the Michigan Senate and 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rogers later moved into a 4,751-square-foot home in Cape Coral, Fla., valued at $1.7 million.

That home, which he still owns, was his official residence until his decision to run for U.S. Senate last year. It was reported in mid-April that Rogers remained registered to vote at the Cape Coral residence, although his campaign said that officials there had failed to act yet on a form filed by Rogers requesting that his name be removed from the Florida voter rolls.

While a check of the online voter database operated by the Florida Department of State still shows Rogers as an active voter, officials in Lee County, where the Cape Coral home is located, tell the Advance that he has been removed from their database.

As of [Monday], Michael J Rogers is not a registered voter here in Lee County, Florida. We received the Cancellation Form needed for him to be removed, said Maybety Bonachea, the voter registration director for Lee County.

Meanwhile, Rogers remains living at his sister-in-laws home in Genoa Township, near Brighton, where he also registered to vote in August 2023. According to his campaign, Rogers is staying there while a new home is constructed on property in White Lake Township he and his wife, Kristi, purchased for $295,000 last July.

At the time of that purchase, a one-bedroom, 728-square-foot home sat on the lot. However, as of last week that home had been demolished and a new one was being built in its place.

Rogers, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is facing off against former U.S Rep. Justin Amash (I-Cascade Twp.), physician Sherry ODonnell and businessman Sandy Pensler in the Aug. 6 GOP primary.

On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly), actor Hill Harper and businessman Nasser Beydoun have filed.

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The post Mike Rogers Florida voter registration has finally been canceled appeared first on Michigan Advance.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A Milwaukie man was sentenced to prison on Monday after a Christmas Day 2022 car break-in led authorities to find over 1,000 identity theft-related items in his car, according to the Clackamas County District Attorneys Office.

Officials said 52-year-old Trino Lopez was sentenced to 12 years in prison after facing more than a dozen ID theft and forgery charges, along with firearm theft and felon in possession of a firearm charges.

The sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty to 21 criminal counts in March.

The charges stem from a reported car break-in on Christmas morning in 2022 in which the victim reported $8,000 worth of stolen items  including a still-in-the-box firearm.

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An Apple air tag led Clackamas County Sheriffs deputies to the Kings Manor Apartments in Milwaukie, where they found a vehicle Lopez was driving.

Deputies stopped the vehicle for traffic violations, and after noticing the firearm box in the vehicle, arrested Lopez and his fiance Tyanna Fitzpatrick.

Deputies searched Lopez and found a variety of ID cards, credit cards, and checkbooks that did not belong to him, along with a temporary Oregon drivers license with Lopezs face on it, but a different persons name.

SE Portland kidnapping suspect said she was taking victim to store for snacks

Deputies later searched his vehicle and found around 1,100 photos of ID theft-related items, including printers, blank checks, and more ID cards with his face but different names on the cards.

Authorities also found washed checks  checks that were stolen from the mail with the payment and amount washed away from the check by the person who stole them. The district attorneys office said one of the checks totaled $92,000.

Another victim learned Lopez had their tax returns and copies of their entire familys social security cards.

WalletHub says Oregon is one of the 10 worst states to be a police officer

With at least 200 victims, officials said the damage is incalculable.

It was incredibly helpful that the victims in the case were cooperative and willing to come to court, said Clackamas County Deputy District Attorney Chelsea Jones. That was a big reason to change his plea to guilty in the middle of the trial because he saw how much evidence we had against him. And putting faces to names really resonates with jurors.

Fitzpatrick faces more than 40 criminal counts and is in Clackamas County Jail with bail set at $630,000.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Jennifer Stately, 35, was charged on May 6 following the incident on March 15

Minnesota BCA Jennifer Stately

A woman has been charged with murdering two children and neglecting a third child after setting fire to a residence and fleeing the scene in Minnesota.

Jennifer Marie Stately, 35, received the charges after attacking two minors with a knife and setting fire to the house before she left the residence with a toddler in Blackduck, Minn. on March 15, U.S. attorney Andrew M. Luger announced in a news release on Monday, May 6.

According to court documents, per the release, one of the children died from stab wounds to the chest, while the second child died from smoke inhalation from the fire.

Stately was later spotted by a motorist in a vehicle with the third child, who was covered in wounds and suffering from visible signs of child neglect amid an Amber Alert raised by authorities, the release stated.

Stately has been charged with one count of premeditated murder, one count of murder in the course of committing arson, one count of murder in the course of committing child abuse, one count of arson and one count of felony child neglect.

JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Red Lake Indian Reservation sign

The deceased children have been identified as the defendants sons Remi and Tristan Stately, aged 6 and 5, according to an indictment obtained by the Star Tribune. The toddler she fled with is believed to be her 3-year-old son.

According to obituaries of the two children posted online, the brothers were born to Stately and Brian Graves Jr. in Red Lake, Minn. and attended Red Lake School. A vigil was held in their honor by the school and local community a week after their deaths, the Star Tribune reported.

Stately's attorney Paul Engh said there is a firm basis for his client to provide a not-guilty plea, though he did not share why, reported The Associated Press.

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This tragic case demonstrates the importance of close working relationships between the U.S. Attorneys Office and our state, federal and tribal law enforcement partners. Together, we are able to bring charges swiftly in cases such as this on behalf of the most vulnerable among us, Luger said, per the release.

Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. of FBI Minneapolis, added: The loss of innocent lives demands swift and decisive action.



Through seamless collaboration with our state and local counterparts along with the invaluable support of the U.S. Attorneys Office, we are steadfast in our resolve to pursue justice for the victims. We stand united in seeking closure and healing for the affected family and their community.

Stately remains in custody amid further legal proceedings in the case.

PEOPLE has reached out to the Red Lake County Sheriffs Office for further comment.



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Read the original article on People.
Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam on Tuesday warned Miami-Dade county commissioners of his citys willingness to pursue a legal fight to prevent a new trash incinerator from being built just outside the citys boundary line.

Miramar will file suit, he vowed to them during a public meeting. And that could trigger a decade of litigation, he said.

The Miami-Dade County Commission made no decision about the incinerator location Tuesday. Instead, it accepted a report that studied risk assessments to air quality, human health and ecological screenings to three possible locations for an incinerator, also known as a boiler, which burns trash. The new plant would replace one in Doral that was destroyed in a fire last year.

But Miramar officials worry the report favors the one site they dont want: the site of a decommissioned airfield, near Krome Avenue and U.S. 27, less than a mile from Miramars doorstep. Other options are in Medley, where Miramar wants to see it built, and the existing site in Doral.

Messam said the report puts (the) thumb on scale of initial recommendation.

Each of the three sites appear feasible for air permitting, although the Medley site will be the most complicated and challenging,  Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava wrote her commissioners in an April memo. She also told them that the worst-case health risk level at all three sites is below the risk posed by simply walking down the street and inhaling car exhaust.

Next for Miami-Dade: Community outreach regarding the analysis and findings with impacted cities, communities, and organizations. There could be a site recommendation in September when the commission returns from summer break, and Miami-Dade leaders could make a decision.

Messam told Miami-Dade leaders at the public meeting that the county could not have picked a more inappropriate location.

After the meeting, he said the airport site puts the region at risk and its unconscionable were even here having this conversation.

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He said if there were ever an accident, the damage to the Everglades and the Broward communities would be unforgiveable.

The site poses extreme human risk, biological risk and environmental risk to our quality of life. Airport West sits across the street from the Everglades, water basins that feed our drinking supply, Messam said.

The Airport West site is in the northwest portion of Miami-Dade County, and made up of 416 acres, but 377 acres consist of wetland preserve areas. The county is proposing to develop about 180 acres.

Miami-Dades new mass Waste-to-Energy plant would process 4,000 tons of waste daily.

The expert study concludes that the Airport West site yielded slightly better results in the preliminary air dispersion modeling and appears to be relatively more favorable for air permitting than the other two sites.

Still, the experts warn, for each site, there will be extensive permits that will be required for a new incinerator and it will potentially be longer and more costly than initially expected given the current regulatory environment.

In an email statement Tuesday afternoon to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Miami-Dade Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Morales said regarding the human health risks, the study shows the Airport West location has the lowest potential risk, but all three locations have low risk with results within or below the regulatory established risk levels and when looking at ecological risks, the potential risks are also minimal and do not present a health risk to the surrounding communities.

The decision about where to place a new Waste-to-Energy facility is an important one that will help shape the future of our community, he said in the statement. Thats why the administration is making sure to approach this process as methodically as possible  with the opportunity for thorough evaluation of all possible sites, information-sharing and input from key stakeholders across the community.

He said Miami-Dade County also has been seeking input from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In February, Miramar hired a Coral Gables-based environmental law firm to monitor local, state and potentially federal permits that Miami-Dade was pulling and ensure our rights are protected and we are involved, informed and can be involved in that process should it be required, Messam said.

Then last month, several cities in southwest Broward stood united against the new facility and urged the public to back them up by signing an online petition.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash
EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)  Crowds held back tears as three Michigan doctors shared horrific stories of treating the wounded in Gaza Monday night in East Lansing Public Library.

The talks come as the war between Hamas and Israel marches towards its seventh month. Hamas leaders agreed to a cease-fire earlier in the day. Israeli officials have sent negotiators to cease-fire talks while military operations begin in the Gazan city of Rafah.

Dr. Bara Zuhaili of Flint and Dr. Hisham Qandeel of Lansing were at the East Lansing Library in person, while Dr. Omar Qahwash of Lansing was joined by Zoom.

Zuhaili said he could not stand by while other physicians risked their lives to save civilians.

Dr. Hisham Qandeel and Dr. Bara Zuhaili listen on as the crowd shares questions about their time in Gaza. (WLNS)

He shared heartbreaking stories of his mid-January aid mission to the region.

This is what I want to people to know about Gaza right now, the misery and the resilience, he said.

He said one operation on a young boy had stayed with him months after returning home. He treated a boy to later find out the childs family members were all killed in a bombing.

I broke down in tears. I said Who is going to take care of this kid? He has no arm and I just spent two hours fixing the third finger, said Dr. Zuhaili. We dont even know his name, his age. We know nothing about him.

Qandeel works University of Michigan Health Sparrow. His aid mission took him to Egypt and Gaza in mid-March. He said the bombardments hurt both civilians and medical professionals alike.

Including an anesthesiology technician. He said the man was talking to the hospital when he was hit in a blast. Rush to the hospital and treated by the same surgeons that knew him.

The anesthesiology colleagues were crying watching their colleague try to be salvaged and what happened? We could not save the patient. He died on the table, said Dr. Qandeel.

Dr. Hisham Qandeel and Dr. Bara Zuhaili traveled to Gaza on separate aid missions earlier this year. (Hisham Qandeel/Bara Zuhaili0

The stories weighed heavily on many in the crowd, like Nazita Lajevardi.

Just hearing their struggles with that, it was very impactful to hear, she said.

The crowd asked the physicians questions about how the public could help and their thoughts on American efforts to build a port to transport aid.

The doctors shared their skepticism on how genuine the effort is and why it took so long to help aid efforts.

Dr. Zuhaili says while lawmakers may not be quick to act, he hopes the night gives the public the information they need.

Let the people decide and the people will eventually the people will mount enough pressure to change policy, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WLNS 6 News.
Last years closure of the Madera Community Hospital has sparked a troubling wave of misinformation. A notable and concerning example is the recent statement by the Madera County public health director.

In recent remarks, she claims that Californias Medi-Cal expansion and its beneficiaries  predominantly people of color in Madera County, which include the largest indigenous population from Mexico in the U.S. and low-income people  are to blame. This assertion is not only factually incorrect but also dangerously misleading.

Medi-Cals expansion, like the one that Gov. Gavin Newsom has pioneered, is designed to support the health of Californias most vulnerable populations by ensuring access to health care equitably. For years, many Latino organizations and community leaders advocated for this seismic change in policy, culminating with the accomplished efforts of our Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno) and state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles); this progress should be celebrated and promoted, not undermined.

Blaming this policy success or its beneficiaries for the hospitals closure is shortsighted and ignores the real issues. A 2021 report by the California Health Care Foundation highlights that hospitals serving higher proportions of Medi-Cal patients are financially viable when managed competently, suggesting that the financial woes leading to closures stem from administrative, not patient-related failures.

Opinion

In addition, public health research from Dr. Maria-Elena Young at UC Merced shows that policies that expand health insurance, educational opportunities, work-place protections and other resources for immigrants, regardless of documentation status, are essential components to achieving health equity.

Many of the new Medi-Cal expansion beneficiaries were deemed essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although their lives were endangered to feed and care for all Californians, they went without health insurance to address their own needs. These public health and community heroes were uninsured not because they didnt want insurance, but because employers did not offer it and because of policies that excluded them.

Attributing the failure of health-care facilities like Madera Community Hospital to the very communities they serve carries a deeply anti-immigrant and anti-Latino undertone. It perpetuates a stigma against people of color, immigrants, and those in economic hardship while ignoring their contributions to our states economic power.

Furthermore, it reinforces barriers to health care rather than dismantling them and erodes the publics trust. We must not add fodder to the ugly national rhetoric rising against immigrants and minorities just to earn political points or avoid other difficult accountability conversations.

In discussing monumental public health failures like the Madera hospital closing, it is critical to address the root causes rather than casting blame on Medi-Cal expansion and its beneficiaries. The focus in the reopening of the hospital and beyond must be on rectifying management practices, strengthening our health system, and supporting policies that enhance health-care access for all Californians.

Gilda Zarate-Gonzalez of Fresno is a health economist and public health researcher. She is the former Madera County deputy public health director. Contributors to this op-ed are Sarait Martinez, Leoncio Vasquez , Steven Debuskey , and Erika Ireland.
What you missed on Day 12 of Trump's trial: Another gag order ruling and details on how Michael Cohen was paid

What you missed on Day 12 of Trump's trial: Another gag order ruling and details on how Michael Cohen was paid

Two new witnesses took the stand Monday on the 12th day of Donald Trumps hush money trial, shortly after the judge overseeing the case again cited the former president for violating the gag order he imposed last month.

Ahead of trial testimony, New York state Judge Juan Merchan found that Trump ran afoul of the order prohibiting him from attacking witnesses and others involved in the case. Trump was fined $1,000 and warned that he could face jail time if necessary for any further violations.

When testimony resumed, a former Trump Organization executive and the first current employee to testify described how many of the large sums that went to Michael Cohen, for the alleged purposes of hush money payments, came directly from Trumps bank account.

Trump has been charged with 34 counts related to falsifying business records, which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he engaged in to obscure hush money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He has also denied having had an affair with Daniels.

Judge threatens Trump with jail time

Merchan started the fourth week of the trial by imposing a $1,000 fine on Trump, who was fined $9,000 last week for nine previous gag order violations.

It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent, Merchan said in handing down the ruling.

The last thing I want to do is to put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president, as well, Merchan said. There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for you.

Merchan acknowledged the magnitude of jailing Trump and how disruptive to the proceedings it would be. But at the end of the day, I have a job to do, he said. So as much as I do not want to propose a jail sanction  I will, if necessary.

Trump sat and listened, saying nothing, and he showed little of the defiance that he evinces outside the courtroom, where he quickly criticized Merchan's ruling.

Frankly, our Constitution is far more important than jail, Trump said, indicating that he had no intention of keeping quiet despite Merchan's warnings. Ill do that choice any day.

Trumps lawyers have argued that critical statements made by Cohen, who's expected to testify, mean Trump should be able to respond. He should also be able to defend himself as a presidential candidate, Trump attorney Todd Blanche has said.

How the checks got to Cohen

The two witnesses who took the stand Monday explained the mechanics of reimbursing Cohen, Trump's former attorney and "fixer," for the $130,000 that was paid to Daniels.

The Trump Organizations former controller, Jeffrey McConney, said that he interacted minimally with Cohen during his time at the company but that Allen Weisselberg, the companys former chief financial officer, had asked him in early 2017 to send money to Cohen. In the months beforehand, Cohen had taken out a home equity line of credit to buy Daniels story alleging she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

Cohen was repaid during Trumps first year as president via 11 checks that were logged as part of a retainer agreement to Cohen for allegedly acting as Trumps attorney and labeled legal expenses in the Trump Organizations records, according to Monday's testimony. Asked what Cohens position was in the Trump Organization, McConney at one point retorted, He said he was a lawyer.

McConney testified that $130,000 would reimburse the Daniels payment and $50,000 would reimburse a technology services payment. Notes showed that Weisselberg wrote that the payment should be grossed up to cover New York City taxes.

The charges against Trump apply to three types of records: invoices, checks and check stubs, and ledger entries for Trumps personal bank account and the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust.

On the stand, McConney authenticated the invoices that showed the payments to Cohen and described what was allegedly false about them  that they were filed as legal services.

Deborah Tarasoff, an accounts payable supervisor who worked with McConney at the Trump organization, took the stand after her former colleague and authenticated each check and check stub, as well as the general ledger entry. She then linked them to the corresponding invoices.

The Trump Organization functions like a family business, said Tarasoff, a 24-year veteran of the firm and the first current Trump Organization employee to take the stand.

For the first time in the trial, a check from the alleged scheme was shown in court: a $70,000 payment to Cohen for the months of January and February 2017. One payment was signed by Eric Trump, the other by Weisselberg. The payments were described as retainers, with a March payment, and they were issued from the Revocable Trust. Later payments came from the former president's personal bank account.

Weisselberg, McConney, Donald Trump and the legal department were authorized to approve expenses. But sums greater than $10,000 needed approval from Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. or Eric Trump, Tarasoff said.

A reimbursement check would be stapled to an invoice and taken to Trumps longtime executive assistant, Rhona Graff, for Trump's signature.

Only Trump himself could sign off on a payment out of his personal account  and his signature was the final and ultimate approval, Tarasoff said. If Trump didnt want to sign a check, he didnt have to. Instead, he would simply write VOID across it in black Sharpie and send it back, Tarasoff said.

The final total of payments to Cohen, which reached $420,000, included not only the alleged hush money reimbursements but also Cohens annual bonus and additional funds to cover taxes on the amounts.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
MILAN  New information has come to light about the state of the Danish frigate Iver Huitfeldt when it departed for the Red Sea in January, including crew concerns about inexperienced personnel on board and equipment not fully tested, according to a report released by the Danish government.

The Danish Defense Ministry announced on March 26 that the warship was sailing home after completing its mission in the Red Sea as part of the U.S.-led Operation Prosperity Guardian, during which it succeeded at downing four drones earlier that month.

Days later, reports emerged that the vessel had encountered problems related to weapons and mission systems which prevented the firing of surface-to-air missiles against the incoming aerial threats for roughly half an hour.

The crew of Iver Huitfeldt experienced challenges in conducting engagement with the frigates missile system as well as a high failure rate of 76mm artillery shells during the engagement of drones on March 9, an unclassified version of the deployment review found.

The 13-page document states that trouble began in the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile launcher system, where an unknown error condition occurred after the firing of the first missile, which affected the ESSM second launcher, rendering them unable to engage for 30 minutes.

Following this, the crew was found to have inadvertently triggered an additional error in the ships command and control system, further affecting the missile engagement. During its incapacity, the frigate was placed under protective radar coverage from an American warship and eventually relocated to a lower threat area north of the Red Sea.

The complete launcher system has therefore been taken ashore after Iver Huitfeldts return to Denmark, where analysis is continuing in collaboration with the supplier, the report said.

The ESSM weapons are made by a multinational industry consortium led by RTXs Raytheon. More than a dozen navies around the world have the missiles in their inventories.

Contrary to initial claims made by some Danish media, the investigation concluded that there is no indication of deficiencies with the ships active phased array radar, made by Thales Netherlands.

Regarding artillery malfunctions, the crew reported that those were primarily caused by the early burst of shells close to the ship or failing to hit the target. The frigates captain estimated that around 50% of the munitions used during the March 9 drone operation detonated early.

The shells fired by the Iver Huitfeldt were from production batches made between 1989 and 1992, which investigators said had previously not encountered such problems in test firings.

While the countrys Defense Command maintains it did not receive any reports of operational concerns prior to the frigate deployment, a few details provided in the report appear to contradict this.

The document notes that when the frigate underwent the British Fleet Operational Sea Training course, in December 2023, in at least two instances the crew faced challenges with data flow between the ships command-and-control system and the radar and fire-control system.

Additionally, a day after leaving Denmark, the vessels commander shared in an assessment that the personnel situation remained fragile due to inexperience in new crew members, and that regarding the state of the equipment a few concerns persisted, but appeared manageable.

These concerns were in reference to the installation of one of the ships guns and counter-drone system, which remained to be finalized and tested.

In one of the concluding sections, the report further states that prior to March 9, the Ministry of Defense Acquisition and Logistics Organisation had knowledge of an existing software weakness in the interface between the ships radar and fire control system.

It could cause the system to lock if a certain operator behavior was detected, and this knowledge has probably to some extent been present in the naval command, it said.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.  A woman thought she was being helpful when the Serbian man she had met on a dating app asked her to translate a message into Colombian Spanish, saying he needed it for a novel his friend was writing.

I met someone wonderful, the message began. He has a summer house about 2h from Madrid. We are going there now and I will spend a few days there. There is barely any signal though. Ill call you when I get back.

The woman sent him back the Spanish version of the message. Later, her mother Googled his name, David Knezevich.

That was when she saw, according to a criminal complaint, that he was the husband of Ana Knezevich, 40, a Fort Lauderdale woman of Colombian descent who disappeared in Madrid in February and hasnt been seen since. The exact message the woman had sent him for his friends novel appeared again and again in news reports, sent from Ana Knezevichs phone the day she disappeared.

David Knezevich, 36, was arrested Saturday at Miami International Airport on kidnapping charges pertaining to his involvement in his wifes disappearance, according to federal officials. It remains unclear if Ana Knezevich is alive or dead, but a federal complaint brings to light new details about the events surrounding her husband and her disappearance.

Investigators allege that David Knezevich spray-painted the security cameras at his wifes building in Madrid, stole license plates from a car on the street where she had disappeared, and later, while she was widely reported missing, had his employees impersonate her in order to close out insurance policies and open a bank account.

On Feb. 2, Ana Knezevich went to look at apartments. She wanted to stay in Madrid more permanently, she told her friends. She was preparing for a divorce from David Knezevich, in which he did not want to divide up the assets evenly, according to the complaint. She was afraid of him and thought he was secretly monitoring her. According to a petition for conservatorship filed by her family in Broward County, she had told friends that he was narcissistic and manipulative during group therapy sessions.

Security cameras captured Ana Knezevich entering her Madrid apartment a little after 2 p.m. It would be the last time anyone ever saw her.

That night, a man in a helmet entered the building a little before 9:30 p.m. Inside, he spray-painted the security camera lens, though he did not completely obscure its view. It captured him duct-taping the buildings lock so that he could enter it again. At one point, he looked right at the camera. He appeared to have physical characteristics that resemble of those of Knezevich, the complaint states.

About an hour later, camera footage captured him leaving the elevator with what appeared to be a suitcase.

The next day, David Knezevich reached out to the Colombian woman he had met on the dating app back in October of 2023, who is not named in the complaint.

Hey babe, he wrote. I need your help.

He explained that his Serbian friend was writing a novel with a minor character who is Colombian and he wanted her to translate a few sentences. They workshopped the paragraph back and forth, the complaint says.

Later that day, a text message went out from Ana Knezevichs phone to her friends, identical to the one the woman had translated. Despite the translation, her friends and family were immediately suspicious. It did not sound like her, they said.

Firefighters forced their way into Ana Knezevichs apartment on Feb. 4. She had disappeared, and so had her cellphone, laptop and chargers. Using surveillance footage, police identified the brand of spray paint the man had used to disable the camera. They found that a retailer had sold the same brand of spray paint earlier that day to a man who looked like David Knezevich, according to the stores surveillance footage. He had also bought two rolls of duct tape.

Meanwhile, the Colombian woman had continued talking to David Knezevich, who had sent her a picture of a plane ticket from Serbia to Colombia, though he never got on the plane. At some point, the woman told her mother about him. Her mother then Googled his name and came across the news stories about his wifes disappearance in Madrid. When the woman read the articles, she found the text and later contacted authorities.

David Knezevich had flown to Istanbul from Miami in late January, then arrived in Serbia. But he didnt stay there, according to the complaint. On Jan. 30, he left the country in a car. He did not return until Feb. 5, three days after Anas disappearance.

When Knezevich returned the car he had rented, the windows were tinted, the license plate frames had changed, and two stickers had been removed, according to the owner of the rental car agency. The car had traveled close to 5,000 miles.

A man in Madrid had submitted a police complaint saying that the license plates were stolen off his car, on the street where Ana Knezevich had been staying, Calle Francisco Sivela. The stolen plates had been captured at toll booths on the same type of car that David Knezevich had rented, though the tinted windows obscured the driver from view, according to the complaint.

About a month later, with Ana Knezevich still missing, a number associated with David Knezevichs company called an insurance company to cancel three policies. The caller told the company that she was Ana Knezevich, according to the complaint. Children could be heard in the background; Ana Knezevich had no children.

Then, in April, an employee of the company told police that David Knezevich had instructed her to impersonate his wife in order to open a new bank account, according to the complaint. He had given her Ana Knezevichs Social Security number.

The employee told police that she had told him that she did not feel comfortable impersonating a missing woman. He told her that it was not serious and that she had to do it in order to be paid.

I cannot call with my voice because I sound like a guy, David Knezevich told her, according to the complaint.

Knezevich appeared in federal court in Miami briefly Monday, and is currently being held in the Federal Detention Center in Miami, inmate records show. A bond hearing is scheduled for Friday, The Associated Press reported.

It is unclear why David Knezevich had chosen to return to South Florida on Monday. His attorney, Ken Padowitz, said Tuesday that he would not speak on the case at this time and is in the process of reviewing the evidence and meeting with his client.

Ana Knezevichs brother referred reporters to his familys attorneys for comment. In a prepared statement, the familys attorneys thanked law enforcement, friends, and television news anchor Chris Cuomo, who first broke the news of her disappearance.

Anas family has asked me to express their monumental gratitude to the Spanish Police and the FBI for their committed work on this challenging international investigation, the familys attorney, Adam Ingber, wrote in a statement, and especially to Anas best friends, who alerted authorities immediately and then pressed the police to address their concerns, which instigated the investigation; and to Chris Cuomo for bringing international attention and urgency to Anas cause, when few others seemed to care, which likely helped lead to the arrest and expected charges.

-------
KYODO NEWS - May 7, 2024 - 16:52 | All, Japan

Police have arrested the common-law husband of a woman whose parents' burned bodies were found in Tochigi Prefecture last month, they said Tuesday, suspecting he played a leading role in the crime.

The number of suspects in the case now totals six after the arrests of Seiha Sekine, a 32-year-old corporate executive who worked as a manager at the couple's restaurant management company, on Monday and another acquaintance of the couple on Tuesday.

Sekine and Ryo Maeda, a 36-year-old corporate executive, were arrested on suspicion of damaging the bodies after the burned corpses of restaurant operator Ryutaro Takarajima, 55, and his wife Sachiko, 56, were found on a riverbank in Nasu, eastern Japan, on April 16.

A real estate company operated by Maeda was managing the empty home in Tokyo where the couple was allegedly assaulted before their bodies were abandoned, the sources said.

The four other suspects did not know the couple, according to the sources.

One of the four, Hikaru Sasaki, 28, was quoted as telling police that another person had asked him in early April to "process" the couple, according to the sources.

So far, none of the suspects have been arrested for murder. Sekine and Maeda have been arrested for burning the couple's bodies with the help of the four in the early hours of April 16, the sources said, adding the police had searched Sekine's home.

Related coverage:

2 more arrested in case of burned bodies found outside Tokyo

Another man arrested in case of 2 burnt bodies found outside Tokyo

2 burnt bodies found on riverside north of Tokyo
Missing infant found in Abilene after man wanted by FBI arrested in the city

A man suspected of double murder in New Mexico was arrested yesterday in north Abilene after the FBI notified police of his presence in the area.

Alek Isaiah Collins, 26, of Houston was wanted in connection with a slew of charges in New Mexico and the alleged abduction of a 10-month-old girl.

'Other charges are pending'

The FBI notified Abilene police this past Sunday that "a suspect wanted in Clovis, New Mexico, for the Homicide of two individuals, injuring a 5-year-old, and abducting an infant may be in Abilene," according to a recent Abilene police press release.

The photo that was used for the Amber Alert, previously issued for Eleia Maria Torres on May 3.

Police officers then located a home in north Abilene "where the suspect was reportedly staying."

At approximately 4:30 a.m. on Monday, "narcotic agents set up surveillance on the home, and the subject was eventually taken into custody without incident."

The 10-month-old girl who Collins is suspected of abducting was taken into protective custody and evaluated by medical personnel.

Collins was being held Tuesday without bail at the Taylor County Jail on charges of aggravated robbery and assault on a peace officer, according to online jail records.

He has a U.S. Marshal hold placed on him in connection with the New Mexico murders and kidnapping charges.

Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court beyond a reasonable doubt.

"Other charges are pending," according to Abilene police.

Pending charges include "two open counts of first-degree murder, a first-degree kidnapping charge as well as two counts of child abuse," according to New Mexico Ninth Judicial District Attorney Quentin Ray, who spoke at a recent press conference.

Ray also noted that Collins could face federal charges as well.

At this time, police do not believe Collins and the victims are related.

They are "still following leads about the suspect and his motives on this heinous crime," said Clovis police Deputy Chief Trevor Thron, who spoke at the same press conference.

Double homicide?

"The investigation remains active," Thron said.

According to a Clovis police press release, the Clovis Police Department Dispatch Center in New Mexico responded to "a 911 call from a person who believed they found two dead females at Ned Houk Park" on Friday just before 4:30p.m. in the afternoon.

The park is 5 miles north of Clovis.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found "two female victims, with apparent gunshot wounds, laying on the ground" near a minivan, according to the press release.

The victims were identified as Taryn Allen and Samantha Cisneros. Both women were 23, and both were from Texico, New Mexico.

A young female child, who will remain unnamed, was also found "on the ground suffering from an injury to her head," according to the press release.

Officers subsequently began giving life-saving measures to the young child.

When Clovis emergency services arrived on scene, they transported the child to the Plains Regional Medical Center. She was later transferred to a Lubbock area hospital, according to the press release.

The 5-year-old girl was still recovering at the hospital and will hopefully be released back to her family soon, according to a recent press conference held by the Clovis Police Department.

An Amber Alert issued

When Clovis police officers began their investigation, they discovered an infant car seat, stroller and small baby bottle left behind at the scene.

Officers were then concerned that there was "an infant child with the female victims when this incident happened," according to a media release. They immediately began to search the area for the infant.

The Ninth Judicial Major Crime Unit was activated and took over the developing investigation.

Investigators learned, through family interviews that Samantha Cisneros was the mother of the young child found at the scene and also of a 10-month-old child, Eleia Maria Torres.

As a result, investigators believed Torres had been abducted by Collins and was in immediate danger. An Amber Alert was issued at that time for Torres.

She was found three days later, on Monday, through a collaborative law-enforcement effort in Abilene.

Roy Rice, chief of Clovis police, said at a recent press conference that he was proud to say that Torres was safe and was "at a medical facility being treated."

As of Tuesday morning, she had not yet been reunited with her family.

This is a developing story, check back with The Reporter-News to find out more.

More on the manhunt CPD: Clovis police looking for abducted infant and shooter after 2 women found dead

More on the decades long investigation Justice for Jennifer Servo: Is an indictment on the horizon?

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Missing infant found after FBI-wanted suspect arrested in Abilene
UPDATE: TUESDAY 5/7/2024

(CUSTER COUNTY, Colo.)  Andie Carsten has been contacted and is safe, according to the Custer County Sheriffs Office.

ORIGINAL STORY: Missing Pueblo woman has ties to Westcliffe, Canon City

MONDAY 5/6/2024 8:04 p.m.

The Custer County Sheriffs Office (CCSO) is asking community members in Westcliffe and Canon City to be on the lookout for an 18-year-old woman who is missing out of Pueblo.

CCSO posted about the missing woman on behalf of her family on Sunday, May 5. CCSO said 18-year-old Andie Carsten has family in Westcliffe and may also be travelling to Canon City. She was reported missing to the Pueblo Police Department (PPD), and the family is hoping someone has seen her in the last 11 days in Southern Colorado.

Courtesy: Custer County Sheriffs Office

If you have seen Carsten, you are asked to contact PPD at (719) 553-2502.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX21 News Colorado.
Denali Water Solutions operates storage basins for meatpacking sludge in Missouri. Legislation in the Missouri House would impose regulations to help rural residents who complain of unbearable smells from the facilities (USGAO/Wikipedia).

Meatpacking sludge storage lagoons that have drawn the ire of rural neighbors because of their foul stench would face stricter state regulations under legislation that passed the Missouri Senate Tuesday.

Senators voted 30-1 to require the facilities to obtain water pollution permits, be set back from nearby homes, follow certain design requirements and monitor groundwater in certain areas. The legislation now heads back to the House, which overwhelmingly approved an earlier version of the bill in February.

The bill was combined in a Senate committee with legislation meant to protect Missouris water from being exported to other states out of fear parts of the country impacted by worsening drought brought on by climate change would look to Missouris abundant rivers for a solution. But the provision was removed before the full Senate vote.

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State Sen. Jill Carter, who carried the legislation in the Senate, said companies that store meatpacking sludge and apply it as fertilizer arent required to follow any standards to ensure the health of soil and water in rural Missouri.

When Ive been out, theres six inches of this industrial waste sludge, they call it, and the cows are out there eating it, said Carter, a Republican from Granby.

The meatpacking sludge legislation was introduced in response to an abrupt switch in state agencies that regulate fertilizer. It primarily targets Denali Water Solutions, which collects waste from meatpacking plants and holds it in lagoons in McDonald, Newton and Macon counties before spreading it on farmers fields as free fertilizer.

Until last year, Denali held permits from the Missouri Fertilizer Control Board, which exempted it from having to get a permit from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Because of that, Denali was free from regulation by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources unless the meatpacking sludge polluted the states waterways.

Last year, the Missouri Fertilizer Control Board decided it didnt have authority over Denali since it gives away its product rather than selling it as a commercial fertilizer. Without a fertilizer permit, Denali had to get a permit from the Department of Natural Resources.

The company has sued the fertilizer board in an attempt to have its previous permit reinstated.

After the fertilizer boards decision, Missouri environmental regulators allowed the company to keep operating in the interim. But last fall, the company applied so much sludge to a field just before a storm that regulators changed their minds.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources visited a site following residents complaints and found Denali had applied so much waste it resulted in standing pools of liquids and solids covering vegetation on the fields.

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The state and Denali reached an agreement prohibiting the company from applying waste to fields in Missouri and requiring it to drain its lagoons and pay fines.

To resume its operations, Denali still needs a permit from the state. Until then, it must take its waste to a treatment facility or haul it out of Missouri.

Denali was not immediately available to comment on the legislation.

Steven Jeffery, an attorney representing two separate resident groups fighting Denali lagoons in their areas, applauded the legislation. While no one ever gets everything they want in developing legislation, he said, the bill would be far more protective of rural communities than the status quo.

The post Missouri bill protecting rural neighbors from meatpacking sludge nears passage appeared first on Missouri Independent.
Senate Majority Leader Cindy O'Laughlin, R-Shelbina, speaks to reporters Jan. 23 after members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus were removed from their chairmanships for obstructing the Senate. (Jason Hancock/Missouri Independent).

It took about 10 minutes Monday for the Missouri Senate to devolve into chaos.

Members came to the floor for the first time since they adjourned about 4 a.m. Thursday at the end of a 41-hour filibuster by members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus. As soon as the daily preliminaries of a prayer and other matters were completed, Majority Leader Cindy OLaughlin said she wanted to go to the order of business where the only item on the agenda was the bill that triggered the filibuster.

After 10 minutes of state Sen. Bill Eigel yelling that the Senate leadership had again broken their word, OLaughlin grew weary of the obstruction tactics. She refused to answer questions from EIgel, then a few minutes later adjourned for the day.

The chamber is scheduled to reconvene at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

In that way, the Senate lost a day crucial to completing the legislatures constitutionally mandated job of passing the state budget, which must be finished by 6 p.m. Friday. That deadline has been missed only once, in 1997, and any spending bills not finished by that time must be completed in a special session.

Eigel, of Weldon Spring, is a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. He was enraged, Eigel told the Senate, because legislation wasnt coming up in the order he expected.

This is why I have trust issues, he said, because on a regular basis for my eight years, I have been lied to and double crossed at almost every opportunity.

This years session has been marked by the worst factional fighting in memory in the state Senate. Members of the Freedom Caucus  six at that time  opened the session by declaring their intent to stall action until their list of demands were met.

Those demands are unchanged. They have said a ballot measure that would change how constitutional amendments are approved by raising the majority threshold and a bill banning Planned Parenthood from participating in the state Medicaid program.

Three weeks into the session, with little accomplished except lengthy filibusters designed to show how little would be done this year without their cooperation, Eigel and other members of the Freedom Caucus lost their committee chairmanships. Tensions were so high OLaughlin told editors and publishers in town for a Missouri Press Association event that she was ready to vote to expel Eigel.

Eigel is demanding that the Senate business progress in the order he believes was agreed to as part of a deal to end last weeks filibuster. That would put the 17 budget bills first, followed by the medical provider tax bill and a quick Senate vote on the proposal to change the majority threshold.

The budget bills, which are going under heavy revision to make this weeks deadline, wasnt ready Monday. The eruption came when OLaughlin tried to move the provider tax bill forward.

From OLaughlins point of view, there was no deal made to end the filibuster, just a threat. The threat was to use the Senates rule shutting off debate, known as a previous question, OLaughlin wrote in a Facebook post.

It must be a written motion with signatures from 10 members. To pass, it requires 18 votes in the 34-member chamber.

The filibustering Freedom Caucus members were told we had it and if they didnt sit down wed use it, OLaughlin wrote. They sat down.

OLaughlin was not available after the floor session but wrote in the post that the Senates top job was to pass the budget. The provider taxes are essential to balancing the budget so that bill is part of the package, she wrote.

The Freedom Caucus was using the budget deadline as leverage to force the Senate into a debate on the bill changing the majority standards for constitutional amendments before the budget, she wrote.

This I will not do and is not supported by anyone in the senate other than this little band of chaos causers, OLaughlin wrote.

Before the Senate adjourned, Eigel asked Sen. Mike Moon of Ash Grove, a lawmaker sympathetic to but not a member of the Freedom Caucus, to back him up on his version of the reason the filibuster ended.

Moon said he couldnt do that because he wasnt part of the final discussions.

He said he thought the provider tax bill was first, followed by the budget and then what is expected to be a lengthy effort by Democrats to kill the changes to how constitutional amendments are approved.

What comes first, I dont really have any druthers, Moon said.

The last time it was on the floor, Democrats filibustered it successfully until every change they demanded was accepted to allow a vote.

The bill returned from the House with every provision Democrats opposed restored.

The post Missouri Senate stalls out quickly on return after 41-hour filibuster appeared first on Missouri Independent.
MOCA Jacksonville, in celebration of its 100th anniversary, is set to receive a significant boost to its permanent collection courtesy of a generous gift from Gordon W. Bailey, a prominent Los Angeles-based scholar, advocate, and collector.

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The donation, comprising 21 artworks, promises to enrich the museums holdings, particularly in the realm of pieces by untrained artists.

A century ago, a group of women who were ahead of their time, had a vision for Jacksonville. They imagined a city that would be a great place for families to live and grow. Their vision was centered around creating a vibrant, dynamic city rich in art, culture, and education.

Caitlin Doherty, MOCA Jacksonvilles Executive Director, has a deep appreciation of artists and an inclusive worldview, Bailey said. She and her talented staffespecially Senior Curator, Ylva Rouse, with whom I worked closely on this gifthave elevated the museums programing. I am glad to support their efforts. The museum is a vital cultural center.

Baileys discerning selection introduces artists not previously represented in MOCA Jacksonvilles collection, underscoring the museums dedication to showcasing diverse voices.

Mr. Baileys donation adds strength to MOCA Jacksonvilles holdings of works by self-taught artists and emphasizes our commitment to being a museum that fully represents Northeast Florida, offering access points to contemporary art that engage every member of our community, said Director Doherty. We are grateful for his decades-long advocacy of marginalized artists. As we celebrate the museums 100th anniversary, the gifted works enable MOCA Jacksonville to better promote a broader understanding of the art of our time, ensuring that the museums collection, exhibitions, and programs will continue to inspire and advance dialogue and interest in contemporary art in all its facets.

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As MOCA Jacksonville embarks on a year-long celebration of its centennial, members will have the opportunity to preview the new acquisitions at an upcoming event, providing an energized destination for all those visiting downtown Jacksonville.

Additionally, a feature exhibition titled Fill My Heart With Hope: Works from the Gordon W. Bailey Collection is scheduled to open later in the year, offering visitors a glimpse into the breadth and depth of Baileys contribution.

For further details on MOCA Jacksonvilles centennial festivities and upcoming exhibitions, interested individuals are encouraged to contact the museum at (904)-366-6911 or visit mocajacksonville.unf.edu.

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Modesto City Schools is expanding its equitable grading practices, which means prioritizing learning over tasks, and deadlines and mastering subjects over earning points.

The district currently uses the traditional A, B, C, D or F grading system for seventh- to 12th-graders. In this system, an A signifies a students mastery of essential concepts in a subject and ability to apply them in various situations.

This system will not change. The district, however, hopes that students understand that their grades represent their learning and mastery of a standard.

Heather Contreras, assistant superintendent of school leadership, shared insights into the districts progress in equitable grading as it continues to expand and improve its practices. As we learn more about education, we need to make sure that we continue to grow to best support our students, Contreras said during a presentation at the April 15 school board meeting.

Equitable grading is defined as grading that reflects a students academic level of performance, as outlined by educator Joe Feldmans 2018 book, Grading for Equity. Equity has been a district strategic goal for five years, Contreras said.

Examples of equitable grading practices include prioritizing recent performance and growth rather than averaging work over time, and refraining from subjectively grading behaviors such as effort or participation.

It places much more importance on true mastery of a subject than it does simply on earning enough points in a class to receive a good grade, said MCS Chief Communications Officer Sharokina Shams.

During public comment at the April 15 meeting, Aaron Anguiano, a parent with a child at Roosevelt Junior High School, expressed optimism about the new grading system. He said he felt his son currently is not being graded fairly.

Anguiano highlighted teachers heavy emphasis on participation and effort, rather than focusing on test scores.

I think that this is the right direction and eventually Id like to see some more policies and procedures, said Anguiano, a former president of the Latino Community Roundtable of Stanislaus County. He added that he wishes teachers would grade like college instructors do, focusing on the students test scores.

Trustee Abel Maestas later highlighted that grading practices are not typically covered in teacher preparation programs at universities. Instead, teachers often rely on how they were graded by their own educators or adopt the grading methods of veteran teachers.

My son in high school has six different classes with six different grading structures. Consistency would be helpful for everyone, so Im looking forward to where we move from here, Maestas said.

It can be scary, I mean if youve done it for so long a certain way to change all of a sudden. I hope we continue on that path and inviting and encouraging a lot more teachers to participate on it, said Trustee Homero Mejia.

Modesto City Schools journey with equitable grading

In 2014, MCS began adopting equitable grading practices, starting with elementary school report cards featuring a standards-based grading system that uses a scale from 1 to 4 instead of 0 to 100. A score of 1 indicates that the student has not met the standard, while a 4 signifies mastery.

Teachers and students are clear about what standard mastery means, and teaching supports students in reaching that mastery, added Shams.

In 2020, MCS involved high school site administrative teams and others in the district to study Feldmans book, setting the groundwork for new grading practices.

A group of 50 teachers formed a grading task force to review current grading methods and consider new ideas to enhance student learning. They focused on improving graduation rates and have since witnessed significant student success as a result of their efforts, Contreras said.

This has been especially prominent at Beyer High School, which has seen a lot of growth in both math and English language arts scores in state testing for two years in a row, Contreras said.

Were seeing change results in students and their performance as a result, Contreras said.

Expanding equitable grading

Next year, the district intends to expand its equitable grading practices to encompass subject areas beyond English and math. This expansion will involve forming an equitable grading committee, comprising teachers and parents who will help determine how best to implement equitable grading practices.

Furthermore, they aim to maintain their collaboration with California Education Partners, an organization dedicated to supporting schools and districts in California and aimed at improving educational outcomes for students, while extending it to include Davis High School and Roosevelt Junior High.

The teachers have said this is challenging work, but its rewarding work and theyre seen a difference in students, Contreras said. When they engage in this work, the students become more engaged and really understand the expectations that their teacher has for them and then how to meet it.
In our Reality Check stories, Modesto Bee journalists deliver fast facts about the issues that matter to local residents to hold officials and institutions accountable. Read more. Story idea? Tips@modbee.com.

The decision by Modesto police to buy a wellness dog from a breeder has brought some stress upon the department, with people criticizing it on social media for not adopting a dog from a shelter.

You had the perfect chance to set a prime example to our community by saving a rescue dog, reads one comment on the departments April 29 Facebook post about the dog, a Goldendoodle named Maverick. There are so many dogs at the shelter who are dying to share their love and loyalty that couldve easily filled this spot. So disheartening.

The post generated 400 comments, with the majority dinging the department but others in support of its decision.

Capt. Chris Adams said the departments decision is not a knock on rescue dogs. He said many department employees have shelter dogs that turn out to be great pets.

He said the department bought Maverick from a breeder to minimize the risk the dog could bite or injure someone and open the city to a lawsuit or claim against it. Adams said buying from a breeder let the department learn about the dogs family history, including its temperament, behavior and health.

We want to be confident that when we get a dog that is bred to be a pet or part of the family, we did everything we could to mitigate that risk, he said. Maverick not only will be the departments wellness support dog but will meet the public at community events.

The total cost for Maverick will be about $6,900, with the money coming from a $127,779 state wellness grant the department received in December 2022.

The Police Department bought Maverick from Oakdale-based IKAdoodles for $3,000 and is paying the business an additional $1,200 for a months training and boarding. The department expects to have another $2,700 in costs before Maverick makes his debut, which is expected in mid-June.

Those costs include more training for Maverick and the department employee assigned to him, as well as vaccinations, neutering, crate and harness. Adams said the department is considering pairing Maverick with a community service officer, who would take the dog home at night.

Fire Department adopts dog

The Police Departments decision comes as the Stanislaus Animal Services Agency shelter continues to run at beyond its capacity.

Animal Services Director Vaughn Maurice declined to weigh in on whether the police should have adopted one of his agencys dogs, but he pointed to a couple of examples when asked about other organizations adopting rescue dogs for similar reasons.

He said the Burbank Paradise Fire District in December adopted Rosco, a 5-month-old hound mix from Animal Services.

The west Modesto department  which has one fire station and is operated by paid firefighters and volunteers  said in a Facebook post that Rosco would be a cherished member of both our family and fire department, contributing to community service, and personnel therapy. Feel free to drop by the firehouse and welcome your districts new four legged member ... .

Burbank Paradise Chief Peter Golling could not be reached by deadline Monday for an update on Rosco, though the department has featured him in several Facebook posts.

Maurice said when he ran a shelter in Louisiana about 15 years ago, a nursing home adopted one of its dogs, a golden retriever named Lady. Lady lived there eight or nine years, Maurice said. She did great. The only problem they had with Lady is every resident wanted to give her a snack. This dog became rather large.

He said that in celebration of National Pet Week, adoptions at the shelter are half price through Saturday. The shelter has kennel space for 187 dogs but had 205 as of Monday.

Animal Services has transported 702 dogs to rescue groups and other shelters in the Western United States and Canada in the first four months of this year and adopted out 1,090 dogs in the same time period. We are way overcrowded, Maurice said. We have plenty of dogs available for the local community.

He said Animal Services has not had to euthanize any dogs for lack of kennel space so far this year. Weve been fortunate, Maurice said. Rescue groups have really helped us out. He has said Animal Services may euthanize a handful of dogs annually because of a lack of space.
By Peter Masheter, KYODO NEWS - May 7, 2024 - 10:45 | Feature, All, Travel/Tourism

On a busy afternoon in Tokyo's Asakusa district, a tour guide leads a small group to a sidewalk outside a branch of clothing chain Uniqlo, where he produces a tape recorder.

"The company Minato Shokuhin, best known for their Japanese ginger ponzu sauce, used to be based here. You might remember the jingle," he says, pushing play. After the tune ends, a man in his early 20s volunteers a memory of his grandmother humming it. "It was very popular with her generation," the guide agrees, and the tour moves on.

But their shared nostalgia for a discontinued condiment is, in fact, a collective lie. Minato Shokuhin never existed, its jingle was created by an enthusiast making up tunes for nonexistent brands, and the reminiscences of the younger man, getting into the spirit of the tour, are bogus.

The group of 16 being led through Tokyo's old downtown district are on the "Uso no Tsua," translating as "lies tour," an unexpectedly successful guided trip along a 2-kilometer route in one of Tokyo's most-visited neighborhoods.

The tour, which comes as AI-generated text, images and videos raise fears about what information can be trusted, reassures attendees they can "take in information knowing that everything is a lie that they do not need to check."

Its creator and leader Shigenobu Matsuzawa, a professional guide and former comedy storytelling event organizer, lies for almost the entirety of the tour's runtime.

Among the claims made when Kyodo News attended were that the tree where tour participants gather is the visual inspiration for the tree emoji on the Android smartphone operating system, and that the tourist drivers of go-karts roaring up and down the Kaminarimon-dori are commuters from central Japan's Gifu Prefecture.

Matsuzawa has gone further than speaking untruths, creating a three-dimensional parallel universe of lies by drafting in local businesspeople to make outlandish claims and employing a gallery of fake products and brands like a cursed cookie and plastic bags from a fictional defunct convenience store.

Attendees are encouraged to offer their own complementary lies to his stories, and competitive sections see participants riffing on themes including their made-up takes on what Japan's oldest pun is.

The tour went viral on social media months before its first staging in early March, and even stoked speculation the idea itself was a lie. Amid strong demand, its initial March to May run has been extended multiple times to now end in August, with around 400 people having experienced it in its first six weeks.

Soma Ito, a 17-year-old travel blogger who signed up despite his suspicions the "lies tour" could be a hoax, said he would "probably never forget the feeling of relief when it turned out to be real."

"Normally when traveling, I just think about how beautiful or amazing something is, but this time was different. I had to consider what I think is true, what's a lie," he reflected. "It made me think, lying isn't necessarily always bad, and that it can help us feel all sorts of different emotions."

Matsuzawa says he was shocked by the level of interest in an idea he admits "started with me telling my friend I'd do it as a joke, maybe to a couple of people."

The 41-year-old runs the company, Maniana Tours, with his wife and other enthusiasts. Their other tours offer guides to what genuinely exists, but with a twist -- one involves offering participants a deep dive lasting the full 90 minutes into the stories and history behind a single location such as a park.

Asked why he thinks his latest idea captured imaginations, Matsuzawa says he takes a wider view on what can be defined as a "lie."

"If you think about it, almost all movies and novels are fiction, so you could call them lies," he said. "It means a lot of things people enjoy earnestly aren't true. Giving tours, too, reminds me the line between the truth and falsehood isn't so clear -- local legends, for example, might be lies but they're stories we choose to share," he said.

He added that giving the tour has changed his view on how people engage with lies.

"Speaking to many of the people who come, they seem to enjoy telling lies with their friends and family as a kind of hobby. I've realized many treat lying as the first step in creativity," he said.

"We all have that creativity, that drive to make things up, and I think that helped create the reaction to the tour. It showed me there are people out there who want a space to tell untruths."

Related coverage:

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"World's 1st" immersive theme park opens in Tokyo

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MIAMI, Okla.  The Ottawa County-based American Indian tribe, Modoc Nation, signed a federal agreement allowing stewardship of its cultural resources.

The Tribal Historic Preservation agreement is a monumental step for the Modoc Nation to participate in our own historic preservation, said Modoc Nation Chief Robert Burkybile in a prepared statement.

The responsibilities bestowed to us allow the Nation to preserve and protect our culture, our sacred sites, and our ancestors; without which, we would not be here.

The Tribal Historic Preservation agreement falls under the umbrella of the National Park Service. The program assists American Indian tribes in strengthening their historic preservation programs managed through Tribal Historic Preservation Offices on tribal lands.

The agreement allows for the transfer of certain historic preservation responsibilities to Tribes that would otherwise be the responsibility of the state.

The agency is also welcoming the following new Tribal Historic Preservation partners:

Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma

Lovelock Paiute Tribe of the Lovelock Indian Colony, Nevada

Prairie Band Pottawatomi Nation, Mayetta, Kan.

Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa (Meskwaki Nation), Tama, IA

Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians of California, Corning, CA

United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians

Summit Lake Paiute of Nevada, Sparks, NV

Delaware Nation, Oklahoma

Tule River Indian Tribe, Porterville, Calf.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com.
Moldovan President says Moldova will do everything to preserve peace, but if Russia attacks, it will defend itself

Moldovan President Maia Sandu says that official Chisinau will focus its efforts on minimising the risk of Russian aggression against it but will defend itself in the event of such a scenario.

Source: Sandu in an interview with Russian blogger Yuriy Dud, quoted by European Pravda

Details: Asked whether Moldova would resist in a hypothetical scenario if Russia invaded Moldova, the president said that her country would do everything to prevent a conflict.

"We will do everything to prevent this from happening, including our European integration plan. First of all, it is a plan to ensure security because the EU is a project of peace," Sandu said.

"According to the constitution, we have to do everything to keep the peace and to protect our citizens. We have an army. We have a defence sector, and we are making these investments. But we really hope that this war will end soon and we will be able to invest in the economy and other sectors, and we will not be in a position where we are forced to invest in defence," the President added.

She was asked to answer the initial question about whether Moldova would resist in the event of an invasion.

"We will definitely defend our country," Sandu replied.

She also denied rumours that Kyiv had allegedly offered to help resolve the issue of unrecognised Transnistria by force.

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Mom Seeks Cure for 3-Year-Old Daughter's Rare Genetic Disorder: I Want to Work as Hard as She Does (Exclusive)

Bridget Finns daughter, Flo, was born with a rare genetic mutation  but the family has put their "grief" into action with a powerful fundraising effort

Courtesy Bridget Finn Bridget Finn with daughter Flo

Bridget Finn and Sam Beaubien's only daughter, Flo, was diagnosed with the rare genetic disorder, STXBP1.

There is no cure; however the family has started an effective fundraising effort to help develop therapies and treatments.

Through Flourish, theyve raised more than $130,000 towards finding treatment for the disorder.

Bridget Finn says she had an incredible pregnancy  even though she was pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was this sort of beautiful time that [my husband] Sam [Beaubien] and I shared together, this prolonged period of meditation around the baby coming and this life change that we were going through, Finn, the director of the contemporary art festival Art Basel, tells PEOPLE.

Then, on July 11, 2020, she gave birth to daughter Flo.

It was textbook. It was honestly the most magical experience, Finn, now 41, tells PEOPLE.

Courtesy Bridget Finn Bridget Finn with daughter Flo

And I know that's so cliche to say, but I had an incredible experience giving birth ... she arrived and she was perfect.

It wasnt until Flo was 9 months old when the family, then living in the suburbs of Detroit, thought something might be wrong  thanks to a parenting app that said their daughter should be sitting up at that point. They started to see a physical therapist, who noticed that Flo had a little head shudder," which Finn says she now knows "would be called a tremor.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Flo was diagnosed with hypotonia  also called floppy baby syndrome  which the National Institute of Medicine explains is defined as a decrease in muscular tone that varies in severity and duration.

There was so much opacity to, you know, was this the fact that we were isolated because of quarantine or was it something larger? Finn tells PEOPLE.

Courtesy Bridget Finn Florence Beaubien.

One of Flos doctors thought she might have the connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and the family sought genetic testing for their daughter.

I was relentless. I called every day to see if we could get her in, she said.

And on November 17, 2021, the Finn and her husband received the news of their daughter's diagnosis.

Related: Beauty Influencer Is 2 Feet Tall, Has Broken 100 Bones Due to Genetic Disorder: 'Everyone Has Challenges' (Exclusive)

I was at an artist studio in Detroit and doing a studio visit and I received a phone call. I quickly ran to my car, Finn tells PEOPLE.

It was there, in her car, that Finn was told Flo had STXBP1 disorder, a rare genetic disorder with wide-ranging symptoms, including seizures, developmental delays, movement disorders and more, according to the STXBP1 Disorders Foundation.

Finn says she was told many of the children don't ever gain the skill of walking or speaking.

Courtesy Bridget Finn Florence Beaubien.

It occurs with spontaneous changes to the STXBP1 gene.

There is no controlling that, Finn tells PEOPLE. There's a loss there and it comes with a lot of grief.

But Finn put her grief into action.

I ended up Googling quite a bit that evening and immediately finding out that the leading specialist in the world focusing on this disorder was at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. And I wrote them a pretty emotional email right away. 

Related: 14-Year-Old Girl with Rare Genetic Disorder Gets to Attend Her First-Ever Concert, Taylor Swift's 'Eras Tour'

She also started thinking, I will never be able to go back and teach myself neurogenetics at this moment in time. What platform do I have? How can I help? And what can I do?

Finn reached out to her friends in the art community and organized an auction to raise money for research on the disease  and now spearheads an ongoing fundraising effort, called Flourish (named after her daughter).

Courtesy Bridget Finn Florence Beaubien.

It's really to advance research in whatever way is most critical at the time, Finn said, adding that theyre focused on the STARR study, a deep dive into the disorder which is happening at multiple medical facilities. The study, she says, is essential for the development of therapies and clinical trials.

We're extremely hopeful for a disease-altering treatment that will change the outcome for those who are currently living with STXBP1 and those who will continue to be diagnosed.

In the meantime, theyre planning a Moana-themed fourth birthday party for Flo, who loves the Disney movie, playing in the water and bubbles.

Courtesy Bridget Finn Flo with dad Sam Beaubien, a musician and composer.

Flo has taught me more in 3.5 years than I had ever thought or had ever dreamed possible, Finn tells PEOPLE. Her influence on my life, I can't even explain how grateful I am for her.

She is just so happy to participate in the world and she works so hard for a shot to do that. And as her mom, I want to work just as hard as she does to help advocate for her and for people in her situation.



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Read the original article on People.
Mom slashed young sons and set house on fire, killing both in Minnesota, feds say

A Minnesota woman is facing charges after officials say she killed her two young sons.

The 35-year-old woman, of Red Lake, is charged with murder, arson and child neglect, according to a May 6 news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Minnesota.

McClatchy News reached out to her attorney for comment on May 7 but did not immediately hear back. McClatchy News is not identifying the woman to protect the identity of her 3-year-old, whom she is accused of abusing.

On March 15, the woman attacked and killed two young children, according to officials.

The Star Tribune reported the boys were her two sons, 6 and 5 years old.

The 6-year-old was a smart, funny, loving little boy who loved to play with his brothers.  He loved Jessie from Toy Story and Molly from Bubble Guppies, his obituary said.

The 5-year-old was an outgoing spirited little boy who loved playing with his brothers.  He loved anything Sonic and was protector of his brothers, even though he was the middle child, according to his obituary.

Officials said the woman slashed both boys and then set the house on fire. One of the boys died from stab wounds, while the others cause of death was determined to be from smoke inhalation, prosecutors said.

The woman left the house with another child, her 3-year-old son, which prompted an Amber Alert, officials said. When the two were found later that night, officials said the child had signs of abuse.

Initially, the woman was charged in connection with the neglect of the 3-year-old child. However, those charges were dropped since the alleged abuse happened on the Red Lake Reservation, which is out of the state court jurisdiction, according to WCCO. Instead, she will be subjected to tribal court in that case.

4-year-old boy identified as body found in duffel bag, PA cops say. Its devastating

Mom kills 4-year-old son as grandma was trying to get custody, Washington cops say

Mother shot and killed her sleeping teen kids in Oklahoma, feds say. Shes sentenced
Mom suspected of intoxication in crash that killed 4-year-old son, Michigan cops say

A 4-year-old boy died in a crash that Michigan authorities say was caused by his mother, who they suspect was intoxicated.

Michigan State Police said troopers found the 4-year-old boy unresponsive on the ground following the May 6 three-vehicle crash on Interstate 75 in Detroit. He was taken to a hospital, where troopers said he was pronounced dead.

The boys 30-year-old mother caused the crash, authorities said, adding that she was suspected to be under the influence.

Troopers said the boy was not properly restrained in the vehicle.

Charges have not been announced as of May 7, with state police saying late Monday the crash was under investigation.

There are several more things to finish and an investigators report will be submitted to the prosecutor when completed, First Lt. Mike Shaw said on X, formerly Twitter.

A second fatal crash happened about 15 minutes later as traffic was backed up on the interstate.

A 72-year-old woman rear-ended a vehicle before crashing into a semi, state police said.

A 91-year-old male passenger in the womans vehicle was discovered unconscious when first responders arrived, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Trucker was watching Netflix in crash that killed grandparents, cops say. Hes charged

Accused drunk driver left 5-year-old pinned after crash, feds say. Shes prison-bound

Dad accused of crashing into cop car while drunk, injuring his two kids, Texas cops say
Mom of teen convicted in deadly stabbing at childs party accused of trying to hire hit man

A woman was arrested after trying to hire a hit man to kill two witnesses who testified against her teenage son, who was convicted in the stabbing death of a man during a 5-year-olds birthday party, Palm Beach County deputies said Tuesday.

Josefina Cardona-Cardona, 43, blamed the witnesses for her sons imprisonment and is accused of trying to hire a man to kill them, according to her arrest report. What she did not know, the report says, was that the man she thought was a killer-for-hire was an undercover agent.

Her son, 16-year-old Manuel Marcos Cardona, from Lake Worth, pleaded guilty in February to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the 2022 killing, court records show. Palm Beach deputies say Manuel, then 14, stabbed 19-year-old Andres Perez-Alvarado during a brawl at the birthday party. He died the next day at the hospital.

Informant tips off detectives

Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office detectives first heard about the womans alleged plot through an informant on April 17 of this year, according to her arrest report.

The informant told detectives that a woman, whom he knew as Maria, was inquiring about finding someone to kill the people she blamed for her sons imprisonment. The informant gave detectives the womans photo and phone number, which they later determined belonged to Cardona-Cardona.

On April 18, following the detectives instructions, the informant called Cardona-Cardona and she agreed to meet with the informant and the undercover agent she thought was a hit man. Later that day, they met near a high school in Lake Worth Beach.

Cardona-Cardona, detectives say, identified the people she wanted killed as Catalina and Alonso, and showed photos of them to the undercover agent. Further investigation revealed their names: Catarina Jimenez and Alonzo Perez-Ramirez, the two witnesses.

Detectives say Cardona-Cardona was captured on video agreeing to pay $8,000 for the murders, telling the undercover agent she would call her family members in Guatemala to send her money for the hits.

On April 23, five days after they first met, Cardona-Cardona showed the agent where the two witnesses lived and the places they frequented. Outside Jimenezs apartment, detectives say Cardona-Cardona agreed to pay half of the money upfront.

On Monday, Cardona-Cardona met with the undercover agent and told him she would have $2,000 next week to pay for the killings. When the agent asked for collateral, she gave him a $100 gold chain, her arrest report says.

Cardona-Cardona was arrested that night, two blocks from her Lake Worth Beach home. She is charged with two counts of solicitation to commit murder and is being held at the countys Main Detention Center. Her first court appearance was Tuesday, when a judge set her bail at $550,000 and ordered her to stay away from the witnesses.

Deadly stabbing at birthday party

Around 10:30 p.m. on June 18, 2022, Palm Beach County deputies rushed to a house at an undisclosed location where a man had been stabbed.

The man was taken to St. Marys Hospital in West Palm Beach, where he died the next day.

Jimeneztold detectives she was hosting a party for her 5-year-old when a man later identified as Gonzalo Cardona hit a woman with a bottle over a romantic relationship she was involved in.

After the woman was struck, witnesses say Gonzalo Cardona and another man started throwing punches. When Perez-Alvarado tried to separate them, Gonzalo Cardona punched him in the face.

Witnesses told detectives Manuel then stabbed Perez-Alvarado with a knife. Five people, including Manuel, his parents, Gonzalo Cardona and his wife, kicked Perez-Alvarado while he was on the ground, witnesses said. A witness told investigators she saw Manuel run away with his parents.

On June 21, 2022, three days after the party, Perez-Alvarados family called deputies to report they had spotted Manuel and his mother and they were following them on Interstate 95. A Brevard County Sheriffs Office deputy stopped them sometime later.

Manuel was arrested the following month in North Carolina, extradited to Florida and charged with second-degree murder. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years behind bars, with 561 days credited as time served. The 16-year-old remains at the Suwannee Correctional Institution Annex, northwest of Gainesville, state prison records show.

Both Manuel and his mom, Josefina Cardona-Cardona, could be deported, the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office said. Cardona-Cardona was born in Guatemala.
A pedestrian walks through Gardiner, Mont. As legislators across the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid consider imposing work requirements on enrollees, Montana has a potential bipartisan model: a voluntary work program that helps Medicaid recipients by providing them with job training and career guidance. David Goldman/The Associated Press

Two decades ago, Jeff Beisecker and his family returned to Great Falls, Montana, from a religious mission to the Philippines. Beisecker had no health insurance and no steady source of income, and neither did his wife. Fearful of being without coverage, Beisecker enrolled himself, his wife and their four children in Medicaid for nearly a decade while he worked his way to a steady, full-time job.

Having the extra help made a difference for his family, recalled Beisecker, 53. And people might have looked down on us. I dont really care, because it was there to help us along the journey.

For Beisecker, Medicaid coverage was a launching pad to stable work; now he helps others make that leap. As an employment and training coordinator for Opportunities Inc., a Great Falls-based nonprofit, Beisecker connects Montana Medicaid recipients to job training, career counseling, transportation and child care. Opportunities Inc. is one of several nonprofits that run a state-created voluntary program called the Health and Economic Livelihood Partnership Link, known as HELP-Link.

When folks come in, we can meet with them and say, Hey, maybe you can take this training that we can help pay for, and you can come out and start making 28 or 29 dollars an hour, Beisecker said.

An increasing number of Republican-led states want to require Medicaid recipients to work, arguing that doing so will help them rise out of poverty. Democrats and health advocates note that most people on Medicaid already work either full time or part time. They argue that states shouldnt deny health care coverage to people who dont have jobs, especially since many face serious barriers to employment.

With HELP-Link, Montana might have found middle ground.

When Montanans enroll in Medicaid, nonprofit organizations such as Opportunities Inc., which receives state funding, can offer career guidance and job training from professionals like Beisecker. A key part of that process is identifying barriers to work  such as a lack of training, child care or transportation  and finding ways to overcome them.

There are ways to support work without taking away peoples health coverage, said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown Universitys Center for Children and Families, which researches health care issues.

Montana is the most concrete example of a work-support connection, she said. Thats one place to look to make sure people are connected to work supports and job training.

Montana Republican state Rep. Edward Buttrey, who crafted the HELP-Link program with Democratic state Rep. Mary Caffero in 2015, said it adheres to GOP principles.

Republican administrations typically want to ensure that if somebodys getting a benefit from the taxpayers, that theyre earning it and in return providing a benefit back to the state and themselves, Buttrey told Stateline. I think thats what this is about.

Caffero said that in reaching a compromise, legislators put the people of Montana above party politics.

We created our own majority, she said, and extremists were kind of out on a plank.

Increasing interest

Medicaid is a program that provides health insurance for low-income people and is jointly run by states and the U.S. government. Any state that wants to add a work requirement to Medicaid must ask the federal government for permission.

The Biden administration has repeatedly turned down states requests to impose work requirements. It also has rescinded the approvals granted by its predecessor, which signed off on 13 of them. (Only one state, Arkansas, implemented its rule before courts blocked states from imposing them.) But with the election fast approaching, the prospect of a second Trump administration has prompted more GOP states to reconsider the idea.

That includes states such as Arkansas, Idaho and Louisiana that opted to expand Medicaid to more people under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. It also includes states that are still debating whether to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, among them Kansas and Mississippi.

Georgia and South Carolina, neither of which has expanded Medicaid under the ACA, both have sought federal permission to include work requirements in partial expansions of Medicaid that are more limited than what is envisioned under Obamacare. Only Georgia, which is fighting the Biden administration in court, currently has a strict work rule for any of its Medicaid enrollees.

How it works

Montana, which expanded Medicaid during the Obama administration, in 2019 sought federal permission to apply work requirements to the roughly 100,000 adults who were newly eligible for the program. Under the proposal, beneficiaries would have had to work at least 80 hours each month, be looking for a job, or be doing volunteer work. There would have been exemptions for pregnancy, disabilities and mental illness.

In 2021, however, the Biden administration rejected Montanas request. Buttrey told Stateline that if former President Donald Trump wins in November, it is likely that Montana will try again. But whatever the outcome of the election, the voluntary workforce training in HELP-Link has emerged as a possible compromise.

Beisecker said that Opportunities Inc. has been working with the Help-Link program for about a year and a half. The nonprofit has been able to help people do things such as get a commercial drivers license, start a welding certificate program, take classes on medical coding, and join construction training programs.

When folks come in, we can meet with them and say, Hey, maybe you can take this training that we can help pay for, and you can come out and start making 28 or 29 dollars an hour.

 Jeff Beisecker, employment and training coordinator for Opportunities Inc., a Montana nonprofit

The nonprofit also has a community resource center that can help Medicaid recipients get access to vouchers for food, laundry facilities and other needs.

We get referrals from other nonprofits we work with, Beisecker said. We have flyers that we send out so people know about the program. We go to job fairs.

According to data from the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, more than 2,200 people have participated in the HELP-Link program since its inception. Many have gone on to get jobs as registered nurses, dental hygienists, real estate agents and computer programmers, among many other professions.

HELP-Link has built relationships with large local employers such as manufacturers and health care providers, said Heather OLoughlin, executive director of the Montana Budget & Policy Center, a nonprofit group that examines budget and tax issues. OLoughlin said a dip in participation since 2021 is evidence that the program has moved many participants into stable jobs.

Caffero, the Democratic lawmaker, agreed.

The program was doing exactly what we intended. People get jobs and jobs with benefits, jobs where they make a living wage, because they have education and training through HELP-Link, she said. Thats the goal. We dont want the [Medicaid] rolls to go up.

Buttrey noted that prior to the pandemic, Montanans stayed on Medicaid for an average of less than two years. Weve given people some job skills, he said. Weve gotten them preventative care and help with addiction.

Robin Rudowitz, who oversees Medicaid research at KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization, praised Montanas program for encouraging people to find a job  and get off government assistance  without denying them health care while they do it.

She contrasted HELP-Link with the strict work requirements Arkansas briefly had in place for Medicaid recipients during the Trump administration, before a federal court struck them down. Those rules knocked roughly 18,000 people off the rolls. Arkansas was really the only state that actually implemented to the point of where individuals were disenrolled for failing to comply, she said.

Rudowitz and other health experts also have been critical of Georgias Pathways to Coverage program, launched last summer, which extended Medicaid coverage to some low-income Georgians on the condition that they work or participate in another qualifying activity 80 hours each month. Under that program, which is not considered full expansion under Obamacare, 4,000 people have gained coverage, out of the roughly 350,000 who would qualify based on their income.

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has defended the program and blamed the Biden administration for its slow start. The program is set to expire next fall, but several months ago, Georgia sued the federal government in a bid to extend it.

Its fiscally foolish, and anti-family, Georgetowns Alker said of the Georgia program. She noted that the state is leaving federal dollars on the table by eschewing a full-fledged expansion under Obamacare.

Its not been a pathway to coverage for anybody, she said.

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A pedestrian walks through Gardiner, Mont. As legislators across the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid consider imposing work requirements on enrollees, Montana has a potential bipartisan model: a voluntary work program that helps Medicaid recipients by providing them with job training and career guidance. (File/David Goldman/The Associated Press)

Two decades ago, Jeff Beisecker and his family returned to Great Falls, Montana, from a religious mission to the Philippines.

Beisecker had no health insurance and no steady source of income, and neither did his wife. Fearful of being without coverage, Beisecker enrolled himself, his wife and their four children in Medicaid for nearly a decade while he worked his way to a steady, full-time job.

Having the extra help made a difference for his family, recalled Beisecker, 53.

And people might have looked down on us. I dont really care, because it was there to help us along the journey, he said.

For Beisecker, Medicaid coverage was a launching pad to stable work; now he helps others make that leap.

As an employment and training coordinator for Opportunities Inc., a Great Falls-based nonprofit, Beisecker connects Montana Medicaid recipients to job training, career counseling, transportation and child care. Opportunities Inc. is one of several nonprofits that run a state-created voluntary program called the Health and Economic Livelihood Partnership Link, known as HELP-Link.

When folks come in, we can meet with them and say, Hey, maybe you can take this training that we can help pay for, and you can come out and start making 28 or 29 dollars an hour, Beisecker said.

An increasing number of Republican-led states want to require Medicaid recipients to work, arguing that doing so will help them rise out of poverty.

Democrats and health advocates note that most people on Medicaid already work either full time or part time. They argue that states shouldnt deny health care coverage to people who dont have jobs, especially since many face serious barriers to employment.

With HELP-Link, Montana might have found middle ground.

When Montanans enroll in Medicaid, nonprofit organizations such as Opportunities Inc., which receives state funding, can offer career guidance and job training from professionals like Beisecker.

A key part of that process is identifying barriers to work  such as a lack of training, child care or transportation  and finding ways to overcome them.

There are ways to support work without taking away peoples health coverage, said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown Universitys Center for Children and Families, which researches health care issues.

Montana is the most concrete example of a work-support connection, she said. Thats one place to look to make sure people are connected to work supports and job training.

Montana Republican state Rep. Edward Buttrey, who crafted the HELP-Link program with Democratic state Rep. Mary Caffero in 2015, said it adheres to GOP principles.

Republican administrations typically want to ensure that if somebodys getting a benefit from the taxpayers, that theyre earning it and in return providing a benefit back to the state and themselves, Buttrey told Stateline. I think thats what this is about.

Caffero said that in reaching a compromise, legislators put the people of Montana above party politics.

We created our own majority, she said, and extremists were kind of out on a plank.

Increasing interest

Medicaid is a program that provides health insurance for low-income people and is jointly run by states and the U.S. government. Any state that wants to add a work requirement to Medicaid must ask the federal government for permission.

The Biden administration has repeatedly turned down states requests to impose work requirements.

It also has rescinded the approvals granted by its predecessor, which signed off on 13 of them. (Only one state, Arkansas, implemented its rule before courts blocked states from imposing them.)

But with the election fast approaching, the prospect of a second Trump administration has prompted more GOP states to reconsider the idea.

That includes states such as Arkansas, Idaho and Louisiana that opted to expand Medicaid to more people under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. It also includes states that are still debating whether to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, among them Kansas and Mississippi.

Georgia and South Carolina, neither of which has expanded Medicaid under the ACA, both have sought federal permission to include work requirements in partial expansions of Medicaid that are more limited than what is envisioned under Obamacare. Only Georgia, which is fighting the Biden administration in court, currently has a strict work rule for any of its Medicaid enrollees.

How it works

Montana, which expanded Medicaid during the Obama administration, in 2019 sought federal permission to apply work requirements to the roughly 100,000 adults who were newly eligible for the program.

Under the proposal, beneficiaries would have had to work at least 80 hours each month, be looking for a job, or be doing volunteer work. There would have been exemptions for pregnancy, disabilities and mental illness.

In 2021, however, the Biden administration rejected Montanas request.

Buttrey told Stateline that if former President Donald Trump wins in November, it is likely that Montana will try again. But whatever the outcome of the election, the voluntary workforce training in HELP-Link has emerged as a possible compromise.

Beisecker said that Opportunities Inc. has been working with the Help-Link program for about a year and a half. The nonprofit has been able to help people do things such as get a commercial drivers license, start a welding certificate program, take classes on medical coding, and join construction training programs.

When folks come in, we can meet with them and say, Hey, maybe you can take this training that we can help pay for, and you can come out and start making 28 or 29 dollars an hour.

 Jeff Beisecker, employment and training coordinator for Opportunities Inc., a Montana nonprofit

The nonprofit also has a community resource center that can help Medicaid recipients get access to vouchers for food, laundry facilities and other needs.

We get referrals from other nonprofits we work with, Beisecker said. We have flyers that we send out so people know about the program. We go to job fairs.

According to data from the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, more than 2,200 people have participated in the HELP-Link program since its inception. Many have gone on to get jobs as registered nurses, dental hygienists, real estate agents and computer programmers, among many other professions.

HELP-Link has built relationships with large local employers such as manufacturers and health care providers, said Heather OLoughlin, executive director of the Montana Budget & Policy Center, a nonprofit group that examines budget and tax issues.

OLoughlin said a dip in participation since 2021 is evidence that the program has moved many participants into stable jobs.

Caffero, the Democratic lawmaker, agreed.

The program was doing exactly what we intended. People get jobs and jobs with benefits, jobs where they make a living wage, because they have education and training through HELP-Link, she said. Thats the goal. We dont want the [Medicaid] rolls to go up.

Buttrey noted that prior to the pandemic, Montanans stayed on Medicaid for an average of less than two years.

Weve given people some job skills, he said. Weve gotten them preventative care and help with addiction.

Robin Rudowitz, who oversees Medicaid research at KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization, praised Montanas program for encouraging people to find a job  and get off government assistance  without denying them health care while they do it.

She contrasted HELP-Link with the strict work requirements Arkansas briefly had in place for Medicaid recipients during the Trump administration, before a federal court struck them down. Those rules knocked roughly 18,000 people off the rolls.

Arkansas was really the only state that actually implemented to the point of where individuals were disenrolled for failing to comply, she said.

Rudowitz and other health experts also have been critical of Georgias Pathways to Coverage program, launched last summer, which extended Medicaid coverage to some low-income Georgians on the condition that they work or participate in another qualifying activity 80 hours each month. Under that program, which is not considered full expansion under Obamacare, 4,000 people have gained coverage, out of the roughly 350,000 who would qualify based on their income.

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has defended the program and blamed the Biden administration for its slow start. The program is set to expire next fall, but several months ago, Georgia sued the federal government in a bid to extend it.

Its fiscally foolish, and anti-family, Georgetowns Alker said of the Georgia program. She noted that the state is leaving federal dollars on the table by eschewing a full-fledged expansion under Obamacare.

Its not been a pathway to coverage for anybody, she said.

Like SC Daily Gazette, Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Montana could be a model as more GOP states weigh Medicaid work requirements appeared first on SC Daily Gazette.
A pedestrian walks through Gardiner, Mont. As legislators across the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid consider imposing work requirements on enrollees, Montana has a potential bipartisan model: a voluntary work program that helps Medicaid recipients by providing them with job training and career guidance. (David Goldman/The Associated Press)

A pedestrian walks through Gardiner, Mont. As legislators across the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid consider imposing work requirements on enrollees, Montana has a potential bipartisan model: a voluntary work program that helps Medicaid recipients by providing them with job training and career guidance. (David Goldman/The Associated Press)

Two decades ago, Jeff Beisecker and his family returned to Great Falls, Montana, from a religious mission to the Philippines. Beisecker had no health insurance and no steady source of income, and neither did his wife. Fearful of being without coverage, Beisecker enrolled himself, his wife and their four children in Medicaid for nearly a decade while he worked his way to a steady, full-time job.

Having the extra help made a difference for his family, recalled Beisecker, 53. And people might have looked down on us. I dont really care, because it was there to help us along the journey.

For Beisecker, Medicaid coverage was a launching pad to stable work; now he helps others make that leap. As an employment and training coordinator for Opportunities Inc., a Great Falls-based nonprofit, Beisecker connects Montana Medicaid recipients to job training, career counseling, transportation and child care. Opportunities Inc. is one of several nonprofits that run a state-created voluntary program called the Health and Economic Livelihood Partnership Link, known as HELP-Link.

When folks come in, we can meet with them and say, Hey, maybe you can take this training that we can help pay for, and you can come out and start making 28 or 29 dollars an hour, Beisecker said.

An increasing number of Republican-led states  including South Dakota  want to require Medicaid recipients to work, arguing that doing so will help them rise out of poverty. Democrats and health advocates note that most people on Medicaid already work either full time or part time. They argue that states shouldnt deny health care coverage to people who dont have jobs, especially since many face serious barriers to employment.

With HELP-Link, Montana might have found middle ground.

When Montanans enroll in Medicaid, nonprofit organizations such as Opportunities Inc., which receives state funding, can offer career guidance and job training from professionals like Beisecker. A key part of that process is identifying barriers to work  such as a lack of training, child care or transportation  and finding ways to overcome them.

There are ways to support work without taking away peoples health coverage, said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown Universitys Center for Children and Families, which researches health care issues.

Montana is the most concrete example of a work-support connection, she said. Thats one place to look to make sure people are connected to work supports and job training.

Montana Republican state Rep. Edward Buttrey, who crafted the HELP-Link program with Democratic state Rep. Mary Caffero in 2015, said it adheres to GOP principles.

Republican administrations typically want to ensure that if somebodys getting a benefit from the taxpayers, that theyre earning it and in return providing a benefit back to the state and themselves, Buttrey told Stateline. I think thats what this is about.

Caffero said that in reaching a compromise, legislators put the people of Montana above party politics.

We created our own majority, she said, and extremists were kind of out on a plank.

Increasing interest

Medicaid is a program that provides health insurance for low-income people and is jointly run by states and the U.S. government. Any state that wants to add a work requirement to Medicaid must ask the federal government for permission.

The Biden administration has repeatedly turned down states requests to impose work requirements. It also has rescinded the approvals granted by its predecessor, which signed off on 13 of them. (Only one state, Arkansas, implemented its rule before courts blocked states from imposing them.) But with the election fast approaching, the prospect of a second Trump administration has prompted more GOP states to reconsider the idea.

That includes states such as Arkansas, Idaho and Louisiana that opted to expand Medicaid to more people under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. It also includes states that are still debating whether to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, among them Kansas and Mississippi.

Georgia and South Carolina, neither of which has expanded Medicaid under the ACA, both have sought federal permission to include work requirements in partial expansions of Medicaid that are more limited than what is envisioned under Obamacare. Only Georgia, which is fighting the Biden administration in court, currently has a strict work rule for any of its Medicaid enrollees

How it works

Montana, which expanded Medicaid during the Obama administration, in 2019 sought federal permission to apply work requirements to the roughly 100,000 adults who were newly eligible for the program. Under the proposal, beneficiaries would have had to work at least 80 hours each month, be looking for a job, or be doing volunteer work. There would have been exemptions for pregnancy, disabilities and mental illness.

In 2021, however, the Biden administration rejected Montanas request. Buttrey told Stateline that if former President Donald Trump wins in November, it is likely that Montana will try again. But whatever the outcome of the election, the voluntary workforce training in HELP-Link has emerged as a possible compromise.

Beisecker said that Opportunities Inc. has been working with the Help-Link program for about a year and a half. The nonprofit has been able to help people do things such as get a commercial drivers license, start a welding certificate program, take classes on medical coding, and join construction training programs.

When folks come in, we can meet with them and say, Hey, maybe you can take this training that we can help pay for, and you can come out and start making 28 or 29 dollars an hour.

 Jeff Beisecker, employment and training coordinators for Opportunities Inc., a Montana nonprofit

The nonprofit also has a community resource center that can help Medicaid recipients get access to vouchers for food, laundry facilities and other needs.

We get referrals from other nonprofits we work with, Beisecker said. We have flyers that we send out so people know about the program. We go to job fairs.

According to data from the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, more than 2,200 people have participated in the HELP-Link program since its inception. Many have gone on to get jobs as registered nurses, dental hygienists, real estate agents and computer programmers, among many other professions.

HELP-Link has built relationships with large local employers such as manufacturers and health care providers, said Heather OLoughlin, executive director of the Montana Budget & Policy Center, a nonprofit group that examines budget and tax issues. OLoughlin said a dip in participation since 2021 is evidence that the program has moved many participants into stable jobs.

Caffero, the Democratic lawmaker, agreed.

The program was doing exactly what we intended. People get jobs and jobs with benefits, jobs where they make a living wage, because they have education and training through HELP-Link, she said. Thats the goal. We dont want the [Medicaid] rolls to go up.

Buttrey noted that prior to the pandemic, Montanans stayed on Medicaid for an average of less than two years. Weve given people some job skills, he said. Weve gotten them preventative care and help with addiction.

Robin Rudowitz, who oversees Medicaid research at KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization, praised Montanas program for encouraging people to find a job  and get off government assistance  without denying them health care while they do it.

She contrasted HELP-Link with the strict work requirements Arkansas briefly had in place for Medicaid recipients during the Trump administration, before a federal court struck them down. Those rules knocked roughly 18,000 people off the rolls. Arkansas was really the only state that actually implemented to the point of where individuals were disenrolled for failing to comply, she said.

Rudowitz and other health experts also have been critical of Georgias Pathways to Coverage program, launched last summer, which extended Medicaid coverage to some low-income Georgians on the condition that they work or participate in another qualifying activity 80 hours each month. Under that program, which is not considered full expansion under Obamacare, 4,000 people have gained coverage, out of the roughly 350,000 who would qualify based on their income.

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has defended the program and blamed the Biden administration for its slow start. The program is set to expire next fall, but several months ago, Georgia sued the federal government in a bid to extend it.

Its fiscally foolish, and anti-family, Georgetowns Alker said of the Georgia program. She noted that the state is leaving federal dollars on the table by eschewing a full-fledged expansion under Obamacare.

Its not been a pathway to coverage for anybody, she said.

This story was originally published by Stateline. Like South Dakota Searchlight, its part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Montana could be a model as more GOP states weigh Medicaid work requirements appeared first on South Dakota Searchlight.
Photo illustration by Getty Images.

Two decades ago, Jeff Beisecker and his family returned to Great Falls, Montana, from a religious mission to the Philippines. Beisecker had no health insurance and no steady source of income, and neither did his wife. Fearful of being without coverage, Beisecker enrolled himself, his wife and their four children in Medicaid for nearly a decade while he worked his way to a steady, full-time job.

Having the extra help made a difference for his family, recalled Beisecker, 53. And people might have looked down on us. I dont really care, because it was there to help us along the journey.

For Beisecker, Medicaid coverage was a launching pad to stable work; now he helps others make that leap. As an employment and training coordinator for Opportunities Inc., a Great Falls-based nonprofit, Beisecker connects Montana Medicaid recipients to job training, career counseling, transportation and child care. Opportunities Inc. is one of several nonprofits that run a state-created voluntary program called the Health and Economic Livelihood Partnership Link, known as HELP-Link.

When folks come in, we can meet with them and say, Hey, maybe you can take this training that we can help pay for, and you can come out and start making 28 or 29 dollars an hour, Beisecker said.

An increasing number of Republican-led states want to require Medicaid recipients to work, arguing that doing so will help them rise out of poverty. Democrats and health advocates note that most people on Medicaid already work either full-time or part-time. They argue that states shouldnt deny health care coverage to people who dont have jobs, especially since many face serious barriers to employment.

With HELP-Link, Montana might have found middle ground.

When Montanans enroll in Medicaid, nonprofit organizations such as Opportunities Inc., which receives state funding, can offer career guidance and job training from professionals like Beisecker. A key part of that process is identifying barriers to work  such as a lack of training, child care or transportation  and finding ways to overcome them.

There are ways to support work without taking away peoples health coverage, said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown Universitys Center for Children and Families, which researches health care issues.

Montana is the most concrete example of a work-support connection, she said. Thats one place to look to make sure people are connected to work supports and job training.

Montana Republican state Rep. Edward Buttrey, who crafted the HELP-Link program with Democratic state Rep. Mary Caffero in 2015, said it adheres to GOP principles.

Republican administrations typically want to ensure that if somebodys getting a benefit from the taxpayers, that theyre earning it and in return providing a benefit back to the state and themselves, Buttrey told Stateline. I think thats what this is about.

Caffero said that in reaching a compromise, legislators put the people of Montana above party politics.

We created our own majority, she said, and extremists were kind of out on a plank.

Increasing interest

Medicaid is a program that provides health insurance for low-income people and is jointly run by states and the U.S. government. Any state that wants to add a work requirement to Medicaid must ask the federal government for permission.

The Biden administration has repeatedly turned down states requests to impose work requirements. It also has rescinded the approvals granted by its predecessor, which signed off on 13 of them. (Only one state, Arkansas, implemented its rule before courts blocked states from imposing them.) But with the election fast approaching, the prospect of a second Trump administration has prompted more GOP states to reconsider the idea.

That includes states such as Arkansas, Idaho and Louisiana that opted to expand Medicaid to more people under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. It also includes states that are still debating whether to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, among them Kansas and Mississippi.

Georgia and South Carolina, neither of which has expanded Medicaid under the ACA, both have sought federal permission to include work requirements in partial expansions of Medicaid that are more limited than what is envisioned under Obamacare. Only Georgia, which is fighting the Biden administration in court, currently has a strict work rule for any of its Medicaid enrollees.

How it works

Montana, which expanded Medicaid during the Obama administration, in 2019 sought federal permission to apply work requirements to the roughly 100,000 adults who were newly eligible for the program. Under the proposal, beneficiaries would have had to work at least 80 hours each month, be looking for a job, or be doing volunteer work. There would have been exemptions for pregnancy, disabilities and mental illness.

In 2021, however, the Biden administration rejected Montanas request. Buttrey told Stateline that if former President Donald Trump wins in November, it is likely that Montana will try again. But whatever the outcome of the election, the voluntary workforce training in HELP-Link has emerged as a possible compromise.

Beisecker said that Opportunities Inc. has been working with the Help-Link program for about a year-and-a-half. The nonprofit has been able to help people do things such as get a commercial drivers license, start a welding certificate program, take classes on medical coding, and join construction training programs.

When folks come in, we can meet with them and say, Hey, maybe you can take this training that we can help pay for, and you can come out and start making 28 or 29 dollars an hour.

 Jeff Beisecker, employment and training coordinator for Opportunities Inc., a Montana nonprofit

The nonprofit also has a community resource center that can help Medicaid recipients get access to vouchers for food, laundry facilities and other needs.

We get referrals from other nonprofits we work with, Beisecker said. We have flyers that we send out so people know about the program. We go to job fairs.

According to data from the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, more than 2,200 people have participated in the HELP-Link program since its inception. Many have gone on to get jobs as registered nurses, dental hygienists, real estate agents and computer programmers, among many other professions.

HELP-Link has built relationships with large local employers such as manufacturers and health care providers, said Heather OLoughlin, executive director of the Montana Budget & Policy Center, a nonprofit group that examines budget and tax issues. OLoughlin said a dip in participation since 2021 is evidence that the program has moved many participants into stable jobs.

Caffero, the Democratic lawmaker, agreed.

The program was doing exactly what we intended. People get jobs and jobs with benefits, jobs where they make a living wage, because they have education and training through HELP-Link, she said. Thats the goal. We dont want the (Medicaid) rolls to go up.

Buttrey noted that prior to the pandemic, Montanans stayed on Medicaid for an average of less than two years.

Weve given people some job skills, he said. Weve gotten them preventative care and help with addiction.

Robin Rudowitz, who oversees Medicaid research at KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization, praised Montanas program for encouraging people to find a job  and get off government assistance  without denying them health care while they do it.

She contrasted HELP-Link with the strict work requirements Arkansas briefly had in place for Medicaid recipients during the Trump administration, before a federal court struck them down. Those rules knocked roughly 18,000 people off the rolls.

Arkansas was really the only state that actually implemented to the point of where individuals were disenrolled for failing to comply, she said.

Rudowitz and other health experts also have been critical of Georgias Pathways to Coverage program, launched last summer, which extended Medicaid coverage to some low-income Georgians on the condition that they work or participate in another qualifying activity 80 hours each month. Under that program, which is not considered full expansion under Obamacare, 4,000 people have gained coverage, out of the roughly 350,000 who would qualify based on their income.

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has defended the program and blamed the Biden administration for its slow start. The program is set to expire next fall, but several months ago, Georgia sued the federal government in a bid to extend it.

Its fiscally foolish, and anti-family, Georgetowns Alker said of the Georgia program. She noted that the state is leaving federal dollars on the table by eschewing a full-fledged expansion under Obamacare.

Its not been a pathway to coverage for anybody, she said.

This story was published by Stateline which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network, including the Daily Montanan, supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

The post Montana could be a model as more GOP states weigh Medicaid work requirements appeared first on Daily Montanan.
KYODO NEWS - May 7, 2024 - 13:34 | All, Japan, World

Japan's top government spokesman said Tuesday that U.S. President Joe Biden's recent labeling of Japan as xenophobic is "regrettable," but pledged to continue efforts to bolster bilateral ties.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tokyo has told Washington that Biden's remarks, made last week at a 2024 presidential election fundraising event attended by a large number of Asian American voters, were not based on an accurate understanding of Japan's immigration policy.

But Hayashi said at a press conference that Japan believes Biden did not intend to hurt bilateral relations, adding the president referred to immigrants to explain the important role they play in creating economic growth in the United States.

Pointing to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's state visit to the United States in April, the first by a Japanese leader in nine years, Hayashi emphasized that ties between Tokyo and Washington are stronger now than they have ever been.

In the controversial comments made on Wednesday, Biden said, "You know, one of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants," according to the White House.

While lauding immigration and diversity as key strengths of the United States, Biden was quoted as saying, "Look, think about it. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they're xenophobic. They don't want immigrants."

Related coverage:

Japan PM says no plan to dissolve Diet after defeat in by-elections

Japan disappointed by Biden's "xenophobic" comments
The booking mugshot of Luke Strommen, a former Valley County Deputy, who was convicted of sexual intercourse with a minor without consent (Photo via Montana Department of Corrections).

A former Valley County sheriffs deputy who was convicted for possession of child pornography and sexual intercourse without consent of a minor has had one of his convictions overturned and sent back to district court because of Constitutional violations associated with his conviction.

In a split 4-to-2 decision, the Montana Supreme Court said that because Luke Strommen was denied the right to cross-examine a witness face-to-face, a move that violated his state and federal constitutional rights, the case should head back to District Court Judge John W. Larson on the charge of sexual intercourse with a minor without consent.

The Supreme Court reversed the verdict and remanded it, or handed it back, for a new trial on April 30.

At the close of a five-day trial in Glasgow in 2020, the jury returned a guilty verdict and Strommen was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

The case focuses on a sexual assault behavioral psychologist, Dr. Sheri Vanino, and the prosecuting attorneys decision to request she appear remotely via two-way video conferencing, for example, using Zoom.

When the case was originally planned, Vaninos testimony would have been scheduled sometime during the winter. Because she was a practicing therapist in Denver, meeting with sexual assault survivors, she had at least one group that met weekly that potentially could have conflicted with trial. Larson agreed to let her testify via video conferencing, over the objections of Strommens attorney.

As the case proceeded to trial, Montana courts, along with nearly every other institution in America, were affected by the COVID-19 public health emergency and restrictions to protect the public.

Larson determined that Montanas narrow exception to a constitutional right to confront accusers face-to-face fit the situation because Vanino had an obligation to her patients, and the travel could jeopardize that.

However, when the prosecution called Vanino, she appeared via video conference from a residence in Massachusetts, not from Denver. When asked about the appearance, she replied that the group sessions had been cancelled due to COVID.

While Strommens attorney argued for a mistrial because of his state and federal constitutional rights, Larson overruled the motion, citing COVID as a reasonable excuse not to travel.

The Montana Supreme Court, in a decision authored by Justice Dirk Sandefur, said that the reason for excusing Vanino didnt exist, and her excuse to remain in Denver was invalidated because she traveled freely to Massachusetts.

Vanino appeared via video testimony on July 13, 2020, and previously, during the pretrial hearings, the issue of COVID never came up with regard to her appearance.

The Valley County District Court record also shows that the audio-video transmission lagged and faded-out during her direct examination, thus preventing the courtroom audience from picking up everything she was saying.

That problem persisted the next day as well during her testimony, court records said.

Under the Sixth Amendment and the Montana Constitution Article II, Section 24, the right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses personally face-to-face generally applies to all testimonial statements offered as evidence to a criminally accused at trial, the Montana Supreme Court said.

The Supreme Court said that the judge had to find that the personal presence of a witness is impossible or impracticable to secure due to extraordinary distance, expense or health considerations.

Mere judicial economy or a generalized assertion, showing, or finding of significant travel burden or logistical expense or inconvenience is generally insufficient alone to constitute an important public policy justification for dispensing with actual face-to-face confrontation, the opinion said.

The justices also found that the prosecution had failed to make a good-faith effort to get Vanino to testify in person, and was not aware of her location prior to the trial.

On appeal, the state now relies solely on its assertion that Dr. Vaninos remote video testimony was justified in furtherance of public health and to protect courtroom staff and trial participants from the risk of COVID-19 exposure, the opinion said. The problem is, however, the state made no such assertion on any of the multiple occasions on which the issue arose.

Instead, Sandefurs opinion points out that the prosecutor had wanted Vaninos testimony immediately before the victim in the trial because of a tactical preference.

The resulting district court justifications were then based in part on the states insufficient justifications, and the courts own sua sponte interjection of expert witness convenience considerations and only generalized COVID-19 concerns, the opinion said. The states assertion, for the first time on appeal, that Dr. Vaninos contemplated testimony was non-essential or of little import to the states case is strikingly inconsistent with its assertions.

Montana Supreme Court Justice Beth Baker wrote a dissenting opinion in the case, saying that allowing Vanino to participate remotely did not constitute a reversible error and so she would have let the conviction stand.

Chief Justice Mike McGrath joined Baker in her dissent. Justice Jim Rice did not participate in the case.

The post Montana Supreme Court reverses conviction of former Valley County deputy appeared first on Daily Montanan.
In September 2023, Honda Motor announced a recall of nearly 400,000 lawn mower and pressure washer engines. Earlier this month, the manufacturer expanded the recall to include an additional 200 lawnmower replacement engines.

In a statement issued by Honda, the manufacturer explains that the improperly manufactured camshafts in the engines can cause the starter rope to suddenly retract when pulling to start, posing an injury hazard.

Owners of the Honda HRN216 and HRX217K6 lawnmowers, as well as GCV170/200 G5B general-purpose engines used in power washers and lawnmower replacement engines, should halt any operation of their equipment immediately. Models were sold at the following locations nationwide from May 2033 through June 2023: Honda Power Equipment dealers, Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Lowes, Northern Tool and various farm, agricultural and rental stores.

Honda

If youre unsure whether your model is affected, you can find specific model and serial number information located on a label on the upper rear of the mower deck. Power washer serial numbers are engraved on the flat surface of the engine.

Should your equipment be impacted, Honda advises contacting an authorized Honda Power Equipment dealer via this Dealer Locator to schedule an appointment for free inspection and repair. If you find that youre having trouble resolving your recall request, consumers can also file a recall complaint online with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Since the 2023 recall, Honda has received over 5,000 reports of related incidents. While large equipment such as lawn mowers and pressure washers are generally safe to operate when following instructions, the Good Housekeeping Institutes Home Improvement and Outdoor Lab experts always advise taking the right safety precautions when operating large power tools and equipment.

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Mother of Australian surfers killed in Mexico gives moving tribute to sons at a beach in San Diego

In this image taken from video, Australia's Debra Robinson with her husband Martin, address the media on the beach in San Diego, Tuesday, May 7, 2024 following the deaths in Mexico of their two sons during a surfing trip. The sons, Callum and Jake, and U.S. friend Jack Carter Rhoad, were allegedly killed by car thieves in Baja California, across the border from San Diego, somewhere around April 28 or 29. (Channel 9/POOL via AP)

MEXICO CITY (AP)  The mother of two Australian surfers killed in Mexico delivered a moving tribute to her sons Tuesday at a beach in San Diego.

Our hearts are broken and the world has become a darker place for us, Debra Robinson said, fighting back tears. They were young men enjoying their passion of surfing together.

Her sons, Callum and Jake, were allegedly killed by car thieves in Baja California, across the border from San Diego, somewhere around April 28 or 29.

Robinson also mourned the American who was killed with them, Jack Carter Rhoad.

The beachside location where she spoke, across the border from the Baja California city of Tijuana, was no coincidence. She noted that her son Callum considered the United States his second home."

Robinson noted that her son Jake loved surfing so much that, as a doctor, he liked to work in hospitals near the beach.

Jakes passion was surfing, and it was no coincidence that many of his hospitals that he worked in were close to surfing beaches, she said.

Choking back tears, Robinson conveyed a final message that coincided with her sons' adventurous lifestyles.

Live bigger, shine brighter, and love harder in their memory, she said.

Robinson thanked Australian officials and supporters there and in the United States.

While she thanked Mexicos ambassador to Australia, she notably did not thank the local officials in Baja California who eventually found the bodies of her sons and Carter Rhoad.

Their killers dumped the bodies of the men into a well about 4 miles (6 kilometers) away from where they had been attacked at a beachside campsite. Investigators were surprised when, underneath the bodies of the three foreigners, a fourth body was found that had been there much longer. It was unclear if the body was related to the current case.

The fact that such killers are not caught or stopped in the overwhelming majority of cases in Mexico has led some Mexicans to protest that authorities only investigate such disappearances when they are high-profile cases involving foreigners.

Robinson said that her sons' bodies, or their ashes, will eventually be taken back to Australia.

Now its time to bring them home to families and friends, she said. And the ocean waits in Australia.

Prosecutors have identified three people as potential suspects, two of whom were caught with methamphetamines. One of them, a woman, had one of the victims cellphones when she was caught. Prosecutors said the two were being held pending drug charges but continue to be suspects in the killings.

A third man was arrested on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping, but that was before the bodies were found. It was unclear when or if he might face more charges.

The third man was believed to have directly participated in the killings. In keeping with Mexican law, prosecutors identified him by his first name, Jesus Gerardo, alias el Kekas, a slang word that means quesadillas, or cheese-filled tortillas.

He had a criminal record that included drug dealing, vehicle theft and domestic violence, and authorities said they were certain that more people were involved.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a radio station in the Robinsons home town of Perth in Western Australia state that every parent felt for the familys loss.

I think the whole nations heart goes out to the parents of Callum and Jake Robinson. It is every parents worst nightmare to lose a son or a daughter. To lose these two brothers is just awful and my deepest sympathies and condolences and Im sure the whole nations with the parents and with the other family and friends of these two fine young Australians, Albanese told Perth Radio 6PR.

Albanese said he was reminded of when his only child Nathan Albanese traveled last year at the age of 22 to a musical festival in Spain.

You do worry, but you think as well thats part of the Australian right of passage, is traveling around with a backpack and meeting people and its how you grow as a person as well so you want to encourage them, Albanese said.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California  also known as the Sea of Cortez  from the Baja peninsula. Authorities said they were victims of highway bandits. Three suspects were arrested in that case.

___

Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
The Mount Pleasant property where Village President Dave DeGroot had a contractor dump waste without permission. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

The village president of Mount Pleasant is facing public criticism for using a village-owned property slated to become a public park as a dumping ground for the waste created by his homeowners associations dredging of a pond in his neighborhood.

Residents who live near the property say the president, Dave DeGroot, has used his position to skirt permitting rules for dumping and to help him and his neighbors avoid a hefty price tag to haul the waste elsewhere.

On Monday, DeGroot announced hes running to unseat Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) in the state Legislature.

When I was elected President of Mount Pleasant, our community was known around the state for its lack of leadership, dysfunctional board, and a challenging business climate. We turned that around, DeGroot said in a statement. We broke the stalemate, unified our community, and created a positive vision for our great Village. Now, we have the chance to do that in Wisconsin. As a long-time resident of the district and small business owner, I understand how challenging it is right now. Instead of playing political games, I will be focused on fixing our problems and getting things done.

The 73-acre property is located off Highway KR, blocks from Foxconns orb-shaped building, adjacent to the Pike River and a multi-use pathway the village recently constructed along the water. For more than a decade, the village has used the lot to store dirt.

Kevin Rannow, who lives across the street from the property, has watched trucks hauling dirt in and out for years, including a massive project last summer when a local landfill was capped. He says hes tolerated that truck traffic because while its an inconvenience for him, projects like the one at the landfill benefit the community as a whole.

But last fall, he began seeing trucks bringing black sludge into the property. Worried about the sludges effect on his private drinking well, Rannow followed one of the trucks back to where it came from  a private pond in a residential neighborhood with a state Department of Natural Resources permit posted nearby.

The sludge dumped on the Village of Mount Pleasant property. (Photo Courtesy of Kathy Deverney)

The DNRs records on the permit show that DeGroot, on behalf of the Pleasant Valley Lake Association, had applied to the DNR for permission to fill in a bit of wetland as part of a project to revitalize the pond in the neighborhood. Last August, the DNR granted the permit.

The approval from the DNR notes that the HOA is responsible for obtaining any other permit or approval that may be required before starting your project. These include but are limited to local zoning ordinances, shoreland zoning, floodplain zoning, DNR construction site stormwater (for land disturbances greater than an acre), and requirements by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

On its website, the association states that the project will improve the aesthetics of the water feature, allow native plants and animals to thrive and improve the property values of homeowners around the pond. The website also states that once sufficiently drained, the thick layer of organic matter will be trucked away to Kestrel Hawk Landfill by our partner Oakes and Sons. Removal of this material begins the process of improving the natural health of the area. That material accumulated through erosion, leaves and grass clippings, wildlife droppings, lawn care chemicals, and stormwater runoff from the neighborhood.

A DNR analysis found that the dredged material does not contain large amounts of pollutants, however it does contain some DDE, which is what forms when the harmful pesticide DDT, which has been banned in the U.S. for decades breaks down in the environment. In large enough doses, DDE can cause negative health effects.

The problem for DeGroot and his neighbors is that Kestrel Hawk Landfill was capped before their project could begin. On Nov. 16, village staff told the associations contractor, Oakes and Sons, that it did not have permission to dump any material from the pond dredging project on the KR property. Yet, on Nov. 24, village staff was informed that the contractor had begun dumping the dredged material on the KR property.

The village sent a letter to the contractor stating that it was illegally dumping material at the site. On Dec. 6, Mount Pleasant police went to the contractors offices to compel the company to cease and desist.

This work is being illegally performed, as there is no written agreement between the Village and your company, A.W. Oakes and Sons, to access and use the property, a Nov. 28 letter from Village Engineer Anthony Beyer states. You are hereby ordered to remove all deposited fill from the site and immediately restore the site to its pre-disturbed condition prior to your companys forces entering the site within 15 days from the date of this letter.

But the contractor appealed that decision to the villages zoning board of appeals, a five-member body that consists entirely of people appointed by DeGroot.

At the appeal hearing in January, which took place without any participation from neighbors such as Rannow who had complained about the dumping, village staff recommended that the appeal be denied.

The village staff recommends that the Zoning Board of Appeals moves to deny the request for access to Village property for the dumping dredged materials from a private pond, based on the lack of benefit both financial and technical to the Village or its property to accept pond dredged material, a staff memo states.

In a recording of that hearing, DeGroot states that he had spearheaded the effort to get the associations members on board with the project and have every family kick in $25,000 to pay for the cleanup of a pond that sucks.

In his comments, DeGroot says hes not speaking as village president, but he complains that the village engineer  his employee  is being insincere by recommending the appeal be denied and that all hes trying to do is avoid the cost that would come with paying to have the material brought somewhere else. He adds that even though its a private pond, the revitalization of the project has aesthetic value that everybodys gonna be really proud of.

Hey, were doing all the heavy lifting, and were not asking for much, he said. All we want to do is to be able to maintain our budget and not go over it.

The board granted the appeal, against the recommendation of village staff, allowing DeGroots contractor to keep the already dumped sludge on the property and return in the spring to finish the job. The remaining muck has now been dumped, leaving what Rannow calls a soupy mess.

In an interview with the Examiner, DeGroot says that until the appeals board hearing, he stayed triple-arms length away from the contractors dealings with the village and that he didnt see any problem with him and his neighbors getting to dump on the public lot.

Because I am the president of the village doesnt mean I have less due process rights than anybody else, he says. We followed the procedure. The contractor got himself in trouble because he put his cart a little before the horse and didnt get the permit he needed. The due process rights were followed and the appeals group sided with the contractors appeal.

The village presidents fingerprints are not on that, other than when the ruling was made and the contractor decided to appeal the ruling, he adds.

Neighbors of the village property say that if they had tons of muck to dispose of, they wouldnt have the ability to dump it all on village-owned land.

Clearly its a cost factor, Kathy Deverney, who also lives near the property, tells the Examiner. Mr. DeGroot said, Hey I know where we can dump it. If in fact they didnt pay anything, can any association that has a pond that needs to be dredged can get a permit and go dump it on that land for free? Yeah, thats irritating. He clearly took advantage of the system, undermined the people who work for him.

Rannow says the village should have better controls on the system so a local official cant use it the way DeGroot has.

[Im] frustrated and disappointed the village had no checks in place and let their president take advantage of the situation, he says.

This story was updated on May 7 with added comments from DeGroot.

The post Mount Pleasant village president dumps waste from private pond on public land to avoid cost appeared first on Wisconsin Examiner.
Biloxi Councilman Robert Leon Deming III resigned from his Ward 4 seat Tuesday after 10 years and addressed the decision during a press conference at City Hall.

With his girlfriend and daughter by his side, Deming said that his time serving the city that he loves ended at 5:30 p.m.

Deming made the announcement six days after pleading guilty to a federal drug charge involving the sale of synthetic cannabinoids in vape products sold at his CBD and kratom stores in Mississippi and North Carolina. The nine stores are called the Candy Shop and remain open.

A special election to fill the remaining term of his Ward 4 seat will be set in within 45 days of his departure, the Secretary of States Office said.

For those that have been around me, and for those that know me, and those that have been through this with me, know the gravity of the decisions that Ive been forced to make, the choices that affect my family, my friends, employees and so many others, he said

Its unfortunate that given the totality of circumstances, I have entered a plea of guilty to a federal offense thats classified as a felony, and as such, I stand before you, members of the city that I love, the city that Ive given my heart and my sweat to, the city that I call home, and announce my resignation effective at 5:30 p.m.

Deming addressed his time on the council as well.

Well, its been 10 years that weve been working together to make Biloxi better, and I think we have, he said. In such a short time, we have traveled a long ways from where we started here in Biloxi. I, for one, will never forget walking the streets of Ward 4 to earn the trust and the faith of the constituents. Along the campaign trail, I met some amazing people, heard some inspiring stories, and was ultimately given the honor to represent them and help achieve their goals.

Deming also spent time thanking his constituents and others he worked with at City Hall.

The past decade, along this journey,I have been given another honor, the honor of working with the entire spectrum of Biloxi at city hall, he said. I was able to work with the well established names of Biloxi steeped in the tradition and history of this great city. I have been able to work with the new and up and coming members ready to make their mark.

Ive worked with old money, (and) young entrepreneurs. Ive worked with the people grasping onto the past and the people reaching for the future. Ive worked with people standing on principal and those that have run headfirst into a fight no matter what we are fighting for.

Im extremely proud of what weve been able to accomplish together as a city and said he knows the current leadership, both old and new, maintain that promise of greatness that will continue within the city.

Deming is now awaiting sentencing in August on the federal drug charge.

Robert L. Deming III, city council representative for Ward 4, appears at a Biloxi City Council meeting in Biloxi on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Demings home and several of his the Candy and Kratom Shop businesses were raided by the DEA on Jan. 26, 2023.

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During his federal court hearing earlier on May 1, Deming admitted to selling vape products that contained Schedule I controlled substances.

The front door of Biloxi Councilman Robert Demings house stands ajar as DEA agents conduct a raid on the home on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Agents would not say specifically what they were looking for or what they found, but agents also conducted raids on several locations of The Candy Shop & Kratom, a kratom store chain owned by Deming.

As part of a two-year investigation, federal agents determined that Deming had personally paid for a kilo of the Schedule 1 drugs that he had added to vape products sold at the stores.

MS official pleads guilty, admits buying kilo of drugs for CBD and kratom sales in MS, NC

Deming opened his CBD and kratom stores in Mississippi and North Carolina in 2019, and federal and state drug agents started investigating alleged criminal wrongdoing at the stores a year later.

The investigators launched the investigation after they learned that some of the products had made customers sick and that some employees of the stores told Deming that the additives put in the vape products were too strong for customers.

Robert Deming III and his girlfriend arrive at Dan M. Russell Jr. Federal Courthouse in Gulfport on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, for Deming to plead guilty to selling products containing synthetic cannabinoids at his Candy Shop kratom stores.

Despite the warnings, Deming continued to sell the drug-infused vape products at the Candy Shop stores.

The sale of such products brought in as much as $2 million in sales from the stores, authorities said.

Prior to his September 2023 arrest, state and federal drug agents seized over $1.8 million in cash from Demings home and a vehicle there and thousands more from various bank accounts under Demings control. That included an money in an account for his law firm.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents and other law enforcement officers search two cars as a part of raids conducted on the home of Biloxi Councilman Robert Deming III on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Agents would not say specifically what they were looking for or what they found, but agents also conducted raids on several locations of The Candy Shop & Kratom, a kratom store chain owned by Deming.

Though the federal charge Deming pleaded guilty to carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years, federal prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence ranging from 5 to 7 1/2 years in prison.

In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed two additional charges, one for drug conspiracy and another for the destruction, alteration or falsification of records in a federal investigation.

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Days after his drug arrest, a Biloxi councilman started moving money around, feds say
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A Sardis, Mississippi man was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for illegal possession of a firearm, according to the U.S. District Attorneys Office.

In January of 2022, Jamaal Ellison, 40, was stopped by an Oxford Police officer for speeding, but fled the scene in his car. Reports say he crashed his car into a pole and attempted to flee on foot, but was caught by the officer on scene.

Reports say, officers found a Glock 40 caliber pistol and ammunition in Ellisons car, as well as illegal narcotics. Ellison, who according to police, had previously been convicted of multiple felonies involving the sale of narcotics, admitted to possessing the gun.

Ellison was sentenced on Tuesday to 188 months in prison and five years of supervised release.

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The sentence imposed today sends a message to the community that career criminals will be held accountable as we work to keep our neighborhoods safe as a top priority for ATF, said ATF New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Joshua Jackson. Sending a violent individual like this to prison is another example of our commitment to work tirelessly to protect our communities and hold accountable those who threaten our safety.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  The Chancellor for the University of Mississippi promised an investigation into student conduct after racial slurs were used during a pro-Palestine demonstration Thursday.

One student has been removed as a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity after he was accused of making racial gestures.

Riley Thrasher, a sophomore at the University of Mississippi, says Thursdays pro-Palestine demonstration, filled with racial slurs and gestures from some counter-protestors, did great harm to the universitys efforts to erase its troubled past.

Pro-Palestine protest held at University of Mississippi

I think that was horrifically uncalled for and set us back 60 years, said Thrasher. Anytime something like that happens I think it just shows how easily people fall back into place in that hatred here, so I think we really have to stay on our toes and make sure to hold each other accountable.

The protest against the war in Gaza took place not far from this statue of James Meredith, the first Black man to integrate the university.

(Stacey J. Spiehler via AP)

(Stacey J. Spiehler via AP)

Photos Courtesy of University of Mississippi Journalism students

Photos Courtesy of University of Mississippi Journalism students

Photos Courtesy of University of Mississippi Journalism students

Photos Courtesy of University of Mississippi Journalism students

Some students who witnessed the chaos are still in shock at how quickly and casually racial slurs were used.

Everyone should be able to speak out for what they want without, I guess, fear of being ridiculed and mocked and stuff to the way that they were. It was kind of crazy that would happen, said UM senior Olivia Womack.

Ole Miss fraternity removes student accused of making racial gestures during protests

At one point, one of the white hecklers could be seen making monkey noises and gestures at a Black woman protesting the war.

An investigation revealed the student was a member of Phi Delta Theta, and was removed from the fraternitys membership.

Chancellor Glenn Boyce pledged disciplinary action could be coming against more students.

One University of Mississippi junior says they are glad someone is being held accountable.

He shouldnt have done that. His actions dont speak for the University or anyone else in the group on either side, they said.

Jacob Batte, University of Mississippi Director of Media Relations, released a statement on Thursday evening, stating that no one was arrested during the protest.

As a public institution, the University of Mississippi is committed to supporting the rights of our students, faculty and employees to express their views in a respectful manner and to assemble peacefully as enshrined in the First Amendment. While todays demonstration was passionate and several protesters and counter-protesters received warnings from law enforcement over their actions, there were no arrests, no injuries reported, and the demonstration ended peacefully.

On Monday, we again reached out to the Universitys media relations as well as Oxford Police, but have not gotten a response.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
MARQUETTE, Mich. (WJMN)  The Marquette Area Public Schools Board unveiled the new high school mascot logo Monday at a special meeting held at the high school.

The Marquette Senior High School mascot has a new face, well sort of. The new logo was designed by Marquette Alum Matt Sia, who is now working at a graphic design firm in New York City. The design is a collaboration between the school board, current students and Sia.

The new logo includes many of the parts of several submissions that were voted on by the board and student council. This rollout marks the end of a nearly year-long, sometimes contentious process to fully transition to the new nickname, Marquette Sentinels. School Board President, Kristen Cambensy was pleased with the unanimous vote by the board.

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I love the new logo, said Cambensy. I think its unique, its modern. I think its something that no one else in the area has anything like this. Its something that the students are going to rally behind.

Even with a few board members initially against the idea of the name change, in the end, the board came together and presented a united front.

Its official: MSHS students are now The Sentinels

To go from a 4-3 vote to a 7-0 vote and you know less than a year, that speaks a lot to the board and to the community, and everyone else involved, said Cambensy.

The design for the new logo was done pro bono by Sia who offered his services to the school board upon hearing of the name change. Cambensy went on to say that graduating seniors have already requested to use the new mascot image during end-of-year graduation events.

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The new logo will be a compliment to the traditional block M logo that has served as the symbol of the school since 1998 when the Native American Chief emblem was phased out.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJMN - UPMatters.com.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  The Multnomah County Health Department launched a fentanyl awareness campaign on Tuesday, aiming to warn young people about the dangers of the deadly drug amid a nationwide rise in overdose deaths.

The Expect Fentanyl campaign is part of the countys 90-day fentanyl emergency, which brought state, county, and city leaders together to coordinate a response to the fentanyl crisis.

The campaign will include targeted ads for youth between 13- and 20-years-old highlighting the dangers of the drug and how common it is for counterfeit drugs to contain fentanyl.

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The ads will appear on bus benches and shelters across the county, along with ads on YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify, and Pandora.

Multnomah County launched the Expect Fentanyl campaign May 7, 2024 to warn young people about the dangers of the deadly drug (Courtesy Multnomah County.)

Multnomah County launched the Expect Fentanyl campaign May 7, 2024 to warn young people about the dangers of the deadly drug (Courtesy Multnomah County.)

Multnomah County launched the Expect Fentanyl campaign May 7, 2024 to warn young people about the dangers of the deadly drug (Courtesy Multnomah County.)

According to Multnomah County, seven out of 10 pills seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2023 contained a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl  noting a lethal dose is 2 milligrams, or about the size of 10 grains of salt or the tip of a pencil.

We know young people are uniquely vulnerable to misinformation about fentanyl, creating a serious and deadly issue that weve been working hard to combat on many fronts, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said. Reducing youth exposure to fentanyl and preventing untimely and tragic overdose deaths must be a primary driver in our work to address this crisis. This campaign is the help, awareness, and further education young people and their families need.

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Losing almost one classroom of young people a week

In 2021, 77% of drug overdose deaths among adolescents across the United States involved fentanyl, Multnomah County said.

The county also highlighted a New England Journal of Medicine report showing an average of 22 teenagers between 14-18 died in the U.S. every week in 2022 from overdoses by counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.

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If 22 teens are dying each week from drug overdose, that means we are losing almost one classroom of young people a week across this country, Multnomah County Health Department Director Rachael Banks said. We must do everything we can to change that.

From 2018 to 2022, there were 1,406 deadly drug overdoses in Multnomah County. People between 15 and 24 accounted for 80 of those deaths, the county said, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Deaths are rising even as teen drug use overall is going down, Banks said. Its unacceptable  for teens, for their families and their communities, and for us.

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The $184,784 campaign will run through early October to reach students at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, Multnomah County said.

The campaign includes ads highlighting the similar appearances between counterfeit and non-counterfeit pills, noting you cannot see, smell, or taste fentanyl when its mixed with other drugs such as meth, cocaine, molly, and prescriptions like Xanax, Adderall, Percocet, and OxyContin.

Another ad encourages people to carry overdose reversal medication naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, to help others in the event of an overdose.

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Signs of an overdose may include an inability to wake up, slow or no breathing, choking or gurgling sounds, blue or gray fingernails or lips, and cold, clammy skin, officials warn. If you suspect someone is experiencing an overdose, officials said there are four simple steps you can take to help them.

So check to see if somebody is not breathing and try to wake them up, call 911 and put them on speaker phone, spray naloxone in the nose and then stay with with them until help arrives, said Multnomah County Health Officer Dr. Richard Bruno.

The county pointed out Naloxone is free for 15-18-year-old students at high school student health centers and students under 15 can get naloxone with parent permission. The Health Departments Harm Reduction Clinic also offers naloxone and fentanyl test strips.

Officials noted Oregons Good Samaritan Law provides legal protection for anyone helping someone experiencing an overdose. People who call 911 or seek medical care when they experience an overdose or witness someone experiencing an overdose cannot be arrested or prosecuted for: possessing drugs or drug paraphernalia, being in a place where drugs are used, violating probation or parole, or for outstanding warrants related to possessing drugs or being in a place where drugs are used.

Free support for people 21-and-younger experiencing substance use or mental health challenges can receive help from YouthLine, a confidential teen-to-teen crisis helpline.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
KYODO NEWS - May 7, 2024 - 15:56 | All, Japan, 3/11 Fukushima

The release of the fifth batch of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea concluded Tuesday, its operator said.

In the latest discharge, the first of fiscal 2024 from April, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. released around 7,800 tons of processed water, with a total of about 54,600 tons planned for release over the year.

Abnormal tritium levels have not been detected in nearby waters, TEPCO said. Prior to discharge, water used to cool melted fuel at the plant is passed through an advanced liquid processing system that removes most radionuclides apart from tritium.

The company plans to conduct another six rounds of discharge this fiscal year, with the next likely to start later this month or in June, according to the operator.

During the latest round that began on April 19, water discharge was disrupted for around six and a half hours on April 24 due to a power outage caused by damage to a cable during excavation work at the plant.

The release of wastewater began in August and TEPCO had discharged about 31,200 tons in four batches by the end of fiscal 2023.

Although TEPCO has detected tritium in samples collected near the outlet into the sea, the levels were far below the World Health Organization's limit of 10,000 becquerels for drinking water.

Related coverage:

IAEA says Fukushima treated water discharge "progressing as planned"

Fukushima treated water discharge resumes after power outage

IAEA starts 2nd review of Fukushima water treatment process
The most pronounced feature of mumps is the swelling of the salivary glands

Mumps was a common childhood illness until a vaccination for it was launched in the late Eighties. Now its relatively rare. But there have been sporadic outbreaks in the UK since. And, while most cases will pass without issues, there are also risks associated with catching mumps, especially if youre older, including life-threatening complications and for men, infertility. Make sure you know what to look for, what to do and the red flags that need immediate attention.

Jump to:

What are mumps?

A viral infection thats easily spread, mumps starts with standard flu-like symptoms like fever, muscle aches and pains (see below). But the most pronounced feature of mumps is parotitis; a swelling of the salivary glands on the lower aspect of the cheeks, usually on both sides but sometimes only one, says Dr Nathalie MacDermott, a clinical lecturer in paediatric infectious diseases as Kings College, London. That gives people a bit of a chipmunk look.

Is mumps contagious for children and adults?

Although its not as contagious as measles, mumps is still infectious and passed on through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or laughs, explains Dr MacDermott. But it can also be transmitted through close-contact sports, sharing utensils, kissing and being in enclosed spaces with infected people.

Youre likely to be contagious about seven days before symptoms show, Dr MacDermott says. But you can remain infectious for about nine days after your symptoms have subsided.

About one in five people will show no symptoms but still be infectious.

What are the early warning signs of mumps?

The incubation stage for mumps can last 12-25 days and have no symptoms, explains Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. After that youll probably get the common signs of infection. See below for details.

What are the stages of mumps?

Mumps typically passes through several stages:

Incubation period: This has no symptoms and can last 12-25 days but typically is around 16-18. Youll be infectious for the last week of this.

Prodrome: These are the early signs which usually appear typically 3-5 days before the characteristic swelling of salivary glands or other areas develops. Symptoms can include:

Mild sniffles

Tiredness

Aches and pains

Loss of appetite

Dry mouth

Headache

Fever

Mild abdominal pain

Acute phase: This causes telltale swelling in the salivary glands which will occur in 30-40 per cent of people, usually lasting 7-10 days. Other areas that can show signs of infection and swelling include the testes, ovaries, pancreas, eyes, nervous system, joints and kidneys. This is the time when complications can occur, so its important to manage the symptoms.

Recovery: Symptoms gradually improve, though adults may feel a little more run down for a few weeks after, says Dr Gary Bartlett, a locum GP in North West England.

What causes it?

The mumps virus belongs to a family called paramyxoviruses that are a common source of infections in children  another in this family is measles. It starts in your nose, mouth and throat and then moves to glands at either side of your face causing them to swell. It can also enter the fluid that surrounds your brain and spine and thats how it can spread to other parts of the body (see below).

How serious is mumps?

Most mumps infections will pass within 1-2 weeks and wont be serious. But in rare cases serious complications can occur. These include:

Encephalitis: A risk in children with mumps is that they will go on to develop encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain, says Prof Hunter. This is potentially fatal, affects about one in 1,000 cases of mumps in children and requires hospitalisation immediately.

Viral meningitis: Another risk is the chance of developing viral meningitis, where the virus moves into the outer areas of the brain. It occurs in one in four cases of mumps and comes with symptoms like sensitivity to light, neck stiffness and headache. But unlike bacterial meningitis, its not usually considered life-threatening, though still important to report symptoms.

Inflamed testes: Viral infections like mumps are more severe when youre older. About half of males who contract mumps post-puberty will get inflammation of the testes, called orchitis which can be incredibly painful, says Prof Hunter. About half will get some shrinking of the testes, one in 10 will experience a drop in their sperm counts and in rare cases, infertility.

Inflamed ovaries: Mumps can also cause inflamed ovaries which leads to severe abdominal pain in women, says Prof Hunter. This affects about one in 15 women who get mumps post-puberty, but the symptoms usually pass with the infection.

Temporary deafness: The infection can affect your ears so you can get temporary deafness following mumps, says Prof Hunter. This occurs in about one in 25 cases and will only be permanent in about one in 20,000 cases.

Miscarriage: In the past it was thought mumps could cause miscarriage if it was contracted in the first trimester. There isnt much evidence to support this, but the NHS advises pregnant women to avoid close contact with people who have an active mumps infection and contact their GP if theyre been in contact with someone with the virus.

When to see a doctor

Though there is no treatment for mumps other than managing symptoms. Dr Bartlett encourages people to report to their doctors anyway. Mumps is a notifiable disease and any cases of suspected mumps have to be reported to public health as they may need to initiate specific follow up as well as manage any outbreaks, he says. Plus, your doctor can rule out other more serious conditions like glandular fever and tonsillitis.

Dr MacDermott says to let the surgery know before you go in so they can sit you in a separate room.

Red flag symptoms that need urgent care

Be aware of the red flags to report immediately as something more serious could be going on. These include:

Swelling on one side of the face only

Getting very drowsy

Severe abdominal pain or tenderness

Pain and swelling of the testicles

Vomiting

Sensitivity to light

Neck stiffness

Confusion

Trouble eating or drinking

A fever of 39C (103F) or higher

Yellowing of the whites of the eyes

Whos at risk of mumps and can it be prevented?

The biggest risk will be to those who havent been vaccinated, says Dr MacDermott. Living in crowded environments or being in close contact with infected people can also increase your risk. The only way to prevent mumps is to get vaccinated, Prof Hunter adds.

The MMR vaccine

The MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella) course is given first as a single dose given to 12 month old babies and then as a second dose to children just before starting school.

In the last five years, there has been a continued decline in uptake for the MMR vaccination. In 2022-23 for example, 89.3 per cent of children had received their first dose of the vaccine and 92.5 per cent of children received their second jab.

Current numbers are well below The World Health Organisations target of 95 per cent for herd immunity, says Prof Hunt.

For young adults who missed their MMRs as children, NHS England launched a catch-up campaign in March this year. All you have to do is turn up to your GP surgery and ask for an MMR vaccine, its that easy, says Dr Bartlett.

Treatment for mumps

Mumps can be very painful because of the inflammation it causes, whether its in the salivary glands, the testes, ovaries [causing back pain] or elsewhere in the body, says Prof Hunter. But theres no treatment except for the symptoms.

You can relieve symptoms with ibuprofen or paracetamol, rest, drinking plenty of fluids and applying hot and cold compresses to the swollen glands as well as eating soft foods like soups, scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes.

Can you get mumps twice?

Once you get mumps, you will have built up immunity, so its unlikely you will get it again. But reinfections can occur, though theyre probably very rarely that severe and may not even show symptoms, says Prof Hunter.

My face had ballooned and with the lower part of my face swollen and raw, my glands felt like they were about to burst

Emily Cleary, 45, is a journalist who lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and two children, aged nine and 11. She contracted mumps five years ago after a family holiday

When I was growing up the MMR vaccine wasnt available so I assumed Id had the mumps as a child, like the other kids at my school. But when I hit 40, it hit me like a tonne of bricks  I hadnt.

After a family holiday I got a terrible headache and neck pain. One morning a few days later, I woke up and barely recognised myself in the mirror. My face had ballooned and with the lower part of my face swollen and raw, my glands felt like they were about to burst.

The doctor confirmed I had mumps and told me to isolate myself, take pain relief and drink lots of fluids until it passes.

In the coming months, I experienced debilitating post-viral fatigue and would catch every bug going. Once I accidentally burned my hands with hot water and all my glands swelled up. Even going up stairs was a challenge. I now know the older you are, the worse mumps can be as your immune system loses its strength over time. It took a good seven months to get back to the level of health I had before I had the mumps.

Having mumps isnt always just a few days off work. Its debilitating and can come with potential complications. Plus, you could be spreading it without knowing [during the asymptomatic phase]. My message for everyone is this: get vaccinated.

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Male waiters will serve flutes of Champagne as women visitors sit on the lavatory, new plan suggests - MONA/JESSE HUNNIFORD

An Australian museum that was ordered by a court to admit men to its women-only exhibit plans to get around the ruling by turning it into a ladies lavatory.

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart, Tasmania was told by a court last month that it must allow men into the exhibit, called the Ladies Lounge, after a male visitor filed a complaint alleging gender discrimination.

The exhibit has been closed to the public ever since, with its female curators considering what action to take.

Now they are debating circumventing the court order by transforming the exhibit, which consists of a sleek cocktail lounge decorated with artworks by Picasso, Sir Sidney Nolan and other artists, into a womens lavatory.

Kirsha Kaechele, the artist and curator behind the exhibit, said: There is a fabulous toilet coming to the Ladies Lounge, and so in that sense, the Ladies Lounge will operate as a ladies room. Its a toilet that is celebrated the world round. It is the greatest toilet and men wont be allowed to see it.

The lavatory is currently on its way to the museum and will be installed in the next 45 days, she said.

The Museum of Old and New Art was ordered by a court to allow male access to the exhibit after a complaint was brought by a male patron

Male waiters will serve flutes of Champagne as women visitors sit on the lavatory, she suggested.

Why not? There is a real precedent for people imbibing in the toilet. People enjoy all kinds of substances in there. I once visited a colonial-era mansion in Manila that had two toilets, side by side, with a chessboard in the centre. So there is a real precedent for engaging in a variety of activities in the toilet.

Its installation will mean that curators can declare the exhibit a women-only space without falling foul of anti-discrimination laws.

Men will be allowed into the exhibit by special permission but only on Sundays  when they will be taught how to iron and fold clothes.

Women can bring in all their clean laundry and the men can go through a series of graceful movements (refined by tai chi masters) to fold them, she said.

The exhibition was open for four years and showed works by Picasso, and Sir Sidney Nolan - MONA/JESSE HUNNIFORD

The Ladies Lounge, which opened in 2020, was furnished with green silk drapes and elegant divans.

It took the concept of an old-fashioned Australian pub  a blokey, chauvinistic environment from which women were largely excluded until the 1960s  and turned it on its head, reversing themes of entitlement and gender discrimination.

Along with installing a toilet in the exhibit in an attempt to preserve it as a female-only domain, the curators launched an appeal on Tuesday to challenge the courts ruling.

They argue that it took too narrow a view on womens historical and ongoing societal disadvantage.

The court handed down its ruling in April after a sex discrimination complaint was filed by a male visitor from New South Wales.

Jason Lau argued that the museum had violated Tasmanias anti-discrimination laws by failing to provide a fair provision of goods and services in line with the law to him and other men.

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A law that bars confidentiality agreements in cases involving harassment, retaliation, discrimination applies to non-disparagement agreements, the court ruled. (Amanda Brown for New Jersey Monitor)

A state ban on non-disclosure agreements in cases involving harassment, retaliation, or discrimination can extend to non-disparagement agreements, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The high courts unanimous decision hands a win to former Neptune Township police sergeant Christine Savage, who entered into a non-disparagement agreement when settling workplace claims against the towns police department. Neptune moved to enforce the agreement when she later told NBC New York the department remained a good old boys club.

Survivors of discrimination, retaliation, and harassment now have a legal right to tell their story  a right that cannot be taken away from them by a settlement agreement, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote in Tuesdays ruling.

Savages lawyer, Donald F. Burke Jr., said the ruling affirms the rights of victims of discrimination to speak out.

Silencing victims has long been a method of perpetuating discrimination. The Legislature recognized this when it amended the Law Against Discrimination to prohibit non-disclosure agreements. The Supreme Court rejected the argument that there is a difference between a non-disparagement clause and a non-disclosure clause when they both can be used to silence victims. The Supreme Court once again has affirmed its commitment to combating discrimination in New Jersey, he said.

At the root of the case are 2019 amendments to New Jerseys Law Against Discrimination that declare settlement agreements unenforceable if their purpose or effect is concealing the details relating to a claim of discrimination, retaliation, or harassment.

Savage argued those amendments applied to her agreement with Neptune. A trial court ruled against her, saying that provision did not extend to Savages non-disparagement agreement because the statute refers specifically to non-disclosure agreements. That judge ordered the former sergeant to remain silent.

An appellate panel agreed the statute did not extend to non-disparagement agreements but voided the gag order imposed by the lower court, finding Savages statements about the departments past conduct were not barred by the agreement.

The Supreme Court took a different tack, ruling the discrimination laws prohibition does indeed apply to non-disparagement agreements. The reference to non-disclosure agreements that lower courts relied on was just shorthand for settlements that conceal details of a discrimination, harassment, or retaliation claim, the justices found.

The phrase plainly draws its meaning from the words it refers back to  not from outside sources like Blacks Law Dictionary, Rabner wrote, referring to the reference the Appellate Court relied on for its decision.

The courts opinion notes that the statute does not bar non-disparagement agreements in all circumstances. They could still be used to prevent disparagement unrelated to a discrimination, retaliation, or harassment, and such an agreement could bar a worker from calling their boss a lush or a tax cheat, for example.

In the eyes of the prime sponsor of the 2019 amendments, the courts ruling falls in line with legislators intent.

I am delighted that we have a Supreme Court who understood the legislative intent and, most important, understood whats needed to protect the freedom of all of our citizens, said former Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), the sponsor.

The post N.J. high court sides with former cop in towns disparagement claim appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.
N.Y.C. Mayor Eric Adams Says Rikers Island Will 'Be Ready' if Donald Trump Gets Jail Time over Gag Order

Trump was recently fined for repeatedly violating a gag order that forbade him from publicly discussing witnesses and jurors in his hush money trial. The judge warned incarceration is next if he continues

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Bloomberg via Getty Donald Trump at a Manhattan court room

If Donald Trump is held in contempt of court again, the New York City Department of Corrections will "be ready" for his incarceration, according to Mayor Eric Adams.

In the former president's Manhattan criminal trial, Judge Juan Merchan has ordered Trump to pay a total of $10,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that forbade him from publicly discussing witnesses and jurors in the case.



Following Tuesday's bombshell testimony from former adult film actress Stormy Daniels, some have questioned whether Trump, 77, might violate the order yet again and receive jail time as a result.

Related: Donald Trump Learns Punishment for Repeatedly Violating Gag Order in Manhattan Criminal Trial

Andrew Burton/Getty New York City Mayor Eric Adams

Asked about the possibility of the former president's incarceration if he violates the gag order again, Adams, 63, told reporters that New York corrections officers are "professionals, adding: Theyll be ready," according to NBC News reporter Katherine Doyle.



Trump's Secret Service detail has also reportedly been preparing for the possibility of the former president being put into jail. CBS News reports that Secret Service officers would most likely rotate on to a detail with Trump in an isolated cell, where they would screen his food and personal items.

Related: Adult Film Star Stormy Daniels Testifies That Donald Trump Told Her She Reminded Him of 'His Daughter'

The fear that Trump may violate the gag order an 11th time comes after bombshell testimony from Daniels, who spoke under oath on Tuesday, May 7, about an alleged affair she had with the reality television star in 2006.

Elizabeth Williams via AP A courtroom sketch of Stormy Daniels testifying in Donald Trump's Manhattan criminal trial on May 7, 2024

The former adult film actress, 45, took the stand in Manhattan as part of Trump's trial on 34 felony counts of falsified business records, which come with a broader implication of election interference based on alleged attempts to suppress information from the voting public.

In her testimony, Daniels claimed that Trump did not wear a condom when the two allegedly had sex, and that he said, "Oh it was great, lets get together again honey bunch" when it was over.

Related: Adult Film Star Stormy Daniels Testifies That Donald Trump Told Her She Reminded Him of 'His Daughter'

Prior to Daniels' testimony, Trump took to social media to lambast the decision to allow a witness to testify, though he did not name Daniels specifically.

Writing on Truth Social that he had just recently been told who the witness is today," Trump added: This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare."

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Trump also attacked the judge overseeing the trial, writing: "No Judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way. He is CROOKED & HIGHLY CONFLICTED, even taking away my First Amendment Rights. Now hes threatening me with JAIL & THEY HAVE NO CASE -This according to virtually all Legal Scholars & Experts! Why isnt the Fake News Media reporting his Conflict?

The former president deleted the post minutes later.

WIN MCNAMEE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Donald Trump sits in the Manhattan criminal court on May 7, 2024

Since the trial began, Trump has attacked Michael Cohen  his former personal attorney, who is expected to be a witness in the trial  and posted about the jury on Truth Social.



On Tuesday, April 30, Judge Merchan ultimately found Trump to be in contempt of the Manhattan criminal court for violating the order, ordering him to pay $9,000 in fines ($1,000 for each violation) and warning him that he would receive an "incarceratory punishment" for future violations.



On Monday, May 6, Merchan found Trump in violation of the gag order for a 10th time, fining him $1,000 and again threatening jail time.

Mr. Trump, its important you understand, the last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan said in court, per CNN. "You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well."

The magnitude of this decision is not lost on me but at the end of the day I have a job to do, he added. So as much as I dont want to impose a jail sanction  I want you to understand that I will if necessary and appropriate.

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Read the original article on People.
2 Osceola County schools placed on lockdowns while deputies search for wanted person

Two schools were placed under lockdowns Tuesday afternoon while deputies searched for a wanted person near the campuses, the Osceola County Sheriffs Office said.

The Sheriffs Office said Narcoossee Elementary and Narcoossee Middle schools were placed under yellow status lockdowns out of an abundance of caution.

The agency said the person has an active arrest warrant.

Read: 2 New Smyrna Beach schools placed on lockdown after reports of a gun possibly being on campus

The suspect is wanted for a non-violent crime, and there is no active danger or threat in the area, the agency said. The presence of law enforcement is simply to locate the individual suspect.

Earlier Tuesday, two schools were placed on lockdowns in New Smyrna Beach. Click here to read more about that.

Another school in Orange County was also placed on a lockdown, but that scene has since been cleared. Click here to read more about that.

Read: Deputies investigate possible threat at Oak Ridge High School

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.

Public Update Regarding Law Enforcement Presence Around Narcoossee Schools

Law enforcement is currently looking for a suspect with an active warrant in the area surrounding Narcoossee Middle School. pic.twitter.com/KEZnKNHvmy  Osceola County Sheriff's Office (@OsceolaSheriff) May 7, 2024
NASA Starliner launch with Tennessee astronaut Barry Wilmore delayed. What we know

The scheduled launch of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft with Middle Tennessee native and astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore on Monday was delayed because of a technical problem, officials reported.

The launch was scrubbed about two hours before liftoff because workers saw a faulty oxygen relief valve, according to NASA.

NASA announced Wednesday that a launch would now take place no earlier than May 17 after they previously said a new launch date would happen no earlier than Friday, May 10, "pending resolution of the technical issue."

United Launch Alliance has decided to replace a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank after a data review on Tuesday, according to NASA.

Wilmore, a Mt. Juliet High School and Tennessee Tech University graduate, and Suni Williams are the astronauts NASA plans to deploy as the first human crew aboard the Boeing Starliner, which plans to visit the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Barry Butch Wilmore emerge from the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 31, 2024, as part of an integrated crew exercise simulation for NASAs Boeing Crew Flight Test.

Barry Wilmore spoke with his brother, Jack, after the launch was scrubbed, according to their father Eugene Wilmore, who now lives in Hermitage.

"Barry is still upbeat," Eugene Wilmore said. "That is just the way he is.

"He knows that all has to be at perfection before any launch."

The flight test that caught the faulty valve is designed to help NASA determine whether the Starliner system is ready to fly regular crew rotation missions to the space station.

This particular Starliner launch has encountered past delays with technical complications. But, the spacecraft has made trips to the International Space Station without astronauts.

I did talk to the crew right before we came over here, Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeing's Commercial Crew Program, said at a news conference after the launch was scrubbed. They are in good spirits; they totally understand these kind of situations  Its not a majority of the things, everything has to go right before we launch.

NASAs Commercial Crew Program contracted with Boeing to have a spacecraft system able to travel to the space station, in part so NASA would have a second option if one isnt operational.

SpaceX is also under contract with the Commercial Crew Program and has performed crew rotation missions to the space station since 2019 with its Dragon capsule.

Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASA, Boeing launch with Tennessee astronaut Barry Wilmore delayed
NATO has said that Russia's nuclear rhetoric is reckless and dangerous in reaction to Russia's declaration of tactical nuclear weapons drills.

Source: NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah in a comment to RMF FM, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The spokeswoman noted that "NATO remains vigilant", and Russia's nuclear rhetoric is dangerous and irresponsible.

Quote: "Our collective deterrence and defence will continue to protect every inch of Alliance territory," Dakhlallah said.

She noted separately that "Ukraine has the right to self-defence enshrined in the UN Charter, and NATO allies will continue to support this right."

However, "Russia started this illegal war and must end it," the spokeswoman said.

The Ministry of Defence of Russia announced on 6 May that it would "soon" conduct exercises involving the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons on the orders of Russian ruler Vladimir Putin.

This concerns exercises with missile formations of the Southern Military District with the involvement of aviation, as well as the Russian Navy.

The EU called the plans for the exercises a continuation of Russias irresponsible behaviour.

Despite Russia's plans to undertake drills with non-strategic nuclear weapons, the US State Department found no signs of their possible use in Ukraine.

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By Mark Trevelyan

LONDON (Reuters) - Exiled Russian opposition leader Yulia Navalnaya urged supporters on Tuesday to keep up the fight against President Vladimir Putin, describing him on the day of his re-inauguration as a murderous tyrant.

"Our country is currently being led by a liar, a thief and a murderer, but this will definitely come to an end. Don't give up, truth will prevail," Navalnaya said in a video published on YouTube shortly before the Kremlin ceremony in which Putin took the oath of office for a new six-year term.

Based outside Russia, Navalnaya has vowed to continue the work of her late husband Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16. She has accused Putin of having him killed, an accusation the Kremlin denies.

Navalnaya said Putin's war in Ukraine and his jailing of political opponents had made a mockery of his promises at past inaugurations to deliver peace and prosperity to Russia and protect the rights and freedoms of its people.

"Huge sums of money are stolen from all of us every day to fund bombings of peaceful cities, riot police beating people with batons, propagandists spreading lies. And also for (the elite's) own palaces, yachts and private jets," she said.

"And as long as this continues, we can't stop the fight."

Putin won a huge landslide in a tightly controlled election in March. The Kremlin said the vote demonstrated that Russians are overwhelmingly united behind him, and portrays Navalnaya and supporters of her late husband as Western-backed extremists bent on trying to destabilise the country.

With Navalny dead and other leading Kremlin critics in prison or exile, opposition inside Russia has been effectively crushed. Navalnaya acknowledged the struggle was hard, but urged people to unite in opposition to corruption and against the war.

"With each of his terms, everything only gets worse, and its' frightening to imagine what else will happen while Putin remains in power," she said.

"With him at the helm, our country will have neither peace, nor development, nor freedom... We must ensure that no one in the world believes Putin - neither in Russia nor beyond its borders."

(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
a demonsytrator holds a sign reading "stop terrorizing immigrant families"

Advocates call for better treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers during a rally in Raleigh. (File photo: Clayton Henkel)

According to the best estimates, about 10 to 11 million immigrants are living in the United States without full legal authorization. Interestingly and coincidentally, thats right around the number of people who reside in North Carolina. Its about 3% of the total national population. Analysts think the same basic ratio applies here  with somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 unauthorized immigrants calling North Carolina home.

The driving forces behind this situation are numerous: poverty and oppression abroad, climate change, economic opportunity, the failure of politicians in Washington to enact immigration reforms that would provide realistic paths to legal residency and citizenship. But one simple and undeniable truth made plain by these huge numbers is that there is no way the U.S. is going solve its immigration problem through deportation.

Even some sort of unimaginably draconian and un-American mass roundup of the kind associated with totalitarian regimes and nations that practice ethnic cleansing could not and is not going to forcibly deport 10 million people  or even a million for that matter. There are some cruel people active in American politics these days, but the notion that the U.S. is somehow capable of launching a 21st-century version of the Trail of Tears  the brutal forced displacement of Native Americans perpetrated by Donald Trumps favorite president, Andrew Jackson  defies common sense.

Such a scenario is rendered even more fanciful by the fact that a large proportion of unauthorized immigrants have lived in the U.S. for many years as hard-working taxpayers who are essential contributors to the economy. According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, for instance, immigrants  both authorized and unauthorized (a mix thats seen in countless families)  make up more than 10% of the North Carolina workforce and nearly a third of workers in the construction sector.

Unfortunately, facts and common sense are often cast aside when politicians look to stoke and capitalize on voter fears and their baser instincts, and this is clearly whats happening right now at the North Carolina General Assembly when it comes to dealing with our states immigrant population.

At issue is House Bill 10  a bill advanced by Republican legislators that would force local sheriffs to hold people they arrest for other offenses at the request of federal immigration agents.

As with so much of the tough talk heard from the political right on immigration policy, the proposal is based on the premise that deportation and tougher enforcement of immigration laws will make American communities safer. Getting local law enforcement to aid this effort, goes the argument, will provide a swift path for deporting local immigrants who run afoul of criminal statutes.

Like so many simplistic, one-size-fits-all policies, however, the bill fails to consider other practical matters that many local law enforcement agencies have learned the hard way.

Topping the list is the fear factor.

According to many law enforcement leaders who work with and fight crime in immigrant communities, the fastest way to promote a debilitating lack of cooperation from residents is to instill fear that immigration enforcement officers are present and ready to pounce.

And so it is here in North Carolina with a number of county sheriffs. They dont resist automatically holding and turning over someone they may have apprehended for a minor offense to immigration control because theyre bleeding-heart softies; they hesitate because they have learned through years of experience that they have much more success in fighting crime when local residents arent afraid to call for help.

On the other hand, when residents fear that any interaction with law enforcement is likely to lead to deportation  even for people with minor offenses or none at all  community cooperation plummets.

After all, would you invite local law enforcement officers into your home to investigate a break-in or car theft if you knew that by doing so you were putting an unauthorized immigrant friend or family member at risk of deportation?

Now add to this the concerns voiced by immigrant advocates that putting local law enforcement officials in the immigration enforcement business: a) invites racial profiling, and b) is sure to break up families and leave many destitute  and the bill quickly becomes that much more problematic.

As Gov. Roy Cooper rightfully observed in vetoing a similar bill two years ago, such a proposal is only about scoring political points and using fear to divide North Carolinians.

None of this, of course, is to say that local law enforcement officials shouldnt enforce criminal statutes or that unauthorized immigrants who commit serious offenses shouldnt face the possibility of deportation  though its worth noting that in some cases, crime victims may actually feel safer if offenders are imprisoned in the U.S., rather than simply turned loose across the border.

What it is to say, however, is that the solution to our state and national immigration problems lies in crafting real and systemic reforms that bring millions of good people out of the shadows, not in intimidating them with cynical, superficial and politically motivated proposals.

The post NC lawmakers elevate cynical politics over common sense with immigration bill appeared first on NC Newsline.
For the second golden decade of cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China and Hungary will continue to enhance high-quality cooperation and synergy between the BRI and Hungary's Opening to the East policy, said Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Gong Tao.
NC military base warns of live rocket fire training this weekend; explosions could be heard at coast

HUBERT, N.C. (WNCN)  A U.S. Marine Corps base at the North Carolina coast will be firing live rockets this weekend for upcoming deployment training, officials said.

Officials at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune issued an alert Tuesday about noise impacts on the surrounding Onslow County areas created by live fire training on Sunday.

A detailed report on Sundays training includes rocket fire and mortar fire starting at 8 a.m. to just before midnight. Less than two weeks ago, Marines on Camp Lejeune trained with live fire using the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

Camp Lejune officials say training can be heard by nearby residents as loud artillery, low-flying aircraft, weapons or demolition noise.

The impact area this weekend is located east of the Neuse River and east of N.C. 172/Sneads Ferry Road on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

U.S. Marines with 10th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, fire a reduced range practice rocket from a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System during Exercise Rolling Thunder 22-2 on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, April. 4, 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Megan Ozaki)

A unit preparing for deployment will be executing live fire training to support completion of pre-deployment training, the alert from Camp Lejeune officials said.

The live fire warning is for the G-10 impact area and is about two miles from Onslow Beach. The G-10 impact area is for air-to-ground weapons and ground-based weapons.

The G-10 impact area can be used for indirect artillery firings, infantry weapons, certain air-delivered ordnance, and laser operations.

The G-10 impact area near the top of the map.

Both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft are authorized to train in the G-10 Impact Area, a Camp LeJeune report in 2014 said.

Officials said the live-fire training will impact quiet hours on Sunday.

This training is crucial to ensure the unit is fully prepared to meet its upcoming commitments overseas, the news release said.

Other live-fire training this week in the same area will not affect quiet hours, but includes naval gunfire, fighter aircraft bombs along with artillery fire, rocket fire and mortar fire, officials said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS17.com.
Nearly half of the 50 North Korean ballistic missiles Russia launched on Ukraine exploded in mid-air

Andrii Kostin, Head of the Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine, has stated that almost half of the North Korean missiles that Russia launched on Ukraine during winter 2024 did not reach their target because they exploded in mid-air.

Source: response by the Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine to a request from Reuters

Details: Ukraine has inspected the debris of 21 of the nearly 50 missiles.

The percentage of North Korean weapons that failed proved to be high.

Quote from Kostin: "About half of the North Korean missiles lost their programmed trajectories and exploded in the air; in such cases the debris was not recovered."

Details: Kostin also told Reuters that the prosecutors would continue their investigations into the use of these missiles. In addition, the Prosecutor Generals Office is still clarifying whether Pyongyang sent instructors to observe the ballistic missiles being launched by the Russians.

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Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) on Tuesday filed a resolution to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) after she suggested some Jewish students are pro-genocide.

Bacon said he does not plan to make his resolution privileged, which means the House will not immediately vote on the measure. He said he will work with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and GOP leadership on timing.

But the mere introduction of the legislation marks a sharp rebuke of Omar, who has found herself in hot water with Republicans in the past.

Its unacceptable to say, calling Jewish Americans that are Americans, calling them pro-genocide, Bacon told reporters Tuesday. Its just unacceptable. So I want to take a bold stand.

The Hill reached out to Omar for comment.

Omar  one of three Muslim lawmakers in Congress  drew criticism last month when, while speaking to pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University, she said Jewish students are either pro-genocide or anti-genocide.

I think it is really unfortunate that people dont care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe, and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide, she said when asked about antisemitism on campus.

Omars comments were met with widespread condemnation. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said Omar was encouraging violence against Jewish students when embracing pro-terrorists extremists, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (Calif.) said its not the language I would use when asked about her comments, and the head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said the remarks were abhorrent.

It is abhorrent that a sitting member of Congress would slander an entire group of young people in such a cold, calculated manner. This is how people get killed, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on the social platform X.

The comments came amid explosive pro-Palestine protests on Columbias Manhattan campus and at other universities nationwide, which have pitted Republicans against Democrats  and centrist Democrats against progressives.

A group of Jewish House Democrats, for example, visited Columbia University to speak with Jewish students, while Omar and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) met with the protesters.

The outcry over Omars comments last month marks the latest instance of her finding herself at odds with her GOP colleagues.

Emmer called for a House Ethics Committee investigation into Omar in January over a disputed translation of her remarks about Somalia and Somaliland, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) moved to force a vote on a resolution to censure her for those remarks. That measure, however, never hit the floor for a vote.

Last year, House Republicans voted to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee for making comments that lawmakers had deemed antisemitic.

Updated at 12:06 p.m. EDT

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)  Fallen limbs, damaged wood, and memories are what sit behind a fence in Lansing more than 9 months after a tree crushed a home and killed an 84-year-old woman.

6 News reported back in August, that a fallen tree caused a home on the 1600 block of Martin Street to collapse on itself. The incident killed Vernita Payne.

Now, more than 9 months later, people who live next to the rubble are hoping things get cleared up before someone else gets hurt.

Neighbors say they worry the remains of a home destroyed in last Augusts devastating storms could hurt someone. (WLNS)

We feel for the family that they have to come into the neighborhood and see this all the time, Maria Castillo said, who lives across the street from the destroyed house. Theyre still going through a lot.

Last year, Payne was in her upstairs bedroom when the storm caused a tree to fall directly on top of her where she died from her injuries.

Ever since neighbors like Castillo have been warning people not to go near the property in fear of someone else getting hurt.

We have had, like I said, not only myself but other neighbors, have told kids to get out of there. And thats kids that are not from this neighborhood. Weve had to tell them You have to get out of there because something can happen.,' the neighbor added.

One family member showed up in the yard, looking at what used to be filled with memories. They did not want to speak on camera but added that theyre in talks with the insurance company and are trying to get things cleared away.

Castillo said she hopes its sooner than later and easy for the family.

They want it cleaned up too. You know, its sad memories for them and for the neighborhood here too. Especially the ones that knew her really well. Its sad for us too, she said.

6 News reached out to Lansing officials for a comment on where things stand, and was provided a statement from a city spokesperson:

The City of Lansing agrees that this home needs to be removed and is going through all the motions available under the law. The home was red-tagged after the storm, and under City Ordinance, requires 180 days before it can be referred to the Demolition Board. That has happened and this process is moving forward.

As we know, a terrible accident happened here that claimed the life of the previous owner. The family has been working through the court system to establish legal ownership of the property. That has been settled and we have been in contact with the owner. He fully understands the concerns of the City, the neighbors, and his family and is working to find funding for the removal.

In the meantime, on Friday, May 3rd, our Building Official did another inspection and confirmed the same findings from August 2023. The house does not meet the Michigan Rehabilitation Code criterion as an imminent danger requiring city intervention.

In place of that, the Demolition Board process remains in process. Should the owner not remedy the situation, the board may vote this out to the City Council. From there, the Council is the only authority that can vote to have the property made safe or demolished and the owner is held responsible for all costs.

We remain hopeful that the owner can work to obtain the necessary funding and get the home removed before it goes back before the Demolition board or City Council.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WLNS 6 News.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinian militant organization Hamas was trying to torpedo the Israeli offensive in Rafah by agreeing to a new proposal in ceasefire negotiations.

"This did not happen," Netanyahu said in a video message posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday evening.

He said military pressure on Hamas was already a prerequisite for the return of Israeli hostages during the last agreement, made in November.

Hamas' recent offer was a far cry from Israel's necessary requirements, he said, noting these include guaranteeing the security of his country.

Netanyahu added that he had instructed the Israeli negotiating team in Cairo to adhere to Israel's conditions.

In Egypt, Israel and Hamas are negotiating indirectly over a ceasefire to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners.

Qatar, Egypt and the United States are acting as mediators. On Monday evening, Hamas agreed to a negotiation proposal for a ceasefire.

In the evening, Israeli soldiers advanced into part of Rafah and also took over the border crossing on the Palestinian side.

Netanyahu said the Rafah operation aims to free the hostages and destroy Hamas. He called capturing the border crossing a "very important step" on the way.
Newborn red wolves bring hope to species with only 20 in the wild. See them cuddle

Only about 20 red wolves remained in the wild after the species suffered a tragic loss  then a litter was born.

Red wolves have been called the worlds most endangered wolf after the species disappeared from its range in the eastern and central U.S. and was declared extinct in the wild in 1980, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In recent years, a restoration program in eastern North Carolina has encouraged the wolf population to return to the wild, albeit in small numbers, the News & Observer reported.

Now, approximately 260 wolves are being raised in captivity, and 18-20 live in the wild, according to the most recent estimates.

The Red Wolf Recovery Program made history as the first effort to reintroduce a large carnivore that had been declared extinct in the wild in the U.S.

Eight red wolf pups, less than 2 weeks old, were discovered cuddling in their den April 18, according to officials with the recovery program.

The wolf population rose dramatically for a while, reaching a peak of 120 in 2012, before the species declined again, largely due to wolves being shot or hit by cars, officials said.

The species faces considerable threats from humans, and wildlife experts said no litters were born in the wild from 2019 to 2021.

Then, in September 2023, the species faced another setback when the breeding male in the population was killed in a suspected vehicle strike, officials with the Red Wolf Recovery Program said.

Conservationists had to think fast as breeding season approached.

They took a male wolf born in captivity in Washington and brought him to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina, where he was acclimated in a pen before he was released into the refuge in January for the mating window.

Their bold attempt paid off, and the female who had birthed the last two litters took a liking to him, conservationists said in a May 3 news release.

Close monitoring throughout the winter and early spring began to raise hopes that this somewhat of a long-shot new pairing was looking more and more like it was going to be successful, officials said.

Then, on April 18, their hopes were confirmed.

One peek inside the wild den revealed just how successful it was as we counted out 8 small, content Red Wolf pups all cuddled together in a ball, conservationists said.

The pups appeared to be about 9 days old, with their eyes still shut. Experts said they moved in quickly to evaluate the pups, microchip them and swab their cheeks for genetic tests.

The third litter born in three years, following the death of the breeding male and several years without a litter, is key to the species recovery, wildlife experts said.

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge is on a peninsula near the Outer Banks, about a 185-mile drive east from Raleigh.

Endangered red wolves can only be found in NC. Here are 7 things to know about them.

Can a lone wolf affect the environment? Red wolf researchers have surprising data.

Golden predator  the source of legends  caught on trail cam in Thailand. See it

Heres a timeline of milestones in the attempted recovery of the red wolf in NC
Donald Trumps valet told investigators before the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in 2022 that he randomly chose boxes of documents to return to the National Archives and Trump himself directed that dozens more boxes located at the resort wouldnt be returned, according to recently unsealed court filings.

The filings reviewed by CNN shed new light on the critical role that Walt Nauta, now Trumps co-defendant in the classified documents case, played in giving the FBI justification to execute the search warrant on the former presidents Florida resort.

Nauta testified to a grand jury two months before the August 2022 search about boxes he took from Mar-a-Lagos storage room in January 2022.

When one grand juror asked Nauta if he would just pick some off the top, Nauta said yes, according to a newly unsealed transcript and unredacted FBI search warrant affidavit.

At one point in the process of choosing boxes for Trump to review before returning them to the Archives, Nauta said that Trump was like, okay, thats it.

Nautas account was corroborated by a second witness, whose identity is not publicly known. Both said that Trump gave the direction not to give the National Archives any more boxes.

The recently unsealed filings show that investigators spoke to dozens of witnesses and obtained information about the inner workings at Mar-a-Lago and Trumps White House that were not included in the initial charging documents against Trump and Nauta but could be used at trial. In particular, the filings add to the picture around how the FBI knew there were additional boxes at Trumps club that likely contained classified records.

Trump has been charged by special counsel Jack Smith with criminal mishandling of national security records and attempting to obstruct justice after the federal government subpoenaed their return. Nauta and another co-defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, were indicted as co-conspirators to obstructing justice. All three have pleaded not guilty. A trial date has not yet been set.

Nauta grand jury testimony could be used at trial against Trump

The newly unredacted Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit and Nautas grand jury testimony were included in court filings as part of several challenges Trump and Nauta are making against Smiths case.

Nauta, who eventually stopped cooperating with the special counsel, is now claiming he was selectively and vindictively prosecuted because he refused to return to the grand jury for another round of testimony unless certain conditions were met, according to court pleadings he has made in the case that the judge is still considering.

Nautas attorney declined to comment for this story. Trumps attorneys, some of whom are currently defending him in the ongoing Manhattan criminal trial related to hush money payments, also did not offer comment.

Nautas grand jury testimony could become a notable part of an eventual trial against Trump. Even if Nauta refuses to testify, prosecutors could seek to use his grand jury statements about Trump in their presentation to a jury.

The criminal investigation into the mishandling of classified information began after the Archives reviewed the initial 15 boxes it retrieved from Mar-a-Lago and was alarmed by the sensitive government records that Archives officials found in them.

Trumps attorneys responded to a subpoena for all documents bearing classified markings at the resort by handing over an envelope of materials in June 2022. At the time, one of his lawyers signed a statement asserting that a diligent search had been done of the boxes to locate all such documents.

In the affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago search weeks later, investigators pointed to what Justice Department and FBI officials observed at the resort when they picked up the in addition to the statements from Nauta and another witness, to explain how they concluded there were far more boxes of sensitive Trump White House records than the 15 that had been picked up by the National Archives.

The witnesses statements, the FBI told the court at the time, indicated that boxes of records were haphazardly chosen to return to the National Archives and that Trump himself directed that dozens more boxes wouldnt be returned.

Nauta was referred to as Witness 5 in the warrant but can be identified by comparing the affidavit to the transcript from his June 2022 grand jury appearance that was unsealed in recent days, as well as to other details that have come out in the criminal proceedings.

In the affidavit, the FBI said that Nauta and others had collected the fifteen boxes from the storage room to the entryway of FPOTUS personal residential suite at Mar-a-Lago so Trump could personally review them. (FPOTUS refers to former President the United States.)

Even though there were far more FPOTUS boxes than the fifteen boxes, FPOTUS did not review the remainder of the FPOTUS boxes before the NARA pickup, the FBI agent wrote to the court to justify the search.

According to the affidavit, the Justice Department sought from the Trump Organization Mar-a-Lagos surveillance footage in the immediate days after Nautas grand jury testimony. The footage captured Nauta moving boxes around the resort in the days before and after a Trump attorney was set to review the boxes for classified material that had been subpoenaed in the investigation.

The FBI told the court that its review of the footage showed that Witness 5 had moved more than 60 boxes from Mar-a-Lagos storage room but only returned less than half of them, before the attorneys review of the boxes in that room.

Nauta seeking to throw out evidence from phone and email accounts

After Nauta gave the grand jury testimony, the Trump aide replaced his initial attorney with one provided to him through Trump-world.

That new attorney, Stanley Woodward, rebuffed a demand from prosecutors that Nauta return to the grand jury for more testimony because prosecutors refused to offer Nauta the ability to testify under conditions that would protect him from charges, according to the court record.

In a separate set of filings made public in the Florida federal court case, Nauta also is asking US District Judge Aileen Cannon to throw out evidence that prosecutors obtained in searches of his phone and email accounts. He claims that the FBI mischaracterized in warrant affidavits his statements to the grand jury in order to assert that he had lied in the investigation.

Nauta also claims that the subpoena was invalid and that he had no knowledge at the time that his movement of the boxes had any link to the subpoenas demands.

The special counsels office said in a court filing that Nautas pushback to the affidavits is implausible.

Federal prosecutors advised a judge in writing last week they would continue to make public updated versions of the Mar-a-Lago search documentation as they make more disclosures in the criminal case.

CNNs Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.

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This monumental legal shift could change everything  for the better.

Cynthia Glassell Cannescape resident chef and Chopped 4/20 champion Solomon Johnson

After the first adult-use cannabis sale in the U.S. 10 years ago  and just 10 days after annual 4/20 celebrations across the country  comes the biggest news in marijuana policy to date. On April 30, the Biden administration recommended easing federal restrictions on cannabis by lowering it to a Schedule III substance as classified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Since 1971, cannabis has been categorized as a Schedule I drug, which is defined by the government as a drug with no accepted medical use and high potential for abuse in the same category as LSD, methamphetamines, and heroin. Its mind-bending to comprehend, considering millions of citizens have had legal access to the plant state-by-state for over a decade.



Related: Cannabis Infused Drinks Are on the Rise, Here Are 4 POC-Owned Brands to Try

Today, 38 states have laws that allow for medical cannabis use; while 24 states allow for all use. And according to a recent Pew Research poll, 60% of Americans believe it should be fully legalized. A change to Schedule III would dramatically shift the way cannabis is perceived and used  endorsing its medicinal value and putting it next to widely accepted pharmaceuticals such as steroids, testosterone, and Tylenol with codeine.



While rescheduling signals progress, cannabis reclassification is unprecedented and is just the start of what experts estimate as a long road until the DEA formally makes a move. (A public comment period and Congress considering its own bills add to the complexity.)

Related: 9 Cannabis Recipes to Try at Home

Theres no reason for DEA to delay, FDA commissioner Robert Califf said at a hearing last month. Without revealing too much about my age, Im a child of the sixties, so itd be nice if, in my lifetime, we came up with a regulatory scheme where  whatever your belief is about use of the product  the safety issues that you refer to are written into law.









"For our business, we will be able to deduct basic expenses such as wages, rent, and marketing on our federal tax return. All other businesses operate this way, but we currently cant."

Arana Hankin-Biggers, President at The Travel Agency







Many industry advocates argue that its not enough, and that the complete deregulation of cannabis is the real end goal. Rescheduling marijuana is not a policy solution for federal marijuana criminalization or its harms, and it wont address the disproportionate impact that it has had on Black and Brown communities, said Cat Packer, director of drug markets and legal regulation at the Drug Policy Alliance, a non-profit organization thats been advocating for marijuana legalization. Its also a necessary first step for a billion-dollar business opportunity  and an overall win, which will open the door wider for cultural acceptance, funding, studies, research, tax breaks, and banking access.

For now, heres an easy-to-digest dose of reactions from the cannabis industrys top chefs, biggest brands, and successful storefronts on what it all might mean for the future of weed in the world of food and wine.



5 Culinary Cannabis Leaders on Marijuana Rescheduling

Jake Bullock, CEO at Cann

We expect it to accelerate the regulation of infused beverages. Over time, we hope for the full normalization of infused drinks and a regulatory framework that allows the lowest potency drinks to be sold alongside alcohol (versus dispensaries-only) where they can have the biggest positive impact on wellness. Expanding access to low-potency THC drinks is imperative. Young folks continue to drink less alcohol than generations before them. Young parents hate waking up early with headaches. For empty nesters, every night is Friday night, and drinking alcohol each night of the week is shortening their health span. Cann is changing how we socialize and how we stay healthy.

Cann Social Tonics Jake Bullock cofounded Cann, a low-dose, THC-infused beverage company, with Luke Anderson while they were both consultants at Bain & Co.

Kristi Palmer, Co-Founder and President at Kiva Confections

We started back in 2010 in our home kitchen in California when the cannabis industry was just barely regulated and today, we sell infused edibles legally in 36 U.S. markets. Weve seen many regulatory changes  some helped us move forward, and others backward  but none have been as significant as this announcement. This opens up more investments, both in companies and in much-needed scientific research, which will hopefully take cannabis edibles to the next level. The category has been dominated by gummies, and while itll always be a strong format, there are many more possibilities that have been challenging to develop due to lack of funds. I hope well see more infused drinks and foods available in restaurants and mainstream stores, more cannabis sommeliers to help guide new consumers, and an increase in chef training to create incredible cannabis culinary experiences.

Anda Chu / MediaNews Group / Bay Area News Group / Getty Images Kristi Palmer cofounded Kiva Confections with her husband Scott, crafting their first products out of their home kitchen.

Arana Hankin-Biggers, President at The Travel Agency

Rescheduling will finally allow a loosening of regulations and make it easier for entrepreneurs to succeed. But this doesnt impact our strategy in any way. We will continue to work toward providing the best shopping experience through superior design, quality products, and the most knowledgeable budtenders in New York. For our business, we will be able to deduct basic expenses such as wages, rent, and marketing on our federal tax return. All other businesses operate this way, but we currently cant. For our nonprofit partner, The Doe Fund, this will mean more funding for programming that supports the homeless and formerly incarcerated with shelter, job training, and employment.

THE TRAVEL AGENCY Arana Hankin-Biggers cofounded New York-based Travel Agency, a cannabis dispensary that supports BIPOC-owned cannabis brands.

Chef Chris Sayegh, Founder of The Herbal Chef

The Herbal Chef is one of  if not the largestcannabis hospitality groups in the world. This will allow businesses like mine and cannabis chefs to operate on a much bigger and official scale. It would offer us all the ability to work with banks and other government entities to prove what we have created has a real demand and place in epicurean culture. I believe that we still have a long way to go to have adequate licensing for on-site consumption. When bureaucrats make rules on things they do not fully grasp, it shows in the clunkyness of the regulations. Rescheduling cannabis is something to view as progress, but I am hesitant to be congratulatory since there is so much more work to do to course-correct the legislation.

Courtesy of The Herbal Chef Chef Chris Sayegh, who has a background in food chemistry and plant medicine, started The Herbal Chef as a way to elevate cannabis-infused dining.

Chelsea Davis, Founder and CEO at Cannescape

Were a travel-centric cannabis dining company, and a major barrier to expansion beyond California is the discrepancy between state and federal laws. While I believe that this is a momentous decision that will greatly change how many people view marijuana and its consumption, this doesn't change too much for us in the short term. For example, we still won't be able to host infused retreats or dinners at properties with liquor licenses unless we can privatize the event. Even then, that poses other liabilities. Cannescape is the first of its kind, and as a result, our overnight retreats are somewhat of a test run for many areas where we host them (so far, in Sonoma, Napa Valley, and Mendocino). I hope that this sets the trajectory towards cannabis being treatedand regulatedlike alcohol.



Cynthia Glassell Chelsea Davis, who started out as a lifestyle journalist who specialized in food and travel, founded Cannescape  a company that hosts overnight cannabis-centric retreats.

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Read the original article on Food & Wine.
COLOMBO, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lanka government on Monday decided to maintain the existing 50 U.S. dollar fee for a 30-day single entry visa for foreigners visiting the country, the President's Media Division (PMD) said.

The PMD added that the free visa service currently offered to citizens of India, China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia will also continue.

Sri Lanka recently revised its visa fees, and introduced several new categories that visitors eligible for on-arrival visas can apply for.

These revised fees were criticized by tourism stakeholders. Taking these concerns into account, President Ranil Wickremesinghe proposed to the Cabinet of Ministers on Monday to keep the visa fee for a 30-day single entry visa at 50 dollars, PMD said.

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the president's proposal, the PMD added. 
Nebraska State Capitol (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)

When it comes to transparency and ethical behavior, telling the truth is a key tenet. So, imagine the surprise when the Nebraska Examiner reported that Arin Hess, who has pledged to be more careful about his work lobbying for Jesus at the Capitol, was recently caught in a scheme to deceive the Clerk of the Legislature to expand his access to legislators.

If youre not familiar with Hess, he is a self-proclaimed chaplain for the State Legislature, and he holds weekly Bible studies with senators. Last year, Common Cause Nebraska filed a complaint with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission because Hess was using materials from explicitly political sources during his meetings  sources that didnt restrain themselves to the teaching of Jesus but had a lot to say about issues being debated in the Legislature.

The commission dismissed the complaint, but Hess pledged to be more careful with how he engaged legislators and maintained that his work was only religious, not political.

Fast forward a year. In March, State Sen. Loren Lippincott requested to reserve a hearing room in the Capitol for district community leaders, which was approved by Clerk of the Legislature Brandon Metzler. A Nebraska Examiner reporter discovered the meeting in progress and found it was Hesss Bible study, not district community leaders.

Just two days before Lippincott submitted his request, the Governors Office had put in a request for the same date and time, which was denied after the Clerk determined the stated purpose, Pastors and Ministry Workers Day, was actually for Hess. Within hours of Metzler denying the governors request, Lippincott made the second misleading attempt, which got by Metzler. When Metzler learned Hess was using the hearing room, he was reported to have said, I got lied to.

Hearing rooms in the Capitol cannot be used for religious purposes of any kind. Common Cause Nebraska does not lose sight of the irony of the fraudulent attempts on behalf of Hess. If Hess claimed he would be using the hearing room for legislative rather than religious purposes, it would have been a valid request, but it would have looked very much like the lobbying we had objected to last year.

We do not consider these to be minor slip-ups: Senators and the governor all swear to support the United States and Nebraska Constitutions, which enshrine the separation of church and state in law and prevent elected officials from showing preference to any religious society. Showing favoritism to Hess by helping him gain access to hearing rooms in the Capitol violates that oath of office. When the people we elect are willing to skirt the law to favor their own religious leaders, its clear that power is being abused to our detriment.

We deserve public officials who will not muddy the waters and lie to advance one persons lobbying or religious beliefs in the Capitol. Its in their oath of office, and in our Nebraska and U.S. Constitutions.

Lippincott went against his oath of office when he lied to the Clerk of the Legislature about the reason for wanting to reserve a hearing room; he may have also breached Nebraska law. When he intentionally misled the Clerk, Lippincott prevented Metzler from carrying out the duties of his office, that is, the duty to enforce the policies governing legislative space. (28-901) The governors similar misleading reservation request also violated his oath of office, but fortunately, it was quickly thwarted when the Clerk learned the true reason.

Lying about a room reservation may seem minor, but we should expect nothing less than our elected officials to honor their oaths in word and deed by fully complying with the law.

Our Unicameral Legislature or Attorney Generals Office appear unlikely to act. We have been down this road before  its now up to us, the citizens of Nebraska, to set aside our differences and use the power of the ballot box to ensure our elected officials uphold their oath of office and that Nebraska laws apply equally to all  without reservation.

The post No matter who youre lobbying for, follow the rules appeared first on Nebraska Examiner.
Noem pressed about Kim Jong Un story in testy interview: Im giving you my answer

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) was pressed about a passage in her book in which she describes a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un while traveling during her days in Congress.

Did you meet with Kim Jong Un, Elizabeth Vargas, an anchor on cable news channel NewsNation, asked Noem during a Monday appearance on the network.

When this was brought to my attention, I immediately took actions and asked to have his name removed, Noem responded.

But why did you remove it, is it because its untrue, that passage? Vargas pressed.

This is something I think Im not going to talk about.  I dont talk about personal meetings with world leaders, and Im going to continue to stay there, Noem said.

But clearly if youre taking it out of the book its because its untrue, Vargas pressed Noem again.

Im giving you my answer, and no, thats not the answer, Noem responded. This is something I asked to have adjusted and have the content and that name removed, and that is truly what the action has been.

Vargas followed up asking why, then, when Noem recorded the audio version of her book, she didnt have it taken out then.

When it was brought to my attention, I asked the publisher if they would remove the name and they did, Noem insisted.

But you didnt answer my question, Vargas said. You posted pictures and videos of yourself recording the audiobook. When you recorded your own audiobook, you didnt notice this passage?

Noem said she would not discuss my meetings with world leaders and asked Vargas if she wanted to talk about something else today.

No, were just trying to get a straight answer from you, Vargas said.

You did, Noem shot back. And I took responsibility for it. The buck stops with me. This anecdote I should not have put in the book, and I asked to have it taken out and it is.

The publisher of Noems book said it will remove the anecdote about Kim after it received significant scrutiny as the governor remains in the running to be former President Trumps vice presidential running mate this fall.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar, the same parent company as The Hill.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY)  Two people have been charged with second-degree murder and child abuse in connection to the death Saturday of a 9-day old infant, which has been ruled a homicide, Norfolk Police said.

Hilary D. Johnson II (Photo  Norfolk Police)

Zibreyea S. Parker (Photo  Norfolk Police)

Hilary D. Johnson, 23, and Zibreyea S. Parker, 21 were taken into custody and were each charged, initially, with child abuse. Following the medical examiners ruling each Monday, both were also charged with second-degree murder. They are currently being held at Norfolk City Jail without bond.

Around 1:15 p.m. Saturday, police were called to Childrens Hospital of the Kings Daughters for the report of a child protection call. When officers arrived to the hospital, they learned there was an unresponsive infant that was brought there and showed signs of abuse.

Police said the infant, who police said is the child of Johnson and Parker, was later pronounced dead by medical staff.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  Normal operations at UC San Diego resumed on Tuesday, less than a day after more than 60 pro-Palestinian protestors were arrested and clean-up crews began to clear the area where the Gaza Solidarity encampment formerly stood.

The escalation to the demonstration at the La Jolla campus marked the latest clash between university officials and students in the movement pushing back against Israels military campaign in Gaza that has gripped college campuses around the globe over the last few weeks.

Just shy of a week after UCSD students set up their encampment near Geisel Library, which was inspired by the one formed at Columbia University last month that set the protest campaign in motion, hundreds of police cleared the area and took 65 demonstrators into custody.

What are protestors charged with?

UCSD officials suspended operations on the west end of campus around 5:40 a.m. Monday, minutes before law enforcement moved in to disperse the crowd. Road closures were put in place and instruction was moved to remote operations.

At least two people sustained minor injures in the efforts to clear the encampment, according to UCSD Police. Video of the scene captured by protestors and FOX 5/KUSI shows use of batons and what appeared to be pepper spray against demonstrators while snipers were stationed on rooftops.

Of the 65 protestors arrested, campus police said 40 were known students, while the remaining 25 were described as either unaffiliated or their relationship to the university was unknown. Campus officials said the confirmed students were placed on immediate interim suspension.

In a statement Monday afternoon, Chancellor Pradeep Khosla defended the decision to bring in police to clear the encampment, saying it violated campus policy and the law and grew to pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of the campus community.

He specifically pointed to wooden stakes, propane tanks, metal and plywood shields, aerosol spray cans and a sword that were recovered at the campsite as part of the safety concerns.

Police officers keep Pro-Palestinian protesters out of a building at UC San Diego, Monday, May 6, 2024, in San Diego. Police cleared a campus encampment in the early morning Monday. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

The chancellor had warned of potential intervention in a statement Wednesday afternoon, hours after the encampment was erected, describing the site as a violation of campus policy. He added that students could be met with sanctions, such as suspension or legal action.

Up until Monday, the encampment had largely remained calm, aside from drawing a group of counter-protestors and health inspectors over the weekend.

On Sunday night, signs were posted at the north and south ends of the encampment to notify students that they would be fully accountable under the student code of conduct for any and all violations, including participating in encampments on campus.

Photos of the signs were published by The Triton, one of UCSDs two student-led news outlets.

Last week, student organizers of the protest encampment said they planned to be there for as long as possible or until their demands were heard by the university.

This includes asks of the university administration to Affirm Palestinians right to life and safety, cut financial and academic ties with Israel, and call for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting, which they describe as an unfolding genocide against Palestinians.

The demands echoed those of other camp sites formed at dozens of college campuses across the country over the last few weeks, including Columbia University, University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles.

In a statement Monday night, faculty of UCSDs Ethnic Studies department said they were outraged by the use of police to dismantle the encampment, saying the chancellor wrongly claims that the encampment threatened safety.

Israeli forces seize Rafah crossing in Gaza, threatening aid and putting cease-fire talks on edge

Hostile actions by the administration and the police they ordered onto campus caused disastrous upheaval, including physical injuries and an authoritarian fracturing of peaceful student organizing and community, the statement continued.

The deployment of police, including snipers on top of the Student Health Building, was a shocking abdication of the Chancellors mandate to support and protect our students.

In a separate statement Monday, the coalition of student groups who organized the encampment, called the UCSD Divest Coalition, described the intervention to dismantle the site as something that willfully endanger[ed] students, mostly those from communities of color.

Now that normal operations have resumed, UCSD students are going to class with no interruptions and campus employees are showing up for work in person.

Its my last week working here so its very exciting. It was nice to have a work from home day yesterday, I guess, said one employee, Mason Farley. When asked by FOX 5/KUSI about if he had ever seen anything like yesterdays clash on campus, Farley said that he had not.

I feel like this school is kind of more chill. I mean it was nonviolent anyway. Its not like the encampment was terrible other than it just being on campus, but it is private property I guess so theyre allowed to kick them off, he continued.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
A Georgia man and his two adult sons have been arrested on charges related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

William Gallagher, 55, of Ellijay was charged Monday with civil disorder, a felony, and misdemeanor offenses of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly conduct, and demonstrating in the Capitol.

The FBI also arrested Gallaghers two adult sons  James Gallagher, 22, and Thomas Gallagher, 25  on misdemeanor charges related to the attack on the Capitol.

According to court documents, closed-circuit television footage of the Capitol shows William Gallagher entering the Rotunda shortly after its doors had been breached. He then made his way to Statuary Hall and back to the Rotunda before placing calls to his two sons.

William Gallagher then participated with other rioters in pushing the Rotunda doors to open them from the inside.

Court documents say he placed his gloved hands on a Capitol Police officer and forcibly pulled the officer off the doors. He then put his hands on the officer again and, with the help of another rioter, pushed the officer out of the entryway. As a result, the Rotunda doors were breached, allowing rioters to stream into the building.

At this point, Gallaghers two sons entered the building via the Rotunda doors and met up with their father in the Rotunda. The three men then made their way toward the Senate Chamber.

Law enforcement officers began clearing the area of rioters a short time later, and the three men exited the Capitol building via the Rotunda doors.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Departments National Security Divisions Counterterrorism Section. Assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

The case is being investigated by the FBIs Atlanta and Washington field offices, with help from the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.
Giant portraits of Hristijan Mickoski, the leader of the center-right main opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, are displayed on a building in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Monday, May 6, 2024. Voters go to the polls on Wednesday in North Macedonia to cast ballots for parliamentary election and presidential runoff, for the second time in two weeks. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP)  Voters in Northern Macedonia go to the polls Wednesday for a double election  parliamentary and presidential  following a campaign in which the country's aspirations to join the European Union have played a central role.

The office of prime minister wields the real power, and the president is largely ceremonial, so the parliamentary election is the more important of the two contests. The opposition center-right coalition, which is pushing back against neighboring Bulgaria's conditions for the country's EU candidacy, is favored to win both elections.

The election for the unicameral parliament takes place in a single round, while the presidential election is the runoff of a two-round contest that began in April with the center-right candidate scoring a large lead over the center-left incumbent.

More than 1,700 candidates are competing for the unicameral parliaments 120 seats. There are also three seats reserved for expatriates, but in the last election, in 2020, turnout was too low to fill those seats.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

The month-long campaign has focused on fighting corruption, improving the slugging economy and alleviating poverty, but the main hot-button issue has been over North Macedonias struggle to join the European Union.

Demands by neighboring Bulgaria that North Macedonias Bulgarian minority be official recognized in the countrys constitution have been supported by the ruling center-left, but blasted by the center-right opposition as capitulation to Bulgaria.

Only a tiny fraction of the countrys 1.84 million people  just over 3,500  described themselves as Bulgarians in the last census in 2021.

North Macedonia has been a candidate to join the European bloc since 2005, but was blocked for years by a dispute with neighboring Greece, which objected to the country calling itself Macedonia, arguing that it conflicted with Greeces region of Macedonia.

That dispute was resolved in 2018 with the country calling itself North Macedonia. But Bulgaria has since been blocking the countrys EU bid, saying it will lift its veto only when North Macedonia amends its constitution.

Formal EU membership negotiations with North Macedonia  and fellow-candidate Albania  began in 2022 and the process is expected to take years.

VMRO-DPMNE, the party the leads the center-right opposition, had once threatened to scupper the agreement with Greece over using the Macedonia name, but it has since toned down its rhetoric. Observers point to its membership in the European Peoples Party and its friendly relations with the German Christian Democrats as evidence that the party will not seek to back out of the agreement.

CORRUPTION

North Macedonia has been cited by both the European Commission and the U.S. government as having a corruption problem, and the opposition has seized on the issue during the campaign.

VMRO-DPMNE leader and election favorite Hristijan Mickoski has accused the ruling center-left coalition of presiding over a pandemic of corruption, though his own partys record is far from clean. The VMRO-DPMNEs last prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, is a fugitive from justice in Hungary.

Dimitar Kovachevski, leader of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, or SDSM, party that heads the ruling coalition, said he is aware that people are dissatisfied and has acknowledged that more could have been done to fight corruption. He has backed measures to confiscate illegally acquired property from corrupt officials.

A 2023 European Commission report said corruption remains prevalent in many areas of North Macedonia. In December, the U.S. Ambassador to North Macedonia, Angela Aggeler, said there was an epidemic of corruption in this country that has affected every sector, every organization, and only by exposing the corrupt actors can we begin to help the country address these issues.

WHO IS RUNNING

The main two blocs are multi-party coalitions: The center-left coalition led by the SDSM, "For a European Future, consists of 14 parties. The center-right opposition led by VMRO-DPMNE, Your Macedonia, has 22.

For the presidency, incumbent Stevo Pendarovski of the SDSM is the clear underdog to Gordana Siljanovska Davkova of VMRO-DPMNE, who won 41.2% of the vote in the first round on April 24 to Pendarovskis 20.5%.

The two had also squared off in the last presidential election in 2019, with Pendarovski winning 53.8% to 46.2% in the runoff.

Both big coalitions represent mostly ethnic Macedonians and other, small minorities. Two separate coalitions, European Front and VLEN (Worth) are contesting to represent the countrys largest minority, the Albanians, who represent about a quarter of the 1.84 million population.

The European Front, a coalition of nine parties, is dominated by the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI). DUI, founded by people who took part in the 2001 secessionist rebellion, has been the coalition partner of every government for the past two decades.

However, the VMRO-DPMNE leader Mickoski has declared he would prefer to form a government with VLEN, itself a coalition of four parties, which has positioned itself to the right of DUI.

Polling has consistently been showing Mickoski's coalition ahead of the SDSM-led coalition by a double-digit margin.

A splinter Social Democrat Party, ZNAM (For Our Macedonia) whose leader, Maksim Dimitriavski, won 9.5% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election, could play kingmaker.
Hes not going to rest until shes okay: Community looks for murder victims missing dog

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT)  As the saying goes, a dog is a mans best friend, and 74-year-old Ernie Braggs best friend was a mixed pug named Baby Girl.

Bragg was an avid pug lover, known for being patient and caring to those he took in. He even gained popularity as the Puggle Godfather in a Facebook group after sharing stories from over the years.

Parents of Special Olympics athletes face Decatur city leaders

Jude Iman, founder of Puggle Palooza, says Bragg stood out from the very beginning.

When we started the group we noticed a person that had six puggles, Iman said. We were like, Who is this guy, this is awesome! After years and years Ernie became the grandfather of everybody. He checked in on hundreds of people.

That passion transferred into his care for adopting dogs like Baby Girl, whom he adopted out of an abusive home in July of last year.

Baby Girl was his life, said Erin Fledderman with A New Leash on Life. He came to one of our adoption events and he sat on the floor with her. She was terrified, you know. And he just sat there for over an hour trying to comfort her.

 Get breaking news, traffic and weather alerts directly to your smartphone. Download the News 19 App

Eventually, Baby Girl would find a new home with Bragg and the two would grow closer by the day.

However, their snuggles and memorable walks would come to an abrupt end on May 1 when Bragg was shot and killed along with his roommate Danny Jones in Mount Charron Estates in Huntsville.

Since then, Baby Girl has gone missing. Its believed she ran off during the shooting.

When neighbors and friends on social media caught wind of the news, it became a community effort to help find her. Puggle Palooza friends as far as Wyoming and Phoenix, Arizona reached out to News 19 to help bring her home. Iman says they have reached out to every Alabama lost dog website to get the news to the public.

Our bottom line is we love this man so much, hes not going to rest until shes okay, said Iman.

Wall at Hartselle High highlights students ACT achievements

Fledderman has received reports that a police officer saw Baby Girl running out of the home the day of the shooting. A New Leash on Life has helped set up cameras and cages, as well as pass out flyers to help.

She added that if theres one good thing that can come from this awful tragedy, its finding Baby Girl and placing her in a safe home. One of Braggs nieces has volunteered to take her in.

If you spot Baby Girl, DO NOT chase her. Please call (256) 714-0600.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHNT.com.
The review found no consistent bias towards Left or Right but identified 'risks to impartiality that point in multiple directions' - MIKE KEMP/IN PICTURES

The BBC must reflect public concerns about immigration, according to a landmark review of the broadcasters news coverage.

The review, conducted by the director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University, looked at the impartiality and accuracy of the BBCs content on migration.

It found that some BBC journalists are anxious that reporting on local concerns about migration, or covering topics such as immigration fraud, could appear hostile to migrants.

However, the review, commissioned by the BBC Board, stated: It is not racist to be concerned about the impacts of migration or to prefer more restrictive policies.

It added: BBC coverage should have equal empathy for migrants and UK residents who worry about the impacts of migration.

Risks to impartiality

The review was authored by Dr Madeleine Sumption of the Migration Observatory. She conducted the bulk of it with Samir Shah, who stepped down in December after being nominated as BBC chairman.

They found no consistent bias towards Left or Right in the broadcasters coverage but identified risks to impartiality that point in multiple directions.

BBC management has endorsed the key points, and will tell journalists: Its not biased to hear directly from migrants, just as its not racist to air concerns about immigration. Audiences want to know why people move and appreciate hearing from them - though not to the exclusion of hearing other voices.

The biggest single topic that audiences said they wanted to hear more about was the social and economic impact of migration, both positive and negative.

Coverage should pay more attention to how migration affects communities, public services, housing and the labour market. All audiences in our research were interested in these questions, but particularly people with concerns about migration.

By focusing primarily on political developments, BBC coverage can overlook some of these concerns, the report said.

When these topics are covered with sufficient depth, however, it is possible to prove the issues at hand while also being respectful towards the people involved.

A No 10 spokesperson said that the BBCs reporting is one for them but added that the Prime Minister is acutely aware of the frustrations of the British people over small boat arrivals.

Hes also acutely aware of the pressures that these crossings are placing on local communities and public services. Thats why hes taking the action that he has to break the business model of criminal gangs.

Migration stories risky to cover

The review involved more than 100 contributors from inside and outside the BBC, including journalists and senior management, and a study of 1,500 pieces of television, radio and online content. While the corporation produces much excellent content on migration, it concluded, there are also weaknesses.

The review found that for the most part, story selection appeared to be driven not by deliberate choices to cover or not cover certain topics, but by the culture of following the political agenda.

It added: However, some BBC journalists said that some stories felt more risky to cover, particularly if the topics could appear unsympathetic to migrants or migration. One BBC journalist also said that if it was seen as not a nice story it was less likely to be promoted across other BBC outlets or reposted on social media.

BBC journalists and senior management told us that staff come disproportionately from groups that are more relaxed about migration. Several pointed out that it would be easier for the BBC to represent different views convincingly if staff had a wider range of backgrounds and political opinions.

They might also feel more confident exploring all relevant views without worrying that they are stereotyping or patronising them.

One BBC insider told the review that inexperienced colleagues worry about what language to use when covering migration issues in case they are accused of racism by the Left [or] accused of being the wokerati by the Right.

Another said that one of the problems is we all want to seem like were nice, caring people, and its easier to care for things in the context of migration... and not necessarily caring in terms of the communities in which they have an impact.

Some journalists said they had been told by colleagues that immigration fraud was not a story you should be looking at, although those stories were published.

The most common problem identified by the review was that the BBC often tells migration stories through a narrow political lens, reporting what high-profile people are saying without really getting under the skin of the issue.

Audiences need more explanation, the research found, with people struggling to put migration numbers into context and finding the Rwanda policy particularly difficult to understand.

Context on why people move to UK

Ms Sumption said the BBCs coverage often failed to distinguish between migrants and asylum seekers, and sometimes gave the false impression that most migration to the UK takes place via small boats.

On that topic, many participants said they wanted to know more about how people in small boats got the money to pay smugglers, but one BBC journalist said they would be reluctant to ask that in case it appeared hostile towards asylum seekers.

Audiences, regardless of their views on migration, also want more context on why people move to the UK. The report said: They wanted to hear directly from migrants themselves.

The review said the BBC should provide more context when presenting numbers, for example the number of boat arrivals, and to explain whether or not the UK is unusual in the number of migrant arrivals or the Governments attitude towards them.

A single daily number for boat arrivals is usually meaningless, it said. Its not just that audiences learn nothing from a single days statistics  or even a weeks statistics, for that matter. The figures can actively mislead. This creates an impartiality risk.

Appropriate framing of migration stories

The BBC board said it would take the review findings board to further improve editorial standards and audience impact.

A spokesman said: We note that the review found that the BBC produces a lot of excellent content on migration and has highlighted important best practice. Significantly, the review found no consistent bias towards one point of view on this topic. However, it did identify risks to impartiality that point in multiple directions.

We welcome the practical illustration of the challenges BBC teams face in serving a wide range of licence payer interests and ensuring that we cover this subject with precision and depth and draw on the full spectrum of experience and views.

We believe that the analysis will particularly help the BBC in broader and more creative story selection and appropriate framing of migration stories.

The board has asked Tim Davie, the director-general, to address the issues raised.

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This file photo taken on March 17, 2024 and provided by Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences shows an adult of Sichuan taimen, an endangered fish species listed as a national first-class protected animal. (Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Handout via Xinhua)

CHENGDU, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have bred Sichuan taimen, an endangered fish species listed as a national first-class protected animal.

Scientists from the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, and other institutions successfully established the only artificial population of Sichuan taimen in China in 2016, laying the foundation for the conservation of the species' genetic resources and the restoration of its natural populations.

This year, the research team successfully induced multiple batches of the species' parent fish, and more than 3,500 offspring at the age of two months have survived so far. This achievement marks the complete artificial breeding of Sichuan taimen.

The researchers will continue to promote the recovery and reconstruction of the species' wild populations, and conduct ecological restoration of their habitats, said Du Jun, an official with the fisheries institute of the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

They will identify suitable spawning habitats to conduct research on natural reproduction techniques while enhancing artificial breeding technology for the species, Du added. 

This photo taken on May 5, 2024 shows juveniles of Sichuan taimen, an endangered fish species listed as a national first-class protected animal, at Jiguanshan cold-water fish research base in Chongzhou, southwest China's Sichuan Province. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)
Ahsan Choudhuri of UTEP's Aerospace Center and leader of the El Paso coalition that won a $40 million grant through the Build Back Better Regional Challenge.

The National Science Foundation has suspended a grant that could have meant $160 million for El Pasos regional economy because of some incorrect statements in the proposal, according to the University of Texas at El Paso.

The grant, awarded based on a proposal by Ahsan Choudhuri, associate vice president of UTEPs Aerospace Center, is a key component in El Pasos major economic development strategy for the coming decades  developing an aerospace manufacturing hub.

Choudhuris lawyer, in a statement issued Monday evening, said the grant application had no meaningful or material incorrect statement or flaw that would warrant any freeze on the grant or suspension of the grant.

UTEP issued a statement to El Paso Matters Monday afternoon that said the university became aware in early April of potential errors in its proposal to the NSF for the Regional Innovation Engines program. An in-house review determined that the statements in question committed resources to the NSF that the institution did not have, according to the statement.

More: El Paso ISD, Socorro ISD recognize outstanding teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week

On April 25, the NSF directed UTEP to suspend work on its Regional Innovation Engines pending further review.

The university sent a letter to the NSF on Tuesday to address what it believes to have been the erroneous claims in its proposal.

UTEP will work with our regional partners and the NSF to provide the NSF information needed for this important work for El Paso to resume as soon as possible, according to the universitys statement.

El Pasos elected leadership expressed concern about the suddenness of the announcement and the potential economic impact on the community.

Mayor Oscar Leeser, in a statement to El Paso Matters, praised Choudhuris contributions and expressed concern that key community partners were caught by surprise by the announcement from UTEP.

I am surprised that a decision of this magnitude in a collaborative partnership would be taken without notification or discussion with relevant partners, and I look forward to working with UTEP to resolve any issues, Leeser said. This is too important for our community, and we all must work collaboratively to ensure the success of this effort  for UTEP, for our region, and for the thousands of families who will benefit from its success.

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said Choudhuri has been a visionary leader on the aerospace project.

Today, (UTEP President) Dr. Heather Wilson removed this beloved El Pasoan from leading this endeavor. This collaboration  as led by Dr. Ahsan Choudhuri  is far too important to our community and I know relevant stakeholders are as deeply concerned by todays news as I am. Together, we must get to the bottom of this with a focus on transparency and whats in the best interest of our community and this significant collaboration.

The universitys statement didnt mention Choudhuri, but he was the driving force behind getting multiple major grants for aerospace manufacturing development. As of now, Kenneth Meissner, dean of the College of Engineering, will serve as acting head of the UTEP Aerospace Center, UTEP said in its statement.

Choudhuris attorney, Bob Blumenfeld, said in a statement to El Paso Matters that UTEP had reviewed and approved the grant proposal.

He said UTEP in recent days began raising questions about the proposal, and Choudhuri provided full and complete responses to UTEPs requests.

Today, we can state with complete confidence there is nothing false or materially misleading in any submission or statement made by Dr. Choudhuri in connection with the NSF grant, Blumenfeld said. To the extent anyone (suggests) otherwise, they are either misinformed or incorrect.

UTEP was one of 10 institutions to earn the NSF Regional Innovation Engines designation on Jan. 29. Each team was to receive up to $15 million over the next two years, and could earn up to $160 million during the next 10 years.

In 2022, Choudhuris proposal also won a $40 million grant through the Biden Administrations Build Back Better Regional Challenge.

At the time, Choudhuri said that the grant would unlock the potential of small- and medium-sized manufacturers in the region to participate in the U.S. aerospace and defense supply chain.

The University of Texas at El Pasos Ahsan Choudhuri, left, and Ryan Wicker will lead the regions defense and aerospace innovation engine, which was awarded up to $15 million from the National Science Foundation.

The UTEP team, led by the Aerospace Center and the W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation, comprising 18 partners in Texas and Southern New Mexico, made up the Paso del Norte Defense and Aerospace Innovation Engine. It was to focus on robotics and advanced manufacturing.

Choudhuri has estimated that the program could grow the necessary talent and infrastructure to increase the regions share of advanced industry jobs from 3.2% to 25%.

State Sen. Cesar Blancos office issued a statement that noted the key roles that Choudhuri and Ryan Wicker, executive director of the Keck Center, have played in the development of the Aerospace Center.

We will continue our collaboration with UTEP and local partners to ensure the Aerospace Center continues to build economic opportunities and a brighter future for the students, workers and communities of Far West Texas, the statement read.

Today, the Aerospace Center partners include NASA and the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy as well as numerous industry partners. It explores new technologies and solves challenges in the fields of space, defense, energy and aeronautics.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP directed to suspend aerospace project
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Chinas Xi Jinping is in Europe and a stop in Hungary is planned for later this week. On the agenda: Chinas growing role in Hungarys nuclear energy development, Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said.

Szijjarto said that President Xi is expected to sign 16 agreements with the Hungarian government, including one denoting cooperation covering the entire portfolio of nuclear energy. That could mean China is taking a role in Hungarys Paks II nuclear power plant  a project spearheaded by Russias Rosatom nuclear energy contractor  that has been delayed and run over budget since its 2014 inception, caught in the chaos from Russias war in Ukraine, according to Hungarys financial newspaper Portfolio.

Budapest has been a thorn in the EUs side by continuing to import Russian energy despite sanctions. However, bringing China in could signal that Hungary is looking for alternative partners as costs rise. France and the US are also angling to help meet eastern Europes energy needs, setting up a new geopolitical flashpoint between East and West.

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Budapest may be moving away from Russia

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Sources: Portfolio, Daily News Hungary

Hungarys Paks II power plant project got round Western sanctions on Russia, but the broader security climate in Europe has complicated Russias ability to get the job done, according to Portfolio. Last week, the Hungarian foreign minister confirmed that the main reactor components are still under construction in Russia and should be shipped to Hungary this summer. But Paks IIs CEO Gergely Jakli told Portfolio that Russias involvement is increasingly expensive and he is considering bringing on other investors to complete the project. The review and modification of certain points of the construction contract is in progress, Jakli said.

France duels with Russia for control, but it cant outrun China

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Sources: Center for Eastern Studies, Portfolio, The Guardian

Nuclear energy is a key part of French President Emmanuel Macrons strategic autonomy policy, which seeks to reshape the political order in Europe away from the influence of Washington and NATO, according to the Center for Eastern Studies think tank. Frances Framatome nuclear development company is a sub-contractor in Paks II, and France has previously voiced opposition to sanctions targeting Russias nuclear energy industry. Framatomes role in Paks II has significantly increased as Russian involvement has become more complicated, CES wrote. But political red tape and economic issues mean Frances nuclear industry relies heavily on Chinese cooperation and investment in projects abroad, including in the UK.

Next door, Bulgaria courts Washington for nuclear fuel

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Sources: Bellona, Politico

Hungary and other European countries, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland, and Bulgaria, increasingly relied on Russian nuclear fuel imports to make up for the lack of Russian gas and oil as a result of the war. These imports remain a significant revenue source for Moscow, bringing in more than $739 million last year, according to the Bellona think tank. The US wants to stem the flow: American firms are reopening uranium mines to export, Politico reported. Those efforts appear to be paying off in Bulgaria. Last week, it announced that a Pennsylvania-based company, Westinghouse, would become their main supplier of fuel rods. Westinghouse is also constructing two new reactors there. Its a symbolic step for Bulgaria, a key Moscow ally, Politico wrote.

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NWS confirms four tornadoes in North Texas in April 27 outbreak

Oklahoma has borne the brunt of severe weather so far this season, but North Texas has also had its share.

The National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, has confirmed four tornado strikes in the North Texas area during an outbreak on April 27.

The weather service rates tornadoes on the Enhanced Fujita scale of EF0, the weakest, to EF5, the strongest.

The National Weather Service confirmed four tornadoes in North Texas on April 27.

On April 27, the strongest twister in North Texas was an EF2 that touched down in Knox County. An EF0 touched down in Baylor County, and another EF0 was confirmed in western Wichita County.

An EF1 tornado touched down in northern Wichita County and crossed the Red River into Oklahoma.

The strongest twister on that date was an EF4 that dropped southeast of Ardmore, Oklahoma.

This map from the April 27 tornado outbreak shows twister tracks in North Texas and Oklahoma.

Four Oklahoma residents were killed in the tornado outbreak with the towns of Holdenville and Sulphur being the hardest hit.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health estimated at least 300 people were injured.

The NWS confirmed 33 tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma and North Texas on that date.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: NWS confirms four tornadoes in North Texas in April 27 outbreak
NEW YORK (PIX11)  Law enforcement agencies have begun a sweep to shut down illegal smoke shops across the five boroughs, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Tuesday.

Operation Padlock to Protect allows law enforcement to inspect smoke and cannabis shops and padlock locations that are caught unlawfully selling cannabis.

NYC to start padlocking illegal pot shops: Soon as the ink dries, were going to execute

Tuesdays announcement is the latest development in the Adams administrations battle against the illegal sale of cannabis in New York City. To date, the New York City Sheriffs Office Joint Compliance Task Force has seized an estimated $33 million in illegal products and issued over $75 million in civil penalties, according to the mayors office.

In a video call during Mayor Adams press conference on Tuesday, New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda shared a live look inside Big City Smoke Shop at 110 Church St. in Manhattan.

NYC smoke shop sold illegal weed, cocaine with traces of fentanyl: police sources

We have illegal mushrooms, packaging for children, cannabis, illegal cigarettes, and pre-rolls, said Sheriff Miranda. This is a danger location. It is one block away from a church. They have violated every statute that we have.

According to Mayor Adams and Sheriff Miranda, smoke shop owners have established systems to avoid detection by law enforcement.

They talk to each other once we hit a location, said Sheriff Miranda. They will send the message out and a number of shops near us will begin the process of closing down. That is why we have more than one team in operation, so we can hit several locations simultaneously.

Legal cannabis remains the right choice for our city, but to those who choose to break the law  we will shut you down. Mayor Eric Adams

There are around 2,800 illegal store officials that have been identified, according to Mayor Adams. The team is going to be ready to go hit those 2,800  Theyre already building out the operationalizing of this, Mayor Adams said.

Ben Mitchell is a digital content producer from Vermont who has covered both local and international news since 2021. He joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of his work here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
Ahead of a make-or-break vote to determine the future home of the Sacramento Zoo, officials from the city of Elk Grove and the zoo unveiled several new renderings of what the $300 million facility could look like when completed and touted the economic benefit it could bring for the countys second-largest city.

On Monday at the current Land Park attraction, Sacramento Zoological Society and Elk Grove city leaders also shared analysis from the projects economic and revenue impact report, which says an expanded zoo could raise $249 million in benefits for the capital region. That includes $128 million in direct spending and $111 million in labor income over the next five years, as well as fostering more than 2,000 construction jobs and 400 positions once the zoo is completed.

Further, according to an analysis, an expanded facility a mile west of Sky River Casino would generate an estimated average of $2.7 million annually in state and local tax revenues, including over $800,000 a year for Elk Grove.

The Elk Grove City Council will vote Wednesday on whether to give final approval to kick off the first phase of the development of the site near Kammerer Road and Lotz Parkway.

Jason Jacobs, Sacramento Zoo executive director, pets J. Gregory the rhinoceros at the Sacramento Zoo in Land Park on Monday, May 6, 2024.

J. Gregory the rhinoceros stands next to Melissa McCartney, senior manager of Animal Care and Veterinary Health Care in an enclosure at the Sacramento Zoo in Land Park on Monday, May 6, 2024.

Jason Jacobs, the zoos CEO and executive director, said that the relocation would create more space for the animals and help rededicate the zoos mission to education and recreation once completed in

Theres been a lot of work that has gone into this project, Jacobs said. Not only with the zoo, but our partners at the city of Elk Grove. (There are) so many members of the community who have made a commitment to help make this possible. ... Were really enthusiastic about Wednesday night and look forward to sharing more information about the project.

Discussions about a new home for the zoo have been taking place for nearly four years as the zoo has outgrown its current 14.3-acre facility, which has been its home since 1927. Talks between the zoo and Elk Grove have been taking place since 2021.

A new 65-plus-acre facility, according to Christopher Jordan, Elk Grove director of strategic planning and innovation, could support as many as 1.6 million visitors each year and would be a fully green, fully solar-powered and fully sustainable campus that would help the zoo meet current Association of Zoos and Aquariums guidelines.

Its not just about having the right business model to support your mission, its about taking care of these animals, he said. The first phase of the new zoo would relocate these giraffes into a habitat thats over 10 times the size of this yard they have now.

Christopher Jordan, Elk Grove director of strategic planning and innovation, right, and Jason Jacobs, Sacramento Zoo executive director, talk to the media during a news conference at the Sacramento Zoo in Land Park on Monday, May 6, 2024.

J. Gregory the rhinoceros roams around his enclosure at the Sacramento Zoo in Land Park on Monday, May 6, 2024.

Unveiling fresh renderings of the proposed site, officials like Christopher Jordan, Elk Groves director of strategic planning and innovation, said the city would try to be as aggressive as possible in getting started if the council approves the plan.

The city would be on the hook for more than half, 57%, of the estimated $302 million in construction costs to bring a new zoo to life. Of that amount, 38% of the money would be financed by a bond while 31% would come from the citys general fund. The rest, 26% and 5%, would come from community funding partnerships and developers fees, respectively.

Elk Grove ... has a role to play in many regards and this is potential for us to serve in that capacity, Jordan said.

The new renderings included views of indoor and outdoor eating spaces, as well as spaces for recreational activities.

Still, officials dont expect the zoo to be completed and the animals to make the move until 2029, though officials said a preview phase could be unveiled two years earlier.

But what about a new name? Jordan said there havent been any discussions about a change just yet.

J. Gregory the rhinoceros stands next to Melissa McCartney, senior manager of Animal Care and Veterinary Health Care in an enclosure at the Sacramento Zoo in Land Park on Monday, May 6, 2024.

A giraffe looks at Sacramento Zoo visitors in Land Park on Monday, May 6, 2024.

A new name would be decided by city council, Jordan said.

Sacramento resident Jackie Robinson was a first-time visitor to the zoo in the midst of Mondays news conference, which featured J. Gregory, the zoos first white rhinoceros. Robinson, who came to Land Park with her friend and their children, was optimistic that a new zoo, even 13 miles away Elk Grove, would fare well.

I like its location right now, Robinson said. But Im sure itll be nice over there (in Elk Grove) too.

One of several new renderings provided by Sacramento Zoo and city of Elk Grove officials show an outdoor dining space that would look over the giraffe habitat at an expanded facility near Kammerer Road and Lotz Parkway. The Elk Grove City Council is expected to vote on final approval to begin construction during Wednesdays meeting.

One of several new renderings provided by Sacramento Zoo and city of Elk Grove officials show an outdoor dining space and recreation area at an expanded facility near Kammerer Road and Lotz Parkway. The Elk Grove City Council is expected to vote on final approval to begin construction during Wednesdays meeting.

One of several new renderings provided by Sacramento Zoo and city of Elk Grove officials show an indoor dining facility that would look over the giraffe habitat at an expanded facility near Kammerer Road and Lotz Parkway. The Elk Grove City Council is expected to vote on final approval to begin construction during Wednesdays meeting.

One of several new renderings provided by Sacramento Zoo and city of Elk Grove officials show a recreation space at an expanded facility near Kammerer Road and Lotz Parkway. The Elk Grove City Council is expected to vote on final approval to begin construction during Wednesdays meeting.
Oh Look, Aileen Cannon Has Delayed The MAL Case Yet Again

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPMs Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

Its Happening Right Before Our Eyes

Ive lost track of how many Morning Memos have led with the latest delay allowed, imposed, or facilitated by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. But its a lot!

In her latest move yesterday, she suspended this weeks deadline for Donald Trump to make a crucial filing in the pretrial wrangling over what classified information will be allowed at trial.

True to form, Cannon didnt set a new deadline; instead, shell let things float along again for some indeterminate amount of time. The trial is still set to begin May 20, but that date became unrealistic months ago due to her delays, and she has resisted setting a new trial date.

The specific deadline Cannon suspended was for Trump to declare which classified information he intends to use at trial, which would then set off a back and forth between the two sides under the Classified Information Procedures Act. Thats typically a fairly involved and often lengthy process that trial judges engage in as reasonably early as possible to clear the way for trial. Special Counsel Jack Smith has been pushing for months to get the CIPA process rolling; Trump of course has objected; and Cannon has played along.

The May 20 trial date is no more in jeopardy after Cannons latest (unexplained, by the way) decision than it was before. It was definitely not happening because of Cannons prior inertia. But whatever narrow window remained for trying this case before the election closed a little more.

The bottom line is this: Cannon has turned the flame under the water up so slowly and incrementally that there has been no concerted national outrage about her wildly inappropriate handling of the case. Not that it would matter; she seems indifferent to the public criticism. At the same time, she has continued to punt actual decisions that could potentially create grounds for appeal. Its a one-two punch that leaves Smith in an impossible bind.

Forecast: Stormy Daniels To Testify Today

Big day ahead as the Trump hush-money trial shifts from the necessary grinding through financial records yesterday to the expected testimony today of porn star Stormy Daniels, another of Louisianas many great contributions to our national politics. Youre welcome. TPMs Josh Kovensky is at the courthouse and will be liveblogging todays proceedings here.

What Happened In The Hush Money Trial Yesterday

A quick recap:

Trump was found in violation of the gag order in the case and fined another $1,000, but more importantly the judge gave what sure sounded like his final warning to Trump: Do it again and I will put you in jail.

Later in the day, Trump struck the pose that he would happily go to jail for violating the gag order. No one believes him, of course. Heres why it would be doubly bad for him.

The prosecution called witness after witness from inside the Trump Org to review business records and explain the companys financial controls  all with the thrust of showing how the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels were concealed and recast as legal fees.

A fun catch by Joyce Vance about one of the Trump Org witnesses, Jeff McConney:

An interesting side note: It was Jeffrey McConneys son Justin, fresh out of film school, who was Trumps first social media manager. Before he arrived on the scene, Trump didnt know how to use social media. In 2013, Trump posted his first tweet, an innocuous thank-you to someone who complimented him publicly. After leaving the company in 2017, Justin McConney said, The moment I found out Trump could tweet himself was comparable to the moment in Jurassic Park when Dr. Grant realized that velociraptors could open doors. I was like, Oh no.

Just Stop Talking, Dude

Nathan Wade, the ousted special prosecutor in the Georgia RICO case, just cant help himself, it seems. Now hes done a sit-down interview with ABC News and predicted a day of reckoning in court is ahead for Trump.

Quote Of The Day

[T]he GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden. Former Georgia Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan (R), on his decision to vote for Joe Biden in 2024

The Great White (Ahem) North

TPMs Hunter Walker: How Alex Jones And White Nationalist Podcasts Exploded Into Canadian Politics

Yes, Yes, And Yes

Philip Bump: Why is the simplest explanation of campus protests so hard to accept?

Young people were sympathetic to Palestinians even before the war began. Why is that ignored?

Yeomans Work

Mother Jones Tim Murphy: I Read Everything Elon Musk Posted for a Week. Send Help.

Preach, Brother, Preach

Former TPMer Brian Beutler wades into that mess of a conversation between Semafors Ben Smith and NYT executive editor Joe Kahn about the role of journalism in America today:

The executive editor of the Times really should have a view on whether democracy is preferable to autocracy, truth preferable to lies, and where those values fit in the hierarchy of political commitments. And he should feel free to share that view with the public. Even if voters tell pollsters they have other concerns. Even if fervent coverage of the threat to democracy happens to help the only candidate in the race committed to its survival. Even if it means acknowledging your critics have a point.

A very eloquent assessment from Brian. Take a moment to read the full thing.

Big Congrats To TPM Alum Justin Elliott!

Justin Elliott, one of the two OG muckrakers at TPM way back in the day, was part of the ProPublica team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service Journalism yesterday for its series of stories on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas cozy financial relationship with billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crowe.

Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!
Ohio will purge inactive voters before November election. Here's how to check your status

Ohio election officials will undergo a routine, but controversial process of purging inactive voters from the voter rolls ahead of November's election.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose instructed all county boards of elections to begin reviewing registrations that qualify for cancellation. This includes people who moved to a new address, failed to update their registration and did not engage in voter activity  such as casting a ballot  over the past four years.

In addition, boards must identify:

Voters whose information does not match their BMV records, such as name, date of birth and whether they're alive or dead.

Registrations previously flagged for removal that are still on the rolls, provided they're still inactive.

New registrations that received an acknowledgment in the mail from a local board that was returned as undeliverable.

"These steps should give Ohioans confidence that election integrity is our top priority," LaRose said in a statement. "The process were initiating...is just one part of a larger, aggressive effort to make sure Ohio is ready for another high-profile presidential election this fall."

Ohio election officials will undergo a routine, but controversial process of purging inactive voters from the voter rolls ahead of November's election.

Advocates have questioned whether Ohio's process is the best way to clean up voter rolls. LaRose received criticism last year for purging over 26,000 registrations after voting for the November 2023 election was already underway.

"We applaud any effort that would allow Ohioans to know if they're at risk for being removed before they are removed from the voting rolls," said Jen Miller, executive director for the League of Women Voters of Ohio. "But we believe there are far better ways to have accurate voter rolls, including automated voter registration and being part of the ERIC network where states communicate about their voter registration lists."

The Election Registration Information Center, or ERIC, is a multistate database that aims to help states maintain accurate voter rolls. LaRose pulled Ohio out of the group last year as it faced criticism from conservatives.

Here's what Ohioans need to know about voter registration and cancellations:

What happens now?

Boards have until May 21 to identify registrations that could be canceled. Those voters will receive a final notice in the mail and be added to the state's Registration Readiness website. Then, they have a chance to alert election officials if they want to remain registered.

Qualifying registrations must be canceled by July 22.

How do I see if my voter registration status is at risk?

Visit registrationreadiness.ohiosos.gov to see if you're teed up to be removed from the voter rolls.

How do I register to vote in Ohio?

Ohioans can register to vote online at olvr.ohiosos.gov or mail a form to their county board of elections. In-person registration is available at boards of elections, BMV locations, public libraries and several other locations.

You'll need to provide:

Name

Address

Date of birth

Either 1) Your Ohio driver's license or state ID number or 2) The last four digits of your Social Security number.

Voters must be U.S. citizens, age 18 or older and residents of Ohio for at least 30 days before the election. Those who are incarcerated for a felony can't vote, nor can anyone who's permanently disenfranchised for violating election laws.

How do I check if I'm registered to vote in Ohio?

You can check your registration status at voterlookup.ohiosos.gov.

What's the deadline to register to vote?

If you want to vote in the Nov. 5 election, you must register by Oct. 7.

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How to check Ohio voter registration ahead of November election
Ohioans know what they voted for last November. Yosts legal fights dont change that.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. (Photo by Justin Merriman/Getty Images)

It was plain what Ohio voters approved last November with Issue 1. An overwhelming majority of Ohioans voted for a reset on abortion rights after relentless government assault on reproductive freedoms under the states patriarchal theocratic rule.

The consensus of 57% of the electorate was to enshrine the fundamental right to abortion in the Ohio Constitution.

Issue 1 also explicitly barred the state from directly or indirectly burdening, prohibiting, penalizing or interfering with access to abortion, and discriminating against abortion patients and providers.

Its right there in the ballot language of the constitutional amendment voters said yes to last November. But now, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who issued a legal analysis that largely stood against Issue 1 before it was approved by voters, argues Ohioans didnt vote for what they did.

For months Yost has been doing his level best to legally obstruct implementation of the newly amended state constitution by maintaining the legitimacy of burdensome and discriminatory pre-Issue 1 abortion restrictions that clearly violate the letter of the law post-Issue 1.

He slow walks every single constitutional challenge to every single Republican statute still on the books that interferes with abortion access by erecting unnecessary government barriers between a woman and her right to an abortion.

Yost had the gall to contend that Ohio voters didnt pass Issue 1 to block unnecessary government-mandated delays before patients are allowed to obtain abortions, or to eliminate government-mandated information (that is at least irrelevant and at worst distressing) prior to receiving care.

Yes. They. Did.

Yost cannot pick and choose, a la carte, which provision of the voter-mandated abortion rights amendment applies to unconstitutional restrictions that remain in the Ohio Revised Code.

But thats what hes trying to do in courtroom arguments to keep burdensome and discriminatory state abortion restrictions in force indefinitely, including the 24-hour waiting period for abortion patients  a medically unwarranted government mandate not applicable to any other medical procedure  plus separate, in-person visits for patients to be schooled in required anti-choice material designed to discourage abortions.

Yost and his fellow Republican theocrats like to intimate that childlike Ohioans who voted for Issue 1 didnt fully understand what they were doing. The naive majority who cast their ballots in favor of the amendment simply failed to grasp what it meant to the common sense abortion regulations Republican men had imposed on Ohio women.

Court filings by Yosts office suggest gullible citizens thought a vote for Issue 1 would just give women the same abortion rights they had under Roe v. Wade. Never mind what the language added to the Ohio Constitution (and read by Issue 1 voters) actually said.

Yost analyzed that text at length last year before the November election in a disingenuous critique ripped by a former Ohio AG and AG candidate as a biased hit piece that is intended to confuse voters and weaken support for the amendment.

Yost concluded that all state abortion laws, such as the 24-hour waiting period and state mandated informed consent provisions, would likely be erased if the amendment passed. They would certainly be challenged under Issue 1 and subject to the exclusive scrutiny test of the court as to whether or not they burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against the right to abortion, reasoned Yost.

The problem is, countered his peers, no such standard of review exists in law  Yost has created it out of whole cloth to support his arguments.

Yost was, wrote Marc Dann and Jeff Crossman, deliberately misleading with hyperbolic claims and scare tactics.

He was also revealing his fealty to partisan extremism over the public interest of truth-telling.

Today, Yost crafts his own textual interpretation of the changes Ohioans mandated in state abortion law and audaciously assumes what voters were thinking when they enshrined the right to make and carry out ones own reproductive decisions in their constitution. It is obvious he does not respect the will of the people or acknowledge their sovereignty in self-governance.

Yost, ever the media hound, wants to attract attention as a courtroom combatant for the hard right. To that end, he will fight constitutionally protected abortion rights in Ohio with protracted litigation and frivolous appeals to subvert implementation of the law with whatever legal tool he has to keep Ohio women subjugated as second-class citizens.

Yost is fixated on is generating headlines and getting on TV. So he pursues partisan lawsuits with other Republican AGs to exploit MAGA wedge issues, especially concerning transgender equality, and files a slew of Trump-loving, regulatory-hating amicus briefs to the Supreme Court.

Ohios chief law enforcement officer waves off Trumps 88 felony counts in four jurisdictions for charges ranging from pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud to illegally hoarding classified documents and falsifying business records in a hush money coverup to win the 2016 election. Yost appears guided by selective application of the law when it comes to the accused felon and presumptive presidential nominee of his party.

But Ohios AG is misguided if he thinks Ohioans are willing to concede that same selectivity when it comes to their hard-won constitutional right to reproductive freedom. They know what they voted for and so does Yost.

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The post Ohioans know what they voted for last November. Yosts legal fights dont change that. appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal.
A cruiser sails on the Sava River in Belgrade, Serbia, May 5, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Jing)

Serbia has been a staunch supporter of the BRI since its inception, with over 60 projects completed and around 16 ongoing within the initiative's framework.

SHANGHAI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Economic collaboration between Serbia and China is poised for significant growth, with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) paving the way for a future of shared prosperity, said a Shanghai-based Serbian expert on trade.

Since 2016, when China and Serbia agreed to upgrade their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership in a show of their shared commitment to further deepening bilateral cooperation, their economic relationship has been steadily strengthened, particularly under the BRI, Jelena Grubor Stefanovic, Director of Representative Office of Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

With a decade of experience in China, Stefanovic has been working on creating opportunities for Serbian businesses in the Chinese market and vice versa, with an increasing focus on technological cooperation.

Serbia has been a staunch supporter of the BRI since its inception, with over 60 projects completed and around 16 ongoing within the initiative's framework.

Stefanovic described the Budapest-Belgrade railway, which connects the capital cities of Hungary and Serbia, as one of BRI's flagship projects in that part of the world due to its nature as the first tripartite agreement signed between China, Serbia and Hungary.

This photo taken on May 5, 2024 shows an art installation displayed at the China Cultural Center in Belgrade, Serbia. (Xinhua/Li Jing)

She also highlighted the Pupin Bridge over the Danube River in Serbia, which opened in 2014 as one of China's significant infrastructure investments in Europe.

"During the past two years, China has emerged as the largest foreign direct investor in Serbia, bringing numerous benefits to the country," she said. "Now Serbia has more opportunities to systematically focus its efforts on attracting investments from China in industry sectors with high added value like life sciences, digital economy, automotive industry, smart agriculture sector and green development."

During the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2023, China and Serbia signed the Free Trade Agreement, focusing on eliminating tariffs on 90 percent of goods.

Stefanovic believed that the agreement would bring a myriad of opportunities to both countries and open new avenues for trade and investment, fostering closer people-to-people and business-to-business exchanges.

"I think the more they learn about each other's market, the more they can see about the vast opportunities. The business communities have to seize now such opportunities," she noted.

Witnessing China's rapid transformation into an innovation-driven economy, Stefanovic expressed optimism about its resilience.

"The Chinese government is focusing on supporting advanced technology development as the key pillar of its economy," she said, adding that there's no alternative market to provide fertile ground for innovation and growth at China's scale. 
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)  Historic Old Town Albuquerque was added to the New Mexico MainStreet (NMMS) network. Its a part of the Urban Neighborhood Commercial Corridor (UNCC) Initiative.

According to an Economic Development Department press release, the UNCC is one of NMMSs Project-Based Initiatives that provides professional technical assistance to community projects during a 12-18-month timeframe. The projects must produce economic development outcomes in the form of business retention and creation, job creation, and/or property investment.

Free Mothers Day celebrations planned for Old Town

We want Old Town Albuquerque to become the historic & cultural heart of the city again. With the increase in vibrancy Old Town has seen in the past few years, Old Town is truly a place that needs to be rediscovered by locals and experienced by tourists alike. To say the Historic Old Town Association is ecstatic to be accepted into New Mexico MainStreets Project-Based Initiative would be an understatement, said Historic Old Town Association President J.J. Mancini.

The release states the UNCC Initiative began in 2021 to support community economic development projects in cities with more than 50,000 in population. A previous UNCC project, Albuquerques Revitalize San Pedro Partnership, was recently designated by Main Street America as an Affiliated MainStreet District.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
(Alyssa Schukar for Feeding America)

LINCOLN  Nebraskas plan to carry out the once-controversial Summer EBT food program for low-income youths has been given the green light from the federal government.

(Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the states planned rollout of the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program, which include details such as touchpoints that local officials designed to improve outreach, according to a media release Monday from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

So-called touchpoints include providing Nebraska parents with information on types of nutritious foods to buy and follow-up surveys to identify additional needs or concerns.

175,000 students

State officials expect the Summer EBT program to serve about 175,000 students, or 80,000 households that meet certain criteria, including an income that makes them eligible for free or reduced-price lunch during the school year.

That count is up from an earlier estimate of about 150,000 children anticipated to benefit at a state cost of about $400,000 per year to administer the federally-funded program.

Each qualified child is to receive a card loaded with a total of $120 in grocery-buying benefits. The program is designed to allow access to nutritious food during summer months when school is out.

Modeled after pilot projects and a nationwide pandemic-era initiative that ended, Congress authorized the more permanent summer program through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.

State Sen. Jen Day of Gretna during the past legislative session introduced Legislative Bill 952, which stalled but had been prioritized by Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island to push the state to implement the federal program.

Gov. Jim Pillen had balked at opting in, describing the program as a leftover from the pandemic that had ended.

Child Nutrition protest

Paul Feilmann, an anti-poverty activist from Omaha, holds a vigil outside the Nebraska Governors Residence. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)

He later added that he didnt believe in welfare, which brought more criticism because the governor, a hog producer and co-owner of a pork processing plant, has accepted federal assistance.

Already, Pillen had been flooded by pleas from food banks, advocates of the poor and protesters.

Ultimately the governor reversed his stand, attributing the change of heart to a visit with Aguilar, a Republican, and discussions he had with students at Boys Town and during a youth legislative day.

Big step

Day, who had led a letter-writing effort supported by 15 state lawmakers, said Monday that although Nebraska was one of the last states to opt in to the new summer program, it was the fourth in the nation to have its plan approved.

Im glad that well be able to feed 175,000 Nebraska kids this summer and relieve some of the economic stress that many families are feeling right now, Day said.

She praised the work of the DHHS and Department of Education in crafting the plan.

These programs are crucial for making sure that kids in our state receive nutritious meals during the months they are not in school, DHHS CEO Steve Corsi said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the USDA said the agency is pleased Nebraska chose to participate.

State Sen. Jen Day of Gretna. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

We are impressed that the states plan includes a range of services to reach kids and also robust outreach to the community, said Cheryl Kennedy, regional administrator for the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. This will be a great benefit to the children of Nebraska.

Eric Savaiano, food and access manager for Nebraska Appleseed, a nonprofit that fought early on for participation in the program, said federal approval of Nebraskas plan is a big step. Now, he said, there is contact information and other detail available for families.

This puts details behind the program that means it is actually going to happen, Savaiano said.

In addition to the Summer EBT program, the State Department of Education said it also is administering the Summer Food Service Program, which provides no-cost meals to kids from age 1 to 18 at about 300 sites across Nebraska.

No applications or paperwork are required to receive meals from approved Summer Food Service Program sites, most of which begin providing meals the first week of June.

Summer EBT eligibility

School-age, income-qualified youths are eligible for Summer EBT cards.

According to DHHS, kids already approved for free and reduced-priced school lunches, or who participate in state-administered public assistance, should receive their cards by mail and dont have to formally apply.

If in doubt, or for more information on eligibility and application, the state offers a website for the Summer EBT program and the Summer Food Service Program: https://dhhs.ne.gov/SummerEBT.

Once a Summer EBT card is received and activated, it can be used like any other EBT card.

Cards are accepted at approved SNAP retailers, supermarkets and grocery stores. For a list, visit https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailer-locator

The post Once-controversial Summer EBT food program for low-income NE kids set for rollout appeared first on Nebraska Examiner.
Protester arrested twice after police clear out pro-Palestine encampment at UNC Charlotte

A student has been arrested twice after police cleared out a pro-Palestine encampment at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The first incident began on campus around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Students hold pro-Palestine protests at UNC Charlotte

The UNCC student who was arrested Tuesday morning, James Farrell, was rearrested later in the evening during another protest.

He is back in jail and faces a new charge of second-degree trespassing.

Morning protests

Videos posted to the Instagram account @unccencampment show what looks like officers clearing out the encampment in the morning.

Channel 9 crews were there as officers hauled tents out of the area.

Crews worked this morning to clear the pro-Palestine encampment at UNC-Charlotte. A representative of UNCC police tells us this was their work. CMPD stood by incase assistance was needed. One person was arrested. It is unclear if that was a student. @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/1KjtsF4YI8  Eli Brand (@EliBrandTV) May 7, 2024

In a message sent Tuesday morning, the chancellor said the protesters violated several university buildings when they chose to erect tents, fencing, displays, and other structures.

These actions are not free speech; they disrupt campus operations and pose a threat to campus safety, Chancellor Sharon L. Gaber wrote.

Gaber also announced by 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, a student ID card would be needed to access any campus buildings. The precautionary measure was put in place to ensure final exams can continue uninterrupted should protests occur later Tuesday, she said.

What began as peaceful protesting has transitioned over the past several days to intentionally and repeatedly violating University policy, despite repeated warnings, Gabers letter reads.

UNC Charlotte said it respects and values free expression. However, expression must be conducted within a reasonable time, place, and manner as established in law and university policy.

So when they did the protests, they usually kept it in this field right here, said student Brandon Funderburk. And theyd kept it out of the sidewalks and everything. So it didnt really become an obligation to me, like an obstacle in any way.

The students who Channel 9s Hannah Goetz spoke with said they dont mind the protests but appreciate the safety precautions.

Its all about safety, I guess, Funderburk said. And Im glad theyre being safe and make sure everyone else is safe. So I respect that.

According to a spokesperson with UNC Charlotte, campus police officers found various concerning items after the encampment was cleared, including knives, box cutters, a collection of baseball-sized rocks, and a mattress that was used to collect and store feces.

Evening protests

A couple dozen protesters emerged later in the evening to support Palestine.

As protesters chanted through campus, one yelled, pulled out her phone, and informed the group she was notified she was suspended.

A couple dozen students are marching in support of Palestine on UNC Charlottes campus. During the march, one of the groups leaders opened an email saying she has been suspended pic.twitter.com/t1AgIKR8yl  Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) May 7, 2024

Unmasking Mobs and Criminals Bill

Lawmakers in Raleigh introduced the Unmasking Mobs and Criminals Bill, which could make wearing masks during protests illegal.

Sen. Buck Newton, R-District 4, wants to repeal the state law, which allows people to wear a mask to ensure the health and safety of others.

After the bill was heard in committee Tuesday, Newton told reporters this is in response to people using masks to conceal their identities in public.

Senator Buck Newton is proposing the "Unmasking Mobs and Criminals" bill. It would repeal the health and safety exemption for wearing masks. He told reporters this is in response to people wearing masks to conceal their identities. https://t.co/dyDAttUnTt pic.twitter.com/1xxHwdOHnp  Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) May 8, 2024

Chapel Hill

More than 700 UNC Chapel Hill faculty and staff have signed a petition calling on the school to grant amnesty to pro-Palestinian protestors facing suspension.

Some school leaders claim the flagship university undermined public trust when it called in police to remove the student encampment set up last week. Thats because they believe the protest was peaceful.

The university claims the protest damaged the quad.

More than a dozen people were arrested.

This is a developing story. Check back with wsoctv.com for updates.

VIDEO: Students hold pro-Palestine protests at UNC Charlotte




Police: Man dies after shooting in Baton Rouge, teen in custody

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD)  A Monday afternoon shooting left one man dead and a teen in custody.

The Baton Rouge Police Department said Sherderick Jones, 46, died from his injuries after being taken to a local hospital in critical condition. According to police, the shooting happened after a 14-year-old got into a fight with the victim in the 3400 block of Clayton Street.

Police said the teen was taken into custody.

Baton Rouge police investigating shooting that left teen injured

An investigation is ongoing.

If anyone has information that could help detectives, contact BRPDs Violent Crime Unit at 225-389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at 225-344-7867.

Latest News

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to BRProud.com.
One killed in Oklahoma tornado as severe storms batter Central and Southern states

At least one person in Oklahoma has died as a result of a tornado that ripped through small towns as severe storms moved from the South and into central areas, causing devastation and disruption for millions.

Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden told NBC News that the unidentified person died Monday night as a result of a tornado in Barnsdall, a city of about 1,000 people 40 miles north of Tulsa, amid some of the storm's worst devastation.

Virden said it was too early to say how many other people may have been injured, but he said his deputies had rescued multiple people. "Theres areas, residences, that [have] been completely destroyed. We did several rescues of people trapped in debris," he said.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said on X that it had established a meeting point in the town for anyone searching for loved ones.

An Oklahoma State Highway Patrol trooper searches through storm damage in Barnsdall, Oklahoma. (Mike Simons / Tulsa World via AP)

Bartlesville, 20 miles to the northeast, was similarly affected. A hotel was severely damaged, as shown in social media posts uploaded by witnesses  firefighters were called to rescue some people trapped inside.

I took this one.



I was in the Hampton Inn as well. You can use it, give me credit. pic.twitter.com/HoerAAUO8B  ENG (@nativeamnft) May 7, 2024

Bartlesville's city government said that there had been significant damage across Bartlesville, with some power lines down, but that only minor injuries had been reported so far. Residents were urged to stay inside and stay off the roads.

The National Weather Service issued a rare tornado emergency statement for Osage on Monday. "A large, extremely dangerous and potentially deadly tornado is on the ground," it said. The tornado watch was extended until 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Osage Nation Emergency Management officials and police said on Facebook they had joined "numerous agencies for search and rescue through the Osage Nation Reservation."

"Our community is strong and eager to help those in need," they said.

Across Oklahoma, more than 25,000 energy customers were without power at 5 a.m. local time Tuesday, according to the website PowerOutage.us, while 18,000 were without power in Missouri and almost 10,000 in Arkansas.

Tornado damage in Oklahoma (WxChasing / LSM)

The National Weather Service said the severe weather  which has affected parts of the country for more than five weeks  will continue at least into Wednesday as an area of low pressure develops over the Great Lakes.

A tornado also swept through Smithville, Tennessee, bringing down trees and damaging houses, as seen in video uploaded to social media.

Damage in Smithville, TN pic.twitter.com/J4FjKsxTnF  Chad Rock (@crockchad) May 6, 2024

Three people had been confirmed dead in Texas as a result of storms and floods, Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday.

Severe thunderstorms were still moving across parts of the Midwest on Tuesday morning, with 29 million people under severe storm risk in the Tennessee and Ohio River valleys and other areas. Chicago; Nashville, Tennessee; Toledo, Ohio; and Ann Arbor, Michigan, could also get devastating weather.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
One of the Surfers Killed in Mexico Was Engaged to Be Married In August

Jack Carter Rhoad and his bride-to-be, Natalie Weirtz, were on track for an August wedding

Gofundme Jack Carter Rhoad and Natalie Weirtz

One of the surfers who was found slain during a recent trip to Baja California, Mexico was engaged to be married this summer.

Brothers Jake Robinson, 30, and Callum Robinson, 33, traveled with their friend Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, in late April for a surfing trip. Their bodies were discovered in a well with gunshot wounds after they failed to show up at the accommodations they had booked in Rosarito.

Related: 7 Dead, Including 7-Year-Old Child, After Gunmen Storm Mexico Tourist Resort

callum10robinson/Instagram Callum Robinson, Jake Robinson, Jack Carter Rhoad

A Zola online wedding registry states that Rhoad was set to tie the knot with Natalie Weirtz on Aug. 17 in Columbus, Ohio.

On the site, just below the date and option to RSVP, is a photo of the pair smiling as they walk hand-in-hand.

Related: Bride Killed, Groom Injured After Alleged Drunk Driver Hits Golf Cart Minutes After Wedding Reception

The couple intended to have a welcome party the evening before with family and friends.

In the wake of the heartbreaking loss of Carter Rhoad, Callum Robinson, and Jake Robinson, our hearts ache with grief for their families, friends, and community, organizer Aubrey Byers began in a GoFundMe account posted on Sunday, May 5.

Their presence brought immeasurable joy, love, and kindness to those around them, leaving a mark on our lives.

AP Photo/Karen Castaneda A demonstrator holds photos of the foreign surfers who disappeared during a protest in Ensenada, Mexico

Byers identified herself as a good friend of Carter and Natalie before explaining the purpose of the page.

We've created this GoFundMe page for two purposes: the first is to rally support for Natalie during this unimaginably difficult time and provide essentials such as housing, food, transportation, and more, she wrote. The second is to honor Carter by raising money for scholarships and donations he felt passionate about. No donation is too small, and every contribution is deeply appreciated.

As of Monday, May 6, the GoFundMe had reached over $50,000 of its $250,000 goal.

A photo shared on the account showed Rhoad and Weirtz laughing together for an outdoor sunset photoshoot.

If you're unable to donate, please consider sharing this page with your community. Together, we can continue to surround this family with the love and support they need to navigate this challenging journey. Thank you for your kindness, compassion, and solidarity during this time of profound loss, Byers concluded.

AP Photo/Karen Castaneda Photos of the foreign surfers who disappeared are placed on the beach in Ensenada, Mexico

Jake, Callum and Rhoad were last seen surfing and camping along the Mexican coast, south of Ensenada on April 27.

On Friday, May 3, officials released a statement saying their bodies had been found at the bottom of a well, 50 feet deep in a desolate section of Santo Tomas, Baja California, per NBC San Diego.

Related: 8 Bodies Found Near Popular Tourist Destination in Mexico: Report

According to the Associated Press, authorities believe the surfers were shot and killed because the assailants wanted the tires from the truck the victims had been driving.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Baja Californias chief state prosecutor Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez said during a press conference that the men were likely killed when they attempted to fight off the robbers.

While she did say that a fourth body was found in the well, she added, There is a lot of important information that we cant make public.



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Read the original article on People.
One of youngest Azovstal defenders killed on front lines

Twenty-one-year-old Ukrainian soldier Nazarii Hryntsevych, also known under the call sign "Hrinka," was killed on the front lines, the Contact 12 special forces group of the Azov Brigade said on May 7.

Hryntsevych was one of the youngest soldiers who defended Azovstal, a steel plant that was the Ukrainian military's last stronghold in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, before the city became entirely occupied by Russia in May 2022, Suspilne reported.

Hryntsevych was captured by Russia and reportedly held in a prison colony in the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast for over four months. He was released during a large-scale prisoner swap in September 2022, along with other 214 Ukrainian and foreign soldiers.

After his release from captivity, Hryntsevych returned to the front lines.

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Hryntsevych founded the Contact 12 special forces group, where he served as a platoon commander of optical observers, Suspilne wrote.

More than 900 Azov soldiers remain in Russian captivity, Denys Prokopenko, the commander of the Azov Brigade, said in February.

The last reported prisoner exchange occurred on Feb. 8, with 100 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) coming back from Russian captivity.

On Jan. 3, 230 prisoners were exchanged in the largest prisoner exchange since the start of Russias full-scale invasion.

Ukraine is open to considering an all-for-all prisoner of war (POW) exchange and will discuss the idea at the upcoming Peace Summit in Switzerland in June, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 3.

Read also: Families of captive Azov fighters desperately wait as Russia obstructs prisoner swaps

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Only 1 applicant so far to replace North Dakotas retiring oil regulator

Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Natural Resources, speaks during an Energy Development and Transmission Committee meeting at the Capitol on April 10, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

Candidates arent exactly lining up to replace Lynn Helms.

A consulting firm hired to help replace Helms, North Dakotas top oil regulator, will continue to recruit candidates in the face of lighter than expected interest.

The flow of interested candidates is there, but perhaps a little slower than we might hope, Jonathan Martin of Preng and Associates told a search committee on Monday.

Martin said there has been one applicant to apply to be director of the Department of Mineral Resources through the official state portal.

Were asking the candidates that we generate to apply to the portal as well, Martin said.

Houston-based Preng and Associates is an executive search firm for the energy industry.

Martin said the firm would continue reaching out to candidates and will network at the upcoming Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck May 14-16.

Helms announced in January that he would be retiring at the end of June. Helms was appointed to lead the Oil and Gas Division in 1998. In 2005, the Oil and Gas Division merged with the North Dakota Geological Survey and was reorganized as the Department of Mineral Resources, where Helms has continued to serve as director.

Since then, advancements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have helped North Dakota become the nations No. 3 oil producing state.

Reice Haase, deputy executive director for the Industrial Commission, which oversees the Department of Mineral Resources, said in an email that the application period to replace Helms will be open until May 31.

A search committee will recommend three to five finalists to the Industrial Commission for final interviews, which will be public.

Haase said those interviews should happen next month.

Haase said Preng and Associates were contracted to help with the search, to be paid up to $75,000.

The market feedback in general has been very positive, Martin said. There is a lot of respect for Lynn and the job he has done.

The post Only 1 applicant so far to replace North Dakotas retiring oil regulator appeared first on North Dakota Monitor.
File photo taken on Oct. 16, 2009 shows Xi Jinping (2nd L), then Chinese vice president, visiting the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school in Budapest, capital of Hungary. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

by Xinhua writers Jiang Hanlu, Liu Chang

BUDAPEST/BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Nestled near the glittering Danube River in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, a Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school has enjoyed rising popularity in recent years.

Saying "Nihao," hello in Chinese, is the first lesson for students. Many of them can fluently recite the Chinese version of poems by Hungarian poet Sandor Petofi. Teachers there also give lectures on Lu Xun, one of China's greatest modern writers in the 20th century.

Founded in 2004, the school has played a unique role in promoting cultural exchanges between China and Hungary over the past two decades. And in 2009, its bond with China grew stronger after a visit of a special guest.

Students practice martial arts at Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

"HELLO, UNCLE XI"

For Zsuzsanna Erdelyi, principal of the school, many heart-warming moments of the visit by Xi Jinping, who was Chinese vice president then, remain fresh in her memory.

During the tour of the school, he kept a smile on his face, and chatted with the children about poems and nursery rhymes, Erdelyi recalled.

To greet Xi, students wrote in Chinese characters on a blackboard "Hello, Uncle Xi." They also sang Mandarin songs, danced ballet and put on martial arts performances.

Xi was particularly impressed when two students recited "Quiet Night Thoughts" and "Love Seeds," two classic poems from China's Tang Dynasty more than 1,000 years ago.

Applauding the children's performance, Xi shared with them his appreciation of the Hungarian culture and the long-running bilateral cultural exchanges. He took himself as an example, saying that quite many Chinese of his age watched "Ludas Matyi," a 1950 Hungarian movie based on an eponymous poem.

Noting that some Chinese literature classics like "A Dream in Red Mansions" were translated into Hungarian long ago, Xi said that many Chinese were also fond of the Hungarian Rhapsodies, a collection of 19 piano pieces by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, who is considered the greatest piano virtuoso of his time.

Xi gave textbooks and teaching equipment as gifts to the school. The students also returned a present to him: a piece of drawing of a little red heart with some handwritten warm wishes.

Over the years, the Chinese leader has followed the school's development, said Erdelyi. "He gave a lot of valuable advice for the school, including the famous Chinese proverb: 'It takes 10 years to grow trees, but 100 years to cultivate people.'"

"Teaching children is a similar process ... It's only when they turn into adults after many years of schooling that we truly appreciate the impact of school education on their lives," she added.

Bonita Varga (L) and Tamara Imre, two Hungarian students whose Chinese names are Hu Lingyue and Song Zhixiao, speak in an interview with Xinhua at Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 7, 2023. (Xinhua/Deng Yaomin)

NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS

To commemorate Xi's visit 15 years ago, a group photo of Xi and the students still hangs on the wall in the school's hallway. That trip saw the start of a special bond between the Chinese president and the students and teachers of the school that spans the years.

Prior to the Spring Festival of 2023, Bonita Varga and Tamara Imre, two Hungarian students whose Chinese names are Hu Lingyue and Song Zhixiao, received scholarships for the second time from China. So they decided to write a letter to Xi and his wife, Professor Peng Liyuan, on behalf of all students in the school to express their gratitude and convey their Chinese New Year's greetings.

They tried to write on different kinds of paper to make sure that their letter looked nice. In their letter, they wrote about their experience of studying Chinese in the school for 12 years, and expressed their willingness to study at Chinese universities and contribute to the Hungary-China friendship.

Not long after they mailed the letter, Xi replied. Xi said he still remembered chatting with teachers and students of the school in 2009. He encouraged Hungarian youths to learn more about China and become envoys of the China-Hungary friendship.

Encouraging the students to study in Chinese universities after graduation from high school, Xi said he hopes that more and more Hungarian youths will love to study the Chinese language.

Erdelyi said Xi's reply "was a big surprise for us." With his encouragement, many students in the school are aiming to "play an important role in building the relations of the two countries," she said.

Now, over 7,000 km away from Budapest, Varga and Imre have realized their dreams of studying in China. Last autumn, the two students began their undergraduate studies at the Capital Normal University in Beijing.

Their life in Beijing has been quite interesting, and challenging as well. They encounter "cross-cultural experiences" almost daily. Take food: the Chinese people eat a lot of rice, while the Hungarians prefer potatoes and bread. But the pair have also found that both peoples love a homely dish -- "beef stew with potatoes."

"I am willing to be a warm-hearted envoy of China-Hungary friendship," said Varga, whose wish is to be a Chinese language teacher or a translator after graduation.

Yang Chao (R), charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, presents a book to Zsuzsanna Erdelyi, head of Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school, at the school in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

STRONGER CULTURAL TIES

Wang Yue, deputy principal and Chinese teacher at the school, said Xi's reply greatly inspired students. More of them now have a stronger enthusiasm to learn Chinese and to study in China.

Erneszt Sandor Durand, a 12th-grade student of the school, has been to many Chinese cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing. As China's importance in the world economy is increasing, so is the importance of learning Chinese, he said, adding that he plans to further his studies at universities in Beijing in the future.

Dorina Inges, also a student of the school, said she is quite fascinated with the Chinese culture. She can play guzheng, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, and dance traditional Chinese folk dances.

The growing popularity of the Chinese language and culture among the Hungarians also contributes to the school's continuous development over the past two decades. Initially, most students were from Chinese families living and working in Hungary. Currently, the school has 12 grades and 20 classes with more than 530 students, with the majority being native Hungarians.

"The bilingual school far exceeds traditional economic, cooperative and other types of relations," former Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy told Xinhua. "It actually encompasses the opportunity for interpersonal connections, the chance for people to get to know each other, to learn and recognize each other's culture and civilization, and to embrace these, encouraging people to be open, curious, and objective in such matters."

A Chinese teacher instructs students on Chinese calligraphy at the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

Guo Jiaming, former deputy principal of the school, told Xinhua that the school's development reflects the good momentum of strengthening China-Hungary relations and growing exchanges between the two peoples.

Presently, there are five Confucius Institutes in Hungary, and 12 universities in China offer opportunities to learn the Hungarian language.

The Chinese language has been incorporated into Hungary's national education system and has become one of the subjects in the university entrance examination. The cultural centers set up by both sides are also an important platform for cultural exchanges.

"It is important to the relations of the two countries to have people who speak both languages well," said Erdelyi, expressing her hope to see more intercultural exchanges to promote understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

(Xinhua reporters Chen Hao, Chen Wenxian, Sun Xinjing in Budapest, Zhang Yuan, Zhao Xu, Su Liang in Beijing also contributed to the story.) 
Editors Note: Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a senior columnist for World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.

During a recent visit to the student encampment at Columbia University, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota made what she may have thought was an enlightened statement. We should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, she declared, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide. Omar, whose daughter was arrested in the protests, appeared to be implying that students who back Israels actions in Gaza are supporters of genocide.

Frida Ghitis - Tanya Malott

The claim, the chants, the smearing of President Joe Biden as Genocide Joe (to former President Donald Trumps delight) for his support for Israel are part of an astonishingly successful campaign to paint Israels defensive war against Hamas as an act of genocide.

The charge is not just absurd, its outrageous. Yet incredibly, its a smear that has gained traction.

Yes, Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians following the Hamas attacks of October 7. The suffering of the population in Gaza is heartbreaking, horrific. And Israel may not have done everything it could to minimize the civilian death toll. But the leap to brand its military campaign as a genocide  the depth of humanitys depravity  is unconscionable.

Many people see, as I do, a direct connection in the genocide accusations to a centuries old calumny that has bedeviled the Jewish people, used since the Middle Ages to taunt them and even to justify massacring and exiling them. Its called the blood libel, and it has long helped fuel the apparently undying fires of antisemitism.

The original blood libel claimed that Jews murdered Christians, particularly children, so they could use their blood in rituals. It may sound laughable, ridiculous, but across hundreds of years many have believed it. Some still do. CNNs Wolf Blitzer confronted a Hamas official on air in 2014 about his assertion that Jews use Christian blood in the matzo they eat at Passover.

Over the centuries, this defamation gave rise to other well-worn antisemitic tropes  that Jews are vampires, blood-suckers and organ-harvesters. Images of Jews and Stars of David dripping blood have cropped up repeatedly since October 7.

Indeed, too many today are willing to assume the worst possible motives for the actions of Jews  or in this case, the Jewish state  making the historical blood libel the heir to an ever-evolving series of modern slanders culminating in genocide.

Genocide is a term that became enshrined in international law after Nazi Germany sought to annihilate every Jew in Europe, killing 6 million, including about 1.5 million children. It is something completely different from what is happening in Gaza.

The UNs Genocide Convention defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The term was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish jurist who in the 1930s began to push for an international law barring such atrocities as Jews in Eastern Europe endured brutal pogroms. He escaped to the US and later helped prepare the Nuremberg trials against the Nazis who, among the millions they had killed, had murdered his family who remained behind in Europe.

Claims that Israel has been committing a genocide of Palestinians date to long before October 7. Yet the population of Gaza was estimated to be less than 400,000 when Israel captured the territory from Egypt in a war against multiple Arab countries in 1967. Its now estimated at just over 2 million. Population growth of almost 600% would make it the most inept genocide in the history of the world.

What about now?

Those repeating the word genocide over and over, turning it into a mantra that penetrates the public consciousness, smearing Israel and anyone who supports it, ignore the facts of this war.

This is not an unprovoked war, like Russias against Ukraine. Its not a civil war between rival militias, like the one raging in Sudan  which, by the way, is being ignored by almost everyone, even though the UN describes it as one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent memory, where a famine could kill 500,000 people.

No, Israel was attacked. On October 7, Hamas launched a gruesome assault on Israeli civilians, killing some 1,200  including many women and children  and dragging hundreds of them as hostages into Gaza. Today dozens  including many women and children  remain in captivity.

Those who keep saying that Israels response is an act of revenge rather than the strategic, defensive war that most Israelis view as a fight for national survival against a determined enemy backed by a powerful country are deliberately distorting reality. In doing so, they are perversely evoking the same false blood lust and grotesqueness embedded in the blood libel archetype.

Hamas massacre, its wide-ranging sexual violence, its burning of entire families in their homes, its vow to do it again  these and other serious threats that the group poses to Israelis get ignored in the characterizations of the Israel Defense Forces as pursuing only vengeance by killing Gazan civilians.

Indeed, Hamas actions, which precipitated this war, dont seem to exist in the minds of ostensibly humanitarian-minded protesters. Nor even the fate of the hostages, still captive in Hamas tunnels.

Although the campus protests vary in their message and actions from school to school, we never hear protesters chant that Hamas should release the hostages or accept a ceasefire. Quite the contrary. Accusations against Israel at times include praise for Hamas, one of whose aims  the end of the Jewish state  is shared by some key organizers of the student protests. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently said, It remains astounding to me that the world is almost deafeningly silent when it comes to Hamas.

Accusing Israel of genocide and putting the entire onus for stopping the war, putting all the blame for the deaths, on the Jewish state is even more astounding because Hamas  designated a terrorist organization by the US, the European Union and many other countries  is a group whose explicit goal, according to its founding charter, is not just to destroy Israel, but to kill Jews. That is the definition of genocide.

Yet the casualty figures from Gaza are produced by people who report to Hamas, which has ruled Gaza as a dictatorship for nearly two decades. They are repeated regularly, without noticeable skepticism, often without specific attribution to Hamas as the source. I dont know how many people have died. But its reasonable to believe that Hamas has an incentive to inflate the numbers.

Still, the death toll, even by the Hamas count, does not in any way suggest a genocidal campaign. The terror organization puts the total at about 35,000. The figure, disputed by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy among other think tanks and researchers, includes Hamas fighters. That means the number of civilians killed, whatever the total, is actually lower.

Compare that to the death toll in Mosul, Iraq, where coalition forces uprooted ISIS from a city that had some 600,000 people at the time. Estimates of the exact number of deaths vary, ranging from 9,000 to 40,000 (the latter is the estimate of Kurdish intelligence). The lowest figure is on par with the rate of total deaths reported by Hamas authorities in Gaza that does not distinguish civilians from Hamas fighters, while the highest is four times greater.

I dont recall hearing the term genocide used there, or in any of the battles that led to more than half a million people being killed in Afghanistan and Iraq during Americas wars there. And yet, Israel has been repeatedly smeared with this damning accusation.

CNNs Jake Tapper recently asked Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a distinguished and experienced US military leader, if he thought Israel is conducting its war by the same standards  weighing the military value of targets versus the risk to civilians  that the US would use. His answer: Yes, I do.

The death of any innocent civilian is a tragedy, and too many have died in Gaza. My heart aches when I see the images and hear the stories of what theyre enduring. But Israel is fighting a war unlike any in recent memory. Urban combat is notoriously difficult, notoriously hard on civilians. Thats magnified in Gaza by Hamas deliberate effort to surround itself with civilians, embedded in tunnels, with the knowledge  accurate, as it turns out  that high death counts turn global opinion against Israel and create pressure to stop the war so that Hamas may survive to continue fighting.

South Africa formalized the newest incarnation of the blood libel when it brought a case to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide. The courts response has been misreported, as its former president just explained. It found that Palestinians have a plausible right to be protected from genocide. Many had erroneously reported that the court said South Africas accusation of genocide itself was plausible.

Israels image is not helped by its current government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has brought into his coalition some extremist ministers whose utterances and behavior are beyond repugnant. But their words are not national policy. In fact, some Israelis themselves  including high-profile politicians  have condemned them in the strongest terms. Which is part of why Omars efforts to clean up her aspersions toward Jewish students by pointing to such rhetoric after she came under pressure is unconvincing.

One of the areas where Israel has failed is in the delivery of food to the region. The UN says parts of Gaza, particularly the north, are facing starvation, or are already in the midst of a famine. Any death from hunger is appalling, and Israel should have long ago improved the operations to screen deliveries. But the dire situation is hardly evidence of genocidal intent.

Aid distribution in the middle of a lawless war zone without police to protect supplies is incredibly difficult, and Hamas at times appears to be trying to make the situation worse. Hamas has intercepted and diverted food aid, according to the State Department. Trucks carrying food have been ransacked, looted and otherwise attacked, according to UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Palestine James McGoldrick, though he didnt specify by which groups. On Sunday, Hamas fired rockets in the direction of one of the main aid crossings, killing four Israeli soldiers and disrupting humanitarian deliveries. Even the pier being built by the US to boost aid deliveries has come under fire.

Its fair to criticize Israel on many counts. Its conduct of this war can and will be debated for years to come. But protesters calling Israels defensive war a genocidal one, politicians accusing supporters of Israel of being pro-genocide and even journalists and other observers being so accepting of the premise that they let such charges stand unchallenged  as so often happens  is another ugly example of the resurgence of the oldest hate: antisemitism for the 21st century.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, over the past several days, cemented his position as Americas worst ally. In fact, given his behavior, real questions exist whether he is even an ally at all.

America has had bad allies in the past. Joseph Stalin, for example, while an invaluable partner during World War II, did immediately thereafter turn on the West and launch the Cold War. (He also happened to be a historic tyrant and brutal mass murderer of his own people.) The alliances with figures like the Shah of Iran, the government of South Vietnam, and our brief cooperative dalliance with Saddam Hussein have also certainly not aged well.

But, in the modern era, no one else is in the class of Netanyahu. He has taken advantage of the long-standing ties between his country and the United States while in turn providing, especially in recent years, very little except damage, burdens, complications, and worse.

Biden Should Suspend Offensive Military Aid to Israel Immediately

He ignores U.S. advice and entreaties. He undermines U.S. interests. He has used the support hes received from the U.S. in the commission of what many believe to be serial war crimes. And to top it all off, he is singularly ungrateful for all the backing he has received.

Further, he compounds all of the above by being a terrible leader who has made multiple monumental errors, promoted extremist monsters to leading positions in his government and, while he was at it, sought to undermine Israeli democracy, committed a variety of domestic offenses in Israel and, at the same time, supported a criminal element in U.S. politics.

In just the past week, Netanyahu has frustrated U.S. efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, launched an operation in Rafah that the U.S. has actively and vocally opposed, and, literally weeks after the U.S. led an international coalition that defended Israel in the face of attacks from Iran, said that Israel could never trust the gentiles.

In so doing, he has shown himself more loyal to the crazies in his cabinet (upon whom his job depends) than to the U.S. administration that stood up for him during Israels darkest hour in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks of last Oct. 7.

He has ignored the pleas of thousands of Israeli demonstrators that he step downgiven his disastrous record before and since that date. He has flouted requests by the international community to provide further aid for the people of Gaza. (The World Food Programmes Executive Director Cindy McCain has warned that Gaza is already in the midst of a full-blown famine.)

An Israeli army M109 155mm self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on October 11, 2023. Jack Guez / Getty

Further, the UN has issued new reports against the continued and systematic onslaught of violence committed against Palestinians in Gaza, with most victims being women and children.

U.S. officials with whom I have spoken say the Biden administration is beyond frustrated with the Israeli prime minister. They had hoped a ceasefire deal would provide a vital pause to both focus on providing Gaza with the humanitarian assistance it needs and to give Israel a chance to turn its attention to its own political futurea veiled reference to finding a replacement for Netanyahu.

U.S. negotiators, led by CIA Director William Burns, have worked tirelessly to find a path to a break in the fighting in Gaza. While acknowledging the central role Hamas has played in impeding peace negotiations, members of the Biden team are, at this point, even more deeply unhappy with Netanyahu than they have been beforewhich is saying a lot.

On Monday, Hamas announced publicly that it had agreed to terms for a ceasefire. Israel followed almost immediately by disavowing that there was a deal and saying that Hamas had agreed to terms to which these Israelis had not agreed. One report, from Axios Barak Ravid, indicated that the Israelis felt the Americans had kept elements of the deal from them, a notion the U.S. strongly pushed back against.

Do Americans Want a Ceasefire in Gaza? It Depends.

That is, of course, the Israeli spin on what happened. Other reports suggest that the changes in the deal Hamas okayed were consistent with past terms agreed to by Israel, with only minor adjustments.

The U.S. is continuing to work to get the Israelis to accept the terms and to resuscitate the deal.

Israels moves against Rafah, which expanded Monday, were also seen as evidence that Israel did not want a ceasefireevidence that was backed up by earlier statements by Netanyahu and his cabinet that indicated they would go into the densely populated southern Gaza enclave regardless of whether a ceasefire was reached.

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on October 18, 2023. Brendan Smialowski / Getty

America reportedly had delivered a message to Israel that it was serious in its opposition to a Rafah operation by blocking a key arms shipment to the Israelis last week. The subsequent Israeli moves have produced anger and concern both in Washington and across the international community, given the likely toll such an operation is expected to take on innocent residents of Gaza.

In addition, there is an emerging view from a variety of experts that operations in Gaza will not actually achieve Netanyahus stated goal of enhancing Israeli security.

The failure of Netanyahus strategy in Gaza was also revealed, yet again, in recent days to have been the direct result of disastrous policy decisions made by the right-wing Israeli government prior to Oct. 7. Notable among these was Netanyahus decision to direct aid dollars to Hamas in the years before the attack as an effort to shore them up and thereby deepen the split within Palestinian leadership between them and the Palestinian Authority.

Even Netanyahus political friends in the U.S. have been damaged by this, as the recent evidence of Netanyahus catastrophic initiative to bolster the resources of the terrorist group also shows that it was a decision that was actively backed by the Trump administration. Trump Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin provided guarantees at the time to the Qatari governmentfrom whom the aid to Hamas was flowingthat they would not be cited by the U.S. as financing terrorism for going along with the spectacularly ill-conceived Netanyahu plan.

Irans Nuclear Program Could Speed Up After Strikes With Israel

The U.S.-Israeli relationship, therefore, despite all the efforts of President Joe Biden and his team to both support Israel and to help guide it away from damaging policy choices, is currently in terrible shape.

The U.S. cannot be accused of creating that precarious condition. If anything, it has indulged Netanyahu far too greatly.

No, the problem afflicting the relationship is the same as that afflicting Israeli politics and the future well-being of the people of Gaza. At a moment when all should be able to effectively unite against the evil of Hamas, they must contend with another obstructionist, misguided, incompetent and its core, actively malevolent, forcethat of an Israeli prime minister who, as it turns out, is an ally or advocate for no one but himself.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Donald Trumps hush money trial has highlighted the ugliness at the heart of his first presidential campaign in 2016. Not only did his allies at the National Enquirer catch and kill embarrassing stories, we learned during trial testimony, but they also worked feverishly to spread false stories, conspiracy theories and slurs against his political opponents. As former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified last week, sliming Trumps enemies was as much a part of his deal as protecting Trump from stories about porn stars and Playboy models.

As awful as all of this was, a new book by author Nancy French, a prolific ghost writer for conservative figures, reminds us that the Enquirers flood of invective was only part of what was being unleashed by the MAGA trolls against Trumps critics and opponents. Its also a powerful and horrifying account of how a once fringe movement, the alt right, has come to occupy the central seat of the Republican Party.

With the Enquirer, we got a flood of salacious (and groundless) headlines like Ted Cruzs Father  Caught With JFK Assassin and Family Man Marco Rubios Love Child Stunner! and Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson Left Sponge in Patients Brain. And after Trump had dispatched his GOP rivals (many of whom dutifully fell into line to support Trump despite the smears) Trump and Pecker turned on Hillary Clinton, with screaming headlines about her health and what they alleged was corruption and racism. As author and MSNBC columnist Molly Jong-Fast notes in Vanity Fair, Headlines like these saturated the checkout aisles in grocery stores, delis, and big-box retailers  a tactic Steve Bannon proudly coined as flood the zone with s---.

In Ghosted: An American Story, French recounts the vicious racist attacks against her and her family after she and her husband, David French, a well-known conservative commentator who is now a New York Times columnist, broke with Trump.

Suffice it to say that the attacks were much worse than you remember.

In late 2015, online trolls seized on the existence of their daughter Naomi, who the Frenches had adopted from Ethiopia, as an attack tactic. In her book, French recalls the moment she saw the picture online: a photoshopped image of 7-year-old Naomi in a gas chamber, with Donald Trump  wearing a Nazi uniform  pulling a lethal gas lever.

There was more. Other online trolls photoshopped the girls face onto images of enslaved people and identified her with racial slurs that dont bear repeating here.

The alt right tried to inflict as much personal pain as they could on us, in the most intimate ways possible. These radicalized Trump supporters harassed us, mocked us, maligned us, and believed we should lose our jobs, and  at least according to our email inboxes  our lives, French writes.

The incident would portend a broader trend. In 2016, as French points out in Ghosted, the alt-right was not synonymous with the Republican Party in the way it is today but it both affected and influenced the GOP. Over the past eight years both Trump and his loudest cheerleaders have legitimized and amplified language and ideas that had once been confined to the darker corners of the right-wing fever swamps. Writes French: Alt right cheerleader Bannon was Trumps most trusted advisor, and Trump himself retweeted the same sort of alt right accounts that had attacked us.

The hate became a torrent.

White nationalist websites began labeling David French a cuckservative, a racist and sexist term suggesting that he was a racial cuckold. Alt-right trolls spun their family makeup into ugly comments: Instead of having another child of their own, they deliberately decided to adopt someone who is alien to them  genetically, racially, culturally  as possible. And it got worse, evolving into faked photos of French edited to depict pornographic and racist images.

In 2019, the Trump-supporting magazine American Greatness published a blatantly racist poem titled Cuck Elegy, which accused parasites of surrendering to the mocha-skinned and low-life reprobates. In case the references were too subtle, the magazine accompanied the poem with a photo of David and Naomi French.

As French writes, this was not fringe. The harassment she and her family endured marked an ugly turning point of sorts, as language and imagery that was once restricted to far-right racist websites edged closer to the Trumpified mainstream. As The New York Times Jane Coaston noted at the time the poem was published, American Greatness was a publication that is attempting to put meat on the bones of Trumpism, so to speak. At the time, David French worked for National Review magazine, and one of his colleagues, Victor Davis Hanson, was a prolific contributor to American Greatness. And at the time, National Reviews editor Rich Lowry noted that American Greatness imagines itself an intellectually serious tribune of Trumpism.

Despite those pretensions to seriousness, the editors of the Trump-aligned magazine continued publishing content that attacked the Frenches.

In 2016, Nancy wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post, recounting her sexual abuse as a child at Bible school, titled, What its like to experience the 2016 election as both a conservative and a sex abuse survivor. But when she spoke out on the sexual abuse allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a writer for American Greatness, Julie Kelly, mocked her trauma.

OK  Nancy French screwed around with her preacher when she was a teen, Kelly posted on the platform then known as Twitter. So IF Kavanaugh groped a girl 36 years ago, he cant be on SCOTUS?

That tweet was a punch in the stomach, French writes in her book. To discredit me, Kelly used the common tactic of the alt right cruelty. She sexually weaponized her insult instead of dealing with my actual arguments.

In 2019, the Aspen Institute featured a panel that included both French and Christopher Buskirk, the editor and publisher of American Greatness, titled Can the Republican Party Survive the Alt Right? (In the spirit of transparency, I helped moderate that panel.) French writes that Aspens decision to invite the publisher of American Greatness to talk about the alt-right was akin to asking an arsonist to give advice on putting out fires, adding, but they did not ask me for my advice.

Until at least 2021, Buskirk was a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. His website lists that he has been published by The Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and The Hill. Hes been featured on NPRs Morning Edition, "PBS Newshour" and on CNN.

And, for Nancy French, that is the point: This casual racism and brutality was not pushed by a fringe element, she writes in her book. It had become the main political strategy of many conservatives. These people spouting conspiracy theories and shouting invectives were now embedded, wrapped up, and intertwined with mainstream Republicans.

Frenchs book is damning proof of the scope of damage wrought by that transition of the alt-right, from fringe to mainstream, which Trump helped usher into the Republican Party.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
If your Wi-Fi wasnt out this weekend, then you probably know that its been a busy few days for two of the biggest stars in rap music. The back-and-forth rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake got even more intense than it had already been as they made insidious accusations about each other. Lamar and Drake accused one another of illegal and immoral behavior and dipped into the well of rumors to try to humiliate and shame one another.

The rapid-fire battle crossed the line into the personal many tracks ago. And even though many have found the substance of each emcees lyrics to be beyond the pale, the battle itself is bigger than the two of them, and is, instead, a part of a much bigger fight for the soul of hip-hop. Its the fight between authenticity and commercialism, between the most artfully made hip-hop and the hip-hop that flies off the shelves.

Drake has an entire catalog of hit records. His rhymes are catchy and its unlikely that a party, club, wedding or bar/bat mitzvah wont feature at least a few of his songs. At the same time, perhaps because the biracial Drake is Canadian-born with suburban roots seeped in above-average levels of privilege, he has struggled to be considered authentically hip-hop.

Months ago, when Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), a hip-hop purist, was asked, Is Drake hip-hop? he said, Drake is pop to me. In the sense that if I was in Target in Houston and I heard a Drake song  It feels like a lot of his music is compatible with  shopping.

That hilarious characterization of Drakes music gets at the heart of what many people in hip-hop culture have always felt: that he and his music are inauthentic. While in the middle of this rap babble with Lamar, he helped fuel the accusations that hes not authentic when he used artificial intelligence-generated voices of the late Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg on his song Taylor Made Freestyle.

That song, which Drake removed from the internet after Tupacs estate threatened him with legal action and praised Lamar as "a good friend to the Estate," was largely seen as creative, but also tone deaf.

On the other end sits Kendrick Lamar. Whereas Drakes commercial-friendly style and sing-songy lyrics have been the lifeblood of popular consumption, Lamar has built his brand of music as a purist, focusing on complex rhyme schemes, themes ringing of pro-Blackness and putting attention to detail and lyrics over party jams. The respective success of each of these artists illustrates this fairly plainly: Lamar has repeatedly garnered more critical acclaim. Hes won more than three times the number of Grammys Drake has  17 to 5  and he even won a Pulitzer Prize for his album Damn.

That album, the first hip-hop album to ever win a Pulitzer, was lauded by the selection committee as a "virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life."

But when were counting rap stars' sales, theres simply no comparison. Drake has outsold everybody. Just like in every genre  books, movies, even TV  there are camps that favor works that considered more layered, genuine and artistic over the bestsellers. Its just as true in hip-hop.

Weve seen this movie before. In the early 2000s, Jay-Z and Nas were two of raps biggest titans. They, too, clashed in a series of diss records when Nas was largely considered the peoples champ, a commercial underdog whose calling card was complex lyricism and an adherence to hip-hops most authentic elements.

Jay Z, on the other hand, although he had come from Brooklyns Marcy Projects and had real-life street cred, had nevertheless ascended to a level of commercial success that Nas hadn't. (Eventually, Jay-Z's commercial success would lead to him serving as pitchman of his own signature Reebok sneakers and inking a deal with Samsung that provided an advance copy of his album "Magna Carta Holy Grail" via an app available to Galaxy phone users.) It was a battle that pitted hip-hops evolution into a global and commercial force against the musics roots as an authentic sub-culture of urban America.

Their backgrounds should make it clear that Drake is no Jay-Z. However, at its core, his battle with Kendrick Lamar is a similar struggle  because of hip-hops continued growth and evolution.

Authenticity, being true to oneself and ones neighborhood is (or at least was) an ethos in hip-hop. But the commercial success of rap music has attracted culture vultures and allowed many to pillage, pilfer and profit from a space that isnt inherently theirs. Rap has always struggled to police itself and set its own barriers around who profits, but as he promotes himself as a champion of the culture, his recent recordings make clear that Lamar doesnt just think Drake makes weak music; he thinks Drake doesnt belong, that he is bad for hip-hop culture. Making himself the gatekeeper, hes essentially telling one of the biggest stars in the industry that on behalf of the culture, youve worn out your welcome."

In some ways, Lamars callout may also be instructive for everyone from Logic to Machine Gun Kelly to G Eazy. Many of us may have forgotten the cautionary tale that was Vanilla Ice and his song Ice, Ice, Baby, which, frustratingly, was the first rap single to ever reach the top of the pop charts. The song did enjoy some initial acceptance from Black listeners, but Vanilla Ice finding success without paying his dues and the inaccuracies and omissions in stories meant to burnish his street cred caused him to be sidelined and eventually disregarded by the culture.

This should not be construed to be based in race. Rap has always embraced even non-Black artists who have understood their place in the culture and acted accordingly. Eminem, the Beastie Boys and 3rd Bass all come to mind. Even so, Lamar is arguing that Drake  not just because of his background but also because of the music he makes  has an elevated place that he doesn't have. The idea that the culture needs defending against one of the most commercially popular artists of our day is hugely significant.

For many people who like the way the music has evolved, that element of the pair's beef may seem tired and overblown. Lamars penchant for rhyme schemes, allegory and metaphors makes him a relic to many of todays listeners. They may also ask: Why shouldnt the expansion of hip-hop as a global economic and cultural force invite voices like Drake who speak to audiences who just want to have fun and enjoy a good time over dance beats?

The story here isnt that rappers are making diss records about each other. Thats always been the case. The competitive sport of the emcee is not a bad thing. In fact, it's always been a part of what makes hip-hop so engrossing. The story is that the fight is much bigger than Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Theyre fighting about what hip-hop is, where it is, and where it should go in the future.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Pro-Palestine protesters at Harvard did not get the satisfaction they hoped for on Monday night.

The Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) coalition had set a deadline on Instagram, demanding that the university begin negotiations with the group by five oclock on May 6.

And to show that they were serious, the protesters set up an outdoor conference room across from University Hall. The Take a Seat sign and flowers were nice, breezy touches.

Outdoor conference table set up by the Harvard protestors. Nell Scovell

The above photo was snapped at 10 a.m., as a student manned the Charlie Brown-esque booth. But by 10:15, hopes of a confab were dashed when Harvard Interim President Alan Garber sent an email to Harvard students, faculty, and staff calling on those participating in the encampment to end the occupation.

The tone of President Garbers long email was exasperated parent. It included a self-described simple message set in bold so it couldnt be skimmed over: The continuation of the encampment presents a significant risk to the educational environment of the University. Those who participate in or perpetuate its continuation will be referred for involuntary leave from their Schools.

HOOP responded on Instagram. As Rafah is under attack, Harvard President Alan Garber sends a community-wide email notifying the threat of suspension for students protesting the genocide.

Having their deadline ignored must be disappointing to the protesters. It does not appear that HOOP will get the big Hollywood denouement that their Columbia counterparts achieved, complete with storming a university building and confronting cops in riot-gear.

Nor will they get the conciliatory ending that their Brown counterparts received when that university agreed to consider its investment in Israeli companies with ties to the military in exchange for protesters removing tents from campus.

But right now, the Harvard president is offering no deals and the campus police are keeping their cool (with the help of some iced Dunkin.)

At five, when the deadline had officially passed, the protesters held a press conference. Spokesperson and Harvard Law School student Lea H. Kayali did not directly respond to the Presidents email. Instead, she offered a counter threat: The Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine coalition is proud of the discipline with which its student protesters have conducted themselves in the face of daily intimidation and abuse. But here at Harvard, the administration has left the student movement with few options to seek the change they advocate for.

The press conference also did not address President Garbers stated concern that when Harvard staff requested to see student IDs, supporters of the encampment have at times yelled at them, tried to encircle them, and otherwise interfered with their work.

The protesters called for a rally that evening, summoning the Boston Community to join the protest through Harvards Johnston gate. The rally started small with about 50 students then swelled to perhaps 80. They marched through the Yard, banging on drums and shouting the same old chants.

This is where liberation happens! loses some punch when the Yard used to be open to all and now every student has to have an ID scanned before entering.

For twelve days, the protesters have been chanting, Disclose, divest/We will not stop, we will not rest. But the time to rest may be approaching. Finals are in full swing and as one junior English major said to me, I heard a lot of the protesters have already booked their plane tickets.

The tent city at Harvard University. Nell Scovell

As the days have worn on, Harvards encampment has lost vibrancy. The sugary snacks stacked in the Liberated Zone have been consumed. A rain storm on Sunday night did not help. I asked one observer when he thought the protest peaked. He considered it a moment then said, When they all ran in. That was on April 24 and the excitement of setting up a Liberation Camp has turned into the drudgery of camping without nearby sanitary facilities.

On the other side of University Hall, the newly expanded zone consists of four small tentsthree for sleeping and one filled with books with a sign that says, Memorial library.

Supplies appear to be limited to water and buckets of Tidy Cats Instant Action Scented Clumping Clay Cat Litter. There did not appear to be any cats in the area so draw your own conclusions.

Current supplies for Harvard protests. Nell Scovell

As freshmen depart, the population of the Yard will contract. Groundskeepers will soon outnumber protesters. The Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine movement was stymied from the start by the choice to pitch tents in basically a gated community. Organizers set up nearly 50 tents but it remains unclear how many were actually occupied. More rain is predicted for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Perhaps the protestors have another card to play that will force the administration to negotiate. Or perhaps they realize theyve hit a wall. By Tuesday morning, the outdoor conference room facing University Hall had been dismantled. And if there are any English majors among the protesters, they might already be reciting T.S. Eliots We Are the Hollow Men which offers a haunting chant of its own:

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

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Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.

When it comes to Republicans spouting the belief that the United States is a republic, and not a democracy, its time to put them on mute.

Thats according to The New Abnormal co-host Andy Levy, who discusses the issue while delving into the RNCs announcement last week that it, along with the Trump campaign, had filed suit against the Nevada Secretary of State for allowing mail-in ballots to be counted up to four days after the election.

They hate democracy, they do not want a democracy, Levy says of the RNC. You hear it all the time. One of their favorite things to say is, Americas not a democracy, its a republic, which is ahistoric garbage.

Subscribe to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Overcast.

In 2020, for example, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) scored considerable attention for posting on Twitter: Were not a democracy. In 2022, then-GOP candidate for the Arizona state legislature, Selina Bliss, said: We are a constitutional republic. We are not a democracy.

Levy explains: We are a representative democracy. The founding fathers were quite clear on that they all believed that we were a democracy, but they [Republicans] love to say that because we dont vote directly on every issue, that instead elective representatives do that, that were not a democracy. And its garbage. The minute you hear someone say thatand theyre always a Republicanthe minute you hear someone say that, you can absolutely tune them out because they are lying to you.

Nick Fuentes: I Totally See Myself Accidentally Killing My Wife

Then, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of the book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, talks about the recent Time magazine interview with Donald Trump and the rise of fascism in America.

Its very sobering, Ghait says of the Time piece. It was an interview that allowed Trump the space to tell us exactly what the vision is and those who think that hes just out of it or lazy or just a clown, should all read that piece because he has a very particular vision of what he wants.

Plus! Were joined by author Arthur Goldwag. He tells us all about his new book, The Politics of Fear: The Peculiar Persistence of American Paranoia, which documents Americas long history of susceptibility to conspiracy theories.

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.

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The real sleazy part of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs prosecution of former President Donald Trump for election interference isnt what you think.

The sleaze factor isnt the kind of work done by actress and director Stormy Daniels, the business of the National Enquirer, the allegations by model Karen McDougal that she had an affair with Trump, or the fact that celebrity lawyers arrange fees for their clients stories.

The real sleaze factor is how the media, some legal commentators, and Trump enablers keep describing the case as being about hush money and porn starswhich is wrong as a matter of legal analysis and troubling in its perpetuation of inequities in our societyand how Trumps defense lawyers are trying to capitalize on those disparaging characterizations.

Trump Being Thrown in Jail for Contempt Could Really Happen

Media seeks to benefit from the potential clickbait value of these descriptions, while Trump enablers and his defense team hope the sleaze factor will help their defense by discrediting witnesses and testimony through a sort of slimed-by-association strategy.

Calling The People v. Donald J. Trump a hush-money case is simply wrong.

As many peopleme includedhave pointed out, there is nothing illegal about paying anyone for confidentiality or silenceits done all the time with non-disclosure agreements. In a sense, every therapist, doctor, and lawyer is paid for silence because the professions require keeping quiet about their patients and clients.

Former President Donald Trump attends his trial for allegedly covering up payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, on May 6, 2024. Win McNamee/AFP via Getty Images

This case is about falsification of business records with the intent to interfere in an election. Put simply, its a cover-up of illegal campaign donations.

The money paid to Stormy Daniels to help Trumps campaign was allegedly covered up by listing it as payment for legal services to Trumps former lawyer and self-styled fixer Michael Cohen. Among the critics of the prosecution are legal commentators who claim this prosecution is an embarrassment because: Its not the crime; its the cover-up.

The real embarrassment there is the apparent ignorance of the fact that covering up crimes is a crime and the Manhattan District Attorneys office has used this theory of prosecution thousands of times in the past, albeit not against a former president for election interference.

Critics like these complain that the Manhattan election interference case is the weakest of the cases against Trump and should not go first. This view wrongly presumes prosecutors have total control over the timing of a case. The reality is that we should be grateful that a single case has even made it through the enormous obstacles to prosecuting Trump: obstacles posed primarily by inequities in society that give a rich and powerful person every benefit of the doubt; hesitation from police and prosecutors in taking them on; and, of course, lots of help from small armies of lawyers.

This point of view also smacks of a belief that a prosecution of a powerful man must pass a certain smell test for propriety. Under this prim-and-proper standard, such a prosecution must not be based upon crimes considered to be too low-class for such a high-class defendant. Lurking just beneath the surface of this point of view are darker biases.

Lets start with the frequent disparagement of this first criminal trial of a former President of the United States as involving a porn staras though that makes it too unseemly a topic for the criminal charging of a former president. This is pearl-clutching at its most insidious because it masks the sexist and misogynistic perspective underlying the disparagement of Stormy Daniels for her work.

Trump Accountant on His Stormy Daniels Coverup Notes: I Made a Boo-Boo

Besides the fact that its a gratuitous digimagine saying a witness is a B-list actorI personally dislike the use of the term porn star. It reminds me of my experience as a sex crimes prosecutor in which, too often, law enforcement and prosecutors failed to protect victims of sex crimes or questioned the veracity of complainants and witnesses because of their work in a sex-related job. Often, I would hear the term kiddie porn, which I feel makes sexual abuse of children sound like a silly or light-hearted term. Criminal charges against defendants who have allegedly sexually exploited children should not be given a moniker of being just another form of pornography.

Nor should the criminal charges against Trumpcharges that are part of a series of charges against him for trying to interfere in electionsbe given some moniker using the word porn to lessen their seriousness.

While its understandable that the media may want to use terms that they think will draw larger audiences, they are also unwittingly perpetuating power inequities that result in injustice.

Stormy Daniels is seen arriving to ABC's "The View" on the Upper West Side on March 21, 2024 in New York City. James Devaney/GC Images

Coverage that claims the prosecution in Trumps trial is trying to play up salacious aspects of the case in an effort to hide weaknesses or distract from the presumably drier evidence of the money trail is legally inaccurate because, just as foundation must be laid through custodial witnesses like bankers to introduce business records, similar foundation must be laid about what Trump allegedly feared becoming public.

This is why the prosecution had to present evidence about the scandals and embarrassing stories that were the business of the National Enquirer and celebrity lawyers. They must establish what it is that Trump supposedly wanted to conceal and the methods by which the concealment took place. They did this through the testimony of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to explain how tabloids pay for stories and how that system may have been used to help Trump bury stories bad for his political campaign.

Similarly, lawyer Keith Davidson testified about his clients who entered into contractual arrangements to be paid for the rights to stories or the right not to publish them. All of this is necessary to demonstrate how Trump allegedly tried to aid his campaign by preventing one more publicized incident of his arguably misogynistic, sexist, predatory behavior towards women.

The same necessity doesnt exist for Trumps defense team. They could have cross-examined both of those witnesses simply by pointing out that neither of them could provide strong evidence of Trumps personal involvement. Instead, Trumps team seemed to try to play on stereotypes and biases about sleazy behaviorperhaps in the hope that the jury would be less likely to believe people who were tainted by working with stories involving scandalous behavior.

The defense team seems to be having a devil of a time figuring out a coherent defense strategy.

The cross-examination of David Pecker veered between trying to poke holes in his memory as though he was too old and doddering to actually remember what happened, versus also trying to make his type of checkbook journalism look improper. They did even worse with the cross-examination of Davidson in which they not only took the jury through a history of celebrity scandals, but even suggested that Davidson essentially engaged in extortion.

Columbias Protest Crackdown Is Another Free Speech Blunder

This last line of questioning would seem to be building towards a defense that Trump was a victim of extortion by an opportunistic lawyer rather than a candidate trying to suppress stories that would hurt his political chances.

In my view, such a defense is unlikely to work since the motivation that would make Trump vulnerable to an extortion plot to save him embarrassment with his wife and family is exactly the same motivation he would have had to save his campaign from embarrassment. Spoiler alert: Voters pay attention to embarrassing disclosures about people.

Like I said at the start, the real sleaze factor in this trial isnt about what you think. Its not about what Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, David Pecker, or Keith Davidson do for a living. The real sleaziness is in how we allow the perpetuation of disparaging biases about women to fuel the inequities that are used to protect the rich and powerful.

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Editors note: Garry Kasparov is a Russian opposition leader who founded and chairs the Renew Democracy Initiative, or RDI. Gen. Ben Hodges served as the commanding general of US Army Europe and is a member of RDIs board of directors. The opinions expressed in this commentary are their own. View more opinion on CNN.

Better late than never is probably a poor operating principle for the US government. But it was in this spirit that Congress finally passed essential aid to frontline US allies in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after months of delay. The fight to get the nearly $61 billion aid package for Ukraine illustrates the ad hoc nature of US support for Kyiv  tactics without strategy. For all of the resources that President Joe Biden and Congress have put forward, Washington has never sincerely tried to piece them together into a cohesive plan for Ukraine.

Ben Hodges (left) and Garry Kasparov - Felix Schmitt/Renew Democracy Initiative.

Now that the House of Representatives has gotten its act together, we need to make up for lost time. Partisan procrastination cost the Ukrainians ground they must now recoup.

We need to ensure that the funds Washington has laid out for Ukraine are translated into the right tools delivered to the right places at the right time. And we need to shore up flagging domestic support for Ukraine among key Republican constituencies so that this aid package isnt the last.

Above all, the president must distill the case for Ukraine into a digestible endgame. Many Americans have been understandably skeptical given the prospect of open-ended war, and the Biden administrations well-intentioned but clumsy framing of aiding Ukraine for as long as it takes hasnt helped. Instead, Biden should outline specific US goals: Ukrainian victory  and, with it, Russian defeat.

The president should not waver on this point. He must repeatedly and consistently remind Americans why both Ukrainian victory and Russian defeat are in our strategic interest and how we are going to do everything needed to achieve these strategic outcomes. Our combined political and military experience gives us unique insight into what this game plan should look like.

While lawmakers haggled over Bidens foreign aid bill, Ukraine suffered setbacks. The Russians are closing in around Kharkiv, the countrys second-largest city, while making modest gains past the town of Avdiivka near the front lines in the east.

Ukraines position is grave, but if Kyiv and its American and European allies act decisively now, Ukraine can still win  and this means besting Russia on the battlefield.

In practice, it means providing Ukraine the ability to not only defend itself but also to proactively deny Russia the ability to attack. The United States and its allies must hasten the delivery of F-16s and other fixed-wing aircraft while ramping up training for Ukrainian pilots. These planes can help defend the skies over eastern and southern cities such as Kharkiv and Odesa while taking the fight to the missile launch sites in Russia and the Black Sea from which Moscow is terrorizing civilians.

First responders conduct operations Sunday at a damaged site after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, the country's second-largest city. - NurPhoto/NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Crimea remains an important base for Russian aviation and sea power. In advance of the ultimate objective of reclaiming the peninsula, Kyiv must make it untenable for Russia to continue using it as a springboard for harassing Ukraine. MQ-9A Reaper drones provide a nimble option that can play both offense and defense, while long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), Storm Shadow, SCALP or Taurus ballistic and cruise missiles will place Crimea and every other inch of Russian-occupied Ukraine under the gun. Ukraine can then target and destroy Russian headquarters, logistics and artillery. Meanwhile, additional Patriot missile batteries will be necessary to replicate the robust shield Ukrainians have erected over their capital in an effort to protect other cities.

As important as each of these weapons systems is, they will be worth little if they are not tied to a strategy. The United States, Ukraine and our other allies in Europe must understand the timeline for dispatching this materiel and how it fits into Ukrainian victory.

Different weapons systems may reach the battlefield at different times: Some equipment is pre-positioned in Germany and Poland. If approved, drones could be dispatched fairly quickly  within days or weeks. Patriot missiles might follow over several weeks. F-16s are important but may not see action until midsummer at earliest. These tools will allow Ukraine to threaten Crimea in a matter of months while continuing to strike Russian energy infrastructure.

But the front line may not change much. Rather, 2024 will be a year of industrial competition. The recently approved aid package will carry Ukraine through the next several months, while Kyiv refills and enhances its arsenal, grows its forces and refines its logistics  essential preparation for the fight still to come.

It is equally important to understand that this aid package cannot be the last. Ukraine will need more support from its democratic allies to repel Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion.

The strategy we propose is not only military  its political as well. Narrative warfare in America makes the kinetic warfare being waged in Ukraine possible.

Kremlin-fueled conspiracy theories have taken root in the modern-day Republican Party. There are certainly those who will never change their tune. Yet Ukraines circumstances demand that we knock on every door to refute lies and probe every potential audience for support. We have discovered that many will move if given the right evidence and a message to which they can relate.

Thats why our organization, the Renew Democracy Initiative, brought a delegation of British Conservatives to meet with their Republican counterparts and encourage support for Ukraine. We may not agree with our Tory colleagues on everything, but they are well-positioned to champion Kyivs cause from the right. We urge Ukraines champions of all political stripes to coordinate and find allies who can open up unexpected reservoirs of support. It will pay dividends: Thirteen of the 22 Republican representatives with whom the British mission met ultimately voted for the national security supplemental.

Fabrications about Ukrainian persecution of Christians are among the most pernicious Russian lies about the war. These claims are outrageous, but the salience of religion for many American voters means it is critical ground that we cannot afford to cede. Working with the Free Russia Forum, a Russian pro-democracy group cofounded by one of the authors, we shared an important memo with lawmakers demonstrating how, in reality, it is Russia persecuting non-Orthodox Christians while using the Orthodox Church as an instrument of espionage and other sacrilegious behavior. More must be done to explain the conflicts religious context and the lengths Ukraine takes to defend the faithful.

Americas strategy for Ukraine is missing in action. On the front lines, we must determine what pieces in the US arsenal will help Ukraine win and make Russia lose. In the political sphere, we need a persuasive message that guarantees domestic support for consistent legislated aid to Ukraine.

The national security supplementals passage provides the United States with the tools to support Kyiv. Now we need a plan to put them into service.

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The 2024 election can at times feel like its taking place on two entirely different planes of existence. These separate realities generally run parallel, never intersecting and only occasional acknowledging each other. But on Tuesday, the two came close enough to offer a view through the looking glass in a way that would disorient anyone who whipped between them.

In Manhattan, it was the 13th day of the first criminal trial of a former president. Donald Trump stands accused of falsifying business records to hide his payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. She claims that shed had an affair with Trump; he has denied it but wanted to keep the claim under wraps as the 2016 presidential election approached for fear it could deal a lethal blow to his campaign. He sat at the defense table with his lawyers as the woman at the center of the case was sworn in as a witness for the prosecution.

Smash cut to Washington, where President Joe Biden was arriving at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The museum annually hosts events to mark the Days of Remembrance, when the memories of the victims of the Nazis extermination campaign are brought forward again. Biden was preparing to deliver a major address about antisemitism, as one would expect of a sitting U.S. president  an almost jarring bit of normality during such an abnormal time.

Jump back to New York and Daniels shared with a rapt courtroom details of her time together with Trump. Jurors took notes as she described how Trump first approached her through an aide, inviting her to dinner. She testified that she initially turned him down, but her publicist encouraged her to attend. Itll make a great story. Hes a business guy. What could possibly go wrong? she recalled to silence from the jury and laughter from the courts overflow room.

Two hundred miles away, Biden was condemning a ferocious surge in antisemitism in America and around the world that has escalated since Hamas Oct. 7 attacks, which left over 1,000 Israelis dead. To the Jewish community, I want you to know: I see your fear, your hurt, your pain, Biden said. Let me reassure you, as your president, youre not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will. The solemn address befit the gravity of the history on display around him and the weight of the crimes carried out against American Jews to this day.

Meanwhile, Daniels moved on to the most scandalous part of the trials testimony (though not necessarily the most damaging against Trump). She told the jury about sleeping with Trump. Though prosecutors made no attempt to play up the luridness of her testimony, the salaciousness is inescapable. The interest in Daniels time with Trump initially peaked in October 2016, soon after the infamous Access Hollywood tape nearly derailed Trumps campaign. It was then that then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen approached with an offer: $130,000 for the rights to her story  and her silence. Trump would go on to win the election in 2016, having successfully prevented Daniels from speaking out. He reimbursed Cohen, who had taken out a loan for the payoff, in $35,000 installments soon after taking office.

Back in Washington, Biden listed the ways his administration is taking action to combat antisemitism. There was an unavoidable political consideration lying beneath the surface of his remarks. The protests on college campuses condemning Israels deadly military response to Hamas attacks, which have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, have become a potential weak spot for Democrats. Younger Democrats and progressives have decried the harsh crackdowns against demonstrators. Republicans eager to capitalize on liberal discomfort have sought to use the issue as a wedge, even as theyve shown little interest in countering antisemitism within their own base.

Seven years before Bidens speech, Trump stood at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where he vowed to confront antisemitism. It was an effort to seem presidential for a man who struggled to fit the mold from his first day in office. It was also an attempt to clean up a mess from the earliest weeks of his administration, when a statement issued in his name on International Holocaust Remembrance Day did not mention Jews or the causes of the genocide.

That seems like a lifetime ago now as Trump and Biden jostle to serve a second term beginning next year. It is discomforting to have such a visceral contrast between the two of them as was on display Tuesday. It is even more disquieting to realize that for many voters, their eyes refuse to focus in these moments on where the difference is clearest. The rarely overlapping worlds will continue on their separate paths ahead of Election Day, when they will finally converge, creating something altogether new and unpredictable.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
If you want to know what Republicans really think of Donald Trump, look at what they think he wants from his running mate.

In the Before Times, vice presidential aspirants might have polished their credentials by giving interviews that highlighted their policy chops or their ability to handle media pressure.

But not in Trumps bizarre new world. Consider how the candidates are auditioning for Trumps favor:

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina polished his election denial credentials by refusing to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election. At the end of the day, Scott said, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump. Pressed by Meet the Press host Kristen Welker for a yes-or-no answer to whether he would accept the outcome, Scott lamely stuck with his scripted answer: That is my statement.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem thought she could score points with the Boss by bragging about killing her dog, apparently hoping that the cruelty  and the willingness to do hard and ugly things  would help her win the favor of Mar-a-Lago. Most Americans were duly appalled, but a new poll shows that a third of Trump supporters said they thought Noems puppy killing was acceptable. (And after her shambolic interview on CBS Face the Nation Sunday, she dutifully followed the Trump playbook by whining about being interrupted.)

Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio downplayed the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, telling CNN that he was extremely skeptical that Mike Pences life was ever in danger.

Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida showcased his willingness to defend hush money for porn stars by calling on New York jurors to acquit Trump of the charges against him. This is a trash case; there is no crime here, he declared on Newsmax, and if there is any potential for a verdict, they should vote not guilty. (Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the case and denied having sex with former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film actress Stormy Daniels.)

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York showcased her intense thirst for Trumps nod by echoing his claim that Jan. 6 rioters are hostages.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida declined to say whether he would be willing to move out of his home state  the place he represents in the U.S. Senate and presumably hopes to continue to represent  if Trump wants him on the ticket. (Under the Constitution, the Electoral College cannot choose a president and vice president who are residents of the same state.)

Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama apparently thought her fundie baby voice/angry mom bit would appeal to the former presidents idea of what someone from veep central casting would look and sound like.

In short: Republicans are convinced that Trump is looking for a running mate willing to jettison history, principles, common sense and common decency to win his favor  and they are almost certainly right. Unfortunately, there is a wide field of Republican candidates willing to do exactly that.

Sign up for MSNBCs new How to Win 2024 newsletter and get election insights like this delivered to your inbox weekly.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
by Xin Ping

Since its first appearance during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in early 2023, "de-risking" has become a keyword in the EU's policies towards China. However, people from the EU strategic community have become significantly more vocal about the drawbacks of "de-risking." Several well-known think tanks and media outlets have published reports and articles explaining that an obsession with "de-risking" fails to achieve "economic security" and undermines EU interests.

First, "de-risking" weakens the competitiveness of the EU industries. The European Center for International Political Economy believes that the EU's economic and trade policy tools and import restrictions, as well as excessive intervention and strengthened regulation of enterprise production, trade and investment at the micro level, will suppress industrial capacity and efficiency within the EU. Project Syndicate predicts that artificial intelligence and net-zero industry acts will significantly increase start-up business costs, reduce investment confidence and hinder the EU from becoming an international industrial leader.

Second, "de-risking" threatens to break up the EU common market. The German Marshall Fund warns that EU member states can only adopt alternative measures to the EU's restrictive trade rules, leading to stagnation or even regression of regulatory cooperation in the common market. The London School of Economics and Political Science sees risks to European unity from growing dissension among member states, as well as between individual states and the European Commission.

Finally, "de-risking" does nothing helpful to an independent EU. The Economist observes that since EU companies are deeply embedded in global production and distribution networks, strengthening interdependence with other economies would help enhance their independence. Promoting "partial decoupling" under the pretext of "economic security" completely contradicts it. The Brussels-based economic think tank Bruegel advises the EU not to launch anti-dumping investigations against Chinese solar panels, as the EU urgently needs equipment for solar power plants and energy storage to prepare for the vast energy import risk. Pricy natural gas imports from the United States will only increase the dependence.

At the China Development Forum 2024, Ola Kalleniushe, CEO of Mercedes-Benz, expressed his opposition to tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports. "We have been investing in China for more than 20 years, and we will continue to do so. We need to keep trade relations open and vibrant for a win-win result in terms of economic growth." That is true. Reasons lie in the facts.

China is not a "systemic rival" for the EU. In fact, China and Europe do not have clashing fundamental interests between them or geopolitical and strategic conflicts. Their common interests far outweigh their differences. In the context of China-EU relations, the two sides should be characterized rightly as partners.

Over the past 20 years, trade volume between China and the EU has increased sixfold, and bilateral investment has increased more than fivefold. According to a new report by The Conference Board, over 98 percent of European companies in China are very willing to stay. EU officials have admitted that the success of the EU's Global Gateway strategy cannot be achieved without the infrastructure, technology, and materials China can offer. Since the beginning of this year, the EU's rational perception of China and willingness to cooperate have both strengthened as exchanges between the two sides have increased at all levels.

Cooperation with China helps the EU enhance its ability to fend off risks. The market should determine the supply chain, while political intervention will create distractions. According to the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, 59 percent of surveyed companies consider China among the top three investment destinations. The German Chamber of Commerce in China reports that 91 percent of its member companies will continue to operate in the Chinese market, and more than half plan to increase investment in the next two years.

A cool head can lead the way through the mist. China's policy consistency and stable economic growth have proven it is a trustworthy partner and a stable force that will help the EU pursue strategic autonomy. Striding shoulder to shoulder, China and the EU will advance with a green light at every crossing.

Editor's note: The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News, CGTN, Global Times, China Daily, etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Xinhua News Agency.
Sen. James Manning Jr., D-Eugene, at the Oregon Legislature on Feb. 12, 2024. (Jordan Gale/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

The second-ranking Democrat in the Oregon state Senate says his decades of experience in the U.S. Army makes him the best choice to run the states elections and audits.

Sen. James Manning, D-Eugene, is one of two Democratic frontrunners for secretary of state. The Capital Chronicle is profiling him and Treasurer Tobias Read, the other Democratic frontrunner, and running answers to written questions from four candidates who answered them. All of the candidates are men.

Oregons next secretary of state will face a number of challenges. He will have to implement new campaign finance laws passed by the Legislature this year that will take effect ahead of the 2028 elections. Hell also need to work to restore trust in both the office itself and in Oregons elections in general after damage dealt by former Secretary of State Shemia Fagans choice to moonlight for a marijuana company involved in an audit and by years of doubt in elections spread by former President Donald Trump and his supporters.

Hell have to convince lawmakers to provide the necessary money and support to implement the new campaign finance laws and run elections. And hell need to work with local election officials around the state  several of them new to their roles after long-serving county clerks retired  to run elections smoothly.

Manning worked as a state corrections officer, police officer, railroad special agent and private investigator before enlisting in 1983 in the U.S. Army where he spent 24 years on active duty, including conducting audits as an Army assistant inspector general. That experience makes him the most qualified candidate, he said.

There is no one else that has the background, the skills, the leadership experience thats running for secretary of state, he said. That distinctively separates me from everyone else.

After retiring from the Army in 2007, he moved to Eugene, where he quickly became involved in volunteer work thats included chairing the Oregon Commission on Black Affairs, co-chairing the Gang Awareness Planning Committee and mediating 300 small claims sessions for Lane County. He was elected to the Eugene Water and Electric Board in 2012, appointed to the state Senate in 2016 and then elected to the Senate in 2018 and 2022.

During his years in the Legislature, Manning introduced various measures to expand access to the ballot. He sponsored a 2019 law to require the state to provide prepaid envelopes for Oregonians to mail in their ballots, which he described as a way to increase participation in rural areas where voters dont have easy access to a ballot drop box.

He was also a chief sponsor of a law passed this year to double the number of languages into which the state-issued voters pamphlet is translated from the five to 10 most commonly spoken languages in each county, as well as another 2024 law that requires disclosure of the use of artificial intelligence in campaign materials.

He supported a 2023 law that expanded automatic voter registration, long a fixture of interactions at the state Driver & Motor Vehicles division, to people who receive their health care through the Oregon Health Plan, the states version of Medicaid. A bill Manning introduced this year to automatically register residents who applied to public universities and colleges in the state didnt move forward.

Funding request

Manning said he has visited several county election offices and plans to make it to all 36 counties. Hes most familiar with Lane County, where he has filed election paperwork and seen firsthand how staff verify that hes eligible to vote and run for office.

He said one of his first actions would be requesting $5 million to $10 million from the Legislature for election funding, focusing on security needs and centralized training for local election workers.

Manning also plans to lobby the Legislature for funding to implement new campaign finance limits, a law he said he was proud to have co-sponsored and voted to support.

Oregonians wanted it, he said. They demanded it, and the Legislature, we delivered. One of the problems thats going to hold up is the funding, so as the next secretary of state, I have to go back to my legislative colleagues and I have to request the funding to implement the program.

If elected, Manning said he would be publicly engaged and continue the school visits he leads as Senate president pro tem. Griffin-Valade has left many public appearances and speaking engagements to her deputy, Cheryl Myers.

Manning said he views visiting schools and speaking with elementary school students who are learning about U.S. and Oregon history a top priority because theyre the next generation of voters.

My time in the military has taught me something that is really important, he said. You cannot lead from behind a desk. You have to be engaged with the public. I do that right now, and I will continue to.

When it comes to audits, he said he wants to start with the programs and agencies he has heard complaints about during his past eight years in the Senate: the Oregon Department of Transportations contracting process, the Oregon Health Authority and the Employment Department.

After that, Manning said he hopes to see each agency perform a routine self-assessment, something divisions in the military do annually.

Thats going to require some additional funding in order to be effective, he said. I accept that challenge. As a former United States Army assistant inspector general who has done audits nationally and internationally, I will be a part of overseeing the audits and performance audit.

He said he would consult the Oregon Government Ethics Commission for guidance if he has any conflict of interest on an audit, something Fagan was faulted for not doing when the Audits Division under her leadership interviewed the marijuana entrepreneur who hired her for a moonlighting job.

 I will never do anything in secret, Manning said. One of the things that Ive learned from my military career are values, and three things continue to reign: According to the creed of the noncommissioned officer, I will not use my position to gain pleasure or profit. I will not compromise my integrity, nor my moral courage. Those are values that I lived for throughout my time in the military, and those are the same values that I live for since Ive been in the Oregon state Senate, and I will take that with me to the office of secretary of state.

The post Oregon Sen. James Manning says Army experience makes him best choice for next secretary of state appeared first on Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Editors note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.

A record-breaking number of Canadian visitors led a surge in international travel to Orlando last year.

The region welcomed 6.13 million international visitors last year, a 25% increase over 2022s 4.9 million, said Visit Orlando, the regions tourism marketing bureau, via a news release.

Casandra Matej, president and CEO for Visit Orlando, commended the regions uniqueness, travel trade partners and the agencys strategic marketing initiative as key drivers. Visit Orlando also cited new flight options and a streamlined visa process in countries like Brazil, Mexico and Colombia as additional benefits.

Read: Allegiant Air to begin service from Orlando International Airport to these 3 cities

Click here to read the full story on the Orlando Business Journals website.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.

Read: This Central Florida airport is 2nd-worst in the U.S. for flight delays, study says
Update:

The Orlando Police Department said they have arrested the suspect who is accused of exposing himself to a student on Friday.

The police department said that around 8:30 a.m. on Friday, the student was walking to school on North Eola Avenue when a person in a blue sedan approached her.

In an update, investigators said the suspect was unclothed and exposed himself while in the vehicle, and the student walked away.

Detectives identified the suspect as 34-year-old Gilmer Mauricio Medina, who was taken into custody on Monday.

Medina is charged with lewd and lascivious behavior and exposing himself.

Law enforcement is working to determine if this is an isolated incident or if there are other victims.

If this suspect approached you or anyone you know, call the Orlando Police Department or submit a tip anonymously to Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477).

Previous story:

The search is on for a man who police say exposed himself to a teenager in the vicinity of Lake Eola.

The Orlando Police Department said that the case happened on Friday, near Summerlin Avenue and Washington Street.

The 13-year-old was on her way to school when the vehicle approached her with a naked man inside.

Obviously really disgusted, said the teens mother who prefers to remain anonymous. She told me that she was walking; she wanted a quiet morning, so she wanted to walk to school away from the group. She went on to Eola Drive and headed to the school down to Robinson.

Read: Orlando police search for man who exposed himself to girl

According to the mother, another person was driving the vehicle.

There was a passenger side door that opened up of a blue four-door sedan. The gentleman in the passenger side was completely nude, and he was touching himself, the mom told Channel 9. She began walking away, and they began following her. So, she ran and got to Persimmon Hollow and hid behind the building.

Read: Longwood bakery owner accused of sexually harassing, exposing himself to employees

Channel 9 reached out to OPD to confirm the information about the alleged second person driving the vehicle, but we have not heard back.

On Monday, Orlando police reinforced its presence in the area, especially near the school.

They pulled over at least one vehicle that matched the description given by the victim and her mom, but no one was arrested.

This is actually good that she did spoke to the mom, and she felt feel good to come out and speak about it, said Lorraine Rivera, a downtown resident. The majority of the girls they dont speak about it, they stay quiet.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
OSAGE CO, Okla. (KFOR)  The Osage County Sheriffs Office is asking for publics help in locating a missing man.

According to the Osage County Sheriffs Office Facebook page, Wayne Hogue, went missing from the Barnsdall area after after a strong and violent tornado Monday night.

Barnsdall & Bartlesville begin clean up after destructive storms

Police officials say, if you have been in contact with Wayne Hogue or have any information regarding his whereabouts, please contact the OCSO immediately at 918-287-3131.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
An unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism has taken place on University campuses, Rishi Sunak has said, after summoning vice-chancellors to Downing Street to discuss the safety of Jewish students.

The Prime Minister wants a zero-tolerance approach to the intimidation of Jewish students by a vocal and aggressive minority whose right to free speech does not entitle them to harass people.

Mr Sunak will meet university leaders on Thursday after pro-Palestinian student encampments were set up at Oxford, Cambridge and elsewhere over the weekend.

Jewish students have said they feel cut off from university life by protests that have gone on since Israels war with Hamas began in October.

On Tuesday it emerged that Oxford University students protesting against the war in Gaza had secretly signed up to a demand that millions of Palestinians be allowed to take back their ancestral land in Israel.

Oxford Action for Palestine is insisting that students who want to join their tented village in the centre of the city agree with a radical manifesto that would effectively mean the collapse of Israel as a country, which goes way beyond the stated aims of their protest.

Protesters in Cambridge marching to deliver their demands to their vice-chancellor - Jason Bye

The Prime Ministers spokesman said that students involved in the protests needed to understand that: The right to free speech does not include the right to harass people or incite violence.

The spokesman added: We expect university leaders to take robust action in dealing with that kind of behaviour and that will be the subject of the conversation in No 10 later this week, to ensure a zero-tolerance approach to this sort of behaviour is adopted on all campuses.

Mr Sunak began Tuesdays weekly Cabinet meeting by saying there had been an unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism on our university campuses.

His spokesman said campuses should be tolerant places where people of all communities, particularly Jewish students at this time, are treated with respect and that a vocal and aggressive minority must not be able to intimidate other students or academics.

Until now, the protestors have publicly said they want universities and colleges to pull all investments in Israel or with Israeli links, and increase bursaries for Palestinian students wanting to study in the UK.

But in secret the organisers of the Oxford protest are pursuing a far more radical agenda that suggests their ultimate goal is the dismantling of the state of Israel.

A man passes by a protest site at Oxford University on Tuesday - Adrian Dennis/AFP

Anyone wanting to pitch a tent in the encampment in front of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History is being told they must be committed to upholding the Thawabit, a set of demands laid down by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in the 1970s.

It goes beyond the two-state solution  advocated by the G7, the European Union, the US, China and others  to demand the right of return for around six million Palestinian refugees to the homes they or their ancestors owned in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza before the state of Israel was created in 1948.

The Thawabit also calls for Jerusalem to be recognised as the capital of Palestine, the right to self-determination and the right of colonised people to resist against occupation.

More than 80 professors at Oxford University have signed a statement supporting the student protest. There is no mention of the Thawabit or its aims in their statement.

In Cambridge, where a similar encampment has been established, Gavriel Sacks, co-president of the universitys Jewish Society, said the entire experience of first year Jewish students had been dominated by the protests, leaving them feeling cut off socially and struggling to make friends.

Students at universities across the country are protesting Israel's actions in Gaza - Adrian Dennis/AFP

One Jewish academic at Cambridge, who asked not to be named, said the protest camp there verges on an act of desecration because it was set up on Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day, on which the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust are commemorated.

A spokesman for Oxford University said: We respect our students and staff members right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests. We ask everyone who is taking part to do so with respect, courtesy and empathyas we have stressed in our student and staff communications there is no place for intolerance at the University of Oxford.

Other university towns and cities where similar protests have happened include London, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Warwick, Swansea and Bristol.

05:32 PM BST

Thats all for today

Thanks for following todays live blog. Well be back tomorrow to bring you all the latest from the ongoing student protests. Here is a summary of the day:

Protesters camping at Kings College in Cambridge and the Universitys Natural History Museum in Oxford woke to coffee and music as pro-Palestine demonstrations entered their second day.

Oxford protesters refused to answer police questions concerning the safety of those camping. In Cambridge there was no police presence.

A prominent Jewish academic at Cambridge said the protest camp verges on an act of desecration for the decision to set up the encampment on the day in the Jewish calendar when the loss of six million lives in the Holocaust is solemnly commemorated

Oxfords first Jewish Lord Mayor says she is worried about the rise of anti-Semitic language and imagery in recent protests.

A 19-year-old Jewish student described an anti-Semitic incident in which he was called a pig.

Cambridge protesters chanted shame as they marched through the city to deliver envelopes containing their demands to the Universitys vice-chancellors.

A reporter from The Sun was called scum by Oxford protesters while other journalists were discouraged from entering the encampment.

A Jewish student was refused entry to the Oxford encampment for refusing to sign a radical manifesto that called for millions of Palestinians be allowed to take back their ancestral land in Israel.

A Telegraph reporter was asked to leave Oxford protest after being surrounded by protesters.

More than 80 Oxford professors signed a statement supporting the protesters

04:55 PM BST

Prominent Jewish professor says protest echoes Nazi Germany

A prominent Jewish professor at Cambridge described the pro-Palestinian rally this afternoon as having echoes of Nazi Germany.

The professor, who did not wish to be named, said: This return to a racialised way of thinking has echoes of the 1930s and is deeply worrying.

He added that the actions of Ari Vladimir, a 19-year-old Jewish student who launched a counter-protest yesterday, were very brave.

Asked about the motivations of the protesters, who have repeatedly accused Israel of genocide, he said: Its another example of this tremendous oversimplification, which is deeply worrying.

A couple of lines on social media will define what you think because you want to be part of a herd.

The problem that we have, particularly with the far left, is that being noisy and making a fuss and insisting that their grievances are based on a fundamental morality - its expressed in such simplistic language that its something quite difficult to contest.

The professor said the demands of the student protesters, which include divesting from numerous companies with ties to Israel, are complete nonsense.

I dont think its realistic, and in the process theyll fail their exams, he said. Blaming the banks for that seems to me completely ridiculous.

04:42 PM BST

Pictured: Protests continue through the afternoon

Banners draped over the front of the protest site at the Oxford University Natural History Museum - Paul Grover for the Telegraph

Cambridge student protesters march through the city holding brown envelopes which contain their demands - Jason Bye

04:26 PM BST

Oxford: There is no place for intolerance

The University of Oxfords most recent statement on the protests:

We are aware of the ongoing demonstration by members of our University community. We respect our students and staff members right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests. We ask everyone who is taking part to do so with respect, courtesy and empathy. Oxford Universitys primary focus is the health and safety of the University community, and to ensure any impact on work, research and learning, including student exams, is minimised. As we have stressed in our student and staff communications there is no place for intolerance at the University of Oxford. The Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum remain open.

04:15 PM BST

More than 80 Oxford professors sign statement supporting protesters

More than 80 professors at Oxford University have signed a statement supporting the student protest.

They have given their backing to the advertised aims of Oxford Action for Palestine, which include calls for a ceasefire, condemnation of the destruction of universities in Gaza and supporting Palestinian scholars education.

There is no mention of the Thawabit or its aims in their statement, which is signed by more than 300 academics in total, who also include fellows, lecturers and researchers.

04:03 PM BST

Jewish students wary of drawing attention to their Jewishness

Leaders of Cambridges Jewish Student Society (JSoc) have said they are wary of drawing attention to their Jewishness and have felt cut off since pro-Palestinian protests began on campus.

Ella Vardi, 20, the Cambridge JSoc external affairs officer, said: I used to wear a star of David necklace, but now Im much more wary of bringing up my Jewishness to people I dont know very well. This time last year, I would have thrown it into conversation and not thought about it.

Since October 7, the option has been more often than not to keep it to myself.

Gavriel Sacks, 20, co-president of the Cambridge JSoc, added that his entire university experience so far has been coloured by pro-Palestinian protests.

As a first year, our entire university experience has been this. Therefore its easy to associate the anti-Zionism [of protesters] with anti-Semitism, the Trinity Hall college history student said. I struggled to settle. I struggled to make friends.

Although Mr Sacks said the protests have not overshadowed his first year, he agreed that they had made him feel cut-off.

Socially, Ive definitely felt limited, he said.

03:34 PM BST

Pictured: Telegraph reporter leaving Oxford encampment

Albert Tait (right), News Reporter for The Telegraph, exits the camp in Oxford after being pressured to leave by protesters - Paul Grover for the Telegraph

03:16 PM BST

Telegraph asked to leave Oxford protest

The Telegraph has now been asked to leave the encampment in Oxford.

Protesters said they were at capacity for press and that the presence of some reporters was making them uncomfortable.

When the Telegraph reporter initially refused, a protest organiser said she would mobilise the rest of the protesters to make him leave.

After the reporter refused again, the protestor used a megaphone to summon a large group of protesters who then called on the reporter to leave.

The intimidating mob surrounded me, news reporter Albert Tait said. There were protesters shouting in my face and one of them repeatedly kicked my shoes.

I decided to leave but they followed behind me as I walked off, continuing their tirade of shouts and heckles.

03:03 PM BST

Jewish student refused entry to encampment for refusing to sign manifesto

A Jewish student wearing a kippah tried to enter the Oxford encampment but was refused by protesters because he did not want to sign the radical manifesto.

The manifesto contains a demand that millions of Palestinians be allowed to take back their ancestral land in Israel.

The man, 38, who asked to remain anonymous, said: I highly doubt they would have let me in anyway because I am Jewish.

Asked about the protest, he said: I dont agree with it. I think there are better things to do. I hope it stops in this beautiful city. I hope they dont use it to intimidate Jewish students.

I wanted to wear my kippah to show there is another viewpoint, and I wanted to wear an Israeli flag armband but changed my mind. I dont want to end up in the hospital.

The student was eventually allowed to enter the encampment.

He said: It made me feel like nothing to be honest

02:21 PM BST

Watch: Cambridge students march to deliver envelopes containing demands

02:10 PM BST

Is the protest in Oxford legal?

If the answer is no, do the police intend to do anything about it?

When the Telegraph put these two questions to Thames Valley Police, it responded with the following: We are aware of a peaceful protest currently taking place at Oxford University.

The protesters are exercising their right to protest around the ongoing situation in the Middle East.

Thames Valley Police have attended, and are in contact with Oxford University.

No arrests have been made.



01:54 PM BST

Reporter called scum by Oxford protesters

Certain journalists are being strongly discouraged from entering the protest site in Oxford.

A protestor shouted at a reporter from The Sun as he tried to enter the encampment and called him scum.

A reporter from the Daily Mail was escorted out yesterday after trying to interview protesters.

It comes despite the protesters setting up a media tent and speaking to journalists from other outlets.

01:40 PM BST

Cambridge protesters chant shame on march to deliver envelope containing their demands

A protest organiser, dressed in brown corduroy trousers and wearing a black and white keffiyeh, addressed Cambridge student demonstrators, raising aloft a list of the protesters demands, which the group planned to deliver to the Universitys vice chancellors.

The protesters chanted shame after the name of each vice-chancellor was read out.

The march got under way around 12.15pm with the protesters walking slowly northwards from outside Kings College to Senate House passage a few hundred yards away.

The groups leaders stood at the front holding the brown envelopes containing the protesters demands.

Chanting stop the bombing now and Israel is a terrorist state, the protestors paraded down the narrow Senate House Passage before delivering their envelopes to pro-vice-chancellors Bhaskar Vira and Kamal Munir.

Its a peaceful protest, said Mr Vira. Theyre entitled to their views.

01:10 PM BST

Oxford protesters sprayed by sprinklers overnight

Some of the protesters in Oxford were sprayed with water last night when sprinklers were turned on where they camped on the lawn.

The protesters are now planning to speak to the landowner to stop the same thing from happening tonight.

The issue was raised when the protesters held an internal meeting today to discuss the future of the encampment.

They have also agreed to deliver their demands in person to the University of Oxford after holding a vote.

12:48 PM BST

Pictured: Students speak at Cambridge encampment

Cambridge students speak at their protest camp outside King's College - Joe Giddens/PA Wire

The protestors say they will not move until the University agrees to their demands to 'disclose, divest, reinvest and protect' - Jason Bye

12:39 PM BST

Maybe my Jewishness provoked them: Student describes anti-Semitic incident

A Jewish student walked past the protest holding a pad of A4 paper that said: Rape is not resistance.

The 19-year-old maths student, who did not give his name, said: Its obvious to me that most people who are calling for resistance against the Jewish people and see it as any way legitimateits absolutely disgusting, the cruelty.

Thats what this message is about. Its a form of resistance, he added, referring to his sign.

The student said he was the victim of an anti-Semitic incident while walking to class this morning.

This morning someone was walking past them and called me a pig. They then started murmuring things at me. Maybe this provoked them, my Jewishness, he said, gesturing to his Kipur.

He said its never happened here before, but I dont feel unsafe, adding: I have my close community around me and keep my head down.

Its only when I have to walk past things like this that I feel like I cant stay silent, and I have to say something.

12:21 PM BST

Apartheid workshop and pinkwashing panel event on todays itinerary in Cambridge

Organisers of the Cambridge posted an itinerary for the day on their Instagram, which includes an apartheid workshop and a panel event on pinkwashing.

Pinkwashing is the practice of promoting LGBT rights to distract from violence against other countries.

Stella Swain, a Palestine Solidarity Campaign officer, held the workshop this morning in which she outlined the groups tactical decision in an ongoing fight for freedom.

Addressing the practice of pinkwashing, Ms Swain said: Israel uses faux concern for LGBT people to cover up genocide.

Israel doesnt care about gay Palestinians.

12:05 PM BST

Oxford Lord Mayor concerned by rise of anti-Semitic language and imagery

Oxfords first Jewish Lord Mayor says she is worried about the rise of anti-Semitic language and imagery in recent protests.

Elise Benjamin said some Gaza protestors had strayed beyond legitimate criticism - although did not refer specifically to the encampment outside the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Ms Benjamin, a former Green councillor who was Lord Mayor from 2011 to 2012, told The Telegraph: As a Green I support the right to peacefully protest.

As a Jew I recognise that some protests have included individuals who have strayed beyond legitimate criticism of the extreme response from the increasingly unpopular Right-wing Israeli government into using anti-Semitic language and imagery.

12:00 PM BST

Pictured: Scenes from the Oxford and Cambridge protest camps

A protester looks out of a tent outside Oxford University Museum of Natural History - REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Protesters on the lawn outside King's College, Cambridge have distributed flyers calling for fellow students to join the encampment - HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images

11:39 AM BST

No police presence at Cambridge encampment

There has been no police presence at the Cambridge camp this morning.

Protest organisers said two officers came to monitor proceedings on Monday afternoon but did not intervene.

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Constabulary said today: We are aware of a protest which took place outside Kings College, in Cambridge, on land owned by the college, yesterday.

Our officers engaged with the college, but there was no significant disruption.

11:23 AM BST

Protest camp verges on an act of desecration

A prominent Jewish academic at Cambridge has said the protest camp verges on an act of desecration.

The professor, who did not wish to be named over concerns for their safety, said: The decision to set up the encampment on the day in the Jewish calendar when the loss of six million lives in the Holocaust is solemnly commemorated betrays the ignorance and offensiveness of the demonstrators. To me, it verges on an act of desecration.

The professor added that the protesters demands, which include cutting ties with Israeli academic institutions, could have damaging consequences.

They said: Cutting off collaboration with Israeli universities means, I suppose, that when life-saving treatment developed by Israeli Nobel laureates is offered, these people will refuse to accept it, glorying in the knowledge that they wish to impede future amazing innovations in the sciences.

11:12 AM BST

Pictured: Tents and banners strewn across campus lawns

Historic walls of Kings College, Cambridge lined with Palestinian flags and banners painted with messages including "divest from genocide" and "occupation is a crime" - Jason Bye

Police talk to protesters on the lawn of Oxford University's Natural History Museum - Paul Grover

10:59 AM BST

We are not accountable for the actions of all members of the public

An organiser of the Cambridge protest said the group is not accountable for the actions of all members of the public after a Jewish counter-protester was pushed yesterday and had his Israeli flag ripped from him.

Ari Vladimir, 19, a first-year history student at Christs College, had an Israeli flag taken from his hands and thrown to the floor when he launched a counter-protest at yesterdays Cambridge rally.

That was a member of the public and we are not accountable for the actions of all members of the public, the protest organiser, who did not give her name, said.

She added: We are going to have a de-escalation debrief before the rally today so that protesters are aware.

10:42 AM BST

What is happening in the US?

Campus demonstrations across the US descended into violence last week as riot police forcibly shut down encampments at several universities.

On Monday evening, demonstrators vandalised a First World War memorial and burned an American flag in Central Park, New York.

Around 1,000 protesters took to the streets of New York, marching up Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan before penetrating barricades that were blocking access to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the gala was being held.

Earlier in the day, nearly 1,000 pro-Israel demonstrators gathered in Riverside Park near Columbia University in response to the pro-Palestinian encampment at the site.

Read our full explainer on the US protests here.

10:33 AM BST

We can escort you out: Oxford protesters refusing to answer police questions

Two police officers have arrived, but protesters are refusing to answer their questions.

One of the officers asks if people are safe, if there are any children in the encampment, and if anyone is pregnant.

A protester, wearing a balaclava and a black hoodie, tells them that nobody there will speak to the police.

He says: Hope you have a good day. We can escort you out.

The police have now left. Thames Valley Police has been contacted for comment by The Telegraph.

10:12 AM BST

Oxford protests begin after students have lie-in

Its a late start in Oxford where the protest has entered its second day, writes Albert Tait at the scene.

Many of the 80 or so people who spent the night outside the Pitt Rivers Museum are still asleep in their tents by 10am.

The lawn they have occupied since Monday morning resembles a festival. It is churned and muddy, and wooden pallets and cardboard have been laid out.

There is a full schedule of events today, starting with a news from Gaza bulletin which will inform protesters about the latest events in the war.

Then at noon it is lunch. Yesterday it included plates of mezze which were dropped off by a University professor, one of the protesters tells The Telegraph.

10:07 AM BST

Around 40 tents pitched outside Cambridges Kings College

Around 40 tents are pitched up outside Cambridges Kings College on the second day of student protests on Tuesday morning.

The historic walls of the college remain lined with Palestinian flags and banners painted with messages including divest from genocide and occupation is a crime.

So far, about 15 student protesters have emerged from their tents, some with keffiyehs tied around their heads.

Those who are awake mill about drinking coffee while a playlist of protest songs from the likes of Gil Scott-Heron and NWA blare out of a speaker.

Several volunteers arrived a short while ago holding a large box containing takeaway meals for breakfast. A trestle table with a Palestinian flag table cloth has been set up to serve tea and coffee.

10:03 AM BST

Hello and welcome to our live coverage

Were bringing you the latest updates as student pro-Palestine protests on University lawns at Oxford and Cambridge enter their second day.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Sen. Carolyn Comitta speaks at a press conference in Harrisburg May 7, 2024 (Photo via Sen. Comitta's office)

Later this month, Pennsylvania will mark 10 years since a judge struck down the states ban on same-sex marriage. But lawmakers and advocates say theres still work to be done, and that its time to codify marriage equality protections into law.

Too often we have seen long held rights and freedoms vanish in the blink of an eye, state Sen. Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester) said at a press conference Tuesday at the Capitol in Harrisburg, alongside fellow members of the Pennsylvania LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. The fact is, we cannot rely solely on the courts to fix the failings of our laws. There is just too much at stake.

We have the power to affirm this right, she added. And we must continue to advance equality for same sex couples, and all LGBTQ+ individuals in Pennsylvania.

In May 2014, a federal judge ruled that Pennsylvanias ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ended same-sex marriage bans nationwide.

Comitta and state Reps. Jessica Benham (D-Allegheny) and Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) have legislation currently before the House Judiciary Committee that would update current laws to remove outdated, unconstitutional, and unnecessary sections of law, in regards to marriage equality. They argue that this language still present in Pennsylvanias laws would ban same-sex marriage if both the state and national court decisions were overturned.

Ryan Matthews, Pennsylvania State Director of the Human Rights Campaign, cited a Public Religion Research Institute poll that found 66% of Pennsylvanians support codifying marriage equality into law. He said it was time for Pennsylvanias legislature to follow the lead of President Joe Biden, who signed the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022.

So when our allies stand up and introduce important legislation like this, we are here to thank them, but were also here to say to all of the other legislators that ask why is this an important step, to show that it is because of basic respect for us and our community that we need to be recognized and protected in law, Matthews said.

Benham, who was the first openly queer woman elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, said legislation needs to go further in protecting marriage equality rights.

But I do think it is important, too, when we talk about marriage equality being the law of the land to recognize that there is a group of people who still do not have full access to marriage rights, Benham said. Until individuals with disabilities can get married without losing their Social Security, disability or health care benefits, marriage equality is not a law of the land for all.

The post PA LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus pushes to codify marriage equality protections into state law appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
Palestinians Ordered By Israel To Flee Rafah Have Nowhere Better To Go

Abood Okal woke up Monday morning to messages that took him back to the start of the devastating Israel-Hamas war  specifically to Oct. 13, when Israeli jets dropped flyers in northern Gaza telling its more than 1 million residents to flee and he and his family scrambled to leave their homes on short notice.

Okal, his wife and their infant son moved hours away to a house east of Rafah, the town in southern Gaza that has become a refuge for most of the regions displaced people. They eventually left the Gaza Strip to return to Massachusetts, thanks to their U.S. passports. But Okals brother and sister, as well her husband and young children, are stuck at the house where he stayed, and earlier Monday they told him they received new flyers, stating Israels demand for Palestinians to flee Rafah, which Israels government has threatened for months to invade despite warnings that it would cause a bloodbath.

Okal described familiar chaos as he has tried from afar to help his loved ones find safety.

They packed up what they could, and the men went out to look for a spot to pitch tents, he told HuffPost. Theres zero spots. They may spend the night where they are because there is no place to go.

Meanwhile, his sister Eman reported increased bombardment in the area, including shelling by tanks that sounded like they were targeting her civilian neighborhood. Some of those sheltering with her took what they could carry and just began walking west, Okal said, which reminded her of Palestinians fleeing their historic homes with no plan for their future amid the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

Everyone is getting up and leaving because now its been a few times of this throughout the war, he said. Everyone knows in 48-72 hours, things will turn very grim  if you havent left, thats a blanket excuse for the Israeli army to say, You cant blame us for carpet-bombing.

Israel put a humanitarian spin on its Monday move to expand its U.S.-backed ground invasion of Gaza to Rafah, which it casts as a military necessity to pursue the Palestinian militant group Hamas in retaliation for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people. It said its directive to move affected only about 100,000 people in a limited section of Rafah and that it had designated zones where they would be shielded.

But observers familiar with conditions on the ground say the approach, which President Joe Biden has expressed concern about but has not yet taken tangible steps to alter, ignores the unique risk of a battle for Rafah that would subject already desperate civilians to inconceivable danger.

In particular, Israel highlighted two areas as safe zones, Al-Mawasi on Gazas southern coast and sections of Khan Yunis in the center of the strip, neither of which residents nor aid groups believe can safely or humanely accommodate the huge flow of people who are already on their way out of Rafah.

Its not about finding a safe location: Everybody knows the whole safe zones [idea] is BS, Okal said. His family members could not find a free spot, even in Al-Mawasi, in their Monday hunt, he added, criticizing unfulfilled Israeli promises of temporary accommodations for Palestinians.

Even before todays evacuation orders, Al-Mawasi was uninhabitable. Our team members report tents stretched endlessly under scorching sun with no relief in sight and no electricity, water or aid, Tjada DOyen McKenna, CEO of the charity Mercy Corps, said in a Monday statement. She added that a recent heatwave there had killed a 5-year-old girl and that insect-borne disease is widespread in the area.

Meanwhile, Jan Egeland, the secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, issued a bleak prediction about the effect of the growing fighting in Rafah, which as of Monday evening U.S. time involved heavy airstrikes and the targeting of a crossing point between Gaza and Egypt that is vital for humanitarian staff and supplies.

The aid system is bound to collapse, leaving those fleeing the advancing Israeli forces vulnerable to hunger and suffering, Egeland said. Palestinian authorities estimate the Israeli campaign has killed 35,000 Palestinians already.

No Confidence

Israels apparent plan for defeating Hamas in Rafah while abiding by humanitarian norms involves several steps. Each is complex and could easily go wrong, condemning civilians to death.

It begins with travel.

Every person in Rafah has likely already lacked sufficient food for months, with somewhere between a quarter and a half of the people suffering famine-level hunger, according to the worlds top food security tracker. Starvation makes people weaker, as do injuries from months of Israeli bombings in various parts of Rafah and the stress of displacement and life in a war zone.

Those complications are even more challenging for the group that comprises nearly half of Rafahs population: 600,000 children.

If you think about seven months of war and the impact on children, the nature of this evacuation is different because children are exhausted, traumatized and in many cases sick and injured, said Tess Ingram of the United Nations agency for children (UNICEF). Her organization says 65,000 of those children have a pre-existing disability, while 78,000 (and counting, as births continue in Gaza at a rate of 183 per day) are less than 2 years old.

When Ingram visited Gaza last month, doctors there told her a growing number of babies were being born malnourished, unwell or generally weak, reflecting their mothers state. That means more babies than ever need to be in incubators, creating an enormous challenge to moving them, she said.

A Palestinian baby injured after an Israeli attack is being taken Monday to a hospital for treatment in Rafah, Gaza. Doaa Albaz/Anadolu via Getty Images

Its the babies in incubators who are left when the power goes out, when the medical staff are no longer able to support them, Ingram said. She noted that Rafah is home to a major maternity hospital and that international humanitarian law maintains protections for civilians who choose not to leave an area despite military orders to do so.

However difficult, moving likely seems unavoidable for many Palestinians, even outside the area to which the Israelis have already sent flyers. Sam Rose of the U.N. agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) told Sky News he anticipates far more than the 100,000 in the currently specified zone will flee; he witnessed people packing up their tents in western Rafah earlier on Monday.

The hard-to-estimate outpouring of civilians is nearly certain to create a crunch along the remaining intact routes for travel within Gaza and intense competition for even a few feet of space in the cramped safe zones.

The journey is not easy. Okal described just one hardship: As people move farther west, away from the Israeli border, they may lose limited cellular signals through e-SIMs connected to Israeli mobile networks and enter areas with intermittent chances to charge their phones, thus losing the ability to keep in touch with family members.

And those who travel farther toward Khan Yunis will be at significant risk of injury from unexploded Israeli bombs and mines, U.N. experts say.

Once they make the trip out, civilians must contend with a pair of additional problems, one long-standing, the other new.

First is the risk that Israel will choose to strike even its designated humanitarian areas, as it has repeatedly done in Rafah and Al-Mawasi. Past evacuation orders have resulted in serious civilian harm, wrote Jeremy Konyndyk, a former Biden administration official who runs the charity Refugees International, in a post on X (formerly Twitter). So seeing the same map of safe areas from the [Israel Defense Forces, or IDF], and the same calls for people to move to the oft-bombed Mawasi coastal zone, inspires no confidence that the IDF will take civilian safety any more seriously than it has so far.

The second is the unpredictability of humanitarian assistance.

Rafah was a functioning town before the Israel-Hamas war began. Once fighting was underway, aid workers built their new operations to help Palestinians with features including a water system, and existing markets and medical facilities. In contrast, theres almost nothing in Al-Mawasi, which is largely a sand dune, Ingram said. And Israeli attacks have destroyed much of the infrastructure in Khan Yunis and nearby Deir Al Balah, where some Rafah families have already headed.

As order collapses in Rafah and large numbers of civilians move to more remote areas farther from the entry points for most aid to Gaza, at southern crossings with Egypt and Israel, it will be significantly harder to get civilians help, Ingram told HuffPost.

Major fighting in Rafah means not only would our ability to bring new supplies into Gaza be impeded, so would our ability to store or access supplies that are already in Gaza, she said. Most aid warehouses and accommodations for workers are in the town. Additionally, Ingram noted, the further people are from the aid access points, the harder it has been for humanitarian agencies to reach them, because of damage to roads and infrastructure but also the dangers of traversing the Gaza Strip.

As Okal fears for his family and hopes that faltering cease-fire talks will bear fruit, he cant stop thinking about how what he is witnessing seems like the same story that happened in the north of Gaza  the outcome the Biden administration has repeatedly pledged it would not allow.

After months of war, he would have expected lessons learned by Israel to save face.

The negligence and the arrogance and the lack of accountability are manifesting themselves into the last neighborhood of the Gaza Strip  its quite shocking, Okal said.

Related...
By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations General Assembly could vote on Friday on a draft resolution that would recognize the Palestinians as qualified to become a full U.N. member and recommend that the U.N. Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably."

It would effectively act as a global survey of how much support the Palestinians have for their bid, which was vetoed in the U.N. Security Council last month by the United States. An application to become a full U.N. member needs to be approved by the 15-member Security Council and then the General Assembly.

Diplomats say the 193-member General Assembly is likely to back the Palestinian bid. But changes could still be made to the draft after some diplomats raised concerns with the current text, seen by Reuters, that also grants additional rights and privileges - short of full membership - to the Palestinians.

Some diplomats say this could set a precedent for other situations, citing Kosovo and Taiwan as examples.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan on Monday denounced the current draft General Assembly resolution, saying it would give the Palestinians the de facto status and rights of a state and goes against the founding U.N. Charter.

"If it is approved, I expect the United States to completely stop funding the U.N. and its institutions, in accordance with American law," said Erdan, adding that adoption by the General Assembly would not change anything on the ground.

US CONCERNS

Under U.S. law, Washington cannot fund any U.N. organization that grants full membership to any group that does not have the "internationally recognized attributes" of statehood. The U.S. halted funding in 2011 for the U.N. cultural agency (UNESCO)after the Palestinians became a full member.

"It remains the U.S. view that the path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations," said Nate Evans, spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the U.N.

"We are aware of the resolution and reiterate our concerns with any effort to extend certain benefits to entities when there are unresolved questions as to whether the Palestinians currently meet the criteria under the Charter," he said.

The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2012. The Palestinian mission to the U.N. in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its push for action in the General Assembly.

The Palestinian push for full U.N. membership comes seven months into a war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and as Israel is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the U.N. considers to be illegal.

The United Nations has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in 1967.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, Editing by Michael Perry)
After being embroiled in several legal battles over the effects of its charged lemonade, Panera has finally decided to discontinue the drinks. The decision comes less than four months after Panera faced a third lawsuit over its controversial charged lemonades.

Panera released its Charged Sips in April 2022, joining the growing energy drink market. The rollout was introduced alongside a subscription deal that allowed customers to get unlimited refills on drinks. In September 2022, 21-year-old Sarah Katz died after drinking a large amount of the caffeinated lemonade, resulting in Panera's charged lemonade becoming the center of a lawsuit. The next month, 46-year-old Dennis Brown died on a walk home after drinking three cups of the charged lemonade. Both Katz and Brown's deaths were a result of cardiac arrest. Following the second wrongful death lawsuit over its charged lemonades, the soup and sandwich chain got rid of the self-serve options, placing the drinks behind the counter instead. Now, it's pulling them completely.

The discontinuation comes with more menu changes for the company, which it called a "new era" on the Panera website. Along with new menu items, Panera says that it's more focused on listening to its customers. In a statement obtained by Rolling Stone, a spokesperson said that some of the changes involve new low-sugar and low-caffeine drink options to replace the charged lemonades.

Read more: 15 Boba Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

Panera Denies Responsibilities For The Deaths At The Center Of The Lemonade Lawsuit

Panera's charged lemonade display - Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Although the company is choosing to retire the controversial Charged Sips, Panera made no reference to its legal battles during the announcement. Following the first two lawsuits, the chain denied its culpability in the deaths of the alleged victims. The lemonades, which Panera claimed to have the same caffeine content as its Dark Roast coffee, actually had 163 milligrams more caffeine than the largest size of the coffee. At 390 milligrams, 30 fluid ounces of the charged lemonade sits right under the 400-milligram recommended limit set by the FDA.

Soon after Katz's death, Panera issued a warning that accompanied the lemonade, stating that it shouldn't be consumed by people who are pregnant, nursing, or sensitive to caffeine. While both victims at the center of the first two lawsuits had pre-existing conditions, the woman who filed the third one claimed that Panera's charged lemonades gave her permanent health problems. After drinking the charged lemonade, 28-year-old Lauren Skerritt claimed that she went to the emergency room due to experiencing heart palpitations and dizziness and was later diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.

Read the original article on Tasting Table
Panera to phase out charged lemonade after families file lawsuits in connection to deaths

Channel 2 Action News has learned that Panera Bread Company is phasing out its caffeinated lemonade drink after families filed lawsuits against the company in connection to the deaths of loved ones.

The drink had gone viral on social media due to its high levels of caffeine.

In a statement to Channel 2 Action News, Panera said:

We are excited to continue the success of our recent menu transformation, which began with our core options of sandwiches and salads. We listened to more than 30,000 guests about what they wanted from Panera, and are focusing next on the broad array of beverages we know our guests desire  ranging from exciting, on-trend flavors, to low sugar and low-caffeine options. Our enhanced beverage portfolio, including new Blueberry Lavender Lemonade, Pomegranate Hibiscus Tea, Citrus Punch and a Tropical Green Smoothie will reinforce our mission of delivering what our guests want most  amazing taste, quality ingredients and value.

Channel 2 Action News first broke the story about the death of Sarah Katz, a student at the University of Pennsylvania. She died in Sept. 2022 after she drank a Panera Charged Lemonade at a Philadelphia store, according to a lawsuit filed by her family.

According to the lawsuit, Charged Lemonade has anywhere from 260 to 390 milligrams of caffeine, exceeding the combined caffeine content of Red Bull (114 milligrams) and Monster Energy Drink (160 milligrams).

Katz had a pre-existing heart condition called Long QT Type 1 Syndrome, which she was diagnosed with at age 5. People with the condition can experience life-threatening abnormal heart rhythms after very intense physical exercise.

Lawyers for the family argue that Katz didnt know the drink was caffeinated and said the drink was offered side-by-side with all of Paneras non-caffeinated drinks. The drink was not advertised as an energy drink, according to the lawsuit.

Lawyers for the family say Katz died after suffering from two cardiac arrests after she came home from the restaurant.

RELATED STORIES:

According to the lawsuit, Katz died directly as a result of drinking Charged Lemonade.

In December, Channel 2 Action News confirmed the death of another person tied to the lemonade. In a lawsuit from that family, it alleges Paneras charged lemonades caused Dennis Brown, 46, to go into cardiac arrest after he left the restaurant on Oct. 9.

According to the lawsuit, Brown had charged lemonades with his early dinner at the Panera near his job in Florida and died while he was walking home.

Browns family says he avoided energy drinks because he had high blood pressure.

The lawsuit alleges Brown had been drinking the charged lemonades for six days and was a member of Paneras sip club where you can order unlimited drinks.

Following Katzs death, Panera started posting warnings about the lemonade on its website, saying:

Naturally flavored, plant-based, with about as much CAFFEINE as our Dark Roast Coffee. Use in moderation. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR children, people sensitive to caffeine, pregnant or nursing women. Caffeine260 mg.

In a statement about Browns death, Panera said they expressed their sympathy over his death and based on their investigations, we believe his unfortunate passing was not caused by one of the companys products. We view this lawsuit which was filed by the same law firm as a previous claim to be equally without merit. Panera stands firmly by the safety of our products.

Earlier this year, the company announced it would be making changes to its menu to refocus on guest favorite soups, salads, sandwiches and mac and cheese.

There was no word at the time if the revamp would include removing the charged lemonade from the menu.

RELATED NEWS:




ANKARA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday welcomed Hamas's acceptance of a proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

"We were pleased that Hamas accepted the ceasefire (proposal) following our suggestions. Now, the same step should be taken by Israel," Erdogan said at a press conference after a cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara.

"I call on all Western actors to put pressure on Israel to that end," he said.

Erdogan held a phone conversation with Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh after the movement accepted the Gaza ceasefire proposal.

The president said on social media platform X that the two sides discussed the efforts made to end the conflict and violence in Gaza and evaluated Hamas's approval of the ceasefire proposal it received from the mediators.

Haniyeh has told the Egyptian and Qatari sides mediating the Gaza truce that his movement approved their proposal regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, the Gaza-ruling Palestinian faction said in a statement on Monday. 
Youve heard it before, or maybe youve experienced it in your own community: North Carolina is growing, and fast.

The data backs it up. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hills Carolina Population Center predicts the Tar Heel state will be the seventh most populated state by 2030.

Along with a rise in population has come a rise in registered voters and notably, thousands of them are registered as unaffiliated.

Statewide, unaffiliated voters have risen from 18% in 2004 to 37% this year. In Buncombe County, unaffiliated voters make up about 42.8%, but 20 years ago in 2004, this group only made up about 21.3%.

Despite the general upward trend, its tough to make claims about the meaning or impact because these voters are not a homogenous group. Some vote party lines through and through and others are true swing voters.

One thing is clear: Unaffiliated voters do tend to be younger, according to Nathan Dollar, the director of Carolina Demography at UNCChapel Hills the Carolina Population Center.

Registering unaffiliated offers a sense of freedom

Registering as unaffiliated could simply be a practical decision. In a state where primaries are semi-closed, registering unaffiliated allows voters to participate in either partys primary, said Nadine Suzanne Gibson, assistant professor with the University of North Carolina Wilmingtons Department of Public and International Affairs.

Registering with a party doesn't really get you anything in North Carolina, Gibson said. It actually gives you less freedom to vote in whatever primary you want.

Kathie Kline, Democratic Party chair in Buncombe County, said she is concerned about the freedom this structure allows.

Kathie Kline

In Buncombe, many of our unaffiliated voters are left-leaning and some of them have chosen to register as unaffiliated so they can vote against certain Republicans in primaries, Kline said. Buncombe Democrats feel this wastes the votes needed for other down-ballot primary races that are so important for our local governments.

Inevitably, when unaffiliated voters show up at the polls, they are presented with a political system run by two parties, leaving them to choose one or the other.

Data from the 2020 primary election showed that statewide more unaffiliated voters participated in the Democratic primary (388,381) than they did in the Republican primary (201,614).

Although this phenomenon might not offer much insight on a change in voter behavior at the polls, it could be a sign that feelings around politics are changing, said Jonathan Weiler, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an author.

Doug Brown, the chair of the Buncombe Republican Party said the polarization of politics, especially by the media, may be contributing to an increase in unaffiliated voters.

The press has some responsibility for why this unaffiliated has grown, because people are just saying, Im sick of hearing the news, Brown said. I know people are turning off the news because they just dont want to hear all the bickering and fighting and one-sided arguments on things.

More: Buncombe Rep. party chair charged with assault; GOP silent on code of conduct, next steps

More: Younger voters can influence North Carolina elections. What do they care about?

How do parties reach unaffiliated voters?

There is no one way to reach these voters because they are all over the board, Weiler said.

Its wrong to think of them as a monolith and that matters because if they all thought the same way, then it would be much easier to craft a message that appealed to that group of voters, Weiler said.

Some Buncombe County candidates are running as unaffiliated to connect with this bloc.

Van Duncan, 2024 unaffiliated candidate for chairman of Buncombe County, NC Board of Commissioners

Van Duncan, candidate for chairman of Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, is running as unaffiliated. He switched from the Democratic party after serving as Sheriff in Buncombe County from 2006 to 2018.

Bruce OConnell, candidate for Buncombe County Commissioner District 2, is also running unaffiliated. OConnell previously ran for US Congress seat District 11 as a Republican in 2022.

Both candidates said they felt their respective parties had left them behind for more extreme stances and decided to take action.

The first step in their run was to gain ballot access.

In North Carolina, a candidate not registered with an established party must collect verified signatures from 4% of registered voters in their county. That comes out to just over 8,000 signatures in Buncombe.

Duncan said he spent around $30,000 on a mailer campaign to get the signatures.

Bruce O'Connell, 2024 unaffiliated candidate for Buncombe County Board of Commissioners District 2

OConnell took a different approach and asked for signatures in-person, and one attitude became clear through interacting with voters, he said.

Even if people didnt like me or didn't agree with some of my views on issues, they all said the same thing. Anyone that wants to run deserves a chance to run, and we are happy to sign your petition because you deserve a chance to be on the ballot, OConnell said.

Despite both of their successes, Duncan and OConnell expressed frustrations surrounding the process.

For example, if Duncan or OConnell choose to run again in a future election as an unaffiliated candidate, they would need to re-collect those signatures despite having held office.

More: Why 88,000 NC voters chose 'no preference' over President Biden in the Democratic primary

A home for voters who feel left behind

Typically, the biggest hurdle for a candidate to gain an unaffiliateds vote is just getting them to the polls.

In this years primary election, unaffiliated voters turned out at lower rates than registered Democrats and Republicans.

Duncan and OConnell said they hope their campaigns can encourage the thousands of dissatisfied and uninvolved voters to feel compelled to participate again.

What I hope it has an impact on is peoples ability to stay in the political process and not feel like theyve been abandoned, Duncan said.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Unaffiliated voters surpass Democrats, Republicans in Buncombe County
Paterson seeks to reclaim hundreds of thousands of dollars from imprisoned cops

Paterson seeks to reclaim hundreds of thousands of dollars from imprisoned cops

PATERSON, N.J. (PIX11)  Patersons top lawyer joined Mayor Andre Sayegh Monday to announce the first step in reclaiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary paid to a crew of now federally imprisoned rogue cops.

They have been referred to in the media as the robbery squad, said the mayor.

The crew, led by former Sgt. Michael Cheff, used excessive force, stole from alleged drug dealers, and ultimately pled guilty in 2022 to federal corruption charges.

Two years later, the officers widely publicized actions are still a factor in how some Patersonians feel about their embattled police department, which is currently being overseen by the New Jersey Attorney Generals Office.

New Jersey State Trooper dies during training: NJSP

There are some good cops, but I dont trust them because of all the negative energy we get from the bad ones, said Kay, who lives in Paterson.

Cheffs first $65,000 installment comes from accrued salary the city held back while he was initially under criminal investigation. Hes due to make future installment payments following his scheduled release from federal prison later this year.

Corporation Counsel Aymen Aboushi called the agreement unprecedented.

Essentially, weve come up with a gameplan that other cities and municipalities in this state can use to pursue officers who violate the law while wearing their badge, said Aboushi.

These officers who were convicted and sentenced and imprisoned should return the money back to taxpayers. Paterson is a cash-strapped city. All the money we can get to help our residents  $200,000 can go a long way, said Mayor Sayegh.

Corey Teague, a longtime community activist and current police department advisor, said the restitution agreement should be just the beginning.

Thats a good step, in terms of holding them accountable. But theres also the other part  they should look at all his cases at this point, said Teague.

Calls and an email to Cheffs attorney were not returned in time for this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears at court in New York

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears at court in New York

By Luc Cohen, Jack Queen and Andy Sullivan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Porn star Stormy Daniels described her 2006 encounter with Donald Trump in unflattering terms at his criminal trial on Tuesday, testifying she tried not to think about the sex while it took place and feared it would become public.

For several hours Daniels, 45, offered riveting details on the witness stand about her encounter with Trump, 77, and the hush money deal she reached to stay quiet about it ahead of the 2016 election when he won the White House.

She told jurors that her life descended into "chaos" after the arrangement was made public in 2018, saying she was ostracized and harassed at her home.

"Who do you understand Mr. Trump to be referring to as horseface and sleazebag in this post?" prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked her as she displayed a social media post by Trump.

"Me," Daniels replied.

Daniels' testimony provided fodder for Trump's lawyers to seek a mistrial, arguing that details, such as her statement that Trump did not wear a condom, served no purpose other than to inflame the jury. Justice Juan Merchan denied that request but agreed that some of her testimony ran too far afield.

Trump's lawyers attacked her credibility and grilled her about inconsistent statements she has made over the years about her time with Trump.

Daniels also conceded that she "hates" Trump and wanted to make money off her story. Her explanation for why she went public after seven years of silence and denials also was unclear.

Trump, the Republican candidate for president again this year, did not react as he watched from the defense table. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels and denies having sex with Daniels.

His legal team has suggested that Daniels was angling for a spot on "The Apprentice," a popular reality TV show then hosted by Trump, a New York real estate mogul.

Daniels confirmed that she hoped he would cast her on the show following their encounter.

"This was a very big day, a very revealing day. As you see their case is totally falling apart," Trump told reporters outside the courtroom at the end of the day. The trial resumes on Thursday when Daniels will again take the stand.

'ONLY WAY YOU'RE GETTING OUT OF THE TRAILER PARK'

Daniels said Trump made sexual advances after inviting her to his hotel suite at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Daniels testified she grew up as the daughter of a low-income single mother.

She said Trump told her: "This is the only way you're getting out of the trailer park."

Daniels said she "blacked out" despite consuming no drugs or alcohol after Trump prevented her from leaving the room by blocking the door. She said she woke up on the bed with her clothes off.

"I was trying to think about anything other than what was happening there," Daniels testified.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she did not tell Trump to stop. "I didn't say anything at all," she said. She said she left the hotel room quickly afterward.

The Republican politician, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, says the trial is an attempt to hobble his attempt to win back the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden in a Nov. 5 election.

Wearing a black outfit and black glasses, Daniels testified that she worked in strip clubs and pornography after a childhood in which her mother was often gone for days at a time.

SATIN PAJAMAS AND A SPANKING

She said Trump greeted her at his hotel suite wearing satin pajamas. She said she grew annoyed by Trump's frequent interruptions and asked him: "Are you always this arrogant and pompous?"

Trump then dared Daniels to spank him with a magazine and she obliged. He was much more polite after that, she said.

"That's bullshit," Trump appeared to say on Tuesday as he watched from the defendant's table.

The alleged encounter took place while Trump was married to his current wife Melania.

Daniels said she confided in only a few people about the sex. She said she saw Trump at public events on several occasions in the years that followed, but then fell out of touch with him after he did not put her on "The Apprentice."

Daniels said she was determined to keep the incident private after being threatened in a parking lot in 2011 but changed her mind during Trump's 2016 presidential bid, when he faced multiple accusations of sexual misbehavior.

"My motivation wasn't money, it was to get the story out," she said.

Daniels ultimately negotiated a $130,000 payment with Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen, and prosecutors say Trump falsified business records to obscure the fact that he reimbursed Cohen for the payment.

She testified she was eager to collect before the 2016 election because she was worried he would not pay her if he won.

The case is widely seen as less consequential than three other criminal prosecutions Trump faces, but it is the only one certain to go to trial before the election.

The other cases charge Trump with trying to overturn his 2020 presidential defeat and mishandling classified documents after leaving office. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all three.

In Florida, where Trump is accused of illegally keeping classified documents, a judge decided to indefinitely postpone the trial on Tuesday, greatly reducing the odds he will face a jury in the two federal case before the election.

(Reporting by Jack Queen and Luc Cohen in New York and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller)
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  A pedestrian was fatally struck by a San Diego Metropolitan Transit System Trolley train Tuesday morning in El Cajon, police confirmed to FOX 5/KUSI.

The collision was reported just after 6:45 a.m. at the tracks near the El Cajon Transit Center at 352 S Marshall Ave., according to El Cajon police.

The pedestrian was later pronounced dead by medical personnel. Their identity has not been disclosed by authorities, nor has a description of their age and gender been provided.

An El Cajon Police Department spokesperson said MTS is handling the investigation into the incident. No additional information about the collision was immediately available.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG)  Pensacola Christian College will award more than 800 degrees during its commencement ceremonies starting this week.

The ceremonies will be separated into three groups over two days.

Mobile Infirmary, Center for Reproductive Medicine speak out after Alabama Supreme Court decides to not rehear IVF case

All three ceremonies will be held at the Crowne Centre on the schools campus.

COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY LOCATION:

This embedded content is not available in your region.

The Nursing Pinning and Lamp Lighting Graduation will take place on Thursday, May 9, at 7 p.m.

The commencement speaker for this ceremony will be Dr. David Hurst, PCC alumnus, now serving as board certified pediatric cardiologist at University of Tennessee Medical Center and East Tennessee Childrens Hospital, a release from PCC said. His practice focuses on treating a range of pediatric cardiology conditions, including congenital heart defects and septal defects.

Gunfire from nearby woods strikes home: Mobile Police

Friday, May 10, will feature two graduation ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The morning ceremony will feature Arts and Sciences, Biblical Studies and Seminary graduates. The afternoon ceremony will feature Professional Studies, Visual and Performing Arts, and Graduate Studies graduates.

The commencement speaker for these ceremonies will be the Honorable Jeanette Nunez, the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Florida, the release from PCC said. After serving eight years in the Florida House of Representatives, in 2018, she was elected as Floridas first Hispanic female Lieutenant Governor as Governor Ron DeSantiss running mate and is now in her second term after winning re-election in 2022.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umierov and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had a telephone conversation on 7 May to discuss the situation at the front and US military assistance.

Source: European Pravda, citing Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder

Austin "detailed" to Umierov the current US efforts to provide security assistance, including a US$1 billion package of weapons from the US Army's stockpile and US$6 billion in arms orders from manufacturers.

Umierov "provided an update of dynamics on the battlefield, as well as the impact of Russia's continued aerial attacks across Ukraine," the Pentagon spokesman said.

Background:

On 24 April, US President Joe Biden signed legislation enacted by Congress that will provide about US$61 billion in additional military and economic aid to Ukraine, as well as help to other US allies. Immediately afterward, the US Department of Defense announced a US$1 billion package of military aid for Ukraine.

The US had previously expressed hope that the new US military aid unblocked by Congress would help the Ukrainian Armed Forces to regain the initiative on the battlefield, but a large-scale Ukrainian offensive is unlikely in the near future.

In addition, according to the New York Times, the US considers a collapse of Ukraine's defences unlikely.

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Some people still think Fresno tap water is unsafe, study says

Some people still think Fresno tap water is unsafe, study says

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE)  In a study by J.D. Power, water users who listed City of Fresno as their water utility were found to have the lowest customer satisfaction among midsized markets in the United States.

What does this mean?

YourCentralValley.com spoke to John Hazen with J.D. Power to make sense of the data.

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We surveyed 30,000 plus residential water customers across the country, Hazen said, Fresno has consistently been one of the lower performing utilities that we survey.

Of those 30,000, 266 respondents listed the City of Fresno as their supplier.

According to Hazen, the survey looks at customer satisfaction overall, not just billing and payment but also interactions and customer care.

Among cities like Irvine, Albuquerque, Sacramento, Tucson, and others, Fresno ranked the absolute worst, according to Hazen. Hazen says the study also found that 41% of respondents believe their unfiltered tap water is unsafe to drink.

I drink tap water, you know? Its never been like a  Oh my god, I cant drink the water kind of thing, Hazen said.

Hazen says safety concerns can be a big factor in customer satisfaction. If your customers dont think your water is safe, it doesnt matter if it is or not, according to Hazen.

Hazen says its important for cities to communicate with their clients better on water safety to clear up misconceptions.

It puts the onus on the utility to talk up, Hey its safe, heres what we do to make it safe.'

Communicating with clients can mean several things, according to Hazen: if a citys website is difficult to navigate, the problem of customer dissatisfaction will continue.

Typically you go on their website and it looks like it was designed in 1994, Hazen said, it cant be size eight font and a bunch of paragraphs.

Besides poor communication about water safety, Hazen says communication about prices is just as important and that a hefty water bill doesnt have to mean dissatisfaction.

It isnt necessarily that those with the lowest price have the highest satisfaction, Hazen said. The better you are communication the value you bring  if youve got a good story to tell tell it.

Hazen says that there is hope for cities like Fresno that end up ranking among the bottom performers.

I always encourage those at the bottom to focus on the top performers, Hazen said, you know who the smart kids are in class, go look at their website and their communications.

YourCentralValley.com reached out to the City of Fresno for a statement about any communications strategies that might improve customer satisfaction  but did not receive a response prior to publication.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47.
People Who've Worked In Politics, Tell Me A Behind-The-Scenes Secret The General Public Should Know

I learned that working in politics can get chaotic from binge-watching every Scandal season.

Hulu

Those who have worked in the political world have undoubtedly learned some behind-the-scenes secrets.

Hulu

So, I'm asking people in the BuzzFeed Community who've worked in politics: what is a behind-the-scenes secret you learned about your job that more people should know?

One Redditor wrote: "If your government is voting on something of importance to you, don't protest outside the day of the voting. They have pretty much already made up their minds."

MyBrainIsMe

"My girlfriend has interned with a couple of legislators on the state level. Probably the most upsetting thing most people aren't aware of when it comes to the legislative process is how petty it is, at least at the state level."

"For example, there were many cases where a congressman would vote against legislation simply because the sponsor of the bill voted against their bill in the past. This meant that lots of good legislation died simply because a different bit of unrelated legislation was defeated earlier."dontreadtoogood

Maybe you've worked in the White House and discovered some oddly specific rules employees must follow.

Marc Guitard / Getty Images

For those who've worked in politics, in the comments below, you can share any behind-the-scenes secrets about your job  or, if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can use this Google form. Your response could be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed Community post.
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  New research has found deep-sea fish off the coast of Los Angeles have the presence of the pesticide DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane), over half a century after the area was an offshore dump site.

Scientists at UC San Diegos Scripps Institution of Oceanography and San Diego State University (SDSU) announced the new findings Monday.

Scripps Oceanography scientists to take part in deep-sea exploration off coast of Alaska

They report they found evidence of several DDT-related chemicals in deep-sea fish and sediment collected near the former Catalina Island offshore dump site that was active in the 1940s and 50s.

The study, published on May 6 in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, suggests that the DDT-related chemicals dumped into the ocean decades ago may still be making their way into marine food webs.

DDT Pollutants Found In Deep Sea Fish Off Los Angeles Coast (Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)

DDT was the first of the modern synthetic insecticides, developed in the 1940s, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In 1972, the EPA issued a cancellation order for DDT because of its adverse environmental effects to wildlife and potential human health risks.

Map: See where great white sharks frequent in the Pacific Ocean

Some questions scientists are looking to answer is whether the chemicals, which have settled thousands of feet underwater on the seafloor, are staying in one area or circulating through the oceans ecosystems.

These are deep-sea organisms that dont spend much time at the surface and they are contaminated with these DDT-related chemicals, said Lihini Aluwihare, a professor of ocean chemistry at Scripps and co-author of the study. Establishing the current distribution of DDT contamination in deep-sea food webs lays the groundwork for thinking about whether those contaminants are also moving up through deep-ocean food webs into species that might be consumed by people.

WWII-era munitions found at dumping site off California coast in deep-sea survey

According to Scripps, from 1948 until at least 1961, barges contracted by Montrose Chemical Corporation would head from the Port of Los Angeles to Catalina Island, pumping manufacturing waste with sulfuric acid and up to 2% pure DDT directly into the Pacific Ocean, which was legal until 1972.

In 2000, a judge ordered the Montrose Chemical Corporation to pay $140 million to fix the environmental damages.

Scripps scientists say an estimated 100 tons of DDT ended up in the sediments of the Palos Verdes Shelf. The EPA declared it an underwater Superfund Site in 1996.

Since then, research has linked the pollution on the Palos Verdes Shelf to contamination and health problems in local wildlife including sea lions, dolphins, bottom-feeding fish, and even coastal California condors (likely from consuming dead marine mammals).

Invasive seaweed found in San Diego Bay prompts warning from agencies

Regardless of the source, this is evidence that DDT compounds are making their way into the deep ocean food web, said Margaret Stack, an environmental chemist at SDSU and the studys lead author. That is cause for concern because its not a big leap for it to end up in marine mammals or even humans.

So far, researchers have found DDT-related chemicals across an area of the seafloor larger than the city of San Francisco.

Map of known dumpsite area off the coast of Los Angeles. (Credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UC San Diego.)

Scripps scientists say more work needs to be done to find the source of the DDT contaminants found in the deep-sea fish, and to find out whether that contamination also exists in larger, open-ocean fish species that are consumed by people.

Researchers at Scripps and SDSU are currently analyzing samples from fish species frequently caught by recreational anglers and commercial fisheries, including basses and sanddab, for the presence of DDT chemicals.

Ghoulish deep-sea fish found on California beach in rare discovery

We are still seeing this DDT contamination in deep-sea organisms and ocean sediments more than 50 years after they were dumped there, said Hoh. Im not sure if that company expected the consequences of their pollution to last this long, but they have.

More information on Scripps Oceanographys research on the DDT dumpsite off the coast of Southern California can be found here, scripps.ucsd.edu/ddtcoastaldumpsite.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
BELGRADE, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China and Serbia should further unleash the potential of their mutually beneficial cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a signed article published in Serbian media on Tuesday.

"We should deliver on the midterm action plan for Belt and Road cooperation, and build more flagship projects. We should expand cooperation in technological innovation, advanced manufacturing, green energy, digital economy, artificial intelligence and other emerging areas. We should share development opportunities and create a better future together," Xi said in the article. 
Phoenixs elected leaders adopted its civilian review board for police accountability and did a good amount of hand-wringing over a provision about who qualifies to serve.

Or, more precisely, who doesnt.

To what end is debatable.

And largely overblown.

In approving the civilian review board, a last-minute amendment by a council member bans anyone who has filed a legal claim or lawsuit against the Phoenix Police Department.

Police interests already defanged the board

Mayor Kate Gallego then narrowed the instances to claims and litigation relating to police use of force, in-custody deaths or incidents with police resulting in serious injury.

Supporters said the amendment is needed for fairness. Given that people with law enforcement experience (and their relatives) cannot serve on the civilian review board, the argument goes, neither should those who have taken legal action against the police department.

Apparently, no one told the City Council majority that the city  and law enforcement  had already won.

The civilian review board is largely toothless.

Its role is advisory, to review disciplinary cases Phoenix Police conduct of its own officers and render its opinion whether the investigations were done with thoroughness and fairness.

Phoenix further limited the board's potential

Thats because the state Legislature defanged such boards of more meaningful authority, including that of independent investigative powers.

In 2022, GOP lawmakers passed legislation requiring entities that investigate police misconduct, recommend or impose discipline be made up of mostly law enforcement personnel from that same agency.

Phoenix's Office of Accountability and Transparency, created the year before, was stripped of its authority before it could even get off the ground. Part of the revisions approved last week involved removing language of its investigative powers from the City Code to line up with state law.

What limited authority remained with the office  where the civilian review board will now be housed  was further reined in by Phoenix officials themselves.

The offices inaugural director, Roger Smith, sparred with city leadership over his role so much that it erupted into a public spat leading to his resignation early this year.

The (only) good news: In Roger Smith's resignation

He complained about city executives micromanagement and hypersensitivity, including the city withdrawing a job offer to the in-house counsel, his second-in-command, claiming it was done to undermine the office.

Civilian review should give police critics a voice

City Council members insisted that civilian review board members be freed of bias, real or perceived, and that is all well and good.

But the board isnt happening in a vacuum.

It's coming as Phoenix awaits findings of a Department of Justice investigation over civil rights violations by Phoenix Police. Part of the board's appeal is providing a skeptical eye on Phoenix Police, including its Professional Standards Bureau, which critics say shields officers accused of misconduct from accountability.

In that vein, the board provides a voice, elevates it even, for the disaffected and disenchanted in the communities that have troubled interactions with police.

The ban could arguably freeze out leaders or members of community action groups whom reformists may want to install on the nine-member civilian review board.

Not every person who has pursued legal action against the police is anti-police or biased against law enforcement. Their experience may inform the board's work in ways others could not.

Would individuals such as civil-rights attorney Benjamin Taylor, who has sued the police department on behalf of clients, be excluded from serving? Or former public defender and Black Lives Matter Metro Phoenix advocate Jamaar Williams?

Most power now lies with pro-police forces

Organizer Jacob Raiford speaks to the crowd during a rally against police brutality at Cesar Chavez Plaza at Phoenix City Hall on Washington Street in downtown Phoenix on April 15, 2021.

As is, Mayor Gallego  whos widely viewed as an institutional leader who backs the blue  has the power to appoint the board members.

Does anyone believe shell choose a lot of unabashed anti-police activists? (Before you answer, consider the forces she marshaled to unseat community activist and bigtime police critic Carlos Garcia in last years runoff election for District 8.)

In addition, board members have to be approved by a supermajority of the City Council.

Thats six votes every prospective member would need to secure.

No small order.

Nix the restriction and help build trust

Having one or two people who have brought legal action against the department may bolster the credibility of the civilian review board as much as theyd hurt it.

As for perceived or real bias, their past conflict with police would be front and center, and the public will have no trouble discerning their perspective or motivation.

City Council member Kesha Hodge Washington was right to raise concerns about approving the ban on short notice without a lengthier discussion. She voted with the majority, so that she could potentially revive the provision for reconsideration.

The City Council should do away with the restriction.

Especially if the exercise of a civilian review board is to build greater trust in Phoenix Police with untrusting communities.

Reach Abe Kwok at akwok@azcentral.com. On X, formerly Twitter: @abekwok.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix just turned its new civilian review board into a joke
LARGO  Pinellas County voters will decide in November whether they want to double the local-option property tax that supports school teacher salaries and arts programs.

The increase to $1 per $1,000 of assessed value would allow the district and charter schools to boost each teachers annual pay by just over $11,000 a year, while for the first time offering support employees an additional $2,910 a year. It also would provide expanded funding for arts field trips, early literacy initiatives and classroom technology, among other permitted expenses.

If the referendum fails, the added revenue it generates  about $60 million last year  would end along with the things it pays for, district officials said.

The school board unanimously backed the concept during a workshop on Tuesday.

I think its very important when we are proposing something, even a minimal tax increase, for the voters to have a say, board member Stephanie Meyer said. I expect them to support it again. Its really important.

Vice chairperson Carol Cook said its not her desire to increase taxes. But the need to remain competitive in finding and keeping highly qualified teachers and staff in Pinellas schools has become more challenging over time, as more nearby districts have adopted similar property taxes at higher rates, she added.

We need to do everything we can to keep them, Cook said. While money is not always the answer, I think it helps.

The owner of a home assessed at $400,000 after all applicable exemptions would pay $400 a year for the tax, up from $200 currently. The median 2023 home assessed value was about $198,000 in St. Petersburg, and about $253,000 in Palm Harbor.

Beth Rawlins, a political consultant who has spearheaded the referendum since its 2004 inception, told board members that two decades ago the tax rate of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value sufficed. Pinellas was one of only two districts in Florida to have such a tax, she noted, making it immediately competitive.

Now, all districts in the region except Hillsborough County have the property tax, and theirs are at the $1 per $1,000 level. The others also have local sales taxes and impact fees to support capital projects, superintendent Kevin Hendrick noted, giving them added budget resources that Pinellas does not have.

Even with an increased rate, Rawlins contended the tax is a bargain for expanding childrens exposure to the arts, reading and technology, and providing them the best available teachers and staff.

I dont take asking voters for their support lightly. Its a big deal, Rawlins said. I really believe the voters deserve transparency and accountability.  I think we have proven ourselves over the last 20 years, and I think the results have spoken volumes.

The 2020 referendum received 80% voter support, the highest level since its inception.

Board members did not ask for any changes to the proposal during their workshop. They will formally consider a resolution to place the item on the November ballot during their May 14 meeting.

The item would next go to the Board of County Commissioners for placement on the ballot. That vote is administrative and is not expected to be controversial.
When is graduation? See the dates for 2024 Nashville and Middle Tennessee ceremonies

Thousands of high school seniors are set to graduate across Middle Tennessee this month.

Know when and where to go?

The Tennessean gathered all the details for all the high school graduations in Davidson and surrounding counties. Here's everything you need to know ahead of time to make plans.

Cheatham County Central High grads toss their mortar boards upon graduation on Friday, May 27, 2022.

Cheatham County

Riverside Academy: 10 a.m., Wednesday, May 22 , Cheatham County School Board Annex Room

Harpeth High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 23 at the school

Sycamore High School: 10 a.m., Friday, May 24 , Winfield Dunn Center at Austin Peay State University

Cheatham County Central High School: 1 p.m., Friday, May 24, Winfield Dunn Center at Austin Peay State University

Davidson County

Livestream videos of each graduation will be available on the Metro Schools Facebook Events tab for those who cannot attend in person.

The Academy at Opry Mills: 9 a.m., Wednesday , May 15 , Opry Mills Mall

Harris-Hillman School: 11 a.m., Wednesday, May 15 at the school

The Academy at Hickory Hollow: noon, Wednesday, May 15, Cohn School Auditorium

The Academy at Old Cockrill: 10 a.m., Thursday, May 16, Cohn School Auditorium

MNPS Virtual School: 2 p.m., Thursday, May 16, Cohn School Auditorium

Cora Howe School: 10 a.m., Friday, May 17, Cora Howe School

Cane Ridge High School: 6 p.m., Friday, May 17, Municipal Auditorium

Early College High School: 6 p.m., Friday, May 17, Cohn School Auditorium

Hunters Lane High School: 10 a.m., Saturday, May 18, Municipal Auditorium

Antioch High School: 2 p.m., Saturday, May 18, Municipal Auditorium

McGavock High School: 6 p.m., Saturday, May 18, Municipal Auditorium

Maplewood High School: 2 p.m., Sunday, May 19, Municipal Auditorium

Glencliff High School: 6 p.m., Sunday, May 19, Municipal Auditorium

East Nashville Magnet High School: 2 p.m., Monday, May 20, Municipal Auditorium

John Overton High School: 6 p.m., Monday, May 20, Municipal Auditorium

Whites Creek High School: 6 p.m., Monday, May 20, Allen Arena at Lipscomb University

Nashville School of the Arts: 7 p.m., Monday, May 20, Grand Ole Opry House

Big Picture High School: 2 p.m., Tuesday, May 21, Cohn School Auditorium

Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School: 2 p.m., Tuesday, May 21, Municipal Auditorium

James Lawson High School: 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 21, Municipal Auditorium

Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School: 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 21 , Allen Arena at Lipscomb University

Bass Adult High School: 2 p.m., Wednesday, May 22, Bass Learning Center

Pearl-Cohn High School: 2 p.m., Wednesday, May 22, Municipal Auditorium

Hillsboro High School: 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 22, Allen Arena at Lipscomb University

Stratford STEM Magnet High School: 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 22, Municipal Auditorium

A Whites Creek High School student straightens his mortar board cap before the commencement ceremony at the Municipal Auditorium on Monday, May 24, 2021 in Nashville, Tenn.

Dickson County

Creek Wood High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 16 at the school

Dickson County High School: 7 p.m., Friday, May 17 at the school

Westmoreland High School graduates toss their mortar boards in the air on Saturday, May 22, 2021.

Robertson County

Editor's note: When asked about the location of each graduation ceremony, Robertson County school officials preferred not to share that information. They only provided each date/time.

Robertson County Phoenix Academy (including the Virtual School and Adult High School): 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 15

Springfield High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 16

East Robertson High School: 7 p.m., Friday, May 17

Jo Byrns High School: 10 a.m., Saturday, May 18

White House Heritage High School: 7 p.m., Saturday, May 18

Greenbrier High School: 6 p.m., Monday, May 20

Hendersonville High School 2021 class tosses their mortar boards in the air upon graduation on Friday, May 21, 2021.

Rutherford County

Eagleville School: 7 p.m. Friday, May 10 at the school

Central Magnet School: 7 p.m., Monday, May 13, MTSU Murphy Center

Siegel High School: 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 14 , MTSU Murphy Center

Rutherford County Virtual School: 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 15, MTSU Tucker Theater

Oakland High School: 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 15, MTSU Murphy Center

LaVergne High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 16, MTSU Murphy Center

Riverdale High School: 7 p.m., Friday, May 17, MTSU Murphy Center

Holloway High School: 7 p.m., Friday, May 17, Lifepoint Church

Rockvale High School: 10 a.m., Saturday, May 18, MTSU Murphy Center

Blackman High School: 2:30 p.m., Saturday, May 18, MTSU Murphy Center

Smyrna High School: 2:30 p.m., Sunday, May 19, MTSU Murphy Center

Stewarts Creek High School: 7 p.m., Sunday, May 19, MTSU Murphy Center

Rutherford County Adult High School: 6 p.m., Friday, July 19, Blackman High School

Summer Graduates: 6 p.m., Friday, July 19, Blackman High School

White House High tosses their Mortar Boards after graduating on Thursday, May 19, 2022.

Sumner County

White House High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 16, Long Hollow Church

Liberty Creek High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 16 at the school

Hendersonville High School: 6 p.m., Friday, May 17 at the school

Gallatin High School: 6 p.m., Friday, May 17 in the school gym

Station Camp High School: 6:30 p.m., Friday, May 17, Long Hollow Church

E.B. Wilson Virtual School: 6:30 p.m., Friday, May 17, Central Office Gymnasium

Westmoreland High School: 9 a.m., Saturday, May 18 at the school

Portland High School: 10 a.m., Saturday, May 18, Long Hollow Church

Middle College High School at Vol State: 1 p.m., Saturday, May 18, Volunteer State Community College Caudill Hall

Middle Tech College High School at Portland: 1 p.m., Saturday, May 18, Portland High School Municipal Auditorium

Beech High School: 6 p.m., Saturday, May 18, Long Hollow Church

Merrol Hyde Magnet: 7 p.m., Saturday, May 18 in the school gym

Portland Class of 2023 seniors toss their mortar boards in the air.

Williamson County

Franklin High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 23 at the school

Independence High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 23 at the school

Centennial High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 23 at the school

Vanguard Virtual High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 23, Summit High School

Renaissance High School: 5 p.m., Friday, May 24, Fourth Avenue Church of Christ

Nolensville High School: 7 p.m., Friday, May 24 at the school

Fred J Page High School: 7 p.m., Friday, May 24 at the school

Summit High School: 7 p.m., Friday, May 24 at the school

Fairview High School: 7 p.m., Friday, May 24 at the school

Ravenwood High School: 10 a.m., Saturday, May 25, Belmont University

Brentwood High School: 1 p.m., Saturday, May 25, Lipscomb University

Sumner County Middle College High School Graduates toss their mortar boards in the air after Commencement on Saturday, May 21, 2022.

Wilson County

Watertown High School: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 9 at the school

Green Hill High School: 6 p.m., Friday, May 10, MTSU Murphy Center

Mt. Juliet High School: 2 p.m., Saturday, May 11, MTSU Murphy Center

Lebanon High School: 10 a.m., Saturday, May 11, MTSU Murphy Center

Wilson Central High School: 6 p.m., Saturday, May 11, MTSU Murphy Center

Barry Tatum Virtual Learning Academy and Wilson County Adult High School: 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 14, Farm Bureau Expo Center

Wilson County Adult Learning Center: 7 p.m., Thursday, May 23, Fairview Church

Tennessean Reporters Andy Humbles and Gabrielle Chenault contributed to this report. Katie Nixon can be reached at knixon@gannett.com. Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles. Gabrielle Chenault can be reached at gchenault@gannet.com

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Middle Tennessee high school graduations: Dates and locations
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 24: An attendee looks at a series of banners for National Crime Victims' Rights Week Candlelight Vigil on the National Mall a on April 24, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Justice Departments Office for Victims of Crime held the event to pay tribute to victims and survivors of crime and individuals who provide service and support. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  States and local organizations that aid victims of sexual assault and other crimes are raising the alarm about a multi-year plunge in funds, a major problem they say Congress must fix soon or programs will be forced to set up wait lists or turn victims away altogether.

Affected are rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, child advocacy centers and more that serve millions of Americans and cant necessarily rely on scarce state or local dollars to keep the doors open if federal money runs short.

The problem has to do with a cap on withdrawals from the federal crime victims fund, put in place by Congress years ago in an earlier attempt at a solution.

Under the cap, how much money is available every year is determined by a complex three-year average of court fees, fines and penalties that have accumulated  a number that has plummeted by billions during the past six years. The fund does not receive any taxpayer dollars.

National Childrens Alliance CEO Teresa Huizar said in an interview with States Newsroom that child advocacy centers, which help connect children who have survived sexual or domestic abuse to essential services, have no fat left to trim in their budgets.

What childrens advocacy centers are really looking at now are a set of extremely hard choices, Huizar said. Which kids to serve, which kids to turn away? CACs that have never had to triage cases previously, now will have to. CACs that have never had a waitlist for mental health services will now have long, lengthy waitlists to get kids in for therapy.

I mean, imagine being a kid whos been sexually abused and being told youre going to have to wait six months to see a counselor, Huizar added. Its terrible.

New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, chairwoman of the spending panel that sets the cap every year based on the dwindling revenue, and Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran, the subcommittees ranking member, both indicated during brief interviews with States Newsroom that a fix is in the works, but declined to provide details.

There is an effort to address that and were in the process of doing that, but in the meantime theres not as much money there, Shaheen said.

Fund goes up and down by billions every year

Congress established the crime victims fund in 1984 when it approved the Victims of Crime Act. Its funding comes from fines, forfeited bonds and other financial penalties in certain federal cases.

The money flowing into the fund fluctuates each year, making it difficult for the organizations that apply for and receive grant funding to plan their budgets. Congress hoped to alleviate those boom-and-bust cycles by placing the annual cap on how much money can be drawn from the crime victims fund.

But that cap has sharply decreased recently, causing frustration for organizations that rely on it and leading to repeated calls for Congress to find a long-term solution.

The cap stayed below $1 billion annually until fiscal year 2015 when it spiked to $2.3 billion before reaching a high of $4.4 billion in fiscal year 2018.

The annual ceiling then dropped by more than $1 billion, starting the downward trend, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service and data from the Department of Justice.

The cap was set at $2 billion in fiscal year 2021 before rising to $2.6 billion in fiscal 2022 and then dropping to $1.9 billion in fiscal 2023.

Congress set the cap on withdrawals at $1.2 billion for fiscal 2024 when it approved the latest round of appropriations in March, and states and localities have reacted with concern at the prospect of such a dramatic cut. In Iowa, for example, where the state receives $5 million a year, the potential loss of funding posed a major question as legislators wrote their budget for judicial services.

A better fix sought

Congress approved legislation in 2021 to increase the types of revenue from federal court cases moving into the crime victims fund, but advocates say a longer-term answer is needed.

Huizar said the National Childrens Alliance and prosecutors as well as organizations that combat domestic and sexual violence have been urging Congress to fix the funding stream or supplement it to provide stability and consistency.

Now is the time for Congress to turn urgent attention to this issue if they do not want the safety net for kids and families and serious crime victims to just fall apart, Huizar said.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers  Reps. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., Jim Costa, D-Calif., Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas and Ann Wagner, R-Mo.  have introduced legislation that would move unobligated funds collected from entities that defraud the federal government under the False Claims Act to the crime victims fund. The act is a main tool the federal government uses to fight fraud.

That bill is not a long-term solution, but a temporary infusion of resources, according to a summary released by lawmakers.

As for the Senate appropriators, Moran said he and others on the spending subcommittee are waiting for the Judiciary Committees examination of the issue, so that we can take the authorizers suggestions and take them into account when we appropriate.

Josh Sorbe, a spokesperson for the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, wrote in a statement the sustainability of the CVF is extremely important, as evidenced by Senator Durbins work on the VOCA Fix that passed in 2021, and we continue to work with our colleagues and survivor advocates and service providers to examine further ways to strengthen the CVF.

Shaheens office did not provide details about what changes may be in the works, following multiple requests from States Newsroom.

Should taxpayer dollars be tapped?

National District Attorneys Association President Charles Smith said his organization supports the House bill, but noted one problem with the short-term fix is that the crime victims fund would be last in line to get the additional revenue.

I believe that the government gets their money first, the whistleblower second and then were in kind of third place there, Smith said.

One struggle over the fluctuating revenue and available funding, Smith said, is debate about whether taxpayer dollars should be used to offset low balances.

We need to set a number that everybodys happy with, so to speak, and fund it through these available sources, Smith said. But if theres a deficit, there needs to be some mechanism in place for it to come out of the general fund.

The crime victims fund is essential for witness coordinators and victims assistance coordinators in prosecutors offices as well as other services for people who survive crimes.

Theyre critical for the well-being of the victim and a lot of times they are critical for the witness even showing up and testifying, said Smith, who also is the states attorney for Frederick County, Maryland.

The organizations that support crime victims, like child advocacy centers, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers, are crucial to prosecutors, Smith said.

Not only are we directly impacted by a loss of staffing and loss of resources, but a lot of the partner agencies that we rely on collaborating with are going to be hurt as well, Smith said of the reduction to the funding cap.

Real alarm in states

Karrie Delaney, director of federal affairs for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, said the slowdown of court cases during the COVID-19 pandemic and the last administration not prosecuting as many corporate cases has impacted the fund more than usual.

RAINN is the countrys largest anti-sexual-violence organization. It operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE) alongside local organizations and runs the Defense Departments Safe Helpline. It also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice, according to its website.

I think whats important from RAINNs perspective is the actual impact that those fluctuations have on the survivors that we support and organizations and service providers across the country, Delaney said.

When the federal cap decreases, she said, organizations that support crime victims often turn to state and local governments to make up the gap. And a lot of the times there arent enough funds to do that.

What weve seen across the states is real alarm that the cuts coming down are not just impacting the ability of these organizations to offer certain services, but to really keep their doors open, Delaney said.

Child advocacy centers, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers, Delaney added, are the real boots on the ground organizations that are helping people in times of very active crisis that are at risk of seeing their programs drastically cut to the point where service is placed in jeopardy.

If you are a victim of crime, there are toll free, text and online hotlines available. A list from the Office for Victims of Crime is here. You can also find help in your state here.

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The post Plummeting balance in federal crime victims fund sparks alarm among states, advocates appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal.
(Bloomberg) -- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called on the European Union to mobilize at least 100 billion euros ($108 billion) on defense and build a joint air-defense system as the bloc contends with Russian aggression.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Speaking alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Tusk on Tuesday argued that a long debate on the increasing the blocs defense capability must culminate in a decision soon.

A lot of money spent well and wisely on Europes security will keep the war away from Europes borders for a long time, Tusk told an economic conference in the southern Polish city of Katowice. Maybe permanently.

Polands premier has been ramping up calls for more defense spending as the war in Ukraine stretches into its third year, with Kyiv forces increasingly out-gunned on the battlefield. Warsaw has already said it wants to join the so-called European Sky Shield Initiative, which currently includes 21 countries.

The comments coincided with a number of events that underscored the threat. Security officials in Katowice said a room sweep where Tusk was scheduled to hold an extraordinary cabinet meeting uncovered devices that could be used for eavesdropping.

Elsewhere, prosecutors launched an investigation on a judge for alleged espionage after he fled the country to neighboring Belarus, claiming he was persecuted by Tusks government.

Von der Leyen said the EU should rebuild, replenish and transform its militaries, backing Tusks call for air defense. As the EU has dispatched billions to help Ukraines war effort, the 27-member bloc has fallen short in its ambitions to produce enough ammunition to help Kyiv stave off Russias assault.

Tusk warned that the region needs to spend the coming years building military readiness sufficiently to act as a deterrence against potential foes. He also called on the bloc to bolster its external border.

European borders have to be protected, because they have become the borders between the continent of peace and the aggressors who are preparing a war for us, also using hybrid methods, Tusk said.

--With assistance from Maciej Martewicz.

(Updates with security concerns, von der Leyen comments from fifth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called a meeting of the Secret Services Council for Wednesday to discuss "alleged Russian and Belarusian influence in the Polish power apparatus in previous years", he wrote on social media platform X on Tuesday.

As a hub for Western military supplies to neighbouring Ukraine during the more than two-year-old war with Russia, Poland has been on heightened alert for spying.

On Monday, the government said it was verifying if a Polish judge, who had access to confidential information and asked for political asylum in Belarus, had been spying.

"We must be aware that services, in this case Belarusian ones, worked with a person who had direct access to the Minister of Justice... who had access to various classified documents to which no intelligence service should have had access," Tusk said before a government meeting earlier on Tuesday.

"The fact that judge (Tomasz) Szmydt's relationship with Belarusians has a long history, that it is not a matter of recent months, must be a cause for deep concern."

(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Ros Russell)
DENVER (KDVR)  Pro-Palestine protesters continued demonstrations on Denvers Auraria Campus on Tuesday, and 14 of them were issued a summons after occupying a building while campus leaders said finals were underway.

Several dozen protesters marched from the Tivoli Quad through campus on Tuesday afternoon and made unauthorized entry into a building around 5 p.m., Auraria Higher Education Center said in a release on Tuesday night.

Trial dates set for 3 suspects in deadly rock-throwing case

The demonstrators occupied the first floor of the building and impeded students access to classrooms for final exams, the release reads. Additionally, they chanted, pounded drums, and used amplified sound in violation of campus event policies, and therefore, they violated MSU Denvers Student Code of Conduct.

Auraria Campus police officers issued 14 of them a summons on counts of trespassing and failure to obey lawful orders after giving them three warnings, according to the campus.

Auraria Campus issues emergency alert for police response

The escalation came after student organizers of the pro-Palestine encampment at Auraria met with campus and state education leaders in the Tivoli building around midday Tuesday, where police at one point responded to the building.

Auraria Campus posted an emergency alert at 11:46 a.m. about police activity in the building and asked that people avoid the area. At 12:45 p.m., the campus posted that all had returned to normal.

Student journalist Sara Martin with the newspaper The Metropolitan reported that the doors to Tivoli were zip-tied shut at about noon while protesters met with campus officials. After initially blaming the zip ties on protesters, MSU Denver President Janine Davidson corrected an earlier release and said the zip ties were placed by law enforcement to secure the doors.

In another post, Martin also showed that handcuffs were placed on a door to the Tivoli Student Center, which Martin said had been placed there by an officer.

She followed up that report with a video from inside the building, showing protesters gathered and chanting in a hallway near an open area.

Martin reported the locked doors lead to the Tivoli Brewery and quad side of the building. Shortly after Martins post, the Auraria Campus posted a statement on social media the protests were active and contained to the Tivoli. Area outside of the Tivoli is considered normal campus operations.

Protest leaders meet with state education official

Auraria Campus said a meeting was held just before noon on Tuesday between Dr. Angie Paccione, executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, and protest leaders.

During the meeting, protesters demonstrated on the first and second floors inside the Tivoli Student Union, the Auraria Campus release said. This disruption occurred while Dr. Paccione listened to the protesters concerns. During the conversation, protesters made their demands known, threatening to disrupt commencement ceremonies if demands were unmet.

Monday protesters occupied locked offices, Auraria Campus says

Protests escalated on Monday as well, according to Auraria Campus, which said protesters forcefully entered and occupied the private, locked Auraria Campus executive offices within the Tivoli Student Union. The protesters pushed past a student employee and then refused to leave after multiple requests.

The campus release said Auraria Campus staff and police led a conversation that resulted in protesters agreeing to meet at a future time. The student protesters left the building before 5 p.m., according to Auraria Campus. The campus release also said that protesters tactics have escalated beyond peaceful protests with evidence of trespassing, biohazard threats, blocking city roads and vandalism.

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On Monday, Martin, with The Metropolitan, posted photos that she said showed protesters sitting outside administrators offices inside the Tivoli building. The sit-in reportedly ended after a meeting with the Auraria Board of Directors had been agreed upon. Denvers chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, the group leading the Auraria Campus encampment, requested support at the rally outside while students met with the administrators.

On Monday, the student group responded to an email the group said was sent by Davidson, the MSU Denver president. The email was titled Demonstrators refuse dialogue offer and was also published on MSUs website.

The group said that they have not refused dialogue, claiming the president previously agreed to meet with demonstration leaders, but backed out of meeting with members of Students for a Democratic Society who do not attend MSU Denver.

Denver: No public health complaints about pro-Palestine encampment

According to a Monday email from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, there had not been any public health complaints made about the camp, nor had the department heard of public health problems at the camp. However, the department also said it had not assessed the camps conditions.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
NAIROBI, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenya and Somalia on Monday signed an agreement on collaboration in the areas of political consultations, education and defense.

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi who is also the cabinet secretary for foreign and diaspora affairs said in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that the three bilateral instruments aim to further solidify bilateral cooperation for the mutual benefit of the people of the two countries.

"The agreement was possible because of the dedication by our technical officials to address issues amicably," Mudavadi said during the third session of the Kenya-Somalia joint commission for cooperation (JCC).

Mudavadi added that Kenya has a very special relationship with Somalia, not only because they share a common border but also because of their strong and enduring partnership.

Ahmed Moalin Fiqi, minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation of Somalia, said that both countries have also made efforts to enhance cooperation in the fields of security, capacity building in the area of health through enhancing the skills of health professionals as well as the training of police officers.

He noted that the bilateral relations are driven by goodwill and the determination between the two governments and peoples to work together toward enhancing and expanding the scope and breadth of the relations. 
Police officers clear the camp following the eviction of a pro-Palestinian demonstration by the "Student Coalition Berlin" group in the theater courtyard of the Free University of Berlin. The participants occupied the square with tents on Tuesday morning. Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa

German police have broken up a pro-Palestinian student protest which was set up early Tuesday at Berlin's Free University.

Around 150 activists of the Student Coalition Berlin group occupied the university courtyard with tents on Tuesday morning in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The activists of the Student Coalition Berlin group had said they were "occupying Freie Universitat Berlin," called for the occupation of other German universities and demanded an end to "colonial oppression."

The university had announced it would swiftly put a halt to the protest and called the police, who first blocked off the area and then gradually cleared the camp in the afternoon.

On the sidelines there were a few scuffles between police officers and people from neighbouring university buildings.

Protesters shouted slogans such as "Viva, viva, Palestina!" (Long live Palestine). Police spokesman Michael Gassen said that banned slogans were also shouted out, without giving further details on the slogans used.

Certain slogans that are deemed anti-Semitic have been banned by German authorities, which have monitored pro-Palestinian demos closely since the war in Gaza began.

Preliminary proceedings were initiated against some protesters on possible charges including trespassing, resistance and suspected incitement, as well as proceedings for participation in an unauthorized assembly.

The university partially suspended teaching on Tuesday. "This form of protest is not aimed at dialogue. An occupation is not acceptable on the FU Berlin campus. We are available for academic dialogue - but not in this way," said University President Gunter Ziegler.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany criticized the university management. The occupation "clearly shows the fanatical character of the groups involved," said the council's president Josef Schuster in a statement on Tuesday.

"The hatred of Israel and the anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic background of the action is obvious and is part of these people's DNA," said Schuster.

Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner condemned the occupation. "We must not look the other way when anti-Semitic slogans and hatred of Jews are spread at universities," he said, without providing details on what he considered hateful comments.

Germany is among Israel's staunchest allies, and political leaders in Berlin have repeatedly stated that Israel has a right to self defence in the wake of the October 7 attacks.

Domestically, authorities have been quick to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests citing fears of anti-Semitism, with critics saying the current climate has led to a supression of pro-Palestinian voices.

"We will do everything we can as the Berlin Senate to ensure that Jewish students are not afraid to enter the universities."

Elsewhere in Germany, protesters have began taking more action as the war in Gaza continues, and amid a looming Israeli offensive on the Gzan city of Rafah.

Dozens of people staged a sit-in at Leipzig University on Tuesday. The university said that 50 to 60 protesters were involved. Police said they were assessing the situation.

On Friday, an estimated 150 activists protested at Humboldt University in Berlin.

The protesters demanded a lecture theatre as the venue for the rally, which the university management refused to grant. Police later opened 37 investigations into possible cases of incitement to hatred and resisting law enforcement officers.

For more than two weeks, there have been protests at numerous universities in the United States, Britain and other countries against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Police officers clear the camp following the eviction of a pro-Palestinian demonstration by the "Student Coalition Berlin" group in the theater courtyard of the Free University of Berlin. The participants occupied the square with tents on Tuesday morning. Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa
Police in a Butler County community are warning the public about bears in the area.

The Penn Township Police Department says theyre aware of a female bear and her three cubs within the community.

Police urge residents to be mindful of their pets and ask that they bring their garbage cans and bird feeders inside.

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Police called to reports of crocodile on the loose in village

Police at the scene of the sighting in Buckinghamshire - Thames Valley Police/SWNS

Police officers were called to reports that a crocodile had been spotted in floodwater near a small village in Buckinghamshire.

Thames Valley Police were alerted by a concerned member of the public on Thursday after what appeared to be one of the semiaquatic reptiles was seen in a large roadside puddle near Cholesbury, five miles from Berkhamsted.

However, after arriving at the scene, officers were relieved to discover it was actually the plastic head of a toy floating in the partially flooded road.

Photographs taken by police showed the plastic head peeking out of the water, while in another an officer was seen grappling with the crocodile head.

An unnamed officer grapples with the 'crocodile' head - Thames Valley Police/SWNS

In a post on Facebook, Thames Valley Police South Buckinghamshire said: Crickey! Its not every day that you get sent to reports of a crocodile in flood water near Cholesbury.

Do not be alarmed, the croc is now with us at the police station.

The force added: Did you know that it is not that difficult to tell alligators and crocodiles apart? One will see you later whereas the other will see you in a while.

Officers from neighbouring Fareham Police added: Our Thames Valley Police colleagues are, just like us, dedicated to keeping their communities safe (even from fake crocodiles).

It is not the first time that a toy has prompted concerns about a crocodile being on the loose in England.

In July last year, Ipswich Police responded to a similar report of a baby crocodile lurking in a woodland stream.

Officers arrived in Foxhall, Suffolk with specialist gear, including an alligator catch pole - only to discover it was an 18-inch (45cm) long plastic toy.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Ipswich Police said: Officers made a snappy arrival expecting some crocodile wrestling but it turned out to be a false alarm this time (phew!).

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Police officers stand in front of the occupied lecture hall at Leipzig University. Several people occupied the university's Audimax. The university stated that 50 to 60 squatters were involved. According to the Conference of Saxon Student Bodies (KSS), this was the "Palestine Campus" group. Jan Woitas/dpa

German police were clearing pro-Palestinian activists on Tuesday evening after they occupied the main lecture hall at Leipzig University in the east of the country.

Leipzig University had decided in favour of an eviction and had informed the police, the university announced in the evening, adding that the police operation was currently under way.

"We will not tolerate the violent disruption of teaching activities and the seizure of university premises," the statement said.

The decision to clear the protesters was unavoidable, as there was an imminent danger to the safety of all students and lecturers, it added.

According to the university, around 50 to 60 people occupied the lecture hall and the inner courtyard on Leipzig University's city centre campus on Tuesday afternoon.

They unfurled banners with slogans like "University occupation against genocide."

The largely masked occupiers declared that they were fighting for Palestine on campus, barricaded the lecture hall doors from the inside, blocked access from the outside with sit-in blockades and erected tents in the inner courtyard.

There were also protests against the occupation.

The police wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday evening that around a dozen pro-Palestinian sympathizers were occupying the lecture hall, and there were supporters in the immediate area.

Rector Eva Ines Obergfell said: "Protests and demonstrations are fundamentally legitimate as long as they pursue the goal of information and understanding.

"Endangering bystanders and escalation, on the other hand, are not an acceptable form of liberal confrontation."

The university has filed a criminal complaint. Teaching in the lecture hall will remain suspended for the rest of the week, she said.

German police had earlier Tuesday broken up a pro-Palestinian student protest at Berlin's Free University.

Around 150 activists of the Student Coalition Berlin group occupied the university courtyard with tents on Tuesday morning in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The group called for the occupation of other German universities and demanded an end to "colonial oppression."

The university had announced it would swiftly put a halt to the protest and called the police, who first blocked off the area and then gradually cleared the camp in the afternoon.

On the sidelines there were a few scuffles between police officers and people from neighbouring university buildings.

Protesters shouted slogans such as "Viva, viva, Palestina!" Police spokesman Michael Gassen said that banned slogans were also shouted out, without giving further details.

Certain slogans that are deemed anti-Semitic have been banned by German authorities, which have monitored pro-Palestinian demos closely since the war in Gaza began.

Preliminary proceedings were initiated against some protesters on possible charges including trespassing, resistance and suspected incitement, as well as proceedings for participation in an unauthorized assembly.

The university partially suspended teaching on Tuesday. "This form of protest is not aimed at dialogue. An occupation is not acceptable on the FU Berlin campus. We are available for academic dialogue - but not in this way," said University President Gunter Ziegler.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany criticized the university management. The occupation "clearly shows the fanatical character of the groups involved," said the council's president Josef Schuster in a statement on Tuesday.

"The hatred of Israel and the anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic background of the action is obvious and is part of these people's DNA," said Schuster.

Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner condemned the occupation. "We must not look the other way when anti-Semitic slogans and hatred of Jews are spread at universities," he said, without providing details on what he considered hateful comments.

Germany is among Israel's staunchest allies, and political leaders in Berlin have repeatedly stated that Israel has a right to self defence in the wake of the October 7 attacks by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in which 1,200 people on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip were killed.

On Friday, an estimated 150 activists protested at Humboldt University in Berlin.

The protesters demanded a lecture theatre as the venue for the rally, which the university management refused to grant. Police later opened 37 investigations into possible cases of incitement to hatred and resisting law enforcement officers.

For more than two weeks, there have been protests at numerous universities in the United States, Britain and other countries against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Police officers clear the camp following the eviction of a pro-Palestinian demonstration by the "Student Coalition Berlin" group in the theater courtyard of the Free University of Berlin. The participants occupied the square with tents on Tuesday morning. Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa

Police officers clear the camp following the eviction of a pro-Palestinian demonstration by the "Student Coalition Berlin" group in the theater courtyard of the Free University of Berlin. The participants occupied the square with tents on Tuesday morning. Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa
Delaware State Police have identified those shot in last week's murder-suicide in Magnolia as a woman and her boyfriend, with police saying the woman's ex-husband was the killer.

Vicky Williams, 38, was found shot outside her home in the Barrett Farm development a little after 6:15 p.m. on April 29 by Delaware state troopers. Hours later, they also found 43-year-old Evan Cablayan and Williams' ex-husband, 49-year-old Charles Williams III, dead inside.

Neighbors told Delaware Online/The News Journal they were "in shock" following the murder-suicide, saying the neighborhood is usually quiet. One man also said he had "no idea they were having any problems."

"Wed see them when their kids were playing basketball in their driveway," he said. "Kids ride bikes and skate down this street all the time.

BACKGROUND: Neighbors 'in shock' after Magnolia murder-suicide. Here's what we know

What happened?

According to police, troopers were initially called to the two-story home, located in the first block of Cilento Drive, for reports of gunfire. Charles Williams had also "contacted a family member, confessed to shooting his wife and her new boyfriend, and expressed an intent to kill himself," Delaware State Police said.

Outside, troopers found Vicky Williams shot multiple times, including in the head, according to first responder radio communications. Her injuries "were incompatible with life," radio communications said, and she was pronounced dead at about 6:50 p.m.

Neighbors said this home at right on Cilento Drive is where the shootings happened April 29 in the Barrett Farm neighborhood near Magnolia.

According to neighbors, police didn't initially enter the home, instead shouting at least eight or nine times for anyone in the house to come out with their hands up. No one emerged, one neighbor said.

Later, video shows members of Delaware State Police's special operations team huddled behind what appeared to be two BearCats, or armored SWAT vehicles. A smaller, black vehicle with tank treads and what looked like a battering ram on the front could also be seen rolling down the street toward the home.

Video shows that police staged outside the home until after dark, when they finally entered. They used what appeared to be a battering ram to enter the front door, shouting as the entered. Just before they broke down the door, at least one shot could be heard coming from inside the home.

Several additional shots could be heard in the seconds after police opened the door.

Soon after, troopers could be seen making their way up to the second floor of their home with flashlights. The state agency said three children were inside the house at the time of the incident. Police did not provide their ages.

READ: He preyed on women struggling with addiction, police say. Then, one reported him

Troopers later carried out two body bags, one neighbor said.

The neighborhood was shut down for hours as police investigated. Just before 9:30 p.m., three-or-so hours after troopers responded, the agency said the scene was secure but that police activity would continue.

Got a story tip or idea? Send to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com. For all things breaking news, follow her on X at @izzihughes_

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Police ID woman, man killed by ex-husband in Magnolia murder-suicide
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Two people were injured, one critically, in a Tuesday morning shooting in the southeast valley, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Police tape surrounds the scene of a double-shooting in southeast Las Vegas Tuesday. (KLAS/Joshua Peguero)

Police investigate scene of a double-shooting in southeast Las Vegas Tuesday. (KLAS/Joshua Peguero)

Police investigate scene of a double-shooting in southeast Las Vegas Tuesday. (KLAS/Joshua Peguero)

The shooting was reported around 8:20 a.m. in the 3000 block of East Tropicana Avenue near McLeod Drive. Police said both individuals who were shot were transported to Sunrise Hospital.

Police are asking the public to avoid the area because an investigation is underway. Metro said there is no outstanding threat to the public.

No other details were released about the shooting.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
Police in two South Jersey towns have captured runaway pigs in recent days, and each time the culprit did not go un-pun-ished.

In Washington Township, the police department's Facebook page asked: Why did our officers chase a 200-pound pig?

"Because it was bacon a run for it," was the painful answer, which included a bacon emoji.

Mount Laurel police took a similar approach to their swine saga.

Farm Fair gallery: Racing pigs bring home the bacon in Burlington County

That department's Facebook post on Saturday said the animal received "pig-ture perfect accommodations" after it was captured.

Each incident, while bizarre, reflected a fundamental tenet of modern police work, noted Washington Township Police Department Chief Pat Gurcsik.

"Our community caretaking efforts go beyond basic law enforcement," he observed in an email Monday. "I want our officers to be helpful, approachable and service-oriented."

At the same time, he acknowledged, "The police academy teaches the basics in 21 weeks. They don't teach animal control."

Washington Township officers responded Friday to a report of a pig in traffic at Egg Harbor and County House roads "in the quiet, serene neighborhood of Heatherwood," the department's Facebook page said.

Washington Township police created this graphic to update people on the status of a potbelly pig that got loose in traffic on Friday.

Three officers  Marc Wolfe, Frank Cicales and Victor Ross  chased the pig, tackled him and tied him up.

The police department then created a Wanted poster for "Porky the Pig," which turned out to be an alias, and appealed for its owner to claim the animal.

If no one came forward, the post warned, Porky "is going to become our next K9!"

An update said the pig, actually named Plumba, was safely returned to an area farm.

"Apparently, a small child left the pasture gate open," the post said.

Mount Laurel police responded to the report of their loose pig around 4 p.m. Friday.

Officers spent about an hour capturing the pig, which was "friendly" after being secured, said K-9 Officer Kyle Gardner, a department spokesman.

"The owner was not located, according to information available," he said Tuesday.

Gardner said a township resident offered to house the pig "until the owner, a rescue group or someone could provide a permanent/better solution."

The pig was found on the 200 block of Mount Laurel Road near the Mount Laurel Animal Hospital , but the veterinary practice said it had no connection to the animal.

Still, hospital administrator Krista McDermott wished for a happy outcome.

"We hope that this little piggy has gone wee wee wee all the way home," said wrote in an email.

"When I graduated from the police academy, I remember being told that we have front row seats to the greatest show on earth and that's the truth," said Gurcsik in Washington Township.

"With 21st century policing we are guardians of the community, not warriors," he added, noting his department's Facebook page shows almost daily interaction with the public.

"Maintaining safety in town is vitally important, as is building relationships and building trust with the community," he said.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: Jwalsh@cpsj.com.

It appears the pig may have escaped or been dropped off near the Mount Laurel Animal Hospital. If you know the owner or have any information please contact central dispatch at 856-234-8300.Any comments or questions can be sent to comments pd@mountlaurelpd.org

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Four-legged fugitives: Pigs on the run nabbed in two SouthJersey towns
Police officers will no longer be required to disclose their own gender identity when they report details of traffic stops to the state in an effort to end a lawsuit over the issue.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Christopher Krueger last week approved a permanent injunction barring California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta's office from requiring the information, which was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Bonta's office did not contest evidence submitted by the police organizations who filed suit earlier this year alleging the disclosure rules violated their privacy rights under state law. The agency wrote in a court filing in April that it continues to dispute plaintiffs' claims; however, the group wanted to resolve the case. Bonta's office did not provide additional comment Tuesday, saying instead that it would "let the settlement speak for itself."

Read more: Murrieta Valley board defies California, will keep policy to tell parents about LGBTQ+ transitioning

At the heart of the issue is recently enacted regulations under the Racial and Identity Profiling Act, a state law passed in 2015 that requires California police officers to document information about people they encounter during situations such as traffic stops and submit that data to the state.

In January, new regulations required officers to identify their own gender identity to their employers, who would then relay that information to the state anti-discrimination board. The information is then compiled into annual reports with the goal of identifying and reducing racial profiling and other types of bias.

The new rule received swift pushback from law enforcement organizations.

Two weeks after the requirement took effect, the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California, the California Assn. of Highway Patrolmen, California Police Chiefs Assn. and the California State Sheriffs Assn. filed a lawsuit challenging it. The associations argued in court filings that the regulation violated employees' civil rights and state and federal laws that grant the right to privacy, including the right to not disclose your gender identity.

"While the RIPA regulations ensure that this data is anonymized by the time it is viewed by the DOJ and the public, there is nothing to protect officers from review by their employers," the groups wrote in court filings. "This forced disclosure violates officers right to privacy in their gender identity and directly conflicts with the DOJs recent public assurances that individuals have the right to disclose, or not disclose, their gender identity on their own terms."

Read more: Transgender rights vs. parent rights. California goes to court to settle school divide

The law enforcement organizations pointed out in legal filings that Bonta has made it clear in other instances that forced gender identity disclosure policies violate state law. Earlier this year, Bonta told school officials in a statewide legal alert that "forced gender identity disclosure policies violate the California Constitution and state laws safeguarding students civil rights."

In late January, Krueger issued a temporary restraining order blocking the requirement that police disclose their gender identity. This month's ruling made that permanent.

PORAC remains committed to protecting the rights of all our members to live as they wish, identify as they see fit, and to share that identity on their own terms, Peace Officers Research Assn. of California President Brian R. Marvel said in a prepared statement in late January. It is not fair or right to put officers in the untenable position of disclosing their gender identity before they are ready to do so and as a condition of employment."

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.
TRIPOLI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan and Italian governments on Tuesday signed several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) about education, healthcare and sports.

The MoUs were signed when the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Libya, where she met with her counterpart Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah in the capital Tripoli.

"During the meeting, aspects of cooperation between the two countries were discussed in the fields of energy, economy, scientific research, healthcare, and other common issues," said a statement issued by the Libyan government.

The two prime ministers discussed political, security and economic issues, stressing the need to support the United Nations' efforts to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya, as well as efforts made by the two countries against illegal migration, the statement added.

The two sides agreed to hold the Italian-Libyan Economic Forum later in October in Tripoli to support the private sector in both countries, according to the statement. 
A robbery in Port Angeles ends in gunfire when police confront the suspect attempting to rob a bank.

On May 3 at approximately 9:52 a.m., a Chase Bank in Port Angeles was being robbed at gunpoint.

Port Angeles Police, Clallam County Deputies, and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe officers answered the call and were at the bank in minutes.

Shortly after arriving police reported that the suspect was not cooperating before shots were fired.

Aid was rendered to the suspect until the City of Port Angeles Fire Department started advanced life support aid.

Kitsap Critical Incident Response Team (KCIRT) is investigating since a Port Angeles officer fired his weapon.

No update was provided on the suspects condition.
Tomasz Szmydt, a judge of the provincial administrative court in Warsaw, left Poland for Belarus and said he intends to apply for political asylum due to his "disagreement" with the Polish government's policies.

Tensions between Poland, a NATO country, and Russian ally Belarus have surged following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"I express my protest to the Polish authorities who, under the influence of the U.S. and Great Britain, are leading the country to war," Szmydt said at a press conference in Minsk on May 6.

"The Polish nation supports peace and good neighborly relations with Belarus and Russia. That's why I'm in Minsk and I'm ready to tell the truth."

Szmydt claimed that he was subject to political persecution and intimidation by Polish authorities for his pro-Russian viewpoints and that he was "forced to leave" Poland.

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Polish officials denounced Szmydt as a traitor following the press conference.

"I don't know what Tomasz Szmydt is running away from," Stanislaw Zaryn, a Polish presidential adviser, said on X.

"In the past, similar acts were performed by those who were afraid of responsibility for their actions in Poland. No one in their right mind runs away to Belarus to become a puppet in the hands of Putin and Lukashenko."

Zaryn said that he expects the former judge to begin a new career as "a propaganda star for Russia and Belarus."

Poland's Internal Security Agency said it had opened an investigation into the scope of classified information Szmydt may have had access to during his time as a judge.

Belarus, led by dictator Alexander Lukashenko, is a close ally to Russia and has provided extensive support to Moscow's war in Ukraine. The Belarusian army regularly conducts military drills along its border with Poland and other EU countries.

Read also: Opinion: Russias war may have opened Pandoras box for Belarus

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Polish leader warns of hostile agents after judge flees to Belarus

Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland, makes a press statement after a joint meeting in the German Chancellery. After a Polish judge fled to Belarus, Tusk warned on 07 April that hostile intelligence services are active in his country. "We must not underestimate this matter," Tusk said on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting. Christoph Soeder/dpa

After a Polish judge fled to Belarus, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on Tuesday that hostile intelligence services are active in his country.

"We must not underestimate this matter," Tusk said on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting.

He said the Belarusian secret services collaborated with someone who had access to the former justice minister, with the latter having been partly responsible for the destruction of the Polish judicial system.

On Monday, Belarusian media reported that judge Tomasz Szmydt from the Warsaw District Administrative Court had requested asylum in Belarus.

He personally asked Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for "care and protection," Szmydt said in Minsk, according to the BelTA state news agency.

The judge justified his move by saying he was at risk as he does not agree with the current Polish government's policies.

Szmydt reportedly praised Lukashenko as a "very wise leader" and warned that Washington wanted to drag Poland into an armed conflict.

The Polish public prosecutor's office has now opened an investigation into the judge on suspicion of working for a foreign secret service.

Tusk summoned the Cabinet ministers responsible for security to a special meeting on Wednesday.

Tensions are running high between Poland, a member of the EU and NATO, and its neighbour Belarus. Poland is one of Ukraine's biggest supporters, as Kiev seeks to fend off a full-scale Russian invasion. Belarus meanwhile is a close ally of Moscow.

Szmydt made headlines in his home country in 2019 as the Law and Justice (PiS) party government - in office until last year - was trying to push through controversial judicial reforms, causing dismay among judges.

Szmydt and his wife at the time joined a smear campaign on social media targeting judges who were critical of the government's plans.

The public prosecutor's office is still investigating the case.

Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar said Szmydt also had access to confidential documents in his role as a judge working for the Warsaw District Administrative Court.

Tusk's coalition defeated the PiS party in a general election on October 15.
PORTERVILLE, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE)  A Porterville man was arrested Saturday evening after attempting to carjack a moving car, according to the Porterville Police Department.

Police say just before 8 p.m. they responded to a business in the 900 block of West Grand Avenue for a person armed with a gun attempting to carjack an occupied vehicle exiting the parking lot.

Investigators report the vehicle was able to drive off safely as the suspect attempted to force entry inside. The suspect was then confronted by witnesses, allegedly produced a firearm, then fled the scene on foot.

Responding officers report observing the suspect fleeing into the backyard of a home in the area of Belleview Avenue and Wisconsin Street.

Police later found the suspect, identified as 30-year-old Martin Land of Porterville, hiding in the garage. Officers performed an extensive search for the firearm in question but it was not located.

Investigators say after Land was positively identified as the suspect by witnesses he was booked under suspicion of attempted carjacking and brandishing a firearm.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact the Porterville Police Department at 559-782-7400.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A man accused of sexually assaulting at least three women in Portlands homeless community is in jail while police search for other possible victims.

According to an affidavit, Zachary Andrews is an MMA fighter who also goes by Cadillac and faces multiple charges for the assaults that took place between October 2021 and October 2022.

Rachel Corries father disavows group claiming arson

A grand jury indicted Andrews for three counts each of first-degree rape, first-degree sex abuse, strangulation, and fourth-degree assault. He also faces charges of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and first-degree kidnapping as well as two counts of first-degree sodomy.

Anyone with information about Andrews is encouraged to contact Portland police.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
Lynn police are investigating the possible theft of six large flowerpots at the memorial for a fallen Marine.

L/Cpl. Bradley J. Campus, 21, of Lynn was one of 241 American service members killed in the Marine barracks bombings in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983.

Last October, while commemorating the 40th anniversary of the tragedy, Campuss family members and local veterans attended the memorials dedication in Campuss name near the Clark Street playground.

Marine veteran Charlie Griffin, a family friend who helped escort Campuss body back home 40 years ago, was instrumental in getting the memorial installed and dedicated.

Just months after the dedication  in late February or early March  Griffin discovered the 50-pound flowerpots were missing and initially assumed city crews had put them into storage. But after recently inquiring, Griffin realized they had been stolen, he told Boston 25 News.

Even though it was 40 years ago, it seems like it was yesterday. And even now, I get a little emotional thinking about him, Griffin said. Its so disrespectful and dishonorable to do this. And it does hurt.

The situation is painful for Campuss family, too, including Lindsay Lundy, who was born months after her uncle was killed but grew up knowing about her uncle, a local hero.

Some would say, Oh, its just flowerpots. Thats not even the point, Lundy said. Its the fact that this is Lynns hero, somebody that gave his life. We have this memorial dedicated to him, and for somebody to go in and presumptively steal, its very disheartening.

Lundy said her uncle had a bright future that was cut short. Today he would be 62 and might have had a family and perhaps the bakery he dreamed of opening in the North End. While she honors the memory of a man she never met, she hopes whoever took the flowerpots or anyone who has information respects her uncle enough to come forward.

Do the right thing, Lundy said. Do the right thing for Brad, for our family, and for the city.

Lynn police are investigating the case as a possible larceny and asking anyone with information to call detectives at 781-477-3190.

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DETROIT (AP)  Severe storms battered the Midwest on Tuesday, unleashing a curtain of heavy rain, gusty winds and tornadoes throughout the region a day after a deadly twister ripped through a small Oklahoma town and killed at least one person.

Tornadoes were spotted after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service.

Forecasters warned that the storms could stretch late into the night with the possibility of more twisters and large hail.

In southwestern Michigan, two tornadoes blitzed the city of Portage near Kalamazoo. The city said in a news release that no serious injuries had been reported despite the twisters severely damaging homes and commercial buildings, including a FedEx facility.

An estimated 50 people were trapped inside the facility at one point because of downed power lines, authorities said. But FedEx spokesperson Shannon Davis said late Tuesday that all team members are safe and accounted for.

Meanwhile, entire homes were destroyed in a nearby mobile home park.

The National Weather Services Storm Prediction Center has cited more than a dozen reports of tornadoes from Monday evening through early Tuesday in the central part of the United States. Eight of the twisters were in Oklahoma, while Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Tennessee all saw at least one tornado.

The powerful storms come amid a wild swing in severe weather across the globe that includes some of the worst-ever flooding in Brazil and a brutal Asian heat wave.

The deadly tornado that touched down Monday night in Oklahoma ripped through the 1,000-person town of Barnsdall, about a 40-minute drive north of Tulsa. The National Weather Service there had warned Monday evening that a large and life-threatening tornado was headed toward Barnsdall and the nearby town of Bartlesville.

It was the second tornado to hit Barnsdall in five weeks  a twister on April 1 with maximum wind speeds of 90 to 100 mph (145 to 161 kph) damaged homes and blew down trees and power poles.

Barnsdall Mayor Johnny Kelley said one person was dead while one man was missing after Monday's twister. Authorities launched a secondary search Tuesday morning for the missing man.

The toughest thing on me as the mayor is this is a small community, Kelley said. I know 75% to 80% of the people in this town.

At least 30 to 40 homes in the Barnsdall area were damaged Monday night, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.

Aerial videos showed several well-built homes reduced to piles of rubble and others with roofs torn off and damaged walls still standing. The powerful twister tossed vehicles, downed power lines and stripped limbs and bark from trees across the town. A 160-acre (65-hectare) wax manufacturing facility in the community also sustained heavy damage.

First responders rescued about 25 people, including children, from heavily damaged homes where buildings had collapsed on or around them, Kelley said. About a half dozen people suffered injuries, he said.

The Barnsdall Nursing Home said it evacuated residents because a gas leak could not be turned off due to storm damage. It later posted online that all residents were accounted for with no injuries, and they were being taken to other facilities.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who toured the twister's damage on Tuesday, said it was rated by weather researchers as a violent tornado with wind speeds up to 200 mph (322 kph). Stitt said he and legislative leaders have agreed to set aside $45 million in this year's budget to help storm-damaged communities.

Oklahomans are resilient," Stitt said, "and we're going to rebuild.

At the Hampton Inn in Bartlesville, several splintered 2x4s were driven into the south side of the building. Chunks of insulation, twisted metal and other debris were scattered over the hotels lawn, and vehicles in the parking lot were heavily damaged with smashed-out windows.

Matthew Macedo, who was staying at the hotel, said he was ushered into the hotel laundry room to wait out the storm.

When the impact occurred, it was incredibly sudden," he said.

The storms tore through Oklahoma as areas, including Sulphur and Holdenville, were still recovering from a tornado that killed four and left thousands without power late last month. Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

Oklahoma and Kansas had been under a high-risk weather warning Monday. The last time such a warning was issued was March 31, 2023, when a massive storm system tore through parts of the South and Midwest including Arkansas, Illinois and rural Indiana.

The entire week is looking stormy across the U.S. The eastern U.S. and the South are expected to get the brunt of the bad weather through the rest of the week, including in Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati, cities where more than 21 million people live. It should be clear over the weekend. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the comments from the FedEx spokesperson were made late Tuesday, not Monday.

___

Murphy reported from Oklahoma City. Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including Rio Yamat, Sarah Brumfield, Kathy McCormack, Beatrice Dupuy, Jim Salter, Heather Hollingsworth and Colleen Slevin.

___

Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

___

The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China congratulates Jose Raul Mulino on being elected as the new president of Panama, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Tuesday at a regular press briefing.

According to reports, Panama's Electoral Tribunal on Sunday declared Jose Raul Mulino, the candidate of the opposition alliance comprised of the Realizing Goals party and Alianza movement, as the winner of the presidential elections after a preliminary count of more than 85 percent of voting stations.

"China has noted that Panama's Electoral Tribunal has declared Mr. Mulino as the new president of Panama and would like to congratulate Mr. Mulino," Lin said.

He said that China attaches great importance to China-Panama relations and is willing to work with Panama to enhance political mutual trust, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the sustained and in-depth development of bilateral relations. 
'We need prayers': A tornado left a path of destruction and death in Barnsdall, Oklahoma

Joy King walks around her home Tuesday outside Barnsdall. A destructive tornado moved through the area Monday night.

BARNSDALL  Along State Highway 123, just outside of town, a house owned by Tim and Joy King was blown about 20 yards off its foundation.

Joy King, 56, wearing a pink tie-dye shirt that said "blessed," was surveying the damage done to her property with her husband, Tim, and their dog, Wendy. King said she took cover in the home's cellar while her husband was at work at a nearby plant.

As the tornado came through, the cellar door blew open and began to fill with water up to her ankles. Insulation began blowing around her.

"I thought, 'Lord, that's my house.'"

The Kings' home was just one of dozens that were damaged or destroyed in the at least EF3 deadly tornado that tore through the small city of Barnsdall in Osage County, before leaving destruction in Bartlesville to the northeast.

The devastating storm left at least one person dead in Barnsdall, and at least one person was still missing Tuesday afternoon in the city of about 1,400, according to the Osage County Sheriff's Office.

The law enforcement agency requested the public's help via a social media post in locating Wayne Hogue, who they say went missing after the tornado.

It's the second time Barnsdall was affected by a tornado this year, after another tornado damaged homes on April 1.

"It's very tough," Mayor Johnny Kelley told reporters Tuesday. "The toughest thing on me as the mayor is, this is a small community. I know 75 to 80% of the people in this town. The individual that we lost, I knew them very well."

By the time the storm reached Bartlesville, the tornado had merged with a front-line storm and was weakened. Oklahoma state Rep. Judd Strom, R-Bartlesville, told the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise that local emergency management had been preparing for an EF4 tornado to rip across the city.

At least five tornadoes have been confirmed in Oklahoma from Monday night's storms, including the Barnsdall tornado and four in the National Weather Service's Norman forecast area  those tornadoes were in or near the towns of Helena, Okeene, Bison and Covington. Damage survey teams will determine if more are to be added to that list.

Meteorologist Joe Sellers, who works with the weather service's Tulsa office, said a survey of the damage in Osage County would "take a while."

Barnsdall woman safe in storm cellar as house ripped away

Tim and Joy King sit on the foundation of their home Tuesday as they try to convince Maggie, the cat, to crawl out from under debris at their home outside Barnsdall.

Natasha Coday, 39, the Kings' daughter, looked up at her parent's house in Barnsdall and pointed to where it had been forced from its foundation.

"It was right here," she said. "That tornado just pushed it up and moved it over there."

Coday was in Bartlesville during the storm and stayed on the phone with her mother as the tornado moved through Barnsdall.

"God really, really took care of them last night," she said. The Kings' pontoon had blown into the back of the property, a pickup had been tossed upside down and part of their camper was thrown into a tree.

King said she swore more than a month ago she'd never go back in the cellar, after getting trapped in it during the April 1 tornado that went through Barnsdall. But when the storm came through Monday night, King said she felt she "needed to" get back in.

Amid all the destruction, a photo album of Joy and Tim King's wedding was saved.

Barnsdall community needs 'prayers'

During an initial search Monday night after the tornado, about 25 people were rescued, including children. A secondary search took place Tuesday morning for some people still unaccounted for.

Seven or eight people were injured, including one firefighter who was experiencing chest pains, Kelley said.

"We're worried about our neighbors and our friends that have lost loved ones," Kelley said. "To me, material things are material. We can replace them. The loss of life is forever."

When asked what the community needs at this time, Kelley answered, "we need prayers."

Carl Kelley walks past tornado damage on his property Tuesday outside Barnsdall.

Carl Kelley, 55, rode out the storm in a closet with his mother, 80. Two mounted deer heads were lying in the yard as he tried to unlock his gun safe Tuesday morning.

The tornado shredded his house with debris thrown across the yard and in the trees. The trees were either bent or knocked over, and power lines knocked down around the property.

"I didn't think it was that bad until I looked up and didn't see the roof," he said.

Bartlesville sees significant tornado damage but no fatalities

In its wake, the tornado left several Bartlesville streets closed Tuesday due to downed power lines and fallen trees, said City Manager Mike Bailey and Washington County Emergency Management Director Kary Cox.

The storm caused significant structural damage to buildings, utilities and trees, especially in southwest Bartlesville near the Circle Mountain area and northeast sections along U.S. 75 and Tuxedo, impacting homes and businesses.

Despite the extensive damage, no fatalities or serious injuries have been reported.

Emergency response teams, including police, fire and street departments, were deployed after the storm struck.

Several rescues, including guests trapped at the Hampton Inn on N U.S. 75, were successfully conducted by the combined efforts of Bartlesville, Dewey and Copan fire departments.

Barnsdall mayor says residents' weather preparation, awareness saved lives

Kelley, the Barnsdall mayor, said he believes the fatality count was low thanks to his community staying "weather aware," as the day was predicted to see numerous severe storms and a potential tornado outbreak.

"I attribute that to people paying attention to the weather and the warnings," Kelley said. "And when the sirens were blowing and the warnings were given out over their cellphones and over their TVs, that they took cover and did what they needed to do to keep safe."

A portion of central and northern Oklahoma was given the rare "high" risk categorization for severe storms and multiple strong tornadoes by the weather service's Storm Prediction Center. So far, the number of tornadoes is much lower than the outbreak of April 27 when 30 tornadoes were confirmed in Oklahoma.

During that outbreak, the office of the chief medical examiner reported four storm-related fatalities: two in Holdenville while in a mobile home, one on Interstate 35 near Marietta while in a vehicle and one fatality in Sulphur in a business.

Thompson said while some may feel Monday's event did not live up to the risk level warned, it's all "a matter of perception."

Contributing: Alexia Aston, The Oklahoman

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Barnsdall, OK residents shaken after tornado leaves path of destruction
We are preparing documents that will make news in coming weeks  Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine continues to prepare for new visits by its partners and to work on security agreements for Ukraine and for Europe as a whole.

Source: Zelenskyy's evening address on 7 May

Quote: "We are preparing meetings and documents that will definitely make the news in the coming weeks. New visits to Ukraine by our partners. New security agreements for our country and life in Europe in general. And of course, we continue to prepare for the actual start of negotiations with the European Union in June.

On our side, the Ukrainian side, all the details will be worked out 100%. Ukraine has fulfilled its obligations. And Ukraine is counting on the same activity  productive activity  from its partners."

Details: The president also said he had held a separate meeting with the Ministry of Defence to discuss the staffing of Ukrainian brigades.

He said that preparations for the first Global Peace Summit are underway, and that he has spoken with the leaders of Spain, Belgium, Latvia, Finland and Cape Verde.

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Catherine Nielson, the executive director of the Governors Council on Developmental Disabilities and a member of the Nevada Employment First Task Force, speaking to a legislative committee last week. (Legislative stream screengrab).

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Advocates are pushing Gov. Joe Lombardo to embrace Employment First policies that assist people with disabilities in finding and keeping paying jobs.

Catherine Nielsen, the executive director of the Governors Council on Developmental Disabilities and a member of the Nevada Employment First Task Force, told state lawmakers last week that the policy groups are in conversation with the first-term governors office to embrace the designation, which could be established via an executive order.

Gov. (Brian) Sandoval did sign an employment first initiative several years ago, Nielsen told lawmakers on the interim Legislative Committee on Senior Citizens, Veterans and Adults With Special Needs. That was not carried through Gov. (Steve) Sisolaks time in office. We are hopeful Gov. Lombardo  seeing as supportive as he is of employing the state of Nevada  will continue to support that effort.

The Governors Council on Developmental Disabilities is housed within the states Department of Health and Human Services but is self-governed and independently authorized by the Federal Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act. That federal act covers 75% of the councils budget, with the remainder coming from state general funds, according to Nielsen.

Nielsen has been with the council since 2016 and executive director since 2021. The council has five employees and one intern; it spent approximately $800,000 on grants, contracts and operations last fiscal year, according to its most recent annual report.

Ongoing areas of concern identified by the council include employment, health, education, transportation and housing. Specific issues identified through surveys and outreach include the states long wait lists for services, inadequate transition services for young adults coming out of school-based care, and gaps in support for getting and keeping a paying job.

Employment First policies vary in scope but all center around the shared belief that employment in the general workforce should be the first and preferred option for individuals with disabilities receiving assistance from publicly funded systems, according to the Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE), a national organization pushing the policy.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 30% of Nevada adults  742,000 people  have some kind of disability. Those can include physical (14%), cognitive (14%), hearing (7%), and vision (6%) disabilities.

An estimated 8% of Nevada adults  200,000 people  have an independent living disability.

In addition to its work on employment, the council is also working with the states Division of Emergency Management to address disability inclusion within emergency preparedness plans.

The last time we had a mass shooting at the end of last year there was a student with disabilities who was left in the building unplanned for, Nielsen said, referring to the on-campus shooting at UNLV on Dec. 6 that killed three faculty members. We are working with UNLV to make sure that never happens again.

The council is currently conducting surveys of disabled Nevadans to update its insight, which they will use to recommend policies to the Legislature and governor. The survey will close in January 2025 but reopen in the spring as the council begins drafting its next five-year state plan.

Nielsen said one area of concern emerging from the more than 200 surveys already completed is accessibility of recreational activities.

Recreational activities arent just about going out and having fun, she continued. They build a sense of community, networking and skills that cannot be taught in a lot of other settings.

Icy reception

Nielsen offered some suggestions to the Nevada State Legislature itself, saying there was room for improved accessibility during hearings: There have been many, many times that we have had people who are deaf and hard of hearing come to the Legislature, request an interpreter  and they remove the interpreter from the screen at various parts of the hearing, especially when it comes to your votes on the floor.

She continued, We encourage you, we beg you, to please increase accessibility. Provide interpreters and provide them all the time.  Imagine what its like to come to this room and sit in silence and not have any idea what youre talking about.

Nielsens comments received an icy reception from a pair of Democratic lawmakers who suggested she was offering complaints but no solutions.

I heard a whole lot of criticisms and not a lot of solutions, said state Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop (D-Las Vegas), who suggested the last 20 minutes of Nielsens hour-long presentation had been critiques.

Dondero Loop pointed out that the Legislature does not have a staff and suggested it should be on the council to reach out and offer interpreters for important upcoming meetings. She also suggested the council consider funding a dedicated school for the deaf that had been requested by earlier presenters during the hearing.

Nielsen responded that her office would be happy to do what they could, but she pushed back on the characterization of her comments as criticism from her or her office directly.

As much as they may seem like criticisms, its not our voices, she said. This is the community that has brought these concerns to us. Were just the people that, unfortunately, have to deliver that bad news, and (we) sometimes have to say this is what your community is saying.  They have concerns.

She added, Its not criticism. Its passion. Its their families.

Nielsen was also rebuked for suggesting the current language of the Nevada State Constitution is disrespectful and demeaning.

State Sen. Pat Spearman (D-North Las Vegas), who chairs the interim committee, told Nielsen she should look at the Nevada Equal Rights Amendment, which was proposed by the Legislature in 2017 and passed by voters in 2020, suggesting that it had addressed those issues.

It is the most expansive Equal Rights Amendment in the country, and thats not my saying, thats other people saying, said Spearman.

But Nielsen was referring to language in the Nevada State Constitution that describes people as deaf and dumb and insane.

Assembly Joint Resolution 1, which was unanimously passed by the Legislature in 2021 and 2023, proposes removing that language. It will appear before voters as Question 2 on this years general election ballot.

If that ballot measure is approved by voters, insane would change to persons with significant mental illness, blind to persons who are blind or visually impaired, and deaf and dumb to persons who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Spearman also took issue with Nielsen suggesting that the lack of interpreters was likely a budget issue for the Legislature, saying that the Legislatures budget is done in conjunction with the governors office.

[Editors Note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Catherine Nielsens name.]

The post Presentation on disability council gets legislators riled up against presenter appeared first on Nevada Current.
Romania is open to discussing the possibility of sending a Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, the country's president said on May 7, Reuters reported.

Speaking in Washington after a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, Klaus Iohannis said he would discuss the matter with his Supreme Defence Council.

This is the latest development from Western nations responding to calls from Kyiv for more air defenses in the face of escalating Russian missile and drone attacks on cities across Ukraine.

"There has been a discussion about who can send Patriot systems to Ukraine over the last few weeks," Iohannis said.

"President Biden mentioned it... in our meeting, and I said I was open to discussion. I must discuss it in the Supreme Defence Council to see what we can offer and what we can get in return, because it is unacceptable to leave Romania without air defenses."

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Romania signed a deal in 2017 to obtain Patriot systems but so far only has one that is operational. Iohannis said any discussions would concern a system that was in an advanced stage of becoming operational.

Germany announced on April 13 that it would provide Kyiv with an additional Patriot system. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz then called on other NATO allies to do the same.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded that Poland could not give up the Patriot system installed at Rzeszow airport in southeastern Poland, as it is a key logistics hub for defense aid deliveries into Ukraine.

Greek media reported on April 22 that Athens planned to send at least one Patriot system to Ukraine, but Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis ruled this out in an interview on April 25.

Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles then announced on April 26 that Spain would send Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to Kyiv. They arrived this week.

Read also: Romanian Defense Ministry proposes law enabling military intervention to protect Romanians abroad

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Throughout our nations history, college campuses have been a focal point for deep societal divisions and unrest. Our states flagship institution is no exception. On April 29, 2024, approximately 300 protesters at the University of Utah expressed outrage for the devastation suffered by the Palestinian people. The people of Utah deserve an explanation of the universitys actions this past week on this complex and evolving situation.

To be clear, the University of Utah will not take a side in the current Israel-Hamas war. Public institutions in Utah are precluded by policy from doing so. Principled neutrality helps foster respect and diverse viewpoints on our campus. But I will explain the way the University of Utah managed the right to free expression within the confines of the law, the difference between divestiture at a public and private university, and the role of a university and its faculty during divisive moments in history.

I also want to give voice to the pain and anger many of our students, faculty, staff and the people of Utah feel as they observe the destruction and human suffering in Israel and Gaza. The death and destruction invoke outrage and pain. History teaches us the horror of genocide. We live in troubled times that demand our very best to relieve this suffering.

Balancing priorities and tensions

As I made decisions this past week about how to protect freedom of expression within the confines of the law, two principles weighed heavily on my mind.

First, the University of Utah does more than honor free expression  we celebrate it. Unfettered intellectual inquiry and the exchange of ideas and knowledge are the bedrock of our institution. Protests are an important form of speech and help society progress. Look no further than protests relating to civil rights and global conflicts throughout our history. Peaceful protests have a sacred and cherished place in American history and at the University of Utah.

Second, every right comes with a responsibility. The First Amendment, State of Utah Administrative Code and the University of Utah Speech Policy define reasonable limits to speech. At the University of Utah, students, faculty and others do not have the right to set up structures or camp overnight without a permit or to unlawfully occupy or trespass on University of Utah property. State of Utah administrative code (Rule R805-3) makes exceptions for camping at ticketing events and tailgating.

Weve seen on other campuses what happens when one persons speech and expression infringe upon the rights and safety of others. Many demonstrators at the University of Utah on April 29 and 30 were peaceful and law abiding. Others were not. After hours of discussion in good faith and after giving multiple warnings, some protesters decided to ignore state law. There are consequences to such actions. Law enforcement officers from across the Wasatch Front assisted University of Utah Police in disbanding the illegal encampment and arrested 21 people  five of whom were students.

This issue remains an active and dynamic situation. I will share here the same two-fold message we share on campus with our students and faculty and the demonstrators who have no campus affiliation: (1) We welcome all lawful manifestations of speech and expression. (2) You must peacefully assemble within the confines of the law. Ensuring that protests abide by law does not threaten free speech; rather, it preserves free speech for all of us.

Divestment demands at a public university

The national protest movement, including protesters in Utah, demands universities disclose, divest and cut ties with Israel and war-profiteering companies. Divestment at public universities differs significantly from private universities, which have sole control over their investment portfolios. In contrast, elected officials and state law govern public entities, like the University of Utah. In Utah, state law specifies two broad investment principles: institutional neutrality and prudent money management. Both principles limit the universitys ability to divest for geopolitical reasons.

Of particular relevance is a Utah law that explicitly prohibits government organizations from entering into a contract with businesses that boycott Israel (Utah Code  63G-27-201). This includes investment contracts or contracts with fund managers. This law is one of more than 30 similar laws and executive orders that limit public universities in states around the U.S.

Additionally, using university endowments as political tools sets dangerous precedent. Such action in and of itself may stifle academic and political debate. We wont do that at the University of Utah.

Where do we go from here?

College campuses may be the place where issues are debated and demonstrations start, but they are not typically the place where issues end. Womens suffrage required the 19th Amendment. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.s work for the Beloved Community required the Civil Rights Act  a journey that continues today  and the Paris Peace Accords officially ended the Vietnam War. We all have a responsibility to call on our elected officials to work toward solutions that will lead to lasting peace.

At the University of Utah, we must do our part. That starts with our faculty and students, where we create an environment of rigorous thinking, self-reflection, thoughtful dialogue and viewpoint diversity. We educate our students and community on their rights and the legal constraints of those rights, and how both work together to bring about lasting change.

The research of our incredible faculty also creates solutions. Within the universitys schools, colleges, institutes and centers, research occurs every day that builds a more peaceful and prosperous world. Faculty-led initiatives such as the Middle East Center, Barbara and Norman Tanner Center for Human Rights, Peace and Conflict Studies Program, Dan Jones Center for Public Service and Center for Global Surgery (to name just a few) promote peacemaking through inspiration and service.

Finally, as a public university, we embrace a service mission. It is incumbent upon us to model behavior that leads to greater trust and collaboration within the political landscape. We are bridgebuilders between ideas and action. Free expression plays a vital role. We serve our community, nation and world when we do so peacefully and lawfully. By doing so, we advance a new national higher education model for delivering societal impact that is good for all.
Automated license plate reader cameras can be hard to spot if youre just driving by.

But along hundreds of North Carolina streets, these shoebox-sized devices are quietly capturing details on every passing vehicle, data easily made accessible to law enforcement officers across the country.

Until now, no one in North Carolina had a full picture of how widespread these cameras have become. But a News & Observer investigation shows theyre a much more common tool for law enforcement, who say the devices can act as a force multiplier for solving crime.

In our series, Private Eyes, we show these cameras have generated a lot of success stories for closing cases  recovering stolen vehicles, finding missing children, even arresting an attempted murder suspect who fled out of state. But the embrace of these devices by law enforcement has also raised serious privacy concerns from groups worried about cases of misuse, overpolicing and misidentification leading to arrests.

Heres a look at five major things our reporting over the last several months revealed.

A Flock automated license plate reader camera used by the Raleigh Police Department is mounted on a Duke Energy utility pole on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh Jan. 29. RPD operates 26 automated readers that collect license plate and vehicle information including color, make and type. Travis Long/tlong@newsobserver.com

From rare to regular practice in just a few years

Flock Safety got its start in 2017. It didnt officially register to do business in North Carolina until 2021.

Yet the company has in that time signed contracts with at least 80 law enforcement agencies across the state, from the Nags Head Police Department to the Buncombe County Sheriffs Office, The N&O found. Our survey of police and sheriffs departments statewide has so far tallied more than 700 of Flocks fixed cameras on North Carolina roads, a count that far exceeds any of the companys competitors, like Rekor and Motorola.

And because Flock doesnt sell its cameras  it leases them  that can mean big money for the private company.

Contracts with several North Carolina clients show the cameras cost between $2,000 to $3,000 each annually. So a conservative estimate is that North Carolina law enforcement agencies are spending upwards of $1.49 million on the devices every year.

And its not just law enforcement. Flock markets its cameras to companies and HOAs, which as we explored in our series sparked controversy in one Knightdale neighborhood.

Flock CEO Garrett Langley has discussed that explosive growth nationally, telling an Atlanta podcast in 2023 that the company has gone from single-digit millions to over a hundred-million in revenue in four years.

Private Eyes: How we tracked the spread of license plate readers across North Carolina

ALPR cameras dont have the same safeguards

From the video camera inside Target to the doorbell camera on your neighbors front porch, Americans are already awash in surveillance.

So what makes automated license plate readers from Flock or any other vendor different?

Access, for one.

With some exceptions, the vast majority of privately operated video surveillance isnt readily available for law enforcement to search or review. Camera owners can turn it over on request, sure. But forcing the matter requires a warrant issued by the court, based on probable cause.

What if police wanted GPS location data tracked by your phone? That also requires a search warrant served on Google (at least it did before the company announced in late 2023 it would cut off access to such data).

Could detectives acquire your mobile devices location via cell towers? Or attach a GPS device to your car? Both techniques require search warrants, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.

In North Carolina, state laws place protections on license plate data captured for certain non-law enforcement purposes.

Toll cameras, for instance, capture and retain images of vehicles and license plates for 90 days to bill drivers. But the agency requires a subpoena to provide police with any of that footage, says N.C. Turnpike Authority spokesperson Logen Hodges.

When police officers search for license plates or other vehicle data through an ALPR system like Flock, they dont need a warrant  or any other external oversight. And although state law now makes misuse of ALPR devices a misdemeanor, privacy advocates are concerned.

Flock and police departments argue, however, that license plate readers capture information available in public spaces where there is no expectation of privacy  the equivalent of an officer standing on a corner to jot down every plate number.

Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras monitor around 400,000 vehicles per month in Raleigh, according to the police departments transparency portal. Travis Long/tlong@newsobserver.com

Across North Carolina, transparency isnt consistent

Much of The N&Os reporting was built on the collection of thousands of data points from Flock Safetys transparency portals, websites that provide basic details on a departments use of the cameras. Thats everything from how many cameras they have installed to the number of cars theyve detected in the last month or so.

The portals are optional, and not all of Flocks clients have committed to using them.

Flock did provide a list of about 30 North Carolina agencies using the transparency portals. Thats far short of the 80 or more agencies The N&O independently counted that are using the service in the state so far.

A number of law enforcement agencies told us through our survey that they have no plans to use the sites.

Case in point: police at UNC-Chapel Hill. The university, which fought to keep its contracts with Flock Safety secret from the public before relenting earlier this year, has not discussed the creation of a transparency portal, according to spokesperson Kevin Best.

The N&O found more than 360 of the sites across the country. But its hard to know how many of the companys 5,000-plus law enforcement clients actually have the portals activated because the company hasnt told us.

Neighbors watching neighbors? HOA vehicle surveillance irks some in NC neighborhood

Oversight in other states exceeds regulation here

North Carolina has a law on the books that regulates the use of automated license plate readers.

The rules limit retention of license plate data to 90 days and prohibit its use for enforcing simple traffic violations. The law also requires agencies using these systems to have a written policy that addresses, among other things, training, oversight and annual or more frequent auditing.

But the regulations dont require anyone to oversee whether agencies follow their own rules.

And North Carolina law enforcement agencies arent always forthcoming about how they abide by those rules.

The Raleigh Police Department, for example, has provided no evidence that an annual audit of its ALPR system has been completed.

New Jersey, by contrast, issues a report publicly through its attorney generals office on which law enforcement agencies completed audits and which saw violations and complaints.

The limit on how long North Carolina agencies can keep data, meanwhile, pales in comparison to New Hampshire.

The Granite State  whose motto is Live Free or Die  requires law enforcement to purge license plate data after 3 minutes. New Hampshire is one of only three states where Flock does not operate.

Whats next for these cameras on state highways? Unclear.

Over the last several years, lawmakers introduced bills to undo a decade-old legal interpretation that prohibited automated license plate readers from state-maintained roads and highways. Those efforts failed repeatedly over objections by Republican legislators with privacy concerns about the technology.

In early 2023, a new version of the bill drew support from law enforcement, including Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson and Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone, who testified to lawmakers that the devices were critical tools for fighting crime.

The legislature approved the measure in October, allowing the devices on N.C. Department of Transportation right-of-ways through a pilot program run by DOT and the State Bureau of Investigation. The SBI, either on its own or on behalf of a local law enforcement agency, would need to enter into an agreement with NCDOT on where to place the devices.

That will likely mean more ALPR cameras along 80,000 miles of North Carolina streets. But when those new cameras will start appearing  thats hard to say.

Despite the law going into effect in January, neither agency has not provided any detail on how theyll implement it.

Discussions and meetings continue about the pilot projects implementation, SBI spokesperson Angie Grube said in early April. After The N&O checked in last week, Grube said the agency had nothing to announce.

As of Thursday, NCDOT has yet to receive any requests to install the devices, according to spokesperson Aaron Moody.
ORLANDO, Fla.  Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters called for the University of Central Florida to divest itself from companies with ties to Israel and urged a ceasefire in Gaza during a day-long on-campus rally Tuesday.

As has been the case with earlier rallies at UCF  and in contrast with some around the country, including at the University of South Florida  the students avoided confrontation with police and there were no arrests. Demonstrators camped out on blankets, participated in prayers, discussed politics and recited chants including one that ended with free, free Palestine.

We have a lot of connections to Lockheed. We want to cut ties with Tel Aviv University, said Raneem Sadek, one of the UCF students attempting to reinstate the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at the university. Sadek acted as spokesperson for the group, which had advised protest participants not to speak to the media.

But the main goal, though, is we want the students to be able to have their voice spoken, Sadek said.

The chancellor of the state university system last year ordered all Florida state universities to deactivate SJP, saying some positions espoused by the national group violated the states anti-terrorism statute. However, the state did not enforce the order amid legal challenges, leaving the campus groups in limbo.

Sadek said the process for SJP to become a registered student organization again at UCF could be completed this fall.

Were just letting the students know that were here and were not backing down, and were also demanding full, permanent, forever cease-fire, Sadek said at the UCF event, staged in the southeast corner of Memory Mall near the center of campus. The area was dubbed the Liberated Zone.

Tuesdays protest also was considered a momentum builder for a broader protest scheduled for downtown Orlando on Saturday.

UCF has been the scene of a few pro-Palestine demonstrations in recent months, including one last weekend near the graduation ceremonies held at Addition Financial Arena on the opposite end of Memory Mall.

Classes are not currently in session at UCF, and campus was relatively quiet Tuesday away from the Liberated Zone. Individuals occasionally passed by the protests on foot or scooters during the midday hours. There was a small University police presence, and an electronic sign rolled onto the lawn reminded people of what items, such as weapons, and activities were prohibited.

Classes are out right now. Were aware of that. This is basically a show for what is coming in the fall when we are reinstated, Sadek said. A lot of students are back home. But we wanted to let everybody know we are still here and we are still standing.

Conflict between Palestinians and Israel has existed for decades, but this round of protests comes in response to the war that began Oct. 7, when the Hamas, a militant Palestinian group, launched an attack in Israel that killed 1,200 people. Later attacks by Israel reportedly have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.

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Today May 6th, 2024, two encampment representatives met with admin to discuss the demands we have spent weeks protesting for. We intended to have an attorney present with us during the meeting, but the admin vehemently protested that only students be present during the discussion due to it being just that a discussion barren of any legal threat. Although early in the morning before our 2:30 meeting, specific encampment members received information threatening expulsion for students and arrests for community members in response to a peaceful protest planned for May 7th.

Having prior knowledge of a rough outline of our demands, we were met with a presentation detailing the universities responses to what needs to be done to sever UNCCs ties with the Israeli occupation and any crimes against the Palestinian people. Vague generalizations and feigned ignorance were provided to dissuade us from our cause the two administration members seemed surprised at the extent of our knowledge in regards to the Mount Zion archaeological project and the lack of transparency of our institutional funding sources. They stated that UNCCs endowment investments are outsourced to a UNC Management Company (UNCMC). The encampment representatives demanded that admin escalate and heed our demands and that UNCC asks for transparency from UNCMC it is well within their capability, it is just questionable if it is action they are willing to take.

Let it be known that activists have tried to use proper channels, such as making a petition and presenting a resolution to the Student Government Association in order to have our voices heard. Despite this, the university clutches to institutional neutrality, which they are further revealing to be complicity. In addition to our demands, several faculty and/or admin infractions must be addressed as well. Namely, former Guantanamo Bay head warden John Bogden who sent red flags flying through human rights watch groups almost immediately after his ascension to the detention center in 2014. UNCC saw him as a great fit for Vice Chancellor of Safety and Security for his first job as a civilian! We as students want to see the culture of this university correct itself.

Today as the IOF demands the evacuation of Rafah, students and community members alike demand that UNCC answer to our demands with speed and transparency. Let us not forget nearly every day of these past two months has been an anniversary of major student protest. Students have always been on the right side of history and we continue that legacy.


NEW YORK  Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered near the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Manhattans Upper East Side early Monday evening as A-list stars and celebrities began arriving for the annual Met Gala soiree.

Barricades lined the streets outside the museum at East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue as a large crowd of protesters streamed out of Central Park and toward the fundraising event. The NYPD earlier said it would have an adequate security deployment outside the Met Gala, fashions biggest night in New York.

Both protesters and people looked to catch a glimpse of A-listers gathered at the intersection as a wall of police officers lined up in front of them.

One woman, wearing sunglasses and a black scarf covering her face, held a speaker playing Palestinian rap music, which the officers asked her to turn off.

The protests  officially billed asDay Of Rage For Gaza: From The Encampments To The Streets  began Monday afternoon around 4 p.m. at Columbia University and New York University, with a planned meet-up at Hunter College at 5 p.m. before marching toward the Met.

Police stopped protesters about a block away from the museum, barricading off the street to ensure no one gets through.

The large group splintered off into four smaller groups as they appeared to search for a way to bypass police.

About a dozen protesters were arrested as they ignored police orders to move to the sidewalk and off of Madison Avenue to allow traffic to flow through.

One group of protesters marched southbound down Fifth Avenue to East 67th Street where they came across the One Hundred Seventh Infantry Memorial, which honors members of the infantry who died in World War I.

A New York Daily News reporter witnessed the group burn an American flag and spray paint the words Gaza and free Palestine across the massive bronze memorial. There were no arrests at the intersection as police did not witness the vandalism.

The group continued down Fifth Avenue to East 59th Street where they vandalized the General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument in the southeast corner of Central Park.

Protesters hung a Palestinian flag and defaced the statue with spray paint and stickers. Cops surrounded the memorial to keep the group from doing further damage.

Sources said the Met had a larger security contingent than usual  including investigators in plainclothes both outside and inside the Fifth Avenue museum.

The sources also said several protesters with a history of arrests in New York City and elsewhere were expected to be part of the march.

Mayor Eric Adams and police have said outside agitators have been involved in the college demonstrations that have roiled campuses across the city the last two weeks.

There has been debate about whether the students were coaxed into tactics they otherwise might have avoided, such as the recent violent takeover of Columbias Hamilton Hall, which was broken up by the NYPD last Tuesday night.

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KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia on Tuesday unveiled a new national plan to combat corruption which focuses on the effectiveness of corruption prevention efforts.

The National Anti-Corruption Strategies (NACS) 2024-2028 is also aimed at improving governance and integrity in the administration of public services and government-related companies.

The five key strategies outlined in the NACS are education, public accountability, voice, enforcement and incentives, with 60 sub-strategies to be implemented over five years. 
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered and marched near the Met Gala in New York City on Monday night, with several arrested by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

Amid a heavy police presence, protesters marched down Madison Avenue one block east of the gala venue, carrying Palestinian flags, banging drums, and chanting free, free Palestine!

Videos and photos from the scene also showed protesters walking through Central Park and being arrested by police officers, as well as filling the street and blocking traffic on nearby Park Avenue.

The NYPD confirmed to The Independent that it had arrested multiple people, but did not provide additional details.

According to The New York Post, which put the numbers at more than a thousand, protesters were stopped at the East 79th St Transverse in Central Park by a double line of police officers in riot gear.

The protest occurred despite a heavy police presence outside of the event this year, including steel barricades and street closures. NYPD deputies were also spotted near the event with masks and zip tie handcuffs.

Police watch pro-Palestinian demonstrators near the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024 in New York (AFP via Getty Images)

In recent years Protesters have frequently used the glittering event, in which celebrities don surreal and extravagant gowns to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as a platform for social causes.

In 2021, nine Black Lives Matter demonstrators were arrested outside of the event while calling on officials to defund and abolish the NYPD and taking apart barricades set up by police.

This year, numerous protests relating to the Israel-Hamas War were scheduled throughout New York City on Monday, with demonstrations taking place at Columbia and New York University in whats been dubbed a Citywide Day of Rage for Gaza.

New York mayor Eric Adams, along with other NYC officials, has blamed outside agitators for the protests at Columbia University in Manhattan, but academics and journalists have questioned his evidence for those claims.

(AFP via Getty Images)
Pro-Palestinian protesters retook their encampment on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus Monday evening, just hours after mostly vacating the area.

The group of tents had been almost entirely emptied out by the 2:30 p.m. deadline set by administrators Monday, with only five students remaining at that time, according to MIT officials. Many other students gathered outside the perimeter of the encampment.

The school warned students they would be placed on immediate academic suspension for the remainder of the semester if they did disperse ahead of the deadline.

Around the time the encampment was cleared, however, a large number of outside demonstrators arrived on campus, which MIT officials attributed to a call on social media to students in the area to join our students, as well as a planned public protest.

Around 6 p.m., someone jumped over the fence surrounding the encampment, causing a surge, administrators said, adding, and soon the area was breached.

Reports indicated that protesters tore down the green tarp that blocked the tents from the crowd, which escalated into protesters forcing down the metal barricades and reclaiming the encampment.

By Tuesday, students continued to protest in the area surrounding the tents.

On Monday night, administrators estimated there were about 150 students and others standing in a circle around the tents while others nearby were chanting.

Officials said no arrests had been made, as of a university statement Monday night, but police officers from MIT, Cambridge and the state were on scene to preserve public safety.

We have much work still to do to resolve this situation, and will continue to communicate as needed, reads the statement, which was signed by President Sally Kornbluth, Executive Vice President and Treasurer Glen Shor and Chancellor Melissa Nobles.

The encampments come as similar demonstrations have erupted on college campuses across the U.S. in recent weeks, with students and others protesting the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Administrators have struggled to find the appropriate response to the protests as they try to maintain a peaceful and safe campus for students.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Around a dozen protestors were arrested, according to local news outlets

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Demonstrators outside the Met Gala

Pro-Palestinian protestors marching towards 2024 Met Gala have been arrested, according to The New York Times, The New York Daily News and local sources PEOPLE spoke to.

The Times did not mention how many protestors were arrested as fashion's biggest night was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, though The New York Daily News put the figure at "about a dozen."

New York Post reported there being over 1,000 protestors marching throughout upper Manhattan before they were stopped at the East 79th St Transverse in Central Park. PEOPLE has reached out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for comment.



CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Protestors outside the Met Gala

One video from the scene shared on X, formerly Twitter, showed large crowds walking in front of and between cars beating drums and waving Palestinian flags and large signs.

Another video showed police walking through a crowd. A speaker could be heard blasting orders from officials, stating, "If you remain in the roadway and refuse to utilize the sidewalk, you will be put under arrest and charged with disorderly conduct."

According to the account on X for Within Our Lifetime (a group that says it's seeking "defense of Rafah, Gaza and all of Palestine"), the protest was called the "Citywide Day of Rage for Gaza" and began near Hunter College. The group said it closed out its march by 9 pm ET.

The protest comes on the same day that Columbia University issued a press release indicating that its main commencement ceremony, originally scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 15, would be canceled in the wake of the ongoing protests.

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Demonstrators outside the Met Gala

"Our graduating students, their families, and their loved ones are very focused on our upcoming Commencement celebrations. We are as well. We are determined to give our students the celebration they deserve, and that they want," the university said. "Our Deans and other colleagues who work directly with our students have been discussing plans with student leaders, and, most importantly, listening."

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In replacement of the ceremony, the university will host "school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers."



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Recurring anti-abortion protests outside a downtown womens health clinic may soon be dampened by a new ordinance limiting nearby loud sounds.

Protesters have targeted the West Loops Family Planning Associates clinic at West Washington Boulevard and North Desplaines Street for years, said Ald. Bill Conway, 34th. They rush toward arriving patients and amplify sound so loud that it disrupts work being done inside, he said.

The ordinance Conway sponsored that passed through the City Councils Public Safety committee Tuesday seeks to block the use of loud noise-making devices directly outside the clinic.

I personally observed protesters putting amplifiers up against the wall, making it so loud inside that clinicians cant hear patients speak and the building shakes, Conway said.

A nearly identical ordinance sponsored by Conway passed through the committee in November, but was held up before a full council vote when city lawyers shared legal concerns. The ordinance was altered to refine the area in which the restrictions apply, making it as defensible as we can make it, city attorney Rey Phillips Santos said Tuesday.

As the first ordinance advanced, several aldermen shared concerns that the noise-regulation measure would stifle First Amendment rights. Those critiques were repeated Tuesday as Ald. Nick Sposato, 38th, and Ald. Jim Gardiner, 45th, voted against the legislation.

Im a little surprised that we have four attorneys in here who think its OK to silence freedom of speech, Sposato said. Little unclear to me why we are singling out abortion clinics instead of other places.

But the legislation was broadly supported by the committees members, who pushed back on the criticism to argue that the ordinance specifically targeted sound amplification, not protest.

This is pretty regular business, Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, said. Were not limiting free speech or the right to assembly at all.

After the vote, Conway said he visits the clinic during protests and stopped there Saturday. He acknowledged a video that shows him in a heated argument with demonstrators standing outside the site.

You guys are in clear violation. I saw that, Conway shouts at demonstrators in the video. You are sitting here, violating the law.

Relax, shouts the filming demonstrator, who is holding a Bible. I am not sitting, I am preaching the Gospel.

Conway said Tuesday that before the video began, numerous protesters rushed and got in the faces of patients arriving at the clinic. Clinic escorts had tried to reason with the demonstrators, who were violating city rules designed to create a protest bubble outside medical facilities, he added.

Perhaps I could have handled this in a better way, he said. But after I saw the running at women, multiple times, blaring amplifiers in their face at least three or four times, I frankly stood up for the patients until the police arrived. And, you know, I dont apologize for that. Ill always stand up for womens right to access health care.

The downtown alderman said he expects the ordinance to comfortably pass in the City Council. If it does, police will be able to ticket people who use noise-making devices such as amplifiers, bullhorns and percussion instruments after signs are installed, Conway said.

I am looking to find a way if we can actually confiscate the (amplification) device as well, but thats not something we have taken up yet, he said.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
Louisiana's constitutional convention could be pushed back to August. (Photo credit: Wesley Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)

Backers of the proposed Louisiana constitutional convention are considering a new timeline for the event, one that doesnt coincide with the state lawmakers ongoing legislative session. Thats according to four sources familiar with the effort who werent authorized to speak about the matter publicly.

Supporters might push for a convention to be held in July or more likely August, instead of from May 20 to June 3 as called for in House Bill 800, the enabling legislation the Louisiana House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on Tuesday.



The possible change comes as Gov. Jeff Landry puts pressure on lawmakers to vote in favor of having a convention. Its also after The Times-Picayune | The Advocate published a poll showing only 1% of Louisiana residents consider a constitution convention a top priority.

The Republican governor made holding a convention a central part of his legislative agenda this spring but faces challenges getting enough lawmakers to support the proposal. At a convention, Louisianas 144 legislators and 27 delegates chosen by Landry would be expected to revise the states 50-year-old constitution, based on House Bill 800.

The governor has said lawmakers and his delegates would limit themselves to moving provisions out of the constitution and placing them in regular statute, instead of eliminating sections of the law or writing any new language for the document. A shortened version of the constitution would then appear on the November ballot for voter approval.

Lawmakers have been skeptical of a constitutional convention timeline that overlaps with the end of their legislative session. With less than a month of their session left, lawmakers still have other high-profile bills to consider. Theyre also less than halfway through the process to finalize next fiscal years budget.

I think we need [a constitutional convention]. I dont think we should do it in session, said Sen. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, who is typically aligned with Landry. I would rather do it right than rushed.

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Several lawmakers also want more details about what the governor seeks to do in a convention. Landry has refused to tell legislators or the public what specific changes he wants to make to the constitution.

I think thats the big question: What does the governor want us to do? Sen. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport, said, adding that he supports a constitutional convention in theory but wants more information.

Landry has said generally he wants to make constitutional changes in order to free up more money in the state budget to deal with an expected budget shortfall next year. He has also said a constitutional convention could help make wholesale tax reform easier.



But what sections would be taken out of the constitution  specifically, what protected funding or constitutional tax policy might be targeted to reach those goals  has not been disclosed. Landrys reticence has created an information vacuum, even among legislators being asked to support his proposal.

Im not going to vote on stuff when I dont know whats in it, said Rep. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, who was opposed to a constitutional convention last week.

Lawmakers have been left to speculate about what parts of the constitution the governor might want to alter. They worry public school funding, higher education boards, district attorney authority, law enforcement pay, state worker protections and consumer tax breaks on food, prescription drugs and utilities might be targets for constitutional cutting.

Transferring sections of the existing constitution to regular state law, as Landry has said he wants to do, wont change their enforcement in the short term. But it will make those provisions far easier for lawmakers to change or remove in the future.

Constitutional laws can only be altered with support from two-thirds of both chambers of the Legislature and a statewide vote. Items moved to statute can be eliminated or altered by a simple majority vote in the House and Senate.

This is very top down  Were being told what we need to do, Rep. Joe Stagni, R-Kenner, said. With more transparency and more public input, I think you would get a better product.





Convention supporters have also made a few concessions ahead of Tuesdays vote in the House.

Last week, they said public school funding protections, which make it difficult to cut K-12 school allocations from year to year, would remain in the constitution. There would also be no effort to remove the popular homestead exemption property tax break.



Over the past week however, other special interest groups started to push to have their favorite constitutional items taken off the table for changes as well.

Sheriffs want legislators to commit to not touching supplemental pay for law enforcement. Local hospitals could also seek to wall off their funding as well.

Democratic lawmakers have already filed amendments to the constitutional convention legislation that would exclude Southern University and the judiciary branch from changes.

Its not clear legislators even have the ability to restrict what is discussed during a constitutional convention. Legal experts have said once a convention is called, the entire document can be opened up and altered, regardless of what limitations the lawmakers place on it ahead of time.



If they push the convention timeline back to July or August, the exercise would also become more expensive.



Had the convention overlapped with the legislative session, lawmakers would have been able to save money by using their daily session expense reimbursements, called per diem pay, to cover the convention meetings.



In July or August, the state would have to cover the lawmakers travel and lodging costs, raising those per diem expenses to $1.5 million for a two-week period, when Landrys delegates are included. The price of compensating legislative staff and office materials needed for the convention would also have to be worked out.

A July or August start date would give the lawmakers more time to plan and seek public input. Some legislators have expressed interest in a road show where they travel around the state seeking citizen testimony on the constitution, they said.

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Prosecutors seek 56-year sentence for Adam Montgomery in the murder of his daughter Harmony

Convicted killer Adam Montgomery faces sentencing on Thursday in the 2019 murder of his 5-year-old daughter Harmony Montgomery.

In a filing released on Tuesday, prosecutors in New Hampshire asked the judge to sentence Montgomery to 56 years behind bars, arguing the little girl died in pain and fear on December 7, 2019.

Harmonys body has never been found.

This case involves the abuse, and murder of an innocent five-year-old girl at the hands of her biological father, said prosecutors.

Prosecutors say Montgomery is a defendant with an extensive criminal history for his age and that previous prison time has failed to deter further criminal behavior.

Montgomery was convicted in February following a jury trial, of one count each of second-degree assault, second-degree murder, falsifying physical evidence, tampering with a witness, and abuse of a corpse.

The defendant attacked Harmony in the early morning hours of December 7, 2019, according to the prosecution sentencing memorandum. The first attack consisted of the defendant striking Harmony repeatedly on her head and face because she had a bathroom accident. The defendant did nothing for Harmony after that attack. He did not attempt to treat her injuries or change her soiled clothes. He placed a blanket over her and went back to sleep.

Although Investigators believe Harmony was slain in December 2019, she wasnt reported missing for almost two years. Kayla Montgomery, the girls stepmother, testified that the body was hidden in the trunk of a car, a cooler, a ceiling vent, and a workplace freezer before Adam disposed of it.

Adam Montgomery had custody of the girl. Her mother, Crystal Sorey, who was no longer in a relationship with him, said the last time she saw Harmony Montgomery was during a video call in April 2019. She eventually went to Manchester, New Hampshire Police, who announced they were looking for the missing child on New Years Eve 2021.

Photos of the girl were widely circulated on social media. Police eventually determined she had been killed.

A significant sentence is needed to ensure that this defendant never again engages in criminal conduct like this and clearly understands that the justice system will not tolerate taking the life of another, said prosecutors. He must be deterred from ever hurting someone again, especially a defenseless child. The States recommended sentence accomplishes that goal.

Boston 25 will be at Montgomerys sentencing on Thursday. Watch for live updates on Boston 25 News.

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

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NEW YORK  A potential smoking gun shown to jurors at Donald Trumps Manhattan hush money trial on Monday appeared to harm his defense that money doled out to Michael Cohen from the White House was for payment for legitimate legal services  and not reimbursement for paying off a porn star.

The document displayed was a bank statement provided to the Trump Organizations accounting department in early 2017 by Cohen, showing hed transferred $130,000 to Keith Davidson, the lawyer of Stormy Daniels, who claimed shed had an extramarital liaison with Trump in 2006.

Prosecutors introduced it during testimony by former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, who identified rough notes at the bottom as the penmanship of his ex-boss, Trumps twice-convicted longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.

Ive been looking at his handwriting for 35 years, McConney told the court when asked how he was sure.

The finance chiefs notes tallied up how much money Cohen was owed in expenses: $180,000, when accounting for the payoff to Davidson plus an additional $50,000 campaign purchase Trumps fixer paid out of pocket. The CFO then doubled that number to account for taxes and tacked on a $50,000 bonus, bringing the total to $420,000, which Cohen received in monthly checks signed by Trump for $35,000, evidence showed.

The prosecution introduced the First Republic Bank statement as proof that Trump knowingly reimbursed Cohen for hush money to Daniels. Last week, jurors heard of how Cohen set up the bank account in the waning days of the 2016 race to get money to Daniels in a hurry so voters wouldnt learn her allegations of an extramarital tryst with Trump, wiring it via a shell company, Essential Consultants LLC.

Trumps lawyers have claimed that his former fixer went rogue in paying off the adult film actor, unbeknownst to his boss. They claim he signed checks put in front of him, believing he was simply paying his lawyer for lawyering.

The jury saw the statement among a paper trail of evidence introduced Monday tied to each of the 34 counts of falsification of business records with which the former president is charged  11 checks issued to Cohen, which all bore Trumps familiar spiky signature in black Sharpie, 12 corresponding ledger entries and 11 invoices, in which the fixer billed for a retainer agreement.

Did you ever see a retainer agreement? prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked McConney.

I did not, the ex-controller conceded, later acknowledging those expenses were never filed with the companys legal department.

The former controller, testifying against his will for the third time in as many years in a Trump case, said three of the checks issued to Cohen came from Trumps trust, and the remaining nine came from his personal bank account.

McConney said he first learned Cohen was owed money from a conversation with Weisselberg, whos currently serving time on Rikers Island for committing perjury at the attorney generals tax fraud trial against Trump after working for the Trump family for nearly half a century. Weisselberg and McConney were also accused of financial fraud in that case and hit with heavy penalties. They and Trump are appealing.

Al said, We have to get some money to Michael, reimburse Michael, McConney recalled.

Only Mr. Trump could sign off on checks sent out of his account, jurors heard Monday from Deborah Tarasoff, a lower-level payroll staffer, and McConney, bolstering the prosecutions arguments that Trump was never left out of the loop.

Somehow, wed have to get a package down to the White House, get the president to sign the checks, get the checks returned to us and then send the checks out, McConney said.

On cross-examination with Emil Bove, Trumps lawyer pressed the controller on whether hed ever discussed the filing system with Trump, whether he was privy to Weisselbergs conversations with the boss, or whether he was ever explicitly directed by Trump to do what he described to the jury. He answered no to all questions.

But when the prosecution followed up, Colangelo asked if McConney had previously acknowledged that Weisselberg sometimes kept him in the dark, which he said was true.

You were told to do something and you did it? Colangelo asked.

Yes.

Tarasoff, a 24-year vet at the Trump Org, walked jurors through various reporting procedures and how checks were cut. Her relatively dry testimony came alongside some of the most crucial evidence in the case  the checks, ledger entries, and Cohens invoices.

Tarasoff said Trump didnt give the green light for every check, sometimes writing VOID in black Sharpie and sending them back.

Over the last two weeks, prosecutors laid out an alleged conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election and, as of Monday, began linking it to the alleged reimbursement to Cohen they say capped the scheme.

They told state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Monday that they expect to finish their case in around two weeks. Cohen, who was federally convicted for the hush money scheme in 2018, and Daniels are slated to soon take the stand.

Earlier Monday, Merchan found Trump had violated a gag order prohibiting comments about trial participants a tenth time.

In his sternest warning yet, the judge said it appeared the fines he previously issued for other violations were not working, forcing him to start considering more severe punishment.

Its important you understand that the last thing I want to do is put you in jail, Merchan addressed Trump. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next (POTUS) as well.

In an accompanying written order, the judge laid out how Trumps April 22 comments to conservative news channel Real Americas Voice  that the jury was picked so fast  95% democrats  were a clear breach.

After proceedings wrapped for the day, Trump said outside court that he wasnt fazed, telling reporters, Our Constitution is much more important than jail. Its not even close. Ill give that sacrifice any day.

_____
A Prospective Student Was Visiting a College Campus. She Was Killed by Gunfire as Innocent Bystander

Destry Jones, 20, and Damien Hinson, 18, are being charged in connection with the death of 18-year-old Camay Mitchell De Silva

GoFundMe Camay Mitchell De Silva

Two suspects have been arrested following the fatal shooting in April of a prospective student at Delaware State University, who was shot in the head by what authorities say was a stray bullet, according to reports.

On Monday, April 6, the Dover Police Department said during a press conference that they had arrested Destry Jones, 20, and Damien Hinson, 28, who are both charged with murder in connection with the April 21 fatal shooting of Camay Mitchell De Silva, 18, per CBS News.

The pair are also being charged with the alleged attempted murder of two other individuals in connection with the shooting, according to the publication.

PEOPLE reached out to the Dover Police Department and Delaware State University for additional comment but received no immediate response.

Police noted during the press conference that U.S. Marshals, in cooperation with other law enforcement entities, arrested Jones in Brooklyn, N.Y., on May 2, while Hinson was apprehended in Dover later that same day. Their report stated that neither suspect is enrolled as a student at the university, per NBC10 Philadelphia.

De Silva was staying with a friend who attends Delaware State University on the day of the shooting, according to an earlier report from CBS News. She was a computer science major who had previously attended Morgan State University and was considering enrolling at Delaware State in the fall with a plan to pursue a career in cybersecurity, per a GoFundMe set up for her family.

Gunshots were initially heard at about 1:40 a.m. on April 21, police said, NBC10 reports. Responding officers found De Silva near the school's Warren-Franklin dormitory with a gunshot wound to the head, per CBS. She was taken to a local hospital where she died from her injuries.

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"As we have previously released, Miss De Silva was not involved in this altercation and we do not believe she was the intended target of the gunfire which originated from the breezeway area," Dover Police Department Chief Thomas Johnson Jr. said during the press conference, per NBC10.

Jones remains incarcerated in New York, awaiting extradition to Delaware. It is currently unclear how long that process will take, CBS noted. Hinson is being held on a cash bail of over $3 million in Sussex County.

It's not immediately clear if either suspect has retained an attorney or entered pleas.

The GoFundMe established for De Silva raised over $19,000 before donations closed. Its description stated that she "had a contagious smile and was a source of joy for everyone around her."

De Silva was described as "an intelligent and beautiful person who touched the lives of everyone who knew her."



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Dollar store employees march in protest in New Orleans, seeking safer working conditions and better pay. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)

Dollar store employees march in protest n New Orleans, seeking safer working conditions and better pay, Dec. 10, 2022. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)

The Louisiana Legislature is on the verge of enacting harsher criminal penalties on people who organize protests without government permission.

House Bill 127, sponsored by Rep. Mike Bayham, R-Chalmette, sailed Tuesday through the Senate Committee on Judiciary C without objection. The committees sole Democratic member, Sen. Regina Barrow of Baton Rouge, was presenting multiple bills of her own before a House committee when the vote occurred.

Bayhams proposal would expand a state criminal statute that outlaws obstruction of a highway, road, railway, airport runway or navigable waterway. The proposed language would allow law enforcement and prosecutors to apply the law to anyone who organizes or plans a protest or demonstration without a government permit.

Under current law, the crime of blocking a roadway is considered a misdemeanor punishable by a $250 fine, six months in prison or both. It applies to anyone who physically performs an act such as protesting or placing an obstacle on a street that makes it harder for automobiles to pass or obstructing a waterway to block vessels.

Bayhams bill increases the fine to $750 for the misdemeanor act of obstructing a road. It adds a new provision to specifically go after protest organizers by applying the statute to the coordination, organization or planning of a demonstration that blocks or slows down traffic.

I am all for the First Amendment  but you do not have the right to block a highway out of the blue just because you believe your cause is justified, Bayham told the committee.

That was about the extent of Tuesdays debate in the Senate committee, contrasting with the flood of testimony when Bayham presented his bill on the House floor last month. No one who opposes his legislation spoke at Tuesdays committee hearing.

Some House Democrats, speaking against the bill last month, pointed out that the most effective protests throughout history have occurred organically without much pre-coordination and without the governments permission.

The bill does not specify what would constitute coordination, organization or planning. Its unclear if it would apply only to someone who explicitly tells protestors to obstruct traffic or if it would also apply if protestors unintentionally slow down traffic with their mere presence near a roadway.

During House floor debate, Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans, raised a contentious point when he disagreed with Bayham over the meaning of the word coordination. Willard argued the bill would criminalize the mere thought of a protest on a roadway.

Bayham said coordination means to actively communicate with or direct another person to carry out some action, but the bill doesnt define the word or explicitly require the involvement of more than one person. Willard said coordination can also be a solo act.

Language in the bill seeks to outlaw something that could totally occur in somebodys head, Willard said at the time, adding that the proposal could violate the First Amendment rights to free thought and assembly.

The measure is now pending on the Senate floor for final consideration before heading to Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, for approval.

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Police arrest a pro-Palestinian protester during the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on May 6, 2024. Credit - Andres KudackiAP

Picket signs, smoke bombs and flares almost mingled with cameras and excited fans as scores of pro-Palestinian protesters tried to make their way to the Met Gala Monday evening to disrupt the lavish affair in New York City.

While celebrities made their fashionable entrances on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), hundreds of protesters convened outside of Hunter College as part of the Citywide Day of Rage, where schools across NYC took part in demonstrations protesting Israels continued onslaught on Gaza, according to footage shared by reporter Katie Smith on X (Hunter College is roughly 1.2 miles from the MET). The protesters are demanding Israel pull out of its invasion of Rafah and are calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

The Pro-Palestinian protesters took to flooding the streets of New York City in defense of Rafah, marching up Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, before removing barricades that were blocking access to 5th Avenue and to the museum. Chants of Its called, Divest! We will not stop. We will not rest! could be heard as the group made its way closer to the party.

At around 7:11 p.m., protesters neared the MET and descended down Park Avenue. Some set off smoke bombs and flares. They removed additional barricades on their way.

Footage posted to X appears to show NYPD officers detaining protesters outside of the gala, with others chanting Let them go as they stand across the street.

And as various stars made their way up the METs steps, the protesters continued taking detours and making sudden turns in a bid to evade NYPD officers, according to Smith. Officers with the NYPDs Strategic Response Group (SRG) followed but protesters reportedly took to sidewalks before heading back to the street. Smith would later report that the demonstrations were turned around and returned to Park Avenue.

The Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information (DCPI) in New York told TIME a total of 27 individuals were taken into custody in connection with the protests, and the investigation remains ongoing.

Demonstrations and encampments across college campuses in the U.S. and the world have grown steadily in recent weeks, as student and faculty protesters demanded that their institutions divest from companies that support or do business in Israel.

The protests have led to arrests and suspensions of thousands of students, while also having costly impacts on colleges. Columbia University announced on Monday that it would be canceling the universitys main commencement ceremony in favor of smaller ones after discussions with student leaders and following weeks of unrest.

Contact us at letters@time.com.
KUNMING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and 21 others injured in a hospital attack in Zhenxiong County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said Tuesday.

The attack took place at around 11:37 a.m. on Tuesday when a man assaulted people with a knife at a local hospital in the county, according to the county's public security bureau.

The injured are being treated in hospital, and the case is under investigation. 
Emory students are voting on their confidence in the universitys president, Gregory Fenves, and his response to pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

The Student Government Association is holding the referendum for undergraduate students through Tuesday.

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This comes as Fenves announced that next Mondays commencement ceremonies will not take place on campus but at Gas South Arena in Duluth. He cited safety concerns after recent protests for the move.

Protests began at Emory on April 25.

Thats when protesters, condemning Israels war against Hamas in Gaza, set up tents on the quad. Fenves called in police, with campus officers and state troopers responding.

Police arrested 28 people, including students and professors, for trespassing. Officers used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd, and they even tackled some of the demonstrators.

I dont believe bringing police on campus was the best move to take at a time like this, said Finn Reilly, whos graduating from Emorys Oxford College next week. I cant trust our president to have students best interest at heart on campus when it comes to safety.

Peter Nicholas also plans to vote in the referendum.

I think hes a pretty amazing president for our school, he said. I know hes made some mistakes in this issue, but overall I think hes really helped Emory become a better school. I dont think it makes sense to try to vote him out.

Last week, about 75 percent of the Arts and Sciences faculty voted no confidence in the presidents ability to do the job. The votes by faculty and students are non-binding; only the Board of Trustees has the authority to remove the university president.

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Fenves sent a letter to the Emory community Monday, saying next weeks commencement will take place off campus. Please know that this decision was not taken lightly, he wrote. It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors and other agencies  each of which advised against holding Commencement events on our campus. I know that this news will be deeply disappointing to many of you.

Izzy Munson, whos graduating Monday, called the change of location heartbreaking. She began her education at Emory during the pandemic.

Im just really sad, she said. The pandemic uprooted our entire senior year of high school. We didnt have a graduation for that, and then the freshman year was completely online. So I feel like our run-through of the college experience has been kind of bumpy.

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The public is invited to line U.S. 70 in Catawba County on Thursday to pay tribute to Alden Elliott, one of four officers killed in a Charlotte shooting.

Four other officers were shot and injured April 29 after a U.S. Marshals task force attempted to arrest a man on pending charges. The injured officers, Chris Tolley, Michael Giglio, Jack Blowers and Justin Campbell, have been discharged from the hospital, police said Tuesday on X, the former Twitter.

Elliott was a 14-year officer with the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction. He had a wife and a child.

Elliott was among the U.S. Marshals Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force members who went to serve a warrant at an east Charlotte home when a man fired at least 100 rounds from a high-powered rifle, police said.

Also killed were Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Joshua Eyer, Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas M. Tommy Weeks Jr., and Sam Poloche, also a 14-year veteran of the Department of Adult Correction.

Funeral procession details

Elliotts 6 p.m. funeral at the Tarlton Complex at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory will be private, Catawba County Sheriffs Maj. Aaron Turk said.

All local, state and federal law enforcement officers are invited, but not the general public, Turk said.

Elliotts family invites members of the community who wish to pay their respects to do so during the procession, Turk said.

The procession is scheduled to leave Bennett Funeral Home in Newton at 4:30 p.m. and travel west on U.S. 70 from Conover to the college.

A private funeral service for Poloche is scheduled for Monday at First Baptist Church in Charlotte, where Eyers funeral was held on Friday.
Public transit riders in L.A. concerned about safety on buses and trains

In the wake of a violent and brutal attack on an L.A. Dash bus operator Sunday, as well as a series of other attacks on Metro buses and trains, some riders who spoke with KTLA said safety concerns are top of mind on the city and countys public transit systems.

Yesterdays attack, which was captured on video, reportedly occurred after the Dash driver refused to allow a homeless woman on the bus.

Dash buses, which are operated by the L.A. Department of Transportation, have been free to ride since March 2020.

Footage of the incident obtained by KTLA showed the violent struggle between the female bus operator and the homeless woman, who was able to drag the driver, who had been behind a plexiglass barrier, off the bus and onto the sidewalk.

Bus driver violently attacked by homeless woman in L.A.

The driver fought back as the homeless woman continued the violent attack, pulling on the bus operators uniform and landing at least one blow to her face, video showed.

After several heated minutes of the violent altercation, the bus operator was able to get back into her vehicle and shut the homeless woman out before driving off.

Dash passenger Sandra Pizano told KTLA shes had no issues on the city bus service, but is wary of riding Metro buses and trains, which are operated by the countys Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Id rate them a D, Pizano said of Metro. I know theyre trying, but something is not working.

On May 3, dozens of Metro operators staged a sick out over ongoing safety concerns after a series of violent and even deadly attacks on bus and train drivers and passengers.

On April 22, a Metro train passenger was stabbed to death on her way home from work in Studio City. Authorities said her attacker was a transient.

Earlier in the month, a bus driver was stabbed by a passenger in Willowbrook, and in March, a transient armed with an airsoft gun hijacked a Metro bus and crashed into the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Los Angeles.

Last week, a member of the LA Metro board said she wouldnt ride the bus alone because she was concerned for her personal safety.

Bus drivers, Metro drivers, theyre being attacked, Earl Hutchinson, President of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, told KTLAs Rachel Menitoff.

Hutchinsons organization is now calling for roving security teams on public transit in the city.

That would provide a measure not only of security, but also give drivers and train operators a sense of, Were being protected, he added.

A spokesperson for Metro told KTLA that many of these unprovoked attacks are part of the twin crisis of untreated mental illness and drug addiction. In a statement, Metro went on to say:

Transit security officers are now riding the top 10 bus lines that have experienced greater number of operator assaults and we are working on longer term plans, which include the addition of even more dedicated transit security bus riding teams.

Woman stabbed multiple times in parking lot of Southern California store

Bus rider Laura Ismael told KTLA that shes hoping these actions produce results fast.

The bus drivers do need protection as well as the riders, she said. Someone has to do something about it and soon before it gets worse.

The woman from Sundays attack in South L.A. was arrested, though its unclear what charges she will face.

KTLA reached out to the Dash drivers union to see if she suffered any injuries and are waiting to hear back.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  A lawsuit against Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has ended without a trial or judgment.

Attorney-blogger Matt Campbells lawsuit was intended to force the governors office to disclose records related to the purchase of a $19,000 podium and First Gentleman Bryan Sanderss travel records. It was dismissed on procedural grounds because Sanders had not been served within the 120-day deadline after the suit was filed.

Settlement reached in Little Rock Freedom of Information Act lawsuit

Campbell had asked the governors office for the records but was told they were not available under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.

Records show Campbell asked the court for an extension of service time since he had started a new job and he and his family came down with the flu. That extension, filed at the 120-day mark on Feb. 21, was not granted.

The attorney generals office filed on May 6 that the case should be dismissed, which todays ruling upheld.

Audit of Arkansas $19,000 lectern purchase reveals technical errors in paperwork, compliance

Attorney General Tim Griffin said the dismissal was the correct ruling.

This was the proper outcome for this baseless case after Mr. Campbell failed to serve process within 120 days of filing the complaintthe second time this year he has had a case dismissed for failure to serve process, Griffin said. Its unfortunate that cases like this waste taxpayer dollars and clog up our judicial system.

The suit was dismissed without prejudice by Circuit Judge LaTonya Austin, meaning it can be re-filed at a later time if Campbell chooses to do so.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin supports state Supreme Court decision upholding voting machine ruling

Campbell said he would be refiling the case in the next seven days.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
Alabama Reflector Editor Bryan Lyman

Brian Lyman, in his welcome column, launched States Newsrooms Alabama outlet with these words: The pain and promise of Alabama collide on Dexter Avenue, the heart of Montgomery.

The Alabama Reflectors founding editor, hed spent a lot of his 24-year journalism career as a reporter covering the states politics. And, he joked, he hadnt penned a column since college. But he would start writing one every week.

His many years chasing hard news informs how hes approached this work, which earned Lyman recognition by the Pulitzer Board in the commentary category for brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer.

Winners were announced Monday. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian writer imprisoned for standing against the war on Ukraine, won with columns published by The Washington Post.

Lymans writing often brings the lens of history to present-day issues unfolding in Alabama. There are patterns in this state that just repeat over and over again, he said in an interview. You can change the characters. You can change the issues. You can change the settings. But a key theme, he said, is that Alabama government tends to serve the powerful over the vulnerable.

If youve seen this show before, you can sense where things are headed, Lyman said. The role of his commentaries in the broader news picture hes got his eye on every day is to provide context and background for readers who are trying to grasp whats going on. For people who might feel like they might be lost with what the latest Alabama crisis is  hopefully people read my columns and maybe have a clearer understanding of whats been happening.

All of his commentary is based on the work of the Reflectors reporters, who find the stories that Lyman contextualizes. One column recognized by the Pulitzer Board, The high price of Alabamas low taxes, couldnt have happened without reporting by Ralph Chapoco, who spent months analyzing the fines and fees system in Alabama. Another, Why GOP lawmakers fear divisive concepts, jumped off diligent coverage by Jemma Stephenson and Alander Rocha. You cant really write about these things without having a really hard-working and perceptive staff working with you, Lyman said.

His commentaries have done more than serve as a guide to the news reporting of the Reflector team, though, too. Theyve also helped illuminate history.

One of his first columns last year was about Arthur Madison, a civil rights hero who in the 40s organized a registration drive that helped get hundreds of Black voters on the rolls. Afterward, Madison was targeted, arrested and disbarred. Lyman spotlighted this story to argue that the historical record should be corrected. A few months later, Madison was inducted into the Alabama State Bar Hall of Fame.

Alabama is rich in examples of what happens when you give the powerful too much power, and you dont restrain them, Lyman said. The flip coin of that though, is that we also have many examples of Alabamians who refuse to accept that, who constantly fought for something better.

The state he writes about every week, Lyman said, is where America confronts itself. Alabama is where we see the very worst and the very best of the American character.

The nod to Lyman marks the first time States Newsroom  the national nonprofit news network that the Alabama Reflector belongs to  has had a Pulitzer finalist. We are proud and honored that the Pulitzer Prize Board recognizes Brians unflinching and insightful analysis of this pivotal movement in our history as it is playing out in Alabama, said Chris Fitzsimon, president and publisher. Its why States Newsroom was founded, to tell the stories of people affected by the decisions made in Montgomery and other statehouses across the country.

The post Pulitzer Board recognizes Alabama Reflector editor in commentary category appeared first on Michigan Advance.
Brian Lyman editor Alabama Reflector

Brian Lyman, in his welcome column, launched States Newsrooms Alabama outlet with these words: The pain and promise of Alabama collide on Dexter Avenue, the heart of Montgomery.

The Alabama Reflectors founding editor, hed spent a lot of his 24-year journalism career as a reporter covering the states politics. And, he joked, he hadnt penned a column since college. But he would start writing one every week.

His many years chasing hard news informs how hes approached this work, which earned Lyman recognition by the Pulitzer Board in the commentary category for brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer.

Winners were announced Monday. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian writer imprisoned for standing against the war on Ukraine, won with columns published by The Washington Post.

Lymans writing often brings the lens of history to present-day issues unfolding in Alabama. There are patterns in this state that just repeat over and over again, he said in an interview. You can change the characters. You can change the issues. You can change the settings. But a key theme, he said, is that Alabama government tends to serve the powerful over the vulnerable.

If youve seen this show before, you can sense where things are headed, Lyman said. The role of his commentaries in the broader news picture hes got his eye on every day is to provide context and background for readers who are trying to grasp whats going on. For people who might feel like they might be lost with what the latest Alabama crisis is  hopefully people read my columns and maybe have a clearer understanding of whats been happening.

All of his commentary is based on the work of the Reflectors reporters, who find the stories that Lyman contextualizes. One column recognized by the Pulitzer Board, The high price of Alabamas low taxes, couldnt have happened without reporting by Ralph Chapoco, who spent months analyzing the fines and fees system in Alabama. Another, Why GOP lawmakers fear divisive concepts, jumped off diligent coverage by Jemma Stephenson and Alander Rocha. You cant really write about these things without having a really hard-working and perceptive staff working with you, Lyman said.

His commentaries have done more than serve as a guide to the news reporting of the Reflector team, though, too. Theyve also helped change how some historical tales are told.

One of his first columns last year was about Arthur Madison, a civil rights hero who in the 40s organized a registration drive that helped get hundreds of Black voters on the rolls. Afterward, Madison was targeted, arrested and disbarred. Lyman spotlighted this story to argue that the historical record should be corrected. A few months later, Madison was inducted into the Alabama State Bar Hall of Fame.

Alabama is rich in examples of what happens when you give the powerful too much power, and you dont restrain them, Lyman said. The flip coin of that though, is that we also have many examples of Alabamians who refuse to accept that, who constantly fought for something better.

The state he writes about every week, Lyman said, is where America confronts itself. Alabama is where we see the very worst and the very best of the American character.

The nod to Lyman marks the first time States Newsroom  the national nonprofit news network that the Alabama Reflector belongs to  has had a Pulitzer finalist. We are proud and honored that the Pulitzer Prize Board recognizes Brians unflinching and insightful analysis of this pivotal movement in our history as it is playing out in Alabama, said Chris Fitzsimon, president and publisher. Its why States Newsroom was founded, to tell the stories of people affected by the decisions made in Montgomery and other statehouses across the country.

The Alabama Reflector is a Georgia Recorder States Newsroom sibling outlet.

DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST
Brian Lyman, editor of Alabama Reflector

Brian Lyman, in his welcome column, launched States Newsrooms Alabama outlet with these words: The pain and promise of Alabama collide on Dexter Avenue, the heart of Montgomery.

The Alabama Reflectors founding editor, hed spent a lot of his 24-year journalism career as a reporter covering the states politics. And, he joked, he hadnt penned a column since college. But he would start writing one every week.

His many years chasing hard news informs how hes approached this work, which earned Lyman recognition by the Pulitzer Board in the commentary category for brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer.

Winners were announced Monday. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian writer imprisoned for standing against the war on Ukraine, won with columns published by The Washington Post.

Lymans writing often brings the lens of history to present-day issues unfolding in Alabama. There are patterns in this state that just repeat over and over again, he said in an interview. You can change the characters. You can change the issues. You can change the settings. But a key theme, he said, is that Alabama government tends to serve the powerful over the vulnerable.

If youve seen this show before, you can sense where things are headed, Lyman said. The role of his commentaries in the broader news picture hes got his eye on every day is to provide context and background for readers who are trying to grasp whats going on. For people who might feel like they might be lost with what the latest Alabama crisis is  hopefully people read my columns and maybe have a clearer understanding of whats been happening.

All of his commentary is based on the work of the Reflectors reporters, who find the stories that Lyman contextualizes. One column recognized by the Pulitzer Board, The high price of Alabamas low taxes, couldnt have happened without reporting by Ralph Chapoco, who spent months analyzing the fines and fees system in Alabama. Another, Why GOP lawmakers fear divisive concepts, jumped off diligent coverage by Jemma Stephenson and Alander Rocha. You cant really write about these things without having a really hard-working and perceptive staff working with you, Lyman said.

His commentaries have done more than serve as a guide to the news reporting of the Reflector team, though, too. Theyve also helped change how some historical tales are told.

One of his first columns last year was about Arthur Madison, a civil rights hero who in the 40s organized a registration drive that helped get hundreds of Black voters on the rolls. Afterward, Madison was targeted, arrested and disbarred. Lyman spotlighted this story to argue that the historical record should be corrected. A few months later, Madison was inducted into the Alabama State Bar Hall of Fame.

Alabama is rich in examples of what happens when you give the powerful too much power, and you dont restrain them, Lyman said. The flip coin of that though, is that we also have many examples of Alabamians who refuse to accept that, who constantly fought for something better.

The state he writes about every week, Lyman said, is where America confronts itself. Alabama is where we see the very worst and the very best of the American character.

The nod to Lyman marks the first time States Newsroom  the national nonprofit news network that the Alabama Reflector belongs to, as well as the Iowa Capital Dispatch  has had a Pulitzer finalist. We are proud and honored that the Pulitzer Prize Board recognizes Brians unflinching and insightful analysis of this pivotal movement in our history as it is playing out in Alabama, said Chris Fitzsimon, president and publisher. Its why States Newsroom was founded, to tell the stories of people affected by the decisions made in Montgomery and other statehouses across the country.

The post Pulitzer Board recognizes Alabama Reflector editor in commentary category appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Brian Lyman, editor of the Alabama Reflector

Brian Lyman, in his welcome column, launched States Newsrooms Alabama outlet with these words: The pain and promise of Alabama collide on Dexter Avenue, the heart of Montgomery.

The Alabama Reflectors founding editor, hed spent a lot of his 24-year journalism career as a reporter covering the states politics. And, he joked, he hadnt penned a column since college. But he would start writing one every week.

His many years chasing hard news informs how hes approached this work, which earned Lyman recognition by the Pulitzer Board in the commentary category for brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer.

Winners were announced Monday. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian writer imprisoned for standing against the war on Ukraine, won with columns published by The Washington Post.

Lymans writing often brings the lens of history to present-day issues unfolding in Alabama. There are patterns in this state that just repeat over and over again, he said in an interview. You can change the characters. You can change the issues. You can change the settings. But a key theme, he said, is that Alabama government tends to serve the powerful over the vulnerable.

If youve seen this show before, you can sense where things are headed, Lyman said. The role of his commentaries in the broader news picture hes got his eye on every day is to provide context and background for readers who are trying to grasp whats going on. For people who might feel like they might be lost with what the latest Alabama crisis is  hopefully people read my columns and maybe have a clearer understanding of whats been happening.

His analysis is usually based on the work of the Reflectors reporters, who find the stories that Lyman contextualizes. One column recognized by the Pulitzer Board, The high price of Alabamas low taxes, couldnt have happened without reporting by Ralph Chapoco, who spent months analyzing the fines and fees system in Alabama. Another, Why GOP lawmakers fear divisive concepts, jumped off diligent coverage by Jemma Stephenson and Alander Rocha. You cant really write about these things without having a really hard-working and perceptive staff working with you, Lyman said.

His commentaries have done more than serve as a guide to the news reporting of the Reflector team, though, too. Theyve also helped change how some historical tales are told.

One of his first columns last year was about Arthur Madison, a civil rights hero who in the 40s organized a registration drive that helped get hundreds of Black voters on the rolls. Afterward, Madison was targeted, arrested and disbarred. Lyman spotlighted this story to argue that the historical record should be corrected. A few months later, Madison was inducted into the Alabama State Bar Hall of Fame.

Alabama is rich in examples of what happens when you give the powerful too much power, and you dont restrain them, Lyman said. The flip coin of that though, is that we also have many examples of Alabamians who refuse to accept that, who constantly fought for something better.

The state he writes about every week, Lyman said, is where America confronts itself. Alabama is where we see the very worst and the very best of the American character.

The nod to Lyman marks the first time States Newsroom  the national nonprofit news network that the Alabama Reflector belongs to  has had a Pulitzer finalist. We are proud and honored that the Pulitzer Prize Board recognizes Brians unflinching and insightful analysis of this pivotal movement in our history as it is playing out in Alabama, said Chris Fitzsimon, president and publisher. Its why States Newsroom was founded, to tell the stories of people affected by the decisions made in Montgomery and other statehouses across the country.

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com. Follow Alabama Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Pulitzer Board recognizes Alabama Reflector editor in commentary category appeared first on West Virginia Watch.
Brian Lyman, editor of the Alabama Reflector

Brian Lyman, in his welcome column, launched States Newsrooms Alabama outlet with these words: The pain and promise of Alabama collide on Dexter Avenue, the heart of Montgomery.

The Alabama Reflectors founding editor, hed spent a lot of his 24-year journalism career as a reporter covering the states politics. And, he joked, he hadnt penned a column since college. But he would start writing one every week.

His many years chasing hard news informs how hes approached this work, which earned Lyman recognition by the Pulitzer Board in the commentary category for brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer.

Winners were announced Monday. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian writer imprisoned for standing against the war on Ukraine, won with columns published by The Washington Post.

Lymans writing often brings the lens of history to present-day issues unfolding in Alabama. There are patterns in this state that just repeat over and over again, he said in an interview. You can change the characters. You can change the issues. You can change the settings. But a key theme, he said, is that Alabama government tends to serve the powerful over the vulnerable.

If youve seen this show before, you can sense where things are headed, Lyman said. The role of his commentaries in the broader news picture hes got his eye on every day is to provide context and background for readers who are trying to grasp whats going on. For people who might feel like they might be lost with what the latest Alabama crisis is  hopefully people read my columns and maybe have a clearer understanding of whats been happening.

His analysis is usually based on the work of the Reflectors reporters, who find the stories that Lyman contextualizes. One column recognized by the Pulitzer Board, The high price of Alabamas low taxes, couldnt have happened without reporting by Ralph Chapoco, who spent months analyzing the fines and fees system in Alabama. Another, Why GOP lawmakers fear divisive concepts, jumped off diligent coverage by Jemma Stephenson and Alander Rocha. You cant really write about these things without having a really hard-working and perceptive staff working with you, Lyman said.

His commentaries have done more than serve as a guide to the news reporting of the Reflector team, though, too. Theyve also helped change how some historical tales are told.

One of his first columns last year was about Arthur Madison, a civil rights hero who in the 40s organized a registration drive that helped get hundreds of Black voters on the rolls. Afterward, Madison was targeted, arrested and disbarred. Lyman spotlighted this story to argue that the historical record should be corrected. A few months later, Madison was inducted into the Alabama State Bar Hall of Fame.

Alabama is rich in examples of what happens when you give the powerful too much power, and you dont restrain them, Lyman said. The flip coin of that though, is that we also have many examples of Alabamians who refuse to accept that, who constantly fought for something better.

The state he writes about every week, Lyman said, is where America confronts itself. Alabama is where we see the very worst and the very best of the American character.

The nod to Lyman marks the first time States Newsroom  the national nonprofit news network that the Alabama Reflector belongs to  has had a Pulitzer finalist. We are proud and honored that the Pulitzer Prize Board recognizes Brians unflinching and insightful analysis of this pivotal movement in our history as it is playing out in Alabama, said Chris Fitzsimon, president and publisher. Its why States Newsroom was founded, to tell the stories of people affected by the decisions made in Montgomery and other statehouses across the country.

SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE

The post Pulitzer Board recognizes Alabama Reflector editor in commentary category appeared first on Maine Morning Star.
Brian Lyman, editor of the Alabama Reflector. (States Newsroom)

Brian Lyman, in his welcome column, launched States Newsrooms Alabama outlet with these words: The pain and promise of Alabama collide on Dexter Avenue, the heart of Montgomery.

The Alabama Reflectors founding editor, hed spent a lot of his 24-year journalism career as a reporter covering the states politics. And, he joked, he hadnt penned a column since college. But he would start writing one every week.

His many years chasing hard news informs how hes approached this work, which earned Lyman recognition by the Pulitzer Board in the commentary category for brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer.

Winners were announced Monday. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian writer imprisoned for standing against the war on Ukraine, won with columns published by The Washington Post.

Lymans writing often brings the lens of history to present-day issues unfolding in Alabama. There are patterns in this state that just repeat over and over again, he said in an interview. You can change the characters. You can change the issues. You can change the settings. But a key theme, he said, is that Alabama government tends to serve the powerful over the vulnerable.

If youve seen this show before, you can sense where things are headed, Lyman said. The role of his commentaries in the broader news picture hes got his eye on every day is to provide context and background for readers who are trying to grasp whats going on. For people who might feel like they might be lost with what the latest Alabama crisis is  hopefully people read my columns and maybe have a clearer understanding of whats been happening.

His analysis is usually based on the work of the Reflectors reporters, who find the stories that Lyman contextualizes. One column recognized by the Pulitzer Board, The high price of Alabamas low taxes, couldnt have happened without reporting by Ralph Chapoco, who spent months analyzing the fines and fees system in Alabama. Another, Why GOP lawmakers fear divisive concepts, jumped off diligent coverage by Jemma Stephenson and Alander Rocha. You cant really write about these things without having a really hard-working and perceptive staff working with you, Lyman said.

His commentaries have done more than serve as a guide to the news reporting of the Reflector team, though, too. Theyve also helped change how some historical tales are told.

One of his first columns last year was about Arthur Madison, a civil rights hero who in the 40s organized a registration drive that helped get hundreds of Black voters on the rolls. Afterward, Madison was targeted, arrested and disbarred. Lyman spotlighted this story to argue that the historical record should be corrected. A few months later, Madison was inducted into the Alabama State Bar Hall of Fame.

Alabama is rich in examples of what happens when you give the powerful too much power, and you dont restrain them, Lyman said. The flip coin of that though, is that we also have many examples of Alabamians who refuse to accept that, who constantly fought for something better.

The state he writes about every week, Lyman said, is where America confronts itself. Alabama is where we see the very worst and the very best of the American character.

The nod to Lyman marks the first time States Newsroom  the national nonprofit news network that the Alabama Reflector belongs to  has had a Pulitzer finalist. We are proud and honored that the Pulitzer Prize Board recognizes Brians unflinching and insightful analysis of this pivotal movement in our history as it is playing out in Alabama, said Chris Fitzsimon, president and publisher. Its why States Newsroom was founded, to tell the stories of people affected by the decisions made in Montgomery and other statehouses across the country.

The post Pulitzer Board recognizes Alabama Reflector editor in commentary category appeared first on Rhode Island Current.
JAKARTA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and two others were critically injured after a passenger train hit a car in Indonesia's Pasuruan regency in East Java province on Tuesday morning, local police said.

Pasuruan Police Deputy Chief Andria Diana Putra said that the fatal accident occurred at around 8:40 a.m. local time when a car with seven people on board trespassed at a railroad crossing without a bar gate in Rejoso subdistrict.

Putra said that the car was hit by a passing train and severely damaged as it bounced off about 150 meters, adding that officers were still investigating the cause of the trespassing incident. 
Brian Lyman (Photo: Alabama Reflector)

Brian Lyman, in his welcome column, launched States Newsrooms Alabama outlet with these words: The pain and promise of Alabama collide on Dexter Avenue, the heart of Montgomery.

The Alabama Reflectors founding editor, hed spent a lot of his 24-year journalism career as a reporter covering the states politics. And, he joked, he hadnt penned a column since college. But he would start writing one every week.

His many years chasing hard news informs how hes approached this work, which earned Lyman recognition by the Pulitzer Board in the commentary category for brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer.

Winners were announced Monday. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian writer imprisoned for standing against the war on Ukraine, won with columns published by The Washington Post.

Lymans writing often brings the lens of history to present-day issues unfolding in Alabama. There are patterns in this state that just repeat over and over again, he said in an interview. You can change the characters. You can change the issues. You can change the settings. But a key theme, he said, is that Alabama government tends to serve the powerful over the vulnerable.

If youve seen this show before, you can sense where things are headed, Lyman said. The role of his commentaries in the broader news picture hes got his eye on every day is to provide context and background for readers who are trying to grasp whats going on. For people who might feel like they might be lost with what the latest Alabama crisis is  hopefully people read my columns and maybe have a clearer understanding of whats been happening.

His analysis is usually based on the work of the Reflectors reporters, who find the stories that Lyman contextualizes. One column recognized by the Pulitzer Board, The high price of Alabamas low taxes, couldnt have happened without reporting by Ralph Chapoco, who spent months analyzing the fines and fees system in Alabama. Another, Why GOP lawmakers fear divisive concepts, jumped off diligent coverage by Jemma Stephenson and Alander Rocha. You cant really write about these things without having a really hard-working and perceptive staff working with you, Lyman said.

His commentaries have done more than serve as a guide to the news reporting of the Reflector team, though, too. Theyve also helped change how some historical tales are told.

One of his first columns last year was about Arthur Madison, a civil rights hero who in the 40s organized a registration drive that helped get hundreds of Black voters on the rolls. Afterward, Madison was targeted, arrested and disbarred. Lyman spotlighted this story to argue that the historical record should be corrected. A few months later, Madison was inducted into the Alabama State Bar Hall of Fame.

Alabama is rich in examples of what happens when you give the powerful too much power, and you dont restrain them, Lyman said. The flip coin of that though, is that we also have many examples of Alabamians who refuse to accept that, who constantly fought for something better.

The state he writes about every week, Lyman said, is where America confronts itself. Alabama is where we see the very worst and the very best of the American character.

The nod to Lyman marks the first time States Newsroom  the national nonprofit news network that the Alabama Reflector belongs to  has had a Pulitzer finalist. We are proud and honored that the Pulitzer Prize Board recognizes Brians unflinching and insightful analysis of this pivotal movement in our history as it is playing out in Alabama, said Chris Fitzsimon, president and publisher. Its why States Newsroom was founded, to tell the stories of people affected by the decisions made in Montgomery and other statehouses across the country.

Editor Brian Lymans Pulitzer-nominated work

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com. Follow Alabama Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Pulitzer Board recognizes Alabama Reflector editor in commentary category appeared first on Tennessee Lookout.
Brian Lyman, editor of the Alabama Reflector.

Brian Lyman, in his welcome column, launched States Newsrooms Alabama outlet with these words: The pain and promise of Alabama collide on Dexter Avenue, the heart of Montgomery.

The Alabama Reflectors founding editor, hed spent a lot of his 24-year journalism career as a reporter covering the states politics. And, he joked, he hadnt penned a column since college. But he would start writing one every week.

His many years chasing hard news informs how hes approached this work, which earned Lyman recognition by the Pulitzer Board in the commentary category for brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer.

Winners were announced Monday. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian writer imprisoned for standing against the war on Ukraine, won with columns published by The Washington Post.

Lymans writing often brings the lens of history to present-day issues unfolding in Alabama. There are patterns in this state that just repeat over and over again, he said in an interview. You can change the characters. You can change the issues. You can change the settings. But a key theme, he said, is that Alabama government tends to serve the powerful over the vulnerable.

If youve seen this show before, you can sense where things are headed, Lyman said. The role of his commentaries in the broader news picture hes got his eye on every day is to provide context and background for readers who are trying to grasp whats going on. For people who might feel like they might be lost with what the latest Alabama crisis is  hopefully people read my columns and maybe have a clearer understanding of whats been happening.

His analysis is usually based on the work of the Reflectors reporters, who find the stories that Lyman contextualizes. One column recognized by the Pulitzer Board, The high price of Alabamas low taxes, couldnt have happened without reporting by Ralph Chapoco, who spent months analyzing the fines and fees system in Alabama. Another, Why GOP lawmakers fear divisive concepts, jumped off diligent coverage by Jemma Stephenson and Alander Rocha. You cant really write about these things without having a really hard-working and perceptive staff working with you, Lyman said.

His commentaries have done more than serve as a guide to the news reporting of the Reflector team, though, too. Theyve also helped change how some historical tales are told.

One of his first columns last year was about Arthur Madison, a civil rights hero who in the 40s organized a registration drive that helped get hundreds of Black voters on the rolls. Afterward, Madison was targeted, arrested and disbarred. Lyman spotlighted this story to argue that the historical record should be corrected. A few months later, Madison was inducted into the Alabama State Bar Hall of Fame.

Alabama is rich in examples of what happens when you give the powerful too much power, and you dont restrain them, Lyman said. The flip coin of that though, is that we also have many examples of Alabamians who refuse to accept that, who constantly fought for something better.

The state he writes about every week, Lyman said, is where America confronts itself. Alabama is where we see the very worst and the very best of the American character.

The nod to Lyman marks the first time States Newsroom  the national nonprofit news network that the Alabama Reflector belongs to  has had a Pulitzer finalist. We are proud and honored that the Pulitzer Prize Board recognizes Brians unflinching and insightful analysis of this pivotal movement in our history as it is playing out in Alabama, said Chris Fitzsimon, president and publisher. Its why States Newsroom was founded, to tell the stories of people affected by the decisions made in Montgomery and other statehouses across the country.

Alabama Reflector Editor Brian Lymans Pulitzer-nominated work

Alabama resumes its cruel war on transgender youth

The Alabama Legislature needs to care about the prison crisis

Alabama politicians want you to live in a political ad

The high price of Alabamas low taxes

Steve Marshall doesnt know what Jim Crow was

The most dangerous idea in a library? Empathy

Why GOP lawmakers fear divisive concepts

The post Pulitzer Board recognizes Alabama Reflector editor in commentary category appeared first on Source New Mexico.
Brian Lyman, editor of the Alabama Reflector

Brian Lyman, in his welcome column, launched States Newsrooms Alabama outlet with these words: The pain and promise of Alabama collide on Dexter Avenue, the heart of Montgomery.

The Alabama Reflectors founding editor, hed spent a lot of his 24-year journalism career as a reporter covering the states politics. And, he joked, he hadnt penned a column since college. But he would start writing one every week.

His many years chasing hard news informs how hes approached this work, which earned Lyman recognition by the Pulitzer Board in the commentary category for brave, clear and pointed columns that challenge ever-more-repressive state policies flouting democratic norms and targeting vulnerable populations, written with the command and authority of a veteran political observer.

Winners were announced Monday. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian writer imprisoned for standing against the war on Ukraine, won with columns published by The Washington Post.

Lymans writing often brings the lens of history to present-day issues unfolding in Alabama. There are patterns in this state that just repeat over and over again, he said in an interview. You can change the characters. You can change the issues. You can change the settings. But a key theme, he said, is that Alabama government tends to serve the powerful over the vulnerable.

If youve seen this show before, you can sense where things are headed, Lyman said. The role of his commentaries in the broader news picture hes got his eye on every day is to provide context and background for readers who are trying to grasp whats going on. For people who might feel like they might be lost with what the latest Alabama crisis is  hopefully people read my columns and maybe have a clearer understanding of whats been happening.

His analysis is usually based on the work of the Reflectors reporters, who find the stories that Lyman contextualizes. One column recognized by the Pulitzer Board, The high price of Alabamas low taxes, couldnt have happened without reporting by Ralph Chapoco, who spent months analyzing the fines and fees system in Alabama. Another, Why GOP lawmakers fear divisive concepts, jumped off diligent coverage by Jemma Stephenson and Alander Rocha. You cant really write about these things without having a really hard-working and perceptive staff working with you, Lyman said.

His commentaries have done more than serve as a guide to the news reporting of the Reflector team, though, too. Theyve also helped change how some historical tales are told.

One of his first columns last year was about Arthur Madison, a civil rights hero who in the 40s organized a registration drive that helped get hundreds of Black voters on the rolls. Afterward, Madison was targeted, arrested and disbarred. Lyman spotlighted this story to argue that the historical record should be corrected. A few months later, Madison was inducted into the Alabama State Bar Hall of Fame.

Alabama is rich in examples of what happens when you give the powerful too much power, and you dont restrain them, Lyman said. The flip coin of that though, is that we also have many examples of Alabamians who refuse to accept that, who constantly fought for something better.

The state he writes about every week, Lyman said, is where America confronts itself. Alabama is where we see the very worst and the very best of the American character.

The nod to Lyman marks the first time States Newsroom  the national nonprofit news network that the Alabama Reflector belongs to  has had a Pulitzer finalist. We are proud and honored that the Pulitzer Prize Board recognizes Brians unflinching and insightful analysis of this pivotal movement in our history as it is playing out in Alabama, said Chris Fitzsimon, president and publisher. Its why States Newsroom was founded, to tell the stories of people affected by the decisions made in Montgomery and other statehouses across the country.

Editor Brian Lymans Pulitzer-nominated work

The post Pulitzer Board recognizes Alabama Reflector editor in commentary category appeared first on Utah News Dispatch.
Putin inaugurated for 5th term in office in ceremony largely boycotted by West

Editor's note: The article was updated with comments from Peter Stano, an EU foreign and security policy spokesperson.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was sworn in on May 7 to his fifth term in office in an elaborate ceremony that most Western countries refused to participate in.

Putin easily won another six-year term in office in an election in March that is widely viewed as being rigged.

Many European countries, such as the U.K., Germany, Estonia, Czechia, as well as the U.S., said they would boycott the inauguration ceremony.

The inauguration was attended by representatives from six EU countries: France, Hungary, Slovakia, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus.

Josep Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, said that he sent a message to EU member states that "the right thing to do is not to attend this inauguration."

The EU's ambassador was also instructed not to attend the event, said Peter Stano, an EU foreign and security policy spokesperson.

"The recommendation was for member states to avoid this event. Nevertheless, few member states decided to proceed on their own," Stano said, stressing that the majority of EU countries boycotted the event.

"In the end, it's their own competence and decision to decide whether they want to attend... these are the decisions they take based on their competence, based on their national sovereignty, because, in the end, this is about bilateral relations."

In a sign of Russia's declining influence in its near abroad, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declined to join.

A smattering of foreign guests participated, but foreign leaders were largely absent.

U.S. actor Steven Seagal arrives at Russian President Vladimir Putin's inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 7, 2024. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

"We are a united and great people, and together we will overcome all obstacles, we will bring to life everything we have planned," Putin said in his inauguration speech.

"Together we will be victorious."

Putin added that he would not "refuse to have dialogue" with the West.

"The choice is (the West's): do they intend to continue trying to restrain the development of Russia, continue the policy of aggression, continuous pressure on our country for years, or look for a path to cooperation and peace," Putin said.

Besides a brief mention of his appreciation for soldiers fighting in the "special military operation," the Russian euphemism used to obfuscate the true nature of its full-scale war, Putin did not mention Ukraine in his speech.

Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov at Russian President Vladimir Putin's inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 7, 2024. (Maxim Shemetov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that while there would be no American representative at the ceremony, the U.S. would recognize Putin as the president of Russia.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry urged other countries and international organizations not to recognize Putin as the rightful president.

There are "no legal grounds for recognizing Putin as the democratically elected and legitimate president of Russia," the ministry said.

The European Parliament overwhelmingly adopted a resolution in April condemning Putin's election as being illegitimate.

Read also: Evidence shows recent presidential elections most rigged in Russias modern history

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Vladimir Putin has been sworn in as president of Russia for the fifth time, with France one of the only Nato members to send an envoy to the ceremony.

Putin is now set to hold power in Russia until at least 2030, which would make him the longest-serving Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.

In a terse speech on Tuesday, Putin blamed the West for triggering his invasion of Ukraine and said that Russia needed to stay strong.

Were a united and great nation and together we will overcome all obstacles, realise everything we have planned and, together, we will win, he said during his inauguration in the golden Grand Kremlin Palace.

He was watched by top Russian officials and foreign dignitaries including ambassadors from allied countries such as Iran and China.

The US, Britain and most EU states refused to send ambassadors to the ceremony because of Putins invasion of Ukraine and because they say he rigged the election in March which he won with 87 per cent of the vote.

Mr Putin takes his oath. He has led Russia, either as its president or its prime minister, since 1999 - Alexander Kazakov/AP

We certainly did not consider that election free and fair but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity, said Matthew Miller, a US state department official.

France, though, ordered its ambassador to attend. Speaking alongside visiting Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday, Emmanual Macron said that France was not at war with Russia and he had no desire for regime change in Moscow.

Hungary and Slovakia, which have both called for Ukraine to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, also sent their ambassadors to the ceremony.

Other notable attendees were Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya who is rumoured to be ill, and Steven Seagal, the American action film star who now lives in Moscow and is accused of being a Kremlin stooge.

In a heavily choreographed ceremony, Putin was filmed walking down a long corridor to the hall where 2,500 attendees were waiting to watch his swearing-in. At one point, he stopped and bent down to read an information notice under a painting.

Mr Putin walks through the Kremlin palace to be sworn-in - Sergei Ilnitsky/Getty

After the ceremony, Russian artillery fired a 30-gun salute in honour of Putin and hundreds of soldiers in full dress uniform paraded.

Putin then walked to the chapel inside the Kremlin where Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, blessed him and compared him to Alexander Nevsky, considered one of Russias greatest leaders for fighting off raids by Teuton knights in the 13th century.

God himself entrusted the service of Russia to you, he said. Patriarch Kirill is a long-standing ally of Putin and supports his war in Ukraine.

In a statement, Ukraines foreign ministry called Putins swearing-in an illusion.

This is a near lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship, it said.

Putins inauguration has also sparked speculation that he will reshuffle his government ministers. Many of the 71-year-old Putins most loyal and longest-serving ministers are also in their 70s.

Last month, police arrested Timur Ivanov, Russias deputy defence minister, on corruption charges. Some analysts have said that Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, may be vulnerable.

Putin has been Russian leader since New Years Eve 1999, when he took over from the bloated and frequently drunk Boris Yeltsin. Analysts have said that he now sees his legacy as defeating NATO-backed Ukraine and remaking Russia as a global superpower.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Putin Sworn in for New 6-Year Term as Russia's President

President Vladimir Putin has been sworn for a record-breaking fifth term as Russias leader.

In a lavish Tuesday ceremony at Andreyevsky Hall in the Grand Kremlin Palace, Putin swore an oath of allegiance by placing his right hand on Russias constitution. The ceremonywidely boycotted by Western diplomats following what election watchdogs called a sham vote in Marchmarked the start of a new six-year presidential term.

We are a united and great people and together we will overcome all obstacles, we will bring to life everything we have planned. Together we will be victorious, Putin, 71, said in his inaugural speech.

The ceremony comes a day after Russia ordered a tactical nuclear weapons drills, citing provocative statements by Western countries supporting Ukraine. Allied nations have provided extensive military support to Ukraine since Russias full scale invasion over two years ago.

Ukraine sees no legal grounds for recognizing him as the democratically elected and legitimate president of the Russian Federation, Ukraines Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The three-day vote saw Putin claim 87% of the vote after facing no credible opposition candidates.

Putin's most prominent opponent, Alexei Navalny, was found dead in an Arctic penal colony in February. His wife, exiled opposition leader Yulia Navalnaya, called Putin a liar, a thief, and a murderer in a video shared on the day of his swearing in.

Read More: Yulia Navalnayas First Interview Since Her Husbands Death in Prison

We believe that the isolation of Russia, and especially of its criminal leader, must be continued, Lithuanias Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said, according to Reuters. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were among the nations boycotting the ceremony.

Participation in Putins inauguration is not acceptable for Lithuania. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people fighting against Russian aggression, Landsbergis added.

The event included some controversial characters, including American actor Steven Seagal, who became a Russian citizen in 2016 and has backed the Kremlins war in Ukraine.

The ceremony took place on the same day a Russian court announced that it would hold U.S. Sergeant Gordon Black in custody for at least two months on charges of theft.

The 34-year-old soldier was due to travel home to Texas from his station in South Korea, but instead detoured to Russia. He was arrested on May 2 in Vladivostok, close to Russias border with North Korea.

Write to Armani Syed at armani.syed@time.com.
Putin sworn in for another term as Russian president in glittering Kremlin ceremony

Vladimir Putin was sworn in for his fifth term as Russia's leader Tuesday, renewing his dominance over the country in a glittering Kremlin ceremony as his army advances in Ukraine at the height of Moscows worst confrontation with the West since the Soviet era.

Putin, 71, extended his rule in an effectively uncontested election in March, having crushed any political opposition and launched the invasion of Ukraine that set Russia on its path to unprecedented global isolation and domestic repression.

Having tightened his quarter-century grip on power, Putin placed his hand atop the Russian Constitution at Tuesdays ceremony and vowed to serve the Russian people.

We are a united and great people and together we will overcome all obstacles, realize all our plans. Together we will win! he said, after being sworn in before a grand hall filled with dignitaries.

The United States and many other Western countries boycotted the inauguration, which came just a day after Putins latest round of nuclear saber-rattling.

Vladimir Putin walks by a crowd before his inauguration ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow. (Alexander Zemlianichenko / Pool via AFP - Getty Images)

Russian state TV broadcast the hourlong ceremony live, accompanied by enthusiastic commentary, showing Putin walking out of his office in the Kremlin as he got into a car for a short drive to the ceremony as snow fell on Moscow.

He then walked the red carpet of the Kremlins historic halls to the applause of hundreds of guests, made up of Cabinet ministers, parliamentarians and celebrities, including American actor Steven Seagal, who has supported Putin for years. Asked by NBC News for his impression of the event, Seagal replied: the best.

The Russian leader stopped to shake a few hands before he took to the stage to renew his oath to the Russian people.

I want to bow to our heroes, participants in the special military operation, everyone who is fighting for the motherland, Putin said, using the Kremlins term for his war in Ukraine.

As he vowed that Russians alone will determine the fate of the country, Putin  in power as either president or prime minister since 2000  also said that Moscow was open to dialogue with Western governments, as long as they changed their approach.

The choice is theirs: Do they intend to continue trying to restrain the development of Russia, continue the policy of aggression, continuous pressure on our country for years, or look for a path to cooperation and peace, he added. Putin has framed his invasion of Ukraine as part of an existential conflict with the West, which he blames for trying to subdue Russias might.

Some of Putin's high-profile apparatchiks, including the heads of the Ukrainian regions that Russia annexed in 2022, mingled with the press after the event to extol the virtues of the Russian leader and his speech.

This is the first time for us, so there is a special trepidation and excitement, said Denis Pushilin, head of Russian-installed authorities in the partially occupied eastern region of Donetsk.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Putins loyal ally and ardent war supporter, also made an appearance after widespread speculation about his ill health.

The inauguration is usually attended by dozens of foreign dignitaries, but the Kremlin has been engaged in a growing clash with the U.S. and European powers over the war in Ukraine.

Putin appeared to send a message to his foes the day before the inauguration, ordering drills simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons. The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that the drills, which will test the readiness of nonstrategic nuclear forces to perform combat missions, was a response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation.

It appears to be a rebuke of French President Emmanuel Macron, who has spoken several times in recent months about the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron also riled up the Kremlin last week when he told Reuters that Kyiv had the right to use British-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia.

The Russian leader has few remaining enemies to combat at home, but its expected he will carry out a government reshuffle after the ceremony.

All eyes will be on any changes in the positions of the prime minister, currently occupied by loyal technocrat Mikhail Mishustin, and defense minister, held by long-time ally Sergei Shoigu. The latter was hit by a recent corruption scandal involving one of his deputies and allies.

Analysts will also be watching closely for possible successors jockeying for position, though theres no sign Putin intends to relinquish power.

He will soon match Soviet leader Josef Stalin as the countrys longest-serving modern ruler. Putin is eligible to run for another six-year term after his current tenure expires in 2030, when he will be 77.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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Vladimir Putin was sworn-in for a fifth term as Russias president on Tuesday, further solidifying his power over the country.

Moscow said it had invited all foreign ambassadors to the inauguration, but the US, UK, and EU member states boycotted the event.

Putin has served as either president or prime minister of Russia since 1999, and won a landslide victory at the countrys recent election following voting that was rigged in his favor. Major opposition candidates were barred from running.

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Kremlin has redesigned Russias image

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Source: The Washington Post

Under Putin, Russia has transformed into a nation that views the West as its mortal enemy, Robyn Dixon, Moscow bureau chief at The Washington Post, wrote. The Kremlin has chipped away at Russian society, turning the country onto an ultraconservative path that prioritizes Russian Orthodox values. Governance has slid towards fascism  and the result is that Moscow is trying to create some new form of ideology for the masses, Mikhail Zygar, a Russian journalist and writer, told the Post. Its not a war with Ukraine. Its a war with America, a war with the West or with Satan, with all those forces of moral decay.

Possible reshuffle of top brass could give insight into Putins thinking

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Source: Politico

Following an inauguration, Russian leaders typically reshuffle their cabinet. This could offer a rare glimpse into how Putin plans to govern, Politico noted. The Kremlins old guard  trusted confidants of Putins who have long held onto their posts  are all nearing or in their 70s, meaning that a new generation of Russian elites could soon take over. But their replacements are not ready, Nikolai Petrov, a consulting fellow at Chatham House, told the outlet. The system is facing a serious problem, and well see to what extent it is able to solve it or whether itll just stall for time.

Russian public has largely stopped opposing war in Ukraine

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Source: Bloomberg

In contrast to the shock and anger many Russians felt after Moscows full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, much of the public has now become accustomed to the war. That runs counter to expectations that sanctions and international outcry would mobilize Russians against the Kremlin, Bloomberg reported. Thousands of Russians fled the country after the war began, and those who remained have accepted the new face of the nation, one analyst said. When there is no way out of a situation with dignity, there is no way to leave, and there is a need to earn money and raise children, then its easier to accept a new reality than to resist it endlessly, Anna Kuleshova, a sociologist at the Social Foresight Group, told the outlet.

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Putin sworn in for fifth term as Russian president in Moscow ceremony

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes the oath during his inauguration ceremony as President of the Russian Federation in the Kremlin. -/Kremlin/dpa

Russian President Vladimir Putin was sworn in for his fifth term in Moscow on Tuesday, two months after being re-elected in a vote that was widely seen as neither free nor fair.

The 71-year-old took the oath of office in a ceremony in the Kremlin, with several thousand people including senior Russian politicians and other high-ranking guests in attendance.

Putin received 87% of the vote in March's presidential election, which was overshadowed by widespread allegations of fraud, coercion and irregularities. He faced no credible opposition after his main challenger was barred from running.

Live coverage of the inauguration on Russian television showed Putin being driven to the Grand Kremlin Palace in a Russian-made Aurus limousine before observing a parade by the Kremlin Regiment.

He then swore an oath to protect the rights of Russia's citizens and to defend its constitution.

Putin, who has dominated Russian politics for a quarter of a century, was only allowed to run for re-election again as a result of constitutional changes he pushed through in 2020. His new six-year term is scheduled to run until 2030, when he will be 77 years old.

In a speech after the ceremony, Putin said his re-election proved Russian citizens believed in his leadership and supported his policies, including the invasion of Ukraine he launched more than two years ago.

Putin said that "Russia is not refusing dialogue with the West," but stated that the country would choose its own path, including in Ukraine.

According to Russia's TASS news agency, Putin concluded his speech by saying: "We are a united and great nation. Together we will

overcome all obstacles, and implement everything we had

planned. Together we will win!"

Following the inauguration, Kremlin critic Yulia Navalnaya accused Putin of lies and broken promises in a video published online.

Navalnaya's husband Alexei was widely seen as Putin's most significant opponent in Russia. He died in unexplained circumstances in a Siberian prison camp in February, shortly before the presidential election.

Navalnaya, who is in exile, blasted Putin for pushing through an increase in the retirement age, for persecuting dissidents, and for isolating Russia on the international stage.

Guarantees on the safety of citizens had also been broken, she said, referring to a terrorist attack near Moscow that left more than 140 people dead in March.

Also on Tuesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in Geneva criticized Russian authorities' crackdown on journalists since the beginning of the war with Ukraine.

At least 30 reporters are currently in custody in Russia on a variety of charges, including terrorism, espionage and treason. Of those, 12 face prison sentences of between five and 22 years in prison.

"The continuous attacks on free speech and the criminalization of independent journalism in Russia are very troubling," Turk stated.

"I call on the authorities to immediately drop charges against journalists detained solely for doing their jobs, and to release them," he added.

With critical voices in Russia's press and civil society largely eliminated, Putin is unlikely to face serious opposition at home in the wake of his inauguration.

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, meanwhile, pledged Putin his unconditional support on Tuesday in a ceremony at the Kremlin's Cathedral of the Annunciation.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow also gifted Putin an icon of the Virgin Mary and said he wished the president would rule for the rest of his life.

Putin is expected to choose his candidate for prime minister on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, after the Cabinet resigned in advance of the inauguration in keeping with Russian tradition.

Current Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is likely to retain his position, but political observers are waiting to see whether 74-year-old Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be reappointed after 20 years in the post.

There is also considerable speculation about the future of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, whose top deputy Timur Ivanov was recently arrested on corruption charges.

According to information from Russia's parliament, the Duma, lawmakers could approve new ministry appointments by May 15.
KINSHASA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- At least 18 people have been killed in recent bombing on four sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Tuesday, warning of more shellings on civilians.

According to an OCHA report, 18 deaths have been reported after at least five rockets fell last Friday in and around four IDP sites in the outlying neighborhoods of Goma, the capital of the DRC's eastern province of North Kivu.

Thirty-two displaced people were injured, including 27 in serious condition, mostly women and children, OCHA said, citing the provincial health division of North Kivu.

Initially, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) put the death toll at 12.

"The civilian population of North Kivu province has witnessed the worst humanitarian violations for over two years in this bloody attrition," Angele Dikongue-Atangana, the UNHCR representative to the DRC, said in a statement issued shortly after the attack on IDP sites.

On Tuesday, OCHA said the risk of further shell explosions "cannot be ruled out," with one of the fallen shells still remaining unexploded in the ground, and escalation of hostilities in areas surrounding IDP camps.

The sites bombed last Friday are located on the axis between Goma and the city of Sake, one of the epicenters of hostilities between the DRC military and rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23).

Sake is considered the last barrier to the city of Goma.

"Several people displaced in sites on the Goma-Sake axis are thus exposed to high risks of insecurity and protection," OCHA said, adding that humanitarian access has been "further restricted" with the persistence of fighting.

The DRC government blamed the attacks on M23 rebels, who have taken control of some part of North Kivu.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONUSCO, called on all parties to take appropriate measures to reduce risks to the protection of civilians and maintain humanitarian access.

MONUSCO is expected to leave the DRC no later than the end of 2024, by handing over UN bases and equipment to DRC security forces under a three-phase departure plan.

The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on Monday condemned the attacks on the IDP sites and reiterated his support for efforts aimed at achieving a lasting peace in eastern DRC and throughout the Great Lakes region. 
Putin to be sworn in for fifth term as Russia's president

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a video message to the participants of the 12th international meeting of high representatives in charge of security issues. -/Kremlin/dpa

Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to be sworn in for another six-year term in office on Tuesday after winning a landslide victory during March elections that outside observers criticized as heavily manipulated.

Putin is expected to take the oath of office in a ceremony in the Kremlin in Moscow, with senior Russian politicians and other high-ranking guests in attendance.

The 71-year-old has dominated Russian politics for the past 24 years, and he has sought to rebuild Russian power and domination over neighbouring countries. Russian forces are currently waging a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Putin ordered in February 2022.

He received 87% of the vote in the March election overshadowed by allegations of fraud, and not a single genuine opposition candidate was allowed to run against him.

In order to remain in power, Putin had the Russian constitution rewritten a few years ago. After his current term of office, which ends in 2030, Putin would now be allowed to run yet again for another term until 2036, when he would be 83 years old.

Traditionally in Russia, the existing government resigns after the presidential inauguration to allow the head of state to form a new Cabinet.

According to information from Russia's parliament, the Duma, lawmakers could approve new ministry appointments by May 15.

Political observers are waiting to see whether 74-year-old Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be reappointed after 20 years in the post.

There is also considerable speculation about the future of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, whose top deputy Timur Ivanov was recently arrested on corruption charges.
Putin's Crimea bridge has been out of military use for at least 3 months, satellite images suggest

Putin's Crimea bridge has been out of military use for at least 3 months, satellite images suggest

Satellite images show Russia has stopped using the Kerch Bridge for military freight, analysts say.

The bridge has been a key military artery into occupied Crimea and southwest Ukraine.

But following Ukrainian attacks, Russia appears to be relying on other routes to supply its army.

Russia has all but stopped transporting military equipment via a strategic Crimean bridge, Ukrainian analysts say, based on satellite imagery.

In an examination of Maxar satellite images by open-source intelligence agency Molfar, analysts said that between February and mid-April, they saw no Russian freight trains carrying military equipment on the Kerch Bridge.

"This may indicate a reluctance on Russia's part to transport military cargo via the bridge after previous attacks and the use of alternative routes," Molfar said in a report.

It also said it saw no trains carrying military equipment on the bridge between May and September 2023.

Business Insider was not able to independently verify the findings.

But they appear to echo Ukraine's Security Service chief Vasyl Malyuk, who said in March that rail traffic had been reduced to a handful of passenger trains since Ukraine attacked the bridge.

The Kerch Bridge connects Russia to occupied Crimea by road and rail, allowing a direct path into the strategically crucial peninsula, as well as an alternative route into occupied southwestern Ukraine.

Built in 2018 following President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea, the bridge is considered an illegal construction by Ukraine.

In the course of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has significantly damaged it twice. The first explosion, in October 2022, saw the bridge's road section collapse, and a subsequent attack in July 2023 using sea drones appears to have targeted its support struts.

Molfar's analysis suggests that the military usefulness of the bridge has been all but halted and that Russia is instead relying on land routes.

A brand new 450-mile rail line linking Russia's Rostov-on-Don to occupied cities like Melitopol is almost complete and "could pose a serious problem," Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said last month, according to The Telegraph.

Molfar CEO Artem Starosiek suggested to BI that rail targets like this may now be more urgent to strike than the Kerch Bridge for Ukraine.

A potent symbol

An explosion causes fire at the Kerch bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea on October 08, 2022. Vera Katkova/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Despite this, Starosiek said that "if I had the possibility to push the button and hit the bridge, I will do it right now."

That's because of the significance of the bridge, and not its current military usefulness to Russia, he said.

The Kerch Bridge has considerable emotional value  both to Putin, who sees it as one of his key achievements  and to Ukraine, which sees it as a hated symbol of Russian occupation.

Ukrainian officials have long talked about destroying it entirely.

In February, Ukrainian naval commander Oleksii Neizhpapa said that the bridge's "days are over."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously pointed to the bridge's military use as a basis for designating it a legitimate target.

On Tuesday, in a post on X, Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun said that claims the bridge "wasn't being used for war & therefore not a legitimate target" emanated from a "powerful" Russian disinformation campaign "to prevent the destruction of the Crimean bridge."

It's unclear if Sovsun was reacting to Molfar's report. She did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

Responding to Sovsun's post, Molfar CEO Artem told BI it is clear Molfar is "not on the Russian side" and highlighted the data behind the work.

"As a regular Ukrainian citizen, I really want to hit this bridge because it's in my heart," he said. "But I think sometimes it's better to do something with more influence right now, and we always have time to destroy the bridge."

Read the original article on Business Insider
QC nurse gives CPR to shooting victim: Id seen a body fall to the ground

QC nurse gives CPR to shooting victim: Id seen a body fall to the ground

A Quad Cities nurse was nearby when a shooting happened Sunday in East Moline.

She didnt hesitate to do all she could to save the victim. And now the magnitude of her actions in the middle of a crime scene is really sinking in.

Rachael Downing,med manager, Senior Star, told Our Quad Cities News Id seen a body fall to the ground and I heard people screaming.

Rachael Downing (Charlie Roiland)

I jumped right in. As soon as Id seen his body fall and heard (someone else) screaming, I immediately ran over there. I knew what needed to be done and I knew that the quicker I worked the more of a chance he couldve had at surviving, she said.

Downing is a CNA who is CPR-certified. Day-to-day, she works with dementia patients at Senior Star. Her experience allowed her to help the man who had been shot, and call for additional help from bystanders.

Since he was a heavier male too, and I was getting pretty tired, I had somebody else also step in and help me. I asked multiple people to hold where he had been shot, and then I had another guy helping me do chest compressions, Downing said.

Even with her professional training and prior experience giving CPR, Downing described the situation as incredibly traumatic.

Im still shaky, even, she said. I did decide to still go to work this morning and all, just to really kinda keep my head on straight cause I know that if I wouldnt I wouldve probably spiraled out.

Despite the trauma, Downings efforts did not stop after administering CPR Instead, she has continued to communicate with the family, who has agreed to keep her up to date on the mans funeral proceedings.

I have tried to reach out to the family and theyve been very, very sweet to me about it. I do appreciate that, I would love to be there for him, she said.

Police arrived Sunday morning at the Deerfield Woods Apartments complex and found a man who was shot multiple times and unresponsive, according to a Monday release.

Responding officers provided life-saving measures on the man, turned over to Fire and EMS services with the man being transported to Genesis Illini Hospital. The man, Michael J. Robinson, 22, of Davenport, died at the hospital shortly afterward. Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson said Robinson was shot multiple times.

An investigation immediately began into this incident by the East Moline Investigations Division. A suspect was soon identified as Jarquez D. Robertson, 21, out of Huntsville, Ala., with him possibly fleeing the area in a vehicle back to Alabama, police said.

An arrest warrant was obtained for Jarquez Robertson for First Degree Murder with no bond.

Jarquez Robertson (East Moline Police Department)

An alert was put out nationwide to be on the lookout for the suspect and vehicle he was driving. Huntsville Alabama Police Department was also contacted as it was suspected he was headed to that area. At approximately 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 5, the Huntsville, Ala., Police Department located Jarquez Robertson and arrested him without incident. He is being held at the Madison County Jail in Alabama and processes will take place to extradite Robertson back to the Rock Island County Jail in Illinois.

The Silvis Police Department, Moline Police Department, Rock Island County Sheriffs Department, East Moline Fire Department, Genesis Ambulance, Illinois State Police, and Huntsville Police Department assisted on this incident.

The investigation into this incident continues by East Moline Police Criminal Investigation and Illinois State Crime Scene teams and Rock Island County. Police ask anyone with information to contact the East Moline Police Department at 309-752-1555, Crime Stoppers of the Quad Cities at 309-762-9500, or use the P3 Tips mobile app. You can remain anonymous.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A group calling itself Rachel Corries Ghost Brigade is claiming responsibility for an arson that burned 17 Portland police cars last week.

But Rachel Corries father, Craig Corrie, told KOIN 6 News they do not support the group in any way and do not support the group using her name.









Rachel Corrie was an American activist from Olympia, Washington who was killed in 2003 while protesting the Israeli Armys destruction of Palestinian houses in Gaza. She was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer and died.

Craig Corrie said his daughter would not have wanted this group to use her name.

I guess theres nothing I can say to them, Craig said Monday. No, its just wrong. Theyve co-opted Rachels name for use they would never, ever have approved of.

He helps run the Rachel Corrie Foundation, which works to support grassroots efforts for peace and justice globally.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
In 2017, Vinod Khosla told CNBC that the job "of the radiologist will be obsolete in five years." While the founder of Khosla Ventures later revised that timeline to as long as 15 years, he maintained that AI image recognition could soon diagnose disease on scans better than human doctors.

Seven years later, radiologists are still required to interpret most scans (even if AI software helps them); the more immediate challenge is the shortage of these doctors in the United States and around the world.

While Khosla Ventures has backed several imaging startups, including Vista.ai and Q Bio, the firm's latest bet is on a company that makes radiologists' workload easier by reducing the time spent on report documentation, instead of trying to replace the physician with a machine.

On Tuesday, Khosla led a $50 million Series B into Rad AI, which developed a tool that can generate reports for radiologists. Other participants in the round included World Innovation Lab and returning investors ARTIS Ventures, OCV Partners, Kickstart Fund and Gradient Ventures (Google's AI-focused fund). The financing brought the company's total capital raised to over $80 million.

Rad AI was founded in 2018 by Dr. Jeff Chang, who completed his medical training as a radiologist when he was 16 and later received an MBA from UCLA, and serial entrepreneur Doktor Gurson.

Since Chang knew from his own experience as a practicing doctor that the majority of radiologists' time is spent documenting findings rather than analyzing images, the pair decided to develop a proprietary LLM trained on radiology report datasets for automating doctors' findings and impressions documentation.

While tech companies didn't widely use generative AI until OpenAI's ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022, Rad AI takes pride in being an early adopter of this technology. "I'm confident we're the first company in radiology to start using LLMs," Gurson, Rad AIs CEO told TechCrunch. "We started doing that work in 2018, around the same time that open AI was creating their [first] models."

Six years later, Rad AI's products are used by about a third of U.S. health systems and nine of the 10 largest radiology groups in the country, Gurson said.

The fresh capital will be used to build a team that deploys Rad AI's latest product: a standalone radiology reporting solution.

"We have a lot of interest, but there's only so much we can deploy at once," Gurson said, adding that Rad AI is hiring people who can install and maintain the software.

Some incumbents have been trying to add GenAI functionality to their radiology reporting software over the past 18 months, but Rad AI doesn't consider these companies to be true competitors yet.

"At this point, probably 99% to 100% of the market uses our products," he said. "If it's any indication, we've not lost a single customer since we started."
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A man was rushed to the hospital after being shot in Raleigh Monday night.

According to Memphis Police, officers responded to a shooting in the 3500 block of Covington Pike at around 11 p.m.

A man was found and taken to Regional One in critical condition.

Shooting in North Memphis leaves 1 critical

There is no suspect information. Anyone with tips is urged to call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
RAYNE, La. (KLFY)  The Rayne Police Department have arrested two Romanian nationals as a part of a state wide fraud investigation.

On Saturday around 4:15 p.m., Rayne police said they conducted a traffic stop on a 2022 Toyota 4Runner on I-10 West. The traffic stop was in regards to a BOLO alert for a vehicle related to an ongoing investigation into credit card skimming activities at various checkout locations throughout the state.

During the stop, officers said they discovered around 30 payments cards with reloaded stolen credit card numbers hidden in a compartment in the vehicles dash. Further investigation revealed that Italian and Danish identifications presented by the men were fake. The individuals, who initially identified themselves as Johan Skov and Martin Ramunssen, are suspected to be Romanian nationals currently in the U. S. illegally. They were both arrested and are being held without bond.

Authorities said they may have rented accommodations in the Acadiana area. If you have information about their stay or any related activities, please contact Detective Richard Gray at 337-393-2930 or email 105@raynepd.org.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLFY.com.
FILE - Marijuana legalization opponents meet in a Sioux Falls, S.D. on Oct. 7, 2022 to hear a presentation on the dangers of pot use and strategize how to convince their friends and neighbors not to pass legalization a second time. Advocates of legalizing recreational marijuana, a mission with a rocky history in South Dakota, submitted thousands of signatures to election officials on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the hopes of once again getting the issue on the conservative state's November ballot. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves, File)

Advocates of legalizing recreational marijuana in South Dakota, a mission with a rocky history, submitted thousands of signatures to election officials on Tuesday in the hopes of once again getting the issue on the conservative state's November ballot.

Supporters of the initiative turned in about 29,000 signatures to Secretary of State Monae Johnson's office. They need 17,508 valid signatures to make the November ballot. Johnson's office has until Aug. 13 to validate the signatures.

Twenty-four states have legalized recreational marijuana, including as recently as November 2023 in Ohio, but no state has as interesting or rocky or turbulent a story than South Dakota, said South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws Campaign Director Matthew Schweich.

Florida voters will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana this fall. Similar measure efforts are underway in other states, including North Dakota.

In 2020, South Dakota voters approved a medical marijuana initiative and also passed a measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana. But the latter was ultimately struck down when the South Dakota Supreme Court upheld a judge's ruling that it violated a single-subject rule for constitutional amendments  a challenge begun by Gov. Kristi Noem. Measure backers tried again in 2022, but voters defeated the proposal. In 2021, Noem sought to delay legalization of medical marijuana by a year, a proposal that died in the Republican-led Legislature.

Schweich cites several reasons to support the measure, including that it would allow law enforcement resources to be directed elsewhere, increase access for people who have difficulty getting medical marijuana patient cards, and generate new tax revenue and jobs.

I think for me, the strongest reason at its core is that if we're going to allow alcohol to be legal in our society, then it makes absolutely no sense to punish people for using cannabis because alcohol is more harmful to the individual and to society than cannabis, Schweich said.

Protecting South Dakota Kids, a nonprofit group that opposes legalizing marijuana in the state, fought against the 2022 effort. The Associated Press left a phone message seeking comment on the 2024 initiative with the organization's chairman, Jim Kinyon. In a pamphlet issued in opposition to the 2022 measure, he wrote that legalization would swing the door wide open for higher crime rates, increased suicide rates, traffic fatalities, workplace injuries, and mental health problems.

The ballot initiative would legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and older. The proposal has possession limits of 2 ounces of marijuana in a form other than concentrated cannabis or cannabis products, as well as 16 grams of the former and 1,600 mg of THC contained in the latter. The measure also allows cultivation of plants, with restrictions.

The measure doesn't include business licensing, taxation or other regulations. Schweich said the single-subject rule at the heart of the 2021 court ruling tied his hands in terms of writing the type of comprehensive policy I would have liked to write."

We're taking a conservative approach in response to this ruling and not taking any chances, he said.

Measure backers, if successful, plan to work with the Legislature next year to pass implementation legislation that will spell out those missing pieces, he said.

South Dakota outlaws marijuana possession, distribution and possession with intent to distribute, with varying misdemeanor and felony penalties according to factors such as amount and second or subsequent convictions.

The federal government has proposed reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a move Schweich said might help to normalize the issue for certain voters.

Schweich said the unique circumstances of the issue in South Dakota justify the third attempt. He thinks the initiative has a better chance this year, when voters are likely to turn out in bigger numbers to vote for president, and possibly to weigh in on an abortion rights initiative that others hope to get on the ballot.
OSAGE COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR)  The American Red Cross is on the scene after devastating storms hit several communities overnight on Monday.

Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives and the communities punished by tornado outbreaks across Oklahoma, the Great Plains and the South. Even as we shift to recovery work for the April 27 tornadoes in southern Oklahoma, we are now responding after a violent tornado struck communities in Osage and Washington counties, including Barnsdall. said Red Cross.

Barnsdall tornado damage. Image KFOR.

Barnsdall tornado damage. Image KFOR.

Barnsdall tornado damage. Image KFOR.

Barnsdall tornado damage. Image KFOR.

N Third and W Chestnut in Barnsdall, Image courtesy KFOR

N Third and W Chestnut in Barnsdall, Image courtesy KFOR

N Third and W Chestnut in Barnsdall, Image courtesy KFOR

Barnsdall & Bartlesville communities begin clean up after destructive storms

According to the National Weather Service Tulsa on X, Damage surveys continue across Osage County this afternoon. Currently, EF3 damage has been found southwest of Barnsdall. Still a long day of surveying with this storm and lots more to evaluate.

Trained Red Cross disaster workers are operating shelters in affected areas:

Osage County Fairgrounds, 320 Skyline Drive, Pawhuska, OK

Crossway First Baptist Church, 2108 Broadway Ave., Sulphur, OK

The Red Cross confirmed they are working with local officials in newly impacted areas to understand and help meet community needs from now through residents recovery.

As of Tuesday morning, the Red Cross has:

Assisted nearly 800 households with disaster-related needs

Served almost 10,400 meals and snacks

Provided more than 100 overnight shelter stays

Distributed more than 3,100 relief items

Mobile feeding and emergency supply distribution has started in Osage and Washington counties. Operations have concluded in southern Oklahoma; however, meals will be served in shelters for as long as they are open.

In southern Oklahoma, the Red Cross is preparing to open service centers to help people with their recovery. Red Cross caseworkers will help residents whose homes were severely damaged or destroyed apply for financial assistance. They can also connect people with additional recovery resources and services available in their communities.

Ardmore Service Center

1006 Northwest Blvd.

Ardmore, OK

May 89, 9 a.m.8 p.m.



Marietta Service Center

402 W Main St.

Marietta, OK

May 1011, 9 a.m.8 p.m.



Sulphur Service Center

2108 Broadway Ave.

Sulphur, OK

May 89, 9 a.m.8 p.m.

SHELTER INFO AND TORNADO SAFETY

Anyone affected by this disaster is welcome at a Red Cross shelter. All disaster assistance is free. Services offered at Red Cross shelters:

A safe place to sleep

Meals, snacks and water

Health services (for disaster-related conditions), such as first aid, refilling lost prescriptions or replacing lost eyeglasses

Emotional support and mental health services

Spiritual care

Help reconnecting with loved ones

Information about disaster-related resources in the community



STAYING SAFE AFTER A TORNADO

Avoid injury

Do not enter damaged buildings.

If the building you are in has been damaged, exit with extreme care and stay out. Look around for things that might fall or dangerous debris. Do not use matches or lighters inside. If you smell gas or see spills that could be flammable, leave immediately.

Watch out for exposed nails and broken glass.

Stay clear of fallen power lines or broken utility lines.

Clean up safely

Be careful during clean-up. Wear thick-soled shoes, long pants and work gloves to reduce injuries.

Children should not take part in disaster cleanup work.

If power is out, use flashlights or battery-powered lanterns to reduce fire risk.

Be aware of carbon monoxide poisoning. Do not use gasoline, propane, natural gas or charcoal-burning devices inside a home, basement, garage, tent or camper  or even outside near an open window. Carbon monoxide cant be seen or smelled, but it can kill you fast. If you start to feel sick, dizzy or weak, get to fresh air right away  do not delay.

Take care of yourself

Its normal to have a lot of bad feelings, stress, or anxiety.

Eat healthy food and get enough sleep to help you deal with stress.

You can contact the national SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline for free if you need to talk to someone. Call 1-800-985-5990.

HOW TO HELP

Your financial donation to the Red Cross helps provide shelter, meals, relief supplies, emotional support, recovery planning and other assistance during disasters. Visit redcross.org/donate to make a donation, or text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation toward disaster relief.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, the American Red Cross is offering financial assistance for those who need help recovering and whose primary residences were destroyed or sustained eligible structural damage. This type of assistance is damage-based.

To be eligible for Red Cross damage-based financial assistance, households apply for the program and meet the following three requirements:

Their pre-disaster primary residence (renter or homeowner) is in a confirmed disaster-impacted geographic area.

Their head of household is able to provide proof of identity and residence.

Their primary residence is assessed to be destroyed or has suffered significant structural damage that requires extensive repairs. A residence that is destroyed is one that is a total loss or with damage so severe that repairs are not feasible.

Many qualifying households will receive an invitation to complete an application through an email, text message or phone call directly from the American Red Cross. Please follow the instructions in the message and call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) to enroll, confirm eligibility and receive individual financial assistance.

Damage reported after deadly storms move through Oklahoma

Emails will come from American Red Cross from clientservices@rccare.redcross.org.

Partners and community advocates will be available to those who may face barriers to accessing disaster assistance such as people who do not speak English, are not American citizens, or who have not responded to our initial outreach.

Anyone who needs assistance is welcome to call 1-800-RED CROSS.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate

Demonstrators at the Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Demonstrators at the Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Lawmakers who oppose abortion often invoke their faith  many identify as Christian  while debating policy.

The anti-abortion movements use of Christianity in arguments might create the impression that broad swaths of religious Americans dont support abortion rights. But a recent report shows that Americans of various faiths and denominations believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to a Public Religion Research Institute survey of some 22,000 U.S. adults released last week, 93% of Unitarian Universalists, 81% of Jews, 79% of Buddhists and 60% of Muslims also hold that view.

Researchers also found that most people who adhere to the two major branches of Christianity  Catholicism and Protestantism  also believe abortion should be mostly legal, save for three groups: white evangelical Protestants, Latter-day Saints and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed abortion. But the poll found that 73% of Catholics of color  PRRI defines this group as Black, Asian, Native American and multiracial Americans  support the right to have an abortion, followed by 62% of white Catholics and 57% of Hispanic Catholics.

The findings show that interfaith views on abortion may not be as simple as they appear during political debate, where the voices of white evangelical legislators and advocates can be the loudest.

States Newsroom spoke with Abrahamic religious scholars  specifically, experts in Catholicism, Islam and Judaism  and reproductive rights advocates about varying perspectives on abortion and their history.

Abortion views in America before Roe v. Wade

The Moral Majority  a voting bloc of white, conservative evangelicals who rose to prominence after the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973  is often associated with spearheading legislation to restrict abortion.

Gillian Frank is a historian specializing in religion, gender and sexuality who teaches at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Frank said evangelical views on abortion were actually more ambivalent before the early 70s Roe decision established the federal right to terminate a pregnancy. (The Supreme Court upended that precedent about two years ago.)

What we have to understand is that evangelicals, alongside mainline Protestants and Jews of various denominations, supported what was called therapeutic abortion, which is to say abortion for certain exceptional causes, Frank said, including saving the life or health of the mother, fetal abnormalities, rape, incest and the pregnancy of a minor. Religious bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals said abortion was OK in certain circumstances, he added.

Protestants before Roe did not endorse elective abortions, Frank said, or what they called abortion on demand, a phrase invoked by abortion-rights opponents today that he said entered the American lexicon around 1962.

The 1973 ruling was seismic and led organizations opposing abortion, such as the National Right to Life Committee  formed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops  to sprout across the country, according to an article published four years later in Southern Exposure. Catholic leaders often lobbied other religious groups  evangelicals, Mormons, orthodox Jews  to join their movement and likened abortion to murder in their newspapers.

After Roe, abortion is increasingly associated with womens liberation in popular rhetoric in popular culture, because of the activism of the womens movement but also because of the ways in which the anti-abortion movement is associating abortion with familial decline, Frank said. Those sentiments, he said, were spread by conservative figures like Phyllis Schlafly, a Catholic opposed to feminism and abortion, who campaigned against and managed to block the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

Polls suggest the views of Catholic clergy and laypeople diverge

Catholicism is generally synonymous with opposition to abortion. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church has stood against abortion since the first century. The conference points to Jeremiah 1:5 in the Bible to back up arguments that pregnancy termination is contrary to the moral law.

But nearly 6 in 10 American Catholics believe abortion should be mostly legal, according to a Pew Research Center report released last month.

Catholics for Choice spokesperson Ashley Wilson said that theres a disconnect between the church as an institution and its laity. We recognize that part of the problem is that the Catholic clergy, and the people who write the official teaching of the church, are all or mostly white male  my boss likes to say ostensibly celibate men  who dont have wives, Wilson said. They dont have daughters. They have no inroads into the lives of laypeople.

Her group plans on going to Vatican City in Rome this fall to lift up stories of Catholics whove had abortions. The organization is also actively involved in efforts to restore abortion access  14 states have near-total bans  through direct ballot measures in Colorado, Florida and Missouri this year.

Catholic dioceses and fraternities are often behind counter-efforts to proposed ballot questions. They poured millions into campaigns in Kansas and Kentucky in 2022 to push anti-abortion amendments, and also in Ohio last year to defeat a reproductive rights ballot measure but they failed in each state.

Ensoulment and mercy in Islam

Tenets of Islam  the second largest faith in the world  often make references to how far along a persons pregnancy is and whether there are complications. University of Colorado Law professor Rabea Benhalim, an expert of Islamic and Judaic law, said theres a common belief that at 40 days gestation, the embryo is akin to a drop of fluid. After 120 days, the fetus gains a soul, she said.

While the Quran doesnt specifically speak to abortion, Benhalim said Chapter 23: 12-14 is considered a description of a fetus in a womb. The verses are deeply important in the development of abortion jurisprudence within Islamic law, because theres an understanding that life is something that is emerging over a period of stages.

In some restrictive interpretations of Islam, theres a limit on abortion after 40 days, or seven weeks after implantation, Benhalim said. In other interpretations, because ensoulment doesnt occur until 120 days of gestation, abortion is generally permitted in some Muslim communities for various reasons, she said. After ensoulment, abortion is allowed if the mothers life is in danger, according to religious doctrine.

Sahar Pirzada, the director of movement building at HEART, a reproductive justice organization focused on sexual health and education in Muslim American communities, confirmed that some Muslims believe in the 40-day mark, while others adhere to the 120-day mark when weighing abortion.

How can you make a black-and-white ruling on something that is going to be applied across the board when everyones situation is different? she asked. Theres a lot of compassion and mercy with how were supposed to approach matters of the womb.

The issue is personal for Pirzada, who had an abortion in 2018 after her fetus received a fatal diagnosis of trisomy 18 when she was 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to terminate within the 120-day mark, which gave me a few more weeks, she said.

She consulted scholars and Islamic teachings before making the decision to end her pregnancy, she said, and mentioned the importance of rahma  mercy  in Islam. I tried to embody that spirit of compassion for myself, she said.

Pirzada, who is now a mother of two, had the procedure at exactly 14 weeks on a day six years ago that was both Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. She said she felt loved and surrounded by people of faith at the hospital, where some health care workers had crosses marked in ash on their foreheads. I felt very appreciative that they were offering me care on a day that was spiritual for them, she said.

Seeing the stories of people with pregnancy complications in the period since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion has left her grief stricken. For instance, Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose fetus had the same diagnosis as Pirzadas, was denied an abortion by the state Supreme Court in December. Cox had to travel elsewhere for care, Texas Tribune reported.

Benhalim, the University of Colorado expert, said teachings in Islam and Judaism offer solace to followers who are considering abortion, as they can provide guidance during difficult decisions.

No fetal personhood in Judaism

In Jewish texts, the embryo is referred to as water before 40 days of gestation, according to the National Council of Jewish Women. Exodus: 21:22-23 in the Torah mentions a hypothetical situation where two men are fighting and injure a pregnant woman. If she has a miscarriage, the men are only fined. But if she is seriously injured and dies, the penalty shall be a life for a life.

This part of the Torah is interpreted to mean that a fetus does not have personhood, and the men didnt commit murder, according to the council. But this may not be a catchall belief  Benhalim noted that denominations of Judaism have different opinions on abortion.

Today, Jewish Americans have been at the forefront of legal challenges to abortion bans based on religious freedom in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Many of the lawsuits have interfaith groups of plaintiffs and argue that restrictions on termination infringe on their religion.

The legal challenge in Indiana has been the most successful. Hoosier Jews for Choice and five anonymous plaintiffs sued members of the state medical licensing board in summer 2022, when Indianas near-total abortion ban initially took effect.

Plaintiffs argued that the ban violated the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the court later let the claim receive class-action status. Several Jewish Hoosiers said they believe life begins after a babys first breath, and that abortion is required to protect the mothers health and life, according to court documents.

Last month, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs have the right to sue the state but sent the request for a temporary halt on the ban back to a lower court.

While the decision was unanimous, Judge Mark Bailey issued a separate concurring opinion explaining his reasoning and criticizing lawmakers  an overwhelming majority of whom have not experienced childbirth  who assert they are protectors of life from the point of conception.

In my view, this is an adoption of a religious viewpoint held by some, but certainly not all, Hoosiers, he wrote. The least that can be expected is that remaining Hoosiers of child bearing ability will be given the opportunity to act in accordance with their own consciences and religious creeds.

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The post Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate appeared first on Alaska Beacon.
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Militants in Lebanon launched six unmanned aerial vehicles at northern Israel on Tuesday, causing fire and damage.

Only one of the drones was intercepted by the country's Aerial Defense Array, the Israeli military said in a statement.

One of the drones exploded near the community of Yiftah, close to the Israel-Lebanon border, sparking a fire, it said, adding that several other drones caused light damage.

No causalities were immediately reported.

Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that the drones were launched by Hezbollah, a Lebanese armed group and party, which has been fighting against Israel along the border since Oct. 7.

Lebanese military sources, who spoke anonymously, told Xinhua that Israel's F-15 warplanes intercepted, at very low altitudes, several drones that were heading from Lebanon to northern Israel.

Hezbollah said Tuesday that its military wing, the Islamic Resistance, targeted Israeli officers and soldiers in the Yiftah barracks with drones while reporting casualties. It said drones targeted an Iron Dome platform in the Ramot Naftali Barracks, damaging it.

The drones came after Israeli troops fired at Aalma El Chaab in southern Lebanon. On Monday, Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah military structure and infrastructure in the area of Mazraat Aaqmata in southern Lebanon.

Earlier Tuesday, Lebanese Labor Minister Moustafa Bayram said that Israeli attacks caused damage to around 3,000 business facilities in southern Lebanon, according to the National News Agency (NNA).

Bayram said he would contact the Arab Labor Organization and Arab member states as soon as the war ends to request a grant for people affected by Israeli attacks. 
Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate

Demonstrators at the Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)

Lawmakers who oppose abortion often invoke their faith  many identify as Christian  while debating policy.

The anti-abortion movements use of Christianity in arguments might create the impression that broad swaths of religious Americans dont support abortion rights. But a recent report shows that Americans of various faiths and denominations believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to a Public Religion Research Institute survey of some 22,000 U.S. adults released last week, 93% of Unitarian Universalists, 81% of Jews, 79% of Buddhists and 60% of Muslims also hold that view.

Researchers also found that most people who adhere to the two major branches of Christianity  Catholicism and Protestantism  also believe abortion should be mostly legal, save for three groups: white evangelical Protestants, Latter-day Saints and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed abortion. But the poll found that 73% of Catholics of color  PRRI defines this group as Black, Asian, Native American and multiracial Americans  support the right to have an abortion, followed by 62% of white Catholics and 57% of Hispanic Catholics.

The findings show that interfaith views on abortion may not be as simple as they appear during political debate, where the voices of white evangelical legislators and advocates can be the loudest.

States Newsroom spoke with Abrahamic religious scholars  specifically, experts in Catholicism, Islam and Judaism  and reproductive rights advocates about varying perspectives on abortion and their history.

Abortion views in America before Roe v. Wade

The Moral Majority  a voting bloc of white, conservative evangelicals who rose to prominence after the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973  is often associated with spearheading legislation to restrict abortion.

Gillian Frank is a historian specializing in religion, gender and sexuality who teaches at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Frank said evangelical views on abortion were actually more ambivalent before the early 70s Roe decision established the federal right to terminate a pregnancy. (The Supreme Court upended that precedent about two years ago.)

What we have to understand is that evangelicals, alongside mainline Protestants and Jews of various denominations, supported what was called therapeutic abortion, which is to say abortion for certain exceptional causes, Frank said, including saving the life or health of the mother, fetal abnormalities, rape, incest and the pregnancy of a minor. Religious bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals said abortion was OK in certain circumstances, he added.

Evangelical Protestants before Roe did not endorse elective abortions, Frank said, or what they called abortion on demand, a phrase invoked by abortion-rights opponents today that he said entered the American lexicon around 1962.

The 1973 ruling was seismic and led organizations opposing abortion, such as the National Right to Life Committee  formed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops  to sprout across the country, according to an article published four years later in Southern Exposure. Catholic leaders often lobbied other religious groups  evangelicals, Mormons, orthodox Jews  to join their movement and likened abortion to murder in their newspapers.

After Roe, abortion is increasingly associated with womens liberation in popular rhetoric in popular culture, because of the activism of the womens movement but also because of the ways in which the anti-abortion movement is associating abortion with familial decline, Frank said. Those sentiments, he said, were spread by conservative figures like Phyllis Schlafly, a Catholic opposed to feminism and abortion, who campaigned against and managed to block the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

Polls suggest the views of Catholic clergy and laypeople diverge

Catholicism is generally synonymous with opposition to abortion. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church has stood against abortion since the first century. The conference points to Jeremiah 1:5 in the Bible to back up arguments that pregnancy termination is contrary to the moral law.

But nearly 6 in 10 American Catholics believe abortion should be mostly legal, according to a Pew Research Center report released last month.

Catholics for Choice spokesperson Ashley Wilson said that theres a disconnect between the church as an institution and its laity. We recognize that part of the problem is that the Catholic clergy, and the people who write the official teaching of the church, are all or mostly white male  my boss likes to say ostensibly celibate men  who dont have wives, Wilson said. They dont have daughters. They have no inroads into the lives of laypeople.

Her group plans on going to Vatican City in Rome this fall to lift up stories of Catholics whove had abortions. The organization is also actively involved in efforts to restore abortion access  14 states have near-total bans  through direct ballot measures in Colorado, Florida and Missouri this year.

Catholic dioceses and fraternities are often behind counter-efforts to proposed ballot questions. They poured millions into campaigns in Kansas and Kentucky in 2022 to push anti-abortion amendments, and also in Ohio last year to defeat a reproductive rights ballot measure but they failed in each state.

Ensoulment and mercy in Islam

Tenets of Islam  the second largest faith in the world  often make references to how far along a persons pregnancy is and whether there are complications. University of Colorado Law professor Rabea Benhalim, an expert of Islamic and Judaic law, said theres a common belief that at 40 days gestation, the embryo is akin to a drop of fluid. After 120 days, the fetus gains a soul, she said.

While the Quran doesnt specifically speak to abortion, Benhalim said Chapter 23: 12-14 is considered a description of a fetus in a womb. The verses are deeply important in the development of abortion jurisprudence within Islamic law, because theres an understanding that life is something that is emerging over a period of stages.

In some restrictive interpretations of Islam, theres a limit on abortion after 40 days, or seven weeks after implantation, Benhalim said. In other interpretations, because ensoulment doesnt occur until 120 days of gestation, abortion is generally permitted in some Muslim communities for various reasons, she said. After ensoulment, abortion is allowed if the mothers life is in danger, according to religious doctrine.

Sahar Pirzada, the director of movement building at HEART, a reproductive justice organization focused on sexual health and education in Muslim American communities, confirmed that some Muslims believe in the 40-day mark, while others adhere to the 120-day mark when weighing abortion.

How can you make a black-and-white ruling on something that is going to be applied across the board when everyones situation is different? she asked. Theres a lot of compassion and mercy with how were supposed to approach matters of the womb.

The issue is personal for Pirzada, who had an abortion in 2018 after her fetus received a fatal diagnosis of trisomy 18 when she was 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to terminate within the 120-day mark, which gave me a few more weeks, she said.

She consulted scholars and Islamic teachings before making the decision to end her pregnancy, she said, and mentioned the importance of rahma  mercy  in Islam. I tried to embody that spirit of compassion for myself, she said.

Pirzada, who is now a mother of two, had the procedure at exactly 14 weeks on a day six years ago that was both Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. She said she felt loved and surrounded by people of faith at the hospital, where some health care workers had crosses marked in ash on their foreheads. I felt very appreciative that they were offering me care on a day that was spiritual for them, she said.

Seeing the stories of people with pregnancy complications in the period since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion has left her grief stricken. For instance, Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose fetus had the same diagnosis as Pirzadas, was denied an abortion by the state Supreme Court in December. Cox had to travel elsewhere for care, Texas Tribune reported.

Benhalim, the University of Colorado expert, said teachings in Islam and Judaism offer solace to followers who are considering abortion, as they can provide guidance during difficult decisions.

No fetal personhood in Judaism

In Jewish texts, the embryo is referred to as water before 40 days of gestation, according to the National Council of Jewish Women. Exodus: 21:22-23 in the Torah mentions a hypothetical situation where two men are fighting and injure a pregnant woman. If she has a miscarriage, the men are only fined. But if she is seriously injured and dies, the penalty shall be a life for a life.

This part of the Torah is interpreted to mean that a fetus does not have personhood, and the men didnt commit murder, according to the council. But this may not be a catchall belief  Benhalim noted that denominations of Judaism have different opinions on abortion.

Today, Jewish Americans have been at the forefront of legal challenges to abortion bans based on religious freedom in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Many of the lawsuits have interfaith groups of plaintiffs and argue that restrictions on termination infringe on their religion.

The legal challenge in Indiana has been the most successful. Hoosier Jews for Choice and five anonymous plaintiffs sued members of the state medical licensing board in summer 2022, when Indianas near-total abortion ban initially took effect.

Plaintiffs argued that the ban violated the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the court later let the claim receive class-action status. Several Jewish Hoosiers said they believe life begins after a babys first breath, and that abortion is required to protect the mothers health and life, according to court documents.

Last month, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs have the right to sue the state but sent the request for a temporary halt on the ban back to a lower court.

While the decision was unanimous, Judge Mark Bailey issued a separate concurring opinion explaining his reasoning and criticizing lawmakers  an overwhelming majority of whom have not experienced childbirth  who assert they are protectors of life from the point of conception.

In my view, this is an adoption of a religious viewpoint held by some, but certainly not all, Hoosiers, he wrote. The least that can be expected is that remaining Hoosiers of child bearing ability will be given the opportunity to act in accordance with their own consciences and religious creeds.

Editors note: This article was updated to specify Evangelical Protestants in particular did not endorse elective abortions before Roe.

The post Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate appeared first on Source New Mexico.
Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate

Demonstrators at the Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Lawmakers who oppose abortion often invoke their faith  many identify as Christian  while debating policy.

The anti-abortion movements use of Christianity in arguments might create the impression that broad swaths of religious Americans dont support abortion rights. But a recent report shows that Americans of various faiths and denominations believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to a Public Religion Research Institute survey of some 22,000 U.S. adults released last week, 93% of Unitarian Universalists, 81% of Jews, 79% of Buddhists and 60% of Muslims also hold that view.

Researchers also found that most people who adhere to the two major branches of Christianity  Catholicism and Protestantism  also believe abortion should be mostly legal, save for three groups: white evangelical Protestants, Latter-day Saints and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed abortion. But the poll found that 73% of Catholics of color  PRRI defines this group as Black, Asian, Native American and multiracial Americans  support the right to have an abortion, followed by 62% of white Catholics and 57% of Hispanic Catholics.

The findings show that interfaith views on abortion may not be as simple as they appear during political debate, where the voices of white evangelical legislators and advocates can be the loudest.

States Newsroom spoke with Abrahamic religious scholars  specifically, experts in Catholicism, Islam and Judaism  and reproductive rights advocates about varying perspectives on abortion and their history.

Abortion views in America before Roe v. Wade

The Moral Majority  a voting bloc of white, conservative evangelicals who rose to prominence after the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973  is often associated with spearheading legislation to restrict abortion.

Gillian Frank is a historian specializing in religion, gender and sexuality who teaches at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Frank said evangelical views on abortion were actually more ambivalent before the early 70s Roe decision established the federal right to terminate a pregnancy. (The Supreme Court upended that precedent about two years ago.)

What we have to understand is that evangelicals, alongside mainline Protestants and Jews of various denominations, supported what was called therapeutic abortion, which is to say abortion for certain exceptional causes, Frank said, including saving the life or health of the mother, fetal abnormalities, rape, incest and the pregnancy of a minor. Religious bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals said abortion was OK in certain circumstances, he added.

Evangelical Protestants before Roe did not endorse elective abortions, Frank said, or what they called abortion on demand, a phrase invoked by abortion-rights opponents today that he said entered the American lexicon around 1962.

The 1973 ruling was seismic and led organizations opposing abortion, such as the National Right to Life Committee  formed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops  to sprout across the country, according to an article published four years later in Southern Exposure. Catholic leaders often lobbied other religious groups  evangelicals, Mormons, orthodox Jews  to join their movement and likened abortion to murder in their newspapers.

After Roe, abortion is increasingly associated with womens liberation in popular rhetoric in popular culture, because of the activism of the womens movement but also because of the ways in which the anti-abortion movement is associating abortion with familial decline, Frank said. Those sentiments, he said, were spread by conservative figures like Phyllis Schlafly, a Catholic opposed to feminism and abortion, who campaigned against and managed to block the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on Colfax Avenue in Denver on Dec. 21, 2020. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline)

Polls suggest the views of Catholic clergy and laypeople diverge

Catholicism is generally synonymous with opposition to abortion. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church has stood against abortion since the first century. The conference points to Jeremiah 1:5 in the Bible to back up arguments that pregnancy termination is contrary to the moral law.

But nearly 6 in 10 American Catholics believe abortion should be mostly legal, according to a Pew Research Center report released last month.

Catholics for Choice spokesperson Ashley Wilson said that theres a disconnect between the church as an institution and its laity. We recognize that part of the problem is that the Catholic clergy, and the people who write the official teaching of the church, are all or mostly white male  my boss likes to say ostensibly celibate men  who dont have wives, Wilson said. They dont have daughters. They have no inroads into the lives of laypeople.

Her group plans on going to Vatican City in Rome this fall to lift up stories of Catholics whove had abortions. The organization is also actively involved in efforts to restore abortion access  14 states have near-total bans  through direct ballot measures in Colorado, Florida and Missouri this year.

Catholic dioceses and fraternities are often behind counter-efforts to proposed ballot questions. They poured millions into campaigns in Kansas and Kentucky in 2022 to push anti-abortion amendments, and also in Ohio last year to defeat a reproductive rights ballot measure but they failed in each state.

Ensoulment and mercy in Islam

Tenets of Islam  the second largest faith in the world  often make references to how far along a persons pregnancy is and whether there are complications. University of Colorado Law professor Rabea Benhalim, an expert of Islamic and Judaic law, said theres a common belief that at 40 days gestation, the embryo is akin to a drop of fluid. After 120 days, the fetus gains a soul, she said.

While the Quran doesnt specifically speak to abortion, Benhalim said Chapter 23: 12-14 is considered a description of a fetus in a womb. The verses are deeply important in the development of abortion jurisprudence within Islamic law, because theres an understanding that life is something that is emerging over a period of stages.

In some restrictive interpretations of Islam, theres a limit on abortion after 40 days, or seven weeks after implantation, Benhalim said. In other interpretations, because ensoulment doesnt occur until 120 days of gestation, abortion is generally permitted in some Muslim communities for various reasons, she said. After ensoulment, abortion is allowed if the mothers life is in danger, according to religious doctrine.

Sahar Pirzada, the director of movement building at HEART, a reproductive justice organization focused on sexual health and education in Muslim American communities, confirmed that some Muslims believe in the 40-day mark, while others adhere to the 120-day mark when weighing abortion.

How can you make a black-and-white ruling on something that is going to be applied across the board when everyones situation is different? she asked. Theres a lot of compassion and mercy with how were supposed to approach matters of the womb.

The issue is personal for Pirzada, who had an abortion in 2018 after her fetus received a fatal diagnosis of trisomy 18 when she was 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to terminate within the 120-day mark, which gave me a few more weeks, she said.

She consulted scholars and Islamic teachings before making the decision to end her pregnancy, she said, and mentioned the importance of rahma  mercy  in Islam. I tried to embody that spirit of compassion for myself, she said.

Pirzada, who is now a mother of two, had the procedure at exactly 14 weeks on a day six years ago that was both Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. She said she felt loved and surrounded by people of faith at the hospital, where some health care workers had crosses marked in ash on their foreheads. I felt very appreciative that they were offering me care on a day that was spiritual for them, she said.

Seeing the stories of people with pregnancy complications in the period since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion has left her grief stricken. For instance, Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose fetus had the same diagnosis as Pirzadas, was denied an abortion by the state Supreme Court in December. Cox had to travel elsewhere for care, Texas Tribune reported.

Benhalim, the University of Colorado expert, said teachings in Islam and Judaism offer solace to followers who are considering abortion, as they can provide guidance during difficult decisions.

No fetal personhood in Judaism

In Jewish texts, the embryo is referred to as water before 40 days of gestation, according to the National Council of Jewish Women. Exodus: 21:22-23 in the Torah mentions a hypothetical situation where two men are fighting and injure a pregnant woman. If she has a miscarriage, the men are only fined. But if she is seriously injured and dies, the penalty shall be a life for a life.

This part of the Torah is interpreted to mean that a fetus does not have personhood, and the men didnt commit murder, according to the council. But this may not be a catchall belief  Benhalim noted that denominations of Judaism have different opinions on abortion.

Today, Jewish Americans have been at the forefront of legal challenges to abortion bans based on religious freedom in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Many of the lawsuits have interfaith groups of plaintiffs and argue that restrictions on termination infringe on their religion.

The legal challenge in Indiana has been the most successful. Hoosier Jews for Choice and five anonymous plaintiffs sued members of the state medical licensing board in summer 2022, when Indianas near-total abortion ban initially took effect.

Plaintiffs argued that the ban violated the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the court later let the claim receive class-action status. Several Jewish Hoosiers said they believe life begins after a babys first breath, and that abortion is required to protect the mothers health and life, according to court documents.

Last month, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs have the right to sue the state but sent the request for a temporary halt on the ban back to a lower court.

While the decision was unanimous, Judge Mark Bailey issued a separate concurring opinion explaining his reasoning and criticizing lawmakers  an overwhelming majority of whom have not experienced childbirth  who assert they are protectors of life from the point of conception.

In my view, this is an adoption of a religious viewpoint held by some, but certainly not all, Hoosiers, he wrote. The least that can be expected is that remaining Hoosiers of child bearing ability will be given the opportunity to act in accordance with their own consciences and religious creeds.

Editors note: This article was updated to specify Evangelical Protestants in particular did not endorse elective abortions before Roe.

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The post Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate appeared first on Colorado Newsline.
Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate

Demonstrators at the Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Lawmakers who oppose abortion often invoke their faith  many identify as Christian  while debating policy.

The anti-abortion movements use of Christianity in arguments might create the impression that broad swaths of religious Americans dont support abortion rights. But a recent report shows that Americans of various faiths and denominations believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to a Public Religion Research Institute survey of some 22,000 U.S. adults released last week, 93% of Unitarian Universalists, 81% of Jews, 79% of Buddhists and 60% of Muslims also hold that view.

Researchers also found that most people who adhere to the two major branches of Christianity  Catholicism and Protestantism  also believe abortion should be mostly legal, save for three groups: white evangelical Protestants, Latter-day Saints and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed abortion. But the poll found that 73% of Catholics of color  PRRI defines this group as Black, Asian, Native American and multiracial Americans  support the right to have an abortion, followed by 62% of white Catholics and 57% of Hispanic Catholics.

The findings show that interfaith views on abortion may not be as simple as they appear during political debate, where the voices of white evangelical legislators and advocates can be the loudest.

States Newsroom spoke with Abrahamic religious scholars  specifically, experts in Catholicism, Islam and Judaism  and reproductive rights advocates about varying perspectives on abortion and their history.

Abortion views in America before Roe v. Wade

The Moral Majority  a voting bloc of white, conservative evangelicals who rose to prominence after the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973  is often associated with spearheading legislation to restrict abortion.

Gillian Frank is a historian specializing in religion, gender and sexuality who teaches at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Frank said evangelical views on abortion were actually more ambivalent before the early 70s Roe decision established the federal right to terminate a pregnancy. (The Supreme Court upended that precedent about two years ago.)

What we have to understand is that evangelicals, alongside mainline Protestants and Jews of various denominations, supported what was called therapeutic abortion, which is to say abortion for certain exceptional causes, Frank said, including saving the life or health of the mother, fetal abnormalities, rape, incest and the pregnancy of a minor. Religious bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals said abortion was OK in certain circumstances, he added.

Evangelical protestants before Roe did not endorse elective abortions, Frank said, or what they called abortion on demand, a phrase invoked by abortion-rights opponents today that he said entered the American lexicon around 1962.

The 1973 ruling was seismic and led organizations opposing abortion, such as the National Right to Life Committee  formed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops  to sprout across the country, according to an article published four years later in Southern Exposure. Catholic leaders often lobbied other religious groups  evangelicals, Mormons, orthodox Jews  to join their movement and likened abortion to murder in their newspapers.

After Roe, abortion is increasingly associated with womens liberation in popular rhetoric in popular culture, because of the activism of the womens movement but also because of the ways in which the anti-abortion movement is associating abortion with familial decline, Frank said. Those sentiments, he said, were spread by conservative figures like Phyllis Schlafly, a Catholic opposed to feminism and abortion, who campaigned against and managed to block the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

Polls suggest the views of Catholic clergy and laypeople diverge

Catholicism is generally synonymous with opposition to abortion. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church has stood against abortion since the first century. The conference points to Jeremiah 1:5 in the Bible to back up arguments that pregnancy termination is contrary to the moral law.

But nearly 6 in 10 American Catholics believe abortion should be mostly legal, according to a Pew Research Center report released last month.

Catholics for Choice spokesperson Ashley Wilson said that theres a disconnect between the church as an institution and its laity. We recognize that part of the problem is that the Catholic clergy, and the people who write the official teaching of the church, are all or mostly white male  my boss likes to say ostensibly celibate men  who dont have wives, Wilson said. They dont have daughters. They have no inroads into the lives of laypeople.

Her group plans on going to Vatican City in Rome this fall to lift up stories of Catholics whove had abortions. The organization is also actively involved in efforts to restore abortion access  14 states have near-total bans  through direct ballot measures in Colorado, Florida and Missouri this year.

Catholic dioceses and fraternities are often behind counter-efforts to proposed ballot questions. They poured millions into campaigns in Kansas and Kentucky in 2022 to push anti-abortion amendments, and also in Ohio last year to defeat a reproductive rights ballot measure but they failed in each state.

Ensoulment and mercy in Islam

Tenets of Islam  the second largest faith in the world  often make references to how far along a persons pregnancy is and whether there are complications. University of Colorado Law professor Rabea Benhalim, an expert of Islamic and Judaic law, said theres a common belief that at 40 days gestation, the embryo is akin to a drop of fluid. After 120 days, the fetus gains a soul, she said.

While the Quran doesnt specifically speak to abortion, Benhalim said Chapter 23: 12-14 is considered a description of a fetus in a womb. The verses are deeply important in the development of abortion jurisprudence within Islamic law, because theres an understanding that life is something that is emerging over a period of stages.

In some restrictive interpretations of Islam, theres a limit on abortion after 40 days, or seven weeks after implantation, Benhalim said. In other interpretations, because ensoulment doesnt occur until 120 days of gestation, abortion is generally permitted in some Muslim communities for various reasons, she said. After ensoulment, abortion is allowed if the mothers life is in danger, according to religious doctrine.

Sahar Pirzada, the director of movement building at HEART, a reproductive justice organization focused on sexual health and education in Muslim American communities, confirmed that some Muslims believe in the 40-day mark, while others adhere to the 120-day mark when weighing abortion.

How can you make a black-and-white ruling on something that is going to be applied across the board when everyones situation is different? she asked. Theres a lot of compassion and mercy with how were supposed to approach matters of the womb.

The issue is personal for Pirzada, who had an abortion in 2018 after her fetus received a fatal diagnosis of trisomy 18 when she was 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to terminate within the 120-day mark, which gave me a few more weeks, she said.

She consulted scholars and Islamic teachings before making the decision to end her pregnancy, she said, and mentioned the importance of rahma  mercy  in Islam. I tried to embody that spirit of compassion for myself, she said.

Pirzada, who is now a mother of two, had the procedure at exactly 14 weeks on a day six years ago that was both Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. She said she felt loved and surrounded by people of faith at the hospital, where some health care workers had crosses marked in ash on their foreheads. I felt very appreciative that they were offering me care on a day that was spiritual for them, she said.

Seeing the stories of people with pregnancy complications in the period since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion has left her grief stricken. For instance, Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose fetus had the same diagnosis as Pirzadas, was denied an abortion by the state Supreme Court in December. Cox had to travel elsewhere for care, Texas Tribune reported.

Benhalim, the University of Colorado expert, said teachings in Islam and Judaism offer solace to followers who are considering abortion, as they can provide guidance during difficult decisions.

No fetal personhood in Judaism

In Jewish texts, the embryo is referred to as water before 40 days of gestation, according to the National Council of Jewish Women. Exodus: 21:22-23 in the Torah mentions a hypothetical situation where two men are fighting and injure a pregnant woman. If she has a miscarriage, the men are only fined. But if she is seriously injured and dies, the penalty shall be a life for a life.

This part of the Torah is interpreted to mean that a fetus does not have personhood, and the men didnt commit murder, according to the council. But this may not be a catchall belief  Benhalim noted that denominations of Judaism have different opinions on abortion.

Today, Jewish Americans have been at the forefront of legal challenges to abortion bans based on religious freedom in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Many of the lawsuits have interfaith groups of plaintiffs and argue that restrictions on termination infringe on their religion.

The legal challenge in Indiana has been the most successful. Hoosier Jews for Choice and five anonymous plaintiffs sued members of the state medical licensing board in summer 2022, when Indianas near-total abortion ban initially took effect.

Plaintiffs argued that the ban violated the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the court later let the claim receive class-action status. Several Jewish Hoosiers said they believe life begins after a babys first breath, and that abortion is required to protect the mothers health and life, according to court documents.

Last month, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs have the right to sue the state but sent the request for a temporary halt on the ban back to a lower court.

While the decision was unanimous, Judge Mark Bailey issued a separate concurring opinion explaining his reasoning and criticizing lawmakers  an overwhelming majority of whom have not experienced childbirth  who assert they are protectors of life from the point of conception.

In my view, this is an adoption of a religious viewpoint held by some, but certainly not all, Hoosiers, he wrote. The least that can be expected is that remaining Hoosiers of child bearing ability will be given the opportunity to act in accordance with their own consciences and religious creeds.

Editors note: This article was updated to specify Evangelical Protestants in particular did not endorse elective abortions before Roe.

The post Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate appeared first on New Jersey Monitor.
Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate

Demonstrators at the Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Lawmakers who oppose abortion often invoke their faith  many identify as Christian  while debating policy.

The anti-abortion movements use of Christianity in arguments might create the impression that broad swaths of religious Americans dont support abortion rights. But a recent report shows that Americans of various faiths and denominations believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to a Public Religion Research Institute survey of some 22,000 U.S. adults released last week, 93% of Unitarian Universalists, 81% of Jews, 79% of Buddhists and 60% of Muslims also hold that view.

Researchers also found that most people who adhere to the two major branches of Christianity  Catholicism and Protestantism  also believe abortion should be mostly legal, save for three groups: white evangelical Protestants, Latter-day Saints and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed abortion. But the poll found that 73% of Catholics of color  PRRI defines this group as Black, Asian, Native American and multiracial Americans  support the right to have an abortion, followed by 62% of white Catholics and 57% of Hispanic Catholics.

The findings show that interfaith views on abortion may not be as simple as they appear during political debate, where the voices of white evangelical legislators and advocates can be the loudest.

States Newsroom spoke with Abrahamic religious scholars  specifically, experts in Catholicism, Islam and Judaism  and reproductive rights advocates about varying perspectives on abortion and their history.

Abortion views in America before Roe v. Wade

The Moral Majority  a voting bloc of white, conservative evangelicals who rose to prominence after the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973  is often associated with spearheading legislation to restrict abortion.

Gillian Frank is a historian specializing in religion, gender and sexuality who teaches at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Frank said evangelical views on abortion were actually more ambivalent before the early 70s Roe decision established the federal right to terminate a pregnancy. (The Supreme Court upended that precedent about two years ago.)

What we have to understand is that evangelicals, alongside mainline Protestants and Jews of various denominations, supported what was called therapeutic abortion, which is to say abortion for certain exceptional causes, Frank said, including saving the life or health of the mother, fetal abnormalities, rape, incest and the pregnancy of a minor. Religious bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals said abortion was OK in certain circumstances, he added.

Evangelical Protestants before Roe did not endorse elective abortions, Frank said, or what they called abortion on demand, a phrase invoked by abortion-rights opponents today that he said entered the American lexicon around 1962.

The 1973 ruling was seismic and led organizations opposing abortion, such as the National Right to Life Committee  formed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops  to sprout across the country, according to an article published four years later in Southern Exposure. Catholic leaders often lobbied other religious groups  evangelicals, Mormons, orthodox Jews  to join their movement and likened abortion to murder in their newspapers.

After Roe, abortion is increasingly associated with womens liberation in popular rhetoric in popular culture, because of the activism of the womens movement but also because of the ways in which the anti-abortion movement is associating abortion with familial decline, Frank said. Those sentiments, he said, were spread by conservative figures like Phyllis Schlafly, a Catholic opposed to feminism and abortion, who campaigned against and managed to block the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

Polls suggest the views of Catholic clergy and laypeople diverge

Catholicism is generally synonymous with opposition to abortion. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church has stood against abortion since the first century. The conference points to Jeremiah 1:5 in the Bible to back up arguments that pregnancy termination is contrary to the moral law.

But nearly 6 in 10 American Catholics believe abortion should be mostly legal, according to a Pew Research Center report released last month.

Catholics for Choice spokesperson Ashley Wilson said that theres a disconnect between the church as an institution and its laity. We recognize that part of the problem is that the Catholic clergy, and the people who write the official teaching of the church, are all or mostly white male  my boss likes to say ostensibly celibate men  who dont have wives, Wilson said. They dont have daughters. They have no inroads into the lives of laypeople.

Her group plans on going to Vatican City in Rome this fall to lift up stories of Catholics whove had abortions. The organization is also actively involved in efforts to restore abortion access  14 states have near-total bans  through direct ballot measures in Colorado, Florida and Missouri this year.

Catholic dioceses and fraternities are often behind counter-efforts to proposed ballot questions. They poured millions into campaigns in Kansas and Kentucky in 2022 to push anti-abortion amendments, and also in Ohio last year to defeat a reproductive rights ballot measure but they failed in each state.

Ensoulment and mercy in Islam

Tenets of Islam  the second largest faith in the world  often make references to how far along a persons pregnancy is and whether there are complications. University of Colorado Law professor Rabea Benhalim, an expert of Islamic and Judaic law, said theres a common belief that at 40 days gestation, the embryo is akin to a drop of fluid. After 120 days, the fetus gains a soul, she said.

While the Quran doesnt specifically speak to abortion, Benhalim said Chapter 23: 12-14 is considered a description of a fetus in a womb. The verses are deeply important in the development of abortion jurisprudence within Islamic law, because theres an understanding that life is something that is emerging over a period of stages.

In some restrictive interpretations of Islam, theres a limit on abortion after 40 days, or seven weeks after implantation, Benhalim said. In other interpretations, because ensoulment doesnt occur until 120 days of gestation, abortion is generally permitted in some Muslim communities for various reasons, she said. After ensoulment, abortion is allowed if the mothers life is in danger, according to religious doctrine.

Sahar Pirzada, the director of movement building at HEART, a reproductive justice organization focused on sexual health and education in Muslim American communities, confirmed that some Muslims believe in the 40-day mark, while others adhere to the 120-day mark when weighing abortion.

How can you make a black-and-white ruling on something that is going to be applied across the board when everyones situation is different? she asked. Theres a lot of compassion and mercy with how were supposed to approach matters of the womb.

The issue is personal for Pirzada, who had an abortion in 2018 after her fetus received a fatal diagnosis of trisomy 18 when she was 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to terminate within the 120-day mark, which gave me a few more weeks, she said.

She consulted scholars and Islamic teachings before making the decision to end her pregnancy, she said, and mentioned the importance of rahma  mercy  in Islam. I tried to embody that spirit of compassion for myself, she said.

Pirzada, who is now a mother of two, had the procedure at exactly 14 weeks on a day six years ago that was both Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. She said she felt loved and surrounded by people of faith at the hospital, where some health care workers had crosses marked in ash on their foreheads. I felt very appreciative that they were offering me care on a day that was spiritual for them, she said.

Seeing the stories of people with pregnancy complications in the period since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion has left her grief stricken. For instance, Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose fetus had the same diagnosis as Pirzadas, was denied an abortion by the state Supreme Court in December. Cox had to travel elsewhere for care, Texas Tribune reported.

Benhalim, the University of Colorado expert, said teachings in Islam and Judaism offer solace to followers who are considering abortion, as they can provide guidance during difficult decisions.

No fetal personhood in Judaism

In Jewish texts, the embryo is referred to as water before 40 days of gestation, according to the National Council of Jewish Women. Exodus: 21:22-23 in the Torah mentions a hypothetical situation where two men are fighting and injure a pregnant woman. If she has a miscarriage, the men are only fined. But if she is seriously injured and dies, the penalty shall be a life for a life.

This part of the Torah is interpreted to mean that a fetus does not have personhood, and the men didnt commit murder, according to the council. But this may not be a catchall belief  Benhalim noted that denominations of Judaism have different opinions on abortion.

Today, Jewish Americans have been at the forefront of legal challenges to abortion bans based on religious freedom in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Many of the lawsuits have interfaith groups of plaintiffs and argue that restrictions on termination infringe on their religion.

The legal challenge in Indiana has been the most successful. Hoosier Jews for Choice and five anonymous plaintiffs sued members of the state medical licensing board in summer 2022, when Indianas near-total abortion ban initially took effect.

Plaintiffs argued that the ban violated the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the court later let the claim receive class-action status. Several Jewish Hoosiers said they believe life begins after a babys first breath, and that abortion is required to protect the mothers health and life, according to court documents.

Last month, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs have the right to sue the state but sent the request for a temporary halt on the ban back to a lower court.

While the decision was unanimous, Judge Mark Bailey issued a separate concurring opinion explaining his reasoning and criticizing lawmakers  an overwhelming majority of whom have not experienced childbirth  who assert they are protectors of life from the point of conception.

In my view, this is an adoption of a religious viewpoint held by some, but certainly not all, Hoosiers, he wrote. The least that can be expected is that remaining Hoosiers of child bearing ability will be given the opportunity to act in accordance with their own consciences and religious creeds.

Editors note: This article was updated to specify Evangelical Protestants in particular did not endorse elective abortions before Roe.

The post Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate appeared first on North Dakota Monitor.
Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate

Demonstrators at the "Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice" at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Updated, 1:54 p.m., 5/7/24

Lawmakers who oppose abortion often invoke their faith  many identify as Christian  while debating policy.

The anti-abortion movements use of Christianity in arguments might create the impression that broad swaths of religious Americans dont support abortion rights. But a recent report shows that Americans of various faiths and denominations believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to a Public Religion Research Institute survey of some 22,000 U.S. adults released last week, 93% of Unitarian Universalists, 81% of Jews, 79% of Buddhists and 60% of Muslims also hold that view.

Researchers also found that most people who adhere to the two major branches of Christianity  Catholicism and Protestantism  also believe abortion should be mostly legal, save for three groups: white evangelical Protestants, Latter-day Saints and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed abortion. But the poll found that 73% of Catholics of color  PRRI defines this group as Black, Asian, Native American and multiracial Americans  support the right to have an abortion, followed by 62% of white Catholics and 57% of Hispanic Catholics.

The findings show that interfaith views on abortion may not be as simple as they appear during political debate, where the voices of white evangelical legislators and advocates can be the loudest.

States Newsroom spoke with Abrahamic religious scholars  specifically, experts in Catholicism, Islam and Judaism  and reproductive rights advocates about varying perspectives on abortion and their history.

Abortion views in America before Roe v. Wade

The Moral Majority  a voting bloc of white, conservative evangelicals who rose to prominence after the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973  is often associated with spearheading legislation to restrict abortion.

Gillian Frank is a historian specializing in religion, gender and sexuality who teaches at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Frank said evangelical views on abortion were actually more ambivalent before the early 70s Roe decision established the federal right to terminate a pregnancy. (The Supreme Court upended that precedent about two years ago.)

What we have to understand is that evangelicals, alongside mainline Protestants and Jews of various denominations, supported what was called therapeutic abortion, which is to say abortion for certain exceptional causes, Frank said, including saving the life or health of the mother, fetal abnormalities, rape, incest and the pregnancy of a minor. Religious bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals said abortion was OK in certain circumstances, he added.

Evangelical protestants before Roe did not endorse elective abortions, Frank said, or what they called abortion on demand, a phrase invoked by abortion-rights opponents today that he said entered the American lexicon around 1962.

The 1973 ruling was seismic and led organizations opposing abortion, such as the National Right to Life Committee  formed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops  to sprout across the country, according to an article published four years later in Southern Exposure. Catholic leaders often lobbied other religious groups  evangelicals, Mormons, orthodox Jews  to join their movement and likened abortion to murder in their newspapers.

After Roe, abortion is increasingly associated with womens liberation in popular rhetoric in popular culture, because of the activism of the womens movement but also because of the ways in which the anti-abortion movement is associating abortion with familial decline, Frank said. Those sentiments, he said, were spread by conservative figures like Phyllis Schlafly, a Catholic opposed to feminism and abortion, who campaigned against and managed to block the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

Polls suggest the views of Catholic clergy and laypeople diverge

Catholicism is generally synonymous with opposition to abortion. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church has stood against abortion since the first century. The conference points to Jeremiah 1:5 in the Bible to back up arguments that pregnancy termination is contrary to the moral law.

But nearly 6 in 10 American Catholics believe abortion should be mostly legal, according to a Pew Research Center report released last month.

Catholics for Choice spokesperson Ashley Wilson said that theres a disconnect between the church as an institution and its laity. We recognize that part of the problem is that the Catholic clergy, and the people who write the official teaching of the church, are all or mostly white male  my boss likes to say ostensibly celibate men  who dont have wives, Wilson said. They dont have daughters. They have no inroads into the lives of laypeople.

Her group plans on going to Vatican City in Rome this fall to lift up stories of Catholics whove had abortions. The organization is also actively involved in efforts to restore abortion access  14 states have near-total bans  through direct ballot measures in Colorado, Florida and Missouri this year.

Catholic dioceses and fraternities are often behind counter-efforts to proposed ballot questions. They poured millions into campaigns in Kansas and Kentucky in 2022 to push anti-abortion amendments, and also in Ohio last year to defeat a reproductive rights ballot measure but they failed in each state.

Ensoulment and mercy in Islam

Tenets of Islam  the second largest faith in the world  often make references to how far along a persons pregnancy is and whether there are complications. University of Colorado Law professor Rabea Benhalim, an expert of Islamic and Judaic law, said theres a common belief that at 40 days gestation, the embryo is akin to a drop of fluid. After 120 days, the fetus gains a soul, she said.

While the Quran doesnt specifically speak to abortion, Benhalim said Chapter 23: 12-14 is considered a description of a fetus in a womb. The verses are deeply important in the development of abortion jurisprudence within Islamic law, because theres an understanding that life is something that is emerging over a period of stages.

In some restrictive interpretations of Islam, theres a limit on abortion after 40 days, or seven weeks after implantation, Benhalim said. In other interpretations, because ensoulment doesnt occur until 120 days of gestation, abortion is generally permitted in some Muslim communities for various reasons, she said. After ensoulment, abortion is allowed if the mothers life is in danger, according to religious doctrine.

Sahar Pirzada, the director of movement building at HEART, a reproductive justice organization focused on sexual health and education in Muslim American communities, confirmed that some Muslims believe in the 40-day mark, while others adhere to the 120-day mark when weighing abortion.

How can you make a black-and-white ruling on something that is going to be applied across the board when everyones situation is different? she asked. Theres a lot of compassion and mercy with how were supposed to approach matters of the womb.

The issue is personal for Pirzada, who had an abortion in 2018 after her fetus received a fatal diagnosis of trisomy 18 when she was 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to terminate within the 120-day mark, which gave me a few more weeks, she said.

She consulted scholars and Islamic teachings before making the decision to end her pregnancy, she said, and mentioned the importance of rahma  mercy  in Islam. I tried to embody that spirit of compassion for myself, she said.

Pirzada, who is now a mother of two, had the procedure at exactly 14 weeks on a day six years ago that was both Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. She said she felt loved and surrounded by people of faith at the hospital, where some health care workers had crosses marked in ash on their foreheads. I felt very appreciative that they were offering me care on a day that was spiritual for them, she said.

Seeing the stories of people with pregnancy complications in the period since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion has left her grief stricken. For instance, Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose fetus had the same diagnosis as Pirzadas, was denied an abortion by the state Supreme Court in December. Cox had to travel elsewhere for care, Texas Tribune reported.

Benhalim, the University of Colorado expert, said teachings in Islam and Judaism offer solace to followers who are considering abortion, as they can provide guidance during difficult decisions.

A man who declined to give his name leads the anti-abortion crowd in prayer. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)

No fetal personhood in Judaism

In Jewish texts, the embryo is referred to as water before 40 days of gestation, according to the National Council of Jewish Women. Exodus: 21:22-23 in the Torah mentions a hypothetical situation where two men are fighting and injure a pregnant woman. If she has a miscarriage, the men are only fined. But if she is seriously injured and dies, the penalty shall be a life for a life.

This part of the Torah is interpreted to mean that a fetus does not have personhood, and the men didnt commit murder, according to the council. But this may not be a catchall belief  Benhalim noted that denominations of Judaism have different opinions on abortion.

Today, Jewish Americans have been at the forefront of legal challenges to abortion bans based on religious freedom in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Many of the lawsuits have interfaith groups of plaintiffs and argue that restrictions on termination infringe on their religion.

The legal challenge in Indiana has been the most successful. Hoosier Jews for Choice and five anonymous plaintiffs sued members of the state medical licensing board in summer 2022, when Indianas near-total abortion ban initially took effect.

Plaintiffs argued that the ban violated the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the court later let the claim receive class-action status. Several Jewish Hoosiers said they believe life begins after a babys first breath, and that abortion is required to protect the mothers health and life, according to court documents.

Last month, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs have the right to sue the state but sent the request for a temporary halt on the ban back to a lower court.

While the decision was unanimous, Judge Mark Bailey issued a separate concurring opinion explaining his reasoning and criticizing lawmakers  an overwhelming majority of whom have not experienced childbirth  who assert they are protectors of life from the point of conception.

In my view, this is an adoption of a religious viewpoint held by some, but certainly not all, Hoosiers, he wrote. The least that can be expected is that remaining Hoosiers of child bearing ability will be given the opportunity to act in accordance with their own consciences and religious creeds.

Editors note: This article was updated to specify Evangelical Protestants in particular did not endorse elective abortions before Roe.

SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE

The post Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate appeared first on Michigan Advance.
Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate

Protesters cheer as they attend the "Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice" at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Protesters cheer as they attend the "Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice" at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Lawmakers who oppose abortion often invoke their faith  many identify as Christian  while debating policy.

The anti-abortion movements use of Christianity in arguments might create the impression that broad swaths of religious Americans dont support abortion rights. But a recent report shows that Americans of various faiths and denominations believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to a Public Religion Research Institute survey of some 22,000 U.S. adults released last week, 93% of Unitarian Universalists, 81% of Jews, 79% of Buddhists and 60% of Muslims also hold that view.

Researchers also found that most people who adhere to the two major branches of Christianity  Catholicism and Protestantism  also believe abortion should be mostly legal, save for three groups: white evangelical Protestants, Latter-day Saints and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed abortion. But the poll found that 73% of Catholics of color  PRRI defines this group as Black, Asian, Native American and multiracial Americans  support the right to have an abortion, followed by 62% of white Catholics and 57% of Hispanic Catholics.

The findings show that interfaith views on abortion may not be as simple as they appear during political debate, where the voices of white evangelical legislators and advocates can be the loudest.

States Newsroom spoke with Abrahamic religious scholars  specifically, experts in Catholicism, Islam and Judaism  and reproductive rights advocates about varying perspectives on abortion and their history.

Abortion views in America before Roe v. Wade

The Moral Majority  a voting bloc of white, conservative evangelicals who rose to prominence after the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973  is often associated with spearheading legislation to restrict abortion.

Gillian Frank is a historian specializing in religion, gender and sexuality who teaches at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Frank said evangelical views on abortion were actually more ambivalent before the early 70s Roe decision established the federal right to terminate a pregnancy. (The Supreme Court upended that precedent about two years ago.)

What we have to understand is that evangelicals, alongside mainline Protestants and Jews of various denominations, supported what was called therapeutic abortion, which is to say abortion for certain exceptional causes, Frank said, including saving the life or health of the mother, fetal abnormalities, rape, incest and the pregnancy of a minor. Religious bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals said abortion was OK in certain circumstances, he added.

Evangelical Protestants before Roe did not endorse elective abortions, Frank said, or what they called abortion on demand, a phrase invoked by abortion-rights opponents today that he said entered the American lexicon around 1962.

The 1973 ruling was seismic and led organizations opposing abortion, such as the National Right to Life Committee  formed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops  to sprout across the country, according to an article published four years later in Southern Exposure. Catholic leaders often lobbied other religious groups  evangelicals, Mormons, orthodox Jews  to join their movement and likened abortion to murder in their newspapers.

After Roe, abortion is increasingly associated with womens liberation in popular rhetoric in popular culture, because of the activism of the womens movement but also because of the ways in which the anti-abortion movement is associating abortion with familial decline, Frank said. Those sentiments, he said, were spread by conservative figures like Phyllis Schlafly, a Catholic opposed to feminism and abortion, who campaigned against and managed to block the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

Polls suggest the views of Catholic clergy and laypeople diverge

Catholicism is generally synonymous with opposition to abortion. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church has stood against abortion since the first century. The conference points to Jeremiah 1:5 in the Bible to back up arguments that pregnancy termination is contrary to the moral law.

But nearly 6 in 10 American Catholics believe abortion should be mostly legal, according to a Pew Research Center report released last month.

Catholics for Choice spokesperson Ashley Wilson said that theres a disconnect between the church as an institution and its laity. We recognize that part of the problem is that the Catholic clergy, and the people who write the official teaching of the church, are all or mostly white male  my boss likes to say ostensibly celibate men  who dont have wives, Wilson said. They dont have daughters. They have no inroads into the lives of laypeople.

Her group plans on going to Vatican City in Rome this fall to lift up stories of Catholics whove had abortions. The organization is also actively involved in efforts to restore abortion access  14 states have near-total bans  through direct ballot measures in Colorado, Florida and Missouri this year.

Catholic dioceses and fraternities are often behind counter-efforts to proposed ballot questions. They poured millions into campaigns in Kansas and Kentucky in 2022 to push anti-abortion amendments, and also in Ohio last year to defeat a reproductive rights ballot measure but they failed in each state.

Ensoulment and mercy in Islam

Tenets of Islam  the second largest faith in the world  often make references to how far along a persons pregnancy is and whether there are complications. University of Colorado Law professor Rabea Benhalim, an expert of Islamic and Judaic law, said theres a common belief that at 40 days gestation, the embryo is akin to a drop of fluid. After 120 days, the fetus gains a soul, she said.

While the Quran doesnt specifically speak to abortion, Benhalim said Chapter 23: 12-14 is considered a description of a fetus in a womb. The verses are deeply important in the development of abortion jurisprudence within Islamic law, because theres an understanding that life is something that is emerging over a period of stages.

In some restrictive interpretations of Islam, theres a limit on abortion after 40 days, or seven weeks after implantation, Benhalim said. In other interpretations, because ensoulment doesnt occur until 120 days of gestation, abortion is generally permitted in some Muslim communities for various reasons, she said. After ensoulment, abortion is allowed if the mothers life is in danger, according to religious doctrine.

Sahar Pirzada, the director of movement building at HEART, a reproductive justice organization focused on sexual health and education in Muslim American communities, confirmed that some Muslims believe in the 40-day mark, while others adhere to the 120-day mark when weighing abortion.

How can you make a black-and-white ruling on something that is going to be applied across the board when everyones situation is different? she asked. Theres a lot of compassion and mercy with how were supposed to approach matters of the womb.

The issue is personal for Pirzada, who had an abortion in 2018 after her fetus received a fatal diagnosis of trisomy 18 when she was 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to terminate within the 120-day mark, which gave me a few more weeks, she said.

She consulted scholars and Islamic teachings before making the decision to end her pregnancy, she said, and mentioned the importance of rahma  mercy  in Islam. I tried to embody that spirit of compassion for myself, she said.

Pirzada, who is now a mother of two, had the procedure at exactly 14 weeks on a day six years ago that was both Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. She said she felt loved and surrounded by people of faith at the hospital, where some health care workers had crosses marked in ash on their foreheads. I felt very appreciative that they were offering me care on a day that was spiritual for them, she said.

Seeing the stories of people with pregnancy complications in the period since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion has left her grief stricken. For instance, Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose fetus had the same diagnosis as Pirzadas, was denied an abortion by the state Supreme Court in December. Cox had to travel elsewhere for care, Texas Tribune reported.

Benhalim, the University of Colorado expert, said teachings in Islam and Judaism offer solace to followers who are considering abortion, as they can provide guidance during difficult decisions.

No fetal personhood in Judaism

In Jewish texts, the embryo is referred to as water before 40 days of gestation, according to the National Council of Jewish Women. Exodus: 21:22-23 in the Torah mentions a hypothetical situation where two men are fighting and injure a pregnant woman. If she has a miscarriage, the men are only fined. But if she is seriously injured and dies, the penalty shall be a life for a life.

This part of the Torah is interpreted to mean that a fetus does not have personhood, and the men didnt commit murder, according to the council. But this may not be a catchall belief  Benhalim noted that denominations of Judaism have different opinions on abortion.

Today, Jewish Americans have been at the forefront of legal challenges to abortion bans based on religious freedom in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Many of the lawsuits have interfaith groups of plaintiffs and argue that restrictions on termination infringe on their religion.

SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE

The legal challenge in Indiana has been the most successful. Hoosier Jews for Choice and five anonymous plaintiffs sued members of the state medical licensing board in summer 2022, when Indianas near-total abortion ban initially took effect.

Plaintiffs argued that the ban violated the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the court later let the claim receive class-action status. Several Jewish Hoosiers said they believe life begins after a babys first breath, and that abortion is required to protect the mothers health and life, according to court documents.

Last month, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs have the right to sue the state but sent the request for a temporary halt on the ban back to a lower court.

While the decision was unanimous, Judge Mark Bailey issued a separate concurring opinion explaining his reasoning and criticizing lawmakers  an overwhelming majority of whom have not experienced childbirth  who assert they are protectors of life from the point of conception.

In my view, this is an adoption of a religious viewpoint held by some, but certainly not all, Hoosiers, he wrote. The least that can be expected is that remaining Hoosiers of child bearing ability will be given the opportunity to act in accordance with their own consciences and religious creeds.

EDITORS NOTE: This article was updated to specify Evangelical Protestants in particular did not endorse elective abortions before Roe.

The post Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate appeared first on South Dakota Searchlight.
Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate

Demonstrators at the Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Lawmakers who oppose abortion often invoke their faith  many identify as Christian  while debating policy.

The anti-abortion movements use of Christianity in arguments might create the impression that broad swaths of religious Americans dont support abortion rights. But a recent report shows that Americans of various faiths and denominations believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to a Public Religion Research Institute survey of some 22,000 U.S. adults released last week, 93% of Unitarian Universalists, 81% of Jews, 79% of Buddhists and 60% of Muslims also hold that view.

Researchers also found that most people who adhere to the two major branches of Christianity  Catholicism and Protestantism  also believe abortion should be mostly legal, save for three groups: white evangelical Protestants, Latter-day Saints and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed abortion. But the poll found that 73% of Catholics of color  PRRI defines this group as Black, Asian, Native American and multiracial Americans  support the right to have an abortion, followed by 62% of white Catholics and 57% of Hispanic Catholics.

The findings show that interfaith views on abortion may not be as simple as they appear during political debate, where the voices of white evangelical legislators and advocates can be the loudest.

States Newsroom spoke with Abrahamic religious scholars  specifically, experts in Catholicism, Islam and Judaism  and reproductive rights advocates about varying perspectives on abortion and their history.

Abortion views in America before Roe v. Wade

The Moral Majority  a voting bloc of white, conservative evangelicals who rose to prominence after the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973  is often associated with spearheading legislation to restrict abortion.

Gillian Frank is a historian specializing in religion, gender and sexuality who teaches at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Frank said evangelical views on abortion were actually more ambivalent before the early 70s Roe decision established the federal right to terminate a pregnancy. (The Supreme Court upended that precedent about two years ago.)

Theres a lot of compassion and mercy with how were supposed to approach matters of the womb.

 Sahar Pirzada, HEART director of movement building

What we have to understand is that evangelicals, alongside mainline Protestants and Jews of various denominations, supported what was called therapeutic abortion, which is to say abortion for certain exceptional causes, Frank said, including saving the life or health of the mother, fetal abnormalities, rape, incest and the pregnancy of a minor. Religious bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals said abortion was OK in certain circumstances, he added.

Evangelical Protestants before Roe did not endorse elective abortions, Frank said, or what they called abortion on demand, a phrase invoked by abortion-rights opponents today that he said entered the American lexicon around 1962.

The 1973 ruling was seismic and led organizations opposing abortion, such as the National Right to Life Committee  formed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops  to sprout across the country, according to an article published four years later in Southern Exposure. Catholic leaders often lobbied other religious groups  evangelicals, Mormons, orthodox Jews  to join their movement and likened abortion to murder in their newspapers.

After Roe, abortion is increasingly associated with womens liberation in popular rhetoric in popular culture, because of the activism of the womens movement but also because of the ways in which the anti-abortion movement is associating abortion with familial decline, Frank said. Those sentiments, he said, were spread by conservative figures like Phyllis Schlafly, a Catholic opposed to feminism and abortion, who campaigned against and managed to block the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

Polls suggest the views of Catholic clergy and laypeople diverge

Catholicism is generally synonymous with opposition to abortion. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church has stood against abortion since the first century. The conference points to Jeremiah 1:5 in the Bible to back up arguments that pregnancy termination is contrary to the moral law.

But nearly 6 in 10 American Catholics believe abortion should be mostly legal, according to a Pew Research Center report released last month.

Catholics for Choice spokesperson Ashley Wilson said that theres a disconnect between the church as an institution and its laity. We recognize that part of the problem is that the Catholic clergy, and the people who write the official teaching of the church, are all or mostly white male  my boss likes to say ostensibly celibate men  who dont have wives, Wilson said. They dont have daughters. They have no inroads into the lives of laypeople.

Her group plans on going to Vatican City in Rome this fall to lift up stories of Catholics whove had abortions. The organization is also actively involved in efforts to restore abortion access  14 states have near-total bans  through direct ballot measures in Colorado, Florida and Missouri this year.

Catholic dioceses and fraternities are often behind counter-efforts to proposed ballot questions. They poured millions into campaigns in Kansas and Kentucky in 2022 to push anti-abortion amendments, and also in Ohio last year to defeat a reproductive rights ballot measure but they failed in each state.

Ensoulment and mercy in Islam

Tenets of Islam  the second largest faith in the world  often make references to how far along a persons pregnancy is and whether there are complications. University of Colorado Law professor Rabea Benhalim, an expert of Islamic and Judaic law, said theres a common belief that at 40 days gestation, the embryo is akin to a drop of fluid. After 120 days, the fetus gains a soul, she said.

While the Quran doesnt specifically speak to abortion, Benhalim said Chapter 23: 12-14 is considered a description of a fetus in a womb. The verses are deeply important in the development of abortion jurisprudence within Islamic law, because theres an understanding that life is something that is emerging over a period of stages.

In some restrictive interpretations of Islam, theres a limit on abortion after 40 days, or seven weeks after implantation, Benhalim said. In other interpretations, because ensoulment doesnt occur until 120 days of gestation, abortion is generally permitted in some Muslim communities for various reasons, she said. After ensoulment, abortion is allowed if the mothers life is in danger, according to religious doctrine.

Sahar Pirzada, the director of movement building at HEART, a reproductive justice organization focused on sexual health and education in Muslim American communities, confirmed that some Muslims believe in the 40-day mark, while others adhere to the 120-day mark when weighing abortion.

How can you make a black-and-white ruling on something that is going to be applied across the board when everyones situation is different? she asked. Theres a lot of compassion and mercy with how were supposed to approach matters of the womb.

The issue is personal for Pirzada, who had an abortion in 2018 after her fetus received a fatal diagnosis of trisomy 18 when she was 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to terminate within the 120-day mark, which gave me a few more weeks, she said.

She consulted scholars and Islamic teachings before making the decision to end her pregnancy, she said, and mentioned the importance of rahma  mercy  in Islam. I tried to embody that spirit of compassion for myself, she said.

Pirzada, who is now a mother of two, had the procedure at exactly 14 weeks on a day six years ago that was both Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. She said she felt loved and surrounded by people of faith at the hospital, where some health care workers had crosses marked in ash on their foreheads. I felt very appreciative that they were offering me care on a day that was spiritual for them, she said.

Seeing the stories of people with pregnancy complications in the period since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion has left her grief stricken. For instance, Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose fetus had the same diagnosis as Pirzadas, was denied an abortion by the state Supreme Court in December. Cox had to travel elsewhere for care, Texas Tribune reported.

Benhalim, the University of Colorado expert, said teachings in Islam and Judaism offer solace to followers who are considering abortion, as they can provide guidance during difficult decisions.

No fetal personhood in Judaism

In Jewish texts, the embryo is referred to as water before 40 days of gestation, according to the National Council of Jewish Women. Exodus: 21:22-23 in the Torah mentions a hypothetical situation where two men are fighting and injure a pregnant woman. If she has a miscarriage, the men are only fined. But if she is seriously injured and dies, the penalty shall be a life for a life.

This part of the Torah is interpreted to mean that a fetus does not have personhood, and the men didnt commit murder, according to the council. But this may not be a catchall belief  Benhalim noted that denominations of Judaism have different opinions on abortion.

Today, Jewish Americans have been at the forefront of legal challenges to abortion bans based on religious freedom in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Many of the lawsuits have interfaith groups of plaintiffs and argue that restrictions on termination infringe on their religion.

The legal challenge in Indiana has been the most successful. Hoosier Jews for Choice and five anonymous plaintiffs sued members of the state medical licensing board in summer 2022, when Indianas near-total abortion ban initially took effect.

Plaintiffs argued that the ban violated the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the court later let the claim receive class-action status. Several Jewish Hoosiers said they believe life begins after a babys first breath, and that abortion is required to protect the mothers health and life, according to court documents.

Last month, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs have the right to sue the state but sent the request for a temporary halt on the ban back to a lower court.

While the decision was unanimous, Judge Mark Bailey issued a separate concurring opinion explaining his reasoning and criticizing lawmakers  an overwhelming majority of whom have not experienced childbirth  who assert they are protectors of life from the point of conception.

In my view, this is an adoption of a religious viewpoint held by some, but certainly not all, Hoosiers, he wrote. The least that can be expected is that remaining Hoosiers of child bearing ability will be given the opportunity to act in accordance with their own consciences and religious creeds.

Editors note: This article was updated to specify Evangelical Protestants in particular did not endorse elective abortions before Roe.

SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE

The post Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate appeared first on Maine Morning Star.
Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate

Demonstrators at the Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice at Union Square near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Lawmakers who oppose abortion often invoke their faith  many identify as Christian  while debating policy.

The anti-abortion movements use of Christianity in arguments might create the impression that broad swaths of religious Americans dont support abortion rights. But a recent report shows that Americans of various faiths and denominations believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to a Public Religion Research Institute survey of some 22,000 U.S. adults released last week, 93% of Unitarian Universalists, 81% of Jews, 79% of Buddhists and 60% of Muslims also hold that view.

Researchers also found that most people who adhere to the two major branches of Christianity  Catholicism and Protestantism  also believe abortion should be mostly legal, save for three groups: white evangelical Protestants, Latter-day Saints and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Historically, the Catholic Church has opposed abortion. But the poll found that 73% of Catholics of color  PRRI defines this group as Black, Asian, Native American and multiracial Americans  support the right to have an abortion, followed by 62% of white Catholics and 57% of Hispanic Catholics.

The findings show that interfaith views on abortion may not be as simple as they appear during political debate, where the voices of white evangelical legislators and advocates can be the loudest.

States Newsroom spoke with Abrahamic religious scholars  specifically, experts in Catholicism, Islam and Judaism  and reproductive rights advocates about varying perspectives on abortion and their history.

Abortion views in America before Roe v. Wade

The Moral Majority  a voting bloc of white, conservative evangelicals who rose to prominence after the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973  is often associated with spearheading legislation to restrict abortion.

Gillian Frank is a historian specializing in religion, gender and sexuality who teaches at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Frank said evangelical views on abortion were actually more ambivalent before the early 70s Roe decision established the federal right to terminate a pregnancy. (The Supreme Court upended that precedent about two years ago.)

What we have to understand is that evangelicals, alongside mainline Protestants and Jews of various denominations, supported what was called therapeutic abortion, which is to say abortion for certain exceptional causes, Frank said, including saving the life or health of the mother, fetal abnormalities, rape, incest and the pregnancy of a minor. Religious bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals said abortion was OK in certain circumstances, he added.

Evangelical Protestants before Roe did not endorse elective abortions, Frank said, or what they called abortion on demand, a phrase invoked by abortion-rights opponents today that he said entered the American lexicon around 1962.

The 1973 ruling was seismic and led organizations opposing abortion, such as the National Right to Life Committee  formed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops  to sprout across the country, according to an article published four years later in Southern Exposure. Catholic leaders often lobbied other religious groups  evangelicals, Mormons, orthodox Jews  to join their movement and likened abortion to murder in their newspapers.

After Roe, abortion is increasingly associated with womens liberation in popular rhetoric in popular culture, because of the activism of the womens movement but also because of the ways in which the anti-abortion movement is associating abortion with familial decline, Frank said. Those sentiments, he said, were spread by conservative figures like Phyllis Schlafly, a Catholic opposed to feminism and abortion, who campaigned against and managed to block the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

Polls suggest the views of Catholic clergy and laypeople diverge

Catholicism is generally synonymous with opposition to abortion. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the church has stood against abortion since the first century. The conference points to Jeremiah 1:5 in the Bible to back up arguments that pregnancy termination is contrary to the moral law.

But nearly 6 in 10 American Catholics believe abortion should be mostly legal, according to a Pew Research Center report released last month.

Catholics for Choice spokesperson Ashley Wilson said that theres a disconnect between the church as an institution and its laity. We recognize that part of the problem is that the Catholic clergy, and the people who write the official teaching of the church, are all or mostly white male  my boss likes to say ostensibly celibate men  who dont have wives, Wilson said. They dont have daughters. They have no inroads into the lives of laypeople.

Her group plans on going to Vatican City in Rome this fall to lift up stories of Catholics whove had abortions. The organization is also actively involved in efforts to restore abortion access  14 states have near-total bans  through direct ballot measures in Colorado, Florida and Missouri this year.

Catholic dioceses and fraternities are often behind counter-efforts to proposed ballot questions. They poured millions into campaigns in Kansas and Kentucky in 2022 to push anti-abortion amendments, and also in Ohio last year to defeat a reproductive rights ballot measure but they failed in each state.

Ensoulment and mercy in Islam

Tenets of Islam  the second largest faith in the world  often make references to how far along a persons pregnancy is and whether there are complications. University of Colorado Law professor Rabea Benhalim, an expert of Islamic and Judaic law, said theres a common belief that at 40 days gestation, the embryo is akin to a drop of fluid. After 120 days, the fetus gains a soul, she said.

While the Quran doesnt specifically speak to abortion, Benhalim said Chapter 23: 12-14 is considered a description of a fetus in a womb. The verses are deeply important in the development of abortion jurisprudence within Islamic law, because theres an understanding that life is something that is emerging over a period of stages.

In some restrictive interpretations of Islam, theres a limit on abortion after 40 days, or seven weeks after implantation, Benhalim said. In other interpretations, because ensoulment doesnt occur until 120 days of gestation, abortion is generally permitted in some Muslim communities for various reasons, she said. After ensoulment, abortion is allowed if the mothers life is in danger, according to religious doctrine.

Sahar Pirzada, the director of movement building at HEART, a reproductive justice organization focused on sexual health and education in Muslim American communities, confirmed that some Muslims believe in the 40-day mark, while others adhere to the 120-day mark when weighing abortion.

How can you make a black-and-white ruling on something that is going to be applied across the board when everyones situation is different? she asked. Theres a lot of compassion and mercy with how were supposed to approach matters of the womb.

The issue is personal for Pirzada, who had an abortion in 2018 after her fetus received a fatal diagnosis of trisomy 18 when she was 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to terminate within the 120-day mark, which gave me a few more weeks, she said.

She consulted scholars and Islamic teachings before making the decision to end her pregnancy, she said, and mentioned the importance of rahma  mercy  in Islam. I tried to embody that spirit of compassion for myself, she said.

Pirzada, who is now a mother of two, had the procedure at exactly 14 weeks on a day six years ago that was both Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. She said she felt loved and surrounded by people of faith at the hospital, where some health care workers had crosses marked in ash on their foreheads. I felt very appreciative that they were offering me care on a day that was spiritual for them, she said.

Seeing the stories of people with pregnancy complications in the period since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion has left her grief stricken. For instance, Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose fetus had the same diagnosis as Pirzadas, was denied an abortion by the state Supreme Court in December. Cox had to travel elsewhere for care, Texas Tribune reported.

Benhalim, the University of Colorado expert, said teachings in Islam and Judaism offer solace to followers who are considering abortion, as they can provide guidance during difficult decisions.

No fetal personhood in Judaism

In Jewish texts, the embryo is referred to as water before 40 days of gestation, according to the National Council of Jewish Women. Exodus: 21:22-23 in the Torah mentions a hypothetical situation where two men are fighting and injure a pregnant woman. If she has a miscarriage, the men are only fined. But if she is seriously injured and dies, the penalty shall be a life for a life.

This part of the Torah is interpreted to mean that a fetus does not have personhood, and the men didnt commit murder, according to the council. But this may not be a catchall belief  Benhalim noted that denominations of Judaism have different opinions on abortion.

Today, Jewish Americans have been at the forefront of legal challenges to abortion bans based on religious freedom in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Many of the lawsuits have interfaith groups of plaintiffs and argue that restrictions on termination infringe on their religion.

The legal challenge in Indiana has been the most successful. Hoosier Jews for Choice and five anonymous plaintiffs sued members of the state medical licensing board in summer 2022, when Indianas near-total abortion ban initially took effect.

Plaintiffs argued that the ban violated the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the court later let the claim receive class-action status. Several Jewish Hoosiers said they believe life begins after a babys first breath, and that abortion is required to protect the mothers health and life, according to court documents.

Last month, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs have the right to sue the state but sent the request for a temporary halt on the ban back to a lower court.

While the decision was unanimous, Judge Mark Bailey issued a separate concurring opinion explaining his reasoning and criticizing lawmakers  an overwhelming majority of whom have not experienced childbirth  who assert they are protectors of life from the point of conception.

In my view, this is an adoption of a religious viewpoint held by some, but certainly not all, Hoosiers, he wrote. The least that can be expected is that remaining Hoosiers of child bearing ability will be given the opportunity to act in accordance with their own consciences and religious creeds.

Editors note: This article was updated to specify Evangelical Protestants in particular did not endorse elective abortions before Roe.

The post Religious views on abortion more diverse than they may appear in U.S. political debate appeared first on Washington State Standard.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a motion to vacate over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of the government funding legislation. (Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely wont, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership.

Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met privately with Johnson for two hours over disagreements about how hes been running the House with a narrow GOP majority.

Greene, speaking briefly to reporters outside the speakers office after the meeting wrapped up, didnt divulge details of what she, Massie and Johnson discussed.

Let me tell you, I have been patient. I have been diligent. I have been steady. And Ive been focused on the facts, Greene said. And none of that has changed. So I just had a long discussion with the speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Greene, standing next to Massie, then said they would be meeting again on Tuesday.

Greene repeatedly has expressed her anger that Johnson has brought successful pieces of legislation to the House floor with bipartisan backing. Some of those recent bipartisan measures include government funding packages in March and military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in April.

Johnson last week issued a statement that Greenes motion to vacate was wrong.

This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country, he wrote.

House Democratic leaders last week issued a statement vowing to back Johnson if far-right Republicans try to remove him as speaker, which makes it unlikely the motion to vacate will succeed.

In late March, Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson, following a bipartisan vote to approve the last remaining appropriations bill of fiscal year 2024. Since then, she has gained support from Massie and Arizonas Paul Gosar.

Johnson was unanimously elected to the post about seven months ago following three weeks of chaos in October, in which Republicans were unable to agree on a lawmaker to take the speakers gavel after a small group of GOP lawmakers ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

The post Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene huddles with U.S. House speaker shes trying to oust appeared first on West Virginia Watch.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a motion to vacate over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of the government funding legislation. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely wont, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership.

Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met privately with Johnson for two hours over disagreements about how hes been running the House with a narrow GOP majority.

Greene, speaking briefly to reporters outside the speakers office after the meeting wrapped up, didnt divulge details of what she, Massie and Johnson discussed.

Let me tell you, I have been patient. I have been diligent. I have been steady. And Ive been focused on the facts, Greene said. And none of that has changed. So I just had a long discussion with the speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Greene, standing next to Massie, then said they would be meeting again on Tuesday.

Greene repeatedly has expressed her anger that Johnson has brought successful pieces of legislation to the House floor with bipartisan backing. Some of those recent bipartisan measures include government funding packages in March and military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in April.

Johnson last week issued a statement that Greenes motion to vacate was wrong.

This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country, he wrote.

House Democratic leaders last week issued a statement vowing to back Johnson if far-right Republicans try to remove him as speaker, which makes it unlikely the motion to vacate will succeed.

In late March, Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson, following a bipartisan vote to approve the last remaining appropriations bill of fiscal year 2024. Since then, she has gained support from Massie and Arizonas Paul Gosar.

Johnson was unanimously elected to the post about seven months ago following three weeks of chaos in October, in which Republicans were unable to agree on a lawmaker to take the speakers gavel after a small group of GOP lawmakers ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

The post Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene huddles with U.S. House speaker shes trying to oust appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
People inspect destroyed houses following Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on May 7, 2024. At least 20 people have been killed in Israel's continuous attacks on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since Tuesday morning, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

GAZA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 people have been killed in Israel's continuous attacks on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since Tuesday morning, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israel targeted at least four residential buildings in Rafah, injuring dozens of people, according to the report.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a press statement on Tuesday that their militants "attacked Israeli soldiers stationed around the Rafah crossing." 

People inspect destroyed houses following Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on May 7, 2024. At least 20 people have been killed in Israel's continuous attacks on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since Tuesday morning, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

A resident inspects destroyed houses following Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on May 7, 2024. At least 20 people have been killed in Israel's continuous attacks on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since Tuesday morning, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

People inspect destroyed houses following Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on May 7, 2024. At least 20 people have been killed in Israel's continuous attacks on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since Tuesday morning, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

People inspect destroyed houses following Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on May 7, 2024. At least 20 people have been killed in Israel's continuous attacks on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since Tuesday morning, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a motion to vacate over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of the government funding legislation. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely wont, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership.

Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met privately with Johnson for two hours over disagreements about how hes been running the House with a narrow GOP majority.

Greene, speaking briefly to reporters outside the speakers office after the meeting wrapped up, didnt divulge details of what she, Massie and Johnson discussed.

Let me tell you, I have been patient. I have been diligent. I have been steady. And Ive been focused on the facts, Greene said. And none of that has changed. So I just had a long discussion with the speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Greene, standing next to Massie, then said they would be meeting again on Tuesday.

Greene repeatedly has expressed her anger that Johnson has brought successful pieces of legislation to the House floor with bipartisan backing. Some of those recent bipartisan measures include government funding packages in March and military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in April.

Johnson last week issued a statement that Greenes motion to vacate was wrong.

This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country, he wrote.

House Democratic leaders last week issued a statement vowing to back Johnson if far-right Republicans try to remove him as speaker, which makes it unlikely the motion to vacate will succeed.

In late March, Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson, following a bipartisan vote to approve the last remaining appropriations bill of fiscal year 2024. Since then, she has gained support from Massie and Arizonas Paul Gosar.

Johnson was unanimously elected to the post about seven months ago following three weeks of chaos in October, in which Republicans were unable to agree on a lawmaker to take the speakers gavel after a small group of GOP lawmakers ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

The post Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene huddles with U.S. House speaker shes trying to oust appeared first on Rhode Island Current.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a motion to vacate over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of the government funding legislation. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely wont, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership.

Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met privately with Johnson for two hours over disagreements about how hes been running the House with a narrow GOP majority.

Greene, speaking briefly to reporters outside the speakers office after the meeting wrapped up, didnt divulge details of what she, Massie and Johnson discussed.

Let me tell you, I have been patient. I have been diligent. I have been steady. And Ive been focused on the facts, Greene said. And none of that has changed. So I just had a long discussion with the speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Greene, standing next to Massie, then said they would be meeting again on Tuesday.

Greene repeatedly has expressed her anger that Johnson has brought successful pieces of legislation to the House floor with bipartisan backing. Some of those recent bipartisan measures include government funding packages in March and military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in April.

Johnson last week issued a statement that Greenes motion to vacate was wrong.

This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country, he wrote.

House Democratic leaders last week issued a statement vowing to back Johnson if far-right Republicans try to remove him as speaker, which makes it unlikely the motion to vacate will succeed.

In late March, Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson, following a bipartisan vote to approve the last remaining appropriations bill of fiscal year 2024. Since then, she has gained support from Massie and Arizonas Paul Gosar.

Johnson was unanimously elected to the post about seven months ago following three weeks of chaos in October, in which Republicans were unable to agree on a lawmaker to take the speakers gavel after a small group of GOP lawmakers ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

The post Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene huddles with U.S. House speaker shes trying to oust appeared first on North Dakota Monitor.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a motion to vacate over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of the government funding legislation (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images).

WASHINGTON  U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely wont, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership.

Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met privately with Johnson for two hours over disagreements about how hes been running the House with a narrow GOP majority.

Greene, speaking briefly to reporters outside the speakers office after the meeting wrapped up, didnt divulge details of what she, Massie and Johnson discussed.

Let me tell you, I have been patient. I have been diligent. I have been steady. And Ive been focused on the facts, Greene said. And none of that has changed. So I just had a long discussion with the speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Greene, standing next to Massie, then said they would be meeting again on Tuesday.

Greene repeatedly has expressed her anger that Johnson has brought successful pieces of legislation to the House floor with bipartisan backing. Some of those recent bipartisan measures include government funding packages in March and military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in April.

Johnson last week issued a statement that Greenes motion to vacate was wrong.

This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country, he wrote.

House Democratic leaders last week issued a statement vowing to back Johnson if far-right Republicans try to remove him as speaker, which makes it unlikely the motion to vacate will succeed.

In late March, Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson, following a bipartisan vote to approve the last remaining appropriations bill of fiscal year 2024. Since then, she has gained support from Massie and Arizonas Paul Gosar.

Johnson was unanimously elected to the post about seven months ago following three weeks of chaos in October, in which Republicans were unable to agree on a lawmaker to take the speakers gavel after a small group of GOP lawmakers ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

The post Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene huddles with U.S. House speaker shes trying to oust appeared first on Missouri Independent.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024 in Washington, DC. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a 'motion to vacate' over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of of the government funding legislation. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

WASHINGTON  U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely wont, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership.

Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met privately with Johnson for two hours over disagreements about how hes been running the House with a narrow GOP majority.

Greene, speaking briefly to reporters outside the speakers office after the meeting wrapped up, didnt divulge details of what she, Massie and Johnson discussed.

Let me tell you, I have been patient. I have been diligent. I have been steady. And Ive been focused on the facts, Greene said. And none of that has changed. So I just had a long discussion with the speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Greene, standing next to Massie, then said they would be meeting again on Tuesday.

Greene repeatedly has expressed her anger that Johnson has brought successful pieces of legislation to the House floor with bipartisan backing. Some of those recent bipartisan measures include government funding packages in March and military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in April.

Johnson last week issued a statement that Greenes motion to vacate was wrong.

This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country, he wrote.

House Democratic leaders last week issued a statement vowing to back Johnson if far-right Republicans try to remove him as speaker, which makes it unlikely the motion to vacate will succeed.

In late March, Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson, following a bipartisan vote to approve the last remaining appropriations bill of fiscal year 2024. Since then, she has gained support from Massie and Arizonas Paul Gosar.

Johnson was unanimously elected to the post about seven months ago following three weeks of chaos in October, in which Republicans were unable to agree on a lawmaker to take the speakers gavel after a small group of GOP lawmakers ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

The post Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene huddles with U.S. House speaker shes trying to oust appeared first on Michigan Advance.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a motion to vacate over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of the government funding legislation. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely wont, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership.

Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met privately with Johnson for two hours over disagreements about how hes been running the House with a narrow GOP majority.

Greene, speaking briefly to reporters outside the speakers office after the meeting wrapped up, didnt divulge details of what she, Massie and Johnson discussed.

Let me tell you, I have been patient. I have been diligent. I have been steady. And Ive been focused on the facts, Greene said. And none of that has changed. So I just had a long discussion with the speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Greene, standing next to Massie, then said they would be meeting again on Tuesday.

Greene repeatedly has expressed her anger that Johnson has brought successful pieces of legislation to the House floor with bipartisan backing. Some of those recent bipartisan measures include government funding packages in March and military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in April.

Johnson last week issued a statement that Greenes motion to vacate was wrong.

This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country, he wrote.

House Democratic leaders last week issued a statement vowing to back Johnson if far-right Republicans try to remove him as speaker, which makes it unlikely the motion to vacate will succeed.

In late March, Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson, following a bipartisan vote to approve the last remaining appropriations bill of fiscal year 2024. Since then, she has gained support from Massie and Arizonas Paul Gosar.

Johnson was unanimously elected to the post about seven months ago following three weeks of chaos in October, in which Republicans were unable to agree on a lawmaker to take the speakers gavel after a small group of GOP lawmakers ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

The post Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene huddles with U.S. House speaker shes trying to oust appeared first on Wisconsin Examiner.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, speak to reporters in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a motion to vacate over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of the government funding legislation. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely wont, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership.

Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met privately with Johnson for two hours over disagreements about how hes been running the House with a narrow GOP majority.

Greene, speaking briefly to reporters outside the speakers office after the meeting wrapped up, didnt divulge details of what she, Massie and Johnson discussed.

Let me tell you, I have been patient. I have been diligent. I have been steady. And Ive been focused on the facts, Greene said. And none of that has changed. So I just had a long discussion with the speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Greene, standing next to Massie, then said they would be meeting again on Tuesday.

Greene repeatedly has expressed her anger that Johnson has brought successful pieces of legislation to the House floor with bipartisan backing. Some of those recent bipartisan measures include government funding packages in March and military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in April.

Johnson last week issued a statement that Greenes motion to vacate was wrong.

This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country, he wrote.

House Democratic leaders last week issued a statement vowing to back Johnson if far-right Republicans try to remove him as speaker, which makes it unlikely the motion to vacate will succeed.

In late March, Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson, following a bipartisan vote to approve the last remaining appropriations bill of fiscal year 2024. Since then, she has gained support from Massie and Arizonas Paul Gosar.

Johnson was unanimously elected to the post about seven months ago following three weeks of chaos in October, in which Republicans were unable to agree on a lawmaker to take the speakers gavel after a small group of GOP lawmakers ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

The post Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene huddles with U.S. House speaker shes trying to oust appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator.
U.S. Reps. Massie and Greene huddle with U.S. House speaker theyre trying to oust

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a motion to vacate over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of the government funding legislation. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely wont, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership.

Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met privately with Johnson for two hours over disagreements about how hes been running the House with a narrow GOP majority.

Greene, speaking briefly to reporters outside the speakers office after the meeting wrapped up, didnt divulge details of what she, Massie and Johnson discussed.

Let me tell you, I have been patient. I have been diligent. I have been steady. And Ive been focused on the facts, Greene said. And none of that has changed. So I just had a long discussion with the speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Greene, standing next to Massie, then said they would be meeting again on Tuesday.

Greene repeatedly has expressed her anger that Johnson has brought successful pieces of legislation to the House floor with bipartisan backing. Some of those recent bipartisan measures include government funding packages in March and military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in April.

Johnson last week issued a statement that Greenes motion to vacate was wrong.

This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country, he wrote.

House Democratic leaders last week issued a statement vowing to back Johnson if far-right Republicans try to remove him as speaker, which makes it unlikely the motion to vacate will succeed.

In late March, Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson, following a bipartisan vote to approve the last remaining appropriations bill of fiscal year 2024. Since then, she has gained support from Massie and Arizonas Paul Gosar.

Johnson was unanimously elected to the post about seven months ago following three weeks of chaos in October, in which Republicans were unable to agree on a lawmaker to take the speakers gavel after a small group of GOP lawmakers ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

The post U.S. Reps. Massie and Greene huddle with U.S. House speaker theyre trying to oust appeared first on Kentucky Lantern.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a motion to vacate over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of the government funding legislation. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speak to reporters in Statuary Hall after meeting with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol Building on May 06, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Last week, Greene threatened to move forward with a motion to vacate over her dissatisfaction with the Speakers handling of the government funding legislation. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely wont, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership.

Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met privately with Johnson for two hours over disagreements about how hes been running the House with a narrow GOP majority.

Greene, speaking briefly to reporters outside the speakers office after the meeting wrapped up, didnt divulge details of what she, Massie and Johnson discussed.

Let me tell you, I have been patient. I have been diligent. I have been steady. And Ive been focused on the facts, Greene said. And none of that has changed. So I just had a long discussion with the speaker in his office about ways to move forward for a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Greene, standing next to Massie, then said they would be meeting again on Tuesday.

Greene repeatedly has expressed her anger that Johnson has brought successful pieces of legislation to the House floor with bipartisan backing. Some of those recent bipartisan measures include government funding packages in March and military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in April.

Johnson last week issued a statement that Greenes motion to vacate was wrong.

This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country, he wrote.

House Democratic leaders last week issued a statement vowing to back Johnson if far-right Republicans try to remove him as speaker, which makes it unlikely the motion to vacate will succeed.

In late March, Greene filed a resolution to remove Johnson, following a bipartisan vote to approve the last remaining appropriations bill of fiscal year 2024. Since then, she has gained support from Massie and Arizonas Paul Gosar.

Johnson was unanimously elected to the post about seven months ago following three weeks of chaos in October, in which Republicans were unable to agree on a lawmaker to take the speakers gavel after a small group of GOP lawmakers ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

The post Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene huddles with U.S. House speaker shes trying to oust appeared first on Tennessee Lookout.
New report identifies fruits and vegetables laden with pesticides despite agricultural regulations: 'It's two steps forward and one step back'

We often like to inspect a piece of fruit for any blemishes before taking a bite. Now, a recent Consumer Reports analysis has peeled back the layers on the produce we consume, revealing a concerning truth: Many fruits and vegetables come with an unexpected and potentially harmful addition  pesticides.

What's happening?

The food we eat is often laden with pesticides, some of which can pose serious health risks. Despite efforts to regulate their use, dangerous pesticides are still prevalent in many popular fruits and vegetables. When one pesticide is banned from use, other equally or more dangerous alternatives replace them.

"It's two steps forward and one step back  and sometimes even two steps back," said James E. Rogers, who oversees food safety at Consumer Reports.

As reported by The Guardian, Consumer Reports recently conducted an extensive review of pesticide levels in produce, analyzing seven years of data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It found that 20% of the foods examined  bell peppers, blueberries, green beans, potatoes, and strawberries among them  had significant pesticide risks. Importantly, imported produce, particularly from Mexico, was more likely to carry risky levels of pesticide residues.

Why are pesticides in our food concerning?

Pesticides, while instrumental in protecting crops from pests and diseases, can have harmful effects on both human health and the environment.

Chronic exposure to pesticides has been linked to various health issues, including increased risks of cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Additionally, certain pesticides can act as endocrine disruptors, interfering with hormonal systems and potentially leading to reproductive problems and developmental issues.

Moreover, pesticides can contaminate soil, waterways, and wildlife, disrupting ecosystems and harming nontarget species like bees, birds, and aquatic organisms. Reducing pesticide use and transitioning to more sustainable agricultural practices are critical steps in safeguarding both human health and the environment.

What's being done about pesticides in our food?

Consumer Reports' analysis offers valuable insights into reducing exposure to harmful pesticides. By choosing produce rated low-risk or organic options, consumers can limit their pesticide exposure. For instance, nearly all organic produce in the analysis had low or very low pesticide risk. Opting for organic, especially for the highest-risk foods, significantly reduces pesticide exposure. Additionally, avoiding certain imports, particularly from Mexico, can lower the risk further.

To come up with their recommendations, Consumer Reports analyzed data from nearly 30,000 individual food samples. It rated the risk of each fruit or vegetable based on factors such as the number of pesticides found, their concentration, and toxicity.

Consumer Reports urges regulators to take stronger action. It recommended banning the use of organophosphates and carbamates, two classes of pesticides responsible for most of the risk. Additionally, it advocated for better inspection of imported foods, more support for organic farming, and increased research into the risks of pesticides.

By making informed choices about the produce we consume and advocating for stricter regulations, consumers can reduce their exposure to harmful pesticides.

Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the coolest innovations improving our lives and saving our planet.
A private US security company is to take over the management of the Rafah border crossing after the end of the Israeli military operation in the city on the border near Egypt, according to a report.

Israel, the United States and Egypt have agreed on this, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday evening, though it was not clear which company was to be involved.

The Israeli government did not wish to comment on the report when asked. In the US, the communications director of the National Security Council, John Kirby, said he knew nothing about it.

Israel's military has advanced into parts of Rafah in the Gaza Strip and also took control of the border crossing on the Palestinian side.

Israel has promised not to damage the facilities of the border crossing in order to ensure its continued operation, Haaretz said.

Israel has also reportedly assured the United States and Egypt that it will limit the operation in Rafah, saying its sole aim is to ensure that Hamas no longer has any control over the border crossing.

Israel says this would be a considerable setback for Hamas, which would no longer be able to levy taxes on incoming goods.
A Long March-6C carrier rocket carrying four satellites blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, May 7, 2024. China's Long March-6C carrier rocket made its debut flight on Tuesday, placing four satellites in space. The rocket blasted off at 11:21 a.m. (Beijing Time), sending Neptune-01 and Smart-1C, as well as a wide-band optical satellite and a high-resolution video satellite into planned orbits. (Photo by Zheng Bin/Xinhua)

TAIYUAN, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China's Long March-6C carrier rocket made its debut flight on Tuesday, placing four satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 11:21 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, sending Neptune-01, Smart-1C, a wide-band optical satellite, and a high-resolution video satellite into planned orbits.

It was the 520th flight mission of the Long March series rockets and marked the introduction of a new member to the series, enriching the category of China's new generation of Long March carrier rockets.

The Long March-6C carrier rocket was developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) and aimed to serve the future commercial launch market.

As a new generation of liquid carrier rocket, the Long March-6C has a first stage in a diameter of 3.35 meters, propelled by two liquid oxygen kerosene engines with 120 tonnes of thrust, and a second stage in a diameter of 2.9 meters, powered by a liquid oxygen kerosene engine with 18 tonnes of thrust.

The total length of the rocket is about 43 meters, with a takeoff weight of about 215 tonnes. It has a carrying capacity of about 2.4 tonnes for a 500 km solar synchronous orbit and can be equipped with various satellite fairings according to different launch missions.

In the growing satellite launch industry, users require highly reliable, cost-effective, adaptable and fast responsive carrier rockets.

The Long March-6C carrier rocket applied the adaptive augmentation control technology to realize precise control of its attitude and push forward the intelligence of the rocket control system.

"The technology can be explained as intelligent driving in a simple manner," said Hu Cunming, a rocket expert at the SAST.

Moreover, the researchers also reduced the excess space between two tanks inside the rocket to lose its weight and make it carry as much fuel as possible. The development improved both structural efficiency and carrying capacity of the rocket.

Notably, the four satellites onboard the rocket went through open commercial biddings to be collectively launched. 

A Long March-6C carrier rocket carrying four satellites blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, May 7, 2024. China's Long March-6C carrier rocket made its debut flight on Tuesday, placing four satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 11:21 a.m. (Beijing Time), sending Neptune-01 and Smart-1C, as well as a wide-band optical satellite and a high-resolution video satellite into planned orbits. (Photo by Wang Zenghe/Xinhua)

A Long March-6C carrier rocket carrying four satellites blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, May 7, 2024. China's Long March-6C carrier rocket made its debut flight on Tuesday, placing four satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 11:21 a.m. (Beijing Time), sending Neptune-01 and Smart-1C, as well as a wide-band optical satellite and a high-resolution video satellite into planned orbits. (Photo by Wang Zenghe/Xinhua)

A Long March-6C carrier rocket carrying four satellites blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, May 7, 2024. China's Long March-6C carrier rocket made its debut flight on Tuesday, placing four satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 11:21 a.m. (Beijing Time), sending Neptune-01 and Smart-1C, as well as a wide-band optical satellite and a high-resolution video satellite into planned orbits. (Photo by Zheng Bin/Xinhua)

A Long March-6C carrier rocket carrying four satellites blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, May 7, 2024. China's Long March-6C carrier rocket made its debut flight on Tuesday, placing four satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 11:21 a.m. (Beijing Time), sending Neptune-01 and Smart-1C, as well as a wide-band optical satellite and a high-resolution video satellite into planned orbits. (Photo by Zheng Bin/Xinhua)

A Long March-6C carrier rocket carrying four satellites blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, May 7, 2024. China's Long March-6C carrier rocket made its debut flight on Tuesday, placing four satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 11:21 a.m. (Beijing Time), sending Neptune-01 and Smart-1C, as well as a wide-band optical satellite and a high-resolution video satellite into planned orbits. (Photo by Wang Zenghe/Xinhua)

A Long March-6C carrier rocket carrying four satellites blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, May 7, 2024. China's Long March-6C carrier rocket made its debut flight on Tuesday, placing four satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 11:21 a.m. (Beijing Time), sending Neptune-01 and Smart-1C, as well as a wide-band optical satellite and a high-resolution video satellite into planned orbits. (Photo by Zheng Bin/Xinhua)

A Long March-6C carrier rocket carrying four satellites blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, May 7, 2024. China's Long March-6C carrier rocket made its debut flight on Tuesday, placing four satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 11:21 a.m. (Beijing Time), sending Neptune-01 and Smart-1C, as well as a wide-band optical satellite and a high-resolution video satellite into planned orbits. (Photo by Wang Zenghe/Xinhua)

A Long March-6C carrier rocket carrying four satellites blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, May 7, 2024. China's Long March-6C carrier rocket made its debut flight on Tuesday, placing four satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 11:21 a.m. (Beijing Time), sending Neptune-01 and Smart-1C, as well as a wide-band optical satellite and a high-resolution video satellite into planned orbits. (Photo by Zheng Bin/Xinhua)
Report into whether Israel broke international law in Gaza indefinitely delayed by Biden administration

President Joe Bidens administration has indefinitely delayed a report investigating potential Israeli war crimes in Gaza, according to a Politico report that cites four sources with insider knowledge.

The development comes after the US State Department was expected to release the report on Wednesday.

If the State Department were to find that Israel violated international humanitarian law, the US may have to stop sending foreign aid. Under the Leahy Law, the US government cannot aid foreign security forces found committing gross violations of human rights.

President Joe Biden, pictured speaking on 7 May 2024. A new report reveals his administration has indefinitely halted an investigation into potential Israeli war crimes (AP)

Democratic Senator Peter Welch, an outspoken critic of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) conduct in Gaza, called on the Biden administration to halt Israeli aid on Tuesday. He argued the US is already in violation of the Leahy Law.

We write with concern regarding the US governments failure to apply the Leahy Law consistently to all recipients of US security assistance, Mr Welch wrote in a letter co-signed by eight other lawmakers.

Recent articles documented that successive administrations have neglected to implement the Leahy Law in Israel, he continued.

Last week, dozens of lawmakers also called on the Biden administration to reconsider aid to Israel.

A coalition of 88 Democratic members wrote to the White House on Friday, arguing that Israels restrictions on US-backed humanitarian aid efforts have contributed to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster for Palestinian civilians and to credible reports of famine in parts of Gaza.

Last month, the White House said future US aid was contingent on Israel announcing a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, which borders Egypt in southern Gaza, the Israeli military confirmed.

The Palestinian health ministry says Israels continued assault on Gaza has killed almost 35,000 people, most of whom were women and children. The United Nations also says that restrictions on humanitarian aid have created a man-made famine, with half the 2.3 million strong population of the strip at catastrophic levels of hunger.

The attacks on Gaza come after 7 October, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 people hostage.

Also this week, Hamas accepted a proposed ceasefire deal over the war in Gaza. Israel, however, has rejected it and talks over a truce are said to be continuing.

The Independent has contacted the National Security Council and the State Department for comment.
By Timothy Gardner and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two influential Republican U.S. lawmakers have urged President Joe Biden to prevent a French company from working on civil nuclear power projects with Russia's state-owned nuclear company Rosatom, saying doing otherwise would help fund Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.

In a letter seen by Reuters, Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Biden to not waive sanctions on Russia, saying it would allow French-owned Electricite de France, or EDF, to engage in nuclear power projects with Rosatom.

The sanctions, which Biden issued by executive order in 2021 and later amended, address national security threats posed by foreign activities of the Russian Federation.

"This waiver will result in more money in Putin's coffers to fund his brutal war of aggression against Ukraine and suppression of democracy," the lawmakers said in the letter, dated May 6. "We urge you to reject this proposal."

"We believe the only way to influence the administrations decision is to go public," a spokesperson for Risch told Reuters.

Biden last month signed into law an aid package with nearly $61 billion in military assistance for Ukraine. He is expected to sign a ban recently passed by Congress on imports of Russian enriched uranium.

The lawmakers said exempting EDF from U.S. sanctions would allow it to purchase a subsidiary of a U.S. company that had been engaged in nuclear power projects with Rosatom in Hungary, Turkey and Egypt, projects that have been suspended for years due to sanctions.

The lawmakers said over-dependence on Russian energy poses a threat to transatlantic security, and "it is incomprehensible that your administration would consider actively perpetuating this dependence."

The White House's national security council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Michael Perry)
In the summer of 2015, a charter fishing boat in the Florida Keys was out with a group of clients and came across hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

Months later, specifically Oct. 15, 2015, a grisly double murder  one of the most high-profile homicide cases in the island chain in recent memory  was committed as a result of the crew deciding to bring the coke back to shore, divvy it up and employ a posse of local small-time drug dealers to sell it.

Jeremy Macauley - Monroe County Sheriff's Office

Both prosecutors and a defense attorney involved in the case say the load was upwards of 20 kilos of cocaine. Once the crew brought the contraband on board, they paid off the charter clients to keep quiet with either cash, cocaine or a combination of both, according to attorneys arguing both sides of the homicide case.

A 12-member jury convicted the mate, Jeremy Macauley, 41, in November 2017, of killing Carlos Ortiz, 30, and his girlfriend, Tara Rosado, 26, inside Rosados Cuba Road house in Tavernier near Key Largo. Monroe County Circuit Judge Luis Garcia in December 2017 sentenced Macauley to two life terms in prison for the murders and 30 more years for armed robbery.

Crime scene tape remains outside the Cuba Road house where Tara Rosado and Carlos Ortiz were shot to death on Oct. 15, 2015. DAVID GOODHUE/dgoodhue@miamiherald.com

Ortiz was one of several friends and associates Macauley commissioned to sell the cocaine, prosecutors say. The motive of the crime, according to investigators, was to silence Ortiz because he was getting greedy, increasingly unstable due to his drug addiction and demanding more money in exchange for not ratting on Macauley and the Sea Horse charter boat captain Rick Rodriguez.

Rosado was at the wrong place at the wrong time when the gunman showed up at her home, investigators concluded.

But in June 2020, the 3rd District Court of Appeal ordered a new trial because Garcia ruled the sworn statement of a jailhouse witness who said someone else inside lockup bragged about committing the crime was inadmissible during the trial.

The appellate judges said the statement should have been allowed to be heard by the jury.

Macauleys new trial began Monday. His attorney Donald Barrett told jurors during open arguments that Macauley didnt kill Rosado and Ortiz. Two people drove to Rosados home that day in a borrowed Toyota RAV4. One was Adrian Demblans, 42, who confessed to driving the getaway car. Prosecutors say the other was Macauley. His attorney says it wasnt him.

The question is, who was with him, Barrett said. It wasnt Jeremy Macauley.

Assistant State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts, echoing prosecutors arguments in the original trial, reiterated Macauley had a motive to kill the couple because he was being extorted by Ortiz, who repeatedly threatened Macauley and Rodriguez that hed go to the cops about the drugs if they didnt cut him in on more of the proceeds.

Katelyn Farley, Tara Rosados sister, said in a statement to the Herald Monday that the retrial is reopening painful wounds for both her family and Ortizs family.

They got the right guy the first time. The evidence left zero room for doubt, and the fact that he would drag both our families through this twice is reflective of the content of his character, she said.

Rodriguez was never arrested or charged in the case, and told the Miami Herald at the time of Macauleys arrest in March 2016 that he did not know about the drugs on his boat and was not involved in the murders. Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay was adamant at the time of Rodriguezs involvement from the beginning, but he had no proof.

McRoberts, the prosecutor, said Monday that investigators were never able to prove what Rick Rodriguez did with his portion of the cocaine, but, both she and Barrett said in their opening arguments that he did split the load with Macauley.

Rodriguez did not respond to an email from the Herald asking for comment.

The night of the murders

The alleged extortion texts from Ortiz became so relentless that on the night of the murders, Macauley texted Ortiz a photo of cash, telling him in a text that he was on his way to give him more money.

Thats not how he decided to shut [Ortizs] mouth, however, McRoberts said.

Demblans drove Macauley to Rosados house, McRoberts said. Macauley met Ortiz in the driveway, went inside with him and then shot and killed him and Rosado, she said.

Ortiz and Rosado were both shot once in the head with a .45 caliber handgun. Three of Rosados children were home when their mother was slain, and they spent the night and half of the next day alone with the bodies.

Police work a murder scene at a Tavernier home in the Florida Keys where Tara Rosado and Carlos Ortiz were found shot to death Oct. 16, 2015. David Goodhue/dgoodhue@miamiherald.com

A neighbor, Travis Kvadus, found the children  then ages 3, 4 and 8  in their mothers front yard around 2 p.m. on Oct. 16, 2015. He asked them where Rosado and Ortiz were, and the children told him they were inside the home and that they were dead. Kvadus, who died in May 2017, went inside and discovered their bodies and called police.

The case was reminiscent of the type of drug hits that happened frequently in South Florida in the 1970s and 80s. Since those days, the Keys has regularly experienced its fair share of crime, but murders have become rare. The Monroe County Sheriffs Office launched a major investigation to find whoever was responsible for the couples deaths.

Two shell casings, one bullet

The sheriffs office announced the arrests of Macauley and Demblans in March 2016, but the real break in the investigation actually happened in November 2015, when a woman visiting her brothers Key Largo home decided to snorkel in the canal behind his house. As she was drifting along the surface, she spotted a handgun on the sea floor.

She called the sheriffs office, and detectives were able to match the two spent shell casings and the one bullet found in Rosados home to the gun. Detectives said the gun was owned by Macauley.

The pistol was found underwater on one side of a small bridge that spans the canal. Sheriffs office divers searching for more possible evidence then found a cell phone in the water on the other side of the bridge. Investigators say it belonged to Ortiz and was stolen the night of the murders.

According to prosecutors, Macauley took the phone because it contained not only text messages between he and Ortiz about the drugs and money, but also images of Macauley posing with the cocaine.

Prosecutors say Macauley threw both items in the water while Demblans drove him away from the crime scene.

Months before the case went to trial in 2017, Demblans pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of a murder and agreed to cooperate in the states case against Macauley. A year later, Garcia cut two years off his sentence because he also agreed to testify against Macauley related to his charges for cocaine trafficking.

Adrian Demblans MCSO

Demblans, who could not be reached for comment, has since been released from prison and is expected to testify against Macauley in the retrial.

During the original trial, he testified that he only drove Macauley to Rosados house so Macauley could calm Ortiz down, pay him some money and ease the tension about the extortion attempt.

Barrett on Monday contended Demblans was much more involved in the crime and that Macauley wasnt with him on Cuba Road that night  citing cell tower data showing his phone was at his home miles away when the murders happened. He also cited a jailhouse witness pointing the finger at Adrians twin brother, Kristian Demblans, as the triggerman, as well as another jail inmate saying Adrian said he shot the couple.

Jailhouse witness implicates an accomplice?

One of the witnesses, Eric Bama Lansford, told prosecutors and detectives in October 2016 that Kristian Demblans  who was locked up at the time on cocaine and heroin dealing charges  told him that he was the one who shot Ortiz and Rosado and that his brother was going up the road for him.

Kristian Demblans could not be reached for comment. He was arrested again Monday on a probation violation.

Investigators found Lansford credible because he had nothing to gain by providing the sworn statement. He was a month out from finishing a jail sentence for a burglary conviction and wasnt being offered a deal.

Lansford also told investigators that the reason he came forward is because Kristian Demblans said to him that if the children came into the room that night, he would have killed them too.

However, when Lansford was supposed to return to the Keys from Alabama to testify for Macauleys defense in November 2017, he texted Macauleys attorney at the time, Ed ODonnell, Sr., saying he received threatening messages warning him hed be dead if he showed up in the Keys. He stayed in Alabama.

ODonnell still wanted his sworn statement to be read during the trial, but Garcia denied the request. Garcias denial led the appeals court to grant Macauley a new trial.

Another jailhouse witness, Anthony Wollweber, testified during the trial that Adrian Demblans  while he and Wollbeber were in jail together  told him he committed the murders.

Barrett said Monday that other aspects of the investigation show a deeper involvement in the murder by Adrian Demblans than he testified.

Mr. Demblans went to great lengths to cover his tracks before and after this homicide, Barrett told jurors.

One is that he borrowed the RAV4 from a friend to drive to Rosados house rather than use his much more conspicuous red pickup truck he owned at the time.

Most damning, Barrett said, is what happened once Adrian Demblans discovered in November 2015 that police were asking questions about his involvement in the slayings. He borrowed scuba diving equipment, including an underwater metal detector, according to Barrett, and swam the canal looking for the pistol used in the crimes.

Unbeknownst to him, the snorkeler had already found the weapon, which was now in the hands of police.

Adrian Demblans went diving in the canal looking for the firearm, not Mr. Macauley, Barrett said.

However, McRoberts said another key piece of evidence implicating Macauley is footage of him getting out of the RAV4 shot from a security camera affixed to Travis Kvadus home.

Defense attorneys for Macauley at the original trial, as well as Barrett in the current one, countered that the footage is shaky and does not clearly identify anyone.

Cocaine case and the Reel G

While Macauleys murder case is being retried, he is serving a 15-year sentence for cocaine trafficking that is at the root of the case.

He was expected to go to trial on the charges on Sept. 17, 2018. If the case went to court, its likely the names of other people involved with retrieving the kilos of cocaine from the ocean would be brought up during testimony.

But in the weeks preceding the trial, Macauley took a deal and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic more than 400 grams of cocaine while armed and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He made the deal 10 months before the appellate court ordered a retrial on the murder charges.

While Rodriguez, the captain and owner of the Sea Horse, has always denied knowing about the drugs investigators say were taken back to shore on his boat, a Miami Herald investigation in 2016 showed his relationship with Adrian Demblans went back at least two years before Ortiz and Rosado were killed.

In October 2013, he transferred ownership of a charter boat he bought at auction at Whale Harbor to Adrian Demblans.

The Reel G charter charter boat belonged to Adrian Demblans, who pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact in the Oct. 15, 2015, murders of Carlos Ortiz and Tara Rosado in the Florida Keys. David Goodhue/dgoodhue@miamiherald.com

The transfer of ownership between Rodriguez and Demblans matched state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles records provided by a source and checked by the Miami Herald at the time.

Demblans renamed the boat the Reel G and used it to run charter fishing trips from Whale Harbor.

In April 2016, a month after Demblans and Macauley were arrested, a Miami Herald reporter found the Reel G docked in the small marina behind the Old Tavernier Restaurant & Lounge on the ocean side of the Old Highway at mile marker 90.4.

Much of the boats equipment and furniture had been ripped out.
Reuters: Half of North Korean missiles fired by Russia blow up in mid-air, Ukraine's top prosecutor says

Around half of the North Korean missiles fired at Ukraine by Russia have malfunctioned and exploded in mid-air, Reuters reported on May 7, citing Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office.

In March, Ukrainian prosecutors reported that Russia had fired around 50 to attack six Ukrainian oblasts since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

According to Reuters, Ukrainian prosecutors have examined the debris of 21 and provided the news agency with data on their failure rate.

"About half of the North Korean missiles lost their programmed trajectories and exploded in the air  in such cases, the debris was not recovered," Ukraine's top prosecutor, Andrii Kostin, said.

While the number of missiles Pyongyang has given to Moscow remains a tiny percentage of Russia's overall stockpiles, Ukraine and its allies are concerned about the growing ties between the two countries.

North Korea has been shaping up as Russia's leading weapons supplier, reportedly providing Moscow with extensive military packages, including ballistic missiles and over 3 million artillery shells.

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Debris found after a missile strike on Kharkiv on Jan. 2 came from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile, according to a U.N. sanctions committee report issued on April 29 and viewed by Reuters.

Both Ukrainian and U.S. officials have previously said that Russia has been using North Korean-produced missiles to attack Ukraine.

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik also said that Russia is likely purchasing more advanced missiles from North Korea that could be used on the battlefield in Ukraine.

According to the U.N. report, inspectors concluded that Russia used missiles procured from North Korea in a strike on Kharkiv that killed at least three people and injured dozens more.

The inspectors said that fragments "recovered from a missile that landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 2, 2024, derives from a DPRK (North Korean) Hwasong-11 series missile."

Having studied the missile fragments in a field investigation in Kharkiv, the inspectors "found no evidence that the missile was made by Russia."

Russia's purchase of North Korean missiles is a violation of U.N. sanctions.

Read also: Reuters: UN says North Korean-made missile struck Kharkiv in January

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Reuters: Tuapse refinery hit by drone resumes work after 3 months of repairs

Rosneft's Tuapse oil refinery has resumed processing after sustaining damage from a drone strike in January, Reuters reported on May 6, citing industry sources.

A fire broke out at the Tuapse facility on Jan. 25 following reports of a drone attack. Multiple strikes on oil depots in Russia, including in Bryansk, Oryol, and Leningrad oblasts, were reported in January, amid increasing claims of drone attacks in Russian regions bordering Ukraine.

Two industry sources told Reuters that the Rosneft plant in Tuapse has resumed operations. Repairs were completed at the facility's primary oil refining unit CDU-12 at the end of April, they said.

According to the sources, the unit's capacity totals around 250,000 barrels per day (bpd). The refinery processed 20,000 metric tons of oil on May 1, they claimed.

Rosneft's Tuapse refinery in Russia's Krasnodar Krai is one of the largest oil processing plants in southern Russia.

Ukraine has escalated attacks against Russia's oil industry in recent months, successfully reducing the processing capacities of multiple facilities.

Read also: Ukrainian drones hit one Russian oil refinery after another

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The United States and the majority of European Union nations will not attend the Kremlin ceremony for Vladimir Putin's inauguration for another six-year presidential term on May 7.

France and several other EU states are anticipated to send representatives, despite a request from Kyiv. This diverse diplomatic reaction from Western powers highlights differences over how to handle the Russian leader more than two years after he launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to evidence published by election experts, observers, and media, the March 15-17 presidential election, which Putin "won" with 87% support, was the most rigged in Russia's modern history.

Estimates of vote rigging range from at least 22 million votes to about 31.6 million votes, without taking into account the online voting and the election at gunpoint in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. Russia also "brutally" violated the principles of international law when it organized the so-called voting in the occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson oblasts, and Crimea, Ukraine's ministry said.

On May 6, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry urged other countries and international organizations not to recognize the results of Russia's most recent presidential election, as well as Putin's legitimacy ahead of the inauguration.

The U.K. and Canada said they would not send anyone to attend the ceremony. According to an EU spokesperson, the bloc's ambassador to Russia will refrain from attending the ceremony, aligning with the stance of the majority of member states.

U.S. representatives also will not attend Vladimir Putin's inauguration, but Washington recognizes him as Russia's president, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on May 6.

When asked at a press briefing whether the U.S. recognizes Putin as Russia's legitimate head of state, Miller said that Washington "certainly did not consider that election free and fair, but he (Putin) is the president of Russia and is going to continue in that capacity."

Close to 20 EU member states would boycott the event, while seven others were anticipated to send representatives, a European diplomat told Reuters. Besides France, Hungary, and Slovakia were reportedly set to attend, two diplomatic sources said.

Read also: US soldier travels to Russia, arrested on suspicion of theft









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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is calling on former President Trump to formally debate him during the upcoming Libertarian Party convention.

Kennedy, an independent who considered joining the Libertarian Party after a failed primary bid as a Democrat, wants to take on Trump during the forum held later this month in Washington.

Id like to make you an offer. Were both going to be speaking at the upcoming Libertarian convention on May 24 and 25, Kennedy wrote in part in a lengthy post on X on Tuesday. Its perfect neutral territory for you and me to have a debate where you can defend your record for your wavering supporters.

You yourself have said youre not afraid to debate me as long as my poll numbers are decent, Kennedy wrote. Well, they are. In fact, Im the only presidential candidate in history who has polled ahead of both major party candidates in head-to-head races.

Kennedy pointed to data from Zogby, a polling and analytics firm, indicating that the environmental lawyer wins the election over Trump in a two-candidate race, without factoring President Biden into the hypothetical matchup.

So lets meet in a couple of weeks and show the American public that at least two of the major candidates arent afraid to debate each other, Kennedy added.

Kennedy has put pressure on both Trump and Biden to debate him in recent weeks, hoping to raise his stature and get on more equal footing with the mainstream presumptive nominees.

Republicans and Democrats are equally skeptical that a debate among two or more of the candidates with Kennedy will happen, noting Trumps aversion to debating this cycle and Bidens equally non-committal approach.

The Libertarian event could theoretically level the playing field for Kennedy and Trump as they each look to court voters who are considered harder to define by party and ideology.

While Kennedy has had several conversations with Libertarian officials and leaders about his third-party bid, he ultimately opted out of switching parties again and says hes committed to see his independent campaign through until he gets on 50 state ballots. His campaign counts 10 so states so far and anticipates adding more as new calendar deadlines approach.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Are the rides at your Kansas county fair safe? Heres how to tell

TOPEKA (KSNT)  Summer in Kansas means county fairs, amusement parks and festivals. But safety experts say Kansans should take a closer look at rides before strapping in.

The Kansas Department of Labors (KDOL) Industrial Safety and Health Division is warning people to remain aware of the possible dangers that come with using amusement park rides which havent been properly certified this year. Amusement rides are required to display a valid permit issued by KDOL and show proof the owner is legally registered with the state as an amusement ride owner, as regulated by the Kansa Amusement Ride Act.

It is imperative to report any entity operating with unpermitted rides because they must show proof of liability insurance and be inspected annually by a qualified inspector, said Marlea James, amusement ride supervisor. This is the best way to ensure safe operation of amusement rides in Kansas.

Dillons brings back 5% discount day for older adults this May

James says the most common violations she encounters include the operation of rides without a permit and failing to register an amusement ride entity. Under Kansas law, amusement rides include the following:

Ferris wheels

Water slides 35 feet in height and which use water to propel people through the ride

Carousels

Inflatable devices

Parachute towers

Trampoline courts

Bungee jumping

Go-Karts

Reverse bungee jumping

Equipment associated with winter activities such as ski lifts, ski tows, j-bars, t-bars, chair lifts and aerial tramways

Commercial zip line

Equipment not originally meant for use as an amusement ride such as cranes or other lifting devices

Tunnels of love

Roller coasters

Boat rides

Kansas law requires permits to be posted in plain view on or near the amusement ride where it can be easily seen, James said. If you dont see permits posted on amusement rides, ask to see them. Requesting to view the permits is the best way to ensure entities are in compliance with Kansas law.

Amusement park ride safety can be a matter of life and death. In 2016, 10-year-old Caleb Schwab, son of Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, was killed while riding a water slide at the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kansas. A KDOL audit released in 2018 identified multiple problems with rides at the park. It was later demolished to make way for a Margaritaville resort.

$1 million Mega Millions prize claimed in northeast Kansas

Qualified amusement ride inspectors must be licensed professional engineers who have at least two years of experience in the amusement ride field. A full list of qualified inspectors can be found by clicking here. You can make reports online for alleged violations of the Kansas Amusement Ride Act by using this link.

For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
More than eight million adults in Britain have numeracy skills below those expected of a nine-year-old - Caia Image/Subjects RF

Rishi Sunak has vowed to find the Alan Turings of tomorrow as the Government announced 6 million for a National Academy for Maths that will make numeracy as important as reading.

Organisations are invited to apply to set up and run the new academy, which will champion maths, and prepare workers for jobs in AI, data science and computing.

It is a personal goal of the Prime Minister to boost maths skills and builds on plans to make teenagers study the subject up to the age of 18.

Mr Sunak has previously warned that the UK has an anti-maths mindset where poor attainment in the discipline is regarded as socially acceptable.

This new National Academy for Maths is a big step in transforming our national approach to maths, he said.

It will lead the way in arming our society with the skills and knowledge to lead the globe in jobs of the future  like AI and computing  to discover the Alan Turings of tomorrow.

Part of the plan is to prize numeracy for what it is  a key skill every bit as essential as reading.

Alan Turing (1912-1954) was a computer scientist and cryptologist instrumental in breaking Germany's 'enigma' machine code during the Second World War - Pictures from History/Getty Images

The academy will become the fifth UK National Academy, joining the Academy of Medical Sciences, the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society.

Although the UK has risen 10 places in international league tables since 2009, more than eight million adults in Britain have numeracy skills below those expected of a nine-year-old and around one third of young people fail GCSE maths.

The new academy will be expected to provide credible, expert and timely advice on maths to the Government and industry, which will help shape policy.

During the pandemic, the Government relied on modelling from individual organisations such as Imperial College and Bristol University, but the sector has voiced support for a leading organisation.

The Government is also keen for the academy to drive discoveries that will help the country be healthier and wealthier.

A statue of Alan Turing at the University of Surrey - EDDIE MULHOLLAND

An open competition offering grant funding of up to 6 million over the next three years is being launched on Tuesday and applications can be submitted until June 4.

Andrew Griffith, the Science, Innovation and Research Minister, said: Maths is at the root of so much in our lives, from groundbreaking discoveries that keep us healthy to the engineering we rely on to do our jobs and get us from A to B.

As technology becomes even more central to our modern world, it is a skill that will only become more crucial in jobs of the future, from artificial intelligence to data science and beyond.

The new National Academy focused on Mathematical Sciences will help raise the profile of maths in the UK and help the sector in making the impassioned case for such an important subject.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, speaks at a UN General Assembly open debate on a draft resolution concerning outer space security vetoed in the Security Council on April 24, at the UN headquarters in New York, May 6, 2024. Fu on Monday called on the international community to steadfastly protect the peaceful nature of outer space. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China's permanent representative to the UN Fu Cong on Monday called on the international community to steadfastly protect the peaceful nature of outer space.

Speaking during a UN General Assembly open debate on a draft resolution concerning outer space security vetoed in the Security Council on April 24, Fu emphasized the urgent need for enhanced cooperation and improved governance in outer space to ensure its peaceful use benefits all nations.

"Outer space is the global commons and holds the shared dreams of all humanity," stated Fu.

He highlighted the increased risks of weaponization of outer space and the restrictions placed on developing countries in accessing space science and technology, describing these as "unprecedented challenges" that must be addressed promptly to safeguard peace and security in outer space and ensure all countries share the dividends of outer space.

Fu criticized a major superpower, without naming any country specifically, for defining outer space as a "war-fighting domain" and for accelerating its militarization. "These actions have severely undermined the peaceful nature of outer space and increased the risk of military miscalculations and conflicts," he said.

Fu urged the international community to adopt a "common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security concept" to resist the weaponization and arms race in outer space.

Regarding the legal framework governing outer space, Fu pointed out the limitations of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, noting its inability to address contemporary challenges as it only prohibits the deployment of weapons of mass destruction but not other weapons.

"The international community urgently needs to negotiate and conclude a new outer space treaty," he said, referring to a draft treaty proposed by China and Russia in 2008 as a possible foundation for future discussions.

Fu also called for ensuring that all countries, regardless of size or development level, can participate in, benefit from and contribute to the peaceful uses of outer space.

He criticized some nations for generalizing the concept of national security and unjustly suppressing other countries' scientific and technological development.

The ambassador emphasized the need for global cooperation and inclusive dialogue to enhance outer space governance.

He supported "a more comprehensive and balanced draft resolution" on outer space security recently submitted by Russia, calling for an early agreement among Security Council members.

"Outer space belongs to all humanity and impacts the security and well-being of all member states," Fu said, adding "all countries should work together to turn it into a new frontier for mutually beneficial cooperation and progress, rather than an arena of confrontations." 
ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC)  A flood hit Rising Star Saturday night, turning inches of rain to feet. By Sunday morning, about 90% of businesses downtown were damaged from an overflowing creek.

Heavy flooding causes damage to Rising Star community

Tommy Vanya owns three properties downtown which were all affected. He told KTAB/KRBC he was not expecting the chaos he saw on Sunday morning.

I had no idea that it was doing this down here. I mean, we got a couple of inches of rain where we live. I didnt have any idea that we were going to get this, Vanya said. Its going to take a considerable amount of time to get this place back. So, I dont know. Its kind of several months.

One of the main grocery stores in town was hit as well, damaging almost $10,000 worth of goods in the store. Owner Kay Fraley, said her store has been around for years and will have an impact on the town, not being in business anymore.

I think its going to really hurt the community. Weve been here 31 years. There was mud everywhere, product everywhere It was just a huge mess, described Fraley. Weve been moving what we can into them to save what we can, but its not much.

Eastland County Judge David Hullum declared the event as a natural disaster, and the city has been able to get help from outside sources including the Red Cross, Texas Division of Emergency Management, and the Texas Baptist Men group.

Fire Chief Josh Constancio, said after making 16 water rescues during the flood, the fire department is still doing everything it can to help those affected.

We ordered up some roll off containers so that folks could start with debris. We started working with getting volunteers and taking, actually, getting everybody to tell us what damage they had, and where that damage was located so that we can start assessing that, Constancio added.

Many store owners are drying out their businesses before fully assessing damages.

Forever etched in our minds: Mesquite Heat fire stirs memories of Eastland Complex fire

This flood comes two years since Rising Star landed in the path of the devastating Eastland Complex fire, which began March 17, 2022.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com.
Road closures in Weber County expected to last from Tues. until Wed.

WEBER COUNTY, Utah (ABC4)  The Weber County Sheriffs Office posted on social media Monday to inform residents of an upcoming road closure on 5100 West in Weber County.

The closure on 5100 West  which will be closed to all traffic from 2250 S to 3600 S  is expected to last from 8 a.m. on Tuesday, May 7 until about 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8.

Our hearts are broken: Santaquin community, Utah leaders honor officer killed by semi-truck on I-15

Officials said the closure is a result of planned construction in the area.

If this road is part of your normal commute may we suggest planning ahead and taking a different route to where you need to go, the sheriffs office said.

There is no further information at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
Robbery suspect killed by Abilene police identified, two officers placed on leave

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC)  A robbery suspect killed by Abilene police has been identified, and two officers have been placed on leave in connection to the fatal shooting.

John Kenney Dutton, 70 has been identified as the suspect who was shot and killed by officers in the parking lot of United Supermarket on the 900 block of N Willis Street around 2:00 p.m. Monday.

A press release from the Abilene Police Department states and United Supermarkets employee called police after Dutton allegedly pulled a knife and demanded money from the register. The employees also said the were able to lock him outside the store once he left.

UPDATE: Robbery suspect killed during officer-involved shooting at Abilene store

Officers arrived on scene and found Dutton in the parking still wielding the knife.

The press release state Dutton did not comply with commands to surrender the weapon and was unaffected by a Taser, so officers opened fire.

Two officers are currently on leave, which is mandatory policy following an officer-involved shooting.

Texas Rangers are helping the Abilene Police Department with this investigation.

No further information is available at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington

BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday he was open to discussing sending a Patriot missile system to Ukraine after German appeals to European Union and NATO member states to bolster Ukraine's air defences.

After appeals by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, EU governments were urged last month to supply more badly needed defence systems to Kyiv.

Germany has pledged an additional Patriot battery, while Spain said it will deliver anti-aircraft Patriot missiles.

Other European countries including Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden also have Patriot systems.

"There has been a discussion about who can send Patriot systems to Ukraine over the last few weeks," Iohannis told reporters in Washington after meeting U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington.

"President Biden mentioned it ... in our meeting and I said I was open to discussion. I must discuss it in the Supreme Defence Council to see what we can offer and what we can get in return, because it is unacceptable to leave Romania without air defences," Iohannis said.

Romania signed a $4 billion deal to get Patriots in 2017, the NATO and EU state's biggest procurement contract to date, with the first shipment delivered in 2020.

Although Romania only has one battery in operation, Iohannis said the discussions concerned another battery that is nearly operational.

The White House said Biden thanked Romania for its commitment to security in NATO's east, including in the Black Sea region, and applauded its defence investments, which exceed NATO's target of spending at least 2% of GDP.

"The leaders reaffirmed their steadfast support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russias senseless aggression, and President Biden expressed his appreciation for Romanias support to Ukrainian refugees and efforts to move Ukrainian grain to market," the White House said, omitting any mention of Patriot missiles.

Romania, a NATO member since 2004, shares a 650-km (400-mile) border with Ukraine and has had Russian drone fragments stray into its territory repeatedly as Moscow attacks Ukrainian ports just across the Danube River from Romania.

On Tuesday, Iohannis also said he had discussed with Biden his bid for NATO's top job. Iohannis reiterated he was not withdrawing his candidacy despite strong support within the alliance - including from Biden - for outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

"Competition is a good thing, two strong candidates because in that way more topics will be up for discussion," he said.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Gerry Doyle)
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  A Royal Caribbean employee was arrested on child porn charges while disembarking from a ship returning to Florida at Port Everglades on Wednesday, according to an affidavit from the Broward County Sheriffs Office.

Zin Naing Htun, 36, of Myanmar, was allegedly found with two videos on his phone during a search, according to the complaint, which was provided by the sheriffs office on Monday. One was in a hidden folder and another was in an application called Browser.

One video depicts a child between the ages of 10 and 12 acting in a sexual manner, and a second depicts a child between 12 and 14 years old removing her clothes and acting sexual.

The complaint indicates there was a confession from Htun. However, the entire statement is redacted.

Htun was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography.

Royal Caribbean has not responded to a WFLA.com request for comment that was sent last week.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
Entrance to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee room in the Maine State House in Augusta. Sept. 5, 2023.

Entrance to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee room in the Maine State House in Augusta. (Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star)

The Maine Legislature will return to wrap up session this week, but the governor and legislative leadership are not on the same page about what actions should be taken.

Gov. Janet Mills has said the Legislature should only cast votes to overturn or sustain her vetoed legislation, a typical action permitted after statutory adjournment each year known as veto day, which is scheduled for Friday.

However, spokespeople for House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) and Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) said the Legislature also intends to take action on at least some of the 200 some-odd bills still in limbo between passage and funding.

These bills are currently on what is known as the appropriations table, which is under the purview of the Legislatures Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee that is also tasked with developing the budget plan.

The committee is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. on Tuesday to decide which legislation to move off the table.

Bills that land on the table have already passed the full Legislature. However, if they arent explicitly funded in the state budget, they need to be paid for using remaining unappropriated money.

There is roughly $11.4 million left unappropriated outside of the budget, which the governor signed on April 22.

The 13 members on the Appropriations Committee have the authority to pass a bill as is, amend it to change its cost or kill it outright  because bills that remain on the table when the Legislature adjourns sine die will automatically die.

How this squares with last session

The silent death of bills on the table would not be unique to this session, though more bills are currently poised to die in this manner than did last session.

In the 130th Legislature, which adjourned in 2022, a total of 154 bills were left on the table, according to data the Legislatures Office of Policy and Legal Analysis provided to Maine Morning Star. This year, as the 131st Legislature comes to a close, 223 bills still remain on the table.

In both cases, a handful of those bills were wrapped into the budgets, but for the most part, bills left on the table last session were ultimately not enacted after the Appropriations Committee did not vote to fund them off the table, which advocates worry will be the case again this session.

Advocates urge legislators to not leave business unfinished

Advocates for a range of issues have voiced a desire for the budget process to be more transparent, including Anna Kellar, executive director of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, a nonpartisan nonprofit working to ensure that Maines campaign finance laws serve the public interest.

We have the Legislature in agreement that these things should happen, Kellar said of bills that get put on the table. Its always so frustrating to feel like so many good ideas are fighting over the same pool of funding.

MCCE is a part of Democracy Maine, a collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Maine and Maine Students Vote, which has been advocating for two bills in particular that remain on the table.

One of those measures aims to provide towns with support from the office of the Secretary of State to disseminate local election information online and upgrade their web domains. Kellar said the bill would set minimum standards for towns to share election information, after MCCE found through an internal study in 2020 of the 50 largest towns in the state that about half had missing or incorrect information about basic voting rights, such as how to get an absentee ballot.

This proposal was carried over on the table from last year after failing to secure funding, as was the case for 141 of the other bills that still remain on the table. That said, Kellar expects it may not have a future but is more hopeful for another proposal from this year that would expand clean elections, specifically allowing candidates for district attorney to participate in the Maine Clean Elections Act.

The bill would not have an impact on funding for the current biennium but would for the next budget cycle.

Were looking longterm in order for clean elections to be sustainable, district attorney aside, Kellar said of the broader goal behind the effort. There may need to be an increase in the basic statutory funding for clean elections.

About $3 million per year currently goes to clean elections, and Kellar said an increase to $3.5 million would make the fund sustainable.

Regardless of outcome, Kellar said of both proposals, We fully plan to be back next year working for this again.

Sometimes, a bill dies but its substance is reintroduced in a new bill the following session.

This happened this session with setting a minimum wage for school support staff. In 2022, a bill that sought to do so, LD 734, died on the table. This session, a similar proposal to raise pay for school support staff, LD 974, also made it to the appropriations table. The budget committee never took it off the table but decided to include much of the plan in the supplemental budget, which Mills signed into law last month.

The Wabanaki Alliance, a coalition of more than 250 organizations across the state, including MCCE, also has legislative priorities that remain on the table.

Mills signed into law an expansion of tribal authority over prosecuting crimes this session, a significant but pared back effort for sweeping sovereignty reform. The Wabanaki Alliance is now urging people to reach out to the Appropriations Committee to voice support for a bill to create an Office of Tribal-State Affairs to improve the states relationship with the Wabanaki Nations and another that would establish an advisory council to ensure Wabanaki and African American studies requirements are effectively taught in schools.

Another measure on the Wabanaki Alliances list of priority legislation is a proposal from Talbot Ross to create a Maine Board on Place Names, a means to formally establish the renaming process after her father, Gerald Talbot, sponsored a bill in 1977 that prohibited the use of the n-word in the names of places. The continued existence of offensive names in the state show oversight is still lacking.

(Since the introduction of this legislation, the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous & Tribal Populations in Maine published an interactive map of some of the remaining offensive place names in the state and their origins.)

The Legislature could also adjourn without concrete action to improve child welfare in the state, despite major concerns. Nearly all of the bills this session that sought to improve Maines failing child welfare system remain caught between passage and funding, as previously reported by Maine Morning Star.

Other bills on the table range from measures to speed up criminal trials, to provide tax relief for wild blueberry growers, to address invasive aquatic plant infestations, to name a few.

An alternative death by procedure

Bills left on the table are only one area to look at when accounting for how bills can die, however.

As an example from the previous 130th Legislature, a bill for sweeping tribal sovereignty reform that passed both chambers essentially died by way of the table  though it does not appear in the final disposition of the 154 bills officially left on the table that session. This is because the Senate removed it from the table but then tabled it without further action, leaving it to die in the chamber.

That may be the case for a number of bills this session.

For instance, the Appropriations Committee amended several workers rights bills on the day of statutory adjournment, April 17, removing their fiscal notes but maintaining the policy changes within them. When taken up on the Senate floor for re-enactment as amended later that night, the chamber tabled them, leaving them as unfinished business.

Some of these bills include measures to require minimum pay for reporting to work and the disclosure of pay ranges in job advertisements, as well as to protect workers from employer surveillance, prevent employers from holding workers liable for repaying training costs, and allow employees to request flexible work schedules.

As James Myall, an analyst for the progressive Maine Center for Economic Policy, previously told Maine Morning Star, It would be especially frustrating if they dont even pass the small budgeted bills that they usually are able to get off the table. It would be a real missed opportunity if they let this kind of procedural thing get in the way.

Outside labor bills, other bills caught in the Senate include a measure to improve womens health and economic security by funding family planning services, which the Appropriations Committee switched to a one-time rather than ongoing allocation, and a plan to increase affordable housing by expanding tax increment financing, which the committee stripped of funding.

This is like a Rubik's Cube.

 Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook)

Another table adds to the mix

There is also another table that awaits further action to determine the future of bills, particularly those that require studies.

The Legislative Council, composed of the ten highest ranking members of the Legislature, is responsible for the overall management of the Legislature, including something called the Special Study Table. Legislators put bills that include studies on the study table, and the Legislative Council then has the authority to decide which studies to prioritize and ultimately fund.

This process is similar to the appropriations table in that the Legislative Council has the discretion to pass a bill as is, amend it to change its cost or kill it outright. This session, 22 legislative studies ended up on the study table. Four had already been enacted into law and therefore didnt need to be dealt with. Of the 18 remaining, the Legislative Council has so far advanced eight, one of which is a study of tenant-landlord relationships.

Kathy Kilrain del Rio, advocacy and programs director at Maine Equal Justice, was excited to see that study move forward.

We feel like its a really important part of the conversation when we think about people with low incomes who need support in accessing housing, Kilrain del Rio said. We know that theres people with housing vouchers, or other types of rental assistance, whove struggled to find landlords who will accept it. We hear different things about why thats the case, so I think this will be a great opportunity to dig in on that.

Studies are funded using money designated into the General Fund Miscellaneous Studies Budget  this year, $31,065  which the projected costs for all proposed studies exceeded. The expenses associated with the measures the Legislative Council have moved off the table so far put remaining funding at just over $6,000.

The Legislative Council tabled two of the bills on the study table  one to continue to study long-term care options and another to study the states clean energy transition  to try to find an alternative way to staff the studies. In addition to vying for funding, studies often require legislative staff, which is limited.

The Legislative Council has yet to schedule a meeting to determine the final disposition of study bills. During its last meeting on April 30, Jackson, the Senate president, said of the funding process, This is like a Rubiks Cube.

The remaining eight study bills that have yet to see action are therefore likely to die, which include a study of drug decriminalization, a study on the voluntary waiver of firearm rights, and a study to find alternative methods to fund higher education, among others.

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The post A Rubiks cube: Lawmakers reconvene as more than 200 bills await legislative action appeared first on Maine Morning Star.
Garrett Clark (left) puts his arm around his sister, Shantel, minutes after she was released from the Sanpete County Jail in rural Utah in December.

Garrett Clark (left) puts his arm around his sister, Shantel, minutes after she was released from the Sanpete County Jail in rural Utah in December. Cheryl Swapp (second from right) helps smooth detainees transition to the outside as the jails community health worker. Ryan Montag (right) has been helped by Swapp in the past. (Lillian Mongeau Hughes/KFF Health News)

MANTI, Utah  Garrett Clark estimates he has spent about six years in the Sanpete County Jail, a plain concrete building perched on a dusty hill just outside this small, rural town where he grew up.

He blames his addiction. He started using in middle school, and by the time he was an adult he was addicted to meth and heroin. At various points, hes done time alongside his mom, his dad, his sister, and his younger brother.

Thats all Ive known my whole life, said Clark, 31, in December.

Clark was at the jail to pick up his sister, who had just been released. The siblings think this time will be different. They are both sober. Shantel Clark, 33, finished earning her high school diploma during her four-month stay at the jail. They have a place to live where no one is using drugs.

And they have Cheryl Swapp, the county sheriffs new community health worker, on their side.

She saved my life probably, for sure, Garrett Clark said.

Swapp meets with every person booked into the county jail soon after they arrive and helps them create a plan for the day they get out.

She makes sure everyone has a state ID card, a birth certificate, and a Social Security card so they can qualify for government benefits, apply to jobs, and get to treatment and probation appointments. She helps nearly everyone enroll in Medicaid and apply for housing benefits and food stamps. If they need medication to stay off drugs, she lines that up. If they need a place to stay, she finds them a bed.

Then Swapp coordinates with the jail captain to have people released directly to the treatment facility. Nobody leaves the jail without a ride and a drawstring backpack filled with items like toothpaste, a blanket, and a personalized list of job openings.

A missing puzzle piece, Sgt. Gretchen Nunley, who runs educational and addiction recovery programming for the jail, called Swapp.

Swapp also assesses the addiction history of everyone held by the county. More than half arrive at the jail addicted to something.

Nationally, 63% of people booked into local jails struggle with a substance use disorder  at least six times the rate of the general population, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The incidence of mental illness in jails is more than twice the rate in the general population, federal data shows. At least 4.9 million people are arrested and jailed every year, according to an analysis of 2017 data by the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit organization that documents the harm of mass incarceration. Of those incarcerated, 25% are booked two or more times, the analysis found. And among those arrested twice, more than half had a substance use disorder and a quarter had a mental illness.

We dont lock people up for being diabetic or epileptic, said David Mahoney, a retired sheriff in Dane County, Wisconsin, who served as president of the National Sheriffs Association in 2020-21. The question every community needs to ask is: Are we doing our responsibility to each other for locking people up for a diagnosed medical condition?

Folders fill several drawers in the office of Cheryl Swapp, a community health worker at Sanpete County Sheriffs Office in rural Utah.(Lillian Mongeau Hughes/KFF Health News)

Folders fill several drawers in the office of Cheryl Swapp, a community health worker at Sanpete County Sheriffs Office in rural Utah.(Lillian Mongeau Hughes/KFF Health News)

The idea that county sheriffs might owe it to society to offer medical and mental health treatment to people in their jails is part of a broader shift in thinking among law enforcement officials that Mahoney said he has observed during the past decade.

Dont we have a moral and ethical responsibility as community members to address the reasons people are coming into the criminal justice system? asked Mahoney, who has 41 years of experience in law enforcement.

Swapp previously worked as a teachers aide for those she calls the behavior kids  children who had trouble self-regulating in class. She feels her work at the jail is a way to change things for the parents of those kids. And it appears to be working.

Since the Sanpete County Sheriffs Office hired Swapp last year, recidivism has dropped sharply. In the 18 months before she began her work, 599 of the people booked into Sanpete County Jail had been there before. In the 18 months after she started, that number dropped to 237.

In most places, people are released from county jails with no health care coverage, no job, nowhere to live, and no plan to stay off drugs or treat their mental illness. Research shows that people newly released from incarceration face a risk of overdose that is 10 times as high as that of the general public.

Sanpete wasnt any different.

For seven to eight years of me being here, wed just release people and cross our fingers, said Jared Hill, the clinical director for Sanpete County and a counselor at the jail.

Nunley, the programming sergeant, remembers watching people released from jail walk the mile to town with nothing but the clothes theyd worn on the day they were arrested  it was known as the walk of shame. Swapp hates that phrase. She said no one has made the trip on foot since she started in July 2022.

Swapps work was initially funded by a grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, but it has proved so popular that commissioners in Sanpete County voted to use a portion of its opioid settlement money to cover the position in the future.

Swapp doesnt have formal medical or social work training. She is certified by the state of Utah as a community health worker, a job that has become more common nationwide. There were about 67,000 people working as community health workers in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Evidence is mounting that the model of training people to help their neighbors connect to government and health care services is sound, said Aditi Vasan, a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania who has reviewed the research on the relatively new role.

The day before Swapp coordinated Shantel Clarks release, she sat with Robert Draper, a man in his 50s with long white hair and bright-blue eyes. Draper has been in and out of jail for decades. He was sober for a year and had been taking care of his ill mother. She kept getting worse. Then his daughter and her child came to help. It was all a little too much.

I thought, if I can just go and get high, I can deal with this shit, said Draper. But after youve been using for 40 years, its kinda easy to slip back in.

He didnt blame his probation officer for throwing him back in jail when he tested positive for drugs, he said. But he thinks jail time is an overreaction to a relapse. Draper sent a note to Swapp through the jail staff asking to see her. He was hoping she could help him get out so he could be with his mom, who had just been sent to hospice. He had missed his fathers death years ago because he was in jail at the time.

Swapp listened to Drapers story without interruptions or questions. Then she asked if she could run through her list with him so she would know what he needed.

Do you have your Social Security card?

My card? Draper shrugged. I know my number.

Your birth certificate, you have it?

Yeah, I dont know where it is.

Drivers license?

No.

Was it revoked?

A long, long time ago, Draper said. DUI from 22 years ago. Paid for and everything.

Are you interested in getting it back?

Yeah!

Swapp has some version of this conversation with every person she meets in the jail. She also runs through their history of addiction and asks them what they most need to get back on their feet.

She told Draper she would try to get him into intensive outpatient therapy. That would involve four to five classes a week and a lot of driving. Hed need his license back. She didnt make promises but said she would talk to his probation officer and the judge. He sighed and thanked her.

Im your biggest fan here, Swapp said. I want you to succeed. I want you to be with your mom, too.

The federal grant that funded the launch of Sanpetes community health worker program is held by the regional health care services organization Intermountain Health. Intermountain took the idea to the county and has provided Swapp with support and training. Intermountain staff also administer the $1 million, three-year grant, which includes efforts to increase addiction recovery services in the area.

A similarly funded program in Kentucky called First Day Forward took the community health worker model a step further, using peer support specialists  people who have experienced the issues they are trying to help others navigate. Spokespeople from HRSA pointed to four programs, including the ones in Utah and Kentucky, that are using their grant money for people facing or serving time in local jails.

Back in Utah, Sanpetes new jail captain, Jeff Nielsen, said people in small-town law enforcement werent so far removed from those serving time.

We know these people, Nielsen said. He has known Robert Draper since middle school. They are friends, neighbors, sometimes family. Wed rather help than lock them up and throw away the key. Wed rather help give them a good life.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFFan independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

The post Rural jails turn to community health workers to help the newly released succeed appeared first on Oregon Capital Chronicle.
For 24/7 mental health support in English or Spanish, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations free help line at 800-662-4357. You can also reach a trained crisis counselor through the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.

Across the state, rural hospitals face a shortage of mental health care providers, with over 60% of rural counties designated as provider shortage areas by the Health Resources and Service Administration.

At the same time, the number of people experiencing mental health crises has increased, and these patients are often forced to seek care in the emergency room of rural hospitals, where they face long waits for treatment and use resources that are needed by patients with critical conditions.

Terry Scoggin, CEO of the Titus Regional Medical Center (TRMC), says his and other rural hospital ERs are the primary place where mental health patients are taken despite the fact that ER doctors are not trained to treat mental health conditions.

"The emergency department is a very hectic, chaotic, life-and-death area. It's not the best environment for a mental health person or person with drug overdose," Scoggin said.

Emergency rooms are a last resort for rural mental health

Situated in rural northeastern Texas, near the Arkansas border, Titus County has one psychiatrist and four licensed clinical social workers to serve 33,000 people in Titus and the surrounding counties. Accounting for population, thats about two-thirds fewer providers than are present in the rest of the state, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Titus mental health providers also care for patients in surrounding counties that have even fewer resources.

"We have one psychiatrist in the five counties that we support. So that gives you an idea of the lack of opportunities," said Scoggin.

Without preventative care, people experiencing mental health crises in rural counties like Titus end up in the ER. Some are brought there after a public disruption. Others are brought by relatives.

Once in the ER, patients can spend days or even weeks waiting to be screened by a local mental health authority before they can be discharged or transferred. For patients at the Titus hospital, where theres no psychiatrist on staff, thats the Mount Pleasant Mental Health Clinic, which serves four counties and struggles to keep up with patient screenings.

In Titus, patients with mental health needs would typically be transferred to Terrell State Hospital, but the waits there are long, too.

"Terrell stays full. That is just the way it is, that's not us, that's Terrell," said Rachelle Sills, director of the Mount Pleasant Mental Health Clinic. According to Sills, her team calls Terrell every day when theyre trying to transfer a patient, sometimes waiting as long as 14 days for an opening.

Kathy Griffis is the vice president of clinical operations and chief nursing officer at Titus Regional Medical Center. She worries for patients with mental health conditions  but also for her staff, who sometimes deal with violent patients during extended stays in the ER.

Brittany Bacak, a licensed clinical social worker, said that the isolation mental health patients experience while waiting in the ER can exacerbate their symptoms, leading to violence toward staff.

''When you put a client in a room, and you tell them that they have to stay in that room and they can't leave that room for multiple days, people get agitated, right?" said Bacak, a lecturer at the School of Social Work at Texas State University who spent eight years working in Texas emergency rooms in both rural and urban hospitals in Bastrop, San Marcos and Austin prior to teaching.

Telehealth in ERs could reduce violence and get patients more timely care

Concerned with the long waits experienced by mental health patients in rural ERs and the associated danger to staff, Griffis worked with colleagues at Baylor University Medical Center and St. Lukes Health in Lake Jackson to explore the use telehealth to help ER doctors treat mental health patients who end up in their department.

A year later, the state legislature allocated $7.4 million over two years to fund telepsychiatry consultations for rural hospitals, based on the work of Griffis and her colleagues.

A pilot program was launched in March in Titus and Knox counties. Texas Tech psychiatrists contracted by Texas Health and Human Services are available to rural hospitals seven days a week, 10 hours a day, enabling ER physicians to start treating mental health patients in the ER within the first 24 hours.

"Now we can at least get a diagnosis, a prescription, and possibly a discharge back into society and not a discharge to another hospital," said Scoggin.

Sills, at the Mount Pleasant Mental Health Clinic, welcomes the program because it will reduce workload and help move patients to a more appropriate care setting in less time.

"We are such a high-crisis, high-volume clinic here that I think the local psychiatrists (through telemedicine) will really help the ER in maybe moving some of those people faster, whatever that means, getting them to another place or being able to advise them," Sills said.

Griffis hopes to demonstrate the programs efficacy and secure future funding, but the challenges of providing mental health care in rural areas extend beyond the ER. Due to provider shortages, accessing ongoing mental health care in rural communities is a challenge, even for those with private health insurance.

"I think we've got to relook at the infrastructure in our community for mental health, Scoggins said.

Liza Kalinina is a graduate student at Texas State University and an intern with Texas Community Health News, a collaboration between the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the university's Translational Health Research Center. TCHN stories, reports and data visualizations are provided free to Texas newsrooms.

Disclosure: Baylor University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Weve got big things in store for you at The Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 57 in downtown Austin. Join us for three days of big, bold conversations about politics, public policy and the days news.
Russian troops launched 224 strikes on Sumy Oblast over the course of 6 May. One person was killed, and two young children and two adults were injured.

Source: Sumy Oblast Police

Details: Ten private buildings, three private households, six apartment buildings, eight vehicles, two grain elevator buildings, two administrative buildings, energy and critical infrastructure facilities, business premises, a shop and a warehouse were damaged as a result of the attack.

In addition, an outbuilding belonging to one company was destroyed, and a tank containing fuel and lubricants caught fire.

Investigators have instigated criminal proceedings over these events for violations of the laws and customs of war.

Background: Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported that the Russians attacked Krasnopilia hromada in Sumy Oblast with artillery on 6 May, injuring a man and two children.

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Russia declared Freedom House, a U.S. nonprofit advocating for international democracy, as an "undesirable" organization, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office said on May 7.

Russia's "undesirable organization" law was adopted in 2015, effectively banning cooperation with about 160 organizations included on the list since then.

Russian prosecutors justified their decision by Freedom House allegedly "promoting... a 'dominant' role of the United States in the world" and supporting pro-Ukrainian policies.

The statement further read that the NGO provides "informational, financial, and legal support" to "Russian opposition structures, pro-Western and LGBT activists... and persons convicted of committing terrorist crimes."

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Amnesty International said in February that Russia increasingly uses vague anti-terrorism legislation to "silence voices of opposition and instill fear among those who dare to speak out."

The country has also adopted progressively repressive legislation and restrictions targeting the local LGBT community.

A Russian parliamentary committee said in March that the authorities would begin investigating the inclusion of Freedom House in the list of "undesirables."

Freedom House has repeatedly pointed out the deteriorating state of democracy in Russia as Vladimir Putin's regime ramps up pressure against domestic opposition, free media, and civil society.

The NGO's Freedom in the World 2024 report assigned Russia a democracy score of 13 out of 100, classifying the country as "Not Free."

The Kyiv Independent has reached out to Freedom House for comment but has not received a response at the time of the publication.

Read also: Freedom House: Ukraine on democratic path amid rising authoritarianism in region

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CAIRO, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Egypt has informed the Palestinian side that Israel's security operation in the vicinity of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing will end on Tuesday morning, a security high-rank official told Xinhua.

"Egypt has inquired about the Israeli incursion in the vicinity of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, the only link between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, and Israel responded that the operation will end on Tuesday morning," the source said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

He added that Israel will not break into the crossing or control it.

Al-Aqsa TV channel of Hamas reported that Israeli tanks stood at a close distance from the crossing in southern Gaza.

"Three Israeli tanks are positioned 200 meters far from the crossing and bombarded the crossing wall. Meanwhile, sounds of firing and strikes were heard near the crossing," the TV report added.

Egypt will host a new round of talks with Hamas and Israel on Tuesday over the implementation of a three-stage ceasefire deal based on an Egyptian proposal that was agreed upon by the Hamas side. 
Photo collage of satellite dishes emitting a radio signal overlaid on top of a vintage map of the Baltic sea. In the background, there is a large airplane, sliced in half.

Estonia has accused Russia of jamming GPS navigation devices in the airspace above the Baltic states, raising fears of potential aircraft disasters.

The incidents were part of an "ongoing pattern" of GPS interference in Europe, said New Scientist , but there are question marks over who is to blame and whether it is deliberate.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a network of satellites and other devices that are pivotal for aviation safety. But its signals are "vulnerable to blocking or distortion, creating problems for pilots and air traffic control dispatchers", said The Times .

'Potentially catastrophic'

A Royal Air Force plane carrying the UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, was allegedly subjected to jamming for around 30 minutes as it flew near Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic, in March. It was travelling between the UK and Poland when its satellite signal was temporarily interfered with on both legs of the journey.

Finnair flights from Helsinki to Tartu have been paused for at least a month over "potentially catastrophic" GPS interference, said The Times, and two Finnair flights were forced to return to Helsinki over safety fears.

Over the past six months, jamming has worsened around the Baltic Sea, said Finnair pilot and Finnish Pilots Association safety and security committee chair Lauri Soini.

Estonia has pointed the finger firmly at Moscow. The country's foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, said the disruption was the result of "completely deliberate actions" by Russia. Moscow "knows perfectly well" that the interference is "very dangerous to our aviation and goes against the international conventions, which Russia has also joined", he said.

His remarks come weeks after Germany claimed that Russia was probably behind a string of GPS disturbances in the Baltic region. Berlin identified Kaliningrad as the most probable source for the jamming operations, but, like Estonia, offered no evidence for its allegations.

'Badly degraded'

Does all this mean that Russia is actively trying to interfere with European civil aviation? "Probably not", said The Economist . Because, according to European officials, the jamming is probably intended to protect Russian forces from Ukrainian drone attacks, which are growing "more frequent and ambitious".

Following drone attacks from Ukraine last month, the disruption in the Baltic states is "probably a byproduct of Russian defensive measures". Jamming is a "crucial military tactic" and Moscow "appears to have the edge" in using it, leading to Kyiv ceasing some attacks because its GPS guidance had been "so badly degraded".

But even if the jamming of civil aircraft in the Baltic is inadvertent, it is "nevertheless a pain" because larger separation distances will be required. GPS is the only form of navigation for some private jets and its disruption has also affected commercial shipping.

Although GPS jamming can sound alarming, AirBaltic safety manager and flight captain Janis Kristops told Reuters that most major airports have a variety of navigation tools available if GPS isn't working. In addition, the authorities are aiming to train pilots to verify jamming and spoofing sooner.
Ukrainian weapons on the battlefield. Photo: President Zelenskyy on Telegram

Ukraines Defence Forces are continuing to inflict losses on Russia as it has lost 1,160 soldiers, 37 artillery systems, 25 tanks and 14 armoured combat vehicles over the past day alone.

Source: General Staff of Ukraines Armed Forces on Facebook

Details: The total combat losses of the Russian forces between 24 February 2022 and 7 May 2024 are estimated to be as follows [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses  ed.]:

476,460 (+1,160) military personnel;

7,405 (+25) tanks;

14,227 (+14) armoured combat vehicles;

12,287 (+37) artillery systems;

1,057 (+0) multiple-launch rocket systems;

792 (+1) air defence systems;

349 (+0) fixed-wing aircraft;

325 (+0) helicopters;

9,717 (+34) strategic and tactical UAVs;

2,149 (+1) cruise missiles;

26 (+0) ships and boats;

1 (+0) submarines;

16,509 (+32) vehicles and tankers;

2,017 (+9) special vehicles and other equipment.

The information is being confirmed.

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John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House, has said that to protect its troops from being hit by Western-made weapons, Russia should simply withdraw them from the territory of Ukraine.

Source: Kirby at a press briefing; Matthew Miller, US State Department spokesman; Holos Ameryky (Voice of America)

Quote from Kirby: "If Mr. Putin and Russian officials are worried about their troops in Ukraine getting hit by weapons from other countries, the easiest thing to do is just take your troops and leave."

"It is just reckless and irresponsible for the leader of a major nuclear-armed power to be sabre-rattling the way that he [Putin] is, with the respect to potential use for nuclear weapons. Obviously we monitor this and have continued to monitor this very closely. I can tell you that weve seen nothing, even despite the reckless rhetoric, that would cause us to change our strategic deterrent posture."

Details: However, at present, the Administration has not seen any real steps by Russia regarding the possible use of nuclear weapons, despite the aggressive rhetoric.

Miller also said that Washington sees no signs of Russia's possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Quote from Miller: "So Russias rhetoric  their nuclear rhetoric  has been reckless and irresponsible throughout this conflict. That said, we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture in response to these announcements, nor any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine."

Background:

The Ministry of Defence of Russia announced on 6 May that it would "soon" conduct exercises involving the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons on the orders of Russian ruler Vladimir Putin.

Moscow said that UK Ambassador Nigel Casey had been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to lodge a note of protest. This was in reference to previous statements made by UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron during his visit to Kyiv on Thursday, 2 May that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could use weapons provided by London to strike Russia.

Responding to this statement, Moscow said it was ready to strike British military targets both on the territory of Ukraine and abroad. Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia had begun preparations for nuclear exercises, accusing UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and French President Emmanuel Macron of making "provocative statements and threats" and of increasing support for Ukraine.

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Jailed Russian journalist and opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Washington Post contributing columnist, has won the Pulitzer Prize for the commentary he has been writing from his prison cell.

The Pulitzer judges noted Kara-Muras "passionate columns written under great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putins Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country."

Kara-Murza, who has condemned Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine and lobbied for Western sanctions against Moscow, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in April 2023. He is part of a growing contingent of dissenters detained amid President Vladimir Putin's increasingly severe political crackdown.

Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British citizen, was arrested in Russia on April 11, 2022, and charged with "treason," "spreading false information" about the Russian military and belonging to an "undesirable" foreign organization. He denied all the charges. Early in 2024, he was reportedly sent to a type of punishment cell known by its Russian initials as an EPKT, the strictest form of isolation from other prisoners.

Vadim Prokhorov, Kara-Murzas lawyer, said in a Facebook post on May 6 that he thinks the best way to congratulate the journalist would be active efforts to get him released and corresponding public demands aimed at the Putin regime.

Read also: Is Chechnya preparing for Kadyrovs demise  and what could come next?

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The Russian government has held the so-called inauguration of Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the capital of the aggressor country after the non-transparent "elections" organised by the Kremlin. Putin has been the de facto ruler of Russia since 2000 and will be able to rule the country for another 6 years.

Source: broadcast from Moscow, Russian propagandists

Details: Putin took the oath of office at a ceremony in the Kremlin, promising to protect "the Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen".

Putin said in his speech that "we are looking towards the future with confidence" and "together we will win". The Russian leader also said that Russia does not seem to be abandoning dialogue with Western countries: "This is their choice. Whether they intend to continue trying to restrain Russia's development, continue the policy of aggression and pressure on our country, which has not stopped for years, or look for a way to cooperation and peace," Putin said.

Previously: Ukraines Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it sees no reason to recognise Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin as the democratically elected and legitimate president of Russia. The foreign ministry noted that during the so-called "elections" in Russia, there were violations of the provisions of numerous international documents that form the basis of the modern system of international relations.

Background:

Czechia, Estonia and Latvia have already confirmed that their representatives will not be attending Russian leader Vladimir Putins so-called inauguration on 7 May.

EU diplomat Josep Borrell is opposed to EU representatives attending the "inauguration" ceremony of the Kremlin ruler.

Earlier, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the manner in which Vladimir Putin's sham re-election was conducted and calling for those elections not to be declared legitimate.

After the fraudulent "elections" in Russia, Putin lost his legitimacy as president of that country, so European Pravda no longer uses the term "president" to refer to this person. Here we justify and explain the importance of this change.

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Ukrainian intelligence agents say they have foiled a Russian plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraines SBU State Security Service said it had caught Russian agents within the Ukrainian state guard plotting the kidnap and assassination of the president and other senior governmental officials.

The head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk said the failed assassination was supposed to be a gift to Vladimir Putin ahead of his inauguration on Tuesday.

The force said they arrested the two suspected moles who they believe had been recruited by Russia before its invasion.

Russian saboteurs are confronted in the woods by the Ukrainian SBU (SBU)

The SBU claimed on Telegram that a Russian secret agent had passed on coordinates of a safe house ahead of a planned rocket attack. The force added Russia had planned to destroy all traces of the drone used to target the president with another missile.

Without providing evidence, they wrote: The enemy was actively developing plans to eliminate President Volodymyr Zelensky.

One of the tasks of the FSB intelligence network was to search for executors among the military close to the protection of the president, who could take the head of state hostage and later kill him.

The Ukrainians parade one of the suspected moles (SBU)

In addition to Volodymyr Zelensky, the enemy planned to eliminate the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the state administration of Ukraine, Kyryll Budanov and other high-ranking officials.

Mr Zelensky was the primary target (AP)

Mr Malyuk said: A limited number of people knew about our special operation, and I personally monitored its progress.

The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin before the inauguration, was actually a failure of the Russian special services.

But we must not forget, the enemy is strong and experienced, he cannot be underestimated. We will continue to work ahead of time, so that every traitor receives the well-deserved court sentences.

Arrests made by SBU (SBU)

The SBU claimed a search of the intruders found the relevant means of destruction and other evidence of criminal activity.

They said the two officers were arrested on suspicion of treason committed under martial law and preparation for a terrorist act. Both offences carry a life sentence, the statement read.

Russias defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ukrainian claims of Russian efforts to kill Mr Zelensky are not new. Mr Zelensky said in 2022 there had been at least 10 attempts to assassinate him.

Also, prosecutors in Poland said last month a Polish man had been arrested on allegations of being ready to spy on behalf of Russias military intelligence in an alleged plot to assassinate Mr Zelensky.
The guard of honor lined up in salutation.

French President Emmanuel Macron held a grand welcoming ceremony for Chinese President Xi Jinping in Paris.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Russian troops shelled part of the Yampil Forest in Donetsk Oblast on 7 May, setting trees on fire.

Source: Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office

Quote: "A pre-trial investigation has been launched in criminal proceedings with respect to a violation of the laws and customs of war (Art. 438.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) under the procedural guidance of prosecutors from the Specialist Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office.

According to the investigation, on 7 May 2024, Russian forces shelled the territory of the Yampil Forest belonging to the Lyman Forest State Enterprise, probably with artillery. Trees and the forest floor caught fire as a result of being hit by munitions."

Photo: Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office

Details: The prosecutors reported that the fire engulfed about 300 hectares of coniferous trees. Firefighters have already significantly reduced the fire area.

Photo: Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office

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Russian strikes on Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast injure at least 6

At least six people, including a six-year-old girl and a 91-year-old woman, have been injured during an intense day of Russian strikes in Nikopol, in the south-east of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, authorities reported on May 7.

In a post on Telegram, Governor Serhii Lysak said 14 kamikaze drones and artillery struck the city and surrounding communities.

Initially, he reported four people had been injured  two women aged 91 and 50, and two men aged 37 and 40. One of the men was in a serious condition.

Ten houses, three garages, and several farm buildings were damaged.

In a later post, Lysak said the number of injured had risen to six, including the six-year-old girl.

Nikopol, situated on the banks of the mostly dried-up Kakhovka Reservoir, just across from Russian-occupied Enerhodar and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is a regular target of Russian attacks.

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Russians hit Borova in Kharkiv Oblast with guided bombs, injuring 2 adults and child

Two adults and a child have been injured as a result of Russian strikes with guided bombs on residential buildings in the village of Borova in Kharkiv Oblast in the evening of 6 May.

Source: Oleh Syniehubov, Head of Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration; State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv Oblast

Quote from Syniehubov: "22:20, the village of Borova, Izium district. A 16-year-old girl, a 55-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman were injured as a result of guided bomb strikes on private houses."

Details: The State Emergency Service specified that the Russians hit a private house, damaging a neighbouring residence as well. In addition to the three injured individuals, another person has been diagnosed with an acute stress reaction.

A 55-year-old man was killed as a result of an explosion of an unknown explosive device on private territory in the village of Blyzniuky in the Lozova district.

Overall, Russian forces deployed artillery and mortars to attack 14 populated areas in Kharkiv Oblast over the past day. The settlements of Zolochiv, Petropavlivka and Borova came under Russian airstrikes.

Residential buildings were destroyed, cafes and outbuildings were damaged and equipment was affected as a result of the attacks.

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Over the past day, 64 combat clashes have occurred in the combat zone. The Russians launched one missile attack, 40 airstrikes, and 72 attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems.

Source: evening report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine dated 7 May

Quote: "Within the last 24 hours, aircraft of the Defence Forces of Ukraine and Ukrainian rocket units have hit a Russian 2S4 Tulpan self-propelled mortar, one command post, and five clusters of personnel."

Details: On the Kupiansk front, Ukrainian forces repelled 11 Russian attacks near the settlements of Synkivka, Pishchane (Kharkiv Oblast) and Stelmakhivka (Luhansk Oblast), where the Russians, backed by air support, attempted to improve their tactical positions.

On the Lyman front, the Defence Forces repelled two attacks near the settlements of Nevske (Luhansk Oblast).

On the Bakhmut front, the Defence Forces repelled 10 Russian attacks near the settlements of Verkhokamianske, Vyimka, Spirne, Rozdolivka, Ivanivske, Novyi and Andriivka (Donetsk Oblast), where the Russians, backed by air support, attempted to improve their tactical positions.

On the Avdiivka front, Ukrainian forces repelled 18 Russian attacks near the settlements of Oleksandropil, Novooleksandrivka, Progres, Yevhenivka, Novoselivka Persha, Umanske, Pervomaiske and Netailove (Donetsk Oblast), where the Russians, backed by air support, attempted to dislodge the Ukrainian units from their positions.

On the Novopavlivka front, the Defence Forces continue to hold the Russians back near the settlements of Krasnohorivka, Kostiantynivka, Vodiane and Urozhaine (Donetsk Oblast), where the Russians, backed by air support, made seven attempts to breach the Ukrainian defences.

On the Orikhiv front, the Russians launched four attacks on Ukrainian positions near Staromaiorske (Donetsk Oblast) and Robotyne and to the northwest of Verbove (Zaporizhzhia Oblast).

On the Kherson front, the Russians continued their attempts to dislodge the Ukrainian units from their positions on the left bank of the Dnipro River. Over 24 hours the Russians, backed by air support, launched two attacks on the Ukrainian forces near the settlement of Krynky (Kherson Oblast), but to no avail.

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A firefighter attending a fire caused by the Russian attack on the city of Kherson Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

The Russians struck a residential area in Khersons Tsentralnyi district on the evening of 7 May, causing four houses at different addresses to catch fire.

Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine; Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of Kherson Oblast Military Administration

Quote: "This evening, the Russian army struck one of the citys residential areas. Four houses at different addresses caught fire at the same time. Firefighters promptly arrived at the affected areas and put out the blazes."

     ,  4 

 -  pic.twitter.com/qhk1HM6OvH     (@ukrpravda_news) May 7, 2024

Details: Prokudin reported that windows, roofs and a gas pipe have been damaged. Several of the houses were completely destroyed by the strikes.

No one was injured, but some people suffered acute stress reactions. Medics treated them at the scene.

A firefighter attending a fire caused by the Russian attack on the city of Kherson

Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

A firefighter attending a fire caused by the Russian attack on the city of Kherson

Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

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Russia's former president threatened nuclear attacks on Western capital cities if NATO sends any troops to Ukraine

Russia's former president threatened nuclear attacks on Western capital cities if NATO sends any troops to Ukraine

Dmitry Medvedev is at it again, threatening Western leaders with nuclear attacks if they cross a line.

Medvedev says no leaders in Washington, Paris, and London won't "be able to hide" if they send troops to Ukraine.

The former Russian president regularly makes bombastic threats against the West.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday threatened nuclear strikes on Western leaders who want to send their troops to Ukraine, doubling down on his increasingly hostile rhetoric toward the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"The choir of irresponsible bastards from among Western elites calling for sending their troops to the nonexistent country is expanding," Medvedev wrote in a message on social media.

He pointed to leaders and politicians in the US, UK, France, the Baltics, and Poland who floated the idea of supplying Kyiv with troops.

Medvedev said any deployment of NATO troops would essentially be a direct engagement in war, and that Russia would have to respond "not within Ukraine's borders."

"In that case, none of them will be able to hide either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in Downing Street, 10. It will be a global catastrophe," Medvedev added.

The former president, who held the office from 2008 to 2012, cited retaliation as a reason Russia recently started running drills for "the use of nonstrategic nuclear weapons."

Russia on Monday announced drills with tactical nukes near Ukraine, which it said are being held in response to recent "threats" from the West.

Strategic nuclear weapons are those typically launched via intercontinental ballistic missiles. The type referred to by Medvedev typically provides smaller yields  though they can still be devastating  and can be delivered through a variety of means such as shorter-range missiles or even trucks.

Russia has been using threats of nuclear war to posture against countries supporting Ukraine, with repeated references to nonstrategic nukes potentially being used if certain red lines set by Moscow are crossed.

Western nations "must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory," Russian leader Vladimir Putin said in March.

But such threats have also been categorized as bluffs by Western leaders, who say the Kremlin hopes to scare Ukraine's allies off.

Meanwhile, NATO has continued to supply Ukraine with about $168 billion in weapons, arms, and other forms of aid. Last month, the US approved a package worth $61 billion to Kyiv, which Ukraine says is vital to maintaining its defensive positions against Russia's advance.

As for Medvedev, the former president has been loudly pro-war since Russia invaded Ukraine. He regularly takes to social media to call for extreme measures in response to perceived Western grievances, such as a hypersonic missile strike on the Hague after it issued an arrest warrant for Putin.

In April, he said each NATO soldier sent to Ukraine should have a "maximum reward" bounty placed on their heads.

NATO has said that it's not deploying its own troops in Ukraine and isn't seriously planning to do so, though some allied leaders say they might be open to such a possibility.

French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, has repeatedly said he wouldn't rule out sending troops to aid Kyiv. Medvedev often responds to Macron directly, insulting him on social media in English, Russian, and French.

Experts in Russian politics previously told Business Insider's Sinead Baker that Medvedev's hostile rhetoric might be an attempt to impress Putin.

"Medvedev is like one of the weaker guys in Tony Soprano's circles, who just has to go and do horrible things to appease the boss," Edward Lucas, senior advisor at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said.

Medvedev now serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was up the West to choose between confrontation and cooperation as he was sworn in for a new six-year term on Tuesday at a Kremlin ceremony that was boycotted by the United States and many of its allies.

More than two years into the war in Ukraine, Putin said he wanted to "bow" before Russia's soldiers there and declared in his inauguration speech that his landslide re-election in March was proof the country was united and on the right track.

"You, citizens of Russia, have confirmed the correctness of the country's course. This is of great importance right now, when we are faced with serious challenges," he told dignitaries in a gilded Kremlin hall where a trumpet fanfare sounded to greet his arrival.

"I see in this a deep understanding of our common historical goals, a determination to adamantly defend our choice, our values, freedom and the national interests of Russia."

At 71, Putin dominates the domestic political landscape. Leading opposition figures are in prison or exile, and his best known critic, Alexei Navalny, died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony in February.

Yulia Navalnaya, the late dissident's wife, urged supporters in a video on Tuesday to keep up the struggle against Putin. "With each of his terms, everything only gets worse, and its' frightening to imagine what else will happen while Putin remains in power," she said.

On the international stage, Putin is locked in a confrontation with Western countries he accuses of using Ukraine as a vehicle to try to defeat and dismember Russia.

Putin told Russia's political elite after being sworn in that he was not rejecting dialogue with the West, including on nuclear weapons.

"The choice is theirs: do they intend to continue trying to restrain the development of Russia, continue the policy of aggression, incessant pressure on our country for years, or look for a path to cooperation and peace?" he said.

With Russia's troops advancing gradually in eastern Ukraine, the top U.S. intelligence official said last week that Putin appeared to see domestic and international developments trending in his favour and the conflict was unlikely to end anytime soon.

It remains unclear how far Putin will seek to press the war and on what terms he might discuss ending it - decisions that will depend in part on whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in November. Ukraine says peace can only come with a full withdrawal of Russia's troops, who control nearly 20% of its territory.

WESTERN ABSENTEES

Putin, in power as president or prime minister since 1999, will surpass Soviet leader Josef Stalin and become Russia's longest-serving ruler since 18th century Empress Catherine the Great if he completes a new six-year term. He would then be eligible to seek re-election again.

He won victory by a record margin in a tightly controlled election from which two anti-war candidates were barred on technical grounds. The opposition called it a sham.

The United States, which said it did not consider his re-election free and fair, stayed away from Tuesday's ceremony.

Britain, Canada and most EU nations also decided to boycott the swearing-in, but France said it would send its ambassador.

Ukraine said the event sought to create "the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship".

Sergei Chemezov, a Putin ally, told Reuters before the ceremony, that Putin brought stability, something which even his critics should welcome.

"For Russia, this is the continuation of our path, this is stability  you can ask any citizen on the street," he said.

NUCLEAR TENSIONS

Russia's relations with the United States and its allies are at their lowest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the world came to the brink of nuclear war.

The West has provided Ukraine with artillery, tanks and long-range missiles, but NATO troops have not joined the conflict directly, something that both Putin and Biden have warned could lead to World War Three.

Underscoring the rise in nuclear tensions, Russia said on Monday it would practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise, after what it said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.

One of the decisions awaiting Putin in his new term will be whether to seek to renew or replace the last remaining treaty that limits Russian and U.S. strategic nuclear warheads. The New START agreement is due to expire in 2026.

In line with the constitution, the government resigned at the start of the new presidential term. Putin ordered it to remain in office while he appoints a new one which is expected to include many of the same faces.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow and Mark Trevelyan in London; Editing by Alison Williams)
Controversial new administrative rules proposed by state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education will receive an extra layer of scrutiny from members of the state House of Representatives.

In an unexpected twist Monday afternoon, the House Administrative Rules Committee separated its consideration of proposed rules by Walters, the state board and the Oklahoma State Department of Education from those submitted by other agencies. For the rules to become permanent, they must be approved by both the Legislature and the governor.

The committee passed House Joint Resolution 1059, which dealt with proposed rules from six other state agencies, without dissent. Rep. Gerrid Kendrix, R-Altus  the committees chairman  said he would be preparing a second resolution concerning the state Education Departments proposals. He said he hoped to have that done by the end of the week.

As a caucus and as a Legislature, were working on trying to get a consensus to make sure that  whenever we get done with this, it makes it through the process, Kendrix said.

In considering proposed rules, I try to determine ... do they have the authority, does it meet the intent of the law and did they follow the proper process, Kendrix said of state agencies. Im kind of a black-and-white guy. I go based on that, but obviously, theres differences of opinion on things like this and Im a firm believer in the process. We have a Legislature (in which) legislation passes based on a majority vote and thats the way this needs to be.

Kendrix said when it comes to proposed rules the committee cannot make changes, it has to approve or disapprove them in whole or in part.

Rep. Gerrid Kendrix, the chair of the House Administrative Rules Committee, speaks during Monday's meeting. Next to him is the vice chair, Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader.

Oklahoma State Department of Education rule changes target DEI training, prayer in schools

In February, the State Board of Education passed a slew of proposed rules regarding school accreditation, prayer in schools, teacher behavior, training of local school board members, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) procedures in Oklahoma schools, among other topics. Those rules, and others adopted by the board since the most recent legislative session, are up for review.

Democrats claim the rules are null and void because of the way they were passed, citing an opinion from Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond that said Oklahoma law prevents a state board or agency from creating administrative rules without express approval from the Legislature to do so.

Attorneys for Walters, the agency and the board have argued in a court case involving disputed agency rules, brought by Edmond Public Schools against the agency, that Drummonds opinion misconstrues relevant statutes and precedents. Agency spokesman Dan Isett has said, There is broad constitutional authority vested in OSDE that grants it the ability to act in the best interest of Oklahoma students.

Rep. Melissa Provenzano, D-Tulsa  one of only two Democrats on the House Administrative Rules Committee  told The Oklahoman it's good the proposed education rules would be considered separately.

Im not displeased by it, because now we know how important it is to get the state Department of Education rules correct, Provenzano said. I believe even greater attention and greater scrutiny will be given to them before we vote on them.

During a Monday news conference, Senate Democrats decried the rules proposals, saying one of them  which would tie school accreditation to student performance on standardized tests  would immediately affect the accreditation of about 60 school districts.

Right now, in the climate that were in, it requires bipartisanship to hold powerful people accountable, said Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman, a member of the Senate Administrative Rules Committee, which has yet to vote on the state Education Departments proposed rules. Here we are again, trying to make sure that the administrative rules are legal and that they reflect legislative authority. If we do hold the state Department of Education (accountable), its going to be because of a bipartisan effort.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma House scrutinizing Ryan Walters' proposed education rules
GAZA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli elderly hostage passed away in Gaza as she did not receive medical treatment amid the Israeli attacks on the hospitals in the enclave, Hamas said on Tuesday.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement that "Judy Feinstein, an elderly woman, died because she did not receive intensive medical care due to the enemy's destruction of hospitals in the Gaza Strip."

The statement came one day after Hamas announced acceptance of the ceasefire deal that would include a prisoner deal with Israel.

Israel has launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, following Hamas' surprise attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and captured about 240 others, according to official Israeli data.

Meanwhile, more than 34,500 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army attacks in Gaza and more than 78,000 have been wounded, according to the Gaza-based health authority. 
(FOX40.COM)  The Sacramento Zoo and an official from the city of Elk Grove released new renderings of the proposed relocation site for the zoo ahead of a city council vote on Wednesday on whether the project can begin construction.

The city says there would be about $425 million in one-time construction costs for the roughly 65-acre site, including an estimated 2,400 construction jobs.

The zoo released a number of new renderings of what the zoo could look like.

New zoo rendering (Image: Sacramento Zoo)

New zoo rendering (Image: Sacramento Zoo)

New zoo rendering (Image: Sacramento Zoo)

New zoo rendering (Image: Sacramento Zoo)

New zoo rendering (Image: Sacramento Zoo)

New zoo rendering (Image: Sacramento Zoo)

New zoo rendering (Image: Sacramento Zoo)

New zoo rendering (Image: Sacramento Zoo)

After construction, the zoo is expected to be responsible for its own ongoing operation and maintenance costs. According to the city of Elk Grove, the zoo currently operates without a subsidy from the city of Sacramento.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40.
The sad story of how democracy got drained out of one NC Congressional district | Opinion

Democrats say putting former President Donald Trump back in the White House would endanger democracy, but that danger has already arrived.

The damage isnt only being done by Trump. State lawmakers and right-wing justices are also doing their part. Partisan gerrymandering is crippling representative government. The U.S. Supreme Court could have outlawed it in a 2019 North Carolina case, Rucho v. Common Cause, but declined by a vote of 5-4.

To see the consequences, consider the mess in North Carolinas 13th Congressional District.

The district covering southern Wake County, all of Johnston County and parts of Wayne and Harnett counties was drawn by court order after the then-Democratic majority state Supreme Court rejected gerrymandered maps passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. As a result, the 13th District in 2022 was compact and politically balanced.

Wiley Nickel, then a Democratic state senator, won the district by 3% over Republican Bo Hines, who gained his partys nomination on the strength of Trumps endorsement. But after Republicans took control of the state Supreme Court in 2022, Republican lawmakers were given a green light to gerrymander again.

Three North Carolina Democratic members of Congress decided not to seek reelection after looking at their redrawn districts. One of them was Nickel. The new 13th District district takes in much less of Wake and adds several Republican-leaning counties. In 2020, President Joe Biden was supported by voters in the previous district by 1 percent. Voters in the new version favored Trump by 17 percent.

With Nickel out and no real chance for a Democrat, 14 candidates piled into this years District 13 Republican primary. None received the 30 percent necessary to win outright. Kelly Daughtry, a Johnston County lawyer came close with 27%. Brad Knott, a former assistant U.S. attorney from Wake County, took second with 18 percent. Knott requested a runoff.

Daughtry and Knott traded negative ads about who was the real conservative, but when Trump stepped in and endorsed Knott, Daughtrys lead in the polls evaporated. Last week, she suspended her campaign despite having loaned it $4.3 million. She announced her support for Knott.

Daughtrys father, the former longtime Republican state lawmaker Leo Daughtry, said his daughter saw no path to winning after Trump endorsed her opponent. That was that, he said. He accepted the outcome with resignation. In politics, he said, somebody wins and somebody loses.

But in this race, the real loser was democracy.

In the 2022 general election, more than 277,000 people voted in the congressional race. Fewer than one-third of that number (83,894) voted in this years GOP primary. Of that group, only 15,664 voted for Knott.

Those numbers mean that in a district in which more than 270,000 people are likely to vote in Novembers election, Knott has already won by drawing support from a small fraction of district voters. It also means that in a district of more than 700,000 residents, Knott will effectively represent a constituency of one  Donald Trump.

A once politically balanced district has become a MAGA fiefdom.

Its such a shame, Nickel told me on Monday, because the (race) I won was one in which voters had a choice. The district could have gone either way.

Nickel, who served the White House national advance staff under President Barack Obama, is a progressive, but the politics of his district made him work in the middle.

I learned there are so many people who are not on the far left or far right. They just want someone to make positive change for the district and work across the aisle, he said.

That kind of representation will be ending in District 13.

Even if Daughtry had stayed in the race, it was assured that the districts next representative would be a Trump loyalist. But its even worse that the outcome was determined by line drawers in the legislature, enablers on the state Supreme Court and a nod from Mar-a-Lago.

Democracy had nothing to do with it.

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@ news observer.com
Sage Memorial Hospitals new $177 million medical facility is set to open in October 2024. Photo by Kevinjonah Paguio | Cronkite News

GANADO  Desert stretches out around the little town of Ganado, which sits in the western part of the 27,000 square miles of the Navajo Nation.

Ganado is home to Sage Memorial Hospital, a Native-managed comprehensive health care system serving thousands of people in surrounding Navajo communities. The medical facility has operated out of its current facilities since 1930. Back then, the outpatient building, Poncel Hall, was home to the first Native American nursing school.

Now, 93 years later, Sage Memorial Hospital has built a 95,614-square-foot state-of-the-art hospital that is more than twice the size of the original hospital and will significantly increase patient capacity.

This ambitious endeavor aspires to provide better, more advanced health care to the Navajo Nation, but equally important is Sage Memorials mission to incorporate and honor the traditions of the Dine, the name that Navajo people use for themselves.

The hospitals core values have been kept in the Dine language: bee ai dli, meaning togetherness and unity; hodilzin, meaning sacred; hozho meaning beauty and balance; and iili, meaning respect.

Navajo Health Foundation  Sage Memorial Hospital is a private nonprofit corporation governed by an all-Navajo board of directors. The new facility is entirely self-funded by Sage Memorial Hospital and is slated to open this fall.

Melinda White, the hospitals CEO, anticipates enormous benefits to the Navajo community.

We want to be the best rural health facility, White said. The space were currently at is very tight, and were not able to see as many patients as we would like. And in the new building, because theres a lot more space, were able to have a higher patient volume.

Community care and local impact

There are 12 health care facilities run by the Indian Health Service (IHS) within the Navajo Nation, but some Navajo residents must travel 50 miles or more to reach basic health services, and specialized services are even more scarce.

Dr. Kenneth Anaeme, chief medical officer at Sage Memorial Hospital, said the nearest hospitals able to offer specialized care are in Albuquerque and Flagstaff.

If you have someone whos sick enough to require advanced care, now youre talking about a two-and-a-half-hour drive to the nearest tertiary center that can care for that patient, Anaeme said. One of the issues we have is just the lack of specialized treatment capabilities here at Sage. So, that was causing a lot of distress for families.

Anaeme said Sage Memorial can currently treat some primary health conditions such as diabetes, influenza, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, traumatic injury, alcoholism and more.

Health care should be efficient, easily accessible, Anaeme said. It should be evidence-based, and it should be patient-centered.  If were trying to make the health care of our population efficient, not having delays in treatment, we need to have facilities that are state-of-the-art and that can accommodate things like telemedicine, the treatment of a patient at the source, rather than having to rely on transportation to another place.

White said the move from the old cramped facility with outdated equipment to the new state-of-the-art facility will be a time warp. Were going from one place to another, where everything is going to be literally electronic. Itll be very different, very, very different for us.

White got her start in the medical field at Sage Memorial many years ago.

I actually grew up in Albuquerque, and at one point in my life, I used to say, I want to be a medicine woman, White said. When I was very young and when I moved back to the reservation, I applied at Sage Memorial Hospital and started off as a medical records clerk.

White was one of 10 students accepted to a nursing program at Northern Arizona University, and went on to work as a nurse in infection control. After learning hospital administration through various mentorships, White went back to Sage Memorial, drawn by its community-driven mission.

How can we actually put those two together, White said, and create this hospital that accepts the traditional values, accepts the traditional aspects of it, and at the same time provides the Western medicine side.

The new hospital has generated excitement in surrounding communities. Delores Noble, 66, a resident of the Steamboat community, approximately 20 miles from Ganado, received care at Sage Memorial for years, then took on a role on the hospitals board of directors.

Noble currently gets physical therapy at Sage Memorial for piriformis syndrome, a condition in which a muscle in the buttocks spasms and causes pain, and she gets in-house dental care. Most recently, shes used the new cardiology services for concerns about heart palpitations.

Noble is satisfied with her care at Sage Memorial but said the lack of privacy in the small facility is a concern. The current emergency department does not have private rooms; instead, patients share one room, divided into sections by curtains.

We dont have privacy, so its really embarrassing to hear conversations from the other patients, just a curtain away, Noble said.

In the new facility, there will be 12 exam rooms in the ER, giving patients privacy and space.

The construction of the new facility is visible from Highway 264, a road that many community members use daily, according to Noble. She said shes heard positive reactions to the prospect of the new medical facility.

You can see, you know, the beginnings and the walls, as the steel beams went up, Noble said. They saw it taking shape. You have that hope. You have that sense of, Oh, we cant wait to see our new hospital. Its something that has been talked about, and its finally coming true.

Recent changes

A key issue Sage Memorial faces is limited care capabilities. Any time a patient has a critical care issue the hospital cannot address, the patient is flown to the nearest facility that can provide that service, often in Flagstaff or in the Valley, hours away from family members and their community.

In developing the new hospital, Anaeme and the medical team conducted a survey to determine what services were needed to keep patients from having to go off-site for additional care.

We figured out that critical care services, cardiology services, general surgery services, those were probably our top three reasons for sending patients out, Anaeme said. We decided to tackle them one at a time. General surgery services are somewhat not conducive to telemedicine, right? So that left us dealing with the other two.

Anaeme first established a contract with a cardiology provider who was able to see patients weekly via telemedicine. According to Anaeme, after seeing the work being done at Sage Memorial Hospital, the provider was inspired to switch to a hybrid practice, coming in person once a month to see patients. Before, the hospital could not offer advanced cardiology tests, but now it can provide in-house echocardiograms and stress tests.

As for critical care, Anaeme introduced the use of telemedicine carts.

The critical care remains telemedicine because the critical care providers are out of state, Anaeme said. But theyre able to beam in through advanced technology that we have with our telemedicine carts, that are actually used to see patients. They can provide all the diagnostic testing we want.

New facility and services

The new two-story building is nearing the final stages of construction.

Jarom Prows, the hospitals director of facilities, shared its progress as of April 10.

I would say we are between 95 and 98% complete, Prows said. Final paint has gone down, carpets, flooring, all the finishes are there. We are starting to do our punch walks  you look for minor imperfections and call those out, to have a contractor fix them.

The new facility is full of technologically advanced equipment that staff will need to be trained to use. Other new services will include an obstetrics and labor and delivery ward, womens health services, orthopedics, general surgery and an expanded intensive care unit with four beds.

Prows said the team did not cut any corners in procuring high-grade equipment.

Were getting all brand-new equipment, for the most part, Prows said. We have a new X-ray machine, CT machine, mammography machine. We have really fancy, state-of-the-art OR booms.

The new hospital grounds will also house an optometry office, 16 dental chairs and a dedicated pediatric clinic. The team hopes the additional health care services will limit the amount of travel patients need to do.

Project struggles and barriers

The project was originally set to be completed in November 2023, but unforeseen delays have complicated construction and the new prospective opening date is October 2024.

Prows explained how they had to navigate labor restrictions.

There are laws and regulations in place to help keep our people here on the rez, Prows said. We have this law, the NPEA, which requires us to hire Navajo first, hire quality Navajo candidates, and then you can get somebody else.

The Navajo Preference in Employment Act, known as NPEA, was enacted to lessen the Navajo Nations dependence upon off-reservation sources of employment, income, goods and services. Prows said the law still applies, even though the new Sage Memorial Hospital is on private property.

We still reside within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation, so we still have to abide by the rules and regulations, Prows said. Because of that issue, the project slowed way down. They had to advertise, they had to pull their workforce out and supplement it with the Navajo workforce.

The most notable delay came following a 2019 traffic study requested by the Arizona Department of Transportation, which estimated that the project would increase Ganados growth by 14% by 2027. The result: Two new traffic lights along Highway 264 that would cost over $6.1 million, and would be taken out of the hospitals budget.

We tried working with our legislators, White said. We went down and visited with several senators, several representatives, trying to ask if they could help us with funding because, again, we are a health care facility, and our business is health care. Not roads.

Prows said the two new traffic lights will be the first ones in Ganado.

Highway 264 is one of the major corridors here on Navajo, Prows said. It basically goes from Gallup all the way to Tuba City, almost from border to border of the rez. St. Michaels and Window Rock have some traffic lights, but there are no traffic lights here in Ganado.

This budget cut postponed the construction of the hospitals new dialysis center.

That money there that weve invested into the traffic lights could have and should have been invested into a dialysis center that weve already had slated, Prows said. So we have a shell space at the new hospital, but we couldnt build that out because that money had to go to the roads.

Anaeme stressed the importance of accessible dialysis services within the new facility.

Right now, the only option for treatment is to send them (patients) five-and-a-half-hours away to Phoenix, Anaeme said. Theyre away from their family, and then eventually, when they get better, they make a trip all the way back here. If they require being in the hospital for an extended period, you may have family having to visit them in Phoenix for weeks at a time.

Despite the project delays the stoplights have created, Prows acknowledged that its the best for the community.

It does help create a safety corridor here on 264, but that was one of those unexpected things that kind of came out of left field that we had to adapt and adjust to, he said.

Staffing in rural settings

Staffing is another prominent struggle the Sage Memorial team faces. According to Dr. Richard Laughter, a psychiatrist and member of the hospitals behavioral health team, providers cycle through the Navajo Nation at a rapid rate.

Right when you get to know your doctor, your counselor or your psychiatrist, theyre gone, Laughter said. After six months to a year. Maybe someone will stay a little bit longer, but thats very rare.

To help mitigate this issue, Prows and the construction team looked into providing on-site housing options.

Home ownership is very difficult. So in order for us to get providers to come and treat our patients, we have to be able to provide housing, Prows said. We built a 26-unit, multifamily apartment building over there, and were supposed to be building two more.

The apartment complex is on the same grounds as the new facility.

Anaeme pointed out that providers are required to work at the top of their license, meaning they have to make many difficult decisions themselves due to the remote nature of their service.

Anaeme discussed some misperceptions about rural health care that impact the number of providers choosing to work in a remote area.

Some people do tend to have an erroneous impression that being in a place like this, perhaps your medical practice will not be as advanced, Anaeme said. Maybe they might think that they may have fewer opportunities to see some of the big diseases as compared to if they were practicing, for example, in Phoenix.

Anaeme is closely involved in the hiring process for new staff and has been developing recruitment plans to increase the number of staff on hand.

For some, the rural area is off-putting so theres certainly a challenge, Anaeme said. We do try to go to places. We try to go to the residency programs, to recruit for the area.

In Anaemes experience, word of mouth is a powerful tool in growing a strong staff of providers willing to tackle challenges in rural health care. He is originally from Nigeria and completed his residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Illinois.

After relocating to Arizona in 2002, working in hospitalist medicine and entering private practice, Anaeme heard about Sage Memorial through a colleague. Now, as chief medical officer, he hopes to use word of mouth to grow the staff for the new facility.

Resilience

Many staff members at Sage Memorial noted both the communitys dedication and their teams perseverance, all motivated to make a significant contribution to health care in the Navajo Nation.

Its really a question of resilience, right? Anaeme asked. Resilience in the community. Im the only non-Navajo member of the executive management team right now, although I have been formally adopted by the board chairwoman into one of her clans. But Im so impressed and honored to be a part of the Navajo community, trying to get first-class health care to its population.

For many team members involved in this project, the new hospital not only impacts the community at large but will help provide their own families and loved ones with the advanced care they need. Prows touched on the new hospitals positive impact on his own family.

A lot of them kind of prolong their care or push off their care because of the dated hospital, Prows said. Instead, they go to Gallup or they go to Ford when, in reality, this should be their home hospital.

The new hospital is an improvement from the nearly 100-year-old facility, one that will impact access and quality of care for the Dine people.

This was and is one of the pioneers of health care here on Navajo, Prows said. Just being able to continue that legacy is really rewarding.

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The post Sage Memorial Hospital in Navajo Nation constructs new facility to improve health care appeared first on Arizona Mirror.
The following article details the incidents that led to a charge of trafficking a child and engaging in sexual conduct with them. Reader discretion is advised.

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage)  A San Angelo man charged with trafficking a child and engaging in sexual conduct with them has received 5 years of probation after pleading guilty to the charge.

According to court documentation, Andre Miguel Fay has pled guilty to a charge filed of trafficking a child and engaging in sexual conduct. Filed on April 26, 2023, the charge is a first-degree felony that could see those convicted of it confined in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for 5 to 99 years.

In exchange for pleading guilty to trafficking a child, Fay has been sentenced to 5 years of probation and a $1,000 fine. Documents also indicate that the probation was received as deferred adjudication.

SAPD, TLCA address gun threat prank

According to the Brazos County government website, deferred adjudication means that the finding of guilt is deferred or put off by the judge, even though there is enough evidence to have found the offender guilty of the offense. Should a judge determine that there is enough evidence to find the offender guilty and choose to defer the finding of guilt, a sentence of community supervision is imposed with terms and conditions of supervision as with convicted offenders.

According to a complaint document, a Texas Ranger was contacted on April 28, 2023, by a Texas Department of Public Safety special agent who needed assistance with an investigation into a possible assault of a female child. The agent told the Ranger that Fay was seen accompanying a 15-year-old runaway female juvenile at San Angelo Lodge.

Fay would be detained by law enforcement for harboring a runaway, and the juvenile was taken to the Child Advocacy Center in San Angelo. During a later interview, the child made an outcry to having sexual intercourse approximately three times with Fay at his residence, which was later determined to be an apartment located at the College Hills West Apartments complex.

Andre would later confess to multiple things, including touching the childs buttocks and leg and kissing her on the lips on at least two occasions. Andre claimed during an interview that the child told him she was 17.

Another interview conducted with the victim revealed that Fay had rubbed his erect penis on her buttocks on more than one occasion during her time with him.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ConchoValleyHomepage.com.
Photo: Interregional Centre for Humanitarian Demining and Rapid Response of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine

Bomb technicians are testing a PT-300 D:MINE mechanised mine clearing vehicle in a part of Kharkiv Oblast where active hostilities took place.

Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

Photo: Interregional Centre for Humanitarian Demining and Rapid Response of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine

Quote: "After undergoing training, sappers from the mechanised demining group of the Interregional Centre of Humanitarian Demining and Rapid Response of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine are testing this vehicle in territory where active combat action took place."

Photo: Interregional Centre for Humanitarian Demining and Rapid Response of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine

Details: The State Emergency Service says the vehicle is clearing a field strewn with unexploded cluster munitions, which pose a huge risk for people.

Photo: Interregional Centre for Humanitarian Demining and Rapid Response of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine

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Sarasota County Property Appraiser Bill Furst.

Although the Sarasota County Commission voted to end its payroll deduction program for employees to donate to United Way or other approved groups, county constitutional offices have largely opted to keep the program in place for their workers.

Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates, Clerk and Comptroller Karen Rushing, and Property Appraiser Bill Furst told the Herald-Tribune they plan to keep their United Way payroll deduction programs.

I just dont see any reason to cut it, Furst said. People want to give to the United Way, and I dont want to tell them they cant.

The program has been in place at the Property Appraisers Department since Furst took over in 2009.

The County Commission voted to sever its relationship with United Way after weeks of blasting the nonprofit for its use of Planned Parenthood as a referred service provider for its 211 helpline. Commissioner Neil Rainford, who is currently running for reelection, has recently used his opposition to abortion services as part of his campaign.

The break with United Way and opposition to Planned Parenthood came despite the fact that the agency is now legally-bound to follow state law and cease most abortion services after the mother is six weeks pregnant, and that the 211 line in Sarasota made zero referrals to Planned Parenthood during the 2022-23 fiscal year.

Ford-Coates said her agency coordinates with United Way, a group she said fills vital needs to the community.

Ive been working at the Tax Collectors office  itll be 49 years this year  and weve always had the option of payroll deduction, Ford-Coates said.

Rushing pointed out that the Sarasota County Commission does not oversee her office; she is independently elected to oversee a constitutional mandate.

Our employees are so proud of their service to the community; I dont want to take the opportunity away, Rushing said.

Karen Rushing

Offices without the payroll deduction program did not get rid of it because of recent pressure from the County Commission. A Sarasota Sheriffs Office spokesperson said the agency used to have a United Way payroll deduction program that has been out of existence for at least a year.

Sarasota County Schools spokesperson Kelsey Whealy said the district also had such a program, but it was discontinued in 2021.

Those hired before that who may have selected the option and still have it active still have the deduction, Whealy said in an email.

A spokesperson for the Supervisor of Elections did not respond to an inquiry by The Herald-Tribune in time for publication.

County employees can donate directly to United Way or to a list of approved groups United Way directs the funds to.

Since the commission vote, a six-week abortion ban went into effect in Florida on May 1. In a mass email, Jan L. Chester, Vice President of Philanthropy for Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, said the provider will cease abortion care for patients more than six weeks pregnant unless they qualify for state exceptions  such as rape, incest, and human trafficking up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, or to prevent a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment to the mother.

Under the six-week abortion ban, patients who need abortion care and are past six-weeks, must be navigated to other states with more access, Chester wrote. This is a devastating time for our staff, the patients we serve, and millions of individuals and families across the state. Our team is working around the clock to make sure that we have the resources and information needed to provide as much care and support as possible.

The County Commission voted to end the United Way payroll deduction program for county employees, as well as to cease funding to the 211 helpline because of its listing of the healthcare provider as a possible resource.

Developer and philanthropist Hugh Culverhouse stepped with a donation to keep the 211 service running for at least another year.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Elected official keep some Sarasota United Way employee donations
SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA)  The fight over the new Title IX standards will come to a head in Sarasota on Tuesday, as embattled School Board of Sarasota County member Bridget Ziegler plans to introduce a resolution at Tuesday nights board meeting rejecting the federal governments new Title IX guidelines.

Last month, the Department of Education issued the new guidance, which expands Title IX protections to transgender students, among other changes. Less than one week later, Governor Ron DeSantis said Florida would not comply with the new rules.

Florida rejects Joe Bidens attempt to rewrite Title IX, Governor DeSantis said in a video posted to social platform X. We will not comply and we will fight back. We are not going to let Joe Biden try to inject men into womens activities.

Zieglers resolution said only biological sex should be protected, not gender identity. If it succeeds tonight, it could mean renewed strength for the governors legislation, which some say targets the LGBTQ+ community.

We are not going to let Joe Biden undermine the rights of parents, the governor continued in his video. We are not going to let Joe Biden abuse his constitutional authority to try to impose these policies on us here in Florida.

However, if the board does reject the Title IX rules, it could threaten the funding the district receives from the federal government.

In a statement, the Social Equity through Education Alliance said it and other advocacy groups would be at the board meeting, totaling hundreds of people.

There is no reason for our school district to threaten our funding and take on unnecessary legal risk by getting involved in a fight between the federal and state government, said Executive Director Zander Moricz in a statement. We need this board to focus on the academic and emotional well-being of all of our students every day. Its time for this board to start prioritizing academics over politics.

The Alliance said the district is risking losing nearly $107 million in federal funding for Sarasotas most vulnerable students.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
Saudi Arabia needs peace in the Middle East for its $500 billion Neom megaproject to succeed

Conflict in the Middle East is a threat to Saudi Arabia's ambitious Vision 2030 plans.

Some Neom projects are located along the Red Sea coast, where tensions have been escalating.

The renewed conflict in the region has left Saudi officials walking a difficult political line.

Escalating tensions in the Middle East are threatening the success of Saudi Arabia's ambitious Vision 2030 plans  especially its desert megacity called Neom.

The kingdom has announced grand plans to boost its tourism industry to 150 million visitors a year by 2030, aiming to build new resorts and cities that will act as Dubai-style travel hubs in the region.

But many of these planned tourist destinations are located on the Red Sea coast, where tensions have been escalating since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent conflict in Gaza and beyond.

Iran-backed Houthis have launched numerous missiles and armed drone attacks at Israel and the threat of ongoing conflict has disrupted Red Sea shipping routes, with companies opting to avoid the area.

The conflict in the region has left Saudi officials walking a political tightrope.

Earlier steps toward normalizing relations with Israel have been derailed by a resurgence of local support for the Palestinian cause, while the threat of prolonged conflict risks hobbling officials lofty goals for Neom.

A de-escalating force

Before the October Hamas attacks, Saudi Arabia already appeared to be seeking de-escalation and normalization with its foreign policy in the region.

In March 2023, Iran and Saudi Arabia brokered a deal to re-establish diplomatic relations. With some help from China, the two nations agreed to reopen their embassies in their respective capitals.

In the months before October 7, Saudi Arabia was also reportedly edging toward a deal with the US that would have included a normalization agreement with Israel. According to a New York Times report, one reason is that it's hoping for a US security guarantee if it's ever attacked by Iran.

Progress on the deal appeared to stall after the Israeli offensive in Gaza sparked anger across the region, leaving Saudi officials caught between a wave of local support for the Palestinian cause and US pressure to normalize ties with Israel.

While Saudi Arabia has called for an end to the war in Gaza and accused Israel of committing war crimes, officials have continued to express interest in normalizing relations with the Jewish homeland as long as any deal includes the creation of a Palestinian state.

The US and Saudi Arabia are in the final steps of a new agreement on security guarantees and civilian nuclear assistance, Reuters reported last week. Normalization of an Israeli-Saudi relations is still far from being agreed.

International optics

The conflict in the region poses a problem for Saudi's hopes of attracting millions of new foreign visitors.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a fellow for the Middle East at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, told Business Insider: "The Saudis are so concerned about any potential escalation because they realize they have this largely untapped Red Sea coastline, which they are now developing and see a lot of potential in."

Many of Neom's projects aimed at capturing the luxury tourism market are located along the Red Sea coast. Set to open next year, Neom's luxury island resort of Sindalah is advertised as an "exclusive gateway to the stunning Red Sea."

A rendering of Sindalah in the Red Sea, an island resort that's part of the Neom project. NEOM

Saudi officials need to show that the locations are safe from nearby conflict zones to be able to attract high-spending visitors.

"The optics of stray missiles and drones slamming into Saudi cities when they're trying to attract the sort of high-end luxury markets would be disastrous," Ulrichsen said.

The 2022 Formula 1 Grand Prix in Jeddah, which took place against a backdrop of thick black smoke after Houthi missiles hit a fuel depot five miles away from the racetrack, is unlikely to be far from officials' minds.

After the attack, plumes of black smoke were visible from the circuit and seen during the first practice session, sparking alarm from international drivers.

Supply chain issues

Conflict in the region may also cause issues when it comes to the construction of ambitious projects like Neom.

"The remote location of the project, combined with renewed tensions in the Red Sea, also pose specific issues around construction and delivery of equipment and materials," Robert Mogielnicki, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, told BI.

Officials will also need to convince firms and residents to buy into Neom and attract tourists to visit. Mogielnicki said these demand-related variables mean the Saudi government and planners have less direct control over Neom's success.

Saudi officials are already fighting to combat claims that Neom is facing delays and setbacks.

In recent months, Western media outlets have reported that the country is scaling back population estimates for The Line and seeking to borrow funds.

Last month, Bloomberg reported that the financial realities of the project, which could see cost spiral up to $1.5 trillion, have started to cause alarm within the Saudi government.

Difficulties getting construction materials to the Red Sea coast could further delay some Neom projects, which are essentially already "moving targets," according to Ulrichsen.

Neom did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Savannah Kriger Fired Bullets Through Her Wedding Dress Before Killing Son, 3, and Herself

Savannah Kriger, 32, of San Antonio, and her 3-year-old son, Kaiden, were found dead in a park on March 19

Bexar County Sheriff's Office Savannah and Kaiden Kriger

Shortly before a Texas mother shot and killed her young son before dying by suicide, authorities said she fired bullets through multiple items in her home, including her wedding dress.

Savannah Kriger, a San Antonio resident, and her 3-year-old son, Kaiden, were found dead with gunshot wounds at a park on March 19 amid a custody battle, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said during a press conference on May 2.

But before the pair were found dead in what was later deemed a murder-suicide, the sheriff said Kriger, 32, left work around 12:49 p.m. on March 18 and went inside her ex-husbands house while he was at work and damaged his personal belongings.

Related: Sheriff Details Final Moments of Mom Who Shot 3-Year-Old Son and Herself: She Told Him to Say Bye to Daddy

After that, she went to her own home, where she fired shots through her wedding dress and two wedding portraits that she had laid out on a bed, according to the sheriff. Salazar noted that the bullet shell casings matched the shell casings of the bullets found at the crime scene.

According to the sheriff, a gun was found near the bodies, which were located in a drainage ditch in the park.

Bexar County Sheriff's Office Kaiden Kriger

Kriger later went to her sons daycare, checked him out, and sent a series of ominous messages to her ex-husband, one of those being a final text that read, Say goodbye to your son, according to Salazar. The sheriff said she also made a video viewed by investigators that alluded to her intentions.

On May 1, the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office told PEOPLE that Krigers death was ruled a suicide and Kaidens was ruled a homicide. The cause of death for both was a gunshot to the head.

Related: Causes of Death Revealed for Mom and Son, 3, Found Dead in Park amid Custody Battle

Bexar County Sheriff's Office Savannah Kriger

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The sheriff said at the press conference that he believes the mother and son had been dead for several hours prior to receiving a welfare call on March 18. Authorities subsequently issued an AMBER Alert for the missing pair.

According to Salazar, Kaiden was embroiled in a custody battle between his parents. The sheriff previously said the deaths occurred a day before Kriger had to go to court for a custody hearing about Kaiden, KSAT reported.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.



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Read the original article on People.
An eruption of Daisy Geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. The geyser erupts boiling water at about 93 C (200 F). (Photo by Shaul Hurwitz | Yellowstone National Park).

Montana journalist Todd Wilkinson, who founded the Mountain Journal in 2017, and has been producing quality journalism, primarily about the environment, for 40 years, recently started a new online publication that focuses entirely on the Greater Yellowstone, called Yellowstonian.

In its inaugural issue, Todd wrote a fabulous piece about Yellowstone Park that poses a fascinating question, one that I havent been able to stop thinking about since I read this piece, called Yellowstone is the Closest Thing We Americans Have to a Sacred Place: Why Dont We Treat it That Way?

Wilkinson asks his readers to think about what the West would look like if Yellowstone Park had never happened. And I would add the second possibility of what would be different if the Yellowstone Park experiment, and most of you probably know it was the first national park in America, had been a failure.

It wasnt a popular decision in many quarters when it was established in 1872. The idea of setting aside such an immense amount of land, and making it off limits to development or its natural resources, ruffled the feathers of those who looked at the West primarily for its commercial potential. Little did they realize that Yellowstone would turn out to be the most popular attraction in our region. So it did have commercial value, but the reason it did and still does is because it was created with the complete opposite intent.

Yellowstone was set aside because of its wonder and natural beauty, as well as its abundance of wildlife. The people who recognized how important it was to preserve those qualities had the foresight to realize that making it accessible to those who have exploited every resource they can get their hands on would have ugly consequences. But what they couldnt have foreseen was how enduring and far-reaching that risk turned out to be.

Its not hard to imagine that if the public had turned out to be indifferent toward Yellowstone, or if it had been so poorly managed that it was eventually turned over to the money-grubbers, or if any other number of unforeseen circumstances had led to the experiment being a failure, most of the other national parks that attract millions of visitors every year probably would not have happened. Nor would the national forests or national wildlife reserves likely ever have been created.

Looking at it from that angle, its not a stretch to call Yellowstone sacred, especially when you consider the number of people who come from all over the world to fulfill their life-long dream of visiting Yellowstone Park. Its the Wests version of Mecca.

But the main focus of Yellowstonian, the publication, is to raise peoples awareness of the dangers of ignoring the impact of progress on this sacred place.

There has been a lot of concern about the rapid growth in Bozeman, and Gallatin County, and whether the region is prepared for that growth, not only in terms of providing the infrastructure necessary to meet peoples needs, but also in terms of the impact on the environment in Montana.

There is another excellent article in Yellowstonian that explores the fact that Park County, right next door to Gallatin, is actually growing much faster than Gallatin County. In fact, its growing at an alarming rate of 40 times faster than Gallatin in terms of land development. This article, written by Randy Carpenter and Robert Liberty, points out that most of the land being purchased in Park County, which includes Livingston and Paradise Valley, consists of small ranchettes, Carpenter and Liberty claim that nearly 40,000 acres of Park County, which translates to almost 60 square miles, was purchased by these small developers between 2020 and 2021 alone.

And why is that important? Shouldnt people be able to purchase available property whenever they like?

Of course they should.

But their article explains how much of an impact that kind of growth can have on the water supply in a region that is already facing a pending water crisis. But in an interview I did for my podcast, The State of Montana, Wilkinson also points out that the other long-term impact of this kind of growth is that it disrupts the natural migratory routes for wildlife, which ultimately threatens their very existence.

Wilkinson explained that many people think that if you have a sparsely populated area, with houses that are miles apart, this provides plenty of space for natural wildlife to follow their natural routes for feed and water. But studies have shown that the reality is very different. The appearance of a single home, even on a larger tract of land, will deter wild animals from entering even what appears to be a wide open area.

So according to Wilkinson, we would much better serve the Greater Yellowstone region by finding ways to create small clusters of homes surrounded by open space, which could be made available for recreation to those who seek that kind of opportunity, but also for the wildlife to continue their natural migration.

Its a contentious issue considering that it would require regulating the way people moving into the region create their dream homes, and we all know how well that goes over with people with money. But considering whats at stake, Wilkinson believes its crucial to preserving what makes the Greater Yellowstone, and Montana, the desirable place that it is.

If this is an issue that interests you, I would encourage you to subscribe to Yellowstonian, which will be reporting on any and all developments.

The post Saving the Mecca of the West appeared first on Daily Montanan.
Doctoral candidates at Lanzhou University's College of Ecology Cao Ze (L) and Zhao Zhiwei collect grass samples in Maqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of northwest China's Gansu Province, April 27, 2024. (Xinhua/Wen Jing)

LANZHOU, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Riding a motorcycle, Zhao Zhiwei, 30, skillfully drove some 30 yaks back to the shed, where his classmate Cao Ze was waiting to hang a feeding bag onto each yak's horns.

After appeasing a yak by touching its head, Cao grabbed the horns tight, leaned his upper body to push down the cattle, and quickly put on the bag. Inside the bag, forage made of straw, wheat bran, and bean pulp was to provide nutrition that the cattle need.

"It takes skills to catch a yak smoothly. I learned them from local herders," said Cao, 26.

Being doctoral candidates at Lanzhou University's College of Ecology in northwest China's Gansu Province, Zhao and Cao are stationed in Maqu County at an average altitude of over 3,700 meters, conducting research and providing technology services to local herders.

A total of 18 young researchers and postgraduate students led by their professor, Long Ruijun, have carried out fieldwork on ranges, herding bases, and agricultural enterprises on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Through field investigations, experimental research and technical training, they have aimed to bring more benefits to the animal husbandry industry while balancing ecological protection and improving the livelihoods of local herders.

The young team has overcome unimaginable difficulties to conduct research on the plateau. For Zhao, the hardest part was purchasing yaks and sheep for the research.

"For the purpose of research, we only accepted yaks weighing 145 kg to 155 kg. So we had to choose ideal cattle door to door," Zhao said, adding that sometimes they walked into the wetland barefoot, carrying a huge weigh scale, only to reach the herders' homes.

The team converted a vacant 40-year-old cottage with three rooms into their dormitory and "lab." In the house, Dong Youhan, 25, weighed grass samples with her classmate.

Dong said they fed the yaks in the morning, cut grass in the afternoon, and then conducted vegetation research, with the plateau constantly providing research subjects.

Despite hardships during the dull days of endless research, they also find joy.

"We really enjoy breathing the fresh air, strolling and lying idly on the grassland," said the second-grade postgraduate.

Their professor, Long, said that doing fieldwork in areas with harsh conditions would not only help young people with their studies but also cultivate their spirit of hard work and contribute to society.

According to Tenzin Gurmey, head of a local breeding base, the optimized forage and breeding techniques taught by the team have lowered the herding cost while maintaining meat quality and promoted the high-quality and sustainable development of the animal husbandry industry.

"I hope the scientific technologies that we are working on will someday be further promoted to the plateau area in Asia and even the alpine areas in the world," Cao said. 

Postgraduate students of Lanzhou University's College of Ecology Dong Youhan (L) and Hu Xiaomeng weigh grass samples in Maqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of northwest China's Gansu Province, April 27, 2024. (Xinhua/Wen Jing)

Doctoral candidates at Lanzhou University's College of Ecology Cao Ze hangs a feeding bag onto the yak's horns in Maqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of northwest China's Gansu Province, April 27, 2024. (Xinhua/Wen Jing)
The Security Service of Ukraine claimed on May 7 that it had uncovered a network of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) agents who were preparing the assassination of President Volodymyr Zelensky and other high-ranking officials in Ukraine.

Two colonels of Ukraine's State Security Administration (UDO) accused of leaking classified information to Russia were reportedly detained.

In late November, Zelensky said in an interview with The Sun that he had survived at least five assassination attempts since the start of Russia's full-scale war.

The FSB network aimed to find perpetrators among the military close to Zelensky's security, "who could take the head of state hostage and then kill him," according to the SBU.

The planned attack was supervised by Maxim Mishustin, Dmitry Perlin, and Alexey Kornev, who are employees of the FSB's fifth service, according to the SBU.

"The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin for his inauguration, was actually a failure of the Russian Secret Service," SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk said.

Other Russia's targets reportedly included Maliuk and Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) head Kyrylo Budanov.

Budanov's assassination was allegedly planned to be carried out before Orthodox Easter, celebrated on May 5. A Russian agent was supposed to track Budanov's movements and pass the information to Russia, according to the SBU. One of the UDO colonels allegedly supplied the FSB agent with FPV drones, warheads for portable launchers, and anti-personnel mines.

The plan reportedly was to hit a house where the HUR chief was supposed to be with a missile, and then attack the people remaining at the site with drones. Then there was supposed to be another missile strike to eliminate the evidence of a drone attack, the SBU said.

In early April, the SBU reported that a joint operation by Ukrainian and Polish law enforcement agencies led to the detention of a Polish citizen who allegedly offered to Russia to assassinate Zelensky.

Read also: Polish, Ukrainian authorities expose Pole who allegedly offered to assassinate Zelensky for Russia

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
DARE COUNTY, N.C. (WAVY)  The Dare County Sheriffs Office is warning citizens about a scam that involves someone impersonating a sheriffs office employee.

According to officials, a scammer using Deputy Lt. Capt. Dupreys name is calling residents to falsely inform them about a missed a court date that requires bond payment over the phone.

Anyone who receives this call should hang up immediately.

The Dare County Sheriffs Office says it will never ask for payment in person, over the phone, text or internet for missed court dates or tickets.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
School Board narrows down search for next Duval County Public Schools superintendent to 2 finalists

The search for the next superintendent for Duval County Public Schools has taken its next step.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Duval County School board selected two finalists for consideration:

Dr. Christopher Bernier, former Superintendent for the School District of Lee County

Dr. Daniel Smith, former Interim Superintendent for Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

The finalists will be at a meet and greet event that will be held at EverBank Stadium on Monday, May 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Action News Jaxs Jake Stofan was at Tuesdays school board meeting and will have the latest updates on CBS47 and FOX30 Action News Jax at 5.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Dr. Daniel Smith as Dr. Josiah Smith

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

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By Will Dunham

(Reuters) - The various species of whales inhabiting Earth's oceans employ different types of vocalizations to communicate. Sperm whales, the largest of the toothed whales, communicate using bursts of clicking noises - called codas - sounding a bit like Morse code.

A new analysis of years of vocalizations by sperm whales in the eastern Caribbean has found that their system of communication is more sophisticated than previously known, exhibiting a complex internal structure replete with a "phonetic alphabet." The researchers identified similarities to aspects of other animal communication systems - and even human language.

Like all marine mammals, sperm whales are very social animals, with their calls an integral part of this. The new study has provided a fuller understanding of how these whales communicate.

"The research shows that the expressivity of sperm whale calls is much larger than previously thought," said Pratyusha Sharma, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral student in robotics and machine learning and lead author of the study published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

"We do not know yet what they are saying. We are studying the calls in their behavioral contexts next to understand what sperm whales might be communicating about," said Sharma.

Sperm whales, which can reach about 60 feet (18 meters) long, have the largest brain of any animal. They are deep divers, feeding on giant squid and other prey.

The researchers are part of the Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) Machine Learning Team. Using traditional statistical analysis and artificial intelligence, they examined calls made by about 60 whales recorded by the Dominica Sperm Whale Project, a research program that has assembled a large dataset on the species.

"Why are they exchanging these codas? What information might they be sharing?" asked study co-author Shane Gero, Project CETI's lead biologist and Dominica Sperm Whale Project founder, also affiliated with Carleton University in Canada.

"I think it's likely that they use codas to coordinate as a family, organize babysitting, foraging and defense," Gero said.

Variations in the number, rhythm and tempo of the clicks produced different types of codas, the researchers found. The whales, among other things, altered the duration of the codas and sometimes added an extra click at the end, like a suffix in human language.

"All of these different codas that we see are actually built by combining a comparatively simple set of smaller pieces," said study co-author Jacob Andreas, an MIT computer science professor and Project CETI member.

People combine sounds - often corresponding to letters of the alphabet - to produce words that carry meaning, then produce sequences of words to create sentences to convey more complex meanings.

For people, Sharma said, "There are two levels of combination." The lower level is sounds to words. The higher level is words to sentences.

Sperm whales, Sharma said, also use a two-level combination of features to form codas, and codas are then sequenced together as the whales communicate. The lower level has similarities to letters in an alphabet, Sharma said.

"Every communication system is tailored to the environment and animal society in which it has evolved," Sharma added.

The communication system used by sperm whales differs, for example, from the "songs" of humpback whales - and, for that matter, from the whistles, chirps, croaks and assorted other vocalizations by various animals.

"Human language is unique in many ways, yes," Gero said. "But I suspect we will find many patterns, structures and aspects thought to be unique to humans in other species, including whales, as science progresses - and perhaps also features and aspects of animal communications which humans do not possess."

If scientists can decipher the meaning of what the sperm whales are "saying," should people try to communicate with them?

"I think there's a lot more research that we have to do before we know whether it's a good idea to try to communicate with them, or really even to have a sense of whether that will be possible," Andreas said.

"At the same time, I'm optimistic that we're going to be able to learn a lot more about what information is actually encoded in these vocalizations that we're listening to, what sort of information is contained in these clicks and these codas, as we start to understand the behavioral context in which this occurs," Andreas added.

(Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington; Additional reporting by Matthew Stock in London; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
A sperm whale swims off the coast of Dominica in March 2024. In a study published Tuesday, May 7, in the journal Nature Communications, scientists studying the sperm whales that live around the Caribbean island have described for the first time the basic elements of how they might be talking to each other, in an effort that could one day help us to better protect them. (Samuel Lam via AP)

ROSEAU, Dominica (AP)  Scientists studying the sperm whales that live around the Caribbean island of Dominica have described for the first time the basic elements of how they might be talking to each other, in an effort that could one day help better protect them.

Like many whales and dolphins, sperm whales are highly social mammals and communicate by squeezing air through their respiratory systems to make strings of rapid clicks that can sound like an extremely loud zipper underwater. The clicks are also used as a form of echolocation to help them track their prey.

Scientists have been trying for decades to understand what those clicks might mean, with only minimal progress. While they still don't know, they now think there are sets of clicks they believe make up a phonetic alphabet that the whales can use to build the very rough equivalent of what people think of as words and phrases.

We're now starting to find the first building blocks of whale language," said David Gruber, founder and president of the Cetacean Translation Initiative or CETI, an effort devoted to translating the communication of sperm whales.

In a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers analyzed more than 8,700 snippets of sperm whale clicks, known as codas. They say they have found four basic components they think make up this phonetic alphabet.

Pratyusha Sharma, the paper's lead researcher, said this alphabet could then be used by the whales in an unlimited number of combinations.

It doesnt appear that they have a fixed set of codas, said Sharma, an artificial intelligence and computer science expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That gives the whales access to a much larger communication system, she said, explaining it was as if the whales had a very large dictionary.

Sperm whales have the biggest brains of any animal on the planet at up to 20 pounds, as much as six times the size of an average human brain. Thy live in matriarchal groups of about 10 and sometimes meet up with hundreds or thousands of other whales. Sperm whales can grow up to 60 feet (18 meters) long and dive to nearly 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) to hunt for squid. They sleep vertically, in groups.

Gruber, a biology professor at the City University of New York, said sperm whales seem to have sophisticated social ties and deciphering their communication systems could reveal parallels with human language and society.

To get enough examples of the sperm whale clicks in Dominica, where there is a resident population of about 200 whales, scientists created a giant underwater recording studio with microphones at different depths. Tags on the whales also record what position they are in when clicking  for example diving, sleeping, breathing at the surface  and if there are any other whales nearby they might be communicating with.

Jeremy Goldbogen, an associate professor of oceans at Stanford University, called the new research extraordinary, saying it had vast implications for how we understand ocean giants.

Goldbogen, who was not involved in the study, said that if we were one day able to understand what sperm whales were saying, that knowledge should be used for conservation purposes, like minimizing their risk of being hit by ships or reducing ocean noise levels.

Sperm whales are classified as  vulnerable  by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The whales were hunted for centuries for the oil contained in their giant heads and the species is still recovering.

Diana Reiss, a marine mammal behavior and communication expert at the City University of New York, said that scientists understand certain aspects of marine animals' communication reasonably well, including the whistles used by dolphins and the songs sung by humpback whales.

But when it comes to sperm whales, even that basic knowledge is lacking.

What's new in this study is that they are trying to look at the basis for the whales' communication system ... not just particular calls they're making, she said.

Reiss, who was not involved in the new research, said she hoped we would one day be able to match the whales clicks to behavior.

We will never understand what the clicks mean to another whale, but we may be able to understand what the clicks mean enough to predict their behavior, she said. That alone would be an amazing achievement, she said.

CETI founder Gruber said millions and possibly billions of whale codas would be needed to collect enough data to try to work out what the whales are saying, but he expects AI to help speed the analysis. He said other sperm whale populations  the whales are found in deep oceans from the Arctic to the Antarctic  likely communicate in slightly different ways.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Scott Grimes prepares for role as Ames superintendent with an eye on security, mental health

Ames Community School District's new superintendent plans to prioritize student security and mental health when he begins his new role in July.

Scott Grimes was named superintendent on April 19, replacing Julious Lawson, who is ending his two-year tenure for a position with the Zion School District in eastern Illinois.

Grimes said he admired the Ames district while growing up in Johnston and later while working in other Iowa communities. He has more than a decade of superintendent experience in the Louisa-Muscatine and Dallas Center-Grimes school districts and currently serves as a consultant to the Perry Community School District.

"I think it's an honor to be able to work alongside the school board," Grimes said. "I enjoy public education, and supporting administrators and staff, and having an impact on student learning."

Grimes' official start date in Ames is July 1. Though the new superintendent would not say whether he was moving to Ames with his family, he did admit he would be heavily engaged in the community.

More: New Ames school superintendent brings experience from Perry, Dallas Center-Grimes

Scott Grimes speaks during a special meeting of the Perry School Board on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024.

New Ames school superintendent has experience in crisis management

Grimes is currently serving as the recovery support administrator at Perry Community School District. He worked with Perrys administrators as well as state and national leaders to create a return-to-learn plan after a school shooting killed three, including the shooter.

Grimes said he learned a lot from the tragedy and hopes to bring that knowledge to Ames to address potential security needs. He believes the Ames district has some good practices and policies in place, and hopes to build off that foundation.

"I think we need to make sure we're reviewing those (policies), having conversations, practicing and knowing in a time of crisis some of our own best judgment is what's best in those situations," Grimes said. "In the end, you prepare the best you can. You're not going to be prepared for every scenario, but with good policies and practice you will be better prepared for a scenario that may come forward."

The Ames Middle School and the Ames High School have dealt with several fights throughout the current school year. Police officers were dispatched to the middle school in February while a significant altercation at the high school in October also drew a police presence.

Ames High principal Dr. Paul Numedahl sent out a district-wide email to parents on the morning of Oct. 18, addressing the high school altercation that "seriously disrupted our learning environment and threatened the safety of our students and staff."

Ames Community School District superintendent Dr. Julious Lawson pledged to curb student violence at the ensuing Ames School Board meeting on Oct. 23 Ames School Board. The administrator said the October fights were not exclusive to any race, program group, gender, age, or grade level after taking a "deep dive" into the data, hoping to determine the cause.

"We are still actively working with school leaders to mitigate fights and all other acts of violence within our district," Lawson said at the Oct. 23 Ames CSD school board meeting. "Fear has no place in our schools. The emotional and physical safety of our students and staff are paramount."

A middle school substitute spoke at a November school board meeting and suggested an uptick in violence could be attributed to a staffing shortage.

Incoming Ames CSD Superintendent Scott Grimes signs the district's superintendent contract.

More: Ames CSD's operating budget is decreasing for the 4th straight year, $32 million less than 2021

Supporting and improving mental health within the district

Grimes was also impressed with Ames' Strategic Plan for mental health. He wants to expand on the Mental Health Committee and develop ways to address mental health issues.

Grimes emphasized the importance of monitoring the mental health of both students and school staff. He suggests establishing additional resources to better support everyone in the district.

"There's a lot of stress within public education, and we need to make sure that our staff is well-taken care of so they can better support our students," Grimes said. "It's going to take a lot more people to support, and also, we need to be able to train our staff to identify students and staff who are possibly struggling and find resources for them."

Superintendent Scott Grimes speaks during the Dallas Center-Grimes High School commencement ceremony on Friday, May 27, 2022.

More: Seven storylines to look for from Ames-area athletes competing at the Drake Relays

Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Get to know Ames Community School district's new superintendent
Law enforcement searched both the land and the Little Conewago and Conewago creeks in York County last week in an effort to find Tracy Scanlon, who has been missing for months and is believed to be a homicide victim.

The Susquehanna Township Police Department in Dauphin County thanked the many departments that assisted in the search for Scanlon, also known as Tracy Zalenski, on Friday in York County. Scanlon disappeared in late February, and family and friends have not heard from her.

Susquehanna Township Police are engaged in a homicide investigation surrounding the disappearance of Tracy Scanlon, who has been missing since late February 2024.

Law enforcement searched 10 miles of the creeks, starting in Conewago Township and ending in York Haven, for nearly seven hours, a news release states. They used technology and equipment "to scour the land, water and air for any sign of Tracy."

"Although the search that day did not conclude with a definitive discovery, it will continue in the days and weeks to come," the release states. "Susquehanna Township Police are committed to solving Tracys homicide, prosecuting a suspect(s) and finding her body, in hopes of bringing some semblance of respite to her family."

Susquehanna Township Police Department thanked the Bible Baptist Church in Conewago Township for the use of its facility during search. It served as the base of operations, the release states.

Susquehanna Township Police are engaged in a homicide investigation surrounding the disappearance of Tracy Scanlon, who has been missing since late February 2024.

Law enforcement, rescue teams and other helped with the search

The police department thanked the following law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and search and rescue teams that assisted in the search:

Middle Creek Search & Rescue

South Central PA Search & Rescue (York Co 93)

Christian Aid Ministry SAR

Northeast SAR

Wolfpack SAR

Summit SAR

Bay Area Recovery

First Tracks SAR,

Cumberland 400 SAR

Maryland SAR

Eagle Fire Station 22

New Cumberland River Rescue CC100

Susquehanna Township Police

Susquehanna Township Rescue Fire Company 37

Newberry Township Police

Pennsylvania State Police

Derry Township Police

Fairview Township Police

Lower Paxton Police

Dauphin County CID

Dauphin County DTF

York QRT

West York Police

York County DAs Office

York County Sheriffs Office

York County Office of Emergency Management

York County 911

York County Forensics

Do you have information about Tracy Scanlon's disappearance?

The investigation remains active, and anyone with information about the case may contact Susquehanna Township Police Sgt. Aaron Osman at (717) 909-9232 or through email at aosman@susquehannatwp.com.

Susquehanna Township Police are collaborating with law enforcement agencies in Allegheny County, where Scanlon is originally from. At the time of her disappearance, she was temporarily residing with an acquaintance in the 3300 block of Union Deposit Road in Harrisburg, the department said.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Search for Tracy Scanlon involved teams scouring creeks in York County
Second District Court of Appeal rules with North Port on effort to contract city limits

The monument sign for Wellen Park at the intersection of U.S. 41 and West Villages Parkway features a video board that can list announcements or show videos projecting how Downtown Wellen will be developed.

NORTH PORT  A Florida appeals court has ruled for the city of North Port, signaling that a long-running legal fight over a grassroots effort to push North Port to contract its boundaries may be nearing an end.

Growth in Wellen Park has helped push North Port to the top of many lists for fast growing cities, including one by Southern Living Magazine.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal declined to overrule a lower court judge's decision upholding the citys denial of a citizen petition to contract the city limits.

The appellate decision last Friday came 10 days after a three-judge panel of Stevan Northcutt, Nelly Khouzam and Robert Morris heard arguments in the case and asked attorneys on both sides to submit briefs.

The judges were asking for clarification as to why the panel still had jurisdiction on the de-annexation case, after implementation of new state laws that changed the process of municipal contraction from a court-like process to a legislative one.

But their decision to act quickly left John Meisel, president of the West Villagers for Responsible Government, the group behind the de-annexation effort, perplexed.

We are completely stunned and flabbergasted at the courts ruling, especially when the court stated that they wanted supplemental briefs and spent the entirety of the hearing with questions related to concerns about their authority as to whether it was a quasi-judicial or legislative decision, Meisel said of the court's hearing. Then they dont even follow up on their requests for supplemental briefs but then they issue a ruling without any explanation.

The citizens group has 15 days from the May 3 ruling to ask the court for a written ruling with an explanation of its reasoning.

Meisel stopped short of saying the residents would do so.

Were reviewing all legal options, Meisel said. Were not done seeking our constitutional right afforded us under the statute.

In an email informing city commissioners of the decision, North Port City Attorney Amber Slayton wrote: While we have always been confident in the Citys legal position related to all aspects of this contraction petition, this has been a multi-year process that has cost the City a great deal of time and money.

It is gratifying to see that the legal battle is almost over and that the City is likely to prevail as expected, she added.

What did the appeal court rule?

The West Villagers maintain that Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Danielle Brewer misapplied case law in her October 2023 decision that the City Commission had given the residents' group due process and followed the state law when it reaffirmed a previous denial of the efforts by citizens seeking to shrink the city boundaries.

The residents asked the appeal court to send the case back to Brewer for reconsideration.

The court denied the request and a petition asking that the city pay the resident groups attorney fees.

What do the residents want?

The West Villagers group wants the North Port limits contracted to the Myakka River and Wellen Park and other properties west of the river reverting to unincorporated Sarasota County.

The movement started in 2020, as residents grew frustrated with how the City Commission managed North Port's budget, taking issue with decisions such as the construction of the North Port Aquatic Center, instead of using funds to upgrade and maintain infrastructure.

A state law approved in 2023 by the Legislature amended aspects of the law for annexations that would block future similar resident efforts anywhere in the state.

Whats next?

If the residents do not file a motion asking for clarification  or if that motion is denied  the court decision would become final.

In addition to asking the appellate court for a clarification on its ruling, the West Villagers for Responsible Government can also appeal an April 2 denial by Brewer of a petition that would have compelled North Port to place the contraction to a vote by residents living west of the Myakka River.

In that denial, Brewer essentially said that the decision to introduce a contraction ordinance was up to the elected city commissioners.

In an unrelated case that would test the new state statutes on municipal contraction, residents of Jewfish Key, a 38-acre island that is now part of the town of Longboat Key, are seeking to separate from Longboat Key and be considered unincorporated Manatee County, in part because of Longboats limits on short-term rentals.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Appeal court rules for city of North Port on contraction case
Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff will visit the metro Atlanta area on Tuesday.

The White House confirmed Emhoff is set to meet with small business owners. Men4Choice, a group that encourages men to become allies in the fight over abortion rights, also announced that Emhoff will attend its reproductive health care panel.

The White House has not release any other details about Emhoffs visit or when he is expected to arrive.

TRENDING STORIES:

His trip to metro Atlanta comes just weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris visited Atlanta to promote the Biden administrations commitment to creating economic opportunities in Georgias Black communities.

The vision for America that included a vision that was about fighting for civil rights and understanding to achieve true equality, you have to have an economic agenda, Harris said.

In response, Georgias Republican party chair Josh McKoon sent a statement saying, No amount of visits to Georgia will erase the damage done by their policies. Georgians are looking forward to a second Trump administration and a return to an economy that works for everyone.

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IN OTHER NEWS
BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesperson on Tuesday said the Chinese military's measure to expel an Australian naval helicopter over the international waters of Yellow Sea was reasonable, safe, professional, and legal.

Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks when rebutting the claims made by Australian defense minister Richard Marles calling the Chinese fighter jet's "interception" of the helicopter on May 4 "a very serious incident."

According to Zhang, a Chinese naval fleet conducted training in relevant waters of China's Yellow Sea from May 3 to 4, during which Australian guided missile destroyer HMAS Hobart dispatched a ship-borne helicopter three times to conduct close-in reconnaissance and disturb the Chinese side's normal training activities.

The Chinese troops vocally warned the Australian helicopter and conducted legitimate, reasonable, professional, and safe operations to expel it, which fully complied with international law and practice.

"We urge the Australian side to truly respect China's sovereignty and security concerns, cease spreading false narratives, strictly constrain the operations of its naval and air forces, stop all dangerous provocations, and avoid undermining the overall relationship between the two countries and the two militaries," stressed the spokesperson. 
By Ismail Shakil

OTTAWA (Reuters) -A security guard was seriously wounded in a shooting at Canadian rapper Drake's Toronto mansion early on Tuesday, police said, without confirming whether the five-time Grammy award winner was at home during the incident.

Police said the shooting happened around 2 a.m. (0600 GMT) and officers responding to the incident found a man with a gunshot wound who was taken to a hospital. A suspected shooter was spotted and the individual fled in a vehicle.

Speaking to reporters in front of Drake's home in Toronto's lavish Bridle Path neighborhood, often dubbed "Millionaires Row," Inspector Paul Krawczyk said the investigation was at an early stage and information was very limited.

Police had not yet established a motive behind the shooting and details of the shooter or the vehicle were not yet available, Krawczyk said.

The wounded man, a security guard who was standing outside the mansion gates, was still in the hospital in serious condition, he said. Krawczyk could not confirm whether Drake was at home at the time of the incident but said police were in contact with his team, which was cooperating.

Asked if the incident was linked to an ongoing feud between Drake and American rapper Kendrick Lamar, Krawczyk said he was aware of it, but said it was too early in the investigation to assign any motive and declined to comment further.

Lamar, who has won 17 Grammy awards, escalated his musical battle with Drake over the past week by releasing a three "diss" tracks in 36 hours, according to Variety. The video of the last of the three songs, "Not Like Us," featured aerial view of Drake's Toronto mansion.

The song, which has over 23 million views on Lamar's YouTube channel, prompted some fans to add an "Owned by Kendrick" label to Drake's Toronto house on Google Maps, according to the National Post newspaper. The label has since been taken down.

Representatives for Drake and Lamar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Additional reporting by Alicia Powell; Editing by Bill Berkrot, David Gregorio and Jonathan Oatis)
Security officer tipped off Hillsborough teacher about investigation into inappropriate conduct with student, HCSO says

Security officer tipped off Hillsborough teacher about investigation into inappropriate conduct with student, HCSO says

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  A teacher at Henderson Hammock Charter School has been arrested for inappropriate conduct against a student, the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office (HCSO) said on Tuesday.

Detectives arrested Johnathan Sheppard, 38, on May 6, saying he inappropriately touched a student and sent inappropriate text messages during the school year.

FBI lays out detailed case against Florida man accused in wifes disappearance in Spain

This mans despicable actions against a student, all while holding the trusted position of a teacher, are abhorrent, Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. Its infuriating to know someone responsible for the education and well-being of students would prey upon our most vulnerable, our children.

Sheppard is facing two charges of soliciting or engaging in a romantic relationship with a student and one charge of lewd or lascivious molestation on a victim between 12 and 15.

A spokesperson for the charter school said the teacher has not been employed since April 19.

It is disheartening to hear of allegations that an adult in a position of authority may have committed a crime against a student, the spokesperson said in a statement. Safety is our number one priority at Henderson Hammock Charter School and when we were made aware of the allegation of inappropriate behavior, we immediately involved law enforcement and took app appropriate actions to remove the individual from campus.

The school deferred all other questions to law enforcement.

Additionally, a Hillsborough County Public Schools Security Officer assigned to the charter school is facing charges for interfering with the investigation after she tipped off Sheppard to details of the investigation.

This individual was entrusted with the safety and security of the students, and she betrayed that trust, Chronister said. Her willingness to help this criminal means she will now face the serious consequences of her actions.

Hillsborough County Public Schools told News Channel 8: We are greatly disappointed that she potentially impeded a criminal investigation. She has been suspended without pay pending termination.

Theresa Cruz, 48, is facing two charges of tampering with a witness and one charge of obstruction.

Detectives are also asking anyone who believes they may be a victim of Sheppard to call HCSO at 813-247-8200.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
DOUGLAS COUNTY (KSNT)  Law enforcement is responding to reports of a semi rollover crash in Douglas County Monday afternoon.

The Douglas County Sheriffs Office announced in a social media post at 5:21 p.m. on May 6 that a semi truck is rolled over near mile marker one at the Lecompton Interchange. Northbound traffic is being diverted to Sixth Street.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Kandrive.gov shows traffic speeds around the interchange is being impacted by this crash which is located on the exit ramp to KS-10 Highway. I-70 eastbound is closed due to the crash.

The Kansas Highway Patrol is also responding to the crash. No information on injuries related to this crash have been released yet. More details on this situation will be added here as they become available.

Topeka police accuse man of trying to set school on fire

For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
Sen. Corey Simon among North Florida delegates going to the Republican National Convention

Pictured are four delegates from the 2nd Congressional District who will be attending the Republican National Convention July 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Clockwise from top are Clint Pate, at large delegate, Jim Peacock, CD2 Caucus chair and Jackson County committeeman, and elected delegates Mitzi Prater of Bay County, Republican Party of Florida Executive Director Bill Helmich of Madison County and Pam Kyllonen, state committeewoman from Gadsden County.

State Sen. Corey Simon and several others from North Florida will be serving as 2nd Congressional District delegates to the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Simon, R-Tallahassee, and former Jackson County Commissioner Clint Pate were selected over the weekend at a party gathering in Orlando as at-large delegates to the convention, which runs July 15-18.

Simon is serving his first term in the Florida Senate and running for re-election. Pate serves as assistant secretary for the Republican Party of Florida and chairman of the Jackson County GOP.

Six others were elected as delegates and alternates by members of the Republican Partys CD2 caucus during a March 30 meeting at the Jackson County Commission offices in Marianna.

The delegates are Bill Helmich of Madison County, newly minted executive director of the RPOF; Pam Kyllonen, Gadsden County state committeewoman; and Mitzi Prater, a Bay County Republican Party activist.

Bill Helmich holds a Trump sign and waves to protesters who ignore him as they walk down Monroe Street Thursday, July 9, 2020.

The alternate delegates, who will attend the convention, too, are Robert "Bob" Kufert and Charles Nelson of Bay County and David Ramba, lawyer, lobbyist and state committeeman from Leon County. Evan Power of Leon County, who serves as RPOF chairman, is an automatic delegate as a member of the RNC.

Helmich attended the 2016 Republican National Convention, when President Donald Trump was first nominated, as an alternate delegate. He and Kyllonen were selected to go in 2020 but didnt attend after the event was scaled back because of the COVID outbreak.

Im excited, Helmich said. This is going to be great. I cannot wait to see President Donald J. Trump officially nominated to become our candidate for president of the United States. Were going to have a lot of great conservative speakers. The delegates from Florida are really going to enjoy it.

Pam Kyllonen, Republican Party state committeewoman from Gadsden County.

Kyllonen said its pretty surreal to play a part in presidential history.

This will be the first one Ive attended, she said. I am very excited. Kind of one of those once-in-a-lifetime events.

Helmich, a former officer in the Leon County GOP and a close friend of Power, said hes also looking forward to Trumps VP announcement and hearing that person speak during the convention.

He said the failures of President Joe Biden are numerous and many.

Just look at his failures on the border, the failure on the economy and the failures overseas, Helmich said. Trump will lead us back to a peaceful world and a successful economy.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Sen. Corey Simon and others selected as delegates to RNC in Milwaukee
Sen. Jake Bissaillon, a Providence Democrat, and sponsor of legislation setting up a registration and enforcement process for solar panel sales companies. At right are Greg Pare, director of communications for Office of the President of the Senate and Sen. Victoria Gu, a Westerly Democrat. (Screenshot/Capitol TV)

A state business regulator-backed bill proposing stricter regulation oversight of solar panel sales companies sailed through the Rhode Island Senate Tuesday with unanimous approval.

The legislation sponsored by Sen. Jake Bissaillon, a Providence Democrat, on behalf of the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, aims to instill order in the Wild West of solar panel sales, which have become the subject of increasing complaints and in the case of one company, by the Rhode Island Office the Attorney General alleging deceptive sales tactics.

The reason why I felt so inclined to sponsor this legislation is because of the predatory sales tactics I see in my district, in Smith Hill and Elmhurst, Bissaillon said Tuesday. These are high-pressure sales environments particularly for seniors and at the time they are signing, they dont fully understand it.

Unlike most sales-based industries already licensed and regulated by DBR, the nascent solar panel sector has little oversight under existing state law when it comes to registration, sales tactics or consumer protections.

Bissaillons bill, alongside companion legislation in the House by Rep. Mia Ackerman, a Cumberland Democrat, would change that. The bill sets up a registration process for solar panel retailers and empowers the states business regulatory agency to enforce penalties against companies who fail to register or who violate standards around financial disclosures, contracts and set hours for door-to-door sales.

The proposal has drawn support from Attorney General Peter Neronhas office, along with the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources and Rhode Island Division of Public Utilities and Carriers. Some solar panel retailers have also testified in favor of the bill as a way to distinguish reputable companies from the bad actors tainting the reputation and perception of the industry as a whole

Jay Gotra, CEO of Smart Green Solar, whose company is facing the lawsuit from Neronhas office, has said that overregulation will inhibit the states ability to achieve its aggressive renewable energy mandates, including the 2021 Act on Climate law.

If signed into law, the changes would take effect March 1, 2025.

The House Committee on Corporations was scheduled to vote on the bill later Tuesday night, sending it to the full floor for consideration at a date not yet determined. Ackerman in an interview Tuesday said she was optimistic for passage though she had not spoken about it specifically with House leadership.

They know its one of my priority bills, Ackerman said.

The post Senate approves legislation Tuesday regulating solar panel sales companies appeared first on Rhode Island Current.
Pennsylvania Capitol Building on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (Photo by Amanda Berg, for the Capital-Star).

A bill reviving the school voucher program killed by House Democrats during last years budget debates passed the Senate Education committee with bipartisan support on Tuesday. The program, called the PASS scholarship, would allow most students in the states lowest-performing school districts up to $10,000 to spend towards private schools.

The PASS program was initially supported by Gov. Josh Shapiro during partisan debates over the state budget last year, but House Democrats opposed it. While the version of the budget that passed the Senate included funding for the voucher program, House Democrats refused to pass it unless Shapiro agreed to veto the item. Ultimately, thats what happened.

The Senate Education committees move Tuesday is almost certain to revive that fight.

Public school advocates have long opposed school vouchers, saying the money would be better spent shoring up the states public schools, especially in light of the recent court ruling that found the states public schools were unconstitutionally underfunded.

Pennsylvanias system of public school funding is so inequitable that the Commonwealth Court ruled it violates the state constitution, said Pennsylvania State Education Association President Aaron Chapin. Instead of sending hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to private schools, we should focus on the public schools that educate 90% of Pennsylvanias students.

Proponents of the program note that, unlike school voucher programs in other states, the PASS scholarship would not take money from public schools that recipients would have otherwise attended.

Sen. Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia), the only Democrat on the committee to vote in favor of the legislation, noted he also supports vastly increasing public school funding. But he also expressed skepticism that any amount of money could help the students stuck in the states worst-performing public schools.

You cannot look past the obvious, Williams said. There are parts of Pennsylvania, rural and urban, that are not being served by the public experience and the billions of dollars that we may or may not send to them will not fix that. We cannot find teachers.

Committee Democrats and Republicans alike acknowledged that the bill being put forward essentially amounted to the start of a battle over what to include in this years budget.

Im not in the room when the budget deal gets negotiated behind closed doors, said Sen. Lindsey Williams (D-Allegheny), the minority chair of the committee and a staunch opponent of sending state funds to non-public schools. There is no trade for vouchers.

Asked whether Shapiro still supports the program, a spokesperson pointed to his budget address earlier this year.

Shapiro said during the address that he still supports some form of voucher funding for students in underperforming school districts to spend towards extra tutoring, books and computers, or yes, going to another school.

Shapiro added, the Senate passed a proposal last year that included important elements of that, and its something I support and consider to be unfinished business.

The 2025 budget must be passed by both the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House before being signed by Shapiro.

The post Senate Education Committee revives school voucher program at center of last years budget fight appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
A factory worker processes Cannabis flowers to make them ready for export on November 10, 2020 in Kasese, Uganda. Uganda is one of several African countries looking to produce medical cannabis for export to Europe and America. (Luke Dray/Getty Images)

The head of the Senates General Fund budget committee last week vented frustration at the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commissions legal woes.

Speaking at Thursdays Contract Review Committee meeting, Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, the chair of the Senates Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee, said the ongoing litigation over the commissions licensing process had turned it into a money pit.

Right now, we are putting money into it, he said. Right now, we are having more and more and more suits coming in. I dont know what the problems are, but we need to get that resolved over there or we are going to have to do something legislatively to correct this.

Brittany Peters, a spokeswoman for the AMCC, said in a statement Monday that the commissions longstanding position was seeing the state medical cannabis program become fully operational as soon as possible.

With the priority of serving patients in the state who would benefit from medical cannabis, the commission is committed to defending against the lawsuits filed by disappointed applicants, the statement said. The commission is hopeful that the Legislature shares this same commitment to patient needs, and it welcomes further conversation with lawmakers

The senator directed his comments to Gunter Guy, general counsel with Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, who presented the committee with a legal contract for a firm to represent the commission.

The Department presented legislators with a new contract for $100,000 funded by the state for years at a rate of $195 per hour to Gregg B. Everett, Esq.; Gilpin & Givhan, PC, a firm based out of Montgomery.

According to the accompanying agenda packet, attorneys for the firm will represent Commissioner Rick Pate and the Department of Agriculture and Industries in several lawsuits regarding the commission.

The Department justified the contract by stating that it is complex litigation which requires legal services not available within the Department.

The Alabama Legislature passed a bill in 2021 to establish a medical cannabis program to help address several illnesses, from cancer and depression to Parkinsons Disease and PTSD.

The Commission first awarded licenses back in June, but the body had to reclaim the licenses after members found scoring inconsistencies in the evaluation of applications. Commissioners awarded a second round of licenses in August, but those were delayed amid litigation alleging the AMCC violated the Open Meetings Act. Another suit has halted some licenses getting awarded in December.

I am expressing my frustration over how adults can seem to find our way into a hole such as this without a clear path to where we thought we were going, said Albritton, who voted for the 2021 measure.

Sen. Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, the chair of the committee, said he couldnt agree more.

As you are aware, the Agriculture Commissioner was put on this group, he said. And there is legislation working through our system now that would remove him from this and thus stop the need for Ag and Industries to come into contract.

Attempts to address the jams through legislation have stalled. In April, the Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee approved SB 306, sponsored by Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, who sponsored the 2021 bill. The legislation would restart the licensing process and give up some of its powers to judge applications. Under the legislation, the Alabama Securities Commission will verify and evaluate applicants proposals, then send the results to the AMCC to select the candidates.

The commission would oversee regulation and enforcement.

The bill has not come out for a vote in the Senate. With only three days left in the 2024 session, the legislation has a very tight window to pass. SB 276, a bill sponsored by Sen. David Sessions, R-Grand Bay, which would have increased the licenses available, is also awaiting a Senate vote.

Albritton said Thursday that if the issues cannot be resolved, then it may be time to do away with the program, saying maybe we ought to simply dispose of it.

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The post Senators criticize Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission; one calls it a money pit appeared first on Alabama Reflector.
A Fall River man was convicted of murdering a convenience store owner in 2021 on Tuesday afternoon.

40-year-old Nelson Coelho was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and carrying an illegal firearm.

According to the Bristol County District Attorneys Office, on October 18, 2021, Fall River Police were called to the Stop N Save convenience store on Rock Street for a man suffering from a gunshot wound.

The victim, 54-year-old Lal Kishor Mahaseth, was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Evidence presented during the trial proved Coelho laid in wait before entering the Stop N Save and shooting Mahaseth once in the chest, according to authorities.

Coelho was also convicted of robbing a 7Days Food Mart in Fall River at gunpoint the night before the murder.

I am very pleased the jury held the defendant accountable for this brutal and senseless murder, District Attorney Thomas Quinn III said. The victim was just trying to make a living to support his family, who had come over from Nepal. The facts of this case, once again, highlight the very damaging effects drug abuse has on our society.

The jury returned their verdict after a 5-day trial in Fall River District Court.

Judge Raffi Yessayan sentenced Coelho to life in prison with no possibility for parole in addition to eight to 10 years in state prison for the Armed Robbery.

I commend the family for their patience and dignity during the most difficult circumstances of hearing about and watching their fathers murder, DA Quinn said.

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Man who shot at Charlotte newspaper delivery vehicle gets suspended sentence: DA

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS)  A man who fired shots at a newspaper delivery vehicle has been sentenced, the Mecklenburg County District Attorneys Office confirmed Tuesday.

Corey Geter, 35, was accused of shooting into a newspaper delivery vehicle in 2020. Last week Geter pled guilty to one count of discharging a gun into an occupied vehicle.

Queen City News is tracking CRIME in your area  >> Latest stories here

Judge Davis who presided over the case sentenced Geter to a suspended prison term of 64-89 months, but must serve 90 days in prison, the DAs office stated.

Geter was sentenced during the DAs one-week Violent Crimes Team session. Among the convictions were seven defendants on gun offenses.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, hold talks at Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- As the world goes through transformation and turbulence not seen in a century, China and France should uphold independence and jointly prevent a "new Cold War" or bloc confrontation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Monday.

Xi made the remarks during talks with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, at Elysee Palace.

The Chinese president expressed his delight in making the third state visit to France on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of China-France diplomatic relations.

The two sides should stay committed to the spirit that guided the establishment of their diplomatic ties, namely, independence, mutual understanding, long-term vision and mutual benefit, and enrich it with new features of the new era, Xi said.

The two sides should continue to understand each other, jointly promote harmonious coexistence in a colorful world, stick to taking a long view and work together for an equal and orderly multipolar world, he said.

They should pursue win-win cooperation and jointly oppose decoupling, cutting off supply chains, he said.

Xi stressed that China is willing to maintain strategic communication with France, respect each other's core interests, and consolidate the strategic stability of bilateral relations, tap the vast potential of mutually beneficial cooperation and facilitate growth and balance in bilateral trade.

China is willing to import more quality products from France, push for more practical results from the "French farm to Chinese dining table" mechanism, and hope that France will export more high-tech and high value-added products to China, Xi said.

The two sides should enhance the docking of development strategies, deepen cooperation in traditional areas such as aerospace and aviation, strengthen cooperation in nuclear energy, innovation and finance, and expand cooperation in emerging areas such as green energy, smart manufacturing, biomedicine and artificial intelligence, he said.

China has fully liberalized access to its manufacturing sector and will speed up market access in telecommunications, medical and other services, Xi said.

We welcome more French companies to invest in China, he said, adding that China hopes that France will provide a sound business environment and stable development expectations for Chinese companies to invest and cooperate in France.

Xi stressed that both as major countries with a rich culture, China and France should speed up people-to-people and cultural exchanges, continue to hold various activities of the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, and actively promote cooperation in the joint protection and restoration of cultural relics and pairing between world heritage sites.

Welcoming more French friends to visit China, Xi said that China will extend the visa-free policy for short-term visits to China by 12 countries, including France, until the end of 2025.

China also looks forward to hosting more than 10,000 French students in the next three years and doubling the number of European youth exchanges in China, Xi said.

China supports France in hosting a successful Paris Olympic Games and will send a high-level delegation to France, said the Chinese president.

China is willing to deepen cooperation with France in climate change, biodiversity and other fields, support France in hosting a successful UN Ocean Conference, and encourage the pairing of relevant national parks and nature reserves of the two countries, Xi said.

China is also willing to strengthen dialogue and communication with France in such areas as artificial intelligence governance and reform of the international financial system. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, hold talks at Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pose for a group photo with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, held talks at Elysee Palace on Monday. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
A series of bomb threats targeting annual Pride events in Montana were deemed to be hoaxes used to try to dissuade people from participating in the LGBTQ+ celebrations, police say.

Two threats were made on Saturday and Sunday when the Bozeman Police Department investigated two bomb threats that occurred within the city limits of Bozeman, according to a statement from the Bozeman Police Department. Two other similar bomb threats were received by authorities on Friday.

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After police conducted an investigation into the threats along with federal law enforcement partners, they determined that the threats lacked credibility and that authorities were doing all we can to identify the source, police said.

As a city, we remain vigilant and take these threats of violence seriously. The businesses and individuals targeted had connections to our upcoming Pride events and tactics like these have frequently been used to try to dissuade people from participating, according to the Bozeman Police Department. As Bozeman looks to host Pride Week again this year, we stand committed to protecting our community, especially those of the LGBTQ+ community, so that everyone feels safe to celebrate.

MORE: 2-year-old boy dies after bounce house carried away by wind gusts

It is unclear whether the source of the bomb threats were from the same individual or group but areas of the city were cordoned off and several buildings and surrounding business were evacuated following the initial two threats that came in on Friday, police said.

Detectives began investigating the leads, ultimately determining that the email originated from an unknown account holder in Nigeria, Africa, said the Bozeman Police Department. Detectives also learned from Federal partners that similar emails had been received by other businesses throughout the nation and were believed to be hoaxes. It appears at this time that these threats were related to planned PRIDE events next month.

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Hate and threats of violence to our residents have no place in Bozeman and are not representative of who we are. As we approach Pride events and beyond, we will ensure that appropriate measures are taken to keep our community safe, authorities continued. We remain dedicated to being a welcoming community for all, and as always, we urge anyone who witnesses any suspicious activity to immediately report incidents to the police.

Series of bomb threats targeting LGBTQ+ Pride events in Montana deemed to be hoaxes originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Seven injured in Russian attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, including 6-year-old child  photos

Russian forces attacked the Nikopol district and launched a drone strike on the Kryvyi Rih district in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on 7 May. Seven people were injured in the attacks, including a 6-year-old child.

Source: Serhii Lysak, Head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram

Details: Lysak reports that five people were injured in the attack on the Nikopol district: two women aged 91 and 50 and three men aged 37, 51 and 40, one of them seriously. A 6-year-old girl was also injured.

The Russians conducted a total of 14 drone strikes on the area and launched two artillery attacks.

In the evening, the Russians also attacked the Kryvyi Rih district.

Quote: "The Russian forces used an attack drone to hit Zelenodolsk hromada in Kryvyi Rih in the evening. [A hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories  ed.]

A 56-year-old man was injured. He was hospitalised in a moderate condition. Houses were damaged."

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By the time the junior officer emailed her peers in March 2022, reminding them to do their jobs and protect their sailors from each other, the men and women of the Navy destroyer Bulkeley had suffered through a rough couple of years.

The warship had entered a maintenance and modernization stint in March 2019 that was expected to last 15 months. But Bulkeley didnt leave the Virginia shipyard until June 2021, more than two years later.

Once out, the undermanned crew, missing sailors in key positions, worked at a feverish pace to get the warship in shape ahead of a planned homeport shift from Norfolk, Virginia to Rota, Spain.

Along the way, standards had laxed, festered and metastasized in some sections of the 22-year-old ship, crew members would later say.

Women in some divisions reported enduring so many instances of sexual harassment that they had become numb to it.

Earlier that year, reports of sexual assault and harassment reached such levels that the ship stopped dimming its passageway lights at night due to an upward trend in cases of sexual assault, the ships second-in-command recalled.

Even in forward O Country, keep white lights on, another Bulkeley sailor warned.

Against this backdrop, the junior officer emailed her peers, imploring them to change the culture and walk their work spaces to keep sailors safe, even after the ships leadership had spoken about such issues and rolled out additional training.

Most of them dont want to report because theyre scared we wont believe them, we wont take action, she wrote.

The excerpt of March 2022 email sent by a division officer aboard the Navy destroyer Bulkeley to her peers. The division officer's name is redacted in the email and other investigation documents provided to Navy Times. (Navy)

The officer castigated her peers who witnessed harassment or assault and have not done anything and didnt step in, and she noted how she had been subjected to inappropriate comments and behaviors on the ship as well.

Another Bulkeley officer later characterized the ships absent leadership more bluntly: A junior sailor isnt going to call a maintenance technician a slut if you are sitting right there.

That email, and previously unreported details on the dire state that Bulkeley found itself in by the spring of 2022, are contained in hundreds of pages of internal investigations obtained by Navy Times via a Freedom of Information Act records request.

Navy Times obtained these records from Naval Surface Force Atlantic, or SURFLANT, via a request that sought any and all documents relating to the June 2022 firing of the ships commanding officer, Cmdr. Devine Johnson, and Command Master Chief Earl Sanders.

Those records chronicle multiple investigations into the Bulkeley in the months leading up to the reliefs, which the Navy said at the time were due to a loss of confidence in Johnson and Sanders.

CO, command master chief of destroyer Bulkeley relieved

But the warships troubles outlined in those investigations reveal a story that encompasses far more than a canned commanding officer and command master chief.

The documents suggest a grim constellation of systemic factors at play as the ship raced to meet Big Navys needs for operational warships; themes of fatigue, undermanning and unforgiving schedules that have plagued the surface fleet since at least 2017, when such realities were found to have played a role in the Fitzgerald and John S. McCain collisions that killed 17 sailors.

Johnson declined comment for this report, while Navy service records show Sanders retired last summer, and he did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment.

One Bulkeley officer described the command climate as disheartening, and noted how the crew had been without key personnel for years.

Weve experienced significant and frequent setbacks to the schedule, materially been undermanned, the officer told investigators.

The planned and delayed home port shift to Spain also wreaked havoc on the crew and their families, the officer added.

Some feared the ship would not even make it to the European waters of the U.S. 6th Fleet command, given the material problems and the fractures within the crew.

This ship, and this crew, was going to go to 6th Fleet, and were going to die, one sailor said.

A sailor at work aboard the Navy destroyer Bulkeley in 2023. Navy officials say the ship has overcome issues from recent years and was award the Battle

Just shitty times aboard the Bulkeley

The investigations also suggest that Bulkeleys immediate superior command, Destroyer Squadron 2, was aware of such issues at least a year before the squadron launched the investigations.

The Destroyer Squadron 2 investigators opinions and recommendations regarding the Bulkeley are redacted in the copies provided to Navy Times, as are the names of alleged sexual harassers and their victims, making it impossible to ascertain the ranks of those involved or the assessment of the officer who investigated the ships issues.

SURFLANT, the command that oversees all East Coast surface ships, declined to answer questions about who perpetrated the alleged sex crimes within certain divisions mentioned in the investigations, including the ranks of those involved.

There are ongoing administrative proceedings related to the [Bulkeley] investigations, SURFLANT spokesman Lt. Cmdr. David Carter said in an email. To protect the integrity of those processes and avoid an invasion of personal privacy, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.

There have been no court-martial proceedings connected to the Bulkeleys investigations, he added.

Carter also declined to say how many incidents of sexual harassment and sexual assault were reported from within the Bulkeley in 2021 and 2022, as the Navy does not release individual command data.

The investigations raise further questions about oversight of the ships problems by Destroyer Squadron 2.

At least a year before higher-ups began their probes in 2022, Bulkeley sailors shared such concerns in a 2021 command climate survey that the destroyer squadron investigations later cited.

Command climate surveys are a regular requirement of commands at all levels. They seek to get a sense of how a crew is doing, and commanders are supposed to brief survey findings to their bosses.

Being on the Bulkeley has ruined my idea of what the military is, one sailor wrote in a 2021 survey, cited in the investigations obtained by Navy Times. I hate the working conditions, and I hate the hours. I dont have faith in my command or shipmates and I cannot wait to leave this ship.

Morale is extremely low onboard, another sailor wrote in the survey. I think its fair to say a majority of the crew feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. We have no hope in the situation getting better.

One survey entry noted a member who regularly told jokes using racial epithets, and who once told a sailor, you are black as shit, the only way I would see you is if you smiled.

Another sailor reported a shipmate who made racist jokes and sexual advances on female junior sailors.

When the whole crew knows someone is a creep, thats bad, a sailor wrote in the survey.

Command climate surveys from 2021 show the crew of the Navy destroyer Bulkeley voicing concerns about the ship a year before the ship's superior command, Destroyer Squadron 2, launched its probes into the trouble warship. (Facebook)

Despite these sailors using one of the only tools available to the lower ranks for raising the alarm about problems at the command, Bulkeleys crew would have to wait another 13 months before any higher-ups began looking into the ship and its problems.

Carter, the Navy spokesman, said that Bulkeleys leadership submitted an Executive Summary and Plan of Action and Milestones to its superior command following the 2021 survey.

But he did not answer Navy Times questions regarding whether anyone above the warship intervened to respond to sailors concerns following that survey.

While I cant provide specific information related to the Bulkeleys Command Climate Assessment, the command did conduct a number of focus groups, which allow for more in-depth conversations to assist with identifying the root causes for areas of concerns, or where greater clarity of opinions or perceptions are needed, Carter said.

Harassment of any sort is not tolerated in the Navy.

Asked whether the Navy had any indication of whether morale aboard the Bulkeley has since improved, Carter suggested that Navy Times submit another Freedom of Information Act records request for such information.

Bulkeley eventually made its way to Spain in August 2022, and the ship received the Battle E Effectiveness Award last year, reflecting the ships integrity and accountability, Carter said.

While that award suggests that the ship and crew have recovered, one sailor noted how everyone aboard Bulkeley seemed weird in 2022, a few months before the ship headed for Rota.

Dont feel like the ship is normal at all, including the crew, the sailor told investigators. Just frustrating. Shitty leadership, shitty work environment, shitty schedule. Just shitty times.

Who will believe her?

Two of the four investigations obtained by Navy Times delved into recurring sexual harassment in navigation and engineering sections of the ship.

By the spring of 2022, some women had come to the grim realization that being harassed was just part of being a part of the Bulkeley, according to the investigations.

There was a general belief on the ship that this behavior, sexual harassment, is common, the investigating officer noted.

The investigations also reveal a troubling trend of alleged incidents within the ship.

One female sailor reported working in the chart room when a male shipmate suddenly yanked her hair and bent her over the chart table, holding her by the neck and pretending to have sex with her.

Ive got next, another male sailor said.

Some women questioned the point of even reporting sailor misconduct, believing the chiefs mess would just sweep allegations under the rug, or that speaking up would hinder their own opportunities for career advancement.

Crew members claimed that one serial harasser of women was never held accountable because he was a good worker who [helped] out with a lot of divisions, a lot of different things, according to the investigation.

One sailor reported harassment beginning almost immediately after she reported to the ship in 2021, and it started with little comments, like talking about my butt or my boobs.

Those sailors would later sit with her in the chart room and talk about their penis sizes and how their genitals were larger than her boyfriends, the sailor recalled.

The investigation notes that the sailor reported being called a slut and a bitch, and that a superior was either making the comments or was present in the spaces when the comments were made.

Another sailor was known to invite women to sit on Papas lap while the navigation division was at work in the chart room.

Women onboard recalled being propositioned for sex while on watch and listening to male sailors in the signal shack discuss which of their female shipmates they would like to have sex with.

The Navy destroyer Bulkeley pulls into its new home port in Rota, Spain, in August 2022. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jacob Owen/Navy)

Sailors ogled new arrivals in a group chat, and talked of hooking up with new arrivals, even though they were all married.

All that means is no commitments, one of them wrote.

One woman who alleged harassment called it the biggest issue onboard the ship.

If we arent comfortable to come to work, then what are we doing here? she asked.

Former Command Master Chief Earl Sanders told investigators in May 2022 that the command climate was good, but noted that certain microclimates were not in sync with the command.

He said he had spoken with the chiefs mess since day one about staying professional.

Dont talk about sex and rating women or men or any of that, because in my opinion that translates to the deckplate, Sanders said, according to the investigation.

Some of the misdeeds uncovered by investigators showcased a lack of professionalism in other regards.

At one point in 2022, a male sailor in the navigation division stuck his genitals into a bag of coffee and then made a pot with the tainted grounds.

An officer came along and unknowingly drank a cup of what he later called the penis coffee when speaking with investigators.

Bad things happen when leaders dont spend time in their ships work spaces, according to Raymond Kemp, a retired fleet master chief who served as the senior enlisted leader for U.S. Naval Forces Europe before his retirement in 2019.

The crew needs to know that Im either watching or Im listening at all times, Kemp told Navy Times. And theres no telling when Im going to walk into that space.

You dont have rank, suck it up

Once Bulkeley finally left the yard, and the pressure was on to get the ship certified for operations.

Some sailors told investigators the crew was suffering from having too much to do, and not enough time for sailors to do it.

The crew had been beaten down during its so-called Light Off Assessment, or LOA, a crucial step to ensure a ship is ready to go after maintenance, according to one crew member.

Before that, during Bulkeleys more than two years of shipyard maintenance, some in the crew struggled with the lack of purpose that can afflict sailors through such availabilities, the investigations show.

Hard to see the big picture when you are sweeping up contractors messes, quipped one Bulkeley sailor, who joined the ship in December 2019 and expected it to be fully operational and doing stuff by that point.

The consequences of such extended maintenance time came into sharp relief via the aircraft carrier George Washington, where multiple crew suicides in 2022 resulted in high-level probes that revealed the toll for sailors enduring a seemingly unending yard time.

Then-Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith, center right, met with Cmdr. Devine Johnson, left, commanding officer of the destroyer Bulkeley, Cmdr. Arturo Trejo, right, the ships executive officer, and Command Master Chief Earl Sanders, center left, in March 2022, just a few months before Johnson and Sanders were relieved. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Anna E. Van Nuys/Navy)

One Bulkeley sailor noted the crew essentially gave up on the ship during maintenance, and that getting everyone back on an operational footing after the yard was a struggle.

Maintaining standards can be hard aboard a ship undergoing maintenance, said Kemp, the retired fleet master chief.

The lights are dimmed or turned off, contractor hoses run everywhere and it can feel like someone elses ship, he said.

Cleaning standards cannot be maintained in a shipyard environment, and what happens is that your standards begin to dip, because one of the ways youre able to display a high level of standards is through cleanliness, Kemp said.

In such environments, its critical that sailors have a firm sense of what they are collectively working toward, both in the yard and when they turn the ship back on when the availability is over, he added.

When Bulkeley left the yard and the move to Spain got delayed, sailor stress was compounded, as some members had already had their housing money cut from their pay, according to the investigations.

Lot of stress on top of an arduous maintenance schedule, one officer said. The crew is just under extreme pressure with schedule, no one knows what happens next, keep getting upgrades that no one knows how to work.

Other mishaps ensued, a sailor said, and members were placed in front of consoles that didnt work and would be yelled at for being five minutes late.

One member said sailors felt pushed along in the certification processes, even as systems werent working.

At least one Bulkeley member told investigators that they went into Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training, or SWATT, thinking they were going to die.

SWATT proved to the crew they werent worthless, the investigating officer wrote.

Sailors heave around mooring line during a sea and anchor evolution aboard the Navy destroyer Bulkeley in February. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Joseph Macklin/Navy)

Back in May 2022, one Bulkeley sailor told investigators that a lot of people are tired, and others felt as if the wellbeing of the crew had fallen by the wayside as the ships command raced to get the destroyer back to sea.

The Navy has rolled out surface fleet guidance for sailor rest in recent years, after crew fatigue was found to have played a role in the 2017 Fitzgerald disaster.

But the investigations suggest fatigue became the plan of the day aboard Bulkeley by early 2022.

Went on an underway, pulled back into port on a Monday, worked all week, pulled out on a Friday, then pulled back in the following Monday, one sailor told investigators. Really rough. Had no sleep, barely sleep even underway. They push us for quals, which is good, but go straight from [one job] to work on quals, then down to [damage control] for those quals, then only have an hour of sleep.

When it came to the officers, the sailor recalled never seeing people look so dead.

Makes me nervous, how someone can stand [officer of the deck], [junior officer of the deck], master helmsman ... and perform to top level with only a few hours sleep, they said.

Navy spokesman Carter told Navy Times that sailor readiness and wellness remains our top priority, and that the community is actively addressing challenges to sailor fatigue through a variety of measures.

One officer called the command climate really bad.

Our schedule keeps changing, adds instability, crew has no idea what is going on or what is happening next, the officer said.

The officer reported manning shortfalls and how it was hard to get hull swaps to fill manning gaps, a shortage of sailors that ships across the surface fleet grapple with.

One sailor noted that higher ups are dealing with stress and take it out on us.

Work lists are horrible, the sailor told investigators. Underway a lot, dont get a lot of sleep, under a lot of stress, undermanned, toxic environment. A struggle every day.

One junior sailor said everyone at the rank of E-6 and above told them to suck it up.

This is the Navy, this is the way it is, you dont have rank, the sailor said. Suck it up.

Family of Sailors aboard the Navy destroyer Bulkeley wave the ships battle flag as it prepared to depart Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, and head to its new home port in Rota, Spain, in August 2022. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Theodore Green/Navy)

Even Bulkeleys leadership conceded that things werent right.

Johnson, who would be relieved of command shortly after the investigation concluded, noted a lack of trust in his chiefs mess, and the fact that sailors felt overworked and just generally tired.

Think thats improving, at least the morale piece, he told the investigating officer.

The ships second-in-command at the time, Cmdr. Arturo Trejo, described the ships climate as stressed, according to the investigation.

Trejo theorized that a lack of trust in the chiefs had to do with fraternization incidents involving the mess.

Still have sailors that were there, that still remember that, he said. Go through a two year yard period, still bitter, have that impression of the chiefs mess, those perceptions still remain despite new people here.
(BCN)  Not two weeks ago, the San Francisco Superior Court determined Elon Musks closely watched litigation over generative artificial intelligence should be designated as complex civil litigation and assigned to a single judge for all purposes. On Monday, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman  the single judge assigned to the case  entered a two-paragraph order disqualifying himself from continuing to preside.

The surprise order came after Musks lawyers filed a short motion Friday, requesting disqualification because Schulman allegedly was prejudiced against Plaintiff, his attorneys, and/or the interests of Plaintiff or his attorneys, such that Plaintiff cannot have a fair and impartial trial or hearing

Boy Scouts of America changing its name to be more inclusive

No explanation of what caused the alleged prejudice was included in the motion or in an accompanying declaration. Schulman granted the motion without a hearing and without disclosing or discussing the nature of the prejudice.

In his lawsuit, Musk seeks a determination that Sam Altman and Gregory Brockman (together with Musk the co-founders of OpenAI, Inc.) breached a Founding Agreement that required OpenAI to function for nonprofit purposes and for the good of humanity.

According to Musk, the defendants are using OpenAI to pursue a strategy that is more about making vast amounts of money than about benefitting humanity. Musk seeks wide-ranging relief that would steer OpenAI  the owner and developer of ChatGPT  back to its original mission and purpose.

Musk asked for the case to be designated a complex case so it would be handled by a single judge. Altman and OpenAI opposed the designation. San Francisco has a complex civil litigation track, and two judges are currently assigned to hear cases on that track: Schulman and Judge Andrew Y.S. Cheng.

While Schulmans disqualification makes it seems likely the new judge will be Cheng, no appointment has yet been made, according to court records. The changing of judges may further delay the resolution of two potentially dispositive motions filed by defendants.

One of the motions is a demurrer urging the court to dismiss Musks complaint because even if all the facts presented by Musk are true, they dont support a viable legal claim.

The defendants central contention is there is no Founding Agreement and therefore no contract that could be breached. They argue what Musk calls a Founding Agreement is basically OpenAIs nonprofit charter, supplemented by an exchange of emails among the co-founders discussing how the company would operate.

The demurrer and related motion were scheduled for resolution on April 24, but that date was scrubbed when the case was designated complex. No new date has yet been calendared. Counsel for Musk did not immediately accept an invitation to comment on the disqualification.

Copyright  2024 Bay City News, Inc.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
A San Francisco philanthropist will create the Maria Manetti Shrem Arts Renaissance program at UC Davis with a $20 million gift  the largest gift in the public universitys College of Letters and Sciences history. The sum will bring her total giving to UC Davis to more than $40 million.

Manetti Shrem, 83, has previously told the San Francisco Chronicle that she plans to give away as much of her and her husbands fortune as possible while she is still alive. However, the $20 million gift to UC Davis will be made posthumously. She will immediately begin to fund eight endowments at Davis with annual gifts of $800,000. Of the endowments, three will establish new named faculty chairs in the College of Letters and Science. Among other things, her gift will also fund Art Studio fellowships for graduate students.

I believe the arts should be accessible to all, Manetti Shrem said in a statement from the university. We need the humanities  they nurture the soul and embody our shared dreams.

Davis has 38,000 students, and about 10,000 annual enrollments in art, art history or design classes.

Manetti Shrem and her husband, Jan Shrem, have a history of making large donations to the Davis school as part of their philanthropic portfolio. In 2011, their $11 million donation established the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. UC Davis said that the museum sees 25,000 student visits each year.

The new gift will continue funding for the California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies, through which artists come to campus, teaching classes and working with both undergraduate and graduate students. Visiting lectures will also be funded by the donation.

Much of Manetti Shrems $20 million will go toward the fine arts. But the philanthropist, who amassed her wealth in the fashion industry, will also direct funding to the Maria Manetti Shrem Institute for Sustainable Design, Fashion and Textile in the Department of Design.

California spent many years disinvesting from public arts education, leaving private donors to fill in the gaps. In December 2022, EdSource reported that in elementary, middle and high schools, only one in five public schools had a music or arts teacher who taught their subject full-time; in the same year, voters directed $1 billion in funding toward public school arts programs.
This is shocking: Sacramento mother accused of abusing child on plane as passengers watched

Federal authorities arrested a Sacramento woman suspected of kicking her 2-year-old daughter on a plane, the latest alleged offense for the woman who also faces accusations she abused her child in Solano County.

Breanna Mistler, 33, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of a misdemeanor charge, assault on an airplane, after prosecutors said passengers saw her kick, backhand slap and throw her child while traveling aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Mexico to Seattle.

The abuse drove the 2-year-old to tears, prosecutors wrote in a court filing, as Mistler allegedly told her to shut the f--- up.

Passengers tried to intervene, but Mistler allegedly told the passengers to mind your f------- business, according to a court filing.

Even by the horrific standards of child abuse cases, this is shocking, federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing. It is also the second time in six months that Mistler is charged with endangering her child.

Mistler was prohibited to travel outside the United States after the Solano County District Attorneys Office charged her with burglary and child abuse, prosecutors said.

Solano County court records show Mistler faces burglary and arson charges filed in December from an incident in Dixon.

Mistler is accused of burglarizing her mothers home by climbing through her bedroom window and bringing her then-1-year-old daughter with her, according to a court filing.

The Solano County Sheriffs Office said Mistler and her sister slashed tires on their mothers car and stole three custom-made sweaters worth about $100 each. They also took motor oil, the Sheriffs Office said.

Mistler and her sister barricaded themselves inside a storage unit and eventually surrendered to authorities.

Customs and Border Protection noted multiple bruises on the child when detaining Mistler. She said those bruises were caused by a dog a week before.

Child Protective Services are helping to place the child with a relative, prosecutors said.
Shooting victim testifies, then is shot at by same man after court, Tennessee cops say

A man testified against his accused shooter, then was shot at by the same man as he was leaving court, Tennessee police said.

Tavious Wilson was facing an aggravated assault charge, but now the 19-year-old is also charged with attempted first-degree murder, retaliation for past action, and possessing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, according to Shelby County court records.

McClatchy News could not immediately locate his current attorneys contact information.

On Jan. 10, the shooting survivor told officers that he was at his apartment with his sister and her boyfriend, Wilson, the Memphis Police Department wrote in an arrest affidavit.

He said he went to his sisters room to speak with her and heard whispering inside. As he opened the door, Wilson pulled a gun on him, according to police.

The man ran from the room as Wilson followed and shot at him multiple times, hitting him in the leg and torso, police said.

Wilson was arrested and posted $10,000 bond, records show.

The witness testified against Wilson at a preliminary hearing on May 2, he told Memphis police.

His mother picked him up from the courthouse afterward, then he drove her home and dropped her off, police said. As he was leaving her apartment complex, he told officers he noticed Wilsons vehicle following him and immediately called 911.

He drove around trying to lose Wilson, but the other man was able to catch up, police said. Wilson pulled up, rolled down his window, and shot at the victims vehicle before fleeing, according to police.

He told police the gunshots sounded like they came from a machine gun, police wrote in the affidavit.

Wilson was booked in Shelby County jail the next day, records show.

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Shreveport man pleads guilty to a mass shooting that began at a movie theater

A teen involved in a deadly shooting spree outside a southeast Shreveport movie theater pleaded guilty in Caddo District Court.

A man involved as a teenager in a shooting spree that left a 13-year-old dead has pleaded guilty in Caddo District Court.

Ikerryunta Vernell Stewart pleaded guilty during his trial May 6. Stewart, now 20, faces one count of second-degree murder, eight counts of attempted second-degree murder and four counts of aggravated property damage.

Stewart fired 21 rounds from an AK-47-style rifle into the intersection at Youree Drive and East Bert Kouns after a separate shooting at the Tinseltown movie theater Sept. 4, 2021. He was 17 at that time.

This shooting spree resulted in the death of Kelvonte Daigre and injured two others.

Shreveport Police Department recovered approximately 50 rounds fired by Stewart and his co-defendants. According to the district attorney's office, Stewart and other occupants from a vehicle exited it and began shooting.

All other shooters are awaiting trial except for Jashun Smith, 18, who was sentenced Nov. 28, 2023, of second-degree murder and numerous associated crimes.

Stewart was apprehended following the shooting and a high-speed police chase that ended in Cedar Grove.

According to the district attorney's office, a search on Stewart's phone revealed multiple messages sent while he was hiding from the police after the car chase and foot pursuit, in which he admitted to the shootout.

Stewart's sentencing is set for Aug. 7. He faces up to 440 years at hard labor for his crimes.

More: Shreveport teen sentenced in mass shooting in 2021 that began at movie theater

Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Shreveport shooting spree suspect pleads guilty in trial
By Marleen Kaesebier and Tristan Veyet

(Reuters) - German health technology company Siemens Healthineers reported on Tuesday second-quarter revenue growth slightly below consensus expectations, as it was hurt by declining revenue in China.

Revenue in the second quarter reached 5.44 billion euros ($5.86 billion), compared with analyst expectations of 5.48 billion euros, according to a consensus compiled by Vara Research.

Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) came in at 822 million euros, increasing by 8% year-on-year.

The company, which was spun out from industrial giant Siemens in 2018, provides technology in the healthcare sector, including in the fields of laboratory and care diagnostics, therapeutic imaging and molecular medicine.

The subsidiary grew in its two largest markets, the Americas and EMEA, with a 5% and 8% comparable revenue change respectively.

But revenue in China fell by 14%, with the company citing temporarily delayed customer orders in preceding quarters and the comparison to an outstanding prior-year quarter as reasons.

Siemens Healthineers has been grappling with a Chinese anti-corruption campaign targeting the bribing of doctors in drug and medical equipment sales that began in July 2023.

In its Imaging unit specifically, the company said it saw very strong comparable growth in EMEA and strong growth in Americas, but a revenue decline in China in the low double-digit percentage. The segment saw a 2.6% comparable revenue rise, down from 13% the year prior.

"We assume that Imaging will end the financial year in the lower half of the sales and margin assumptions" CFO Jochen Schmitz said in a media call, adding that expectations of accelerated development in the second half of the year remains unchanged.

For the third quarter, Siemens Healthineers said it anticipates good revenue trend, on the upper half of its 5-7% yearly guidance, excluding antigen tests.

The company confirmed its targets, including a year-on-year revenue growth between 4.5% to 6.5%, or between 5% and 7% excluding revenue from rapid COVID-19 antigen tests.

Siemens Healthineers however raised its guidance for its Diagnostics units, adjusted EBIT margin of between 4% and 6%, from a previously expected range of 2.5% to 4.5%.

The diagnostics unit, which encompasses its laboratory testing and includes the now-ended COVID-19-test business, is currently transitioning away from old laboratory devices and focusing on its "Atellica" platforms.

It reported that the unit's new generation of laboratory lines is growing at double-digit rates.

Story continues

The med-tech shares fall around 3.47% at 0839 GMT to November 2023 lows.

(Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier and Tristan Veyet in Gdansk, Alexander Hubner in Munich; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Jamie Freed and David Evans)
BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China has worked to bolster its public health care services at various levels, aiming to improve its people's well-being, a senior National Health Commission (NHC) official said on Tuesday.

At a press conference held in Beijing, NHC official Zhu Hongbiao highlighted China's efforts to channel medical resources, including personnel, technology, services and management, into community-level health care institutions, ensuring the public has access to quality medical services on their doorsteps.

Currently, over 70 percent of medical institutions at the grassroots level have met basic or recommended standards in terms of service capabilities, Zhu said.

Zhu also noted measures that have been taken to build a capable workforce for community-level health care institutions. These measures include programs that provide free medical education to rural students who commit to serving their local areas, as well as subsidies for those working at village clinics.

Additionally, Zhu emphasized efforts to improve the services of city and county-level medical institutions, such as the establishment of partnerships between China's top-tier hospitals and county-level hospitals to provide assistance and support.

In 2023, the proportion of visits to community-level health care institutions climbed to 52 percent, demonstrating the increasing appeal of grassroots health care institutions among the public, Zhu said. 
UPDATE: Police say Harry Lounce, 76, has been located and is safe.

LEEs SUMMIT, Mo.  The Lees Summit Police Department has issued a Silver Alert for a 76-year-old man diagnosed with Alzheimers.

Police say Harry Lounce was last seen around noon Monday in the 2500 block of Winterview Ridge in Lees Summit.

View the latest Weather Alerts in the Kansas City region on FOX4

Lounce left his residence driving a grey 2023 Kia Telluride, Missouri license CU4-E4R and may be headed to the area of the Lake of the Ozarks near Osage Beach, according to police.





He was wearing a dark blue long sleeve shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or LSPD at (816) 969-7390.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A Tennessee Silver Alert has been issued on behalf of the Bartlett Police Department for 75-year-old Paul Mushala.

He was last seen on May 1 in the area of Germantown Road in Bartlett. He was wearing a blue and orange plaid shirt, black pants and a tan jacket with cargo pockets.

Police say Mushala has a medical condition that may impair his ability to return safely without assistance.

He may be driving a blue 2008 Chevrolet Colorado with the Tennessee tag BJK8818.

If you have seen Mushala or the vehicle, you are asked to call the Barrett Police Department at 901-385-5565 or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-FBI-FIND.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
BALTIMORE - The body of the sixth and final construction worker was recovered Tuesday from the Key Bridge wreckage site, bringing an end to the weeks-long recovery effort.

Jose Mynor Lopez, 37, was confirmed as the last of the construction workers recovered from the March 26 bridge collapse.

Lopez was born in Guatemala and moved to the United States for a better life. The father lived in Dundalk with his wife.

Crews previously recovered the bodies of Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, Carlos Daniel Hernandez Estrella and Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez.

"With heavy hearts, today marks a significant milestone in our recovery efforts and providing closure to the loved ones of the six workers who lost their lives in this tragic event," said Colonel Roland Butler, Jr., Superintendent of the Maryland Department of State Police.

"As we mourn with the families, we honor the memory of Jose Mynor Lopez, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, Carlos Daniel Hernandez Estrella, and Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez."

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore offered his condolences to the families of the six construction workers.

"We pray for Jose Mynor Lopez, his family, and all those who love him. It is with solemn relief that he will be reunited with his loved ones, and we ask, again, to respect the family's request for privacy during this difficult time," Moore said. "To the friends, family, and loved ones of Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, Carlos Hernandez and Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez  we continue to pray for your healing, peace, and closure. We remain steadfast in our commitment to enduring support and will forever remember the lives of these six Marylanders."

In March, WJZ's Alexus Davila spoke to Mynor Lopez's widow.

"I feel bad," Isabel Franco said. "Only God knows how hard my heart aches. Maybe he was desperate, trying to escape."

Franco said a coworker told her the crew was told to pack up for the day and move out early because of weather conditions.

"He had a good heart," she said. "He was a hard worker. He was always worried about his family too. He died but he was fighting for us always."

Around 1:30 a.m., on March 26, the container ship Dali collided with the Key Bridge, causing it to collapse, and knocking eight men, who were repairing potholes on the bridge, into the Patapsco River.

Two men were rescued, and now, six men have been recovered from the collapse site.

"We join their families and loved ones in their grief and continue to pray for healing for them  and for all those who have suffered from this unfathomable tragedy," Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski said. "We thank the team at Unified Command for their heroic commitment to search and recovery efforts and for their unwavering dedication to ensuring that every person was returned with dignity  and we hope these efforts assist the families of the six victims to begin finding closure."

Unified Command efforts ship removal

Controlled explosives will be used to remove a large span of the Key Bridge that lies on top of the Dali. The Unified Command says this process is part of what they call "precision cutting."

"We knew that in order to safely remove the Dali, it was going to require precision cutting to be able to do it," Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said. "Right now, the Dali still has anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 tons of steel that's sitting on top of it."

Officials hope to refloat the Dali by the end of the week.

Explosives will be used to remove some of the Key Bridge atop the Dali.

What the governor has to say about the process

Plus, the MdTA talks about the replacement bridge.

Thats ahead on @wjz at 5 and 6. pic.twitter.com/Yjt7P5yEnC  Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) May 7, 2024

Next steps of Key Bridge rebuild

While the ship removal process is underway, the Maryland Transportation Authority held a virtual conference to discuss the next big step of rebuilding a new Key Bridge. A staggering 1,700 people registered to attend.

The timeline for the opening of the next bridge remains fall of 2028 with an estimated cost of just under $2 billion.

They are coordinating with the federal government to expedite permits.

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Updated, 7:20 p.m., 5/7/24, 10:25 a.m., 5/8/24

Major candidates from both parties have had challenges to their campaigns submitted to the Michigan Bureau of Elections.

The list of challenges spans offices from district court judge to U.S. Senate, with some of the most prominent names including U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly), former Warren Mayor Jim Fouts and former state Sen. Curtis Hertel (D-East Lansing).

Each of the challenges will go before the Michigan Board of State Canvassers, which next meets May 31.

In the 2022 election, several candidates were bounced from the ballot due to a signature fraud scandal, including five GOP gubernatorial hopefuls.

Slotkin is seeking the U.S. Senate seat that is up for grabs with the retirement of Democrat Debbie Stabenow, and is facing actor Hill Harper and businessman Nasser Beydoun in the Aug. 6 Democratic primary. Beydoun is also on the challenged candidates list.

A letter from the Slotkins campaign from attorney Christopher Trebilcock of Clark Hill to the Board of State Canvassers the challenge was filed by an agent of Hills campaign. Trebilcock calls it an unserious complaint and claims that it did not follow the Board of State Canvassers procedure for signature sampling. He also said that the complaint was filed by an Londell Thomas as an agent of the Harper Campaign and adds that Thomas has been accused of signature fraud in a

petition challenge submitted to the Wayne County Clerk against former state Sen. Adam Hollier in the 13th Congressional District. Trebilcock said the campaigns review shows that the Harper campaign submitted at least 66 petitions sheets circulated by Mr. Thomas.

The Senate GOP primary includes former U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake) and Justin Amash (I-Cascade Twp.), physician Sherry ODonnell and businessman Sandy Pensler.

Fouts, who was term-limited out of running for another term as Warrens mayor and lost a court challenge asking for a new mayoral election, filed last month to run as a Democrat for the 14th House District seat, currently held by incumbent Mike McFall (D-Hazel Park). The challenge against Fouts involves filing fees.

Hertel, meanwhile, had had his candidate petitions for the 7th Congressional District challenged for not correctly listing the office he is seeking. Because Hertel wrote U.S. Congress instead of the U.S. House, Republican former member of the Board of State Canvassers Norm Shinkle filed to have Hertel disqualified.

Former state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing) discussed policies to lower costs at a campaign event in Okemos. | Kyle Davidson

Hertels campaign has called the challenge a frivolous complaint, and expects to be on the primary ballot facing off against former state Sen. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) for the seat being left open by Slotkin.

Also facing a challenge is Republican Nikki Snyder, who is seeking the GOP nomination for the 8th Congressional District, which will be open due to the retirement of incumbent U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint).

Snyder, a member of the State Board of Education, is running against Paul Junge, who unsuccessfully challenged Kildee in 2022, former Dow executive Mary Draves and Anthony J. Hudson.

Democrats seeking the nomination are state Sen. Kristen McDonald-Rivet (D-Bay City), State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh and former Flint Mayor Matt Collier.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Bob Bezotte (D-Howell), who dropped out of the running for reelection to his 50th State House seat before changing his mind and dropping back in, was disqualified by Livingston County Clerk Elizabeth Hundley for misidentifying his true residence on his candidate filing. Bezotte indicated he will appeal that decision.

The race for the GOP nomination in the 50th District is currently down to Jason Woolford, Kristina Lyke and Dominic Restuccia. Austin Breuer is the lone Democrat seeking the seat.

Three candidates in the 1st Congressional District are being challenged; they include Republicans Josh Saul and J.D. Wilson, who seek to oust incumbent U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet).

Also being challenged is Democrat Bob Lorinser, who faces Callie Barr in that primary.

In the 10th Congressional District, Anil Kumar is being challenged. Hes running in the Democratic primary that features Emily Busch, Carl Marlinga, Rhonda Powell, Tiffany Tilley and Diane Young. They all seek to replace the incumbent, U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Twp.).

Republican Steven Elliott is being challenged for the 12th Congressional District, where he is the GOP primary against James Hooper, Hassan Nehme, and Linda Sawyer. That seat is held by incumbent U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit).

Also being challenged is LaTanya Garrett, a Democrat running for the 8th House District seat held by incumbent Rep. Helena Scott (D-Detroit). Also running are Democrat Chris Gilmer-Hill and Republican Alex Kuhn.

Former state Sen. Adam Hollier (D-Detroit) attends the Michigan Inauguration on Jan. 1, 2023. | Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance

One name not on the state list is that of Hollier whose candidacy for the 13th Congressional District has been challenged by incumbent U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit). That challenge is being handled by the Wayne County Election Commission as the entirety of the district is within the countys borders.

In his challenge, Thanedar claims only about half of Holliers 1,555 signatures are valid, with many apparently forged.

Hollier has also said he expects to prevail against the challenge and run in the August primary against Thanedar and fellow Democrats Shakira Lynn Hawkins and Mary Waters.

Martel Bivings is the lone Republican seeking that seat.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect new information that Rep. Bezottes inclusion on the challenged candidates list is related to his disqualification by the Livingston County clerk and not a separate challenge as was originally reported.

The post Slotkin, Hertel, Snyder and Fouts among Michigan candidates facing petition challenges appeared first on Michigan Advance.
The smell of cooking food is actually air pollution, study finds

(KTLA)  Its hard to resist the delicious smell of food cooking at restaurants, food trucks and street vendors. However, a new government study suggests those aromas may be negatively impacting air quality.

Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have released their findings from a multiyear study of what they call underappreciated sources of urban air pollution.

They focused on three cities: Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Boulder, Colorado, where they measured human-caused volatile organic compounds (VOCs) related to cooking.

If you can smell it, theres a good chance its impacting air quality, researchers summarized.

Seeing orange and white lines on the freeway? Heres what they mean

Over the years, weve measured all sorts of different VOCs across the U.S. from different sources, like vehicles, wildfire smoke, agriculture, and consumer products, wrote Matt Coggon, the studys lead author. We kept seeing a specific class of compound in the urban measurements, what we call long-chain aldehydes, that we couldnt explain from these other sources.

Researchers found that Las Vegas, which has one of the highest densities of restaurants in the U.S., has persistent air quality issues  especially along The Strip. On average, 21% of the total mass of VOCs present in Vegas outdoor air were from cooking activities, NOAA estimated, and generally ranged from 10% to 30%.

NOAA also found elevated levels in L.A. and downwind in Pasadena, California.

Overall, researchers concluded that air pollution from cooking is vastly underestimated and could account for nearly a quarter of VOCs in urban areas. The problem is even more acute indoors and inside homes.

What this means for air quality management remains to be seen. Having the data, Coggon believes, is the first step.

Its crucial to have the full picture of emissions and sources to help policymakers understand the effectiveness of their decisions, Coggon said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
Flint water plant | Susan J. Demas

Updated, 7:04 p.m., 7/7/24

Richard Baird, who previously served as special adviser to Republican former Gov. Rick Snyder, has filed a suit against multiple state attorneys, arguing his Fifth and 14th amendment rights were denied as he faced charges for alleged involvement in the Flint water crisis.

Baird was one of nine individuals, including Snyder, who were charged in connection to the crisis. However none of the cases made it to trial, with all charges being dismissed after the Michigan Supreme Court invalidated the indictments issued through a one-man grand jury.

Rich Baird | Eastern Michigan University photo

In the suit filed Monday, Baird argued his due process rights under the Fifth and 14th Amendment were violated by Attorney General Dana Nessel; Fadwa Hammoud, who served as solicitor general; and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who coordinated Bairds prosecution.

The suit argues that the prosecution had violated Bairds constitutional rights by using a one-man grand jury to bring charges, and for denying Baird a preliminary examination, among other reasons.

Baird has requested damages for mental and emotional distress, conscious pain and suffering, reputational damages, exemplary damages, punitive damages, approximately $800,000 in attorneys fees for defense in the criminal proceedings, as well as attorneys fees and costs and any other damages allowed under Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code, which allows individuals to take civil action when their rights are violated.

In an email, Kimberly Bush, the director of public information for the Department of the Attorney General said they could not comment on the matter, as the lawsuit was recently filed and they had not had an opportunity to review it.

Hammoud said she was unable to comment as litigation in the lawsuit is ongoing.

In an email, Maria Miller, director of communications for the Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor told the Advance: The lawsuit will be addressed at the appropriate time in court, not outside of court.

The post Snyder adviser charged in Flint water crisis seeks damages, argues rights were denied appeared first on Michigan Advance.
The sign outside the Department of Juvenile Justice's building on Broad River Road. (File/Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette)

SC Department of Juvenile Justice Director Eden Hendrick recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that our state is the only state in the nation that detains children in a juvenile detention center for running away, skipping school or being hard to manage.

As shocking as that may be, it comes as no surprise to childrens advocates. After all, our policymakers dont have a very good track record when it comes to addressing our states toughest problems related to kids.

Director Hendrick pretty much summed it up when she said, We are the outliers. We are the ones who do not follow the best practices, do not follow the research, do not follow what everyone else does and has proven to produce better outcomes for youth.

Shes right. We dont. Even though there are compelling social and economic benefits to investing in prevention.

Research tells us that students who see no hope for a prosperous future are much more likely to fall behind, act out, end up incarcerated in DJJ or the Department of Corrections, become addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, drop out of school or engage in other risk behaviors.

Many of these kids are living in poverty and dont see a viable way out. These young people are our 21st century workforce. Yet rather than investing in their well-being now and helping them find a better way that will help them and our state grow and prosper, we spend exorbitant sums on the consequences instead of on proven effective programs.

Issues pertaining to children are not afforded the attention they deserve from policymakers, yet in reality these are economic issues of gargantuan proportion that negatively impact us all.

The need for state services would be decidedly reduced if we exercised foresight and invested in strategies that keep children healthy, help them develop vital interpersonal skills necessary for school, work and life success, ensure they succeed academically and then provide access to higher education and pathways to quality workforce opportunities.

The outcome: Healthy, educated, adults and a more prosperous state economy.

It would certainly behoove our cost-conscious, business-minded policymakers to pay attention to data from Kids Count, the state Department of Educations school report cards, pupils in poverty and the Youth Risk Behaviors Survey that tells us our children arent doing very well. And then to pay attention to the voices of experts like Director Hendrick who know we have to invest in students before they fall behind and get in trouble.

If policymakers followed the data, theyd know that  according to the SC Department of Education  there are 484,651 K-12 students living in poverty, 68% of our students are not reading on grade level by the fourth grade and 78% are not on grade level in math by eighth grade. Those students are practically ensured to perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

This past school year, 101,407 students were sent to in-school suspension; 95,982 were in out-of-school suspension; 3,414 were referred to law enforcement and 1,600 were sent to DJJ, putting those kids at risk of falling behind and dropping out of school.

If we invest up front, we would all reap the benefits. Otherwise, we will continue to pay exponentially for the consequences of inaction.

When children dont get what they need to help them succeed, our businesses, our schools, our taxpayers and our state ultimately suffer the consequences. And the costs escalate every year that we delay. We know what works. Why dont we do what works?

After the Senate Judiciary hearing, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said theres got to be a better way to address problems than locking children up. There is, Sen. Massey.

Help policymakers understand that supporting evidence-based prevention programs not only saves thousands of childrens lives, it is also a financial investment in the future economic well-being of our communities and our state.

The post Social issues are economic issues: Making wise investments in our future appeared first on SC Daily Gazette.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) successfully carried out a cyberattack on Russia's 1C Company, a source in the agency confirmed to the Kyiv Independent on May 7.

Based in Moscow, 1C Company is a software developer, distributor, and publisher best known for its widely used business software.

According to media reports, the cyberattack disabled a corporate cloud provider and a remote work server, leading to users in Russia being unable to access several business tools and databases.

HUR has carried out several cyberattacks in recent months. In April, it targeted the online platforms of Russia's ruling United Russia party.

United Russia alleged at the time that the attacks were linked to the launching of its Victory Day campaign. The party's critical digital infrastructure remained operational, according to United Russia's statement.

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Meanwhile, Russia stands accused of carrying out cyberattacks not just on Ukraine but on countries across Europe.

Berlin temporarily recalled its ambassador from Moscow on May 6 after German authorities said that the hacker group APT 28, linked to Russia's military intelligence agency (GRU), had carried out cyberattacks against Germany's defense and industry sectors and officials of the ruling Social Democratic Party since 2022.

Another facet of Moscow's electronic warfare is the GPS jamming of civilian aircraft.

According to a report by The Sun based on data from the website GPSJAM.org, some 46,000 aircraft have reported problems over the Baltic Sea since last August, with most of them occurring in Eastern Europe near borders with Russia.

Russia has been accused of jamming GPS signals in nearby countries such as Finland as far back as the 2010s, but incidents have sky-rocketed in recent months, particularly over the Baltic Sea.

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
(Bloomberg) -- South Africas youth, a key voting constituency in this months elections, are less optimistic about the future of their country than their contemporaries in 15 other African nations, a survey shows.

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Just 16% of more than 1,000 South African 18-to 24-year-olds who were canvassed in February said they felt optimistic or excited about their future, with the negativity of the rest premised on concerns about government corruption, unemployment and the presence of undocumented migrants, the survey released by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation on Tuesday showed.

Bloomberg Terminal clients can click on ELEC ZA for more on South Africas elections.

The findings highlight the challenge the ruling African National Congress faces in retaining support 30 years after the end of apartheid. A number of opinion polls show the party risks losing its majority for the first time since it won power in 1994 as crime, a stagnating economy and a decline in services such as water and electricity provision drive voters to smaller rivals.

South African youth have had enough. Theyve had enough of corruption, which they believe is hugely problematic in terms of their ability to start businesses, to have a proper education and to generate the life that they want to see for themselves, said Ivor Ichikowitz, the foundations chairman, in an interview. Unemployment stems from something and the youth are now starting to make a connection. Theyre starting to say, look, Im not able to get the education I deserve because of corruption, not able to get the job that I deserve because of nepotism.

Undertaken by PSB Insights on behalf of the foundation, the survey showed young people in Rwanda and Ivory Coast were the most optimistic of respondents.

The sentiment in South Africa, which was worse than in places that are contending with rebel insurgencies and widespread insecurity such as Nigeria and Chad, has deteriorated since prior surveys were conducted, the foundation said.

Almost three-quarters of young South Africans said they felt that the country is going in the wrong direction, compared with 63% in 2022 and 50% in 2020, while 85% said they were very concerned about government corruption, up from 64% two years ago. The proportion of those concerned about unemployment jumped to 82%, from 70%, while those worried about water scarcity rose to 69%, from 43%.

Ichikowitz is the founder of Paramount Group Ltd., a South African defense and aerospace business.

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The Robeson County Sheriff asked the public "to please await the full timeline of events before making assumptions and coming to conclusions" in Mica Miller's death

Mica Miller/Facebook; WPDE ABC15/YouTube Mica Miller and her husband pastor John-Paul Miller

The cause of death has reportedly been released for Mica Miller, the wife of South Carolina pastor John-Paul Miller, amid an ongoing investigation.

Miller died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Robeson County Medical Examiner Dr. Richard Johnson told WPDE on Monday, May 6. PEOPLE reached out to the medical examiner's office, which did not confirm the report.

Based on the nature of the wound, that it is consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. And it was not in the back of the head, as it has been speculated, Johnson told WPDE. Johnson said that although he wasnt the on-call medical examiner when Miller died, he was present at the scene.

Mica died on April 27 at Lumber River State Park, according to the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. She was 30.

In a statement on Facebook Monday, the Robeson County Sheriff's Office said it was "aware that information pertaining" to Miller's death was "released by the North Carolina Medical Examiner's Office."



"Sheriff Burnis Wilkins has scheduled a meeting with the family of Mica and will be releasing more detailed information to substantiate the medical examiner findings tomorrow evening," the sheriff's office continued. "Sheriff Wilkins is also asking for everyone to please await the full timeline of events before making assumptions and coming to conclusions."

Before her cause of death was determined, her husband John-Paul Miller told WDPE on May 2 Miller's death was a suicide. He also told his congregation the day after she died that her death was "self-induced." However, some of Miller's friends questioned that.

"This has to be at least looked into deeply. Theres got to be some accountability here, Kenn Young, a friend of Miller's, told WDPE on May 2. "Because yeah, a tragic life was lost, and its not just as simple as mental health issues."

Related: How to Recognize Suicide Warning Signs amid the National Children's Mental Health Emergency

On Sunday, May 5, Millers friends and family held a rally outside the Solid Rock Church calling for justice.

Her family also held a memorial service that same day. At the same time as the memorial service, John-Paul hosted a memorial service at the church.

On Monday, May 6, John-Paul was released from his ministerial functions for "a time of healing, counsel, and guidance, pursuant to our governing instrument, per WPDE. The church's website was also suspended over the weekend.

Miller and John-Paul were in the process of divorcing, reports ABC 30. Weeks before her death, Mica posted a video on Facebook on the topic of abuse, sharing advice for those who may be in an abusive relationship.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.



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BEIRUT, May 6 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli airstrike on water facilities in southern Lebanon has caused water supply disruptions in 40 towns and villages, the region's water authorities said Monday.

The South Lebanon Water Establishment said in a statement that the al-Tasseh Spring water project's facilities in Iqlim al-Tuffah had been severely damaged in the attack, including its "transformer, electrical rooms, pumps, a tank, and some pumping tubes."

The damage has led to the release of a strong unpleasant odor in the area, it noted, urging "everyone to avoid using the (facilities') water for drinking and cooking until laboratory tests confirm the safety of the water."

It also noted that the losses resulting from the airstrike are initially estimated at more than 600,000 U.S. dollars.

A media official at the establishment told Xinhua that the water supply to about 40 towns and villages in Iqlim al-Tuffah and Nabatieh came to a halt due to the damages.

The source added that the project pumps 25,000 cubic meters of water daily at its peak capacity in the winter and 15,000 cubic meters in the summer, and over 60,000 people benefit from its drinking water.

Lebanese military sources told Xinhua that during the attack, an Israeli airplane fired two air-to-surface missiles toward the project.

They said Israeli warplanes launched on Monday five raids on four towns and villages in southern Lebanon, while Israeli artillery fired about 45 shells toward 10 towns and villages in the border region of southern Lebanon, causing material damage.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. 
Police in Ventura County have announced that they solved a murder case which had gone unsolved for over three decades.

According to the Ventura Police Department, the body of 42-year-old Danielle Clause was found on a hillside at the top of Tioga Drive in Ventura on July 16, 1991.

An autopsy revealed Clause had been sexually assaulted and had died due to multiple blunt-force injuries to her head, police confirmed.

Once investigators at the time explored every avenue, the case was suspended and considered cold, the Ventura Police Department said in a media release.

Man arrested hours after being released from Southern California jail

A breakthrough in the case came 30 years later in 2021, when detectives and forensic specialists retested crime scene evidence for DNA. By using forensic genetic genealogy technology that didnt exist in the 1990s, they were able to piece together a family tree and verify distinct characteristics of the suspect by using phenotyping.

Based on their new evidence, detectives identified the suspect as Larry Devon Welch.

Welch, who had no known connection to Clause, died in 1999.

Clauses family is grateful that they finally have closure after 33 long years of not knowing what happened to Danielle.

My sister was so much more than a victim of a brutal murder; she was an artist, a daughter, a sister, a mother and a wifeshe was a good person with a mighty soul, and she was taken way too young, said Danielles sister Marcie Forte. I didnt really believe that the police were going to solve this, because there are other crimes being committed all the timeIm so grateful that I lived to see at least a meter of justice and that they found out who did this.

Woman has custom Ghostbusters Kia Soul stolen from Los Angeles apartment building

The Ventura Police Department released a video outlining the details of the case, with interviews from original investigators, current detectives and Clauses family. To watch the video, and to learn more about existing cold cases, click here.

Any new information regarding this cold case or any existing cold cases in the Ventura area should be submitted to coldcase@venturapd.org

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
A man was arrested and booked for attempted murder after allegedly shooting his wife and 10-year-old son at a Victorville motel over the weekend.

Deputies were called to the Days Inn by Wyndham Victorville in the 15300 block of La Paz Drive around 11:15 p.m. Sunday.

A 33-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to her neck and a 10-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to his stomach were located by arriving deputies, the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department said.

Both victims were taken to a trauma center to be treated but no further details about their conditions were given.

More violence plagues Metro as guard is stabbed

The womans husband and boys father Christopher Bulger, 31, was identified as the suspect and arrested after being found in the area, the Sheriffs Department stated.

Investigators believe the shooting was the result of an argument between Bulger and his wife.

As a result, the female victim was shot in the neck, the bullet traveled through the victims body and exited through her abdomen. The bullet continued to travel and struck the 10-year-old juvenile in the stomach as he stood in the area, the Sherrifs Department stated.

Southern California authorities solve 33-year-old cold case murder

In addition to attempted murder, Bulger was booked on suspicion of corporal injury to a spouse, child endangerment, felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition and altering a firearms identification information.

Anyone with further information was asked to call Victorville Station at 760-241-2911 or Sheriffs Dispatch at 760-956-5001. Those wishing to remain anonymous can leave information on the We-Tip hotline at 1-800-78CRIME (27463) or the We-Tip website.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
The leaders of Spain, Belgium, Latvia, and Finland all confirmed on May 7 that they would be attending the upcoming peace summit to be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland.

The event will be centered around Ukraine's 10-point peace formula, a plan first outlined by President Volodymyr Zelensky in fall 2022 that calls for a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from occupied Ukrainian lands.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo all confirmed their attendance in phone calls with Zelensky on May 7.

"We agree on the importance of the Peace Conference for Ukraine that will take place next month in Switzerland, in which I will participate," Sanchez said in a post on X, adding: "We continue working for a just and lasting peace based on respect for international law."

In a post on X, Zelensky said he had discussed "defense and political cooperation" with De Croo, adding: "We value Belgium's decision to begin providing Ukraine with F-16 jets already this year."

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In a press conference on May 7, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silinia accused Russia of using the threat of nuclear weapons to intimidate countries attending the summit. Russia has not been invited to participate in the global peace summit, and Moscow has said it would refuse to attend even if invited.

Russia said on May 7 that it will hold drills to practice the usage of tactical nuclear weapons to counter what it referred to as "provocative statements and threats from certain Western officials."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly made nuclear threats against Ukraine and the West since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The threats have failed to materialize, and Russia continues to wage its all-out war without its nuclear arsenal.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the exercise's purpose is to "maintain the readiness of personnel and equipment" and "unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state."

The ministry did not specify which Western officials it said were making threats or provocative statements.

Read also: Switzerland invites pope to global peace summit

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I spent $317 a night to stay at the Taj Cape Town. The mountain views weren't even the best part of the 5-star hotel.

My friend and I paid $1,900 to stay in a mountain-view room at the Taj Cape Town in South Africa.

Our room had a walk-out balcony, a bathroom with marble detailing, and a desk.

I was a big fan of the food, especially the masala chai and grilled meat.

Destination weddings are a great way to see the world. That's why I was ecstatic when my best friend asked me to be her plus-one to a ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa, one of the top unique wedding destinations for 2024 and 2025.

When we were choosing a place to stay, I decided to go with a chain I was already familiar with and booked a room for two at the Taj Cape Town. I previously had afternoon tea at The Pierre, a New York City-based Taj hotel, so I was curious to see what the chain's South African branch would be like.

I spent 35,500 ZAR, or about $1,900 USD, on a six-night stay at the hotel. Here's what our experience at Taj Cape Town was like.

Our room felt elegant and had a beautiful view.

Our room had beautiful furniture and bedding. Jazmine Padin

The Taj Cape Town has 176 individually decorated rooms, many of which have expansive views of Table Mountain and the city center.

Prices for most rooms and suites are available on the Taj's website, but guests must call the hotel to inquire about club rooms and one-bedroom suites.

I loved seeing Table Mountain from the comfort of my hotel room.

Our room had a balcony, which offered great views of the Cape Town city center. Jazmine Padin

I booked the luxury-tower room with a mountain view for six nights, which cost $1,900. This rate also included a breakfast buffet at The Mint Restaurant and Wood-Fired Grill, a dining area inside the hotel, and high-speed WiFi.

I loved looking out our window and seeing Table Mountain, a major landmark in Cape Town. Each morning, I made a cup of coffee and opened the balcony door just to enjoy the views.

I enjoyed the perks and amenities in our room.

I watched the flat-screen TV while laying in bed. Jazmine Padin

According to the hotel's website, all accommodations have LCD TVs and high-speed WiFi. Our room had a flat-screen TV facing our bed.

The desk and closet were some of my favorite parts of the room.

I sat at the desk when I needed to get work done. Jazmine Padin

Our room also had a desk, which was helpful when I needed to get some work done.

I also enjoyed the spacious closets in our room, as my friend and I could hang our clothing without it touching the floor.

The bathroom, complete with marble detailing, made me feel like a movie-star.

The bathroom was gorgeous. Jazmine Padin

I loved the bathroom, which had marble detailing, a rainfall shower, a bathtub, and several toiletries. Before we arrived, the staff even laid out robes and slippers for us in the bathroom.

Taking a bubble bath while sipping a cosmopolitan from the lobby lounge made me feel like Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman."

The food was a highlight of the trip, too.

The English breakfast buffet had so many options to choose from. Jazmine Padin

We started most days with a satisfying breakfast at The Mint Restaurant and Wood-Fired Grill. I usually stuck to the English breakfast buffet, which included fresh pastries, waffles, pancakes, yogurt, and fruit.

I loved the berry yogurt because it was drinkable, like a high-end version of Danimals. The pastries tasted fresh, and I noticed the staff swapped them out with a new batch almost every hour.

I grabbed masala chai from the Indian-inspired breakfast buffet as well.

A staff member strained the chai before serving it. Jazmine Padin

The restaurant also offered an Indian-inspired breakfast buffet. This included a drink station where a staff member prepared fresh masala chai, a spiced tea, for guests.

It was made with a spice mixture called karha, which consists of ground ginger and green-cardamom pods.

Lunch at The Mint Restaurant and Wood-Fired Grill's outdoor patio was delightful.

The brisket sandwich I ordered was one of my favorite meals. Aida M. Toro

We ate our lunches on the patio and watched as the meat used in our orders was grilled right in front of us. One day, I ordered a particularly memorable brisket sandwich made with savory meat, chimichurri, and peach preserves.

I never would have thought chimichurri and peach preserves would be a good combination, but the flavors paired well and complemented the glazed brisket. The citrusy preserves and herbaceous yet mild chimichurri made the brisket's already-sweet flavor stand out.

Afternoon tea felt like a great value, and the cake was delicious.

Tea was served alongside a selection of pastries and sandwiches. Jazmine Padin

We had to try the Taj's afternoon-tea experience, which cost about $15.

The afternoon-tea basket included one of the tastiest slices of red-velvet cake I've ever had. The moist cake was frosted with vanilla buttercream instead of cream-cheese icing.

I was told the pastries in the afternoon-tea basket vary daily, so guests may receive red velvet, vanilla, chocolate, or another cake flavor.

The room service and housekeeping staff were great.

One night, we ordered slices of cake through room service. Jazmine Padin

My friend and I were surprised by how fast the room service was. Whenever we craved cake or another pastry and called room service, a staff member came to our room almost immediately.

We also loved the attentive housekeeping staff. In addition to cleaning our room, the staff always asked if there was anything we needed, like an extra blanket.

I also went to the gym during my hotel stay.

The fitness center had all the equipment I needed. Jazmine Padin

The fitness center had barbells and plates, treadmills, and a Concept2 Rower, a rowing machine I usually only see at CrossFit classes or luxury gyms. I rarely see equipment like this at hotel gyms, so I was excited to use it.

I swam and lounged in the pool area.

Several lounge chairs surrounded the pool. Jazmine Padin

The hotel's indoor pool was located behind the gym. The area had several lounge chairs, which made me feel like I was hanging out at a rooftop pool.

Guests who used the gym or pool had access to a locker room.

The locker room was really clean. Jazmine Padin

The locker room, which had several shower areas and wooden lockers, was completely spotless. It made me feel like I was at a luxury gym like Life Time Fitness or Dogpound.

On the last day of our trip, my friend and I went hiking on Table Mountain after our check-out time. Even after checking out, the staff allowed us to return to the hotel to shower in the locker room.

I didn't visit the spa, but there were plenty of other ways to relax at the hotel.

I took advantage of the hotel's sauna. Jazmine Padin

I didn't have time to visit the J Wellness Circle, the Taj's spa that offers massages and scrubs. However, I found the pool and its accompanying sauna to be incredibly relaxing.

Overall, the Taj Cape Town was one of my favorite travel experiences.

I was quite pleased with my experience at the Taj Cape Town. Jazmine Padin

Overall, my stay at the Taj was worth the money. I thought the $1,900 stay was a great value, especially since the breakfast buffet was included.

The staff was a highlight of the trip, as the housekeeping and room service teams were attentive and prompt. If you're headed to Cape Town and want an elegant stay, I highly recommend the Taj.

Read the original article on Business Insider
With the local elections out of the way, Labour can get back to the serious business of making public statements about the Middle East.

Given the social media activity by some of the partys leading figures, it seems the judgment has been made that local services must now take a back seat to the more pressing issue of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Re-elected mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, used his fresh mandate from the capital to demand an urgent ceasefire and to implore Israel to end this heart-rending attack on Rafah.

Newly elected mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, Tweeted that There should immediately be a ceasefire, the release of hostages and aid should be allowed into Gaza.

Someone seems to have got the memo from head office. Just three hours earlier, Keir Starmer had Tweeted: With more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering in Rafah, an Israeli offensive must not go ahead. There must be an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, and unimpeded aid into Gaza that can be delivered regularly, quickly and safely.

While Labours performance at the polls last week was overall impressive, its strategists are starting to fret about the reported fall in support from Muslim voters. Now is not the time for the party to lose significant numbers of votes from its previously reliable demographics.

But what cost is the party leadership prepared to pay in order to regain that support? Starmers previous support for Israel in the wake of the terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7 was impressive, given the likelihood that such a stance would alienate at least some pro-Palestinian voters in the UK. After a long period in which the Labour leader was constantly criticised for compromising and changing policies in order to win voters support  reprehensible behaviour, according to some of his critics on the Left who disdain any notion of compromise with the electorate  it was refreshing to see him take a genuinely principled and unpopular stance.

Over the weeks and months, that stance has changed as Starmers own MPs muttered dark warnings about the electoral consequences of this policy, and a number of Labour councillors stropped out of the party in protest at his support for Israel.

Having previously resisted demands for an immediate ceasefire  in other words, for Israel to lay down its arms and to forget about the hundreds of Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas  Labour policy has been evolving. Opposition to a ceasefire metamorphosed into calling for a ceasefire that lasts, though party spokespersons remain careful to demand the release of hostages whenever they talked about the situation in Gaza. This in itself seems to infuriate many pro-Palestinian activists and Hamas-supporting demagogues as an indication that Labour cannot be trusted. Why condemn Hamas freedom fighters as terrorists and deflect the worlds attention from Israels offensive in Gaza towards the reasons behind it?

Starmer now risks losing support from both sides, not an unusual consequence for those whose political instinct leads them to sit on the fence, remain in the middle of the road and to mix their metaphors. Having already given some British Muslims sufficient cause to doubt Labours commitment to the Palestinian cause, the party now risks losing the support of Israel supporters while failing to win back the former group.

Interviewed on TV over the weekend, shadow defence minister Steve McCabe refused to make concessions on Labours stance, while acknowledging that the issue may be harming Labour support. It needed to have bigger and better conversations with Muslim families, understand their distress about Gaza while having a better understanding of what Labours position actually is.

The party could do worse than accepting that it will never, ever win the support of the more committed activists, the kind of people who sing from the river to the sea during the weekly demonstrations against Israel and who resent even the topic of hostages being raised. Neither should it seek to win such support or fret overmuch that it is out of the partys reach. Those bigger and better conversations Labour wants to have with Muslim families should begin with an invitation to accept that Israel has the same right to exist as any other nation, and that it enjoys the same right to self-defence as any other nation.

Those conversations should include a reminder of the fact that Hamas is an Islamist terrorist organisation whose values are entirely at odds with British values and will, therefore, be resisted at every turn, here and abroad. Having agreed these areas of mutual agreement, a further discussion about Labours wider policy agenda could be fruitful.

But so long as it tries to ride two horses at the same time (this situation lends itself to a proliferation of metaphors), Labour cannot hope to convince either side of its sincerity. There may come a point when Starmer must accept that the loss of some support is the price he needs to pay in order for his government to have a degree of credibility when it comes to foreign affairs.

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HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD)  An affordable housing project near the lakeshore is getting ready to take a big step forward.

The Kollen Park Drive project has been in the works for years, and funding recently awarded from the state is paving the way to start construction.

Were very excited to be part of the team that has put together this project, said Jeremy DeRoo, CEO of Grand Rapids-based nonprofit Dwelling Place.

DeRoo said the nonprofit was first approached by Hope Church, which wanted to find a way to address housing challenges in the Holland community.

Thats often how this works is we connect with people who are passionate about their community, that see affordable housing challenges in front of (their) face and ask the question, What can we do about this? And Dwelling Place tries to come alongside them and find solutions to those challenges, DeRoo explained.

Affordable housing near the lake? Developers eye it in Holland

The Kollen Park Drive project is a partnership between Dwelling Place, Community Action House, Hope Church and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.

The project will include the construction of 52 one and two-bedroom apartment units at a total development cost of about $16 million. The state recently approved nearly $12 million in low-income housing tax credits, which will fund approximately 90% of the project.

The first phase of construction is expected to start in early 2025 and will establish approximately 32 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom apartments at 345 W 14th St., the former site of Community Action House. There will be 41 parking spaces for the 38 units.

A rendering of the housing proposal for 345 W 14th St. (Courtesy Dwelling Place)

The second development will feature approximately 14 one-bedroom apartments and 15 parking spaces constructed on property donated by Hope Church at 100 W 10th St.

A rendering of the housing proposal for 100 W 10th St. (Courtesy Dwelling Place)

Further down the road, phase two, which is not included in the funding from the state, will include the construction of five three-bedroom townhomes located one block south of the primary phase one apartment complex off of Kollen Park Dr. between W 14th and 15th streets. These also have the potential to serve as affordable housing.

A rendering of five townhomes that could serve as affordable housing in phase two of the Kollen Park Drive project (Courtesy Dwelling Place)

The units are designed for incomes at or below 60% of the area median income.

Inside WOODTV.com: Housing crisis in West Michigan

Its designed to be affordable to working-class families, DeRoo explained. Some of them will be more deeply targeted so that people that are below 30% of area median income can qualify to live there as well.

For the apartments, this means rent will start at approximately $400 and go up from there. Some of the units will be set aside for tribal members, people with disabilities and individuals or families with tenant-based vouchers.

There (are) so many people that have a struggle to find housing right now, but when we can work with communities that have been historically marginalized, have been facing these struggles for years and years and really find significant solutions that start to solve their challenges, DeRoo said. Its really rewarding to be involved in that type of work.

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The first tenants are expected to be able to move in sometime in early 2026, a year after construction starts. DeRoo said Dwelling Place and its community partners will begin advertising once applications are open and units will be filled on a first-come-first-serve basis.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
Truist Tower sits next to One Davis Square, with trees and other plants out front.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, located at One Davis Square in Charleston, W.Va. (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch)

A state agency declined to share records showing if Child Protective Services knew about the girl who was found earlier this month in a skeletal state on the bathroom floor of her Boone County home.

Family members of the deceased girl told WCHS that they had contacted CPS about 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller prior to her April 17 death. Her mother was charged with child neglect causing death.

West Virginia Watch and other media outlets requested documentation through the Freedom of Information Act, including CPS referrals and travel records, that could have shown if the state was aware of the girl or checked on her prior to her death.

An attorney for the Department of Human Services did not return any documents for the case in the FOIA response sent May 3.

  There is no specific exemption to the confidentiality of records or information regarding children for members of the media and your status as such affords you no special privilege or access to information, said DoHS General Counsel Loren Allen. As a member of the public, we encourage you to access the Bureau for Social Services Critical Incident Report for 2024 when it is published.

The annual reports referred to by Allen include the number of children who died due to abuse and/or neglect. It provides some information on child deaths.

Grappling with an overwhelmed child welfare system, CPS workers have investigated only about half of child abuse and/or neglect referrals in the state-mandated timeframe. The lag in investigations could leave some kids in dangerous situations.

Simultaneously, the Department of Human Services, which oversees CPS, has faced allegations of hiding behind state child privacy laws when asked about its shortcomings.

Del. Amy Summers, R-Taylor

For Del. Amy Summers, co-chair of a committee focused on Health and Human Resource Accountability, the DoHS reports are published far too long after critical incidents occur.

I am so frustrated at the inability to get access to information or to people, said Summers, R-Taylor. There are no checks and balances to the system.

Gov. Jim Justice previously said that CPS wasnt aware of the child prior to her death.

Before the governors revelation, DoHS leadership had said child privacy laws should shield case information in an effort to protect the integrity and confidentiality of the system.

We would like to know if CPS was called over this horrific situation in Boone County, and if they responded, said House Health Committee Minority Chair Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha. Thats something we desire to know  if this system is doing what its supposed to be doing and protecting vulnerable kids.

He continued, We can never get any information  We are unable to find out what went wrong in yet another horrific story. Theres zero transparency and zero accountability. Its frustrating and disgusting.

Theres zero transparency and zero accountability. It's frustrating and disgusting.

 Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha

A spokesperson for Justice did not respond to an email inquiry for this story.

Kelli Caseman is executive director of Think Kids West Virginia, a child advocacy nonprofit organization.

We should know when and where CPS was involved in this, she said. We will never create a better system if we just allow CPS to hide behind their interpretation of the law.

Other states share more information on CPS cases, child deaths

West Virginia Watch did not seek any personal information about the child and continues to seek CPS travel records in the case to verify workers responded to neighbors alleged calls.

[DoHS] also recognizes and respects its statutory duty to balance the peoples right to information with the individual rights and freedoms of the specific people we serve and the overall integrity of the system we are tasked with administering on behalf of those individuals, Allen wrote.   The confidentiality protocols, mandated by both state and federal law expressly supersede the publics general right to information.

Other states share more information regarding CPS cases and child deaths. Arizonas state law mandates the release of information, including actions taken by its child services workers, after the death or near death as a result of abuse, abandonment or neglect.

More money and more [CPS workers] are not going to fix the system. Its an accountability problem, Caseman said. If the state law needs to be changed, then we should change it.

DoHS previously released records in a Kanawha County case that showed CPS was aware of children who were found in October living in a shed without access to running water or a toilet. An attorney for the department said no records existed that could show CPS traveled to the home to check on the children.

The deceased girl had been homeschooled, according to records obtained from Boone County Schools.

West Virginia Watch sought CPS referral records from the school district and the West Virginia Department of Education.

An attorney for the WVDE said that the agency only had an educational record for the child; its disclosure was prohibited under federal education laws meant to protect student privacy.

Foster care systems transparency concerns continue

A lack of transparency from the former state health department  including its management of the foster care system  prompted state lawmakers to break up the department in 2023.

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha

Since it split into three new departments Jan. 1, Pushkin said its secrecy has only gotten worse.

When we passed the bill to break up the [West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources], I stated then that unless there was a real culture change, instead of having one large dysfunctional department, we would have three slightly smaller dysfunctional departments. So far, that seems to be the case, he said.

DoHS is embroiled in a sweeping class-action lawsuit about its alleged mistreatment of thousands of children in foster care.

The agency is facing possibly $172,000 in sanctions for its role in failing to preserve emails from former top foster care officials, which could have been used as evidence in the case.

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State police: Alcohol impairment appears to have contributed to crash that killed New Hampshire man

Alcohol impairment appears to be a contributing factor in a fatal crash that killed a New Hampshire man over the weekend, state police said.

Stephen Despinosa, 54, of Troy, died following the rollover crash on Saturday, state police said Monday.

Just before midnight on Saturday, troopers responded to a report of a crash on New Hampshire Route 12 in the area of Lawrence Road.

When troopers arrived, they found a vehicle that had gone off the road and struck a large boulder, causing the vehicle to overturn, state police said.

Emergency responders attempted life-saving measures on the driver, Despinosa, but were unsuccessful, and he died, state police said.

No other passengers were in the vehicle.

All aspects of the crash remain under investigation.

Troopers were assisted on the scene by the Troy and Keene fire departments and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Anyone with information related to the crash is asked to contact Trooper Robert Stevens at Robert.J.Stevens@dos.nh.gov or 603-223-3783.

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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Mary L Smith (Photo/File)

In August 2023, Mary L. Smith, a tribal citizen of the Cherokee Nation, became the first Native American to lead the American Bar Association (ABA), the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. She was installed as the president of the ABA at the organization's convention in Denver. On Monday, Smith released the following statement to observe the National Day of Awarenessfor Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP).

The American Bar Association joins with tribal nations and the country in recognizing the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP). We express our deepest condolences to the families of missing Indigenous persons and stand strong in our commitment to address this crisis.

For too long, justice has been elusive for many missing, murdered indigenous people. It is a sobering and dark reality that we must work to simply acknowledge the disproportionate and devastating rates of violence that Indigenous people experience. Such disproportionality stems from multiple factors, including the vestiges of settler colonialism that has calcified into normalized violence, accompanied by, in too many cases, a critically neglectful and a disengaged law enforcement and justice response.

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The crisis is one of countless missing and murdered Indigenous women and relatives. Many indigenous families have experienced the pain of having a relative, particularly young women, girls, LGBTQ and two-spirit people, disappear with the added trauma that the justice system too often turns a blind eye to their plight. On some reservations, Indigenous women are murdered at more than 10 times the national average. American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.5 times as likely to experience violent crimesand at least 2 times more likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimescompared to all other races. More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women and men have experienced violence in their lifetime. Gender based violence, including sexual assault and physical violence, is committed up to 85% of Indigenous Two Spirit individuals.

The American Bar Association has been working diligently for over a decade to help minimize this violence and close the legal system gaps that allow it to take place. Efforts have focused on increasing access to justice and safety for Indigenous people, including victims of gender-based violence. For example, in 2020, the ABA passed two resolutions specifically addressing MMIP and calling for the support of pieces of related national legislation  Savannahs Act and the Not Invisible Act  that are now law. The ABA has similarly passed resolutions in support of amendments supporting Tribal court sovereignty in the Violence Against Women Act. Most recently, the Association promulgated policy increasing access to the AMBER Alert system for Alaska Natives and American Indians.

Despite these efforts and the efforts of many advocates across the country, the scourge of MMIP remains a reality in many tribal communities. Today, as we acknowledge the National Day of Awareness for MMIP, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder in grief with indigenous families and remain steadfast in our commitment to end this crisis.

The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

About the Author: "Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at editor@nativenewsonline.net. "

Contact: news@nativenewsonline.net
High-voltage transmission lines provide electricity to data centers in Loudon County, Va., home to the worlds largest concentration of data centers. Lawmakers in Virginia and other states are rethinking how incentive programs for data centers may impact the electric grid, clean energy goals and utility rates for other consumers. (Photo by Ted Shaffrey/The Associated Press)

State Sen. Norm Needleman championed the 2021 legislation designed to lure major data centers to Connecticut.

The Democratic lawmaker hoped to better compete with nearby states, bring in a growing industry, and provide paychecks for workers tasked with building the sprawling server farms.

But this legislative session, hes wondering if those tax breaks are appropriate for all data centers, especially those with the potential to disrupt the states clean energy supply.

Particularly concerning to him are plans for a mega data center on the site of the states only nuclear power plant. The developer is proposing an arrangement that would give it priority access to electricity generated at the plant, which would mean less carbon-free power for other users.

That affects our climate goals, he said. Its additional demand of renewable energy that we would have to replace.

Needleman, co-chair of the Senate Energy and Technology Committee, is now reconsidering details of the state incentive program as he works on legislation to study the impact of data centers on the states electric grid. Mistakes now, he said, could lead to a real crisis.

Compared with other employers that states compete for, such as automotive plants, data centers hire relatively few workers. Still, states have offered massive subsidies to lure data centers  both for their enormous up-front capital investment and the cachet of bringing in big tech names such as Apple and Facebook. But as the cost of these subsidy programs balloons and data centers proliferate coast to coast, lawmakers in several states are rethinking their posture as they consider how to cope with the growing electricity demand.

From the outside, data centers can resemble ordinary warehouses. But inside, the windowless structures can house acres of computer servers used to power everything from social media to banking. The centers suck up massive amounts of energy to keep data moving and water to keep servers from overheating.

Data centers are the backbone of the increasingly digital world, and they consume a growing share of the nations electricity, with no signs of slowing down. The global consultancy McKinsey & Company predicts these operations will double their U.S. electric demands from 17 gigawatts in 2022 to 35 gigawatts by 2030  enough electricity to power more than 26 million average homes.

Some states, including Maryland and Mississippi, continue to pursue incentives to land new data centers. But in other states, the growth of the industry is raising alarms over the reliability and affordability of local electric grids, and fears that utilities will meet the demand by leaning more heavily on fossil fuel generation rather than renewables.

In South Carolina, lawmakers have started to question whether these massive power users should continue to receive tax breaks and preferential electric rates.

In Virginia, home to the worlds largest concentration of data centers, a legislative study is underway to learn more about how those operations are affecting electric reliability and affordability.

And Georgia lawmakers just passed legislation that would halt the states tax incentives for new data centers for two years. Georgia is home to more than 50 data centers, including those supporting AT&T, Google and UPS, according to the state commerce department.

Georgia Republican state Sen. John Albers, a sponsor of the Senate bill, said the significant growth of data centers in his state has helped communities and schools by boosting property tax revenues. But, considering factors such as water and electric use, he said the return on the states investment is not there and that initial findings do not support credits from the state level.

Nationwide, data center subsidies were costing state and local governments about $2 million per job created, according to a 2016 study by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit watchdog group that tracks economic development incentives. That figure has certainly ballooned in recent years, said Kasia Tarczynska, the organizations senior research analyst, who authored the report.

The Georgia bill now sits on the desk of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, whose office did not respond to a request for comment.

The Data Center Coalition, a trade group representing tech giants including Amazon, Google and Meta, is urging a veto.

Josh Levi, president of the organization, said data center companies are investing billions in new Georgia data centers, making metro Atlanta one of the nations biggest industry hubs.

Levi noted that lawmakers in 2022 extended the states tax credit program through 2031.

The abrupt suspension of an incentive that not only has been on the books, but that was extended two years ago, I think signals tremendous uncertainty, not just for the data center industry, but more broadly, he said.

Levi said the data center industry has been at the forefront of pushing clean energy. As of last year, data center providers and customers accounted for two-thirds of American wind and solar contracts, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence report.

Fundamentally, data is now the lifeblood of our modern economy, he said. Everything that we do in our personal and professional lives really points back to data generation, processing and storage.

Electricity hogs

In fast-growing South Carolina, lawmakers have pointed to data centers as a major factor in rising electricity demand.

As part of a broader energy bill, the legislature considered a measure that would prevent data centers from receiving discounted power rates.

Republican state Rep. Jay West said inducements such as reduced power rates are appropriate for major, transformational endeavors. He pointed to the BMW factory in Spartanburg, which employs 11,000 people, draws in major suppliers and pumps millions into the state economy.

While data centers boost local property taxes receipts, they dont do much for the state, he said, and shouldnt receive preferential rates. And they are being built faster than new energy generation can be added.

I do not speak for my caucus or the [legislative] body in saying this, he said, but I dont think South Carolina can handle more data centers.

The House provision on data center utility rates was quickly struck in a Senate committee, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported.

Lynn Teague, vice president of the League of Women Voters of South Carolina, said that change was made with no public discussion.

Teague, who lobbies the legislature, said South Carolinians, including more than 700,000 people living in poverty, shouldnt have to pick up the tab for tax or utility breaks for major data center firms.

We have companies like Google with over $300 billion in revenues a year wanting these folks to subsidize their profit margin at the same time that theyre putting intense pressure on not just our energy, but our water, she said.

Lawmakers saw data centers as a possible successor to South Carolinas declining textile industry when they approved the data center incentives in 2012, The State reported at the time. One Republican bill sponsor, then-state Rep. Phyllis Henderson, also cited North Carolinas success with data center incentives, saying South Carolina was just losing projects right and left to them.

But on the Senate floor earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, a Republican, described data centers as electricity hogs that arent really providing a whole lot of jobs.

Rippling effects

Virginia has been a hub for data centers for decades, touting its proximity to the nations capital, inexpensive energy, a robust fiber network and low risk of natural disasters. Now, Virginia lawmakers are increasingly scrutinizing the industry.

Thats in part because data centers have moved into traditionally residential areas, said Republican state Del. Ian Lovejoy, who represents a Northern Virginia district.

Theres no way to power the data center inventory thats being proposed and is likely to be built without substantial increases to the power infrastructure and power generation.

 Virginia Republican state Del. Ian Lovejoy

He sponsored two pieces of legislation this year affecting data center land use issues. One would have prevented data centers from building too close to parks, schools or neighborhoods; another would have altered land use disclosure rules for developers.

Theres no way to power the data center inventory thats being proposed and is likely to be built without substantial increases to the power infrastructure and power generation, he said. And thats going to have rippling effects far away from where the data centers are being sited.

Aaron Ruby, spokesperson for Dominion Energy in Virginia, the states predominant electric provider, said data centers, like other classes of customers, pay for the costs of their electric generation and transmission.

He said the company forecasts consumers monthly bills to grow by less than 3% annually over the next 15 years. That increase, he said, is due to the companys significant investment in renewable energy projects. While Dominion is all in on renewables, Ruby said it doesnt foresee being able to meet increasing demand with only renewables.

Thats just not physically possible, he said.

Dominion has pointed to data center growth as a key driver of its increasing electricity demand. In one state filing, the company said Virginias data centers had a peak load of almost 2.8 gigawatts in 2022.That was 1.5 times the capacity of the companys North Anna nuclear plant, which powers about 450,000 homes.

It is heart-stopping  just the scale at which these things are growing and the power theyre sucking up, said Kendl Kobbervig, the advocacy and communications director at Clean Virginia, a well-funded advocacy group pushing for renewable energy, campaign finance reform and greater oversight of utilities.

She said the state must address how data centers could undercut its clean energy goals and how the industry is affecting the utility bills of everyday households and small businesses.

Over the past two years, Clean Virginia has tracked more than 40 proposed bills related to data centers.

Most of those efforts stalled this session as some lawmakers elected to wait on the results of a study announced in December by the states Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.

The lack of action frustrated many lawmakers and residents.

I dont know exactly what the study is going to say that we dont already know, said Democratic state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam, who sponsored a bill that would have required data centers to meet certain energy efficiency and clean energy standards to be eligible for the states lucrative sales tax exemptions.

I think we already know that data centers take up a lot of power and present a lot of challenges to our grid.

This story was originally published by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and Twitter.

The post States rethink data centers as electricity hogs strain the grid appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Provincial officials of central China's Hubei Province attend a press conference on leveraging Hubei's strategic role in promoting the high-quality development of the country's central region in Beijing, capital of China, May 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Hubei Province on Tuesday pledged more efforts to leverage its strategic role in promoting the high-quality development of the country's central region.

Concrete measures will be taken to promote the region's economic growth, scientific and technological innovation, opening up and green development, Wang Zhonglin, governor of Hubei, told a press conference held by the State Council Information Office in Beijing.

Efforts will be made to consolidate and sustain the sound economic momentum of the province, while promoting both the quality and efficiency of the economy, Wang said.

The province will continue to promote the application-oriented integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, and accelerate the construction of an innovation center with national influence in Wuhan, capital city of Hubei, he added.

The governor said the province will put key transportation channels such as the Ezhou Huahu Airport and China-Europe freight trains to better use, and strengthen open platforms such as the Hubei free trade zone and international industrial parks in a bid to develop the province into a more competitive inland open hub.

In terms of green transition, steps will be taken to implement the established plans concerning protection of the Yangtze River and enhancement of green development, Wang noted. 
How to find out if you are still registered to vote before Ohios purge

In this file photo Michelle Orengo-McFarlane looks for her name on a voter registration list. (Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images).

Ahead of the November election, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has instructed officials to purge inactive voters from the rolls. Here is what you need to do to find out if you are still registered  plus how you can stay registered.

Its very important to vote, got a lot of decisions to make, Cuyahoga County voter Mary Jo Boehnlein said.

Boehnlein votes in every election. But not everyone does, like Cynthia Hatcher.

Not the preliminaries, Hatcher said. Mostly November is when I really look forward to voting.

Now, county boards of elections are trying to warn the infrequent voters to check their registration.

A voter purge is just really an opportunity for us to keep our voter rolls clean, Tony Kaloger, the deputy director of the Cuyahoga County BOE, said.

LaRose just ordered local officials to start removing inactive voters, and the officials must have a list of people who they intend to remove by May 21. By May 31, final registration readiness notice mailers must be sent out.

Kaloger explained this happens every few years. If you change your mailing address and dont vote for four years, your voter status could be canceled. Even if you dont move but you dont vote for six years  you could also be purged.

Theres a lot of checks and balances to make sure that people who are registered, who do live in Cuyahoga County, do not unfairly or prematurely get canceled, he said.

Boards of elections will send out mail numerous times to try to confirm addresses and voter status. If they receive a response, the voter stays on the rolls. Voters can also go to the local office or give them a call to ask about status.

Although he didnt last year, LaRose is supposed to put out a list of everyone he is removing from the rolls before the voter registration deadline. A registration search is available on the secretary of state website to look up.

There has been constant controversy over voter purges.

A viewer reached out to say they received a letter in the mail claiming that someone in his household wasnt registered to vote. It came from the nonpartisan group Center for Voter Information (CVI) and the Voter Participation Center (VPC), which informed the voters that abortion rights were on the ballot this fall.

The man who received this letter has been a registered Democratic voter for decades, along with his wife, who the letter was directed toward, according to the viewer. The couple provided documentation, which was then verified as legitimate by WEWS/OCJ. This could have come from a voter purge.

Hatcher said this isnt fair and is urging everyone to make sure they are still on the rolls.

Why should someone else make that judgment call just because they havent showed up? she asked. There might be some reason that they didnt or they couldnt make it. Everyone should have the right to vote.

For those who have been removed from the voter rolls, the deadline to re-register is Oct. 7.

Any person whose voter registration has been purged can immediately reinstate their ability to vote by reregistering on the Secretarys registration website here or by visiting their county board of elections.

If you believe you or a loved one has been wrongfully removed from the voter list, please email News 5 Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau at Morgan.Trau@wews.com.

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.

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The post How to find out if you are still registered to vote before Ohios purge appeared first on Ohio Capital Journal.
A San Joaquin County Superior Court judge lifted bail restrictions that had blocked Stockton school board member AngelAnn Flores from participating in board meetings in-person following her high-profile arrest last month.

But the rest of the initial proceeding in the alleged embezzlement, grand theft and false claims case against the Stockton Unified trustee was postponed to May 29. During Monday's hearing, Flores' lawyer told the judge prosecutors had only disclosed the purported evidence against her client that day.

Flores' arrest

Attorney Tori Verber Salazar and Stockton Unified Board Trustee AngelAnn Flores hold a press conference after Flores' arraignment at San Joaquin County Superior Court on Monday, May 6, 2024.

Sheriff's deputies pulled over and arrested the Area 2 board member in central Stockton on April 19 for allegedly misspending a school district expense card and allegedly submitting a false insurance claim from a "non-SUSD-related vehicle accident," according to a sheriff's office statement.

Prosecutors claim the alleged credit card theft exceeded $950, the criminal complaint shows. But they haven't yet said publicly how much in total they're claiming Flores took.

The inquiry into Flores has been ongoing since at least last April, search warrant documents obtained by The Record show. That's when the sheriff's office's Special Services Division took reports from two district officials about alleged credit card misuse by Flores and other board members, among other claims.

On Nov. 14, deputies seized Flores' devices and documents amid a search of her home, and also requested access to her social media accounts, the documents show. No evidence has yet been presented against Flores in court.

Unanswered questions

Flores' arrest and charging has reignited demands for information about an FBI, U.S. DOJ and DA's office investigation District Attorney Ron Freitas announced last April. At that time, Freitas pledged the investigation would target "any and all wrongdoing" at Stockton Unified after state auditors found significant evidence of widespread fraud at the district.

Flores' case is the first known action against a school district official for alleged misappropriation since Freitas announced the probe.

The DA's office sent no response last month to a list of questions about the status of the broader investigation.

Freitas was unavailable to speak to press after Flores' arraignment Monday "due to a scheduling conflict," spokesperson Erin Haight said.

However, the district attorney "absolutely" plans to speak about the status of the FBI, DOJ and DA's office investigation, Haight added, though she couldn't say when.

Flores' attorneys claim 'retaliation'

Attorneys for Flores claim the DAs and San Joaquin County Sheriffs offices are retaliating against the trustee for blowing the whistle on corruption at the school district  including on the misconduct that seems to have triggered the FBI, DOJ, and DA's office investigation Freitas announced last year.

Flores' attorneys claim that days before her arrest, the trustee notified Stockton Unified, the DA, and the sheriff's office of her plans to sue them for alleged retaliation over the November search of her home, and other alleged violations of her rights.

Flores is represented by San Joaquin County's former District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar, who lost her re-election bid to Freitas in 2022, as well as by attorney Mark Bowman.

When asked why she believes the DAs and sheriffs offices might retaliate over whistleblowing at the school district, Verber Salazar pointed to alleged overlap among the campaign teams that landed Freitas, Sheriff Patrick Withrow, and certain Stockton Unified trustees in office.

No evidence of these alleged connections has been presented in court.

"My client had a credit card ... with $3,200 worth of charges. About $130 a month," Verber Salazar claimed in comments after court Monday. "Her counterpart (on the board) ... had nearly $12,000 during the same period of time."

"The sheriff's office has already exonerated (her counterpart). It doesn't seem right," she said.

Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers government accountability. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton Unified trustee Flores in court Monday following arrest
WELCH, Okla.  A decades-old, remodeled school gymnasium lost its roof and sustained serious damage prompting Welch school officials to close on Tuesday.

Warm & Breezy Today; Storm Chances Return For Tomorrow

No injuries were reported, said Jeremy Ramsey, Welch superintendent.

Damaging winds rolled through Welch around 11 p.m. leaving no power for the 600 residents. Power was restored on Tuesday morning, Ramsey said.

The old gymnasium was built in the 1950s.

Ramsey said a new gymnasium is used for competitive sporting events.

After campus damage is accessed, Ramsey said school may resume on Wednesday or Thursday.

Winds in the Craig County area reportedly hit 65 mph. The National Weather Service

Spring River, Neosho River, Tar Creek and Honey Creek are all over flood stage, according to the National Weather Service in Tulsa.

A flood warning for the Neosho River near Commerce is extended to Friday morning. The river is expected to rise above flood stage on Wednesday evening and crest at 16.3 feet on Thursday morning, according to the weather service.

The flood stage is 15 feet.

In Ottawa County power was out overnight and some barns were destroyed.

Miami Mayor Bless Parker said that utility crews worked through the night restoring the power.

In Delaware County, Jay Mayor Becky Farley and Grove Mayor Ed Trumbull reported down tree limbs and debris. Farley said there was some flooding in the Jay area.

An F3 tornado with a 400-yard width hit Craig County on May 7, 1961, traveling almost nine miles, the weather agency reported. No injuries or fatalities were reported in the 63-year-old storm.

The area forecast for Craig, Ottawa and Delaware counties calls for temperatures 74 to 79 degrees with southwest winds of 5 to 10 mph.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com.
Stormy Daniels Concludes Her Two Days Of Testimony

After one day of testimony that was by turns seamy and grim, Stormy Daniels returned to the stand Thursday to be cross-examined by Trumps lawyers.

Follow along with us below.
Stormy Daniels, the porn actor who maintains she once had an affair with former President Donald Trump, took the stand Tuesday in his New York criminal trial.

Daniels testimony is expected to be key to the prosecutions case against Trump, who is accused of falsifying New York state business records to conceal a hush money payment to her in the days before the 2016 presidential election.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his office have argued that this payment was made to influence the outcome of the election, meaning Trump could potentially be convicted of felonies and sentenced to prison.

Trump looked away from the witness stand as she began speaking, staring instead at the monitor in front of him that showed her testifying.

Asked if she could identify Trump in the courtroom Tuesday, Daniels extended her right arm and pointer finger in his direction.

From the stand, Daniels recalled that she and other adult film stars met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament held near Lake Tahoe in 2006. She and Trump had two casual encounters in passing, she said; later, his security guard approached and asked if shed like to have dinner with Trump.

Her initial response to the invite: F no.

Then, clarifying for jurors: No, but with an expletive in front.

After chatting with her publicist, she said, she reconsidered dinner with Trump. Plus, she said, it would be a really good excuse to skip a work-related function she didnt want to attend. What could go wrong? she recalled telling a friend of the invite.

Daniels said she didnt really have any expectations about the dinner, except that she would meet Trump at his hotel room before going down to a restaurant.

Stormy Daniels appears at an event on May 23, 2018, in West Hollywood, California. via Associated Press

She recalled the foyer of Trumps penthouse room having a black-and-white tile floor and a beautiful wood table with a big flower arrangement on top.

This hotel room was three times the size of my apartment, she said. Trump answered the door in silk or satin pajamas, prompting her to make fun of him.

Does Hugh Hefner know you stole his pajamas? she asked. She said he very politely agreed to change his clothes.

Later, seated at the dining room table, she told him about her childhood and career, she said.

He was very interested in a lot of the business aspects of [the adult film industry], which I thought was very cool, Daniels testified.

These were very thought-out business questions, she said, in stark contrast to what most people ask about, like the sexy stuff, the dirty stuff, they want to know the salacious things.

Daniels, impatient for dinner, interrupted Trump while he talked endlessly about himself and showed off a copy of a new magazine that featured him.

Are you always this rude? Daniels said she told Trump.

You dont even know how to have a conversation, she recalled telling him. Daniels said she told Trump that someone should slap him with the magazine, and he ended up allowing her to do so right on the butt. Trumps demeanor relaxed afterward, she said.

Several members of the jury struggled to maintain their composure at the tale, with one woman appearing to stifle her laughter.

Trump told her that she reminded him of his daughter, who was also blond and smart, Daniels testified.

Later, Trump suggested that Daniels might appear on The Apprentice, although she said she did not fully believe him. But, she said, she had ambitions to write and direct films with larger budgets and to be taken seriously.

In this courtroom sketch, former President Donald Trump turns to face the audience at the beginning of his trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. via Associated Press

Daniels said she excused herself to use the bathroom, only to find Trump on the bed wearing only his boxers when she returned. She likened the moment to a jump scare.

She said the two had sex and kept the recollection brief at the urging of Judge Juan Merchan.

Upon mention of the missionary position, an attorney for the defense voiced an objection, which Merchan sustained. Daniels said Trump was not wearing a condom. She stared up at the ceiling during the encounter. Upon her departure, Trump called her honeybunch, she testified, adding that he suggested they meet up again soon.

The two never ended up actually eating dinner. Daniels said Trump kept calling her afterward, however, and dangled an Apprentice opportunity that kept her interested.

A brief 2007 meeting at Trump Tower about a potential Apprentice appearance didnt bear fruit. The two saw each other once more in person, she said, in Los Angeles that summer. He propositioned her for sex again and she declined, telling jurors she felt ashamed of the earlier encounter.

In 2011, In Touch magazine expressed interest in a story about her relationship with Trump, she said. While the magazine didnt publish anything, it did lead to a threatening encounter with a man in a Las Vegas parking lot who, she said, threatened me not to continue to tell my story.

Earlier in the trial, jurors heard testimony from David Pecker, former head of National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc., about how he agreed to use his tabloid empire to help Trumps campaign in 2015 and 2016. Part of that agreement meant keeping an eye on the marketplace of scandalous stories for anything that could damage Trump and his candidacy. While traditional media eschews so-called checkbook journalism, Pecker said, his outlets commonly paid cash for story rights.

Daniels affair allegation was among those that bubbled to the surface during that time. She claims to have had a sexual relationship with Trump during the height of his Apprentice reality TV stardom in 2006.

Through a laborious process detailed in testimony from Daniels ex-lawyer, Keith Davidson, Trumps attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, arranged to lock down Daniels story in late October 2016. It came at a perilous point in Trumps campaign. Cohen arranged the payment to Daniels shortly after the Access Hollywood tape scandal threw the campaign into turmoil and seriously threatened his electoral chances.

Since news of her hush money payment was made public, however, Daniels has spoken openly about the alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

Related...
Loved ones of a 15-year-old girl who collapsed and died inside an Atlanta high school this week said Tuesday that one of her classmates was arrested in connection to her death.

Mia Dieguez died Monday after going into cardiac arrest at Dunwoody High School, with first responders unable to revive her despite school authorities placing the campus on lockdown to facilitate medical attention to her.

Dieguezs sister, Pamela Dieguez, posted to Facebook that her sister died from an overdose of drugs laced with fentanylthe highly deadly synthetic opioid that was responsible for 200 American deaths a day in 2022.

Mias death has rocked her classmates and community, with Pamela posting that she hopes this is an eye opener for a lot of families when it comes to kids doing drugs.

We unfortunately lost our sister Mia to the epidemic of fentanyl laced drugs bought from someone at her school, a GoFundMe for Mia read on Tuesday. Mia was a very loving and caring person who had a bright future ahead of her with plans of enlisting in the military to help out at home. It brings us great pain to family and friends & she will be greatly missed.

In a post announcing an arrest was made, Pamela said her family is pleased to be getting justice for my baby sister. She told Fox 5 that she received a call from authorities between noon and 1 p.m. Monday telling her that her sister was being rushed to a hospital and wasnt breathing good.

DeKalb County School District Police confirmed to 11 Alive that a juvenile was arrested in connection to the death and is facing involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct charges.

The schools principal, Tom Bass, wrote in a letter to students families on Monday that the tragedy played out while many students were taking end-of-year exams.

Everyone reacts to death differently, Bass added. Our priority is respecting each others feelings and emotions. As a family, we encourage you to talk with your child about this incident to help them share their thoughts and reactions.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Student protesters at MIT move from encampments to the streets after orders to back down

The protests continued Monday at MIT, moving from the encampments on campus to the streets.

Student protesters shut down Mass Ave for four hours, chanting support for Palestine, while police had to divert traffic away from this busy stretch in Cambridge.

BREAKING: pro-Palestine protestors at @MIT have broken down barricades surrounding their encampment to re-enter the space - now creating a human shield around their tents. The university president ordered them to clear out by 2:30pm today or else they face suspension pic.twitter.com/49vKkftNhZ  Litsa Pappas (@LitsaPappas) May 6, 2024

Everything has remained very peaceful, so what happens next is not in our hands, its in the hands of the MIT administration, said Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT.

MITs president ordered all students to clear out the encampment by 2:30 PM Monday, citing safety concerns as this continues now for two weeks.

The university also said students could face suspension if they dont leave.

Harvard, MIT leaders call on protesters to stop encampments on campuses

I think we hope the administration can be more reasonable than that and come to the negotiation table and agree to our demands, but we will not be moved, said Prahlad Iyengar, an MIT graduate student.

Demonstrators breech barricades that had been erected outside a pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT, May 6, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. Several hundred demonstrators crossed the barricades to join pro-Palestinian demonstrators that been given a deadline to leave the encampment. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Most students left the encampments for a few hours, but then around 5:30 PM students broke down the barricades surrounding the encampment and reentered the area to create a human shield surrounding their tents even after the president of MIT had ordered them to leave.

I think all of us hold steadfast in the face of suspension that we do not want to be complicit in the murder of over 40,000 Palestinians by which our university directly designs the killer drones used in their murder, said Ihns.

Pro-Palestinian protestors are urging MIT leaders to stop funding research for the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Meanwhile, both local and state police responded throughout the day, at times creating a barrier between counter-protestors, who show support for Israel.

Whats problematic is the precedent that it sets just in regards to a student group having zero regard for the rules and like what can come from that? said Zev Moore, a counter-protestor and MIT student.

A demonstrator carries a Palestinian flag beside a line of demonstrators Monday, May 6, 2024, in at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. after several hundred demonstrators crossed torn down barricades and joined pro-Palestinian demonstrators that been given a deadline to leave the encampment. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

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

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Reality Check is a Sacramento Bee series holding officials and organizations accountable and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email realitycheck@sacbee.com.

Across the California State University system, thousands of students have participated in protests in support of Palestinian people, and in opposition to the Israeli government and the war in Gaza.

Some demonstrations have remained peaceful; at Sacramento State and Sonoma State, campus operations have not been disrupted by the occupation. At San Francisco State, students set up more than 30 tents in front of the student center, and it too has remained relatively quiet.

The week-long occupation at Cal Poly Humboldt between April 22 and April 29, however, was notably more intense, with students barricading themselves in a campus administrative building. In response, the university sent police in to forcefully remove them and 31 students, community members, and faculty were arrested.

Student organizers across the 23-campus system have taken different approaches to protests and occupations, but of those who have made demands, theirs are nearly identical: they all want university administrators to disclose any financial ties to Israel or Israeli companies and, if such financial ties exist, that the university divest from them.

How has CSU responded to protester demands?

On April 30, the CSU Office of the Chancellor said in a statement that it does not intend to alter existing investment policies related to Israel or the Israel-Hamas conflict.

While the CSU affirms the right of our community members to express diverse viewpoints, the statement read, a divestment of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses.

CSUs investments are centrally managed on behalf of the system. As of March 31 it had an $8.3 billion portfolio. Money generated by those investments have been used to pay for building maintenance and renovations on campus.

That total does not include money the system receives from the state or is held by separate groups associated with individual campuses.

While the CSU system at large has no plans to divest, those auxiliary groups, such as the Cal Poly Humboldt Foundation and the Sonoma State University Foundation, could consider their own divestments.

The Sacramento Bee reached out to all of the CSU campuses and reviewed other statements they sent to students. On some campuses, such as Bakersfield and Channel Islands, students have not made any demands about disclosure and divestment. On others, such as Sonoma, San Francisco and Dominguez Hills, university administration has expressed willingness to meet with student activists who did make demands. The San Bernardino campus said it does not invest directly or indirectly with any Israeli companies, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo said it does not intend to change its current investments.

The Bees review found that Cal Poly Humboldt has responded most thoroughly, outlining their position on each specific demand in a lengthy email sent to all students on April 26.

Humboldts foundation raises funds and manages the schools investments.

Aileen Yoo, the schools director of news and information, said in an emailed statement the university was willing to have an open dialog about its investment strategy.

What are Cal Poly Humboldts investments?

Student activists barricaded themselves in Siemens Hall on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus on April 22, and relayed their demands that same day, saying they would not leave the building until the university disclosed all holdings and collaborations with Israel, divest from companies and corporations complicit in the occupation of Palestine, cut ties with any Israeli universities, drop charges against students and halt the harassment of student organizers by law enforcement, call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and change university policy that allows the university to call police on its own students.

In response to the disclosure demand, the university told students in the April 26 email alert, its endowment does not include any direct investment in defense companies or any securities issued by Israeli companies or organizations, or to defense firms.

Because of the relatively small size of the endowment, the statement read, the investment strategy does not include direct investment in any specific companies or securities.

The university acknowledged that its more than $51 million portfolio has money that is indirectly invested in companies through mutual funds, which are often bundles of stocks or other financial assets. It estimated that 1%, or roughly $510,000, of that portfolio is in areas that are asked about.

Beyond that, the university estimates that potential defense investment is likely less than .5% of the entire investment fund.

Even then, the university said that figure is probably smaller than that as some companies make components of wind turbines and planes, and not weapons.

The portion of the indirect investment in Israeli companies or organizations is likewise less than 0.5%, and can fluctuate over time.

Has Humboldt or CSU divested before?

While responding to the demands from protesters, Humboldts April 26 alert also boasted about the schools status as a higher education leader in environmentally and socially responsible investing.

In 2013, Humboldts foundation, and students, came up with a plan to divest from fossil fuels. The university eventually eliminated the foundations direct investments in fossil fuels, according to its website, and was leading the way for institutions trying to divest from fossil fuels held in indirect ways, such as mutual funds.

Pressure from Humboldt and other campuses led to the CSU to take its own action on fossil fuels. In 2021, the system announced it would not pursue future investments in fossil fuels in the universitys portfolio, following a recommendation by an advisory committee.

That decision affected the system-wide investments but not the auxiliary funds associated with individual campuses. It is also separate from CalPERS, which is the pension plan for state employees.

A CSU communications official declined to answer an emailed question Friday about why it did not seek to divest money in this case.

How does CSU compare to UC?

CSUs are not the only universities in California where students have protested and occupied campus buildings, creating difficult decisions for major donors and administrators.

Students at the University of California, which operates 10 campuses across the state, have made similar demands to those in the CSU system, and protests at those schools have become increasingly tense.

More than 200 people were arrested Thursday on the UCLA campus, where hundreds of students and faculty camped out in support of Palestine and supporters protected the encampment from police. At UC Berkeley the same day, protesters and counterprotesters clashed at the campus encampment, leaving three injured. UC San Diego administrators canceled a campus event last week after student organizers set up an encampment April 29, and UC Davis student organizers initiated an encampment in the quad Monday afternoon.

The University of California opposes calls for a boycott against and divestment from Israel, an April 26 statement from the UC Office of the President said. The statement also clarified that tuition funds, which are the primary source of the UCs core operations, are not used for investment purposes.

University Investments manages the UCs $169 billion portfolio, vastly dwarfing that of the CSU system. It also has much wealthier donors who the UC system is undoubtedly considering as it navigates the delicate situation on its campuses and in its investments.
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE)  An elementary school student who was at home sick threatened a shooting at his own school on Tuesday, according to the Fresno Police Department.

Officers say the student from Winchell Elementary School in southeast Fresno made threats online that he was going to shoot the school up. Officers responded to the threat and went to the students home.

According to police, the 12-year-old boy who made the threat was spoken to by officers. A mental health officer also attended the school and helped staff develop a safety plan.

Its really serious, said Fresno Police Sgt. Pierce Masse. It causes a disruption for the entire school. It causes disruption for the parents. Fear and concern for everyone involvedand it can get you expelled and get you in big trouble.

The identity of the 12-year-old who made the threats was not publicly released.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47.
"A lot of very successful European companies today are successful because they have been successful in China," said Xavier Marin, president of Trail, a French investment company.

"It is a win-win approach" between China and European countries, Marin said on the sidelines of the Sixth Meeting of the China-France Business Council.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
(Getty Images)

A new Virginia Commonwealth University study shows that opioid use disorders are underdiagnosed and undertreated among formerly incarcerated Virginians enrolled in Medicaid.

Among the 4,652 adults released from state prisons in 2022, the study shows 85% were enrolled in Medicaid within one month of their release. While 13%, or 514 of these adults had a diagnosis of opioid use disorder, only a quarter received medication treatment through Medicaid.

By comparison, 78% of all Medicaid members with an opioid use disorder in state fiscal year 2021 received treatment.

Based on national statistics, we expected more people to receive a diagnosis and treatment for opioid addiction, said Dr. Peter Cunningham, the lead study researcher and interim chair of the Department of Health Policy at VCUs School of Population Health. This is concerning because having an undiagnosed, untreated opioid use disorder greatly increases the risk of overdose.

The study is part of an ongoing evaluation with the Department of Medical Assistance Services to review the addiction recovery and treatment services program, a comprehensive benefit designed to provide substance use disorder treatment services to Medicaid members.

Since Virginia expanded Medicaid in 2019, Cunningham said most adults being released from jails or prisons in the commonwealth qualify for coverage. However, delays in setting up a treatment plan and complications transitioning back to community living pose several barriers to accessing healthcare needs.

Barriers to care

While incarcerated individuals are able to apply for Medicaid, their benefits  including substance use disorder treatment services  are unavailable to them until after their release.

That system, said Libby Jones, program director at the Overdose Prevention Initiative, is by design through the federal Medicaid inmate exclusion policy in the Social Security Act of 1965. As a result, the burden of inmate healthcare expenses falls to the local jurisdiction where jails and prisons are located.

That is a problem in the sense that oftentimes folks are only getting the bare minimum of their healthcare addressed, Jones said. Whats not being addressed are the underlying issues.

Cunningham emphasized that there needs to be a focus on identifying and getting people into treatment before theyre released, as opioid addictions can still be fueled while incarcerated. However, he said facilities may express hesitancy offering medication assisted treatment because some are classified as controlled substances.

Utilizing Medicaid benefits upon release can also be challenging, Cunningham said. When a person enrolls in Medicaid, he said they start out in the fee-for-service system where they dont have a particular network of providers, meaning youre kind of on your own to figure out  where youre going to go.

Some individuals have to wait up to a month after their release to be assigned a specific health plan to help navigate their benefits and find providers, a time frame Jones said is crucial for accessing treatment. According to a 2018 North Carolina study, formerly incarcerated individuals are 40 times more likely to overdose within the first two weeks after their release.

Its not only a concern in terms of the increased risk of overdose and death, but its also if their addiction isnt managed, thats going to affect their transition into the community, Cunningham said. Its going to affect their ability to find work and stable housing and its potentially going to lead to reincarceration.

Many formerly incarcerated individuals face additional barriers to treatment upon their release, said Cunningham, like lacking a stable home or transportation, as well as being unaware of their options to get help. That transition period, he said, can be very unstable and uncertain and getting treatment may not be a priority for some.

A lot of them are kind of just falling through the cracks, Cunningham said.

Solutions moving forward

Jones said treatment programs within jails and prisons have been shown to have a great impact on reducing overdoses, recidivism rates and lowering costs for the facilities.

For example, Chesterfield County Jail has a program, funded primarily by grants and the county itself, that provides access to both medication for opioid disorder treatment and therapy. The re-arrest rate for people in the program, Jones said, was almost half for people who were released from jail who hadnt been in the program.

Despite the Chesterfield jail programs success, the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center is the only other jail in the commonwealth to utilize it. Members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Prince William, visited the facility this January to hear from inmates participating in the program.

Inmates feel hope for their life post-release because they are finally stable, theyre able to learn skills that will help them gain employment, Jones said. None of this would have been possible had they not received treatment.

Investing in similar programs has been shown to also save money for prisons and jails. A 2022 Kentucky criminal justice treatment outcome study showed that for every $1 spent on the states correction-based substance use disorder treatment, there is a $4.54 cost offset.

Jones said having Medicaid services provided during incarceration would dramatically help address treatment accessibility by covering some of the costs typically paid for by localities and could bring about similar programs in other jails and prisons.

Not only would it pay for the medications, it would also establish  standards of care.  If you are a Medicaid beneficiary, there are certain standards of care that you are entitled to, Jones said. So having those standards of care all put into place in the carceral system would also improve healthcare.

This is why Jones is advocating for Congress to pass two bills, the Due Process of Continuity of Care Act and Reentry Act, both of which are bipartisan and backed by U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond. The former would allow inmates to retain their Medicaid benefits while incarcerated and the latter, also backed by U.S. Reps. Gerald Connolly, D-Fairfax, and Spanberger, would restart the inmates benefits 30 days prior to their release to prevent gaps in coverage.

While some might disagree with the concept of investing in inmates or formerly incarcerated individuals, Cunningham emphasized that most people in prisons and jails are going to be released at some point and should be given the opportunity to succeed in life.

Whatever your view on people with criminal records or people in prisons is, I think its in everybodys best interest to make sure that when they are released, we give them the best chance to reintegrate into the community, Cunningham said.

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The post Study: Opioid use disorders are undertreated among formerly incarcerated Virginians on Medicaid appeared first on Virginia Mercury.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  Supermarket chain Kroger has announced it is holding a one-day savings event to help seniors in central Ohio.

In a news release, Krogers Columbus Division stated that customers 55 and older can save an extra 5% on their in-store purchases on Wednesday. The offer is good at all Ohio and Ohio Valley store locations.

Ohio to begin enhanced voter roll purge ahead of November election

To receive the discount shoppers can use their Drivers License or similar ID and alert the cashier of their eligibility. Kroger noted that its store loyalty card will also be accepted as identification to get the price cut.

At Kroger, we are committed to providing fresh, affordable food for everyone, said Mark Bruce, Corporate Affairs Manager for Krogers Columbus Division. We know customers are stretching their dollars even more and saving every day with low prices, personalized digital coupons and weekly deals. This extra discount for our senior shoppers is one more way were helping our customers get more out of their grocery budget.

The company suggested using the offer on pantry staples, fresh produce, over-the-counter medications, household essentials and indicated that exclusions include alcohol, tobacco products, fuel, money orders, taxes, postage stamps, gift cards/certificates, lottery, promotional tickets, CRV, prescriptions, and guest or customer service/fees.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
Support for 2024 presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump is divided sharply among religious lines, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.

The survey found that if the election were held now, most white Christian registered voters would opt for the Republican Trump over the Democrat Biden. More than half of that group believes Trump was a "good" or "great" president and do not think he broke the law in order to try to change the outcome of the 2020 election, according to the study.

TOPSHOT - (COMBO) This combination of pictures created on September 29, 2020 shows US President Donald Trump (L) and Democratic Presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden squaring off during the first presidential debate at the Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio on September 29, 2020. (Photo by JIM WATSON and SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSONSAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

However, most Black Protestant registered voters would opt for Biden, as would those who identify as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular," the study says. Most in those groups say Trump was a "terrible" president and believe that he broke the law trying to overturn the election results.

Pew says that these findings reflect longstanding partisan leanings of religious groups.

According to the research, Trump draws support from 81% of White evangelical Protestant voter, 61% of white Catholics and 57% of white Protestants who are not evangelical.

More: Which New Jersey towns will sink under water from sea level rise? Find out on this map

Biden draws support from 77% of Black Protestant voters and most religious "nones" including 87% of atheist voters, 82% of agnostics and 57% of people who identify their religion as "nothing in particular."

Pew's survey included responses from Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and people from many other religious backgrounds, as well as smaller Christian groups like Hispanic Protestants and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, the center says the the survey does not include enough respondents from these smaller groups to report on them separately.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Support for Biden, Trump divided among religious lines: Pew study
People attend a rally as part of Transgender Day of Visibility outside the U.S. Capitol in March 2023. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

After steering clear of the divisive issue for months, the Supreme Court may be on the verge of deciding whether to jump into the national debate over medical treatment for transgender youths.

As soon as Thursday, justices may vote behind closed doors on whether to grant an appeal that seeks to block a new Tennessee law prohibiting medical treatments that enable a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minors sex.

They have been in no hurry to act, however, and its possible they will put off the issue again. For weeks, they have repeatedly delayed a vote on the case, likely reflecting a division  either between liberals and conservatives, or perhaps inside the conservative majority.

At stake is the fate of a wave of a new state laws in the South and Midwest that bar transgender teens and their parents from obtaining puberty blockers and other hormones prescribed by a doctor.

Some 24 conservative states have passed restrictions on treatment for transgender youth, potentially affecting about 114,000 minors, or more than a third of transgender youths in the United States, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA Law School. Many of those state laws have been blocked temporarily by judges.

Read more: Supreme Court majority leans in favor of limited immunity for Trump as an ex-president

If the court turns down the Tennessee appeal and says nothing more, it could signal that treatment bans for transgender youth are likely to take effect in about half of the nation. Then the map of the states would largely match the red state-blue state divide on abortion.

If justices agree to hear the appeal, it could put the issue on track for arguments later this year.

Progressive advocates for transgender youth are looking to the Supreme Court for help.

This is a crisis and the only court that can weigh in to remedy it is the Supreme Court, said Chase Strangio, the ACLUs deputy director for transgender justice. This is wreaking havoc with families who have to leave their homes to protect their children.

The ACLU and Lambda Legal sued to challenge the Tennessee law on behalf of three transgender adolescents and their parents who had been obtaining hormones from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Read more: Supreme Court divided on homelessness case that will affect California encampment policy

A federal judge initially blocked the new law. But in July, the Ohio-based 6th Circuit Court in a 2-1 decision became the first appeals court to rule such a law may go into effect.

The states lawmakers had questioned the safety and effectiveness of hormone treatments for teens, and 6th Circuit Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton said that states may reasonably exercise caution in these circumstances.

Biden administration Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar said the state laws impose a categorical ban on evidence-based treatments supported by the overwhelming consensus of the medical community.

The high courts intervention is warranted now, she said.

Conservative skepticism toward gender affirming care was bolstered by a recent report prepared for the National Health Service in England. Dr. Hilary Cass, who led the four-year review, called for caution in treating young people who have gender distress.

This is an area of remarkably weak evidence, she wrote . The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.

So far, the justices have avoided a clear ruling on the rights of transgender students. When pressed, they have handed down narrow decisions.

Last year, they turned down an emergency appeal from West Virginias attorney general and allowed a 12-year-old transgender girl to compete on the girls track team at her middle school. The court issued no opinion, but Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented.

Last month, the court handed down a procedural decision that allowed Idahos law to take effect restricting care for transgender youths, but not for the children and parents who sued to challenge it.

The courts majority in the Idaho case focused on the question of whether a federal judge has the power to block an entire state law if two people sue over one provision. Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented and said the states appeal should have been denied.

The conservative judges may be divided among themselves on rights for transgender students.

Four years ago, the court surprised many on the right when it ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers from discriminating against workers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., said that because the law forbids job discrimination on the basis of sex, it must be read to include discrimination against LGBTQ+ employees.

An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex, Gorsuch wrote in the case of Bostock vs. Clayton County .

Three conservatives dissented from that opinion, and the court has yet to rule on whether this anti-discrimination principle extends to the Constitutions guarantee of equal protection of the laws.

That legal question is at the heart of the appeals now before the court. The ACLU, Lambda Legal and the Biden administration argue that a law targeting transgender individuals for disfavored treatment is a form of sex discrimination and should be struck down as unconstitutional.

They also raise the issue of parents rights. The laws in Tennessee, Kentucky and elsewhere should be struck down because they violate the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the medical care of their children, they told the court.

Samantha Williams and her husband, Brian, had sued in Nashville on behalf of their daughter, who was identified as L.W.

Its hard to overstate the difference that our daughters medical treatment has made in her life and our familys life, Samantha Williams said when the appeal went to the Supreme Court.

Before coming out and starting to receive this medical care she struggled to make friends, keep her grades up, or even accept hugs from her family. Now, we have a confident, happy daughter who is free to be herself. I want the Justices to see and understand my daughter and recognize her rights under the Constitution like any other person, and to see that if parents like me dont have the right to determine whats best for our children, then no parent does, she said.

In defense of his states law, Tennessees Atty. Gen. Jonathan Skrmetti described it as a measure to protect children from unproven medical interventions.

He said the number of minors receiving gender dysphoria diagnoses has exploded in recent years, and states have seen a corresponding surge in unproven and risky medical interventions for these underage patients.

He said state lawmakers had reasonably concluded that the well-documented risks of cross-sex hormones outweigh any purported benefits and that minors lack the maturity to fully understand and appreciate the life-altering consequences of such procedures.

But the American Academy of Pediatrics, joined by21 other medical and mental health organizations, fileda friend-of-court brief atthe Supreme Court to dispute Tennessees contention that the hormone treatments are experimental or ineffective.

About 1.4 million persons in the United States are transgender, they said, and about about 10% of them are teenagers ages 13 to 17. They said research shows that adolescents with gender dysphoria who receive puberty blockers or hormone therapy experience less depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. ... Banning such care can put patients lives at risk.

While the state law also forbids surgical interventions for minors, those provisions are not being challenged in the cases under appeal.

At the 6th Circuit Court, the key question was who should decide on care of minors: parents and their doctors, state legislators, or federal judges.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Supreme Court to rule on city's homeless encampment ban. What will it mean for Worcester?

An aerial view of an encampment at the Blackstone River Bikeway off Millbury Street in Worcester. The city saw a 70% increase in homeless individuals from 2021 to 2023.

WORCESTER  With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to make a decision this summer over whether local governments may ticket homeless people sleeping on public property, some Worcester-area service providers for the homeless fear an outcome that could further criminalize homelessness.

"We're fixing the wrong problem," Leah Bradley, executive director of the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, said. "Folks are homeless because there's not enough housing at a price that they can afford. They're really just surviving."

The case at hand, The City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, centers on the city of Grants Pass, Oregon. The city argues that a U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruling that cities could not issue tickets to homeless people who were using blankets, pillows or means to protect themselves from the elements hamstrung their ability to respond to safety issues in encampments.

More: 'No place to go': Supreme Court debates cities' leeway to crack down on homeless camps

Homeless advocates have argued the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment protects people from being punished based on a personal status outside their control  like being homeless. They fear that if Grants Pass wins the case, homeless residents could face punishment for using as little as one blanket outside.

The Supreme Court heard the case April 22. The majority of justices appeared to side with Grants Pass in giving local governments discretion  and limiting the federal courts involvement in local decisions.

However, some justices showed sensitivity to the plight of homeless residents and several suggested limiting the scope of any decision related to the case.

A decision is expected by the end of June.

'Criminalization of homelessness'

Danielle LaRiviere, director of Worcester Health Care for the Homeless at Family Health Center of Worcester, said there has been a move toward further criminalizing homelessness in the country.

"It's alarming, the move toward criminalization of homelessness," LaRiviere said.

Danielle LaRiviere is director of Worcester Health Care for the Homeless.

She said the City of Grants Pass passed several ordinances that would strictly impact homeless people's basic survival needs in the city, referencing one that punishes residents for sleeping outside with a blanket.

"It just really feels like it's a punishment for people who are experiencing homelessness when homelessness is a very systematic issue that needs to be addressed," LaRiviere said.

LaRiviere added that such policies further add to stigma around homeless people in the general public.

While no area in Worcester has seen a concentration of homeless people as large and infamous as in Boston's intersection of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue, or in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood, the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance has reported a rising homeless population in the city as housing costs rise.

The city saw a 70% increase in homeless individuals from 2021 to 2023. In the peak month of March 2023, 810 people were recorded as experiencing homelessness throughout the month.

While a 60-bed emergency winter shelter at the former RMV building at Main Street remains in use as a shelter, providers and city officials have acknowledged a gap in needed beds still exists.

City declines to comment on Grants Pass case

A spokesperson for the City of Worcester said the city would not comment on any hypothetical verdict in the Grants Pass case, and the city did not make any representative available for an interview.

Demonstrators gather in April outside the Supreme Court, which heard arguments in The City of Grants Pass v. Johnson.

According to the spokesperson, the only rule the city has on the books related to pitching encampments and sleeping in public spaces is a fine for erecting a booth, tent, sleeping tent, sleeping bag, inflatable rides, stall, camper, motorhome or other sleeping structure in any park or playground without a permit from Parks & Recreation.

The rule also forbids use of a tent unless it is stake-less or without the written permission of Parks & Recreation. Violators can face a noncriminal disposition fine. The fine system is structured as follows: $25 for a first offense, $50 for a second offense and $100 for third and subsequent offenses.

Could Supreme Court ruling reverberate elsewhere in Central Mass.?

LaRiviere said there is existing case law in Massachusetts that grants homeless people protections. A verdict in the Grants Pass case could reverse these established precedents in the state.

The Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance fears that some municipalities in the region could implement policies similar to the one in Grants Pass if the Supreme Court sides with that city.

"Folks in those communities will most likely go to the communities that don't have the policies, so it's going to make our work really challenging where we're trying to keep folks in the community they live in," Bradley said.

Keeping homeless residents in their home community allows them more access to their support systems and tends to lead to people experiencing homelessness for shorter durations, Bradley said.

Allowing such policies like the disputed Grants Pass fines could lead to homeless people placing themselves in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, Bradley said. She added that homeless advocates will be tasked with explaining the risks associated with such policies.

"The impacts on the individuals who are experiencing homelessness are far greater than what I think the community that brought the lawsuit and the Supreme Court really recognize," Bradley said.

LaRiviere said it is wrong to think more enforcement of sleeping outside will lead to homeless people seeking shelter or housing. Laws that could either directly add to the criminal records of homeless people or jail them after they are unable to pay fines could make it harder to find them housing, she said.

"It's a lot more expensive to send people to jail for their homelessness than it is to house them," LaRiviere said.

As head of a provider that offers medical services to the homeless, LaRiviere said it would be harder to connect with patients if they go so deep into places such as wooded areas that they are hard to locate.

Bradley said the idea that homeless people are a public safety issue is more of a "perception" than one borne out by studies. She said municipalities should gear their policies more toward providing housing for homeless people and building more available units. Bradley pointed to policies such as inclusionary zoning and the construction of accessory dwelling units.

The city's deficit of shelter beds to meet the needs of the homeless population  including shelters that are spaces for youths, women and members of the LGBTQ+ community  is an ongoing issue that LaRiviere acknowledges is complex.

In addition, LaRiviere said, having more services for addiction treatment and programs to prevent homelessness would help in Worcester.

Worcester City Council has debated encampments

Last year, the Worcester City Council was hesitant to adopt a request for a moratorium on encampment sweeps or to find a site to support people living in encampments while the city works to expand shelter beds.

Encampment sweeps, also known as clearings, have been defined as a forced removal of encampments where homeless people have gathered. Advocates say people who are homeless are often removed from the area and their possessions lost as a result of so-called sweeps.

The proposed moratorium faced opposition from the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. Several councilors also said they worried about the impact encampments could have on resident quality of life and safety risks coming from encampments.

Samantha Olney, photographed with David Koukoulis, has petitioned the City Council to allow the homeless to temporarily set up tents in public spaces.

In February, the City Council unanimously voted to end consideration of a petition from homeless resident and advocate Samantha Olney asking that the city allow the homeless to temporarily set up tents in public spaces.

While councilors said the city needed to develop a solution for the growing homeless population in Worcester, several said the city needed to have the ability to intervene when residents call to complain about an encampment's impact on their property or quality of life.

Homeless advocates across the country, such as the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, have maintained that while residents sleeping in tents is not ideal, encampment sweeps are detrimental to addressing homelessness.

"If they have to continually move from one place to the other, they're focused on where their next location is going to be and not on finding housing and getting benefits and doing the things that they want to do in order to get themselves closer to a housing option," Bradley said.

Councilors did vote to request that Olney be invited to a group convened by the city to discuss homelessness.

In March, a City Council petition from Olney requesting "a sanctioned area for unhoused individuals to camp safely, free from prejudice and prosecution," was voted down in a 6-5 vote.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Grants Pass v. Johnson: Will it impact Worcester homeless encampments?
Leftist politician Sahra Wagenknecht (R) and colleagues Amira Mohamed Ali (C) and Christian Leye present the BSW ("Buendnis Sahra Wagenknecht") political alliance to the media on Oct 23, 2023 in Berlin Credit - Sean GallupGetty Images

In recent months, a new party has entered the German left. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), headed by two women with immigrant roots in the Middle East and North Africa (Sahra Wagenknecht and Amira Mohamed Ali), takes a hardline approach to immigration in service of protecting ostensibly progressive values  specifically social welfare.

Six years ago, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party launched a similar strategy on the radical right. Lead candidate Alice Weidel, an out lesbian banker, also took a punitive approach to migration in service of traditionally progressive values. Weidel claimed to be protecting gay and lesbian Germans from the alleged threat of homophobic Islam, despite her own partys opposition to LGBTQ rights. And yet, the strategy worked. The party managed to become the first far-right party to enter German parliament since 1961.

What accounts for the consensus between two parties on opposite fringes of the political spectrum?

For the past 75 years, German policymakers have eschewed the very category of race, which they saw as a relic of the Nazi past. Steeped in accounts of biological hierarchy and genocide, race could play no function in building German democracy. And yet it did. The combination of racial and sexual anxieties proved especially potent in shoring up the bounds of the postwar West German nation that was the building block for todays Germany, even as those who harnessed those anxieties  politicians, religious figures, media outlets, anti-immigration protesters  denied that they were thinking about race at all. Nevertheless, racism proved remarkably durable, on both sides of the country's politics.

Consider the case of postwar migration. Between 1955 and 1973, the Federal Republic of Germany instituted a temporary work visa program to meet the labor needs of its growing industrial capitalist economy. Invited workers and their families  mostly from southern Europe and Turkey, but also North Africa and as far off as South Korea  sought residence in West Germany beyond the initial period covered by the temporary visa program.

Read More: How Germany's Political Stability May Be Fueling the Rise of the Far Right

In response, successive administrations attempted to restrict residency or even halve the population of Turkish immigrants  while allowing European migrants to remain. In this context, many on the right and the left redrew German belonging along the lines of race and religion.

Center-right politicians began advocating for increased restrictions on the twin grounds of social incompatibility and strains on the welfare state  what became known as the new social question. Center-left politicians agreed that migration after the end of recruitment in 1973 signaled a fundamental threat to economic stability and social coherence. They gained support from left-wing activists who worried that Islams apparent restrictions on women somehow threatened the gains of German womens emancipation. Inextricably tied up in concerns about gender, family, and criminality, the racialization of Muslim immigrants gained traction across the political spectrum in the later decades of the 20th century.

But this form of racism was not preordained. LGBT Germans, for instance, did not see Islam as threatening. Until 1969, West Germany retained in full the Nazi law criminalizing all sexual contact between men. To escape surveillance and prosecution, some men with means traveled abroad to countries like Morocco, which had no such provisions until 1962 and where, even after their implementation, the laws were unevenly policed. Many believed Islam to be conducive to homoeroticism. It was only in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution in Iran  and the widely publicized yet ill-understood execution of men there convicted of sodomy  that more gay and lesbian German activists, in tandem with their international counterparts, began to interpret Islam as increasingly homophobic.

This belief was also adaptable to extant anxieties. Racial and sexual politics collided after the unification of East and West Germany in 1990 and the collapse of Eastern European Communism, offering opportunities for the right and the left. Following a series of right-wing, racist attacks, activists like Black feminist and poet May Ayim argued that such patterns of violence reflected the enduring racism that pervaded German society.

Simultaneous attacks against queer and trans people brought many white LGBTQ activists in alliance with antiracist goals. Together, they pursued the broader promise of liberal democracy to secure new rights, such as equal partnership and anti-discrimination laws. Neo-Nazis and skinheads threatened the goals of this coalition.

Policymakers and mainstream media outlets were less willing to face the embedded bigotry in German society. They oscillated between describing violence as an individual, criminal behavior or as the growing pains of the East German democratic transition. Lawmakers also shifted attention elsewhere: in 1993, theypassed the asylum compromise. The new legislation, with cross-party support, dramatically curtailed the extensive, yet continuously contested, conditions under which people could seek asylum in Germany. The problems of unification, politicians asserted, required both a strengthening of Germanys borders and the prevention of right-wing violence.

This message resonated because some, mostly white LGBT activists saw violent, immigrant men as threatening their goals just as Neo-Nazis and skinheads did.

Expanding protections for LGBT Germans, therefore, became an avenue through which sexualized fears of immigration were entrenched. The left argued that better integration measures aimed at dismantling Muslim homophobia were necessary to ensure democratic commitment to LGBT rights. Parties on the left backed urban education initiatives, such as the 2005 love deserves respect campaign, in which organizers placed posters in Berlins predominantly Muslim neighborhoods. Some queer Muslims countered that Islam held a variety of beliefs about homosexuality, and they should address intersecting forms of discrimination, including racism and economic disparity, to ensure queer safety.

Meanwhile, center right politicians, who largely opposed LGBT rights, used the same logic to tighten citizenship requirements. Following the Dutch example, some German states proposed new citizenship tests that would require applicants to demonstrate acceptance of homosexuality. Members of the center-right federal government vocally supported such initiatives, even if they never passed parliamentary approval.

Read More: Germans Thought They Were Immune to Nationalism After Confronting Their Nazi Past. They Were Wrong

In 2008, center right Berlin representative Sascha Steuer, who is gay, argued that the center left Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit (who is also gay) had fallen short on addressing homophobia by failing to communicate that those who do not embrace equality are not welcome in Germany. In 2014, center right representative Jens Spahn, who is also gay, claimed that his Christian Democratic party could win over voters by offering solutions to the problem of Turkish youth attacking gay people on the streets of Berlin.

Even international media outlets platformed this rhetoric. In 2010, when out gay foreign minister Guido Westerwelle declined to bring his partner on state business to Saudi Arabia, a Wall Street Journal opinion piece accused him of being an appeaser, in clumsy reference to the Nazi past, and claimed the episode was evidence that Islamic states have been recently much more successful in spreading their values to the West than vice versa.

From urban politics to foreign policy, the idea of Muslim homophobia has become a tool to shore up the political hardline.

When placed against the backdrop of 1970s center right new social question or 1990s center left asylum policy, the left-wing anti-immigrant policies of Sahra Wagenkneckt feel almost dated. So too does Alice Weidels right-wing promise to protect LGBT Germans, when placed alongside the politics of racism and nationalism that were present in the country's gay-rights discourse from the beginning. Together, they reveal that the politics of racism is both durable and highly adaptable, functioning not as curious exceptions, but as a core part of the German political calculus. As Dutch citizenship tests and Wall Street Journal op-eds hint, such politics easily bleed over national lines. We must therefore pay close attention to the pervasiveness of racism across the political spectrum, even if articulated through markedly different policy programs.

Christopher Ewing is an assistant professor of history at Purdue University, specializing in the history of race and sexuality in modern Europe. His first book, The Color of Desire: The Queer Politics of Race in the Federal Republic of Germany after 1970, was recently published with Cornell University Press.

Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Learn more about Made by History at TIME here. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.

Write to Made by History at madebyhistory@time.com.
TOPEKA (KSNT)  With the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) planning to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, what would the impact be on Kansas?

Kansas Cannabis Coalition advocate Kelly Rippel says if the government reclassifies marijuana, Kansas lawmakers will have to respond.

Were not looking very intelligent in the drug policy arena at this point, Rippel said.

Marijuana is currently a Schedule I substance in the same class as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. The reclassification could see marijuana moved into the Schedule III drugs list. The DEA considers Schedule III drugs as substances with low or moderate potential for psychological dependence.

$10,000 reward offered in Kansas murder case

Schedule III drugs are still controlled substances and subject to rules and regulations, and people who traffic them without permission could still face federal criminal prosecution.

Weve reached a critical mass point where the majority of Kansans want medical cannabis, Rippel said. President Biden has come out and said medical should be recognized, Kansas has to do something and its beyond time to do that.

Political Science Professor at Washburn University Bob Beatty said the immediate impact on Kansas would be not much. He said the reason rescheduling would have minimal impact on Kansas is partially because of the lengthy review process. Additionally, the rescheduling would need to be ratified by the U.S. Congress.

If marijuana is reclassified, then it still would be illegal in KS and thus not available in the medicines that it would be available in legal states, Beatty said.

In written opposition to Senate Bill 555, Legalization of Medical Marijuana, Kansas Bureau of Investigation Director Tony Mattivi said Kansans already have legally available prescriptions for Food and Drug Administration-approved marijuana products like Epidiolex, Marinol and Cesamet.

Because there is no legitimate medical need for SB 555, I suggest there are two true purposes for this bill: incrementalism and profit, Mattivi said on March 27. Incrementalism means that this bill is one step toward the cannabis industrys goal to normalize marijuana use at any level. The next step, of course, would be to widen the medical marijuana approvals.

Mattivi referenced a ProPublica article from March 14, 2024, wherein Terry Gross spoke on NPRs show Fresh Air.

Tornado causes extensive damage to Oklahoma town and 1 death as powerful storms hit central US

When states started legalizing marijuana, one of the hopes was that it would cut down on

crime because people could buy it legally from licensed sellers, Gross said. But in some states,

including Oklahoma, legalization inadvertently helped organized crime, especially the

Chinese mafia, exploit new opportunities.

Mattivi said since Oklahoma legalized medical marijuana, the homicide rate increased, property crime rate increased, human trafficking increased and now the state has a novel drug problem with ketamine.

Historically, it is not a drug of choice among Oklahomans, but is now being found at crime scenes in the state, Mattivi wrote in his opposition letter. Not coincidentally, ketamine is a drug of choice within Asian crime syndicates.

According to a report from the Associated Press, the immediate effect of rescheduling on the nations criminal justice system would likely be muted since federal prosecutions for simple possession have been rare in recent years.

Rippel says rescheduling marijuana would vindicate arguments that advocates like himself have had for over a decade.

Westmoreland offers utility assistance to tornado victims

This will force lawmakers to do something about it, Rippel said. We will be surrounded; we are surrounded by decriminalized states. This will only push others like Nebraska to do so. We cannot in good faith keep Kansas as an island.

For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
The Robeson County Sheriffs Department has ruled Mica Millers death a suicide.

According to a Facebook post Tuesday, May 7, 2024, the North Carolina law enforcement agency said the decision was based on surveillance footage, interviews, physical evidence and the examination of the North Carolina Medical Examiners Office.

The death of Miller has received national attention and has been reviewed and analyzed by family, friends and church members.

First, let me say on behalf of the Robeson County Sheriffs Office that our sincere condolences are being sent to the family and friends of Mica Miller, Sheriff Burnis Wilkins wrote in the post. This incident has garnered much attention from across the Carolinas and beyond. ... Unfortunately, rumors and conspiracy theories were spreading quickly, and assumptions were being made. However, in the end, we must make decisions based on the facts, and evidence that has been gathered.

It was first said that Miller, 30, of Myrtle Beach, was found in her vehicle. However, the post said that she was found in the water.

The post said Robeson County E911 Communications Center received a 911 call from a female, who was later identified as Mica Miller. 30, of Myrtle Beach, who asked the dispatcher if her phone could be located because she was going to kill herself and wanted her family to be able to find her body.

During the conversation with the dispatcher, the caller hung up the phone and the dispatcher was unable to contact the caller. The dispatcher was able to find the location of the caller and dispatched a deputy to the location, which was in Lumber River State Park in Orrum, North Carolina.

Investigators located a gun case in the passenger seat of the vehicle and a box of ammunition in the center console. Investigators also found a receipt for the handgun from a pawn shop and a receipt from a convenience store in the vehicle. Both receipts were dated for same day of Millers death, April 27, 2024.

During the search of the park, investigators were approached by an individual who had found a bag near the water edge with an identification belonging to Miller. The individual stated that he heard someone crying and a gunshot while he was fishing.

Law enforcement continued the search and E911 received a call from an individual who stated that a body was located in the water. It was identified as Mica Miller. A 9mm handgun was located in the water at the crime scene during the search of the area.

During the investigation, Millers phone and other personal belongings were located. A search of Millers phone revealed that she conducted a Google search for national parks near me and the Lumber River State Park location was provided.

The investigation also revealed that Miller and her estranged husband, John-Paul Miller, had been separated and were involved in the legal system. This information led to the investigators confirming the whereabouts of Miller and a female that he is allegedly romantically involved with. Investigators were able to confirm that both individuals were not in North Carolina on the night before and the day of Millers death.

On Tuesday, May 7, 2024, law enforcement and the medical examiner met with the parents and immediate family members of Mica Miller. John-Paul Miller was given the opportunity to attend a separate meeting and Miller indicated through his attorney that he would not come to North Carolina to meet with the Investigators.

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in South Carolina, you can call 1-833-364-2274 for free and confidential crisis counseling. The 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline is 1-800-273-8255 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A domestic violence suspect, armed with a hatchet, was taken into custody after a multi-county chase ended in a Clackamas County field, authorities said.

According to the Oregon State Police, troopers were investigating a domestic assault on Highway 217 near Silver Falls State Park when they spotted the suspects car.

The driver eluded the troopers and fled north on Interstate 5 going over 115 miles per hour authorities said.

Portland man accused of assaulting homeless women, police seek more victims

Officials said the chase continued until the car became stuck in a field south of Wilsonville.

The suspect, Matthew James Rodgers, 33, was armed with a hatchet and refused to get out of his car, authorities said, which led to unsuccessful negotiations.

Eventually, officials said the Clackamas County Sheriffs Office deployed a chemical irritant into the vehicle, forcing Rodgers out of the car and he was arrested.

Rodgers is facing several charges including burglary, attempt to elude police, reckless driving, reckless endangering, criminal mischief, fourth-degree domestic assault, harassment, coercion and unlawful use of a weapon.

The investigation is still ongoing.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  The suspect shot and killed during an officer-involved shooting on Sunday has been identified.

Around 8 p.m. on May 5, officers responded to a domestic call in the 7400 block of NW 106th St. While responding, it was reported that a man was shooting a gun.

LOCAL NEWS: Woman arrested after officer-involved shooting in NW OKC

Upon arrival, police came into contact with 46-year-old Kenneth Allsen outside of the residence. Officials say an officer gave Allsen verbal commands, but he did not comply.

According to police, Allsen walked away from the officers and pulled out a gun before turning back around. This prompted an officer to shoot Allsen. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave as the investigation continues.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
WINDHOEK, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has secured more than two billion Namibia dollars (about 110 million U.S. dollars) from the World Bank for a major transmission network expansion and renewable energy integration project.

The Transmission Expansion and Energy Storage (TEES) Project will include the development of a 465 km transmission line as well as the establishment of a utility-scale Battery Energy Storage System facility, and technical assistance to support the implementation of renewable energy projects, NamPower, the country's national power utility, said in a statement on Tuesday.

NamPower's Managing Director Kahenge Haulofu expressed satisfaction with the approval of the project, saying it is a major milestone in the country's energy infrastructure development.

The transmission line will stretch from the Auas transmission station outside of Windhoek to the Kokerboom transmission station near Keetmanshoop, enhancing NamPower's north-south transmission capacity.

World Bank Country Director to Namibia Satu Kahkonen commended Namibia's commitment to renewable energy expansion, saying that the project supports NamPower's development of future renewable energy projects.

Notably, the project includes plans to integrate a 45MW/90MWh Battery Energy Storage System at the Lithops Substation in the Erongo region, aimed at storing excess energy from upcoming Solar Photovoltaic power plants to minimize grid losses.

Currently, Namibia's renewable energy capacity stands at just over 30 percent of total generation.

The TEES Project aligns with Namibia's National Energy Policy and Renewable Energy Policy, which aim to achieve 85 percent self-sufficiency and source 70 percent of energy needs from renewable sources in the future. 
One person is in jail and the intersection of Lancaster Avenue and University Drive is partially closed after a driver crashed into a traffic light, according to police.

The driver of a black Dodge Ram told police he had a seizure before hitting the traffic light pole but officers determined he was driving while intoxicated, according to police. He was cleared at the scene by paramedics, arrested and taken to jail.

The crash happened sometime before 8 p.m. and the intersection was still restricted by police vehicles and cones and flares deployed by officers around 10 p.m.

Staff writer Jaime Moore-Carillo contributed to this report.
The Swedish government is preparing new rules for Ukrainians who reside in the country. These changes will help Ukrainians get onto the population register faster and obtain social security numbers, providing them with several advantages.

Source: European Pravda; Sveriges radio

Details: Currently, Ukrainians must live in Sweden for three years before they can be included on the population register and obtain a social security number.

This period is to be reduced to one year. The new rules are expected to come into force on 1 November.

Quote from Maria Malmer Stenergard, Swedish Migration Minister: "This means that they will have full access to medical care. They will have access to dental care. They can take care of their children and take parental leave.

In addition, they can also get a bank identification number through their social security number, which makes it easier to contact authorities and, for example, their children's school."

Details: Ukrainians registered on the national register can also participate in an employment agency programme which supports learning Swedish and helps with job searches.

Participation in the programme will allow Ukrainians to receive more money than they currently receive. Today, Ukrainians can receive a salary from the Swedish Migration Agency of SEK 71 per day (7), and with participation in the programme, they will receive SEK 308 (30).

As of 1 November of this year, it is expected that about 33,000 Ukrainians will be registered and eligible for better assistance in entering the labour market through the employment agency's programme.

At the same time, Ukrainians will not be eligible for child benefits or housing, and many of them will continue to live on SEK 71 a day until they can register after staying in the country for more than 12 months.

Background:

On 30 April, the Polish government approved draft amendments to the law on assistance for citizens of Ukraine, which provides for greater transparency in the payment of financial aid, as well as changes to the living conditions of Ukrainian refugees.

The German government wants to support Ukraine's reconstruction with an international education initiative for skilled workers.

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Patrice Willoughby was always destined for service.

Born in Ohio, her parents were heavily involved in politics and social justice. They were members of the NAACP, active members of their church and would often work on behalf of political candidates.

We always did things for people who were less fortunate than we were, Willoughby told The Hill in a recent interview. They always taught me that its your responsibility in society to extend a hand and to help people in your community.

Today, Willoughby is the vice president of policy and legislative affairs for the NAACP. Across her 20-year career, shes worked everywhere from the Obama administration to executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Her work has focused on uplifting underserved and marginalized communities, guided, she says, by the principles her parents instilled in her.

A fathers influence

Willoughbys parents moved her and her two siblings to the suburbs of Cleveland in 1969, a move that would have a lasting impact on a young Patrice. There werent many Black children at her elementary school, and up until about third grade, she had only one Black friend and one Jewish friend.

Over the years, I observed having white friends, having some friends who had more financial resources, and it made me think, why is that? Why does that community look one way and the community where I live look another way? Thats always framed my understanding of the derivation of power.

Some of Willoughbys innate curiosity shouldnt have been surprising. Her father, Rupert, was very concerned about the economics of the Black community.

We would talk about housing, wed talk about credit, wed talk about compound interest, wed talk about the benefits of homeownership. Those were the dinnertime conversations, she said.

Willoughby kept those lessons in her mind as she entered Case Western Reserve University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Music before getting her masters in arts administration and nonprofit management from the University of Cincinnati.

After graduation, Willoughby was raising money for CEOs, and the lessons of her father began to ring in her ears.

Being in the room with them, supporting those fundraising efforts, was like going to school and understanding the intersection of money institutions and institutional racism and the link between power, money and economic access and political access, said Willoughby.

This epiphany drove her to law school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she began to understand generational wealth, the racial wealth gap, how school districts are funded through property taxes and how that plays out in the education of young people.

Becoming comfortable with discomfort

When Willoughby began working as chief of staff and counsel to then- Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) in 2003, she says it was like learning from an older sister.

We were very close. She taught me so much. She wanted to be surrounded by people who would add to her understanding of the world, and she wasnt afraid of vigorous dialogue. She wasnt afraid of disagreeing. She always led with compassion. She led with love.

Willoughby was particularly proud of her work with Tubbs Jones to address uterine fibroids.

Though the bill they crafted to increase federal funding never passed, the teams work has left a lasting, bipartisan legacy in Congress.

A coalition on Capitol Hill, led in part by Tubbs Joness son, now exists to push forward on uterine fibroids research.

Last summer, Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), reintroduced the bipartisan Stephanie Tubbs Jones Uterine Fibroid Research and Education Act.

When Tubbs Jones died suddenly in 2008, Willoughby moved to work as executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus under Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).

It was a tough time: The economy was tanking, and lawmakers were working to pass legislation to end the financial crisis, including the Affordable Care Act.

Balancing and learning the art of negotiation and that decision-making process was really interesting, but I knew that I couldnt do it for another two years. Its thrilling, its exhilarating, but its also exhausting, said Willoughby.

So she made the jump from the legislative branch to the executive.

I had wanted to serve President Obama, she said. There were many times when the Congressional Black Caucus had differences with the Obama administration  we had those discussions, sometimes forcefully, but there was never vitriol. There was never recriminations. It never got to be ugly.

Today, Willoughby is overjoyed by the representation she sees on Capitol Hill  and she offers words of encouragement to those staffers.

At the end of the day, you might be representing or working on behalf of your community, but you dont represent all Black people, and no one should carry that burden, she said. Its important to understand that you have to become comfortable with a permanent sense of discomfort and put yourself in situations where you dont know all the answers.

NAACP and the future

After the Obama White House, Willoughby went back to the private sector. She was lobbying. She had clients. Life was good.

And then  George Floyd was murdered.

Im a very spiritual person, and I was sitting in my house, working from home, and I just said, This is the message that I need to go do something to make this better because this shouldnt be happening.

Like many Black Americans, Willoughby had had a memorable experience with law enforcement herself, saying she was pulled over in Wisconsin while driving home from the library late one night.

The officer told her she hadnt stopped at a stop sign, which she denied. But she handed over her license and registration.

And then she waited.

He held me up by the side of the road for a half hour, Willoughby said. He was running every single database he could find to see if he could find something. He said Well, your license is cleaner than mine is. I said, What did you expect? But I was terrified.

That was May 2021. In December that year, a friend reached out to Willoughby and told her the NAACP was reshaping their legislative and policy function and was she interested?

And I said, Heres my resume.

She started just two months later, in February 2022.

In addition to working to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act with the NAACP, Willoughby remains committed to securing economic equality.

Money and politics are absolutely integrated, she said. Together, economic self-sufficiency and the lack of sufficiency is a real driver in how a lot of folks view the world because they see the changes in society and although they dont understand the economics of a global economy, they feel that they are losing something.

We have a job to do now, Willoughby added. You cannot and we cannot in this country have or allow the noise of polarization to define how we view society. We have to work toward envisioning the society that we want to have.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
For the third episode of the fourth season of Pluss video series, The Talk, we sit back down with Milan, Mark, Bryan, and Morris to discuss the common misconceptions people have with HIV. From dispelling the belief that HIV is a death sentence to the importance of U=U, these four are busting myths and spreading some pure wisdom. One thing I can tell you, and two things for sure, HIV isnt a death sentence. HIV isnt something you should be ashamed about, Trans Rights and HIV Activist Milan Nicole Sherry explains. There are many, many amazing people, such as myself, who will welcome you with open arms into our support groups. From the power of community to the lack of education on what U=U means, there is a lot for people who are newly diagnosed to learn. For example, U=U means that people living with HIV who take medication daily to control the virus and remain virally suppressed can't pass HIV through sex. Unfortunately, most people are generally aware of PrEP, but not Undetectable = Untransmissable. U=U is a powerful message, Milan shares. U=U has improved my quality of life in so many ways. Something that I say is, Yes, I am a trans woman, yes, I live with HIV, but Im also undetectable. When you think about ending HIV, it ends with me. Watch the video to learn more.

Learn more about their journey and others at HIVPlusMag.com/TheTalk .
Tanks Block Off the Only Way Out of Gaza After Israel Rejects Ceasefire Deal

Israels military on Tuesday said it had seized control of the crucial Rafah crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt as part of what it called a precise counterterrorism operation.

The move came just hours after Hamas said late Monday that it had accepted a ceasefire deal brokered by international mediators. A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Hamas proposal was far from meeting Israels core demands and that the war cabinet had unanimously decided to continue the operation in Rafah to apply military pressure on Hamas.

Israel Balks at Hamas Far-Reaching Ceasefire Proposal as Rafah Invasion Looms

The Israel Defense Forces shared images of its tanks on X and said its forces had established operation control of the Gazan side of the crossing in eastern Rafah after the military received intelligence that it was being used for terrorist purposes. It also claimed that mortars fired from the area on Sunday killed four Israeli soldiers.

A precise counterterrorism operation to eliminate Hamas terrorists and infrastructure within specific areas of eastern Rafah began overnight, based on intelligence. pic.twitter.com/L2uVEdCVv9  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 7, 2024

The overnight incursion came amid international pressure on Netanyahu against his stated aim of a ground invasion of Rafah, where over a million displaced Gazans have sought shelter from the seven-month-old war. President Joe Biden on Monday again warned Netanyahu not to invade even as Israel ordered around 100,000 Palestinians to leave eastern areas of Rafah.

A spokesperson for Egypts Foreign Ministry condemned the border seizure as a dangerous escalation and said it cautioned Israel against jeopardizing diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire. Jens Laerke, the U.N. humanitarian offices spokesman, separately said Tuesday that the two main crossings into southern Gaza are now shut, meaning that the arteries for getting aid into Gaza are currently choked off.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said he wants to send a message by seeking to reverse a ruling that overturned Crystal Masons illegal voting conviction.

I want would be illegal voters to know that were watching, Sorrells said. Well follow the law and we would prosecute illegal voting.

Sorrells briefed county commissioners Tuesday on his decision to appeal a March 28 ruling from the Texas Second Court of Appeals. The court found Masons 2018 conviction should be overturned because she didnt have actual knowledge that she couldnt vote while on federal supervised release in a tax fraud case. On April 25, the Tarrant County DAs office announced it asked an appellate court to reverse the ruling.

Mason, a Rendon resident, was convicted of illegal voting and sentenced to five years in prison in a March 2018 bench trial in a Tarrant County district court. That case has received national attention.

Sorrells said the appellant court that overturned the conviction picked and chose facts and did not function as an appellant court should. He said if the appeal is granted the case will go to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Sorrells office, as part of the countys election integrity unit, is looking into three cases of double voting during the primary by people in their 70s.

Mason was attended the briefing.

Joined by her attorneys, Mason said she was upset and questioned the DAs decision.

Like he said, hes only been here for a year and a half. So what is his motive to continue this case if he wasnt here from the beginning? Mason asked.

Masons case originated when she cast a provisional ballot in 2016. Sorrells, a Republican, took office in January 2023.

Mason said she had no intention of going back to jail when she cast that ballot in 2016 and did not want to risk having to leave her kids again.

Who goes to the polling place to commit a crime to say Im going to leave you again? she said.
Anthony Ray Johnson Jr., a Marine veteran, tried to get help when he began noticing the symptoms of a schizophrenic episode, according to his family. Johnson was turned away from mental health facility, his sister said, and was arrested later that day. He died Sunday after being pepper-sprayed by officers at the Tarrant County Jail.

As Tarrant County commissioners issued a proclamation adopting May as Mental Health Awareness Month, the family of Anthony Ray Johnson Jr. called for accountability and change in the sheriffs department.

Reading the proclamations preamble, Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons said that millions of adults and children are disabled by mental illness every year, and only one out of two people with a serious form of mental illness seek treatment for his or her mental illness, and that stigma and fear of discrimination keep many who would benefit from mental health services from seeking help.

Johnson, 31, who suffered from schizophrenia, died in the Tarrant County jail after being pepper sprayed during a contraband check on April 21. Johnson sought mental health care at Wellbridge Hospital in southwest Fort Worth on April 19, but was denied by hospital staff, according to his mother Jacqualyne Johnson.

She called the proclamation disheartening and accused the county of failing her son, who served in the Marines until his illness prevented him from continuing his service.

I call BS, said Chanell Johnson, Anthony Rays sister, in an interview with the Star-Telegram before Tuesdays session. You had someone that was schizophrenic. So if were here to talk about mental health, what are you doing in your workforce to ensure that your employees are aware of mental health?

Today's top stories:

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Johnsons mother and sisters called out the chain of law enforcement  from Saginaw police, who arrested him, to the Tarrant County Sheriffs Office  for failing to provide adequate care for Anthony Ray, despite officers awareness that he was suffering from a schizophrenic episode.

He told you he was schizophrenic, Jacqualyne Johnson said. Did you relay that information to Tarrant County when you moved him from Saginaw to the jail? Thats a big question mark.

The Saginaw Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Everyone who interacted with her son is responsible for his death, Jacqualyne Johnson said.

You have a history of his mental illness, all those broken pieces in this process, she said. In my opinion, they should all be held accountable. Its all under Tarrant County.

The Tarrant County Sheriffs Office has denied the familys and the Star-Telegrams attempts to view the security camera footage of the incident that led to Johnsons death, saying that it is evidence in a criminal investigation.

The commissioners tabled a motion introduced by County Judge Tim OHare to approve a contract for a mental health alert system with court case management system TechShare.Court, citing budgeting concerns and the need for assurances that the technology works.

The commissioners will explore the possibility of a bond, an insurance product, something that can protect us against cost overruns before the next session, OHare said.

Tarrant County Chief Information Officer Andre Mendes called the TechShare alert system a viable product to offer the type of functionality that Tarrant County needs and deserves.

Simmons acknowledged the validity of seeking guarantees that the technology works, but voted against tabling the vote for its approval, citing the immediacy of the need for the alert system.

We desperately need a mental health alert system for magistrates, she said.

Tarrant County has had a considerable amount of trouble with the TechShare system. It has cost county taxpayers over $26 million, but has not functioned as intended.

After the vote to table, four residents spoke in favor of approving the mental health alert system, despite the issues with TechShare.

Tarrant Countys failure to meet Texas criminal code requirements to use an alert system to identify people suffering mental health crises, Reed Bilz said, has resulted in incarceration of individuals in need of mental health services being denied treatment and, in some cases, dying in our jail.

Billy Wilson said he had to change the comment he had written for the commissioners.

It was my hope that I would come here today to commend you all on moving forward on the integration of our mental health with our magistration, because we believe that is a critical part to ending the jail deaths, Wilson said. Four of the last six people who have died in this jail since September have had mental disabilities. Its a problem.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Roy Brooks was set to give the Mental Awareness Month proclamation, according to the session agenda, but he did not attend Tuesdays session.
LIMA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed when a passenger bus veered off the road and overturned in the predawn hours of Monday in southern Peru's Puno region, local media reported.

The interprovincial bus, operated by a company called Transportes Turismo Universal, was traveling along the Puno-Cusco route when the accident occurred around 2:00 a.m. local time, state-run news agency Andina reported.

The head of the Puno Highway Police, David Sota Paredes, told Radio Programas del Peru that the bus was headed to the city of Cusco with 24 passengers on board.

Among the victims was a six-month-old baby, the National Police was quoted as saying.

State-run TV Peru Noticias said the injured, including some with serious injuries, were taken to the San Juan de Dios Ayaviri Hospital and a clinic in the district of Santa Rosa for treatment.

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the accident. 
Ronan Preastuin has been described as an 'extremely dangerous individual' by campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel

A religious studies teacher at a Catholic school has been suspended and reported to the police after saying that Hamas had committed no crime.

Ronan Preastuin, a Year 9 tutor, also described the Oct 7 attacks as a justified act of resistance and called for Glory to Hamas, adding: The destruction of the racist state of #Isarel [sic] is coming soon.

A string of recent social media posts by Mr Preastuin, who teaches at Ursuline High School, a Catholic girls school in Wimbledon, south-west London, included hatred of the state of Israel. In one post he wrote: Israel is not a true Jewish state, but an inversion and perversion of Judaism.

The teacher also prayed for God to grant victory to Hamas over the grotesque, barbaric, idol worshipping invaders @IDF [Israel Defence Forces].

In November 2021, the Government announced that Hamas had become a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK - meaning that its members or those who invite support for the group could be jailed for up to 14 years.

In correspondence seen by The Telegraph, Eoin Kelly, Ursuline High Schools head teacher, confirmed that Mr Preastuin has been reported to the police, that he has been suspended from work, and that the school had opened an internal investigation.

Illegal beliefs

Campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) wrote to Mr Kelly on April 29, attaching screenshots of Mr Preastuins social media activity.

Its director, Caroline Turner, called for an urgent investigation and claimed Mr Preastuin was an extremely dangerous individual.

She said: We are extremely concerned that one of your teachers, Ronan Preastuin, has been posting messages on social media praising and extolling the virtues of the Hamas terrorist group, in breach of UK anti-terrorism law...

We note that he is a religious education teacher at your school, as well as a Year 9 tutor. We believe that as an overt supporter of terrorists, he is an extremely dangerous influence on the children at Ursuline High School

Mr Preastuins open support for a terrorism group is particularly egregious given his job as a Religious Education teacher and a Year 9 form tutor in your school.

As a teacher, in a position of authority over his students, he is likely to influence his students, and may well encourage them to follow his own illegal beliefs, as well as stir up racial hatred against Jews and Israelis.

A selection of the teacher's social media posts on X, formerly Twitter

The same day, Mr Kelly responded, thanking UKLFI for alerting him to this extremely concerning allegation.

He said: We can confirm that the member of staff has been suspended from work and I personally notified the police immediately on receipt of this disclosure.

Mr Kelly said the police confirmed to him that officers would be investigating and that the school had opened an internal investigation.

He added: Given that this is a legal process we are unable to comment further until all the investigations are concluded.

Justified act of resistance

Mr Preastuins posts were first exposed by the GnasherJew website on April 23 2024, and a few hours later Mr Preastuin removed his account on X, formerly Twitter.

Among his other posts, he wrote: So yes October 7 was a justified act of resistance under a brutal and crushing occupation.

On Jan 25 2024 he posted: Im delighted to infirm [sic] you monsters #Hamas committed no crime. @IsraelinIreland. Their actions were entirely legitimate resistance to a criminal state masquerading as Jewish, colonising their country.

On Oct 7 2023 Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 others back to Gaza as hostages.

In response, Israel launched an airstrike campaign in Gaza, followed by a ground invasion.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed since the start of the war, according to Gazas Hamas-run health ministry.

A spokesman for UKLFI said: We are pleased that the school has taken swift action in this worrying case.

The Metropolitan Police has been contacted for comment.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A 19-year-old man is facing multiple charges after police say he stole a car and went on a crime spree across Memphis, shooting people and stealing their belongings.

On January 11, at 8:15 p.m., police responded to a motor vehicle theft at the Superman gas station on Summer Avenue.

Reports say a white 2016 Dodge Challenger was parked in front of a taco truck at the gas station. When the owner returned, he saw his car driving off the parking lot.

Two hours later, officers responded to a shooting at the Speedway Gas Station located at 4302 Shelby Drive. A man was found lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to his chest.

Memphis Police reportedly reviewed security footage of the encounter. They say the man was pumping gas when a white Dodge Challenger pulled up next to him. The driver exited the vehicle, shot the man and stole $100 and a Smith and Wesson handgun from his car.

The victim was taken to Regional One Hospital in critical condition, according to MPD.

Around 11:30 p.m., officers responded to a robbery at the Great China Food Market on Summer Avenue. An employee told police he was working at the business when he observed a man exiting his truck parked outside.

Father facing amputation after car accident sends him over bridge

Reports say another suspect pointed a handgun at the employee, then ran to a white Dodge Challenger and fled the scene. The suspects shattered the front drivers side window of the truck and got away with a handgun and $400.

That employee is Jian He, who told WREG his version of events.

I heard something like a noise from outside, so I go look and then they already finished. They break my window and then break my safe and get my gun and some money, He said. I quickly go back to the door and lock the door. The guy came out of the car and the gun was pointed to me. But I already locked the door and got inside and then they run away.

Five minutes later, officers responded to a shooting at Sanderlin Avenue and North White Station Road. Upon arrival, police observed a white 2016 Dodge Challenger and a silver Volkswagen Passat that appeared to have been involved in an accident.

Police say a man with two gunshot wounds to the leg was located in the backyard of a home in the 500 block of East Racquet Club Place.

The man told police he was driving on White Station Road and turning onto Sanderlin Avenue when the Dodge Challenger struck his car.

He says that when he got out of his car, those inside the Challenger began shooting at him. He was hit twice in the upper leg.

Womans stolen card allegedly used for Balenciaga, dental work

Another man driving past the scene of the accident in a Lexus told police that he stopped to check on those involved in the crash. He did not locate anyone inside of the Challenger.

As the man was walking away from the car, he told police he saw a suspect open the passenger side door of the Challenger and grab a gun from inside. The suspect then jumped into the mans Lexus and fled the scene.

Reports say the suspect got away with the Lexus, which contained a Glock 17, a bulletproof vest, and various other items.

Inside the Dodge Challenger, officers found two Visa cards belonging to the employee at Great China Food Market.

Michael Johnson, 19, was developed as a suspect in the shootings and robberies after he was arrested on February 7 and found to be in possession of the stolen Glock 17.

The man on the scene of the crash identified Johnson as the suspect who stole his Lexus. Detectives also reportedly secured a search warrant for Johnsons cell tower records, which indicated that he was on the scene of each incident listed.

Johnson was taken into custody on Monday, May 6.

Even with the teen off the streets, He said the incident has changed his life forever.

Im not going out late now, He said. We close at 8 so we get out at 8:10, but before we get out, we have to check the parking lot and I carry a gun all the time now.

Johnson is charged with three counts of theft of property $10,000-$60,000, theft of property $2,500-$10,000, possession of prohibited weapon, three counts of theft of firearm less than $2,500, two counts of criminal attempt first-degree murder, two counts of possession of a firearm/dangerous felony, especially aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, and burglary of a motor vehicle.

He is being held on a $100,000 bond and is set to appear back in court on Wednesday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
SOHO, Manhattan (PIX11)  A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot in the head in an alley on a SoHo street Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The teen was also shot in the leg outside 233 Spring St. near Varick Street at around 2:30 p.m., according to the NYPD. The victim, Mahki Brown, was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved.

Authorities said two groups of teenage girls were fighting in the alley of Urban Plaza near Broome Street Academy Charter High School before shots rang out. The girls called a group of boys for backup and Brown was killed during the skirmish, according to sources.

All I heard was a gunshot, pop, pop. Twice, Foster Sarbong, who works across the street from the shooting scene, told PIX11 News.

More Manhattan News

He then ducked behind several cars as people nearby were running away.

Thomas Libonati, who lives in the neighborhood, said at school dismissal time, the park is filled with teens from the nearby Broome Street Academy Charter School and the Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School.

Kids being kids, but its unfortunate someone had to get hurt; even worse, the guy died, Libonati said.

Police are searching for two suspects who may have fled the scene on CitiBikes, police said. There have been no arrests.

The shooting comes as the NYPD released April crime data touting shootings were down 15% citywide compared to the same time last year, authorities said. There were 60 shootings last month, down from 71 in April 2023, the data shows.

There were three shootings in Manhattan on Monday, including a man who was shot in the face on West 154th Street, and two women were injured when gunfire erupted on 144th Street in Harlem, police said.

Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the New York City area for more than a decade. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
Townsley has been recognised for his work with the Global Health Security team

Telegraph photographer Simon Townsley  who works for the Global Health Security desk  has been named Photographer of the Year at the Press Awards 2024.

Judges described Townsleys work as having a stillness and poignancy that belies the underlying heartbreak.

He was not the only Telegraph winner at the Press Awards. As well as winning Photographer of the Year, the Telegraph was named News Website of the Year and Broadsheet Front Page of the Year, for its Lockdown Files investigation.

Chris Leadbetter was named Travel Journalist of the Year and Telegraph photographer Heathcliff OMalley was also highly commended in the same category as Townsley.

The judges said: Theres a stillness and poignancy to the photojournalist Simon Townsleys work that belies the underlying heartbreak. The effect has much to do with light and contrasts. In one example, a father holding his young daughter stands by the grave of his wife, dead to Covid. They are caught in a cold sunlight that also silvers the serried ranks of headstones and the undersides of the lowering clouds, in a shot that conveys grief, loss and a future that might have been.

In another photo, the monochrome devastation of the Kahramanmaras earthquake in Turkey  grey, twisted wire, rubble and a column of seemingly stunned, black-clothed people  is relieved only by a blue body bag in the bucket of a yellow mechanical digger, and the dried-blood-red of an emergency vehicle.

The quiet desperation of people in a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo, pressed against a wire fence with their arms outstretched towards the sacks of scarce food arriving on aid workers backs, is evident in a shot whose colours seem as faded as their hopes.

Below are the images submitted to the Press Awards  and some words from Townsley on how he captured them.

Josh Willis with his daughter Eviegrace (2) at the graveside of his wife Samantha in Derry

The forgotten victims of the pandemic

When Josh Willis picked me up from the airport he explained that he visited the grave of his wife every day. I went with him and his two daughters and they shared their story of losing Samatha, their mum, to Covid. Eviegrace (pictured), who was born just before her death, was baptised during the funeral service. I wondering how people can be as strong as they are.

Rescue workers find more dead bodies than living in one of four collapsed 17-storey apartment blocks in Karamanaras, eastern Turkey

Student, newborn baby and family of six are latest survivors pulled from earthquake rubble

I spent days in Turkey following the earthquake, waiting together with the crowds as they watched the rescue operation turn into a recovery operation, but never giving up hope. As the scale of the horror unfolded it became almost an industrial operation, the numbers were so great. Having to use mechanical equipment in the face of such devastation the work was still undertaken with such tenderness and respect.

People queue for practically non-existent WFP food deliveries. Lushagala IDP camp.

Inside the besieged city of Goma, where food is fast running out  and sexual violence is rife

Goma is a place like no other. As one aid worker told me, the situation is so terrible here nobody notices when things get worse. Yet they are getting much worse, and Goma is so far down the list now in receiving aid that it isnt likely to improve for a long time to come. I met with women so desperate to find food that they were prepared to face the prospect of rape every day in the forest, they have no other choice.

Last year, Townsley was also named Photo Journalist of the Year at the Society of Editors Media Freedom Awards (MFA)

Below are more of his award-winning images.

Mukes Niyak 27 cleans out a septic tank, Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand

Risking snakes and toxic gases in the worlds worst job

If there is a worse job in the world than sewer worker I have never come across it. Spending a week in India with the men who climb into unspeakably foul spaces alive with insects, spiders and snakes was beyond anything I have ever experienced. By any standards nobody should have to endure working conditions that involve submerging in rivers of unimaginable filth with the ever present threats of death by drowning, disease or animal bite, all for pitifully less than 5 a day.

Arriving at Lajas Blancas reception centre are migrants who have taken the 'road of death' the cheapest and most dangerous route

The road of death: A treacherous, jungle trafficking route lined with rotting corpses

The Darien Gap is a 60 mile missing stretch of the trans-America highway between Columbia and Panama. There are no roads, or even tracks, just a jungle that takes at least ten days to cross. Many dont make it out alive, there is absolutely no help for the sick or injured. At any given moment there are probably 5000 men, women and children from all over the world trying to make it through on their journey to the United States. I was photographing a desperate sea of migrants on the edge of a river at five oclock one morning and got tangled in the mooring lines of canoes in the darkness. I fell face-first with my cameras into the mud of the riverbank. Everyone rushed to help me, picking me up and asking if I was OK. I was overwhelmed by the kindness of people with nothing and who were enduring so much caring about what happened to me.

Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security

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Investigators and detectives from multiple agencies and states continue in the search for 15-year-old Sebastian Wayne Drake Rogers of Hendersonville, missing since February 26.

Sumner County Sheriff's officials are setting the record straight after information about a possible sighting of Sebastian Rogers, the missing teen at the center of a statewide Amber alert, started sweeping social media by storm.

In a Tuesday statement, the Sheriff's Office debunked the potential lead, confirming that the person in the photo isn't Sebastian, though the two share similar features.

The photograph started circulating online out of North Carolina earlier this month.

After coordinated efforts with law enforcement agencies in North Carolina, we have determined that the child depicted in the photograph is NOT Sebastian Rogers, Sumner County Sheriffs Office Chief Deputy Eric Craddock emphasized in Tuesday's statement.

We understand the gravity of the situation and the concerns it has raised. Our collaborative efforts with law enforcement agencies continue unabated as we remain committed to finding Sebastian.

Investigators and detectives from multiple agencies and states continue in the search for 15-year-old Sebastian Wayne Drake Rogers of Hendersonville, missing since February 26.

Officials have had very few leads to go on in the months-long search for missing 15-year-old Sebastian Wayne Drake Rogers, who was last seen at his Hendersonville home in February.

More: Tennessee Amber Alert: Authorities find pants, say they don't belong to missing Sumner boy

And this isn't the first time potential leads have proven to be unhelpful to the case.

Just last week, Sumner officials released a similar statement, noting that a pair of pants, initially thought to belong to the missing boy and discovered by the Goodlettsville Police Department, weren't connected to the case at all.

A pair of eyeglasses that were found in April were also not linked to the case.

More: Tennessee Amber Alert: Glasses found as case of missing Sumner teen passes month mark

It was unclear where exactly the pants and eyeglasses were found.

Officials are searching for 15-year-old Sebastian Wayne Drake Rogers who went missing from his home in Hendersonville Monday.

Sebastian Rogers was reported missing Feb. 26 when his mother went to wake him up for school and found his bedroom empty. Hundreds of volunteers from across the country have since swarmed the area around the teen's home, searching for him after he was thought to have left barefoot.

More: Tennessee Amber Alert: 'No confirmed sightings,' leads as community prays for missing boy

An Amber Alert was issued for Sebastian on Feb. 27 and remains active today.

In the weeks since he went missing, investigators searched a Kentucky landfill, where trash from Sebastian's neighborhood was taken, in hopes of finding clues. They found nothing.

More: Tennessee Amber Alert: No trace of missing Sumner County teen found at Kentucky landfill

Police have said very little publicly about the case since scaling back from an active search to an investigation. Authorities maintain no evidence of foul play has been found.

Katie Nixon can be reached at knixon@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Amber Alert: NC photo not Sebastian Rogers, sheriff says
Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower, left, with Sen. Frank Niceley, proposed a measure to expedite the property reappraisal process. (Photo: John Partipilo)

A bill designed to expedite property reappraisals and keep counties from hemorrhaging revenue appears to have been caught in a battle over a measure to tamp down large property tax increases.

The Comptroller-requested reappraisal measure sponsored by Republican Sen. Page Walley of Savannah passed the Senate unanimously but got stuck in the House at the end of the 113th General Assembly.

The House sponsor, outgoing Republican Rep. Dale Carr of Sevierville, said on the last day of session he decided to let that sleeping dog lie. Carr held the bill on the clerks desk and never brought it up for a vote.

Reached for comment Monday, Walley indicated the reappraisal bills demise was connected to failure of another tax-related bill.

I understood it may have been a victim of the House deciding that if the Comptroller and/or the Senate were not supportive of their proposal to cap local property taxes, that this should not advance either, Walley said in a Monday text message.

Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower proposed the legislation to expedite the property reappraisal schedule statewide after 38 counties lost anywhere from $100 million to $113 million two years ago in property tax collections, depending on the growth rate of property values.

Tennessee is suffering a housing shortage as tens of thousands of people move into the state, causing real estate prices to escalate. Yet real property is appraised by counties only once every four, five or six years. Mumpower wants to move that up to every two, three or four years.

But his bill fell on hard times, struggling to find traction in the session. Carr was forced to state repeatedly the measure was revenue neutral because counties are required to reset their property tax rate if they see an increase in appraisal values. State law prohibits counties from realizing a revenue windfall from reappraisals.

Mumpower, a former lawmaker who fell one vote short of becoming House speaker 15 years ago, would say only that, Oftentimes, a complicated issue takes time to work through. More than anything, having served in the House, I respect the legislative prerogative to have the final say in any matter.

He declined to speculate whether some lawmakers felt that expediting reappraisals amounted to an indirect property tax increase. Mumpower is expected to decide whether to file follow-up legislation after talking to officials statewide this summer.

Property assessors in high-growth counties say they lost money over the last two appraisal cycles because market values outstripped property appraisals by such a wide margin. An appraisal or sales ratio has to be applied in those cases.

Horse trading: I understood it may have been a victim of the House deciding that if the Comptroller and/or the Senate were not supportive of their proposal to cap local property taxes, that this should not advance either, said Sen. Page Walley.

Several fast-growing counties such as Rutherford, Davidson and Maury raised their property taxes in the last few years to deal with higher costs.

Yet lawmakers refused to pass a property tax cap bill proposed by supply-side economist Art Laffer, an advisor to multiple Republican presidents, who wanted to cap property tax increases at 2% except to pay debt and in cases when voters approved larger increases for a limited time.

Laffer contended that property tax increases cause property values to fall, mainly damaging urban areas and pushing personal income down over decades. TennCap, the economists new political group, started pushing the measure this year, spending heavily on a top lobbying firm to bring it passage.

Tennessees county mayors fought the measure, arguing it would hamstring their ability to deal with growth.

The Legislatures Fiscal Review Office also disagreed with Mumpower and some lawmakers over the financial impact of the bill, saying it would create more than $100 million in unrealized revenue for county governments.

For anyone paying attention, this bill was an acknowledgement by the (Gov. Bill) Lee administration of the budgetary problem theyve created for locals and a clear attempt by Republican leaders to facilitate more frequent property tax increases on working families.

 House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons

House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons of Nashville said he believes the proposed bill stemmed from tax cuts for corporations and the states wealthiest 1% over the last decade that led to decreases in state revenue, putting a heavier burden on a regressive sales tax and local governments forced to deal with budget gaps by raising property taxes. The sales tax is considered regressive because it has a greater impact on people with less income.

For anyone paying attention, this bill was an acknowledgement by the (Gov. Bill) Lee administration of the budgetary problem theyve created for locals and a clear attempt by Republican leaders to facilitate more frequent property tax increases on working families, Clemmons said in a statement.

Fortunately, there were enough of us in the House that said hell no, Clemmons said.

In addition to a large business tax break in 2023, the Legislature passed a $1.9 billion franchise tax cut and rebate this year, using the argument that the state faced significant legal risk from more than 80 companies that challenged the property value provision in the franchise tax. More than half of the money will go to out-of-state companies.







The post Tennessee Comptrollers property reappraisal bill derailed by tax cap argument appeared first on Tennessee Lookout.
Tennessee native will be the new bishop for Diocese of Knoxville. His focus is on healing.

Several weeks ago, the Rev. James Mark Beckman was hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with a friend, talking about how he could, God willing, retire at his parish in Nashville. He had no plans to leave.

That was not to be.

Beckman, 61, reflected on the conversation during a press conference May 7 as the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville welcomed him as bishop-elect just over a week after a representative from Pope Francis called and asked that he take over leadership responsibilities here. His episcopal ordination is scheduled for July 26.

The longtime Diocese of Nashville priest said he was grateful, if not surprised, by the appointment. Three times he said he was humbled by the opportunity.

Who is the Rev. James Beckman? 5 things to know about Knoxville's new bishop

Now Beckman, who is tall and thin, soft-spoken and deliberate, will be tasked with helping heal a beaten-down diocese still recovering from the management of former Bishop Richard Stika, who resigned in June amid several crushing scandals.

The importance of healing is central to the Gospel, Beckman said when asked about it directly. One of the things Jesus did very often was to heal people. Were wounded as we journey through life. I know that there are wounds in this place, as there are everywhere. And one of the most important things a good shepherd does is communicate the healing presence of Christ. So, I will humbly ask the Lord to help me to do that.

That work begins immediately. Beckman said it is crucial to begin to get to know the people of the diocese, particularly priests and leaders, to give them space to build trust.

The Rev. James Mark Beckman is introduced May 7 as the new bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville. His episcopal ordination is scheduled for July 26.

"So I think the most important thing is creating an environment of trust where people feel its OK to speak their mind and to listen and make sure that people are respected and valued for who they are, he said.

Louisville Archbishop Shelton Fabre has overseen the diocese since Stika's resignation and will continue to do so until Beckman's ordination.

I have known Bishop-elect Beckman for a long time, Fabre said in a statement. We were seminarians together at the Catholic University in Louvain, Belgium, many years ago. I believe in my heart that he will be a good shepherd for the faithful of the Diocese of Knoxville.

The consensus of local church officials, who spoke to Knox News both on the record and off, is Beckman will be a breath of fresh air. He comes highly recommended because he was loved at his multiple assignments in Nashville.

When Stikas appointment was announced in January 2009, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests released a statement saying he had repeatedly shown a penchant for secrecy, recklessness and half-truths. It was an ominous start.

This time, Susan Vance, leader of SNAP of Tennessee, released a statement cautioning parishioners to reserve judgment on Beckman until problems have been addressed "quickly and with transparency."

About the bishop-elect

Beckman was born in Lawrenceburg, south of Nashville near the Alabama state line. He is the oldest of six and has dozens of nieces and nephews, many of whom still live in and around Lawrenceburg. His family members are University of Tennessee fans.

Beckman loves to hike  a lot. Ten years ago, he pilgrimaged to Spain and hiked 500 miles along the Camino de Santiago or Way of St. James. He has frequented the Smokies and said he looks forward to exploring trails in Knoxville.

Bishop-elect James Mark Beckman, left, stands with Louisville Archbishop Shelton Fabre after a May 7 press conference.

He was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Nashville in 1990. His assignments there include:

Associate pastor of Holy Rosary Parish, Nashville (1990-91)

Teacher and associate principal of Father Ryan High School, Nashville (1990-96)

Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Springfield and St. Michael Mission, Cedar Hill (1996-2002)

Pastor of St. Matthew Parish, Franklin (2002-15)

Pastor of St. Henry Parish, Nashville (2015-present)

Beckman also served as the Diocese of Nashville's director of priest personnel since 2018, among numerous other appointments and committees.

On behalf of all the dioceses in Tennessee and Kentucky that make up our Province, I would like to promise our prayerful support to Father James Mark Beckman as he prepares to become the Bishop of Knoxville. May our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, guide him always. https://t.co/e0YaktA2r6  Archbishop Shelton Fabre (@ArchbishopFabre) May 7, 2024

Healing will continue

Stikas shadow remains over the diocese. In April, Knox News reported Stika was still contacting whistleblowers directly with threats of a lawsuit, including a priest who is a key witness in the sexual assault lawsuit against the church.

That lawsuit was filed by a former diocesan employee who says a former diocesan seminarian raped him and details how the diocese, led by Stika, interfered with the investigation and worked to discredit him. Knox News independently verified the interference, which led to the firing of an independent investigator.

Just last week, a separate lawsuit against the diocese and the Rev. Antony Devassey Punnackal was settled in federal court. The suit was brought by a woman who accused Punnackal of sexual abuse and the diocese of trying to intimidate her after she reported the incident.

The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The settlement followed a Sevier County jury clearing Punnackal of sexual battery charges in November.

Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tyler_whetstone.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Pope Francis appoints new bishop for Diocese of Knoxville
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KTSM)  Las Cruces City Council members voted to table a resolution during a meeting on Monday, May 6 that if approved, would have called for an immediate cease-fire in Palestine.

In 4-2 vote, council members voted to delay the adoption of the agenda item.

The resolution was calling for the immediate end of all funding and weapons transfers to Israel. It also condemned any incidents of antisemitism, Islamophobia, ethnic cleansing, deliberate starvation, collective punishment and the occupation of Palestine.

The vote happened just hours after the terrorist group Hamas accepted a cease-fire proposal from Egypt and Qatar. Israel officials responded that it was reviewing the proposal.

After the decision was made, a round of applause was heard throughout City Hall. Shortly after pro-Palestinian protestors got up from their seats and moved to the back of the auditorium shouting Viva Palestina and Long live free Palestine.

Protestors were told they could speak during the discussion, but they would have to sit down and wait their turn. The group opted to walk out and continue their protests outside City Hall.

Only two of our city councilors were brave enough to stand against genocide, brave enough to stand against Zionist mobs and to stand with the people of Gaza is what we just witnessed, said one protestor who did not want to be named.

It sends the message that our city councilors are cowards. They should be ashamed.

Opponents of the resolution said the wording was one-sided and neglected to call out Hamas and the murders and violence committed against Israelis.

Peter Svarzbein, the El Paso community engagement manager with the Anti-Defamation League, said the council including the resolution on Holocaust Remembrance Day without acknowledging the pain of Jewish communities was not in the spirit of Las Cruces.

Svarzbein said: We have a resolution here that purports to call for a cease-fire, a resolution that does not condemn Hamas, a terrorist organization which started this war, and it doesnt even mention Hamas by name. What I feel, and many others feel is that its important that Las Cruces focus on the kind of items and initiatives that can bring people together.

Had the resolution been approved, the City of Las Cruces would have asked that the New Mexico congressional delegation and Biden Administration to facilitate an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the West Bank along with restoring humanitarian aid to the region.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday confirmed three deaths from a rash of spring storms. None of the deaths were in the region hardest hit by flooding. Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune

Texas and the federal government will begin assessing the damage caused by a series of storms that battered rural East Texas and the Houston area with rain last week.

Gov. Greg Abbott and the states emergency director Nim Kidd, at a news conference Monday in Conroe, urged residents to report damaged property to their insurance companies and the state.

Abbott also confirmed three deaths related to the storms: A Conroe police officer who died after a tornado hit his home in Trinity County, a 4-year-old boy in Johnson County, and a man in Bosque County.

No deaths have been reported in the counties that saw the worst flooding, including Polk, Montgomery, Liberty and Harris counties.

Abbotts office has declared emergencies in 91 counties following the spring storms, he said. More than 230 local, state, and federal agencies were involved in rescue operations. The state evacuated 124 people and rescued 58, Abbott said. Hundreds more were rescued by local first responders and volunteers.

More than 50 state roads and highways remained impassable, Abbott said. Forty-three were closed at certain points due to flooding and another 14 were closed due to damage. Other local roads may also be dangerous, he said.

[How Texans can prepare for extreme weather]

Officials urged residents to be careful as they returned to their homes and property and obey road closures if necessary.

Rain is not falling where we are right now, Abbott said. There could be some people who think, Well, you know what we may be out of the woods. That would not be the correct thing to think.

The Texas Division of Emergency Management is accepting self-reported surveys, which residents can find online under Spring Severe Weather and Flooding Event to specify the damages. The tool is also available in Spanish.

Texas needs to report 800 uninsured homes that sustained damage to qualify for federal assistance, Kidd said. It also needs to demonstrate the state suffered $54 million in uninsured damage to government infrastructure.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency can award up to $75,000 in grants for repairs, Kidd said. The average payout after Hurricane Harvey in 2017 was $2,400 per household. Only 501 people have registered a claim with their flood insurance as of last night, Kidd said.

I believe were going to hit that [number] for this event, but Ive gotta be able to demonstrate those numbers to our federal partners, Kidd said.

Meanwhile, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo lifted the mandatory evacuation order on Monday morning. Polk County officials are upholding theirs for low-lying areas near the Lake Livingston Dam, according to the county emergency management office's social media.

North of Harris, Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough said on Monday that the county would begin recovery efforts.

On Friday, the rivers in Southeast Texas were already swelling with excess water from the rainfall. In Polk County, the Trinity Rivers gauge north of the city of Shepard recorded the water rose to 49 feet, which was 12 feet above flood stage. The Trinity River flows into Lake Livingston. The flood gauge on Monday had only lessened two feet, well above the point of a major flood stage.

In Central Texas, the West Fork of the San Jacinto River peaked at 58 feet on Saturday morning and overflowed with water until late into the next day. That portion of the river feeds into Lake Conroe before eventually spilling into Lake Houston.

Shelters continue to be opened across the region. Harris County residents can check their address at the county's website for help.

Weve got big things in store for you at The Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 57 in downtown Austin. Join us for three days of big, bold conversations about politics, public policy and the days news.
Though noncitizens can vote in few local elections, GOP goes big to make it illegal

Voters line up outside of a Takoma Park, Md., polling place. Takoma Park is one of 17 jurisdictions nationally that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press

Preventing people who are not United States citizens from casting a ballot has reemerged as a focal point in the ongoing Republican drive to safeguard election integrity, even though noncitizens are rarely involved in voter fraud.

Ahead of Novembers presidential election, congressional and state Republican lawmakers are aiming to keep noncitizens away from the polls. Theyre using state constitutional amendments and new laws that require citizenship verification to vote. Noncitizens can vote in a handful of local elections in several states, but already are not allowed to vote in statewide or federal elections.

Some Republicans argue that preventing noncitizens from casting ballots  long a boogeyman in conservative politics  reduces the risk of fraud and increases confidence in American democracy. But even some on the right think these efforts are going too far, as they churn up anti-immigration sentiment and unsupported fears of widespread fraud, all to boost turnout among the GOP base.

While Republican congressional leaders want to require documentation proving U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, voters in at least four states will decide on ballot measures in November that would amend their state constitutions to clarify that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and local elections.

Over the past six years, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota and Ohio have all amended their state constitutions.

In Kentucky  which along with Idaho, Iowa and Wisconsin is now considering a constitutional amendment  noncitizens voting will not be tolerated, said Republican state Sen. Damon Thayer, who voted in February to put the amendment on Novembers ballot. Five Democrats between the two chambers backed the Republican-authored legislation, while 16 others dissented.

There is a lot of concern here about the Biden administrations open border policies, Thayer, the majority floor leader, told Stateline. People see it on the news every day, with groups of illegals pouring through the border. And theyre combined with concerns on election integrity.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed similar concerns last month when he announced new legislation  despite an existing 1996 ban  that would make it illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. During a trip to Florida to meet with former President Donald Trump, the Louisiana Republican said its common sense to require proof of citizenship.

It could, if there are enough votes, affect the presidential election, he said, standing in front of Trump in the presumptive presidential nominees Mar-a-Lago resort. We cannot wait for widespread fraud to occur, especially when the threat of fraud is growing with every single illegal immigrant that crosses that border.

That rhetoric is rooted in a fear about how the U.S. is changing demographically, becoming more diverse as the non-white population increases, said longtime Republican strategist Mike Madrid. Though this political strategy has worked to galvanize support among GOP voters in the past, he questions whether this will be effective politically in the long term.

Theres no problem being solved here, said Madrid, whose forthcoming book, The Latino Century, outlines the groups growing voter participation. This is all politics. Its all about stoking fears and angering the base.

Noncitizens are voting in some elections around the country, but not in a way that many might think.

Where noncitizens vote

In 16 cities and towns in California, Maryland and Vermont (along with the District of Columbia), noncitizens are allowed to vote in some local elections, such as for school board or city council. Voters in Santa Ana, California, will decide in November whether to allow noncitizens to vote in citywide elections.

In 2022, New Yorks State Supreme Court struck down New York Citys 2021 ordinance that allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections, ruling it violated the state constitution. Proponents have argued that people, regardless of citizenship status, should be able to vote on local issues affecting their children and community.

During the first 150 years of the U.S., 40 states at various times permitted noncitizens to vote in elections. That came to a halt in the 1920s when nativism ramped up and states began making voting a privilege for only U.S. citizens.

The number of noncitizen voters has been relatively small, and those voters are never allowed to participate in statewide or national elections. Local election officials maintain separate voter lists to keep noncitizens out of statewide databases.

In Vermonts local elections in March, 62 noncitizens voted in Burlington, 13 voted in Montpelier and 11 voted in Winooski, all accounting for a fraction of the total votes.

In Takoma Park, Maryland, of the 347 noncitizens who were registered to vote in 2017, just 72 cast a ballot, according to the latest data provided by the city. And in San Francisco, 36 noncitizens registered to vote in 2020 and 31 voted.

Voter turnout among noncitizens is low for two reasons, said Ron Hayduk, a professor of political science at San Francisco State University, who is one of the leading scholars in this area. Many noncitizens in these jurisdictions do not realize they have the right to vote, and many are afraid of deportation or legal issues, he said.

Registration forms in jurisdictions that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections do acknowledge the risks. In San Francisco, local election officials warn that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other agencies could gain access to the citys registration lists and advise residents to consult an immigration attorney before registering to vote.

Immigrants were very excited about this new right to vote, they wanted to vote, but many of them did not ultimately register and vote because they were concerned, Hayduk said.

While there are some noncitizens participating in a handful of local elections, theyre not participating illegally in any substantial way in state and national elections.

Though theres room for legitimate debate about whether noncitizens should be allowed to vote at the local level, there is no widespread voter fraud among noncitizens nationally, said Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

In 2020, federal investigators charged 19 noncitizens for voting in North Carolina elections. A national database run by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, shows that there have been fewer than 100 cases of voter fraud tied to noncitizens since 2002, according to a recent count by The Washington Post.

Trump continues to falsely assert that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election and that he had more of the popular vote in 2016. He has claimed without evidence that voter fraud was to blame, including in part from noncitizens.

With illegal immigration near the top of major issues for voters ahead of November, Trump and his movement sense they have momentum with the public to tie immigration concerns with their continued election claims, Olson said.

Its a way of keeping Democrats on the back foot, by falsely accusing them of allowing immigrants to come into the country illegally so they can vote, he added.

The imaginings that there is some sort of plot by an entire major political party is just remarkably evidence-free, he said.

Fighting the left

Although voter fraud among noncitizens is not happening widely, states should still add protections to their voting systems to prevent that possibility, said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican.

Raffensperger has been a major proponent of a Peach State law that requires documentation to verify the citizenship status of voters. In 2022, he announced that an internal audit of Georgias voter rolls over the past 25 years found that 1,634 noncitizens had attempted to register to vote, but not a single one cast a ballot.

I will continue to fight the left on this issue so that only American citizens decide American elections, Raffensperger wrote in a statement to Stateline.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia are actively considering legislation that would add ballot initiatives for November to prevent noncitizen voting. Those bills are at various points in the legislative process, with many having already passed one chamber.

During a committee hearing last week, Republican Missouri state Sen. Ben Brown said the states constitutional language is vague enough to allow cities to let noncitizens vote. While presenting his bill, he cited Californias parallel constitutional wording and how cities such as Oakland and San Francisco allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.

Most state constitutions have similar language around voter eligibility, saying that every U.S. citizen that is 18 or over can vote. The proposed amendments usually would change one word, emphasizing that only U.S. citizens can vote, eliminating an ambiguity in the text that has left room for cities in several states to allow noncitizen participation in elections.

Its a pretty simple fix, said Jack Tomczak, vice president of outreach for Americans for Citizen Voting, a group that works with state lawmakers to amend their constitutions so that only citizens can vote in state and local elections.

It does dilute the voice of citizens of this country, Tomczak said. And it also dilutes the nature of citizenship.

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A rescued woman (rear) evacuates from the flooded area with her pet dogs in Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, May 5, 2024. At least 75 people have died from severe storms that inundated large swaths of south Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state since April 29, the Civil Defense agency said in its latest report released Sunday. (Photo by Claudia Martini/Xinhua)

A student practices plasma cutting during the 2024 Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 6, 2024. The 2024 Skills Ontario Competition kicked off here on Monday, attracting more than 2,800 competitors. A broad range of skills and careers are represented during the three-day competition from the manufacturing, construction, service, and technology sectors. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

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Domestic tourist expenditure during the period totaled 166.89 billion yuan (about 23.51 billion U.S. dollars), up 13.5 percent from the same period in 2019. (Photo by Huan Yueliang/Xinhua)

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Though noncitizens can vote in few local elections, GOP goes big to make it illegal

Voters line up outside of a Takoma Park, Md., polling place. Takoma Park is one of 17 jurisdictions nationally that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. (Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press)

Preventing people who are not United States citizens from casting a ballot has reemerged as a focal point in the ongoing Republican drive to safeguard election integrity, even though noncitizens are rarely involved in voter fraud.

Ahead of Novembers presidential election, congressional and state Republican lawmakers are aiming to keep noncitizens away from the polls. Theyre using state constitutional amendments and new laws that require citizenship verification to vote. Noncitizens can vote in a handful of local elections in several states, but already are not allowed to vote in statewide or federal elections.

Some Republicans argue that preventing noncitizens from casting ballots  long a boogeyman in conservative politics  reduces the risk of fraud and increases confidence in American democracy. But even some on the right think these efforts are going too far, as they churn up anti-immigration sentiment and unsupported fears of widespread fraud, all to boost turnout among the GOP base.

While Republican congressional leaders want to require documentation proving U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, voters in at least four states will decide on ballot measures in November that would amend their state constitutions to clarify that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and local elections.

Over the past six years, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota and Ohio have all amended their state constitutions.

In Kentucky  which along with Idaho, Iowa and Wisconsin is now considering a constitutional amendment  noncitizens voting will not be tolerated, said Republican state Sen. Damon Thayer, who voted in February to put the amendment on Novembers ballot. Five Democrats between the two chambers backed the Republican-authored legislation, while 16 others dissented.

There is a lot of concern here about the Biden administrations open border policies, Thayer, the majority floor leader, told Stateline. People see it on the news every day, with groups of illegals pouring through the border. And theyre combined with concerns on election integrity.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed similar concerns last month when he announced new legislation  despite an existing 1996 ban  that would make it illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. During a trip to Florida to meet with former President Donald Trump, the Louisiana Republican said its common sense to require proof of citizenship.

It could, if there are enough votes, affect the presidential election, he said, standing in front of Trump in the presumptive presidential nominees Mar-a-Lago resort. We cannot wait for widespread fraud to occur, especially when the threat of fraud is growing with every single illegal immigrant that crosses that border.

That rhetoric is rooted in a fear about how the U.S. is changing demographically, becoming more diverse as the non-white population increases, said longtime Republican strategist Mike Madrid. Though this political strategy has worked to galvanize support among GOP voters in the past, he questions whether this will be effective politically in the long term.

Theres no problem being solved here, said Madrid, whose forthcoming book, The Latino Century, outlines the groups growing voter participation. This is all politics. Its all about stoking fears and angering the base.

Noncitizens are voting in some elections around the country, but not in a way that many might think.

Where noncitizens vote

In 16 cities and towns in California, Maryland and Vermont (along with the District of Columbia), noncitizens are allowed to vote in some local elections, such as for school board or city council. Voters in Santa Ana, California, will decide in November whether to allow noncitizens to vote in citywide elections.

In 2022, New Yorks State Supreme Court struck down New York Citys 2021 ordinance that allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections, ruling it violated the state constitution. Proponents have argued that people, regardless of citizenship status, should be able to vote on local issues affecting their children and community.

During the first 150 years of the U.S., 40 states at various times permitted noncitizens to vote in elections. That came to a halt in the 1920s when nativism ramped up and states began making voting a privilege for only U.S. citizens.

The number of noncitizen voters has been relatively small, and those voters are never allowed to participate in statewide or national elections. Local election officials maintain separate voter lists to keep noncitizens out of statewide databases.

In Vermonts local elections in March, 62 noncitizens voted in Burlington, 13 voted in Montpelier and 11 voted in Winooski, all accounting for a fraction of the total votes.

In Takoma Park, Maryland, of the 347 noncitizens who were registered to vote in 2017, just 72 cast a ballot, according to the latest data provided by the city. And in San Francisco, 36 noncitizens registered to vote in 2020 and 31 voted.

This is all politics. Its all about stoking fears and angering the base.

 Mike Madrid, Republican strategist and author

Voter turnout among noncitizens is low for two reasons, said Ron Hayduk, a professor of political science at San Francisco State University, who is one of the leading scholars in this area. Many noncitizens in these jurisdictions do not realize they have the right to vote, and many are afraid of deportation or legal issues, he said.

Registration forms in jurisdictions that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections do acknowledge the risks. In San Francisco, local election officials warn that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other agencies could gain access to the citys registration lists and advise residents to consult an immigration attorney before registering to vote.

Immigrants were very excited about this new right to vote, they wanted to vote, but many of them did not ultimately register and vote because they were concerned, Hayduk said.

While there are some noncitizens participating in a handful of local elections, theyre not participating illegally in any substantial way in state and national elections.

Though theres room for legitimate debate about whether noncitizens should be allowed to vote at the local level, there is no widespread voter fraud among noncitizens nationally, said Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

In 2020, federal investigators charged 19 noncitizens for voting in North Carolina elections. A national database run by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, shows that there have been fewer than 100 cases of voter fraud tied to noncitizens since 2002, according to a recent count by The Washington Post.

Trump continues to falsely assert that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election and that he had more of the popular vote in 2016. He has claimed without evidence that voter fraud was to blame, including in part from noncitizens.

With illegal immigration near the top of major issues for voters ahead of November, Trump and his movement sense they have momentum with the public to tie immigration concerns with their continued election claims, Olson said.

Its a way of keeping Democrats on the back foot, by falsely accusing them of allowing immigrants to come into the country illegally so they can vote, he added.

The imaginings that there is some sort of plot by an entire major political party is just remarkably evidence-free, he said.

Fighting the left

Although voter fraud among noncitizens is not happening widely, states should still add protections to their voting systems to prevent that possibility, said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican.

Raffensperger has been a major proponent of a Peach State law that requires documentation to verify the citizenship status of voters. In 2022, he announced that an internal audit of Georgias voter rolls over the past 25 years found that 1,634 noncitizens had attempted to register to vote, but not a single one cast a ballot.

I will continue to fight the left on this issue so that only American citizens decide American elections, Raffensperger wrote in a statement to Stateline.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia are actively considering legislation that would add ballot initiatives for November to prevent noncitizen voting. Those bills are at various points in the legislative process, with many having already passed one chamber.

During a committee hearing last week, Republican Missouri state Sen. Ben Brown said the states constitutional language is vague enough to allow cities to let noncitizens vote. While presenting his bill, he cited Californias parallel constitutional wording and how cities such as Oakland and San Francisco allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.

Most state constitutions have similar language around voter eligibility, saying that every U.S. citizen that is 18 or over can vote. The proposed amendments usually would change one word, emphasizing that only U.S. citizens can vote, eliminating an ambiguity in the text that has left room for cities in several states to allow noncitizen participation in elections.

Its a pretty simple fix, said Jack Tomczak, vice president of outreach for Americans for Citizen Voting, a group that works with state lawmakers to amend their constitutions so that only citizens can vote in state and local elections.

It does dilute the voice of citizens of this country, Tomczak said. And it also dilutes the nature of citizenship.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Though noncitizens can vote in few local elections, GOP goes big to make it illegal appeared first on Rhode Island Current.
Though noncitizens can vote in few local elections, GOP goes big to make it illegal

Voters line up outside a Takoma Park, Maryland, polling place. Takoma Park is one of 17 jurisdictions nationally that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. (Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press)

Preventing people who are not United States citizens from casting a ballot has reemerged as a focal point in the ongoing Republican drive to safeguard election integrity, even though noncitizens are rarely involved in voter fraud.

Ahead of Novembers presidential election, congressional and state Republican lawmakers are aiming to keep noncitizens away from the polls. Theyre using state constitutional amendments and new laws that require citizenship verification to vote. Noncitizens can vote in a handful of local elections in several states, but already are not allowed to vote in statewide or federal elections.

Some Republicans argue that preventing noncitizens from casting ballots  long a boogeyman in conservative politics  reduces the risk of fraud and increases confidence in American democracy. But even some on the right think these efforts are going too far, as they churn up anti-immigration sentiment and unsupported fears of widespread fraud, all to boost turnout among the GOP base.

While Republican congressional leaders want to require documentation proving U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, voters in at least four states will decide on ballot measures in November that would amend their state constitutions to clarify that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and local elections.

Over the past six years, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota and Ohio have all amended their state constitutions.

Kentucky Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer (LRC Public Information)

In Kentucky  which along with Idaho, Iowa and Wisconsin is now considering a constitutional amendment  noncitizens voting will not be tolerated, said Republican state Sen. Damon Thayer, who voted in February to put the amendment on Novembers ballot. Five Democrats between the two chambers backed the Republican-authored legislation, while 16 others dissented.

There is a lot of concern here about the Biden administrations open border policies, Thayer, the majority floor leader, told Stateline. People see it on the news every day, with groups of illegals pouring through the border. And theyre combined with concerns on election integrity.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed similar concerns last month when he announced new legislation  despite an existing 1996 ban  that would make it illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. During a trip to Florida to meet with former President Donald Trump, the Louisiana Republican said its common sense to require proof of citizenship.

It could, if there are enough votes, affect the presidential election, he said, standing in front of Trump in the presumptive presidential nominees Mar-a-Lago resort. We cannot wait for widespread fraud to occur, especially when the threat of fraud is growing with every single illegal immigrant that crosses that border.

That rhetoric is rooted in a fear about how the U.S. is changing demographically, becoming more diverse as the non-white population increases, said longtime Republican strategist Mike Madrid. Though this political strategy has worked to galvanize support among GOP voters in the past, he questions whether this will be effective politically in the long term.

Theres no problem being solved here, said Madrid, whose forthcoming book, The Latino Century, outlines the groups growing voter participation. This is all politics. Its all about stoking fears and angering the base.

Noncitizens are voting in some elections around the country, but not in a way that many might think.

Where noncitizens vote

In 16 cities and towns in California, Maryland and Vermont (along with the District of Columbia), noncitizens are allowed to vote in some local elections, such as for school board or city council. Voters in Santa Ana, California, will decide in November whether to allow noncitizens to vote in citywide elections.

In 2022, New Yorks State Supreme Court struck down New York Citys 2021 ordinance that allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections, ruling it violated the state constitution. Proponents have argued that people, regardless of citizenship status, should be able to vote on local issues affecting their children and community.

During the first 150 years of the U.S., 40 states at various times permitted noncitizens to vote in elections. That came to a halt in the 1920s when nativism ramped up and states began making voting a privilege for only U.S. citizens.

The number of noncitizen voters has been relatively small, and those voters are never allowed to participate in statewide or national elections. Local election officials maintain separate voter lists to keep noncitizens out of statewide databases.

In Vermonts local elections in March, 62 noncitizens voted in Burlington, 13 voted in Montpelier and 11 voted in Winooski, all accounting for a fraction of the total votes.

In Takoma Park, Maryland, of the 347 noncitizens who were registered to vote in 2017, just 72 cast a ballot, according to the latest data provided by the city. And in San Francisco, 36 noncitizens registered to vote in 2020 and 31 voted.

This is all politics. Its all about stoking fears and angering the base.

 Mike Madrid, Republican strategist and author

Voter turnout among noncitizens is low for two reasons, said Ron Hayduk, a professor of political science at San Francisco State University, who is one of the leading scholars in this area. Many noncitizens in these jurisdictions do not realize they have the right to vote, and many are afraid of deportation or legal issues, he said.

Registration forms in jurisdictions that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections do acknowledge the risks. In San Francisco, local election officials warn that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other agencies could gain access to the citys registration lists and advise residents to consult an immigration attorney before registering to vote.

Immigrants were very excited about this new right to vote, they wanted to vote, but many of them did not ultimately register and vote because they were concerned, Hayduk said.

While there are some noncitizens participating in a handful of local elections, theyre not participating illegally in any substantial way in state and national elections.

Though theres room for legitimate debate about whether noncitizens should be allowed to vote at the local level, there is no widespread voter fraud among noncitizens nationally, said Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

In 2020, federal investigators charged 19 noncitizens for voting in North Carolina elections. A national database run by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, shows that there have been fewer than 100 cases of voter fraud tied to noncitizens since 2002, according to a recent count by The Washington Post.

Trump continues to falsely assert that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election and that he had more of the popular vote in 2016. He has claimed without evidence that voter fraud was to blame, including in part from noncitizens.

With illegal immigration near the top of major issues for voters ahead of November, Trump and his movement sense they have momentum with the public to tie immigration concerns with their continued election claims, Olson said.

Its a way of keeping Democrats on the back foot, by falsely accusing them of allowing immigrants to come into the country illegally so they can vote, he added.

The imaginings that there is some sort of plot by an entire major political party is just remarkably evidence-free, he said.

Fighting the left

Although voter fraud among noncitizens is not happening widely, states should still add protections to their voting systems to prevent that possibility, said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican.

Raffensperger has been a major proponent of a Peach State law that requires documentation to verify the citizenship status of voters. In 2022, he announced that an internal audit of Georgias voter rolls over the past 25 years found that 1,634 noncitizens had attempted to register to vote, but not a single one cast a ballot.

I will continue to fight the left on this issue so that only American citizens decide American elections, Raffensperger wrote in a statement to Stateline.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia are actively considering legislation that would add ballot initiatives for November to prevent noncitizen voting. Those bills are at various points in the legislative process, with many having already passed one chamber.

During a committee hearing last week, Republican Missouri state Sen. Ben Brown said the states constitutional language is vague enough to allow cities to let noncitizens vote. While presenting his bill, he cited Californias parallel constitutional wording and how cities such as Oakland and San Francisco allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.

Most state constitutions have similar language around voter eligibility, saying that every U.S. citizen that is 18 or over can vote. The proposed amendments usually would change one word, emphasizing that only U.S. citizens can vote, eliminating an ambiguity in the text that has left room for cities in several states to allow noncitizen participation in elections.

Its a pretty simple fix, said Jack Tomczak, vice president of outreach for Americans for Citizen Voting, a group that works with state lawmakers to amend their constitutions so that only citizens can vote in state and local elections.

It does dilute the voice of citizens of this country, Tomczak said. And it also dilutes the nature of citizenship.

This story is republished from Stateline, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

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The post Though noncitizens can vote in few local elections, GOP goes big to make it illegal appeared first on Kentucky Lantern.
Though noncitizens can vote in few local elections, GOP goes big to make it illegal

Voters line up outside of a Takoma Park, Md., polling place. Takoma Park is one of 17 jurisdictions nationally that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. (Jose Luis Magana | The Associated Press)

Preventing people who are not United States citizens from casting a ballot has reemerged as a focal point in the ongoing Republican drive to safeguard election integrity, even though noncitizens are rarely involved in voter fraud.

Ahead of Novembers presidential election, congressional and state Republican lawmakers are aiming to keep noncitizens away from the polls. Theyre using state constitutional amendments and new laws that require citizenship verification to vote. Noncitizens can vote in a handful of local elections in several states, but already are not allowed to vote in statewide or federal elections.

Some Republicans argue that preventing noncitizens from casting ballots  long a boogeyman in conservative politics  reduces the risk of fraud and increases confidence in American democracy. But even some on the right think these efforts are going too far, as they churn up anti-immigration sentiment and unsupported fears of widespread fraud, all to boost turnout among the GOP base.

While Republican congressional leaders want to require documentation proving U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, voters in at least four states will decide on ballot measures in November that would amend their state constitutions to clarify that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and local elections.

Over the past six years, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota and Ohio have all amended their state constitutions.

In Kentucky  which along with Idaho, Iowa and Wisconsin is now considering a constitutional amendment  noncitizens voting will not be tolerated, said Republican state Sen. Damon Thayer, who voted in February to put the amendment on Novembers ballot. Five Democrats between the two chambers backed the Republican-authored legislation, while 16 others dissented.

There is a lot of concern here about the Biden administrations open border policies, Thayer, the majority floor leader, told Stateline. People see it on the news every day, with groups of illegals pouring through the border. And theyre combined with concerns on election integrity.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed similar concerns last month when he announced new legislation  despite an existing 1996 ban  that would make it illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. During a trip to Florida to meet with former President Donald Trump, the Louisiana Republican said its common sense to require proof of citizenship.

It could, if there are enough votes, affect the presidential election, he said, standing in front of Trump in the presumptive presidential nominees Mar-a-Lago resort. We cannot wait for widespread fraud to occur, especially when the threat of fraud is growing with every single illegal immigrant that crosses that border.

That rhetoric is rooted in a fear about how the U.S. is changing demographically, becoming more diverse as the non-white population increases, said longtime Republican strategist Mike Madrid. Though this political strategy has worked to galvanize support among GOP voters in the past, he questions whether this will be effective politically in the long term.

Theres no problem being solved here, said Madrid, whose forthcoming book, The Latino Century, outlines the groups growing voter participation. This is all politics. Its all about stoking fears and angering the base.

Noncitizens are voting in some elections around the country, but not in a way that many might think.

Where noncitizens vote

In 16 cities and towns in California, Maryland and Vermont (along with the District of Columbia), noncitizens are allowed to vote in some local elections, such as for school board or city council. Voters in Santa Ana, California, will decide in November whether to allow noncitizens to vote in citywide elections.

In 2022, New Yorks State Supreme Court struck down New York Citys 2021 ordinance that allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections, ruling it violated the state constitution. Proponents have argued that people, regardless of citizenship status, should be able to vote on local issues affecting their children and community.

During the first 150 years of the U.S., 40 states at various times permitted noncitizens to vote in elections. That came to a halt in the 1920s when nativism ramped up and states began making voting a privilege for only U.S. citizens.

The number of noncitizen voters has been relatively small, and those voters are never allowed to participate in statewide or national elections. Local election officials maintain separate voter lists to keep noncitizens out of statewide databases.

In Vermonts local elections in March, 62 noncitizens voted in Burlington, 13 voted in Montpelier and 11 voted in Winooski, all accounting for a fraction of the total votes.

In Takoma Park, Maryland, of the 347 noncitizens who were registered to vote in 2017, just 72 cast a ballot, according to the latest data provided by the city. And in San Francisco, 36 noncitizens registered to vote in 2020 and 31 voted.

This is all politics. Its all about stoking fears and angering the base.

 Mike Madrid, Republican strategist and author

Voter turnout among noncitizens is low for two reasons, said Ron Hayduk, a professor of political science at San Francisco State University, who is one of the leading scholars in this area. Many noncitizens in these jurisdictions do not realize they have the right to vote, and many are afraid of deportation or legal issues, he said.

Registration forms in jurisdictions that allow noncitizens to vote in local elections do acknowledge the risks. In San Francisco, local election officials warn that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other agencies could gain access to the citys registration lists and advise residents to consult an immigration attorney before registering to vote.

Immigrants were very excited about this new right to vote, they wanted to vote, but many of them did not ultimately register and vote because they were concerned, Hayduk said.

While there are some noncitizens participating in a handful of local elections, theyre not participating illegally in any substantial way in state and national elections.

Though theres room for legitimate debate about whether noncitizens should be allowed to vote at the local level, there is no widespread voter fraud among noncitizens nationally, said Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

In 2020, federal investigators charged 19 noncitizens for voting in North Carolina elections. A national database run by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, shows that there have been fewer than 100 cases of voter fraud tied to noncitizens since 2002, according to a recent count by The Washington Post.

Trump continues to falsely assert that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election and that he had more of the popular vote in 2016. He has claimed without evidence that voter fraud was to blame, including in part from noncitizens.

With illegal immigration near the top of major issues for voters ahead of November, Trump and his movement sense they have momentum with the public to tie immigration concerns with their continued election claims, Olson said.

Its a way of keeping Democrats on the back foot, by falsely accusing them of allowing immigrants to come into the country illegally so they can vote, he added.

The imaginings that there is some sort of plot by an entire major political party is just remarkably evidence-free, he said.

Fighting the left

Although voter fraud among noncitizens is not happening widely, states should still add protections to their voting systems to prevent that possibility, said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican.

Raffensperger has been a major proponent of a Peach State law that requires documentation to verify the citizenship status of voters. In 2022, he announced that an internal audit of Georgias voter rolls over the past 25 years found that 1,634 noncitizens had attempted to register to vote, but not a single one cast a ballot.

I will continue to fight the left on this issue so that only American citizens decide American elections, Raffensperger wrote in a statement to Stateline.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia are actively considering legislation that would add ballot initiatives for November to prevent noncitizen voting. Those bills are at various points in the legislative process, with many having already passed one chamber.

During a committee hearing last week, Republican Missouri state Sen. Ben Brown said the states constitutional language is vague enough to allow cities to let noncitizens vote. While presenting his bill, he cited Californias parallel constitutional wording and how cities such as Oakland and San Francisco allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.

Most state constitutions have similar language around voter eligibility, saying that every U.S. citizen that is 18 or over can vote. The proposed amendments usually would change one word, emphasizing that only U.S. citizens can vote, eliminating an ambiguity in the text that has left room for cities in several states to allow noncitizen participation in elections.

Its a pretty simple fix, said Jack Tomczak, vice president of outreach for Americans for Citizen Voting, a group that works with state lawmakers to amend their constitutions so that only citizens can vote in state and local elections.

It does dilute the voice of citizens of this country, Tomczak said. And it also dilutes the nature of citizenship.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Though noncitizens can vote in few local elections, GOP goes big to make it illegal appeared first on West Virginia Watch.
Thousands of dollars in damages after 27 buses found graffitied in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. (WFRV)  Authorities in Wisconsin are investigating an incident where 27 buses were damaged with graffiti.

According to the Madison Police Department, an employee arrived at the First Student Bus Department, located along the 200 block of West Beltline Highway, on Thursday, May 1, and found several buses were graffitied.

22-year-old Wisconsin man arrested for OWI after deputy clocks radar at 121MPH

Officers say that someone used black spray paint on the buses between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Much of the graffiti made statements such as Free Palestine and Stop the War.









Employees at the First Student Bus Department estimate around several thousand dollars of damage was caused by the graffiti.

Sheriff gives update on body found in Fox River, appeared to have been in river for some time

No arrests have been made at this time, and anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Madison Police Department at (608) 266-6014.

No additional details were provided.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
The Shoreline Polices Special Emphasis Team (SET) and King County Sheriff Deputies have removed narcotics off the street from drug trafficking organizations as part of a lengthy investigation.

Three men were booked into King County Jail and were released on bail, while two other suspects are waiting to be charged, according to Shoreline Police.

Approximately $3.25 million in narcotics were seized, which included:

 64.3 pounds of fentanyl powder.

 253,704 M30 fentanyl pills.

 3.1 pounds of heroin.

 1.7 pounds of cocaine.

 1.7 pounds of fentanyl-laced cocaine.

 2.4 pounds of Methamphetamine.

 $32,836 in cash.

 2 firearms.

 1 vehicle.

There is no word on when or whether the two suspects will be charged.
You will need a ticket to join Trumps beach rally in Wildwood; what to know

Former President Donald Trump is hosting a campaign rally at the Jersey shore this weekend and if you want to get in, youre going to need a ticket.

The only way to score a ticket for Trumps rally on the beach in Wildwood is to request one online at the Trump campaign website.

Those without a ticket will be turned away at security checkpoints surrounding the rally site on the beach.

The rally is set to take place on the beach at 3601 Boardwalk, near Morey's Piers & Beachfront Waterparks.

According to the Trump campaign website, doors will open at noon and the event should start at 5 p.m.

A schedule of events has not yet been made public.

Nick Butler is an impact reporter for the Courier Post, the Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times covering community news in South Jersey. Have any tips or stories? Reach out to NButler@Gannett.com. Subscribe to stay in the loop.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: You can still request tickets for Donald Trump's Wildwood beach rally
Colorado River Indian Tribes Chairwoman Amelia Flores, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed the final documents for the tribes water rights settlement on April 26, 2024. The settlement is part of the Colorado River Indian Tribes Resiliency Act of 2022. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror

With the waving water of the Colorado River in the background, tribal, federal, and state leaders gathered on the Colorado River Indian Tribes reservation to celebrate the historic signing of the tribes water rights settlement.

We have waited patiently for today, Colorado River Indian Tribes Chairwoman Amelia Flores said.

It is a historical event for the tribe, she said, because the agreement clears the way for the tribe to finally be recognized as a central party in all future decisions regarding their rights to the Colorado River.

Dozens of people gathered on the bank of the Colorado River at Blue Water Marina Park on the tribes land on April 26 to celebrate the signing of the Colorado River Indian Tribes Water Resiliency Act of 2022.

U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly introduced the legislation in December 2021. It took a year for it to pass through the legislation process before President Joe Biden signed it into law on Jan. 3, 2023.

As tribal nations, history has shown us that we must be vigilant in protecting our resources and our rights, Flores said, adding that the agreement is a long overdue wake-up call to create a sustainable future for the river.

The pathway of using power to take resources from tribal nations and to ignore the boundaries of our land and the attributes of our water rights to give to others should be completely out of the question, she added.

The agreement was finalized when Flores, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed the documents on April 26.

This agreement reflects years of cooperation between the federal government, the State of Arizona and the tribes, Haaland said. It comes at a critical time in Arizona as the state continues to deal with extended drought and the impacts of the climate crisis at the department.

Kelly called it the first of its kind and said it started with the simple idea of tribes being able to move their water.

This is an important recognition of the tribes sovereignty and the role that they play as a critical steward of this resource, he said. It also allows them to invest in making their own infrastructure and agriculture more water efficient so that they are more resilient in years to come.

Its been a long journey for the tribe, but Flores said the agreements they signed confirm and support what they have always done: make decisions based on what is best for the rivers life and what is best for our people.

We celebrate the empowerment of our rights to make our own decisions with who, when, and how our water resources may be used, she said.

Hobbs said that CRIT has been a vital partner to Arizona in water conservation efforts along the Colorado River, and it is fitting that this invaluable water supply will continue to support the lives of those who have relied upon the river for so many generations.

Through the legislation, the tribe is now authorized to enter into agreements related to water conservation, lease, exchange or storage of portions of their allocated water from the Colorado River.

The implementation of these agreements and the new fundability for the Colorado River Indian Tribes to use their water resources in new and creative ways presents an enormous opportunity for additional conservation and water management solutions as we confront climate change and the stress it is placing on our water supplies, Hobbs said.

Before the tribe can enter into its first agreement, it must enter into a deal with the State of Arizona that outlines all of the requirements of any potential lease or exchange agreement CRIT may enter into.

As part of the act, CRIT is authorized to make agreements only with entities located within the Lower Basin of the Colorado River in Arizona and not in Navajo, Apache or Cochise counties.

The Department of Interior still has the right to approve or disapprove of an agreement, and it can also enter into agreements with the tribe as long as they pay fair market value. The Interior must ensure that water agreements under this act do not permanently alienate any portion of the CRIT water allocation.

The CRIT community is located about 40 miles south of Lake Havasu City and includes over 4,500 active tribal members from four distinct tribes: the Mojave, Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo.

In 1865, tribal land for the CRIT was created by the federal government, which includes almost 300,000 acres, with the Colorado River serving as the focal point.

According to the tribes website, its land stretches along the Colorado River on the Arizona and California sides. The tribes water rights were granted in 1964 as part of a U.S. Supreme Court decree.

The CRIT has water rights to the Lower Colorado River for 719,248 acre-feet per year, primarily used for irrigation to serve its tribal lands in Arizona and California.

The CRIT is the largest user of Colorado River water in Arizona, with an annual allocation of 662,402 acre-feet of water from the rivers mainstream water supply. Mainstream water is water that comes directly from the river and is not sent into the Central Arizona Project (CAP) system to be transported across the state.

These agreements and the incredible support we have received demonstrate that there is a new way to protect what our creator gave us not just for CRIT, but for all who depend and rely upon the Colorado, Flores said.

The tribe will maintain its water rights allocated by the 1964 Supreme Court decree. The CRIT Resiliency Act of 2022 ensures that no agreement reduces or limits the tribes right to use the remaining portion of its allocation.

This legislation is an example of the steps that we can take to create flexible solutions, Kelly said. It also shows just how important tribal nations are to this effort.

Flores said the tribe has been working toward controlling its water rights for over 40 years, and she stands on the shoulders of the leaders who lead the fight before her.

We stand tall and united with strong voices (and) strong hearts to acknowledge the river, for it is the very essence of our being as members of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, Flores said.

She said the river has sustained CRIT in everything they do and continues to do.

We are tied to our water, she said. Water is life, and it is our life.

For some CRIT tribal members, the water settlement signing was bittersweet because they understood why the settlement needed to happen, but it does worry some that theyll be sharing bits of their water.

Its sad, but its happy, because we value our water, said Victoria Enas, a Mojave woman and a member of CRIT.

Enas said she understands that the tribe needs to cooperate because of the changing climate and the need to share resources, but she hopes they will be picky about who they choose to share the tribes water with.

Its part of our culture, she said. We dont want to be sitting here with a dry river saying that there used to be a river here, there used to be this, but we want to preserve it for future generations.

Enas, 55, attended the signing with her daughter Gabriella Esquerra, 17. Both talked about how the river is a big part of their culture and the importance of preserving it for future generations.

Enas said the river should be treated like a living body because it has life like any other human being.

We want to keep it going, she said. We love our river,

Esquerra echoed her moms comments, adding that she feels sad about the water settlement signing because she grew up near the river, swimming and playing in it often. She does not want to see it given away.

Esquerra said she thinks the water settlement agreement is like the tribe slowly cutting pieces out of the rivers body and giving them away.

I want to keep those pieces of body to ourselves and not give it away to the people who want the body of water, she added. I want to protect it as much as I can.

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The post We are tied to our water: Colorado River Indian Tribes sign historic water rights settlement appeared first on Arizona Mirror.
TikTok has sued the U.S. government, accusing it of trampling on its First Amendment rights when legislation was signed into law forcing its Chinese parent company to sell the social media platform or face a national ban.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, marks the most momentous challenge to the governments forceful rebuke of a Chinese firms ownership of the leading video-sharing app in America alleged to hoover up troves of data. It sets up whats expected to be a lengthy legal battle that may land at the U.S. Supreme Court pitting national security concerns against free speech protections for the company and millions of users.

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If upheld, TikTok says the law will allow the government to circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security, with the aim of cornering websites or publishers into selling to avoid being shut down. It calls the ban obviously unconstitutional and warns the divestiture demanded by the legislation to continue operating in the U.S. is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally.

Government officials and lawmakers have repeatedly said TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese internet company ByteDance, poses a national security threat. Thus far, theyve offered no evidence that TikTok has provided user data to the Chinese government or that its been directed to influence the content users see on the platform. Amid years of congressional infighting to ban the app, lawmakers have failed to pass comprehensive data privacy legislation that would protect all users from companies that indiscriminately amass all kinds of personal information on consumers.

In a statement, the company said, Today we filed a petition in federal court seeking to overturn the unconstitutional TikTok ban.

Under the law, TikTok has roughly nine months to divest from ByteDance. It allows President Joe Biden to extend the window by an additional 90 days if significant progress has been made toward a sale. If the Chinese company cannot or refuses to sell, web-hosting services and mobile app stores would be barred from carrying the app, which amounts to an effective national ban.

With more than 150 million American monthly active users, the app has been integrated into American culture to an extraordinary degree. Its by far the leading video-sharing app in America in terms of attracting and holding users attention.

By banning all TikTok offerings and ByteDance subsidiaries, the lawsuit claims Congress effectively enacted a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech. Unlike broadcast TV and radio statements, which require licenses to operate because they use public airwaves, the government cant dictate the ownership of websites, newspapers and online platforms, among other privately-created speech forums, according to the complaint.

TikTok stresses its function as a source of news. Its algorithm recommending or blocking certain news items to users constitutes the exercise of editorial control and judgment protected under the First Amendment, it says.

The lawsuit also argues its own speech is being suppressed. The company points to its use of the platform to create and share content about issues and current events, including its support for small businesses, literacy and education.

In response to national security concerns, the company partnered with Oracle to move its data on users stored on foreign servers to Texas, essentially firewalling the data the Chinese government could collect. The initiative, called Project Texas, includes audits of its algorithms and creating a subsidiary called TikTok U.S. Data Security to oversee content moderation policies and approve editorial decisions. American employees will report to an independent board of directors.

The lawsuit says the company agreed to a kill switch or shut-down option that gave the government the authority to suspend operations in the U.S. if it violated certain obligations under the agreement.

National security and censorship concerns allegedly posed by TikTok arent unique to the company. Metas Facebook was used to incite an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol after data from the app was weaponized in 2016 to influence the presidential election in the so-called Cambridge Analytica scandal. YouTubes rules have been manipulated to silence Kazakh dissidents and human rights observers in China.

TikTok takes issue with Congress refusal to enact industry-wide regulations and instead single out the company. Rather than ban the app, it says the government couldve passed a data protection law governing transfers of Americans user data to foreign countries. Other alternatives included a model similar to the European Unions Digital Services Act, which requires certain platforms to make disclosures about their content-moderation policies and to provide regulators and researchers with access to their data to assess whether theyre promoting or suppressing content with particular viewpoints, according to the lawsuit.

Congress did not even provide Petitioners with the process and fact-finding protections that the Act extends to all other companies  protections which themselves likely fall short of what the Constitution mandates, the complaint states.

TikTok alleges violations of its First Amendment and Equal Protection rights, as well unconstitutional bill of attainder, which allows the government to declare a party culpable of a crime without a trial, and taking.

In a statement, Knight First Amendment Institute executive director Jameel Jaffer said the ban will be blocked. She added, The fact that some legislators have acknowledged that the ban was motivated by a desire to suppress content about the Israel-Gaza conflict will make the law especially difficult for the government to defend.

On Monday, the organization filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of TikToks challenge to Montanas ban. It argued that the First Amendment protects Americans rights to access foreign media, information and ideas.

Direct challenges to government actions at the TikTok lawsuits scale are few and far in between. Some courts have expressed skepticism at alleged national security concerns invoked by the government in the absence of direct evidence of potential harm. In New York Times Co. v. United States, a federal judge found that the publication could publish the then-classified Pentagon Papers, which detailed Americas political and military involvement in Vietnam, without censorship or punishment from the government. The court concluded that the word security is a broad, vague generatality whose contours should not be invoked to abrogate the fundamental law embodied by the First Amendment.

In another case finding that free speech rights arent subordinate to national security concerns, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a law delaying mail that contained communist political proganda. The upshot of that ruling was that Americans are within their rights to consume foreign propaganda.

Other courts have deferred to the government when national security is at stake. In 2020, the government helped convince a federal appeals court to overturn a ruling against Qualcomm that wouldve forced it to overhaul its licensing business for violating antitrust laws. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals preserved Qualcomms monopoly in the mobile chip market, finding the company has no duty to license its patents to rivals.

In that case, the Department of Justice stepped in at the eleventh hour to oppose the FTC on the grounds that any fix weakening Qualcomms position in the burgeoning 5G market threatened national security since it competes against Huawei, a Chinese-owned firm that sells smartphones and other gear that make up the backbone of the telecom network. The intervention by prosecutors directly undercut regulators most momentous enforcement victory in decades.

China would likely compete robustly to fill any void left by Qualcomm should Qualcomms ability to invest and innovate be diminished, stated Ellen Lord, then the under secretary of defense, in a court declaration. Participation and leadership in 5G standard setting is a zero-sum game  if the United States does not lead, an aggressive, eager China will set standards to accommodate its own wishes.

Antitrust concerns also come into play with the proposed sale of TikTok. With a price tag in the billions of dollars, the only firms that can afford to buy the company would likely present competition issues to regulators. The Federal Trade Commission or Department of Justice would almost certainly sue to block any social media firm that buys TikTok.

Other concerns with the law include the creation of a mechanism by which the White House can target other entities deemed to be a national security threat. In those instances, the president is required to issue a report describing the specific concerns justifying the ban. Some critics have posited that foreign news sites, such as The Guardian or Qatari-funded Al Jazeera, could be targeted by future administrations.

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TikTok to sue U.S. over possible First Amendment violation in app's recent 'ban'

Tiktok CEO Shou Zi Chew speaks with the press after meeting with lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol in mid-March. On Tuesday, it was announced that TikTok is suing the federal government over the recent law signed by President Joe Biden which would effectively ban the app in the United States. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI

May 7 (UPI) -- The popular social media giant TikTok on Tuesday let it be known that the Chinese-owned company is now taking the U.S. government to federal court to stop enforcement of a recently signed law that effectively would ban the app unless it sells.

"For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban," TikTok says in court documents filed Tuesday in a federal court of appeals.

They add how it will bar "every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide," which they contend is an "unprecedented step" and a First Amendment "violation."

In early March, the House Energy and Commerce Committee had unanimously approved a bill -- the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act -- that would essentially ban TikTok from American app stores unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sold the app in a year or less.

In TikTok's lawsuit, they argue that what the United States has proposed is not based in any kind of workable reality, and "certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act."

U.S. President Joe Biden makes remarks after signing the $95 billion bill in the State Dining Room of the White House on April 24. Photo by Ron Sachs/UPI

The United States claims the recently singed law is not a ban because it gives ByteDance a chance to divest its own assets.

"The 'qualified divestiture' demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally," the company said.

The House on March 13 passed the bill in a 352-65 vote, and President Joe Biden signed it into law on April 24. The bill included a $95 billion package to commit foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and passed the U.S. House and Senate with overwhelming support before getting signed by the president.

That was followed by the announcement that former Trump administration Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was putting together a group to buy TikTok, who called it "a good business" that "needs to be controlled by U.S. businesses."

But ByteDance has insisted that it has no intention of selling the video-sharing app, which has 149 million American users, despite the prospect of a U.S. ban hanging over it.

In December, a federal judge blocked Montana's statewide TikTok ban, saying it violated the constitution's First Amendment after Montana became the first state to ban the social media app with the state's Republican governor claiming its influence by China.

Erin Reed, a transgender rights activist who's also engaged to a Democrat Montana trans lawmaker -- Zooey Zephyr -- wrote on X how she hopes the lawsuit to challenge and overturn the ban is successful.

"As someone who uses TikTok heavily to communicate facts about LGBTQ issues and anti-LGBTQ laws to young people and families on the platform, losing TikTok would be a net loss to the community," Reed said Tuesday on social media.

Reed is one of scores of other younger people who have been calling on Congress to not ban the popular social media app.

Also on Tuesday, celebrity Russell Brand was on his live-streamed show with former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Hawai'i Democrat and presidential candidate, to discuss the potential TikTok ban.

"Is the TikTok ban really about protecting you, or muzzling platforms that question the government narrative??" Brand had posted on X.

TikTok also said a ban of their app could be a slippery constitutional slope with broader implications.

"If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down," the company said in court documents.

TikTok has cited the argument that banning or forcing the sale of the company would be a First Amendment violation. Norman Bishara, professor of business law and ethics in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at Michigan, previously told UPI that this is likely to be the path the company takes to argue against the U.S. government.

In its legal argument, TikTok wrote that "any such divestiture would disconnect Americans from the rest of the global community on a platform devoted to shared content -- an outcome fundamentally at odds with the Constitution's commitment to both free speech and individual liberty."

"The First Amendment argument is probably the topline one here that we've seen before from TikTok," Bishara said.

"It's definitely part of TikTok's lobbying strategy. You can imagine if you're TikTok you're really feeling a bit under assault here," he added.
SHANGHAI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Economic collaboration between Serbia and China is poised for significant growth, with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) paving the way for a future of shared prosperity, said a Shanghai-based Serbian expert on trade.

Since 2016, when China and Serbia agreed to upgrade their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership in a show of their shared commitment to further deepening bilateral cooperation, their economic relationship has been steadily strengthened, particularly under the BRI, Jelena Grubor Stefanovic, Director of Representative Office of Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

With a decade of experience in China, Stefanovic has been working on creating opportunities for Serbian businesses in the Chinese market and vice versa, with an increasing focus on technological cooperation.

Serbia has been a staunch supporter of the BRI since its inception, with over 60 projects completed and around 16 ongoing within the initiative's framework.

Stefanovic described the Budapest-Belgrade railway, which connects the capital cities of Hungary and Serbia, as one of BRI's flagship projects in that part of the world due to its nature as the first tripartite agreement signed between China, Serbia and Hungary.

She also highlighted the Pupin Bridge over the Danube River in Serbia, which opened in 2014 as one of China's significant infrastructure investments in Europe.

"During the past two years, China has emerged as the largest foreign direct investor in Serbia, bringing numerous benefits to the country," she said. "Now Serbia has more opportunities to systematically focus its efforts on attracting investments from China in industry sectors with high added value like life sciences, digital economy, automotive industry, smart agriculture sector and green development."

During the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2023, China and Serbia signed the Free Trade Agreement, focusing on eliminating tariffs on 90 percent of goods.

Stefanovic believed that the agreement would bring a myriad of opportunities to both countries and open new avenues for trade and investment, fostering closer people-to-people and business-to-business exchanges.

"I think the more they learn about each other's market, the more they can see about the vast opportunities. The business communities have to seize now such opportunities," she noted.

Witnessing China's rapid transformation into an innovation-driven economy, Stefanovic expressed optimism about its resilience.

"The Chinese government is focusing on supporting advanced technology development as the key pillar of its economy," she said, adding that there's no alternative market to provide fertile ground for innovation and growth at China's scale. 
(The Hill)  TikTok sued to block the law that would force the application to be divested from its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, or be banned from the U.S.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the U.S. government, TikTok and ByteDance argued that the law, the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversaries Act, violates the First Amendment.

The law gives ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok to a new company that will be allowed to operate it in the U.S., or the app will be banned from American networks and online application stores. The president can give ByteDance an additional 90 days to sell TikTok if he determines it necessary.

But TikTok argued that qualified divestiture is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally, and it, therefore, would lead to a shutdown of the app in the U.S., cutting off millions of daily users.

Biden signed a bill that could ban TikTok. What happens next?

TikTok also called out the law for singling out the app by name. While the law grants the president authority to name other applications that could fall under the same regulations, but TikTok and ByteDance are the only ones specified in the measure.

Even if the sale was feasible, TikTok argued, the law still would be an extraordinary and unconstitutional assertion of power and set a precedent that allows Congress to circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down.

The law is the latest and most serious threat posed to TikToks future in the U.S., but it is not the first time the company has faced a potential ban.

The Trump administration also tried to ban TikTok, but the measure was blocked in federal court. The company has also fended off bans on the state level, such as Montana law that a judge subsequently blocked.

But the new law is the most prominent threat facing TikToks future operation in the U.S. The national security basis of the law could make it more difficult for TikTok to fend off in court.

The bill passed through Congress quickly with broad bipartisan support. The House passed the bill with a resounding 352-65 vote in March, less than one week after it was first introduced.

The TikTok ban measure passed the Senate as part of a larger foreign aid package, which Biden signed into law last month.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. (Kevin Frayer | Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on West Virginia Watch.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on Utah News Dispatch.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on Kentucky Lantern.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

In this photo illustration, a mobile phone can be seen displaying the logos for Chinese apps WeChat and TikTok in front of a monitor showing the flags of the United States and China on an internet page, on September 22, 2020, in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

In this photo illustration, a mobile phone can be seen displaying the logos for Chinese apps WeChat and TikTok in front of a monitor showing the flags of the United States and China on an internet page, on September 22, 2020, in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

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The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on South Dakota Searchlight.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on Oregon Capital Chronicle.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

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The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on Maine Morning Star.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. Photo by Getty Images.

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on Minnesota Reformer.
PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Monday that he welcomes his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to visit China again.

Xi made the remarks when he jointly met the press with Macron. 
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

In this photo illustration, a cellphone can be seen displaying the logos for Chinese apps WeChat and TikTok in front of a monitor showing the flags of the United States and China.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE

The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on Nebraska Examiner.
TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company, filed suit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company on Tuesday challenged a recently enacted federal law banning the short-form video platform from the United States if it is not sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok Inc., the U.S. company that operates the popular social media service, and ByteDance, its parent company founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over a law requiring ByteDance to sell its subsidiary or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

The law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the companies wrote. The service is a free-speech platform, used by 170 million Americans monthly. While the government can dictate broadcast licenses that operate over public airwaves, it has no such authority over other platforms including newspapers and websites, they said.

Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the companies wrote. The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.

Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, the law last month. Many lawmakers argued that TikTok was a tool of the Chinese Communist Party.

Sale not viable, TikTok says

The laws alternative for TikTok to avoid a U.S. ban, for ByteDance to sell the platform, is unworkable, the companies said.

The algorithm at the core of TikToks product, as well as the platform itself, is powered by millions of lines of code developed by thousands of engineers over years, the companies said. Transferring that design to new owners who lack the years of expertise that TikToks current workforce has would be impossible within the nine-month deadline stipulated in the law.

The Chinese government would also likely not allow divestiture of the algorithm. China, like the United States, can regulate what technology can be exported, they said, and would likely reject a deal to allow foreign ownership of TikTok.

TikTok as a platform is globally integrated, so even if it were possible to find a new owner and transfer ownership of the product, it would lose much of the appeal  and the related market value  of connecting with users around the world, the companies wrote.

Divesting TikTok Inc.s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally integrated platform of which it is a part is not commercially, technologically, or legally feasible, they said. The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States.

The companies asked the court to declare that the law is unconstitutional, bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

National security concerns

Congress included the TikTok bill in a package of high-profile spending items, including military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. President Joe Biden signed the package into law April 24.

Several China hawks in Congress have expressed concerns that the Chinese government and its ruling Communist Party can compel ByteDance to provide data from TikTok users devices.

They have also raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party can manipulate content on the platform.

Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said last week the overwhelming share of pro-Palestinian content on TikTok compared to other platforms was a reason driving support for a ban among lawmakers.

In their suit, TikTok and ByteDance said the government has not presented evidence to back up concerns over data privacy or content manipulation and instead relied on hypothetical risks.

Those speculative concerns fall far short of what is required when First Amendment rights are at stake, they said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a written statement posted by the committees X account Tuesday he was confident that our legislation will be upheld.

Congress and the Executive Branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people, Moolenaar said. It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money, and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the Chinese Communist Party.

The post TikTok sues to block new U.S. law banning app if it is not sold appeared first on North Dakota Monitor.
TikTok is suing the U.S. government, accusing it of violating its right to free speech. (Kiichiro Sato / Associated Press)

TikTok, the popular social video app, sued the U.S. government on Tuesday, saying the country's new law that could ban the app violates 1st Amendment rights to free speech.

President Biden last month signed into law a bill that would effectively ban the service in the U.S. if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell TikTok's U.S. operations. Legislators backing the law said a ban or sale was necessary to address national security concerns posed by the app's ties to China.

Read more: L.A. influencers, businesses live or die on TikTok's algorithm. Now they fear for the future

There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere, TikTok and ByteDance said in their filing, referring to the new law.

The Department of Justice declined to comment.

TikTok and ByteDance said in the court filing that it had been trying since 2019 to work with the U.S. government's Committee on Foreign Investment to address security concerns. Under the terms of a deal spelled out in a 90-page draft agreement, data collected about Tik Tok users in the U.S. was to be handled by Oracle, the U.S. tech giant. The proposed agreement also called for Oracle to inspect TikTok's programming code for vulnerabilities and for the platform's content to be subject to independent monitoring, according to the filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit.

If TikTok did not comply, the draft agreement called for the company to be subjected to financial penalties and also included the possibility of suspending TikTok's operations in the U.S., the businesses said.

"The terms of that negotiated package are far less restrictive than an outright ban," ByteDance and TikTok said in its filing.

But TikTok and ByteDance said it is unclear why the committee ultimately determined the proposed agreement was insufficient and in March 2023 insisted that ByteDance would be required to divest the U.S. TikTok business, according to the filing.

Read more: Questions swirl over the future of TikTok. Who could own it? How will the platform operate?

TikTok and ByteDance also noted the new law "offers no support for the idea" that TikTok's Chinese ownership poses national security risks.

"Speculative risk of harm is simply not enough when First Amendment values are at stake," the businesses said in their filing.

TikTok is still moving forward with addressing some of the security concerns by partnering with Oracle "on the migration of the U.S. platform and protected U.S. user data to Oracles cloud environment," TikTok and ByteDance said in the filing.

As part of their lawsuit, TikTok and ByteDance are seeking a court order blocking the government from enforcing the new law.

"These are going to be difficult issues to thrash out," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at University of Richmond.

Tobias said one of the challenges for TikTok and ByteDance is the government's national security argument. "Federal courts tend to be pretty deferential to those kinds of assertions, especially from Congress," Tobias said.

Other legal experts said that they believe TikTok has a strong case. Douglas Mirell, a partner at Greenberg Glusker, said that he suspects the government is going to have a significant burden of trying to prove the law is not unconstitutional under the 1st Amendment.

If I had to choose which side of the case to be on, I would be on TikToks side, said Mirell, who focuses on 1st Amendment issues.

TikTok is a hugely popular app, with more than 1 billion users worldwide and is a key part of the video creator ecosystem. Small businesses rely on TikTok to tout their products and video creators have moved to L.A. to be closer to its Culver City office. The company employs roughly 500 people in Culver City, according to city data.

Read more: Universal Music Group artists dancing back to TikTok after licensing dispute resolved

In its filing, ByteDance argued that carving out TikTok's U.S. operations from the rest of the company would not be feasible, in part because of the borderless nature of the social video app that allows for international content to be mixed in with U.S. videos.

"Such a limited pool of content, in turn, would dramatically undermine the value and viability of the U.S. TikTok business," the filing said.

TikTok's massive popularity  and value  is due in large part to the algorithm its developers designed that seamlessly feeds content to users based on what they have watched previously. TikTok and ByteDance said in its filing, the "Chinese government has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States."

Still, analysts said have predicted that some companies and private equity firms would be interested in buying TikTok even if the coveted algorithm wasn't part of the deal. Potential buyers could include Oracle and Microsoft, said Daniel Ives, a managing director at Wedbush Securities in an interview with the Times last month.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
TikTok sues US over sell-or-ban law. What the lawsuit means for Californias 16 million users

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance are fighting back in federal court nearly two weeks after President Joe Biden signed a bill into law requiring the Chinese-owned company ByteDance to sell the TikTok app or face a nationwide ban.

TikTok, a short video social media app, has 170 million American users, including 16 million in California.

The legal challenge, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was published online Tuesday. The petition asks the court to find the law violates the U.S. Constitution and prevent it from being enforced.

In a 67-page petition, attorneys for TikTok and its parent company wrote that the law in question, Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, was unconstitutional, both by effectively banning the app and forcing a company to sell.

For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide, the lawyers wrote.

The companys attorneys argued that the law requiring ByteDance to divest or face a ban is so obviously unconstitutional that federal lawmakers tried mightily to portray the law not as a ban but merely a regulation of TikToks ownership.

They claim that the Act is not a ban because it offers ByteDance a choice: divest TikToks U.S. business or be shut down, the attorneys wrote.

But, the lawyers said, the forced sale is not possible, not commercially, not technologically, not legally.

And certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act, the attorneys for TikTok wrote, adding that company representatives repeatedly explained to government officials that the divestment wasnt possible.

TikToks lawyers argued in the complaint that the law would force a shutdown of the platform on Jan. 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere.

The petition goes on to argue that if the law is upheld, it would allow the government to decide that a company may no longer own or publish innovative and unique speech on their own platform.

If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down, lawyers wrote in the complaint.

The petition notes that federal lawmakers could not articulate any specific threats posed by the app.

Even the statements by individual Members of Congress and a congressional committee report merely indicate concern about the hypothetical possibility that TikTok could be misused in the future, without citing specific evidence  even though the platform has operated prominently in the United States since it was first launched in 2017, the petition reads.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers have said TikTok, under the control of its China-based parent company, poses a risk to national security. Many legislators have expressed concern that Chinese officials could ask the app for data on the 170 million Americans who use it as well as push disinformation to them. Congressional lawmakers have received classified intelligence briefings on TikTok and issues of national security and data privacy.

Many Washington legislators were skeptical of the TikTok crackdown  but not enough to vote against the aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan where the measure was included.

Biden supported the TikTok law, with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre telling reporters on the day he signed it that This is not a ban.

This is about divestment, she said. This about our national security.

The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment for this story. The White House referred The Bee to the U.S. Justice Department in response to a request for comment.

Lawyers for TikTok argued in the petition that the company has invested more than $2 billion to build a system of technological and governance protections in order to safeguard user data. The company noted it also agreed to a shut-down option that would give the government the power to suspend the app in the U.S. if the company violated certain obligations.

TikTok attorneys also alleged in the lawsuit that the law treats the social media company differently than other U.S. based platforms, violating the right to equal protection, and unlawfully takes the companys private property without proper compensation.

Attorneys claimed there is no similar law on a company because of constitutional rules on a free and open internet, fairness and equal treatment  thus Congress has never before crafted a two-tiered speech regime with one set of rules for one named platform, and another set of rules for everyone else.
Social media giant TikTok has sued the U.S. government, alleging that recently signed legislation that could potentially ban the app violates the First Amendment rights of both the company and its users.

Last month, President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package that included legislation requiring ByteDance  TikToks Chinese parent company  to sell the social media platform within 270 days or be banned from app stores and web-hosting services. The legislation would also create a process through which the president can designate other social media applications with ties to foreign governments as a national security risk and force divestment.

Congress has taken the unprecedented step of expressly singling out and banning TikTok: a vibrant online forum for protected speech and expression used by 170 million Americans to create, share, and view videos over the Internet, the company wrote in their Tuesday filing to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down. And for TikTok, any such divestiture would disconnect Americans from the rest of the global community on a platform devoted to shared content  an outcome fundamentally at odds with the Constitutions commitment to both free speech and individual liberty.

Under the Constitutions First Amendment, Congress cannot outright ban the application in the U.S. without first proving that it poses an imminent national security risk. Lawmakers acknowledge this and contend that the proposed legislation is not an outright ban, but rather a narrow expansion of presidential authority to better regulate the influence of foreign governments in the tech sector.

TikTok contends that the government has not adequately outlined any national security threat posed by TikTok nor explain why TikTok should be excluded from evaluation under the standards Congress concurrently imposed on every other platform, and accused the government of operating on hypothetical concerns.

Those hypotheticals include lawmakers concerns that TikToks affiliations with China posed a cybersecurity risk to American users. In recent days, however, legislators have raised another reason for supporting the ban: the proliferation of pro-Palestinian content on the app amidst the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza.

Last Wednesday, the dark-money group No Labels held a webinar with prominent figures opposing student protests in support of Gaza. According to a recording of the meeting obtained by The Intercept, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told attendees that the student protests were exactly why we included the TikTok bill in the foreign supplemental aid package because youre seeing how these kids are being manipulated by certain groups or entities or countries to foment hate on their behalf and really create a hostile environment here in the U.S.

On Friday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said during a conference that while some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok, if you look at the posting on TikTok and the number of Palestinians relative to other social media sites, its overwhelmingly so on TikTok.

The public statements from lawmakers like Lawler and Romney could prove to be useful fodder for TikToks argument that the prospective ban on the application is an affront to the right to freedom of expression of its more than 150 million users.

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FILE - The TikTok logo is displayed on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. On Tuesday, May 7, 2024, TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance filed suit against the U.S. federal government to challenge a law that would force the sale of ByteDance's stake or face a ban, saying that the law is unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

TikTok and its Chinese parent company filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a new American law that would ban the popular video-sharing app in the U.S. unless it's sold to an approved buyer, saying it unfairly singles out the platform and is an unprecedented attack on free speech.

In its lawsuit, ByteDance says the new law vaguely paints its ownership of TikTok as a national security threat in order to circumvent the First Amendment, despite no evidence that the company poses a threat. It also says the law is so obviously unconstitutional that its sponsors are instead portraying it as a way to regulate TikTok's ownership.

For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide, ByteDance asserts in the lawsuit filed in a Washington appeals court.

The law, which President Joe Biden signed as part of a larger foreign aid package, marks the first time the U.S. has singled out a social media company for a potential ban, which free speech advocates say is what would be expected from repressive regimes such as those in Iran and China.

The lawsuit is the latest turn in what's shaping up to be a protracted legal fight over TikTok's future in the United States  and one that could end up before the Supreme Court. If TikTok loses, it says it would be forced to shut down next year.

The law requires ByteDance to sell the platform to a U.S.-approved buyer within nine months. If a sale is already in progress, the company would get another three months to complete the deal. ByteDance has said it doesnt plan to sell TikTok. But even if it wanted to divest, the company would need Beijing's blessing. According to the lawsuit, the Chinese government has made clear that it wouldn't allow ByteDance to include the algorithm that populates users' feeds and has been the key to the success of TikTok in the United States.

TikTok and ByteDance say the new law leaves them with no choice but to shut down by next Jan. 19 because continuing to operate in the U.S. wouldn't be commercially, technologically or legally possible. They also say it would be impossible for ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok platform as a separate entity from the rest of TikTok, which has 1 billion users worldwide  most of them outside of the United States. A U.S.-only TikTok would operate as an island that's detached from the rest of the world, the lawsuit argues.

The suit also paints divestment as a technological impossibility, since the law requires all of TikTok's millions of lines of software code to be wrested from ByteDance so that there would be no operational relationship between the Chinese company and the new U.S. app.

The companies argue that they should be protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression and are seeking a declaratory judgment that it is unconstitutional.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the suit Tuesday. And White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to engage on questions about why the president continues to use TikTok for his political activities, deferring to the campaign.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat who is the ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, issued a statement Tuesday defending the new law.

"This is the only way to address the national security threat posed by ByteDances ownership of apps like TikTok. Instead of continuing its deceptive tactics, its time for ByteDance to start the divestment process, he said.

ByteDance will first likely ask a court to temporarily block the federal law from taking effect, said Gus Hurwitz, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvanias Carey Law School who isn't involved in the case. And the decision whether to grant such a preliminary injunction could decide the case, because its absence, ByteDance would need to sell TikTok before the broader case could be decided, he said.

Whether a court will grant such an injunction remains unclear to Hurwitz, largely because it requires balancing important free speech issues against the Biden administrations claims of harm to national security. I think the courts will be very deferential to Congress on these issues, he said.

The fight over TikTok comes amid a broader U.S.-China rivalry, especially in areas such as advanced technologies and data security that are seen as essential to each countrys economic prowess and national security.

U.S. lawmakers from both parties, as well as administration and law enforcement officials, have expressed concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or sway public opinion by manipulating the algorithm that populates users' feeds. Some have also pointed to a Rutgers University study that maintains TikTok content was being amplified or underrepresented based on how it aligns with the Chinese government's interests  a claim the company disputes.

Opponents of the law argue that Chinese authorities  or any nefarious parties  could easily get information on Americans in other ways, including through commercial data brokers that rent or sell personal information. They say the U.S. government hasn't provided public evidence that shows TikTok has shared U.S. user information with Chinese authorities or tinkered with its algorithm for China's benefit.

Data collection by apps has real consequences for all of our privacy, said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLUs National Security Project. But banning one social media platform used by millions of people around the world is not the solution. Instead, we need Congress to pass laws that protect our privacy in the first place.

Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, expects TikTok's lawsuit to succeed.

The First Amendment means the government cant restrict Americans access to ideas, information, or media from abroad without a very good reason for it  and no such reason exists here, Jaffer said in a statement.

Although TikTok prevailed in earlier First Amendment challenges, it isn't clear whether the current lawsuit will be as simple.

The bipartisan nature of this federal law may make judges more likely to defer to a Congressional determination that the company poses a national security risk, said Gautam Hans, a law professor and associate director of the First Amendment Clinic at Cornell University. "Without public discussion of what exactly the risks are, however, its difficult to determine why the courts should validate such an unprecedented law.

__

Associated Press writers David Hamilton and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
For more than a month, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has threatened to demand a vote to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, and has been leading a public charge to try to make that a reality.

After weeks of meetings with the speaker and making demands, the Georgia Republican triggered her motion to vacate on May 8.

Here's what has happened so far:

PHOTO: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) questions Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on April 16, 2024, and Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson speaks during a news conference at the Capitol on May 7, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla and Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images)

March 22: Greene files a motion to vacate Speaker Johnson

Green makes it official and files a motion to vacate the speaker saying he "betrayed our conference and broke our rules" by working with Democrats to pass a $1.2 trillion package to fund the government but does not make it "privileged" -- requiring a House vote.

MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene backs off threat to oust Johnson as speaker

March 31: Johnson calls Greene's move to oust him a 'distraction'

Johnson addresses Greene's accusations in an interview with Fox News. "I think that all of my other Republican colleagues recognize this is a distraction from our mission," he said.

April 9: Greene addresses House GOP

The congresswoman sends a letter to her Republican colleagues explaining why she filed a motion to oust Johnson, calling his actions "a complete and total surrender."

PHOTO: Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson (Republican of Louisiana) offers remarks during a press conference and answers questions about the future of his Speakership, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, May 7, 2024. (Shutterstock)

April 10: Greene and Johnson meet

Greene meets with Johnson, telling reporters she's closely watching his next moves on the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) -- which allows the U.S. government to collect electronic communications of non-Americans located outside the country without a warrant -- and Ukraine aid.

April 12: Trump meets with Johnson

Former President Donald Trump, a key ally of Greene, holds a news conference with Johnson at Mar-a-Lago. The former president says Johnson is "doing a very good job ... He's doing about as good as you're going to do. And I'm sure that Marjorie understands that."

MORE: In scathing letter, GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene slams Johnson with speakership under threat

April 15: House reauthorizes FISA

FISA reauthorization passes in the House. Johnson casts a deciding vote to kill an amendment that would require warrants for certain surveillance -- a priority of Greene and other GOP hard-liners. The congresswoman expresses anger but doesn't call for a vote to vacate the speaker.

April 20: Foreign aid bill package passes

A $95 billion foreign aid package passes, including assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Greene says she's giving colleagues the weeklong recess to "think about" whether Johnson should go. She signals she wants to call a vote to oust him when the House returns from a recess.

April 29: House recess ends, Greene is silent

Greene doesn't trigger a vote to oust Johnson after the House returns from its recess.

April 30: House Democrats announce plan to save Johnson

House Democratic leaders announce they'll vote to save Johnson if a motion to vacate is brought to the floor for a vote. After this statement is released, Greene signals she will trigger a vote on a motion to vacate.

PHOTO: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., talks with reporters before a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol on May 7, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

May 1: Greene threatens to trigger motion to vacate

Greene and her co-sponsor Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky hold a press conference outside the Capitol, where the congresswoman announces she would trigger a motion to vacate vote "next week" to allow GOP colleagues to weigh their support through the weekend.

May 4: Trump praises Johnson; tells Greene to drop her proposal to vacate, sources say

Trump brings Johnson on stage at a Republican National Committee spring retreat luncheon and praises the speaker. He emphasizes "the need for party unity, collaboration and expanding the GOP's House majority."

Trump also calls Greene and tells her to drop her push to oust Johnson, sources told ABC News.

May 6: Greene meets with Johnson again

Greene does not immediately call a vote when the House resumes its session. At Greene's request, she meets with Johnson for more than two hours. After the meeting, Greene says they had a long discussion but does not divulge further details. Johnson said he had "a lengthy, constructive meeting" with Greene and Massie.

May 7: Greene gives Johnson list of demands

Greene and Massie meet with Johnson for a second time in as many days. The meeting lasts about 90 minutes. Following this meeting, Greene says she's giving the speaker time to meet her list of four demands: no future funding for Ukraine; implementing the Hastert rule, which states the majority of the majority must support any bill; defunding special counsels and passing a continuing resolution to enact a 1% spending cut if not all 12 appropriation bills are passed individually.

The congresswoman did not impose a deadline for when the speaker must get back to her.

May 8: Greene triggers vote on motion to oust Speaker Johnson, House kills motion

Greene officially triggered a vote on her motion to remove Johnson on the House floor.

Democratic and Republican House members booed Greene as she listed off her previously mentioned grievances against Johnson in her resolution.

The House voted to table -- or effectively kill -- the resolution with by a 359-43 vote, with 163 Democrats joining 196 Republicans to reject Greene's move. Seven Democrats voted present.

Timeline: Marjorie Taylor Greene's feud with Speaker Mike Johnson originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Tippecanoe County voter turnout was not impressive at the start of Election Day.

The Election Board met at 8 a.m. Tuesday for a briefing on the turnout and problems for the 2024 Primary Election.

As of that time, 957 voters had cast ballots in the first two hours of Tuesday's voting, Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush said. There were 4,929 voters who cast early ballots. As of 8 a.m., that's about 5% of the county's registered voters.

"Our expectation of turnout is low," Roush said. "We expected that because there is no contested presidential race in the primary."

A "vote here" sign stands outside the entrance of the polling station at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds on Election Day, Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

Guide for voters: Answers from some contested races in 2024 primary

In comparison to 2020, 19.6% of registered voters cast ballots, and in 2016, 35.7% of the county's registered voters cast ballots. In 2016, the presidential races were still up in the air, making Indiana a pivotal state for the races.

Mike Smith, an election board employee, said, "We're rolling along. Turnout is still tepid. Everybody in the state is reporting it that way."

Voters make their way into the polling place on Election Day, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds in Lafayette, Ind.

The election officials also faced the challenge of poll workers who canceled at the last minute.

"The hardest thing we've had to deal with is, we've had an unprecedented number of call offs. No shows. At the last minute. We're talking 25," Roush said.

Stickers for voters are set in a pile for Election Day, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds in Lafayette, Ind.

Smith said they shuffled around workers to fill in the gaps, and everything continued smoothly.

The polls are open until 6 p.m.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette area voter turnout is 'tepid' for Primary Election
SINGAPORE, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Singapore registered 249 new dengue cases from April 28 to May 4, bringing the total number of dengue infections to 6,815, according to the latest data from the National Environment Agency (NEA).

It is the first time the weekly reported dengue cases have dropped below 300 in the city-state this year.

However, the NEA warned the public that infection risk remains alerting as residents' immunity to the dengue virus remains low. 
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials after Israels military seized control of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday.

Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, said with the ongoing incursion into the southern city of Rafah, there is nowhere safe for Palestinians in Gaza, and argued that Netanyahu will remain in his post as long as the conflict continues.

I urge the ICC to swiftly issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials to finally hold them accountable for this genocide, as is obviously warranted by these well-documented violations of the Genocide Convention under international law, Tlaib said in a statement Tuesday.

The Michigan progressive, who has been a vocal critic of Israel in Congress, also renewed calls for a cease-fire and to halt all military funding to Israel.

It is now more apparent than ever that we must end all U.S. military funding for the Israeli apartheid regime, and demand that President Biden facilitate an immediate, permanent ceasefire that includes a complete withdraw of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians, she said Tuesday.

The court has reportedly considered warrants for Netanyahu and other members of his Cabinet. The court was allegedly considering arrest warrants for weeks over increasing accusations of war crimes being committed in the Israel-Hamas war.

In response, some Republicans in the Senate have threatened to impose sanctions on the ICC if it moved forward with the arrest warrants. Lawmakers said the U.S. could fall back on the American Service-Members Protection Act, a 2002 law that shields the country from cooperating with the court.

The U.S. and Israel are not members of the ICC. Palestinian territories were given membership in 2015.

As of Tuesday, Israeli military tanks have come into Rafah, which, along with Kerem Shalom, is one of two critical points of entry for humanitarian aid designated for Palestinians as parts of Gaza are heading for a famine, according to an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report.

Many of my colleagues are going to express concern and horror at the crimes against humanity that are about to unfold, even though they just voted to send Netanyahu billions more in weapons, Tlaib said. Do not be misled, they gave their consent for these atrocities, and our country is actively participating in genocide. For months, Netanyahu made his intent to invade Rafah clear, yet the majority of my colleagues and President Biden sent more weapons to enable the massacre.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The drum line could be heard in the hallway as the Cane Ridge Rhythmic Ravens made their way into their high school auditorium.

The band marched in one by one, clad in black slacks and vests covered by purple and white sashes and capes. But what they didn't know was the surprise announcement awaiting them. Their leader, Cane Ridge High School Band Director Johnny Croft, was about to receive a CMA Foundation Music Teachers of Excellence Award.

The news was met with an explosion of cheers and claps from the students as Croft put his hand to his chest while a smile spread across his face. That smile didn't fade as the band played a few songs as a tribute to him.

"Wow," Croft said. "I'm speechless."

Cane Ridge High School Band Director Johnny Croft is surprised with the news that he is one of 30 people winning the CMA Foundation Music Teachers of Excellence Award inside the auditorium at Cane Ridge High School in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

But that wasn't the only surprise. The band also learned they were invited to play at CMA Festival in June. Mouths agape, the students answered with a resounding "yes!" when CMA Foundation Executive Director Tiffany Kerns asked them if they'd be up for playing at the festival that draws tens of thousands to downtown Nashville each year.

Croft is one of 30 music educators announced as winners nationwide on Tuesday. The announcement comes in the midst of Teacher Appreciation Week. A $5,000 grant will be given to each winner, with half of it earmarked for classroom needs and the other half for personal expenses.

"As a teacher, as much as you pour in, it's nice to be noticed for some of the things you do," Croft said to the band and the handful of staff and students gathered in the auditorium.

He also thanked the CMA Foundation for its ongoing support over the years, including instruments they've helped the school buy. Finally, Croft thanked the students surrounding him in the auditorium. Without them, Cane Ridge is just a bunch of bricks and a name, he said.

"Thank you for all your dedication and your hard work and all the things that you do to make Cane Ridge a better place," Croft said.

Alayah Dailey and David Groves III react after hearing their band director, Johnny Croft, received a CMA Music Teachers of Excellence Award on Wednesday.

'Above and beyond'

This year's 30 winners include 20 from Tennessee, 10 who serve within the Metro Nashville Public Schools district and 10 from other states. The winners from Tennessee include teachers from Columbia, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Memphis, Nashville and parts of West Tennessee.

"These teachers consistently go above and beyond to build inclusive environments in their classrooms and communities, often removing barriers that prevent even just one student from participating in music education," Kerns said in a news release from the foundation. "It takes a village, and we are so grateful for our village of amazing country artists who joined us this morning to recognize these 30 incredible humans."

Staff from the foundation visited 10 MNPS schools Tuesday to surprise winners with the news. All the winners were also greeted by videos from a long list of music artists to congratulate them, including Reba McEntire, Luke Bryan, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban and Lainey Wilson, among others.

A ceremony honoring all 30 winners, presented by One Country, will be held on Sept. 17 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.

Winners of the 2024 CMA Foundation Music Teachers of Excellence awards

The award application takes teaching videos, professional references and community service work from each nominee into account. It also considers their dedication and impact in bringing high-quality music education to their school communities.

Here are the 30 winners for this year:

Justin Antos , Dwight D. Eisenhower High School, Blue Island, Illinois

Evan Burton , Page Middle School, Franklin, Tennessee

Vanessa Cobb , Montgomery Central High School, Cunningham, Tennessee

Johnny Croft , Cane Ridge High School, Antioch, Tennessee

Charissa Duncanson , Ferndale Lower Elementary School and Ferndale Upper Elementary School, Oak Park, Michigan

Deanna Grandstaff , Cecil Intermediate School, McDonald, Pennsylvania

Corey Graves , Jackson Middle School, Forney, Texas

DaJuana "Dee" Hammonds , Hull Jackson Montessori, Nashville, Tennessee

Eric Hanson , Wilson Elementary, Coppell, Texas

Tony Hartman , Scales Elementary School, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Michael Holland , Franklin High School, Franklin, Tennessee

Brent Hopper , Lakeland Preparatory School, Lakeland, Tennessee

Allen Kenned y, Hume-Fogg Academic High School, Nashville, Tennessee

Ollie Liddell , Memphis Central High School, Memphis, Tennessee

Tyler Merideth , James Lawson High School, Nashville, Tennessee

Allen Moody , Idlewild Elementary, Memphis, Tennessee

Linzie Mullins , Snowden School, Memphis, Tennessee

Cody Newman , Forney High School, Forney, Texas

Katiana Nicholson , Columbia Central High School, Columbia, Tennessee

Dave Petrelli , Lockeland Design Center Elementary, Nashville, Tennessee

Holly Rang , Pennington Elementary, Nashville, Tennessee

Samantha Reid , Oliver Middle School, Nashville, Tennessee

Stephanie San Roman , Oswego High School, Oswego, Illinois

Jonathan Seligman , Casillas Elementary, Chula Vista, California

Laura Shepherd , Donelson Middle School, Nashville, Tennessee

Andrew Smith , Powell High School, Powell, Tennessee

Sarah Theres , Florosa Elementary School, Mary Esther, Florida

Kaitlin Tilden , Andrew Jackson Elementary, Old Hickory, Tennessee

Taylor Walkup-Amos , Yorktown Elementary School, Yorktown, Virginia

Shoshana Wulf, Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School, Nashville, Tennessee

Learn more about the CMA Foundation

Established in 2006, the CMA Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the County Music Association that focuses on improving and sustaining high-quality music education for children nationwide. It has invested more than $30 million into music education, according to the release. The foundation also receives a portion of proceeds from the annual CMA Fest. As part of that effort, artists perform for free at the festival.

Learn more about the foundation, its work and its annual teacher awards at cmafoundation.org. Applications for the 2025 Music Teachers of Excellence open Sept. 10.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville high school band gets surprise invite to perform at CMA Fest
Florida residents will soon be able to save more money with a $1.5 billion tax relief package Governor Ron DeSantis signed Tuesday morning.

House Bill 7073 provides tax savings that range from back-to-school and disaster preparedness to property insurance tax relief.

Its been very difficult for a lot of people, Governor DeSantis said. We dont control the federal reserve in Florida. We have to play the hand were dealt, given whats happening in Washington. Weve taken a lot of steps to provide relief for Floridians.

READ: Boeing Starliner crewed launch scrubbed Monday night

Included in this package is not one but two 14-day Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holidays.

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie wants residents to get ready to take advantage of the holiday.

Watch the full news conference here:

Now, right now, is the best time to finalize your preparedness plans, identify what you need for your kit, then take advantage of the tax holiday, Guthrie said.

As families around Central Florida and the Space Coast prepare for summer, this bill includes Freedom Month, a sales tax holiday on recreational items.

READ: National Hurricane Preparedness Week: What you need to know

Jeremiah Gonda is a father of ten and a small business owner in Brevard County. He said Freedom Month will help his family enjoy time together without breaking the bank.

We love the outdoors, we love camping, fishing and you can imagine the cost that comes with that with a family our size, Gonda said. With the sales tax holiday its going to make our summer that much more affordable.

Read: Congress urged to pass new laws aimed at protecting children and teens online

House Bill 7073 will go into effect July 1, 2024.

Complete details can be found on the Florida Senate website.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Lets state this right at the outset: The New York Times has produced a remarkable run of indispensable journalism about Donald Trumps authoritarian designs for a second term. The paper has exposed Trumps schemes to unleash the Justice Department on political enemies, to gut the bureaucracy and stock it with loyalists, to functionally wreck our intelligence agencies by turning them into armies of back-alley political warfare, to unleash a draconian and deeply sadistic crackdown on immigrants, to hobble international institutions and empower the worlds autocrats and dictators, and much more.

These pieces are executed with great professionalism and revelatory power. Anyone who finds the considerable amount of time it takes to consume this journalism will come away deeply informed aboutand profoundly rattled bythe specter of authoritarian rule that haunts our country, should Trump win.

Can all this be true even as its also true that the Times often makes editorial decisions that risk obscuring all of this for ordinary readers? Yes, both can be true. And it is mystifying that the executive editor of the Times appears unwilling to take this notion seriously.

Joe Kahn recently sat for an interview with Semafors Ben Smith about criticism of the paper. Smith cited a (somewhat misrepresented) claim from Democratic strategist Dan Pfeiffer that the Times doesnt see its job as saving democracy, and asked:

Why dont you see your jobs as: Weve got to stop Trump? What about your job doesnt let you think that way?

The problem here is obvious: This question reduces criticism of the Times to a blanket demand for consciously hostile treatment of Trumpand consciously favorable treatment of President Biden.

Unsurprisingly, Kahn easily batted this away, because he correctly understood the question in exactly those terms:

One of the absolute necessities of democracy is having a free and fair and open election where people can compete for votes, and the role of the news media in that environment is not to skew your coverage towards one candidate or the other, but just to provide very good, hard-hitting, well-rounded coverage of both candidates, and informing voters.

Democracy, said Kahn, requires the media to inform people about their electoral choices, not to prevent people from voting for Trump or to become like Xinhua News Agency or Pravda:



To say that the threats of democracy are so great that the media is going to abandon its role as a source of impartial information to help people votethats essentially saying that the news media should become a propaganda arm for a single candidate. It is true that Bidens agenda is more in sync with traditional establishment parties and candidates. And were reporting on that and making it very clear.

Kahns answer is stunning in its simplistic rendering of the dilemma raised by Trumps hostility to democracy and its resolute lack of awareness of what many liberal critics have actually argued about the Times, the media, and the democracy question.

True, some loud social media voices just want skewed coverage. But the more sophisticated liberal critique, as I understand it, is something else entirely. Its that the unique danger Trump poses to democracy requires a serious reevaluation of the conventions of political reporting at big news organizationsthe daily editorial choices that subtly shape how readers receive information and ideasand the ways they unmistakably obscure the true nature of that threat.

In Kahns formulation, the media is under no obligation to defend democracy frontally and explicitly. Brian Beutler exposes the deep problems with this notion, pointing out that democracy is foundational to a free press and that journalists should actively inform voters that democracy itself is on the ballot, because if they unwittingly choose to break it, that wont be easily undone.

Id like to try another approach. Kahn believes the presss proper role in a liberal democracy is to enlighten voting citizens on the true electoral choices they face. He just thinks the Times is doing a fine job at it already, and he reacts defensively to suggestions otherwise.

So how might we get someone like Kahn to reconsider that proposition? One way might be to ask whether the Times is truly meeting the standard Kahn himself sets for it.

The threshold question should be framed not in Smiths terms but as follows: Does Kahn believe that at the most basic level, the choice voters face in this election is that Trump poses a fundamental threat to the system itself, and Biden just does not?

My suspicion is that many Times editors more or less accept something like that formulation. Elite journalists who have been around D.C. a long time, such as Susan Glasser, are getting more vocal with such declarations. Kahn seems to recognize the broad outlines of this possibility.

So the next question becomes: Does the casual reader regularly come away from most Times coverage grasping that core difference between Trump and Biden, that one fundamentally threatens the system and the other doesnt?

Admittedly, its not easy to definitively answer that. What we can do is isolate media conventions and editorial choices that plainly do obscure that contrast, not just at the Times but everywhere in the media, and ask for hard thinking about them. Heres a partial rundown:

The two-different-realities fallacy. A recent Times news piece reported that both Democratic and GOP voters perceive the other side as an existential threat, concluding that just what is threatening democracy depends on who you talk to.

The piece largely treated GOP voters concerns about threats to democracy that are unfounded (phantom voter fraud) as equivalent to Democratic anger over Trumps insurrection and election-denying Republicans who are helping him get away with it. The overall effect was a whos-to-say-whos-right shrug.

This is emphatically not a demand for ignoring Trump voters concerns. Cover them, of course, but if journalists know those concerns to be largely baseless and know Democratic concerns are mostly grounded in things that happenedas in this casethe question is: Will the casual reader also come away grasping this? The two-different-realities device, which is ubiquitous, structurally works against that goal.

The systemic-threat problem. A lot of media coverage obscures the purely systemic threat Trump poses. To take just one example, Trump is trying to delay his trials so he can cancel ongoing prosecutions of himself if he wins. Times pieces sometimes describe this fact in oddly neutral tones, without asking whether it poses a unique threat to the systems validity by attempting to place Trump above the law entirely.

The casual reader could easily infer that Trumps gambit is tantamount to just another conventional legal strategy, and not see anything amiss with it. The Times could include more quotes explaining how abnormal this is, isolate Trumps real aim in headlines far more often, and do more stand-alone pieces explaining why this would dramatically undermine the rule of law itself.

The proportionality pitfall. When critics argued that coverage of Bidens age, as referenced in special counsel Robert Hurs report, was over the top, Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger dismissed this as a demand that the media engage in downplaying the age issue to help Biden, in refrains similar to Kahns. This is absurdly evasive. The question is not whether Bidens age should be coveredof course it shouldbut whether attention to it is disproportional. And it plainly is disproportional, all across the media.

But heres the thing: Even if Sulzberger and Kahn disagree with me on that, its time for figures like them to stop employing rhetorical dodges that reductively treat such criticism as nothing more than special pleading. Surely there is some point at which theyd concede coverage crosses into disproportionality. The dispute is over where that line lies. Editors make decisions about how much importance to ascribe to things all the time. These are editorial choices. Defend them frontally, and own them.

Its no accident that many in the profession have never seriously accepted that But Her Emails coverage was over the top, which it plainly was, given what we know now. This reflects a broader evasion about the proportionality issue. Enough games around this. Volume and placement matter.

The fodder-for-attacks news hook. The Hur report unleashed a deluge of media analysis pieces declaring that it would provide Trump and Republicans fodder to attack Biden, and looked at whether that will be effective. There is obviously a place for probing the efficacy of political strategies. But this easily veers into overkill.

The danger is that one sides use of something to wage an attackthe seizing on it as fodderitself becomes the hook for covering those attacks and the broader issue around them, often in the form of stand-alone pieces about the attacks themselves. If the attacks carry more weight in determining the scope of coverage than editors judgment of the genuine newsworthiness of the underlying fact itselflike what Hur said about Bidens agethat seems self-evidently problematic.

This and the proportionality pitfall raise a broader point: News organizations like the Times have great power to send a message that people should be generally alarmed by something, simply by covering it relentlessly. Do casual readers come away thinking that Bidens age is as alarming a problem as Trumps authoritarian intentions are? I dont know the precise answer to that question. But would Kahn really deny that its a reasonable one for journalists to ask themselves?

The euphemism temptation. There are too many of these to count: The description of right-wing propagandists and ratfuckers as provocateurs; the claim that Congress did something, when the culprit is Republicans; the echoing of GOP election integrity talking points in headlines, and so forth.

One cannot answer these objections by citing the great coverage mentioned above that does detail Trumps authoritarian designs. Thats because the crucial point here is that other day-to-day editorial choices work at cross-purposes against that revelatory work.

It cannot be right that raising these concerns is tantamount to demanding propaganda for one side, as Kahn puts it. Rather, they are demands that coverage reflect what reporters and editors know to be true, and reflect the importance that they themselves ascribe to it, something they already do about all kinds of matters. If Kahn means what he says about the medias proper role in informing citizens, reevaluating these conventions regularly would be more faithfulnot lessto his own declared mission.

Its hard to know how to improve on these problems. But the truth is, none of us has the answer to them. At bottom, the dilemma is this: When one of the candidates is running on an express vow to wreck the political and legal systems themselves, do typical conventions of political reportingones geared around presenting both sides as equivalently conventional political actors fighting on an even civic playing fieldreally get the job done in communicating what that means?

Would Kahn really assert that the Timesor anyone elsehas that all figured out? Would he really declare that theyve got that problem aced?
Why was part of Bellevilles East Main Street closed Tuesday night? For a big celebration

Folks coming to downtown Belleville Tuesday evening, if youre wondering whats up with the closing of East Main Street, I have the details.

East Main Street was closed from Charles Street to High Street for Tuesday evenings Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce 100th Anniversary Celebration.

Chamber President Wendy Pfeil said that since this year is the Chambers 100th anniversary year, they wanted to do something special in lieu of the usual annual dinner and silent auction event.

This years silent auction is online and closes at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 8.

The celebration starts with a cocktail hour and appetizers at Spaces, at 207 E. Main St.

Appetizers for the cocktail hour were donated by restaurants that are members of the Chamber.

From there, guests will move to the street for dinner.

A long line of tables spans from East Main Streets 100 block to the east end of the 200 block. On the end at Church and East Main streets is a stage for the evenings program.

A look down the long row of tables set up on East Main Street for the Belleville Chambers 100th anniversary celebration

Dinner will consist of fare from the restaurants on Main Street.

A post-reception after party will take place at Bennies Pizza Pub, which will include drinks and music, according to Pfeil.

She said that Bennies owner, Bennie Parr, will also feed the high school student volunteers helping with the event.

The event will be attended by 350 guests, said Pfeil, who is excited for the opportunity to do something different.

She said the city supported the idea of doing something thats never been done in Belleville.

The Chambers annual dinner and silent auction typically takes place in January and used to be held at Fischers Restaurant.

Since Fischers closed, the event has been held at various locations in Belleville. In some recent years, the event took place in July instead of January.

For more information about the Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce, visit bellevillechamber.org.

A stage is set up at the corner of Church and East Main street in downtown Belleville for the Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce annual dinner and silent auction event.
At least one person is dead after an outburst of severe weather blitzed the central United States late Monday into Monday night, including an EF4 twister that hit Barnsdall, Oklahoma, marking the second time this year the town was hit by a tornado.

"It is a small town and it just pretty much went right through the center of it," Osage County Undersheriff Gary Upton told The Associated Press about Barnsdall, located about 40 miles north of Tulsa.

One person is dead and another is missing after the nocturnal tornado ripped through the town, according to officials. The devastation comes just five weeks after a tornado damaged homes in Barnsdall on April 1.

First light on Tuesday revealed the destruction caused by the powerful twister hours before under the veil of darkness, which caused homes to crumble, tossed vehicles and reduced trees to tall, leaf-less stumps. The tornado has been given a preliminary rating of EF4 following a damage survey by the National Weather Service, but more surveys and assessments are planned for the coming days.

The same tornado also tore through Bartlesville, Oklahoma, located about 20 miles away from Barnsdall.

A person at a hotel in Bartlesville captured a heart-pounding video of the moment when the tornado hit the town of 38,000 people. At the start of the video, the person was recording wind-driven rain in the parking lot, but a power flash sent the onlookers running for cover. The winds were so intense that pieces of wood pierced the walls of the hotel.

Video shows the heart-pounding moment a tornado swept through a Hampton Inn in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Monday night.



The winds were so intense that pieces of wood pierced the walls of the hotel. pic.twitter.com/sUnlXZwUev  AccuWeather (@accuweather) May 7, 2024

May has been off to a lightning-fast start in terms of severe weather, as AccuWeather predicted when it released the annual U.S. tornado forecast in early March.

Through the first six days of the month, there have been nearly 600 preliminary reports of severe weather across the United States, which includes over 50 preliminary tornado reports. And more damaging thunderstorms are likely through the end of the week.

Wednesday could be the most dangerous day of the week with more than 125 million people at risk of severe weather from Texas to Maryland. "It may not take long for severe thunderstorms to begin producing tornadoes on Wednesday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 17, 2023. Aleksandar Vucic is in Beijing to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

BELGRADE/BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- "An ironclad friend" is how Chinese President Xi Jinping describes Serbia in China's foreign relations. In Chinese diplomatic discourse, the term conveys a special meaning.

Serbia is proud of its ironclad friendship with China, and China has always treated Serbia as equal, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Xi during his visit to China to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in October last year.

An ironclad friendship, commented Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China, implies close relations, close communication and close cooperation on the basis of true respect for each other's core interests. All these features apply to the China-Serbia relationship.

Taking a stroll through Belgrade's Kalemegdan Park, a symbol of Serbia's resilience, heritage and natural beauty, during his 2016 visit, Xi expressed his profound respect for the country and its people.

"The Serbian people, with an indomitable spirit, have revived time and again in history like the phoenix nirvana, which the Chinese people admire very much," said the Chinese president, who maintains that all countries, regardless of size, are equal members of the international community and should coexist peacefully and learn from each other.

Guided by Xi's philosophy, China firmly supports Serbia on issues concerning its core interests and major concerns, making their ironclad friendship a good example of equal treatment and mutual benefit between countries of different sizes.

The bond between the two countries is reinforced not only through diplomacy but also through mutual respect and understanding, emphasized Aleksandar Vulin, a former Serbian minister of defense and internal affairs.

"Serbia holds profound respect for the People's Republic of China, not merely due to its size, but owing to the exemplary leadership it embodies," he added. "China knows how to talk and listen. China is a partner, not a commander. China does not dictate, China advises."
Transphobic bills in Louisiana and other states reflect a broader culture war. They seek to make a teachers job more challenging in an already overburdened profession while putting the lives of transgender students in peril.

A Louisiana Senate committee easily passed a controversial anti-transgender bill Tuesday to its final legislative stop.

House Bill 608 by Rep. Roger Wilder, R-Denham Springs, unanimously cleared the Senate Committee on Judiciary C. The committees sole Democrat, Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Regina Barrow of Baton Rouge, was absent.

Wilders bill, which hes dubbed the Womens Safety and Protection Act, would segregate all bathrooms, changing rooms and sleeping quarters by sex in public schools, domestic violence shelters and correctional facilities. The bill also defines the terms man, woman, girl, boy, male and female. These definitions specifically exclude gender identity, which the bill does not define.

The bill was opposed by several LGBTQ+ rights advocates, who argued the bill needlessly harms transgender people. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates there are approximately 20,000 transgender people living in Louisiana.

Transgender people tend to experience higher rates of domestic violence and have higher suicide rates than people who identify as the gender they were assigned at birth. While many domestic violence shelters already turn away transgender people, Wilders bill would require they do so unless they have the space to offer separate sleeping quarters and bathrooms for transgender people.

This bill represents a deeply troubling attempt to deny the humanity and dignity of an already vulnerable population by seeking to eliminate legal recognition of gender identities beyond the binary, SarahJane Guidry, executive director of Forum for Equality, an LGBTQ+ rights organization, told committee members.

Terry Landry, a policy advocate with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said he thought the bill was eerily similar to the racial segregation of bathrooms during the Jim Crow era.

Landry added that, as a father of daughters, he did not believe the bill would make his children safer.

As the bill has progressed through the legislative process, Wilder has not been able to point to a specific incident in Louisiana in which a woman was harmed by a transgender woman in a restroom or changing facility.

While Wilder pitched his bill as a way to keep women and girls from feeling uncomfortable or unsafe when men enter private areas, the legislation would require a transgender man, even one who has transitioned via hormones and gender affirming surgery, to use facilities designated for women. A transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Transitioning refers to actions taken by a transgender person to align their bodies with their identified gender.

The bill will next be discussed by the Senate.

The post Transgender bathroom restrictions advance from Louisiana Senate committee appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator.
NEW YORK  A prominent transit union leader plans to sue Columbia University over alleged mistreatment of school staffers during a building seizure last week  the latest labor group to wade into the debate surrounding campus unrest.

John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union  which represents 155,000 workers across the airline, transit, railroad, universities, utilities and service sectors  castigated Columbia President Minouche Shafik for waiting too long to authorize the NYPD to clear out Hamilton Hall after demonstrators occupied it last Tuesday night.

Its on them to protect their workforce and they didnt do it, Samuelsen told POLITICO. He called dissidents behavior toward staffers working at the time of the takeover, including two custodians and a security officer, an outrageous affront to working people.

One of the unions local branches represents 725 workers at Columbia, including custodians, security officers and electricians.



Officials should have known the building was a target given its history as the site of an occupation by students advocating for racial justice in the 1960s, he charged.

Were exploiting every legal means at our disposal against Columbia, against the individual occupiers of the building  [who] thought that they could hold our custodians hostage to their ideology, he added.

The union honcho, who also represents the 44,000-member Transport Workers Union Local 100, insisted he supports students constitutional right to protest



Samuelsen repeated a claim to which Mayor Eric Adams has been clinging since police officers responded to protests at Columbia and City College: that outside agitators snuck into student encampments and exacerbated tensions.

The NYPD arrested 109 protesters at Columbia and 173 at City College. The mayor has continued to defend the timing of police officers response.

A Columbia spokesperson declined to comment on Samuelsens legal threat.

An organizer for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the group that was behind the encampment but was not involved in the takeover of Hamilton, told POLITICO they could not speak to the actions committed by or words said by the autonomous group of students who occupied Hamilton.



The vast majority of individuals involved were peaceful and only had the intention of being peaceful and treating people with respect, said the organizer, who was granted anonymity, adding that its the first time theyre hearing about the allegations.

The move represents a significant escalation by one of the most politically active unions in New York state, as Shafik and Adams deal with political fallout from the NYPDs crackdown on protests on campuses. The union has not shied from picking fights with powerful Democrats  Samuelson recently launched an attack ad against Gov. Kathy Hochul amid an ongoing disagreement over a union contract.

In a letter to Shafik late Monday morning, Samuelsen urged the president to provide the names of the protesters arrested inside Hamilton Hall, access to footage from the building and information the NYPD gave to Columbia on the number of students who participated in the demonstration as well as outside actors.

He also wants to meet with Shafik and discuss steps to ensure workers safety if the protests resume, as well as compensation for affected union members.

When the custodians told the demonstrators that they wanted to get out of the building, at least one smarmy, sanctimonious, elitist ... occupier  in a reference to the Gaza protests and takeover of Hamilton  told them they would not be able to exit premises because this moment is bigger than you, Samuelsen alleged in the letter.

The custodians had to then fight their way toward one of the barricaded exits to escape, he said.

The security officer, an African American woman, managed to slip out before the barricades were set up, Samuelsen added. But shes still shaken by her run-in with the demonstrators who verbally attacked her in a very aggressive and extremely offensive manner, he said.

Labor unions have been increasingly weighing in on turmoil afflicting institutions across the country. Shawn Fain, president of United Auto Workers, blasted the mass arrests. Other unions have called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

The Professional Staff Congress, the City University of New Yorks faculty and staff union, on Monday requested that CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez ask Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to drop charges against students and employees.

CUNY faculty recently staged a strike in support of the protest, but the union did not authorize or support it.
Trio ambush and kill foreign politicians son, cops say. 3 arrested one month later

Three men were arrested one month after the fatal shooting of a Dominican Republic leaders son at a Texas gas station, authorities said.

Hernan Torres, Sr., 50, Hernan Torres, Jr., 25, and Hernando Torres, 19, were charged with murder in the killing of Luis Alfredo Pacheco on April 1, according to the Houston Police Department.

Pacheco, the son of President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic Alfredo Pacheco, was ambushed by gunfire after he walked out of a Houston convenience store and got into an SUV, police said.

Three others were in the vehicle, officers said, and a 29-year-old suffered life-threatening injuries.

At that time, a silver (Dodge) Charger and a silver Mercedes Benz approached the SUV. Two males exited the Dodge, one male exited the Mercedes Benz and all three fired multiple shots at the SUV, police said in a May 7 news release.

The trio then fled the scene and were arrested over a month later, officers said. Investigators shared their photos on social media, asking the public to help identify them.

At the time of the shooting, officers said the attack was targeted, according to KPRC. Police did not provide an update on the trios motive.

Torres, Jr. and Hernando Torres were arrested May 6 while Torres, Sr. was arrested in Philadelphia on unrelated charges. Torres, Sr. will be taken to Harris County in Texas, police said.

Torres, Jr. and Hernando Torres were booked into Harris County Jail and are awaiting arraignment, according to court records.

Attorney information for the suspects was not listed.

Gunmen open fire at Texas gas station, killing foreign politicians son, officials say

Body found floating in Mississippi River had been there for days, Missouri cops say

1-year-old boy fighting for his life after falling in backyard pool, Indiana cops say
Truck crashes into house in Longview, cause unknown

LONGVIEW, Texas (KETK)  Officials responded to a truck crashing into a house on Tuesday morning in Longview and are investigating the cause.

Human remains found off FM 346 East in Smith County, foul play suspected

According to the Longview Fire Marshal, around 10 a.m. there was a report of a truck having crashed into a home on the 300 block of Mill Run.

Photos of the crash, courtesy of Longview Fire Marshal Kevin May

Photos of the crash, courtesy of Longview Fire Marshal Kevin May

Photos of the crash, courtesy of Longview Fire Marshal Kevin May

The Fire Marshal said that the driver of the truck was taken to a local hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.

The cause of the crash is not known, but it is under investigation.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KETK.com | FOX51.com.
A commercial truck driver who was acquitted in 2022 of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire is scheduled for a hearing in Concord, New Hampshire on Wednesday in an attempt to get his drivers license back.

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy. who came to the U.S. from Ukraine when he was 10, face an administrative hearing by the New Hampshire Department of Public Safety. An advisory about the hearing says that due to the complexity of the case, the agency has set aside three days to present evidence regarding the matter.

I would like to request a hearing to get my license back, Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 28, wrote to the New Hampshire Department of Safety in September, according to records obtained by The Associated Press under the states open records law.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Zhukovskyys attorney Earle Wingate III said Zhukovskyy will testify via video on Wednesday. Wingate says Zhukovskyy was precluded from attending the hearing in person.

A jury found him not guilty of multiple manslaughter and negligent homicide counts stemming from a 2019 collision in Randolph, New Hampshire. The crash killed seven members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, an organization of Marine Corps veterans and their spouses in New England.

Prosecutors argued that Zhukovskyy  who had taken heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine on the day of the crash  repeatedly swerved back and forth before the collision and told police he caused it. But a judge dismissed eight impairment charges and his attorneys said the lead biker was drunk and not looking where he was going when he lost control of his motorcycle and slid in front of Zhukovskyys truck.

Zhukovskyys license was suspended automatically following his arrest, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him after the verdict, citing previous convictions of drug possession, driving with a suspended license, furnishing false information, and larceny. Zhukovskyy was taken from a New Hampshire county jail to a federal detention facility in Pennsylvania.

Zhukovskyy was released from the Pennsylvania facility in April under an order of supervision, according to detention and immigration officials. That type of order allows immigrants to live and work in the U.S., so long as they meet regularly with ICE representatives and agree to follow specific conditions.

Zhukovskyys attorney in the driving license hearing would not disclose where Zhukovskyy is currently living.

A judge had ordered the deportation of Zhukovskyy, but his attorney in the deportation case has asked for asylum for his client.

The Boston Globe reported in February that it was not clear whether Zhukovskyy, would be sent to his native Ukraine during its ongoing war with Russia. The United States has paused repatriation flights to Ukraine and authorized Temporary Protected Status for qualified Ukrainians.

Zhukovskyy awaits the state administrative hearing in New Hampshire as he deals with an unresolved drunken driving charge in Connecticut, where he was arrested a month before the 2019 crash in New Hampshire.

At the time of the crash, Zhukovskyys commercial driving license, issued in Massachusetts, should have been revoked after his arrest in Connecticut.

Connecticut officials alerted the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, but Zhukovskyys license wasnt suspended due to a backlog of out-of-state notifications about driving offenses. In a review, federal investigators found similar backlog problems in Rhode Island,

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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Editors note: This story has been updated to clarify that businessman Jason Walton, former Utah state House Speaker Brad Wilson (R), and Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) are all running statewide television ads.

Former President Trumps allies fear the former president has given a boost to the moderate wing of the GOP in Utah by backing a long-shot conservative candidate in the race to replace retiring Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

Trump endorsed Trent Staggs shortly before the Utah GOP convention last month. Voters will formally choose their nominee in the June 25 primary.

Staggs has shown few signs of viability as he struggles to raise money and gain traction in the polls, sparking fears among some Trump-aligned Republicans that the endorsement could splinter conservative voters and put Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), the more moderate candidate, in the drivers seat ahead.

Everyone knows this is Curtis race to lose, one Utah-based GOP operative said. Staggs has to pitch a perfect game to win.  [Trumps team] has to take a real interest in this seat for it to not fold over to Curtis.

Curtis was never considered to be in contention to win Trumps support. He did not back Trump during the presidential primary earlier this year, and his wife was an ardent backer of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) before she dropped out of the GOP presidential primary race. He also has much of Romneys team behind him.

But Republican operatives believe that if Trump really wanted to make a dent in the race, he would have backed either businessman Jason Walton or former Utah state House Speaker Brad Wilson (R)  both of whom are well-funded and would have had a punchers chance had Trump sided with them. Wilson, Walton and Curtis are the only candidates who are running statewide television ads.

It was a real miscalculation picking Staggs, the Utah-based GOP operative said, pointing to the decision not to back Walton specifically. The operative noted Walton has the campaign infrastructure to get the word out about an endorsement.

Two GOP sources told The Hill that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) privately urged Trump to back Walton the night before the convention. A Lee spokesperson declined to delve into specifics on those discussions.

Sen. Lee speaks to President Trump regularly, and President Trump asks very routinely on not just the Utah Senate race but many of the Senate races because the senator often meets with candidates, said Dan Hauser, a top political aide to Lee, pointing to the senators very specific interview process for candidates. They have discussed numerous options in numerous races. But anything in specifics they discuss in private, they like to keep it that way.

Instead, Trump backed Staggs, who operatives say put himself on the radar for the endorsement with an approach that centered on courting MAGA influencers  including Stephen Bannon, Kari Lake and Charlie Kirk  that helped lead him to the former president. The decision perplexed allies of the former president, who is known as a kingmaker in Senate GOP primaries.

I was surprised, said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a Trump ally who also counts Curtis as a friend from his time in the House.

A spokesperson for the former president did not respond to a request for comment about the endorsement.

The main question for Staggs is whether he can make the endorsement count and keep Curtis from running away with the primary. He will likely need a cash infusion to make that happen.

According to the pre-convention filing, Staggs raised less than $200,000 during the first three months of the year.

Staggs challenge is that people need to know Trump endorsed you. And without resources how do you do that? a national GOP operative said.

Staggs, for his part, said he was grateful for Trumps support.

He knows, like I do, that Utah is ready for an America First Senator to join Mike Lee, Staggs said in a statement. Conservatives are fired up and hungry for someone more concerned about our own border rather than Ukraines. Were sending a message to the Washington establishment that their time is up.

Romney, meanwhile, is not wading into the race. The one-time GOP presidential nominee spoke highly of Curtis and Wilson when asked about the race, calling them both qualified individuals who would represent Utah well. He also pointed to the lack of success at the ballot box historically for those who have come out on top at the state convention, which features 4,000 delegates.

The president weighs in in a lot of places where people are surprised. I guess he often times is intrigued by whoever speaks with him last, so I dont know who spoke with him but it obviously did a nice job to help Mr. Staggs in the Republican convention, Romney told The Hill. But I think history suggests if you win the Republican convention, youll lose the primary.

That could very well be the case this year, and not only at the Senate level. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) lost the convention by a wide margin as well, but is expected to handily win reelection later this year.

The race also took a turn in recent weeks as Brent Hatch, son of the late and longtime Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) who was pulling in as much as double digits in the race, did not make the ballot.

The son of the Utah GOP heavyweight was the beneficiary of millions from an outside group affiliated with the Club for Growth, but he was unable to gather the requisite 28,000 signatures (he gathered 21,035) and fell far short of qualifying via convention. One GOP operative with Utah ties told The Hill that Hatchs issues stemmed from his late entry and lack of real operation behind his bid.

He decided to run on a whim, but never built infrastructure around it, the strategist said.

The effort to gather signatures fell short in large part because by the time he tried to hire a firm to take on that process, they were all hired up by other candidates and it was too late, leaving him to pick up the pieces, according to the operative.

Trump has had a roller-coaster relationship with Utah Republicans dating to his 2016 race. GOP operatives say his standing with primary voters is strong, but not as high as it is in other ruby red states, potentially limiting the impact of his endorsement for Staggs.

But whether Staggs can make a run either way remains a major question for some Republicans.

This isnt some House race in Alabama, the national GOP operative said. You actually have to do the thing, and the question is: can he?

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former President Trump is reliving his chaotic 2016 campaign from a New York City courtroom as he seeks to return to the White House with a 2024 election victory.

Trumps hush money trial in Manhattan has thrust back into the spotlight unsavory details about his first bid for president, with testimony detailing payoffs to women who alleged they had affairs with Trump as well as his campaigns scramble to manage the aftermath of the infamous Access Hollywood tape.

Trump has worked hard to convince voters the trial is politically motivated, decrying the judge as conflicted and suggesting some witnesses and testimony are outside the bounds of the case. Hes also suggested the trial, which he is required to attend in person each day, is a way to keep him off the campaign trail.

But his allies said that while aspects of the trial may be personally embarrassing for Trump to relive, the political consequences are likely to be minimal.

Number one is, he won [in 2016]. Number two is  youre not learning anything new about Donald Trump on any of these issues, said Sean Spicer, who served as Trumps White House press secretary. Its not new. The Band-Aids been ripped off.

One former Trump White House official suggested the majority of Americans were not paying close attention to the day-to-day developments and testimony in the case, lessening the risk that Trumps 2016 foibles would hurt him with voters in the short term.

Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the New York case, which centers on a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign, intended to keep her from going public with her story of an alleged affair with Trump.

Trump has denied the affair, and his attorneys have noted hush-money payments are not illegal in themselves. They assert the former president did nothing wrong.

The hush-money payment and the Access Hollywood tape released in October 2016 on which Trump can be heard bragging about groping women have been central to recent testimony in the trial.

Hope Hicks, a former senior Trump aide and one of the most high-profile witnesses to date, acknowledged in her testimony that the tape was a crisis that left her very concerned.

Hicks also detailed learning of the hush-money payments made to Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, testifying that Trump expressed concern about how his wife, Melania, would react.

That testimony could bolster the defenses contention that the hush-money payments were meant to save embarrassment for Trumps family, rather than to preserve his political fortune before the election.

Trumps 2024 campaign has been a sharp contrast to his 2016 bid, when he was an insurgent candidate joined by aides who had relatively little experience on a presidential campaign. While that operation was often beset by leaks and infighting, his 2024 campaign has been run by Trump and a tight circle of trusted advisers.

Trump has at times appeared irritated with the way the trial has dredged up scandals from his first presidential campaign.

The former president in a social media post last Friday accused the judge handling the hush money case of trying to make the trial as salacious as possible, even though these things have NOTHING to do with this FAKE case.

On Monday, Trump told reporters outside the courtroom that the prosecution had absolutely no case.

Even the witnesses they want to bring up, they have nothing to do with the case, he said. This is a ridiculous situation.

Trump has been relentless since the charges were first brought last year in claiming that the hush money case and the three other criminal cases against him are politically motivated and meant to harm his 2024 White House bid.

The former presidents aides and allies have taken to the airwaves to promote the same message, and Trumps campaign has looked to raise money off of outrage over his criminal cases.

Americans, the outcome of this trial doesnt affect them, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), a contender to serve as Trumps running mate, said Sunday on CNN. The trial is maybe a spectacle for cable TV, but average Americans have already baked in what they think about President Trump, President Biden  theyre looking at the policies, not at the people.

But there are some signs that Trumps conduct around the 2016 election could spell trouble for his 2024 bid if he is convicted.

An ABC News/Ipsos poll published Sunday found 80 percent of Trumps supporters said they would still back him even if he is convicted of a felony in the hush money case.

But 16 percent of those surveyed said they would reconsider their support, while 4 percent said they would withdraw their support for Trump, which could make a difference in what is expected to be a tight election.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former President Donald Trump returns from lunch at Manhattan criminal court, in New York, Monday, May 6, 2024. | Peter Foley

Former President Donald Trump has been charged yet again with violating the gag order set in his criminal trial and was required to pay another $1,000. In the past two weeks, Trump has paid a total of $10,000 in gag order violation payments ordered by Judge Juan Merchan.

On Monday, Merchan said he did not want to put Trump behind bars for further violations. The prosecution has accused the presumptive presidential nominee of breaking the violation more than a dozen times.

The gag order prohibits him from publicly criticizing jurors, potential witnesses and the family members of Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the indictment case against Trump.

The last thing I want to consider is jail, Merchan said, per Fox News. You are (the) former president and possibly the next president.

The filing made on Monday threatens that incarceration will be in Trumps future if he does not follow the guidelines of the gag order.

The magnitude of that decision (however) is not lost on me, he added. Your continued willful violation of the courts order  constitutes a direct attack  and will not be allowed to continue.  It is not allowed to continue.

Trump Organizations longtime controller testifies

Jeffrey McConney, who served as the Trump Organizations controller for more than 20 years, was the only witness to take the stand Monday morning in Trumps hush money trial.

McConney was questioned about his involvement in recurring payments made in 2017 to Trumps former attorney, Michael Cohen. Cohen received monthly payments of $35,000 for nearly a year. Prosecutors are claiming that the payments were reimbursements to Cohen for paying off adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

In the criminal case, prosecutors are accusing Trump of 34 felony counts stemming from hush money payments to Daniels through Cohen leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

McConney is accused of handling the 11 fake invoices to Cohen as reimbursements for the $130,000 payment made to Daniels. Trump has been accused of using his own personal bank account to cover nine of the 11 payments to Cohen that were documented as legal expenses.

Cohen was ultimately paid $420,000, which included a bonus and money to offset taxes, an arrangement outlined in a handwritten note by Mr. McConney shown to jurors, per The New York Times.

Despite accusations, McConney testified that he doesnt question his work for the Trump Organization.

I feel great. I have no problems with the work I did on this, he said, according to ABC News, adding that he got emotional after being asked why he left his career under Trump.

I just couldnt do it anymore, McConney testified. I just wanted to relax and stop being accused of misrepresenting assets for the company that I loved working for.

He added, I got to do a lot of things normally an accountant wouldnt be able to do. Im very proud of the work I did for 35 years.

McConney also testified that Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organizations former chief financial officer, was the one who told him to transfer the money to Cohen, not Trump.

President Trump did not ask you to do any of the things you described? Trumps Attorney, Emil Bove, asked McConney during his cross-examination, per CNN.

He did not, McConney responded.

Last month, Weisselburg was sentenced to five months in jail for perjury during his testimony made in Trumps New York civil fraud case.

In August, he admitted guilt to 15 felony charges as part of an agreement with the prosecution. The terms of the deal required that Weisselberg provide truthful testimony at the Trump Organizations trial, pay $2 million covering unpaid taxes, interest and fines, as well as relinquish his right to appeal, the Deseret News previously reported.

Another Trump Organization employee testifies

Deborah Tarasoff, currently employed by the Trump Organization, told the court Monday that her employer is paying for her lawyers.

As accounts payable supervisor, Tarasoff saw the ins and outs of payments being made, according to CNN.

She would get an approved invoice, enter it into the system, cut the check and get it signed. Tarasoff testified that Trump or his sons needed to approve invoices of more than $10,000 and Trump was the only person who authorized checks from his personal account, including during his presidency.

Tarasoff also confirmed the $35,000 checks made out to Cohen were signed by Trump himself.
Jeffrey Dankwa Ampah (L), a doctoral candidate from the Republic of Ghana, poses for a photo with Liu Haifeng, a Chinese professor from Tianjin University, in north China's Tianjin Municipality, Jan. 3, 2024. (Xinhua)

TIANJIN, May 7 (Xinhua) -- It has long been Jeffrey Dankwa Ampah's dream to build a green and sustainable world.

"My primary objective is to formulate viable pathways for the world to transition away from polluting fossil fuels and eventually help to realize our climate goals," said Ampah, a doctoral candidate from the Republic of Ghana, studying at Tianjin University in north China's Tianjin Municipality.

Ampah's PhD centers on global climate challenges, specifically how to minimize the use of carbon to achieve global decarbonization goals, and reduce the negative impact of carbon removal on global energy, land, water and food systems.

When he was in primary school, Ampah was irritated by frequent power outages. "Back then in my country, electricity was expensive and unstable. At one of those blackout moments, as a young inquisitive kid, I looked up at the blazing sun and wondered when my country would start generating electricity from the sun as the western world did since it is free, clean, and inexhaustible."

This burgeoning thought led him to study renewable energy engineering at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) in Ghana for his bachelor's degree.

"UENR is a publicly funded national institution seeking excellence in energy and natural resource sciences. That's where my quest for cleaner energy to benefit the world began," Ampah recalled.

In 2019, two years after he finished his undergraduate studies and two years into a teaching assistant role at UENR, he decided to further his studies abroad and chose China.

"The remarkable advancements China made in the development of renewable energy sources and its commitment to combating climate change are the main reasons why I chose to study in China," Ampah said. He learned from a report by the International Energy Agency that China is at the forefront of the renewable energy globally.

"In 2015, China set the goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions around 2030 and has taken many effective measures," he said. These achievements and commitments deeply attract Ampah as a renewable energy researcher.

What made the choice to study in China even more appealing was the availability of a full scholarship if he applied to a Chinese university thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative.

"A number of Ghanaian students have been awarded scholarships since our country joined the initiative in 2018. I think it really helps cultivate the talents needed for Ghana's development," he said.

Ampah embarked on the journey to study in China in 2019. He owes much of his academic success to the excellent environment Tianjin university provides. "The research environment here is very superior. Our university boasts excellent facilities, a superb faculty and inspiring learning vibes."

He said in particular that the personal traits he observed in most of his lab peers have significantly influenced his work ethic and approaches. "Most of my Chinese friends are self-disciplined, persistent, and steadfast with their research. Together they make good researchers."

During the five years in China, Ampah has spent most of his vacations studying on campus. For him, the experience of studying in China is a life-changing event, and there is not a single day to waste.

Throughout his academic journey at Tianjin University, from the master's program to his current doctoral pursuit, Ampah has published nearly 50 high-level academic papers in the field of renewable energy and climate change. His research on clean and low-carbon alternative fuels for shipping have received widespread attention from the international community, including officials from the International Maritime Organization.

Ampah has been closely following the cooperation between China and Ghana in renewable energy and climate change adaptation under the Belt and Road Initiative framework. He believes, against the backdrop of global climate change crisis, the development of green energy is also one of the demands of African countries.

He strongly recommends that Ghana focuses on the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, fully utilizing its abundant solar, wind, and biomass energy for energy transformation. "In this regard, China has set an example for us," he added.

Ampah said he will continue to conduct research in the fields of renewable energy and climate change, learn from China's experience in high-quality development of new energy, serve global environmental governance and economic development, and contribute to the friendly development between China and Africa. 

Jeffrey Dankwa Ampah (L) poses for a photo with his mother at his bachelor graduation ceremony in Ghana on Aug. 12, 2017. (Xinhua)
Trump was given the day off trial for Barrons graduation. Now hes headlining a Republican fundraiser

Donald Trump is planning to headline a political fundraiser on the day he demanded a break in his hush money trial so that he could attend his youngest son Barrons high school graduation.

The Minnesota Republican Party has announced that the former president will headline its annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner event on Friday 17 May, the same day that Barron Trump graduates from Oxbridge Academy in the Sunshine State.

We are thrilled to welcome President Trump back to Minnesota, state GOP chairman David Hann said in a statement. I can think of no one more fitting to join us this year than President Trump.

The fundraiser will be held in St Paul, Minnesota, a roughly three hour and 45 minute flight from West Palm Beach, where Barrons graduation ceremony will take place.

The high school event starts from 10am ET. It is not clear what time the Republican fundraiser gets under way.

However, Mr Trumps busy schedule that day comes after he falsely claimed the judge in his hush money trial wouldnt give him a day off to attend his sons graduation from Oxbridge.

At the start of the trial in April, Mr Trumps legal team asked the judge to allow the criminal defendant the day off.

Judge Juan Merchan told the former president he was not going to make a decision until the trial was underway, saying that he would not be able to grant the request if the trial was running behind schedule.

Donald Trump with then-first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron as the former delivered his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination on the South Lawn of the White House on 27 August 2020 (AP)

Mr Trump hit out at the judge saying that he was blocking him from attending the special moment.

Who will explain for me, to my wonderful son, Barron, who is a GREAT Student at a fantastic School, that his Dad will likely not be allowed to attend his Graduation Ceremony, something that we have been talking about for years, because a seriously Conflicted and Corrupt New York State Judge wants me in Criminal Court on a bogus 'Biden Case' which, according to virtually all Legal Scholars and Pundits, has no merit, and should NEVER have been brought, he wrote on Truth Social on 15 April.

Mr Trump's other sons and allies got in on the outrage as well.

Donald Trump Jr reposted a video compilation made by right-wing online personality Jack Posobiec calling Judge Merchans non-existent decision pure evil.

Judge Merchan is truly heartless in not letting a father attend his sons graduation, Eric Trump also chimed in.

Senate candidate Kari Lake called the judge corrupt, heartless and cruel, while Utah senator Mike Lee wrote that it was deliberately cruel.

Despite all the complaining, Judge Merchan ultimately granted the request  saying on 30 April that it was not a problem for Mr Trump to take the day off for the ceremony because the trial is currently running to schedule.

His appearance in Minnesota on 17 May will also come after Mr Trump once vowed never to visit the state again if President Joe Biden won it in the 2020 election.

First lady Melania Trump with her son Barron at the White House on 27 August 2020 (Getty)

What we've done for Minnesota, if I lose Minnesota, I'm never coming back, he said during his 2020 presidential campaign. I don't care. I'm never coming back!

Apparently that promise didn't stick.

The Independent has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

Unlike his siblings, Barron has largely been kept out of the spotlight.

After the end of Mr Trump's presidency, his youngest son left Washington and enrolled at the school from which he will now graduate near the familys Mar-a-Lago home and is next expected to enrol in college.

A source close to the Trump family told People in March that if Barron goes away to college, there is a chance that his mother will follow him.

Melanias main job is taking care of Barron, the source said.

I think its possible that she will follow him wherever he goes to school.
(Bloomberg) -- Check after check after check was displayed on screens for a New York jury on Monday carrying Donald Trumps distinctive signature scrawled with a black sharpie.

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The payments  most of them for $35,000 and one for $70,000  were made out to Trumps former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, throughout 2017. Trump says the money was for monthly legal services, but Manhattans district attorney says the true purpose was to hide a sex scandal before the 2016 election.

And do you recognize that signature? prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked the accounts payable supervisor at the Trump Organization, Deborah Tarasoff, who was on the witness stand Monday.

Yes, I do, said Tarasoff, who has worked for Trumps sprawling real estate company for 24 years, and still does. Mr. Trumps.

After two weeks of testimony from an array of government witnesses, jurors were given the closest view yet of the otherwise mundane business records at the center of the case: Cohens monthly invoices, internal email discussions about the payments, entries in the companys general ledger and, ultimately, personal checks signed by Trump from the White House after the won the election.

Read more: What Trumps 34 Hush Money Charges Are All About: QuickTake

The district attorney alleges the reimbursement to Cohen was for a $130,000 hush agreement the lawyer made with Trumps blessing to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, to keep her quiet about an alleged affair before the election. Trump is accused of falsifying 34 business records in the process of repaying Cohen, part of a broader alleged scheme to bury negative stories and influence the vote.

Here are some of the documents the prosecutors presented:

Checks

Jurors heard from Trump Organization employees how they had to send checks to the White House to get Trumps signature because he was the only signatory on his personal account, which was used to pay Cohen in 2017. The monthly checks to his personal lawyer connect the former president directly to the payments, though his defense team has sought to distance Trump from them. Tarasoff testified that Trump kept a tight grip on larger expenses, saying the former president wasnt afraid to send a check back with void written across it when he didnt want to pay.

Invoices

Tarasoff and another government witness, former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, on Monday explained to the jury how Cohen sent his invoices by email, for $35,000 a month. Over the year, the total came to $420,000, which prosecutors say included a bonus and other expenses on top of the repayment, which was doubled to account for taxes. McConney testified that Trump had once suggested he could be fired for paying invoices too blindly, suggesting the real estate mogul and reality TV star kept a close eye on payouts.

Both McConney and Tarasoff testified that they had no reason to believe the checks werent being used for legal services, and that they werent involved in any discussions about the hush money payment or told to keep the checks secret. Cohen and Daniels are both expected to testify in the trial  Daniels likely on Tuesday, according to the AP.

Emails

The jury was shown emails in which McConney reminded Cohen that he needs to send an invoice in order to get paid. Other emails showed Cohen sending an invoice to former Trump chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg with small talk like happy holidays. The panel also was shown emails in which the invoices were forwarded to Tarasoff with the instruction that she issue the checks for an unspecified retainer and log them in the ledger to legal services.

General ledger

Witnesses also described in detail how general ledgers were maintained for Trumps revocable trust as well as his personal account. The Cohen payments were coded to legal expenses, but jurors were told that the legal department was never alerted to the lawyers invoices, which would have been the standard practice.

Handwritten notes

Jurors also saw images of handwritten notes by McConney and Weisselberg discussing the various numbers associated with Cohens complex repayment schedule. McConney said he never saw the purported retainer agreement described to him by his then-boss, Weisselberg.

Taken together, the dozens of documents shown to the jury Monday are at the heart of the governments indictment, the first criminal case against a former president. Trump faces as many as four years behind bars if convicted. He denies wrongdoing.

(Adds second paragraph under Invoices.)

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If he wins a second term in November, Donald Trump wants to covertly deploy American assassination squads into Mexico soon after hes sworn into office again, according to three people whove discussed the matter with the former U.S. president.

Both during and after his presidency, the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee has floated different ideas for bombing or invading Mexico in response to the American fentanyl crisis and to wage WAR on notorious drug cartels. As president, Trump even thought it was possible to bomb the cartels drug labs, and then potentially pin the strikes on another country, according to his former defense secretary, Mark Esper.

What was once a fringe notion that senior Trump administration officials quickly moved to shut down has now become a mainstream GOP policy proposal, including among influential Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill and conservative think tanks.

Trump is currently campaigning for the White House on a public vow to, in his words, make appropriate use of Special Forces, cyber warfare, and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations.

The former president has not presented specific details in public about these plans  for example, how many U.S. troops hed be willing to send into sovereign Mexican territory. But, the three sources tell Rolling Stone, in conversations with close MAGA allies, including at least one Republican lawmaker, Trump has privately endorsed the idea of covertly deploying  with or without the Mexican governments consent  special-ops units that would be tasked with, among other missions, assassinating the leaders and top enforcers of Mexicos powerful and most notorious drug cartels.

In some of these discussions, Trump has insisted that the U.S. military has tougher killers than they do and pondered why these assassination missions havent been done before, arguing that eliminating the heads of cartels would go a long way toward hobbling their operations and striking fear into the hearts of the kingpins. (In fact, versions of this strategy have indeed been tried before in the long-running international war on drugs, including in Mexico, where the nations government, with U.S. support, devoted substantial resources to wiping out as many cartel bosses as possible. It has not worked.)

During some of these conversations, Trump has likened these proposals to the 2019 military raid that he ordered that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, insisting that the U.S. should approach drug cartel leadership in the same manner. One of the sources, who discussed the issue with Trump earlier this year, recalls the ex-president saying that the U.S. government should have a kill list of drug lords, as this source describes Trumps ideas, of the most powerful and infamous cartel figures that American Special Forces would be assigned to kill or capture in a potential second Trump administration.

Trumps spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

As Rolling Stone reported last year, Trump directed his policy advisers to supply him with a menu of military options for attacking Mexican drug cartels, if he reconquers the White House. This included scenarios for potential airstrikes, drone attacks, U.S. troop deployments, and other forms of warfare for taking on the major drug cartels leaders, who Trump has long derided as some bad hombres.

Just a few short years ago, the concept of a Trump or any modern administration invading or bombing Mexico  including without the cooperation of Mexicos president  would have been widely viewed as a fanciful scheme or a mere outburst, even coming from a figure as extreme as the 45th commander in chief. However, in recent years, the policy prescriptions have gone far beyond Trumps venting of frustrations, and entered the Republican Party mainstream.

MAGA-aligned think tanks, such as the Center for Renewing America and the America First Policy Institute, have released policy papers that forcefully endorse wielding significant military force against these criminal organizations. One of these policy blueprints  from CRA and bylined by former Trump official Ken Cuccinelli  was privately briefed to Trump in 2023, and is bluntly titled: Its Time to Wage War on Transnational Drug Cartels.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, formerly Trumps top rival in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, pledged that if he were elected president, he would order Special Forces to enter Mexico on Day One. A growing list of influential GOP lawmakers has announced legislation or publicly blessed a new blitz of military action in Mexico. Last year, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) announced legislation that would give the military the authority to go after these organizations wherever they exist, causing Mexicos leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to denounce it as an offense to the people of Mexico.

At the time, Graham told Rolling Stone while he would like to work with Mexico, the senator was putting a congressional authorization for use of military force on the table as a potential option, should the Mexican leadership not submit to an invasion of its own soil. The AUMF that Congress passed in 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks has undergirded the decadeslong War on Terror, which has led to an international death toll estimated in the millions.

This massive policy drive among the Trumpist and Republican Party elite runs in diametric opposition to their (frequently hollow) rhetoric about supposedly ending the era of endless wars.

Military experts, foreign leaders, and even Trumps famously hawkish former national security adviser John Bolton have warned against the slate of invade-Mexico proposals. Some argue launching a U.S. offensive or invasion will, simply put, not solve the problem. Others also point out that Mexico is a U.S. partner, not an adversary, and that taking such unilateral action would shred diplomatic relations and likely cause immense chaos and further eruptions of cartel violence.

Treating this as a military problem is just analytically, and from a policy perspective, completely incorrect  leaving aside the legal and constitutional questions about if a president can even do this, says Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who is currently with the Center for International Policy. But as Ive long said, Trump is a consequence of the status quo, not a deviation from it  What Trump wants to do here would just be him using the tools created by the War on Terror  hugely expansive and permissive tools of warfare developed after 9/11  but to a greater degree, and pointing it in a different direction.

Duss adds, Obviously Mexico is our southern neighbor, but if you look at some of the authorities that President Biden has asserted in Syria and elsewhere, those authorities are already very broad. And as bad as Trump invading Mexico would be, Trump could just claim he is acting in a continuum of executive authority. Its more aggressive, more expansive, but not completely outside the boundaries of how administrations have tended to use these tools  The entire constitutional order of war-making has been completely upended over the decades since 9/11. Trump or any other president can basically start wars wherever and whenever they want.

However, none of the cross-partisan objections seem to be blunting Trump and other conservative politicians desire for attacking the neighboring country or mass-assassinating cartel honchos. In February, for instance, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas) introduced companion bills that attempted to pressure the Biden administration to devise plans to capture or kill the leaders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the most brutal and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico.

According to Luttrell, the legislation makes clear that the Jalisco cartel cannot remain emboldened at our border and that the United States military must be ready to engage and eliminate the Jalisco cartel, should it be determined the best course of action is to use the Armed Forces of our great country.

If Trump returns to power, those two lawmakers will have a much more receptive ear in the Oval Office than they have now with President Joe Biden. And recently, Trump has held an advantage in much of the battleground-state and national polling. Most surveys point to a tight race between Biden and Trump.

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Stormy Daniels took the stand at Donald Trumps ongoing criminal hush-money trial on Tuesday, and even the former president seemed caught off guard by the news.

Trump posted  then quickly deleted  a furious rant about the prosecutions plan to call Daniels shortly before The Associated Press reported on it ahead of Tuesdays proceedings.

I have just recently been told who the witness is today. This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare, the former president wrote. No Judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way. He is CROOKED & HIGHLY CONFLICTED, even taking away my First Amendment Rights. Now hes threatening me with JAIL, & THEY HAVE NO CASE.

Trump appears to have deleted this post complaining that his legal team didnt have time to prepare for todays witness. (I saw it on Truth Social a few minutes ago but its gone now.) pic.twitter.com/Z6MdZruY9G  Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 7, 2024

This is the first face-to-face encounter Trump and Daniels have had since news of the former presidents affair and attempted payoff of the porn star first went public in 2018.

Merchan ruled as court began that Daniels can testify about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump and how she felt about it, but that he didnt want to hear any of the nitty-gritty regarding the alleged affair with Daniels. We dont need to know the details of intercourse, Merchan said. Prosecutors assured the court that Daniels would not be describing genitalia in her testimony, ensuring the jury would not be subjected to another mushroom-comparison session.

Daniels instead testified about her early life and her entry into adult entertainment at the age of 17. She detailed having met Trump at a golf tournament in 2006, when she was 27 years old and  as she tells it  Trump was already older than her father.

Trump invited Daniels to his hotel room for dinner, she testified, describing for the jury how she asked Trump if Mr. Hefner [knows] you stole his pajamas? when he answered the door in a pair of satin pajamas. During their conversation, Daniels claims Trump suggested she compete on his celebrity reality TV show The Apprentice, telling her that she reminded him of his daughter who was smart, blonde and beautiful and people underestimate her.

Trump  whos made a habit of closing his eyes and maybe falling asleep during the trial  was reportedly irked throughout Daniels testimony, especially as she described the circumstances around their alleged sexual encounter. According to CNN, the former president scowled at the witness stand and frequently whispered to his attorneys.

Merchan admonished the prosecution and Daniels at one point for giving way too much information about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump. The degree of detail you are going into here is just unnecessary, Merchan told the prosecuting attorneys questioning Daniels, after repeatedly sustaining objections from Trumps defense team regarding graphic lines of questioning  including what position the pair were in and Daniels claim that Trump didnt use a condom.

Just listen to the question and answer the question, the judge told Daniels directly.

During a break in the proceedings, Trump took to Truth Social to demand that his case be declared a mistrial.

Trump is demanding a mistrial amidst Stormy Daniels testimony pic.twitter.com/yw0tJnSzPU  nikki mccann ramirez (@NikkiMcR) May 7, 2024

Trumps attorneys echoed the demand when the court returned from its lunch hour. A lot of the testimony this witness talked about today is way different than the story she was peddling in 2016, Todd Blanche told Merchan.

I do think there are something things that would have been better left unsaid, Merchan said. Having said that, I dont believe were at a point where a mistrial is warranted.

During cross-examination, Trumps attorneys did their best to poke holes in Daniels story, repeatedly questioning her on details given earlier in her testimony and on comments shes made publicly in the past.

Daniels was repeatedly asked about past instances in which she denied having had a sexual relationship with Trump. She was asked multiple times about her claims that she was threatened by a man in a parking lot in 2011, with Trumps attorneys accusing her of inventing the story.

This man never existed, did he? attorney Susan Necheles asked.

He absolutely existed, Daniels replied.

Necheles also suggested that Daniels has been making a lot of money for years by publicly claiming to have had sex with President Trump. Daniels countered that while she had made money telling her story, shes also faced lawsuits and financial penalties. In April of last year, a federal appeals court ordered Daniels to pay Trumps lawyers over $121,000 in legal fees stemming from her failed defamation suit against the former president.

Trump stands accused of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to allegations that the then-candidate and his associates made hush money payments to women, including $130,000 to Daniels, in order to aid his 2016 presidential election campaign. In order to cover up the alleged illegal campaign expense, prosecutors have accused the former president of unlawfully masking reimbursement payments to his former attorney, Michel Cohen, as legal expenses. As the woman at the center of the alleged scheme, Daniels testimony is expected to be a central component in the prosecutions case against the former president.

On Monday, Jeffrey McConney, former senior vice president comptroller for the Trump Organization, detailed the process through which Cohen would be reimbursed for a supposed retainer that was allegedly intended to cover up the payment Cohen made to Daniels. McConney and Trump Organization Accounts Payable Supervisor Deborah Tarasoff both testified that the money used to reimburse Cohen had come from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust account, which only Trump himself could sign checks for.

Each of the checks signed by Trump as part of Cohens reimbursement represents one count of falsification of business records.

Last week, former tabloid boss David Pecker, who aided Trump and Cohen in arranging several of the hush money payments made in 2016, testified that the former president knew the details of the payment to Daniels. Pecker recalled that Trump complained to him that Stormy Daniels had breached the hush-money deal shed made with Trump fixer Michael Cohen after the porn star gave a televised interview about her alleged affair with the former president.

Ahead of court on Tuesday, Trump read a statement to reporters denying the illegality of the reimbursement payments to Cohen. We paid a lawyer expense payments. We didnt put it down as construction costs, the purchase of sheetrock, the electrical cost, the legal expense that we paid was put down as legal expense. Theres nothing else you could say.

Trump: We paid a lawyer expense payments. We didn't put it down as construction costs, the purchase of sheetrock, the electrical cost, the legal expense that we paid, we put down as legal expense. There is nothing else you could say. pic.twitter.com/NjgspKXP0F  Acyn (@Acyn) May 7, 2024

Thats what theyre trying to get us on. We called it a legal expense. They marked it down in the books. The check was signed, Trump added.

Trump may have deleted his post about Daniels forthcoming testimony Tuesday morning because he is explicitly barred from attacking or commenting on witnesses in the case through a limited gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan. On Monday, Merchan ruled for the second time that Trump had violated the order through his public statements and social media posts, finding him in contempt of court and threatening him with jail time if he violates the order again.

It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent, Merchan told Trump on Monday. The last thing I want to do is to put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president as well. There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for you.

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Donald Trump launched into a new attack on the judge in his New York hush money case on Tuesday morning complaining that hed just learned who would be testifying later in the daywith reports suggesting that porn star Stormy Daniels is about to take the stand.

Her attorney, Clark Brewster, told the Associated Press that Daniels would likely be called as a witness on Tuesday. I have just recently been told who the witness is today, Trump wrote in the hastily-deleted post on his Truth Social platform, according to screenshots of the text shared on social media. This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare. No Judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way.

Trump Plays Chicken With Judge as Hush-Money Trial Continues

The vanishing post comes the day after Judge Juan Merchan once again held the former president in contempt for violating a gag order intended to stop Trump intimidating people closely connected to the caseincluding witnesses. After noting that $1,000 fines didnt seem to be stopping Trump from breaching the order, Merchan made it clear that he would jail Trump if the violations continued.

In his Tuesday post, Trump accused Merchan of being CROOKED & HIGHLY CONFLICTED, alleging the judge had taken away his First Amendment Rights. Now hes threatening me with JAIL, & THEY HAVE NO CASE - This according to virtually all Legal Scholars & Experts! Trump continued. Why isnt the Fake News Media reporting this Conflict?

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the case. The charges stem from reimbursements made to Trumps former attorney Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment Cohen made ahead of the 2016 election to Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged affair she had with Trump (who denies the affair took place). The prosecution contends that the reimbursements were falsely recorded as legal fees in order to obscure their true purpose.

Prosecutors obtained permission from Merchan to keep the identity of witnesses under wraps until shortly before they are set to testify in order to avoid them being targeted by Trump. On Monday, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told Merchan the defense is being notified about the names of witnesses one day before theyre called to testify, but rejected claims from Trumps attorneys that the former president is being treated unfairly by not being given a clear schedule.

They have had the witness list and the exhibit list for a long time, Steinglass said.

Trump has so far been fined $10,000 for gag order violations$1,000 for each breachbut New York state law also allows contempt of court to be punished with jail terms of up to 30 days.

Noting that the fines dont appear to be sufficiently deterring Trump, Merchan on Monday told the GOP presumptive presidential nominee that he would take more severe action if necessary. Mr. Trump, its important to understand that the last thing I want to do is to put you in jail, the judge said. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well.

Merchan nevertheless said he has a job to do and that he would impose a jail sanction if necessary and appropriate.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared on Tuesday to be backing off her threat to force a vote to oust Speaker Mike Johnson this week, though she signaled that she'll preserve her threat indefinitely -- keeping Johnson on a tight leash as he navigates a one-vote majority in the chamber.

The development comes after Greene and Johnson met on Tuesday afternoon -- their second meeting in as many days. The meetings came after Greene said she would force a vote to remove Johnson from the leadership post this week.

"I will tell you one thing I did say in there: I am so done with words," Greene told reporters on the House steps Tuesday afternoon after the meeting with Johnson. "For me, it is all about actions. And that is all the American people care about."

MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene says she'll meet with Speaker Mike Johnson again Tuesday amid threat to oust him

PHOTO: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie speak to members of the press on the steps of the House of Representatives after a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson at the U.S. Capitol May 7, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Ahead of the meeting with Johnson on Tuesday, Greene shared her list of demands for the speaker. Her four requests included a return to the "Hastert Rule," which means no legislation is brought to a vote without the support of the majority of the majority party; no more funding for Ukraine; defund the special counsel's probe into former President Donald Trump; and avoid a government shutdown before the election by passing a continuing resolution to automatically enact a 1% spending cut.

Greene said she is not imposing a deadline for Johnson to comply with her four "suggestions."

"These are not complicated things that we're talking about, and having the majority of Republicans support for bills that are brought to the floor. Yeah, that's very reasonable," Greene said. "It's really simple. It's up to Mike Johnson to be our Republican speaker. And we'll see what he does. And again, it's actions for me."

PHOTO: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks to reporters before a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson about a possible Motion to Vacate filing to remove him from the speakership, at the US Capitol on May 7, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images)

Greene said she did not provide the speaker with a specific timeline on the demands, but said "it's pretty short."

"That's up to Mike Johnson and it can't drag out," she said. "These are things that have to be done."

MORE: In scathing letter, GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene slams Johnson with speakership under threat

PHOTO: Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene both seen leaving their meeting at the US Capitol, May 6, 2024. (AP/Getty Images)

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, Greene's chief ally in the quest to oust Johnson, said the speaker has been open to the four demands, "but the question is what is he going to do to show that he is moving in that direction."

At the weekly GOP news conference on Tuesday, Johnson didn't rule out Greene's request to defund the special counsel's probe into Trump.

"We're looking very intently at it because I think the problem has reached a crescendo," Johnson said.

PHOTO: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson meets with reporters as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, is threatening to oust Johnson from his leadership post, at the Capitol in Washington, May 7, 2024. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Johnson has already passed government funding, aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and even a federal surveillance extension -- meaning that the House is mostly void of must-pass legislation. That gives Johnson the space to advance other Republican-led efforts as the next appropriations battle nears.

Greene has criticized Johnson for working with Democrats on several of those pieces of legislation. Johnson has fought back, saying he's a lifelong Republican, but must do his job to serve the entire House with an extremely thin Republican majority.

The Georgia congresswoman said last week she was moving ahead with her ouster effort despite pushback from many Republicans and a statement from Democrats that they would step in to help save Johnson. Trump has also weighed in on Greene's move to oust Johnson.

Trump spoke privately to Greene over the weekend and urged her to drop her push to oust Johnson, a source close to the president confirmed to ABC News. During their discussion, Trump told Greene that the party needs to be unified, according to the source.

PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump attends his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, on May 7, 2024. (David Dee Delgado/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's moving ahead with effort to oust Speaker Johnson

The former president's team has mulled over how best to show support for Johnson. Trump brought Johnson on stage at the RNC spring retreat luncheon over the weekend and praised him "for his leadership and work in the US House," emphasizing "the need for party unity, collaboration, and expanding the GOP's House Majority," according to the campaign.

ABC News' Arthur Jones II and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.

Marjorie Taylor Greene backs off threat to oust Johnson as speaker originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Tough enough?





In the May 1 letter, Tough guy, the writer noted that former President Donald Trump is coping as a criminal defendant, facing future criminal trials and dealing with the media in such a manner that the writer calls him a tough and most resilient person.

In contrast, the writer opined that President Joe Biden would be unable to handle it were he faced with the same stresses. Really?

Yes, Trump is coping. Is it because he shows up to court? Does sleeping in court constitute coping well? Is it because he doesnt whine about his troubles?

Oh yeah, he does whine  constantly.

Lets all remember that Biden coped with the sudden and tragic loss of his wife and 1-year-old daughter on the eve of his being sworn in as a U.S senator in 1972. And while serving his second term as vice president, Biden also suffered the loss of his 46-year-old son to cancer.

Biden didnt whine and he didnt blame; thats tough and resilient.

Gary Kreisberg,

Pinecrest

South Dade debate

As Miami-Dade County Commissioner Danielle Cohen-Higgins rightly points out in her May 4 opinion piece in the Miami Herald, the residents of Cutler Bay, together with the county, did chart a course for progress in South Dade that included economic growth, innovative development, and most importantly, housing for residents in the area.

The Homeless Trust shares that vision and our proposal is designed to further it by adding 107 units of permanent housing not far from where another 4,500 units are planned as part of the Southland Mall redevelopment.

Our transit-oriented development will allow people, many of whom could work in the newly developed shops and restaurants across Caribbean Boulevard, to live in the community in which they work.

Senior citizens who are among those most impacted by Miami-Dade Countys rental housing crisis can enjoy a walkable community and the many amenities that are planned. Lets not leave some out of this transformative project that should be welcoming to all.

Somehow affordable housing is now something to be feared and fought, and we can only conclude that is because the purchaser of the La Quinta hotel has the word homeless in its organization name. The negative stigmas must not be allowed to perpetuate.

The NIMBYism (not in my backyard) in Cutler Bay must end. The Homeless Trust has been doing the work of ending homelessness for 30 years, helping people less fortunate than ourselves.

We have 5,000 people in our care living successfully in permanent housing across the county without incident. We are grateful for Commissioner Cohen-Higginss deep respect and support for our organization. We respectfully ask that she allow us to help those in our care succeed.

Homelessness impacts all areas of Miami-Dade County  all municipalities and all commission districts. The solutions need to be comprehensive and countywide. The Homeless Trust wants to ensure any acquisition improves the area, is compatible with the surrounding redevelopment, and enhances the quality of life for all.

The economic boom that is expected to result from the Southland Mall redevelopment project will make an investment in the La Quinta a good one for the Homeless Trust, those it serves, and taxpayers.

Ron Book,

Chair, Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust

Playhouse of cards

Re: Mike Rosenbergs May 3 op-ed, Miami theater needs Coconut Grove playhouse. Rosenberg is not part of the solution, he is part of the problem. Opposition to the county plan will eventually result in the collapse of this historic structure.

Stuart Blumberg,

North Bay Village

Alternate responses

Former President Donald Trump excoriates the Kangaroo Court deciding whether payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels constituted election interference. Meanwhile, gagged Trump has acolytes on every panel proffered by CNN and MSNBC.

If the press were truly fair, guests on such news shows would represent Daniels, McDougal and Michael Cohen. Deprecating Trumps critics is a miscarriage of justice.

James L. Wilson,

Plantation

Stage fall?

While I appreciate Mike Rosenbergs impassioned May 3 op-ed, Miami theater needs Coconut Grove playhouse, I am disappointed that among his list of theater choices in the Greater Miami area, he blatantly omits GableStage, the approved theater-in-residence of the Coconut Grove Playhouse, at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

GableStage has been the recipient of 64 prestigious Carbonell Awards for theater excellence and its recent production of The Lehman Trilogy was reviewed by critics as one of the best productions of the play anywhere.

Susan R. Jay,

Miami

Faulty premise





Re: Andres Oppenheimers May 2 opinion column, Anti-Zionism is no different than antisemitism. Zionism is a complicated term with many facets hinged to the support of Israel.

An American citizen can and should promote religious and cultural freedom, yet can become an anti-Zionist when witnessing American Jews who support Israel at all costs over the United States.

While we should be considerate of the welfare and needs of other countries and peoples, our national interest should always come first. Unfortunately, one can dissect and analyze the semantics and the labeling at will, but the killing of 34,000 people, half of them civilians, is very sad, indeed.

While there is no easy solution, I put my trust in President Biden to lead in a positive direction that serves the complex national interests of our country.

Don Deresz,

Miami

Case in point

In the May 1 letter, Tough guy, the writer praises former President Donald Trump as resilient for being able to juggle all of his high-stress issues while maintaining his composure.

Falling asleep in the courtroom and being held in contempt of court for insulting the judge and other court staffers on social media screams of many other descriptive adjectives rather than resilient.

The writer stated that President Joe Biden would be unable to deal with this type of stress. That comparison is laughable and totally misses the point. Biden is not on trial for multiple civil and criminal offenses.

Any presidential candidate competent to serve should never be on trial for such a multitude of crimes.

Marcy Russillo,

West Kendall

Building empathy

The May 2 full page paid ad in the Miami Herald, Bringing hate to anyone. Brings more hate to everyone, by Robert Kraft, founder of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, is a heroic open letter that should serve all. Each paragraph contains the true knowledge that each protesting college student should be able to acquire at each university campus but unfortunately does not.

Teach more tolerance  a willingness to accept feelings, habits or beliefs that are different from your own  as opposed to hate, which is a negative emotional aversion that leads to violence.

Sylvia Viyella,

Coral Gables

Protecting women

The proposed constitutional Amendment 4 would allow abortions up to about 24 weeks just as Florida law had until Gov. DeSantis enacted a 15-week ban in April 2022. As of May 1, 2024, DeSantis six-week abortion ban became law. At six weeks, women and girls often dont know they are pregnant.

As history proves, people will continue to need abortion access. Desperation leads to unsafe back-alley solutions. I am a senior, so I remember reading about those horror stories more than 50 years ago. The young might not appreciate the pain and harm women and girls suffered before safe choices became available for such difficult, personal decisions.

Books such as Looking for Jane and The Lost Child of Philomena Lee reminds us of the other side of the story, when women were forced to deliver and often forced to give up for adoption babies they wanted to keep, just because of other peoples religious views.

If you support the concept of less government, then vote yes on Amendment 4 on Nov. 5. End the six-week ban and allow our fellow citizens to make decisions about their own bodies without government interference.

Candy Banks,

Jupiter

I got you, babe

When my daughter was born 71 years ago, our pediatrician told us not to use baby powder because it might cause powder pneumonia. He was was an old-fashioned doctor. He came to the house, sat down, had a cup of tea, then checked the baby.

Now, so many years later, I hear about chemicals in baby powder causing certain cancers.

Was my pediatrician clairvoyant or just a good doctor?

Bunny Shey,

Pembroke Pines

Election cure-all

The most favorable thing that happened recently to support former President Donald Trumps re-election is when President Joe Biden was endorsed by Vice President Kamala Harris during a recent TV interview with Drew Barrymore.

Gilbert Schwartz,

Aventura
Trump Says Hes Ready to Go to Jail to Keep Flaming His Enemies

Donald Trump is ready to serve time to protect his constitutional right to freedom of speech, which he insists includes continuing to flap his gums about the people involved in his criminal hush-money case in New York.

The former president said as much in remarks to reporters after court adjourned for the day on Monday, the 12th day of his trial.

I have to watch every word I tell you people because this judge has given me a gag order and said, Youll go to jail if you violate it, Trump said. And frankly, you know what? Our Constitution is much more important than jail. Its not even close. Ill do that sacrifice any day.

Justice Juan Merchan had earlier found Trump in contempt over his gag order, which bars the defendant from speaking publicly about witnesses, jurors, and most others associated with the case, for the 10th time. Once more, Merchan warned, and it could mean much more than the $1,000 fine he handed down on Monday.

It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent, the judge said. Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction. Mr. Trump, its important to understand the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next one as well.

The magnitude of this decision is not lost on me, but at the end of the day I have a job to do, he continued. So as much as I dont want to impose a jail sanction I want you to understand that I will if necessary and appropriate.

Trump: This judge is giving me a gag order and said you'll go to jail if you violate it. And frankly, our constitution is much more important than jail. It's not even close. I'll do that sacrifice any day. pic.twitter.com/TkbnLajOSt  Acyn (@Acyn) May 6, 2024

Prosecutors have indicated they have no interest in Merchan imposing jail as a last resort as of yet, having suggested in earlier court filings that throwing Trump behind bars would be a distraction to the case.

A violation of the gag order is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, a jail term of up to 30 days, or both. It was imposed by Merchan earlier this year, and was expanded to protect members of his own family after Trump went after the judges daughter on Truth Social early last month. The order does not protect Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

But Trump appears unruffled by the specter of prison timeas well as the $10,000 in fines hes already accrued. The latest violation came as a result of comments he made during an April 22 phone interview on the Real Americas Voice network, suggesting that his jury was 95 percent Democrats.

Outside the Manhattan courthouse, he also complained about the case stretching on for another two to three weeks, as expected, calling the timeline election interference and a disgrace. He suggested that Merchan was so happy about the trial dragging on because they all want to keep me off the campaign trail.

The former president added, This is just a political witch hunt.

The trial will resume on Tuesday morning. Trump, charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, has denied all wrongdoing.

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass told the court that prosecutors would need around a fortnight from tomorrow to wrap up their case, after which point the defense will be able to start calling their witnesses.

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Donald Trump in court in New York on Monday. He has been fined a total of $10,000 for violations of a gag order.

Donald Trump in court in New York on Monday. He has been fined a total of $10,000 for violations of a gag order. Photograph: Win McNamee/UPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Donald Trumps verbal assaults on judges, prosecutors, witnesses, jurors and the broader US justice system, are undermining the rule of law and American democracy while fueling threats and potential violence against individuals involved with the legal cases against him and egging on his extremist allies, former federal prosecutors and judges say.

In his campaign to win the presidency again, and in the midst of various criminal and civil trials, Trump has launched multiple attacks on the American legal system on his Truth Social platform to counter the 88 federal and state criminal charges he faces.

Related: Trump trades New York worries for hit of adulation from his Maga faithful

Trump, the all but certain Republican presidential nominee for 2024, has accelerated glorifying the insurgents who attacked the Capitol on 6 January 2021. He has called them patriots and hostages, while promising that if he wins, he will free those convicted of crimes as one of his first acts in office.

Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the electoral system. He has refused to say he will accept the results of the 2024 elections, a ploy similar to what he did in 2020 before falsely claiming the election was rigged  a claim he still maintains.

If everythings honest, Ill gladly accept the results, Trump told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week. If its not, you have to fight for the right of the country.

Darkly, Trump has also warned that if he loses the election there will be bedlam and a bloodbath for the country. These words referred, in part, to the fallout Trump predicted for the auto industry, but have distinct echoes of his false charges that he lost to Joe Biden in 2020 due to fraud.

At a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on 13 April, right before his first criminal trial in New York began, Trump repeated his bogus claims about his 2020 defeat: The election was rigged. Pure and simple, 2020 was rigged. We could never let it happen again.

At the same rally he blasted Juan Merchan, the very judge who oversees his trial in Manhattan. In that case, Trump faces 34 counts for altering company records in 2016 to hide $130,000 in hush-money payments that his fixer Michael Cohen made to the porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleged an affair with him.

I have a crooked judge, Trump raged at Merchan, adding that he was fully gagged before a highly conflicted and corrupt judge, who suffers from TDS  Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Trumps multiple attacks on witnesses and jurors, who he had been told were off limits and could spur a contempt citation, have prompted Merchan twice to fine Trump a total of $10,000 for violating a gag order against such attacks.

The court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders, the judge has said, warning that Trump could face jail time if he made similar attacks.

Trump insists without evidence that the more than seven dozen federal and state criminal charges he faces in four jurisdictions are election interference, and says he has done nothing illegal.

Former prosecutors and judges say Trumps incendiary rhetoric is catnip to his Maga allies and could spur violence in 2024.

At its core, the promise of pardons by Trump signals to anyone prone to insurrectionist behavior that they can expect a get out of jail card free, said former federal judge John Jones, who is now president of Dickinson College.

My fear is that we will have civil unrest that will impede the election. My concern is that you can have vigilante groups under the guise of stop the steal, patrolling polling places and intimidating voters.

Jones stressed that every one of the Jan 6 defendants has had appropriate due process.

They have either been convicted or pled guilty to substantial federal crimes, he said. Promising them pardons in the face of that is against every principle in our system of justice.

Regarding Trumps ongoing claims that the 2020 election was rigged and that the country will see a bloodbath if he loses again, Jones said: The word bloodbath is not ambiguous. The last time Trump fomented this kind of post-election destructiveness, people lost their lives.

Ex-federal prosecutors raise similar concerns.

To the extent President Trump is dangling pardons of the J6 defendants he is, in effect, trying to eliminate the deterrent effect of criminal prosecutions with the anticipated result of making violence on his own behalf more likely, former prosecutor Paul Rosenzweig said.

From a legal perspective, deterrence is critical. The threats of violence in 2024 can only be mitigated by strong, consistent prosecution for violent acts in 2020.

Concerns about the potentially dangerous fallout from Trumps attacks on the electoral and legal systems are underscored by a Brennan Center study in late April, which showed 38% of over 925 local election officials surveyed had experienced threats, harassment or abuse.

The Brennan survey, conducted in February and March, also found that 54% of those surveyed were worried about the safety of fellow workers, and 62% were concerned about political leaders trying to interfere with how they do their jobs.

On a related track, the DC judge Tanya Chutkan, who has handled a number of cases involving January 6 insurrectionists, has warned starkly about the dangers of more violence this year. Chutkan, who is slated to oversee Trumps trial on charges by the special counsel Jack Smith that he sought to subvert the 2020 election, echoed Rosenzweigs warning that more violence is less likely to happen if those convicted or who have pleaded guilty for the January 6 attack receive appropriate sentences.

Last month, Chutkan issued a stiff sentence of 66 months for one insurgent who attacked the Capitol and has called the Jan 6 violent Capitol attack by Trump allies that led to injuries of 140 police officers as serious a crisis as this nation has ever faced.

Notably, Chutkan has stressed that extremism is alive and well in this country. Threats of violence continue unabated.

Ex-prosecutors also say that Trumps attacks on the legal system are alarming.

Trumps persistent denigration of the legal system is surely as divisive as everything else he does because hes lying, said the former justice department official Ty Cobb, who worked as a White House counsel for part of the Trump administration. Trumps lies in this area seem to have been embraced by his followers as truth.

Cobb stressed that Trump has not been unfairly targeted by the justice department or the Biden administration, but charged only with serious crimes he has committed. The two state cases in which Trump stands criminally indicted have nothing to do with the Biden administration.
BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China's health authority attaches great importance to the improvement of patients' experiences while receiving medical attention, and it has made various measures in this regard, a health official said Tuesday.

Such measures include improving the medical appointment procedures to shorten the patients' waiting time, said Xing Ruoqi, deputy head of the medical administration department of the National Health Commission (NHC), at a press conference.

Also, hospitals are encouraged to provide more multidisciplinary treatment services to meet the patients' diverse needs, Xing said, adding that to date such multidisciplinary services are available at over 2,400 hospitals nationwide.

The hospitals are also using more new technologies to support relevant work, Xing said.

Moreover, the NHC launched a program last year to improve the care and nursing services to better cater for the patients and clinical needs, according to Xing.

To date, more than 3,000 medical institutions have made relevant services available at the patients' homes, Xing said, adding that regions like Beijing, Shandong and Jiangsu also carried out reforms and engaged more resources from the society to provide nursing services for the elderly people.

The commission is also working on drafting a plan to better staff and train the nurses, the official said. 
Donald Trumps attorneys have found a new reason to seek to delay the classified documents case: Some of the documents found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago have shifted out of order since FBI agents seized them two years ago.

Trumps attorneys indicated in a filing Monday that the shuffling of documents within boxes in evidence also could be grounds for the case to be tossed. They said they would file a motion to dismiss if the prosecution cannot prove in a reliable way how it seized and handled the key evidence in the case, which will be a central issue at any trial.

In a brief order Monday, federal Judge Aileen Cannon paused the deadline the defendants faced this week for certain pretrial disclosures and said there would be a follow up order resetting pretrial deadlines and hearings. The order did not provide any further explanation.

Special counsel Jack Smiths office acknowledged in a recent court filing that, in at least some of the boxes obtained in the Mar-a-Lago search, the documents are now in a different order within each box than when the Justice Department first took custody of the boxes.

President Trump and counsel are deeply troubled to be learning of these facts approximately 11 months after the charges were filed in this case, Trumps attorneys wrote in the filing. The disclosures by Smiths office raise questions about the investigation and the handling of evidence that must be addressed before the matter proceeds.

Trump was charged with mishandling national defense information after the FBI seized boxes in August 2022 from the Florida estate that contained documents with classified markings mixed in with other documents and personal effects of the former president. Trump and his co-defendants have pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutors noted in their court filing that the boxes have been subject to several reviews, including one sought by Trump. Cannon appointed a special master at Trumps behest in 2022 to review the seized documents and determine what should be withheld from investigators because of privilege issues.

The order of the documents could become critical to the defense of Trump and his co-defendants. For now, defense lawyers are asking for delays, arguing the revelation has disrupted their trial preparations.

In Mondays filing, Trumps attorneys say they relied on the order of the classified material within the boxes when they reviewed them as part of the discovery process. At that point, the attorneys say the classified material was buried within the boxes, which they say could help clear Trump of any wrongdoing.

The attorneys also say it was our understanding that classified material was found next to items that provided favorable context around when the document was put in the box, according to the filing.

When the boxes were first seized in 2022, they were reviewed for privileged materials by a team of DOJ attorneys separate from the investigation team. Then, as part of another review by investigators, classified documents within the boxes were removed and swapped out with a placeholder sheet. And as part of the special master process ordered by Cannon, the boxes contents were scanned so that inventories of their contents could be created.

The filing from prosecutors said the documents and placeholder sheets stayed within the boxes they were found in, but that there are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans.

Prosecutors acknowledged the discrepancy in response to a request last week from Trump co-defendant Walt Nauta that certain pre-trial deadlines be postponed.

The defendants had been required to tell the court by Thursday what classified materials they intend to use as part of their defense, but Nauta and Trump argued they couldnt meet that deadline because of the evidence snafu.

Nauta has previously argued that prosecutors have not sufficiently shown that the boxes he is accused of moving out of a Mar-a-Lago storage room contained the classified documents sought by investigators in a May 2022 subpoena.

Special counsel Smith has argued that Nautas ability to meet this weeks deadline  which Cannon has since removed  should not be affected by the fact that some of the documents have fallen out of order within each box.

A spokesperson from Smiths office declined to comment further.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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Donald Trump got a day off from his hush-money trial next week after requesting to attend his son Barrons high school graduation. But on the same day, hes actually scheduled to attend a fundraising dinner in Minnesota.



Trump is required by New York state law to attend all of the proceedings in his hush-money trial, so his legal team had to file a motion with Judge Juan Merchan asking permission for the trial to be put on hiatus on May 17. Merchan agreed to do so, but Trump is also scheduled to be the headline speaker at the Republican Party of Minnesotas annual Lincoln Reagan Dinner in St. Paul that day. (Barron is graduating from Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Florida.)

Trump has complained to reporters since mid-April that Merchan was not allowing him to go to his sons graduation.

It looks like the judge will not let me go to the graduation of my son whos worked very, very hard and he is a great student, Trump said outside of the courtroom three weeks ago. It looks like the judge isnt going to allow me to escape this scam. Its a scam trial.

At the time, Trumps former fixer and attorney Michael Cohen called Trumps complaints comical, saying he wasnt aware of Trump attending any of his other childrens graduations. Reportedly, Trumps wife, Melania, was not happy with the former president mentioning their sons graduation in court and bringing unwanted attention upon the younger Trump.



He talked about missing Barrons graduation to the cameras and then again on Truth Social because it caused a lot of coverage about that, and its just not something she would have liked, said Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary under Trump.



So how do Barron and Melania feel about the former president appearing at a campaign event on the same day as the graduation? Its not yet known. Trump could use his private jet to attend both Barrons graduation and the Minnesota dinner, assuming his sons graduation isnt later in the day. Regardless, the Minnesota Republican Party is happy to have Trump as a guest.



We are thrilled to welcome President Trump back to Minnesota to headline our Lincoln Reagan dinner, an annual tradition that reminds us of the roots of our Party and the leaders who have been most impactful in promoting our American values. I can think of no one more fitting to join us this year than President Trump, Minnesota GOP chair David Hann said in a statement.
Trump suggests he's willing to "sacrifice" and go to jail rather than comply with his gag order

Just hours after the former president was again found to have violated his gag order, Donald Trump told reporters he was willing to do so again, even if it means jail time.

Addressing reporters Monday evening outside the Manhattan courthouse where's he standing trial, Trump, who is barred from attacking jurors and witnesses, complained that I have to watch every word I tell you people." The gag order, he insisted, is a "disgrace."

All the while, his lawyer, Todd Blanche stood behind him, expressionless. He did not intervene when his client went on to claim that he is indifferent to the threat of jail time (It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction, Judge Juan Merchan said Monday).

Frankly, you know what, our Constitution is much more important than jail, Trump said, a claim that comes after he previously called for the "termination" of the U.S. Constitution so he could return to office after losing an election. Its not even close," the presumptive Republican candidate continued. "Ill do that sacrifice any day.

Trump has already been using the contempt charges against in his election campaign. Attempting to make lemonade out of lemons, a fundraiser email sent out before court on Monday read, in red lettering: The liberal judge in New York just threatened to THROW ME IN JAIL. They want me in HANDCUFFS, Politico reported.

Despite Trump's rhetoric, Merchan said Monday that he would prefer not to jail Trump for breaking the gag order, citing the disruption it would cause to proceedings.
Former President Trumps refusal to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election is putting GOP lawmakers in a tough spot, especially Senate GOP Whip John Thune (S.D.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who are running to become next Senate GOP leader and have pledged to work closely with Trump.

Both senators, allies of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), opposed Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is in the mix to be Trumps running mate, repeatedly refused to say Sunday he would accept the results of this years election.

Now, other Senate Republicans will face the same question, including Thune and Cornyn, who will have to balance their past positions on Trumps baseless claims of widespread election fraud with their ambitions to replace McConnell.

Trumps Senate allies may provide the swing votes that decide who wins the leadership race, and both Thune and Cornyn have reached out to the former president personally to bolster their standing with pro-Trump colleagues.

Its a tough needle to thread, but its possible, said Brian Darling, a GOP strategist and former Senate aide who advised GOP lawmakers to acknowledge that the changes to the law during the COVID-19 pandemic made it easier to vote in 2020 and to be on the lookout for controversial changes to voter registration and absentee ballot rules ahead of November.

Darling predicted that Trump is likely to claim widespread cheating again if he loses to Biden in November.

We shouldnt expect anything different from former President Trump in this election than we [saw] in the last election. Its going to be a lot of the same arguments about how the election is run, he said.

But the GOP strategist warned that if Trump and other Republicans sound the alarm about widespread voter fraud in the months ahead, it could wind up depressing Republican voter turnout.

The one problem it does cause for Republicans is if you cast doubt on the results of an election before an election happens, then why would Republicans bother to vote? Thats something Republicans need to address, he said.

Thune and Cornyn followed McConnells lead in rejecting Trumps claims of widespread election fraud in 2020.

McConnell warned on Jan. 6, 2021, moments before a pro-Trump crowd stormed the Capitol, that if Congress tried to overturn the results of the election, it would damage our republic forever.

Thune was also outspoken in opposing the effort to block the certification of President Bidens victory in 2020, pledging at the time the effort was going down like a shot dog.

And Cornyn acknowledged Biden was indeed the president-elect on Dec. 9, 2020, a month before Trumps allies tried to block the certification of the election results on Jan. 6.

Both leaders declined to endorse Trumps claims that the last presidential election was stolen in the lead-up to the 2022 midterms. Instead, they urged GOP Senate candidates to focus on the future.

Now, Thune and Cornyn need to decide whether they will remain part of the bulwark against unfounded claims of election fraud when McConnell steps down as leader at the end of the year.

I believe that they should say that the United States has the best election system in the world, but its not always perfect. If theres clear evidence of wrongdoing, of course we would contest the election, but all Americans should express confidence in our system of elections, said Vin Weber, a GOP strategist and former member of the House Republican leadership.

Republicans are favored to win back control of the Senate and have roughly a 50-50 chance of keeping their House majority, which would put Republicans in Congress right in the middle of any debate over the validity of this years election outcome.

Lawmakers passed the Electoral Count Reform Act in 2022 to reduce the likelihood that a losing candidate would again try to block the result of a presidential election when Congress convenes to certify it.

That reform, passed as part of a year-end spending package, clarifies that the vice presidents constitutional role when Congress meets in joint session to certify an election is purely ministerial and he or she does not have the right to adjudicate disputes over electors.

It identifies each states governor as responsible for submitting the certificate identifying a states electors and provides for expedited judicial review of disputes over competing slates of electors.

And it raises the threshold for objecting to a slate of electors to require at least one-fifth of the members in each chamber  the Senate and House  to object to a slate of electors.

The issue of election fraud and the question of whether Republicans should accept the results of the 2024 election is back in the political spotlight after Trump declined to commit to accepting the outcome if he loses.

Trump told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a recent interview that if everythings honest, Ill gladly accept the results.

But he warned that he would not accept the election if he suspects the results arent honest.

If its not, you have to fight for the right of the country, he said.

And he told Time magazine in an interview published last week that how he reacted to the results would depend on how he perceived the fairness of the election.

If we dont win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of the election, he said.

Now, other Republicans are facing the same questions of whether they will accept the results of the election, and GOP politicians who want to stay in Trumps good graces are declining to vouch for the integrity of the system.

Asked by Kristen Welker, the moderator of NBCs Meet the Press, at least five times whether he would commit to accepting the election results, Scott, who is jockeying for a spot on Trumps ticket, declined to answer yes or no.

I know that the American people  their voices will be heard. And I believe that President Trump will be our next president. Its that simple, he said.

Thune and Cornyn urged fellow Republicans to move on from the 2020 election, warning that claiming widespread fraud without evidence was a political loser.

I dont think that relitigating or rehashing the past is a winning strategy, Thune warned before the midterm election in which Trump-backed candidates lost key Senate races.

Cornyn agreed with that advice.

Most voters are concerned about whats going to happen in the future, not what happened in the past, he said two years ago.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Donald Trumps criminal trial entered a new stage on Tuesday with testimony from Stormy Daniels, an adult film star at the center of his hush-money scandal, who told jurors that they had a sexual liaison in 2006 that left her nervous and ashamed.

Related: Trumps scattershot attacks on justice system are causing real damage

My hands were shaking so hard that I was having a hard time getting dressed, said Daniels, who told jurors that she had gone to Trumps Lake Tahoe hotel room under the belief that they would be getting dinner after meeting there.

The two had met earlier that day at a celebrity golf match across town; Daniels was there for Wicked Pictures, the company she worked for at the time, which was a sponsor.

The players would come around, youd stay at your hole that had your companys logo, [youd] give them water or towels, she said.

They didnt discuss much, but Danielss boss told Trump that she was also a director. Trump, she recalled, said she must be pretty smart if she directed films and didnt just perform in them. They ran into each other again at a room where event sponsors set up tables with free merchandise.

He did remember us from the golf course  he remembered me specifically, that I was the smart one, Daniels said. At one point, one of Trumps bodyguards came over and told Daniels that he wanted her to join him for dinner. She said no.

Daniels said she didnt consider the invitation again until later, when there was a scheduled company dinner she didnt want to attend. Danielss colleague told her that she should take Trump up on his invitation.

Itll make a great story, hes a business guy, what would possibly go wrong, that was his words to me, Daniels recalled. He thought it might also be good for her career.

She and Trumps bodyguard coordinated and she was directed to his hotel across the city, and told to take a specific elevator to the penthouse. He was wearing silk or satin pyjamas that I immediately made fun of him for, and said, does Mr Hefner know you stole his pyjamas? Daniels said, referring to the late pornographer and Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner.

I told him to go change and he obliged.

Since it was still early, they decided to chat for a while before getting dinner. Trump repeatedly grilled Daniels on her time in the adult industry, including: What about testing? Do you worry about STDs?

He asked whether she had been tested. Yes, of course, and I volunteered it as well, she said.

He asked me, oh, well, have you ever had a bad test, I said: Nope, I can show you my entire record, Daniels recalled.

She said there was also a very brief discussion of Melania, Trumps wife, during which he said they slept in separate rooms. Daniels said she had to use the restroom at some point, as she had had several bottles of water. Trump had come into the bedroom area of the suite, and was on the bed in his boxers and a T-shirt.

At first I was just startled, like a jump scare, Daniels said. I just thought: Oh, my God, what did I misread to get here? The intention is pretty clear if someones stripped down to their underwear and on the bed.

She tried to make a joke and leave, but he stood up between her and the door. At some point, did you wind up on the bed having sex with him? prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked.

Yes, Daniels said.

During their conversation at the hotel, they discussed The Apprentice, Daniels said. She told him there was no way she would be allowed on network TV due to her status in the adult industry. He rejected this idea, then appeared to compare Daniels to his daughter, Ivanka Trump: You remind me of my daughter. She is smart and blonde and beautiful and people underestimate her as well.

Daniels, who wore a billowy black top and glasses with black frames, delivered her testimony with a rapid fire of words, so much so that she was asked several times to slow down, suggesting nervousness. At one point, Daniels sipped water from a plastic cup.

Hoffinger also tried to carry out pre-emptive strikes against a major defense argument on Daniels  that shes not only motivated by money, but motivated to testify because she owes Trump more than hundreds of thousands in legal fees following a failed lawsuit against him.

Daniels said that in 2011, a man approached her at a Las Vegas car park and threatened her against coming forward. Her former attorney, Michael Avenatti, publicized a sketch of the man, and then filed a defamation suit after Trump denied involvement.

Daniels said she had thought a defamation claim was risky and not worth it but that Avenatti filed it without her permission. The case was thrown out, in Trumps favor, and Daniels now owes him more than $500,000 in legal fees.

Daniels responded with an emphatic no when asked whether Avenatti was still her lawyer. Why? Because I fired him and he was later found guilty of stealing, she said.

When Daniels first took the stand, Trump leaned back in his chair with a passive look on his face.

Prosecutors allege that in 2015, Trump, his then lawyer Michael Cohen and tabloid honcho David Pecker plotted to bury stories that could thwart his Republican presidential bid. Cohen allegedly shuttled a $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, to keep her from going public about her claimed sexual liaison with Trump.

Cohen transferred money to Danielss lawyer via a limited liability company he established specifically for the transaction, called Essential Consulting LLC. He allegedly used an LLC so that the payment would not be tracked back to him and, thus, Trump.

Trump is charged with falsifying business records in relation to repaying Cohen. Prosecutors allege that Trump falsely listed these repayments as legal services in business documents.

Danielss testimony came one day after Judge Juan Merchan warned Trump that he could face jail if he kept violating a gag order.

The proceedings on Monday  which featured testimony from Deborah Tarasoff, a Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor, and Jeffrey McConney, the companys former comptroller  were overshadowed by Merchan finding Trump in criminal contempt for the 10th time before they even took the stand.

Merchans decision comes just days after he found Trump in criminal contempt, and hit him with a $9,000 fine, over other comments that had flouted the order that bars him from discussing trial witnesses or jurors.

So as much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction, I want you to understand that I will, if necessary and appropriate, Merchan said.

The testimony from McConney and Tarasoff sought to place Trump at the center of his company and personal finances  to undermine any defense argument that he was not at the helm of bill-paying.

Danielss testimony, on the heels of McConney and Tarasoffss time in court, and Merchans warning mark a difficult week for the defense. Before Danielss testimony resumed after a lunch break, one of Trumps lawyers, Todd Blanche, asked Merchan to throw out the case because of extraneous details in her comments.

We move for a mistrial based on the testimony this morning, Blanche said. Theres no way to unring that bell, in our view.

He noted how Daniels had described feeling blacked out and had remarked that Trump did not use a condom.

Aside from pure embarrassment, Blanche told Merchan, these details did nothing but inflame the jury.

I agree that there are probably some things that would have been [left] better unsaid, Merchan said. In fairness to the people, I think your witness was a little difficult to control but still, he said, details came in that should not have.

Merchan said I dont believe were at the point where a mistrial was warranted.

Defense attorney Susan Necheles did come out swinging in her cross-examination, trying over and over again to convey Daniels as a money-hungry bounder, and nothing more. Didnt she get into pornography because she wanted money? Did she hate Trump? (To that question, Daniels replied: Yes.)

Necheles pressed on with her suggestion that Daniels was trying to shake down Trump by coming forward in 2016.

You were looking to extort money from President Trump, right?

False, Daniels said.

Well, thats what you did, right?

False!
Trump trial live updates: 'None of it is made up,' Stormy Daniels says of her story

Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.

MORE: Here are 8 pieces of evidence presented so far in Trump's hush money trial

Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.





Latest Developments





May 7, 5:17 PM

Trump, exiting court, calls case 'a disaster for the DA'

Former President Trump, on his way out of court, slammed the proceedings as "a disaster for the DA."



"This was a very big day, a very revealing day," Trump told reporters. "As you see, their case is totally falling apart."

PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media next to his attorney Todd Blanche at Manhattan criminal court, May 7, 2024, in New York. (Mary Altaffer/via Reuters)

"They have nothing on the books and records and even something that should bear very little relationship to the case," he said.



"It is just a disaster for the DA," said the former president.





May 7, 4:36 PM

Court ends for the day

Judge Merchan has ended the proceedings for the day.



Former President Trump was conferring with his attorney when Stormy Daniels passed by the defense table on her way out of the courtroom, and she and Trump did not appear to acknowledge each other.



Court is off tomorrow, with Daniels' cross-examination scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.





May 7, 4:29 PM

Defense presses Daniels on claim of extortion



Defense attorney Susan Necheles, resuming her cross-examination of Stormy Daniels following a break, raised the defense claim that Donald Trump was the victim of extortion.

"You were looking to extort money from President Trump, right?" Necheles asked.

"False," Daniels replied.

"That's what you did, right?" Necheles insisted.

"False," Daniels responded.

On occasion, Daniels has been hesitant to answer questions during the cross-examination, especially when Necheles quickly presents an exhibit to jurors.

"You want me to comment on something when I don't know the context, and that is not fair," Daniels said at one point.





May 7, 4:15 PM

Defense suggests Daniels is making up her story



Defense attorney Susan Necheles asked Stormy Daniels a line of questions about what details Daniels included and omitted from her 2018 book, based on some of what she said today court.

At one point Necheles directly asked if Daniels was simply making up her story about Trump.

"You are making this up as you sit there?" Necheles said.

PHOTO: Judge Juan Merchan presides over proceedings as Stormy Daniels answers questions on direct examination by assistant district attorney Susan Hoffinger in Manhattan criminal court as former President Donald Trump listens, May 7, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams/AP)

"No," Daniels forcefully responded.





"The whole story was made up, wasn't it?" Necheles said.





"None of it is made up," Daniels responded.





For most of the cross-examination, Donald Trump, at the defense table, has been sitting back in his chair and angled toward the witness stand. His eyes are frequently closed, and he rarely confers with his lawyers.





May 7, 3:44 PM

Defense suggests Daniels has profited from her story



Defense attorney Susan Necheles is attempting to suggest that Daniels has profited from what defense attorneys have argued is a false claim of a sexual encounter.

"You have been making money by claiming you had sex with Donald Trump for more than a decade?" Necheles asked.

"I have been making money by telling my story about what happened to me," Daniels responded.

"And that story has made you a lot of money, right?" Necheles followed up.

"It has also cost me a lot of money," Daniels said.





May 7, 3:37 PM

Judge steps in during heated cross-examination

Judge Merchan has had to intervene on multiple occasions to play the role of mediator as the back-and-forth between Stormy Daniels and defense Susan Necheles has grown heated.



When Daniels at one point started to speak unprompted, Necheles snapped: "OK, Miss Daniels, you understand there's no question pending, right?"



That prompted the judge to instruct Daniels, "Please wait until there's a question asked, and then you can answer the question."



At various points when prosecutors have objected to Necheles' line of questions, Daniels shoots her head to her right toward Merchan, who sits less than five feet away from her.



She stares at Merchan until he rules on the objection, then continues her testimony where she left off.





May 7, 4:40 PM

Daniels pressed on calling Trump names



Stormy Daniels raised her voice at one point during a testy exchange with defense attorney Susan Necheles.

Necheles showed Daniels a Tweet she wrote that said, "I don't owe him s--- and I'll never give that orange turd a dime."

A few jurors cracked smiles when Nicheles read aloud one of Daniels' tweets, in which she called Trump an "orange turd."

"That's you calling President Trump names, correct?" Necheles asked.

PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump watches as Stormy Daniels is questioned in Manhattan state court in New York City, May 7, 2024, in this courtroom sketch. (Jane Rosenberg/Reuters)

"In retaliation for him calling me names," Daniels responded.





"You call him names all the time, right?" Necheles asked. "You despise him."





Daniels responded that she was countering the names he called her that the jury previously saw, namely Horseface and Sleazebag.





"Cause he made fun of me first," Daniels said.





"So one of you started it and you both continued it?" Necheles said.





May 7, 3:22 PM

Defense presses Daniels on not paying Trump's legal fees



Defense attorney Susan Necheles played up the animosity Stormy Daniels has for Donald Trump after a California court dismissed a lawsuit she filed against him and awarded Trump legal fees totaling more than a half million dollars.

"You're choosing not to pay President Trump one penny," Necheles said. "You've chosen to disobey a court order."

She read a Tweet from Daniels saying she would go to jail before paying Trump the money a court determined she owed.

Necheles' voice, during questioning, is almost rising to shout, jolting the courtroom.

Judge Merchan reminded Necheles to allow Daniels to answer the question before rushing on to the next one.





May 7, 3:14 PM

Daniels says she hates Trump, wants him 'held responsible'

Defense attorney Susan Necheles began her cross-examination of Stormy Daniels by suggesting that Daniels' testimony was rehearsed.



"The prosecution subjected you to several grueling prep sessions, which included brutal mock cross examinations?" Necheles asked.



"My testimony was not rehearsed," Daniels responded.



"The memories were hard to bring up -- they were painful," Daniels added.



"Am I correct that you hate President Trump?" Necheles asked.



"Yes," Daniels responded.



"And you want him to go to jail?" Necheles asked.



"I want him to be held responsible," Daniels said.





May 7, 3:09 PM

Daniels says she's been paid $100K for Peacock documentary

Stormy Daniels testified that she sold the license rights of her story to Peacock -- which released a documentary about her earlier this year -- for $125,000.



Of that amount, Daniels said she has has received $100,000 so far.



Asked why she felt the need to make the documentary, Daniels responded, "To get the truth out -- the same as the book."



Hoffinger then asked Daniels to read aloud one of Trump's social media posts about her.



"I did NOTHING wrong in the 'Horseface' case," Daniels read, slightly raising her voice. "Never had an affair with her, just another false acquisition [sic] by a Sleazebag."



Daniels testified that Trump has repeatedly called her "horseface."



In the jury box, many of the jurors have been taking notes as Daniels testifies, with others looking back-and-forth between Hoffinger and Daniels as though they're watching a tennis match.



Trump, meanwhile, is slouched back in his seat, looking down or straight ahead -- still seeming to avoid looking toward the witness.



After the last round of questions, Hoffinger concluded her direct examination.

Click here to read the rest of the blog.
Trump VP selection will be like 'The Apprentice,' McCarthy says

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters in Las Vegas in February. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reminisced about his time in Congress on Tuesday and predicted GOP success in November.

Asked whether he missed the chamber where he was ousted as speaker in October, the Bakersfield resident responded, Some days, yes. Some people, no.

I loved every minute of every time I was in office. Good days, bad days, McCarthy said during an interview with Wall Street Journal Editor-at-Large Gerard Baker at the Milken Institutes annual conference in Beverly Hills. The sad part is it's much more broken now.

McCarthy continued his feud with Rep. Matt Gaetz, saying the Florida Republican engineered his ouster solely to block a House investigation into his relationship with a teenage girl.

Read more: IMF chief calls U.S. debt load 'mind boggling,' Musk warns about AI at Milken conference

That's what he wanted to stop and he's willing to risk the House for it, and Democrats went along. He was successful, he said, before adding that a brewing effort to oust his successor, House Speaker Mike Johnson is different. This won't be successful.

Theres no obvious successor, McCarthy said. Republicans dont want to harm their chances of holding onto control of the House, while Democrats want to avoid a slowdown of government that would reflect on President Biden.

McCarthy predicted that Trump would win the White House in November because of President Bidens reduced favorability ratings, and named North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders as potential running mates.

I think Trump's gonna play this like 'Apprentice.' He's gonna play it out. He's gonna make you join Truth Social, the former presidents social media platform, McCarthy said. He's gonna make you follow it. And whoever you think's in the lead, somebody's gonna come up from behind. It's gonna make great television. And you're all gonna pay attention the day he announces.

Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox three times per week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin, honoured like a Russian tsar at his swearing-in for a new six-year presidential term, had a double-edged message for the West: the Kremlin is ready to talk but Russia is girding for victory in Ukraine.

Putin, who rose to the top of the Kremlin just eight years after the fall of the Soviet Union, will overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia's longest-serving ruler since Empress Catherine the Great if he completes the term.

The 71-year-old former KGB spy exuded confidence in the carefully choreographed inauguration which the West and opponents, who are mainly in jail or abroad, cast as a fig leaf of democracy covering a corrupt Russian autocracy.

As the Russian elite waited in the Hall of Saint Andrew in the Grand Kremlin Palace, where the imperial throne once sat, Putin studied documents in his office before walking down the corridors of the Kremlin to salute guards, even stopping to unhurriedly study a picture on the wall.

"We do not refuse dialogue with Western states," Putin said after being sworn in, adding that he was ready for talks on security and strategic stability but only if there was no "arrogance" from the United States and its allies.

Russia's paramount leader of more than 24 years promised victory and said all Russians were now "answerable to our thousand-year history and our ancestors."

He left the ceremony to the music "Hail" from Mikhail Glinka's opera "A Life for the Tsar". The words "Hail, hail, my Rus! Hail you are my Russian land" rang out in the Kremlin. The original words are "Hail, hail, our Russian tsar!".

"The authority of our president is higher than ever  higher than the American president, higher even than the Russian tsar. So much depends on our president," said Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov.

WAR

Putin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine touched off the worst breakdown in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Russia is advancing along the front line and its artillery production outstrips the NATO alliance.

The West views Putin as an autocrat, a war criminal, a killer and even, as U.S. President Joe Biden said earlier this year, a "crazy SOB" who U.S. officials say has enslaved Russia in a corrupt dictatorship.

Putin casts the war as part of an existential battle with a declining and decadent West which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence, including Ukraine.

Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), told Reuters that Putin's speech was an invitation to the West to begin dialogue.

"From one side, this is an invitation to the West to equal cooperation and from the other side, it is the firm conviction that Russia will ensure its own development and security," Naryshkin said.

And if the West doesn't want to talk?

"Then let them think," Naryshkin said with a smile.

The signal comes just a day after Putin ordered drills to practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.

Putin's suggestion of a ceasefire in Ukraine to freeze the war was rejected by the United States after contacts between intermediaries, Reuters reported in February.

RUSSIA

In Russia, the war has helped Putin tighten his grip on power and boost his popularity with Russians. According to official results, he won 88% of the vote in the March election.

The United States said it would not send anyone to the swearing in and that the election was not free and fair but said it still considered Putin to be the president of Russia.

Britain, Canada and most EU nations boycotted the event, a move that top Russian officials cast as pointless and with no significance for anyone but the West.

The main points of Putin's short speech were: the danger of upheaval and stagnation, and that Russia's unique civilization must develop with a transforming world.

Sergei Kiriyenko, Putin's first deputy chief of staff, told Reuters that the election was an unprecedented event in Russian electoral history and indicated a new level of "internal consolidation".

Sergei Chemezov, who worked with Putin in East Germany and is a close ally, said that Putin had brought stability, something which even his critics should welcome.

"For Russia, this is the continuation of our path, this is stability  you can ask any citizen on the street," Chemezov said. The West, he said, "will understand that Putin is stability for Russia rather than some sort of new person."

There is no obvious successor.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China's special envoy for climate change Liu Zhenmin will lead a delegation to the United States from May 7 to 16 for talks with U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Podesta, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said Tuesday. 
Tusk: Europe must spend 'big money' so 'no world power will dare raise a hand against it'

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on May 7 that Europe must spend "big money" in order to create a world in which "no power in the world will dare raise a hand against it."

Speaking at the European Economic Congress in the Polish city of Katowice, Tusk called on countries to increase defense spending and once again raised the idea of building a common European air defense system.

"Europe must be prepared in the next dozen or so months and the entire next five years for a situation in which no power in the world will dare raise a hand against it," he said, adding: "Big money will move the war away from Europe's borders for a long time, perhaps permanently."

Tusk said that a unified European air defense "must become a European project that will be a financial effort to build a dome over Europe."

Poland has so far committed 4.301 billion euros ($4.578 billion) in support to Ukraine, 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) of which is military aid, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

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Elsewhere on May 7, bugging devices were found in a room that the Polish Council of Ministers were scheduled to meet in, said Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesperson for the Polish security service.

Over the last few months, authorities have arrested numerous individuals accused of spying on behalf of Russia inside Poland, Germany, Estonia, and Austria, raising questions about the extent of Russian intelligence activity inside Europe.

Poland is a key conduit for Western military equipment to reach Ukraine, and authorities have previously identified Russian spy networks attempting to disrupt the flow of military aid.

Dobrzynski said that the devices had been found and dismantled in a meeting room in Katowice.

The incident is still under investigation, he added.

Read also: Politico: Poland has a secret weapon to turn Donald Trump against Russia

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TV builder who salvaged cowboy jobs for BBC accused of poor work himself, court hears

A BBC television builder who helped salvage cowboy jobs is accused of leaving a boot print in paint work at the home of a millionaires widow.

Paul Shanahan, managing director of Greystoke Builders Ltd, played a key role during nine episodes of the BBCs Cowboy Trap, in which he was called in to salvage disasters and botched building jobs done by unscrupulous rogue operators.

He is currently facing claims from African studies academic Dr Zohor Aylwin that his workers left multiple defects behind after a 100,000 revamp at her 1.2 million house.

The widow claims there was a boot print of the companys employee in paintwork, a toilet that wouldnt flush and a shower that was too low to get under.

The company is denying the alleged but unsubstantiated defects and demanding 50,200 in unpaid bills for the work, in a case that has totted up 460,000 in lawyers bills.

In online promotional material for Greystoke, Mr Shanahan describes working with BBC1 as the good guys on the Cowboy Trap  going in and rectifying the disasters previous builders have left.

Greystoke carried out a 100,000 revamp on Dr Aylwins home in the Oaks, Watford, in 2019.

A 100,000 revamp of Dr Zohor Aylwin's home was undertaken, one she was left unimpressed by - Champion News

The case began when Mr Shanahans company sued Dr Aylwin for unpaid invoices totalling 50,200, with her then suing the company in return over an alleged series of defects in the work.

Her barrister, Ashley Pratt, told Judge Nicholas Parfitt KC at Mayors and City County Court that she has a number of complaints about the quality of the building project  ranging from the cost of replacing a boiler, sub-standard paintwork including one surface being marked with a boot print of the companys employee, problems with the newly fitted kitchen, and a toilet that failed to flush.

The shower was clearly too short to fit under and was clearly unsuitable, he added, also claiming there were fittings defects for the dishwasher, problems with the kitchen electrics, defective tiles in an en-suite bedroom  as well as gross over-charging when installing sliding doors in a bedroom.

Dr Aylwin is disputing the unpaid bills claim, saying there were multiple defects in the work done which effectively extinguish the building companys 50,200 bill.

Dr Aylwins barrister further claimed that in Greystokes best case the debt owing would only amount to 44,000.

The invoicing and estimate process was nothing short of shambolic, he told the court.

Greystokes barrister Paul Fisher told the judge: One of the companys witnesses and directors, Mr Paul Shanahan, worked as an expert on the BBC television programme Cowboy Trap, in which his team sought to rectify and compete works in residential homes initially undertaken by cowboy builders.

Mr Shanahan was personally engaged in the renovation works at Dr Aylwins home, the court heard, and had also negotiated the contract and scope of works.

Mr Fisher said the company took on the project in 2019, with Mrs Aylwins son, Idris, overseeing the project for his parents.

Dr Zohor Aylwin, seen here with her son Idris, claims the work done on her house was not up to scratch - Champion News

The company claims the right to recover its 50,200 debt  or alternatively is asking the judge to assess what is due.

Greystoke insists its team did their utmost to carry out a successful overhaul of Dr Aylwins home.

Mr Fisher highlighted expert evidence suggesting that the property had not been maintained to a very high standard prior to the claimant undertaking its works.

Mr Fisher labelled the case a relatively simple debt claim which has spiraled out of control by virtue of alleged but unsubstantiated defects that have been raised by the defendants.

The judge has now reserved his decision.

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Twenty-seven people were taken into police custody in New York City Monday night and were released Tuesday morning, after protesting against the strife in Gaza outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

While bold-face names like Gigi Hadid, Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, Nicole Kidman, Kylie and Kendall Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Doja Cat and Demi Moore traipsed up the Upper East Sides marble stairs en route to the Met Gala, hundreds of protesters gathered outside of the Fifth Avenue museum. Many were said to be part of an all-day rally that had descended on Hunter Colleges main campus nearly a mile away earlier in the day.

More from WWD

Tuesday morning a New York Police Department spokeswoman said all of the 27 individuals who had been detained after protesting at the Met had been released. Six were issued summonses and have desk appearances.

With student-led pro-Palestinian protests being held on several area campuses including Columbia University, New York University, The New Schools Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology, among others, and in some cases having led to arrests, some area museums, hotels and other businesses have stepped up security. Dozens of protesters had been taken into police custody Friday at Parsons School of Design and at NYU. Security screenings at the Met Sunday afternoon and Monday morning seemed to be more methodical with guards checking bags thoroughly and waving visitors through the metal detectors at the entrances slowly. At Monday mornings media preview of the Costume Institutes Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, the added safeguard of wanding visitors with a handheld metal detector was taken.

Representatives from the Met, Conde Nast and Vogue did not acknowledge media requests seeking comment about Monday nights protests. Conde Nast is a corporate sponsor for Sleeping Beauties and the Met Gala. Conde Nasts Anna Wintour, a longtime museum trustee, cochaired the gala.

As it does for each Met Gala, the Met had already lined up substantial police detail in advance of this years event. A NYPD spokesperson told WWD last week that adequate police detail was planned for the gala, which is the annual fundraiser for the Costume Institute that attracts corporate titans like Amazons Jeff Bezos. Gawkers and fans were kept at bay on the sidewalks in front of the museum with police barricades that had been set up over the weekend. Police barricades had also been set up on area side streets, but video posts on social media showed some protesters detaching the barricades and knocking them over to run past police officials as they headed east toward the Fifth Avenue museum.

Earlier in the day a contracted security guard had told WWD that a protest was expected to start at 6 p.m. Hundreds of the pro-Palestinian supporters marched over from Hunter College after rallying there for hours. During what was an all-day rally for some protesters, some sprayed graffiti on the 107th Infantry War Soldier Monument. As of 3 p.m., the school switched all in-person classes on its main campus to remote learning. Hunter, which is part of the CUNY system, planned to resume in-person classes Tuesday, according to Vince Dimiceli, associate vice president of communications.

Best of WWD
Witnesses in Feeding Our Future trial testify they saw no meals served

A park supervisor didn't see any lines of children getting meals at a Shakopee park during the COVID-19 pandemic, he testified Monday. Neither did an Apple Valley gas station owner at the park next to her business. And while a few families picked up groceries in a Minneapolis parking lot, it wasn't the thousands of meals claimed to be distributed there, an office building worker testified.

Prosecutors in the federal Feeding Our Future trial called a string of witnesses to testify about what they saw  or didn't see  at meal distribution sites tied to seven defendants on trial, accused of stealing money meant to feed children in need.

"I saw no meals whatsoever," said William Walker, who was the site supervisor at The Landing (formerly Historic Murphy's Landing) in Shakopee, where defendants claimed to have served thousands of meals a month.

Prosecutors allege the seven defendants, who have ties to a Shakopee restaurant, Empire Cuisine & Market, took advantage of the pandemic and inflated the number of meals they claimed to serve to low-income children. Instead, prosecutors allege the six men and one woman pocketed millions of dollars in federal reimbursements.

The trial is the first one since the FBI raided St. Anthony nonprofit Feeding Our Future more than two years ago. In all, 70 people have been charged or indicted in what prosecutors say is one of the largest pandemic-related fraud schemes in the country, totaling more than $250 million. Of the 70 people, 18 have pleaded guilty.

The trial involves seven defendants  Said Shafii Farah, Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff and Hayat Mohamed Nur  who have been charged with wire fraud, money laundering and other crimes.

They collectively received more than $40 million for submitting claims for more than 18 million meals. Their organizations were overseen by Feeding Our Future and a St. Paul nonprofit called Partners in Nutrition.

Defense attorneys pointed out that all five witnesses Monday were first contacted by federal agents a month or two ago, relying on witnesses to recall details from three or four years ago.

School leader testifies

Like a lot of schools, Shakopee schools delivered meals directly to students by school bus and set up a pick-up location for families to grab take-home meals when the pandemic shuttered in-person learning in early 2020.

On Monday, Bill Menozzi, director of finance and operations at Shakopee Public Schools, testified that he never saw or heard about other organizations serving meals to the 10 low-income housing sites where the suburban district, which has 7,800 students, delivered breakfasts and lunches. He added that it wasn't logistically feasible to deliver so many meals there.

"I don't believe that would be possible," Menozzi said. "Those numbers are significantly higher than what we delivered to the site."

At one low-income apartment building, for instance, Empire claimed to serve 31,000 meals a month but the school district distributed about 800 meals a month, he said.

Defense attorneys have cited the hundreds of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) waivers that relaxed rules to get more food to children during the pandemic when schools closed, including allowing bundles of seven days' worth of meals to be distributed at once. They've said that's part of why clients reported rapidly escalating numbers of meals.

Through cross-examination, defense attorneys countered that Menozzi couldn't have observed the housing sites at all hours and questioned his knowledge of the programs at the center of the case, which are separate from school breakfasts and lunches.

Defense attorneys questioned Menozzi on Monday about the fact that there are hundreds of school-aged children in Shakopee who don't attend the school district, so he couldn't know where they got their meals.

"If meals had been picked up or delivered, we would've heard that," Menozzi countered.

Nearby at The Landing, Walker testified he never saw any meals served or delivery trucks at the small park along the Minnesota River bluffs. The historic buildings were closed to visitors and the one picnic pavilion wasn't available to rent for weddings or other events because of the pandemic.

"Any large group of people my staff would've interacted with," he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Walcker ticked off the numbers of meals that Empire claimed to serve there in 2020  first 3,000 meals a month in July, then 5,400 the next month and 14,260 meals by December.

"I didn't see any meals served at The Landing," Walker said.

John Ruhland, who oversaw maintenance at the park, testified he never saw any meals distributed either. Defense attorneys questioned that both men couldn't speak to what happened outside the park boundaries.

In Apple Valley, Damaris Graffunder, who owns a gas station next to Scott Park where defendants claimed to serve 1,500 children a day, testified she never saw anyone handing out or preparing meals at the park.

She said she saw a truck deliver boxes of potatoes, onions and other produce four or five times outside an adjacent day care, but only a "few people" attended, and it wasn't the numbers defendants claimed  22,000 to 62,000 meals a month in 2021.

"That's a lot," she said. "If there were a lot of people there, I'd have known."

In Minneapolis, Oldemar Lopez testified he didn't see long lines of people at his office building, which also housed a food distribution site. He said he saw five or six families pick up food in the parking lot, but not the 89,000 meals a month the site claimed to serve in early 2021.

"It was a few, not hundreds [of people]," he said.

Clayton Carlson, who represents Said Farah, argued that Lopez didn't witness any weekend food distributions and he doesn't know how many meals were in each bag people received. If 26 to 50 people a day picked up seven days' worth of meals for multiple children, Carlson said that could quickly add up to thousands of meals.

The trial continues Tuesday.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) says it has foiled plans by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to assassinate President Zelenskyy and other members of the country's senior military and political leadership.

Source: SSU; Office of the Prosecutor General

Details: Two colonels from the State Security Administration (SSA) are suspected of treason and aiding and abetting a terrorist attack.

Quote from the SSU: "SSU counterintelligence and investigators have foiled FSB plans to eliminate the President of Ukraine and other representatives of the country's senior military and political leadership.

The plans were to have been implemented by an agent network which was exposed in advance by the SSU with assistance from the SSA leadership. The network, whose activities were overseen by the FSB from Moscow, included two SSA colonels who had been leaking secret information to Russia.

The enemy was actively developing plans to eliminate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. One of the tasks of the FSB's intelligence network was to find perpetrators among the military close to the president's security detail who could take the head of state hostage and then kill him.

In addition to Zelenskyy, the enemy planned to eliminate Vasyl Maliuk, Head of the SSU, Kyrylo Budanov, Head of Ukraine's Defence Intelligence, and other high-ranking officials."

Details: SSU Head Vasyl Maliuk says that only a limited number of people had known about this special operation to expose the FSB agents and he had supervised its progress personally. He added that the attack was to have been "a gift to Putin for his inauguration".

The intelligence service says the agents had intended to assassinate DIU chief Kyrylo Budanov before Easter.

Their plan was as follows: first, the recruited agent was to observe the protected persons movements and pass on information to the FSB. The coordinates of the house where the official was supposed to be would have been used to launch a rocket attack. Then they would have launched a drone attack on the people who remained at the site of the attack. After that, the Russians planned to launch another rocket, partly to destroy all traces of the drone.

photo: SSU

The agent would have been armed by an SSA colonel, who had personally brought FPV drones, RPG-7 (rocket-propelled grenade) charges and MON-90 anti-personnel mines to Kyiv. The SSU recorded the colonel's trips to another region of Ukraine to get the drones and explosives, as well as conversations between the potential terrorist and his FSB handler.

The FSB had selected a house in Kyiv Oblast where a high-ranking Ukrainian official was supposed to be staying as the target of the attack, the Prosecutors Office noted.

However, these plans were exposed and documented by the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies before the crime could be committed, and the suspects were detained.

photo: SSU

photo: SSU

Searches at their residences revealed evidence of criminal activity.

Both suspects have been arrested.

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Ukraine has detained two security officials allegedly involved in a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky, which Kyivs state security service (SBU) said it foiled.

Two colonels in Ukraines government protection unit were accused of carrying out subversive activities against Ukraine in exchange for financial compensation, Ukraines Prosecutor Generals office said Tuesday.

Both colonels were charged with treason; one was also charged with preparing a terrorist act.

The prosecutors office said one of the suspects received two drones and ammunition from Russias state security service (FSB), which they intended to transfer to another accomplice to carry out an explosion.

The SBU said it had foiled the actively developing plans to assassinate Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials, including the head of the SBU, Vasyl Maliuk, and the head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov.

One of the tasks of the FSBs agent network was to find perpetrators among the military close to the Presidents security who could take the Head of State hostage and then kill him, the SBU said.

Zelensky has reportedly faced several attempts on his life since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A woman from the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv was arrested in August 2023 in connection to a plot to assassinate Zelensky. She was accused of gathering intelligence about Zelenskys planned visit to Mykolaiv in order to plan a Russian airstrike to kill him. The SBU said it caught the woman red-handed as she tried to pass intelligence to the invaders.

In April, a Polish man was accused of assisting another alleged Russian assassination plot against Zelensky. He was charged with readiness to act for foreign intelligence against the Republic of Poland, an offense which carries up to eight years in prison.

Prosecutors said the man agreed to provide information to Russian spies about security at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, which Zelensky is known to use when leaving on foreign trips. The plot was uncovered by Ukrainian authorities and the man was later detained and charged in Poland.

Aside from assassination plots, Zelensky has experienced a number of close shaves during his many visits to the front lines and cities under Russian bombardment.

During a visit to the coastal city of Odesa in March, a Russian missile exploded close to a convoy carrying Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The group felt the impact of the strike, which landed around 500 meters away from the convoy, and saw a mushroom cloud of smoke. Five people were killed in the strike, although neither Zelensky nor Mitsotakis were injured.

This story has been updated.

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A pro-Israel supporter takes an umbrella from a Pro-Palestinian encampment during a violent attack at UCLA early May 1. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles)

UCLA has been roiled by a series of events in the last two weeks surrounding a pro-Palestinian camp formed at the heart of campus.

The encampment was set up April 25, sparking mixed reactions and a largely peaceful counterprotest on April 28.

Two days later, however, UCLA declared the encampment unlawful and directed campus members to leave or face discipline.

Later that night, a violent mob attacked the camp. The few police officers on duty were quickly overwhelmed, and the violence continued for three hours until authorities finally brought the situation under control.

The attack prompted outrage  and questions why UCLA was so ill-prepared to stop the violence. The university's actions are now the subject of a University of California external review and an internal probe by UCLA, which has put new security procedures in place.

Tensions heightened last week, as UCLA prepared to take down the encampment. Thousands showed up outside the camp in support. Eventually, scores of officers broke into the camp and arrested more than 200 people.

Here is a timeline of what we know about the last two weeks, based on interviews, recordings, social media and documents. The timestamps are our best approximations based on the information we have.

Week of April 21

As protests over Israel's actions in Gaza upended universities across the nation and pro-Palestinian protesters set up an encampment at UCLA, campus leadership repeatedly directed UCLA Police Chief John Thomas to create a community safety plan, three sources not authorized to speak publicly told The Times. The chief was told to spare no expense, including overtime pay, to bring in other UC police, external law enforcement and as many private security officers as needed to keep the peace.

Thomas said campus leadership initially instructed him to develop a plan without the use of police officers, in keeping with UC systemwide guidelines to first rely on communication with protesters and deploy law enforcement as a last resort. He said he developed a plan that relied on private security and made sure to alert the Los Angeles Police Department of the need to respond immediately should problems arise. The private security guards, who were not authorized to make arrests, were instructed to contact UCLA police if needed. Sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said Thomas did not deliver the written plan as requested and, after he was authorized to spare no expense for more law enforcement to keep the community safe, failed to do so.

Thomas said he had advised leadership from the beginning not to allow an encampment, since it violated campus rules against overnight camping and he feared it could lead to problems as he assessed other protests sweeping the country. But university leadership, he said, decided to allow the tents as an expression of students 1st Amendment rights. April 25-26

The UCLA Police Department asked other campuses for additional police officers five days before the attack. The mutual aid requests  which would have provided UCLA with more officers as they dealt with the camp were canceled. Thomas said he made the requests because the university was tentatively planning to take down the encampment, but he canceled the requests when that plan was delayed.

April 28

Counterprotesters launched a demonstration next to the camp. Some physical altercations took place, but the dual rallies ended without major violence.

Pro-Palestinian protesters take part in a march at UCLA on April 28. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

April 29-30

A Jewish UCLA student is recording attempting to walk through the camp and being denied access by who appear to be protesters. The video goes viral, and he is interviewed by Fox News and other outlets.

Campus leadership reiterated requests to Thomas for a security plan after skirmishes broke out at the dueling rallies, but none was delivered, sources said.

On April 30, UCLA declared the encampment illegal and warned students and faculty to leave or face discipline.

10:30 p.m. A mob swarmed the campus and began attacking the camp. Thomas said he was home watching the Dodgers game when he was alerted to the problems by Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck, who oversees the UCLA Police Department. Thomas said he immediately called the LAPDs West L.A. station and asked the watch commander to deploy resources. He then called UCLAs watch commander and instructed him to call in mutual aid assistance from law enforcement with the cities of Beverly Hills, Culver City and Santa Monica, as well as Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies. 11:15 p.m. Videos on social media showed the camp under siege. People wearing black outfits and white masks were seen trying to tear down the barricades surrounding the encampment. Campers, some holding lumber and wearing goggles and helmets, rallied to defend the encampments perimeter. 11:45 p.m. Video showed fireworks landing inside the camp and waves of attackers rushing at the barriers that served as the camp boundaries. Midnight: Thomas said he arrived on campus shortly before midnight and found that 19 officers from UCLA, the LAPD and three of the mutual aid agencies had arrived but had not moved in to quell the violence. When he asked why, he said an LAPD lieutenant told him the force was too small. Thomas said he asked why they couldnt go in with the officers they had, and the lieutenant told him he was directed to wait. 12:30 a.m. The violence appeared to intensify. Reporters saw people throwing objects at the camp and its occupants and trying to breach the barrier. Campers used pepper spray to defend themselves and their space, but they also came under assault from some type of spray. The Times recorded a group of unarmed security guards observing the scene but not intervening. 12:45 a.m . Mary Osako, vice chancellor for UCLA strategic communications, issued a statement saying: Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support. The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene. We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end. A few minutes later, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass also decried the violence and said the LAPD was assisting. 1:40 a.m. Police officers in riot gear arrived, and some counterprotesters begin to leave. But police did not immediately break up the clashes, which continued for at least an hour despite law enforcements presence. Thomas said it took more than 90 minutes for sufficient forces to arrive and intervene. He said it usually takes an hour or even two to amass mobile field forces large enough  50 officers or more from all over the city. 3 a.m. Lines of officers from several agencies arrived at the camp and pushed the remaining crowd members out of the quad area. 3:45 a.m. The situation calmed, but people in the camp were still treating those wounded in the attack.

Later in the day, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block called the incident a dark chapter in our campuss history and said the university was carefully examining our own security processes in light of recent events.

May 1-2

After a tense day on campus following the attack on the encampment, police further mobilize on campus.

6 p.m. Police issue an unlawful assembly order, telling those inside the camp to leave. 1:30 a.m. A small group of officers enters the camp but leaves soon after. 3 a.m. Scores of officers descend on the camp as the takedown begins. 4 a.m. After removing barriers and clashing with some protesters, police get into the camp. Reporters witness police firing rubber bullets into the crowd before they begin making arrests. 6 a.m. The main police operation begins to wind down. More than 200 people are arrested.

By mid-morning May 2, students, staff and other protesters who had been arrested trickled out of the jail in downtown Los Angeles, carrying plastic bags filled with their belongings and yellow citations.

Chancellor Block said in a statement that the community was in deep pain after the violent incidents. The universitys approach to the encampment had been guided by the desire to support students, free expression and to minimize disruption, but "ultimately, the site became a focal point for serious violence as well as a huge disruption to our campus, he said.

California Highway Patrol officers keep an eye on pro-Palestinian protesters near UCLA's Royce Hall. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

May 3-5

UCLA Police Chief Thomas faces growing scrutiny for the university's response to the violent attack on the camp. He told The Times he did everything I could to provide security and keep students safe.

About 20 UCLA faculty members protested outside a gala at the UCLA Hammer Museum, calling for amnesty to be granted to pro-Palestinian students arrested on campus and demanding that Block resign.

Over the weekend, Block announced the creation of a new position: a chief safety officer who would oversee campus security operations, including the campus Police Department.

Rick Braziel, a former Sacramento police chief who has reviewed law enforcement responses in high-profile cases across the country, will serve as associate vice chancellor of a new Office of Campus Safety.

May 6-7

As a new week began, UCLA shifted tactics from a more light-handed approach and brought a larger law enforcement presence to campus.

As students assembled for what they said would be a peaceful demonstration on campus, police swooped in and arrested 44 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in a parking structure.

Other protesters were ordered to disperse when they entered a campus building.

UCLA moved all classes online for the rest of the week as a security precaution.

A deeper investigation into the violent attacks continues, with UCLA detectives scanning hundreds of images in an attempt to identify the attackers.

Block said university police would work with the LAPD and the county district attorney to identify and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those who attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment. The university also connected with the FBI about possible assistance, he said in a statement.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, was leaked to the public. Suddenly, reproductive freedoms that had been protected for nearly 50 years were in peril.

In the two years since, Republican extremists have wasted no time capitalizing on avenues to annihilate reproductive freedom across the country, including introducing more than 380 bills attacking access to reproductive health care in states.

Abortion restrictions earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe are now active in 21 states, and one in three individuals of reproductive age dont have the freedom to make their own health decisions.

In Florida, the fall of Roe paved the way for one of the nations most restrictive abortion bans, which bans abortion before one may even know theyre pregnant. Before this ban, Floridians suffered at the hands of the extremist policies passed by Republicans.

Last year, Anya Cook, a woman from Margate, delivered her 16-week-old stillborn at home because she could not receive abortion care. After discovering she had experienced a pre-labor rupture of the membranes, she was given antibiotics and sent home to wait. She lost a large amount of blood and almost died.

With abortion now banned after six weeks in Florida, we will see more of these stories. And extremist Republicans have signaled that they wont stop at abortion. In Iowa and Alabama, they are aiming for in vitro fertilization or IVF.

In Idaho, they are coming for lifesaving care, playing politics with peoples lives. The GOP, led by Donald Trump, poses a grave threat to the reproductive rights we have left.

But the pro-choice movement is fighting back. In 2023,  in response to the one year anniversary of the Dobbs leak Vice President Kamala Harris gave a powerful rebuke at an EMILYs List podium, famously and forcefully declaring, How dare they?

The all-out assault on reproductive freedom we see in Florida and beyond shows what Republicans have and will dare to do. As women across Florida are having their reproductive fights ripped away, the VPs Fight for Reproductive Freedoms tour stop in Jacksonville on May 1 is a reminder to Floridians of who is responsible and which ticket will have their backs. It serves as a rallying cry for the majority of Americans who believe that individuals should have the right to make their own choices about their bodies.

Since Dobbs, Republicans have chipped away at our rights, while the Democratic Party has unleashed the power of a historic, unapologetic, pro-choice message. The difference could not be more stark: one side wants to impose a world where tomorrows daughters have fewer rights than they do today, and one is fiercely fighting to protect our freedoms.

With VP Harris leading the charge, it has never been clearer that who we elect matters.

In Florida, U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Miami has focused on the contrast between her support for reproductive rights and incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Scotts support for Floridas extreme ban.

Miami U.S. House candidate Lucia Baez-Gellar, who is challenging Republican Maria Elvira Salazar, has told her own lifesaving abortion story  another clear reminder of how this issue impacts families. Republican candidates know their positions are unpopular, and they will try to downplay their extremism. Voters must hold them accountable by voting them out.

In addition to supporting pro-choice champions, Florida voters have an opportunity to reject this draconian worldview by enshrining the right to abortion in the states constitution this November with an amendment.

We know that in every instance where abortion has been on the ballot, voters have chosen freedom  in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Vermont and Ohio. Florida will be no different. The stakes in the 2024 election cannot be overstated, in Florida and across the country.

Every day between now and Election Day, we need to show up for the candidates supporting womens rights, starting with our vice president, who is leading this nationwide charge.

Jessica Mackler is president of EMILYs List, the nations largest resource for women in politics dedicated to electing Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot.
Ravenna Law Director Frank Cimino administers the oath of office to Tyler Marovich, who was recently elected to serve Ward 2.

Tyler Marovich served his first meeting as an official member of Ravenna City Council on Monday.

Marovich was appointed to the post last week. He replaces Rob Kairis, who was appointed as president of council. Kairis replaced Andrew Kluge, who resigned, citing job and family commitments.

A graduate of Ravenna High School, he was involved in the Ravenna Youth Council as a student. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Kent State University, and has served on the Portage County Historical Society's Board of Trustees. Marovich served in 2017 on the city's Charter Review Commission. He works for Healthpro-Heritage, where he is a corporate applications team lead.

Marovich ran unsuccessfully for Ravenna City Council in 2021, and also previously sought appointment to a council vacancy.

"I wore short sleeves so I wouldn't have to roll them up to get started," he said.

During his first meeting, council approved a moratorium on adult cannabis dispensaries. The moratorium excludes Supergood, which opened in 2022 as a medical marijuana dispensary and hopes to expand into the adult cannabis market.

The moratorium will prevent dispensaries from opening anywhere in the city for a year. It also would prevent such businesses from opening in the central business district, because of parking concerns. Representatives of Supergood recently told council they have no intention to move from their site at 554 N. Chestnut St. in Ravenna.

Voters in November 2023 in Ohio approved State Issue 2, which allows adults ages 21 and older to use and grow cannabis. The measure's passage made Ohio the 24th state to legalize adult-use marijuana.

Dispensary owners and cultivators say the law will allow them to have the first licenses to operate dispensaries for adult cannabis. Supergood and Bliss Ohio in Kent plan to sell cannabis from the same dispensaries where medical marijuana is sold. Meanwhile, the owners of Wellspring Fields, a medical marijuana cultivation site at 4000 Lake Rockwell Road in Ravenna Township, intend to open Wildflowers, a medical marijuana and adult cannabis dispensary on Streetsboro's Public Square.

Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Tyler Marovich sworn in as Ravenna council member
HARBIN, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Harbin, known as China's "ice city" in northeastern Heilongjiang Province, reported a 35 percent year-on-year increase in the number of tourists and a 71.7 percent increase in tourism revenue during the May Day holiday, demonstrating the sustained growth and development vitality of the city's tourism market.

During the five-day holiday, Harbin welcomed more than 6.2 million tourists, generating tourism revenue of nearly 7.3 billion yuan (about 1.03 billion U.S. dollars), according to the city's tourism department.

Data released by Ctrip, a leading travel platform in China, shows an 85 percent year-on-year increase in inbound tourism orders to Harbin as a destination.

The city has witnessed a tourism boom since gaining popularity on social media platforms last winter. Harbin's abundant ice-and-snow resources, attentive services for tourists and favorable government policies have transformed it into a bustling holiday destination.

During the three-day New Year holiday, the city welcomed nearly 3.05 million visitors, raking in 5.91 billion yuan in tourism revenue. Both the number of tourists and the amount of tourism revenue surpassed the figures for 2019, marking a historical peak.

Despite the melting of ice and snow and the closure of the landmark theme park, Harbin Ice-Snow World, enthusiasm for tourism in the ice city remains undiminished.

To attract more tourists and improve overall services, Harbin has introduced an array of activities, innovated consumer scenes, and enhanced the consumer experience during the holiday.

On the first day of the May Day holiday, a giant inflatable castle theme park opened to the public at the Ice-Snow World site. A brand new 18-meter-tall inflatable snowman replaced the original snowman, attracting parents and children to experience the new theme park.

"The tourism boom in Harbin shouldn't be limited to just the winter season; it should flourish all year round," said Wang Hongxin, director of the culture and tourism bureau of Harbin.

Theme buses and theme cruise ships have offered the opportunity to enjoy the city's sites, nighttime light shows, drone performances, and the scenic Songhua River. The city has also hosted dramas, symphonies, ballets and other performances for tourists from across the world.

"I didn't expect to see such large crowds at all the major attractions. I went out with friends and felt the bustling atmosphere during the holiday, which made me very happy," said Cang Xin, a local resident.

To further boost summer tourism, Harbin will host more activities featuring music, beer, and performance festivals. 
University of Chicago Police cleared a pro-Palestine protest encampment in a brief raid at the South Side university early Tuesday morning, organizers said.

About 50 UCPD officers began dismantling tents and makeshift barriers surrounding them around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, protester Christopher Iacovetti said.

They started throwing everything in every possible direction, said Iacovetti, a PhD student at the university.

There were no arrests, according to school officials. Protesters remained in the area and reentered the main quad at around 8 a.m., which was marked with patches of brown grass where tents had been hours before.

Police had brought printed final notices to occupants of the encampment, which were later ripped and strewn at protesters feet when they locked arms against a barricade and a line of UCPD officers outside a side entrance to the quad on South Ellis Avenue later Tuesday morning.

If you are not arrest-ready, you need to back out because theyre going to arrest everybody, Jessica Darrow, professor at University of Chicagos Crown School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, warned to protesters.

U. of C. faculty members gather to support pro-Palestinian student protesters

Several dozen protesters faced university police and chanted, we are the encampment! We are the encampment! along with other slogans calling on the university of disclose and drop its financial ties to Israel.

Police put up a yellow plastic barrier and the chants got angrier. Some protesters screamed insults directly into officers faces.How does it feel to be on the wrong side of history? they asked. Shame on you!

Organizers had spent much of the night preparing for an anticipated police incursion, the second night in a row the expectation of clearance had circulated among those camping out beneath the gothic buildings that ring the universitys main quad.

The encampment has occupied the main quad of the University of Chicago since April 29. Its one of many other large-scale student protests across the country in demanding the university divest from companies with ties to Israel, including weapons manufacturers supplying arms to Israels military amid the mounting death toll in Gaza. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel launched its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, where the group killed some 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. President Joe Biden last week defended the right to protest but insisted that order must prevail at college campuses, as some in Chicagos Jewish community demanded action at local universities to prevent hate speech.

On Friday, university president Paul Alivisatos claimed the encampment had produced a systemic disruption to daily life and announced the university was prepared to intervene hours before protesters had a brief confrontation with a group of fraternity brothers trying to place an American flag near a pole where activists had raised a Palestinian flag.

Alivisatos issued a statement Tuesday morning saying safety concerns had only grown over the past few days as negotiations failed. There had been no arrests in the police action, the statement read, but that discipline against students could be forthcoming.

There were areas where we were able to achieve common ground, but ultimately a number of the intractable and inflexible aspects of their demands were fundamentally incompatible with the Universitys principled dedication to institutional neutrality, Alivisatos said in the statement.

The University remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest, he said.

Protesters anticipated a police raid Sunday night and put out a call for activists and organizers to join them on the quad, though their preparations died down around 3 a.m. Monday morning.

After the encampment was cleared, some students gathered on the steps in front of the administration building. Four hours after the tents were removed, they spoke out with their last messages of protest, holding up Palestinian flags and banging on drums.

A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson said that the mayor and Chicago police department was monitoring the situation.

After receiving several inquiries about the University of Chicago Police Departments (UCPD) intention to clear its student encampment at 3 a.m., Tuesday, May 7, Mayor Johnson and senior staff reached out to University of Chicago leadership to reiterate serious safety and operational concerns about this plan  a message conveyed to UCPD multiple times by the Chicago Police Department, the statement from Ronnie Reese said.

Chicago Tribunes Jake Sheridan and Sam Charles contributed.
By midday Tuesday, about six hours after University of Chicago Police cleared a pro-Palestine protest encampment in a brief early morning raid, the main quad was calm with almost no trace of the student activists who had occupied it hours before.

Students and faculty walked to class, passing through the South Side campus where discolored grass replaced the tents that were first set up nine days ago.

The quietness (of the quad) is deafening, said Jeffrey Sun, an upperclassman at the university. And its interesting because I think maybe four or five weeks ago, before the encampment, I would have been very happy on the quad, but its something where once you know what it could be, you cant look at it again in a different light.

About 50 UCPD officers began dismantling tents and makeshift barriers surrounding them around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, protester Christopher Iacovetti said. There were no arrests, according to school officials.

Police had brought printed final notices to occupants of the encampment, which were later ripped and strewn at protesters feet when they locked arms against a barricade and a line of UCPD officers outside a side entrance to the quad on South Ellis Avenue later Tuesday morning.

U. of C. faculty members gather to support pro-Palestinian student protesters

At the time, several dozen protesters faced university police and chanted, We are the encampment! We are the encampment! along with other slogans calling on the university of disclose and drop its financial ties to Israel.

Police put up a yellow plastic barrier and the chants got angrier. Some protesters screamed insults directly into officers faces.How does it feel to be on the wrong side of history? they asked. Shame on you!

Organizers had spent much of the night preparing for an anticipated police incursion, the second night in a row the expectation of clearance had circulated among those camping out beneath the gothic buildings that ring the universitys main quad.

The encampment has occupied the main quad of the University of Chicago since April 29. Its one of many other large-scale student protests across the country in demanding the university divest from companies with ties to Israel, including weapons manufacturers supplying arms to Israels military amid the mounting death toll in Gaza. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel launched its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, where the group killed some 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. President Joe Biden last week defended the right to protest but insisted that order must prevail at college campuses, as some in Chicagos Jewish community demanded action at local universities to prevent hate speech.

On Friday, university president Paul Alivisatos claimed the encampment had produced a systemic disruption to daily life and announced the university was prepared to intervene hours before protesters had a brief confrontation with a group of fraternity brothers trying to place an American flag near a pole where activists had raised a Palestinian flag.

Alivisatos issued a statement Tuesday morning saying safety concerns had only grown over the past few days as negotiations failed. There had been no arrests in the police action, the statement read, but that discipline against students could be forthcoming.

There were areas where we were able to achieve common ground, but ultimately a number of the intractable and inflexible aspects of their demands were fundamentally incompatible with the Universitys principled dedication to institutional neutrality, Alivisatos said in the statement.

The University remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest, he said.

Protesters anticipated a police raid Sunday night and put out a call for activists and organizers to join them on the quad, though their preparations died down around 3 a.m. Monday morning.

After the encampment was cleared, some students gathered on the steps in front of the administration building. Four hours after the tents were removed, they spoke out with their last messages of protest, holding up Palestinian flags and banging on drums.

A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson said that the mayor and Chicago police department were monitoring the situation.

After receiving several inquiries about the University of Chicago Police Departments (UCPD) intention to clear its student encampment at 3 a.m., Tuesday, May 7, Mayor Johnson and senior staff reached out to University of Chicago leadership to reiterate serious safety and operational concerns about this plan  a message conveyed to UCPD multiple times by the Chicago Police Department, the statement from Ronnie Reese said.

Chicago Tribunes Jake Sheridan and Sam Charles contributed.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  U.S. Marshals apprehended alleged kidnapping suspect Joseph Brown on Monday.

The arrest stems from an incident on April 27, when Brown, 32, was allegedly involved in a domestic dispute with a woman.

Memphis Police responded to a call at the 3400 block of Grey Bark Drive regarding an abduction. A witness who was on the phone with the victim heard her shouting in distress before the call abruptly ended.

Woman found by police, alleged kidnapper still wanted

The victim was missing for most of the day but was found later that evening. Warrants for aggravated kidnapping and domestic assault were promptly issued for Browns arrest.

State files to remove County Clerk Wanda Halbert from office

On Monday, investigators from the U.S. Marshals Two Rivers Violent Fugitive Task Force in Memphis located Brown at a residence on the 2600 block of Meadowbrook Drive in Horn Lake, Mississippi.

Brown was taken into custody without incident and was transported to the Desoto County Detention Center, where he will await the extradition process back to Tennessee.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  The U.S. Marshals are searching for a child sexual predator who is believed to be in Las Vegas or the Philippines.

Alan Buitre, 61, is wanted for a supervised release violation. He was originally convicted of having child pornography.

Buitre was found with more than 600 images showing child sexual abuse, according to court records. Some of the material was considered to be sadistic or masochistic and included images of a child under the age of 12, records show.

Buitre received a sentence of five years and was placed on lifetime supervision. He admitted to watching adult pornography twice while on probation which is considered a violation.

Alan Buitres wanted poster (U.S. Marshals)

Buitre stopped communicating with his probation officer in 2018, according to the U.S. Marshals.

Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Ray Venegas is part of a Las Vegas team searching for Buitre.

Buitre is believed to be in Las Vegas or the Philippines, Venegas told the 8 News Now Investigators.

He knows that were looking for him, Venegas said. He did abscond, and he knew that he was supposed to register and notify by his probation officer of any changes and he failed to do so.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the U.S. Marshals at (877) 926-8332.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse gets another challenger from within his own party

Tiffany Smiley speaks during a campaign event on Oct. 25, 2022 in Maple Valley, Wash., during her unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)

Tiffany Smiley, a Republican who mounted an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate two years ago, on Monday jumped into the race to unseat GOP Congressman Dan Newhouse.

Newhouse has represented central Washingtons sprawling 4th Congressional District since 2015 and was among 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in 2021, following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Hes one of just two GOP lawmakers among those 10 still in the chamber.

Trump has already weighed in on the race, slamming Newhouse and endorsing Republican Jerrod Sessler. Sessler, a Navy veteran, cancer survivor, and former race car driver bills himself as an America First Patriot. The Prosser resident also scored the Washington State Republican Partys endorsement during its convention last month in Spokane.

Smiley, a former nurse, traces her involvement in politics to nearly 20 years ago when her husband, Scotty, was badly hurt and blinded by a suicide bomber while serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq. During Scottys recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Tiffany Smiley says she experienced government dysfunction for the first time.

As hard as our experience was, the bureaucracy, the system, the swamp, the constant grandstanding from career politicians has somehow gotten worse, she said in a campaign launch video released on Monday.

In the video, she goes on to lament the nations immigration policies, spending levels, crime, and living costs. The best way for me to continue my work, she said, is inside Congress.

A campaign manager for Newhouse didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Newhouse did file for reelection on Monday, as this weeks state candidate filing period began.

The 4th Congressional District covers a band of the state on the east side of the Cascade Mountains, stretching from the Canadian border to the Columbia River, encompassing places like Omak, Moses Lake, the Tri-Cities and curling west into the area around White Salmon and the Yakama Indian Reservation.

Newhouse lately has been vocal against the Biden administrations plan to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades. Hes also pushed to keep four hydropower dams in service on the Lower Snake River. Tribes and conservation groups have eyed the dams for removal as part of salmon restoration efforts. Theres no immediate plan to breach the dams.

Smiley ran against Patty Murray in 2022. She only claimed about 42% of the vote but raised around $21 million, in the ballpark of Murrays campaign contributions that year.

Reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show Newhouse with about $433,000 of cash on hand through March 31 and Sessler with about $3,700.

Newhouse, who lives in Sunnyside, describes himself as a third-generation Yakima Valley farmer. He served four terms as a state legislator in the Washington House of Representatives, representing the 15th Legislative District from 2003 to 2009.

The post U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse gets another challenger from within his own party appeared first on Washington State Standard.
U.S. Soldier Arrested on Charges of Stealing in Russia Will Be Held for at Least 2 Months

A Russian court said Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was arrested on charges of "secretly stealing property" of a Russian citizen

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A U.S. soldier accused of stealing in Russia has been detained and will remain in the country's custody as he awaits trial, officials have confirmed to the Associated Press and CBS News.

Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was arrested on Thursday, May 2 in Vladivostok. According to the outlets, the infantry soldier, who is married, was in the process of being transferred from Seoul, South Korea to Fort Cavazos in Texas when he took a detour to the Russian port city to visit a longtime girlfriend.

In a statement to NBC News, Pervomaisky District Court said that Black was arrested "under the 'theft' article" of the country's criminal code and charged with "secretly stealing property" of a Russian citizen, which allegedly caused this person "significant damage."

Per the outlet, the court also said he "will be held in pre-trial detention" for at least two months in order "to prevent him from evading charges."

Related: Man Dead After Crashing His Car into Security Barrier at White House

"The court came to the conclusion that [Black], under the weight of the charges, in order to avoid responsibility, could hide from the preliminary investigation authorities and the court, thereby preventing the proceedings in the case," the court said in a statement, per NBC News.

In a statement to the AP, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said that Russia informed the U.S. of the arrest and that Blacks family has also been notified. She said that the U.S. would work to provide support to the soldier as he remains overseas.

Related: Columbia University Cancels Main Commencement Ceremony After Weeks of Protests

The U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia, Smith said, per the AP.

Officials told the news agency that Black, who "was essentially on leave" after being redeployed home, did not notify his unit of his travel to Russia nor did he receive any authorization to visit the country.

Per NBC News and CNN, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul said on Monday that he was "deeply concerned by reports that a U.S. Army officer has been detained in Russia," and the arrest comes as a "warning" to Americans that "as the State Department has said, it is not safe to travel to Russia."

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The U.S. State Department updated its travel advisory for Russia in September 2023, advising Americans against traveling into the country. In the advisory, it noted that Americans should exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions.

The advisory further explained that "U.S. government and military personnel and private citizens" have "been interrogated without cause and threatened by Russian officials, and may become victims of harassment, mistreatment, and extortion." It also said that the "U.S. Embassy has a limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia."



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The U.S. State Department is offering up to a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, a Russian national and alleged leader of the Russia-based LockBit ransomware group. Photo courtesy of U.S. State Department/Website

May 7 (UPI) -- The United States and its allies on Tuesday sanctioned and indicted Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, a Russian national accused of leading the Russia-based LockBit ransomware group that extorted hundreds of millions in ransom payments from victims worldwide.

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced Khoroshev's sanctions, indictment and a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction for conspiring and participating in organized transnational crime.

"Today's action reaffirms our commitment to dismantling the ransomware ecosystem and exposing those who seek to conduct these attacks against the United States, our critical infrastructure and our citizens," Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a press release.

"The United States, in close coordination with our British and Australian partners, will continue to hold accountable the individuals responsible for these disruptive and threatening activities."

The Department of Justice and FBI collaborated with Britain's National Crime Agency, Australian Federal Police and other international partners to indict Khoroshev for his alleged organized criminal activities.

Law enforcement officials in Britain and Australia likewise announced respective indictments and sanctions on Khoroshev.

"Together, with our allies, we will continue to crack down on hostile cyber activity, which is destroying livelihoods and business across the world," Britain's sanctions minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said in a statement.

"In sanctioning one of the leaders of LockBit we are taking direct action against those who continue to threaten global security, while simultaneously exposing the malicious cyber-criminal activity emanating from Russia."

The Treasury describes Khoroshev, 31, as a "core LockBit group leader and developer of the LockBit ransomware" who "performed a variety of operational and administrative roles for the cybercrime group" while enriching himself.

The Justice Department said he was the creator, developer and administrator of the LockBit ransomeware group.

LockBit is one of the world's most active ransomware groups and has targeted more than 2,500 victims around the world while collecting more than $500 million in ransom payments, according to U.S. officials.

The group is accused of infecting the devices of victims with its LockBit malicious software that prevents access to files, system or networks until a ransom is paid.

Khoroshev is accused of being a leader of the cybercriminal organization, with the Treasury stating they operate out of Russia where they enjoy a "safe harbor" to "launch ransomware attacks against the United States and its allies and partners."

The ransomware attacks include those targeting organizations across many critical infrastructure sectors, including healthcare, emergency services, education and financial services.

The Justice Department on Tuesday said Khoroshev has been charged with committing and conspiring to commit LockBit attacks in a 26-count indictment that was returned by a New Jersey grand jury, and follows the disruption and seizure of LockBit's technical infrastructure in February.

He is the sixth LockBit member to be charged by the United States.

"Identifying and charging Khoroshev is an immense achievement," Nicole Argentieri, principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the criminal division, said in a recorded statement.

"But our work to bring LockBit's members to justice is not done."

LockBit at times engaged in what the Treasury calls "double extortion tactics" where the ransomware removes large amounts of data before encrypting the computer systems of its targeted victims and demanding ransom payments.

LockBit also licensed its ransomware technology to other criminal organizations in exchange for a fee, including a percentage of paid ransoms, according to the Treasury.
Tension at the University of California, Los Angeles, continued over the weekend and into Monday when professors protested outside an A-list gala at the school on Saturday night and another several dozen students were detained on Monday, while investigations into the mob that attacked the pro-Palestine encampment on campus last week continued.

Despite the mass arrests and dismantling of an encampment by police in riot gear that took place on Thursday, pro-Palestine protests carried on Monday at the university. A group of demonstrators was seen zip-tied and being moved by authorities from a UCLA parking garage to an LACPD bus. The number of protester arrests was 43, according to local news reports KTLA, with those taken into custody on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary and released after they were processed; all classes have now been moved to remote.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

More protests and arrests emerged at UCLA on Monday, with police arresting multiple people who gathered in a campus parking garage.

This follows a group of roughly 20 UCLA faculty who protested Saturday outside the campus Hammer Museum as its outgoing director Ann Philbin was honored at an event where the guest list included Jane Fonda, Ava DuVernay, Keanu Reeves, Will Ferrell, Joel McHale and Owen Wilson, according to the LA Times. Host Jodie Foster made a neutral reference to the upheaval that rattled the campus last week and led to all classes being canceled amid the arrest of hundreds of students and pro-Palestine protests. Philibin, as reported by the L.A. Times. also nodded to the protest, telling the Hollywood and art world crowd, We will defend the sacrosanct right to freedom of expression and the right to protest. Meanwhile, faculty riled up over the mass arrest that included some of their students rallied outside, with one showing what she said was a X-ray of a student of hers broken hand bones.

Police have made no arrests since the violent attack last week at UCLAs Royce Quad, where pro-Palestine demonstrators had been stationed for over a week, demanding UCLA divest itself and cut connections to organizations contributing to what they are calling the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Late on April 30, a masked group of men entered the campus and violently attacked the encampment hours after outgoing Chancellor Gene Block declared the camp illegal. Mostly men, the attackers were carrying items indicating they were pro-Israel, and some, according to a professor at the scene, yelled in Hebrew as they assaulted individuals and ignited fireworks that exploded over and near at the encampment.

The response by campus security and local police has brought about multiple investigations  one by the school, according to Block, and another by the head of the UC system the ongoing finger-pointing and blame-shifting led Block over the weekend to create a new department at UCLA. The Office of Campus Safety has now been launched to run emergency management and Rick Braziel, a former Sacramento chief of police, has been nominated with the title of inaugural associate vice chancellor.

Outrage over the attack led the New York Times video investigative team to publish a thorough analysis of the events that took place after piecing together available footage; the publications probe concludes that, aside from acts of defense, the pro-Palestine demonstrators had remained largely peaceful throughout the attack. The Times, referring to the attackers as counter-protesters, reports that the violent incident lasted for nearly five hours.

The violence had been instigated by dozens of people who are seen in videos counter-protesting the encampment, the Times report states, later citing local police and California Highway Patrol officers who eventually arrived to quell the violent scene: Throughout the intermittent violence, officers were captured on video standing about 300 feet away from the area for roughly an hour, without stepping in.

NEW: I've located a television interview with UCLA attacker #RedBandana https://t.co/C4gpRhsHpD



Please reach out to me with additional information at 202-430-6968 (Signal app) or at elevai@protonmail.com. pic.twitter.com/JZ7dAoY7Xf  Eric Levai (@ericlevai) May 5, 2024

Online sleuths have since launched attempts to identify the attackers and discover with whom or what group they may be affiliated. One man from the group of attackers had stopped to be interviewed by a reporter between attacks on the encampment. Speaking as he struggles to breathe after being exposed to a chemical agent, the yet-to-be-identified man tells the reporter that he does not attend UCLA and that he was there because he believes that the demonstrators at the encampment had been blocking students from attending classes; this was also a point made in Blocks letter to the UCLA community and which he said led the administration to deem the encampment illegal earlier that day.

Following the attack, which came a day before police dismantled the encampment and arrested approximately 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators, attention has moved to the group or individual behind a GoFundMe fundraising page claiming to be organizing counter-protests to the UCLA encampment. The plea for funds, which has raised $97,974 as of Monday, is being called Fighting antisemitism on campus. According to The Daily Beast, the creator of the page is Beverly Hills resident Nathan Mo, but the page author has recently been changed to the moniker Jew Bears For Truth, matching a linked Instagram account that shared footage from the April 30 attack.

The Daily Beast reports that the fundraiser initially stated: A group of us are planning something very big for the ucla encampment we are working to bring a huge screen and big loud speakers right next to them and just play nonstop clips and interviews from Oct 7.

In order to do this right we need lots of equipment, logistics, staff and security, the post added. If we all pitch in a bit then we can make this a legendary counter move and drown out their chants with the screams and cries of October 7th. The GoFundMe page title changed multiple times, including to UCLA counter-protest (which is the URL that remains), Bruins for Israel, UCLA rally and finally, as of Monday, Fighting antisemitism on campus. The Hollywood Reporter contacted the group or individual for an interview but did not immediately receive a response on Monday.

The group caught the eye of author Jessica Seinfeld, who shared the page with her Instagram followers while mentioning her $5,000 donation. Seinfelds husband is the famous comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, and the donation led to scrutiny of his affiliations and a trip he recently took to Israel in a weekend New York Times story. Meanwhile, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman touted his donation to a separate but affiliated GoFundMe called Support Loud Video Displays of Oct 7 Truths, which has raised $53, 248.

Were planning to take this momentum to the next level, and in the next week or two, well be targeting either Columbia or Harvard University,  the page by a person identified as Dani M. wrote. Our goal is to continue making our voices heard. As long as it takes. The fundraiser is connected to the Shirion Collective, which describes itself in a bio on Twitter as a private Jewish surveillance force.

Best of The Hollywood Reporter
The attack on protesters that began Tuesday night continued for hours before police intervened. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA's chancellor on Monday night outlined actions the school is taking in the aftermath of mob violence against protesters on campus last week.

Chancellor Gene Block said university police would work with the LAPD and the county district attorney to identify and prosecute "to the fullest extent of the law" those who attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment. The university "also connected with the FBI about possible assistance," Block said in a statement.

Just before midnight Tuesday, a large group arrived on the Westwood campus, some wearing masks. Some in the mob  seen live on TV and the internet  used plastic pipes and planks to strike pro-Palestinian protesters. As those inside used pepper spray and attempted to defend the site's perimeter, attackers tried to rip down barricades and hurled objects. Fireworks were launched into the encampment.

"This was a truly despicable act," Block said Monday.

Read more: Timeline: UCLA's night of violence before police moved in

The violence went unchecked for several hours before dozens of officers from the California Highway Patrol, Los Angeles Police Department and other agencies arrived  a slow response that has spurred widespread consternation and scrutiny.

Rick Braziel, UCLA's newly appointed associate vice chancellor and chief safety officer, will lead the "investigation to identify the perpetrators of the violence and hold them to account," Block said.

The chancellor said Braziel would also be conducting "a careful review" of the UCLA Police Department response to the attack, as well as "an analysis of UCLAs security protocols and a broader assessment of all acts of violence over the last 12 days, including those against counter-protesters."

The chancellor said Los Angeles police have "committed a detective to assist in our investigative efforts, and we have also connected with the FBI about possible assistance."

Read more: UCLA's top cop, accused of security lapse, faces calls to step aside. He defends his actions

School officials also have "spoken to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascon," he said, "to solicit his help in ensuring that the instigators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Block said the UCLA Police Department has been directed to "invest whatever resources are needed to conduct a rapid and thorough investigation."

Campus police are reviewing video from the incident and interviewing witnesses, he said.

"We urge anyone who saw the violence firsthand or who has information about the attack to report it as soon as possible," Block said.

The FBI said in a statement to The Times it was "in close contact with state and local law enforcement partners." The agency added, "We respect the rights of individuals to peacefully exercise their 1st Amendment rights and the FBI investigates individuals who violate federal law through violence or other criminal activity.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The president of a UConn fraternity is facing charges following an investigation into a hazing incident in February.

David Vallejo, 23, of Willington was recently arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, third-degree assault, third-degree strangulation/suffocation and second-degree unlawful restraint in connection with an alleged assault that took place during the fraternitys initiation process, according to the Connecticut State Police.

A person went to Troop C in Tolland and asked to speak with a trooper about an alleged assault that happened on Feb. 8 and 9, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Troopers learned that the victim was a UConn student. It was alleged that on Feb. 8 and 9 during the initiation process, the victim was assaulted by Vallejo who was head pledge master and president of the fraternity. It was during the initiation process hazing happened and the victim was physically assaulted, the warrant affidavit said.

The victim provided details of the incident to state police. According to the victim, on Feb. 8, the fifth day of the initiation process, he and another pledge were picked up at his dorm on the UConn campus by Vallejo, the warrant affidavit said.

The victim told state police Vallejo was driving a Honda Civic and brought the pledges to a house on the Tolland Turnpike in Willington. The victim alleged that they went inside the house and were lined up military style, according to the warrant affidavit. The other pledge masters were standing in front of the pledges as the pledges repeated what they were saying, the warrant affidavit said.

The victim alleged that he and another pledge kept making mistakes and were not reciting what they were saying correctly. The pledge masters then told them to get down and do pushups while repeating what they were saying, according to the warrant affidavit.

The victim told state police he started to get exhausted, his arms started giving out and he began falling to the ground, the warrant affidavit said. Every time one of us would fall to the ground, they would make us restart from the beginning, the victim said.

At that point, Vallejo started to get angry and was yelling directly at victim because he kept falling to the ground. I could not do any more pushups, the victim claimed, according to the warrant affidavit. He grabbed me by my uniform shirt that I had to wear, and he threw me across the room into wall.

After that, the victim alleges that Vallejo started to yell at him to speed it up, the warrant affidavit said. When he stood up, Vallejo took his right forearm and pressed it against the victims throat and started to yell at him.

The victim said he began crying and Vallejo stepped back and told him to go back into a standing position. Vallejo then made the pledges recite the fraternitys code, according to the warrant affidavit.

That night, the victim said that he noticed bruising on his arms, elbows and my kneecaps, the warrant affidavit said.

On Feb. 9, the sixth day of the initiation process, the victim told state police the pledges were picked up and went back to the house on Tolland Turnpike. He said the pledges were taught new information about the fraternity that they were made to recite, according to the warrant affidavit.

The victim alleged that Vallejo made the pledges get back into a pushup position because they were unable to recite the new information correctly. The victim said he started falling much sooner than the previous night because he was so tired from the night before, the warrant affidavit said. Vallejo allegedly started yelling at the victim saying, The pain is just an excuse; I know you can do better, according to the warrant affidavit.

The victim said he could not hold the pushup position because the bruising on his arms and knees was too painful. The victim alleged that Vallejo got mad because he was making noises from the pain and grabbed him and threw him across the room, the warrant affidavit said.

Vallejo then allegedly told the victim he was done with him and that was his last night. Vallejo started to make the victim take off his uniform, but the victim said he refused and said he wasnt going to quit, according to the warrant affidavit.

The victim alleged that Vallejo then told him to get back into the pushup position and recite the code correctly. The victim said Vallejo then pushed him up against the wall and pressed his right forearm into his neck. After that I took my uniform off, and David talked to me aside from where everyone else was. David was much nicer to me after that, the victim claimed in the warrant affidavit.

The victim told state police he dropped out of the fraternity on Feb. 10. He said he texted Vallejo and told him he was no longer interested in becoming a member and refused to pay the rest of his initiation fee, according to the warrant affidavit.

On March 21, the victim told state police he gave Vallejo his uniform back and was assaulted again. I reported this to the UConn Police Department, and I have a case with them because this assault took place on campus, the victim said, according to the warrant affidavit.

State police reviewed the photographs the victim took of the injuries, and they were consistent with the statement made, the warrant affidavit said.

State police said troopers attempted multiple times to contact another pledge who was present when the assault took place but received no response.

On April 15, state police spoke with Vallejo on the phone and asked him if he could come to the Troop C for an interview. Vallejo stated that he wanted to consult a lawyer, according to the warrant affidavit.

Based on the evidence, state police asked that an arrest warrant be issued. It was granted and on May 3 state police served the arrest warrant on Vallejo. He was taken into custody, processed and released on a $30,000 cash/surety bond. He is due in court on May 21.
CAIRO, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military said on Monday night that it was carrying out large-scale airstrikes in Rafah, the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, hours after Hamas announced acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari proposal regarding a ceasefire in the strip.

In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the proposal is far from meeting Israel's "core demands," and that the government will send a delegation to Cairo to exhaust every possibility of reaching an agreement acceptable to Israel.

Also, a Qatari delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday for indirect negotiations on the Gaza truce between Israel and Hamas through mediators, according to a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry.

HAMAS NODS TO GAZA TRUCE PROPOSAL

Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh has told the Egyptian and Qatari sides that his movement approved their proposal regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, the Gaza-ruling Palestinian faction said in a statement on Monday.

"We agreed on the proposal that meets our demands of ceasing fire, reconstructing the strip, the return of the displaced to their areas of residence, and a deal on a prisoner swap," the statement said.

Immediately after Hamas's announcement, joy spread in the streets and shelters of the coastal enclave.

According to an Egyptian security source on Monday, a Hamas delegation has headed to Cairo to work on the enforcement of the Egyptian proposal.

The source said Egypt has informed the Israeli side of Hamas's acceptance of the Egyptian proposal, adding that the Israeli delegation will arrive in Cairo on Tuesday to complete discussions on the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire proposal and a hostage-for-prisoner swap deal at the invitation of Egypt.

THREE-PHASE CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL

A Hamas source told Xinhua that the Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by Egypt and Qatar includes three phases, each lasting 42 days.

The source said the first phase involved a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the "Netzarim axis," a zone in central Gaza that separates the northern and southern Palestinian enclave, as well as the free movement of displaced persons from south to north Gaza.

Also, this phase would bring out a 10-hour daily cessation of Israeli airstrikes and a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the release of approximately 33 Israeli hostages in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, the source added.

The second phase features an agreement on restoring a "sustainable calm" to Gaza, with a complete withdrawal of most Israeli forces from the coastal area, while, during the third phase, the complete blockade on the strip would be lifted.

The source emphasized that "the ball is now in the Israeli side's court," noting that the United States is committed to ensuring the agreement's implementation.

ISRAEL ADVANCES RAFAH ATTACK PLAN

Also on Monday, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel was reviewing "seriously" the proposal earlier approved by Hamas.

"We are examining every response and answer very seriously, exploring every possibility regarding the issues of negotiations and the return of hostages," Hagari said at a press briefing.

However, the Israeli army was in parallel conducting large-scale airstrikes in Rafah, where about 1.2 million people uprooted by the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict have been seeking refuge.

"The IDF is currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in southern Gaza," the Israeli military said in a statement.

The attack came after the military announced in the morning the beginning of the evacuation of civilians from eastern Rafah "as part of the preparation for a ground operation in the region," Hagari said.

The Israeli war cabinet unanimously decided on Monday to continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas to promote the release of Israeli hostages and to achieve other goals of the war, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

The statement confirmed that the proposal approved by Hamas is far from meeting Israel's "core demands" and Israel will send a delegation to Cairo to exhaust every possibility of reaching an agreement acceptable to Israel.

Israel has launched a large-scale offensive against Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the kidnapping of around 250 others, according to Israeli official figures.

Israel estimated that there were still about 134 Israelis held hostage in Gaza, whereas Hamas announced that 70 of them had been killed in Israeli indiscriminate airstrikes.

On Monday night, people in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv took to the streets, rallying to demand the immediate release of the hostages.

Currently, the bloody conflict in Gaza has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians and injured over 78,000 others, according to the Hamas-run health authorities.

Cairo, Doha, and Washington are seeking to reach a deal for a prisoner exchange and a second ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, following the first one that ended in late November 2023. 
The U.K., U.S., and Australia announced sanctions on the Russian leader of the cyber-crime gang, LockBit, the U.K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA) announced on May 7.

Lockbit has become one of the most prolific ransomware groups in recent years, carrying out 3,000 cyberattacks in the U.S. and Europe and resulting in losses of billions of euros. The sanctions will target Dmitry Khoroshev, a Russian national who has been identified as one of the senior leaders of Lockbit.

The NCA announced in February that it had taken control of Lockbit's services, allowing it to infiltrate the group's network. Ukraine's National Police arrested two men in Ternopil Oblast suspected of involvement with Lockbit. The agency previously described Lockbit as the "world's most harmful cybercrime group," having targeted "thousands" of victims in ransomware attacks.

Lockbit was reportedly responsible for 25% of ransomware attacks globally last year, targeting thousands of victims, including over 200 Ukrainian businesses. The group conducted a mass online campaign, illegally stealing and using sensitive data to steal billions of dollars from businesses and individuals.

According to the director of the U.K.'s National Crime Agency, General Graeme Biggar, Dmitry Khoroshev offered $10 million to anyone who could reveal his identity.

"Dmitry Khoroshev thought he was beyond reproach, even offering $10 million to anyone who could reveal his identity, but these actions dispel that myth," Biggar said. "Our investigation into LockBit and its affiliates continues and, working with our international partners, well do everything we can to undermine their operations and protect the public."

The announcement comes only hours after the U.K. Defense Ministry was struck by a cyberattack, likely carried out by Chinese hackers.

Chinese and Russian-linked hacking groups have been accused of launching cyberattacks on a number of European governments and institutions, such as the U.K.'s Sellafield nuclear waste site.

Read also: Police arrest 2 suspected affiliates of international cyber crime group Lockbit

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Volodymyr Zelensky has been the target of several assassination plots - RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP

Ukraines intelligence service has arrested two senior officials who embedded themselves in President Volodymyr Zelenskys security team with a plan to kill him.

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said the two Ukrainian colonels were secretly in the pay of Russias FSB security agency and planned the assassination as a gift to Vladimir Putin.

Counter-intelligence and SBU investigators disrupted the FSBs plans to eliminate the president of Ukraine and other representatives of the highest military and political leadership of the state, the service said.

Ukraine's security service released a series of images as they arrested two people

It also released nine photos on the Telegram social media service showing the two suspects being arrested, a rocket-propelled grenade, bomb-making equipment and an alleged Telegram conversation on assassination plans.

The SBU said both men worked for Ukraines State Security Service, the unit tasked with protecting top officials. It said the FSB had recruited them more than two years ago ahead of the Kremlins full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The intelligence service said: One of the tasks of the FSB intelligence network was to search for executors among the military close to the protection of the President who could take the Head of State hostage and later kill him.

It also said the double agents movements had been closely documented, including a trip to an unnamed Ukrainian region to pick up weapons and conversations with their FSB handler.

The arrested men were said to be senior members of President Zelensky's security team

Senior Ukrainian officials have said Mr Zelensky has survived dozens of attacks on his life since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion in Feb 2022. He is constantly accompanied by heavily-armed bodyguards.

Major General Vasyl Malyuk, the SBU head, also said that the latest alleged assassination plot was planned to coincide with the inauguration on Tuesday of Putin as president of Russia for the fifth time.

The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin before the inauguration, was actually a failure of the Russian special services, he said.

One of the SBU photos shows a rocket-propelled grenade

Maj Gen Malyuk was also on the assassins hit list, as was Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraines military intelligence. Last year, Ukrainian intelligence said the wife of Lieut Gen Budanov had been hospitalised after being poisoned by Russian agents.

Ukraine has also warned that traitors have infiltrated its security services and are trying to undermine its war against the Kremlin. There are regular arrests of people in Ukraine for giving information to Russia to coordinate missile attacks on both civilian and military targets.

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Ukraines Security Service (SBU) said it had detained two Ukrainian security officials suspected of plotting to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top figures in the country in a plan coordinated by Russia.

Counterintelligence and SBU investigators disrupted the FSBs [Russias Security Service] plans to eliminate the President of Ukraine and other representatives of the highest military and political leadership of the state, the SBU wrote on social media.

Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine were detained on suspicion of working with Russias Federal Security Service to carry out the plot.

Ukraine claims Zelenskyy has faced numerous threats to his life since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022: That year, he said that there were at least 10 assassination attempts against him, The Associated Press reported.

Last month a Polish citizen was arrested for allegedly helping Russia to plan an attempt to assassinate Zelenskyy, one of a slew of arrests made in Europe in recent weeks that show how deeply Russian interests have penetrated Europe.

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Russia ramps up efforts to discredit Zelenskyy

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Sources: Yehor Cherniev MP, Mediazona, Carnegie Endowment

Russia has ramped up its efforts to discredit Zelenskyy, Yehor Cherniev, a Ukrainian MP and Deputy Chairman of the Committee on National Security, Defence, and Intelligence, said in an interview with Semafor shortly after the assassination plot was unveiled. Indeed, Russian independent media reported Saturday that Zelenskyy had been placed on Russias wanted list. When you are a legitimate president you have immunity, but when [Russia] considers him an illegitimate president, they can change their approach. Cherniev added that the Kremlin is spreading propaganda suggesting Zelenskyy is using martial law as a way to cling to power after his presidential term expires on May 20. Ukrainian electoral law does not permit holding elections during martial law, and officials have consistently emphasized the dangers of organizing an election in wartime  including that Russia could target voting stations. I cannot even imagine who could replace him, said Cherniev.

The Kremlin plots covert attacks across the West

Source icon

Sources: NRK, Financial Times, The Times

Russia is also ramping up its more clandestine operations across Europe. Several European intelligence agencies have raised the alarm over cyberattacks in recent weeks, while NATO warned of the threat of malign activities on allied territory. Norways security service said earlier this month that Russian intelligence services may be preparing sabotage operations aimed at energy infrastructure, while both Sweden and the Czech Republic are investigating an apparent effort to sabotage their railways, the Financial Times reported. In the UK, two men were charged in late April for starting a fire at a warehouse that was storing aid to Ukraine, and prosecutors accused them of working for Russia.

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(Reuters) - Beijing supports a peace conference on the Ukraine war that would see equal participation of all parties, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in an interview with Russia's RIA state news agency in remarks published on Tuesday.

"China supports a timely convening of an international peace conference, approved by the Russian and Ukrainian sides, with equal participation of all parties and fair discussion of all options for peace," RIA cited the ambassador as saying.

Switzerland will host talks during a two-day high-level conference on June 15-16 aimed at achieving peace in Ukraine, to which Moscow has not been invited. On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping, on a visit to France, appeared to be lukewarm on the Swiss conference.

Moscow has said it sees no point in Ukraine peace talks in Switzerland, while Kyiv has said it sees no place at the summit, held near the Swiss city of Lucerne, for Russia.

Beijing put forward a 12-point paper more than a year ago that set out general principles for ending the war but did not get into specifics.

That plan received a tepid reception at the time in both Russia and Ukraine, while the United States said China was presenting itself as a peacemaker but reflecting Russia's "false narrative" and failing to condemn its invasion.

The Chinese ambassador to Russia told RIA that Beijing is ready to continue playing a role and bringing "China's wisdom" to help solve the crisis.

"In order to prevent the conflict from escalating and getting out of control, all parties must make common efforts to restore peace as quickly as possible," Russia cited the diplomat as saying.

Since Russia's President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Moscow's smaller neighbour in February 2022, tens of thousands have been killed and millions driven from their homes. Now in its third year, the war has no end in sight.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Ukraines state security service said it foiled a Russian plot to kill President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top officials.

Investigators shut down the planned assassination by two colonels who served in Ukraines government protection unit and were reportedly recruited by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), according to a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) post on Telegram.

The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin for the inauguration, was indeed a failure of the Russian special services, SBU head Vasyl Maliuk said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The colonels were charged with treason.

The two men were in pursuit of a person in Zelenskys guard who would take and eventually assassinate the Ukrainian president, according to the SBU. Both of the colonels were recruited before the start of Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to The Associated Press.

Threats to kill Zelensky have been coming since the start of the war. He said that in 2022 there were at least 10 attempts to kill him, AP noted.

Last August, the Secret Service of Ukraine said it detained a Ukrainian woman who was working as a Russian informant as part of an assassination plot.

Ukrainian authorities thwarted an alleged assassination in the early days of the invasion plotted by some elite Chechen special forces.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
FILE - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators have foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top military and political figures, Ukraines state security service said Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators have foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top military and political figures, Ukraines state security service said Tuesday.

Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were detained on suspicion of enacting the plan drawn up by Russias Federal Security Service, or FSB, a statement said. The colonels were recruited before Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to the statement.

It quoted the head of the State Security Service, Vasyl Maliuk, as saying the plot foresaw an attack before Russian President Vladimir Putins inauguration for a fifth term on Tuesday. Maliuk said that he personally oversaw the top-secret operation to track the plot.

Ukrainian claims of Russian efforts to kill Zelenskyy aren't new. Zelensky said in 2022 there has been at least 10 attempts to assassinate him, and now the war with Russia has stretched into its third year.

Also, prosecutors in Poland said last month that a Polish man had been arrested on allegations of being ready to spy on behalf of Russias military intelligence in an alleged plot to assassinate Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyys movements are kept secret for security reasons, and his visits around the country are publicly announced only after he has left. News of events he holds in Kyiv is usually embargoed until they are over.

Zelenskyy has proved to be a valuable asset for his country as the war against Ukraines bigger neighbor grinds on, and as Kyiv's depleted forces wait for more troops and weapons. He has urged his people to keep fighting and instilled a belief that Ukraine can prevail.

The Ukrainian statement said the Russian intelligence agents targeting Zelenskyy sought out members of the Ukrainian military close to the presidents security detail who could take the head of state hostage and later kill him. The operation was run from Moscow, it said, providing the names of three alleged Russian spies behind the conspiracy.

The broader plan was to identify the location of senior Ukrainian officials and target them with a rocket attack, followed by drones and missiles.

The two Ukrainian colonels were arrested on suspicion of treason, which carries a life sentence, the statement said.

___

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Russian agents plotted to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and top Ukrainian military officials as a gift to Vladimir Putin as hes sworn in for a fifth termbut Ukrainian security officials caught wind of the plan and thwarted the operation.

Thats according to the Security Service of Ukraine, which said Tuesday that two colonels in the State Security Administration were detained after it was discovered theyd been taking orders from Moscow. The two colonels, who have not been identified, were leaking secret information to Moscow as Russias Federal Security Service developed plans to take out Zelensky, the SBU said in a statement.

The pair was reportedly part of a network of moles operating in Ukraine that was acting on behalf of the FSB. Among other things, the group was tasked with finding someone in Zelenskys security detail who could take him hostage and then kill him, according to the SBU.

Another plan involved one of Russias sleeper agents passing on information about Zelenskys movements to Moscow, which would then launch a missile strike targeting the area where he is located before sending in a drone to kill off any survivors. One of the detained colonels was reportedly in charge of securing the equipment for this planned assassination.

Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, was also a target, with Russian agents having set a deadline to kill him for before Easter. Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the SBU, said the attack that was supposed to be an inauguration gift for Putin was instead a failure by the Russian security services.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Key developments on May 7:

SBU says it foiled Russia's plot to assassinate Zelensky, 2 Ukrainian colonels detained

Government backs proposal on unmanned systems armed forces branch

Military intelligence: Ukraine constantly inventing new ways to sink Russian ships

Russian strikes on Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast injure at least six

Zelensky: Ukraine, Spain conclude talks on security agreement text

The Security Service of Ukraine claimed on May 7 that it had uncovered a network of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) agents who were preparing the assassination of President Volodymyr Zelensky and other high-ranking officials in Ukraine.

Two colonels of Ukraine's State Security Administration (UDO) accused of leaking classified information to Russia were reportedly detained.

In late November, Zelensky said in an interview with The Sun that he had survived at least five assassination attempts since the start of Russia's full-scale war.

The FSB network aimed to find perpetrators among the military close to Zelensky's security, "who could take the head of state hostage and then kill him," according to the SBU.

The planned attack was supervised by Maxim Mishustin, Dmitry Perlin, and Alexey Kornev, wemployees of the FSB's fifth service, according to the SBU.

"The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin for his inauguration, was actually a failure of the Russian Secret Service," SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk said.

Other Russia's targets reportedly included Maliuk and Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) head Kyrylo Budanov.

Budanov's assassination was allegedly planned to be carried out before Orthodox Easter, celebrated on May 5. A Russian agent was supposed to track Budanov's movements and pass the information to Russia, according to the SBU. One of the UDO colonels allegedly supplied the FSB agent with FPV (first-person-view) drones, warheads for portable launchers, and anti-personnel mines.

The plan reportedly was to hit a house where the HUR chief was supposed to be with a missile, and then attack the people remaining at the site with drones. Then there was supposed to be another missile strike to eliminate the evidence of a drone attack, the SBU said.

In early April, the SBU reported that a joint operation by Ukrainian and Polish law enforcement agencies led to the detention of a Polish citizen who allegedly offered to Russia to assassinate Zelensky.

Read also: Zelenskys term would have expired this month, but hes staying. Russia wants to use it

Government backs proposal on unmanned systems armed forces branch

The government supported on May 7 a draft decree by President Volodymyr Zelensky on the creation of a separate armed forces branch dedicated to unmanned systems, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.

Zelensky presented the plan for the new branch in early February as part of Kyiv's efforts to ramp up production of this crucial military capability.

"This is a strategic step for our country in the face of the growing threat from Russia," Umerov said.

As the next step, the Defense Ministry will "prepare and introduce the relevant draft law to the government meeting."

The Unmanned Systems Forces will reportedly focus specifically on improving Ukraine's work with drones, creating special drone-specific units, ramping up training, systemizing their use, increasing production, and pushing innovation.

Drones have become a crucial factor on Ukrainian battlefields for both belligerents, serving multiple purposes, including reconnaissance, airstrikes, naval strikes, and guiding artillery.

Strategic Industries Deputy Minister Hanna Hvozdiar said in March that Ukraine has the capacity to produce 150,000 drones every month and may be able to produce 2 million drones by the end of the year.

Read also: One night with Ukrainian drone hunters near Russia

Military intelligence: Ukraine constantly inventing new ways to sink Russian ships

Ukraine is constantly inventing new ways to destroy Russian ships in the seas around occupied Crimea, military intelligence (HUR) spokesperson Andrii Yusov said on May 7.

Speaking with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Yusov said operators of the agency's Magura V5 multi-purpose sea drone vary their attacks and "do not repeat themselves every time."

His comments come a day after the military intelligence agency said it had destroyed a Russian Mangust-class patrol boat off the coast of occupied Crimea, the latest of several vessels destroyed by the Magura sea drone.

Yusov said Russia has been taking steps to counter the attacks, including by trying to hide ships and build protective barriers, but said the agency was "finding new ways to show that HUR and Magura work extremely efficiently."

The spokesperson did not elaborate on the new methods, but on the same day that the Mangust-class patrol boat was sunk, Russia's Defense Ministry published a video of what appeared to be a Magura equipped with an anti-aircraft missile.

Ukraine previously destroyed several Russian ships with a Magura V5 sea drone, including a landing ship Caesar Kunikov, a Sergei Kotov patrol ship, high-speed Serna and Akula landing crafts, and a Tarantul-class Ivanovets missile corvette.

Ukrainian forces also partially damaged the Russian military ship Ivan Khurs using a Magura V5 drone.

On April 21, Ukraine's Navy struck the Kommuna ship in occupied Sevastopol. It was launched in 1915 and is the oldest ship still in service in the Russian Navy.

Sevastopol is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet and is frequently targeted by Ukrainian missile and sea drone strikes.

Read also: Updated: Ukraine destroys Russian fast attack craft in occupied Crimea

Russian strikes on Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast injure at least 6

At least six people, including a six-year-old girl and a 91-year-old woman, have been injured during an intense day of Russian strikes in Nikopol, in the south-east of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, authorities reported on May 7.

In a post on Telegram, Governor Serhii Lysak said 14 kamikaze drones and artillery struck the city and surrounding communities.

Initially, he reported four people had been injured  two women aged 91 and 50, and two men aged 37 and 40. One of the men was in a serious condition.

Ten houses, three garages, and several farm buildings were damaged.

In a later post, Lysak said the number of injured had risen to six, including the six-year-old girl.

Nikopol, situated on the banks of the mostly dried-up Kakhovka Reservoir, just across from Russian-occupied Enerhodar and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is a regular target of Russian attacks.

Read also: Opinion: Will the renewed US support for Ukraine be enough?

Zelensky: Ukraine, Spain conclude talks on security agreement text

Ukraine and Spain finalized negotiations on the text of a bilateral security agreement, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 7 after a call with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Over 30 countries have joined the Group of Seven (G7) Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine so far. The U.K., Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Finland, and Latvia have already signed bilateral agreements with Kyiv.

Ukraine is preparing bilateral security agreements with seven more countries, including Spain.

G7 members presented their plan for long-term security commitments for Ukraine at the NATO summit in Vilnius in early July last year.

Under this plan, individual countries would provide bilateral support to help Kyiv repel the ongoing Russian invasion and deter any future aggression.

The security guarantees would entail explicit and long-lasting obligations and bolster Ukraine's ability to resist Russian aggression. The guarantees would also cover sanctions, financial aid, and post-war reconstruction.

Sanchez also confirmed his participation in Ukraine's global peace summit to be held in Switzerland on June 15-16.

"I am grateful to Prime Minister Sanchez for his active support of the peace formula and its promotion among countries in Latin America and Africa," the president said.

Zelensky and Sanchez further discussed the continuation of military aid to Kyiv.

Ukraine has received Patriot anti-aircraft missiles from Madrid, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced on May 6. The country's move is among the latest from Western nations responding to calls from Kyiv for more air defenses in the face of escalating Russian missile and drone attacks on cities across Ukraine.

Read also: Can new security agreements forge Ukraines path to victory?

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
For centuries, the Sava River and the Danube connected Belgrade with other parts of Europe and the world. And the cultures here are mingled.

In recent years, there's been a new addition to this inclusive cultural tapestry. As a Chinese visitor, I feel that Serbia is welcoming in a most straightforward way. And as I talk to local people, I find our bonds are closer than I thought, which is heartwarming.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
The aftermath of the Russian-Ukrainian clash. Screenshot: 79th Separate Assault Tavriia Brigade on Facebook

Soldiers from the 79th Separate Assault Tavriia Brigade have destroyed eight Russian motorcycles and an armoured personnel carrier during a Russian assault in the vicinity of Novomykhailivka (Donetsk Oblast).

Source: 79th Separate Assault Tavriia Brigade on Facebook

Quote: "Crazy things happen! Russian occupation forces used motorcycles to break through the positions of the Tavriia assault brigade in the vicinity of Novomykhailivka.

However, our attack drone operators didnt appreciate this creative effort and [struck every Russian motorcycle before they could reach the Ukrainian positions]."

Details: The brigade said that eight Russian military motorcycles and one armoured personnel carrier, with personnel on board, were destroyed in the course of this clash. Ukrainian forces also damaged another armoured personnel carrier and a tank.

Previously: The fierce battle for Novomykhailivka, a small village with the population of around 1,500 before the full-scale invasion, started in late autumn 2023.

Russia deployed 10 brigades and regiments totalling up to 30,000 soldiers to a narrow strip of the front in order to capture Novomykhailivka. Every day, Russia deploys tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and countless infantry personnel to attack Ukrainian positions in the area.

Over the past six months, Ukrainian 79th Separate Assault Tavriia Brigade has destroyed over 300 pieces of Russian military equipment.

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Ukraines Cabinet of Ministers has backed a draft decree to be signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that will create a separate branch within the Armed Forces of Ukraine  the Unmanned Systems Forces. The decree was jointly drafted by the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff.

Source: Rustem Umierov, Minister of Defence of Ukraine, on Facebook

Quote: "Today the Cabinet of Ministers supported the draft Decree of the President of Ukraine, composed by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine jointly with the General Staff of Ukraine, on the creation of a separate branch of the Armed Forces of Ukraine  the Unmanned Systems Forces.

This is a strategic step [forward] for our country in the face of the growing threat from Russia."

Details: Umierov added that the Unmanned Systems Forces represent a modern and essential solution to make effective use of combat potential and achieve technological superiority over Russian troops.

The Ministry of Defence will prepare a corresponding draft law and submit it to the government for consideration so that this initiative can go ahead.

Background: President Zelenskyy instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to set up the Unmanned Systems Forces as a new service branch within the Armed Forces of Ukraine on 6 February.

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Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes near the Rafah crossing. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

The humanitarian branches of the United Nations have condemned Israel's advance into Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

A spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, Ravina Shamdasani, commented that for civilians who have been ordered to evacuate there are no safe routes to the north and no safe havens with sufficient sanitary facilities and food supplies.

These are basic humanitarian requirements for evacuations, she said in Geneva.

"There are strong indications that this is being conducted in violation of international humanitarian law," she said.

"This morning is one of the darkest in this seven-months-long nightmare," said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Israeli forces had ignored all warnings about the impact of a Rafah offensive on the civilian population, he said. "Panic and despair has taken hold."

"Our worst fears seem to be a reality," said James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children's fund UNICEF.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Guterres has called on Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal and avoid a full Israeli offensive in Rafah, terming it "a decisive moment for the Palestinian and Israeli people and for the fate of the entire region." Gehad Hamdy/dpa

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal and avoid a full Israeli offensive in Rafah, terming it "a decisive moment for the Palestinian and Israeli people and for the fate of the entire region."

Without a ceasefire, there would be no release of Israeli hostages from Gaza, and there would be a "devastating" offensive in Rafah, Guterres said in a statement.

"A full-scale assault on Rafah will be a human catastrophe," he wrote. "An assault on Rafah would be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare."

The two sides needed to show "political courage" to reach an agreement, he said.

Israeli forces advanced into parts of the city of Rafah in the sealed-off coastal strip overnight and took control of the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt.
The UN Secretary-General has called on Israel to immediately reopen crossings into Gaza after it seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing just hours before.

Antonio Guterres urged Israel to stop any escalation and called the renewed military activity in Rafah disturbing and distressing.

The UN and aid organisations said that all land crossings into Gaza have been closed since Israel seized the crossing. The UN says just one days worth of fuel remains inside Gaza to power humanitarian assistance.

The closure of both the Rafah and Karem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be re-opened immediately, Mr Guterres said.

I urge the Government of Israel to stop any escalation, and engage constructively in the ongoing diplomatic talks.

Shortly before Mr Guterres comments, a senior Israeli official briefed foreign media that todays operation was just the beginning of the IDFs mission to eliminate Hamas remaining battalions in Rafah.

It came as an Israeli official called a delegation heading to negotiations in Cairo as mid-level, after a ceasefire offer from Hamas was rejected on Monday.

Were there a credible deal in the offing, the principals would be heading the delegation, the official said.

Hamass armed wing said it fired rockets at Israeli troops the key Kerem Shalom crossing, which had already been shut.

03:08 PM BST

Todays live blog is now closed

Thats all from our live blog today. Thanks for following along. As we close Israel is sending a mid-level delegation to assess whether Hamas can be persuaded to shift on its latest ceasefire offer. The current proposal accepted by Hamas, Israel has said, is unacceptable. Here is a summary of the day and where everything currently stands:

Israeli tanks seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border this morning and closed the crossing to aid deliveries into the besieged territory. Israel launched the operation to seize the Rafah crossing with ceasefire negotiations on a knife-edge after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari deal last night.

This delegation is made up of mid-level envoys. Were there a credible deal in the offing, the principals would be heading the delegation, a senior Israeli official says of the negotiating team dispatched to Cairo today, dampening hopes of an imminent hostage deal.

Hamass armed wing said it fired rockets at Israeli troops this morning at the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, which was already closed after previous rocket fire over the weekend.

Israeli authorities have denied the UN access to the Rafah crossing, a spokesperson for the UNs humanitarian agency OCHA, has confirmed. Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson, said there was only a one-day buffer of fuel to run humanitarian operations inside Gaza.

The Israeli military capturing the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing this morning was a serious escalation, Hamas has said in a statement. This crime, which comes immediately after Hamas announcement of its agreement to the mediators proposal, confirms [Israels] intention to disrupt mediation efforts to cease fire and release prisoners, for the personal interests of Netanyahu and his extremist government, the statement read.

EU ministers expressed mounting alarm on Tuesday over an Israeli military assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip, with the blocs top diplomat warning it would cause a lot of casualties.

The Prime Minister has said that he is still deeply concerned about Israels plan for a full military offensive in Rafah, just hours after Israeli troops ignored the warnings from allies and moved into part of the southernmost city.

The US must intervene immediately to stop Israel from invading Gazas southernmost city of Rafah, The Palestinian Authority said.

Israels far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said it was a mistake to have sent a negotiating team to Cairo today. Sending the delegation to Cairo is a mistake and falls into the manipulative trap set by Hamas together with Qatar and Egypt. This is the time to press more and more on the neck of Yahya Sinwar and Hamas until they are destroyed, he said in a statement.

Israel has seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in order to cut of a lifeline for Hamas, a senior official said on Tuesday. In a briefing with foreign press, Avi Hyman, a spokesperson for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate, said that Israel will no longer allow the crossing with Egypt to provide Hamas with supplies.

03:04 PM BST

Israel seizes Rafah crossing to cut Hamas lifeline

Israel has seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in order to cut of a lifeline for Hamas, a senior official said on Tuesday.

In a briefing with foreign press, Avi Hyman, a spokesperson for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate, said that Israel will no longer allow the crossing with Egypt to provide Hamas with supplies.

This is the beginning of our mission to take out the last four Hamas brigades in Rafah, Mr Hyman said, dampening hopes of a hostage deal in the near future.

In a separate briefing government spokesman David Mencer claimed that Hamas has cross-border underground smuggling tunnels underneath the Rafah crossing infrastructure.

These Hamas tunnels must be dealt with to shut off arms to the terrorists, Mr Mencer said.

The UN and aid organisations said that all aid has been blocked into the besieged territory since Israel took over the Rafah crossing in the early hours of this morning. The crossing is also the only way out for medical evacuations.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today said that the UK is still deeply concerned over Israels plans for a full military incursion into Rafah.

02:41 PM BST

Israeli government briefing suggests no long-term ceasefire imminent

Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer has reiterated Israels unfaltering line that it will not withdraw from Gaza without destroying Hamas.

We will not allow Hamas to remain standing at the end of this conflict. We simply will not allow Hamas to remain standing. That is one of the three war aims. The others are to get our hostages released and of course to ensure that Gaza never again can form a threat to us, he said in a daily briefing.

Hamas are simply trying to save their skins. This conflict could end this afternoon. This afternoon, before we here in Israel put our kids to bed, and the way it can end is quite simple: if Hamas lay down their arms and release the hostages. Anything else where Hamas remains in power is simply not an option for Israel. We refuse to live next to this terrorist entity anymore. Weve come to the conclusion any end to this conflict that leaves Hamas standing is not an option.

Israel dispatched what is reported to be a mid-level delegation to Cairo today to continue talks, but fears have grown that the overall progress has been dashed. On the other side, Hamas has maintained that it will not walk away with any other outcome than a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Negotiators will likely be working on bridging the gap for a temporary pause in fighting that broke down last night, reportedly over Israel not accepting that Hamas return the bodies of dead hostages in the first phase.

02:29 PM BST

Gazans in Rafah continue to evacuate following Israeli assault

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day - AFP

Displaced Palestinians flee Rafah with their belongings to safer areas in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024 following an evacuation order by the Israeli army the previous day - AFP

02:26 PM BST

Smotrich says it was a mistake to send a negotiating team to Cairo

Israels far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said it was a mistake to have sent a negotiating team to Cairo today.

Sending the delegation to Cairo is a mistake and falls into the manipulative trap set by Hamas together with Qatar and Egypt. This is the time to press more and more on the neck of Yahya Sinwar and Hamas until they are destroyed, he said in a statement.

You must not give in to international pressure and you must not stop until victory and the submission of the enemy. This is our war of independence and we must win it.

02:24 PM BST

US must stop Rafah invasion, demand Palestinian leaders

The US must intervene immediately to stop Israel from invading Gazas southernmost city of Rafah, The Palestinian Authority said.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, the spokesman for the Palestinian Presidency, called the Israeli seizure of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing a crime and blasted the unacceptable international silence.

Israel ignored warnings from its close allies and moved into the southern city on Tuesday after its war cabinet rejected Hamas agreement of a ceasefire proposal, saying that it did not meet its core demands.

Abu Rudeina called the Israeli decision to enter Rafah a dangerous escalation and said that controlling the border crossings will only double the suffering of civilians.

Hamas also called on the US to pressure Israel into stopping the full assault on Rafah that was promised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli officials have said that the current offensive, which saw them halt all aid into the besieged territory, is only a limited operation.

01:43 PM BST

The UK deeply concerned about a full military incursion into Rafah, Sunak says

The Prime Minister has said that he is still deeply concerned about Israels plan for a full military offensive in Rafah, just hours after Israeli troops ignored the warnings from allies and moved into part of the southernmost city.

On a visit to south-east London, the Prime Minister said: Weve been consistent in saying that we want to see an immediate humanitarian pause in this conflict so that we can crucially release the hostages, get them back to their families and get more aid in to Gaza, people desperately need it, and then use that pause to build a more lasting and sustainable ceasefire.

He added: When it comes to the question of Rafah, again Ive been clear that we are deeply concerned about the full military incursion of Rafah, given the humanitarian consequences of that.

Ive made that point specifically to Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu whenever Ive spoken to him.

01:29 PM BST

Pictured: Pro-Palestine demonstrations near the Met Gala last night

People attend a pro-Palestinian demonstration near the Met Gala, an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute with this year's theme 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion' in New York City, New York, U.S., May 6, 2024. - REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

01:26 PM BST

Hezbollah claims three attacks on Israel today

Hezbollah said it has targeted Israel three times today, claiming that it has caused military casualties and damage to Iron Dome equipment.

In the first attack, Hezbollah said that it launched drones that targeted enemy officers and soldiers while they were inthe courtyard of the Yiftah barracks... leaving dead and wounded... At the same time, other aircraft targeted one of the Iron Dome platforms located south of the Ramot Naftali barracks and hit it directly, leading to its damage.

In the second attack, Hezbollah said at 14:15pm (local time) it targeted the spy equipment at the Al Samaqa site in the occupied Lebanese Kfarshouba hills with weapons.

The IDF today said that several suspicious aerial targets were identified approaching Israeli territory. The IDF said it intercepted one of them, another fell in an open after in Yiftah and caused a fire; two fell in an open area; and the others fell and caused light damage  without referencing what they inflicted damage on.

The Israeli military said that no injuries had been reported.

01:00 PM BST

Prices in Rafah shoot up as future of aid deliveries uncertain

Food prices in Rafah have shot up amid the uncertainty of when aid will be allowed to enter Gaza again, after Israel closed the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.

There was not enough aid to go around before, now people are very worried, Mohammad Najjar, a student in Rafah, told The Telegraph over the phone. The price for a kilo of sugar two days ago was around $3, today it is $20.

The UN earlier today warned that it only has one day worth of fuel inside Gaza to fuel humanitarian operations, after they were denied access to cross the border by the Israel authorities.

12:49 PM BST

Netanyahu must face consequences, says Jordanian foreign minister

Instead of giving negotiations on hostage release & ceasefire a chance, Israeli govt occupied Rafah crossing & closed it to humanitarian aid to starved Gazans. Its attack on Rafah threatens another massacre. SC must act firmly & immediately. Netanyahu must face real consequence.  Ayman Safadi (@AymanHsafadi) May 7, 2024

12:08 PM BST

Israeli forces deployed to stop protestors demanding an acceptance of the hostage deal proposal from advancing

Israeli forces deployed to the area prevented the protesters demanding that the Israeli government accept proposal for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange agreement in Tel Aviv, Israel on May 6, 2024. - Nir Keidar/Anadolu via Getty Images

11:55 AM BST

Israel says it shot down drone coming from Iraq for second consecutive night

Israeli fighter jets intercepted a drone flying toward Israel from the eastern direction, the IDF said.

The military said that it was tracked until the moment of interception and did not enter Israeli airspace.

According to The Times of Israel, it was the second night in a row that a drone apparently launched from Iraq was shot down.

The pro-Iran umbrella group, Islamic Resistance in Iraq, said they had launched a drone at Israel overnight.

11:47 AM BST

Imminent ceasefire deal appears unlikely with Israel reported to be sending mid-level delegation to talks

A team of mid-ranking Israeli officials will go to Cairo in the next few hours to assess whether Hamas can be persuaded to shift on its latest ceasefire offer, a senior Israeli official says, reiterating that the proposal as it currently stands was unacceptable to Israel.

This delegation is made up of mid-level envoys. Were there a credible deal in the offing, the principals would be heading the delegation, the official tells Reuters.

11:41 AM BST

EU voices alarm over Israel assault on Rafah

EU ministers expressed mounting alarm on Tuesday over an Israeli military assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip, with the blocs top diplomat warning it would cause a lot of casualties.

Belgiums development minister, Caroline Gennez, said an Israeli offensive on Rafah would cross a red line and said that sanctions... have to be on the table in response.

Speaking hours after Israel sent tanks into Rafah, she said an attack on the city threatens millions with famine.

It is very clear that international law is no longer respected in Gaza, she said.

Gennez also urged her European Union counterparts to unanimously agree on a decision to stop exporting weapons to the Middle East, to Israel and the warfaring countries.

Germanys development minister, Jochen Flasbarth, said the situation is dramatic and continues to worsen in Gaza and called the humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian territory appalling.

But he said there would be no discussion of potential sanctions at Tuesdays talks.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who was chairing the meeting of development ministers, warned there is no safe zone in Gaza for Palestinian civilians to flee to, noting that there were 600,000 children in the densely populated enclave.

He stressed that the European Union and United States had all asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to not go ahead with his threatened assault on Rafah.

11:36 AM BST

Storming of Rafah is a serious escalation: Hamas

The Israeli military capturing the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing this morning was a serious escalation, Hamas has said in a statement.

This crime, which comes immediately after Hamas announcement of its agreement to the mediators proposal, confirms [Israels] intention to disrupt mediation efforts to cease fire and release prisoners, for the personal interests of Netanyahu and his extremist government, the statement read.

We call on the American administration and the international community to pressure [Israel] to stop this escalation, it continued.

Israel has said that it was caught off-guard when Hamas accepted a proposal that was not on the table, although US officials and western diplomats have told several newspapers that it is unlikely Israel would have been kept in the dark by any major change in the proposal.

11:16 AM BST

Fears of a full ground invasion grip the west of Rafah

As the IDF came into Rafah overnight, fears that the limited operation in eastern Rafah that allowed them to take the border crossing could turn into the full-assault promised took over, Gazans said.

Speaking to the Telegraph over the phone from the west of Rafah, Mohammad Najjar, a student, said that the night was very difficult.

From east to west, Rafah is no wider than 15 kilometres (9 miles), he stressed, so the IDF are very close to where he is and everyone is of course worried about what might happen next. Until this moment we can hear the bombing, he said, following a night of artillery, drones and air strikes.

Israeli media is quoting officials as saying that this is a limited operation and not the full assault that Netanyahu promised.

10:53 AM BST

With Rafah crossing closed by Israel, UN warns it only has a one day buffer supply of fuel for Gaza

Israeli authorities have denied the UN access to the Rafah crossing, a spokesperson for the UNs humanitarian agency OCHA, has confirmed.

Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson, said there was only a one-day buffer of fuel to run humanitarian operations inside Gaza.

We currently do not have any physical presence at the Rafah crossing as our access... has been denied by COGAT, he said, referring to the Israeli agency that oversees supplies into the Palestinian territories.

We have been told there will be no crossings of personnel or goods in or out for the time being. That has a massive impact on how much stock do we have.

Theres a very, very short buffer of one day of fuel available.

As fuel only comes in through Rafah, the one day buffer is for the entire operation in Gaza.

If no fuel comes in, it would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave, said Laerke.

Currently, the two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are currently choked off, he said, referring to the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel.

10:49 AM BST

Pictured: The displaced fled again yesterday ahead of Rafah ground offensive

Palestinians yesterday fled as Israel issued evacuation orders for the east of Rafah ahead of their offensive beginning - REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

10:46 AM BST

Egypt condemns Israeli control of Rafah border crossing

The Egyptian foreign ministry has released a statement condemning the Isreali offensive on Rafah and their move to control the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing.

Egypt considers that this dangerous escalation threatens the lives of more than a million Palestinians who depend primarily on this crossing as it is the main lifeline of the Gaza Strip, the statement read.

The Arab Republic of Egypt calls on the Israeli side to exercise the utmost restraint, and to stay away from a policy of brinksmanship, it continued, adding that it would threaten the fate of a truce.

Egypt also calls on all influential international parties to intervene and exert the necessary pressure to defuse the current crisis and allow diplomatic efforts to achieve their desired results.

10:35 AM BST

Whats in the three-phase ceasefire deal Hamas backs, but Israel does not?

Based on details announced so far by Hamas officials, a copy of the proposal and an official briefed on the talks, Reuters reports that the deal that the Palestinian group said it had agreed to included the following:

PHASE ONE

- 42-day ceasefire period - Hamas freeing 33 Israeli hostages, alive or dead, in return for Israel releasing 30 children and women for each released Israeli hostage, based on lists provided by Hamas according to the earliest date of detention.

- Starting from the first day of the ceasefire, the entry of intensive and sufficient quantities of humanitarian aid, relief materials, and fuel (600 trucks per day, including 50 fuel trucks, of which 300 are for the north), including the fuel necessary for operating the power plant, trade, and equipment needed for rubble removal, rehabilitation and operation of hospitals, health centres and bakeries in all areas of the Gaza Strip, and the continuation of this in all stages of the agreement.

- Hamas will release three Israeli hostages on the third day of the agreement, and then release three more hostages every seven days, prioritising women if possible, including civilians and conscripts.

- In the sixth week, Hamas will release all remaining civilian hostages covered by this phase. In exchange, Israel will release the agreed number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, according to the lists that will be provided by Hamas.

Israel partially withdraws troops from Gaza and allows the free movement of Palestinians from south to north Gaza.

- Cessation of military flights over the Gaza Strip will take place for 10 hours per day and 12 hours on the day of releasing the hostages and prisoners.

- On the third day after releasing the first Palestinian prisoners, the Israeli forces will completely withdraw from al-Rashid street in northern Gaza, and all military sites will be dismantled.

- On the 22nd day of the first phase, Israeli forces will withdraw from the centre of the strip, east of Salah al-Din road to an area near the Israeli border.

PHASE TWO

- Another 42-day period that features an agreement to restore a sustainable calm to Gaza, language that an official briefed on the talks said Hamas and Israel had agreed in order to take discussion of a permanent ceasefire off the table.

- The complete withdrawal of most Israeli troops from Gaza.

- Hamas releases Israeli reservists and some soldiers in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from jail.

PHASE THREE

- The completion of exchanging bodies and starting the implementation of reconstruction according to the plan overseen by Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations. - Ending the complete blockade on the Gaza Strip.

- Start of the implementation of a 3-5 year plan for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, including homes, civilian facilities and infrastructure, and compensation for all those affected, under the supervision of a number of countries and organisations including Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.

10:28 AM BST

Israeli officials reportedly say Washington hid proposal presented to Hamas; US denies they were faced with any surprises

The US knew of the new proposal that was presented to Hamas in recent days, but did not inform Israel about the changes, Axios has reported, citing Israeli officials.

The report said that Israel was caught off-guard when it reviewed the proposal that Hamas accepted yesterday and has created suspicion among senior Israeli officials regarding the US role in the hostage talks.

A senior US official cited in the report denied that Israel was faced with any surprises and said that US diplomats have been engaged with their Israeli counterparts throughout the mediation.

10:17 AM BST

A view inside Rafah this morning

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in eastern Rafah, Gaza on May 07, 2024. The Israeli army said that its forces have seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. - Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images

Palestinians inspect the damage following Israeli bombardment of Rafah's Tal al-Sultan district in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024. - AFP

Palestinians inspect houses damaged in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 7, 2024. - REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

10:11 AM BST

IDF confirms Hezbollah killed two soldiers in drone attack yesterday

The IDF this morning confirmed Hezbollahs claim that yesterday it killed two soldiers in a drone attack on Metula, northern Israel.

The Israeli military, according to The Times of Israel, said that it attempted and failed to the intercept the explosive-laden drone.

The two reserves soldiers were named as Master Sgt. Dan Kamkagi, 31, and Master Sgt. Nahman Natan Hertz, also 31.

The IDF said that another soldier was lightly injured in the attack.

09:45 AM BST

Hamas targets Israeli troops at Kerem Shalom crossing this morning

Hamass armed wing said it fired rockets at Israeli troops this morning at the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, which was already closed after previous rocket fire over the weekend.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, which claimed a rocket attack on the crossing on Sunday that killed four Israeli soldiers, said in a statement that it had targeted the gathering of enemy forces at Kerem Shalom in the latest attack.

The IDF said that four mortars were launched from Rafah at Kerem Shalom a short while ago and that an earlier attack saw two rockets fired at the same area. In the first attack the IDF said that one rocket hit an open area and the second fell short in Gaza.

No casualties were reported.

09:39 AM BST

China urges Israel to stop attacking Rafah

China on Tuesday urged Israel to stop attacking Rafah, after the Israeli army said it took operational control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

China... strongly calls on Israel to heed the overwhelming demands of the international community, stop attacking Rafah, and do everything it can to avoid a more serious humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

Israel carried out strikes on the Gazan city of Rafah overnight as it sought to put pressure on Hamas ahead of talks in Egypt on Tuesday aimed at sealing a truce proposal endorsed by the militants.

09:37 AM BST

Macklemore goes viral across the Middle East with new song for Palestine

American rapper Macklemore is going viral across much of the Middle East after he released a song overnight named Hinds Hall inspired by the pro-Palestine demonstrations taking place across US campuses.

Once its up on streaming all proceeds to UNRWA, the rapper said as he posted the video on X last night.

Former Egyptian political prisoner Abdelrahman ElGendy posted on X:

Heartening to see childhood heroes take a clear stance. For years, I engraved Macklemores lyrics from Wings on the walls of my prison cell in Egypt, and Wings was originally my memoirs title for how much it moved me. Love the full circle. And great song, too.

09:14 AM BST

Israeli tank bulldozes I heart Gaza sign at Rafah crossing

09:13 AM BST

Gaza health ministry releases new casualty figures

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza has issued new casualty figures, putting the total death toll up to 34,789 and injuries to 78,204.

The figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Many other bodies are believed to still be trapped beneath the rubble are not included in the figures.

According to the health ministry spokesperson, the death toll rose by 54 people in the past 24 hours and 96 wounded.

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, said that 21 Palestinian civilians  including women and children  were killed this morning across Gaza, the majority of them in Rafah.

09:01 AM BST

Israeli foreign minister welcomes IDF ground presence in Rafah; says Hamas would be crushed by now if not for hostages

Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz has welcomed the IDF ground assault on Rafah this morning.

If not for the hostages dear to our hearts, for whose release we are bound by a supreme obligation and we will do everything to bring them home, the Hamas gang would have long since been crushed and thrown into the dustbin of history, he posted on X.

The entry of the IDF into Rafah promotes the two main goals of the war: the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.

The work of persuasion on the political front is becoming more difficult - but I will do everything to meet the task and allow our heroic soldiers to complete the work.

08:54 AM BST

Pictured: Iron Dome intecepts rockets fired from Gaza overnight as Rafah strikes intensified

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, May 6, 2024. - REUTERS/Amir Cohen

08:46 AM BST

HRW finds Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed seven paramedics in unlawful attack using US weapon

A report released today by Human Rights Watch has found that Israel used an American JDAM (joint direct attack munition) to strike an emergency centre in Lebanon in March that killed seven paramedics.

HRW says it found no evidence of a military target at the site, making it an unlawful attack on civilians as they called for the US and other allies to suspend arms to Israel.

An Islamic Group official  a Lebanese Islamist political party whose armed wing, the Fajr Forces, has been engaged in cross-border hostilities with Israel  said that while some Islamic Group supporters are volunteers in the Lebanese Succour Association (the relief organisation), they do not include any fighters from its armed wing.

HRW notes that just a week before the strike Israel reportedly submitted written assurances to the US State Department that US-provided weapons were not being used in violation of international law.

08:39 AM BST

Interrupting the aid supply will make catastrophic hunger worse, says UNRWA

Continued interruption of the entry of aid and fuel supplies at the #Rafah crossing will halt the critical humanitarian response across the #GazaStrip



The catastrophic hunger faced by people especially in northern #Gaza will get much worse if these supply routes are interrupted. pic.twitter.com/CYMxbbHMbL  UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 7, 2024

08:28 AM BST

Two explosions reported near vessel off the coast of Yemen

A merchant vessel passing through the Gulf of Aden reported two explosions in close proximity, British maritime security agency UKMTO said this morning.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said the vessel and all crew are safe, adding that authorities are investigating the blasts south of Yemens southern port city of Aden.

UKMTO, which is run by Britains Royal Navy, did not provide details on the ship or the nature of attack.

Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched dozens of drone and missile strikes against ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November.

08:14 AM BST

Negotiations set to resume today; returning dead hostages in first phase appears to be sticking point

Delegations from Israel and Hamas are set to head to Cairo today to resume negotiations on the new Egyptian-Qatari proposal, accepted by Hamas, to pause the fighting for an exchange of some of the 128 hostages held by Hamas and prisoners held by Israel.

While the terms of the deal were not public during yesterdays whiplash back and forth between Israel and Hamas, Al Jazeera reports that it has obtained a copy of the proposal that was approved by Hamas (Israel claims this proposal does not meet its core demands and was not on the table).

One of the most important points, we are to believe, is that Hamas is to release 33 Israeli captives (alive or dead), including women (civilians and soldiers), children (under the age of 19 who are not soldiers), those over the age of 50, and the sick in the first phase, in exchange for a number of prisoners.

It also says that Hamas will release all living Israeli female soldiers in return for prisoners.

The text says in the second (of three) stages Israeli forces shall withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip.

The New York Times this morning reports that Hamas informed the negotiators yesterday  as part of its counteroffer to Israels proposal  that not all of the 33 hostages to be released in the first stage would still be alive, but their remains would be returned.

The first group is supposed to include women, older men, the wounded and the sick. Israel, NYT reports, initially wanted it to be 40 hostage returns in this group but came to understand that Hamas did not hold that many that fit the criteria.

07:57 AM BST

Israeli military vehicles tour the Gaza-Egypt border with flags

Israeli military vehicles drive along the Egypt-Gaza border with obnoxiously large flags. pic.twitter.com/5VArNIp7o1  Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 7, 2024

07:55 AM BST

Silence from Egypt

Egypt has not yet commented on the Israeli seizure of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing and officials are declining to make any comments to the press.

Cairo previously has warned any seizure of Rafah could see Palestinians fleeing over the border  a scenario they are particularly anxious about  that could threaten a 1979 peace deal with Israel thats been a linchpin for regional security.

The seizure again raised the risks of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah.

07:47 AM BST

Closing of Rafah crossing leaves Palestinians trapped

Israels capturing and closing of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing this morning has not only halted the flow of aid, but trapped all civilians inside Gaza.

While most could not afford the hefty fees required to leave  with thousands raising funds online  the border crossing was the only way out for those who pieced together the money for the Egyptian brokers.

The crossing was also being used to evacuate some of the most seriously wounded children. It is not immediately clear how long the crossing will be closed, or when Israel will reallow aid deliveries and evacuations to continue.

The Israeli flag hangs inside the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing - Israel Defence Forces

07:36 AM BST

Good morning

Hello and welcome to the Telegraphs live blog of the Israel-Gaza war. Follow along as we bring you all of the latest developments.

First up this morning:

Israeli tanks capture Rafah border crossing

Israeli tanks seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border this morning and closed the crossing to aid deliveries into the besieged territory.

Footage released by the Israeli military showed a tank entering the crossing, which is also vital for evacuations from Gaza, after a night of heavy strikes on the southern Gazan city.

Israel also said that it had closed the Kerem Shalom crossing and that it will only reopen when the security conditions allow it.

The Israeli military claimed it seized the crossing after receiving intelligence it was being used for terrorist purposes. The military did not provide evidence to immediately support the assertion, though it alleged the area around the crossing had been used to launch a mortar attack that killed four Israeli troops and wounded others near the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

Israel launched the operation to seize the Rafah crossing with ceasefire negotiations on a knife-edge after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari deal last night.

Mr Netanyahus office said the truce proposal fell short of Israels demands but Israel would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement.

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UNC Charlotte dismantled a pro-Palestine encampment on campus Tuesday morning.

Protesters set up the encampment outside Cato Hall around noon on May 1, according to Niner Times, the schools student newspaper. Thats on the east side of campus near University City Boulevard. Campus police told protesters around 6:20 a.m. Tuesday they needed to disperse and dismantle tents or face disciplinary action.

Fourteen protesters were at the site when it was dismantled, UNC Charlotte told The Observer. One of them was detained.

What began as peaceful protesting has transitioned over the past several days to intentionally and repeatedly violating University policy, UNC Charlotte Chancellor Sharon Gaber wrote in a statement to university students and staff. Violations were highlighted verbally and in writing, and exhaustive efforts were made to encourage protesters to exercise their right to free speech in a manner that respects the rights of those not protesting to do their work and pursue their education.

Gaber cited University Policy 601.6, Scheduling University Facilities and University Policy 601.9, Sales, Solicitations, Distribution of Materials and Campus Displays.

The university also announced a UNC Charlotte identification card will be required to access all buildings on campus beginning at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday.

This precautionary measure is in place to ensure exams can continue uninterrupted should protests occur later today, the school said in a notice Tuesday morning. UNC Charlotte respects and values free expression. However, expression must be conducted within a reasonable time, place and manner as established in law and University policy. The 49th Acre has been designated as the location for all protest activities today to minimize disruptions to exams and campus operations.

Protesters first set up an encampment April 22 in a quad across from the schools student union before being asked to remove their tents. They obliged and continued to gather each day in the same spot through April 26.

Pro-Palestine encampment got two verbal warnings

Organizers of the protest said they were not given adequate time to disperse.

They gave two verbal warnings with very little time in between before they started the raid, organizers said via an Instagram post Tuesday. Many students and community members did not have enough time to gather their things before they were forced to leave or face the threat of arrest.

According to the Instagram post, the one person detained was a student. However, a UNC Charlotte spokesperson said he hasnt been confirmed to be a student because he declined to give his name.

Organizers planned a march on Tuesday evening at 5 p.m., but the university gave them a letter Monday saying the march would not be permitted, due to potential disruptions of final exams and safety concerns.

UNC Charlotte students and local activists march through campus during a rally for solidarity with Gaza and to protest student oppression at UNC Charlotte in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.
PARIS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China and France pledged Monday to take effective measures to address the potential and actual risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and to strengthen global governance of AI to promote development and use for the common good.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to France at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, the two heads of state reached a series of consensus on bilateral and multilateral cooperation to properly utilize and regulate the technology.

Recognizing the key role of AI in development and innovation, while taking into account the range of challenges that may arise from the development and use of AI, China and France agree on the importance of promoting the development and security of AI and promoting appropriate international governance to achieve this goal, said a joint statement on AI and global governance issued by the two countries.

France and China agree that global governance of AI should allow for flexibility to facilitate the development of a constantly and rapidly evolving technology, with the necessary protection of personal data and the rights of users mobilizing AI or whose productions are mobilized by AI.

The two countries are fully committed to promoting safe, secure, and reliable AI systems based on the principle of AI for the common good, through a comprehensive and inclusive dialogue, and through promoting international cooperation and interoperability among AI governance frameworks and initiatives, building on work done at the UN level.

Both countries recognize that the opportunities, risks and challenges associated with AI are global in nature, said the joint statement, underlining the importance of strengthening international cooperation in the context of rapid technological development to ensure international security, stability, and respect for sovereignty and fundamental rights.

France and China also agree to contribute to the strengthening of the cyber capabilities of states, particularly developing countries, to deal with all types of cyber threats, including those related to AI. 
CHICAGO  University of Chicago police cleared out anti-war encampments set up by students protesting Israels war on Gaza on the schools main quad early Tuesday morning.

On what would have been the ninth day of encampment, university police entered the schools Main Quad dressed in riot gear, tearing down tents, anti-war signs and began to block off many entrances around 4:00 a.m.

Police dispersed flyers into the crowd with a final warning before students would be arrested.

The flyer stated that students who would be arrested will face disciplinary charges and be placed on disciplinary leave of absence. The arrest wound be for criminal trespassing.

University of Chicago faculty members speak out in support of student protestors

A number of protestors moved out of the quad and towards the west side of the quad.

President of University of Chicago Paul Alivisatos released a statement saying that although protest is a strongly protected form of speech in the UChicago culture, these protests interfered with free expression, learning and work of others.

The encampments were removed early Tuesday morning.

Over multiple days, including through the weekend, we engaged with the representatives of the encampment to work toward a resolution. There were areas where we were able to achieve common ground, but ultimately a number of the intractable and inflexible aspects of their demands were fundamentally incompatible with the Universitys principled dedication to institutional neutrality. As such, we could not come to a resolution.

While crews cleaned up what was left on the quad, the protests continued just outside the quad entrance. They were issued a final warning to leave or risk arrest with some clearly willing to take the risk with emergency phone numbers written on their arms.

Police and anti-war protestors did get into a brief shoving match but despite the tension, they held their ground until the university, without warning or explanation lifted the barricades and opened the quad.

The university and student demonstrators met over several days to negotiate the and while finding some agreement talks ultimately fell through. Their demands included more transparency in the universitys investments and divestment from businesses working with Israel.

One student demonstration, Sammy, said that they will be back and keep protesting until the genocide is over and Palestine is free.

University of Chicago student Lucas Borja says the school should take accountability for their actions upon students Tuesday morning.

I think the first step is making sure the university is held accountable for the horrors it inflicted on its students this morning. Very long path the university will have to take in repairing those relationships, Borja said.

No arrests were made, and demonstrators left the quad around 9 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
CHICAGO  After the University of Chicago Police cleared a pro-Palestine protest encampment in a brief early morning raid, the main quad was calm with almost no trace of the student activists who had occupied it hours before.

Students and faculty walked to class, passing through the South Side campus where discolored grass replaced the tents that were first set up nine days ago.

The quietness (of the quad) is deafening, said Jeffrey Sun, an upperclassman at the university. And its interesting because I think maybe four or five weeks ago, before the encampment, I would have been very happy on the quad, but its something where once you know what it could be, you cant look at it again in a different light.

About 50 UCPD officers began dismantling tents and makeshift barriers surrounding them around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, protester Christopher Iacovetti said. There were no arrests, according to school officials.

Police had brought printed final notices to occupants of the encampment, which were later ripped and strewn at protesters feet when they locked arms against a barricade and a line of UCPD officers outside a side entrance to the quad on South Ellis Avenue later Tuesday morning.

At the time, several dozen protesters faced university police and chanted, We are the encampment! We are the encampment! along with other slogans calling on the university of disclose and drop its financial ties to Israel.

Police put up a yellow plastic barrier and the chants got angrier. Some protesters screamed insults directly into officers faces.How does it feel to be on the wrong side of history? they asked. Shame on you!

Organizers had spent much of the night preparing for an anticipated police incursion, the second night in a row the expectation of clearance had circulated among those camping out beneath the gothic buildings that ring the universitys main quad.

The encampment has occupied the main quad of the University of Chicago since April 29. Its one of many other large-scale student protests across the country in demanding the university divest from companies with ties to Israel, including weapons manufacturers supplying arms to Israels military amid the mounting death toll in Gaza. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel launched its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, where the group killed some 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. President Joe Biden last week defended the right to protest but insisted that order must prevail at college campuses, as some in Chicagos Jewish community demanded action at local universities to prevent hate speech.

On Friday, university president Paul Alivisatos claimed the encampment had produced a systemic disruption to daily life and announced the university was prepared to intervene hours before protesters had a brief confrontation with a group of fraternity brothers trying to place an American flag near a pole where activists had raised a Palestinian flag.

Alivisatos issued a statement Tuesday morning saying safety concerns had only grown over the past few days as negotiations failed. There had been no arrests in the police action, the statement read, but that discipline against students could be forthcoming.

There were areas where we were able to achieve common ground, but ultimately a number of the intractable and inflexible aspects of their demands were fundamentally incompatible with the Universitys principled dedication to institutional neutrality, Alivisatos said in the statement.

The University remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest, he said.

A lawn sits empty after a pro-Palestinian encampment was raided by officers at the University of Chicago early Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)Protesters anticipated a police raid Sunday night and put out a call for activists and organizers to join them on the quad, though their preparations died down around 3 a.m. Monday morning.

After the encampment was cleared, some students gathered on the steps in front of the administration building. Four hours after the tents were removed, they spoke out with their last messages of protest, holding up Palestinian flags and banging on drums.

A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson said early Tuesday morning that the mayor and Chicago police department had been monitoring the situation.

Johnson later Tuesday distanced himself and his police department from the overnight raid. The university requested support from CPD to clear the student protest encampment, but city leaders tried to dissuade them from the plan, according to a statement from Johnson spokesperson Ronnie Reese.

In conversations before the raid, CPD raised operational concerns and expressed an unwillingness to participate in a pre-dawn clearing, the statement said. Mayor Johnson and the Johnson Administration continue to be committed to free speech and safety on all of Chicagos college campuses.

A CPD spokesperson declined to share details on the discussions between the schools police and the citys police.

The mayor and police departments unwillingness to back the University of Chicago clearing marked a shift from arrests made by CPD officers at a similar School of the Art Institute of Chicago encampment Saturday.

The arrests drew condemnation from many of Johnsons allies, including seven progressive aldermen who signed a letter Sunday warning the scene at SAIC cannot be repeated itself.

A spokesperson for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability said the agency on Monday received a complaint of excessive force by at least one CPD officer who responded to the SAIC encampment. The agency is now working to determine if it will investigate the complaint or if it will be handled by CPDs bureau of internal affairs.

Johnson declined to say Wednesday whether he supported the weekend arrests. The mayors deputy mayor of safety, Garien Gatewood, had unsuccessfully tried to broker an agreement with the students and school to move to another location before police cleared the encampment.

Meanwhile, at DePaul University, the pro-Palestinian encampment  which went up a week ago  remained intact Tuesday evening. By 3 p.m., the rain had slowed to a drizzle and students started to peek out of the dozens of tents that line the quad.

The schools president Robert Manuel said in a Monday statement that theres a need for a timely resolution to the encampment. He said organizers have lived up to the values of nonviolence and inclusion, but that the protest has attracted those who dont share the same principles, putting our community at risk. He noted the increased Chicago police presence needed Sunday as tensions flared between the encampment and pro-Israeli counter protesters.

It was evident that the protest had become a magnet for others outside our community with nefarious intent, Manuel said.

Chicago Tribunes Jake Sheridan and Sam Charles contributed.

____
NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11)  University Hospital in Newark employs 2,000 nurses  the majority of its staff.

PIX11 News spoke to some of University Hospitals nurses  both longtime and new  for National Nurses Day and the start of National Nurses Week.

I just always wanted to care for people, said Yusuf Alabi, a cardiac ICU nurse at University Hospital. Thats just joy for me. It gives me joy.

Alabi is in his first year as a nurse. He said the best part of his job is being able to watch a patient leave the hospital healthier than when they entered.

200-pound pig escapes from New Jersey farm; rescued by police officers: officials

I had a patient that had cardiac arrest come through, said Alabi. By the end of treatment, Alabi said he was able to see them talking, see them eating, see them working.

Yvelande Etienne has been a nurse for five years and specializes in infectious diseases. She worked at University Hospital through the COVID-19 pandemic.

You have to be compassionate, said Etienne. You have to show empathy. And you have to value people for who they are.

For Etienne, providing care as a nurse goes beyond administering medication or treating symptoms. She works to understand the patient as a whole.

We dont only deal with disease, said Etienne. We deal with a lot of social needs. We deal with a lot of emotional [needs]. We deal with a lot of addiction needs. So all of this, we have to be able to have the skills and the compassion to be able to serve.

Nurses are challenged to always show that they are compassionate, that they are caring, said Dr. Marthe Leveille, the director of nurse well-being at University Hospital. Theyre often left feeling isolated.

That isolation often leads to compassion fatigue, a type of traumatic stress that is common in the health care field. Leveille said University Hospital provides nurses access to peer support groups and quiet spaces to ensure that nurses practice self-care.

The care that we give to the patient is just as important as the way we treat each other here at University Hospital, said Leveille.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Amid violent protests on college campuses nationwide, several Jewish groups held a rally at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in support of Jewish students.

The groups are calling on UNLV leadership to take action against the rise of antisemitism.

UNLV is trying to play it safe, they want to keep the peace. They want to keep their heads down. They dont want bad optics or make it on to a map. They dont want to irritate anybody, but theyre tolerating hate speech, Miriam Borvick, a first-year medical student at UNLV, said.

Supporters arrived at the UNLV Amphitheatre waving the flags of Israel and the United States.

Protesters wrapped in Israeli flags rally against antisemitism on Monday at UNLV. (KLAS)

They also sang hymns in Hebrew.

The biggest message from Mondays rally was that the Jewish community wont stand for antisemitism on college campuses. Borvick said UNLV leadership isnt doing enough to protect Jewish students.

If this were any other minority that people were calling for their deaths, or calling for the end of their people, there would be zero tolerance, Borvick said.

Last week, several Pro-Palestinian protesters were at the very same amphitheater, calling for UNLV to divest from companies that are building weapons used against Palestinians.

Were demanding to see if UNLV is supporting this, a protester who didnt want to be identified said.

Posters prepared for Mondays anti-semitism rally at UNLV. (KLAS)

Some students accuse those from last weeks event of spreading hate speech.

The school definitely needs to be harder and give out severe punishments on students who disrupt classrooms and do threats against Jewish students, Nadav Levaton, a UNLV freshman, said.

8 News Now reported in March that Pro-Palestinian protesters stormed into the UNLV classroom of an Israeli professor who was invited to speak on the scientific topic of black holes.

The professors lecture was canceled and postponed for another time.

UNLV hasnt seen the type of violence that other college campuses around the country have experienced.

Like, dont intervene with our finals. You can protest whatever, but like we want to take our finals, David, a junior at UNLV, said. He declined to give his full name.

We dont want any more problems. I personally dont want any more problems on our campus. I just want everything to be peaceful, David said.

While no counter-protesters showed up Monday, David said there was a difference between Mondays rally and the one on May 1.

There was people starting problems, and like going back-and-forth, and today it just seems thats how it should be, like a protest, David said.

According to the Anti-Defamation League of Nevada, there has been a 210% increase in antisemitic incidents being reported locally compared to the same time period last year.

Below is a statement UNLV released on the rally:

Today, students and members of the community at-large came to the Maryland Parkway campus to exercise their first amendment right of free speech and assembly, expressing their views on the war in Israel and Gaza in a civil manner.

The UNLV administration continues to have an ongoing dialogue with faculty and student groups to get their input and hear their specific concerns on this topic.

Finally, UNLV soundly rejects antisemitism and Islamophobia.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)  Its a big weekend for a lot of University of New Mexico graduates as the spring Class of 2024 gets ready to graduate. The commencement ceremony is set for Saturday at 9 a.m. Nearly 3,000 students will walk the stage at The Pit to receive their degrees.

Community gathers to say goodbye to Our Lady of Fatima School

United States Interior Secretary and former New Mexico Congresswoman Deb Haaland will be the keynote speaker. UNM will live stream the service on its website as well as its Facebook and YouTube pages.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
SPRINGDALE, Utah (ABC4)  A hiker was pronounced dead after being found unresponsive at Zion National Parks Scout Lookout on Monday, according to park officials.

The park received a report of the hiker being unresponsive on Monday afternoon, with rangers at the park responding immediately and performing CPR on the hiker as more rangers hiked to the patient with medical equipment.

Our hearts are broken: Santaquin community, Utah leaders honor officer killed by semi-truck on I-15

An undated photo of a search and rescue truck for Zion National Park. (Courtesy: Zion National Park)

After nearly an hour and a half of administering emergency medical care, medical control gave the order to terminate further efforts, the park said in a press release.

After consulting with a doctor, the hiker was pronounced dead. The park described him as a male of an unknown age.

According to officials, more than 33 individuals  including members of search and rescue teams, law enforcement, dispatchers, paramedics, emergency medical technicians and other park personnel  responded to the incident.

Zion National Park thanked Intermountain Life Flight for its support during the rescue efforts.

The cause of the mans death is being investigated by the Washington County Sheriffs Office, Utah Office of the Medical Examiner and the National Park Service.

There is no further information at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
At urging of NC Chamber, some environmental commission members want to delay PFAS rules

This pipe carries water from upstream and discharges into the Cape Fear River in Wilmington. Before Chemours stopped discharging GenX into the river, this pipe was a source of the contamination, according to a former riverkeeper. (Photo: Lisa Sorg)

At least two members of the state Environmental Management Commission are stalling proposed rules that would limit the amount of toxic PFAS in groundwater, according to a letter from the Secretary of the Environment Elizabeth Biser, who is advocating for the rules to proceed.

And their objections mirror those of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, which is also opposing the standards, not only in groundwater but surface water.

Joe Reardon and Tim Baumgartner serve as the chairman and vice-chairman of the EMCs Groundwater & Waste Management Committee. They are refusing to hear the proposed standards as an action item at tomorrows meeting, Biser wrote, instead asking for yet another informational presentation on the topic.

The committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday, May 8 at 10:15 a.m. at the Archdale Building, 512 N. Salisbury St. in downtown Raleigh. There is also a virtual option.

DEQ staff have given three presentations on the proposed standards to the EMC and its committees since last fall. The purpose of the proposal is to reduce levels of PFAS in the drinking water supplies. This could help utilities meet the new EPA drinking water standards, enacted in mid-April.

Exposure to PFAS has been linked to multiple health problems, including thyroid and liver disorders, reproductive and fetal development problems, immune system deficiencies, high cholesterol, and kidney, testicular and other cancers.

There are 15,000 types of PFAS, of which the EMC is considering standards for eight. Based on the EPAs toxicology studies, DEQ is recommending maximum levels ranging from 0.001 parts per trillion for PFOA, 0.7 ppt for PFOS and 20 ppt for GenX.

Less stringent levels  2,000 to 7,000 ppt  would apply to several other types.

More than 2 million people in North Carolina rely on groundwater for their drinking water, as do dozens of public and privately owned utilities.

Whos slow-walking the PFAS rules?

Joe Reardon, who once served as the assistant commissioner of agriculture, was appointed to the EMC by his former boss, Republican Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. Reardon is the chairman of the Groundwater & Waste Committee.

Troxlers appointment powers are new. Last year, the legislature passed a bill that stripped some EMC appointment powers from the governor while allowing the agriculture commissioner to fill two seats; previously the commissioner did not appoint members to the EMC.

Tim Baumgartner, who worked for DEQ in the Division of Mitigation Services for eight years, was appointed by Republican Senate leader Phil Berger.

Baumgartner, the vice chairman of the Groundwater & Waste Committee, is now a senior environmental manager with the private consulting firm Ecosystem Planning & Restoration, which has won millions of dollars in state contracts for flood control and other environmental projects.

EMC Chairman J.D. Solomon was appointed by House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican. In January, the majority of his fellow EMC members voted to make him chairman, replacing environmental attorney Robin Smith, an appointee of Gov. Cooper.

Setting groundwater standards protects public water supply wells and is also the most equitable way to ensure millions of residents who rely on private wells get the same protection as public water customers, Biser wrote to the EMC, in a letter dated May 1.

Absent further and immediate action by the Commission, residents and local utilities will continue to shoulder the burden of treatment costs while groundwater cleanup is delayed.

The committees inaction would prevent the full EMC from sending the proposal to public comment and fiscal review this month, further delaying its possible implementation. The EMC was scheduled to vote on the proposal in November.

J.D. Solomon, who is chairman of the full EMC, did not answer several questions from Newsline about proposed rules, but said the topic will be discussed at this weeks meetings.

Meanwhile, the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce sent a letter on April 22 to the EMC and Secretary Biser asking them to delay the proposed rules.

It is important that we do not hastily pass regulations without fully accounting for the positive benefits and potential negative impacts proposed rules would have on the state and its business community, wrote Chamber President and CEO Gary Salamido to environmental officials.

Yet those very costs and benefits would be detailed as part of the rulemaking process  the same process the chamber is asking to delay.

Salamido did not answer questions from Newsline, but Kate Payne, vice president of communications for the Chamber, provided a statement that read, in part: The NC Chamber has a transparent and open process to engage government when advocating for certainty and predictability for North Carolinas business community, particularly on the regulatory front. The business community is made up of the people who live in communities across our state, these people, and these businesses, pay the bills and enjoy the clean air and water with their families. We all want a healthy environment that balances economic growth.

Several current or historical dischargers of PFAS, including DuPont, International Paper and GFL, which operates dozens of landfills in the state, belong to the NC Chamber, the states largest broad-based business advocacy organization.

However, some of its members also bear the brunt of the contamination. UNC-Wilmington, among those in the Lower Cape Fear River Basin whose water supply was contaminated, is also a Chamber member.

UNC Wilmington spokesperson Andrea Weaver told Newsline it was not contacted by the Chamber about the letter to environmental officials. We dont have further comments.

The post At urging of NC Chamber, some environmental commission members want to delay PFAS rules appeared first on NC Newsline.
The Biden administration says that it had repatriated a large family unit of Americans who had been living in the squalid refugee camps for families of ISIS fighters in northern Syria.

Eleven people in total, none of whom were former Islamic State (ISIS) fighters, were brought to the US as part of the effort, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Tuesday.

Its the largest single group to be repatriated to America from the refugee camps, where residents including many family members of ISIS militants live in horrid conditions as their futures remain in legal limbo. Many governments have resisted calls from the US to bring home citizens of their respective nations who have turned up in the camps after travelling to the Middle East.

Approximately 30,000 individuals from more than 60 countries outside Syria remain in the al-Hol and Roj displaced persons camps, the majority of whom are children. As governments undertake repatriation of their nationals, we urge thoughtfulness and flexibility to ensure that to the maximum extent possible family units remain intact, said Mr Blinken.

The only durable solution to the humanitarian and security crisis in the displaced persons camps and detention facilities in northeast Syria is for countries to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and where appropriate, ensure accountability for wrongdoing, he continued.

The United States remains committed to helping those nations which seek to repatriate their nationals from northeast Syria, and to finding solutions, including resettlement, for those who are unable to return to their communities or countries of origin.

The group includes one nine-year-old child, described as the brother of a US-born citizen, who does not himself have US citizenship. Theres no indication yet that any of the repatriated Americans are bound for prosecution by the federal government.

A spokesman for the State Department, Matthew Miller, reiterated those calls on Tuesday as he spoke about the announcement at his daily press briefing in Washington.

We urge all countries of origin to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate and where appropriate, prosecute their nationals upon their return from Syria, Miller said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is pictured on 1 May in Tel Aviv (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

He was also able to confirm that around 25 American citizens remain in the northern Syria camps including the infamous Al Hol camp, which The Independent visited in 2019.

Mr Miller took a second question in the briefing related to Austin Tice, an American freelance journalist and US military veteran who went missing in Syria in 2012. His answer reaffirmed the US governments belief that the Syrian government is either directly or indirectly responsible for Mr Tices continued captivity, and he called for his release.

We call on the Syrian regime to ensure that Austin Tice and every other US national held in Syria are able to return home, Miller said.

The move by the US government to repatriate its citizens was cheered by Austin Doctor, an expert with the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center. The organisation authored a report in 2023 which supported an organised process for repatriating the spouses and children of Islamic State fighters. The terrorist groups physical territory collapsed after a sustained international effort to dislodge its fighters from Iraq and Syria, however, the ISIS ideology continues to promulgate violence around the world.

Good news, & the result of dedicated hard work, Doctor wrote on Twitter.

Roughly 30,000 people, the majority of whom are children, remain scattered in refugee camps for ISIS family members in northern Syria, according to the US State Department.

In 2019, The Independent found that authorities still saw a dangerous undercurrent of ISISs radical Islamist ideology within the Al Hol camp. Detainees spoke of entire groups of refugees disappearing from the camp, with their escapes credited to Isis-contracted smugglers.

We can see it happening all the time. Everybody knows, said Umm Abdullah, a 37-year-old detainee from Khartoum, Sudan. Youll see one group disappear, and figure out that they left. Then another group will go. Good luck to them.
(Bloomberg) -- Climate negotiators from the worlds top two greenhouse gas emitters are set to meet this week in Washington for talks on curbing potent planet-warming pollutants, promoting energy efficiency and other issues.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The Wednesday and Thursday sessions will bring together John Podesta, the US senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, and Liu Zhenmin, Chinas special envoy for climate change.

Though the two men have long histories working on climate and environmental issues  and have spoken since their appointments earlier this year  this represents their first formal face-to-face summit before global negotiations in Azerbaijan this November.

Read More: Climate Fight Is Too Costly Without China, Says Xis New Envoy

Climate has been a rare issue for collaboration between the two superpowers amid disagreement over trade policy, intellectual property, human rights and the future of Taiwan. The two countries last year laid out a plan for cooperation across key climate topics, including addressing the potent greenhouse gas methane, the circular economy, energy efficiency and the transition away from fossil fuels.

The State Department said in a news release that this weeks talks under a bilateral working group were aimed at accelerating concrete climate actions this decade.

Read More: France Ramps Up EV Ambitions as Chinas Xi Arrives in Paris

Podesta and Liu face trickier terrain, including debates over the future of international climate finance and intensifying scrutiny of Chinas dominant role producing clean technology, such as electric vehicles and solar panels helping fuel the energy transition.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that Chinese excess capacity and record exports of green technology are distorting the global economy. Liu has countered that efforts by the US and European Union to stem Chinas dominance risk slowing the fight against climate change.

In addition to meeting Podesta, Liu, who will be in the US until May 16, will also speak with officials at the United Nations, local governments and think tanks, according to a statement from Chinas Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

--With assistance from Dan Murtaugh.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2024 Bloomberg L.P.
The U.S. military has finished building a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

As of today, the U.S. military has completed the off-shore construction of the Trident pier section, or the causeway, which is the component that will eventually be anchored to the Gaza shore, deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters.

The project, known as the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) capability, consists of two pieces, a floating pier where ships can unload aid  completed last week  and a causeway section meant to be attached to the Gaza coast, on which trucks can drive aid dropped off by the ships to the mainland.

The two portions of JLOTS are complete and awaiting final movement offshore, Singh said. She added that bad weather has prevented the U.S. military from doing so.

Today there are still forecasted high winds and high sea swells, which are causing unsafe conditions for the JLOTS components to be moved, so the pier sections and military vessels involved in its construction are still positioned at the Port of Ashdod in Israel, she said.

The completion of JLOTS in the Mediterranean Sea comes as humanitarian conditions in Gaza grow worse by the day, with the United Nations and humanitarian organizations in the territory warning that the region has fallen into famine due to a severe lack of access to food and medical supplies.

The situation is expected to become more dire with Israels Tuesday military takeover of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, the sole entry point for humanitarian aid between Gaza and Egypt.

Despite the pier not being in position, Singh said that the U.S. is loading aid onto the ship MV Sagamore, currently in Cyprus but meant to be the first vessel to transport the assistance from there to the pier.

The Sagamore is a cargo vessel that will use the JLOTS system, and will make trips between Cyprus and the offshore floating pier as USAID and other partners collect aid from around the world, Singh noted.

She added that defense officials hope to have JLOTS in position later this week.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of their offices in San Diego

(Reuters) -Eli Lilly said on Tuesday a panel of independent U.S. FDA advisers will discuss its experimental Alzheimer's disease drug, donanemab, on June 10.

Donanemab has faced two separate regulatory delays in the United States, while a similar therapy by Eisai and partner Biogen, called Leqembi, received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval last year.

Lilly's donanemab was declined accelerated approval by the FDA in January 2023, and on March 8, the agency said it would hold a meeting of its advisers to discuss the drug, further delaying its approval.

Before approving Leqembi, which belongs to the same class of treatment as donanemab, the FDA had also conducted a meeting of an independent panel.

Lilly's donanemab, administered via once-a-month infusions, is designed to clear a toxic Alzheimer's-linked protein called beta amyloid from the brain.

In clinical trials, the treatment slowed the progression of memory and thinking problems by 22% to 29% overall, roughly comparable to the 27% slowing seen with Leqembi.

In patients with low-to-medium levels of a second Alzheimer's related protein called tau, Lilly's drug slowed the progression of the disease by 35.1% compared to a placebo.

Experts have, however, said the drug's association with side effects such as brain swelling and bleeding could pose a challenge to its approval. Three people who were on the treatment in the company's trial died.

Analysts on average expect donanemab to clock $65.6 million in sales in 2024, rising to $630.75 million next year, according to LSEG data.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Shinjini Ganguli)
A US Navy aircraft carrier is rearmed and back in the Red Sea amid a Houthi missile crisis with no end in sight

Two US Navy warships on the front lines of the Houthi battle are back in the Red Sea.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Gravely made a recent port visit in Greece.

A Navy spokesperson confirmed that the two ships were resupplied and rearmed there.

The US Navy aircraft carrier that spent months battling the Houthis in the Red Sea is rearmed and back in the waterway after a short break. The warship's return comes as American intelligence officials warn the conflict may go on for a while.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely are back in the Red Sea to continue their maritime security mission after a recent port visit in Souda Bay, Greece, a Navy spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider on Tuesday.

US Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, located on the Mediterranean island of Crete, is a decades-old forward-operating station where American and NATO vessels can receive maintenance, cargo, food, fuel, supplies, and ammunition.

During the brief port visit, the two ships were resupplied and rearmed while their sailors enjoyed some relaxing downtime, the spokesperson said. It marked their first stop since their ongoing deployment began in mid-October.

USNI News first reported on Monday that the Eisenhower was back in the Red Sea.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower prepares to port in Souda Bay, Greece on April 28. US Navy by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Mercy Crowe/Released

Since it first arrived in the region, a high-tempo combat environment, the Navy's Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group  which consists of the Ike, the Gravely, and several other warships  has defended shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from relentless Houthi missile and drone attacks.

Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, commander of the carrier strike group, said the sailors "have worked tirelessly for six months straight to keep us operating on station in the most challenging, dynamic combat environment the Navy has seen in decades."

"This port visit is well-deserved," Miguez said in a Navy statement after the Ike and Gravely left Souda Bay last week.

The Navy has expended nearly $1 billion in missiles to counter the Houthi threats. Beyond intercepting attacks in the air, US forces have also conducted strikes in Yemen, hammering the Iran-backed rebels before they have a chance to launch their weapons.

An F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to the "Fighting Swordsmen" of Strike Fighter Squadron 32, aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower launches from the flight deck during an airborne change of command ceremony in the Red Sea on April 16. US Navy photo

That figure, disclosed by Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro in mid-April, underscored the growing financial cost of the Houthi fight and the need for US Navy vessels to replenish their munitions so they can remain in the fight, which presently shows no signs of slowing down.

Last week, the US intelligence chief warned lawmakers that the Houthis are "going to remain active for some time," partly because they are domestically producing a lot of weaponry while also continuing to receive support from Iran.

"Neither of those things are likely to change in the near future," Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Committee on Armed Services during a hearing on global threats.

"That doesn't mean that the strikes that the Department of Defense and the coalition with our allies, have taken haven't had impact," she said, referring to unilateral US strikes and joint strikes with the UK in Yemen. "They have," she added, "but it's been insufficient to really stop the Houthis from going down this road."

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely arrives in Souda Bay, Crete on April 28. US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nicholas Rodriguez/Released

The Houthis have claimed that their attacks are directly related to Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre, but US officials have pushed back on this, citing the wide range of nationalities that have been targeted at sea by the rebels.

Haines told lawmakers that it's unclear whether a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas would lead to a drop in Houthi activity.

While there may be no immediate end in sight to the Red Sea conflict, US officials have routinely stressed that American forces will continue to engage the Houthis.

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters last month that "as long as there continues to be a threat to international shipping and to the lives and safety of mariners transiting the Red Sea, we'll continue to work with international partners to degrade and disrupt Houthi capability."

Read the original article on Business Insider
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)  U.S. News & World Report has released its 2024 Best States rankings. The publication looked at a range of categories across all 50 states to see how states best serve their citizens.

U.S. News looked at several metrics to determine the rankings including health care, education, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, crime and corrections, and natural environment. Each category was then assigned a weight based on the average of three years of data from recent national surveys of a total of 70,000 people.

Overall, U.S. News found Utah to be the best state in the country as it ranked in the top 20 of seven of the categories. New Hampshire was ranked second, with Nebraska coming in third.

NYCs Little Island announces free summer shows, events

So where did New York fall this year? Out of the 50 states, New York was ranked 23rd, three positions lower than in 2023. Heres how the state ranked in each category:

Health care: 8th

Education: 12th

Economy: 44th

Infrastructure: 29th

Opportunity: 49th

Fiscal stability: 23rd

Crime and corrections: 24th

Natural environment: 5th

Bryant Park lawn reopens for the season

Rounding out the bottom of the list were Mississippi, New Mexico, and Louisiana. You can view the full 2024 rankings on the U.S. News & World Report website.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
An American student shares his stories and thoughts on how to master the Chinese language at the open day event hosted by the Consulate General of China in New York, the United States, May 6, 2024. Cultural performances by artists from southeast China's Fujian Province and stories of Chinese-speaking Americans on learning the language impressed around 100 U.S. students here at the open day event hosted by the Consulate General of China in New York on Monday. (Xinhua/Liu Yanan)

NEW YORK, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Cultural performances by artists from southeast China's Fujian Province and stories of Chinese-speaking Americans on learning the language impressed around 100 U.S. students here at an event on Monday.

Big drums and parasols were featured in a dance named "Golden Drums," the first performance at the open day event hosted by the Consulate General of China in New York.

Artists from Zhangzhou City in Fujian presented two well-known musical pieces, "Catching Butterflies While Picking Tea Leaves" and "Hard Workers, True Winner."

Masters of glove puppetry, an intangible cultural heritage from Zhangzhou, performed captivating stories from the Water Margin, one of China's most beloved classic novels.

They also demonstrated how to play with the puppets and invited attendees to try it out themselves.

Students had the opportunity to taste Chinese tea and appreciate Chinese calligraphy.

Several speakers shared their stories and thoughts on how to master the Chinese language.

Alexander Given, a graduating senior at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, said he had been fascinated by the story of the Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, as a young boy.

"Even then as a young child, I knew that I wanted to visit China no matter what. I was determined to see the diverse landscapes, vast cities, and historical landmarks for myself," Given said.

Given started to learn Mandarin in high school and pursued a degree in international relations and Asian studies as an undergraduate student.

"What I remember most during my time as a student learning about China is not necessarily the lessons in all of the homework, but the experiences I had and the people I met. It is these interactions at the personal level that are most important," he said.

These experiences helped shape his views on international relations and the world, he said.

"There are many doors open to me now. And after looking into different opportunities, I hope that I might be able to attend graduate school in China or perhaps even work there," Given said.

James B. Heimowitz, honorary chair of the China Institute in America, said his journey to understanding China started in Fujian decades ago.

Heimowitz said he can't think of a better way for American youth to gain better insights into the way in which Chinese people are thinking about the future than being able to access China through its language.

"I hope each of you will take the time to create your own journey and your own experiences in China. That's truly what it means to be a part of our future," he said, noting that China is very much a part of this planet's future.

Heimowitz also presided at a fireside discussion with educators of the Chinese language and young adults who have mastered the language.

The American students present said the stories were encouraging to them.

"I think that seeing people that aren't Chinese being able to speak Chinese so well was very encouraging ... Seeing an American person speaking Chinese so well is encouraging for me because I want to be able to get to that level," said Teyo Agoyo, a senior from Friends Select School in Philadelphia.

He hoped the Chinese language would help him make a lot of connections in his future career. 

A calligrapher from southeast China's Fujian Province presents his work to guests at the open day event hosted by the Consulate General of China in New York, the United States, May 6, 2024. Cultural performances by artists from southeast China's Fujian Province and stories of Chinese-speaking Americans on learning the language impressed around 100 U.S. students here at the open day event hosted by the Consulate General of China in New York on Monday. (Xinhua/Liu Yanan)
By Douglas Gillison and Pete Schroeder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation must make sweeping changes to address widespread sexual harassment and other misconduct, according to an independent report released on Tuesday that raises questions about the future of the banking regulator's leadership.

The report, prompted by a Wall Street Journal investigation, cited accounts from more than 500 people, including some who alleged FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg had engaged in bullying and verbal abuse.

Overall, the report by law firm Cleary Gottlieb paints a picture of an agency at which sexual harassment, racial discrimination and bullying were pervasive at every level and tolerated by senior leaders for years, while complaints about misconduct were met with retaliation.

"For far too many employees and for far too long, the FDIC has failed to provide a workplace safe from sexual harassment, discrimination, and other interpersonal misconduct," said the report, adding that those accused of misconduct were frequently reassigned new roles.

Underscoring the agency's toxic culture, officials tasked with addressing the problems exposed by the WSJ reports were themselves the subject of misconduct claims, the Cleary Gottlieb report found.

The findings sparked renewed calls for the ouster of Gruenberg, a Democrat who has been a senior leader at the agency for nearly two decades.

Representative Patrick McHenry, a Republican who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, called for Gruenberg's resignation following the report, saying it made clear the agency needs new leadership.

"The FDIC needs to be fixed. The women and men who work there deserve better, Sherrod Brown, chair of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, said in a statement. Chair Gruenberg must accept responsibility and must immediately work to make fundamental changes to the agency and its culture."

Some employees described Gruenberg as "harsh" and "aggressive", as well as prone to losing his temper, the report said. In speaking with investigators, Gruenberg said he never recalled acting inappropriately. The report said some employees reported positive interactions with him and saw his nature as more "prosecutorial."

In a statement to staff, Gruenberg said the report was "sobering" and he vowed to implement its recommendations.

He said he was ultimately responsible for everything that happened at the agency and apologized for any shortcomings. "I again want to express how very sorry I am," he added.

Story continues

LEADERSHIP CLOUD

The report recommends the appointment of new officials devoted to changing the FDIC's culture and hiring an independent third party to assist in the transition, although it did not consider whether top leaders should resign.

It also called on the agency to establish an anonymous hotline to report misconduct and abuse, develop a more timely and transparent process for handling complaints, and take steps to ensure victims are protected and supported.

While the report found that Gruenberg's aggressive conduct was not a root cause of the more severe issues at the agency, it was skeptical of his ability to oversee the necessary dramatic overhaul.

"As the FDIC faces a crisis relating to its workplace culture, Chairman Gruenbergs reputation raises questions about the credibility of the leaderships response to the crisis and the 'moral authority' to lead a cultural transformation," the report stated.

The departure of Gruenberg, who was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022, could imperil the administration's efforts to impose stricter financial rules, including a pending regulatory proposal on bank capital requirements, which has sparked a backlash from Republicans and industry representatives.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

If Gruenberg steps down or is removed, agency bylaws stipulate that FDIC Vice Chair Travis Hill, a Republican, take over, and the agency's board would be evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.

(Reporting by Douglas Gillison and Pete Schroeder; Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Michelle Price, Paul Simao and Lisa Shumaker)
The Biden administrations report on whether Israel has violated U.S. and international humanitarian law during the war in Gaza has been delayed and will no longer be released Wednesday as planned, three Senate aides and a House aide told POLITICO.

The State Department has been working for months on the report, which will issue a determination on whether Israel has violated international humanitarian law since the war in Gaza began. If so, the U.S. would be expected to stop sending Israel military assistance.

But the report wont be finished by an initial Wednesday deadline, said the aides, granted anonymity to discuss internal communications. In an email, the Biden administration notified the Hill that it will miss the date  without providing a clear reason why.

The email said the report is briefly delayed, but doesnt provide a specific timeline.

Thats more definitive than the message from State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller to reporters on Tuesday afternoon. He said that the report wasnt yet finished, but added: We are trying very hard to meet that deadline  Its possible it slips just a little bit, but we are trying to get it done by tomorrow. Miller noted that the deadline was a self-imposed one rather than a requirement.

A senior administration official, granted anonymity to discuss the internal process, said they expect it will be delayed by less than a week."

Asked why the report is taking longer, the National Security Council deferred to State. The State Department didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The reports delay comes as Israel attacks the southern city of Rafah in Gaza, where some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering. Aid groups have warned that any invasion would put the civilians at risk and devastate humanitarian operations. President Joe Biden has warned Israel against conducting a major operation in the city without a plan to protect civilians.

We have no ground to stand on anymore, said Hala Rharrit, a former career foreign service officer who worked for State for more than 18 years and resigned last month. The U.S. efforts to bring the war in Gaza to an end are a failed policy.

On Monday night, 185 lawyers, including 27 currently in the administration, sent a letter first to top U.S. officials saying that sending weapons to Israel is illegal, according to a copy of the letter obtained by POLITICO.

Theres also growing momentum among Democrats  including Bidens own allies  to support conditioning assistance to Israel. Last week, 57 Democrats urged the Biden administration to withhold certain offensive military aid to deter an invasion of Rafah, and 88 Democrats urged the administration to consider its power to suspend certain transfers of offensive weapons to press Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Among lawmakers possible actions include introducing legislation to block arms transfers, demanding an explanation and documentation from the administration, or trying to have the U.S. undergo the process of determining compliance again, Josh Paul, a former State Department official involved with transferring arms to American allies who resigned in November, told POLITICO.

A lot of people are watching, said Annelle Sheline, a former foreign affairs officer in States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor who resigned in March.

Joseph Gedeon contributed to this report.
The White House on Tuesday pushed to finalize a cease-fire agreement that would pause fighting in Gaza, even as Israel carried out a limited military operation to take control of a key border crossing into Rafah.

The U.S., along with Egypt and Qatar, has worked for weeks on a truce proposal between Israel and Hamas that would secure the release of Israeli hostages. And while Hamas on Monday said it had accepted an offer for a temporary cease-fire, Israel said the groups terms fell short of its core demands.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is laying down a high-stakes bet that launching military operations on the southern Gazan city of Rafah will increase pressure on Hamas.

We understand that the time is running out for the life of the hostages, said Israel Ziv, former commander of the Gaza Division and former head of the Israeli Operations Directorate, in a call with reporters Tuesday morning.

The first priority is to maximize the option for the deal  that is what the maximum pressure is about, he continued.

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told reporters Tuesday the U.S. was closely monitoring Israels actions in Rafah, though he indicated it did not rise to the level of a full-scale military operation that U.S. officials had warned against. The operation, Kirby said, was aimed at cutting off Hamass ability to ship arms across the border into Rafah.

How theyve described this is not of a size, scale, duration and scope that one could equate to a major ground operation. But again, its just started, Kirby said. The president was very clear yesterday about his consistent concerns on that. So were going to keep watching it.

We dont support operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the 1.5 million people that are seeking refuge there, he added.

Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday Israeli forces were prepared to deepen its operation in Gaza if cease-fire talks fell through, a sign of the precarious state of play in the region.

CIA Director Bill Burns, who has led U.S. efforts in the talks, reportedly arrived Tuesday in Cairo, along with delegations from Israel, Hamas, Egypt and Qatar. The U.S. and Israel do not engage directly with Hamas, which is a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

Kirby told reporters the U.S. was optimistic the delegations could hammer out remaining differences over the cease-fire agreement.

Our understanding of the text is they should be able to close these gaps, and hopefully very, very soon, Kirby said.

I really dont want to get into talking about the specific parameters, Kirby added. At this very delicate stage, at a very sensitive time in where we are with the negotiations, I think its best to let the negotiators hammer out the existing gaps.

The White House has for months tried to secure a cease-fire agreement in Gaza that would free hostages taken by Hamas during the attack in Israel last October, while also allowing more humanitarian aid to get into Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed and tens of thousands more are without adequate food, water and medicine.

President Biden has grown frustrated with Netanyahu in recent months, even suggesting the U.S. could reassess its support for Israel if it did not do more to protect civilians and aid workers in Gaza.

While the Biden administration reportedly paused a shipment of ammunition to Israel, the reason for doing so remains unclear. A national security supplemental package Biden signed into law last month provides nearly $27 billion in military assistance related to Israeli and U.S. security needs.

Biden has sought to balance his vow to support Israel with public warnings that Netanyahu needs to change his approach. On Tuesday, he sought to underscore that he would not abandon Israel, even amid friction between the two.

My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree, Biden said in a speech condemning antisemitism at the U.S. Capitol.

Israel estimates there are 133 Israeli hostages in Gaza, but its unclear how many remain alive or in Hamas control. While Israel has called for 40 of the most vulnerable hostages  children, women, the elderly and wounded  to be evacuated in the first phase of a deal, Jerusalem said Hamas negotiators have indicated they can barely reach that number.

The main difference in demands between Israel and Hamas appear to be centered on the length of the pause in fighting  Hamas is demanding the cease-fire leading to an end to the war; Israels war aims are to eliminate Hamass ability to rule Gaza.

Other sticking points are Hamass demands to name the Palestinian prisoners it wants released from Israeli jails, while Israel wants control over the list; and the number of days for a cease-fire related to the number of people released by each side.

Soon after Hamass announcement of accepting a cease-fire deal, the Israeli war Cabinet on Monday night voted unanimously to proceed with what it describes as a limited operation on Rafah while keeping negotiations for a hostage release and cease-fire alive.

The Israeli military said it carried out airstrikes on eastern Rafah and seized the border crossing with Egypt on Monday night, after sending alerts through text, flyers and phone calls to an estimated 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate the area of expected conflict.

The operation was launched despite warnings from Biden to Netanyahu in a phone call Monday morning Eastern time. Biden has long warned Netanyahu against launching an operation in Rafah absent a credible plan to protect civilians, with more than 1 million displaced Palestinians sheltering in the city.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt is a main artery for humanitarian aid being brought into Gaza and an exit for Palestinians able to leave. Hostages released by Hamas during a weeklong cease-fire in November were transferred through the Rafah crossing.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, amplifying alarm from aid groups, called for Israel to deescalate around Rafah, calling a full-scale assault on the southern city a human catastrophe.

Rafah is the epicenter of humanitarian operations in Gaza. Attacking Rafah will further upend our efforts to support people in dire humanitarian straits as famine looms, Guterres said.

Even the best friends of Israel are clear: An assault on Rafah would be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare.

Ziv, the retired Israeli general, described the Israeli governments thinking on seizing the Rafah crossing as sending a clear message to Hamas.

Rafah passage, this is the main strategic passage to the Gaza Strip, and of course by holding that, its kind of holding the airway for Gaza by Israel, he said.

This is supposed to give the Hamas a clear understanding that Israel has the main key.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
US soldier arrested in Russia over stealing from his girlfriend

Russian police have arrested an American soldier for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend during a secret trip to Vladivostok in Russias Far East.

The US Army said that Staff Sergeant Gordon Black had travelled to Russia without permission to see Aleksandra Vashchuk, who he was allegedly in a relationship with despite him reportedly being married.

Instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons, it said.

Russian news agencies said that Sgt Black beat up Ms Vashchuk after a drunken row and then stole 200,000 roubles (1,750).

Cynthia Smith, a spokesperson for the US Army, said it was providing appropriate consular support to Sgt Blacks family.

Shot, a Russian Telegram channel that reports mainly on crime and security issues, said that Sgt Black had been arrested on May 2 and sent to a quarantine cell in pre-trial detention.

His cellmates do not particularly know English, so they explain local concepts with their fingers. When to eat and when to clean the hut, it said.

Relationship with Ms Vashchuk

Ms Vashchuk uploaded dozens of videos and photos of her life with Sgt Black, taken mainly in South Korea in 2022 and 2023, on her TikTok account and other social media channels.

She showed the pair posing on a beach, partying in a bar with other American soldiers and discussing the war in Ukraine. One video showed Sgt Black talking into the camera while wearing his military uniform and in another Ms Vashchuk filmed near Camp Humphreys, the US Army base around 40 miles south of Seoul.

In one video, filmed in a cafe, Ms Vashchuk parroted Kremlin propaganda, claiming that Russia had only invaded Ukraine to defend itself from Nato.

The video then switched to Sgt Black who scratched his chin and frowned.

I think that Nato is pretty aggressive, honestly. I understand Russias position, obviously. They want to defend their country, he said.

Moscow using American citizens as bargaining chips

Sgt Blacks arrest in Russia comes less than a year after Travis King, another American soldier based in South Korea, bolted across the heavily fortified border into North Korea. He was later expelled by North Korea and has been charged with desertion.

The US State Department strongly advises its citizens not to travel to Russia, where several Americans have been jailed, including corporate security executive Paul Whelan and reporters Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich.

Washington has previously accused Moscow of using American citizens as bargaining chips and US officials regularly warn diplomats and soldiers that they could be targeted in potential Russian honey traps.

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A US soldier detained in Russia on theft charges was visiting a girlfriend there, officials say

A US soldier detained in Russia on theft charges was visiting a girlfriend there, officials say

A US soldier was detained in Russia on theft charges last week, a US Army spokesperson told BI.

Gordon Black was visiting a woman he was romantically involved with, US officials said.

He didn't get permission to travel to Russia from his superiors, officials told AP.

A US soldier detained in Russia on theft charges was visiting a woman he was romantically involved with, NBC News reported, citing four US officials.

Staff Sergeant Gordon Black stopped off in Vladivostok, Russia, on his way back to the US after finishing a deployment in South Korea, the officials told the outlet.

Black had traveled to Russia without prior approval from his superiors and is now in pretrial custody in Russia for allegedly stealing from a woman, the officials said, per the outlet.

The officials failed to identify the woman, or to specify whether she was the same one he was romantically linked with.

In a statement to Business Insider, US Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith said Black was arrested on charges of criminal misconduct last Thursday, that the Army had notified his family, and that the State Department was providing appropriate consular support.

Smith declined to make further comments due to the "sensitivity" of the matter.

Several US officials told the Associated Press that Black was preparing to go home to Fort Cavazos in Texas from South Korea, but instead traveled to Russia to visit his "longtime" girlfriend.

The Russian woman, who previously lived in South Korea, got into an argument or fight with Black last fall and left the country, the officials told AP.

It's not clear if she was compelled to leave and how involved the Korean authorities were, if at all, per AP.

Black did not inform his unit of his plans to go to Russia, the officials told the news agency.

The 34-year-old will be detained on charges of theft until July 2, according to Russian state-run news outlet RIA Novosti, which cited an official at a regional court.

The State Department has issued a level 4 travel advisory for Russia, with Americans warned not to travel to the country due to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, the potential for harassment, and the singling out of US citizens for detention by Russian security officials.

Black is not the only current or former US soldier to be detained in Russia.

Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, was convicted on espionage charges in 2018 and sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison.

US Marine veteran Trevor Reed was arrested in Moscow in 2019 after being convicted of drunkenly attacking Russian police officers during a visit to the country.

Read the original article on Business Insider
US soldier detained in Russia was on unsanctioned trip to meet girlfriend: Reports

Editors note: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black is 34 years old.

A U.S. soldier detained in Russia last week was on an unsanctioned trip to visit his girlfriend at the time of his arrest, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday.

Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was arrested May 2 in Vladivostok, Russia, for alleged theft of personal property and is being held in pretrial detention, U.S. Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith said in a statement Tuesday.

Black, 34, was stationed at Camp Humphreys in South Korea until taking a permanent change of station (PCS) leave April 10 before traveling to Fort Cavazos, Texas. On his own accord, Black instead flew from Incheon, South Korea, through China to Vladivostok in Russias Far East for personal reasons, Smith said.

Blacks mother, Melody Jones, told ABC Newss Good Morning America her son traveled to Russia to visit his girlfriend.

I told him I was really uncomfortable, Jones told ABC News. I had a bad feeling about him going, but he went anyway.

Black did not request official clearance to travel to Russia and had not received authorization from the Defense Department to travel to Russia or through China, Smith said.

There is no evidence Black intended to remain in Russia after his PCS leave period ended, Smith wrote.

Black told his mother he was questioned by authorities at the airport for nine hours, per ABC News.

The Army said there were no further details available over what prompted the arrest, though four U.S. officials told NBC News that Black is accused of stealing, apparently from the woman he was visiting.

Reuters cited the Russian interior ministry saying a 32-year-old woman filed the complaint after the two had an argument. It said he was arrested in a local hotel, having bought a plane ticket to return home.

Jones said her son and his girlfriend met at a club in South Korea more than a year ago. The girlfriend was reportedly deported to Russia from South Korea after getting into a dispute with Black last fall, Jones added.

Smith said the Russias interior ministry informed the U.S. Embassy in Moscow of Blacks arrest on May 3. He will remain in detention at least until his next hearing, she added.

The Hill reached out to the Russian Embassy for further comment.

Blacks detention comes as Russia increases its arrests of Americans who travel to the country, with tensions persisting between the two nations in the wake of Russias war in Ukraine. The Kremlin maintains those it arrests broke the law, while the U.S. alleges Russia is targeting U.S. citizens to use as political leverage.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
US soldier jailed in Russia was not authorized to be there, but went anyway to meet a woman

A United States soldier who was arrested in Russia last week, after reportedly flying there to meet a woman, was in the country without authorisation from the Army.

Staff Sergeant Gordon C Black, 34, was taken into custody on Thursday in Vladivostok, on Russias east coast, after travelling from his posting in South Korea.

On Tuesday, the US Army told The Independent that Sgt Black was supposed to be heading back to Fort Cavazos in Texas.

Black did not request official clearance and DoD did not authorise his travel to China and Russia, Cynthia Smith, an Army spokeswoman, said. Official and leave travel is currently restricted pursuant to the DoD Foreign Clearance Guide.

Sgt. Black, who enlisted in 2008 and was deployed in Iraq between October 2009 and September 2010, had been assigned to the US Armys base at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, Ms Smith said.

The soldier, who had also served in Afghanistan between June 2013 and March 2014, was out-processed from the camp on 10 April, on permanent change of station leave.

Staff Sgt Gordon C Black is being held in Russia after travelling there to visit his girlfriend, his mother said (GORDON BLACK via REUTERS)

Rather than return to Texas as planned, he flew via China to Russia, for personal reasons. The spokeswoman said there was no evidence he intended to stay beyond his leave period.

In an interview with ABCs Good Morning America (GMA), the soldiers mother Melody Jones said he was visiting his girlfriend.

"I told him I was really uncomfortable," Ms Jones told the show. "I had a bad feeling about him going, but he went anyway."

Russian authorities detained Sgt Black on 2 May and informed US officials of the arrest the following day.

Officials there said on Tuesday that he was romantically involved with the woman he had gone to meet.

He was charged with secretly stealing property of a person referred to as citizen T, Pervomaisky District Court in Vladivostok said, after a 32-year-old woman, whom he had met in South Korea where she was working at the time, filed a complaint against him, according to Russias interior ministry.

The two began a relationship, and after the woman returned to Vladivostok the man came to visit her, arriving on 10 April, the statement said, saying the couple later had an argument.

I knew something was going to happen. I felt like he was being set up by her, Ms Jones told GMA.

A view shows the Kremlin in downtown Moscow on March 27, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)

Sgt Blacks mother said Tuesday that she was worried for her son.

I cry at night. Im hoping hes not being tortured or hurt, she told GMA. Its just hard being a mom and being in that situation, Ms Jones continued. Not being able to touch him, you know? Hug him and tell him it will be OK.

Russian authorities said that after the man left, the woman discovered an undisclosed sum of money was missing and filed a police report.

The statement said the man had been arrested at a local hotel and purchased airline tickets, intending to flee to his home country. The Russian daily newspaper Izvestia, quoting an unnamed source, said the soldier had stolen 200,000 roubles ($2,196) from her.

Sgt Black is being held in pre-trial detention, the court said in a separate statement, referring only to US citizen B.

His detention was to prevent him from evading charges, the court added.

The court came to the conclusion that US citizen B, under the weight of the charges, in order to avoid responsibility, could hide from the preliminary investigation authorities and the court, thereby preventing the proceedings in the case, the statement said.

The US Army confirmed that Sgt Black is being held until his next court appearance.

The Russian Foreign Ministrys office in Vladivostok has claimed his arrest has nothing to do with politics, according to state news agency TASS.

This case has no relation to politics or espionage. As far as we understand, a household crime [is suspected] in this case. That is why the Russian Foreign Ministrys mission in Vladivostok is not following the case of the US citizen closely, the mission said.

US soldiers aim their rifle at a shooting range during a stress shoot test of the Best Squad Competition conducted by the US 2nd Infantry Division and the ROK-US Combined Division at the US Army's Camp Casey in Dongducheon on May 1, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)

Several Americans are currently being held in Russian prisons, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was jailed last March, and former marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018. The US government has said both are wrongfully detained.

In late April, Mr Gershkovich was told he would remain in a Russian jail until at least the end of June. He is accused of espionage. Meanwhile, LA woman Ksenia Karelin was arrested on charges of treason in February while visiting family in Russia, after allegedly sending $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity.

WNBA player Brittney Griner was also detained by Russia in early 2022 on drug-related charges. She was released as part of a prisoner swap in December 2022 and has written a book, Coming Home, about her harrowing experiences.
US solider detained in Russia will be held until at least July

Russian officials on Tuesday said an American soldier being held in Vladivostok will remain in jail for at least two more months while authorities review the theft charges against him.

Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, who has served in the Army since 2008, was arrested by Russian police on May 2 after traveling from his South Korean base to the Russian city, which sits near the countrys border with North Korea.

In a statement released Tuesday, Russian court officials said that Black will remain in pre-trial confinement until July 2 as law enforcement officials further investigate the case.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said American officials are working to provide him consular assistance. He did not say whether U.S. officials view the arrest as politically motivated.

US soldier arrested in Russia, Army officials confirm

Black, who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan during his 16-year military career, was most recently assigned to Eighth Army with U.S. Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys in South Korea. Army officials said he processed out of that role on April 10 and was on Permanent Change of Station leave en route to Fort Cavazos, Texas, at the time of his arrest.

Instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said in a statement. Black did not request official clearance and the Defense Department did not authorize his travel to China and Russia.

Smith said officials have not seen any indication that Black intended to remain in Russia and defect from the United States after his leave period ended.

According to U.S. officials interviewed by the Associated Press, Black flew to Russia to see his girlfriend. The Russian woman had lived in South Korea, and she and Black had previously been involved in a domestic dispute which led to his decision to seek her out in Russia.

Smith said Black has been charged with theft of personal property but said no additional information has been released on the charges.

Miller reiterated State Department warnings against U.S. citizens visiting Russia, where a number of American citizens are currently being jailed on charges U.S. leaders insist are false and baseless.

That list includes former Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and musician Travis Leake.

U.S. citizens should not travel to Russia for any reason, he said. Its dangerous, you risk being detained, you risk other threats to your health and well-being. For any American citizen anywhere in the world, whether they are here in the United States or in some other country, if you are considering going to Russia, dont do it.

Defense Department officials and representatives from the U.S. embassy in Moscow said they have been in touch with Blacks family about his detention.
The UK, US and most European Union nations boycotted the inauguration ceremony of Vladimir Putins fifth term as Russias president following an election that they rejected for allegedly lacking legitimacy.

Mr Putin walked down the red carpet at Moscows Kremlin Palace, the seat of the Russian government, in a choreographed ceremony that marked the beginning of another six years in power. The Russian leader, who has been in power for 25 years, won the last election riding on popular support for his prosecution of Moscows ongoing war in Ukraine.

The US denounced Mr Putins re-election as undemocratic and boycotted the inauguration. "No, we will not have a representative at his inauguration," Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said. "We certainly did not consider that election free and fair, but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity."

Mr Putin won a landslide victory in the 15 March election in which he did not face a serious challenger. He took more than 87 per cent of the vote, but the result was widely rejected in the West with the European parliament passing a resolution in April to denounce the election as a sham.

The British foreign ministry also did not send a representative to Mr Putins inauguration. Russias assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack against a sovereign democratic state," a ministry spokesperson said. "The UK condemns the Russian governments reprehensible actions which are an egregious violation of international law and the UN Charter."

Canada stayed away as well.

Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (EPA)

The EU said its ambassador to Russia would not attend the ceremony in keeping with the stance of most of its member states.

A European diplomat said 20 EU member states would boycott the inauguration, but seven were expected to send a representative, including France, Hungary and Slovakia.

While the Western powers have sought to isolate Moscow since it invaded Ukraine over two years ago, they have seen an internal rift develop over their divergent approaches to dealing with the Russian leader.

French ambassador Pierre Levy is expected to attend the ceremony after president Emmanuel Macron held talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping where the European leader said that we are not at war with Russia.

However, Frances relations with Russia have deteriorated over the war in Ukraine. Just last week, Mr Macron hinted at the possibility of sending French troops to Ukraine. He said if Russian forces broke through Ukrainian frontlines it would be legitimate to consider a likely request by Kyiv to send support.

The Baltic states, which no longer have envoys in Moscow, ruled out the possibility of attending the ceremony.

We believe that the isolation of Russia, and especially of its criminal leader, must be continued, Lithuanias foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said. Participation in Putins inauguration is not acceptable for Lithuania. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people fighting against Russian aggression.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said the ceremony was designed to create the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship.

Ukraine sees no legal grounds for recognising him as the democratically elected and legitimate president of the Russian Federation, the ministry said in a statement.
GAZA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Tuesday called on the U.S. administration and the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop the storming of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Hamas said in a statement the attack is "a dangerous escalation against a civilian facility protected by international law, aiming to exacerbate the humanitarian situation in the strip, by closing it and preventing the flow of emergency relief aid through it to our besieged people."

Hamas added that the escalation threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians in Rafah and the entire Gaza Strip.

Israel's military said on Tuesday that it had taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing in an overnight attack. The crossing, which has served as a passage for humanitarian aid from Egypt to war-torn Gaza, was out of service.

On the same day, Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades said that their militants "attacked Israeli soldiers stationed around the Rafah crossing."

The Israeli raid came after Hamas told the Egyptian and Qatari sides that the movement approved their proposal regarding a ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas said it confirms Israel's intention to disrupt mediation efforts for a ceasefire and the release of prisoners. 
A sign points to bathrooms at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

Utah Auditor John Dougall wants everyone to know he never expected to be a bathroom monitor  and he didnt ask to be.

Its been a matter of days since Dougalls office was officially tasked with making sure Utah schools and other agencies are complying with the states new transgender bathroom restriction  and already the office has been flooded with thousands of hoax complaints protesting the law.

Dougall told Utah News Dispatch on Tuesday nearly 10,000 bogus reports have been submitted since a new page on his offices complaint hotline website went live last week.

Most of them are pretty easy to screen out as bogus complaints, Dougall said during a phone call. Theres a few hundred that look like they might be more legitimate, but then, you know, facts dont line up or they put somebody down as a contact, like me or something like that, and we know those are not legitimate.

Dougall said his office has not yet received any complaints that appear to be real.

We havent seen anything that we consider legitimate, he said.

In a lengthy prepared statement issued Tuesday, Dougall also said he wished to correct a couple of apparent misperceptions that appear to be contributing to the wave of frivolous complaints.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given (the laws) controversial topic and the hurried nature of its passage, many members of the public misunderstood the obligations of this office, he wrote.

Dougall urged Utahns to realize lawmakers required his office only to investigate an allegation that a government entity has failed to comply with the law  and they wont investigate the actions of any private individual, nor will we investigate or determine anyones sex or gender.

We are not required  and have no desire  to intrude on the most intimate aspects of a persons life, Dougall said in his prepared statement, while also noting its against the law to take pictures of people in bathrooms. In this vein, we remind the public that under (Utah law), an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in a privacy space. If we receive lewd or voyeuristic images, we will promptly refer those to law enforcement.

He notes the office only investigates gov violations. #utpol No auditor sets out to become a bathroom monitor. Unfortunately, neither @KeraBirk nor any other legislator consulted with this Office regarding this newly mandated obligation placed on the Office under this bill https://t.co/Bxv0IL8O28  Katie McKellar (@KatieMcKellar1) May 7, 2024

A role we did not request

In his prepared statement, Dougall aired his frustrations with the Utah Legislatures rushed passage of HB257, sponsored by Rep. Kera Birkeland, without input from his office. He said his office created the online complaint form to comply with a statutory mandate  a role we did not request.

Indeed, no auditor sets out to become a bathroom monitor. Dougall said. Unfortunately, neither Rep. Birkeland, nor any other legislator consulted with this Office regarding this newly mandated obligation placed on the Office under this bill. Like many in the public, we learned about our role under this bill shortly before the bill was rushed to final passage.

The Republican-controlled Utah Legislature passed HB257 and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed it within the first two weeks of the 2024 legislative session.

Dougall  who is currently running as a Republican candidate for Utahs 3rd Congressional District  went on to encourage those upset with the law to take it up with Birkeland and other lawmakers, not his office.

I recognize that many Utahns feel trampled by an invasive and overly aggressive Legislature that too often fails to seek input from those most affected, Dougall said. Constituents unhappy with this Statute will not effect change by misdirecting their anger toward the Office and its dedicated employees. The Legislature crafted these public policies, and only the Legislature can revise them.

Shortly after Dougalls comments, Birkeland issued her own prepared statement, saying its not surprising that activists are taking the time to send false reports. But that isnt a distraction from the importance of the legislation and the protection it provides women across Utah.

We remain focused on protecting girls in our school bathrooms and locker rooms and women in public bathrooms and locker rooms, Birkeland said.

In response to Dougalls comments, Birkeland said lawmakers weighed many options while considering which office should oversee the enforcement of this new rule. Ultimately, she said they decided the state auditors office was best suited to field reports.

We appreciate their cooperation and willingness to implement state code, she said. Backlash from this legislation was completely expected, but at the end of the day, we do what is best for Utah, despite outcries from a loud and vocal minority.

By the way, she added, auditing governmental entities and complaints against them is the responsibility of the state auditors office.

The day after the auditors website went live, transgender activist and journalist Erin Reed wrote about it on her website and posted about it to her more than 216,000 followers on X. She has reported other states that have tried to launch what she called snitch lines have been inundated with memes from activists opposing the use of community reporting to target transgender individuals.

Birkeland and the laws conservative supporters have argued it wasnt meant to target transgender individuals, but rather to protect Utahns, especially women, from uncomfortable encounters while creating more private spaces for everyone. (The law also requires government agencies to include single-occupant facilities in new construction, as well as consider the feasibility of retrofitting or remodeling existing buildings to include unisex bathroom facilities).

Critics of the bill, which included a handful of Republicans and all Democrats, argued it singles out transgender individuals, an already vulnerable population, by forcing many of them to use facilities where they dont feel safe or comfortable while casting them in a criminal light.

What the law does  and doesnt  do

HB257 restricts transgender people from accessing certain bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with in publicly owned or controlled facilities like public schools, the Utah Capitol, and city or county buildings  not private buildings.

It includes no explicit penalties to punish a transgender person for simply entering a government-owned bathroom they identify with  unless there are circumstances or behavior that cause affront or alarm. Then they could face enhanced criminal penalties if they are charged with lewdness, trespassing, unlawful loitering or voyeurism.

The law, however, does make it a crime for a person to simply enter a sex-designated changing room that does not correspond with their biological sex, and they could also face increased criminal penalties for other crimes committed in that situation.

The bill defines stand-alone bathrooms separately from changing rooms, which include fitting rooms, locker rooms, communal shower rooms, and restrooms that are attached to changing rooms, according to a page Equality Utah and the ACLU of Utah created to address frequently asked questions about the complex bill.

In K-12 public schools, the law restricts access to bathrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms. In other government-owned facilities like county recreation centers or public universities, it only explicitly restricts access to sex-designated changing rooms.

The laws restrictions do not apply to privately owned buildings.

It also allows exceptions if a person has legally amended their birth certificate to correspond with the sex-designation of the changing room and has undergone a primary sex characteristic surgical procedure.

Equality Utah and the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah pointed out on their fact sheet that HB257 does not require Utahns to show documentation or paperwork to access a bathroom or privacy space. However, they also noted the law requires government entities to contact law enforcement in response to complaints or allegations about criminal behavior, which could include simply accessing a sex-designated changing room that doesnt correspond with someones biological sex.

Accordingly, people that others suspect do not belong in a particular privacy space might be subjected to interactions with law enforcement even when those spaces are not covered by the law, Equality Utah and the ACLU of Utahs fact sheet says, which included a link to resources to help Utahns know their rights when interacting with law enforcement.

They also note the law does not include a measure for individuals other than law enforcement officers to investigate or otherwise confront anyone for any purpose in relation to the bills prohibitions.

If you are confronted by someone other than law enforcement about your use of a restroom or changing room, we advise you to use your best judgment about how to react and stay safe given all of the circumstances in that situation, Equality Utah and the ACLU of Utah said. For more answers to frequently asked questions about the law, read the entire FAQ sheet here:

HB267 FAQ SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE

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SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  For the second straight year, Utah has been named the best state in America by U.S. News & World Report.

USNWR ranked all 50 states in the union on a range of categories including health care, education, economy, infrastructure, crime and corrections and natural environment, among others. Utah topped the rankings in 2023, overtaking Washington State, and has held on for a second consecutive year.

Utah consistently ranked among the top in the nation in USNWRs rankings, earning top 20 results in seven of the eight categories and top 15 in six categories. Utah ranked second in the nation for education and achieved a top 3 finish for its economy and infrastructure.

Gov. Spencer Cox said he was proud of the Beehive State and he appreciates the validation that Utah is the best state in the nation.

Salt Lake Airports much-anticipated River Tunnel to open later this year

Utah has a vibrant, diverse economy and unsurpassed natural beauty, but what truly sets our state apart is our people, said Cox. We lead the nation in volunteering and charitable giving every year and this spirit of community leads to a collaborative approach to problem-solving, an ecosystem that supports innovation, and a culture that strengthens families and individuals.

But USNWR said best doesnt necessarily mean perfect. While Utah ranked No. 1 overall across the union, it underperformed in the natural environment category  a low No. 46. USNWR also said many of the top-ranking states are also not very racially diverse and had several disparities including by gender, race and disability.

New Hampshire ranked second in the United States while neighboring Idaho ranked in the top five. A list of the top 10 states can be found below:

2024 Top 10 U.S. News & World Report Best States

Utah New Hampshire Nebraska Minnesota Idaho Iowa Vermont Washington Florida Massachusetts

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
A shed hunter who discovered human remains in Utahs remote Hansel Mountains late last month has provided law enforcement with key evidence in an unsolved missing persons case. The remains have been identified as Matthew Jay Broncho, a Shoshone-Bannock tribal member who was reported missing from Idaho in March 2019. The Box Elder County Sheriffs Office received word on April 27, 2024 that a shed hunter, whose name has not been made public, had discovered skeletal remains in northeast Utah, according to a press release from the agency on Friday. Officials from the sheriffs office joined the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner and the Box Elder County Search and Rescue Team to locate the remains on the slopes southeast of Snowville, between the Idaho state line and the Great Salt Lake. The teams recovered the remains and identified them at the Office of the Medical Examiner using dental records. We extend our condolences to the family of Matthew Broncho, chief deputy sheriff Cade Palmer said in a statement. Although this is difficult news to receive and there are still unanswered questions, we hope they can find some comfort in knowing that he has been found. A photo of Matt Broncho that was widely distributed by friends and family during the five years he was missing. Photo via Matthew Jay Broncho Missing Person Reward Fundraiser Its not immediately clear how Broncho may have died or if he died at the location where his body was discovered. The case remains an active investigation and the sheriffs office has declined to release any further information, including whether officials suspect foul play. According to a Facebook fundraiser Broncho, then 34, was last seen at his residence on the Fort Hall Reservation of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in late winter 2019 (the exact date isnt clear). There was no indication that Broncho had planned to leave home for an extended period and, by March 22, 2019, his mother had grown worried enough to track his cell phone using GPS. She traced it to his pickup truck, a dark gray Toyota Tacoma that was parked on the I-84 Exit 7 ramp near Snowville. Bronchos cell phone and wallet containing his drivers license, tribal ID, and bank cards were found locked inside the vehicle. Although the fundraiser states Bronchos mother contacted the Box Elder County Sheriffs Office dispatch that same day to report the truck and her sons disappearance, the sheriffs office stated in its release that it had received word of Bronchos disappearance two days later on March 24 from the Fort Hall Police Department. A search was conducted by 50-plus members of multiple law enforcement agencies, tribal officials, friends, family, and volunteers without success. Bronchos dog, a 3-year-old red Dachshund, was discovered near the I-84 Exit 5 ramp on March 27, 2019, wandering a few miles west of where the truck was found. Bronchos red Dachshund, who was reported missing in March 2019 and located nearly a week later by the same highway where Bronchos truck was discovered. Photo by Matt Broncho, via Facebook Since [Bronchos] disappearance, a joint investigation between the Box Elder County Sheriffs Office and the Fort Hall Police Department has been ongoing, Palmer said. Broncho had previously participated in Shoshone-Bannock relay and rodeo events, and had run for Land Use Commissioner in the Tribes general election the year before he went missing. We kindly request privacy and respect as we come to terms with the loss of our beloved Matthew, KM Clelan Ephraim, who identified herself as Bronchos cousin, wrote in a Facebook post Friday. We are grateful for the support and love of our family and friends who helped in our 5 year search for Matthew. We find solace knowing that we are surrounded by caring individuals who contributed and offered prayer. The public announcement on Friday that Broncho had been identified coincided with the Biden Administrations proclamation that Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day will now be observed on May 5 each year.

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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) will be hosting four spring commencement ceremonies this weekend.

The graduations will take place on Saturday, May 11 and Sunday, May 12 at the Don Haskins Center, located at 151 Glory Road.

The following schedules will be for the specific college ceremonies:

Saturday, May 11

College of Liberal Arts, commencement will begin at 1 p.m.

College of Education and College of Engineering, commencement will begin at 6 p.m.

Sunday, May 12

College of Health Sciences and College of Nursing, commencement will begin at 1 p.m.

College of Science, Woody L. Hunt College of Business and School of Pharmacy, commencement will begin at 6 p.m.

Admission tickets are not required to enter the ceremonies.

The ceremonies will be livestreamed at this link here.

The pickaxe sculpture located at the Sun Bowl-University Roundabout, the M on the mountain and One San Jacinto Plaza will all be lit to commemorate the graduating class, according to UTEP.

Free parking will be located in a perimeter lots off of Sun Bowl Drive and Glory Road, including UTEP parking lots GR2 and SB7, according to UTEP. Paid parking will be available in the Glory Road Parking Garage.

The Don Haskin Center has a clear bag policy. You can learn more about what you can bring and cannot bring here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Electric companies like Evergy and local tree removal companies have been preparing for the expected storms in the Kansas City area on Monday night.

We have multiple crews on standby just to make sure. Theyve got tarps, lights, and all the different equipment necessary, said Mark Mcwhirt with Everhart Tree Service. Weve got cranes, scramble trucks, and bucket trucks to make sure everybody is ready.

View the latest Weather Alerts in the Kansas City region on FOX4

Everhart Tree Service staff in Kansas City said cleanup after a storm can be dangerous. They suggest calling a reputable company to survey the damage.

We would be there to check that out. If youre trapped in your house, well get you out, McWhirt explained. If the tree is on your house, Well get it off of your house. We have all the equipment necessary and can do it without any further damage.

Evergy crews will be ready to respond to any outages once weather conditions are safe.

As soon as the storm has moved through, they can get out there and take a look at any potential restoration that needs to be done, said Courtney Lewis, a spokesperson for Evergy. We have such a large service area. So if theres a part of our service area that has had some significant damage and there are quite a few outages, we can pull some crews from another part of our service area that may not have had those kinds of outages.

Before the storm, customers can prepare by downloading the Evergy app to report and monitor outages in their neighborhood.

You can also report and track outages on Evergys online outage map.

You should also have an emergency kit on hand if you lose power.

Tornado Watch issued for multiple counties near the Kansas City area

A few of those things that could be in there are water and nonperishable food. Make sure your cell phones are charged, Lewis said. Flashlights should have fresh batteries, prescriptions should be with you, and a first aid kit should be with you.

According to Evergy, downed trees are a primary cause of power outages during storms.

If tree branches touch or are near a power line, do not touch them.

McWhirt suggests staying about 30 feet away from downed trees and branches.

You can take some steps to prepare your trees before the storm.

For more information on how to care for trees before and after a storm, you can visit this website.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
Students at UW-Madison, who set their encampment back up last week after police physically removed it, entered their second week of protests Monday. Pictured is the encampment in the afternoon on May 1, 2024. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)

UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee students pro-Palestinian encampment protests entered their second week Monday with communication continuing between students, staff and university administrators.

Students launched their encampments last week  joining protests against Israels war with Hamas, which has killed over 30,000 people in Gaza. UW student demands include withdrawing the universitys investments in Israel. The encampments have been largely peaceful apart from on Wednesday of last week when police were brought in by UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin to physically remove UW-Madison protesters encampment. Over 30 people were arrested. Police have not taken action at the UW-Milwaukee protest.

Over the weekend and on Monday, communication continued with school leaders despite comments from the UW system President Jay Rothman that further police action is a possibility.

UW-Madison student protest leaders met with campus leaders to discuss concerns and expectations on Saturday. The students have six demands including the disclosure of University of Wisconsin Foundation investments, the cutting of ties with all Israeli organizations and removal of police from campus.

Following that meeting, UW-Madison said in a statement that students proposed bringing a set of suggested guidelines related to the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA) investments to the next meeting, but that no commitments about disclosure of investments and divestment were made.

UW-Madison also said that there was no discussion during the Saturday meeting about a ceasefire statement or cutting campus ties with Israeli institutions. University leaders also said it wasnt an option to remove UWPD from campus.

UW-Madison administrators also said that they would continue to refrain from asking UWPD to clear the illegal encampment if productive discussions continue.

UW-Milwaukee student protesters said they met with university officials on Monday and reiterated during a press conference that they would stay at the encampment as long as necessary. Their list of demands are similar to those at UW-Madison, including divestment.

Ameen Atta, a student representing UWM Popular University for Palestine Coalition, said at the press conference that four students met with three administrators for about 90 minutes.

Administrators began by explaining that they understand the sensitivity of the situation, however, they reiterated the need for the encampment to end, Atta said. We agreed that the encampment must end and that the only way it will end is once the reasonable demands to cut ties with Israeli genocide and slaughter are met.

Atta said that they were told that the UW administration would reach out to the foundation regarding the disclosure and divestment demands. He also said that they listened to their other demands. He said another meeting will happen with school officials within the next 48 hours.

If it goes beyond the end of the school year, then it will go beyond the end of the school year, Atta said.

However, its unclear whether a peaceful resolution will be found on either campus, especially as Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman said over the weekend that further police action is still an option and that the police force used earlier in the week was protesters fault.

To the extent that there were clashes, that was instigated by the protesters, Rothman said on UpFront. Footage posted by the Daily Cardinal shows police pushing protesters first.

Rothman said he supported Mnookins decision last week to bring in police and that he remains in communication with her. He said that the encampments will ultimately be gone and that they are a health and safety issue.

There are no sanitary facilities there. We have students and other protesters staying overnight. In populated areas. There is a health and safety issue, Rothman said. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that our students are safe. Having those kind of encampments, you know, as your mother told you, nothing good happens after midnight.

Rothman also critiqued protesters demands, saying that removing cops was ludicrous and a nonstarter, and that divestment demands are a red herring.

Every option has to be on the table. I mean at the end of the day, the encampments are there illegally and they need to come down, Rothman said.

The post UW student protests continue into second week appeared first on Wisconsin Examiner.
ABINGDON, Va. (WJHL)  Every year, the Virginia Department of Transportations Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) travels across its 9 transportation districts to update residents about progress to the boards 6-year plan.

On Monday night, the CTB held a meeting for the Bristol District in Abingdon, giving the public a chance to hear that plan.

We want to ensure that the public has the opportunity to comment on our plan so that we are ensuring that its an open process for the Commonwealth Transportation Board, said Michelle Earl, the communications manager for the VDOT Bristol District.

Part of the meeting included public comment, allowing people to inform the board on issues they felt needed to be addressed.

Meadowview resident Kenneth Nurre took to the podium to share concerns over a road near his home.

It was scheduled for repair, said Nurre. I believe it was talked about, but some other projects came up. They took over and the repairs never got finished.

Nurre said he felt that his comments were heard and taken into consideration by the board.

I feel good, Nurre said. Especially when they started taking notes, at least somebody was interested in what we had to say, and what I had to say.

Comments regarding the plan can be submitted through May 20. Information about how to submit comments can be found here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.
Veteran pretending to need wheelchair is seen walking, stole $660K in benefits, feds say

A U.S. Navy veteran considered 100% disabled always visited a VA medical center in a wheelchair, then ditched the device once he left his appointments  often to go shopping and walk around stores, according to federal prosecutors.

Christopher Stultz of New Hampshire is accused of pretending to be unable to walk for two decades, allowing him to steal $662,871.77 in benefits meant for disabled veterans, federal prosecutors said.

Now the 49-year-old Antrim resident has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after previously pleading guilty to making false statements, U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young, of the District of New Hampshire, said in a May 6 news release. Antrim is about an 80-mile drive northwest of Boston.

The federal defender appointed to represent him, Dorothy E. Graham, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on May 7.

Witnesses reported Stultz was in good physical condition and walked normally for more than 20 years, court documents state. He once taught at an elementary school and worked at a gym, where the gyms owner reported he never used a wheelchair, according to prosecutors.

Following these reports, the Department of Veterans Affairs started investigating. Then, Stultz was captured on surveillance footage, on multiple occasions, walking after his visits to VA centers, according to court documents.

Once he left the VA facilities he abandoned the facade, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

VA doctor discovers he could obviously walk

On one occasion, in October 2021, Stultz arrived for an appointment at a Boston VA medical center in his wheelchair, prosecutors said. Afterward, he headed to his car inside a parking garage and was seen standing up, according to prosecutors.

Then, he hoisted his wheelchair into his car and drove to a shopping mall, where prosecutors said he walked without impairment through multiple stores.

Afterward, Stultz visited a liquor store and a Kohls, where he was also spotted walking, according to the sentencing memo.

A year later, he parked in a handicap space at a VA medical center in Manchester, New Hampshire, and saw his doctor, who determined he was still unable to use his feet, court documents say.

Following the appointment, he was caught strolling through a mall without any ambulatory devices before he went to shop, and walk, at a Target and at another shopping plaza, according to prosecutors.

After being shown surveillance footage, his VA physician said Stultz could obviously walk, court documents state.

His injury after joining the Navy

Stultz actively served in the Navy from 1995 through 1999, when he was discharged, according to prosecutors.

A year after joining the service, he fell off a horse and got hurt, prosecutors said.

From that point on, he performed light duties until his discharge, according to prosecutors. Afterward, the VA rated him as partly disabled  until prosecutors said he started lying.

By 2003, Stultz maintained he couldnt use his feet and was rated as 100% disabled by the VA, according to prosecutors.

In February of that year, he received $2,994 in monthly disability benefits that steadily increased, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

In December 2021, he was collecting $4,774.61 a month, the sentencing memo says.

Because it was believed that he couldnt use both feet, Stultz was awarded nearly $190,000 from the VAs Automobile Adaptive Equipment program, according to prosecutors.

This allowed him to purchase cars designed to help mobility-impaired veterans, prosecutors said.

However, hes accused of selling the cars in exchange for cash, according to prosecutors.

Disease forgery defense

Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors said a forensic psychological evaluation was used as a major part of Stultzs defense.

In citing the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR), a doctor determined he met the criteria for factitious disorder, according to a sentencing memo submitted by his defense counsel.

Factitious disorder is often disease forgery for the sake of the forgery itself, coupled with concomitant benefits of being ill (that may include nurturing, attention, sympathy, and lenience from others), the doctor concluded.

In the sentencing memo, Graham wrote that while the disorder does not excuse Mr. Stultzs criminal responsibility, it does provide context to his behavior and provides an explanation rooted in conduct motivated by forces other than malicious greed.

However, prosecutors argued that this wasnt enough to support his defense.

He only sought nurturing, attention, sympathy, and lenience from the VA, and ultimately obtained over $660,000 in benefits through his lies, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

Like many white-collar defendants, (he) has a loving family and supportive friends.  But despite having it all, he still chose to commit this crime.

As part of his sentencing, Stultz must pay $662,871.77 in restitution, according to prosecutors.

Federal agents indicated to prosecutors and his defense that he will need to be reevaluated for a new Disability Compensation Rating, according to the sentencing memo submitted by Graham.

This is one of the most egregious benefits fraud cases ever prosecuted in this state.  He stole not only from taxpayers, but also his fellow veterans who were entitled to the benefits, Young said in a statement.

Man got $271,000 in disability while repairing and flipping homes in Florida, feds say

Man stole veterans identity in 1988, was convicted of murder under his name, feds say

Marine veteran trying to get Purple Heart lied about brain injury in Iraq, feds say
GAZA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army on Tuesday stormed the Rafah border crossing in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian and Israel sources.

Palestinian sources told Xinhua that Israeli tanks stormed the Rafah border crossing and Israeli forces have controlled it, preventing Palestinians from moving through the crossing.

"The movement of travelers and humanitarian aid has stopped in both the Rafah border crossing and Kerem Shalom," the General Authority for Crossings and Borders in Gaza said in a brief statement sent to Xinhua.

The Israeli army shared videos showing a tank storming the area of the border. Meanwhile, other pictures released on social media platforms showed an Israeli flag being raised at the entrance of the Rafah border.

The Rafah border crossing is the only outlet for more than 2.3 million Palestinians in the war-torn besieged coastal enclave.

On Monday night, Egypt informed the Palestinian side that Israel's security operation in the vicinity of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing would end on Tuesday morning, a high-ranking security official told Xinhua.

"Egypt has inquired about the Israeli incursion in the vicinity of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, the only link between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, and Israel responded that the operation will end on Tuesday morning," the source said on condition of anonymity.

He added that Israel will not break into the crossing or control it. 
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  As Memphis sees an increase in homicides so far this year, city council is trying to find out if the citys violence intervention program is working.

Tuesday, an organization thats a part of the work says its been working to navigate gangs and rap battles to stop retaliatory violence  that is, until now. Its staff has been furloughed because money has run out, putting the work on pause.

901 Bloc Squad, a nonprofit working to combat violence among 14- to 25-year-olds, teamed up with the citys group violence intervention program in 2022. The groups job was boots on the ground, as they worked to better understand communities with the most violence.

Funds running low for Memphis violence intervention program

The goal was to target the small group of people committing a majority of the deadly violence by working in the streets, hospitals and schools to intervene.

The nonprofits leaders went before a Memphis city council committe Tuesday to lay out the work theyve been doing to reduce gun violence.

We may have 8- to 10,000 documented gang members, executive director Delvin Lane said. But a lot of these guys arent documented gang members.

Lane explained just how many gangs, hybrid gangs and rap battles they keep tabs on. He said rap videos, where many are seen toting dangerous guns, are often predictors of violence.

Lane says his team uses their knowledge, responds to shootings and works to stop retaliatory violence.

Teen arrested, facing list of charges after Memphis crime spree

While theres not a lot of concrete data, he was adamant theyve made a difference.

There have been times, plenty of times where weve not only talked them out of it but got the guns from them, Lane told city council.

He says they connect those at risk of committing violence to the program and refer them to get support.

A recent report stated 901 Bloc Squad made contact with more than 1,800 individuals as they beefed up their staff to 100 people.

But their work has been put on pause because a majority of the funding came from COVID relief money, and thats run out, forcing 901 Bloc Squad to furlough its staff.

The mayors office says they proposed funding the group violence intervention work in the next fiscal year but didnt provide many details. The council will have to sign off on the mayors budget proposal.

But without COVID relief money to continue funding the program, some council members continue to debate whether the work is effective.

Other councilmembers say its taken a couple years to work out the kinks, and if we stop the work now, its all for nothing.

Memphis murders and homicides 2024

Other cities like Detroit and Chicago have dedicated much more to these types of programs, and have reported reductions in violence.

Lane told WREG Investigators they are working on other funding sources, and many of his staff are still doing the work for free.



For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) on Monday used voice assist to deliver a speech on the House floor, more than a year after she revealed her Parkinsons disease diagnosis.

Last year I was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy  or PSP, Wexton began her floor speech Monday, using voice assist. PSP makes it very difficult for me to speak, and I use an assistive app so that you and our colleagues can understand me.

Wexton went on to discuss her bill proposal to rename the Purcellville Post Office in honor of Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. secretary of State who lived in Wextons 10th Congressional District in Virginia for many years.

Wexton, 55, revealed her Parkinsons disease last year, saying at the time the disease has primarily affected her speech and how her mouth moves. It also impacts her walking motion and how she keeps her balance.

At the time of the April 2023 announcement, she asked that people not feel sorry for her and said she has a positive attitude.

Months later, she announced she will not run for reelection in light of the prognosis.

Im heartbroken to have to give up something I have loved after so many years of serving my community, Wexton said in a statement in September. But taking into consideration the prognosis for my health over the coming years, I have made the decision not to seek reelection once my term is complete and instead spend my valued time with Andrew, our boys, and my friends and loved ones.

The Virginia Democrat has represented the states 10th Congressional District since 2019, when she flipped a Republican-held seat during the 2018 midterms. Since then, she has been reelected twice to represent Virginias 10th District, consisting of the suburbs outside Washington.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, PSP is a rare neurological disorder that affects body movements, walking and balance, and eye movements. The disease can cause severe disability and serious complications within three to five years, per the institute.

Wextons usage of voice assist for Mondays floor speech received high praise on social media.

Congresswoman Wexton is such a fighter man; even in the face of illness thats robbed her ability to speak, shes still fighting every day for the folks she represents. Truly an inspiration we can all learn from, Isaiah Martin  a Texas Democratic candidate for the U.S. House  wrote on the social platform X.



Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton gets more inspiring each day. With remarkable courage and grace, she continues to dedicate herself to the 10th district. Her constituents are lucky to have her fighting for them, Rip Sullivan, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, also wrote on X.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Black Voters and the Fight for Democracy is a multi-part series that explores the stakes of the 2024 election for our communities. This project was produced as part of the Advancing Democracy Fellowship.

HARRISBURG, Pa.  Are yall bored? Whos bored?

Wearing mules, jeans, and a T-shirt emblazoned with the name of her nonprofit group  1 Vote Counts  Michelle Mardenborough was speaking with around 80 mostly Black teenagers about the sanctity of the ballot box. It was 9 a.m. on the SciTech Campus of Harrisburg High School in Pennsylvania, and half an hour into the program, some students were antsy. They were, well, bored. And they let her know, shooting their hands into the air when she asked the above questions.

But Mardenborough, a decades-long organizer and Harrisburg native, was unfazed: I love it. I love that youre transparent. Why are you bored? she asked. One boy replied that he just wasnt interested in voting; it didnt seem that significant. Another added that he wasnt sure what a single vote could accomplish.

I wish that I worked at this school. I really do, Mardenborough said in a voice that was brimming with excitement. Youd never be bored in my classroom. Never. Because as your teacher, Id want you to hold me accountable for how youre feeling. Its the exact same thing with elected officials: You activate your personal power  and you hold them accountable through your vote.

Not all the students were tuned out. Afterward, two girls hustled over to Veronica Belcher, the 1 Vote Counts field director, to sign up to be canvassers, and Mardenboroughs niece, Sanaii Henry, a senior, had assisted with that mornings program.

Still, the apathy some students showed reflects a broader challenge for organizers  a challenge thats especially acute in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan, and other battleground states, where presidential and statewide races are routinely decided by razor-thin margins and where more than a third of Black eligible voters live. Organizers are worried that a combination of exasperation with the political system and intensifying anti-Black voting legislation might throttle turnout during a critical election year.

Michelle Mardenborough, the founder and executive director of 1 Vote Counts, leads a discussion with high school students on the sanctity of the ballot box. (Brandon Tensley/Capital B)

To combat the issue, organizers are ramping up their engagement efforts. The objective is twofold: to listen deeply to Black voters concerns  the sky-high cost of various bills, poor access to health care, and the erosion of reproductive rights are top of mind for many  and then to help them connect the dots between those concerns and the people seeking office at all levels of government.

Voter apathy is real, and we have to validate it. We cant bark at people to go to the ballot box when were not acknowledging what theyre going through, Jovita Lee, the program director of the nonprofit coalition the North Carolina Black Alliance, told Capital B. So, what were doing is this: validating how folks are feeling, and also making sure that they know that some of the people responsible for how theyre feeling will be on the ballot in November.

Frustration fueled by broken promises

One of organizers greatest fears? That voters will throw up their hands  that theyll stay home.

Ive heard people, including Black Americans, say that theyre not interested in the political process. Ive also heard them say that theyre not interested in the candidates. They dont like former President Donald Trump. But theyre not too excited about President Joe Biden, Norman Clement, the founder of the Detroit Change Initiative, a Michigan-based voter education and mobilization nonprofit, told Capital B.

He was referring to recent polls showing that Black voter enthusiasm for the president has slipped over the past few years. This dip is due to his administrations poor messaging on its wins and its increasingly unpopular handling of the Israel-Hamas war, among other things. For Democrats, this apathy is particularly alarming: Black voters for more than half a century have formed the backbone of the Democratic Party, supporting its candidates at rates that outstrip other racial groups.

Yet dwindling enthusiasm for the candidate at the top of the ticket only partially explains the apathy that some Black voters feel. Another cause: frustration fueled by broken promises on state and local levels.

Sitting in a breezy room at Hurston Manor, a community space in Harrisburg, Kimeka Campbell, the co-founder of the areas Young Professionals of Color collective, told Capital B that voters notice when elected officials choose to improve the lives of some and not others.

There are figures who were popular for a while  but then they turned out to be garbage, she said.

Campbell specifically mentioned the late Stephen Reed, who was Harrisburgs Democratic mayor for almost three decades, from 1982 to 2010. In 2015, he faced nearly 500 criminal charges for using hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a museum project that never materialized and on an incinerator complex that plunged the citys government into fiscal collapse. Ultimately, he pleaded guilty to just 20 counts of theft and received a two-year probation for the crimes he committed while he was in office.

Though the Reed scandal might appear a little bit extreme, it sheds light on why voters, and especially Black voters, in Harrisburg and beyond have something like collective PTSD when it comes to civic engagement.

Many Black Americans are disillusioned with politics because of pledges made to their communities that werent delivered on, Campbell said. I hear people say, Why would I vote? These people dont have my interests at heart, and I dont want to subject myself to thinking about it.

For young Black voters, apathy might spring from something else, too: the anemic state of civics education in the classroom.

For us, the big challenge with young folks is trying to overcome the fact that civics has been taken out of a lot of schools  that their teachers arent teaching them everything they need to know to understand the importance of voting and then get registered to vote, Kadida Kenner, the founding chief executive officer of the New Pennsylvania Project, a nonprofit voter mobilization group, told Capital B.

From the organizations basement Harrisburg office  bedecked with photographs of revered Black figures including Bayard Rustin, Angela Davis, and Ida B. Wells  Kenner underscored that we ought to be careful about pointing the finger at educators.

New Pennsylvania Projects Harrisburg office includes photographs of Bayard Rustin and other Black civil rights figures. (Brandon Tensley/Capital B)

Its probably not their fault. Its the fact that we have groups such as Moms for Liberty that go into schools around the U.S. and disrupt public education, she noted, referring to the right-wing organization that since its formation in 2021 has waged war on teaching about race and identity in the classroom. We come across young folks who havent received this type of learning, this type of civic engagement.

Plus, they might live in a household that doesnt have a registered voter, and I know that Im a voter because I watched my mom vote, Kenner added.

Her comment mirrored something Henry, Mardenboroughs niece, said: Her zeal for voting comes from having observed her mother, and her mothers friends, register people in the neighborhood when she was younger. Joining the cause is one way that the Howard University-bound senior can give back to her community.

Black people have power

Chipping away at this apathy is no simple task, but organizers are up to the challenge. The first step is as obvious as it is rare: acknowledging how Black voters feel.

We cant act as if folks just out of the blue are deterred from voting. Theres a lot of confusion and frustration  theres a lot going on in folks personal lives, said Lee, at the North Carolina Black Alliance, echoing the sentiments of one of the SciTech boys. People dont know if they even have time to think about elections when theyre trying to make sure that everybody is clothed and can eat and has money in the bank.

If voters want to spend an hour talking about how high their rent is, she added, then thats what should happen.

Only after engaging in this attentive listening can organizers help voters zoom in on the link between what theyre feeling and whos on the ballot. Take the issue of environmental justice in North Carolina, for instance.

We just had a community meeting where some folks didnt realize that the cause of the blackouts weve had in Durham [that disproportionately affect Black and brown communities] and the hikes in our electricity bills is the construction of new natural gas plants in the state, Lee said. Folks are beginning to make the connection that this isnt a good or reliable energy source if were experiencing blackouts and paying higher electricity bills. And theyre asking: What does this mean as far as where political candidates stand on environmental justice?

One candidate on the ballot this fall: Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. Hell be battling against Democratic state Attorney General Josh Stein to determine the next governor of North Carolina. Robinson, the first Black American to hold his office in the state, is known for his extreme positions on issues including climate change, which hes called junk science.

In January, Robinson excoriated Biden for pausing the permitting process for new natural gas export projects, even though research has long shown that natural gas has a disastrous effect on the climate and on the Black communities that face higher health risks during production. Robinson has been called a threat to the social and environmental justice movement.

For Clement, at the Detroit Change Initiative, working with voters to make these connections is vital, because policy decisions will be made with or without them.

Michelle Mardenborough stands inside the 1 Vote Counts office with some of the equipment the organization uses to register voters. (Brandon Tensley/Capital B)

My grandfather, who passed away when he was 104, always emphasized, Take care of business or the business of others will take care of you, Clement said. In other words, political choices are being made every day that involve you, whether you know it or not, so you want to be involved and influence whats happening with your freedom and your rights.

Crucially, doing this work successfully requires that organizers look beyond the usual voter education spaces to establish a reliable presence in communities. What voters dislike most is when somebody swoops in right before an election, asks for support, and then peels out.

Voters see New Pennsylvania Project staff members on the ground all the time, including once or twice a week outside the Harrisburg library, according to Kenner. She stressed that because of this visibility  her team is there even when there are no elections coming up, even when temperatures creep below freezing  voters view the group as a trusted messenger.

People concentrate their efforts on college campuses, but most young folks dont go to college, Kenner said. We go to barbershops and beauty salons. We go to trade centers and trade schools and community colleges. If you only focus on the University of Pittsburgh or Temple University or the University of Pennsylvania, those kids are probably registered to vote. Cheyney University and Lincoln University  the two HBCUS here in Pennsylvania  need attention. Harrisburg Area Community College needs attention.

And some of the SciTech students need attention, too.

Even after the two-plus-hour morning program, Mardenborough and Belcher were filled with energy as they walked back to their office 10 minutes from the school, leftover voter registration forms in hand. They had only a short amount of time to regroup before they needed to head out to knock doors later that afternoon.

We just want Black people to know that their voices matter. What they think matters, Mardenborough said. Black people have power  and when we bring our power together, we can make our political leaders listen to us.

The post Voter Apathy Is Real. Heres How Black Organizers Are Tackling It. appeared first on Capital B News.
Voting in Delaware County primary elections off to a slow start

MUNCIE, Ind.  Voting in Tuesday's primary elections appeared to be off to an uneventful  and in most cases, slow  start in Delaware County.

Delaware County Clerk Rick Spangler reported only one problem with local voting in the early going  a "personnel glitch" delayed the start of voting by about 45 minutes at a polling site, for precincts 87 and 95, at New Life Presbyterian Church, 8000 W. River Road.

Political signs are set up Tuesday at West View Elementary School, 3401 W. Gilbert St., where voters in Precinct 38 cast ballots.

Other local polling sites opened as scheduled at 6 a.m.

At Precinct 38, voting at West View Elementary School, 3401 W. Gilbert St., was decidedly off to a slow start.

While there were campaign signs posted outside the school  in a neighborhood for decades considered a stronghold for Muncie Republicans  at 7:15 a.m., there was only one campaign worker on hand.

More: Tuesday primary ballots offer limited number of local contests

Ron Waecheter was there to encourage votes for Stephen Brand, Republican candidate for Delaware County commissioner.

"It's just been a trickle so far," Waecheter said of voting to that point.

Election workers at the site said 14 ballots had been cast 45 minutes after the polling site opened.

"It will pick up," one official said hopefully.

According to Spangler, 2,435 voters cast "early ballots" at the Delaware County Building in the days preceding Tuesday's election.

Delaware County Republicans had two county commissioner races to decide on Tuesday  Brand was attempting to unseat incumbent James King from the District 1 seat, and another Republican incumbent, Sherry Riggin, faced a GOP primary challenge from Troy Ingram.

Seven candidates, including three incumbents, also sought Republican nominations to three at-large seats on Delaware County Council.

At the top of the ballots, President Joe Biden ran without opposition in the Democratic primary, and former President Donald Trump faced only one opponent  Nikki Haley, who is no longer actively campaigning  on the Republican ballot.

Polls will remain open until 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Early turnout low as voting begins in Delaware County primaries
Voting in unconstitutional districts: US Supreme Court upended decades of precedent in 2022 by allowing voters to vote with gerrymandered maps instead of fixing the congressional districts first

For the 2022 midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to use congressional districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens.

A 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court in February 2022 let Alabama use these illegal districts during the election while the court heard the states appeal on the case known as Allen v. Milligan. In that case, voters had sued Alabama, arguing that its new congressional district map violated the Voting Rights Act by unfairly reducing Black voting power. Only one of seven congressional districts on Alabamas new map had a majority Black population, despite Black residents making up a quarter of the states population.

The lower federal courts had agreed with the voters who sued and declared Alabamas map illegal, ordering the state to draw a new one.

Then the Supreme Court intervened.

By June 2023, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled against Alabama. It upheld the requirements of the Voting Rights Act under these circumstances and allowed the lower court case to move forward.

But by then the votes had been cast in the 2022 elections, and the winners were seated in the U.S. House of Representatives. In November 2022, more than 1 million Americans in Alabama  as well as Louisiana and Georgia  voted in congressional districts that violated the law. Those congressional districts were used to choose political representation for Alabama citizens for the next two years.

The Supreme Courts decision to allow presumptively illegal redistricting maps during the election not only had major effects for representation, but it also ran counter to six decades of federal court precedent.

Historically, the federal courts prioritized voting rights and legal congressional districts for upcoming elections above all other concerns, allowing lower federal courts to order or  in extreme circumstances  to draw new districts that complied with the law.

In this case, the Supreme Court instead prioritized deference to state election powers and judicial restraint over the rights and representation of voters in Alabama and the federal judiciarys role in guaranteeing them.

Evan Milligan of Montgomery, Ala., is among the voters and advocacy groups who filed a lawsuit challenging the redistricting that watered down Black representation in the state. AP Photo/Vasha Hunt

New districts for 2024

Congressional redistricting and reapportionment typically takes place once a decade. Following the U.S. census, each state is required to redraw its congressional districts to account for changes in population. This is usually completed by state legislatures or redistricting commissions. After the 2020 census, Alabamas state legislature drew its districts.

By late 2023, Alabama finally got brand-new congressional districts for the upcoming 2024 election. These new borders were imposed by the federal district court and feature a new Second District where Black voting-age residents represent a near majority. Now, Black residents in Alabama, who compose 25.4% of the state population, make up a substantial part of the electorate in two of the states seven congressional districts.

The 2024 primary elections have already shown the effect of this court-made map.

In 2022, the Republican candidate for the old version of the Second District ran unopposed in the primary and won the seat by 40 points in the general election. Based on newly drawn district lines, the 2024 primaries have had 17 candidates run in Democratic and Republican primaries to represent this new Second District. Both party primaries went to runoff elections in April.

This newly competitive district in Alabama not only could influence partisan control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2025, but it also highlights the direct effect that the federal courts can have on American democracy and representation.

Just as the Supreme Court decision in 2022 limited Black voting power in the state, and thus representation in Congress, the lower court plan increased Black representation in Congress.

When courts draw the maps

The federal judiciary has played a critical role in drawing congressional maps since 1962. Thats the year of the landmark decision in Baker v. Carr, which established that the federal courts could hear cases about whether redistricting and reapportionment plans violated voting rights. Previously, these cases were seen as what were called political questions beyond the scope of judicial authority.

The federal courts thus became a consistent, if reluctant, part of the redistricting process each decade since then. Federal courts have imposed some congressional districts used in every redistricting cycle since the Baker decision, in 1972, 1982, 1992, 2002 and 2012. Most plans have been imposed as a result of state legislative failure to propose new districts, unequal district populations or violations of the Voting Rights Act.

Yet 2022 was the first redistricting cycle in 60 years in which the federal courts did not draw any congressional districts in response to lawsuits.

The brief 5-4 order from the Supreme Court allowing Alabama to use its districts in 2022 was accompanied by 21 pages of dissents and concurrences from the justices.

In his concurrence with the courts order, Justice Brett Kavanaugh advocated for the Purcell principle, which says that courts should not change electoral rules just before an election because it could create confusion for voters and election officials.

Although the Purcell principle has been increasingly invoked over the past decade, it has not been the precedent that the federal courts have followed in redistricting cases over the past 60 years.

Instead, when the federal courts were faced with congressional plans that violated the law, they would halt the use of the challenged plan and order the state to create a new plan that complied with the law because the election was approaching.

If the state repeatedly failed to create a legal plan, the federal courts would take the uncommon step to impose plans themselves before the election.

Redistricting plays a crucial part in determining who ends up in the U.S. House of Representatives. Owen Franken/Corbis via Getty Images

Unwelcome obligation

Election laws are traditionally the responsibilities of states and legislatures. Federal courts imposing their own redistricting plans is often referred to by judges as the unwelcome obligation for those courts.

Alexander Hamilton called the judicial branch of government the least dangerous branch because it controlled neither spending nor an army. Federal courts acting in such a political realm by imposing redistricting plans creates conflicts with the founders ideals of federalism, separation of powers and democracy. Since the 1960s, however, the protection of voting rights has been viewed as an issue so important that it warranted extraordinary intervention by the federal courts.

When faced with these circumstances in Alabama in 2022, the lower federal courts followed this precedent. They looked at the challengers complaints, found that Alabama had likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, prevented Alabama from using its districts and ordered the state to draw new ones. But this time, the Supreme Court intervened at the behest of the state.

Once the Supreme Courts final decision in Allen v. Milligan upheld the Voting Rights Act and the lower courts decision, the lower court case continued, reviving that courts order for the state to draw new districts.

After Alabama failed to submit a map that satisfied the lower courts demands, the court used a special master  a court-appointed official  to create the new congressional districts. The aim would be to enhance Black voting power in a second congressional district to comply with the law. The new plan was adopted in October 2023.

The November 2024 congressional election results will show the true effect of Alabamas new court-made districts. But for now, they show the clear impact that federal courts can have on democratic representation when they prioritize voting rights ahead of upcoming elections.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Sam D. Hayes, Trinity College

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Sam D. Hayes 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.
VP Kamala Harris will return to Wisconsin next Thursday, her fourth visit this year

Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Milwaukee next Thursday, May 16, her fourth visit to Wisconsin this year and the latest indication of the Biden administration's continued focus on the battleground state.

Harris will visit Wisconsin as part of her Economic Opportunity Tour, the White House said Tuesday, which highlights how the administration "has built economic opportunity, supported communities, and delivered historic investments for the American people."

Details of where Harris will speak in Milwaukee have not yet been released.

The announcement comes one day before President Joe Biden is set to make his fourth trip to Wisconsin in 2024 in Racine.

Biden is expected to highlight a massive increase in the scale of Microsoft's data center development in Mount Pleasant, an opportunity to contrast the failed Foxconn project supported by former President Donald Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris highlights the Biden administrations efforts to promote union job growth and apprenticeship programs Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at what will be the Metro Transit Satellite Bus Facility in Madison, Wis.

More: President Biden's Racine County visit to highlight huge expansion of Microsoft data center

Harris was in the state just over two weeks ago, when she announced new rules for nursing home staffing and rallied voters around abortion in La Crosse. She has also visited Madison and Big Bend this year.

While the administration has often visited the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee and Madison, the Biden campaign has also focused attention on traditionally conservative areas like Waukesha County. Trump held his second rally of the year in Waukesha last week.

The latest Marquette University Law School poll of Wisconsin voters showed a tight race for the presidency, with 51% supporting Trump and 49% favoring Biden, well within the poll's margin of error.

More: In the ground game to engage Black Milwaukee voters, signs of waning enthusiasm for 2020 rematch

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Milwaukee next Thursday
OSLO (Reuters) - Norway and Moldova on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to tighten cooperation in the energy sector aimed at securing supply in the eastern European country that is trying to end its long-standing reliance on Russia.

The agreement aims to "promote and enhance cooperation in the field of energy; including but not limited to, energy transition and energy security, as well as to encourage new investments in the energy sector".

Signed in Oslo by Norway's energy minister Terje Aasland and his Moldovan counterpart Victor Parlicov during a two-day state visit by Moldova's President Maia Sandu, it covers cooperation on a government, research and private sector level.

A former Soviet republic and one of Europe's poorest nations, Moldova is seen as particularly vulnerable to the consequences of Russia's war in neighbouring Ukraine.

NATO-member Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the Arctic, has become Europe's top gas supplier after a sharp reduction in Russian flows.

It also provides financial support to Moldova through its multi-billion-dollar Ukraine aid programme, the latter including 400 million crowns ($36.87 million) for the purchase of gas in 2023.

In the past, Moldova relied almost exclusively on Russian gas under a deal with state-controlled Gazprom but stepped up diversification efforts in the wake of the Ukraine war.

The country does not currently buy gas from Russia but its breakaway Transdniestria region relies on its supplies.

While Tuesday's agreement mentions security of gas supplies as one area of interest, the key focus is on renewable energy, electrification as well as cybersecurity.

Moldova has already increased the share of renewable energy sources in its electricity consumption to 10.5% in 2023 from 3.6% in 2021, driven by wind and solar power generation, according to official data.

($1 = 10.8488 Norwegian crowns)

(Reporting by Nora Buli and Nerijus Adomaitis; editing by Gwladys Fouche and Tomasz Janowski)
Wait, What? That Group of Philly Cops Who Kidnapped and Killed a Black Man...Weren't Cops?

Photo: CBS Philadelphia

Police brutality cases have become so common, you wouldve let the brutal killing of Shamari Taylor fly right under your nose. Oh wait...prosecutors say the cops behind his killing werent cops at all.



You didnt hear bout it? The 2006 case is just now being prosecuted.

Back then, Taylor and his girlfriend were allegedly kidnapped by five men impersonating Philadelphia cops. Federal prosecutors claim the group approached the couple as they sat in their car and abducted the two to a warehouse. They then stole their drugs and money.

After the ordeal, only the girlfriend was let go. The next day, Taylor was still missing. However, while on the search for him, authorities ended up responding to his home where his mother and sister were found with gunshot wounds to the head, per the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Both survived their injuries.

It wasnt until 2018 that police located Taylors remains in a shallow grave on the north side of the city, per CBS News. Prosecutors claim he was suffocated to death by the group of fake cops.

The investigation by the FBI, Philadelphia Policeand more law enforcement agencies resulted in the recent indictment of 45-year-old Kevin Holloway, 48-year-old Mark Scott, 50-year-old Linton Mathis, 47-year-old Atiba Wicker and 51-year-old Kenneth Tuck.

Each are charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death, as well as aiding and abetting.

All these years later, charges are finally being introduced? Tuck was arrested initially in 2006 on charges in connection to the killing but eventually received an acquittal after not one but two trials.

Now, it seems all the men could be in big trouble.

Anyone who commits a heinous crime and is still walking free years later might just assume theyve gotten away with it, said U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero. Well, they should think again. We and our law enforcement partners will doggedly pursue justice for victims of violence and accountability for the perpetrators  no matter how long it may take.

For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
War games risk stirring up troubled waters as Philippines  emboldened by US  squares up to Beijing at sea

U.S. Marines joined Filipino counterparts on May 5, 2024, for a mock battle at a telling location: a small, remote territory just 100 miles off the southern tip of the contested island of Taiwan.

The combat drill is part of the weekslong Exercise Balikatan that has brought together naval, air and ground forces of the Philippines and the United States, with Australia and France also joining some maneuvers.

With a planned maritime strike on May 8 in which a decommissioned ship will be sunk and exercises at repelling an advancing foreign army, the aim is to display a united front against China, which Washington and Manila perceive as a threat to the region. Balikatan is Tagalog for shoulder to shoulder.

Joint Philippines-U.S. naval drills have become an annual event. But as an expert in international relations, I believe this years drills mark an inflection point in the regional politics of the South China Sea.

For the first time, warships taking part in the exercise ventured outside the 12-mile boundary that demarcates the territorial waters of the Philippines. This extends military operations into the gray area where the Philippines exclusive economic zone rubs up against the territory claimed by China and designated by its nine-dash line.

Also for the first time, the U.S. deployed an advanced mobile launcher for medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles of a type that had been banned under the now-defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. In addition, the Philippine navy is showing off its newest acquisition, a South Korean-built missile frigate.

The South China Sea has long been the source of maritime disputes between China, which claims the vast majority of its waters, and nations including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. In addition, heightened tensions over the status of Taiwan  a territory that the Biden administration has pledged to defend militarily in the event of a Chinese invasion  have made the South China Sea even more strategically important.

Containment at sea

The latest joint maneuvers come amid two developments that could go some way to influence the future trajectory of tensions in the South China Sea. First, the Philippines has grown increasingly assertive in countering Chinas claims in the region; and second, the U.S. is increasingly intent on building up regional alliances as part of a strategy to contain China.

The Philippines-U.S. alignment is more robust than ever. After a brief interval during the 2016-22 presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, U.S. warships and military aircraft once again operate out of bases in the Philippines.

Joint naval patrols resumed in early 2023. At the same time, Manila granted U.S. troops unprecedented access to facilities on the northern Batanes islands, which have become the focus of current joint operations.

Meanwhile, Washington has become more vocal in condemning challenges to the Philippines from China.

U.S. officials had carefully avoided promising to protect the far-flung islands, atolls and reefs claimed by Manila for seven decades following the signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines in 1951.

Only in March 2019 did then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assert that the treaty covers all of the geographical area over which the Philippines asserts sovereignty.

In February 2023, Presidents Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Joe Biden doubled the number of bases in the Philippines open to the U.S. military. That May, the two leaders affirmed that the Mutual Defense Treaty applies to armed attacks that take place anywhere in the South China Sea.

Causing waves, rocking the boat

Firmer ties to the U.S. have been accompanied by more combative behavior on the part of the Philippines. In May 2023, the Philippines coast guard introduced demarcation buoys around Whitsun Reef  the site of an intense confrontation with Chinas maritime militia a year earlier.

U.S. troops prepare to fire an M777 howitzer during a live-fire exercise in Laur, Nueva Ecija province, Philippines. Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

Reports circulated three months later that Philippine marines planned to construct permanent outposts in the vicinity of the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal. And a Philippine coast guard ship, with the commander of the countrys armed forces aboard, approached Scarborough Shoal in November, before being forced to retreat by Chinese maritime militia vessels.

Then in January 2024, the Philippines broke with its adherence to a prohibition on erecting structures on disputed territory, which was part of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, by installing electronic surveillance equipment on Thitu Island, which sits beyond Scarborough Shoal in the heart of a cluster of disputed formations. This was followed by announced plans to put water desalination plants on Thitu, Nanshan Island and Second Thomas Shoal, making it possible to maintain permanent garrisons on these isolated outposts.

Manila has continued to assert its maritime rights by announcing that armed forces would escort exploration and mining activities in the exclusive economic zone.

Further acts that could be seen as provocative in Beijing followed, including the stationing of a Philippine navy corvette at nearby Palawan Island and a joint flyover by Philippine warplanes and a U.S. Air Force B-52 heavy bomber.

A raft of Chinese responses

It is clear that the deepening of Philippines-U.S. ties has given Manila the confidence to undertake a variety of combative acts toward China. The question is, to what ends?

A more assertive Philippines may end up contributing to the U.S. strategy to deter Beijing from extending its presence in the South China Sea and launching what many in Washington fear: an invasion of Taiwan.

But it is possible that heightened truculence on the part of the Philippines will goad Beijing into being more aggressive, diminishing the prospects for regional stability.

As the Philippines-U.S. alignment has strengthened, Beijing has boosted the number of warships it deploys in the South China Sea and escalated maritime operations around Thitu Island, Second Thomas Shoal and Iroquois Reef  all of which the Philippines considers its sovereign territory.

In early March 2024, two Chinese research ships moved into Benham Rise, a resource-rich shelf situated on the eastern coast of the Philippines, outside the South China Sea. Weeks later, a Philippines coast guard cutter surveying a sandbar near Thitu was harassed not only by Chinese coast guard and maritime militia ships but also by a missile frigate of the Peoples Liberation Army Navy, which for the first time launched a helicopter to shadow the cutter.

Washington has taken no public steps to dampen tensions between Manila and Beijing. Rather, Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed full-throated support for our ironclad defense commitments during a mid-March 2024 stopover in Manila.

Reassured of U.S. backing, Marcos has amped up the rhetoric, proclaiming that Manila would respond to any troublemaking on Beijings part by implementing a countermeasure package that is proportionate, deliberate and reasonable. Filipinos, he added, do not yield.

Such an approach, according to Marcos, was now feasible due to the U.S. and its regional allies offering to help us on what the Philippines requires to protect and secure our sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction.

The danger is that as the Philippines grows more assured by U.S. support, it may grow reckless in dealing with China.

Rather than deterring China from further expansion, the deepening Philippines-U.S. alignment and associated Filipino assertiveness may only ramp up Beijings apprehensiveness over its continued access to the South China Sea  through which virtually all of its energy imports and most of its exports flow.

And there is little reason to expect that Washington will be able to prevent an emboldened Manila from continuing down the path of confronting China in the South China Sea.

To Beijing, the prospect of an emboldened Philippines forging active strategic partnerships with Australia, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and  most troublesome of all  Taiwan makes the situation all the more perilous.

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: Fred H. Lawson, Northeastern University.

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Fred H. Lawson received a Summer Writing Grant from the Charles Koch Foundation.
DAMASCUS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Syria commemorates Tuesday the anniversary of its return to the Arab League (AL).

Local observers, while acknowledging the diplomatic breakthrough, said it produced limited outcomes over the past year due to widespread U.S. sanctions on Syria and geopolitical complexities.

"We can't say today that the effects covered all political, economic, security, and military aspects," said Syrian analyst Muhammad al-Omari.

"However, the return to the AL facilitated a partial breakthrough in some areas, such as the restoration of relations with certain Arab countries, notably the Gulf states like Saudi Arabia," he added.

Al-Omari highlighted the political and security progress resulting from renewed relations, citing increased communication and mediation efforts.

Yet, he emphasized the lack of substantial economic impact, attributing this to external pressures, including U.S. sanctions and reluctance from certain Arab nations to fully engage with Syria.

Maher Ihsan, another political expert, offered a more cautious assessment, saying positive developments, such as the restoration of Syrian-Saudi relations, have failed to catalyze significant changes in Syria's politics, economy, or diplomacy.

Furthermore, he highlighted the detrimental impact of U.S. sanctions and hostile policies towards Syria on its relations within the AL.

Ihsan suggested that fear of repercussions and alignment with U.S. interests may hinder robust cooperation between Syria and certain members, despite Syria's formal reentry into the league.

Experts agreed that Syria's return to the AL is overshadowed by heightened international tensions, notably the U.S.-Russia standoff over Ukraine and Israeli military actions in Gaza.

These developments have overshadowed efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis, relegating it to a lower priority on the global stage, according to experts

On May 7, 2023, foreign ministers from AL member states reached a consensus to reinstate Syria's membership after more than a decade of suspension. 
Warnings of major casualties as Israeli forces move in to Rafah

Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes near the Rafah crossing. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

The Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday.

Rafah was the last city in the coastal territory that Israeli forces had not entered during its massive offensive since the October 7 attacks on southern Israel. Israel believes that weapons are entering the Gaza Strip via the border with Egypt.

It is also the first time since the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip almost two decades ago that Israeli forces have re-entered the area.

Army video footage showed tanks rolling into the Rafah border area. A large Israeli national flag was flying on one of the tanks.

"Following intelligence that indicated that the Rafah Crossing in eastern Rafah was being used for terrorist purposes, IDF troops obtained operational control of the Gazan side of the crossing," the army wrote on its Telegram channel.

That followed an overnight operation in which the ground troops together with the air force "began a precise counterterrorism operation" to eliminate the Palestinian Islamist militia Hamas and dismantle its infrastructure in eastern Rafah, the IDF said.

It said it eliminated Hamas military structures, underground infrastructures and other facilities the group operated. The army said about 20 Hamas fighters were killed in the operation. There were no Israeli injuries reported, the IDF said.

Angry reaction to Israeli offensive

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas called Israel's storming of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt a "dangerous escalation" against civilian facilities protected by international law.

It added in a statement that the military attack will exacerbate the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and will prevent the flow of much needed emergency relief aid to Gaza.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry said it considered the move "a dangerous escalation threatening the lives of more than 1 million Palestinians who depend mainly on this crossing as it is the main lifeline of the Gaza Strip."

The Rafah border crossing has been "the safe gateway" for those sick and wounded to get out of Gaza for treatment and for humanitarian and relief aid to enter the enclave, the statement added.

International concern over trapped civilians

Israel's allies and other international leaders have been warning against a Rafah offensive. Large numbers of Palestinian civilians have sought shelter in the city after fleeing Israeli airstrikes and ground operations elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.

The European Union's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, criticized the Israeli army's advance on the Gazan city of Rafah.

"I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties - civilian casualties," Borrell said. The humanitarian branches of the United Nations have condemned Israel's advance into Rafah.

A spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, Ravina Shamdasani, commented that for civilians who have been ordered to evacuate there are no safe routes to the north and no safe havens with sufficient sanitary facilities and food supplies.

These are basic humanitarian requirements for evacuations, she said in Geneva.

"There are strong indications that this is being conducted in violation of international humanitarian law," she said.

"This morning is one of the darkest in this seven-months-long nightmare," said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Conflict continues elsewhere in Gaza

The military arm of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, again attacked the Israeli border crossing Kerem Shalom with rockets on Tuesday.

The al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attacks, which triggered warning sirens in the area, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). There was initially no information on casualties.

On Sunday the al-Qassam Brigades attacked Kerem Shalom with around 10 rockets, killing four Israeli soldiers and injuring others.

Qatari delegation arrives in Cairo

Talks on a possible ceasefire in Gaza are meanwhile continuing in Cairo, and a Qatari delegation has arrived in the Egyptian capital, airport sources said.

On Monday Hamas said it had approved a proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war put forward by mediators Egypt and Qatar.

Afterwards, Qatar said its delegation would head to Cairo to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, hoping the talks would lead to an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
A new report concludes Washington state Rep. Michelle Caldier of Gig Harbor, retaliated against three people interviewed last year for an investigation of the lawmaker's alleged verbal mistreatment of legislative staff. (Legislative Support Services)

A Republican state lawmaker accused last year of berating and bullying staff is in trouble again.

A report released Monday found state Rep. Michelle Caldier, R-Gig Harbor, violated legislative conduct rules when she publicly identified three people interviewed for an investigation whose names had been redacted.

Caldier provided those names to reporters in December in her response to the House investigation that concluded she had repeatedly belittled, berated and swore at staff members, leaving some traumatized.

By sharing the names, she violated a workplace policy prohibiting retaliation against anyone who submits a complaint or serves as a witness in an investigation, the new report states.

The fear that ones identity could be leaked to the press discourages employees from reporting problematic conduct, wrote attorney Kathleen Haggard, who conducted the investigation. The eight-page report was released Monday by the chief clerk of the Washington House of Representatives.

Caldier told Haggard she was not trying to retaliate but to get out her side of the story of a 2022 incident in a womans bathroom at the Spokane Airport involving the individuals whose names she revealed.

Haggard didnt find her explanation convincing, saying the lawmaker demonstrated a lack of remorse by making little effort to walk back the disclosures after learning it was wrong.

Caldiers actions were retaliatory and bullying; she lashed out at the witnesses not only by disclosing their names, but by portraying them as political operatives. In doing so, she may have damaged their careers. This was a failure of respect, dignity, and civility, in violation of the Legislative Code of Conduct, Haggard concluded.

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Haggard submitted the report April 3. Chief Clerk Bernard Dean said it took until last week to brief House Republican leaders. A copy was sent to Caldier late Friday.

Caldier said Monday she is on vacation and has not seen it. She expressed frustration that the process left her unable to defend herself. She said she did reach out to Dean in December after sharing the names with reporters.

I wouldnt check with the chief clerk if I thought I was doing something wrong, she said Monday.

At the time, Dean made clear she had erred.

The release of such information by members or employees of the House could be viewed as retaliatory and result in additional actions to protect complainants and witnesses, he wrote in a Dec. 19 email.

Caldier replied: I already gave some of the names to the press and will ask them to not print the names, but not sure how to walk it back at this point. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. If not, I guess we will have an extra fun year giving the press more stories to write about me.

On Monday, Caldier said she was also irked by the timing of the new reports release as it coincides with the start of candidate filing. She said she plans to run again in the 26th Legislative District which shes represented since 2014. It encompasses parts of Kitsap and Pierce counties and includes Bremerton, Port Orchard, Purdy and Gig Harbor.

This is how you destroy someones political career by destroying their reputation, she said, referring to the release. I have to trust the public will see through this.

Whats next

Caldier appealed the findings of the December probe. The House Executive Rules Committee deferred action pending the outcome of the retaliation investigation. Dean said in an email Monday that he expects decisions on both the appeal and any potential consequences within the coming week.

The committee has four Democrats  Speaker Laurie Jinkins and Reps. Joe Fitzgibbon, Lillian Ortiz-Self and Monica Stonier  and three Republicans  House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary and Reps. Mike Steele and Paul Harris. It does not meet publicly.

Rep. Caldier will be informed of the outcome once I have been able to discuss the matter with all the members of the committee, Dean wrote.

Punishment could range from a letter of reprimand to reduced staff or loss of committee assignments. Dean scaled back Caldiers access to staff in the last session.

Investigative report - Representative Caldier

The May 2024 report about the conduct of Rep. Michelle Caldier.

The post Washington lawmaker accused of belittling staff faces new scrutiny appeared first on Washington State Standard.
Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes near the Rafah crossing. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

The US government is insisting that the army's advance on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip is a "limited" operation, after talks with the Israeli government.

We have "repeatedly and consistently" made clear concerns about a "major operation in Rafah in densely populated areas that would give higher risk to civilians and civilian casualties," National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said on Tuesday.

However, Washington was assured in talks with Israeli representatives that it was an operation of "limited duration in size and scope and scale" aimed at disrupting Hamas ability to transport weapons across the Rafah border.

Further action was being monitored, he said.

Of negotiations on a hostage agreement with the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, Kirby said he assumed that the two sides could come together and agree on any areas outstanding.

Washington will do everything possible to support this process and achieve this result, said Kirby, without providing any further details. At this delicate stage and at a very sensitive time in the negotiations, he said it was best to let the negotiators close the existing gaps.

However, given the text, this seems possible, he said.

Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes near the Rafah crossing. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli military has taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
WASHINGTON D.C. (ABC4)  Congressman Burgess Owens lead the Utah delegation and the entire House of Representatives in a moment of silence Monday evening to honor Sgt. Bill Hooser, who was killed in the line of duty on Sunday.

With heavy hearts, Utah mourns the loss of Sergeant Bill Hooser, a true American hero, whose courage and commitment in serving Santaquin were tragically cut short in a senseless act of violence, Rep. Owens said.

WATCH: Santaquin Police give update on fallen officer

Owens said the Utah delegation will honor his bravery, service, and selflessness, ensuring his sacrifice will not be forgotten.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.
Ukraine has started arming its naval drones with anti-aircraft missiles as it looks to counter Russias dominance of the skies above the Black Sea.

A video released by the Russian Defence Ministry showed a gritty dogfight playing out in the Black Sea between a Ukrainian drone armed with at least one missile and a Russian helicopter.

Against an azure blue sky, the tiny Ukrainian drone is seen swerving and skidding across the sea as it tries to dodge machine gun fire from the chasing attack helicopter.

Video footage shot by the two pilots and later released by Russian Telegram channels showed the helicopter hunting down the Ukrainian drone as bullets smashed into the sea around it, sending plumes of water into the air.

Eventually, the drone slows and halts, before it is then raked by more gunfire. It catches fire and then explodes, sending smoke, water and fire up towards the hulking helicopter which just manages to lurch out of the way.

Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of the Kyiv School of Economics and an analyst of the Ukraine war, said it was the first time that a Ukrainian maritime drone had been spotted armed with an anti-aircraft missile.

Ukrainians have adapted marine drones to carry air-to-air Soviet missiles, he said. Many believe[d] this to be impossible until today.

Rapid evolution of drones

Ukraines naval kamikaze drone programme has been one of its great successes in the war and is credited with helping to drive the bulk of Russias Black Sea Fleet from its original base in Crimea to the port of Novorossiysk, 200 miles away, where the Russian Navy has built special drone defence barriers.

Mr Mylovanov said that one of the strengths of the Ukrainian programme was its quick ability to learn from failures and to adapt.

We should now expect a rapid evolution of Ukrainian marine drones to carry other drones, ship missiles, and more air defence, he said.

Russias main TV channels broadcast the video footage in an apparent attempt to show its defences countering Ukrainian threats. The location and date of the naval dogfight are uncertain.

H I Sutton, an independent naval analyst, described the missile system fixed on the Ukrainian drone as a FrankenSAM.

Until now the unmanned surface vehicles had been almost defenceless against aircraft, and Russia has air superiority over much of the Black Sea, he said.

But the addition of air defences aboard some unmanned surface vehicles may make them even harder for Russia to counter.

A still from the Russian footage

The weapons attached to the Ukrainian drone have been identified as two AA-11 Archer missiles, which Mr Sutton described as a Soviet-era dogfighting missile with a range of up to 10 miles when fired from a maritime drone.

The actual engagement ranges would be limited by onboard sensors, so likely much shorter. All the same, it is likely generally effective as a surface-to-air missile, he said.

Vladimir Putin, who was inaugurated as Russias president for the fifth time on Tuesday, appears increasingly confident that he will win his war in Ukraine but is seemingly frustrated by the inability of his Black Sea Fleet to defend itself against Ukrainian attacks.

This year he sacked the commander of the Black Sea Fleet after a series of missile strikes destroyed several warships.

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Maryland State Attorney for Baltimore City Marilyn Mosby speaks during a news conference in Oct. 2022 in Baltimore. The former top Baltimore prosecutor has been accused of lying about her finances during the COVID-19 pandemic to improperly access retirement funds that she used to buy two homes in Florida. (Photo: Julio Cortez/AP, File)

The White House signaled it does not want to tip the scales of justice by giving an answer to any potential or non-support of the pardon request.

The White House is noncommittal when asked about calls for President Joe Biden to pardon Marilyn Mosby, the former Baltimore City States attorney. During the White House press briefing on Friday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told theGrio theres a pardon application process for any federal pardons, which she said is up to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mosby faces 40 years behind bars when she is sentenced later this month. The former progressive prosecutor was convicted for lying on forms claiming hardship to withdraw money from her retirement to purchase a home.

Civil rights attorney and CNN analyst Bakari Sellers tells theGrio that the potential excessive sentence for Mosby is political persecution and retribution. Mosby notably charged six Baltimore police officers in the police-involved death of Freddie Gray in 2015. The White House signaled it does not want to tip the scales of justice by giving an answer to any potential or non-support of the pardon request.

The post Watch: White House reacts to pardon request for ex-Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby appeared first on TheGrio.
Accusations from both Ukraine and Russia that the other has used chemical weapons during the full-scale invasion remain "insufficiently substantiated," the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on May 7.

Hundreds of cases of Russia using suffocating and tear gas grenades, usually dropped from drones, have been recorded since the start of the full-scale invasion, with the number of reported incidents increasing significantly in 2024.

"Both the Russian Federation and Ukraine have accused one another and reported allegations of use of chemical weapons to the Organization," the OPCW said in a statement.

"The information provided to the Organization so far by both sides, together with the information available to the Secretariat, is insufficiently substantiated."

The OPCW said the situation "remains volatile and extremely concerning" and reiterated that it was against international law to use "riot control agents at war on the battlefield."

The organization also noted it had not received official requests to investigate the use of chemical weapons from either Ukraine or Russia.

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The U.S. State Department said on May 1 that Russian forces had used the chemical agent chloropicrin in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military reported on April 23 that Russian forces were deploying chemical weapons in an attempt to capture the village of Ocheretyne in Donetsk Oblast.

Ukrainian military officials have previously accused Russia of using chloropicrin and other chemical weapons.

Chloropicrin is often used as an herbicide. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), exposure to its vapors can cause severe irritation to the skin, eyes, and, if inhaled, internal organs.

Although less lethal than other chemical weapons, it was used extensively in World War I before the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibited the use of chemical and biological weapons in war.

Ukrainian military officials have also said that Russia is deploying tear gas and other riot control chemicals, which are banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), of which Russia is a signatory.

"The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces' desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield," the State Department said.

Read also: The Counteroffensive: Russias rising chemical weapons use in Ukraine

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Wayve, a U.K.-born startup developing a self-learning rather than rule-based system for autonomous driving, has closed $1.05 billion in Series C funding led by SoftBank Group. This is the U.K.s largest AI fundraise ever and sits among the top 20 AI fundraises globally to date.

Also participating in the raise was Nvidia and existing investor Microsoft. Wayves early-stage investors included Metas head of AI, Yann LeCun.

Wayve, which was founded in Cambridge in 2017, raised $200 million in a Series B round in January 2022 led by Eclipse Ventures, which also led the company's $20 million Series A round in 2019.

The company plans to use the fresh capital injection to develop its product for "eyes on" assisted driving and "hands off" fully automated driving and other AI-assisted automotive applications. It plans to expand operations globally.

San Francisco has become known as the epicenter for autonomous driving roll-outs, with Alphabet-owned Waymo and GM-owned Cruise both operating services in the city. By contrast, Wayves end-to-end self-driving system began its life around the tiny streets of Cambridge on an electric Renault Twizy, which is a two-seated microcar.

Since then, it has been training its model on delivery vehicles for the likes of companies like U.K. grocery delivery company Ocado, which invested $13.6 million in the startup.

Wayves approach to autonomous driving is similar to Tesla's, but Wayve plans to sell its autonomous driving model to a variety of auto OEMs. The implication, of course, is that Wayve will garner a great deal more training data on which to improve its model, as Tesla must rely on someone buying their car brand. The company has not announced any such automotive partners yet, however.

Wayve calls its hardware-agnostic mapless product an Embodied AI, and it plans to distribute its platform not just to car makers but also to robotics companies serving manufacturers of all descriptions, allowing the platform to learn from human behavior in a wide variety of real-world environments. The companys research on multimodal and generative models, known as LINGO and GAIA, will offer language-responsive interfaces, personalized driving styles, and co-piloting, the firm promises.

Wayve co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall [Read our exclusive long-form interview with him here]. told TechCrunch: Seven years ago, we started the company to go build an embodied AI. We have been heads down building technology  What happened last year was everything really started to work."

He said the key moment has been the automotive industrys step change into having cameras surrounding new cars, from which Wayve can draw data for its autonomous platform: Now their production vehicles are coming out with GPUs, surrounding cameras, radar, and of course the appetite to now bring AI onto, and enable, an accelerated journey from assisted to automated driving. So this fundraise is a validation of our technological approach, and gives us the capital to go and turn this technology into product and bring this product to market.

He added that Wayve has big plans for robotics as well.

Very soon you'll be able to buy a new car, and it'll have Wayves AI on it  Then this goes into enabling all kinds of embodied AI, not just cars, but other forms of robotics. I think the ultimate thing that we want to achieve here is to go way beyond where AI is today with language models and chatbots. But to really enable a future where we can trust intelligent machines that we can delegate tasks to, and of course they can enhance our lives and self-driving will be the first example of that.

In a move that signified the importance of this fundraise more broadly to the U.K., Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issued a supporting statement, saying: From the first electric light bulb or the World Wide Web, to AI and self-driving cars  the U.K. has a proud record of being at the forefront of some of the biggest technological advancements in history.

Im incredibly proud that the U.K. is the home for pioneers like Wayve who are breaking ground as they develop the next generation of AI models for self-driving cars. The fact that a homegrown, British business has secured the biggest investment yet in a U.K. AI company is a testament to our leadership in this industry, and that our plan for the economy is working, he said.

We are leaving no stone unturned to create the economic conditions for businesses to grow and thrive in the U.K. We already have the third highest number of AI companies and private investment in AI in the world, and this announcement anchors the U.K.s position as an AI superpower, he added.

Also in a statement, Kentaro Matsui, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers and a Wayve board member, said: AI is revolutionizing mobility  The potential of this type of technology is transformative; it could eliminate 99% of traffic accidents. SoftBank Group is delighted to be at the forefront of this effort with Wayve, as advanced intelligence redefines mobility and connectivity, contributing to a more convenient and safer society."
WCSO: Man stuffed container of suspected fentanyl in backseat of police car during transport

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL)  The Washington County, Tennessee Sheriffs Office (WCSO) arrested a Johnson City man on Monday after deputies reportedly found various substances during a traffic stop. Police later discovered he allegedly attempted to hide a container of suspected fentanyl while being transported to jail.

A news release from the WCSO states Stephen Burleson, 41, was taken into custody following the traffic stop on Plymouth Road. The release said deputies discovered Burleson was driving on a suspended license, and upon making contact, he advised them that the vehicle he was driving was not his.

Assistant district attorney charged with DUI in Elizabethton

The WCSO said Burleson then gave verbal consent to a search of the vehicle, and a large quantity of meth shake was found in the drivers seat, floorboard and seat storage pouch.

Burleson had a metal cigarette holder inside his front pocket that contained nine Xanax totem poles for which he did not have a prescription, the release states.

Deputies placed Burleson under arrest, and once they got him to the Washington County Detention Center, police found a plastic container stuffed between the K9 kennel cage and seat in the back of the vehicle that transported Burleson.

The release said deputies discovered a white powder substance believed to be fentanyl scattered throughout.

After a comprehensive search, deputies located four grams of fentanyl, two grams of meth and nine Xanax bars, the release said.

Burleson was charged with tampering with evidence, possession of meth, possession of a legend drug without a prescription, schedule II drug violations for resale and driving on a suspended license.

He was being held on a $55,000 bond as of Tuesday, the WCSO said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.
Westmoreland offers utility assistance to tornado victims

TOPEKA (KSNT)  Westmoreland is offering utility assistance to victims of the EF3 tornado that killed one and left three injured last month.

To provide relief to tornado victims, the City of Westmoreland has cut this months utility bills in half.

If youd like to contribute to the relief effort, the Caring Community Foundation is accepting monetary gifts and donated goods. According to its website, 100% of donations made will go towards the Westmoreland Relief Fund.

Donations can be left at Farmers State Bank mailed to the Caring Community Foundation for the Westmoreland Relief Fund at 307 Leonard P.O. Box 54 Onaga, KS 66521. You can also donate through PayPal; all fees through the app will be covered when donating online.

$10,000 reward offered in Kansas murder case

For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
CAIRO, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The talks held with the Israeli negotiators in Egypt on Tuesday for a truce with Hamas were "positive" and could lead to an imminent end of the current Israeli military operation in the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah, Egyptian sources told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"Today's meeting with the Israeli delegation addressed some of the six points of disagreement between Israel and Hamas and made progress in the discussions," the sources added.

Among the points of disagreement between Israel and Gaza-ruling Hamas is that Israel seeks the release of three Israeli hostages every three days, while Hamas agrees to release three every week.

The two sides also failed to reach a consensus on Hamas's request to release a list of Palestinians, the sources said.

Israel doesn't want Hamas to control the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing and the negotiating sides are discussing a different Palestinian body, according to the sources.

Earlier on Tuesday, Egypt hosted delegations from Hamas, Israel, Qatar, and the United States to reach a comprehensive truce in Gaza.

In a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the delegation to "continue to stand firm on the conditions necessary for the release of our hostages, continue to stand firm on the essential requirements to ensure Israel's security."

He noted that the ceasefire proposal, brokered by Egyptian and Qatari mediators and approved by Hamas on Monday, fell short of Israel's essential requirements.

The Israeli army on Tuesday launched a military operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million internally displaced Palestinians have sought refuge since Israel's offensive began on Oct. 7 last year. 
WESTMORELAND (KSNT)  The City of Westmoreland is coming together to clean up after a tornado tore through the town.

Local law enforcement, citizens, volunteers and even high schoolers showed up the following morning to provide aid to the town.

Rock Creek High School student Trevor Matzke showed up to help his teacher whose home was badly damaged in the storm. When KSNT News Reporter Jacob Kaufman spoke to Matzke, he had just finished putting a tarp over his teachers roof.

Im just glad the community came together and really helped out and got everything cleaned up real quick because if not everybody came out it wouldnt have been as quick and we wouldnt have got as much done, Matzke.

For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
Whidbey Island maintenance worker helps save toddler who hopped into water by himself

An Island County maintenance worker is being praised as an unsung hero for helping to save a toddlers life after he jumped off a dock and into the water by himself.

SURVEILLANCE VIDEO:

Surveillance video captured the entire incident on camera.

The video showed a young child run on a dock and hop into the water without any hesitation at Captain Coupes Park and Boat Launch in Coupeville, Washington.

Shortly after, a woman sprints across the dock and jumps into the water to save the little boy.

A man quickly followed the woman, just several steps behind.

The man grabbed the toddler and pulled him safely onto the dock.

KIRO 7 News spoke with Tony Richter, a maintenance worker for the Town of Coupeville, who helped save the toddlers life, on Monday.

Richter said he stopped by the Waste and Water Treatment Plant, which is located right next to the boat dock, to pick up a piece of equipment for one his projects.

Happen to just come down. Came in and drove down the lot. Kind of looked out. We always take a look at the water on the way in, he said.

When he pulled his truck into the parking lot, he said he noticed only one vehicle parked with all of the doors open.

It was just something odd, he shared.

Moments later, he said he saw a toddler run across the dock and hop into the water.

Richter said, Its every parents nightmare.

Your heart sinks, he said. Never would I have guessed that was going to be the outcome.

And thats when Richter said he yelled to catch the toddlers mothers attention.

Hes in the water. Hes in the water, he described what he yelled.

It had the potential to be very bad, he added.

Joseph Grogan, director of Public Works for the Town of Coupeville, said, Timing was everything. One second either way, he (Richter) may have not noticed it. Hes very vigilant.

After the mother jumped into the water to save the boy, Richter was there to help them both.

He said the toddler was panicking.

I dont think he realized what had happened. Maybe some regret, Richter said.

The little boy seemed fine, he added, adding that he had a few coughs, but was conscious.

He seemed to be okay walking back with mom. Its a relief and its still one of those things you will remember, he said. It makes you want to tuck them (your children) in and squeeze them tighter.

First responders did not arrive at the scene, he said.

Shortly after, the mother and her two boys left, Richter said.

After Tony told me about the incident and reviewed the recording in the wastewater plant, everybody became a bit emotional, said Grogan. It was very fortunate that Tony was able to get the mothers attention and assist on lifting the child out.
Todd Thompson, a White Earth tribal member, sold cannabis from his tobacco store in Mahnomen on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer.

A White Earth tribal member who sold marijuana without a license has been charged with a felony for illegal cannabis possession by the Mahnomen County attorney, launching the first test of the states authority to prosecute marijuana crimes on tribal land post-legalization.

Todd Thompson began selling cannabis with four other tribal members from his store, Asema Tobacco and Pipe on Aug. 1  the day recreational cannabis became legal in Minnesota.

Thompson says the tribes effective monopoly on legal cannabis sales at the moment  neither the state nor the tribe has issued sale permits  is holding back regular tribal citizens from a valuable economic opportunity.

Im going to fight it, Thompson said in an interview. Its why I did this stuff.

Thompson and his partners didnt try to hide what they were doing: Thompson posted a video on Facebook showing large jars of marijuana flower for sale, inviting people to come to his store in Mahnomen.

The next day, Mahnomen County sheriffs deputies and White Earth tribal police raided his store after seeing the video; an undercover agent purchased cannabis at the store. Authorities seized about 7.5 lbs of cannabis, 433 grams of marijuana wax and $2,748 in cash along with Thompsons cell phone and surveillance system, according to the charging document.

The felony charge, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, was filed by Mahnomen County Attorneys Office in April, more than eight months after the raid. Mahnomen Interim County Attorney Jason Hastings didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

For Thompson, selling cannabis openly without a license or permission from the tribal council was, in part, a direct challenge to state and tribal regulations. The White Earth tribal council voted just days before the state cannabis law took effect to legalize adult-use cannabis and sell it from a dispensary next to the tribes grow facility about a half-mile away from Thompsons store.

This isnt the first time Thompson has publicly taunted law enforcement in order to assert tribal sovereignty. In 2015, he was cited for illegally gillnetting on Gull Lake without a permit.

Thompson fought the charges, which were ultimately dropped  years later  after a district court judge ruled that Thompson retained fishing rights on Gull Lake as a citizen of the White Earth Nation.

As in the 2015 fishing case, prosecuting Thompson raises complex legal questions given his tribal identity and stores location on reservation land.

Minnesota has the power to prosecute tribal citizens for criminal  but not civil  violations of state law on certain reservations including White Earths under whats called Public Law 280.

Under Minnesotas new cannabis code passed by Democrats last year, adults are allowed to possess up to 2 lbs of cannabis flower in their private residences or up to two ounces in a public place.

The key in Thompsons case will be determining if possessing large quantities of cannabis is criminal or civil.

In a landmark 1987 case called California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, which ushered in modern Indian gaming, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that if the intent of a state law is generally to prohibit certain conduct, it falls within (Public Law) 280  but if the state law generally permits the conduct at issue, subject to regulation, it must be classified as civil/regulatory.

Yet, in some cases, the state may still pursue criminal prosecutions if the conduct violated the states public policy.

In 1997, the Minnesota Supreme Court took up a case involving prosecution of a Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe member for underage alcohol consumption. A district court judge dismissed the charge, saying the state didnt have jurisdiction. But the state Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that state law strictly prohibits underage alcohol consumption because there is public policy interest in doing so.

In Thompsons case, he said he and his partners only sold to other adults.

State and tribal leaders will note that the regulations for selling cannabis are designed to protect consumers. The White Earth tribal-run dispensary, for example, regularly tests its product to ensure its free from contaminants, Chairman Michael Fairbanks said in an interview in November.

The case against Thompson also threatens to upset a delicate balance state lawmakers tried to strike in advancing racial justice and creating a new highly regulated industry. The state is moving to expunge peoples convictions for marijuana crimes while providing people of color a leg up in opening their own cannabis businesses.

Charging a Native American man for possessing too much cannabis smacks of the old regime.

Thompsons own legal theories of his right to sell cannabis go beyond Public Law 280, which, like many Native people, he believes is illegitimate. He also said the White Earth tribal council overstepped its authority by establishing rules on cannabis sales without putting it before tribal members for a vote. White Earth did pursue medicinal cannabis through a referendum in 2020, but Thompson said that should have been voted on by all six member bands of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, not just White Earth.

He also believes the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe constitution grants him the right to sell cannabis because it grants equal opportunities to participate in the economic resources and activities of the Tribe.

Some tribal law experts, like Mitchell Hamline Law Professor Angelique EagleWoman, are skeptical of his legal interpretation, however.

The first hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday.

The post White Earth man charged with felony cannabis possession for selling without a license appeared first on Minnesota Reformer.
The White House announced a handful of additional actions Tuesday intended to curb antisemitism on college campuses and elsewhere amid a rise in discrimination toward Jewish people following the attacks in Israel last October.

The Biden administration rolled out the new measures to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day. President Biden will mark the day by delivering remarks at a ceremony hosted by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The additional steps include new guidance from the Education Departments Office of Civil Rights to every school district and college in the country, providing examples of antisemitic discrimination and other forms of hate that could prompt investigations for violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Department of Homeland Security will work with partners to build an online campus safety resources guide to provide assistance to campuses via one portal.

The office of the State Departments special envoy to combat antisemitism will convene technology firms to discuss how to best address antisemitic content.

Biden, in his remarks on Tuesday, is expected to discuss the rise in antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7 attacks that left more than 1,000 Israelis dead, a White House official said.

He will also discuss the acts of antisemitism on college campuses in recent weeks amid intense protests against the war in Gaza, and he will call on all Americans to stand united against hate.

The Anti-Defamation League has reported an enormous spike in antisemitic incidents in the aftermath of Hamass Oct. 7 attack, and the Biden administration has already taken some steps to try to mitigate the resulting threats against Jews.

The administration also outlined a first-of-its-kind national strategy to combat antisemitism last May.

Bidens remarks Tuesday will come as protests across the country over the war in Gaza have reached a boiling point, with the White House and lawmakers criticizing aspects of those demonstrations as promoting antisemitism.

The president last week criticized violence, vandalism and forms of hate stemming from those campus protests, arguing any demonstrations must remain peaceful and avoid devolving into chaos.

There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students, Biden said last week. There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether its antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans. It is simply wrong.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
White House hits back at Noems comments about Commander after its revealed her first publisher told her to drop the dead dog story

The White House has hit back at Kristi Noems suggestion that Joe Bidens dog Commander should have been shot for biting Secret Service members, as it emerged her publishers had previously tried to prevent her from writing about killing her own dog.

The South Dakota governor was chided by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre who warned her that she should "stop digging herself into a hole over the bizarre issue.

At the daily briefing on Monday, Ms Jean-Pierre was asked about comments made by the governor suggesting Joe Biden's German shepherd, Commander, should have been shot for biting Secret Service members at least two dozen times between October 2022 and June 2023.

So, how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog and what to do with it? Ms Noem asked on CBS's Face the Nation. Thats a question that the president should be held accountable to.

Ms Noem has been widely criticised for her admission in her upcoming memoir No Going Back that decades ago she shot her 14-month-old puppy, Cricket because she "hated" the animal. After shooting the dog, she said she dumped it in a gravel pit.

What I would say to her is, she probably should stop digging herself into a hole, Ms Jean-Pierre told reporters. She added that suggesting that Mr Biden should have shot his dog was "disturbing" and "absurd."

Kristi Noem blames media for controversy over her shooting of young dog (Fox News)

Here, this is a country that loves dogs and you have a leader talking about putting dogs down, killing them, she said. And, thats a disturbing statement to say.

Ms Noem had been considered a top possible pick for Donald Trump's 2024 running mate, but her chances may be in question after the wave of bad press that has hit her.

It wasn't like Ms Noem wasn't warned that Americans wouldn't find her tale of shooting a dog relatable. Her publishing team reportedly killed the story when she tried to include it in her first book two years ago, according to a report from Politico.

Two people involved with that project told the outlet that Ms Noem wanted to include the story in her book Not My First Rodeo, but the team found the story to be in bad taste.

Her second book was published by the reportedly conservative-leaning Center Street, which seemingly had no issue with the story.

In addition to the dog killing controversy, Ms Noem has also been called out for writing about meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while she was serving on the House Armed Services Committee. She also claimed to have cancelled a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The Dakota Scout, a publication in South Dakota, tried to verify both meetings but could find no evidence of either happening. After speaking with Mr Macron's office, they found Ms Noem never had a meeting scheduled with the leader.

"I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un," she wrote. "I'm sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I'd been a children's pastor, after all)."

However, Ms Noem's spokesperson all but confirmed to news outlets that the story was not true and would be removed.

"It was brought to our attention that the upcoming book No Going Back has two small errors, Ian Fury, Ms Noem's spokesman, told the New York Times. This has been communicated to the ghostwriter and editor. Kim Jong-un was included in a list of world leaders and shouldnt have been."

The other "small error" was an account Ms Noem made of a conversation with former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who she said called her in 2021 to offer to mentor her.

She claimed the call ended with what she perceived to be a threat from Ms Haley.

"Ive heard many good things about you. But when I do hear bad things, I will make sure that you know," she wrote, attributing the words to Ms Haley.

Ms Haley's office told both the New York Times and Politico that that the conversation was not an accurate telling of the discussion, and said Ms Haley has "long called and written notes supporting other women when they go through challenging times."

The correction will not be removing that story, however. It will just be attributing it to the year 2020 instead of 2021, Mr Fury told the Times.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is delivering a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon.

President Biden earlier in the day spoke at a ceremony for the Holocaust Days of Remembrance. Biden condemned those who he characterized as having already forgotten the horrors of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

The administration continues to walk a fine line between its pledged unwavering support for Israel and its criticism of the choices Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made regarding its operations in Gaza. Within the last 24 hours, Israel has advanced into the southern Gaza community of Rafah, an action that U.S. officials had advised against.

The briefing is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

Watch the live video above.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The US has piled pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to agree a ceasefire deal with Hamas, arguing the two sides should be able to close the remaining gaps in negotiations very soon.

John Kirby, the White Houses national security spokesman, on Tuesday urged negotiators to come to an agreement after Israel launched a limited assault on Rafah, in the south of Gaza.

Israel rejected a deal proposed by Hamas on Monday, dashing Palestinian hopes of a ceasefire in exchange for the release of remaining hostages captured on Oct 7.

John Kirby said he hoped ceasefire deal would happen 'very soon' - ANDREW HARNIK/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA

It said the terms of the deal, under which three hostages would be released each week while the ceasefire was in place, was unacceptable and a ruse to make Israel appear unwilling to negotiate in good faith.

Despite the operation, Mr Kirby suggested a deal was still likely, telling reporters: Our understanding of the text would suggest that they should be able to close these gaps and we hope very, very soon.

Hamas leadership has indicated that ending the war permanently is their own red line.

Benjamin Netanyahu faces criticism both from foreign leaders and from people in Israel over his plans to continue Rafah assault - AMIR COHEN-POOL/SHUTTERSTOCK

Mr Netanyahu faced fresh criticism for his offensive in Rafah on Tuesday as aid groups and allies warned the supply of humanitarian assistance to Gaza was in peril.

The Israeli prime minister said the offensive was a very important step toward destroying Hamass remaining military capabilities and would destroy smuggling tunnels over the border into Egypt.

IDF vehicles were seen moving towards border with Southern Gaza on Tuesday - AMIR LEVY/GETTY IMAGES EUROPE

In an overnight operation, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tanks entered the Gaza Strip to seize the Rafah crossing, which has been used to deliver supplies of aid.

In a video message, Mr Netanyahu said that Hamass surprise agreement to a ceasefire deal on Monday, which he said was very far from Israels vital demands and designed to sabotage the Rafah operation.

He assured allies the largely symbolic move was limited and did not mark the start of a long-promised full-scale ground invasion of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million civilians are sheltering from the war.

But the UN and other aid agencies said the IDFs manoeuvres threatened supplies of aid into the territory.

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UNs humanitarian agency OCHA, said: We currently do not have any physical presence at the Rafah crossing as our access has been denied by Cogat.

He said all fuel going into Gaza crosses via Rafah and that the enclave has only one day of fuel reserves.

The Who also confirmed that Israel is not allowing transfer of patients through Rafah.

Group troops began an operation targeting Hamas militants and infrastructure near the border between Gaza Strip and southern Israel - ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

The other crossing for supplies for Gaza has remained closed since Sunday when Hamas mortar fire targeted Israeli troops at a staging ground nearby, killing four of them.

Another mortar attack at the Kerem Shalom crossing was reported early on Tuesday.

Yoav Gallant, Israels defence minister, toured the area of eastern Rafah captured by Israel, vowing to press on with the planned invasion while leaving room for a deal.

This operation will continue until we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and the entire Gaza Strip or until the first hostage returns, he said.

We are willing to make compromises in order to bring back hostages, but if that option is removed, we will go on and deepen the operation.

Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister of Germany, an Israeli ally, warned Mr Netanyahu against going any further.

I strongly caution against conducting a major offensive on Rafah, she said on X, formerly Twitter, adding that despite Israels assurances of efforts to evacuate the locals, the over one million people sheltering in Rafah cannot vanish into thin air.

The US, which opposes a major military operation in Rafah, said it had received assurances from Israel that the latest offensive was limited and only designed to cut off Hamass ability to smuggle weapons and funds into Gaza.

Joe Biden hinted at a rift between his administration and Mr Netanayahu as talks mediated by William Burns, the director of the CIA, continued in Cairo.

My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree, he said at a Holocaust Remembrance ceremony in Washington.

My administration is working around the clock to free the remaining hostages...we will not rest until we bring them all home.

The White House has reportedly held up a shipment of Boeing-manufactured precision bombs bound for Israel to send a message about Mr Netanyahus strategy in Gaza, Politico reported.

However, Mr Netanyahu is facing criticism at home and abroad for his decision to dismiss the proposal, and for pressing ahead with the Rafah offensive.

An opinion poll commissioned by Israels Channel 13 showed on Tuesday that most Israelis believe that Mr Netanyahu cares more about his own political survival rather than the return of hostages.

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday urged the US to intervene immediately to stop Israel from launching a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah.

Inside Gaza, Palestinians on Tuesday reacted anxiously to reports that Israeli tanks were operating on the border with Egypt.

Speaking to The Telegraph over the phone from the west of Rafah, Mohammad Najjar, a student, said that the night was very difficult.

He said Rafah is no wider than 15 kilometres (9 miles), so the IDF are very close to his location.

Until this moment we can hear the bombing, he said, following a night of artillery, drones and air strikes.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KRQE)  Two years into recreational cannabis becoming legal in New Mexico, local cannabis distributors are finding themselves in a legal conundrum. Border Patrol Agents have seized more than $300,000 worth of local cannabis products at checkpoints, according to the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce.

This weeks guest on the New Mexico News Podcast is Matt Chadwick, owner of Top Crop Cannabis. He explains how the checkpoint seizures seemingly started out of the blue in February.

Chadwick joins Chris & Gabby to discuss how the unavoidable stops are impacting New Mexico businesses, and what hed like to see from the federal government. In our eyes, theyre stealing from us, he explained.

How is the governor responding to this issue? What happens to local cannabis shops if Border Agents double down? Listen to the full discussion above or wherever you get your podcasts.

Story continues below

Download new episodes of the New Mexico News Podcast every Tuesday, starting around 5:30 a.m., Mountain time. Episodes are available on most podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Podbean among others.

Having trouble finding the show? Try searching your favorite podcast player with the term KRQE or New Mexico News Podcast (without the quotes). You can also use the links above to find the podcast on each respective service or listen to the audio player at the top of this post.

If you have a question, comment, or suggestion as to who should be interviewed on the podcast, let us know! Email the hosts at chris.mckee@krqe.com or gabrielle.burkhart@krqe.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
Its 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 1, and the Sacramento State campus is bustling with activity  some students are making a beeline for classes, others grab a quick bite at the Student Union.

In the crowd of students, its easy to spot those who are rallying on behalf of the pro-Palestine movement: They pull wagons filled with food and carry pillows and bedding, making their way to an encampment set up on the quad in front of the library.

Their tents are adorned with signs saying Free Palestine and From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free, catching the attention of passing students who pause to snap pictures of the scene.

Opinion

Its been more than a week since demonstrators initiated their presence on the Sac State campus in response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas.

The university granted permission for the encampment to remain until at least May 8, as long as the protest maintains a peaceful nature. Like students at other campuses across the nation, the students at Sacramento State are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza., where an estimated 34,000 Palestinians have died, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. These figures include combatants and civilians.

But some protesters - in Sacramento and elsewhere - are not solely advocating for a ceasefire.

Some are calling for the dismantling of Israel and Americas longstanding alliance. Some have chanted From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, which is labeled as an antisemitic slogan by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as it is a rallying cry also used by terrorist organizations like Hamas that seek Israels destruction through violent means.

Globalize the Intifada is another chant deployed during campus protests. According to the ADL, the slogan is generally understood as a call for indiscriminate violence against Israel, and potentially against Jews and Jewish institutions worldwide.

Using these controversial slogans or carrying signs emblazoned with them contradicts the essence of peaceful, nonviolent protest. The protests began as a call for Americans to see the violence that has taken over Israel and Gaza, but it seems that the politics of the war have come to our country. We are seeing demonstrations that seem more driven by taking sides between Palestinians and Israelis than seeking peace. At UCLA, for example, students were blocked by pro-Palestinian protesters from attending class before pro-Israel counter-protesters struck back violently.

More than 300 protesters in New York were arrested at Columbia University and City College as law enforcement disbanded encampments and occupied administrative buildings. Students at Cal Poly Humboldt occupied buildings and trashed them, as did students on other campuses.

The fear incited on these campuses deviates from the principles of nonviolent protest, a practice popularized during the Civil Rights movement which has since evolved. So far this movement does not appear to have learned this important lesson of history.

Nonviolence is empowerment

When Civil Rights Icons Rev. Dr. James Lawson, Rev. John Lewis and other Freedom Riders traversed the southern United States in the 1960s to protest segregation, they envisioned change. Their simple act of sitting at whites-only diners and requesting service elicited violence from those who refused to acknowledge their equality.

After studying mid-20th Century nonviolent resistance in India, Lawson trained Civil Rights activists in methods inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.

Nonviolence is described as the science of creating a world founded on justice, truth, and compassion  a reflection of divine principles. I believe that nonviolent protest serves as a mirror, revealing the injustices of society, as demonstrated by these Civil Rights leaders.

The current pro-Palestinian movement aims to expose unjust practices by Israel. However, recent protests have shifted focus away from this goal.

When violence erupts during lengthy clashes on college campuses, with both sides engaging aggressively the intended message fails to resonate. The messaging that has been surfacing has been one of violence.

The New York Times reported that Columbia University officials are now seeking disciplinary action against a student leader of the pro-Palestinian movement after a video filmed in January resurfaced where the student said Zionists dont deserve to live.

A TikTok video went viral of Jessica Schwalb, a Jewish Columbia University student, describing when she and her friends were surrounded by pro-Palestinian protesters. Schwalb said the moment felt like it was out of a dystopian novel.

This sort of activity needs to stop, Schwalb said. Its discriminatory and everyone should have equal access to all of the campus resources.

Polarization over this conflict threatens to irreparably divide us.

Nonviolent protest remains the most effective means of expressing our values and beliefs, and we must remember how to convey our message effectively. Nonviolence encompasses actions that capture attention while highlighting the fallacy of violence. Yet, what we witness on college campuses are retaliatory acts of violence from both sides, a path that blinds us all.

During the George Floyd protests in 2020, I saw the National Guard, in riot gear, put down their shields and weapons and join protesters in prayer. That is what peaceful protest is about. Its about showing that there is another way other than violence.

By transcending violence, we honor the legacy of those who came before us and pave the way for a more just and compassionate society.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the press outside the Security Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- As tensions continue to escalate in Gaza, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday once again called for Israel and Hamas to demonstrate "political courage" and work towards securing a ceasefire.

Speaking to reporters at UN headquarters in New York, Guterres highlighted the critical situation in the Gaza Strip, especially in Rafah, which borders Egypt and is currently overwhelmed with displaced Palestinians.

Guterres expressed concern about the humanitarian situation, noting that essential aid and fuel supplies are nearly depleted. "The closure of both the Rafah and Karem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be re-opened immediately," he stated.

With over 1,100 Israelis and 34,000 Palestinians reported killed due to recent conflicts, Guterres emphasized the staggering cost of the ongoing violence. "Haven't we seen enough?" he implored, stressing the immediate need for both sides to engage in diplomacy rather than further escalation.

The UN chief underscored the severe consequences of continued fighting, particularly any potential full-scale assault on Rafah, which he described as a looming "human catastrophe." He warned, "Countless more civilian casualties. Countless more families forced to flee yet again -- with nowhere safe to go. Because there is no safe place in Gaza."

Guterres's remarks reflect deep concern about the impact of the conflict not only on Gaza but also on the broader Middle East. "Even the best friends of Israel are clear: An assault on Rafah would be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare," he said, calling on those with influence over Israel to help avert further tragedy. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (at the podium) speaks to the press outside the Security Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the press outside the Security Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the press outside the Security Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Xie E)
Why are there no public tornado shelters in Topeka?

TOPEKA (KSNT)  27 News reached out to the City of Topeka and Shawnee County Department of Emergency Management for public tornado shelter locations, but neither the city nor the county provided them.

The City of Topeka doesnt open shelters for severe weather like tornado warnings. City spokeswoman Rosie Nichols said emergency management is the role of the county.

The city does not open shelters for severe weather like a tornado warning, as generally, the guidance from the weather service and emergency management is to shelter in place, stay away from windows, go into a basement or storm room, etc, Nichols said. The Public Safety Team also generally recommends that citizens be weather aware by tuning into local news stations for weather updates and consider using a NOAA weather radio, in addition to other emergency preparedness planning like creating an individualized plan, having an emergency kit or go bag, etc.

Shawnee County Emergency Management Services Deputy Director Scott Garcia responded to an email inquiry from 27 News saying severe weather often happens in the late afternoon and evening hours. He said many businesses, schools and government buildings are closed at that time and arent open to provide storm shelters.

Kansas Turnpike getting rid of storm shelters as toll plazas go cashless

When asked if Kansas or the county used to have public tornado shelters, Garcia said he seemed to recall open shelters but didnt know if they were public.

Not in my professional career timeframe (mid 80s to present) do I recall there being public shelters, Garcia said. Any organization (government or private) having a 24-hour a day open, unmanned, unmonitored shelter is not a viable option.

Garcia recommends putting as many walls between yourself and the outside as possible.

If possible, get under something sturdy, such as a heavy table, or use a mattress to protect yourself from flying debris, Garcia said.

Garcia had some tips for those without access to tornado or storm shelters:

Act early. Dont wait until the warning. Have multiple ways to get the warning. Have a plan for where you are (home, shopping, work, etc.). Dont rely on businesses to keep you safe. Get under something sturdy, such as a heavy table or use a mattress to protect yourself from flying debris.

We are surrounded: advocate speaks on marijuana reclassification impact on Kansas

Garcia recommends people call local churches and community groups to see if they have available storm shelters.

For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
Ordnance left behind by conflicts, such as this unexploded bomb found in Wembley, north London in 2015, can become deadlier with age - Sergeant Rupert Frere/Ministry of Defence

It would be nice to think that bombs become less dangerous with age. The worst time to encounter one is when it is falling towards your head, primed to blow. After that, their threat is diminished. The rusting old thing found by an excitable child in a quarry is something to be heeded, but less intimidating than when it was dropped by the Luftwaffe in 1940.

Or so you might have hoped. Sadly for shell-thumpers and grenade scrumpers, an increasing body of evidence points to the idea that such items might in fact become even deadlier with the passage of time. A recent Norwegian study of unexploded shells found that Amatol, a type of explosive common in Second World War ordinance, not only doesnt become less explosive with age, but can in fact become even more so.

Based on our findings, we can say that its relatively safe to handle, but you cant handle it like TNT, says Geir Petter Novik, a scientist at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment. It can certainly go off if its dropped, as opposed to TNT. His study involved dropping weights from different heights on different types of explosive. Previous work had tested TNT and PETN, two of the other most common types of explosive, and found there was no drop-off in explosive properties, meaning they remained stable.

Construction workers uncover dud bombs that fell on London during the Blitz to this day - H F Davis/Getty

Amatol, a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate, was invented by the British Royal Arsenal in 1915, during the First World War, when supplies of regular TNT began to dry up. It was extensively used during the Second World War. The midget submarines that helped to sink the German battleship Tirpitz used Amatol-based mines; Amatol was also in the German V-1 and V-2 rockets. The findings on Amatol have ramifications for the global business of bomb disposal, estimated to be worth more than 4 billion a year.

The thing to bear in mind is that bombs have never made themselves safe, and never have, says David Welch, the senior explosives officer at Ramora Global, a leading disposal company. Its not a thing that bombs do. Theyre an energetic article that is meant to function in a variety of ways, with a chemical reaction to cause heat, fire, damage and blast. They all deliver it in different ways and they all have a different mixture. But theres no mix that you would look at and think, lets leave that for 100 years and it will be safe.

Amatol is not unique in maintaining its power over time, its just more available to becoming a gas [i.e. explode], Welch adds. There have been enough studies now to show that certain explosive mixtures are becoming more sensitive to interactions. It is bad news if youre the sort of person who might be tempted to bang on a shell casing with a trowel.

Controlled explosions are the stock-in-trade for Welch and his team

Welch served in the Royal Navy before moving into the commercial sector. Very quickly, I realised I like things that go bang, he says. I started as a weapons engineer, then I became a diver, then I decided I wanted to shift to the disposal sites, as a mine clearance diving officer. From the sea he moved on to land. He left the military in 2005 to do the same work as a civilian. He is still employed by the Armed Forces and works pro bono for emergency services, as well as private companies around the world. He estimates that one in 10 explosives fail to detonate correctly, which means there are millions of unexploded items around the world. Many are in obvious hotspots  Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt  but also less obvious places, such as Belgium. It was only recently that the Falklands was made safe after the 1982 war.

Recent high-profile cases in the UK include detonations at Great Yarmouth and Plymouth, where German SC250 and SC500 bombs were disposed of. At Great Yarmouth, in February last year, the bomb detonated during the attempt to destroy it, causing a huge explosion that reportedly shook buildings 15 miles away.

An attempt was then made to destroy the explosive by controlled burning, which is riskier as there is a chance of a transition to detonation. This did indeed happen, but luckily we have drone footage to see the sand enclosure in action!  pic.twitter.com/qJLCBLnQ2V  Andrew Barr (@andrew_barr) February 17, 2023

Not all their work is clearance, however. When the MSC Napoli container ship foundered and was run aground on the Devon coast in 2007, it was Welch and his team who blew it up for salvage. If its explosive related, well do it, he says.

Thanks to Noviks findings, his team will change how it clears sites  meaning they will have to transport smaller quantities at a time, now that Amatols impact sensitivity is increasing (a result, he believes, of sensitive crystals or salts forming when the ammonium nitrate reacts with the bombs metal casing). In particular, Welch hopes the growing evidence might encourage caution on building sites, where unexploded munitions are often found and where construction workers can sometimes not take as much care as might be ideal. He says his business deals with unexploded ordnance in the UK on a weekly basis, with everything from small investigations to pyrotechnics.

Unsurprisingly, he says that the highest density of unexploded ordinance is in the south-east of England, which suffered the worst attacks in the Second World War. But unexploded German bombs are only part of it. He and his team might also be called on to deal with boxes of Home Guard hand grenades, or an old demolition ground that was not correctly cleared.

The aggregate industry can be particularly dangerous. To get building materials, ships dredge the bottom of the Solent or English channel, where the seabed is studded with unexploded munitions from the two world wars. The sand and aggregate piled up on the shore can be studded with potentially deadly surprises. The method of disposal depends on the situation: when the army encounters something in a large empty field it can simply blow it up. A civilian construction firm that finds a bomb next to a gas main is a very different proposition: the device may need to be moved before being detonated, with extra consideration given to noise and disturbance. Other techniques can help to defuse old explosive devices: drilling into the fuse or filling a clockwork fuse with salt water to clog it up. Theres always a risk it might go bang, he says. But youre making it as safe as you can.

'There's always a risk it might go bang' - Richard Watt/Shutterstock

Amatol has now been phased out of use, but it still lurks in old munitions, some of which are being used on the front lines in Ukraine and Russia.

The type of warfare is different as well, Welch says. The old-school way of thinking was a mine every few metres. They are doing multiple-stacked mines, booby traps, all kinds of other issues. It will take just such a long time to find it all and allow people back in.

Nobody knows when the war will end, but it could be another hundred years after that before the explosive-laden battlefields are fit for human occupation again. In the meantime, Welch and his colleagues will continue to do the perilous work of making ordnance safe wherever it is found: be it a Billericay building site or a village in Helmand.

The new research on Amatol is only more evidence of what he never forgets. Its nice to remind people that these are dangerous, he says. Bomb disposal combines many different disciplines: chemistry, history, metallurgy, psychology, geography. But above all, it is a matter of life and death.

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Judges do not comment on politics. This principle is so fundamental to the American legal system that writing it out feels like writing that doctors treat patients or pilots fly planes. When judges take political stances or opine on political disputes, it undermines the integrity of the federal courts and the confidence that Americans have in the judicial systems fairness and impartiality.



The overwhelming majority of state and federal judges accept that sacrifice in exchange for the prestige and public service that comes with judicial life. Some, apparently, do not: A group of conservative federal judges demanded on Monday that Columbia University make significant and dramatic change on Friday to ensure viewpoint diversity and announced a boycott on hiring Columbia studentsboth undergraduates and law studentsuntil it does.

In a two-page letter, the judges said their demands were in response to protests at the university over Israel, Palestine, and U.S. foreign policy in the region. As judges who hire law clerks every year to serve in the federal judiciary, we have lost confidence in Columbia as an institution of higher education, they wrote. Columbia has instead become an incubator of bigotry. As a result, Columbia has disqualified itself from educating the future leaders of our country.

The letter lobs a number of other hyperbolic accusations at Columbia, and browbeats the university for not being strict enough with student protesters (hundreds of police in riot gear were not sufficient, apparently). But what stands out is that a group of federal judges is using law-clerk hiring practices as a vehicle to opine on political matters. By using their government jobs to make ideological demands of private entities, they are blatantly abusing their judicial office.

The letter was written by Judges Elizabeth Branch, James Ho, and Matthew Solomson. They and 10 other federal judges signed it. Nine of the judges, including Ho, are based in Texas. They include some of the most ideologically driven federal judges in that state, such as Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who tried to ban the most commonly used abortion pill, and Judge Brantley Starr, who ordered three Southwest Airlines lawyers to undergo religious liberty training with a conservative Christian legal group last year.

The others serve on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, on federal district courts in Georgia and North Dakota, the Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Court of International Trade. What all 13 judges have in common is how they got their current jobs: They were appointed by then-President Donald Trump.

It is strange and extraordinary for a group of federal judges to weigh in on an active political dispute like this. The Code of Conduct for United States Judges, which serves as the federal judiciarys ethics code, instructs sitting federal judges to refrain from political activity. While the canons focus specifically on running for office, serving on political committees, and fundraising for candidates, they also generally admonish judges to interpret the instruction broadly. A judge should not engage in any other political activity, the code states.

Some federal judges have publicly announced boycotts of certain universities in recent years, including some signatories of this letter. Ho, one of the letters main authors, famously said two years ago that he would not hire clerks from Yale University because of cancel culture on the schools campus. Judges later announced similar boycotts against schools like Stanford University and others for similar reasons.

Those boycotts, whatever their faults, at least came in response to activities at law schools. Some of the boycotts came after disruptive protests against conservative federal judges who spoke at the law schools or against campus Federalist Society groups. I wrote back in 2022 that the boycotts should prompt Congress and the courts to reconsider letting federal judges treat clerkships as ideologically driven patronage.

This time, however, the judges have no connection to anything that happened on Columbias campus. None of them are stationed in New York, where Columbia is located. None of them were present for the demonstrations. What happened at Columbia had nothing to do with law school policies or legal doctrines or anything about the law itself, except that some students broke it. Framing it in terms of law-clerk hiring practices appears to be a convenient excuse to make inappropriate political demands.

One reason why the clerk-hiring boycott seems pretextual is that it does not make sense on its own terms. For one thing, the judges said they would only apply it prospectively. Considering recent events, and absent extraordinary change, we will not hire anyone who joins the Columbia University communitywhether as undergraduates or law studentsbeginning with the entering class of 2024, they wrote.

That means that not a single student who was on Columbias campus for the past month would be excluded under its terms. Nor is the boycott even targeted at any specific wrongdoers. The judges did not announce, for example, that they would refuse to hire students who made antisemitic remarks or engaged in criminal acts. Instead, they said that they would refuse to hire any Columbia students at all. The judges also made clear that its indiscriminate nature was intentional.

Universities should also identify students who engage in such conduct so that future employers can avoid hiring them, the judges wrote. If not, employers are forced to assume the risk that anyone they hire from Columbia may be one of these disruptive and hateful students.

That approach to collective punishment is anathema to the Anglo-American legal tradition. It is disturbing to see a group of federal judges endorse punishment for innocent people in any context. And it is nonsensical on its own terms. Excluding all Columbia students because of a few disruptive and hateful ones would logically exclude the students to whom those few were allegedly being disruptive and hateful. In the name of combating antisemitism, the judges are refusing to hire from a university where one in five students is Jewish.

Its worth noting that the average member of Students for Justice in Palestine probably wont leap at the opportunity to serve as a clerk for Ho or Kacsmaryk. So to the extent that the impact of a boycott would be felt by students, it would be felt almost entirely by conservative law students at Columbia who might otherwise seek out a job with these judges. And if the boycott disincentivizes conservative law students from attending Columbia in the long term, then the result will be less viewpoint diversity at the school, not more of it.

The indiscriminate and counterproductive nature of the boycott only makes sense if there are ulterior motives. The judges themselves suggest as much when listing their three demands. The first, as previously noted, was serious consequences for anyone who participated in campus disruptions. The second was neutrality and nondiscrimination in the protection of free speech and the enforcement of rules of campus conduct.

If Columbia had been faced with a campus uprising of religious conservatives upset because they view abortion as a tragic genocide, we have no doubt that the universitys response would have been profoundly different, they wrote. By favoring certain viewpoints over others based on their popularity and acceptance in certain circles, Columbia has failed as a legitimate, never mind elite, institution of higher education.

Two things stand out here. First, it is telling that the judges example of viewpoint discrimination against conservatives is an entirely hypothetical one. Second, the judges appear to be unaware that Columbia President Minouche Shafik called in the NYPD last month to clear the encampment and the occupied campus buildings. Some participants have been suspended, threatened with expulsion, and kicked out of student housing.

What more could the judges want? They go on to answer that question in their third demand: They want less viewpoint discrimination on campus, which they hope to achieve with a purge of the universitys faculty on ideological grounds and, presumably, their replacement with faculty with whom they agree. The irony of this demand seems to have eluded them.

Recent events demonstrate that ideological homogeneity throughout the entire institution of Columbia has destroyed its ability to train future leaders of a pluralistic and intellectually diverse country, the judges wrote. Both professors and administrators are on the front lines of the campus disruptions, encouraging the virulent spread of antisemitism and bigotry. Significant and dramatic change in the composition of its faculty and administration is required to restore confidence in Columbia.

For federal judges to demand sweeping changes under the aegis of their official position is far afield of anything resembling judicial norms and ethics. They appeared to recognize this and anticipate some of the criticism they would receive. Justice William Brennan refused to hire law clerks from Harvard Law School because he disliked criticisms of the Supreme Court by some of its faculty, they noted in conclusion. The objective of our boycott is differentit is not to hamper academic freedom, but to restore it at Columbia University.

Brennan was perhaps the preeminent liberal justice to ever serve on the Supreme Court, so invoking him is best seen as a thumb in the eye of their critics. But the example is also instructive because of its differences. It is true that, between 1966 and 1969, Brennan did not hire any clerks from Harvard Law School. It is also true that he did it at least in part because of criticism of the court that was made at Harvard, including some criticism about the courts 1957 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.

But the clique also omitted important context about Brennans actions: Prior to 1966, he had hired law clerks exclusively from Harvard. Brennan biographer Stephen Wermiel recounted in a 2014 law review article how Brennan outsourced his clerk hiring process to Harvard law professor Paul Freund, following a recommendation made by Justice Felix Frankfurter to Brennan when he joined the court. For his first eight terms, Brennan exclusively hired based on Freunds suggestions.

In this sense, Brennan was not singling out Harvard for punishmentcriticism of the Warren court was hardly uncommon in that era, after allbut retracting an existing, undeserved privilege that he apparently thought could no longer be justified. Wermiel recounted that Brennan had already received pressure from other law school deans and from federal judges in the lower courts to consider other applicants. He ultimately resumed hiring Harvard graduates in the 1969 term and continued to hire them until he retired in 1990.

Another instructive difference is that Brennans brief boycott of Harvard was not public knowledge when it occurred. It was one thing to quietly stop giving preferential treatment to Harvard graduates after eight years of hiring exclusively from that school. It would be another if Brennan had publicly demanded that Harvard stop criticizing the Supreme Court and change its academic policies to fit his own ideological preferences.

While the judges implied Brennans objective was to hamper academic freedom, the historical evidence does not support that claim. If anything, its the judges who are demanding significant and dramatic change in the composition of [Columbias] faculty and administration on ideological grounds who are threatening academic freedom.

The letter is also stunning because the judges may yet be called upon to decide cases related to these protests. None of these judges are based in New York, of course. But most of the letters signatories are based in Texas, where police last month violently suppressed a pro-Palestianian protest on the University of Texas at Austin campus. The Travis County district attorney dropped most of the charges against the protesters, noting that there could be First Amendment issues with pursuing them. It is not hard to imagine that further litigation might take place and come before some of these judges courts.

No one can be faulted for having a strong emotional and moral response to the war in Gaza and the campus protests against it. The problem is how the judges expressed it. Judges see and hear things in their courtrooms every day that must anger and outrage them. They suppress those sentiments to serve the higher interest of a fair and impartial judiciary. By not doing so here, the judges have validated every complaint that they are ideologues first and jurists second. If they want to write op-eds for a living on the hot-button issues of the day, they are free to resign.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  A lawsuit filed by animal welfare advocates seeking to invalidate Wisconsins new wolf management plan was dismissed by a judge on Monday.

Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke threw out the case that accused Wisconsin wildlife officials of violating the states open meetings law and disregarding comments from wolf researchers and supporters, reflecting how contentious the debate over wolf management has become in the state.

Wrightstown Police Department asking for publics help to fund all-purpose drone

Ehlke ruled from the bench, granting a motion to dismiss filed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and its board. The lawsuit was filed by the Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance, also known as Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf & Wildlife.

The lawsuit alleged that Department of Natural Resources policy board members collected comments on the wolf management plan from interest groups it favored even after the public comment period ended.

The lawsuit focused on three private discussions attended by members of the board hosted by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, the Wisconsin Association of Sporting Dogs, and Wisconsin Wolf Facts.

The lawsuit alleged that even though a quorum of board members didnt attend any of the meetings, enough of them participated to influence changes to the plan in violation of the state open meetings law.

The judge said the open meetings law did not apply to the meetings in question because there was not a sufficient number of board members present to constitute a meeting.

Ehlke also rejected allegations of due process and administrative procedure violations. The judge also rejected arguments that comments by Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance were ignored during formation of the wolf plan.

The group didnt cite any case to back up their discrimination claims, Ehlke said. Allowing them to allege that they were discriminated against would mean that anyone could make that argument when a governmental body does something they dont like, the judge said.

This makes no sense to me and would cause governmental operations to grind to a halt, the judge said.

Susann Bradford, attorney for the Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance, asked the judge to reconsider the ruling. The judge denied that request. Bradford said after the hearing that the group was reviewing whether to file an appeal.

Farmers in northern Wisconsin have complained for years that the wolf population is multiplying too quickly and preying on their livestock. Hunters say wolves are devastating the deer population across the northern reaches of the state. Conservationists argue that wolves have yet to firmly establish themselves in Wisconsin and need protection.

The DNRs board adopted the wolf management plan in October. It recommends maintaining the statewide population at about 1,000 wolves but doesnt set a hard limit. The plan instead recommends allowing the population to grow or decline at certain numerical thresholds.

State wildlife officials have said a lack of a hard limit gives the DNR more flexibility to manage the species, allows local wolf packs to fluctuate and gives the population a better chance at maintaining wolf abundance for years to come.

Hunting advocates support setting a population limit, saying the lack of a goal leaves both wolves and people unprotected. Conservation groups opposed a provision related to how the DNR would respond to certain population ranges in different parts of the state.

Industrial plant in Wisconsin laying off over 25% of workforce after loss of production

Last year, a federal judge placed gray wolves in the lower 48 states back on the endangered species list, making hunting illegal and limiting farmers to nonlethal control methods, such as fencing in livestock or using guard dogs. The DNR updated its wolf management plan in case wolves are removed from the list and hunting can resume.

The U.S. House passed a bill last week to take wolves off the endangered species list, but it is likely doomed under opposition from the Biden administration. Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature passed a bill to require setting a specific population goal, but Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed it.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WFRV)  Authorities say one officer in southern Wisconsin was taken to the hospital on Sunday after being shot while on foot patrol.

According to a release from the Milwaukee Police Department, officers were deployed on foot in the 1200 block of South Cesar Chavez Drive for Cinco De Mayo when, at 10:52 p.m., a suspect fired shots at police hitting one of the officers.

Officials say the officers did not return fire towards the suspect and only the one officer mentioned was hurt in this incident.

Wrightstown Police Department asking for publics help to fund all-purpose drone

The 29-year-old officer with over one year of service was then taken to a local hospital where they were treated for non-fatal injuries.

Police with the Milwaukee Police Department say they recovered two firearms from the scene and three people of interest are now in custody.

At this time, no additional details are available and an investigation is ongoing. Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact Milwaukee police at (414) 935-7360 or remain anonymous by contacting Crime Stoppers at (414) 224-TIPS.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
Wisconsin Rapids Current is a regular column in the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune by Service Journalism Reporter Erik Pfantz that covers a range of topics in city and county governments and local school districts to highlight the many items that flow past our local decision-makers.

If you have items you would like to see highlighted in this column, please reach out to Erik at epfantz@gannett.com.

Wisconsin Rapids seeks District 3 alderperson

The city is seeking a resident of Wisconsin Rapids' District 3 to fill a vacant alderperson seat on the Common Council. Interested residents should submit a letter of interest along with a biography or resume for the councils consideration to City Clerk Jennifer Gossick prior to the May 21 Common Council meeting.

The Common Council will vote on who fills the seat at its May 21 meeting and requests that applicants attend. Gossick told a Daily Tribune reporter three residents have submitted letters so far.

Odd-numbered districts are elected in odd-numbered years so the appointed alderperson will serve less than a year, or until April 14, 2025, and the seat will be up for election for any qualified candidate.

The District 3 seat is open following former alderperson Matt Zachers election as Wisconsin Rapids mayor in April.

Wood County receives FEMA funds to provide food and shelter

Wood County residents in need of emergency food and shelter programs are receiving a few more resources.

Wood County was selected to receive $14,160 through the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program. Previously, funds like this have gone to FOCUS, Personal Development Center, Soup or Socks and the Wisconsin Rapids Family Center, according to a news release from the United Way of South Wood & Adams Counties, which is helping to distribute the supplementary funds.

Organizations interested in applying to receive these dollars must be private voluntary nonprofits, faith-based organizations or units of government; be eligible to receive federal funds; have an accounting system; practice nondiscrimination; have a demonstrated ability to provide emergency food or shelter aid programs; and, if they are a private voluntary organization, they must have a voluntary board.

Qualifying agencies are asked to apply before 4 p.m. May 10. Applications are available by contacting United Ways Stefanie Drexler at stefanie@uwswac.org or 715-421-0390.

Process will soon begin to fill Lincoln High School principal role

Ronald Rasmussen

Students, parents, community members and other Wisconsin Rapids Public School District stakeholders are wondering who will take Lincoln High Schools top leadership role, following the school boards selection of Ronald Rasmussen to be district superintendent. Rasmussen has served as principal of the high school for 12 years.

Past processes for selecting principals involved a job posting that was open for anyone to apply, Maurine Hodgson, school board secretary, told a Daily Tribune reporter Monday in an email. She said she expects the job listing to be posted within the next few weeks. She said it will be open to applicants for four weeks, there will be an interview process and the school board will likely see a recommendation for the position around the end of June.

Local education news: Here's how statewide reading reform is impacting Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools

Wisconsin Rapids Streetwise: Hawaiian Tanning Studio relocates and more local business news

Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA-TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Reach him at epfantz@gannett.com or connect with him on X (formerly Twitter) @ErikPfantz.

This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Wisconsin Rapids Current: District 3 alderperson, Lincoln principal
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 Utah)  The power of a wish never looked or tasted so good! Wishmaker, Jersey Mikes Subs, donated nearly $325,000 to Make-A-Wish Utah following the sandwich companys successful Month of Giving campaign. Those funds will help Make-A-Wish grant nearly 60 wishes to children with critical illnesses, creating the hope and strength they need to fight.

Wishes are an essential part of a childs medical treatment, and they wouldnt be possible without the support and generosity of countless WishMakers, like Jersey Mikes Subs, and their patrons who support their campaigns to raise money and awareness.

For more information on how to support Make-A-Wish Utah, call 801-262-9474, or visit Utah.Wish.org.

To find a Jersey Mikes Subs location near you, visit JerseyMikes.com.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A new wolverine sighting was reported in Westport, Wash. on May 1.

One year after Oregon had its first confirmed wolverine outside of the Wallowa Mountains in more than 30 years, residents have reported wolverine sightings in Eugene, along the Oregon Coast and south of Oregon City.

The regions latest sighting occurred near the Westport Airport, approximately 45 miles north of Oregons northernmost point. The sighting was made by Jon Buck of the Westport Pizza Company.

You never know what you might see when you come in, the Westport Pizza Company shared on social media. Today we were surprised with a rare sighting of a wolverine.

Newport responds to inquiries about LGBTQ+ communitys public restroom use

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Beth Quillian told KOIN 6 News that its unclear if the wolverine seen in Westport is the same animal spotted across Oregon.

A wolverine was spotted near the Westport Airport in Westport Wash. on May 1, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Jon Buck of Westport Pizza)

It is not out of the realm of possibility, Quillian said. Given all the other rivers the wolverine has crossed over the last year, including the Willamette, and that the first sighting was on an island in the Columbia River in 2023, it makes sense that it could [or] would swim across the Columbia again. There are lots of islands in the Clatskanie area where it was last reported in Oregon, so it could have pretty easily made its way across the Columbia from that area.

From downpours to warm temps, Portland area prepares for summer-like heat

Wolverines are the largest member of the weasel family and are widely found in Canada and Alaska. Smaller populations are also found in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Oregon. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has asked people to report their wolverine sightings to the website iNaturalist.org.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  An 86-year-old woman died Monday after she was accidentally run over by her 87-year-old sister, who had just dropped her off at her Pasco County home, authorities said.

The incident occurred at about 4:30 p.m. at a home in the 8700 block of Elm Leaf Court in Port Richey.

Husband of missing Florida woman arrested at Miami International Airport

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the victim was checking her mail as her sister was backing out of the driveway. After shifting gears, the 87-year-old hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, and accidentally drove her vehicle into her sister as she stood by the mailbox. The vehicle continued forward and hit a tree and a parked car.

The victim, who was not identified, died at the scene.

Further information about the crash was not immediately available.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
UNITED NATIONS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- UN humanitarians said on Tuesday that recent heavy rains in the northwest of violence-scarred Haiti have triggered flooding and landslides that have taken 13 lives.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said local authorities reported that a landslide in Cap-Haitien killed 13 people.

Many people fleeing deadly gang violence in the capital of Port-au-Prince sought safety to the north, including in the Cap-Haitien region along the country's northern coast. Local authorities said the downpour also damaged homes and businesses.

OCHA said more rainfall and additional floods are expected in the coming days, including in the capital, where sites hosting people displaced by the ongoing violence were already facing sanitation challenges before the heavy rains. The heavy rain began Friday.

OCHA said that in a statement related to violence in the capital, the interim humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, Bruno Maes, strongly condemned the profound humanitarian impact of repeated attacks in the Solino neighborhood and the surrounding areas of Port-au-Prince, where thousands of people fled their homes and the violence.

"The siege of the civilian population in Solino, including women, children and men who find themselves without access to water, food and fuel, is a blatant violation of the basic humanitarian norms," he said.

"I urge the perpetrators of these acts to cease the violence so that the population can live without fear in their homes, in complete safety, and so humanitarian actors can assist those affected," Maes said. 
Woman Accused of Serving Poisonous Mushrooms to Ex-Husbands Family Pleads Not Guilty to Murders

Patterson is accused of serving her in-laws poisonous mushrooms in July 2023

Jason Edwards/Newspix via Getty Erin Patterson

An Australian woman suspected of serving poisonous mushrooms to her ex-husbands family has reportedly pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder.

According to AP News, Erin Patterson, 49, appeared in Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court by video link from a Melbourne prison.

Per NBC News, Patterson had invited her ex-husbands parents, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, for lunch at her house in July 2023. She had also invited Gails sister and brother-in-law, Heather Wilkinson, 66, and Ian Wilkinson, 68.

While Don, Gail and Heather died within days after being hospitalized, Ian recovered weeks later.

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Jason Edwards/Newspix via Getty Images Erin Patterson

Related: Australian Police Investigating Deaths of 3 After Ingesting Poisonous Mushrooms Served by Daughter-in-Law

Patterson is also suspected of attempting to murder her ex-husband, Simon - who reportedly didnt accept the invite - at the lunch, as well as on three separate occasions in 2021 and 2022.

PEOPLE previously reported that she denied any wrongdoing at the time.

Im devastated. I loved them. I cant believe that this has happened and Im so sorry, Patterson said per another report from AP News.

Detective Inspector Dean Thomas also noted in a press conference, shared by 9 News Australia at the time, that two children were also at the lunch but did not become sick. Thomas explained that the police believed they had been given different food to those who had died.

Related: Husband of Fla. Woman Who Went Missing in Spain Arrested 3 Months After Her Disappearance

Patterson was then arrested following a police search at her home in Leongatha, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

She was remanded in custody to appear at Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court tomorrow morning, police said in a statement at the time.

Over the last three months, this investigation has been subjected to incredibly intense levels of public scrutiny and curiosity I cannot think of another investigation that has generated this level of media and public interest, not only here in Victoria but also nationally and internationally, Detective Inspector Dean Thomas explained in a press statement when the charges against Patterson were announced.

I think it is particularly important that we keep in mind that at the heart of this, three people have lost their lives, he added. These are three people who by all accounts were much beloved in their communities and are greatly missed by their loved ones.

According to NBC News, the next hearing for Pattersons case will take place on May 23 after being fas-tracked to Victoria state's Supreme Court.



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Read the original article on People.
DECATUR, Ala (WHNT)  The Decatur Police Department (DPD) says a woman was arrested Monday and a nurse was assaulted at Decatur Morgan Hospital.

DPD said 34-year-old Kelly Marie Watkins was arrested and charged with second-degree assault Monday after an incident at Decatur Morgan Hospital on Sunday. The department said officers were dispatched to the hospital on a report that a nurse had been assaulted by a patient.

Madison shooting deemed accident, charges possible

According to authorities, upon arrival, the officers spoke with the victim and several other witnesses. During that investigation, the department said officers were able to identify Watkins as a patient at the hospital. DPD said officers learned that during her treatment Watkins struck a nurse, causing a visible injury to the nurses face.

The department said after Watkins was discharged from the hospital she was taken to the Morgan County Jail where she was held on a $2,500 bond.

In Alabama, intentionally causing physical harm to a healthcare worker while they are performing their duties is considered a class C felony.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHNT.com.
A South Carolina woman was arrested Monday after she left a child at a town park, according to the Irmo Police Department.

Frankie Campbell-Provo, 55, was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child, police said in a news release.

Officers got involved at about 7:40 p.m., when they were called to Irmo Community Park at 7507 Eastview Drive, according to the release.

The concerned citizen who called told the officers that there was an unattended child at the park, police said.

The citizen brought their grandchild to the park at about 6 p.m., and a short time later saw the grandchild playing with the other child, according to the release.

The citizen said they were concerned because wasnt an adult or guardian around the child, police said.

The children played, and after an hour passed and there was still no sign of a parent or guardian, according to the release. The citizen asked the child who was with them at the park, and the child said theyd been dropped off by their mother but did not know how to contact her, police said.

Thats when the citizen called the police.

Officers went to the park and took custody of the child, according to the release. The child told the officers their mothers name and what type of vehicle she drove, police said.

The child, whos under the age of 10, was visibly scared and told officers they were hungry and thirsty, according to the release. The officers assured the child that they were safe and provided food and something to drink, police said.

At 8:20 p.m., officers saw a vehicle matching the description the child gave, according to the release. The vehicle drove by but did not stop, and another officer had to pull over the vehicle as the driver tried to leave the park, police said.

The driver was brought back to where officers were with the child and was identified as Campbell-Provo, according to the release.

After being read her Miranda rights, Campbell-Provo admitted that she was the legal guardian of the child and dropped them off at the park at 6 p.m., saying she was going grocery shopping and would be back for the child at 8 p.m., police said.

Campbell-Provo acknowledged that the child did not have a cell phone or any means of communication, and police said that the 55-year-old did not seem to understand that she had placed the child in danger, according to the release.

Campbell-Provo was arrested for willfully abandoning the child and placing them at unreasonable risk of harm affecting their life, physical health, and safety, police said. Campbell-Provo was taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, according to the release.

Information about Campbell-Provos bond status was not available, but she is not listed on the jails inmate roster.

The child was released into the custody of a family member, police said.

If convicted on the felony unlawful conduct toward a child charge, Campbell-Provo faces a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison, according to South Carolina law.

As a parent, I am disappointed at the situation this child was placed in, Police Chief Bobby Dale said in the release. Anything couldve happened to them, and they had no way to call for help and no adult there to make sure they were safe. I want to thank the person who called us, they saw something, and most importantly, they said something.

I am very proud of our officers for how they responded to the call, how they made sure this child felt safe and for taking swift, appropriate action.
TOPEKA (KSNT)  The Shawnee County District Attorneys Office is charging a woman with murder in connection to a recent deadly Topeka apartment shooting.

Lolita L. Bradford, 25, is being charged with three counts on Tuesday, May 7 including:

Murder in the first degree; premeditation

Aggravated burglary of a dwelling

Interference with law enforcement, false information

Shawnee County District Attorneys Office spokeswoman Katie Garceran says Topeka police were called on April 19 to the Crown Point Apartments located at 3711 Southwest Park South Court in response to a shooting. Officers arriving at the scene found a man, identified as 22-year-old Cody Cooper, dead inside one of the apartments.

Topeka police accuse man of trying to set school on fire

Police later linked Bradford to the shooting and she was arrested on April 30. Coopers death marks the fifth homicide case for the City of Topeka in 2024.

If you have any information regarding this shooting, send an email to the Topeka Police Department at telltpd@topeka.org or call 785-368-9400. You can make anonymous tips to Shawnee County Crime Stoppers by calling 785-234-0007 or by clicking here.

For more crime news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
A 50-year-old man has been charged with several felonies  including involuntary manslaughter  after the Boise Police Department said he provided a woman with drugs, and she overdosed.

In February, Boise officers responded to the 6700 block of West Fairview Avenue to assist first responders with a call regarding two people who were found unresponsive in the West Boise home, according to a police news release. There was evidence of drug use, including drug paraphernalia and baggies of suspected narcotics, police said.

The woman died at the home from an overdose, and the Ada County Coroners Office found that she had a mixture of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and PHP in her system, according to the release. The man was treated and released from the hospital after the incident, police said.

The Ada County Coroners Office named Talia Salzano, 41, of Boise, as the victim in a Wednesday news release.

Police said they learned that the man provided Salzano with the drugs, and arrested him on a warrant Monday. He was charged in two separate cases with a total of seven felonies: five counts of delivery of a controlled substance, two counts of drug trafficking methamphetamine or amphetamine, and a single count of involuntary manslaughter, online court records showed.

Under Idaho law, he could face up to life in prison on the delivery of a controlled substance charges. The man, who is being held at the Ada County Jail, appeared in court Tuesday, where a judge set his bond at a total of $650,000, according to online court and jail records.
Woman found slain on hilltop in 1991, California cops say. Now DNA helps solve case

A cold case involving a woman whose body was found on a hilltop has been cracked 33 years later, California police reported.

Danielle Clause, 42, was found dead on July 16, 1991, the Ventura Police Department said in a May 7 news release. She had been sexually assaulted and died of blows to her head.

Tips and clues ran dry, leaving detectives unable to solve the case, police said.

But in 2021, the department retested evidence for DNA, police said, and forensic genetic genealogy helped establish a family tree for the attacker.

Police said they were able to identify Larry Devon Welch, who died in 1999, as the perpetrator. Welch and Clause had no prior connection.

My sister was so much more than a victim of a brutal murder, sister Marcie Forte said in the release. She was (an) artist, a daughter, a sister, a mother, and a wife. She was a good person with a mighty soul, and she was taken way too young.

Forte said she did not believe police would ever crack the case because of the long timeline and crush of newer cases to investigate. She credited the dedication and hard work of Ventura police with solving her sisters murder.

Im so grateful that I lived to see at least a meter of justice and that they found out who did this, she said in the release.

The department continues to investigate 25 cold cases involving killings, missing people and unidentified bodies, police said.

Ventura is about a 70-mile drive northwest from Los Angeles.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A defendant whose sentence was previously vacated must turn herself in Tuesday after the judge who vacated the sentence was removed from the case.

The Nevada Supreme Court ordered Clark County District Court Judge Jerry Wiese to remove Judge Erika Ballou from a criminal case on Friday. Ballou did not follow two previous orders from Nevadas high court regarding the same case.

Clark County District Court Judge Eric Johnson ordered Mia Christman, 30, to surrender to the Nevada Department of Correction on May 7.

NV Supreme Court orders removal of Las Vegas judge from case

Christman was part of a violent crime spree at the age of 18. She pleaded guilty to two felony charges and was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison.

In an appeal, Christmans attorney, Betsy Allen argued that Christman was the victim of sex trafficking and childhood trauma.

Ballou vacated the sentence in 2021 resulting in Christmans release from prison before she finished serving the original term.

Johnson rescinded Ballous judgment in Christmans case, ordered Christman to serve the remainder of her sentence, and vacated any pending court hearings to discuss modifying Christmans sentence in his May 6 order.

Christman must turn herself into Florence McClure Womens Correctional Center by noon Tuesday, according to Johnsons order.

In a previous interview with the 8 News Now Investigators, Christman discussed Ballous decision.

Las Vegas judges controversial decision at center of womans case

It felt like somebody took a chance on me, she said.

While out of custody, Christman said she has stayed out of trouble and also had a baby which may go into the child welfare system if she had to go back to prison.

The Clark County District Attorneys office continued to fight for Christman to serve the remainder of her sentence and argued that Christman was manipulating the system again. Christman failed to cooperate and disappeared twice before her guilty plea, according to prosecutors.

The Nevada Supreme Court reversed Ballous order in 2022. Ballou did not send Christman back to prison.

The Nevada Supreme Court issued an order again in 2023. Ballou still did not send Christman back to prison.

The Nevada Supreme Court pointed to the district courts failure to comply in its May 3 order.

Allen and Christman went to the pardons board in March which denied their request. Nevada Supreme Court Justice Douglas Herndon expressed frustration.

This is kind of turning our pardons process on its head, Herndon said. The walls are closing in on the District Court that is shockingly refusing to do its job.

District Attorney Steve Wolfson filed a complaint with the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline on April 30, accusing Ballou of five violations.

Judge Ballou failed to perform all duties of judicial office fairly and impartially when she repeatedly acted in favor of Christman and against the state, Wolfson wrote. Judge Ballous bias has caused her to ignore the Nevada Supreme Court for nearly two years and impaired the fairness of these proceedings.

Ballou already faces ethics charges for several separate incidents including a photo of Ballou in a hot tub with two public defenders.

Ballou served as a public defender for over 15 years before being sworn into the bench in 2021. Her current term ends in 2027.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
Woman who used Target self-checkout to steal more than $60,000 of items convicted of theft

A San Francisco woman is facing more than three years in prison after being convicted of shoplifting more than $60,000 worth of items from Target using self-checkout. Aziza Graves, 43, was found guilty of one felony count of grand theft in violation and 52 misdemeanor counts of petty theft.

A Northern California woman is facing more than three years in prison after being convicted of shoplifting more than $60,000 worth of items from Target using self-checkout.

Aziza Graves, 43, of San Francisco, was found guilty of one felony count of grand theft in violation and 52 misdemeanor counts of petty theft in a series of retail thefts occurring at one Target, according to a press release from the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.

The Target store is in a shopping center in San Francisco's southwest neighborhood east of the San Francisco Zoo and north of San Francisco State University.

Scam arrest: Two arrested in 'draining' scheme involving 4,100 tampered gift cards: What to know about the scam

Thief stole from same Target store over 100 times in just a year

Prosecutors said Graves stole from the same Target store 120 times in just over a one-year period, KRON-TV reported.

Assistant District Attorney Conrad Del Rosario, who prosecuted the case, said the jury "heard and considered a large volume of evidence over several weeks" in the case.

Between Oct 3, 2020, and Nov. 16, 2021, she entered the store, brought items to the self-checkout, scanned them, and inserted a single coin or bill into the machine before leaving the store, jurors determined.

In this case, jurors found she repeatedly stole merchandise worth more than $60,000.

She was later seen selling her stolen goods at UN Plaza in the city, prosecutors wrote in the release.

According to the release, Graves was also convicted of one count of misdemeanor petty theft for stealing from a San Francisco-based Abercrombie and Fitch store.

Individuals such as Aziza Graves commit egregious thefts through brazen and repeated conduct that greatly impacts retailers ability to operate and serve the general public in their area," District Attorney Brooke Jenkins released in a statement following the conviction. "These crimes demand accountability and we need to send the message to others who engage in open and brash thefts that, with the support of our local law enforcement partners, our office will continue to pursue and prosecute those involved."

Repeat retail thief set for sentencing May 24

As of Tuesday, prosecutors said, Graves remained free on bond.

Sentencing is set May 24 and Graves faces more than three years in prison, prosecutors said.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Woman used self-checkout to steal $60,000 of goods from SF Target
Woman Whose Husband Allegedly Drove Her Off A Cliff Pleads For His Release

Dharmesh Patel allegedly drove his Tesla off a 250-foot cliff on Jan. 2, 2023, with his family inside. San Mateo County Sheriff's Office/Associated Press

The wife of a California doctor who drove his Tesla off a cliff with their family trapped inside is asking a judge to place her husband in a mental health treatment program rather than sending him to prison.

We need him in our lives, Neha Patel, whose husband Dharmesh Patel is being tried for the attempted murder of herself and their two children, told a Redwood City judge Thursday, per The San Francisco Chronicle.

It has been over a year and a half since my children or I have seen or spoken to Dharmesh. We are not a family without him, she said via Zoom.

On Jan. 2, 2023, Dharmesh Patel was was driving along a dangerous stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway known as the Devils Slide, where numerous fatal accidents have occurred. His Tesla Model Y allegedly careened off a 250-foot cliff with Neha and their kids inside.

Police charged Dharmesh Patel with three counts of attempted murder. San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe previously told People that Neha warned first responders after the incident that her partner intentionally tried to kill us.

While the mother of two and her children survived, Neha Patel and one of her kids suffered serious injuries, per the Chronicle.

Dharmesh has pleaded not guilty to all charges, per the L.A. Times. He has claimed the crash was an accident.

Should the judge in Dharmesh Patels case rule in favor of diversion, he would be released from jail and placed in a two-year mental health program. He would be returned to criminal court, should he violate the conditions of his release.

The entire family miraculously survived and were hospitalized for relatively minor injuries. San Mateo County Sheriff's Office/Associated Press

The defense argued Thursday that Dharmesh Patel acted on a psychotic episode and major depressive disorder, which led him to believe his children were being sex-trafficked, per The Los Angeles Times. They argued these symptoms would be best treated outside of prison.

A doctor for the prosecution reportedly testified Thursday that Dharmesh Patel suffers from schizoaffective disorder, a related condition that also qualifies him for diversion, so long as he complies with doctors, per the Chronicle.

Now that we understand and know he has a treatable condition, things will be different, Neha Patel said in her testimony, according to the paper. I want members of the court to know the health and safety of my family is of paramount importance.

She said during her testimony that her husband has never had an episode in their 25 years together.

If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for mental health support. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

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Women charged with abuse leading to death of vulnerable person living in Chesterfield County facility

CHESTERFIELD, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS)  Two South Carolina women are accused of abandoning a person who later died residing in a facility for people with disabilities.

According to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, 27-year-old Janique Darrelle Stanton and Amani MyShawna McCray, 19, were charged April 25 in Chesterfield County with abuse or neglect resulting in death of a vulnerable adult.

According to state officials, the suspects knew the victim was not supposed to be left alone for any amount of time, but left her alone in her apartment for an undetermined amount of time. The victim lived in CHESCO Services housing, which serves Chesterfield, Marlboro, Kershaw, Richland and Lancaster counties.

When the suspects returned to the apartment, and found the victim in respiratory distress, they reportedly failed to neither contact emergency personnel in a timely fashion nor administer CPR.

The victim died before EMS arrived, SLED officials said.

Stanton, of Bennettsville, and McCray, of Cheraw, were booked at the Chesterfield County Detention Center. The case will be prosecuted by the 4th Circuit Solicitors Office.

SLEDs Ashley Burch is the prosecuting officer.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
BAGHDAD, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A Shiite militia in Iraq on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a drone attack on a site in Eilat in southern Israel.

The militia, known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, said in an online statement that its fighters launched a drone attack "on a vital site in Eilat on Tuesday evening" without providing additional details about the specific location targeted or any resulting casualties.

The statements stressed that the attacks were carried out "in solidarity with the people of Gaza," and the militia pledged to persist in targeting "the enemy's strongholds."

So far, there has been no official response from the Israeli side, but Israeli media said that residents of Eilat reported "seeing an interceptor missile launched over the city" on Tuesday night.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, 2023, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has launched multiple attacks on Israeli and U.S. bases in the region. 
Workers encouraged to move to Bourne, north of canal, in bylaw change at town meeting

BOURNE  Town meeting voters Monday night approved a $79.2 million operating budget, revised a bylaw to ease restrictions on accessory dwelling units and authorized $29,000 to fumigate the historic Cataumet Schoolhouse infested by powder point beetles.

The meeting went late as residents debated three requests for Community Preservation Act money.

Voters on a 121-94 tally rejected builder Vincent Michienzis $80,000 request to pay for engineering and soft-costs related to his $13.4 million proposal to construct 32 apartments, some affordable and others workforce, at 9 Sandwich Road in the village of Bourne. The measure had the support of the Finance Committee and Select Board.

Bourne Town Hall

The site involves the historic Keene House, which may be moved soon to The Museums at Aptucxet.

Preservation advocate John MacDonald opposed the request.

Historic Bourne village is going through a death by a thousand cuts, he said. In my lifetime, its going to become unrecognizable.

Builder Don Duberger agreed. He said a private developer should not be subsidized by town meeting and that Michienzi would not honor an agreement with the town.

Select Board Chair Mary Jane Mastrangelo and housing specialist Susan Ross, however, said it is always better to work with developers and keep such proposals to a smaller scale, to avoid a larger complexes of 200 units.

Mastrangelo said the vote on the Michienzi request was a crossroads decision for what Bourne will look like and who you want to live here.

On a 102-28 vote, residents supported a request for $135,000 in Community Preservation Act money to pay for roof repairs at the closed Hoxie School in North Sagamore where Annas Pals Beach House plans a retreat for immuno-compromised kids.

Former Select Board member Steve Mealy raised doubts about the proposal and Annas Pals' ability to raise its share for the roof repairs, but he supported the request. Former board member Judith Froman did not.

Operating budget is approved

The fiscal 2025 operating budget prompted no debate. Mastrangelo credited Town Administrator Marlene McCollem and the Finance Department with showing outstanding leadership" throughout a difficult budget process. Mastrangelo said it was a collaborative effort.

The general direction was to attempt to hold the town and school budget increases to a 3.5% increase over fiscal 2024, she said. That goal was achieved in the final budget, adding the town is working to increase its fiscal reserves.

The budget provides no new staff positions but keeps in place this years services in town government with its continuing personnel transition in key departments.

Voters approved a $1.6 million sewer division budget and $12.3 million for the landfill department. Both units are carried in enterprise fund accounting. Some $1,917,000 was also authorized for landfill expansion with the funds flowing from the facilitys retained earnings.

Capital outlay spending totals $4.4 million and includes $2.1 million in borrowing for sewage treatment plant repairs at the middle school.

Some $590,000 was authorized for eight revolving funds, including $175,000 for recreation programs. Voters also directed $296,000 from the free cash account to the capital stabilization fund, which as of February totaled $3.2 million. And $20,000 from free cash will flow to human services programs.

Fumigation project described as 'urgent'

The Cataumet Schoolhouse fumigation project, financed through CPA money, is characterized as urgent. Work will be undertaken by Western Fumigation of Pennsylvania this summer. The one-room museum is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Residents approved spending $150,000 in CPA money for an in-house study with an eye toward overhauling Clark Field at North Sagamore, Chester Park in Monument Beach, the ballfield off Barlows Landing Road at Pocasset and Keith Field, Sagamore.

Voters OK'd tweaks to accessory dwelling bylaw. The purpose of revising the bylaw, according to proponents, is to broaden the range of Bourne housing choices: to help with the Capes housing crunch, encourage workforce units and persuade commuters to move here instead of crossing the Cape Cod Canal bridges twice each work day.

Article 26, requesting authority to pursue property easements along the Phase 1 path of the Bourne Rail Trail bike path from the canal railroad bridge to Gray Gables, was indefinitely postponed. Phases 2, 3 and 4 remain in abeyance.

The Cape Cod Times is providing this coverage for free as a public service. Please take a moment to support local journalism by subscribing.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Bourne rejects developer's request for $80K for housing project costs
CARROLL COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) The Carroll County Sheriffs Office says a man from Wytheville who was wanted on several charges is now in custody.

The Sheriffs Office says on May 7, deputies along with the Virginia State Police Twin County Narcotics Task Force served a search warrant in the 80 block of Riggins Road in Austinville. During the search, law enforcement allegedly seized a large amount of suspected methamphetamine.

The Sheriffs Office said 45-year-old Roy Christopher Cumbee was arrested and taken to Carroll County.

Man faces charges after deputies allegedly discover guns, possible explosive devices in Bedford County home

Cumbee was served on outstanding charges and charged with manufacturing, selling, giving, distributing, or possessing with intent to manufacture sell, give, or distribute a controlled substance or an imitation controlled substance of over 10 grams.

He is being held without bond at the New River Valley Regional Jail.

The Sheriffs Office says Cumbee is currently on state probation for narcotics and weapons violations from 2019.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFXRtv.
Xi Says China Will Never Forget the US Bombing of Its Embassy

(Bloomberg) -- President Xi Jinping vowed to never forget NATOs deadly bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, hours before arriving in Serbia on a swing through Europe aimed at dividing Brussels support for the US.

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Twenty-five years ago today, NATO flagrantly bombed the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, killing three Chinese journalist, Xi said, in a Tuesday article published in Politika, Serbias oldest daily newspaper. That we should never forget, he added. We will never allow such tragic history to repeat itself.

During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, US missiles killed three Chinese journalists in a strike the White House later called a mistake and blamed on faulty maps. That event sparked widespread anti-US protests across China and cemented Beijings mistrust of US-led groups such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Xis visit to Serbia exactly a quarter of a century after the bombing is part of three-leg tour that includes stops in France and Hungary. The Chinese leader is trying to convince European nations that his nations huge economy is too large to turn away from, as Brussels unleashes a salvo of trade probes and aligns with Washington on concerns over Chinas over capacity and national security risks.

Adding to the political theater, Xi will be in Europe on the same day Russian President Vladimir Putin is inaugurated into his fifth term, as concern grows in Western Europe over his war in Ukraine.

Xis NATO criticism helps explain his governments rationale for supporting the Kremlin in the wake of its invasion. Chinese officials have referred to the Belgrade bombing multiple times in recent years, as Beijing signaled solidarity with Russias position that NATO aggression on its borders necessitated the war.

The US and European leaders have urged Xi to use his relationship with Putin to bring an end to what German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently branded an insane war during a trip to Beijing.

Xi told his French counterpart in Paris on Monday that he opposes the war in Ukraine being used to place responsibility on a third country, tarnish its image and incite a new Cold War. President Emmanuel Macron reiterated there cannot be security in Europe without security in Ukraine.

Ties between China and Serbia, which is not an EU member, have strengthened under Xi, even as Beijings broader relationship with Europe frays over human-rights issues and trade spats.

In the Politika article, Xi wrote that the friendship between Beijing and Belgrade was forged with the blood of our compatriots, but would only grow tall and sturdy.

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YMCA bus crash last summer sent teens to the hospital. What we now know about the cause

Last summer, a Treasure Valley YMCA summer camp bus rolled over on Idaho 55, injuring dozens. On Monday, the Boise County Prosecutors office blamed the crash on the bus drivers excessive speed.

The statement built on State Police findings last fall that determined the bus had veered off the roadway, overcorrected and rolled over, the Idaho Statesman reported in September. No other vehicles were involved in the collision.

This decision was considered very carefully, particularly given the ages of those involved, the nature of the injuries, as well as the ongoing community safety concern on that road, Alex Sosa, the countys prosecuting attorney, wrote on Monday.

The bus was carrying about 30 people, 11 of whom were injured in the crash, the Statesman reported in August. Nearly all the passengers were sent to the hospital, but all were discharged within a week of the crash.

The release did not include information about consequences the driver, a Caldwell woman who has not been named, may face for this infraction. The prosecutors office did not respond to an emailed question about these consequences.

Why did YMCA camp bus crash on Idaho 55? Idaho State Police releases cause

YMCA bus crash on Idaho 55 sent many teenagers to hospitals. Heres the latest
ALBANY, New York  A measure that would codify abortion rights in the New York constitution, as well as other equal rights, was tossed off the ballot Tuesday, a blow to Democrats' efforts to get the question to voters in November.

A conservative judge in upstate Livingston County rejected the measure in a court ruling, questioning the legality of the ballot question. Democrats hope the measure will drive out turnout in a critical election year where New York will have a half dozen battleground House seats that could determine control of the chamber next year.

Democrats plan to appeal with the assumption that Democratic-dominated higher courts will eventually let the ERA stay on the November ballot  one of a number of states with abortion rights measure on the ballot. They have been preparing to use the ERA and its enshrinement of abortion rights into the state constitution as the core of a $20 million effort to drive out voters.

"This is a disappointing court decision, but we will appeal because New Yorkers deserve to be protected by their Constitution, especially as our basic freedoms and rights are under attack," Attorney General Tish James said in a statement.



But for now, the decision in the lawsuit brought by Assembly Republican Marjorie Byrnes handed Republicans some momentum on the issue.

Once again the legislature and Governor Hochul are found to have violated the state constitution, state GOP Chair Ed Cox said in a statement. In their rush to pass this amendment, the Legislature never held a single hearing on the proposal, never consulted with outside constitutional experts, and falsely asserted this amendment was necessary to protect abortion rights in the state.

Byrnes had argued that Democrats failed to follow the proper steps before sending the amendment to voters. The state constitution says that before legislators vote on amendment, the attorney general shall be given 20 days to render an opinion on whether it conflicts with other parts of the constitution.

The amendment was introduced and passed on July 1, 2022, before an opinion had been offered.

In order to amend the constitution, the majority violated the constitution, Byrnes said in an interview earlier this year.

Supreme Court Judge Daniel Doyle agreed and dismissed Democratic arguments that they had substantially complied with the constitutional requirements.

Substantial compliance is not compliance, and this Court cannot condone actions taken by the Legislature in derogation of the expressed will of the People, he wrote.

In the weeks the case was argued, Democrats accused the GOP of forum shopping and warned that they might be dealt a temporary setback in Livingston County.

But they were confident that they would eventually win once the case reached the Court of Appeals  which has recently handed Democrats victories on issues such as redistricting  and the issue would remain on the ballot.

This ruling is nothing but a baseless attack by the anti-abortion minority, and we are confident it will be overturned on appeal, Andrew Taverrite, spokesperson for the pro-ERA New Yorkers for Equal Rights, said in a statement. Our focus will remain on educating and empowering voters so that they can vote to protect their fundamental rights and reproductive freedoms in November.

Democrats have tried to focus the debate over the ERA on its pro-abortion language as they attempt to energize their base in a state critical swing races in the New York City suburbs and in upstate.

Republicans, meanwhile, have focused on everything else that the amendment does. That includes its protections of transgender rights, an issue highlighted by former Rep. Lee Zeldin at a Monday appearance in the Capitol.
NEW YORK (PIX11)  Outdoor dining in New York City is here to stay, but changes are coming in August and November.

The NYC Department of Transportation launched The Dining Out NYC Marketplace website on Monday to try to help restaurant owners who want to participate in the permanent program to keep the street sheds and sidewalk structures.

We want to make it as easy as possible for businesses to participate in Dining Out NYC, Ydanis Rodriguez, the NYC DOT commissioner, told PIX11 News.

The website includes a search engine for vendors that can help restaurants comply with the new prototypes for street sheds.

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The site has businesses that can provide the services they need to remove, install, and assemble the new type of dining out structure, Rodriguez said.

According to the DOT, restaurants participating in the current roadway program must apply for Dining Out NYC by Aug. 3.

Restaurants with existing setups that do not apply for Dining Out NYC must remove their setups from the roadway by Aug. 3. Restaurants that do apply before Aug. 3 must have a compliant setup in place within 30 days of their applications approval.

If a restaurant is waiting for approval beyond Aug. 3, it can continue operating under the old rules.

The sidewalk program is year-round, but setups on roadways are now seasonal. Participants in Dining Out NYC will have to take their setups down by Nov. 29 and can set them up again beginning April 1, 2025.

It is kind of a lot of work, so were waiting to see how everyone else responds. Wed have to build a whole new setup and then be able to store it every year, over the winterit would be very difficult to do, Greg Baumgartner, the manager of Karazishi Botan on Smith Street in Brooklyn, told PIX11 News.

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Marco Erdo, the owner of Levant on Smith, told PIX11 News that his current street shed cost $20,000 to build and that it doubles our revenue.

He is concerned about the cost of bringing it into compliance and adds that he has nowhere to store it over the winter.

The basement is for storing our wine, our dry food, so it is going to be very hard for us, Erdo said.

The DOT points out that the vendors on the marketplace site offer more easily storable offerings and services like setup, tear-down, and storage.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
New York governor forced to apologize for saying Black kids in the Bronx dont know the word computer

New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks at a press conference regarding the proliferation of illegal cannabis stores in February (Copyright 2024. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has been forced to walk back her comments after she claimed that Black children in the Bronx dont know the word computer.

Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in California on Monday about her states artificial intelligence initiative (AI), Ms Hochul claimed: We have young Black kids growing up in the Bronx who dont even know what the word computer is And I want the world opened up to all of them.

After facing backlash over her remarks, the governor apologized and said that she misspoke.

I misspoke and I regret it, Ms Hochul told The New York Post in a statement.

Of course Black children in the Bronx know what computers are  the problem is that they too often lack access to the technology needed to get on track to high-paying jobs in emerging industries like AI.

New York State Assembly members from the Bronx branded her comments as misinformed and disheartening.

Amanda Septimo, an assembly member for the 84th district including the Bronx, called Ms Hochuls comments harmful, deeply misinformed, and genuinely appalling.

She wrote: I would invite Governor Hochul to visit us in The Bronx to experience firsthand the intelligence, resilience, and joy that radiate from Bronx children and residents each day.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks at a press conference regarding the proliferation of illegal cannabis stores in February (Copyright 2024. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Assembly member John Zaccaro Jr also condemned the governors comments in a statement.

The underlying perception conveyed about Black and brown children from the Bronx is not only disheartening but also deeply concerning, he wrote.

They are not only capable but deserving of every opportunity that their counterparts are offered.

Karines Reyes, who also represents an area in the Bronx, similarly said she was deeply disturbed by Ms Hochuls remarks and the underlying perception that she has of Black & brown children from the Bronx.

She added: Our children are bright, brilliant, extremely capable, and more than deserving of any opportunities that are extended to other kids.

Do better, Ms Reyes said.
New York may become the first state to bar gun companies from selling pistols that can easily be converted into machine guns.

Aproposed law, introduced Tuesday by Democratic state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, takes aim squarely at Glock. The Austrian company, whose polymer-framed pistols have played a dominant role in the handgun market since the 1980s, has faced growing criticism from gun safety groups for declining to modify a design that easily converts into an automatic weapon.

Any business operating in New York State must take basic responsibility for its behavior in the marketplace, Myrie said in a press release. When an industry knows the harm its products are causing, but refuses to take meaningful steps to prevent it, government must step up to protect New Yorkers.

If the bill passes, gun dealers who continue to sell easily convertible pistols could face felony charges.

A machine gun conversion device for a Glock hand gun in custody of the ATF Boston Bureau. The device can convert the Glock into a machine gun after the "switch" is installed. Boston Globe via Getty Images

The bill defines convertible pistols as those that can be converted into a machine-gun solely by the installation or attachment of a pistol converter.

Aseparate proposed law would require firearms manufacturers to take reasonable steps to prevent the installation and use of a pistol converter. If that bill were to become law, companies that fail to take such action could be sued under a New York law passed in 2021 that allows people affected by gun violence to sue for damages in civil court.

Glock did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But if Myries bill were to become law, the company would likely challenge it, leading to a prolonged legal battle.

Tom King, the president of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, said the proposed laws language was very vague, contending that aftermarket tinkerers would keep finding ways to modify firearms.

An engineer or an inventor or a designer can overcome whatever the new characteristics of the redesigned firearm would be, King told HuffPost. Technology moves on.

The spokesperson for the National Shooting Sports Federation, Mark Oliva, said the bill as written would apply to far more guns than Glocks.

This bill would outlaw any firearm that they very vaguely define as easily modified, Oliva said. At a minimum, thats every striker-fired pistol out there.

Glocks are not the only firearms that can be turned into a machine gun, but they are the ones that are most commonly altered in this way. Unlike many popular pistols, Glocks typically feature a removable slide plate. When a Glock pistol is fired, the recoil from the explosion within the gun forces the slide back. As it resets, a part called the trigger bar rises to catch it, which holds back the firing pin, preventing another shot.

Replacing the slide plate with a small device popularly known as a Glock switch, however, allows the shooter to toggle into fully automatic fire. The switch works by holding down the trigger bar, which prevents it from resetting.

Such devices, generically called autosears, have long been available for many brands and types of firearms, including semiautomatic rifles. But the ease with which Glocks can be converted into machine guns has created a thriving black market targeting the companys pistols.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recoveredmore than 31,000 such devices over the last five years. Many are shipped from foreign countries and sold on websites providing false information about their legality. They can be made cheaply on 3D printers.

Federal law classifies autosears, including Glock switches, as machine guns. Possessing one is a felony under federal law, even if the device is not attached to a firearm.

Myries proposed law would make possession of an autosear a state felony as well.

The law aims to combat that rising public safety threat, said Nick Suplina, the senior vice president of law and police at Everytown for Gun Safety, which helped craft the measure. The devices are increasingly turning up at crime scenes nationwide  perhaps most famously in the2022 mass shooting that left six dead and 12 injured in Sacramento.

Only one brand makes it so easy to turn a semiautomatic pistol into a machine gun and that brand is Glock, Suplina told HuffPost. A Glock switch costs $25 and a few minutes of time to put an automatic weapon in someones hands. That makes this the number one threat in the era of reemergence of machine guns.

The nonprofit Everytown For Gun Safety is also helping represent the city of Chicago in a lawsuit filed against Glock last month, which accuses the company of endangering city residents by refusing to make the guns harder to convert.

Democrats control both houses of the New York legislature, and the state has a Democratic governor. New York has passed a flurry of gun control legislation  including a red flag law and raising the age to buy a semi-automatic rifle to 21  after an 18-year-old white supremacist killed 10 Black people in a mass shooting in Buffalo two years ago.
MOGADISHU, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The UN World Food Program (WFP) announced on Tuesday that it needs 228 million U.S. dollars between April and September to expand its humanitarian assistance efforts in Somalia.

The latest projections for the April to June period indicate that 3.4 million people in Somalia are facing acute food insecurity, showing improvement, especially in rural areas where enhanced pasture and water for agriculture are expected, the WFP said.

"High levels of malnutrition persist in Somalia with 1.7 million children under five expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2024, including 430,000 children likely to face life-threatening severe acute malnutrition," the agency said in its report.

The WFP said it has signed a partnership agreement with the UN refugee agency UNHCR to work toward effective support to refugees, asylum seekers and returnees.

"Within this agreement, the WFP is leveraging on its expertise on cash-based transfers to cover food and nutritional needs of refugees, asylum seekers, and returnees for a period of six months," it said.

In March, the WFP said it reached 2 million people with 31 million dollars in cash transfers and 3,205 metric tonnes of in-kind food, including 232,000 people served under an expansion of the government-led shock responsive safety net for human capital project.

According to the UN agency, forecasts suggest that the total rainfall from April to June in the upcoming rainy season is likely to be normal, with some areas experiencing above-average precipitation.

"However, this marks the third season in a row with average to above-average rainfall, which should aid in the gradual recovery of agriculture and livestock," the WFP said. 
Ukraine and Spain finalized negotiations on the text of a bilateral security agreement, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 7 after a call with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Over 30 countries have joined the Group of Seven (G7) Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine so far. The U.K., Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Finland, and Latvia have already signed bilateral agreements with Kyiv.

Ukraine is preparing bilateral security agreements with seven more countries, including Spain.

G7 members presented their plan for long-term security commitments for Ukraine at the NATO summit in Vilnius in early July last year.

Under this plan, individual countries would provide bilateral support to help Kyiv repel the ongoing Russian invasion and deter any future aggression.

The security guarantees would entail explicit and long-lasting obligations and bolster Ukraine's ability to resist Russian aggression. The guarantees would also cover sanctions, financial aid, and post-war reconstruction.

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Sanchez also confirmed his participation in Ukraine's global peace summit to be held in Switzerland on June 15-16.

"I am grateful to Prime Minister Sanchez for his active support of the peace formula and its promotion among countries in Latin America and Africa," the president said.

Zelensky and Sanchez further discussed the continuation of military aid to Kyiv.

Ukraine has received Patriot anti-aircraft missiles from Madrid, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced on May 6. The country's move is among the latest from Western nations responding to calls from Kyiv for more air defenses in the face of escalating Russian missile and drone attacks on cities across Ukraine.

Read also: Yermak: Ukraine aims to finalize security agreement with US in May

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Zelenskyy's Office hopes to complete security agreement with US in May

The Office of the President of Ukraine has reported "tangible progress" in the work of Ukraine and the United States on a bilateral security agreement to follow up on the G7 declaration on security guarantees. The parties hope to agree on the final text in May.

Source: Office of the President of Ukraine

Details: The press service said that Kyiv and Washington had held the fourth round of talks on a future security agreement.

They discussed the "most fundamental provisions" and the wording of several issues. They also set a date for the next round of talks but did not name it.

"I am grateful to the negotiating teams for the job they have already done  there has been tangible progress in agreeing on the text of the document. We need to speed up the process to finalise the bilateral security agreement this month," said Andrii Yermak, Head of the Office of the President.

Background:

In early May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine was preparing seven new bilateral security agreements, including with the United States.

So far, Ukraine has signed bilateral security agreements with nine countries, the latest being Latvia. Negotiations have already been completed for an agreement with Norway, which is also expected to be signed.

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A collectible embroidered patch created to honor the first woman to command a U.S. spacecraft features a geometric pattern representing the glow of her space shuttle lifting off into the night sky.



The colorful, diamond-shaped shards could also be seen as the figurative "glass ceiling" that Eileen Collins broke through on her way to the stars.



The latest patch from the 59,000-member Space Hipsters group on Facebook, each Eileen Collins "Signature Edition" emblem includes the astronaut's autograph sewn into the design. Sales of the patches benefit Taking Up Space, a nonprofit organization empowering middle-school-age Native American girls to soar beyond their barriers by sending them to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.



The second woman to attend the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Collins was selected to become a NASA astronaut in 1990. She was the first woman to fly as the pilot on a space shuttle mission when she launched on STS-63 in 1995, and she flew again in the right-side seat on STS-84 two years later. Both flights visited the space station Mir, with the earlier being the first shuttle mission to rendezvous with the Russian outpost and the latter the sixth to dock there.



Then in 1999, Collins became the first woman to command a U.S. spacecraft, leading the STS-93 crew aboard space shuttle Columbia on a mission to deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Six years later, after the loss of Columbia on a subsequent mission, Collins led the orbiter fleet's return to flight, commanding the STS-114 crew on shuttle Discovery.

Related: New film 'Spacewoman' to celebrate NASA's Eileen Collins, 1st woman space commander and pilot

a smiling woman in a blue flight suit sits in front of an American flag

In total, Collins logged more than 36 days in space over the course of her four missions. Collins was the 21st U.S. woman to fly into space and the 27th worldwide. She was the 328th person to leave Earth's atmosphere and the 321st to orbit the planet, according to the Association of Space Explorers' Registry of Space Travelers.



Collins penned her memoirs, "Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars," in 2021. It is now the basis for an upcoming documentary, "Spacewoman."



Collins' Signature Edition patch depicts her history-making STS-93 launch and includes stars in its border to represent each of her shuttle missions. Other stars in the emblem's design symbolize the first woman to fly into space, Soviet-era cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova; the first U.S. female astronaut in space, Sally Ride; and the four women who have lost their lives in the pursuit of spaceflight and exploration, Judy Resnik, Christa McAuliffe, Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark.



As with previous Signature Edition releases, the Collins patch has been produced by A-B Emblem, the North Carolina-based company that also is NASA's supplier and made the STS-63, STS-84, STS-93 and STS-114 emblems that Collins wore into space.



There are four versions of Collins' patch offered for donations to Taking Up Space:

A limited edition of 50 "gold" patches with Collins' facsimile signature embroidered in metallic gold thread, the shuttle's plume in orange thread and individually numbered display cards, each hand-signed by Collins.



A limited edition of 100 "silver" patches "signed" in silver metallic thread with the shuttle's plume in shades of blue. They also come on numbered cards autographed by Collins.



Two open edition patches that lack metallic thread and come without a display card. Both versions include Collins' signature in white thread, and are available in either blue or orange colorways.

three circular patches showing a space shuttle launching and featuring the name

RELATED STORIES:

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 International Women's Day: Female astronauts keep making strides off Earth

The patches are priced at $75 for each gold edition, $50 for silver and $15 for the open edition (or $25 for a set of the blue and orange variants). There is a limit of one gold and two silver patches per person.



There are also 4-inch (10 centimeters) vinyl stickers of the open edition blue and orange designs available for $3 ($5 for two) as add-on to patch orders. Details on how to place orders can be found on the Space Hipsters Facebook group.



The Collins patch is the fifth entry in the Space Hipsters' Signature Edition series. The group previously offered emblems celebrating Apollo 13 pilot Fred Haise and shuttle astronauts Mike Mullane, Hoot Gibson and John Herrington.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2024 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
Amazon to spend nearly $9 billion to expand cloud infra in Singapore

(Reuters) -Amazon.com plans to spend S$12 billion ($8.88 billion) over the next four years to expand its cloud computing infrastructure in Singapore, Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on Tuesday.

The investment adds to the S$11.5 billion the company has already invested in the Asia Pacific Region till 2023, bringing its total planned spend to more than S$23 billion by 2028, AWS said in a statement.

Southeast Asia's top leaders are scrambling for a bigger slice of the global tech pie, with Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore hosting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in December, and Apple CEO Tim Cook visiting Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia last month.

Recent investments in the region include Apple's plan to invest over $250 million into its operations in Singapore.

AWS also announced a collaboration with the Singapore government, public sector organisations and enterprises to help accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI in Singapore, the statement said.

"AWS is doubling down on its cloud infrastructure investments in Singapore from 2024 to 2028 to support customer demand, and help reinforce Singapores status as an attractive regional innovation launchpad," AWS Country Manager Priscilla Chong said.

The announcement at the AWS ASEAN Summit in Singapore marks Amazon's latest move in its plan to build AWS infrastructure across Southeast Asia. The company had previously announced a $5 billion investment in Thailand and a $6 bln spend in Malaysia.

Amazon's announcement comes days after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced cloud services investments worth $2.2 billion in Malaysia and $1.7 billion in Indonesia during a visit to the region.

With a young tech-savvy population of 670 million, Southeast Asia has seen increasing interest from technology giants.

Reuters reported in December that Malaysian conglomerate YTL's utilities unit would partner with Nvidia to develop AI infrastructure in a $4.3 billion investment deal.

On Monday, Malaysias trade minister trade minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said Google was also planning to invest in the country with an announcement expected "in the near future", according to a report by the state news agency.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is keen to have Nvidia's Huang visit again, with communications minister Budi Arie Setiadi saying last month that they had invited him.

($1 = 1.3516 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Dagmarah Mackos and Fanny Potkin; Writing by Xinghui Kok; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Janane Venkatraman and Varun H K)
One of the best ways to go about watching the best new movies to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Max (HBO), and more is with an Apple TV. The little TV-side box makes for a simple way of accessing your favorite movies, TV shows, and games, and its also a great device to consider alongside any of the best TV deals. There are some ways to save on an Apple TV available right now. Both new and refurbished models are available, with prices on new Apple TVs ranking up there among the best Apple deals weve found.

If youd like to make the Apple software ecosystem a part of your home theater experience read onward for all of the best Apple TV deals available, and if you need a good TV to pair one with be sure to check out all of the Sony TV deals, Samsung TV deals, LG TV deals, Vizio TV deals, and TCL TV deals going on right now as well.

Best Apple TV deals

Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

The latest Apple TV 4K (2022) is potentially overpowered for what it is. Most people will simply want an easy way to stream content but this system also has a reasonable processor that means you can play games on it too. It wont be an essential feature for everyone but being able to add on a controller and enjoy some gaming without the need for a dedicated console is a neat touch. For AV enthusiasts, theres HDR10+ support which is useful for Samsung TV owners. The older Apple TV from 2021 lacks HDR10+ support but is still pretty speedy for everything else you might wish to do. If that all sounds good to you, take a look at the best Apple TV deals below.

Best refurbished Apple TV deals

Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

A refurbished Apple TV really isnt much different from buying new. Its the same item you want but its had a previous owner. Fortunately, from the retailers below, its still been put through a rigorous testing process and you get a full one year warranty so theres not much to lose here. Refurbished Apple TVs tend to be older than the latest model so they can be a little slower but Apple supports its products for a while to come so you wont have to worry about missing out on updates or app support.

Which Apple TV should you buy?

There are a lot of different Apple TV models thanks to Apple producing one of the best streaming devices in recent years. While a much older model might not sound very exciting, it can actually be a good idea if you just want a cheap and simple streaming device for a spare room or bedroom. Most of the older models are HD models so if you want to hook it up to a 4K TV, youll miss out on the superior resolution. Also, older models tend to be slower so if you want to play games, you may find it struggling. Were not counting on anyone exclusively playing games on their Apple TV but its a nice bonus if you want to entertain the kids without hooking up a full games console.

For many people, it makes sense to stick with the 4K models so youre future proofed even if you dont currently have a 4K TV. Also, they tend to come with more responsive remotes, while there are also better connections for your other devices such as Thread support on the 128GB 2022 model and an Ethernet connection. Its worth looking at those finer details.

On that note, how much storage do you need? Probably not much. Standard streaming apps take very little space and you only really need the extra room if you plan on installing a lot of games. If you come across a sweet deal on a high-capacity one, you may as well but its far from essential for most people.
The launch of two astronauts on a Boeing commercial spacecraft will mark a first for the company, but will also bring U.S. human spaceflight back to a rocket and launch site that has not been used by crews for more than 50 years.



The Crew Flight Test (CFT) for Boeing's CST-100 Starliner capsule is ready to fly NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams on an eight-day mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for today (May 6) at 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 GMT on May 7).



The long-awaited launch, which follows two uncrewed orbital flight tests in 2019 and 2022, respectively, will lead to the Starliner conducting regular crew rotation missions to the space station beginning next year.



To reach orbit, the Starliner will fly atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41) in Florida. The pad is located less than 7 miles (11 kilometers) from where the first and last (up until now) astronauts launched on Atlas rockets.

Related: How to watch Boeing's 1st Starliner astronaut launch on May 6 live online

Spanning 60 years

"There's some history surrounding this mission," said Gary Wentz, ULA's vice president for government and commercial programs, at a prelaunch press conference on Friday (May 3). "Back in 1962, John Glenn flew on the first Atlas and coincidentally, 62 years later, we're flying our 100th Atlas [V] with Butch and Suni on board. So that's very significant for our team."



Originally designed as the United States' first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Atlas D rocket was modified to launch the first Americans into Earth orbit. Four NASA astronauts flew on the Convair booster, including Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Walter "Wally" Schirra and and Gordon Cooper.

close-up photo of a white rocket launching into a blue sky

On May 15, 1963, Cooper's Mercury-Atlas 9 mission lifted off from Complex 14, just south and slightly east of the Starliner pad at SLC-41.



"It was certainly beautiful," said Cooper as he caught his last sight of his ride into orbit as it fell away from "Faith 7," his Mercury spacecraft. "It was very bright silver in color, with a frosty white band around the center portion of it."



Although they are in the same family of rockets, the Atlas D and the Atlas V have very little, if anything in common, other than their name. The modern Atlas, designed by Lockheed Martin, is powered by a Russian RD-180 engine on its first stage and a Centaur upper stage.



Introduced in 2002, the Atlas V is the United States' longest-serving active rocket. The Starliner will be one of the vehicle's last payloads, as it is set to retire after 16 more flights to make way for ULA's new Vulcan heavy-lift rocket.



ULA modified the Atlas V to be able to fly crewed Starliner missions.



"For this, we designed two different technologies to support human spaceflight," said Wentz. "We put an emergency detection system on board that monitors all of the vehicle's systems, and in the event that we had an off-nominal performance of one of those systems and it required the crew to perform an abort, this will actually automatically trigger that abort."



"As well, [we built] a dual-engine Centaur, which is really bringing it back from a heritage vehicle that we flew previously, and what we are flying in the future on Vulcan," he said.

Related: Facts about ULA's new Vulcan Centaur rocket

Return to the Cape (or not?)

In addition to bringing the Atlas back into the family of human-rated rockets, the launch of Boeing's Starliner CFT mission will also be the first crewed flight to depart Earth from the same side of the Cape as where all astronauts flew from prior to the first missions to the moon.



"One other historical fact," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson at Friday's briefing. "This is the first time since the Apollo 7 launch that a human astronaut launch is actually on what used to be the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and now is, of course, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station."



Florida's Space Coast, as managed by the Eastern Range, is divided into two major launch sites: the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (as it is known today), which dates back to 1949, and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, founded in 1962. On Oct. 11, 1968, NASA's first crewed Apollo mission, Apollo 7, launched from Complex 34 into Earth orbit. It was the last time (until now) that a crew lifted off from a pad on the Cape side of the range.



(All subsequent astronaut launches, between 1968 and today, have been from Kennedy's Launch Complex 39 A and B pads.)



By journalistic dateline and general understanding, SLC-41 is a Cape Canaveral launch pad, but the distinction is less clear.

A NASA land use map shows Space Launch Complex-41, indicated by red arrow, as being on Kennedy Space Center property.

RELATED STORIES:

 Boeing Starliner rolls out to launch pad for 1st astronaut flight on May 6 (photos)

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While ULA leased the pad and its associated facilities from the Air Force, the land on which both sit is part of Kennedy Space Center. A land use map published by NASA shows SLC-41 on the agency's property and a "notice of availability" offers the launch site for vertical launch operations.



So is Starliner launching from the Cape or Kennedy? An analogy for the situation may be the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. While the building's footprint is in Manhattan, the land it occupies and the facilities atop it are neither part of New York or the United States.



In a similar way, LC-41 sits within Kennedy Space Center property, but the Atlas pad is the responsibility of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.



"NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center and the Department of the Air Force have maintained a relationship of cooperation for the use of Launch Complex 41 for over 25 years. This cooperation has provided mutual benefit to both federal partners for many years," read a NASA statement. "The current agreement began Jan. 1, 2024, and may be renewed annually for nine additional years. This cooperation will continue to benefit NASA and the United States Air Force as both agencies strive to complete their missions in the most efficient manner possible."

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2024 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
Head of NASA Says He Trusts SpaceX Because Someone Other Than Elon Musk Is Running It

Get Owned

NASA has hedged many of its bets on SpaceX despite its controversial and majorly overworked owner  and as the agency's director now suggests, that's mainly because Elon Musk isn't running it.

In an interview with NPR, NASA director Bill Nelson gave a fascinating and telling answer when asked about Musk's ownership of the spaceflight firm that enjoys tens of billions of dollars in government contracts.

"Elon Musk's decision-making has come under a lot of scrutiny in recent years when it comes to some of his other companies, Twitter and Tesla," interviewer Scott Detrow asked. "Are you concerned that so much of this plan is in the hands of Elon Musk at this point in time?"

"Elon Musk... one of the most important decisions he made, as a matter of fact, is he picked a president named Gwynne Shotwell," Nelson demurred. "She runs SpaceX. She is excellent. And so I have no concerns."

Cause For Concern

This isn't the first time the NASA director and former Florida senator has expressed similar sentiments.

A few months after Musk bought Twitter  though before he disastrously renamed it "X"  in late 2022, Nelson recounted to NBC News his relief when discussing the acquisition with the SpaceX president.

"Tell me that the distraction that Elon might have on Twitter is not going to affect SpaceX," Nelson recalled querying Shotwell.

In response, she apparently told him that it hadn't harmed the spaceflight company and that he had "nothing to worry about."

"I hugged her with a smile on my face, because I know she is running that thing," the NASA director continued. "Shes running SpaceX."

Commercial P-U

All the same, the former deputy director of NASA remarked in a tell-all memoir released in 2022 that prior to taking over as head of the agency, Nelson was even more anti-Musk than he is now.

In her book "Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age," former deputy director Lori Garver said that when he was still a senator, Nelson "led the opposition" to SpaceX, which she championed while spearheading what became the Commercial Crew Program. In one private meeting, as Garver recounted, Nelson even shouted at her to "'get your boy Elon in line.'"

While he's publicly softened on Musk, Nelson can't seem to help but let his animosity towards the bombastic multi-hyphenate show now and again  and as the person in charge of NASA, which has invested so heavily in SpaceX, it's not hard to see why.

More on SpaceX: SpaceX Employees Getting Wounded at Incredible Rates
Incredible home of former Apple designer achieves first-of-its-kind status in neighborhood  check out the details

A historic neighborhood in Louisville, Colorado, has an upgraded addition after a former Apple high-level design engineer requested a modern and eco-friendly home.

As detailed by Inhabitat, the Fargo home is the first in the city to achieve the distinction of net zero, with its pollution-reducing features negating the emissions released by operations.

One challenge to constructing the home was the limited amount of space. DAJ Design, the architecture firm that made the engineer's vision a reality, explains on its website that the lot is only 37  feet wide. Part of the solution was to make the home three stories instead of a single level, including a subterranean basement.

Meanwhile, the east-west orientation lends itself well to the client's pollution-reduction goals. DAJ Design notes there is plenty of light for the second-floor photovoltaic panels to absorb and convert the sun's rays into clean energy.

That solar power, along with a ground-source geothermal heat pump, means that Fargo doesn't require natural gas like other homes in the neighborhood.

Natural gas is less polluting than coal  the dirtiest form of energy  but that doesn't mean it's a major step up, as gas is part of the trio of fuels primarily driving the rise of global temperatures.

Our warmer planet has caused extreme weather to become more common, leading to increased insurance costs and the search for structures that can withstand damaging events.

Happily, there are several innovative techniques to create weather-resilient homes. However, depending more on clean energy, as the Fargo home does, helps eliminate heat-trapping gases generated by dirty fuels during traditional heating and cooling.

Installing a heat pump also comes with financial perks. While DAJ Design and Inhabitat didn't provide any specifics on electrical costs for Fargo, the energy-efficient devices can save the average person nearly $700 every year.

The 3,453-square-foot home also eschews a high-maintenance, water-guzzling traditional grass lawn in favor of bi-folding windows and doors for ventilation and an indoor-outdoor kitchen to maximize exterior space.

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This article was originally published in Chalkbeat Newark.

More than 7,000 cameras equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities will be installed in Newark schools, under a $12 million contract approved Thursday by the Newark Board of Education.

District officials say the high-tech surveillance system is meant to make schools safer, but security experts warn that systems with such capabilities could result in an invasion of privacy or could potentially misidentify items or students.

Turn-Key Technologies Inc., based in Sayreville, N.J., will install the cameras and their required servers and storage across schools this summer as part of a two-year contract. Approving the contract was time-sensitive, said Valerie Wilson, Newarks school business administrator, as district officials want the 7,700 cameras  roughly one for every five students  in place by Aug. 31, before the start of the new school year.

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The project will be funded in part by federal COVID relief dollars, specifically, American Rescue Plan dollars that expire at the end of September, in conjunction with local funds and grants, Wilson added.

Board member Vereliz Santana said the project was comprehensive and ambitious and asked for routine updates as installation begins in June. Other members raised questions about how the system would work to detect vaping.

Its a large bid, as you can see from the funds that are being allocated, but we want to make effective use of our federal funding, said Wilson during Thursdays meeting.

The new system comes as city leaders and advocates call for measures to reduce violence among youth in Newark.

The city will begin enforcing a youth curfew on Friday. The rule is in response to an increase in youth violence, said Mayor Ras Baraka last week, which includes two shooting incidents this school year. In November, a 15-year-old Central High School student was shot during a drive-by and in March, another two students were shot outside West Side High School.

Turn-Keys new system will expand the districts surveillance capabilities, going beyond its current camera system to detect weapons and track people and cars across schools by using license plate and facial recognition. Last year, Newark schools said new technology was needed because its current security set-up is outdated, inefficient, pointing to no remote access, storage, and other limitations.

In May 2023, the district said it expected to install cameras by the end of that year after requesting bids from surveillance technology companies in September 2023. But the installation was delayed for almost a year after bidders did not meet the New Jersey Alarm or Locksmith License requirement, prompting the district to revise its project specifications and request bids for a second time in April 2024, Wilson said.

In addition to upgrading the districts surveillance technology, the new setup will use an Avigilon surveillance system, a type of framework that allows Newark to expand its systems as security needs change or develop, said Jermaine Wilson, a senior research engineer at IPVM, a security and surveillance research group.

That system will work with HALO sensors that can detect vape, gun sounds, and abnormal noise in areas where there are no cameras such as bathrooms, according to the districts request for proposal.

I want to be very clear to everybody that in no way shape or form will this result in an invasion of privacy of anyones students, staff, or otherwise, Wilson said. Cameras and devices will not and cannot be placed in areas that are not approved and authorized.

The contract was approved by all school board members except Crystal Williams who abstained from voting. During the Thursday meeting, board member Josephine Garcia said vaping in schools is an issue the district has been battling and sounding the alarm on for quite some time. She requested clarification on the type of vape sensors that will be used in schools, an explanation that would be given during the boards private operations committee meeting this month due to security concerns, Wilson said.

So as we talk about our safety and security initiatives, we want to ensure that we do not provide all of our information in the public domain, Wilson added.

Superintendent Roger Leon said the district is in conversation with the citys Office of Emergency Management about a number of things that are set to take place this coming school year. He would share more information with the public once those initiatives are in effect, Leon added.

Wilson also said city police officials would not have access to the system, which includes cameras inside and outside of school buildings and other district locations.

The district has spent millions to increase security over the years. The school district installed metal detectors to scan students for contraband and weapons and added six new patrol cars for school safety officers. It also provided its security guards with training on bag scanners, active shooter response, and the districts drug and alcohol policy. Newark plans to hire more security guards and update its software to track school incidents.

Thursdays contract was approved during Mays reorganization meeting where Haynes, Santana, Helena Vinhas, and Kanileah Anderson were sworn in after winning this years school board election. Hasani Council was chosen as board president, along with Santana and Allison James-Frison as co-vice presidents.

Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
Take a ride in Acura's first EV, its most powerful SUV yet

Acuras new ZDX Type S is the most powerful SUV the brand has ever produced, generating nearly 500 horsepower and maxing out at 544 pound-feet of torque. In other words, its punchy in all the best ways. The automaker is quick to point out that ZDX has more torque than its hybrid NSX Type S supercar and more horsepower than other luxury EVs like the Mercedes-Benz EQE 500 and Audis SQ8 e-tron. And its all electric.

Like the Honda Prologue , the ZDX was built side-by-side with engineers from General Motors. Drawing power from a 102-kWh GM Ultium battery pack, Acuras EV shares several components with Cadillacs elegant Lyriq and Chevrolets Blazer EV. In fact, the exterior dimensions of the ZDX are the same as the Lyriqs and the ZDX was designed at GM headquarters in Michigan .

The pairing of the American legacy automaker with a Japanese manufacturer is an unusual one. Does this partnership work for Acura? We drove the ZDX on a variety of roads in southern California to find out.

Two motors, big power boost

Somewhat ironicallyand perhaps with a cheeky winkthe ZDX recycles the name of a previous gas-powered Acura model. With the zero-emissions movement ramping up in recent years, it made sense to revive the Z moniker.

Boasting an EPA-estimated 313-mile range with the single-motor, rear-wheel-drive setup, the ZDX can power up at a DC fast charging station and gain up to 81 miles of range in about 10 minutes. It takes a shade longer than 40 minutes to reach 80 percent, or 250 miles. Opting for the dual-motor, all-wheel drive version reduces the range slightly to 304 miles, and the top-performing Type S gets 278 miles before requiring a full charge.

A single-motor ZDX is good for up to 313 miles of range. Image: Acura

Compared to some of its all-electric rivals from Kia, Hyundai, and Genesis, the ZDX takes significantly longer to charge, which may be a deterrent for those without charging stations at home. On the other hand, the Acura EV has more range and more power.

As a bonus, the ZDX is equipped with a high-end 18-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio setup, an Acura first. Danish company Bang & Olufsen makes sound systems for Lamborghini, Bentley, Audi , and others, so this new vehicle is in good company. In the EV theme, Eddie Grants Electric Avenue or Brns Electric Love are apt candidates for a ZDX soundtrack.

Economies of scale through a GM partnership

As its so for the Prologue, GM provided the battery, frame, suspension, chassis, powertrain, and electrical architecture, while Acura built everything above the chassis. That doesnt include some of the interior switchgear (knobs and buttons).

As we noticed when we tested the Honda Prologue earlier this year, the drive mode button is located to the left of the steering wheel, making it difficult to locate and activate easily while driving. Its worth finding, though, because it activates a useful 25 millimeter lift in snow mode or it hunkers down by 15 millimeters in sport mode for improved aerodynamics.

The engineers chose to carry over GMs one-pedal driving for both the Prologue and the ZDX as is without any alterations.

We didnt change a thing, ZDX Development Leader John Hwang told PopSci in February. When we were benchmarking and setting targets, we liked how GM was executing this feature, so we said, Dont touch it. Its not broken.'

Hwang says the concept of the Prologue and ZDX are very different. Hondas EV has a more mainstream feel and employs front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, while the Acura has a much larger battery pack and the car is tuned for a more premium dynamic ride with rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.

The ZDX Type S is the most powerful SUV Acura has ever made. Image: Acura

Whats next?

Ultimately, Acuras first EV appears to be a solid initial effort. That said, theres room for the brand to dig deep into its own engineering expertise for its next EV without GM. Wed love to see Acura find a way to expand upon the genius of its hybrid NSX, which was powered by three electric motors working together with a 3.5-liter V6 engine.

However, Acura clearly stated several months ago that it was finished with hybrids. Instead, executives revealed a plan for a pilot production of solid-state batteries along with more research into hydrogen-powered vehicles. Hydrogen fuel cells are something that both Acura and GM are interested in pursuing, and while the automakers may have scrapped their plans for a smaller, more affordable EV collaboration, that doesnt mean the partnership is completely kaput.

The ZDX will have a complete lifecycle and there will be a refresh, so there is still a full team on the Honda/Acura side and a full team on the GM side, Acura spokesman Jake Berg told PopSci. This is definitely not the last time were collaborating with GM.

The ZDX qualifies for the full federal $7,500 tax credit, putting the starting price at $57,500. Its worth considering the extra $600 to get the ZDX in a luminous shade of Double Apex Blue Pearl, developed in-house by Acuras color and materials team .
Ringling College's new Artificial Intelligence Undergraduate Certificate program is the first of its kind at an art and design college.

Ringling College of Art and Design is launching a new Artificial Intelligence Undergraduate Certificate program, the first of its kind at an art and design college.

The program aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the complex impact of AI on creative industries of all kinds. While AI can provide powerful creative tools, the technology has been developed using methods that raise serious moral and legal concerns. Ringling College has designed a program that prepares students for careers merging AI with art, design, and creativity in a responsible and ethical manner.

AI is scary, exciting, revolutionary, and sometimes feels like an existential threat to creators of all kinds. At Ringling College, we are committed to innovation and providing our students with the tools they need to thrive in constantly evolving creative professions, said Rick Dakan, AI coordinator at Ringling College. The AI Undergraduate Certificate program is a proactive response to the rapid technological changes reshaping the creative landscape.

The certificate program is available as an option to all Ringling College students pursuing studies in 13 different majors. The three-course program covers fundamental AI and machine learning principles, their application in creative contexts, and the ethical, societal, and cultural implications of AI in art and design. Through hands-on experience with AI tools and a focus on responsible integration of AI in creative practices, students will gain the skills and knowledge needed to tackle real-world challenges and succeed in AI-driven creative industries.

Creativity is the heart of the future, Ringling College president Larry R. Thompson said. All that creativity encompasses  imagination, design thinking, emotional intelligence, and a holistic perspective  will fuel our future economy, and society. Therefore, its our responsibility as an institution of higher and creative learning to teach our students how to responsibly leverage this new tool to their advantage; much in the same way as we did several years ago when the computer was introduced to art and design and became the new paintbrush.

Upon completion of the program, students will have a portfolio showcasing their ability to innovatively apply AI in their creative work. This program will add another credential to their resume, positioning these students as competitive candidates in the job market. For more information, visit ringling.edu/minors.

SAM Teen Arts Council

Four members of the Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Designs 2023-24 Teen Arts Council are set to take the next steps in their arts education. Marley Bean (Booker High) and Simon Odruno (Florida Virtual School and Suncoast Technical College) will attend Ringling College this fall, while Addy Hurt (Manatee School for the Arts) and Berkeley Maecker (Manatee High) will participate in Ringlings precollege program this summer.

Were delighted that these students have decided to continue studying the arts, and to do so while staying right here in Sarasota, said Virginia Shearer, executive director of the Sarasota Art Museum. Teen Arts Council is about forging long-term relationships with the next generation of arts leaders.

SAM TAC is led by Brooks Tracey, artist and educator, and Connie Cuadrado, the museums community catalyst for learning and engagement. Begun in 2022, the Teen Arts Council is a yearlong paid internship for creative high school students focusing on contemporary art, museum management, arts program development, and community engagement. For more information, visit sarasotaartmuseum.org and click on Learn.

Submitted by Ringling College communications

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Ringling College launches AI undergraduate certificate program
Space Tourists Announce Plan to Climb Out of SpaceX Spacecraft and Ghostride the Whip

Ghostride the Whip

SpaceX is planning to make history by enabling the first entirely commercial spacewalk.

During this summer's Polaris Dawn mission, a crew of four space tourists is planning to don SpaceX's brand-new extravehicular activity (EVA) suit to venture outside of the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft, giving them once-in-a-lifetime views of the Earth below.

"It's the first commercial EVA," said commander Jared Isaacman during a discussion on X-formerly-Twitter. "It's the first time you don't have government astronauts undertaking such a mission."

"And that's important because we are going to get to the moon or Mars someday," he added. "We're going to have to get out of our vehicles, out of the safety of a habitat and explore, and build and repair things."

Open the Pod Bay Doors

Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and trained fighter jet pilot, was the commander of the first all-civilian mission into space, which saw a crew of four circle the Earth inside a Crew Dragon spacecraft in September 2021.

The Polaris program he's funding is made up of three upcoming missions, "culminating with the first crewed flight of Starship," according to Isaacman.

During the upcoming mission this summer, all crew members will be wearing SpaceX's new EVA suit, giving them the opportunity to put it to the ultimate test. That's because the Crew Dragon doesn't have an airlock, which means the entire cabin has to be depressurized.

"We'll vent the cabin down to vacuum and then we will undertake an EVA operation where we hope to learn an awful lot about our suits and the operation associated with it," Isaacman said.

But considering it's the first spacewalk of its kind, involving a new suit that was redesigned from the ground up, it's a big step for the Elon Musk-led venture, and could potentially pave the way for future private spacewalks like it.

The mission will also involve taking the crew higher than any humans have flown since the Apollo moon landing mission more than half a century ago, according to Space.com.

In short, this is what we should strive for when it comes to private space tourism  not some billionaire-funded rollercoaster ride that stops miles short of the edge of space.

More on the mission: SpaceX Reveals Spacesuit With Heads-Up Display Inside Helmet
SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites today (May 6), the company's 46th orbital mission of the year already.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 2:14 p.m. EDT (1814 GMT), carrying 23 Starlink craft toward low Earth orbit (LEO).

The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about eight minutes later as planned, touching down on the droneship Just Read the Instructions, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky

a black-and-white spacex falcon 9 rocket launches into a blue sky.

It was the 15th launch and landing for this particular first stage, according to a SpaceX mission description. That's five shy of the company's reuse record, which is held by three different boosters.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued powering its way to LEO, where it will deploy the 23 Starlink satellites about 65 minutes after liftoff.

view from a rocket as it comes in for a landing on a ship at sea

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Today's launch was the 46th orbital liftoff of the year already for SpaceX, and the 31st of 2024 devoted to building out the Starlink broadband megaconstellation. That network already consists of more than 5,800 functional satellites, and it will continue growing far into the future.

More spaceflight action is on tap tonight: Boeing's Starliner capsule is scheduled to launch astronauts for the first time ever, on the company's Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station for NASA. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 GMT on May 7); you can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA.
A shadowy figure in a spacesuit touches a glove to the helmet's visor.

SpaceX's next private astronaut launch is slated for this summer, and a major component crucial to its success has finally been revealed.

The mission, Polaris Dawn, is poised to involve the first extravehicular activity (EVA) tasks to be performed by private astronauts, which means SpaceX needed to build its own spacesuit capable of protecting wearers from the harsh environment of space. Now, we've finally gotten our first look at the design.

The new suit was unveiled on SpaceX's website and social media channels Saturday (May 4). The announcement was accompanied that afternoon by a "spaces" discussion with SpaceX engineers and Polaris Dawn crew members on X, formerly Twitter, which SpaceX CEO Elon Musk bought in 2022.

Related: Polaris Dawn crew prepares for world's 1st private spacewalk with SpaceX

Four humans in black jackets sit in high chairs in front of a wall of paned glass. To their left, a white spacesuit is standing propped.

SpaceX's EVA suit looks much like the company's IVA suit (intravehicular activity), which was designed to be worn within spacecraft during launches and landings, but not in the vacuum of space. The new EVA suits contain material enhancements and joint improvements aimed at increasing astronauts' mobility while also protecting them from the cold, airless void outside their spacecraft.

"There was a lot of work on both the materials of the suit  developing a whole new layer that we needed to add for thermal management  as well as looking at the thermal condition for the crew members themselves, and making sure that they were at a comfortable temperature inside the suit," said the manager of SpaceX's spacesuit team Chris Drake during the discussion on X.

The suits also incorporate technology used in other parts of SpaceX's manufacturing gamut. "We have a lot of different resources at our disposal here," Drake said. "There's some thermal material that we ended up using on the boot, which was developed actually for Falcon and Dragon, and is used on the interstage on Falcon, and on the trunk of Dragon."

Drake also described a new heads-up display in the helmet design, allowing astronauts to view data about their suits' internal temperature, humidity and pressure; the display also exhibits a mission clock to monitor the durations of particular EVA tasks. "Aesthetically, it may look similar to the IVA, but what they did under the hood is extraordinary," said Jared Isaacman, mission commander for Polaris Dawn, during the discussion. In collaboration with SpaceX, Isaacman is also funding the mission.

The billionaire previously funded and commanded SpaceX's commercial Inspiration4 mission in 2021, which was the first all-civilian spaceflight. For Inspiration4, beyond in-flight research, Isaacman was motivated to charter the flight in an effort to raise money for pediatric cancer research center St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Polaris Dawn, the first of three possible missions for Isaacman's Polaris Program, is also raising money for St. Jude's, and aims take human spaceflight to a new level. "The Polaris program contemplates up to three missions," Isaacman said Saturday, "culminating with the first crewed flight of Starship."

Related: Meet the four private Polaris Dawn astronauts SpaceX will launch into orbit this year

A white capsule in space, above Earth. A person in a white spacesuit appears to be stepping out of the capsule.

Isaacman will be joined on Polaris Dawn by retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott "Kidd" Poteet, who will serve as the mission pilot, and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both lead operations engineers at SpaceX. The quartet hopes to push the boundaries of space travel with this flight, which will take them higher than any human has flown since the final Apollo moon landing mission more than 50 years ago.

Menon described the mission's flight profile and timeline during the May 4 discussion on X:

"We will be essentially launching into a highly elliptical orbit where our perigee is at about 190 kilometers, but our apogee is at about 1,200 kilometers. We will then, after a number of orbits, be raising our apogee up to about 1,400 kilometers  The benefit of being at this high altitude is that we can better understand the impacts of that environment  that higher radiation environment, for example  on both the human body  as well as on the spacecraft. After a number of orbits there, we will complete all the research that we were intending to do, and then we will lower our apogee back down to a nice coasting orbit around 700 kilometers, where we will complete the rest of our mission objectives including the spacewalk."

on the left, a profile bust view of a white spacesuite facing right. On the right, in a slimmer section of the image, that full spacesuit, facing left. The white is accented with dark grey sections, black boots, and a copper gold visor.

Polaris Dawn will last five days, during which time the crew plans to complete up to 40 experiments. For instance, the team intends to capture X-ray images of radiation in the Van Allen Belts  ring-shaped zones of energetic charged particles around Earth  investigate the mechanisms that cause motion sickness in space and test hardware, including the new EVA suit and the Crew Dragon capsule itself.

Because the original Crew Dragon design doesn't feature an airlock, the entire cabin must be depressurized in order for the crew to conduct EVA tasks. This has led to major modifications that allowed the capsule's interior to withstand the hard vacuum. SpaceX also added a nitrogen repressurization system for the conclusion of the mission's EVA duties. Further, hand rails and footholds were installed inside the spacecraft, and a ladder interface at the hatch's opening was implemented to facilitate astronaut egress.

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Rather than fit each Polaris Dawn astronaut with an IVA flight suit as well as a new EVA suit, the crew will don SpaceX's EVA spacesuit for both launch and landing, as well as during the mission EVA.

"We'll vent the cabin down to vacuum and then we will undertake an EVA operation where we hope to learn an awful lot about our suits and the operation associated with it," Isaacman said, adding "It's the first commercial EVA. It's the first time you don't have government astronauts undertaking such a mission. And that's important because we are going to get to the moon or Mars someday. We're going to have to get out of our vehicles, out of the safety of a habitat and explore, and build and repair things.

"And that means the knowledge for spacewalks and EVAs has to go beyond just the the few that it exists with today."
Update, 9 p.m. EDT: Boeing Starliner's launch has been scrubbed due to a valve issue on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Here is the link to our scrub story.

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA  When Boeing's Starliner capsule carries two astronauts to space tonight (May 6), at least 100 people in Mission Control will be on hand for support and guidance.

Tonight's mission, known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), will be the first-ever crewed liftoff for Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. CFT will send NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams toward the International Space Station (ISS) at 10:34 p.m. (0234 GMT Tuesday, May 7) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station here. You can watch it live here at Space.com, via NASA Television.

But not all the action is in Florida: Boeing and NASA are working together at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston to send this crew into space, marking the first time since the space shuttle era that a crewed spacecraft was controlled from Houston.

Among Starliner's vast support group is Teresa Kinney, the first-ever female chief engineer at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on Florida's Space Coast. Kinney will sit as backup to Mission Control as a consultant for other engineers. While talented, some of the main controllers "jumped in late" compared to Kinney, she told Space.com. "So if you had a problem that they hadn't seen, or maybe some testing they hadn't been involved in, hopefully I can provide that continuity," she added.

Related: I flew Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in 4 different simulators. Here's what I learned (video, photos)

Kinney has been working with NASA's Commercial Crew Program for years, mainly on the Starliner side; in fact, she has been on commercial crew since the days of the Constellation program. That was a Bush-era proposal from the early 2000s, later repealed, that also aimed to send astronauts to the moon and eventually Mars.

Kinney said her role evolved as the Commercial Crew Program did, as the hardware matured and testing continued. Contracts were first awarded in 2010, and both SpaceX and Boeing were selected in 2014 as the first commercial crew vendors to send astronauts to space.

"You never know what you don't know when you start developing hardware and doing tests and stuff," Kinney told Space.com at KSC. "As I started out, we are setting up verifications and asking, 'What is this thing going to look like? How are we going to do tests and analysis?' "

Models were complicated, as multiple partners were involved, including Boeing, NASA and United Launch Alliance (which is launching CFT with its Atlas V rocket). And both SpaceX and Boeing have experienced technical issues with their programs  involving parachute systems, for example  that had to be addressed as their spacecraft evolved.

a cone-shaped rocket in a facility with door open to the right

The Boeing Starliner spacecraft for Crew Flight Test sits atop its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket (not visible) shortly before its rollout to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. (Image credit: United Launch Alliance/X)

Starliner, Kinney acknowledged, has had to deal with more issues than SpaceX's Dragon: The first Starliner flight to ISS failed to reach its destination in 2019 due to software glitches, although the follow-up uncrewed effort in 2022 got there after fixes were implemented. New issues were found in 2023 that further pushed back CFT, including with the parachutes and with flammable tape found wrapped around capsule wiring.

"The vehicle was actually a good design, but the problem is that it was a paper design," Kinney said. SpaceX, she pointed out, had a head start on its Crew Dragon spacecraft, as the company was already flying a cargo Dragon variant on robotic resupply missions to the ISS before launching its first crewed test flight in 2020. SpaceX has sent 11 other crews to ISS since then.

Boeing, by contrast, "literally was doing something new" with Starliner, she said. The company was working to leverage what it knew from past programs; Boeing was the prime contractor for the ISS, for example, and also builds the core stage for NASA's Space Launch System megarocket, which successfully launched the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission toward lunar orbit in late 2022.

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But new lessons had to be learned as Starliner took on its first steps in space. Kinney said the questions that arose there are similar to what she has encountered in other programs: "You go, 'Well, what do I have to change? What should I change?' And so that was a lot of what they were doing."

Kinney cautioned that she cannot speak for everybody in Mission Control, but the folks she spoke with "are very excited" to see CFT get off the ground. The teams have "scrubbed through all their systems" to get ready for key flight review milestones ahead of liftoff, and continue to do preparations and simulations to get the astronauts safely off the ground.

"I love it when you work with a team that is so focused on the right things," Kinney said. "There's no shrinking violets in the group as far as safety and stuff. So I think it's going to be as good as we can can make it."
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance sued Tuesday to challenge a law President Joe Biden signed to force the sale or ban of the video sharing app.

The petition filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit claims the law violates the First Amendment rights of its 170 million American users. It says the law shuts down the platform based on "speculative and analytically flawed concerns about data security and content manipulation.

For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, the filing said.

The companies asked the court to declare the law unconstitutional, issue an order blocking Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing it, and grant any further relief that may be appropriate.

Biden signed the law that would force TikToks sale within a year, or face a ban in U.S. app stores, as part of foreign aid package passed in late April.

TikTok's argument: TikTok and ByteDance called for a review of the constitutionality of the law, which they claimed did not meet the burden of proof of the harms it aimed to prevent.

"Congress itself has offered nothing to suggest that the TikTok platform poses the types of risks to data security or the spread of foreign propaganda that could conceivably justify the Act, ByteDance and Tiktok wrote.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

The Biden administration and Congress have defended the law, saying a Chinese national security law allows the government to demand U.S. user data from Beijing-based ByteDance, and that China pushes propaganda via the apps algorithms. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a March report that China used TikTok to influence the 2022 U.S. elections.

The companies argued that the law would amount to a Bill of Attainder, or a determination of guilt and punishment by law without trial, which the Constitution prohibits. Legal experts have disagreed over whether the clause applies to restrictions on foreign corporations, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Congress has never before crafted a two-tiered speech regime with one set of rules for one named platform, and another set of rules for everyone else," TikTok and ByteDance wrote.

TikTok has said it is not a security threat and that its parent company is not controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. CEO Shou Zi Chew said in January that TikTok has invested $2 billion in safety efforts across the platform. The company in 2022 launched a project to protect U.S.-based data by storing it in U.S.-based cloud servers owned by Oracle.

Chinas government has said it firmly opposes a forced sale of TikTok, and would not allow the export of TikToks algorithm, which is the most valuable part of the app.

Mayer Brown LLP and Covington & Burling LLP submitted the petition.

The backstory: Its the third time TikTok has gone to court to fight back a potential ban of the app in the U.S. In the past two cases, judges have sided with its arguments.

Last November, a federal judge ruled that a Montana law banning TikTok in the state likely violated the First Amendment. Montanas attorney general has appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 2020, federal judges blocked the Trump administrations executive order banning TikTok, finding it likely exceeded the presidents authority.

Whats next: TikTok could next file an injunction with the D.C. Circuit to block the law from going into effect. Legal analysts expect the case to eventually reach the Supreme Court.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this report misspelled the name of Covington & Burling LLP.
NAIROBI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit kicked off on Tuesday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, with senior officials renewing a call for eco-friendly regeneration of farmlands to boost food and nutrition security in the continent.

More than 1,500 delegates, including agriculture ministers, representatives of regional blocs, donor agencies, the private sector, academia and civil society, are attending the three-day gathering, under the theme of "Listen to the Land."

Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary and Minister for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi said the summit offers an opportunity to discuss innovative ways to reverse loss of soil nutrients that has escalated the continent's hunger crisis.

"We need ambitious and long-term plans to boost the health and productivity of our soils," he said. "Prudent use of both organic and inorganic fertilizers will be key to feed Africa's growing population."

Convened by the African Union (AU), the Kenyan government and multilateral partners, the 2024 Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit is expected to culminate in the adoption of a communique on rejuvenating the continent's arable land.

The meeting will review the Abuja declaration of 2006, which calls for increasing fertilizer use to boost agricultural productivity in the continent, and Soil Initiative for Africa, endorsed in 2020, on enhancing productivity of the continent's arable land.

A 10-year action plan, spanning 2024-2034, is expected to be endorsed, at the conclusion of the summit on Thursday, charting a new roadmap for improving soil health in the continent.

Mudavadi said that regenerating African soils in the face of fertility loss linked to habitat destruction, climate change and poor agronomical practices requires investments in local fertilizer manufacturing.

AU data indicate that average fertilizer use per hectare in Africa has remained at 5 to 10 kilograms since 1990, less than 10 percent of the global average.

AU Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment Josefa Sacko said the continent is ripe for an agrarian revolution, subject to political goodwill, innovative financing and adoption of novel innovations to boost soil health. 
TikTok and ByteDance are suing the U.S. government.

The suit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and names U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland as the respondent.

TikTok and ByteDance are challenging the law passed by Congress that requires TikTok to divest from ByteDance. The law also gives the executive branch the power to identify applications that pose a threat to national security and similarly force them to divest from parent companies in certain cases. If TikTok does not divest within the specified timeframe (which the president can extend), it will face a ban.

The filing accuses the U.S. government of violating the First Amendment. By banning all online platforms and software applications offered by TikTok and all ByteDance subsidiaries, Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech, the suit claimed.

TikTok and ByteDance argue that its not possible for the company to divest, not only due to the timeline, but also because of the apps code.

The Act will therefore have the effect of shutting down TikTok in the United States, a popular forum for free speech and expression used by over 170 million Americans each month, the suit claimed.

The suit also said that the law could have far-reaching implications. If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down. And for TikTok, any such divestiture would disconnect Americans from the rest of the global community.

The suit alleged that the U.S. government did not have a compelling interest to pass this law and also did not explore less restrictive options before passing the law.

In other words, TikTok and ByteDance are arguing that the law should be subject to strict scrutiny and does not pass strict scrutiny.

Strict scrutiny is a kind of legal test that requires the government to show that there is a compelling reason to pass a law that may restrict freedoms and that the law is targeted narrowly enough to address that compelling reason.

Congress itself has offered nothing to suggest that the TikTok platform poses the types of risks to data security or the spread of foreign propaganda that could conceivably justify the Act, the suit stated. The Act is devoid of any legislative findings, much less a demonstration of specific harms that TikTok supposedly poses in either respect, even though the platform was first launched in 2017.

TikTok and ByteDance are seeking a declaratory judgment that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and an order to prevent the attorney general from enforcing the law.

As for whats next, its likely the U.S. government and TikTok will battle it out in court. In that case, the U.S. government would likely have to show its hand more than it has with regards to providing that the national security risks constitute a compelling interest.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

National security concerns with TikTok

Supporters of the TikTok measure have said that the law is not a ban  they say its an attempt to protect Americans from a real national security threat.

Rep. John Curtis has been vocal on this front. In interviews with the Deseret News, he has emphasized that the law is not a ban. He pointed toward the instance where TikTok had a screen on users apps asking them to put in their ZIP code. If they put in their ZIP code, it would allow them to call a member of Congress to voice opposition to the bill.

Curtis told the Deseret News in a prior interview that his office received at least hundreds of calls from people who had selected the box.

Imagine if this had been Election Day and they lock out 120 million U.S. users until they watch a video produced by the Chinese Communist Party about who they should vote for, Curtis said. That is not something that we should sit back and take lightly.

While FBI director Christopher Wray and others have occasionally publicly warned of the national security threats TikTok may pose, members of Congress took part in closed-door meetings where they were given a classified briefing on the matter, Axios reported. The senators were hesitant to give details about Wednesdays briefing, but said Americans would be frightened by TikToks ability to access and track their personal data.
A way to reduce high-speed chases? Columbia could consider tech after pregnant woman killed in crash

Ashley Brown was roughly 27 weeks pregnant when she was killed as a bystander to a high-speed police chase on North Main Street in early April.

The Columbia police were in pursuit of a suspect who was wanted in the fatal shooting of a man at J.T.s Kia car dealership earlier that day. Police had been in pursuit for less than a minute when an officer crashed into Browns vehicle, Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said at the time. The officer was also injured in that crash.

Now, a Columbia city councilman wants the police department to test two new technologies that he says might help avoid dangerous chases in the future.

I cant speak on the situation from a fault perspective, Councilman Tyler Bailey said. But if we can use technology that can assist officers in apprehending suspects while also decreasing the odds that an officer or the public could be harmed in that process, thats something we should explore.

Bailey hopes the City Council will support pilot programs for two technologies designed to make police chases less dangerous.

The first technology is called StarChase and is marketed as a high speed pursuit alternative. The company specializes in projectile GPS devices that can be attached to the vehicle police wish to pursue.

The GPS tracker can be launched by police from car-mounted or handheld devices at the beginning of a pursuit, and then allow police to track their suspect without having to stay within eyesight of the wanted motorist.

The second device Bailey hopes the city will test is called the Grappler Police Bumper, which would allow a police vehicle to attach a net-like object to the back wheels of the vehicle they are in pursuit of.

Bailey doesnt have a sense of what the two technologies would cost the city, but hes asking his colleagues on City Council to discuss the topic in future committee meetings.

Things cost money, Bailey said, admitting that he doesnt know yet if the city will have the budget for the new technologies, but he wants to get that information. The citys current budget for the police department is $47 million.

He said the first step would be agreeing on some form of pilot program to see if both or either technology could be useful for the police department.

Bailey added that the goal is not to eliminate high-speed chases  he acknowledges that sometimes they may be necessary. He also added that the Columbia Police Department is good at 21st-century policing, so he believes there will be support for trying something new as well.

Other cities in the U.S. have already started trying out the equipment. New Haven, Connecticut, spent $85,000 on a -year pilot of StarChase for 14 devices in 2022. Renewing the program would cost New Haven an additional $15,000 each year, according to reporting from the New Haven Independent.

A Minnesota county purchased three StarChase devices, spending $4,700 on each unit, plus $1,200 per year for the GPS tracking services, according to reports from the Minnesota TV station Kare 11.

The Grappler technology has also been estimated to cost around $6,000 per unit, plus roughly $600 to replace the net once used, according to the Albuquerque Journal, which reports the Albuquerque Police Department is testing those devices.

That outlet also reports that use of the Grappler led to a stolen truck flipping over, sending two people to the hospital.

Bailey said he doesnt know if either or both devices will be a fit for Columbia, but he hopes the city is willing to explore the question. He is proposing the ideas at the Columbia City Councils regular meeting Tuesday.
State Rep. Bryan Sandlin, R-Zillah, said he will not run for re-election in the 15th Legislative District, and a new Republican challenger will take on incumbent U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse.

Election filing started Monday in Washington and a flurry of officials and prospective politicians registered to run for office. Filing week closes at 5 p.m. Friday.

Races for state House and Senate, which determine who represents voters in state government in Olympia, have been particularly chaotic after a federal judge ordered new boundaries to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act.

Sandlin made his announcement Monday and said he wanted to take care of his personal health and spend time with his family. In a statement, he thanked his supporters and said he would return his campaign contributions.

I served with many fine colleagues from all around the state and came away from Olympia with a deep respect for our foundation of government, he said. I would like to thank my most ardent supporters and all the constituents in the 15th legislative district that supported my candidacy in 2022.

Sandlin was first elected in 2022 to Position 2. Former state Rep. Jeremie Dufault, a Republican from Selah, earlier announced he would run for the seat. He filed Monday.

Here is a list of candidates who filed to run for office to serve Yakima County voters as of 5 p.m. on Monday. Candidates for other statewide positions, like governor or attorney general, can be found at the Secretary of States website.

U.S. Congressional elections

Yakima County voters will have an opportunity to cast their votes for two members of Congress. These elected officials determine national policies and use of federal tax dollars in Washington, D.C.

Congressional District 4: Incumbent Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, and Tiffany Smiley of Pasco, who lost an election for one of Washingtons Senate seats in 2022, both filed Monday. Jerrod Sessler, who challenged Newhouse and lost in 2022, also is running.

The 4th District includes all of Yakima County and both North and South Central Washington. It stretches from the Canadian border to the Columbia River and includes Omak, Moses Lake, East Wenatchee, Yakima and the Tri-Cities.

U.S. Senate: One of Washington's two Senate seats will be on the ballot this year. Two candidates, Independent Chuck Jackson and Democrat Paul Lawrence Giesick, filed to run. Incumbent Maria Cantwell, who has been in the seat since 2001, has announced her campaign but has not filed.

State Legislature

Each legislative district in the state is represented by three people in the Legislature  one state senator and two state representatives. Yakima County is part of two legislative districts, the 15th and 14th Districts.

The boundaries of those districts changed after a lawsuit in U.S. District Court aimed to give the Yakima Valley Latino community a better chance of electing its preferred candidate.

District 14: Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, has filed to run for re-election. King was originally outside the new district boundaries, but moved so he could run.

Democrat Chelsea Dimas of Sunnyside has filed to run for state representative in Position 1.

The 14th District includes East Yakima, the Lower Yakima Valley, Yakama Reservation and East Pasco. Several other candidates have announced campaigns in the district but did not file Monday.

District 15: The state Senate seat in District 15 is not open; Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, will serve out the next two years of her term in the role.

Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, was moved into the 15th District by the redistricting lawsuit and has filed to run for the 15th Districts Position 1. Jeremie Dufault, a Selah Republican, also filed to run for Position 2. Dufault served two terms as a representative for the 15th District before an earlier round of redistricting in 2022.

Two incumbents, Rep. Bryan Sandlin, R-Zillah, and Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, decided not to run for re-election.

Yakima County positions

Candidates for County Commissioner and Yakima Superior Court seats also put their names in the mix.

County Commissioner: Yakima County voters are represented by three county commissioners. Two of those seats are up for election this year.

District 2: Kyle Curtis, a Republican, has filed for re-election. The district representing large parts of the city of Yakima.

District 3: Incumbent LaDon Linde faces his third election in four years and will face another Republican in a contest to represent the Lower Yakima Valley. Toppenish Mayor Elpidia Saavedra and Linde both filed to run Monday.

Yakima Superior Court: Eight Yakima Superior Court positions are up for election this year. So far, eight candidates have filed to run and no election was contested as of Monday.

Six of the candidates are incumbents: Kevin Naught, Elisabeth Tutsch, Jeff Swan, Jared Boswell, Ruth Reukauf and Sonia Rodriguez-True.

Shane Silverthorn and James Elliott are running to replace judges Blaine Gibson and Richard Bartheld, respectively. Gibson and Bartheld are retiring.

The Yakima Herald-Republic will update information about election filing throughout the week. To learn more about our election coverage, read our FAQ and mission statement or ask us a question using our survey.
KINSHASA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A total of 25,318 suspected cases of monkeypox, including 1,204 deaths, have been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since the declaration of monkeypox outbreak in December 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.

According to the latest report released on Tuesday, the outbreak, which was declared by the DRC Health Ministry on Dec. 16, 2022, was prompted by a notable surge in both cases and fatalities associated with monkeypox as well as a fast spread to non-endemic provinces.

Since the beginning of 2024, a total of 5,133 suspected cases, including 321 deaths, have been reported, according to the WHO report. It warns that the current situation of the monkeypox outbreak in the DRC is of "grave concern" due to the sustained increase in suspected cases compared to previous years, with a significant burden in younger populations, particularly children under 15 years of age, who constitute the majority of both suspected cases and deaths.

In April 2024, a high-level emergency regional meeting on monkeypox in Africa was convened in DRC capital Kinshasa, gathering 12 health ministers of regional countries, aiming to develop common strategies to prevent and intervene effectively in the face of monkeypox in Africa.

"We must prevent the DRC from becoming the source of cross-border transmission, and our partnership must prioritize the health of those affected," said Jean Kaseya, the director general of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) at the meeting.

"Over the years, monkeypox has become a real public health problem for our communities in the DRC, a regional threat and ultimately a global problem. We must now mobilize to resolve this crisis," said Roger Kamba, DRC minister of public health, hygiene and prevention, at the meeting.

Monkeypox, first detected in laboratory monkeys in 1958, is assumed to be transmitted from wild animals such as rodents to people, or from human to human. 
NAIROBI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Agriculture experts from Africa on Tuesday attributed low crop yields to land degradation, soil acidity and the unfolding climate crisis on the continent.

The experts who spoke on the sidelines of the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit underway in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, said that acute land degradation has undermined efforts to feed the continent's growing population.

Oluwole Fatunbi, the acting director of research and innovation at the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, noted that 65 percent of crop land is degraded hence leading to low yield.

Fatunbi said that land degradation costs farmers on the continent 68 billion U.S. dollars annually in their attempts to prepare land for farming.

"We need to increase extension services and adopt farming practices that help reduce the effects of climate change," Fatunbi said, stressing the need for African farmers to apply fertilizer and sustain themselves.

Manyewu Mutamba, acting head of agriculture at the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa's Development, said that the continental body has developed an action plan to guide member states on soil initiatives that target improving productivity.

Mutamba noted that the action plan is in line with the African Unions Agenda 2063 and envisions managing the soil for the benefit of producing food for trade among the citizens of the neighboring countries.

Eyasu Elias, state minister for natural resource management in the Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia, said that acidity in the soil is blamed for 50 to 100 percent of yield losses in most parts of Ethiopia.

Elias said that despite the loss, 96 percent of farmers have opted for the use of fertilizer, which has led to improved yields of maize and teff.

He said that Ethiopia has also developed compost centers where the youth are employed to produce compost manures that are sold to farmers.

Paul Ronoh, principal secretary at the State Department for Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, said that Kenya has developed a soil plan to help farmers learn how to treat their land.

Ronoh added that the East African nation has also developed a handbook to provide guidance to farmers on acidic soil management. 
The visit of the Chinese president later this week is of historic importance and will greatly contribute to strengthening Hungary, developing bilateral economic and trade relations and, hopefully, to the success of peace efforts, Peter Szijjarto has said.

Xi Jinping and a large Chinese delegation are paying visits to only two EU member states, Hungary and France, the minister of foreign affairs and trade noted at a joint press conference, and a major topic on the agenda will be further developing bilateral economic cooperation.



China brought the most FDI to Hungary in 2020 and 2023, and it was thanks in part to those investments that Hungary now ranks among the global frontrunners of the automotive industrys technological revolution. He said talks were ongoing with leading Chinese companies on further investments.



During the Chinese presidents visit, 16 agreements will be signed while another two were under consultations. He highlighted a planned agreement on potential infrastructure upgrades linked to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative.



The minister underlined the importance of a bilateral partnership covering the entire spectrum of nuclear energy.



Also, further progress would hopefully be made in bilateral trade relations by expanding the export possibilities of high-quality Hungarian agricultural products to China, he added.



Szijjarto: Xis Visit Prelude to Boost in Tourism

Boosting ties in tourism will also be on the agenda during the visit later this week of the Chinese president, Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister, said.



This may be greatly helped by the fact that Hungary is an absolute record holder in the region with the 19 direct flights to be operated weekly to China from July. We would also like the visa waiver granted to Hungarian citizens to be in place over a longer period of time, he said.



The war in Ukraine and the peace plan prepared by China will also feature high on the agenda of talks, Szijjarto said, adding that Hungary welcomed the peace plan first of all because it exists and also because it is about peace.



China is unquestionably one of the strongest states in the pro-peace camp that keeps emphasising the importance of peace, Szijjarto said.



There is full consensus between us on this matter, which is why the possibility of creating peace will be an important topic on the agenda of talks.



Photo: Zoltan Fischer/Hungarian PM's Press Office



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Left-liberal authors disapprove of the governments confrontational attitude towards the European Union, while their pro-government colleagues hope that the June elections will produce a new political order in Brussels.

In Heti Vilagazdasag, Istvan Riba gives a generally positive assessment of Hungarys EU membership with one caveat  namely that in terms of living standards Hungary is second from bottom, just ahead of Bulgaria. He finds it important that over the past 20 years, being European has become part of most Hungarians identity. The ratio of citizens who regard themselves as both Hungarian and European has risen from 33 to 64%, with a further 11% choosing the option European and Hungarian.



In Magyar Narancs Peter Heil, the chief EU expert of the Democratic Coalition, accuses the government of turning its back on key European values. In a long article, he writes that if Hungary sought EU membership today, her application would certainly be rejected. As a result, he adds, the European Union is withholding at least two thirds of the funds due to Hungary. Relations with Brussels can only improve, he believes, once Hungary gets rid of its incumbent government.



In Elet es Irodalom, former left-wing Foreign Minister and European Commissioner Peter Balazs dismisses the Prime Ministers announced intention to occupy Brussels as fully unrealistic. His radical right-wing allies, he argues, will not conquer any top positions within the European Union as a result of the elections to be held in June.



A different government, Balazs claims, might use Hungarys role as the rotating president of the Union in the second half of the year to improve the countrys standing within the community, but Mr Orban and his cabinet have too many conflicts behind them to do so.



In Magyar Hang, Janos Reichert suggests that Fidesz can realistically hope to win another resounding victory in the European Parliamentary elections. He dismisses as mendacious the argument of the government that Fidesz is the only possible option for voters who want peace in Europe, but concedes that such slogans may well have an impact.



He also believes that the 50,000 activists the ruling party plans to mobilise in its campaign represent a huge advantage vis-a-vis the opposition. He suspects that such activists will be paid for their job.



On the pro-government side, in Mandiner, MEP Erno Schaller-Baross attributes the deterioration of relations between leading EU bodies and Hungary to a change of attitude within the leadership of the Union. Decision-makers in Brussels, he claims, have forgotten that it is the task of the European community to serve the member countries rather than vice versa. He finds it advisable for European voters to promote the victory of forces that reject war and illegal immigration, while promoting the causes of nations rather than the interests of Brussels.



In Hetek, the weekly of the Congregation of the Faith, the only large Protestant evangelist denomination in Hungary, Peter Morvay believes that over the past two decades, instead of promoting equal rights, economic stability, and peace, the European Union has started sanctioning member states for ideological reasons, in addition to serving external interests and trying to infinitely broaden its own sphere of competence.



European citizens have a possibility to express their opinions on these issues once every five years and should now avail themselves of that opportunity, he concludes.



In his Demokrata editorial, Andras Bencsik claims that influential European leaders are bracing themselves for a Third World War or at least a brutal military crisis that might lead to an all-European conflagration. Most people are in favour of normality, he continues, and Hungary has proven over the past 14 years that this perspective can win a political majority by democratic means.



As one sign of normality, he mentions Chinese President Xi Jinpings imminent visit to Hungary.



A semi-official assessment of Hungarys 20 years in the EU

A leading government official urges serious changes in the European Union to make the community successful again.



On Index, cabinet minister Balazs Orban, who serves as Political Director in the Prime Ministers office, draws five conclusions from the two decades since Hungary joined the European Union. 1. He believes the 2004 enlargement with ten countries joining the community was the Unions last successful project.



Since then, he writes, the EU has been losing ground. 2. The EU, he adds, has become Hungarys natural environment and EU membership opened new development opportunities for Hungary. 3. Hungary, he complains, has found that traditional condescending western attitudes havent disappeared with EU membership over the past decades. 4.



Europe is lagging behind other regions of the world in terms of economic growth, and would be well advised to seek partnerships with other parts of the globe, he suggests, without mentioning either China or Russia by name. 5. We should save Europe  and ourselves! he exclaims.



If the European ship sinks, we will sink with it, he warns. We should keep the lifeboats ready, he adds, but must keep in mind that small vessels are unsafe. He therefore recommends sacking the captain  and taking back control over our continent and our future.



Hungarys 20 years within the European Union

Commentators try to assess the lessons of two decades of EU membership.



On the Mandiner website, Matyas Kohan dismisses as groundless opposition-inspired accusations that the government intends to lead Hungary out of the European Union. EU membership has become irreversible, he writes, adding that being surrounded by Union member countries, with the rest of the region aspiring to join, it would be suicidal for Hungary to leave the European Union. Hungary is often unfairly treated by EU decision-makers, he suggests but adds that its representatives must learn to be smarter in negotiating and finding allies to get the treatment the country deserves.



On Telex, Fruzsina Elod and Ferenc Bakro-Nagy recall that 20 years ago most Hungarians hoped that as a member of the European Union the country would swiftly catch up with Austria. That didnt materialise, nevertheless, 74% of Hungarians still see EU membership as having a positive impact on Hungarys development.



The authors produce 11 charts to show that Hungary has fared worse than its neighbours in terms of several economic indicators, including per capita consumption. Nevertheless, the happiness index of Hungarians has surpassed the European average and in that particular indicator, they write, Hungary might catch up with Austria in another 20 years time.



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Hungarys economic ecosystem, infrastructure and intellectual capital make the country capable of becoming a crucial player in the space industry, the national economy minister said in Martonvasar, on the outskirts of Budapest.

Hungarys satellite production capability is not just an economic and security matter, but also one of sovereignty, Marton Nagy said at the ground-breaking ceremony of listed 4iG and space engineering company REMREDs space technology production centre.



Nagy said the space industry had a bright future ahead of it, noting it was one of the worlds fastest-growing sectors in addition to being considered crisis-resistant.



Citing estimates, he said the value of the global space economy could grow to 1.8 trillion dollars by 2035 from its value of 630 billion dollars last year.



4iG and REMREDs investment of more than 10 billion forints (EUR 25.6m) in the new production unit will create at least 85 high value-added jobs, the minister said.



Meanwhile, Szijjarto: Hungarian Economy Ready for Paradigm Shift

Hungarys economy is ready for a new paradigm shift towards broadening research and development and boosting its technological level, Peter Szijjarto, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Monday after meeting senior Microsoft executives.



In a post on Facebook, Szijjarto thanked the executives for Microsofts activities in Hungary and for providing high-level job opportunities for more than one hundred people.



He referred to the vast strides Hungarys economy had taken in the past 14 years, with constant new records broken in investment, exports and employment.



Szijjarto said the next level of development would entail speeding up digitalisation, increasing the workforce in technology-related areas and improving training, adding that in these endeavours Hungary counted on Microsoft as a strategic partner.



At the meeting, the officials assessed the European Unions competitiveness challenges, and they were in agreement that various regulatory changes were needed in Brussels to ensure the blocs competitiveness, the minister said.



Szijjarto: Govt Aims to Turn Hungary Into Europe's Most Innovative Economy

The government is focusing on a paradigm change in the Hungarian economy, and on transforming Hungary into the most innovative economy of Europe as swiftly as possible, Peter Szijjarto, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said, announcing German-owned software developer Evosofts 3.4 billion forint (EUR 8.7m) investment in a new R&D project developing the effectiveness of installing production lines.



The project has received a 682 million forint government grant and will create 75 jobs, 57 of them in Budapest and 18 in Miskolc, in north-east Hungary. Evosoft, a member of the Siemens Group, operates several R&D facilities in the region, and Hungary won the investment amid stiff competition, he said.



German companies remain the largest group of investors in Hungary, with some 21% of all investments linked to German companies, he said.



Germany is also Hungarys largest trading partner, with bilateral trade surpassing 70 billion euros last year, he said.



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Hungary and Armenia have agreed to open embassies in each others capitals, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday, calling the move another important step in the two countries improving bilateral relations since their restoration of diplomatic ties a year-and-a-half ago.

Hungary and Armenia agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations in December 2022, and have since been able to make mutually beneficial progress in several important practical areas, Szijjarto told a joint press conference with Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan.



Szijjarto called Mondays meeting an important milestone, noting it had been fifteen years since the last official visit of this kind. It was in this spirit, he said, that they had signed an economic and foreign affairs cooperation agreement.



Under the agreement, Hungary and Armenia will set up an inter-governmental economic mixed committee with a view to further bolstering relations, he added.



As regards the agreement to open embassies in each others capitals, Szijjarto said Hungary and Armenia had originally discussed opening consular missions, but they now believed that the results of bilateral cooperation over the last year and a half warranted the highest-level diplomatic relations.



Concerning economic cooperation, Szijjarto welcomed that bilateral trade turnover had reached a new record last year. Trade turnover has grown by around 70% over the last ten years, he said, adding that Hungarian pharmaceutical companies were increasingly active on the Armenian market.



He also announced that Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air will launch a direct Budapest-Yerevan flight in July.



Szijjarto said Hungarian-Armenian relations had strong Christian foundations, and the Hungarian government has contributed 180 million forints (EUR 461,000) to the repatriation of 1,500 Armenian families.



And now we have decided to contribute another 300 million forints in cooperation with the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, Caritas Hungary and the Armenian Red Cross Society towards improving the situation of the Armenian families who are returning home, Szijjarto said.



An agreement was also reached on Hungary hosting summer camps for 1,200 Armenian children and offering scholarships to 30 Armenian university students.



Meanwhile, Szijjarto said 4,200 people identified as Armenian in Hungarys last census, adding that the current government has so far provided 2 billion forints in support to help the Armenian community preserve its identity.



He said the government intended to work on developing relations with Armenia during Hungarys upcoming EU presidency in the second half of the year.



The Hungarian presidency will see the preparations of the timetable for a partnership agreement with Armenia and the start of visa liberalisation talks, he added.



Noting the ongoing armed conflicts in the world including the Caucasus, Szijjarto said Hungary welcomed that both Armenian and Azeri political leaders had recently taken responsible steps in the interest of ensuring a lasting peace for the people living in the region.



Hungary would like to contribute to the success of the peace-making process in this case and in this region, too, he added.



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People set up a China-donated tent in Adraskan District, west Afghanistan's Herat Province, May 4, 2024. In a continuation of humanitarian support reminiscent of last year's earthquake response, China-donated tents were distributed to families affected by flooding in west Afghanistan's Herat Province a couple of days ago, to offer a temporary refuge to those grappling with the aftermath of natural disasters. (Photo by Mashal/Xinhua)

by Abdul Haleem

HERAT, Afghanistan, May 7 (Xinhua) -- In a continuation of humanitarian support reminiscent of last year's earthquake response, China-donated tents were distributed to families affected by flooding in west Afghanistan's Herat Province a couple of days ago, to offer a temporary refuge to those grappling with the aftermath of natural disasters.

"Heavy rains and flash floods have destroyed our homes and rendered us homeless. Luckily the timely distribution of China-donated tents as shelter has been very helpful for us," a tent recipient Sayed Ahmad told Xinhua.

Mawlawi Enayatullah Sabir, deputy director for Herat's disaster management authority, underscored the significance of international aid during times of crisis.

"The recent rains and flooding have caused huge property damages to families in Herat. The disaster management authority of the province has distributed 150 tents donated by China to the flood-affected families," Sabir said, acknowledging China's pivotal role in alleviating the sufferings of the Afghan people.

The official also thanked China for its consistent assistance, saying the Chinese donation has been proved vital to the quake-affected families in Herat last October.

Following the catastrophic earthquakes in Herat, which led to over 2,000 deaths, the first batch of earthquake relief supplies donated by the Chinese government arrived at the Herat International Airport on Oct. 15, 2023, and the second batch arrived one month later.

The impact of the recent natural disasters in Afghanistan has been devastating, with heavy rains and flash floods claiming over 80 lives and leaving several hundreds homeless over the past month. In Herat province, the situation remains dire, with seven deaths and 150 houses destroyed in the latest onslaught of rainstorms and flooding.

"There are six people in the family and they have been living in dilemma. However, I am very happy to receive a China-donated tent that has resolved our problems to some extent. I am thankful to China," another beneficiary of the aid, Imamudin Ahmadi, said.

China has supported Afghanistan by building infrastructure and offering disaster-relief materials over the past years, in addition to providing COVID-19 vaccines, winter clothes, tents, and food, among others, which have been distributed among poor and flood-affected families in the war-torn country. 

This photo taken on May 4, 2024 shows children in front of a China-donated tent for flood-affected residents in Adraskan District, west Afghanistan's Herat Province. In a continuation of humanitarian support reminiscent of last year's earthquake response, China-donated tents were distributed to families affected by flooding in west Afghanistan's Herat Province a couple of days ago, to offer a temporary refuge to those grappling with the aftermath of natural disasters. (Photo by Mashal/Xinhua)

People set up a China-donated tent in Adraskan District, west Afghanistan's Herat Province, May 4, 2024. In a continuation of humanitarian support reminiscent of last year's earthquake response, China-donated tents were distributed to families affected by flooding in west Afghanistan's Herat Province a couple of days ago, to offer a temporary refuge to those grappling with the aftermath of natural disasters. (Photo by Mashal/Xinhua)

This photo taken on May 4, 2024 shows flood-affected residents beside China-donated tents in Adraskan District, west Afghanistan's Herat Province. In a continuation of humanitarian support reminiscent of last year's earthquake response, China-donated tents were distributed to families affected by flooding in west Afghanistan's Herat Province a couple of days ago, to offer a temporary refuge to those grappling with the aftermath of natural disasters. (Photo by Mashal/Xinhua)

This photo taken on May 4, 2024 shows a boy in front of a China-donated tent for flood-affected residents in Adraskan District, west Afghanistan's Herat Province. In a continuation of humanitarian support reminiscent of last year's earthquake response, China-donated tents were distributed to families affected by flooding in west Afghanistan's Herat Province a couple of days ago, to offer a temporary refuge to those grappling with the aftermath of natural disasters. (Photo by Mashal/Xinhua)
Hungary needs love and peace; it needs to bury the trenches, and a leadership that doesnt pretend to be rural and family-friendly, or Christian, but works every day in the interest of the Hungarian people,

Peter Magyar, who heads the Tisza Partys list for the European parliamentary elections, said in Debrecen on Sunday. Speaking at a gathering in the city centre, Magyar said this is the largest political demonstration of the past decades.



After marking Mothers Day, Magyar pledged that the party would double the family allowance if it received the mandate to govern.







Magyar, who also serves as deputy leader of the Tisztelet es Szabadsag (Respect and Freedom) party, said Hungary had received 40 thousand billion forints (EUR 102.5bn) in European Union funding so far, and insisted that a significant portion of that money was in private equity, yachts, castles, hotels, Bordeaux vineyards and offshore accounts.



He said Hungary was being operated as a family company which his party would dismantle if they came to power.







Regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, Magyar said the party was pro-peace and stood for peace talks as soon as possible. The European parliamentary and local elections in June would be a watershed moment, and would be decided between the ruling Fidesz party and Tisza, Magyar said.



Those voting for Fidesz in 2024 would vote for the threat of war and war agitation, and those voting for Tisza will vote for peace, the future, and the safety and happinness of our children and grandchildren, he said.







Regarding the issue of battery manufacturing plants in Hungary, Magyar said the plants were putting people and the environment at risk, and had been built after the dismantling of oversight institutions.



Should his party come to power, they will restore the environmental ministry and strengthen the authorities in question, and tighten laws and oversight, as well as ensure that the localities should benefit from the financial profit of the investments, he said.



Magyar also said his party had garnered the recommendations to set up a list in almost every county.







Meanwhile, Lazar: Development of SE Hungary a Priority

The government regards the development of south-east Hungary as a priority, the minister for construction and transport said in the town of Mako.



Janos Lazar told a press conference at the towns industrial park that the government aims to develop an industrial area similar to those is the cities of Miskolc, Debrecen and Nyiregyhaza near Szeged, in southern Hungary, so that Szeged can finally take its place among strongly developing and prosperous cities.



The government is working to implement infrastructure developments connected to Chinese car manufacturer BYDs investment near Szeged, he said.



It is ploughing hundreds of billions into linking the car plant with the highway, as well as setting up a rail link between Budapest and Szeged, and developing the drinking and waste water system to satisfy the plants demands, he said.



The government will also ensure that gas and electricity capacity is up to mark, he said. The investment will benefit the entire region, he said. Mako is linked to Szeged through a highway, and the government is mulling reconstructing a rail link and building a suburban rail link with Szeged, he added.



The industrial park in Mako currently services 50 companies but will need to be expanded to satisfy demand, in addition to the 3 billion forint water system upgrade already under way, Lazar said. Moreover, a subsidiary of Chinese COFCO Packaging is investing 27.5 billion to build a packaging plant in the park, he added.



China is the largest investor in Hungary, Lazar said, adding that the Budapest-Belgrade railway line was a pilot project in the EU, as the first instance of Chinese signalling and safety systems would operate in the European railway system.



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The annual BPBW is a week long international craft beer festival featuring tap-takeovers, concerts and professional events with personal representation of both local and international brewers.

Like many great things, the idea of the festival was "born in a beer bar under the influence of new wave brewing, international festivals, inspiring brewers, and a decent amount of good beer," say the organisers,



All the events and weekend Tasting Sessions have an 'all you can taste' concept for a fixed price - which is not cheap but is worth it if you're a craft beer fan - followed by live music shows by underground bands and DJs during the afterparties.



This year it's on from 20 to 26 May. Also worth knowing os that there is a free to enter "Sunday Encore Day".



List of participating venues:

Csakajosor

Hopaholic Craft Beer Bar & Food

Madhouse Budapest

Mad Kert

KEG Sormuvhaz

Kulonleges Sorok Boltja

Jonas Craft Beer & Food

InVitro BeerBar

Tripla Hofmann

Beerselection Craft Beer Store & Bar

Craft Head

Hops Beer Bar

First Craft Beer & BBQ

First Local Madach ter

Napfeny Muterem

Malata, Szeged

Sorivo bolt

Italom



Program:

Selector Undos 12:00-22:00

Jam Session (Klausz/Papp/Sagi) 16:00-17:00

Ajtai-Ponza-Klausz 17:30-18:15

Kairos 18:45-19:30

New Fossils 20:00-20:45

Kinetic Erotic 21:15-22:00

Dj Ponza 22:00



More:

BPBW

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The streets of Delhi are witnessing a concerning trend as cases of wrong-side driving have surged by a staggering 67% compared to the previous year. Data from Delhi Police reveals a sharp increase in instances of vehicles openly disregarding the traffic norms by driving on the wrong side of the road, raising serious safety concerns for motorists and pedestrians alike.

Between January and April this year, Delhi Police registered a total of 30,062 cases of wrong-side driving, which marks a significant rise from 18,047 cases reported during the same period last year. Authorities have taken note of this alarming trend and are implementing stringent measures to curb this hazardous practice.

According to a TOI report, an official said, "This negligence not only puts the drivers themselves in danger but it also poses a threat to other vehicles and pedestrians. It leads to accidents and traffic jams." " Another officer said, "Delhi Traffic Police is taking strict action to stop this dangerous practice (wrong side driving)."

In response to this growing problem, Delhi Traffic Police has intensified its efforts to crack down on wrong-side driving. Special teams have been deployed at key intersections and roads to monitor traffic and identify offenders. Strict legal actions, including heavy fines, are being imposed on violators to deter such dangerous practices on the city's roads.

The traffic police has identified the top 10 intersections where so far this year, maximum challans have been issued for driving in the wrong direction. During this period, the maximum number of challans (for wrong-side driving) were issued in Najafgarh (1,389), followed by Sarita Vihar (1,333) and in third place Bhajanpura (1,133).

An official highlighted that many drivers cite urgency as an excuse for driving on the wrong side. By targeting specific areas with high instances of wrong-side driving, Delhi Traffic Police aims to instil a sense of responsibility among motorists and promote a culture of safe driving on the city's streets.
Children's Mental Health Awareness Day 2024: Compared to physical health, awareness about mental health has always lagged not just in India, but globally. And when it comes to children's mental health, awareness is further lacking. It's essential to ensure the sound mental health of kids because they are the future of tomorrow and only healthy children grow up to be healthy adults. Every year, Children's Mental Health Awareness Day is observed on May 7. May 7 also marks the beginning of Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, which culminates on May 13.

Schools and teachers play a significant role when it comes to the mental health of children. Alka Kapur, Principal of Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh, shares that while it's normal for children to act impulsively, it's essential to look out for signs of emotional instability, often characterised by frequent and extreme mood swings. " In recent years, depression among students has become a pressing issue in schools around the globe. Recognising the importance of this issue, schools should take specific measures to deal with students' challenging emotional and psychological behaviour," says Kapur.

Children's Mental Health Awareness Day: Identifying Worrying Signs

Alka Kapur says, "Teachers closely know students, and thats why they can help them the most by navigating them through the challenges of life and becoming pillars of support in their tough times. To lift the students from depression, they should know the different symptoms of depression." Kapur mentions the following symptoms in kids that teachers should immediately flag and take proactive measures:

Talking about suicide

Losing interest in fun activities

Being lost in their world all the time

How To Help Students With Mental Health Issues

Communication between a teacher and a student can be crucial when it comes to behavioural issues, says Kapur. An open culture with freedom of expression that may allow students to vent their fear and anxiety must become an integral part of pedagogy and knowledge exchange at school, the principal says.

Build A Relationship Based On Trust

The first important thing for teachers is to figure out the core reason for depression or other mental health issues. Teachers should then support children by encouraging them, boosting their confidence, and fostering a relationship based on trust and understanding. "Teachers can incorporate quick mindfulness exercises into regular teaching. These simple yet self-calming skills can be effective in dealing with students' emotions," says Kapur.

Value Students Emotions

Students are fragile and need extra care and love, especially when suffering from emotional traumas and depression, says Kapur. "There are times when students dont get love from their homes, and they seek support from their teachers. Thats why teachers should take care that they dont attempt any practice that might have a negative effect," says Kapur.

One challenging factor is that students generally dont talk about their mental state but their actions and behaviour define their state of mind. So a teacher needs to identify that behaviour, and as Kapur points out, "once a teacher knows about the problem, they must encourage them to participate in class activities rather than asking for reasons."

Kapur adds, "Don't make assumptions as to why a student may be struggling and don't criticise them for their behaviour. Instead, try to understand the kids and help them with your support. During their tough times, ensure that you, as their teacher, become a pillar of support."

Teachers mustnt give up on students when they are struggling with their academic or social life. "Provide them with resources, support, and encouragement to enable them to overcome this tough phase of life," says Kapur.

Communication Is Key

Communication between a teacher and a student can be crucial when it comes to behavioural issues. "Through regular and strategic communication, teachers can manage students behavioural issues. "Create a free, open culture where there's freedom of expression that may allow students to vent their fear and anxiety," says Kapur.

Kapur says it's also important to integrate mental health education into the curriculum and address the challenges of a largely digital world." By prioritising mental health, schools play a vital role in creating an environment for students to excel academically and emotionally," she adds.
A syndrome called Internet Derived Information Obstructing Treatment (IDIOT) is emerging as a major hindrance in the treatment of asthma. Experts at the respiratory critical care unit of King George's Medical University (KGMU), said that patients, especially the educated ones, were often misled by information gathered online, especially about steroids which could hinder them from getting the right treatment. Prof Rajendra Prasad, former head of respiratory medicine at KGMU, said that every week two to three patients, influenced by incomplete internet knowledge, resist steroid prescriptions for asthma.

He stressed that steroids, when prescribed and monitored by doctors, are the most effective asthma treatment. Head of the respiratory critical care department of KGMU Prof Ved Prakash highlighted that around 1.9 lakh people die due to asthma complications in India annually, a concerning statistic, given that asthma can be managed well with proper medical guidance.

He pointed out that poor air quality worsens asthma and emphasised the importance of awareness and accurate diagnosis. Prof Sumit Rungta of the medical gastroenterology and dermatology department added that asthma, being an allergy, cannot be cured but can be managed.

Meanwhile, experts at KGMU said that according to a survey by the Department of Respiratory Medicine, about 60 per cent of 500 asthma patients were found using the inhalers incorrectly. This improper use impacts the inhaler's delivery to the lungs, compromising asthma management.

Consequently, patients are often prescribed higher medication dosages (two to three times a day) due to perceived ineffectiveness, when once or twice daily usage might suffice with the correct technique. Experts noted that "incorrect inhalation may necessitate a separate inhaler for 10 per cent of patients".

Experts also underscored the importance of thorough mouth cleaning after inhaler use to manage respiratory diseases and prevent dental complications. He outlined key steps for effective inhaler usage, including -shaking the inhaler before use; exhaling fully before medication administration; holding the inhaler in the correct position; inhaling deeply while dispensing the medicine; holding the breath for at least five seconds; and shaking the inhaler between puffs (if applicable).
New Delhi: Actor Shekhar Suman, known for his recent appearance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar," joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the party headquarters in the national capital on Tuesday.

Alongside Suman, former Congress leader and National Media Coordinator for the party, Radhika Khera also joined the BJP.

After joining the party, the comedian-actor addressed the media, saying, "II had no idea until yesterday that I would be seated here today because many things in life occur, whether intentionally or unintentionally. I have arrived here with an extremely optimistic mindset, and I want to express my gratitude to God for sending me here," he added.

#WATCH | Delhi: After joining the BJP, actor Shekhar Suman says, "Till yesterday I did not know that I would be sitting here today because many things in life happen knowingly or unknowingly. I have come here with a very positive thinking and I would like to thank God that he pic.twitter.com/miEayQxKP2  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

Meanwhile, Radhika Khera thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and JP Nadda for embracing her into the BJP. Khera resigned from the Congress party on Sunday, citing its alleged anti-Ram and anti-Hindu stance. She recalled an incident where she claimed to have been disrespected and allegedly manhandled during a visit to the Ayodhya temple.

Kera said, "After I visited the Ram temple, some party leaders misbehaved with me, and when I asked for justice, be it Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, or Sachin Pilot, I always asked for justice, and those who are accused are still holding positions in the party. Rahul Gandhi keeps talking about women empowerment, but when an injustice happens to a woman in his own party, he is silent," reported ANI.

She added that whenever she posted photos or videos related to her Ayodhya visit, she was scolded by the party. She said that the Congress party questioned the timing of her visit amid the Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier, Suman Shekhar had contested Lok Sabha elections in 2019 on a Congress partys ticket from Bihar's Patna Sahib but lost to the BJP's Shatrughan Sinha.
New Delhi: The journey of minor rape survivors extends beyond physical pain to encompass significant psychological trauma, particularly when the perpetrator is a close relative. In Hyderabad, two resilient young girls, aged 16 and 17, have recently cleared their class X exams and are resolute in their aspirations for the future.

Their shared ambition is to become police officers, driven by a desire to aid victims of various forms of violence. Despite facing harrowing experiences, their determination shines through. The 16-year-old achieved a GPA of 5.2, while her counterpart secured an impressive 9.3 GPA. However, it is not their academic scores that define them but the inner battles they have fought to rekindle hope for a brighter tomorrow.

The 16-year-old, hailing from the Scheduled Caste community, bore a child shortly before her exams, a consequence of being sexually assaulted by her own father. Enduring emotional scars, she grappled with the trauma in silence, fearing repercussions if she spoke out. Despite the turmoil of a police investigation, medical examinations, and legal proceedings, she persevered, finding solace in her studies.

In a landmark court ruling, supported by DNA evidence, her father was convicted and sentenced to lifelong imprisonment, with the girl receiving Rs 15 lakh in compensation. Similarly, the 17-year-old, victimized by her uncle, faced familial backlash following the incident. However, her exceptional academic performance at 9.3 GPA prompted a shift in attitudes, with those who had shunned her family now extending congratulations.

These remarkable achievements have instilled in both girls a renewed zeal for education and a determination to pursue higher studies. Their resilience and unwavering spirit serve as a testament to their strength and resilience in the face of adversity.
New Delhi: Delhi Court extended the judicial custody of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday till May 20 in connection with a money laundering case related to the liquor policy scam.

The Supreme Court bench rises without pronouncing order on grant of interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal. The apex court considered interim bail for Kejriwal in the excise policy-related money laundering case, citing the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the Lok Sabha elections. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta stated that Kejriwal is not a habitual offender.

"He is the Chief Minister of Delhi and an elected leader. Elections are ongoing. This is an extraordinary circumstance. It's not like he's a repeat offender. "We will consider hearing arguments about whether he should be released on interim bail," the court stated. The Supreme Court informed the advocate representing the Chief Minister that it does not want Kejriwal to perform official duties if he is granted bail.

The ED opposed the top court's decision to hear Kejriwal's interim bail application, stating that the court should not create a separate class for politicians.



"There are approximately 5,000 cases involving MPs pending across the country at the moment. Will each of them be released on bail? Is an agriculturist who works during the harvest and sowing seasons less important than a politician? Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General, submitted.



Mehta contended that Kejriwal would not have been arrested if he had cooperated in the investigation and avoided nine summons. He stated that a narrative is being successfully built that Kejriwal did nothing wrong but was arrested just before the elections. Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 and is currently being held in Tihar Jail under judicial custody.

On April 15, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the ED, seeking a response to Kejriwal's petition against his arrest.



On April 9, the Delhi High Court upheld Kejriwal's arrest, saying there was no illegality and the ED was left with "little option" after he ignored repeated summonses and refused to cooperate with the investigation.



The case involves alleged corruption and money laundering in the development and implementation of the Delhi government's now-defunct excise policy for 2021-22.




KABUL, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Afghan and Turkmen companies signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and contracts worth over 200 million U.S. dollars, state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported Monday.

The signing of two MoUs and over 10 contracts was overseen by the Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry of Afghanistan, the governor of the western Afghan Province of Herat, and chairman of the union of tradesmen and industrialists of Turkmenistan in Herat, Bakhtar stated.

The MoUs and contracts were inked for the development of economic and trade relations between the two countries, the source said, adding that according to the contracts and MoUs, the Afghan side will export marble, steel bars, paint, and food to Turkmenistan.

The Afghan caretaker government has been calling upon local and foreign companies to invest in the war-ravaged country and enhance trade and economic relations with the regional nations. 
New Delhi: Multiple vacancies have been announced by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, specifically within the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). These vacancies encompass a diverse array of roles, totaling 108 positions across various disciplines. The comprehensive recruitment notification, including details regarding eligibility criteria, application procedures, and more, has been published in the Employment News issue of May (04-10) 2024.

Under this recruitment initiative, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security aims to fill 108 posts, including positions such as Deputy Director, Joint Director/Regional Director, and Senior Civil Aviation Security Officer.

Application Timeline: Prospective candidates are required to submit their applications within a span of 60 days from the date of the recruitment notification's release in the Employment News. Detailed information regarding eligibility criteria, age limitations, application procedures, selection criteria, salary structures, and other pertinent details regarding the BCAS Recruitment 2024 campaign can be found in the official notification, accessible on the BCAS website.

Eligibility Criteria and Age Limit: The examination authority has outlined the necessary eligibility criteria and age limitations for the various positions available under the BCAS Recruitment 2024 campaign. Candidates are encouraged to refer to the official notification for detailed insights.

Educational Qualifications: As per the notification, candidates applying for roles such as Joint Director/Regional Director should possess a graduation degree from a recognized university, with additional eligibility requirements as specified in the notification.

Age Limitations: The age limitations for different positions under BCAS Recruitment 2024 are as follows:

Joint Director/Regional Director: Up to 56 years

Deputy Director: Up to 56 years

Assistant Director: Up to 52 years

Senior Civil Aviation Security Officer: Up to 56 years

Interested and eligible candidates intending to apply for BCAS Recruitment 2024 are instructed to submit their bio-data (in triplicate) in the prescribed format. This bio-data should be countersigned and duly stamped by the competent authority. Additionally, candidates must furnish the required documents to the designated address as specified in the notification published in the Employment News.
New Delhi: The bitterness in the relationship between India and Canada is far from over, on Tuesday India criticized the Canadian Government for providing a safe haven and political space to criminal and secessionist elements. External Affairs Ministry called out Canada and said "Celebration and glorification" of violence can not be a part of civilized society.

This reaction comes after a week when India summoned Canada's Deputy High Commissioner and lodged a strong protest against the raising voice of pro-khalistani slogans in the presence of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the event in Toronto.

EAM spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that India is still concerned about the security of its diplomatic representatives in Canada and expects Ottawa to make sure that they will carry out their responsibility.

"As you are aware, we have repeatedly raised our strong concerns regarding the violent imagery being used by extremist elements in Canada against our political leadership," Jaiswal said, PTI reported.

Jaiswal further said that posters of Indian celebration of violence cannot be a part of civilized society."Celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civilized society. Democratic countries which respect the rule of law should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression," he said.

"We continue to remain concerned about the security of our diplomatic representatives in Canada and expect the government of Canada to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear," Jaiswal said.

jaiswal later said that they would call again the Canadian government and ask them to stop providing a safe place to criminals.

"We again call upon the Government of Canada to stop providing criminal and secessionist elements a safe haven and political space in Canada," he said.

The relationship between India and Canada is not continuing well after Prime Minister Trudeau accused India last September of involvement in the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
RJD leader and former Chief Minister Of Bihar Lalu Yadav today said that Muslims should get reservations but retracted his statement hours later following a backlash from the BJP. The RJD supremo, who is now part of the INDIA coalition, openly said that Muslims should receive reservations. Speaking to reporters in Patna, Lalu Prasad Yadav said that the public has understood BJP's game. He also said that Muslims should receive full reservation.

Reacting to his statement, the BJP said that the INDIA bloc's game plan is now clear and the saffron party's stand has been vindicated. Addressing a rally, Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi said, "INDIA bloc's leader who ate animal fodder, said that Muslims should get full reservation. What does this mean? They want to take away SC, ST, OBC reservation and give it to Muslims."

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath said that the Mishra Committee had recommended giving 6% reservation to Muslims out of 27%, which the BJP opposed, stating that reservation cannot be based on religion. Yogi said that then these people tried to include Muslims in the SC/ST reservation through the Sachar Committee.

Bihar BJP spokesperson Danish Ikbal said that those who advocate for Muslim reservation are completely anti-constitutional as it's clear in the Constitution that reservation based on religion is not allowed.

The BJP leaders have been attacking Congress accusing it of providing reservation to Muslims from the SC/ST/OBC quota in Karnataka. Lalu Yadav's statement gave the BJP a fresh weapon. However, realising the repercussions of his statement amid the Lok Sabha polls, Lalu Yadav retracted his remarks hours later.

"I implemented the 'Mandal Commission'. Reservation is social-based and not religion-based. Atal Bihari Vajpayee constituted the Constitution Review Commission... They (NDA) are saying 400-plus to induce psychological pressure, they won't even cross 200," said Lalu Yadav.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he won't allow reservation based on religion till he is alive. Modi said that he won't allow reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and backward classes to go to the Muslim community.
New Delhi: Amid strained relations between India and the Maldives, the number of Indian tourists visiting the archipelago nation has decreased. Eyeing the waning state of the Maldives' tourism-driven economy, the country's tourism minister, Ibrahim Faisal, on Monday urged Indians to contribute as the nation is heavily reliant on tourism.

He highlighted the historical bilateral ties with India. We have a history. Our newly elected government also wants to work together (with India). We always promote peace and a friendly environment. Our people and the government will give a warm welcome to Indian arrivals. As the tourism minister, I want to tell Indians to please be a part of Maldives tourism. Our economy depends on tourism, Faisal said in an interview with PTI.

Decline In Indian Tourist

The number of tourist arrivals from India dropped by 42% in the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year, as per a report published on sun.mv on Monday.

In the beginning of this year, India was the top tourist market for the Maldives. However, this number is declining as the year progresses. As per the report, India dipped to sixth place from the top spot.

As per the Tourism Ministry data cited by PTI, the Maldives welcomed 43,991 tourists from India as of May 4. In the corresponding period last year, there were 73,785 arrivals, whereas this year the figure stands at 42,638.

India-Maldives Ties After Muizzu

The decrease in Indian tourists visiting the Maldives is said to be because of the strained relationship between India and the Maldives, particularly since President Mohamed Muizzu took office in November last year.

President Muizzu, who is seen as pro-China, shortly after becoming president withdrew 88 Indian military personnel stationed at three aviation bases, which were gifts from India.

He has accused India of interfering in Maldivian affairs and campaigned with an "India Out" agenda during the elections in September.

Social Media Fallout

The Maldives faced a major backlash on social media following some derogatory remarks from three Maldives officials about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The remarks were directed at PM Modis post on X about his recent visit to the Lakshadweep Islands. He shared photos and videos of the beachside on January 6.

In response, many Indians, including celebrities, cancelled their bookings and abandoned their intentions to travel to the Maldives. Tourism arrival data illustrated India's descent from the top-ranking visitor nation to sixth place after January.
The Supreme Court of India today put on hold the Calcutta High Court order cancelling the recruitment of 25,000 assistant teachers and non-teaching staff in Bengal due to irregularities. This comes as a relief to those who cracked the exam with their hard work and determination. However, the CBI investigation into the case will continue. The Supreme Court allowed the CBI to continue its investigation into the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam case. However, the court refused to take any coercive steps against any official or candidate as of now.

The Calcutta High Court had quashed the appointments of thousands of the recruits, citing irregularities and ordered the teachers to refund their salaries along with 12% interest. This decision rendered around 25,000 teachers unemployed in one go, attracting widespread criticism.

Candidates who got selected on their merits pleaded to get reinstated. On social media, numerous individuals voiced grievances, arguing that innocent individuals were bearing the brunt of the actions of a few. The BJP has accused TMC leaders to receiving kickbacks in lieu of providing government jobs.



I am really very happy and mentally relaxed on receipt of justice at the highest Court of the land. Congratulations to the entire teaching fraternity and my humble regards to the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.





           Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) May 7, 2024

Reacting to the SC order, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, "I am really very happy and mentally relaxed on receipt of justice at the highest Court of the land. Congratulations to the entire teaching fraternity and my humble regards to the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India."
New Delhi:Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday hit out at the Narendra Modi government and said that the National Conference have accepted Gandhi's India not Modi's. NC leaders recalled the time of independence and overstated his party wanted to bring back 'Gandhi's India'.

While speaking with the media, Abdullah exaggerated the regional dispute in the country and said that politicians are responsible for rooting the Hindu-Muslim hatred in India. Abdullah raised the question of whether is this hatred strengthening India or " Are Hindu and Muslims different in any way?"

"... Will all this hatred strengthen India? Are Hindu and Muslim different in any way?... We are responsible for this hatred," he said.

#WATCH | Budgam, J&K: JKNC Chief Farooq Abdullah says, "... Will all this hatred strengthen India? Are Hindu and Muslim different in any way?... We are responsible for this hatred. Politicians are responsible for giving rise to this hatred... We had acceded to Gandhi's India and pic.twitter.com/vVVacZikxb  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

NC leader also said that politicians are responsible for this hatred, "We are responsible for this hatred. Politicians are responsible for giving rise to this hatred."

Abdullah further added that we have accepted Gandhi's India and again want to bring Gandhi's India back. "We had acceded to Gandhi's India and not Modi's. We want to bring Gandhi's India back..," Abdullah said.

Earlier, the NC leader also slammed PM Modi for "creating division" and "spreading hatred" in and of following constitutional responsibility to provide constitutional responsibility to every citizen.

"PM is giving a statement against the Constitution, he (Narendra Modi) is not only the PM of Hindus, but of the entire country, whose constitutional responsibility is to provide security to every citizen. But instead of providing protection, they (BJP) are creating division, spreading hatred...," NC president said, ANI reported.
In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said that the Modi government was responsible for the martyrdom of 40 CRPF personnel during the Pulwama attack and placed the blame on Pakistan for political gains.

Former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, after addressing a political rally in Budgam in central Kashmir, said, "Our soldiers have been martyred. For how long will you let them die? The governor himself said that the vehicle was moving around there for three days, and when the vehicle reached there, innocent people were martyred."

Targeting Modi, Farooq said, "When the soldiers were martyred at Pulwama, the prime minister was filming in the jungle, and the governor Satyapal Malik, when told him that they were martyred due to our negligence, the prime minister said, 'Keep quiet, we will put this blame on another country (Pakistan).'"

Abdullah didnt stop there. He expressed concern that Muslims are not safe in the country. "Be thankful we are walking, but the hatred that is being spread in India will destroy the country. Muslims are in danger; they catch them, cut their beard, and say chant 'Jai Siya Ram.' Does Ram belong to them only? I repeatedly say that everyone is allowed to worship in their way. This country is a free country, but this country will not remain free. They will ask you what to wear, what to eat, where and how to offer Nimaz. Do you remember how they broke our mosques, how they broke our madrasas, and they say 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas,' and 'Sabka Bedagarak.'"

He emphasized that this country is independent, and people living here have all rights to live freely as per their choice, and we have joined hands with Gandhi's India, which was not communal. "This hatred is the biggest danger. Will it allow India to become strong? Is there any difference between Hindus and Muslims? God did not make any difference; we did it. We politicians created the difference," he said. "Otherwise, there was no difference in India between Hindus and Muslims. When we got independence, it was Gandhi's India, and we had joined hands with Gandhi's country," Abdullah said.
As Bengaluru is voting for the Lok Sabha polls in 14 constituencies today, the Bengaluru Traffic Police is all geared up to control the traffic situation. Recently, the traffic police have issued a traffic advisory. This advisory aims to alert commuters about potential traffic jams in various areas due to the election activities.

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is also playing its part by running additional buses to facilitate people travelling to their hometowns for voting. However, these extra buses might contribute to traffic congestion, particularly around the Majestic area.

The traffic police have urged the public to plan their routes accordingly and consider alternative paths to avoid delays. The notice issued by the Bengaluru Traffic police says, An appeal to the public, Due to 2nd phase of Lok Sabha election in Karnataka state, a large number of people are going to their hometowns and KSRTC has left additional buses from Majestic/Kempegowda Bus Stand. There is a possibility of traffic congestion." Here are some recommended alternative routes for commuters

1. Raja Ram Mohan Roy to Magadi Road: Commuters travelling this route are advised to use N.R. Square, Townhall Circle, Market Circle, Royan Circle, and Siri Circle for smoother travel.

2. Raja Ram Mohan Roy and J.C. Road to Rajajinagar: For those heading towards Rajajinagar, taking Palace Road, Chalukya Circle, and Race Course Road is recommended to bypass potential congestion points.

The Lok Sabha elections are scheduled across fourteen constituencies in Karnataka, including Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bellary, Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bidar, Koppal, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davanagere, and Shimoga. Notably, southern Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, has already completed its voting process in the previous phase on April 26th.

As the nation awaits the election results, which are slated for announcement on June 4th, it's essential for commuters and voters to stay informed about traffic advisories and plan their travel routes accordingly to minimize inconvenience during this crucial period.
LONDON/NEW DELHI: The bail plea of fugitive businessman Nirav Modi, who is the main accused in the PNB scam case, has been rejected by a UK court and he continues to be in detention, ED sources said. They said that Nirav Modi filed a bail application on April 16 for the fifth time before the Westminster Magistrate's Court in the UK citing long incarceration, but it was dismissed during the hearing on Tuesday.

India has been working for extradition of Nirav Modi, who was arrested in March 2019 by British authorities in London. An arrest warrant against him was issued following a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in the money laundering case.

Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are the main accused in the PNB scam.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had in 2018 registered a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and others in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

During the investigation, several searches were conducted which led to the seizure of diamonds, gold, pearls and precious and semi-precious stones.

In December 2022, Nirav Modi lost his plea to move the UK Supreme Court against his extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering. The diamantaire had fled India in 2018 before details of his "involvement in large-scale fraud" at the Punjab National Bank became public.
MANILA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Three people have been killed and one severely injured following a multi-vehicle crash in Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila, police said Tuesday.

Police said the accident happened on Monday after an Asian utility vehicle hit the rear of the tricycle carrying the three victims, causing it to lose control and collide with an oncoming tanker truck along a highway in Cabanatuan City in Central Luzon.

The three victims, including the tricycle driver, were rushed to a local hospital, where they were pronounced dead. The fourth passenger was injured and was still recuperating in a local hospital.

Police said the drivers of the utility vehicle and the truck were detained. 
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud (R) speaks in a dialogue at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Riyadh Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 6, 2024. The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Riyadh Conference kicked off here on Monday, with a focus on energy transition for sustainable development. (Xinhua/Wang Haizhou)

RIYADH, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Riyadh Conference kicked off here on Monday, with a focus on energy transition for sustainable development.

During the opening ceremony, Ban Ki-moon, former UN secretary-general and now BFA chairman, highlighted the leading role of the oil-rich Middle East region in promoting green initiatives.

He said the conference also serves as preparation for the upcoming 29th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is to be held in Azerbaijan.

At the conference, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud emphasized the urgent need for energy transition in Saudi Arabia, foreseeing a decrease in global oil and gas supply and a reduction in fossil fuel usage.

He underscored the fruitful collaboration between Saudi Arabia and China in the energy sector, stressing that China is an essential partner in Saudi Arabia's energy transition efforts.

The minister reiterated Saudi Arabia's commitment to strengthening cooperation with China for the betterment of global development.

For his part, Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh, a board member of the BFA and CEO of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, which is the co-organizer of the conference, highlighted the vital role of the chemical industry in energy transition.

He expressed confidence that, through collaboration, sustainable solutions, including those for energy transition, could be found.

The one-day conference brought together over 180 dignitaries, scholars, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders from Saudi Arabia, China, and the rest of the world to discuss topics related to energy transition and carbon reduction. 

Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh (3rd R), a board member of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) and CEO of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, speaks in a panel at the Boao Forum for Asia Riyadh Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 6, 2024. The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Riyadh Conference kicked off here on Monday, with a focus on energy transition for sustainable development. (Xinhua/Wang Haizhou)

Ban Ki-moon, former UN secretary-general and now the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) chairman, speaks at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Riyadh Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 6, 2024. The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Riyadh Conference kicked off here on Monday, with a focus on energy transition for sustainable development. (Xinhua/Wang Haizhou)
TOKYO, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Japanese automaker Daihatsu Motor on Tuesday resumed production at its plant in the western Japanese prefecture of Osaka after a safety test fraud scandal led to operations suspension since last December.

For the first time in about four months, the carmaker, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp., also brought back online its finished vehicle assembly plants in Shiga, Kyoto and Oita prefectures.

The subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp. will speed up the delayed delivery of vehicles for which it has received orders, as well as the improvement of existing models and the development of new models.

The suspension of the plants, which came after Daihatsu admitted in December to rigging safety data for most of its models, led to a plunge in the country's industrial output in January and cast doubt over the safety of the Toyota group's vehicles, national news agency Kyodo reported on Tuesday.

In December last year, the safety test falsification scandal unfolded as Daihatsu announced that an investigation found 174 new cases of misconduct regarding the safety testing of new vehicles involving 64 models.

Back in last April, the carmaker acknowledged data-rigging in collision tests for six of its models, including those sold in Thailand and Malaysia.

It was discovered a month later that the company had improperly obtained government certification for hybrid vehicles for the Japanese market as well. 
A guest (R) tries her hands on rubbing during the Chinese Language Day event at the United Nations Office at Vienna, in Vienna, Austria, May 6, 2024. A series of celebratory events marking the United Nations (UN) Chinese Language Day kicked off at the UN family in Vienna on Monday. (Xinhua/He Canling)

VIENNA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- A series of celebratory events marking the United Nations (UN) Chinese Language Day kicked off at the UN family in Vienna on Monday.

More than 700 people, including representatives of Vienna-based international organizations, diplomats and UN employees, attended the grand opening ceremony at the Vienna International Center.

This year's Chinese Language Day celebration, themed "Diverse Cultures and Romantic Scenery," features a spate of exhibitions on south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a border region often dubbed as China's gateway to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries.

The exhibits include the region's traditional cultural products, ethnic costumes and photos showcasing its renowned landmarks and its achievements in cooperation with ASEAN.

At the ceremony, Li Song, China's permanent representative to the UN and other international organizations in Vienna, said the Chinese language is a long-standing cultural bond, and it will help carry forward the Chinese civilization and the world civilization toward a shared future.

Li said this year's Chinese Language Day events will use Guangxi as an example to tell the story of Chinese civilization and development, showcase colorful and vivid Chinese culture and the achievement of mutual learning and development cooperation between China and ASEAN countries.

"In the new era, China and the Chinese people have the broad mind to understand the values of different civilizations, respect the exploration of their own development paths by the people of other countries, and uphold equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness to promote the common values of mankind," he said.

Miao Qingwang, vice chairman of the Guangxi regional government, said that the Chinese language carries the rich historical and cultural significance of the Chinese nation, and that he hopes this year's Chinese Language Day celebration will promote Guangxi's cultural exchanges and development cooperation with the world.

Representatives of UN Vienna organizations also told the opening ceremony that Chinese, as one of the six official languages of the UN, plays an important role in promoting the cause of the UN and international exchanges and cooperation.

At Monday's opening ceremony, artists from Guangxi staged folk music and dance performances and ethnic costume shows, which drew rounds of applause from the audience.

This year's Chinese Language Day celebration at the UN Vienna, which will run until Thursday, is jointly hosted by China's permanent mission to the UN and other international organizations in Vienna, the Guangxi regional government and the UN Information Service in Vienna.

The UN observes the Chinese Language Day on April 20 annually to promote multilingualism, cultural diversity, and the use of Chinese as one of the organization's six official languages. 

Guests present their paper-cutting works during the Chinese Language Day event at the United Nations Office at Vienna, in Vienna, Austria, May 6, 2024. A series of celebratory events marking the United Nations (UN) Chinese Language Day kicked off at the UN family in Vienna on Monday. (Xinhua/He Canling)

Artists perform during the Chinese Language Day event at the United Nations Office at Vienna, in Vienna, Austria, May 6, 2024. A series of celebratory events marking the United Nations (UN) Chinese Language Day kicked off at the UN family in Vienna on Monday. (Xinhua/He Canling)
THE HAGUE, May 7 (Xinhua) -Dutch police arrested 125 pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Tuesday at the University of Amsterdam's campus, according to authorities.

The police intervention commenced at 3 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) when officers moved to disperse the demonstration that had begun on Monday afternoon.

Demonstrators had set up tents on campus in the eastern part of Amsterdam, demanding, among other things, the severance of all ties between Amsterdam universities and Israel.

Reports indicate that demonstrators were asked to vacate the premises before police intervention, which resulted in demonstrators being escorted away from the campus and 125 arrests. 
China, France should uphold independence, jointly fend off "new Cold War" or bloc confrontation: Xi

Xinhua) 08:28, May 07, 2024

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, hold talks at Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- As the world goes through transformation and turbulence not seen in a century, China and France should uphold independence and jointly prevent a "new Cold War" or bloc confrontation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Monday.

Xi made the remarks during talks with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, at Elysee Palace.

The Chinese president expressed his delight in making the third state visit to France on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of China-France diplomatic relations.

The two sides should stay committed to the spirit that guided the establishment of their diplomatic ties, namely, independence, mutual understanding, long-term vision and mutual benefit, and enrich it with new features of the new era, Xi said.

The two sides should continue to understand each other, jointly promote harmonious coexistence in a colorful world, stick to taking a long view and work together for an equal and orderly multipolar world, he said.

They should pursue win-win cooperation and jointly oppose decoupling, cutting off supply chains, he said.

Xi stressed that China is willing to maintain strategic communication with France, respect each other's core interests, and consolidate the strategic stability of bilateral relations, tap the vast potential of mutually beneficial cooperation and facilitate growth and balance in bilateral trade.

China is willing to import more quality products from France, push for more practical results from the "French farm to Chinese dining table" mechanism, and hope that France will export more high-tech and high value-added products to China, Xi said.

The two sides should enhance the docking of development strategies, deepen cooperation in traditional areas such as aerospace and aviation, strengthen cooperation in nuclear energy, innovation and finance, and expand cooperation in emerging areas such as green energy, smart manufacturing, biomedicine and artificial intelligence, he said.

China has fully liberalized access to its manufacturing sector and will speed up market access in telecommunications, medical and other services, Xi said.

We welcome more French companies to invest in China, he said, adding that China hopes that France will provide a sound business environment and stable development expectations for Chinese companies to invest and cooperate in France.

Xi stressed that both as major countries with a rich culture, China and France should speed up people-to-people and cultural exchanges, continue to hold various activities of the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, and actively promote cooperation in the joint protection and restoration of cultural relics and pairing between world heritage sites.

Welcoming more French friends to visit China, Xi said that China will extend the visa-free policy for short-term visits to China by 12 countries, including France, until the end of 2025.

China also looks forward to hosting more than 10,000 French students in the next three years and doubling the number of European youth exchanges in China, Xi said.

China supports France in hosting a successful Paris Olympic Games and will send a high-level delegation to France, said the Chinese president.

China is willing to deepen cooperation with France in climate change, biodiversity and other fields, support France in hosting a successful UN Ocean Conference, and encourage the pairing of relevant national parks and nature reserves of the two countries, Xi said.

China is also willing to strengthen dialogue and communication with France in such areas as artificial intelligence governance and reform of the international financial system.

For his part, Macron said that France and China will celebrate the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic relations this year, noting that the two countries enjoy a friendly relationship and productive cooperation regarding not just cutting-edge technologies but also global issues such as climate change and marine biodiversity. During Xi's visit, the two sides signed many cooperation agreements, which again showcased the potential and prospects of France-China cooperation.

The world now faces many pressing challenges, and the profound and rich France-China relationship is at a critical juncture of building on the past and looking to the future, he said.

The two sides, through mutual respect, a long-term perspective and strengthened cooperation, will play an important and positive role in addressing global challenges and opposing any logic of bloc confrontation, Macron said.

France would like to have closer economic ties and multilateral communication and collaboration with China, and work for more outcomes in the France-China strategic partnership, he said.

France hopes to export more agricultural products to China, and at the same time, it will continue to open its market to China, and will not adopt discriminatory policies against Chinese companies, said Macron, welcoming investment and cooperation by more Chinese companies, including high-tech firms.

France is ready to step up cooperation with China in such areas as aerospace and aviation, and nuclear energy for civilian use, and jointly hold the France-China Year of Culture and Tourism activities, he said, adding that France welcomes the Chinese delegation to the Paris Olympic Games.

France is willing to stay in close communication and cooperation with China on global issues including climate change, biodiversity protection, and AI, and jointly uphold multilateralism, the UN Charter and international law, he said.

The two sides also had an in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of mutual interest including the Ukraine crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Xi pointed out that today's world is far from being tranquil. China and France, as permanent members of the UN Security Council, should speak out for peaceful settlement of hotspot issues and contribute to a world of lasting peace and common security. China is willing to work with France to advocate, on the occasion of the Paris Olympic Games, a cessation of hostilities around the world during the Games.

The two sides issued four joint statements on the situation in the Middle East, on AI and global governance, on biodiversity and oceans, and on agricultural exchanges and cooperation. Close to 20 bilateral cooperation documents were signed in such areas as green development, aviation, agrifood, commerce and people-to-people exchanges.

After the talks, Xi and Macron held a joint meeting with the press.

In the evening, Macron and Madame Brigitte Macron held a welcoming banquet for Xi and Madame Peng Liyuan at Elysee Palace.

Cai Qi and Wang Yi, among others, were present at the events.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, hold talks at Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pose for a group photo with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, held talks at Elysee Palace on Monday. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
ISTANBUL, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for 23 former and current military personnel over their suspected links to a network accused of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016.

The state-run TRT broadcaster said 19 suspects, including soldiers on duty, former military school students and a police officer, have been detained so far in large-scale operations covering 11 provinces.

The simultaneous operations came after an investigation initiated by the chief prosecutor's office in the western province of Izmir against the network's members within the Turkish military.

Operations are underway to capture the remaining suspects, according to the TRT.

The network led by U.S.-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen was listed as a terror organization in Turkiye and accused of infiltrating the state bureaucracy and military and then attempting a coup on July 15, 2016.

The government has launched a massive crackdown on suspects with links to the network in the aftermath of the coup attempt. 
MINSK, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Belarus has begun a surprise tactical nuclear weapons inspection at the request of President Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

In particular, the inspection will involve a division of the Iskander operational-tactical missile systems and a squadron of Su-25 aircraft, the ministry said in a statement.

During the inspection, the Belarusian armed forces will test "the entire range of activities from planning, preparation, and the use of strikes with tactical nuclear weapons," the statement said, citing Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced Monday that the country has begun preparations to hold a military exercise to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions. 
Cargo containers are seen at the Port of Izmir in Izmir, Turkiye, on May 6, 2024. Turkiye's decision to freeze trade ties with Israel marks a decisive step in ties between the two non-Arab states of the Middle East as trade remained largely untouched despite ups and downs in bilateral relations in the past two decades. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)

by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Turkiye's decision to freeze trade ties with Israel marks a decisive step in ties between the two non-Arab states of the Middle East as trade remained largely untouched despite ups and downs in bilateral relations in the past two decades.

Analysts said Ankara is aware that cutting trade ties with Israel will hurt Turkiye's ailing economy but wants to show that supporting the Palestinian cause goes beyond the money that exports generate.

Turkiye announced the suspension of all trade with Israel last week after the country imposed export restrictions on Israel in early April, covering products from iron to jet fuel.

Batu Coskun, a political analyst who specializes in Turkish affairs at Libya's Sadeq Institute, told Xinhua that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is taking a different approach to Turkiye's relationship with Israel, noting that trade relations once remained unaffected even during times of political strain.

For Coskun, the current position of Ankara on the Gaza conflict is to address all aspects of its ties with Israel without separating political and economic issues, even if it means that Turkiye will also suffer from a suspension of trade ties.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, Turkiye reported 5.4 billion U.S. dollars in exports to Israel in 2023 and 1.6 billion in imports.

The bilateral trade volume is largely in favor of Turkiye, and its companies are expected to take a hit from a ban on exports, especially those specializing in construction materials.

Erdogan has been a vocal critic of Israel's military operations in Gaza since last year.

In Coskun's view, the Turkish leader may want to continue the escalation with Israel as he resonates with his ruling Justice and Development Party's religious and conservative grassroots.

The Turkish president faced backlash at home from its allies and the opposition for not cutting all trade ties with Israel while the humanitarian crisis deepened in the Palestinian enclave.

Erdogan on Friday said his government's move to halt trade with Israel aimed at pushing the country to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

"We have taken some measures to force Israel to agree to a ceasefire and increase the amount of humanitarian aid to enter" Gaza, Erdogan told a group of businessmen in Istanbul, Turkiye's economic hub, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkiye and Israel restored diplomatic relations in mid-2022 following years of strained relations. However, the Gaza crisis led to renewed tensions and mutual accusations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also announced last week that his country would join South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the Hague-based International Court of Justice.

Time will tell how Ankara's decision will affect Israel's economy, and seeking alternative partners in times of crisis is not something new for the country, Serkan Demirtas, an Ankara-based foreign policy analyst and journalist, said to Xinhua.

"With a trade embargo, Turkiye is essentially seeking to set a precedent for other nations to twist Israel's arm for a permanent truce in Gaza," he pointed out.

"We will have to see the extent of the impact of the Turkish embargo on the Israeli economy and whether other countries will follow suit," he added. 

Cargo containers are seen at the Port of Izmir in Izmir, Turkiye, on May 6, 2024. Turkiye's decision to freeze trade ties with Israel marks a decisive step in ties between the two non-Arab states of the Middle East as trade remained largely untouched despite ups and downs in bilateral relations in the past two decades. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)

Cargo containers are seen at the Port of Izmir in Izmir, Turkiye, on May 6, 2024. Turkiye's decision to freeze trade ties with Israel marks a decisive step in ties between the two non-Arab states of the Middle East as trade remained largely untouched despite ups and downs in bilateral relations in the past two decades. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)
ANKARA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The suborbital research flight of Turkiye's second astronaut Tuva Cihangir Atasever is scheduled for June 8 from Virgin Galactic's Spaceport facilities in New Mexico, United States, a Turkish minister said on Tuesday.

As part of Turkiye's National Space Program, the country has set 10 targets, including the "Turkish Astronaut and Science Mission," Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir said at a press conference.

During the press conference, the minister was joined by Alper Gezeravci, the country's first-ever space traveler, who participated in Turkiye's National Space Program launched in 2021.

Alper Gezeravci, a 44-year-old fighter pilot and colonel in the Turkish Air Force, completed a two-week journey on the International Space Station in January.

"Next up is the suborbital research flight of our other astronaut, Tuva Cihangir Atasever. In this flight, the 'VSS Unity' suborbital vehicle that will carry our astronaut will first reach an altitude of about 45,000 feet via a carrier aircraft, and then reach an altitude of about 90 kilometers by firing its hybrid fuel rocket engine," said the Turkish minister.

During the approximately 3-minute free-fall phase, it will be possible to conduct seven experiments in a microgravity environment, ranging from biological molecules to gene analysis, metabolism changes to suppressor cells, insulin pen to radiation analysis, he added.

The minister said both astronauts had received astronaut training provided by Axiom Space, Space X, and NASA. 
LOS ANGELES, May 6 (Xinhua) -- A total of 64 protesters were arrested early Monday morning when police moved in to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), in the U.S. state of California.

Forty of the arrested were students and 24 were unaffiliated. The arrested students will all be placed under interim suspension, according to the highly rated public university.

Protesters set up the "Gaza Solidarity" encampment on the university's campus on Wednesday, joining the wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations sweeping the nation over the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

UC San Diego's chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said in a statement on Sunday that "unauthorized encampments are strictly prohibited."

"We began communicating with participants within minutes of the camp's establishment. Nevertheless, the encampment has tripled in size in violation of the group's commitment not to expand the footprint," said Khosla in the statement, adding that "This encampment poses an unacceptable safety and security hazard on campus."

Police officers in riot gear started dismantling the pro-Palestinian encampment and making arrests around 6 a.m. Monday local time after declaring the protest camp an unlawful assembly.

The university said in a campus message to faculty, staff and students that "All West Campus facilities are closed" and "All events scheduled for today on West Campus should be canceled, rescheduled or moved to remote operation."

The UC San Diego pro-Palestinian camp clearance came days after the mass arrest of over 200 pro-Palestinian protesters on Thursday morning as police dismantled an encampment at UC Los Angeles.

UC Riverside, another university in the University of California system, made up of 10 campuses, announced last week that school officials reached a peaceful agreement with protesters at the university to end the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus on Friday.

Aside from UC Los Angeles, UC San Diego and UC Riverside, students at some other California colleges and universities, including Stanford University, the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, Sacramento State, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, joined the national protest. 
WASHINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Army has opened an administrative investigation to gather facts related to a U.S. soldier recently detained in Russia while traveling there for personal reasons, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told a press briefing that the soldier at the center of the incident, Staff Sergeant Gordon Black, was enlisted as an infantryman in the U.S. Army in 2008. He out-processed from his most recent station at Eighth Army, U.S. Forces Korea, on April 10 and should have returned to a military base in Texas.

Instead of going back to the United States, Black, according to Singh, flew from South Korea, through China, to the Far East Russian city of Vladivostok, where he is now held in a pretrial detention facility and will remain there until the next court hearing.

Black is accused of "committing secret theft of the property of a citizen T., causing significant damage to the latter," CNN reported Tuesday, citing a statement from Pervomaisky District Court of Vladivostok. He will remain in detention until July 2.

"The Army has opened an administrative investigation to determine the facts and the circumstances surrounding his travel," Singh said of Black, adding that whether he will face any disciplinary action as a consequence of his unauthorized travel to Russia depends on what will yield from the Army's probe.

Black was not authorized by the Defense Department to travel to Russia and did not request official clearance to do so when he left his unit in South Korea, CNN said in its report, citing Army Spokesperson Cynthia Smith.

Singh at the press briefing dodged several follow-up questions asking such specifics as whether the Pentagon had any suspicion or concern that Black potentially compromised U.S. intelligence information while in Russia. She said she had no further information to share as the investigation was still underway.

Black's detention in Russia came at a time when tensions between Washington and Moscow are running extremely high. The Joe Biden administration has been seeking the release and repatriation of several individuals held in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a former member of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Citing a Russian Foreign Ministry representative, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported Tuesday that what Black committed was "a purely domestic crime," and that his case was "not related to politics or espionage." 
Few companies have lost more than the $32 billion that Boeing has lost in the last five years. And fewer companies could lose that kind of money and not be facing bankruptcy  or worse.

Thats because the company is part of a unique duopoly, one of only two manufacturers of full-size passenger jets in high demand by airlines. That means it can continue to sell, build and deliver planes for many years to come, even with massive and well-documented problems.

Given the dynamics of their place in the industry and the industry itself, they have the luxury of time, said Richard Aboulafia, managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace and defense industry consultant. Its an industry with the highest possible barriers to entry and very strong demand for its products. But theyve wasted a lot of that time.

Boeing (BA), despite its many woes, has a backlog of orders for more 5,600 commercial jets, worth $529 billion. Thats years worth of orders. The problem is that Boeing has reduced its pace so much to address quality issues, it cant make enough planes a year to turn a profit.

Can the current situation go on forever? No, it cant, said Ron Epstein, aerospace analyst for Bank of America. That being said, they have some leeway. Theyre not going to be in trouble tomorrow.

Soaring debt levels, plunging to junk

Boeing management says it is focused on fixing its well-documented safety and quality issues  like the missing bolts that led to an in-air fuselage blowout in January  rather than projecting when it will return to profitability.

But management says the financial situation is not as dire as it might appear.

It is important that our people and our stakeholders understand how promising Boeings future looks, CEO Dave Calhoun told investors last month. Demand across our portfolio remains incredibly strong. Our people are world-class. Theres a lot of work in front of us, but Im proud of our team and remain fully confident in our future.

Its not that Boeings problems arent serious. Quality and safety questions have rattled some flyers confidence in its planes, sparked multiple federal probes and caused huge problems for airline customers. Even before the latest Alaska Air incident caused another plunge in orders, and after one of its best sales years on record last year, Boeing has fallen far behind rival Airbus in orders for new jets and for deliveries.

From the second quarter of 2019, just after a second fatal crash of a 737 Max led to a 20-month grounding of its best-selling plane, through the first quarter of this year, which included the incident on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max jet that lost a door plug minutes into a flight, Boeing reported core operating losses totaling $31.9 billion. Net losses in the same period came to $27 billion.

Story continues

No other company in the S&P has lost that much money over the past five years, according to FactSet, which tracks financial results. Only two  Uber and cruise line operator Carnival Corp.  have even come close.

And the massive losses have resulted in the companys debt level soaring, from $13 billion at the end of 2018 to $48 billion now.

Further losses could plunge companys debt into junk bond status for the first time. Moodys Ratings has said that even with improved financial performance, Boeings cash flow will not be enough to cover $4.3 billion of debt coming due in 2025 and $8 billion due in 2026. Boeing likely will have to issue new debt to fund those shortfalls, according to Moodys.

Asked about its financial issues, Boeing pointed to comments from CFO Brian West on a recent investors call.

Were committed to managing the balance sheet in a prudent manner with two main objectives, he said then. One, prioritize the investment grade rating; and two, allow the factory and supply chain to stabilize for a stronger trajectory as we exit this year.

Built-in advantages

But Boeing has two advantages other companies dont have.

First, even if all of Boeings customers decide to shift from Boeing to Airbus, Airbus has a backlog of more than 8,000 commercial jet orders of its own and is projected to deliver only about 800 planes this year. That years-long wait for plane orders placed today, perhaps as much as 10 years, means that airlines that have placed orders with Boeing arent likely to cancel.

If a new manufacturer tried to enter the field, it would take years and billions of dollars to come up with a competing model that would be certified to carry passengers worldwide.

Even if customers could get their hands on Airbus jets right away, there are huge costs for Boeing customers to operate both their existing Boeing jets and a fleet of comparable Airbus planes at the same time.

Airline pilots can only fly the jet on which they are certified; they cant just switch between competing models. And airlines also have to keep an expensive supply of spare parts on hand to service the planes they do own. So once an airline has chosen a plane, like the 737 Max, its very expensive to add a rivals version of that jet.

So after Alaska Air purchased Virgin America in 2016, it got rid of the Airbus jets Virgin was flying and became an all-Boeing airline.

The reason we went single fleet is we had two aircraft types performing the same mission in the Lower 48, said CEO Ben Minicucci in January, speaking to investors. It [was] costing us $75 million to $100 million a year operating these dual fleet between pilot training and reserves and maintenance and parts and all that stuff.

But even with those built-in advantages, Boeing cant trail Airbus forever.

Thats one reason the question of who will lead Boeing next is such an important one. Calhoun, who has led the company since 2020, has announced his intention to retire by years end. He said he has an internal candidate whom he would like to succeed him, but whom he has not identified. Others think its crucial to the companys future that it goes outside the company to bring in a fresh perspective.

Its a long road back, its a decade-long process. But changing management is a very good first off ramp [to current problems], said Aboulafia. Its a question of what the board is thinking.

Without a turnaround, the lead that Airbus has established in the wake of Boeings problems the last five years could become permanent. Then the advantages of a duopoly wont be enough to save Boeing from long-term decline.

I think you could draw an analogy to (automaker) GM, and the dominant force they once were, and how its not that any longer, said Epstein. Could they become a much smaller slice of the pie if they dont do something different? Absolutely. Its already happening.

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This article is going to discuss the 15 Largest Metro Networks in the World. If you wish to skip our analysis of transportation sector of the world and the metro rail infrastructure market, you can go directly to 5 Largest Metro Networks in The World.

Growth of cities has been phenomenal in the recent times, with more and more people starting to live in cities. As of 2023, round about 56% of the worlds population, equaling 4.4 billion people, are residing in cities, according to World Bank. However, rapid growth in urbanization requires efficient transportation networks across cities. Thus, the need to curtail traffic congestion issues, and the need to up the overall public transit system because of increasing urbanization, have driven the global public transit sector  the market struck $215.54 billion mark in 2022, and further projections indicate towards a whopping 7.6% annual growth rate of the market from 2023 to 2030! In terms of the overall transportation system, Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland), and Zurich (Switzerland) are 3 cities of the world with the best public transit system, according to Insider Monkey article. Moreover, London (U.K.), Copenhagen (Denmark), and Berlin (Germany) are few others which are ranked amongst the best in Europe, and in the world, as well.

As such, the metro network becomes highly relevant to our discussion, as it is increasingly preferred by the people because of its reliability and environmentally efficient aspect. Moreover, metro network also results in significant reduction of traffic jams and pollution. In U.S. alone, in 2022, 134 billion gallons of gasoline was burnt out through the consumption of it in the transportation sector, which caused 1,476 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which results in climatic issues like global warming, according to Coltura.

The metro rail infrastructure market hit the $46.8 billion mark in 2023, with further expectations saying that it will continue to grow 6% annually, till 2032, according to Global Market Insights. The projection of the market is based on the increasing urbanization and resultant growth in cities. Moreover, environmentally friendly modes of doing anything is preferred in todays era, and hence, more investments are put into transportation network, which requires a great deal of long-term commitment, to be transitioned into greener industry  and metro networks are one way to do it. For example, a new installation, the Grand Paris Express, is planned for the Paris Metro, which would add up a range of 120 miles through 4 new lines and 68 new stations.

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According to a report from McKinsey, Asia is expected to spend the most money on building new metro and light-rail systems. Between the time frame of 2019 to 2025, they had put forward a goal to invest around $920 billion, back in 2020; the Middle East and Europe regions are also aiming to spend a lot, between $135 and $145 billion each. Few cities which are hoping to transition their rail system the most are Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Shenzhen, and Singapore, each planning at least one rail project worth more than $5 billion, according to McKinsey.

In 2023, North America was seen to be involved in betterment of its metro network system. Money from the federal, state, and local governments is key for planning, building, and keeping up with metro systems. For example, in November 2023, the Biden Administration granted $1.64 billion to help expand the Metro-North Railroad's Penn Station access, which included addition of four new stations in the Bronx.

Major companies in the US market are actively pursuing strategic initiatives to uphold and expand their market presence. Companies like AECOM (NYSE:ACM), Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP), and Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC), are prioritizing innovation, investing in research and development, and utilizing advanced technologies to improve the efficiency and sustainability of railway systems.

In January 2024, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) teamed up with 62 customers to complete industrial development projects in 2023. These projects, which expanded operations or established new facilities along Norfolk Southern's rail network, totaled $3.1 billion in investment, creating over 4,150 new jobs as a result. According to Ed Elkins, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, this collaboration reflects Norfolk Southern's (NYSE:NSC) commitment to facilitating industrial growth and enhancing productivity. The company aims to demonstrate its reliability and efficiency as a railroad partner, supporting both existing and potential customers in their growth endeavors.

In February 2022, AECOM (NYSE:ACM) obtained funding for several significant rail projects across the U.S., through the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program. This program has allocated approximately $16.4 billion for various essential rail infrastructure projects along the Northeast Corridor and nationwide. AECOM's (NYSE:ACM) ongoing projects include the California High-Speed Rail, the Lyon-Turin high-speed rail link, and the Metro Tunnel Melbourne in Australia.

Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) is another key player in rail transportation, linking the western two-thirds of the United States by rail. It provides rail services from major West Coast and Gulf Coast ports to eastern gateways, interfaces with Canada's rail systems, and serves major Mexico gateways. In late July 2022, Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) announced a significant deal with Wabtec to modernize around 600 locomotives. The agreement, valued at over $1 billion, is the largest investment in modernized locomotives in the rail industry history, which aims to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Union Pacific's locomotive fleet, according to Wabtec.

Few of the biggest metro networks in the world are in New York, Beijing and Shanghai; and to delve deeper into the realm of biggest metro networks existing in the world, lets now jump to our list of 15 Largest Metro Networks in the World.

15 Largest Metro Networks in the World

Methodology

To rank 15 Largest Metro Networks in the World, we used a weighted ranking system to assign a score to each metro system. This took into account three parameters, which included, number of stations, length of track, and number of lines. The figures for these have been sourced from various sources like CNN Travel and World Metro Database. The first two parameters, that are considered more noteworthy to describe the size of Metro Networks, were given a higher weightage of 40% each, whereas the third parameter was given a weight of 20%. With this we arrived at a score that incorporates all three factors and thus provides a thorough ranking metric; a higher score means a larger metro network. With this, we present to you a list of 15 Largest Metro Networks in the World.

By the way, Insider Monkey is an investing website that tracks the movements of corporate insiders and hedge funds. By using a similar consensus approach, we identify the best stock picks of more than 900 hedge funds investing in US stocks. The top 10 consensus stock picks of hedge funds outperformed the S&P 500 Index by more than 140 percentage points over the last 10 years (see the details here). Whether you are a beginner investor or professional one looking for the best stocks to buy, you can benefit from the wisdom of hedge funds and corporate insiders.

15. Chicago L, USA

Insider Monkey Score: 100.8

Our list of 15 Largest Metro Networks in The World begins with Chicago L. Chicago, like other late 1800s and early 1900s cities, such as New York and Paris, used elevated steel structures for its electric trains that became iconic, also boosting downtown growth.

In 2005, the Chicago Tribune named the "L" one of Chicago's seven wonders. Like the New York City Subway and Copenhagen Metro, it's one of only three systems globally that operate trains around the clock. Good news came out in 2023 that the Chicago Transit Authority, on the back of $200 million funding, is set to bring in new trains in place of L trains, which have been in operation since 1980s.

14. Shenzhen Metro, China

Insider Monkey Score: 101.2

Shenzhen Metro is the 6th metro system installed in China, with its The line 8 extension getting an 8km extension at the end of 2023. The overall metro system spreads across 111 miles, bringing together travelers from 137 stations. This showcases Shenzhens commitment to staying ahead of its growing population (1.4 billion, as of 2024) and urbanization, also explaining why the city is amongst the fastest growing cities in the country. Moreover, in mid-year 2023, installation of 182 lines and extensions was approved under the fifth phase of the Shenzhen metro development program, according to Railway Gazette.

13. Berlin U-Bahn, Germany

Insider Monkey Score: 108.2

Back in 1902, first Berlin U-Bahn lines set foot on the earth, placing it alongside Paris and New York City, in terms of the oldest metro networks of the world. Now, the metro system caters to more than 1.5 million commuters daily, boasting its network of 9 lines and 174 stations, out of which 90% are located underground. Berlin's U-Bahn is placed 13th on our list of 15 Largest Metro Networks in The World.

Playing out as Berlins primary transport arteries, 16 S-Bahn line connects all the important points with the overall region. Connecting with local buses and trams through well-planned points, both S-Bahn and U-Bahn merge together creating a seamless transit system, connecting all the places of the city thats enriched with history.

The $42.7 billion investment that was announced by Germany in late 2023 is further expected to bolster the overall rail transit network in the country, including Berlins U-Bahn and S-Bahn transit networks.

12. Singapore Mass Rapid Transit, Singapore

Insider Monkey Score: 113.6

Singapores Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), which came into existence in 1987, has been regarded as an expensive metro to construct and maintain, as its expenses marked whopping $111.5 billion by 2021, according to Express.co.uk! It is considered not only Southeast Asias oldest metro but is also one that stays the busiest. The whole system spreads across the distance of 140 miles, with six elevated lines. The most recent installations in the system, however, are based underground. Moreover, MRT also caters to public needs of shelters from any potential air-raid, which speaks about the networks usefulness to the public.

11. Mexico City STC Metro, USA

Insider Monkey Score: 136.4

Vast and cheap metro transit system is increasingly demanded in the Mexico City, due to its immense traffic and pollution problems, and thats highly catered by the STC Metro - which was constructed in 1969 and is regarded as the 2nd biggest metro of U.S., boasting a network of 12 lines, 195 stations, 115 of which are based underground, and spanning across 140 miles of tracks. STC Metro is just behind New Yorks metro transit network, which is the biggest one in the country. Mexico City STC Metro is 11th on our list of 15 Largest Metro Networks in The World.

This transit system offers a space where people from different backgrounds can escape from socio-economic divides in the city, also taking them away from the streets marked by pollution and congestion. Contract, worth $90.4 million, was settled in 2021, with the Spanish group, COMSA, which has undertaken the responsibility of maintenance and refurnishing of the Metro Line 1, according to Railway Technology.

10. Paris Metro, France

Insider Monkey Score: 181.2

Paris metro transit system, which is called The Paris Metropolitan, or simply, the Paris Metro, offers scenes showcasing the most profound urbanization. The system spans across 16 lines in the city, with 308 stations in between them. Coming into existence in 1900, the Paris Metro intertwines with the cultural tapestry of the city, just like Londons Underground in U.K, connecting the commuters with museums and art galleries, and many other landmarks, which help it become a day-to-day element of life in Paris.

Interestingly, even though billions have been invested by Paris in automating its Metro lines, the old-fashioned trains having manual doors can still be seen in the city; the locals can be seen getting out of the metro while the train is still in its groove, which is a sight to see for the first timers. Moreover, good news came out that new Paris Metro, named Grand Paris Express (GPE), is under construction, which has already costed whopping $39 billion, and is expected to serve 2 million commuters daily, by 2030, according to Forbes.

9. Tokyo Subway, Japan

Insider Monkey Score: 194.2

Tokyo consists of two subway systems, namely, Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway. When intertwined together, the result that comes out is a dense transit system boasting 13 lines and 286 stations, going past by renowned Tokyo districts. Moreover, the stations increasingly overrun in terms of capacity, despite the fact that the trains operate round about 24 times each hour; sometimes, they operate more than 200% of their planned design limits, which showcases the extreme popularity of the subway, and the swarming nature of the Tokyo. Tokyo Subway is 9th on our list of 15 Largest Metro Networks in The World.

Tokyo Metro Co., a joint-stock entity which comprises of the ownership of Government of Japan and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, recently expressed its intent to go public in January 2024, expecting to raise approximately $2 billion, which the company aims to capitalize on by recovering the losses incurred due to the earthquake in the country, back in 2021, according to Reuters. Tokyo Metro Co. is the company which runs the Tokyo Metro.

8. Madrid Metro, Spain

Insider Monkey Score: 195.4

Madrid is ranked as the 50th most populated city in the world (6.8 million), and yet, commendably, it has a metro system that sets itself apart from the rest. Madrid Metro spreads across 182 miles of track, boasting 300 stations, which makes it the 6th longest metro in the world. Its metro transit system becomes a connecting point across the whole city, which appeals to commuters, be it locals or visitors.

Reported in January 2024 by Railway Technology, a debt agreement was finalized by Madrid Metro, with European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Instituto de Credito Oficial (ICO), worth $898 million to foster its purchase of 80 new trains, which shows its commitment to provide an efficient and seamless metro transit to the community, which is continually upgraded.

7. London Underground, UK

Insider Monkey Score: 211

London saw its first subterranean line - the renowned Tube - start to operate, back in 1863, which is regarded as one of the oldest metro systems in the world. After beginning with the steam trains that ran underground from Paddington to Farringdon, the network has evolved significantly over time, boasting in todays time, a system of 272 stations running through a distance of 250 miles, with 11 lines. The Tube is 7th on our list of 15 Largest Metro Networks in The World.

The population that relies on the citys metro system totals over 4 million, as the system reaches areas beyond London, extending on to nearby counties like Essex, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. While the Tube has been known to be based under the ground, it has more than 50% of its system running above the ground. It is now engraved in the rich culture of London, becoming a landmark in red, white, and blue roundels, which is recognized by many around the world!

In addition to this, $312.2 million funding was promised by the government in December 2023 to help Londons transit system grow in 2024; specifically, the funding is supposedly going to be used for installation of new Tube trains, pertaining to the Piccadilly line, according to BBC News.

6. Moscow Metro, Russia

Insider Monkey Score: 213.6

On our list of 15 Largest Metro Networks in The World, we have Moscows Metro on 6th place, which is Russias most celebrated achievement, in terms of the countrys transit system. It boasts huge underground stations, which are beautifully decorated, giving an honor to soldiers, workers, and peasants. Interestingly, the transit system was not only intended for the commute purposes, but also to provide refuge in the times of potential nuclear strikes.

More than 8 million Russians commute through the metro every day, making it one of the worlds most crowdy metro network in the world. The network covers 269 miles of tracks, encompassing 258 stations, which speaks great deal about its importance to Russians daily commute. Recently, in early 2023, Big Circle Line was inaugurated  a project worth $6.7 billion, further showcasing the rapid development taking place in the citys metro system.

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Disclosure: None. 15 Largest Metro Networks in The World is originally published on Insider Monkey.
Two Stifel employees have left following an investigation into their conduct.

They worked in London for the St. Louis-based investment bank.

Stifel told The Times of London it had "investigated and have taken appropriate action."

Two employees of Stifel have left the investment bank following an investigation into their conduct with a cleaning contractor.

The Times of London first reported the story involving workers at the US bank's offices in the City of London, near St Paul's Cathedral.

Stifel opened an investigation following allegations about improper relationships between employees and a "member of the external cleaning contractor," a Stifel representative told Bloomberg.

One worker resigned after the probe found misconduct had occurred, while the other left and was now involved in a "legal progress" with the firm, The Times reported.

A Stifel representative told The Times: "This matter, involving two employees, came to light several months ago. We investigated and have taken appropriate action. Both individuals are no longer with the firm."

Stifel did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Like many companies, the bank operates a code of conduct for employees.

According to its code of business conduct and ethics: "Stifel expects all Associates to act with integrity in their dealings with clients, other Associates, third parties, or anyone else they come into contact with as part of their association."

The firm has about 600 staff in London after acquiring another company a decade ago.

Some financial firms in London have suffered from accusations of misconduct and misogyny.

The #MeToo movement reportedly brought about some social change about sexism in Britain's financial sector.

However, MPs on the Treasury select committee were told earlier this year that some women felt that sexist conduct had now become more "underhand and pernicious."

The MPs heard that initiatives aimed at improving diversity and inclusion in financial services were welcome, but were "often 'tokenistic' or 'box-ticking' in nature and lacked the 'teeth' needed to drive genuine change."

Read the original article on Business Insider
In this article, we will look at the 20 countries with the longest hours in the world. We have also talked about the issues stemming from overworking. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, head straight to the 5 Countries with the Longest Working Hours in the World.

Overworking, especially during young adulthood, comes with a plethora of challenges, according to a study. Surprisingly, only a quarter of participants in the study maintained traditional daytime hours, while the majority had variable schedules such as night shifts and rotating hours. This discrepancy in work schedules resulted in less sleep and increased vulnerability to depression and poor health by the age of 50. Indeed, the toll of overwork manifests in physical and mental health struggles.

The repercussions of overwork are particularly stark for marginalized groups. Black men and women and workers with limited education disproportionately bear the burden of night shifts and volatile work schedules. For instance, the study cited above says that white college-educated women with stable daytime jobs reported significantly more sleep than their Black male counterparts with unstable employment histories. Moreover, insufficient sleep resulting from overwork is not just a personal inconvenience; it's a public health concern. Chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity are linked to inadequate sleep, with African Americans facing a higher risk due to systemic factors.

In Europe, the specter of overwork also looms large as inflation continues its relentless climb. With costs increasing, many find themselves strapped for cash. Recent data from Qualtrics reveals that nearly half of UK employees are either seeking or considering a second job, with 77% contemplating overtime or extra shifts just to make ends meet. This trend isn't isolated; Germany and France report similar sentiments, with major portions of their workforce contemplating dual employment or higher-paying roles.

Apart from France and Germany, Montenegro is one of the countries with the longest work hours in Europe whereas Netherlands is one of the countries with the shortest work hours in Europe.

However, in 2024, we do expect overworking culture to change. According to a recent survey by Nous, over 40% of HR leaders acknowledge that employees are now tackling more 'life admin' tasks during work hours. In terms of formal regulations, in California, proposed legislation aims to safeguard employees' personal time by penalizing employers who contact them after work hours. Under the bill, employers breaching this right could face a minimum fine of $100. The bill stipulates clear agreements between employers and employees regarding working hours and thus, allows individuals to ignore non-emergency communications outside these times. Speaking of working hours, the average working hours per day in the US were 8.42 in 2022 on a weekday.

To help the compromised state of overworked employees and ensure their retention, Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) engage in employee wellbeing through their volunteering programs. According to Benevity's 2022 talent retention study, participation in workplace volunteering and purpose programs reduces the likelihood of employees leaving by 52%.

Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) boasts a 75% employee participation rate in its volunteering program. Both the companies offer both in-person and virtual volunteering opportunities that cater to diverse preferences.

On the other hand, Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) has an 85% volunteer participation rate and focuses on offering diverse volunteering options to align with employees' personal purposes. Their volunteering opportunities range from urban farming to theater programming.

Additionally, both companies tend to focus on leadership involvement as a catalyst for employee engagement. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) attributes its volunteering program's success to leaders serving as role models whereas Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) holds volunteering events within office spaces to make it convenient for employees to contribute without extensive travel.

20 Countries with the Longest Working Hours in the World

A finanical sector worker working on a laptop in front of a row of cubicles.

Our Methodology

To list the countries with the longest working hours in the world, we relied on ILOs database on average hours per week per employed person as of January 2024. The list is presented in ascedning order of average hours per week.

By the way, Insider Monkey is an investing website that uses a consensus approach to identify the best stock picks of more than 900 hedge funds investing in US stocks. The website tracks the movement of corporate insiders and hedge funds. Our top 10 consensus stock picks of hedge funds outperformed the S&P 500 stock index by more than 140 percentage points over the last 10 years (see the details here). So, if you are looking for the best stock picks to buy, you can benefit from the wisdom of hedge funds and corporate insiders.

20. Senegal

Average Hours per Week: 45.5

Senegal has been recently involved in uplifting its women to join the countrys active workforce. Through initiatives like the ILOs Skill-UP project, in collaboration with the Ministry of the Digital Economy and FESTIC, training sessions have been conducted to introduce mobile application development to 300 young women aged 17 to 22.

19. Kenya

Average Hours per Week: 45.6

In Kenya, the drive towards sustainable employment can be judged through the green jobs assessment conducted by the Kenya Institute of Public Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), with technical assistance from the International Labour Organization (ILO). This effort complements the Youth Employment for Sustainable Development (YESD) project, which, funded by the Government of Japan, focuses on creating opportunities in sectors like road construction and maintenance.

18. Brunei Darussalam

Average Hours per Week: 46.0

The COVID-19 pandemic largely impacted work and labor in Brunei as 72.6% of respondents in a work-related survey were affected in 2021. Moreover, 44.5% fell victim to unemployment, 10.9% received no pay increments, and 7.8% experienced heavier workloads. Additionally, 4.7% endured reduced salaries or working hours, while the same percentage faced layoffs.

No doubt, Brunei Darussalam is also one of the most overworked countries in Asia.

17. Macau, China

Average Hours per Week: 46.0

Employees in Macau are known to be some of the unhappiest. A survey conducted by the Macao Federation of Trade Unions and the Commercial Employees General Association of Macau indicates that 65% of workers feel their industry offers limited opportunities for growth. Shockingly, over 90% report stagnant or decreased salaries compared to 2022.

On a side note, Macau is one of the most urbanized countries in Asia.

16. China

Average Hours per Week: 46.1

The overworked work-culture in China is such that there has been a growing trend of young professionals leaving stable jobs due ow salaries and burnout. In fact, extravagant "resignation parties" are replacing traditional farewells that speaks volumes about their dissatisfaction.

15. Burkina Faso

Average Hours per Week: 46.3

In Burkina Faso, the regular work-week consists of 40 hours. Any work beyond this timeframe is considered overtime, which must be compensated at a minimum rate of 125% for the initial four hours and 150% for subsequent hours, as stipulated by the Labor Code.

14. Maldives

Average Hours per Week: 46.5

There are 46.5 work hours per employed person in a week in Maldives on average, making it the 14th country in our list to have the longest working hours in the world.

13. India

Average Hours per Week: 46.7

In India, the workforce is under a severe strain, as 68% of managers feel overworked, according to a survey of over 3800 managers. Shockingly, 33% are actively looking for new positions within six months, and 59% within a year. Despite being deemed essential for financial objectives and strategy, managers are dissatisfied, citing career stagnation (73%) and lack of recognition (71%) as additional factors.

India is one of the most respected countries in Asia.

12. Pakistan

Average Hours per Week: 46.9

While Pakistan has a general culture of overworked jobs. Some of the most underpaid and overworked jobs in Pakistan are in the legal sector. Fresh law graduates receive monthly salaries as low as Rs15,000 ($54) to Rs30,000 ($108) which is often below the minimum wage of the country.

11. Bangladesh

Average Hours per Week: 46.9

Bangladesh is one of the countries with the longest working hours in 2024. Moreover, majority of workers (comprising 84.9%), according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, work in the informal sector without basic rights like fair wages, fixed hours, or health insurance.

10. Jordan

Average Hours per Week: 47.0

While Jordan is not quite friendly with its work hours but in April 2017, it introduced Regulation No. 22 of 2017. The regulation essentially targeted specific employee categories, including those with three years of tenure, individuals with family responsibilities, university students, and disabled employees. It offers different flexible work options, such as part-time work, flexible daily or weekly schedules, and remote work.

9. Mongolia

Average Hours per Week: 47.3

With 47.3 average working hours per week, Mongolia is one of the top 10 countries with the longest working hours in the world. Moreover, despite an average annual GDP per capita growth of 5.4% from 2000 to 2019, labor productivity levels are relatively low. Labor force participation is less than 60%, as only about half of the working-age population was employed in 2021.

8. Lebanon

Average Hours per Week: 47.6

As of January 2022, the official unemployment rate in Lebanon increased to 29.6%. Moreover, the informal economy absorbs approximately 60% of employment which translated into the prevalence of precarious work arrangements. Another concerning trend is the rise in "underutilized labor," which grew from 16.2% in 2018-2019 to 50.1% in January 2022.

7. Mauritania

Average Hours per Week: 47.6

In Mauritania, despite a legal weekly duration of 40 hours, many workers work significantly longer workweeks, with 56 hours being commonplace. Mauritania is one of the countries with the longest working hours in the world per day.

6. Liberia

Average Hours per Week: 47.7

While Liberia is one of the countries with the highest annual working hours, it also struggles with youth unemployment issues. Currently, youth unemployment stands at 3.08% despite efforts from international partners like the United Nations, USAID, and the European Union.

Click here to see the 5 Countries with the Longest Working Hours in the World.

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Disclosure: None. 20 Countries with the Longest Working Hours in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey.
In this article, we will be taking a look at the 20 most car dependent cities in the US. If you do not want to learn about the trends in America's automotive market, head straight to the 5 Most Car Dependent Cities in the US.

Key Statistics and Trends in Americas Automotive Market

The United States has one of the largest automotive markets in the world. In 2023, U.S. light vehicle sales were 15.5 million units which makes the US world's second-largest market for vehicle sales and production. In March 2024, U.S. new vehicle sales increased 5.1% year-over-year to 1,455,030 units. Light truck and SUV sales, which make up 79.8% of the market, grew 6.5% compared to March 2023. The best-selling models were the Ford F-Series, Chevrolet Silverado, Toyota RAV4, and Nissan Rogue. Data shows that over 90% of U.S. households own at least one vehicle Furthermore, many Americans own multiple vehicles - the average U.S. household has 1.9 vehicles. In October 2023, US car exports totaled $5.56 billion, marking a 2.21% increase from the previous quarter, with Alabama leading at $1.23 billion. September 2023 saw US automotive goods exports reach $16.01 billion.

Public Transportation and Auto Insurance Market Dynamics in the US

The US spends a significant amount of public money on public transportation, but the service quality and ridership levels lag far behind if we compare with other developed countries. In 2022, Us spent around $84.2 billion on public transport. However, despite a large investment in public transportation, the ridership levels have been declining over the years, with a 79% decrease in ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic during 2019-2020.

If we talk about the US auto insurance market, it was valued at $260 billion in 2021 according to McKinsey, with an expectation to reach $390 billion in 2030. Two-thirds of this market is estimated to stay relatively stable with L0 or L1 vehicles which require traditional insurance. L0 vehicles lack automation, while L1 vehicles offer some driver assistance. The remaining third of the market will undergo significant transformations because of the rise of EVs and road safety tech. EVs and advanced road safety tech are expected to cut accidents, lowering premiums by around 10% which leads to an anticipated $26 billion reduction during the forecast period.

The global sales of electric vehicles which includes both battery-electric and plug-in hybrids are expected to grow by 21% to reach 16.7 million units in 2024. 70% of the cars among these are fully electric cars. The share of electric vehicles in global vehicle sales is expected to reach 20%, up from 17% in 2023.

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Most Owned Vehicle Brands in the US

The most owned vehicle brands in the US are Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM), Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Chevrolet, Honda, and Nissan. Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) has a very strong global presence, selling vehicles in over 170 countries. It commands a 10.5% share of the global automotive market which makes it one of the industry leaders. Toyota has consistently been ranked as one of the world's most valuable car brands, with a brand value of $64.5 billion in 2023. Toyota U.S. reported sales of 191,684 units, an increase of 12.4% on a daily selling rate (DSR) basis, in July 2023. Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM)'s Q1 2024 earnings were $7.05 per share.

As of December 2023, around 11% of people aged 18 to 19 owned a Ford vehicle. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is heavily investing in electric vehicles and has plans to allocate proceeds from its green bond issuances to EV development and manufacturing, to achieve carbon neutrality across its vehicles, operations, and supply chain by 2050. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) expects adjusted EBIT of $10 billion to $12 billion in 2024 and hopes to generate $6 billion-$7 billion in adjusted free cash flow, with capital expenditures of $8 billion-$9.5 billion.

Similarly, Nissan sold 13.96 million units in the US in 2022 and the companys market share in the US grew to 5.54% in Q1, 2023. Nissan Group reported total U.S. sales of 898,796 units, for the full year 2023,. Sales of the Sentra sedan were up 41.9% year-over-year while the sales of the Kicks compact crossover were up 71% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2023.

20 Most Car Dependent Cities in the US

A busy street with pedestrians and cars, a billboard advertising the public company's services in the background.

Our Methodology

For our methodology, we have ranked the most car-dependent cities in the US based on the number of vehicles owned per household in these cities. It is important to note that only cities that exceed a population size of 100,000 are included. For the accuracy of data, we relied on several sources, including National Equity Atlas, Governing.com, and Money Geek. The data for our ranking metric is from 2019.

Here is our list of the 20 most car dependent cities in the US.

20. Plano, Texas

Number of Cars per Household: 1.88

There are around 1.88 cars per household in Plano, Texas. The age group with the highest daily person-miles of travel (PMT) is 36-65 years old, followed by 21-35 years old. The heavy reliance on cars in Plano has significant financial and environmental implications. A study by the Brookings Institution found that dense, walkable neighborhoods can generate up to 40% of a city's jobs while only occupying 3% of the land.

19. McKinney, Texas

Number of Cars per Household: 1.88

With around 1.88 cars per household, McKinney, Texas stands among the most car-dependent cities in the US. According to the 2018 ACS data, 90% of residents travel to work by driving alone. The typical McKinney household spends 19% of their household income on transportation costs, with about three-quarters of those costs related to auto ownership. Combined with housing costs, the total housing and transportation costs for a typical McKinney household is 55% of their income.

18. Round Rock, Texas

Number of Cars per Household: 1.89

Round Rock, Texas is the seventeenth most car-dependent city in the United States with around 1.89 cars per household. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 6.6% of households in Austin did not have a vehicle during the 2011-2015 period, making it one of the most car-dependent large cities in Texas. This is in contrast to other major Texas cities like Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston, which had 10.1%, 9%, and 9.3% of households without vehicles, respectively. Regarding the usage of cars in Round Rock, the data shows that Texas as a whole has an average daily vehicle miles traveled of 772.7 million miles, and an annual vehicle miles traveled of 282.2 billion miles.

17. Frisco, Texas

Number of Cars per Household: 1.90

According to data from the Governing Magazine, Frisco has a very low percentage of car-free households at just 1.1%, compared to the national average of around 8.7%. Data from the North Central Texas Council of Governments shows that the shared passenger mobility propensity, which measures the likelihood of using shared transportation modes, is relatively low in Frisco at 4.1 on a scale of 1 to 10.

16. Huntington Beach, California

Number of Cars per Household: 1.99

According to the data, Huntington Beach has a relatively high rate of car ownership, with only 2.6% of households being car-free as of 2015, with around 1.99 cars per household. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019, around 77% of drivers in Orange County, where Huntington Beach is located, reported commuting to work alone by car. Only 9% carpooled, and just 2% used public transportation.

15. Olathe, Kansas

Number of Cars per Household: 2.03

Olathe is one of the cities with a very high rate of vehicle ownership, with 95.57% of households owning at least one car. Households headed by individuals aged 45-64 and 65 and over have the highest rates of car ownership. The most popular car brands among Olathe residents are likely to be the major American and Japanese automakers. Nationally, the top-selling vehicle models are the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram Pickup.

14. Centennial, Colorado

Number of Cars per Household: 2.09

Centennial, Colorado stands tenth among the most car-dependent cities in the US with the number of cars per household standing at 2.09 and only 2.6% of households being car-free. The high rate of car usage in Centennial is further evidenced by the city's participation in the "Go Centennial" pilot program, which aimed to integrate various private mobility services, including Lyft, into the local transportation system.

13. League City, Texas

Number of Cars per Household: 2.10

According to data from the Governing Magazine, League City has a very low percentage of car-free households at only 2.6%, and an average of 2.10 vehicles per household. Other data shows that households headed by individuals aged 45-64 had the highest rates of vehicle ownership. The 2019 American Community Survey found that the bicycle mode share in the city ranged from only 0.2% to 0.9%, which indicates that the vast majority of trips are made by car.

12. Pearland, Texas

Number of Cars per Household: 2.12

Pearland, Texas stands among the cities with a very high rate of car ownership. The city has over 440 miles of roadways and 1,700 stop signs, indicating a strong focus on automobile infrastructure. The average number of vehicles per household, 2.12, indicates that multiple-car households are common which may be facilitated by the city's relatively high median household income, which was $111,123 in 2022.

11. Miramar, Florida

Number of Cars per Household: 2.13

Miramar, Florida stands among the cities with the greatest number of cars per household. The data shows that most people in Miramar drive alone to work, with an average commute time of 29.7 minutes. The city has seen a slight decrease in the number of vehicles per household, from 3.0 in 2017 to 2.13 in 2019.

10. Highlands Ranch, Colorado

Number of Cars per Household: 2.13

There are at least 2.13 cars per household in Highlands Ranch, Colorado which places it among the cities with most cars in the US. Around 99% of the city's population owns at least one vehicle for commute.

9. Gilbert, Arizona

Number of Cars per Household: 2.13

Around 98% of households in Gilbert, Arizona own at least one car with an average number of cars per household standing at 2.13. The Phoenix metropolitan area, of which Gilbert is a part, has the highest non-interstate per-capita VMT of any major U.S. urban area, which indicates that residents rely heavily on driving for most of their daily transportation needs.

8. Downey, California

Number of Cars per Household: 2.14

Downey, California has around 2.14 cars per household which makes Downey stand among the cities in the US with the most number of cars. The Caltrans study notes that disadvantaged neighborhoods in both Los Angeles and San Joaquin counties have a higher percentage of "clunker" vehicles, defined as those aged 20 years or older, which suggests that lower-income residents in Downey may be more likely to own older, less fuel-efficient vehicles.

7. Temecula, California

Number of Cars per Household: 2.14

Temecula, California stands sixth among the most car-dependent cities in the US. Between 2018-2022, 91.7% of households in Temecula had at least one car, with only 8.3% being car-free. The mean travel time to work for Temecula residents is 36.2 minutes. Around 88% of Temecula households use cars to shop for food, driving an average of just 4 miles. The vast majority of Temecula workers, 68%, still drive alone to their jobs, which further highlights the city's car dependency.

6. Elk Grove, California

Number of Cars per Household: 2.15

According to the data from Governing Magazine, Elk Grove has a high rate of car ownership, with only 4.8% of households being car-free and the average number of vehicles per household in Elk Grove is 2.21. The Sacramento County Active Transportation Plan notes that the majority of Elk Grove residents, 77.2%, commute by driving alone, while 10.2% carpool. The data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that in 2020, Americans spent over $460 million on new and used cars, a 2,596% increase from 1960.

Click to see and continue reading the 5 Most Car Dependent Cities in the US.

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Disclosure. None: The 20 Most Car Dependent Cities in the US is originally published on Insider Monkey.
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You might think you need at least a cool million dollars in the bank to retire in the style you want to  especially if youre considering retirement in one of the charming cities in the South, where the houses and quality of life can be outsized.

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However, your dream of fine Southern living in your golden years can be a reality even if you have only half that money in your savings. GOBankingRates took a look at some of the best Southern towns and cities where you can retire with $500,000 in your savings.

These places are listed in order according to a factor combining retirement-age population, livability score and cost of living.

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Wellington, Kentucky

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $6,873

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$4,067

Discover More: 44 Best Small Towns To Retire in America

Find Out: 8 Ways Middle-Class People Become Poor in Retirement

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Nutter Fort, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $9,378

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$1,563

Explore More: 7 Bills You Never Have To Pay When You Retire

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Bellevue, Kentucky

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $16,556

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $5,616

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Panhandle, Texas

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $11,497

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $557

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Lynchburg, Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $18,470

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $7,530

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Frostburg, Maryland

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $9,319

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $1,621

Read More: 6 Ways To Lower Expenses in Retirement While Still Living a Luxury Lifestyle

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Friona, Texas

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $7,076

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$3,864

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Williamstown, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $14,620

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $3,679

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Tangelo Park, Florida

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $20,171

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $9,230

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Kenova, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $10,595

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$345

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Discover More: 8 States To Move to If You Dont Want To Pay Taxes on Social Security

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Clarksburg, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $9,698

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$1,242

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Shinnston, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $10,689

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$251

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Covington, Kentucky

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $13,281

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $2,341

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Nash, Oklahoma

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $10,124

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$817

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Charleston, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $12,965

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $2,025

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Huntington, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $10,532

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$408

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Stonewood, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $10,264

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$676

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Alva, Oklahoma

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $7,296

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$3,644

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Fort Thomas, Kentucky

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $24,480

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $13,540

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Dundalk, Maryland

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $15,616

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $4,676

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Shiner, Texas

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $19,489

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $8,549

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Woodlawn, Kentucky

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $15,830

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $4,890

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Mary Esther, Florida

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $24,353

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $13,412

Check Out: Heres Exactly How Much Savings You Need To Retire in Your State

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Marmaduke, Arkansas

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $7,510

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$3,430

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Barboursville, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $14,462

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $3,522

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Metairie, Louisiana

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $20,566

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $9,626

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Titusville, Florida

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $20,406

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $9,465

Read More: These 8 Expenses Can Kill Your Retirement  Should You Ditch Them ASAP?

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Florence, Alabama

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $14,213

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $3,273

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Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $18,077

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $7,137

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Seminole, Texas

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $14,869

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $3,929

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Richton, Mississippi

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $9,554

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$1,386

For You: I Retired Early  Heres My Monthly Budget

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Pensacola, Florida

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $18,226

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $7,286

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Mammoth Spring, Arkansas

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $8,173

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$2,767

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Lumberport, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $10,090

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$850

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Glenville, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $9,155

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$1,785

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Mauldin, South Carolina

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $19,710

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $8,770

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Spruce Pine, North Carolina

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $17,415

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $6,474

West Union, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $8,293

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$2,647

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Clinton, Arkansas

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $9,125

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$1,815

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Glasgow, Kentucky

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $11,465

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $525

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Park Hills, Kentucky

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $23,820

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $12,880

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Oxford, Mississippi

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $24,099

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $13,158

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Ceredo, West Virginia

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $12,000

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: $1,060

Try This: Nearly Half of Americans Struggle To Pay Their Utility Bills  5 Ways To Save

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Pocahontas, Arkansas

Total Annual Cost of Living for Singles After Social Security: $7,786

Total Annual Cost of Living for Couples After Social Security: -$3,155

Editors note: Photos are just for illustration and may not accurately reflect the city listed.

Methodology: GOBankingRates analyzed cities in South to find the best places to retire with $500,000 in savings. First GOBankingRates found Southern cities for their population, households, population aged 65 and over, and percent aged 65 and over, all sourced from the US Census American Community Survey. For each city, the average cost of living for retired households was calculated by finding the cost-of-living indexes as sourced from Sperlings BestPlaces and the national average expenditure costs. The average Social Security benefit was found from the Annual Statistical Supplement from the Social Security Administration, and the average income was removed from the average cost of living to find the average cost of living for retired residents after Social Security benefits. In order to qualify for this study, the subject would have to be able to draw on savings for at least 20 years, taking them to be 85 years old before potentially running out. The livability index was found for each city as sourced from AreaVibes. The percent population aged 65 and over was scored and weighted at 1.00, the livability index was scored and weighted at 2.00, the cost of living was scored and weighted at 1.00. All three scores were summed and sorted to show the best places in the Southern states to retire with $500,000 in savings. All data was collected on and is up to date as of April 29, 2024.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 44 Best Southern Cities To Retire If You Have Just $500,000 Saved
By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Amazon.com on Tuesday unveiled the first of a dozen Volvo electric big rigs it plans to deploy this year to pick up cargo from the nation's busiest container seaport in Southern California.

The e-commerce giant already has eight of those semi trucks in use at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, where every so-called drayage truck must be zero-emissions by 2035.

The deployment is a first for Amazon, extending its vehicle electrification projects from ocean ports to customer doorsteps. The effort is vital to the company's push to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

So far, a little more than 1% of the 23,761 trucks that serve the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex are zero-emission vehicles - including 201 electric rigs, Long Beach port spokesman Lee Peterson said.

"Heavy-duty trucking is a particularly difficult area to decarbonize," said Udit Madan, Amazon's vice president of worldwide operations.

The company has rolled out more than 13,500 Rivian electric cargo delivery vans across the country since 2022. The transition to electric semi trucks will be a bigger lift, because they haul heavier loads and their batteries require more intensive charging infrastructure.

"There is no playbook," said Adam Baker, vice president of global logistics for Amazon. For now, the company is gathering data on battery performance that will help determine how many trucks will be needed.

The manufacturer of Amazon's electric drayage trucks will continue working with the company and JAB Hunt, which provides drivers for the rigs, throughout the deployment, said Keith Brandis, vice president of partnerships and system solutions at Volvo Trucks North America.

"Charging infrastructure is the long pole in the tent. We have to get that right," Brandis said.

The ports, private companies and truck owners are racing to build heavy-duty chargers to support the transition to zero-emissions vehicles.

In the near term, Amazon's electric port trucks will charge at an offsite facility operated by Forum Mobility, a startup that counts Amazon's Climate Pledge fund among its early investors.

Forum Mobility this week broke ground on a Port of Long Beach high-speed charging depot that can serve 44 trucks simultaneously. Amazon is the first customer for the site, which will also be open to other drayage truckers, Forum Mobility CEO Matt LeDucq said.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; editing by Deepa Babington and Leslie Adler)
Leading international hotel owner and operator Minor Hotels is expanding its portfolio in the United Emirates (UAE) with the development of a new resort and residences in Sharjah under its Anantara brand.

Situated on the coastline of the Arabian Gulf, a 30-minute drive from Dubai International Airport, the Anantara Sharjah Resort and Residences will open in late 2027. The project is owned and developed by Arada, a prominent UAE developer.

The new-build resort will be located on the northeastern edge of Sharjah's Al Heerah beach, offering guests access to a 3.5-kilometre beachfront.

Featuring striking architecture, the property will offer 110 guest rooms and suites, ranging from 45m to 120m, and luxurious penthouse suites on higher floors.

Responding to the growing demand for branded residences, the development will also include 128 residential units for sale.

Guests can unwind on the expansive infinity pool, rejuvenate at the spa or stay active at the state-of-the-art gym.

The property will also cater to diverse culinary preferences with five restaurants: a cafe lounge, a poolside eatery, an al fresco beachfront dining venue, Anantara's signature Mekong restaurant offering pan-Asian cuisine and a speciality restaurant focusing on local flavours.

For business travellers, the Anantara Sharjah Resort will provide a flexible 400m meeting space, along with outdoor venues for social events.

The expansion of the luxury Anantara brand into Sharjah is an opportunity to deliver our unmatched lifestyle offerings to a new audience, said Dillip Rajakarier, CEO of Minor Hotels and Group CEO of parent company Minor International, in a statement.

Anantara is one of the most distinguished luxury hotel brands in the world and it is a privilege to bring this brand to Sharjah for the first time, said HRH Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal, vice chairman of Arada.

Our partnership with Minor Hotels will provide buyers with the quality and delivery associated with Arada, combined with the harmony, culture, heritage and services they have come to expect from the Anantara brand.

The upcoming Anantara Sharjah Resort marks the latest addition to Minor Hotels' growing portfolio in the Middle East. With two new resorts launched in the UAE this year, the company strengthens its presence in the country, reaching a total of ten properties.

"Anantara announces new luxury resort and residences in Sharjah, UAE" was originally created and published by Hotel Management Network, a GlobalData owned brand.







The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. illegally interrogated staff at its World Trade Center store in New York City, the US labor board ruled Monday, marking the latest rebuke of the iPhone makers labor practices.

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A trio of Democratic-appointed labor board members ruled against the company, affirming the findings last year of an administrative law judge. In that decision, the judge concluded that the company violated federal law in 2022 by confiscating union flyers, prohibiting workers from placing them on a table in the break room and coercively interrogating employees.

Mondays ruling is the first decision against Apple by the NLRBs members, agency spokesperson Kayla Blado said. The Cupertino, California-based company, which didnt have an immediate comment, has previously denied wrongdoing.

Apple has faced a wave of organizing efforts over the past couple years, with employees at stores in Maryland and Oklahoma voting to unionize in 2022. Some other unionization petitions were withdrawn prior to voting, and other efforts  like the World Trade Center one  never got far along enough to seek a vote. The Maryland and Oklahoma stores havent yet reached collective bargaining agreements with the company.

The Communications Workers of America  the union behind the World Trade Center campaign and the Oklahoma win  said Monday that Apple continues to interfere with workers ability to decide for themselves whether or not to join a union.

Time after time, when workers want to join a union, Apple has had an opportunity to live up to its stated values and failed, CWA spokesperson Beth Allen said in a statement. This is why workers need an independent voice  to help Apple live up to its credo and make sure that every member of the team is respected and valued.

Other cases are still pending, including one in which an NLRB regional director accused Apple of illegally excluding unionized workers from certain benefits. Rulings by NLRB members can be appealed to federal court. The agency lacks authority to impose punitive damages or hold executives personally liable for violations.

On Monday, the NLRB members ordered Apple to cease and desist from coercively interrogating workers and confiscating union flyers from the break room. They also told the company to post a notice telling employees that it will obey the law and informing workers of their rights.

Story continues

Employees at an Apple Store in Short Hills, New Jersey, are slated to vote Friday and Saturday on whether to become the third unionized site among the companys roughly 270 US stores.

(Updates with union comment in fifth paragraph.)

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Innovator in Electric Coffee Roasting Addresses Growing Demand for Onsite Roasting with Lower Cost System that Reduces Carbon Footprint

BERKELEY, Calif. and SEOUL, South Korea, May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Bellwether Coffee, the technology company transforming retailers into sustainable on-site roasters, is announcing its partnership with Kijeong International to bring to South Korea the first-ever compact, ventless commercial roaster for less than the cost of an espresso machine. This news follows Bellwether's expansion into Japan in September 2023 and its growth into Europe in December 2023. The Bellwether Shop Roaster enables more retailers to serve fresher coffee at a fraction of the cost while reducing their carbon footprint. Bellwether's lower-cost roaster was developed in response to the increased demand for electric coffee roasting worldwide.

The Bellwether Shop Roaster is a small-format, high-throughput electric roaster that seamlessly fits into any retail environment, allowing all businesses, even those with limited space, to roast hundreds of pounds of coffee each week. The fully automated system is offered as a countertop roaster or with a Continuous Roasting Upgrade.

"South Korea is at the forefront of the microroastery movement, with many cafes already roasting on-site, so our partnership with Kijeong International not only supports an existing culture around the freshest coffee, but transforms it into the lowest-carbon coffee by switching to Bellwether's clean technology," said Ricardo Lopez, Founder and CEO of Bellwether. "Specialty coffee is thriving in South Korea, and our ventless technology makes switching to electric roasting seamless, while also reducing costs and increasing profits."

The Bellwether Shop Roaster is a small-format, high-throughput electric roaster that seamlessly fits into any retail environment, allowing all businesses, even those with limited space, to roast hundreds of pounds of coffee each week. The fully automated system is offered as a countertop roaster or with a Continuous Roasting Upgrade and includes access to the Bellwether Green Coffee Marketplace - a global library of expertly sourced coffees paired with custom roast profiles, allowing retailers to source and roast fresh, world-class coffee. Because retailers can roast more than 20 kgs of coffee in a single operation, they can reduce costs while crafting consistently fresh, high-quality, delicious coffee while lowering their carbon footprint.

"In the highly competitive specialty coffee market of South Korea, Bellwether's Shop Roaster is a game changer due to its small format, high quality, and ventless design, which allows shops to easily set up their new machines and begin roasting immediately," said Christina Cho, Managing Director of Kijeong International. "Introducing the lowest-carbon coffee is another way for our customers to differentiate themselves and is the future of the industry here in South Korea and beyond."

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Electric roasting is a powerful alternative to gaspowered roasting, which generates 15% of the industry's carbon footprint. The Bellwether Shop Roaster cuts wholesale coffee costs in half and reduces the carbon footprint of a pound of coffee by an average of 87%, at less than a third of the cost of the Bellwether Series 2 Electric Roaster. Because the Bellwether system is simple to install and operate, anyone can roast the highest quality, most sustainable coffee. In addition, no gas lines, vents, construction, or training are required to set it up and start roasting.

For more information about Bellwether Coffee and its Roasting Platform or to reserve your Shop Roaster, visit www.bellwethercoffee.com.

About Bellwether Coffee

Bellwether Coffee is the technology company transforming retailers into sustainable, on-site roasters. The Bellwether Electric Roasting Platform delivers one solution for sourcing, roasting, and increasing the profitability of coffee businesses while improving farmer livelihoods and reducing the industry's carbon footprint. By eliminating fossil fuels from the global coffee roasting process and strengthening the supply chain, Bellwether is creating a better future for retailers, farmers, and the planet.

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Compare Investments_SPHD vs SCHD

While investors have focused on high-flying Magnificent 7 stocks, Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway has quietly outperformed the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), the stock market proxy and largest exchange-traded fund on the market.

As a conglomerate that owns shares of 41 publicly traded companies, Berkshire possesses multiple ETF qualities and makes for an interesting comparison to SPY and other ETFs tracking the S&P 500.

In this educational article, we break down the key similarities and differences between Berkshire Hathaway Stock and the SPY ETF.

What Is Berkshire Hathaway?

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is a multinational holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Led by co-founder, chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, Berkshire has built a reputation for successful value investing and long-term outperformance of the broader stock market, hence Buffetts Oracle of Omaha nickname.

Here's a breakdown of Berkshire Hathaway's key characteristics:

History and Structure

Founded in 1839 as a textile manufacturer, it transformed into a conglomerate under Buffett's leadership in the 1960s.

Berkshire Hathaway doesn't directly manufacture or sell products. Instead, it owns a diverse portfolio of subsidiaries and equity investments in various sectors.

Investment Strategy

Berkshire Hathaway is known for its value investing philosophy, focusing on acquiring undervalued companies with strong long-term potential.

For companies it owns, Berkshire prioritizes financial strength, stable businesses, and excellent management, and it often holds its investments for long periods.

What Berkshire Hathaway Owns

Berkshire Hathaway owns a wide range of businesses, including insurance companies like its wholly owned subsidiary, GEICO, as well as utilities and railroads. Top stock holdings include Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and American Express Co.

Performance and Reputation

Berkshire Hathaway has a long history of successful investment performance, generating significant returns for shareholders under Warren Buffett's leadership.

From 1965 to 2022, Berkshire Hathaway stock averaged a 20% compound annual growth rate, which compares to 9.9% annualized return for the S&P 500 in that period, according to U.S. News.

What Is the SPY ETF?

The SPY ETF is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, the largest and one of the most widely traded exchange-traded funds in the world with over $500 billion in assets under management. It passively tracks the performance of the S&P 500 index, which represents the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States.

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Diversification

Since SPY holds hundreds of companies, it offers instant diversification across different industries and sectors. This diversification helps mitigate risk compared to investing in individual stocks.

Low Expenses

Compared to actively managed funds, ETFs like SPY typically have lower expense ratios. The expense ratio covers the operational costs of the ETF. In the case of SPY, the expense ratio is around 0.095%, which translates to $9.50 per year for a $10,000 investment. Some S&P 500 ETFs have expense ratios as low as 0.03%.

Liquidity

SPY is a highly liquid ETF, meaning you can easily buy and sell shares on a stock exchange throughout the trading day.

Performance

SPY's performance is directly tied to the S&P 500 index. Historically, the S&P 500 has outperformed more than 80% of large-cap stock funds over the long term, but with periods of volatility.

Berkshire Hathaway Stock vs SPY

Here's a head-to-head comparison of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A & BRK.B) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY):

Feature Berkshire Hathaway Stock SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) Investment Style Value investing, actively managed Growth/Value blend, passively managed Diversification Concentrated portfolio Highly diversified Fees No management fees Low expense ratio (0.095%) Liquidity BRK.A low, BRK.B more liquid Highly liquid Performance Historically outperformed S&P 500 Historically outperformed average large-cap fund Valuation 9.1 P/E ratio 20.8 P/E ratio Market Cap $870 billion $507 billion Dividends Does not pay dividends Has historically paid quarterly dividend

Data as of May 3, 2024, from Morningstar and Y Charts.

Investment Approach

Berkshire Hathaway: Focuses on value investing, selecting individual companies believed to be undervalued with strong long-term potential. Managed by Warren Buffett and his team, with a focus on long-term holding periods.

SPY ETF: Passively tracks the S&P 500 index, providing exposure to the performance of the 500 largest U.S. publicly traded companies.

Diversification

Berkshire Hathaway: Owns a concentrated portfolio of approximately 40 wholly owned subsidiaries and significant equity investments in various sectors. While diverse, it's not as diversified as an S&P 500 ETF.

SPY ETF: Provides instant diversification across 500 companies in various sectors of the US economy. Since its cap-weighted, the heaviest allocations lean toward mega-cap tech stocks like Apple, Microsoft Corp., and Nvidia Corp.

Fees

Berkshire Hathaway: Doesn't charge management fees.

SPDR ETF: Has a low expense ratio of 0.09%, which covers the costs of managing the ETF. Other S&P 500 ETFs, such as the iShares S&P 500 Index (IVV) and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), have lower expense ratios at 0.03%.

Liquidity

Berkshire Hathaway: BRK.A shares are very expensive at over $600,000 per share, making them less accessible to many investors. BRK.B shares are more affordable at just above $400 per share but have limited voting rights.

SPY ETF: Highly liquid with tight bid-ask spreads for easy buying and selling.

Historical Performance

Berkshire Hathaway : Has historically outperformed the S&P 500 over the long term under Warren Buffett's leadership. However, past performance doesn't guarantee future results.

SPY ETF: Reflects the historical performance of the S&P 500 index, which has generated consistent growth and outperformed more than 80% of professional money managers in the long term, albeit with periods of volatility.

Valuation

Berkshire Hathaway: The companys price-earnings ratio was 9.1, as of May 6, 2024, according to Y Charts.

SPY ETF: The average holding P/E ratio for SPY was 20.8, as of May 2, 2024, according to Morningstar.

Choosing Between Berkshire Hathway and the SPY ETF

Investors who have faith in Warren Buffett's investment philosophy and are comfortable with a concentrated holding, Berkshire Hathaway might be an option. However, due to the high price of BRK.A shares, BRK.B might be more accessible for some investors, though they come with limited voting rights.

Investors preferring a diversified, low-cost approach that tracks the overall market, SPY is a suitable choice. In addition, SPY offers potential dividend income while Berkshire Hathaway doesn't pay dividends.

Before buying shares of either investment, investors should their investment goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance.





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Here are three stocks with buy rank and strong income characteristics for investors to consider today, May 7th:

Janus Henderson Group JHG: This investment management company which provides investment advisors for equities, fixed income, property and private equity sectors, has witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 5.6% over the last 60 days.

Janus Henderson Group plc Price and Consensus

Janus Henderson Group plc Price and Consensus

Janus Henderson Group plc price-consensus-chart | Janus Henderson Group plc Quote

This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company has a dividend yield of 4.7%, compared with the industry average of 2.7%.

Janus Henderson Group plc Dividend Yield (TTM)

Janus Henderson Group plc Dividend Yield (TTM)

Janus Henderson Group plc dividend-yield-ttm | Janus Henderson Group plc Quote

Hasbro HAS: This company which is engaged in the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys, has witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing nearly 10.4% over the last 60 days.

Hasbro, Inc. Price and Consensus

Hasbro, Inc. Price and Consensus

Hasbro, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Hasbro, Inc. Quote

This Zacks Rank #1 company has a dividend yield of 4.6%, compared with the industry average of 0.0%.

Hasbro, Inc. Dividend Yield (TTM)

Hasbro, Inc. Dividend Yield (TTM)

Hasbro, Inc. dividend-yield-ttm | Hasbro, Inc. Quote

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp FMAO: This community bank which provides commercial banking, retail banking and other financial services in Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana, has witnessed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing nearly 5.3% over the last 60 days.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. Price and Consensus

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. Price and Consensus

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. price-consensus-chart | Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. Quote

This Zacks Rank #1 company has a dividend yield of 4.0%, compared with the industry average of 3.2%.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. Dividend Yield (TTM)

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. Dividend Yield (TTM)

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. dividend-yield-ttm | Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc. Quote

See the full list of top ranked stocks here.

Find more top income stocks with some of our great premium screens

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

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Bill Gates Harvests $113 Million In Nebraska Farmland, Takes Out $700 Million In Loans

Over the past six years, billionaire Bill Gates has spent more than $113 million purchasing Nebraska farmland and has taken out two loans totaling $700 million against it.

Gates owns about 20,000 acres of farmland in Nebraska, where longtime friend and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett resides. The farmland is held by more than 20 shell companies.

Why would one of the world's richest people need to take out a loan? Many high-net-worth individuals borrow against their assets if they need money they can spend. If Gates sold the assets, he would generate taxable income, according to University of Nebraska College of Law professor Adam Thimmesch.

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"If you can hold those assets until you die, all of that taxable gain goes away, so the ideal tax planning technique, if you're wealthy enough to be able to do it, is to invest in those appreciating assets," Thimmesch told the Flatwater Free Press.

Gates's farmland acquisitions are raising concern in Nebraska because of his involvement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which includes programs addressing sustainability and climate change. If he donates the land to a nonprofit, it could become tax-exempt, which would "decimate" the counties where it's located, according to an email from state Sen. Tom Brewer, a Republican whose district covers 11 rural counties.

"It would force action from the Legislature to protect the counties," Brewer wrote in an email to the Flatwater Free Press.

But Cascade Asset Management, the company that manages Gates's farmland investments, said they are not connected to the foundation.

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"The investments that Cascade makes in Nebraska farmland are not connected with the agricultural or climate initiatives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," a Cascade spokesperson said in an email to the Flatwater Free Press.

In a November episode of Trevor Noah's podcast, Gates said Cascade purchased the land on his behalf because it was a good investment.

"The decision to buy this land was made by people who help manage my money so that we get a good return so that the foundation can buy more vaccines," he said. "And they saw that if we could invest in land and (improve) the productivity of that land, that it would have a good return."

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While some news outlets have reported that Gates owns the majority of U.S. farmland, an Associated Press investigation found that is not the case. Gates has acquired nearly 270,000 acres across the country but it's just a fraction of the nearly 900 million total farm acres in America.

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This article Bill Gates Harvests $113 Million In Nebraska Farmland, Takes Out $700 Million In Loans originally appeared on Benzinga.com

 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Binance Chief Executive Officer Richard Teng has demanded the release of Tigran Gambaryan, the cryptocurrency exchanges executive, who has been detained in Nigeria since late February on allegations of illegal transaction profits.

Tengs blog post on Tuesday highlighted the tension between the Nigerian governments crackdown on cryptocurrency operations and the safety of international corporate staff.

Gambaryan has a history of fighting financial crime in his previous role as a U.S. Internal Revenue Service agent and his efforts in freezing and seizing over US$2.2 billion in assets in collaboration with law enforcement worldwide, according to Teng.

Teng added that Gambaryan was in Nigeria for policy discussions and not as a negotiator.

To invite a companys mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings, only to detain them, has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide, said Teng.

The conflict between Binance and Nigerian authorities escalated when Gambaryan was detained on February 26, following accusations of the companys involvement in illegal financial activities.

This development is part of a larger regulatory push in Nigeria, where the government is preparing to prohibit peer-to-peer crypto exchanges that use the Nigerian naira.

The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission is in the process of implementing new rules to safeguard the local currency from potential manipulation.

Gambaryan is set to stand trial on May 17 on charges including tax evasion, currency speculation, and money laundering.
IAG hopes a takeover of TAP Air Portugal will help extend its lead over its European rivals - Markus Mainka/Alamy Stock Photo

After a rocky few years, British Airways parent IAG is once again plotting its bid for global expansion.

With pandemic woes largely behind it, International Airlines Group (IAG) is aiming to tighten its grip on transatlantic travel with a bid for TAP Air Portugal  a deal that would boost access to Brazils market of 215 million people.

Bosses at IAG view TAP as the final element in a push to extend its lead over European rivals on routes to North and South America.

As a result, they are mulling participation in an upcoming auction after Portugals government put the flagship carrier back up for sale.

Luis Gallego, IAGs chief executive, said in March that hed need to see the conditions attached to the sale before deciding on a bid, but admitted TAP presents an opportunity for the business.

European airline consolidation is at a critical juncture, with IAG also seeking to acquire Air Europa of Spain, Deutsche Lufthansa bidding for Alitalia successor ITA, and Air France-KLM pursuing Scandinavian Airlines.

Should the deals all clear regulatory hurdles and TAP also find a buyer, Finnair would be the only major flag carrier to sit outside the continents three consolidated airline groups.

IAG is already a leading player between Europe and the US via BAs joint venture with American Airlines, while its Iberia unit is the biggest operator of services to Spanish-speaking parts of the Americas.

However, the company was formed with consolidation in mind, adopting a structure designed to make expansionary acquisitions easier.

TAP is particularly prized for the dozen or so routes it offers to Brazil, Latin Americas largest economy and a former Portuguese colony.

Portugal first approved the sale of a majority stake last September as demand rebounded from the pandemic, drawing immediate interest from IAG.

However, that plan was put on hold following the collapse of the socialist government in November.

Spanish IAG boss Luis Gallego must convince the Portuguese government that TAP's Lisbon hub won't be overshadowed by Madrid - Nick Morrish

Victory for the Democratic Alliance coalition in a March election has now returned TAP to the top of the political agenda, with its sale deemed a priority as the new administration seeks to reduce the national debt and balance budgets.

IAG is likely to face a tussle with Lufthansa and Air France-KLM for TAP, which also serves former Portuguese territories in sub-Saharan Africa, a region where British Airways, Iberia and their partners in the Oneworld airline alliance have a limited presence.

Gallego, a Spaniard, will need to convince the Portuguese government that TAPs Lisbon hub wont be overshadowed by Madrid, the main base for Iberia.

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The Spanish carrier helped form the earliest version of IAG via a merger with British Airways in 2011.

This has since led to IAG being registered in Madrid, although its HQ is located near Heathrow at BAs Waterside head office. The groups largest shareholder is Qatar Airways, with the state-backed airline boasting a 25pc stake.

TAP Air Portugal is highly sought-after for the routes it offers to Brazil, Latin America's largest economy - Horacio Villalobos Corbis via Getty Images

As part of any sale, Portugal will also be eager for TAP to maintain flights to key global destinations such as New York, which are seen as vital to the economy.

In making its pitch for the business, IAG is expected to indicate how it has expanded Aer Linguss Dublin hub as evidence of its willingness to see smaller bases grow alongside London Heathrow and Madrid, according to industry insiders.

Aer Lingus  which was bought by IAG in 2015  and TAP both operate fleets of Airbus A321LR jets, a single-aisle model that can cross the Atlantic from their hubs in the west of Europe and is cheaper to operate than a wide-body plane.

John Strickland, an aviation consultant and former network planner at British Airways, said an IAG takeover of TAP would make sense, though there will be some concerns around Portugals actions in the wake of previous privatisation attempts.

IAG looked closely at bidding for TAP almost 15 years ago but the Portuguese airline was ultimately sold to a consortium led by JetBlue founder David Neeleman, only for it to be partially renationalised following a change of government.

It was later taken fully under state control to save it from collapse when Covid halted international travel.

Strickland said: Potential investors will need to be absolutely convinced that there wont be interference from the government or pressure to do this or that purely for political and national reasons.

IAG is also hoping to close the 400m purchase of Iberia rival and transatlantic specialist Air Europa - BORJA SUAREZ/REUTERS

IAG, which reports quarterly earnings on Friday, is separately working to close its 400m purchase of Air Europa, a rival to Iberia in Madrid and another trans-Atlantic specialist.

This comes after the European Commission said in April that it views the deal as likely to restrict competition and push up prices for travel both within Spain and on long-haul routes.

IAG says the takeover would give it about 64pc of long-haul flights from Madrid, putting it on a par with Air Frances position in Paris and that of Lufthansa in Frankfurt.

Given the scrutiny, IAG will need to give up more slots and routes to secure approval for the transaction.

Separately, policymakers in Brussels have also extended the deadline for a decision on Lufthansas 325m acquisition of a 41pc stake in ITA Airways, Italys state carrier.

The German airline must again sweeten a package of proposed remedies to win approval.

As for the blocs third pending deal, Air France-KLM is awaiting the EUs response to its November agreement to take a 20pc stake in Scandinavian Airlines as part of a $1.2bn transaction that also involves the Danish government.

SAS said it expects the investment to trigger some antitrust recommendations, though nothing that might upset the plan.

Finnair, once touted as another potential IAG target, remains independent after the closure of Russian airspace upended its strategy of feeding traffic from East Asia into Europe via Helsinki.

In terms of IAGs finances, British Airways remains the main driver of earnings after generating just short of half of the companys 3.5bn in operating profits last year.

Resurgent revenues since Covid  hitting 29.45bn in 2023  have also been aided by Iberia and Aer Lingus, while the group also owns Barcelona-based discount carrier Vueling.

It is this strength in numbers that IAG hope will be enough to convince the Portuguese government of a prospective sale, which would propel the airline giant back towards its original goal of global expansion.

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Cell Impact has entered into a main agreement with Japanese auto supplier FCC which governs the continued collaboration between the two companies to secure fuel cell flow plates business - primarily in Japan, India, and China.

The main agreement leverages the strengths of both firms, outlining their respective responsibilities in various phases of upcoming deals, the companies say.

Daniel Vallin, interim CEO of Sweden-based Cell Impact said: " We are pleased to collaborate with a successful manufacturer that has such a well-established network of contacts, especially in Japan, India, and China, where there is demand for flow plates initially for fuel cells. The agreement strengthens our position vis-a-vis world-leading players in the automotive industry.

FCC is a globally established supplier to the automotive industry.

The collaboration between FCC and Cell Impact has evolved gradually since August 2022 when the companies jointly decided to install a demonstration line on-site in Hamamatsu, Japan.

The purpose was to demonstrate the efficiency of Cell Impact's patented forming technology for potential customers in Japan and other parts of Asia.

Earlier this week, Cell Impact announced a leasing agreement that will allow the company, together with FCC to continue demonstrating Cell Impact Forming to customers and other stakeholders in the automotive industry.

Cell Impact AB is a global supplier of advanced flow plates to fuel cell and electrolyzer manufacturers. The company has developed and patented a method for high velocity forming, Cell Impact Forming, which it says is significantly more scalable and cost-efficient compared to conventional forming methods.

"Cell Impact inks agreement with Japans FCC" was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand.







The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
HANNOVER, Germany - Plastic is not one of the most popular materials in the world right now, being branded unsustainable. Domestically, members of the U.S. Congress have introduced legislation to crack down on plastic production, and, globally, nations are negotiating a treaty to end plastic pollution.

Despite the potential adverse effects of plastic, igus, a German motion plastics manufacturer, sees an opportunity to leverage this "unsustainable" product to promote sustainability, achieve cost and time savings and usher in a new workforce.

igus highlighted this possibility at Hannover Messe 2024 through its lubrication-free polymer bearings and its Go Zero Lubrication campaign.

Bearings

Nolan Beilstein





Felix Brockmeyer, the president and CEO of igus' North American subsidiary, igus, Inc., clarified that the company's "zero lubrication" bearings are actually self-lubricating. The distinction arises from the presence of solid lubricants housed within tiny chambers in the fiber-reinforced material, which releases extremely small amounts of lubricant during movement.

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"Our products actually have sustainability factored in," Brockmeyer said. "You can use our products without external lubrication.

What you learned in the past was you cannot go wrong with lubrication. Now it's the one liter of oil going into the groundwater [that] contaminates a million liters of water. That awareness in general, and the carbon footprint that is related to fossil fuels being extracted and then turned into lubricants, I think that awareness is much bigger.

igus' 'Go Zero Lubrication' products on display at Hannover Messe 2024.

Nolan Beilstein





To support its push for change, igus shared statistics that global lubricant expenses amount to $240 billion annually, while 50% of machine failures are attributed to improper bearing lubrication.

While many customers will be attracted to the time and money saved by not having to grease bearings, the environmental benefits will likely be of lesser concern.

Take, for instance, the deployment of plastic bearings on a 60-foot cultivator that formerly relied on 120 metal bushings that required regular greasing. The application will be spared the time-consuming labor and reduce oil runoff.

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However, Brockmeyer explained that the sustainability gain is not enough for some consumers.

The mindset of protecting the environment and keeping oil out of the ground has to come through the next generation, Brockmeyer said. It's going to take a while until a farmer in Iowa will necessarily be concerned about grease [from] his bearing dripping into the ground. You cannot win yet with the sustainability factor there. You can win with the time saving that he has, not having to lubricate his equipment in the morning.

The company set out to prove its bearings value in a joint study with RWTH Aachen University. The study analyzed the economic and ecological effects of using plastic plain bearings for nine companies in the automation, construction, packaging, food and bottling industries.

The study concluded that, depending on the application, lubrication-free polymer bearings could help save up to $15 million on lubricant purchasing costs and up to 2 million working hours annually.

Additionally, the study highlighted specific benefits of one participant, Heineken Brasil, which saved approximately $3,000 in lubrication costs per unit and 1.5 hours in maintenance per unit annually by using plastic plain bearings.

Furthermore, the study estimated that Heineken could save approximately 22 tons of lubricant and achieve an annual reduction of 28,814 kilograms in carbon dioxide equivalents if they used lubrication-free polymer bearings in all of its conveyor belts across 160 global locations.

"We are really surprised about the super high numbers of money the companies could save," igus CEO of bearings and linear technology Tobias Vogel said. "Heineken in Brazil, they save millions of [dollars] because they don't have to spend every day greasing and maintaining their machines."

igus showcases its igusGO app at Hannover Messe 2024.

Nolan Beilstein





Despite igus history of making bearings for nearly 60 years, Vogel believes that the best chance to be successful with "Go Zero Lubrication" is right now because of a perfect storm of regulations, labor challenges and economic considerations.

Vogel explained how German regulations are driving industries toward more sustainable practices, such as the ability for states and cities to ban vehicles with diesel engines and the phase-out of oil and gas heating systems.

Secondly, there is a looming labor shortage to consider. A new study from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute projects that U.S. manufacturing could see a net need for as many as 3.8 million jobs between 2024 and 2033, with 1.9 million of those jobs going unfilled.

Among those millions of unfilled jobs are maintenance workers tasked with preventative lubrication, which Brockmeyer described as not very value-added.

Often it is [customers] want to have a cheaper bushing, Vogel said. After they are using our bushing, they see that they don't have to maintain it. That was the main reason why we made the study. To make it more clear, to make it more transparent that there is a second advantage.

The companies have problems [finding] good technical people to do the maintenance. You dont find the people that want to do that work. It's a stupid job to grease, every week, 20 bearings. You save money, time and can use the people for other jobs, or more intelligent jobs.

Still, for most industrial customers, the sustainability aspect of igus lubricant-free polymer bearings may not be the primary draw.

However, as igus continues to promote the product and implement technology that appeals to younger generations, such as the AI-powered igusGO App, there is potential to attract the younger workforce that, as Brockmeyer put it, can push the mindset of protecting the environment.

It's a mindset that you care because the generation after you will be impacted by it, Brockmeyer said. If I deploy lubrication-free bearings, it doesn't help me. I'll be gone before the impacts. It takes a very specific thought process of [realizing] the negative impact on the environment can impact the person.

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Charlotte property owners could pay more in taxes and fees for city services under the proposed budget presented to the City Council Monday.

City Manager Marcus Jones $4.2 billion proposal for fiscal year 2025, which starts July 1, calls for a 1.5-cent property tax increase. That would cost the typical homeowner an additional $1 a week, Jones said.

Hes also asking for a total of $400 million in the form of bond referendums on the 2024 ballot to pay for a range of projects, including affordable housing and transportation.

Money from the higher taxes would go toward public safety, capital investments and the arts, Jones said. Although its officially the citys first property tax increase in six years, it will add to higher taxes already being paid this year. While the city adopted a revenue neutral rate for the current fiscal year, many still paid more in property taxes in 2024 due to revaluation.

Jones warned last budget cycle that a tax hike was likely in the citys future, and on Monday he told reporters that the time had come in order to keep up with the citys needs and growth.

Last year as we ended the budget, it was clear to me that we had to do something different coming into FY25, he said. ... We were at this inflection point.

The 2025 budget proposal also includes raises for city employees and fee increases for solid waste, water and storm water services, which residents could pay regardless of whether they own their home or apartment.

Proposed tax, fee hikes

Charlottes current tax rate is the lowest out of North Carolinas 12 most populous cities at the start of 2024, Jones said.

The city adopted a revenue neutral 26.04 cents per $100 in valuation rate for fiscal year 2024, but city budget director Ryan Bergman acknowledged at the time that about 90% of Charlotte homeowners would still pay more in property taxes after revaluation because of the rise in property values in the area.

About nine-tenths of the new tax money would go into the citys general fund to help pay primarily for public safety needs, Jones said. His presentation included $7 million in funding for police and fire training facilities, $14.5 million for the construction of new firehouses and additional staffing for the Charlotte Fire Department.

An additional $11 million would go into arts funding. Another $11 million would help pay for capital investments, including housing and transportation.

Asked whether the proposed tax increase would eliminate the need for more hikes in years to come, Jones said hes not forecasting more property tax increases. But he added it would be hard to pay for all of Charlottes transportation needs if the city cant get a sales tax increase on the ballot. That requires help from the N.C. General Assembly.

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We will continue to need a revenue source, Jones said of transportation.

In addition to higher property taxes, people could pay more for solid waste, water and storm water services under the proposed budget. It calls for an approximately 78 cents per month increase in solid waste fees, a $4.27 increase per month in water fees and a 47 cents increase per month in storm water fees.

Fees did not increase in the current budget, but there were similarly sized increases for all three services in fiscal year 2023 and in water and storm water fees in fiscal year 2022.

Pay increases for city employees, police and fire

Jones budget calls for all hourly city employees to get a 5% raise in the new fiscal year. The citys minimum pay would increase to $23 per hour, bringing the yearly salary for the citys lowest paid employees to roughly $47,840, he said.

Jones said raises are necessary to maintain the citys workforce, help eliminate vacancies and stabilize turnover.

Its really important to make sure that were taking care of those that take care of us, he said.

City employees got a 6% raise in the current budget, bringing the citys minimum salary up from about $40,000 to $46,200. The 2024 budget also included an 8% raise for all CMPD officers and sergeants and a 5.5-8% pay increase for all Charlotte Fire employees.

CMPD and Charlotte Fire employees would get another raise under the proposed budget, ranging from 5-7.5% for most CMPD employees and from 5-8% for Charlotte Fire. The budget also includes more money to help manage workloads for first responders, including for civilian crash investigators, the CARES Team initiative and other new employees, Jones said.

$400 million on 2024 ballots?

In order to make other proposed spending a reality, Jones wants to increase a planned bond referendum from $210 million to $400 million. Charlotte has a history of approving bond referendums, but Jones needs the publics OK before the city can borrow the money. Last year, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools received voters approval for a record $2.5 billion bond.

Under the citys higher bond, Jones proposed budget calls for the citys yearly Housing Trust Fund, which provides financing to developers for affordable housing, to be doubled from $50 million to $100 million.

The bond would also increase funding for the Corridors of Opportunity program to $30 million, with $15 million in new capital investment plan dollars for the project and an additional $5 million from other sources. The corridors program pumps public and private investment into six targeted areas around the city to spur economic development and improve equity.

For transportation, the bond calls for an increase in capital funding from $115.3 million to $238.3 million, including a call for a $16 million boost in funding for Vision Zero, an effort to eliminate traffic fatalities, and a $30 million increase in money for sidewalks.

Jones said the bond sets aside an additional $55 million for potential projects such as bike facilities, sidewalk improvements and streetlighting in targeted areas.

Not included in the bond, the budget also calls for a career pipeline partnership with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which will bring 17 CMS graduates into city jobs under a pilot program.

Whats next for city budget?

The City Council will hold a public hearing on the budget at its May 13 meeting, according to the council calendar. Additional conversations and meetings will be had as the council reviews the budget proposal, Mayor Vi Lyles said.

We really need to take some time to read, review and inquire, she said.

A straw vote is scheduled for May 30, with final adoption set for June 10.

The current fiscal year ends June 30.
In this video, I will be going over Walt Disney's (NYSE: DIS) second-quarter earnings report, which showed great progress on profitability.

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Key Insights

The projected fair value for Hextar Retail Berhad is RM0.49 based on Dividend Discount Model

With RM0.49 share price, Hextar Retail Berhad appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value

When compared to theindustry average discount of -39%, Hextar Retail Berhad's competitors seem to be trading at a greater premium to fair value

Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Hextar Retail Berhad (KLSE:HEXRTL) as an investment opportunity by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

View our latest analysis for Hextar Retail Berhad

Step By Step Through The Calculation

As Hextar Retail Berhad operates in the forestry sector, we need to calculate the intrinsic value slightly differently. In this approach dividends per share (DPS) are used, as free cash flow is difficult to estimate and often not reported by analysts. This often underestimates the value of a stock, but it can still be good as a comparison to competitors. The 'Gordon Growth Model' is used, which simply assumes that dividend payments will continue to increase at a sustainable growth rate forever. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a company's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In this case we used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (3.6%). The expected dividend per share is then discounted to today's value at a cost of equity of 14%. Compared to the current share price of RM0.5, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate)

= RM0.05 / (14%  3.6%)

= RM0.5

dcf

Important Assumptions

We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Hextar Retail Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 14%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.601. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

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SWOT Analysis for Hextar Retail Berhad

Strength

Currently debt free.

Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Current share price is above our estimate of fair value.

Opportunity

HEXRTL's financial characteristics indicate limited near-term opportunities for shareholders.

Lack of analyst coverage makes it difficult to determine HEXRTL's earnings prospects.

Threat

Dividends are not covered by earnings and cashflows.

Looking Ahead:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Hextar Retail Berhad, we've compiled three relevant items you should further research:

Risks: For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Hextar Retail Berhad (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you should be aware of before investing here. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! Other Top Analyst Picks: Interested to see what the analysts are thinking? Take a look at our interactive list of analysts' top stock picks to find out what they feel might have an attractive future outlook!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
By Lucinda Elliott

MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Paraguay is advancing talks with energy firms and high-ranking government officials from Argentina and Brazil over a potential $1.5 billion gas pipeline to connect the three countries, senior government officials for Paraguay and Brazil told Reuters.

The plan being drawn up by Paraguay, reported in detail for the first time, aims to compete with a rival Bolivian bid to repurpose existing pipelines to transport Argentine gas to Brazil. If either project is realized it would mark a major potential shift in regional energy flows.

"We want to sign a memorandum of understanding at a presidential level (for the pipeline) in June," Mauricio Bejarano, Paraguay's deputy mining and energy minister told Reuters. "There is a general support for the project."

As declining gas output in Bolivia forces Brazil to look for other suppliers, the potential option of gas coming from Argentina's booming Vaca Muerta shale region via the Paraguayan Chaco is gaining traction, said Rodrigo Maluff, Paraguay's vice minister of investment. It would involve an estimated investment of $1.2-$1.5 billion, partly from the private sector, he added.

Governments and companies from Argentina and Brazil have also engaged in talks with Bolivia since last year over what they think could be the fastest and cheapest option to transport gas from Vaca Muerta to the north of the region, which would involve reversing the flow of Bolivia's pipeline network.

In recent months, Paraguayan officials have courted investors in Sao Paulo, met with Brazil's energy minister in Asuncion and officials from Argentina. Tecpetrol, which controls some 15% of Argentina's shale gas output, was part of these latest talks, as was Buenos Aires-based Pluspetrol, Maluff said.

The companies did not respond to a request for comment.

The Paraguayans said the pipeline's initial daily capacity is projected at 15 million cubic meters in the first stage.

Alexandre Silveira, the Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister who traveled to Asuncion in April told Reuters that he was aware of Paraguay's intention and expressed support, but said further studies were needed.

"We agreed to set up another meeting with the private sector to better study the viability," Silveira said.

Plans shared with Reuters show the new pipeline would run 110 kilometers (68.35 miles) from Campos Duran in northern Argentina to the Paraguayan border, across another 530 km of arid, flat land in the Paraguayan Chaco to reach Brazil.

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An additional 400 km of pipeline would connect Carmelo Peralta on the Paraguayan-Brazilian border to Matto Grosso do Sul and from there potentially join the existing Gasbol line to Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city.

The governments of Bolivia and Argentina did not respond to requests for comment.

Bolivia has for years been a key gas supplier to Brazil and Argentina, but its declining output and the potential growth of the Vaca Muerta shale region are poised to change the energy flow dynamic.

Silveira said that the two proposals were not mutually exclusive: "One does not exclude the other," he said. The Paraguay option would help Brazil supply energy to its Tres Lagoas fertilizer plant in Mato Grosso do Sul, he added.

Brazil has made clear that Argentine gas from Vaca Muerta - the world's second largest shale gas formation and fourth largest for shale oil - will be needed to balance supplies due to the decline in Bolivia's gas production.

"Brazil represents the demand," energy expert Victorio Oxilia, a professor at the National University of Asuncion said. "Without the Brazilian market nothing happens, so the position the country takes with a project is fundamental."

(Reporting by Lucinda Elliott; Additional reporting by Matteo Negri in Rome, Fabio Teixeira in Rio de Janeiro, Daniela Desantis in Asuncion and Eliana Razsewski in Buenos Aires; Editing by Adam Jourdan and David Gregorio)
(Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday it has opened an investigation into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to see whether some employees committed "misconduct" by claiming certain tests that were not performed had been completed.

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

The U.S. FAA has opened another investigation into Boeing, which was already facing probes related to a Jan. 5 panel blowout on a 737 MAX. The FAA wants to know if Boeing completed inspections to confirm adequate bonding and electrical grounding where wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes at its factory in South Carolina.

HOW DID THIS COME ABOUT?

Boeing informed the FAA that an employee at the South Carolina plant found irregularities in a 787 test - and said in an email from a company vice president that the planemaker "learned that several people had been violating company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed."

IS THIS THE FIRST TIME AN ISSUE INVOLVING PAPERWORK HAS EMERGED AT BOEING?

No. Investigators looking at the Jan. 5 737 MAX blowout have not turned up specific documentation related to the production of the aircraft in question as well. In that incident, a door plug was removed to address manufacturing problems, but when the panel was reinstalled, four bolts needed to hold the door in place were missing. Boeing so far has not produced any paperwork that shows whether this step took place or not, and has said it believes required documents detailing the removal of the bolts were never created. Missing or falsifying documentation is seen by experts as an egregious problem in aerospace where regulators require meticulous production records.

WILL THIS NEWEST INVESTIGATION AFFECT PLANE PRODUCTION OR EXISTING PLANES?

It is possible. The FAA said on Monday that Boeing is "reinspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet." Boeing currently produces fewer than five 787 planes per month. The company in April had said it was already dealing with a slower rate of production due to parts shortages.

WILL ANYONE BE HELD RESPONSIBLE?

Boeing has said it is taking "swift and serious corrective action with multiple employees," but it is not clear how the planemaker will fully respond to this issue. The company's safety culture has been under scrutiny by lawmakers and regulators after the Jan. 5 blowout that has damaged the aerospace giant's reputation.

In April, Sam Salehpour, a current engineer at the company, said Boeing's manufacturing practices are inadequately addressing safety concerns.

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Boeing was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Shepardson in Washington; Writing by David Gaffen; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Gregory Gerami spent several days on the FAMU campus ahead of the big announcement ahead of donating $237 million to the university. The gift is already in the Universitys Foundation account, according to officials

As excitement ran into online disbelief related to this past weekend's record $237 million donation to Florida A&M University, donor and CEO Gregory Gerami says he doesn't understand the misgivings about the gift.

The stocks have been held by the university for over a month now, so I don't know where the confusion or the skepticism would be since it's already in a financial account with the university, Gerami said.

The 30-year-old hemp farmer, investor and entrepreneur drew the national spotlight with his gift, which appears to be both the largest in history at FAMU and any of the other 100-plus historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, in the country.

But little is known about Gerami, his business or the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust that put up the money. They have a remarkably small online footprint, and news that his $95 million "transformational" planned gift to Coastal Carolina University fell through last year has further fueled alumni concerns.

FAMU's communications office set up a late-afternoon online news conference Monday afternoon with Gerami  founder of the Batterson Farms Corporation  to clear up miscommunicated information and set the record straight on the historic stock donation worth $237,750,000.

FAMU Vice President of Alumni Affairs Carmen Cummings and Vice President for University Advancement Shawnta Friday-Stroud  who also is executive director of the FAMU Foundation  also were on the call, organized for the Tallahassee Democrat, Bloomberg and the Inside Higher Ed.

This just in: FAMU Board of Trustees Vice Chair calls for emergency meeting, 'transparency' on $237M gift

Florida A&M celebrates its Spring 2024 Commencement with guest speaker Gregory Gerami, founder of Batterson Farms Corporation.

Cummings told the Democrat the university has full faith in the donation and are expecting "great things" on the horizon.

But university officials, who have said they are bound by a non-disclosure agreement on details of the donation, left it largely up to Gerami to answer questions.

This is a main example why I don't have an internet presence, nor do I care to have one, Gerami said of the online skepticism. People take things out of context. They run and they damage and hurt people with information that's incorrect and just not appropriate.

'We are fully aware of the skepticism,' FAMU says

Gerami announced the donation during Saturdays spring commencement ceremony at the Al Lawson Center on campus. The announcement has been stirring up mixed reactions from FAMU supporters and alumni, with some believing the donation is too good to be true. Others have criticized those who are questioning the university's due diligence and planting seeds of doubt about the philanthropist.

Story continues

Previous coverage: Graduation surprise: FAMU gets record $237M gift from Batterson Farms CEO Gregory Gerami

As the discussion swirled online, FAMU issued a statement Sunday.

"We are fully aware of the skepticism that sometimes comes with such a large gift," the university said in the statement. "As expected, some individuals in the public are and will continue researching Mr. Gerami.

"Please know that FAMU has done its due diligence when it comes to this matter. Additionally, Mr. Gerami has and continues to do his own due diligence on things that have been and are happening at FAMU."

Florida A&M celebrates its Spring 2024 Commencement with guest speaker Mr Gregory Gerami, This inspiring figure, who overcame a myriad of challenges to become the founder of Batterson Farms Corp., is championing the cause of sustainable farming.

Friday-Stroud told the Tallahassee Democrat Saturday that Gerami and the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust have already transferred the stocks  some of which are invested in hydroponic farming and agriculture businesses  to the FAMU Foundations account, and the university holds certificates for those stocks.

Sunday's statement went further.

"Mr. Geramis $237,750,000 stock transfer was received in the same manner in which we have accepted all other stocks donated to the University through the FAMU Foundation Inc," FAMU wrote. "As with any non-cash gift received, such as cryptocurrency, real estate and stocks, it will be converted to cash and recorded appropriately."

The transfer was made over a month ago, and the donation amount represents what the stock price was at the time they were transferred.

Although the plan is for the university to sell the stocks before the year is over, specifics about a potential date cannot be shared due to the non-disclosure agreement, Gerami said.

By Tuesday afternoon, the vice chair of Florida A&M Universitys Board of Trustees was calling on FAMU President Larry Robinson and board chair Kristin Harper to convene a public emergency meeting for the university community to learn more about a recent $237 million donation.

As Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, I have a responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the university I cherish," he said in a prepared statement, "but I have deep concerns that this process is moving too quickly to embrace a gift without proper scrutiny.'

Gerami traces his path to prosperity, but declines to release net worth

Gerami says the multi-million-dollar gift to FAMU is the first donation he has ever made at that level.

It comes after someone from his team initially reached out to FAMUs Office of University Advancements about the donation proposal about six months ago, in which they were connected to Audrey Simmons Smith, the offices director of development and corporate relations.

During Monday's call, Gerami explained how his journey of building up his wealth over time started with a landscaping and property management business that he owned before selling it in 2016.

He then launched an investment company called Batterson Southeast Capital Group from 2017 to 2020 before shifting to hydroponic farming of plants with Batterson Farms Corporation, which was established in 2021.

 BREAKING NEWS  Florida A&M University (FAMU) Receives $237 Million Gift from the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust and CEO Gregory Gerami. Thank you Mr. Gerami for your generous donation! Visit https://t.co/pYRTmF00uB for more info! pic.twitter.com/4SqfGiccVj  Florida A&M University (@FAMU_1887) May 4, 2024

The corporation is a hydroponic produce business with industrial hemp. He says the company makes money through an agreement with a farming buyback program, where the company is provided with seeds and grows them so that the seeds products  such as cannabidiol (CBD) oil  can be bought back.

Hemp plants contain a percentage of CBD oil that often varies, and the oil can be bought back at 15 cents for each percent of CBD oil found in a hemp plant. He said such an arrangement could yield about $53 million a year.

In April 2023, Lubbock, Texas-based TV station KAMC reported that Gerami, said to be the youngest African American hemp producer in Texas, bought 114 acres of land with seven warehouses with a goal of hiring 600 people and building the largest commercial hydroponic site in West Texas.

Gerami said he currently has only a few full-time administrative employees but about 7,000 indirect and contract employees that he expects to grow to a little bit over 10,000 by the end of the year. He also says his company  with offices in Van Horn and San Antonio, Texas  is expanding to about four more new warehouses across the country in the next year or so.

He said he has about 2,500 plants per acre, but he declined to share his annual revenue or net worth.

"I gave all the money away, I can tell you that," he said.

Although he did not go into the specific of his stock investments, he says his company has benefited from investments in hydroponic farming-related businesses as well as other companies that invest in hydroponics, which is a method where plants are grown by using a water-based nutrient solution instead of soil.

He also said the non-disclosure agreement and his "fiduciary responsibilities to the trust" barred him from revealing any more details about the Isaac Batterson family trust, which he described as a holding company for the assets that funded the FAMU endowment.

Florida A&M celebrates its Spring 2024 Commencement with guest speaker Gregory Gerami, founder of Batterson Farms Corporation. FAMU President Larry Robinson gave him a President's Award for being a keynote speaker.

When asked why he chose FAMU, Gerami says the universitys mission, direction and research capabilities in the area of hemp production strongly align with the work and goals of his farming company.

When we look at our legacy and our business  and as I exit out of my business, which should happen in the next couple of years  FAMU is the designated spot as I expand on charitable giving in research, Gerami said. Ive gotten to know the folks at FAMU really well and I consider them like family.

Beyond philanthropy, he hopes to have a continued role at FAMU by being able to utilize the universitys research and agriculture programs for testing new products, among other things.

Gerami says he likes to stay in the background

While a lot of multi-millionaire entrepreneurs have a large online footprint and vast volume of news clips, Gerami said he intentionally stays in the background. His family is the reason for that, he says.

I have a family, I have younger kids and I come from a large family, Gerami said. I was born one of eight kids and I have nine siblings even in my adopted family. Being a parent and being a family person, I have to protect my family, and their safety is the most important thing.

He says he does well at keeping things off the web and keeping things under the radar.

I will say everything is out there, he added. The only thing that you cannot find is the money. That's really the only thing you can't find online.

Gerami responds to viral post asking 'has FAMU been fooled'

Among the individuals who question the validity of Gerami's $237 million donation to FAMU is Howard University alum Jerell Blakeley, who wrote a column in Education News Flashs HBCU Digest titled For the Love of Money, has FAMU been fooled?

Blakeley questioned how quickly Gerami built up his wealth, the lack of a money trail with Batterson Farms and his scattered social media presence.

"If this turns out to be a scam, the entire university leadership should resign for a massive lack of vetting," Blakeley wrote in the viral piece.

He also noted that Gerami made headlines last year after he was identified as an anonymous donor behind a $95 million "transformational" planned gift to Coastal Carolina University. But things went sour over the span of four months, according to reporting by the Myrtle Beach Sun-News.

In a press release at the time, the university said that it was "terminating its agreement with the donor, citing an unfulfilled early expectation of the arrangement."

Gerami, however, told the Sun-News "he felt disrespected" by officials, which is why the deal fell through. He said the circumstance at FAMU and CCU are completely different because no money had ever changed hands. He said they never made it to the stock transfer at CCU, which is completed at FAMU.

While addressing the HBCU Digest column, Gerami said Blakeley called him at around 10 p.m. Sunday with a bunch of questions and information that was completely wrong.

In his column, Blakeley wrote, "If I am wrong, I will publicly apologize in the same manner I raised my inquiries. More importantly, I hope I am wrong. I would love nothing more for historically black colleges to get their fair share of this nation's wealth."

What Geramis told students during FAMU commencement speech

FAMU formally introduced Gerami to the university community as the keynote speaker for its last spring 2024 graduation ceremony, where three total commencement events were held over the weekend.

Florida A&M celebrates its Spring 2024 Commencement with guest speaker and FAMU Alumni Latoya Myles PH.D. She is the deputy director of NOAA Air Resource Laboratory.

Related news: Thousands turn their tassels during Florida State and Florida A&M graduations

Before the announcement of the $237 million, Gerami, in a seven-minute speech, gave the FAMU graduates a brief look into his background and delivered a message of hope.

From the moment of my birth, I faced obstacles that would shape the course of my life," Gerami said. "Born to a single mother who was 24 with eight kids at the time, I entered the world facing circumstances beyond my control.

He shared that due to his mothers struggle with addiction, he was born with an opioid addiction and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. He was also diagnosed with cerebral palsy, seizure disorder and severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

But with support from a foster family that adopted him at a young age, and mentorship from former Arlington, Texas Mayor Robert Cluck, as well as a Merrill Lynch financial advisor, he says they helped him find the strength to overcome the challenges."

My journey like yours is a testament to resilience, innovation and service, Gerami said in his remarks. Despite facing formidable challenges in my early life, I have dedicated myself to making a positive impact in the world of agriculture.

He dubbed himself the youngest African American industrial hemp producer in Texas  a part of his speech that was followed by a round of applause as the crowd cheered him on.

As you prepare to embark on your journey, I urge you to embrace the challenges that lie ahead of you, Gerami said. May you go forth with the knowledge that the greatest gifts in life are not found in what we receive, but in what we give.

FAMU President Larry Robinson.

Ahead of the donation announcement, he received a Presidents Award from FAMU President Larry Robinson for being a commencement speaker.

The message here is that somebody is watching all of the time, Robinson told the graduating students after the donation was announced. Theyve heard about the great things that you are doing here at this institution under the stewardship of our outstanding faculty and staff.

Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on X: @tarahjean_.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: CEO Gregory Gerami addresses skepticism about record Florida A&M donation
Coupang has taken Farfetch on  now it just has to dig itself out.

The luxury e-commerce platform, which melted down last year and was scooped up by Coupang for $500 million in rescue financing, is still losing money.

More from WWD

But Farfetch is also still growing closer to becoming the self-sustaining business that it was long promised to be.

For the first quarter ended March 31, Coupang said Farfetch added $288 million in revenues to its business, but generated net losses of $93 million. Adjusted losses before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization tallied $31 million.

Overall Coupangs revenues rose 23 percent in the quarter to $7.1 billion, although net income fell to $5 million from $86 million a year earlier as a result of the Farfetch deal.

Bom Kim, chief executive officer of Coupang, told analysts on a conference call on Tuesday, Our journey at Farfetch is just beginning and the team is focused on generating close to positive adjusted EBITDA on a run rate basis by the end of the calendar year.

Farfetch was once seen as the luxury e-commerce platform that was most likely to succeed and regularly signed on big partners like Neiman Marcus and offered an array of services, both online and through a high-tech store concept. Along the way it accumulated a number of businesses, including New Guards Group, Stadium Goods and Violet Grey.

Now Coupang is reshaping the business  as it works along a number of fronts.

Kim said Coupang had a strong start to 2024 and offered five takeaways that made clear just how busy the company is.

First, we continue to deliver results because we focus on what matters most: customer experience and operational excellence. Second, were still single-digit share of a massive retail opportunity in Korea and an even smaller share of Taiwans. Third, newer services like Rocket Fresh and Fulfillment & Logistics by Coupang, or FLC, are gaining momentum.Fourth, our developing offerings are making significant strides.Finally, we continue to invest in infrastructure.

All of this is in the companys relentless pursuit of new moments of wow for customers.

Best of WWD
Update: A grand opening event is planned at the Chambersburg Rita's on Saturday, May 18.

Starting at 3 p.m., the first 50 people in line at the new location will win free Rita's Italian Ice for a Year (one winner per household; one coupon can be redeemed per week, only valid at 731 Wayne Ave. location).

Between 3 and 5 p.m., the Rita's mascot, Ice Guy, will be available for photos, and guests can take a turn at Rita's prize wheel to win prizes.

Franchise owners Mark and Kaila Trace will participate in a ribbon cutting at 4 p.m. They will also donate a portion of the day's sales to Franklin Fire Co. and the Drew Michael Taylor Foundation.

Previous:

Rita's Italian Ice and Frozen Custard will open in Chambersburg this week, just in time for summer.

The purveyor of a rotating selection of 75 flavors of Italian ice plus frozen custard, Gelatis and other cool treats will open on Wednesday at 731 Wayne Ave., according to a news release.

About 25 employees will comprise the "treat team," as Rita's calls its workforce. Workers' responsibilities include making fresh Italian ice daily.

The new store, located across the street from Patriot Federal Credit Union, is one of about 550 Rita's locations across 30 states. There are also stores nearby in Shippensburg and Hagerstown, Md.

The new Rita's Italian Ice and Frozen Custard at 731 Wayne Ave., Chambersburg, has outdoor seating for 60 people and a drive-thru.

Governor visits Franklin County: Gov. Shapiro promotes Martin's Potato Rolls expansion as 'model' for state

Rita's franchisees are Franklin Fire Co. couple

Rita's was established in 1984 after a Philadelphia firefighter whipped up a frozen treat with real fruit and named it after his wife, according to a news release.

Now, a firefighter is responsible for bringing Rita's to Chambersburg.

Franchisees Mark and Kaila Trace are both part of Franklin Fire Co. He has been the fire chief there for nearly two decades, and she serves as treasurer.

"We are beyond excited to bring Rita's Italian Ice and Frozen Custard to the Chambersburg community," the Traces said in a news release. "For us, this venture is more than just a business opportunity; it's a chance to create something truly special that reflects our family values and brings joy to Chambersburg."

Big money for the borough: Chambersburg gets another $5 million to replace century-old natural gas pipes

What hours will the Chambersburg Rita's be open?

The Rita's on Wayne Avenue will be open from noon to 9 p.m. every day.

Patrons can order treats to-go at the drive-thru or enjoy the outdoor patio that seats 60.

An official grand opening will happen in the coming weeks.

Learn more about Rita's at ritasice.com.

Story continues

Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: Rita's Italian Ice and Frozen Custard opening in Chambersburg
(Reuters) -Fitch Ratings on Tuesday downgraded embattled regional lender New York Community Bancorp and its bank subsidiary, Flagstar Bank, to 'BB' from 'BB+'.

The ratings agency said the downgrade reflects its assessment that NYCB has a weaker earnings and profitability profile coupled with the execution risk associated with its restructuring plan.

Last week, NYCB reported a first-quarter loss of $327 million, or 45 cents per share, as the lender set aside higher provision for credit losses due to its exposure to the beleaguered commercial real estate sector.

The lender had said it expected annual loss to be between 50 cents and 55 cents in 2024, indicating there will be little relief in the near-term as it anticipates an elevated level of loan loss provision over the remainder of the year.

Fitch, however, said its rating outlook on the bank is positive as the risks over the rating horizon have stabilized.

The ratings agency said that it anticipates NYCB's realized losses will unfold over time and are likely to exceed those of peers given its weakening asset quality.

Fitch had earlier in March downgraded NYCB's long-term issuer default ratings (IDRs) to 'BB+'/'B' from 'BBB-'/'F3'.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
The Amon G. Carter Foundation is committing $10.75 million to support the new Texas A&M-Fort Worth campus under construction in downtown.

The foundation announced Tuesday that the gift includes $5 million and four parcels near the 3.5-acre campus. The land, which totals nearly an acre, is a parking lot along Jones Street across from the Fort Worth Central Station.

An artists rendering of Texas A&M-Fort Worths future Law and Education Building in downtown. The eight-story building will be one of three on the new campus.

The Carter Foundation is pleased to signal our enthusiastic support for this project, said John Robinson, executive vice president of the foundation, in a statement. We share in the vision and belief that Texas A&M-Fort Worth is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for economic growth and development for our region.

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Texas A&M broke ground on its Fort Worth campus in June 2023, with construction starting on the first of three buildings. A new eight-story, $150 million Law & Education Building will serve students in biotechnology, engineering, health sciences, law, medical laboratory sciences, nursing and virtual production.

A second building for research and industry collaboration is in the planning and design stage. The Research and Innovation Building will house public and private research and development in engineering, aerospace, defense, energy, agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, health sciences, nutrition, emergency response and computer-based visualization technologies.

This January 2023 photo looking north shows the blocks between the parallel Jones Street, in the right foreground, and Calhoun Street. Texas A&M will expand its presence in downtown Fort Worth with a three-building complex built on four blocks.

Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp called the gift extraordinarily generous.

For over 75 years, the Carter Foundation has fostered growth and development in North Texas. Their philanthropic investments have been impactful in addressing critical issues and advancing the common good in the Fort Worth community and across Texas, Sharp said. As one of the most well-respected foundations in the Metroplex, we are honored by their endorsement of and extraordinary generosity to Texas A&M-Fort Worth.

Experts have said the downtown project could be the most significant economic development in the city in 100 years. Others say it could mark a major tipping point for downtown as more young adults look to live, study, train and work in the city.

The Amon G. Carter Foundation is a private nonprofit corporation established in 1945 by Star-Telegram publisher Amon G. Carter and Nenetta Burton Carter. Its grants primarily support the arts, education, health care, social services and youth agencies. The foundation sponsors and largely supports the Amon Carter Museum.

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John Goff is chairman of the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership, which is helping lead efforts to attract industry partners to the research campus.

Texas A&M-Fort Worth is a game-changer for our city, county and region, Goff said. This urban campus will bring students, training, jobs and important research and technology  both for businesses presently located in and around Fort Worth and those considering relocation.

In February, the Sid W. Richardson Foundation announced a $2.5 million grant for the Fort Worth campus engineering programs.
Fraser Institute

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Despite substantial spending increases by the British Columbia government, the provinces health-care wait times have increased and student test scores have declined, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank.



Although the B.C. government has ramped up spending, British Columbians have not seen improvement in key indicators of health care and education, said Ben Eisen, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Understanding British Columbias Public Management Challenge.

After nearly a decade of relative spending restraint, from 2016/17 to 2023/24 the B.C. government increased program spending by 23.5 per cent (on a per-person basis).

More specifically, during that same period, the government increased per-person health-care spending by 13.9 per centyet the provinces median health-care wait time increased from 26.6 weeks to 27.7 weeks.

And from 2016/17 to 2020/21 (the latest year of comparable data), the government increased per-student spending by 12.9 per cent, yet since 2015 student test scores (PISA) have fallen by 20 points or more in all three categoriesreading, mathematics and science.

Meanwhile, due largely to spending increases, the provinces finances deteriorated from a budget surplus of $2.7 billion in 2016/17 to a projected $5.9 billion deficit in 2023/24.

Higher spending and its related increase in taxes and debt has not produced better health care or education in B.C., said Tegan Hill, senior policy analyst at the Fraser Institute.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Tegan Hill, Associate Director, Alberta Policy Studies

Fraser Institute

To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:

Mark Hasiuk, Fraser Institute

(604) 688-0221 ext. 517

mark.hasiuk@fraserinstitute.org

Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter | Become a fan on Facebook

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institutes independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org








Image source: Getty Images

Many shoppers join Costco to save money on groceries, household essentials, and other goods. However, it costs money to become a member. You'll pay anywhere from $60 to $120 to shop at Costco -- which is an extra expense that impacts your checking account.

However, thanks to a current promotion, some people can earn a $20 Costco Shop Card after becoming a Costco member. This offer is available to students and people in certain professions. Let me explain the steps you need to take to benefit from this membership offer.

Take these two steps to earn $20 to spend at Costco

Are you considering joining Costco and want to see if you qualify to earn a $20 shopping credit? These are the steps you'll need to take.

1. Confirm that you're a college student or work in one of the following roles

Teacher

First responder

Medical professional (hospital worker, nurse, medical provider)

Government employee

Military member

2. Visit the Costco current promotions page to verify your eligibility and join Costco

You can review the promotion details by looking at current promotions on the Join Costco section of the Costco website. I'll outline more specifics about this unique offer below.

This membership offer could be a win for your wallet

Costco's current membership promotion could provide some new members a $20 credit to spend on purchases at Costco or Costco.com. The following people may be eligible to receive a free Costco Shop Card after joining:

College students

Teachers

First responders

Medical professionals (hospital workers, nurses, medical providers)

Government employees

Military members

Eligible shoppers who purchase a Costco Gold Star membership ($60), provide a valid email address, and enable auto-renewal with a Visa credit card or debit card will receive a $20 digital Costco Shop Card. To qualify for this offer, you must be a new member or have not been a member for at least 18 months.

New members who meet these conditions will receive their digital Costco Shop Card by email within two weeks of signing up.

To take advantage of this promotion, you must first verify your eligibility using ID.me or UNiDAYS, which are identity verification tools. After selecting an eligible offer on the Costco membership promotions page, you'll be taken through the verification process.

After completing the verification process, you'll receive a promo code to enter during membership enrollment. You can then sign up as a member and set up auto-renewal.

Is a Costco membership worth it?

For many people, a yearly Costco membership is well worth the cost. The popular warehouse club sells bulk goods and other discount buys. Taking advantage of deals here could help you keep more money in the bank.

But before joining, make sure a membership card will benefit your household. Consider your shopping habits and verify whether there's a Costco location near your home. If you must travel far to shop, joining may not be worthwhile.

You should also consider whether you have enough storage space at home, because many items sold at Costco are bulk buys. Finally, look at Costco's current product offerings to see if they are items you're already buying. You can browse products on the Costco website or mobile app.

Making careful buying decisions can benefit your personal finances. Consider your financial situation and needs before spending money on a Costco membership. And if it just doesn't work out with Costco, rest assured that the warehouse club offers a money back guarantee on its memberships.

Top credit card to use at Costco (and everywhere else!)

If youre shopping with a debit card, you could be missing out on hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year. These versatile credit cards offer huge rewards everywhere, including Costco, and are rated the best cards of 2024 by our experts because they offer hefty sign-up bonuses and outstanding cash rewards. Plus, youll save on credit card interest because all of these recommendations include a competitive 0% interest period.

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We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Natasha Gabrielle has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale and Visa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Free $20 at Costco if You Do 2 Things was originally published by The Motley Fool
Containers stand in the port on the site of a container terminal. German exports decline in the first quarter of 2024. Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa

German exports rose in March compared to the month before, though the first quarter as a whole shows negative figures, according to preliminary figures by the Federal Statistical Office.

From January to March 2024, German-made goods with a total value of 402.2 billion ($422 billion) were exported, 1.1% less than in the same period last year, the office announced on Tuesday.

Business in Europe weakened in particular: Trade with the partner countries of the European Union, the most important sales region for the German export industry, was down 0.6% in the three-month period.

German exports to the eurozone even fell by 2.1% within the space of a year.

However, the March figures harbour hopes of a turnaround: After a dip in February, exports in March were 0.9% higher than in the previous month at 134.1 billion and 1.2% above the March 2023 level.

Most German exports in March went to the United States, but trade with EU partners also increased.

The recent increase in exports, along with rising construction investment, was the reason why the German economy as a whole started the current year with slight growth, the office said.

Goods with a total value of 111.9 billion were imported in March, 0.3 % more than in February, but 3.0% less than a year ago.

According to the statisticians, imports to Germany totalled 331.8 billion in the first three months - a drop of 6.6% compared to the same period last year.
Net Income Attributable to Common Stockholders: $0.8 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, a slight increase from $0.7 million, or $0.01 per diluted share in the prior year.

Funds from Operations (FFO): $14.9 million, or $0.21 per share and unit, down from $15.1 million, or $0.22 per share and unit year-over-year.

Adjusted Funds from Operations (AFFO): $16.5 million, or $0.23 per share and unit, compared to $16.0 million, or $0.23 per share and unit in the prior year.

Rental Revenue: Decreased by 3.0% year-over-year to $35.1 million, reflecting the impact of property dispositions completed in 2023.

Total Expenses: Reduced to $32.8 million from $34.5 million in the comparable prior year period, primarily due to property dispositions and reduced interest expenses.

Interest Expense: Decreased to $6.9 million from $8.3 million in the prior year, reflecting lower leverage and average borrowings.

Portfolio Leased Occupancy: Reported at 96.4% as of March 31, 2024.

On May 7, 2024, Global Medical REIT Inc. (NYSE:GMRE), a leading net-lease medical real estate investment trust, disclosed its financial outcomes for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024, through an 8-K filing. The company, known for acquiring healthcare facilities and leasing them to various healthcare providers, reported a nuanced financial performance with slight increases in net income and strategic portfolio expansions.

Global Medical REIT Inc. Reports Modest Growth in Q1 2024 Amid Strategic Acquisitions

Company Overview

Global Medical REIT Inc. focuses on investment in purpose-built healthcare facilities, which are then leased to physician groups and regional and national healthcare systems under triple-net or absolute triple-net leases. These facilities are primarily located in secondary markets and suburbs of primary markets, aiming to deliver attractive, risk-adjusted returns through reliable dividends and capital appreciation.

Financial Highlights

The first quarter of 2024 saw GMRE achieving a net income attributable to common stockholders of $0.8 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, a slight increase from $0.7 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, in the same period the previous year. Despite a modest decrease in Funds from Operations (FFO) to $14.9 million from $15.1 million year-over-year, Adjusted Funds from Operations (AFFO) improved to $16.5 million from $16.0 million. This performance underscores a resilient operational focus amidst a challenging economic landscape.

Rental revenue experienced a 3.0% decline to $35.1 million, largely due to property dispositions in 2023. However, total expenses decreased to $32.8 million from $34.5 million, reflecting lower interest expenses and the impact of reduced property holdings.

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Strategic Acquisitions and Portfolio Management

Highlighting its growth strategy, GMRE announced an agreement to acquire a 15-property outpatient medical real estate portfolio for $81.3 million, expected to close in the latter half of the year. This acquisition aligns with the company's strategic focus on expanding its portfolio of high-quality healthcare facilities.

As of March 31, 2024, the company's portfolio was 96.4% leased, showcasing effective portfolio management and tenant retention. The portfolio includes 4.8 million leasable square feet with an annualized base rent of $110.5 million.

Challenges and Outlook

The bankruptcy filing by Steward Health Care, which represented 2.8% of GMRE's annualized base rent, poses a potential challenge. However, the company remains optimistic about re-leasing the affected facility in Beaumont, Texas, reflecting confidence in its portfolio's long-term prospects.

Financial Position and Dividends

GMRE reported a solid balance sheet with total assets of $1.26 billion and a leverage ratio of 44.0%. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share for common stockholders and a $0.46875 per share for Series A Preferred Stockholders, underscoring its commitment to delivering shareholder value.

Overall, Global Medical REIT Inc.'s first quarter performance in 2024 illustrates a balanced approach to growth and operational efficiency, navigating market challenges while seizing opportunities to enhance its portfolio. The strategic acquisitions set the stage for potential value creation in forthcoming quarters.

For more detailed information, please refer to the supplemental financial package available on the Investor Relations section of GMRE's website and join the upcoming webcast and conference call on May 8, 2024.

Explore the complete 8-K earnings release (here) from Global Medical REIT Inc for further details.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Government Surveillance Contractor Palantir's AI Tactics Under Microscope By Wall Street Analysts: Must 'Demonstrate' Growth To Justify Valuation

Software and data analytics company Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) reported first-quarter financial results after market close Monday.

Analysts size up the first-quarter earnings beat and what's next for the company.

The Palantir Analysts: Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges has a Neutral rating and raised the price target from $13 to $14.

Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz has a Neutral rating and $21 price target.

Related Link: Palantir Stock Is Falling Tuesday: Whats Going On?

Goldman Sachs on Palantir: The company's Bootcamp interactive workshop could be in the early stages of conversion, according to Borges.

"We believe investors will focus on the sustainability of US Commercial growth to underwrite whether Palantir can maintain or accelerate 20%+ total revenue growth over the medium term," Borges said.

The analyst said Palantir beat revenue estimates from analysts and raised its full-year revenue and operating income guidance.

"We continue to view Palantir as uniquely positioned to leverage its core data stitching competencies into enterprises that are looking to deploy AI use cases."

The analyst said over 915 organizations have participated in AI boot camps to date, with 136 deals closed in the first quarter.

"We look to gauge to what extent Palantir can consistently convert bootcamps into bookings and revenue as we believe this go to market is still in the early stages of being formalized."

Mizuho on Palantir: The company's artificial intelligence platform showed encouraging signs, Moskowitz said.

The analyst said the first-quarter financial report was solid with "healthy revenue upside."

"The rebound in Government was a pleasant surprise, although the Commercial beat coming entirely from strategic commercial contracts was not," Moskowitz said.

The analyst said the strong report and raised guidance "could help alleviate potential investor concerns."

"We believe PLTR needs to consistently demonstrate stronger execution and growth in order to justify a higher valuation."

The analyst said Palantir showed strong momentum for its AI Platform, with high demand coming from U.S. enterprises.

"Mgmt also reiterated that it is seeing exceptional interest in its AIP bootcamps, which are helping PLTR meaningfully compress sales cycles as new customers are landing and expanding at an accelerating rate."

The analyst's $21 price target is based on an enterprise value divided by sales multiple of 18.5x for 2024 estimates and 15.5x for 2025 estimates. Moskowitz said the premium multiple to other enterprise software companies is based on Palantir's "strong strategic positioning with large customers and the potential for accelerated growth in future years."

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PLTR Price Action: Palantir shares are down 14% to $21.65 on Tuesday, versus a 52-week trading range of $8.66 to $27.50. Palantir shares are up 180% over the last year.

Read Next: Wedbushs Dan Ives Smells Golden Buying Opportunity In Palantirs Pullback After Q1 Earnings As He Lauds Jalen-Brunson-Like Performance

Photo: World Economic Forum on Flickr

Latest Ratings for PLTR

Date Firm Action From To Mar 2022 Piper Sandler Initiates Coverage On Overweight Mar 2022 Morgan Stanley Upgrades Underweight Equal-Weight Feb 2022 Citigroup Maintains Sell

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This article Government Surveillance Contractor Palantir's AI Tactics Under Microscope By Wall Street Analysts: Must 'Demonstrate' Growth To Justify Valuation originally appeared on Benzinga.com

 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
The Hornell City School District's $44.4 million budget proposal that comes before voters later this month includes an 8.1% increase in spending, or about $3.6 million over last year.

On the tax side, the district's 2024-25 spending plan calls for a 2.5% increase in the local property tax levy, allowing the collection of about $191,000 more than 2023-24.

That 2.5% increase is well below Hornell's legal tax cap, which would have permitted the district to increase the levy by as much as 3.6% without requiring a 60% approval when voters go to the polls on May 21.

The overall tax levy  in other words, the amount to be collected under this budget  is $7,660,117, according to the district.

The Hornell budget hearing is at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 7 in the high school library.

The Hornell school budget hearing is set for May 7 in the high school library.

What is the expected tax rate from Hornell's 2024-25 school budget?

Projections call for a tax rate of $15.29 per $1,000 of assessed property value, up from last year's $14.90 per $1,000 of assessed value, if the budget is approved by voters this month. The proposed budget was adopted by the Hornell Board of Education in April.

That rate of $15.29 per $1,000 of assessed property value is preliminary and is expected to be lower when tax bills are mailed. Judging by last year, the figure could be significantly lower.

"While we show it higher than last year now, by the time the tax rate is set in August, we anticipate that the rate will continue to decrease," Hornell School Superintendent Jeremy Palotti said.

How does this year's rate compare to recent trends?

Hornell's school tax rate remains low by the district's historical standards. Twenty years ago  for the 2004-05 school year  the rate was $19.74 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Ten years ago Hornell school taxpayers paid $18.62 per $1,000.

"This is healthy and positive for the community," Palotti said. "It is a product of increased assessments across the district as well as increased property wealth by way of new properties being added to the tax rolls."

What are the state aid, spending numbers in Hornell school budget?

Federal COVID relief funds have expired for New York state public schools. For Hornell, that is a loss of about $1.8 million in revenue, but it is something the district planned for.

We knew from the inception of those dollars that there was an end of life, Palotti said.

Under the executive budget funding projections presented to the school board, Foundation Aid to Hornell was set to be $21,441,873. However, New York state's final approved budget says Hornell will receive $20,923,229 in Foundation Aid, about $518,000 less than originally forecast.

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Administrators said the 2024-25 spending plan maintains "favorable class sizes" for students and educators and covers improved programs and additional sections in some elementary school grades.

The city school district has about 1,460 students, which is higher than in recent years.

More: Dansville appoints Delhi administrator as next school superintendent. Meet Kelly Zimmerman

What factors are driving increased spending?

Key expense drivers are salaries, health care and retirement benefits, which are budgeted to be up about $2.1 million.

Palotti said in March that budget planners were anticipating a 19.5% increase in health insurance costs for next year. This comes after sharp decreases in health insurance expenses during the pandemic.

The district is also planning for increased BOCES costs and to pay more for utilities next school year.

When is the Hornell school budget vote?

Voting on May 21 is noon to 9 p.m. in the high school lobby.

Follow Neal Simon on Twitter @HornellTribNeal. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Hornell voters to decide $44.4M school budget May 21. What to know.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Cliche but true, the second-richest man on the planet, according to Forbes, owns the tallest sailing yacht in the world. In fact, the 417-foot Koru is so big, it has its own 250-foot support vessel.

Priced at $500 million, the Koru hit the sea for the first time in 2023 and has since ferried Jeff Bezos and company around the globe. Complete with three massive 229-foot masts, it can reach a top speed under sail of 20 knots, according to the New York Post  which is approximately 23 miles per hour.

Made for a group, up to 18 guests can set sail on the yacht, allowing Bezos to bring family and friends on vacation with him. Heres a look at the Korus extravagant features and how much it costs to operate his floating mansion.

Also take a look at Bezos mansion collection.

See More: Robert Kiyosaki: 7 Ways To Become Wealthy Beyond the 9-to-5

Read Next: 4 Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money

Wealthy people know the best money secrets. Learn how to copy them.

Key Features

As expected Bezos yacht is dripping with luxury. With a net worth of $203.8 billion  as of May 4, 2024, according to Forbes  he can afford to outfit the Koru with nothing but the best and he did just that.

The superyacht has three outdoor decks, with two containing swimming pools, according to the New York Post. It also features a cinema, several lounges and multiple business areas, according to Luxuo.

Highly personalized, the yacht is complete with a figurehead modeled after Bezos fiancee Lauren Sanchez. Even its masts are luxurious, as the Amazon founder chose in-boom furlers, which keep the canvases at the bottom of the mast above the deck, creating a pristine and spacious rope-free deck.

For You: Make Yourself Money Smart: 20 ChatGPT Prompts To Increase Your Wealth

Support Vessel

One of the most shocking features of the Koru is the fact that it requires its own support vessel. The $75 million Abeona features a helipad that Sanchez has been spotted using to park her personal helicopter, according to the New York Post.

Designed to carry extra gear, four jet skis, two fast launches and a dinghy were spotted on the Abeona during a 2023 trip to Mallorca, Spain, according to the New York Post. Its also capable of lifting a small submarine, but Bezos isnt believed to own one  at least not yet.

Additionally, the support ship has two extra staterooms, which can accommodate four guests. This could come in handy if Bezos wants to entertain a larger group than can fit on the Koru.

On-Board Crew

It probably isnt a surprise that operating both the Koru and the Abeona is no small task. From staff to drive the boats and maintain them to caring for guests onboard, Bezos needs a small army at sea.

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The Koru has a crew of up to 36 people, according to The New York Post. If you think thats a lot, the Abeona requires up to 45 crew and support staff.

Annual Operating Costs

Purchasing the Koru and Abeona cost Bezos more than half a billion dollars, but his expenses didnt end there. As you might imagine, the annual cost to maintain a superyacht and its own enormous supporting yacht is more than most people earn in a lifetime.

The Koru costs approximately $25 million in operating expenses per year, according to the Daily Mail. Much less, but still sky-high, Bezos spends around $5 to $10 million on annual maintenance costs for the Abeona, according to Super Yacht Fan).

Port Fees

When their owners are on dry land, yachts have to find a parking space. However, even this doesnt always come cheap for Bezos and the Koru.

In November 2023, the billionaires yacht arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but was too big to fit in the port with all the outer superyachts, according to the Daily Mail. Therefore, it had to be docked with cruise ships at Port Everglades, at a rate of $16,500 per week.

While one week of storage might be more than the average person can afford, picking up the tab for any number of weeks would clearly be no issue for Bezos. While his superyacht and the many expenses surrounding it are clearly astronomical, hes still living well within his budget.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: An Inside Look at Jeff Bezos $500 Million Superyacht and What It Costs To Keep It Afloat
On May 2, 2024, Jeffrey Ajer, the Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:BMRN), sold 5,000 shares of the company. The transaction was reported in a recent SEC Filing.

Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc, headquartered in San Rafael, California, focuses on developing and commercializing innovative biopharmaceuticals for rare diseases driven by genetic causes. The company's portfolio includes several products aimed at treating diseases such as phenylketonuria, hemophilia, and other genetic disorders.

According to the filing, the shares were sold at a price of $82.91, valuing the transaction at approximately $414,550. This sale is part of a series of transactions by the insider over the past year, where Jeffrey Ajer has sold a total of 14,000 shares.

The insider transaction history for Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc shows a trend of more sales than purchases among insiders. Over the past year, there have been 20 insider sales and no insider buys.

Shares of Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc were trading at $82.91 on the day of the sale, giving the company a market cap of approximately $15.59 billion. The price-earnings ratio stands at 76.73, which is above the industry median.

The stock is currently considered Modestly Undervalued according to the GF Value, with a price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.8. The GF Value of $103.67 suggests a potential undervaluation of the stock.

Insider Sale: EVP, Chief Commercial Officer Jeffrey Ajer Sells 5,000 Shares of Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc (BMRN)

The GF Value is calculated considering historical trading multiples, an adjustment factor based on past returns and growth, and future business performance estimates.

Insider Sale: EVP, Chief Commercial Officer Jeffrey Ajer Sells 5,000 Shares of Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc (BMRN)

This recent sale by Jeffrey Ajer could be of interest to investors monitoring insider behaviors as an indicator of company health and future stock performance.

This article, generated by GuruFocus, is designed to provide general insights and is not tailored financial advice. Our commentary is rooted in historical data and analyst projections, utilizing an impartial methodology, and is not intended to serve as specific investment guidance. It does not formulate a recommendation to purchase or divest any stock and does not consider individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. Our objective is to deliver long-term, fundamental data-driven analysis. Be aware that our analysis might not incorporate the most recent, price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative information. GuruFocus holds no position in the stocks mentioned herein.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Many investors define successful investing as beating the market average over the long term. But if you try your hand at stock picking, your risk returning less than the market. Unfortunately, that's been the case for longer term Holland Colours N.V. (AMS:HOLCO) shareholders, since the share price is down 34% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return of around 18%.

So let's have a look and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

Check out our latest analysis for Holland Colours

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During the three years that the share price fell, Holland Colours' earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 20% each year. This fall in the EPS is worse than the 13% compound annual share price fall. So the market may not be too worried about the EPS figure, at the moment -- or it may have previously priced some of the drop in.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Holland Colours the TSR over the last 3 years was -27%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Holland Colours shareholders are down 17% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 21%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 7%, each year, over five years. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 5 warning signs for Holland Colours (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) you should know about.

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For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Dutch exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Just two months after Utah-based Hawaiian restaurant Mo Bettahs closed its south Overland Park spot, a coffee chain has applied to move in.

151 Coffee, a drive-thru Dallas chain, has filed a permit to open a location at 12005 Metcalf Ave., according to city documents.

The coffee company is already in the process of opening another at 91st Street and Metcalf. Michael Wattles, vice president of finance for 151, said they expect that location will open in June.

Texas-based 151 Coffee will open in the Kansas City area soon, the company says.

Serving hot and iced lattes, smoothies, energy drinks and more, 151 opened its first location in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2017. The 91st Street spot will be its first outside Texas.

Specialty coffees include its cinnamon dulce, Snickers, and white chocolate macadamia lattes. Milk is steamed to exactly 151 degrees, just like its name.

In October, the company told The Star that it was looking to expand in Kansas, potentially opening one in Manhattan, as well.

Mo Bettahs had been open for less than a year in the 12005 Metcalf spot before it closed. In a written statement, Mo Bettahs said it made a market evaluation and decided to relocate to a digital kitchen near downtown at 1600 Campbell St.

It has another location nearby at 7006 W. 75th St.

Mo Bettahs opened its first area location in August 2022, serving customizable plates with white rice, grilled meat and macaroni salad.

Local rival Hawaiian Bros opened in Belton in 2018 and has restaurants nationwide.
Global investment company KKR and hospitality giant Marriott International have announced their entry into Japan's midscale hotel market with the launch of Four Points Express by Sheraton.

The move follows KKR's acquisition of Unizo Hotel Company and a portfolio of 14 hotels in Japan from Unizo Holdings.

These 14 hotels will be converted to the new brand, Four Points Express by Sheraton, marking Marriott's affordable mid-scale segment debut in Japan and the Asia Pacific.

Set to open in the second half of this year, the 14 hotels are strategically located in major tourist destinations across ten Japanese cities.

This expansion will add more than 3,600 new rooms to the portfolios of both KKR and Marriott in Japan.

Marriott International Asia Pacific excluding China president Rajeev Menon said: Theres a growing consumer demand for reliable-yet-affordable accommodation in the region. Our goal is to be everywhere our guests want us to be, with the right property in the right location, at the right price point.

This collaboration with KKR will expand our ability to do exactly that  starting in Japan, with opportunity to grow our midscale presence in the region.

Our new midscale brand will offer hotel owners an affordable conversion opportunity with an efficient operational design, access to Marriott Internationals expansive distribution systems and the backing of our powerful award-winning Marriott Bonvoy travel programme.

Four Points Express by Sheraton aims to cater to value-conscious consumers seeking reliable and simple accommodation.

The new midscale brand will be integrated into Marriott's Marriott Bonvoy loyalty platform, which has more than 200 million members worldwide.

It plans to use Marriott's Global Sales Organization and digital platforms, including its website and the Marriott Bonvoy mobile app, to drive direct bookings.

KKR real estate managing director Kensuke Kudo said: We are delighted to be strategic partners with Marriott International, one of the worlds pre-eminent hotel companies, to launch the Four Points Express by Sheraton brand in Japan.

By combining KKRs real estate investment and operational expertise and Marriotts deep hospitality experience, we look to deliver outstanding yet affordable lodging experiences to international and domestic travellers across Japan.

Recently, reports emerged that Marriott International was intensifying its focus on India with plans to open 12 new hotels this year.

"KKR and Marriott debut midscale hospitality in Japan" was originally created and published by Hotel Management Network, a GlobalData owned brand.

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The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
The GOP hasnt been able to regain its financial footing since it lost its key fundraiser: former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

According to federal campaign finance records reviewed by The Daily Beast, McCarthys successor, Mike Johnson, still has a long way to go before hes shoring up the same amount of dough. That poses a major risk to vulnerable House Republicans17 of whom will find themselves running for reelection come November in districts that swung toward Joe Biden in 2020.

While Johnsons fundraising constitutes a fraction of what McCarthy raised for the caucus, the starkest difference can be seen by examining fundraising numbers for members of the National Republican Congressional Committees Patriot Program, which was designed to help the most vulnerable incumbents, according to the Beast. Funds for Arizona Representative Juan Ciscomani, for example, have taken a huge nosedive. In the first three quarters of 2023, Ciscomani received approximately $145,000 per quarter as directed by McCarthy, before he was given the boot. But in the last two quarters, under Johnsons leadership, the freshman lawmaker has received an average of just under $14,000.

And with all the House seats up for reelection in November, this is arguably the worst time for the coffers to be running dry. Part of the reason for the lackluster numbers, however, may be outside of Johnsons control. According to one GOP donor who spoke with the outlet, vacating McCarthy made a lot of conservative donors with open wallets really, really angrywhich they ended up taking out on his successor.

While describing McCarthy as a money machine, GOP donor Eric Levine told the Beast that donors were going to take out his downfall on whoever was next.

Johnson, meanwhile, has openly acknowledged the predicament.

Since October, Speaker Johnson has built a team from the ground up, traveled to 25 states, and contributed millions directly to Republican campaign accounts across the country, a spokesman for Johnsons campaign told the outlet. His most recent quarter with over $20 million raised demonstrates the Speakers success and commitment to growing the majority.

McCarthy, on the other hand, is still plying those fundraising skillsfor revenge. One of his close allies is trying to recruit primary challengers to the eight Republican representatives who voted to oust him in October. And McCarthy is more than ready to mobilize his donor network to fund those challenges.
JohnnyGreig / Getty Images

Gen Xers  the smaller, sometimes forgotten generation sandwiched between baby boomers and millennials  are known for a lot of things: the cult classic Reality Bites, the rise of the supermodel and the general disenchantment with all things status quo. That might be a reason that some Gen Xers took a while to start saving for retirement. Well, that and the job instability, student loan debt and the lingering effects of the Great Recession.

See Now: How Much Does the Average Middle-Class Person Have in Savings?



Up Next: 5 Unusual Ways To Make Extra Money (That Actually Work)

Liz B., a Gen X telework employee based in Boise, Idaho, has a busy life  a kid headed to college next year, credit card debt and the desire to start building a retirement nest egg are all on her mind.

Im saving for my kids college as well as retirement, and paying down credit card bills that grew during the pandemic, said Liz. I started saving for retirement about eight years ago, but when the pandemic hit and my job was eliminated, saving stopped for a while.

Sponsored: Protect Your Wealth With A Gold IRA. Take advantage of the timeless appeal of gold in a Gold IRA recommended by Sean Hannity.

Lizs Monthly Budget Breakdown

Liz provided more insight into how her monthly budget currently breaks down.

About 50% goes to living expenses which include mortgage, medical, veterinary, utilities and regular other bills and expenses like clothing. We get takeout dinner on Fridays, dont drink or smoke and every now and then do something fun like go to a local play or movie.

She continued, 10% goes to credit card bills and the other 10% goes into savings. Unfortunately, 2022 wasnt kind to the 529 plan  it has yet to recover fully  so college savings go into a high-interest savings account. Once saving for college and the associated expenses are off the budget, well be saving 30% or more of our monthly budget for retirement.

See More: I Retired Early: Heres My Monthly Budget

The Long Haul

Liz says even with budgeting, shell stay in the job force for quite some time.

I anticipate Ill be working for the next 18 years, if Im lucky to have saved enough to fully retire, she shared. Well likely sell our house and move into a small, low-maintenance place. My biggest concern these days is the cost of healthcare and medical expenses. When youre young it seems so far away, and now its just moments away.

Meet Sarah, Another Gen X Saver

Sarah, a 51-year-old marketing manager from Phoenix, Arizona, is a similar pinch. She didnt start saving until last year after climbing out of the financial hole she found herself in because of loss of work due to the pandemic.

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Sarahs monthly budget breaks down like this:

Income: $6,500

Mortgage: $1,800

Utilities/bills: $800

Groceries: $600

Fun money: $300

College funds: $1,000

401(k) contribution: $1,000

Debt payments: $1,000

Its tight, but I really need to save some money so Im bucking down Sarah shared. The 401(k) contribution is the most non-negotiable, and the kids college funds are a close second.

Budgeting Tips for Gen X Savers

Here are some budgeting tips for Gen Xers looking to get their savings back on track.

Automate it: Nothing will build up cash like setting and forgetting. Because if you dont set it, odds are you will forget it.

Reduce debts: If you can, aggressively tackle all of your debt. The less youre paying in interest, the more you can allocate toward savings.

Downsize your lifestyle: Can you cancel a subscription? Can you eat at home more? Do you need the gym membership or can you get a workout in your living room thats just as effective? Look at everything and cut, cut, cut.

Increase your income: Side gigs and freelance work on the side can bring in a decent amount of extra funds.

Reevaluate your budget regularly: Sit down with your budget every few months to make sure youre still doing your best. If you dont keep up with it, it can get away from you very quickly.

Its never too late to start saving for retirement  and Gen Xers like Liz and Sarah show us thats true.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Im a Gen Xer Who Just Started Saving For Retirement: Heres My Monthly Budget
Chan2545 / iStock.com

Earning $10,000 per month with a side hustle is not unheard of, but it takes time and lots of hard work. If youre wondering what other people are doing right now to make extra money, a popular YouTube video by Gregg Gottfried shared the four best side hustles that pay around $100 per day.

Check Out: Robert Kiyosaki: 5 Side Hustles You Can Work From Anywhere in the World

Read Next: 5 Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money

Below are the four side hustles explained, as well as some proven extra income ideas from Quora and Reddit users (for those looking to work their way up to earning $10,000 a month).

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1. Print-on-Demand

Print-on-demand is a business model where products are only printed once an order is received. This allows for greater flexibility and reduced risk for the seller as they dont have to invest in large quantities of inventory upfront.

To start a print on demand business, you need to choose a niche and. specific type of product to sell and create unique product designs.

2. Selling Online Courses

Digital courses are in high demand, particularly on platforms like Coursera, Udemy or even self-hosted options. You need to select a topic youre knowledgeable and passionate about and create engaging content to teach others.

3. Virtual Assistant

In todays digital landscape, businesses of all sizes need help managing their administrative tasks. Becoming a virtual assistant (VA) can be a highly lucrative side hustle if you offer services like email management, social media management, customer service and email marketing.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing can be a goldmine for those who can authentically recommend products within their existing networks or to their audience. To start earning, you need to select a niche youre passionate about and join established affiliate programs. Then, develop and market content that integrates the products or services youre promoting.

What Are the Top Side Hustles?

If youre looking for more ideas, here are some recommendations from popular forums.

IT Consulting charging $100 to $250 per hour;

Graphic design;

Independent consultant for green and natural product companies;

Resume and LinkedIn profile writing;

Social media ads for businesses.

One Quora user said: I earn around $8k a month doing social media ads for local businesses. Every business wants more customers; I help them achieve it with advertising and setting appointments.

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Offline side hustles ideas:

Mowing lawns;

Flipping items found at swap meets and antique shows;

Painting residential and commercial properties.

One Reddit user said: I make around 5k/mo painting vacant apartments. I only do interior painting. Walls only included in the price. I charge extra for drywall repairs, painting trim, painting doors, and ceilings.

Meal prep and meal delivery services.

Learn More: 5 Ways To Become a Millionaire in Your 50s

Another user noted: What worked best for me was word to word. Im not an outgoing person but I do go to the gym with some buddies. I got them to try my food and they started buying from me. They eventually told their friends and I got more orders as time went by.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: I Made $100 a Year in My First Side Gig  Now Im Making $10,000 a Month
BOSTON  With its history of fiercely local municipal control, requiring that Massachusetts high school students take a financial literacy course in order to qualify for graduation may come down to putting it before the voters in the form of a ballot question.

John Pelletier, director of the Champlain College Center for Financial Literacy in Vermont.

That is the approach being taken by California, a local-control state similar to Massachusetts, in order to force its school districts to make classes available as a requirement for graduation, according to John Pelletier, director of the Champlain College Center for Financial Literacy in Vermont.

Pelletier attended a legislative briefing Monday to support bills that address the lack of standardized financial literacy courses in public schools. Two measures, one reported out of the Joint Committee on Education, the second a later file, are similar in calling for standardized curriculum.

However, the Senate bill, filed by Sen. Patrick OConnor, R-Weymouth, only requires that a class in financial literacy be offered as an elective. The House bill filed by Rep. Ryan Hamilton, D-Methuen, would make it a requirement for graduation.

Massachusetts is being left behind, Pelletier said, explaining that if the state does not act, it could be the only one in the nation in the 2030s that fails to educate its youth in making financial decisions. According to the Center, Massachusetts has earned a failing grade of F along with California, the District of Columbia and South Dakota, in student financial literacy.

And California is taking steps to remedy the lack, Pelletier said, adding that in South Dakota, 50% of school districts require financial literacy courses as a graduation requirement and 40% offer the courses as an elective. So they only have a 10% gap, Pelletier said.

The mission to have financial literacy courses available to Massachusetts students is dear to Treasurer Deborah Goldberg. She started the process almost as soon as she was elected in 2015, picking a panel of experts to work on creating and implementing a plan.

From left, John Pelletier, director of the Center for Financial Literacy, Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, Sen. Patrick O'Connor, R-Weymouth and Rep. Ryan Hamilton, D-Methuen, at the legislative briefing Monday.

We learned the best way to address the lack of financial understanding was to present it in schools, where the kids are, through a standardized curriculum, Goldberg said at the briefing. She remembers a childhood school field trip to a local bank where all the kids received passbooks and started saving their pennies, nickels and dimes to deposit them regularly.

These courses are not available in our schools, Goldberg said. She noted that high school seniors face big, complicated financial decisions that will affect the rest of their lives: deciding whether and where to continue their educations, whether to take loans to pay for schooling and even how to maximize loans.

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Working people loaded down with debt affect the Massachusetts economy; they cant be consumers, Goldberg said. Debt inhibits peoples ability to move ahead with their lives, transition from a shared rental property to homeownership, to establishing a family and caring for it.

In her remarks, Goldberg said that as treasurer she didnt need to know the rate of convergence for speeding conveyances, but she needed to know it for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment system. She said she also doesnt find a need for algebra, but I need to know how to pay my bills.

Financial literacy classes are critical for students, for the future of Massachusetts families and for all residents, she said. While ideally, the financial literacy classes should be mandatory throughout public schools in Massachusetts, Goldberg said, she understands that districts have difficulty with unfunded mandates.

OConnor said the legislature included a $100,000 line item in a past budget and used the funds to educate 80 teachers, introducing them to financial literacy curriculum and how to convey it to their students. The senator suggested that 83% of Massachusetts residents support the concept of teaching financial literacy as a mandatory graduation requirement and that support transcends political lines.

Data offered by Pelletier indicates that financial literacy rates differ along cultural, ethnic and financial lines. Older adults are more financially savvy than youngster adults; and men, especially in certain cultures, are more financially literate than women. Income, education and employment are also indicators, with higher earners and those with higher education reflecting higher levels of literacy. Employed people are also more informed about money.

Sen. Patrick O'Connor, R-Weymouth, suggests his bill to make financial literacy courses available as an elective in the state for high school students may be the first step in making it a graduation requirement.

Lower-income residents and those living in poorly resourced communities, and residents who identify as of color, also have lower levels of financial know-how. They have higher debt levels, lower credit scores, higher delinquency rates and use financial tools like payday loans.

Financial literacy is a matter of equity, Pelletier said, adding the only way to fix the deficit is that it be a graduation requirement for high school students.

Massachusetts needs 723 teachers to educate the 73,200 students who would take a financial literacy course that was required for graduation, Pelletier said, adding that once educators are trained to teach the course, he estimates the state would spend $3,000 per teacher, the bulk of the cost would be met. The group, Next Generation Personal Finance, has the curriculum and teaching tools available online for free.

First steps, the legislators agree, is to have each district offer financial literacy courses as electives and then make it a graduation requirement.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Lawmakers eye financial literacy electives, possible mandates
The Middle East and North Africa is one of the main regions driving growth in affluent travel, recording high spends. It is also displaying an appetite for sustainable eco-luxury and meaningful cultural experiences. Mastercards Affluent Travel: A Middle East Perspective report reveals an appetite for new experiences in unexplored destinations. The global luxury travel market is expected to grow by 7.9% (CAGR) between 2024 and 2030. Mastercard reports that high-net-worth travellers contribute approximately 36% of the global spend on travel.

At Mastercard, we are committed to connecting people to their passion for travel. This report gives a great snapshot of how high-net-worth individuals choose to travel. Its wonderful to see sustainability, cultural immersion and purpose as key considerations, along with quality accommodation, seamless technology and loyalty benefits. We will continue to harness the power of partnerships with leading industry players to come up with innovative solutions that unlock access to a whole new world of unparalleled travel experiences, said Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President, Market Development EEMEA, Mastercard.

The rise of the bleisure traveller

Over a third (36%) of luxury travellers say they want to experience different cultures. The combination of business and leisure, or bleisure, is also resulting in more remote-work trips as digital nomads change the face of travel. Affluent travellers are almost twice as likely as the global average to have taken a vacation as an extension to a business trip. Furthermore, Marriott Bonvoy research also showed that solo travel is being embraced, with 70% of respondents in the UAE and 69% in Saudi Arabia saying theyve travelled solo.

Seeking out sustainable credentials and authentic eco-luxury

Affluent consumers are keen adopters of the conscious travel trend and place a premium on the authenticity of eco-luxury experiences. These include associating with travel brands that support local communities. Globally, one in 10 consumers have stayed in luxury eco-friendly accommodation in the last three years. This compares to five of 10 among 1834-year-old affluents.

Meaningful experiences over material things

The report notes that this market segment places more emphasis on experiences than on physical goods. More than half of affluent travellers, compared to 43% of the global total, prioritise meaningful travel experiences over shopping and souvenirs.

Luxury travellers are prioritising unique personalised experiences over location. However, they also want their moneys worth in the form of exemplary customer service and pampering.

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High-spending loyalty supporters

Based on average spend per card by origin market, GCC travellers are among the highest spenders. According to a 2023 Mastercard Economics Institute report, Kuwaiti tourists, for instance, spend on average of $3,390 per card in Paris, five times as much as their American counterparts. High-net-worth individuals are also power users of loyalty schemes and membership cards  34% versus the overall average of 24%.

As wealth migrates to younger generations, Millennials (aged 30 to 44 years) now comprise the highest percentage of luxury seekers, followed by Gen Z (aged 15 to 29). Within the GCC, however, Gen X (aged 43 to 58 years) is expected to make the highest contribution to travel growth.

"MENA region leads global growth in luxury travel reports Mastercard" was originally created and published by Electronic Payments International, a GlobalData owned brand.







The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Miami is one of the least affordable cities in the nation for families looking to buy homes, according to a new report by Creditnews Research.

The financing news company ranked 50 cities in the United States by the percentage of neighborhoods where home prices are out of reach for the typical married-couple household.

Los Angeles was No. 1 on the list of the top 20 cities with the least affordable housing markets for families, followed by St. Louis in second place and Boston in third place.

In each of those cities, 100% of neighborhoods are out of reach for married-couple households earning a median annual income, CreditNews Research found.

Three other Florida cities  Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville  landed on the list of places where homes in some neighborhoods are too expensive for married-couple households.

The most affordable U.S. cities for home buyers are all outside of Florida, the report said. They include Cleveland, Hartford, Connecticut, and Memphis, Tennessee.

MORE: This Broward city is one of the most livable in the U.S., a new study says

Where does Miami rank on list of unaffordable US cities?

South view of the Miami skyline on April 5, 2023. Pedro Portal/pportal@miamiherald.com

Miami was No. 8 on the list of U.S. cities with the highest percentage of neighborhoods where homes are too pricey for families making a median married-couple income.

The median married-couple household income in Miami is $96,581, according to CreditNews Research.

The Miami area is listed as having 107 neighborhoods. Of those, nearly 79% are out of reach for families earning a median married household income.

According to Creditnews Research, the percentage of Miami neighborhoods considered unaffordable for average families grew by 34.7% during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What other Florida cities made the list?

Heres where metropolitan areas in Florida ranked in terms of the percentage of neighborhoods where housing is out of reach for typical households, according to Creditnews Research.

 No. 17: Orlando, 38% of neighborhoods considered unaffordable

 No. 22: Tampa, 31% of neighborhoods considered unaffordable

 No. 25: Jacksonville, 24% of neighborhoods considered unaffordable

How were cities ranked?

To come up with its rankings, Creditnews Research looked at the median income of married-couple households in each city from 2022 and adjusted it for real wage growth in 2023.

It then looked at the average value of a home for 5,800 neighborhoods in the nations 50 largest cities and compared the cost to the median income for families in those cities.

If mortgage prices in a neighborhood exceeded the average married-couple households gross income by 25%, it was considered unaffordable.

Creditnews Research sourced information from the Federal Reserve Bank, the U.S. Census Bureau and Zillow for its report.
(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. has deployed a generative AI model entirely divorced from the internet, saying US intelligence agencies can now safely harness the powerful technology to analyze top-secret information.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Its the first time a major large language model has operated fully separated from the internet, a senior executive at the US company said. Most AI models including OpenAIs ChatGPT rely on cloud services to learn and infer patterns from data, but Microsoft wanted to deliver a truly secure system to the US intelligence community.

Spy agencies around the world want generative AI to help them understand and analyze the growing amounts of classified information generated daily, but must balance turning to large language models with the risk that data could leak into the open  or get deliberately hacked.

Microsoft has deployed the GPT4-based model and key elements that support it onto a cloud with an air-gapped environment that is isolated from the internet, said William Chappell, Microsofts chief technology officer for strategic missions and technology.

Intelligence officials have repeatedly made clear they hanker after the same generative AI tools that promise to revolutionize swaths of business and modernize economies. The CIA last year launched a ChatGPT-like service at unclassified levels  but the community wanted something capable of dealing with far more sensitive data.

Read More: CIA Builds Artificial Intelligence Tool in Rivalry With China

There is a race to get generative AI onto intelligence data, Sheetal Patel, assistant director of the CIA for the Transnational and Technology Mission Center, told delegates to a security conference at Vanderbilt University last month. The first country to use generative AI for their intelligence would win that race, she said. And I want it to be us.

Microsoft spent the past 18 months working on its system, including overhauling an existing AI supercomputer in Iowa. Chappell, an electrical engineer who previously worked on microsystems for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, described the endeavor as a passion project and said his team wasnt sure how to go about it when they started out in 2022.

This is the first time weve ever had an isolated version  when isolated means its not connected to the internet  and its on a special network thats only accessible by the US government, Chappell told Bloomberg News ahead of an official announcement later on Tuesday.

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Read More: US Spies Should Tap Private AI Models, NSAs Research Chief Says

The GPT4 model placed in the cloud is static, meaning it can read files but not learn from them, or from the open internet. This way, Chappell said, the government can keep its model clean, and prevent secret information from getting absorbed into the platform. About 10,000 people would theoretically be able to access the AI, he said.

You dont want it to learn on the questions that youre asking and then somehow reveal that information, he said.

The service, which went live on Thursday, now needs to undergo testing and accreditation by the intelligence community. The Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees Americas 18 intelligence organizations, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It is now deployed, its live, its answering questions, it will write code as an example of the type of thing itll do, said Chappell.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2024 Bloomberg L.P.
Revenue: Reported Q1 revenue of $53M, marking a 7% increase year-over-year, surpassing the estimated $50.83M.

Net Loss: Q1 net loss stood at $28.26M, an improvement from the previous year's $33.71M, and was above the estimated net loss of $34.51M.

Earnings Per Share: EPS for Q1 was -$0.07, better than the estimated -$0.09, indicating a smaller loss per share than anticipated.

Weekly Active Users (WAU): Grew to 43.4 million, a 2% increase year-over-year and 4% quarter-over-quarter, driven by organic growth and digital invite strategies.

Adjusted EBITDA: Improved significantly by 17 percentage points year-over-year to -$14M, reflecting enhanced operational efficiency and cost management.

Self-Serve Revenue: Accounted for nearly 50% of total revenue, up from just over 40% in the previous quarter, driven by strong product-market fit and customer migration to the Nextdoor Ads Manager.

Capital Allocation: Ended the quarter with a strong balance sheet including $498M in cash and marketable securities, and continued share repurchases, highlighting a robust capital management strategy.

Nextdoor Holdings Inc (NYSE:KIND) released its 8-K filing on May 7, 2024, providing a detailed overview of its financial results for the first quarter of 2024. The company, known for its platform that connects neighbors and fosters community engagement, reported a revenue of $53 million, marking a 7% increase year-over-year but slightly missing analyst expectations of $50.83 million.

Nextdoor Holdings Inc (KIND) Q1 2024 Earnings: Slight Miss on Analyst Revenue Projections with Positive Signs of Growth

Company Overview

Nextdoor Holdings Inc operates a social platform dedicated to building stronger, safer, and happier neighborhoods globally. The platform serves as a hub for trusted communication, local business engagement, and community interaction, aiming to enhance the quality of neighborhood life through technology.

Financial Highlights and Strategic Initiatives

The Q1 report highlighted several key achievements and strategic directions under the leadership of the returning founder and CEO, Nirav Tolia. Revenue growth was primarily driven by strong retention rates from self-serve advertisers and a resurgence in financial services and home services sectors. The company also noted a 2% increase in Weekly Active Users (WAU) to 43.4 million and a 4% increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) to $1.22.

The CEO emphasized the adoption of the "Founders Mentality," focusing on mission clarity, detail orientation, and ownership behavior, aiming to streamline operations and enhance product offerings. Particularly, the integration of AI technologies and the optimization of the Nextdoor Ads Platform were underlined as critical components in improving user engagement and advertiser value.

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Challenges and Opportunities

Despite the positive revenue growth, Nextdoor reported a net loss of $28.26 million, an improvement from the previous year's $33.71 million loss. The company continues to face challenges in scaling its operations profitably but has shown progress by reducing operating expenses and improving adjusted EBITDA margin by 17 percentage points year-over-year.

Looking ahead, Nextdoor remains optimistic about its trajectory for the rest of 2024. The company forecasts full-year revenue to be between $229 million and $235 million and expects to achieve positive free cash flow by Q4 2024. This outlook reflects ongoing efforts to enhance operational efficiency and capitalize on robust market opportunities.

Financial Statements Analysis

The balance sheet remains strong with $498 million in cash and cash equivalents, providing the company with substantial liquidity to support its strategic initiatives. The income statement reflects a disciplined approach to cost management, with a notable decrease in general and administrative expenses and a focus on leveraging technology to reduce costs.

Investor and Market Implications

Nextdoor's strategic refocus under the founder's leadership and its incremental financial improvements present a mixed but cautiously optimistic picture for investors. The companys efforts to enhance its platform and operational efficiencies could be pivotal in achieving long-term profitability and market leadership in the community engagement space.

As Nextdoor continues to evolve, stakeholders will be watching closely to see if these strategic initiatives can translate into sustained financial performance and shareholder value enhancement.

For detailed insights and ongoing updates, investors and interested parties are encouraged to follow Nextdoors communications on their investor relations website and through their official social media channels.

Explore the complete 8-K earnings release (here) from Nextdoor Holdings Inc for further details.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


By Gilles Guillaume

PARIS (Reuters) - China's premium electric vehicle maker Nio is on track to unveil a new model under a mass-market brand by the end of this month and a second smaller EV to be sold in Europe next year for less than $30,000, a senior executive told Reuters on Monday.

Nio has created the sub-brand Onvo to launch a new EV that Chief Executive William Li has said will take aim at the Tesla Model Y, the world's best-selling EV.

"Nio is currently working on the launch of new car brands, that would be less premium, still obviously 100% electric, and more suited for the European market needs," Nicolas Vincelot, general manager for France, said during a France-China business forum in Paris.

On Monday, the new website for the Onvo brand went live in China with a message to "stay tuned" for details on the new model, the L60.

Vincelot said more details on the brand, until now code named "Alps", were expected by the end of the month.

Onvo is one of two sub-brands the loss-making EV maker is launching. The second, developed under the code name Firefly, is developing smaller EVs intended for city driving that are expected to be priced under $30,000, he said.

Both brands are targeting sales in Europe. The first Onvo L60s are expected to be launched globally by the end of the year.The Firefly brand should be unveiled in 2025, Vincelot said.

Both are also designed to work with the fast battery swapping stations Nio has pioneered in China, allowing to swap an empty battery against a full one in a few minutes.

Pictures of the Firefly prototype carried by Chinese auto media show a compact four-door hatchback.

Rival Xpeng also plans a new mass-market brand called Mona that will include self-driving features on cars priced below $21,000.

Vincelot said that Nio was no longer relying mainly on the subscription model it used at its beginning, but turning to a wider distribution model, selling and leasing cars on the internet or in showrooms located in big cities.

In Europe, the company has started selling cars in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

Nio has been looking to cut costs in response to a slowdown in EV sales and fierce competition on pricing in China. The company announced plans to cut 10% of its staff last year, and Reuters reported that the Hong Kong-listed automaker was looking to spin off its battery manufacturing.

With sales slowing at home, Several Chinese EV makers are expanding in Europe and they look to capitalise on their cost advantage against European rivals. The European Union is investigating Chinese EV imports to see if they breach competition rules. On Monday,

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Vincelot's comments coincide with Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to France, where the EU investigation was expected to be a focus in talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

(This story has been corrected to show that the first Onvo L60 should be launched globally by the end of 2024, not arrive in Europe by the end of 2024, in paragraph 7)

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume in Paris and Kevin Krolicki in Beijing, Additional reporting by Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
Construction of the $2.3 billion Portal North Bridge remains on time and on budget despite a vast underestimate of how many track outages and staff would be required, according to Amtraks inspector general.

Outages refer to the incidents when trains cant operate on one or multiple tracks while construction takes place and require special staff to monitor the rails and direct train traffic to avoid rail side work sites.

Estimates in 2021 anticipated needing nine double-track outages during the five years of construction, but the contractor later said in spring 2023 it needed at least 300 single track outages and more than 100 double track outages.

The drastic increase in outages also meant a need for more labor, which increased Amtraks budget by 140%, but it hasnt affected the overall budget of the project because Amtrak is using its contingency funds for unforeseen events that are already factored into the cost.

Amtraks contribution to the costs are about $495 million. The project is about 50% complete with construction expected to be wrapped up in late 2027.

Story continues after photo gallery

Jim Morrison, Amtraks assistant inspector general, said one of three central issues his audit team identified was opportunities to improve (Amtraks) support to NJ Transit on the project. Portal Bridges construction is being led by NJ Transit, but Amtrak is a critical partner on the project and the new bridge, like the old one, will be owned and operated by the national rail passenger corporation.

The project was on budget and on schedule through January 2024; however, we identified risks to the project and the companys oversight of it, Morrison wrote. More broadly, learning lessons from this project could help the company better deliver on its planned, multi-billion-dollar portfolio of capital improvements.

The Portal North Bridge project will replace the current swing-span Portal Bridge that spans the Hackensack River between Kearny and Secaucus. It is prone to getting stuck when opened, causing major delays for NJ Transit and Amtrak trains headed in and out of Manhattan.

The bridge replacement is part of the $18.9 billion first phase of the Gateway program that also includes construction of a new two-track rail tunnel and rehabilitation of an old rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River used by trains leaving and arriving at New York Penn Station.

In addition to its role supporting the Portal North Bridge construction, Amtrak will similarly assist with the tunnel portion of the program that is being overseen by a new bistate agency, the Gateway Development Commission, which includes an Amtrak seat on its board.

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The Portal Bridge, which is owned and operated by Amtrak in Kearny, only has a 23 feet of clearance at high tide to allow boats underneath it.

Amtrak has already taken or will take action to address the reports recommendations, including "improving collaboration with our partners at NJ Transit and enhancing information-sharing requirements into current and future project agreements, according to an Amtrak spokesman.

Better information sharing with NJ Transit

Planning, staffing and information sharing were the three main challenges Amtraks inspector general audit team identified in its report.

The audit team said Amtrak didnt have a disciplined process to conduct an assessment of the outages needed, which led to a shortage of required staff. But the audit didnt say why the contractors request changed so drastically a year into construction  the contractors performance is outside the scope of the audit.

Though Amtrak is recruiting to fill the labor gaps to staff the outages and dedicating longer work windows to the contractor, the auditor team warned, " the project faces cost and schedule risks if Amtrak cannot fully meet outage and labor demands as construction advances  risks it could have mitigated during planning."

Laura Mason, Amtraks executive vice president for capital delivery, agreed with the recommendations made by the inspector generals audit team and elaborated on how the company is addressing them. When it comes to better planning for outages and force account staffing, Mason said Amtrak is hiring a director to establish a new review process to ensure plans for construction, schedules and budgets are made with outage work needs from the beginning.

A rendering of the new Portal Bridge across the Hackensack River, part of the larger gateway rail tunnel project.

In addition to the staff shortage associated with the outages, the auditors found there were not enough on-site inspectors. There also were not enough people on the Portal Bridge team to analyze cost data, which led to a nine-month backlog of review.

The project team was overtasked because the company did not plan for the resources it would need on the project at the outset, the audit report said. But no recommendations for improvement were provided by the audit team because Amtrak had already hired or were working to bring on additional staff in these areas.

The final area of concern is about information and documents being shared between NJ Transit and Amtrak, which the audit authors say has improved but expectations for information sharing continued to differ between the two agencies. The problem emerged, the audit authors say, because Amtrak didn't "fully identify its information requirements at the project's outset, resulting in different interpretations of some agreement terms."

This issue has cropped up when it comes to sharing change orders, value engineering proposals and invoices, including an instance where Amtrak was not provided sufficient detail to support how the construction manager spent $3.7 million in company funds, the auditors wrote.

The gateway project includes building an extra rail right-of-way under Hudson Yards in Manhattan to let trains travel from the new tunnel to Penn Station.

In her response to the audit, Mason wrote that since October 2023, the company and NJ Transit have made strides in obtaining access to information-sharing. Amtrak now receives a weekly report from NJ Transit about documents processed and use a shared document filing system.

Amtrak believes that the early challenges of document sharing have been overcome collaboratively with NJT, and at this point in time, does not believe amending the agreement is necessary, Mason wrote to the inspector general.

Whistleblower lawsuit

The audit did not directly address allegations raised by Mohammed Nasim, NJ Transits Portal Bridge construction manager who was fired in October 2023, but several issues raised in the audit  the increase in outages and problems with sharing documents  were also concerns raised in Nasims whistleblower and discrimination lawsuit filed earlier this year.

Nasim raised red flags about issues of track settling during construction that have caused Amtrak to stop work on multiple occasions for an extended period of time, and he warned the track settlements could lead to a derailment or unsafe construction site conditions, according to court documents.

Starting in July 2022, Nasim sought to inform Amtrak of safety issues posed by track settlements and poor soil conditions as soon as possible because it could impact the safety of the 400 or so trains that travel across the current Portal Bridge on a daily basis, but was told not do so, according to court documents.

Nasim also detailed in his complaint how he worked with the contractor on ways to de-risk the project, but they were rejected by his boss at NJ Transit, the lawsuit said. Value engineering proposals were among the documents Amtrak staff have requested of NJ Transit, but as of November 2023 had not received all of them, according to the audit report.

The audit was focused on Amtraks support activities, funding, and oversight of the project, and did not mention concerns about settlement or that its scope was related to Nasims allegations.

The report did note, however, that Amtraks role in the construction process was reduced in fall 2020, through an agreement with NJ Transit and OK'd by the Federal Transit Administration, because of fears that an additional layer of oversight could lengthen the construction schedule and increase costs.

The details of Nasims lawsuit sparked some concerns in Trenton about construction of the Portal North Bridge.

New Jersey state Sen. Michael Testa, R-Vineland, sent a letter to NJ Transit in February after the details of Nasims lawsuit were publicized in NorthJersey.com, but didnt get a response back.

During the Senate transportation hearing last month, he asked Kevin Corbett, president and CEO of NJ Transit, if the concerns raised by Nasim were addressed and if he was confident in the safety of the project, to which Corbett said, Extremely.

Every step of the way on this construction is extremely well documented, well overseen," Corbett said. "Any time you do a big project, youre always going to have different viewpoints, different ups and downs.

I will be dead a good century and that (bridge) will be very solid and very safe," Corbett said, "and I dont plan on dying any time soon.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Track outages skyrocket for Portal Bridge replacement project
Press Release

May 7, 2024 Transcript of Sen. Pia Cayetano's manifestation: Expressing the Profound Sympathy and Sincere Condolences of the Senate on the Death of Former Senator Rene Saguisag Thank you, Mr President. Mr. President, I was in UP in the 1980s and like every UP student, we know of the name Rene Saguisag. I was not even in law school yet when we would hear about the fights that he took upon himself. And obviously, during those times, Mr. President, there were many opportunities for students to look up to men and women that they could admire and emulate. And then I became a law student, Mr President, and the more I had a deeper understanding of the kind of work that men like Rene Saguisag did, men and women like Rene Saguisag. He used his knowledge of the law to protect the oppressed. In fact, Mr President, one of his family members was quoted as saying, "He used his expertise in the law as a means to serve the poor and the disenfranchised. Mr. President, I am reminded of the biblical passage that is very close to my heart. It is a passage that I struggled with as a young child because it spoke of a master, the story is, it's a master who was leaving and he gave his servants, in some versions it says coins, in other versions, it says talents. So he gave his three servants these money, coins, talents, also referred to as mina. And then he left, and then when he came back, he asked his servants, "What have you done with what I left you?" And the first servant actually invested what he was given by his master, and he was able to return tenfold the talents or money that his master left him. The second servant was able to return fivefold what his master left him. But the third servant said, "I was scared so I buried what was given." So as a child, I always wondered, ano ba yun? Hindi ba dapat itago mo nga, i-preserve mo kung ano yung binigay sayo? But as I got older, I learned that what this parable really meant is that we are supposed to use the talents that God gave us. And so I was reminded of this when I learned about the death of the former senator and heard the words that his family left, that he used his talent to help the oppressed. Mr President, we in the Senate are all given an opportunity to use our talents for the Filipino people. And we look at the men and women who were senators before us. Rene Saguisag was a senator in 1987-1992. That's about the time I and the Minority Floor Leader were in law school. And I never had the chance to work with him. But when I became a senator in my late 30's, I then met him and I was so surprised because the image I had of him was feisty, matapang, matalino, walang takot. Kasama syempre doon sa matalino, mayabang, kasi you have to believe in yourself, you have to have that courage and confidence that you believe in what you are fighting for. But when I met him, and I met him many, many times, he was always so kind and humble. And I realized that a lot of great men have humble spirits, but they need to rise above this sense of humility to be able to fight for the things that they believe in. So the late Rene Saguisag was a man I truly honor for the kind of humble person he truly is, but the fighter he has to be when he needs to be a fighter. I pray for his family, that they may have the peace of heart during this difficult time knowing that they had a great man for a father, a grandfather, a father-in-law, for his staff who are also here, that they worked with such an honorable man, and I pray that this will give them strength in the days and years to come. And rest assured that we will always remember these kinds of people who fight for the Filipino people. Thank you, Mr. President.
Earnings Per Share: Reported at $1.77, up 19% year-over-year, surpassing estimates of $1.45.

Annual Earnings Guidance: Increased midpoint for 2024 to $6.38 per share, indicating a 21% rise from prior guidance.

Return on Equity: Achieved a robust 22% over the trailing twelve months.

Operating Cash Flow: Grew to $71.9 million for the quarter, up from $55.6 million in the same period last year, driven by stronger Plastics segment performance.

Dividend: Declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4675 per share, payable on June 10, 2024.

Plastics Segment Performance: Revenue increased by $25.8 million, with net income up $13.1 million, fueled by a 56% rise in sales volumes and lower material costs.

Electric Segment Challenges: Faced a revenue decline of $10.4 million and a slight net income decrease due to warmer weather and increased operating costs.

On May 6, 2024, Otter Tail Corp (NASDAQ:OTTR) released its quarterly earnings, showcasing a robust performance that exceeded analyst expectations. The company announced a significant 19% increase in diluted earnings per share, reaching $1.77, surpassing the estimated $1.45. This financial achievement was highlighted in their recent 8-K filing. Otter Tail Corp, a diversified U.S. energy company primarily operating in electric, manufacturing, and plastics segments, has its operations concentrated in Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota, with the majority of its revenue stemming from the Electric segment.

Otter Tail Corp (OTTR) Surpasses Q1 Earnings Estimates with Strong Performance in Plastics Segment

Financial Performance and Challenges

The company's financial results reflect a strong quarter, particularly in the Plastics segment, which saw a remarkable 39% increase in earnings due to higher sales volumes and strong market demand. However, the Electric and Manufacturing segments faced challenges. The Electric segment experienced a modest decline in earnings due to warmer-than-normal weather affecting energy usage, while the Manufacturing segment saw a 23% decrease in earnings due to lower sales volumes and changing market conditions.

This mixed performance underscores the importance of Otter Tail Corp's diversified business model, which allows it to leverage strengths in one area to offset challenges in another, a strategy that continues to benefit the company amidst varying market conditions.

Segment Analysis and Financial Metrics

The Electric segment reported a decrease in operating revenues by 6.9% and a net income reduction of 3.2%, primarily due to decreased fuel recovery revenues and retail revenue impacted by unfavorable weather. Conversely, the Plastics segment enjoyed a significant revenue increase of $25.8 million, driven by a 56% increase in sales volumes, though tempered by a 15% decrease in sales prices from the previous year.

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The company's overall liquidity remains strong, with significant increases in cash provided by operating activities, which rose to $71.9 million from $55.6 million in the previous year. This financial health is crucial for sustaining operations and funding future expansion projects, particularly in the Electric segment which continues to invest heavily in capital projects like wind repowering.

Outlook and Strategic Moves

Otter Tail Corp has raised its 2024 earnings guidance to $6.23-$6.53 per share, up from the initial range of $5.13-$5.43, reflecting confidence in its operational strategies and market position. This adjustment is primarily attributed to the stronger-than-expected performance of the Plastics segment.

The company remains committed to its key regulatory priorities and strategic initiatives, including the ongoing general rate case in North Dakota and the execution of its Integrated Resource Plan, which aims to enhance sustainability and operational efficiency.

In conclusion, Otter Tail Corp's first-quarter performance paints a picture of a company adept at navigating market fluctuations and capitalizing on its diversified operational strengths. Despite some segment-specific challenges, the overall financial health and strategic direction suggest a positive outlook for 2024.

Investor and Analyst Information

Otter Tail Corp will host a live webcast on May 7, 2024, to discuss detailed financial and operational performance. Interested parties can access the webcast via the company's website at www.ottertail.com/presentations.

For further details, investors and stakeholders are encouraged to consult the full earnings release and financial statements available on the SEC's website and Otter Tail Corp's investor relations page.

Explore the complete 8-K earnings release (here) from Otter Tail Corp for further details.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Philippines Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has announced the completion of the construction of Central Logistics Centre in Balatan, Camarines Sur.

The construction of the facility was undertaken by the Camarines Sur 5th District Engineering Office (DEO).

This new logistics centre, costing 19.3m pesos ($337,336.01), spans 1,080m2, and will serve as a transportation and warehouse hub in the area.

It includes air-conditioned office space, a utility room, a dedicated logistics area, and separate comfort rooms for males and females.

The building is fully furnished and designed to meet various community needs.

It will also serve as a venue for town events, meetings, workshops, and trainings, and can double as an evacuation site during calamities.

DPWH Regional Office 5 director Virgilio C. Eduarte said: This facility with its contemporary features and view of the scenic coastline, is expected to improve transactions significant in terms of goods distribution in the area.

Meanwhile, DPWH has also completed a road rehabilitation project in Valencia, Bukidnon.

The project involved the expansion and improvement of a 619m section of the Sayre Highway.

The Sayre Highway project, which cost 40.8m pesos, saw the expansion of the road from four to six lanes.

This project also included reconstruction of damaged lanes, and installation of pavement markings and solar light posts.

DPWH-Region 10 director Zenaida T. Tan said: These improvements resulted to enhanced safety and accessibility of the area not just for locals but also for delivery vehicles regularly traversing this route.

The roadworks were carried out by the DPWH Bukidnon 1st District Engineering Office and funded through the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Last month, DPWH commenced civil works for the deep foundations of the Samal Island-Davao City Connector project.

Construction of the 4.07km bridge includes land and marine viaducts.

"Philippines DPWH completes construction of Central Logistics Centre in Balatan " was originally created and published by World Construction Network, a GlobalData owned brand.







The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
If you ride the Brightline train to work often, brace yourself for a big change in cost

If you regularly ride Brightline to work in South Florida, the cost of your commute is about to soar.

The private company that runs the fast yellow trains announced it would no longer sell a package of 40 one-way rides starting at $399.

Instead, Brightline will offer 10 one-way rides between Miami and Fort Lauderdale starting at $250. To travel to or from West Palm Beach and Boca Raton, 10 one-way rides would cost at least $350. That means commuters face a steep increase in transportation costs.

Brightline, which notes on its website that it is making the changes to accommodate riders during peak travel times, typically focuses on day-trippers who want to explore Miami or West Palm Beach, tourists visiting Orlando and locals heading to special events.

Where does that leave commuters? Worried.

Jacqueline De Berry moved from New York City to Miami when she started a new job in October. The 35-year-old marketing executive said Brightline seemed affordable, with stations walking distance from her downtown Miami apartment and workplace in Boca Raton.

I dont even know what Im going to do, De Berry said.

Tri-Rail, South Floridas cheaper-to-ride public commuter train that runs from the Miami airport to Palm Beach County, could be an option. But the tracks run along the I-95 corridor and the train stops at 19 stations. Tri-Rail is considering an express service with fewer stops. Brightline currently has stations in downtown Miami, Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and Orlando.

While Brightline is privately owned, it has taken federal subsidies, including five federal Transportation Department government grants since 2017. Among the largest is $15.8 million for planning an extension between Orlando and Tampa, according to WLRN.

Brightline will be offering two new fixed-rate packages for South Florida commuters starting June 1, 2024.

When will Brightlines changes start?

The 40 one-way train rides package will be discontinued June 1, but riders can continue using their passes until they expire. The new package will be available starting June 1.

De Berry said one of her options is to break her apartment lease and move to Boca. Another option is to buy a car, but she hasnt owned one in 15 years during her time in New York and isnt thrilled with spending hours in traffic. She said Tri-Rails Boca station is farther from her workplace, so she would have to spend money on rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft.

If De Berry keeps riding the train eight times a week, her monthly fare could balloon to at least $1,190  nearly an $800 more, according to the Miami Heralds calculations.

They are not here for the public; they are here to make money, she said.

Joel Zusman, 42, said he accepted a job offer in September because he can walk from Brightlines West Palm Beach station to his new workplace. If he keeps riding six times a week, his monthly fare could increase to at least $820  over a $400 difference.

Who can afford that? Zusman said.

The Coral Gables resident, who drives 15 minutes to Brightlines downtown Miami station, said it seems like Brightline prefers to make more money by catering to tourists rather than commuters. In September, the company inaugurated a route from West Palm Beach to Orlando International Airport, a 30-minute drive from Universal Studios and Disneys parks.

I understand them raising prices ... but to a level that is so absurd that most people are going to stop using the train, I dont see how is that a benefit for the community, Zusman said.

Brightline did not respond to the Miami Heralds request for comment on the price increases.

Miami, Fla., March 13, 2019 - Miami Central Station, 600 NW 1st Ave. Entrance to the Brightline trains.

Details on new Brightline packages

Heres what to know about Brightlines new fixed-rate packages:

 Miami-West Palm Beach: Ride 10 times anywhere between downtown Miami and West Palm Beach starting at $350. If you want complimentary snacks and beverages and access to the premium lounge, you must pay $550.

 Miami-Fort Lauderdale: If you only need transportation between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, including Aventura, ride 10 times for $250. If you want the extra amenities, that would be $350.

These packages are valid for 30 days from purchase.

A Tri-Rail train.

Would Tri-Rail express route be Brightline alternative?

Tri-Rail has proposed running an express route between West Palm Beach and downtown Miami, with stops in Boca Raton, Dania Beach (Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport) and the Metrorail Transfer Station in Hialeah.

But theres a catch: only one express trip in the morning from West Palm Beach to Miami and another one in the afternoon in the opposite direction.

Besides having fewer stops, another big difference from Tri-Rails regular service is that riders would not have to change trains at the Metrorail Transfer Station, said Dave Dech, executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority.

Tri-Rails express route would cost the same as its regular fare. A trip between West Palm Beach and Miami costs $8.75. If the express route, included in the companys proposed budget, is approved by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authoritys board on May 31, the new service would start mid-summer, Dech said.

Tri-Rail could soon offer a South Florida express route for the same price as its regular trips.

What are other transportation options?

Until Tri-Rails proposed express route is approved, riders have a couple of other options:

 Miami-Aventura: If you ride frequently between downtown Miami and Aventura, Brightlines Miami-Aventura monthly commuter pass will remain at $299 because of a prior agreement between the company and Miami-Dade County. If you choose to auto-renew this pass, youll get a 5% discount. A limited number of these passes will be sold every month.

 Single rides: If you dont ride Brightline as much, you can still purchase a one-way ticket starting at around $29 and a round-trip starting at about $58.

 Tri-Rail: If you dont mind waiting longer to get to your destination., Tri-Rails regular service might be the best option for you. A one-way ride starts at $2.50 and a trip between West Palm Beach and Miami, including stops in downtown and the Miami International Airport, would cost $8.75. Tri-Rail also sells a $110 monthly pass.
Rivian (RIVN) reported mixed quarterly results for the first quarter but will see further cost savings from shifting its upcoming R2 production to its Normal, Ill., plant and trimming its capital expenditure forecast. The EV maker also reaffirmed its full-year loss forecast and still sees a "path" to "modest gross profit" in the fourth quarter of this year.

For the quarter, Rivian reported revenue of $1.20 billion versus $1.17 billion expected, which is an 80% jump from a year ago. However, Rivian posted a loss per share of $1.48 versus $1.27 estimated, with an operating loss of $1.484 billion compared to the $1.299 billion loss expected.

Rivian reaffirmed its adjusted EBITDA loss forecast of $2.7 billion for 2024 but now sees its capital expenditure outlays improving to $1.2 billion from $1.75 billion seen earlier. This is due to the company moving the start of R2 production to its Normal, Ill., plant, and further savings expected in 2025 and 2026.

Rivian stock slipped 5% in early trade, but shares rallied late in the trading session and finished flat for the day.

"We hit several milestones this quarter, including producing our 100,000th vehicle in Normal, successfully navigating the retooling upgrade, and unveiling our new midsize platform, which underpins the R2, R3, and R3X," CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement.

The company also said that as a result of its retooling upgrade and other improvements, Rivian remains "confident in its path to achieving modest gross profit in the fourth quarter of this year."

By shifting R2 production to its existing US factory instead of its upcoming Georgia factory, Rivian said on Tuesday the company will save more than $2.25 billion. Following the R2 launch and plant changes, the company now expects its Normal plant to hit 215,000 units of total annual capacity across all vehicles, which includes up to 155,000 units of the R2.

Founder and CEO of Rivian RJ Scaringe speaks onstage during the Rivian Reveals All-Electric R2 Midsize SUV event at Rivian South Coast Theater on March 7, 2024, in Laguna Beach, Calif. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Rivian) (Phillip Faraone via Getty Images)

In terms of its cash cushion, Rivian said it had $5.98 billion at the end of Q1 versus $7.86 billion at the end of Q4.

Last month, the company reported first quarter R1T and R1S production of 13,980 and deliveries of 13,588, topping expectations of around 12,400 units. The company also reaffirmed production guidance of 57,000 vehicles in 2024.

Part of bringing down those costs came in the form of a 10% salaried staff reduction, with the company citing economic uncertainty. Though Rivian reaffirmed its forecast to reach modest gross profit by the end of 2024, Rivian didn't reiterate past statements that it was "very close" to achieving a positive contribution margin at the end of 2023.

Story continues

The Rivian R3 and R3X SUVs are displayed during the Rivian Reveals All-Electric R2 Midsize SUV event at Rivian South Coast Theater on March 7, 2024, in Laguna Beach, Calif. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Rivian) (Phillip Faraone via Getty Images)

Earlier this year Rivian said its Georgia factory development was suspended for the moment, though Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said Scaringe reaffirmed the company wasnt abandoning the project.

Scaringe said once the R2 was ready for a larger rollout, the upcoming Georgia facility would handle it. The company also said it would be launching its R2 in Europe, which would be a huge market for the company, as it's not currently selling its larger R1 vehicles on the continent.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated Rivian's EPS loss. We regret the error.

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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A fisherman carries his belongings on a sleigh on the ice of the Gulf of Finland against the backdrop of the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal in St. Petersburg. SOPA Images via Getty

Russia's oil revenue soared by 90% in April compared to the previous year, Bloomberg reported.

The rise comes as sanctions have struggled to curb Russian energy flows since the war in Ukraine began.

Strong global demand and low supplies driven by geopolitical risks have helped bolster Russia's energy trade.

The major funding sources for Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine  the country's oil and gas revenues doubled in April despite sanctions.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that total oil and gas revenues in April jumped by 90% compared to a year earlier, reaching 1.23 trillion rubles ($13.5 billion). That sent the Kremlin's energy-related taxes soaring to 1.053 trillion rubles ($11.5 billion), marking a 111.9% leap from April 2023.

Russia's Federal Tax Service data reveals that the budget revenue spike was pegged to the Urals crude price of $70.34 per barrel, a significant jump from $48.67 a year ago when the G-7 countries had first imposed a price cap of $60 a barrel on Moscow's oil exports.

Meanwhile, the increase in energy revenue was also driven by a weaker domestic currency, with the exchange rate of rubles per dollar declining by 20.5% compared to the previous year, Bloomberg said, citing data from Russia's tax service.

Bloomberg Economics notes that Russia's robust revenue growth amid sanctions stems from strong global demand, low supplies driven by geopolitical risks, newly established export infrastructure in Russia, and the country's strict control over exporters' cash flows.

Bloomberg data also indicates Moscow will see approximately $126 billion in oil and gas tax revenue in 2024. Bloomberg Economics noted that these figures are "just slightly above the current government's projections."

Moscow's military aggression in Ukraine has shown no signs of winding down as the war drags on through its third year and sanctions looks to cripple Moscow's ability to keep funding the invasion.

Putin's Russia has devised multiple strategies to bypass Western restrictions, including cultivating export ties with nations like China, India, and those in the Persian Gulf.

China, a longstanding partner, has been aiding Russia in avoiding sanctions by facilitating Moscow's "dark fleet" of crude tankers, which circumvent international maritime rules through covert maneuvers, and also by supporting Renminbi trading between the two countries.

That said, Bloomberg reported that April's oil and gas revenue to Russia's budget still dropped by about 6.4% compared to March, primarily due to substantial subsidies to the nation's fuel producers.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Bottom Line

The future of Neom, Saudi Arabia's enormous city building project, is looking shaky as costs soar and sloppy construction setbacks mount, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Constructing its centerpiece, "the Line," was never going to be easy. The uber-ambitious pair of skyscrapers is supposed to be taller than the Empire State Building and span 105 miles of desert, its western end terminating on the coast of the Red Sea.

That staggering scale comes with staggering costs. Officially, Neom was budgeted at $500 billion, which is more than 50 percent of Saudi Arabia's federal budget, the WSJ notes.

But those projections may have been too optimistic. According to employees working on the project and people familiar with the plans that spoke to the paper, just the first 1.5 miles of the Line will cost more than $100 billion, with the entire project expected to easily clear $2 trillion  more than the GDP of Brazil.

"It's battling against the entire history of the way cities are founded and grow," John E. Fernandez, professor in the department of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the WSJ.

Neom-Noir

Under the driving vision of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Line will be 1,640 feet tall at its highest points. Spread across a hundred miles, that verticality will allow for more than seven billion square feet of floor space, according to the WSJ, which is 29 percent larger than all the buildings in New York City.

So far, construction has been disjointed and haphazard. The Line's foundations were being built years before architects had finished designing the above-ground structure in order to show progress to the crown prince, according to the newspaper. When the architects decided on another site, the initial foundations were abandoned.

That kind of slipshod planning continues to haunt Neom. The first 10 miles of the skyscraper was initially set to be completed by 2030. It's now been cut down to a mere 1.5 miles, with ambitions of housing millions of residents in its first phase also dropping to less than 200,000.

Meanwhile, Neom is spending some $5 billion just to build the housing for its construction workers, with an additional 100,000 workers set to join their ranks. But not even these were designed with much foresight, it seems. A community that's home to Neom's engineers and administrative workers already needs to be demolished, according to the WSJ, after yet more revisions to the Line's design now means that the skyscraper will run right through its location.

Elsewhere along the Line, workers are currently digging an enormous 450 acre pit that's 50 feet below sea level for the construction of a marina. In a comical turn of events, according to the WSJ, the veritable mountain of all the dirt they excavated was dumped right on top of where a waterway is supposed to be built. Work followed to painstakingly re-excavate the huge dirt pile and move it somewhere else  a literal example of the project designers digging themselves into a hole.

More on skyscrapers: Huge Pendulum in Skyscraper Protected It When Epic Earthquake Struck
SEC Issues Wells Notice to Robinhood For Crypto Trading Business

Robinhood, the popular trading platform, has received a Wells notice from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), leading to a 2.5% drop in its share price during pre-market trading, reaching $17.95. A Wells notice is a formal letter sent by the securities regulator signaling the conclusion of its investigation, in this case, on Robinhood's U.S.-based crypto business. The SEC has concluded a "preliminary determination" to recommend an enforcement action related to alleged securities violations.

This investigation follows Robinhood's efforts to register with the U.S. securities watchdog, as highlighted by Dan Gallagher, the chief legal, compliance, and corporate affairs officer at Robinhood Markets. Gallagher expressed disappointment with the SEC's decision, stating, "After years of good faith attempts to work with the SEC for regulatory clarity including our well-known attempt to 'come in and register,' we are disappointed that the agency has decided to issue a Wells Notice related to our U.S. crypto business." He further emphasized that Robinhood does not view its listed assets as securities.

Robinhood has been proactive in avoiding potential securities violations by refraining from listing certain tokens and providing crypto lending and staking services that other platforms faced lawsuits over. However, the lack of federal regulatory clarity in the crypto space has created an uneven playing field for market participants, hindering mainstream adoption and making regulatory compliance challenging, according to Robinhood's chief compliance officer.

During a court testimony on June 6, Gallagher, a former SEC commissioner from 2011 to 2015, compared the regulatory landscape for digital assets to the equities markets in 1932, highlighting the fragmented state regulatory frameworks and the absence of clear federal guidelines from the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding the classification of digital assets as securities or commodities.
Solid economic growth in the wake of the pandemic has strengthened some of the nations leading social safety net programs, as robust employment increases the flow of payments into the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, according to reports released Monday.



The annual report from the Social Security Board of Trustees says the combined Social Security trust funds are now projected to remain fully funded until 2035, a year later than the previous projection.



Once the combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Disability Insurance Trust Fund are depleted, the trustees estimate that Social Security will be able to cover 83% of scheduled benefits. (As the trustees report notes, The two funds could not actually be combined unless there were a change in the law, but the combined projection of the two funds is frequently used to indicate the overall status of the Social Security program.)



On a stand-alone basis, the Social Security retirement trust fund is projected to run dry in 2033, the same estimate as last year. At that point, retirees will receive just 79% of scheduled benefits.



Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin OMalley said the improved outlook overall is good news for Americans who receive Social Security, about half of whom rely on the payments to remain above the poverty line.



More people are contributing to Social Security, thanks to strong economic policies that have yielded impressive wage growth, historic job creation, and a steady, low unemployment rate, OMalley said. So long as Americans across our country continue to work, Social Security can  and will  continue to pay benefits.



OMalley called on Congress to act now on a bipartisan basis to eliminate the threat of trust fund insolvency in 2035. Eliminating the shortfall will bring peace of mind to Social Securitys 70 million-plus beneficiaries, the 180 million workers and their families who contribute to Social Security, and the entire nation, he said.



Medicare sees a bigger boost: According to the annual report from the trustees of Medicare, the hospital insurance trust fund is now projected to be fully solvent until 2036  five years longer than in the previous projection. The trust fund has been strengthened by more workers and higher wages in the overall economy than previously projected, as well as lower expenditures.



Once the hospital trust fund is depleted, the trustees estimate that Medicare will be able to pay 89% of total scheduled benefits.



Benefit cuts still loom: Although the trustee reports show some improvement in the outlook for Social Security and Medicare, the long-term picture is still fairly gloomy. Trust funds for both programs will run dry in just over a decade, threatening beneficiaries with automatic cuts unless Congress acts in the meantime to shore up the programs financing.



The projected shortfalls in the trust funds are already playing a role in the upcoming election. President Joe Biden on Monday said he has proposed to extend Medicare and Social Security solvency by raising taxes on the wealthy and reducing drug costs. And he repeated that he does not want to cut Social Security benefits as part of the effort to improve its finances.



Republicans in Congress have a very different vision, Biden added. Their budget sides with the wealthy and special interests to cut Social Security by over $1.5 trillion, increase the retirement age, raise prescription drug costs, and transition Medicare to a system that would raise premiums for many seniors. These changes are cruel and unnecessary.



For their part, Republicans have sent mixed messages on the issue. Most Republican lawmakers have backed plans to cut benefits in the safety net programs to restore long-term viability, but former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has been less clear in his policy preferences. In March, he seemed to say that he was open to reining in entitlements, but then backed off, claiming he would defend the programs from benefit reductions.



The bottom line: Modest improvement in the Social Security and Medicare trust funds does little to obscure the looming deadlines. Mondays trustee reports highlight the need for lawmakers to act on plans to stabilize the financing for the countrys most popular and essential safety net programs.

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By Nick Carey

LONDON (Reuters) - British self-driving technology startup Wayve said on Tuesday it has raised $1.05 billion in a funding round led by SoftBank Group to accelerate the development and launch in production-model vehicles of its Embodied AI technology that can learn from and adapt to human behavior.

Nvidia also contributed in the Series C funding round as a new investor, as did existing investor Microsoft.

The latest funding brings Wayve's total funds raised to just over $1.3 billion and marks the largest investment yet in a British startup focused on artificial-intelligence technology.

In a statement, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the funding round as "a testament to our leadership in this

industry, and that our plan for the (UK) economy is working."

Founded in 2017, Wayve's autonomous driving technology uses AI that the startup says will enable vehicles to "navigate situations that do not follow strict patterns or rules, such as unexpected actions by drivers, pedestrians, or environmental elements."

"This will enable automakers and fleets to accelerate their transition from assisted to autonomous driving," Wayve CEO Alex Kendall told Reuters.

The startup's technology is currently integrated into six different vehicle platforms including electric vehicles like the Jaguar I-PACE and Ford Mustang MachE as part of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), Kendall said. As the self-driving technology advances, Wayve's AI will be upgraded using over-the-air software updates.

The problem faced by robotaxi startups and other self-driving companies is that developing vehicles that can truly drive themselves has proven more difficult than originally imagined.

Among the main challenges is that self-driving software systems have simply lacked humans' ability to predict and assess risk quickly, especially when encountering unexpected incidents or "edge cases."

As the scale of that challenge has become clear, major investments in autonomous startups like Wayve are increasingly rare.

Wayve President Erez Dagan told Reuters the company's technology is "built to generalize its driving knowledge from one scenario to another... because it's nearly impossible to imagine every situation that a self-driving car needs to reliably handle."

"By leveraging the raw power of AI, we can build an Embodied AI system that's learned from real-world and synthetic data how to handle edge cases at a rate that surpasses human programming," he added.

(Reporting by Nick Carey in London; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Hontiveros airs concern over POGO's possible connection to hacking, surveillance

Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday aired her concern over Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) that have possible connections to surveillance activities and the hacking of government websites.

The senator made the statement during the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality hearing on the recently raided POGO in Bamban, Tarlac, in which wide-scale scam operations were uncovered.

"I was very disturbed to hear that there is persuasive information from the intelligence community stating na itong Bamban complex na ito ay ginagamit for surveillance activities, at ang ilang nabalitang high profile cases of hacking of our own government websites ay traceable sa complex na ito," Hontiveros said in her opening statement.

Last April 24, the senator conducted an inspection of Zun Yuan Technology, Inc, a licensed POGO located in the Baofu compound in Bamban. She then renewed her call to ban POGOs after Chinese fugitives were found in the facility.

"Ilang beses na natin pinanawagan na palayasin ang mga POGO sa bansa dahil puro krimen at pugante lang ang dala. Ngayon na may nakikita pang national security issue, ano pa nga ba ang hinihintay ng gobyerno? Bakit hindi parin ipinagbabawal ang mga POGO?" Hontiveros asked.

According to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), most of the investigations relating to cyberfraud and cyberscams in the world have a traceable connection to the Philippines.

"Tayo na po ay isa sa fastest growing hotspot for scams sa buong mundo. If these scam hubs are so lucrative, hindi na ito titigil. This would just grow and grow. And before we know it, we would be faced with a threat to our national security like nothing we have ever seen before," Hontiveros warned.

"Halo-halong kalamay na ang scams, national security threats, at human trafficking. And let us be clear: POGOs are scam centers. POGOs are a hotspot of fugitives. POGOs are a petri dish for crimes. Kung gusto talaga labanan ng administrasyon ang krimen at ang banta sa ating pambansang seguridad, the President should start with banning POGOs," Hontiveros concluded.
By Abhijith Ganapavaram and Allison Lampert

(Reuters) -Embattled aerospace supplier Spirit AeroSystems said it may tap financial markets for cash after posting heavy losses and burning through more cash than expected in a first quarter dominated by turmoil at top customer Boeing.

Spirit, which was spun off from Boeing nearly 20 years ago, has been losing money for several years. Following the Jan. 5 panel blowout on a 737 MAX, the two parties have been in talks to recombine.

Spirit's cash on hand dropped to $352 million from $824 million at December end. The company posted a net loss of $617 million and burned through $444 million in the three months ended March 28, far more than analysts had expected.

"The strain on the supply chain being experienced by Spirit and other suppliers is both (a) commercial and an operational risk," CEO Pat Shanahan told analysts.

Analysts on average were expecting a cash usage rate of $108 million for the quarter, according to LSEG data.

Shares were down 1.9% in Tuesday trading.

Boeing's talks to acquire Spirit have hit a roadblock due to complicated negotiations with Europe's Airbus, which now accounts for roughly one-fifth of Spirit's revenues. Airbus wants to be paid to take on Spirit's money-losing operations, Reuters reported last week.

The supplier, which makes the 737 MAX fuselage, also has nearly $1.8 billion worth of inventory.

Spirit was already wrestling with money losing programs, and industry-wide supply chain snags that have delayed plane deliveries. The company is also facing added pressure of slumping 737 production due partly to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-imposed quality checks following the January accident.

In a regulatory filing, Spirit said it was pursuing various options to improve liquidity, including issuing equity or debt financing, undertaking restructuring of its operations and seeking additional customer advances.

Airbus had no immediate comment on Tuesday.

"The outlook for the share price is wholly dependent on the company reaching a disposal agreement with Boeing and Airbus," Vertical Research Partners aerospace analyst Robert Stallard wrote in a note.

"These results could play a part in this process, as they highlight just how desperate Spirit's financial position has become."

PRODUCTION DELAYS

Spirit's current Boeing 737 production rate is about 31 fuselages per month, which the company expects to be constant through the end of 2024.

Airlines and lessors have called out both Boeing and Airbus for delivery delays due to production and supply chain challenges.

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Dubai carrier Emirates' CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said on Tuesday he hoped Boeing's new management will put in the effort to fix delays that have plagued its 777X aircraft.

Compounding Spirit's cost concerns, Boeing has clamped down on traveled work and has said it would take only fuselages that adhere to quality standards. Sales to the U.S. planemaker accounted for 64% of Spirit's revenues last year.

CFO Mark Suchinski said the company recorded a combined $448 million in forward losses, primarily driven by two Airbus programs, the A220 and A350.

"I know these are large losses but are really due to the inability to reach a conclusion to commercial negotiations with Airbus," he told analysts.

The quarterly adjusted loss per share widened to $3.93 from $1.69, while revenue rose 19% to about $1.7 billion on higher overall sales from its commercial, space and defense programs.

Analysts had expected a loss per share of 48 cents.

(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru, Allison Lampert in Montreal and Tim Hepher in Paris; Additional reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Sriraj Kalluvila)
Starbucks shares have plummeted more than 17% in value since the company revealed a sales slump in an earnings report last week.

The brand is incredibly resilient, but its clearly not business as usual, former CEO Howard Schultz said in a post on LinkedIn on Sunday.

The coffee giant is viewed by many analysts as a bellwether for consumer spending, which accounts for nearly three-quarters of the nations economic activity. The company's latest struggles, in turn, raise a question: Is the engine of the U.S. economy faltering, or is something wrong at Starbucks?

The explanation involves a little of of both, analysts told ABC News.

The experts described consumers fatigued by a years-long bout of inflation alongside high borrowing costs. In addition, they added, Starbucks has struggled to adapt to a post-pandemic economy, and also faces backlash over controversy tied to its alleged corporate stance regarding the Israel-Hamas war.

MORE: Campus protesters are demanding universities divest from Israel. Here's what that means.

Consumers have less demand for expensive coffee, Albert Wang, a professor of finance at Auburn University, told ABC News. There are also issues at the company.

Starbucks did not immediately respond to ABC News request for comment.

In an earnings report last week, the company announced a roughly 2% decline in revenue over the first three months of this year, falling short of analysts expectations. Same-store sales, a measure of revenue generated at existing locations, dropped 4%.

On a conference call with analysts, Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan last week attributed the sales slump in part to a generally cautious consumer, and noting as an example a decline in visits among U.S. customers who patronize the store only occasionally.

Narasimhan also cited additional sales headwinds, including the controversy tied to the Israel-Hamas war, as well as slower-than-expected performance in China.

Waning consumer enthusiasm, however, is hardly limited to Starbucks, analysts told ABC News.

Consumer spending in the U.S. slowed markedly at the outset of this year when compared with the final months of 2023, according to U.S. Commerce Department data released last week.

The trend coincided with stubborn inflation and a spike in credit card debt, suggesting challenges faced by consumers as they navigate rapid price increases and expensive borrowing costs.

The sluggish spending has weighed on restaurant brands beyond Starbucks. Fast-food giant McDonalds reported a slowdown in sales earlier this month, as did KFC and Pizza Hut, both of which are owned by Yum Brands.

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When you see it happening at companies outside of Starbucks, thats when it becomes a broader worry that youre concerned about, Michael Jones, an economics professor at the University of Cincinnati, told ABC News.

Starbucks, meanwhile, has encountered some specific challenges amid the wider consumer slowdown.

PHOTO: People picket outside of a Starbucks store as Starbucks Workers United have announced that they are waging the company's largest strike on Red Cup Day, New York City, Nov. 16, 2023. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The company has struggled to sustain a surge in business experienced during the pandemic, when customers flocked to the Starbucks app flush with federal stimulus money and largely unable to dine at restaurants, Cait Lamberton, professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, told ABC News.

Starbucks accommodated a global challenge with a solution that worked really well for a time, but they have to fundamentally rethink the value they offer so they dont become a quick-service fast-food place, Lamberton said.

Starbucks could charge a premium because its a little bit special, Lamberton added of the company's pandemic pricing. Now, theyre charging $6.50 for people to walk in and walk out 10 seconds later.

The company has also faced negative publicity centered on a dispute with the labor union Workers United regarding the Israel-Hamas war.

Starbucks sued the union in October after the labor organization, which represents food-service workers, posted a since-deleted message on X expressing solidarity with Palestinians. The message from the union subsequently triggered calls to boycott Starbucks, because some appeared to mistake the union's position for that of the company.

In response to ABC News' previous request for comment on the dispute, Starbucks pointed to a statement on the company's website.

As the violence against the innocent in the region continues, some people are mistakenly tying these remarks to us, because Workers United and its affiliates and members continue to use our name, logo and intellectual property, Starbucks said.

MORE: Interest rates may stay high for longer. Heres what it means for the 2024 election.

Workers United, which represents workers at roughly 400 unionized Starbucks locations, has negatively affected perceptions of the company through strikes and other labor actions, Nick Setyan, an analyst at Wedbush, told ABC News. The two sides are currently engaged in contract negotiations after reaching an agreement to restart talks in February.

Historically, Starbucks has been billed as forward-looking and liberal, Setyan said. When youre at war with a labor union, it doesnt necessarily jibe with your brand identity.

After acknowledging economy-wide and Starbucks-specific causes of the sales slump, Wang said the difficult times for the company may not change anytime soon.

My expectation is that this will continue at Starbucks for an extended period of time, Wang said. I dont think it will stop.

Starbucks sales are slumping. Is it a bellwether for the economy? originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The Teamsters are continuing their criticism of DHL for what the 1.3 million-member labor organization is calling union-busting and anti-worker tacticsthis time taking their disapproval all the way to the logistics giants global headquarters over how much the companys top-ranking execs are earning.

At DHL Groups annual shareholder meeting in Bonn, Germany, the union said its workers took company executives and directors to task over various alleged workplace concerns, including poor safety conditions, racial discrimination and anti-labor behavior practices in the U.S.

More from Sourcing Journal

The union took umbrage with DHLs executive compensation, urging the firms shareholders to reject the changes in pay. The Teamsters argued that the boards employee engagement metric is flawed and lacks critical disclosure, and criticized the fact that it was tied to executives annual bonuses.

However, the Teamsters case didnt dissuade shareholders, who approved the companys executive compensation for 2024 with 94 percent of the votes.

Sourcing Journal reached out to DHL.

According to a Fridays press release from the Teamsters, DHLs alleged anti-union campaign is designed to try to intimidate and prevent workers at the firms global logistics hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).

The Teamsters allege that CVG sort package handlers currently have no guaranteed breaks and little to no notice of schedule changes. Some CVG workers have resorted to wearing diapers while sorting packages, the union claims.

One such DHL employee, Michael Morency, who is a member of the CVG sort workers organizing committee, said there is a clear disparity in how we are treated compared to our German brothers and sisters.

The denigrations hurled toward DHL come just months after the CVG employees went on strike for 12 days at the end of last year, which ultimately resulted in a new contract ratified in January.

That contract increased hourly wages by $2 per houra 9 percent jump over the previous average hourly base rate of $22.21. Starting in October, employees will see five separate wage increases through October 2026, amounting to a total $5 per hour wage increase over the next three years.

Alongside the wage bumps, the new deal doubles DHLs 401(k) retirement contribution, establishes a worker safety committee at CVG and requires the company to pay for the costs of health care premiums.

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The criticisms of the union go directly to the top, with the release saying that DHL Group CEO Tobias Meyer has condoned the alleged anti-worker behavior by dismissing the companys labor practices as a local management issue.

In recent months, Teamsters branches nationwide have gone on record with various anti-union allegations, taking their case to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Since the beginning of December, separate workers within the DHL Express and Supply Chain segments have filed more than 31 complaints to the NLRB against the company. Charges included retaliation against pro-union workers, surveilling workers discussing the union off-site and intimidating workers on the picket lines.

Most recently, employees based out of a Crafton, Pa. location filed a case against the logistics giant on April 29.

DHLs top executives in Germany turn a blind eye to the exploitation of American workers for the sake of profit, said Bill Hamilton, director of the Teamsters Express Division and international vice president for the units eastern region. Tobias Meyer has the power to end this abuse but chooses not to. He is responsible for fostering an environment where local management in the U.S. blatantly disregards our labor laws and universal basic human rights. The Teamsters will continue to shine a spotlight on these abusive practices in DHLs backyard of Germany and across the U.S.

The Teamsters have had a bit of a rise in the public consciousness ever since being at the center of contract negotiations between UPS and 340,000 workers the union represents, which resulted in a new five-year deal. During that same summer, the labor organization engaged in a back-and-forth with now-bankrupt trucking firm Yellow Corp. as the company lost its financial footing and saw the loss of 22,000 Teamsters jobs. In March, a judge dismissed Yellows breach of contract suit it filed against the Teamsters prior to the insolvency.

The union has also recently thrown its support behind the proposed Warehouse Worker Protection Act. If approved by the Senate, this bill would provide more protections to warehouse workers, including stipulations for quota transparency requirements and bans on quotas that impact workers ability to use the restroom or take meal breaks.
TikTok made good on its promise to challenge a new law signed by President Joe Biden that could result in a ban of the video app in the US.

The company, a subsidiary of Chinese tech giant ByteDance, asked Tuesday for an injunction to block the US government from enforcing the law, calling it "unconstitutional" on First Amendment and other grounds.

The new suit from TikTok alleges that the US law compromises the company's right to protected speech. It also claims the law infringes on the speech rights of its users.

But the social media giant could find that it is on less-than-solid legal ground, some experts said. The main reason: Its ownership by a Chinese company, ByteDance.

"As a general matter, foreign companies don't have constitutional rights," said Jamil Jaffer, director of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason Universitys National Security Institute.

Yet Wilson Freeman, an attorney for Pacific Legal Foundation, said his initial reaction to TikTok's complaint was that it's a challenge the government must take "very seriously."

"Im not surprised they led with the First Amendment claim, as it seems like the strongest of the four claims by far," Freeman said.

"You can never predict with litigation, but I would not be at all surprised for TikTok to win on that claim."

The TikTok building in Culver City, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

One potential problem with TikTok's First Amendment strategy is that a court could shoot down the idea that content on the platform qualifies as TikToks or ByteDances own speech.

If a court did validate a First Amendment claim, the company would then have to get over yet another hurdle: proving the new law is intended to influence the viewpoints expressed by TikTok  and not its stated purpose of protecting national security and user privacy.

The company has argued that it is not under Chinese control.

"ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government. It is a private company," TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified to members of Congress in March 2023.

In its complaint, TikTok confirmed a report from the Wall Street Journal that said a sale or divestiture would require the Chinese government's approval.

It went on to say that the Chinese government "has made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the US."

Free speech rights of TikTok users

A stronger, yet still tenuous, First Amendment claim could come from one of TikToks 170 million US users, who may also argue their rights to express viewpoints are being violated.

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That argument worked in Montana when a US District Court temporarily blocked enforcement of a state ban on TikTok, siding with the app's American users. A judge acknowledged the state was entitled to regulate some level of speech but said it did so too broadly to withstand constitutional scrutiny.

The new US law passed by Congress may be tailored enough to avoid a similar fate, according to University of New Haven senior economics lecturer and lawyer Brian Marks.

A TikTok content creator speaks to reporters outside the US Capitol, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

"I'm not so sure the users' First Amendment argument will necessarily win the day," Marks said.

Thats "because the users still have access to platforms where they can provide speech" such as Instagram (META), Facebook, and Twitter.

Jaffer agreed that those competing platforms are likely adequate alternatives. The Constitution guarantees the right to speech only in public forums and not in private forums such as those provided by corporations.

"It would be a significant extension of First Amendment law for the courts to say that people have a right to access or speak on a private forum, particularly one controlled by a foreign company," Jaffer said.

Ex post facto

Another still weaker claim, the experts said, is TikTok's assertion in its new suit that the new US law violates the Constitutions prohibition against bills of attainder, also known as ex post facto laws.

Such laws deem previously legal activity as illegal and then reach back in time to punish violators for past actions.

"Several bills of attainder cases have been brought over the years, and none of them have been successful," Freeman said. "I would be very skeptical that [TikTok] would win on a bill of attainder claim, but it's possible."

To withstand such a challenge, the experts said, the government has to show that the law has a nonpunitive purpose.

According to Congress, the laws intent is not to punish TikTok but to protect Americans.

"So the question is whether or not thats actually true," Freeman said.

Chinese telecom giant Huawei tried and failed to invalidate a US law on those grounds.

In a suit against the US government, the company argued that Congress abused its power by authorizing the National Defense Authorization Act, which prohibited the federal government from purchasing Huaweis telecom equipment and services.

Texass federal District Court for the eastern district ruled against Huawei, finding that although the law singled out Huawei, it wasn't punitive because it applied only to future Huawei actions.

However, the company did persuade the court that the Constitutions prohibition against bills of attainder offered protection to US business entities, in addition to US individuals.

The 'Takings Clause'

There are other arguments TikTok is making in its new suit that will face a lot of pushback.

One is that the government violated the Constitution's Takings Clause, which says the government cannot assert ownership over private property without just compensation.

Another has to do with TikTok's assertion of rights under the Equal Protection Clause, which requires that the nations laws be applied equally to US citizens and entities.

Freeman is skeptical about the Takings Clause application.

"I dont know that there are takings here," Freeman said. "The government is just banning a particular product."

A TikTok content creator sits outside the US Capitol on Tuesday in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

The counterargument to a claim that the government is violating equal protection, Marks said, is that the US often disadvantages foreign entities in the interest of national security. Tariffs on particular companies and industries are one example, he explained.

Ultimately, Marks said, US courts will look for facts that identify Congress's true intention in passing the divestiture law and weigh those objectives against any viable constitutional protections that TikTok or its users raise.

"Thats the big tent umbrella," Marks said. "And I would question that."

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.

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When we invest, we're generally looking for stocks that outperform the market average. And the truth is, you can make significant gains if you buy good quality businesses at the right price. For example, the Allianz Malaysia Berhad (KLSE:ALLIANZ) share price is up 62% in the last 5 years, clearly besting the market return of around 6.1% (ignoring dividends).

Now it's worth having a look at the company's fundamentals too, because that will help us determine if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

Check out our latest analysis for Allianz Malaysia Berhad

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

Over half a decade, Allianz Malaysia Berhad managed to grow its earnings per share at 12% a year. So the EPS growth rate is rather close to the annualized share price gain of 10% per year. That suggests that the market sentiment around the company hasn't changed much over that time. Rather, the share price has approximately tracked EPS growth.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We know that Allianz Malaysia Berhad has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? Check if analysts think Allianz Malaysia Berhad will grow revenue in the future.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Allianz Malaysia Berhad, it has a TSR of 108% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Allianz Malaysia Berhad shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 62% over one year. Of course, that includes the dividend. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 16%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Allianz Malaysia Berhad (including 1 which is potentially serious) .

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Of course Allianz Malaysia Berhad may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Malaysian exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



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(Bloomberg) -- China-based ByteDance Ltd. made clear it wont comply with a new US law requiring it to sell its popular TikTok video-sharing app, setting up what likely will be a prolonged court battle pitting free-speech rights against national-security interests that could end up at the Supreme Court.

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The company on Tuesday filed a legal challenge to the measure signed by President Joe Biden last month that will ban the app in the US if ByteDance hasnt divested from TikTok by Jan. 19  an ultimatum meant to address national security concerns that the Chinese government could access user data or influence whats seen on the platform.

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The lawsuit indicates that ByteDance doesnt have any intention of trying to find a buyer for TikTok as the deadline approaches. Instead, ByteDance wants the law declared unconstitutional, saying it violates the First Amendment and represents an illegal punishment without due process or a presidential finding that the app is a national security threat.

If the law is treated as an effective ban on operating the platform, it will face considerable skepticism in court, said Timothy Zick, a constitutional law professor at William & Mary Law School.

What a TikTok Ban in the US Would Mean for the App: QuickTake

The lawsuit marks the first legal challenge since Congress passed the law in April. For now, the app is allowed to operate in the US, meaning the company doesnt need to seek an emergency injunction. But as the deadline draws near, the company will likely have to ask for a court order postponing the ban.

The US could face an uphill battle in court, as the Biden administration may be forced to publicly reveal classified or sensitive information as to why the law is justified and needed. Until now, officials have said the algorithm powering the app represents a national security threat that could be used by the Chinese government to carry out mass influence operations in America. However, the administration hasnt publicly presented specific evidence to back up those claims.

In political debates, Congress has asserted a national security interest pertaining to Chinas access to user data, Zick said. But in a court the government will have to provide evidence these concerns are real and not speculative. And it will have to explain why it could not and did not pursue less speech-restrictive alternatives to address the asserted concerns.

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How TikTok Became a US-China National Security Issue: QuickTake

TikTok has argued the law will stifle free speech and hurt creators and small business owners who benefit economically from the the platform. The company said that in response to data security concerns, it spent more than $2 billion to isolate its US operations and agreed to oversight by American company Oracle Corp.

The lawsuit was filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia against Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is charged with enforcing the law. The Justice Department didnt respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit seized on the lack of public evidence that TikTok is a national security threat.

If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down, the company said in its 67-page complaint. And for TikTok, any such divestiture would disconnect Americans from the rest of the global community on a platform devoted to shared content  an outcome fundamentally at odds with the Constitutions commitment to both free speech and individual liberty.

The company also said a qualified divestiture as specified by the law is unfeasible commercially, technically and legally.

For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide, according to the suit.

TikTok, which is being represented by Covington & Burling LLP and Mayer Brown LLP, has argued that a ban would devastate 7 million businesses and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion annually to the US economy.

TikToks links to China have faced scrutiny under previous administrations. Former President Donald Trump used an executive order to try to force a sale of the app to an American company or face a ban. But his administration also faced multiple legal challenges and judges blocked the ban from taking place. When Biden became president, he put Trumps ban under fresh review.

A lobbying push against the law by TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew failed to persuade US lawmakers who worried about the national security threat of China potentially accessing user data and disseminating propaganda to 170 million Americans  about half the US population.

Advocates for TikTok praised Tuesdays lawsuit.

TikToks challenge to the ban is important, and we expect it to succeed, said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. The First Amendment means the government cant restrict Americans access to ideas, information, or media from abroad without a very good reason for it  and no such reason exists here.

Read More: TikTok Says Law Is on Its Side as It Readies to Fight US Ban

With the key deadline in January, its possible that the DC Circuit will expedite the case, said Matthew Schettenhelm, an analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. And then if, after that, the Supreme Court grants review of the case, it could be decided by the second quarter of 2025.

We give TikTok a 30% shot to win and expect a ruling in an expedited case in 4Q, Schettenhelm wrote in a report. The D.C. Circuit judges arent national-security experts, and theyre likely to defer to Congress judgment unless they find a clear First-Amendment violation.

Montana became the first US state to enact a law that would ban residents from using the app. In December, a federal judge sympathized with TikToks free-speech argument in blocking the Montana measure while the legal challenge plays out.

Meanwhile, TikTok and other platforms face hundreds of lawsuits blaming them for addicting young people to social media and causing psychological distress.

--With assistance from Michael Shepard.

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2024 Bloomberg L.P.
Stretched consumers are getting pickier in the grocery aisles, leading to a weaker third quarter expectations from meat giant Tyson Foods (TSN).

On Monday, the company posted mixed earnings results and projected a weaker Q3, as executives signaled a more challenging environment for consumers, who are "a little bit under pressure," CEO Donnie King told Yahoo Finance.

"The consumer is experiencing inflation, for housing, for utilities, for virtually everything in the economy, and one that is really concerning is around consumer debt," King said over the phone.

Other factors that led to weaker guidance include limited beef cattle availability that could bleed over into next fiscal year and higher commodity costs.

While King tried to attribute part of the projected numbers on seasonality within pork and prepared foods and said the company may have "overcooked" the weaker guidance to Yahoo Finance, investors are not buying it.

Tyson's shares closed down nearly 6% after dropping as much as 9% during the trading session. Year to date, shares up more than 7%, trailing S&P 500's (^GSPC) 10% gain.

"It's pretty clear that the lower-income consumer is feeling more stretched than others right now," CFRA analyst Arun Sundaram said. Other companies, like McDonald's (MCD), have also pointed to pullbacks in spending.

Sundaram said the third quarter is "usually the strongest quarter" when it comes to Tyson's margins. "We thought next quarter would be a strong one, but ... their tone is a bit cautious."

For Tyson, overall volumes dropped 1.5% in the second quarter, with a 2.8% increase for beef, 2.9% increase for pork, and 6.1% decline for chicken, as it closed a chicken facility and "retooled" its demand model, per King.

Sundaram added, "We're not seeing that corresponding uptick in the retail channel ... consumers are utilizing more leftovers, winding down their pantries, cooking larger-batch meals, as opposed to single-serve meals, things like that."

Prepared foods saw a 0.7% volume growth in Q3.

"If you look at the consumer ... [there is a] move away from fine dining or trade down from fine dining to casual dining, or QSR," King said, adding that diners are also moving to making meals at home.

Melanie Boulden, who oversees the prepared food segment, said on the earnings call that the company is losing slight market share to private labels among lower-income households.

King said the company is positioned to match that demand too. But Sundaram warned that selling its own product is typically a boost to margins, versus manufacturing and selling private label.

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But certain shoppers may completely pull back on protein, Sundaram predicts: "Some consumers are essentially saying, I can't afford protein right now. "

(Courtesy: Tyson Foods)

For fiscal year 2024, the company revised its outlook. King said the team feels "good about the back half of the year."

The company now expects total operating income to come in between $1.4 billion and $1.8 billion, compared to previous guidance of $1.0 billion and $1.5 billion, driven by improved outlook for chicken. For the chicken segment, adjusted operating income is expected to come in between $700 million to $900 million, compared to previous guidance of $500 to $700 million.

King said in Q2, the company saw "better operational execution which led to better profitability," which includes closing some of its underperforming meat plants and moving the volume into more efficient locations.

"We're not done yet," King said, as the company continues to evaluate its operations.



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By Alexandra Alper, Fanny Potkin and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -The U.S. has revoked licenses that allowed companies including Intel and Qualcomm to ship chips used for laptops and handsets to sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies, three people familiar with the matter said.

A fourth person said some of the companies were notified on Tuesday that their licenses were revoked effective immediately. The U.S. Commerce Department earlier in the day confirmed it had revoked some licenses but stopped short of naming the companies.

A spokesperson for Intel declined to comment. Qualcomm did not respond to a request for comment and Huawei did not immediately respond.

The move comes after the release last month of Huawei's first AI-enabled laptop, the MateBook X Pro powered by Intel's new Core Ultra 9 processor.

The laptop launch drew fire from Republican lawmakers, who said it suggested to them that the Commerce Department had given the green light to Intel to sell the chip to Huawei.

"We have revoked certain licenses for exports to Huawei," the Commerce Department said in a statement, declining to specify which ones it had withdrawn.

The Commerce Department's move, first reported by Reuters, comes after concerted pressure by Republican China hawks in Congress who have been urging the Biden administration to take tougher action to thwart Huawei.

"This action will bolster U.S. national security, protect American ingenuity, and diminish Communist Chinas ability to advance its technology," Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said in a statement.

The move could hurt Huawei which still relies on Intel chips to power its laptops, and could hurt U.S. suppliers that do business with the company.

"China resolutely opposes the United States overstretching the concept of national security and abusing export controls to suppress Chinese companies without justification," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

Intel has also been facing weak demand for its traditional data center and PC chips. Last month, it lost $11 billion in stock market value after forecasting second-quarter revenue and profit below market estimates.

Huawei was placed on a U.S. trade restriction list in 2019 amid fears it could spy on Americans, part of a broader effort to handicap China's ability to bolster its military. Being added to the list means the company's suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping.

Even so, suppliers to Huawei have received licenses worth billions of dollars to sell Huawei goods and technology, including one particularly controversial authorization, issued by the Trump administration, which has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in its laptops since 2020.

Qualcomm has sold older 4G chips to handsets since receiving a license from U.S. officials in 2020. In regulatory filing earlier this month, Qualcomm had said it did not expect to receive more chip revenue from Huawei beyond this year.

However, Qualcomm still licenses its portfolio of 5G technologies to Huawei, which last year began using a 5G chip designed by its HiSilicon unit that most analysts believe is manufactured in violation of U.S. sanctions. Qualcomm said in the filing this month that its patent deal with Huawei expires early in Qualcomm's fiscal 2025 and that it has started negotiations to renew the deal.

Critics argue such licenses have contributed to the company's resurgence. Huawei shocked industry last August with a new phone powered by a sophisticated chip manufactured by Chinese chipmaker SMIC, despite U.S. export restrictions on both companies.

The phone helped Huawei smartphone sales spike 64% year on year in the first six weeks of 2024, according to research firm Counterpoint. Its smart car component business has also contributed to Huawei's resurgence, with the company notching its fastest revenue growth in four years in 2023.

(Reporting by Alexandra Alper, David Shepardson, Karen Freifeld, Stephen Nellis, Chris Sanders and Fanny Potkin; Additional reporting by David Kirton and Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Lincoln Feast and Louise Heavens)
Press Release

May 7, 2024 Senate adopts a resolution honoring former Sen. Saguisag The Senate unanimously adopted on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 a resolution expressing the profound sympathy and sincere condolences of the institution on the death of former Sen. Rene Saguisag, a dedicated public servant, a staunch defender of human rights, and a true patriot, who passed away on April 24, 2024 at the age of 84. Senate Resolution No. 1009 was introduced by Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" F. Zubiri, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, and Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III. "He was a man of the people and a man for the people. He dedicated his life to fighting for those who have less in life and those who could not fight for themselves," Zubiri said in his sponsorship speech. "Championing the cause of justice and speaking out for the abused and oppressed, even at the risk of his own life," Legarda said who also delivered a co-sponsorship speech. "Saguisag served as a senator from 1987 to 1992 and was chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges and the Ad Hoc Committee on the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. He co-authored landmark legislations to uphold the integrity and highest standards in public service, such as Republic Act No. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and Republic Act No. 6770 or the Ombudsman Act of 1989," the resolution stated. The senator from Quezon province obtained both his Bachelor of Arts and Law degrees with honors from San Beda College in 1959 and 1963, respectively, and placed 6th in the 1963 Bar Examinations. He acquired his Master of Laws degree from Harvard University in 1968 under a full scholarship. While attending his undergraduate and Law classes at San Beda from 1959 to 1962, he worked as a checker, laborer, construction site guard, and messenger. He started out his legal career as a student researcher, then associate, and eventually a part-time member of Ledesma, Guytingco, Velasco, and Saguisag from 1962 to 1972. He also became a member of the San Beda Law Faculty from 1961 to 1972. Prior to becoming a legislator, Saguisag had a long, illustrious career as a lawyer and a human rights defender. He provided legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses during the Martial Law period. He was also a prominent member of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), founded in 1974 by former Senators Jose W. Diokno and Lorenzo Tahada, which handled various cases against law enforcers accused of killing peasants, activists, and journalists. Saguisag and other FLAG lawyers eventually started the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity, and Nationalism Inc. (MABINI), whose cases have led to landmark Supreme Court decisions. Saguisag was unwavering in his fight for justice and human rights throughout his life. He was humble, competent, and had an unimpeachable dedication to serve the Filipino people, especially the poor and disenfranchised. "Saguisag's enduring legacy rightfully earns him a place in the annals of our nation's history and serves as a beacon to current and future public servants and legal practitioners. His passing is a great loss not only to his bereaved family but to the entire nation", the resolution added.
By Zeba Siddiqui

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of State has been working with a range of security vendors beyond Microsoft since China-linked hackers stole tens of thousands of the department's emails by breaching the tech giant's network last year, a senior official said.

That hack, which compromised some 60,000 State Department emails, including those of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, was one of the worst in recent years against a federal agency and triggered much criticism of Microsoft. The Cyber Safety Review Board slammed the company last month for its lack of transparency.

"It's not even that the software they gave me wasn't secure. It's that the keys to the kingdom were in the corporate network and their corporate network wasn't secure," Kelly Fletcher, the department's chief information officer said on the sidelines of the RSA Conference in San Francisco on Monday.

"We're seeing this sort of across the ecosystem ... that these corporate networks are really important," she said in an interview. "I'm counting on all my vendors, not just Microsoft, not only to sell me software that's secure, but to have a secure corporate network."

A hacking group Microsoft calls Storm-558 had gained access to a digital key that allowed it to break into several government inboxes, the tech firm earlier said. The incident strained an already tense U.S.-China relationship as the Chinese embassy in Washington dismissed allegations that Chinese government-linked hackers were behind it.

"Microsoft is an important part of (the State Department's)ecosystem, absolutely. But they're not my only cloud vendor," Fletcher said, adding that the department would continue using multiple vendors. Some of them are Palo Alto, Zscaler, and Cisco, she added.

Microsoft eventually revoked the hackers' access by invalidating the stolen digital key, but Fletcher said the breach could have had a much wider impact.

"At the time I did not imagine that it was actually that they could access anything they wanted in the Microsoft Office 365 environment for almost any organisation in the world, but that was in fact the case," she said, referring to the company's proprietary software.

The department has since implemented various security measures including multifactor authentication and widening data encryption, Fletcher said.

"Four years ago, 5% of our systems had these sort of cybersecurity fundamentals. Today, it's 95%," she added.

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Microsoft has faced sharp criticism from several of its security industry peers too, especially since it disclosed this year that hackers linked to Russia's foreign intelligence breached into its senior staff's corporate emails.

The State Department analysed all its email communications with the tech firm following that, and found none of them were sensitive, said Fletcher, adding: "We think we're in good shape."

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in San Francisco; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Idahos median hourly wage increased more than 10% in the last year, the Idaho Department of Labor says.

The median wage, or the midpoint between the lowest and highest earners, rose from $19.26 per hour in 2022 to $21.27 per hour in 2023 for a 10.4% increase, according to a news release Tuesday. Every metropolitan statistical area in Idaho saw an increase in median wage of over $1, the department said.

The average hourly wage for all occupations in Idaho was $26.75 per hour in 2023, up 8.3%, or $2.06 per hour. Boise had the largest jump: $2.62.

For people working 40 hours a week, the new median is $851 per week, or $44,242 per year, while the new average is $1,070 per week, or $55,640 per year. High-wage earners lift average wages above the medians.

Boise area pay is a bit higher: the median was $21.79 per hour in 2023 and the average $28.07. The median translates to $872 per week, or $45,323 per year, while the new average is $1,123 per week, or $58,386 per year.

But Idahos and Boises pay remains below the nations, whose median hourly wage for all occupations in 2023 was $23.11 and whose average was $31.48.

Jan Roeser, an economist at the Idaho Department of Labor, said some of the industries that saw the most wage growth in the Boise area were commercial construction, manufacturing and high tech. Wages in lower-skilled jobs, like fast food, retail and accommodations, have also seen gains. In some cases, benefits like sick pay and health insurance were added, she said.

Idaho Department of Labor economist Jan Roeser said construction workers, such as these workers assigned to the 26-story Arthur apartment building going up in downtown Boise, are in an industry that saw among the largest hourly wage gains in Idaho in 2023. Courtesy of Oppenheimer Development Corp.

A lot of opportunity for workers now

Theres a lot of opportunity for workers right now, and the wages show that, Roeser told the Idaho Statesman by phone. Its not just Boise, its not just Idaho and its not just the U.S.

As wages rose, so did employment.

Idaho had 822,690 workers in 2023, an increase of about 25,000, or 3.2%, over the states tally in 2022. The Boise metropolitan statistical area, which includes Ada, Boise, Canyon, Gem and Owyhee counties, saw the bulk of that employment growth. The area added 14,240 jobs, a 4% gain.

Our civilian labor force is growing dramatically because of the population growth were experiencing, she said. The big urban myth was that everyone who is moving here is a retiree. Well, thats not true.

The significant increase in wages, Roeser said, was triggered in part by people who left the workforce or retired during the pandemic. While Idaho has experienced a large influx of new residents, many workers chose to stay home to take care of sick or elderly loved ones or to watch their children as COVID-19 restrictions temporarily closed schools.

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Employers needed to pay a bit more

There were a lot of negatives about the pandemic, but it did bring about some emphasis on what we can do to keep people in the workforce, she said. Employers realized they needed to pay a bit more to make it worth it.

But all the wage gains havent necessarily eased worker shortages, especially in the construction industry.

Mega-projects in the Treasure Valley like Microns $15 billion expansion in Southeast Boise and Metas data center in Kuna have tied up such a large percentage of the states construction workers and tradesman that developers and industry insiders told the Statesman in March that the squeeze could hinder other projects, including new apartment complexes and commercial buildings.

Roeser said construction labor shortages have eased but have not sprung back to where they were before the pandemic.

Do I think theyre in a situation where they have plenty of workers? No, she said. A lot of individuals left the construction industry and got into something else. And a lot of young people arent thinking about construction. Theyre thinking about health care, because theres a lot of information out there about the health care industry being recession-proof. Theres more of a seasonality to construction.

Meanwhile, the lowest median wage was $19.80 per hour in southeastern Idaho  the only labor market region with a median or average wage below $20 for 2023, the news release said.

Roeser told the Statesman that Idaho has typically been in the bottom tier of wages for a variety of reasons, including its agricultural sector, but jobs in more urban areas are evolving.

Little praises wage gains

Gov. Brad Little on Tuesday praised the wage gains. He noted that Idaho led the nation in year-over-year nonfarm job growth in March.

What Idaho is doing is working, and were just getting started, Little said in a news release. Other states economies are lagging while Idahos job market and economy keeps surging ahead. Why? Because employers and businesses see what Idaho has to offer  lower taxes, fewer regulations, an enthusiastic workforce, and a high quality of life.

The new data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

Idaho income growth tops the nation. Is it becoming an elite state? What the data says

Boomtown Boise ranked one of the best cities to live in America in new list. Heres why

Fears mount for Idaho construction industry as billion-dollar mega-projects move forward
Investors eager to bulk up their passive income streams can do so without breaking the bank.

At recent prices, Hercules Capital (NYSE: HTGC), Altria Group (NYSE: MO), and AT&T (NYSE: T) offer an average yield of 8.5% at recent prices. That's high enough to turn an initial investment of $5,890 into $500 of annual dividend income.

There are plenty of dividend stocks with even higher yields right now. These three stand out because their underlying businesses appear capable of meeting their current obligations and raising their yields higher in the years ahead.

1. Hercules Capital

Hercules Capital is a business development company (BDC) that allows anyone with a brokerage account to participate in exciting venture capital investments. For example, Hercules invested in Palantir Technologies a few years before it began trading publicly. These days, Palantir boasts a stock market valuation above $50 billion.

Many of Hercules Capital's investments will fail, but winners like Palantir more than offset the losses. Since 2010, this BDC has doubled its regular quarterly dividend from $0.20 per share to $0.40 per share at the moment.

Each year, Hercules declares a supplemental dividend that it divides into four equal portions. Currently, investors are entitled to $0.08 per share of supplemental dividends per quarter. If the next supplemental dividend is the same, investors will receive a 9.9% yield from this stock in the year ahead.

Hercules shareholders can reasonably expect more Palantir-esque investments in the future. In the first quarter, the BDC made $956 million in debt and equity commitments, a new company record.

2. Altria Group

Altria Group is a giant tobacco company that markets the leading Marlboro brand throughout the U.S. Its first attempt at transitioning adult smokers to e-vapor products, Juul, was initially successful but ultimately doomed due to a ban on flavored vaporizers that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enacted a few years ago.

Altria Group offers a 9% dividend yield at recent prices. The stock is under pressure because investors are nervous about the company's ability to continue raising its payout. Total cigarette sales dropped by 10% in the first quarter.

Cigarette sales are down, but the amount of nicotine consumed is still rising at roughly the rate of population growth. Many consumers have transitioned to illicit flavored e-vapor products such as Elf Bar, but illicit e-vapor products will be harder to access from now on. The number of e-vapor import refusals monitored by the FDA shot up to 452 in the first quarter from just four in the previous-year period.

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Altria Group is well positioned to benefit from increased enforcement of the FDA's flavor ban. Last year, it launched NJOY, which is the only pod-based e-vapor system approved by the FDA. The company shipped a million NJOY devices in the first quarter, plus 10.9 million consumable pods.

Despite declining cigarette sales and competition from an illicit e-vapor market, Altria Group expects adjusted earnings to grow by 2% to 4.5% this year. Its dividend payout probably won't be the fastest grower in your portfolio, but it's likely to keep moving steadily in the right direction.

3. AT&T

AT&T has far fewer competitors than Altria Group. Its fifth-generation (5G) wireless network was expensive to build, but it's one of just three options Americans have following T-Mobile's acquisition of Sprint in 2020.

As the second-largest member of America's three-way telecommunications oligopoly, AT&T is well positioned to provide steadily rising dividend payments. At recent prices, the stock offers a 6.6% dividend yield.

AT&T's broadband internet segment was losing wireline customers to its competitors' fixed wireless services. This trend reversed thanks to the rollout of AT&T's fixed wireless internet service late last year, plus the continued uptake of its fiber optic service for customers within range.

AT&T reported $16.8 billion in free cash flow last year, and this figure is expected to reach a range between $17 billion and $18 billion this year. That's enough to reduce its debt load significantly while maintaining its current dividend commitment. At its current rate of debt reduction, I won't be surprised if AT&T begins raising its payout again in 2025. Buying some shares of the telecom giant to hold over the long term is a great way to boost your passive income stream.

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Want an Extra $500 in Annual Dividend Income? Invest $5,890 in These 3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks. was originally published by The Motley Fool
Boeing (BA) delayed the launch of its Starliner space capsule Monday after identifying a faulty oxygen relief valve just hours before liftoff.

Early Tuesday, NASA said the launch, which was expected to carry two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), would be rescheduled to no earlier than Friday, May 10.

The delay allows teams to complete data analysis on a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank of the Atlas V rocket's Centaur upper stage and determine whether it is necessary to replace the valve, NASA said in a statement.

The launch of the CST-100 Starliner on board the United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin (LMT) joint venture, was supposed to mark Boeings first crewed flight and a big step forward for a firm plagued by design flaws and a botched flight attempt.

But mission teams scrubbed the launch two hours before liftoff. NASA astronauts Barry Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were set to spend a week on the International Space Station while the Starliner remained docked.

It has been a real challenge for them to get their spacecraft ready to go and safe for our astronauts, said Intuitive Machines (LUNR) founder and CEO Steve Altemus, speaking at the Milken Institutes Global Conference. While they've worked through some very difficult technical challenges, what's the future of that program? I'm not quite sure how it will persist over time and what kind of investment it'll take.

NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore exit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a mission dress rehearsal on Friday, April 26, 2024. (Frank Micheaux/NASA via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Aerospace has 'fundamentally changed'

The delay marked the latest setback for a company already grappling with quality control and safety issues in its aviation business, including a slew of problems linked to its 737 Max models.

Boeing began developing Starliner in 2014 after winning a $6.8 billion NASA contract along with Elon Musks SpaceX to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. Since then, SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule has flown nine crewed flights for NASA and four flights with private astronauts, while Boeing has failed to keep up.

Boeing's first attempt to reach the ISS was unsuccessful after its onboard clock was set incorrectly, causing the computer to fire the capsules engines prematurely. The program has incurred more than $1.5 billion in cost overruns.

Altemus, whose company has partnered with Boeing and Northrop Grumman (NOC) to develop a lunar terrain vehicle for NASA, said Boeing's challenges highlight a fundamental shift within the new space economy.

It speaks to a broader issue in the industry about what's the role of the traditional prime contractor or the strategic aerospace company, he said. I think the environment of NASA and the way they're doing nontraditional procurements to buy goods and services for the Artemis program has fundamentally changed the landscape and disrupted strategic aerospace.

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Photographers capture the Boeing Starliner capsule atop an Atlas V rocket as it is rolled out to the launch pad on May 4, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The space economy is in the midst of a rapid evolution, driven by SpaceX. Borrowing from a playbook established by founder Elon Musk, firms are moving quicker, building bigger, and slashing costs in the process, bringing a tech startup-like mentality to space exploration.

Much of that growth has been limited to rockets and satellites, but NASA has added fuel by leaning on private companies to take on the risk of further space exploration to the moon and beyond.

Altemus said that the push to move faster and be more flexible has put smaller companies like Intuitive in the drivers seat. NASA has already awarded the company more than $100 million to develop an end-to-end lunar delivery service in addition to developing the lunar terrain vehicle.

In February, Intuitive became the first commercial company to reach the surface of the moon, although its lunar vehicle Odysseus tipped on its side upon landing, altering the mission.

"The government is asking us as commercial companies to share the risk," Altemus said. "Sometimes with the larger strategic aerospace companies, their boards and their shareholders are not comfortable with that risk posture, where a smaller, more nimble, agile company can maybe work around those financial risks and be successful."

"I think the companies that can figure this out, the ones who can manage with these non-traditional procurements, will be the tier one aerospace companies of the future," he added.

Catch more of Yahoo Finance's coverage at the 2024 Milken Institute Global Conference.

Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita.

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The largest pharmaceutical company in the world by market cap, Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), is continuing to share some of its profits with shareholders. The company has kept its quarterly dividend payments flowing, and declared a new distribution on Monday. Investors like getting cash from their companies, and this upcoming payment is generous compared to what it was only a few months ago.

Fresh dividend declared

That morning, Eli Lilly announced that its next quarterly dividend would match its predecessor at $1.30 per share. This is to be paid on June 10 to stockholders of record as of May 16.

Late last year, the pharmaceutical giant enacted a dividend raise, hiking the payout to the present level from $1.13 per share for a 15% increase. The company's share price has accelerated faster than that, however, so the dividend yield on the enhanced amount is only 0.7%; this is not only below the average of 1.3% for S&P 500 index stocks, but it's eclipsed by rivals in the pharmaceutical sector.

Yet, in this case, any dividend is frosting on the Eli Lilly cake, and it's welcomed. The company has been attracting the right kind of attention lately due to Zepbound, which is basically its Mounjaro diabetes treatment repackaged and Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved for obesity.

This has vaulted Eli Lilly into a rapidly burgeoning, high-demand sector of the pharmaceutical market. Especially in the U.S., obesity is a problem, and many folks are looking for the relatively easy fix of a weight-loss drug.

A reliable and growing payout

Eli Lilly has never been, and likely won't ever be, considered a top dividend stock. Still, it is a steady and reliable payer which habitually lifts its payout once per year, so that adds to the attractiveness of the company. If Zepbound takes off as many expect it to, shareholders can look forward to higher dividend raises in the future.

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It is fairly common nowadays to see relatively near-term estimates for a point at which demand for petroleum-based fuels begins to decline. The term often used to describe this tipping point is Peak Oil Demand. When I say near term, I mean right around the corner if you look at an estimate published last year by the International Energy Agency-IEA, an intergovernmental agency headquartered in Paris, France, and originally established after the Oil Embargo of 1973 to help cushion against future oil shocks. This agency has expanded its mission to a fairly broad remit over the years since, and it is not the purpose of this article to detail all its endeavors. One role we will highlight is that of the one it plays in gauging and advising member governments on energy security and energy sources for the coming years.

In that capacity, the IEA in a report entitled, Oil 2023, and published last year settled on 2028 as the year past which the use of petroleum fuels will begin to decline.

Growth in the worlds demand for oil is set to slow almost to a halt in the coming years, with the high prices and security of supply concerns highlighted by the global energy crisis hastening the shift towards cleaner energy technologies, according to a new IEA report released today.

This view is largely shared, particularly with respect to liquid motor fuels, by other agencies and organizations that produce long range estimates. The U.S. Energy Information Agency-EIA, Rystad, and Det Norske Veritas- DNV, all show this category tailing off rapidly in the 2030s as electric vehicles assume larger shares of passenger vehicles. We will call this the Bear Case for liquid fuels.

As you might expect the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries-OPEC, disagrees with this view. In fact in their recent report on oil demand outlook, published in Nov 2023, they see oil demand of all kinds, except for electricity generation, rising from ~105 mm BOPD in 2025, to 116 mm BOPD in 2045. This forecast show use of oil as a road fuel continuing to be the largest source of demand increase for this period.

The report notes that the divergence between the IEA and OPEC outlooks is largely due to assumptions regarding the speed at which internal combustion engine vehicles will be replaced by electric vehicles.

What is interesting is that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to see a production trend being established that would support the bear case. In the U.S., we are pumping at a rate of over 13.2 mm BOPD and still importing ~6.7 mm BOPD to feed our nearly 22 mm BOPD daily habit. The U.S. Energy Information Agency-EIA forecasts in their monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook-STEO that by the end of 2025, global production and demand fall into a fairly tight balance at 105 mm BOPD. That certainly isnt a long-term trend, but as is often said, the long-term trend is made up of a bunch of short-term ones. For my part, I would say that the trend line in the STEO graph below matches the OPEC estimate more closely than the other three.

Story continues

Both of these notions cannot be true. Which is the correct assumption about future oil demand? Or are they both wrong? What are two factors these two disparate views of oil demand are not taking into account?

The first answer lies in how you interpret the growth of the middle class in China, India, and Africa in terms of energy demand and the final form it will take. The second is the advent of energy demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI), an entirely new source of demand that is just now starting to appear in energy demand forecasts. I discussed one possible outcome of this demand for U.S. natural gas in an article in March 2024.

To be clear, I am not arguing that AI demand will directly impact crude oil demand as a primary source. Most analysts are factoring renewables and natural gas to meet AI demand. What will impact demand for WTI and other baskets of crude is the relationship to light oil production in the U.S. and the associated gas thats produced along with it. We will leave that discussion for a future article and refocus on our basic topic. What could oil demand actually be when accounting for growth in currently underserved but upwardly aspiring lower classes?

Then there is the Bull Case for oil. Arjun Murti, a well-known energy commentator and partner at energy analyst firm Veriten, as well as a former Goldman Sachs energy analyst, discussed future energy demand in a recent podcast on his Super-Spiked blog. In the episode titled, Everyone is Rich, Arjun posits what the impact on world energy demand would be if everyone was as energy-rich as the Lucky, 1.2 billion people that live in the Western World. More specifically, Arjun asks what it would mean for the other 7 billion people in China, India, Asia, and Africa to have the lifestyle that Americans, Canadians, Europeans, and a few other countries enjoy. The answer he comes up with on an absolute basis, 250 mm BOPD, using a reference point of 10 bbls a year!

Where are we now? The U.S consumes ~22 bbls of oil annually per capita while China consumes 3.7 bbls per capita. Indians use just 1.3 bbls per annum. Thats a pretty wide gap, and as Arjun notes, economic growth and energy growth are one and the same. You do not get economic growth without adequate energy.

One of the arguments put forward by the Peak Oil crowd is that efficiency growth Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and energy substitution will bend the curve on oil demand, as noted in the 2030s, and spell the twilight of fossil fuels. Arjun points out that there is simply no evidence this is happening using data compiled by Goldman Sachs through 2019. Efficiency gains never lower the amount of energy needed to produce an additional dollar of GDP, above 2.7% GDP growth. A point rarely hit in modern times. To close that gap and attain growth you need more energy inputs. Oil.

Looking at Arjuns graph below, which uses China as an example, we can see with their present demand of 3.7 bbls per capita which equates to about 15 mm BOPD. With 10 bbl per annum added on for growth in the middle class, you get to 35 mm BOPD to meet Chinese energy demand. Even if China attains 100% Electric Vehicle-EV penetration, not something Arjun (or I) believe is possible, you still have 27 mm BOPD of oil demand. According to SP Global China produces about 4.1 mm BOPD, leaving a gap of about 11 mm BOPD they must import to meet present-day demand.

A point that leads me to what Arjun noted as the ultimate demand limiter and why, although countries that will surely desire to increase their oil usage may not be able to do so. Geopolitical limits to imports. Quoting Arjun, There is no precedent for countries importing 20-30 mm BOPD to meet their energy needs. The U.S., before the advent of shale production was importing over 10 mm BOPD as recently as 2005. Thats what we know is possible.

It should be noted that India is in a similar fix and for it to meet Arjuns 10 bbl per capita standard for being rich, they must import 35-45 mm BOPD. We just dont know if this can be done from both a logistical and sheer capacity of supply basis. As the EIA graph above highlights global oil production has increased only about 3 mm BOPD since 2019. In order for the worlds poor to become richer, a great deal more oil will have to come to market.

Your takeaway

The message of the growth of the middle class globally often gets lost in the constant blare of climate change and energy transition noise. The fact remains that the world we live in today and the one likely to exist at mid-century, runs on oil.

The notion that the world can quickly and painlessly transition to other forms of energy has developed some, not holes, but gaping craters in recent times. Offshore wind farms are being canceled as costs mount. Car manufacturers are delaying implementation of EV rollouts due to lack of interest from consumers. Communities impacted by siting of solar farms are pushing back on land use as they propose to gobble up large tracts for this purpose.

Roger Pielke, another well-known energy commentator and author, in a post in his Substack, The Honest Broker, cites a White Paper by Vaclav Smil that discusses our energy transition progress to this point-

All we have managed to do halfway through the intended grand global energy transition is a small relative decline in the share of fossil fuel in the worlds primary energy consumptionfrom nearly 86 percent in 1997 to about 82 percent in 2022. But this marginal relative retreat has been accompanied by a massive absolute increase in fossil fuel combustion: in 2022 the world consumed nearly 55 percent more energy locked in fossil carbon than it did in 1997.

Balanced against this lack of progress in substituting oil for other forms of energy is the fact that the worlds energy supply is in a tight balance with demand at present. If the poor of the world make even modest progress toward Arjuns 10 bbl per annum prognostication in the coming years, the Bull Case for oil will certainly asset itself.

By David Messler for Oilprice.com

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Brazilian paper giant Suzano (NYSE: SUZ) has reportedly approached U.S. rival International Paper (NYSE: IP) about an all-cash $15 billion takeover. Shares of IP jumped 11.9% higher when the report surfaced, only to fall back to up 5% in the final hour of trading on Tuesday.

Could International Paper go from buyer to seller?

There's been a wave of consolidation in the paper and packaging industry. Last year, Smurfit Kappa Group agreed to acquire WestRock for $11.2 billion, and Mondi and International Paper engaged in a bidding war for DS Smith.

Suzano is apparently prepared to get into the act. Reuters reported that the company has approached International Paper about a potential deal with an offer that would represent a premium of about 14% over the company's Monday closing price.

The report says that a deal would require International Paper to abandon its pursuit of DS Smith. The company is likely to reject the Suzano offer as inadequate, the report said, though the Brazilian company could return with a higher bid.

Is International Paper a buy on the merger talk?

Talk of an International Paper takeover is speculative, at best. It isn't clear whether Suzano would be willing to meet whatever price the company's board would deem adequate. And it's uncertain if an iconic American manufacturing name would be allowed to be sold to an international buyer, especially in an election year.

Still, this is a consolidating industry, and International Paper has a big role in how the sector will evolve. Investors shouldn't buy in just hoping that the takeover speculation turns into a firm offer, but it's interesting to see key players in the industry see value in International Paper well above the pre-merger speculation trading price.

Should you invest $1,000 in International Paper right now?

Before you buy stock in International Paper, 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 International Paper wasnt one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

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(Bloomberg) -- For years now, the leader of the ransomware gang LockBit, known as LockBitSupp, has been a provocative if mysterious presence on dark web forums.

Most Read from Bloomberg

He has goaded law enforcement authorities and aggressively recruited hackers from rival gangs. But his identity remained a mystery.

On Tuesday, however, US authorities revealed what they said was the identity of LockBits leader while indicting him for hacking-related crimes that carry a maximum penalty of 185 years in prison.

His name is Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, a 31-year-old Russian national, described as the creator, administrator and developer behind the LockBit ransomware gang from its inception in 2019 to the present, according to US officials.

LockBit is accused of attacking at least 2,500 victims, which included at least 1,800 located in the US, according to the indictment. Khoroshev and affiliate hackers associated with his gang successfully extorted approximately $500 million in ransom payments from their victims, the indictment alleges, adding that Khoroshev himself pocketed at least $100 million.

Khoroshev remains at large, and the State Department offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. His smiling photo is now posted on a LockBit dark web page that was previously commandeered by law enforcement.

The LockBit ransomware group represented one of the most prolific ransomware variants across the globe, causing billions of dollars in losses and wreaking havoc on critical infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. The charges announced today reflect the FBIs unyielding commitment to disrupting ransomware organizations and holding the perpetrators accountable.

The action is the latest attempt from law enforcement agencies to disrupt the activities of LockBit, a prolific hacking gang that has extorted millions of dollars in payments from its victims. Since 2020, the group has targeted thousands of companies, including the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Boeing Co. and the UKs Royal Mail.

LockBits success was due in part to exploiting the ransomware-as-a-service model, where hacking group offers its malicious code to so-called affiliates who do the actual hacking and kick back a share of the illicit extortion payments. The group and its affiliates often demanded huge payments from their victims. In one case, the indictment alleges, LockBit demanded a $200 million payment from a multinational aeronautical and defense corporation headquartered in Virginia. Its not clear whether the company, which isnt named, paid out any amount.

Story continues

Read More: LockBits Ransomware Empire Takes a Heavy Hit: Cyber Bulletin

Based on an analysis of data seized from LockBits servers, investigators have determined that the group  between June 2022 and February 2024 alone  may have been responsible for as many as 7,000 attacks, according to the UKs National Crime Agency, which said that the top five countries affected were the US, UK, France, Germany and China. The gang targeted more than 100 hospitals and health-care companies, the UK agency said in a statement.

British and American law enforcement agencies had previously threatened to unmask LockBitSupp, who had acted as the groups vocal spokesperson. They suggested that they knew the kind of car he was driving  a Mercedes  and hinted at his location, in Russia. But they had refrained from naming him. Khoroshev was so confident in his anonymity that an online post in January, he said he would pay $10 million to anyone who could discover his identity.

In a message sent to Bloomberg News prior to the latest law enforcement action, the LockBit spokesperson  who identified himself as LockBitSupp  had vowed to continue his criminal campaign. The gangs income was down about 30% since law enforcement seized some of the groups websites in February, he said. But that wont stop me from continuing to work, they said. My business expense is paying for servers, one payout from one company is enough to pay for servers for 5 years, so even if my business becomes completely unprofitable I will continue to work just for fun.

The spokesperson didnt respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. But he changed his status on an encrypted messaging app to read, in Russian, The FBI is bluffing, Im not Dimon. I feel sorry for the real Dimon. (Dimon is a colloquial form of Dmitry.)

The charges against Khoroshev are the latest effort by a coalition of law enforcement agencies to curb ransomware, which has flourished in recent years in part because the leaders of many of the hacking gangs are outside of the reach of Western law enforcement.

Read More: Russias LockBit Disrupted But Not Dead, Hacking Experts Warn

In February, the FBI, the UK National Crime Agency and other law enforcement agencies seized some of LockBits websites. Within a week of the takedown, LockBit relaunched a version of its dark web page. The gang has since posted more than 120 alleged victims on the website, which remains active. However, law enforcement officials say that many of the victims posted on LockBits new website were compromised before the takedown, while some of the other hackers were carried out by other groups.

The UKs National Crime Agency has observed a 70% reduction in LockBit attacks in the country, an NCA official said in a phone briefing ahead of Tuesdays announcement. As of last week, the official said, there had been six known LockBit attacks in the UK since mid-February and the targets were smaller organizations. That was indicative of hackers leaving LockBit or getting out of deploying ransomware altogether, the official said.

We know our work to disrupt LockBit thus far has been extremely successful in degrading their capability and credibility among the criminal community, said Graeme Biggar, the NCAs director general. The groups attempt at rebuilding has resulted in a much less sophisticated enterprise with significantly reduced impact.

International law enforcement agencies have collectively reached out to about 3,800 of the gangs victims  about 1,200 of whom are based in the US  offering help to unlock hacked computers, according to an FBI official. (During the February takedown, the agencies were able to seize LockBits decryption keys.)

Police are combing through the huge volume of data they say they gathered from LockBits internal servers in an effort to identify people who were working with the gang  not just hackers, but also software developers and money launderers, according to the NCA official.

Investigators obtained a list of nearly 200 affiliates involved with LockBit, who conducted hacks using generic usernames such as John and Boyce. The NCA official added that the agency has figured out the identities of a good number of the suspected hackers. While some were based in Russia, he said, some were in other locations that are more accessible to Western law enforcement agencies.

(Writes through entire story with additional details.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2024 Bloomberg L.P.
The City of Fremont, in partnership with Northeast Nebraska Economic Development District, is hosting a community open house to discuss the Rental Rehabilitation Program.

The open house will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, in the east community room of Keene Memorial Library. Interested property owners can stop by at their convenience to learn about the program and application process.

The Rental Rehabilitation program aims to assist property owners renting to low-income persons within the Fremont city limits. Property owners may be eligible to receive up to $40,000 with a 1:1 match requirement to make improvements to rental properties. Program requirements include tenant income and rent limits.

For more information visit: https://www.fremontne.gov/959/Rental-Rehabilitation-Opportunity or email mandy@nenedd.org.
Azerbaijan and Russia discussed cooperation in the field of climate change, Azernews reports, citing the post shared on COP29's official "X" account.

"COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev met Russias Natural Resources and Ecology Minister, Alexander Kozlov, and Minister of Economic Development, Maksim Reshetnikov to support regional and bilateral cooperation in the field of climate change and environmental protection," the post reads.

Recall that Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, will host the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 29) for the first time in the region from November 1122, 2024. The decision was made at the plenary session of COP28 on December 11. Azerbaijan successfully participated in the COP28 held in Abu Dhabi last year.

Azerbaijan will take the opportunity to bring heads of state and governments, civil society organisations, business, and international institutions together in the South Caucasus to discuss climate change, measures to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement, and focus on long-term climate strategies and goals.

It is worth noting that Azerbaijan confirmed its commitment to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 35 percent by 2030 and increase this target by 40 percent by 2050. Fulfilling the commitments under the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 and actively working in this regard are priority issues for the government of Azerbaijan.

The Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been held annually since 1995. The event aims to assess the progress made in combating climate change around the world.
For more than three decades the annual Gazette Charities Foundation Best and Brightest Scholarship Program has recognized 20 local high school students for their outstanding academic achievements, leadership and contributions to their community.
Colorado's second-highest court concluded on Thursday that an El Paso County prosecutor did not intentionally remove the only Black juror from a Black defendant's jury because of his race, even as he misrepresented the man's responses to questioning.
With at least three days left in the 2024 session for a bill to make it from start to finish, Gov. Jared Polis, lawmakers, and business group heads announced a deal on property tax legislation Monday.
Xi elaborates on China's position on Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Ukraine crisis

Xinhua) 08:29, May 07, 2024

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, jointly meet the press in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping outlined China's principled position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Ukraine crisis when he jointly met the press with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron here on Monday.

The prolonged tragedy of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a test for human conscience, and the international community must act, Xi said.

China calls on all parties to work for an immediate, comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, he said, adding China supports the full membership of Palestine in the United Nations, and supports restoring to Palestine its legitimate national rights and restarting the two-State solution, so as to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East.

Xi stressed that China has stated its position on the Ukraine crisis on many occasions.

China did not start the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to or a participant in it, Xi said, noting that instead of being an onlooker, China has been playing an important role for peace.

The special representative of the Chinese government on Eurasian affairs is on his third round of shuttle diplomacy, he added.

At the same time, China opposes attempts to use the Ukraine crisis to scapegoat or smear a third country or to stoke a "new Cold War," he said.

Noting that history has proven time and again that at the end of the day, conflicts can only be resolved through negotiation, Xi said that China calls on all parties to resume engagement and dialogue to build mutual trust.

China supports holding at a proper time an international peace conference that is recognized by both Russia and Ukraine and ensures the equal participation of all parties and fair discussions on all peace plans, Xi said.

China supports a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe, he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, jointly meet the press in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
Ulviyya Shahin

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk and Azerbaijan's Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev held discussions regarding arrangements for the upcoming 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), by Azernews reports, citing the Russian government's website.

The talks encompassed current environmental collaboration between the two nations and the preparations for the Russian delegation's participation in COP29, set to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024.
After an Arapahoe County jury convicted Joseph Wayne Washington of numerous charges related to a deadly shooting and drug possession, Washington argued there should have been separate trials for each type of offense, and that combining them was an error.
Colorado's second-highest court on Thursday agreed an Arapahoe County prosecutor did not intentionally dismiss a Hispanic juror for race-based reasons, but her attempt to justify the removal by citing her own race and the race of the victims was improper.
Members of the 138th Space Control Squadron from Colorado and Air National Guard members from Mississippi guide and load a large collapsible satellite antenna into a C-17 Globemaster III. The guardsmen were headed for Joint Base Andrews, along with all their gear loaded on pallets for training with other electromagnetic warfare squadrons from California, Hawaii and Florida.
Nazrin Abdul, AZERNEWS

In a recent statement to journalists at the Azerbaijan-Slovakia business forum in Baku, Yusif Abdullayev, the executive director of Azerbaijan Republic's Export and Investment Promotion Agency (AZPROMO), highlighted the ongoing development of relations between the two nations, Azernews reports.

Abdullayev acknowledged the current modest trade figures between Azerbaijan and Slovakia. He emphasized with over 90 representatives from various companies participating in the forum, Abdullayev emphasized the potential for significant expansion in bilateral cooperation.

"Unfortunately, our trade figures are not high. Only 7 Slovak companies operate in Azerbaijan. After the forum we organized in Baku, our trade relations will develop further. In total, more than 90 company representatives are participating in this forum. This business forum is the visit of the Prime Minister of Slovakia to Azerbaijan. We believe that cooperation in the field of industry, agriculture and IT will develop."

Despite the existing small volume of exports between the two countries, Abdullayev stressed the importance of expanding trade, not only in terms of products but also services. Looking ahead, both Azerbaijan and Slovakia anticipate a mutually beneficial partnership that will drive economic growth and prosperity for both nations.
With three days left in the 2024 session and under the threat of at least one ballot measure, Gov. Jared Polis, lawmakers, nonprofits and business leaders announced a deal on property tax legislation that would reduce the assessment rates for commercial property and valuations for homeowners.

In its first year, the deal is expected to cut taxes by $1.3 billion, which proponents described as the largest property tax reduction in 20 years.

The announcement signaled a massive win for the Polis administration, given the bipartisan sponsorship from some of the best minds in the legislature on property taxes, notably Republican lawmakers who have served as a county commissioner or assessor before joining the legislature.

The bipartisan mood was unmistakable. Polis and the group of lawmakers who joined the announcement were all smiles when they spoke about the marathon effort to come up with a property tax bill before the session adjourns on Wednesday.

The prime sponsors of the compromise legislation in Senate Bill 233 are Reps. Chris deGruy Kennedy, D-Lakewood and Lisa Frizell, R-Castle Rock, and Sens. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Weld County, and Chris Hansen, D-Denver, whose draft property tax bill got a thumbs down from the state's property tax commission just 10 days ago.

The parties described days of negotiations between the Polis administration, Colorado Concern, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, the Bell Policy Center, Colorado Counties, Inc., lawmakers and others.

Part of those negotiations included finding a Republican co-sponsor. They got four.

Polis said the discussion is primarily about the legislature making decisions that affect over 4,000 different funding districts. He lauded the work of the property tax commission, which included deGruy Kennedy, Hansen, and Frizell, with the final work done by lawmakers.

Frizell told Colorado Politics that the negotiations in the last few days were tense. However, she cited big wins, including a faster reduction in the assessment rate for commercial properties. She added that residential property tax owners will finally see relief.

Under Senate Bill 233, commercial property tax assessment rates will be reduced from 29% to 25% over a two-year period. For homeowners, property valuations will decrease from 6.8% to 6.7%, with a 10% reduction in home value used for these valuations. This primarily applies to homes valued at $700,000 or less.

Senate President Steve Feinberg said the solution is complicated, but that it is a state policy that affects local governments.

"We needed to thread that needle and find the right path forward. I think at times, over the last several years, and definitely over the last several months and hours, we didn't think we were going to get there, he said.

Fenberg commended Hansen, who the Senate leader described as the optimist who believed there was a path forward when no one else did, and Kirkmeyer. Fenberg said the Republican senator, when she wants to solve a problem, will find a way.

Fenberg and Polis also commended the property tax commission, comprised of county commissioners, business owners, representatives of low-income Coloradans, and lawmakers. Fenberg said the group put politics aside and analyzed potential solutions.

"That's what it means to be a leader and a public servant," Fenberg said.

The bill isn't perfect, Fenberg said.

"But I will say that we found a path forward that I think is sustainable. And that is something that everybody can say that's a reasonable approach," he said.

"The commitment to bipartisanship in solving this problem has never been greater," added House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon. "It is that kind of spirit that I believe has always been in our house but could not be more visible and clear to the public than it is in this measure."

Republican leader: Proposal sets politics aside

Pugliese said the legislation puts politics aside and prioritizes people, which is a big reason she, Pelton, and Frizell ran for the legislature.

While last November's special session disappointed Republicans, Pugliese said she was excited by the conversations that followed. Everyone was at the table, she said.

Property taxes have stymied lawmakers since the Gallagher Amendment was repealed in 2020. Lawmakers promised to find a solution to address skyrocketing property tax rates, particularly in the past year.

But that solution has remained elusive. An effort in the 2023 session, which sent a measure to the November ballot, was overwhelmingly rejected by voters.

On Monday, Polis addressed the failure of Proposition HH and the successful bipartisan effort that led to SB 233.

"Having seen what happened with HH, there is no Democratic or Republican solution on property taxes," the governor said, striking a dramatically different tone on the issue compared to just one year ago, when House Republicans walked out rather than vote on the bill that led to Proposition HH being placed on the ballot.

"Legislators, working together and with local government, really rolled up their sleeves and found something that makes sense," Polis said.

The importance of the bipartisan approach was echoed by Frizell, who said it was essential to have equal representation on the bill from Republicans and Democrats.

"We represent the diversity of this state, and this bill represents the diversity of this state," both economic and political diversity, Frizell said.

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A $1.3 billion property tax cut

Kirkmeyer spoke about the financial aspects of the measure, calling it a massive property tax cut for property owners that won't cripple the state budget nor lead to a new debt to K-12 education.

She said the agreement would reduce property taxes by $1.3 billion in the first year and provide homeowners and business owners with immediate financial relief, foster economic growth across our state, and stabilize local communities, she added.

Kirkmeyer also spoke about the last 24 hours of the negotiations, with 14 hours straight on the phone Sunday with Hansen and Mark Ferrandino, the director of the Office of State Planning and Budgeting. It started again at 5:30 a.m. on Monday, resulting in the largest property tax reduction in 20 years, Kirkmeyer said.

Those conversations also included the governor, whom Kirkmeyer said came in Sunday at a critical point in the talks.

"We did our job on stakeholdering this and listening to everybody, even those who don't agree, to make sure their viewpoints were heard within the bill," she added. "Unlike deals in the past several years, this will provide a long-term permanent solution and will be simple and easy to understand. For every Colorado property owner, your taxes are going down.

Hansen noted the history, beginning some six years ago, when a repeal of the Gallagher Amendment was being contemplated.

"It was always the intent then to have a replacement. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a long-term replacement negotiated for the last several cycles. Today, we bring you that long-term replacement."

Hansen said the deal will help low and middle-income families, while maintaining a sustainable approach to K-12 funding.

"We had massive bipartisan agreement that we will not recreate the negative factor the very moment we just got rid of it," Hansen added.

"These are not easy solutions that we're talking about here," said deGruy Kennedy.

It's about finding out how to balance the needs of funding school systems, fire districts, county governments, city governments, and the real pressures taxpayers face, whether as homeowners or business owners, he said.

He commended the efforts of Scott Wasserman of the Bell Policy Center and Loren Furman from the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, who were in every conversation for weeks and set aside differences of opinion.

Pelton said later that one of his biggest concerns was a flat reduction in home values, which he said would hurt rural Colorado. The compromise was a 10% reduction for houses up to $700,000 in value.

"I'm pleased we were able to get to an agreement, and really proud about the progressive tax relief" and keeping schools harmless, Wasserman said.

His side's compromise was on the expedited reduction of the nonresidential assessment rate and cuts to local government. He said he would have appreciated some backfill for local governments and said it will now be up to those local governments to demonstrate to the legislature why they need that help.

How the tax cuts will be paid for

How the tax cuts will be paid for remains up in the air.

A portion will come from the state education fund, according to Kirkmeyer.

There will also be some general fund dollars, but at least one other portion will require the Joint Budget Committee to return to the couch cushions and Ferrandino of the Office of State Planning and Budgeting to find the rest.

"We will make this happen. It will work for Colorado, and we won't put the state in a critical situation" on the budget, Kirkmeyer said.

To taxpayers, Polis said this solves the problem that Colorado voters have been worried about  putting reasonable caps on property tax increases. The governor's message is aimed for anyone contemplating at least one ballot measure that voters will review in November.

Initiative #50, submitted by Advance Colorado, has rattled lawmakers and the K-12 community since it caps property tax increases but has no mechanism for replacing lost revenue, mainly for schools, leading to warnings from education advocates that it would result in a restart of the budget stabilization factor that is just now getting paid off with this year's school finance bill.

That debt reached a high of $1.1 billion just four years ago.

Advance Colorado has maintained that the initiative offers a concrete and tangible solution to skyrocketing prices, the product, the group said, of watching the legislature perennially fail to do so.

Polis said the ballot measures were filed because people were dissatisfied with the status quo.

"This agreement can't please everybody in the world, but the fact that you have such strong agreement between Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, that this addresses the underlying issue we all hear about from our constituents, which is that property taxes went up too much," he said, adding that this is a step forward in actually solving issues for Coloradans.
For a second straight day, over 500 flights in and out of Denver International Airport were were delayed or canceled du to strong winds at Denver's airport Tuesday.

As of 9:30 a.m., 576 flights were delayed and 37 were canceled, according to FlightAware.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a ground delay at the airport due to wind with arrivals delayed on average 69 minutes, according to the FAA.

Denver International Airport officials said travelers should check their airline for the latest flight status information before heading to the airport.

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On Monday, a high of 1,230 flights were delayed and 52 were canceled at one point at DIA due to wind, according to FlightAware.

The National Weather Service in Boulder said windy conditions, although not as strong as Monday, will continue to be a factor for travelers on Tuesday before calming after sunset, with wind gusts between 40-50 mph across the Eastern plains of Colorado.

Flight schedules at the Colorado Springs Airport are only slightly impacted Tuesday, with at least one inbound flight from Denver canceled and others delayed. Click or tap here for flight updates at Colorado Springs Airport.
When Army veteran John Combs looked at his desktop weather monitor early Monday morning as the wind howled outside, he saw something he had never seen before in two decades of living in the Broadmoor Bluffs area near Cheyenne Mountain: a 101 mph wind reading.

"The wind was so much it woke us up at two-thirty, three o'clock this morning," he said.

Combs' reading is only slightly above the highest registered at the nearby National Weather Service weather station at Cheyenne Mountain, which logged 96 mph just before 6 a.m. according to the NWS in Pueblo.

Strong winds buffeted areas of the Front Range starting Sunday evening, leaving downed power lines, snapped trees and damage to homes, other structures and yard fences across the Colorado Springs area. The NWS also registered 83 mph at the Air Force Academy, 69 mph at Fort Carson and 83 at a station in southwest Colorado Springs, all before 8 a.m.

Combs went out Monday morning to inspect the damage, finding tree limbs strewn around the yard and all of the passenger windows on his car cracked or blown out from debris.

"Anything that was loose really got moved around," he said.

Other people across the city saw damage from the windstorm Monday morning, which knocked out power to homes, businesses and streetlights. Steve Berry, a spokesperson with Colorado Springs Utilities, said that as many as 10,000 customers were initially affected by the outages.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, Berry said that about 3,000 customers remained affected.

Continuing high winds into Monday evening complicated the efforts to restore service; Berry said crews could not carry out repairs in a bucket truck until the wind died down in some areas, prolonging outages potentially until Tuesday.

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Colorado Springs Fire Department spokesperson Ashley Franco said that crews were busy Monday with a "high volume of calls" related to wind damage, most often downed power lines and trees.

Several small spot fires broke out around the county, including on Cheyenne Mountain and in the Crystal Park neighborhood of Manitou Springs.

As of Monday afternoon Franco said the CSFD was not aware of any wildfires currently burning.

High wind gusts will continue into Tuesday and Wednesday according to KOAA Meteorologist Alex O'Brien. The forecast calls for winds out of the west at 20-25 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph.

"The high temperature will be seasonable in the mid-60s and the sky will be mostly sunny," O'Brien said.

A high-wind watch will be in place for Pueblo County and all Front Range points south of there as well, with wind gusts up to 65 mph possible.

NWS Pueblo meteorologist Michael Garderoglil said that strong wind events usually happen about once a year.

"Mid to late spring is usually our windy season," he said.

He said that the strong winds of this storm were "somewhat uncommon but within expectation."
Last year, 41% of LGBTQ teens and young adults ages 13-24 considered taking their lives, according to the 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People by The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention.

And 56% of the 28,000 survey participants who wanted mental health care said they were unable to get it.

Its a shocking statistic, said Steven Haden, founder of You:Flourish, a social impact business based in Denver.

The numbers are one reason Haden started the company, which last week launched a statewide mental health wellness app, youflourish.app, that provides contacts vetted by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association for counselors, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists and medical doctors who work with children and adults who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, nonbinary and questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The resource directory is geared for ages 18 to 26 and has other mental wellness tools and an online support network.

Surveys indicate a much larger percentage of LGBTQ people report needing mental health services compared to non-LGBTQ people, but despite the higher need, many LGBTQ people dont receive the help they seek, Haden said.

One reason, he believes, is a lack of training for students in graduate schools and doctoral programs on how to best assist the LGBTQ community with mental health issues.

While LGBTQ people arent predisposed to have more problems than other people, a significant number have experienced childhood trauma, discrimination and harassment, Haden said.

There are certain stressors that undermine a person's well-being. So its essential to understand basic trauma care, whether its families not being affirming, bullying in school, and people being fired or denied access to care altogether, he said. Invalidating who you are creates fear, a sense of I dont belong, and the end result is higher rates of suicide and suicide attempts.

Competent and affirming mental health care for LGBTQ youth can be difficult to find, agrees Liss Smith, spokesperson for Inside Out Youth Services in Colorado Springs.

The nonprofit added free counseling two years ago out of its office now at 516 W. Colorado Ave., as a pilot program. It's now a permanent offering for individuals and families, as well as group therapy and crisis services. The organization provided 541 individual therapy sessions in 2022 and 673 last year.

Challenges related to identity, discrimination and stigma can lead to depression, suicide attempts and other concerns, Smith said.

Trained and experienced mental health providers are vital to the wellbeing of LGBTQIA2+ youth, Smith said.

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Other low- or no-cost online options for youths include Q Chat Space, which has live, professionally facilitated discussion groups; imi, a series of guides for teens to explore their identities; and the IMatter Program, a state-run Office of Behavioral Health initiative that provides up to three free therapy sessions for any teen under age 18 or under age 21 if part of the special-needs community.

A $200,000 grant from the Colorado Health Foundation is enabling Haden's You:Flourish to provide the app for free for one year.

The idea to create an easier way to find mental health professionals and like-minded peers originated during the COVID-19 outbreak, said Haden, a therapist. He said he noticed during the pandemic that members of the LGBTQ community  to which he belongs  were struggling to make meaningful connections in digital spaces.

Research, market analysis, needs development and focus groups ensued, as Haden sought to test whether his theory  that the app would positively impact peoples lives  would prove to be accurate.

Tests before the app debuted publicly showed his hypothesis was correct.

You:Flourish will be a tool for me to cultivate a more positive mindset to build self-compassion and focus on my strengths, one early user commented.

Another user said the app will help prioritize celebrating big and small successes amid the demands of life, and another considered the app a helpful resource to help overcome obstacles in life.

Data collection over the next several months will help the company ramp up for nationwide coverage in about a year, Haden said.

While You:Flourishs research showed that 7%-10% of people living in the United States identify as LGBTQ, a 2023 survey by Public Religion Research Institute concluded that 24% of Gen Z adults ages 18 to 25 identify as LGBTQ.

That compares with 10% of all adults, 16% of millennials, 7% of Generation X, 4% of Baby Boomers and 4% of the Silent Generation, the institute found.

Its a significant number that about one-fourth of young people now identify as LGBTQ, so its really important that companies like ours and mental health and health care professionals, and the workforce understand the growing demand for services and programs that exists and be thoughtful and innovative when meeting the needs of the community, Haden said.

You:Flourish is a for-profit company with Haden also founding the parent company, Envision:You, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Robert Fico, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, made press statements, Azernews reports.

The President of Azerbaijan made the statement first.

Statement by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Mr. Prime Minister.

Dear guests, ladies, and gentlemen.

Today marks a significant day in the history of Slovakia-Azerbaijan relations. Honorable Prime Minister is visiting Azerbaijan, and a Joint Declaration on strategic partnership was signed within the framework of the visit. This is a very serious political document, a document that raises our relations to the highest level. The articles contained in the Declaration of strategic partnership reflect our intentions and, at the same time, define the prospects for future cooperation.

I believe that today marks the opening of a new chapter in Slovakia-Azerbaijani relations, and I am hopeful that our shared path will be highly successful.

Today, Mr. Prime Minister and I discussed many issues during the one-on-one meeting and also in the negotiations with the participation of our delegations. We reaffirmed the high level of our political relations. At the same time, we expressed our attitude to the work to be carried out in many areas.

As you may know, among the documents signed today are agreements related to defense and defense industry sectors. A broad exchange of ideas has taken place in these two areas, and concrete negotiations have already started on the establishment of joint production capacities in the field of defense industry.

Of course, cooperation in the energy sector has also been extensively discussed today. Azerbaijan currently exports its natural gas to eight countries, and I hope that Slovakia will be the ninth. In April of last year, a document called Solidarity Ring was signed, ushering ample opportunities for transporting Azerbaijani gas to the Slovak market.

The Declaration of strategic partnership signed between the European Union and Azerbaijan in the field of gas and energy is being implemented. Azerbaijan transports its natural gas to Europe through reliable routes. Our supply to Europe will increase from 8 billion cubic meters in 2021 to up to 12 billion cubic meters this year. This accounts for 50 percent of Azerbaijan's total gas exports. Our plans include delivering 20 billion cubic meters of gas solely to the European Union by the end of 2027, and I believe we will achieve this goal.

Gas production in Azerbaijan is growing, with new fields being discovered and production already underway from these fields. Simultaneously, we are actively implementing our large-scale green agenda. The construction of a number of wind and solar power plants will allow us the opportunity to save gas, and of course, the main direction and destination of this gas will be Europe.

Today, attention was also focused on efforts to increase trade between our countries. As you may know, the Slovakia-Azerbaijan business forum was held today, and dozens of Slovak business people are visiting Azerbaijan. Numerous investment projects are also being discussed. These issues were discussed and received the green light from both sides, so to speak.

Another significant aspect of our cooperation is the involvement of a Slovak company in the liberated territories. The reconstruction of the Garvand village in the Aghdam district will be carried out by a Slovak company. This, of course, holds great symbolic meaning, showcasing the sincerity of our relations. At the same time, the work to be done by Slovak specialists based on the smart city and smart village advanced concepts in the liberated lands will undoubtedly bring joy to the returning residents.

In a nutshell, the agenda discussed today was quite extensive. This is my first personal meeting with Mr. Prime Minister. At the same time, we have exchanged views on many international issues, and there is no difference of opinion here either. Slovakia and Azerbaijan today pursue a policy based on sovereignty and dignity. I congratulated Mr. Fico on his re-election as Prime Minister and said that this was a sign of great appreciation of his work by the Slovak people. It is not the first time that Mr. Fico has been elected Prime Minister, and his re-election is a sign of the Slovak people's respect for independence, sovereignty and national dignity. And this choice makes us extremely happy as friends of the Slovak people. I can say that tangible steps were taken immediately after Mr. Fico resumed his duties as Prime Minister, with high-ranking officials from Slovakia and Azerbaijan exchanging visits. And today, we welcome our distinguished guest.

Once again, dear Prime Minister, you are welcome! I am confident that your visit will be pleasant and will open up new opportunities for our cooperation.

x x x

Then, the Prime Minister of Slovakia made the statement.

Statement by Prime Minister Robert Fico

- Mr. President.

Ladies and gentlemen.

On behalf of the Slovak delegation, I would like to thank you for the hospitality extended to us. Your country is famous for its hospitality.

Mr. President, I do hope that you will visit Slovakia with your delegation at a time that you consider convenient, so that we can continue our constructive and useful discussions we started today. I believe that today's results have exceeded our expectations.

Mr. President, you have been elected a president for the fifth term. This is really an indication that you are a very important person for this country, and I congratulate you on your re-election. I can tell you clearly that our discussions in the one-on-one meeting confirmed what I think about your country and you personally. You are pursuing a sovereign foreign policy. You are a person who champions international law. You are a pragmatic person, and your foreign policy is not limited to one direction only. You know perfectly well how important territorial integrity is. At the same time, as a representative of a country that is a member of the European Union, I can say that the European Union likes to lecture others from time to time. In my political experience, I prefer never to interfere in the internal affairs of any country.

Mr. President, I am disappointed by the discrimination, injustice and bias against small countries in some international institutions. Because we are considered a small country in terms of population. I have been listening to you very carefully, and I said this to the delegation that met me at the airport yesterday. We are ready to serve as a bridge between Azerbaijan and the European Union, we want to show the objective situation in Azerbaijan to the European Union. We must fight for justice. Slovakia in 2020-2023 was an example of how indifferent the European Union is. At that time, the country's criminal code was used to fight the opposition. At that time, we were in the opposition, and today, due to what happened in that period, in 2020-2023, we adopted very important laws in our parliament. However, the attention of the European Union is on us precisely because of this. In other words, we have this experience with these institutions. I can also tell our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and parliament from here that we should cover the situation in Azerbaijan as objectively as possible.

Mr. President, we have made great progress. Of course, our turnover is quite low, but there are no obstacles here. We do not have disagreements in any area.

When I heard Mr. President's position on Ukraine, I felt as though it echoed the position of the Slovak government. We talked about what was happening at the global level, about how things would evolve after the end of the conflict in Ukraine and China's role in the world. That is, we have a very similar position. Unfortunately, our turnover is a little more than 70 million euros, and of course, the advantage here is on our side, because we export cars to Azerbaijan. There are numerous enterprises in this field in Slovakia. We need to expand our cooperation. If we have a strong president and a politically strong prime minister, we can take on several projects and implement them successfully.

Mr. President, I attach great importance to this cooperation, especially in the military field, and I highly appreciate it. The idea of establishing joint production capacities in Azerbaijan should be attractive to everyone. We have already discussed certain details of this, and our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Kali?ak is very active in this field as well. He will do his best to make these projects successful. We are talking about production sites outside Slovakia.

Mr. President, I would also like to thank you for supporting our initiative in Karabakh. This is a smart village project. It is a very interesting project. I would like to visit there as soon as possible, and I hope that you will soon visit us in Slovakia. There we can discuss this progress. At the same time, we are also interested in the construction of a small airport and we are also interested in cooperation in the field of energy.

Of course, the use of Slovakia's transport infrastructure has become complicated due to the war in Ukraine. There is a project to import Azerbaijani gas from the territory of Ukraine through a location on the Russian-Ukrainian border. If we are talking about a volume of 20 billion cubic meters, it should be interesting for everyone. Of course, I do not think that Azerbaijan is engaged in charity, we simply hope for fair prices and have full respect for your interests.

Mr. President, I am sure that we will create a positive atmosphere at the European level as well. You know that everyone in Europe likes to speculate. They try to see the worst. We not only want to buy gas from Azerbaijan, we also want to import gas from the territory of Ukraine to Slovakia, and I highly appreciate your constructive approach to this matter.

As the Prime Minister of Ukraine said, a certain agreement can be reached between Russia and Ukraine if there is Azerbaijani gas. It will be beneficial for everyone - for Slovakia, for you and for Ukraine because they will transit it. This can be an exemplary project and, Mr. President, let me thank you for the information you provided in this regard.

Mr. President, I want to wish you personally the best of luck. I convey my best wishes to your country and people.

You are a sovereign country, a model country when it comes to sovereignty. I have always appreciated such countries when it comes to sovereign positions and ideas. You stand up to injustice. I will try to apply the same approach to Slovakia, so that Slovakia can conduct a sovereign foreign policy, and when sovereign countries like us come together, the results can be very good.

Mr. President, I convey my best wishes to you, Azerbaijan and the people of Azerbaijan, and wish you every success in your work. Thank you for your cooperation, and you have a great personal contribution to this matter. Thank you for your contribution to Slovak-Azerbaijani cooperation.



































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Fatime Letifova

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is on an official visit to Azerbaijan, visited the Alley of Martyrs on May 7, Azernews reports.

Prime Minister Robert Fico honored the memory of the heroic children of the Motherland, who died in the struggle for the independence and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and laid a wreath in front of the Eternal Torch monument.

In the end, the guest, who was watching the view of our capital from the highest point of Baku, was informed about the history of Martyrs' Alley and the improvement and construction works done in the city.
A rendering of the proposed 36-story apartment building that would be built in downtown Colorado Springs.
George Brauchler is the former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District and is a candidate for district attorney in the newly created 23rd Judicial District. He has served as an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute. Follow him on Twitter(X): @GeorgeBrauchler.
Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.
Ulviyya Shahin

Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov, who is on an official visit to Turkiye, visited Tuesday the countrys Kahramanmaras province to view the progress of construction work in the Azerbaijani quarter, Azernews reports.

Under President Ilham Aliyevs instructions, Azerbaijan facilitated the construction process in the Azerbaijani quarter in the Kahramanmaras province hit by a devastating quake occurred in Turkiye on February 6, 2023.

In accordance with the Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement signed in Nakhchivan on September 25, 2023, $100 million was earmarked by the Azerbaijani government for the implementation of the project.

Sadig Sadigov, Chairman of the Board of Azerbaijans State Housing Development Agency, an executive body from the Azerbaijani side, briefed PM Ali Asadov about the ongoing construction process within the project.

The Azerbaijani Prime Minister gave relevant instructions for the timely and high-quality implementation of the construction works.
Two N.C. senators from Greensboro filed a bill last week that would grant $12.8 million to Guilford County Schools  with part of that meant to expand the use of weapons scanners in the district.

Sens. Michael Garrett and Gladys Robinson, both Democrats, filed the bill together. The bill specifies the money would go toward recruiting and retaining school personnel, continuing high school learning hubs, continuing and expanding career and technology education programs, and expanding school safety, including the use of security scanners in every school.

Guilford County Schools is currently leasing EVOLV scanners for its middle and high schools. The scanners are typically stationed at school entrances and monitored by district staff during their normal work days. The devices are designed to detect concealed guns and deter them from being brought into the building. They are not traditional metal detectors. Instead, they create images of the person walking through the scanners and then use artificial intelligence to analyze those images for shapes that look like guns or gun parts.

Part of our legislative agenda includes asking the state for money so that we can continue to fund those and add them in every elementary school as well, Guilford County Schools spokeswoman Gabrielle Brown said in email.

Back in February, the county school board voted to approve its annual list of requests to legislators, otherwise known as the legislative agenda. As part of that agenda, the district included a total of $12.8 million in direct funding requests to legislators, including $2 million for weapons scanners. Whats listed in Garrett and Robinsons bill is similar, although not identical, to what Guilford County Schools asked for in the legislative agenda.

Superintendent Whitney Oakley also included just over $1.7 million to continue the lease of weapons scanners in the middle schools and high schools as part of her proposed budget request to county commissioners.

Reached by phone Thursday, Garrett said he and Robinson filed the bill in response to requests made by the district into the state budget. Their desire, he said, was to help the district continue with successful initiatives it has been paying for with soon-to-expire federal pandemic relief dollars.

Some examples include recruitment and retention bonuses for district staff and learning hubs, which provide opportunities for students to catch up on work and get help from tutors, teachers and other school staff.

Garrett said Guilford County Schools leaders are aware any money appropriated would be one-time funds and have said they would look for other strategies as far as funding these efforts past the next fiscal year. Though he thinks its unlikely they will gain support for the full amount, hes hopeful a big portion of the request could ultimately survive to be folded into the state budget.

We are grateful to Senator Gladys Robinson and Senator Michael Garrett for their leadership, Brown wrote in a later email, and we are hopeful the North Carolina General Assembly will support our efforts to continue improving learning and life outcomes for all students.
(The Guam Guide)

Looking for ways to get out and enjoy Guam with the entire family? Try out these favorite island spots and let the memories make themselves. Dont forget your camera to capture all the smiles!

1. Talofofo Falls Park: While many of Guams waterfalls are located deep in the jungle, making them difficult to access with small children, Talofofo Falls Park is the perfect waterfall excursion for the entire family. Take a cable car to and from this stunning double set of waterfalls. Enjoy the museum, funhouse and childrens rides, and take a stroll to Sergeant Yokois Cave.

2. UnderWater World: What kid doesnt love turtles and fish? Head to the aquariums at UnderWater World in Tumon for a fun day of looking at and learning about ocean marine life. My kids never get bored here! says one local mother of five. Bring your local or military ID for a discount off the admission price.

3. Family Adventure Tours: Spend a day together on Guams beautiful waters and get an up-close look at the islands wildlife in its natural habitat. A number of tour companies offer dolphin watching, snorkeling trips, and even a jungle river cruise on the Talofofo River. Contact Alupang Beach Club Tours and Turtle Tours for more information.

4. Natural Pools at Inarajan: Not quite a beach, not quite a pool, Inarajan Pools are one of the most beautiful and unique natural features on Guam. Salt water continuously washes from the ocean through a series of naturally formed pools. The landscape is breathtaking while the pools are relaxing. Small children will like splashing around the shallowest pools at low tide, while older kids will love the thrill of jumping off the old lifeguard tower. Bring a picnic and enjoy a day in the sun at this special place. (Please come with a plan for your familys trash disposal as there are limited waste receptacles on site.)

5. Waterparks: In many places waterparks are somewhere you only visit during summer break. On Guam, you can go all year long! Older children and teenagers will prefer the exciting rides at Tarza and Onward waterparks, while the Pacific Islands Club offers fun for all ages.

6. Guided Hikes and Snorkeling: The Guam Environmental Education Committee offers hiking and snorkeling trips for families throughout the year. Many of them are free! Check out their Facebook page for information about upcoming events, including beach cleanups, summer camps, and snorkeling outings at different spots around the island.

7. Chamorro Village: Trying to overcome a midweek dinner slump? Head to Chamorro Village on Wednesday or Friday for a spontaneous evening of midweek family fun. From food to dancing to carabao rides  theres something for every member of the family. Avoid the crowds by going early (before 6 p.m.). Pick up takeout from your favorite food venders and make your own little picnic across the street in peaceful Skinner Plaza.

8. Day at the Beach Guams protective outer reefs make for a number of beautiful, shallow and calm beaches, a perfect place for families to spend the day together splashing around and looking for seashells. Ypao Beach in Tumon, Jeffs Pirate Cove Beach, Gun Beach, and Gab Gab Beach are favorites for families with children of all ages. Fish Eye, Gab Gab, Gun Beach, and Haputo are great for snorkeling.

9. Boonie Stomping: While many of Guams jungle hikes are strenuous or difficult, there are a number of family friendly boonie stomps that everyone will enjoy. Priests Pools, Piti Guns, and Tarzan Swim Hole, for example, are great family hiking destinations. Bring a picnic lunch and look for the rope swing at the swim hole. Always hike within your familys ability level and come prepared with bug spray and sunscreen. Check out the book the Best Tracks on Guam (available in local bookstores) for detailed information about specific hikes on Guam.

10. Playport: Trying to avoid the hot sun? Rainy season got you down? Young children can still have a chance to shake their sillies out at this indoor playground at the Agana Shopping Center. With plenty of places to run, jump, slide, and climb, Playport is a perfect place to meet friends for a playdate. Walk over to Yogurtland afterwards for a special treat before heading home for naptime.

Family Adventure Tours  Alupang Beach Club Tours  Turtle Tours

Aquarium  UnderWater World

Waterparks  Tarza  Onward  Pacific Islands Club

Guided Hikes and Snorkeling  Guam Environmental Education Committee: epa.guam.gov or search them on Facebook
Oct 12, 2024 - Today Islamic Date in Botswana is 10 Rabi Al-Akhar 1446. Islamic Date is also called Hijri Date or Today Arabic Date in the Muslim world that follows Moon phases as a lunar calendar. Check the exact Islamic date today in Botswana with an accurate Hijri date updated daily.

Today Islamic date in Botswana is calculated as per the lunar based calendar which consists of 12 Lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. A Muslim must know about the exact Islamic date today or chand ki date.

What is Islamic Date in Botswana today?

Todays Islamic Date in Botswana in Islamic Hijri calendar is 10 Rabi Al-Akhar 1446. The current Islamic year is 1445 AH.

Today Islamic date in Botswana

Islamic Date Today  Islam is the second biggest religion in the world with around 1.8 billion followers. Muslim population is not present in the Muslim countries but they are also in significant numbers in other countries. Muslims follow Hijri calendar to celebrate Islamic events according to the Islamic month date. However, the Islamic date today in Botswana is as per the Islamic calendar. Thats why the Muslim calendar usually gives just the overview of today Islamic date in Botswana 2024 and other upcoming dates. On this page, you can easily confirm the Islamic date today in Botswana or Hijri date in Botswana.

You can utilize this page to plan your vacations according to the Islamic holidays 2024 such as Eid al Fitr, Eid Al Adha, Hajj, etc. You can find the Urdu date today along with the respective Georgian date. You can see the Islamic date today in Botswana and also the dates of upcoming events.

This page is a perfect place for people who are interested in today Islamic date in Botswana 2024. It is recommended that you should bookmark this page to keep updated about the Islamic date today in Botswana 2024. Islamic months are as follow Muharram, Safar, Rabi ul Awal, Rabi Al-Akhir (Rabi' al-Thani), Jumada Al-Awwal (Jumada al-Ula), Jumada Al-Akhirah (Jumada l-Ukhra or Jumada al-Thani), Rajab, Shaban (Sha'ban), Ramadan (also spell as Ramazan, Ramzan, Ramadhan), Shawwal, Dhul-Qadah (Dhu al-Qi'dah or Zu al-Qa'dah) and Dhul-Hijjah (Dhu al-Hijjah or Zu al-Hijjah).

Today Arabic date for Mahalapye, Selebi Phikwe, Serowe, Mochudi, Molepolole, Francistown, Gaborone, Mogoditshane, Kanye, Maun and others cities are also available on this page.
By Alimat Aliyeva

The authorities of Serbia and the People's Republic of China will sign more than 30 agreements during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Belgrade, Azernews reports.

It is noted that the security of the delegation of the head of China, numbering 400 people, will be provided by 3.4 thousand police officers. In the air, Xi Jinping's flight will be met by Serbian MiG-29 fighters who will accompany him from the border, and the Serbian army guard will be lined up at the Belgrade airfield. A solemn reception of the Chinese delegation will be organized in front of the "Chamber of Serbia" and more than 30 agreements are planned to be signed.

Xi Jinping will be on a state visit to Serbia on May 7-8. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said this visit to Serbia would be the first in eight years and would be "an important milestone in improving and renewing Sino-Serbian relations." Xi Jinping and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic are expected to discuss the international and regional situation, raising the level of Chinese-Serbian relations, and outline a course for the development of bilateral ties.

Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, on the eve of the Chinese leader's visit, noted that China is a reliable ally and strategic partner of Serbia, and relations between the two countries will continue to develop despite the discontent of the West. He pointed out that "the highest point of cooperation this year will be the ratification and entry into force of the free trade agreement," which will open the doors of a large Chinese market for Serbian entrepreneurs.

Vucevic expressed confidence that Xi Jinping's visit to Belgrade "will mark a new stage in the development of steely friendship between Serbia and China." The iron, or steel, friendship between China and Serbia is the official wording used by Beijing and Belgrade to describe bilateral relations.
After a decade of police work, Blue the Black Lab will officially take his last call Wednesday night in front of the same folks who hired him in the first place  Sheriff Ed Lester and Butte-Silver Bow commissioners.

Like he has his entire career, hell end his last shift by going home with his longtime handler, Sgt. Steve Honer. But this time, hell be hanging up the badge for good.

Hes had a good run at it, Honer said.

Lester has asked commissioners to authorize the transfer of retired Officer Blue to Honer at Wednesday nights council meeting, and Blue and Honer plan to be there for the occasion.

Moose, Buttes new police dog, is expected to make an appearance, too, with his handler, Officer Jackson Kappes. But every dog has its day, and this day will belong to Blue.

Blue has done a great job of being a drug enforcement dog, but he has also been a good ambassador for our department, Lester told The Montana Standard on Monday. Hes put a lot of people behind bars, but hes able to interact with kids as well.

He has done his job well and he deserves a long, happy retirement.

Blue is not an apprehension K-9, or bite dog like the German shepherds many departments have who can take down suspects and use their teeth to subdue them.

But Blue can sniff out illegal drugs and track with the best of them.

In 230 official deployments, hes amassed some impressive career stats, including seizures totals of:

1,016 grams of marijuana equivalent to 2.24 pounds

10,691 grams of methamphetamine equivalent to 23.57 pounds

176.16 grams of heroin

20.96 grams of cocaine

$13,093 in cash and $700 in counterfeit cash

Numerous drug paraphernalia and firearms

His nose and actions have directly led to 156 arrests, 89 felony charges and 67 misdemeanor charges.

Hes been a star tracker, too.

One search ended with the arrest of a man suspected in an Anaconda homicide. One time when a man fleeing from police bailed from an ATV and took off, Blue went over a fence, under a pine tree, found the mans motorcycle helmet and led officers right to the suspect.

He wasnt always searching for criminals.

When some kids ran away from the Acadia youth treatment center one night, Honer and Blue were called in.

It was a cold night that night, 15 to 20 below, Honer recalls. They (the kids) ended up being in a barn. But we got them and they were safely recovered.

Blue went through extensive training before Honer and the department got him in October 2015, but he started work just before he was a year-old  very early for a police dog. Hes lived with Honer and his family ever since.

My youngest (child) is now 14 but in the beginning it was his dog. I just got to take him to work, Honer said.

Blue knows when he is on or off the clock and when hes working, what kind of assignment he on.

When I put a vest on him, he knows that, OK, were going to be doing a demonstration or something, Honer said. Then Ive got a harness  and when I put that on, he knows hes shutting down narcotics and were going to be doing tracking.

Blue knows when he gets home, he can shut all that off, Honer said.

Honer has been trying to ease Blue into retirement mode a little, but said, Its gonna be tough for him I think.

Even this morning, now that Officer Jackson has my old K-9 rig, I have to scoot him away from the door and leave him here, and he looks confused, Honer said. So hes been avoiding me a little bit, like hes disciplining me now.

So when I come home I just give him extra love and extra play time, just to let him know that, OK, youre still going to have fun, you still gonna do these things, and hopefully that makes things better.

Moose is a chocolate lab and a bit bigger and more muscular than Blue. Butte is hosting an advanced K-9 training conference this week, with 30 to 40 dogs from western states attending, and Moose officially starts police work after that.

Moose was in training for about a year-and-a-half, Kappes said, then he and Moose did training together.

There was a three-week period where we had to get me up to speed, Kappes said with a smile. The dogs already there, it was getting me up to speed.

Still, theres more learning ahead.

Blue is great around anybody and any dog  hes very well-controlled. His obedience is very high and not much gets him going, Kappes said. Mine, even though he is 3-years-old, hes still got a lot of puppy in him.
Mayor Nancy Vaughan and some other officials have suggested that the city could offer amenities to the neighborhood around White Street Landfill as compensation for using the landfill for dumping dirt from a polluted park about four miles away.

But some residents feel disrespected, accusing officials of pitting one disadvantaged Black community against another. And during a recent meeting, Vaughan found herself apologizing.

Resident Kay Brandon was offended after Vaughan raised the possibility of enhancements such as sidewalks.

I almost find it insulting that Mayor Vaughan is offering amenities to White Street, Brandon said. White Street should have had amenities a long time ago and only now are you saying this.

Vaughan responded: I apologize if my idea of offering amenity didnt come off well. It was meant that I know that we are going to be inconveniencing a neighborhood and is there a way to pay them with an amenity for that inconvenience? Maybe that means accelerating other projects. Wed certainly love to hear from the neighborhood.

The exchange took place during a meeting of the Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro that focused primarily on how the city will go about disposing of dirt from Bingham Park.

Bingham Parks soil is contaminated with arsenic, lead and other heavy metals because the park was created atop an unregulated landfill used between the 1920s and 1950s.

The park is now closed to the public and the city is currently working toward a full remediation of the site, which will require the removal of nearly 11,500 dump truck loads of dirt.

No decision has been made on where the dirt will be taken, but city leaders have identified the White Street Landfill as the preferred alternative. The city is also considering the Great Oak Landfill in Asheboro and the Uwharrie Landfill in Troy.

The citys preference is partly because of the cost. Officials estimate the cost of using White Street at between $24 and $27 million, compared to about $36 million for Great Oak and $54 million for Uwharrie. The proximity of White Street would also allow the city to complete the project sooner as well.

Greensboro has already received up to $12.1 million for the project  $11 million in funds from the state government and $1.1 million from the federal government  and could receive an additional $7-10 million from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

City officials have worked to persuade residents around White Street that the disposal will be safe. They have said the waste in question is firmly attached to the soil and does not tend to break off and go into the air.

Officials have also said the dirt would be carried in covered trucks, would follow a route that would minimize the impact on the neighborhoods and would be placed in a regulated, lined landfill.

District 1 Councilwoman Sharon Hightower, whose district includes Bingham Park, and District 2 Councilwoman Goldie Wells, who represents the area around White Street Landfill, have both attempted to ease residents concerns about the use of the landfill.

Like Bingham Park, the White Street Landfill has a history tied to environmental justice. In 2005, the landfill was closed to municipal trash after residents and community leaders campaigned for the change. The landfill now accepts only construction and demolition debris.

Byron Gladden, a former Guilford County Schools Board of Education member, was among the most vocal critics of the idea of using White Street. He said during a recent meeting that members of the community around the landfill have been left out of the conversation in the past.

It gives the appearance of District 1 had meetings to get (Environmental Justice) and Bingham Park on board with what they want to do and then White Street, Nealtown are being told what they are going to do, Gladden said. It does feel how the process has pitted two communities against each other because we didnt start together at the table.

Hightower pushed back against those claims.

Let me correct you and say that people on the (Environmental Justice) team are from District 2 as well, but it was not a District 1 vs 2 discussion, Hightower said. It was a Bingham Park Environmental Justice discussion. So we are not pitting 1 against 2.

The discussion between Gladden and Hightower turned into a loud argument that ended with Gladden having his microphone silenced.
Saudi-based Retal Urban Development Company has awarded a contract worth SAR240 million ($64 million) to its key subsidiary Building Construction Company (BCC) for the construction of eight residential buildings in Sedra district in Riyadh City, without any preferential conditions or benefits.

As per the deal, the BCC will complete the entire construction work within 26 months from the effective date of the contract, writes a TradeArabia staff reporter citing a Retal filing to Saudi bourse Tadawul.

The project is expected to have a positive impact on the company's results post the start of the project execution for the years 2024, 2025 and 2026, it stated.

Established in Khobar region of Saudi Arabia, BCC is one of the largest heavy civil contractors in the kingdom offering services in terms of buildings construction, renovations and infrastructure.

This BCC contract award comes close on the heels of its recent win from Retal for 352 residential units in the Sadayem Suburb of Jeddah.

The Sadayem project will come up over a 100,959 sq m area in the Saudi port city.-TradeArabia News Service
The US asked communications providers to rip out and replace equipment made by Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation years ago, but is yet to provide all the funding needed for this task.

The chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, Jessica Rosenworcel, said in a statement last Thursday that there was a shortfall of more than US$3 billion (A$4.52 billion) in the FCC's "rip and replace" program.

This initiative was meant to "secure Americas communications networks by removing, replacing, and disposing of communications equipment and services produced or provided by Huawei Technologies or ZTE Corporation", the statement said.

"The Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act requires this removal, replacement, and disposal, and established the FCCs reimbursement program which has only been appropriated US$1.9 billion toward the approximately US$4.98 billion in reimbursable costs," she said.

In September 2019, it wasthat legislation supported by both sides of politics in the US was seeking US$1 billion to help small and rural wireless providers replace equipment made by Huawei and ZTE.

A similar bill was approved in July that year to provide about US$700 million to remove Huawei equipment from the American telecommunications network supply chain.

Since 2012, when a Congressional inquiry was held, the US has been pushing to get Huawei and ZTE products out of the national market. It has also been trying, with some success, to convince countries it considers allies to do likewise.

In her letter, Rosenworcel listed what she said were the risks to national security, network reliability, and small businesses should the program funding fall short of achieving its goals.

This program secures our communications networks by supporting the removal, replacement, and disposal of communications equipment and services produced or provided by Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation. The successful implementation of the Reimbursement Program is one of the Commissions top priorities, she wrote. I am writing  to emphasise again the urgent need for full funding of the Reimbursement Program.

The letter claimed nearly 40% of the participants were unable to complete the necessary rip and replace work without additional government funding. Several recipients had informed the FCC that the funding shortfall could result in the shutdown of their networks or lead to them having to withdraw from the program.

It said given that program recipients served many rural and remote areas of the country where they may be the only mobile broadband service provider, a shutdown of all or part of their networks could eliminate the only provider in some regions.

Due to the funding shortfall, the FCC said it was required to first allocate funding to applicants with two million or fewer customers. These applicants would receive prorated support of only 39.5% of reasonable costs.

It added that the inability of program participants to fully remove, replace, and dispose of covered equipment and services would also raise national security concerns by leaving insecure equipment and services in US networks.

The letter said this could also raise network compatibility issues associated with piecemeal replacement of covered equipment and could cause vendors to shift their work to carriers that were not participating in the program.

In July 2022, the FCC announced the approved program applicants, all of whom provided detailed plans for their rip and replace work and initial cost estimates. Those applicants then submitted at least one reimbursement claim by July 2023 and were required to complete the work within one year of the initial distribution of reimbursement funds to the recipient.

Rosenworcel said the program had received more than 20,000 reimbursement claims across 122 of the 126 applications approved for funding, and the agency had granted 64 extensions of time to complete their rip and replace obligations  including 52 based in whole, or in part, on the funding shortfall.
COMPANY NEWS: Today Yubico, the leading provider of hardware authentication security keys, announced the upcoming release of YubiKey 5.7 firmware for the YubiKey 5 Series, Security Key Series and Security Key Series - Enterprise Edition. With a focus on enterprise needs, these updates reinforce Yubicos commitment to providing secure, simple, and scalable authentication solutions.

Security keys with firmware 5.7 will be available to purchase in late May 2024, offering enhanced features such as improved PIN complexity, enterprise attestation, and expanded passkey credentials storage. These updates empower organisations to adopt passwordless-first, modern authentication, fostering phishing-resistant users worldwide.

As part of Yubicos goal of helping enterprises raise the bar for security with greater flexibility, the company also announced the availability of Yubico Authenticator 7 which will support the upcoming YubiKey 5.7 features.

Organisations are continuing to face a surge in the variety and complexity of cyber threats at historical rates, often fuelled by compromised employee login credentials, frequently resulting from attacks such as phishing. This trend is exacerbated by the rise in use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), said Yubico senior vice president of product Jeff Wallace.

Were excited to continue offering best-in-class solutions that protect organisations and accelerate their transition to passwordless with the latest enterprise-focused updates to the YubiKey. Were confident that organisations are now better equipped than ever to enforce compliance requirements and elevate their security posture throughout their organisation.

YubiKey 5.7: Accelerating enterprises to passwordless

To help organisations tackle this challenge, Yubicos key updates and enhancements to the YubiKey 5 Series and Security Key Series*include:

Enhanced PIN complexity across all YubiKey applications

Block simple patterns and common PINs at the hardware level to enable compliance with upcoming NIST requirements and corporate mandates. This includes Fido2, PIV, and OpenPGP.

Enterprise attestation

Allow organisations to enforce the usage of YubiKeys that they purchased via custom programmed keys with enterprise attestation. Working in conjunction with identity providers, this capability can also facilitate the retrieval of unique identifiers during Fido2 registration to streamline asset tracking and account recovery.

Fido2 enhancements

Empower organisations to enforce compliance requirements and elevate security measures surrounding PIN usage. YubiKey 5.7 implements Fido Client-to-Authenticator Protocol (CTAP) 2.1, embracing the latest Fido2 protocol features such as Force PIN Change and Minimum PIN Length.

Expanded passkey and passwordless storage

Provide ample storage space to meet authentication needs while maintaining strong security standards. More storage for Fido2 discoverable credentials (passkeys) and OATH one-time passwords will now accommodate up to 100 passkeys, 24 PIV certificates, 64 OATH seeds, and 2 OTP seeds at once for a total of 190 credentials.

Expansion and enhancement of public key algorithms for PIV applications

Align with DoD memo requirements and offer advanced key management functions, enhancing flexibility for organisations through support of larger RSA keys (RSA-3072 and RSA-4096), as well as Ed25519 and X25519 key types.

Migration to Yubicos own cryptographic library

Yubico has developed a library in-house that performs the underlying cryptographic operations (decryption, signing, etc.) for RSA and ECC.

The new features within 5.7 allow enterprises to streamline critical processes such as asset tracking and account recovery, while also enhancing flexibility, said Wallace. These updates empower enterprises with the latest authentication advancements and tools to build specific strategies for creating phishing-resistant users and mitigating phishing threats for employees, external identities, and customers.

Capabilities in the new 5.7 YubiKeys also align with recent U.S. Government memo requirements on adopting phishing-resistant MFA and offer advanced key management functions. Compliance with upcoming NIST requirements and corporate mandates is also supported by enforcing the blocking of simple patterns and common PINs at the hardware level.

Note: Smart Card/PIV capabilities, OATH and OTP credentials are not available on any Security Key Series thus these updates are not applicable. Enterprise attestation is available on the YubiKey 5 Series and Security Key Series - Enterprise Edition. See here for more details.

Yubico Authenticator 7: Hardware-backed authenticator app across desktop and mobile

Aligned with the 5.7 firmware release, significant updates within Yubico Authenticator 7 launched today in support of managing these new features. This new version enables use of the new public key algorithms for PIV, bringing more advanced management options and streamlines the interface for a better user experience when handling many credentials.

Additionally, it adds localisation with official support for French and Japanese, with additional community-provided translations. The app is now available for all major desktop platforms, as well as for Android. Enhanced features for iOS will be coming in the next version of the iOS application. It's the perfect companion to the new YubiKey 5.7, with its expanded credential storage.



The Yubico Authenticator delivers strong security by enabling users to store credentials on a YubiKey instead of a mobile phone, thereby significantly removing risks posed by remote attackers targeting software-based authenticator apps. By incorporating hardware-backed strong two-factor authentication in the YubiKey, credentials stay safe and the bar for security is raised while delivering the convenience of an authenticator app.

For more information on todays innovation announcements from Yubico, visit here. To get the Yubico Authenticator 7 app, visit here.

About Yubico

Yubico, the inventor of the YubiKey, offers the gold standard for phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA), stopping account takeovers in their tracks and making secure login easy and available for everyone. Since the company was founded in 2007, it has been a leader in setting global standards for secure access to computers, mobile devices, servers, browsers, and internet accounts. Yubico is a creator and core contributor to the Fido2, WebAuthn, and Fido Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) open authentication standards, and is a pioneer in delivering modern, hardware-based passkey authentication security at scale to customers in over 160 countries.

Yubicos solutions enable passwordless logins using the most secure form of passkey technology. YubiKeys work out-of-the-box across hundreds of consumer and enterprise applications and services, delivering strong security with a fast and easy experience.

As part of its mission to make the internet more secure for everyone, Yubico donates YubiKeys to organisations helping at-risk individuals through the philanthropic initiative, Secure it Forward. The company is headquartered in Stockholm and Santa Clara, CA. For more information on Yubico, visit us at www.yubico.com.
Tech Data, a global distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem, is launching Tech Data Capital in Australia, Singapore and India, offering flexible financing solutions powered by selected financial institutions exclusively to its partners and end-customers.

Following earlier launches in North America and Europe, Tech Data - a TD SYNNEX company - says this expansion further bolsters efforts to leverage its strength, agility, and expertise in delivering solutions that cater to the needs of the channel ecosystem.

As rapid technological changes introduce significant business challenges, vendors, distributors, and partners are seeing the channel as a reliable source to validate and scale new technologies and to obtain guidance and business insights, notes Tech Data.

Many partners are exploring alternative sources for financing or enhanced payment solutions to fund business growth, invest in new technologies, and meet customer demand. Per our recent Direction of Technology 2023 Report for Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ), credit and financial scalability emerged as a key challenge for 59% of partners in the region.

With Tech Data Capitals value-added payment solutions that are powered by selected financial institutions, IT channel partners and their clients have new ways of extending their overall purchasing power, to increase profits and accelerate the growth of the IT ecosystem.

While the APJ technology market is dynamic and competitive with many opportunities for growth and innovation in the channel, credit and financial scalability remain a challenge, said Matt Shifrin, Chief Financial Officer, Tech Data APJ. Together with our financial partners, Tech Data Capitals flexible payment solutions will empower our partners and customers to scale their purchases and operations, facilitating accelerated business growth while propelling the overall IT ecosystem forward.

Tech Data is committed to empowering our partners with business model agility and the tools essential for current and future success. Robust financing is an urgent need for partners to capture growth across the APJ region. Tech Data Capital is one of such tools for our ecosystem, that will enhance their financial capacity to address rapidly changing business models and evolving customer demands, said Jaideep Malhotra, President of TD SYNNEX, Asia Pacific & Japan.

Through its partnership with selected financial institutions, Tech Data Capital simplifies the financing process where a payment solution can be integrated into a product sale and be funded for the full term upfront. This eliminates credit risk for the partner and provides increased customer value. Partners will also gain access to dedicated financial teams with expertise, comprehensive training, and integrated selling alongside product marketing and sales teams. Partners will be able to offer financing options such as installment payments and deferred payments, with terms ranging from 12 to 60 months, Tech Data concludes.

Tech Data Capital launches in Singapore on 6 May 2024 and in Australia on 16 May 2024, and the launch for India will be announced at a later date.
UAE-founded real estate developer with global aspirations, Damac Properties, has announced brand-new office openings in Beijing and Singapore.

With its sights firmly set on global expansion, the office openings signal the brands push and significant investment and commitment to APAC.

As UAEs largest private real estate developer with headquarters in Dubai since 1982, Damac has grown exponentially to an impressive diverse portfolio, including luxury real estate developments, hospitality experiences, data centres, retail, fashion, and capital markets. In December 2023, Damac announced plans to enter the Chinese market with its entry into Shanghai, capitalising on the growing demand for the UAE and Damacs portfolio from Chinese HNWI and UHNWI investors.

The official ribbon-cutting and event in Singapore was conducted by Jamal Abdulla AlSuwaidi, Ambassador of UAE to the Republic of Singapore, Dr Brian Shegar, President, UAE Singapore Business Council, Mohamed Al Zarooni, UAE Head of Economic Affairs and Media, Singapore, and Hany Kotat, VP, International Sales, Damac Properties. The launch event included CEOs and Heads of the top brokerage firms in Singapore, including Propex, Huttons, ERA, Orange Tee and Tie and SRI.

Redefining luxury

Abbas Sajwani, Board Member, Damac Properties, commented: Since 2002, Damac Properties has been synonymous with redefining luxury. We are excited as we expand our footprint further into APAC with our recent office openings in Beijing and Singapore. With excellence in our DNA, today we create products of the highest international standards.

Across APAC, we see discerning, seasoned, high-value individuals who are looking to buy premium and quality developments for investments and as a home alike. We look forward to working with our partners in bringing Damacs acclaimed global portfolio to APAC markets.

Today, Damacs total portfolio comprises over 75+ towers, multiple branded residences, large communities, hotels and hotel apartments across 12 global cities such as Dubai, London, Toronto and Riyadh.

Some of the globally acclaimed projects include Damac Tower Nine Elms London, Europe's first Versace-branded luxury residence tower, Safa Two by de GRISOGONO, overlooking the iconic Dubai Canal, Canal Crown by de GRISOGONO, Mediterranean lifestyle inspired Damac Lagoons- UAEs first pre-certified LEED Platinum community. A range of upcoming projects include Zaha Hadid Architects designed condo in Miami and a luxury resort in partnership with Mandarin Oriental in Maldives that is set to redefine the standards of luxury hospitality.

Delivering on promises

Anson Tay, Managing Partner, SRI: Dubais property market and the city continue to be attractive for investors and residents from Singapore and across APAC. Dubais leading developers know and understand luxury craftsmanship in real estate developments well. Damac is one example that has delivered on promises with a whole range of luxury developments and investment opportunities.

Michael Long, CEO, Senturion Real Estate, said: A TrendLens report in 2023 from luxury consulting firm Agility revealed that more than 20% of Chinese millionaires were planning to visit the Middle East in 2024 with consumers having accumulated capital to invest in international real estate. Dubai and the UAE offer high yields, safety, speed, stability and an opportunity to own true luxury and quality with a developer like Damac.--TradeArabia News Service
A year after news started breaking of indictments in Nebraska in connection with a multi-million dollar marijuana and money laundering conspiracy, the U.S. Attorney's Office is seeking the forfeiture of $7.4 million in cash and accounts, plus a laundry list of high-end property that includes an original Andy Warhol painting.

It was seized between November and December and is being held by the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Bunjer on Friday filed a "complaint for forfeiture in rem" against the seized property itself, which allows personal property to be forfeited to the U.S. government without filing a case in federal court.

However, 11 men already face federal charges in Nebraska in connection with the underlying allegations, sparked by a traffic stop in 2019 near Lincoln that turned up a marijuana trafficking and money laundering conspiracy that stretched from California to New York.

The 66-page complaint filed last week in Omaha reads, in part, like a Sotheby's auction listing, complete with four pages of goods.

Among them, Andy Warhol's original Apple Painting and "David Starts to Make Up for Scary Monster," an original, 1980 Polaroid of David Bowie, along with a half-dozen Rolex watches, two Tiffany platinum and diamond rings sandwiched between Hermes flatware, and a bevy of high-end headboards, sideboards, coffee tables, clocks and chairs.

Bunjer said the items are subject to forfeiture under federal statute because they constitute property involved in money laundering or derived from other unlawful activity, like drug trafficking.

On page 20, she tied it specifically to the stop Sept. 12, 2019, northwest of Lincoln by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office Interdiction Unit that turned up 90 pounds of marijuana, 3,001 THC vape cartridges and 30 pounds of marijuana shatter bound for Papillion.

The investigation that followed by the Homeland Security Investigations Major Crimes Financial Task Force, which includes investigators with the sheriffs office, Nebraska State Patrol, and agents from the Department of Homeland Security, led to a search of a Papillion home a few months later that turned up close to 150 pounds more of marijuana and THC.

Bunjer said that through the investigation law enforcement learned the seized marijuana had been shipped through a company called Fastbox, with warehouses in New York and California and storage units around the country in Chicago, Cincinnati and Kansas City.

A year ago, the first five of 11 people were indicted in Nebraska in connection with the investigation and searches that followed, which turned up $5.5 million in suspected drug money.

Bunjer described the continuing investigation into the money trail, which led to money orders and cash payments tied to the purchase of more than $145,000 in art and sculptures at a gallery in New York City, $900,000 in fine art, furniture and collectibles paid for in cash at a Los Angeles auction house and at least $3.5 million in cash pickups by an armored car service in LA.

On April 12, 2023, Homeland Security investigators went to James Reja's home in California to arrest him, but he was able to slip out the back door.

Bunjer said Reja, who was believed to be one of the leaders of the operation, killed himself on Nov. 13, 2023, to avoid apprehension.

The other suspected leader, David Leidermann, is awaiting trial, along with nine others.

Bunjer said between 2011 and 2022, one cooperating defendant received about $12 million cash in marijuana proceeds from Reja and Leidermann for the purchase of Rolex watches, fine art, fine furniture, vehicles and houses and estimated Reja's collection was worth upwards of $15 million.

She said the witness said Reja's primary source of cash was from the illegal sale of marijuana and, after the warrant went out for his arrest, said he couldn't believe "all of this over weed."

Bunjer said a driver is believed to have made two trips to move art and collectibles for Reja last summer, after he was indicted, to a property along the coast in Elk, California.

She said that on Dec. 12, federal investigators seized furniture, art and jewelry from the home in Elk; the Warhol painting and $630,680 cash, jewelry, watches and flatware from a home in Jupiter, Florida; and $4,698,314 in cash, plus three watches from an apartment in LA.

Top Journal Star photos for May 2024
A third man has been arrested in connection to an October downtown Lincoln shooting that left four injured, according to the Lincoln Police Department.

Alvin Jones, 25, of South Sioux City, was arrested Monday on suspicion of four counts of second-degree assault, use of a firearm to commit a felony and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

The shooting occurred on Oct. 20 at about 12:45 a.m. near 14th and O streets, police say.

Officers responded to the area and helped one person who suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Police were made aware later that day of three more people who went to a local hospital with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Officers found 41 casings in the area from four different brands of ammunition, according to the probable cause affidavit for Chudier Tut, who was arrested on April 23 for allegedly being involved in the same shooting.

A 17-year-old Omaha teen, Teethloach Biel, was the first suspect to be arrested in March for the shooting.

Top Journal Star photos for May 2024
The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), represented by the Sharjah Exports Development Centre (SEDC), will embark on a trade mission to India on May 5, as part of its commitment to support and facilitate the exploration of investment opportunities available for both sides, a report said.

The mission, scheduled from May 5-10, will look for prospects for promoting cooperation and coordination between the business communities of Sharjah and India, to increase momentum in fostering communication between investors in both countries and boost Sharjahs industrial and commercial exports, Emirates News Agency, WAM, said.

Abdullah Sultan Al Owais, Chairman of SCCI, will lead the delegation, which will be accompanied by several officials from the chamber, including Waleed Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, Second Vice Chairman of the SCCIs Board of Directors, and Ziyad Mohmoud Khairalla, Board Member and Honorary Treasurer at the SCCI among others.

The missions agenda is packed with a series of meetings with entrepreneurs and businessmen in both Chennai and Mumbai, in addition to site visits to key establishments and companies representing the local business community.

The delegation will also organise business forums and symposiums that will bring together investors, officials, and business leaders from various chambers of commerce and industry.

Al Shamsi stressed that the chamber's trade mission to India underscores its commitment to boosting the economic and commercial relations between Sharjah and the South Asian country.

The chamber also seeks to showcase the diverse opportunities that continually encourage Indian companies to invest in the emirate, including the facilitations and supportive governmental initiatives the SCCI offers for foreign investors, and its capacity to connect the business community in Sharjah with its Indian counterpart, he added.

Al Muhairi affirmed that Sharjah and India's strong economic partnership is an important example of beneficial and productive cooperation.

He added that the economic and trade collaboration between the two sides is witnessing significant growth, which can be attributed to the trade missions spearheaded by the chamber through the centre. This highlights the chambers commitment to enhancing its cooperation and building sustainable partnerships with the Indian business community.

The SCCI incorporates the Indian Business and Professional Council with an estimated 18,500 Indian companies currently operating in the emirate, according to its members, reflecting the ongoing efforts of Sharjahs business sectors to attract new Indian investments.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the U.S. Department of Agriculture began collaborating on methods and technologies to improve farming and ranching more than a century ago.

On Monday, the land-grant university and the USDA's scientific arm broke ground on a $160 million facility both agencies say will lay the groundwork for agricultural innovation to continue well into the 21st century.

The National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Agriculture at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln aims to pioneer new methods and technology for feeding a growing population using fewer resources.

"We need all hands on deck," Chavonda Jacobs-Young, the USDA's chief scientist and under secretary for research, education and economics, told a full room at the Nebraska Innovation Campus Conference Center.

With the Earth's population expected to reach 9 billion people by the year 2050, Jacobs-Young said food production will need to increase 70% to keep up, while water use will rise by 30% and energy production will grow by 50%.

"We need everyone working together to develop creative, sustainable and strategic plans to help us feed the future," she added.

The new Agricultural Research Center, the 96th in its portfolio that spreads across the U.S., will be the latest USDA facility to open in conjunction with a public university system.

It will house as many as 150 scientists as well as the staff to support them in two offices: the Agroecosystem Management Research Unit and the Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research Unit.

Their work will focus on developing integrated cropping systems and livestock management technology, as well as improving the resilience of wheat, sorghum and forage crops to pests and pathogens, increasing their sustainability in a changing climate.

Both areas will enable UNL and the USDA to expand their longstanding research partnership into fast-growing areas like precision agriculture, water management and climate resilience, the university and federal agency said.

Jacobs-Young, in her keynote address, said scientific research has always played a crucial role in growing agriculture in the U.S. and will continue to do so into the future.

Between 1948 and 2019, she said, total agricultural production in the U.S. increased by 142% despite the amount of land and labor involved in agriculture declining over that same period.

Publicly funded innovations in crop and animal science, pest management and on-farm practices have "yielded significant dividends," not only for ag producers but also the economy as a whole.

For every $1 invested in ag research, she said, the economy has received a $20 return, which has also benefited small, medium and large farm and ranch operations.

In recent years, other countries like China have outspent and even doubled the U.S.'s federal funding in agricultural research. Jacobs-Young said American spending on agricultural innovations has declined by one-third.

But an investment like that at Nebraska Innovation Campus is part of an effort to reverse that trend, she said, adding the national center will be an "innovation-enabling environment" where new breakthroughs will take place.

"The work done here at UNL is key to agriculture's success in the future," Jacobs-Young said. "The people here, all of you are key to the success, and it is incumbent on the rest of us to provide you with the most modernized facilities and state-of-the-art equipment possible."

Monday's groundbreaking marks the latest chapter in a long saga to locate a USDA research facility at Nebraska Innovation Campus that dates back to the mid-2000s.

At that time, university leaders and federal officials envisioned a research center located on the former State Fairgrounds focused on renewable fuels like ethanol and conservation of water resources.

Funding for the estimated $60 million facility became impossible to secure, however, as the practice of earmarking certain projects for federal appropriations bills was temporarily banned and the idea was shelved for the next decade.

Beginning in 2021, former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry secured $11.2 million to begin planning a new center at Innovation Campus before winning an additional $20 million for construction.

Fischer succeeded in adding $25 million for construction to an appropriations bill last year while Rep. Mike Flood won $3 million more from a House Appropriations ag bill. An additional $20 million has also been set aside for staffing the facility.

On Monday, Fischer said the National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture would "push the boundaries of ag research," benefiting Nebraska's 44,000 farmers and ranchers, as well as the state as a whole.

Nebraska's senior senator also said there were opportunities to use her position on the Appropriations Committee to steer investments into NU, both through the upcoming Farm Bill and other legislation, as well as into infrastructure projects across the state.

"This is taxpayer dollars coming back to the state," Fischer said. "I'm looking at creating an investment here at the university, and I'm looking at investments in water projects, roads, bridges, and airports.

"Those are investments in the future of this state," she added.

Flood said securing additional funding for the USDA lab located in Lincoln, which he said was a community ready and willing to support such a center and the people who will work there, ranked among his top appropriations priorities in the coming year.

Gov. Jim Pillen said Nebraska has long been at the forefront of agricultural innovation while conserving vital natural resources such as the Ogallala Aquifer, the largest underground reservoir in the western hemisphere.

"We feed the world and we save the planet doing it," he said.

NU Interim President Chris Kabourek said the agricultural research center demonstrated what was possible when the university, state, and federal leaders were in alignment.

"With this new facility, we are going to keep Nebraska in the driver's seat in an area that matters to our state and to people around the world," Kabourek said.

And UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett said the state-of-the-art greenhouses and research labs will help the university build momentum in training graduates to fill those high-wage, high-skill, high-need jobs.

Work to connect utilities to the site  which NU leased to the USDA for the next 20 years  will continue through the spring and summer before construction begins in September or October, according to Mike Boehm, NU's vice president for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

A total of 15,000 square feet of greenhouses and 10,000 square feet of headhouse space  what officials are describing as the first phase of construction  will connect to the existing Greenhouse Innovation Center.

By the end of the decade, if Congress continues to appropriate funds for the project, work will begin on a 120,000-square-foot lab and office building, Boehm said.

NU is also planning a companion building called the Nebraska Ag-Tech Innovation Accelerator that will eventually take research conducted at the USDA facility and turn it into marketable products or solutions.

The Legislature appropriated $25 million for the companion building in 2022 with the agreement NU would contribute an equal amount from private donations.

"My hope is we break ground on that in the next three years to make good on the unicameral's investment," Boehm said.

Top Journal Star photos for May 2024
The UW-Madison students who set up a pro-Palestine encampment on Library Mall last week issued a list of six demands of university leadership. As of Tuesday, the encampment was still in place and negotiations were ongoing, though Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin has pushed back against some of the students' demands.

On Monday, a group of Jewish and Israeli students met with Mnookin to present their own 12-item list of demands. The students, who also described to the chancellor their own experiences with harassment and antisemitism on campus, said in a statement that they want the university to take a stand against hate and promote the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea.

Here are the student organizers' demands, as written by them:

Pro-Palestine protesters

1. Divest from occupation, borders, and prisons from Palestine to Teejop, by divesting from all companies on the AFSC list;

2. Disclose all of UW Foundation's investments;

3. Cut all ties with Israeli institutions, including the Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund, Mosse Graduate Exchange Fellowship and study abroad programs in Israel;

4. Call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to end the ongoing genocide, and an end to the siege on Gaza;

5. Get cops off campus;

6. Stop the land grabs and cease expansion, in order to house our community.

Jewish and Israeli students

1. Adopt the IHRA definition of Antisemitism: We respectfully request that the University adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism so there is a common understanding of what constitutes religious and racial discrimination, intimidation or threats.

2. Equal Condemnation of Antisemitism: We respectfully request equal, vociferous and multichannel condemnation of antisemitic phrases meant to intimidate Jewish and Israeli students, just as the University has done for other protected groups. The University must use its bully platform and moral standing to condemn, not condone.

3. Equal Representation in Negotiations: We respectfully request representatives from the community of Jewish and Israeli students as well as unaligned parties in any negotiation. The University cannot establish itself as a representative for counter-protesters or unaligned parties and it is unacceptable to move forward in negotiations without those voices.

4. Approval from the Board of Regents: We respectfully request that any agreements between the University and any other party regarding the protestors and Israeli-Hamas conflict have the affirmative approval of the Board of Regents. It should not be an executive decision.

5. Waive Chapter 18 or Enforce the Law: We respectfully request that the University either make a statement affirmatively waiving Chapter 18 or enforce the law. It is unjust to ignore the law for pro-Palestinian protesters while making it unclear that the same terms would apply for protests with different content. By providing amnesty, you have emboldened leaders of the encampment to believe that they have a right to appropriate the space for their interests only.

6. No Right to Privacy in Public Places: We respectfully request that the University update policies to acknowledge that protesters in breach of University policies or acting in contravention of law may not conceal their identities so as to purposefully evade accountability for such breaches or illegal acts.

7. Make it Clear that Exams Go On: We respectfully request that the University make it clear that professors or teaching faculty cannot cancel exams due to the protests, and that students will not be able to make up exams or assignments because of participation in the encampment. This request applies to participation in any protest regardless of its content, if said waiver would only be granted to students who support one side of a conflict.

8. Create a Graduation Free From Politics: We respectfully request that the University not only ensures commencement will go on as planned, but make it clear that it will be free of disruption by banning flags, banners and bullhorns. Furthermore, the University must publish and enforce that if any student disrupts graduation using a banner, flag and/or bullhorn so as to impair the quiet enjoyment of those other than them, the student will be subject to discipline up to and to the denial of a diploma.

9. Listen Carefully to Our Voices: We respectfully request that the UW administration listen carefully to the voices of Jewish, Israeli and unaligned students: Our pain and graphic experiences detail a hostile and unwelcome environment on campus that is a direct result from the illegal encampment. Our treatment violates the University's professed dedication to diversity and inclusion.

10. Stand Against Discriminatory, Arbitrary Boycotts: We respectfully request that the University take a moral stand against measures that discriminate against Israeli students or seek to cut ties with Israeli institutions. Such discrimination is not only unlawful but also deprives the community of the unique academic strengths and perspectives of Israeli individuals and institutions that are by far the most diverse and inclusive in the Middle East in terms of race, religion, sex, and gender identity. Few other universities in the Middle East have such a rich history tolerating the degree of academic freedom to dissent from official government positions as do Israeli universities.

11. Open a Dialogue on Activism in the Classroom: We respectfully request that the University open a forum for dialogue on how professors and students can best work toward creating welcoming classroom climates for all students and viewpoints in times of polarizing activism.

12. Institute a First Year Civics Requirement: We respectfully request that the University expand its freshman compulsory curriculum to include a civics requirement that helps students understand the importance of civil discourse, the boundaries of free speech and assembly, the means to petition for the redress of grievances and the nature of responsible protest.
Provisions in a law overhauling Wisconsin's alcohol industry that require wedding barn operators to secure a liquor license are unconstitutional and significantly harm private event venues, attorneys with a conservative law firm argue in a new lawsuit.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, on behalf of two wedding barn operators, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Trempealeau County Circuit Court seeking to block provisions in the new law, which Gov. Tony Evers signed late last year  specifically measures regulating private event venues that were pushed by several lobbying groups including the Tavern League of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin small business owners trying to make a living are seeing their entire lifes work thrown away at the hand of heavy-handed economic protectionism," WILL deputy counsel Lucas Vebber said in a statement. "The highest bidder and most well-paid lobbyists shouldnt write our laws."

Private event venues like wedding barns rent out areas for parties, with the renter responsible for purchasing and providing alcohol to guests. However, provisions in the new law add wedding barns to the list of spaces defined as a "public place," or any venue, open space, room or establishment that members of the public can rent for an event or social gathering.

"The new regulatory framework divides rentable property into two categories: those where alcohol consumption requires a permit and those where it does not," the lawsuit states. "The dividing line, however, between these two categories is, at best, arbitrary, and at worst, cronyism  either way, it cannot stand."

Attorneys for WILL say the change essentially gives the owners of such businesses three options: getting a liquor license, which comes with a cost and could also require modifications to their conditional use permits and investments to comply with tavern requirements; operating as a "no sale event venue," which drastically limits the number of events they can host; or no longer allowing alcohol at events.

The "no sale event venue" permit allows the venue to operate as it has in the past, with patrons providing their own alcohol, but it also limits the number of such events at one per month and no more than six total events in a year.

The private event venue provisions are slated to take effect in 2026. Attorneys for WILL argue in the lawsuit the changes violate business owners' constitutional right to equal protection and their right to earn a living.

The changes were opposed by many in the wedding barn industry, though several groups, including the Tavern League, largely supported the effort as a means to hold private event venues to the same standards as other establishments where liquor is served.

I am not in this to become a millionaire, we are just trying to get by," Jean Bahn, owner of Farmview Event Barn, said in a statement. Bahn said hosting weddings helps pay for farm and home upgrades.

The lawsuit was filed by the owners of Monarch Valley Weddings and Farmview Event Barn against the state Department of Revenue, which oversees the newly created Division of Alcohol Beverages, and agency Secretary David Casey.

The two wedding barns listed in the lawsuit do not have a liquor license and do not sell or provide alcohol, but they do allow people who rent the facility to bring alcohol and consume it at their venues.

Photos: Search through damage underway after storms hit Barnsdall Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms The Tulsa World is where your story lives HIDE VERTICAL GALLERY ASSET TITLES Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Follow the path of the Barnsdall tornado Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall 051524-tul-nws-barnsdallphotos-p2 Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall
Vice President Kamala Harris will make her fourth trip to Wisconsin this year as Democrats looks to secure another victory for President Joe Biden in the key battleground state this November.

Harris will return to Milwaukee on May 16 to highlight the Biden administration's efforts to build "economic opportunity, supported communities, and delivered historic investments for the American people," according to White House officials.

Additional details about the visit were not immediately available Tuesday.

The announcement comes as Biden prepares to visit Racine on Wednesday to deliver remarks on his "Investing in America" agenda, which aims to boost private sector spending, create new jobs and rebuild infrastructure. Biden's visit will take place near the site of the state's controversial Foxconn project, which was once billed by former President Donald Trump as a future "eighth wonder of the world," but the project never fully materialized.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation ultimately replaced the original Foxconn incentive package pledging 13,000 jobs with one providing $80 million if the company hires 1,454 workers and invests $672 million by 2026.

Trump made his second trip to the state last week with a rally in Waukesha, where he hammered Biden on issues ranging from the economy to immigration and the nations southern border.

Trump and Biden are locked in a neck-and-neck matchup in the battleground state, according to a Marquette Law School poll released last month.

The poll showed 51% of respondents  including both registered and likely voters  backed Trump, while 49% supported Biden, well within the polls 4.8% margin of error.

Polling in early November found Biden receiving support from 50% of respondents, compared with 48% for Trump.

Photos: Search through damage underway after storms hit Barnsdall Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms The Tulsa World is where your story lives HIDE VERTICAL GALLERY ASSET TITLES Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Follow the path of the Barnsdall tornado Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Storms Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall 051524-tul-nws-barnsdallphotos-p2 Barnsdall Barnsdall Barnsdall
GISEC Global 2024 has opened with record 50% year-on-year growth in exhibitor numbers in its 13th edition as more than 20,000 cyber professionals from 130-plus countries gathered to combat digital threats in the GCC cybersecurity market.

Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Ports and Borders Security Council, opened the show at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), in which more than 750 brands are exhibiting.

The three-day powerhouse showcase, organised by DWTC, and hosted by the UAE Cybersecurity Council, features returning headline players and tech titans Huawei, Honeywell, du, Microsoft, and Google Cloud Security, alongside groundbreaking cybersecurity companies such as Spire Solutions, Pentera, Cloudflare, and Kaspersky.

350 expert speakers

More than 350 expert speakers and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), alongside 1,000-plus ethical hackers are also convening under the shows AI-driven cyber-resilience theme to detangle and demystify the rising global threats of the dark cybercriminal underworld, as they deliver 300-plus hours of immersive content across nine conference and workshop stages.

Dr Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, Head of the UAE Cybersecurity Council, emphasised the importance of fostering collaboration to develop a more cyber-resilient society amid the new era of cyber-threats. The evolution of cybersecurity continues to present new challenges and opportunities for industry leaders around the world, said Dr Al-Kuwaiti.

The UAE Cybersecurity Council aims to create a safe and trusted cyber environment that helps organisations, institutions, and individuals achieve their potential. Such results are amplified at GISEC Global, which acts as a super-connector bridging the industry gap, encouraging thought-provoking discussions, and promoting forward-thinking collaborations critical to the future of digital services and assets. In light of latest developments in AI technology, GISEC Global 2024 serves as a pivotal platform in our relentless mission to forge and advocate for a cyber-resilient society grounded in the partnerships between the private and public sectors and aiming to cultivate a bold ecosystem that safeguards the integrity of companies and individuals, he added.

Dr Aloysius Cheang, Chief Security Officer of Huawei Middle East and Central Asia, added: GISEC Global is the regions largest and most reputable cybersecurity event that is in its thirteenth year. I would expect no less in terms of relevance, forward thinking and innovation when it comes to programming.

Perfect opportunity

It will be the perfect opportunity not only for the industry to gather and to share stories from the trenches but also the right platform for networking at the highest level. GISEC Global and the UAE together is the formula for building a trusted digital oasis in the heart of the Arab World, added Dr Cheang.

Exclusive cybersecurity experiences will take place during the event, including the inaugural edition of the Global CyberDrill, a realistic simulation assessing critical targets and engaging experts from CERTs, CIRTs and CSIRTs hailing from over 100 countries, fostering global cooperation to mitigate cyber threats.

Dubai security teams from several government entities will for the first time join the new Capture the Flag competition in partnership with the Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC), GISEC Globals official government cybersecurity partner, while flourishing start-ups from all across the region will compete on the most awaited Unlock Pitch Competition at the returning GISEC Cyber Stars.

Showing its appreciation for the most prominent and visionary players in the Middle East and Africas cybersecurity industry, GISEC Global this year will see the launch of the inaugural GISEC Cyber Excellence Awards in partnership with the UAE Cybersecurity Council and the United Cybersecurity Alliance.

Another brand-new feature designed to showcase the best of open-source projects, tools, and solutions, GISEC Armory will offer developers and experts a unique opportunity to display their work and connect with like-minded professionals in the cybersecurity space.

Conference programme

An extensive conference programme with 300+ hours of future-oriented content will promote a new enhanced experience with exciting highlights spanning everything from the inaugural series of executive boardrooms and conference roundtables to the new cyber defence track discussing the mitigation plans and weaponry against rising threats.

The 2024 agenda will also launch the most awaited Ask the Hacker Q&A sessions and the spotlight on True Stories where the audience will hear world-class CISOs narrating true horror stories around billion-dollar ransomware attacks, financial frauds, celebrity phone hacks, and more, for the first time on stage.

GISEC Global also features the Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC) as its official government cybersecurity partner, and the Ministry of Interior and Dubai Police as official supporters.--TradeArabia News Service
1. Yes. They look better and require less maintenance. Most high-end housing areas have them.

2. Yes. Wood fences can weather and look unsightly, plus masonry walls help to block sound.

3. No. Residents should have a choice of what kind of barriers are put up near their homes.

4. No. Allowing a variety of materials will be better for aesthetics, and costs may be lower.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say. Masonry walls may be sturdier, but mandating them is problematic.

Vote

View Results
Full text of Xi's speech at the closing ceremony of the Sixth Meeting of the China-France Business Council

Xinhua) 08:31, May 07, 2024

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the closing ceremony of the Sixth Meeting of the China-France Business Council together with French President Emmanuel Macron and delivers a speech titled "Building on Past Achievements to Jointly Usher in a New Era in China-France Cooperation" in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday delivered a speech here at the closing ceremony of the Sixth Meeting of the China-France Business Council.

The following is the full text of the speech:

Building on Past Achievements to Jointly Usher in a New Era

In China-France Cooperation

Remarks by H.E. Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

At the Closing Ceremony of The Sixth Meeting of the China-France Business Council

Paris, May 6, 2024

Your Excellency President Emmanuel Macron,

Representatives of the Chinese and French Business Communities,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

It gives me great pleasure to attend the China-France Business Council meeting with President Macron again in a little over a year and to meet friends, old and new, of the business communities of the two countries. It has been five years since I last visited Paris. I wish to start by extending my warm greetings to you all. I wish the Council's sixth meeting a full success.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of China-France diplomatic relations. Sixty years complete one cycle in the traditional Chinese calendar, bridging the past and the future.

For 60 years, China and France have remained devoted friends of each other. We both have always committed to the principles of independence, mutual understanding, strategic vision, and win-win cooperation which underpinned the establishment of our diplomatic relations. Together, we have traversed an extraordinary journey, and forged a close and lasting comprehensive strategic partnership. The China-France relationship has always been a pacesetter for the relations between China and Western countries. It shows how countries with different cultures, systems and development levels can help each other succeed and make progress together. China-France friendship is in the best interest of the Chinese and French peoples as well as the interest of the whole world.

For 60 years, China and France have remained win-win partners of each other. Bilateral trade and investment have grown tremendously from negligible levels. Our trade has expanded by nearly 800 times since the establishment of diplomatic relations, reaching 78.9 billion U.S. dollars. Cumulative two-way investment has exceeded 26 billion U.S. dollars. More than 2,000 French companies have woven themselves into the fabric of the Chinese market. China is the largest trading partner of France outside the EU, and France is a major EU trading partner of China. Flagship projects such as the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant and Airbus A320 Family assembly facilities in Tianjin stand as vivid examples of our mutually beneficial cooperation. Our two countries are also engtaged in enthusiastic discussions on expanding cooperation in emerging fields such as green and low-carbon development, digital economy and cross-border e-commerce. Thanks to 60 years of growth, our economies are now closely intertwined and highly symbiotic.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

Both China and France are parts of the Eurasian continent, located at its east and west ends respectively. China is a typical Eastern civilization, and France showcases the Western. Our two countries do not have geopolitical conflicts, and we do not have clashes of fundamental interests. What we do have in common is we both think independently, both are fascinated by our splendid cultures, and we are engaged in result-oriented cooperation based on many shared interests. Our experiences in the past and at present both show that there is no reason for failures in bringing out the best in China-France relations. We have now reached a new crossroads in the development of mankind and face global changes unseen in a century. Against this backdrop, China is ready to enhance all-round exchanges and cooperation with France, bring the China-France relationship to a new stage and make it even more productive.

-- Looking to the future, we will work with France to enrich the economic and trade dimensions of the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership. As one of the earliest participants in China's reform and opening up, France has contributed to China's modernization drive and benefited from it. Deeper friendship calls for frequent exchanges and closer cooperation. We always view France as a priority and trustworthy partner of cooperation. We are committed to expanding our business relations in both width and depth by opening up new areas, creating new models and fostering new growth areas. China will continue to make full use of the "French farm to Chinese dining table" whole-chain rapid coordination mechanism, and bring more cheese, ham, wine and other quality agricultural products from France to the dining tables of Chinese families. China has decided to extend visa exemption entry for citizens from 12 countries including France on short-term visits to China until the end of 2025, a step that will further boost people-to-people exchanges.

-- Looking to the future, we will work with France to deepen China-Europe mutually beneficial cooperation. China and Europe are two major forces in building a multipolar world, two big markets that promote globalization, and two great civilizations that advocate cultural diversity. China-Europe relations are crucial for peace, stability and prosperity of the world. The two sides should always define China-Europe relations as a comprehensive strategic partnership, continue to enhance political mutual trust, remove various distractions, and jointly oppose attempts to turn business relations into political, ideological or security issues. We hope that Europe will work together with us to increase understanding through dialogue, resolve differences through cooperation, and defuse risks with enhanced mutual trust. We should turn China and Europe into each other's key partners for business cooperation, priority partners for cooperation in science and technology, and trustworthy partners for cooperation in industrial and supply chains. China will, on its own initiative, further open up the service sector including telecommunication and medical services, and open its market wider to create more opportunities for companies of France, Europe and beyond.

-- Looking to the future, we are ready to join hands with France to tackle global challenges. The world today is facing growing peace deficit, development deficit, security deficit and governance deficit. Both China and France are independent major countries and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. This means our two countries need to shoulder our responsibilities and missions to enhance stability in China-France relations to address uncertainties of the world. We need to step up coordination in the U.N. and provide more leadership and support for global governance so as to build an equal and orderly multipolar world. China and France need to practice true multilateralism, further promote all-round WTO reform, uphold the authority and performance of the multilateral trading regime with the WTO at its core, keep the global economy open, and promote a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization. China and France need to urge the international community to pool strengths, stand by the goals and principles of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, actively address climate change, advance the global process of biological diversity protection, and jointly protect the Earth, our common home.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

Reform and opening up, a truly remarkable endeavor, is the defining feature of China today. China is pursuing high-standard opening up to advance in-depth reform and high-quality development. We are upgrading traditional industries, fostering emerging industries, laying the groundwork for future industries, and moving faster to promote new quality productive forces. We are considering and taking major steps to further deepen reform across the board, steadily expand institutional opening up, further expand market access, and shorten the negative list for foreign investment. All this will create an even bigger market and present more opportunities for win-win cooperation for France and other countries. We welcome French entrepreneurs present today to play an active part in the Chinese modernization process and benefit from China's development opportunities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

In more than two months, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will open by the beautiful Seine River. The Olympic Games is a symbol of solidarity, friendship and mutual learning between civilizations. Let us stay committed to the goal set by our two countries when our diplomatic ties were forged, boost our traditional friendship, and practice the Olympic motto of "Faster, Higher, Stronger-Together." Let us join hands to open up a new era of China-France cooperation and write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Thank you.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)
KBR has been awarded a contract by Sabic Fujian Petrochemicals to license KBR's market-leading phenol technology in China.

Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide technology licensing and proprietary engineering design for a 250 KTA phenol plant at Sabic's Fujian Petrochemical Complex.

The final investment decision for this project was announced in January 2024 with expected completion in FY 2026. KBR's phenol technology offers a sustainable and differentiated solution through reduced energy consumption and improved yields.

"We are excited to offer our industry leading phenol technology to Sabic Fujian for this ambitious project in China," said Jay Ibrahim, President, KBR Sustainable Technology Solutions. "KBR's market-leading phenol technology increases our customers' competitive advantage and advances their sustainability objectives through superior efficiency, reliability, wastewater recovery and performance."

KBR is a global technology licensor and has offered its leading phenol technology for more than six decades, completing more than 50 phenol projects worldwide. --OGN/TradeArabia News Service
Bullfighting (Jinju City)

Jinju City is once again holding the Saturday Permanent Jinju Bullfighting Games at the Traditional Bullfighting Arena in Panmun-dong through September every Saturday from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m.

It is said that the Jinju bullfight originated from a banquet to commemorate the victory of Silla against Baekje in 666.

During the Japanese colonial period, the suppressed anger of the nation was radiated through bullfighting.

In bullfighting, there are various techniques like traditional wrestling, such as field fighting, head hitting, neck shearing, and horn fighting. Bullfighting can be considered a gentlemans game as there is a rule that ends when one side loses its spirit and withdraws.

The Saturday Permanent Jinju Bullfighting Competition hosted by Jinju City and the Jinju Bullfighting Association inspires pride as the origin of folk bullfighting in Jinju, inherits and develops the tradition of bullfighting, and supports livestock farmers and has a distinctive theme.

It has been held since 2006 as a special tourism product.

Last year, from April to September, high-level competitions were held for each weight class: Gap (801 kg or more), Eul (701 to 800 kg), and Byeong (600 to 700 kg).

A spirited announcer also delighted the eyes and ears of the spectators by narrating the lively matches of the fighting bulls with his witty words.
This photo appeared in the La Crosse Tribune after the Sells-Gray Circus performed two shows at Erickson Field on June 27, 1967. Visitors to the circus enjoyed meeting clowns, watching jugglers and unicyclists, and performances with Russian bears, poodles, monkeys, dogs and goats. Sells-Gray Circus was first organized in 1900, and its shows were revitalized in 1960 after coming under new management. Peter Wais of the La Crosse Tribune interviewed several performers about their experience in the circus. Jean Lewis, a clown with Sells-Gray said, As long as I couldnt be a doctor I wanted to do something to help people. Helping them laugh is one of the best things I can do, and I really like it.
CAIRO  Israeli troops seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday in what the White House described as a limited operation, as fears mount of a full-scale invasion of the southern city while talks with Hamas over a cease-fire and hostage release remain on a knife's edge.

Meanwhile, a senior administration official said Tuesday the U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.

The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, with the focus of U.S. concern being the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting. More than 1 million civilians are sheltering in Rafah after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israel's war on Hamas, which came after the militant group's deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

The U.N. warned of a potential collapse of the flow of aid to Palestinians from the closure of the Rafah border and the other main crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, at a time when officials say northern Gaza is experiencing "full-blown famine."

The Israeli foray overnight came after hours of whiplash in the now 7-month-old Israel-Hamas war, with the militant group saying Monday it accepted a cease-fire proposal that Israel insisted fell short of its own core demands.

The war has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and devastated the Gaza Strip.

By capturing the Rafah crossing, Israel gained full control over the entry and exit of people and goods for the first time since it withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, though it has long maintained a blockade of the coastal enclave in cooperation with Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the capture of the crossing an "important step" toward dismantling Hamas' military and governing capabilities. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would "deepen" the Rafah operation if the talks on the hostage deal failed.

Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official based in Beirut, said the group would not respond to military pressure or threats and would not accept any "occupying force" at the Rafah crossing.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the operation along the Gaza-Egypt border in eastern Rafah was not a full-on invasion of the city that President Joe Biden has repeatedly warned against on humanitarian grounds. He said Israel had described it as "an operation of limited scale and duration" aimed at cutting off Hamas arms smuggling.

Kirby said CIA chief William Burns will attend further talks in Cairo with representatives from Israel, Egypt and Qatar. Hamas also sent a delegation to Cairo, which will meet separately with the Arab mediators.

"Everybody is coming to the table," Kirby said.

Fighting forced the evacuation of the Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, one of the main medical centers receiving people wounded in airstrikes on Rafah in recent weeks. It was not immediately clear how many patients were moved to other facilities.

The looming operation threatens to widen a rift between Israel and its main backer, the United States, which says it is concerned over the fate of about 1.3 million Palestinians crammed into Rafah, most of whom fled fighting elsewhere.

Biden warned Netanyahu again Monday against launching an invasion of the city after Israel ordered 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate from parts of Rafah. Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners threaten to bring down his government if he calls off the offensive or makes too many concessions in cease-fire talks.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry condemned the seizure of the crossing, calling it "a dangerous escalation."

Palestinians' cheers of joy over Hamas' acceptance of the cease-fire deal turned to fear Tuesday. Families fled Rafah's eastern neighborhoods on foot or in vehicles and donkey carts piled with mattresses and supplies. Children watched as parents disassembled tents in the sprawling camps that have filled Rafah for months to move to their next destination  which for many remained uncertain.

"Netanyahu only cares about coming out on top. He doesn't care about children. I don't think he'll agree" to a deal, said Najwa al-Saksuk as her family packed up while Israeli strikes rang out amid plumes of black smoke.

Families of the hostages also saw their hope turn to despair. Rotem Cooper, whose 85-year-old father, Amiram, was among scores abducted during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, slammed what he said was the government's inaction on a deal.

"We see all sorts of explanations  this isn't the deal that we gave them, Hamas changed it without saying something," Cooper said at a parliamentary hearing Tuesday. He questioned whether military pressure was an effective bargaining tactic.

Israel's 401st Brigade took "operational control" of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing early Tuesday, the military said. Military footage showed Israeli flags flying from tanks in the area. It also said troops and airstrikes targeted suspected Hamas positions in Rafah.

The military claimed it had intelligence the crossing was "being used for terrorist purposes," though it provided no evidence.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel are critical entry points for food, medicine and other supplies for Gaza's 2.3 million people. They have been closed for at least the past two days, though the smaller Erez crossing between Israel and northern Gaza continues to operate.

Israeli authorities denied the U.N. humanitarian affairs office access to the Rafah crossing Tuesday, said its spokesman, Jens Laerke.

Israeli strikes and bombardment across Rafah overnight killed at least 23 Palestinians, including at least six women and five children, according to hospital records.

Mohamed Abu Amra said his wife, two brothers, sister and niece were killed when a strike flattened their home as they slept.

"We did nothing.  We don't have Hamas," he said.

Photos: Israeli-Palestinian conflict eight months long
Rotana, one of the leading hotel management companies in the region, has announced the signing of a franchise agreement with Signature Complex Islamabad for the opening of its first property in Pakistan.

The agreement will see the development of Signature Rotana in the city under the groups upscale Rotana Hotels & Resorts brand. Located atop a bustling commercial hub in the countrys capital Islamabad, the hotel will add a total of 522 keys to Rotanas global portfolio once completed.

Consisting of 378 hotel rooms and 144 branded residential apartments, the property will also offer a state-of-the-art business centre with six meeting rooms, a banquet hall, and a multipurpose space. The hotel will also boast two specialty restaurants and a cafe.

To enhance the guest experience, the hotel will provide several wellness and relaxation amenities and will include an indoor swimming pool and gymnasium, as well as an exclusive spa, thermal facilities, and other self-care lounges.

On the new project, Makram El Zyr, Vice President Development at Rotana, said: We are extremely excited to enter this dynamic market and introduce travellers to Rotanas unique blend of world-class standards, genuine hospitality, and treasured experiences.

The project forms part of Rotanas robust global expansion plans, including entry into several new markets and the opening of 30 new properties by 2026.

"We are confident that Signature Rotana will appeal to a varied group of global leisure and business travellers looking to doing business or to discover Pakistans diverse cultural and natural wonders, he noted.

Shaheer Ahmed, Director Business Strategist at Signature Complex, expressed delight at the mega collaboration with Rotana as they make their foray into Islamabad.

At Signature Rotana Islamabad, we are committed to delivering the best, and we are confident in our ability to uphold and exceed the high standards set by Rotana. Together, we aim to elevate the hospitality landscape in Pakistan and set new benchmarks for excellence. We have meticulously planned for this collaboration and are dedicated to making it a resounding success, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Alzheimers disease affects a persons memory, thinking and behavior. The first drug shown to slow the effects of Alzheimers disease reached the market in the United States over a year ago. However, sales of the drug Leqembi have been slow.

Reasons for slow sales

Major hospital systems in the U.S. have taken months to start using the new Alzheimers drug. Some health insurers have rejected paying for the medication. And doctors say they expect some patients will be slow to take Leqembi because of the drugs limited results and possible side effects.

Doctors say it will take years to learn how best to use the drug. They add that work must be done to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimers.

Dr. Ambar Kulshreshtha specializes in treating dementia near Atlanta, Georgia. He is hopeful about the drug. He said, This is the start of a very exciting journey.

In the U.S., about 6 million Americans suffer from Alzheimers. There is no cure for the disease. But studies show Leqembi helps clear a kind of protein that builds up in the brain called beta amyloid. Beta amyloid is considered an important sign of Alzheimers.

Studies showed that Leqembi can delay the progression of the disease by a few months in people with mild symptoms. Some experts say the delay may be too small for patients to notice.

The drugs side effects can include swelling or bleeding in the brain. Patients taking Leqembi require regular tests to watch for possible side effects.

Last July the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Leqembi full approval for patients with early stages of the disease. The U.S. healthcare coverage program for people aged 65 and over, called Medicare, covers Leqembi and the cost of tests needed to diagnose patients.

Complex system for administering the drug

Alexander Scott is an official with Eisai, the Japanese company that makes Leqembi. Scott said hospitals and health systems have needed more time than expected to provide Leqembi.

Its not like we are adding a drug to an existing system, he said. He said hospitals need to build a system for the drug.

The Cedars-Sinai health system in Los Angeles, for example, started administering the drug in early March. This effort required months to establish a plan that dealt with diagnosis, treatment, and watching for problems. We were very careful about it, said Dr. Sarah Kremen, a behavioral neurologist at Cedars-Sinai.

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, started using Leqembi in October of last year. The health center only uses the drug for patients who live within about 160 kilometers of its offices. This is so doctors can reach them quickly if they have problems.

Paying for the costly drug

Health systems still do not know how coverage for the drug, its infusions, and the needed tests work. Because the drug can cost more than $26,000 a year, there are concerns patients will face costs they cannot pay.

An Eisai spokesperson said nearly three-quarters of commercial healthcare plans in the U.S. cover the drug outside of Medicare.

But doctors are concerned that getting coverage still might be difficult for some patients, especially those too young to qualify for Medicare.

Scott Berkheiser is 57 years old and lives in Florida. His health insurance company would not pay for the drug. So, his first Leqembi infusion was delayed until last December.

He said the drugmaker agreed to supply him with the drug at no cost while he made partial insurance payments, known as co-payments, for the treatment.

It was a little crazy, he said. It seemed like it was kind of a game that must make sense for some monetary reason.

Delayed and complex diagnosis and treatment

Getting treatments started on time remains another problem.

When Leqembi launched last year, doctors at Texas Neurology in the city of Dallas tested 60 people as possible candidates for Leqembi. However, only eight started the treatment. The chief of Texas Neurology, David Evans, said the other candidates either refused the drug or had gone beyond the early stage of the disease. Evans said the period, or window, when the drug is best to use is very short.

Doctors say more must be done to quickly identify patients and get treatment started before the disease worsens. For example, if people say they have trouble with their memory, doctors must rule out other causes.

Dr. Kulshreshtha said these can include thyroid problems, vitamin deficiencies, medication problems, and depression. Memory tests for dementia can also require several visits to a doctor.

Some patients might be ineligible for Leqembi because it would conflict with medication they take to prevent strokes. And patients might have to wait months to see a brain specialist who would prescribe the drug.

Those who do get the first infusion have said the treatment process is not difficult. Leqembi patient Berkheiser said his infusions have gone like clockwork after he started treatment.

Charles Clegg from Salem, Alabama, recently finished his 13th Leqembi infusion. He visits a treatment center that is close to his home. Clegg and his wife, Carol, said he has had no side effects, and his short-term memory has improved.

This drug gives you hope, Carol Clegg said.

And thats the Health & Lifestyle report.

Im Anna Matteo. And I'm Dan Friedell.

Tom Murphy reported this story for the Associated Press. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English.

Quiz - Alzheimer's Drug Available, But Sales Slow Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

insurer n. the provider of insurance, such as health insurance, in which a person pays a company regularly so that the company will pay most of the costs of a covered expense

diagnosis n. the act of identifying a disease affecting a person

journey n. a trip or a long process that involves unexpected events

stage n. a level or condition that is different from earlier and later ones

infusion n. a treatment that involves adding a medicine by one of several means

commercial adj. related to business and making a profit

ineligible adj. not able to use or take

stroke n. a severe medical problem in which blood flow is blocked preventing blood from reaching the brain or heart

prescribe v. to approve the use of medicine whose use is restricted by law (the approval must come from a medical doctor)

We want to hear from you. In the Comments section, you can also practice using any of the expressions from the story. Our comment policy is here.
American pop music star Madonna performed before an estimated 1.6 million people on Saturday at Brazils famous Copacabana Beach.

The outdoor show in Rio de Janeiro was free to attend.

The fans turned a long stretch of the coast into a huge dance floor for the last show of Madonnas Celebration Tour. The series began last October in London.

The so-called Queen of Pop began Saturdays show with her 1998 song Nothing Really Matters. Huge cheers rose from the crowd pressed up against the barriers. Other attendees held parties in houses and hotels overlooking the beach. Helicopters and drones flew overhead, and boats floated on the water nearby.

Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world, the 65-year-old Madonna told the crowd. Pointing out the ocean, the mountains and the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city, she added: This place is magic.

Madonna performed her popular songs, including Like A Virgin and Hung Up. For the introduction to another, Like A Prayer, Madonna covered her head in black cloth and held a rosary.

The star honored those who died of AIDS with the song Live to Tell. Large black and white images of the diseases victims appeared behind her as she sang. Later, she was joined on stage by Brazilian artists Anitta and Pabllo Vittar.

Rio city officials estimated that 1.6 million people attended the show. Madonnas official website called the show the biggest ever in her 40-year career.

Since Madonna arrived here, Ive been coming every day with this outfit to welcome my idol, my diva, my pop queen, said 69-year-old retiree Rosemary de Oliveira Bohrer. She wore a gold-colored top and a black cap in a style that Madonna made popular.

Eighteen sound towers were spread along the beach to ensure that all attendees could hear the performance.

Fan Alessandro Augusto flew about 2,500 kilometers, from Brazils Ceara state to Rio, to attend the show. Augusto said, Its a unique opportunity to see Madonna, who knows if shell ever come back.

Welcome Queen! a drink company announced with advertising around the city. Bars and restaurants prepared special alcoholic drinks named after Madonna songs. A shop known for selling Carnival clothing temporarily became a Madonna clothing store.

Several huge concerts have taken place on Copacabana beach before, including musician Rod Stewarts 1994 show. It took place on New Years Eve as part of the citys holiday celebration. About 4 million people attended. However, not all necessarily took in the music show.

And, in 2006, a Rolling Stones concert drew 1.2 million people onto the famed beach, the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported at the time.

Madonna fan Ana Beatriz Soares attended the show Saturday. She said Madonna has made her mark across the years.

Madonna had to run so that todays pop artists could walk. Thats why shes important, because she serves as an inspiration for todays pop divas, she said. And thats 40 years ago. Not 40 days, 40 months. Its 40 years, she added.

Im Caty Weaver.

Eleonore Hughes reported the story for The Associated Press. Hai Do adapted the story for Learning English.

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Words in This Story

introduction - n. the act of bringing something out for the first time

rosary - n. string of beads used by Catholics for prayers

idol - n. greatly admired person

diva - n. an attractive and successful female perfoMadonna Draws 1.6 Million to Free Concert at Copacabana Beach rmer

style - n. a way of doing something

tower - n. tall, narrow structure

unique - adj. very special

opportunity - n. chance

inspiration - n. a force or influence that makes someone want to do something
A group of scientists has disputed a study published last year that estimated the intelligence of the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex to be similar to a baboons.

The group disputed last years report from Suzana Herculano-Houzel at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. It said the study did not use studies of reptiles like crocodiles and alligators to explain dinosaur brains.

Zoologist Kai Caspar is with the Heinrich Heine University in Germany. Caspar was the lead author of the new study published in The Anatomical Record.

Speaking of dinosaurs like T. rex, he said their neuron numbers were likely not exceptional, especially for animals of their body mass.

But Herculano-Houzel stands by her research.

She said her work studied the brain to body-size relationship of modern-day theropod relatives such as ostriches and chickens. The brain size and number of neurons of those animals, she said, support her theory.

A theropod is a group of dinosaurs that includes T. rex.

She said only one issue is being disputed: What was actually the size of dinosaur brains. Even then, were talking about the difference between a T. rex brain being baboon or monkey sized.

Caspar said his research group also considered modern birds.

Reptiles are certainly not as dim-witted as is commonly believed, he said. Speaking of T. rex, he noted: it was certainly a behaviorally sophisticated animal.

Caspar said he had additional concerns about Herculano-Houzels research. One issue, he said, is that while humans, baboons, other mammals and even birds have brains that fill the space protected by the skull, this is not the case for reptile species. He noted the brain of reptiles fills only about 30 to 50 percent of the space.

He also said it is not known how many neurons, or brain cells, were present in dinosaur brains.

Looking at living animals, we see that neuron counts are actually not a good indicator of intelligence in the first place," Caspar added.

Caspar noted the study from 2023 assumed the brain filled the whole skull, which, he said, was certainly not the case.

Scientists have been learning about dinosaurs for about 200 years. But much remains to be discovered.

Thomas Holtz is the co-author of the new study. He studies dinosaurs at the University of Maryland. He said estimating the intelligence of animals that lived over 60 million years ago is difficult.

It would be nice if we could just estimate one number and unravel the whole complexity of an animal's biology and lifestyle, but nature isn't like that, Holtz said.

He said T. rex probably had an intelligence level somewhere between that of birds and reptiles.

Many of our common assumptions dont really hold up when youexamine what real animals do in the real world, he said.

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by Reuters.

_______________________________________________

Words in This Story

reptile n. a class of animals with backbones which lays eggs, is covered with scaly skin, and has a low body temperature

neuron n. a special cell of the nervous system of many animals

stand by v. (phrasal) to support or to continue to support although there is opposition

dim-witted adj. not intelligent

sophisticated adj. extremely smart or complex

species n. a group of animals or plants that can have young with one another and is a group smaller than a genus

skull n. the bones of the head

indicator n. something that shows the presence of something else

assume v. to think that something is true without knowing or confirming it completely

unravel v. to come apart or to take something apart in an effort to understand it

We want to hear from you. Do you think T. rex was smarter than an alligator or as smart as an Ostrich?
Australia has protested to Beijing that a Chinese fighter jet endangered an Australian navy helicopter with flares in international waters, officials said yesterday.

The incident occurred on Saturday as the Australian air warfare destroyer HMAS Hobart was enforcing United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea in international waters in the Yellow Sea, the Defense Department said in a statement.

A Chinese Chengdu J-10 fighter jet released flares in the flight path of an Australian navy Seahawk deployed from the Hobart 300 meters in front of the helicopter and 60 meters above, Defense Minister Richard Marles said.

This was an incident which was both unsafe and unprofessional, Marles told Nine News television.

We will not be deterred from engaging in lawful activities and activities which are there to enforce U.N. sanctions in respect of North Korea, Marles added.

There were no injuries or damage, the Defense Department said, adding the Australian government expressed concerns to the Chinese government. There was no immediate comment from Beijing yesterday.

It was the most serious encounter between the two nations forces since Australia accused the Chinese destroyer CNS Ningbo of injuring Australian navy divers with sonar pulses in Japanese waters in November last year. Australia said China disregarded a safety warning to keep away from the Australian frigate HMAS Toowoomba.

China maintains that the encounter happened outside Japanese territorial waters and that the Chinese warship caused no harm.

Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to visit Australia this year for the first time in a decade as bilateral relations have improved in recent years from unprecedented lows. MDT/AP
The Macau Lawyers Association will lead a delegation of approximately 18 individuals on a visit to Portugal, scheduled from late June to early July, president Vong Hin Fai announced yesterday in a press conference.

During the visit, there are preliminary arrangements to meet with the Portuguese Lawyers Association, explore arbitration centers, and engage with prominent universities.

Vong stated, We will take the opportunity to cooperate with the SARs positioning as a China-Portuguese platform and strengthen cooperation and exchanges with local industries.

Over the past three years, the number of registered lawyers in Macau has remained stable at around 450, while approximately 70 individuals have expressed their intent to cease practicing, many of whom have transitioned to government departments or the judicial sector.

The association currently trains around 25 lawyers annually and aspires to create favorable conditions for expanding Macaus legal scope.

Furthermore, the group has organized a series of Lawyers Day activities, scheduled from May 11 to May 19. On the upcoming Saturday and Sunday (May 18 and 19), a free legal consultation counter will be established on the ground floor of the Macau Business Tourism Centre. Additionally, four mainland lawyers will participate in the event, providing free advisory services to the public. HT
The average temperature in Macau is consistently increasing, and the city has broken three average temperature records for April.

Data from the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau shows that last month, Macau recorded an average monthly temperature of 25.3 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest April on record since data collection began in 1952.

Furthermore, the average maximum and minimum temperatures in April were 28 degrees and 23.4 degrees respectively, surpassing previous records for that month.

Macau is not the only region facing record-breaking temperatures. The Hong Kong Observatory has reported Macaus neighboring SAR also experienced its hottest April, with an average monthly temperature of 26.4 degrees.

Across Asia, countries like the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia are grappling with unprecedented heatwaves, with temperatures soaring as high as 45 degrees.

South and Southeast Asian countries have been coping with a heat wave lasting several weeks, rendering record high temperatures that have posed a severe health risk.

Umbrellas to shield against the blazing sunlight are popular and air-conditioned malls are serving as urban oases. Schools in Cambodia have been reducing teaching hours. In the Philippines, India and Bangladesh, officials have told students to stay home and take their lessons remotely.

A UNICEF statement said that in the Asia-Pacific region, around 243 million children are exposed to hotter and longer heatwaves, putting them at risk of a multitude of heat-related illnesses, and even death.

Further, a report published by local meteorologists earlier this year suggests that the frequency of hot days in Macau could double by the middle of the century. Additionally, international reports indicate the temperature in 2024 may surpass that of 2023, which was already recognized as the warmest year globally. Howard Tong
The new measure enforced today, with multiple entry visas to be issued to tour groups from the mainland to visit Hengqin and Macau, aims to promote greater hotel occupancy in Hengqin, the director of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Senna de Fernandes, said to the media on the sidelines of the event that celebrated the arrival of the first tour group to Macau under this new scheme.

In recent history, or at least in the past four months, our hotels have been registering a high occupancy rate, so I believe that this is a way for us to use more of our hotels in Hengqin, expanding our tourism sources and providing for patrons, through combined itineraries, to stay for longer, Senna Fernandes said. She noted that, while this measure, for the time being, only applies to tour groups from the mainland, work would be done to attract more foreign tourists to Hengqin.

The MGTO director noted that this was not the first time local authorities had collaborated with Hengqin.

We did this even last week during the MITE (Macao International Travel Industry Expo). We organized some buyers groups to stay over in Hengqin and to host these activities in collaboration with Hengqin. This collaborative nature will continue.

According to the MGTO directors statement, the new visa measure completely overhauls the previous policies and direction of the local tourism industry. This industry, in the last few years, has chiefly aimed to extend the short stays of those visiting Macau, in the hope that visitors spend at least one night in the city. This serves to boost not only the hotel industry but other sectors as well, such as the food and beverage industry and other related services.

No cap on visitor entries

Asked about several other cities and popular tourism destinations enforcing a limit on the number of visiting tourists at any one time, Senna Fernandes said the government is not aiming to establish such practices in Macau.

I believe that these measures are discriminatory. Macau is a tourism city, and it would not make sense to draw distinctions between those who can enter the city and those who cannot, she said. However, she noted that establishing such a system would not at all be impossible, noting a previous attempt to restrict the number of visitors to Macau. Senna Fernandes claimed that attempt did not yield good results.

The idea of capping the number of visitors to ensure community safety, as well as the operationality of the city at several levels, including transportation and crowd control, has been on the agenda for several members of the public. Lawmakers have equally expressed wishes of restricting the free flow of visitors, arguing the city might become overcrowded, negatively impacting locals and Macaus image.

Labor Day Golden Week figures quite good

On the same occasion, the director of MGTO commented on the results obtained during the Labor Day Golden Week that came to an end Sunday.

Senna Fernandes noted that although the number of visitors reached was slightly lower than the forecast (120,879 on daily average instead of 130,000), the result can be considered quite good, taking into consideration the bad weather that affected not only Macau but the whole Guangdong province during the five-day holiday.

First tour with multiple entry visas arrives

The first mainland tour group granted multiple entries to and from Macau and Hengqin via Hengqin Port arrived yesterday late morning.

Officials from the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) organized a welcoming reception for the group of 16 visitors from Guangdong province.

The MGTO noted this measure will expand the visitor market from the mainland to Macau and Hengqin, benefit the business of travel agencies and the activities of tour guides on both sides, as well as accelerate integrated development between both the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin and Macaus tourism industry.

According to the MGTO, the group has a three-day and two-night itinerary, including several attractions in Macau and Hengqin. For the two-night stays, one night will be spent in a hotel unit in Macau, while the other night will be spent in Hengqin.
Lawmaker Ron Lam has issues with the way the government is running its new Talent Recruitment System, which grants residency to several categories of qualified professionals based on a series of criteria.

In question is the second phase of this program, which Chief Executive (CE) Ho Iat Seng announced mid-April should start this month.

At the same time, the CE noted some changes in the programs second phase to allow applications from non-resident university students who have completed their studies at local tertiary education institutions.

In a written inquiry to the government, Lam expressed his worries, noting the number of unemployed local graduates has been significantly higher over the last few years, contributing significantly to the local unemployment rate.

For this reason, Lam does not see feasibility in allowing non-resident graduates to apply to the program when local graduates are finding it difficult to enter the job market after concluding their tertiary education studies. Lam noted the general rules of Macau state local graduates should have priority in accessing jobs.

In the same inquiry, the lawmaker also noted that, during a discussion of the rules that legalize the Talent Recruitment System, when the Legislative Assembly addressed this bill it was stated the government would disclose the types, quantities, industry scope, and educational backgrounds of all those accepted under the program for public information and supervision. Lam claims this has not been done in as clear manner as previously advertised.

Lam wants the government to add transparency to the program and to publish the lists of all those accepted under the scheme, as well as all the criteria that justified the recruitment of these people, calling also on the officials to make a proper and analytical evaluation of the results of the first phase before rushing to launch the second.

The same lawmaker also called on officials to ponder measures that would attract local residents working abroad due to lacking opportunities in Macau, instead of striving to attribute residency to those who have no connection to the city at all.
Police have apprehended a 34-year-old unemployed man from the mainland at the Border Gate. They suspect him of being involved in the robbery of a shop located at the Ruins of St. Pauls.

The stolen amount was reported to be MOP18,000 in cash.

The suspect was later transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office on charges of aggravated theft. The police said that, in April, a clerk at a handicraft shop reported the theft of MOP18,000 from the stores cash register. Through investigations, the police were able to identify the suspect who entered the store when its doors and windows were left unlocked.

The stolen cash was taken from the cashier before the suspect left Macau through the border crossing. On May 2, the suspect was intercepted upon re-entering the border port and was brought in for questioning.

During the interrogation, the suspect admitted to spending all the stolen money on the mainland.
For the first time ever, the top player in Macaus premium mass gaming rooms during the Golden Week holiday period was not Chinese. According to a report by Citibank, the biggest spender was a South Korean high roller, Macaus first-ever player of the month to be a non-Chinese customer. This further highlights potential progress in the citys efforts to diversify its high-end clientele.

The South Korean player, apparently taken care of by a Korean host, was among three whales  individuals betting HKD100,000 or more per hand  spotted in Galaxy Macaus Horizon Room. All three individuals wagered between HKD250,000 and HKD399,000 during their play.

This shift in demographic comes as Macau actively seeks to attract a wider range of high-end gamblers. While Chinese players still dominate the premium mass market, the presence of a top-spending South Korean player suggests potential inroads in diversifying the customer base.

Overall, the Golden Week holiday period saw a significant increase in gambling activity compared to the same period in 2023. Total wagers were 144% higher, the player count increased by 119%, and wager per player rose by 11% year-on-year.

Unsurprisingly, Galaxy and Sands China, the two operators with the most hotel rooms, seemed to benefit the most from the holiday crowd, Citi analysts George Choi and Ryan Cheung noted in their report.

The analysts also observed the first utilization of a new side bet, Small 6/Big 6, recently approved by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).

Based on our observations, Small 6/Big 6 has already become a popular side bet among players because of its high payout, they added.

As Macau continues to diversify its gaming market, the presence of high-rolling players from diverse backgrounds, like the South Korean player during Golden Week, could signal a positive shift in the industrys future.

revenue torise 6% in May

Analysts at CLSA have forecast the citys gross gaming revenue (GGR) could grow by 6% in May.

CLSA analysts Jeffrey Kiang and Leo Pan estimate GGR will reach MOP19.7 billion for the month. Their outlook falls below the consensus estimate of MOP19.9 billion from analysts polled by Citigroup.

In a recent report, the analysts noted heavy casino foot traffic observed over the Labor Day Golden Week holiday in early May. They visited casinos like Grand Lisboa Palace and saw minimum bets on baccarat tables ranging from MOP1,000 to MOP1,500, as well as higher limits from MOP3,000 to MOP10,000 in private rooms. Morgan Stanley also forecasts Macaus May GGR will reach MOP19.7 billion. Staff Reporter
Negotiations are still in progress between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and UW-Madison administrators, but the parties remain at odds over many of the protesters demands, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said at a Faculty Senate meeting on Monday.

As the encampment on Library Mall stretches into its second week, the university faces mounting pressure to act from those on both sides of the issue.

Protesters have held firm on their six demands, which include divesting from companies and organizations that support Israel and cutting ties with Israeli universities and institutions. Meanwhile, Jewish and Israeli UW students released a statement on Monday calling for the university to take a stronger stance against antisemitism and to involve them in the negotiations.

Jewish and Israeli students say that they have repeatedly experienced antisemitic statements and actions by protesters, including being shoved and being called Nazis. And the university has placed two student groups under interim suspensions while it investigates allegations that they were involved in discriminatory and antisemitic chalkings at the Dane County Farmers Market.

I understand that it may not  indeed, likely is not  the intent of any of our student protesters to create a community safety risk, but I do believe that this is an outcome of their actions, Mnookin said. We are increasingly concerned about reports of incendiary rhetoric, antisemitic comments, the potential for violent conflict with outside groups, Islamophobic comments and the risk of seeing this entire situation spiral out of control.

Administration clarifies position on protests

Protesters, including supportive faculty and staff, marched to Bascom Hall from the encampment, which has grown to more than 50 tents since police removed roughly 30 tents and arrested 34 protesters on Wednesday. During the rally, they chanted pro-Palestinian slogans, including, Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest. Some in the crowd filed silently into the Faculty Senate meeting as Mnookin spoke, filling nearly all the open seats. Many held signs that read, On this Holocaust Memorial Day we say never again for anyone. (Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is commemorated worldwide in accordance with the Jewish calendar.)

The 90-minute meeting was devoted almost entirely to comments from Mnookin, faculty, staff and students, aside from a vote on renaming the Department of Soil Science to the Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences.

UW administrators have not sent police back into the encampment due to the significant safety risks to all involved, Mnookin said. Addressing the ongoing discussions with pro-Palestinian organizers about their demands, she said decisions about the endowment are made by the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association, an independent nonprofit organization, and are out of her hands. Ending the graduate student exchange fellowship with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, she said, would also be a violation of state law, and it would run counter, in my opinion, to our deeply held respect for academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas.

Mnookin said she is open to further meaningful engagement and conversation about these issues, and still supports forms of protest that comply with campus policies and state law.

A number of people have asked me why I cant just allow the encampment to stand, she said. I cant authorize a singular exception under Chapter 18 to one organization to protest in this manner. Not unless Im prepared to make a similar decision, the same decision, for all other groups who might want something similar.

Faculty members speak out

Most other speakers at the Faculty Senate meeting voiced their support for the encampment and condemned administrators decision to involve police.

Faculty in the Department of Geography support the long tradition of peaceful civil disobedience on this campus, said Keith Woodward, a faculty senator. Again, by all reports, and in all personal observations, the encampments on Library Mall were demonstrations of peaceful civil disobedience prior to violent police intervention, and have been peaceful since.

Two faculty members, both in the Department of Gender & Womens Studies, were arrested Wednesday.

This is only my second year at this university, and Im wondering if this is the kind of place where thats how we treat our colleagues, said Leigh Senderowicz, the departments faculty senator, who described feeling a sense of unbelievable betrayal while watching the videos of their arrests.

Samer Alatout, a professor of community and environmental sociology who was injured during the confrontation with police on Wednesday, urged the administration to focus more on the positive relationships that protesters are building within the encampment and less on the rules they are breaking. Alatout, who is Palestinian, said he sees his responsibility as protecting students intellectual freedom and their emotional, social and physical well-being.

If (police) come again, and the students have not reached an agreement, I will stand again ... between them and any police officer, he said.

Chad Goldberg, a sociology professor with family and friends in Israel, described a moment he and Alatout shared at a department meeting when they wished each others loved ones well. But, Goldberg said, I do think antisemitism is a serious problem, even if some members of this community may not.

He also said he opposes some of the protesters demands, especially those concerning Israeli academic institutions.

Jewish students on both sides

The protests have divided Jewish students on campus, with some joining the encampment, others holding counterprotests nearby and more feeling caught in between.

This has been such a beautiful experience, being a part of this community. I havent experienced any antisemitism whatsoever, said Abbie Klein, a UW graduate student and pro-Palestinian organizer, though she added that she couldnt speak for other Jewish students. Her own experience has been one of unity and care and respect for each others religion, she said, with space for Jewish and Muslim participants to openly practice their religions.

At the encampment, Klein has had constructive conversations with other Jewish students who are still working through their own feelings about Israel, she said. If theyre not interested, theyre not interested. ... But I think that for people who kind of are looking to learn more in good faith, weve actually been a very good resource.

Other Jewish students have not felt there is space for them at the encampment.

Weve watched for seven days as the university has negotiated with a group of people who have taken leadership hostage to a set of demands that are unreachable, said Ben Newman, a senior and member of UWs Jewish community who helped write the list of 12 requests on behalf of Jewish students and non-protesters.

The encampments are an unwelcome space for Jewish and Israeli students, Newman said. There is an atmosphere of intimidation and a permissiveness of a kind of hatred and very negative ideology towards the state of Israel.
Prosecutors and the defense attorney representing a woman charged with aiding and abetting the murder of a Gooding man have agreed to enter in mediations, court documents say.

Athena Miller, 50, is implicated in the death of boyfriend 58-year-old Roger Driesel, with court recording alleging she persuaded her nephew, Nicholas James, 31, to kill him.

In a request to the court, the mediation process is likely to be beneficial in negotiations and resolving the case and is in the best interests of judicial economy, according to a court filing signed April 30 by Gooding County Prosecutor Trevor Misseldine and Millers attorney, Phil Brown.

In any criminal proceeding, any party or the court may make a request for the parties to participate in mediation to resolve some or all of the issues presented in the case. Participation in mediation is voluntary and will take place only on agreement of the parties, according to an explanation by the Idaho Supreme Court.

In mediation, issues may include sentencing options, restitution awards, admissibility of evidence and any other issues which will facilitate the resolution of the case, the statement continued.

The mediation process only involves Miller; a trial for James, also charged with murder, is still set for June 24.

The two reported to police that Driesel went missing May 15, 2023; his body was found May 27 in a shop outside the Gooding city limits. An autopsy found that Driesel had been shot eight times.

The two wrote statements to police implicating themselves, court records say, and include allegations that Driesel had been physically abusing Miller.

Pair plotted Gooding man's murder, detective says Final shot fired so murder victim wouldn't have to suffer, according to testimony.

I felt like I was just trying to protect those who protect me, James, calling himself an unwilling participant, wrote in his statement.

In addition to murder, Miller is charged with grand theft, two counts of destruction of evidence, and providing false information to a law enforcement officer, records say.

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The Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP) said Monday it may take a longer time for the garments and apparel industry to rebound from the downturn of the global apparel market due to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) enforced by the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CONWEP executive director Maritess Agoncillo said major garment suppliers in the Philippines, Nicaragua, Cambodia and Indonesia were hurt by the UFLPA, with several shipments flagged for detention by the CBP, affecting the supply chain of major US and European apparel brands.

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This is an industry-scale problem. Next to Nicaragua, the Philippines has the most shipments detained by the CBP. While some have been released just a week and a half ago, there remain several shipments on hold, Agoncillo said in a briefing.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has been instrumental for the release of the detained shipments, she said.

The Uyghur law prohibits the use of cotton sourced from Uyghur, China over labor issues, causing business interruption and order losses of about $5 million to $6 million to Philippine suppliers in the 2023 Christmas season until February 2024.

Buyers whose shipments arrived in late April were forced to sell at a discount in US and European outlets to recoup their investments.

The group said that aside from the 2,000 workers retrenched by Luen Thai Clark, several smaller brand manufacturers placed about 80 to 200 workers on forced leave.

L&T International Group Philippines Inc., the retail apparel arm of the Luen Thai Group, failed to optimize the capacity of its facility in Clark, running at 25-percent capacity due to low demand as a result of the retrenchment.

The Luen Thai workforce was cut to half from 7,000 to 3,500 and further to 1,500 after the latest company retrenchment.

L&T said the termination of some 2,000 workers was done with utmost respect to ethical business standards, following the continued softening of global apparel market.

This action was closely coordinated with the Department of Labor and Employment [DOLE] to ensure transparency, fairness, and adherence to legal standards, underlining our dedication to ethical business processes. All affected employees received the comprehensive severance package that meet legal standards, Agoncillo said.

The affected employees received retrenchment packages of P70,000 to P75,000 each and might be called back once the industry shows recovery.

Luen Thai serves the demand of different US and European brands on apparels, bags and accessories. US and European buyers for apparel look for 14 different brands.

CONWEP said that despite its strict adherence to the sourcing protocol under the UFLPA, association members were still required by CBP to prove the origin of the raw material, particularly cotton that has led to prolonged delays in clearing recent US shipments.

Looking to the future, we are hopeful for a rebound in business. Once these conditions improve and orders resume, our goal is to rehire our skilled workforce and restore normal operations, the group said.
A defense naval base will be built in Catanduanes to protect the island province from any possible foreign intrusion.

Catanduanes Governor Joseph Cua told the Manila Standard that he is scouting for an at least five-hectare lot where the naval base may be constructed as a Chinese-flagged vessel keeps loitering near the province.

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It could be somewhere in the town of Viga or Panganiban, Catanduanes, Cua said.

The governor added he did not personally see the vessel but only learned of its presence from the news.

The spotted Chinese vessel is quite distant as it is almost four times the travel from Albay to Catanduanes, he explained.

However, the governor said his office already wrote a letter to the concerned authorities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) asking for an update.

Hopefully we dont get involved like what is currently happening in the West Philippine Sea, Cua said in Filipino.
A lawmaker warned on Monday that the Philippines could incur sanctions if it fails to cooperate with the International Criminal Courts (ICC) investigation into the controversial drug war that unfolded during the term of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

Manila Rep. Joel Chua said the Philippines cannot afford to risk its relationship with the United Nations, given the cooperation agreement between the United Nations (UN) and the ICC.

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That will be a problem, as far as I can see, we are with the [UN], so of course [the question is] are we willing to risk our relationship here with the [UN]? Of course, we should have some foreign relationships we also keep it, Chua said in a news conference.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has consistently maintained that his administration will not cooperate with the ICCs inquiry that deals with the numerous killings during his predecessors war on drugs.

However, Chua argued that President Marcos does not need to alter his stance because the Philippines can still engage with the ICC through the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), an independent constitutional body.

[CHR] is an independent body. It is not under the Office of the President nor under the Legislative Department, Chua pointed out.

The lawmaker affirmed the authority of CHR to investigate human rights violations, citing Republic Act 9851, which grants jurisdiction over crimes against humanity and war crimes to the Regional Trial Court, aligning with the focus of the ICC.

Chua, a lawyer, also addressed concerns about the consequences of the Philippines withdrawal from the ICC in 2019.

He pointed out that even after withdrawing, the ICC still has authority over crimes committed while the country was a member.

Chua said that what the ICC can do is to coordinate with the CHR.

If by chance the ICC makes a decision, we have to remember that we have an agreement with the UN, and the UN and the ICC have a cooperation agreement, he pointed out.

In a previously issued statement, Chua emphasized that as a sovereign state and a founding member of the UN, the Philippines is obligated to adhere to international law.

He also warned against obstructing the ICC investigation.

Being a sovereign state in the international community and Founding Member of the UN, the Philippines is legally-bound to follow international law, including the UN Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, and to respect the United Nations Laissez-Passer or the UN Passport and all holders of the UN Passport, Chua explained.

He added, If the Philippines denies entry to the ICC Prosecutor, Investigators, and Staff that would be a direct offense to the UN and can make our country an outcast or pariah, along with the accompanying diplomatic and international crises.
No Filipinos have been reported injured or killed in the twin earthquakes that struck Taiwan, according to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).

There are no immediate reports of injuries among overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), but MWOs in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung are reaching out to Filipino leaders, communities, employers, and trade associations to ascertain the status of OFWs, the DMW said.

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In an advisory, the DMW said Taiwan was struck by twin 5.9 quakes late Monday, just minutes apart and the Island was placed on high alert.

Taiwans Central Weather Administration reported the first quake at 5:45 p.m. while the second followed seven minutes later at 5:52 p.m.

The DMW said its migrant workers offices, together with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Manila Economic and Cultural Office are continuously monitoring the situation.

On April 3, a strong quake hit Taiwan and at least four Filipinos were injured during the earthquake.

Editors Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline No Filipinos hurt in twin Taiwan tremorsDMW
New York, United StatesColumbia University, the epicenter of US student protests against the war in Gaza, on Monday canceled its main graduation ceremony, as colleges seek to contain the demonstrations that have rocked campuses for weeks.

But the move has failed to stem anger over US support of Israel amid the mounting Palestinian death toll: fresh protests sprung up in the city Monday evening, including at the university gates despite a heavy police presence.

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Protesters then made their way to demonstrate at the citys annual Met Gala, a glitzy, high-profile fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute. Several were arrested, Agence France Presse (AFP) journalists confirmed.

Columbia, where at least 100 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested last week, cited security concerns as it canceled the graduation ceremony scheduled for May 15, with smaller events planned instead.

But some angry at the decision signed an online petition to overturn it, which had more than 2,300 signatures on Monday evening.

They have plenty of money But instead, they chose the laziest option possible, politics student Ally Woodward, 24, told AFP, referring to university leaders.

New target

Graduation ceremoniesa key event in American university lifehave become a new target for pro-Palestinian demonstrators after heavy-handed policing removed many of their on-campus encampments.

On Saturday, dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters wearing graduation gowns and keffiyehs briefly interrupted a commencement ceremony at the University of Michigan.

Some unfurled Palestinian flags and marched toward the stage chanting You are funding genocide, before being stopped by police.

Others in the audience held Israeli flags, and a plane was seen flying overhead carrying a banner that said: We stand with Israel. Jewish Lives Matter.

At Northeastern University in Boston, a man wearing a shirt splattered with fake blood approached the stage before being detained by police on Sunday.

The University of Southern California in April canceled its main graduation ceremony set for May 10 following pro-Palestinian protests on campus, citing a need for additional safety measures at the event that normally hosts 65,000 people.

Police have taken tougher measures on pro-Palestinian protests in the past week, with some university presidents explicitly requesting law enforcement support.

Columbias president Minouche Shafik faced criticism for calling in police to clear protesters who had barricaded themselves inside a university building.

Columbia, one of Americas most elite universities, was among the first to mobilize against Israels war in Gaza in protests that spread across the United States, with police arresting more than 2,000 people nationwide.
THE annual Balikatan exercises of the Philippines and the United States end today  officially on Friday  with both sides hopeful they have strengthened their bilateral interoperablity, trust and cooperation.

More than 16,000 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and US military trained together this year, with contingents from the Australian Defense Force and, for the first time in Balikatan history, the French Navy, as participants.

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Several of the drills were set in islands and provinces facing Taiwan and the South China Sea, including Ilocos Norte up north, about 408 km from Taiwans southernmost point.

The exercises have irked China, which has warned of destabilization when countries outside the region flex muscles and stoke confrontation  a flawed logic, from where we are, since the rule of law does not stop when one uses might unnecessarily.

The exercises came at a time of escalating tension between China and the Philippines in the latters exclusive economic zone, reason China must have had its eyes glued on the radar screen for every blip during the 19-day combat drills.

Last week, Manila accused Beijing of using water cannons against Philippine vessels around the disputed Scarborough Shoal, which damaged naval vessels and injured people onboard.

Earlier on, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the Philippines would not retaliate in kind, saying he did not want to raise tensions.

But there is truth in what US Marines Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of joint task force Balikatan, told reporters the exercises were meant to improve how the forces operate alongside each other and were not directed against a specific adversary.

We dont do this for any third party. We dont do this for messaging. We do this to create interoperability, Cederholm said, without mentioning China.

In the most prominent annual military exercises between the Philippines and the United States, participants executed a complex missions across domains, including maritime security, sensing and targeting, air and missile defense, dynamic missile strikes, cyber defense, and information operations.

The Philippine Navy, US Navy, and the French Navy also conducted a Multilateral Maritime Exercise in the Philippines 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

The main exercises will culminate with a maritime strike today, in which the combined forces of the Philippines and the United States will sink a decommissioned Philippine navy ship.

Other exercises have included simulations of retaking occupied islands and a multilateral sail with France and Australia in the South China Sea, inside the Philippines exclusive economic zone.
Only a few weeks left before IFEX Philippines 2024 brings the food community a salu-salo to find the best flavors and ingredients here at the World Trade Center Metro Manila in Pasay City, Philippines from May 10-12, 2024. The 17th edition of IFEX Philippines marks another milestone with Sustainable Solutions Exchange (SSX), the countrys first sourcing program promoting sustainable goods, practices, resources, and technology, taking prominence with its own showcase at the Marketplace during the 3-day affair.

For IFEX Philippines 2024, SSX stands to prioritize food security by highlighting and supporting people and places that value sustainability in various aspects of food, from sourcing to preparation, consumption, management up to disposal. Along with the vast array of food and ingredients on offer at IFEX Philippines, this dedicated space will see product lines that have been made vis a vis sustainable practices.

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More than the latest in todays food and drinks, IFEX Philippines is making bigger strides in championing the cause for a healthier community and environment. Apart from the selection of healthy food options for export and retail, lead event organizer Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) is helping buyers and visitors take part in this impactful journey  one cassava bag at a time. IFEX Philippines exhibitors and buyers will get to test the eco-friendly bag as it teams up with local manufacturer Oikos Philippines as the official sponsor of the event bags this year.



Proudly made in the Philippines, the Oikos cassava bag is championing the cause for a cleaner future with its non-toxic, all natural source materials, making this plastic-free packaging a tangible option for the eco-conscious consumer. Photo credit: @evsatuito

The concept of sustainability has long been touted across industries for years. Many businesses and individuals take the use of the term to heart in the same way others use sustainability as a promotional tool to drum up sales or a perfunctory commitment to uphold its public image.

For Oikos Philippines, it is letting its products do the talking. Made with zero plastic, the Oikos bag uses cassava as its main base material for this product line that functions similarly to a plastic bag, minus the harmful chemicals and processes. With its plant-based materials at play  cassava starches and vegetable oils, the cassava bags are gentle to the environment, eliminating the excuse for further deforestation and artificial waste and toxic retention on the ground, sea, and air. As plastic is almost forever, Oikos cassava bags biodegrade in three to six months. Product users also need not worry about elaborate means to properly dispose of the cassava bags since they dissolve in 70-80 water, or above normal hot water temperature.

Aside from the grab bags to be seen at IFEX Philippines 2024, Oikos produces other naturally derived eco-friendly packaging for everyday use. This includes laundry bags you can throw in the washer along with your dirty clothes without worry as they will dissolve in the process. The company also has mailers and trash bags under its cassava line. Its corn bags with similar uses can also be good options in place of paper bags.

Visit www.oikosph.com to know more about the company and sustainable packaging, and www.ifexconnect.com for more information on IFEX Philippines 2024 and exhibitors.

For updates, follow IFEX Philippines on Facebook (ifexphilippines), Instagram (official_foodph), LinkedIn (IFEX Philippines), and X (@_foodph) accounts for other news and updates.
A UN agency has issued a dire warning regarding the looming threat of starvation in Darfur, Sudan, as escalating violence continues to devastate the region. Michael Dunford, representing the World Food Programme (WFP) in Eastern Africa, emphasized the urgent need for intervention, noting that residents have been forced to consume grass and peanut shells as food supplies dwindle. The protracted civil war, which erupted in April 2023, has plunged Sudan into a brutal conflict characterized by widespread violence, sexual atrocities, and a surge of refugees fleeing the chaos.

Recent incidents of violence in South Darfur, where two drivers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were killed and three others injured, underscore the precarious security situation that humanitarian organizations face in delivering vital aid to affected communities. Meanwhile, North Darfurs capital, El Fasher, finds itself increasingly encircled by forces, with reports of escalating atrocities including arbitrary killings and village burnings, according to UN officials.

Despite hosting a significant population of displaced individuals seeking refuge from violence across Sudan, El Fasher is witnessing a surge in displacement, with over 36,000 people forced to flee their homes in recent weeks alone, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Food aid delivery to Darfur has been hampered by ongoing fighting and bureaucratic hurdles, leaving approximately 1.7 million people at risk of acute hunger, as revealed by the WFP.

The situations urgency cannot be overstated, with millions of lives hanging in the balance. Immediate and concerted action is imperative to avert a catastrophic famine and address the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Darfur, Sudan.
A recent investigation into a building fire that claimed 76 lives in South Africa found city authorities culpable for neglecting safety concerns dating back four years before the incident. The blaze, which engulfed a five-story building in downtown Johannesburg on August 31, marked one of South Africas deadliest disasters, with casualties including at least 12 children and 86 injured individuals. Reports revealed harrowing accounts of people resorting to desperate measures to escape the flames, including tossing children from windows.

Retired Judge Sisi Khampepe, leading the inquiry, condemned the City of Johannesburg for its total disregard regarding the buildings dire condition. The investigation uncovered unlawful residency within the building, with makeshift dwellings erected in corridors and bathrooms. Fire safety measures were found lacking, with extinguishers removed and the primary fire escape locked on the night of the tragedy. The accumulation of waste and makeshift structures intensified the blazes severity.

Previous inspections in 2019 by city officials highlighted distressing living conditions, yet little action was taken. Judge Khampepe recommended disciplinary measures against the Johannesburg Property Companys CEO and advocated for the buildings demolition, proposing a memorial plaque in honor of the victims.

The incident exposed broader issues of urban neglect in Johannesburg, where illegal landlords exploit housing needs, leading to overcrowding and safety oversights in many buildings. In a stunning twist during the inquiry, a resident confessed to igniting the fire to dispose of a murder victim, leading to his arrest on charges of murder and arson.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

In January 2024 alone, more than 280 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in the U.S. As this type of legislation and policies are becoming more prevalent across the country, a paper from researchers at Rice University concludes that the negative effects are felt profoundly not just by members of the LGBTQ+ community but by those who work in roles supporting them.

The article "Understanding and Addressing the Health Implications of AntiLGBTQ+ Legislation" is published in a recent edition of Occupational Health Science. The study is an anthology of expert opinions and evidence analyzing the negative effects of policies and laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community. It also examines the impact on individuals working in fields that serve LGBTQ+ people.

Lead author Eden King, the Lynette S. Autrey Professor of Psychological Sciences at Rice, said she and her fellow researchers wanted to take a closer look at the impact of rising anti-LGBTQ+ discourse and legislation throughout the country, especially in states like Florida and Texas.

"We were interested in sharing what the science tells us about the potential implications of laws and policies that are being enacted," King said.

King and her fellow researchers report that there are significant physical and mental health implications linked not just to LGBTQ+ individuals affected by these laws and discourse, but also to those working in health care and educational settings that provide service to this community.

These negative health implications can include anxiety, depression, substance abuse, cardiovascular conditions, cancer and more. The paper suggests that these negative health effects can occur following legal, organizational or even supervisory changes.

Ten to 20 years ago, when some of the laws were becoming more supportive and protective of the LBTQ+ community, researchers documented fewer mental health issues and negative effects, King said. A prior review of research cited in the paper concluded that laws protecting LGBTQ+ rights result in LGBTQ+ people with improved mental and physical health, higher employment and wages, improved job experiences, better educational environments, less social stigma and discrimination and diminished housing discrimination.

King said the onslaught of new bills attempt to remove gender affirming care and create other health care restrictions for LGBTQ+ youth; allow for the misgendering of youth; censor school curriculum (including banning books and preventing conversations on LGBTQ+ topics); force outings of transgender people in schools; prevent the requirement of staff-related training on gender, sexual diversity and other forms of diversity training; ban transgender individuals from public accommodations; prevent public drag performances; and ban LGBTQ+ marriages.

"The consequences of further dismantling the enormous progress that has been made toward LGBTQ+ rights have enormous implications for the people living in the U.S.," the paper's authors write.

"In this anthology, we have attempted to summarize and alert readers to the implications of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, particularly within the context of occupational health psychology. We anticipate increased stigmatization at the individual and societal level, and negative physical and mental health-related consequences that vary across subgroups in the U.S. and beyond."

King said she and her fellow researchers hope their work will raise awareness on this topic and promote action preventing the further dismantling of the basic civil rights of LGBTQ+ people.

More information: Eden King et al, Understanding and Addressing the Health Implications of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation, Occupational Health Science (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s41542-024-00174-2
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:

Distribution of non-P42 MOG-IgG in myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) at onset. Credit: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry (2024). DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2023-332851

Blindness and paralysis are often the devastating consequences of little-known disease myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). An Australian research collaboration is looking to change this, making huge strides in understanding the condition which could lead to better outcomes in the future.

Often referred to as a cousin of MS due to shared symptoms, MOGAD is an autoimmune condition where the body attacks a protein in the brain, resulting in a swollen central nervous system. The disease affects adults and children but is much less common, and less understood than MS.

One of the biggest challenges with the condition is that some people will experience only one attack in their lifetime while around 40% have recurring attacks, each leading to additional impairment and disability. Strong immunosuppressants can help prevent relapses but drug side effects mean it is vital to identify which patients need this ongoing treatment.

A team of over 50 Australian scientists, headed by Professor Fabienne Brilot from the University of Sydney and the Kids Neuroscience Center at Sydney Children's Hospitals Network have been able to achieve just that.

In a new study published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, the researchers detail the discovery of a way to predict which adult patients will experience a relapsing course by examining where the antibody binds on the MOG protein (the epitope) in patients who have tested positive for the MOG antibody.

They found that in around 25% of patients, the antibody was not binding at the dominant epitope (called non-p42 epitope) and these were the patients experiencing a relapse. They also found this was most common in patients who at the initial onset of the disease were affected by vision impairment (lesions on the optic nerve) as opposed to those experiencing issues with movement (lesions on the spinal cord).

Professor Brilot said the clinical translation of the finding is hugely significant given this is the first and only 'test' available.

"The prediction of a relapsing course in MOGAD means neurologists can make more informed treatment decisions. They can initiate maintenance immunosuppression early rather than waiting for relapse to occur, as has happened with multiple sclerosis."

"It will help prioritize patients in busy neuroimmunology clinics and will also help recruitment into clinical trials which are vital to undercover the best treatments for this disease."

The discovery builds on Professor Brilot's previous work in the field, including as a key member of the global consortium that published the first consensus on diagnostic criteria for MOGAD in 2023.

The disease is diagnosed by the detection of the MOG autoantibody. Professor Brilot's lab at Westmead has been the Australia-wide testing point for the antibody for the last 10 years, testing serum or blood of 4000 Australian patients a year.

"The disease is so new, and so newly described that there is a lot we still don't know. But whether or not patients will relapse is the number one question asked of neurologists. One we can now potentially answer," she said.

Based on her experience overseeing MOGAD antibody testing, Professor Brilot aims to have testing for early identification of those at risk of relapsing disease available for clinical purposes in adults soon.

Simultaneously her team is carrying out the same research with children with MOGAD, in the hope that the discovery could also help young people impacted by the disease.

More information: Ganesha Liyanage et al, The MOG antibody non-P42 epitope is predictive of a relapsing course in MOG antibody-associated disease, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry (2024). DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2023-332851
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Families of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities say Gov. Gavin Newsom is reneging on a scheduled raise for the workers who care for their loved ones, and advocates warn of potential lawsuits if disability services become harder to get.

Citing California's budget deficit, the Democratic governor wants to save around $613 million in state funds by delaying pay increases for a year for about 150,000 disability care workers. The state will forgo an additional $408 million in Medicaid reimbursements, reducing funding by over $1 billion.

Some lawmakers say this decision will increase staff turnover and vacancies, leaving thousands of children and adults with disabilities without critical services at home and in residential facilities. Disability advocates warn it could violate the Lanterman Act, California's landmark law that says the state must provide services and resources to people with disabilities and their families.

Newsom is "breaking a promise," said Felisa Strickland, 60, who has been searching for more than a year for a day program for her 23-year-old daughter, Lily, who has autism and cerebral palsy. "It's creating a lot of physical and mental health problems for people, and it's a lot of undue stress on aging parent caregivers like myself."

Disability care workers, known as direct support professionals, provide daily, hands-on caregiving to help children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as autism, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy, remain independent and integrated into their communities.

In California, more than 400,000 people with disabilities need accommodation, and this population, along with seniors, is increasing. It's not clear how big the worker shortage is because the state hasn't released workforce data. As the demand for these workers grows generally, experts predict a shortage of between 600,000 and 3.2 million direct care workers by 2030.

Advocates say California pays most providers from $16 to $20 an hour, which meets the state's minimum wage but falls short of what some economists consider a living wage. In 2021, the state committed to raising wages after identifying a $1.8 billion gap between the rates received by nonprofits that contract with the state to provide care and the rates deemed adequate.

Thus far, the state has provided around half that total, most of which has gone to raising wages and benefits. Workers had been expecting one more increase, of $2$4 an hour, in July, until Newsom proposed a delay.

Also, nonprofits say California has made it harder to compete for workers after raising wages in other service and health industries. Newsom approved a $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers that went into effect in April and he struck a deal last year with unions and hospitals to begin raising health care workers' wages to a minimum of $25 an hour.

Ricardo Zegri said Taco Bell would pay him more than the $19 an hour he makes as a disability care worker in a supervisory position.

"Every paycheck, it's a discussion at home about what bills we need to prioritize and whether it's time to start looking for work that pays more," said Zegri, who works a second job as a musician in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Newsom wants to preserve key health initiatives, including the state expansion of Medi-Cal to low-income immigrants regardless of legal status, and CalAIM, an ambitious $12 billion experiment to transform Medi-Cal into both a health insurer and a social services provider. However, the rate delay for providing disability care is the largest savings in the Health and Human Services budget as Newsom and legislative leaders look to cuts, delays, and shifts in funding to close a deficit estimated between $38 billion and $73 billion.

Dozens of legislators from both parties are asking Newsom and legislative leaders to preserve the increase. Assembly member Stephanie Nguyen, a Democrat from Elk Grove, signed a letter supporting the raise. Although lawmakers are negotiating with the administration, she said reversing the decision to delay the pay boost is unlikely. Everybody "has to take a hit somewhere," Nguyen said.

Krystyne McComb, a spokesperson for the Department of Developmental Services, said even though the state would lose federal matching funds this year, it would resume drawing funds when the state reinstates the plan in 2025.

The department did not respond to questions about how it plans to retain workers and fill vacancies.

Newsom's proposal risks a collapse of the disability service system, which would violate the Lanterman Act and make the state vulnerable to lawsuits, said Jordan Lindsey, executive director of the Arc of California, a statewide disability rights advocacy organization.

Families say the state has already fallen short on services they need. Strickland quit her job to care for Lily, the Santa Barbara mother said. "It's not reasonable to expect someone to care for somebody else 24 hours a day, seven days a week," she said.

Lily graduated from high school and in 2022 completed a program that prepares youth with disabilities to transition into adult life. She had been looking forward to joining a day program to make new friends but has yet to find a spot. And due to a shortage of workers, Lily receives only four hours a week at home with a provider, who is paid around $16 an hour.

When Lily hangs out with the provider, her demeanor changes to the happy person she used to be, Strickland said.

"The system is already in crisis," she said. "There are tons and tons of people that are sitting at home because there's nowhere for them to go."

2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Results of voxel-based morphometry and cerebellar activation related to the presentation of the aversive US. A, gray matter voxel-based morphometry (contrast control group > cerebellar group). US-related cerebellar activation (contrast US post CS+ > no-US post CS during fear acquisition training) in (B) healthy controls and (C) cerebellar patients collapsed over early and late fear acquisition blocks. Credit: eneuro (2024). DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0365-23.2023

For a long time, the fact that the cerebellum plays an important role in regulating our emotionssuch as when processing fearhas been ignored. Professor Melanie Mark from Ruhr-University Bochum and Professor Dagmar Timmann from the University of Duisburg-Essen are two of the first researchers to provide experimental evidence that the cerebellum contributes towards both the learning and the extinction of conditioned fear responses. They report on this in the journal eNeuro.

To investigate the role that the cerebellum plays in fear learning, the two neuroscientists conducted learning experimentsthe neurologist with humans and the neurobiologist with mice.

"In our studies, we draw on classic fear-conditioning experiments and compare healthy humans and mice with those that have a cerebellar disease, ataxia," says Timmann, summarizing the shared study design.

To understand ataxia

In her latest study, the clinical neuroscientist selected 20 subjects who suffer from rare cerebellar diseases such as spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6), in addition to 20 healthy people.

"The movement disorder SCA6 is triggered by a genetic defect similar to Huntington's disease and only affects a very small number of people in Germany," explains Timmann, who has been offering ataxia consultations at Essen University Hospital for many years.

"SCA6 is associated with a loss of a specific type of neuron in the cerebellum, the Purkinje cells. The Purkinje cells are important as intermediaries between the cerebellum and the rest of the brain. For instance, the cerebellum helps the cerebrum to optimize motion sequences," says the researcher.

Fear-conditioning experiments

In their study, Timmann and her team had patients and participants learn and then unlearn fear within two days while observing them in the 7 Tesla MRI scanner.

The direct comparison of healthy subjects and people with ataxia confirmed the assumption that people with ataxia have deficits when learning and unlearning fear. Not only did the acquisition and consolidation of the learned fear response take longer than in the healthy control group, but unlearning the fear was also more prolonged. However, the deficits were much lower than expected.

"Beforehand, we assumed that our ataxia patients would be much more significantly impaired during the fear conditioning and that this, in turn, would be associated with clearly visible changes in the cerebellum," says Timmann. However, in the 7 Tesla MRI, the activation pattern in the ataxia patients was also reasonably well preserved and only showed minor deviations from the healthy participants.

Mouse models

To confirm the Essen clinician's observations, her research colleague in Bochum, neurobiologist Melanie Mark, conducted the fear conditioning study with healthy mice and mice suffering from SCA6. Mark used SCA6 mouse models that she had already developed for previous studies.

In the experiment, the healthy and sick mice first learned to associate a tone with an unpleasant electric shock and then unlearned the association.

"Our SCA6 mice were able to learn the fear response exactly like the people with ataxia, but they did not consolidate what they had learned. Their memory of the learned association task did not last until the next day," explains Mark.

The researcher was thus able to show that the fear memory in the SCA6 mice was disrupted in comparison to the healthy mice. The cerebellar disease prevented the mice from consolidating what they had learned and, based on this, from being able to make a learned prediction.

Mark thus came to the same conclusion as Timmann: The cerebellum plays a role in learning fear responses. However, the deficits were also much lower than expected in the mouse model.

"In this chronic illness, other regions of the brain have possibly learned to compensate for the cerebellar deficit. This is desirable from an evolutionary perspective. If a region fails, the whole neuronal circuit does not immediately collapse. This does not mean that the cerebellum is not involved," explain Mark and Timmann.

Melanie Mark's team is now working hard on rectifying the learning deficits in SCA 6 mice using various methods.

More information: Giorgi Batsikadze et al, Mild Deficits in Fear Learning: Evidence from Humans and Mice with Cerebellar Cortical Degeneration, eNeuro (2024). DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0365-23.2023 Journal information: eNeuro
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Firefighters may have an increased risk of prostate cancer due to on-the-job chemical exposures, according to new research from the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and University of Michigan in collaboration with fire service partners and researchers around the country through the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study.

Prostate cancer is the leading incident cancer among U.S. males. Firefighters are diagnosed with prostate cancer at a rate 1.21 times higher than the general population, possibly because of chemical exposures including smoke and firefighting foam during firefighting.

Some of those chemicals can affect how genes are expressed through a process called epigenetic modification, and certain epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, contribute to cancer development. Researchers found evidence that experienced firefighters had different epigenetic modifications than new firefighters in regions linked to prostate cancer.

"With these published findings, we have clear evidence of the health risks that firefighters face due to cumulative exposure on the job," said Jeff Burgess, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Firefighter Health Collaborative Research and professor at the Zuckerman College of Public Health.

The paper, "Firefighting, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and DNA methylation of genes associated with prostate cancer risk," is published in the journal Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis.

Burgess, also a member of the BIO5 Institute, has been investigating firefighter health for decades. He collaborated with lead author Margaret Quaid, MS, and researcher Jackie Goodrich, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan, who led the analysis on the methylation of genes.

They found that experienced firefighters had different epigenetic modifications at chromosome 8q24a particular area of the genome where epigenetic modifications have been linked to prostate cancer riskcompared with new firefighters.

One class of chemicals that is linked with epigenetic modifications is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are used in firefighting foam as well as in many household items, including nonstick pans and water-resistant clothing. The research team also investigated whether there was a link between exposure to PFAS and epigenetic modification.

The results showed that, in many fire departments, new and experienced firefighters had similar exposure to PFAS. However, exposure to a specific PFAS chemicalbranched perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOAwas linked to epigenetic modifications.

"This study demonstrates the power of the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study to combine data across grantsin this case awards from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2014, 2015 and 2018to more powerfully evaluate questions from the fire service, this time around exposures and increased prostate cancer risk," Burgess said.

Other co-authors from the Zuckerman College of Public Health include toxicologist Shawn Beitel, MSc, research program administrative officer of the Firefighter Health Collaborative Research Program, and Sally Littau, health research coordinator. John Gulotta and Darin Wallentine of the Tucson Fire Department also contributed.

The research team included members from the University of Miami, Rutgers University, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the Orange County Fire Authority, and the Fire Protection Research Foundation.

More information: Margaret Quaid et al, Firefighting, per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and DNA methylation of genes associated with prostate cancer risk, Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis (2024). DOI: 10.1002/em.22589
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Variation of short tandem repeat associated with thyroid disease in humans. A newly identified intergenic repeat-Alu contraction or sequence variant may be a frequent cause of compensated congenital hypothyroidism and multinodular goiter (MNG) through disruption of a thyroid-specific non-coding regulatory mechanism. TF, transcription factor. Credit: Nature Genetics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01723-9

A team of researchers from the University of Chicago, in collaboration with the Free University of Brussels and the University of Washington, have uncovered a genetic mutation in a non-coding region of DNA that alters the regulation of the thyroid, leading to a rare form of congenital thyroid abnormality.

Lack or reduced thyroid hormone at birth occurs in 1 of 2,000 newborns and, if untreated, can lead to irreversible mental and growth impairment. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), derived from the pituitary gland, controls formation of the thyroid hormone. Decreased thyroid hormone levels result in an increase of TSH.

For this reason, measurement of TSH is routinely used to screen newborns for thyroid hormone deficiency, allowing for the early treatment and prevention of the serious consequences of the condition.

However, since the institution of TSH based screening in the early 1980s, instances of high TSH in the presence of normal thyroid hormone levels have been encountered. Individuals with this condition are said to have resistance to TSH or RTSH, but do not always have complications because of it.

RTSH has both a recessively inherited form and a dominantly inherited form. Prior research has uncovered the genetics behind the recessively inherited form. This current research identifies for the first time the genetics of the dominantly inherited form.

"This finding identifies a new physiologic mechanism for control or regulation of the thyroid," said Samuel Refetoff, MD, Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics and Committee on Genetics, and corresponding author of the paper.

"Once we have unraveled how this particular mechanism works, we will be able to add new knowledge about how the thyroid functions."

The research was published May 7, 2024, in Nature Genetics. The journal also published a News & Views piece on the discovery.

STR variants in a primate-specific region of chr15. Credit: Nature Genetics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01717-7

A discovery decades in the making

The identification of this genetic mutation is a culmination of twenty-five years of work involving multiple laboratories around the world. Refetoff was on sabbatical leave in the laboratory of Professor and Co-author Gilbert Vassart of the Free University of Brussels when the first family with the dominantly inherited form of RTSH was identified in 1998. Four more families with the condition were found and information about them published in 2005.

The researchers then explored potential candidate genes for the condition. Co-author Helmut Grasberger, then a post doc in Refetoff's lab and now a research assistant professor at the University of Michigan, was able to link it to an area on chromosome 15, a large piece of DNA with around 40 genes. But technology hindered the ability of the team to take their findings further until recently.

In this study, the researchers used whole genome sequencing and Sanger sequencing to examine the DNA of 12 unrelated families with the condition, pairing affected individuals with unaffected individuals to identify genetic differences on chromosome 15. They found noncoding mutations on a short tandem repeat (STR) to be the underlying cause of the condition in all 82 affected individuals.

Of note, mutations occur on primate-specific DNA known as the Alu retrotransposon and are also found in gorillas, which previous studies have shown present thyroid test abnormalities compatible with RTSH. Researchers theorize that this STR may have had a role in the healthy gestation of our evolutionary ancestors.

Furthermore, the team ran fiber-seq and RNA-seq studies on tissue from the enlarged thyroid gland of two individuals with RTSH. They discovered that the STR mutations activate a thyroid-specific "enhancer cluster" which upregulated the expression of MIR7-2 and MIR1179, two types of micro-RNA.

Overexpression of these genes in the subjects' thyroid epithelial cells might cause an imbalance in pathways controlled by these micro-RNAs. Now, the researchers plan to study how this produces the observed abnormalities in RTSH.

"It is common knowledge that less than 2% of DNA encodes for proteins and it was believed that the rest doesn't really do anything," said Refetoff.

"I think this is an important reminder and good demonstration that there may be more to noncoding areas of DNAthat they, too, can have a function. I believe we will see this more and more as epigenomic techniques become routine in gene discovery and diagnostics."

More information: Helmut Grasberger et al, STR mutations on chromosome 15q cause thyrotropin resistance by activating a primate-specific enhancer of MIR7-2/MIR1179, Nature Genetics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01717-7 Andrea Cortese et al, Contraction or sequence variant of an intergenic repeat-Alu element leads to inherited thyroid disease, Nature Genetics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01723-9 Journal information: Nature Genetics
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

On behalf of the Swedish Gender Equality Agency, researchers Lena Dahlberg and Mariam Kirvalidze have done a scoping review of informal caregiving and loneliness.

More specifically, the report examines loneliness in spousal caregivers aged 65 years and older, the factors that increase the risk of loneliness in this group, the consequences of loneliness, and how they themselves experience loneliness.

Loneliness is associated with low well-being and poor health. The report indicates that loneliness among spousal caregivers can involve emotional loneliness within the relationship with their partner, especially if the partner has dementia.

"Loneliness can also result from social isolation or uncertainty in the role of being a caregiver. Further research is needed to explore differences among groups of spousal caregivers, such as women and men, or individuals with different educational background," says Lena Dahlberg, Professor at Dalarna University and affiliated with the Karolinska Institutet.

"Spousal caregivers usually bear most of the intensive care duties, attending to personal tasks with dedication, often sacrificing their social lives and needs. It's vital to implement targeted interventions to alleviate the caregiving burden experienced by spouses later in life," says Mariam Kirvalidze, Ph.D. student at the Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet.

It's essential to recognize the impact of caregiving on mental health and consider targeted support for those providing care to their partners. Initiatives to alleviate the burden experienced by spouses later in life can significantly improve their well-being and quality of life.
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Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114112

Neurons are important, but they are not everything. Indeed, it is "cartilage," in the form of clusters of extracellular matrix molecules called chondroitin sulfates, located in the outside nerve cells, that plays a crucial role in the brain's ability to acquire and store information.

A study published in Cell Reports describes a new mechanism of brain plasticity, or how nerve connections change in response to external stimuli. The paper is titled "Focal clusters of peri-synaptic matrix contribute to activity-dependent plasticity and memory in mice."

The work stems from a collaboration between the Harvard Medical School, the University of Trento, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Magdeburg.

"Sensory skills and the ability to understand our surroundings depend on the activity of the brain, which enables us to perceive and process stimuli that come from the outside world. Through our brains we are able to acquire and store new information, and to remember information we have already acquired," say Yuri Bozzi and Gabriele Chelini.

"This fascinating phenomenon is made possible by the brain's ability to continuously change the structure and effectiveness of neuronal connections (synapses) in response to external stimuli. An ability that goes by the name of synaptic plasticity. Understanding how synaptic modifications occur and how they contribute to learning and memory is one of the great challenges in neuroscience."

Yuri Bozzi is a professor at the University of Trento and co-senior author. Gabriele Chelini is the first author of the study. Chelini worked on this project starting in 2017, as a postdoctoral fellow in a lab directed by Sabina Berretta (McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston), and completed the scientific publication during his years as a postdoctoral fellow in Bozzi's lab at the University of Trento.

At the center of the research are chondroitin sulfates, molecules well known for their role in joints, which also play a crucial function in brain plasticity, being an integral part of the brain's extracellular matrix, as was originally discovered in 2001 by Dr. Alexander Dityatev's group.

In 2007, a Japanese study described the presence of clusters of chondroitin sulfates, circular in shape, scattered seemingly randomly in the brain. This work had slipped into oblivion, however, until Sabina Berretta's translational neuroscience laboratory brought these structures back to the attention of the scientific community, renaming them CS-6 clusters (from chondroitin sulfate-6, which identifies their precise molecular composition) and demonstrating how these structures were associated with glial cells and were severely reduced in the brains of people with psychotic disorders.

Then in 2017, Gabriele Chelini, newly hired in Berretta's lab, was tasked with revealing the function of these clusters.

"First we went to explore these structures in detail, visualizing them at very high resolution. We found that they are essentially clusters of synapses coated with CS-6 and organized in a clearly recognizable geometric shape. We then highlighted a new type of synaptic organization," the scholars recount.

"At this point, we had to use some 'experimental creativity'; with a combination of behavioral, molecular and refined morphological approaches, we realized that these connections encapsulated in CS-6 clusters change in response to electrical activity in the brain."

"Finally, through collaboration with Alexander Dityatev at DZNE Magdeburg, and the efforts of Hadi Mirzapourdelavar from his group, we attenuated the expression of CS-6 in the hippocampus (the region of the brain responsible for spatial learning), and demonstrated that the presence of CS-6 is necessary for synaptic plasticity and spatial memory," Bozzi and Chelini point out.

"This work paves the way for a new way of thinking about brain functioning. It is possible that all synapses formed on different neurons within CS-6 clusters have the ability to respond chorally to specific environmental stimuli, and are involved in a common function aimed at learning and memory processes," they note.

"They seem to represent a new substrate of information integration and association formation at the multicellular level," add Dityatev and Berretta.

The work is the result of a collaboration between several laboratories, including the translational neuroscience laboratory (Sabina Berretta; McLean HospitalHarvard Medical School, Boston), the neurodevelopmental disorders research laboratory (Yuri Bozzi; CIMeCCentro Interdipartimentale Mente/Cervello, University of Trento) and the Molecular Neuroplasticity laboratory (Alexander Dityatev; DZNE Magdeburg).

More information: Gabriele Chelini et al, Focal clusters of peri-synaptic matrix contribute to activity-dependent plasticity and memory in mice, Cell Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114112 Journal information: Cell Reports
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

In a fast-paced digital age where patients can open their test results as soon as they are available, what happens when a patient reads through complicated results without a physician there to help them understand what it all means? And what happens when a patient misinterprets bad news as good news, or vice versa?

It's a scenario Benjamin Vipler, MD, confronted after his mom received her colonoscopy results on her health system's patient portal. Like many patients, she opened up her results before meeting with her clinician, and tried to decipher the medical jargon.

Thinking the results showed she was cancer-free, she shared the good news with her son, who is an assistant professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine at the University of Colorado Department of Medicine. But when she subsequently asked him what lymphoma meant, Vipler discovered she had misinterpreted results that actually indicated she had cancer.

The experience prompted Vipler to contemplate the impact of the 21st Century Cures Act, a federal law that requires the immediate electronic release of all patient results and documents without delay. The law is intended to empower patients with their health information, but as Vipler has witnessed, it can also have unintentional consequences for patients and clinicians alike.

Hoping to encourage further studies on the law's impact and promote discussion on how the current system can improve, Vipler wrote a Perspective article titled "'What's Lymphoma?"Risks Posed by Immediate Release of Test Results to Patients," which the New England Journal of Medicine has published.

In this interview, Dr. Vipler discusses his concerns, suggestions for improving patient care, and the need for further research.

What prompted you to write this Perspective article?

This actually was not my mom's first experience with a cancer diagnosis, but the first happened before the Cures Act. The experience that she had then, compared to after the law was enacted, was night and day. That was one of my reasons for writing this article. Seeing a potentially empowering piece of legislation have a negative outcome was really disheartening, and I hope that we can find fixes.

On the primary care side, I've had experiences where patients got their results before I had the chance to review them, and they essentially did their own Google searches on whatever their new diagnosis was.

So, I've always been interested in this because it's definitely a shift in how we practice medicine. The fact that it hit so close to home made me want to share it even more.

In the article, you said the Cures Act was designed, in part, 'to foster patient-centeredness' and 'increase timeliness of result notification.' In practice, what do you think are the main risks of immediately releasing test results to patients?

There are a lot of upsides to the Cures Act, but a downside is that it assumes patients have a certain degree of medical understanding and health literacy. This assumption has the potential to make the immediate release of lab results an inequitable process. It also assumes that if someone doesn't understand something, they'll go to their clinician as opposed to going to other resources that are not well-vettedwhich may not always be the case.

You cited research that suggested a majority of patients prefer to receive test results immediately over a patient portal. Why do you think most patients prefer the immediate test results?

Knowledge can be power. I think giving patients their results and putting some of the ownership of their health care on them can be very impactful and very powerful, if used correctly.

Regarding the Cures Act, I'm not necessarily saying there should be a repeal or policy change. When you have large numbers of patients who prefer to have their results immediately released, maybe that is the best thing for patients and health care. But we shouldn't forget the minority of patients who don't just because they are in the minority.

In the article, you wrote, 'Many clinicians now feel they must race to convey results before their patients read them.' How does the immediate release of test results impact clinicians?

I think one of the complications that can arise is if the patients' research on an abnormality in their results leads them to thinking they have a prognosis or a diagnosis that is worse than what the abnormality actually means.

Also, having to provide reassurance to patients when the "cat is already out of the bag" can be a big challenge. There is a way that we are trained to convey bad news and it's a multi-step process. This new process of delivery sort of circumvents that tried-and-true method. And I think there may be some moral injury or personal distress if a patient receives bad news in a way other than the way we were trained to give bad news.

Throughout your article, you mentioned ways the current system of delivering test results can improve. What are some of those suggestions?

Many of the lab results patients receive that we're most unprepared for are either incidental findings or things that we weren't necessarily expecting when we ordered a test. And those can be the most challenging because it may not come up in the clinic visit before you order the test. If you're ordering a test that will either have one outcome or another, you can walk the patient through those potential outcomes ahead of time. But if you're getting a scan of the patient's belly, there is a lot that you could find in there. In those cases, I think being very transparent with patients that there are these potential "unknown unknowns" is really important.

Another thing that we can do is give plain language statements in our lab reports, radiology reports, or pathology reports that patients can read when they get immediate access to them.

Finally, we can counsel about whether or not patients should be checking or should be getting alerts as soon as their results drop. If patients do not want to receive their results immediately, they should probably turn off the notifications.

You said it is too soon to understand the full implications of the Cures Act. What additional research do you think needs to be done?

There is a lot of ongoing, good research on the Cures Act, and some of that was done out of our own university. Much of the research right now is on patient experience. I think that if the act had goals of empowerment and improvement in health outcomes, we also need to study that.

Unfortunately, some of the literature says that we are not very good at following up on incidental, abnormal findings, given the fragmentation in health care. I think if we can show that giving patients their results in real time leads to fewer missed follow-up appointments and results, having that data could really support the potential benefits of the Cures Act.

More information: Benjamin Vipler, "What's Lymphoma?"Risks Posed by Immediate Release of Test Results to Patients, New England Journal of Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2312953 Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine
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Editors note: Calendar items must be submitted at least five days before an event. Email all items to news@morganton.com. TODAY

Meeting

The Friendly Tuesday Club will meet at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of Morganton, 502 W. Union St.

Meeting

The Building and Grounds Committee of the WPCC Trustees will hold a meeting on Tuesday, May 7 at 9 a.m.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8

Meeting

Veteran and Military Family Democrats of Burke County will hold a meeting on Wednesday, May 8, at 1 p.m. at AJs Steakhouse, 101 Bost Road, Morganton.

Meeting

The Burke County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council will meet on Wednesday, May 8 at 8:10 a.m. in the Burke County Commissioners meeting room in Section E of the county offices located at 110 N. Green St. To attend or for more information, contact A.J. Coutu at jcpcbcc@gmail.com or 828-403-1427.

THURSDAY, MAY 9

First responder meal

The Burke County Register of Deeds office, 201 S. Green St., Morganton, will host a free, drive-thru-style hot dog dinner for active, volunteer and/or retired law enforcement, firefighters, EMTs and paramedics from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 4:30-6:30 p.m.

Caregiver program

ACAP Hickory/Foothills will offer its free monthly educational program on Thursday, May 9, on Knowing Your Limits and Creating Balance as a Caregiver. The program is in person at Catawba County Library Main Branch, Lower Level, 115 W. C St., in Newton. The program begins at 5:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, MAY 10

Coffee and Conversation

The Burke County Chamber of Commerce will hold Coffee and Conversation with Alan Wood, president and DEO of Burke Development Inc., from 7:30-9 a.m. on May 10 at the Skilled Trades Building at Western Piedmont Community College, 1001 Burkemont Ave. Cost is $15 for members and $25 for non-members.

Canned food giveaway

Gaston Chapel AME Church, 102 Bouchelle St. will hold a canned food giveaway on Friday, May 10 from 3-5 p.m. or until all food has been distributed.

SATURDAY, MAY 11

Exploring Joara Foundation will host a Native American Pottery Workshop on Saturday, May 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Catawba Meadows Living History Village, 701 Sanford Drive. Attendees will learn how to make a replica Native American clay vessel with instructor Tammy Beane. Tickets are $100 per person for EJF members and $115 for non-members. Registration required at www.exploringjoara.org.

YARD SALE

The Glen Alpine womens Club will hold a yard sale on Saturday, May 11 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at 123 WS Butler St., Glen Alpine.

SUNDAY, MAY 12

Exploring Joara Foundation will host a Native American Pottery Workshop on Sunday, May 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Catawba Meadows Living History Village, 701 Sanford Drive. Attendees will learn how to make a replica Native American clay vessel with instructor Tammy Beane. Tickets are $100 per person for EJF members and $115 for non-members. Registration required at www.exploringjoara.org.

THURSDAY, MAY 16

Board meeting

New Dimensions will hold their monthly board meeting on Thursday, May 16 at 4 p.m. on campus in person as well as via Zoom. Contact ckinard@ndshcool.org for link information.

SATURDAY, MAY 18

Clean-up on Wilson Creek

The Wilson Creek Faithful will be organizing a clean-up on Wilson Creek on Saturday, May 18, from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Beverages and trash bags will be provided. For more information, contact David Benner at 828-433-7932 or Todd Cornwell at 828-640-5618. All are encouraged to come and help out.

4-H Fundraiser Yard Sale

Burke County 4-H will host our Fourth annual 4-H Fundraiser Yard Sale on Saturday, May 18 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. This is not just our 4-H yard sale as there will also have vendors, personal yard sale spaces and food trucks on hand for more treasure hunting. A few of our business vendors include Scentsy, quilt making, permanent jewelry, beaded pens, T-shirts, laser creations and goat snuggling. R & L Concessions and Brew 64 Coffee Co. also will onsite. Parents and caregivers, as a 4-H community service project, SAFE KIDS will be available at no cost and all of our leftover yard sale items will be donated to Foothills Thrift Store.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5

Chapter meeting

Burke County AARP Chapter 3262 will meet on Wednesday, June 5, in the Collett Street Recreation Center in Morganton at 9:30 a.m. After a time of greeting and refreshments, the meeting will open at 10 a.m. Lala Kovizischek, corporate wellness director for the Catawba Valley YMCA, will present an informational program on the services available to us from the Y.
New Jersey's forgotten towns Gravestone for U.S. Colored Troops soldier, Timbuctoo (Timbuctoo Historical Society /Timbuctoo Historial Society)

Not many know about Timbuctoo  a community in Westampton Township in Burlington County settled by formerly enslaved African Americans in the 1800s.

Today, a Methodist Episcopal African Church from that era and a cemetery with gravestones belonging to Black soldiers who fought in the Civil War are among the few remnants left of the forgotten town.

But soon, Timbuctoo and its rich history will be highlighted and a historical marker will be placed there along with 32 other sites in New Jersey as the state prepares to launch its Black Heritage Trail this fall.

I am absolutely elated that we will join these compelling organizations in this innovative effort to promote this important local history in our region, Guy Weston, manager of the Timbuctoo Historical Society, said in a statement.

The New Jersey Historical Commission unanimously approved 32 locations and places to be featured on the Black Heritage Trail. These sites, each significant to Black history in the state, will be the first to receive markers as part of the initiative. (See the complete list of sites below).

Chicken Bone Beach, Atlantic City Chicken Bone Beach, Atlantic City (Atlantic City Heritage Collections, Atlantic City Free Public Library)

Sites on the list include the Mount Zion AME Church in Skillman in Somerset County, the Harriet Tubman Museum of New Jersey in Cape May and Chicken Bone Beach in Atlantic City. Some selections are not physical locations but places that speak to local Black history, including Princeton and the significant role of African American soldiers during a Revolutionary War battle in the town.

In 2022, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill directing the state Historical Commission to create a Black Heritage Trail highlighting Black cultural sites using historical markers and a trail-like path. The bill allocated $1 million in taxpayer funds to support the project.

The Black Heritage Trail will serve an important role in connecting our states residents and visitors with the complex histories of African Americans in New Jersey, Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way said in a statement.

The initiative builds on a virtual trail launched in 2021 by the New Jersey Black Heritage Foundation. The new trail will take those efforts a step further by placing markers at historical sites.

Harriet Tubman Museum in Cape May Cynthia Mullock, executive director of the Harriet Tubman Museum, looks over the "Harriet Tubman - The Journey to Freedom" sculpture inside the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cape May, Tuesday, July 7, 2020.

The Historical Commission selected the sites after holding extensive public listening sessions involving dozens of people and gathering input on what should be included on the trail.

Officials said more sites will be added in the coming application rounds.

In this first round, at least one marker will be placed in 15 counties throughout the state, with some like Mercer and Camden having multiple sites.

The markers will be geographically, thematically and temporally, diverse and have QR codes to guide visitors online to access more information about the site, programming and augmented reality opportunities, officials said.

Organizations with that were not selected in this round will have the opportunity to resubmit their applications for consideration and new, additional submissions can be nominated in the future, Noelle Lorraine Williams, director of the Historical Commissions African American History Program, said in a statement.

This is just the beginning for the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail, she said. We plan to hold nomination rounds on a regular basis for the foreseeable future.

The 32 Black Heritage Trail sites are:

Atlantic County

Chicken Bone Beach in Atlantic City

Bergen County

Cleveland School Sit-Ins in Englewood

Burlington County

Bethlehem AME Church, Rev. Jeremiah Pierce and a Civil Rights milestone in Burlington

Historic Timbuctoo in Westhampton Township

Dr. James Stills Office (1855) in Medford

Camden County

Kaighn Avenue Baptist Church in Camden

Rev. Alexander Heritage Newton in Camden

Historic African American Borough of Lawnside in Lawnnside

The Point in Haddonfield

Cape May County

Macedonia Baptist Church of Cape May New Jersey/Harriet Tubman Museum of New Jersey in Cape May

Franklin Street School in Cape May

Cumberland County

Bivalve, Shellpile and Maurice River in Port Norris

Essex County

Site of East Orange Freedom Schools (1905-1906) in East Orange

Montclair Young Womens Christian Association

Mercer County

In Graves of Their Own: Trentons Black Community Preserves Its History in Trenton

Black Soldiers at Washington Crossing in Trenton

Enslavement at the Falls of the Delaware in the 1720s in Trenton

626 Perry Street in Trenton

Black Soldiers at Princeton Battlefield in Princeton

Middlesex County

The Birthplace of Thomas Mundy Peterson, first African American to vote in a U.S. election, in Metuchen

Monmouth County

William J. Count Basie and the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank

T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center in Red Bank

Turf Club in Asbury Park

Historic Cedar View Cemetery in Lincroft

U.S. Army Black Brain Center in Wall Township

Morris County

The Madison Barber Shop Protests in Madison

Passaic County

James H. Penn: A Life of Triumph in Passaic

Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson

Ocean County

Manitou Park School in Berkeley Township

Somerset County

Mount Zion AME Church in Skillman

Union County

Shady Rest Country Club: A Place for Us in Scotch Plains

Caesar (1702-1806) in Plainfield

Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.

Nyah Marshall may be reached at Nmarshall@njadvancemedia.com.
Montana State Prison inmates graduated on Monday with certificates of applied science through Helena College's automotive technology program.

Six graduates were recognized at the ceremony and had the opportunity to move their tassels to the left, making themselves Helena College alumni.

The six graduates were Bryce Adams, Aaron Brogan, Francisco Flores, Wayne Moore, Michael Roope and Brandon Seaman.

Roope was the only one not present at the event held in Deer Lodge.

Throughout the course, students had classroom lectures and hands-on learning at the prison, but also virtually attended lectures using smart boards and other technology.

The students were the second cohort to graduate through the program that started one year ago.

The Prison Education Program, PEP, through Helena College offers inmates an opportunity at a "pipeline program" once they are released into their communities, according to Scott Eychner chief of the rehabilitation and programs division for the Montana Department of Corrections.

"This is why we do what we do," Eychner said. He said the program offers people a second chance in life because people can make mistakes.

Eychner said some of the students in the previous cohort who graduated last year went on to work at Point S Tire and Auto Service in Helena.

Something he would like to see to help the program grow was industry leaders and owners stepping up and looking into the program to help people who are trying to do well with their chance.

Graduates all had the same goal: to make good use of their new certificate, but where they wanted to go varied.

Brogan of Great Falls said he plans on going to Denver, Colorado, to help his family church, Baptist Bible Temple.

He said he grew up working on cars, so the certificate was something he wanted to try. Even though he had a background in the subject, his father, Michael, who was in attendance, never thought he would see his son get a certificate from college.

Michael said he was proud of his son and hopes Aaron will use it for good and make a life for himself.

"Congrats," his father said.

Seaman is from Kalispell and has hopes of being accepted to the second year of the program to receive an associate's degree.

During Seaman's speech he said he never thought he could be in this position, but he was happy to say that he made it.

"It's a way to give back to the community," he said. When asked if there were any moments of struggle in the program he said there were "growth spurts," but overall he said it went well.

Adams, of Billings, described the moment as "life-changing" because it gave him the confidence to get out in the community and succeed.

"We all earned the right to be here today," Adams said. "This class was important to me and I could see myself doing this forever."

He said he's always been passionate about cars, so the certificate fit his mindset even though he didn't know what he wanted to do in life.

Helena College Dean Sandra Bauman spoke to the graduates with a smile on her face and pride in her voice.

She said even though this class was the second graduating class, their accomplishments deserve attention and recognition.

"The mission is to provide access to everyone and this is one of the best examples of that," Bauman said.

The program now has 15 graduates, with the next cohort starting its communication and math courses on May 13.

"We wanted to start with a manageable certificate and we did that," Bauman said. The program will have potential to grow in the future and could potentially offer different types of certificates.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has secured High Court orders to preserve $460,000 (Kes.62,100,000), which the anti-graft watchdog confiscated during its ongoing investigation into former Cabinet Secretary and Marsabit Governor Ukur Yatani.

The amount, consisting of 4,600 pieces of USD 100 denominations, was seized from his nephew Ibrae Doko Yatani.

The Commission informed the High Court that possession of the amount raises reasonable suspicion that the money may constitute proceeds of corruption or unexplained wealth.

The commission asserted that Yatani might be involved in money laundering, hence necessitating an investigation into the source.

During the proceedings, the court was informed that Ibrae Doko Yatani, through his company Al Habib Enterprises, irregularly received Kes..71,790,897 from the County Government of Marsabit.

Through its advocate Jackie Kibogy, the EACC further informed Justice Esther Maina that it is concerned that unless the court issues an order authorizing the continued custody of the cash, Ibrae Doko Yatani may demand unconditional release and proceed to dispose of or transfer the cash, thus thwarting any intended forfeiture proceedings to the detriment of the public.

Justice Maina issued the freezing orders on Friday, May 3, and they will remain in effect for six months.

I am satisfied that there are reasonable grounds laid for the preservation of the funds. An order be and is hereby issued allowing the Application to continue to detain 4,600 pieces of US Dollars 100 denomination seized from the Respondents residence on 24th April 2024. The order shall be for a period of six months as provided in Section 56(3) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act (ACECA), the court ruled.

The order shall be served upon the Respondent within 7 days of todays date. That there be no order as to costs. It is so ordered.

The money will also serve as an exhibit if criminal charges are filed.
Charles Jaguar Njagua has faulted comedian Eric Omondis humanitarian efforts amidst the ongoing flooding in Kenya.

Eric Omondi, through his Sisi Kwa Sisi initiative, has been assisting many affected individuals in different regions of the country.

The comedian also recently announced plans to construct an ark to aid with the flooding situation. He expressed dissatisfaction with the governments efforts, asserting that the authorities have failed to offer substantial support to the hundreds of affected Kenyans.

Were initiating what were calling the Noahs Ark. Were gathering all the benevolent carpenters and we want to finish it within a week. Given our lack of trust in the government, were preparing for possible disasters; were on our own, he said.

Omondi added: This motorised sisi kwa sisi ark will reach victims in the remotest parts of Kenya to save lives and deliver food, clothing and medicine. Get ready!!!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eric Omondi (@ericomondi)



In response to the comedians endaevours, the former Starehe MP has urged Eric to collaborate with the government in assisting Kenyans.

The disaster is bigger than Eric Omondi. I appreciate what hes doing but if he cant work with the government, he cant make a difference. If you look at what he is doing by going to one place when the floods are all over Kenya, it is good that he is uniting with the government even if he is against the government, Jaguar said.
On Monday, the US Embassy in Nairobi released a fresh set of Visa processing requirements.

The Embassy announced that applicants must adhere to the new guidelines by May 18. It explained that the objective of the move is to enhance customer experience.

According to the new directive, all non-immigrant visa applicants must present the same DS-160 application form during the visa interview as they used to book the appointment.

Non-immigrant visas are intended for foreign nationals seeking temporary entry into the United States. These visas cover tourism, medical treatment, business, temporary work, study, or similar purposes.

Failure to comply with the below will result in the cancellation of their Visa appointment, the Embassy said.

The directive mandates all visa applicants to locate their DS-160 confirmation page.

Subsequently, they must log in to their account at https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-ke to verify that the DS-160 number on their account matches the DS-160 number on the confirmation page.

If the numbers match, please attend your interview at the time you have scheduled, the Embassy added.

However, if the confirmation numbers do not match, applicants will need to visit https://ceac.state.gov/GenNIV/Default.aspx and follow the provided instructions to complete a new DS-160.

Subsequently, they must print out the confirmation page for their new DS-160 and bring it to their revised appointment.

As per the Embassys instructions, applicants should then log in to their account at https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-ke once more, and click on the gear icon located at the far right end.

From there, they can select the edit button and replace the old DS-160 number with the new, correct DS-160 number.

Applicants encountering difficulties in entering their new DS-160 number are encouraged to click on Contact Us at the bottom of the webpage and follow the instructions to receive assistance.

If you fail to confirm or update your DS-160 number by May 18, the U.S. Embassy will cancel your appointment and instruct you to schedule a new appointment, the Embassy directed.
Kilifi Governor Gideon Mungaro has made a U-turn on his threat to relocate Shakahola victims bodies from Malindi Sub-County Hospital Mortuary to Nairobi due to high preservation costs.

Last week, Mungaro claimed that preserving the remains had incurred his administration Kes.36 million in electricity bills. He also lamented about a supposed foul odor from the two containers holding the bodies at the Malindi Sub-County Hospital mortuary.

I have a message to the government, especially Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki. At the Malindi Hospital, I have two containers holding 429 Shakahola bodies but they just took away a few bodies only.Monday if the government will not have removed the bodies, doctors in the hospital should tow the containers and dump them in Kenyatta National Hospital, Governor Mungaro said on Friday in Dagamra, Magarini sub-county.

However, the governor had to backtrack after realizing that the bodies exhumed from the Shakahola forest neither strained county finances nor emitted foul odors.

Impromptu visit

The governors change of heart followed an impromptu visit to the mortuary on Sunday. He held a brief meeting with DCI Homicide Director Martin Nyuguto before inspecting the containers.

During the visit, Mungaro established that the containers had transitioned from electricity to gas for body preservation.

In a subsequent interview, the Kilifi county boss noted that the containers were odor-free. Additionally, he observed that any smell present within and around the mortuary originated from bodies at the countys main facility.

Now I know that they discontinued the use of electricity after embalming the bodies and the bill incurred before this is being handled by the Ministry of Interior, he said.

Governor Mungaro urged the national government to expedite the DNA matching process for the remaining bodies to be released to their relatives. Additionally, he appealed to relatives to step forward and provide DNA samples for matching purposes.

While at least seven bodies have been returned to the families of the victims, over 400 bodies are still at the Malindi Sub-County Hospital mortuary.
A counselor who ran a music program at Napa County Juvenile Hall has sued the county, claiming his supervisor worked to make him look "unqualified and unprofessional," in part by asking a teenager in custody if the counselor was a gang member.

Jeremy Phillips, who is Black, said he was forced to step down in May 2023, shortly after hospitalization for a panic attack he says was caused by a series of unfounded allegations made against him made by the juvenile hall superintendent, Kent Boltz. He also claims Boltz failed to take any steps to address his numerous race discrimination and harassment complaints.

The suit was filed last week in Napa County Superior Court.

Boltz could not be reached for comment on Monday, and a Napa County spokesperson said the county does not comment on pending litigation.

The dispute centers around a music program launched by Phillips and a colleague for in-custody juveniles in August 2021. The program, titled Studio 212, allowed participants to write and perform their own music in a recording studio.

Soon after the launch of the program, Phillips claimed in the suit, some of his colleagues "began negatively interacting with and discriminating against" him. He brought up his concerns with Boltz, who he alleges brushed aside the claims, instructing Phillips to take the high road and let the haters hate.

The program became very popular, and by September 2022 the work was recognized by the California Association of Probation Institutions Administrators with an Outstanding Probation Team award, according to Phillips' filing.

The suit alleges that Phillips treatment by Boltz began to worsen soon after he received the award. Boltz became demanding and disrespectful toward Phillips, and began requiring Phillips to do extra work unrelated to his normal duties.

About the same time, Phillips said he learned of a police investigation into the music program regarding a recording made by a juvenile that was posted to YouTube.

Phillips, in the suit, said he asked to step down from the program due to "the negative nature" of the investigation. Boltz refused, saying Phillips needed to ignore the criticisms and be a more humble person.

On Oct. 30, 2022, during a phone call between Phillips and Boltz, Phillips again expressed his desire to step down. Boltz again denied Phillipss request and reminded him that he had multiple shifts at the studio to work before his planned paternity leave.

In the suit, Phillips claims that after the phone call he experienced stress and anxiety about running the program and the possibility of losing his job if he did not comply. On returning from paternity leave in January 2023, Phillips found that he was being investigated for working during his leave, a claim he denies.

In February 2023 Phillips was hospitalized for a panic attack, where he was diagnosed with suffering from severe stress and anxiety, according to Phillips' filing.

After returning from medical leave, Phillips said he learned of a conversation between Boltz and a 17-year-old in April 2023. The suit alleges that Boltz asked the teenager if Phillips was part of a gang, and if Phillips was the juvenile's big homie, a term commonly used within gangs to describe a mentor.

Phillips said he was forced to resign in May 2023.

The lawsuit seeks damages from Napa County on claims of retaliation, racial discrimination, and the failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
William Cole Vineyards near St. Helena is the latest winery to go through Napa Countys voluntary code compliance program and have its too-high visitation and production levels legalized.

The winery also asked for visitation and production increases beyond what's needed to rectify the code violations. The Planning Commission agreed, but only if the winery can first stay within its newly recognized limits for three years.

"If they play within the rules, they get everything they want," Planning Commissioner Kara Brunzell said.

The Planning Commission met May 1 for the first time this year. That provided a chance to learn the commissions latest thinking on code compliance issues.

William and Jane Ballentine own the St. Helena-area winery housed in a historic, 1873 stone building. They turned what had been a "ghost winery" into an operating winery about 20 years ago.

William Cole is permitted to produce 20,000 gallons of wine annually, produces 22,000 gallons and asked to produce up to 30,000 gallons. It is permitted to host 705 tasting and marketing event guests annually, hosts 1,381 and asked to host up to 6,800.

It had other requests as well, such as using a barn for barrel storage and wine production and adding a process wastewater system and 10,000-gallon wastewater holding tank, with the water to be used for vineyard irrigation.

Commissioner Megan Dameron suggested granting many of the requests. But she also suggested the three-year wait without violations for the winery to receive all of them.

The commission has previously taken this wait-and-see approach for growth requests beyond code compliance resolutions. It imposed a three-year trial period on Vineyard 29 in November. It imposed a one-year period on Madrigal Family Winery in November 2022.

Consultant Jon Webb on behalf of William Cole winery addressed the commission on the three-year requirement.

"Just this new septic system is close to a million dollars," he said. "And I think what's driving that is the increased production. So it would be helpful if that time was shortened or if possible they weren't required to build the new system until they are approved for the 30,000 gallons."

Commission Chair Dave Whitmer said he could support a one-year trial period. The issue for him is a winery being able demonstrate it can stay in compliance.

But the commission decided to stick with the three-year period.

Mike Hackett of Save Napa Valley Foundation said the group had Water Audit California do a "deep dive" on the William Cole application.

"There's a lot of unknowns in this application that I hope make you feel as uncomfortable as me," he told commissioners.

Napa County continued its back-and-forth with Water Audit California. The group submitted a letter detailing what it saw as oversights in county staff's work on the application. Staff rebutted in a memo.
Finding support  and community  is a major part of going to college and stepping into adulthood. Emory Oaks is working to make that easier for autistic students.

Emory Oaks, started in 2021, is a support program for students enrolled across Emory. In the program, students with autism have access to a support navigator, who they meet with regularly to build rapport and collaboratively identify goals.

For Shangrila Parvin, the program has been a key difference between her undergraduate and graduate experiences.

Between the time that Parvin finished her bachelors degrees in chemistry and vocal musical performance at Emory College of Arts and Sciences and started the Rollins Executive Master of Public Health program, she was seeking diagnoses and support.

During the first year of her graduate program, she received an ADHD diagnosis and access to medication, and felt much more confident and prepared compared to her undergraduate experience. But even with that support, Parvin felt something else was going on.

After meeting with a professor, I was referred to several people, one of which was intervention services, she says. I wanted to explore the possibility of autism in myself and intervention services referred me to Emory Oaks last year.

Since then, Parvin says that the program has been pivotal in her academic career.

I always say that my graduate experience has been so different from my undergraduate experience, she explains. In undergrad, I struggled a lot. I tried getting support but wasnt able to find what I needed. I have felt very well supported at Emory Oaks.

Journeying through the university experience together

For the vast majority of participants, the support navigator they meet with every 1-2 weeks is Emory Oaks Assistant Director Kelsey Bohlke.

Bohlke, an Emory alum herself, pursued graduate school at Georgia State University knowing she wanted to support the autistic community. She connected with Oaks Director Matt Segall during her graduate career and has helped shape the program from the very beginning.

Bohlke is the support navigator for roughly 25 students. When shes not meeting with students, shes often helping other universities get similar programs off the ground or working with Segall to support Emory faculty, staff and student groups helping to ensure spaces are inclusive.



Segall says that the best way to explain Emory Oaks is a support program where autistic students at Emory can come and know theyre getting partnership and collaboration with people who are knowledgeable and empathetic and will create a safe space."

We journey through the university experience together, says Segall, assistant professor and Education and Transition Services program director at the Emory Autism Center.

Its not that Emory was short on resources  as Segall notes, the university community offers academic supports, social and health supports and more  but those supports often go underutilized by students. For some, the anxiety of meeting new people, or the stress of coordinating across multiple services, also creates a barrier to entry.

We position ourselves as folks who are going to make all of that easier, Segall says. We get to know students as well as we can and as quickly as we can, and we prioritize creating a safe and open space.

Both Segall and Bohlke have backgrounds as mental health clinicians and have worked with the autistic community for the majority of their careers. Theyre able to connect students directly with other relevant spaces around campus.

We would be so much less without our campus partners, says Bohlke. I acknowledge that I cant actually do it all, so its been really helpful and important to have friends across the university to help connect students with.

Thomas Pharr, a junior double majoring in political science and Spanish, has found great value in the connections the Oaks office has.

Its really nice to have support networks specifically trained in autism, Pharr says. Other mental health services on campus exist but Oaks is more all-encompassing, including with career stuff, and can help coordinate with other offices.

Of the students Bohlke sees, nearly half have worked with the Pathways Center, which provides resources and experiences to Emory students and alumni to help them reach their full potential, focusing on career and professional development, undergraduate research programs, national scholarships and fellowships and more. Counseling and Psychological Services (often referred to as CAPS), student health psychiatry services and undergraduate education and advising are also widely used services.

Cross-campus collaboration also flows in the other direction and can help students connect with the Oaks program  which is how first-year student River Somerville discovered Oaks before setting foot on Emorys campus last fall.

When Somerville, who is interested in studying environmental science and history, registered with the Department of Accessibility Services (DAS), a staff member also referred them to Emory Oaks, which ultimately helped ease their transition to college.

Autism spectrum disorder isnt something you necessarily acquire, they say. Ive lived with it my whole life, but I didnt have a name for it. Meeting with Kelsey helped identify how some of those traits can come into play and how I can get assistance.

Pharr points out that Oaks also promotes events sponsored by other campus groups. Those community-building opportunities bolster the regular, 1:1-focused Oaks meetings.

Im in the autism advocacy club and there are students who are involved in Oaks and have since joined the club because they found out about it through Oaks promotion, Pharr says.

Meeting students where they are

Emory Oaks works to meet students where they are  quite literally.

Because Bohlke and Segall are able to meet with students virtually, they also support Oxford College students. Bohlke was an Oxford continuee and says that the Oxford campus and its students remain close to her heart.

And, because the internet knows no bounds, they can support students while studying abroad, too.

When Pharr studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain, in spring 2023, his experience with Emory Oaks didnt skip a beat.

Because Ive always met virtually with Kelsey, the content of our meetings didnt change much whether I was on the Oxford or Atlanta campus, or even abroad, Pharr says, pointing to the continuity of his experience. Emory Oaks has been super helpful with transitioning to and during college.

In addition to supporting Emory students on both campuses, Emory Oaks works with undergraduate and graduate students alike.

For Parvin, one of the most helpful things was that she was able to start working with Bohlke while pursuing an official autism diagnosis.

It was helpful to be able to talk about specific things in my life and what I was struggling with, and unravel that to see if it was tied to autism, Parvin says. Kelsey would give very practical, actionable tips that I could take in response to different situations that came up week to week.

It was nice to have that stability of our weekly meetings, and it was actually one of the first times I felt really understood by someone else.

But its not just the support navigator relationship that makes this program so meaningful to participants.

The community of Emory Oaks is another safety net for me, says Somerville. Although each of their sessions with Bohlke has been online, Somerville has made connections with some of the other students involved in Emory Oaks, both online and in person. Theyve found that support particularly valuable regarding the social pressure to make friends quickly and easily, or when dealing with sensory issues.

In Oaks, a lot of other people felt similarly so it helped me have a frame of reference on how other autistic students are living on campus. Theres the solidarity of Oaks folks, and Kelsey has always been in my corner when I fall behind or have concerns. And those concerns arent always unique to autism, so its great that shes also qualified for general counseling, Somerville says.

Kelsey has helped me learn that its okay to ask for help and to utilize my support systems, they say.

Experiences like this are exactly what Segall hopes students will find: a supportive community they can consider their own.

The progress weve made so far is suggestive that a lot of our students have found something safe and affirming thats getting them closer to community and an authentic experience of belonging, he says.

Designing a collaborative program

The Emory Oaks program launched in 2021 through a three-year grant from the Administration for Community Living, which included a community advisory board (CAB).

The CAB includes a lot of autistic voices and thats really informed how we operate our program and how weve grown, Segall says.

Originally, Segall and Bohlke were seeing students who needed to take a semester off, had a mental health crisis or were grappling with another problem. The entry point for students to Emory Oaks was usually support and repair, rather than prevention.

So based on that, we built the program around helping people repair. But our autistic self-advocates on the CAB told us to remove all of that, saying, Were not broken, and youre not going to get as many people coming to your program if you position yourself as repairing us, Segall says. We easily and quickly reframes around Support Navigation, access to supports and partnership in applying goals, and used the supportive language you see today.

Another key aspect is the menu options approach. As Segall explains, the program includes two non-optional aspects: participants will meet with their support navigator regularly and the two will build a relationship.

After that, you can choose based on what your goals are and well connect you with those resources, come up with action plans to achieve those goals and monitor progress, he says.

One thing everyone agrees on? The importance of the program  and the desire to spread the word.

Having this program has been really helpful, says Parvin. Before this, I had tried therapy and other assessments. While those didnt go very far, Oaks has been incredibly helpful.

Bohlke echoes that, saying, This isnt very tangible or data-oriented, but one of the biggest strengths of Emory Oaks is that its a soft place to land. Students can come to me when things did or didnt go well, and know they have that support no matter what. I think students feel more comfortable in who they are and how theyre going about campus knowing that they have a safe space to come to if its needed.

Oaks has been one of the greatest supports Ive had at Emory, Somerville says. I am reaping the benefits as we speak.

All photos credited to Ted Pio Roda.
In a bid to transform India's burgeoning MedTech sector, stakeholders from the government and industry convened at the Meditech Stackathon 2024, held on May 7, organised by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The event aimed to catalyse transformative change within the industry by undertaking a comprehensive value chain analysis of select medical devices, with the goal of reducing import dependence from 75 per cent to 50 per cent within five years. Dr Arunish Chawla, Secretary of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers, set the tone for the event, emphasising the need for collaborative efforts to lay the foundation for India's MedTech policy for the next 10-15 years. Dr Chawla said, "If we do this policy stack exercise well, this will lay the foundation of med tech policy for the next 10-15 years. We have to work towards improving export competitiveness in the Meditech sector through value-added manufacturing and improve the import coverage ratio to 1.0." With India's MedTech industry poised for exponential growth, projected to reach USD 50 billion by 2030 from the current USD 14 billion, the Stackathon seeks to address critical challenges and foster domestic manufacturing, positioning India as a global leader in medical technology. Key insights shared during the preparatory session by Dr Chawla included a mission statement for the MedTech sector, aiming for self-reliance, reduced import dependence, and enhanced export competitiveness through value-added manufacturing. The Stackathon's logic model aims to transition from input to impact by understanding the ecosystem, mapping value chains, identifying critical issues, and formulating a robust policy framework. RP Singh, Joint Secretary of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, echoed Dr Chawla's sentiments, stressing the urgency of reducing import dependence amidst increasing demand for medical devices due to rising communicable, non-communicable, and chronic diseases. He reiterated the government's commitment to transitioning towards a value-based and innovation-driven industry to unlock its full potential. Himanshu Baid, Chairman of the CII National Medical Technology Forum, emphasised collaborative excellence as the key to driving tangible outcomes and propelling the MedTech industry towards unparalleled growth. With India's MedTech exports surpassing 4 billion dollars, Baid highlighted the industry's potential to capture 10 per cent of the global market share over the next decade. However, he underscored the need for enhanced data collection mechanisms to address gaps in product consumption and production within India. India currently ranks as the 4th largest market for medical devices in Asia and stands among the top 20 globally. However, with a net import of USD 4,101 million for 2022-23 and an import coverage ratio of 0.45, there is a pressing need to enhance export competitiveness and reduce import dependence. The only sector where India's exports exceed imports is consumables and disposables. The stakeholders emphasised the importance of fostering industry-friendly policies, streamlining regulatory frameworks, and extending support to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through targeted incentives and technology funds to realise the sector's full potential. With a robust ecosystem comprising world-class hospitals, skilled manpower, and cutting-edge resources, India is poised to emerge as a frontrunner in the global MedTech arena. (ANI)
Mergers and acquisitions in Asia-Pacific's finance sector are unlikely to pick up soon as economic uncertainties, higher funding costs and geopolitical risks dent dealmakers' confidence, according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Deal volume in the finance sector dropped almost 14 per cent year-on-year during the quarter ended March 31, dragged by a decline in mainland China and Australia, according to the financial information and analytics firm. Deal activity in the Asia-Pacific region broadly mirrored global trends. Global merger and acquisition announcements in the quarter fell to 9,022, the lowest total since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted markets in the second quarter of 2020. Just nine finance sector deals were announced in mainland China in the first quarter, compared with 24 the year before, S&P Global Market Intelligence data showed. In Australia, investors struck 12 deals in the sector, down from 26 a year earlier. India, the fastest-growing large economy in the world, could buck the trend, it said, quoting analysts. India reported a one-deal increase in volume year-on-year in the first quarter. Given India's strong growth forecasts and resilience to global shocks, Asialink Business CEO Leigh Howard said there's a reasonable expectation for robust dealmaking. Howard also cited India's favorable demographics, ongoing reforms and growth opportunities. Economic uncertainties, higher funding costs and increased volatility due to geopolitical risks are among the factors deterring M&A activity in the region, said Raghu Narain, managing director and head of investment banking for Asia-Pacific at Natixis CIB. "These conditions are detrimental to M&A activity because they put a dent in confidence, and therefore the gap between buyers and sellers, valuations, and agreement of deals, persists -- and that's what we've been seeing in Asia-Pacific," Narain said. The finance sector includes banks, nonbanking financial institutions, and companies classified under the insurance, financial technology, payments and specialty finance sectors. Improvement in sentiment is needed for an across-the-board turnaround in finance M&A, according to Asialink Business CEO Leigh Howard. Investor confidence and sentiment are crucial drivers of M&A activity, Howard said, adding, an upswing in market sentiment is needed for significant dealmaking to return. (ANI)
PRNewswire Gurugram (Haryana) [India], May 7: BharatRohan, a pioneering agtech firm specializing in drone-based hyperspectral remote sensing, has announced the successful completion of a significant funding round. The company secured 2.3 Million USD in a pre-IPO round from notable investors, including Villgro Innovation Foundation, Caspian, RevX, and Venture Garage (with a group of Ultra High Net Worth Individuals as investors), marking a strategic blend of debt and equity financing. Founded by Rishabh Choudhary and Amandeep Panwar in 2016, BharatRohan currently supports 50,000 farmers covering 2,00,000 acres in 5 states with its advanced Drone-based Decision Support System (DSS) known as BharatRohan CropAssure. This system identifies diseases, pests, and nutritional deficiencies in the early stages, enabling Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies for residue-free crop cultivation. BharatRohan empowers farmers with real-time, data-driven insights for informed decision-making, optimizing resource allocation, and enhancing crop resilience against unpredictable weather patterns. With the newly secured funding, the company's primary focus will be on developing proprietary edge computing drones specifically for precise crop monitoring and variable pesticide application. These drones will be made available to rural entrepreneurs through franchise-based models, enabling them to offer CropAssure Services to farmers. Additionally, the company plans to design and develop compact hyperspectral & multispectral sensors for drones. BharatRohan is poised to expand its operations and offerings in 15 Indian states, covering 10 lakh acres by 2025. It has shown promising growth, increasing revenue 3x and profit by 200 per cent from the last financial year. While continuing to provide its drone-based crop monitoring Decision Support System (DSS), the company also ventured into procuring residue-free farm produce grown through Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices implemented by farmers who utilize its BharatRohan CropAssure Services. BharatRohan aims to introduce its pesticide residue-free farm produce to global consumers, thereby expanding its reach and impact on a global scale. This strategy underscores BharatRohan's dedication towards incentivising farmers to adopt technology-driven, sustainable, and residue-free farming practices. This investment marks a significant milestone in BharatRohan's journey. "It strengthens our resolve to enhance our services and expand our reach across the nation, ensuring that farming becomes more scientific, sustainable, and profitable," stated founders Amandeep Panwar and Rishabh Choudhary. Vivek Kumar, founder at Venture Garage, expressed that, "BharatRohan is in a unique position using latest technology to solve one of the oldest problems of continuously optimizing farming and bridge farmers to most profitable markets. Growing at a rapid pace, we at Venture Garage, strongly feel that BharatRohan is on track to not only build a company championing sustainable and scalable agriculture but also deliver great earnings for their investors." "BharatRohan is well-positioned to spearhead the transformation of agriculture through cutting-edge drone technology, providing sustainable solutions to age-old farming challenges while driving positive change locally and globally. We, at RevX Capital, are happy to understand BharatRohan's unique working capital gaps and partner to provide customised solutions," added Sibadittya Baidya, AVP-Investements, RevX Capital. About BharatRohan: BharatRohan is an Ag-tech firm based in India, specializing in empowering farmers through advanced UAV-based decision support systems utilizing Hyperspectral Imaging technology. Their mission is to enhance traceable, sustainable, and secure food supply chains while improving farmers' profitability. BharatRohan offers services such as CropAssure, SourceAssure, and SeedAssure to optimize agricultural practices and ensure long-term food security. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1762856/BharatRohan_Logo.jpg (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla reviewed the situation on Monday in the wake of hoax emails received by some schools in the national capital last week and emphasised the need to enhance security, CCTV cameras and regular monitoring of emails in the schools. In a post on X, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs posted, "The Home Secretary reviewed the situation in the wake of hoax emails received by some schools in Delhi last week. He stressed the need to prepare detailed protocols and SOPs to handle any such situation in the future." "The Home Secretary asked Delhi Police and schools to have close coordination for an effective response mechanism so that misinformation does not create any unnecessary panic," it said. "The home secretary also emphasised the need to enhance security, CCTV cameras and regular monitoring of emails in the schools. The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary and the Delhi Police Commissioner," read the post further. Earlier on May 4, security forces intensified their preparedness through a series of mock drills across various key locations in the city, including schools, airports, metro stations, and government buildings, after the recent hoax bomb threats that targeted over 250 schools in the Delhi-NCR region. A mock drill was conducted at Delhi Public School in Delhi's RK Puram area, involving the Delhi Police and the National Security Guard (NSG), The drill was designed to test the readiness and response capabilities of security forces in case of emergencies. Several such drills were carried out at the Parliament building, near Delhi's Jhandewalan Temple, at the Hyderabad House, and at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, among other areas. Earlier on May 2, taking note of false news circulating in WhatsApp groups that bombs were detected in schools, Delhi Police urged people not to believe in rumours and stop spreading fake news. Detailing the Delhi school bomb threat case, Delhi Police PRO Suman Nalwa said that more than 250 calls were received by the police last week on Wednesday. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an official statement saying that the email appeared to be a 'hoax'. "There is no need to panic. The mail appears to be a hoax. Delhi Police and security agencies are taking necessary steps as per protocol," the official release from the MHA read. (ANI)
Jana Sena Party (JSP) chief Pawan Kalyan lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the abrogation of Article 370, which gave the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir special status. "PM Modi is a visionary leader. Article 370 was abolished because of Modi. Terrorists are unable to enter the country under his reign," Pawan Kalyan said in an election rally here. Jana Sena Party, TDP and BJP are allies in Andhra Pradesh and they are pitted against ruling YSRCP in the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state. He alleged that the YSRCP government led by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is indulging in massive corruption and claimed that it can be stopped only by Prime Minister Modi. "Union government schemes are being renamed by YS Jagan. Welfare and development are only possible under the leadership of Modi. Andhra Pradesh is the land of poets and writers. We need the blessings of Modi. Wherever we look in the state, YSRCP is looting land and sand. It will be stopped by PM Modi only," he added. Praising PM Modi, the actor-turned-politician said that only PM Modi can bring India to the top of the world. "After May 13, a new era will be set up in Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh will turn into Vikasit Andhra. I believe that the NDA will form the government in the upcoming polls," he said. Coming down heavily on the YSRCP government, Pawan Kalyan said that no development work has been done under Jagan Reddy's rule. "We have two problems in the state: Congress and the YSR Congress Party. Congress leaders have already accepted their failure, and YSRCP has yet to acknowledge it. In the span of five years, no development has been seen in the state. Andhra Pradesh was at the top during Chandrababu Naidu's regime. After the YSRCP assumed power, the state declined. No development or welfare has been seen in the state. All development and welfare are only possible with PM Modi. The development score is zero, and corruption has reached 100% in the state," he said. The Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh will be held on May 13.In the 2019 Assembly elections, the YSRCP won with a thumping majority of 151 seats, while the TDP was confined to 23 seats. In the Lok Sabha polls, the YSRCP won 22 seats, while the TDP could only win three seats. (ANI)
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Monday lashed out at the Congress party for saying that the constitution of the country will be changed if the Bharatiya Janata Party comes into power. "In its 55 years, the Congress should have given impetus to the development of the country and should have done the work in the interest of the poor and farmers," said the Chief Minister. Further slamming the Congress party, he said, "There was rampant corruption prevalent during Congress' regime." Hailing the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, "People had given Congress a long time, but in 10 years, Narendra Modi has worked to strengthen the country and made women empowered." Nayab Singh Saini further highlighted that the PM has enhanced the global image of India. "PM Modi has glorified the country's image abroad. The status of India has been enhanced at the international level," said Saini. "When the world spoke earlier, our country used to listen, but now that India speaks, the world listens. This is what PM Modi has helped the country attain," added the CM. Earlier in the day, Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini and former CM Manohar Lal Khattar filed their nomination papers. The former Haryana Chief Minister is a BJP candidate from the Karnal Lok Sabha seat. While filing his nomination, he was accompanied by CM Nayab Singh Saini. While Saini is contesting the assembly by-poll from Karnal, the seat that Khattar vacated for him, Khattar will be contesting from the Karnal Lok Sabha constituency this time. Notably, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the state, the BJP swept the state, capturing all 10 seats and the Karnal Lok Sabha seat witnessed 68.31 per cent votes. The BJP's nominee, Sanjay Bhatia, won by a whopping margin of over 6 lakh votes in the last Lok Sabha election. In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 7 seats, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) won 2 seats and the Congress secured only one seat. From the same Karnal Lok Sabha seat, the BJP's Ashwini Kumar had won in 2014, too. Congress' Arvind Kumar Sharma won Karnal in 2009 and 2004, both times as a Congress candidate. This time, Sharma is contesting as a BJP candidate from Rohtak against Congress' Deepender Singh Hooda. The Lok Sabha elections for the 10 parliamentary constituencies of Haryana are going to be held in a single phase on May 25. (ANI)
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Monday claimed that JD(S) and BJP are shifting the blame on him in the Prajwal Revanna case to control the damage to their alliance. BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) allied to fight in the Karnataka Lok Sabha election and have been criticised by the ruling Congress government for still being in alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular) despite knowing about MP Prajwal Revanna's alleged sex scandal. "Devaraje Gowda had contested elections on BJP ticket. He is an active worker of the BJP. The JDS and the BJP are embarrassed with the Prajwal case and hence they are trying to control the damage by shifting the blame on me through Devaraje Gowda," Shivakumar said. "Devaraje Gowda had tried to meet me to discuss the pen drive and internal issues of the BJP, but I could not meet him due to paucity of time. I will share with the media what Devaraje Gowda had tried to discuss with me once I am back in Bengaluru," he added. "Devaraje Gowda had addressed a press conference some time back about the pen drive. He had said in the press conference that he would release the pen drive after holding discussions with the BJP leaders. When it is very evident that Devaraje Gowda and the BJP are behind the release of the pen drive, why are they trying to accuse me? The JDS and BJP leaders are behind this blame-shifting. I am currently travelling and I will give a statement on this once I am back in Bengaluru," he added. Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Devaraje Gowda alleged on Monday, that the Karnataka government is trying to bring the name of BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Prajwal Revanna's 'obscene video' case. He also termed the SIT team investigating the case as a "remote-controlled team" of the state government. Addressing a press conference on Monday, Devaraje Gowda said, "Till yesterday evening they (Karnataka government) tried to convince me and came to me with deals. When I didn't accept their deals, the CM called SIT officials to meet. Their agenda is to bring PM Modi's name in this case as JD(S) and BJP have an alliance in the state." "Deputy CM DK Shivakumar also sent me many offers to not release any names from the Congress Govt through LR Shivrame Gowda. I welcome if the government, CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar file a defamation case against me. I'll answer in court," he added. Stating that "I am fighting for my life long" against HD Revanna and Prajwal Revanna, but also adding that some "criminal politicians" are using it for other reasons. He added that he initially felt the SIT team would do justice with the case, but when he was called for the second time, he realised this was a "remote-controlled team." "The state government, CM and Deputy CM called senior officials meeting on Sunday, related to Prajwal and HD Revanna case and they have given many instructions," he said. The BJP leader further alleged, "Suman D Pannekar, IPS officer one of the in charge of this case and member of SIT asked me to not to take DK Shivakumar and not to take congress leaders names." BJP leader and advocate Vivek Reddy said that Devaraje Gowda's remarks mean there is an attempt to "suppress the evidence" and demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter. "From what is transpired from advocate Devaraje Gowda's revelations is that there is an effort to ensure that in the pen drive case, big political names are not to be mentioned...There is DK Shivakumar and others whom Devaraje Gowda wanted to mention in the statements so there is an attempt to suppress evidence," he said. "So, we are asking for a CBI inquiry, if not, the High Court may direct an independent agency supervised by a retired high court judge," Reddy added. Prajwal Revanna, the suspended Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader is the incumbent MP from the Hassan constituency. He is seeking re-election as an NDA candidate from the same seat. Polling on the seat was completed on April 26. HD Revanna and his son, Prajwal Revanna are facing a probe by a Special Investigative Team (SIT), constituted by the Karnataka government, over allegations of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation following a complaint by a woman who worked in their household. HD Revanna is under Special Investigation Team (SIT) custody till May 8 in a kidnapping case linked to the "obscene video case", while Prajwal Revanna is in another country. (ANI)
Expressing disappointment, he remarked, "Party's callous attitude towards me, Chandigarh and our unit left me with no option other than leaving the party."

"We were promised that the party would handle the poll campaign but today the candidates have been announced 15-18 days back and no party leader came here to speak to us," he added.

He further stated that he was from a financially weak family, adding, he said, "I am from a poor family. I don't have a father or any elder brother. Sukhbir Badal only talks about 13 seats but not the 14th one."

He refuted when asked if he would join any other party.

"I got lucrative offers from the other parties but I always gave preference to my mother's party," said Hardeep.

Notably, in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Bittu defeated Simarjeet Singh Bains from the Lok Insaaf Party by 76,372 votes. In 2014, he defeated the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Harvinder Singh Phoolka with a margin of 19,709 votes.

In Punjab, the Congress that is going solo in the general elections has fielded Gurjeet Singh Aujla from the Amritsar seat, Amar Singh from Fathgarh Sahib, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu from Bhatinda, Sukhpal Singh Khaira from Sangrur, and Dharamvir Gandhi from Patiala. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the INC-led UPA alliance won eight seats, while the NDA secured four.

Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will take place in the last phase on June 1. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel on Tuesday casts her vote at Shilaj Primary School in Ahmedabad and urged the voters to utilise their right to vote and contribute to making the country a 'Vishwaguru.' While speaking with the reporters, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh emphasized on the casting of votes and said, "It is everyone's responsibility to cast their vote. The voters should use their right to vote and give their contribution to making India a 'Vishwaguru'..." Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday also cast his vote at Nishan Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad, Gujarat for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The Prime Minister was welcomed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah when he arrived at Nishan Higher Secondary School. The polling started for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the general election on Tuesday at 7:00 am. The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed. In this phase, more than 1300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray. A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations. Seventy-five delegates from 23 countries will see the poll process, the poll panel said. Voting will not take place for Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has postponed the polling to the sixth phase to be held on May 25. Originally, voting was scheduled to be held on 94 Lok Sabha seats in the third phase. Prominent leaders to contest in today's poll battle include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, among others. In the 2019 general election, the BJP won 72 of the 93 seats that go to the polls today. The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. The counting is scheduled for June 4. The Narendra Modi-led BJP is seeking a third term in power, while the opposition INDIA bloc is aiming to wrest power by stopping the juggernaut. (ANI)
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, and his daughter Solapur Lok Sabha candidate Praniti Shinde cast their votes during the third phase of polls in Solapur on Tuesday. Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Solapur Praniti Shinde said, "I have been roaming around in the constituency for the last 2 months. The people have anger towards the BJP because they have not delivered the promises they made. I have fought Vidhan Sabha polls thrice. These are my first Lok Sabha elections. People have supported me because they had faith in my work." She took a jibe at the BJP and said that BJP has changed its candidate twice because their candidates could not perform. "BJP has changed its candidate twice because they could not perform. And this time they have placed a third candidate. This shows their incompetency. Our focus is on work. There should be water available and roads in Solapur. There should be airport infrastructure. IT park, and for youth, there should be jobs. The city should have no power cuts," she added. She further said that a lot of work has to be done for farmers. Praniti's father and former Maharashtra CM and Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde also cast his vote during the third phase of polling in Jagriti Vidya Mandir, Nehru Nagar in Solapur on Tuesday. Sushil Kumar Shinde said, "This is a festival of democracy. All the citizens are a part of this festival. I am sure that our democracy will remain strong. 'Sarva Dharma Sambhaav' will remain alive." He said that BJP in the past has won here twice and they have not retained their ticket after the completion of their term. "BJP in the past has won here twice and the candidates have not retained their ticket after the completion of their term. Praniti is new here," he added. BJP has fielded Ram Vitthal Satpute from Solapur. BJP's Dr Jaisiddeshwar Shivacharya Mahaswamiji is the sitting MP. Praniti Shinde, is a three-time MLA from Solapur City Central constituency. The polling started for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the general election on Tuesday at 7:00 am. The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed. In this phase, more than 1300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray. A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations. Seventy-five delegates from 23 countries will see the poll process, the poll panel said. (ANI)
Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Porbandar Lok Sabha seat, Mansukh Mandaviya, said on Tuesday that he hopes that the BJP comes to power with more than 400 seats. Mandaviya said this after casting his vote in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election. "When I was casting my vote, I was only thinking about the welfare of the people for the country and 'Viksit Bharat' under the leadership of PM Modi. I hope that the BJP comes to power with more than 400 seats. I want to appeal to the people of Gujarat to come out and cast their votes," he said. The Porbandar Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a contest between Mandaviya and Congress leader Lalit Vasoya. Before getting elected to Rajya Sabha the BJP leader was elected an MLA from the Palitana assembly seat of Bhavnagar in 2002. The Union Minister had made significant outreach during his campaigning venturing into the forests and meeting with members of the Maldharis, a shepherd community often overlooked by mainstream politics. A total of 12 candidates are in the fray for the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat and around 17,94,000 voters will decide their fate. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast his vote at Nishan Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The Congress is in alliance with the AAP in Gujarat, where it will contest from 24 seats, while the AAP will contest in Bhavnagar and Bharuch constituencies. Twenty five out of the total of 26 seats in the State is polling in the third phase of the ongoing general elections. In Surat BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was declared unopposed last week. This decision came after the nomination of Congress' Nilesh Kumbhani was rejected, and other candidates withdrew from the contest. The election results will be announced on June 4. (ANI)
Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi, after casting his vote in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election on Tuesday, said that '400 paar' is the slogan of the people and Congress cannot suppress it. Harsh Sanghvi cast his vote at a polling booth in the Navsari Lok Sabha constituency. "I am fortunate enough to get the opportunity to cast my vote along with my family. I want to request everyone to come out and cast their votes and form a development-oriented government once again. PM Modi has served the people of the country without taking a single leave for the last several years. The people of the country are willing to see Narendra Modi become the Prime Minister of the country for the third time," Sanghvi said. He also asserted that PM Modi had worked for every section of society and today, people are voting to take India's name forward across the world. 'Crossing 400' is the slogan of the people; Congress cannot suppress it," he added. Notably, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded its state unit chief CR Patil from Navsari seat and the Indian National Congress (INC) has fielded Naishadh Desai. Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast his vote at Nishan Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad, Gujarat for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The Prime Minister was welcomed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah when he arrived at the booth. Dressed in a white kurta-pyjama combined with a saffron-coloured half jacket, PM Modi walked along with Amit Shah to the voting booth. He stopped on the way and waved to people and even signed a sketch of himself. PM Modi urged the people to cast their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections to turn out in record numbers. "Urging all those who are voting in today's phase to vote in record numbers. Their active participation will certainly make the elections more vibrant," PM Modi posted on X. Voting is underway for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the general election on Tuesday. The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.' (ANI)
Amid the ongoing third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav on Tuesday said that the '400 paar' slogan is being given to only boost the morale of the BJP workers. Yadav also appealed to the voters to remove the Bharatiya Janata Party from power to save the Constitution and protect reservations. "I will cast my vote at Saifai Primary School, along with my entire family. I appeal to the voters to remove the BJP and press the Samajwadi Party's button to save the Constitution, protect reservations, for employment and alleviate poverty," he said. He also mentioned that the BJP has brought the country's economy to the brink of ruin. "During the 10 years of Modi's tenure, the foreign debt has increased five times more than what it was during the combined tenure of 14 Prime Ministers. Look at the World Development Report. Our position in the Hunger Index has gone very low. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also above us. To boost the morale of BJP workers, '400 paar' slogans are being given," he added. The Samajwadi Party's candidate from Firozabad and son of Ram Gopal Yadav, Akshay Yadav, appealed to everyone to cast their vote. "Vote for development, employment of youth, to save the Constitution and for a change," he said. Meanwhile, the polling started for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the general election on Tuesday at 7:00 am. The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed. In Uttar Pradesh, voting is underway in 10 seats: Sambhal, Hathras, Mainpuri, Agra (SC), Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Etah, Budaun, Aonla, and Bareilly. Prominent leaders to contest in today's poll battle include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, among others. Notably, voting will not take place for Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has postponed the polling to the sixth phase to be held on May 25. Originally, voting was scheduled to be held on 94 Lok Sabha seats in the third phase. (ANI)
While the third phase of Lok Sabha elections is going on, Congress' Randeep Singh Surjewala took to his official X handle and appealed to the voters to vote for the party for a 'peaceful tomorrow.' He also tweeted about the party's five guarantees that have reached the public. In a post on X, Surjewala said, "One vote, 10 guaranteed (schemes)... By fulfilling the promises made in the last assembly election, the guarantee schemes have reached the houses and the common people are leading their lives comfortably." He added further, "Now, for the further improvement of your standard of living and for the future of your children, the National Congress has also announced five guarantees and our party has already proved this. Vote for Congress party for your peaceful tomorrow." Meanwhile, the Karnataka Congress on its official X handle also posted about how one vote to the Congress will guarantee 10 schemes to people. In a post, the Karnataka Congress tweeted, "One vote, ten guaranteed (schemes). Five guarantee schemes of the state government have already been successfully implemented and are helping people's lives. After the coming of the Congress government at the centre, five more justice guarantees will be implemented and will change people's lives." The post further said, "Support Congress's promise of comprehensive development including students, farmers, women, workers, backward classes." Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats and elections in the state are being held in two phases. Voting for 14 seats concluded on April 26 and the voting for the remaining 14 seats is underway. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4. In 2019, BJP almost swept the state by winning 25 out of 28 seats, while Congress and JD-S-- who were running a coalition government in the state--could only win one seat each. This time BJP and JD-S are in coalition with the former fighting on 25 seats, while the latter is contesting three seats. The polling is going on for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the general election. The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed. In this phase, more than 1300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray. A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations. In the 2019 general election, the BJP won 72 of the 93 seats that go to the polls today. The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. The counting is scheduled for June 4. The Narendra Modi-led BJP is seeking a third term in power, while the opposition INDIA bloc is aiming to wrest power by stopping the juggernaut. (ANI)